Nordic Geospatial Blog –

UPDATE 20110822
Point and counterpoint in the US context – @MotherJones compiles a DoJ database of counterterrorism cases over the last ten years -

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/terror-trials-numbers

UPDATE 20110803
Hero couple rescued dozens from #Utoya
http://news.yahoo.com/lesbian-couple-saved-40-kids-norway-050733662.html

UPDATE 20110727
‘Sluggish’ Norwegian police criticized and protected by insular culture
http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-culture-shields-sluggish-norway-police-critics-151445646.html

UPDATE 20110726

Fascinating article in NYTimes about unarmed Norwegian Police

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/world/europe/26police.html

And a quote that seems idyllic and possibly naive to Norwegian Americans -

“I would prefer to live in a society where police normally work unarmed,” said Johannes Knutsson, a professor of police research at the Norwegian Police University College.

Though graphic, the above aerial image from news helicopters reinforces the fact that the police, SWAT and counter-terrorism first responders were woefully unprepared and slow in their response. Their use of an overloaded boat in a country that daily flies thousands of oil workers via jet helicopters to offshore oil rigs will surely be a lesson learned in the forthcoming after action reports and inquiries – per the NYTimes article above -

” It took police SWAT units more than an hour to reach the camp, on Utoya Island, after reports of the shooting came in. Officers had to drive to the shore across from the site of the shooting attack, and use boats to get to the island. A police helicopter was unable to get off the ground; news crews that reached the island by air could only watch as the gunman continued the massacre. ”

Tragic loss of the one onsite first responder/police officer ( Trond Berntsen ), who was unarmed and was the step-brother of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2018459/Norway-shooting-Crown-Princesss-step-brother-Trond-Berntsen-killed-Anders-Behring-Breivik.html

Here she is with the Prince at the UNDP Arendal center for environmental analysis -

UPDATE 20110727
https://plus.google.com/110668479729372555286/posts

Tragic

Excellent resource for live updates via UK Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8655175/Oslo-explosion-live-coverage.html

Context/History
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8655451/History-of-Islamic-militant-attacks-in-Europe.html

Likely usual suspects
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-europe-groups-idUSTRE76L3O920110722

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_explosion

UPDATE 20110901
Palantir wins World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer award…
http://reports.weforum.org/technology-pioneers-2012/#videos-f9561ab7ece4fa5830f105556f7e2aac

UPDATE 20110711
From the ESRI #UC, the power of Community Analyst
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/community-analyst/index.html

UPDATE 20110614
Fareed Zakaria of CNN #GPS and #Google’s Eric Schmidt hold court at Direct Relief International in Santa Barbara and discuss #innovation -

Excellent presentation by Oculus & Azavea specialists on location-time analysis via CrisisMappers -

Webinar 2011: HunchLab: Azavea, Jeremy Heffner from Jen Ziemke on Vimeo.

Ongoing work by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Asymmetric Warfare -

Excellent Actionable Hot Spot analysis by RAND’s Dr. Ryan Keefe and Dr. Tom Sullivan

http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR768.html

And nimble Palantir Solutions

http://www.palantirtech.com/government/videos/whitevideos

Keynote
https://www1.nga.mil/Newsroom/PressReleases/Press%20Releases/nga_10_12_speech.pdf

Vision
https://www1.nga.mil/Newsroom/PressReleases/Press%20Releases/nga_10_12.pdf

http://www.gov2summit.com/gov2010/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/gov2events

All stories…

http://www.economist.com/science-technology/technology-quarterly/

…. those with overt applicability to the LE, FOUO, HLS, and DoD domains….

Power from the air? – Re-incarnating Tesla (and no I am not referencing the stellar 80′s band) to change the game for urban C4ISR sensor deployment & obviate the need for plugs, cords, and car chargers for consumers…
http://www.economist.com/node/16295708?story_id=16295708

Old school steam power and autonomous, self fueling biomass robots – military might through mulch?
http://www.economist.com/node/16295752?story_id=16295752

Squishy robots that can meld into tight spots with compeling USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) and public health applications
http://www.economist.com/node/16295646?story_id=16295646

Self healing metal – Beyond the Tin Man from that fateful journey to Oz or simply commuting on the 405, great DoD applicability
http://www.economist.com/node/16295654?story_id=16295654

Loose clicks sink ships (solution, loud music at work is a good thing) – cybersecurity and the use of acoustic typing signatures to remotely hack computers (this could be as disasterously revealing as the un-encripted drone feeds in AfPak, i.e. with line of sight, intruders with a cheap laptop and laser / parabolic microphone could leap firewalls and air-gap systems like Parisienne parcour punks)
http://www.economist.com/node/16295574?story_id=16295574

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/06/white_house_worried_about_qaed.html

Mobile Counter-IED Interactive Trainer (MCIT) Behind the Scenes

http://ict.usc.edu/projects/mobile_counter_ied_interactive_trainer_mcit/

Excellent Post article giving historical perspective on the Iraqi EOD efforts

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/specials/leftofboom/index.html

US House of Representative Committee on Armed Services Report on the Joint IED Defeat Organization, Nov. 2008

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA490963&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

With an unparalleled depth of domain knowledge, Alexiev positions Marjah and the Flynn expose in a realpolitik understanding of the Afghan human and political terrain…

http://article.nationalreview.com/425761/afghanistan-at-the-crossroads/alex-alexiev

More satellites will also help…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/world/asia/24satellites.html

As would more oversight of contractors vis a vis hearts and minds…
http://armed-services.senate.gov/Webcasts/2010/02%20February/02-24-10%20Webcast.htm

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/summary_of_wh_review_12-25-09.pdf

Maybe we should apply some of the advanced analytics used for the DoD efforts to the homefront…

Analytics for the Afghan front of the GWOT