I’ll admit it, I got it wrong. I expected GIS in 2017 to be charging forward full bore. A raging torrent. But instead I am seeing a dribble.
Back to the drawing board.
What is going on … has the industry hit a wall?
Has GIS hit a wall?
For the last 5 years the GIS industry has been moving along nicely. Expanding its reach and evolving into many new and exciting areas. New innovative releases from both the proprietary and open source worlds have opened the door to so many potential applications of the technology.
But something has changed. The expansion has slowed.
Traditional users (public sector, those focused on infrastructure) appear entrenched. While adoption among new potential users (commercial sector etc) has been slow as they struggle to fully grasp the value GIS brings to their organizations.
Talking across the industry I’m seeing 2 trends:
- For GIS companies who work with traditional long term users of GIS, and are often well connected to providers, its business as usual.
- New GIS companies looking to sell solutions on top of the recent advances in GIS tech are finding expansion more challenging.
For now that flood of interest has slowed.
And I have a suspicion I know the cause.
How do we open the flood gates: widen the adoption of Web GIS among the traditional, and have the value of GIS better understood by non-users?
That is the million dollar question… and we think we may have just some of the answers!
Tell us what you think 801.733.0723
Author: Matt Sheehan
Matt Sheehan is a Principal at WebMapSolutions. Matt evangelizes GIS and location intelligence around the world through keynotes, articles, tweets and his books. Follow him on Twitter:
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