Smart growth has long served as a guiding framework for sustainable development, promoting compact communities, efficient land use, and improved quality of life. However, as urban and regional challenges grow more complex, planners and decision-makers need tools that go beyond traditional approaches.

Geodesign enhances smart growth by integrating geographic data, analytical modeling, and design thinking into a single, collaborative process. Together, these approaches support better-informed decisions and more resilient outcomes.

Smart growth focuses on development strategies that balance economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and social equity. Core principles typically include efficient land use, mixed-use development, transportation choices, and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

While these principles remain highly relevant, applying them effectively requires a clear understanding of spatial relationships, trade-offs, and long-term impacts—areas where conventional planning methods may fall short.

Geodesign is a framework that combines geographic science with design processes to evaluate how proposed changes affect people, places, and systems. By using spatial data and modeling, geodesign allows planners to explore multiple scenarios and understand potential outcomes before decisions are implemented.

This approach encourages collaboration among stakeholders, enabling designers, analysts, and policymakers to work from a shared geographic context.

When geodesign is applied to smart growth initiatives, it strengthens the ability to test ideas, measure impacts, and refine strategies. Planners can assess how land-use decisions influence transportation networks, environmental conditions, and community needs in near real time.

By visualizing alternatives and understanding consequences early in the process, geodesign reduces uncertainty and helps align development goals with sustainability objectives.

The integration of smart growth and geodesign supports a wide range of planning efforts, including:

Community engagement and scenario evaluation

These applications help organizations make informed choices that balance growth with long-term resilience

As communities continue to face pressures from population growth, climate change, and economic shifts, the need for adaptive and data-driven planning approaches becomes increasingly important. Geodesign provides a powerful way to evolve smart growth principles, enabling smarter, more transparent, and more sustainable decisions.

By making smart growth smarter, geodesign supports communities in shaping futures that are both practical and visionary.

Articles

Enhancing Smart Growth with Geodesign

By means of the … film … it would be possible to infuse certain subjects, such as geography, which is at present wound off organ-like in the forms of dead descriptions, with the pulsating life of a metropolis. - Albert Einstein.

It may be argued that the very heart of geography and GIS is constituted in large part by the practice of looking and is, in effect, the stuff of images. If we agree, then geo-visualization is highlighted as an important disciplinary and practical endeavor. The last two decades witnessed increasing recognition of the power of articulate, moving images to intervene in the ongoing transformations of everyday geography, and yet there remains a reticence within the geo-visualization community to fully embrace the emotional power of cinema.

This essay is about the intensification of emotional life that is possible through moving spatial images. Our primary assumption is that while data visualized through GIS can be provocative, it is often joyless and over-calculated, with a tendency for the program to overwhelm the content. Even the best GIS-visualized data is often more interesting to think about than to experience, more interesting to create than to comprehend - it is most often not the product of a searching soul but of a highly computer-literate mind. And so we argue that although today’s geovisualized data and digitally formatted movies may look different and may appear to have separate functions, they are both digital, pixelized, spatial data that engages users/consumers in similar ways. The problem for geographers and GIS specialists, we submit, is that cinematic landscapes, in which humans and human culture play a very important part, are a much more powerful producer of emotional geographies than static or animated cartographies, no matter how the data are visualized. If cinema is more concerned with engaging emotions than celebrating computerized visuals, then why should this not also be the case for geovisualizations? As neurologist Antonio Damasio (1994) has shown, emotions are a huge part of, and are not separate from, our intellectual reasoning.

Think back to the last time you lost yourself in a series of contours, shadings and cartographic symbols. Perhaps you have a treasured map at hand that will do the job for you right now (indeed, the boundlessness of imagination enables continuous return to the same map for fresh marvels). This process involves a particularly quirky engagement, pouring over the image to the extent that we may lose a conscious connection to our corporeality. The space between our conscious knowledge of our bodies and the borders of the map merge. Perhaps time disappears. We are lost to the task of imagining what it would be like to be in this place for the first time. We imagine tramping over the hills or along the streets depicted in the map. We pick up maps of exotic places and indulge our amazement at the contemporaneous heterogeneity of the planet, what Doreen Massey (2005, 15) calls "spatial delight." There may even be an imagining that projects knowledge of local weather, waves, tides, or of the ways mists curl around mountain tops – knowledge not directly accessible from the map.

And there is other knowledge not necessarily accessible from the maps, which gives us pause. Two decades of warnings from cartographers such as Brian Harley, Dennis Woods and Mark Monmonier highlight the inherent power of maps: the grotesque distortions of variety and uniqueness, the colonialism, the propaganda, the god-trick, the diminishing/submersion of certain subjects for others. Even with these admonitions and understandings, there is still wonder.

We argue, and this is our central twist, that more so than cartography, cinema produces wonders that affectively engage and absorb us - they intensify our lives, if only momentarily. There is no reason why geovisualized data should not do the same.

So, let us think for a moment about the mechanics behind the emotional wonders of moving images. Cinema is a particular kind of movement propagated by single picture frames passing rapidly in front of a projection light at a prescribed rate; in its digital form the movement is accomplished by changing hues and colors of the individual pixels that compose the viewing screen.

The active promotion of images in motion in the United States began on June 13, 1891 when Harper’s Weekly announced that Thomas Edison had invented a kinetograph, a combination of a moving picture machine and a phonograph. The 1902 Sears catalogue described the kinetoscope’s ability to render a "pictorial representation, not lifelike merely, but apparently life itself, with every movement, every action and every detail brought so vividly before the audience" (quoted in Denzin 1995, 16). What was revolutionary about the kinetoscope was its power over the image. By the 1920s Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein was breaking ground with kino-pravda (film truth). Eisenstein’s notion of "the-image-in-motion-over-time-through-space-with-sequence" was about filmic rhythm and the ways film time-space could be manipulated for fullest effect (see Figure 3 and Aitken 1991). Eisenstein’s image-event was not about presenting real life, or even film as a mirror of real life. The focus of kino-pravda on filmic rhythms, sequences, framings, spectacles, jump cuts and montages was about the creation of illusion to the extent that we, the consumers of the images, would suspend our disbelief.

From cartography, DiBiase and his colleagues (1992, 206), closely paralleling the earlier thoughts of Eisenstein, extend spatial images into the realm of non-static, animated representations existing within two or three spatial dimensions plus a temporal dimension. Their dynamic variables of duration (the number of units of time that a scene is displayed), rate of change (a proportion formed by the magnitude of change in an attribute and the duration of scene), and order (the logic of chronological sequencing of scenes associated with a time-series data set) are used to form dynamic representations. This is precisely what Eisenstein did with kino-pravda, but his focus was on the emotional impact - he called it shock-value - of the image-event.

Geographers learn from looking and the geovisualization approaches established by DiBiase, but also Cartwright, MacEachren and others, offer a unique way of interpreting visual representations. Indeed, MacEachren’s famous elaboration of semiotics to cartography is about a science and art that is closely connected to the study of film (see Aitken and Craine 2005). Let us assume that geography must move past pure semiotics and cognitive theory in order to open up the discipline to fresh investigation. Further, geovisualization must refuse to take vision for granted and should, instead, insist on "problematizing", theorizing, critiquing and "historicalizing" the visual process. As a case in point, data exploration through the use of "map metaphors," Cartwright (2004, 32) famously argues, is changed to "new forms of multisensory and multimedia communication" where visual information gathering is augmented with other sensory stimuli. Unfortunately, Cartwright stops short of exploring the important dimensions of affect and absorption.

With the recognition of multimedia as a viable way to communicate geographic information, we can examine how new technologies provide new modes of data exploration and new forms of analysis and cognition through affect. To take just one example, Platt (1995) shows how ‘storytelling’ offers the user the option of engaging the geography of a particular place. Video-gaming is a case in point where filmic digital images are merged with usable/controllable products to create innumerable storylines. Imagine the young gamer deftly avoiding missiles and light-beams from enemy fighters and courageously engaging the enemy in LucasArts’ Star Wars series as a Death Star brings its planet-destroying cannon on the unsuspecting world below. Her passion may for some border on addiction, but it is nothing if it is not self-absorbed. Do you recognize something important about the ways young people engage with these games? Watch her weave in and out of the canyons that comprise the surface of the Death Star. And like Luke Skywalker feeling the force, she successfully sends missiles down the postage stamp opening into the main reactor. Boom! We are treated to a spectacular conflagration. Next level and a new storyline. She is now ramping down a hierarchy of scaled images towards the planet below. The images coalesce in a way that suspends her disbelief about a myriad of pixels changing hue. Indeed, she has no knowledge of the mechanics of digital animation. She is simply hurtling towards the surface to chase some of the renegade enemy fighters that escape the conflagration aboard the Death Star. Now she is down in some desert canyons, chasing more enemy fighters. You are impressed at this time with the way she negotiates scale. The pixels change hue to form digital images of dynamic landscapes – aerial photographs if you will – from the planetary scale down to just above the desert floor.

We’d like to finish with a thought about the ways film and animation contrive the stories of our lives. We believe that this is about the power of moving images to create spaces and affect societal change. And it is about the subtle pervasiveness of these images in contemporary culture. Einstein (opening epigram) was right when he suggested that geographers do not appreciate the power of the moving image. Nor do we know how to use that power to better the world in which we live through emotion-charged geovisualization. Obviously, this power goes way beyond video-gaming. As we are absorbed into mobile geographic images, it is possible also to be affected by the power of those images to highlight social injustice, geographies of AIDS, or the tragedies of the global sex-trade. Affective geo-visualizations are soulful; they tug at our hearts to the extent that we may be mobilized to action.

Guest Editorial: Affective Geovisualizations

PCI announced its support for the deployment of the GXL system on the Amazon cloud, enabling faster, more scalable product development and delivery. By leveraging cloud infrastructure, the GXL platform enhances performance, flexibility, and accessibility for organizations managing complex geospatial and enterprise data workflows.

The move to a cloud-based environment reflects PCI’s ongoing commitment to innovation and to helping customers reduce infrastructure overhead while improving speed to market and operational efficiency.

The GXL system is designed to support data-intensive applications that require reliability, scalability, and rapid deployment. Hosting the system on the Amazon cloud allows organizations to dynamically scale resources, optimize performance, and ensure high availability without the constraints of traditional on-premises environments.

By using cloud-native services, PCI enables faster system updates, improved collaboration, and streamlined deployment across distributed teams.

Benefits for Product Development and Delivery

Deploying the GXL system in the cloud provides several key advantages:

Faster product deployment and update cycles

Improved system scalability and reliability

Reduced infrastructure and maintenance costs

Greater flexibility to adapt to changing business needs

These benefits help organizations bring products to market more efficiently while maintaining performance and security.

Supporting Innovation Through Cloud Computing

PCI continues to support cloud-based strategies that align with modern enterprise and geospatial technology requirements. The deployment of GXL on Amazon cloud infrastructure demonstrates how cloud computing can accelerate innovation, simplify system management, and support long-term growth.

This approach allows customers to focus on product development and business outcomes rather than infrastructure complexity.

PCI is a technology-focused organization supporting advanced systems and solutions for enterprise and geospatial applications. With an emphasis on innovation, scalability, and performance, PCI helps organizations adopt modern platforms that enable efficient data management and informed decision-making.

PCI Supports Deployment of GXL System on Amazon Cloud to Accelerate Product Delivery

The Town of Wausau, Wisconsin is a rural community in Central Wisconsin with a population of 2,229 (Census 2010). The geographic extent of the town is 37.7 square miles. The political boundary of the town coincides with one surveyed township of the U.S. Public Land Survey System (PLSS) and is subdivided into 36 surveyed sections, each with an area of approximately one square mile. The western boundary of the town is irregular due to annexations by the neighboring City of Wausau (population 39,106, Census 2010) (Figure 1).

The Wausau Town Board wanted to survey the town’s residents on the need for specific services, the willingness of community members to pay for specific services, and other key issues important to the community especially during an economic downturn. The town board contracted with the Wisconsin Institute of Public Policy and Service (WIPPS) in October 2010 to formulate survey questions, compile results, incorporate the survey results within a GIS, and complete a final report. WIPPS is a unit within the University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin Extension, and is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization tasked with providing meaningful public outreach to the people of Wisconsin. The town realized a significant savings by partnering with WIPPS to complete the project. My role in the project, as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, was as co-principal investigator.

The Town of Wausau has a population density of 59 people per square mile. (By comparison, the City of Wausau, which borders the Town of Wausau on the east, has a population density of 2,082 people per square mile.) Examination of the Town of Wausau’s 2006 comprehensive plan indicates that various agricultural pursuits comprise the leading land use in town at 48.5%. Woodlands and wetlands account for 25.8% and 13.4% respectively of the town’s total land area. There is little commercial development, with only 0.4% of the land area devoted to commercial pursuits. Residential development accounts for 6.8% of the land use in the community and is greatest in the western third of the town that borders on the City of Wausau. Population growth has been slow over the last 40 years with a population change of 141 persons (6.2%) between the 1970 and 2010 censuses.

