GIS - Geography in Action; that’s the theme. On the product side the emphasis was simplification and stability. There is a lot to cover from the conference, so I’ll start with an overview of day one. 

San Diego - clear sunny days, not too hot. You want to be outside but need to be in. The sprawling convention center is ready on Monday - primed like a pump to handle the throngs of ESRI enthusiasts about to descend on the place. 

The event rings of a sort of Mecca for GIS practitioners (no religious disrespect intended). They come from near and far - 14,000 from more than 120 countries. (Only the Olympics have more international representation?)  And they venture from afar to see and hear what the company, its partners, and its customers are up to. And to meet people of like interests. Four days, hundreds of sessions, a huge exhibit hall, a never-ending map gallery, special interest group meetings, and numerous social events.

The plenary - the main event, the kickoff. Colorful kites adorn the front stage while three huge screens occupy the waiting audience with questions - geography questions. (Tough questions, too!) Meanwhile, gentle eclectic music with an international feel plays. 

Jack begins by welcoming the masses and he asks us to stop for a moment and meet another person. I turn around and meet a guy who’s at his 11th ESRI UC. When I tell him it’s my first, he says, “It’s all about Jack. That’s all you need to know.” I laugh. And it turns out that does not seem at all true - after the opening day, Jack stepped into the background and let his employees, partners, and customers take over. They had more than enough to share and do without worrying about Jack, it seemed.

Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, said that GIS is changing how we abstract our world, how we reason about the world, how we organize and communicate. He referred to the vision of explorer and scientist Alexander von Humboldt as the foundation of Interior’s vision. Kempthorne also suggested that in the future GIS will be more pervasive because of all human action related to place. But he stressed the importance of reaching users outside the room - those not now using GIS. Reaching them is the only way to make GIS part of the infrastructure. 

Various product announcements followed Read all »

ESRI holds its annual user conference at the San Diego Convention Center next week and I will be attending. (Contact me if you want to meet.) The company did a conference questionnaire and just posted answers. This list of 139 questions ranges from technical - “Will ESRI support the Flex API in ArcGIS Server?” to business - “What are ESRI’s main business strategies?”

Both the questions and their answers make for interesting reading and provide a rather complete view of what ESRI and its customers are thinking and doing. Anyone interested in the company should read this, whether attending the conference or not.

Reported by Beet.TV, Nokia is about to open up its Ovi site for content sharing. Beet.TV interviewed Kamar Shah, head of global head of industry and marketing for Nokia.

“The Nokia N95 is becoming part of the Internet social networking phenomenon, Kamar, says. He cites news gathering and the use of the device by 50 Cent and others.  Users can stream live video or e-mail pictures to friends.” 

As you might recall, Nokia acquired Navteq, the map data provider, and the $8.1 billion deal closed earlier this month. Ovi is for people to share photos, videos, music, and other files. And Nokia device users can sync with their PCs.

Kamar discusses the importance of social networking, but as an example uses finding a restaurant near where you are. Huh? A cursory look at the site reveals little integration of the maps with anything but the phones. For example there is no mention of sharing maps between a mobile phone and a PC. What about sharing maps with friends? Not apparent on the Ovi pages, but I found elsewhere that Nokia says you can share routes and favorite spots with friends. Geotagging photos? Nope. The walking directions look interesting, though. No sign of recently acquired Plazes. Plazes is a service that lets people update others on what they are doing and where.

So, one can download the world in 4GB, says Nokia. Under the Ovi brand Nokia is likely to do more in the future with maps and other location-based data. It’s up to buyers, thought, to learn what they can really do … and understand Da Repercussions.

There has been lots of news lately about GPS-enabled applications, data, and devices, some tied to the Where 2.0 2008 conference last week. ABI Research said that by 2012 more than 550 million GPS-enabled handsets would ship. Navteq announced updates to its North American traffic database, adding Puerto Rico and Canada as well as expanded coverage on high-volume surface roads. Meanwhile, Nokia said its Maps on Ovi service would allow customers to save map information on the Internet and then synch it to their phones.

Oh, and Google not only opened its API to geospatial data but it shook hands with ESRI around the idea of Google searches finding ESRI data and pulling it into Virtual Earth. Google is not the only company focusing on geographic search; FortiusOne announced the beta release of its Finder! search service. In addition, Where 2.0 hosted a dozen new companies finding ways to better address the needs for geospatial information.

Also, after six months of review, navigation device maker TomTom finally got EU holy water sprinkled on its deal to acquire Tele Atlas for $4.5 billion. Trimble announced new rugged handheld devices for difficult environments and high-accuracy needs. Lastly, the U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contract for building the first eight GPS III satellites. GPS III is supposed to have enhanced military coverage and civilian capabilities.

There are still many people who don’t see the importance of location in business and consumer worlds. However, these announcements and events are indicative of the movement of the industry toward improved data accessibility and accuracy. What that means is that geographic data will be increasingly available as a framework for decisions of many types, existing and new.

I was fortunate to hear a presentation today by Brian Stelter, the New York Times reporter and blogger. The occasion was the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) 2008 Best of Web Awards and Webmaster Convocation. My son was a finalist for the student contribution category. Brian was the keynote speaker.

Brian went to high school in the county and was an intern at MCPS. He was an early Web enthusiast and was blogging before anyone called it blogging, first writing about the Goosebumps book series written by R.L. Stine. In 2004 he started writing about cable news and gained a lot of attention from people in that industry. Brian gained a lot of attention for his expose’ regarding the CBS alteration of Katie Couric’s photo. While he thought he was a tech nerd at first, he soon realized it was the content that drove him and was most important to the value of the Internet.

By doing what he enjoyed, through school and college, Brian gained visibility. He was hired last year by the NYT to help move it faster into the modern online world. He described the venerable newspaper company as having many parallels to the education institutions in which he had worked. They are political, with competing silos or departments. Brian did a great job describing the huge challenges the traditional media outlets face when trying to provide online services – the many competing interests inherent in decisions. He also sees ongoing visible changes – new reporter hires at the paper having some Web and technology expertise, old-timers leaving positions that will not be refilled, and a changing sense of which companies are really competition to the Times.

It was interesting to hear Brian talk about blogging and how most of them are read by very few people. While this is true, does it matter? Many bloggers are writing for themselves as much as to draw high numbers of readers. When I asked Brian how the NYT determines what readers want online, he admitted a need for improvements in understanding reader interests and desires.

Perhaps a lack of understanding its customers is the real threat to the traditional media outlets rather than the online medium. While one can question much about bloggers, the ones trying to gain readers play close attention to what draws people.

Brian’s story is inspiring to high school and college students interested in journalism and various aspects of the Internet. He did what he loved and was pursued by the Times and became one of the youngest reporters ever hired there. His mission is difficult, yet the change he is driving is inevitable.

In the geospatial industry we’ve seen the decline of printed media over the past decade. Fortunately, the media companies that provided those publications remain online with admirable coverage of geospatial news. The most widely read blogs, however, are those written by vendors. In my view, the industry could use some more independent voices online. The Geo Factor strives to provide that independent voice and encourages others to join the discussion.