Smart systems

In a future where vehicles and infrastructure are constantly broadcasting geospatial data, we need to ensure that privacy is maintained and data remains secure.

We are working with the EPSRC-funded PETRAS Internet of Things Research Hub to investigate how security and privacy can be managed. For example, we have been working with the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre to secure communication between connected vehicles and the enabling IoT infrastructure.

We are shaping the national infrastructure needed for the rollout of driverless cars through a project called E-CAVE (Enabling Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Environments). Through this we are examining the transfer of geospatial information between vehicles and with roadside infrastructure, particularly safety-related data.

At Ordnance Survey (OS) we’re also investigating the opportunities fleets of connected and autonomous vehicles present to provide 3D mapping of our streets and neighbourhoods, to connect to real-time services.

Mapping in the 21^st century involves 3D models of the environment connected with live information from sensors. We are working with the EPSRC Urban Observatories and the ITRC Mistral research consortium to bring together our smart buildings, utility networks and national infrastructure into a holistic, resilient system.

In the same way that the World Wide Web links documents on the internet, the linked data web allows us to publish, share and link geospatial data. The idea behind the linked data web is to use URIs (like URLs) to identify things such as people, places and organisations, and draw on web technology to provide meaningful and useful information when those URIs are searched.

We are constantly working to simplify maps at OS, and over the years have had considerable success – we can now use fully automated cartographic generalisation to generate our map products.

Our current research looks at how we can take this further. We can generalise 3D city data, to go from the full detail of buildings, supplied in Building Information Models (BIM), down to the last door handle and even model entire city energy usage.

We’re also interested in variable scale mapping where parts of the map may be more schematic than others. For example, we need a different view of the world for the bus trip than if we’re finding our way on foot to the bus stop, and then to the train. The ultimate test is to provide the appropriate geospatial information in new displays for such multi-model journeys, for instance with augmented reality headsets.