In this issue, John Mills reviews the problems facing geomatics from a North East perspective; Francesca Little, a Survey School graduate, relates her experiences as a surveyor and how her career has progressed; Richard Gauchwin from Korec demonstrates that data capture systems can be tailored to customer needs; and Simon Chester reports on the latest OGC Testbed which focuses on mass migration and what that means for the future.

We also have three conference reports for you. Saul Trewern reports on the many products on display from the Oceanology exhibition held at the docklands in London; Ian Dowman reports on The DGI Conference, where unclassified issues relating to GEOINT were discussed; and Richard Groom reports from the GeoRisk Meeting dedicated to GIS and insurance.

Plus all the latest news and regular columns - Happy reading!