The Harlow Report-GIS
2025 Edition
ISSN 0742-468XSince 1978
On-line Since 2000
GIS News Snippets
For the week of
June 9, 2025
Remember When?
A “Harlow Report” From June 10, 2024
7 Maps That Illustrate the History of the World
by Darren Orf
When the first mapmakers etched the known world into stone, they were completely unaware that their “world” was only a mere fraction of the planet's surface.
As knowledge grew, so did the sophistication of maps, whether showcasing the complexity of our cartographic skills or newly discovered regions of the globe. Eventually, mapmakers' attempts to capture the world on paper evolved into the satellite maps of today, which are so accurate they can give turn-by-turn directions to the grocery store.
These seven historical maps act as a journey through our understanding of the world, each providing an intimate snapshot of the era in which they were made. Some represent cutting-edge mathematics or up-to-date geographic information, while others are a reflection of the very minds that made them, capturing a specific moment in time.
Read full story at History Facts…
'US, China, India Can All Fit Into Africa': On a Quest to Fix the World Map
by Shola Lawal
Commonly used projections shrink the size of Africa, but experts have long debated whether creating a precise map is possible.
When Abimbola Ogundairo saw a pretty wooden map she thought would be great decor for her walls, she did something most regular buyers wouldn't think of: She messaged the manufacturers with a simple, yet charged question.
“Which map projection did you use?” she asked, referring to the method of representing maps on a flat plane.
The sellers never responded, but Ogundairo suspected they used a problematic projection. Discouraged, she refused to place an order.
Ogundairo's obsession with map projections is not random. The 28-year-old is leading an African-led campaign to get more of global institutions and schools to immediately stop using the Mercator Map projection — the most common version of the world map that is generally recognised — because it shrinks Africa, and much of the Global South, while disproportionately enlarging the rich and powerful regions of the world.
Greenland, for example, is shown to be relatively the same size as Africa, but, in reality, can fit in the continent 14 times over. Europe, portrayed as bigger than South America, is actually half its size.
Read full story at Aljazeera…
Autodesk Updates Forma With Seamless GIS-BIM Workflow
by Jeff Yoders
During the American Institute of Architects' 2025 Conference held in Boston June 3, Autodesk released ArcGIS for Forma, a public beta for a cloud-based connection that links up Esri's ArcGIS and Autodesk's Forma design environment.
“What customers are able to do with this update is incorporate a wide array of contextual geographic data from ArcGIS, which includes buildings, zoning, roads, boundaries, imagery, a huge amount of data,” said Carl Christensen, vice president of product at Autodesk. Christensen is also the co-founder of start-up Spacemaker, whose software became the basis of Forma after Autodesk acquired the firm. “From a Forma perspective, that allows architects and planners to gather insights early in the design process. That's been our mission for a long time. To set up your project in the best possible way.”
Read full story at ENR…
How GIS Is Becoming Essential for Railways
by Esri
Today, railways are only just beginning to tap into the full potential of GIS, writes Erik Henderson, Esri Solutions' Director Rail Industry Solutions.
Railways operate across large, complex environments, where tracking assets, improving safety and enhancing efficiency are all crucial. Historically, geographic information systems (GIS) have been used to support mapping of their extensive infrastructure, however they can offer so much more. GIS technology tends beyond mapping — it encompasses spatial analytics, predictive maintenance, data-driven decision-making and much more. It's likely you've been collecting huge amounts of data from your trains, switches and localised sensors — data that can be used in many more ways to optimise your operations. Here are five examples of the ways GIS can be used to further optimise rail safety and efficiency, as well as maximise value.
Read full story at Railway News…
Revolutionize Indoor Mapping with NavVis: Precision Meets Innovation
by Drew Lawson
Unlock the Future of Indoor Mapping: How NavVis Technology Delivers Unmatched Accuracy and Efficiency for Complex Spaces.
NavVis Indoor Mapping Technology represents a cutting-edge solution for capturing, visualizing, and managing indoor spatial data. Unlike traditional mapping systems that focus on outdoor environments, NavVis specializes in the complexities of indoor spaces, providing high-precision 3D mapping and digital twin creation for buildings, factories, and large facilities. The technology leverages advanced mobile mapping devices equipped with LiDAR sensors, high-resolution cameras, and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to generate accurate, photorealistic representations of interior environments in real time.
