Miscellaneous

Have some GeoNews that doesn't fit in another category? Here's the place. Try to keep it at least somewhat on topic.

Miscellaneous

Digital Mapping Duopoly

January 15, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Digital Mapping Duopoly

By way of Geology.com, the Wall Street Journal reports on some interesting news related to GPS and even our beloved Google Maps / Google Earth. Apparently there are only two games in town when it comes to data providers for online and digital mapping products that are used by the aformentioned software as well as your GPS navigation system: Netherlands-based Tele Atlas NV, and Chicago-based Navteq Corp. (Photo by Websteria)

In October, Nokia bought Navteq for …wait for it… $8.1 billion. They plan to use the technology as the basis for a business model involving selling advertising tied to your phone’s location. A month later TomTom, a maker of GPS products, beat out rival Garmin and bought Tele Atlas for $4.2 billion. Were either of these companies really worth that much money? It doesn’t appear like it. Thus concern has been raised that the new owners of the technology might be in a position to hurt competitors by raising prices. We will have to see how things pan out. 

 

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Miscellaneous

ASCE Geo-Institute Reports on Trends Affecting the Geo-Community

December 19, 2007 rockman Comments Off on ASCE Geo-Institute Reports on Trends Affecting the Geo-Community

In July of 2007 a virtual who’s who of the Geo-community gathered at the headquarters of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for a workshop to discuss the Trends Affecting the Geo-community. Yesterday the ASCE released a report on the workshop titled: Trends Affecting the Geo-Community: What Does the Future Hold, edited by Peter Smeallie. More details after the break.

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Miscellaneous

Nevada’s Yucca Mountain Case Versus DOE Thrown Out

December 14, 2007 rockman Comments Off on Nevada’s Yucca Mountain Case Versus DOE Thrown Out

The State of Nevada lost a major battle in their attempt to block the US Department of Energy’s attempt at licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The panel of judges in the case threw it out after a week of oral arguments by the State. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, the Judge’s  ruling stated "Nevada’s legal position is incorrect."

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Miscellaneous

More Free Online Journal Access from Springer

November 21, 2007 rockman 3

Springer is the publisher of a number of geo-industry journals. They have recently sent an email notifying of free access to  various Hydrogeology journals. But I have found out that their definition of Hydrogeology is rather broad, and the free access applies to a number of journals such as… 

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Miscellaneous

URS Completes $3.1 Billion Buyout

November 19, 2007 rockman Comments Off on URS Completes $3.1 Billion Buyout

URS Corp. has completed the buyout of Washington Group International Inc. for $3.1 billion in cash and stock. I saw the buyout listed as $3.2 billion somewhere else…hey, what’s another $100 million, right? Read more about the deal.

I used to work for URS, and we used to joke about their seemingly continuous acquisition of companies. Hence the Borg reference in the image I created at left.

"We are URS. You will be assimilated. Your engineering and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own." — Martin Koffel (just kidding)

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Miscellaneous

Happy Birthday Karl Terzaghi!

October 2, 2007 rockman Comments Off on Happy Birthday Karl Terzaghi!

I got an email from my fellow geo-webmaster at Dan Brown and Associates, Robert Thompson wishing me and his other geotechnical colleagues a "Happy Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday!" so I thought I would pass it on […]

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Miscellaneous

Senate OKs $1B to repair US bridges

September 13, 2007 rockman Comments Off on Senate OKs $1B to repair US bridges

From AP by way of CentreDaily.com and the ADSC:  The Senate approved $1 billion on Monday to speed repair and replacement of America’s crumbling network of bridges, six weeks after the Interstate 35W span collapsed […]

Miscellaneous

Tensar Plans Initial Public Offering

September 10, 2007 rockman Comments Off on Tensar Plans Initial Public Offering

Tensar Corp., makers of geosynthetic products for the construction industry, including geotextiles, geogrid, and geocomposite drains, has filed the paperwork with the SEC for an initial public offering (IPO) of common stock that could have an offering price of over $200 million. [more…]

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Figure 1 This cut slope in massive, unfractuired conglomerate was smooth blasted. Treatment consisted of only drill trace removal on the main slope, but ledges were cut in natural boulder lenses at the cut end where similar features are in the adjoining natural terrain.
Miscellaneous

FHWA State Geotechnical Workshops

August 28, 2007 rockman Comments Off on FHWA State Geotechnical Workshops

The FHWA has recently updated its geotechnical engineering site related to their annual State Geotechnical Workshops. All regions with the exception of the Southwest have their Workships this September and October. The next Southwest Geotechnical Engineers Conference will be in April of 2008. The 2007 SGEC was on April 23 – 27, 2007 in Overland Park, Kansas. They have posted PDF versions of the presentations at the conference on their FTP site. Read on for the dates of the upcoming workshops, as well as a link to the FHWA site and the presentation downloads.

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