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“Give me the Data” ... PBBI’s Geosk Launches

"Customers aren't saying, 'give me the data in this format; they are saying give me the data!'," says Scott Robinson, Pitney Bowes Business Insight's (PBBI), Director, Global Data Products.  "As we start this concept of making the data on demand ... we are going to market with the notion of Geosk as a fulfillment platform."

It's always been a dilemma for most geospatial professionals to have immediate access to data. Unlike the 1980's when data was delivered on tape or even the early 90's when data was delivered on tens of CD's, today it is unacceptable not to have immediate access. With cloud storage offering better options to host larger data sets, business models are emerging that allows users to take down data on demand.

DigitalGlobe's ImageConnect, GeoEye's EyeQ, and Esri's ArcGIS Online are all offering options for taking down data on demand. But PBBI wants to take it a step further by putting an emphasis on content management. "The area that we think as potentially big opp. Is in content management…where is data that we purchased; where is that project data that we did; where is that content that we purchased, said Robinson."

PBBI's technology stack is comprised of WeoGeo forming the backbone with Safe Software's FME serving to extract data as needed by the client. The ability to deliver data in exactly the right format and extents was key. Clients want to immediately know what data is available and can they see it. PBBI's objective was to cut the cycle times for getting data to the customer.  In addition, Robinson sees PBBI on a metadata journey to provide clients with value and currency because he believes it forms the backbone of search.

With Geosk, officially launched last week, their data as a service (DaaS) platform, PBBI is taking their library of data and offering a one-stop shop for demographic and business data. But Robinson sees some hurdles ahead.  "The challenge will be how we evolve this. Today it is a download model; can it evolve to support a web app and not deal with any locally stored data." Robinson thinks this is the next wave and the ability to accessing hosted data and rent it. Today the ability to "cookie-cut" only the data you want from a certain area in place now as is per unit pricing. Licensing is always going to be a challenge but PBBI thinks it has thought the problem through and believes it has a leg up on the competition. 

Digging Into the SimpleGeo Acquisition by Urban Airship

The news broke about the acquitiion yesterday (APB coverage), which will retain the Urban Airship name. The all stock deal is estimated at $3.5 million. Reports put the funding levels of the two companies at : 

Urban Airship - $6.5 million

SimpleGeo - just under $10 million 

New product announcements are expected next week and the new company does not plan to make any immediate changes to its offerings on either side of the house.

First off, let's review the nature of the companies, which I'd classify as "on the edge" of professional GIS and more in the mobile platform space. 

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Quote of the Week - 10/18/11

"New technologies—specifically cloud computing and geospatial mapping—play a critical role in delivering transparency and accountability."

- Chairman Earl E. Devaney of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board writing in an article (part of series) on lessons learned as chair. He was quoteed in a press release.

National Reconnaissance Office Wants to Push More Imagery to Warfighter #geoint2011

Bruce Carlson,  director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), is a serious manager on a mission to drive down costs and push intelligence to the warfighter.  The NRO is celebrating its 50th year as an agency, a strange anniversary since the agency only became to be known publicly just a few years ago. The NRO is one of the U.S.'s most secretive agencies and deploys the nation's spy satellites.

The agency has launched six satellites in seven months, a feat unmatched before in the agency's history and intends launching four more soon. But Carlson said at the outset of his presentation how important he feels his responsibility to use taxpayer money wisely. In an era of increasing budget cuts, the NRO is watching its dollars. The NRO, despite its size, was one of the largest donors to the last budget cut said Carlson. He explained that he attributes the efficiencies to the way his agency manufacturers satellites. "Though we cut a great deal of money (in the latest round of U.S. budget cuts), we didn't have to sacrifice any of our core capabilities," said Carlson.

But the theme of this year's GEOINT is "integrated intelligence" and Carlson wanted to make sure that he is doing his part to put information in the hands of more people. Carlson said that he has several integrated intelligence programs in development and that these "joint collaboration cells" have been certified by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Carlson believes that his agency can move the delivery of intelligence far from the point of acquisition all the way to the warfighter. He said that 95% of the geointelligence produced produce for NGA is classified at the "secret" level. That is, the bulk of information collected is not hard to deliver; and yet only 5% of soldiers have direct access to these data and Carlson wants to change this situation.

One solution is moving to a cloud environment but there are challenges. "The biggest impediment to moving to cloud is the legacy equipment that was built in a stovepipe; they were designed that way; but over time, when you go to many different systems, you've created a mound of people and systems that are hard to maintain…but I think it's doable," said Carlson.

In summary, Carlson said that the gap between the technological advantage that the U.S. has with other nations is huge. "What I am worried about is other countries going  after us and ... people exploiting this as one  of our Achilles heels," he said.