The U.S. electric utility industry is mammoth in size, supplying approximately 4.0 million gigawatt hours in 2009 alone. And when we think of the body of utility companies that work to keep our lights on day-in and day-out, it tends to be the big guns, like Pepco and Con Edison, that spring to mind. But it’s a little known fact that 42% of the U.S. power infrastructure is managed by publically-owned rural electric and municipal cooperatives – 900 of them in fact, operating in 47 states and owned by the customers they serve! Here are a few other little known facts about America’s rural utility providers: • They carry more electricity than private firms, and do it with less revenue and a cheaper cost • They manage 42% of the U.S. power infrastructure • They show a 82% satisfaction rating from customers • It’s not just power – rural electric and municipal utility companies serve multiple commodities and services including, gas, water, wastewater, solid waste, storm drainage, cable, Internet and telecommunications and more

Acronym and DLT Solutions recently hosted a webinar with Dan Whalen from Lockheed Martin on their Intelligence on Demand (IoD) solution. One of the key takeaways of the webinar answered the question as to why oblique imagery is more useful and actionable than orthogonal imagery. If you’re not already familiar, orthogonal images are straight-down shots of buildings and points of interest from a long range satellite orbiting the earth. Oblique images on the other hand, like those provided by IoD, are taken at a 40 degree angle from a low flying aircraft equipped with a five camera system that rapidly captures images from all cardinal directions. This provides a much clearer and identifiable image.

David Lingebach is the Director of Government Services at CADD Centers of Florida, a Gold Autodesk Partner based in Ft Lauderdale, FL. For the past 6 years, David has been working exclusively with government agencies, helping to implement and support the use of Autodesk design tools. The City of Riviera Beach is a small harbor city in Palm Beach County, Florida. Like many local governments across the country, Riviera Beach has struggled over the past few years to continue to improve city infrastructure with a tight budget and limited human resources. Federal funding programs, like the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, continue to channel funds for the construction of renovations and repairs to local roads. Grants like the CDBG, however, often come with a price to public works departments for the costs of designs, design tools, and skilled personnel not covered by the grant. Further, these grants most often include deadlines for use that force cities like Riviera Beach to complete projects quickly and with little room for errors or delays.

I recently read an article in Government Computer News (GCN) that discusses how a shift is taking place in the way that geospatial tools are being used by non-traditional federal government employees, such as program officers. GIS has always been a great asset to “in the field” government employees such as emergency response officials, law enforcement agents and civil engineers, but more and more the convergence of geospatial imagery and data toolsets is being used to help senior staff at HQ make informed decisions. Jerry Johnston, GIO for the Environmental Protection Agency, for example, discusses how his agency is redefining how GIS is used, he envisions a time in the near future when “…all of our grants, funding programs and budget formulation will be expressed in map form.” This program-based scenario is quite different from what the traditional GIS user does.

Autodesk University, Day Three was a big day for Autodesk's Subscription customers and I found myself joining many of them at Subscription Forum, hosted by Autodesk's Subscription Team.

If you’ve got time to take a break from those never ending holiday pot luck lunches this month, why not join two live webcasts on the topic of Improving Federal Energy Performance. Hosted by DLT Solutions and Autodesk, Industry experts John Sullivan and Angela Chan will discuss how Autodesk BIM Solutions inform energy-efficiency improvement decisions by enabling you to rapidly create and analyze models of new and existing buildings and systems.

This is Daniel Clark’s second entry in a blog series from on Autodesk University 2010. For Daniel’s first entry, visit: http://blogs.dlt.com/autodesk-university-2010-melting-pot-diversity-innovation/ After a mediocre breakfast of yogurt and stale muffins it was off to a full day of classes here at Autodesk University 2010. I won’t bore you with a play-by-play account of the day, but I do want to share some insights about the two most powerful classes that I attended. The first class was hosted by a government customer who recently made the decision to switch from their current GIS platform to Map 3D. The class was interesting because it was not an endorsement of Map 3D, but a glimpse into the decisions and testing that led the government agency to conclude that Map 3D was the correct choice for them. As with most new software adoption, some of the biggest concerns expressed about Map 3D, was the level of training it would take to ensure they got the most from their software investment. However, this concern was outweighed by the substantial cost savings they would receive by consolidating to one software package for mapping and only having to train each person on one program.

The second day of Autodesk University flew by and today’s sessions were as enlightening as they were yesterday. The field of digital design is extremely diverse and the partners that work with the different disciplines are as varied as the fields that Autodesk supports. On the AEC side, there are partners that do advanced survey and CAD integration. The manufacturing industry is also well represented with a variety of companies offering 3D printing and enhanced scan and manipulation tools. Autodesk’s media and entertainment partners are also out in force demo’ing the creation of live caricatures on iPads by an on-site graphic artist.

Autodesk University 2010 kicked off Tuesday morning with its Welcome Address. Autodesk CEO Carl Bass began with a challenge to all users. He wanted to get the message across to not just design, but design to make an “impact”. Bass proceeded to bring several users to the stage to show how their design work is already fulfilling the challenge of making an impact.

Autodesk University is already well under-way at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. And, I have to tell you, as a first-time visitor to Vegas, it took me quite some time to get past the overwhelming visuals that this city has to offer. That being said, I also found myself blown away by the sheer volume of people that are here for this event. Walking to the opening ceremony the escalators and hallways are literally packed with people from all over the world, all of whom are here for one reason - because they use, sell or are somehow associated with Autodesk software. Reading the name tags of people in class with me, I have seen people from Finland, Germany, Sweden, England, Japan and all over the United States.