About the Author:  Sean Gorman founded FortiusOne in 2005 to bring location based analytics to the mass market. Sean brings over 10 years of experience at the forefront of the geospatial revolution as a researcher, practitioner, and entrepreneur at FortiusOne. Through both academic and entreprenurial efforts he has been working to make geographic data more accessible to the public since 1997 culminating in the creation of GeoCommons – a crowd-sourced repository of statistical data and social feeds that can be easily mapped, remixed and reused by non-technical users. Sean has been featured in media such as, Wired, Der Spiegel, ABC, Washington Post, Business 2.0, MSNBC, CBS and CNN. He also holds a PhD. From George Mason University in Public Policy where he was the Provost’s High Potential Scholar and was the recipient of the Fischer Prize. He has published dozens of articles on geographic data sharing and analysis, and authored the book Networks, Complexity and Security: The Role of Public Policy in Critical Infrastructure Protection. Read more from this author

James Fee joins in and shares his insight on supporting ESRI’s Geodatabase format and how a File Geodatabase can be shared efficiently. He agrees that the more file formats supported by a GeoData application, the more likely people will use it.

The election rallied much excitement, perhaps due in part to several compelling mapping implementations. The media, for example CNN, turned to maps to present data regarding the election. Maps compiled included locations of candidate rallies and the country’s standings (color-coded in red vs. blue). We even provided our own analysis post-election. (And maybe the most well know, SNL’s Magic Map….)

Jeff Thurston discusses GIS implementation across large energy companies, specifically at Saudi Aramco and BP. Saudi Aramco has 15 GIS units where contractors and numerous amounts of sensors that feed SCADA systems are all dynamically linked through GIS. As for BP, the company embarked on an innovation strategy that seeks to embed GIS and spatial information across the company. Thurston states he knows ‘of a few operations using GIS at the scale and complexity of Saudi Aramco’ and has seen ‘few companies attempt to extend the application of GIS in strategic role beyond practical and operational considerations.’

Google Maps now offers a feature that enables you to download your search results as a waypoint into your GPS system. The feature supports Garmin, TomTom and Pioneer. Make sure you have the correct software installed on your computer.

The KML Handbook by Josie Wernecke is now available for pre-order. Wernecke is a Google tech writer and explains the various elements and features of KML in her brand new book, including topics like Regionation and View Based Refresh.

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