Dialog Information Technology, working with OpenGeo, has won the contract for the implementation of the Australia and New Zealand Spatial Marketplace.

The Spatial Marketplace is a web-based hub of location data, products, services and processes, drawn from many distributed sources.

Dialog was awarded the contract because of its strong background in delivering GIS projects and its track record with GIS integration with similar organisations. Complimenting this is the partnership with OpenGeo. Together the Dialog and OpenGeo bid was seen as the best option for the implementation of a demonstrator.

In Australia and New Zealand, location data is dispersed among many different institutions. To date, information has been accessed through Spatial Data Infrastructures developed in isolation to meet a particular need.

The Spatial Marketplace leverages the collective capability offered by existing technologies and institutional environments to create a simpler, less expensive and more broadly relevant infrastructure.

The Spatial Marketplace will transform the current environment in four ways:

1. Everything from one place
2. Accessible to non-technical users
3. Opportunities for competitive innovation
4. Machine to machine connectivity

Who will benefit?

1. Industry

The Spatial Marketplace will help both providers and users of information and services. Providers will be able to grow the market for their products, and users will be able to get easier access to the products they need. The integration of resources from multiple providers through a single accessible platform will bring significant productivity gains.

1. Public sector

Government organisations that produce spatial information are increasingly encouraged or required to make that information publicly accessible. The Spatial Marketplace will allow organisations to meet these obligations without needing to develop complex individual processes or create and maintain costly infrastructure.

1. Researchers and the wider community

The Spatial Marketplace will benefit the research sector, by creating a distributed source of spatial information and business intelligence, unlocking innovation, and providing avenues for value-adding; and for the wider community, by facilitating such diverse tasks as designing sustainable cities or providing emergency information in times of fire and floods. Built-in social networking capabilities will facilitate knowledge sharing and the creation of communities of interest.