High quality videos from the GeoDesign Summit are now online and free for viewing. There are some excellent presentations there from a variety of presenters. I’d like to point out the video of Michael Gallis as a good starting point. He delves into the definition of GeoDesign in the context of government decision making and points out the promise for a “truly meaningful” toolset with outcomes on policy. The tone and delivery are exhilarating as a rallying cry to speed the adoption.

Intelligent infrastructure combines sensors, network connectivity and software to monitor and analyze complex systems to uncover inefficiency and inform optimal operations. The sensor component collects operational detail over time as well as providing real-time inputs on current conditions. The network connectivity ensures the flow of information between systems, other sensors, and practitioners. The software component provides oversight and analysis, integrating insight from various systems and personnel. The approach incorporates the management of multiple processes for more collaborative and multidisciplinary workflows. Intelligence is constantly improving from such a system through incremental improvements that are informed through constant monitoring and analysis.

The idea of intelligent infrastructure has been around for a long time in one form or another. Early forays into real-time monitoring of systems include industrial control systems such as SCADA. What largely sets the newer concept of intelligent infrastructure apart is an advancement in sensors, systems and networks that enable us to go beyond simply monitoring. Instead of the more passive alarms when inputs exceed accepted norms, intelligent infrastructure is a more holistic approach that aims to model and manage with a greater understanding of the interconnectivity of systems and the implications of events.

Big Blue Leads the Way

IBM is well out in front of publicizing and practicing the concept of intelligent infrastructure with their Smarter Planet campaign and their SmarterCity initiative. The company trades on their large-scale integration work and their understanding of complex systems to promote this idea of instrumented, interconnected, and then intelligent systems.

At the core of this concept is the idea of a system of systems approach. In the complex urban core, it’s a combination of transportation, healthcare, economic development, public safety, energy and utilities, and education systems. Each of these individual systems is in themselves a system of multiple inputs from multiple sensors and systems. IBM asserts that it’s largely an issue of constant data collection and open data exchanges that yield smarts for these systems. The resulting repository yields the ability to see how things are performing and a clear picture on how to redeploy resources quickly in advance of any problems or failures.

IBM takes a partnership approach toward achieving their Smarter Planet goals, working with a number of geospatial players to map assets and analyze details geographically. IBM’s Maximo Spatial Asset Management system integrates with ESRI’s ArcGIS Server to incorporate the GIS view, display map content, provide geospatial querying capability, and read data direct from multiple geodatabases. The geospatial component is clearly needed, particularly in the complex environments of an urban setting, and location often acts as the glue to integrate disparate data and systems together.

Flexible and Responsive

Given the changes of rapid urbanization and the pressures to adapt to climate change, it’s imperative that we fine tune our systems to be more flexible and responsive. The concept of intelligent infrastructure is also strategically timed for great demographic shifts that will leave many high-level jobs vacant due to retirements. These systems can bridge the knowledge gap by recording and modeling best business practice and process in advance of losing legacy operational knowledge.

Examples of industry approaches that might qualify as “intelligent infrastructure” in my mind are:

• the skeletonization of water networks for better understanding of full-network issues
• intelligent traffic systems and sensors on bridges to measure and monitor performance
• the detailed use of spatial analysis for renewable energy siting and ongoing monitoring of in situ conditions for optimal energy generation
• more efficient building heating, cooling and lighting systems for energy conservation
• detailed underground models for more informed oil and gas extraction

In all the above examples, there is a considerable increase in infrastructure and mapping efforts, but the payoffs can also be huge. An energy savings of 40 percent translates into a lower energy bill, less of a dependence on foreign energy sources, and reduced emissions. Intelligent traffic can dramatically reduce drive times and congestion, while cutting down on carbon emissions. While the solutions themselves are smart, the investment is also smart because the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Unleashing Creativity

Given the cross-cutting nature of intelligent infrastructure, where operational data from multiple separate operations are combined, there’s a great deal of opportunity for creative approaches to problem solving. Instead of being constrained by traditional business silos, these new systems will unlock cross-organization information to reveal the inefficiencies that exist between different systems.

As the systems mature and much more is known about operations, solutions to problems can be tested almost as in a laboratory setting. With the sensor-based feedback, and the growing knowledge base, pilot projects can be tested and the great deal of data that is generated can be analyzed to determine any performance improvements.

Through the application of intelligent infrastructure, we can gain a much better handle on the materials and resources that our systems consume. This conservation-first approach will go a long way toward improving our efficiency for a more sustainable approach, and will greatly improve the way we manage and construct our built world.

