Today, GIS enables the mapping of locations and objects, the placement of intelligence into the objects and the use of tools and applications to derive knowledge from this converged data, often for the public good. Take AIDS.gov, for example. AIDS.gov is an internet portal for all Federal domestic HIV and AIDS resources and information, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services.

On August 1, 2007, the I-35 W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed injuring 144 people and killing 13. The official accident report cites the cause for collapse as poor quality control, insufficient design review procedures, and a lack of due diligence in weight monitoring of construction equipment parked on the bridge. Investigative reporter, Bill Dedman, reported the immediately available details of the accident noting the bridge had recently been rated Among the Nation’s Worst. In 2007, the I-35 bridge ranked barely better than 4% of the nation’s bridges.

Tomorrow, April 22, is Earth Day 2011 and the global organizers of this annual celebration of our planet are once again asking us all to make a pledge to help achieve “a billion acts of green.” Now, we all know that, as the U.S. economy’s largest consumer of energy, the Federal government is grappling with significant energy issues – but it’s not all bad news. From the multiple benefits of cloud computing, building information modeling (BIM), virtualization, and smart grids to simple acts like putting lighting controls in the hands of office workers, the federal government is already achieving specific gains in its sustainability and green efforts as mandated 2009’s Executive Order 13514. So, in honor of Earth today we picked our “best of” articles and insights that show just how the public sector (and those that serve it), with the help of technology, can and is, going green.

Good day [acronym]! I’m excited to be posting live from the Autodesk Make Your Most Amazing Ideas Happen Virtual Event – from my desk in Herndon, VA. Our good friend, Autodesk Technical Evangelist, Lynn Allen, recently posted about her presentation on AutoCAD 2012. Right now, I’m exploring all virtual aspects of the event including the exhibit hall, auditorium and industry specific resources. Here is a shot of the main exhibit hall where you can find an Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Plant & Government booth in the upper left hand corner.

Earth Day 2011 is on April 22 but Google Earth Day is taking place all week long and is showcasing just how government agencies are putting Google Earth to work, for the good of our planet!

This blog entry was submitted by Nancy Mann Jackson. Nancy Mann Jackson is a freelance journalist who writes regularly about local government and sustainability issues. Learn more about her at www.nancyjackson.com. As local and state governments grapple with changing environmental stormwater regulations, some face lawsuits over their stormwater policies. But others, approaching stormwater control from an economic development angle, are finding MS4 solutions that do more than just meet EPA regulations; they also help build stronger communities.

Who doesn’t love AutoCAD? But if you are looking for a tool that lets you more easily communicate your visual ideas without a steep learning curve and huge investment then Autodesk Design Suite Premium might be for you. Developed for designers and architects, Autodesk Design Suite Premium combines the benefits of AutoCAD software with enhanced sketching, concept design and best-in-class 3D visualization – in the familiar AutoCAD workflow. The good thing about the “Suite” concept is that Autodesk is making it these “add-ons” available at a price 44% less than you would expect to pay for the the individual products that make up the suite (AutoCAD 2011, Autodesk 3ds Max Design, Showcase and Alias Sketch).

Hi, everyone. Join me at the Autodesk Virtual Event on April 20th where I will be showing everyone the new features inside of AutoCAD 2012. My session, Explore the World of AutoCAD 2012, is at 9:00 AM PDT and I will be showing some of my favorite features like Model Documentation, 2D and 3D Associative Arrays and Overkill – yes, now it’s a real live command! Those are just a few of my favorites.

Hi, everyone. Join me at the Autodesk Virtual Event on April 20th where I will be showing everyone the new features inside of AutoCAD 2012. My session, Explore the World of AutoCAD 2012, is at 9:00 AM PDT and I will be showing some of my favorite features like Model Documentation, 2D and 3D Associative Arrays and Overkill – yes, now it’s a real live command! Those are just a few of my favorites.

On March 11, 2011, the world’s gaze turned toward Japan when a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami laid waste to Japan’s northeastern coast, costing thousands of lives and potentially causing a nuclear event at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power. While the world was glued to the TV and internet, watching the disaster and human interest stories unfold, two of the top geospatial satellites currently in orbit, GeoEye-1 and IKONOS, were chronicling the disaster from a very different vantage point – and potentially saving precious hours and millions of dollars in disaster recovery and re-build efforts. Thanks to the updated satellite images, GeoEye was able to gather and disseminate to the government of Japan, other relief agencies, and even companies like Google, the hardest hit regions could be picked out, and recovery plans were able to be made more accurately than ever before. With the ability to implement the new data in mapping technologies, routes that were flooded or otherwise impassable were avoided without wasting time and resources that would have come with a trial and error approach required in the past.