Variety of speakers confirmed for GEO Business Main Stage line-up

27 Apr 2023

GEO Business announces the Main Stage line-up in the lead up to the 2023 edition of the show, which returns to ExCeL London from 17 – 18 May.

Home to unmissable content delivered by high profile thought leaders working at the forefront of geospatial, the Main Stage at GEO Business will feature an exclusive programme of noteworthy speakers and panel discussions, covering the most pressing issues.

GEO Business

Discover a taster of the speakers stepping on the Main Stage…

Rebecca Reid (Skills, Capabilities and Innovation Policy Lead, Geospatial Commission) will present Building the geospatial skills pipeline on day one. The session will cover what’s being done to improve the support for people interested in a career in geospatial. She’ll also share ideas and good practice on how industry can encourage and support new entrants into the geospatial workforce and incorporate this in their talent strategy.

Matthew Shaw, director and co-founder of ScanLAB Projects, will share insights from collaboration with clients like Disney, the Royal Academy, the BBC, National Geographic, and even Justin Timberlake, to bring pointcloud data to the big screen and the world’s leading venues.

His talk, Pointcloud visualisation for TV, film & immersive media, will explore how ScanLab push the envelope of geospatial data visualisation, demonstrating the unconventional applications of geospatial data and how it can be used in innovative ways to reach new audiences, be those business stakeholders or consumers.

PUMA

Chair of the Technical Committee at The Survey Association and Director of Met Geo Environmental, Sam Roberts, will share more on the new PAS128 Accreditation Scheme from The Survey Association. Named PUMA (PAS128 Utility Mapping Accreditation), the scheme is designed to assess the competence of survey companies to deliver to the PAS128 specification.

This session will provide an overview of the scheme, how assessments are carried out and provide an opportunity for clients, contractors and practitioners to find out more and learn how using PUMA-accredited companies will benefit their organisation.

Ellie Skinner is a Senior Policy Advisor in the Geospatial Commission and the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Policy Lead within the transport team. Taking place on day two, her session titled Driving innovation in the transport sector through location data will highlight how location data and technology is helping enable the increasing expansion of electric vehicle chargepoints and the safe deployment of connected and automated mobility.

Neal Archer’s session will outline How the Defence Geographic Centre provides global geo support to UK government. The Defence Geographic Centre (DGC) is part of the UK’s Ministry of Defence, with a remit to provide global geo data and mapping to aid UK government decision making and formulation of policy, and deliver actions from war fighting, peace keeping and homeland security, to humanitarian and disaster relief.

Neal, Head of Learning and Talent Development at DGC, will present a case study to highlight how DGC supports activity from the strategic level of Whitehall down to the tactical level, utilising a range of differing products to inform at every level.

More on Day Two

Another day two session not to be missed will be hosted by representatives from the Association for Geographic Information (AGI). They will present the results of a survey which asked Is there a skills recruitment issue within the geospatial profession?

Presented by members of the Association’s Education & Skills Working Group, the session will take the form of a panel discussion and will feature senior managers with responsibility for filling vacant roles, HR professionals from larger geospatial organisations and recruiters specialising in geographic data, software and services positions.

This presentation will draw on the results and conclusions from the AGI survey, the specific experiences of the panel members and will encourage contributions from the audience relating to their own encounters when trying to recruit or apply for geospatial positions.

The outcomes of this session will also inform future surveys undertaken by the AGI and help shape the development and activity of the Education & Skills Working Group in its mission to support individuals and organisations active in the geospatial space.

CPD-accredited programme of 120+ sessions

This is only a handful of the sessions taking place on the Main Stage at this year’s highly anticipated GEO Business.

Don’t forget, the show also boasts five additional theatres, offering over 120 free-to-attend talks, workshops and demos delivered by expert speakers from across the profession. Browse the full programme at www.geobusinessshow.com/programme.