EDITORIAL

2008 in review

by Ilse Genovese

What a momentous year it's been! Well, that depends who is talking. After running a historic presidential election, PEBO--short for president-elect Barak Obama in blog-o-speak--will move to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The rest of us are happy to keep our old addresses [and jobs], thank you very much. more >>

SCIENCE

Understanding sea level change

by Mike Szabados

Climate change and how it influences sea level is on everybody's mind: Will society be impacted by an increased rate in global sea level rise, and to what degree? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in their 2007 assessment that the average rise in global sea level during the 20th century was 1.7 mm/yr. Based on satellite altimetry observations since 1993, sea level has been rising at about 3 mm/yr--a rate that is nearly twice the average for the century. It is unclear whether this faster rate is a reflection of decadal variability or whether it is indeed due to an increase in the longer-term trend. more >>

A cadastral geodatabase
for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

by Douglas L. Vandegraft

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Cadastral Data Working Group, comprised of Cartographers and GIS Specialists from all management regions, has produced a state-of-the-art database that will store data for all interests in real property in the National Wildlife Refuge System. Upon completion, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s Cadastral Geodatabase will become an integral component of the Refuge Lands Geographic Information System (RLGIS), supplying boundary and parcel information to the biological geodatabases currently within the RLGIS data model. more>>

SURVEYING&MAPPING

Where GIS and GPS meet

by Rose Robinson

As geospatial information begins to play more of a critical role in mainstream business and government decision making, industries and sectors with traditional geospatial information systems (GIS) are scrambling to find a cost-efficient and effective way to share their geospatial assets and intelligence with those who have no idea what the acronym GIS stands for. more>>

HISTORY

Abraham Lincoln

by Robert E. Church

He was the sixteenth president of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before becoming the first Republican elected to the presidency, Lincoln was a lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, a captain of the militia, and, a surveyor. The gangly, bookish Illinoisan who galvanized millions across a country in crisis with his soaring rhetoric had a curious intellect, devouring history and memorizing passages from Shakespeare. Raised in a family of modest means, Lincoln started working at an early age, taking up various jobs before becoming Deputy Surveyor of Sangamon County, Illinois. Robert E. Church, executive director of Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association, believes that it was Lincoln’s career as a surveyor that profoundly influenced his political career. more>>

NATION

Election map: The morning after

by David Miller

Election day, November 4, 2008, was wild in Virginia—in a good way. Everyone was excitedly planning their day around voting, but the long lines of 2000 and 2004 gave way to no lines, due to dedicated election officials and many more voting machines. I even had a choice of using electronic touch screens or paper ballots to record my vote, although, it seemed strange to witness the return of the paper ballot in the 21st century. After voting, I monitored the election returns until late into the night to see whether my state predictions in the November 2008 ACSM Bulletin were on the mark, or blown out of the water. more>>