Geofutures

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Mark Thurstain-Goodwin, managing director

Unlike historians, scientists or mathematicians, geographers don’t often use their subject as a label. Mark Thurstain-Goodwin is one who is quite comfortable with the description. “Geographers aim to understand how places are the complex results of physical space, environmental influences and present and historic human intervention,” he suggests.

“By its nature, geography absorbs information and techniques from many other fields of study, like history, statistics, economics and the physical sciences, using and refining them for its own purposes. Perhaps it’s because we’re jacks of all trades that we’re less visible, but it seems to me that we need every method and fact available to explain the world we see around us.”

Long before Mark gained a BA in the subject from Girton College, Cambridge and an MSc from UCL in Geographic and Geodetic Information Systems, he became a geographer walking in the Bavarian mountains. “My geography teacher at the time taught me mountaineering, outdoor skills and a love of the wilderness which I’ve never lost,” says Mark.

“And that’s why I love maps. Maps work with the way we think. Proximity, boundaries, peaks, troughs; these are the currency of everyone’s perceptions, yet they’re not just about the landscape, they tell us about everything else as well."

Mark founded Geofutures in 2002. After graduating, he worked as a commercial property analyst, then took an MSc in Geographic and Geodetic Information Systems at University College London before becoming a research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. He subsequently led CASA’s town centres team for five years, conducting research for the UK’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which Geofutures took forward.

Still closely associated with UCL, Mark is a sought-after presenter to academic and commercial audiences, enjoying the challenge of making technical subjects clear and relevant. He is especially passionate on the subject of the environment and sustainable development, believing that every effort should be made to ensure sustainability becomes a mainstream interest.

Says Mark: “In the end, there really is no other subject, because if we miss this last opportunity to stop the slide into global meltdown, everything else will become irrelevant. But the message has to engage people positively, making us recognise that we as individuals can make a difference. I want to use our technology and methods to make the subject come alive – helping us all to see how decisions made now can shape a better future.”

Alice Dalton, PhD researcher

Alice joins us in partnership with the University of the West of England and the University of Bath to research the mapping of sustainable development performance indicators at a sub-regional level. Taking the South West of England as a sample area, the aim is to develop the datasets, framework and statistical techniques to provide businesses with sufficient local-scale information on sustainability measures (currently only published nationally and regionally), to make location decisions.

A geography graduate from the University of Reading, Alice recently completed an MSc in Geographical Information Science at Birkbeck College, University of London. She combined her MSc studies with a full-time position as Geographic Information Specialist at Halcrow Group Ltd.

Chris Emberson, GIS analyst

Chris brings a wealth of marketing, client management and GI knowledge to his role at Geofutures. As a GIS consultant for Hamilton Research Ltd he created a model predicting the need for telecommunications links across 30 African countries for the World Bank, and built online tools to help visualise the information; previous roles included managing software client accounts across Europe and Africa and using GI to analyse customer targeting and increase direct mail effectiveness.

An accomplished linguist, Chris is currently completing an MSc in Geographic Information Management part-time at Cranfield University, and is a European Marketing graduate from Leeds Metropolitan University / Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, Caen.

Brendan Fosberry, GI applications developer

Currently remote-working for Geofutures from Houston, Texas, Brendan joined Geofutures part-time whilst completing his Masters in Computers, Electronics and Communications at Bath University. A passionate programmer, he has worked throughout his degree in various organisations while also running a freelance games development group.

Brendan is now bringing his comprehensive programming skills to the world of GI science. Supporting the UK development team on a contract basis, he is building, testing and documenting web based GI applications and performing spatial data analysis to support client, product and promotional requirements.

Christopher Jones, senior GIS developer

Chris joined Geofutures after completing his MSc in GIS at the University of Leeds. Building on business and IT experience gained at major insurer AXA, his Masters specialisms included spatial decision support systems, multi-criteria evaluation and the development of GIS tools to incorporate ‘fuzzy logic’ into the capture and analysis of spatial data.

In addition to his responsibilities designing and developing specific GI applications for integration into existing client systems, Chris ensures the practice’s specification, programming and documentation disciplines meet the highest industry standards. He now runs the GIS development team.

Ruth Keily, director

Another Cambridge geography graduate, Ruth brings 20 years’ publishing and marketing experience to her role promoting Geofutures.

The practice is committed to producing written materials of the greatest possible clarity and accuracy across all media, and Ruth is also responsible for ensuring these standards are maintained.

Simon Lewis, operations director

A highly respected GI industry player, Simon was among the earliest employees of Multimap.com, one of the world’s leading providers of online mapping and location-based services, recently acquired by Microsoft. As Head of Professional Services Simon led the team responsible for delivery of all online mapping services to major clients. His earlier career included leading the technical development of Dorling Kindersley Cartography, and academic and commercial research at Birkbeck College, University of London.

As Geofutures continues its growth, Simon’s long experience in managing key clients and ensuring technical delivery are being fully applied to enhancing business systems, project management and maximising team contribution.

Dave Liddament, applications developer

An Electrical and Electronic Engineering graduate from Bristol University, Dave joined Geofutures from a successful early career with blue-chip IT provider IPL, where he progressed from programmer to software products consultant and ultimately designer, working with major clients including Vodafone.

His role within the Geofutures development team will make full use of his strong experience developing web-based applications and products. In his spare time, Dave is a keen scuba diver and touch rugby player.

Rachel Sheahan Harris, administrator

Rachel’s creative talents are many and various, but much of her career has involved supporting small and growing companies with their key business processes and office management. Geofutures now benefits from her experience in this area, bringing order as the organisation continues its rapid growth.

Karah Slowley, senior analyst

A graduate in mathematics from the University of Bath, Karah is currently taking a break from her role performing spatial statistical analysis for Geofutures and is on secondment to our client Grosvenor Estates as Research Analyst.

Supporting the UK research team, Karah’s experience in data analysis and presentation are being applied to monitoring the performance of the major landowner’s property portfolio.

Rebecca Wear, researcher

Her successful career in the fashion industry having culminated in her position as head of overseas production for top retailer Hobbs, Rebecca took a career break and now combines family commitments with her role providing research, intelligence gathering and business support to Geofutures.