GIS Industry Predictions for 2019 – Part IV

In this fourth installment of GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2019, we have topics such as GNSS performance, real-time data collection, better integration between GIS and CAD, digital cities, increased mobile presence, and mutually beneficial partnerships as part of the vision in the crystal ball for 2019. Widespread adoption of Geospatial technologies continues to grow and become enhanced.

In Sweden, archeologist Christer Andersson is locating the walls of ancient monasteries that have been buried for centuries. By using ground-penetrating radar, 3D imaging, and high-accuracy GNSS receivers, Andersson knows exactly where — and how far down — to tell excavators to dig.
Eos Positioning Systems

We hear from representatives from Eos Positioning Systems, Spatial Business Systems, Airbus Defence and Space, and NavVis in this blog.

Jean-Yves Lauture, Founder & CTO, Eos, Photo credit Olivier Lamarre

Jean-Yves Lauture, Eos Positioning Systems Founder and CTO

What GIS Professionals Can Expect from GNSS (GPS) in 2019

For years, early adopters have used GNSS (aka “GPS”) to create highly accurate asset inventories in GIS. Last year, we sailed past the tipping point and saw widespread adoption. In 2019, we will see the high-precision GNSS market continue to grow among GIS users, and we envision five core trends.

The first trend is greater performance/productivity among GNSS users. This is due to a greater availability of satellites from all four (4) GNSS constellations: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou. The Chinese are constantly launching and activating BeiDou satellites, and the Europeans are also consistently expanding the Galileo constellation. As a result, field crews have more satellites to use and will experience fewer delays in tougher conditions (e.g., trees, buildings, etc.).

The second trend is widespread adoption of real-time data collection. One of the top frustrations my teams hear from field technicians is their need to physically download data by connecting to a computer. Today, with wireless connectivity in the field using smartphones and tablets, information can now be saved on the server as it is collected, leaving no chance to lose data even if the mobile device is lost or crushed. However, the most compelling argument for real-time data collection is increased efficiency. Collecting accurate data in real-time means organizations can make better decisions faster than ever before.

The third trend is the low-cost and simplicity of collecting survey-grade/3D location data using one’s smartphone or tablet. Never in history has it been so easy and inexpensive to collect centimeter-accurate, horizontal and vertical GIS data using the same technology as engineers and surveyors have in the past — all on an iPad. This technology evolution offers significant efficiencies to organizations that adopt it, because these organizations no longer need to rely on outside contractors to provide survey-grade data collection. Hiring, scheduling, coordinating, and QA/QC-ing geospatial contractors is an expensive endeavor. Bringing these activities in-house can save up to 90% of the cost of acquiring 3D geospatial data.

The fourth trend is increased adoption of GNSS among GIS users. The lower costs of collecting (with GNSS) and managing (with GIS) asset data has made these technologies very attractive to a much larger audience. We see very small organizations deploying high-precision GNSS and GIS where it hasn’t been feasible in the past. This speaks to the affordability and simplicity of today’s GNSS/GIS systems.

Once organizations have collected and gathered enough accurate data, the next logical trend we should see is towards the use of augmented reality (AR). GNSS technology will interface directly with AR software. Field crews will then be able to view, edit, and update underground assets, and make critical decisions immediately in the field.

Combined with the vast scale of field technologies (e.g., smart devices, software apps) now available, these advances in GNSS technology will continue to motivate GIS departments to deploy real-time mobile data collection systems. They will do so with minimal risk and far greater convenience, cost-savings, and confidence.

Jean-Yves Lauture is founder and CTO of Eos Positioning Systems. As a pioneer of Bluetooth®  GPS/GNSS, he is credited with engineering the world’s 1st device-agnostic Bluetooth® submeter GPS receiver in 2001.

Dennis Beck, CEO, Spatial Business Systems

Dennis Beck, President and CEO of Spatial Business Systems.

This is an exciting time for the world of geospatial technologies.  The continued advancement of mobile technologies, base computing platforms and networks are the underlying forces that will bring forth more and more innovation.  Here at SBS we tend to be focused on infrastructure-oriented spatial applications.  The following items represent our perspectives in this important area:

1. GIS and CAD will continue to become better integrated, allowing each product platform to function in best-of-breed roles.  CAD will be in a clear role of supporting design and construction; GIS will continue its role of enabling operations, spatial analysis and spatially-enabled mobile apps.  This is a consequence of the 2016 announcements between Esri and Autodesk.  More product-level integration improvements will be coming.
2. Mobile GIS, while already significant, will take on more and more importance.  Mobile applications will continue to transition from mobile mapping to more substantive applications that integrate business workflows.
3. Digital Twins, and Digital Threads will continue to gain market impact as geospatial technologies further work their way into the Internet of Things and advanced asset management applications.
4. The geospatial systems that have been the workhorses of the utility industry since the late 1990s and early 2000s will start to upgrade to new systems.  This will be driven by the need to support improved security requirements and leverage new innovations such as Esri’s Utility Network model and a number of exciting developments that are happening with mobile GIS.
5. Blockchain will continue to be featured in a lot of news pieces, but will not have any significant impact.

