The exhibit area at FOSS4G wouldn’t rival a show like GITA, bit it was hopping. Here are some of the tidbits I learned from exhibitors.
Sierra Systems
Sierra Systems is an IT consulting group in North America with about 25 geospatial folks. A big believer in standards, the company did its homework on open source convincing itself it was a viable option for geospatial. Internally, the company is moving steadily to Linux and open source, but it respects its clients requirements. Still, when called up to offer strategic directions to clients like the Integrated Land Management Bureau (something like the BLM of Canada) open source is offered as an option.
Timberline
Timberline is Tyler Mitchell’s “old” company, a company focused on natural resources management. The company uses a mix of proprietary and open source (PostGIS/Grass/MapServer) to serve its clients. The big limitation in open source? Creating top notch cartographic output. For that, the company uses ESRI technology. For many other geospatial tasks, open source is the choice in part due to speed. The Timberline rep also noted the diversity in the attendees this way “from game developers to academics.”
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by Adena Schutzberg on 09/26 at 05:18 PM |
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“Microsoft’s Windows (software) business is worth $US15 billion. The global advertising market is worth $US580 billion. Last year, of that $US27 billion was online. If that becomes $US100 billion, then Google will get $US50 billion. That’s very scary!”
- Vincent Tao, the director of Microsoft Virtual Earth, described as “one of Microsoft’s online strategists” explaining why his company wants to get into advertising via acquiring part of Facebook: fear of Google.
- Syndney Morning Herald (Small Business)
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/26 at 11:06 AM |
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A Deutsche Bank analyst said Garmin has a large lead in the GPS/personal nav market, one competitors won’t catch for several years. That pushed the stock to over $120 per share, it’s highest ever on Wednesday morning.
- AP
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/26 at 10:38 AM |
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The technology from IBM’s Zurich Research Lab, the technology uses an avatar to map an individual’s medical records to the correct part of the body. It’s called the Anatomic and Symbolic Mapper Engine (ASME), and like a GIS if a doctor clicks on part of “body” a search of records summons information related to that bit.
Obligatory quote: “It’s like Google Earth for the body,” said IBM Researcher Andre Elisseeff, lead in healthcare projects at IBM’s Zurich lab.
The had some of the same development challenges we in geospatial know:
Using advanced machine learning and state-of-the-art 3D modeling techniques, the IBM researchers overcame key technical challenges including integrating heterogeneous data sources and complex text-based information—so-called unstructured data—and linking that data to the anatomical model in a meaningful and easy-to-navigate way.
My first thought: I get how a heart condition would be linked to the chest, but would diabetes which impacts so many parts be linked to the pancreas or multiple locations on the body? Also, this sort of a solution must also include time information.
- press release
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/26 at 08:42 AM |
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Per speakers at a business conclave during the ongoing 58th International Astronautical Congress in India:
The size of the geographical information system (GIS) market in India is expected to be $10 billion in 10 years…
Annual revenues of the global GIS market are expected to grow from an estimated $4 billion to $150 billion in the next decade.
Also of note, points made by Barbara Ray (corrected per note and some research, was a USGS Liaison, not sure of current position, though) of USGS, even as the US figures out the Landsat continuity plan:
Barbara Ray of US Geological Survey said public-private partnership could unleash the power of land remote sensing. “Land cover information is a largely untapped resource and will need continued access to land remote sensing assets,” she said.
She also called for developing simpler tools to help unleash the power of land cover and other types of information. “By developing simpler tools
- Economic Times
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/26 at 08:27 AM |
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