GISCafe Voice Industry Predictions for 2021 – Part 1

Looking forward to 2021 brings with it a necessary looking backward at what geospatial organizations and providers have had to deal with in 2020. On a regular basis throughout the next two months, GISCafe Voice will post industry predictions from professional geospatial organizations, looking at what vectors are influencing the industry and what directions the technologies will take. This week we will hear from spokespeople from Maptek, Nearmap, Septentrio and Sinclair Industries. Autonomous solutions, partnering with other technology providers, mapping critical care centers such as testing centers, cybersecurity and increased accuracy and analytics are all areas that geospatial and mapping have stepped up to as a result of Covid-19. The technology was there, ready to meet the sudden and unanticipated demand. What does that mean going forward? Greater resilience and growth, innovation at a more rapid pace, and much more, according to these industry professionals.

Maptek Predictions

“This last year has necessitated an exponential growth in new work modalities. In 2021 we must continue to challenge traditional approaches and foster a change management mindset. Thinking smarter is the driver for the fourth industrial revolution,” according to Maptek CEO Eduardo Coloma.

Maptek CEO Eduardo Coloma

“Mining is already seeing a massive consolidation of automated tasks, and we must be prepared for surprises in the next 5 to 10 years. On-demand data analytics and seamless data networks are critical considerations for technology integration. The uptake of 5G technology will facilitate adoption of this type of development and access to its benefits.

We can easily reel off a list of technological concepts that seemed fanciful not so long ago:

• Robotics
• Artificial intelligence
• Blockchain
• Quantum computing
• 3D printing
• Internet of things
• Autonomous vehicles

Now these are a reality, and along with the labour-saving technologies comes more time to analyse the impressive amounts of data generated. Increased production does not just result from deploying bigger, faster machines, it comes from synthesising what is known with what is required.

Assumptions that were necessary in the past can now be replaced by actual knowledge. We must use that knowledge intelligently. And, of course, the new technologies will be disruptive to existing practices. So we must integrate new practices.

The pandemic was a drastic way to unleash innovation in the way we work and in how technology enables that. Innovation should not just be invoked in a crisis – embracing innovation should be a constant. Resistance to new ideas is mainly due to inherent daily pressures to get jobs done. Technology providers can show miners the value of investing in new technologies now to save time and money in the future.

‘One avenue for Maptek involves opening up software for integration with customer systems through application extension toolkits. Workflows, application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) in scripting languages allows miners to expand the capabilities of our software products.’

Gearing towards integrated solutions includes partnering with other technology providers to enhance the customer value proposition.

‘Maptek is mature enough – 2021 marks our 40th year in business – to acknowledge we don’t need to build everything from scratch.’

Partnering with digital twin and AI technology developers results in integration between optimised mining and beneficiation processes and the resource model, mine design and scheduling capabilities. Connecting orebody knowledge with mine planning and production systems is the surest way to benchmark operational processes and then develop strategies around improvement. Giving time back to mining professionals allows them to apply their expertise to achieve the best outcomes for their operations.

The pandemic emphasised that isolation from corporate networks should not be a barrier. Flexible, cloud-based licensing and fast, secure cloud-ready computing frameworks helped our customers keep working.

Digital processes and automation are key enablers for success in the current climate. Automation to increase speed must be matched by robust mathematical foundations. Technical interoperability for autonomous intelligent systems must consider the safety of the people exposed to the normal risks of the operation.

Mining efficiency, once measured by volume of material moved, is now better achieved by analysing the data in the context of the whole operation and acting on that information.

Our advanced, multi-objective genetic problem-solving functionality, which supports an agile approach, is poised to leverage the new technologies on the horizon. This optimisation framework accounts for the nonlinear relationship between data to help avoid unnecessary reliance on assumptions. More informed decision making is a requirement for sustainable mining and boosting shareholder confidence.

It’s predicted that 2021 will be a good year for mining, and for mining technology providers. Our imperative is to predict what will be needed and make it available.

Mining Engineer Eduardo Coloma has more than 20 years of experience in technical mining and managerial roles, both in South America and Australia. He currently serves as global CEO of the mining innovation company Maptek, which is headquartered in Australia.

Nearmap

“The aerial imagery market is maturing at a rapid pace. Driven by new forms of imagery and artificial intelligence, governments, insurance providers, roofing, solar, engineering and construction are finding new ways to improve their business. In years past, vertical (top down) imagery was the only approach. Then these industries graduated to oblique, angled perspectives for measurement, inspection and optimized resource deployment.

Photorealistic 3D imagery was introduced in 2019 and 2020 but now it’s being more widely adopted as advances in technology have improved. For example, wide scale textured mesh – in a variety of formats that work seamlessly with platforms like ESRI, Autodesk, Bentley Systems and Trimble – are now being adopted across industries. The same is true for point clouds, digital surface models and digital elevation models. 2021 is going to be all about ease of access through a browser, simple export of multiple imagery formats and integration into 3rd party tools. Wider adoption is starting to happen now.

Standby, because this is only the beginning.  2021 will see greater adoption of intelligence derived from aerial maps. “AI at Scale” has hit the market and will become more commonly used in the areas of underwriting, claims, property appraisal, construction, vegetation management and much more.”

Tony Agresta, Executive VP, Nearmap

Customer quote: “We were able to use Nearmap to help create a comprehensive map of a potential community testing center at our local recreation center. Without even leaving our office, we gathered aerial images and were able to get exact measurements to determine how many cars we could accommodate in the drive-through testing line as well as viable traffic routes and potential road closures to and from the testing center. Without Nearmap, this process would have taken days to complete. With Nearmap, we were able to create detailed maps in a couple hours and make this a quick and easy process that we were able to execute on without a hitch.”

