WebMapSocial March Meetup: NASA JPL, Peanut Labs + a celebration of 1000 members

Hello WebMapSocial Members and Friends,

We are very excited about March's event. Not only are two terrific presentations scheduled - NASA JPL and Peanut Labs - but we will also be celebrating our 1000 member milestone!!!! Please join us as we honor you, our members, with a special treat generously provided by Peanut Labs.

This event is sponsored by Peanut Labs Media and Peer 1.

Check out this awesome deal from Peer 1 exclusive to WebMapSocial members: Peer 1 provides Managed Hosting solutions for over 10,000 customers, with 15 data centers, a 10G network and over 500 peering partner networks. Dave Martini is their Bay area Sales Executive and will provide you with a sharp price and 2nd month free if you mention our Meetup group. [masked].

Our presentations for the evening include:

NASA JPL: TerraLook and Model Web: Two interesting projects within the NASA Ecological Forecasting program

TerraLook provides free time series of satellite images and combines these with open source desktop software, targeting a non-technical audience such as park managers. (Software developers take note--participants in development of Version 2 of the software are welcome!) The model web is a concept for gradually growing a modeling infrastructure where models and their outputs are treated as services--essentially a WWW for models. This would make it easier for models to interact, help to address "what-if" and other questions, and increase access to modeling capabilities and results for a wide range of users. The impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems are a particular focus.

Presented by Gary N. Geller. Geller has a background in ecology and systems engineering and is the Deputy Manager of the NASA Ecological Forecasting program

Peanut Labs Media: Monetizing through Virtual Goods & Currencies

Virtual goods within social networks, MMOs and games have become a $2bn industry. We'll explore how different companies are employing virtual goods strategies within their games and communities and monetizing users through this powerful, new revenue stream.

Presented by Ali Moiz, COO of Peanut Labs Media

As always dinner, beverages, and a super-comfy, quite space are generously provided by Google. Thanks Shannon and Team Google!

We're meeting at Google / Kiev Training Room in Building 40 again. Please make extra time to get to Google and navigate your way through the campus. Click here for a handy, explicit map.

Thanks for your support, time and effort guys. You make this Meetup great.

I'm always available for your thoughts.

See you on March 17th!
Catherine