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Open Source Web Based Geospatial Processing with OMAR
by Marc Lucas and Scott Bortman
Mark Lucas and Scott Bortman of RadiantBlue Technologies describe the OMAR project in this article. OMAR is an open source Web-based geospatial processing tool that is managing millions of imagery and video files. Even though the current release is still considered in beta, the system is being used to find and rapidly view geospatial assets from multiple repositories. OMAR provides one example that open source software solutions are increasingly being deployed in US government agencies.
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Podcast: Delivering Maps to the FBI
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This past week two geospatial practitioners were cited for their good work by the FBI. What did they do? At the request of the Bureau, they went online and found some Digital Raster Graphics, scanned quad maps, printed them and gave them to agents working in their area. Is this how agents and others in the federal government, or even citizens, should get their geographic data? What does this scenario reveal about the FBI? The state of our geospatial infrastructure? The value of the geospatial workforce?
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OGC Geospatial Rights Management Summit: Moving the Discussion Forward
by Adena Schutzberg
The Open Geospatial Consortium's Geo Rights Management (GeoRM) Working Group believes the lack of rights management "is a major barrier to broader adoption of Web based geospatial technologies." That led to a GeoRM Summit, held as part of the organization's latest technical meetings in Cambridge, MA. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg not only attended, but participated in the all-day event that concluded with some "marching orders" for the way forward.
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Podcast: Why not code the real world?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
The attributes of physical objects in the real world are commonly noted on paper maps or in electronic files, but these are frequently of limited use in the field. Why do we not simply encode key information onto the actual objects, themselves? For example, in Akron, Ohio the domes of fire hydrants are color-coded to denote their water pressure. Though we need to put all this information into databases, can we not also put it right exactly where it's needed?
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Geographic Distribution of Physicians in Japan
by Shin-ichi Toyabe
Japanese government policy since the late 1980s has aimed to decrease the number of medical students, which has resulted in shortages of trained medical personnel. A study to compare the numbers of physicians in Japan between 1996 and 2006 and the trends in distribution concluded that while the number of doctors was rising, the distribution of doctors was far from ideal as revealed by maps and statistics. This type of analysis may be helpful to all countries trying to enhance healthcare across the rural/urban divide.
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FME User Conference 2009: FME Lessens Friction in a Rough Economy
by Adena Schutzberg
Safe Software's FME User Conference is the place to be for individuals who create complex workspaces to enable smooth sailing for geospatial implementations around the world. It's all very serious, until attendees let their hair down to vie to be the next FME Idol or answer FME-themed Jeopardy questions. Adena Schutzberg reports on her two days in Whistler, British Columbia.
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Podcast: Location-based Advertising... It's Not Working... Here's Why
by Joe Francica
In the much-hyped, Madison Avenue world of mobile location-based advertising, the Holy Grail seems within the grasp of retailers looking for that one-to-one marketing nirvana oft cited in the early nineties. But in its current model, it’s not working the way it should or can. Today's business model uses "push" advertising to mobile devices. But what if the model should be "pull," thus allowing consumers to determine when, where and how they should receive ads? Editor in Chief Joe Francica explores this model and more. ...
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GIS for a Changing Health Landscape
by Adena Schutzberg
URISA hosted its second GIS in Public Health event in Providence, RI in early June, and attendance matched that of the event two years ago, much to everyone's delight. There were visitors from many countries including the Far East and former Soviet republics. Key topics included global infectious disease challenges, sharing public health data and how to develop mapping applications for the health care industry. Adena Schutzberg attended and offers this report.
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GPS System, Challenges in Sustaining & Upgrading: Challenges Yes, Panic No
by Kanwar Chadha
A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) report on the future of the GPS constellation stated: "It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected. In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals." In this editorial, SiRF Technology founder Kanwar Chadha offers a more rationale assessment of the situation.
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Using Location Technology to Respond to Piracy
by Directions Staff
The world learned in the Maersk Alabama pirate attack that huge, slow transport ships can be at the mercy of small agile craft with ill intent. Can geospatial technologies help? Are there guidelines in place for tracking such vessels? Can lessons learned from crime on land be applied on the open waters? We tap Blue Sky Network, a company involved in marine, land and air tracking for some answers.
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New York State Geospatial Summit: GIS Energy Directed Inward
by Adena Schutzberg
Last week the New York State (NYS) GIS Association and the NYS Office of Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Coordination held the fourth edition of the New York State Geospatial Summit. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg notes the event had a different kind of energy than in past years, and she shares the highlights.
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Advice from Geospatial Startups
by Adena Schutzberg
A reader had an interesting idea: Why not have startups and early stage companies in the geospatial arena offer some advice to those who may be heading in that direction? Directions Magazine invited responses from a dozen companies; today we share a few responses.
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GIS Helps Find Profitable Locations for Schlotzsky's Deli
by Karen Richardson
"Location intelligence is the key to a successful franchise," says Mark Whittle, vice president of real estate, FOCUS Brands, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. "It isn't just anecdotal." The company operates more than 2,200 restaurants, bakeries and ice cream shops in the United States and several other countries including Schlotzsky's Deli, Carvel, Cinnabon and Moe's Southwest Grill. Read more about how Schlotzsky's is using location technology to help their real estate department become more "location intelligent."
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Where Matters: Maps Emerge as Critical Business Tool for Finance and Public Safety
by Patrick Ladisa
The map emerged as a critical business insight tool at Expedition 2009, a user conference sponsored by DMTI Spatial of Toronto, Canada. A strong turnout at this conference revealed how the idea of leveraging location information to unlock business value can literally move people. Peter Vukanovich, president and CEO of Genworth Financial Canada, keynoted the event and provided insights as to why his company is using location technology to reduce risk in the mortgage market.
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WaveMarket's Joel Grossman Addresses Privacy and Location-based Advertising
by Joe Francica
Worried about the privacy of location-based advertising? What are some of the options for those who don't mind the advertisements, but only want what's of interest to them and only want to be identified at an aggregate geographic level? Editor in Chief Joe Francica poses these questions and more to Joel Grossman, vice president of marketing for WaveMarket. The company recently announced a partnership with Millennial Media which is believed to be an important step in protecting the privacy of consumers.
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Colombian Snack Company Finds More Customers and Better Manages Delivery Routes
by Karen Richardson
As in many Latin American countries, corner stores and snack stands in Colombia serve as popular places to grab a quick bite to eat. Founded more than 50 years ago, Ramo was the first retail snack manufacturer to offer prepared and packaged snack cakes in Colombia. The company is innovating once again by using GIS to increase its customer base, plan better marketing strategies and route snack products to customers more efficiently.
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Deriving Location Intelligence from Complex Event Processing for National Security Applications
by Joe Francica
As sensory information becomes more advanced, the government is faced with a continuous and ever-expanding stream of real-time information from which it collects intelligence in support of national security. ObjectFX has created a solution that fits within Complex Event Processing. CEP helps to automate incident detection and is enabling applications in government to streamline processes, while more quickly identifying what's important.
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Oracle Announces New Features for Oracle Spatial at User's Conference
by Joe Francica
The fifth annual Oracle Spatial User's Conference was held last week following the GITA Conference in Tampa, Florida. Some of the new product enhancements for Oracle Spatial 11gR2 include more analysis, modeling and visualization capabilities for applications in retail, business intelligence, utilities and other areas. The company also plans to do more with network data models and to add robust path analysis to support more complex networks. Editor in Chief Joe Francica attended the conference and provides an overview of these new features.
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Le géospatial au 4e Salon Business Intelligence
by Jean-Louis Duchesne
Le mercredi 8 avril dernier se tenait au Palais des Congrès de Montréal la 4e édition du Salon Business Intelligence, organisé par le Réseau Action TI – Montréal. La conférence a réuni quelque 500 personnes, auxquelles on a proposé près d’une vingtaine de conférences et présentations de solutions, ainsi qu’un salon d'exposants regroupant les kiosques de 25 entreprises et organisations. Le thème pour cette année était : « L’intelligence d’affaires, au-delà de la technologie ». Directions Magazine français s’y est rendu afin d’observer l’état de l’avancement des technologies géospatiales dans le domaine de la BI (...)
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Podcast : L'état actuel des formats de géodonnées (EN ANGLAIS)
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Cette semaine, Adena Schutzberg et Joe Francica se penchent sur la question des nombreux formats de données géographiques qui existent à l'heure actuelle. Ils examinent pour nous ce qu'il y a de nouveau, ce dont on a besoin, ce qui va et ce qui ne va pas. Au programme : la nouvelle Map Data API annoncée par Google la semaine dernière, le manifeste Shapefile 2.0, Spatialite et un portrait de l'état de santé du format KML.
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Geomarketing Illuminates Strengths in German Retail Market
by Christopher Guider
GfK GeoMarketing has been studying retail sales in Germany. There's good news: in some geographies sales are strong. Where? Western Germany is faring better than the eastern portion of the country and urban areas are doing better than rural ones. This study reveals how geomarketing helps reveal these patterns and how retailers can best use the information in both good and challenging economic times.
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Podcast & Supporting Interview: Gathering Data from the Asia Pacific Region-Obstacles and Successes
by Joe Francica
Geospatial data are relatively easy to obtain in the U.S. but what about in the Asia Pacific region where government policy differs widely from country to country? In fact, today’s challenges in the region have moved from acquiring the spatial foundation data(streets, basic demographics, and political boundaries) to data with finer demographic and geographic granularity. Editor in chief Joe Francica spoke with Sean Richards, director of product management for Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) in Brisbane, Australia, and Scott Robinson, director of global data products for PBBI about the obstacles to success and whether countries recognize the benefit of a more open data policy.
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Podcast: ArcGIS Online Now Provides Access to Microsoft Virtual Earth-An Interview with Rob Shanks, ArcGIS Online Manager
by Joe Francica
Editor in Chief Joe Francica speaks with ESRI's Rob Shanks, senior product manager of ArcGIS Online. Rob came to ESRI in July 2007 after many years as president and CEO of GlobeXplorer. Shanks discusses the new agreement with Microsoft that gives ArcGIS users access to Microsoft Virtual as part of ArcGIS Online at the ArcGIS 9.3.1 product release. Shanks provides more details on how ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server users will be able to connect directly to Virtual Earth and quickly start their GIS projects with ready-to-use content.
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Making Digital Maps More Current and Accurate
by CORDIS
The European Union is looking at ways to make the data in satellite navigation devices better. It has backed ActMAP, which assumes the data supplier provides updates. FeedMAP, a new endeavor, is designed to work with ActMAP. It automatically detects when travel on the ground does not match that on the device and compiles a report which is picked up by roadside sensors and relayed back to the supplier. It seems to work and the trick now is for the companies behind it, Daimler, BMW, Volvo Trucks and FIAT to figure out how to bring it to market.
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SRC Users Gather at Extend the Reach Conference
by Nora Parker
SRC held its Extend the Reach (Extend 09) conference last week in Broomfield, CO. The meeting was aimed at SRC users and partners, many of whom were very excited about the company's product, Alteryx. Nora Parker reviews several user presentations and gives a brief overview of Alteryx.
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Podcast: The Schizophrenic Nature of Geospatial
by Directions Magazine français
For years, geospatial has battled a demon: is it a special discipline in which we look at the world, or is it in fact nothing special, and indeed "for everyone"? Said another way: "Is spatial special?" Directions Magazine editors take look at the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde nature of the disciplines of geography and geospatial technology.
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Podcast: Using Location as a Weapon against Online Fraud
by Adena Schutzberg
More than likely, if you've made a purchase online, your current location has been crosschecked against that of your credit card to determine if there's a likelihood of fraud. In today's podcast Sonja Schindeler, vice president of Business Development, Quova, Inc. explains how five specific location-based best practices help limit the risk of fraud. This is a very different way of performing location intelligence.
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The View from Here: Location Matters, but Does the SXSWi Perspective on Location Matter to Professionals?
by Adena Schutzberg
Location played such a key role in new offerings rolled out at South by Southwest Interactive that Om Malik declared: "At SXSW, location awareness is the new black." The event tapped into a "try it and use it here" energy that put several new geo-enabled products on many iPhones and generated buzz across the world. All of this got Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg thinking: What should we in the professional geospatial community make of this energy? These technologies? These techniques? Should we be drawing upon these ideas, technologies and resources or do they have little to do with our work and goals?
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Podcast: A New Map of the Geospatial Marketplace
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
The geospatial technology provider marketplace is growing every day. New players are hitching their wagons to the demand for enterprise solutions from specialized corners of information technology, not to mention the far corners of the globe. How can we make sense of the lay of the land and what the future may hold? Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg explore a new map and the possible road ahead.
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Podcast: Interview with John Graham, President, Intergraph's Security, Government & Infrastructure Division
by Joe Francica
Last August, John Graham took the helm of Intergraph's Security, Government and Infrastructure Division (SG&I), which provides geospatial technology products and services. Graham spoke to Editor in Chief Joe Francica about his evaluation of the worldwide geospatial marketplace as he looks to restructure his division to work with a more global perspective. He also commented on the competitive landscape in the GIS sector, as well as how the company continues to see opportunity in spite of the current economic downturn.
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Censurer Google Earth?
by Jean-Louis Duchesne
L’histoire a fait scandale dans la blogosphère géospatiale et technologique la semaine dernière : le mois dernier, un législateur californien a introduit à l’Assemblée californienne un projet de loi visant à forcer Google à brouiller, dans Google Earth, les images satellitaires où figurent des écoles, des lieux de culte, des édifices gouvernementaux et des hôpitaux.
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Geospatial One-Stop Update: More Filters, Formats and Figures
by Adena Schutzberg
The United States Geological Survey announced an update to Geospatial One-Stop (GOS), the federal government portal for geographic data, services and more. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg puts the updated features through their paces and is especially pleased to find easy access to filtering of data types and tools to indicate the status of online map services.
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Podcast: Exploring Three Geo-related Lawsuits
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week we look at several lawsuits within the geospatial community that have made news in the past few weeks. While we are not legal experts or lawyers, we will explore what they may "really" be about. Microsoft is suing TomTom; the Borings of Pennsylvania are going after Google once again and Pictometry and GEOSPAN continue to duke it out about patents.
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Podcast: Perspectives on the 25th Anniversary of Landsat 5
by Joe Francica
On March 3rd, the U. S. Geological Survey marked the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Landsat 5. The earth imaging satellite in a sun synchronous orbit with the Thematic Mapper payload offered both better spectral and spatial resolution than previous Landsat missions. Editor in Chief Joe Francica speaks with Dr. Tom Loveland, a USGS scientist at the EROS Data Center with over 30 years of experience with the Landsat mission.
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Le thème de la conférence mi-annuelle du NSGIC : la communication
by Adena Schutzberg
Même si je ne suis restée qu’une journée et demie à la conférence mi-annuelle du NSGIC de Annapolis, au Maryland, j’ai pu saisir quel en était le thème, soit la communication, après la première demi-journée. Le lendemain, le président du NSGIC, Learon Dalby, m’en a fourni d’autres preuves en changeant le titre de la rencontre de « Retour sur les enjeux » en « Retour sur les opportunités. » Le thème central ici, selon moi, était la communication.
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Product Review: BusinessMAP, ver. 5.0
by Hal Reid
BusinessMAP's included data and functionality continue to make it an outstanding desktop mapping value. Version 5.0 includes updated business listings from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), integration with Google Earth and Google Maps, and the capability to place geo-referenced photos on the map.
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Podcast: WIll Virtual Alabama Scale to Virtual USA?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Virtual Alabama is that state's tool to share data for public safety across jurisdictions. Built on Google Earth Enterprise, it's become a model of how to integrate local data for widespread use. Now, federal Homeland Security officials are floating the idea of a regional effort for southern states to share data to respond to natural hazards. Our editors take a look at the success of the state effort and ponder the challenges of scaling it up.
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Un grand projet de coopération en information géographique en cours au gouvernement du Québec
by Nathalie Michaud et Réjean Gagnon
L’information géographique est essentielle au bon fonctionnement de tout État. Au Québec, elle est à la base des activités de plusieurs ministères et organismes (MO), qui la produisent, l’utilisent et la diffusent pour mieux accomplir leurs missions. Pensons par exemple aux activités liées à la gestion intégrée des ressources naturelles et du territoire (forêts, faune, mines, etc.), à la planification et à l’entretien des milliers de kilomètres de routes qui sillonnent la province et aux services d’urgence rendus à la population, qui reposent toutes sur une bonne connaissance géographique du territoire.
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Podcast: Mapping Broadband
by Joe Francica
The economic recession is on everyone's mind. Last week's passage of the stimulus bill, aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was a bit vague on spending for specific projects involving geospatial technology... except one: mapping broadband. What exactly will that entail and what possible impact will it have on the expansion of communications in rural areas, LBS and wider dissemination of geospatial information?
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Go iLawn: Geospatial SaaS for Lawn and Landscape Companies
by Directions Staff
One of the big challenges for the high resolution commercial imagery producers involves finding ways to put imagery to work in making or saving money. GIS Dymanics has found a way to do that by combining aerial imagery, custom coding and a subscription model in a service called Go iLawn. It's aimed at lawn and landscape companies of all sizes.
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Corporate Water Gauge: Using GIS to Measure Sustainable Water Use
by Directions Staff
The Center for Sustainable Innovation launched Corporate Water Gauge, a solution for measuring and reporting water use in the context of sustainability, in January 2009. The solution highlights the role that GIS and geospatial data play in monitoring sustainability. Directions Magazine interviewed Executive Director Mark W. McElroy, Ph.D. about the offering, as well as the challenges of measuring sustainability.
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The View from Here: So Much News, So Little Time
by Adena Schutzberg
The past few weeks have been particularly busy for geospatial technology. It's been so busy, in fact, that Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg has not been able to comment on everything that's been formally announced, or just trickled out. She does that here, addressing news about Apple, California, API trends and Google.
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Appeals Court Rejects Santa Clara County's Basemap Data Sale
by Bruce Joffe
There's good news for open data and open geographic data from California. In a unanimous decision, the three-justice panel of the California Court of Appeals affirmed the Santa Clara County Superior Court's decision requiring Santa Clara County to comply with public requests for a copy of its GIS parcel basemap, under the conditions of California's Public Records Act (PRA). Oral arguments were presented on January 15, and the judges ruled well within the 90-day window allowed. Bruce Joffe shares the details of this important decision.
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NGA Magnifies the Value of Open Source GEOINT
by Chris Lee
It may be hard to believe in the value of unclassified information to the Intelligence Community since it's "open." But this open source information - from the Internet, books, journals, reports, newspapers, television and Twitter - is indeed of high interest. An Open Source Working Group survey found that 90 percent of NGA's GEOINT production required open source data. Chris Lee looks at the importance of open source information for GEOINT.
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NavDog Offers Solution at the Intersection of Search and Location-based Advertising
by Joe Francica
Startup company NavDog has a solution in beta mode that uses an AJAX-powered mapping system and location intelligence based on its Geographic Business Intelligence Engine (GBIE) technology to support better results for local search. The intent is to provide more relevant advertising to users of local search. GBIE uses expert system rules and data mining models and is integrated into NavDog's Ad Delivery System. The impact of this type of technology may help retailers to better reach a local clientele. For NavDog... "everything is local."
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Podcast: Spatial Infrastructure-A Critical Part of the Stimulating the Economy and Protecting the Nations Assets
by Joe Francica
Last week, The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced the release of Spatial Infrastructures, the second white paper to be published in the Geospatial Dimensions of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Response (CIP-ER) White paper series. In this interview, Directions Magazine Editor in Chief Joe Francica speaks with John Moeller of Northrop Grumman the paper's author and Bob Samborski, executive director of GITA. The discussion focuses on driving awareness of geospatial technology to a broader audience, especially Congress, as well as the initiatives by the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) and others to do the same. Listen now...
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Podcast: Interview with Mike Hickey, President, Pitney Bowes Business Insight
by Joe Francica
For this exclusive interview, Directions Media Editor in Chief Joe Francica spoke with Mike Hickey, president of Pitney Bowes Business Insight, about the recently announced business unit composed of Pitney Bowes MapInfo and Group 1 Software. After the acquisition of MapInfo in 2007, Hickey took charge of this unit. He was tasked with overseeing the synergy that existed between these two companies focused on business geographics and location intelligence. He would also need to determine where this unit fit within the parent company's primary business, mailstream technology.
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Podcast: Hybrid Positioning and Your Future
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Hybrid positioning refers to handsets that use GPS and another technology to determine the device's location. Such solutions use Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, TV towers and their related signals, RFID and/or Bluetooth as a companion for when GPS is not enough. A recent report suggests growing use of hybrid solutions. What might your future and that of geospatial marketplace look like as these solutions proliferate? Our editors share some scenarios and point out gaps in the existing infrastructure, i.e., places to make money.
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A Collaboration Portal for a Humanitarian Emergency
by Deborah Davis
When Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar in May 2008, governments and international relief agencies were faced with a humanitarian emergency that required swift action. Because of the size and complexity of the emergency, the United Nations deployed a Humanitarian Information Center (HIC) website to coordinate relief efforts. To effectively share information on weather, travel, flooding and available health care resources the site included an interactive Map Center, created in a single week using Visual Fusion by IDV Solutions. IDV's Deborah Davis describes the solution.
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Podcast: Four New Year's Geotechnology Challenges
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
With the new year sixdays old and economic challenges expected for every sector we explore four big challenges and opportunities for those in geospatial technology: (1) how U.S. investment in infrastructure may propel geotechnologies; (2) marketing geotechnologies in tough times; (3) the growth/contraction of location-based services; and (4) the renewed interest in "openness."
