got geoint?

2010 seemed to be the year that the GEOINT sector as well as the use of location-based technologies for businesses and consumers really caught fire. The reality is that location-based technologies — whether the use of portal GPS devices, or the adoption of services like FourSquare — have been growing for years, but for some reason 2010 was the year of GEOINT. As such, we have decided to pull together the top stories that have impacted our world over the past 12 months. From the appointment of Letitia Long as the new NGA Director to the kookiness of Google StreetView, we have it all in this post. We hope you enjoy and here’s to a great 2011.

Defense Secretary Gates Announces Letitia Long as New NGA Director
Back in February, the editorial staff of got geoint? was able to get a little jump on some big time GEOINT news. Yes, we are talking about the appointment of Letitia Long as the new Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Be sure to check out our post on this piece of news, which includes the actual email that the exiting Director VADM Robert B. Murrett sent to the NGA staff. We also include comments from USGIF President Keith Masback on this development. Here’s the full post.

The “Father of GEOINT” Becomes Director of National Intelligence
Back in 2008, when we launched got geoint?, our very first post was a Q&A with James R. Clapper, the then Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD(I)), who discussed with us the foundation of GEOINT. Yes, it was one of our more popular posts (as you can imagine). So, when President Obama announced — right on the eve of the USGIF GeoGala — that General Clapper was nominated to be the next Director of National Intelligence, you could feel the excitement in the air. Perhaps that excitement was because General Clapper actually came to the GeoGala and gave an insightful and entertaining speech about his experience of being nominated — facing the throng of media and cameras as he stood next to President Obama when they announced his nomination. Yes, that was a good day for GEOINT.

GeoEye and DigitalGlobe Lead the New “Space Race”
2010 was a very good year for USGIF member companies GeoEye and DigitalGlobe. Both companies were awarded the NGA EnhancedView contract worth — and get this — $7.3 billion dollars. Yes, we are talking billions here. This contract clearly reinforces how valuable commercial satellite imagery is for the defense and intelligence sector. And, USA Today did a big feature on how both companies are leading the new “space race.” Congratulation to both DigitalGlobe and GeoEye.

We Found Jesus on Google StreetView
2010 was the year in kookiness for Google StreetView. Everywhere you turned there was a story about crazy images being captured — from a woman giving birth to a guy being kidnapped. Well, it turned out that most of these were pranks done in Germany. Apparently, the Germans were not too psyched about StreetView (it was a privacy thing). But the ultimate StreetView news was the story about it picking up an image of Jesus. This clearly beats the story of Jesus appearing on a piece of toast.

NRO Successfully Launches Satellite NROL-41 (After a Wrongly Parked Car is Moved)
On September 20, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) launched the classified satellite NROL-41, though it was slightly delayed because a private car was parked in the wrong spot. Hey, one can never be too careful, right. The real story is that the NRO really caught its footing this year. The organization even opened its doors to the media. Check out more here.

Once Again, GEOINT Symposium Rocks — Breaks Attendance and We Play Football in the Super Dome
It goes without saying that the GEOINT Symposium is like our Christmas (no offense Santa). We get to spend five days with everyone from industry, government and academia in a setting that is both highly educational and fun. Once again, USGIF broke barriers with record attendance. More than 4,000 participants had an exclusive opportunity to explore an exhibit hall of over 100,000 square feet featuring 220 exhibitor and sponsor organizations. In addition to this, almost 200 representatives from 30 different countries were in attendance. The event had eight keynote speakers and over 100 leaders from the community guided the audience through discussions focused on this year’s them: GEOINT 3.0. Once again, it was a spectacular event and the topper was that we got go play football in the Super Dome, oh and there was the 50 yard field goal kick by none-other-than Mr. Dave Sterling. What a triumphant end to an amazing week.

Power to The People: GEOINT in the Hands of Users
At GEOINT 2010, Letitia Long’s keynote addressed focused on her game-changing vision for the NGA and the GEOINT sector in general. This new vision involves taking advantage of key location-based applications and trends that deliver intuitive and powerful apps for solving a multiple of GEOINT challenges, as well as the importance of empowering users to easily take advantage of this new frontier of GEOINT. In case you missed her speech, here’s the video of her presentation.

As we head into 2011, we anticipate another year of leadership, growth and innovation. As always, we will try to keep our finger on the pulse of everything newsworthy — and sometimes entertaining — happening in the GEOINT sector. We urge all of our readers to share their thoughts, insights and feedback on how we can make got geoint? better. What’s that you say? More posts like the Friday’s Food for Thought? Yes, we admit…those are our favorite posts as well.

Happy Holidays from got geoint?

Tags: Dave Sterling and GeoReps, DigitalGlobe, EnhancedView, GeoEye, GEOINT 2010, GeoReps, geospatial intelligence, got geoint?, James R. Clapper, Keith Masback, Letitia Long, Letitia Long and the NGA, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, StreetView, StreetView Jesus, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF