Another Thing to Watch

The question of the moment: Will ESRI take on Google head-on?

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Rhode Island Posts New Orthophotography

The Rhode Island GIS (RIGIS) RSS feed includes the following today:

New statewide color orthophotography now available for download.
2-foot color orthophotographs from the Spring of 2003 & 2004 are now available for downloading! These 1:5000 scale images, funded by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, encompass the entire State. They are offered in both MrSID and GeoTIFF format. The collection may be found under the Statewide/Orthophotography area on the RIGIS data distribution system, http://www.edc.uri.edu/rigis.

This link leads to a page with an End User License Agreement. Completing that dumps you to a page that has links to a large Rhode Island data collection. There are details about the new orthos and download pages for the data in GeoTIFF or MrSID formats.

Worth Watching: Update to GPS

We may want to talk, at some point in Annapolis, about the announcement by Commerce of an upgrade to US GPS capabilities. From a Commerce Press Release, linked from Adena Schutzberg's blog:

U.S. Commerce Deputy Secretary David Sampson will keynote the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's public media forum on Next-Generation GPS for Enhanced Business Productivity: "Because Time Is Money, and Location is Everything!" Wednesday, January 25.

Sampson will announce the availability of new, next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities, including a second civilian GPS signal enabling significant improvements in accuracy and reliability.

Draft Membership Directory Intro Text (From Membership Brochure)

To Communications Committee: Following is the intro text that we developed for the NSGIC membership brochure last year. Please comment on whether you think this would be appropriate to replace the Intro in the 2006 Membership Directory, or what changes you would make.

Thank you.

Fred Stringfellow

About NSGIC
The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) is an organization committed to efficient and effective government through the prudent adoption of geospatial information technologies (GIT). Members of NSGIC include senior state geographic information system (GIS) managers and coordinators. Other members include representatives from federal agencies, local government, the private sector, academia and other professional organizations. A rich and diverse group, the NSGIC membership includes nationally and internationally recognized experts in geospatial information technologies, data creation and management as well as information technology policy.

Goals
NSGIC provides a unified voice on geographic information and technology issues, advocates State interests, and supports its membership in their statewide initiatives. The Council actively promotes prudent geospatial information integration and systems development. NSGIC reviews legislative and agency actions, promotes positive legislative actions, and provides advice to public and private decision-makers. NSGIC members are actively involved in the coordination and application of geospatial technologies in their States. They are often at the forefront of GIS and information technology innovation. Many are top-level managers who recommend specific hardware and software purchases or define GIS procurement policies for their jurisdiction. These State GIS coordinators exert a great deal of influence on geospatial policies and resource development in their States.

Concerns
NSGIC is particularly concerned with creation of intelligent maps and databases that enable public and private decision makers to make better informed and timelier decisions in a wide array of governmental areas. NSGIC also supports the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) as the technology, policies, criteria, standards and people necessary to promote geospatial data sharing throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the academia. Geospatial technology can affect such diverse areas as:

• Homeland Security
• Emergency management and emergency response
• Economic development
• Health and human services
• Environmental protection and management
• Facilities management
• Parcel appraisal and assessment
• Education
• Transportation Planning
• Natural resource management

GIS and geospatial data are rapidly becoming primary tools in government and the private sector because they provide visual, integrated, intelligent, analytical, and cost-effective solutions in support of these diverse areas. In addition, GIS can reduce or eliminate redundant work within and between units of government, providing operational efficiencies, and economies of scale in data collection, information handling and distribution.

A Common Thread
The implications of GIS technology and data are profound. Location is the single thread that is common to all data. In the not-too-distant future, nearly every governmental unit will adopt geographic or location-based database schemes to tie governmental information systems together for improved data administration. Simply put, GIS can enhance the usefulness of data and return on investment in public information. NSGIC advocates the benefits of geospatial technologies and data that can only be realized through intergovernmental and private sector cooperation, coordination, collaboration and partnerships.

Benefits of NSGIC Membership
Communications: Members are eligible to participate in NSGIC’s Member and State Representative Listservs. All members are listed in NSGIC’s membership directory (updated annually), and receive a complimentary copy.

Partner & Liaison Opportunities: NSGIC members participate in liaisons between The Council and more than two dozen agencies and partners.

Conferences: The hallmark events of the NSGIC calendar year are the two conferences which bring members, sponsors and partners together to address issues and opportunities. NSGIC holds a Spring Midyear Conference in the Washington, DC area focused on federal government activities; and a Fall Annual Conference in a host state focused on state and local activities of NSGIC members.

State Coordination: NSGIC assists member states in strengthening their coordination programs through its States Coordination Model. Annual surveys are conducted among all 50 states to summarize activities and share data.

Policy Development: NSGIC is increasingly recognized for its contributions toward the development of national geospatial policy. NSGIC members have been requested to participate in many committees and the input is highly valued. NSGIC seeks to make sure the needs and concerns of its member states continue to be heard and addressed at the national policy level. As a unified body, NSGIC can better serve as one voice for all states.

Peer-to-Peer Monitoring and Outreach: NSGIC members provide valuable information and experiences to their peers across state lines on topics as diverse as standards development, job classifications, proposal development, and many other issues.

Changes?

I did some digging around and have found that for those weblogs that are posted as part of the "BlogSpot.com" free site, you have to keep the top navigation bar, with its "Next Blog" button. If you set up to publish blog entries to your own site, via FTP, then you don't need to have that bar up there.

I have also tweaked the commenting a bit, so it's possible to get the text of the original post on the commenting page.

I can also set additional "administrators" who can moderate comments, so we have some flexability there.

NSGIC to Publish Statewide GIS Coordination Templates

The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) selected Applied Geographics, Inc. (AppGeo) to develop strategic and business planning templates and documentation for statewide GIS coordination councils. The standardized templates will provide guidance for states to promote sound business practices, increase coordination and involvement of stakeholders, and avoid duplication of effort.

"The nation is increasingly reliant on GIS data from the state and local levels to support government service to citizens," said AppGeo President, Rich Grady. "We look forward to working with NSGIC to develop a consistent, inclusive, and flexible approach to statewide GIS planning."

"This is an important project that is part of the FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee) Fifty States Initiative. We are trying to build sound business plans and management practices that support the NSDI (National Spatial Data Infrastructure)”, said Tony Spicci, NSGIC’s President. "The templates and documentation are intended to help statewide councils improve coordination and governance, and to help align their activities with federal funding opportunities and NSDI objectives."

For Discussion Purposes, Google Reader Screen Shot

This is an example of an RSS aggregator. This is the Google Reader tool, one of the several on-line RSS readers available. You can get a larger version by clicking on the image above. Go ahead, click on it. It's okay...

Press Release: NSGIC Selects Applied Geographics, Inc. to Develop Templates for Statewide GIS

From Directions Magazine, the Press Release on NSGIC's selection of Applied Geographics, Inc. to develop templates for state strategic plans as part of the Fifty States Initiative.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Migrates Enterprise Highway Database - January 2006

From Governmennt Technology: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Migrates Enterprise Highway Database - January 2006

More on Using Google Earth as a Publishing Tool

From the Google Earth Blog, a report on another tool for conversion from ArcGIS to Google Earth's KML: KMLer for Converting ArcGIS for Google Earth.

The guys at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Perm, Russia have released an application for converting ArcGIS 9 data into KML for use with Google Earth. KMLer is a commercial application costing US$20, they also have a free conversion application for ArcGIS called Typeconvert.

This one looks interesting.

Maybe We Should Keep An Eye On...

Brian Flood is working on a converter to publish ArcGIS work in Google Earth's KML format. The latest entry on his blog is Arc2Earth Countdown.

Somewhere someone called this the new "PDF for maps."

Worth Watching: Google as the Engine of the NSDI?

I thought we should have a link, if only for discussion purposes, to Adena Schutzberg's editorial last week on the rise of Google Earth: Generation Gap.

Two things stand out for me.

First, she mentions a set of "four questions of geography ([1] What is [2] where? [3] why? [4] so what?)"

Second, her closing question:

"Will and should Google create the infrastructure for NSDI and GSDI?"

Northwest Arkansas Aerial Imagery Now on Google Earth

From the Northwest Arkansas Times: Aerial views of Northwest Arkansas accessible on Google Earth.

The raises the question of whether and how the state coordinating groups should be contacting Google to get their latest data on Google Maps and Google Earth.

Thoughts?

I concur......

More on Mid-Continent Mapping Center Move

GeoCarta weblog has an entry on the move from Rolla to Denver: USGS Mapping Center Appears Headed To Denver.

In a summary memorandum transmitted along with the 41-page report, acting director P. Patrick Leahy said, "the process leading to the site selection for NGTOC was open, fair, and adequate to support the decision."

See also our earlier entry.

Indiana Launches GIS Building/Site Selection Tool

From the Government Technology web site: Indiana Launches GIS Building/Site Selection Tool.

"The site and building database provides immediate access to critical business development information needed to facilitate economic growth in Indiana," said Mickey Maurer, Indiana's incoming Secretary of Commerce and chief executive of the IEDC. "Geographic information systems (GIS) are playing an increasingly integral role in the world of economic development and corporate real estate, and this tool will answer the main questions that businesses have when they are involved in the site selection process."

The article points to the Indiana Economic Development site, but I have not yet found the web map on that site.

Site Location and Design Considerations

Now that we are "up" and starting to run, we may want to think about where we host this blog and what it looks like.

One option that we might consider is to host this as part of the NSGIC web site. Blogger can be configured to place our postings into an existing web page on our site, if we like. This would give us the same look and feel as the existing NSGIC site.

We would need a dedicated page within the NSGIC site, and we would need to be able to FTP from Blogger to the NSGIC host. We can set blogger to do this automatically, but we'd need a password from the NSGIC host site.

Just something to think about.

This Seems to Work well

Mike, Craig,
This seems to work well

Nathan

All Points Blog: USGS Update

From All Points Blog: a USGS update. Where's Hank? What's up with the Rolla to Denver move?

Media Coverage (On Rolla, anyway):

• The Rolla Daily News: USGS committee calls NGTOC decision "open, fair and adequate"
  
  
• Springfield (MO) News-Leader: Same result after review: Rolla map office closed

Hey Mike good idea -- lets do this for the committee !

Arkansas to Update Statewide Orthophotography

An article in Spatial News notes that Arkansas has a contract with EarthData to update Arkansas' Orthophotography.

This will be the "first all-digital statewide orthophoto mapping program in Arkansas" and will gather "natural color and color-infrared imagery for generation of 1-meter pixel resolution orthophotos and a 5-meter grid digital elevation model."

Obligatory Start-Up Post

This may become a weblog for the Communications Committee of the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC). Stay tuned.