Robert Cheetham is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in geospatial application development. A landscape architect by education and a software developer by vocation, Robert is uniquely positioned to offer insights at the intersection of geospatial science, software engineering, and business strategy.

Why is geospatial its own discipline? Which industries stand to benefit from it? And how does it intersect with software development? These are the key questions Robert explored in a conversation with Benedetto Proietti, Big Data Architect at Janea Systems. Watch the full discussion on YouTube, or keep reading for the highlights.

Why is Geospatial Its Own Discipline?

Mapping the Earth is far from simple. For one, our planet isn’t a perfect sphere. Instead, it’s an irregular, constantly shifting spheroid. Factors like tectonic plate movement, gravitational variation caused by Earth’s mantle and core, atmospheric interference with satellite imagery, and sea level discrepancies make it difficult to define precise coordinates. As a result, coordinate systems must be regularly updated. For example, Japan recalibrates its national coordinate system after major earthquakes to account for the land shifting.

Given the scientific and mathematical complexity involved in processing and interpreting geospatial data, it makes sense that geospatial has emerged as its own discipline. However, once the underlying data is handled, software developers can build tools that harness this intelligence for broader use.

What Are the Real-World Applications?

Timing is often called the key to success. So is location intelligence. When harnessed effectively and supported by strong software engineering, geospatial data can bring immense value to nearly every aspect of human activity. In fact, it’s hard to imagine many modern systems functioning without precise, up-to-date mapping and navigation.

The use cases for geospatial data span nearly every industry:

• Postal, delivery, and transportation services depend on accurate mapping for route optimization.
• Emergency services rely on coordinates to locate incidents in remote areas.
• Self-driving vehicles need granular positioning data; even slight inaccuracies can pose safety risks.
• Law enforcement uses geospatial data for crime analysis and strategic deployment.
• Civic institutions apply it to connect residents with their elected representatives.
• Water management services combine geospatial and thermal imaging to discover groundwater sources.

Considering that 80% of all data have a geospatial component, the possibilities for business applications are endless. For instance, executives and sales teams could pair live coordinates with customer data to identify optimal locations for client meetings, business expansion, or service optimization.

Geospatial and Software Development

Interestingly, Robert found that developers without deep geospatial expertise often outperform those with domain-specific backgrounds. Why? Because the geospatial domain is deep and evolving, and it’s more efficient to teach great engineers the specific geospatial concepts they need than to expect domain experts to become advanced software developers.

And the best part? These solutions don’t necessarily require software developers to double as geospatial experts.

How Janea Systems Can Help

As a remote-first company, Janea Systems excels at recruiting global engineering talent capable of implementing high-impact geospatial solutions. In addition, we’ve contributed to major geospatial projects, such as Azure Maps and Bing Maps. Check out the links below to explore the relevant case studies.

[Bing Maps QAS case study] [Azure Maps CS case study]

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