$GPS

If we are going to be serious about spatial SQL then we better get the list of companies making these databases and cloud systems. It just so happens a side quest of mine since 2022 can help.

There are around 500 geospatial related stocks worldwide. I have spent a lot of my free time since 2022 cataloguing them all, by:

1. Vertical (autonomous systems, consulting, LIDAR, spatial finance etc)
2. Pureplay geospatial or adjacent
3. Esri partner status (partner, silver, platinum etc)
4. Management status (founder-CEO, professional management, non independent control etc)
5. Delisted
6. Geoawesome Top 100 component

There are many ways such a portfolio can serve us.

SPATIAL DATABASE COMPANIES

What, you didn't think I would just give them to you did you? You'll have to come :-) I can say I have ten, spread across 2 verticals (hyperscaler and spatial database). I look forward to you helping to add to the list.

DEMAND SIGNALS

Something fascinating to watch is the life of these companies in the stock market. All the Earth Observation SPACs of the early 2020s got slaughtered. So did all the LIDAR and drone stocks. Whereas the boring banks and insurance companies doing spatial finance have consistently performed well every year. So have the consultancies and semiconductor stocks. Yes, did you know there are GNSS semiconductor makers on the stock exchange? This is important information for entrepreneurs - a demand signal. Stock prices reflect many things, one of which is how much demand there is for their products and services. What can also be examined is gross margin of each business. This is an indication of how much of a monopoly they have.

JOBS

With these trends and the financial information each public company is forced to disclose, we can make more informed decisions about the long term prospects of companies. This helps us target who we'd like to work for.

INVESTING

Each of us, by virtue of working in the industry, will make a general stock analyst for an investment bank covering the geospatial sector jealous. We will know so much more than them about the viability of companies via the success of the services, products they sell. A smart investor ensures they understand what they buy. Potentially these 500 stocks will be easier for us to understand than ones outside our industry.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

Needless to say, we could package up all this information into an evidence based annual report about the industry, showing total market capitalization, but also the capitalization of each vertical. Plus the stand out stories in terms of winners and losers, exectutives with a history of succeeding and those with a history of plunder and theft.

$GPS ETF?

It is about $75,000 to get a white label ETF company to list a fund on a stock exchange. It is $10,000 monthly thereafter in fees to maintain that listing. A success story here is $FRDM. It is possible to succeed, it takes a very large amount of work. The payoff though could be incredible. GPS is infrastructure. What else is a utility in our industry? We can start there in assembling a durable portfolio which avoids flashes in the pan like EO, LIDAR and drone SPACs.

So, let's meet to discuss at Monday Night Brewing in Berkeley Park. There is much opportunity in geospatial to make money and find success without going the normal route of a production technician job.