This is an unofficial webpage about the Geospatial Commission announced by the UK Government in November 2017, and potential for open geospatial data (though increasingly it looks as if those two subjects are only tangentially related).
This page is maintained by Owen Boswarva and was last updated on 05/02/2024.
Announcement of the Geospatial Commission
A new Geospatial Commission was announced in the Autumn Budget on 22/11/2017:
4.14 Geospatial data – The UK has some of the best geospatial data in the world, and much of it is held by public bodies. The potential economic value of this data is huge. To maximise the growth of the digital economy and consolidate the UK's position as the best place to start and grow a digital business, the government will establish a new Geospatial Commission to provide strategic oversight to the various public bodies who hold this data. To further boost the digital economy, the government will work with the Ordnance Survey (OS) and the new Commission, by May 2018, to establish how to open up freely the OS MasterMap data to UK-based small businesses in particular, under an Open Government Licence or through an alternative mechanism, while maintaining the OS's strategic strengths. The Budget provides £40 million a year over the next two years to support this work.
The announcement was supported by a press release from Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
Responses
Open Data Institute (ODI), 22/11/2017: Autumn Budget: the ODI welcomes measures to open up land data – citizens, companies and services to benefit
Association for Geographic Information (AGI), 22/11/2017 : AGI – welcoming the news of a Geospatial Commission
GeoPlace LLP, 23/11/2017: The Budget: housing, the digital economy and a Geospatial Commission
Ordnance Survey (OS), 24/11/2017: Autumn Budget announcement on Geospatial Commission
Postcode Address File Advisory Board (PAFAB), 04/12/2017: Minutes of meeting held on 23 November 2017
OpenStreetMap UK (OSM UK), 28/11/2017: UK set to benefit from the release of more geospatial data
Grough, 28/11/2017: Government pledges £80m in bid to open up Ordnance Survey mapping to small firms
Carto Group, 04/12/2017: Welcoming the establishment of a Geospatial Commission
Geospatial Commission created to open up government-held mapping data (Civil Service World, 23/11/2017)
UK to establish Geospatial Data Commission (UK Authority, 23/11/2017)
Geospatial Commission wants to maximise value of government location data (Government Computing, 23/11/2017)
£80 mn for UK Geospatial Commission – Open map data key to digital economy (Geospatial World, 24/11/2017)
Ed Parkes, 22/11/2017: We'll need more than £40m* a year to get free maps – specifically politicians willing to share
Andrew Loveless, 23/11/2017: Geospatial Data Commission – Budget – The first step
Mark Prisk MP, 23/11/2017: New UK Geospatial Commission to unlock valuable location data
Steven Feldman via KnowWhere, 23/11/2017: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde consider a new Geospatial Commission
Charles Roper, 24/11/2017: Is OS MasterMap really going to be open?
Leigh Dodds, 24/11/2017: We CAN get there from here
Owen Boswarva, 26/11/2017: Why I'm cautiously optimistic about this week's Geospatial Commission announcement
James Cutler, 27/11/2017: Access
Peter Wells via ODI, 05/12/2017: What will the UK's Geospatial Commission look like?
Paul Maltby via Storify, 07/12/2017: Budget 2017: Geospatial commission and MasterMap
Abigail Page via GIS Professional, 20/12/2017: Geo Momentum
OpenStreetMap UK, 04/01/2018: Our asks of the Geospatial Commission
Will Mooney of Carter Jonas, 02/03/2018: Geospatial Commission – an opportunity not to be missed
Background and context
In February 2017 the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG), now the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), published a housing white paper that set out aims and commitments related to transparency of land ownership and interests, including comprehensive land registration in England by 2030:
Making land ownership and interests more transparent
1.17 It can be difficult to establish the identity of all persons with an interest in land. The Government would like to make data about land ownership, control and interests more readily available to all. This will help identify land that may be suitable for housing, allow communities to play a more active role in developing plans, support digital plan-making, help new entrants to the market and offer wider benefits. We are therefore launching an ambitious programme to improve the availability of land and property data.
1.18 HM Land Registry is committed to becoming the world's leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data and will aim to achieve comprehensive land registration by 2030. This will include all publicly held land in the areas of greatest housing need being registered by 2020, with the rest to follow by 2025. It will aid better data sharing across government for the purposes of supporting development, ensuring financial stability, tax collection, law enforcement and the protection of national security.
1.19 Alongside the improved registration of land, the Government proposes to improve the availability of data about wider interests in land. There are numerous ways of exercising control over land, short of ownership, such as through an option to purchase land or as a beneficiary of a restrictive covenant. There is a risk that because these agreements are not recorded in a way that is transparent to the public local communities are unable to know who stands to benefit fully from a planning permission. They could also inhibit competition because SMEs and other new entrants find it harder to acquire land. There is the additional risk that this land may sit in a 'land bank' once an option has been acquired without the prospect of development.
1.20 The Government will consult on improving the transparency of contractual arrangements used to control land. Following consultation, any necessary legislation will be introduced at the earliest opportunity. We will also consult on how the land register can better reflect wider interests in land with the intention of providing a 'clear line of sight' across a piece of land setting out who owns, controls or has an interest in it.