One of the major problems in conducting social surveys in rural areas like the Town of Wausau is the need to protect the anonymity of the respondents. The problem is enhanced when the information is incorporated into a GIS and portrayed as mapped data. The potential exists in rural communities with low population densities for community members to identify responses provided by individual households. Several members of the community expressed concern about this issue and it was a major discussion point between the town board and WIPPS in the formulation and design of the survey and the GIS. The problem was how to present the survey results in a mapped context without compromising the anonymity of the respondents.

The problem was solved by using surveyed PLSS sections of the township as a map grid by which the results of survey questions were reported (Figure 2). The responses to the survey questions were broken down by surveyed section using the MYSTAT (version 12) statistical software package and mapped using Caliper’s Maptitude (version 5) GIS. Surveyed sections are regularly used as the mapping units for various geological, biological and agricultural studies, but not for mapping the results of data collected from social surveys. I did an extensive search for projects using PLSS sections to map social data in rural America and didn’t find any others.

Surveys were sent to all households in the town in October 2010. The residential database of the town was the source of the addresses. Slightly more than 900 surveys were mailed and 505 households returned completed surveys, representing a return rate of 56% (Figure 3). The survey required approximately 10 minutes to complete. All survey responses were anonymous. The first question on the survey asked the respondents to identify the section of the township in which they lived. A map was provided for reference purposes. In Wisconsin, land records for deeds and taxation are kept using the PLSS system, so residents would be very familiar with a PLSS section map. We were confident that they would be able to successfully identify their section. Several background questions were asked of respondents which pertained to the socioeconomic characteristics of the household, including median age, level of educational attainment and household income. Specific questions related to key issues facing the town used a modified Likert scale to determine the strength of agreement or disagreement for each of the questions. The results of the survey had a 95% confidence level with an error range of plus or minus 3%.

The Town of Wausau is an older, middle class community with a median population age between 45 and 54 years and a median income between $50,000 and $74,999. Most of the respondents were high school graduates with some college. The average resident had lived in the community between 11 and 20 years and 95% of the residents owned their own homes.

Several survey questions were designed to gather information about the public services which residents wanted, and their willingness to pay for these services. These public services included: fire service, ambulance service, snow plowing and sanding, road maintenance, garbage and recycling pickup, asphalt roads, town constable and police, town ordinance enforcement, update and upgrade of equipment, and building upgrades and remodeling. The level of the importance of each service to the town’s residents and their willingness to pay for each service were each ranked according to the number of responses received. A Spearman ranked correlation coefficient (non-parametric test for ranked statistical data) was calculated to test for the level of agreement between the residents’ expressed need for specific public services and their willingness to pay for them. The calculated Spearman correlation coefficient was r = 0.983 at a 95% confidence level. The results of the statistical analysis revealed an almost perfect correlation between the public services desired by the residents and their willingness to pay for them.

The survey addressed many other key issues facing the town. Questions pertaining to these issues used a modified Likert scale to gather responses. With each of the questions, residents could express their level of agreement or disagreement. The Likert scale facilitated the mapping of the response data. Proportional pie charts were used to summarize the results for each question by surveyed section. One key issue facing the town is its future development. The question, “Do you think the Town of Wausau needs more commercial development such as offices, retail stores, or service business?” was asked to explore the residents’ opinions on future commercial development. The majority of residents responded that the situation was fine as it was (Figure 4). Another key issue of concern to the town was the aesthetics of the community. The opinion on this issue was about equal for and against, as seen in the responses to the question, “Should the Town of Wausau create and enforce ordinances to ensure appearance standards for lawns, yards, and home property generally?” (Figure 5).

Other issues addressed by the survey pertained to safety issues facing the community such as geographic restrictions on the use of firearms during deer hunting season, especially in more populated areas of the town. Figure 6 shows that most residents felt that there should be no hunting allowed in residential areas, along subdivision borders, or along the city border. A minority of the respondents felt there should not be restrictions to hunting on private land. The presence of certain dog breeds within the town limits was also a concern of the community because of the potential for attacks on the residents. Most residents felt there should be no restrictions to different dog breeds in the community in response to the question, “Should certain dog breeds be banned from the town of Wausau?” (Figure 7).

The use of surveyed sections of the PLSS as the mapping unit to present data collected from rural areas is a straightforward method to portray information in a geographic context. In the United States, access to digital geographic files for the PLSS is universal and easily incorporated into a GIS. The method allows for the preservation of the anonymity of respondents and also allows for the visual presentation of information to decision makers. This project also demonstrates that programs affiliated with state universities, like WIPPS, through their community outreach efforts can provide rural communities the expertise and resources needed to complete complex projects in a timely manner with a significant cost savings.

Integrating Social Survey Data and GIS to Determine the Needs of a Rural Community in a Geographic Context

Congratulations to Linda van den Brink, awarded the 2019 Gardels Award for being “an outstanding representative both internal to OGC and external.”

Linda van den Brink (left) receives the 2019 OGC Gardels Award from OGC President Bart De Lathouwer (right)

21 November 2019: Last night, at the November meeting of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee in Toulouse, France, Linda van den Brink received the OGC’s prestigious Kenneth D. Gardels Award. The Gardels Award is presented each year to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to advancing OGC's vision of using location to connect people, communities, technology, and decision making for the greater good.

Linda van den Brink was awarded because of her effective coordination between the OGC and other standards and industry bodies. As noted by one of the nominating committee: “Linda has been an outstanding representative both internal to OGC and external. She has worked hard to gain OGC standards acceptance in the wider community.” Another committee member commented: “Linda’s value to OGC is reflected simply because of the number of areas in which she has participated. Over the years, Linda has been involved in CityGML, GeoSemantics, Linked Data, and the joint working group with W3C. In these groups, Linda has not only been involved, but also taken a very active part in each...”

Linda has co-chaired the GeoSemantics Domain Working Group and has also been very active in the GML and CityGML Standards Working Groups, often identifying issues based on experience gained through standards implementations. Linda has been the primary voice in highlighting the need to better align common elements in the CityGML, InfraGML, and IndoorGML standards.

“I’m very happy that Linda van den Brink has received the 2019 Gardels Award,” commented Bart De Lathouwer, President of OGC. “With her down-to-earth approach, she has been instrumental in significantly advancing semantic and linked data interoperability in the geospatial domain, together with our alliance partner W3C. Linda’s real-world based interoperability activities, and strong international community building skills, are appreciated not only by OGC, but also many outside of OGC. Kenn would be very proud.”

