What's ahead for geospatial organizations like GITA and URISA? Are they serving the community? Do they need to change? What do you expect for your membership fee? And, have social networks supplanted one of the biggest benefits of professional societies ... networking?

This past week Spatial Energy and the IEEE became two of the latest organizations to announce competitions aimed at students and users of geospatial technology. Why do these keep popping up? Are they good for the geospatial industry?

The Supreme Court ruled that police must have warrants to attach GPS trackers to suspects' cars. Nokia closed its NAVTEQ developer program. What do these actions say about the state of location-based services in 2012?

Three items in the news in early January are teachable moments in geotechnology, for students and citizens and for the geospatial community. They include satellite imagery from the cruise ship Costa Concordia, Google tangling with OSM and World Bank, and an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease explained by geography.

Dr. Frank Kelly was recently appointed director of the USGS's EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Editor in Chief Joe Francica spoke with Dr. Kelly on the mission of EROS especially in light of impending budget cuts. Kelly also provided his insights on the relationship with the commercial earth observation satellite providers, and expectations for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission and Landsat 8.

Geotechnology appeared in cars, social media "cockpits" and nearfield communication (NFC)-enabled phones at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Is it evolution or revolution?

Audie Cornish talks with Thomas Haupt, respiratory disease epidemiologist for the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. He's the lead author of the study that helped uncover the source of a mysterious and large uptick in Legionnaires' disease cases. The study, "An Outbreak of Legionnaires Disease Associated with a Decorative Water Wall Fountain in a Hospital" was published in the online journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

The first weeks of January brought three big changes in the geospatial world. A well-known on-line mapping app, "indiemapper" went free; Pakistan announced plans for managing map makers; and Esri began repositioning ArcGIS Online as a content management system. Are these changes for the best?

U.S. commercial remote sensing has boomed but has it hit a wall because of budget concerns or is this merely a pause before the true explosion of commercially available imagery goes mainstream?

Several geospatial announcements and events made our editors respond, "Huh?" This week, to wrap up the year they share the surprises of the past twelve months.