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Spatial Consultants - from Colorado and British Columbia to Cumbria
13th May 2011
Spatial Consultants - from Colorado and British Columbia to Cumbria
WCDA's Backing Business programme has provided training support to a West Cumbrian Information Management Consultancy, enabling them to attract more national business to the county. Spatial Consultants, headed by Graham Morgan, used WCDA support for specialist technical training which is now being utilised on logistics projects in Glasgow, Bristol and Kent.
With over 20 years' experience of international projects in the USA, Canada and Australia, Graham relocated to his home county and set up Spatial Consultants with the support of WCDA's Linkstart programme. The company takes information technology to the highest level, converging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with logistics and key business drivers. International clients include the Government of British Columbia, the state of North Dakota and the Australian Heritage Commission.
Here in the UK, Spatial Consultants has been called upon by national organisations like Transport for London, British Waterways and Eon.
Graham said "Everything can be drawn onto a map. Even quite esoteric information, such as risk and potential, can be mapped in a way that traditional IT cannot support. Our work in Ontario is an excellent example, merging management plans with data on animal migration corridors and ancient Indian sites to assess the impact of tree felling - it was really about management of the forests."
Andy Barnard from WCDA has helped Graham access local opportunities, liaising with other local consultants with whom he has successfully bid for work. Now an established business with potential for growth, Andy pointed Graham in the direction of WCDA's Backing Business programme for additional training.
With the IT industry moving so fast, constant training and development is paramount so Backing Business supported technical training on the customisation of ArcGIS Server - an enterprise GIS platform. This specialist training has already been put to good use on new UK contracts with British Waterways in Glasgow, Kent County Council and Hanson Aggregates in Bristol. Securing this new work helps keep the team in business, employing up to six staff during busy periods.
Graham said "We have worked all over the world, but most companies based in Cumbria have not yet realised the potential on the doorstep. One of the few large projects completed in Cumbria was with Copeland Borough Council who used our data transfer skills for their new planning system. Moving forward, we would love to be involved with Britain's Energy Coast. It is an ambitious and visionary initiative that plans to combine nuclear expertise with innovations in renewable energy. Involving significant investments in infrastructure, housing, communities, transportation and education, it is a perfect example of the kind of work we want to be involved with. We see it as our role to make managing highly complex data and geographic information much easier."
As part of a drive towards more West Cumbrian based clients, Spatial Consultants has taken on James Taylor, a Cambridge University graduate. He has joined the company for the summer to develop market research and target markets in West Cumbria. They are presenting to the Britain's Energy Coast Cluster on July 6th.
Meanwhile, Spatial Consultants' international contracts continue to grow. They have recently made a joint presentation to the Scottish Government on public participatory GIS tools to support the selection of development sites and are meeting them again next week. In June the company is flying to Colorado to present a paper at a telecommunications software conference.
Anyone interested in the use of GIS and logistics opportunities at Spatial Consultants can contact Graham on +44 0845 680 9845 or visit www.spatialconsultants.com. Anyone interested in finding out more about the Backing Business programme can contact Louise Kane, Business Support Officer on 01900 65656 or email enquiry@wcda.co.uk
