Lisa Allen: How Ordnance Survey Data is Guiding the UK’s COVID-19 Recovery

Lisa Allen, Head of Data and Analytical Services at UK mapping
agency Ordnance Survey, reveals how its data is helping the
government respond to COVID-19


Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s state-owned mapping agency, has
a data culture that stretches back to its founding nearly 230
years ago. It supplies geospatial data and services to hundreds
of customers from insurance companies to the police and local
councils.


Innovation and data science are at the heart of everything
Ordnance Survey does, as Ordnance Survey Head of Data and
Analytical Services Lisa Allen says in this week’s episode of the
Business of Data podcast.


“We manage one of the key national data assets for Great
Britain,” Allen says. “The original purpose of [Ordnance Survey]
was to collect [data] for cartographic purposes. But actually,
now we want it to for analytical purposes.”


“The [Ordnance] Survey has been supplying data during the
outbreak and we’ve been in great demand,” she continues. “We’ve
really seen [the agency] come into its own.”
The Data Informing the UK’s COVID-19 Response

Thanks to its long heritage, Ordnance Survey boasts a world-class
approach to geospatial data science. Its data stores contain more
than 500 million geographical features and are updated 20,000
times a day.


Keeping such a crucial dataset up to date a huge responsibility
and requires close collaboration between data scientists and
surveyors, as well as the use of third-party data and machine
learning techniques.


The events of 2020 have underscored how vital this work is.
Thanks to the data at its fingertips, Ordnance Survey has been
able to provide the British government with data and insights
throughout the pandemic.


“COVID-19 has really shown the importance of data,” Allen
remarks. “This epidemic is about, ‘Where are the outbreaks?’ And
all the information you need to know is based on location.”


“What I’ve really seen during the epidemic is the OS come into
its own,” she adds. “We’ve been asked questions about our
mapping. We’ve been asked, ‘Where are the care homes? Where are
the supermarkets? Where are the GP surgeries?’”
Lisa Allen, Head of Data and Analytics Services, Ordnance
Survey“During an emergency we’re available 24 hours a day, every
day of the year at no cost”

Ordnance Survey has a contract with the British government that
sees it provide geospatial data and location data to public
services organizations. It also provides services ranging from
providing basic maps and identifying ‘points of interest’ on them
to data matching.


“This is especially important for things like addressing,” says
Allen. “So, during the pandemic, making sure the letters went out
to the vulnerable [and] making sure those addresses were right.”


Following the news that the British government has become the
first to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine for use, an end to the
pandemic may be on the horizon. But the Ordnance Survey’s work is
far from over. The agency will continue providing world-class
data-driven services long after the crisis is over, just as it
has for hundreds of years.