Technically News is a new feature on Technically Speaking that scans thousands of industry articles to present you with a weekly source of IT news, information and ideas that impact the public sector.

How can local governments reduce their costs while keeping up with their services and readiness? For the past two decades, local governments have been using GIS technology to manage and improve responses for service departments, as well as citizens. GIS applications gives the ability to view and evaluate the locations and status of emergency equipment and early response crews, police and fire infrastructure. Current geospatial information gives government teams the ability to respond faster and plan for the future more effectively.

Engineers should be thrilled with the new LiDAR 3D technology that is being integrated to improve mapping applications. By fusing LiDAR 3D data with existing geospatial image analysis workflows, users can now create a more complete visual reference of geographical areas. With traditional geospatial data collection, users weren’t able to manipulate the images in a timely manner resulting in longer wait times to figure out how and why the data could be applied to present and future mapping projects.

This blog was written by guest blogger, Eliot Danner, Principal of Reperio Concepts The steady pace of innovation in geospatial visualization has given rise to a new problem: the need to geocode increasing quantities of data and the corresponding need to manage and search this data. In this article, I am going to discuss a new way to bring data into geospatial environments and a new way to search and manage this data. A popular maxim in the geospatial community is “80% of all data contains geospatial information” (or something to that effect). True or not it is certainly the case that a great deal of information can be geocoded and, more importantly, that having this information geocoded, that is to say, visible on a map, can be of value to decision makers.

This year has truly been the year of tornadoes. As of May 24, there have been 1,208 tornadoes reported in the U.S. in 2011 (about 875 were confirmed). Perhaps the most devastating of theses tornados struck the people of Joplin on Sunday May 22, 2011. The tornado left an estimated 123 people dead, 750 injured, and about 1,500 people missing. According to NOAA “The Joplin tornado is the deadliest since modern recordkeeping began in 1950 and is ranked 8th among the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.” Google has responded to the need to know more about this destructive tornado and visualize the before and after impact of this deadly and unprecedented event. Google Maps now includes a visualization (seen here) of the tornado’ path. The path of the storm can be followed by the fuchsia line. The starting point is marked with red, and the end point is marked with green. The light green area of the map represents the part of the city with scattered reports of damage. The damage is mostly from downbursts and falling debris. The dark green is the area that the tornado caused severe damage and the red area was totally destroyed.

Today, GIS enables the mapping of locations and objects, the placement of intelligence into the objects and the use of tools and applications to derive knowledge from this converged data, often for the public good. Take AIDS.gov, for example. AIDS.gov is an internet portal for all Federal domestic HIV and AIDS resources and information, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services.

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.

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.