2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the geospatial industry. The value of geospatial data, services, and solutions continues to grow. These tools provide insight, improve decision-making, and support global progress. Dave Horner, CEO of Getmapping, shares his predictions for the top geospatial trends in the year ahead.
Artificial Intelligence Is Becoming Mainstream
2023 was the year that generative AI moved into the mainstream and hit the headlines with the widespread adoption of ChatGPT. AI has been discussed and used for years, but for most people, it has remained an emerging technology. However, ChatGPT changed all that. It’s time to accept that AI is now an integral part of our everyday lives, and that its application and usage will continue to grow in the future.
This idea is equally true for the geospatial industry, where we are starting to see AI being used much more widely. From content providers and aggregators to the rapidly expanding user base in both commercial and public sector spaces, organisations will be looking at how they can more effectively leverage AI.
The combination of geospatial data and powerful AI algorithms is already starting to generate powerful on-demand solutions. We can expect to see more and more geospatial platforms adding AI capabilities to their offerings in 2024. This will make intelligence and insight available at the click of a button and leverage edge computing to increasingly deliver it on demand.
According to PitchBook, venture capital firms poured $21.4bn (£17.5bn) into generative AI start-up firms in the first nine months of 2023, compared to just $5.1bn in the whole of 2022. So, expect to see a rapid rise in the availability of AI-driven intelligence and information throughout 2024. Time to stop thinking about what AI might do for you tomorrow, and start seriously looking at how you can be using it today.
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The Battle for the Kerbside
According to a recent BBC article, the one millionth all-electric car will be on UK roads in 2024. Many people are still unsure about when to make the switch to electric vehicles, just as they are still considering how and when to embrace AI. The hesitation is not usually about the car technology itself. Instead, it is the limited availability of EV charging points that causes most of the concern.
This is leading to a stronger understanding of how important kerbside management is in daily life. Local Authorities now need much more detailed maps and visualisations of the roads and pavements they oversee.
Geospatial data is a key component of the solution to the problem of how to incorporate the need for EV charging into our already congested kerbsides. Increasingly, Local Authorities are turning to high-resolution aerial imagery and ultra-high resolution mobile mapping data to provide accurate and detailed representations of the kerbside environment today, so that they can plan the kerbside of tomorrow.
Demand for up-to-date, high-resolution imagery and point clouds will grow rapidly as they become essential for managing this space.
Leveraging Multi-Source Data
Kerbside management is not the only application that is benefiting from greater access to multi-source data. Across many sectors, combining aerial and ground-based imagery with cadastral and proprietary data is creating digital replicas with unmatched detail.
This increased detail empowers key decision makers to gain greater intelligence and insights from their desktops. For example, the civil engineering and construction sector increasingly relies on high-resolution aerial and mobile mapping surveys to underpin the management of key highway construction projects.
Property insurers are turning to multi-source data to help identify an expanded range of risk indicators around commercial and residential properties. Renewable energy providers combine cadastral mapping and high-resolution rooftop aerial imagery with socio-economic data to help optimise their marketing, sales, and delivery processes.
The number of applications is growing fast, and multi-source data will see wider adoption in 2024 as access becomes easier and more widespread.
Currency Is Still King
The demand for more and more up-to-date data is showing no signs of slowing as we move into 2024. If anything, it is increasing. Content programs will be updated more frequently in 2024, with growing pressure on cadastral owners to add new features as soon as they are built.
The term “digital immigrant” has been in common circulation for some time, referring to someone born and brought up before the widespread adoption of digital technology. The term “geospatial immigrant” now describes someone new to the industry who sees the value and insight geospatial data can provide.
While the geospatial industry might once have been considered a niche, known only to a relatively small group of specialists, working to create and disseminate geospatial data, this perception is rapidly changing. In 2024, we expect to work with more new customers than existing ones, many of whom are geospatial immigrants.
Rise of the Geospatial Immigrant
In addition, we expect them to come from a much broader spread of industries as geospatial becomes much more widely adopted, as a result of the key enablers outlined above, the mainstream application of AI, the easier dissemination of multi-source data via cloud services, and the continuing increase in currency and resolution.
As a result, expect to start seeing more and more references to geospatial data and services in mainstream news and social media feeds, as it finally takes its rightful place alongside AI, cloud computing, and IoT as a key technology enabler in its own right.
To explore the latest developments in geospatial data and the solutions that support planning and decision making, browse Getmapping’s most recent blogs and case studies.
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