In the past ten years technology shifts have re-crafted the geospatial applications and analytics landscape.
- The iPhone and Android ecosystems have fostered a world where almost everyone is a beacon of information
- Large scale computing capabilities have provided companies like Google and Facebook the ability to keep track of billions of things, and companies like Amazon and Microsoft are making similar computing power available to everyone
- Global internet coverage continues to expand, including innovative programs with balloons and solar powered drones
These trends shape billion dollar shifts in the mapping and geospatially-oriented industries, for example
In August 2015, a consortium of the largest German automakers including Audi, BMW, and Daimler (Mercedes) bought Nokia’s Here mapping unit, the largest competitor to Google Maps, for \$3.1 billion.
In addition to automakers like the German consortium having a stake in owning and controlling mapping data and driver user experiences, the largest private companies, like Uber and Airbnb, depend on maps as an integral part of their applications.
Source: VentureBeat
New applications, particularly those around geospatial analytics, are harnessing the geospatial capabilities of an in-memory approach. In particular, transportation is just one of many industries undergoing dramatics shifts as new technology forces align.
To understand the full shifts underway, and read about transportation analytics examples with New York Taxis, and Esri approach to in-memory databases, and real-time dashboards with Zoomdata, check out our full white paper: