Geospatial Cluster - 2012 Year in Review, Plans for 2013

It's a little overwhelming to attempt to convey the significance of Geospatial Data as it pertains to the goals of ESIP and its Collaboration Areas.  The past 10 years have accumulated more GIS data than in all of human history.  This cluster and its goals are a vital link to all other ESIP clusters.  In our Tuesday afternoon session, we will summarize our accomplishments in 2012, and chart our path for 2013.

We are happy to announce a special guest speaker for this session - Adam Estrada from MDA Information Systems, a geosptial architect who deals with high data volume systems, will address our group during this session.

Our main goal for the coming year will be an assessment of the state of GIS across key agencies, targeting initially NASA, NOAA, EPA, and USGS.  Among the questions we will find answers to:

• What services are supported?
• How does someone find data?
• What data formats are available?
• What tools are needed to interact with an agency?

Some of what we hope to learn:

• How can any user access and integrate data from these agencies?
• How is each agency proceeding regarding geospatial data?
• Identify, and fill gaps in service

This assessment will be done by conducting a to-be-named ESIP Geospatial Cluster 2013 GIS Experiment. This will be a cross-agency data mashup, identifying an interesting question to solve, ideally in support of IPCC activities for the coming year.  Come help us lay the groundwork for some vital work - identifying the data sources and tools we'll use.  We've said before, the next wave of GIS innovation will hinge on providing the means for researchers and scientists to cleverly mix-and-match cross-agency data in novel ways.  Come join us and be a part of what promises to be a very exciting year for Geospatial, everybody is welcome.