Get Involved: The Geospatial Information & Technology Association will be exploring the geospatial dimension of intelligent infrastructure at their upcoming annual meeting in Phoenix in April. I’ll be acting as facilitator for discussions with the Industry Trends Analysis Group (ITAG) on Monday morning of the event. If this topic is of interest to you, be sure to become involved.

Additional Resources

IBM – A Smarter Planet Initiative

Intelligent Infrastructure Definition – University of Toronto, Dept. of Civil Engineering

Intelligent Infrastructure – Water Matters Blog at the Earth Institute at Columbia University

Fusion Core, the mapping system that combines Microsoft’s SharePoint Server with ESRI’s ArcGIS Server, is at the center of the security system developed for Super Bowl XLIV. The system brings together various data streams into one system and allows users to exchange documents, information and alerts.

The system, called Project Dolphin, enables multi-agency collaboration for situation response.

Read this story in Information Week for more details.

There’s an interesting and timely post in the online magazine On Windows that details a partnership between Microsoft and ESRI to create a Fusion Center, which aims to help first responders share real-time data, collaborate, and display information visually on interactive Bing maps and SharePoint-based tools. The solution addresses the need to make sense of a great deal of digital information, to act on the most important details, to analyze the information for trends, and to record and monitor that information through time.

The title of the story is “Technology Lessons from Haiti,” pointing to the need to quickly analyze information from an evolving event so that informed decisions may be made quickly. The issue of data sharing and analysis during times of emergency response is a growing area of concentration, and an area of focus at Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Safety Symposium that took place in Redmond, Washington last week.

Microsoft and ESRI launched the Fusion Core Solution this past July, and have packaged it to be fully scalable so it can be deployed by the smallest of agencies at low cost, but also be capable of meeting the needs of large federal agencies.

The Massachusetts Commonwealth Fusion Center is an early adapter of the Fusion Core Solution and the agency depends on the offering for a number of capabilities, including:

• Managed Intake — Preloaded and fully customizable forms for processing, assigning, and satisfying many different types of intelligence and information service requests
• Enterprise Search — Provides tools to search across multiple data sources including file shares, Web sites, and databases
• Robust Geodatabases — The ability to easily capture, maintain, and disseminate spatial data using the ArcGIS geodatabase
• Integrated Analytics—Powerful search and preconfigured geospatial analysis capabilities that are extendable to integrate new or existing applications
• Analyst Collaboration—Integrated capabilities to enable analyst and customer collaboration using Web sites, wikis, and blogs
• Robust Security — Can be integrated with existing authentication and auditing systems or can provide these capabilities out of the box
• Tools for Managing Operations — Powerful management reporting capabilities for managing analyst staffing and monitoring center activities

The Securities and Exchange Commission made a ruling yesterday that requires all public companies to warn investors of any serious risks that they face due to global warming. The agency in the past has required disclosure of financial and legal requirements of other environmental challenges, but this is a sweeping ruling that ushers in a whole new era of global awareness as related to the interface between the economy and the environment.

“The S.E.C., on a party-line 3-2 vote, issued “interpretive guidance” to help companies decide when and whether to disclose matters related to climate change. The commission said that companies could be helped or hurt by climate-related lawsuits, business opportunities or legislation and should promptly disclose such potential impacts. Banks or insurance companies that invest in coastal property that could be affected by storms or rising seas, for example, should disclose such risks.”

Read more about this ruling in this story in the New York Times.

With this step of protecting investors against this risk come increased needs to assess and monitor global-scale changes as well as the changes within the holding of individual companies spread across broad geographies. This ruling sets in motion an entirely new level of utility for geographic information system investment within large organizations, where they’ll need to inventory assets and plug into global change models to understand the impacts on those assets.

The World Resources Simulation Center is an idea that is envisioned as “an immersive visualization facility where leaders get educated and gain insights, see trends and scenarios of future options, and can then make more sustainable choices and act on them quicker.” The concept is coming together under the leadership of Peter Miesen of the Global Energy Network Institute (GENI).

For 20 years, GENI has advocated Buckminster Fuller’s World Game simulation approach to analyze and visualize the interconnection of electric grids between nations with an emphasis on tapping abundant renewable energy resources. GENI has worked with the San Diego State University VizLab to develop a 12 layered visualization of global energy options among other geovisualization projects, but now senses a growing urgency to accelerate the process..

The group hosted a prototype event with 40 partners and institutions, and the session is documented in the video below. The team is now working towards an ongoing demonstration facility and is seeking partners and support for this work. If you’re interested in contributing to this important effort, or simply want to know more about this concept, be sure to visit the World Resources Simulation Center website.

