I gave a presentation where GIS might evolve in 20 years from now as part of the GIS Ostrava 2025 conference on 5.3. 2025. it was great to see again colleagues ! get eye-contact with audience and not just virtual applause. Also nobody was showing physically thumbs-up or red heart (in that case I would call emergency), rather real spoken (I mean real sound wave based ) comments, real talk and smiles. That was the main topic of the talk – Spatial Interactive – with people, tech, discoveries. Step out of the ‘glass-illusion’ trap.
Spatial Interactive
Stanislav Sumbera, GIS Vision 2024, 5.3. 2025,GIS Ostrava 2025
- What happens here is more important than what happens now.
- Space is naturally interactive, enabling collaboration and sharing.
- The computer is not behind a 2D glass screen but understands 3D space and interactions within it.
- People learn through observation, collaboration, and play.
- Community Computer
- Projective Augmented Reality (Projective AR)
- Bret Victor – Dynamicland
image sources:https://gislab.utk.edu/tag/ar-sandbox/ , Dyamicland.org, Lightform
- HMD / Head-Mounted Displays – Apple Vision Pro
- Spatial Computing
- Control through advanced gestures
- “Super persistence” of objects – digital objects remain anchored as if truly part of the physical world
- Pseudo-haptic feedback – realism in rendering creates the illusion of tactile response
- Currently at the “UNIX Workstation” stage of the 1980s – showcasing possibilities that will later become accessible to everyone.
- Also bloged here
2. Web, Open Source, and Technology Accessibility
- From Google Maps → OpenLayers → Leaflet → MapBoxGL → MapLibreGL → ?
- Each step represents greater availability, democratization, and accessibility of mapping technology, pushing development forward.
- How difficult was it to render an image in 1993? How difficult was it to share that image with others? And today?
- What is difficult, expensive, yet possible today that will become commonplace in 20+ years?
3. Lifespan of Data vs. Lifespan of Technology
- WMS – Simple for visualization
- Vector tiles – More complex to render (OGC API Tiles, MapBox Tiles, MapLibre Tiles – MLT)
- 3D tiles – OGC 3D Tiles, evolving standards for spatial data
- More aesthetics, smoothness, and artistic expression in maps
- Real-time rendering techniques, such as Gaussian Splat, for next-generation visualization
from Book: Eneterpise SOA by Krafzig, Banke, Slama
4. Scanning Spaces and Objects
- 3D scanning is accessible to everyone
- Spatial Video, Spatial Photo
- 3D scanning is as simple as taking a photo
- Photorealistic scanning
5.Precise Geolocation ~2-10 cm
- VPS (Visual Positioning System) – accuracy < 10 cm
- 5G geolocation
- Affordable high-precision GNSS + RTK/PPP (< 10 cm)
- Accessible VPS from panoramic images, Mapy.cz?
6. AI – Welcome to the Jungle
- NPCs have become “thinking machines” (are we, on other side, turning into NPCs ourselves? aka Jumanji 2 )
Image from Jumanji 2,driver – Mason Pike ?
- The Chinese Room paradox – an English speaker perfectly assembles answers in Chinese following instructions without understanding the Chinese language and symbols meaning.
- AI cannot create true originality but excels at combining and compiling existing inputs – a “super plagiarist” or “super puzzle resolver” ?
- Might replace a significant amount of human (intellectual + routine) labor – in GIS (georeferencing, recognition/classification), programming/syntax, and more
- “Hard work for machines, thinking for people” (Tomáš Baťa) is evolving into “(Pre)thinking* for machines, creativity/ideas for people” (in Czech Language : pre-mýšlení)
- AI model marketplace – grow (cultivate) your unique “thought twin” that integrates into an open AI network.
- Developer Twin: Blog post