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Geospatial Perspectives on the Global Economic Meltdown: Industry Executives Offer Advice
by Joe Francica
Should you invest in or pull back on your investments in geospatial technology and mobile location-based technology? Do you look beyond 2009 or take advantage of an opportunity not seen in anyone's "business" lifetime? We asked geospatial and LBS executives to answer this question: "What specific advice regarding geospatial technology would you offer to users and potential buyers during this down economy?" Their answers may surprise you.
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Podcast: Big Geo News in the December Lull
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
The year is just about over so why did so many organizations announce new products, updates, agreements and developer opportunities this week? The distraction of the upcoming holidays may mean "few are paying attention" but we are! This week's podcast shares some of announcements you don't want to miss and why they are important.
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Podcast: The GIS PhD Dilemma
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Have you considered getting a PhD in GIS? What is a PhD in GIS? What schools offer them? Why would you want one? Is it a degree that can get you ahead outside of academia? We look at two programs that offer this top level degree and explore its emerging role in our marketplace.
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Five Questions on Tele Atlas' Agreement with the Survey of India
by Adena Schutzberg
You've perhaps heard that the government of India has a new National Mapping Policy that among other things gives the Survey of India (SOI) oversight of maps distributed to the public. Tele Atlas is the first of perhaps many companies to incorporate SOI data into its products and to receive approval for their distribution. Arnout Desmet, director of operations, Tele Atlas APAC explains how the approval process works and what Tele Atlas expects going forward in India.
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Mapping the World ... One Neighborhood at a Time - Part Two
by Bernt Wahl and the Neighborhood Team
In part one of this article, Bernt Wahl and his co-authors detailed the process for developing neighborhood geographic boundary data. In part two they focus on the role of these datasets in a variety of public and private efforts such as public health, public safety, commercial use, political campaigning, activism, social networking, planning, economic development and more.
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Mapping the World ... One Neighborhood at a Time - Part One
by Bernt Wahl and the Neighborhood Team
Many of the boundaries we map are well documented at some level. Parcel boundaries are surveyed and the details filed. ZIP Code boundaries are well-known, though of course they do change. How then do those who create boundary maps of less formal areas determine their extents with no real primary source? In part one of this two-part article, Bernt Wahl and his co-authors outline a process used for breaking down cities and towns into alternative regions, neighborhoods, districts or other local areas structured on name recognition and other data.
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Podcast: Geo and the Worldwide Economic Downturn
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Whatever you choose to call the current economic situation, it's clearly impacting everything worldwide in one way or another. This week we look into the crystal ball to think through the impact on the geospatial technology industry. More than one company in the industry has seen its stock not just fall but plummet, and some are cutting jobs. But what about those in government positions? What about software vendors? Consultants? What's the prognosis for gadgets and phones? Join us to see if you agree with our editor's perspective.
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U.S. National Grid Simplifies Mapping
by Kurt Schulz
In this era of GPS, homeland security and geospatial support to disaster relief operations, the civilian sector is beginning to realize what the military has known since World War I: for land navigation, the geographic coordinate system using latitude and longitude is not well-suited for referencing locations. This article, reprinted from the NGA's Pathfinder, describes a simple rectangular X, Y coordinate system for domestic location referencing, the U.S. National Grid (USNG).
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Dangermond Acknowledges GIS Professionals on GIS Day
by Nora Parker
It's always special to be with somebody on their birthday. Being with Jack Dangermond on the 10th anniversary of GIS Day (which falls during Geography Awareness Week) is in that same category. During his keynote presentation at the Rocket City Geospatial Conference in Huntsville, AL on Wednesday, Dangermond (president of ESRI) made special mention of the occasion. His central theme was honoring GIS professionals and what they do in the context of making the world a better, and more sustainable, place.
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Five Questions with Tom Churchill, CEO of Earthscape
by Joe Francica
What do you want to do with your iPhone? If it's "social photogeotagging," then Earthscape has the answer. But Tom Churchill has discovered that the application he's built does so much more. First he thought about building a "nav system" but he wanted a nav system that made driving interesting! Plus, Churchill believes that "crowd-sourced" information is becoming more than a trend; even he's not sure just where his users will take him. But Earthscape is making it easy to point, shoot, geotag and upload all in one push of the iPhone button. Joe Francica interviewed Churchill to learn more.
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GEOINT Symposium - Seen and Heard on the Exhibit Floor
by Joe Francica
The larger defense contractors, including Ball Aerospace, BAE Systems, SAIC, Harris, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Raytheon, held the majority of the floor space at the GEOINT conference (Oct. 27-30). But Editor-in-chief Joe Francica focuses in this article on offerings of other companies he found interesting, including Microsoft, ITT, ObjectFX, TerraGo Technologies, Google and Silicon Graphics.
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Destroying Oil as a Strategic Commodity
by Joe Francica
At the GEOINT Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Jim Woolsey gave a chilling account of the implications for national security related to the United States' dependence on foreign oil. The reality is that the U.S. and other oil importers like China and India are engaging in the biggest transfer of wealth in history. The result is that the U.S. is either directly or indirectly providing funds to support countries that may not have our best interests at heart. Joe Francica reports on Woolsey's suggestions on how to change this equation.
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Podcast: PNDs vs. Smartphones
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
deCarta announced its connected navigation platform last week. At the same time the expectations for portable navigation devices is looking dim as for-fee smartphone solutions for navigation appear to grow. What is the future for these devices and what about the connected car of the future? Our editors look at what the experts say and share their own predictions.
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Map the Vote Builds a GIS-based National Election Precinct Data Set
by Joe Francica
Map the Vote, a partner of the National Committee for an Effective Congress (NCEC), a progressive political action committee, contracted with Farallon Geographics to build a precinct-level data set for key battleground states in this year's U.S. presidential election. With data from the Democratic National Committee and using Oracle Spatial, Farallon processed over 20 million voter records to produce election precinct data sets. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica contacted Joe Metro, vice president of marketing for Farallon Geographics, to discuss the specifics.
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OpenStreetMap: Free Software's Answer to Google and Commercially Restricted Geodata
by Gary Richmond
Gary Richmond is totally impressed with OpenStreetMap and provides a great introduction. Here's how he positions the user-generated, free-to-use, still-in-development world-wide database: "It's all relatively, marvellously, low tech: Archimedes claimed that if had a sufficiently large fulcrum he could move the Earth but all you need to map the earth is a GPS-enabled device, a car, a bicycle, motorbike or just a pair of good old fashioned legs to track, record and then upload the data to OpenStreetMaps' servers."
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The View From Here: A Change in Context
by Adena Schutzberg
How much do you think about the context of the data you interact with each day? If you deal with maps there's a constant sense of "where is this place in relation to others?" But what about the context of events in time? Or the context of news? The context of music? Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg suggests that we are apt to lose context in today's busy lifestyles which demand new, sometimes context-removing, tools and services.
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Satellites Keep Tabs on the Environment
by John Amos
John Amos, the founding director and executive director of SkyTruth, reminds those new and not so new to remote sensing of its power. His company aims to "illuminate environmental issues using images taken from orbiting satellites" that "provide a ubiquitous global tool that gives a big-picture perspective you can’t get any other way, unless you’re an astronaut." In this "how I got into this industry" story he offers great graphics and stories of how the study of images reveals changes on our planet, along with a challenge to readers to participate.
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PON Codes - a New Geographic Post Code System for Ireland
by Gary Delaney
As Ireland's economy continues to develop, its quaint mail delivery system is no longer adequate. Gary Delaney of GPS Ireland describes an addressing solution (PON Codes) devised to more efficiently deliver mail and packages. PON Codes are seven character alphanumeric codes which have a mathematical relationship to an address's latitude and longitude.
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Podcast: NAVTEQ's Mapping Positioning Engine - "The Heartbeat in the Car"
by Joe Francica
This podcast introduces NAVTEQ's Mapping and Positioning Engine or MPE. The MPE, a subset of the NAVTEQ database that is coupled with a microprocessor assembly, including a GPS chipset, was designed to support a variety of applications that assist the driver of a car or other vehicle to, for example, reduce gas consumption. It is more or less an alternative to a navigation system that is cost effective enough to go into most all vehicles regardless of price. According to Bob Denaro, NAVTEQ's vice president of advanced driver assistance systems, it's "a heartbeat in the car."
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Podcast: Reviewing the 2008 Interactive Election Maps
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Many media outlets offer interactive maps to explore current data on the upcoming U.S. elections, including the option to create your own scenarios by assigning states to candidates. How do the sites compare? What's missing? Our editors praise USA Today's implementation, along with Yahoo's, and find at least one laughable offering. Hear about their likes and dislikes and how these interactive sites reflect the state of technology in the media and the demand for social tools.
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AGI GeoCommunity '08: Hits and Misses
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg attended this year's AGI GeoCommunity '08 event in Stratford-on-Avon last week. She reports on a few presentations that really got her thinking, specifically about usability engineering and licensing. Many topics were raised, many discussions were moved along, but she still left with an unsettled feeling. It seems we are still finding common ground between new technologies and tools and visions and what came before.
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Intelligent Addressing Supports European Address Infrastructure
by Joe Francica
Intelligent Addressing (IA) is Britain's sole representative in the EURADIN (EURopean ADdresses INfrastructure) project. The EURADIN project, which runs over two years, aims to contribute to the harmonization of European addresses, propose solutions for interoperability and access, and facilitate the creation of new value added products and services across Europe. Directions Magazine Editor-in-chief Joe Francica contacted IA to get more details on its involvement in the project and the impact on INSPIRE, the European-wide initiative for spatial data infrastructure. Gayle Gander, head of marketing for IA, provided the following answers to our questions.
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MapInfo Professional Roadshow: Focus Groups and New Tools, Oh My!
by Adena Schutzberg
Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg checked out the MapInfo Professional Roadshow when it came through Boston in early September. She reports that the team behind MapInfo Professional did two things at this event: formally getting user feedback through focus groups, and sharing tips, tricks and new tools in the 9.5 release. She describes the one-day event as "very worthwhile."
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Podcast: Three LBS Events, One Takeaway - One Device for Work and Play
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica ran the LBS gauntlet last week by attending NAVTEQ Connections, CTIA and the SiRF Location 2.0 Summit. The big takeaway is the power of a single device to manage one business and personal life on a single location-enabled device. In the last year, Francica explains, LBS has become part of the enterprise. He and Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg explore the changes that have come with this growth.
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The View from Here: Questions and Follow Ups for Fall 2008
by Adena Schutzberg
As we settle in for the last quarter of the year many are back or heading back to school and work. Adena Schutzberg offer this news update on geospatial issues based on questions she's received over the summer months. Among the topics: the Census Bureau and handhelds, MAPPS' legal plans, DOI's GIO, GIS certificate options and more.
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Placecast's Solution for Location-based Advertising
by Joe Francica
Location and relevance are the hallmarks of location-based advertising. The ad message must be targeted specifically at an audience within proximity and convenience to a retailer. This is what 1020 Inc. has developed with itslaunch of Placecast. Directions Media spoke with founder Anne Bezancon about how the company will support an advertiser to get its message out in time and on target.
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Singapore Land Transport and DHL Express Lean Heavily on GIS for Business Process Improvement
by Joe Francica
In an era of increasing costs for transporting goods and people, businesses and governments are looking to information technology to help manage this challenge. The Land Transport Authority of Singapore and DHL Express are examples of two organizations looking for more effective ways to manage their infrastructure. Each is responsible for maintaining an efficient flow of goods and services over a wide network of roads and highways. Read this article for insights on how they looked to GIS for business process improvements.
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Podcast: The Democratic Convention's Texting Map
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
It's not news that the Obama campaign has been a great user of technology up to this point. Last week, at the Democratic National Convention, the campaign used live maps to engage, enable and incite its supporters. We look at what was so special about this use of maps, why it worked and how the basic idea might be used elsewhere.
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Driving Business Value with Geographic Business Intelligence
by David Loshin
VF Corporation, the world's largest apparel company, believes in location intelligence. It's using the technology to learn what consumers want in each geographic area. Then, by feeding demand, VF can enhance profits. Learn how VF worked with SRC to boost the bottom line by tracking 10,000 retail locations, more than 100,000 SKUs (stock keeping units) and 200 lifestyle variables.
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Podcast: The Olympics and Geographic Education
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
With this past weekend's Beijing summer Olympics closing ceremonies the event goes into hibernation for another four years. What will we recall? Phelps' eight swimming golds? The Chinese taking more golds than another other country? A first Olympic gold medal for Mongolia (in judo)? Perhaps. But will anyone following the games say they learned a bit more about the world, about geography?
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Olympics Provide Showcase for 3D Geospatial Models
by Joe Francica
Amid the gold, silver and bronze of the Beijing Olympics is TIN ... that is, triangulated irregular networks, used to create the terrain models that you see during NBC's televised coverage. High resolution satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe and visualization software from AEgis Technologies helped to create both the terrain and Olympic venue building models that viewers see on TV. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica went behind the scenes to get the details about the mapping and visualization technology that created these incredible graphics.
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Podcast: Why is Autodesk Up in a Down Economy?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Our editors ponder Autodesk's quarterly expectation-beating revenues. The company reported solid growth around the world even as gas and food costs remain high. Just what is the company doing right and what can we extrapolate to geospatial companies in particular? Also, a look at Autodesk's recent acquisition of 3D, standards focused company in Germany.
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Five Questions with geoVue’s VP of Sales and Marketing, David Powell
by Joe Francica
The downturn in the economy is impacting retailers due to increasing costs for both transportation and raw goods. Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica asked geoVue Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Powell about the technology solutions available to retail and real estate executives who, as a result of this downturn, are facing declining patronage and revenues.
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Podcast: LBS Infrastructure Market Predicted to Grow to $2.2 Billion by 2013 by ABI Research
by Joe Francica
In this interview, Editor-in-chief Joe Francica spoke with Dominique Bonte, Principal Analyst, Telematics & Navigation for ABI Research in London, England. ABI Research released a report (July 2008) stating that Location Based Platforms and Infrastructure Licensing Revenues would reach $2.2 billion by 2013, sizable growth from that of today which ABI estimates at only $111 Million. Francica spoke to Mr. Bonte to get more information on the LBS infrastructure market specifically.
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Kempthorne Announces that 35 Years of Landsat Data Available Free
by Joe Francica
Speaking at the ESRI UC Senior Executive Summit in San Diego, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, announced that the 35 years of archived Landsat data will be made available over the web free to the public by the end of the year. Read more and listen to Editor-in-chief Joe Francica's interview with Secretary Kempthorne and USGS Director Mark Myers.
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Podcast: MISO and ESRI: Current Status and the Future
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
"MISO" stands for Microsoft, IBM, SAP and Oracle, the big enterprise players in the market today. All have a toe or more in GIS, but all also have a tie to ESRI. What's the state of those relationships and what new players also want and need to hook up with the big E? Our editors explore these questions and toss in a few other letters, G, A and B into the alphabet soup.
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Podcast: Interview with Safe Software and WeoGeo on Cloud Computing
by Adena Schutzberg
Safe Software and WeoGeo are partnering to bring spatial ETL (extract, transform and load) technology to the cloud. Not sure what the cloud is? Not sure how geospatial technologies can take advantage of it? Safe's president Don Murray and WeoGeo's CEO Paul Bissett tackle these topics and prepare you for your future in the cloud.
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July 2008: The Current Housing Market
by Lynn Wombold
The predominant development in 2008 is not growth, but decline - the fallout from the downturn in the housing market. There are still areas of growth, pockets of prosperity to report; however, there are few areas untouched by the decline of the housing market and the ensuing credit crunch. ESRI's chief demographer, Lynn Wombold, takes a close look at the current housing situation in the context of demographic factors.
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Podcast: You are a Sensor
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Clever researchers have determined that you, even without a portable device can be an effective geographic sensor. This week we explore examples of how individuals, sometimes along with their electronic gadgets, can act as effective sensors for disease or natural disaster. Our editors share some proven techniques and explore how this type of data collection might play out in the future.
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SERVIR Viz: A 3D Data Access and Visualization System for Mesoamerica
by Jessica Coughlin, Sid Cuff and and Nathan Krause
The challenge may sound familiar: deliver geospatial data hosted remotely at many different locations via one access point to many different levels of user. The goal may also soud familiar: share, disseminate and visualize across eight countries, with multiple languages and in some areas, limited infrastructure. But, more than likely, you've not yet heard about the solution: SERVIR, the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System for Mesoamerica, which extends from southern Mexico to Panama, including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology (IAGT) developed a key part SERVIR Viz, a free, easy-to-use data access and visualization framework for geodata built on NASA's World Wind. Three team members give us a tour.
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Advanced Geospatial Intelligence Enhances Commercial Imagery
by Kensey Liebsch
Advanced Geospatial Intelligence or AGI, applied to imagery is what we'd likely call "image analysis." It describes techniques "to look beyond the visual information depicted in the image." For the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NGA, that has two key implications: more intelligence and the ability to create and then share unclassified products with partners for a variety of uses. Kensey Liebsch of NGA explores the present and future of the analysis and the core imagery.
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Podcast: Web Mapping Platform Migration
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Last week Ask.com moved off its longtime mapping platform to Microsoft's Virtual Earth. What are the practical choices these days for those who want mapping as part of their portals? Has customization and a unique look and feel been overshadowed by a few strong hosted solutions to which everyone will eventually migrate? Our editors sort out the options and trends and end up using the "c" word - commodity.
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Podcast: Tracking Fleets...On Land and Water - An Executive Interview with Pointer Telocation's Israel Ronn
by Joe Francica
In today’s executive interview podcast we spoke with Israel Ronn, General Manager of Pointer Telocation's products division. Pointer Telocation is based in Isreal and is a supplier of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and asset management solutions for fleet management and they are working with G4S Telematix S.A. of Greece to provide tracking technology for live coverage of a series of Mediterranean sailing races. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica spoke with Mr. Ronn about the event and about Pointer’s technology.
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Retailers Go IP Geotargeting - Turning Internet Clients into Foot Traffic and More
by Joe Francica
It's not enough anymore to just have a good supporting website to capture additional retail sales. The Web experience for individuals not only needs to be customized for the retailer's "frequent buyers" with regard to their buying preferences, but can now be specifically targeted based on their location, as well. Ace Hardware is using Internet Protocol (IP) geotargeting technology to immediately recognize its Web traffic to create a nearly hyperlocal experience for its Web visitors. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica explores the technology with executives from Digital Element and GSI Commerce.
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Skyhook's XPS 2.0 - Location Solutions for Truly Converged Devices
by Joe Francica
For a cell phone user living in a deep urban canyon, a GPS signal is often difficult to obtain and if you are indoors, nearly impossible. Location determination often requires other means if a clear GPS signal can't be acquired. Assisted GPS provides a backup to a clear line of sight based on triangulating cell tower locations but sometimes the accuracy falls short for some applications. Since its inception, Skyhook Wireless offered the ability to triangulate position based on a database of Wi-Fi hotspots to help solve both problems. Now, the company is offering a way to incorporate all three location determination technologies to solve the problem of indoor positioning and improving accuracy.
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Podcast: Location Determination Goes Hybrid
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Skyhook announced a hybrid location determination software solution that can tap into GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell towers to locate devices. What does that mean for knowing where you are anytime, anywhere? Is this step forward accompanied by an increased sense of location privacy comfort? Our editors explore the new technology and offer a suggestion for tackling the privacy bugaboo.
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Five Questions with Susan Marlow About Parcel Datasets
by Adena Schutzberg
Smart Data Strategies has been in the parcel / land records business for 20 years. In the last year or so, parcel data has become an incredibly hot topic. Today, several large commercial companies are in the process of building a national parcel dataset. Adena Schutzberg asked Susan Marlow, CEO of Smart Data Strategies, about parcel data.
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Podcast: Who is #1 in GIS...and Does It Really Matter?
by Joe Francica
Who's #1 in GIS? How big is the GIS market? Is the impact of Google affecting the sales of GIS vendors? These questions are asked all the time and the answer is...nobody really knows. But more to the point, does it really matter? With the fragmentation of the geospatial technology market during the last few years, it is difficult to place a number on the total size of the market, despite the best efforts of market research firms. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica lays out a framework for the sectors of the geospatial market and what really needs to be considered when trying to size the market...but as importantly, why the numbers today are irrelevant.
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Podcast: Exclusive Interview with Judson Green, President & CEO, NAVTEQ
by Joe Francica
In an exclusive interview, Judson Green, president and CEO of NAVTEQ spoke with Directions Media Editor-in-chief Joe Francica about a broad spectrum of topics related to the growth of the location-based services market and the ability of NAVTEQ to address an exploding market for digital map products. Green spoke of the opportunities for NAVTEQ not just in terms of its current ability to serve a variety of market segments but provided some insights in what may be possible in the future with NAVTEQ data. "Don't think of our map going into a nav system in the front seat of the car; think of our map going into the engine of the car to help drive the car ... and therein you find dozens and dozens and dozens of applications which would fundamentally improve the safety of the car, the productivity of the car, the efficiencies, and we think that's a very exciting area," he said. Green, once the president for Walt Disney Attractions, now has the challenge of sorting through the opportunities that range from real-time dynamic content to advanced driver assistance systems.
