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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, Top News of the Week, Acquisitions, Agreements, Alliances, Announcements, People, New Products, Around the Web and Events Calendar.

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Susan Smith, Managing Editor

Industry News
GIS and Policy Making as it Pertains to Climate Change
By Susan Smith


With the finger of blame pointed at fossil fuels as responsible for 43 percent of the world’s energy consumption, climate change has become a force to be reckoned with. All other possible means of obtaining energy, while growing, pale in comparison; at the same time, the burning of fossil fuels accounts for approximately 80 percent of the world’s human induced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

Global energy consumption has risen 56 percent since 1973, giving rise to an entire range of options for decision makers to consider whether they be local, state, regional, national or international entities. Global climate change affects everything –biodiversity, ecosystems, public health, weather, disasters, energy, water, and agriculture.

The following speakers presented a paper and panel discussion at the ESRI Conference on “GIS and Policy Making,” focusing on the issues surrounding climate change:

Dr. Jerry Johnston; Geospatial Information Officer, EPA

Jason Hyon; Chief Technologist, JPL/NASA

Dr. Gary Richards; Group Head, Land Management and Special Programmes Group, Department of Climate Change Australia

Lynne Barker; Program Director, ICLEI

Jeanne Foust, ESRI
GEO: Group on Earth Observation
Open Geospatial Consortium with in GEO


Jason Hyon of JPL noted that one of key problems with current methodology to estimate water supply is that it is empirical, based on historical measurements. “The past no longer predicts the future,” he said. “Because of climate change, forecasting skill has improved but has been declining because of climate change.”

JPL conducted two case studies: one on freshwater resource estimation, and the other on a greenhouse gas information system.

In the first one, they studied how remote sensing data can be used in taking ground measurements. They obtained the atmospheric CO2 record for Mauna Loa, which is about 2 ppm per year.

“By observing growth in CO2 we don’t know where the CO2 is sinked,” noted Hyon. “We don’t know the impact. With regard to sea level rise – how do we determine ice, with sea level rise contributed to by thermal expansion or added mass.”

There are significant changes in global warming based on different model projections. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) did predictive analysis that showed the globe warming at about 0.2 degrees Centigrade per decade for the next two decades for a range of scenarios.

The JPL response was to constrain models with observations and come up with an observational weighting system by which you can determine which models are strong and which are weak.

Freshwater Resource Estimation

One important question to ask in all of this is will remote sensing data improve estimates of snow water?

Two communities that use different models to see if they can produce the airborne of snow equivalents are:

-SNOTEL, which measures snow depth at various sites, using historical correlation estimate SWE/outflow. This works well in a stable climate.

-NOAA SNODAS SWE, a Snow Data assimilation system (SNODAS) based on AVHRR

Products of these models are as follows:
- No degradation as climate changes
- Better allocation of water resources
- Save lives
- Potential cost saving
- Product built to customer specifications
- Product validated in collaboration with customer
- Cyber Infrastructure

Greenhouse Gas Information System (GHGIS)

Approximately 40 different U.S. agencies are responsible for studying greenhouse gas. However, there is a Greenhouse Gas Geographic System (GHGIS) proposed that would enforce better measurements of greenhouse gas emissions.

The GHGIS is both a concept for an operational decision support system providing actionable information for climate mitigation and adaptation policies, and a grassroots, interagency effort focused on requirements definition, gap analysis and design.

With satellite imagery researchers can detect carbon, carbon dioxide and CH4, and there are different ways to measure these. Space based carbon/ecosystem measurements offer plenty of data out there, creating a framework for collaboration, using GIS as the perfect framework.

