May 2008

EIGS PERSPECTIVE

May 2008

Geospatial Technology and Hurricanes: Preparing for
the 2008 Hurricane Season

Meteorologists throughout the country have already begun making their predictions for the 2008 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season, which runs from June 1- November 30. One prediction comes from Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science hurricane research team which is now predicting 15 Named Storms and 8 Hurricanes this summer. The department which relies on 58 years of data and atmospheric and ocean measurements, has correctly predicted 45 out of 58 seasons.

The forecast for the 2008 hurricane season now includes:
• 15 named storms;
• 80 named storm days;
• 8 hurricanes (4 intense hurricanes- Category 3, 4, or 5);
• 40 hurricane days;
• 9 intense hurricane days

NOAA’s hurricane season predictions are due out in May. NOAA describes their outlook with more general terms, rather than a specific number, such as average, above-average, and below average.

Meteorologists use a number of factors to determine a lower frequency of hurricanes such as- cooler Atlantic Ocean temperatures, drier mid-level atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean, higher tropical Atlantic sea level pressures, stronger tropical Atlantic vertical wind shear, and warmer sea surface temperatures in the tropical eastern and central Pacific.

Another factor impacting the frequency of hurricanes are the effects of El Nino or La Nina. El Nino creates warm water, and stronger winds that rip tropical depressions apart before they become tropical storms or hurricanes. La Nina creates cooler water which results in more hurricanes.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, hurricane awareness and preparedness is at an all-time high for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS) will be exhibiting at the 3rd Annual 2008 Alabama-Mississippi Hurricane Conference. The Conference is being presented by the Alabama Association of Emergency Managers (AAEM), the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA), and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). The 2008 Hurricane Conference will be held May 21 - 23, 2008, at the Riverview Plaza Hotel and Mobile
Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama.

Several active members of Mississippi's EIGS geospatial industry cluster conduct hurricane-related work, as demonstrated through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

WorldWinds, Inc., has recently provided wind versus wave plots to individual homeowners, the Louisiana Road Home Program, and others in an effort to help homeowners collect what they are rightfully due from their insurance companies to help them rebuild their homes. Plots were run on the WorldWinds’ supercomputer using the state of the art Army Corps of Engineers/ Naval Research Lab’s storm surge model, ADCIRC Coastal Circulation and Storm Surge Model.

WorldWinds has customized specific applications using ADCIRC for NASA, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, the URS Corporation, Taylor Engineering, and numerous law firms. WorldWinds recently presented its current ADCIRC work at NRL’s ADCIRC conference, held at SSC April 15-16, 2008. This work included research that shows Hurricane Katrina was undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle as it hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, and actually possessed a ‘double eyewall’ as it made landfall. This meant that the storm surge was very high over a much larger area than first indication, with very high surges in Bay St. Louis, as well as Ocean Springs.

WorldWinds is also researching ‘worst-case’ storm surge scenarios that include a storm of Katrina’s size and intensity, but with a track 30-miles toward the west. This hypothetical system suggested that SSC could see a 6-foot storm surge and areas north of I-12 in Slidell could be flooded.

3001 was contracted to provide services and deliverables including digital imagery, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), geodetic control and topographic surveys in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. State and local government officials required detailed aerial imagery, accurate surveys, and detailed maps to help support disaster recovery efforts.

Digital Globe provided imagery which created critical capabilities for comparing the landscape and infrastructure of the Gulf Coast region before and after the disaster occurred. DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite collected 60-centimeter resolution imagery of New Orleans on Aug. 31, just two days after Hurricane Katrina struck, and again on Sept. 3, nearly one week later. The imagery showed flooding extent, levee break locations, and damage to structures such as bridges and buildings. This technology allowed officials to map in detail the full extent of the flooding in New Orleans and provide storm surge damage maps for the Mississippi Coast.

NVision Solutions understands the importance of having adequate imagery before and after a disaster. When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Hancock County faced the brunt of the storm’s destruction. While Hancock County had an adequate amount of imagery prior to Hurricane Katrina, the county lacked a centralized data sharing structure. After the storm, NVision and many other organizations realized the necessity of one single, secure network for sharing data. Employing ERDAS TITAN, NVision is now prepared for future emergency response situations. ERDAS TITAN is a scalable, rapidly deployable, data sharing solution that maintains a secure environment and ensures protection of ownership rights. ERDAS TITAN empowers users and communities to share geospatial data, web services and location-based content internal and external to an organization, and to a variety of client applications.

