GIS in Education

Netherlands-based road safety specialist VIA has used the TatukGIS Internet Server for the GIS functionality in its web-based automobile crash reporting and analysis solution, ViaStat-Online. ViaStat-Online allows police, municipalities, road safety/management organizations, research, and consulting firms to register, report, monitor, and analyze crash data. The accurate reporting, monitoring and analysis of historical crash data enables detailed studies of specific locations, monitoring of developments over multiple years, and answering of questions from the general public. The conclusions drawn from crash data analysis are useful to set policies and measures to prioritize road/street infrastructure investments, optimize enforcement efforts, and target groups for education/information campaigns.

GIS functionality provided by the TatukGIS Internet Server to the ViaStat-Online will enable crash data to be linked to the digital road network so that the data can be managed and presented in the form of digital maps. In addition to the various map presentation options, the GIS functionality enables more in-depth analyses using geographical selections from the map.

For example, crash data can be rendered in relation to road features, such as the number of crashes in relation to speed limits. Alternatively, data relating only to specific geographical crash concentrations, routes, or map areas can be selected for in-depth analysis. Detailed information for any crash can be accessed directly via the map. Rendered map images can be exported as Word or PDF files for inclusion in consultancy reports. The digital map data itself can be exported as shapefiles of various formats, e.g., *.SHP, *.MIF, *.DXF, *.GML, *.KML, etc., for use in other GIS.

The ViaStat-Online solution uses digital road/street map data provided by Tele Atlas, one of the world's leading companies in this area. The Tele Atlas files are dynamically loaded and displayed by the TatukGIS Internet Server so that the map shape-files for any given zoom level and location are loaded.

Source : http://www.tatukgis.com

Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) has become the first company in Pakistan to implement Telvent Miner & Miner's ArcFM Solution for their Karachi, Sindh, and Balochistan region operations. The company has chosen ArcFM, ArcFM Server, ArcFM Viewer, Inspector, and Designer products to add new functionalities in their existing GIS system and to help manage their distribution system.

SSGCis engaged in the business of transmission and distribution of natural gas as well as construction of high pressure transmission and low pressure distribution systems. SSGC's transmission system extends from Sui in Balochistan to Karachi in Sindh comprising over 3,200 KM of high pressure pipeline ranging from 12 - 24" in diameter. The distribution activities that cover over 1200 towns in the Sindh and Balochistan are managed through its regional offices. SSGC serves more than 1,800,000 industrial, commercial, and domestic natural gas consumers in these regions through a distribution network of over 27,540 Km.

The vision of the SSGC GIS project is to create and maintain an efficient GIS environment that fosters geographic data sharing within the commercial, transmission, distribution, engineering, management, and other departments. The current GIS system provides fast and easy web access to users, showing pipeline and land use data and aiding in the understanding and visualization of feature locations.

The focus of the ArcFM Solution implementation will be to bring significant business value to the organization for managing workflows and distributed information being shared across the organization, including reduction of overall operating costs and improved customer service. SSGC will be able to reduce data maintenance overhead and improve data accuracy by integrating facility design, analysis, and mapping functions into a single process. The company also runs SCADA solution, Oracle's ERP E-Business Suite, and Customer Care and is planning to integrate them with the GIS.

Zuhair Siddiqui, Chief Information Officer at SSGC, says, "The ArcFM Solution will give our company a complete utility-specific system for modeling, editing, maintaining, and managing facility asset data thus enhancing the design, analysis, and operations processes. Improved business process and service-with-a-smile are the ultimate goals for SSGC. ArcFM will play an essential role in achieving these objectives."

Source : http://www.miner.com

PlanGraphics has presented to the Policy Board of the Louisville-Jefferson County Information Consortium (LOJIC) recommendations resulting from a nationwide study of best practices for sustainable enterprise GIS funding and license and user fees.

LOJIC is one of the longest-lived GIS consortiums in the United States, developing and sustaining itself for over 20 years. In concert with an internal strategic planning exercise, the Policy Board sought an understanding of a broader range of alternative funding sources and financing approaches to provide sustained and predictable levels of funding to support GIS in public organizations. PlanGraphics was charged with exploring the "universe" of possible options as a basis for identifying those that were practical options for LOJIC given its history, membership, and future directions. The effort also included the identification of innovative funding sources and mechanisms not typically used for GIS programs but transferable from other initiatives in government.

PlanGraphics was also retained to examine practices associated with the licensing of GIS data, applications and product, establishing related license fees, and the generation of revenues from the sale of or subscription to GIS products.

PlanGraphics presented to the Policy Board a set of recommendations drawn from LOJIC's existing practices (many of which were themselves "best practices") as well as the national study. The results were organized to include a Sustainable Funding Transition Plan and revenue and operational practices applicable to short-term through mid-term and long-term.

Source : http://www.plangraphics.com/

Global Mapper Software LLC is announced the availability of Global Mapper v9.00. Global Mapper is a viewer capable of displaying many raster, elevation and vector datasets along with other capabilities such as file format conversions, editing, printing, GPS tracking and also provides GIS functionality.

Select enhancements and bug fixes that have been made to Global Mapper for this release are described below:

# Added direct access to high resolution Digital Globe, GlobeXplorer, and AirPhotoUSA imagery for the entire world through the File->Download Online Imagery menu command. Free access is provided to watermarked imagery for reference only, with access to un-watermarked imagery that can be exported to new files can be purchased.
# Added support for exporting ECW files of unlimited size. Previously there was a limit of 500 MB of uncompressed data for ECW exports.
# Added support for exporting loaded data to JPEG2000 format files.
# Added support for exporting loaded raster/elevation data to KML/KMZ file for display in Google Earth (use File->Export Raster and Elevation Data->Export KML/KMZ menu command).
# Added ability to make area features partially transparent.
# Added new File->Combine Terrains menu command to allow combining loaded terrain layers with a variety of operations, including differencing terrains, averaging terrains, and using the min and/or max from two terrains.
# Added support for exporting loaded gridded elevation data to DTED format files.
# Added support for exporting loaded gridded elevation data and 3D vector data (including LIDAR point clouds) to LIDAR .LAS format files.
# Added option to view shed calculation to generate area features for the covered areas. These generated area features could then be exported to vector formats like Shapefiles.
# Added option for loading DMDF, Windows EMF, PCX, Arc Point Vector Coverages, and Erdas .lan format files.

Source : http://www.globalmapper.com

keywords: GIS, GPS, GIS news

Sanborn, a GIS, photogrammetric, and remote-sensing services provider, is now using ESRI's ArcGIS Image Server to provide its clients access to large imagery datasets. By enabling imagery to be quickly served to the Web, ArcGIS Image Server significantly reduces the turnaround time from image capture to review for Sanborn customers' quality assurance activities.

As a company that processes hundreds of terabytes of data per month, Sanborn immediately saw the advantages of ArcGIS Image Server and became an ESRI implementation partner. ArcGIS Image Server serves massive amounts of imagery to client applications without the need to extensively preprocess or alter the source data. This capability intrigued Sanborn because part of the company's delivery process is facilitating a client QA review so that users can immediately check imagery and provide feedback.

ArcGIS Image Server, combined with ArcGIS Server, makes it possible for clients to perform QA reviews online rather than wait for datasets to be processed and delivered on CD or other storage devices. The online QA tool also reduces quality check error rates while ensuring customer requirements are met. Users are granted entry to the image Web application via secure login privileges to access a particular project. Clients may add to the project QA flags that require additional review, and these become immediately available inside ArcSDE for viewing by Sanborn's production staff. They, in turn, are able to make fast, responsive changes to the imagery such as color balancing and edgematching.

