Google Goes to Washington

The Washington Post this morning pays a visit to the newest corporate offices set up to work with the federal government -- the Reston, Virginia, offices of Google.

In Google Goes to Washington, Gearing Up to Put Its Stamp on Government the Post looks at Google's efforts to get federal and other governments to use Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Docs and other tools.

Among the examples cited are some of the Google-related applications that NSGIC's own Barney Krucoff has been involved with for the Government of the District of Columbia.

NSGIC's Own Barney Krucoff Featured in Google Lat Long Blog

Barney Krucoff, GIS Manager for Washington DC and a valued member of NSGIC, has posted some thoughts on adding his city's data to Google Earth (Google LatLong: Our city in 3D).

As noted yesterday on the Lat Long blog, Washington DC is among the first group of cities for which 3D models have been added to Google via the Cities in 3D Program. The others are Amherst, Massachusetts; Greenville, South Carolina; McMinnville, Tennessee; Nanaimo, British Columbia; Jamestown, New York; and Nashville and Davidson Counties in Tennessee.

Barney's blog post today offers a some thoughts on why the District government's GIS team was eager to take part. He notes that it was the right thing to do, it is a benefit to district neighborhoods, the Google "cloud" is an effective ad free data distribution approach, and that it is a good way to communicate with District residents, the government's clients.