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Happy New Year. Like many other we have been mulling over our 2015 GIS predictions. But before we jump in let’s review 2014.

GIS in 2014

We saw GIS in 2014 as a year of advancement and self examination. Mobile technology, fed by data and services in the cloud, has put location on the tips of many tongues.

Show me who and what is near me

Give me the ability to search and query using my current (GPS) location

Give me (spatial) tools to help me run my business

The (niche) GIS industry is in the process of reinventing itself. Our blog post suggesting GIS is Splitting was met with a considerable reaction: from outright agreement to “what do these guys know they don’t even have GIS in their title!”

We don’t actually believe GIS is splitting, but it is definitely changing. In 2014 we saw a more polarised GIS sector; on one end traditional GIS, or business as usual. On the other emerging GIS; the wild west of GIS: uncharted, rule free, a little scary, but filled with opportunities. We also began to see discussions on these changes, challenges and opportunities.

In previous blog posts we’ve discussed the split in GIS. Not so much a split in the core technology, but in the users served and thus solutions provided. Traditional GIS will continue to support GIS professionals. “New” GIS is now serving a far wider user base. These are users who want to move beyond charts and graphs and visualize data on maps.To query business data based on location. These are users who want to replace their use of pen and paper while in the field, with mobile GIS. They want have access to maps and data in both populated (connected) and remote (disconnected) areas. There is much much more.

Its an exciting future. But just how do we bring GIS to this wider set of users?

The full potential of GIS is only just being realised. Esri and other location focused companies are driving forward with regular, new service releases which extend the possible applications of the technology. A wave of company mergers and acquisitions is underway in the location sector.

There are many exciting new ways to apply location technology. We thought it worth listing 5 cool new applications of Mobile GIS:

5 Cool New Applications of Mobile GIS

Geo-Triggers

Geotrigger technology adds location awareness and location based alerts to mobile apps. Esri’s 2012 purchase of the Portland based Geologi, has helped raise the profile of this technology. They describe how the service works as follows: