About Accessing Data from the GeoDS

The Geographic Data Service (GeoDS) obtains, creates, maintains and supplies datasets and research platforms to a wide range of users who wish to conduct research using smart data.

Please see our main about page to learn about the Geographic Data Service, its context and focus.

If you have any queries about our data catalogue and the datasets it details, please contact us at data@geods.ac.uk.

Who can Apply for our Data?

Our key audience is UK academic researchers and students, however we aim to deliver data for all bona-fide research purposes where our agreements allow. Open datasets can be used by all with attribution. Safeguarded datasets can often be accessed by all, although it is recommended that you apply to access it on behalf of your institution, as access for independent researchers is more complex. Certain Safeguarded datasets have specific exclusions for some groups, such as commercial users or local authority users, please check the relevant record for details. All use, including commercial use, must be on a "for the public good" basis, and normally commercial gain is prohibited. Secure datasets are restricted to UK academics with an ac.uk email address.

How to Apply

To apply for Safeguarded/Secure data, please look at each individual dataset record and following the "Request Data" link there. If you require multiple datasets for a single project, please apply for them sequentially and we will join together the applications into one. If your application passed initial checks, we will send you an invitation to make a full application, which we will then review.

The complete process, from initial application to final data delivery, typically takes 1-2 months for Safeguarded datasets, or 2-4 months for Secure datasets.

Training and Ethics Stipulations

For most non-aggregated (i.e. microdata) Safeguarded datasets, and all Secure datasets, we generally require some form of safe researcher training completed by each named researcher. For these datasets, and some others, we also generally require ethics approval (or a statement of exemption) from your institution. We there is no estabilished internal ethics approval mechanism at your institution, this requirement may be waived, or we can suggest alternatives.

For such Safeguarded datasets, we generally recommend the MRC course "Confidentiality and Data Protection in Health Research" at https://bygsystems.net/mrcrsc-lms/course/view.php?id=95. For Secure datasets,

For Secure datasets, we accept ONS SRS, UKDS or similar SRT, and can book you on a UKDS SRT course if needed. You will need to spend some time completing the course and assessment, and additionally, as our lab is run by UCL's Advanced Research Computing service, they also have their own separate online data security training requirements, which we will advise you of in due course.

How the Data is Accessed

We provide data with three different tiers of access:

Open

Data which are freely available to all for any purpose following a simple registration. Products include those created and acquired by the GeoDS and products where the GeoDS have added value. We also host a number of online tutorials, these typically use our Open data. For convenience, these are shown as "Tutorial" rather than "Open" in the data catalogue.

Safeguarded

Data to which access is restricted because of license conditions, but where data are not considered ‘personally-identifiable’ or otherwise sensitive. Data is delivered to successful applicants on a time-limited basis following registration, project approval requirements, training and signing of a "user agreement" data licence by the user, their institution and UCL (acting for GeoDS).

For some Safeguarded datasets, which relate to aggregated datasets which we have produced ourselves, or where review provisions by our data partners no longer apply, and we are comfortable based on the full application description that the project does not present ethical or other concerns, we may be able to fast-track our review and delivery process.

Secure

Our Secure datasets are retained in our secure lab for data protection and/or commercial confidentiality requirements, and access is available to researchers with ac.uk email addresses, virtually through a web browser, with registration and project approval requirements, training and signing of a "user agreement" data licence by the user, their institution and UCL (acting for GeoDS).

Internal datasets

A small number of datasets cannot now be accessed by external researchers through the service, however these are retained for internal GeoDS research and data product creation.

Removed datasets

Many of the datasets that we resupply from data suppliers (as opposed to those we have created or derived ourselves) come with a time-limited upstream data licence agreement which means we are no longer able to supply them on the GeoDS Data Service once the agreements expire, and normally are required to delete all copies we hold ourselves. To facilitate academic understanding and service historic references to the data, we retain some information about these datasets.