About SDR

Welcome to SDR!

Since our incorporation in 1993, Spatial Data Research has served local government and private sector clients building detailed GIS databases for E9-1-1, Public Safety and a variety of other needs including transportation planning and utility asset management. An early innovator in using GPS technologies in GIS, SDR first incorporated GPS field verification in 1995 and has continued using and improving this technology in our GIS projects, assuring accurate and complete information for analysis.

When we opened our doors in 1993, with E9-1-1 mapping/addressing jobs in Texas and Missouri, we utilized appropriate technology to create customized solutions that could be maintained by our clients using the same tools and processes we used to build them. Now well into the 21st century, SDR continues to stay at the cutting edge of GIS technology and remains committed to a service-oriented philosophy. We’ve broadened our scope to include a full range of GIS services, programming and consulting and have served hundreds of county governments, municipalities and private clients across the United States.

In 1996, when 9-1-1 from wireless phones was in its conceptual stage, SDR participated in the Wireless Integration Project (WIP) as the GIS/GPS consultant. The WIP proved that cellular 9-1-1 calls could be automatically located on a map and was the technological foundation for the FCC's cellular and wireless communications standards. Beginning in 2002, SDR served the State of New Mexico as its E9-1-1 GIS consultant and helped the state implement wireless 9-1-1 call mapping by constructing and compiling statewide GIS centerline and a process to distribute data to each of the state’s 45 Public Safety Answering Points.

Whether we are working for a Native American nation seeking to bring Enhanced 9-1-1 and its life-saving benefits to its citizens, helping a large metropolitan transportation service offering bus and light rail service to two states or crafting a solution for an Oklahoma County in “tornado alley” to locate, map and classify its storm shelters, SDR offers professional service, proven solutions and timely implementations. If you’d like to learn more about SDR, explore this website or e-mail me at scunningham@sdrmaps.com.

Cordially,
Susan Cunningham

President, SDR, Inc.

Leadership

Susan Cunningham, President Susan M. Cunningham
President

Ms. Cunningham is President of Spatial Data Research. A founding member of the company, she participates in nearly every facet of operations including business development, software planning and in the E9-1-1 consulting and technical production. Prior to leading SDR as President, Susan worked as project manager and 9-1-1 consultant on more than 100 municipal, county and state E9-1-1 projects and served as SDR’s E9-1-1/GIS consultant to the State of New Mexico. Ms. Cunningham holds a BA, BJ and an MA from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She is a member of NENA and APCO and is a frequent attendee and presenter at E9-1-1, Addressing and GIS seminars and trainings. Susan helps promote SDR’s philosophy of assuring our clients’ continued success by involving them in our projects and educating them on the tools and processes we use to build the data and implement solutions. Susan has also designed many of SDR’s training tools and helped design and implement SDR’s successful web training program which offers on demand and scheduled webinar trainings to clients and interested parties.

Keith Keith W. Cunningham, PhD,
Founder & Chief Technology Officer

At SDR, Mr. Cunningham has provided 911/GIS/GPS consulting on more than 200 projects. Prior to founding SDR in 1993, he served five years as a 9-1-1 GIS consultant for GTE, and before that, as a Geographer with the Census Bureau. He has consulted with and worked for leaders in the GPS industry including Trimble and Leica. Keith’s PhD is in Geography with an emphasis in automated feature extraction from imagery using artificial neural networks. While at the University of Kansas, he helped teach graduate seminars in GIS and GPS. He is currently also a researcher with the University of Alaska developing digital elevation modeling technology using synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Keith maintains his industry credentials with articles, classes, and editorial work for 9-1-1, photogrammetry, GPS, LiDAR, and elevation modeling.

Brian Welde
Director Professional Services

Mr. Welde is a geospatial integration specialist with 12 years of experience designing, implementing, and managing a wide variety of geospatial solutions for a broad range of customers. His support runs from Department of Defense (DoD) policy formulation and geospatial program building (architectures, people, policy, processes) to county government spatial data development and application design. He is adept at leveraging and maximizing customer ’s resources to re-engineer critical geospatial business processes. Brian helps customers develop data models and modernize their work flows to more effectively and efficiently integrate geospatial information into their operations.

Brian has a Master of Arts in Geography degree from the University of Missouri and is a certified Project Management Professional. He began his career at SDR in 1999 with field data collection and 9-1-1 addressing projects before leaving SDR in 2001 to build enterprise geospatial solutions for the U.S. Air Force. After 10 years supporting the geospatial consulting needs of the DoD and Federal Government Agencies, Brian returned to SDR to lead the Professional Services Group.

Matthew Knight, Director of Sales & Marketing Matthew Knight
Director of Sales & Marketing

Mr. Knight joined Spatial Data Research, Inc. as Director of Sales & Marketing in 2011. Mr. Knight comes to SDR with more than 15 years experience in the Public Safety and Telecommunications industry. Before joining SDR, Matt worked for a major Local Exchange Carrier where he was responsible for the company’s Marketing, Product and Sales strategy for 9-1-1/Public Safety. He began his career with the phone company within their 9-1-1 Database Management organization where he managed an organization responsible for the western half of the U.S. for wire-line and wireless location services. He then moved into a 9-1-1 Area Management/Sales Engineering role where he learned the infrastructure of network, routing and database delivery of 9-1-1 calls. Mr. Knight next filled a strategic role and became lead on Sales and Engineering of solutions for Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1). Mr. Knight served as an independent strategist/subject matter expert and gained industry depth by providing consulting services to help PSAPs implement NG9-1-1 network, routing and location services. Mr. Knight now leads SDR’s Sales and Marketing efforts nationally, with a focus on educating Public Safety agencies on how GIS solutions will improve their data for location and routing in a NG9-1-1 world.