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Message from the Editor -
Welcome to GISWeekly! In February of this year, ESRI announced that it was selected by the Department of the Interior to develop the full implementation of the Geospatial One-Stop Portal (GOS 2). In speaking with Hank Garie, Executive Director of GOS, as well as Marten Hogeweg of ESRI, I learned what is behind GOS 2, and making this a dramatic new version of the GOS that promises to provide new ways to share geospatial information.
This coming week from Sunday through Wednesday (March 6-9) I will be in Denver at the GITA conference and hope to see many of you there. I'll be writing for the Show Daily so you might want to pick up that paper each day as you go to the conference and check out what's happening on site. GISWeekly will also offer full exclusive coverage of the conference in next week's issue.
GISWeekly examines select top news each week, picks out worthwhile reading from around the web, and special interest items you might not find elsewhere. This issue will feature Industry News, Acquisitions/Alliances/Agreements, Announcements, Appointments, New Products, Around the Web and Upcoming Events.
GISWeekly welcomes letters and feedback from readers, so let us know what you think. Send your comments to me at Managing Editor
Best wishes,
Susan Smith, Managing Editor
Industry News
Speed, Scalability and Spatial Extension are Key to Geospatial One-Stop 2
By Susan Smith
In February of this year, ESRI announced that it was selected by the Department of the Interior to develop the full implementation of the Geospatial One-Stop Portal (GOS 2). In speaking with Hank Garie, Executive Director of GOS, as well as Marten Hogeweg of ESRI, I learned what is behind GOS 2, and making this a dramatic new version of the GOS that promises to provide new ways to share geospatial information.
“The idea of version 2 of the portal is to build upon what we learned from version 1, the prototype," said Garie, "We didn't want to start from scratch, but it was a totally separate procurement."
Google was selected as it was part of the strategy that was proposed by ESRI as the Department went through the procurement process. Users wanted faster searches, and also administrative tools with respect to how channels were organized and managed, and the ability to download data directly from the portal.
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According to Marten Hogeweg, there's quite a bit of difference between the prototype and the site they are currently working on. During the past 19 months that ESRI has hosted the site, there have been some usability issues that are going to be addressed in version 2. "Major changes made include: 1) We have differentiated between different types of users - not every user is a GIS professional therefore you may need to have specific user interface; i.e., ways for people to search and find the things they're looking for, 2) allowing people to personalize their use of the site - before it was a one for all, where every user had the same functions and same things they can do on the site. In the new GOS we are using current technology in terms of portal development, technology that you might see on MSN or Ebay or Amazon. With this technology you can create a personal GOS: MyGOS. This has been accomplished to a large extent by using the IBM WebSphere portal framework 3) Performance - this site started off with about 1,000 or so documents a year and a half ago and right now it's at 85, 000 to 90,000 documents. The intent is to grow it to 300,000 or more documents. We are not only serving up a huge number of documents, but also you expect with more documents you'll have more users and more use of the site, so different aspects of scalability are being addressed. That led us to choose the Google search appliance, the main search engine for the metadata in the GOS site. The use of this search engine is a major difference between this version and the first version. We use Google's expertise and scalability, their solution for searching large numbers of documents."
The Google search engine also provides very rapid response times, thus short waiting times for users, so they can do searches and quickly refine searches and focus on something they need based on the search results that they get. Which is similar to the search experience users get when going directly to Google.com -- it's so fast you can refine your search directly, redo your search and zoom in on the things you really need.
What is being used for GOS 2 is basically the same technology as is used on Google.com. It is not the same technology as is used for Google Maps, which I had talked about in a previous article. "We also look at how many times people use the advanced search of Google and we found that a lot of people use it on a daily basis. Google has a very basic user interface and you can hardly get simpler, just having one text box with people entering a word, and you have a button that says search or go," explained Hogeweg. "We have tried to follow that simplicity of user interface and at the same time make the searching itself more advanced."
