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Volume 2 / Issue 50/ December 16, 2008
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 "There are both similarities and
differences between North American and European geospatial initiatives
and approaches. Europe consists of 27 EU member states as well as
several non-member states as compared to Mexico, United States and
Canada. Europeans appear more coordinated in their geospatial
approaches, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe
(INSPIRE), EuroGeographics, European Space Agency (ESA), Global
Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and other programs are
transboundary in orientation. However, it is much more difficult in
Europe to find young company’s venturing into entrepreneurial space
alone."
Jeff Thurston, Editor, EMEA and Russia, jeffthurston vector1media.com
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 "The approaches for spatial data infrastructure (SDI) vary widely
within these continents, and particularly from country to country in
North America. One overriding difference in data policy that still has
broad play across regions is the fee vs. free model for data collected
by the government. The United States has long made federal data
available for free, and has cultivated a strong geospatial industry
based on that openness. "
Matt Ball, Editor, Americas/Asia-Pacific, mattball vector1media.com
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 In the spirit of end-of-year reflections, Vector1 Media editors Jeff
Thurston and Matt Ball looked back over the past 12 months to come up
with the top developments of 2008 that will have strong implications
for geospatial industry growth and diversity in the coming years.
Making the list are software updates, bold initiatives,
mapping-oriented geopolitical wrangling, policy directives and imagery
platforms. Read the full list and please add your own observations via
comments. |
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It is easy to cite heart-stopping statistics when discussing the urgent
need for worldwide sustainability initiatives. How about 1.1 billion of
the world’s 6 billion people not having adequate access to clean
drinking water and 2.6 billion not having adequate sanitation services.
Or 3 billion people in developing countries living on less than $2 per
day. Clearly, action is required if we intend the planet to support
society into perpetuity, not to mention offer the opportunity for all
people to realize the quality of life enjoyed in the developed world.
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.
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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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Int'l Forestry and Environment Symposium, Dec. 27-28, Kalutara, Sri Lanka
Offshore Arabia 2009 , Jan. 11-13, Dubai, UAE
Cartography and Geoinformatics for Early Warning and Emergency Management, Jan. 19-22, Prague, Czech Republic
GIS Ostrava 2009 , Jan. 25-29, Ostrav, Czech Republic
Spatial Information for Sustainable Management of Urban Areas, Feb. 2-4, Mainz, Germany
First Global Summit On Sustainable Development and Biodiversity 2008 , Feb. 7-9, Raipur, India
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 Autodesk University 2008 took place in Las Vegas, Nevada from Dec. 1-5.
This year's event attracted roughly 9,000 people, with the theme,
"Experts Like You". The current state of the economy was on everyone's
minds, with fewer attendees due to cutbacks in the AEC industry. But as
a result of the economic pressures, it was a very motivated group to
gain skills and learn strategies in order to continue to be competitive.
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| TOP FIVE BLOG POSTS OF THE WEEK |
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| VECTOR ONE |
SPATIAL SUSTAIN |
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National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World (2008)
By National Geographic
Thematic maps enhance the global coverage, detailing trends and
characteristics of today’s critical issues: natural resources, energy,
population, religion, economy and trade, conflict, climate change.
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National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition (2004)
By National Geographic
The National Geographic Society completely revised its full-size (47-cm.) world atlas, last published in 1992.
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The Atlas of the Real World (2008)
By Daniel Dorling, Mark Newma, Anna Barford
366 cartograms cover a vast array of subjects, providing a
definitive reference on how regions and countries compare in resources,
production, consumption, and more.
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[CONTENT]
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