Benefits of a National GHGIS architecture include:

• The benefits should be mutual
• Benefit must be quantifiable – time, cost, life – quantitative improvements one step at a time, not highest science value or the best ROI
• Many studies are needed –
• Validation
• Workshops
• Interagency funding support

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)

One challenge with CO2 is that weather patterns distribute CO2 all over the globe, so that researchers can’t tell where it will end up in the atmosphere. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) which currently orbits the earth on the NASA Aqua mission, retrieves daily concentrations of CO2 from observed infrared spectra. These daily observations of the distribution of CO2 from space offer a tool to understand how CO2 transported from surface sources travels to different locations around the globe. This mid-tropospheric carbon dioxide is retrieved from AIRS spectra and the layer in the atmosphere between 5 and 15 km above the surface is analyzed and weather pattern effects on the distribution of CO2 are studied.

GEO: Group on Earth Observation (GEOSS)

In 2002 GEO: Group on Earth Observation (of which the OGC is a member) was launched in order to coordinate efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

Jeanne Foust of GEO said that79 countries (plus the EU) have agreed to contribute imagery and spatial data and come up with ways to use the data to support their climate change initiatives. Their goals are to build a framework in which imagery and in situ data will be available.

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), ten leading space-related agencies collaborating through the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), its Land Surface Imaging Constellation Study Team, and its Working Group on Information System and Services (WGISS) have developed a portal that collects and distributes satellite imagery of the Earth’s land surface.

The goals of GEOSS are to discover and find the assets that are out there and address these nine themes: disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture and biodiversity.

Led by the Department of the Interior a data and architecture committee asked if they could build a test architecture which was built in part using open source. It is meant to be a “system of systems,” with many different kinds of portals designed to work together. GEOSS architecture is open and interoperable and utilizes the following:

Web
REST, SOAp XML, REST, KML, geoRSS

OGC
GML, WFS, WMS, WCS

Enterprise integration
SOAP, XML, EJB, SQL

Metadata
ISO TC211 metadata standards

ESRI’s approach to interoperability:
Spatial ETL
Services Oriented architecture (SOA)


Foust said that now a framework has been built, they need to test it and invite nations to contribute. “Just because we have built the architecture it doesn’t mean the data is inherently in the portals,” she said. It really boils down to speaking the language of public policy. “The consequences of agreements weren’t fully understood by politicians. They are still having discussions as to whether data will be available because of policy.”

Questions as to who is eligible to participate still linger. GEOSS is not something you can take to the people and ask them to play around with it. If 79 nations are giving data, then someone has to receive it. There are both a political process and a technology process, Foust pointed out, adding: “Climate change can’t wait for us to talk to each other as nations.”

Hyon noted that people who fund projects will always fund their highest priority. “You have to show the value of what you’re doing. Each agency should come up with value statement. NASA will have about $1.5 Billion in funding.” The Obama administration would like to take this direction and most agencies will see how budget cycles at the federal level go.

Coming from green building industry, Hyon said the early complaint was that it would cost more to build a green building. “It was demonstrated not to be true, it’s the way we look at the flow of money, look at how the lower cost of payback far outweighs the initial cost. We’re really talking about looking at how companies invest their dollars to address multiple solutions.”

Hyon used Seattle as an illustration: the city had a climate action plan. The mayor figured out project plans in the pipeline and overlaid the climate action plan, in order to achieve multiple benefits.

Climate change is now a societal and economic problem – a core economic policy problem, and a national security issue. “When we started the first climate change office, when we moved to point of acceptance, it became evident that we needed some agency that would see climate change as part of every other portfolio,” said Hyon. “Not a question of budget, it’s a matter of health and welfare of nations. It will be a cost to governments, it will be embedded in portfolios, it’s something they consider it part of their policy.”

Hyon reported that by implementing climate change as a cross government agency the issue is then considered at all levels. Otherwise, he said, with one particular agency, people think they’re responsible and no one else is. As a cross government agency they can speak the same language as government, and address government goals.

Dr. Gary Richards; Group Head, Land Management and Special Programmes Group, Department of Climate Change Australia, concurred: “Unless you mainstream the agencies, you don’t get the policies,” he said.

