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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post on got geoint? Surely, most of you spent Sunday afternoon sipping sangria and watching Spain pull off its very first World Cup title? Or perhaps you enjoyed the relatively cooler weather on the east coast? No matter what you did on Sunday, one truth always creeps up: Monday morning is always around the corner. But worry not faithful got geoint? readers. As always, we have pulled together all the key stories you need to kick off your work week in style. So, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

Booted Russian Spies Left Behind Homes, Valuables; Feds in for Big Payday at Auction
When the Russian sleeper spies were booted out of the U.S., they left behind more than a web of lies. The 10 men and women exposed as undercover agents for the former U.S.S.R. were also forced to surrender all their worldly possessions when they were rounded up by government officials, thrown in jail and then deported. Their homes now lie vacant, their clothes still hang in wardrobes, and books and CDs are strewn on shelves and tables as reminders of the lives they once led. But not for long. If the FBI decides to seize the property that belonged to the Russians, the U.S. Marshals could end up putting it up for auction, where any high roller with a taste for the 007 lifestyle can place a bid. Read the full NY Daily News story here.

Attorney General: Russian Spies Posed Threat to US
Attorney General Eric Holder says the Russian agents sent back to Moscow posed a potential threat to the U.S. and they got “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from Russia. Holder says trading those 10 agents for four Russian prisoners accused of spying for the West offered the chance to get back people four people “in whom we have a great deal of interest.” Holder also tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” that all the children of the Russian agents were allowed to return to Russia “consistent with their parents wishes,” or — if they were old enough — made their own choices about where to live. Read the full AP story here.

Hexagon To Acquire Intergraph For $2.125 Billion
Computer-aided design pacesetter Intergraph reported it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Sweden’s Hexagon. The transaction is valued at $2.125 billion, Intergraph said. Based in Huntsville, Ala., Intergraph was acquired in 2006 by a group of investors led by Hellman & Friedman, TPG Capital, and JMI Equity. At the time of the 2006 negotiations, the price tag mentioned for Intergraph was $1.3 billion. “The acquisition of Intergraph to become Hexagon’s core software platform provides excellent growth prospects and synergies within our portfolio of measurement technologies and is fundamental to our company’s growth strategy,” said Ola Rollen, CEO and president of Hexagon, in a statement. Read the full InformationWeek story here.

Advancing Critical Missions through Motion Video Exploitation
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used for well over a decade for collection of airborne video to support military operations. Lately, there has been explosive growth in the use of these systems, not only for defense and intelligence customers, but also for civilian purposes. On the civilian front, these systems are well suited for missions that cover broad expanses of terrain or water, such as patrolling borders or monitoring large-scale oil spills, and for support of dangerous operations, such as fighting large forest fires. There has also been recent growth in the sophistication, reliability and sheer volume of raw data being collected by UAVs. As the variety of UAVs also grows, it is important to understand some key distinctions among them. Read the full Op-Ed by Jack Pellicci of Intergraph here.

Dnepr Rocket Launches Germany’s TanDEM-X Radar Mapping Satellite
Germany’s TanDEM-X radar Earth observation satellite was successfully launched June 21 aboard a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket and is expected to enter service in early 2011 alongside the TerraSAR-X satellite already in orbit to provide 3-D digital terrain models of the Earth’s entire landmass. Officials from the German Aerospace Center, DLR, which webcast the launch from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, said the satellite had sent its first signals and was healthy in orbit. Read the full Space News story here.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Extends Rapid Delivery of Online Geospatial-Intelligence (RDOG) Contract With DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe, a leading global content provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions, announced last week that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has extended its contract with DigitalGlobe to enable a “Rapid Delivery of Online Geospatial-Intelligence” (RDOG). DigitalGlobe is providing NGA with unclassified imagery-derived products and services in support of NGA’s mission to develop imagery and map-based intelligence solutions for U.S. national defense, homeland security and safety of navigation. Read the full DigitalGlobe press release here.

Strangest Sights in Google Earth, Part II
In the olden days, the ancients recognized Seven Wonders of the World; but thanks to Google Earth, you can now spot thousands of “I wonder what it is” head scratchers. Among the new wonders: a 1-square-mile painting of a cowboy’s head, a giant cruise ship parked between skyscrapers, and places that look, well, not of this world. Be sure to check out the full PC World article here.

Happy Monday!

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