Hurricane Irene Geospatial Information Page Is Available

EPC SPECIAL NOTICE

In support of Minnesota corporations that may need geospatial information for their operations along the U.S. East Coast during, and after Hurricane Irene, a special information page devoted to the event is now available.

Look for it by clicking on the "Available GIS for Disasters" link in the right side bar.  Then click on "Hurricane Irene" in the left side bar of the site's Home page.  Alternately, click here to proceed directly.

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Hurricane Irene Geospatial Information Page Is Available

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Koreans Sue Apple Over iPhone Tracking

From PC World:
27,000 South Koreans Sue Apple Over iPhone Privacy Violations

The class-action suit against Apple stems from the revelations that the iPhone tracks and stores data about users' movements and sends the anonymous information to Apple servers.

By Eric Mack, PCWorld    Aug 17, 2011 12:31 pm


"The flap over iPhone location tracking led to some grandstanding in Congress and a few lawsuits by users in the United States over privacy concerns, but now nearly 27,000 South Koreans are suing Apple for privacy violations."  Read more.

Reminder: Next EPC meeting - September 8th at 2:00 PM.  Event details and sign up is here.

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Geospatial Tech's Impact on Government's Emergency Response Efforts

Click on the link below to proceed to the article as published in Government Computer News:

Virtual USA: How Geospatial Tech Is Changing Government
By Patrick Marshall
Aug 10, 2011

Here's the pitch: "A geospatial framework emerges for emergency response coordination among federal, state and local governments."

Comment: This article is actually the lead piece in an interlocking series on the same subject that can be found by clicking links in the "Related coverage" window, middle of the first page.  Correspondingly, even more articles can be found by using the "Related coverage" links in those follow on pieces.   As you are reading these articles that focus primarily on the power of technology, remember there are three pieces that must be in place to make a Common Operating Picture (Virtual USA) approach work: technology, people and policies.  Without those last two, the effort will fall far short of what is technologically possible.  Go here to read more on that point (shameless plug).

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Webinar: Discovering GIS Information that Supports Public Safety

"The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation and the National States Geographic Information Council, with support from the US Department of Homeland Security, are co-hosting a webcast training to provide  public safety and emergency services personnel and GIS & IT professionals with training on how to use the GIS Inventory to advance the use of geospatial information in daily public safety operations."


To learn more and sign up for the event, go here. 


Comment: As we recently discovered with the shut down of government in Minnesota, knowing how and where to look for data outside "normal" channels can be important.  The GIS Inventory is an ongoing effort to catalog available data sources for the nation in one place - as such it could become a very important tool for the emergency services sector in the years going forward.  Additionally, individuals interested in using this type of approach should be aware of a similar effort developed by the Naval Research Lab Stennis Spaceport Center's Digital Mapping, Charting and Geodesy Analysis Program (DMAP) team in the 2005-2006 time frame.  Go here, to learn more.     

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USAID to Stand Up New Geospatial Intelligence Center

From:
Nextgov.com

By Joseph Marks,
Updated: August 4, 2011 | 10:12 a.m.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to standup a geospatial intelligence center later this year to help it better focus aid and deal with humanitarian and health emergencies in the developing world.  Read more.

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Now Microsoft is Taking the Heat About Publishing Geo-location Data

CNET
Microsoft Curbs Wi-Fi Location Database
August 1, 2011 12:38 PM PDT
by Declan McCullagh

"Microsoft has ceased publishing the estimated locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other devices with Wi-Fi connections around the world after a CNET article on Friday highlighted privacy concerns.

The decision to rework Live.com's geolocation service comes following scrutiny of the way Microsoft made available its database assembled by both Windows Phone 7 phones and what the company calls "managed driving" by Street View-like vehicles that record Wi-Fi signals accessible from public roads. Every Wi-Fi device has a unique ID, sometimes called a MAC address, that cannot normally be changed."  Read more. 