Tony Agresta, Executive Vice President, US Sales at Nearmap has extensive experience in sales, marketing, product management and operations for technology companies focused on analytics, marketing automation and mapping.   At Nearmap, he has led US marketing, product management and Sales for North America.        

Septentrio

“During 2021 we expect an increased attention to high accuracy positioning accompanied by 2 major elements. The democratization of high accuracy GNSS systems and other technologies which enables users with better technology for new and different mapping tasks, and the second one being the increased attention to ease of use with high accuracy for easy deployment. We also expect mapping to have a very important link to the autonomous systems of the coming years.

Democratization of GNSS enabling new GIS applications

Gustavo Lopez, Market Access Manager, Septentrio

We will see further integration of dual frequency GNSS chipsets in mobile technology for increased accuracy which is key for future applications. While we will see this in the consumer market, we expect to see an increased attention from professional GIS device manufacturers who will integrate full RTK capabilities embedded directly into controllers (tablets or PDAs) or into smaller GNSS systems. GNSS modules will thus be used more and more in view of high accuracy demands within GIS devices. These devices will be compact and high performance for several GIS tasks and will enable new use cases for the mapping community. We already see and believe that our Septentrio’s GNSS module mosaic-x5 will have a good traction on these integrations as the technology is compact, affordable and without compromises in GNSS performance or security.

GNSS corrections and the trend towards ease of use

Ease of use will play an important role on these devices, and transparency in the configuration of high accuracy applications will become essential for higher adoption in the market. In this case we see a good fit for our mosaic-Sx receiver which embeds the Septentrio’s high end GNSS module together with GNSS corrections for the lifetime of typical GIS devices. The corrections will be possible either by satellite delivery or by internet at an affordable combined price and with accuracies of 10 cm or even better. This means users will no longer need to pay for correction services and will just get high accuracy out of the GNSS receiver module.

Telecoms will get involved

Septentrio has also already witnessed important involvement from the Telecom operators in GNSS correction services.. While we have seen this mainly in Asia we expect to see more and more attention from European and North American companies integrating high accuracy corrections for future applications during 2021. Telecoms will do in their goals to offer services for future autonomous vehicles and also in view of new use cases never thought before in consumer applications (improved positioning, augmented reality, virtual reality among others). Septentrio products (i.e. PolaRx5 or AsteRx-SB) are and will continue to be deployed on new generation networks as operators prepare towards the new generation of positioning in cell technology.

Sensor Fusion importance for high-end mapping

In the view of higher end mapping systems we will see that sensor fusion will move from a research stage to major production element mainly triggered by in autonomous systems and the need for high definition mapping. Integration of GNSS/INS (see our AsteRx-i product line) is a key element for being able to work in difficult environments and for vehicle orientation thus achieving best results in real time mapping. A proper GNSS/INS integration will be essential as other sensors are used such as lidar, vision or even artificial intelligence. Cheaper still more performant IMUs are now being integrated as the focus shifts from HW to SW algorithms that implement best performance when combined in multi-sensor technology.

Autonomous as a result of COVID

We expect to see more and more autonomous and robotics applications from 2021 and surely more startups as a result of COVID. This triggered by the need for automation and more efficient processes without the need of human interaction. While these systems will surely use GNSS technology, several of these autonomous systems will require high accuracy mapping for navigation. These systems will also get connected and together with the boost of cloud, IoT and V2X technologies, the importance for security will raise. In GNSS we expect thus higher concerns on anti-spoofing, anti-jamming as well as on cybersecurity of devices.”

Gustavo Lopez is market access manager at Septentrio, a leading company in bringing high-end GNSS technology when accuracy and reliability matters. Gustavo, since joining the company, has held different R&D and product management roles and has been involved in some of the most innovative and reliable technologies used in demanding and critical applications. As a visionary, Gustavo’s conform lies on predicting technology trends and the impact these have on different markets especially when linked to navigation and positioning systems. Lopez holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Monterrey’s Technology Institute and a Master in Business Administration from the United Business Institute in Brussels.

Sinclair Industries

Bob Sinclair, CEO, Sinclair Industries

“As we look to the skies, we must first look below. The ground below us is an area that still needs so much more exploration. Many geospatial innovations have happened on the positive X, Y, and Z-axis. But what about the negative z-axis? At Sinclair Industries we focus on going up, as much as we focus on going down. “The negative component of the z-axis”, is a very fundamental gap in spatial exploration, and we predict 2021 will rebuild interest here. To achieve this vision, engineers will have to deploy machine learning, artificial intelligence, and quite possibly news tools. This will include the fabrication of GIS extraction equipment and future discoveries. Sinclair Industries will be just one of the many corporations to apply their GIS capabilities and machinery to support. As we enter 2021, GIS teams will collaborate with industry leaders in digging technologies to develop manual and automatic t this vision and help us truly understand the negative z-axis.”

Bob Sinclair, BS, is an industry veteran of GIS, having spent over 33 years focused on the alignment of maps and mapping, with most of his collaborations focused on geo-addressing. In 2020, he was recognized for his contributions to geosynchronous angular satellite measurement and location prediction reoptimization. Mr. Sinclair attributes most of his success to his spent supporting and researching cartography. He is currently the CEO of Sinclair Industries and supports all facets of the Space Engineering Division. 

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Categories: 3D Cities, airports, analytics, Big Data, citizen science, climate change, cloud, Covid-19, crowd source, data, developers, disaster relief, drones, emergency response, field GIS, geocoding, geospatial, GIS, global aircraft surveillance, Google, government, GPS, handhelds, hardware, image-delivery software, integrated GIS solutions, LBS, location based sensor fusion, location based services, location intelligence, mapping, mobile, Open Source, remote sensing, resilient cities, satellite imagery, sensors, Septentrio, spatial data, subsurface utilities, transportation, utilities

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