Garth Lidbetter
UX & Systems Designer
Location
Sawtell
NSW, Australia
Connect
© 2002-2025 Garth Lidbetter
Garth Lidbetter
UX & Systems Designer
Location
Sawtell
NSW, Australia
Connect
© 2002-2025 Garth Lidbetter
Barr Geospatial Solutions
Utilities Risk Modelling Platform
2025
UX, Product design
Barr Geospatial Solutions is a leading provider of geospatial services using aerial LiDAR, imaging, surveillance and AI technology to help map assets and critical infrastructure across North America.
Utility companies provide essential services like electricity, natural gas, water, and sometimes telecommunications to the public. These companies are responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of these services, and they are subject to public regulation
I was involved in a 6 week discovery phase, resulting in a proof of concept to develop. Leading the design approach.
Barr Geospatial Solutions is a leading provider of geospatial services using aerial LiDAR, imaging, surveillance and AI technology to help map assets and critical infrastructure across North America.
Utility companies provide essential services like electricity, natural gas, water, and sometimes telecommunications to the public. These companies are responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of these services, and they are subject to public regulation
I was involved in a 6 week discovery phase, resulting in a proof of concept to develop. Leading the design approach.
Barr Geospatial Solutions is a leading provider of geospatial services using aerial LiDAR, imaging, surveillance and AI technology to help map assets and critical infrastructure across North America.
Utility companies provide essential services like electricity, natural gas, water, and sometimes telecommunications to the public. These companies are responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of these services, and they are subject to public regulation
I was involved in a 6 week discovery phase, resulting in a proof of concept to develop. Leading the design approach.
Role & team
Role: User Experience & User Interface designer
Team: UI designer (PT), Product manager, Project lead, BE team (3), FE team (2), DevOps (1.5)
Client: Product owner, Program sponsor, Stakeholders, SME's
Role: User Experience & User Interface designer
Team: UI designer (PT), Product manager, Project lead, BE team (3), FE team (2), DevOps (1.5)
Client: Product owner, Program sponsor, Stakeholders, SME's
Role: User Experience & User Interface designer
Team: UI designer (PT), Product manager, Project lead, BE team (3), FE team (2), DevOps (1.5)
Client: Product owner, Program sponsor, Stakeholders, SME's
Tasks
Stakeholder & user interviews
User working group facilitation
User journey mapping
Solution development
User story creation
Stakeholder & user interviews
User working group facilitation
User journey mapping
Solution development
User story creation
Stakeholder & user interviews
User working group facilitation
User journey mapping
Solution development
User story creation
Deliverables
Information Architecture
Wireframes
Prototypes of features
Proposal presentation
Information Architecture
Wireframes
Prototypes of features
Proposal presentation
Information Architecture
Wireframes
Prototypes of features
Proposal presentation
6
week discovery timeline
23
workshops and testing sessions
2
countries considered as jurisdictional areas (Canada & USA)
1
new platform sold, build phase in 2025
Background & Brief
Barr provides wildfire risk intelligence to infrastructure and utility companies across North America. Today, this information is shared through offline systems, manual processes, and static reports.
Our task was to run discovery and build a proof of concept that would automate current fire risk assessments and deliver live risk predictions—driving faster, smarter emergency response.
This phase focused on:
Clarifying the platform’s core purpose and intended impact
Identifying key user needs and pain points
Designing and prototyping a comprehensive proof of concept
Defining the product roadmap, including MVP (Now), Next, and Later phases
Recommending technical architecture, scalability, and go-to-market approach
Outlining cost estimates and key considerations
Barr provides wildfire risk intelligence to infrastructure and utility companies across North America. Today, this information is shared through offline systems, manual processes, and static reports.
Our task was to run discovery and build a proof of concept that would automate current fire risk assessments and deliver live risk predictions—driving faster, smarter emergency response.
This phase focused on:
Clarifying the platform’s core purpose and intended impact
Identifying key user needs and pain points
Designing and prototyping a comprehensive proof of concept
Defining the product roadmap, including MVP (Now), Next, and Later phases
Recommending technical architecture, scalability, and go-to-market approach
Outlining cost estimates and key considerations
Barr provides wildfire risk intelligence to infrastructure and utility companies across North America. Today, this information is shared through offline systems, manual processes, and static reports.
Our task was to run discovery and build a proof of concept that would automate current fire risk assessments and deliver live risk predictions—driving faster, smarter emergency response.
This phase focused on:
Clarifying the platform’s core purpose and intended impact
Identifying key user needs and pain points
Designing and prototyping a comprehensive proof of concept
Defining the product roadmap, including MVP (Now), Next, and Later phases
Recommending technical architecture, scalability, and go-to-market approach
Outlining cost estimates and key considerations
Challenges
Cross time zone communication
With the client spread across Canada and the US, limited time zones meant every session had to drive decisions. We had a narrow daily window to align, make decisions, and push work forward.High-speed delivery
The six-week timeline required precision and rapid pivots, leaving no room for slow feedback loops.Balancing Discovery and Commercials
We balanced deep discovery with commercial positioning—understanding their context while framing our solution as the clear choice for the build phase.
Cross time zone communication
With the client spread across Canada and the US, limited time zones meant every session had to drive decisions. We had a narrow daily window to align, make decisions, and push work forward.High-speed delivery
The six-week timeline required precision and rapid pivots, leaving no room for slow feedback loops.Balancing Discovery and Commercials
We balanced deep discovery with commercial positioning—understanding their context while framing our solution as the clear choice for the build phase.
