With a total of 73 industry attendees, bringing together sensor manufacturers, their operators, and data users, the emphasis of Day 1 was put mostly on introductions and making connections with an overview of technological advancements. This set the stage on Day 2 for a panel discussion on data acquisition collaboration within the geospatial industry which ended up being a highlight of the conference for me. Representing the data users were Adam Pike of Quantum Spatial and Amar Nayegandhi of Dewberry with John Schmitt of Keystone and Mark Schubert of ASI speaking on behalf of data acquisition. It was through this discussion that the true value of the summit was made apparent to me.
For over an hour and a half, industry leading professionals tackled some of the biggest challenges facing their companies today. On this stage, everyone had a chance to talk about their needs and ultimately each issue turned out to be relevant to the audience as a whole in some way. In this way, the interconnectedness of everyone’s role was made painfully obvious. It just took the right venue and perspective to see it. By the end, every person that wanted a chance was able to contribute to the discussion, offering their own unique perspective and insight. I can think of no other professional gathering or industry event I’ve ever attended that offered such an intimate venue for addressing concerns to the people who could actually offer solutions.
For example, the panel started by discussing ways of alleviating some of the pain points of collaborating on data collection including eliminating scope creep, having a single point of contact, proper email etiquette, and standardized project naming. The sensor manufacturers were brought in when talk shifted to a discourse in data QC which was universally acknowledged as an area for continued improvement and automation. The topic of sensor reliability was brought up and led to an open exchange of ideas for improving sensor maintenance and repair. Improving lines of communication between the user and the manufacturer was suggested as the most important issue to increasing sensor reliability.
Another idea suggested was to move to a service model whereby sensor parts are replaced on a time interval basis. The session wrapped with talk of increasing asset utilization through new business models. Most interesting was the concept of sharing acquisition assets (pilots, sensors, operators) through an Uber-like sharing-economy business model. Overall it turned out to be a very ‘in the weeds’ discussion, but given the level of engagement I don’t think anyone really minded and it could easily have extended the rest of the day. I hope that there is more time allocated for these directed conversations next time because it was easily one of the most interesting parts of the entire summit. In the end, I can only hope that this becomes a regular event for Quantum Spatial. I look forward to meeting with everyone again and being given the chance to meet new faces and potential collaborators.
Brian Kidd, Acquisition Manager