The Conservative Party's election manifesto of May 2017 included the following statement:
Digital Land
And we will use digital technology to release massive value from our land that currently is simply not realised, introducing greater specialisation in the property development industry and far greater transparency for buyers. To make this happen, we will combine the relevant parts of HM Land Registry, Ordnance Survey, the Valuation Office Agency, the Hydrographic Office and Geological Survey to create a comprehensive geospatial data body within government, the largest repository of open land data in the world. This new body will set the standards to digitise the planning process and help create the most comprehensive digital map of Britain to date. In doing so, it will support a vibrant and innovative digital economy, ranging from innovative tools to help people and developers build to virtual mapping of Britain for use in video games and virtual reality.
Blog posts
Matt Hancock, 04/12/2017: This tech revolution is a Tory revolution
Jeni Tennison, 14/01/2018: Doesn't open data make data monopolies more powerful?
Owen Boswarva, 03/02/2018: BCG awarded £554k contract for consultancy support prior to announcement of Geospatial Commission
Owen Boswarva, 03/06/2018: What's happening with MasterMap and the Geospatial Commission?
SpeechesJohn Manzoni, 25/01/2018: Civil Service transformation speech
Geospatial Commission – organisation
According to the November 2017 announcement the Geospatial Commission would "draw together" the following six public bodies. In more recent communications these bodies have been described as "Partners" of the Commission, and collectively as the "Geo 6:"
HM Land Registry (HMLR) is a non-ministerial department that registers ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. Since April 2015 it has operated as Ordnance Survey Ltd, a government-owned company ("GovCo"). Shares are 100% owned by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
British Geological Survey (BGS) is the geological survey body for Great Britain. It is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which reports to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Valuation Office Agency (VOA) provides valuations and property advice to support taxation and benefits to the government and local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales (though its principal data assets, business rating and council tax valuation lists, relate only to England and Wales). It is an executive agency of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which in turn is a non-ministerial department that reports to Parliament through a Treasury minister.
UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) collects and supplies hydrographic and geospatial data for the Royal Navy and merchant shipping. It is a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
Coal Authority licenses coal mining in Great Britain and manages the effects of past coal mining. It is a non-departmental public body managed by a board appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
All of these public bodies own or control geospatial data infrastructure of significant value and potential for re-use, though there are differences in geographic extent. UKHO covers the UK; OS, BGS and Coal Authority cover GB; and HMLR and VOA (mostly) cover England and Wales.
Shareholder relationships with businesses owned or part-owned by the Government were formerly managed by the Shareholder Executive (ShEx) within BEIS. However in April 2016 ShEx was subsumed into UK Government Investments (UKGI), a GovCo wholly owned by HM Treasury.
HMLR, VOA and UKHO are Crown bodies. Ordnance Survey is no longer a Crown body but most of the data assets it controls are covered by Crown copyright. BGS and Coal Authority are not Crown bodies.
The "UKGI Digital Land Team" published an article with some background to the Geospatial Commission in the March 2018 edition of the Civil Service Quarterly.
The Prime Minister announced in a written statement on 29/03/2018 that "strategic geospatial data policy initiatives from BEIS and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are being consolidated into the Cabinet Office from 1 April to support the work of the Geospatial Commission."
Geospatial Commission – who and what
A landing page for the Geospatial Commission was created on GOV.UK in December 2018.
The geospatialcommission.co.uk, geospatialcommission.com and geospatialcommission.org web domains were registered on 22/11/2017 by a person linked to the Council of the AGI (see below). The domain registrations were made private shortly afterwards and now appear to have expired.
The Commission started a Twitter account in March 2019, @GeospatialC, and began tweeting from it at the end of April 2019. (The earlier @GeospatialDC account is not an official channel.)
The central email contact point for the Geospatial Commission is geospatialcommission@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
UKGI executive director Richard Callard co-led the team that set up the Geospatial Commission, according to UKGI's website.
William Priest was the first Director of the Geospatial Commission at Cabinet Office. Steve Brandwood of GeoPlace reported in March 2018 that Priest "has been appointed as the First Commissioner in his capacity as Director of the Geospatial Commission Unit". Brandwood also reported that Thalia Baldwin had been appointed as Deputy Director. According to her Linkedin profile Baldwin was previously Head of Digital Policy at HM Treasury.
In June 2019 the Geospatial Commission announced that Thalia Baldwin would replace William Priest as Director, from 1 August 2019.
Roles of two other officials were identified in an AGI summary of a breakfast briefing event in February 2018: Martin Jones, UK Earth Observations Group (Geospatial Commission: EO Team Lead) and Marcus Bell (Cabinet Office, Geospatial Commission: Open Data Projects). However as of June 2019 Bell's LinkedIn page still listed him as Director of Cabinet Office's Race Disparity Unit.
The recruitment notice in February 2018 indicated some short-term activities for the Geospatial Commission:
The Commission's first responsibility is to develop and implement the UK's first Geospatial Strategy, basing it on strong analysis and identification of clear opportunities for the public and private sectors. In the short term, this is likely to include:
The same notice said there would be "around eight Commissioners drawn from the private, public, and third sectors" and that the Commission will meet around nine times a year. The appointment of Co-Chairs for a fixed term of three years also suggests the Commission is intended to last beyond the two year period for which new funding has been announced.
