Brisbane: Emerging international spatial industries hub

Spatial information deals with the position, area and size of things. 

Much spatial information is about geography, and focusses on things that are on or near the Earth’s surface. However, new technologies are making it easier for spatial skills and technologies to be used in other ways, like mapping the damage to layers of skin in third degree burns.

We use spatial information to understand what is happening, and how doing things differently will improve outcomes. 

Spatial information is a broad term for referring to the skills, data and technologies used to create, analyse, manage, interpret and connect information about where things are. Spatial information is at the heart of big data, and is believed to make up about 80% of the world’s information.

Spatial information relies on location-based services and technologies such as satellites, sensors, drones, lidar, GPS and ground penetrating radar, as well maths-science skills such as surveying, mapping, modelling and geography.

Almost every industry and every person with a smartphone uses spatial information. Many industries are starting to discover how spatial information can transform the way they do things as an industry, and how businesses and society can benefit.

Industries that are already heavy users of spatial information include: construction and property, defence, mining, transport, communications and local government.

Industries that are now investing in spatial information include: health, emergency management, infrastructure, agriculture, insurance, community services and retail.

Talent

Spatial information research is strong in Brisbane and well connected into international centres, including the digital earth node at Griffith University, Earth Observation Australia and QUT who are leading in building information modelling.

Location

Brisbane is a launchpad to Asia and the Pacific with many collaborations across the region. Developments in space-based location intelligence leverage Australia's location, seeing the sector exceed performance relative to its size, delivering innovative results.

Supply Chain

Access into high performing key growth markets for spatial information meet regional headquarters for spatial service providers in Queensland, making Brisbane attractive as a base for data science operations.

Policy

The regulatory environment in Queensland is conducive to digital transformation activity, complemented by strong support for innovation and small business.

Australia is home to one of the most envied property record systems in the world, the Torrens Titles scheme. Queensland surveyors are leading the implementation of digital improve-ments to this century old scheme.

Companies in the Brisbane market include Veris, Bennett + Bennett, RPS Group and AAM Group.

With agriculture, construction, mining and tourism contributing significantly to Queensland's economy, spatial information is helping to support real- time change detection and impact modelling, as well as insight-driven decisions for increased crop and production yields.

Companies in the Brisbane market include DigitalGlobe, Aerometrex, Monitum, Land Solution Australia, Data Farming and Spatial Vision.

Complex infrastructure projects in brownfield sites are benefitting from new intelligence derived from clash detection modelling and automation, crowd-sourced feedback and web-streamed historic imagery and datasets. Queensland is home to several global full-service engineering enterprises and a range of niche providers.

Companies in the Brisbane market include Jacobs, GHD, AECOM and Monitum.

Internet of Things, drones, satellites and mobility are delivering unprecedented geo-enabled data to businesses. Aggregating data in a meaningful way to automate and supercharge decision making is a specialty of spatial platform providers.

Companies in the Brisbane market include Esri Australia, Cohga and Here.