Managing director Colin Brown was presented with the Richard Pearse award at the New Zealand Aviation Industry Association's recent conference in Dunedin.
The award, named in honour of the pioneering aviator and inventor, recognised outstanding innovation in assisting development in the aerospace sector.
TracMap epitomised the values of leading-edge design, innovative solutions and development of world-class systems for accurate placement of fertiliser, bait and cluster baits, both protecting and enhancing the environment, Aviation Industry Association chief executive Irene King said.
When contacted, Mr Brown said the company was both ''excited and delighted'' to receive the award.
It was awarded to companies that showed ongoing commitment to the aviation industry by developing products or systems that were leading-edge in terms of capability or what they offered the industry, and then successfully taking that into the world market, he said.
Mr Brown established TracMap in 2005 after he identified a gap in the market for an easy-to-use GPS guidance and mapping system, specifically designed for New Zealand conditions.
The company had developed various innovations for agricultural aviation over the past three to four years, successfully sold them all over the world, and it was acknowledged as a ''world-leader'' for some, Mr Brown said.
It had some ''very clever'' staff who were able to develop solutions to customers' problems.
It started with either getting an approach or identifying problems in an industry and then looking at an effective way of fixing that problem, while keeping it simple. It must be able to be used by all staff, he said.
One of TracMap's strengths was that staff made an effort to understand what the customer needed, why they needed it and the environment it was going to be used in.
New Zealand's agricultural industry was always going to be an important part of the company's work, along with agricultural aviation. but growing and diversifying into other markets would give it scale and turnover that enabled the company to continue to invest in research and development, Mr Brown said.
Its three new market areas were open spaces utility services (mowing grass spaces like fields and reserves), viticulture, and putting systems on water tankers for emergency services to deal with bush fires.
Viticulture was a big growth area, putting units on grape harvesters and sprayers. TracMap was now targeting Australia in that market and will exhibit at a large wine trade exhibition, WineTech, in Sydney this month.
