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Geography Matters: Spatial Data Key to Innovation Policy
Christopher Hire | August 7, 2009This understanding is crucial to our outlook at 2thinknow, where it has been integral to the development of the innovation cities index and program.
Google, as a smart global business, also knows this.
In the mid-20th century Geography departments of Universities were gutted, and many branches of the social science made less prominent. Perhaps this was due to a new base of theory, and Modernist confidence that we could build solutions to city and regional problems.
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Managing the Supply Chain for Reliable Spatial Information
Michael Dixon | August 7, 2009PSMA Australia Limited is an unlisted public company, limited by shares. It was established under Australia’s corporation’s law and is wholly owned by the State and Territory governments, and the Australian Government (collectively called Jurisdictions) each with a single share. PSMA Australia’s primary goal is to coordinate the development and maintenance of fundamental national datasets using the information resources of government and increasingly, non-government entities.
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Spatial Infrastructure for a Competitive Economy
Martin Nix | August 7, 2009Although a few blogs have highlighted the value of spatial information to our economy, it’s worth commenting about an aspect of spatial information that contributes to our economic competitiveness.
Three significant Australian industries are major contributors to Australia’s GDP: agriculture, mining and construction. Mining and agriculture are the most significant contributors to export revenue and are also taking significant steps to improve sustainability practices. Looking into the spatial industry’s efforts to leverage these industries, in particular, with better spatial infrastructure would be an indicator of the spatial industry’s contribution to Australia’s economic competitiveness.
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GAP Forum calls for a more competitive urban water market
alison gordon | August 6, 2009
As Project Manager for the GAP Forum on Urban Water Reform, in partnership with the Allen Consulting Group, I am very pleased with the final report of recommendations, officially launched on Tuesday, 4 August 2009, in Parliament House, Canberra by the Hon. Dr Mike Kelly AM MP. -
Politics & Spatial Information
Gary Nairn | August 4, 2009Almost 20 years ago, as a surveyor in private practice, and as someone who had a passing interest in politics, I presented a paper at a surveying conference, titled “Surveying the Political Landscape”.
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Taxing the poor to pay for teeth
John.Humphreys | August 4, 2009Raising the Medicare levy to fund Denticare could place a disproportionate burden on low income earners.
In the middle of a global recession, the government is considering a regressive increase in income tax.
Specifically, they want to increase the marginal tax rate by 8.5 percent for low-income workers and by 0.75 percent for everybody else.
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UncategorisedVOICES FROM AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST
editor | August 3, 2009Lynette Mwangi exposes the political shenanigans and environmental disaster which is Kenya’s Mau Forest swindle. Faiza Alaraji updates us on life at home in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Sikni Hamka wonders about how the diplomacy of opportunism will impact upon Australian business as a result of that invasion. Leila Mouri doubts Iranian feminism will benefit from all the President’s women in Ahmadinejad’s new cabinet.
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Location Based Services of the Future
Warwick Watkins | August 3, 2009As with many areas of online service delivery, spatial information is becoming an increasingly important aspect of our daily lives.
Where once we reached for the street map atlas, now we have in-car, voice-mediated, global positioning systems guiding us to our destination. This is one area where the move
away from paper based services to online technology has certainly moved ahead of the game as location based services are commonly provided via computers, mobile telephones and PDA deices. -
Moti and Hu: Do the Charges fit their Crimes?
Susan Merrell | July 31, 2009Montesquieu would turn in his grave.
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License to Drive in the Digital Economy
joanneryan | July 29, 2009In the digital economy, teaching people to drive should be given as much significance as the road building.
The announcement by Telstra that they will be charging for over the counter and mail bill payments is food for thought about what the digital economy will mean for those citizens left behind in the rush to roll out the NBN and the technology that follows across Australia.
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How do we Celebrate Giving?
Peter Fritz | July 28, 2009Big figures are not the key indicator to recognising generosity; and all generous giving should be honoured in the interest of encouraging more of it.
In My Fair Lady, the exchange between Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle speaks volumes about the relative value of a shilling.