According to an AGI summary of a briefing event on 22/02/2018:
The Commission's stated remit has subsequently evolved; see the About page on GOV.UK.
Oceanwise has published slides from an overview of the Geospatial Commission presented by Martin Jones to a marine data workshop in late November 2018.
On 19/12/2018 Cabinet Office announced the appointments of Sir Andrew Dilnot as Chair of the Geospatial Commission and Nigel Clifford as Deputy Chair. Both appointments were for three years starting in January 2019. Dilnot was chair of the UK Statistics Authority from 2012 to 2017. Clifford was chief executive of Ordnance Survey from 2015 to 2018.
In January 2021 Sir Andrew Dilnot stepped down as Chair and Cabinet Office launched a new recruitment campaign for the Chair's role (link expired).
Sir Andrew Dilnot, 27/02/2019: The role of geospatial data in a modern, digital economy
Nigel Clifford, 20/03/2019: Geospatial a foundational technology for our data-driven future
Bomi Okuyiga, 31/10/2019: What is the geospatial data market, and where can I find it?
Geospatial Commission – recruitment notices
On 23/02/2018 Cabinet Office published a recruitment notice to appoint Co-Chairs for the Geospatial Commission by the end of March 2018. The notice was removed on 26/02/2018 and republished on 27/02/2018 with minor changes. (Archived copies: notice + annexes.) The process for recruiting the Co-Chairs has been delayed but interviews were reportedly held on 19 and 20 April 2018.In early April 2018, Cabinet Office advertised for a Head of Communications and Engagement for the Geospatial Commission. The advertisement appeared on the Civil Service Jobs site for existing civil servants only. Fiona Booth was subsequently appointed in this role.
Additional Geospatial Commission posts were advertised publicly by Cabinet Office in April 2018:
Head of Commercial Geospatial Contracts (link expired)
Commercial Geospatial Contract Manager (two posts) (link expired)
Project Portfolio Manager (link expired)
Project Delivery Lead (two posts) (link expired)
and in May 2018:
Secretariat (link expired)
Policy Analyst, Partner Body strategy (link expired)
Joe Cuddeford was subsequently appointed as Head of Secretariat.
In May 2018 Cabinet Office also re-ran a competition for appointment of one of the Geospatial Commission Co-Chairs (now removed).
Further staff posts were advertised by Cabinet Office in June 2018:
Head of Public Sector Geospatial Policy (link expired)
Digital Communications and Events (link expired)
Commercial Geospatial Contract Manager - Band B2 (link expired)
Commercial Geospatial Contract Managers - Band B1 (link expired)
July 2018:
Band B2 - Geospatial Project Delivery Lead (two posts) (link expired)
Band A - Geospatial Project Portfolio Manager (link expired)
Band A - Head of Finance (link expired)
Band B2 - Senior Finance Adviser (link expired)
Band B2 - Senior Communications Officer (link expired)
Band B2 - Business Manager (link expired)
Communication Officer (link expired)
and August 2018:
Band B2 - Policy Advisor (link expired)
At the end of August 2018 Cabinet Office advertised again for a single Chair (link expired), along with a recruitment notice for five Independent Commissioners (link expired) who will not be civil servants or affiliated with any of the Commission's partner bodies. (Archived copies: notice + candidate brief.)
The candidate brief set out the membership of the Board of Commissioners as:
Further posts, including a newly created Deputy Director role, were advertised in September 2018:
Band A - PMO Manager (link expired)
Deputy Director (link expired)
Band B - Project Management Officer (PMO) (link expired)
Band B1 - Executive Assistant to the Commissioners and Corporate Governance Support (link expired)
October 2018:
Band B2 - Executive Assistant and PMO Support to the Geospatial Commission (link expired)
Economic Analyst (short-term contract) (link expired)
November 2018:
Band B1 - Diary Manager/Team Assistant (link expired)
and December 2018:
Band B2 - Geospatial Project Delivery Lead - Innovation (link expired)
Band B1 - Geospatial Project Management Office Support (link expired)
Band BA - Head of Portfolio Management Office (link expired)
On 19/12/2018 Cabinet Office announced the appointments of Sir Andrew Dilnot as Chair of the Geospatial Commission and Nigel Clifford as Deputy Chair. Dilnot was chair of the UK Statistics Authority from 2012 to 2017. Clifford was chief executive of Ordnance Survey from 2015 to 2018.
In March 2019 geographer Bob Barr said in a tweet that he understood that no candidates from the first recruitment round for the Geospatial Commission have been appointed, and that the person specification may be changed and a new recruitment round [for independent commissioners] carried out.
At the end of the month Cabinet Office did indeed relaunch a competition for "up to four Commissioners from a range of backgrounds". The competition closed for applications on 06/05/2019 and has been removed from the Public Appointments site. According to the timeline the panel sift was scheduled for 14/05/2019 and the final interview date for 06/06/2019, with the announcment date was "TBC".
