geospatialoverview

...That South Mississippi is a player in the geospatial industry is not a matter of
debate. It is, and has been since the early 1970s, thanks to the presence of John
C. Stennis Space Center and activities of the state’s research universities.
...But how big a player is the state? One observer thinks it’s about to take off.
...“What we are seeing here is unprecedented,” said Carl Schramm, president of
the Kauffman Foundation, about what Mississippi has done. “This industry
cluster has been methodically put together piece by piece. When the market
forces kick in, this cluster is going to take off faster than others created by
chance.”
...At the heart of Mississippi’s geospatial activity is the John C. Stennis Space
Center, a NASA field office that has as its primary mission the testing of
propulsion systems. But just as important is its role in the geospatial sector.
Stennis is home to several federal labs that are involved in geospatial-related
RDT&E activities run by NASA, the Department of Defense and Department of
Commerce as well.
...In addition, several universities are closely involved in the geospatial activities
at Stennis and beyond. Add to that the fact that the state itself has made the
growth of the geospatial sector a centerpiece and that the hot spot for the state
sits in the middle of an even broader geospatial region and there’s every reason
to believe geospatial technology will become one of the most crucial for
Mississippi.

...Mississippi got a toehold in the industry thanks to Stennis Space Center.
...Established in the early 1960s, the Mississippi Test Facility as it was then
known was responsible for testing Saturn rockets for the space program. With
the wind down of the Apollo program, a push was made to find additional
programs to bring to Stennis.
...In September 1970, NASA announced its Earth Resources Laboratory would
locate at MTF with the mission of finding applications for data acquired from
remote sensing equipment, and invited other government agencies to use the site
for research operations. By June 1974 the Department of Commerce,
Department of the Interior, Department of Transportation, Department of the
Army, the Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Mississippi, and some
other state and university elements from Mississippi and Louisiana had set up
one or more operations. One of the federal operations was the Department of
Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors
information collected by data buoys in the world’s oceans.
...In late May 1976, the Naval Oceanographic Program had a flag-raising for its
official move to what was now called the National Space Technology
Laboratories. The Navy’s operation began collecting data about weather and
ocean conditions from ships at sea.
...In May 1988, NSTL was assigned the key role of space remote sensing
commercialization. Later that same month NSTL was renamed the John C.
Stennis Space Center, and today it has more than 30 federal and state tenants.
...The state decided in the 1990s that it needed to take steps to nurture this
growth. In 1994 the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology was established at
Stennis to serve as an incubator for technology startups. In 1997 Congress
passed the Commercial Space Act to commercialize geospatial technology. In
February 1997, SSC was designated as NASA’s lead center for implementing
commercial remote sensing activities. The state in 1998 established the
Mississippi Space Commerce Initiative (now the Enterprise for Innovative
Geospatial Solutions) as a joint effort by NASA and the state. For Mississippi,
the idea was to make the state a leader in remote sensing.
...The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions in conjunction with the
Mississippi Enterprise for Technology are the programs that coordinates the
activities of the cluster today. EIGS and MsET work with private companies as
well as university research programs, state agencies and other related
organizations to support geospatial business development and research with the
primary mission of growing the research-based, world-class geospatial
technology industry in Mississippi.
...Because of the convergence of federal geospatial-related activities, the
geospatial companies in Mississippi can work with NASA, NOAA and the
military. Today there are 25 geospatial companies at or near Stennis Space
Center, and a dozen others geospatial companies located elsewhere in the state.

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