Geospatial Data is the key that unlocks the value of data

As the old adage goes everything happens somewhere, and within governments understanding that somewhere is vital. Be that delivering services to our local communities, planning national infrastructure projects or measuring our path to achieving net zero, understanding the ‘where’ is crucial.

Increasingly location is recognised as the enabler to join up valuable information across government, to share data between governments and to provide the authoritative data from which public services can make informed decisions.

A great example of where authoritative geospatial data is being used as the link between other data sources is the work Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) have done with Unique Geographic Identifiers (UGIs). Using Unique Geographic Identifiers, OSi are not only helping data from across government to be linked together but they are anchoring that data to a location.

This is achieved through the maintenance of a national topographic map, PRIME2, where OSi maintains over 50 million geographic objects from land parcels to buildings to roads. Each of these features is maintained with its own UGI and it’s these identifiers that has enabled OSi to play a key role in establishing Ireland’s base register for geospatial data. As described in the Public Service Data Strategy 2019-2023, these unique geographic identifiers (UGIs) for location data provide the ability to assemble different datasets in support of evidence-based policies and decisions.

The features and UGIs within PRIME2 are managed through well-defined systems of capture and maintenance provided by the 1Spatial Management Suite (1SMS).  Whilst providing an automated production platform, 1SMS manages the life cycle of the UGI’s, within a quality framework, as data is edited and maintained to ensure that it can be relied upon.

For more information visit the 1Spatial website