“We thank you for demonstrating the true spirit of the OGC in striving for what is best for the geospatial community,” commented Jeffrey K. Harris, Chairman of the OGC Board of Directors. “You have served countless hours in OGC activities, including leading, attending, and actively participating in Technical Committee Meetings and serving as a Technical Committee (TC) representative to the Planning Committee (PC), where you are charged to summarize PC discussions that impact the TC from the member perspective.”

In all this work, Linda has exemplified the principles, courage, humility, and accomplishment in promoting spatial technologies to address the needs of humanity that characterized Kenn Gardels’ career and life.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international consortium of more than 530 businesses, government agencies, research organizations, and universities driven to make geospatial (location) information and services FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

OGC’s member-driven consensus process creates royalty free, publicly available geospatial standards. Existing at the cutting edge, OGC actively analyzes and anticipates emerging tech trends, and runs an agile, collaborative Research and Development (R&D) lab that builds and tests innovative prototype solutions to members' use cases.

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Geospatial Industry News

Linda van den Brink receives OGC’s 2019 Gardels Award

Easton, Maryland - AXIS GeoSpatial LLC is pleased to announce the addition of Allen Wainger, PE to their Project Management team. Wainger brings over 40 years of experience in the geospatial industry. He comes from Michael Baker International where he was directly responsible for growing a GIT Services and Information Systems Department in the federal and state sectors.

Mr. Wainger holds a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University. He is an active member of the Maryland State Geospatial Information Committee, having served as treasurer and leader of the UAS working group.

“The addition of Al to our executive management team is one that I welcome with great enthusiasm. His professionalism, knowledge, and extensive geospatial experience will play an integral role in AXIS’ continued evolution of positioning strategy; predominantly in the areas of cost, quality, and flexibility. Having Al participate as a key member of the AXIS management team, I foresee noticeable enhancements in AXIS’ performance, services, and deliverables.”, said Justin Lahman, President of AXIS GeoSpatial.

Mr. Wainger is a Professional Engineer registered in the Commonwealths of Virginia and Massachusetts with technical specialty in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. He combines the traditional engineering skills with an extensive background in field surveying, photogrammetry, and mapping.

“I was absolutely thrilled to join AXIS because I have, for a number of years, been impressed with its management team and the way it treats its clients”, says Mr. Wainger.

With an excellent track record specifying, developing, managing, and leading integrated geospatial solutions, he will lead and direct cross functional teams to deliver projects within the constraints of client schedule, budget, and scope.

Founded in 2001, AXIS GeoSpatial LLC, a national geocapture firm, employs innovative remote-sensing and measurement technologies to capture geospatial data for integration into civil engineering, land surveying and GIS applications. AXIS is headquartered in Easton, Maryland with additional locations in Delaware and Florida. During the past 18 years, AXIS has applied extensive, proven experience in producing high quality aerial imagery, LiDAR, CADD, GIS and other related geospatial datasets for civil engineering and government clients throughout the US and abroad. For more information visit www.axisgeospatial.com, join us on LinkedIn or follow us on Twitter @axisgeospatial

Allen Wainger, PE Joins AXIS GeoSpatial LLC as Director of Program Management

Today's GeoInspiration is Dr. Grant Ian Thrall, a man for whom I have gained much respect over the years, speaking with and listening to him at the business geography sessions at the American Association of Geographers conference and at the Applied Geography Conference. Dr. Thrall holds degrees in economics, business and geography — the last from The Ohio State University — and has been tirelessly merging these three fields for decades. He also bridges the academic, nonprofit and business sectors, serving as president of the American Real Estate Society, which produces six trade journals and has 1,650 members, while owning his own consulting firm, Business Geography Advisors. I view him as a true bridge-builder, helping scores of students, faculty and decision-makers in many different fields understand the value of decision-making with a geographic perspective. 

Dr. Thrall entered the field of geography a bit differently than our other GeoInspirations. Rather than being inspired by a class or mentor, it was experience itself which taught him the importance of geographic study.

"It was geographic phenomena and geographic reasoning that drew my interest to what I would learn, much later in my education, that some considered my interests [as actually focused on] geography," he explained.

"My parents were Route 66 people from central Ohio. My dad had been a college professor and a superintendent of a school district. They drove Route 66 to Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, turned left and bought a house. My dad accepted a teaching post at a high school. His job opportunities were limited because he had become physically handicapped as had Bob Dole in WWII; like Bob Dole, my dad had lost the use of his left elbow. This is important to this story only in that as many fathers would play sports with their sons, mine did not. Instead, my dad would drive the family in his car along each new interstate and to each new development in the high-growth Los Angeles of the 1950s. We would discuss what was being built and to be built, where and why. We were doing urban business geography, not knowing it was geography.

"I was fortunate to spend my junior year of high school in London, England. Twenty years after WWII, London was still rebuilding from the damage of the blitz. London was a very different urban place than Los Angeles. I could take the Tube most anywhere. London was a walkable city. In Los Angeles, I was geographically limited to where a driver’s license holder was willing to take me. I continued to think about urban space, land use, land use patterns, vintage of place.

"Upon returning to Los Angeles, my mother began working at General Electric. She became head of marketing for GE West Coast, one of the first three women executives at GE. Today we hear 'Fathers, take your daughters to work for a day.' In my case, it was my mother who took me to work. 'Grant, your assignment for the week is to calculate cannibalization of the surrounding GE white good franchises if GE agrees to add a new franchise at this address, and [determine] whether the new franchise will be viable.' This was in the era before big box appliance stores," Dr. Thrall continued.

"These projects expanded my interest and knowledge of how business decisions affect land use patterns, and what would be a good business decision for development of a location – not all locations have the same opportunity. Like-kind locations might have the same opportunity.

"My parents’ choice of purchasing a residence near the California Institute of Technology would also be a significant force in my academic orientation. Later, while I was majoring in economics and business at California State University at Los Angeles, and while working my way through college, one of my many job experiences was working at Caltech. I had the good fortune to become immersed in Caltech’s quality academic culture; that became the standard by which I have evaluated education institutions since that experience. I have been excited to watch Neil deGrasse Tyson’s commentaries on the 1960s faculty at Caltech; I knew these people. Many worthwhile experiences. I walked with Dr. Clair Cameron Patterson along Colorado Boulevard, and conversed with him about the harm of lead fumes to human life and the environment from gasoline additives. Clair Patterson sowed the seeds in me of environmental awareness and being a good earth steward.

"In a counseling session in the College of Business at CSULA, I told the academic advisor what I wanted to study. I was told there were no such classes at the university, no such academic discipline. Just fit in, do what is required and graduate. That advice left me unfulfilled.

