T-REx holds wall-smashing event at the site of future "Geosaurus" space

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ST. LOUIS (KMOX) —  The video above shows St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and others breaking a wall at T-REx's non-profit business incubator building on Washington Avenue.

It was a ceremonial alternative to a groundbreaking for T-REx's new "Geosaurus, Powered by Bayer" space dedicated to developing geospatial technology. The entire fourth floor will be a space for companies specializing in geospatial technology to work out of and partner with each other.

"That's where innovation starts to happen," T-REx executive director Patty Hagen stated Thursday. "When people start to meet one another, they create new ways of doing things, and they bounce ideas off one another."

One of the first companies moving into the Geosaurus space will be a company that wants to stop wildlife poaching. It will use the space to, as Hagen puts it, "harness geospatial analytics and predictive modeling" so that conservationists can react faster to stop poachers.

There’s a new dinosaur coming to @DowntownTREX! About to have wall-smashing ceremony for the new Geospatial office and research center. @BayerUS is sponsor. @kmoxnews pic.twitter.com/B0PXoZsumH

— Michael Calhoun (@michaelcalhoun) February 21, 2019

We asked Bayer Vice President of Corporate Engagement Al Mitchell if this is a sign of commitment after Monsanto's acquisition.

"When this merger was first announced, we came out and said 'we're not going anywhere,'" Mitchell told KMOX's Michael Calhoun. "We'er pillar of this community, we plan to remain a pillar of this community, and this is a way we can give to continue to give back and  help attract talent to grow St. Louis."

Mitchell says modern agriculture is really about technology, not a horse dragging a till.

St. Louis has several companies working in this sector and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is moving in just up the street, and other companies like Boundless have followed.

The hope is to make St. Louis a hub for mapping data companies.

Related: House Speaker Pelosi warns St. Louis National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency project could be affected by border wall funding