Take a break with 1Spatial's Kevin Sigwart

Take a break with Kevin Sigwart, COO (1Spatial Inc.)

Tell us about yourself?

I joined 1Spatial Inc. in June 2016 as a Solution Engineer to help evangelise 1Spatial’s flagship product 1Integrate throughout the US. As 1Spatial Inc. continues to grow, I have been fortunate to grow with the company from a Solution Engineer to the Director of Solutions and landed as the Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Company. When I joined the company I told Sheila I did not want to be bored...and I haven't been since day 1!

I work with federal, state, and commercial clients, to ensure smooth deliveries of software and solutions and architect innovative solutions to help solve data quality, integration, and synchronization issues across disparate and siloed systems. Throughout my 18 years of experience working as a geospatial developer, analyst, and architect, I have become a subject matter expert (SME) in building interoperable solutions across geospatial and non-geospatial systems. I have also held positions as a solution engineer for Esri and as a geospatial software developer for General Dynamics.

Beyond my professional life, I enjoy traveling and experiencing new food and cultures along the way with my wife. We look forward to sharing these experiences with our daughter that is just over a year old now. Recently, I have been enjoying taking out the jogging stroller for a long walk or run with my daughter.

Fun fact about you?

I have really gotten into genealogy and have tracked my ancestors back to the 1500’s as glassblowers in the Black Forest.

What do you enjoy most about working at 1Spatial?

I really enjoy the people. 1Spatial attracts individuals that are extremely bright, friendly, and work extremely hard but still know how to keep things light and fun. The culture at 1Spatial is conducive to that atmosphere.

What are your favorite geospatial products/technologies and why? 

This is a tough question for me because I have used so many great geospatial technologies and products over the past 18 years of doing GIS. The migration from the desktop and server-based GIS to true web mapping within the ArcGIS Online Platform has given the ability for everyone to touch and use GIS technology. Beyond empowering everyone with GIS it also has made explaining what I do much easier than back when I first got into GIS.

However, getting data cleaned and integrated into a central repository is essential for people to use these web mapping applications which is what drew me to 1Spatial in the first place. With that being said, my favourite GIS Product would have to be 1Integrate as the little engine behind the scenes that gets the data validated, cleaned and integrated.

What’s the most interesting solution problem or data challenge you’ve tackled?

One of the more difficult solutions that I have implemented was integrating AutoCAD schematics of Electrical Manhole drawings into a GIS to enable tracing of feeder lines through the network. It was so challenging because the AutoCAD drawings were not only in paper space, but they were a schematic which required processing to not only shift, scale and rotate the drawings but then figure out how to align it into geospatial space. We accomplished building a complete automated workflow to process the drawings and built the feeder network using the 1Integrate technology.

What makes 1Spatial a great place to work? 

The People!!!

If you were given an airline ticket to go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

I love traveling to new places and one place I have been wanting to add to my list is Japan. As a Chief Operating Officer of a company with ISO 9001:2015 - Quality management systems certification, I really see value in delivering high quality solutions on time and within budget. It goes without saying that I would love being in Japan. From the trains running on schedule to the culture behind Kaizen (改善, かいぜん) "change for better", Japan would be a place that I would love to visit and learn more about their culture. I also can’t turn down a good ramen dish!