The issue of environmental needs to be sold so that when you talk to communities about sustainability, they can understand what that means to local governance. “We’re trying to sell this so transportation thinks about the impact,” noted Richards. “We can solve multiple solutions with our actions and solutions.”

He also pointed out that sustainable issues have the ability to bring education and race issues to light as well, since all people can work on all these issues together, addressing all aspects of sustainability.

In closing, Richards said that “Climate change is one of the simpler things in your achievements, as it can be tracked and understood. Climate change does not offer fast results, however, prevention is never credited as much as disaster observed.”

Top News of the Week

ESRI (UK) announced “GIS for Schools,” a new programme offering improved access to GIS technology to help teachers meet curriculum requirements and make lessons more engaging. Designed to help students learn more effectively, the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative has been designed to overcome the barriers to teachers using GIS in schools. So far 35 schools have signed-up to the new scheme.

ESRI demonstrated ArcGIS, a complete platform for sharing and analyzing geospatial information on the Web, at the GeoWeb 2009 conference in Vancouver, Canada, July 27–31.
ArcGIS is a comprehensive platform for delivering geospatial information composed of vast amounts of geographic knowledge—data, models, analytic tools, maps, workflows, and metadata describing our world. This knowledge, created and maintained primarily by geographic information system (GIS) professionals, is increasingly being made available to everyday Web users and is playing a pivotal role in the decision-making process.

LizardTech, a division of Celartem Inc. and a provider of software solutions for managing and distributing digital content, announced the release of the MrSID Generation 4 Decode SDK (MG4 DSDK) to compliment the release of LizardTech LiDAR Compressor. This SDK leverages the new and improved version of the MrSID format that enables users to view and access their LiDAR data much faster than traditional uncompressed formats would have allowed.

DigitalGlobe hosted a webinar, “Deeper Analysis, Faster Insight: Enhanced Applications with WorldView-2’s New Spectral Bands,” featuring the company’s principal scientist, Dr. Kumar Navulur, on Wednesday, July 29th, at 11:00am and 7:00pm (MDT).

During the session, Dr. Navulur discussed how the new spectral bands on the WorldView-2 satellite, set to launch October 6th, will provide improved value for remote sensing applications. As the first high resolution 8-band multispectral commercial satellite, WorldView-2 will produce better feature identification and classification, improved bathymetry and better change detection.

Acquisitions, Agreements, Alliances

Ridgian, a provider of information management solutions in the UK, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with software maker IDV Solutions. Ridgian will incorporate IDV's Visual Fusion platform in business intelligence solutions for its clients, predominately in the financial, government and health sectors.

GeoDecisions, an information technology company specializing in geospatial solutions, announces it has joined the EDGE Innovation Network. The network is a collaborative, open-environment initiative enabling industry and academia, with government input, to work together to enhance the delivery cycle of new technologies and innovative capabilities to warfighters and first responders. Sponsored by General Dynamics C4 Systems, the EDGE provides innovation centers and laboratories for developing and testing technologies, products, and systems that help make end-users more mobile, connected, and informed.

Announcements

URISA and the University of South Florida’s National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) are pleased to announce a new partnership to present the 2009 GIS in Transit Conference: The Route to Success in GIS, taking place in St. Petersburg, Florida on November 16-18, 2009.

The 2009 GIS in Transit Conference keynote speakers will include presentations from both Google Transit and Consensus Systems Technologies Corporation. For more information about the conference or to register online, please visit URISA GIS in Transit.

ESRI has launched an interactive Web site, Spatial Roundtable, where geographic information system (GIS) industry thought leaders share their opinions about business and organizational challenges in the geospatial community. The site provides its visitors with insight into issues relevant to their work, an arena for community dialog, and a resource that adds breadth to their decision making.

Pitney Bowes Business Insight announced availability of its Federal Broadband Qualification package. The package provides wireless and wireline carriers with the network and customer data, as well as location intelligence software, required to apply for federal broadband stimulus funding.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus package allocates 7.2 billion dollars for spending on broadband infrastructure through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). These programs are designed to bring high-speed Internet service to rural areas and to create a nationwide inventory map of existing broadband service capability and availability across the United States .

