Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been recognised with an Esri Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award for AskIgnite, an AI-enabled Geographic Information System (GIS) assistant designed to make spatial analysis more accessible across the organisation.
What is AskIgnite?
AskIgnite allows officers to ask natural-language questions to discover geospatial data, perform spatial queries and visualise results. By translating everyday questions into map-based actions, the assistant helps users with different levels of GIS experience draw on spatial intelligence more confidently and efficiently.
The assistant is designed for officers with different levels of GIS experience, from first-time users who may not be familiar with layers, buffers or spatial joins to experienced practitioners looking to complete analysis more efficiently.
"Our goal with AskIgnite is to make GIS easy to use for everyone. We want to bring GIS capabilities to where our users are, so they are usable and effective in their daily work," said Matthew Ong from LTA's Geospatial Systems Division.
How AskIgnite makes GIS more accessible
Spatial information supports LTA's work across the transport asset lifecycle, from planning and design to construction, operations and maintenance. However, data created for individual projects, dashboards and web maps can be difficult for officers in other teams to find, interpret and reuse.
Even when the right data is available, officers may need specialist knowledge to select the appropriate layers, choose geoprocessing tools and build a multi-step workflow. This can make spatial analysis more difficult and time-consuming for occasional or new GIS users.
AskIgnite was created to reduce this friction. Instead of navigating complex menus or writing database queries, officers can describe what they need in plain language. The assistant interprets the request, identifies relevant data and guides the user through the corresponding GIS workflows.
Turning GIS workflows into a conversation
AskIgnite helps officers move from a question to a map-based answer through a series of conversational prompts. Depending on the task, it can:
- Suggest relevant GIS layers based on an officer’s role or problem
- Add selected layers to a map and run spatial queries
- Create visualisations such as heat maps and charts
- Explain the steps taken to produce an answer
- Combine information from multiple datasets to answer a specific question
This approach abstracts much of the technical complexity behind spatial analysis while keeping the resulting information visible on the map. It allows officers to focus on the operational question they are trying to answer rather than the mechanics of the GIS workflow.
Finding patterns in commuter and infrastructure feedback
In one demonstrated workflow, an officer asks AskIgnite to show feedback along a particular road. The assistant identifies the required layers, adds them to the map and executes the query from a single natural-language prompt.
The officer can then ask for a heat map highlighting feedback hotspots. This provides a clearer view of where feedback is concentrated, helping officers identify areas that may require further investigation.
Connecting asset information across its lifecycle
Commuter infrastructure assets such as pedestrian overhead bridges, lifts, covered linkways and bus shelters generate different information across different stages; from plan, design, build, and operations and maintenance. These records may be created at different times and stored in different places, making them time-consuming to bring together.
Some assets are also commonly described using a nearby road or landmark rather than a conventional street address. AskIgnite is designed to work with these everyday descriptions. In a demonstrated example, the assistant used the relevant road, landmark and asset data to identify a pedestrian overhead bridge and determine whether it had barrier-free access.
The assistant can also create an on-the-fly chart showing the breakdown of Pedestrian Overhead Bridges with barrier-free access. By drawing together relevant information and presenting it in an accessible form, AskIgnite helps officers minimise the need to manually search across datasets or approach other officers for answers, thereby reducing lead times and raising productivity.
Designed around the way officers work
Rather than requiring every user to learn specialist GIS terminology and workflows first, AskIgnite brings GIS capabilities closer to the way officers already ask questions and make decisions.
This user-centred approach is important to the platform's purpose: bringing GIS capabilities closer to officers rather than expecting every user to first learn specialist GIS terminology and workflows.
By bridging this knowledge gap, AskIgnite can support a wider range of roles, from engineers in the field to executives and experienced GIS professionals, in using spatial intelligence to inform their work.
Supporting faster, more coordinated decisions
AskIgnite supports faster planning and operational decision-making by helping LTA officers bring together and interpret geospatial information more efficiently. Making relevant information easier to find and understand can also support more coordinated responses to commuter needs and infrastructure feedback.
Recognising meaningful achievement in GIS
The Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award recognises organisations demonstrating innovative and impactful applications of GIS.
For LTA, the award recognises an approach that makes spatial intelligence more accessible across the organisation. AskIgnite shows how AI-enabled GIS can simplify complex analysis, connect information across teams and help public sector officers turn location-based questions into timely, informed action.
Talk to an Esri Singapore expert to discover how AI-enabled GIS can help your teams find information, simplify spatial analysis and make faster, more informed decisions.