Via Grasshoppermind’s del.icio.us bookmarks, an excerpt from The Semantic Earth, a quarterly report published by an outfit called Release 1.0.

It’s not exactly cheap — the report costs $80. But what I find intriguing is these three things; first of all, the gist of the message:

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been stuck where information retrieval was in the early ’90s: a technology that could have transformative effects if only it didn’t require high priests to build and maintain it.

Second, an endorsement of Release 1.0 reports by none other than Google CEO Eric Schmidt, right next to it:

“It’s obvious to me — and to most of my peers in the industry — that Release 1.0 is absolutely indispensable. It consistently combines the latest thinking of the brightest minds on issues of significance to the industry. I can’t be without it!”

Finally, the timing: The report was published in January 2004.

In October, Google bought Keyhole.

[Update 20.19 UTC: Grasshoppermind has further interesting context on his blog.]