After King ICT signed a cooperation agreement with Astrium, the leading global company in satellite technologies, competition in the domestic spatial data market could become quite interesting.
Aerial imaging has so far been conducted for clients from our country exclusively using specially equipped aircraft, but now, with the help of new technology, satellites can perform the entire job ‘on demand’ in a significantly shorter timeframe. King ICT emphasizes that they have already delivered various solutions based on spatial data, making their entry into the spatial data market a logical step.
– “We are able to offer all products, solutions, and services that are in Astrium’s portfolio. Traditionally, this relates to the delivery of any spatial data,” says Plamenko Barišić, CEO of King ICT, adding that they also want to offer complex ICT solutions based on the ‘turnkey’ principle.
They intend to offer this to the state and public sector, which is the largest user of such solutions globally, as well as to private companies. Approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide utilize Astrium’s data or services in various ways, and their practical application is enormous. The company divides markets into several basic groups with similar characteristics such as agriculture, oil, gas and energy, defense and security, crisis management, infrastructure, maritime surface monitoring, land registry management, mapping… All these are areas from which potential users from Croatia come.
– “Currently, we do not have users of the mentioned service yet, but we have conducted a market analysis, identified potential users, and developed a sales strategy. The main challenge in the Croatian market is that these satellite technologies have never been adequately represented, so unfortunately, potential users are insufficiently educated about their capabilities,” says Barišić, explaining that King ICT expects to see the effects of this partnership in a few years.
However, the arrival of new players could take a portion of the market share from companies that have so far been earning decently by capturing terrain from aircraft. Satellite imaging has numerous advantages, including a significantly shorter time from the request for imaging to its delivery, as well as covering a large area in one capture. However, it seems that companies engaged in aerial imaging are not overly concerned for now.
One of those who believes there will be no changes is Zvonko Biljecki, CEO of Geofoto, a company that, despite numerous references in the industry, has encountered business difficulties. Geofoto submitted a proposal for initiating a pre-bankruptcy settlement at the beginning of this month.
– “The restructuring of Geofoto is in its final phase. Its main characteristic is the orientation towards foreign markets, so this change has not been taken into account. However, I believe it will have no impact on the spatial information market in Croatia. Our services are changing with market conditions and are increasingly oriented towards security institutions and energy entities,” concludes Biljecki.
Nevertheless, it is hard not to notice that these are precisely the segments that the cooperation between King ICT and Astrium is targeting.
