Industry Trends and Direction: a quick look!

John Whitehead

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Technology

Applications

Professions/ Roles

Economics/ Finance

Societal Forces

Converging forces have placed geospatial

information at the center of an evolving ecosystem

Geospatial

information

Sensors

Parallel technology trends have converged to redefine what

is possible - with even more significant trends emerging

Processing Power Software Intelligence

Data Storage

Connectivity

Visualization & Interaction

Sensor Integration

Real Time

Big Data

Cloud Computing

3D Models

Sensor convergence enables a rich geospatial

data environment

Angle &

Distance

Measurement

Space & Inertial

Measurement

Photogrammetry

& Remote

Sensing

Peripheral

Sensors

Theodolites, tapes, chains EDM Total Stations 3D Scanning

Inertial Surveying Transit GPS Multi-GNSS + Inertial

Photogrammetry Airborne Scanning High Resolution Remote Sensing

Barometers, Gravimeters RFID Automotive Sensors Billions Devices/Sensors

BIG

DATA

Integrated

Mobile

Mapping

Computation &

Communications

Manual

Computation

Digital

Computation

Real Time Information

Technology applied to the geospatial world have driven

exponential changes in productivity and quality

Antiquity Current Day

“Points”

Day

The declining cost of geospatial technology

opens up new uses for high accuracy geospatial data

Time

Cost/PointAccuracy/Expenditure

$$

1X 3XAddressable Geospatial Market

Geospatial technology has evolved to

increasingly lead analysis and decision making

Agricultur

e

Heavy Civil

Construction

Construction BIM Cadastral &

Geospatial

Transportation &

Logistics

Rail Environmental &

Waste

Water Utilities Electric Utilities Intelligent

Transportation

Forestry Field Service Oil & Gas Consumer Devices Indoor Mapping &

Virtual Worlds

Geospatial context is becoming central to many

applications – some new; others traditional

3D data visualization is key to decision making

in geospatial and engineering applications

New Structures

Survey Data in 3DRoute Optimization and

Alignments

Terrain modeling

Existing Development

Dam and Tunnel

Bridge Structure

High precision 3D

geospatial information

is used and fed back

across the entire cycle

AEC is being transformed through the use of a

constructible information flow across the entire

planning, design, build, and manage lifecycle

3D geospatial information & technology is a

key enabler for the entire process

Convergence changes “context” for the

creation and use of geospatial data

Field Office

Dedicated Collection Crowd Sourcing

Official Data Sufficient

Free & UbiquitousProprietary

“Classical” Embedded in Process

Version Controlled Dynamic

Owner/User/New

Constituencies

Professional

Place

Source

Data Integrity

Access

Application

Update Frequency

Influence

The boundaries defining the role of the geospatial

professional will become increasingly blurred

Historical: discrete process steps performed by a

professional with explicit hand-off of results

Industry Process

Industry Process

Geospatial context

embedded in the data

structure with all other

data elements

The geospatial economic impact is changing from

mandated “discrete cost” to systemic “value add” –

challenging the geospatial professional to make the case

Time

$$

Data Volume

Value

Traditional Comfort Zone

“Data Collection”

Roles to Be Defined

“Data Management”

Analysis,

Modeling &

Applications

Interpretation

& Quality

Control

Measurement

& Data

Collection

Key Skills: Instrumental precision

Meticulous calculations

Key Values: Accuracy

Credibility

Reliability

Key Skills: Establishing context

Managing complexity

Data management

Key Values: Accuracy

Credibility

Reliability

Collaboration

Convergence will impact the expectations

placed on the geospatial practitioner

THANK YOU!