The OECD Laboratory for Geospatial Analysis

Location data is crucial to inform many policy decisions and to improve our quality of life. The ubiquity of location data will continue to grow as technological advancements continue to be made, and become increasingly available with our everyday use of smart devices for example. This naturally raises important ethical questions, and whilst many of which are relevant to all types of data, some remain unique to location data. This workstream will enable collaboration on location data ethics in the policy arena, and will propose a set of ethical standards and best practices on the responsible use of geospatial data and building public trust while simultaneously promoting its widespread use. It will also consider the impact, if any, of cultural relativism on location data ethics and how to mitigate the challenge of different countries having misaligned ethics guidelines.

There is an incredible need to both understand and balance the economic benefits and impacts of environmental decision making, as well as identifying the co-benefits that these initiatives can bring to local communities. Throughout this effort, there is an increased need for access to more robust data analysis tools that allow for multi-sector prioritization, standardized datasets that are relevant at the local scale, and training materials that help partners understand how to integrate environmental and economic planning. Within this workflow, we see numerous opportunities to help governments understand how environmental management interacts with and supports other priorities of economic development. The Center for Geospatial Solutions wants to help guide the development of replicable models that build strong local economies while simultaneously ensuring sustainable landscapes. We envision projects ranging from the most basic aspects of creating robust cadastral systems as a precursor to the ability to track land conservation efforts to more detailed analysis highlighting the potential economic benefits of effective land management such as sustainable resource development, tourism, carbon capture, or climate mitigation.

Having accurate data about where people live is strategic in the current age of new Development Agendas, which call for universal inclusiveness of people. However, census data quality, detail, and timeliness vary significantly across countries and hinder the use of these data for the effective measuring and monitoring of the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. This workstream aims to supplement census data by detecting and mitigating major discrepancies in official data sources through data collected by remote sensing. The goal is to provide frameworks to utilise observational data collected through remote sensing techniques in the collection and calculation of census data, while also developing best practices that can be used across countries to encourage harmonisation of census statistics.

With the advance of technology, a wealth of data from the private sector is being made available for use in the policy realm, complimenting established datasets collected by traditional governments. One of the most important aspects of effective integration of public and private datasets are clear and reproducible data governance frameworks that not only streamline and demystify the integration process, but also consider the ethical and practical issues tied to the use of utilising private data for public use. Under the banner of ‘geo-information’, this workstream aims to collect geo-data from public and private data providers, and harmonize these datasets to generate statistical insights at the aggregated grid-level to be used for territorial monitoring purposes. Harmonising data on access and usage of social infrastructures such as parks and/or libraries could be an initial step, while in later phases such data could be merged with data on the activities and spatial distribution of local business and industries. The goal is to integrate data on different spatial amenities and commercial activity to provide a framework to monitor and diagnose the well-being and liveability of places at the grid level.