The Harlow Report-GIS
2024 Edition
ISSN 0742-468XSince 1978
On-line Since 2000
GIS News Snippets
For the week of
March 4, 2024
Remember When?
A "Harlow Report" From March 6, 2023
HERE Introduces UniMap to Revolutionize How Maps Are Created, Updated and Used
by HERE Technologies Press Release
Giovanni Lanfranchi, Senior Vice President and Chief Product & Technology Officer, HERE Technologies, said: “Ever since we started out mapping California in the mid-1980s, we've been seeking to shrink the time it takes to detect a real-world change, reflect it in the map and get it into the hands of our customers. The turnaround time in our industry has typically been measured in months. With UniMap, we provide anytime access to a unified map that's refreshed in hours, minutes or seconds. This is a big leap forward for anyone building applications that use location data.”
Read full story at HERE…
Now back to 2024
Blue Marble Geographics Releases Global Mapper Standard v25.1
by Blue Marble Press Release
Global Mapper standard v25.1 includes solar updates to the Hillshade tool for terrain display, mesh cropping, and more.
The Hilshade tool in Global Mapper displays directional shadows on terrain data. It's useful for visualizing terrain texture and estimating shadows. Version 25.1 has enhanced the existing tool by adding the option to calculate the sun's Azimuth and Altitude based on time at a specified location. Using either the data's location or an input location, you can give Global Mapper a date and time, and it will automatically calculate the sun's location for display in the 2D and 3D workspaces.
Read full story at Blue Marble …
Esri Recognizes Partners for Achievement in US Federal Government Market
by Esri Insider
Partner Network Members Recognized at the Esri Federal GIS Conference in Washington, DC
The award-winning companies are members of the Esri Partner Network and are recognized for their innovation and excellence in helping customers succeed with ArcGIS technology.
Award categories and winners include the following:
- Federal Small Business Specialty Partner of the Year- Geospatial Consulting Group International ( geo cgi)
- Federal Small Business Specialty Collaboration Partner - Embedded Alliance
“Esri is proud to acknowledge these partners for their incredible work, spanning from national security to protecting natural resources,” said Patty Mims, Director of Business Development, Global National Government at Esri. “These partners have worked tirelessly to deliver Esri based solutions to make our nation and our allied nations safe and sustainable.”
Read full story at Esri…
Geospatial Data Helps Manage Natural Hazards, Climate Change Threats
by Zelda Els
Mitigating the increasing effects of climate change has become a top priority for South African insurers who have collectively paid billions of rands in related damages over the past five to 10 years.
… Using the 105 years of expertise and data at its core, Santam is merging this intelligence with technology to pioneer a new risk management underwriting tool to assist underwriters in de-risking against exposures. The Santam Underwriting Viewer, developed with geographic information systems (GIS) technology (also known as spatial intelligence) overlays geocoded addresses with scientific data sets to determine the exposure to specific perils at a given location - for the first-time allowing underwriters to see all the data layers they need to be aware of to apply appropriate policy conditions to a property.
Read full story at IT Online…
Social Media GIS: Revolutionizing the Way We Understand and Interact with Our World
by Siddharth Rao
SocialMediaGIS is a powerful tool that combines social media data with geographic information systems for enhanced analysis and insights.
Social Media GIS is the integration of social media data with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. By combining social media data with GIS, we can gain a deeper understanding of the spatial patterns and trends in social media activity.
Read full story at TDW…
Today's GIS Technology Puts Multipurpose Cadastre Within Reachay's GIS technology puts multipurpose cadastre within reach
by Linda Foster
Bridging the gap between vision and reality
… Ever since the US National Research Council (NRC) published the groundbreaking 'Need for a Multipurpose Cadastre' report in 1980, there has been a global vision for implementing a system that represents all land rights, restrictions and responsibilities in a geographic context or map-centric system. Since then, much work has been done in the direction of multipurpose cadastre (MPC), mostly on a small, localized scale. Modernization, digitalization and automation have occurred in many government agencies with land information systems - registry, valuation, planning, natural resources, administrative records and others - but a fully operational MPC has yet to be realized.
Read full story at GIM International…
Industry News
In Government
Dep't of Transportation Launches $15M AI Effort to Improve US Street Infrastructure
by Alexandra Kelley
The program marries existing agency priorities with emerging technologies, and asks small businesses to drive innovation in infrastructure data visualization.
… Tthe Transportation's Small Business Innovation Research Program will spearhead the Complete Streets AI Initiative to bring AI and machine learning solutions to transportation infrastructure. The program is intended to foster decision-support tools for state and local governments that can help design and deploy a network of Complete Streets, a longstanding agency initiative to support the construction of livable, connective public streets.