ArcGIS Image Server also provides metadata such as imagery acquisition dates and sensor attributes. The online solution will significantly reduce client feedback time and expedite final quality delivery to the customer.

"By offering immediacy and consistency, ArcGIS Image Server helps provide a turnkey solution in which Sanborn can offer clients the ability to easily manage large datasets through a time-saving quality assurance process," said John Copple, chief executive officer of Sanborn. "With this partnership, we are able to deliver complete end-to-end solutions for our customers and effectively give them the information and support they need."

Source : www.esri.com

Authorities in Bangkok are resorting to a GIS to ease the dengue epidemic in the Thai capital. Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin said, a longer rainy season and changing temperatures have favored the breeding of the mosquito that transmit the fatal disease.

Since Jan. 1, there were 3,089 cases of dengue in Bangkok, four of which were fatal. The governor added the GIS will help the city officials to find critical epidemic areas and allow them to refine their focus in fighting the infections.

Source : http://www.allheadlinenews.com

TC Technology announced that PPL Electric Utilities has successfully implemented GO! Sync to integrate its ESRI ArcGIS GIS with its GE Smallworld PowerOn outage management system (OMS). The integration leverages GO! Sync’s inherent incremental update capabilities to ensure the mission critical OMS system is operating with the latest GIS information.

OMS is an important system to utilities, enabling increased customer service by identifying, analyzing, and storing historical information about outages, while also improving customer response, service restoration and notification times. GIS is the foundation for various utility network management systems from simple mapping to more complex areas of operation such as engineering analysis and outage management.

PPL Electric Utilities Corporation, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation that provides electricity delivery services to about 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania. TC Technology assisted PPL Electric Utilities with the implementation of the GO! Sync solution prior to the 2006 /2007 storm season. The solution was stress tested in a parallel operating environment and stress tested during several months of use. Once proven, GO! Sync was moved into production in the summer of 2007.

“PPL has invested in its GIS and its OMS. Both help us serve our customers better,” states Dave Pandl of PPL’s Information Solutions department. “Given the spatial nature of OMS, a primary goal was to leverage our latest facility network information from GIS. GO! Sync help us achieve that goal.” added Pandl.


Source : http://www.tctechnology.com

TopPAD 7.0.1, Mobile GIS field software program from Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) allows users to take GIS layers into the field for verification and update. When installed on Topcon's hand-held GMS-2 or a Topcon field controller, TopPAD can collect and update position and attribute information using customized forms.

Barbara McInerney, Topcon's GIS product marketing manager, said, "The program is based on ESRI's ArcPad with a special added functionality for Topcon GPS hardware. The software is designed for use by experienced GIS professionals familiar with ESRI and ArcPad products, who wish to take advantage of the benefits of Topcon GPS hardware."

New features available with TopPAD 7.0.1 include:

# Support for Topcon receivers (GMS-2 internal and external receivers) from within ArcPad version 7.0 or higher using Topcon protocol
# High accuracy position solution using RTK survey configurations
# Additional information about GPS and GLONASS satellites such as PDOP, Position Type, SNR graph, and graphical skyplots
# Image capture using internal GMS-2 camera in bmp or jpeg format for line and polygon features
# Use internal compass to store azimuth values with images

Source : http://www.topconpositioning.com

GeoDecisions, an information technology company specializing in geospatial solutions, will provide custom geographic information system (GIS) services for Erie County, Pa., that will enable county and local officials to efficiently conduct comprehensive plans and regional planning initiatives.

As part of the project, GeoDecisions will develop a tax parcel-based land use layer for the county’s GIS. The land use delineation approach combines existing hydrology layers and assessment data with the county tax parcel base. Aerial photography is then used to delineate land use and land cover for each municipality in Erie County. The resulting GIS data will allow decision makers to determine the conservation or development potential of each property in the county.

“This GIS layer will provide essential information for county and municipal comprehensive planning and community development efforts and be a useful tool for making informed land-use decisions,” said Jake Welsh, director of the Erie County Department of Planning.

GeoDecisions’ experienced staff of professional consultants, analysts, and developers supports clients across the United States. Fundamental to the company’s award-winning approach is the integration of spatial information to empower existing systems and processes. GeoDecisions’ philosophy is based on an enterprisewide approach to the integration of diverse information technologies, data formats, and systems.

GeoDecisions is ISO 9001:2000 certified for its operations nationwide.

Wallingford Software, the leading developer of hydraulic modeling software for the water industry, has announced the forthcoming release of InfoWorks SD (Storm Drainage) for the fast, accurate and comprehensive modeling of stormwater flows. An important new addition to the InfoWorks family of modeling software, InfoWorks SD is a fully dynamic, hydraulic modeling solution developed to meet the most demanding requirements of stormwater professionals.

“Modeling stormwater runoff accurately means being able to model stormwater flows in the complex real-world environment that features a wide range of both underground and overland structures and potential flow paths”, explains Sales and Marketing Director Paul Banfield. “InfoWorks SD achieves this to exceptional standards without compromising either usability or performance to give users the most flexible and productive stormwater drainage solution available today.”

Every frequently encountered stormwater hydraulic structure can be modelled in InfoWorks SD, including inlet capture and bypass, gravity and pressure piping, pumps and their control systems, detention ponds, outlet structures, open channels, culverts and overland flow paths. InfoWorks SD also models BMP design, construction and maintenance practices and criteria for stormwater facilities, and simulates control structures as well as the associated programmable logic controllers (using an InfoWorks Real Time Control scenario).

An optional fully-dynamic 2D surface flood simulation engine that is completely integrated with the pipe and surface-channel hydraulic simulation provides users with even more opportunities to accurately analyze interactions between the storm drainage network and above ground flooding and flood routes, even in highly urbanized areas. The results generated by these simulations allow for the development of state-of-the-art flood maps which are an excellent tool for visually representing surface water flood depths and demonstrating how flooding will affect the modelled environment.

InfoWorks SD has an exceptional ability to handle both pressurized and free-surface flows equally well with the same high-calibre, consistent quality of analysis applied to both open channels and closed conduits. Uniquely, InfoWorks SD can also model lateral inflows to swales and exfiltration from channels and ponds, and has a specific flow-routing equation for natural channels.

“InfoWorks SD is easy to use, while providing the level of accurate simulation and reliable analysis that stormwater professionals require”, Paul Banfield continues. “It can offer either event-based or real-time continuous simulations, making it ideal for infrastructure design, evaluation projects and real-time operational use.”

As part of the InfoWorks family of modeling solutions, InfoWorks SD users enjoy all the core benefits of using an InfoWorks solution. These include the fastest, most accurate and robust dynamic simulation engine in the industry. Developed over 30 years, the InfoWorks hydraulic engine is ideal for simulating large networks, real-time events or long-term scenarios.

InfoWorks SD also includes excellent multi-user model building and management capabilities and advanced, user-friendly, analysis tools within an accessible and recognizable interface. Its open and flexible approach to data formats also allows ease of data exchange with other applications. In common with other InfoWorks solutions, InfoWorks SD recognizes all GIS platforms, CAD data and asset management systems, and integrates seamlessly with other members of the InfoWorks family.

InfoWorks SD users benefit from the world-renowned expertise of Wallingford Software’s development and technical support staff, ensuring both continuous and innovative product development and ongoing professional support.

