GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – Terradepth

By Joe Wolfel, Terradepth, CEO

Joe Wolfel

2023 Will be the Year We Gain Greater Understanding of Our Oceans

By necessity, 2023 will see a dramatic increase in the collection and analysis of geospatial data related to our oceans. Whether the goal is better understanding of climate change mechanisms or the responsible development of offshore renewable energy, improved knowledge of the complex marine ecosystem is critical.

Ocean studies have been traditionally stymied by lack of quality marine data – primarily due to the inherent difficulties in subsurface collection operations – and the inability to easily share and analyze the limited ocean data that does exist. Fortunately, 2022 provided a turning point to overcome both these obstacles – and this momentum will only accelerate in 2023.

Uncrewed data collection technologies are transitioning from the air to the water and will continue to do so in 2023. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are evolving rapidly to enable faster and safer capture of geospatial and other data almost anywhere in our oceans and seas. Not only can they operate safely in the dangerous nearshore environment, AUVs are carrying a variety of seafloor sensors to depths considered unviable for professional use just a few years ago.  Early adopters and visionaries in the hydrographic survey and end user markets are beginning to accept these data from AUV sources, which will help to scale ocean data availability.

Last year also saw the long-overdue introduction of cloud-based marine geospatial data management technology designed specifically for the visualization, analysis, and sharing of all ocean data sets. For the first time, organizations around the world can upload their marine data files, apply geospatial analysis functionality, and collaboratively unlock insights from the Earth’s vital water bodies.  2023 will feature scaled adoption of these data management solutions in the interest of scaling better and faster decision-making across maritime ecosystem stakeholders.

Lastly, I believe there will be increased collaboration and integration across geospatial domains (i.e. space derived, terrestrial, sea surface, and subsea) during 2023.  Eventually this will lead to a fusion of those domains:  from seabed to space.  Those entities willing to partner or merge across those geospatial domains in 2023 will set the stage for a consolidated understanding of our planet in the future.

At Terradepth, we are proud be taking leadership roles in the development of marine data capture and management technologies.  We hope the entire geospatial community will join us this year and beyond in learning – and educating others – about the world’s most precious, yet least understood, ecosystem.

About Author:

Prior to co-founding Terradepth, Joe was the Managing Partner of Exbellum, a management consulting firm dedicated to solving unique and complex human capital problems.

In addition to managing the business, Joe’s main client priorities lay in advancing team and individual problem-solving capabilities, strategy generation, and agile execution. Prior to Exbellum, Joe held leadership roles at the McChrystal Group, a leadership think tank and consulting group, as well as Synexxus Inc., a rapid engineering and manufacturing company focused on the defense space. During his time at Synexxus, Joe led classified projects in concert with US Army Research Labs and the Special Operations community focused on data distribution and digitization.

Prior to these roles, Joe served as a Navy SEAL, conducting multiple deployments through the Middle East and Africa. His time as a SEAL officer spanned operational and staff roles, leading assault elements in combat as well as overseeing strategic planning, force management, and international partnership expansion. Joe was educated at the US Naval Academy, graduating with Honors, as a Secretary of the Navy Distinguished Scholar, and ranked 8th overall in his class.

Contact:

media@terradepth.com

Category: Industry Predictions

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2023 at 4:11 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.