Mount’s Bay Labs was established by Dr Tom Potter in 2021 to offer independent and impartial geospatial support.
I’m a specialist in scientific and technical R&D with well over a decade of experience in mapping, laser scanning, hydrographic survey and research.
I set up Mount’s Bay Labs to offer expertise in geospatial technology, my passion for scientific storytelling and ability to engage and educate. Today, I work across multiple disciplines and have clients in industry, research and education.
What’s in a name?
I grew up on the coast of Mount’s Bay, a beautiful stretch of the Cornish coast, where I developed keen interests in geography, geology and marine science. These interests inspired me to pursue scientific training. It started with a degree in marine environmental science, then a Masters degree in GIS.
After a few years in geomatics and hydrographic survey, I grew tired of the ‘rinse and repeat’ life. A glutton for punishment at the time, I took on the all-encompassing challenge of a full time PhD, examining mobile laser scanning in forestry. A stint as a mobile mapping surveyor followed, then a couple of years as a project manager and R&D lead, before I took on a couple of postdoc contracts.
Over the years I have worked in scientific laboratories, data processing suites and on site all around the UK, Europe and overseas. Given all of this, the name Mount’s Bay Labs sort of fell into place.
Multi-dimensionalexpertise
With a passion for technology and laser scanning in particular, I have worked with 2D and 3D data since 2010. I have worked extensively with airborne and terrestrial lidar as well as multibeam sonar and precision GNSS datasets.
For my doctoral thesis, I was one of the first to deploy handheld LiDAR technology in a forest environment. I also used GeoSLAM kit to map the indoor rainforest at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Complex environments
The services I offer as Mount’s Bay Labs draw on a wealth of experience surveying and mapping the built and natural environment, accrued over twelve or more years. This is experience I gained working at sea, on the coast and inland collecting spatial data of oceans, coast, forest, jungle and a variety of civil engineering developments.
Complex problems, unpredictable weather and unforgiving environments are my bread and butter.
Memorable moments in my career are numerous, but highlights include:
– development of novel workflows to map dense forest – a 14 week stint on a tiny Outer Hebridean island mapping uncharted reefs – having to develop strong sea legs on an icebreaker riding the waves of Force 12 storm.
Projects of all sizes
Mount’s Bay Labs is a small business with big ideas.
My core services are lean, agile and entirely flexible – just one advantage working with a motivated, hard working specialist. I have so far delivered projects to a small start-up, an established survey company, a major land use consultancy and an international publishing house.
As Mount’s Bay Labs I am just as willing to spend a half day on site mapping coastal change or a morning educating students in the basics of GIS as I am developing and project managing interdisciplinary research projects across organisations.
