State of the Industry long way in gaining the recognition it so richly deserves. My unease is that it has taken a long time for our profes-sion to gain the respect of the general public, and we can’t lose the momen-tum. Creating data product guide-lines prior to the tidal wave of firms coming into the market would help clients and UAS operators develop responsible, robust data products that have known positional accuracies and data integrity characteristics. satellites being launched and already on orbit, we’re reaching an inflection point of satellite imagery coverage where near-real-time imagery of almost anywhere on Earth is more realistic and possible, and new resolutions and sensors are already redefining what’s possible in global remote sensing. Other types of coverage are adding to the mix, including unmanned aircraft systems, making real STOJIC: Not long ago, only a few satellites provided Earth imagery to military and commercial customers. Now swarms of nanosatellites are being built to offer high-definition pictures and video of new and often startling quality to anybody who wants—and can pay for—them. Coping with growing volumes of big data, manifested by the prolif-eration of images and movies, and incorporating all of this into tools to predict and manage a future that can be visualized—often in 3-D—is a continuous journey. Making sense of data from creation to analysis to stor-age and reuse alongside new data is a challenge even for the most efficient organizations. This charts the passage, from history to the horizon, for com-panies that provide predictive analysis tools to meet their clients’ needs. Industry leaders recognize that return on investment (ROI) in mean-MLADEN STOJIC President Hexagon Geospatial Division ingful data is an increasing part of our users’ financial well-being. With tech-nology versatile enough to cope with unexpected answers generated by data and tools nimble enough to adapt to change, data can truly be managed and understood, providing ROI. Data’s dynamics also drive a need for dynamic tools to respond to—even create—change. Simplifying the user’s experience, while leveraging all of this information effectively, is our chal-lenge. It’s also the key to our future success. STEPHEN WOOD CEO AllSource Analysis WOOD: We’re at a technological tipping point in geospatial analysis. Up until now, our industry has been characterized by a relatively small number of satellites providing imagery to traditional users, the majority of this work driven by government, defense and intelligence contracts. The satellite operators largely continue to “sell pixels” to this long-established user base that often produces proprietary, often classified and customized results. Today, however, several major trends are taking geospatial analysis to the next level. With a surge of new imaging the promise of true all-source analysis. More open-source data, better data mining tools and more sophisticated geo-graphic information system software are opening new opportunities and a wealth of ways to manipulate, extract and man-age huge waves of information. Although our company, All-source Analysis, serves a variety of traditional customers, new users are emerging in several markets where commercial imagery intelligence tools haven’t been used. Financial services and research analysts are finding ways to use visual imagery intelli-gence to support commodity market research and make trading decisions. Insurance companies are beginning to use satellite imagery to not only assess disasters and damage but to make predictions for prevention and actuarial evaluations. We’re increas-ingly using remote sensing technology to monitor humanitarian situations in North Korea and the Middle East. These and other emerging markets for commercial imagery intelligence are helping to increase the value for new generations of decision makers who are starting to shift the paradigms in their own industries. © 2015 V1 Media, www.eijournal.com 16 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015