Art,  Thanks for your suggestions; and I apologize for getting almost everyone's affiliation messed up.  I appreciate your prompt response.  I do not agree with all of your suggestions, however.

The original "introduction" and "background" sections make points that I am very fervent about--taking charge of the research directions and not letting technology dictate those directions to us.  Your "introduction" fits the "emerging technologies" initiative, but the reason I argued for a separate initiative was to confront "education for research" issues.

The action items can certainly use the revisions that you have suggested.  I allowed duplication and overlap intentionally in the first draft because I was fishing for some themes around which we might build action items.  I would also appreciate your input on research into spatial analysis directions that GISystems need to take.  Commercial GISystems are still inadequately equipped to perform thorough spatial analyses, generate appropriate spatial statistics, or integrate spatial data with mathematical models of different specializations.  Research-based education could design the needed integrated modules (subsystems) or even develop prototypes for proof of concept testing.  Dan Griffith, for example, wants to delve deeply into the appropriate role that spatial statistics will play in the Science of geographic information science.

Alan