New E-Newsletter to Focus on the Survey/GIS Nexus

Professional Surveyor Magazine has announced plans for a new e-mail newsletter focused on land surveying, GIS, laser scanning, aerial mapping and hydrographics.

As we witness emerging technologies in this fascinating field, we cannot help but notice how technologies are combining in new ways to yield faster turnarounds, new value-added services, and enhanced performance for those of us in geo-technology fields.

It is to be called Pangaea (pan-jee-uh) "after the supercontinent from which our seven continents were formed."

The launch is set for September. The newsletter will go out to subscriber e-mail accounts on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Subscription will be free. Professional Surveyor plans to e-mail invitations to its contact list and will offer subscription on-line.

A New GISCI Board

The GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) held its annual meeting this week and sat new board members (PDF), one from each of the four member organizations:

• Matthew Koeppe, representing the Association of American Geographers;
• Michael Vanhook, of the State of Alabama Geospatial Office, representing NSGIC;
• Rakesh Malhotra, of North Carolina Central University, representing UCGIS; and
• Kim McDonough (GISP), of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, representing URISA.

These four joined Ed Arabas (GISP) of NSGIC, Bruce Joffe (GISP) of URISA, Francis Harvey of UCGIS, and Matthew Koeppe of AAG on the board. The new board elected Ed Arabas president, Bruce Joffe vice president, Michael Vanhook secretary, and Kim McDonough treasurer.

The GIS Certification Institute is a tax-exempt not-for-profit organization that provides the geographic information systems (GIS) community with a complete certification program.

Learon Dalby Provides "An Insider's Take"

The latest edition of Fugro EarthData's Perspectives newsletter includes an interview with NSGIC President Learon Dalby "on the relationship between technology and GIS user needs within state government."

The interview covers a range of topics related to how changing technology, and the expanding use of new technologies in the workforce, affects GIS coordination in the states. It looks at the relationship between states and the private sector, discusses data access policies, new challenges brought by changes in technology, common misconceptions about GIS coordination, and future directions for data coordination.

Mr. Dalby discusses new challenges and opportunities related to technological change, but reminds us that the fundamentals of GIS coordination remain constant:

The technology comes and goes with the seasons. But no technology can replace the hard part; creating and maintaining trust with partners. That includes service providers, decision-makers…anyone involved in the process. The real success ingredient of our state GIS coordination business is building relationships.

The Fall 2008 Edition of Perspectives also includes articles on Land Use/Land Cover data, a new, NGA funded geospatial research and internship partnership, and other news and events listings.

Ten BIG Pages of NSGIC News!

The Summer 2008 Edition of NSGIC News (PDF) has hit the newsstands!!!

Well, to the extent that you consider the NSGIC web site to be a news stand. It is public and NSGIC News is displayed there, so that's like a newsstand.

Never mind that... The Summer Edition of NSGIC News is out! It is ten big pages of news about NSGIC. And in it you can read about the latest efforts of NSGIC's leadership to help coordinate among state, local and federal agencies!

You can read about The National Map! And about a new addressing white paper! And about the Annual NSGIC Conference!

Learn more about COGO! (What is COGO? We refer you to the latest NSGIC News; page 4.)

But that's not all! Meet Katherine Kapo, NSGIC's newest state coordinator and the one-woman focus-group who bravely tested the new NSGC "webterview!"

But wait, there's more!

We also present the results of the first-ever NSGIC Six-Word "How-To" Challenge: How will we achieve a true National Spatial Data Infrastructure?

And we're not even telling you all that is found in the latest NSGIC News. It is really hard to maintain this breathless excitement while typing; but just you trust us, there's more!

And it is all for you in the Summer 2008 Edition of NSGIC News (PDF).

Another Map-Based News Aggregator

The Online Journalism Review has an interview this week with "noted journalist/programmer/Web guru Adrian Holovaty" about his new project EveryBlock, which filters local news by neighborhood and presents it in several formats, including a simple map view.

Mr. Holovaty was behind the recently ended chicagocrime.org which looked at one data stream for one city. He describes EveryBlock as an attempt to provide a full news feed for each individual block in three major cities: New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

While the graphic map-presentation aspects of this site are interesting -- Holavaty and his team created their own version of a base map, for example, instead of using Google or Yahoo -- what may be more interesting is their work on finding new sources of interesting information and new ways to extract location information where it is not already embedded.

"...we're detecting geography in narratives -- "blobs," so to speak -- and making it easy for people to find relevant news articles and government documents that refer to specific places near them."

It is also interesting to note that the project is funded under a grant from the Knight News Challenge that requires the source code to be released under an open-source license at the end of the 2-year grant period.

Latest FGDC Newsletter Released

The Federal Geographic Data Committee has released its Winter 2007/2008 Newsletter (PDF).

The newsletter includes a detailed article about the late Carol Brandt, who was awarded the first-ever NSGIC Dedicated Service Award in 2007.

