Batty: GIS Industry Must Adapt (or die)

Peter Batty, Intergraph CTO, said at least the beginning part (I added the “or die” part) in his keynote at GITA New Zealand this week. I for one am jazzed that Stuff even covered the event, though oddly, the article does not even mention the conference name.

He endorsed ideas many in the press have noted:

GIS products from established vendors now offer more than most users need. Many customers will opt for cheaper alternatives such as Google Earth and Microsoft’s MSN Virtual Earth.

“It’s really hard for people to justify buying a major GIS. They want something that solves a business problem that happens to have GIS.”

GIS companies should see these problems as opportunities rather than threats.

Request to Intergraph: encourage Mr. Batty to start a blog. I’d read it and I suspect others would, too.