One such application will be the so-called Twitter bot framework, which bridges the Web service and phones with a location-detection feature that can link to a layer in Google Earth, [Eric] Rasmussen [CEO] said. That way, for example, Rasmussen could send a message about a patient with untreated symptoms in Laos via SMS on his phone, which might only have one signal bar of service. That message could then be broadcast to anyone subscribed to his messages, including aid workers at UNICEF or InSTEDD's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., which could show his location and note on a Google Earth map.

"We can send an SMS message onto Google Earth in an emergency center, and it sees a dot with a color-coded response, with my name and date. Right underneath that, there's a button that says reply, and (aid workers can send a note that says) we have the resources you need 2 miles north...Suddenly there's a two-way conversation using nothing but a cell phone with one bar," he said, adding: "We've done this."

[Once activated] the game scans for other users within 300 feet and sets up a direct WiFi connection, swapping photos of each player for identification purposes. The user tracks the other player via continually updated GPS coordinates on a Google map interface, and when a positive identification is made, the user can shoot to kill using the phone's camera. The photo is then uploaded to the W2Pi site to see if there's a match, and if so, the user is awarded points.

Did you ever wonder what happens to bring your GIS software to market? For many years a process referred to as the "waterfall method" was used. In the last 10 or so years a new method came on the scene, one referred to as agile practices. Today, with insights from agile proponents like my guests Chris Spagnuolo and Dave Bouwman of Data Transfer Solutions, GIS development organizations, including ESRI, are looking to this new way of managing and developing software.