The Geospatial Commission, an agency of the UK government tasked with extracting more value from government geospatial data, has just released its Annual Plan 2021/2022. One of its top priorities is developing to develop a new data asset for the UK, the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), to drive efficiencies in infrastructure delivery across the UK and help improve worker safety. Specifically, the immediate objective is to complete procurement of the National Underground Asset Register by Summer 2021 and to complete the national implementation by 2024.
In preparation for the Invitation to Tender for NUAR released May 7, two pilots were completed in the North East of England and in central London. About 40 utility and telecom network operators and local government agencies agreed to share data for two pilots, a harmonized data model and symbology was arrived at, and a prototype online system for sharing location data over the web was developed and tested. The key achievements of the pilots were fostering a spirit of collaboration among the participants, limiting use cases to just four, implementing data protection measures and developing a prototype system.
There are many potential use cases for location data about underground assets; reducing utility damage during construction, efficiency of planning, efficiency of engineering design, efficiency of construction, data interoperability, emergency response, disaster planning, digital twins and strategic planning for smart cities to name a few. The NUAR project team decided to focus on only four.
| Use case | Value source | User need | Reason |
| Safe digging | Utility strike avoidance | Excavators need to identify all possible underground assets | So that users can dig safely without striking an underground buried asset |
| On-site efficiency | Project efficiency savings | Excavators need to identify underground asset data in a single integrated view | So that workers can easily and efficiently orientate themselves on site |
| Site planning | Project efficiency savings | Project planners need to identify the location and agreed attributes of all underground infrastructure assets | So that accurate and comprehensive plans can be made to avoid project delays |
| Data exchange | Data exchange efficiency savings | Asset owners need to share underground asset data through a central platform | So that asset owners can send and respond to data requests without maintaining their own data response systems/functions |
According to the just released plan in 2021-22, the Geospatial Commission will commence work on a production platform for NUAR. The implementation of NUAR will start by developing products for three regions, London, Wales, and the North East of England. In future years, the platform will be enhanced and rolled out nationally. It is intended that the National Underground Asset Register will provide digital access to comprehensive location and other data from the water, electricity, gas, telecommunications and transport sectors and will act as a single, standardized source of truth for use by planners and excavators.
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