Pitted against free online services like Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth, you might expect the head of the national mapping agency to offer compliments – if any – through gritted teeth, writes
GORDON SMITH
Geraldine Ruane, chief executive of Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI), prefers to see the competition as stimulating demand for geographical information.
“Google has done the industry a great favour. They have opened up the whole market,” she said.
By themselves, maps cannot be queried, but geographical information systems tie location and data together to answer questions such as: “How long will it take me to get from A to B?”
An often-quoted figure is that 80 per cent of all corporate information has a spatial element to it; what Ms Ruane calls “location intelligence”.
“You can look at the information in visual form instead of in tabular form. You can analyse it and it gives you what-if scenarios. It’s giving you more intelligence to ask the questions.”
The OSI’s task is to convince people that such data has a value and that it can be used in a wide range of business scenarios.
Insurance firms, utilities and telecoms providers already use OSI’s mapping data, laser-based height models and address database extensively, along with public sector customers such as central government departments and local authorities.
Now it is working on being able to provide this information over the internet rather than on paper or DVD. This would include an interactive route planner on the OSI website, or its best-selling product the Dublin Street Guide, made available on smart phones.
“We’re looking at our products and seeing how can we make them more user-friendly, and how can we get more of an audience into our mapping,” said Ms Ruane.
OSI’s innovation team is about to launch a web service aimed at small businesses that may only need mapping data for a specific part of the country, or for a short period of time.
The agency will host the data on its own systems and provide it to business customers in a software-as-a-service model. Ms Ruane said this would allow it to offer lower prices based on usage or number of transactions.
“We have a lot of competitors in the market, and they’re slashing the price. We’re looking at our cost base and trying to match that.”
OSI hopes to tap into the software applications market and wants to open discussions with entrepreneurs who may have business ideas based on using location data. The agency has added skills to its internal team so that it can create full applications in-house or work with one of its commercial partners, Ms Ruane added.
“Customers are not just looking for us to give them raw material, they want us to provide solutions.”
That raw material now stands at more than 200 terabytes of data in the storage area network at OSI’s Phoenix Park headquarters, where the agency has kept its maps in digital form since the early 1980s.
Since becoming a State body in 2002, OSI has had a commercial remit and has grown revenues from €11 million to more than €24 million in 2008.
During that time it has also reduced its dependence on State funding, and implemented other cost-cutting measures to help it to compete more effectively.
In the face of competition, Ms Ruane said the agency could still be justified in charging for its data.
“Remember, Google makes their money from advertising. Google’s satellite imagery is very good, but the biggest cost is in maintaining it – that’s our competitive advantage,” she said.
Currently, OSI updates its maps of cities, towns and suburban areas every year. The surrounding or peri-urban areas are updated every three years, and rural locations are updated every five years.
“I think there’s room in the market for everyone. We have the user-pay concept because it’s part of our remit, but more importantly by getting payment we can reinforce investments in products and services and can keep everything up to date.
“Yes, we have a lot of competitors in the market, but they’re cherry-picking. What we have is national coverage and we’re up to date, and accurate.”
