The
Director's Cut
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Robin
Buchannon
Director, EIGS |
Among the many advantages of EIGS membership, perhaps the more valuable are the teaming dynamics. The structure of the industry cluster provides unique partnering opportunities among the members. Companies with complimentary products team to respond to customer needs in new and innovative ways by working together to fill gaps in each other’s business schemes and capabilities.
For example, InTime, this month’s spotlight company, turned to NVision Solutions, another EIGS member, when they needed a solution for their precision ag web system. In order to effectively serve their customers via the Internet, InTime collaborated with NVision to build their software systems from the ground up. Recognizing that NVision provided expertise in GIS data delivery via the web, InTime could focus their energies on what they do best, helping farmers better manage their crops using geospatial tools.
Collaborations between data providers and value-added resellers offer another profitable direction for expanding commercial opportunities. For example, because of the multiple uses of DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird imagery, there are many opportunities for companies to partner with DigitalGlobe to resell data and develop specific application products. It is these kinds of opportunities that keep the world’s leading provider of the highest resolution commercial satellite imagery, DigitalGlobe, in Mississippi.
The EIGS members have found a variety of ways to work in partnership -- a successful avenue for many has been collaboration on proposal development. Recently, Digital Quest and NVision Solutions, two EIGS members, submitted a proposal to develop a homeland security pilot program for Madison County, Mississippi. The project focuses on computer-based mapping and would teach first responders to access information to help cope with emergencies and plan immediate responses to disasters. Digital Quest will provide education and training for the customized software developed by NVision Solutions.
Some companies strategically align themselves to more effectively develop and market their products. An excellent example of this is the Geospatial Technology Alliance (GTA), a formal alliance of 7 EIGS companies dedicated to providing turnkey, high-tech, cutting edge geospatial solutions. Focused on serving as a single source for spatial data resources, the GTA members each bring unique capabilities to the table to address the needs of their customers. The GTA and the broader EIGS membership have found that, in many cases, working together allows them to more effectively seek opportunities as a group than as individual companies.
University of Mississippi Geoinformatics Center (UMGC) Uses Innovative Approach to Develop City GIS
Although 56% of
smaller governments (jurisdictions with fewer than 50,000 people) use
GIS applications and mapping technology, the biggest obstacles to
implementation are cost and technical expertise. GIS applications can
serve as integral resources for a city in numerous local functions
including public works, financial, public safety, and economic
development.
The University of
Mississippi Geoinformatics Center (UMGC), an EIGS university research
program, used an innovative approach to help the City of Long Beach, MS,
overcome these obstacles and develop a city GIS.
By tapping into an
unused, local resource- high school students- UMGC was able to
work with Long Beach to build the city's GIS database foundation. With
energetic students providing inexpensive, yet skilled labor, the city
acquired a GIS while further developing the abilities of fledgling
"GISers."
The
group of trained students blanketed the streets of Long Beach on foot
and bicycles to obtain local data (utility data such as drains, fire
hydrants, manholes, etc.) From this local data and existing digital data
from federal, state, and county sources, the UMGC staff built the GIS
database foundation. The GIS will serve as a base on which to build a
comprehensive system for managing city resources and infrastructure.
The UMGC is a multi-disciplinary research center created in May 2000
with funding from NASA to research and develop new geospatial
information science and technology applications and systems for
government and business. UMGC aims to promote the application and use of
geospatial information technologies through education, training,
research support, and infrastructure development. For more information
about UMGC, contact Dr. Greg Easson at geasson@olemiss.edu,
662-915-5995 or visit www.umgc.olemiss.edu.
Homeland
Security Update
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi State Department of Public Safety, Mississippi State Department of Public Health, and the Center for Governmental Training & Technology Present MsFirstResponders.org, a site dedicated to Mississippi's Emergency Management & Response Professionals & Elected Officials.
Understanding and preparation are keys to successfully coping with situations, which can’t be easily predicted. The site has been designed to provide Mississippi-specific and federal emergency management and response education and training information. It is the product of a special partnership between the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Center for Governmental Training & Technology (CGT) in the Mississippi State University Extension Service (MSU-ES). The CGT assists MEMA in the delivery of educational programming for local government elected officials, emergency managers, and first response professionals.
For more information, please visit http://msfirstresponders.org/.
Graduate
Fellow Feature
EIGS funded 15 fellowship awards for 2003-04 to Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi. This month’s newsletter features Ms. Mihaela Livia Marian, currently enrolled at Jackson State University in the Environmental Science Ph.D. program. Originally from Romania, Livia holds a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering and Geophysics. Livia has gained a lot of work experience including 11 years as a geologist and 3 years as a visiting assistant professor teaching paleontology. In addition, Livia interned for one year with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Under the guidance of Dr. Paul Tchounwou, Livia’s project will document, assess, and model the effects of hydrological regime alteration on riparian wetland vegetation on a portion of the Pearl River, at the Mississippi and Louisiana border. The project will cover a twenty-year period of natural water diversion and a five-year period of anthropological restoration of the hydrological regime in the study area. Multi-temporal remotely sensed data and historical and current information from other sources are going to be input in a GIS . This information will allow for an environmental impact assessment of the current restoration project, and will have implications for future hydrology restoration efforts in the State of Mississippi.
