Weekly GEOINT Community News

American Space Renaissance Act Introduced; DigitalGlobe Completes First Phase of PSMA Australia Mapping Initiative; Dewberry Awarded USGS Contract

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American Space Renaissance Act Introduced

On April 12, Rep. James Bridenstine introduced a new space policy bill intended to update a wide range of civil, commercial, and national security space issues to keep the United States competitive, reports Space News. Bridenstine formally introduced the bill during his keynote address at the 32nd Space Symposium last week. The bill, named the American Space Renaissance Act, includes separate sections covering military, civil, and commercial policy topics such as changes to responsibilities for space situational awareness. Bridenstine said the bill is intended to start discussions on space policy issues and identify sections that can be added to other bills.

DigitalGlobe Completes First Phase of PSMA Australia Mapping Initiative

DigitalGlobe completed the first phase of a continent-scale mapping initiative that will enable Geoscape, a new information product from PSMA Australia to support Australia’s digital economy. Under the second phase, DigitalGlobe will leverage a range of geospatial technologies to map the locations and characterize the physical attributes of more than 15 million structures spread across the entire continent of Australia. PSMA Australia provides national geospatial data sets derived from authoritative sources for a range of public and private business uses. 

Dewberry Awarded USGS Contract for Geospatial Products & Services

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) selected Dewberry for a five-year geospatial products and services contract in support of USGS’s National Geospatial Program, which provides leadership for USGS coordination, production, and service activities. Under the contract, USGS will assign task orders to Dewberry, primarily requiring airborne LiDAR and IfSAR acquisition and processing, high-resolution topographic product generation, orthoimagery acquisition and processing, photogrammetric mapping, and cadastral surveying.

Red Hen Mobile App Used for Bat Research in Uganda

Red Hen Systems’ MediaMapper Mobile App for Android is helping a Colorado State University (CSU) research project dedicated to the study of bats and pathogens in Uganda. The project is funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in conjunction with CSU and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The team will use the app to locate, geo-tag, and photograph bats. The research findings will be presented to CSU, DITRA, and CDC to provide biosurveillance training to Ugandan partners and support bat biology and ecology research in Uganda.

Oracle Contributes to Computer Science Education

Oracle announced it plans to invest $200 million in direct and in-kind support for computer science education in the U.S. over the next 18 months. The company aims to reach more than 232,000 students across 1,100 U.S. institutions through Oracle Academy, the company’s computer science educational program. Oracle Academy will provide free academic curriculum, professional development for teachers, software, certification resources, and more.

Remote Sensing Market Expected to Grow

The global market for remote sensing products reached $8.4 billion in 2015, and is expected to reach nearly $8.9 billion in 2016 and $13.8 billion by 2021, according to a report by BCC Research. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 9.3 percent over the five-year period from 2016 to 2021.

Peer Intel

John D. Johns became vice president of business development and account executive for national agencies at KEYW. Johns has more than 25 years of experience in strategic business development in the international commercial, government, and intelligence markets.

The MITRE Corporation appointed Dr. Jay Schnitzer vice president and chief technology officer. Previously, he was director of biomedical sciences at MITRE, overseeing the organization’s internal health transformation research and development program.

Photo Credit: PSMA Australia 

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