AI Accelerating Geospatial Innovation
The global geospatial market is expected to grow from $63 billion to $148 billion in the next five years. Satellites transformed modern mapping from static approximations into dynamic reflections of our world and the activity within it. In the early 2010s, the use of distributed networks of small satellites made it more cost effective to capture timely geospatial data at a global scale. Reshaping Industries Reshaping Industries Today, a variety of geospatial platforms (including satellites) capture data at different altitudes, benefiting from low-cost components, commoditized storage/ compute, and decades of GIS product development. The adoption of cloud, edge computing, new AI capabilities, and increasingly powerful geospatial APIs and SDKs are making the benefits of geospatial intelligence more accessible. Developers no longer need to be experts in image capture, data processing, or object detection, and instead can focus on building specialized applications tailored to unique customers, similar to the proliferation of GPS brought about by Apple’s App Store. The ability to collect, process, and analyze endless amounts of geospatial data is creating powerful new applications that are helping to reshape how the largest global industries operate. A seemingly infinite number of venture-scale businesses are now being built in multi-trillion dollar global industries such as agriculture, insurance, and climate markets. AI Boom AI Boom As a horizontal technology that cuts across everything including next-gen manufacturing and supply chain management, satellite design and operations, deeper and more actionable intelligence, SatCom network management, and more. Funding to AI companies remains strong, driving growth in an otherwise tepid market. Today, NVIDIA’s platform is powering everything from simulation to design and operations to asset management on orbit. Meanwhile, synthetic data has become an essential tool for the advancement of AI and ML. Given the massive datasets produced by Earth imaging satellites, GEOINT is the largest initial market and leading GEOINT organizations like Maxar, Planet, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency are leveraging this technology for AI training and validation. The Road Ahead The Road Ahead As much growth as we’ve seen in recent years, AI is not as widely adopted as it will be – not by a long shot. Computer vision tools are still in the early stages of adoption and we expect to see much more innovation here. Recent advancements in AI are enhancing the capabilities of companies across the Space Economy. While 2023 was a year of experimentation, 2024 will see AI integrated into enterprise workflows as products from AWS, Google, and Microsoft will set the pace for enterprise adoption and revenue generation. AI will continue to play a pivotal role, accelerating innovation and enabling companies to unlock the value of geospatial data for a broad set of users. This trend will benefit not only space applications but also various other segments of the Space Economy as digitization of our physical world gains momentum. Disclaimer: Views Expressed are Author’s Own. Geospatial World May or May Not Endorse it