How Geospatial Technology Changed over Time
Geospatial technology has changed significantly over the years. It started in a scientific environment and has gotten a wider adoption over time by others. From a technological perspective, geospatial technology went from the desktop to server and now incorporates everything from desktop, mobile, server, the cloud and now the blockchain.
Geospatial technologies can be defined as the range of modern tools contributing to the geographic mapping and analysis of the Earth and human societies. Geospatial technology made a big leap in the 20th century with the aid of computer technology and GIS, which refers to a combination of digital software, maps, and data sets on socioeconomic and environmental phenomena. GIS assemble the range of geospatial data into a layered set of maps which allow complex themes to be analyzed and then communicated to wider audiences. This ‘layering’ is enabled by the fact that all such data includes information on its precise location on the surface of the Earth, hence the term ‘geospatial’.
GIS and geospatial technology has almost become synonymous with Esri, the company from Redlands, California that created the ArcGIS mapping software. Over time, more geospatial technology companies were created that offer products and services such as data, tools and expertise. Today, a whole geospatial technology ecosystem exists, consisting of data and technology providers, system integrators, science communities, main interest groups (ASPRS, FOSS4G), cartographers and other types of end users.
From science to more widespread user base
In the early days, geospatial technology was mainly used by cartographers, who needed a way to overlay multiple spatial datasets to produce one single map. This way, they could forecast the implications of urban planning or monitor change over time of a phenomenon in an area. The practitioners and end users of geospatial technology were one and the same: the scientific community. Over time, its user base became more diversified, attracting attention from cartographers, governmental agencies and businesses.
Geospatial technology has long been synonymous with “digital cartography” and “digital mapping”. It was a technology to produce maps with. But it is much more than that: in order to produce vector-based maps, raster data needs to be managed first to be able to serve as a basemap for vector maps. This too is possible with geospatial technology, although regarded as a separate and more specialized field within the geospatial technology field: the work of image and remote sensing specialists. The same goes for different types of surveying equipment, from drones, handheld GPS devices to 3D laser scanners and drones. These are used to capture spatial data as the basis for maps.
Geospatial technology today: cloud GIS, APIs and open source
Geospatial technology underwent the same technological changes as other technologies, for example IT. This meant that for many years, geospatial software was desktop-based. The introduction of Google Maps in 2005 was a milestone in the history of geospatial technology, as it was the world’s first web mapping service that introduced mapping technology to an audience of billions.
But in order to connect individual desktop GIS users to a cloud-based system, they first had to be connected in their organizations, which meant they could work together on the same maps and data sets. This meant the transition from desktop-based GIS to server-based GIS, which over time became cloud-based GIS. While many thought desktop-based GIS would become obsolete, the opposite is true: desktops are more and more becoming clients for cloud-based platforms, where data and tools live, available as web services to the user. Add mobile apps to the mix, and you have what is an ecosystem of interconnected devices that all use the same geospatial technology, blurring the distance between the office and the field.
Geospatial technology and the Data Science revolution
Geospatial technology for years has been a proprietary domain, meaning proprietary software and data formats. But open source software has gained a lot of ground in the geospatial industry, which in turn changed how commercial geospatial technologies are operating today. An example of this is the data science community, that uses programming languages to interact with data directly instead of GUI-based mapping tools. In order to make it easier to be able to use those tools with commercial mapping software, free add-ins were created by geospatial companies to move data back and forth between different platforms and tools. A more recent trend is the emergence of cloud-based platforms where users need to pay for using such the tools, data and services that these platforms offer. Scripting languages such as Python are used to manage APIs that allow access to these cloud platforms.
Blockchain, the next frontier?
Now that geospatial technology is available through the cloud, many have asked what is the next frontier. Machine learning and AI have already been integrated into geospatial technology, but that´s not everything. Blockchain is an exiting new technology that holds many promises for current geospatial technology. How will future blockchain applications incorporate spatial technology for positioning their services, users and products?
One interesting geospatial blockchain initiative is Soar, a decentralized drone platform that will go live in 2019. The idea behind the platform is to create a decentralized marketplace for drone operators to distribute and monetize their drone content. Until now, such a marketplace did not exist. Using the scalability of the cloud, drone content can be added to a large map with world-wide coverage and be monetized using blockchain technology. New drone content is added over time, so it´s possible to create timeseries and see how an area has changed over time.
Drone content sales transactions will be facilitated through a cryptocurrency called SkyMap Tokens (SKYM), and supply and demand determine the price of the content for a geographical area, visualized through 2D “heat maps”. To facilitate new users to join the project, a sponsorship model has been chosen for using the blockchain application. Apart from supply-driven mechanisms, Soar also introduces mechanisms for demand-driven content, meaning the matching of drone operators and users who require drone footage.
Twitter: @Soar_Earth
Telegram: https://t.me/SoarEarth
Email: jessie@soar.earth
