Federal Computing Week is reporting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has appointed Brenda Smith as the agency's first geogarphic information officer (GIO). According to the article, "The ubiquity of geospatial information is what led Kim Nelson, EPA's CIO, to create Smith's position at the agency." So, now the EPA joins the USGS in appointing a GIO. In my opinion, the business of government is intrinsically based on geographic information and it would behoove more agencies to recognize the the wealth of location-based information in their databases. Should we start with the Department of Transportation? Remember that Karen Siderelis of the USGS was the first person appointed as GIO of that agency. Remember too, that the idea of a GIO was heavily pushed by Jack Dangermond, president of ESRI, which I believe signigicantly influenced the creation of that position at the USGS.