Robert Rowell, Managing Director, Insight GIS
In our annual Leaders Forum, we ask experts to look ahead into 2023. Today we talk GIS with Robert Rowell.
Robert Rowell has more than 35 years’ experience in the spatial industry and has been at the forefront of the implementation of GIS since the early 1990s. His focus is on the integration of GIS into business processes and core information systems.
Is the geospatial sector in good shape to help solve the needs of the nation, e.g. climate change, renewable energy, infrastructure projects?
The geospatial industry has always been in good shape to assist the nation. The issues that we are now facing will only strengthen the sector’s position and opportunities. With the diversity of services Insight GIS provides today, we are well placed to help on issues such as mitigating the effects of climatic events like floods, bushfires, cyclones etc, or the management of assets for well-planned urban environments.
What are the most important challenges facing the sector?
The lack of appropriately skilled professionals remains a significant challenge. This is particularly evident in the lack of IT knowledge (especially data management, integration and UX). We need more geospatial professionals to deal with the vast amount of spatial data being captured and to integrate it into business systems and empower non-spatial applications. Insight GIS is looking to the broader IT profession to provide us with these capabilities.
We always need to keep geospatial real and relevant to our audience. The characteristics of spatial data are complex; however, we often lose sight of this. Articulating the outcomes and benefits of our industry needs to be kept realistic and easily consumable for our stakeholders.
Which technologies or innovations are going to make their mark in 2023?
An outcome of the current investment in the space sector is the availability of Earth observation data. My view is that with the use of techniques such as AI and ML, raw data can be distilled down into meaningful products that can be used to meet the environment challenges of climate change and urban development.
We are also seeing an interest in the use of movement data (i.e. location data from mobile phones). Insight GIS is currently working on a couple of projects where clients wish to understand how people (and vehicles) move around urban areas, national parks, open spaces etc. The outcomes of these projects will assist in the planning of services for communities and the commercial sector.
What are your customers and collaborators looking for in 2023?
Our customers are looking for simpler but more-effective solutions. Like most of us, they have limited human resources, financial pressures and post-COVID burnout. Specifically, they want solutions that are easy to implement and manage and can deliver spatial information to a range of stakeholders.
To provide an example, our recent Discover Communities and TrueView projects are meeting these needs, with both solutions designed to deliver map-based information to the public. These portals offer a range of uses, from planning compliance, infrastructure location, to flood and storm surge information. Both these applications are built of Precisely’s Spectrum Spatial, which provides a simple model for the implementation and integration of spatial technology into an on-premise or cloud environment.
What are your company’s plans or priorities for 2023?
In past 18 months we have had a significant increase in our number of clients. Our aim is to ensure that we are continually listening to them so we know what they want and that we can deliver. To assist with this, we had an independent company undertake a market analysis and strategy, so our aim now is to implement the outcomes of that work. With this has come growth, and hence we are looking to increase staff to meet this growth.
This article was first published in Issue 116 (Dec/Jan 2022-23) of Position magazine.
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