People

During ESRI's recent series of integrated user conferences held in San Diego, California, the National 4-H GIS Leadership Team and Equipo GIS, an international youth group, were invited by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to conduct geographic information system (GIS)-based service projects on two units of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The results of their projects were presented at ESRI's Education User Conference (EdUC).

Financials

Trimble announced revenue of $290.1 million for its second quarter ended July 3, 2009, down approximately 23 percent from revenue of $377.8 million in the second quarter of 2008. See press release

New Products

The release of GeoNetwork opensource 2.4.0 has been announced. GeoNetwork opensource is a standards based geospatial catalog application that helps people and organizations to organize and publish their geospatial data through the web. It is currently used in numerous Spatial Data Infrastructure initiatives across the world.

ComputaMaps is pleased to announce that it recently completed a fully textured 3D City Model of Paris that is embedded in the Mobile 3D City application now available on the Apple Store.
View a demo video

Bradshaw Consulting Services, Inc. announced the release of HyperPic.MOBILE photo management software. HyperPic.MOBILE simplifies the process of collecting and managing photos for GIS users.

EarthSoft last week released its fourth major EQuIS 5 release, EQuIS 5.4, with significant new functionality, features and modules. EQuIS 5.4 provides WQX and STORET integration for several large state government clients, a new ArcGIS Server module, and a .NET version of EQuIS for ArcGIS. Limnology and geotechnical data structure extensions are integrated into the EQuIS 5 schema from LakeWatch and DIGGS development efforts. EarthSoft clients with Maintenance Agreements will receive over a million dollars of innovation for a small fraction of the development costs. EQuIS 5.4 offers greater productivity, improved efficiencies, increased security and enhanced flexibility.

WeatherBug, provider of live, local weather information and services for consumer and professional users, announced the integration of lightning data from the WeatherBug Total Lightning Network into its GIS Data Services product. WeatherBug GIS Data Services enables clients to integrate live weather data into an existing geographical decision platform to create a comprehensive real-time GIS environment and common operating picture. WeatherBug GIS Data Services is easily integrated into ESRI platforms such as ArcGIS, ArcExplorer and ArcIMS, in addition to Google Earth, WebEOC and other OGC standard products.

Farragut Systems, Inc. announced that Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, North Carolina) has successfully implemented Farragut’s AddressOne product. AddressOne is the first and only GIS-enabled, Commercial-off-the-Shelf product for enterprise addressing.

The new release of PTV MapServer is now available. It provides updated maps with toll tables and environmental zones which are taken into account during the routing process. The tool also includes new features for routing and logistical optimization methods. The new PTV MapServer is based on COM. It allows users to easily embed digital maps, route calculation or other geo- functionalities.

CartêGraph is pleased to announce its launch of the interactive Mobile Lab, a free, hands-on seminar series that demonstrates to attendees the power of CartêGraph’s mobile solution.
The CartêGraphmobile solution is an easy-to-use, field-ready application that is built on the Windows Mobile platform. CartêGraphmobile is tightly integrated with existing CartêGraph desktop applications, providing complementary functionality that is fully accessible on a handheld, mobile, wireless device.

Around the Web

Simultaneously zooming in google Maps topo and satellite example.

Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media by Claire Cain Miller, July 22, 2009, The New York Times (registration required) - Three weeks after Curtis Kimball opened his crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, he noticed a stranger among the friends in line for his desserts. How had the man discovered the cart? He had read about it on Twitter.

Site Wins Fashion Fans by Letting Them Design by Claire Cain Miller, July 25, 2009, The New York Times (registration required) - Polyvore, an upstart Web site far from Fifth Avenue, offers user-generated content and ads for fashionistas.

Events

 


You can find the full GISCafe.com event calendar here.

To read more news, click here.


-- Susan Smith, GISCafe.com Managing Editor.