The Harlow Report-GIS
2025 Edition
ISSN 0742-468XSince 1978
On-line Since 2000
GIS News Snippets
For the week of
March 24, 2025
Remember When?
A “Harlow Report” From March 25, 2024
Esri's Dr. Dawn Wright Selected for 2024 US Science Envoys
by Esri Press Release
Chief Scientist of Esri to Be Among First All-Female Cohort in State Department Program's History
Esri, … is proud to announce that the US Department of State has selected the company's chief scientist, Dr. Dawn Wright, among four distinguished scientists to serve as a new US Science Envoy in 2024. Through the program, eminent scientists and engineers leverage their expertise and networks to forge connections and identify opportunities for sustained international cooperation to advance solutions to shared challenges, champion innovation, and demonstrate America's scientific leadership and technical ingenuity. The scientists selected to participate this year make up the first all-female cohort in the history of the US Science Envoy Program.
Read full story at Esri…
Now back to 2025
11 Alternative Mapping Projections That Reveal Hidden Geographic Patterns
by Map Library Staff
Discover fascinating alternatives to traditional Mercator maps! Explore creative projections that challenge our view of Earth, from Dymaxion to indigenous mapping techniques.
This article explores how alternative map projections beyond the familiar Mercator projection offer fresh perspectives on Earth's geography, revealing insights into size, shape, and cultural relationships that traditional maps often distort. It begins by critiquing the Mercator projection for exaggerating polar regions—making Greenland and Antarctica appear disproportionately large—due to its focus on preserving navigational angles rather than accurate area representation.
The article then introduces several alternative projections:
1. Dymaxion Fuller Projection
2. Butterfly World Map
3. Waterman Butterfly Projection
4. Orange Peel Designs (e.g., Goode Homolosine)
5. Geometric Pattern Projections
Also, it covers artistic and abstract projections, such as cartograms that resize landmasses based on data like population or GDP, and flow-based maps emphasizing currents or trade routes. Digital tools like G.Projector, Blender, and MapBox are highlighted for enabling interactive and 3D mapping experiments.
Read full story at Map Library…
Bringing The World Into Perspective With 3D Geospatial Data
by Chris Harlow
Viewing the world in 3D Geospatial data is becoming the next best thing to being there. This article may be useful when you have to explain the basics of GIS to the rest of your company or organization. Just because we understand why GIS is important, doesn't mean everyone does.
Writing for Forbes, Carlos Melendez explains how 3D geospatial data enhances our understanding of the world by providing detailed, three-dimensional views of geographical features like buildings, terrain, and waterways.
This technology goes beyond simple navigation (such as using Google Maps) and is used in practical ways. For example, Melendez highlights:
Disaster Response: Detailed 3D maps help track wildfires, assess damage, and plan evacuations or recovery efforts.
Urban Planning: 3D city models aid in designing better roads, buildings, and traffic systems while considering environmental impacts.
Environmental Sustainability: It tracks changes in forests, crops, and wildlife to study climate change and protect nature.
In short, 3D geospatial data gives us a richer, more useful view of the world for everyday navigation and solving big problems, blending cutting-edge tech with human fine-tuning.
Remember, for most non-GIS users a map is just a map. Spatial analysis usually isn't the first thing they think of when they see your latest map projection. Showing them the power of GIS is up to you.
Read full story at Forbes…
The Art and Science of Geologic Mapping
by Drew Downs.
Geologic mapping has been one of the most fundamental mandates of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since its establishment in 1879. Congress created the USGS to “classify the public lands and examine the geological structure, mineral resources, and products within and outside the national domain”
John Wesley Powell, a famous explorer and USGS director, persuaded Congress to fund a geological map of the United States. Early maps included detailed topography and geology, but too much data could make them hard to read. Modern maps focus on key deposits and features relevant to specific projects, like energy, minerals, water, or urban planning. They also help predict future volcanic and tectonic activity by mapping past events.
