Geospatial conference an opportunity to put Queensland startups on the map

Brisbane is hosting a national conference for the geospatial industry, with the event presenting a valuable opportunity for startups developing or consuming mapping and geospatial services to network with leading industry, government and academic figures. The Locate conference runs at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 10 to 12. It features an […]

Andrew Sadauskas 06 March, 2015

The Locate conference runs at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 10 to 12. It features an open day on the Tuesday where members of the public can view around 50 displays, with some tickets still available for the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions.

Conference convenor Steve Jacoby, who is the executive director of land and spatial information at the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, says geospatial services and maps are increasingly crucial to the economy.

He estimates the sector is worth between $12 and $18 billion to Australia each year, and around $250 billion per year annually.

“This is our national geospatial conference… We expect around 500 people from all sorts of allied industries to attend, including surveying, mapping, the mobile space, gaming and other emerging disciplines,” Jacoby says.

“For people in the Brisbane area, there’s a free public open day where they can experience the latest data acquisition techniques, as well as emerging trends in apps.

“[Federal Communications Minister] Malcolm Turnbull is opening the conference with a keynote on the 11^th, and there’s a number of keynotes and streams – especially around things like open data and the opportunities for entrepreneurs to value add.”

The conference also covers a number of other uses for geospatial data, including in the military, environmental management, in-car navigation systems, and the rapidly emerging field of augmented reality.

“We’re very much into putting data into the hands of consumers and putting petabytes of live current 3D data – that once only experts could access – into the hands of mainstream consumers.”

People interested in attending can find out more by clicking here.

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