A New Era of Open-Source Geospatial Collaboration

Transitioning from a 27-year career in the federal government to the private sector can be a daunting prospect, but for Will Mortenson, it was an opportunity to solve some of the most persistent challenges in geospatial data. As the former Director of the Office of Geography at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Mortenson now serves as the executive director of the Overture Maps Foundation, where he is leading a global effort to revolutionize how firms build and share map data.

Mortenson leads a conglomerate of over 40 organizations at Overture, including industry giants like Amazon, Microsoft and others. He said that foundation aims to create a high-quality, open-source based map that allows organizations to pool resources rather than duplicating efforts. Overture is working with the mapping industry to reduce the massive resources typically required for data conflation, expand the Global Entity Reference System to non-mapping entitles and coordinate better mapping resources across industries, Mortensen said.

For federal executives looking to transition from government work, Mortenson emphasized the importance of pursuing passion over playing it safe. He acknowledged that while the bureaucracy of government is a reality, the skills, experience and knowledge gained over decades of service are highly transferable and valuable to the private sector.