The Open Data Institute has picked four local authority-run projects to receive funding of up to £25,000 each to use geospatial data to improve services, operations, or policy.

The quartet of councils will work with the ODI, which will provide support and advice during the rollout of the projects. 

The four chosen programmes are:
 

Falkirk Council
The town in the central Scottish lowlands is to create a mapping platform to help citizens and local groups find and access services and resources – such as food banks or community gardening schemes. The Fairer Falkirk project will work with geographic data specialist thinkWhere.  Local groups will be encouraged to add data to OpenStreetMap – a free global wiki mapping platform.
 

Oxfordshire County Council 
The authority will be heading a consortium that will develop an open-source tool for analysing local cycling routes, with the goal of helping design transport policy. Other organisations taking part in the project include the Oxfordshire Cycling Network, the Windrush Bike Project, and Hanborough Parish Council.
 

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
The authority is to work on a project to crowdsource data on accessibility issues across the borough. The scheme will bring together information already in the council’s possession with insights from citizens who have mobility impairments. Advocacy group Open Data Manchester will take part in the project, as will charity Age UK and local volunteer support group Disability Stockport.

Bath and North East Somerset Council
This authority will be working with Geopxhere, a provider of cloud-based geographic information systems, on a project to release more data it believes could be put to use by external parties in the community. The council will also be working with local open data group Bath:Hacked to identify which data sets might be most useful.

Each of the authorities will receive between £15,000 and £25,000 from the ODI to conduct research during the first three months of 2019. 

“These four projects show the diverse application of geospatial data, from assessing cycling routes, to mapping community kitchens,” said Leigh Dodds, head of data infrastructure at the ODI. “They will explore collaborative approaches to data collection, management and use that draw on resources and support from across the UK’s geospatial data infrastructure including, the Ordnance Survey, OpenStreetMap communities and local open data groups.”