Spatial Extension from ESRI
What is ESRI's piece in this? "We came up with what we call a 'spatial extender' to Google. Google searches, by themselves, are not spatial searches - if you try to find something about Denver, and key in Denver, every web page that has the word Denver in it will turn up as a search result," Hogeweg explained. As part of the ESRI solution, a gazetteer is used to determine which of the key words people enter in as a search phrase are actually place names. "For example, when you say flood data for Denver area, you type in Denver flood, you don't use a map to zoom as is currently the case on the existing site. You type in the words and you find entries that have both the words Denver and flood in them somewhere in the metadata document. But at the same time, you get a suggestion asking, did you mean to look for "flood in the spatial extent of Denver?" There are five Denvers in the U.S. While in development, ESRI also found that Flood is a place in Virginia. "With Google.com you will never find this, because their gazetteer doesn't have that full rich set of place names as the one we use," Hogeweg remarked. With these spatial hints, people can type place names instead of zooming in on a map and at the same time make use of the Google searching capability.
Google provides not just the equipment and hardware for the Google Search Appliance but also some services in support of the development of this capability. "What we also did is make all this searching available through an OGC Catalog Service in addition to searching through the GOS applications. You can also create your own search interface and place that search interface into your own website. There are multiple ways to redeploy the entire GOS solution or make the GOS catalog accessible to other applications and developers for those applications."
Additionally, ESRI has developed over the past year and half the GIS Portal Toolkit which is also part of the technology used as part of the GOS Operational Portal development. One component used out of that Toolkit is the Map Viewer. In the current GOS map viewer you can view and overlay ArcIMS WMS Services. ESRI has added the ability to the toolkit to view Web Feature Services (WFS) and Web Coverage Services (WCS). ESRI will integrate the data delivery extension for ArcIMS with Map Viewer so if someone has a feature service available, users can zoom to an area and actually download the data from the feature service. The data delivery extension is based on technology from Safe Software. Using this data delivery extension, they can download the data not only in an ESRI shapefile but also in other GIS vendor formats, and project it to a specific coordinate system on the fly while they download. Thus they are able to use the site on the internet but also able to integrate that site into the desktop workflow.
"We implemented some identifying tools in the Map Viewer which previously were only supported on ArcIMS Services, but now we support Identify Tool on WMS, WFS and WCS services as well," said Hogeweg.
Agencies that already have this portal framework can take one of the GOS "portlets" and deploy it in their portal framework environment and from their own environment, search GOS directly. Another way to do this is through interfaces that ESRI supports such as the OGC Catalog Services and the ArcIMS protocol. With that users can basically create simple search interfaces for their own website. "A lot of users don't have one of these portal frameworks, because some of these portal frameworks are complex and heavy technology geared at large sites," Hogeweg said. "So the small site that simply has a webpage consisting of HTML or ASP pages can embed a search interface into that site by using one of these APIs that we make available." Options include deploying portlets, using the APIs or creating communities on the GOS portal itself.
With the new portal people can create communities of interest, so people interested in fire mapping in a certain geographical location, for example, could develop a community on GOS and make useful resources available to each other. They could manage some documents to share with each other, hold forum discussions and post a calendar of events.
Usage
"If you go to geodata.gov, on the left hand side of the screen is a menu where you can click on "information center" and get usage statistics," said Garie. "You can also click there and get a map of the U.S. which will show you every time someone clicks on the portal, and it will describe where that person is searching. You can also look at channels on the portal and find out which channels are getting the most use."
Most of the data sets that people publish are free in the public domain although the private sector is not restricted from publishing metadata or information about datasets. "This might change dramatically as we build out the second version of the portal, as the Google search capability will allow us to touch many more types of people," predicted Garie.
Expanding Industry Focus - GITA 28
This week I spoke with Vince Rosales, GITA 28 Conference Chairman and VP of Dallas Operations for Idea Integration, an IT solutions company. Rosales has been responsible for the GIS piece of what Idea Integration does for nearly 13 years.