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Seven Questions about Contigo's New Mobile Items Monitoring Patent
by Joe Francica
Contigo received a patent earlier this year for monitoring the locations of mobile items. The patent is not linked to a specific location technology, meaning it applies to existing and perhaps future technologies. Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica asked company representatives to share insights on the implications of this patent for the company's existing fleet tracking and future solutions.
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Podcast: Wither Paper Maps in a World of Satellite Navigation?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week the California State Automobile Association announce it would end its production of road maps due to falling demand. The slack will be picked up by the national Association. At the same time police and response organizations are warning the public and their staffs to keep a paper map on hand. What is happening to paper maps as GPS devices become part of our daily lives? Editors Adena Schutzberg and Joe Francica share their thoughts.
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Five Questions (Plus One) About TRF and the New Version of PolicyMap
by Directions Staff
GIS has long been used in development and redevelopment efforts. The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) updated its PolicyMap online
application which serves organizations and individuals interested in
redeveloping and revitalizing neighborhoods. Maggie McCullough, TRF's
director of PolicyMap explains the project's vision, technology and
business model in answering our questions.
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Issues and Ideas from the New York State Geospatial Summit 2008
by Adena Schutzberg
Did you ever attend a regional GIS conference that really was not about the region's GIS or even about the work you do day to day? Adena Schutzberg did; she spoke at the New York State Geospatial Summit, an eclectic event held in the wilds of New York State. It's a small, all-plenary event designed to get geospatial professionals to think outside their daily work "boxes." The 2008 edition did just that as she explains in this event wrap-up.
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Podcast: (Geo)technology 2008 - Findability, Accessibility, Portability
by Adena Schutzberg
This week Adena Schutzberg offers a condensed version of the presentation she gave last week at the NYS Geospatial Summit, in Skaneateles, NY. It focuses on the challenges of finding, accessing and moving Web-based content both geospatial and otherwise, and highlights some technologies and tools addressing those challenges. She also looks into the future and predicts what she expects to see in these areas in the coming months and years.
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Five Questions About Avencia's Sajara
by Adena Schutzberg
Avencia launched a new version of its Web-based digital asset management (DAM) software, Sajara, earlier this month. Why are consulting firm offering products? How is the revolution in online mapping changed demands on digital asset management? We posed these and other questions to company president and CEO Robert Cheetham and the Sajara team.
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Business Globes 1.0
by Joe Francica
What is it you like about Google Earth, really? Satellite images or the "zooming" factor? The ability to use the "globe" to grasp a much wider perspective has implications for how businesses can manage their multinational operations. Joe Francica explores "business globes" that will be created specifically for organizations or industries, and how they might support a better view of a corporate ecosystem from a geographic perspective.
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Location Intelligence 2008: Maturing Market Players Look for New Relationships
by Adena Schutzberg
Directions Media hosted the fifth annual Location Intelligence Conference last week in Santa Clara, California. Adena Schutzberg shares how a location-savvy audience reacted to the possibilities for indoor location tracking, discusses a lightning panel, and details BP's work implementing location intelligence across the entire 100,000 person company. She also offers up the key themes of the event.
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Podcast: Why is it so Hard to Sell Geospatial Technology to the Enterprise?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Senior executives from leading technology companies, speaking at our Location Intelligence Conference last week shared that the entire value proposition for spatial enablement is a "push" to the market rather than a "pull" or demand for the technology. Our editors ask: Are we doing an adequate job of selling the technology to more of the people who will eventually implement geospatial tools with other IT solutions? Why is it still so hard? What are we not doing well? Will it take another "Google Earth" to push the technology deeper into corporate computing or a new crop of graduates to be more geospatially enlightened?
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Pitfalls of SDI's Hierarchy
by Asmat Ali
A spatial data infrastructure model must serve many constituents.
Asmat Ali, the Assistant Director of the Survey of Pakistan, explains
how the data may be developed by corporate, local, state, national,
regional or global interests, and each potential creator imbues them
with different characteristics "due to different needs at these
different levels." That, he suggests, presents a potential pitfall,
which he aims to address via a new SDI hierarchy model for federated
nations.
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An Insider's View of Remote Sensing Fire Applications for Conservation
by Rhett Butler
Remote sensing is increasingly used as a tool for conservation management. Beyond traditional satellite imagery popularized by Google Earth, new sensing applications are allowing researchers located anywhere in the world to track fires, illegal logging and mining, and deforestation in some of Earth's most isolated regions using a computer or handheld device.
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Podcast: BI and Web 2.0 and the Latest in Location Privacy Lawsuits
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week our editors revisit two themes that continue to pop up as geospatial technology, ideas, visualization and data move into the mainstream IT world and popular culture. First we look at two announcements regarding the integration of Business Intelligence or BI, with online mapping. Then, we'll pick apart the latest data capture privacy lawsuit - where a couple is suing Google over StreetView images of their house.
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3D, BIM and Going Green: Cities Are Challenged by a New Geospatial Revolution
by Joe Francica
Green is the "new black." BIMs (building information models) evolved from 3D, and geospatial technology finds itself in the midst of so much disruption that revolution is afoot. The beneficiary of all these changes? Perhaps, Mother Earth. From the 2D world with which we "mappers" are most familiar to a third dimension that includes not just terrain but the buildings that occupy it, geospatial technology is trying to keep up with new demands from those seeking better visualization of their environment. Joe Francica reports.
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How Current Household Geo-Demography Can Help With Site Location
by Larry Martin
In recent years spatial technology has evolved so that anyone with a personal computer and access to the Web can, with only a few mouse clicks, "see" almost any place on earth. That raises expectations when it comes to how current data are -- and for retail network planners (the folks figuring out where to open, close and move stores) having the most recent demographic data possible is critical. The Gadberry Group's Larry Martin describes the demand and touches on his company's offerings.
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Exploration and GIS: Closing the Productivity Gap
by Carmela Burns
Exploration software and GIS are essential for geologists searching for petroleum and mineral deposits. With discoveries harder to find, geoscientists are collecting more data than ever before and examining their findings with greater scrutiny. This article, by Geosoft's Carmela Burns, discusses integration between earth mapping platforms like Geosoft and ESRI's ArcGIS environments, and describes a case study at Brazil-based mining company Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.
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Podcast: GITA 2008 - A Post Conference Interview with Bob Samborski, Executive Director
by Joe Francica
Just after the final session at GITA's Annual Conference, Executive Director Bob Samborski sat down with Editor-in-chief Joe Francica to review the association's new emphasis on infrastructure and its special track dedicated to emergency response. Samborski shared his thoughts on how the change affected this year's event planning and the conscious effort to highlight the importance that GITA members bring to solving the challenges brought on by the world's aging gas, water, electric and telecommunication utilities.
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Podcast: Broadcasting Your Location on Social Networks, Blogs and Mobile Devices
by Joe Francica
The MyLoki service from Skyhook is location-enabling social networking websites like Facebook. Ted Morgan, CEO and founder of Skyhook provides his insights into the new service and the hurdles that must be addressed regarding privacy concerns as well as cultural barriers that come with publishing your location. Listen to this brief podcast with editor-in-chief, Joe Francica.
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Podcast: Apple iPhone SDK and Yahoo! Fire Eagle Open Doors to LBS Apps
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This past week two of the many tech players with a toe in the geospatial waters, Apple and Yahoo, announced new developer offerings that will add to the twists and turns location based services have taken on the road to maturity. One of the services of the iPhone SDK is Core Location, meaning developers can develop native applications that take advantage of the pseudo-location abilities. We'll have a look at the iPhone SDK and Fire Eagle from a geospatial perspective plus explore what the real reason is for wanting navigation on your mobile device.
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Podcast: Report to NGA, NRO Questions Commercial Remote Sensing Mission
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) commissioned the report titled, "Independent Study of the Roles of Commercial Remote Sensing in the Future National System for Geospatial-Intelligence" early last year. It explores four possible business cases for how the government and private companies might work together to provide needed imagery for those agencies and their government clients. The suggested path is not the status quo and may have implications for the two current U.S. commercial satellite providers, DigtialGlobe and GeoEye. Our editors try to tease out what the report means and its implications.
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On-Demand Demographic & Consumer Demand Data For Better Business Intelligence
by Nora Parker
Asterop is a business intelligence data company based in France. The company recently announced Asterop On-Demand, an online software solution for retailers, real estate brokers, marketers and other
consumer-facing businesses. The company's CEO and chairman, Christophe Girardier, will be speaking at this year's Location Intelligence Conference. This article features a one-on-one interview with Girardier by managing editor Nora Parker.
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The FBI's GIS Initiative - iDomain
by Joe Francica
Until 2005 the Federal Bureau of Investigation depended on a "thick client" approach to GIS that included ArcGIS deployed at 12 field offices with limited means for sharing information. Despite recognition by the FBI's director of intelligence that GIS was a key technology for its work, no coordinated efforts to manage the GIS initiatives were forthcoming. That changed in 2005 with the Domain Management Initiative, iDomain. The initiative grew, and in January 2007 the FBI's goal was to provide specialized training and equipment for two or three users per field office. Joe Francica reports.
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Autodesk Positions Itself for 2008 and Beyond
by Adena Schutzberg
Autodesk invited journalists from all over the world to learn about its vision for 2008 and beyond at Autodesk World Press Day in San Francisco last week. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg highlights how the company positions itself as a provider of prototypes, its success in utilities and, perhaps most interestingly, what's going on in Autodesk Labs that will be valuable to geospatial practitioners.
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Travel a Key Theme for Two Speakers at Location Intelligence Conference
by Nora Parker
Fran Marshall of National Geographic Maps and Chris Ackermann of the Travel Channel are speakers at the Location Intelligence Conference, which takes place this year in Santa Clara, CA, April 28-30. They'll be sharing insights from projects that make information about places both far and near more accessible to more people, and also enhance the bottom line. Both companies expect to reap significant gains from these initiatives. Their repurposing of existing content will be relevant to many different industries.
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Podcast: Two Newsworthy Maps, One Gets All the Glory
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Researchers published two studies this week that included important maps. One highlighted the human impact on the world's oceans. A second documented the past, current and future vulnerability of the U.S. population to natural disasters. Press coverage of the first study was considerable, with the map distributed far and wide on the Web and beyond. Coverage of the second was limited to the scientific and geographic press. Why the disparity? Our editors review the maps and offer their thoughts.
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Capturing Speed and Location Yields New Applications
by Joe Francica
TCS was just awarded a U.S. patent for geographic monitoring that provides information on when a mobile phone or device user enters or exits an area, as well as the speed of that user. Joe Francica explains what this capability offers consumers and why it's exciting.
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Portland Police Bureau Makes Geospatial Widely Accessible
by Nora Parker
The Portland, OR, Police Bureau, is "pretty progressive as far as getting into new technology." Indeed - the organization's GIS unit built a public-facing Web-based CrimeMapper application that gets about 1.8 million hits a year. Nora Parker interviewed Christy Khalifa, a police crime analyst, to learn more.
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Spime's PositionOne Benefits GPS Chip Manufacturer
by Joe Francica
PositionOne from Spime is a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL)-compliant middleware solution that resides on the phone device. The technology acts as a gatekeeper between the GPS chip and the LBS application as well as accelerating the time to fix with it’s A-GPS capability. Joe Francica gives an overview of the new offering.
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Product Overview - LizardTech's GeoExpress 7
by Nora Parker
LizardTech's latest version of GeoExpress 7 integrates with its other imagery data management products into a new "suite" offering. Other upgrades include the ability to crop images by polygons using shapefiles, improved cropping tools (including one that automatically de-mosaicks an image), a series of despeckling tools, and the availability of a floating license. Nora Parker offers this overview of the latest version.
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Podcast: Going Down the Wrong Road?...Using MapShare by TomTom to Update PND Maps
by Joe Francica
Is your street in the wrong place on your personal navigation device (PND) or maybe not there at all? Did you see a McDonald's restaurant that's located on the wrong side of the road? Users of TomTom's PNDs can now make changes to the street network database from their in-vehicle PND and upload changes to TomTom via the Internet. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica interviews Tim Flight, editor of GPS Review, who has been performing an independent analysis on TomTom's MapShare program to see how soon updates are making it into the hands of consumers.
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Podcast: USGS in the News: Landsat/NRC Report
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
USGS is in the news this week as we learned that Landsat 5 is back in business after a battery scare and the National Research Council offered some specific recommendations for the USGS' research agenda. Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg examine these issues and their implication for remote sensing and The National Map, among other things.
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Technology Convergence, Market Horizontalization and, Voila: Information Fusion
by Sam Bacharach
Some of us can remember when telephone, print media, film, radio, TV, phonograph, photographs and computer data (what little there was) were treated as separate or "stovepiped" technologies. Over the last several years, technology convergence has resulted in a new generation of multimedia and multimode communication products. The same is true of geo-enabled technologies - they are converging and their respective markets are becoming more horizontal. The OGC's Executive Director for Outreach, Sam Bacharach, explains how standards are playing a role in this convergence.
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2007 Year-end Stock Performance Analysis of Public Location Technology Companies
by Joe Francica
Joe Francica takes a look at the wild ride that was the geospatial stock market of 2007. It would have been prescient to sell stocks on December 31, 2007 believing that the stock market gods had blessed the location technology sector with abundant gains during the year and so investors could be excused for taking some much-deserved profits. And perhaps some of you did just that. Despite the current tumultuous situation in the stock market, 2007 was a superb year for location technology stocks.
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Transportation Projects Simplified with GIS Integration
by Susan Marlow
Growing demands on road infrastructure is making life more and more difficult for transportation professionals. State and local transportation agencies are using GIS tools to help alleviate the stress, solve problems and make informed decisions about rights of way. Susan Marlow of Smart Data Strategies explains and offers several state department of transportation case studies.
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Palm Beach County Plugs Its Wastewater System
by Lloyd Wander
Protecting the environment is no longer a matter of civic conscience or discretion. Increasingly, municipalities are being held to strict federal standards for wastewater collection, wastewater treatment and related activities. Palm Beach County needed maps and data about its wastewater system and found a way to create and collect them quickly.
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Geography Lessons for Online Retailers
by Louella Fernandes
Despite the broad reach of the Internet, successful online traders need to focus tightly on individual customers. One way of doing that is to identify exactly where they are located. Quocirca's Louella Fernandes explains.
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West of Ireland Town Goes 3D
by Joe Francica
It's no secret that Ireland is in the process of transforming itself from Europe's sleepy backwater into a vibrant economic powerhouse many have taken to calling the Celtic Tiger. Technology is playing a major role in this transformation, and here is an interesting geospatial example. The quiet hamlet of Westport in the West of Ireland recently received support from Google to create an interactive 3D digital town on Google Earth. With its advanced visualization capabilities, the model will drive both economic development and tourism.
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Podcast: Why is the Geospatial Marketplace so Difficult to Measure?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week editors Adena Schutzberg and Joe Francica tackle a question that is difficult to answer (or, rarely has a clear answer). The question is: How big is the geospatial market or a part of it? That's often followed by: Who has the definitive numbers on how much money is to made and how many users and potential users are out there? They take a look at some resources and tease out why firm numbers are so difficult to acquire.
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NGA Supports Afghan Mapping Initiative
by Bruce Kiracofe
The Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO) got a big boost in its national mapping program when the NGA stepped in to offer additional resources. The partnership has resulted in the Afghan Mapping Initiative, with its goal to essentially rebuild and modernize the national mapping program that was in place before the Taliban regime dismantled it.
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Retailer Targets Growth in the Hispanic Sector
by Nora Parker
La Curacao is a small but rapidly growing department store chain specifically targeting the Hispanic demographic. Directions Magazine interviewed Jeff Forman, manager of real estate for La Curacao, about the company's use of location intelligence in its aggressive expansion plans. To put things into perspective, the stores are large (100,000 sq. ft. each) and the network currently consists of 10 stores, all located in California. According to Forman, for a small but growing retailer, using location intelligence tools is critical: "If you're a 600 store chain and you miss the mark with one of your locations, it's much easier to absorb the pain. For companies such as La Curacao that until recently was only a six store chain, if you open up a lemon it could have dire effects on the company's future."
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Creating an Extensible GIS with SOA and Web Services
by Ross Smith and Andrew Sheahen
Many GIS programs stem from the need to solve a specific business problem. But as soon as that initial application is set up, we've all had the experience of seeing demand for additional applications grow quickly. Ross Smith and Andrew Sheahan from PA Consulting advocate a SOA/Web services approach to your GIS environment so that you can move switftly to accommodate these needs - not only is it a solid approach, it can make you and your team look good, too!
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Podcast: Oil at $100/barrel - Is GIS Part of the Answer?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Last week brought the news that oil was trading at a record high of $100/barrel. Will this price point demand more specialists and specialized tools for exploration, specifically geospatial ones? Is geospatial work associated with the oil patch seen as a potential career for GIS students? Our editors try to connect the dots between the renewed interest in oil prices, new sources of energy and geospatial technologies.
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Product Review: Terrain Navigator Pro Ver. 8.0
by Paul Amos
Terrain Navigator Pro lets you access the U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle maps and USGS Digital Ortho Quarter Quads. The newest version offers new data enhancements and new functions to incorporate data from Google Earth. Paul Amos offers this review.
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Public vs. Private Financing of Remotely Sensed Imagery Data - The Need for Both
by Bill Gail
It's easy to measure return on investment on commercially funded remotely sensed imagery; you can add up the costs and subtract them from the gross revenue of products sold. When such data are publicly funded, the equation is far more complex since the revenue value is rarely measureable in dollars paid, but rather in time saved, animals with a safe environment, floods prevented and the like. Bill Gale explains why both sourcing methods, in balance, are likely to contribute to a sucessful remote sensing future.
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Top Ten of 2007
by Adena Schutzberg
Each year for the past seven Adena Schutzberg has picked out 10 events, ideas, themes, products, etc. that have stood out in over the preceding 12 months. There were many recaps of 2007 (including our Year in Review podcast and thoughts on the matter from insiders) so she's tried to pick out some items that were more subtle, more hidden, for this list.
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Podcast: Holidays Kick LBS in Right Direction...More to Come in '08
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
GPS devices were one of the big tech sellers this holiday season. More than likely you or a family member or friend gave or received one that's now settled into a single car, or caught in play between two or more vehicles. What might the large number of sales of these devices mean for the growth of location-based services in 2008? Editors Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg look into the crystal ball.
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GPS Pioneer Addresses LBS Market Fundamentals
by Joe Francica
Kanwar Chadha, founder and chief marketing officer of SiRF Technologies speaks to editor-in-chief Joe Francica about the ongoing hyperbole in the location-based services marketplace, the potential disruption of the Open Handset Alliance and the new paradigm facing device manufacturer for LBS. Chadha says, "The fact that location is native into all of these emerging platforms is a very strong indicator that people are serious about enabling multiple applications with location…there are some things that are fundamental to the nature of your business or your life in a mobile world…and location is one of those core elements."
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Sea Changes and Ripple Effects of 2007
by Directions Staff
A few weeks ago we asked a number of industry insiders and executives to Directions Magazine to discuss the big sea changes and the ripple effects they saw in 2007, and where they expect those to take us next year. The responses roughly divided into three general categories: GIS, LBS and 3D/BIM.
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Podcast: 2007 Year in Review
by Directions Staff
It's time to look back on the year with Directions Media's editors Joe Francica, Adena Schutzberg and Nora Parker. The industry watchers pick out a few themes and explore what they mean today and look a bit into the crystal ball. Among the topics: the value ($$$) of geo, the new geodata, "neogeography," convergence, the quick-deciding user and the GPS-enabled ski jacket.
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Slashing Supply Chain Risk
by Andrew F. Dailey
Today's supply chain professional faces a dynamic range of natural and man-made risks including hurricanes, earthquakes, avian flu, political unrest and terrorism. Global sourcing and off-shoring reduce a company's visibility and control of issues within its supply chains. Additionally, lean supply chain valuation, just in time inventory, and sole sourcing create networks even more susceptible to environmental risk. Although corporate risk management mitigates potential loss due to these catastrophes, penalties and insurance cannot replace market share, repair harm to a company's reputation, or recover loss of customer confidence.
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Podcast - Developers: The New GIS Customers?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
There is a slow and steady move from geospatial software providers as they move their focus from the end-user to the third party developer. More tools are available than ever. Developer conferences are growing. Demand for industry focused or custom solutions is growing as easy-to-use websites change end-user expectations. Editors Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg explore how this sea change will impact the geospatial marketplace.
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Modeling Terrorism: the Intelligence-led Approach
by Simon Sole
In today's risk environment, where the threat of terrorism is real and significant, developing an appropriate system for accurately assessing this threat is of paramount importance to insurers and risk managers. Existing models use a defensive approach, assessing the maximum potential for damage to a building resulting from a terrorist attack - regardless of the likelihood of that building being targeted. Terrorism modeling should be approached in a much more strategic way. An intelligence-led model that analyzes the probability of an attack occurring at a particular location adds significant value. Simon Sole of Exclusive Analysis provided this article.
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Podcast: ESRI to Go Agile; GeoBiz follows IT in M&A
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week we couldn't agree on a single topic so we bring you two. First Adena Schutzberg explores ESRI's decision to hire a senior executive who will promote agile product management within the company. Then Joe Francica highlights parallels between what's going on in mergers and acquisitions in the broader IT market and in geospatial.
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Is a Geographic Appliance in Your Future?
by Adena Schutzberg
In recent weeks the term "appliance," as it relates to geospatial solutions, has popped up quite a bit. Now is a good time to look at the phenomenon. Before looking at specific geographic appliances, let's start with the term "appliance" as applied to information technology in general. If your mind wanders to a classic toaster, you are not far off. Adena Schutzberg reports.