At the end of March 2019 Cabinet Office also advertised an additional senior post (at SCS Pay Band 2), for a "Commission Director" to lead the Geospatial Unit. This was the Director post, replacing William Priest, to which Thalia Baldwin was appointed from August 2019:
Commission Director for Geospatial Unit (link expired)
An organogram in the information pack for this post indicated there were 48 staff in Cabinet Office's Geospatial Unit.
Further posts were advertised in May 2019:
Band B2 - Policy Advisor (link expired)
and July 2019:
Band A Plus - Geospatial Commission: Head of Major Projects (link expired)
Deputy Director Strategy Geospatial Commission (link expired)
Band B2 - Geospatial Project Delivery Lead (two posts) (link expired)
Further staff posts were advertised in August 2019:
Band A - Geospatial Senior Projects Manager (two posts) (link expired)
Band B2 - Geospatial Commercial Contract Manager (link expired)
Band B2 - Campaigns Manager (link expired)
and September 2019:
Band B2 - Infrastructure Policy Advisor (link expired)
In September 2019 Abigail Page joined the Geospatial Commission as International Adviser. Page was previously chair of the Association of Geographic Information (AGI).
Further staff posts were advertised in November 2019:
Band B2 - Senior Business Analyst (link expired)
Band A - Senior Geospatial Contract Manager (link expired)
Band B2 - Geospatial Governance Manager (link expired)
December 2019:
Band A - Head of Secretariat (link expired)
January 2020:
Band B - PMO and Benefits Manager (link expired)
Band A Plus - Head of Policy and International (link expired)
February 2020:
Band B2 - Secretariat and Policy Officer (link expired)
Band A Plus - Head of Geospatial Data Contracts (link expired)
Band B2 - Project Manager (link expired)
March 2020:
Band B2 Plus - Public Sector Geospatial Commercial Manager (link expired)
April 2020:
HEO - Project Manager / PMO Lead (two posts) (link expired)
May 2020:
HEO - Risk and Assurance Manager (link expired)
June 2020:
Grade 6 - Head of Innovation and Skills (link expired)
Grade 7 - Innovation Lead (link expired)
Grade 7 - Senior Data and Standards Adviser (link expired)
Grade 7 - International Lead (link expired)
Deputy Director, Commercial and Operations (link expired)
July 2020:
Band SEO - B2+ - Benefits Manager (link expired)
Grade 6 - Head of Geospatial Data Contracts (link expired)
HEO - Policy Officer, Public Sector Governance Team (link expired)
SEO - Policy Officer, Public Sector Governance Team (link expired)
Grade 7 - Senior Geospatial Contract Manager - Band A (link expired)
August 2020:
SEO - International Policy Advisor (link expired)
December 2020:
SEO - Location Data Ethics Lead (link expired)
Grade 6 - Head of Data & Standards (link expired)
January 2021:
Chair of Geospatial Commission (link expired)
April 2021:
Geospatial Commission, Commissioner (link expired)
Finance Analyst (link expired)
Portfolio Management Office (PMO) Support Officer (link expired)
May 2021:
Grade 6 Head of Analysis (link expired)
SEO Policy Roles x 2 (Net Zero and Infrastructure, Data Strategy) (link expired)
June 2021:
Grade 7 Skills & Capabilities Policy Lead (link expired)
Public Sector Geospatial Agreement Contract Lead - G7 (link expired)
July 2021:
Deputy Director, National Underground Assets Register (link expired)
SEO Innovation Manager (link expired)
SEO Senior Data & Standards Analyst (two posts) (link expired)
NUAR Head of Data Operations (Grade 7) (link expired)
NUAR Onboarding Lead (Grade 7) (two posts) (link expired)
NUAR Head of Product Delivery (Grade 6) (link expired)
August 2021:
NUAR Head of Data Operations (re-advertised) (link expired)
Project Manager - SEO - Implementation Team (link expired)
Project Manager (link expired)
NUAR Onboarding Manager - SEO (link expired)
Onboarding Lead - National Underground Asset Register (link expired)
NUAR Onboarding Manager - SEO (two posts) (re-advertised) (link expired)
Future Models Analyst - SEO (link expired)
Project Manager - HEO (link expired)
September 2021:
Deputy Head of the Secretariat and Business Management (link expired)
October 2021:
NUAR Onboarding Specialist - SEO (link expired)
Onboarding Lead - National Underground Asset Register (Grade 7) (re-advertised) (link expired)
Future Models Analyst - SEO (re-advertised) (link expired)
SEO Senior Policy Officer, Data Innovation (link expired)
SEO Senior Data & Standards Analyst (two posts)(re-advertised) (link expired)
and November 2021:
In July 2019 the Geospatial Commission announced the appointment of four independent commissioners: Dame Kate Barker, Kru Desai, Edwina Dunn OBE and Dr Steve Unger.
In the same announcement the Geospatial Commission identified the two commissioners nominated by the six partner bodies to represent them: Michael Mire and Steve Blair. Mire is chair of the Land Registry board and Blair is the CEO of Ordnance Survey. More recently the partner bodies have been represented by BGS director Karen Hanghøj and Steve Blair.
Kate Barker left the Board at the end of May 2021. In July 2021 the Geospatial Commission announced a new commissioner, Alexandra Notay.