Cross time zone communication
With the client spread across Canada and the US, limited time zones meant every session had to drive decisions. We had a narrow daily window to align, make decisions, and push work forward.High-speed delivery
The six-week timeline required precision and rapid pivots, leaving no room for slow feedback loops.Balancing Discovery and Commercials
We balanced deep discovery with commercial positioning—understanding their context while framing our solution as the clear choice for the build phase.
Solution
System and content architecture provided a visual blueprint of the platform, ensuring all core features were captured.
The architecture and prototype included login, data feeds, geospatial views, fire and risk predictions, incident drill-downs, dashboards, notifications, and reporting, validating key user journeys and the overall concept.
Production was proposed to be delivered in three phases
MVP – demonstration purposes
Phase 1 – implementation for first tenant rollout, which would require real data feeds
Phase 2 – expanded functionality with non-core features
Alignment with SMEs and stakeholders was maintained through focused sessions, clear milestones, and rapid feedback loops.
System and content architecture provided a visual blueprint of the platform, ensuring all core features were captured.
The architecture and prototype included login, data feeds, geospatial views, fire and risk predictions, incident drill-downs, dashboards, notifications, and reporting, validating key user journeys and the overall concept.
Production was proposed to be delivered in three phases
MVP – demonstration purposes
Phase 1 – implementation for first tenant rollout, which would require real data feeds
Phase 2 – expanded functionality with non-core features
Alignment with SMEs and stakeholders was maintained through focused sessions, clear milestones, and rapid feedback loops.
System and content architecture provided a visual blueprint of the platform, ensuring all core features were captured.
The architecture and prototype included login, data feeds, geospatial views, fire and risk predictions, incident drill-downs, dashboards, notifications, and reporting, validating key user journeys and the overall concept.
Production was proposed to be delivered in three phases
MVP – demonstration purposes
Phase 1 – implementation for first tenant rollout, which would require real data feeds
Phase 2 – expanded functionality with non-core features
Alignment with SMEs and stakeholders was maintained through focused sessions, clear milestones, and rapid feedback loops.
6
week discovery timeline
23
workshops and testing sessions
2
countries considered as jurisdictional areas (Canada & USA)
1
new platform sold, build phase in 2025
Conclusions
On completion of the discovery phase, Barr was equipped with comprehensive documentation and recommendations to review and make informed decisions on a potential platform build, considering both commercial and technological factors.
The proposed solution will provide utility customers across Canada and the US with near-real-time wildfire risk insights, enabling faster, informed decisions. Engaging SMEs and stakeholders throughout the process ensured the solution aligns with user needs while meeting senior stakeholder requirements.
Update: Barr has signed off on the MVP build phase, with Kablamo committed to delivery by the end of 2025.
On completion of the discovery phase, Barr was equipped with comprehensive documentation and recommendations to review and make informed decisions on a potential platform build, considering both commercial and technological factors.
The proposed solution will provide utility customers across Canada and the US with near-real-time wildfire risk insights, enabling faster, informed decisions. Engaging SMEs and stakeholders throughout the process ensured the solution aligns with user needs while meeting senior stakeholder requirements.
Update: Barr has signed off on the MVP build phase, with Kablamo committed to delivery by the end of 2025.
On completion of the discovery phase, Barr was equipped with comprehensive documentation and recommendations to review and make informed decisions on a potential platform build, considering both commercial and technological factors.
The proposed solution will provide utility customers across Canada and the US with near-real-time wildfire risk insights, enabling faster, informed decisions. Engaging SMEs and stakeholders throughout the process ensured the solution aligns with user needs while meeting senior stakeholder requirements.
Update: Barr has signed off on the MVP build phase, with Kablamo committed to delivery by the end of 2025.
Feedback
Name
Role
Client quote – on project completion.
Client quote – on project completion.
Client quote – on project completion.
Kim Tran
Product Manager
"Garth is absolutely brilliant at diving deep into client problems while keeping conversations open and exploratory in our user working groups. He has this amazing talent for uncovering what clients actually need, and he's so understanding and patient in the process. Always finds solutions that work for the product, clients, and the team. You're a pleasure to work with!"
"Garth is absolutely brilliant at diving deep into client problems while keeping conversations open and exploratory in our user working groups. He has this amazing talent for uncovering what clients actually need, and he's so understanding and patient in the process. Always finds solutions that work for the product, clients, and the team. You're a pleasure to work with!"
"Garth is absolutely brilliant at diving deep into client problems while keeping conversations open and exploratory in our user working groups. He has this amazing talent for uncovering what clients actually need, and he's so understanding and patient in the process. Always finds solutions that work for the product, clients, and the team. You're a pleasure to work with!"
Ludovic Reig
UI Designer
"Incredible Showcase presentation! Super clear, well-paced, and everything was wrapped up so well! Your ability to frame things, keep the flow tight, and things always clear and give guidance every day makes a huge impact!"
"Incredible Showcase presentation! Super clear, well-paced, and everything was wrapped up so well! Your ability to frame things, keep the flow tight, and things always clear and give guidance every day makes a huge impact!"
"Incredible Showcase presentation! Super clear, well-paced, and everything was wrapped up so well! Your ability to frame things, keep the flow tight, and things always clear and give guidance every day makes a huge impact!"