A key advantage of NavVis technology is its ability to rapidly scan large indoor areas with minimal disruption to ongoing operations. The resulting data can be accessed and navigated through intuitive web-based platforms, enabling stakeholders to remotely explore, measure, and annotate spaces as if they were physically present.
Read full story at Macnifico…
Welsh Football Club's New Stadium Invited GIS and BIM to Play
by Kathleen Kewley
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's revitalization of historic Wrexham stadium showcases innovative GIS and BIM integration.
Ramboll's pilot integration of BIM and GIS technologies on the Wrexham stadium transformed siloed workflows between design and environmental teams, allowing them to collaborate seamlessly, visualize designs in geographic context, and efficiently track issues before construction began.
Key Takeaways
- The Wrexham stadium revitalization preserves the community's heritage and creates a sustainable venue with modern amenities.
- The project demonstrates the benefits of integrating two vital infrastructure technologies: GIS and BIM.
- GIS gives crucial location context to building plans and models.
Read full story at Esri Blog…
Industry News
In Government
Addressing Data Challenges in Local Government AI Adoption
by Sarjoo Shah
Organizations are overwhelmed with large amounts of data from different sources, making data management a common challenge for AI development. As organizations and chief data officers continue to integrate these technologies, there needs to be a plan for identifying and standardizing data integrity throughout the extraction process, ensuring that cleaned data is optimized for AI consumption.
In the evolving world of artificial intelligence (AI), data quality is paramount. Large language model (LLM) performance and trustworthiness rely on the richness and accuracy of data. However, many local governments struggle to adopt advanced technology simply because their data isn't ready.
Organizations are overwhelmed with large amounts of data from different sources, making data management a common challenge for AI development. As organizations and chief data officers (CDOs) continue to integrate these technologies, there needs to be a plan for identifying and standardizing data integrity throughout the extraction process, ensuring that cleaned data is optimized for AI consumption.
Read full story at American City& County…
California to Get New Planned Supercomputer
by Alexandra Kelley
The latest public-private sector collaboration between the Department of Energy, NVIDIA and Dell brings the new Doudna supercomputer to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to pursue advancements across emerging tech and scientific fields.
The public and private sectors have once again come together to support a new “game-changing” supercomputing installation at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which will be called “Doudna.”
Doudna is due in 2026 and will be powered by liquid-cooled hardware from Dell and Vera-Rubin central-and general-processing unit software from NVIDIA. These technologies will work in conjunction to advance the scientific work conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley lab, including artificial intelligence training and testing; quantum computing research;molecular dynamics and high energy physics work; and others.
Major players from industry and government, including NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Dell Senior Vice President Paul Perez and Energy Secretary Chris Wright met in Berkeley to unveil Doudna and discuss its future workloads.
The name of the new supercomputer honors Jennifer Doudna, a 2020 Nobel Laureate in chemistry and current partner at Lawrence Berkeley.
Read full story at Route Fifty…
DOJ CIO Announces Departure From Agency
by Edward Graham
The Justice Department' chief information officer has left the agency after almost five years overseeing its IT efforts.
Melinda Rogers announced her departure in a Friday LinkedIn post, writing that her exit comes as her children prepare to head for college — a milestone that, she said, also marks “a shift enabling me to do something different.”
“It has been a privilege serving my country through my work here at DOJ, and I sincerely appreciate all the partnerships and friendships along the way,” Rogers added. “I look forward to staying connected and starting on a new milestone.”
Rogers first joined DOJ in 2010 and served as the agency's deputy CIO and chief information security officer before being named CIO in September 2020.
Read full story at NextGov/FCW…
In Technology
Addressing Data Challenges in Local Government AI Adoption
by Sarjoo Shah
Organizations are overwhelmed with large amounts of data from different sources, making data management a common challenge for AI development
In the evolving world of artificial intelligence (AI), data quality is paramount. Large language model (LLM) performance and trustworthiness rely on the richness and accuracy of data. However, many local governments struggle to adopt advanced technology simply because their data isn't ready.
Organizations are overwhelmed with large amounts of data from different sources, making data management a common challenge for AI development. As organizations and chief data officers (CDOs) continue to integrate these technologies, there needs to be a plan for identifying and standardizing data integrity throughout the extraction process, ensuring that cleaned data is optimized for AI consumption.
Understanding decentralized data
Decentralized data is an ongoing challenge for city and county governments. Decades of established practices have resulted in outdated governance protocols for data synchronization, with each organization often operating in its own silo, collecting and managing data independently.