InfoWorks SD will be available with the release of InfoWorks v8.5 and will be demonstrated at Wallingford Software’s forthcoming International User Conference in the UK, September 11th-13th, the Canadian User Conference, September 19th-20th and then at successive trade shows including WEFTEC in San Diego, October 13th-15th.

With the recent acquisition of Earth Resource Mapping (ER Mapper), Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging is pleased to announce that Guy Perkins, former CEO, will join the executive management team as Vice President, Global Services.

The acquisition further enhances Leica Geosystems’ enterprise delivery capabilities with geospatial image processing tools for preparing, managing, compressing and deploying imagery. Perkins will greatly assist Leica Geosystems’ in the development of integrating services for vertical markets and the overall deployment of enterprise solutions.

With over 20 years of experience, Perkins has extensive knowledge in the geospatial industry. Perkins has held various positions with ESRI in South Asia and Australia, including Project and Training Manager, Technical Director and Australia Managing Director. Perkins has also worked for PSMA Australia and MapInfo. Joining ER Mapper as Vice President – Asia Pacific in 2004, Perkins was later appointed CEO of the company.

“We are proud to welcome Guy Perkins to the executive management team at Leica Geosystems,” said Bob Morris, President and CEO, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging. “Guy brings extensive industry knowledge in the development of enterprise solutions and expertise in the rapid delivery of imagery over the web.”

“It is exciting to join a company with such an innovative portfolio and a strong global presence,” noted Guy Perkins. “By integrating ER Mapper’s robust image compression and serving capabilities with Leica Geosystems’ technology, we will develop the most comprehensive solutions to meet a broad spectrum of business needs.”

Perkins holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Adelaide.

About Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging

When building image-based maps, you need reliable measurements and solutions for your entire workflow. So when it has to be right, more geospatial professionals trust Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging, to help them collect, analyze, and present spatial information. Leica Geosystems is powering geospatial imaging by putting precise imaging to work. Its broad array of photogrammetry and remote sensing software solutions capture data efficiently, reference imagery accurately, measure and analyze easily and present spatial information, even in 3D. Those who use Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging products every day trust them for their precision, their seamless integration, and their superior customer support. Delivering geospatial imaging solutions with precision, integration, and service from Leica Geosystems. When it has to be right.

Source: www.gi.leica-geosystems.com

NVision Solutions Inc., The Boeing Company, and NAVTEQ recently demonstrated a prototype emergency management "common operating picture" at the 2007 Pacific Northwest Asymmetric Warfare Initiative. The federally-funded Center for Asymmetric Warfare (CAW) designed the annual regional emergency-management drill to increase protection against terrorism and provide shared working experience for thousands of first responders, military and other homeland defense professionals responding to a crisis.

On July 24 this year, NVision, Boeing, and NAVTEQ streamed real-time emergency notifications from observers around the Port of Tacoma onto a high-resolution map depicting aerial photography as well as NAVTEQ map data, enhanced GIS attributes, and NAVTEQ Parcel Boundaries in the Exercise Control Center. Boeing employees acting as mock first responders logged simulated terrorist attacks using wireless, GPS-enabled, handheld computers. Simulated terrorist attacks involved live actors, pyrotechnics, and boats.

"NVision is very excited this technology has matured to address critical issues such as counter-terrorism, emergency management and recovery, and homeland defense issues such as border security," said NVision CIO Craig Harvey.

Source : www.nvisionsolutions.com

Blue Marble Geographics announced the addition of support for 3-D ESRI Shapefiles (SHP), as well as enhanced support of 3-D AutoCAD files (DWG/DXF) and 3-D MicroStation Design files (DGN). GeoTranslate users can now enhance layer level renditions and other minor enhancements. GeoTranslate 5.0 is the latest vector translation and feature manipulation tool from Blue Marble Geographics. It is a major rewrite of the GeoConvert control that was included with the GeoObjects tool kit, renamed GeoTranslate. It provides all of the original GeoConvert's functionality and more.

Will Klechka, Software Engineer at DAT/EM Systems, is a new GeoTranslate customer who has recently worked with Blue Marble developers to integrate the toolkit with his digital photogrammetry workstation. "DAT/EM Systems has been using the GeoCalc toolkit for many years, and we look forward to embedding GeoTranslate in Summit Evolution," stated Klechka. "Blue Marble developer support has always been very responsive to our needs. They are quick to fill our requests and provide fixes when needed. They have been great to work with."

"Working with best-in-class GIS Software providers like DAT/EM Systems is extremely helpful in improving our developer tools," stated Blue Marble President Patrick Cunningham "3-D file support is an important component of today's geospatial solutions."

Source : www.bluemarblegeo.com

IDV Solutions launched a new public facing demo, the Demographics Visualizer. The demo provides users with complete access to a sample composite application to visualize and explore current US demographics data. The Demographics Visualizer is designed to give users the opportunity to experience IDV Solutions' Visual Fusion software capabilities and its ability to solve their business problems.

The Demographic Visualizer integrates Visual Fusion Server and Visual Fusion Client with Virtual Earth web service to display government census results in a dynamic, user-friendly interface. The demo allows users to query and filter census data through five categories: Population, Age, Ethnicity, Political preference and Income. Users can query the categories individually or query more than one category for a further defined result.

IDV Solutions combines the two software offerings to fully maximize the value of user data and present the data in an intuitive and interactive web-based portal.

# Visual Fusion Server (VFS) enables businesses to quickly integrate web services, organizational and third party data into an interactive, web-based environment. Easily compatible with location services and other standard geospatial web services, VFS displays the data as interactive features on the resultant map.
# Visual Fusion Client (VFC) is a set of rich user interface components that can be deployed as SharePoint Web Parts or as standard Flash web page components, making use of a map as the primary metaphor for interacting with, exploring, and viewing enterprise information.

Source : www.idvsolutions.com

UK based Dotted Eyes is celebrating after taking on a record number of new staff.

Owen Powell has joined the Commercial Team as an Account Manager, with responsibility for the Transport vertical. His previous experience includes a two year stint at MapMechanics selling GPS and Vehicle Routing and Scheduling [VRS] followed by a VRS sales and consultancy role for DPS International.

Software Engineer Jon Hawkesworth has traded Capgemini for Dotted Eyes where he will be working in the Development team, delivering projects built on ResponseMX web mapping technology.

In response to increased demand for corporate wide GIS implementation, Chris Allison has joined the company as Project Consultant. His previous project management roles at Worcestershire County Council and Terraquest, combined with his Human Geography degree, made him the ideal candidate for this role. He will be liaising with clients, such as Ashfield District Council, and internal staff to co-ordinate the delivery of various corporate GIS components, including loading tools, dataset provision, web mapping applications and training/consultancy.

The Company’s youngest recruit, Andrew Brittan, joined immediately after graduating from the University of Birmingham with a BSc in Geography. As a Graduate Data Trainee, Andrew is working on the Meridian2 Project, carrying out the annual update of Ordance Survey’s Meridian2 dataset. Previous incumbents of the role have all moved into full time placements within Dotted Eyes, so we look forward to Andrew being with us for a long time to come.

Dotted Eyes now looks forward to completing the full redesign of www.dottedeyes.com, which will be formally launched at AGI2007. The new site will feature more product and services information, including over 50 pages devoted to mapping datasets alone!

OpenLM announced today August 23 the launch of the OpenLM solution for ESRI ArcGIS version 1.2.0 for floating license users. The software is available for download and evaluation at the OpenLM web site.

