Nathan Eaton, Executive Director at NGIS, featured at CARTO’s Spatial Data Science in CPG & Retail Summit on May 19th this year. Together with Jeff Sternberg—Technical Director of Applied AI at Google—the pair discussed how NGIS and Google have partnered with CARTO to explore the CPG (consumer packaged goods) and retail industries with a focus on geospatial analytics and global sustainability issues. The discussion centred around some key themes including:

• How do we ensure our supply chains are sustainable? 
• Where do organisations go wrong with adopting AI and ML technologies? 
• How does Google Cloud Platform (GCP) drive the next generation of geospatial platforms? 

The event brought together the world’s leading location intelligence professionals to better understand how new types of data and modelling are being used to enable CPG and Retail industries adapt to and approach their sustainability targets for the future. 
 

A partnership approach to address sustainability

During the discussion both Nathan and Jeff agreed that geospatial companies have a key role to play in how CPG and retail companies are able to account for their supply chains and create more transparent traceability in line with future sustainability. 

In a wrap-up blog after the conference; Jeff Sternberg writes about the crucial nature of geospatial analytics. He says it is of paramount importance to sustainability because Earth data can inform us about the effects of climate change, through monitoring environmental changes in the landscape over time. Nathan Eaton agrees with the notion that Earth observation data and geospatial technology have a lot to offer for global retail and CPG companies who want to trace their procurement and remove or modify unsustainable activities or practices from their supply chains.

‘When you’re looking at a supply chain one of the key things is to create traceability and transparency, but then it’s all around mapping back to the footprint of activity.’ Nathan Eaton – NGIS Executive Director.

With the assistance of CARTO and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), companies can now gain access to the necessary data insights and technology they need to address their sustainability commitments—especially within their supply chains. 
 

How does GCP drive the next generation of geospatial platforms?  

‘When we’re looking at next generation geospatial, it’s cloud geospatial. High performing, scaleable products that allow you to convert data into actionable insights. We believe Google has the next industry leading technology that forms part of that overall geospatial capability.’  Nathan Eaton – NGIS Executive Director. 

As part of their discussion, the two speakers discussed the future of geospatial platforms as a key technology that can be utilised to achieve sustainability outcomes. The consensus is that there will be a reliance on GCP. Nathan admits that although NGIS has been a Google partner for 10 years now, there is no doubt in his mind that it is the most suitable tool for the kind of work that needs to be undertaken; referring to Google Cloud as a pioneer in the next generation of geospatial capability. 

To hear more about the ways that geospatial technology and companies can assist retail and CPG industries, from two industry experts—you can listen to the full recording on demand here.