Comment: Trust me, this privacy of geospatial location data "thing" (in an Ap enabled world), is only getting started.  Unfortunately, the unforeseen negative consequences for the emergency services sector could be significant.

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DHS IP Releases Infrastructure Taxonomy Version 4

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP) has just announced release of Version 4 of its Infrastructure Taxonomy.  Read more.

Comment: Since its creation, DHS has struggled to align the various agencies it inherited and resulting divisions that were created when it came into existence following 911.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the various geospatial ("visualization") programs that populate the Department, with taxonomy being a perfect case in point.  While most parts of DHS break down geospatial information about infrastructure into 20+  basic categories (HSIP with slight variations by system) that were agreed to by the federal geospatial community - such as Agriculture, Energy, and Food Services, the Infrastructure Information Collection Division (IICD) has been using the approach outlined in the Infrastructure Taxonomy, an approach that owes its origins to standard industrial classifications.  Consequently, there are two very different approaches for visualizing infrastructure as promoted by the same federal Department.  However, as noted in the bulletin, look for IICD to transition away from the Infrastructure Taxonomy (industrial classifications) and toward the geospatial catalog approach in the next couple of years.  This will be done not only for intra-department standardization purposes, but because the Infrastructure Taxonomy approach simply doesn't provide the focused granularity that is required to keep up with DHS’s evolving geospatial capabilities.      

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Smartphones Expedite the Fighting of a Flood

From KansasCity.com
Posted on Monday, Jul. 25, 2011
By ALEESE KOPF


It will never replace a wall of sandbags, but Susan Abbott’s smartphone is turning out to be a pretty good tool for fighting the flooding of the Missouri River.
Part of Abbott’s job as a civil engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers is to spot weakening levees before they become disasters. That used to take hours: Snap a picture on a digital camera, note the location, drive back to corps offices, download the photo and file a written report.
 
Now, with her smartphone and an application, she can take a picture, tap in a note, sync her phone and send all the information to a database in a matter of seconds. That can cut the time between information gathering, analysis and action by 24 to 36 hours — and that can mean the difference between saving the day and seeing a levee fail.  Read More...


Comment: In the early 2000's, the Rock Isalnd, IL district of the Army Corps of Engineers developed the approach as described in the first paragraph above. One of the primary concerns of those geospatially referenced efforts that required a GPS, camera, field notes and data consolidation on a computer back at the office - was the damage borrowing animals were doing to the levees over time.  So its gratifing to see what was once a cumbersome process to track something mundane but important, has now been reduced to something as simple as using a smartphone.

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UN News Centre: UN Economic and Social Council Sets Up Committee on Global Geospatial Information

UN News Centre
July 27, 2011
Direct story link

"The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today voted to establish a committee of experts on global geospatial information management to coordinate international dialogue on spatial data infrastructures and enhance cooperation in that field.

According to the latest report of the Secretary-General on global geospatial information management, the rapid technological advances in geospatial information and related technologies have made this kind of information readily available.

Geospatial information has application in many fields including humanitarian, peace and security, environmental and development challenges facing the world, such as climate change, natural disasters, pandemics, famines, population displacement and food and economic crises, according to the report.

Building the infrastructure for the gathering, validation, compilation and dissemination of geospatial information is therefore as important for countries as the building of roads and telecommunications networks.

However, there is currently no global multilateral or intergovernmental mechanism that can play the important leadership role of setting the agenda for the development of global geospatial information and promote its use to address key global challenges.
The Secretary-General proposed that the UN take the lead role and serve as the coordinating entity of the global geospatial information community, hence the decision to create the committee.

The committee is mandated, among other tasks, with providing a platform for the development of effective strategies on how to build and strengthen national capacity on geospatial information, especially in developing countries.

It will also compile and disseminate best practices and experiences of national, regional and international bodies on geospatial information related to legal instruments, management models and technical standards, thus contributing to the establishment of spatial data infrastructures.
The committee will comprise experts from all Member States, as well as from and international organizations, who will serve as observers."

