Space-enabled app helps to tackle urban loneliness
A smart phone app that helps to spot socially isolated people so they can be connected to vital support has been adopted by the city of Leeds in the UK.
Workers in the community such as police officers and charity volunteers tap the app when they see signs that householders are struggling. Using satellite data, this creates a digital heat map that pinpoints where assistance may be required. Support services can then be targeted to communities most in need.
Called Care View, the app was developed by the Urban Sustainable Development Lab with the support of ESA and the UK Space Agency. It is due to be rolled out to further cities in the UK and Europe this year.
According to the Office for National Statistics, around 6% of adults in England are always or often lonely, a problem that has been exacerbated by lockdowns and stay-at-home orders imposed over the last year.
Care View aims to address this problem with the help of workers in the community. As they go about their business, they can tap the app when they notice warning signs that someone is suffering with social isolation, such as rubbish building up in the driveway or curtains that are constantly shut.
Using satellite technology, the tap generates a heat spot on a virtual map of the city. Multiple taps in the same area can be visualised using the app’s heat map, flagging up where people may need assistance.
The heat map – generated using a global system of navigation satellites – can be used to help community volunteers focus their efforts.
With the app, leaflet campaigns providing information on how to access NHS social care services, can be directed to isolated communities. By connecting people with services like counselling or housing support, the app helps to identify those in urgent need of support. Providing assistance at an early stage can prevent the need for more costly interventions later down the line.
Care View was enhanced with additional features and piloted with the support of ESA Business Applications, which is part of ESA Space Solutions.
Graham Turnock, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “Many of us have learned this year that pandemics can be lonely times, and that we all benefit from some amount of companionship. This application channels the power of space to help locate and give a helping hand to people in need of help. It may rely on satellite data, but its real power comes from the altruism of its users.
“Social support is incredibly important in times of stress, and I am delighted that this application we have backed is going to help to lift people out of solitude and isolation.”
Abhay Adhikari, founder of the Urban Sustainable Development Lab, said: “During the pandemic, the opportunity to work with teams from West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester has been a humbling experience. Everything we've learned so far will help us ensure that Care View continues to play a role in helping cities support socially isolated communities in the coming months and post-COVID recovery.”
Jon Hindley, of the Public Health Localities and Primary Care Team at Leeds City Council, said: “Care View has allowed us a window into the sometimes lonely and isolated world of vulnerable citizens within our poorest neighbourhoods. This has been the catalyst to help people we wouldn’t have otherwise known about to reconnect with their communities, improve their health and keep it that way.”
Nick Appleyard, head of ESA Space Solutions, said: "We are connected by technology more than ever. Our digital industries work to develop that connectivity further, including through satellite telecommunications, and in ESA Space Solutions we rely on it to build the digital services that enhance our personal and business lives. So it would be easy to assume that everyone is now connected all of the time.
“But that's not true, and during COVID-19 the separation of the networked and the excluded has been even more exaggerated. So I am delighted that through projects like Care View we can also use space technology to offer more support to those who are less included. The need to reach out to the less connected has never been greater."
The Urban Sustainable Development Lab is currently starting conversations with decision makers about new locations for the app’s 2021 roll out.