Speakers for AGI’s Annual Conference #GeoCom17 Lining Up

The Association for Geographic Information (AGI) has published the headline speakers who’ll be providing insights at this year’s annual conference, #GeoCom17, putting the focus firmly on the role of location intelligence in today’s fast-paced world. The first speakers announced are Javier de la Torre, Dr Helen Ferrier, Mark Bew MBE, Tom Smith and Charlotte Jee.

GeoCom will be held on 26th October 2017 at the RGS-IBG, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR. ‘Smart Geospatial’ is the theme for this year’s event, which will be a highlight for members (and non-members) of the AGI.

It brings together thought leaders, forward-thinking individuals and geospatial businesses to explore the impact of AGI’s work on the emerging digital economy – and the organisers expect to be adding more names to the line-up in the coming weeks.

Javier de la Torre, CEO, Carto Many of our members will recognise Javier de la Torre. Javier founded Carto in 2012, and is a pioneer and keen advocate for the democratisation of data analysis and visualization: a strong speaker on all things geospatial. We expect to hear his insights on turning location data into valuable business intelligence, and the need for not only new data streams, but new analysis methods too – plus a cohesive, shared commitment from the geospatial intelligence community to help governments ‘cross the geospatial bridge’ … and ways for us all to collaborate with private partners and non-profits to help with these new analyses.

Dr Helen Ferrier, Head of Policy Services, NFU Geospatial is an essential tool in agriculture and the insurance sector. At the NFU – the National Farmers’ Union – these disciplines intersect. Dr Ferrier has collected geospatial insights from cross-sector policy experts who work on behalf of the NFU’s 55,000 members; visitors to GeoCom can expect to hear insights touching on the organisation's policy work on agricultural science and research, biotechnology, and many sectors of farming.

Mark Bew MBE, Chair, UK Government Digital Built Britain Programme For sector-wide advocacy of implementing geospatial in the development of Britain’s national infrastructure we look to Mark Bew, chair of the UK’s Digital Built Britain programme. For anyone working in or with the construction sector, this will be a chance to hear forward-thinking from the man whose role it is to safeguard the introduction of BIM Level 3 by 2025. We will expect forthright views from Mark on the integration of location intelligence – what ‘smart’ means in practice for the construction sector, and what the challenges may be.

Tom Smith, MD, Office for National Statistics (ONS) Data Campus Tom is Managing Director at the UK government's ONS Data Science Campus – and will be providing the ONS’s insights into earth observation data, as it’s already being used to better understand Britain’s economy and society. A keen, hands-on practitioner, Tom is a data addict with 20 years’ experience using data and analysis to improve public services, and originally trained as a physicist with a PhD in training neural networks for robot control.

Charlotte Jee, Editor, Techworld Techno-libertarians get a frisson of excitement at the idea of computers becoming integral to the human experience, but those in the know understand the importance of starting with the basics. Good data, good systems: smart technology that delivers benefits for all – when and where they need it. As the editor of Techworld, Charlotte Jee covers the development of this technology in government, politics and the public sector, and will be bringing unique insights to this event.