Transport and mobility

Housing and property

Labour market

Access the power of smart data

With a growing selection of both licenced data and freely available open data, you can access the transformative power of smart data through our extensive data catalogue. We can also provide a range of tools to enhance your ability to collect or analyse smart data.

News

Keep informed with the latest updates from UBDC.
IDEAMAPS network launches new platform

IDEAMAPS network launches new platform

The IDEAMAPS Network launches its Data Ecosystem platform - a new digital mapping tool to support improvements in deprived areas in Low- and Middle-Income countries.

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UBDC team wins a top award at the ACM SIGSPATIAL conference

UBDC team wins a top award at the ACM SIGSPATIAL conference

Researchers examined the 'Optimal Minimum Deployment of Electric Vehicle Charging Station Networks'.

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Indoor environment and energy use study

Indoor environment and energy use study

UBDC - in collaboration with Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study - is launching a new study to provide linked-data on energy usage and indoor environment.

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University of Glasgow

Centre of research excellence

From our base at the University of Glasgow, we capture, process and analyse vast amounts of smart data to inform our own research publications and to produce reliable and meaningful outputs on behalf of stakeholders and policymakers. 

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Our key milestones

January 2014

UK government announces a £14 million investment in the creation of the Urban Big Data Centre and two other data services, forming part of their Big Data Network. Founding Director is Professor Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah.

September 2014

The official opening of UBDC with guest speaker Sir Alan Wilson, Professor of Urban Regional Systems in the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL.

September 2015

We welcome our first students to our new MSc Urban Transport programme.

January 2016

In collaboration with Innovate UK and TravelAI, we develop the CATCH! project (Citizens at the City’s Heart) enabling people to collect and share their own data with local authorities to improve transport planning.

August 2017

UBDC’s partnership with property website Zoopla commences, providing access to data from sales and rentals for the whole of Britain.

April 2018

Professor Nick Bailey takes over as Director of UBDC.

November 2018

‘Shaping Cities through Urban Analytics' conference brings together senior stakeholders from academia, Government, industry and the third sector to celebrate UBDC’s achievements in its first 4 years.

September 2019

We welcome our first students to our new MSc Urban Analytics Programme.

September 2019

UBDC and Glasgow City Council pilot system to make anonymised counts of pedestrians and traffic from the city’s public safety CCTV system

March 2021

UBDC’s partnership with Huq starts, providing academics with access to mobile phone app data with high spatial and temporal resolution.

March 2021

UBDC’s partnership with Adzuna starts, providing access to data on millions of job listings data for the whole UK.

October 2022

The IDEAMAPS participatory data-modelling project secures over $1.5m funding from the Gates Foundation. The project will co-design and develop a participatory data-modelling ecosystem to support local stakeholders and policymakers in lower middle-income countries.

November 2023

The ‘Waterproofing Data’ project, led by Professor João Porto de Albuquerque, wins the prestigious ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize. The project combines citizen-generated data with official sources, to increase community resilience in flood-prone areas.

January 2024

UBDC celebrates its 10th anniversary!

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Strategic Partners

Upcoming events

We run a rich and varied calendar of events to providing information on our services, delivering training, and sharing outcomes from our research.

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Transforming Urban Living with AI and Digital Twins

This Turing Urban Analytics Meeting held in Glasgow will focus on Transforming Urban Living with AI and Digital Twins

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