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Volume 2 / Issue 47/ November 25, 2008
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 "Most countries are attempting to achieve
sustainability through segmented economic, environmental or social
approaches but an integrated approach is needed, a holistic approach.
Not only wealth in a monetary sense, but a quality of life sense, can be
generated. Geospatial investment would create factors like viability,
healthiness, durability, adaptability, longevity and other similar
characteristics. And… it doesn’t take a pile of money, all it needs is
willingness, hard work and leadership."
Jeff Thurston, Editor, EMEA and Russia, jeffthurston vector1media.com
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 "In the current economic climate, a blank check for geospatial spending
is definitely wishful thinking. However, if the government goes forward
with various initiatives to stimulate the economy, planning for
information technology to support these initiatives would certainly be
money well spent. Geospatial technology investments would help to
increase efficiency and save money on the kinds of projects proposed,
while providing jobs, investment in a vital technology sector, and
increasing our understanding of our planet."
Matt Ball, Editor, Americas/Asia-Pacific, mattball vector1media.com
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Similar to how investments in areas that both benefit our planet and our
economy are gaining ground, the Open Geospatial Consortium is calling
for key building industry players to make a relatively small investment
of time and money with the potential for a huge pay-off. Working
together to create a common vision and program for interoperability
among their information systems will eliminate waste and increase
profits.
Traditionally, in the building sector, local materials with low energy costs and low environmental impact were used. Nowadays, global materials such as cement, aluminium,concrete and PVC are used, increasing the energy costs and environmental impact. At present, the building sector contributes largely in the global environmental load of human activities: for instance, around 40% of the total energy consumption in Europe corresponds to this sector. It represents also a major potential for improvement, and is generally addressed by most environmental policies.
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| TOP FIVE LINKS OF THE WEEK |
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| Jeff's Top Five Links of the Week |
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 A great amount of spatial information has been gathered about buildings
when they are designed. But very little digital information is
available for existing buildings - and other information relating to
inside structures. Using geographic information systems (GIS), robotics
and bridging computer-aided design (CAD) techniques, Penobscot Bay
Media, LLC has developed mobile robotics for data gathering inside
buildings, as well as developing one of the first GIS enabled data
models for this work. V1 Magazine editor Jeff Thurston met with Stuart
Rich of PenBay in London, UK recently to discuss these initiatives and
to learn more.
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 It’s a daunting task to synthesize and analyze global knowledge regarding the health of the environment. The United Nations Environment Program’s World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC) in Cambridge, United Kingdom, has a dedicated staff of more than 60 people that work to bring together data on global biodiversity and conservation to guide policy. A primary data product of UNEP-WCMC is the World Database of Protected Areas.V1 editor Matt Ball spoke with Derek Gliddon, head of the Informatics Program at UNEP-WCMC about the goals and challenges of the organization.
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VIII Int'l Geostatistics Conf , Dec. 1-5, Santiago, Chile
The User and the GEOSS Architecture XXV , Dec. 3-5, Valencia, Spain
Autodesk University , Dec. 2-5, Las Vegas, Nevada
Smart Utility 2008 , Dec 9-10, London, UK
Ecobuild Fall / AEC-ST Fall , Dec. 8-11, Washington, D.C.
3rd Intl Conf On Renewable and Distributed Energy Dec. 10-12, Nice, France
Cartography and Geoinformatics for Early Warning and Emergency Management , Jan. 19-22, Prague, Czech Republic
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 The International Symposium on Global
Navigation Satellite Systems, Space-Based Navigation and Ground-Based
Augmentation Systems and Applications was held last week in Berlin.
Bringing together representatives from around the world, the event
served to provide as a forum for learning about ongoing activity
relating to GNSS. Also included were activities and information
relating to additional positioning augmentation systems and
applications involving radio networks, communications, geodesy,
cartography and surveying.
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| TOP FIVE BLOG POSTS OF THE WEEK |
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| VECTOR ONE |
SPATIAL SUSTAIN |
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