I just read the "Directions on the News" and ESRI's new data relationship. You wrote that it is important to keep an eye on who "owns" or "distributes" data for GIS. Whenever I read about data distributers it's very focused on the US market. We, GfK MACON, are in Germany and offer data for the whole European market. Maybe it's good to keep an eye on this site of the ocean, too. ESRI and Mapinfo buy their data from us. Regional data and European or Asian maps.

Many many companies need more than just the US data!

Kind regards,

Alina Westbrock
Marketing
GfK MACON AG
www.gfk-macon.com