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In each issue of Geospatial Intelligence Forum (GIF), USGIF President Keith Masback writes a column called “From the Desk of the President” that highlights key foundation activities and insights into where the GEOINT community is headed. In GIF 2011 Volume 9: Issue: 8 (November/December), Mr. Masback discusses the major USGIF accomplishments from 2011 — from the most-ever attended GEOINT Symposium to the USGIF Awards Program and the Young Professionals Group successes and much, much more. 2011 was clearly a special year for USGIF and the future looks even brighter. In 2012, USGIF is participating in the Geospatial World Forum, launching a new event called WhereCon, as well as again hosting the NGA Tech Showcase West and the ever-popular GEOINT Community Week. There will also be some changes with regards to the Geospatial Intelligence Forum magazine as well. Be sure to check out Mr. Masback’s full column in this post.

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While the sun’s gravitational pull makes the world, technically, go ’round, volunteering essentially makes our GEOINT world do much of the same thing. We collectively achieve major goals and break boundaries in our sector through the sheer force of giving back. What are we talking about? More on this in a minute. First did you know that the power of participatory philanthropy is on fire right now? Check out the this infographic from GOOD called “Interactive Transparency: The Power of Volunteering” that showcases an aggregation and visualization of the hours that people work and the causes they help. Learn more about how this same desire to “pitch in” is playing a major role in the growth of the GEOINT sector in this post.

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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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Ask 10 people to define “geospatial intelligence,” and you are likely to get 10 different answers. Words you might hear would include imagery, photogrammetry, geography, cartography, geographic information systems, analysis and remote sensing—and the list could go on longer. According to U.S. Code Title 10, “the term ‘geospatial intelligence’ means the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Geospatial intelligence consists of imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information.” This legal definition paints with a broad brushstroke an idea of the width and depth of GEOINT. Geospatial intelligence can’t be defined by a particular program or product. Read the full GIF “From the Desk of the President” Column here as well as in this post.

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USGIF on Sunday participated in the International Spy Museum’s KidSpy Festival. The day included demonstrations and hands-on learning about polygraphs, fingerprints, disguises and more all for kids ages 7 and older as well as their families. USGIF President Keith Masback taught the more than 250 visitors during the day about aerial and satellite imagery and the different types of platforms used to capture this imagery. The 10-minute lesson offered kids the opportunity to look at overhead pictures and guess at what they were looking. After a some helpful hints, students were applying their knowledge to analyze other imagery of the presidential inauguration, famous cities, and other notable images. It was perhaps one of the best demonstrations based on the feedback from the kids and their families.

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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.

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Only slightly more than 30 days into a new year, and much has already been said about 2010. Some pundits have heralded the year as a clean slate from a tough 2009, while others have been less optimistic, predicting more of the same for the next 365 days. At the macro level, the U.S. economy is still very much in the midst of recovery. The president’s recently released budget indeed presents challenges for many, but national security spending continues to be supported. The Quadrennial Defense Review will continue to be scrutinized, but its commitment to ISR sensors and platforms is unambiguous. Emergent lessons-learned from the attempted Christmas Day attack call for increased investment in analysts and tools to help the “connect the dots.” The National Reconnaissance Office will soon release documents that will be the foundation for the future of our classified overhead reconnaissance. To read all of this, check out the “From the Desk of the President” column by Keith Masback, USGIF President, in the latest issue of the Geospatial Intelligence Forum, the official publication of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, here. And, we urge everyone to get a subscription to the publication if you have not already.

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The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, NOAA and the Department of Commerce have partnered to host the International Commercial Remote Sensing Symposium 2010, March 3rd – 5th at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC. The 2010 ICRSS aims to deliver 3 Days of exhibits and discussions on the key issues affecting the community: resolution limits, export control, licensing and policy, commercial radar, user communities, the future of the industry, among many others. Following is an exclusive podcast with Keith Masback, President, USGIF, who discusses with us the value and benefit of attending ICRSS 2010.

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We hope everyone had a good week. Before we post our “Friday’s Food for Thought” column, we wanted to kick off the morning with an interview with Keith Masback, USGIF President, on the most excellent VerySpatial podcast. Keith provides a great overview of USGIF and its educational/accreditation programs, as well as discusses how the term GEOINT has become all-encompassing with all the various applications that extend beyond defense and intelligence. Enjoy.

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USGIF will be at George Mason University today from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. taking part in its GIS Day@Mason. Presentations in the Johnson Center will include “The Role of GIS in Geospatial Intelligence” from USGIF President Keith Masback, among others. Ongoing GIS software demonstrations and exhibits to develop your skills in digital mapping will take place in the Fenwick Library.

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