Opinion piece by Peter Moir, Chief Executive Southern Mapping Company

In recent years the aerial survey and mapping sector has grown in leaps and bounds, and along with this came new challenges for our industry in general and suppliers in particular. As many aerial surveyors conduct business across the African landscape, we need to take caution on a number of issues. The integrity of the mapping industry must be maintained at all costs as other sectors have had set-backs relating to compliance and corporate governance. Conduct in dealings with the public and private sectors must be upheld at a professional level and promises should be made to be kept.

An injury to one should be considered an injury to all and we should reflect on an industry that offers value for money with good time keeping in terms of delivery – albeit that we have to contend with adverse weather conditions. We work in an industry which performs best with the application of state-of-the-art technologies, and the more innovative we can be as a collective, the more we will be able to deliver on solutions.

Our challenge is to identify and understand the relation between the successful application of technology, data capturing and final delivery of the client's product. Our industry is in dire need of talent, and to sustain the levels of performance in future we have a responsibility to motivate the younger generation to pursue studies in the field of GIS. In this context a 'Supplier's Forum' should be motivated to address critical issues that face our industry – most importantly to secure a new generation of talent and to develop market interest in the work that we do.

While on the one hand we need to develop value added products as business entrepreneurs to offer the broader market, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that organizations that use our services are well informed of the results of our work and how to apply this in their best interest. While we may be well equipped upstream to perform and to deliver, we have a collective interest to educate users of data and the implications thereof. Some suppliers may have acquired the latest generation of laser equipment and cameras, but the theory of relevance to use what is technically and economically correct must be considered with every assignment. Some clients may not have our mapping competence, and it is therefore a corporate responsibility of members of our industry to understand and to see the value in what they are getting and how to use the data to counter any arguments of suppliers not providing value.

It is critical for company executives (suppliers) to ensure that employees are well informed about industry affairs so that they can maintain a status of industry ambassadors with the right attitude, commitment to serve and to be knowledgeable. Although our industry is not formally regulated, as a collective we need to set in place standards to which we can all aspire. This can be fairly generic, but can address matters relating to software, data capturing, system quality, compliance, environmental management and health and safety issues.

While some suppliers may have felt the effect of the economic downturn more than others, we should jointly find ways to avoid the collapse of some, as a competitive environment motivate most to deliver best practice. The marketing of our industry to potential users who have not considered airborne mapping solutions may go a long way to securing the sustainability of all players.

About Southern Mapping Company

SMC provides topographic surveys and mapping to assist a variety of industries and sectors. These include civil engineering and infrastructure development, mineral explorations and mine management, environmental planning and rehabilitation, and urban and agricultural planning. The company operates worldwide, but specialises throughout Africa. SMC’s staff were amongst the first in the world to combine Lidar with aerial photography and now have added hyperspectral to their product offering. For more information about Southern Mapping Company please visit www.southernmapping.com.

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