THE SCOTSMAN Thursday 7 October 2021

SCOTSMAN.COM @THESCOTSMAN

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CONFERENCE REPORT DOING DATA BETTER

Quality over
quantity is
the mantra
for success
David Lee reports on a special online event hosted by
The Scotsman discussing how to get meaningful information
from an ever-growing amount of data collected
ne of the
greatest
challenges
in handling
enormous
and ever-increasing
amounts of data is the
ability to identify what
really matters to inform
quality decision-making,
The Scotsman’s Doing Data
Better conference was told
last week.
As Dr Murray Collins, a
specialist in space satellite
data, put it: “We are
drowning in data for want
of information.”
Collins, an academic and
chief executive of Space
Intelligence, told the online
event that his company
generated terabytes of
data from satellites daily
[one terabyte equals 1,000
gigabytes].
“How are you going
to deal with this data?”
he asked. “You need
machine learning to
be able to derive useful
information for people to
make decisions on. I think
that’s the future – turning
those huge volumes of
data into information,
which addresses existing
questions, in our case, how
you manage the natural
environment.”
The discussion on Doing
Data Better to tackle
climate change was one of
four panel sessions looking
at how data can support
a range of large global
challenges, alongside
preparing for future
pandemics, addressing
financial exclusion, and
rebuilding the economy.
Introducing the
climate change session,

O

Professor Sandy Tudhope,
University of Edinburgh
lead on climate change
and sustainability, said:
“The creative use of data
is helping address both
sides of the equation,
through reduction in
emissions, and an increase
in sequestration.”
He spoke about the
“intriguing challenges” of
bringing in data together
meaningfully from hugely
diverse sources, “from
socioeconomic data to
information on land
tenure rights, to physical
and natural science data
on how plants grow and

“Withoutthatdata,
withoutthepersonal
interfaceaboutwhat
peoplereallyneed
todo,andotherways
theymightbeable
todoit,you’re
flounderingaround”

how they store carbon in
soils and above ground
biomass”.
This was highlighted
by Luke Howard, of the
Edinburgh-based Plan
Vivo Foundation, which
certifies projects in the
developing world and
provides them with carbon
credits.
He said: “We provide
confidence to the buyers of
the carbon credits that they
are of high quality, both in
terms of the carbon credits
but also that the projects
are of high quality when
it comes to helping the
environment, the climate
and local people on the
ground.
“The aim is that
buyers, by buying the
carbon credits, will send
funding to these projects
to help them move
from less sustainable
activities damaging the
environment into systems
that are more sustainable.”
This required a real
mixture of information
about land and
biodiversity, as well as
socio-economic data, he
said.
Sandy Tudhope also

stressed the need for
quality data on both
climate change and
biodiversity, as the two
often did not go together.
Collins said “consistent
and accurate information
about the world’s land
cover and changes within
that” was increasingly
vital to support naturebased solutions to climate
change.
Space Intelligence uses
mainly satellite data, but
also modelling approaches
about what is happening
on the ground, to support
a variety of projects,
including many looking at
reforestation in areas that
have been stripped of trees.
Space Intelligence is
also working closer to
home. Collins described a
mapping project working

with NatureScot, which
allowed people to look at
the landscape and make
decisions about how to act
in future.
Dr Susan Krumdieck, a
professor in the School
of Energy at Heriot-Watt
University and an
expert in transition
engineering – which
involves changing current
practices to greener
alternatives, without
necessarily using new
technology – described a
research project in New
Zealand that tried to
optimise journey times
and reduce the use of
unnecessary fuel.
The study of around 500
people suggested they
could still carry out 40 per
cent of the activities they
had planned to do using

fuel by making alternative
arrangements.
She said: “We asked
people to say which trips
were important and
necessary, then work out
how much fuel you’re
going to need over the
week, and when and where
to get that fuel. You know
you’re going to get fuel and
not panic!”
Having all this
information could help
plan car-sharing and
public transport more
efficiently, she said, adding:
“You could start to adjust
demand with pricing and
other things so you could
start to make a dent in
change.
“Without that data,
without the personal
interface about what
people really need to do,