As some of the largest consumers of geospatial data, governments need a long-term strategy for organizing government data. To do this, they must ensure that they are all working together, and one way to do that is to meet regularly in conferences focused on ways to improve the tools and processes.
In August, our Australian team participated in the annual Technology in Government conference held in Canberra. Exhibiting in the trade center and hosting round table sessions gave us a chance to get up close and personal with a variety of key government technology roles such as Data Analysts, Business Intelligence Leads, System Managers and Chief Information Officers.
The engaging and insightful discussions presented us with the opportunity to really understand the challenges and opportunities associated with organizing government data within departments. Every department must find solutions to managing big data, improving interoperability and reducing the number of independent data sources. Providing demonstrations of the capabilities of the Hexagon Smart M.App opened the door to showcase our technology within the context of the government audience.
Three Steps to Organizing Government Data
One of the key learnings was the process in which a number of government departments were working through to achieve interoperability and create self-service business intelligence functions for multiple departments:
Step 1 – Create a single source of data truth
Step 2 – Standardize data using international data standards
Step 3 – Extract analytics and Business Intelligence
With a drive to create self-service analytics, the Hexagon Geospatial’s M.App Enterprise platform proved very relevant and received a lot of attention for its ability to quickly and easily create lightweight, specific applications and displaying data analytics with geospatial references and adding another layer of business intelligence to existing data.
A Hexagon Smart M.App product, M.App Enterprise enables organizations to create their own location-based applications. They can make that application specific to their needs and it requires with little to no coding.
With a clear end goal, government departments will face the enormous challenge of collating, sorting and organizing their data to maximize the outputs of business intelligence tools such as Smart M.Apps. Yet to overcome silos created by multiple data custodians operating independently, creating data interoperability needs to be a priority, as well as discovering what data is already available.
It was clearly demonstrated that Smart M.App would be an integral tool for Step 3. Hexagon Geospatial technologies can also help overcome Steps 1 and 2 to ensure the best analytics are extracted in Step 3.
Using ERDAS APOLLO, for example, government departments can create a single source of truth for their data. Its powerful virtual cataloging and data management capabilities help better prepare the data for maximum value extraction.
There is little doubt that government departments are working hard to achieve a common operational picture, and are certainly not underestimating the importance of data management. However, patience needs to be applied to ensure this is done thoroughly. Otherwise it will be the old case of rubbish in, rubbish out.
Find out more about Hexagon Smart M.App applications and ERDAS APOLLO for data management and cataloging.
Image Credits – Feature Image, “Social Network Analysis Visualization” by Martin Grandjean
About the Author:
Goran Jovceski
Having graduated with a Bachelor of Business Marketing and E-commerce double degree from Victoria University, as well as obtaining a Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing, his role with us focuses on developing marketing strategies and executing campaigns throughout Asia Pacific both direct to market and through channel partnerships to increase brand share and awareness of our organization. Outside of work, Goran is a bit of a tech geek and has a strong passion for motorsport including karting, Formula 1, NASCAR and WRC.
