Spatial Industry Surfaces for Minister

Last week, The Honourable Martin Ferguson AM, MP, Federal Minister for Energy and Resources, delivered the opening address in Canberra at spatial@gov - the premier event for the Australian spatial industry.

Minister Ferguson took time to visit Geomatic Technologies (GT), a Microsoft Gold Partner and leading Bing Maps reseller, to see the power of the Surface Computer.

The annual spatial@gov conference brought together government and private sector experts to showcase the latest achievements and innovations in mapping and data visualisation.

Presentations this year focused on the growing and changing role of location based technologies in the areas of Climate Change and Water Security, Smart Infrastructure, Social Inclusion and Education.

At the accompanying trade exhibition, Mr Ferguson and fellow presenter Dr Michael Winter, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, took time to visit Geomatic Technologies (GT), a Microsoft Gold Partner and leading Bing Maps reseller. They experienced GT’s Australian-built Microsoft Surface solution for multi-agency data collaboration.

Both visitors were able to easily use the intuitive touch interface, which allowed them to build their own mapping experience using geotagged photos and map layers of their choosing, while including overlays of live Australian emergency services information.

The solution uses the power of Bing Maps to provide aerial imagery and base mapping into every user’s workspace. GT’s solution is also enabled for Bing Maps Server, which allows the solution to be delivered into high security and disconnected environments.

Minister Ferguson and Dr Winter, along with the many others who got to interact with Surface, saw the value that multi-touch devices such as Microsoft Surface can bring to multi-agency collaboration.

Photo from CeBIT Australia licensed under a creativecommons non-commercial licence - see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/