Improved data and use of location services and applications can unlock innovation across the property ecosystem, according to the UK Geospatial Commission.

In a new report, the Commission says the UK property sector — which contributes an estimated £100 billion per annum to the UK economy — is rapidly adopting new data-driven digital tools, for which location data, services and applications are vital.

The Commission says such innovations are essential for town planning and site identification to property management and retrofitting.

“The property ecosystem provides the infrastructure of where we live, work and play. However, many of our interactions with the industry from planning to buying, renting and maintenance, remain stubbornly analogue,” said Alexandra Notay, Independent Commissioner, Geospatial Commission.

“We can all see the transformative potential and multitude of opportunities for the property industry to embrace emerging technologies and digital tools empowered by location data; yet a truly systematic approach to innovation and technology across our diverse and siloed asset classes and property types has yet to emerge.”

The report — which is the first deliverable from the UK Geospatial Strategy 2030 that was published in June — spotlights some initiatives already underway and identifies further opportunities for driving innovation, such as:

• Further digitisation of the property buying and selling process and ensuring data interoperability underpins the end-to-end process.
• Growing deployment of green technologies, like solar panels, heat pumps, insulation and energy efficiency solutions, into homes by supporting a better understanding of where they could have the greatest impact.
• Improving productivity in the industry through greater re-use of location data collected and created during design and construction to reduce costs, and support better targeting and design of retrofitting interventions.

“HM Land Registry was pleased to work with the Geospatial Commission on this report which outlines the immense potential value of geospatial data for the UK economy,” said Lynne Nicholson, Head of Data, HM Land Registry.

“As one of the governmental bodies which holds significant geospatial data, HM Land Registry is committed to unlocking its value and supporting its re-use by making it more FAIR, in alignment with the UK Geospatial Strategy 2030.”