Rollo Home
Senior Product Manager
Ordnance Survey
UK

Biography
Rollo is 3D product lead for Ordnance Survey (Great Britain National Mapping Authority) where he’s responsible for the introduction of future 3D products and height/imagery portfolios. He has worked internationally within the geospatial sector for over 17 years; the last six being focused on 3D city modelling both as a consultant and software vendor. Rollo is Council member of the UK Association for Geographic Information and runs the W3G conference series.

Abstract
Is 3D Solution Waiting for a Problem? An Update

In an environment where the general expectation for geospatial data to be presented in 3D is ever increasing, there is still a distinct lack of clear business drivers to justify the (often complex) transition from handling 2D information working with the third dimension. Few would expect Great Britain's national mapping agency not to be collecting, managing and publishing all their data in 3D in 10 years time, but there remain a number of significant challenges to overcome first. Taking a long term perspective of the evolving needs and expectations of our data users is paramount to the core function of maintaining the underpinning geospatial framework for Great Britain. In collaboration with partners, we're seeing key market drivers and their associated timescales for 3D decision making emerge. These are requiring us to think in new ways in order to prevent 3D geospatial data becoming more than simply a visualisation tool and instead have intrinsic value to the future applications that it will underpin.