W
hen you consider the big technology
successes of recent decades, you'll notice
they all have one thing in common—they make
an important activity cheaper.
Take the Internet. Despite its status as the most
transformative technology of our lifetime,
the Internet provides a simple economic
benefit—it makes searching for information and
communications cheaper. Artificial intelligence—
the hottest technology on the block—has
equally simple economics: it lowers the cost
of prediction and diagnosis. And even though
blockchain is still an emerging technology, its
economics are clear—it reduces transaction
verification costs and the cost of operating a
marketplace without a central authority.
Cheap creates demand. Cheap drives
opportunities. Economics tells us that when
the price of something drops, we tend to use
more of it. And if that something is particularly
valuable to society or business, it can have a
dramatic impact. That's why understanding
a technology's basic economics is such a
great way to cut through the hype. It distills
the technology's value proposition to its
essence and clarifies its impact on people and
organizations now and in the future.
It's through this lens that I examine geospatial
technology. Today we're seeing an explosion
of interest in digital maps and spatial analytics.
Just look at the proliferation of map-based
dashboards and contact-tracing apps that
have surfaced in response to COVID-19. But
pandemic-induced hype aside, there's currently
a real and material surge of interest across the
board for geo-tech. In fact, a recent report noted
that half of organizations consider geospatial
technology a critical or very important enabler
of their business agenda. The mobile mapping
market, for instance, has seen particularly strong
growth and is set to grow by 15% per year to
over $40 billion by 2024. And that's just one
segment of the geospatial industry!
It begs the question: what are the economics
behind the growth? What valuable activity
or ability does geospatial technology make
cheaper? And what are the implications for
people and organizations?
Cost of Spatial Awareness
Geospatial technology is a catch-all term for the
range of modern tools that enable mapping
and spatial analysis. These include established
technologies like GIS, GPS, GNSS and remote
sensing, as well as the new wave of digital
technologies that acquire, consume and process
location-based data. Given that between 60 and
80% of all data contains a spatial element, the
extent of geospatial technology is vast.
The key insight is that, as a whole, geospatial
technology provides something quite simple—
spatial awareness. It helps people understand
where things happen, where they might happen
next and why they happen where they do.
On a personal level, spatial awareness is
obviously important. We all need some level
of geographic understanding to participate
in society and go about our day. Whether
it's getting to work, deciding where to live or
03 | GEOSPATIAL STRATEGY ESSENTIALS FOR MANAGERS MATTHEW LEWIN
Chapter 1
The Simple Economics of
Modern Geospatial Technology
Better spatial awareness
at a better price
