They've Asked, We Should Respond

The Obama Administration has asked for community input, in what they are calling "The National Dialogue, on how to best use Information Technology to keep the public fully informed of how the recovery funding is spent.

Many in the geospatial community have added their ideas to this discussion -- The National Dialogue -- with a primary focus on making sure that we make the best use of appropriate geospatial technologies.

As of this writing, data analysis and visualization and mapping are among the most active topics in the discussion. There are "mapping" suggestions from ESRI (Add Mapping and Geographic Analysis to Recovery.gov), Scott Horvath (Map of Ongoing Recovery Projects), and Grant Thornton (Optimize Transparency and Accountability Using Location).

It is incumbent on the NSGIC membership, as leaders in the geospatial communities in each state, to add our voices to the discussion.

And, for tracking purposes, the National Dialogue is on Twitter at @natldialogue, and there is a "Recovery Dialogue: IT Solutions" Facebook group as well.

They have asked for our input. Let us not let them down.