The Harlow Report-GIS
2026 Edition
ISSN 0742-468XSince 1978
On-line Since 2000
GIS News Snippets
For the week of
July 13, 2026
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A "Harlow Report" From July 14, 2025
Unlocking the Potential of GIS Needs Government Support
by Ian Murphy
Geographic Information Systems have the ability to unlock a wave of new innovation. What is needed to improve the use of GIS?
Modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are a long way from their map forerunners. They offer easier ways to overlay complex data, making it easy to visualise. Despite this, many users fail to get the most out of their systems, which impacts their business and society.
As VertiGIS prepared to announce its latest solution, VertiGIS Neo, Enterprise Times talked with its CEO, Andy Berry. One of the biggest blockers to growth and effective use of GIS in the UK, according to Berry, is the lack of government investment. He sees that as a necessary driver for greater digitisation of assets, which will help deliver new benefits.
In the utility market, government investment in the UK comes with political challenges. Many utilities are publicly traded and owned by non-UK-based companies. The government’s investment in them would raise questions about competition. It also raises questions over why utilities are not investing.
Read full story at Enterprise Times…
Now back to 2026
Accelerate Geospatial Coding with AI in Google Earth Engine
by Google Earth Blog
Accelerate Geospatial Coding with AI in Google Earth Engine Joel Conkling, Product Lead Katie Friis, Software Engineer Whether you are mapping global forest cover, detecting changes in the built
Summary
Google Earth Engine (GEE) launched a new feature called Ask, which integrates Gemini capabilities into the GEE Code Editor.
Ask provides context-aware assistance, allowing users to generate code, explain complex code, troubleshoot errors, and optimize queries using natural language prompts.
To get started, users need a Gemini API key, which can be obtained from Google AI Studio and added to the GEE Code Editor.
Read full story at Medium
Creating Standards-Based Metadata: The Second Challenge in Geospatial Integration
by Joana Simoes
Learn why standards-based metadata is essential for geospatial integration, FAIR data, interoperability, and reusable scientific data workflows.
Summary
Standards-based metadata is essential in geospatial integration because it makes datasets findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
The article argues that many teams mistake ad-hoc files or software-generated outputs for true metadata, which can lead to poor-quality records and weak project value. To improve adoption, it recommends choosing a practical schema, minimizing manual entry, and using tools like survey forms, spreadsheets, and ETL processes to validate and transform submissions.
Also, it notes that metadata will gain wider acceptance only through education and outreach that show its real value, not by forcing users to work directly with XML or JSON.
Read full story at OGC Blog
Grounding for the Age of AI: Orbis Powers the Next Phase of Intelligent Tech
by tomtom Blog
TomTom is making Orbis easier to access, integrate and build on. New data formats, interoperability services and APIs help organizations unlock trusted location intelligence for AI and modern applications.
Summary
TomTom Orbis is the ever-growing, collaborative, open mapping platform that continues to scale across industries. Recent developments make Orbis even more powerful and accessible, positioning TomTom at the center of location-based technology used by both machines and humans.
Built in collaboration with the Overture Maps Foundation, Orbis integrates diverse data sources into a global, continuously updated map. It serves as reliable ground truth for AI innovation through strict validation protocols.
New tools address key challenges: Orbis OGP delivers data in GeoParquet format for cloud analytics; TomTom GEM simplifies dataset alignment with stable GERS IDs, reducing manual conflation; and a full suite of APIs enables routing, traffic, geocoding, and more for modern applications.
These updates make location intelligence AI-ready, accurate, and easier to integrate across workflows.
Read full story at tomtom
Top Location Intelligence Companies Driving AI-Powered Geospatial Innovation
by Staff
he global location intelligence landscape is transforming with the debut of AI-driven geospatial analytics technology and surging emphasis on leveraging ML (machine learning) and AI (artificial intelligence) for developing data-driven solutions.
Summary
The global location intelligence market is projected to grow from USD 23.58 billion in 2026 to USD 66.12 billion by 2034, driven by AI-powered geospatial analytics and machine learning adoption across environmental monitoring, logistics, and urban planning. Fortune Business Insights highlights ten leading players — including HERE Technologies, Google LLC, Esri, TomTom, Precisely, Microsoft, Hexagon AB, Mapbox, and Trimble — each advancing AI-driven mapping, satellite data integration, and industry-specific solutions.
Recent moves include Delhivery's partnership with NVIDIA on AI-led mapping for India's complex geography, and Trimble's integration of PC*Miler into Fleetsafe.ai. Rising smart city initiatives and retail expansion are expected to further fuel demand for location intelligence across territory management, geomarketing, and supply chain design.
