Three Geospatial Trends/Technologies for 2012
A friend of mine is in the bathroom fixture business. When I talk to him, it really makes me appreciate the geospatial industry. While there isn’t much uncharted territory and innovation in bathroom fixtures business, the geospatial industry is ripe for opportunity and innovation. Yes, two out of three of my geospatial technology trends are mobile devices. As I wrote last month, I think the geospatial bottleneck is data. Mobile devices help ease the bottleneck by providing a widely deployed data-collecton platform. How many people do you know who own a smartphone or tablet computer that didn’t own one three years ago? They are proliferating like crazy, and geospatial apps can turn them into geospatial data-collection devices allowing more fuel (data) to flow into the GIS engine.
Following are my three geospatial trends/technologies for 2012.
1. Building Information Modeling (BIM)
Over the past 40 years, fed/state/local government and commercial entities have spent a tremendous amount of time and energy developing outdoor GISs for applications ranging from land parcel management to utility pole management. I guess it was the case of tackling the “low-hanging fruit” since we had GPS, aerial photography, and other sensors that allowed us to collect outdoor geographic data relatively efficiently. Also, the ROI (return on investment) case for many outdoor GIS can be clearly visualized and stated. The ROI for BIM hasn’t always been easy to visualize, and the cost of populating a geodatabase with BIM information can be a challenge. But, I think we’ve turned the corner and realized the potential for BIM is astounding. Take a look at some of the following articles weve written on the subject over the past few years.
Is the Geospatial Bottleneck Software or Data?
Visualization in Transportation Symposium
INTERGEO 2011: The World’s Largest Geospatial Conference
As Data Collection Technology Advances, So Does BIM
2. Smartphone Adoption
Who can ignore the rapid adoption of smartphones around the world?
“Crackberries” (Blackberry) have been around for many years and are largely thought of as the defacto standard for smartphones. However, the Blackberry is giving way (but still growing) and being overtaken by Apple and Android-based smartphones.
Today’s software developers have the challenge of deciding which operating system platform to support. Should it be iOS (Apple), Android (Google), RIM (Blackberry), or Windows Mobile (Microsoft)? Although some companies with the software development resources choose to support all four, more than likely a company will select two. Which two? With RIM fading a bit, I’d say they can be dismissed first. Google and Microsoft make software development a lot easier for developers than Apple does, but who can ignore the huge iPhone market?
Nonetheless, a huge number of geospatial apps are being built and deployed for smartphones. Take a look at some of these articles.
RIM Nose Dives After Another Disaster Of An Earnings Report
2011 Showed Better LBS Market Gains, But Was It All About Google?
On the Edge: Driving Reality Home
CSR, Navizon Debut Indoor Location and Navigation Systems
Location Apps Popular in Japan Quake’s Wake
3. Tablet Computer Adoption
Given the tremendous consumer acceptance of the Apple iPad, the geospatial industry really hasn’t adopted the Apple iPad as much as one would think. I’m even surprised by its lackluster adoption by geospatial professionals, but I understand. The iPad isn’t exactly a computing powerhouse. It’s a sleek, attractive sports car with an engine built for efficiency and beauty, not for brute-force computing.
However, what Apple has done is attract a number of manufacturers to pay attention to the tablet computing market.
Also, it has brought the prices of tablet computers down to consumer price levels. The days of $4,000-$5,000 tablet computers are numbered, even the “ruggedized” ones.
How can an organization justify $4,000 for a “ruggedized” tablet computer when they can purchase a consumer tablet computer, running Windows, for well under $1,000? Yes, in some cases you can justify the data is worth the capital expense, but in an era of severe budget cuts, it’s inceasingly more difficult to justify the expense.
The Apple iPad Factor – Continued
Dry Corp, LLC Introduces Waterproof Case for Smartphones and Tablet Computers
GammaTech Introduces Rugged, Convertible Notebook Computer
A Look at the Rugged Handheld Algiz 7
Juniper Launches Mesa Rugged Notepad
Take a look here for a list of consumer tablet computers from NewEgg.com. Consumer tablet computers for well under $500.
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