NAIP on NPR

This morning National Public Radio looked at the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) program which uses aerial imagery to be sure farmers are doing (or not doing) what they are supposed to be on their farm lands to received government subsidies. GE Geosaptial does the flying in the story and Surdex the image compilation. (There are many of each type of company in the program.) The story refers to it as spying and notes at the end that much of the data is kept in government hands. That struck me as odd, as did the fact that the audio program, so far as I recall (and see in the transcript) is not even mentioned.

Katrina One Year Later: Maps Please!

As the media gears up for the sad anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I went looking for maps - maps of where those who fled went, maps of rebuilding, maybe last year/this year aerial imagery…

So far, I’ve found just last year’s maps. But, I’ve found some neat ways to illustrate change: how about looking at the phone book? Or talking to Claritas (MSNBC, but no maps!)? I hope we’ll see more maps this week.

Stong Angel: Sharing Geospatial Data via SSE

It’s hard to tell from the NYT article, but it appears geospatial data was shared using Simple Sharing Extensions during the Strong Angel III virus outbreak scenario held the weekend in California.

At the same time, the technology roadblocks were balanced by notable successes, like the work of Google, Microsoft, ESRI, Intergraph and other companies to allow sharing a single set of digital satellite maps seamlessly and to overlay event data relayed from emergency workers throughout the San Diego area.

The new software capability relies on a Microsoft-designed system called Simple Sharing Extensions. It has been built on industry standards, like the Web protocol known as Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, which was designed to enable one-way data streams.

There’s a blog about the event where I found this GIS tidbit:

As medical director, I was asked about an epidemiological collection form, [MD and Commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps Eric] Rasmussen said. I told them what data and fields, and they wrote it into form, put it on a PDA, which send data to a collection of software that wrote to a suite of GIS applications from six different vendors and plotted the data on maps. They did it in about four hours. Some argued that the work done in four hours would have taken two years with conventional [development] methods.

-ZDNet

Redefining Geography

We’re getting past the whole notion that geography is memorizing state capitals. Geography is about population growth and managing urban sprawl. It deals with every issue we’re facing today.

- Joseph Kerski, a geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey quoted in an AP article about GPS use and OhioView

Quote of the Week

There is a concern among a lot of companies in this space that the hardware is becoming commoditized. But a lot is going to hinge on the content that will differentiate the TomToms and the Garmins from the others. Being able to personalize with the types of places you go to, and bringing traffic and weather information will be a big factor as well.

- Clem Driscoll of CJ Driscoll and Associates on the state of the portal navigation market in BusinessWeek. The article explains in detail how TomTom came from nowhere to hit number 2 in the the U.S. market, close on the heels of Garmin.