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Company
Spotlight
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Farming by the foot, not the acre. We hear this phrase a lot when describing precision agriculture, but what exactly does it mean? Site specific farming allows for better management of crops and geospatial tools are playing a bigger role in helping farmers achieve their crop management goals. And InTime, Inc. of Cleveland, Mississippi, an EIGS member, is forging new ground in this agricultural production and services arena by saving farmers money and limiting computer savvy on the part of the grower.
InTime develops “prescriptions” that allow farmers to make better decisions about when and where to spray agricultural chemicals during the growing season. They use digital cameras to create high-resolution images of agricultural crops. From these images, InTime can color-code maps to show plant health or vigor and determine variable-rate applications of herbicides, insecticides, plant growth regulator and defoliant. These maps allow the farmer to apply chemicals only where they are needed. This results in cost savings for the farmer, is more efficient, and more environmentally friendly. In fact, InTime has demonstrated results of 30-50% savings in a farmer’s application of chemicals and a direct cost savings to the farmer through increased labor efficiency and reduced chemical costs.
As a start up, InTime continually looks to improve and grow the company and their products. Recently, InTime welcomed Mr. Kenneth Hood, a leading cotton farmer in the Mississippi Delta and former President of the National Cotton Council, as a majority owner and chairman of InTime’s board. By bringing his real world experience and years of precision ag pioneering to the InTime team, Mr. Hood adds a strong, producer-based foundation from which to move forward.
As an active member of EIGS, InTime strongly supports the continued growth of the geospatial industry cluster in Mississippi. They are contributing to this effort by building a strong base of operation and strengthening a Mississippi-based workforce by employing graduates from Mississippi’s universities including two former EIGS Graduate Fellows -- Matt Peterson, Director of Operations and Patrick Jackson, Director of Information Technology.
While the primary focus has been on cotton, InTime is turning their attention to other crops including rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, peanuts and tomatoes. Still in its early stages of operation, InTime has successfully serviced over 50 customers and 65,000 acres in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama. InTime is expanding its market to Missouri, Tennessee, California and Texas.
InTime has been featured in the news recently, including articles in Progressive Farmer and Delta Farm Press. For more information, visit
www.gointime.com.
If
you have suggestions for future SPOTLIGHTS, please send an e-mail
to lstone@olemiss.edu.
Be
sure to visit the new EIGS website at
www.eigs.olemiss.edu
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UPCOMING
EVENTS
April 3-8,
2004
Annual South Central ARC User Group Conference
Irving, TX
April
5-9, 2004
RS-2004
10th Biennial Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Conference
Salt Lake City, UT
April
15-16, 2004
2nd
International Conference on the State of Remote Sensing Law
Oxford, MS
April
18-22, 2004
MidAmerica
GIS Symposium
Kansas City, MO
April
25-28, 2004
Geospatial
Information & Technology Association 27th Annual Conference
Seattle, WA
April
26-29, 2004
2004
National SBIR/STTR Conference & Small Business Expo
Atlanta, GA
May 4-6,
2004
2004 Mississippi Hurricane
Conference
Biloxi, MS. For more information:
Phone (601) 960-9972
May 10-12,
2004
The 5th Annual Coastal Development Strategies Conference
Biloxi, MS
May 10-12,
2004.
2nd Annual Contracting with the Department of Homeland Security.
Arlington, VA
May
23-28, 2004
2004
ASPRS Annual Conference
Denver, CO
June 14-17,
2004
Mississippi Association of Supervisors’ 75th Annual
Conference. Tunica County, MS.
For more information: Call 601-353-2741
August 9-13,
2004
ESRI International User Conference
San Diego, CA
October 17-20,
2004
Mississippi 911 Coordinators Association Annual Training Conference.
Tunica Resorts, MS For more information: 662-363-4012
LEGISLATIVE
CORNER
PFI
has been tracking developments from the 2004 Legislative session. The
following bills are of particular interest to the EIGS Industry Cluster:
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HB 1216- Relating to designating the
MS Technology transfer center at the John C. Stennis Space center as a center of excellence in Geospatial Technologies
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SB 3126- Appropriation bill for the Mississippi Development Authority- provides state funds to support EIGS
We will continue to track legislative developments at the State’s Capitol and inform you of important developments as they occur.
DID YOU KNOW???
Mississippi’s fastest growing job is computer support specialist with an average annual salary of $34,110. Just for comparison, the average annual salary of the employees of the EIGS Industry Cluster is $47,000.
INDUSTRY
DEVELOPMENTS
There
have been a number of exciting developments within the geospatial technology
industry lately that we wanted to pass along:
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The
$5 billion worldwide geospatial market will grow to $30 billion by 2005;
a dramatic increase that is sure to create new jobs, according to the US
Department of Labor
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The
U.S. military, the first industry to adopt GIS and remote sensing on a
large scale, has spent more than $1 billion on commercial remote sensing
and GIS in the past two years
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According
to a top US security official, the United States plans to deploy
unmanned planes, or drones, into the skies over the border between
Arizona and Mexico to guard against potential terrorist activities and
clamp down on illegal border crossings
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The
Pentagon has recently said it will seek commercial bids for a new
contract worth roughly $500 million to supply spy-quality pictures from
space
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The
U.S. Department of Labor identified geographic information technology as
"one of the three most important emerging and evolving fields,
along with nanotechnology and biotechnology. Job opportunities are
growing and diversifying as geospatial technologies prove their value in
ever more areas."
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