OpenLM for ESRI ArcGIS is designed to leverage your investment in the popular ESRI Desktop ArcGIS family of products: ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo. OpenLM offers a dramatic improvement in the availability of software license for the end users and has a significant influence on users productivity.

OpenLM can cut to minimum the idle time of your software products. Sites that use OpenLM report an outstanding improvement in license availability, and teams enjoy significant increase in productivity as a direct result.

The main focus of version 1.2.0 is on the user interface of the system with some major improvements in OpenLM internal algorithms. Here are a few of the innovations in the 1.2.0 version:

OpenLM Server

* The new OpenLM server software is providing for a much easier and faster configuration. The initial configuration to set the product up and running, requires only one single setting.
* Immediate help bubbles are available now for each configuration setting of OpenLM.
* Fully automated handling of licenses is set to solve the problem when a license is registered by the server as being in-use, but in fact it was released already by the user (as a system manager you will not need to restart the server for reset). The automated solution by the OpenLM software also solve other problems with FLEXnet license management - You will never have to type any LMUTIL command again.
* OpenLM server is now storing locally (on your system only!) a lot of useful information about the license usage in your organization. This data will be available for you to be investigated in the next version of OpenLM.

OpenLM Agent and Extension

* OpenLM icon in the notification area is now indicating the status of the connectivity to OpenLM server (such as network connectivity icons).
* User can display the status of the available licenses at any time by right clicking on the OpenLM icon which is located in the windows notification area.
* The distribution of OpenLM client (Agent) is now very simple, with any automated software distribution system. OpenLM client MSI currently support silent install.

For additional information you can contact us by using the contact form at the OpenLM website.

Geokosmos successfully carried out LiDAR surveying in Vietnam expanding the geography of their projects to a new region –Asia Pacific. The project was aimed at acquiring accurate, up-to-date geospatial data on Vietnamese southern regions.

Geokosmos specialists surveyed the Mekong Delta using ALTM 3100 (Optech Inc.,Canada), LiDAR system, with the integrated inertial measurement unit (IMU), manufactured by SAGEM, France. The total territory of airborne survey comprised 2100 square km. Airborne laser scanning was conducted at the height of 1500 m with high density of laser points, 2 points per 1 sq.m. Geokosmos provided the customer with preprocessed data for interpretation and further processing of the data. The Vietnamese specialists also received Geokosmos' in-house software product called Geokosmos 3D Modeler.

The data provided by Geokosmos will serve as an effective tool for flood and natural resources monitoring and will help effectively solve a lot of vital tasks. Based on the acquired data Vietnamese specialists will be able to create a digital terrain model of the Mekong Delta. Having in mind the annual precipitation index and using DTM Vietnamese scientists will be able to model river flood dynamics and thus, forecast flood consequences.

Source : http://www.geokosmos.com

Using an advanced gazetteer management solution from GGP Systems Blackpool Council is one of the first in the country to adopt the new National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG): 2006 BS7666 standard. GGP’s NGz software, one of only two systems accredited to the new standard, has enabled Blackpool to create and maintain a centralised address database revolutionising the delivery of services to residents. Using NGz as part of their integrated ICT infrastructure the Council has already saved a considerable amount through the consolidation of disparate datasets and it is hoped that early migration to the new standard will deliver additional benefits to the Council.

The NGz ‘gazetteer management software’ from GGP Systems manages a centralised address listing of all properties, streets and land. Created by combining seven key datasets and used by every department within the authority Blackpool’s NLPG database is dynamically linked to a number of systems including the Council’s corporate geographical information system (GIS) from GGP, their Lagan CRM system used by their Customer First Advisors and the Council’s online mapping tool powered by eGGP.

“The new data standard will hopefully enable us to build on the success and rewards already achieved,” said Philip Baron, Head of ICT Services. He continued, “the capacity to hold detailed building classifications and organisation names should increase the use of the address data. I can easily envisage a number of new applications within the Council as well as further take up of this data by third parties, such as the Emergency Services. One example that springs to mind is the evacuation of residents in the event of a flood incident; using the new classifications and organisation names we could prioritise nursing homes and community care facilities targeting resources where they are needed most.”

Source : www.ggpsystems.co.uk

Geosoft Inc., software and solutions for earth exploration company, announced it has completed acquisition of the software and all associated intellectual property assets of Northwest Geophysical Associates Inc. (NGA).

Geosoft helps to make the experience of finding, using and sharing data more natural and powerful for exploration professionals, accelerating knowledge development and empowering mission-critical decisions within the mineral and petroleum exploration industries and Earth Sciences markets. The acquisition strengthens Geosoft leadership position, and breadth of data visualization and modeling capabilities for petroleum explorers identifying new locations of potential reservoirs.

Geosoft assumes all sales, marketing and development for GM-SYS, GM-SYS 3D and associated software products. NGA developers, Tom Popowski, Jim Roy, and Vivek Narendra, join Geosoft's Research and Development group and Gerry Connard, former principal of NGA, will continue working with Geosoft in a consulting role.

"With the acquisition of GM-SYS now complete, we look forward to continuing high quality service and support to GM-SYS customers," said Tim Dobush, Geosoft CEO. "The acquisition also presents new and exciting opportunities to further integrate and simplify workflows for our customer base, and extend our range of capabilities for earth explorers around the globe" added Dobush.

Source : http://www.geosoft.com

OpenLM announced the launch of the OpenLM solution for ESRI ArcGIS version 1.2.0 for floating license users. OpenLM for ESRI ArcGIS is designed to leverage your investment in the popular ESRI Desktop ArcGIS family of products: ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo. OpenLM offers an improvement in the availability of software license for the end users and has a significant influence on users productivity.

The main focus of version 1.2.0 is on the user interface of the system with some major improvements in OpenLM internal algorithms. Enhancements in the 1.2.0 version:

OpenLM Server

# The new OpenLM server software is providing for a much easier and faster configuration. The initial configuration to set the product up and running, requires only one single setting.
# Immediate help bubbles are available now for each configuration setting of OpenLM.
# Fully automated handling of licenses is set to solve the problem when a license is registered by the server as being in-use, but in fact it was released already by the user (as a system manager you will not need to restart the server for reset). The automated solution by the OpenLM software also solve other problems with FLEXnet license management - You will never have to type any LMUTIL command again.
# OpenLM server is now storing locally (on your system only!) a lot of useful information about the license usage in your organization. This data will be available for you to be investigated in the next version of OpenLM.

OpenLM Agent and Extension

# OpenLM icon in the notification area is now indicating the status of the connectivity to OpenLM server (such as network connectivity icons).
# User can display the status of the available licenses at any time by right clicking on the OpenLM icon which is located in the windows notification area.
# The distribution of OpenLM client (Agent) is now very simple, with any automated software distribution system. OpenLM client MSI currently support silent install.

Source : www.openlm.com

Google announced the launch of Sky, a new feature that enables users of Google Earth to view the sky as seen from planet Earth.

With Sky, users can now float through the skies via Google Earth. This easy-to-use tool enables all Earth users to view and navigate through 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies. High resolution imagery and informative overlays create a unique playground for visualizing and learning about space.