In his role of providing solutions and consulting, Rosales knows firsthand what is necessary to implement and apply technology. GITA's theme this year, "Crossing Boundaries," speaks to the idea of expanding GITA's industry focus which had traditionally been utility, as well as encouraging the technical community to do the same. "I would encourage attendees to do the same as it relates to vertical, with the idea that there is much to be learned about the implementation and application of technology by not only looking in your own space but beyond," noted Rosales. "So if we can provide a very nice outlook for the application and utilization of technology as well as some of the benefits as it relates to business, then I think we can bring an even better line of value to the attendees and the members of GITA."
This year GITA sessions are arranged by "topic" rather than "track," as they have been in the past, a significant change, according to Rosales. "There is a really nice matrix within the program which identifies vertical by topic, so if you're interested in work management, you can see all the work management offerings we have and they also overlap onto the following verticals."
Rosales said that the topics this year are similar to last year's, however, Conference 28 will be "building out" some of the topics that have been ongoing, such as web applications, critical infrastructure protection, system integration, ROI and business case. "Everything's new and updated," he maintained. "When you look at seminars' face value, you may think you're looking at the same thing, but they underwent a complete reconstruction." Content is different, driven by fast-changing technology and business practice.
What changes are seen in terms of attendance? "I think we're beginning to see a shift as it relates to the expansion, the idea of cross multiple verticals," Rosales considered. "I don't think it's happening as quickly as anyone would like it to, but one has to consider the market we have been dealing in over the last few years. Last year when I was co-chair, I was pretty impressed with the feedback I was getting not only from the presentations and seminars, but from the vendor floor. Despite the market, the show was very beneficial. I would expect Denver to exceed last year's numbers and results."
Rosales said he would want attendees to take away from the conference:
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1) the "crossing boundaries theme" - looking beyond what one might see as traditional boundaries in implementation of technology and solving business problems and
2) a growing awareness of how significant GIT and GIS have become to society and business. Now GI technology has become recognized as a widely accepted component of many information systems, not just a separate technology. |
Acquisitions/Alliances/Agreements
EarthData has signed a contract with the Counter Terrorism and Security Council (CTASC) in the state of Indiana to complete a first-of-its-kind statewide geographic information systems (GIS) base map for the state. "The program is the result of 18 months of hard work and collaboration between the CTASC, the Geographic Information Council, and Indiana's ninety-two counties," explains Jill Saligoe-Simmel, the executive director of Indiana's Geographic Information Council.
MapInfo Corporation, provider of location intelligence solutions for the enterprise, announced a three-year software, services and data agreement to enhance the search capabilities of domain.com.au. Using MapInfo's location intelligence solution, domain.com.au users can, for the first time, view maps online that include details of highways, streets, railway stations and points of interest such as hospitals, schools, shopping centers and transport routes.
Intellisync Corporation, developer and marketer of wireless software for the worldwide mobile communications industry, announced the completion of its acquisition of Tourmaline Networks, Inc., a privately held developer and marketer of mobile email solutions. Tourmaline, the largest provider of QUALCOMM-based BREW® email products to mobile operators around the world, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Intellisync.
Adobe Systems Incorporated and HP announced they are expanding their relationship to help technical professionals-including architects, engineers and construction (AEC) professionals-improve collaboration inside and outside their organizations and more effectively drive document-based work to completion. 's announcement marks a new effort by Adobe and HP to enable customers to increase productivity and minimize costs throughout the lifecycle of a project.
Sanborn, a Colorado Springs-based geographic information system (GIS) and photogrammetry industry provider, and Space Imaging, provider of satellite imagery, announced that Sanborn has acquired Space Imaging's commercial and civilian value-added solutions business unit.
NASA signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The purpose of the MOA is to foster improved global conservation through increased use of NASA Earth science research and remote sensing data.
