June 2012

"Geospatial information and technology are essential and growing components of our economy, and play a vital role in helping us manage our resources and achieve critical national goals."

Anne Castle
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science

EIGS recently visited with Dr. Richard Bechtold of Abridge Technology to learn more about the company, their customer base, and the future direction of the company. Abridge Technology is a member of the EIGS geospatial technology cluster of the Magnolia Business Alliance (MBA).

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Washington Perspective

Commentary From: Michael Liu, Sr. Vice President, Dutko Worldwide

Despite the outcome of the June 17 Greek parliamentary elections, don't expect concerns over the Euro Zone and the world economy to be resolved. The basic construct of the EZ where political sovereignty and fiscal policies are discrete, and where the former is in many cases built on hundreds of years of historical tradition, is the root cause of the continued problems being faced by Europe. It flies in the face of common sense that these issues can be fixed and that a dominant Germany will be able to force Europe to bend to its leadership. Bankers who talk about Europe creating effective linkages of fiscal policies separate from political union, as if "fiscal" is an arena separate from other aspects of governance in any given nation-state, are either blind or protecting short term interests in investments made by their banks, or both.

But it is what it is, and with the world's money centers being nervous, this makes investing in U.S. assets by overseas businesses and money managers a viable hedge. These investments will help to prop up the U.S. economy. But they will not necessarily result in any surge in economic good news for average Americans, since these investments are not being made with an eye toward aggressive stoking of growth. Rather, view these investments as more like parking wealth in a "haven" that has a slightly greater chance of increasing in value in comparison to purchases of U.S. treasuries.

Still this poses an opportunity for Coast enterprises seeking to inject capital into their operations (or to sell themselves). Whether through effective marketing with investment banking networks; business trade organizations; or programs such as the EB-5 immigrant investment program; foreign money sources are looking to park their marks, yuan, pesos, rupees, riyal or dirham in the U.S.

The EB-5 program is a bell-weather of sorts, with applications increasing by about 100% (from about 1,000 to 2,000 applications, with a program allowance of 10,000 visas) within the last year, with a bigger increase in applications expected for this year. Foreign investors can gain "green cards" for their family members with investments or $500,000 or $1,000,000, depending of the location of the project being invested in. The basic criteria for qualifying a project is that for every investment, 10 full time jobs are created. (There are businesses and law firms that include Mississippi as a place where they work with the EB-5 program, but success stories along the Coast are difficult to find…hopefully, this will change.) The investors do not have to reside in the locale of their investment.

Interestingly enough, the 20-year EB-5 program has never been made permanent and periodically must get renewed by Congress. This is a renewal year, with September 30, 2012 being the witching hour. It should be interesting to watch, whether because EB-5 touches on immigration that it becomes embroiled in partisan political symbolism, or if it could become a rare moment of agreement between Republicans and Democrats, and the two men running for president…

Image of the Month

Clouds over the Pacific Ocean served as the backdrop for this rainbow-like optical phenomenon known as a "Glory"

Credit: (Image: NASA)

Glories generally appear as concentric rings of color in front of mist or fog. They form when water droplets within clouds scatter sunlight back toward a source of illumination (in this case the Sun).

Although glories may look similar to rainbows, the way light is scattered to produce them is different. Rainbows are formed by refraction and reflection; glories are formed by backward diffraction. The most vivid glories form when an observer looks down on thin clouds with droplets that are between 10 and 30 microns in diameter. The brightest and most colorful glories also form when droplets are roughly the same size.

Items of Interest

Study: BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill could still be damaging fish
MassLive.com

The Associated Press This satellite photo taken April 26, 2010 and provided by DigitalGlobe, shows cleanup vessels working in the area of an oil slick… Read more,

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Esri rolls out ArcGIS map services for the cloud
PC Advisor

Cataloging of GIS assets, making such data easier to find (and less likely to be… ArcGIS Online offers a "framework to get all GIS under one roof," she said…

[READ MORE]

MAPPS Announces Formation of State Chapter in Maryland, Election of Board of Directors
MAPPS (www.mapps.org)

MAPPS (www.mapps.org), the only national association of private geospatial firms, has announced the formation of its fourth state chapter with the establishment of MD-MAPPS in Maryland.

The initial Board of Directors will be President Richard Crouse (Richard Crouse & Associates, Frederick, MD); Vice President Justin Lehman (Axis Geospatial, Easton, MD); Secretary Tim Stagg (AeroMetric, Inc., Easton, MD); Treasurer Kurt Allen (Photo Science, Inc., Bowie, MD) and Director Al Wainger (Michael Baker Jr., Inc., Ellicott City, MD).