As part of the new feature, Google is introducing seven informative layers that illustrate various celestial bodies and events:

# Constellations: From Cassiopeia to Andromeda, the Constellations layer connects the points of constellations through space, labeling each with its given name. Users can learn about the stars that make up their favorite constellations.
# Backyard Astronomy: The Backyard Astronomy layer lets users click through a variety of placemarks and information on stars, galaxies, and nebulae visible to the eye, binoculars and small telescopes. This layer is useful for the amateur astronomer who may benefit from a comprehensive, organized way to reference fragments of the night sky.
# Hubble Space Telescope Imagery: The HST layer provides users with over 120 high-resolution images provided by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA/ESA's renowned orbiting telescope.
# Moon: The Moon layer displays animations of two months of both lunar positions and moon phases.
# Planets: The Planets layer illustrates the seven official planets and their positions in the sky two months into the future.
# Users Guide to Galaxies: The Users Guide to Galaxies layer enables users to go on virtual tours through different types of galaxies, from Ursa Minor Dwarf to the Milky Way.
# Life of a Star: The Life of a Star layer takes the user on a tour through the different stages of a star's life cycle.

Sky was created by Google's Pittsburgh engineering team by stitching together imagery from numerous scientific third parties including the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Digital Sky Survey Consortium (DSSC), CalTech's Palomar Observatory, the United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC), and the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO). The initiative was born out of the University of Washington's participation in the Google Visiting Faculty Program, which makes it possible for leading academic researchers to visit Google for 6-12 month periods.

To access Sky in Google Earth, users need to download the newest version of Google Earth, available at: http://earth.google.com. The feature will be available on all Google Earth domains, in 13 languages.
The users will then have to click "Switch to Sky" from the "view" drop-down menu in Google Earth, or click the Sky button on the Google Earth toolbar. The interface and navigation are similar to that of standard Google Earth steering, including dragging, zooming, search, "My Places," and layer selection.

"We're excited to provide users with rich astronomical imagery and enhanced content that enables them to both learn about what they're seeing above and tell their own stories," said Lior Ron, Google Product Manager. "By working with some of the industry's leading experts, we've been able to transform Google Earth into a virtual telescope" added Ron.

Source : http://www.google.com

Digital Map Products announced the release of LandVision version 7.1. The new version offers large format printing, improved print quality and adds new productivity tools. LandVision 7.1 incorporates capability to print up to E-size plots. In the past, CD based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solutions offered E-size print capabilities; however as the software as a service (SaaS) GIS industry developed, this print capability was not addressed.

"Digital Map Products, responding to our customers' needs, is proud to offer E-size format printing," DMP President Jim Skurzynski said. "No longer will users need to do multiple copy and pastes and then edit drawings in third party software to create large format prints. Now, all users have to do is select the E-size option from a simple drop down menu"added Skurzynski.

This large format print capability will also be incorporated into the Digital Map's CityGIS product line and will be made available to all new and existing customers at no additional cost through an automatic upgrade.

Source : www.digitalmapproducts.com

Bayan Telecommunications said that their GIS, using Autodesk's MapGuide Enterprise 2008 edition, deployed last year has finally paid off as network operations improved dramatically. With the completion of Bayantel's GIS, dubbed Bangis (short for Bayan Network GIS) in March 2007, it now takes network engineers only a few seconds to retrieve records, said Abelardo Gaitana, network engineer of the engineering and applications-OSP engineering of Bayantel's network division, and head of the Bangis project.

Gaitana said Bayantel worked with a third-party provider to digitize "idle" paper-based records from 2000 to 2006. About 5,000 records were converted into digital files which are now accessible via Bangis.

He added Bangis has also helped the company reduce time to do network engineering work which starts with surveys, design and deployment of network. From one week, we can now do it in two to three days. Also Bangis has helped produce more accurate geographical information of areas in the country.

It took Bayantel six months to deploy Autodesk's MapGuide Enterprise 2008 edition, which also happens to be the first commercial deployment of the enterprise edition of Autodesk's GIS software in the country and Bangis will soon be deployed to other divisions of the company, namely the sales and marketing groups added Gaitana.

"In terms of return on investment, this project is not directly felt by the company but it improved our network operations in terms of employee productivity," he said.

Source : http://technology.inquirer.net

CH2M HILL Enterprise Management Solutions, information technology management consulting and solution development business company, announced it was awarded a contract by Virgin Media to provide consulting services related to the long-term spatial platform requirements of the United Kingdom-based telecommunications company. Virgin Media was formed as a result of a merger between Telewest and Virgin Mobile earlier this year.

The spatial consulting services establish a baseline from which Virgin Media can develop its physical network inventory data to support user functionality and needs. It also establishes a common framework to manage the capture of future data.

Under this contract, CH2M HILL is supporting the planning, scoping and risk management of a major data migration project required to consolidate a number of GIS platforms that support Virgin Media's physical inventory management. CH2M HILL will also recommend strategies that effectively transition the GIS land base from Ordnance Survey LandLine to MasterMap and re-align their network to address the associated challenges of positional accuracy improvement.

Source : http://www.ch2m.com

Airborne 1 Corporation, provider of advanced LiDAR services, rentals, and software worldwide, has delivered strong qualitative data for Dewberry. Dewberry, the planning, design, and program management professions, provides the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with disaster response and recovery assistance.

Airborne 1 mapped the majority of the south shores of the Hawaiian islands, including Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island for a FEMA hurricane study.

“To identify flood risk from hurricane driven storm surge in Hawaii with greater precision, we integrated our hurricane and HAZUS modeling data with coastal floodplain maps. These new generation maps will help to save lives and accurately identify property risk” said Ray Lenaburg, Senior Engineer for FEMA Region IX.

Topographical accuracy was paramount to the success of this project, and Airborne 1 provided accurate LIDAR data at a substantial cost savings over conventional aerial mapping.” “We have the privilege of providing LiDAR data to numerous FEMA regions, each with unique terrain and vegetation. Few areas in the world match the diversity and complexity of Hawaii’s terrain, and LiDAR is proving to be an excellent tool for the task,” said Todd Stennett, Airborne 1’s CEO.

Source : http://www.airborne1.com

The National Association of Counties' GIS Committee issued a letter of support last month for the GIS Certification Institute’s certification program. The institute issues a GIS Professional certification to people who meet minimum standards for education, professional experience and contribution to the profession.

The association’s letter represents a general endorsement of the institute’s certification process and any practitioner can claim to be a GIS professional, noting that GIS is an unregulated field.” said Scott Grams, executive director of the institute. The purpose of certification, he added, is to “separate professionals; GISPs, from casual users of the technology.” ,

To date, more than 325 GISPs work in county government, he said. County workers represent about 20 percent of the total GISP population. State geographic-information councils have also shown interest in GIS certification. In 2004, North Carolina became the first state to endorse the institute’s program. Oregon’s geographic-information council has also endorsed certification, Grams said. Those were unsolicited endorsements, he added.

The institute, a nonprofit organization based in Park Ridge, Ill., now looks to get endorsements from five more states, and it has targeted six more to recruit after that, Grams said. The institute’s goal is to secure an endorsement from each state's geographic-information council. More than 2,000 counties are members of the Washington-based National Association of Counties.

Source : http://www.washingtontechnology.com

Municipal Software announced that it has been selected by the Town of Greenwich to implement an integrated permit tracking system. Municipal Software will provide the complete suite of CityView PreBuilts; Property, Planning, Permitting and Inspections, Code Enforcement, Licensing and Cashiering; to the Town as well as the CityView Public Portal. Municipal Software will also provide all related implementation services, including project management, and training.

Greenwich’s permitting process relies on the coordinated efforts of nine departments who currently record and track information related to planning, permitting and code enforcement activities using disparate systems. With CityView, these departments will have access to all application and permit information in a shared, central database, eliminating duplication of effort, reducing permit processing and approval times, and providing management with accurate, reliable information to direct the departments’ activities.