Read full story at American City & County…
How to Turn Your Old iPad Into a Digital Picture Frame
by Amy Skorheim
While still keeping your tablet secure.
If you have an old iPad and you're interested in externalizing some of the thousands of photos in your iCloud account, this guide's for you. Instead of buying a new digital picture frame, you can turn your retired iPad into a dedicated photo display without much effort. You'll need to change a few settings, download a photo frame app and decide how you want to prop up your new display — which can be as simple as using a stand or as complicated as getting out the drill and modding an analog frame. Here's how (and why) to upcycle your old iPad into a digital picture frame.
Upcycled iPad versus a digital picture frame
An actual digital picture frame has a few obvious advantages: the necessary software is already there, it's display-ready, complete with a frame and matted display, and, as a unitasker, it does'nt display Gmail notifications over your photos. But the resolution for most smart frames tops out at 1,280 by 800 pixels. Even the standard iPad (9th gen) from 2021 has a resolution of 2,160 by 1,620. Plus, your old iPad is already yours. A decent digital frame will cost you around $100. And, since your iPad is certainly not a single-purpose device — it can take a FaceTime call or play an episode of Poker Face if the need arises.
Read full story at Engadget…
Salesforce's AI Agents Receive FedRAMP High Authorization
by Edward Graham
Salesforce said that its Agentforce platform has built-in trust standards and a unified approach.”
Salesforce announced … that its Agentforce artificial intelligence agent platform had achieved FedRAMP High authorization, enabling federal agencies to utilize the company's tool to process and store highly sensitive data.
“Unlike other AI agents or limited [large language models], Agentforce has built-in trust standards and a unified approach that meets FedRAMP High security controls,” Salesforce said in a press release, adding that the platform “can complete tasks with speed and scale while continuously learning and adapting.”
AI agents like Agentforce can help users perform tasks by providing them with automated assistance within specific environments. A group of government technology experts told GovExec in March that the effective use of AI agents could enhance federal service delivery by allowing workers to spend less time performing rote tasks.
Read full story at NextGpv/FCS…
In Utilities
Five Things To Know About An Integrated DERMS
June 1, 2025
by Sam Hartnett
Learn how Integrated DERMS combine Grid and Edge systems to comprehensively manage distributed energy resources (DERs)—unlocking DER value, enabling advanced grid management, and breaking down operational silos.
In today's rapidly evolving electricity sector, load growth has emerged as the dominant trend, driven not just by data centers but also by EV adoption, heating electrification, and the accelerating deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs). With projections indicating that 217 GW of DER capacity will be added to the grid by 2028, utilities face both opportunities and challenges in effectively managing these resources.
DERMS (Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems) have emerged as a key to unlocking the full potential of DERs. However, sorting through the many DERMS solutions available can be incredibly confusing. Here are five things to know to help make sense of the topic, as well as where Integrated DERMS fits in.
Read full story at T&D World…
States Offer Big Incentives for Data Centers, but Huge Land, Power, Water Needs Create Local Friction
by MARC LEVY
Lawmakers in Oregon are advancing legislation to order regulators to ensure data centers pay the cost of power plants and power lines needed to serve them.
The explosive growth of the data centers needed to power America's fast-rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing platforms has spurred states to dangle incentives in hopes of landing an economic bonanza, but it's also eliciting pushback from lawmakers and communities.
Activity in state legislatures — and competition for data centers — has been brisk in recent months, amid an intensifying buildout of the energy-hungry data centers and a search for new sites that was ignited by the late 2022 debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Many states are offering financial incentives worth tens of millions of dollars. In some cases, those incentives are winning approval, but only after a fight or efforts to require data centers to pay for their own electricity or meet energy efficiency standards.
Who Pays for the AI Boom? Utilities Discuss Smarter Rate Design, Interconnection Approaches
by Kevin Clark
As utilities across the U.S. grapple with the rising electricity demands of AI data centers emerging in their service territories, integrating these large loads into the grid requires clear guiding principles.
Utilities aim to avoid shifting unfair costs onto other ratepayers, they're prioritizing grid reliability, and they want to preserve capacity for broader economic growth.
Arizona Public Service (APS) has committed to serving 4.7 gigawatts (GW) of new large customer load over the next decade, according to Jordan Tillinghast, manager of the utility's data center strategy.
Read full story at Factor This…