"Lunchtime friends at CSULA were philosophy majors. They were excited that Professor John Hospers had accepted a position at CSULA and recommended that I enroll in his courses. I did. John would subsequently become chair of the Philosophy Department at University of Southern California – benefits of proximity and agglomeration – and he would be the first nominee for President of the United States by the Libertarian Party. I benefited and still allude to John’s teachings and writings; but I did not become an unquestioning disciple.

"John Hospers and Ayn Rand were intellectual partners at the time. John the academic, Ayn the populist, the communicator to the average person, the non-academic. A key axiom of their thesis is no relevant interdependencies, no relevant externalities; if there were such phenomena, the market would adjust, making the phenomena irrelevant with no harm done. Indeed, government action to control the externality would be worse than the harm caused by the externality. I found this impossible to reconcile with what I had learned from Clair Patterson at Caltech. Much later, my Ph.D. dissertation dealt with the topic of public goods and externalities; not being satisfied with my work on this topic, I revised the formulation and published in a Regional Science journal, “Public Goods, Externalities, and the Consumption Theory of Land Rent.” I received letters from very distinguished economists upon its publication that I had solved one of the most difficult economic topics of the time period. Motivation and relevant problem identification from experience.

"I graduated from CSULA and received an assistantship in economics at The Ohio State University. There, my graduate advisor was Dr. John Weicher, an urban economist. However, before I graduated, he left OSU to become assistant secretary of HUD. Knowing my interests, he recommended I enroll in some geography classes.

"At the same time John advised me to enroll in geography classes to fulfill my urban economics program, I was dating Susan Elshaw, also a graduate student at OSU, and whom I would later marry. Her apartment roommate was Allison, who was dating Dr. Reg Golledge, professor of geography at OSU. Geography and economics were at the time mixed up together in Hagerty Hall, the old business school building. Reg convinced me to finish my Ph.D. in geography with a minor in economics, rather than the vice versa of finishing in economics with a minor in geography. Easy sell, since my economics advisor had just left for HUD in Washington, D.C. So after my M.A. in economics, I enrolled in my first course in geography. I found the topics of urban economic geography relevant to my long-standing interest, and was attracted to the newly developing technology of GIS which would prove important to my empirical work. Professors Reg Golledge and Emilio Casetti were my co-advisors in geography," Dr. Thrall said

"My becoming a geographer, my particular value platform as a geographer, has been more of a process than a decision of which box to check when declaring a college major. It has been more an evolution from experiences than a single class or book; the class and book helped me to structure my thoughts on the topic in a comprehensible manner. Later I created the Scientific Geography Series ten volume collection of monographs in part to assist myself in understanding relevant geography literature, and structuring the body of relevant knowledge. I have been multidisciplinary, which fits with the geography discipline’s belief that it is integrative of other disciplines; I have found universities to be more about silos of disciplines. Geography has its own spatial reasoning and theory, its own GIS and spatial statistics methods, and its own set of substantive topics that are accepted as core to the discipline. I am fortunate and humbled that my contributions in business geography (location intelligence) have served to create part of what is now accepted as core, and not available when I was a student.

"Individuals that I hold as most important in my intellectual development in geography are geographers Reginald Golledge and Emilio Casetti; urban economist John Weicher; philosopher and Libertarian Party nominee for POTUS John Hospers; and the Homer Hoyt Institute," Dr. Thrall said.

Of what projects is Dr. Thrall proudest to have been a part? 

"The creation of Business Geography as an accepted university core curriculum whose graduates are in high demand by business; the creation of the AAG Business Geography Specialty Group; being elected to president of American Real Estate Society; having my work quoted in The Economist; my varied entrepreneurial endeavors; my ten volume Scientific Geography Series; Land Use and Urban Form: The Consumption Theory of Land Rent; Business Geography and New Real Estate Market Analysis which was subsequently used to jump start the rewriting with several ARES members and CCIM practitioners, CCIM 102 Real Estate Market Analysis Curriculum and CCIM/ESRI STDB.com; my monthly columns in GeoSpatial Solutions GIS trade publication from circa 1990 to circa 2007; and I would like to mention having been chair of Gainesville Redevelopment Agency, effectively providing me a “test tube” for my land use theory and business geography / location intelligence methods; the City of Gainesville awarded me two consecutive days as 'Grant Thrall Days',” he said.

With this vast experience from which to draw, I was eager to hear what issues Dr. Thrall sees as those most important to the geography community today. "Be equally rigorous and relevant," he told me. "Maintain focus on skills needed for employment within and outside the university. In addition to being academic as in “normal science,” be entrepreneurial. Be both a teacher scholar and a practitioner scholar.

His advice to new geographers? "Same as Indiana Jones gave to students in the library as he slid through on the back of his son’s Harley Davidson motorcycle: Get out of the library and classroom and experience geography as done by practitioners," he replied.

May we all heed Dr. Thrall's advice, be rigorous in our methods, think outside the box, blaze our own trails when there are none to follow, promote geographic thinking in many disciplines, and tirelessly serve the community.

If you are interested in reading more about Dr. Thrall and his work, he has an extensive library of resources on his website, YouTube channel and across various other media:

Dr Thrall’s YouTube channel focuses on location, spatial economics, consumer behavior, geography, education, geospatial data and technology, and related topics.

A selection of his books can be found on Amazon.

Dr. Thrall’s homepage includes links to reprints and working papers, his resume, news interviews, and video presentations.

The Gainesville Sun published this article, Thrall Masters the Business of Geography, about the man and his workin 2013.

GeoInspirations: Grant Ian Thrall, Bridging Geography, Business and Economics

After more than 3 year of development the first stable release GRASS GIS 8.0.0 is available. Efforts have concentrated on making the user experience even better, providing many new useful additional functionalities to modules and further improving the graphical user interface.

Breaking news: new graphical user interface with entirely rewritten startup sequence!

This re-establishes user experience compatibility with QGIS and other connected software packages.

The GRASS GIS 8.0.0 release provides more than 1,400 fixes and improvements with respect to the release 7.8.6.

With the introduction of the semantic label raster metadata class, the temporal database was modified to version 3. Hence, to be able to read and process GRASS 7.x space-time datasets, users will be prompted to run t.upgrade. If users want to read newly created space-time datasets back in GRASS 7.x, they can run t.downgrade.

The user experience of the graphical user interface has been completely rewritten: no more clumsy selection screens - just enter the menu system directly!

And on command line, GRASS GIS now starts versionless, i.e. as grass.

GRASS GIS 8.0.0 released

The San Francisco Bay Area-based Global Nomad, LLC, announces today that it has joined the Esri Partner Network as a partner. The company provides consulting and development services enabled by the Geographic Information System (GIS), with particular interests in developing applications to assist work concerning archaeological and historic preservation, architecture, community development, construction and engineering, education, information technology. Mining, parks and recreation, and public works.

