Laying the Groundwork for a Stable and Sustainable Space Environment-U.S. State Department

The following is an excerpt from a presentation by Frank A. Rose, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, in an address to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Space Security Conference, Geneva, Switzerland:

The use of communications satellites to transmit health care data across countries and across the globe is only one of the many uses of space on which we rely. Telephone calls, news reports, television broadcasts, and financial transactions are also relayed through satellites. Financial markets, power grids, and wireless, satellite, cable, and broadcast industries all use GPS satellites for precise timing, and ships, planes, automobiles, and individual people use them for navigation. Meteorological satellites provide weather and environmental forecasts, while remote-sensing satellites provide imagery used in agriculture, resource exploration, land use planning, treaty verification, and disaster relief, amongst other things. Clearly the use of space assets and the information we derive from them permeate almost every aspect of our daily lives. The telehealth scenario I have just mentioned is only one example of how important the utilization of space is, and clearly shows that the loss of space systems, even for a short period of time, can have damaging consequences. Extrapolating from this, we must ask ourselves “What will the consequences be if the space environment were to become unusable?”

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Congressman Introduces “Map It Once, Use it Many Times Act”

Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) has introduced a bill that would streamline federal bureaucracy dealing with map making. H.R 4233, Map it Once, Use it Many Times Act, would reform, consolidate, and reorganize federal geospatial activities.

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DigitalGlobe Reports Earnings; No Talks on EnhancedView with NGA

Yesterday, DigitalGlobe reported fourth quarter and full year earnings.  For the quarter, the company realized 17% revenue growth, year over year, and 5% revenue growth for 2011.

But the news that was on everyone's mind during the analyst's briefing was regarding the possible impact of any curtailment of the EnhancedView contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Jeffrey Tarr, CEO, stated, "We have not been notified of any cut to our program and we are not in any negotiation for a cut."

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Gartner Adds Companies with Location Intelligence Capabilities to BI Magic Quadrant

Gartner, the market research firm, released its report (registration may be required to download) on companies reviewed for its "magic quadrant," a chart showing the leading players in business intelligence software solutions. Making the grade were companies with location intelligent functionality. Most companies in the report use location as an adjunct to their reporting capabilities while only one, Alteryx, truly relies on its geospatial roots to leverage location-based data in a more significant way. Others, however, use maps for primarily visualization rather than analytics. Here is a synopsis of each with both Gartner's analysis and my take on where they fit in the quadrant.

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ArcGIS for National Government: What is it? Is it New? #esrifedcon

Today, Esri launched ArcGIS for National Government at their Federal GIS conference. What is it and is it anything new for ArcGIS users?

ArcGIS for National Government, as best I can discern from the presentations, is composed of data services, combined with pre-assembled workflow templates that also includes pre-configured model builder workflows that result in a specific "information product." If you happen to be working in an intelligence agency, there are specific templates/workflows called "ArcGIS for Intelligence."

For example, the ArcGIS for Intelligence solution contains specific content and other information products such as basemaps that may convey "live" current events happening in the world and provides the user the ability to drill down to information about actual incidents. The basemaps may include ready to use layers specific to that application or cartographic elements, such as a light gray, low contract basemap so point and polygon data will not be overwhelmed with colors and attribution of a typical base map.

Another aspect of the solution provides for the creation of an user-defined image or data catalog with a rating scale so users can see how helpful a data layer or image has been to others. Any value-added work created within a project can be published to the catalog and registered as a service that others can use as well.

Additionally, users can access ready to use products including analytical templates to answer specific questions. If you were working as a border patrol agent, these templates would include applications for:

• Situational awareness
• Border patrol mobile applications
• Border crossing activity

The template, then, includes standard map layers (land cover, water, etc.) but also known trails that illegal aliens will use and the locations of border arrests plus polygons for border patrol administration areas.

Finally, the solution also includes a pre-configured model builder template for these applications. The user then gathers data by browsing ArcGIS Online to look for layers that may be more specific to his/her own project area. Once the analysis has been completed, the entire analysis can be sent out via a layer package that other users can pull into their ArcGIS system.

Is any of this new? What's new is that these kinds of solutions are packaged. While the underlying technology is not new, Esri is trying to simplify the workflow, which would be particularly useful to neophyte GIS users. And with an expected expansion of knowledge workers that want to avail themselves of geospatial technology but are not yet expert with ArcGIS, this certainly gives them a push in the right direction. In a way, it reminds me of the large, post-sized workflow models that Esri used to publish for certain vertical industries. This is the evolution of those posters for the era of "cloud."