What public lands mean to Montana’s tech sector

When Eric Siegfried says his Missoula-based company onXmaps wouldn’t exist without public lands, the words sound like a mantra he’s uttered a hundred times before. What other origin would there be for an app that turns a smartphone into a complex mapping tool? And nearly five years after onXmaps’ founding, it’s public lands, or rather the way Siegfried’s employees play on them, that continue to fuel the company’s innovation.

"We’re talking about a $1.7 billion revenue-generating industry, with [job growth] nine times faster than the statewide economy," Hayes said. "Impressively, the industry also has self-projected a 5 percent wage increase in 2018, and an addition of 1,200 jobs."

Alex Sakariassen

https://missoulanews.com/news/what-public-lands-mean-to-montana-s-tech-sector/article_795ece22-69c0-11e8-8d63-2739a9d5773d.html