Critchlow Geospatial takes out Technical Excellence honours at the 2021 Spatial Excellence Awards for its SwitchMyFleet solution

Pictured are Dr. Kat Salm, President of Survey & Spatial NZ and Steve Critchlow, Group Managing Director, Critchlow Geospatial

The 2021 Spatial Excellence Awards were held in Wellington on February 10, and not only were we delighted that they were able to go ahead in person this year, we came home with the award for Technical Excellence.

The prestigious Spatial Excellence Awards celebrate the highest standard of achievement in the New Zealand geospatial community - they are for all New Zealand professionals and organisations working with spatial information and technology.

Critchlow Geospatial's SwitchMyFleet powered by NationalMap solution is a powerful, and completely free, online evaluation tool for businesses considering switching their commercial vehicle fleet to electric power. It was specifically developed to overcome the immense informational complexity challenges that commercial fleet operators face when planning the transition to electric with a simple, elegant and easy-to-use interface.

SwitchMyFleet achieved top honours in the Technical Excellence category which recognises surveying and spatial projects that apply existing technology and methodologies to an exceptionally high technical standard, overcoming significant technical challenges, and delivering outstanding results for the client.

SwitchMyFleet was developed by Critchlow Geospatial with New Zealand government co-funding through the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund (LEVCF) administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Richard Briggs, Manager, Transport Portfolio, at EECA had this to say on learning about Critchlow Geospatial’s national award success:

“We are pleased that Critchlow Geospatial has been recognised at a national level for their team’s ability to bring together the physics of moving vehicles, New Zealand geospatial data, and route optimisation algorithms to build a free online tool to enable our transport sector to make the transition from ICE to electric, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving costs.”

This is another triumph for the Critchlow Geospatial team who was the global winner of the Location-Based Services category at the internationally acclaimed Geospatial World Innovation Awards 2021 held in Amsterdam, Netherlands in October 2021.

As a New Zealand award winner, Critchlow Geospatial has been automatically entered in the Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards to be held in Canberra in May 2022.

Steve Critchlow says, “We're thrilled that the efforts of our team have been recognised with this award, which is a real validation of the potential for SwitchMyFleet to have a global impact, one that can help accelerate not just New Zealand, but the whole world towards more sustainable transport systems.”