Can AI make long-term decisions on land use?
The Geospatial Commission has teamed up with the Alan Turing Institute to explore the role that artificial intelligence can play in long-term decisions about how to use land.
Together the pair will investigate whether advances in spatial data science and technologies, such as AI, can bring to life the opportunities and trade-offs surrounding land use change.
The partnership is the latest in a growing level of investment in AI by the government, including the recently announced doubling of its investment in the Alan Turing Institute to £100m.
The Geospatial Commission has teamed up with the Alan Turing Institute to explore the role that artificial intelligence can play in long-term decisions about how to use land.
Together the pair will investigate whether advances in spatial data science and technologies, such as AI, can bring to life the opportunities and trade-offs surrounding land use change.
The partnership is the latest in a growing level of investment in AI by the government, including the recently announced doubling of its investment in the Alan Turing Institute to £100m.
The institute has created an AI-powered tool which it believes could support local authority planners in deciding how to use their land and unlock opportunities for multifunctional land use.
Viscount Camrose, minister for artificial intelligence, said: “We face growing pressures on our limited supply of land, from the need for new housing to tackling challenges like climate change and food security. By harnessing innovative technologies like AI, we can support more effective long-term decisions about our land and ensure we are maximising its use.”
The Geospatial Commission has been working in partnership with the Institute on land use since 2022. This led to the development of a prototype tool in June 2023, which leveraged data science and AI to visualise different future scenarios for land use, in collaboration with Newcastle City Council.
The partnership is now further developing the prototype tool, incorporating national satellite data and vision foundation models for improved accuracy and analysis via AI. It is also incorporating a large language model approach, which will make the tool more accessible for non-technical users. The underlying model will be available for public download at the conclusion of the project later this spring.
Alan Turing Institute chief executive Jean Innes said: “The way we use land will be more crucial than ever in the years ahead as the UK targets economic growth and prosperity while ensuring we protect the environment and adapt to climate change.”
The partnership is a component of the Geospatial Commission’s land use programme, which is exploring how spatial data and analysis can improve our understanding of how land can be better used to balance multiple demands and deliver national policy priorities.
The Geospatial Commission published Finding Common Ground in May 2023 as part of the programme, setting out key recommendations for how the UK’s data capabilities can be enhanced to support land use decision making with a more integrated understanding of urban and rural needs.
Listen to an interview with former Geospatial Commission chief executive Thalia Baldwin and Alex Notay, who as well as being placemaking and investment director at Thriving Investments is a non-executive independent commissioner at the Geospatial Commission, here to find out more about how they are on a mission to enable better data-driven decision-making.
Image by Geralt/Pixabay