Geologic maps simplify the Earth's surface based on scale—small-scale maps (showing large areas) may omit minor features. For example, on Hawaii, the USGS maps volcanic vents, lava flows, and tephra by age. Recent eruptions are quickly mapped with GIS and remote sensing, while older flows need field analysis (minerals, chemistry, radiometric dating) to distinguish them.
USGS maps use a standard system called GeMS, with set symbols and lines for features like faults. Colors, though, can be subjective—young volcanic units often get “hot” colors (reds, oranges), shifting to “cool” tones (greens, blues, purples) for older units, offering a quick visual of relative age.
Read full story at USGS…
Will GIS Dodge DOGE?
by Chris Harlow
Forget the politics, DOGE is real and is trying to cut government waste.
Deep down, no matter who you voted for you know the government is bloated. As with any organizational cuts, some good things will be cut along with the mostly bad things. I know this first hand. My son John owns Ivory Skies, an IT company that “powers government efficiency with elite Salesforce and AI talent—incubated for impact in the public sector. ” Ivory Skies is a young company that has re-engineered 50+ applications onto the FedRAMP Authorized Salesforce GovCloud platform in support of 18 federal government agencies.
As a result of DOGE the practice has been slowed as clent agencies have been cut and even eliminated. In some cases he is still waiting to be paid for legitimate contracts that have been fulfilled. This isn't an attempt to set up a Go Fund Me fund, but rather to say while I favor shrinking the government, I have a great deal of empathy for the innocents that got pushed aside.
In this article I will attempt to describe how (if?) DOGE will affect the GIS industry. Naturally, what follows is mostly speculation based on my 40+ year association with GIS. Luckily as of March 2025, DOGE has not had any direct impact on GIS or location-based systems.
So what are the potential impacts based on DOGE's stated goals and the current role of GIS in government operations? GIS and location-based systems are critical across numerous federal agencies—such as the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Geological Survey, and Federal Emergency Management Agency—for functions like national security, disaster response, resource management, and infrastructure planning. These systems rely on extensive data collection, maintenance, and interagency coordination, often involving significant budgets and personnel.
Still, DOGE not only wants to cut waste and needless spending, it wants to make things more efficient. Hence, it could theoretically target perceived inefficiencies in GIS programs. For instance, past critiques, such as those from the Government Accountability Office, have highlighted duplicative geospatial investments across agencies, suggesting opportunities for cost savings through better coordination or consolidation. DOGE might push to centralize GIS efforts, reduce redundant data collection, or cut funding for programs deemed non-essential, potentially affecting agencies' ability to maintain robust geospatial capabilities.
As of today, any impact on GIS or location-based systems remains hypothetical, and we'll need to wait for the administration to begin and DOGE to outline specific proposals to assess its real effects.
However, while GIS itself many not be a target, there will be/haven been the elimination or reduction of agencies that use GIS.
Keep in mind, that while DOGE may be lurking around your favorite Government GIS program, AI is out front changing the way we gather and analyze GIS data. Like it or not, change is coming. Tech positions that were once essential will become overtaken by AI. GIS professionals will have to be retrained, retired or fired. So whether it is DOGE, AI, or the whiz kid that just got hired, keep learning, stay ahead of the changes and make sure you are not just moving your cursor around the screen. Be part of the solution!
Xona Space Systems Announces Collaboration with Trimble to Deliver Next-Gen Navigation Services
by Trimble Press Release
Xona Space Systems Announces Collaboration with Trimble to Deliver Next-Gen Navigation Services
Xona Space Systems (Xona), a pioneer of advanced commercial satellite navigation solutions announces a new collaboration with Trimble®. Xona and Trimble are pursuing the integration of Trimble correction services with Xona's PULSAR™ high-performance navigation service. Initial satellite launches are expected in late 2026 with service starting in 2027 through the PULSAR satellite network, enabling secure, high-precision positioning for applications ranging from geospatial to low-power mass mobile and IoT. In support of this new and developing collaboration, Xona has received an investment from Trimble Ventures.
Read full story at Trimble…
Industry News
In Government
NGA Reaches Milestone With GEOINT Professional Certification
by NGA Press Release
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency recently achieved a milestone of awarding its 25,000th GEOINT Professional Certification.
