COGO Sparks Interest and Curiosity

This week's Directions Magazine Podcast takes a look at the new Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO). Adena Schutzberg has been following the development of COGO and takes the opportunity to reflect on the purpose and organizing principles of the group.

In general, she is interested and supportive, though she's waiting for more details and information. Further information will become available as COGO becomes formally established and organizations ratify their membership.

COGO is just getting started, based on input from a wide variety of organizations, including NSGIC, whose leadership team has been involved from the start. The NSGIC states are voting now on whether or not the Council should affiliate with COGO and become a founding member, as recommended by NSGIC leadership.

We are watching the birth of a new organization. And, if Adena's take on COGO is representative, we are watching intently.

ESRI/Google Alliance

People thought it might never happen, but ESRI and Google are working together to deliver serious information on the GeoWeb. Jack Dangermond of ESRI and John Hanke of Google shared a keynote presentation at the Where 2.0 Conference May 12-14 to talk about their shared vision and demonstrate its use. That presentation, nearly 30 minutes long but totally engaging. Click on the title of this article to see the video. There are a growing number of interesting comments.

The basic point is that Google can deliver interesting information quickly, while ESRI does useful analysis of many phenomena. Why not allow Google mashups of ESRI analyses? ArcGIS 9.3, delivered this summer, will allow users to publish their data and services to the GeoWeb.

The Where 2.0 conference began in 2005. It is billed as the place “where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge.” The focus is on open source information..

For more information on the conference and videos of other presentations are posted on the Where 2.0 web site. (The Hanke / Dangermond presentation is roughly 2/3 down the list.)

Tell the EPA What Data You Need

The Environmental Protection Agency is looking for our opinions:

We want to know what kind of environmental information you need, and how you want to get it.

To that end, the EPA has launched a "national dialogue," including a "partner blog" that is open though June 13 for anyone to leave comments.

According to EPA CIO Molly O'Neill, the idea is to gather input for a "multi-year EPA strategy on environmental information access."

As our partner in environmental protection, you share an interest in enhancing access to high quality environmental information to support our joint mission. We need your insights to understand the possibilities both now and for the future.

The strategy is to be completed later this year.