The Esri Partner Network is a rich ecosystem of organizations that work together to amplify The Science of Where. Esri has more than 2,600 partners globally, which deliver solutions, content, and services. Combining industry-specific knowledge with ArcGIS software expertise, partners can customize and extend the reach of geospatial technology in limitless applications and organizations.

Nazih Fino, the company founder and CEO, has over 14-year experiences in providing services to clients in the above-mentioned sectors. He also has advanced academic training in the field of archaeology, urban planning as well as Geographic Information System. His international travel and work experiences also make him envision the company’s services to go beyond the U.S. to extend to the Middle East and the Central America.

The company’s GIS services span from the broad level of business consulting/strategy/development; to the development of customized tools and apps level across multiple platforms for field applications; and down to the ground level of geospatial data gathering/processing/management, as well as technical training and support.

Global Nomad GIS Services Joined the Esri Partner Network

Munich, Germany - European Space Imaging (EUSI), the leading provider of Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery in Europe, is thrilled to announce a multi-million euro investment into their ground station located at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) near Munich. This strategic upgrade extends the ability for EUSI to deliver imagery with unprecedented speed and efficiency, solidifying its position as a hub for the best satellite imagery technology in Europe.

On 27 June, EUSI successfully commenced downlinking data from the Maxar WorldView satellite constellation using the newly upgraded ground station, also known as the Direct Access Facility (DAF). This milestone marks the beginning of a new era, as EUSI's customers across Europe can now receive significantly faster Near Real-Time (NRT) deliveries, with processing times of less than 20 minutes after image collection. Moreover, the ground station's enhanced throughput capacity allows for the parallel processing of multiple NRT orders simultaneously.

The cutting-edge technology deployed at the upgraded EUSI DAF empowers users in the VHR satellite imagery community to make better and faster decisions and gain potentially life-saving insights in emergency situations. One of the key advantages of the upgraded ground station is the capability to directly downlink data from the upcoming Maxar WorldView Legion constellation, set to begin launching later this year. More than tripling the 30 cm capacity of EUSI, the imagery collected through this upgraded DAF from the long-anticipated Legion satellites will transform countless remote sensing projects around Europe and North Africa.

Though upgraded, the location of the EUSI ground station will remain at the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen, reinforcing the long-standing cooperation between EUSI and DLR. This partnership highlights EUSI's commitment to investing in German space infrastructure and its dedication to advancing the European remote sensing industry. Additionally, the EUSI ground station plays a crucial role in DLR's participation in EU security programs and aligns with the responsibilities outlined by the German space strategy.

"The ground station upgrade at the German Aerospace Center represents a significant milestone for EUSI and the entire European Earth Observation community," said Adrian Zevenbergen, CEO of European Space Imaging. "Our investment in new technologies demonstrates our commitment to positioning Europe as a hub for space-based remote sensing capabilities. We are proud to continue partnering with the DLR, and together, we will continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of VHR satellite imagery."

Through this collaboration, EUSI gains invaluable expertise from the DLR in infrastructure, analysis, and machine learning for key users including the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

“Near Real-Time satellite imagery collected through the European Space Imaging Direct Access Facility has been crucial to remote sensing projects from the DLR including disaster response efforts and developing innovative information products by ZKI and the world’s most advanced vessel classification solutions for EMSA,” says Dr. Stefan Dech, Director DFD at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). “The investment from European Space Imaging into the new ground station will enhance these ongoing projects as well as open the doors for new initiatives moving forward.”

European Space Imaging (EUSI) has led the earth observation sector in Europe for more than 20 years, providing the best Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery commercially available. The first to bring 30 cm resolution satellite imagery to the European market, EUSI is firmly established as the most trusted source for efficient collection and Near Real-Time (NRT) delivery of high-quality satellite imagery products. Through their ground station at the German Aerospace Center, EUSI continues to directly access the most advanced optical imagery satellites in the world and propel Europe into the next age of remote sensing technologies. For more information visit www.euspaceimaging.com. 

EUSI Invests in Ground Station Upgrade at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Fastest VHR Satellite Imagery Delivery in Europe

The U.S. Constitution is one of the most brilliant documents ever written for the foundation of a democratic nation-state. As it says, it is “the supreme law of the land.” Its laws, and the laws established therefrom, apply to all Americans equally.

However, are laws always applied equally? There is no doubt that despite our highest ideals, injustice in social and environmental equality still exists in the U.S. and abroad. The definition of equality is subject to many interpretations, as is the concept of justice.
While there is no single solution for inequality and injustice, GST offers powerful tools to quantify and visualize the many factors that may contribute to inequality and injustice, and to empower those who are disenfranchised.

In addition to his GIS duties at the Oregon Department of Forestry, Emmor Nile is a GISCorps volunteer supporting the Tanzania Development Trust, which is a part of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. OpenStreetMap, as its name indicates, is an open-source platform for participatory mapping, specifically for creating an open global map, from aerial and satellite imagery, field surveys and ground GPS observations. 

HOT is an international team with Working Groups who work on specific or multiple projects, including water and sanitation, gender equality, poverty elimination and disaster response, and numerous others. By providing accurate roads and building data for dozens of countries around the world, they increase the capacities of governments and NGOs to mitigate and, hopefully, prevent conditions detrimental to vulnerable populations.

Like OSM, the Environmental Justice Atlas is focused at the global scale, sharing maps that document and catalogue social conflict around environmental issues and scales ranging from global to regional to local.  It is also open source, running on a custom application, and invites volunteers to participate in various projects, which include Corporate Human Rights Violations, Global Seed Laws and Mining Conflicts. It also offers maps in Spanish for easier access to the people who live in the affected areas. You can join the project as well.

The EJA and OSM are unique in many ways. Plenty of data is available at the global scale, such as the CIA World Factbook, and Esri’s basemaps and their Living Atlas of the World, which offer maps, both in web maps and images that can be georeferenced, along with tubular data at The World Factbook. However, most of the data is generally quite coarse in spatial scale.

In contrast, the EJA and OSM seek to create a dynamic database of the world with the scale of a local map. Given the volunteer participation and sweeping scale of the projects, the geographic coverage itself is widely scattered across the globe. When the data is created, however, it offers much more detail than has been previously available. Even roads digitized from a Landsat image with 15-30 meter resolution will offer more accuracy than much that exists now, especially in remote, undeveloped areas such as Africa or the Amazon.

Many states and cities in the U.S. have gone to great effort to map social and environmental justice. In California, the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley has created a state-wide “opportunity map” to help determine which census tracts in the state are best suited for the construction of low-income housing. This map was used by state decision-makers to allocate funds more equitably, based on empirical analysis and verifiable data.