“I want to recognize the monumental achievement,”said NGA Director VADM Frank Whitworth. “This program has been the leader in intelligence analyst certification … our 11 accredited certifications serve as the example for our partners across the intelligence community.”
The GPC program is part of a broader Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security initiative to further professionalize the Department of Defense Intelligence Enterprise workforce.
“It's through the GPC program that we can set standards for readiness in emerging tradecraft,” Whitworth said. “Standards help us decentralize, so we don't have to be standing over our people as they make positive identification and provide warning,” all the way up to the president, as well as delegated down to the Secretary of Defense, combatant commanders and targeting authorities.
Read full story at NGA…
The Pentagon's Next Major Cloud Contract Is in the Works
by Frank Konkel
It may be even bigger than its $9 billion predecessor.
The Pentagon is developing a follow-on to the $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract vehicle it awarded in 2022 to cloud-service providers Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Oracle.
The Pentagon's sequel to JWCC — dubbed JWCC Next — will similarly be a multi-award contract “but at a bigger scale” than its predecessor, according to John Hale, product management and development chief at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
Defense officials are finalizing the acquisition strategy for JWCC Next, engaging with industry and mission partners across DOD and are aiming to publish a draft request for proposal later this year before it goes out to bid.
“I would expect [JWCC Next] to hit the streets probably in 18 months,” Hale said on March 6 at the OpenText Government Summit.
Read full story at NextGov/FXW…
Why Are USGS Topographic Maps Called “Quadrangles”?
by U.S. Geological Survey
In the making of topographic maps, the USGS subdivides the United States by using Latitude and Longitude lines to form the boundaries of four-sided figures called “quadrangles”. The maps are often referred to as quadrangle maps (or quad maps)
Different sizes of quadrangles have been used over time, for example the 30-minute quadrangle (30 minutes of latitude or longitude on each side) and the 15-minute quadrangle (15 minutes of latitude or longitude on each side). Since 1947, the primary USGS topographic map size has been the 7.5-minute quadrangle, so each side of the map is bound by 7.5 minutes of latitude and 7.5-minutes of longitude.
USGS 7.5-minute topographic maps covering the contiguous 48 states and Hawaii are published at a scale of 1:24,000, meaning that one inch on the map equals 24,000 inches (2,000 feet) on the ground.
Read full story at U.S. Geological Survey…
In Technology
Microsoft Faces FTC Antitrust Probe Over AI and Licensing Practices
by Prasanth Aby Thomas
The probe could reshape AI competition, influence software licensing rules, and impact enterprise technology strategies.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly pressing ahead with an antitrust investigation into Microsoft, a move that could reshape competition in AI and productivity software.
As part of the probe, the FTC has issued a civil investigative demand requiring Microsoft to disclose extensive data on its AI operations, including the cost of acquiring data and training models dating back to 2016, Bloomberg News reported.
Regulators are also seeking information on Microsoft's data centers, challenges in securing sufficient computing power to meet customer demand, and its software licensing practices.
Read full story at Computerworld…
San Francisco Is Getting Its Own Council of Tech Oligarchs
by Lucas Ropek
More than usual, San Francisco's C-suite will now have access to city hall.
Last November, the people of San Francisco elected Daniel Lurie—one of the wealthy heirs to the Levi Strauss fortune—to be their new mayor. Now, Lurie seems to be turning to people like himself (that is, people with a lot of money) to make pivotal decisions around how to “revitalize” the heart of Silicon Valley.
The San Francisco Standard reports that Lurie's administration has quietly launched two different (and ostensibly separate) initiatives designed to allow private, well-heeled members of the city's upper crust to have a larger influence over the city's political system. The first of those initiatives is a new mayoral council, dubbed the Partnership for San Francisco, that includes a host of powerful and influential Silicon Valley executives. The council will apparently include the likes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and others, and will be headed by three women: Katherine August-deWilde, a former president of First Republic Bank, Steve Jobs's widow and owner of The Atlantic, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Ruth Porat, the president and chief investment officer of Alphabet, Google's parent company.
