Update 7/24: An article in today's SalemNews.net by the same reporter includes: "The NAVTEQ maps will cost $7,875 for an annual subscription." The original article cited below still includes the $77,875 value which per comments below is incorrect.

--- original post 7/23/08 -------

I was surprised to see the county was using what are refered to as Tiger data for E-911. In testing they were not found to be very good. Further, the company that provided them (not named in a Review article) was not responsive enough. Thus, the county will move NAVTEQ data. Cost:

The annual map subscription will cost $77,875 with quarterly updates. The cost to import the maps had not been determined at the time of the meeting.

The plan is to move to the NAVTEQ data and eventually to street centerline data currently under development.

This is the next phase after Microsoft acquired Caligari (apb post) and its trueSpace 3D toolkit this past February.

Chris Pendleton at the Virtual Earth, Evangelist's blog explains and provides an answer to "how to make money with 3D."

All the talk is about LBS and social media, but I think the folks at Trails.com have a valuable proposition, too. The site now offers not just searchable maps, but a full social network build on Pluck. Unlike freebies such as FaceBook or MySpace, the business model here is subscriptions (you get map downloads, trailguides non-subscribers cannot access) and I suspect the powers that be figure an "exclusive" social network is another key draw.

- press release

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released a new issue brief called "Where's the Data? Show Me -- Maximizing the Investment in State Geospatial Resources." It's a PDF download and you need to answer one question (no e-mail required) before downloading.

NASCIO is interested in GIS: It ranked in the organization's Top Ten list of Priority Technologies for 2008. The 23 page report includes NSGIC's input as well as a call to action for CIOs. It's a nice compilation, but nothing new to those on the inside.

via GovTech