SAN ANTONIO (KMOX) — Local political, university and business leaders are in south Texas this week to position St. Louis as a prime place for mapping technology companies to settle.
They're at the annual GEOINT conference, which is centered all around the latest geospatial, or mapping, technology.
It's a great day for GEOINT! Get all the NGA #GEOINT2019 info you need, including our new strategy, the tech focus areas "hard problems" list and historical looks at #Apollo50th, the Inter American Geodetic Survey and D-Day at https://t.co/MDZJBaQNr0 pic.twitter.com/r11VlabGPq
— NGA (@NGA_GEOINT)
June 4, 2019 "St. Louis is making a very big splash," says Jim Alexander of the St. Louis Economic Development Alliance.
He says the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency putting a headquarters in north St. Louis is a chance for the region to become a powerhouse in geospatial, whose uses have grown beyond just driving directions on your phone.
Mapping technology now impacts industries from energy and agriculture, to financial services and health.
Those are sectors which the St. Louis region is already strong in, especially with firms like BioSTL and SixThirty supporting developing businesses in those fields.
So, Alexander says this group is making a big marketing push: "We want to make sure that the four thousand people attending this conference know what St. Louis has to offer."
One team, one message, one mission with major presence at @GEOINTsymposium 2019. The future of #geospatial is #STLMade @LydaKrewson @DrSamPage @EDAllianceSTL @DowntownTREX @SLDCmo @NGA_GEOINT @STLPartnership @launchcode pic.twitter.com/JGKTQRAz4A
— Jason Hall (@JasonHallSTL)
June 2, 2019 You'll see the #STLMADE brand on display as you walk around and even on stage, with roundtable discussions about the region and Mayor Krewson set to give a keynote on Wednesday.
Repping #STLMade story in San Antonio for #GEOINT2019. Did you know STL has 27K jobs (and growing!) in #geospatial? It’s the “where and when” information that runs pretty much everything. @in_thestl pic.twitter.com/S5cw7uMj2E
— Court Mueller (@courtsloger)
June 3, 2019 The St. Louis delegation even brought two of our region's signature desserts -- Ted Drewes frozen custard and gooey butter cake -- to share with technologists at the conference.
Yes, we brought gooey butter cake to @GEOINTsymposium. If you want others to get to know #STL, you bring the hometown favorites. #STLMade #GEOINT2019 @DowntownTREX @GeosaurusTREX pic.twitter.com/dn8tznBmfe
— St. Louis Regional Economic Development Alliance (@EDAllianceSTL)
June 4, 2019 Alexander called the KMOX newsroom on Monday night as the Mayor and others were getting ready to hold their own Blues watch party. The Mayor of San Antonio was set to join; his city is home to a Blues minor league affiliate.
How about those @StLouisBlues , right?! We might be in San Antonio tonight, but our hearts are in STL ------ @EDAllianceSTL @LydaKrewson @SaintLouisU @GatewayArchPark @Slalom @GeosaurusTREX @NGA_GEOINT #gloria #AllTogetherNow pic.twitter.com/7blilH9uvU
— T-REX (@DowntownTREX)
June 4, 2019 But focus remains on boosting the profile of St. Louis as a geospatial destination.
"At the conference today," Alexander explains, he had "conversations with private sector groups, with other government agencies, and these were some very large, very well-known companies, and others were almost classified as start-ups."
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