More Mobile Devices, More Geospatial Trends

Granted, I’m a mobile device geek. I see tremendous growth for geospatial apps on mobile devices. Obviously, insane numbers of mobile devices are shipping. This past Christmas, Amazon shipped 4+ million of its Kindle tablet computers.

As I’ve written before, the future (and present) of our geospatial mobile devices largely depends on developments in the consumer electronics market. Since Apple introduced the iPad precisely two years ago and has sold upwards of 100 million units since then, the Kindle Fire is the first real threat to the iPad. It’s been successful largely because of its price, $199, about 1/3 the price of a comparable iPad. Yet, it’s functionality is quite striking. Since I bought my wife a Kindle Fire this past Christmas, she’s used her notebook computer noticeably less. Since the Kindle Fire runs Google’s Android 2.3 operating system, she can browse the web (Facebook, et al), check email, read ebooks, play Words with Friends. What else is there? The only reasons I see her using her notebook computer is to use office apps (Word, spreadsheet, PowerPoint) and to print documents.

In a similar fashion, the computer gaming industry is going to push geospatial apps to an entirely new level. Look, for example, at augmented reality technology. I’ve written, with great anticipation, about augmented reality (AR) for quite some time. As witnessed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this month, augmented reality is a hot topic in the world of consumer electronics.

In some cases, AR is combined with other emerging geospatial technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Clearly, the hardware technology is developing quickly in the gaming world, and just like consumer mobile devices are transforming geospatial data collection, augmented reality hardware/software will migrate to the professional geospatial user community. Imagine the Call Before You Dig technician being able to “see” the underground infrastructure on his/her table computer without having to break out a shovel. Imagine the groundskeeper being able to “see” the underground irrigation system on a table computer to know where to look for a faulty valve. Imagine the first responder, in a building filled with smoke, being able to clearly “see” doorways, hallways, stairwells, exit signs, etc.

The hardware to accomplish the above is developing fast. The data? Not so much. I wrote a piece about this a few months ago. If you’re in the geospatial industry, the opportunities are endless.