Asset Data

Definition

Asset Data in the context of Spatial Finance is the ownership information (e.g. company name) and the geospatial information that defines the location of a commercial asset, i.e. real estate, a field, a mine, a factory, a powerline.

Asset data come with additional information about each asset, called ‘attributes’. Asset datasets vary significantly in information, some carry the minimum, ownership and geospatial coordinates (longitude, latitude). Others define 100s of attributes such as capacity, age, type, production, commodity, royalty holders, parent company, tickers, dates.

Asset datasets may be Open Risk Data or proprietary / closed, with closed data only accessible to approved users, often behind a paywall. Some industries have long-established commercial asset datasets, developed and maintained by commercial business intelligence providers in response to demand. Such global datasets exist for mining, oil and gas, shipping, fishing and power plants. Where no market exists for a global dataset, as for example with agriculture, large-scaled asset datasets remain undeveloped. Currently there are no systems in place that enable asset data exchanges between commercial actors.