| From the Publisher
By Roland Mangold It is not often that I will be found in agreement with Republican platforms, and quite frankly their view of America, and their concept of what "family values" should be, scares me. However I believe their proposal, as part of their Contract With America, to abolish the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has some merit. I do not agree in the total abolition of the USGS. However, I do see the Survey taking on a different role in the future.
The domain of the USGS in providing mapping and geographic information is rapidly being sucked into a world of commerce, private enterprise, and society in general. As we are being inextricably drawn into the Information Age, a government agency such as the USGS will become an impediment in the stream of geographic and spatial information flowing to a sea of millions of information hungry users from a myriad of disciplines.
I have nothing against the USGS. In fact, I hold their work, their contribution to America, and to the mapping and geosciences in the highest regard. But, we have grown beyond the need for a government agency to provide us with mapping products and services.
The USGS' role should become on e of establishing mapping standards, and initiating research in concert with industry and other government agencies. All too often, when it comes to scientific and applied research, the needs and desires of industry and the general public are not considered at all. Increasingly, we should see more research done with cooperation between government agencies, industry and academia. This way we ensure that all factions of society are being addressed.
The GeoTechnologies industry is growing up, and can no longer depend upon government to be responsive to their needs and desires. And, as for the rest of society, which is hurtling head long into the Information Age, it is going to require the type of information and responsiveness that can only be provided by the private sector.
The fear of displaced USGS jobs weighs heavy on the minds of the detractors of the GOP proposal. However, that is one of the painful sacrifices that must be made in the name of progress and the creation of a strong, viable industry. One of the major impediments in the acceptance of this technology is that most organizations lack the personnel to properly benefit from geographic or spatial information. The day is very near when most computers will have mapping and geographic capabilities as a part of the suite of software they are running. However, just having the mapping capability on everyone's desk is not the solution to universal acceptance of this technology because the problem is that the majority of Americans are not that familiar with geography. Indeed, they have difficulty reading maps, let alone creating sensible ones.
I feel that much of the mapping, geography and geology talent at the USGS is actually being wasted and is inhibiting the growth of the GeoTechnologies. We need to get these experts out into industry. into schools, and into society so they can start implementing this technology in every walk of life, and start teaching this stuff to kids so they can implement it when they get into the world.
Many staunch supporters of the USGS feel strongly that some research and information is so vital to the public good that it should remain in the domain of government agencies as opposed to private industry for fear that industry, which acts purely on greed, could hold society hostage by charging a fee for some critically important information or technology. Yet that some situation happens every day in the medical field where patients are paying large drug companies billions of dollars to stay alive and healthy.
This is a surprising argument for a country that cannot find its way to providing all of it's citizens with universal health care coverage. Yet, we seem to be willing to continue to subsidize the mapping, geographic and geologic information that ultimately benefits a very small portion of society. Those who benefit the most from the good work the USGS is doing, are researchers, scientists, academics, a rather sizable cadre of government agency employees, and a handful of mining and petroleum companies, who have much of their geographic, mapping and geologic information provided to them for a tiny fraction of what it would cost for them to develop.
Inadvertently, I hope, government has created a class of geographic information "Haves" and "Havenots." That is why something provided by government does not make it accessible to all of society. A free-enterprise, capitalistic system is much more democratic, and univeral, than something that is subsidized and run by government.
This is how the USGS is impeding the growth of the GeoTechnologies. I do not believe that this has been intentional - it is just how government works. The fact is a government agency will never be as responsive to the customer's needs as industry will. In general, just how responsive has government been to society's needs? I think it is more concerned with it's needs and wants as opposed to ours.
However, in a free-enterprise system, if there is a market for geographic and mapping information, you can bet that some enterprise business person will find a way to collect this information and sell it to all those who want it.
Let's open the system. Remove the impediments, and see how the free enterprise system will open the flow of geographic and Earth data to a world that will increasingly exhibit an insatiable thirst for information that will improve the way we live, work and play. Cheers!
Roland Mangold Back |
