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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
High Quality Data: the Cornerstone of Action-Oriented Geospatial Products
Last week I wrote about realizing the value of geospatial technology. This requires understanding the ultimate problems our technology will be used to solve for consumers and building action oriented technology to make solving these problems easier for operators. This week I’ll dig into what building action oriented technology means and what’s required to produce […]
The Liberty Implications of Modern Geospatial Technology
As I sat down to write this article I was amazed at how quickly my outline ballooned beyond the scope possible to adequately cover in a mere blog post. The interplay between geospatial technology and liberty is rife with rabbit holes extending from philosophy and law to technology and business. So instead of my typical […]
It’s hard to overestimate the value of celebrating victories as an organization
Your team needs something to strive toward. And most importantly, recognition when they get there. I get it, you have a ton of work to do! So making time for parties can seem like a silly waste of time and resources. But few tools are more effective at motivating and bonding a team! You have […]
The Technology of Mapping: Then and Now
The world of mapping is a vibrant ecosystem of technology, entrepreneurs, operators, and a host of incidental contributors. From the drawing compass and printing press, to airplanes and small sats, new technologies press the mapping ecosystem forward, enabling businesses to benefit from new insights previously out of reach. Organizations have gained a competitive edge using […]
Mapping Your Way to Better Margins in Residential Real Estate
Maintain or increase your residential real estate margins by unlocking the power of mapping. It’s no secret, rising interest rates, inflation, and labor shortages have hit the residential real estate market hard. As bloated tech giants such as Zillow, Redfin, and Opendoor scale back their reselling operations, smaller leaner operators must get creative to maintain […]