The National Earth-Information Initiative

An interesting initiative has been brought up by a group led by William B. Gail, director of strategic development within Virtual Earth, Microsoft Corp. Billed as The National Earth-Information Initiative - it builds on the NRC's Earth science decadal survey , recently published to guide the nation’s Earth observing satellite program. From the article, the initiative would encompass well-defined and measurable outcomes. It would: 
-  examine the entire flow of Earth information from collection through use and offer means for improving the structures and processes associated with this flow; 
-  propose modifications to governmental structure, ideally identifying a single organization or entity responsible for coordinating multiple civil Earth information agencies and activities; 
-  define the scope of this leadership role and the evolved roles of the affected agencies; 
-   establish processes for performing the contributing functions, a reporting scheme for reviewing them and advisory processes for more effectively integrating the knowledge of the academic and private-sector communities;
-  identify breakthrough opportunities for deriving scientific and societal benefits from observations, based on emerging technologies that facilitate more rapid decision-making and widespread sharing of information, and propose means for integrating these into Earth information processes.
Details covered in this article over at SpaceNews - http://www.space.com/spacenews/archive07/MacauleyGailLaneoped_0402.html