Spatial STL Advisors President Andy Dearing on St. Louis's blossoming geospatial technology scene

Geospatial technologies, or earth mapping capabilities, have long been in use in military intelligence and defense. Today, they’re being deployed commercially and likely to have transformational impacts in the era of Industry 4.0, including agriculture, defense, transportation, health care, financial services, and even real estate.  St. Louis has long been home to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s Western outpost—which has $1.75 billion in a new and improved agency HQ in St Louis. And the industry has already had a $5 billion economic impact on that city, and that’s prior to major VC funds taking stakes in companies. We talked to Andy Dearing, president of Spatial STL Advisors, a strategic consulting firm specializing in geospatial technologies, and project lead of the GeoFutures Initiative, an industry roadmap for the broader St. Louis geospatial startup scene.