Thursday, March 13th, 2014
Traditionally maps were produced using a long and detailed process, which would start at the initial data collection stage and run through to the final creation and printing of a map. However, different map series would often have their own data collection processes. This would mean that small scale maps could be partly derived from
Wednesday, March 5th, 2014
Young people get it. They know where we are heading, and they are excited about what’s on the horizon. I’m not talking about the future in general. I’m actually talking about geospatial technology specifically. Kids intuitively understand the potential for geospatial technology as well as any expert in our industry with 20 or 30
Monday, January 13th, 2014
Recent world events that started as technological glitches or dysfunctions have become major objects of debate in politics, geopolitics and the economy. It is useful to consider geotechnology as a tool which enables key players’ strategic decisions based on geospatial knowledge. However, in the unpredictable game of world situations, geotechnology appears as an independent
Monday, December 23rd, 2013
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are advanced robots that will empower many citizens and professionals. In a report published by the McKinsey Global Institute, it is estimated that a potential economic impact of $14 – $33 trillion a year by 2025 from the 12 technologies discussed. One of those technologies is advanced robotics: robots with enhanced
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
Throughout two contentious California lawsuits to uphold Public Records Act (PRA) access to county GIS parcel basemaps, many GIS professionals got involved with this issue. They informed themselves, they spoke out, they monitored online discussion groups and contributed opinions. Some GIS professionals used their expertise to analyze the content and structure of contested basemaps;
Tuesday, November 5th, 2013
The wireless sensor network is fundamentally a distributed network of constrained devices. There are a host of considerations that must be taken into account when planning and implementing a wireless sensor network – considerations that are often overlooked in the lavish space in which traditional IT operates with nearly extravagant disk space, CPU and
Tuesday, October 29th, 2013
The objective of this column is to observe world events surfacing on the daily news, focusing the attention on geotechnology and on the way it affects the functioning of world systems. The area of analysis is the intersection between technology, news, business and the digital world, where geospatial issues are more current and better measurable
Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013
To borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, reports of the demise of aerial film in our industry are greatly exaggerated. The transition to digital imaging technologies in the geospatial industry may seem ubiquitous, but the numbers tell a very different story. Film is very much alive, and numerous base mapping collection firms have not yet
Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
Part one of this series described an imagined future scenario of pizza deliveries made using unmanned aerial systems (UAS). This is hardly a stretch given Americans’ history of extraordinary innovation. The level of innovation with UAS technology promises to be breathtaking. Since Part 1 was published, I have found real life examples of similar UAS
Thursday, September 12th, 2013
It is hard to go anywhere now and not see individuals or whole crowds of people staring at their “device”. I was walking past an outdoor café the other day and noticed that every single person on the patio was engaged in texting, searching and scanning. No one was talking. It is pretty obvious