Stay posted for more 2008 Hurricane Season predictions. Interested in more information? Visitors anywhere in the world can now get a virtual tour of NOAA's National Hurricane Center. With the click of a computer mouse, the online link provides panoramic views of the different rooms in the facility, accompanied by an audio description. You will be able to move around each room in a circle, stop, back up, and zoom in. A text window is available for the hearing-impaired.

> Click here to begin

IMAGE OF THE MONTH

Click for enlarged version

Haze over Alaska is from Russia

The haze that crept into Alaska in the last few days, making Anchorage appear more like Los Angeles on a smog-filled day, is not what you might think. It is smoke and dust from Russia. The smoke is coming from Russian wildfires, and the dust is from sandstorms in Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Satellite images prove it, showing a whitish-yellow haze stretching east from China and Russia into South-central Alaska.

UPCOMING EVENTS

FEATURED EVENT

Rocket City Geospatial Conference

November 18-20, 2008
Huntsville, Alabama

Call for Presentations: The Rocket City Geospatial Conference 2008 has joined with the Alabama GIS Symposium in 2008 and have issued a call for presentations for the event. Please submit abstracts anytime between now and August 31.

Students: There will be a special poster session for students wishing to offer their research and there will awards to the best posters as judged by the organizing committee. Those wishing to submit a poster can email their 200-word abstract to Nora Parker.

Exhibitors: To reserve a booth, Download the exhibitor prospectus or contact Jane Elliott by email or at 847-242-0412 for more information.

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 27-May 2, 2008
ASPRS Annual Conference
Portland, OR

May 12-14, 2008
Where 2.0
San Francisco, CA

June 23-27, 2008
Third Annual SkillsUSA Geospatial Competition
Kansas City, MO

July 21-25, 2008
GeoWeb 2008
Vancouver, BC, Canada

August 12-15, 2008
SCGIS Conference
Monterey, CA

DID YOU KNOW?

More than 2,000 value-added resellers, developers, consultants, data providers, and instructors partner with ESRI to deliver a variety of value-added services and solutions to the GIS user community worldwide. But did you know that 9 of them are Mississippi companies and 7 are EIGS members?

> More Information

LEGISLATIVE CORNER

The 2008 legislative session ended earlier than expected this year, concluding on Friday, April 18^th. Bills moving forward to the Governor’s desk in the final days will reform ethics rules, increase the costs of car tags and other fees to pay for trauma care and allow utility companies to seek rate hikes before building additional plants. One bill, already signed by the Governor, has garnered the attention of many business owners throughout the state, will require employers to check the immigration status of new employees. Lawmakers will have to return to the State’s Capitol for a special session which is projected to take place prior to June 30^th to deal with Medicaid funding. 

RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT

Sixth Edition of GeoTechnology Market Report Is Now Available

Cary and Associates of Longmont, Colo., announces the release of the sixth edition of its market report “Geotechnology Business Opportunities with Government.” The report assembles information useful to business development professionals serving the government market, both those new to the field and those with extensive experience.

 > More Information

Locate Your Place in the Exciting Field of GIS

Research and Markets has announced the addition of "Fundamentals of Geographical Information Systems, 4th Edition" to their offering.

In existence since 1962, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are really coming into their own today. And not just in your car's GPS system or your cell phone's tracking capabilities. GIS is finding applications throughout science, government, business, and industry, from regional and community planning, architecture, and transportation to public health, crime mapping, and national defense.

> More Information

2008 Geospatial Technology Report Available

The 2008 Geospatial Technology Report is now available from the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA). This 149-page report contains detailed information on the complexity, direction, and completeness of geographic information system (GIS) projects being implemented at 467 organizations. The 2008 Geospatial Technology Report addresses GIS projects in six markets: electric, gas, water, pipeline, and telecommunication utilities, as well as the public sector. Information in each industry section focuses on land base accuracy, sophistication, maintenance cycles, application usage, and interfaces, as well as the top 10 applications and technologies.

Provided free of charge to users who completed surveys that provided the data, the report is available for $299 for GITA individual members and $449 for nonmembers. Copies of the report may be ordered online at GITA’s Web site, www.gita.org/bookstore, or by contacting GITA headquarters at 303-337-0513 or info@gita.org. For information on participating in the surveys for the 2009 report, contact Kathryn Hail at 303-337-0513 or khail@gita.org.

Interested in Global Health News?

If you are interested in keeping up with global health news, be sure to check out HealthMap. This innovative and interactive online map serves as a comprehensive news resource on the latest disease outbreaks worldwide.

Atlas of the Human Journey

Where do you really come from? And how did you get to where you live today? DNA studies suggest that all humans today descend from a group of African ancestors who—about 60,000 years ago—began a remarkable journey. The National Geographic Society, IBM, geneticist Spencer Wells, and the Waitt Family Foundation have launched the Genographic Project, a five-year effort to understand the human journey—where we came from and how we got to where we live today. This unprecedented effort will map humanity's genetic journey through the ages.

> More Information

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Emerging Spatial Industry worth $1.4 Billion,
contributes $12.6 Billion to GDP
Cooperative Research Center for Spatial Information - Australia

The spatial information industry has been confirmed as major contributor to the Australian economy, generating revenue of $1.37 billion in 2006-07 and contributing between $6.4 and $12.6 billion to Gross Domestic Product, a new study by ACIL Tasman has revealed. The independent study, recently released is the world’s first authoritative analysis on the economic impact of spatial information and demonstrates a higher than expected industry value.

> More Information

India plans 70 space missions in five years
Fresh News - Delhi, India

India plans to undertake 70 space missions in five years, a nearly three-fold jump from the previous half-decade as it seeks to address requirements and develop new technologies to meet future needs. 

> More Information

Maps predict places at greatest risk of dengue
New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia

Imagine opening a map and immediately being able to identify the area where a dengue outbreak is going to occur. Now imagine doing this monthly and preventing an outbreak. This would be the reality next year if Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency director-general Darus Ahmad has his way.

> More Information

CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT

NVision Solutions Addresses the Role of Small Business in International Trade at the 2008 Gulf Coast Trade Alliance’s World Trade Conference

The 2008 Gulf Coast Trade Alliance’s World Trade Conference, recently held in Biloxi, April 2-4, 2008, was well attended and featured special sessions on logistics and transportation relative to the expansions of the Panama Canal and the Canadian Gateway projects. Additionally, there was a special focus on trade facilitation services available to regional exporters and importers.

“Many business owners, especially small ones, may wonder if small businesses are doing business internationally. You bet! The world is yours for the taking,” said Craig Harvey, CIO and Executive VP for NVision Solutions, as he addressed attendees during Friday’s General Session entitled, Profile of U.S. Service Exports. “NVison’s expertise includes GIS, remote sensing, database development and deployment, software development, and program support, but they might as well be janitorial services, lawn care or window washing and while they are all important services, they’re hard to export.”

NVision Solutions, a small business on the Gulf Coast, continues to grow with more than 30 employees. With new contracts being put in place, they expect to add an additional ten employees to their ranks. NVision continues to balance growth with market expansion by continuing to hire the best and the brightest the state has to offer.

According to Harvey, some small business barriers to exporting are ignorance, fear, expertise, international marketing capabilities, language barriers and trade laws. And with all that said small businesses are the largest employer in the U.S. and significant growth in exports rests squarely on small business.

Harvey concluded his comments by praising the support and services offered through the U.S. Commercial Service and the Mississippi Development Authority, noting that these two groups are here to help businesses succeed.

EIGS IN THE NEWS

3001 Partners With CACI on Defense Intelligence
Agency Contract

3001, the geospatial company ®, a leading provider of airborne mapping and geospatial data production services, recently announced they will be part of a team lead by CACI International, Inc. (NYSE: CACI) on a recently awarded Solutions for Intelligence Analysis (SIA) contract by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). CACI received one of eight prime awards. The five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) task order contract was awarded to CACI for a one-year base and a four-year option period.

> More Information

DigitalGlobe Files Registration Statement for Proposed
Initial Public Offering

DigitalGlobe, Inc. recently announced that the company has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated and Lehman Brothers Inc. will serve as joint book-running managers for the offering.

> More Information

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