Individuals and organisations using geospatial data to drive sustainable development for the future have been recognised at the Geospatial Innovation Awards ceremony held in London.
The awards are presented by Geovation, the open innovation hub of the United Kingdom’s Ordnance Survey (OS), and are international in nature, with this year’s iteration attracting 128 entries from 27 countries.
Australia’s very own Australian Spatial Analytics was one of those singled out for praise, receiving a highly commended acknowledgement in the Contribution to Diversity category.
The standard five award categories are inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with two others added this year: Scottish Geospatial Tech, sponsored by Geovation Scotland, and Contribution to Diversity, which recognises the importance of inclusivity.
The judges for the awards were drawn from a global cohort of experts, industry leaders and government departments, and organisations such as the World Health Organisation and HM Land Registry.
The following is a list of the winning and highly commended entries:
Cities of the Future: Recognising solutions that shape the urban landscapes of tomorrow.
- Winner: Advanced Infrastructure (LAEP+) — building geospatial tools for utilities and cities to deliver the energy transition.
- Highly Commended: MapMortar — a platform for achieving accurate, financially de-risked and simplified net zero retrofits.
Nature and Environment: Honouring innovations that protect our planet and biodiversity.
- Winner: University of Surrey Space4Nature — a three-year project that combines satellite imagery, AI and citizen science to map, connect and restore wildlife habitats across Surrey, fostering open research in biodiversity conservation.
- Highly Commended: Maya Climate — an AI-powered geospatial analysis platform that automates the process of site screening, prospecting and risk assessment for teams developing, financing or advising on nature-based solutions, thereby accelerating decision-making and project qualification.
Protection of Life: Celebrating technologies that safeguard lives.
- Winner: ProxyAddress — a UK-based social enterprise that uses redundant address data from empty homes to connect those facing homelessness with the services they need.
- Highly Commended: OneSoil Pro — an advanced precision farming platform that leverages up to seven years of satellite imagery to analyse individual fields, taking into account NDVI, soil brightness and elevation maps. It enables users to determine productivity zones, create prescription maps, conduct field trials and analyse their results, thereby maximising the return on investment on expensive inputs.
- Highly Commended: Safepoint — creating life-saving innovations for thousands of consumers, small businesses and institutions.
Contribution to Diversity: Applauding initiatives that foster inclusion in the geospatial industry.
- Winner: Women+ in Geospatial — a global network of over 5,500 women and nonbinary people in the geospatial field that promotes diversity and inspires, unites and empowers its members to grow personally and professionally through networking, career development, events and mentorship.
- Highly Commended: Australian Spatial Analytics — a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides professional geospatial and digital engineering data services, while creating career opportunities for young neurodivergent adults, thereby fostering diversity in the digital ecosystem.
Scottish Geospatial Technology: Showcasing the best of Scottish geospatial innovation.
- Winner: EmergencyLocate — supporting emergency, search and rescue organisations to rapidly and accurately locate people in need of assistance.
- Highly Commended: Rethink Carbon — an automated land management platform that integrates data science and AI, providing land managers with tools to assess, map and report on natural capital, and unlock new revenue streams through sustainable practices.
“These awards are a great way to demonstrate the role geospatial can play in tackling some of the most important global challenges we face and an excellent way to grow the use of geospatial data,” said Nick Bolton, Chief Executive Officer of Ordnance Survey.
“It was amazing and very inspiring to see such an impressive line-up of nominees.”
