Cloud Computing

Directions Magazine conducted a survey to snapshot the current thinking among several solution providers (Esri, Ubisense,eSpatial, Accela, ERDAS) about geospatial cloud computing. We wanted to know if cloud computing is now considered a commodity and what additional differentiators potential users are looking for before buying solutions.

Was the increase in attendance at the GEOINT Symposium an indication of an expanding market for geospatial technology in the intelligence community or was it many vendors chasing declining dollars? This report from Editor in Chief Joe Francica summarizes comments and opinions from some of those in the know

Here is a recap of news, articles and other reports from the 2012 GEOINT Symposium by Directions Magazine.

How do governments leverage technology to handle an ever-increasing demand to analyze large volumes of data while economic circumstances demand cutting the cost of computing? Tim Durniak, chief technology officer for public sector of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, shares examples from both federal and local agencies to show how they are looking toward cloud computing to become smarter about IT infrastructure.

In part two of Jan Kestle’s article on lifestyle segmentation and geodemographics, the veteran geodemographics professional, now president of Environics Analytics, explains a new cloud-based solution for micromarketing called ENVISION that will integrate location analytics with CR.

Veteran geodemographics professional Jan Kestle, now president of Environics Analytics, takes us through the integration of psychographics, GIS and CRM systems to analyze consumer data for effective target marketing.

One of the original upstarts in geographic search, deCarta has maneuvered around a mine-field of competitors. Recently, its MapSearch mobile application achieved over 10 million unique users in just four months in a partnership with Opera software. Editor in Chief Joe Francica contacted deCarta’s CEO, Kim Fennell for an update on the company’s prospects.

Climate change research in Arctic environments presents numerous challenges due not only to the extreme temperatures but also from hungry polar bears. A project conducted by the University of Cincinnati has faced these challenges and created a sensor network infrastructure that withstands these elements. This report provides the details on the team’s efforts to remotely record and analyze data from Barrow, Alaska.

Historically, geospatial technology projects involve lengthy contract bidding and negotiations. In the end, these investments are capitalized and depreciated as assets of the organization. How will it work to switch the procurement process to a cloud model and make geospatial solutions “rentable,” on-demand, software-as-a service (SaaS)? Will cloud computing flip the expense structure from capex to opex? Editor in Chief Joe Francica explores the issues.

Today's geo-enabled Web relies on a host of technologies and processes, notably mashups. But according to authors Giuseppe Conti, Raffaele De Amicis, Federico Prandi (all from Graphitech) and Paul Watson (from 1Spatial), those are just a stepping stone to future technologies and processes that will enable a spatio-temporal Internet of Places using the growing mass of unstructured data resources on the Web