The council is designed to “present the mayor with CEO-level views on policy,” the Standard writes, noting also that it will be privately funded through dues paid by participating companies.
Read full story at Gizmodo…
What Is AI Vibe Coding? It's All the Rage but It's Not for Everyone — Here's Why
by David Gewirtz
Caution: Experience required. Vibe coding feels like magic, until your AI assistant starts overwriting your work.
David Gewirtz writes in ZDNET about a new trend in coding called “vibe coding,” which was introduced by Andrej Karpathy, a well-known AI expert, in a Twitter/X post in early February. Karpathy has an impressive background, including a Ph.D. from Stanford, leading AI at Tesla, and co-founding OpenAI. He now runs an education startup called Eureka Labs.
“Vibe coding” is a laid-back approach to coding where you focus on the overall feel and let AI tools handle the details, ignoring strict rules. Karpathy suggests this is possible because AI coding tools are now advanced enough. He uses tools like Cursor Composer (an AI-enhanced coding platform) and SuperWhisper (a speech-to-text tool) to code without even typing much. For example, he might casually ask the AI to “decrease the padding on the sidebar by half” instead of doing it manually.
In short, vibe coding is about going with the flow and letting AI make coding easier and more fun, though it might skip some traditional “best practices.”
Read full story at ZDNET…
In Utilities
Big Tech's Data Center Boom Poses New Risk to US Grid Operators
by Tim McLaughlin
Data center disconnections threaten grid stability, regulator says
Data Center Alley, a 30-square-mile stretch outside Washington D.C. and home to more than 200 data centers, consumes roughly the same electricity as Boston. So power company officials were alarmed when a big chunk of those centers — 60 of them — suddenly dropped off the grid one day last summer and switched to on-site generators.
The mass reaction was triggered by a standard safety mechanism across the data center industry, intended to protect computer chips and electronic equipment from damage caused by voltage fluctuations. But it caused a huge surge in excess electricity, according to federal regulators and utility executives.
Read full story at Reuters…
How Gig Workers & AI Can Transform Utility Customer Experience
by Hemant Sehgal
The move to modernized, competitive customer experience delivery has been elusive for utilities due to the costs and the disruption, yet newly empowered customers — with more choices — will not wait
A 2018 McKinsey essay and recent studies highlight that utilities must prioritize customer experience to counter competition from alternative energy sources and manage costs of aging infrastructure. Modernizing customer support systems is essential, but integrating professional gig workers can deliver rapid, high-quality experiences, improving retention and scalability.
AI and Human Touch: A Hybrid Approach
While AI chatbots handle basic queries, they fall short during complex issues or crises. A 2024 study shows utilities plan to leverage AI, but human interaction builds trust. Supplementing with trained gig workers, supported by AI tools and real-time systems, ensures personalized, efficient responses, especially during high demand.
Read full story at TDWorld…
Smart Meters Generate Revenue, Improve Efficiency for Public Utilities
by Dylan Walsh
Nearly 120 million smart meters had been installed by U.S. electric utilities as of 2022, but their impact had not been quantified until now.
About 15 years ago, electric utilities started to replace the analog meters invented in the 1800s to monitor household consumption with modern smart meters capable of remotely transmitting high-resolution data.
The new devices promise to help utilities reduce operational costs and enhance billing accuracy, forecasting, asset and load management, and system monitoring. Their potential is considerable, given that the U.S. electricity grid consists of roughly 7,300 power plants, 160,000 miles of high-voltage power lines, and millions of low-voltage power lines and distribution transformers — all designed to provide service all day, every day, to 145 million customers.
“In the electricity sector, there has been this mass deployment of digital technologies, in the U.S. and many other countries,” said , an assistant professor at MIT Sloan. “But despite all of this investment, there has not been a widespread study of the effects of these meters on things like the quality of service and utility performance.” Working with Robyn Meeks of Duke University and North Carolina State's Zhenxuan Wang, Pless looked at precisely this question.
Read full story at MIT…