Announcements
(NOAA) Satellite and Information Services Division, Global Marketing Insights Inc. has launched a comprehensive research study of international remote sensing markets for aerial and satellite data technologies. This study includes a five- and 10-year analysis of the political, economic and technical trends impacting the remote sensing industry globally.
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Spotlighted by the sun, Saturn throws its thick shadow across its rings, which in turn throw threads of shade across the planet's blue northern hemisphere. Actually 126 images assembled in a tiled pattern, this natural-color picture is being called the "greatest Saturn portrait" yet by the NASA imaging specialists who released it yesterday. At its original size (about 125 inches, or 320 centimeters, across), the picture is the "largest, most detailed, global natural color view" ever made of the planet. |
The Carbon Project announced it is providing a new training course for professionals and students who want to quickly learn the basics of open geospatial development, add open geospatial functionality to existing geospatial software or develop new applications.
"Fundamentals of Open Geospatial Development" leverages a new free geospatial development toolkit, CarbonTools 2, to teach attendees how to easily develop open geospatial solutions and access hundreds of online geospatial resources.
HP has reclaimed the leadership position in the worldwide notebook PC market, according to an International Data Corporation (IDC) report released Feb. 28, 2005. HP recaptured the top spot for notebooks with 15.6 percent market share. HP also closed out 2004 as the leader in worldwide server shipments for the 11th consecutive quarter, according to fourth quarter 2004 figures released by IDC. HP's leadership was fueled by a strong quarter for HP ProLiant systems in the x86 market, a sector the company has led for the last 11 quarters. HP increased its shipments by 19.1 percent and its revenue by 13.8 percent year over year.
Worth mentioning is that Laser-Scan's 2nd Partner Conference located in Cambridge, Great Britain, met with a huge success. Unprecedented high demand for places forced Laser-Scan to extend the conference facilities. The theme of this year's conference was 'Spatial Data Quality Management'; the program included presentations from Laser-Scan's partners discussing new joint solutions and advances within the industry.
Awards
NavCom Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE), announced that a team of AXYS Technologies, NavCom Technology and ITS Corporation (ITS), prime contractor under the General Services Administration's (GSA) ANSWER Contract, have been selected by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) to further deploy its RTK-StarFire solution with the development of an RTK-StarFire GPS Buoy system.
Appointments
The results of the 2005 election have been tallied by the Tellers Committee and they reported that Marguerite Madden won the election over Stephen DeGloria to become ASPRS Vice President for 2005. Once she is sworn in as President in 2007, Madden will be the sixth woman to hold that office since the Society was founded in 1934. With the installation of officers at the ASPRS Annual Conference in March, Karen Schuckman moves into the position of president; Kari Craun becomes president-elect, and Russell Congelton becomes past president. Madden is Director of the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science (CRMS), Department of Geography, University of Georgia.
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) welcomed three new board members, bolstering the depth and strength of the foundation's board with a total of 13.
The new members of the USGIF board of directors are:
- John T. Werle, Vice President and General Manager, Space & Intelligence Systems, The Boeing Company
- Michael M. Thomas, Vice President & General Manager, Geospatial-Intelligence Solutions, Lockheed Martin Corporation
- Christopher K. Tucker, President and CEO, Ionic Enterprise
Extract Systems announced that Mark A. Storey has accepted the position of Business Development Manager. Storey will expand efforts to deliver automated indexing solutions to the title insurance industry and workflow consulting for title plants. GeoDecisions was recently recognized as the ESRI 2005 Partner of the Year for the Philadelphia, Pa., region.
Smart Data Strategies, Inc., provider of GIS software and parcel data solutions to the land records industry, announced Tom Godish has joined the company as Northeast Regional Sales Manager, covering the middle to upper eastern half of the United States.
New Products
ESRI announced that ArcIMS 9 Route Server, the latest version of ESRI's routing extension to ArcIMS, is now shipping. With this new version, users have a wider selection of data and can perform routing throughout North America and Europe.