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The New Surveyor - Geospatial Wise and Technology Savvy
by Joe Francica
The surveyor of today is not just the guy in a hard-hat you see along the road taking control points for road or building construction. In fact, you might say that surveyors must be as equally skilled at determining site measurements as they are at managing the resulting geospatial data they collect. Both the technology and business climate are pushing them to be just that. This article provides insights and ideas about an evolving type of survey professional that will leverage an expanding array of skills.
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What I learned at deCarta's devCON 2007
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg attended deCarta's third devCON event for its partners and customers a few weeks ago in San Jose. deCarta, formerly Telcontar, provides a geospatial platform that serves the Web and mobile devices. Here are some of the key themes and takeaways.
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Microsoft Readies SQL Server CTP-5 with Spatial Datatype Support
by Joe Francica
Directions Media has learned that Microsoft has just released, internally, the first public beta of SQL Server 2008 (code named "Katmai") with support for spatial. This Community Technology Preview (CTP) is the long-awaited CTP-5 and should show up on the Microsoft web site as the "November CTP." Read more...
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devCON07
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg is attending deCarta's developers conference (devCON07). deCarta (once Telcontar) provides a geospatial development platform. It’s used by the likes of Google, Ask.com, NIM (developer of phone-based navigation system VZ Navigator for Verizon) among others. More than 200 of the company’s partners and customers gathered in San Jose to learn about new developer tools and what their peers are doing at devCON 2007. While the majority of the attendees are technical, their colleagues in business development and marketing are represented. Schutzberg offers these report.
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The International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems - Establishing a System of Systems
by Katharina Stoffl
In 1999, a United Nations declaration called for action to improve the efficiency and security of transport, search and rescue, and geodesy by promoting universal access to, and compatibility of, space-based navigation and positioning systems. An action team on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) was established in 2001 which subsequently led to the establishment of an international committee on GNSS (ICG) to promote the use of GNSS infrastructure on a global basis. This article is a brief report on the group's 2007 meeting.
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CityGML Comes of Age
by Adena Schutzberg
Over a bit of Halloween candy on the last day of October, a small but technical group gathered at Harvard to learn about CityGML from its principle author Thomas Kolbe, professor at the Technical University of Berlin. The presentation's title warrants exploration: "A Shared Vocabulary for Representing Cites in Three Dimensions."
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Podcast: Local News Aggregation: Compelling or Repelling?
by Adena Schutzberg
As geospatial practitioners we are firmly committed to the idea that geography matters. The media knows this, too; that's why the local news is on at 6 pm and the national news at 6:30. But what about local news on the Web? How well are new technologies, including smarter search algorithms and automated maps, doing at making local sites compelling? Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg tours a few such sites and renders her verdict. The podcast is 15 minutes long and was recorded on November 5, 2007.
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Consumer Awareness Driving GPS-enabled Device Adoption
by Owen Shapiro and Bob Yovovich
Today's online mapping tools have achieved striking penetration into the everyday lives of Americans, and new GPS-enabled personal navigation devices (PNDs) are leapfrogging past early-adopter growth and surging almost directly into widespread, mainstream usage, according to data from a just-completed study by the Leo J. Shapiro and Associates (LJS) research firm.
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Perspectives on the LBS Ecosystem - Notes and Observations from SiRF's Location 2.0 Summit
by Joe Francica
SiRF Technology convened a conference to address the "ecosystem" for location-based services (LBS). SiRF's Location 2.0 Summit, held on October 23rd at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, drew approximately 300 stakeholders representing carriers, application developers, content providers and device manufacturers. Kanwar Chadha, founder of SiRF, envisioned and created the event and Andrew Seybold, a wireless technology analyst and consultant, hosted it. Joe Francica reports.
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'Control Freaks' Mapping the World
by Kevin Corbley
An interesting solution unveiled unveiled last week at the 2007 GEOINT Symposium is the Automated Ground Control Service offered by CompassData Inc. of Centennial, Colorado. The service provides users with online access to a worldwide archive of more than 10,000 highly accurate, photo-identifiable ground control points that have already been collected and are available for image orthorectification and photogrammetric quality control projects.
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Mobile LBS Applications are Growing and Networks in Motion is Benefiting
by Joe Francica
Market awareness of location-based services is driving a high adoption rate for applications on mobile devices. Of the $118 million in revenue that downloadable mobile applications such as LBS, weather applications, chat/community, and personal organization tools generated during Q2 2007, LBS represented 51 percent. Networks In Motion (NIM), an LBS navigation publisher for products including Verizon Wireless' VZ Navigator, secured a 27 percent share of carrier revenue from mobile applications and leads all mobile application publishers. Unlike buying an "off-board" navigation system like a Garmin or TomTom, "leasing" your navigation system from a carrier that uses a solution from NIM or others compares quite favorably in cost. In addition, the smaller form factor for a phone versus a wider screen navigation device provides some additional convenience. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica spoke with Steven Andler, Director of Marketing for NIM to get his take on why LBS applications are attracting such a large percentage of the growth in downloadable mobile applications. The podcast is 14:05 and was recorded on October 18, 2007.
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CTIA Wireless 2007
by Joe Francica
Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica is attending the CTIA Wireless 2007 conference in San Francisco and offers these reports.
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GEOINT 2007
by Joe Francica
Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica is attending the GEOINT 2007 Symposium this week in San Antonio, TX, and offers these reports.
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Podcast: Impressions of GEOINT 2007
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
USGIF's GEOINT Symposium runs this week in San Antonio, Texas. It's a gathering of those in and around the defense and intelligence communities to explore collaborating and integrating geospatial intelligence to support the national security mission. Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica attended the first day's presentations and shares his thoughts on this largest GEOINT event ever, persistent surveillance, getting actionable intelligence to the war fighter and a move beyond 3D.
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NGA Establishes Unified GEOINT Operations
by Frank Calabrese
For the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), collaboration is the deliberate linking of people, the processes they employ and the systems they use across the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and the national security community. NGA recognizes the importance that collaboration plays in analyzing and reporting on crucial geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) issues and strives to be a lead partner in using this important tool. In fact, the director of NGA has challenged the NSG community and NGA to set the collaboration standard for the broader community in a multi-intelligence (multi-INT) environment.
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Podcast: The Maturation of the Software Buyer
by Adena Schutzberg
This week Adena Schutzberg offers a commentary focusing on changing attitudes in the technology and geospatial marketplace. In particular, she suggests we are growing more and more comfortable with smaller software providers, smaller consulting firms and non-traditional development/distribution and licensing models, that is with open source. The podcast was recorded on October 12, 2007 and is 12 minutes long.
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Mid-America GIS Consortium Approaches 20th Anniversary
by Members of MAGIC
Susan Norton recently contacted Directions Magazine to let us know the Mid-America GIS Consortium (MAGIC) is approaching its 20th anniversary, and in April of 2008 will hold its 11th symposium, with the tag line of "20 years of MAGIC." Norton coordinated these responses to our questions about MAGIC with a team of eight members of the consortium.
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NAVTEQ Purchased by Nokia: Implications for LBS and Related Markets
by Mike Ippoliti
In a deal announced October 1st 2007, Nokia declared its intention to acquire NAVTEQ for $8.1 billion. Most of the industry had been waiting for the other shoe to drop after PND-maker TomTom purchased TeleAtlas, but the majority had expected another of the PND makers (Garmin, Magellan), or the big internet mapping portals (Google, Microsoft) to be the purchaser. ABI Research Director of Telematics & Automotive, Mike Ippoliti explains more about the deal and prospective market implications.
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The Location Intelligent Enterprise: Enhancing Business Intelligence with Location
by Louella Fernandes
Location is a critical component in almost every business transaction. Although a lot of data have a location dimension, whether it be customers, stores, warehouses or other assets, this information is rarely exploited in traditional business intelligence (BI) analysis. To gain maximum value from the ever-increasing volumes of data, companies need to make use of the location element to gain deeper business insight in order to improve competitiveness and business performance.
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Podcast: Exploring Nokia's Acquisition of NAVTEQ
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
On Monday, Finnish company Nokia announced its plan to acquire Chicago-based map provider NAVTEQ. Speculations were rampant after TomTom announced its plan to acquire "the other" global map data provider, Tele Atlas, earlier this year. Editors Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg listened to leaders from both companies offer their reasoning for their excitement for the newly expanded Nokia in an investor call and offer their insights into the announcement and its impact.
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First American Acquires Proxix Solutions
by Nora Parker
Today First American announced that it will acquire Proxix Solutions. First American is a very large company ($8.5 billion in annual sales) that estimates it touches "over 90% of all property transactions that occur in the US every year." The company is probably best known for its title insurance-related services, but it also has business divisions that provide specialty insurance, mortgage information, property information and risk mitigation products. First American has been in business for more than 100 years.
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Product Review: TomTom GO 720
by Hal Reid
Whenever Hal Reid gets a new toy, he's inclined to devote all the hours necessary to a thorough exploration of all its features. The problem with many toys is that there is too little to explore, leaving him disappointed and wanting more. Not so with the TomTom GO 720. For the month he had it, he was continually discovering new features and capabilities that he wanted to try out, experiment with and explore. Returning it to TomTom was difficult.
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Real-Time Traffic Moving Into More Applications - An Interview with Bryan Mistele, CEO of INRIX
by Joe Francica
If the president is in town, how do you avoid his entourage? Although this is an extreme example, real-time traffic information to avoid traffic tie-ups due to sporting events, major accidents, or simply the slow downs that may be predicted on a daily basis are now available from a number of services. But the penetration of this service is very low...only about 8% of vehicles have in-vehicle systems and most don't have a way to inject real-time traffic. This is rapidly changing. By this Christmas about 30 PND's will offer real-time traffic as a service. The following interview with Bryan Mistele, CEO of INRIX, a company that was formed by former Microsoft employees that offer both real-time and predictive traffic analysis.
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A Graphic Tour of WeoGeo
by Adena Schutzberg
There's been a flurry of tools recently meant to enable better sharing of data. The latest entry, WeoGeo, which is just coming out of beta, adds an important twist: you can make money selling your data. Moreover, if your data become embedded in a new product, you make "royalties" too. Let's have a look.
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Podcast: MetaCarta Brings Geographic Alerts to the Media
by Adena Schutzberg
MetaCarta's new Local Alerts Service for Publishers allows users to request stories on specific geographies (down to a neighborhood) and give publishers new ways to attract reader and provide relevant advertisements. Adena Schutzberg interviews Rick Hutton Vice President of Content Services at MetaCarta on the new service and its future.
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Emerging Technology: AJAX and GeoJSON
by Christopher J. Andrews
Chris Andrews introduces readers to GeoJSON, a data interchange format that holds potential. "Recently, the geospatial community has begun to experiment with a geographic dialect of JSON, GeoJSON, which is targeted at standardizing the way that spatial data are represented in JSON."
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Podcast: The Search for Steve Fossett as a Teachable Moment
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week we explore how the recent disappearance of adventurer Steven Fossett is, despite its sad nature, a teachable moment. We learn the latest on satellite imagery available for the search from DigitalGlobe's Chuck Herring and then explore how we in the geospatial community, educators, and parents can educate, even as we hope for a positive outcome. We also look at hyperspectral imagery, one of the tools in the searcher's toolkit.
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The National Land and Water Information Service - Canada's New Agri-Environmental Web Portal
by Julie Leese
Canadians have one-stop access to information and decision support for agriculture and the environment through a new Web portal developed by the Government of Canada. Online since 2006, the National Land and Water Information Service (NLWIS) provides interactive maps, planning tools, expertise and geospatial data, highlighting land use, soil, water, climate and biodiversity across the country. This article, by NLWIS' Julie Leese, describes the system and discusses how various standards were used in its creation.
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Podcast: Interview with Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
by Joe Francica
Vice Admiral Robert B. Murrett was appointed Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on July 7, 2006 and leads one of the largest military organizations dedicated to geospatial information gathering and intelligence analysis. His staff of highly trained geospatial technologists are deployed in domestic operations to support natural disasters as well as being deployed in combat zones to support the warfighter. Prior to his appointment, Murrett served as the Director of Naval Intelligence. The interview with Admiral Murrett touches issues related to the NGA's organization, its mission to train a highly technical staff and its ability to support a growing need for global intelligence gathering using geospatial technology.
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Podcast: Cellular Carriers Face Possible Rule Changes by FCC for Emergency and LBS Applications
by Joe Francica
TruePosition's Mike Amarosa, vice president for public affairs, and Brian Varano, marketing director, spoke with Editor-in-chief Joe Francica about the Notice of Proposed Rule Changes submitted to the Federal Communications Commission regarding its existing mandate to cellular carriers to more accurately locate wireless phone calls to E911 public safety answering points, or PSAPs. There are obvious differences of opinion about whether the changes should be adopted and what technologies can be used if such changes were authorized. With some phone manufacturers including GPS chips to support emergency and other location-based services while others rely on network-based technologies such as multilateration, there is much debate about the best location-determination methods. TruePosition is one company offering a hybrid solution which is discussed in this interview.
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Guy Carpenter's i-aXs Puts Data on the Map for Insurers
by Shajy Mathai
With immense data storage and sophisticated information technology systems, companies of all types are able to amass enormous amounts of business data. In the insurance industry specifically, detailed exposure data can be extremely valuable to insurers' business decisions, but the problem is that so much data often becomes a burden - some might even say a monster. This article, by Guy Carpenter & Company's Shajy Mathai, describes a product the company developed to address this issue.
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AAA Mobile Launched
by Nora Parker
Last week the American Automobile Association (AAA) announced that "AAA Mobile," a new service that makes many of AAA's services available via cell phone, is available on nine models of GPS-enabled Sprint cell phones. The service is brand new and expected to be available via other carriers in the near future.
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Podcast: The Infotainment Industry Seeks LBS Partners
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
SiRF is collaborating with Intel and the Travel Channel is partnering with Tele Atlas. What do these two seemingly unrelated announcements have to do with each other? "Infotainment." The marriage of location-based services, travel and entertainment is heating up and both the chip and entertainment industries are in overdrive vying for new and different in-vehicle experiences.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
Last year about this time Adena Schutzberg wrote an editorial on "homework" wherein she suggested that geospatial professionals needed to be sure they were up to date with some mapping, Web and other technologies. Part of what sparked that was an increase in e-mail queries that seemed (to her) to be solvable with a bit of homework. She's getting more questions all the time, so here are this season's homework assignments.
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Product Review: MapInfo Professional Version 9.0
by Paul Amos
MapInfo Professional version 9.0 is the latest release of Pitney Bowes MapInfo's desktop location intelligence software. The major features and enhancements of this release are enhanced data access, time-based analysis and better looking maps. Paul Amos provides a review.
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Street-level Routing: Where the Rubber Meets the Road
by Simon Morris
Customer service representatives at service organizations have a difficult job. They spend much of their day listening to customers complain while scheduling service calls - trying to balance schedules, expertise, availability and travel time. At least estimating travel times and re-scheduling has become easier and more accurate by incorporating street-level routing and location-based services information into the decision making process. ClickSoftware's Simon Morris explains.
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Podcast: WaveMarket Looks to Connect Parents and Kids by Expanding LBS Technology to Social Networking Market
by Joe Francica
"Security created the mobile industry," says Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of WaveMarket. "This is the reason you get your kid a phone." In this interview by Editor-in-chief Joe Francica, Roumeliotis describes how his company is looking to connect parents with kids and help create the next big wave in mobile location services by offering products that support social networking. Roumeliotis draws clear distinctions between the applications for "friend finder" and "family finder" which pose certain barriers with respect to personal security.
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Wiped Off the Map - Greensburg, Kansas
by Dan Rose
The stories in newspapers nationwide said: "At 9:45pm on Friday, May 4, 2007, the lives of the nearly 1400 citizens of Greensburg, Kansas were changed forever." What they should have said was: "What happened on May 4, 2007 will change the lives of 2.7 million people forever." Dan Rose of the City of Topeka describes the scramble for pertinent data.
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Today's Geography: Classroom to Boardroom
by Claudine Bianchi
Educators have always insisted they not leave out the "three Rs": reading, writing and arithmetic. That paradigm may be shifting to "three Rs and a G" - and world enterprise is most appreciative. MetaCarta's Claudine Bianchi tells us why.
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Informix Spatial Data Technology: Update and Positioning
by Joe Francica
Directions Magazine's Joe Francica discussed the new geospatial features included in IBM's Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) with IBM's Bernie Spang, director of Data Servers. IDS 11 came out earlier this summer. From the IBM website's page on IDS 11: "The new Web Feature Service DataBlade module implements an Open Geospatial Consortium(R) Web Feature Service (OGC WFS) in IDS to act as a presentation layer for the Spatial and Geodetic DataBlade modules. The OGC WFS interface allows requests for geographical features across the web using platform-independent calls. The XML-based Geography Markup Language (GML) is used as the encoding for transporting the geographic features."
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Emerging Technology: Geospatial Web Services and REST
by Christopher J. Andrews
In 2002, Dr. Roy Fielding introduced the topic of Representational State Transfer (REST) as part of a broader dissertation on distributed software architectures. In his thesis, Dr. Fielding, one of the principal authors of the HTTP specification, discussed architecture and design patterns for network-based application structure and design. This article, by Chris Andrews, suggests the need for a proposal of how to apply REST to geospatial Web services.
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Geospatial Data and Web 2.0 - a MapMart Perspective
by Michael Platt
After its initial start in 1951 as a geological consulting firm, IntraSearch began selling geospatial data in 1997 over the World Wide Web through our online site, MapMart.com. At that time the GIS industry faced a real challenge locating digital mapping data. Today, MapMart is a major provider of geodata and is moving into data hosting and other services.
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TomTom Community Event
by Hal Reid
Recently Hal Reid attended a day-long press event at TomTom's Watertown, New York offices to talk about the company's vision and customer support. He also previewed TomTom's new product, the TomTom GO 720. In addition to the TomTom staff, personnel from Tele Atlas and Spring International were also in attendance. Tele Atlas is TomTom's primary data vendor and as of Monday, July 23, their potential new acquisition. Spring International is the company that provides TomTom's primary customer support.
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Podcast: Tipping Point for Personal Navigation Devices?
by Joe Francica
Darren Koenig, Wireless Market Director for Tele Atlas, provided insights on how the market for personal navigation devices is set to exponentially explode and why we are perhaps at a tipping point. He explained how both the in-vehicle and personal navigation devices markets will benefit from wireless network infrastructure development and why certain market segments, of varying demographic composition, are likely to buy both types of devices, and why generational differences are not a hindrance to widespread market indulgence.
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Product Review: Magellan Maestro 4040 Portable Navigation Device
by Joe Francica
Editor-in-chief Joe Francica takes the Magellan Maestro 4040 in-vehicle navigation device for a spin. He found the Maestro's big touchscreen has a great user interface and the AAA points of interest database a huge advantage, the maps are still not displayed at a resolution that would please the mapping enthusiast.
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'At-A-Boy, Bob... Autodesk's First Year in Open Source Community
by Kevin Flanders
Most readers who are familiar with Autodesk's first year as a member of the open source community would agree that this new relationship has been a successful one. There were those in the beginning who said it would not work due to conflicts of interest. Kevin Flanders offers credit where he believes it's due.
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Local Governments Move to Integrate Business Intelligence with GIS
by Joe Francica
Kenton, Campbell and Pendleton counties form one of the fastest growing regions in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As such, the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission (NKAPC), which supports this area, needed a stronger reporting solution to keep track of applications for permits, zoning and land development as well as be a watchdog for code enforcement. To support the reporting capabilities, the staff at the NKAPC believed that they could tie the information to maps, which would help visualize a variety of information involving geographic relationships.
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The Evolution of Geocoding: Moving Away from Conflation Confliction to Best Match
by George Rebhan
Over the past decade, the quality of street-level datasets has improved tremendously. Advancements include more complete street geometry - exact location and shape, and more complete and correct street-segment attribution - street names and aliases, house number ranges, etc. Now, real estate parcel data have arrived on the scene with a huge impact on applications that require the most accurate location possible. PXPoint from Proxix offers users some options they didn't have before, and the end result may be a "best match," based on industry and application. This article, by Proxix's George Rebhan, provides background about how geocoding has evolved, and why PXPoint is a good solution at this point in that evolution.
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Podcast: The Next Level of Internet Mapping
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week Adena Schutzberg and Joe Francica take a spin on the major and not-so-major web mapping portals to see how the new features from Google, Microsoft and others take the user experience to the next level. The editors look at how technology is allowing more interaction with users than ever before. The podcast is 14 minutes long (~ 5 Mb) and was recorded on July 9, 2007.
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MAPPS vs. US: Finding Common Ground
by Adena Schutzberg
Directions Magazine continues coverage of the suit brought by the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS). A ruling was handed down by the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia on June 15th. MAPPS, as the plaintiff, and others issuing amicus briefs, such as the American Association of Geographers, have issued subsequent statements. This article reviews the judge’s ruling and what might be expected in the next round of litigation
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Quova Digs Deeper To Identify Location of Web Traffic
by Joe Francica
Location-based Internet subscriptions, alerts to detect Web fraud, and geotargeted advertising are all applications needed by today's Web-savvy marketers. Quova's latest release of their GeoDirectory Server provides these capabilities and Directions Magazine Editor-in-chief Joe Francica spoke with Quova CEO Marie Alexander to get more details. Read more...
