UNEARTH

http://www.directionsmag.com/articles/meet-your-colleagues-catherine-burton/225055#disqus_thread

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BAAMA, the Bay Area Automated Mapping Association,  presents its bi-monthly Educational Meeting: Remote Sensing, Image Analysis/Processing and LiDAR

Learn how the GIS-set makes their own data.
Be amazed by beautiful remotely sensed imagery.
Find inspiration in real-world applications of geospatial technology. 

Thursday July 21, 2011

8:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Microsoft

835 Market Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94103

Coffee, donuts, bagels, fruit served

Networking

$10 for guests

FREE for members

(membership is $25 per year)

Co-organized and Catherine Burton (Endpoint Environmental) and Becky Morton (Towill)

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Endpoint Environmental LLC is pleased to announce Owner/Manager Catherine Burton is now a member of the Bay Area Automated Mapping Association (BAAMA) Board.  We are excited about this new opportunity to more deeply engage with the GIS/RS and geospatial technology community in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Endpoint Environmental LLC is a woman-owned GIS and remote sensing image-processing services firm based in San Francisco, California. Endpoint Environmental LLC offers a range of geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing image-processing, photogrammetry, classic cartography, and geo-Web services. We
specialize in building remote sensing image processing feature extraction models within COTS programs. Our talent, integrity, knowledge of the latest geospatial technology,
techniques and data, and strong professional relationships within the local and national geospatial technology community make us a consistent, reliable provider of GIS and remote sensing image-processing services and solutions.
Established in 2005 we meet the professional needs of our clients by delivering
accurate, beautiful maps.

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cartographer

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WebMapSocial Meetup

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In grad school, one of the reasons I fell in love with remote sensing was because I thought I could feed and thus "save" the world using image processing and GIS.   At some point I learned: we have enough food to feed everyone in the world; the problem is that the food is poorly distributed.  I thought perhaps we could use data-rich remotely sensed imagery products, including LiDAR, multi- and hyper-spectral, to see what's growing where and then use a GIS to map optimal distribution systems.  Evapotranspiration, soil conditions, weather patterns, topography, seasonal growing patterns, and other environmental data layers could all be included.  Viola!  Hungry people fed.  

Recently the NY Times published an article entitled: A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself by Justin Gillis.  The article touches on the fact that climate change may be impacting agriculture faster then scientists originally predicted.  Basically floods, droughts, and other major weather occurrences are eliminating large volumes of crops during a given season thus driving up the cost of food.  (Full disclosure: climate change may or may not be related to recent massive floods or droughts and the cost of oil also greatly impacts food prices.)  It seems to me that now more then ever, we should be tapping our imaginations for ingenious ways to use the massive amount of geospatial data, technology and applications we have currently available and the ever new data being collected to better address this issue.  ASPRS is calling for papers on "Remote Sensing of Global Croplands and their Water Use for Food Security in the Twenty-First Century."  Perhaps remote sensing can save the world.

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Article

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MAPPS sends letter to Representative Nan Hayworth (R-NY) requesting insourcing of mapping and surveying be descouraged by the Navy, Air Force and Department of Agriculture.  Adoption of this ammendment to H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would help small businesses do the work they love to do. 

See MAPPS original Press Release.

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Always cool.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13522957

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This article was original published in the Spring 2011 edition of The BAAMA Journal, the biannual publication of the Bay Area Automated Mapping Association (BAAMA).  Special thanks to team Tetra Tech for your contribution and support.

Preparing Historical Aerial Imagery of Southern California Deserts for Use in LADWP's GIS

http://www.directionsmag.com/articles/preparing-historical-aerial-imagery-of-southern-california-deserts-for/180341

To contribute and article about a Bay Area project, entity, person or experience to The BAAMA Journal contact Catherine Burton @ editor@baama.org. 

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I recently read an article called How Apple works: Inside the world's biggest startup (Fortune, May 23, 2011).  I admittedly have some preconceived notions about Apple/Steve Jobs.  I grow suspicious when people love something so much they become blind to other things; this, I feel, is sometimes how people revere Steve Jobs and the products/services created at Apple.  That said, after reading this article I am impressed with two of the mantras by which Mr. Jobs runs his company. 

First, frugality.  Some may call me cheap but I prefer the term frugal.  As an entrepreneur and a child of do-more-with-less mid-western parents I am deeply dedicated to being frugal.  Don't get me wrong I love beautiful (sometimes extravagant), quality things and experiences.  However, I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that at Apple employees must first do-more-with-less, prove the product and then get fully funded.  To often, we get stuck in the idea that if I only had such-and-such then I could do this-and-that.  In my life, the times that I have been most resourceful are when resources were limited.  In fact, when I need to inspire myself, I pretend to have neither money nor things to get something done, and it is then that my creative juices start flowing.

Second, focus.  Mr. Jobs believes in defining the company's mission not by what it does but by what it does not do.  As a small business owner who started her company with almost nothing and no real sense of the market, I wanted Endpoint Environmental to do everything geospatial - meet everyone's needs in every possible market, everywhere.  It becomes difficult to say no especially when the going gets tough.  After five+ years of business the company has gained a greater sense of identity, what we don't do and what we do very well.  On a personal level, I like to be good at many things; being able to confidently say what I cannot do does not come easily.  For inspiring me to think about this personal hurdle, I applaud Mr. Jobs. 

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As one of the organizers of WebMapSocial Meetup in Silicon Valley and Editor of The BAAMA Journal, plus a BA and MA in geography, feel I have fostered a healthy perspective on the desktop versus online map debate.  When I first started with GIS in 1999, nobody knew what I was talking about.  Say what? You use layers of data to make maps?  Sounds niche to me.  In 2002 I started studying remote sensing and still the same feedback only more paranoid.  Can you see, like, in my backyard?  Then Google Earth came out and everybody knew exactly what I was talking about when I told them how I earned my living. 

In the past, there has been some contention between the desktop and online creative crews; some bologna about the chicken or the egg.  I would just like to say that first of all, we are all on the same team.  Secondly, there is enormous amount we can learn from each other that will help us all grow rich, fat and happy.  I believe education, inspiration and collaboration are some of the keys to success in our new global economy.  Desktop GIS folks could use a proverbial entrepreneurial kick in the pants; when 80% of us use the same software package, we might consider some new glasses.  Open source, indy GIS software packages, and homegrown solutions are all interesting and relevant to desktop GIS.  Online mapping folks could benefit from learning more about geography, the science not the app; locate-my-friend-and-the-closest-coupon has been played out.  Man-land relationships is a cornerstone of geographic study.  How might that translate into new interesting web and mobile apps?  Stay tuned for more soapbox.  Thanks for your attention. 

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I subscribe to several magazines: Bloomberg Businessweek, INC, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Earth Imaging Journal, and Fortune.  I love to read and am routinely inspired by people and businesses in the news.  Yesterday, I received the latest Fortune; the issue features the 500 largest companies.  Although I'm genuniely  fascinated to learn about the 500 largest companies as a small business owner I wonder if there will ever be an issue of Fortune featuring the 500 smallest companies.  Which companies would be represented?  If we excluded the obvious local lemonade stand and others like my first business, selling hamsters I'd bread for $1 to my friends in elementary school, and really looked at successful small businesses say one to five people operating profitably, what would we find?   You know the stats: small businesses propel the economy, create jobs, drive innovation.  Celebrating smallness, the road less traveled, the risk takers and the lighter footprint is the the theme of my first blog post.  Stay tuned for other musings on geospatial tech, geography and business.  Thanks for your attention.

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