I will be teaching a course on Quantum GIS at this year's Minnesota GIS/LIS Spring Workshop series.  If you'd like to learn more about this great open source GIS desktop tool, registration is only $75 (including lunch) so sign up now!.  There are other workshops for ArcGIS Server, web mapping and working with LiDAR data.

Redlands, California—A new agreement with Microsoft Corporation gives ArcGIS users fast access to Microsoft Virtual Earth for their geographic information system (GIS) projects. As part of ArcGIS Online at the ArcGIS 9.3.1 release, ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server users will be able to connect directly to Virtual Earth and quickly start their GIS projects with ready-to-use content.

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Safe Software has introduced read support for the open-source format OpenStreetMap (OSM) in its latest release, FME 2009. This new support offers users the capability to manipulate, mash up, and share OSM datasets.

OpenStreetMap is an XML-based format that has been developed as part of an open initiative to create free geographic data, such as street maps, and make them available to anyone. The collaborative effort of over 50,000 registered volunteers has used portable GPS devices and aerial photography to create this worldwide dataset.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has updated their National Flood Hazard Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Keyhole Markup Language (KML) service. These services allow the flood maps to be viewed directly by most Geographic Information System (GIS) software such as ESRI ArcMap™ and Autodesk AutoCAD Map™ as well as Google Earth™.

Maps of a national inventory of wetlands are being made available for viewing within the Google Earth application.....