More on Google KML Search

A few things have popped up that related to the announcement of Google support for search (content and spatail)of KML files.

1) Raj Singh notes that OGC is working to make KML an international standard.

2) Tim O’Reilly is wondering why more people are not “jumping up and down” about this announcement.

3) MetaCarta today announced support for KML in its tools. That I believe means you can use its supersmart natural language tools to geotag unstructured content with KML. That in turn can then be viewed in Google Earth and other KML supporting viewers and, more relevant here, searched via Google.

Online AS in GIS from American Sentinel

Per a press release:

American Sentinel is the first DETC-accredited U.S. college to offer an AS in GIS.

Let’s unpack that. American Sentinel was “founded as a Vanderbilt University Technology Company,” and “delivers to its students and their employers the competitive advantages of unique online education programs focused on the needs of high-growth sectors.” The U.S. Dept. of Labor has indicated that geospstial technology is a high growth sector.

DETC? That refers to Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) accreditation. DETC is a non-profit started in 1926 to accredit distance (then mostly corresondence courses, I guess). It’s “recognized by” the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education.

AS? The associates degree, a two year degree, is designed to be a stepping stone to a tranfer for a four year degree in GIS or an entry level position.

There are many GIS certificate programs available in the U.S. both online and on campus. I know that ESRI for one has been working to get GIS into community (2 year) colleges.

The curriculum for this program includes some interesting requirements (among others):

a course in world geography
a course in MS Office
a course in algebra
and six GIS courses

- press release

Off Topic: The Geographical Divide of the Yankees vs. Red Sox Nation

In an unscientific, but quasi-spatial analysis of the geographical divide between the home territory of New York Yankee baseball fans and those of the Red Sox (aka Sawx) Nation, New York Times reporter John Branch traveled to bars and bakeries in search of the eluvise boundary. His video report tells the story of his "ground truth" to find where to put the rather dynamic boundary between the two.

Autodesk 2008 Product Line Release Dates

Just in case you want to be first on your block… Autodesk didn’t give dates at our recent press gig and just yesterday I read on a GIS site that Map3D would appear in March. I’m pleased someone told Ralph Grabowski what’s going on.

The ones about which GISers might care should appear:

Friday, March 23
AutoCAD 2008

Thursday, April 5
AutoCAD Map 3D 2008

Monday, April 16
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008
AutoCAD Land Desktop 2008

Tuesday, April 17
Design Review 2008

Friday, April 20
Raster Design 2008

GIS Lessons from Katrina

Officer.com has a nice summary of “After the Storm: Technology Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina” a session presented at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in October 2006. Among the presenters was ESRI’s Lew Nelson who listed four lessons regarding geospatial from the storm. The big themes: standards, data sharing, preparedness.