Here what people are saying about their experience at GeoWeb 2009:

• James Fee GIS Blog
• GeoThought Blog - Peter Batty
• It’s All About Data - Don Murray
• Spatial Explorations - Stu Rich
• Landscape Visualization

By Eileen Feretic      July 29, 2009 3:04 PM

“The eventual integration of all business processes that relate to the physical world.” That’s the mission of GeoWeb, which is designed to “automate the aggregation of information about the physical world,” according to Ron Lake, founder of the GeoWeb conference (going on this week in Vancouver, http://geowebconference.org) and inventor of the Geographic Markup Language (GML) that’s used by geographic information system (GIS) professionals.

Basically, GeoWeb is the convergence of GIS and the Internet to provide fast, easy access to information about the physical world. This would enable people to find data based on its geographic location instead of just by doing keyword searches. Think Google Earth and Yahoo Maps, which have increased awareness of the role of geography as a way to index information on the Web.

Who would need this information? Well, governments for one. “Information is captured into a model of a city to support a variety of applications related to development, construction, public safety, flight zones, environmental issues and smart energy management,” Lake explained. He said that this hasn’t yet happened in a uniform way but that we’re moving in that direction.

Europe is moving more quickly than North America, Lake added, saying that Germany is taking the lead. “Hamburg and Berlin already have city models with several million buildings,” he said.

Think how vital this type of information about the physical world would be for fire and police departments during an emergency. It could literally make the difference between life and death.

As someone who works in New York City, I feel strongly that our federal, state and local governments should be “moving in that direction” a lot more quickly.

Originally posted at BaselineMag.com: http://blogs.baselinemag.com/bottom_line/content/government_it/lets_get_physical.html

By Stephen Hui

An annual conference on the convergence of Web technologies and geographic information systems kicked off in downtown Vancouver today (July 27).

GeoWeb 2009, which is focused on urban environments, runs until Friday (July 31) at Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

Today’s and tomorrow’s programs consist of workshops, such as Registries for the GeoWeb by David Burggraf of Galdos Systems and 3D Geospatial: Project Implementation Methods and Best Practices by Tim Case of Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday offer keynote addresses, speakers, panel discussions, and technical sessions.

Alex Miller, founder and president of ESRI Canada, will deliver the keynote on Wednesday. Michael T. Jones, chief technology advocate for Google, will present Thursday’s keynote.

The conference’s Web site states:

GeoWeb 2009 is open to all businesses, academic institutions and governments that are interested in:

* the development of new GeoWeb technology
* the impact of the GeoWeb on businesses and government policies
* the emergence of new business models for the GeoWeb
* the multitude of applications associate with the new GeoWeb technology

According to the site, on-line registration is closed, but prospective attendees can still obtain a pass at the conference.

A one-day conference pass for Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday costs $450.

The annual event dates back to the first GML Dev Days in 2002.

You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

Originally posted at Straight.com.

By Marke Andrews, VANCOUVER SUN July 27, 2009

It’s an unfortunate trait of human nature to think only in the short term, so John Stutz will have his hands full on Wednesday when he tells GeoWeb attendees to think about what life will be like 50 or 100 years from now.
Keep reading at VancouverSun.com.

Savvy businesses and entrepreneurs are getting the geographic advantage

By Marke Andrews VANCOUVER SUN July 27, 2009

If, say, you want to start a chain of coffee shops in the Metro Vancouver area, Sean Gorman recommends using visual intelligence (also called location intelligence) which provides digital maps and data to give a snapshot — actually more a panorama than a snapshot — of an area. Keep reading at VancouverSun.com.

Talking with VerySpatial, Ron Lake shares his view of the GeoWeb as being a digital nervous system for the planet. Mr. Lake explains how the theme for this year’s conference, Cityscapes, was selected to emphasize ways that the GeoWeb can support high value sharing and collaboration of urban infrastructure data around the building of cities. Mr. Lake also discusses the introduction of an Academic Track to this year’s conference, how the interaction between academia, industry, and government may spark new perspectives and ideas, and how bringing such a diverse audience together is what makes the conference work. Listen to the interview.

By Susan Smith

The economic stimulus bill, H.R. 1, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” became Public Law 111-5 with President Barack Obama’s signature on Tuesday, February 17. According to an analysis conducted by MAPPS, the association of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems fields in the United States, the bill includes more than $73 billion in programs that will require geospatial data, technology, services and applications in at least 24 Federal agencies. Continue reading at GISCafe.