got geoint?

Sometimes there is just soo much happening in our sector that we have to extend the Monday Morning News Kick Off into Tuesday. This was definitely the case today. We have a number of stories that we would like to point you to – including interviews with Bruce Carlson, Director, NRO and Tony Moraco, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SAIC in the latest issue of the Geospatial Intelligence Forum, as well as a Washington Post Q&A with the dynamic young CEO of Northrop Grumman, Wes Bush. Lots of insights from industry leaders that you would not want to miss out on! Although this is our Monday morning catch phrase, it seems appropriate to say it today: fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

RECONNAISSANCE PARTNER: Adding Value to Data from Space; Bruce Carlson, Director, NRO Interview
Air Force General Bruce Carlson (Ret.) was appointed the 17th director of the National Reconnaissance Office (DNRO) on June 12, 2009. Prior to his appointment, after retiring from the Air Force in January 2009, he served on the board of directors of EADS North America. The DNRO provides direction, guidance, and supervision over all matters pertaining to the NRO and executes other authorities specifically delegated by the secretary of Defense or director of National Intelligence. Check out this exclusive interview with Mr. Carlson in the latest issue of Geospatial Intelligence Forum here.

Q&A with Northrop Grumman Chief Executive Wes Bush
In the three months since Wes Bush took the reins as chief executive at Northrop Grumman, he’s made plenty of waves at the giant government contractor. He used his first day on the job to announce the company would leave its longtime headquarters in Los Angeles and move to the Washington area to be closer to its biggest customer — the federal government, to whom it sells nearly $25 billion a year in military planes, ships, missiles, software and other equipment. He pulled out of a controversial — and potentially lucrative — deal to build the U.S. Air Force a fleet of aerial refueling tankers, because he didn’t think his plane had a good chance of winning. And he has led a company-wide push to focus more on profitability and performance instead of simply raising revenues. Read the full Washington Post interview here.

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW: Tony Moraco, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SAIC
Check out this exclusive interview by the Geospatial Intelligence Forum with Tony Moraco, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SAIC. Mr. Moraco discusses the types of GEOINT products and services that the company offers, the latest GEOINT trends, as well as the company’s efforts in motion imagery — specifically the ability to search, discover and retrieve it. Read more here.

J. Robert Porter Jr., EarthSat founder, Dies at 75
J. Robert Porter Jr., 75, founder of what was once one of the largest satellite imaging companies in the United States, died April 23 at his home in Washington. He had Parkinson’s disease. In 1969, Mr. Porter began Earth Satellite Corp., or EarthSat, which sold information and maps gleaned from satellite technology. Its customers included 200,000 farmers, energy futures traders and federal agencies such as the Forest Service. According to 2001 news reports, the company conducted for the Defense Department the largest land-cover mapping project ever completed. Read the full Washington Post obit here.

Where Do the Divergent Paths of Crowdsourcing and Automated Data Collection Merge?
There are an increasing number of measuring and sensing tools that automatically collect accurate positions. This push toward a more machine-based data collection workflow ensures a more precise and consistent data set. The crowd is also becoming a primary source for geospatial data collection, particularly in the urban core. With less accurate data collection tools, but also with greater numbers. There are some distinct advantages to harnessing the masses for mapping efforts. On the surface these two trends appear to be diametrically opposed in terms of their approach and perhaps even their intent. On the one hand there are professionals whose occupation evolves around geospatial data collection with professional tools and a rigorous methodology. On the other is a largely volunteer force that devote time to mapping as a hobby or side project, and that often don’t have any formal training in spatial data collection or cartography. Is there common ground between these groups? Check out the full article from our friends at V1 Magazine here.

TomTom’s Future Is in Maps, but What’s the Strategy?
Amsterdam-based navigation provider TomTom found its way to a surprise net profit Monday, but it may be running into a cul-de-sac. It has yet to reveal a detailed strategy for how it intends to use its mapping business to survive the challenge from smart phones, with cheap or free navigation applications, and how it intends to integrate profitable services and content into the digital maps provided by TeleAtlas, the company it bought in 2007. Read the full WSJ blog post here.

New Chrome Fires up Geolocation Ability
The geolocation feature is now available in Chrome 5.0.375.25 (Official Build 45690).” With those words, posted last week at the bottom of a Chrome issue tracker item, the developer version of Google’s browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux catches up to Firefox with one important new component of the Web. That component, geolocation, lets a browser tell a Web site the location of a person’s computer once the person has given permission. It’s a handy feature, most notably for mapping or including your location in some message where it’s relevant. And these days, location-based services are attracting a lot of attention as the Internet dovetails more closely with the real world. Read the full CNET blog post here.

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