I had the luxury of sitting in on an entire day of sessions. Below are the details of:

- Statewide Issues I and II
- Southeast Regional Applications
- Data Integration and Sharing

(full agenda)

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

It's the Washington Post that explores the matter. It's expert cartographer is "Cartographer Nikolas Schiller, 26, who takes an artistic approach to mapmaking and is working on an atlas." He lives in DC, focus of the exploration.

I found myself a bit confused about who gathers imagery how. Is this correct?

The newer photos on Google's map of Washington are from 2005 Geological Survey satellite images released in March.

You recall the request from FGDC for people to populate the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), right? It came out in May and asked for nominees by June 28.

The NGAC is being created to advise the Federal government on the management of national geospatial programs and the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). ...

The NGAC will include approximately 20–25 members, who will be selected to generally achieve a balanced representation of the viewpoints of the various partners involved in national geospatial activities. The Secretary of the Interior will appoint Committee members and their alternates to the Committee to serve 2-year terms.

I recall no signficant discussion of the committee or nominees anywhere on the Net. I do recall seeing the press release on a few sites (including Directions Magazine). Clearly, the folks at MAPPS did some discussing and came up with their slate of nominees. Before delving into the "who" note a few things about this release:

(1) MAPPS is described as "the only national association of private geospatial and surveying companies."

(2) MAPPS worked with a number of organizations on "endorsements." Huh? Each candidate's name must be submitted with three references or endorsements. Which orgs helped with endorsing? "ASPRS, the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), the Council on Federal Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services (COFPAES) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce." A version of the release on another website included NSGIC; I'm not sure why that group is not in the release on the MAPPS website (which is the same one on our website).

Now, on to the people endorsed. I know some of them. They work for firms involved in data collection. Among them: John Palatiello, the executive director of MAPPS.

Have any other organizations nominated and publicly noted their nominees? Did any readers nominate themselves?

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson visited the USGS office in Rolla on Monday as a returning hero. She'd shut down the A-76 process which might have put the office out of business and insured both the Denver and Rolla offices will continue to serve the public.

The USGS gave Emerson a special gift: "a special benchmark with a plumb-bob attached. The memento is normally saved for retiring USGS employees, but they made the exception for Emerson."

Emerson did note that her job was not over and she'd continue to monitor things at USGS.

- Rolla Daily News