The Business of Geography and Data Tsunamis

I popped over to the school Geography Society tonight to hear a lengthy talk from Andy Wells from Infoterra. Fresh from watching Tim Berners-Lee explaining some of the ways in which community generated mapping data can have real impacts on people whose lives are threatened, I was hoping for more of the same from a leading figure in the geo-spatial data mapping industry. As it turned out, it was more commercial than I had expected and i didnt get the chance to ask him if Infoterra shared any of their data to the open source mapping community. I think I know the answer!

I took a few interesting ideas away from the talk - 30% of the new global satellite data is being bought by Google - they have invested in excess of $6bn on Google Earth so far with barely a pittance back in revenues - only Enfield Borough Council and The Met office have bought copies of Google Earth at £150,000 a pop.

Demand for geo-spatial mapping data is demand-driven 9a good example of derived demand) - good examples include:

1/ Border monitoring - evidence of disturbance activity in and around national borders

2/ Finding up to date evidence on the scale of poppy farming in Afghanistan / revealing the extent of deforestation in Brazil / accurately sizing up field plots for farmer in receipt of EU farm subsidies

3/ Identifying changes in sealed surfaces and the associated flood risks in towns and cities - photos reveal that half of Hull has been paved over with pebble dash! The rest of Hull just wants standard concrete.

4/ Flood maps - there is a strong demand for insurance companies keen to limit the commercial damage from false claims made after the event of a flood

5/ Picking up evidence of alterations made to builidings in contravention of planning laws

All interesting applications of geo-spatial data but driven by commercial imperatives I was looking for a stronger sense of humanity in the way in which this data can be distributed and used. Sadly there wasn’t much time for questions or for some more sales patter.