Over his 30 year career, Mr Houwen has been responsible for delivering some of the most cutting-edge geospatial projects in the world – including at Western Power; VicRoads; Land and Property Information NSW; and Landgate.
His appointment caps off a year of significant growth in demand for spatial capabilities across the country – which has in turn seen demand for GIS services burgeon.
“Both Victoria and Tasmania have very active spatial communities, with organisations such as VicRoads, the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Australia Post, Launceston City Council and Hobart City Councilamongst the nation’s most progressive GIS technology users,” said Mr Houwen.
“We’re currently seeing incredible demand in these markets with organisations keen to explore new advancements to GIS technology, such as Cloud-based solutions; enhanced mobile capabilities and integrating GIS with their core business systems.
“My team and I will be working closely with enterprises across both the public and private sector to help them keep pace with these new developments; develop technology roadmaps; and uncover where opportunities and challenges may lie within their organisations.”
In his new role, Mr Houwen – who has previously worked for Esri Australia for 15 years – heads up a team of 14, including GIS consultants, cartographers, analysts and environmental scientists.
“Esri Australia has successfully assembled Australia’s largest and most skilled group of GIS professionals and as a result, our services continue to set both national and international benchmarks,” said Mr Houwen.
“My new position gives me the opportunity to not only contribute to this team, but also help drive its activities.
“In doing so, I hope to enable more organisations in the region realise the value of their GIS technology investment.”
Mr Houwen holds a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Computer Science and GIS, from Curtin University of Technology; and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Australia.
His areas of expertise include: project management, and enterprise GIS deployments in utilities and the public sector.
Mr Houwen sits on the board of the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA), a professional body for GIS technology in Australia.
