Thucydides said:
While there is reason to believe that better communications does increase productivity, I doubt this will have the order of magnitude effects suggested here, unless there are otehr unspoken assumptions such as sending large CAD files via Internet to CNC machines or 3D printers in distant factories. While that might become a common practice in the next decade or so, it would make sense for companies that do that to have their own dedicated lines, if only to lock out the competition.
Working in the natural resource sector I work almost entirely in rural communities. Large CAD files or GIS files are a common occurance and have been increasing in use exponentially due to the ability to merge data sets. In addition the lower costs of aerial and satellite imagery of quality means that instead of hand colored maps of 10-15 years ago through Canada Post I'm now getting applications with all possible routing, imagery and supporting PDF documentation via e-mail. All disposition application and surveys for usuage of Alberta Crown Lands are submitted electroniclly and have been for 2 years now.
Digital photographs are another major change where the low cost of digitial cameras and increased quality of image has meant that images I sent 3 years ago at 1-2 MB/photo are now 3-4 MB/photo plus I'm asked for more aspects/overview shots. Again e-mail is the means of exchange.
Working on GIS work is used to be a specialist position and you had the software loaded onto your computer. Now it's all floating licenses and remote CITRIX log-ins via internet and its very easy to bog down even the "SuperNet" here in Alberta working with those programs.
Useage of the internet aside one of the biggest issues is that most companies can not afford to run dedicated lines to each mill. At 200km from Edmonton I'm the closest I've been to a major center in years yet I can't imagine the cost of running multiple, company specific lines for the 7 forest companies I work with locally. Plus all the oil and gas, coal mines, peat operations, grazing, gravel, recreation....
Under the current service provided I've lived 200m away from the main SuperNet Telus line and yet have been told that there are no plans to provide high-speed service to the community due to a lack of people. Satelitte service was only available for about 50% of the people in that community due to topography and rely stations which meant that most either had dial-up or no service as a result. $400/month for satellite at a slower speed that high-speed at $40/month or dial-up at $40/month....ugly situation and someone pays for those costs trickling down. In some cases it has limited where work can be done due to the requirement for highspeed work so you pay for setting up the office in a city yet paying camp costs to get the field work done...not cheap.
Government does Infrastructure well, case in point would you take Decca over GPS? In Canada mapping data is all copyrighted (save the 20-30yr old topo’s), where as in the US mapping data is provided free of charge by the US Geological Service, which is why the base maps in your Garmin are way better in the US , than here. BC Hydro was a amalgamation of several private utilities and that worked well for the taxpayer and became a cash cow for government.
Digital data sets and standards vary widely and frankly are pretty embarrassing when looking at other jurisdications. When working in Northern Ontario we used to go to the states to get maps of the areas we'd be working in as they had better maps than the province who owned the resource. Unfortunatly at least in Alberta the province does not own any digitial information due to previous privatization work so major issue sharing updates and combining information with the neighboring provinces/federal level.
Either way, once people start working with it and accepting the usage of digital information it starts to be an expectation of the public. How many people use Google Earth compared to 5 years ago...
Not sure where we'll be in 10 years but now with the iPAD and some of the applications in command and control scenarios I've seen don't write nationwide highspeed off yet if we're serious about taking ownership of our land.
