Garth Lidbetter

UX & Systems Designer

Location

Sawtell
NSW, Australia

© 2002-2025 Garth Lidbetter

Garth Lidbetter

UX & Systems Designer

Location

Sawtell
NSW, Australia

© 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

  1. 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.


  2. High-speed delivery
    The six-week timeline required precision and rapid pivots, leaving no room for slow feedback loops.


  3. 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.

  1. 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.


  2. High-speed delivery
    The six-week timeline required precision and rapid pivots, leaving no room for slow feedback loops.


  3. 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.

  1. 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.


  2. High-speed delivery
    The six-week timeline required precision and rapid pivots, leaving no room for slow feedback loops.


  3. 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

  1. MVP – demonstration purposes

  2. Phase 1 – implementation for first tenant rollout, which would require real data feeds

  3. 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

  1. MVP – demonstration purposes

  2. Phase 1 – implementation for first tenant rollout, which would require real data feeds

  3. 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

  1. MVP – demonstration purposes

  2. Phase 1 – implementation for first tenant rollout, which would require real data feeds

  3. 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!"