SWF and SVSBR Co-host Panel Examining Policy and Market Developments in the Geospatial Community

Thursday, July 21, 2016

On July 21, 2016 the Silicon Valley Space Business Roundtable (SVSBR) and the Secure Word Foundation (SWF) co-hosted a panel discussion and networking event entitled What's in a Name? Interaction and Evolution in the Geospatial, Space, and Earth Observation Communities. The event was held in Sunnyvale, California.

The panel featured Mr. Kevin O’Connell, CEO of Innovative Analytics and Training; Dr. Joe Mascaro, Program Manager for Impact Initiatives at Planet; Ms. Jessica “JB” Young, Co-Chair of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Small Satellite Working Group; Mr. Scott Simmons, Executive Director, Standards Program, for the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC); and Dr. Phil McGillivary, the Science Liaison for the U.S. Coast Guard PACAREA. SWF Project Manager Ian Christensen moderated the discussion.

Above: Joe Mascaro, Scott Simmons, JB Young, Nicole Jordan (SVSBR), Phil McGillivary. Kevin O’Connell

The five panelists and the audience discussed several themes related to the convergence between the geospatial, space, and remote sensing communities. Topics discussed included the relationship of government capabilities to private sector capabilities, the increasing role of small satellites and agile aerospace principles, the rapid rate of change in data collection and analysis capabilities, the role of standards as means to address interoperability challenges, and the emergence of multiple use cases that rely upon multiple sources and types of remotely sensed data.