How do you qualify to receive your GIS Certification? Sheila Wilson, executive director of the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI), has the answers to all the questions you might have, whether you are new to GIS or have been in the profession for a long time.

Satellite earth observation is appropriate to provide repetitive data at spatial and temporal scales necessary for detection and monitoring of wildfires. Unfortunately, the relative coarse spatial resolution of these data sets is insufficient to accurately locate individual fire fronts and to assess their strength. This article explores how small satellites with better spatial resolution and spectral bands in the thermal and near IR region to support better fire front identification.

Earlier this month Nokia and Oracle signed an agreement to provide a “simple, built-in link between Oracle Fusion Middleware MapViewer and the Nokia Location Platform (NLP). This link removes the barrier of a customized map integration and extends the benefits of global maps for business use to Oracle users,” according to the press release. Editor in chief Joe Francica contacted Nokia for more details to explain how this agreement goes beyond the current long-standing relationship between the two companies.

On October 2, OpenGeo released a major upgrade to the OpenGeo suite. The company expects users will be excited about enhancements in production and processing and a closer feature match to Esri’s ArcGIS Server. Rolando Peñate, OpenGeo’s product manager, answered our questions about open source geospatial software and the new release.

We recently completed our 2012 Directions Magazine Reader Survey and we wanted to share some of the results. Many attend local user conferences while most don't yet utilize social media to stay in touch with the industry.

The mission of NASA’s DEVELOP program is to unite NASA Earth observations with society to foster future innovation and cultivate the professionals of tomorrow by addressing diverse environmental issues today. Over 300 interns, high school through graduate school, participate in DEVELOP each year and are afforded an opportunity to refine their research skills using NASA science and technology products. This article provides a brief introduction to the internships, research and end-user partnerships.

Why are Republicans assigned red and Democrats blue on election maps? Has it always been that way? No, reports Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg, the standard emerged with the advent of television election coverage, electronic maps and the 2000 U.S. presidential battle.

In September 2010, Avenza Systems, Inc. released the first version of PDF Maps for the Apple App Store where both free and for-pay versions of maps in the Geospatial PDF format could be downloaded for use with the iOS operating system. Currently, over 100,000 maps are now available for download. Are users likely to download maps normally found in a print version to their iPhone or iPad? Editor in Chief Joe Francica sat down with Avenza president, Ted Florence for more details on the “the iTunes of maps” business model – selling maps the way iTunes sells music.

Apple stepped into the mapping world with the release of Apple Maps for iOS 6, and users promptly panned it. Expecting much more from the company that sets trends, users thought Apple Maps failed miserably. So, what should Apple do in response? Editor in Chief Joe Francica suggests that while it’s not an easy fix, a big acquisition is the answer.

Directions Magazine has been following the legal battle over a mapping patent held by Real Estate Alliance Ltd. (REAL) since 2005. The lawsuit started with a single Philadelphia agent and her use of mapping software and turned into quite a production before a ruling of non-infringement came in 2010. In this article, Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg summarizes the actions since that time.