GISCafe Guest 
Sanjay Gangal
Sanjay Gangal is the President of IBSystems, the parent company of AECCafe.com, MCADCafe, EDACafe.Com, GISCafe.Com, and ShareCG.Com. GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – URISAJanuary 21st, 2023 by Sanjay Gangal
By Ashley Hitt, GISP, URISA President 2022-2023The geospatial community has always been well connected and supportive of one another and the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 brought drastic shifts to how we work, learn, and connect professionally. As in-person events have been coming back over the past couple years, the need for hybrid collaborations in many facets of our professional lives continues. While some organizations and/or positions were already fully remote pre-pandemic, there are even more remote/work-from-home opportunities and hybrid arrangements than ever before for geospatial roles. We’ve learned how to work together with our teams to accomplish our goals and objectives, continuing to deliver geospatial excellence in our work while not working from the same office. Our geospatial infrastructure, hardware, and software integrations have significantly advanced out of the need the pandemic presented, and while some organizations have “gone back to the office” (although some never went home during the pandemic!), many discovered a variety of approaches and solutions that offered their geospatial staff flexibility while still meeting and exceeding work expectations. Read the rest of GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – URISA GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – Quarry One ElevenJanuary 21st, 2023 by Sanjay Gangal
By Alistair Maclenan, Owner, Quarry One Eleven Alistair Maclenan I don’t make or read predictions. Admittedly, this could be seen as an ungraceful response to the kind request from GISCafe.com to share my 2023 industry predictions but bear with me and let me explain my thinking. I’m not worried that my future-gazing efforts will result in people hurling my words back at me when those predictions inevitably prove to be wrong. I provide enough ammunition on an almost daily basis for those warming up their pitching arms! I adhere to my first sentence because predicting the future is an inherently un-scientific thing to do. All ‘opinion’ predictions, however educated, are a step away from someone peering into a crystal ball and telling you that a tall, handsome stranger will unquestionably come swaggering into view. Soon. Read the rest of GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – Quarry One Eleven GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – DronedekJanuary 20th, 2023 by Sanjay Gangal
By Dan O’Toole, founder and CEO, Dronedek One thing I know As this new autonomous delivery paradigm is set to launch things are going to significantly change. When I say significantly, I mean in a good way. “We are a spoiled consumer” and we want things delivered to us better, faster, cheaper, and fresher. Getting the most for the least is what it’s all about. Paying less, not having to leave, having the quality and freshness at its height and all, right now, is where we want to be. In the show Star Trek, “beam me aboard” delivered the person or item immediately from great distances to the Starship Enterprise. While we are not quite there just yet, in the time it may take to contemplate a trip to your local restaurant or retailer, you could very well have your desired delectable or product delivered, via today’s new autonomous last mile. Read the rest of GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – Dronedek GISCafé industry predictions 2023 – TrimbleJanuary 19th, 2023 by Sanjay Gangal
By Gareth Gibson, Marketing Director, Mapping & GIS Solutions, Trimble Gareth Gibson Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Systems Will Shape Future of GIS and Asset Management Industries The GIS industry is experiencing a period of rapid change and growth, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) is playing a crucial role in driving this development. By enabling GIS professionals to process and analyze data quickly and accurately, these technologies are helping to unlock the full potential of GIS and drive innovation and progress in the field. Powerful AI/ML Hits Mainstream When predicting trends in the GIS (geographic information system) industry in 2023, consider the major breakthroughs the IT industry experienced in 2022. Of particular interest are the AI/ML systems that burst into our collective consciousness, with several headline-grabbing products making waves. Read the rest of GISCafé industry predictions 2023 – Trimble GISCafé industry predictions 2023 – Sinclair IndustriesJanuary 18th, 2023 by Sanjay Gangal
