DaaS BooT (Data as an Asset, Part II)

[Note: this is a re-post from LinkedIn Pulse that requires a user login]

After Das Boot - German U-boat disruptive technology of WWII - it stands here for Data-as-a-Service, Business Opportunity of Things - rather than Internet of Things (IoT); it underscores that without business outcome, we might as well stay home: that is the tenor of GEO Business 2015, in its third year, as it draws together Surveying, BIM, GIS and business.

geobusinessshow.com

This follows on Data should be treated as an Asset on companion Map Blog and LinkedIn Pulse (login required). You will see that there are other common threads with the various shows I reported on here this spring.

Data as a Service (DaaS) takes after Software as a Service (Saas). It was the linchpin of Andy Wells talk "Future developments in remote sensing - more than just a pretty picture" right after the GEO Business 2015 opening plenary. [Disclosure: Sterling Geo sold me Safe FME Workbench, though Andy and I go way back since his ERDAS and my ESRI days.] He showed how difficult it is to find any relevant remote sensing data, even today when most of it is posted &/or accessible on the web and a lot for free - I use Landsat 8 on ArcGIS Online:

Mosaic of the latest, most cloud-free (but not snow-free) Landsat 8 imagery
covering the globe rendered using three different infrared bands 7,6,5.

Other sessions on remote sensing also discussed the Open Data issue, as for example UK Environment Agency recorded lots of LiDAR data to map last year's floods, the worst in 250 years!  To paraphrase one of r the speakers:

It is critical that data be made easily and effectively available with a clear monetizing policy - even if it is free the licensing must be explicit and clear...

Andy Wells also showed how important it is to adopt the right tool for the right job - no software can be all things to all people - what struck me also is what could be convergent evolution. Drag&drop object layouts are used in Esri Model Builder, ERDAS Imagine, Microsoft Visio and Safe FME Workbench, respectively, click each image to enlarge:

To reiterate a previous blog, in England horses for courses means that some race tracks are better suited for some horses. Today both data and software offer such dizzying variety, that it's both an opportunity and a challenge. And the same was software is moving to SaaS, so are data to DaaS, we each must finds what's fit-for-purpose for each of the situations...

Point-to-point race just outside my village in Cambridgeshire UK