How Overture Maps is Eliminating the Data Onboarding Tax

Drew Breunig from Overture Maps Foundation exposes a massive hidden cost in the data industry: the "data onboarding tax." Discover why companies often spend more on integrating and preparing data than on licensing it, and how this friction devalues data products and stifles innovation. Drew introduces the Global Entity Reference System (GERS) as a solution designed to eliminate this tax, making geospatial data interoperable, more valuable, and easier for everyone to use. Inspired by this clip? Watch the full talk and all sessions from SDSC NYC 2025 on demand: https://spatial-data-science-conference.com/2025/newyork#Watch-on-demand #gis #gers #spatialdatascience #sdsc25 Transcript Companies pay more to onboard data than they do to license it. When we mention this to people, it's a surprising fact. But if you talk to a chief data officer, data procurement person, or a CTO, they all get this mile-long, thousand-yard stare, lean back in their seat, and get depressed by this statement. They realize they end up paying more not to acquire data, but to get it in, because they have to: Write up the initial need and get a budget, acquire and evaluate sample data, and navigate procurement and legal, which is not fun. You sign the contract. Hooray, you've crossed the line. Then you get your first drop. Now you have to write the ETL pipelines, wait for it to stage, and then you can finally use the data. As part of working with Overture, I work with many companies, large and small. Some of the most admired engineering companies in the world tell me the 'acquire and evaluate sample data' step alone takes a minimum of six weeks.