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Street View Cars Grabbed Locations of Phones and PCs

CNET News
July 25, 2011 12:14 AM PDT
by Declan McCullagh

According to CNET News, Google's Street View cars collected the locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, printers, and other wireless devices around the world.  Read more.

Comment: Google was already in hot water after it was discovered earlier this year that its Street View mapping effort had collected the location of unencrypted wi-fi networks during its world-wide development.  Indeed, several countries have either commenced legal action or are contemplating same, with a BBC News article about the situation: "Google Accused of Criminal Intent Over StreetView Data", being typical.  

While this latest disclosure about cell phones and wireless devices is only certain to add to the controversy, privacy concerns as described above are only one edge of the "geolocation sword".  The other edge is emergency response systems like Next Generation 911 will not work without the ability to determine the geospatial location of Voice Over IP systems (i.e. Vontage, Magic Jack) and cell phones.  

For further insights into the complexities of this issue, go here. 

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Senators Ask Intelligence Agencies About Location Tracking of Americans

From the Wall Street Journal
July 14, 2011, 2:45 PM ET
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

Are U.S. intelligence agencies tracking American citizens’ location through cellphones and GPS devices?  Some Senators want answers.  Read more.

Comment: Much like what occurred in the medical community some 30 years ago and continues to this day, technology developments in the geospatial community have started to surge ahead of the legal community's ability to keep up.  Nowhere has this started to become more apparent than the emergency services sector, particularly the law enforcement community.  Look for more of these complex issues to emerge as the years go forward.

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NSGIC Geospatial Preparedness Committee Releases Recorded Webinar

The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) Geospatial Preparedness Committee recently produced a webinar about how geospatial data and technologies were used during several natural disasters that occurred this past spring.  The recorded version of that webinar is now available.  Here are the details:


"On June 28^th, we held a special WebEx from the Geospatial Preparedness Committee.  Discussion focused on the unusual number of natural disasters that have occurred this year have and continue to plague federal, state and local resources.  In addition a National Level Exercise (NLE) was conducted, an earthquake scenario surrounding the New Madrid Fault. 


Geospatial data and related technologies has played a valuable role in supporting these events and exercises.  A panel of presenters discussed the challenges, the role of geospatial data and technologies as well as lessons learned. They included:
·         DHS NLE After Action – Noah Goodman and David Alexander 
·         Kentucky NLE – Kenny Ratliff 
·         Arkansas Flooding – Learon Dalby
·         Tuscaloosa Tornado – Mike Vanhook
·         Joplin Tornado – Tony Spicci
·         Q and A



The recording of that WebEx is now available at https://nsgic.webex.com/nsgic/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=21360782&rKey=0dbd65d5ce2cc26f&act=pb "

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The Virtual World on Your Phone

Click on the link below to read the article from the New York Times:

N.Y. / REGION   | July 10, 2011
App City:  Bringing Past, Present and Future Into Focus
By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN
A few new apps will tell you what used to be nearby, or even what might have been nearby - less practical but often thoroughly satisfying experiences.

Comment: Imagine this technology intergrated into first responder helmet displays in a way that would allow them to view maps, floor plans, etc. during a response.  The Brits are ahead of us in thinking about this one: Go here.

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The Virtual World on Your Phone

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Pipelines, Black Swans, and Data Governance

An interesting article by Mr. J. Tracy Thorleifson, Vice President at Eagle Information Mapping, Inc., discusses how geospatial data that was "less than accurate" played a significant role in the San Burno, CA pipeline accident of last year. 

Go here to read. 

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Phone Data to Give a Picture of Traffic Shutdown in L.A.

Click on the link below to read the article from the New York Times about real time traffic sensing using cell phones:

TECHNOLOGY   | July 05, 2011
Bits: Phone Data to Give a Picture of Traffic Shutdown in L.A.
By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN
A Los Angeles television station has partnered with a tech startup to use location data from smartphones to track the effects of a major highway closure.