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ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3 - Overview of Enhancements
by Joe Francica
ArcGIS 9.3 is being incrementally released in a series of service packs
with emphasis on refining and improving workflows; the bulk of the
product is to be released next year. These packs will include ways to
improve "geographic science" such as using Gaussian geostatistical
simulation and rich error messaging, and improving mapping and
labeling, scripting, modeling, and WYSIWYG graphic editing. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica discusses more of the enhancements to be found in ArcGIS 9.3. Read more...
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Satellite Images Bridge Understanding Gap between Climate Change and Individuals
by Kevin Corbley
The geospatial community can play a vital role in global warming research by helping to make a connection between climate change and individual people. The best way to accomplish this is by making satellite imagery and derived information more easily accessible and understandable to the general public, so they can see the impact that climate change has at the local level.
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From a New Language to a Common Approach - Dangermond's Message for ESRI UC 2007
by Joe Francica
As Joe Francica approached the ESRI UC this year he wondered, what would Jack focus on in 2007? After nearly 40 years in the business, Dangermond still shapes the discussion, not only for his customers but also for a broader community of geospatial professionals. In 2007, he seems to have moved the theme he emphasizes often, "GIS as an emerging language," to "GIS as rich data model" with "modeling" being the operative term. This year he is emphasizing the results of GIS, the work of GIS, the technology advantage of GIS. His main point: GIS is the essential tool in business process improvements and best practices.
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LizardTech Express Server 6 - Product Overview
by Nora Parker
LizardTech is primarily known for MrSID, which became a commercial format via the technology transfer program from Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early 1990's. With MrSID as a starting point, the company has grown products around what users might need to do to manage massive quantities of primarily imagery data, stored in either MrSID or JPEG 2000 (the ISO standard wavelet imaging format). Nora Parker provices an overview of the latest release of Express Server.
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Leica TITAN and the TITAN Network: The Next GeoData Sharing Solution?
by Adena Schutzberg
Among the whirl of announcements at Where 2.0 was the press release about the open beta of Leica TITAN and the Leica TITAN Network. Adena Schutzberg blogged about the closed beta that began in the winter, but now the wraps are off and everyone can download the free client and provide feedback. Mladen Stojic, director of Enterprise and Visualization Products, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging, gave her the tour recently.
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Podcast: Buying Desktop Mapping Software...Get Your Checklist Ready
by Joe Francica
This week's Directions on the News podcast explores the criteria for buying a desktop mapping system. Directions Magazine Editor-in-Chief Joe Francica will run through a check list of items that are important in considering a desktop solution for products in the $250 to $2,500 range. There are some extremely capable systems on the market and this podcast looks at the functionality that will be right for your purchase decision.
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KEPCO Plays Key Role in South Korean Economy
by Jim Baumann
The advent of the electrical age in Korea began in 1887 with the illumination of the Yi Dynasty's Kyongbok Palace, not long after the invention of the incandescent light bulb. This article, by ESRI's Jim Baumann, discusses how GIS is a critical strategic tool the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) uses to serve its 49 million customers.
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Where Wireless Meets the Road - Short Range Communications for Vehicles
by Joe Francica
More than just a supreme annoyance, traffic congestion actually costs an estimated $230 billion in lost productivity and in the cost of insurance claims for traffic-related deaths. A key initiative by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to mitigate traffic congestion is looking to develop better communication with vehicles. This article discusses some of the technology involved.
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Four Rights to Customer Satisfaction!!!!!!!!!
by Sumair Dutta
A familiar scenario for most of us: an interruption in our cable/Internet/phone service, a frenzied call to the cable operator, a dismayed reaction when we hear that a technician will be out to check on it between 9am and 5pm, two to three days out. This article, by AberdeenGroup's Sumair Dutta, highlights research the company has done regarding how companies use tools to address service delivery.
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MetaCarta Users Tap Unstructured Data for New Geographic Uses
by Adena Schutzberg
The MetaCarta Public Sector User Group Meeting, held in Tysons Corner, Virginia last week, brought together some 50 people including users, mostly from federal/military agencies, along with integrators and MetaCarta partners. Recall that MetaCarta is the company with technology to tease location information out of unstructured text, geocode those locations and thus organize documents geographically. Adena Schutzberg was one of the keynote presenters, but argues that the most interesting content was presented by users.
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deCarta and Yahoo! Part Ways: Two Perspectives
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg reported on Wednesday in All Points Blog that Yahoo! had ended its relationship with deCarta, its underlying mapping technology provider, to switch to an in-house developed solution. Directions Magazine received a call from deCarta on Thursday to elaborate on the change and we spoke to Yahoo! to better understand why the decided to bring their mapping technology "in-house."
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Product Review: DeLorme XMap 5.0 GIS Enterprise
by Paul Amos
DeLorme XMap 5.0 GIS Enterprise is one of the components of a three-tiered software solution suite from DeLorme that provides increasing levels of functionality for GIS professionals. DeLorme has taken the approach of providing scalable solutions with its software and data products so that users only purchase the required amount of software and data they need. Paul Amos reviews the product.
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Safe Software's FME 2007 - Quick Take Product Overview
by Joe Francica
Safe Software recently released a new version of Feature Manipulation Engine (FME). This new version resulted from the company having identified a niche where it could add value - addressing raster data. Safe adjusted core architecture, which enabled FME 2007 to manipulate raster data similarly to ways in which the product treats vector data. In addition, Oracle and ESRI's ArcSDE were storing raster data and customers were asking, "How can we get data into the databases?"
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Black Gold, Texas Tea: How energy exploration has new potential when information and geography are linked
by Kathryn Sutter
Oil and gas exploration relies on decades' worth of documents that have been generated and/or purchased by oil companies to aid in exploration, drilling, production and all facets of upstream activities. As a result, energy companies invest billions of dollars each year gathering and processing data contained within these documents. MetaCarta's Kathryn Sutter discusses how organizing these data can translate into a competitive advantage for the exploration of natural resources.
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Pitney Bowes / MapInfo / Group 1: The Art of the Deal
by Joe Francica
Joe Francica attended MapInfo's MapWorld conference last week in Seattle (May 8-10). Naturally much of the talk centered on Pitney Bowes' acquisition of MapInfo. In buying MapInfo and merging its technology with Group 1 Software, Pitney Bowes is staking its claim in the marketing services business. Pitney Bowes (PBI) has the dominant brand in the postal metering business and while this is a shrinking market in the age of Internet communication, the direct marketing business is expanding. PBI's acquisition of MapInfo, its largest purchase ever, will link MapInfo's marketing analysis tools with Group 1's address validation and data cleansing technology to create a location-based solutions entity.
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Air Photos Capture Devastation to Greensburg, Kansas
by Joe Francica
The tornado that hit Greensburg, Kansas on May 5th has been rated a "5" on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The devastation is hard to imagine from news reports until you see pictures of the tornado that was estimated to be two miles in width by NOAA's National Weather Service and essentially reduced the entire town to ruble. Read more and see the imagery.
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Podcast: SQL Server 2008 Goes Spatial
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week we examine Microsoft's announcement that the next release of SQL Server, SQL Server 2008, expected next year, will include support for spatial data. We consider that the announcement was made at Microsoft's first Business Intelligence Conference and how that may impact the product's development. We also look at how the new technology will play in a market crowded with databases, both commercial and open source that support spatial data.
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Product Overview: First American Corporation's ParcelPoint
by Directions Staff
First American Corporation's ParcelPoint product is a database, offered by that company's First American Flood Data Services division. It offers a geocoded point at a parcel's "point of entry" (e.g. driveway), and it covers the majority of the United States. Hal Reid offers an overview of the product.
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Product Overview: GeoEye’s RoadTracker
by Christopher J. Andrews
Ask industry professionals to list the directions in which the boundaries of geospatial technology are being pushed and the first answers are likely to include 3D visualization, the Internet, and wireless or mobile technology. Probe a little deeper, however, and the discussion quickly turns to the core issue of data pricing, access and delivery. This article describes a raster image processing tool, RoadTracker, being developed by GeoEye in partnership w/ VLS, that is an example of the kinds of products being developed to address those data issues.
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FHWA Touts Visualization Tools
by Nora Parker
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is emphasizing using low-cost visualization tools to help the public gain an understanding of transportation-related issues. Lindsay Banks and Mark Sarmiento of the FHWA hosted a Web conference last week (April 24) titled "Low-cost Internet-based Geospatial Technologies for Transportation." Nora Parker reports.
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Conference Report: ESRI Business GeoInfo Summit
by Hal Reid
The ESRI Business GeoInfo Summit, a gathering of 200 ESRI business users, took place last week (April 23-25) in Dallas. Hal Reid reports on the diversity in ages of the attendees. Folks in the world of retail development had been getting a little gray, but now he's starting to see a passing of the baton to new, young people, and that was certainly the case there.
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Podcast: What We learned at Location Intelligence 2007
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
We focus in on two of the presentations at last week's Location Intelligence Conference. One, by Yahoo's Frazier Miller, director of product management for Yahoo! Local, gave a surprising set of numbers about the potential size of the local search marketplace. The second, from SiRF's Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing, highlighted how we've barely begun to realize the scope of location in mobile devices.
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Podcast: Is Web 2.0 Mapping 'Dead'?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
Dead can be a number of things; on the Web sometimes it simply means users/developers have moved on to the next thing. How is Web mapping 2.0 doing? Is it mature? Is it time to move on to the next thing, as a recent guest, Mark Wallace speaking at A Very Spatial Podcast offered? He's ready to move to 3D on the Web. We explore these questions and try to nail down what hallmarks might indicate maturity for Web mapping 2.0.
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Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company's Data-intensive Applications
by MapInfo Staff
For more than a century, Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company (ETPC) - a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper publisher serving more than 105,000 subscribing households North of Boston every day - based its recipe for business success on readers' strong community connections. This article, by MapInfo staff, describes applications that helped the newspaper "keep customers coming back for more."
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Performance Management with Spatial Analysis (Part 2)
by Andy Meehan
In part one of this article, Andy Meehan looked at the case for the provision of spatial analysis to Business Intelligence (BI) platforms. In this second part he examines how solutions in this space can be classified and why it is important to evaluate them for corporate suitability and solution longevity. This is especially important for larger organizations such as government departments or large corporations.
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Performance Management with Spatial Analysis (Part 1)
by Andy Meehan
In this two-part article, Integeo's Andy Meehan examines why spatial analysis provides a valuable capability to traditional Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. He also discusses measurements to categorize solutions that provide spatial analysis to BI platforms from the perspective of solution capability and system longevity.
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Podcast: The Human Element in Geospatial Technology Hits the Mainstream
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
As we've been involved with or heard of GIS implementations around the world there's a recurring rejoinder: "It's not the technology preventing its implementation, but the people" which is short for politics, power and related issues. Now that geospatial technology is maturing and moving to the mainstream that same theme is popping up. And this week, we had some great examples, including the world's (and the U.S. government's) reaction to Google's changes to its Katrina area imagery.
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GIS-T Nashville
by Joe Francica
GIS-T, the conference organized by the GIS executives of the individual state departments of transportation (DOTs) under the auspices of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), was held in Nashville this week. The conference, which is also attended by representatives of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and Canadian Transportation Ministries, along with geospatial technology vendors, celebrated its 20th anniversary at this meeting. Joe Francica reports.
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Exploring Yahoo! Pipes
by Adena Schutzberg
Not long ago Yahoo! stepped into the "easy programming Web 2.0" space with a toolset that allows customization and manipulation of "feeds" without programming. It's called Pipes. At
this time it's not fully geo-enabled, but it's an emerging technology with which everyone (technical, non-technical, programmer, manager, student) should be familiar.
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The Kelsey Group's Drilling Down on Local '07 Conference
by Mike Dobson
The Kelsey Group's Annual Silicon Valley summit, called "Drilling Down on Local '07," was held on March 20-22 in Santa Clara, California. The Kelsey Group is a leading provider of strategic research and analysis, data and competitive metrics on Yellow Pages, electronic directories, and local media. Mike Dobson attended and provided this report.
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Podcast: Why are businesses not yet embracing geospatial mashups?
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
An InformationWeek survey reveals that just 7% of businesses surveyed are using mashups. Is that true for geospatial mashups? Is it true, as Matt Brown, an analyst at Forrester Research suggests, that "Businesses have bigger priorities at the moment than worrying how to mash up logistical data or workforce information into a mapping app?" This week we look at why businesses are slow on the uptake with regard to mashups, and perhaps geospatial and what it might take to get them involved.
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Emergence of the Geospatial SSP
by Jerome Wendt
Companies want to access and use their imagery data. Having to stop and manage those data is a hassle. Yet as imagery users create and obtain more images, both the amount of data and backend storage infrastructure begin to grow at exponential rates, creating unwanted storage management problems. This article describes how Talisman Energy takes advantage of a geospatial storage service provider to acquire, manage and store imagery data.
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Sherbrooke's Money-savvy Approach to Imagery Usage
by Jean Le Tellier
City officials in Sherbrooke, Quebec are using GeoEye's IKONOS imagery for urban planning, land use and urban infrastructure inventories, but also to provide its residents better emergency response from first-responders. This article, by G�oid's Jean Le Tellier, discusses which applications could be supported using 1-meter resolution data.
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Oracle MapViewer 10.1.3
by Joe Francica
The newest feature of Oracle MapViewer version 10.1.3 is Oracle Maps. Oracle Maps is a new Java map application development kit included with Oracle Application Server MapViewer. It consists of a free-scrolling AJAX-based Web mapping interface, a flexible and open JavaScript API, a map cache, and a map design and styling tool - MapBuilder.
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Oracle Spatial User Conference: Highlights and Perspective
by Joe Francica
The Oracle Spatial User Conference is a one-day event that has followed the GITA Annual Conference for each of the past three years. This year it was held in San Antonio on March 8. Jim Steiner, senior director of Oracle Server Technologies, opened the meeting with a discussion of Oracle's commitment to enhancing its existing solutions and highlighting significant announcements within the past year: Oracle Maps and partnerships with General Electric (GE Energy) and NAVTEQ.
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Cutting Out the GIS Middleman: GE Energy Cements Relationship with Oracle to Build Enterprise Applications
by Joe Francica
In past editorials, Joe Francica has speculated about systems integrators being the next likely group to embrace geospatial technology and begin to engage their clients with location-based solutions. At the GITA Conference in San Antonio, GE Energy announced that it is developing applications with Oracle 10g Spatial technology. While you may not think of GE as a systems integrator because of its reliance on its Smallworld solution in the utility and telecommunications marketplace, this announcement changes many things.
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GITA 2007: The Geospatial Industry in Transition
by Joe Francica
For a moment forget that attendance at the 30th annual GITA Annual Conference in San Antonio was far from what it had been in its heyday. Forget that only about half as many vendors were in attendance as had been in the past. The fact that GITA is not what it once was indicates that GIS is a maturing technology sector. It further suggests that GITA might have a future as a venue for learning and understanding more about geospatial information technology. A new generation of geospatial technologists is needed and there is an opportunity that should be exploited. Joe Francica explains.
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Case Study: Making Data Visual and Accessible in Brunswick, NY
by MapInfo Staff
Brunswick, New York., a town consisting of approximately 12,000 people which lies on the outskirts of New York's Capital Region, relies on an agriculturally based economy. The Town Board is responsible for managing large amounts of data and information regarding the building, assessor, water and highway departments. This article describes how the Town used MapInfo Exponare applications to simplify data access and sharing.
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Emerging GIS Technology and Accessibility: Online Mapping for Everyone
by Christopher J. Andrews
The GIS profession has always maintained a community-focused perspective that pervades both the development and use of geospatial technology. As the GIS community has evolved over the last decades, pioneering companies like ESRI have encouraged the development of a GIS professional archetype; one who, while recognizing the value of a paycheck, also keeps in mind the simple interconnectedness that is obvious on a map and the resulting implication that local actions may have far-reaching effects. But Christopher J. Andrews suggests there is a segment that is in danger of being left out - the blind and visually impaired.
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Remote Sensing of Invasive Plants in the Galapagos National Park and Archipelago, Ecuador: Merging Hyper-spatial and Hyper-spectral Data for Enhanced Mapping
by Stephen J. Walsh
The Galapagos Islands are part of the Republic of Ecuador, and are located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 1,000-km from mainland Ecuador. Nearly 97% of the total land area of the islands is designated as National Park, and the remaining 3% is a colonized zone with urban and farm areas. In the archipelago, three primary subsystems exist: Terrestrial Park, Marine Reserve and Human Use Areas. During the past two decades, dramatic social and ecological changes have occurred in the terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the Galapagos that have threatened the ecological resilience and survival of this fragile ecosystem. This article, by Dr. Stephen J. Walsh of the University of North Carolina, discusses using remotely sensed imagery to assess invasive plant species.
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Maximizing Value through GIS Organizational Design
by Ross Smith and Christopher J. Dircks
As groups across an organization see the business value in GIS applications, those applications become more widely adopted, eventually becoming enterprise-wide applications. In many organizations, this shift happens faster than the organization's ability to develop and implement a support strategy and a team to provide that support. The lack of adequate support, in turn, affects user adoption and ultimately the success of the GIS implantation. What's a good strategy to address this challenge? This article addresses some options and questions to consider along the way.
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A Graphic Tour of Google's KML Search
by Adena Schutzberg
Directions Media staff has a sense that the concept of "KML Search," a new search option from Google, announced two weeks ago, is still unclear to many readers. We offer this graphic discussion to help illustrate what we think is an important development for geospatial practitioners.
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Multi-intelligence Operations: Fusing Information from Many Sources to Support the Next Generation of Geospatial Applications
by John F. Olesak and John J. Moeller
In November 2006 more than 3,100 people attended the GEOINT symposium in Orlando, FL. GEOINT 2006, with the theme of harnessing the power of geospatial intelligence for multi-intelligence, was a fascinating assembly of leaders in the intelligence community. As defense and intelligence agencies and industries develop new systems, explore advanced analysis techniques and expand the base of geospatial knowledge, we see opportunities for greater geospatial capabilities being pushed to all of society. However, we need not only to address the rapidly changing and expanding technologies of the modern world, but also to figure out how to deal with some of the cultural and organizational issues which change much more slowly. This article, by Northrop Grumman Corp.'s John Olesak and John Moeller, explores the issues.
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Google KML Search: What Does it Mean for Geospatial Professionals?
by Adena Schutzberg
There's been a lot of coverage of Google's recent announcement via a blog of a KML search capability from Google Earth and Google Search. Michael Jones, Google's Chief Technologist for Google Earth, Maps, Local answered some questions to clarify what it does, how it works and explored some of its implications for searching for geodata.
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Geospatial Intelligence in Financial Risk Assessment in Fleet Management
by Richard Mahany
Business intelligence analytics is a proven technology in industries such as insurance and financial services, but it is new to the field of fleet management. The availability of geospatial data is playing a huge role in how transportation fleet managers forecast potential risk and protect their companies from financial loss. This article will examine how fleet managers can apply readily available and valuable geospatial data, alongside information from other available data sources, to create actionable business intelligence analytic systems that help managers better identify and manage risk, and improve the overall financial security and performance of their fleets.
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Directions on the News - February 13, 2007
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
This week's Directions on the News will look at NAVTEQ's yearly financials, Safe Software's support of GeoRSS, free maps from Nokia and the FGDC is looking for your comments on metadata, plus detailed reports on the Federal USGS budget for FY 2008 and Editor-in-chief Joe Francica provides his insights on the SiRF/Skyhook deal.
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SiRF and Skyhook to Offer Hybrid GPS/Wi-Fi Location Solution
by Adena Schutzberg
Today at 3GSM World Congress 2007, the big communications show in Barcelona, Spain, Boston-based Skyhook, which specializes in location determination using Wi-Fi, announced a relationship with one of the most recognized name in GPS chips: SiRF. SiRF has licensed Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) to integrate the two technologies so that handsets can use either location determining method for location-based applications.
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Extra! Extra! Read (and see) all about it!
by Rick Hutton
"Content is king" has been a catch phrase in the publishing arena since the early days of the online world. But your content can only be king if your users can find it at the very instant it is contextually relevant to them. Metadata are the means by which publishers of digital information can dynamically present additional content to their users, and therefore reap additional value from underutilized content assets. Of the many types of metadata that can be derived from digital content, geographic metadata offer unique value. This article, by MetaCarta's Rick Hutton, discusses how publishers can add value using it.
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Demonstrating and Measuring GIS Benefits with an ROI-driven Framework
by Ross Smith and Karl Boone
As GIS has become more mainstream, users and advocates have migrated toward enterprise and integrated solutions. It is no secret to GIS professionals that GIS can deliver real operational efficiencies, ultimately translating into revenue-increasing and cost-reducing benefits. However, despite the tremendous potential to realize benefits , the adoption of GIS is slowed not only by the size of the investment - which requires approval from top management - but also by the difficulty in linking operational and financial benefits together. PA Consulting's Ross Smith and Karl Boone offer some insights into how to prove GIS ROI.
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Composite Applications Take Enterprise Location Intelligence to Next Level
by Joe Francica
Management of global asset allocation, price risk of energy futures and environmental analysis are just some of the challenges that global energy providers deal with on a daily basis. To mitigate these challenges, one international energy producer turned to CH2M HILL and IDV Solutions. This article, by Joe Francica, describes ten "mashups for management."
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Directions on the News - February 6, 2007
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg reviews what you need to know about MapInfo Q1 revenues, a univeristy teaching Pictometry, ESRI and Software Oriented Architecture and explores why LiDAR is hot, how yet another GIS packages goes open source and details how the technology community has come together to find missing Microsoft researcher Jim Gray.