In a similar vein, the State of Washington has used GST and other data to create a map showing environmental and health disparities for every one of the 1,458 census tracts in the state. The mapping tool itself allows visitors to make their own maps, but it requires a certain degree of map-savviness and patience to put all of the pieces together.

At the urban level, the Center for Earth Energy and Democracy in the Twin Cities of Minnesota recently released a mapping tool for mapping EJ. It also offers a story-map as an overview of the project, as well as an infographic that illustrates what these data and maps can reveal.

Fortunately, the U.S. has a robust geospatial infrastructure and a very talented community of geospatial professionals. Although data and skill sets vary widely across jurisdictions, we are among the global leaders in using GST to inform decision-making at levels from municipalities to states and to the nation itself.

In the developed world, technology, data and intellectual capacity are abundant. An academic study of Dortmund, Germany drills down to the neighborhood level using demographic data, such as income, and environmental data, including air quality. While the study focuses on only a single city, its methodology could be applied to many other cities and municipalities.

Washington, California, Minnesota and Germany are prosperous societies, despite disparities in environmental justice and living conditions. They all have the resources and social awareness to address these issues in places that matter to the people. But…who are the people?

The previous examples have addressed various spatial scales, but the ones mentioned just above are all in urban areas, or developed by people in urban areas. Our world is becoming increasingly urban, but over 40% of the globe’s population still live in areas classified as rural.

In North Dakota, four Native American reservations used GST to preserve their voting rights in the face of a new, statewide voter identification law that required street addresses to obtain a voter ID. As in many tribal and other rural communities, people didn’t always have street addresses.

A collective project between academia, a tribal advocacy group and the tribes used various ArcGIS applications and OpenStreetMap to identify home locations and streets. This collaborative project, with stakeholders deeply involved, helped bring record voter turnout on three of the four reservations.

The example above illustrates several of the many challenges facing indigenous populations in the U.S. and across the globe: disenfranchisement, geographic and thus political remoteness, and the gap between traditional knowledge (we know where we live!) and modern land and environmental laws (where is the deed?).

In some cases, a digital GIS may not be available, but this doesn’t mean that traditional use areas can’t be mapped. The Toledo Maya in southern Belize produced a beautiful hand-drawn atlas of traditional use areas, the maps of which were converted to data and used in policy reports and policy decisions. Subsequently, a court decision recognized the legality of a communal land tenure system.

Another academic study from 2011, this time in the mountains of far northern California, addresses key issues in mapping tribal territories. While the full content is well beyond the scope of this article, Emma Tome looked at how GIS was used by three tribes (Karuk, Hoopa and Yurok) for resource management. She considered their technical GIS capacity as well as their approaches to integrating traditional knowledge and modern methodologies.

One of the takeaways from this study, and the examples above, is that cultural resources and natural resources are intertwined. Unlike many nations, the U.S. has laws that define “cultural use of the biophysical environment, and such ‘intangible’ sociocultural attributes as social cohesion, social institutions, lifeways, religious practices, and other cultural institutions.”

Ms. Tome’s dissertation also poses an interesting question: What is indigenous mapping? 

“One sees a map through their position in relation to it, through the work one does on it, and through the questions one asks of it. Meaning becomes material; the map produces the territory, and the territory produces the map .”

As Americans, we are blessed to  live in an open society in which the people hold the power. But with great power comes great responsibility. As geographers, we hold a unique position of both power and responsibility.

Promoting environmental and social justice can be as simple as volunteering a few hours a week with HOT, or as involved as developing a youth program with AirBeam, such as the one deployed by the San Francisco Bay Area parks partnering with state, local and nonprofit groups.

As we’ve seen, GST can be applied to scales from global to local, and from perspectives that range from community organizers to academic studies. The world is a vast place. It may seem a daunting task to map every street and building in Tanzania or to geocode every residence on the sweeping plains of North Dakota, but to quote the good Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King: “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” Or perhaps more succinctly: “You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Communities Using Maps to Enact Environmental Justice

Las Vegas-based survey firm partners with UK geospatial marketer Elaine Ball to inspire the next generation of students to explore the exciting world of survey

By introducing Get Kids Into Survey to our public school students, we have an opportunity to share with them new potential career paths - exciting roles that they never even knew existed.” — Trent Keenan, President, Diamondback Land Surveying

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA, September 6, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Get Kids Into Survey, the UK-based STEM education project, has partnered with Las Vegas-based Diamondback Land Surveying to inspire and educate the next generation of American surveyors and geospatial professionals. Get Kids Into Survey’s goal is to see surveying and geospatial programs supported in public school curricula, combating the dwindling numbers of new talent entering the survey profession.

In the United Kingdom, 85 percent of surveyors have stated they are experiencing problems recruiting due to the lack of qualified applicants, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The US is seeing similar struggles: the number of surveyors decreased from 56,200 to 47,770 between 2010 and 2020, representing a decline of 14.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Founded in 2017 by Elaine and Elly Ball, daughters of a surveyor, the Get Kids Into Survey program aims to educate and spark excitement in students about career paths in geospatial and survey. The curriculum has seen industry-wide support and has proven hugely successful at engaging young people. As it continues to grow, Get Kids Into Survey is inviting wider support with franchises now available across the UK, the US, and Canada.

Diamondback Land Surveying Introduces Get Kids Into Survey to the US

Diamondback founder Trent Keenan will introduce and advocate for the project across 13 West Coast states, including Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and California.

“There are few - if any - geospatial programs offered in public schools today,” says Keenan. “Surveying is a critical career path, with professional surveyors required for everything from urban planning to infrastructure installation. Surveyors are needed for construction, forestry, mining, and so many other industries - and we have a shortage today that will only get worse as the number of projects increases.”

With educational resources, fun activities, posters, and comics that appeal to them at their level, Get Kids Into Survey speaks to children between the ages of 8-12 years old, showing them an exciting world that often isn’t highlighted as a potential career path.

“The greatest challenge is that young people don’t even know this career path exists - even with the expansion of STEM programs. By introducing Get Kids Into Survey to our public school students, we have an opportunity to share with them new potential career paths - exciting roles that they never even knew existed.

“I’m proud to be part of cultivating the next generation of surveyors and geospatial professionals.”

The materials offered by Get Kids Into Survey highlight examples of incredible achievements and milestones through history that wouldn’t have been possible without surveying. Engaging topics include the Egyptian pyramids, space exploration, Stonehenge, finding the Titanic, the study of volcanoes, the discovery of lost cities, and how these practices contributed to the development of best-selling computer games like Minecraft.