Constituents will benefit from the new functionality with direct access to Building Development information and services, including online applications and status reporting, and by phone through an automated telephone information system that integrates with CityView.

“We are confident that CityView will provide us with a number of time-saving efficiencies allowing us to reduce the permit processing time and ensuring that we continue to meet our commitment to provide our constituents with excellent service,” said Boris Hutorin, IT Director, Town of Greenwich. “Further, the CityView Application Builder allows us to mould the product to meet our future growth and expansion needs, so that we are able to meet this commitment in the long-term” added, Hutorin.

Source : http://www.municipalsoftware.com

MAPPS and ASPRS appreciates the Bush Administration for its commitment to land remote sensing with the release of the National Land Imaging Program (NLIP) strategy by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

This program is designed to meet U.S. civilian moderate resolution land imaging needs to monitor the changes in land surface, Polar Regions, and coastal zones due to the changes in population growth, development and climate changes. It establishes a program office in the Department of the Interior, reporting at the Secretary and Assistant Secretary level, to provide focused leadership and management for the nation’s land imaging efforts. NLIP will focus on maintaining a core, operational government commitment and capability to collect moderate-resolution land imagery through the procurement and launch of a series of U.S. owned satellites thereby ensuring the continuity of U.S. collected and managed Landsat-like data, well into future decades.

The program is a product of several months of intense research and analysis conducted by the Future of Land Imaging (FLI) Interagency Working Group which was composed of individuals from fifteen federal agencies including, among others, NASA, NOAA, USDA, and the Department of Defense. Both MAPPS and ASPRS contributed significantly to the effort, providing testimony to the commercial uses and public value of moderate resolution images. The findings of ASPRS’s Survey on the Future of Land Imaging are cited repeatedly in the plan and the survey results are included as an exhibit. ASPRS and MAPPS pledged to work with Congress and the Administration on implementation of the NLIP recommendations.

In addition to establishing and maintaining a U.S. core operational moderate resolution land imaging capability, NLIP responsibilities will include, among others,

# Acting as the lead organization for coordinating and planning future U.S. civil operational moderate resolution imaging
# Ensuring that all U.S. needs for civil moderate-resolution land imagery data are met;
working closely with other federal agencies to assess U.S. moderate resolution imagery needs by convening a multi-agency Federal Land Imaging Council
# Maintaining ongoing assessments of user needs and advanced technologies in remote sensing;
negotiating international agreements to augment U.S. civil operational moderate resolution land imaging capabilities
# Will ensure that, consistent with the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act (15 USC 5601), development of the remote sensing market and the provision of commercial value-added services based on remote sensing data should remain exclusively the function of the private sector.

The plan also calls for the creation of a Federal Advisory Committee on Land Imaging composed of individuals from commercial, state, local government, academic, and other non-profit organizations to guide these activities.

Source : http://mapps.org/newsroom

Intergraph Consulting Private Ltd., a leading engineering and geospatial software development facility for Intergraph Corp. based in Hyderabad, India, is celebrating 20 years of innovation and growth in the IT sector.

From developing geospatial software used by India’s Ministry of Defence to protect the nation, to next generation 3D plant and marine design software used by process, power, ship and offshore companies globally, Intergraph Consulting plays a key role in developing Intergraph’s market-leading software applications.

“We are deeply proud of the contributions Intergraph Consulting has made to our organization and Intergraph’s customers over the past 20 years,” said Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Reid French. “We look forward to further expanding our software development capacity within India to support Intergraph’s continued growth and to providing our employees here with the exciting new career opportunities that this growth affords.” added French.

Source : http://www.intergraph.com

James W. Sewall Company, provider of spatial information services for municipal government, utilities, and the forest industry, has signed a two-year agreement to provide its Web-based forestry information system (webFRIS) to Brazilian packaging firm Rigesa, Ltd., a subsidiary of MeadWestvaco Corporation.

The company, which owns 133,000 acres of forestland in Brazil, selected the webFRIS solution, a GIS system that allows forest managers to do management planning, maintain forestland information, and make decisions for effective resource management. webFRIS features include a centralized real-time database, on-line delivery, scalability, and Sewall’s depth in forestry decision support.

"Sewall has proven itself with expert analyses and data solutions to help Rigesa meet its needs," says Luiz Andrade, Rigesa’s Technical Manager of Forest Operations. "Their innovative systems and integrated decision support make Sewall the best choice for information services. Sewall’s enterprise solution extends the value of GIS throughout our organization and aids in facilitating our growth."added Andrade.

Source : http://www.jws.com/

Safe Software, makers of the FME spatial ETL (extract, transform, and load) platform, will discuss solutions to the critical challenges affecting in effective disaster response say after a hurricane, a tsunami, or other disaster occurs; during a presentation at URISA's 2007 Annual Conference, to be held in Washington, DC, August 20-23.

“In the chaotic aftermath of a disaster, a GIS disaster response team must quickly integrate location-based data provided by multiple agencies, and make the results available to other teams and organizations,” said Dean Hintz, senior consultant and presenter from Safe Software. “The challenge facing responding organizations is that most of this data is not immediately usable with their GIS tools. The data may be in a variety of different map scales and coordinate systems, and it often spans a wide range of data structures, formats and standards - from vector to raster, from spatial to attribute only or text, and from open standards such as GML, WFS and WMS, to de-facto and proprietary standards" added Hintz.

During the response phase of a disaster, a GIS team may need to plan an effective strategy using basemap data in ESRI Shapefiles, engineering data in MicroStation, topological data in GML, and flood extent data in WFS. In order for a GIS system to use these diverse data sources, the data first needs to be translated into a common format or data structure. This will result in wasting critical time if the team is hand coding the required data transformations, or relying on tools that deal with only a limited number of formats.

Safe Software's presentation will use a hypothetical disaster response scenario to show how spatial ETL tools provide important advantages over other approaches by rapidly integrating diverse source data into a common model. In addition, the presentation will demonstrate how this technology plays an important role in distributing data to response teams.

“These tools enable GIS teams to quickly integrate multiple data types, while preserving the meaning of the information during transformation of the data to a common model. What's more, they can directly read from and write to multiple data stores, regardless of data structure or format. This significantly streamlines both receiving and distributing critical information, and ultimately helps disaster response teams save more lives,” says Drew Rifkin, Safe Software account manager and co-presenter with Hintz.

Source : http://www.safe.com/

Dr Cymru Welsh Water has selected ESRI (UK) to provide a new GIS to help optimise customer service, operations, asset management, business performance and regulatory compliance. ESRI (UK) will work alongside Capgemini, who as a member of Welsh Water’s ICT alliance will take primary responsibility of coordinating the GIS solution into its existing ICT programme.

Welsh Water’s ICT alliance was announced with a contract amounting to more than £100m in 2006. The GIS project forms part of Welsh Water’s IT Enabled Change (ITEC) programme to implement an integrated IT environment. The new GIS will work within the water company’s IT environment and help share information throughout the organisation and also with third parties.

ESRI (UK)’s GIS will assist Welsh Water with planned and unplanned maintenance scheduling under the Traffic Management Act and the StreetWorks Acts, its OFWAT five year Performance Reporting period, as well as the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) risk assessment regulatory requirements.