By Bob Sinclair, CEO, Sinclair Industries Bob Sinclair Here is my 2023 prediction piece and headshot – appreciate the consideration – “There’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (AI) and this needs to evolve much like maps have evolved over the years. 2023 will be the year of “Geo Consciousness”. To truly realize and understand the potential of GIS we must first recognize that a map is so much more than a map. “Geo Consciousness” is the next frontier in big data, analytics, maps, and AI. This combination of technologies will provide an opportunity to finally have maps that understand they are actually a map. For example, the team at Bob Sinclair Industries are people, that have names, that live in different locations (“our homes”). Read the rest of GISCafé industry predictions 2023 – Sinclair Industries GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – DawoodJanuary 17th, 2023 by Sanjay Gangal
By Jodie Gosselin, GISP, Geospatial Technologies Director, Dawood Engineering Geospatial technologies are prevalent in our personal lives. With the advancements of the smart phone, we have an underlying expectation that information is presented to us in a spatial context. Which businesses are near me? What travel delays will I encounter? When will the snowplow come to my street? Where is my teenager driver? In 2023, I predict that this same level of geospatial expectation becomes fundamentally engrained in our professional lives. Where are the assets that need to be inspected? What travel restrictions will my construction vehicle encounter? Where are existing utilities in relation to proposed construction? When was infrastructure along this route replaced? The business world has already seen this trend begin. My experiences lead me to believe that the spatial delivery of information will become even more widespread—particularly among non-technical users. For example, Dawood developed a web-based GIS solution for a major utility company’s land management team. These non-technical professionals—who had been using a spreadsheet-based workflow successfully for years to manage their easement acquisition process— had the foresight to realize that geo-enabling their workflow would save time and money. Read the rest of GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – Dawood How to Know When It’s Time to Let Legacy Technology GoDecember 13th, 2022 by Sanjay Gangal
If any of these 10 indicators ring true for your AEC firm, it could be time to modernize  By Lucas Hayden Legacy technology reminds me a lot of the aging but still reliable car that has faithfully carried me and my family around for the better part of two decades. Much like legacy software, that car reliably gets us from Point A to Point B — usually, at least — it has features that were ahead of their time when they were first released, many of which still work, and although it’s way out of warranty and has its obvious limitations, it does the things it was built to do. Nothing more, nothing less. Because it still runs well enough, it’s familiar, has that vintage feel, and carries some sentimental value, an item like this, whether it’s a car or a software product, can be difficult to say goodbye to. Yet in the case of my trusty old car, I can’t help but wonder what I’ve been missing and what I stand to gain by replacing it with something more modern — the elevated features, capabilities and amenities others are enjoying while I loyally stick with the status quo. Read the rest of How to Know When It’s Time to Let Legacy Technology Go Autodesk Acquires Immersive Collaboration Platform, The WildMay 7th, 2022 by Sanjay Gangal
President of AECCafe Sanjay Gangal spoke recently with Montreal-based Nick Fonta, General Manager, XR division at Autodesk about Autodesk’s XR immersive experience and the company’s acquisition of The Wild, an immersive remote collaboration platform for architecture, design, and enterprise teams. Sanjay: Thank you so much for joining us, Nick. So, tell us about Autodesk XR Solutions. Nick: For sure. Autodesk has an interesting journey or history when it comes to XR. We started in the 1990s with our first project around XR, and it was a full 3D immersive experience with AutoCAD data that people could navigate into, a little bit like a first-person shooter. You could interact with basic interactions with the AutoCAD scene at the time. That was a project in prototype. And since then, we’ve been doing a lot of things, we have a research group who continued testing the limits of those technologies, but more recently, we’ve had a few things maybe worth noting. The first thing being about seven years ago, we moved into the real-time engine business, if you will, with our own engine, which was called Stingray. And we also built a first product in our trying to understand what that meant phase for Autodesk, and the product was called Revit Live. And both Stingray and Revit Live were our first real experiments to try to understand how real-time technologies, VR, and AR can can add value and solve real problems for our customers in the AEC and manufacturing spaces. We tried a lot of things there, and then finally, a lot more recently, we have products today that support mostly VR, a little bit of AR as well in a portfolio. We have VRED, which targets mainly the automotive industry. VRED is a