This is the first installment of GeonetCom News, the official news of GeonetCom.

Brought to you by:
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www.placeware.com

In association with:
www.urisa.org
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www.usgs.gov
www.directionsmag.com

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***IN TODAY'S ISSUE***

* GEONETCOM SUCCESS!

* PROBLEMS LOGGING IN?- Answers to the "login loop" problem.

* GEONETCOM KEYNOTE BY JOE ASTROTH, PH.D.- A short synopsis

* GEONETCOM REVIEW- The first review of the GeonetCom online seminars

* NEXT WEEK'S SEMINAR- Thames Waters demonstrates their enterprise GIS live from London England!

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GEONETCOM SUCCESS!

GeonetCom was conceived to be the world's largest GIS seminar series of all time and thanks to you, we are well on our way to achieving this lofty goal. By the kickoff at Tuesday's Keynote Address given by Joe Astroth, Ph. D., GeonetCom had over 3,000 members and we're still counting! And thankfully, over 98% of you were able to participate in the seminar without technical difficulties- an amazing feat for internet conferencing!

PROBLEMS LOGGING IN?

If you had any problems logging in, it was probably due to having cookies disabled in your browser. The GeonetCom site relies on cookies to identify you as a member and help configure your machine. If you tried to log-in with your email address but continued to get bounced back to the log-in page, this is most likely what happened. Please enable cookies in your browser and you should be able to log onto the member page and enjoy the next seminar.

GEONETCOM KEYNOTE BY JOE ASTROTH, PH.D.

GeonetCom launched on Tuesday with a keynote address by Joseph Astroth, Executive Vice President of Autodesk, Inc. Joe's "GIS at the Millennium" message was experienced by the largest group of GIS professionals from around the world ever gathered in one "place".

Joe explained to participants that today GIS is more than just having carefully created geospatial data safely stored somewhere, it is putting this geospatial information to work to make decisions when and wherever you need to. As geospatial information becomes increasingly available across an organization it will benefit all industries in both the public and private sectors. With the increasing use of portable computers, Joe advised that mobile GIS systems will become more and more important as users apply the technology in new and innovative ways and take there data out to the point-of-work.

Joe stated that the key to the new GIS model is integration. At Autodesk, this means integration of different IT (Information Technology) tools such as ERP, database management, and GIS into one coherent environment that facilitates decision making across the enterprise, across the state, and around the world. Integration of GIS with other IT technologies must use the complementary strengths of each technology for fast, information-rich and reliable computing.

With such products as Autodesk's MapGuide, distributed decision making is now a reality in an inherently geographic world. This web-centric tool, as pointed out by Joe, uses the power of web browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer to distribute vector and raster data off campus and to remote sites, saving companies and government agencies both time and money. And Autodesk MapGuide, unlike many other GISs on the market is very easy to install and use; its rapid application development capabilities and its provision of live access to geospatial data warehouses foster the rapid creation of solutions which move that data in both directions to solve real world problems.

In the very near future, mobile GIS will take on a new importance as Autodesk continues its work with Oracle to enable Palm Pilots and Windows CE devices to efficiently use geospatial data. Autodesk's recently announced Maui Technology when implemented on hand-held and laptop computers promises to give geologists, field crews in general, business people, government officials and others the power to go anywhere and still have access to their data.

The challenge for the user communities as Joe implied is the integration of GIS into other IT and management workflows. Marketing specialists, engineers, customer service managers, planners, and operations managers must now understand how they can leverage the power of intelligent maps in their daily work. For example, with intelligent map objects a telephone technician is now able to click on a point in a map and immediately see information about the cabling, connections, and electrical specifications at a location. That was unheard of a few years ago. But now that technician can perform this task from a manhole or the crawl space beneath a building.

Although GIS, and especially web-centric GIS, is moving as fast as other parts of the IT industry, has been released from the domain of the GIS expert and placed in the hands of a growing number of users with real world needs for geospatial information. It will give us, as Joe concludes,

Real-time access to spatial information No matter
Where you are . . .
Where the data resides . . .
What format it is in . . .

If you missed the Keynote, you can catch it LIVE on Thursday, 9AM Pacific/Noon Eastern, as always, at http://www.geonetcom.com.

GEONETCOM REVIEW

The first review of GeonetCom is already in. Go to the full article.

NEXT WEEK'S SEMINAR

We are very excited to have Thames Water explain how they implemented an enterprise wide GIS, live from London, England! In this seminar, we will actually see a demonstration of their application and as always, we will be able to ask questions and interact directly with the presenter. You don't want to miss this one! If you would like to register for this seminar, please come to http://www.geonetcom.com and click on the "Seminar Registration" button at the top of the page.

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