The GIS will integrate with Welsh Water’s existing IT systems including SAP’s Industry Specific Solution for Utilities using web services deployed in a Service Orientated Architecture, which will enable streamlining of business processes.
ESRI’s ArcGIS Sever will enable GIS intelligence to be embedded into Welsh Water’s business systems and deliver GIS services for all employees including:

# A desktop environment to maintain network records an intranet GIS for view, query and analysis – offering company-wide access to information, including call centre operators
# An extranet GIS – for third party access including a ‘dial before you dig’ service for other partner utility companies
# A mobile GIS application for field data capture, integrated with SAP mobile an emergency response solution

Source : http://www.esriuk.com

Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh, is to be placed under security surveillance when Dhaka Metropolitan Police installs 155 cameras at 59 points during the coming year. The police decided to install the digital surveillance system for traffic management and crime control, setting up a unified control room. Under this "Command, Control and Communications Systems" (C3S) initiative, 155 sophisticated surveillance cameras will be installed at 59 points in the capital, including its nine entrances and exits.

Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, has a population of 11 million people, making it the largest city in Bangladesh and one of the most populous in the world. In recent decades, Dhaka has seen modernisation of transport, communications and public works. Police officials involved with the project believe the system will provide a centralised command-and-control system with a new fully digital mobile radio communications system of the tetra (terrestrial trunk radio) communication standard. It will facilitate the law enforcers with Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system with Geographical Information System (GIS). The whole picture of the city will be able to be seen from the control room and it is estimated that the installation will bring about significant changes in traffic management and crime control.

Source : http://www.cctvcore.co.uk

Topcon's new TopField software for the CTS-3000 and GTS-100N series total stations is designed to meet the basic needs of a contractor or topo/stake-out surveyor while offering more than a basic onboard system. The new TopField software is able to handle multiple job files and measures in feet and 10ths, meters, or feet and inches. TopField is included with CTS-3000 and GTS-100N series total stations.

Scott Langbein, TPS product marketing manager, said, “TopField allows the user to enter building plan data from paper plans or electronic files.” Coordinates can be uploaded and downloaded using Topcon Link or Topcon Tools software. “At times it is best to keep setup, layout and topo simple and straight forward. That is what we have done with TopField.”

Source : http://www.topconpositioning.com

Digital Map Products announced it has added ZipRealty and CoStar Group to its growing list of clients choosing ParcelStream. Digital Map Products (DMP) debuted its ParcelStream web service late last year as part of Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions' Cyberhomes . Since then, there has been a tremendous response to the company's cost-effective solution for the acquisition and visualization of parcel boundaries.

"Street centerlines and aerial imagery just don't tell the whole story. The visualization of actual property boundaries is quickly becoming the standard for map-based web applications dealing with real property," said Jim Skurzynski, president and founder of DMP, a pioneer provider of visual data content and Internet-based business applications for real estate and government.

"With parcel-level content, you have much greater visual information on which to base your decisions. Additionally, when searching for properties based upon parcel accuracy you are placed directly over your target property, not at an extrapolated location along the street like in most web-based applications today. That's critical when you are a serious real estate professional trying to understand a property's true value, or a city planner performing zone change notifications."

"When it comes to collecting parcel content, there are currently very few options," said Jamie Wilson, vice president of product development for ZipRealty, the largest Internet-based real estate brokerage. "We found ParcelStream to be the best solution out there and a more cost effective solution than building it in house."

DMP has been building its databases since 1996, specializing in collecting parcel geometry on a county-by-county basis, navigating both the legal and the technical complexities presented by these public databases. "Our goal has always been to remove as many of the obstacles to this data as possible thus making the data more available and accessible by our customers," said Skurzynski.

Source : http://www.earthtimes.org/

Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (PE&RS) has been ranked number one in terms of cost effectiveness and citation influence in the field of Imaging Sciences & Photographic Technology. It excelled among 12 related journals and held first place in the field as it raced past IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, and Remote Sensing of Environment. It ranked second among 10 competing publications in Remote Sensing, behind only the IEEE Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Finally, in the category of Geography-Physical, PE&RS held third place after Journal of Coastal Research and Polar Research journal.

The journal has been awarded by a newly released network-based journal ranking system, which has been developed by the University of Washington, Department of Biology. These rankings have been determined by using the Eigenfactor system, which analyzed over 6000 academic journals in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.

Dr. Carl T. Bergstrom of the Department of Biology, University of Washington SAID, "We have set out to develop better quantitative measures of journal cost-effectiveness. The most cost-effective journals are the likely "must-buy" periodicals for even small libraries wishing to cover the subject area. Indeed, a number of major university libraries and library consortia already using our metrics in making their subscription decisions."

In studying the economics of scientific publishing, the University of Washington researchers were "struck by the fact that in most scholarly disciplines, library subscription prices for journals produced by for-profit publishers are 3 to 5 times as much per page as for journals produced by societies and university presses," according to Bergstrom.

Eignefactor system evaluates the influence of scientific journals using the same sort of network-based mathematics that Google uses to rank web pages. Using this method, scholarly references join journals together in a network of citations. Eigenfactor uses the structure of the entire network (instead of purely local citation information) to evaluate the importance of each journal. Eigenfactor measures journal price as well as citation influence. While the Eigenfactor (and related Article Influence) scores do not incorporate price information directly, the Cost-Effectiveness Search orders journals by a measure of the value per dollar.

PE&RS, published monthly by ASPRS, blends the intellectual depth of a professional journal with the breadth of news represented by an industry magazine. Theoretical and applied papers address topics in photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems, global positioning systems and other geospatial information technologies. Every technical article is reviewed by mapping experts to ensure it is of the highest quality and makes a valuable contribution to the mapping profession. PE&RS is distributed worldwide to nearly 7,000 ASPRS members and institutional subscribers, and back issues can be viewed on line at www.asprs.org.

Source : http://www.asprs.org/news/

ESRI’s ArcGIS Business Analyst desktop software now includes ESRI’s 2007/2012 demographic data update and segmentation, business, and shopping center data. This data update, available today, is the most current and accurate information about the U.S. population. The software innovations delivered at the 9.2 release, coupled with this update to the industry’s best datasets, create the optimal business analysis solution that is ArcGIS Business Analyst.

“This is a major data update from previous versions of ArcGIS Business Analyst,” says Mark Berry , ArcGIS Business Analyst product manager, ESRI. “It includes new developments in data sources, methods, and the measurement of continuing population changes in the Gulf Coast communities after the 2005 hurricane season.”

The 2007 data updates to ArcGIS Business Analyst 9.2 include

* ESRI’s 2007/2012 demographic data estimates and projections
* Segmentation data from Community Tapestry down to the census tract level
* Business data for approximately 12 million U.S. businesses from infoUSA (vintage January 2007)
* Shopping center data for 4,200 major U.S. shopping centers from Directory of Major Malls (vintage January 2007)

ArcGIS Business Analyst is well known as an effective solution for site selection; however, organizations have also realized the benefit of leveraging the product’s rich demographic and consumer spending datasets with their own data for targeted marketing and decision making. This new data release takes data-driven analysis to the next level giving organizations the latest data to profile customers and constituents, find similar segments, craft marketing messages, and support analysis for market expansion.

While the solution ships today to new users with the 2007/2012 data update; existing ArcGIS Business Analyst users current on maintenance will automatically receive the data update.

For more information about ArcGIS Business Analyst, visit www.esri.com/ba or call 1-800-447-9778.

