If you have over 60 companies in the same geographic area offering solutions in geospatial technology, cybersecurity and energy management and you ask them to work together to prevent the next terrorist attack, could they do it? The GEO Huntsville Conference (Huntsville, AL) offered that opportunity and challenge, and the short answer might be “yes”!

How do you know if a local point of interest, a route or an area is important? Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg believes one characteristic is that the location has a personal or community-driven name.

"GIS and geospatial knowledge are critical for the interconnected 21st century world," says Rich Quodomine of the New York Department of Transportation, and a member of the Association of American Geographers. So who will compete for the jobs and who will best serve employers looking for the best workers? Quodomine attended the International Geographic Congress 2012 in Cologne, Germany and came away believing that GIS expertise is no longer confined to the U.S. Europe has recognized the value of GIS. Will European workers compete for jobs that were once the sole purview of U.S. geographers?

Utilities are implementing fiber optic networks to support the increased communication loads needed manage the large customer base. Truckee Donner Public Utility District in California turned to Telvent to plan its network. Ian Fitzgerald, with the Truckee Donner Utility, and Danny Petrecca, of Telvent, share details of their experience building this enterprise solution.

Ashley Liddiard currently works at the USGS as an administrative operations assistant. She's a recent graduate of Regis University with a B.A. in Politics and a B.A. in Music and is pursuing a bookkeeping clerk certificate at Red Rocks Community College. In this article she explains how she got her position at USGS and what's ahead.

This past summer, NASA DEVELOP interns examined the applications of NASA Earth Observing Systems (EOS) to assist in determining the most suitable planting sites for baldcypress trees in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The final products produced for this project demonstrated the utility of NASA EOS in the rebuilding and monitoring of coastal ecosystems in Louisiana.

URISA’s 50th anniversary event, GIS-Pro 2012, celebrated the past in a respectful, conservative way with familiar themes, presenters and awardees. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg asks, does this provide a glimpse into its next 50 years?

Human activity in the Puget Sound region of Washington State has caused an uptick in the nitrogen level fueling algae growth. But how can this urgent environmental challenge be communicated to the general public? Students in the University of Washington’s Master’s Program in GIS created a solution.

Local governments have been quite successful in capitalizing on the applications of geospatial technology to improve citizen services and recognize savings, and businesses across industries can benefit from following their lead.  This article is a quick look at how web mapping is helping government improve communications and services.

Destination Spatial is the latest strategy to draw attention to the need for geospatial practitioners, and to guide students and job changers toward those careers. This effort, launched in Queensland, Australia, is picking up steam and now supports all of Australia and New Zealand. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg details what makes it different from previous approaches.