“Local” Responses to Global Challenges Notes from a Geospatial Industry Participant

John Whitehead

Asia Geospatial Forum 2013

Climate Change Natural Disaster Mitigation & Response Land Management Urbanization Data Interoperability & Accessibility

Global Challenges…..

…are met locally!

Productivity driven– This could mean many things!

Customer-focused– Customer first, “Global Challenges” second– Imposing technology solutions vs. responding to

local customers’ demands

Educate local customers on their options– Bias towards certain technical approaches – Most customers are price sensitive

Industry’s Approach

Local Users are DISSIMILAR….

– Local data collection and analysis is a function of resources (human, $$, etc.) and preferences Diverse technology use Varied analysis capability

– Software and Services standardize data processing, modeling and analysis at the national/regional level And, Local Users are beholden to existing data sets and

provision systems

Observations from the Field

Observations from the Field Local Users are SIMILAR….

– Increasing demand for positioning services in challenging environments

– Increasing demand for more in-field functionality and cloud-based applications

– Increasing need for geospatial analysis services

– “device agnostic” data collection using more sensors

Fit-for-purpose solutions providing critical information in the field, in real time

Observations from the Field

Current engagement by governments and civil society around global challenges that may be aided by geospatial technology are

proactive at the national and regional level

&

reactive at the local level….

Observations from the Field

Thank you...