We are very excited to announce Sparkgeo’s first international expansion to the UK. We see a great deal of opportunity on the far side of the Atlantic and feel that having a more robust presence in that geographic region will be hugely beneficial to both our clients and our business.
With the astonishing number of Earth Observation satellites in low earth orbit and half the globe’s population capturing GPS location data from their smartphones, the use of geographic technology has become an everyday expectation. Enterprises are catching on, and as ever, Sparkgeo is ready to help. Additionally, by measuring landscape change and human activity, geographic technology will be crucial in managing societal scale issues such as climate change and the ongoing global pandemic.
It is against this broad technology background that we’re announcing our first international expansion. Sparkgeo Inc. has been serving the geospatial needs of the North American technology market for the last ten years. We’ve seen that similar and emerging opportunities exist in the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Sparkgeo UK Ltd. will bring our unique, bespoke approach to the delivery of geospatial technology and analytics to sectors such as finance, sustainability, and technology.
But it’s not just about business; it’s about talent too. There is so much data talent pouring out UK Universities. For us, the simple equation of business plus talent multiplied by our unique approach was impossible to ignore.
Our first hire in the UK is the indomitable Alastair Graham (@ajggeoger.) One of the masterminds of the “Scene From Above” (@eoscenefrom) podcast, Alastair is also a leader in the UK open source geospatial community and brings enormous technical credibility to our team.
Alastair describes himself as an Earth data scientist and environmental technologist and comes to Sparkgeo with experience across multiple verticals. He has both academic and commercial experience (ranging from international corporates through to running a micro-business) and loves to use his efforts to address the geospatial problems of others. Alastair is a huge fan of Earth observation (in all forms) as well as free and open data, software and systems.
So we’ll be adding a flat cap (or bowler hat) to our trucker hat collection; see you in Blighty!