The goals of MD-MAPPS will be to–

Build relationships with local and state government
Provide a voice for the private sector and the geospatial community at large in governmental processes
Pursue relationships with professional geospatial organizations in Maryland
Provide a forum for private geospatial firms in the state
Promote education and workforce development programs with post secondary education institutions

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GITA Transitions to New Business Model

At its recent meeting in May, the GITA Board of Directors approved a plan that will allow the association to continue to provide services to the geospatial industry…

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Remote sensing technology aims to increase construction safety
Journal of Commerce

Researchers in Calgary have developed a new tool to improve safety on construction sites, using remote sensing technology and tracking tags to monitor movement in real time. Farnaz Sadeghpour, University of Calgary professor in the Department of Civil…

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Did You Know?

Did you know the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has released its strategy for 2013-2017? "The NGA strategy establishes the strategic goals and objectives that will guide our efforts to fulfill NGA's mission and vision," said Director Letitia A. Long in the opening letter of the strategy. "In doing so, ™we› ensure that NGA continues to lead the community in providing relevant, timely and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security." Read more, http://www.directionsmag.com/pressreleases/nga-unveils-2013-17-strategy/261421

EIGS IN THE NEWS

Michael Baker gets contracts worth nearly $1.8M

Engineering and maintenance provider Michael Baker Corp. announced that its Michael Baker Jr. subsidiary's geospatial services business received contracts totaling nearly $1.8 million. The contracts represent several different private sector markets including alternative and conventional energy, land development, and sports and entertainment…

[Read more]

Global Perspectives

GeoEye Eyeing Europe Expansion
ExecutiveBiz (blog)

European, Russian and Turkish customers use geospatial imagery for energy and fleet resource monitoring, critical infrastructure protection and land use and…

[Read the full article]

Holland Hit by a Wave of Geospatial Conferences
DirectionsMag.com

The center of the geospatial technology conferences in Europe seems to be gravitating toward Holland. Jan Willem van Eck provides a synopsis of recent events…

[Read the full article]

Tribal GIS Details Native American Use of Geospatial Technology
Spatial News

Supporting Native American Decision Making chronicles the challenges and successes of Native American tribes in implementing and using…

[Read the full article]

The Sensor (Full text)

Tell our readers about Abridge Technology and your role with the company.

Bechtold: Abridge Technology is a service-delivery company I founded in 1996. I've kept it as a one-person company, but after 15 years I'm rather comfortable that the business model is working. The primary service I deliver is systems and software program and project management consulting, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) compliance support, organizational process improvement, and strategic teaming. Additionally, over the years I've established numerous strategic alliances, such as with the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software, University of Maryland, in the event a client needs additional support. Hence, I can support companies and government agencies of virtually any size.

The Sensor: What have been some of the bigger accomplishments for Abridge?

Bechtold: Basically, I evaluate engagement success using two metrics: (1) how quickly can I design, deliver, and implement solutions that address relevant problem(s), and (2) customer retention percentage. Not surprisingly, the numbers are closely correlated. And fortunately, my client retention rate exceeds 95%.

Also, I spent many years focusing exclusively on process improvement within small organizations and have numerous publications and conference presentations on that topic, both nationally and internationally.

Finally, I have a couple books published, the most recent of which is "Essentials of Software Project Management (2nd Edition)".

The Sensor: In order to give our readers a better idea about the customers you serve, tell us a little bit about your current and prior clients.

Bechtold: My smallest client at the moment is a 9 person company, my largest is 1,400, but I've previously supported much larger organizations, including major defense contractors, major government agencies (such as the US Senate, the IRS, the Architect of the Capitol, the State of Maryland, Montgomery County (MD) etc.) and major industry businesses. However, most of my clients tend to be either small to medium industry organizations or government contractors. Most clients develop systems and/or software, or otherwise work in the high-technology space. But there are exceptions. For example I've supported one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C., a major publishing organization, a Rescue Squad, etc.

The Sensor: In your 15 years of operation as a small business, you are used to facing challenges every day, but tell us about the challenges the company has faced over the last several years in this volatile economy.

Bechtold: Ironically, my primary challenge is workload management. Yes, many people state that the country is currently in an economic downturn, but regardless of that my client base has continued to expand, and at an unusually fast rate. My perception is that organizations now have internal resources available that they can apply to strategic project, program, and organizational process improvements.

The Sensor: What do you see on the horizon for Abridge Technology?

Bechtold: Well, additional strategic alliances are certainly an interesting concept and something I routinely continue to look for. Also, I remain fascinated by emerging technology. Such technology seems to always introduce new challenges and like many people, I really enjoy investigating and addressing such challenges.

Finally, because my current focus is on organizational improvements in systems and software organizations, I'm increasing my efforts to also include service-delivery organizations. According to the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, approximately 80% of the world economy is based on service development and delivery. That's very interesting.

About Abridge Technology: Abridge Technology is a Virginia-based company, founded in 1996, that provides consulting, training, and support services and products in the areas of project management, process improvement, process measurement, process definition and modeling, and risk management. For more information, visit www.abridge-tech.com or contact Richard Bechtold at rbechtold@abridge-tech.com, 703-729-6085.

Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions – www.mseigs.com