There are also articles on using Web Services to deliver framework data, the 10th Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference, the Fifty States Initiative, Geospatial One-Stop, the buzz about metadata in Virginia, and several Tribal Government GIS success stories.

(Yet Another) Political Map Mash-Up

Slate.com has added to our growing list of election-related map-presentations with Map the Candidates.

This is a map-based interface with a deep dataset of campaign events. Each candidate has an icon, based (presumably) on their campaign logo. Users can set different time periods for which to map campaign events. Each data point includes additional information on each event.

Interestingly, Slate has added an element of citizen data-creation in partnership with Primary Place Online, which lets voters add their own "write-ups" of events. These are added, where available, to the attribute information on Slate's site. There are also videos from some events and links to related news stories about events. (Via Data Mining)

"Part of our Ecosystem"

Directions Magazine's Adena Schutzberg offers a brief editorial this morning on what she calls "a big week for Google Maps news" and what that news might mean for GIS practitioners. She outlines a few practical thoughts on on the news that Google Maps now includes an elevation visualization, collaboration on user-created data, and non-GPS location tools for mobile applications.

She had an interesting side-thought, though, on why it is that GIS pros, with much more powerful GIS tools at their disposal, take notice of these logical next steps for Google:

Google, whether we like it or not, is part of our technology ecosystem. Even if we don't use Google Maps for analysis or Google tools for search, we know ultimately many of our end-users, clients, and citizens do.

That observation matches what several states have shared in recent forums. Google and its several data visualization platforms are becoming another in the several pathways through which we share data with our constituents and partners.

Another Media Map in (and on) The News

Governing.com's 13th Floor blog features a simple geospatial mash-up from the Wichita Eagle this week.

The Eagle's Wichita Crime Maps is similar to other media mash-ups that we've seen. It presents basic crime data from the local police on a "standard" Google Maps map. There's nothing too earth-shattering here.

But the 13th Floor bloggers do use this to make a point about data-sharing from their point of view as folks who cover local government issues:

Lots of police departments are mapping crime data and lots are putting the maps online. Usually, though, they end up buried deep within government Web sites. I'd guess that most are rarely visited. So, if governments really want the public to see their data (and, in some cases, that might be a pretty big "if"), working with the media on projects like this one makes a lot of sense.

NPR Looks at GIS

National Public Radio's Morning Edition has featured two stories so far this week on the geospatial industry.

On Monday, October 8, Dan Charles looked into the issue of some government agencies withholding "critical infrastructure" data from the growing world of open, on-line map data (Security Officials Seek to Block Some Online Maps).

This morning, October 9, Charles looks at the pending sales of two of the largest mapping firms, TeleAtlas and Navteq (Map Making Firms Rumored to Sell for Billions).

The first story focuses on the role of local governments in releasing, or not releasing, geospatial data. The second focuses on the role played by the two major players in the on-line/consumer mapping market and seems to down-play the role of local government data.

Summer/Fall 2007 NSGIC News Now Available

The Summer/Fall 2007 edition of NSGIC News (PDF) has been added to the collected NSGIC Newsletters on the NSGIC web site.

This edition includes an informative update from NSGIC President Stu Davis (Ohio) and information on a variety of topics of interest to the NSGIC membership:

• Using Ramona to update the NSGIC State Summaries
• Plans for the annual conference in Madison
• The Cost Benefit Analysis for Imagery for the Nation
• Honoring members of your GIS community
• The 2010 Census
• Nominations to the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC)
• USGS/State Partnerships for the NSDI
• National Hydro Data
• And more!

NSGIC News is published semi-annually share information about NSGIC activities and related state and federal initiatives.

FCW: NACo Endorses GISCI

Federal Computer Week has a short story about an endorsement of the GIS Certification Institute by the GIS Committee of the National Association of Counties.

In the story -- County group endorses GIS certification -- GISCI head Scott Grams also points to endorsements by state GIS Councils:

State geographic-information councils have also shown interest in GIS certification. In 2004, North Carolina became the first state to endorse the institute’s program. Oregon’s geographic-information council has also endorsed certification, Grams said. Those were unsolicited endorsements, he added.

NY Times on GIS Jobs

The New York Times has a look at GIS jobs in its "Fresh Starts" section of August 12. The article, Technology Reveals New Worlds to Map, looks at geospatial work as a growing new area of employment.

More companies see the value of G.I.S. services, and there are not enough people to fill all the available jobs, said Richard Serby, a founder of GeoSearch, which recruits people for jobs in mapping sciences.

The article profiles a few workers in different parts of the industry and makes note of the GIS Certification Institute. (VIA All Points Blog)

Winter/Spring 2007 NSGIC Newsletter

The latest edition of the NSGIC News (PDF) is now available on the NSGIC web site.

This edition includes a message from NSGIC President Stu Davis, information on the latest version of the RAMONA GIS Inventory Tool, an update on the NSGIC Mid-Year Conference, overviews of the new "Transportation for the Nation" and Address Data Work Groups, and more information on NSGIC organizational and planning efforts.

Enjoy!