The Geospatial Commission, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government have announced a £200,000 joint investment to set up a new Scottish Geospatial Network Integrator (SGNI).
It is aimed at enhancing the use of location based data across Scotland through building a dedicated network of geospatial organisations, improving collaboration and knowledge sharing, and developing the supply chain and signposting potential growth opportunities in the sector.
The organisations said that Scotland has a healthy geospatial sector but research by Scottish Enterprise has shown that more support is needed to encourage greater co-operation.
The brief of the SGNI will take in:
- building a community of businesses and organisations working on location based data;
- raising awareness of the Scottish geospatial sector to other economic sectors;
- signposting geospatial companies to support and economic growth opportunities;
- supporting the further development of the supply chain by identifying and bringing organisations together who can help develop geospatial technologies.
The SGNI will be run by the business Optimat.
Thalia Baldwin, Geospatial Commission director said: “Realising the UK’s national geospatial strategy requires collective effort, connecting policy, data, people and systems and today’s announcement demonstrates how we can work on shared goals with both Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government to grow Scotland’s geospatial and wider data community.”
Invaluable
Albert King, chief data officer at the Scottish Government, said: “The use of accurate location data is proving invaluable in the Scottish Government’s fight against coronavirus, exemplifying how the use of location data can help save time, money and lives.
“Scotland is already seen as a thriving and innovative place to conduct geospatial business. This initiative will help drive further investment in our world leading tech industries, which are providing high value, skilled jobs and have an important role to play in Scotland’s sustainable economic recovery.”
Image by glasgow's finest, CC BY 2.0 through flickr
