DigitalGlobe Hosts Discovery Day in Lagos

. Set to help Nigerian government, businesses
Adedayo Adejobi
DigitalGlobe the world’s leading provider of high–resolution Earth imagery, data and analysis and Polaris Digitech Ltd, the premier geospatial business solutions company in Nigeria recently held a Discovery Day workshop in Lagos.

The Discovery Day Lagos workshop which saw attendance from key stakeholders in business and government focused on how satellite imagery and the remote sensing abilities of satellites can enable government and businesses to take better decisions and be more effective in their operations.
The applicability of satellite imagery for non security and defence related purposes was highlighted with references to sectors such as mining, agriculture, telecommunications and insurance.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Niyi Okuboyejo, the MD of Polaris Digitech said, ‘‘we live in an information age and Nigerian businesses and government cannot afford not to move with the times and tide of technology as there are unique business insights that can be provided by combining remote sensing, predictive analytics and geospatial technology for decision making.’’

Continuing ‘’In a recession every decision both on a personal level and at the level of a business must be well thought out and based on data as failure is not an option and change is now upon us all. Location Intelligence is the mantra for businesses nowadays and satellite technology is a very key data set in the matrix because in today’s world it is no longer the more you look the less you see but the more you look the more you see. Justice can be blind but business cannot afford to be blind.

“That is why DigitalGlobe and Polaris held this workshop to let businesses know about the technology to understand how their environment can impact on their operations and be the deciding factor between profit and loss,” he said.

DigitalGlobe EMEA Sales Manager, Mr. JD Tragus in his presentation showed the awesomeness of satellite technology with the clarity and conciseness of their 30 cm high resolution imagery which could be used to monitor construction and industrial projects so that issues can be discovered before they become problems and corrective action quickly taken to prevent disasters.

“The drive to reposition agriculture in Nigeria also came into focus as the multispectral imaging capabilities of DigitalGlobe satellites are invaluable in Precision Agriculture. With these images, change detection in crop status can be done so the agricultural value chain is better protected as the farmer knows whether the crops are healthy and thriving and if not why and what to do.

The farmer can thus know what his yield or harvest can be in every planting season. CBN and the banks can have scientific data to base interventions and agricultural loan schemes, insurance companies can have data for crop insurance, processor industries can also plan and prime their operations,” Tragus said At the end of the day, all participants concurred on the ubiquitousness of satellite technology to the overall success of their business.