Education

AGI Geocommunity 2008 Opens in Stratford-Upon-Avon

The 20th AGI (Association for Geographic Information) Event and 2nd Geocommunity Conference 2008 kicked off today in Stratford-Upon-Avon to an audience of 600 in attendance under the theme 'Shaping a Changing World'.

Steven Feldman opened the show welcoming guests and explained the theme of the event and how initial discussions to select the topic were primarily oriented around issues of change. He did ask, "are we shaping the world, or being being shaped by the world?" Feldman also pointed to the fact that geography is at the heart of what the geocommunity is all about.

Keynote speaker Sean Phelan, Founder and director of Multimap, which was recently sold to Microsoft for 30 million GBP, remarked on the fact that this generation may be the last generation "to know what it means to be lost." That in reference to the fact that technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that the idea of being lost is simply not possible. Phelan mentioned the beginnings of the internet starting with ARPANET , the

first internet site in 1991, the growth of GPS, Netscape IPO in 1995 and the first and second dotcom bubbles. "From the beginning, we were going for the consumer market, " he said. Phelan went on to explain the Multimap journey, its funding and events leading up to its eventual takeover October 23, 2007. In his view a few global players - Google and Microsoft = have the necessary resources to develop the applications needed in the future, essentially ruling out small players in the space.

Vanessa Lawrence, Director General of the Ordnance Survey gave the second keynote speaking on the topic of the power of place within the broader UK environment, cutting across government agencies to deliver services to the public and business. "People want to communicate in different ways," she said. "Geographic information is driving participation."  Lawrence message was highly social in nature, directed at the need to deliver GI to people, and she mentioned a recent study that Generation-Y wants much the same as previous generations, namely, careers with promise and the opportunties to succeed. She did mention that the younger generation today seeks employer's who are responsive to their personal development and growth, as well as being good corporate citizens governance wise.  She highlighted Ordnance Survey efforts relating to Olympics 2012, regulatory compliance and the many projects OS is involved in. Finally, she mentioned the ongoing review of Trading Funds in the UK, and cautioned that people should balance their expectations as the final report is not likely to read as a earth shattering document, but instead, to include a comprehensive, informed review serving the purposes of the country.

Geoff Zeiss, Director of Technology at Autodesk gave the 3rd Keynote. A world traveller, Zeiss has seen applications around the world from different angles and perspectives. He spoke about initiatives in Australia for desalinization to create useable water, but mentioned that the amount of energy needed to perform the process is large. Zeiss says that nuclear is a viable option going forward. "Recent legislation in the UK will make it mandatory to have energy efficiency built into homes," he said. "This is going to impact the UK housing market dramatically going forward." He pointed to the fact that many new buildings have so many drawings in paper that it is impossible to keep everything managed - thus leading to a new for developing more digital content through the design process. "While productivity is growing in most industries, it is decreasing in the construction industry, " Zeiss said. Thus leading to the realisation for establishing digital cities, fully enabled in digital format from the ground up and in 3D, a concept that realises the convergence of spatial information.  Finally, he pointed out that sustainability issues are driving a lot of the infrastructure related work. "Our own company does not even consider buildings without them including a LEED component, " he said. Clearly, environmental issues are on the agenda of a 4.6 trllion USD infrastructure industry moving forward.

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