The Board of Commissioners met for the first time on 25/07/2019. Minutes of that meeting were published in September 2019. To date minutes of 29 meetings have been released: July 2019, August 2019, September 2019, October 2019, November 2019, December 2019, February 2020, March 2020, May 2020, July 2020, September 2020, November 2020, January 2021, March 2021, May 2021, July 2021, October 2021, November 2021, January 2022, March 2022, May 2022, July 2022, September 2022, November 2022, January 2023, April 2023, July 2023, and October 2023.
Early Cabinet Office involvement
Cabinet Office is a ministerial department that ostensibly co-ordinates and supports the work of other departments to deliver Government policy.
Marcus Bell from Cabinet Office gave a short presentation on the Geospatial Commission and discussions around OS MasterMap at the Defra Geography Forum on 08/02/2018.
William Priest, then Chief Executive of the Geospatial Commission at Cabinet Office, delivered a keynote speech to a seminar at the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing on 28/02/2018 (tweet 1, tweet 2).
Roles of two other officials were identified in an AGI summary of a breakfast briefing event in February 2018: Martin Jones, UK Earth Observations Group (Geospatial Commission: EO Team Lead) and Marcus Bell (Cabinet Office, Geospatial Commission: Open Data Projects). However as of December 2018 Bell's LinkedIn page still listed him as Director of Cabinet Office's Race Disparity Unit.
As originally announced in a recruitment notice, Cabinet Office has set up a Geospatial Unit to act as the secretariat, support development of analysis, and help co-ordinate delivery of the Commission's recommendations.
William Priest delivered a talk on 'Unlocking the value of geographic data' at the GeoPlace annual conference on 10/05/2018. However it seems not to have contained any newsworthy information. Slides and audio from the talk were published by GeoPlace in September:
Steve Brandwood via GeoPlace, 20/09/2018: Post conference feedback from local authority Address and Street officers to the Geospatial Commission
Priest also delivered a keynote talk at the GEO Business 2018 trade event in May. The talk was "extremely well received" according to a GEO Business press release. It was also mentioned in a blog post by Geoff Zeiss:
Geoff Zeiss, 28/05/2018: UK's Geospatial Commission could play a role in the digital transformation of construction
An interview with William Priest was published by the Global Government Forum in October.
William Priest gave a lecture on the Geospatial Commission at RICS HQ on 16/10/2018.
William Priest presented an update on the Geospatial Commission to a public sector audience at the GeoPlace annual conference on 09/05/2019: slides + audio.
Open Data Institute (ODI) involvement
The Open Data Institute (ODI) is a non-profit company, based in London, with a strong interest in open data and data infrastructure. ODI was founded in 2012 and has been substantially funded by Government to deliver a range of projects and services. ODI also has a network of affiliated local nodes in the UK and other countries.
Several ODI nodes ran geospatial user workshops in February "in collaboration with ODI HQ and the Cabinet Office team … to engage with small businesses, startups and other data users who can help provide insight into the challenges faced with using MasterMap in its current form and in its current pricing and licensing scheme":
Gregory Marler via OpenStreetMap UK, 24/02/2018: Feedback on OS MasterMap sought at geospatial user workshops
Association of Geographic Information (AGI) involvement
The Association of Geographic Information (AGI) is a membership organisation that represents the interests of the UK's geographic information (GI) industry.
AGI's Chair met with an UKGI representative, apparently in late September or early October 2017, to discuss the Conservative Party manifesto statement on land data, according to an AGI newsletter published 12/10/2017.
AGI welcomed the announcement of the Geospatial Commission in a blog post on 22/11/2017.
AGI organised a breakfast briefing on 22/02/2018 for invited members (in particular vendors and suppliers) "to discuss the scope, logistics, and potential for the Commission's outcomes". The event was chaired by Dr Mike Short, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of International Trade. AGI has published a short summary of the event and made a longer summary available to AGI members.
As trailed in AGI's April newsletter, Abigail Page chaired a panel session at the GEO Business 2018 trade event in May on "how geospatial can enable the growth of the economy and the role of the Geospatial Commission".
Blog posts
Abigail Page via GIS Professional, 20/12/2017: Geo Momentum
Abigail Page via GIS Professional, 31/01/2018: The AGI is all about Collaboration
Steve Brandwood via GeoPlace, 14/03/2018: The Geospatial Commission – don't miss the big opportunity
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) involvement
The Boston Consulting Group is a US management consulting firm that operates worldwide.
On 06/09/2017 the Crown Commercial Service awarded BCG a £554k contract for "provision of consultancy support regarding geospatial data" to UKGI over the period from 07/09/2017 to 16/11/2017.
For commentary on the contract documents please see this blog post:
Owen Boswarva, 03/02/2018: BCG awarded £554k contract for consultancy support prior to announcement of Geospatial Commission
It seems likely that unpublished deliverables from BCG's work on this contract provided the basis for the annual "up to £11 billion of extra value" figure in the Commission announcement press release and the "more than £10 billion per annum" figure in John Manzoni's Civil Service transformation speech. The £11 billion figure was the subject of FOI requests from Christopher Roper and Owen Boswarva, both refused on the basis that the information is intended for future publication "later this year".
