Kablamo appoints Andrew McDowell as Geospatial Lead
Andrew McDowell joins Kablamo as its first dedicated Geospatial Technology Lead, bringing expertise from Propeller Aero to drive the spatial intelligence work at the heart of Firestory.
Kablamo has appointed Andrew McDowell as its first dedicated Geospatial Technology Lead, a hire that directly supports the company's work building Firestory, Australia's AI-powered bushfire intelligence platform.
McDowell joins from Propeller Aero, where he led development of the company's widely used geospatial mapping tool. He previously held engineering roles at Mi9, Pace, Asidua, and NICS Business Services, and holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Queen's University Belfast.
Filling a critical gap
Angus Dorney, co-CEO, explained the strategic thinking behind the hire:
"We believe that many opportunities to apply geo-spatial technology to many pressing problems have fallen into the space between government and the private sector. Andy is a key hire to help us address these opportunities and make a difference. He has pioneered the latest technical advancements in the space, and also understands how important it is to integrate technology into an amazing user experience."
Maps as a decision-making tool
For Firestory, geospatial capability isn't a feature; it's the foundation. Incident controllers and fire behaviour analysts need to read fire events in real time, with every relevant data stream overlaid in a form they can act on.
Allan Waddell, co-CEO and founder, described what that demands:
"Technology will only work if it delivers what the people on the frontline actually need. A very clear part of this need is understanding fires as they happen in real time as comprehensively as possible."
McDowell is clear on what that means in practice:
"With the firefighting initiative, basically any data that can go on a map should go on a map. What's interesting is marrying the mapping tech with great user experience which will let the data be truly valuable and actionable. We're going to turn up the volume on mapping, 3D experiences, virtual reality and gamification, pushing maps beyond traditional bounds to understand data in new ways."
McDowell now leads Kablamo's geospatial practice, bringing spatial intelligence capabilities to both Firestory and the company's broader client work.
Originally covered by ITWire.