| From the Publisher
By Roland Mangold The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
One can apply this title of the 1970's Clint Eastwood movie to virtually any aspect of life. The GeoTechnologies are no exception, but neither do they necessarily constitute a preponderance to such a description. Certainly, I am not implying that an entire industry can be classified by a title of a movie. This description does, however, provide a common reference from which I can apply my perspective, which can be both vitriolic and felicitous and apply this characterization to various incidents that I have experienced in this industry over the last few months.
Since it's my editorial, I beg your indulgence by taking things out of order and begin with the "bad." I may have come to deserve a reputation in this industry for a penchant to speak out and adopt unpopular positions, especially on those issues others in this industry choose not to address. My nomination for this self-imposed dubious distinction occurred as a result of an e-mail responding to my editorial in our February 2001 issue. This letter, from Mr. Thomas A. Heller of Regional Analytic Sciences in Seattle, Wash., follows: "Dear Mr. Mangold:
I read your letter from the publisher in EOM's Feb. 2001 issue ("Will the NSDI Become "Bush"-whacked?".)
I quote "It seems Bush's economic plan is as muddled today as it was during his campaign, and that he does not possess the perspicacity to understand and manage several abstract concepts simultaneously. So it is unlikely that he will comprehend the importance of a complex project such as the NSDI."
Is your logic function so impaired as to expect your quite unflattering (need I say condescending?) Views will have no effect on the federal government's willingness to provide funds for the NSDI?
I suggest you have someone with less of a political ax to grind edit out the irrelevancies included in your work before you rush off to the printing press.
Your attitude exudes a "we're so well-educated that we know best how to spend taxpayer dollars" attitude. Your federal government-centric perspective I think undermines whatever case or merits lie in an NSDI, but also greatly overlooks the potential voice (and resources) of local and state governments who arguably have as large, if not greater, stake in developing NSDI policies, standards and Procedures."
Ahhh! . . . Thank you Mr. Heller. That's like a refreshing slap in the face. I responded that I am actually not that "educated" but simply rely on a thesaurus, I like to get a little controversial from time to time just to get a rise out of the industry, and that I cannot imagine anyone in the federal government giving a damn about what I have to say. I will accept the "bad" moniker as a result of this, as well as other editorial transgressions committed over the past several years.
The "good" and the "ugly" nominees are both derived from my recent visit to the GITA conference in San Diego. What I would classify as a "good" in this industry is the emergence of a new cadre of aerial imaging data providers.
ISTAR, Visual Intelligence, Airphoto USA, Kodak's CITIPIX, Emerge, and Terra Remote Sensing, are among them. I lack the space here to review individual capabilities and accomplishments of each of these companies, and I beg forgiveness from those I failed to mention. These are the brave new souls who are changing the nature of the Earth imaging business. Many look to high-resolution satellite companies to revolutionize this industry, and there is no doubt that they are having a significant impact on the growth of the imagery markets. But everyone knows that satellites cannot meet all of our future, or even existing, demands for data. Indeed, we are increasingly seeing these two worlds - satellite and aerial imaging - coming together, a factor that was underscored by the announcement that Space Imaging will become a distributor for Kodak's CITIPIX program (see related article in this issue on page 9).
The "Ugly" element of my characterization also came from the GITA conference. My first impression was more "obnoxious" than "ugly." Adopting a "Survivors" TV-series theme with an Outback motif - complete with booth personnel attired in khaki shorts, safari shirts, and Aussie hats with the brim pinned-up to one side. These characters looked about as ridiculous as those preppie Ivy school guys in the takeoff of the Budweiser "Whasss uuuup!" commercial pretending to be the "Crocodile Hunter." It's not enough that they assaulted our eyes and ears with the bad taste of poorly spoofing what is already on the lowest rung of our popular culture. But then, we had to endure snide remarks, heckles and rude comments by the Convergent Group "hired" talent who, I assume, were hired from an outside firm because surely not even Convergent Group's employees would be dumb enough to be so rude to their customers and other industry professionals.
At last year's GITA, Convergent Group adopted the theme of another popular cultural phenomenon by imitating the "Austin Powers" movie series, complete with a bucktoothed, mop-topped idiot. It was just as obnoxious, and I can only imagine that next year they'll continue in their vain of satirizing movies - perhaps this time it will be a more appropriate "Dumb and Dumber" takeoff?
Frankly, there are no dummies in the executive offices at Convergent Group. With the aid of what must have been smoke and mirrors, they went public last year through an IPO, and then shortly afterward were miraculously acquired by Schlumberger. Convergent Group shareholders must be laughing all the way to the bank - one would almost suspect that the whole thing was orchestrated in advance. And in keeping with the titled theme, this is the cue for the Clint Eastwood character to ride in "spaghetti-western" style and clean up the town's corruption. Until next time . . .
Cheers!
Roland Mangold
Publisher, EOM
E-mail: [email protected] Back |