HP Labs recently announced a project that they’re calling the Central Nervous System for the Earth (CeNSE), “consisting of a trillion nanoscale sensors and actuators embedded in the environment and connected via an array of networks with computing systems, software and services to exchange their information among analysis engines, storage systems and end users.”

The concept echoes thoughts that have existed in the geospatial community for years, and closely match Jack Dangermond’s concept of the “nervous system for the planet” that dates back to the 2001 ESRI User Conference. I also recall the writings of Vincent Tao from 2003 and before about the build-out of the sensor web with nanoscale sensors that will be distributed like dust.

It’s great to see these concepts turn from ideas into action. HP is suggesting a global deployment of nano-scale sensors that number in the trillions. IBM is also deploying sensor webs in their branded campaign for “Building a Smarter Planet,” with projects that are deploying local sensor webs for such things as traffic management and river water quality monitoring.

It’s clear that the there’s now good momentum for realizing the vision for the smarter management of our planet through sensors and systems. It will be fascinating to see the concept evolve and new players emerge. There are also incredible political ramifications for a more monitored planet with issues that have yet to be debated on a global scale.

Read this blog post from the Read Write Web for more details on the HP Labs initiative.

Mapping as espionage is a concept that can’t be escaped even though technological advancements are slowly making this advantage obsolete. We are reminded of this as the Chinese refuse to be measured and monitored for their carbon emissions, showing a reluctance to be mapped based on security concerns. The strategic nature of mapping has become far less critical given the advance of geospatial technologies, yet there are still those left behind in pre-Internet thinking.

The fact is that we can and do measure the Earth from space. We have highly detailed and continuously updated maps of the entire planet in aggregate, and we’re on a path to add more and more sensors. If we continue on the rapidly expanding capacity of earth observation, it won’t be long before we have real-time data for the whole of the globe.

Refusing to be mapped and measured ignores the reality of current and coming earth observation, remote sensing, and mapping technologies. A Cold War mentality of life behind walls doesn’t exist anymore. It’s far more constructive to embrace the reality of transparency, and work to enhance the reliability and impartiality of measurement technology with a broad international science and technology team. A greatly enhanced Global Earth Observation System of Systems that is built on an open platform could greatly accelerate the realization of the Digital Earth vision, and China is at the forefront in advocating that vision.

The idea that it’s bad if you’re mapping me will certainly not go away. Clandestine operations are a political reality. However, coming together on whole earth mapping, modeling and monitoring goes way beyond the security of individual nations toward the security of our planet to sustain humankind.

While whole planet thinking is the aim and intent of Copenhagen, it’s a difficult concept given geopolitical perspectives. An awareness of technological capabilities, and the beneficial outcomes of a whole-Earth system of systems, could go a long way in reinforcing the realization that all countries need to come together for the stewardship of our planet.

Northrop Grumman has agreed to sell its TASC government consulting business to the private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and General Atlantic for $1.65 Billion. This follows the spin-off of CH2M Hill’s information technology group to Golden Gate Capital in October as a separate entity now called Critigen. The large multi-year government contracts of these firms made them attractive targets with stable revenue streams.

Both groups had considerable geospatial consulting arms, with TASC’s 5,000 employees much larger than the 700 employees at Critigen. In July TASC received the contract for a $43.5 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide systems engineering, integration, production, fielding and logistics for the U.S. Marine Corps’s geospatial intelligence support.

In the case of Northrop, the sale was predicated by stricter requirements for government military contractors that stipulate that the companies cannot provide consulting services to the government while also selling it products. Northrop explored other options, including a spin-off with an IPO, before choosing the equity firm buyout route.

The activity speaks to improved credit markets more than anything else. The technology integrators have made great headway in the geospatial space, and that trend is likely to continue under new ownership. The scale of projects are on the rise as these tools are being applied to larger and more complex global change issues. The larger firms provide a good foundation for large-scale systems in the government space.

An important report was released by the National Science Foundation last week that tackles the question of understanding and anticipating how the Earth will be transformed in the future. The NSF’s Advisory Committee for the Geosciences tackled broad-ranging topics of resource depletion, energy sustainability, environmental degradation and climate change in a report titled, “GEO Vision: Unraveling Earth’s Complexities through Geosciences.”

The report acknowledges that the Earth has undergone dramatic alterations in the past, and asserts a need for more scientific tools and evidence to understand how the Earth will transform in the future. The report asserts that the geosciences are a critical discipline for identifying the influences that might transform our planet, and more geoscience research is needed to gauge their potential impacts.

The report summarizes a number of recommendations, and summarizes the challenges ahead for the geosciences as:

The full report can be downloaded here in PDF form.