Working with academics at the University of Liverpool, the Newcastle team will develop a data service to transform satellite imagery into usable data products and applied research that provide datasets and metrics that can be used to demonstrate, for example, how the natural and built environments affect wellbeing or health.

Understanding and interpreting satellite imagery requires particular skillsets that many social science and health researchers do not currently possess. The Imago Imagery Data Service will unlock the potential of satellite imagery to provide a much richer understanding of urgent challenges facing the UK. It will adopt a highly innovative approach, combining novel computing and AI methods with stakeholder collaboration to develop new data products at scale.

These new data products, along with training and research, will help address pressing issues in fields such as environmental vulnerability, urban development and housing, inequalities, and wellbeing. 

Professor Rachel Franklin, Professor of geographical analysis, Newcastle University, will co-lead the data service with Professor Daniel Arribas-Bel at the University of Liverpool.

Professor Franklin said: “Satellite imagery is a vast and untapped data resource with unique potential to help respond to a range of critical research and policy challenges in sustainability, wellbeing, and prosperity. Our data service, sitting right at the interface of imagery data providers and social science and health researchers, will provide exciting and much needed translational capacity, helping to ensure this incredibly valuable data resource is used, usable, and useful for the research communities who need it.”

The project is one of four to be announced by Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK) — a UK Research and Innovation investment in digital infrastructure, and part of an investment of £22 million in new data services, enabling researchers across the UK to access new forms of smart data.

Smart data is data generated through everyday interactions with the digital world, including via mobile apps, navigation systems, social media, and shopping. It offers a powerful opportunity to understand society and improve lives.

This investment marks a significant step forward for smart data research in the UK. With a coordinated and collaborative approach, SDR UK - part of the UKRI Infrastructure Fund - will provide a safe and efficient way to access and use smart data for public benefit. 

A strategic hub, with the ESRC, will provide leadership and coordination across these services as well as common services and ethical guidance.  

SDR UK is also championing public engagement in smart data research, ensuring that smart data research is understood and responds to people's concerns and aspirations. 

Joe Cuddeford, Director of Smart Data Research UK, said: 

“These new data services are a major step forward in our mission to unlock the power of smart data for society. By providing researchers with safe access to new data, methods and tools we are empowering them to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing the UK today, from boosting productivity to improving health outcomes.”

Stian Westlake, Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council, said: 

“This investment in a new network of smart data services helps put the UK at the forefront of data-driven innovation. Data infrastructure is as critical to our shared prosperity as transport, water or power networks. When we invest in data infrastructure we are investing in economic growth, improved public services, and a more sustainable future.”