got geoint?

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from got geoint? This week, we covered the news about the FAA developing a GPS-based system for more efficient and accurate air traffic control. As we highlighted, this will certainly create opportunities for the GEOINT community. But, this news made us think. The purpose of this new system is to safely guide us to our destinations, which is most often home. So, this week’s FFFT post is all about tools that help us get home. Speaking of home, the GEOINT Community Week is like a mid-year homecoming for us. And, it’s back on this year! We hope to see you all then, and in the meantime happy Friday and safe travels home!

FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to Create Opportunities for GEOINT Professionals
President Obama recently signed into law the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (H.R. 658), which is a bill that speeds up efforts to switch from radar to an air traffic control system based on GPS technology. This new system is called the Next Generation Air Transportation System and will be implemented by 2015. In addition, H.R. 658 will also open U.S skies to unmanned drone flights in less than four years. As Point of Beginning (POB) pointed out this week, this move will create more opportunities for GEOINT professionals.

“Take Me Home” Program Guides Autistic Kids Home
In 2003, Police Officer Jimmy Donohoe was invited to a meeting of the Autism Society of the Panhandle (Fla.), where members asked him what parents of non-verbal children could do to improve potential encounters between their children and law enforcement. After making several suggestions that were not acceptable to all the parents, Officer Donohoe left the meeting knowing that he had to do something. The “Take Me Home” program evolved from that meeting so that children on the autism spectrum who may wander will be returned safely and treated with understanding. To lean more about this program, click here.

Teens Help Teens Get Home Safe – No Questions Asked
Parents and teens in New Jersey, take note and rejoice. There’s a new program starting Saturday night called SafeRides Maps that’s available to students in the region. It’s teens helping teens with a free, confidential, non-judgmental service that gets kids home safe. Why is it needed? Think about it: You’re on a first date and something just doesn’t feel right. There’s drinking at the party and you don’t want to stay. You’ve been drinking and sure can’t drive. You’ve been babysitting and now the parents are too tipsy to take you home and your parents aren’t back from the movie yet. Or you are just worried about walking home from a friend’s because you’ve read about kids getting robbed at night. Check out more here.

Help-Me-Home Ensures that Your Lost Stuff Makes it Home
Have you ever lost an item of value only to wish you had a way of getting it back? What about some way of letting the finder know that the item belongs to you, and requesting their help in having the item returned? As service called Help-Me-Home allows you to put a tracking tag on any valuable item you own. Should you lose the item, the finder is encouraged to log onto the Help-Me-Home website and work with you to help you recover your item. So, if you want to make sure something valuable of yours makes it home, definitely check out his service. Though, yes, it’s all about the person who found your item being kind enough to actually return it.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
“Home is whenever I am with you.” Such a great line from a most ideal song for this week’s FFFT post. Although this one is a few years old, it is still on heavy rotation on our iPods. We hope you enjoy and happy Friday!

Tags: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Home, FAA and GPS, Friday's Food for Thought, GEOINT, GEOINT Community Week, got geoint?, GPS and Directions Home, Help me Get Home, Home, USGIF