In December BCG was awarded a further contract of £1.7m for financial consultancy on the Geospatial Commission's 'MasterMap Options Project'. This contract ran from 01/01/2018 to 01/06/2018. The contract document has not been published.
Additional blog postsOwen Boswarva, 29/06/2018: BCG awarded more than £2.2m in consultancy contracts for Geospatial Commission work
PUBLIC involvement
In January 2019 the Geospatial Commission awarded a £95,000 contract to Public Group International Limited, which trades as PUBLIC (@PUBLIC_Team on Twitter), for research on "key emerging digital technologies" in relation to geospatial data.
PUBLIC's "persons of significant control" are venture investor Alex de Carvalho and former Cameron advisor Daniel Korski.
According to the Geospatial Commission's Annual Plan for 2019 - 2020, it is working with PUBLIC on "an overview of the investment landscape for geospatial technologies in the UK, with findings published in summer 2019."
Future Technologies Review, a report commissioned by the Geospatial Commission from PUBLIC, was published at the end of August 2019 along with a press release.
Blog postsPUBLIC, 15/06/2019: Our New Work for the Geospatial Commission: A Geospatial Technology Review
PUBLIC via Geospatial Commission blog, 28/08/2019: The future is bright for geospatial technologies
PUBLIC, 28/08/2019: Five Companies Transforming the Geospatial Sector
OS Open MasterMap
In June 2018 the Government announced a series of measures related to OS MasterMap, including a plan to release property extents data under the Open Government Licence. The measures were described in a narrative with some additional detail in an Ordnance Survey FAQ, and in press releases from Cabinet Office and from Ordnance Survey. The Government estimated that "opening OS MasterMap in this way will release around £130m to the UK Economy" every year.
AGI hosted a webinar on Open MasterMap on 25/06/2018 with a briefing on the June announcement and a Q&A session with representatives from Ordnance Survey and the Geospatial Commission. There was little new information, but we learned that the Geospatial Commission would run a public consultation (not necessarily on MasterMap) later in the summer.
Cabinet Office and Ordnance Survey refused in a FOI response to release information held that explains how the figure of £130m was estimated.
In July 2018 Ordnance Survey published a £6 million contract notice for a Technology Platform and Production Development Framework. The contract end date is August 2021.
In July 2018 also Ordnance Survey launched a three-month trial of OS Open Zoomstack, a "comprehensive vector basemap showing coverage of Great Britain at a national level, right down to street level detail". The trial, based on use of existing OS OpenData products, was presented as a "fantastic opportunity to test how we approach the development of Open MasterMap recently announced by the Geospatial Commission". In October 2018 Ordnance Survey announced that it would invest in making OS Open Zoomstack a supported product.
Also in October 2018 Ordnance Survey published an update on its "Open MasterMap" plans. The update includes a proposed implementation programme delivery plan and a list of six proposed APIs:
The update also included the following statement: "We're planning to release proposed Alphas for USRN plus geometry this month. Property Extents will be released in December, and UPRN plus geometry in early 2019." However this statement was removed from the webpage a few days later.
According to an interview with then Geospatial Commission chief executive William Priest, published in October 2018, the Geospatial Commission and OS have "set up a joint steering group, with the goal of presenting HM Treasury with the business case for giving away more MasterMap data", and the Commission would cover a "good proportion" of the resulting "revenue erosion".
In January 2019 representatives of GeoPlace presented a report to a meeting of the Local Government Association's IDeA Company Board; the report "comprised a detailed analysis of the opportunities and risks of opening up the UPRN and USRN and the summary results of a consultation held with local authorities." The Board agreed the recommendations set out in the report. However the report and recommendations, and the Board's discussion, have all been treated as "confidential".
Draft minutes from the IDeA Company Board's meeting in November 2019 (link to mirror) indicated that a funding deal to "open up" the UPRNs and USRNs had been reached with the Geospatial Commission, "subject to final written agreement". The draft minutes were made public on the LGA website but placed behind a login, along with other minutes from the IDeA Company Board, shortly after Owen Boswarva tweeted extracts.
In early April 2020 the Geospatial Commission confirmed that UPRN and USRN datasets would be released under the Open Government Licence, and also announced a new ten-year Public Sector Geospatial Agreement with Ordnance Survey. Ordnance Survey published further details of these plans on its website.
In the detail underlying these announcements Ordnance Survey stated on its website that the Geospatial Commission had "decided that OS should not release a property extents dataset under OGL, but deliver this element of the policy by removing OS restrictions on PSGA members publishing their authoritative data under these terms." Effectively the Government has reneged on the 2017 Budget commitment to release a property extents dataset, created from OS MasterMap Topography Layer, as open data. However, on the basis of OS's new policy on property extents, HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland confirmed that INSPIRE Index Polygons for England, Wales and Scotland would be published under the Open Government Licence from 1 July 2020.
According to contract award notices published in May 2020, the Government will pay Ordnance Survey £962,939,000 over the ten years of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement, with a further £15,750,000 to Royal Mail for extension of the Public Sector Licence (PSL) for use of the Postcode Address File. Cabinet Office has also awarded a £68,000 contract to KPMG for monitoring and impact evaluation of the PSGA.
