Esri Geospatial Technology Promotes Local Food Systems in US

As part of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ongoing commitment to support local and regional food systems, it recently released the KYF2 Compass Map. The interactive, web-based map provides information about these food systems and is a component of the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass, announced by agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack and deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan of the USDA. The map uses Esri’s geographic information system (GIS) technology and web map services designed and developed by VSolvit LLC.

USDA originally launched the KYF2 initiative in 2009 to help revitalize rural communities by identifying the resources needed to grow, market, and distribute local food. The KYF2 Compass Map was created to carry that momentum forward by providing the public with a way to access information about where food is grown and the availability of local markets.

“USDA has shown how legacy GIS content can be rapidly organized to benefit broad groups of constituents,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri president. “We are pleased that USDA has mapped local food systems and extended the use of government data to all stakeholders."

The KYF2 Compass Map is deployed using Esri Managed Services. Future plans include updating and adding new datasets and offering dynamic map views and map services. As the map evolves, it will ultimately benefit farmers, educators, businesses, and other organizations by aggregating many sources of data about local and regional food supply chains.

Part of the USDA mission is to help build a national dialog about local food systems. To promote this dialog, Esri supports the Twitter campaign around the Compass and encourages those Twitter users involved with local food projects to include the hashtag #KYF2 when referring to the KYF2 initiative and talking about the KYF Compass and map.

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

VSolvit LLC (pronounced "We-Solve-It") is a leading provider of geospatial and information technology consulting services and solutions to the government and the private sector. VSolvit was recognized as the USDA Woman Owned Business of the Year in June 2011. VSolvit’s SBA Certified 8(a)/SDB, 8(m)/WOSB status and availability of GSA schedules enables government agencies to have rapid access to geospatial expertise for geospatially enabling their organizations. Please visit us at www.vsolvit.com.

Esri to Demonstrate Its Geospatial Technology at GEOINT 2011

Defense, intelligence, and national security professionals will get the opportunity to watch demonstrations of Esri's complete geospatial system for intelligence at the GEOINT 2011 Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, next week.

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation hosts GEOINT, which will be held

October 16–19, 2011, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

ArcGIS technology from Esri turns intelligence data into geographic knowledge that informs decision making for a wide range of missions. ArcGIS is a system for working with maps and geographic information that agencies use to fuse, analyze, visualize, exploit, and disseminate complex intelligence data.

"Esri's geospatial technology is uniquely qualified to handle many forms of intelligence such as data from satellite imagery and information collected using handheld devices," said Jack Dangermond, Esri president. "When analyzed and displayed using ArcGIS, subtle geographic patterns emerge from the intelligence that would otherwise be difficult to detect."

ArcGIS is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant system designed and engineered with interoperability in mind. It can be used on a variety of technology platforms including mobile devices, desktops, servers, and web browsers.

During GEOINT, Esri will demonstrate Portal for ArcGIS, a repository for geospatial content that operates behind a secure firewall or in a private cloud. It's similar to Esri's publicly available ArcGIS Online, the cloud-based geospatial content management system for storing and managing maps, data, and other geospatial information.

Portal for ArcGIS lets you access maps, templates, workflows, datasets, services, tools, and other geospatial content. You can also use the resources in the portal to create and share maps that others can access through a variety of platforms, such as mobile devices or custom applications.

"Portal for ArcGIS provides the same collaboration and sharing tools as ArcGIS Online but in a secure environment," Dangermond said. "Users inside an organization can quickly access the authoritative content and create intelligent maps and apps using templates and web mapping APIs."

Esri will be at booth #539. Stop by for briefings and demonstrations on how to

• Manage, visualize, analyze, and distribute geospatial intelligence using Esri's complete, open OGC-compliant enterprise geospatial system.
• Use ArcGIS to seamlessly process and incorporate imagery as an integral part of the geospatial enterprise.
• Exploit the latest in cloud, mobile, server, desktop, and online capabilities.
• Work with robust geospatial tools to manage and analyze data for field operations and situational awareness.
• Use ArcGIS technology to support Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response (HADR) operations launched after hurricanes, major earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
• Learn how ArcGIS technology provides a powerful analytic platform for understanding human geography.

GEOINT is considered the premier geospatial intelligence conference in the United States. The symposium drew more than 4,000 attendees last year.

Visit esri.com/intelligence to learn more about GIS in defense and intelligence.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.