Oracle Spatial SIG - A canyon in the sand

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Friday, March 11. 2005

Oracle Spatial SIG - A canyon in the sand

Oracle held its first Oracle Spatial Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting in Denver yesterday. The meeting was ostensibly about getting together the users from North America to form a SIG like many other such user's groups. But from my perspective, the presentations by key Oracle personnel were aimed squarely at blowing the doors open on their strategy to more aggressively attack the enterprise computing market with location technology. Previously, I had written that Oracle could smother other GIS vendors because of the technology being built into Oracle Spatial (LRS, topology, geocoding, GeoRaster datatype). Oracle has always said they did not want to compete with the GIS vendors and wanted them as partners. I think that's true. But Oracle seems to view GIS as a minor information toolset when compared to the potential of geospatially-enabling, well, everything else, from traditional markets to non-traditional ones like life sciences. So, given the future intentions of how Oracle wants to attack global information markets with location-based solutions (Business Intelligence, web services, mobility, etc.) there was a little more than a line in the sand being drawn...more like a canyon. The line was not drawn between Oracle and ESRI or MapInfo or Autodesk, but between IBM, Microsoft, and SAP; companies that are far behind the geospatial database curve, in particular in terms of marketing their location-enabling functionality. This was a wake up call to those companies and a clarion call to systems integrators like Accenture, BearingPoint, and KPMG to tout the strengths and opportunities that Oracle is positioned to develop and to join them on their side of the canyon rim. More on this later...

Posted by Joe Francica at 15:46 | Comment (1) | Trackback (1)

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Interesting observations on the Oracle Spatial User Conference. First, let me clear up an apparent ambiguity. There were two events on Mar 10. The main event was an Oracle Spatial User Conference, the first one in North America. As part of that Conference, the second event was a one-hour inaugural meeting of the North American Oracle Spatial Special Interest Group. Related, but not one and the same.

As you observe, Oracle is clearly putting a stake in the ground, or line in the sand, in the spatial domain with 10g spatial. It is clear that Oracle views IBM, Microsoft and other technology infrastructure providers as their competition. However, the active participation of traditional GIS companies in the Oracle Spatial SIG and the manner in which members of the tradition spatial community sponsored and supported the User Conference shows that Oracle looks to ESRI, MapInfo, Bentley, Intergraph, Autodesk and the many others involved in these events as critical partners. The line is not being drawn between them and Oracle -- they are working with Oracle, its users and integrators.

Meanwhile, the Oracle Spatial SIG is truly, not ostensibly, a forum for Oracle commercial users, government users, developers, service providers, applications providers and academia to come together and share best practices, success stories, integration issues, future requirements and generally assess the state of the market as we all endeavor to drive spatial technology across the enterprise landscape (pun intended). We, the members of the Oracle Spatial SIG, are excited to see Oracle commit aggressively to driving the market for spatial technology and we are committed to be a resource for the Oracle community for building on this momentum and providing an interactive forum with Oracle in the process. For my tastes, the adoption of spatial data and technology in the enterprise is moving too slowly. Possibly this Oracle Spatial SIG can be a catalyst in accelerating the reaction for the entire marketplace. We look forward to hearing further comments on this subject at your Directions Magazine Location Technology and Business Intelligence Conference in May.

If I can place a plug for the Oracle Spatial SIG, prospective members can contact us at:

micheal.buckley@navteq.com.

Bob Denaro
Chairman
North American Oracle Spatial Special Interest Group

#1 Bob Denaro (Link) on 2005-03-16 16:55 (Reply)

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