1) Hexagon Shuffles the Deck - Hexagon AB, the parent
company of Leica Geosystems, funded a large number of acquisitions in
2007. The Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging group was very active
with the acquisition of IONIC and ER Mapper. The Hexagon organization
also purchased Allen Precision Equipment, a reseller of survey
equipment, in May and GNSS manufacturer NovAtel in late November. In
early December Japanese survey equipment maker Sokkia announced the
acceptance of an offer from Topcon Corporation. We can surely expect
more industry consolidation in the coming year as well as an
announcement regarding Hexagon's market strategy.
2) A Year of Spatial Satellite Launches - A large number of
mapping satellites were launched in 2007. These platforms include
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1, TerraSAR-X, Radarsat-2, Cartosat-2AT,
COSMO-SkyMed 2, SumbandilaSat and others. The number of
countries and companies that are currently building their own
space-based mapping platforms has ushered in a new era of imagery
accessibility. We can expect interesting observations, and continued
expansion of the interest in imagery, paricularly with GeoEye's
Geo-Eye-1 set to launch early in the new year.
3) GeoExploration Platforms Innovate Aggressively - Google
added a number of features and content to their mapping platforms.
Google Maps was updated with customized My Maps functionality, street
view and terrain content and triangulated location in the mobile
platform. Microsoft added a large amount of 3D data with many cities
captured, street view content, and integration with FlightSim.
Microsoft has been agressive about creating a platform for development
that competes with the vision of ESRI's ArcGIS Explorer. To date Google
has primarily focused on content and features to drive traffic to their
sites. We can expect continued advancements and heated competition in
this space next year.
4) GIS/CAD/BIM Integration - The business case for
integration of different modeling tools is heating up significantly in
the architecture/engineering/construction market. The drive is to increase
efficiency of the building process as well as the the energy efficiency
and sustainability of the end product. The Open
Geospatial Consortium is actively engaging the A/E/C community with a
new testbed initiative for 2008 that should have broad implications on
interporability and the role of geospatial tools in the A/E/C
marketplace in the coming year.
5) Data Quality Rises Up the Ladder - The past year has seen
data quality issues grow in importance, and a Data Quality Working
Group has been established within the Open Geospatial Consortium.
Attention is turning toward data quality due to the need for high
quality information to drive many spatial applications. Built upon a
number of international standards, we are likely to see a data quality
framework emerge in 2008.
6) European INSPIRE Comes Into Effect - Passed as a
directive of the European Parliament in March 2007, the Infrastructure
for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) was aims to
provide a common general framework for EU Member States to enable
co-ordination and the use and implementation of spatial information for
policy purposes. INSPIRE is primarily oriented toward the public sector
and has a full implementation date of 2019.
7) Bentley Generative Components - A new software
characterized as "an associative and parametric modeling system to
automate the design process and accelerate design iterations."
Generative Components captures and graphically presents both design
components and abstract relationships. Used by architects and
engineers, it will be interesting to watch how this software is used in
geospatial applications in the future.
8) Infrastructure Needs Rise - Over the past year the need
for improved infrastructure was being reported. Infrastructure is on
the agenda, from the railways of eastern Europe to the major cities of
Canada, from poor roadways of Africa that hinder economic growth to the
need for bridge infrastructure replacement in the United States. Some
estimates place the total cost of work involved at more than 2 trillion
euro. At the same time a shortage of skilled labor, capable of working
with infrastructure software and tools remains critical and is
growing.
9) GALILEO / EGNOS - From its first inception study in
2001, the European version of a global satellite navigation and
positioning system (GALILEO) has been fraught with discussions and
debate. As late as this year, it seemed like the system might not
survive at all. Late in 2007, after much negotiating, the system was
approved by the EU with full public funding. It includes an
augmentation system (EGNOS) based on GPS signals that transmit signals
to provide higher terrestrial location accuracy - a system likely to
also support air traffic management in the future. With one satellite
currently in orbit, this system is to be fully operational by 2013.
10) Launch of Vector1Media - In late 2007 Vector1Media was
launched as an alternative to traditional 'geospatial' media focused
solely on technology. Through V1 Magazine, V1 Newsletter and V1 Blogs,
the founders aim to stimulate increased interest and discussion around
the processes related to spatial information with a particular focus on
sustainability issues. Early growth has been exceptional as interest
has expanded globally by nearly 30% per month.
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