Daniel Rex, Lead Technical Consultant, Informed Solutions
The world’s infrastructure and environment are under growing pressure from climate change, urbanisation, and shifting ecological conditions. Effective asset management has never been more vital, yet many traditional approaches remain labour-intensive, reactive, and expensive.
At Informed Solutions, we believe there’s a smarter path forward. By combining cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) with geospatial intelligence, organisations can radically transform how they monitor, manage, and protect assets, particularly environmental ones. Drawing from our award-winning innovation and real-world experience, including our recent collaboration with NatureScot that secured the prestigious Association for Geographic Information (AGI) Environment and Sustainability Award, this blog explores how technology is enabling a step change in smarter, more resilient asset management.
Traditional Asset Management: Challenges That Demand Innovation
Environmental asset management, such as monitoring biodiversity, protected land, or water bodies, has historically relied on field inspections, manual data collection, and reactive decision-making.
This legacy approach faces three fundamental challenges:
- Labour-Intensive: Experts spend substantial time travelling to and manually assessing lower-priority sites, rather than using new data sources for remote monitoring to ensure on-site time focuses on higher-priority sites where their time will have the greatest impact.
- Reactive: Action is often taken only after degradation is visible, such as replanting after deforestation or responding to pollution after it spreads.
- Expensive: A recent study into the monitoring of woodland on the east cost of the United States found that remote sensing methods, in this case Sentinel-2 satellite data, cost $45 per square kilometre over 10 years versus $440 per square kilometre for traditional field sampling, a near tenfold cost reduction opportunity.
The takeaway is clear; a smarter, more proactive approach is needed, one that delivers better environmental outcomes, more efficient use of resources, and greater value from data.
How AI and Geospatial Intelligence Are Reshaping Asset Management
The combination of AI and geospatial technology is unlocking new ways to understand, manage, and act on complex environmental systems.
1. Extracting Insights from Historical Data
Large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing (NLP) can now mine thousands of historical reports to surface valuable lessons. For instance, in collaboration with NatureScot, there is an opportunity to explore how NLP can help identify within decades’ worth of management notes, which management techniques have had the most positive effect, so we can use that insight to inform planning and intervention cycles and safeguard biodiversity.
2. Remote Monitoring and Change Detection
AI analytics applied to satellite, aerial, and LiDAR imagery can more easily detect environmental change, delivering near real-time situational awareness. For example, Forestry and Land Scotland is starting to explore the use of drone imagery and AI to map the spread of highly invasive Rhododendron ponticum across Scotland and plan early interventions.
3. Predictive Modelling of Environmental Assets
From predicting flooding or habitat loss, AI-powered modelling offers foresight into future threats. For example, by integrating satellite imagery (e.g. Sentinel‑2), topographic and field‑survey data, and applying machine learning models, Natural England’s Living England programme was able to produce national-scale predictive habitat maps across England.
Case Study: Building a Smart Environmental Management Platform with NatureScot
With Scotland committed to protecting 30% of its land by 2030 (“30×30”), NatureScot faced a 66% increase in the area it must monitor, an unscalable challenge using existing tools and processes. In response, we co-developed InformedINSIGHT™, a first-of-its-kind platform that harnesses the power of data science, AI and analytics to modernise environmental asset management.
This pioneering work was recently recognised with the 2025 AGI Environment and Sustainability Award, which acknowledges the innovative, national-scale deployment of InformedINSIGHT™. This technology integrates satellite imagery, ecological data, and historical records to deliver decision-ready insights. This work is already transforming how Scotland monitors and manages its ecosystems.
Key Features of the Platform
- Ingest and Unify: Integrates data from satellites, sensors, crowd-sourcing, and decades of historical data into a unified, cloud-based system.
- Collaborate and Prioritise: Provides intelligent risk-based prioritisation maps and workflows for inspection planning and stakeholder coordination.
- Analyse and Act: Gives field and analytical teams real-time access to high-quality data and tools for evaluation and decision-making.
Joined-Up Workflows
The platform delivers an integrated experience that connects strategic, operational, and analytical roles across four key views: Prioritisation, Resource Planning, Data Collection, and Analysis.
It begins by utilising complex algorithms that leverage a diverse range of spatial and non-spatial datasets to assess risk and identify protected areas that require attention. This enables national teams to gain a clear view of current conditions, recent survey activity, and early warning signs detected through satellite and aerial data.
- Regional Leads: can allocate resources more effectively, deciding where in-person inspections are most needed and where remote data can fill gaps. This ensures survey efforts are focused for maximum impact.
- Field Teams: use mapping tools to track progress, identify coverage gaps, and respond to emerging issues as they arise. Data flows seamlessly into the platform, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.
- Analysts: benefit from immediate access to comprehensive site data, the latest imagery, and scoring models to assess ecosystem health and recommend targeted actions.
By streamlining collaboration across roles and enabling data-driven workflows, the platform reduces duplication, improves monitoring efficiency, and enhances environmental resilience. Early modelling suggests this joined-up approach could cut monitoring costs by 45-65% while expanding coverage and insight.
Implementation Considerations and Challenges
Transforming asset management through AI and Geospatial Intelligence also brings new organisational challenges that must be addressed.
- Data Quality and Availability: AI requires accurate, well-governed datasets. Real-time data streams and strong governance frameworks are essential to ensure reliable outputs.
- Legacy Systems Integration: Many organisations still run on outdated GIS and IT infrastructure. Using cloud-based platforms, API-driven integrations, and incremental migration strategies helps reduce disruption and improve scalability.
- Ethical and Regulatory Risks: From data privacy to AI bias, governance is critical. Organisations must implement robust AI governance frameworks that ensure transparency, fairness, and compliance, particularly when decisions affect individuals or sensitive environments.
What’s Next? The Future of Geospatial Intelligence
We’re just scratching the surface of what geospatial intelligence can deliver. Three areas we’re particularly excited about:
- Hyperspectral Earth Observation
New commercial satellites (e.g. Planet, Orbital Sidekick) are unlocking ultra-detailed analysis of vegetation, soil, and water quality. Combined with AI, this supports new use cases in agriculture, conservation, and land planning. - Geospatially Aware LLMs
Today’s large language models lack robust spatial reasoning. Informed Solutions is actively researching how to build next-generation geospatially capable LLMs, bridging the gap between natural language queries and geographic analysis. - Real-Time Digital Twins
Digital twins, which are virtual replicas of assets continuously updated with live data, will revolutionise infrastructure and environmental management. We are contributing to this future through our work with the Department for Business and Trade’s National Digital Twin Programme, where we are deploying platforms that help manage everything from retrofitting buildings to flood resilience planning.
Future Outlook
Geospatial Intelligence, supercharged by AI, is no longer an experimental concept. It is delivering transformative results for real-world organisations. By enabling faster, cheaper, and more targeted interventions, these technologies empower us to better protect our natural environment, optimise infrastructure use, and support a more resilient future.
At Informed Solutions, we’re proud to help lead this evolution, working in partnership with forward-thinking organisations like NatureScot to design the platforms and practices that shape a smarter world.
Do you want to explore how AI and geospatial intelligence can support smarter, greener asset management? Get in touch to see how we can help accelerate and de-risk your digital transformation. Contact Us.
