Issue 2 2019

6 Acquisition International - Issue 2 2019 Dec18550 Developed by a small start-up company in the United States, a new and modern geospatial technology called Transparent Earth ® is rapidly emerging and revolutionizing the way we can now view the world. roStar Geocorp has developed a precision mapping solution that combines patented geospatial technology with business intelligence. The company’s focus is to provide their solution to industries where knowing the precise location of infrastructure is critical to the success and safety of operations. According to the company’s founder and CEO, Page Tucker, the idea was spawned by the development of other popular mapping and navigational systems including Google Maps, Bing, and OnStar. The key difference between the ProStar solution and other mapping solutions is that other solutions are primarily designed to provide basic mapping functions that identify points of interest within distances measured in meters whereas the ProStar solution provides the ability to identify and see points that are measured within centimeters. The ProStar Solution ProStar’s flagship geospatial solution is Transparent Earth ® , a natively cloud and mobile solution that is offered as Software as a Service (SaaS). Running on the cloud and being mobile means that at a click of a button, critical and precise location data is available to anyone on their desktop or mobile device, anywhere in the world at any time. Transparent Earth is designed to deliver visualization and precision mapping of big data from multiple source systems. The solution provides data in real-time to dashboards and mobile devices from enterprise data management systems, government agencies and the internet of things (IoT). This means that data from geographic information systems like ESRI, computer aided design systems such as Bentley, and enterprise resource planning systems provided by companies like SAP as well as open data sources that provide impactful information such as inclement weather, fires and earthquakes can now easily be combined and conflated to improve asset management business practices with more robust planning, reporting, analytics, predictive analysis and warnings. What are the benefits of ProStar’s precision mapping solution? Having accurate data about the type, location and condition of asset reduces risks to the public and the environment as well as the workers that build, maintain and repair them. “Knowing the origin, locational accuracy methods, and integrity of utility data is critical to managing the risks of using that data; ProStar’s attribution of Precision, Pedigree, and Provenance to utility data delivers measurable confidence to stakeholders”, Jim Anspach, Founding Governor, ASCE Utility Engineering & Surveying Institute, asserts. Geospatial Technology That Is Revolutionizing The Way We View The World In United States there are approximately 4.2 million kilometers of paved roads and highways that are used to support commerce and daily commuting activities. What may surprise you is that there is another vast network that cannot be seen and is far greater in size than the surface transportation systems. In fact, just in the US there is an estimated 56.3 million kilometers of subsurface systems that the country depends on every day. It is comprised of a massive network of pipelines and utilities that are buried within a few meters below the roads and highways that crisscrosses the Nation’s landscape. In many ways we may take the subsurface network for granted as it is out of sight and therefore probably out of mind. However, it is critical to providing the water we drink, the gas that heats our homes and the communication services that government, businesses and citizens depend on. ProStar’s solution is designed to address this issue and it is now changing the business practices of industries required to identify and display the precise location of this infrastructure. The company is gaining traction and receiving accolades in the US from several industries as companies and government agencies adopting the solution are recognizing measurable increases in their productivity and safety performance. How big is the problem? According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2017 Infrastructure report, the US infrastructure was rated a D+ overall, with dams, roads and energy scoring some of the lowest grades. The US government estimates it will cost as much as 2 trillion dollars over the next 10 years to make the US system adequate to meet demands but the fact is that this issue is not isolated to the US. In fact, Running on the cloud and being mobile means that at a click of a button, critical and precise location data is available to anyone on their desktop or mobile device, anywhere in the world at any time. P