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A Google View of Data Sharing
by Joe Francica
At the Map World Forum in Hyderabad, India, Michael Jones, chief technologist of Google Earth, shared his views on the benefits of standards. Google is an Open Geospatial Consortium principal member and supports efforts to encourage standards adoption. Google has a "democratized" view of data sharing which begins with the vast amount of information that has already been captured by those working in GIS. Joe Francica reports.
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GIS Technology: An International Market of Enormous Potential
by Joe Francica
If you want to take a glimpse into the future market potential of geospatial technology growth, look toward Asia. In the 25 years since Joe Francica was last in India - back when the Survey of India was still doing everything with paper maps and satellite image processing computers were locked behind government doors - the mindset of its leaders has changed. What he saw this time was a market of enormous potential for geospatial software, data and services, provided government policy continues to evolve.
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That's a Wrap ... (For Now)
by Gary Smith
In Gary Smith's previous four editorials, his goal was to point out the opportunities offered by the use of 3D in GIS. Judging from the replies many of you posted or forwarded to him directly, he's pretty sure he succeeded. This editorial wraps up the series (for now).
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GIScience and Disease Analysis: An Example with Hantavirus in Paraguay
by Douglas G. Goodin and David E. Koch
The Russian parasitologist and geographer E.N. Pavlovsky was among the first to recognize the importance of landscape in the transmission of infectious diseases. Pavlovsky showed that the distribution of disease could be linked to key biotic and abiotic environmental elements, and that the landscape could be used to identify and map the spatial and temporal patterns of disease risk. In this article, two professors from the University of Kansas apply these techniques to mapping hantavirus in Paraguay.
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Why LBS Applications Fail
by David H. Williams
The LBS market has finally taken off, and with it has come a flurry of LBS application development, with an increased urgency among developers to be first to market with their application. This urgency increases the risk of missteps in the LBS development and launch processes. These missteps take the form of what David Williams calls the "LBS Seven Deadly Sins."
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USGS in 2007: Moving Forward
by Adena Schutzberg
The USGS had a significant presence at ESRI's Federal User Group Meeting in Washington a few weeks ago. Adena Schutzberg was invited to meet with some of both the new and seasoned staffers for an update on that agency. Overall, she'd describe the situation as unsettled, but moving forward.
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OGC Demonstrates Sensor Web Decision Support Services
by Sam Bacharach
Cities and major facilities such as ports and airports are full of isolated sensors and security cameras. Many are accessible or can be made accessible via the Web. How can disaster managers make use of them in a crisis? At a December 7 and 8, 2006 demonstration, OGC members showed how multiple interoperable technologies, including sensor webs, could be used together to respond to a major emergency event. OGC's Sam Bacharach describes the project.
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Podcast: Exclusive Interview with Kipal Sibal, Minister of Science, Technology and Earth Science, Government of India
by Joe Francica
Joe Francica conducted an interview with Mr. Kapil Sibal, the Honerable Minister of Science, Technology and Earlth Sciences for the Government of India at the Map World Forum. Mr. Sibal's position would be equivalent to a cabinent secretary of the U.S. Government. He is the visionary driving GIS technology adoption within India and his remarks are quite candid with respect to the lack of trained GIS professionals in his country as well as to the issue of the democratization of data, especially remotely sensed data. Included is a discusion of the situation that developed about one year ago with some sensitive data on Google Earth.
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Podcast: Directions on the News - Tuesday Jan 23, 2007
by Directions Staff
In our weekly podcast covering the week's news Adena Schutzberg and Nora Parker look at news about a small bank using GIS, new offerings from EPA and Acxiom, and explore updates from the National Weather Service in how it shares weather alerts, ligitation related to the Brooks Act and new sponsors for OSGEO. Tune in!
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February's Brooks Act Litigation: What Geospatial Practitioners Need to Know
by Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
On February 2nd of this year the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS), and other organizations will face the United States of America in a lawsuit in Federal Court. The litigation seeks to change how the Brooks Act, a law concerning how federal contractors are selected in the procurement process, is implemented with regard to “mapping” services. This article attempts to lay out in plain English our best understanding of laws in question, the players, the lawsuit and the potential outcomes of the suit, which may have significant impact on geospatial practioners and businesses.
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Data Quality Challenges in 2007
by Dr. Michael Sanderson
"Data Quality is a problem we need to address." I couldn't believe I was reading these words in Dave Sonnen's article (Emerging Issue: Spatial Data Quality), published on January 4. At 1Spatial, we had been working hard to address matters for over a year and had reached the point where we felt there was a momentum behind this issue. So much so that we had put forward for vote a draft charter for an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Working Group. But Sonnen is right; there is more work to be done.
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Navigation in 2007: It's Much More Than Maps
by David Sym-Smith
As the sales returns come in from the 2006 holiday shopping season, it's inescapably apparent that navigation as a consumer electronics category continues to gain momentum. In addition to traditional in-vehicle navigation systems, we're seeing very strong pick up in personal navigation units and now, wireless navigation applications in mobile phones as well. Tele Atlas's David Sym-Smith looks ahead to 2007.
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Expanding the GIS Universe through Open API Toolkits
by Christopher J. Andrews
When Chris Andrews entered the GIS field and attempted to explain his job to friends or relatives, they would respond by saying something like "You mean like Rand McNally maps?" But by the end of 2005, typical Web users believed that they were knowledgeable about Internet mapping because of their use of Google Maps or Google Earth.
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Podcast: Accurate 3D Geometry for the Automotive Industry - An Interview with Brian Bullock, CEO, Intermap Technologies
by Hal Reid and Joe Francica
Editor-in-chief, Joe Francica, and senior editor, Hal Reid, interviewed Brian Bullock, CEO of Intermap Technologies, regarding the NEXTMap project which his company has recently been engaged in completing. The project goal is to capture accurate 3D geometry of road network data and sell the data to the automotive and insurance sectors to drive fuel efficiencies. In addition, the project has some environmental benefits. Bullock talks about how the automotive companies are using the data to anticipate road curvatures and changes in elevation to point headlamps in the proper direction to assist the driver's visual experience and prevent accidents. Listen for these and other topics in this 15 minute interview recorded on December 20th, 2006.
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Top Ten of 2006
by Adena Schutzberg
For each of the last six years Adena Schutzberg has put together the top ten "things" of the past year. Some are events, some are non-events, some are products and some are people. It's her opportunity to look back and highlight topics worthy of attention as we head into the New Year.
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Emerging Issue: Spatial Data Quality
by David Sonnen
Data quality is a problem we need to address if we in the geospatial industry expect to be a part of the enterprise IT picture. Our most pressing need is a simple, reliable way to answer: "Are these data fit for this purpose?" each time spatial data are merged or shared in an enterprise system. Industry analyst Dave Sonnen comments.
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Verizon Wireless' 3rd Party LBS Developer Program (TheZON)
by David H. Williams
This article is the second of a regular series that reviews application developer programs of key players in the LBS eco-system. Over the last year or so, Verizon Wireless (VZW) has moved aggressively back into the LBS space with applications like VZ Navigator, Field Force Manager and The Chaperone Family Locator Service.
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Refining the Business Case
by David H. Williams
Since the business side of the LBS equation can be somewhat foreign to many developers, LBS360.NET has started a series of articles to help developers in this area. Last month's article provided an overview of the first two steps in articulating the business case: articulating your value proposition and sizing the market. This month we build on that foundation, with refining the business case and developing the business model.
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Product Overview: GeoIQ - Making Your Maps Smarter and Better Looking Too
by Hal Reid
GeoIQ is an open platform that allows you to create applications integrating your data and other folks' data using Google Maps and Microsoft Visual Earth APIs. This combination provides not only interesting visualizations, it also allows for fairly complex analysis in an easy-to-use interface. GeoIQ operates as a Web service; the API lets you configure its usage, the data sources and the level of analysis. Hal Reid provides an overview.
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Participatory GIS - A Paradigm Shift in Development?
by Jen Osha and Daniel Weiner
The potential of participatory GIS revealed itself in a most unexpected way to one of the authors traveling with a group through the Ecuadorian Amazon. As invited guests of the Huaorani people, they recorded testimonies of the personal struggles of the Huaorani to protect local natural resources from oil companies, other foreign interests and the Ecuadorian government. This article, by Jen Osha and Daniel Weiner, of West Virginia University, looks at that case study and others.
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A New Age of Geospatial Interoperability
by Nuke Goldstein
An important change to the way geospatial content is shared and managed is coming. Technologies are now becoming available that can transform the way software is designed and implemented. New software design approaches are redefining how people and machines collaborate and interact, and modern networking and peer-to-peer technologies open up new potential for location-based content use. In the past few years The Carbon Project has been working on some of these new cutting edge technologies that are now coming to light. Nuke Goldstein of The Carbon Project offers his "biased reflection" on these efforts.
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Moving from Enterprise Location Data to Location Intelligence, Part 2
by Tara Pottebaum and Marcus Torchia
A company's ability to gain visibility into the "where" of its supply chain measurably enhances its ability to wisely balance conflicting supply chain requirements. For example, in past retail settings, achieving superior customer service (e.g., consistent order fulfillment and delivery rates) required maintaining high levels of inventory. However, inventory carrying costs negatively affect financial performance. In today's real-time supply chain, stockpiling inventory around the globe places an enterprise at a competitive disadvantage. This article is "Part 2" of a two-part series by Yankee Group analysts looking at the roll location intelligence plays in addressing this challenge.
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Seeing it Work, the Right Combination for Knowing
by Hal Reid
It's always amazing to see how a variety of tools designed for unrelated tasks can work together to create something new, the sum of which is greater than their individual components. It is more than synergy; it is achievement of an elegant solution or application. Here's an example from the GEOINT Symposium involving Thetus, Accenture, Oracle and a few other players.
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Product Overview: ZEBRA Imaging
by Hal Reid
3D is now standard output for most CAD systems, and is commonly used for viewing terrain data and built environments. ZEBRA Imaging offers a product that allows you to view these data from more than one angle, without having to redraw the images on a computer screen. ZEBRA Imaging provides fairly large - 600mm by 800mm - flat media holograms. Technical editor Hal Reid provides an overview.
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Getting from CAD to GIS: Perspectives from the Autodesk Geospatial User Community
by Joe Francica
Chris Bradshaw, vice president of Autodesk's Infrastructure Division, spent some time helping users understand their current software environment, specifically how they are using Autodesk software relative to the solutions that the company offers. By dividing users into certain levels, the goal is to help them better determine a migration path to ever-increasing data management capabilities. He classifies users into five levels of software usage. Joe Francica explains.
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A Reader's Guide to Geoblogs
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg reviews the growing plethora of geoblogs out there for the reading. Here at Directions we are also learning from our polls and surveys that more and more geospatial professionals are getting more and more of their news from the Internet. In the United States we have but one monthly print publication focusing exclusively on geospatial technology. Blogs play a very different role than formal publications.
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Autodesk University Conference Review
by Joe Francica
Joe Francica discusses the keynote presentation by Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, describes several of the applications that were demonstrated, and provides an overview of Autodesk's geospatial product updates.
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Address Mess
by Burt Ray Simpson
First, a bit of background for those who do not know Burt Ray Simpson. He has worked in newspaper delivery for the last dozen years and in doing so he has encountered numerous poorly implemented addressing conditions.
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Heavy Duty Workstations Seen at GEOINT
by Hal Reid
Every year at the GEOINT Symposium you get to see many fabulous gadgets and gizmos from companies large and small. One of the coolest technologies Hal Reid saw was a set of portable workstations from MaxVision. These are "hardened" devices designed for use in the field without sacrificing power, speed or reliability.
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Moving from Enterprise Location Data to Location Intelligence, Part 1
by Tara Pottebaum and Marcus Torchia
A company's ability to gain visibility into the "where" of its supply chain measurably enhances its ability to wisely balance conflicting supply chain requirements. For example, in past retail settings, achieving superior customer service (e.g., consistent order fulfillment and delivery rates) required maintaining high levels of inventory. However, inventory carrying costs negatively affect financial performance. In today's real-time supply chain, stockpiling inventory around the globe places an enterprise at a competitive disadvantage. This article is "Part 1" of a two-part series by Yankee Group analysts looking at the roll location intelligence plays in addressing this challenge.
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GEOINT 2006 - WOW Technologies
by Hal Reid
The GEOINT Symposium is an assembly of intelligence agencies, defense contractors and technology companies that devise systems and techniques which will ultimately move down to business and consumers. There are a number of examples of these downward pushes of technology, from sensor networks delivering traffic conditions to commuters to high-resolution images used in Google Earth that are also available for retail development. Here are some things Hal Reid thought were particularly interesting this year.
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Tsunami Warning-You Are Located in the Threat Area
by Joe Francica
On October 15th of this year, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the Big Island of Hawaii about six miles north of the Keahole-Kona Airport at 7:07 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Joe Francica happened to be on the Big Island at the time, approximately 15 miles from the epicenter of both quakes, and found himself "in the dark" about what was going on and how much danger he was in. Here he tracks the information flow and offers suggestions about how it could be improved.
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Information Extraction and Problem-Solving in the Earth Sciences using Remote Sensing and GIS
by Michael P. Bishop
People are increasingly becoming aware of environmental issues and the interconnectedness of the Earth's dynamic systems. Remote sensing, geographic information technology (GIT), and the availability of commercial GISs have profoundly affected our ability to generate spatio-temporal information in the Earth sciences. It is very important, however, to recognize not only the advantages associated with new data and technology, but the inherent limitations that dictate accuracy and utility of information. Guest editorial by Dr. Michael P. Bishop.
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Autodesk Location Services Developer Program
by David H. Williams
Autodesk is a diversified software company that provides targeted solutions for creating, managing and sharing digital assets, including location information. Initially focused on computer-aided design (CAD) software, in recent years Autodesk has moved aggressively into the LBS marketplace. This article describes their LBS developer program.
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Knowing Your Business Case
by David H. Williams
Developers heard the same mantra over and over again at the last two CTIA meetings from every carrier and venture capitalist: it is critical to understand your LBS application's business case of your LBS application if you are to have any hope of it being accepted and/or funded. David H. Williams provides the basics.
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Location-Based Services Make Inroads on the Field Service Map
by Sumair Dutta
In October 2006, Aberdeen Group (in partnership with Directions Media) launched a survey to examine the mobile field service procedures, experiences and intentions, especially with regards to Location-based Services. The survey garnered 270 respondents over a two week period and all the data presented in Aberdeen's "Location. Location. Location. Does it Matter in Field Service? Benchmark Report" is a representation of the responses by the 270 survey participants. This article offers a summary of key findings.
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A New Chapter Begins for Intergraph
by Joe Francica
One of the key geospatial companies in the world, Intergraph, begins a new chapter in its history with the closing of the sale to Cobalt Holding Company. The company will no longer be publicly traded as private investors seek to strengthen the company’s market position. At this time, no changes appear to be forthcoming as Intergraph will retain its name and continue operating as it always has.
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Open Source Geospatial Software Provides an Enterprise Alternative for Small Agencies
by Christopher J. Andrews
In the past several years, Chris Andrews has encountered a variety of public utilities and municipalities that have fewer than 10 technical staff members. Each of these clients spoke with him about making the transition to the right enterprise GIS for their size organization. One recurring theme in those discussions has been the unwillingness to try open source software technology as an alternative to license fee-based proprietary technology. Andrews discusses why they really shouldn't worry.
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My House Is Not a Point
by Gary Smith
Do you remember the first time you were shown GIS technology? The smile which that introduction most certainly brought to your face may have faded over time, but columnist Gary Smith hopes you are continually stimulated by the thought of new ways you can use the technology. For him, the use of 3D in GIS is like his first cup of coffee in the morning.
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Analysis - Part 5
by Lisa Krizan
Analysis is not merely reorganizing data and information into a new format. At the very least, analysis should fully describe the phenomenon under study, accounting for as many relevant variables as possible. At the next higher level of analysis, a thorough explanation of the phenomenon is obtained, through interpreting the significance and effects of its elements on the whole. This is Part 5 of an article by Lisa Krizan addressing "intelligence essentials for everyone."
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More Business Geographics on a Budget – The EASI Demographics Website
by Hal Reid
When you begin looking at “business geographics” systems, it can be somewhat confusing trying to match what you want to accomplish with what is available in the marketplace. The commitment can be expensive, and not only do you need to learn the language, you probably also have to try out some of the techniques to get a clear picture of how this technology might apply to your particular set of business problems. If you are as frugal as Hal Reid is, or have anybody in your budget approval chain of command who is, you are going to have to be sure you don’t buy a dump truck to deliver a postage stamp. That's where EASI Demographic's website can be very helpful.
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Product Review: Trimble AllSport GPS
by Joe Francica
AllSport GPS is a cell phone-based software application, supported by a Web service, for individuals interested in monitoring, recording and mapping their sports activities, such as running, walking, biking, hiking, etc. The application is designed to run on phones supplied by Sprint PCS, Nextel, SouthernLINC, or Boost Mobile (a division of Sprint Nextel). Joe Francica offers a review.
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Microsoft/Vexcel and NAVTEQ/Traffic.com: One Acquisition Integrated, One Just Announced
by Adena Schutzberg
The beginning of the week saw two big announcements related to geospatial technology and business. Microsoft rolled out Virtual Earth 3D, its new in-browser (IE 6/7 only) app built from Vexcel technologies, and NAVTEQ announced the acquisition of traffic collection and distribution firm, Traffic.com. The two events highlight the old saying that data are the fuel that keeps geospatial applications running.
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Responding to the Threat of Agricultural Bioterrorism
by Shawn Hutchinson
In October 2004, Kevin Coleman discussed the susceptibility of the U.S. food supply chain to bioterrorist attack. Given events surrounding the recent E. coli outbreak in spinach grown in the U.S., now is an ideal time to revisit the subject of food safety by expanding upon the place of agriculture in the United States and some of the ways in which geospatial technology, and its practitioners, can address this area of homeland security. This article by Dr. Shawn Hutchinson, addresses this topic.
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New Product: NAVTEQ Parcel Boundaries
by Hal Reid
NAVTEQ has introduced a parcel boundary data file (cleverly named NAVTEQ Parcel Boundaries) that could be the next big thing in the world of business geography data. The last big thing, in terms of mapping and geocoding, was the street centerline file … which has been around for a while.
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Image Search Technology: Mimicking Human Sight to Mine Image Content
by Hal Reid
A few weeks ago Hal Reid attended a pixLogic webinar presented by CEO Joe Santucci and moderated by Mike Shrader from the pixLogic Intelligence team. piXlogic is a software company that develops products to recognize content in imagery and video. The software allows you to see and understand data that reside within imagery and video through intelligent searches and comparisons.
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Quality Control in Digital Photogrammetric Mapping
by Mridul Kumar
As we know, quality control in photogrammetric mapping substantially influences the accuracy of the final product. A proper workflow, with a focus on quality, is necessary in any photogrammetric map production process. A detailed procedure for quality control and consistent quality improvement must be inherent throughout the production process in any mapping organization. This article discusses some of the experiences and issues involved in achieving quality objectives, and breaks down the details of some of the production processes.
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OSGeo Offers Up a Tiling Specification
by Adena Schutzberg
E-mail lists and blogs covered the Open Source Geospatial Foundation's (OSGeo) announcement of a Tile Map Service Specification last week. It's a vision that springs from a real world problem: Web Map Servers (specifically those that offer free/public data via the OGC's Web Map Service Specification) servers go down or get bogged down. That means that the Landsat data you were counting on to use as the background for a map may be slow to show up or never reach you. Adena Schutzberg explains.
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Editorial: Becoming New Again
by Hal Reid
Last week Hal Reid attended a Webinar titled "Improving Business Decisions through Location Intelligence" which was presented by BusinessWeek Research Services and MapInfo. Here he offers his thoughts on how some things we thought were old are new again.
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Putting Business Intelligence on the Map
by Louella Fernandes
GIS has long offered the capability to analyze geospatial data. The power of geospatial analysis has not been ignored by business intelligence vendors. Quocirca principal analyst Louella Fernandes looks at the trends and asks, "how close are we to the location enabled enterprise?"
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A Single Version of the Truth: Empowering Governments with a Single Mapping Database
by Kenneth Clay
Many state, county and municipal governments are plagued with a fundamental problem which can severely hinder the goals of their individual agencies, interagency collaboration and the overarching mission of protecting and serving the public. This article, by Tele Atlas' Kenneth Clay, looks at the dilemma of inconsistent mapping, the benefits of a single map in practice, the important elements for developing a single mapping database to support critical GIS applications, and how common mapping data ultimately fuels improved interagency collaboration and supports enhanced security and citizen protection.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg considers three topics: navigating and why some signage is highly effective; we're still "talking among ourselves" instead of getting the word out about what we do to a wider audience; and the inherent value of including a "click to see the map" option.
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'Consequence Management' Goal of NORTHCOM GIS
by Roy Hawkins
The U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) has built a GIS that could be crucial in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) event. This article, reprinted by permission from the NGA's Pathfinder magazine, describes the system.
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LBS Development - Determining Privacy Requirements
by David H. Williams
As the market for location-based services (LBS) rapidly grows, so does the need for more sophistication in their design. Areas such as user interface, fixed/mobile integration, and viral networking capabilities are all candidates for further enhancement. But nowhere is the need for sophistication more important than in the design of LBS privacy infrastructure. David H. Williams discusses the issues and their ramifications for LBS developers.
