In their quest to find #TheNextGeo businesses that define our sector, Geoawesomeness chose SplashMaps to be the first in their reviews of “companies to watch”. So this is what it’s like being geoawesome! Check the whole article here.
In an interview that covers our motivations and inspirations, the pit falls, high and low points, we reveal exactly what shaped the business and how you get started with a new Goe idea. If you’re a start-up or would love to be part of one, make it happen and I hope this inspires you. A few highlights below;
It all begins in the pub. “The idea of making a business out of maps on fabric was close to the top of my mind when I joined friends for a regular pub gathering of entrepreneurs from Ordnance Survey – a prototype for the OS’s Geovation hub. This tight-knit group was full of cartographic and geo-service talent – probably the best in the country.”
Making a concious choice to take the biggest risks was easier than I thought “Whilst I had my own successful consultancy, I was keen to develop and make products to liberate me from the “project-to-project” mentality of working for others.” By pursuing crowd funding to launch the business, “not only had we proved an appetite existed for the product, but we’d gained the first customers, been paid in advance for the stock and the initial technology needed, and we’d met people who’d become our future Angel investors.”
Geomob, Geovation and the clearly geoawesome work of OpenStreetMap make the Geo start-up scane in London amazing
“We are partners of Ordnance Survey, using both their open data and proprietary data sets in unique ways. OS’s Geovation ecosystem in London is a great incubator for start-ups in the sector. We’ve benefitted from their advice and the terrific office space and facilities.” And regards the amazing 10 year old community, Geomob, “We are a co-sponsor of this group which host the latest and most inspirational speakers in the sector at their bi-monthly meetings. Come and join us, the best presenter gets the coveted SplashMaps award and everyone gets a free beer!”
We were asked about geoawesome uses of SplashMaps and said “The most obvious use for SplashMaps is in cycling, running and walking and we see a lot of gift purchases now that we push broader mapwear ranges. But we do have some amazing extreme customers who swear by the maps.
The Scientific Exploration Society regularly order SplashMaps of some of the most remote areas of the globe. They deliver aid and expertise to isolated communities and in their work great maps are important. Although it’s important that their maps can survive everything they’ll encounter in some of the most demanding conditions on the planet, but they often tell us that the high detail of our maps in areas of Africa, South America and Asia, can’t be matched by other mappers either! In short, we’ve defined the perfect map spec for exploration.
Because of our maps are both accurate and indestructible we have a number of current and ex-servicemen on security details around the globe who bring the map idea back to its roots! They are using SplashMaps as modern day escape and evasion maps, just like they did during the 2 world wars and the cold war that followed. Our Aerial imagery maps, for example, have been used in Kabul for the safety of BBC reporters stationed there.”
And that’s before we told them about the “quirky” ones! Full story…
The Next Geo is all about discovering the people and companies that are changing the geospatial industry – unearthing their stories, discovering their products, understanding their business models and celebrating their success! You can read more about the series and the vision behind it here.
As journalist Muthu Kumar says, “this is the first article in the #TheNextGeo series and what better way to kick off the series than by interviewing a startup that is designing maps! Maps have been our obsession since forever and we are excited to be talking to David Overton, MD of SplashMaps – a wearable maps startup based out of London, UK.”
At SplashMaps we’re really flattered to be the first in this series. Book mark their site and pages and keep up to pace with an exciting and ever changing market.
FULL ARTICLE HERE
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