How an Innovative mapping technology is addressing a big problem.
The inadequacy and deterioration of the roads, bridges and highways that crisscross our nation is now an issue that threatens our economy, our citizens and our environment. You are likely already aware of how critical these transportation systems are to support our commercial and daily commuting activities. What you may not fully appreciate is the amount of maintenance that is required to sustain this massive network of asphalt, cement, and steel. The US Government estimates it could take as much as 2 trillion dollars over the next ten years to make the transport systems adequate to meet our growing demands.
There are approximately 2.6 million miles of paved roads and highways in the US, but this figure pales in comparison to the estimated 30 million miles of underground pipelines and utilities that are often located just a few feet below the transportation networks. Just like their surface system counterparts, most of the buried infrastructure was built before many of us were born and it was never intended to support the current population. Consequently, the subsurface systems are also in desperate need of significant capacity upgrades. Although we can easily recognize when and where repairs or replacements are required above ground, the lack of visibility poses a challenge to recognize the same concerns for assets located below ground. In fact, the subsurface systems often fail well before we realize that there is even an issue. When we do detect damage to a system that we cannot see, we must rely on any available information that can indicate the location, depth and type of system with the issue. This presents a major challenge as often this data is inaccessible, inaccurate, unavailable or nonexistent. Today, more than ever, not knowing the precise location of buried infrastructure is a serious threat to the safety of workers, the public and the environment.
Any capacity upgrades or other work on transportation system only compounds the issue as every time workers repair, replace, or expand the surface systems they risk damaging what lies below them and, far too often, they do. In fact, every minute of every working day a critical utility is seriously damaged from a construction or maintenance activity. When they are damaged, electrical and communication services can be lost, water services disrupted, harmful liquids or gases can be released into the environment and, in the worst-case scenario, there can be serious injuries and fatalities.
ProStar Geocorp has developed a solution to help address this problem.
ProStar Geocorp has developed a precision mapping solution that combines patented geospatial technology with business intelligence. The solution is designed for industries where knowing the precise location of infrastructure is critical to the success and safety of their business operations. The idea was spawned by the development of other mapping and navigational systems including, Google Maps, Bing, and OnStar®. The key differentiator for the ProStar solution is that whereas the other solutions are designed to provide basic mapping functions that are measured in meters such as navigating from point A to point B or searching for the location of a business or residence, the ProStar solution provides the ability to map points both below and above the Earth’s surface within centimeters.
Mr. James Anspach, Founding Governor, ASCE Utility Engineering & Surveying Institute stated, “By using ProStar’s technology to improve the methods for the collection, storage and visualization of infrastructure, industry would be able to better qualify the data and make more informed business decisions, ultimately making the work site safer and more productive”.
ProStar’s solution is called Transparent Earth®
Transparent Earth® is a natively cloud and mobile solution that is offered as Software as a Service (SaaS). Running on the cloud means, that at a click of a button, critical location information is available to anyone on any device, anywhere and at any time. The solution is designed to identify, capture, record and provide visualization of the precise location of surface and subsurface infrastructure. Transparent Earth is also designed to handle big data from numerous systems including internal and external data sources. This means data from GIS, CAD and ERP systems can now be conflated with data from agencies that provide impactful information such as inclement weather, fires, and earthquakes. The result is the ability to make better and more confident business decisions that improve the infrastructure management lifecycle.
Mr. Anspach stated, “By simply implementing modern solutions like Transparent Earth, we could quickly improve construction and maintenance business practices and, I believe, that we would see a reduction in the number of incidents that put the public, field workers, and the environment at risk”.
ProStar’s technology is poised to disrupt the market
The public, government, owner operators, and contractors are now beginning to understand that to improve worker, public, and environmental safety, we must find a better way to capture, record and share information about the type, condition, and location of surface and subsurface infrastructure. With industry now acknowledging that we must take new measures to address the decades of underinvestment in deteriorating infrastructure, ProStar offers a comprehensive solution with unprecedented geospatial intelligence, location precision, and transparency.
What lies ahead for ProStar?
ProStar is positioning itself to be the de facto solution for any industry that would benefit from precision mapping. ProStar now has major clients from industry verticals that include construction, engineering, surveying, and Department of Transportation. The company is expanding and in the process of acquiring capital to ramp up operations. Tucker shared with us that ProStar will become a publicly traded entity and anticipates that it will be trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in the third quarter of this year. According to Tucker, the company will use the capital raised in the public markets to accelerate its growth by bringing on additional key resources and expanding its sales and marketing efforts.
More about ProStar Geocorp
ProStar Geocorp is a Delaware corporation that was formed in 2014 by its Founder and current CEO, Page Tucker. In a short period of time, the company has created an impressive IP portfolio, acquired several marquee clients and established several key strategic partnerships. The company has also assembled an impressive group of technologists and executive management that includes, Vasa Dasan, who spent 15 years as CTO of Sun Microsystems Services and Chief Technologist for Cloud Computing Division; Carl Lashua, a former CIO of HSBC Canada and France, and head of software delivery for Europe; and Kevin Koch, a former Senior IT Director for Thompson Reuters. The company has offices in Grand Junction and Boulder, Colorado with plans to open an international office in Vancouver, Canada in the third quarter of this year.
For more information about ProStar visit www.prostarcorp.com
