Raising the bar

Publication of “The UK Geospatial Strategy 2030” marked the Commission’s first refresh of the vision and proposals it put forward in 2020.¹ The past three years have, indeed, seen much progress in realising the power of location data, with initiative such as the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), investment in the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA), and new programmes in the transport and property sectors leading way.

The 52-page document² sets out the Commission’s priorities for the rest of this decade and includes a raft of proposals that will identify challenges and opportunities for location data in the health sector; publish findings from the Earth Observation pilot (see editorial in the Summer issue); research how geographic changes affect employment; establish a Land Use Analysis Taskforce, and work with universities to publish best practice in embedding geospatial learning into data science and geography courses. In the short term, the Commission proposes to convene an international geospatial conference in 2024.

Importantly, the strategy aligns with the UK Science and Technology Framework, published earlier this year³, and which posits that science and technology will be the major driver of prosperity, power and history-making events this century.

¹ Unlocking the Power of Location: The UK’s geospatial strategy 2020 to 2025. June 2020 (https://assets.publishing.serv...)

² UK Geospatial Strategy 2030: Unlocking the power of location. June 2023 (https://www.gov.uk/government/...)

³ The UK Science and Technology Framework. Mar 2023 ( https://assets.publishing.serv...)

Peter Fitzgibbon
Editor
[email protected]