The Geospatial Sector is going through a transformation with Cloud Computing at the heart of the change. The power, scalability and accessibility of Cloud Computing were the highlights of the panel chaired by Dr VS Hegde, Chairman cum Managing Director, Antix Corporation and Scientific Secretary ISRO.
He emphasized on shifting focus to “downstream” activities in the space economy. This means utilizing geospatial data to create meaningful applications and services that benefit society. Cloud technology, he noted, is essential for this transition, providing the infrastructure for storing, processing, and analysing the huge swarth of data generated by satellites.
He said, “Building Satellites, Launching Satellites… it is all upstream activity which is a part of 12-15 % of the overall space economy. So it is downstream that decides the space activities where space and all applicable data are used. We need to focus on downstream possibility which makes use of the cloud technology.”
Cloud, the Geospatial Game Changer
Phil Cooper, Geospatial Technical Business Development Lead, AWS EMEA, highlighted the “titanic shift” to the cloud in the geospatial sector.
He said “The sheer volume of data involved, from satellite imagery to environmental sensors, demands the scalable and flexible solutions that cloud platforms offer. AWS, for instance, stores a staggering 160 petabytes of open geospatial data. ”
The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for the acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth which according to Phil has been severely underutilized.
From Geointelligence to Sustainable Agriculture
The applications of cloud-powered geospatial technology are vast and varied. In GeoIntelligence and security, cloud computing enables real-time monitoring and analysis of critical situations.
Divya Sharma, Vice President, Satsure, a company focused on agricultural solutions, shared how cloud technology is democratizing access to data, enabling them to develop crop monitoring tools that benefit low-income farmers and enhance food security.
She said, “At Satsure, We are trying to solve low-income farmer inclusion. As 70 per cent of the population is involved with Agriculture, this is a large-scale problem we tackle.
“Availability of data and democratization of data (which AWS has brought in) has helped with this crop monitoring in agriculture. We monitor the entire lifecycle of the different stages of Agriculture. If we have this open data, structured and organized we can use it. We can have much more Intel in developing models like climate change.”
Naresh Palaiya, CTO of Tathya.Earth, highlighted the use of cloud-based deep learning algorithms to extract insights from satellite imagery.
This allows for the identification of economic trends and patterns that were previously difficult to discern. The cloud, in essence, is a catalyst for innovation in the geospatial domain.
While the potential of cloud technology is undeniable, challenges remain. Data storage, while vastly improved by cloud solutions, is still a concern. Additionally, the sheer complexity of geospatial data can pose challenges for analysis and interpretation.
However, LLM models in AI and ML running on cloud infrastructure are helping to address these hurdles.
The future of geospatial tech is irrefutably intertwined with the cloud. As data volumes continue to grow and analysis becomes more complex, the cloud will provide to be very integral.
