GIS Technology

The device is the latest move by the Time Warner Inc. subsidiary to extend its brand beyond the Internet in the face of new competition from Yahoo! Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Siemens AG, is working on a system to send text messages to precise locations rather than to individual cell phones. Any GPS-compatible phone that’s passing through the coordinates would receive the message.

The Web’s New Math Is Geography

It is the middle of the night on a farm in the American Midwest, and a tractor is spraying pesticides, guided by GPS. GPS guidance of farm and construction machinery has been growing since the late 1990s, and allows farmers to work more efficiently around the clock.

Richland County Sheriff Brad Baisch said that he isn’t interested in having mobile units in his department’s vehicles at this point. He feels it will be more effective to have the dispatcher use the system and then have the dispatcher provide directions to officers.

"GPS was designed by the military for guiding missiles," he said. "It performs poorly in urban areas where buildings block the view of satellites, and it doesn’t provide any coverage inside of buildings."

"Since [calltakers] are often providing a life-saving service, it is important for them to quickly find the most accessible help for the caller. We are proud that our technical expertise and software will help make that possible," ESRI President Jack Dangermond said.

"We help automate things that they didn’t think were able to be automated in the past,"

As it turns out, Google charts each point on its maps by latitude and longitude — that’s how Google can produce driving directions to practically anywhere in the nation. Seasoned developers have figured out how to match these points with locations from outside databases that can contain vast amounts of information — anything from police blotters to real-estate listings.

The ability to zero in on a particular gully during a fireand tell what fuels are there is more of a side benefit, said Bruce Jeske, LANDFIRE’s Montana-based project manager.