A copy of the PSGA contract was made public in September 2021 via a contract award notice.
In July 2020 Ordnance Survey launched the OS Data Hub and released four identifier datasets (UPRNs, USRNs, and TOIDs with related geometry) as new open data products. Registers of Scotland and HM Land Registry also applied the Open Government Licence to re-use of the INSPIRE Index Polygons.
Blog postsOwen Boswarva, 03/06/2018: What's happening with MasterMap and the Geospatial Commission?
Open Data Institute, 13/06/2018: Ordnance Survey and other data stewards must innovate to keep up with the private sector
AGI, 13/06/2018: Response to OS MasterMap update by Geospatial Commission
Owen Boswarva, 13/06/2018: Something is happening with MasterMap
Owen Boswarva, 24/06/2018: Questions for the Geospatial Commission about "Open" MasterMap
Owen Boswarva, 26/06/2018: Points from this week's AGI webinar on "Open" MasterMap
Owen Boswarva, 29/06/2018: BCG awarded more than £2.2m in consultancy contracts for Geospatial Commission work
Caroline Robinson of Clear Mapping Co, 03/07/2018: What is the Geospatial Commission? How will it impact businesses?
Adi Gaskell, 20/07/2018: Ordnance Survey Release MasterMap Data To The Public
GeoPlace LLP, 26/07/2018: Drones, robots and automobiles – a data journey
Ordnance Survey, 11/02/2019: Opening up OS MasterMap data
Ordnance Survey, 12/06/2019: OS Data Hub
Ordnance Survey, 02/08/2019: Opening up MasterMap
Open Data Institute, 03/04/2020: The Public Sector Geospatial Agreement: there's still more to do to unlock the value of the UK's geospatial data
Owen Boswarva, 10/05/2020: Opening up OS MasterMap: are we any closer to open data on property extents?
Owen Boswarva, 17/05/2020: Will Land Registry release the INSPIRE Index Polygons as open data or not?
Leigh Dodds, 29/05/2020: More must be done to realise the value of geospatial data
Call for evidence
In mid-August 2018 the Cabinet Office published a call for evidence on behalf of the Geospatial Commission. The public deadline for responses was 24/10/2018.
The call for evidence included a Charter and Framework for the Commission, and was accompanied by an "initial analysis of the potential geospatial economic opportunity" that provides a high-level breakdown of the £11bn estimate in the Autumn Budget announcement.
Cabinet Office also noted that commissioners were "expected to be appointed later this year" and the Geospatial Commission is "due to publish its first annual plan next Spring."
The Geospatial Commission scheduled a series of workshops related to the call for evidence, at PSMA regional events hosted by Ordnance Survey:
Birmingham, 18/09/2018
London, 27/09/2018
Cardiff, 11/10/2018
Manchester, 16/10/2018
York, 18/10/2018
There was also an evening reception at HM Treasury on 10/10/2018 and a Northern Ireland event in Belfast on 15/10/2018.
Two days after the call for evidence closed, the "Digital Secretary" met "tech leaders" at a Geospatial Tech Breakfast in Downing Street.
In March 2019 James Kavanagh, director of the RICS Land Group, said in a blog post that RICS had "recently hosted the Geospatial Commission, Policy Lab UK and experts from the partner bodies & agencies who spent a full day debating and interrogating the enormous amount of information and commentary submitted during the recent 'call for evidence'." (Policy Lab UK is a "small team of policy-makers, departmental secondees and subject experts" based at the Cabinet Office.)
Blog postsAGI, 13/08/2018: Success depends on collaboration
Ordnance Survey, 15/08/2018: OS welcomes UK government's call for evidence to be a geospatial world leader
Owen Boswarva, 09/09/2018: UK address data: a primer and bibliography
Owen Boswarva, 17/09/2018: The 'golden thread' – why do we have so many property identifiers?
GeoPlace LLP, 27/09/2018: Persistent and well-behaved identifiers
James Kavanagh, 25/03/2019: New Opportunities for Geospatial
Ben Dorgan of Policy Lab, 24/06/2019: Evidence islands, continents and ravines: exploring challenges for the Geospatial Commission
Alan Smith via FT Data, 12/09/2018: Why spatial data is on the UK political map
According to an interview with William Priest published in December 2018, the Geospatial Commission received 220 responses to the call for evidence.
At the end of April 2019 the Geospatial Commission published the collected responses to the call for evidence, alongside its Annual Plan for 2019 - 2020.
On 24/05/2019 Cabinet Office republished the collection of responses, with redactions to the Knight Frank submission. (The original document remains available from the National Archives web archive.)
