got geoint?

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? We hope everyone had a restful weekend and is ready to get back into the thick of the weeds this week. This weekend marked a major U.S. historical moment that changed how we look and interact with the world — and it is something that we will never forget. The 9/11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. Our editorial staff has friends who worked in the financial district that day, and lost many friends. We can safely stay that the wounds of 9/11 are still very raw for these folks – even on the 9th anniversary. All we can say again is never forget. Welcome to Monday.

Post-9/11, We’re Safer Than We Think
Are we safer now than we were on 9/11? It sounds like a simple question, amenable to an answer or at least a serious conversation. But we are so polarized in America these days that it almost seems more difficult to tell now than it was in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. Let me try and answer the question as fairly as I know how. Of course we are safer. During the 1990s, al-Qaeda ran training camps through which as many as 20,000 fighters may have passed. It was able to operate successfully during that decade and into the next because most governments treated the group as an annoyance rather than a major national-security challenge. After the attacks, the world’s attitude changed dramatically, and the series of security measures instituted since then have proved effective. Take one example: sealing cockpit doors has made it highly unlikely that an airplane could ever again be used as a missile. Read the full Fareed Zakaria column here.

Mapping Traffic’s Toll on Wildlife
To Ron Ringen, a retired veterinarian, roadkill is a calling. Nearly every week for the last seven months, Mr. Ringen, 69, has driven the roads north of this college town near Sacramento, scanning the pavement for telltale bits of fur and feathers. Pulling over, Mr. Ringen gets out, snaps photographs and uses his GPS device to record the precise location where creatures met their end. He has logged more than 1,400 animals, from the miniature (one-ounce song sparrows) to the gargantuan (a 1,500-pound black Angus bull). While Mr. Ringen’s friends goad him with nicknames like “Doctor Roadkill,” he is not alone in his peculiar pursuit. Hundreds of volunteers collect and upload roadkill data to the California Roadkill Observation System, a mapping Web site built by researchers at the University of California, Davis, to better understand where and why cars strike animals. Read the full NY Times article here.

Napolitano Cites Progress in ‘Culture of Preparedness’
We have made progress building a culture of preparedness and resilience across the country,” Secretary of Homeland Security said Friday in remarks before a gathering of New York City First Responders commemorating the ninth anniversary of the 9-11-01 terror attacks. “The old view that “if we fight the terrorists abroad, we won’t have to fight them here” is just that – the old view,” Secretary Napolitano declared. “It is abundantly clear that we have to fight them abroad, we have to fight them at home. We have to fight them, period. And you are as squarely in that fight as I am.” At the heart of this process, Napolitano explained, are fusion centers, which have expanded nationally from just one in 2006 to 72 nationwide, serving as focal points for information-sharing among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners. Read the full HS Today article here.

A Tech World That Centers on the User
If you pull out your smartphone and click the button that says “locate me” on your mapping application, you will see a small dot appear in the middle of your screen. That’s you. If you start walking down the street in any direction, the whole screen will move right along with you, no matter where you go. This is a dramatic change from the print-on-paper world, where maps and locations are based around places and landmarks, not on you or your location. In the print world people don’t go to the store and say, “Oh, excuse me, can I buy a map of me?” Instead, they ask for a map of New York, or Amsterdam, or the subway system. You and I aren’t anywhere to be seen on these maps. The maps are locations that we fit into. This article was adapted from the book “I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works” by Nick Bilton, the lead writer for The New York Times technology blog Bits. The book, to be published on Tuesday by Crown Business, examines the impact of technology on our lives. Read more here.

TerraGo Technologies Provides Mobile Software for Military and Intelligence Agencies
TerraGo Technologies, a provider of geospatial collaboration software solutions and USGIF member company, has released a new version of its TerraGo Mobile software that features enhanced mark-up capabilities. TerraGo Mobile enables military, intelligence, public safety, agricultural, petroleum and other operational personnel to easily collect geospatial intelligence and collaborate using TerraGo GeoPDF® maps and imagery. With TerraGo Mobile software on smartphones and rugged handheld devices, even users with no geospatial expertise can easily use highly portable, interactive, and geospatially intelligent maps and imagery anywhere they need to go, online or offline. Read the full press release here.

Intergraph Geospatial Technology and GeoMedia WebMap selected by Beijing Power Information Technology Research Center
Beijing Power Information Technology Research Center which is based out of Beijing, China, has selected Intergraph G/Technology and GeoMedia WebMap for improving its smart grid operations. The technology will be used for supporting power grid design, centrally managing the lifecycle of power grid assets and for enhancing decision making through real-time monitoring and alarming. These functions enable the utility in improving grid security, safety and reliability and at the same time increasing efficiency and cutting costs. Read the full TMC Net article here.

Tags: 9/11, Digital Maps, GEOINT, GEOINT 2010, geospatial intelligence, GIS, got geoint?, Intergraph, Mapping, Napolitano Cites Progress, Remembering 9/11, TerraGo, TerraGo Mobile, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation