An article exploring the opportunities and challenges of smart cities brings focus to the potential to improve sustainable development, health outcomes, transport efficiency, and quality of life in urban environments throughout the country.

In ‘Smart cities: a tool not a destination’ Dr Jennifer Schooling OBE, Director of CSIC, makes the case for extracting and exploiting the full value of data generated by infrastructure and construction to secure better outcomes for the people living in our towns and cities. Acknowledging the importance of a framework for sharing data to inform planning, design, and construction – and citing the Centre for Digital Built Britain’s Digital Framework Task Group’s The Gemini Principles – Dr Schooling also states the significance of geospatial data as “a vital component of infrastructure planning and a means by which to connect the dots across the complex puzzle of UK infrastructure networks.”

The article appears as part of a series written by leaders across business, academia and government for Ordnance Survey’s Everything Happens Somewhere campaign aimed at demonstrating the power of location data in driving economic and social benefit, and fostering discussion about how to realise these benefits.

Read the full article here. See more at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/happens