David Bouwman and Brian Noyle
     DTSAgile, Fort Collins, Colorado

David Bouwman

Brian Noyle Bio

Disruptive Technology in GIS - or - “How a browser, the public, and moxy changed the game.”

“I spent four years getting my GIS degree! What’s the big deal about pushpins in a map when I know the secret GISP handshake?”

“I spent good money on a vendor solution! Why are my employees playing with FOSS products during work hours? And what the heck is FOSS anyway?”

“Our implementation is near done. Why are our users asking for this “street view” thingy all of the sudden?  Oh, hey there’s my house!”

“Whoa! There’s a lot of new stuff out there. How to I leverage these shiny bits to serve my public?”

“Data democratization my eye! We spend a lot of coin building up our double secret data layers and we ain’t in the business of giving it away.”

Most if not all industries, and technology sectors in particular, typically undergo one or more periods of “disruption” as the market for that industry grows and matures.  Over the last 5 years, the GIS industry has been a case study in disruptive technologies with the mainstreaming of location-based technologies, the birth of a broad public audience that is mapping savvy, and increased demand for services and solutions that are economical, simple, and accessible.  Ironically, it did not begin with the traditional GIS industry players driving this trend, but rather companies who specialized in addressing large consumer markets rather than serving a technological niche.  From geocaching to home valuation sites to crowd sourced data generation to traffic maps and driving routes to finding the 237 Starbucks™ shops within 10 blocks of your current location, we as GIS professionals must realize that more people understand and in fact demand location-based information on a daily basis.

David Bouwman and Brian Noyle will discuss recent disruptive technologies in the GIS industry in the context of “The Lesson of February 2005”.  With the era of “Web-GIS” and backroom technical specialists coming to an end, the job of the GIS professional, be it department manager, project manager, developer, analyst, or technician, is changing as expectations change in the markets we serve. Using examples from their day to day interactions as consultants in the GIS industry, Bouwman and Noyle will discuss recent trends in information generation and delivery, data standards, consumer audience, GIS software systems, enterprise integration, and the impact of social networks.  The presentation will leverage a suite of real world examples to highlight opportunities and challenges to GIS professionals of various stripes as we adapt together to evolving industry trends. Join us for a fast-paced reprise of where we’ve been, where we’re at now as an industry, and how to adapt and succeed in the future as GIS technology continues to swim in the mainstream.