GeoConcept SA of France, a specialist in decision-mapping technology, has just launched the first software package to calculate the optimal division of sales areas: GeoConcept Territory Manager. Previously, sales managers had to divide up territory manually, but now GeoConcept Territory Manager can automatically calculate the optimal organization in just 20 seconds.
Tadpole-Cartesia, Inc. announced the general availability of its GO! Sync (Redline) framework, a fit for purpose, simple to use field mapping system that also allows organizations to efficiently create and share digital field sketches across the enterprise.
MxGeo has recently released MxGPS 9x, a user-friendly application to transfer data between ESRI's ArcMap application and Garmin GPS. GPS data can be downloaded directly into ArcMap and stored in shapefile or geodatabase format. Downloaded data is automatically projected into the same spatial reference as the map. If required, a datum transformation is applied to ensure the best possible results.
Ekahau, Inc., provider of accurate Wi-Fi positioning solutions and site survey tools, announced the general availability of the Ekahau Positioning Engine version 3.1, and the second generation Wi-Fi Location-tracking Tag T201. With these new enhancements, Ekahau can now provide large enterprises a turnkey Wi-Fi RTLS (Real Time Location System) solution, with industry leading accuracy, performance and reliability.
Miner & Miner (M&M) is featuring several new products coming up in the next release of the ArcFM Solution 9.0.2 that will take advantage of ESRI's ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Engine architecture. These products include ArcFM Viewer for ArcGIS Engine, a Redliner extension for ArcFM Viewer, ArcFM Server Developer Kit, and ArcFM Engine Developer Kit.
Telcontar, a supplier of software and related services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, announced the release of Traffic Manager 3.0 for integrating real-time traffic flow and incident information into location-based services. Coupled with Telcontar's Drill Down Server® (DDS) geo-spatial software platform, Traffic Manager 3.0 is said to significantly augment the value of Internet-based mapping, directions and local search as well as mobile phone-based navigation, and Telematics applications.
Tier 3 has enhanced its proprietary data conflation methodology and software "tool-kit" to improve performance and increase flexibility in spatially re-locating existing GIS facility data to higher accuracy land base and centerline network products.
Around the Web
Notebooks squeeze juice out of fuel cells, by Michael Kanellos, March 2, 2005, CNET.News.com - Though a number of companies have shown off fuel cells for cell phones and MP3 players, a company out of New Jersey says it has come up with one that can power a notebook. Millennium Cell is showing off a fuel cell at the Intel Developer Forum that it says can run a notebook for eight hours. The company's goal is to produce fuel cells for notebook manufacturers by 2007.
In a recent CNET.com article, the secret of Google's success was outlined: preparing for failures. Knowing that PCs are bound to go down once in awhile, the company has numerous PCs, so that one goes down just about every day. This way they can always ensure that they will have no lapse in service.
EU body to negotiate with both Galileo Bidders, March 1, 2005, Reuters, USA Today --The European Union body charged with awarding the multi-billion euro contract for the Galileo satellite navigation system will start negotiations with both consortia vying for the contract, it said on Tuesday.
The two consortia are iNavSat, made up of European aerospace giant EADS, France's Thales, and Britain's Inmarsat; and Eurely, made up of France's Alcatel, Italy's Finmeccanica, and Spain's AENA and Hispasat.
The Galileo project, a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), is scheduled to be up and running in 2008 with a web of 30 satellites.
Upcoming Events
NC 2005 GIS Conference
Date: March 3 - 4, 2005
Place: Benton Convention Center Winston-Salem, NC USA
The 2005 North Carolina Geographic Information Systems Conference will be held Thursday and Friday, March 3-4, 2005 at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, NC. The cost of the two-day event is $75 and includes two fabulous lunches and an exciting Thursday evening social and Poster Session. Full-time enrolled students may attend for $25 (must show valid school ID). After February 15, 2005, all late registrations are $125.
