Geographic Business Solutions

Who are we?

GBS was established on 1st July 2002 when two independent GIS consultants decided to capitalise on each other's strengths by forming a business partnership. This decision has paid off for directors Harley Prowse and Tony Elson with GBS now a thriving business, growing year on year.

To find out more about GBS please read our Company Profile (PDF)

Well, that's the official version out of the way. Now here's the one we tell our friends:

Back in the day Harley and Tony worked on their own and were lonely, so they got together and formed GBS. After a couple of years they were tiring of each other. They wanted to mix it up a bit, so they decided to build a team of very clever people around them. In their travels they came across Shane and greatly admired his skills, so they asked him if he wanted to work with them too. Shane said "Ja, okay!". Matt and Sam have joined and strengthened the ties with the Mainland. Since then, two other likely lads have come on board as well.

Staff come and go and all leave their own unique mark on the company. Over the years Justin, Simon and Lisa have done just that and then moved on.

So right now GBS are seven guys who are great at what they do and love doing it.

Harley Prowse
	Harley has a background in physical geography (studying coastal management, beach processes, hydrology and river management) and a depth of experience in software design and development, and all aspects of GIS. Before pursuing his own business goals, Harley worked in a number of GIS related roles for Environment Waikato, Genasys and Geographic Technologies Ltd. His extensive knowledge has since allowed him to provide GIS consultancy for a range of organisations and industry sectors, using different GIS systems. Father to a gregarious 5 year old daughter and laid back 2 1/2 year old son, Harley is looking forward to the day when he can renew his passion for red wine, mountain biking ("not sure that is ever going to happen!") and skiing (oh, and the odd sleep-in). Apparently, Harley also enjoys the gym!

Tony Elson
	Tony's expertise in GIS, people and space (otherwise known as human geography) has made him a popular consultant and analyst in range of sectors for both public and private organisations. Tony's role is to provide our customers with strategic support and advice, project management and internal marketing strategies. He is also a dab hand at data management, integration & modeling, interpretation, application & database design and development & QA/QC integrity processes. Tony probably spends as much time out of the office as he does in it, but is now also working more closely on the business and business development. Outside of work, Tony is a rugby nut - long suffering Highlanders / Otago fan, a keen surfer and he is also involved in coaching soccer (and now playing goalkeeper for the best team in Drury). Tony is the misunderstood but proud father of four daughters!

Shane Pienaar
NEW Live View - See if Shane is really at his desk working, or what's happening out the window.	Shane has clocked over 12 years experience in the GIS sector so far, eight of which he spent at Auckland Regional Council as a Spatial Applications Developer. When he joined GBS in mid 2007, his talent and passion for "making things work" quickly endeared him to the team. As our resident ArcObjects and Web applications expert, Shane is the Yoda , .NET developer, ArcGIS server and Mobile GIS master. As Yoda once said, "...do or do not." Shane generally does. He is also a huge sports (Bokke Bokke) enthusiast who spends almost all of his spare time either trail running in the regional parks, or snowboarding, swimming and hiking. Shane is now the proud father of Sam (who is already an All Black fan).

Matt Simmons
	Matt has been with GBS for a bit now (and is really keen on bio-security), hailing from the garden city of Christchurch. With a background in software engineering, his GIS experience was gained while working at the Christchurch City Council. Matt brings expert data modelling skills to the team as well as solid software development skills and experience. Matt focuses on real nerdy stuff around ESRI Desktop, Server and Mobile application development projects. With a head for things mechanical – Matt doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty in the garage, tweaking anything with an engine.

Sam Drummond
	Sam is yet another South Islander infiltrating the ranks (that makes 3). With a background in geography, Sam is a bit of a spatial technology junkie who enjoys making things work smarter not harder. His experience with ESRI software comes from his time working at LINZ and Tasman District Council, where he worked as a GIS analyst with development interests. Sam does a lot of the hard stuff, and a lot of the crappy stuff too (like playing with data) - and has even been known to make the coffee. Sam bless him, got married early this year. Sam is a music buff who doesn’t mind the Auckland traffic providing there is a bit of Led Zeppelin blaring from his car stereo and he is really looking forward to the Metallica concert later this year (a music buff?).

Loan Burger (GBS Stig)
	Loan (pronounced Lu-han) immigrated to NZ from South Africa in 2008. After enjoying himself (or was that indulging) in the tourism and hospitality industry, Loan made a career change to software development - quite a quantum shift we think. Anyway, our resident speed king, likes to specialise in C#, SQL Server and Silverlight. Loan had to hit the ground running and he hasn't stopped yet - already on his second Silverlight project. Loan has quickly become an integral part of the team and he has certainly added some extra personality! Before joining GBS, Loan gained lots of valuable experience in software development and analysis while working in the machine rental industry back in SA, and then in the property management sector here in NZ. When not working, Loan can be found on his mountain bike, motor bike or in front of the PS3, gaming away.

Ardeshir Gheidian
	Ardeshir is the most recent addition to GBS. Not really getting a chance to breathe, Ardeshir was thrown into the deep end and is swimming magnificently with Silverlight. So with that, Ardeshir brings to the GBS capability package, another resource to develop those great rich internet application experiences. Orginally from Tehran, Ardeshir graduated with a MS in physics at Tehran University - so he is no slouch. He moved to NZ with his wife and daughter in 2003, working as an Oracle Developer, data analyst, email campaigns team member, C# / ASP.Net web developer, using Visual Studio, Javascript, HTML and SQL Server. Ardeshir is a code ninja dude and it seems he's done everything! And now learning GIS - what more could we want? In his spare time, Ardeshir loves football (soccer), reading books (how to program in ArcObjects by Yoda), and swimming.