What Infrastructure-Grade, Decision-Ready Terrain Systems Must Deliver
Nearly every facet of modern civilization increasingly depends on terrain models to support operational decisions. As automated systems begin interacting directly with the physical world, terrain models are becoming inputs to machines as much as tools for human analysis. Infrastructure planning, logistics optimization, risk modeling, and a growing class of automated systems all rely on […]
Closing the Gap Between Digital Promise and the Physical World
The inevitable rise of a scalable terrain baseline As the economy is increasingly coordinated through digital systems, geospatial data is shifting from supporting analytics to serving as infrastructure. Terrain is among the primary physical reference layers underlying virtually all other classes of spatial data. This article asserts that terrain data as infrastructure only scales as […]
The Scaling Limit of Buying Lidar Data
Licensing and Purchasing Lidar Data as Refresh Scales Data Volume The way spatial data is bought or licensed determines who pays for it over time, and whether systems scale cleanly or accumulate hidden operational costs. Whether spatial data is bought or licensed determines who pays for its production, who carries the burden of keeping it […]
Safeguarding Spatial Sovereignty in the Age of Rapidly Refreshed Machine-Readable Terrain
“The map is not the territory.” — Alfred Korzybski A map at its core is an abstraction, while the physical world, the territory, is not. The physical world is where our children grow up, communities form, infrastructure is built, food is grown, water flows, and ecosystems sustain the conditions necessary for prosperity. Every road, building, […]
Elevation: One Layer to Rule Them All
Three Layers for the Analysts under the sky,Imagery, Points, and Polygons, data easy on the eye.Seven for the Scientists in their labs below,SAR, Hyperspectral, Thermal, revealing secrets only they know.Nine for the Planners doomed to vie,Zoning, Parcels, Infrastructure, and Everything Nearby.One for the People, deep and bold,In the realm of Resolution where truth unfolds.One Layer […]
Scanning the Stakes: Lidar, AI, and the Real World
This is the first in a three-part series exploring the convergence of AI and the trend toward rapidly refreshed global lidar, how it could go wrong, how we can steer it right, and the immense good that will follow if we do. As lidar technology advances toward rapidly refreshed global data with centimeter-level precision, it’s […]
Distinguishing Regulatory and Operational Agency Functions in the Context of Improving Federal Efficiency
Introduction Amidst growing pressures to streamline the federal government and reduce fiscal waste, it’s critical to distinguish two distinct roles federal agencies serve: regulatory functions and operational functions. Regulatory functions involve creating and enforcing rules to safeguard public welfare, while operational functions focus on delivering services, sharing resources, or producing outputs that provide direct value […]
How the Supreme Court’s Reversal of Chevron Deference Will Impact the Geospatial Industry
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a 40 year precedent known as Chevron deference. This momentous decision was either a great step toward agency accountability to the legislature or a power grab by courts, depending on what news you follow. Regardless of your political leanings, one thing is certain: the reversal of Chevron deference […]
Realizing the Value of Geospatial Technology
This week I’ll be exploring the value of geospatial technology. I hold that geospatial technology does not create value, but rather serves as an important tool contributing to the creation of value. This distinction is important because if we want to build more impactful technology and sustainable profit growth we must understand how value is […]
Street-Level Data: The White Elephant of Spatial Data
White elephants are larger than life, rare, and beautiful to behold. Their unrivaled beauty and power make them more than mere symbols of prestige, but endow them with great economic value. They’re also incredibly burdensome and costly to maintain. I can’t imagine a better analogy for street-level data. In this week’s blog I’ll be diving […]