Ordnance Survey International (OSI) is the first national mapping agency to join the 100 Resilient Cities platform of partners (100RC). Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, 100RC is dedicated to helping cities across the globe become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges of the 21st century. Amongst the cities that are members of 100RC are Bristol, Glasgow, Greater Manchester and London.
OSI joins a prestigious group of “Platform Partners” – a vital component of 100RC’s efforts, both providing cities with tools they need to build resilience and influencing the market as other resilience tools are developed. Current Platform Partners represent a wide array of private sector, public sector, NGO, and academic community leaders.
With more than 200 years’ experience as Britain’s national mapping agency, OSI is offering 100RC network members a critical resilience building tool that assesses how cities collect their geospatial data, and how it’s managed, distributed and utilized. Through the Geospatial Maturity Assessment, OSI will also be advising cities on improvements to their processes and technology for better, more effective geospatial data management and deployment in relation to the challenges they face.
Andy Wilson, Director of Business Development at OSI, says: “Growing populations. Increased demands on citizen services. Mounting pressure on healthcare, housing and infrastructure, are just some of the issues people and cities will face this century. To help meet these challenges and more, cities need to plan interventions using an understanding of the micro-geography of their city, and the location of all its assets. It’s the understanding of where people live, how they move around their cities and ensuring transport, waste, utilities and other essential services are delivered that is the critical base for decision makers to begin from when tackling problems, identifying risks, and measuring success. From the OSI tool, each city should gain a path to improving its data collection processes and technology for better service delivery, risk assessment, population and infrastructure management and planning.”
“In an increasingly complex and challenging world, cities need partnerships with organisations like Ordnance Survey International to withstand the shocks and stresses of the 21st century”, said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities. “By providing the Geospatial Maturity Assessment to our network of cities, OSI is leading by example, and is helping build an evidence-based global resilience movement.”
Within Great Britain, Ordnance Survey is already engaged in smart city/future proofing work with three 100RC member cities, and to help the smooth running of the London 2012 Olympics it collected geospatial data at a level of detail not previously seen in the organisation’s history.
OSI currently works with governments and national mapping agencies on four continents, and is involved with 100RC member cities Singapore, Melaka, Manama and Dubai.
Platform Partners are dedicated to providing cities with solutions that integrate big data, analytics, technology, resilience land use planning, infrastructure design, and new financing and insuring products. Other 100RC Platform Partners include Microsoft, Swiss Re, the World Bank, Mastercard, Veolia and Sandia National Laboratories.
To find out more about the Geospatial Maturity Assessment visit: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/international/geospatial-maturity-assessment.html
To find out more about 100RC visit: http://www.100resilientcities.org/