Read full story at Fortune Business Insights
Utilities Need Business-Aligned GIS Strategies to Advance Grid Modernization, Advises Info-Tech Research Group
by PR Newswire
As utilities face rising pressure to modernize grids, improve asset visibility, and integrate operational data, many organizations are viewing geographic information systems as a strategic enabler to enterprise-wide decision-making rather than just a basic mapping tool.
Summary
Info-Tech Research Group has published a new blueprint, Develop a Business-Aligned GIS Strategy for Utilities, highlighting that many utilities have not aligned their geospatial capabilities with business priorities, limiting the value gained from GIS, system integration, and emerging technologies like AI, IoT, drones, and smart meters. Common barriers include siloed data, unclear ownership, limited skills, inconsistent standards, and governance that hampers collaboration.
“GIS can no longer be treated as a back-office mapping function for utilities,” said Bevin Chau, research director at Info-Tech. The blueprint offers a four-phase methodology — assessing maturity, identifying initiatives, establishing governance foundations, and building a strategic roadmap — to help utilities modernize GIS as an enterprise-wide platform supporting reliability, resilience, and data-driven decision-making.
Read full story at Morningstar
VertiGIS Neo Enters its Next Phase, Powering Real-Time, AI-Driven Geospatial Workflows
by VertiGIS Ltd.
VertiGIS announced the next phase of VertiGIS Neo, its cloud-centric, web-based, mobile-ready AI-enabled suite of solutions. Neo operationalises AI across live geospatial workflows, empowering utilities, fibre and infrastructure operators to move from static mapping to real-time decision-making.
Summary
VertiGIS has unveiled the next phase of VertiGIS Neo, a cloud-centric, AI-enabled geospatial platform designed to help utilities, fibre and infrastructure operators shift from static mapping to real-time decision-making. Neo unifies the company’s portfolio — including VertiGIS Networks, Studio, ConnectMaster and FM — under one architecture spanning cloud, web and mobile delivery, automating complex tasks and simplifying specialist workflows.
The platform features advanced location master data management to maintain high-quality spatial data, plus flexible deployment options that lower total cost of ownership. Drew Millen, Chief Technology Officer at VertiGIS, said the platform connects data, people and processes across the asset lifecycle. Following VertiGIS’ acquisition of 1Spatial, Neo strengthens the link between AI and data quality, making tools more effective and scalable.
Read full story at Yahoo!Finance
Industry News
In Government
4 Steps to Modernizing Agency Applications
by Greg Peters
It's clear app modernization is hindering federal IT modernization efforts more broadly.
Summary
App modernization underpins broader federal IT modernization, yet 35 percent of federal IT leaders cite software as their biggest barrier, and only 43 percent call modernization a current agency priority, according to an October EY survey of 300 decision-makers. Closing that gap requires four deliberate steps.
Agencies should first conduct a comprehensive app assessment, building a full inventory and defining each app's mission value to avoid duplication. Next, a thorough source code analysis exposes hidden dependencies and technical debt. Automating portfolio analysis then speeds up decision-making by replacing manual reviews. Finally, agencies should rationalize and prioritize apps — based on mission value, complexity, and strategic alignment — before choosing technology, maximizing ROI.
Read full story at FedTech
Federal Zero Trust Faces Challenges With AI Agents
by Adam McBride and Jim St. Clair
There is no realistic path where federal agencies opt out of agentic AI.
Summary
Federal agencies have spent four years building zero trust architectures under Executive Order 14028 and OMB Memorandum M–22–09, but that infrastructure was designed for human users, not AI agents. Credentials like PIV cards, SAML, and OAuth assume human-speed logins, while agents can generate millions of authentication events daily — far exceeding what current identity stacks were built to handle or audit.
The likely default, onboarding agents as service accounts, would scale the weakest part of federal zero trust — static credentials and poor attribution — into the government's largest non–human identity population. The authors recommend cryptographic agent identity, auditable delegation chains, and extending zero trust mandates to non–human identities, urging agencies to begin pilots and policy work within 90 days.
Read full story at vNextGo
New Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Framework
by Eric Geller
The Trump administration has said it wants to push more cybersecurity resilience responsibilities to the state and local levels.
Summary
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a new public-private critical infrastructure collaboration system, ANCHOR-CI, to replace the terminated Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC).
