An introduction to the Urban Big Data Centre

The Urban Big Data Centre is a research centre focussed on the use of 'smart data' or 'digital footprints data'. We explore how we can use these new forms of data to better understand our towns and cities, and to help in their planning and management.

The term ‘digital footprints’ refers to the records we all create as we go about our daily lives. We post about our views on social media or record our activities on fitness apps. We advertise a property for sale or for rent. Companies advertise job vacancies. Our mobile phones leave a trace of the places we’ve visited.

These digital footprints can be immensely valuable in helping us understand how our cities are changing and plan for their future. The sheer volumes of data let us study things in much greater detail than we could before.

But they also present a number of challenges. When we have so much detailed data, how do we ensure that individual privacy is protected? And how do we ensure that the public trust us and support the work we do with their data?

More practically, for researchers, there are big challenges in getting access to these data in the first place. Most of them are the property of private companies so we need to negotiate and pay for licences to use them. These data weren’t created for research purposes. They are by-products of other activities. How do we know which data are fit for purpose? How do we measure but also improve the quality of these data?

This is the Urban Big Data Centre’s second role. We run a national data service, providing free access for academics and others to a wide range of data collections. We also provide tools to help with the analysis of these data or to enable others to collect their own data using sensors or CCTV cameras, for example. And we provide a wide range of training, from Masters and PhD programmes to short courses and webinars.

You can find out much more about our work and about the data we hold by visiting our website at ubdc.ac.uk