very high end, high resolution, high level of fidelity when it comes to imageries and rendering. It comes with the collaborative VR experience, so you can bring multiple designers to review, do the design reviews typically on cars, but it’s also used in other manufacturing industries. So that’s one, as a product, it’s been around for about five years, maybe a bit more, and is still around. It’s very successful, we’re seeing a lot of adoption and growth there, and we also have a capability called Create VR that allows designers to sketch and ideate in VR from scratch in a 3D space for a very creative way of transferring your ideas as a designer into the 3D world. Recently we released a capability out of Fusion products, one of our Hero products in manufacturing that allows any Fusion model to be experienced in AR, experienced on iOS with a publish to a USDZ. This is what we have today. This is where this all journey started, maybe a couple of months ago, and I’m sure we’re going to talk more about that now. Read the rest of Autodesk Acquires Immersive Collaboration Platform, The Wild Using Geodesign to Balance Tourism and Conservation in BelizeAugust 2nd, 2021 by Celi Cho
The Conflict of Tourism and Conservation From log cabin and spa-type accommodations settled in lush green rainforests to fun-in-the-sun alongside sparkling waters, Belize is a popular tourist destination. As such, Belize thrives on the tourism industry, one that the COVID-19 pandemic has recently decimated. In non-pandemic times, Belize’s tourist industry is one of its top income earners. Additionally, Belize is also known for its commitment to protecting natural resources. Over 30% of its ecosystems are under various forms of protected status, as they are one of the many reasons tourists visit Belize. However, the exponential growth of the tourist industry has led to significant development and conservation conflicts – this is where the story of Caye Caulker begins. Caye Caulker is off the north-eastern coast of Belize. The island is divided into two by a relatively narrow inlet, known as the “Split.” South Caye Caulker is where most of its permanent population resides and attracts foreign investors eager to exploit tourism in Belize. However, the diverse littoral and mangrove forests in the north appear as another world in contrast to the more developed south. The low-lying forests on North Caye Caulker provide an ideal habitat for reptiles and serve as a seasonal home to many migrating birds. The Caye Caulker Forest and Marine Reserve, which encompass the northern tip and a portion of the Belize Barrier Reef System, were established in 1998 with the assistance of environmentally motivated Caye Caulker residents. It was essential to protect the biodiversity that provides critical ecosystem services and livelihoods, including the barrier reef, associated inland lagoon, littoral forests, and mangrove vegetation. Read the rest of Using Geodesign to Balance Tourism and Conservation in Belize Machine Learning Offers New Opportunities for Geospatial ApplicationsDecember 9th, 2020 by Linda Duffy
Four Powerful ML Apps Thanks to constellations of imaging satellites, advanced aerial cameras and scanners and various other collection devices, the volume of available geospatial data has grown beyond the capability of humans to manually manage and analyze the datasets. To leverage this abundance of information, machine learning is the new programming paradigm that effectively extracts the wealth of knowledge contained in millions of petabytes of archived and frequently refreshed data. Using machine learning, large datasets are reviewed and analyzed in a fraction of the time compared to previous methods.
For customers interested in developing machine learning algorithms that solve problems or answer a specific question, UP42 provides the building blocks for powerful geospatial products. A block essentially is a ready-to-use unit of data or processing algorithm that customers string together to form workflows. The basic data handling algorithms give developers a head start with processing blocks such as “Pan-sharpening SPOT/Pléiades images” and “K-Means Clustering for unsupervised classification.” UP42 also provides access to data blocks from multiple sources ranging from 0.5m Pléiades images to Landsat-8 and NEXTMAP digital surface models and digital terrain models. The developer platform created by UP42 is made accessible to its customers through APIs. The platform enables browsing the datasets and selecting data blocks that meet the customer’s criteria, before applying custom or off-the-shelf algorithms. Developers can choose either to put their custom algorithms onto the platform in a private block or publish a processing block that is accessible to the whole UP42 community for a fee. In addition to facilitating analysis of geospatial data with machine learning, service offerings in the cloud are scalable to meet the need for any level of computing power. |
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