Nicole Vaughan
November 29, 2024

Accessibility, Simplicity and Mapping trends to drive engagement in 2023.

Fascinated by the ability to use technology to tell stories, Senior UI/UX Designer and Mapbox guru Phil James has built his career, bringing to life everything from museum exhibits to complex urban infrastructure projects

Fascinated by the ability to use technology to tell stories, Senior UI/UX Designer and Mapbox guru Phil James has built his career, bringing to life everything from museum exhibits to complex urban infrastructure projects. In a fast-paced world where technology develops at a rate where it can be hard to keep up, we caught up with Phil to see what trends and technologies will connect projects with communities in 2023.

What are the technology trends that you think we will see in 2023 in community engagement?

There are many macro-trends buzzing about in the technology space these days that will obviously get a lot of attention. Think Metaverse or advancements in AI. But I think that more and more government bodies and companies will be looking to leverage simple, reusable and UX-friendly solutions in community engagement.

Digital community engagement is growing around the world, and the best way for organizations to begin integrating these products into their daily life is by using approachable, simple mapping and survey products to engage their audience.

I think our Work Activity Notification Tool will become a key product in our growth as a company, as it is one of the few user-facing GIS products on the market that can be used by virtually any organization for any type of infrastructure project.

What excites you most about the way technology can be used to support community engagement?

Strong community engagement can have a global ripple effect. Feedback about a project in rural Australia, for example, can help a global construction firm or government agency in another part of the world take a new approach to a major problem.

Secondly, technology can personalize community engagement. Many of our projects can provide unique information about the effects of a project on your neighborhood and your property using advancements in GIS technology.

What is your go-to piece of technology or software that you can’t live without?

As a GIS specialist, I think that Mapbox is the future of the industry. If ESRI were the pioneers, Mapbox will be the killer app that will open the world to the potential of digital mapping.

What types of infrastructure projects do you enjoy bringing to life the most?

Projects that tackle major hurdles in urban planning and sustainable urban development are always a joy to work with. Not only do I learn about the particular challenges of designing for a city like Brisbane, Melbourne or Toronto, but I also learn about the challenges all cities face in providing joyful and efficient means of transportation to their people.

How did you build your career in development and design?

I first learned about the potential of digital storytelling at The Berkeley School of Journalism, where I covered topics such as the environment, urban planning and ecology and met dozens of world-class journalists who were literally changing the world using digital tools.

From there, I developed further skills in mapping and user engagement at Myseum of Toronto, where I helped create a series of digital exhibits highlighting some critical pieces of the city’s history that were virtually unknown to everybody.

from our clients

Spatial are my go-to for solutions

Spatial are my go-to for solutions nobody has dreamt up yet! They have an incredible knack for combining tomorrows tech solutions with creativity, intuitive UX and analytics. The results are engaging interfaces that are impactful and ultimately bridge the gap between project and stakeholders.
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Kate Kernaghan, Company Director, Factotum Communications

They look tremendous, the team have done amazing work!

Our booth very popular - the corflute poster was so incredible to point at our ideas, even at a concept level. Well done to you and the Spatial Media team!
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Rainer Knobloch, Co-Founder - Strategy and Operations

It was a pleasure to work with everyone

Spatial Media masterfully brought our CETO wave energy technology to life and provided a glimpse into how we're harnessing the immense power of the ocean to create clean, renewable electricity. Thank you to Spatial Media - Visual Engagement Solutions for their incredible work on this animation!
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Brighid Jay, Chief Commercial Officer, Carnegie Clean Energy

A very straightforward and fun process for EnergyAustralia

From the initial kick off meeting to the final video, it was a very straightforward and fun process to work with Spatial Media. The final video is outstanding and really helped bring the project to life for our stakeholders. Highly recommended.
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Matt Bruers, Development Director, Wooreen BESS, EnergyAustralia

Top shelf solutions for North East Link project

Spatial Media offers top shelf solutions that help tell the often intricate stories around the construction of major infrastructure. From animations to 3D models, dealing with Spatial has been seamless, and the end results have been first class.
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Jamie Aldridge, Communications Manager, Spark – North East Link – D&C 

Airside Driving Simulator an important part of the training program

It can be storming outside. It could be night time. Any time of the day or night we can create these simulations. It’s very flexible.
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Niel Young, Training Coordinator, Brisbane Airport

Enhancing and innovating communication for Melbourne Airport

Spatial Media is an excellent partner and we’ve been impressed by the work the team has produced for Melbourne Airport to help inform our travellers and community about our terminal upgrades and new runway. They are great to deal with and deliver a polished product with creative thinking and a can-do attitude.
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Andrew Lund, Head of Media and Communications, Melbourne Airport

They are our go to tech-savvy experts with huge amounts of creative flair!

COVID19 social distancing restrictions made having our large scale community event nearly impossible, so we decided to take our face-to-face event online. Spatial worked really closely with us to develop the concept, design and platform that would host our virtual community event. The Spatial team are exceptionally creative, with a fantastic ability to bring your idea to fruition in a way you never thought possible. They made our pen on paper scribble into something that over 45k stakeholders visited online, more than what we could have reached in person. Thank you
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Emily Divitaris, Senior Communications Advisor, WestConnex

Valuable long-term partnership with Brisbane Airport Corporation

The Spatial Media team are always professional, well organised and continuously deliver high quality content pieces on time and on budget. They bring new ideas to the table and constantly adapt to changing requirements. I would highly recommend Spatial Media to all.
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Lauren Graham, Head of Commercial Marketing, Brisbane Airport Corporation