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Intelligence Essentials for Everyone - Part 3, Collection
by Lisa Krizan
The collection function rests on research - on matching validated intelligence objectives to available sources of information, with the results to be transformed into usable intelligence. Just as within needs-definition, analysis is an integral function of collection. This third part of an article by Lisa Krizan looks at the intelligence collection phase.
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Business Geographics on a Budget - A Look At DataPlace
by Hal Reid
Not everyone wants or needs to sustain a full Business Geographics system. Access to maps and demographics may not be an ongoing need for many - some people just need to get the basic data about an area of interest. DataPlace, a website sponsored by the Fannie Mae Foundation (and referred to as a "KnowledgePlex Initiative"), does an excellent job of letting you access maps, data and charts for any place in the U.S., and it's free.
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ESRI 9.2 Rollout Seminar
by Adena Schutzberg
ESRI is running a series of full day seminars around the country and world to introduce users to ArcGIS 9.2. Adena Schutzberg attended the morning session last week in Boston, which focused on products, specifically ArcGIS desktop and ArcGIS server. She offers an overview of the highlights.
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I Can See My House!
by Gary Smith
This is a continuation of the editorials started a few weeks ago by columnist Gary Smith (How Big is an Acre?, published on Sept. 7, and What is Your Excuse? published on Sept. 28). The goal is to stimulate discussion about 3D GIS, its possibilities, limitations and capabilities.
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NSGIC Trends
by Adena Schutzberg
Last week's National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) annual meeting was a whirlwind tour of agencies, states, technologies, visions, suggestions, questions and proposals. Here are some of the key themes and ideas Adena Schutzberg came away with after four days of meetings in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Converting Customer Needs Into Intelligence Requirements
by Lisa Krizan
The articulation of the requirement is the most important part of the process, and it seldom is as simple as it might seem. There should be a dialogue concerning the requirement, rather than a simple assertion of need. Perhaps the customer knows precisely what is needed and what the product should look like. Perhaps... not. Lisa Krizan delves further into applying intelligence techniques to business.
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Secret Amateur Spy Series
by Hal Reid
Hal Reid felt it was time to put a little fun in our lives but looking further into our abilities to be amateur spies. It occurred to him that this could add a dimension of excitement to our lives, and provide you with an opportunity to apply their existing skills to a world of whimsy.
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Product Review: BusinessMAP Financial
by Hal Reid
BusinessMAP Financial is a bold new step, creating a product for a specific vertical by combining both an affordable mapping solution and a surprisingly vast dataset. Traditionally, Business Geographic products have always had two hurdles - especially for new users, of 1) being perceived as difficult to use; and 2) expensive. BusinessMAP Financial addresses both those challenges in an easy to use, affordable product targeted at the financial services industry. Hal Reid offers his review of the product.
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Intelligence Essentials for Everyone
by Lisa Krizan
Intelligence is more than information. It is knowledge that has been specially prepared for a customer's unique circumstances. The word knowledge highlights the need for human involvement. This article, by Lisa Krizan and reprinted by permission from the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, introduces the "essentials" that everyone needs to know regarding collecting and using intelligence.
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Geosemble: Automating Geospatial Data Integration
by Adena Schutzberg
Integration. Fusion. Conflation. All these terms refer to matching two different data sets together. That's something that's been done for decades in our industry, so could there possibly be anything new? Yes! The new idea came from one of the next generation thinkers in our field, Jason Chen, director of Research and Development at Geosemble Technologies.
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Good News! LBS Developments at CTIA IT Wireless & Entertainment 2006
by David H. Williams
September's Cellular Telephone Industry Association (CTIA) trade show in Los Angeles was much smaller than the April CTIA meeting - approximately 1/3rd the size (and this is not unusual for the fall show), but the amount of good news for the location-based services (LBS) market was not significantly less. While there were few major announcements from exhibitors, there was a considerable amount of LBS-related information being disseminated, particularly during the NAVTEQ LBS Developer Conference and the CTIA LBS breakout sessions. In this article, David H. Williams reports on some of the key highlights.
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GIS Web Services Solutions at the City of Hamilton
by Jin Y. Xie
When the new community portal, myHamilton, and the new economic development Web site, Invest in Hamilton, were proposed, there was a high degree of interest in enhancing and expanding the ability to "call" GIS functionality from general Web applications at a reasonable cost. Nothing can beat a visual representation when assisting citizens, businesses and visitors in accessing services, promoting community events, and facilitating investment. When asked to create a solution, GIS Analyst Jin Xie developed several "GIS Web services" based on GeoMedia Web Map, which are hosted in the GIS Services Division in the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and described in this article.
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The Missing Department Revisited
by Hal Reid
Hal Reid wrote an editorial back in February 2006 about the "missing department" in which he advanced an opinion about jettisoning parts of the enterprise - those that were probably better outsourced and which inhibited (in my opinion) the growth and dynamics of the organization. This article highlights an approach to doing so.
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Barnes Bank Expands Business in Utah
by Hal Reid
Barnes Bank is a community banking organization, operating 10 branches in Utah. It has been in business for 115 years and, prior to 1991, had just one location. Since then the bank has branched out (pun intended) to cover other communities in Utah. Hal Reid interviewed Director of Marketing Rob Pyper to learn more about the strategy and tools used.
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Product Review: MapInfo Professional Version 8.5
by Paul Amos
MapInfo Professional version 8.5 is the latest version of MapInfo’s desktop GIS software. The goals of the latest release of MapInfo Professional are to simplify high quality location enablement, provide greater analytical capability and simplify and speed up analysis. Paul Amos offers his review.
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Podcast: GlobeXplorer and the Future of Imagery
by Joe Francica
Directions editor-in-chief, Joe Francica, spoke with Rob Shanks, president of GlobeXplorer, on the business model of Web services, the availability of specific products and the interest level that exists for purchasing Web services.
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DM Solutions Announces Formal Open Source GIS Support Program
by Adena Schutzberg
DM Solutions Group has announced DMSG Premiere in what it describes as "our industry's first international commercial support service for open source web mapping technologies." The offering is aimed at users, developers and IT managers - be they new to open source geospatial technology, currently using open source, or existing DMSG clients.
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Destinator - Personal Navigation With a Flair
by Hal Reid
Recently, Hal Reid had a discussion with Milan Brkic, product marketing manager at Destinator Technologies, a personal navigation software company. Personal navigation systems consist of hardware, GPS receivers, and most importantly, software and data that make the hardware and GPS receivers work. Destinator is a combination of software and data that is OEM'd to several hardware companies around the world.
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Integrating Data from Both Sides of the Firewall
by Keilee Kramer
Organizations are beginning to recognize the need to monitor multiple real-time information sources regularly and automatically. The Web is one of the major sources of data that must be monitored and analyzed by today�s enterprises. Additionally, critical information is located in internal records and data; it is stored throughout an organization in databases, email stores, office documents, spreadsheets and other data repositories located behind the company firewall. This article, by QL2 Solutions Keilee Kramer, discusses their product, WebQL, and how it helps bring these data sources together.
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Exclusive: Intergraph Executives Discuss Pending Acquisition
by Directions Staff
Last week, we learned that Intergraph Corporation agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by two investment firms, Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) and Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in a transaction valued at approximately $1.3 billion. On Wednesday afternoon, September 6th, Directions Media editors spoke with Intergraph executives, Reid French, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Peter Batty, chief technology officer, and Ian Hoffman, vice president of marketing, about the pending acquisition and to clarify some recent statements that have been made in the mainstream and trade press.
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How Big Is An Acre?
by Gary Smith
How big is an acre? When Gary Smith was in college in the late '60s that was a valid test question. He was a forestry major and expected to know this information. (For the purpose of this editorial, please substitute hectare if you are outside the U. S.) In this guest editorial, Smith considers the impact of how we present and/or mis-represent data, and wonders if 3D might hold the key to comprehension.
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Intergraph Focuses on Your Safety
by Joe Francica
Joe Francica talked to Ben Eazzetta, president of Intergraph's Security, Government and Infrastructure (SG&I) division, just four days before announcement was made that there is an agreement to sell the company to a group of private investors, pending investor approval. This article focuses on Intergraph's concerted effort to focus its business on the hot sectors of public safety and security
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deCarta Tackles Developers Capitalizing on Web 2.0
by Joe Francica
You may not be familiar with the company called deCarta (or Telcontar, as the company was formerly known), but you have probably used its product. deCarta’s geospatial platform, which generates maps, routes and spatial queries, is at the core of some very well-known applications, including Internet mapping sites Google, Yahoo! and Ask.com, as well as wireless applications such as TeleNav and Networks in Motion. Joe Francica interviews Kim Fennell, president and CEO of deCarta.
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ReCAP – Retail Location Data
by Brad Shelton
DataSource Technology and Competitive Analytics Professionals created a database of retail locations that is highly targeted and categorized for retail developers and marketers. Brad Shelton, of DataSource Technology, responded to our questions about the product, ReCAP. In this article, he explains what it is and how it came to be created.
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Podcast: Our Take On Intergraph Acquisition
by Directions Staff
Adena Schutzberg, Joe Francica and Hal Reid ponder what the acquisition of Intergraph by a group of investment companies may mean both short and long term. Also, what this acquisition might mean for other public geospatial companies like MapInfo. The 15 minute podcast, recorded September 1, 2006, includes a lot of speculation.
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Intergraph Acquired for $1.3 Billion
by Joe Francica
In a move sure to please investors, Intergraph Corporation was acquired today by an investment group led by Hellman & Friedman LLC and Texas Pacific Group. The deal was valued at $1.3 billion. The purchase price of $44 per share represents a 22% premium over the average closing price during the last twenty day period. Intergraph's board has approved the purchase. In a press statement, board president Sid Mcdonald said, "Our Board of Directors believes this transaction is in the best interests of our stockholders and underscores the significant operational and financial improvements Intergraph has made over the past three years." The deal is expected to close by year end. More information can be found in the press release.
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GIS Jobs and the Environment
by Richard Serby
Many people who are trained in the geospatial sciences have a great interest in saving the environment. There are nonprofits, public agencies and commercial companies which may provide the environmental opportunity you are seeking. This article by Rich Serby provides a few ideas.
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Scalable Server-side In-database Geoprocessing
by Simon Greener
This article by Simon Greener summarizes a presentation Tim Osborn from Forestry Tasmania presented at the Oracle Spatial User Group held in Hobart, Tasmania on 15th March 2006. Osborn's presentation was about some joint work he and Greener had done on the implementation of "within database" Oracle Spatial geo-processing for a specific "mission critical" application.
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Data, Data…Who's Got the Data?
by Adena Schutzberg
As GIS matured, the purchasing model changed from one where buyers acquired both the system and the geospatial data from the same vendor, to one where software vendors had "data partners." From there we are moving to a model where data are a commodity and perhaps someday nearly any vendor will be happy to sell/license/serve up any data in any format in any projection. Adena Schutzberg considers the ramifications.
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Mobility Profiles and Future Location-based Services
by Sarfraz Khokhar and Arne Nilsson
This article looks at the next step in LBS development - creating a mobility profile for a mobile user to model where that user is likely to be at specific times on different days of the week. We leave you to imagine what the killer app for such a capability would be. This article describes what’s coming, and some of the technical challenges being addressed.
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A First Look at Tele Atlas' Map Insight
by Adena Schutzberg
On Monday Tele Atlas announced a new Web tool that allows users to report potential errors in the company's mapping database. Evan Shelby, product manager for the application gave Adena Schtzberg a short tour of called Map Insight. She presents a look at the present and future of this important application.
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What Was the Most Important Year in the History of the Geospatial Industry?
by Carl Reed III
Was the year that PC-based GIS products were introduced, the most important year in the history of our industry (about 1986)? How about the year the first commercial Web mapping applications, such as MapQuest.com, were introduced (1996)? Or how about last year (2005), with the introduction of those really cool virtual mapping and visualization applications for consumers? Dr. Carl Reed offers his take.
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Latest Portable GPS Devices Empower Consumers
by Jeff Carpenter
If you are a consumer with a high disposable income and a love for the latest gadgets, you ought to be thrilled with the current state of the portable GPS industry. Smack in the middle of an innovation bandwagon, consumers have more options than ever when choosing a product to help guide them to their favorite destination. Jeff Carpenter, found of GPS POI US, explains.
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ESRI Answers Questions Submitted by Directions Magazine Readers
by Joe Francica
In a newsletter we published before the ESRI User’s Conference last week, we asked our readers to submit questions to us so that we could seek out the answers during the event. We selected three
questions from those submitted. We pursued the answers to these questions in a number of ways and present those answers here.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
There were discussions this week among those who attended the ESRI conference about whether there was anything "new." Adena Schutzberg noted the focus on imagery and new uses for it. It seems that imagery has stepped to the fore as the "hot" data type, joining 3D data at the top of the list.
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War Gaming Decisions: The Newest Risk Management Tool
by Ben Gilad
Ben Gilad is a former strategy professor, a former intelligence officer and a current war game facilitator. He has been running war games since 1982; dozens and dozens of them in every industry imaginable and too many Fortune 500 companies to remember them all.
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Francica Interviewed on WNYC
by Joe Francica
Radio host Jonathon Capehart of WNYC, the National Public Radio Affiliate in New York City, interviewed Directions Media editor-in-chief, Joe Francica about Internet web mapping and personal navigation.
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ESRI User Conference News You Might Have Missed
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg reviews items of interest from the ESRI User Conference that may have slipped by. These include Service at Sea, ESRI's growing relationship OAS, GlobeXplorer and ArcWeb Services, Tele Atlas and Smart Data Compression, the Ed UC, Dangermond on Google Earth, the Potential of ArcGIS Server, the Survey Summit, Ed Parsons on interoperability and finally, awards.
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Snapshot - The ESRI UC Senior Executive Seminar
by Joe Francica
The Senior Executive Seminar of ESRI's User Conference is a gathering of nearly 300 invited attendees who represent the crème of the GIS crop from around the world, in business and government. Hosting the event, as he has for the last few years was Roger Tomlinson, president of Tomlinson and Associates, who is recognized as the "father of GIS." The presentations by C-level executives provides insights into how the technology is used at some of the most well run organizations in the world.
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Stock Values Tumble - Mid-Year Earnings Review of Public Geospatial Companies
by Joe Francica
The first half of 2006 has not been kind to public geospatial
companies. Nearly every company experienced declines in stock value. Noted exceptions to this were Garmin and Trimble with each seeing double digit growth in value. With all of the excitement in the location technology industry sector, it looks like investors are takinga breather...Read more and view the mid-year stock chart.
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Location 2006 Conference – a Report from India
by Krzysztof Kolodziej
Early in June, Kris Kolodziej attended the Location 2006 conference in Bangalore, India, the second annual international conference and exhibition in the field of positioning and navigation technologies. About 300 professionals gathered at this event to talk about the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), emerging trends in positioning technologies, and location intelligence – including LBS.
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Turning The Big One Point 0
by Hal Reid
This month marks the first anniversary of Location Intelligence Magazine. Since we write about software, hardware and other things that come in versions, it seemed appropriate to designate this past year as LI 1.0. In celebration, we're including some of our favorite articles in this issue – if you didn't read them the first time around, here's another chance.
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Placebase Innovates Again
by Adena Schutzberg
Perhaps you remember Placebase, the small company that this past spring came out with a Google Maps-like API offering without the Google Map-like license called Pushpin. It allowed, for a fee, commercial use, a fast and similar-to-Google Maps API, and turned a number of heads. Adena Schutzberg reports that the company is back to announce the next round of innovation, offering up two new technologies that developers, and their end users, will find most attractive.
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Curt Tomlinson on the Business of Mapping Mashups
by Adena Schutzberg
Curt S. Tomlinson is President of Seisan, a company he describes as being "best known for its premier development skills associated with LBS-based mapping solutions." Seisan developed the MapQuest API mashup Mapzierge, launched in March. The company has since launched two new mashups: CaddyMap - a golf course location mashup that combines all public, private and semi-private golf courses with weather forecasts; Shazou - a Firefox extension that allows a user to determine the exact geographic location of the website...Read more.
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Directional Sound Cuts Day Care's Evacuation Times
by David George
Safety usually tops a parent's list of questions when inquiring about day care centers. And now, technology that provides directional sounds to the nearest exit is allowing parents extra peace of mind. Triggered by the fire alarm control panel, a product called ExitPoint from System Sensor draws attention to exit routes in emergency situations. The varying tones and intensities coming from directional sound devices offer easy-to-understand cues for rapidly finding exits. ExitPoint can be used in a number of applications, including university and college campuses, schools, office buildings, retail, lodging, museums and day care centers. Read more.
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In-building Wireless Alliance Investigates Indoor LBS Applications
by Joe Francica
Real estate developers, architects, building management firms, and wireless companies are putting their heads together to understand how the building of the future will support voice, data, and location technology with a common communication and information technology infrastructure. The In-building Wireless Association (IBWA) is an organization that is trying to "accelerate the adoption of in-building wireless as a means of unlocking value to all stakeholders of communication and information within a building." This article will report on the vision these industry players have for creating "seemless communications" with buildings and how various location technologies will support better communication with workers and tenants.
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Map? Schmap!
by Paul Hallett
The whole world has gone map crazy, or so it seems. Even those of us who habitually confuse longitude and latitude have turned geo gaga. Is it something in the water? In fact, the typical spatial convert is largely compos mentis: not mad about maps, so much, but rather sensibly interested in information (conveyed primarily via text, images and location) that relates to him. Paul Hallet's company, Schmap, is focused on the dynamic integration of information with maps...
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Mobile Marketing & LBS: What's Next for Advertisers?
by Joe Francica
In the early years of mobile marketing, "push marketing" was the big thing whereby the mobile consumer would be happily strolling by his favorite retail store and he would suddenly receive an advertisement on his mobile handset. But this is 2006 and both technology and the consumer have reached a level of maturity that allows different business models to take shape. Zoove Corporation is looking to make it easier to link product information directly with the mobile consumer through "pull marketing."
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Location Intelligence on Fuel – Knowing Where Not to Buy Gas
by Hal Reid
This past week we have had several news stories about oil and the effect of gasoline prices. This seems to be a location intelligence topic that affects everybody and should be explored. This article, by Hal Reid, reviews some work MapInfo has done in the area of analyzing gas prices and gas consumption.
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Disney Mobile Selects Autodesk's LocationLogic LBS Platform: It's Not Magic
by Joe Francica
Disney's "magic kingdom" of theme parks, movies, and merchandising will soon expand into telecommunications and use location technology as one of its key business drivers. Disney Mobile is offering a new suite of cellular services with location-enabled applications. The company seems to have identified one of the "pain points" of consumers: family member security. Read more...
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Governments Continue to Launch Mapping Websites: What's New?
by Adena Schutzberg
Back in the late 1990s one goal of every small town, county, state and country was some sort of Web mapping solution that would be accessible to its constituency. New sites were trumpeted with press releases and after a while, they became commonplace and often very similar. Adena Schutzberg takes a look at some new offerings. What are the new innovations? What works?
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Evaluating Risk in World Markets
by Hal Reid
Location intelligence technology is frequently used to analyze risks in new markets. The geography being analyzed is often a trade area or a specific market. In the case of The PRS Group, the focus encompasses more than 160 countries. As more companies look to establish international operations, assessing potential markets must include gauging the risks in the countries being considered. That’s where The PRS Group (PRS) comes in.
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Century 21 Property Search Gold – Mapping Tool
by Hal Reid
According to the National Association of Realtors, 82% of first-time homebuyers and 78% of repeat buyers use the Internet when searching for a home. In addition, 90% of all homebuyers use a real estate professional. That means that a real estate company’s web site is very important to today’s buyers. Hal Reid provides an overview of Century 21's offering.
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The GML Simple Feature Profile and You
by Sam Bacharach
Here's a problem that a growing number of geospatial software developers face: adding support for the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) OpenGIS Geography Markup Language Encoding Specification (GML). Simply stated, GML is a standard to encode geometry and attributes using XML. The OGC's Sam Bacharach explains why implementing this standard isn't as bad as it sounds.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
The whole "long tail" idea comes up again and again these days. This article by Adena Schutzberg offers an explanation of what the long tail is, and applies it to geospatial data.
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GIS Nostalgia at the Base of the GIS Pyramid
by Atanas Entchev
Over the course of the last several years, columnist Atanas Entchev has identified two major voids in the GIS software market. He has discussed them with many of his friends at ESRI and at other software shops. As far as he knows, nobody has jumped at the opportunity to make millions of dollars from his insights. Yet.
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Product Review - MapPoint 2006
by Joe Francica
MapPoint 2006 is the next version of Microsoft's desktop mapping software. It is really two separate products: a desktop mapping system and an in-vehicle navigation system. Depending on how you use it, you may see the improvements made from the previous version, MapPoint 2004, as valuable or not. Microsoft touts the vehicle navigation features of this version, and thus potential purchasers should consider whether the desktop mapping features are adequate for the type of analyses required. But the product lacks key features in desktop mapping and falls short of being a viable in-vehicle navigation system. Read more...
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Ball State's Office of Wireless Research and Mapping
by Hal Reid
It is always interesting to see how academic endeavors become research projects and eventually end up as products. However, it is rare to see an integrated effort to formally foster all three within one organization, as Hal Reid found to be the case at Ball State University’s Office of Wireless Research and Mapping (OWRM).