ANCHOR-CI will feature sector-specific, cross-sector, industry, and regional councils to facilitate collaboration between critical infrastructure operators, government officials, and cybersecurity organizations.
While the new framework aims to enhance cybersecurity resilience, it lacks the liability protections of CIPAC, raising concerns among industry representatives about information sharing.
Read full story at SmartCitiesDive
In Technology
Disappointed With AI, Ford Moves to Re-Hire 350 Former Workers
by Viktor Eriksson
The automaker tried the technology for automated quality control, but it was unable to detect enough problems.
Summary
Ford rehired 350 experienced engineers after AI-driven quality control failed to detect enough problems
The engineers will help train younger employees and improve AI tools.
Read full story at Computerworld
The X App for iOS Now Has a Built-In Video Editor
by Kris Holt
X is trying to compete with video-centric platforms like TikTok.
Summary
X has added a new video editor to its iOS app as part of a broader push to encourage original video content over reposted clips from other platforms. Product head Nikita Bier said the tool includes multilingual overlay captions with customizable styling and a green screen feature, with more updates planned in the coming weeks.
The move follows recent additions like a video reaction feature and a $1 million streamer payout pool, as X works to compete with TikTok and other video-first apps. Bier has previously said X reduces the visibility of reposts and encourages original recordings. More original video also stands to benefit Grok, which trains on public X content.
Read full story at engadget
Your Windows 11 PC Might Be Hiding a 500GB Storage Bug — How to Check
by Lance Whitney
A glitch in Windows 11 causes a specific system file to keep growing in size, though a patch is available. Here's what you need to know about it.
Summary
A long-standing Windows 11 bug can cause a system file called CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal to balloon to as much as 500GB, silently eating up disk space. The file, part of the Capability Access Manager Service, tracks app permissions for cameras, microphones, and location access, and should normally stay under a megabyte or two.
Users can check by going to Settings, then System, then Storage, and reviewing the System & reserved category — anything beyond 100GB suggests the bug is present. Microsoft has addressed the issue in its June 23 optional preview update, which improves disk space usage for the affected file. The fix will roll out to all users in the mandatory July 14 Patch Tuesday update.
Read full story at ZDNET
In Utilities
FERC Launches Aggressive Targeted Action to Speed Large Load Integration
by FERC Press Relese
Commission orders all six regional grid operators to justify or reform tariffs for data centers and other large energy users, delivering speed-to-power that is critical to supporting the innovation economy and national security while protecting ratepayers.
Summary
FERC has issued tailored show cause orders under Federal Power Act section 206 to all six regional grid operators — PJM, MISO, SPP, CAISO, ISO–NE, and NYISO — directing each to justify or reform tariff rules governing how data centers and other large energy users connect to the grid. Each operator has 60 days to defend or revise its tariffs across five reform areas, including transmission study processes, cost–shift prevention, co–location agreements, and new large–load transmission services.
Chairman Laura V. Swett said the orders aim to build a resilient, reliable, and forward–thinking grid while protecting consumers and existing deals. The action builds on prior FERC moves addressing PJM co–location rules and SPP's large load study initiative.
Read full story at FERC
Key Environmental and Energy Issues Impacting Data Center Development
by Catherine Atkin & Michael Schmitz
A hyperscaler data center project is one of the most legally complex developments a community can face
Summary
Hyperscaler data center approvals hinge less on zoning than on environmental and energy obligations enforced by separate authorities on separate timelines. Electricity concerns are best resolved through binding legal structures — such as ring-fenced rate classes negotiated with utilities — rather than voluntary commitments like the 2026 Ratepayer Protection Pledge, since generation must also satisfy state renewable procurement mandates.
Grid-reliability covenants, water rights in prior-appropriation states, and air quality permitting for backup generators each carry independent legal risk, often on longer timelines than local approval. Cap-and-trade exposure can also arise unexpectedly for “bring your own energy” projects using on-site turbines. Counsel's task is to convert these obligations into enforceable instruments before construction begins.
Walmart Signs Nuclear PPA With Constellation to Support Illinois Operations
by https://www.esgdive.com/editors/ljohnson/ Lamar Johnson
The companies said the deal marks Walmart's first nuclear power purchase agreement and is “among the first of its kind between a large retailer and a nuclear energy facility in the United States.”
Summary
Walmart signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to receive up to 176 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity for its Illinois operations.
This marks Walmart's first nuclear power purchase agreement and supports its goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2040.
The deal will provide power from Constellations' Dresden Clean Energy Center and includes expanded generation capacity.
Read full story at UtilityDive
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