Where Are We Going?

It occurred to me that I haven’t discussed my plans for GeoSpatial Solutions (GSS) since I assumed the editorship of GSS a couple of months ago. Some of you have told me that you thought GSS had “gone away.” True, it was somewhat dormant for awhile, but we’ve got some fantastic initiatives underway for 2010 that will renew your interest in GSS.

First of all, GeoSpatial Weekly will have an opinion column (mine or a guest whom I coordinate) every issue. I’ll strive to provide something interesting to read that’s relevant every week. Sometimes there is big news to cover and sometimes there’s not, but I’ll always strive to make it interesting. We’ll also continue to produce the monthly GeoIntelligence Insider Newsletter which is focused on news and analysis of spatial technologies in the homeland security and defense segment.

As some of you may know, I am the founding editor (and continue to be) of GPS World magazine’s Survey Scene newsletter that began more than three years ago. Target marketed e-mail newsletters were a new concept for GPS World at that time, and over the past several years we’ve proven it’s the right formula for delivering valuable information to your e-mail inbox in a timely manner. Furthermore, our highly successful webinar series has drawn a tremendous amount of response from our readers.

Fortunately, GeoSpatial Solutions is a sister publication of GPS World magazine. Both are owned by Questex Media, which operates a fair number of print and digital magazines in addition to other products and services. They have a very capable IT department which can administer a number of powerful technologies like webinars and video hosting.

This gives GSS a firm leg in which to leverage from.

Some initiatives I’m working on now:

Website, 98.27.162.175/gpsworld.com:

Currently, you may have noticed that we are piggy-backed on the GPS World website as a temporary home. Over the next couple of months, we will be redesigning the website with its own “look and feel.” We will be adding a number of sections that will make resources available to you such as archived webinars (GIS-oriented), videos, white papers and others.

A particular area where I want to pay specific attention is what I call the Survey Section. There is no doubt in my mind that land surveying professionals and GIS professionals are going to be close brethren in the geospatial world. The roles of both are evolving and the line of demarcation is not always clear, but the two need each other terribly in order to best serve the public. GIS isn’t always about parcel maps and land surveying isn’t always about coordinates. The Survey Section (or whatever better name I come up with) will be a place for this sort of knowledge exchange and collaboration in a positive way. There is not one person or company that can stop this geospatial train, so what’s left is how best the two professions can work together.

Webinars:

As I mentioned above, webinars are a powerful communication tool. Also consider that travel budgets and industry conference budgets have been chopped considerably in the “new economy,” webinars are a natural fit. Last year during the weeks before the ESRI User Conference, I dedicated a GPS World webinar to GIS. I plan to do the same this before prior to the ESRI UC in July as well as the INTERGEO conference in Europe in October. These are the two largest geospatial events.

Guest/Industry perspectives:

I tell my wife I’d hate to be married to me. Thank goodness for our family that she doesn’t always listen to me 🙂

I think it’s invaluable to hear perspectives from industry folks, even if they don’t agree with me. I’ve started reaching out to those whom I think would bring an interesting perspective to GeoSpatial Solutions. Starting in 2010, I’d like to have at least one per month on varying topics from GIS database technology to trend analysis to data collection methods to new computer hardware developments that effect geospatial professionals.

Multimedia content:

The next best thing to being there is viewing a video of an event, an interview, a process, or experience of some sort.

Youtube, Google Earth and the internet in general have transformed the way we interact in our world and specifically our geospatial world. Those technologies have brought us closer. During my last webinar, I had questions from several people who lived on different continents…Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa. I was interacting with other geospatial professionals who lived in completely different cultures, spoke different languages and lived in significantly different time zones. I cannot begin to imagine kind the room he or she sat in while attending the webinar anymore than he or she could picture what my little office space looked like, but our common geospatial connection brought us together.

Multimedia content is a tremendously important technology that allows us to grow closer in the geospatial community even though our geographic coordinates are significantly different.

Industry Conference Live Coverage:

Attending major industry conferences is important to me because that’s where a lot of industry buzz is taking place and where I get a chance to meet up with a lot of people with whom I don’t see on a regular basis. I also tend to present at these conferences too. The next one is the ACSM/GITA conference next Spring in which I’m leading a half-day GPS workshop along with Pamela Fromhertz of the National Geodetic Survey.

Live coverage of conferences is a great way of bringing you closer to the conference buzz from your desktop at work or home especially when combined with blogging (such as what we’ve done at GPS World) and video coverage.

KSA (keyword search) Service:

Soon, we will give you the ability to sign up for KSA free of charge. Essentially, you select from a list of keywords (such as web-mapping, WAAS, GeoPDF). Once signed up, we will automatically send you an e-mail every time new content (news stories, columns, webinars, etc.) is published that include your keywords.

Blog/Twitter/Discussion Forum:

There is a notion of utilizing too much technology. I want to be careful of that. Blog’s make sense if they are relevant and insightful. Twitter is the fast-food of the blog world.

Discussion forums can be very useful, but they are only powerful if there is participation from a lot of users. That can only happen if there is a foundation of relevant and useful content.

I can’t tell you if we will use these technologies, but I can tell you that if we do, we will do it right. I respect your time and attention enough to not want to waste it.

Thanks, and see you next week.