Speakers Bio & Abstract

BiographyMark Nichols has over 30 years’ experience with Trimble in leadership roles working on the development and application of technology products to improve productivity, sustainability, and work place safety. His experience spans the Geospatial, Agricultural, Mining, Construction industries. His most recent roles in Trimble have been as the General Manager for Trimble Planning Solutions Pty, an Australian based company using geospatial information to balance social, environmental and cost constraints to deliver the optimal alignments for new transportation infrastructure around the world and as the Chief Operating Officer of the joint venture Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies LLC between Trimble and Caterpillar for the application of geospatial information technologies to the earthmoving industry for site and transportation infrastructure construction.
Prior to Trimble, he was a surveyor with the New Zealand Department of Lands and Survey and the Ministry of Works and Development with experience in rural and urban cadastral surveys, geodetic control, deformation surveys, major construction projects and land development.
Mr. Nichols received a B.Surv. from the University of Otago in 1978, and completed New Zealand Survey Registration in 1981.Abstract Improving sustainability and reducing infrastructure development costs through the application of Geospatial technology.From the initial planning phase through the operations and maintenance Geospatial technologies can aid in both achieving more sustainable designs with reduced environmental impacts through the construction and operations phase. This talk will demonstrate how the use of Geospatial technology in the planning phase of transportation infrastructure can result in lower cost infrastructure that minimizes social and environmental impact to achieve the best outcomes during the development of new infrastructure. Foundations to efficient transportation planning include the availability of accurate Geospatial data, and a sound cadastral system for the management of individual property rights.
Once planned and designed, Geospatial technologies can further aid in providing a more sustainable approach to construction, reducing environmental impact during construction while producing better quality transportation assets that will be more sustainable throughout their operational life.
This session will discuss the benefits of Geospatial technology across the whole lifecycle from planning to operation and maintenance of transportation assets.