startup()

Just finished digging out of the blizzard from last week and now we are waiting for the next one starting tomorrow and going into Friday. It's a good time to settle down at my computer and publish my first post.

I had the idea to create a Smallworld watch blog because I really like the Smallworld product. Since I left GE this fall the one thing I have missed is some of the intellectually stimulating conversations with the likes of Graham, Ralf and Joe. I keep thinking that there should be many applications that have not yet been developed that Smallworld (and Magik) would be a good fit for, but unless we hear about what others are using the software for, it will be difficult to grow new ideas. I hope that I can use this blog to spread information about the latest and greatest from Smallworld, interview users and GE personnel, and try to find the really "cool" applications that use Smallworld but do not get much exposure.

To get things started... Charlie Savage's blog has a well-written section A Bit of GIS History - the Smallworld Technical Papers. It includes a reference to a series of Technical White papers that described the direction of the Smallworld product. Well worth reading if you are interested in what problems Smallworld was originally designed to solve.