On March 11, 2011, the world’s gaze turned toward Japan when a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami laid waste to Japan’s northeastern coast, costing thousands of lives and potentially causing a nuclear event at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power. While the world was glued to the TV and internet, watching the disaster and human interest stories unfold, two of the top geospatial satellites currently in orbit, GeoEye-1 and IKONOS, were chronicling the disaster from a very different vantage point – and potentially saving precious hours and millions of dollars in disaster recovery and re-build efforts. Thanks to the updated satellite images, GeoEye was able to gather and disseminate to the government of Japan, other relief agencies, and even companies like Google, the hardest hit regions could be picked out, and recovery plans were able to be made more accurately than ever before. With the ability to implement the new data in mapping technologies, routes that were flooded or otherwise impassable were avoided without wasting time and resources that would have come with a trial and error approach required in the past.

Geospatial Revolution, a public service media and outreach initiative aimed at educating us all about the world of digital mapping and how it is changing the way we think, behave, and interact is well underway. Episode three in a series of four-part project episodes, was released earlier this month and focuses on geospatial technology as it relates to public safety and the public sector. Developed by Penn State Public Broadcasting, episode three, “Serving and Protecting”, discusses the imperatives of geospatial intelligence, groundbreaking mapping technologies used in war and peace and other examples of how this technology is being utilized at all levels of government. To the war fighter, geospatial intelligence is critical. Episode three examines the importance of layering high resolution imagery over mapping allowing soldiers to gain a better idea of the terrain and their environment (such as the use of GIS technology to map and image the ethnic profiles of towns and villages during the Bosnian conflict). There are also several great testimonials from Letitia Long, Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Gen. Wesley Clark, US ARMY (Ret.) and Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Mike Lee, USAF Brigadier General, and others.

Have you heard the latest news about AutoCAD? In the ever so popular world of mobile technology, Autodesk is now offering its flagship product, AutoCAD, for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Using the new AutoCAD WS, users can now access their design files over the internet - which means that you aren’t confined to your office to do your work. To access your design files, simply log in to your AutoCAD WS online account; it’s free and available for anyone to use. After you log in, you can begin working on totally new designs and/or upload your current drawings to work on projects that have already been started. Essentially, it’s like using AutoCAD in the cloud because your files are stored in your online workspace. Previous versions of your files are automatically saved, so you don’t need to worry about file backups. Best of all, you can invite your colleagues to meet and share files online, in real time. Collaboration has never been so easy.

In December of last year, Google released its new Google Earth Engine, an application created specifically with scientific research in mind. This new product provides an unprecedented 25 years of satellite images with the goal of enabling more precise climate modeling, based on change studies and mapping trends of the Earth’s environment with a principle focus on identifying areas of deforestation. This short video does a great job explaining the goals and background of this ground-breaking project.

When you think about geospatial technology, more often than not what comes to mind are maps, earth images, and so on. But, in fact, more and more government departments and agencies, notably the DoD, are turning to geospatial technology to increase business efficiencies. According to DISDI Program Manager David LaBranche, quoted in the article “Geospatial Technology Aids DoD Efficiency Drive” in the February 2011 edition of Geospatial Intelligence Forum magazine (PDF), achieving economies of scale, reducing duplicative acquisition of imagery and data, as well as better tracking and management of buildings and other fixed assets are some of the key benefits of geospatial technology. LaBranche also noted that his office, which is located within the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, wants to see geospatial capabilities used by all of the mission areas across the department – an ambition that up till now was quite a challenge to achieve.

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A recent article by a friend of ours, Caron Beesley, editor of [acronym] Online, discussing the innovative steps that the federal government is taking to overcome many of the challenges of “going green” and meet a range of fast-tracked mandates, has been getting a lot of great press lately. In Fast-Tracking A Greener Government – Meeting Those Mandates, Beesley noted that, as the largest consumer of energy in the U.S. economy, federal government energy efficiency projects have often been hampered by cumbersome infrastructure, regulatory hairballs, and energy upgrade limitations on buildings.

Whether you are an architect or a designer, it is likely that AutoCAD is a vital everyday design tool. But did you know that you can now add 3D visualization and animation to your repertoire – all within the familiar AutoCAD interface. Autodesk’s new AutoCAD Design Suites is a easy and cost-efficient way to extend your familiar AutoCAD work-flow. By integrating four of Autodesk’s premium design and visualization software, Autodesk Design Suite Premium (the Rolls Royce of suite offerings) –– is a great way to expand your design software portfolio and add high quality 3D visualization and illustration without hurting your department’s shrinking IT budget.

Autodesk recently announced the environmental impacts of Autodesk University (AU) 2010 – its popular annual user conference that attracts up to 30,000 participants each year. The results revealed that, even as the in-person attendance at the 2010 event in Las Vegas grew 16 percent from 2009, the carbon footprint was reduced by four percent over 2009.

From the many-layered benefits of cloud computing, building information modeling (BIM), and smart grids to simple acts like putting lighting controls in the hands of office workers, the federal government is already achieving specific gains in its sustainability and green efforts as mandated 2009’s Executive Order 13514. Not only this, but many are seeing the road to new sustainability standards as an exciting, once in a lifetime opportunity, that is quite literally changing the mindset of government leaders. This is the focus of the latest industry-sponsored “On the Frontlines” e-magazine “The Greening of Government”, which takes a sweeping look at what has been achieved to date in support of the green government imperative and what is on the cards for 2011.