Dennis Beck is the President and CEO of Spatial Business Systems.  He specializes in the use of spatial technologies to solve advanced business problems, particularly in the areas of infrastructure design and management. He has over 30 years of experience in geospatial systems implementation, software systems consultancy, information technology business analysis, and systems engineering. Mr. Beck has provided services in support of the utility, telecommunications, construction, environmental and US government business sectors. Mr. Beck is also active in representing the geospatial technology industry, having delivered numerous presentations, interviews and trade publication articles.

John Murtagh, Head of Strategy for Intelligence, Airbus Defence and Space

John Murtagh, Head of Strategy for Intelligence Business Unit of Airbus Defence and Space.

2019 for Airbus will be a year of delivery. We have a strong industry pedigree and the resources of Airbus behind us allowing us to offer multi-source, multi-resolution imagery, data and derived solutions.  We’ve got a solid pipeline of smarter products and digital services that are bringing innovation to the marketplace.  We also are working hard to bring Pléiades Neo to market and aim to offer Airbus’s stratospheric plane, Zephyr, as an EO platform with our colleagues from across Airbus.  We have also established a partnership with Planet for bundled offers. Our OneAtlas digital services will continue to be rolled out accelerated by our recently announced partnership with Orbital Insight.

In the short-term I think we will see a continuation in industrial trends such as the continued vertical integration between satellite imagery and defence solutions. In addition all operators will be offering new services to open markets across new sectors addressing the long-tail of users.  The market as a whole is still growing and the nascent analytics segment will continue to gain traction over the next year.

Another recurring need is the drive for mutually beneficial partnerships.  Airbus doesn’t aspire to pave the way alone.  We believe in the need for multi-sided digital platforms allied to data analytical capabilities to embrace a wider digital ecosystem that is growing rapidly.

John Murtagh is an Earth observation industry professional.  He is the Head of Strategy for the Intelligence business unit of Airbus Defence and Space, a leading supplier of satellite imagery and related defence solutions.  John received his undergraduate degree from King’s College London and graduated with an MSc in Remote Sensing from Imperial College / University College London.  He also has an MA in Marketing and an MBA in Strategy.  Prior to joining Airbus, John worked for BP Exploration.  

Dr. Felix Reinshagen, co-founder and CEO of NavVis

In 2018, we really started to see demand from beyond AEC for indoor spatial intelligence grow. Among our customers, the more widespread adoption of spatial data was driven by the demand digital twin technology among enterprises, especially in the manufacturing industry. I predict that in 2019, indoor spatial data will become even more important for enterprise digital transformations in a wider number of industries. As this happens, the uses for indoor spatial intelligence will continue to evolve beyond traditional floorplans and BIM models to powerful digital twin platforms that shape future business models. This evolution will be enabled by not only faster, high quality mobile scanning devices but most importantly by new software that makes indoor spatial data easily accessible, immersive and interactive, and that can be integrated with other applications including IoT and VR/AR.

Dr. Felix Reinshagen is the co-founder and CEO of NavVis, a global leader in Indoor Spatial Intelligence technology. Prior to this, Felix spent 6 years at McKinsey advising clients on tech and strategy. He has PhD in information system research and is active as a speaker and writer on digitalization, AI, 3D mapping and location-based services.

Tags: autonomous vehicles, climate change, cloud, data, geospatial, GIS, GNSS, health, imagery, indoor mapping, intelligence, LiDAR, location, mapping, maps, mobile, remote sensing, situational intelligence, small sats, social media

Categories: 3D Cities, analytics, autonomous driving, Big Data, Blockchain technology, climate change, cloud, conversion, crowd source, data, disaster relief, drones, emergency response, Esri, field GIS, geospatial, GIS, government, GPS, handhelds, indoor location technology, laser radar, location based sensor fusion, location based services, location intelligence, mapping, mobile, photogrammetry, public safety, satellite imagery, sensors, subsurface utilities, survey, UAVs

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