Directions Media’s Editor in Chief Joe Francica looks at cloud computing and how geospatial technology vendors are only just now beginning to think about a business model. Joe shares information from IDC’s Top Ten predictions for 2010, and specifically that company’s expectations for cloud computing. Finally, looking at satellite imagery from both DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, he discusses how these data suppliers are contributing to the rescue efforts for the Haitian earthquake. (6:04 in length)
As the world turns its attention to Haiti and how to best help the country in this challenging time, we look at a split in the geospatial community around user generated content of the impacted region. Vector map data from OpenStreetMap and Google Map Maker are available for use in supporting rescue and recovery efforts as well as apps for those looking on from a distance. But there are two from which to choose. Does this make for the best possible response?
An irregularity with the antenna, detected on Dec 11 caused the company to suspend collection for a time. The official statement of the problem: "The irregularity appears to limit the range of movement of GeoEye-1’s downlink antenna, which may in turn affect GeoEye-1’s ability to image and downlink simultaneously."
While some customers who get direct downlinks the company confirmed there would be no impact on imagery delivery to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and GeoEye regional affiliates.
The information comes from an SEC filing made on Wednesday. Estimates suggest that if the malfunction is not corrected, it could reduce the company’s total revenue by up to 10 percent for the fourth quarter of 2009 and for all of 2010.
The company scheduled a conference call for early Thursday to discuss operation.
Here are the stats, shared by William Schuster, the company’s chief operating officer, at the Strategic Space Symposium held Tuesday in Omaha, Nebaraska.
The company has had to move the 10-year-old Ikonos satellite seven times to avoid space junk. It’s had to move GeoEye-1, in orbit just over a year four times.
Bottom line: the more fuel used to move the birds around, the shorter their productive life in space. On the other hand, getting “wacked” may put them out of commission forever.
The new AOR (that’s Agency of Record) is Gibraltar which will provide “public affairs, executive level media relations, and support for the company’s corporate communications team.”
One of the goals for the new team: “expand its mainstream media opportunities.” “The firm will help with positioning our imagery in the press for news breaking events,” said Mark Brender.
LeGrand Hart was the previous agency. Eight companies bid for the job.
