The CRC for Spatial Information (CRCSI) has released its 2018 Global Outlook report, examining key technologies, trends and future disruptions for the spatial industry.
Building on the work of previous reports, the 2018 report aims to summarise trends affecting the global spatial industry from a myriad of sources, and encapsulate the evolving impact of spatial technologies and practices on the greater global economy — no small undertaking.
They find the 2018 geospatial market (comprising Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GIS, Earth Observation, and 3D Scanning) to be worth USD $339 billion, and forecast to grow to USD $439.2 billion by 2020.
Rather than try to replicate or reproduce their work, we note the two biggest trend disruptions in the report below.
Industry 4.0
The key phenomena found to be affecting both spatial and the global economy, this pastiche of emerging technologies and trends will have an outsized impact into the future.
The era of ‘cyber physical’ systems contains many disciplines: mobile devices, cloud computing, augmented reality and wearable technologies, multilevel customer interaction and profiling, big data analytics and advanced algorithms, smart sensors, 3D printing, authentication and fraud detection, advanced human-machine interfaces, Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, blockchains, drones, robots, and location-detection technologies.
The report forecasts that spatial technologies and practice will likely operate in tandem with most of these technologies in future, to offer substantial value adding and new applications, many of which have mot yet been realised.
Space is the place
The small satellite revolution and new space economy are symbiotic current trends, with the space industry slated for massive growth in coming years. the 2018 outlook finds the global industry to be worth USD $344.5 billion at present, with up to 6200 small satellites estimated for launch up to 2026, worth over USD $30 billion.
The current excitement surrounding the imminent $AUD 50 million injection to establish Australia’s national space agency doesn’t hurt, with the paltry spend to date relative to many other developed economies noted.
There are around 597 earth observation satellites in orbit (as reported August 2017) (UCS). This number is set to nearly double by 2026 to 1100 with four companies (Planet, Digital Globe, Spire and Blacksky) planning to launch 970 new sats between them.
The global market size for GNSS is currently worth USD $201.5 billion, and is expected to grow to USD $260.8 billion by 2020, with around 5.8 million GNSS devices currently operating, with this figure anticipated to grow to 8 billion by 2020.
The full report offers detailed analysis on the interaction and projected evolution of the space and spatial industries. Access it at CRCSI’s website [PDF].
