got geoint?

Welcome to the last Friday’s Food for Thought post for 2010. As ExecutiveGov noted (via got geoint? by the way), 2010 was a breakout year for GEOINT. And, indeed it was! Well, since many of you are not working today, or just putting in a half day, we wanted to make this a short and sweet FFT post and wish everyone a happy, safe and prosperous New Years. If 2011 is anything like 2010, we are in for another great ride. 2011 here we come!

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Satellite imagery is beginning to function as a revers crystal ball: allowing us to see clearly how the earth actually was thousands of years ago. This concept was recently reinforced when scientist recently discovered — via the use of satellite imagery — that fish once swam in the Sahara desert. Nick Drake, a geographer at King’s College London and his team used satellite imagery and digital maps of the Sahara landscape and found that it was once covered by a dense network of rivers, lakes and inland deltas. This large waterway channeled water and animals into and across the Sahara during what MSNBC is calling wet, “green” times. Drake and his team believe that these finding that could shed light on how humanity made its way out of Africa. It was always believed that the Sahara, the largest hot desert in the world, had conditions too extreme for any humans striving to migrate off the continent. This has all changed thanks to GEOINT. Check out more here.

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Let’s face it. It’s pretty hard to not like George Clooney. While many celebrities spend their free time sipping champagne in St. Barts over the holidays, he opted to launch a new initiative that harnesses the power of GEOINT to stop the war in Sudan. Called the Satellite Sentinel Project, this new project combines satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google’s Map Maker technology to deter the resumption of war between North and South Sudan. The project provides an early warning system to deter mass atrocities by focusing world attention and generating rapid responses on human rights and human security concerns. Other collaborators who brought this project to life include Not On Our Watch, Google, the Enough Project, the United Nations UNITAR Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT), the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and Trellon. Again, Mr. Clooney could be on vacation now, but he is launching this advocacy project just prior to the January 9 vote on whether or not to split into two nations–North and South Sudan. Check out more here.

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The human brain is by far the most complex organs in the human body. For centuries the mind has baffled scientists, doctors, philosophers, artists and poets. This is all about to change. A group of researchers at Harvard is attempting to crack the code of our minds by creating a map of the human brain. Yes, GEOINT for the mind (if you will). Lead by Dr. Jeff Lichtman, the team is developing contraptions that carve off slivers of mouse brains and analyze these specimens under a powerful electron microscope. The goal is to develop detailed pictures of the brain’s complex wiring and then stitch the images back together. The NY Times is calling this effort a full-scale mapping of the mind. Gleaning intelligence and data by mapping the mind is very similar to our work in the geospatial intelligence sector. Our goal is typically to glean valuable data on earth terrains, and Dr. Lichtman’s efforts are very similar – just focusing on the brain. Now, will he fully crack the code of the inner working of the mind? Who know…it’s all still a mystery. Read more here.

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Welcome to the post X-mas Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? For those of you who celebrated Christmas, we hope you had a wonderful day full of joy and giving. Well, it’s Monday and guess what…the world is still turning and soo is the news cycle — and we are talking about news beyond the blizzard that just socked the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. So, for those stuck working at home today (or just taking the day off for the holidays), fire up that second cup off hot chocolate and read on. Happy Monday!

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Merry Christmas Eve to all and welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from got geoint? It’s not very often that X-mas eve falls on our favorite day, Friday. So, here we are. The stars have lined up and we have an X-mas eve themed FFT post. So, naturally, we cover our favorite holiday topic, Norad Santa, but we also feature video of the “Digital Story of the Nativity.” It’s very very cool. Oh, and just to remind you all that we still have plenty of got geoint? stickers available! Feel free to email info@usgif.org to get more stickers. Merry Christmas Eve to all!

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We always find news about launching anything into space to be very cool. Do you all remember our coverage of the MIT students who launched a camera into space and took the most amazing photos? Well, perhaps the folks at Google were inspired by these forward-thinking students when they launched the Android OS into space via a weather balloon. Google sent seven payloads up, up into near space, each equipped with a Nexus S, all in the name of collecting data about the sensors in Nexus S – GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer. You know something is legit when Google does it. Check out the full story behind Google’s foray into launching stuff into space in this post.

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East View Cartographic (EVC) is a new USGIF member company and is a leading provider of authoritative worldwide maps, geospatial data, and GIS services. Since the company’s origins in the early 1990s, EVC has acquired a vast archive of global maps and geospatial data, including topographic maps, DEMS, imagery, vector data, geological maps, nautical charts, and related atlases and books. Following is an exclusive podcast with Rodney Buhrsmith, Chief Marketing Officer, EVC, who shares with us what makes this a unique player in the GEOINT sector.

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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.

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? Yes, we are in the home stretch. The week between X-mas and New Year’s Eve is only a short step away. But, let’s keep in mind that we have 4-5 days left (depending on if you are working on Christmas Eve) of solid work ahead of us this week. And, what better way to kick of a highly productive week than by having all the actionable news you need right at your fingertips? Yep. as always, we have all the news you need right here. So, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

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