The article (Redlands Daily Facts) runs down ESRI's work and harkens back to 9/11. Also included: positioning of ArcGIS Explorer:

"Right now we have Google Earth and Virtual Earth, and these are great visual tools," [product marketing specialist Bernie] Szukalski said. "But one of the purposes of the ArcGIS Explorer software is to provide geographical context to places and events like the fires."

Szulaski demonstrated the program, which allows users to bookmark certain spots on the global map, and double-clicking on these pinpoints, users can be linked to external Web sites that provide news and information on locations and events.

We covered the ESRI contribution at Directions Magazine.

Rich Smith at the Motley Fool offers three reasons.

Tele Atlas has given TomTom five days to do so. If the bid is not met, Tele Atlas will terminate the agreement with TomTom (Reuters).

An ING analyst said TomTom could got as high as E30 per share (Garmin is offering E24.5).Garmin, the analyst suggests, really wants to own Tele Atlas. A second analyst says TomTom will up the bid.

Also Thursday, Tele Atlas announced it had acquired South African data company Georigin, which specializes in data for southern and east Africa. Further, Tele Atlas will expand its Asia-Pacific operations by setting up a joint venture with MappointAsia Thailand and send out a new mapping van in Singapore, its second vehicle in the Asia-Pacific region.

Another tidbit: Garmin owns 5.02 percent of Tele Atlas. (Reuters)

You can watch Garmin CFO Kevin Rauckman on CNBC.

Says Garmin Chief Executive Officer Min Kao regarding the change in the marketplace(CNN):

Historically Garmin believed that an independent, competitive map duopoly served our industry well. However, in the absence of this independent and competitive map duopoly, Garmin must exercise its obligation to provide market leadership.

Tadpole Technology PLC, will sell its Geospatial Solutions division to ESRI (UK) cash and liabilities totalling about L545,000. The division offers geo-products and services, especially for mobile data collection. It's well known as an ESRI partner.

Tadpole will now become a holding company with US and UK subsidiaries and will change its name. The new focus will be on its application streaming business, aka "software as a service." The head of the geo division will step down and the head of the streaming division will now take over as CEO.

Tadpole offers details here.

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Small Cap News
- Hemscott