Comment: In December 2010, I was able to listen to an executive from Honda brief the GITA Japan Conference at Tokyo University.  Honda is on the verge of releasing an intergrated sensor system for its cars that will automatically provide the same fed as related in this article (and other aps like Google Maps for Mobile) and much more - to include automatically transmitting road conditions (how wet/slick is it) and broadcasting GIS based warnings concerning flooded areas as sent in by other cars in the system.

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Metro Geocoder Alternatives During Minnesota Government Shutdown

From Nancy Read at Metropolitan Mosquito Control District:

"In response to the MN State Government shutdown, two replications of the Metro Geocoder service have been set up.

The staff at Metropolitan Council GIS were first on the scene and set up a service that uses the local streets and parcels data in the ESRI geocoder, but they also replicated the input and response formats of the PAGC geocoder at MnGeo, including both address and intersection search. This has been graciously opened for general use, as in this sample request:
http://gisdev.metc.state.mn.us/mcCustomWebServices/geocode?methodName=GeocodeRequest&Version=1.1&CountryCode=US&maximumResponses=10&CompleteAddressNumber=2098&CompleteStreetName=UNIVERSITY AVE W&PlaceName=Saint Pau&ResponseFormat=XML&RequestStrategy=Both

A new build of the regular open-source PAGC Geocoder has now been installed at SharedGeo, and can be accessed as shown in this sample request:
https://hub.sharedgeo.org/apps/metro_geocoder/cgi-bin/geocode_response?methodName=GeocodeRequest&Version=1.1&CountryCode=US&maximumResponses=10&CompleteAddressNumber=2098&CompleteStreetName=UNIVERSITY%20AVE%20W&PlaceName=Saint%20Paul&ZipCode=55104%203431&ResponseFormat=XML&RequestStrategy=Both

The PAGC-based service gives results like the MnGeo installation (including landmarks) and also should require very minimal alteration to applications calling the Geocoder. However note that unlike at MnGeo this needs to be set up as a secure request (https), so the users' code calling the Geocoder needs to be able to handle that. Also this uses the latest version of the Geocoder code, which allows single-line submission of address data and then does its own parsing, as well as handling intersections and landmarks. The parcel database is the most recent available (May 2011), and streets will be updated from NCompass/GuideK12 soon."

Note: Information about these services will also be posted at the: Available GIS During MN Gov't Shutdown website.

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Minnesota Geospatial Services Links

All,
A temporary site showing active geospatial links that may be of value to you during the Minnesota State government shutdown has just been activated.  To access it, use the link directly above the EPC symbol to the right.  Additions and corrections can be sent to mngeoepc01@gmail.com.
Steve

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World Bank Is Opening Its Treasure Chest of Data

This is a must read article for anyone interested in importance of data sharing - geospatial or otherwise!

BUSINESS DAY   | July 03, 2011
World Bank Is Opening Its Treasure Chest of Data
By STEPHANIE STROM
Robert B. Zoellick, the World Bank president, argues that its most valuable currency isn't money - it's information.

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World Bank Is Opening Its Treasure Chest of Data

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Google Loses Bid to Dismiss Street View Suit Over Privacy-Violation Claims

Google Inc. must face a lawsuit claiming its data collection using Wi-Fi networks for its Street View program, which allows users see photographs of roadsides, violates wiretapping laws, a judge said.  Go here for more: http://bloom.bg/j1hBlu

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Google Loses Bid to Dismiss Street View Suit Over Privacy-Violation Claims

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Setting Boundaries on the Use of Your Geotracking Data

An interesting editorial from the Denver Post:

"A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress to set boundaries on the use of GPS information, including requirements that police establish probable cause and get warrants before obtaining geolocation data from private companies. It's a strong and useful piece of legislation that would bring laws into line with technological advances and set clear standards for private companies and law enforcement."   Read More

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Setting Boundaries on the Use of Your Geotracking Data

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