The following responses were also published by the submitters:
AGI, 25/10/2018: Response to Call for Evidence by Geospatial Commission
Owen Boswarva, 28/10/2018: Response to the Geospatial Commission's call for evidence on a National Geospatial Strategy
OpenStreetMap UK, 28/10/2018: Our response to Geospatial Commission call for evidence
NAEA Propertymark, 30/10/2018: Call For Evidence Response
Survey4BIM, 31/10/2018: Two responses (simple and detailed)
Socitm, 05/11/2018: Policy Briefing - Harnessing geospatial information – the local dimension (email required to read)
MRS Census and Geodemographics Group, 07/11/2018: Call for Evidence Response
Open Data Institute, 13/11/2018: Geospatial data is infrastructure: our response to the UK's National Geospatial Strategy
RICS, 16/11/2018: The Way Forward with the Geospatial Commission (summary of RICS response by James Kavanagh)
Ordnance Survey, 24/11/2018: Our response to the Geospatial Commission's call for evidence
OSGeo:UK, 24/11/2018: Response to the Geospatial Commission's call for evidence
Paul Unger via PlaceTech, 29/05/2019: Industry calls for clarity on geospatial data
The UK Geospatial Data Strategy
The Geospatial Commission launched the UK's Geospatial Data Strategy 2020-2025 on 16 June 2020. There was also a press release, and a video of the launch event is available.
In November 2020 the Geospatial Commission published a market study on UK location data, commissioned from Frontier Economics. The contract value was £255,450. Former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell has been non-Executive Chairman of Frontier (Europe) since October 2013.
Geo6 exploratory projects
In October 2018 Cabinet Office published a press release announcing that the Geospatial Commission would invest £5 million to "help unlock the value of geospatial data held by its six expert Partner Bodies." In a related announcement UKHO said that the partners would deliver four "exploratory projects":
In late January 2019 each of the "Geo6" partners published a "data discoverability catalogue" in a standard csv format. The individual catalogues are available as downloads accessible via links in an Ordnance Survey blog post, or as an Excel workbook collated by Owen Boswarva. A second OS blog post in April 2019 highlighted some updates.
In April 2019 the Geospatial Commission and its partner bodies launched a new single Data Exploration Licence "to harmonise and simplify access and use of geospatial data." Only five of the "Geo6" were mentioned in the announcement – VOA apparently did not participate in the project.
A contract notice published in July 2019 disclosed that the Geospatial Commission is funding a project to explore development of a digital rights management (DRM) system for geospatial data. BGS is leading on this project on behalf of the Geo6 partners. The contract has been awarded to Bloxstore.
In October 2019 the Geospatial Commission published a best practice guide on linked identifier schemes, along with a press release.
In January 2020 the Geospatial Commission published a best practice guide on search engine optimisation (SEO) for data publishers, along with a press release.
In April 2020 the Geospatial Commission published the initial version of a list of datasets used during the housing and planning process.
In June 2020 the Geospatial Commission published various other best practice guidance and tools for geospatial data managers produced by the Geo 6 partners, including a geospatial glossary.
Blog postsUK Hydrographic Office, 23/11/2018: Data Discoverability: Improving access to UK geospatial data
Ordnance Survey, 23/01/2019: Data Discoverability with Geo6
Ordnance Survey, 31/01/2019: Data Discoverability catalogues published
UK Hydrographic Office, 06/02/2019: Enhancing the UK's Core Data Asset
British Geological Survey, 07/03/2019: Increasing data exploration through a single licence
HM Land Registry, 11/03/2019: https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2019/03/11/making-it-easier-to-discover-and-use-our-data/
Ordnance Survey, 29/04/2019: Geospatial Commission Data Discoverability – making geospatial data easier to find
Hugh Phillips of Geospatial Commission, 27/01/2020: Getting the most from our national location data
Sanjay Rana of VOA, 23/04/2020: Building correlations between geospatial datasets
Crowdsourcing projects
In November 2018 the Geospatial Commission launched a £1.5m competition that aimed to fund a collection of projects "to find ways for users of a mapping app or website to take part in creating and/or maintaining geospatial datasets." There was a launch briefing in London on 03/12/2018. Geovation also ran a workshop in London on 10/12/2018.
Funding awards for ten projects were announced in April 2019.
Blog postsTreework via Geospatial Commission blog, 28/08/2019: Treework partners of winning bid, creating the world's largest tree database
VU.CITY via Geospatial Commission blog, 28/08/2019: VU.CITY bringing planning into the community
Other investments from the Geospatial Commission fund
In April 2019 the Geospatial Commission "announced its ambition to bring together the existing data on underground pipes and cables to create an Underground Assets Register." The project would start with £3.9 million pilot projects split between London and the North East. (See also Ordnance Survey's Project Iceberg collaboration.) Cabinet Office claimed in a related animation posted on social media that a new underground map could deliver £245m per year of value to UK.
In May 2019 the Scottish Government announced Geovation Scotland, a collaboration between Ordnance Survey and Registers of Scotland on a funded accellerator that would "provide a dedicated hub to incubate new start-ups in Scotland, and utilise digital data sources to benefit the Scottish economy." This venture will be based in Edinburgh and has unspecified support from the Geospatial Commission.
Blog postsHolger Kessler via Geospatial Commission blog, 18/12/2019: Getting under the surface of our National Underground Assets Register (NUAR) team
Geoff Zeiss, 16/01/2020: UK pilots demonstrate secure platform for sharing information about underground utility networks
Holger Kessler via the Pipeline Industries Guild's YouTube channel, 29/04/2020: Preparing for a National Underground Asset Register (NUAR): Update, April 2020