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Two competing industry visionaries join forces to tackle telecom’s biggest challenge

Geospatial data quality in telecommunications has not improved despite significant technological advances over the past 30 years. Industry leaders Tom Counts from 3-GIS and Peter Batty from SSP Innovations discuss how accurate geospatial data is crucial for decision-making and how new technologies can enhance data accuracy and utility.

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By Daniel Litwin · AssetsCorruptionDataQuality
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Two competing industry visionaries join forces to tackle telecom’s biggest challenge

Key takeaways

01

Geospatial data and quality in telecommunications have not improved in the past 30 years.

02

Accurate geospatial data is essential for effective business decision-making.

03

Technologies like augmented reality and machine learning improve geospatial data quality.

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Despite the astounding advances in technology the last 30 years, geospatial data and quality in telecommunications has not improved. Why is this? Tom Counts, president and CEO of 3-GIS, and Peter Batty, chief research officer of SSP Innovations, sat down with Host Daniel Litwin to dive into this phenomenon.

This data is essential because it provides a base of truth to dictate decision making. “The GIS set data is the center of the truth. If you don’t know the truth, you’re in trouble. If you want to run a business and you don’t understand your assets, you don’t understand that they’re accurate. It’s hard for you to assign them; it’s impossible for you to provision them; it’s troublesome for you to try to repair them,” Counts stated.

The quicker one can get from the edge to the database, the less likely there is for corruption. People tend to want to go through cycles of review of data, which can corrupt its accuracy. So those extracting data from the edge need to be trained to inspect, recognize and post data in the field and trust for it to come in while only looking for irregularities. 95% of the time it will be accurate and correct. “Having high quality geospatial data is fundamental to being able to quickly diagnose where the problem is and fix it,” Batty said.

Currently, the number of tools available today, such as augmented reality (AR), machine learning and full automation, help improve data quality. For instance, gaming, such as Pokémon Go, is helping to create a map of the world, and home design and AR are also playing a role in improving data quality.

For more information on the geospatial data in the telecommunications sector, visit www.3-GIS.com or subscribe to the Fiberside Chat podcast on Apple iTunes or Spotify.

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About the author

Daniel Litwin
Daniel LitwinEditor, B2B Media, MarketScale

Daniel Litwin is a journalist of multiple disciplines focused on finding and telling engaging stories for B2B communities. He has interviewed executives from Fortune 500 companies including Honeywell, Microsoft, John Deere, and Chipotle, and leads editorial direction at MarketScale. Litwin hosts weekly shows and podcasts while helping develop new content approaches across the MarketScale platform. He holds a B.J. in Radio/Television Reporting/Anchoring and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

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About the Experts

Daniel Litwin
Daniel Litwin

Editor, B2B Media, MarketScale

MarketScale

Daniel Litwin is a journalist of multiple disciplines focused on finding and telling engaging stories for B2B communities.

TC
Tom Counts

President and CEO

3-GIS

PB
Peter Batty

Chief Research Officer

SSP Innovations

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