The document discusses the growing mainstream adoption of geospatial technologies. It notes that geospatial data is now easily accessible and integrated into many applications as just another data type. Crowdsourcing of geospatial data through projects like OpenStreetMap is allowing much more comprehensive and up-to-date maps to be created at a fraction of the traditional cost. The widespread availability of location sensing technologies and real-time geospatial data is enabling new applications and use cases across many domains.

1. The Geospatial
Revolution
Peter Batty
President, Spatial Networking
AGI GeoCommunity
September 23, 2009
1

2. Overview
• Mainstream at last!
• A real-time, multimedia view of the world
• Crowdsourcing
2

3. GIS was a specialized backroom
technology for many years
3

4. “1995: the year that GIS disappeared”
Doug Seaborn
AM/FM conference, 1992
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5. Disruptive technology
Functionality / lo gy
performance c hno
he d te
bl is
E sta Mainstream
Market
requirements
lo gy
chno
e te
ru ptiv
Dis
Time
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6. Now much easier to
include location data
Free or cheap Location
Geocoding
map data tracking
6

7. Finally, geospatial data is
just another data type
flickr.com/photos/26664862@N04/2499573972/
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8. The neogeographers
Google
Microsoft
Open Source
... and more
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9. Fun and cool
Performance
Ease of use
API
Continued innovation
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10. 3D buildings
Birds eye view
Photosynth
SQL Server
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11. Strong in database
Strong in web mapping
Weaker on desktop
Data improving fast
Spans both “GIS” and
“neogeo” spaces
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12. “But these new systems are just simple
web mapping, they’re not GIS”
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13. Cartography
Andy Allan, Cloudmade
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14. 14

15. Data creation and maintenance
Upcoming Mapzen editor
Cloudmade
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16. Data creation and maintenance
“Walking Papers” for OpenStreetMap Stamen Design
Here’s a print of Chinatown, San Francisco. 16

17. Geospatial
analysis
Stamen Design
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18. Geospatial analysis
FortiusOne / GeoCommons
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19. The peasants can’t
do what they need
with Google Maps!
Well let them use
ESRI instead!
Marie Antoinette
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20. Graphic showing “peace”
Maybe hippies holding hands
(Shouldn’t fight neogeo vs GIS - all same problem)
neogeography = GIS
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21. A real-time, multimedia
view of the world
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22. September 7, 2009
22

23. 23

24. 24

25. Microsoft Photosynth
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26. Google Streetview
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27. maps
Microsoft Virtual Earth
Manhattan
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28. C3 Technologies
Las Vegas
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29. prototypegame.org
Manhattan
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30. Live
Video
Live
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31. The Sensor Web
Need a spatial context to
make sense of all this
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32. Location sensing
UWB GPS
Wi-Fi RFID
Cell towers
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33. New TomTom traffic speed dataset
derived from
600 billion
speed readings from users
real time data within
3 minutes
flickr.com/photos/rutlo/3164449930/
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34. location based services
are real at last!
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35. Smart Grid
“The Internet brought to our electric system”
Storage Renewable Energy
Demand Response Intelligent devices and
control systems
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36. Will have the ability to know where everything is
- and what is happening - all the time
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37. Crowdsourcing
37

38. Web Web
1.0 2.0
publishing participation
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39. Wikipedia
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40. Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans
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41. Community generated data
scipionus.com
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42. Landgate
Perth, Western Australia
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43. 43

44. “The future is user
created data” Google MapMaker
Michael Jones, Google
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45. 45

46. OpenStreetMap
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47. December 3, 2007
Google OpenStreetMap
July 7, 2009
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48. Denver, CO Denver, CO
USA USA
“Mousetrap” junction
of I-25 and I-70
Cape Royal
Grand Canyon, AZ Cropston
USA England
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49. 132,764 users
24m km of highways
crazy
34m km of ways
momentum!!
OSM stats from May 2009
NAVTEQ had 18m km of highways in Dec 2007
flickr.com/photos/pimpmasterjazz/2601898276/
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50. What about quality?
Dr Muki Haklay of UCL
“OSM quality is beyond good enough, it is a product
that can be used for a wide range of activities”
Based on a detailed analysis
http://tinyurl.com/mukiosm
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51. Database
2007 data
69 countries
11m miles (18m km) of roads
18m points of interest
People “Creating, maintaining and delivering a
comprehensive, high quality map database is a
Field force 700 multi-step, labor-intensive process. We
Central production 270 currently employ over 270 employees in our
centralized production facility and a global
Technology 500 workforce of over 700 geographic analysts in
32 countries”
Total 3349
Financial
Revenue $853m (~€604m)
Data creation & distribution costs $396m (~€280m)
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52. Crowdsourcing is a paradigm shift for data creation
flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810/
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53. In summary ... a wild ride ahead!
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54. ?
peter.batty@spatialnetworking.com
geothought.blogspot.com
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