Rolla petitions residents to keep USGS

Rolla residents have been asked to sign-up in an effort to help keep the USGS offices local. This from the Rolla Daily News... "I encourage you to sign a petition being circulated by the Meramec Regional Planning Commission at the request of U.S. Sens. Christopher S. “Kit” Bond and Jim Talent and 8th District U.S. Rep. Joan Emerson, whose district includes Phelps County." Note, 187 people are currently employed by the USGS in Rolla and the debate still continues as to where the offices will go in the latest efforts of the USGS to consolidate their business. See http://www.therolladailynews.com/articles/2005/10/21/news/doc435807a5b93ae978766776.txt

Yahoo! Buys WhereOn Earth

Yahoo! today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Whereonearth Limited, a UK software company that specialises in local search and advertising technology. For additional details on today's announcement, please visit the Yahoo! Search Blog at http://www.ysearchblog.com/. This from Bassel Ojjeh... "Whereonearth’s very talented team of software engineers and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) experts have worked hard to develop sophisticated technology that contains a unique combination of global data and software algorithms that make local search possible. Together, we’ll be able to provide the most geo-relevant information across all of Yahoo!’s products and services."

More Real Estate Apps getting into GIS and Geospatial webmapping thanks to Google Map API

I've always known that in the business world, Real Estate was going to really take hold of GIS and geospatial and run with it.. think about it.. everything about real estate is based on geography and there's likely no better use for GIS than in Real estate apps (both for the front end and the back-end).  Blue Fire Group Inc. launched the myMappingBuddy The "mapping buddy" is built on the Google Map open API. See http://www.mymappingbuddy.com/services.shtml

Field Surveyors Replaced by Technology at USGS

FCW is reporting that some 400 employees of the USGS are going to be made redundant due to advances in technology. This from the article... "The functions of 400 federal employees at five locations will either be eliminated or transferred to an operations center in Colorado. Employees there will provide the bulk of USGS' digital mapping service operations." The piece goes on to note that competitive sourcing will be conducted under the Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-76 guidelines, with federal employees and companies bidding for the work. See FCW http://www.fcw.com/article91117-10-17-05-Print

GITA Awards Nominations

GITA is once again reminding users to get in their nominations for the annual GITA industry awards. Numerous awards are to be presented including lifetime achievement, distinguished service, and award for innovation in Geospatial. GITA members are encouraged to vote and if your not a member please consider joining! See http://www.gita.org/about_gita/awards_program/index.html

Test from my Lifeblog post

Test from my Lifeblog post
Originally uploaded by GISuser.com.

Mon 10/17/2005 22:37 10172005(001) Setting up my nokia 6682 with nokia lifeblog