GITA's Annual Conference 28
Date: March 6 - 9, 2005
Place: Colorado Convention Center Denver, CO USA
GITA's Annual Conference and Exhibition is the most highly regarded educational event for professionals involved in geospatial information technologies. Annual Conference 28 will provide you with better ways to plan, design, manage, and maintain your systems and operations.
ASPRS 2005 Annual Conference
Date: March 7 - 11, 2005
Place: Baltimore, MD USA
Geospatial Goes Global: From Your Neighborhood to the Whole Planet This year's conference theme will expound on the multitude of technologies that abound in our profession to help our neighbors here and around the world. We will have over 450 technical and poster presentations, internationally known keynote and plenary session speakers, and exhibit hall with move than 100 suppliers to the industry, user groups, a classified session and technical tours. Additionally, 15 well-regarded ASPRS workshops will be offered on pre-conference days. For complete details and registration information, please see www.asprs/baltimore2005."
2005 ESRI Petroleum User Group Conference
Date: March 7 - 9, 2005
Place: JW Marriott Hotel, Houston, TX USA
You will hear presentations by ESRI product managers about their most recent innovations and plans for the future, attend user presentations covering a variety of energy-related topics, learn detailed information about ESRI software during technical sessions, and have the opportunity to visit more than 50 ESRI business partners showcasing their GIS-based technology solutions.
Oracle Spatial Users Conference
Date: March 10, 2005
Place: Colorado Convention Center Denver, CO USA
GITA invites you to attend the Oracle Spatial Users Conference. If you are currently a user, solutions provider, or systems integrator who depends upon Oracle's spatial technologies, or if you want to learn why thousands of organizations use Oracle's spatial database, this is one event you won't want to miss.
GIS Seminar for Sales and Marketing
Date: March 15, 2005
Place: London, United Kingdom
On 15th March in London, SIA and The Clockworks will be hosting a seminar on their new map-based customer analysis tool called SonarMap. Marketing professionals and GIS users are increasingly turning to new ways of visualizing, managing and analyzing their customer and prospect information. SonarMap can be used in a variety of different ways including; optimum location of a retail store, understanding and interpreting the correct profile of existing customers, predicting new customer segments and markets, and territory optimization. The seminar will run from 9.30-2.00 and include refreshments and a light lunch. For more information or to book a place, please contact Michelle at Email Contact or 020 9732 2484
TUGIS 2005: 18th Annual Geographic Information Systems Conference
Date: March 21 - 22, 2005
Place: Towson University Campus Towson, MD USA
Mapping the Human Landscape: GIS for Public Health, Safety, and Social Services Applications
Sponsor: The Center for Geographic Information Sciences at Towson University The conference emphasizes information sharing, or technology transfer, by anyone currently using GIS and anyone considering using GIS. In a relaxed yet professional setting, representatives from government agencies, businesses, and academic institutions meet, interact, and discuss the current and future states of GIS. More than 600 professionals are expected to attend TUGIS 2005.
15th Annual South Central Arc User Group Conference
Date: March 21 - 25, 2005
Place: San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk 711 East Riverwalk, San Antonio, TX USA
This 15th annual South Central Arc User Group Conference (SCAUG), attracting GIS professionals from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, and the Cayman Islands, will include training sessions, user presentations, workshops, map gallery, application contests, ESRI Doctors Office, ESRI technical sessions, banquet and the Knibbe Ranch social.
TNGIC Annual Conference 2005
Date: March 22 - 23, 2005
Place: Franklin - Cool Springs Marriott 700 Cool Springs Blvd, Franklin, TN 37067 USA
The annual TNGIC Conference is the premier GIS event in Tennessee. If you are new to GIS, an advanced GIS user and/or a Manager that is considering the use of GIS within your organization... then the TNGIC 2005 Conference will provide you with an invaluable opportunity to meet with and learn from your GIS peers throughout Tennessee.
You can find the full GISCafe.com event calendar here.
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-- Susan Smith, GISCafe.com Managing Editor.