From a Single Poster to a Full Curriculum

Originally developed as a one-off poster to teach surveyors’ children about their parents’ jobs, the project rapidly expanded due to overwhelming demand. Materials now include more than 20 exploration posters, homework projects, and comics.

Currently, Get Kids Into Survey is the only targeted education program for elementary/ primary school children highlighting the opportunities and exciting careers that geospatial can offer for their future. With more than 160 ambassadors across the world, the next step is to bring on board franchise owners who can deliver the key learnings and messages in their regional territories and inspire young minds on a personal level.

Co-founder Elaine Ball commented, “If surveying as a profession becomes extinct, the world really is in trouble. Survey and geospatial underpins so much of the planet's infrastructure, so it’s vital we inspire, educate, and attract the next generation of surveyors now! It’s always shocked me that the younger generation doesn’t get to see how exciting the world of geospatial and survey can be.”

She continued: “Since launching six years ago, we’ve had so much support within the survey and STEM industries for engaging young minds and we’re excited to see it go one step further. We’re looking for other advocates of the STEM subjects, early education instructors, and those working in the survey profession around the world to take up the opportunity to teach Get Kids Into Survey in their country or region by becoming a franchisee or an ambassador and to help us save the future of surveying.”

Teachers, school administrators, and survey professionals who wish to support the work of Get Kids Into Survey can visit https://www.getkidsintosurvey.com/ to learn more about the curriculum, become an ambassador, or inquire about a franchise.

Founded in 2017 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Get Kids Into Survey aims to inspire the next generation of surveyors by providing education and resources on everything geospatial. The aim is to inspire future geospatial experts between the ages of 8-12, to educate parents and teachers about surveying, and to solve the recruitment issue which is endemic in the industry. For more information, please visit www.getkidsintosurvey.com.

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Diamondback Land Surveying is a trusted provider of accurate and innovative land surveying services. Our seasoned team of licensed surveyors combines expertise with advanced technology to deliver precise results for a diverse range of projects. Committed to our clients, we tailor our services to meet individual project needs, ensuring reliable data for confident decision-making. From boundary surveys to construction staking, we offer comprehensive solutions backed by integrity and professionalism. Learn more at www.diamondbacklandsurveying.com/

Elaine Ball, “The Geospatial Marketer,” is the first in her field. Her company, Elaine Ball Ltd, is a dedicated business and marketing consultancy with a passion for improving the standards of the global geospatial industry. Elaine is the co-founder of Get Kids Into Survey. She is also the founder of The Geospatial Marketing Academy (GMA)™ an online porgram created help geospatial professionals understand how to learn, grow, and improve sales and marketing strategies within their businesses. Learn more at www.elaineball.co.uk

Explore more: City Planning, Education, Geospatial Analysis, Geospatial Data, Local, State & Federal Government, Professional Development, Utilities

Diamondback Land Surveying Team Introduces Get Kids into Survey Program to American Grade School Students

OGC TrainingDML-AI Standard defines the model and encodings for standardizing any training data used to train, validate, and test Machine Learning models that involve location or time.

24 March 2023: The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) seeks public comment on the candidate OGC Training Data Markup Language for Artificial Intelligence (TrainingDML-AI) Part 1: Conceptual Model Standard. The Standard defines the model and encodings for standardizing geospatial machine learning training data. Comments are due by April 23. 2023.

Training data plays a fundamental role in Earth Observation (EO) Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning (AI/ML) applications, especially Deep Learning (DL). It is used to train, validate, and test AI/ML models. Understanding the source and applicability of training data allows for better understanding of the results of AI/ML operations.

To maximize the interoperability and re-usability of geospatial training data, the candidate TrainingDML-AI Standard defines a model and encodings consistent with the OGC Standards baseline to exchange and retrieve the training data via the Web. 

Additionally, the Standard provides detailed metadata for formalizing the information model of training data. This includes but is not limited to the following aspects: 

How the training data is prepared, such as provenance and quality;

How to specify different metadata used for different ML tasks;

How to differentiate the high-level training data information model and extended information models specific to various ML applications;

How to describe the version, license, training data size;

How to introduce external classification schemes and flexible means for representing ground-truth labeling.

OGC Members interested in staying up to date on the progress of this standard, or contributing to its development, are encouraged to join the Training Data Markup Language for AI SWG via the OGC Portal.

The candidate OGC Training Data Markup Language for Artificial Intelligence (TrainingDML-AI) Part 1: Conceptual Model Standard (23-008r1) (.DOCX) is available for review and comment on the OGC Portal. Comments are due by April 23, 2023, and should be submitted via the method outlined here.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a collective problem-solving community of more than 550 experts representing industry, government, research and academia, collaborating to make geospatial (location) information and services FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

The global OGC Community engages in a mix of activities related to location-based technologies: developing consensus-based open standards and best-practices; collaborating on problem solving in agile innovation initiatives; participating in member meetings, events, and workshops; and more.

OGC's unique standards development process moves at the pace of innovation, with constant input from technology forecasting, practical prototyping, real-world testing, and community engagement.

OGC bridges disparate sectors, domains, and technology trends, and encourages the cross-pollination of ideas between different communities of practice to improve decision-making at all levels. OGC is committed to creating an inclusive and sustainable future.

OGC Seeks Public Comment on New Standard for Training Data for AI/ML Applications

This part of the Testbed-15 solicitation allows interested and eligible parties to join those Testbed-15 activities that are sponsored by ESA

29 January 2019: The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) announces that the European Space Agency (ESA) has released the Open Invitation To Tender OGC Testbed 15 - ESA Sponsored Threads - Exploitation Platform.

This tender allows interested and eligible parties to join those Testbed-15 activities that are sponsored by ESA. It complements the OGC Testbed-15 Call for Participation released in January.

Due to ESA’s specialized procurement requirements, the Testbed 15 solicitation is issued in two parts:

Part 1 - the CFP document issued directly by OGC on January 8 and referred to as the "Part 1 CFP" or just "CFP"

Part 2 - this Invitation To Tender pack ("Part 2 ITT" or just "ITT") for ESA Work Items.

The ESA ITT is available on EMITS (AO700000 under the Telespazio Vega UK entity). It includes components that are part of the ‘Earth Observation Process and Application Discovery’ task as described in CFP Technical Architecture, section B.10.

Note that only entities from countries listed in the "Special provision" of the EMITS publication are eligible to bid.

Both the Part 2 ITT and Part 1 CFP calls are for work that will be performed as part of the Testbed-15 initiative. However, each solicitation stands on its own and there is no need to refer to the Part 1 CFP part in order to formulate a response to the Part 2 ITT.

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