I had a chance to hear Ann Hale Miglarese, the newly minted chairperson of the National Geospatial Advisory Comittee (NGAC). She provided the nominal mission of NGAC as follows: The committee will provide advice and provide recommendations on federal geospatial policy and management issues and provide a forum to convey views representative of partners in the geospatial community. This committee will help provide advice and perspectives from a broad range of our partner orgs as we continue to develop new ways to utilize geospatial information for the benefit of the public.

But Ms. Miglarese had a very interesting observation: "In the future, we need to find a way to partner with companies that are spending $400 or $500 million dollars a year," referring to Microsoft, Google, and NAVTEQ. "What we have done for years and years are now coming down to the consumer. That casual consumer will drive many of our policies. The National Geospatial Advisory Committee is a place where that dialog can occur and about what we should be debating and how to grow the NSDI."