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GeoEye Continues 3D Airport Mapping
by Adena Schutzberg
At the end of June, GeoEye announced it had received yet another contract from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). But this one wasn't for just plain old imagery; it was for 3D data of airports around the world. Adena Schutzberg spoke to Dejan Damjanovic, the program manager, to learn more about the project.
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Spatial Models for Reinsurance Applications
by Joe Francica
Guy Carpenter & Company, Inc., a member of the Marsh and McLennan Companies, is using Oracle Spatial in conjunction with the map algebra functions of PCI Geomatics to help insurance companies develop risk assessment models. Guy Carpenter has released a product called i-aXs which is an online risk management platform that provides a number of tools to insurance companies.
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Hillman Bolts Together GIS and Business Intelligence Solution
by Joe Francica
The Hillman Group is a "nuts and bolts" kind of company. Literally. It is a $380 million distributor of fasteners, screws, washers and, yes, nuts and bolts. But with more than 600 sales representatives scattered throughout the U.S., trying to efficiently align sales territories is a challenge. Sticking pins in wall maps to see the locations of sales representatives with respect to customers simply added up to too many pins. The company needed a better solution.
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SAP Takes Another Hard Look at the GIS Market
by Joe Francica
SAP has offered geospatial solutions in collaboration with ESRI for a number of years. SAP management believes, however, that the fundamentals of the market have changed. According to Oliver Mainka, SAP's GIS program manager, the company has taken the last 18 months to reevaluate the solutions that it brings to its substantial existing customer base. Joe Francica reports.
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SkylineGlobe.com: A Whole New World
by Adena Schutzberg
One can question how many 3D Internet globe products the world needs. The answer will be determined by the marketplace; some thinning out of the players will probably take place in perhaps the next three years or so. But for now, new players are still entering the market and introducing their business models. The latest entry from Skyline Software of Chantilly, Virginia is SkylineGlobe.com.
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Dashups from SRC
by Hal Reid
SRC announced the company is providing an API that allows developers to create "dashups" that provide demographic data.
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Product Overview: WebQL - Searching the Web, Acquiring Insight
by Hal Reid
Some very sophisticated tools are used in the process of collecting data, turning it into information, then into knowledge and finally into understanding. WebQL is one of those tools; it can automate and expand the process of data collection and transformation. Senior Technical Editor Hal Reid offers an overview.
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A newVue of geoVue
by Hal Reid
In today’s corporate world, the term “reorganization” frequently carries negative connotations – it usually means the CFO is busy saving his future by dumping workers right and left to make the bottom line look better. But geoVue’s recent reorganization actually involves adding people, and looks to better gear the company for aggressive expansion.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg a big fan of homework. That'll rattle a lot of cages, especially for those who have kids who hate it. But, let's face it, to learn a new skill or improve at something you already know, you need to practice. Here are ten homework assignments to keep your knowledge and skills honed.
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The Long Tail of Mapping
by Joe Francica
Geography's metaphor of communication is a map. Scientific achievements in both the physical and social disciplines of geography have used mapping as the way to express results and communicate ideas. Today's technology, whether it is a Web viewer like Google Earth, an analysis platform like ArcGIS, or a geo-social network like that created by Platial, is a profound expression of the "long tail of mapping." Joe Francica explores the topic.
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Voice Commands Coming Closer to Reality for Telematics
by Joe Francica
One of the real opportunities in telematics is to provide voice enabled commands from the driver to the in-vehicle navigation system. Few companies have tackled that challenge because of the difficulties at the human-to-machine interface. VoiceBox Technologies seems to have conquered it and is now offering tier one and tier two auto suppliers like Johnson Controls the technology to integrate their products with other on-board information systems.
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Applying Oracle Spatial to a Very Large Insurance Problem
by Hal Reid
A presentation by Scott Tracy and Jennifer Lemus of ISO Innovative Analytics and David Lapp of Farallon Geographics at the Location Intelligence Conference in April dealt with refining the process for understanding spatial risk for automobile insurance companies. This article by Hal Reid summarizes the presentation.
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The Many Flavors and Toppings of Location Intelligence: How Do You Make a Sundae? Part II
by Doug Kolom
In part one of this article, author Doug Kolom discussed the varied assortment of product and service offerings that inhabit the geospatial marketplace, and the challenges both newcomers and experienced professionals encounter while selecting the proper mix of technologies to build a solution - particularly in the commercial space where in-house GIS expertise is typically scarce. In part two, he explores some of the most important
questions to address before implementing geospatial technology, and
then elaborates on an increasingly common question: whether to
use a Web service to provide location intelligence or to build a
solution and host the technology in-house.
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GIS in Biodynamic Viticulture: Happy Vines Make Happy Wines
by Joe Francica
Geospatial information and technology has been used for several years in precision farming applications. Jim Fetzer, a member of the Fetzer family whose name emblazons the popular wines, wanted to apply the technology to grow and manage an "eco-friendly" vineyard near Clear Lake, California. Using biodynamics and sensor web technology he looking to forge a new method for vineyard management. Read more...
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Conference Report: New York State GeoSpatial Summit 2006
by Adena Schutzberg
No one seemed to mind that there was very limited Internet access (one line!) and virtually no cell phone service in North Creek, New York, home of last week's New York State GeoSpatial Summit. In fact, by the end of the day attendees noted how nice it was to attend an event and leave "invigorated." Adena Schutzberg attended and offers this report.
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Searching Searching, the Changing Nature of the Database
by Hal Reid
For most of our lives we have stored data in tables, in cells that form rows and columns. But if you stop to think about it, nobody thinks in rows and columns, except maybe database administrators. Senior Technical Editor Hal Reid ponders the changing nature of searching and saving data.
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Product Overview – Impress for GIS
by Hal Reid
"Impress for GIS" is about bridging worlds. These bridged worlds are those inhabited by traditional GIS and companies like SAP. Senior Technical Editor Hal Reid provides an overview.
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CTIA – Several Weeks Later
by David H. Williams
The tradeshow exhibits are long gone, the flurry of press releases passed, and in general the dust has subsided from CTIA Wireless 2006 (April 5-7, Las Vegas). The question: did CTIA represent anything new for the Location-Based Services world? The answer - to put it mildly – is a resounding “yes.” LBS is back in the wireless mainstream after many years of frustration and missteps.
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O Canada! Canadians and Open Source
by Kevin Flanders
It is nearly common knowledge that GIS finds its origins in government agencies in that great northern territory we know as Canada. I say "nearly" because there are still those that believe that GIS was created by proprietary software vendors ... which I bet makes the marketing guys at these companies more than happy with themselves.
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MapGuide Enterprise Leaves Space Dock
by Adena Schutzberg
As promised last fall at Autodesk University, the rollout of an Autodesk branded version of MapGuide Open Source began this week. The good news is that there are no significant deviations from the vision outlined at that event. The server product, MapGuide Enterprise 2007 is as promised. The map authoring tool, MapGuide Studio 2007, is as promised. In the intervening months, both have been thoroughly tested and Autodesk has firmed up pricing and licensing details. Read on for pricing info and an update.
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Fun with GeoRSS
by Adena Schutzberg
If you know what RSS is, GeoRSS is a logical step forward. But, since many people only vaguely know of RSS, let's start there. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Resource Description Framework (RDF) Site Summary or Rich Site Summary. This article, by Adena Schutzberg, explains RSS and GeoRSS, tells us why it's important, and provides examples of ways you can "play" with GeoRSS.
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GPS Wireless Conference 2006 - What’s in the name?
by Krzysztof Kolodziej
Early in March Kris Kolodziej attended the 10th annual GPS Wireless Conference in San Francisco. More than 200 mobile information professionals from the largest automobile manufacturers, wireless carriers, mobile electronics vendors, homeland defense and computer companies met for this two day conference. The conference covered topics ranging from mobile markets, wireless location services and mobile resource management, to the automobile as a mobile information platform.
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The Geography of Mobile Location Services
by Jonathan Spinney
Location-Based Services… another floundering data service, or mobile application area of rapid growth? The answer to the question today largely depends on geography. Not the geography inherent to location-based applications themselves, but rather the geographic characteristics of historical deployment trends. Jonathan Spinney of Openwave Systems comments.
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Maps of Intrigue
by Adena Schutzberg
The press coverage of ancient maps being found and new mashups being created is becoming commonplace. Rarely, at least for Adena Schutzberg, are such stories so fascinating that she digs deeper. One modern map story intrigued her enough to read the entire story in the Chicago Tribune. However, her skeptic’s hat was not on firmly enough that day, and she missed the opportunity to explore "the rest of story" as Paul Harvey would say. So, without further ado: "How a Sad Map Story Turned into Intrigue."
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BE Conference – May 21-25, 2006, Charlotte, NC
by Hal Reid
When Hal Reid attends a company’s user conference, he can easily get lost in the trade show, the new product releases, the receptions, or even in cool displays like the race car that was in front of the tech support table. Not so at Bentley's BE Conference (May 21-25, Charlotte, NC).
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CH2M HILL Looks to Gain Upper Hand as the Dominant Geospatial Systems Integrator
by Joe Francica
CH2M HILL is drawing a "line in the sand" for systems integration dominance. The company sees opportunity to capitalize on the need for geospatial expertise in the market. "We believe that CH2M HILL is going to stake a leadership position in the global SIM [spatial information management] business," said Mike Underwood, senior vice president and managing director for CH2M HILL’s Communications and Information Solutions Division. "Our sustaining differentiation is centered around spatial capabilities."
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SRC Announces Integration of Key Business Intelligence Factors in Retail Analysis
by Hal Reid
SRC has announced the integration of their www.DemographicsNow.com product with functionality from MetaCarta and data from Lebhar-Friedman, Inc. to produce a comprehensive market/site analytical tool for retail users. SRC has provided the ability to incorporate traditional tools for evaluating locations and markets with the ability to search for spatially-related articles and news. The articles are geographically indexed using technology from MetaCarta. Read more...
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MapInfo Embraces Web Services
by Adena Schutzberg
It's been many years - mid/late 1990s - since the first mention of the "vision of Web services for GIS." The big Web service on everyone's list? Geocoding, also known as "locationally enabling datasets." With MapInfo Professional v8.5, that vision is reality.
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Product Review: PCI’s Geomatica 10
by Michael Page
Geomatica 10 is an extensive suite of geospatial applications and tools offered by Canadian-based PCI Geomatics. Geomatica 10 is an image-centric application that brings together remote sensing, GIS, cartography and photogrammetry into an integrated environment. The software is born out of the precepts of the science and technology behind geomatics, a discipline concerned with collecting, storing, processing, and distributing geographic information. Michael Page, of Georgia State University, discusses the program’s usability, capability and performance and the opportunities for training and support.
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Cultural Differences, Technological Imperialism and Indigenous GIS
by David Mark
Do all people, from all cultures and all languages, think about geographic space and geographic processes in more or less the same way? Or are there significant cross-cultural variations in how different peoples conceptualize and reason about geographic processes, features and places? Dr. David Mark of the State University of New York at Buffalo discusses the issues and their ramifications for nono-Eurocentric users of geospatial technologies.
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An Overview of GeoImmersive Video
by Fuad Khan
Immersive Media has used the technology described in this article to capture 23 out of a planned 25 cities in the U.S. If you are doing retail expansion, or other activities that could benefit from this type of data, you might want to explore the company's web site and see if one of these cities fits your needs. The data feeds from all 11 cameras are stitched together into a geo-referenced 360 degree data stream, allowing you to measure, add to a map, etc.
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What's New in Google Maps 2?
by Eric Pimpler
In Eric Pimpler's article titled Introduction to Google Maps, published in Directions Magazine on March 13, he introduced the fundamental programming constructs provided by the Google Maps API for building dynamic Web mapping applications. Since that time, Google has released Version 2 of its highly popular Google Maps API. Pimpler provides an overview of the major changes.
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Company Overview: MapAsia.com
by Hal Reid
Hal Reid met Stanley Ng, CEO of MapAsia.com, at the Location Intelligence conference that took place in April, and followed up with him about the company's products after the conference. This article provides a brief overview of two of the company's products, China infoMap and MapKing.
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Home Depot Relies on Predictive Analytics for Reliable Location Intelligence
by Joe Francica
How do you open one "big box" home improvement store every two days? Just ask Mike Laferle, vice president of real estate for Home Depot, the second largest retailer in the United States with intentions of opening stores in China. LaFerle explains how Home Depot, the $81 billion company, has plans to expand into international markets, refurbish older stores, and exand into new concepts using location intelligence.
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Telcontar offers Commercial Map Web Service
by Adena Schutzberg
The field is getting more an more crowded with free mapping APIs, so perhaps it's not surprising to see fee-based options aimed at a slightly different segment of the market popping up. Telcontar's offering, announced today, comes in two flavors, one that's hosted behind a firewall, for internal use, and a second service which Telcontar hosts (Telcontar Hosted Web Services). In both cases developers can create complex AJAX (asynchronous Java and XML) fronted applications with functionality that goes beyond the free offerings.
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Conference Report: NEGIS 2006
by Adena Schutzberg
Regional GIS conferences are typically not vendor specific nor discipline focused, but rather attempt to appeal to "the locals." The good news is that such events are the place to be face to face with colleagues and customers from the area. The more recent edition of the New England event, NEGIS, held this week continues to blend a variety of topics with local needs. Adena Schutzberg reports.
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Telmap Product Overview
by Hal Reid
Telmap provides mobile navigation on cell phones, PDAs and Blackberry devices that have GPS built-in or are Bluetooth-enabled and can use an external Bluetooth GPS device. This is a �white label� (i.e. sold
through channels) product that is offered through cell service
providers or as a custom application for the enterprise. Hal Reid reviews Telmap's offering.
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A Global Indicator Information System
by Ali Safarnejad
This article, by Ali Safarnejad of the UN's FAO program, describes the principals and components of a global indicator information system. Indicators measure progress toward goals, at an individual, regional, and global level. There are innumerable benefits in organizing and sharing this information globally.
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Enabling Category Management with Space-Time Intelligence
by Nicholas Jacquez
Category management is the process of identifying and managing product categories as strategic business units, rather than simply viewing a retailer’s offering as a collection of individual products. This article, the first in a series of three, addresses how TerraSeer's Space-Time Intelligence System (STIS) can be used to reflect the dynamic nature of retail data, and describes a case study.
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Conference Report: 2006 SCIP International
by Hal Reid
The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) held its annual conference and exhibition last week (April 26-29) in Orlando, Florida. This conference is a collection of CI practitioners and consultants, vendors of software, search engines and data, all of whom span the worlds of market, business and competitive intelligence. Hal Reid reports on the meeting.
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Silicon Valley Limousine Drivers Know Their Way Around
by Calvin Chu
In the chauffeuring industry, knowing the fastest and safest routes through traffic is essential if you want to stay in business, particularly when your major clientele are Silicon Valley corporate executives for whom time is money. This article describes how one limousine company is leveraging technology to improve operations.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg asks a) why the mystery about the source of imagery in Yahoo Maps, and b) will mapping portals drive demand for commercial remotely sensed imagery?
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Welcome to LBS360.Net
by Joe Francica
Welcome to the first "official" newsletter issue of LBS360.NET. The purpose of the magazine is to offer news, technology resources and application examples of mobile location-based services (LBS). We have a tremendous library of technology-focused application articles, links and directories for the software development professional and market
planner.
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Navigating the Roadblocks to Consumer LBS Success
by Erica Karlsen
Erica Karlsen has come to terms with something that she has tried to overcome for years now. Despite the fact that she works for a mobile technology company, staying on top of current trends and working with industry experts, at the end of the day she is still a mobile user like anyone else. She may know more about mobile location than most people but as a civilian, she still just want my mobile services to be practical or fun, easy, reliable and affordable. Read on for her take on the roadblocks she sees for rolling this technology out to the masses.
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Product Overview: ClearFlite
by Hal Reid
Hal Reid had a discussion with Dr. A. Stewart Walker, Director of Marketing for BAE Systems, about ClearFlite. ClearFlite is a product that uses stereo imagery to locate potential obstacles to safe flight and generates both graphic and tabular outputs of those objects. ClearFlite is an extension to the BAE product Socet Set, its photogrammetric software.
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The Structure of the European LBS Market 2005
by Johan Fagerberg
Johan Fagerberg of Berg Insight AB summarizes the key elements of the European LBS market for 2005 and focuses on trends shaping European adoption of location-based services. Fagerberg states that "The foremost reason for the slow up-take is that the services offered up until today have simply been too slow and complicated to use." Read more of this report.
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Location Intelligence: More Than Just Something to Wow At
by Doug Kolom
Early April’s Location Intelligence conference in San Francisco provided a broad perspective of the market for geospatial technology. Attendees witnessed an expansive mix of product and service offerings and were presented with many innovations. We saw bird’s eye-view imagery, 360° immersive photo views, eye-catching simulation and visualization tools, and a new Google Maps look-alike Web service. There was much to soak in and a lot to ‘wow’ at. This is an accomplishment in the day and age of Video iPods and credit card-sized cameras (i.e. the bar for ‘wows’ is set really high).
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Dimensions of Data
by Brady Foust
The dictionary defines data as "factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions." GISs (from simple to advanced) generate and consume data at a voracious rate, but we, as professionals, don’t spend much time thinking about the many dimensions of data. Data streams have two dimensions. Brady Foust discusses these two dimensions.
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Katrina Demographics – A Claritas Assessment of Change
by Hal Reid
On Tuesday, March 7, Claritas hosted a WebEx presentation on Hurricane Katrina, highlighting the resulting shifts in demographics (consumers being relocated, moving away or being otherwise displaced). Editor Hal Reid was able to attend and provides this report.
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MapQuest Continues to Redefine Itself
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg spoke with Christian Dwyer, the Director and GM of the Business to Business (B2B) division of MapQuest, at the Location Intelligence conference, to round out her understanding and get an update on where the company is going.
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Integrating GIS with SAP Brings Improved Processes to Marin Water District
by Gavin McGhie
Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) is a veteran GIS user that has relied on systems from ESRI since 1993. As a public agency tasked with providing high-quality drinking water to approximately 185,000 people in a 147 square mile area of Marin County, California, it strives to use the latest technology to efficiently manage its infrastructure and natural resources. This article, by MMWD's GIS Coordinator Gavin McGhie, describes how the organization is using SAP and packaged integration applications to better manage operations.
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Ekahau Product Overview
by Hal Reid
On February 10, 2006, editor Hal Reid interviewed Antti Korhonen, President and CEO of Ekahau, Inc. Hal discovered a series of products and technologies that address the “where is it and where are they” problem in elegant ways. Ekahau’s products address the need to track assets and people.
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Google Maps Licensing Got You Down? Try Pushpin!
by Adena Schutzberg
There is no question that the world is agog over Google Maps. Programmers and users laud the application programming interface (API), the speed, the intuitive interface, the extensive data and more. But for many, all of these goodies are unavailable due to Google's licensing. Enter Placebase and its Pushpin LE and Pushpin CX services.
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Google and Microsoft: Further Disruption Ahead
by Adena Schutzberg and Joe Francica
Users of @Last's, now Google's, SketchUp and Vexcel's, soon to be Microsoft's (pending government approvals), UltraCam ground stations and other imagery and SAR processing tools are scratching their heads this week. What will happen to these products? That's one question to ponder. Google's newest employees have maintained that SketchUp will stay SketchUp and not to worry. Microsoft has been mum, just as it was on the acquisition of GeoTango late last year. Editors Adena Schutzberg and Joe Francica make some well-educated guesses.
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Autodesk ISD in 2006 and the Launch of Autodesk Map 3D 2007
by Adena Schutzberg
Autodesk is doing things a bit differently in its product roll out this year. The press can see and talk about the 2007 product line now (apparently we have been able to since March 1); but the products won't release, nor will we see the official press materials on them, until March 23. With that in mind, here's some of what Autodesk wants you to know, based on a conference call and Web demo held the week of March 6.
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Government Gets Together on Geospatial Architecture
by Sam Bacharach
For almost half a century, agencies at all levels of government have sought to share digital geospatial information. Unfortunately, for decades, direct communication among different vendors' GISs, earth imaging systems, automated mapping and facilities management systems, and charting and navigation systems was almost impossible. In this article we look at a US federal government initiative that more or less ensures that such capabilities will, in a reasonably short time, become widely available to people working in federal, state and local government agencies, and to US citizens. By Sam Bacharach, OGC's executive director of the outreach and community adoption program.
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Counter-terrorism for Corporations - Part II
by Kevin Coleman
"Terrorism has joined the ranks of a foreseeable risk." This statement appeared in the Nov/Dec issue of Executive Legal Advisor Magazine. It has legal ramifications. It means that organizations will be held to a higher standard of care. Kevin Coleman discusses the ramifications and checks on compliance.
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LI Buyer's Guide Introduction
by Joe Francica
Publishing a buyer's guide for Location Intelligence (LI) creates a challenge. LI is not an "established" category recognized by the broader information technology community. Nevertheless, we've taken a stab at it. Read on for Joe Francica's description of the guide.
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The View from Here
by Adena Schutzberg
Adena Schutzberg offers some observations on the recent AAG meeting, and on the topic of whether or not the users have perhaps finally gotten out in front of the vendors in the big geospatial world.
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Google and SketchUp
by Gary Smith
Gary Smith of Green Mountain GeoGraphics shares the ups and downs he experienced when he learned that SketchUp had been acquired by Google... Coming into work on Tuesday morning started out like
any other morning - start the coffee and read the email that has come in overnight. Before long, however, things changed as word of the
acquisition of SketchUp by Google consumed my thought process. The
storm clouds were building in my head.
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