By Juliet Su, Product Development Manager, Noteworty

Juliet Su

GIS Data in 2025: The Foundation for Utility Distribution Grid Modernization and Resilience

As utilities embrace the challenges of the ongoing energy transition, geospatial data collection and analytics are emerging as foundational elements for modernizing grid operations and enhancing resilience. To meet the ever-increasing need for accurate, high-quality, and up-to-date geospatial information, utilities are shifting away from legacy boots-on-the-ground inspection methods in favor of more innovative solutions, such as drones, asset-mounted hardware, vehicle-mounted inspection systems, and other smart grid monitoring technologies. Utilities that effectively integrate and scale these technologies will be better positioned to navigate the demands of widespread electrification, ensuring a smarter, more resilient grid for the future.

The Scope of the Challenge

The scale of distribution infrastructure is immense, presenting challenges distinct from those of its generation and transmission counterparts. In the United States alone, estimates from groups such as EEI and the American Galvanizers Association suggest there are between 140 and 180 million utility poles. Each pole, often equipped with transformers, insulators, switches, and other hardware, contributes to billions of distinct assets utilities must manage.

By Piers Dormeyer, EagleView CEO

Piers Dormeyer

Technological Innovations: “What major technological advancements or innovations do you foresee occurring in your industry in 2025, and how do you plan to adapt or lead in these areas?”

As a technologist at heart and by training, I’m always interested in the technical developments and advances happening in the industries we are a part of. As I look ahead, I continue to believe we will see changes as a result of machine learning and the increasing adoption of AI – which should come as no big surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Among the areas we are paying particularly close attention to includes feature extraction, agentic AI and the larger landscape of digital transformation.

We have observed that machine learning-based feature extraction is accelerating customer demand for aerial imagery. With that, higher resolution imagery is desired to unlock new insights and increase data accuracy in more and more industries. These new categories of customers are coming to us asking for new and easier integration options that have high performance and availability so that they can build new solutions and workflows. It’s why last year we built out a team particularly focused on new landscape growth because more and more people are understanding how to utilize aerial imagery.

Beyond that, and more broadly, we believe agentic AI will take center stage as a way to boost the benefits of current state GenAI tools and models. Current GenAI solutions have plateaued in their effectiveness in driving productivity for business users. And, agent-based AI architectures can make large models more effective at reasoning in specialized domains, performing computational tasks, and executing on complex workflows. This is both true in the geospatial industry but also broadly and we will be embracing this idea in our forthcoming products.

Lisa Stannis

Top 4 trends and predictions for T&D utilities in 2025

The utilities sector is entering a period of significant change, propelled by advancements in technology, climate imperatives and evolving customer expectations. As we look to 2025, several trends are set to define the industry’s direction.

Grid modernization to meet growing energy demands

The surging adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the rapid expansion of data centers, and the rise of AI-driven applications are exerting extraordinary pressure on utility infrastructure. Modernizing the grid to handle these demands while maintaining reliability will be a key priority in 2025.

Technologies such as advanced sensors, AI-driven forecasting and automated load management will play pivotal roles in enabling seamless energy delivery. AI-powered solutions, like asset inspection platforms, provide utilities with actionable insights to enhance grid resilience. By leveraging these technologies to better understand the performance and condition of current assets, utilities can optimize operations and make informed decisions about future infrastructure investments to meet evolving energy demands.