got geoint?

As our loyal got geoint? readers know, we like to start the week off with our Monday Morning News Kick Off post, which highlights all the actionable news you need to get your week started on the right foot. Well, every so often we like to break out of the mold and do a news round up post in the middle of the week. And, since our research department just found a whole slew of very cool location, imagery and science stories, we had to do a “Thursday News Round Up” post. All the news you need to get through the last leg of the week. Read on and enjoy.

Full Article

It’s not often that you see a familiar face staring back at you on the television screen. So, we were very excited to see Jeff Jonas, USGIF board member featured in the IBM “Why Data Matters” national advertisement. Mr. Jonas is chief scientist of the IBM Entity Analytics group and is a highly regarded member of the GEOINT community — so much so, he was featured in a national TV commercial! Very exciting. Check out the actual video in this post.

Full Article

By documenting satellite images of the earth, as well as images from the street, Google Earth and Google Street View often stumble upon some pretty interesting things. Do you recall our story last year about Google Street View capturing an image of Oasis frontman, Liam Gallagher, enjoying a pint of beer outside of a local pub in north London. Of course, he would be enjoying a pint of beer – he is a rock star. That is what they do! What is amazing is that Google Street View captured him in the act. Well, it seems that many in the UK are “throwing a wobbly” (that’s British slang expression for pitching a fit, in case you did not know) about how Google Earth has captured some critical football matches. Of course, we are not talking about good old fashioned Joe Namath-style American football. We are talking about soccer — yes, very confusing. Check out this Guardian UK story. Of course, it is impossible to tell the score of the game, but you all just wait. One day, we all will be able to watch the Super Bowl in real time from streaming satellite imagery. All in due time… And, check out this blog post from Spatial Law and Policy about the EU potentially being short-sighted when it comes to Google Street View. Perhaps Liam Gallagher complained about having his image on Street View??

Full Article

Recently, we covered a story that Wired’s “Danger Room” broke about DARPA’s “Transparent Underground”, which creates real-time 3-D maps that display “the physical, chemical and dynamic properties of the earth down to 5 kilometer depth.” Cool stuff, no doubt. But, it seems that someone had someone has beaten DARPA to the punch on this one. Since 2005, Geospatial Corporation has been using a proprietary gadget called ‘Smart Probe’ to map deep earth via underground pipes. According to Wired’s “Danger Room,” the company’s probe can be inserted into pipes as small as 1 1/2 inches, and then travel their length while taking super-speedy coordinates — 800 per second — and saving them onto a USB key. The probe is removed, the data extracted, and a 3D map of the underground region is created. The probe can travel through pipes that are empty, or contain fluid or gas. And, it seems to be taking off. Check out this press release announcing Geospatial Corporation’s partnership with Tom Ridge’s firm, Ridge Global. Bigger takeaway: Geospatial Corporation was ahead of the curve…or perhaps they got luck with the timing? What do you think?

Full Article

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? Could spring actually be here?? It will be in the 60s this week in the Washington, DC area and the sun is a shining. So, do you find that this nice weather puts a spring (bad pun) in your step? If so, why not add a little more juice to your day by checking out of MMNKO post. This week, we mainly cover a number of industry news including Orbital Sciences’ plan to buy GD Advanced Information System, Raytheon’s massive GPS contract, and IceWEB’s contract with the Navy. As we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

Full Article

We are excited to host an exclusive podcast with Mark Lowenthal, President of the Intelligence & Security Academy, who will discuss the Open IntellAcademy of courses, which includes the GEOINT 101 – a one-day course that provides an introduction to the fundamentals of the Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) community, core GEOINT technologies and operations, and the role of GEOINT in national security affairs supporting decision makers and operations. You can also listen to our previous podcast we did with Mr. Lowenthal last year here.

Full Article

We like to keep our fingers on the pulse of the most current and cutting-edge GEOINT applications. So, when we stumbled upon this story from Wired about using iPhones and cool apps to get real-time, situational data to the war fighter, we had to to take pause and shine a light on this.

Full Article

For those of you attending, or planning on attending, the International Commercial Remote Sensing Symposium (ICRSS) 2010, this week we have some exciting news to share. USGIF, in conjunction with NOAA and the Department of Commerce, today announced that Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Dennis Hightower has been added to the agenda as a keynote speaker. The 2010 ICRSS will bring you 3 days of discussions on the critical issues affecting the international commercial remote sensing community: resolution limits, export control, licensing and policy, commercial radar, EO strategies, CEO perspectives, user community needs, health of the global industrial base, and the future of the industry. Also, we recommend you check out or exclusive podcast with Keith Masback, USGIF President, who discusses why the 2010 ICRSS is going to be a premier event, here.

Full Article

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? As always, we hope you had a restful weekend and are ready to take on the world. For today’s MMNKO (we really like that acronym!) post, we offer a diverse range of stories from the House passing the Intel bill, the surge in satellite usage in Afghanistan, and the CIA bomber’s posthumous video about receiving a “gift from god” to more localized news about Kansas being mapped digitally. As we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on. Happy Monday!

Full Article

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post on got geoint? We hope everyone had a productive work week and are ready for some weekend relaxation. Is part of your weekend relaxation involve leaving the house? Perhaps going out to dinner with friends? And, are you a big fan of location sharing (i.e., letting the whole world know that you are away from your house)? Well, then, perhaps you are sharing too much and letting potential burglars know that you are away from your house? This week’s FFT post focuses on how in this age of information- and location-ubiquity (is that really a term?) can potentially leave us vulnerable.

Full Article