Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/99375
Time-sensitive GeoWorld departments such as NetLink, PeopleLink, Product News and Business News now are maintained solely at the GeoPlace.com Web site. Check there often for the latest updates as they happen. In October 2012, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released a series of 15 ���Earthscapes��� stamps, two of which highlight images from the long-running Landsat satellite program. The Earthscapes collection features aerial imagery that depicts natural, agricultural and urban scenes, including a stamp that shows a 1988 Landsat image of the Mount Saint Helens volcano (���Volcanic Crater���) and a stamp showing a 2011 image of farmland patterns in the Garden City, Kan., region (���Center-Pivot Irrigation���). The volcano image comes from the Landsat 5 satellite, while the farmland image comes from Landsat 7. The Earth-observing series of Landsat satellites has been jointly operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA for four decades. ���Once you���ve seen the world from above, you never look at it quite the same way again,��� noted Joseph Corbett, chief financial officer and executive vice president of USPS. ���That���s why the Postal Service is proud to offer these Earthscapes stamps, which invite us to take a bird���s eye view of the land we all share.��� The new ���forever��� stamps are available at post offices and online at usps.com/shop. oil-sands-related information directly in geospatial format, making it possible to view and analyze the same data internally that���s presented to the public through OSIP.��� Oregon���s Geoloqi Becomes New Esri R&D Center In October 2012, Esri acquired Geoloqi, a West Coast startup that will form the backbone of an Esri Research and Development (R&D) Center in Portland, Ore. Geoloqi employs fewer than 10 people, but it caught Esri���s attention due to strengths in next-generation location-based services. Geoloqi claims to offer the first platform to enable rapid development of crossplatform, geography-based applications while using a single application programming interface (API) in any development language. The platform also uses algorithms that help preserve battery life while location searches run in the background. USGS/USPS Landsat Imagery Lands on USPS ���Forever��� Stamps One of the new USPS stamps features this 1988 Mount Saint Helens image gleaned from the Landsat 5 satellite. ���We chose Geoloqi because its technology is a perfect fit with the Esri tool stack,��� said Jack Dangermond, Esri president and founder. ���Geoloqi���s deep location capabilities and relationships with the developer community will allow us to develop more dynamic mobile and Web applications for independent developers and large-scale enterprises alike. It���s a truly symbiotic union of teams and technology.��� A geocoding enhancement to the Geoloqi API is slated as the first offering for the new Esri center. The enhancement will give developers three new capabilities: the ability to create triggers based on physical addresses rather than map coordinates, reverse geocoding and a MapKit alternative for iOS developers based on Esri maps. ���This is a big deal for the location industry,��� said Geoloqi CEO Amber Case, who has been tapped to lead the Esri R&D Center���Portland. ���Not only will developers and enterprises have greater access to tools and capabilities, but we���ll be able to support larger markets than before and work very hard on providing the best experience for developers.��� D E C E M B E R 2 O 1 2 / W W W . G E O P L A C E . C O M 7