Read full story at NextGov/FCS…
DOJ Names Its First Chief AI Officer
by Alexandra Kelley
The new role is intended to focus on building a tech-ready workforce and interagency cooperation.
The Department of Justice welcomed Jonathan Mayer as its inaugural chief science and technology advisor and chief artificial intelligence officer on Thursday, signaling the agency's readiness to harness AI systems for bureaucratic operations.
Mayer will work closely with Attorney General Merrick Garland to deepen the agency's understanding of AI and other more emerging technologies in relation to cybersecurity, according to an agency press release.
Read full story at NextGov/FCS…
Enhancing Data Integrity: A Guide for State and Local Governments
by Randy Barrett
Agencies need complete, high-quality data to make informed data-driven decisions. Getting there isn't easy, but there are ways to bolster data integrity.
An organization that relies on data will be only as good as its data, and data is only as good as the method of collection, storage and use. From this reality stems many a government agency's information woes. And the damage done by bad data has only become more potent with the rise of generative AI. If such systems are trained on bad information, bad outcomes are a foregone conclusion. Thus, the new Holy Grail for state and local data managers is data integrity, an essential goal in evolving an information system to support decision-making and the timely delivery of services to citizens.
Read full story at Statetech…
In Technology
Elon Musk Targets Google Search After Claiming Company AI Is 'Insane' And 'Racist'
by Robert Hart
“The problem is not just Google Gemini, it's Google search too,” Musk said after the company paused its AI image generator following severe backlash to a series of diversity errors in historical images
Elon Musk took aim at Google search on Friday after claiming the company's AI business is biased and "racist," expanding his attacks on the tech giant and fanning conspiracy theories it is working to rig the 2024 election amid intense backlash over diversity in its now-halted Gemini AI image generator.
Read full story at Forbes…
Google Denies Gmail Is Shutting Down After Viral Hoax
by BBC Staff
Google has had to publicly state Gmail is "here to stay" after a hoax claiming it was shutting down spread widely on social media.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, which has been viewed more than seven million times, claimed it would be closing in August.
Google took to the same platform to rebuff the false claim.
A communications expert told the BBC it was “a classic example” of the dangers of misinformation.
Read full story at BBC…
The Telecom Turnaround: 3 Trends to Watch in 2024
by Phil Bramson
With 5G networks becoming more prevalent, wireless carriers enter 2024 with the need to find new sources of revenue to offset the cost of their network
… While most of the consumer revenue from app activity has stayed out of carrier pockets, 2024 might bring a sea change. Carriers have long tried to get into the media and ad game (most famously through Verizon's Oath) but haven't found their footing yet. However, with a new year comes new opportunities. The app economy is evolving, with consumer behavior, privacy concerns, and regulation driving massive change.
Read full story at The Fast Mode…
In Utilities
2024 US Power Sector Outlook
by UtilityDive Staff
The U.S. clean energy transition is expected to accelerate in 2024 but faces question around transmission, financing, federal elections and other issues.
… In the stories below, Utility Dive examines nine significant trends expected to drive the electric utility sector in the year ahead and provides more in-depth looks at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, renewable energy and utility business trends.
Read full story at UtilityDive…
Energy Developer Axing Key Coal Power Plants to Meet Eco Goals, Jeopardizing Power for Millions
by Thomas Catenacci
“Premature closure of reliable baseload energy could put lives at risk,” South Dakota's top regulator tells Fox News Digital
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy announced this month that it closed one of three coal units at Sherburne County Generating Plant, Minnesota's largest power plant, as part of its plans to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity to customers and shut down all of its remaining coal facilities. The company is planning to retire the two remaining units at the plant and another coal plant in Minnesota, the Allen S. King plant, by 2030.
Read full story at Fox News…
Why Utilities Need to Optimise Customer-Centric Energy Management Models
by Enlit Editorial Team
Although customer engagement provides endless opportunities for utilities to tap into, including for energy efficiency, grid flexibility and distributed generation, barriers still abound, explains Sean Layerle, Managing Director of CInsights.
The increasing centrality of customers in the energy transition has translated into numerous opportunities for utilities to tap into but the critical question of how to fully leverage these opportunities remains.
In an exclusive interview at Enlit Europe 2023, Layerle explains that he believes this is because the energy sector's comfort zone primarily lies in technical aspects such as infrastructure, devices and analytics, there is a tendency to develop solutions and insights that may not align with what customers are seeking.
Read full story at Enlit…