TopoSys GmbH, Biberach, Germany, is please to announce that TopoSys has successfully established a certified Quality Management System according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000. The certificate covers all business fields of TopoSys, including sensor production and LiDAR service projects. The certificate is available for download at www.toposys.com in the open download section.

TopoSys has introduced a complete line of LIDAR sensor systems, engineered to address the increasing applications for aerial LIDAR, from precise wide-area topographic mapping to high-density corridor mapping.

The TopoSys LIDAR sensor family consists of three systems: The Falcon III, Harrier 56/G3, and Harrier 24.

The Falcon III utilizes a unique, technologically advanced fibre-optic linear array LiDAR sensor with an effective measurement rate of 125kHz and an integrated four-channel (R, G, B, NIR) optical line scanner that can simultaneously acquire high-resolution, multi-spectral imagery plus elevation data. The fibre based system follows electronic distance measurement (EDM) guidelines no other sensor does, resulting in the highest data quality; fast and sensitive echo detection; and outstanding production efficiency.

Harrier 56/G3 represents the leading edge in LIDAR scanning and digital image acquisition. Full-Wave-Form echo digitization, 200 kHz pulse rate Riegl LMSQ560 Laser scanner combined with a calibrated 39M pixel camera makes the sensor a perfect tool for corridor mapping, engineering site development, forestry, natural resource, flood and topographic mapping.

The full waveform digitization feature of the Harrier 56/G3 enables the user to extract the most comprehensive vertical information from the echo signals. The integrated digital camera is designed to generate high quality color and CIR digital imagery, geometrically and radiometrically calibrated. The camera is also designed to operate as a stand alone to serve medium altitude, aerial image projects for mapping or photogrammetric applications.

Harrier 24 is an optimised entry-level system for helicopter-based mapping with the combination of a calibrated 39M pixel camera and a low-cost 10 kHz Laser. The Harrier 24 is ready to use, allowing organizations to easily add LIDAR scanning to their existing business with the dual benefit of providing digital imaging as well as LIDAR for aerial surveys and remote sensing.

All three sensor systems are complemented by TopPIT, the Lidar processing software developed by TopoSys to support hardware specific pre-processing and streamline data for DEM and true ortho-image production. Third-party software can plug into the workflow through standardised interfaces.

“TopoSys enjoys a unique position in its dual role as an established sensor operator within Europe and Lidar system manufacturer,” said Alexander Wiechert, president, TopoSys North America, Inc. “This position provides TopoSys a broad base of expertise that is unmatched by any other vendor. We expect our customers and partners will benefit tremendously from access to TopoSys experience and knowledge - from sensor operation to the production of digital terrain models, digital RGB and CIR images, all the way through to providing consulting services in customer-specific applications. This is supported by an experienced support team and tailored training programs for hardware and software.”

Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., ITT Corporation, and DigitalGlobe, the provider of the high-resolution imagery and geospatial information products, announced delivery of their WorldView-1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for its scheduled launch on Tuesday, September 18, 2007. WorldView-1 is the first of two new next-generation satellites DigitalGlobe has planned to launch.

After launch on September 18, WorldView-1 will undergo a calibration and check out period and will deliver imagery soon after. First imagery from WorldView-1 is expected to be available prior to October 18, the 6th anniversary of the launch of QuickBird, DigitalGlobe's current satellite. WorldView-1 will have an average revisit time of 1.7 days and will be capable of collecting up to 750,000 square kilometers (290,000 square miles) per day of half-meter imagery. The satellite will also be equipped with state-of-the-art geo-location accuracy capabilities and will exhibit stunning agility with rapid targeting and efficient in-track stereo collection.

WorldView-1 is part of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)'s NextView program. The programme is designed to ensure that the NGA has access to commercial imagery in support of its mission to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security. The majority of the imagery captured by WorldView-1 for the NGA will also be available for sale through DigitalGlobe's archive. Additionally, the launch of WorldView-1 immediately frees up capacity on DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite to meet the growing commercial demand for multi-spectral geospatial imagery.

Source : http://www.ballaerospace.com

MetaCarta, Inc., provider of geographic search and referencing solutions, announced that it had partnered with Sitesa, a GIS and search products provider for the government and media markets in Spain and Portugal.

With this partnership, Sitesa's customers will be able search structured and unstructured data for geographic references as well as make Spanish documents "location-aware" enabling that information to be geographically categorized, visualized and mined.

Sitesa is the exclusive value added reseller (VAR) in Spain and Portugal to offer MetaCarta's solutions, including the Spanish geographic data module (GDM) which allows organizations to identify, disambiguate, and resolve Spanish language geographic references found in documents. The Spanish GDM enables MetaCarta products to automatically identify the language and character set of each document and assign latitude and longitude coordinates and country code tags to each place name in the document. Sitesa will demonstrate the MetaCarta solutions at the ESRI Spain Conference Oct 10-11, 2007.

"MetaCarta's solutions complement Sitesa's current offerings from ESRI and Google, as we have already demonstrated integration with those solutions to our main customers, which include Spanish Defense, Intelligence and media organizations, and have seen tremendous response," said Alberto Corbi, Managing Director of Sitesa-GrupoEP. "We are thrilled to have MetaCarta as a partner, as geocoding unstructured information adds great value to our customers; and we look forward to bringing the power of MetaCarta's technology to Europe," added Corbi.

Source : http://www.metacarta.com

De Beers is currently using the latest laser mapping technology from 3D Laser Mapping to improve safety at the Kimberley diamond mine in South Africa. The "SiteMonitor" laser scanning system is designed to capture highly accurate slope measurements and will help identify potential failures within the pit wall. De Beers will also use the system to measure the volume of waste dumps and stockpiles around the mine.

The De Beers Kimberley mine, known as the "Big Hole", is the largest man-made excavation in the world, yielding 14.5 million carats (2,722 kg) of diamonds while in operation. It is located next to the N12 Johannesburg to Cape Town freeway and is a major tourist attraction for the region.

The 3D Laser Mapping SiteMonitor system, including a high performance Riegl LMS-Z420i laser scanner, will be used by De Beers to capture highly accurate measurements of the Dolerites and Shales that make up the upper portions of the pit walls. By continuously capturing and analysing slope measurements the SiteMonitor system helps surveyors to identify areas of movement and therefore potential failure of the walls which are critical to the stability of the N12 freeway and the shops and businesses around the pit.

The laser scanning system will also be used for other tasks around the mine, maximising the return on investment in the equipment. Previously the large and complex waste dumps and stockpiles around the mine were measured using airborne laser scanning. The expense and long lead-time for such surveys meant that they could only be carried out periodically and interim surveys were carried out using a low-end vehicle mounted GPS rover system. By using the Riegl laser scanner the surveyors can perform fast, highly accurate volume measurements with zero lead-time and at a much lower cost whilst reducing vehicle wear and tear and improving the safety of personnel.

"The high performance of the laser scanner ensures we get good measurements of both the Dolerites and underlying Shales that make up the pit walls and the integrated digital camera provides a visual record of the behaviour of the rock to help us understand and interpret the laser data," said Colin Crowie, Surveyor, Dormant Mines.

Source : www.3dlasermapping.com

GGP Systems, the UK provider of GIS is helping one of London’s primary social housing organisations provide quality housing services. Homes for Haringey, who manage 21,000 tenanted and leasehold homes in North London on behalf of Haringey Council, is using GGP Systems’ flagship GIS to improve customer services, maintain accurate housing records and facilitate future web-based communication projects. GGP GIS is used throughout the organisation, is the corporate GIS of Haringey Council, and will be linked with existing Anite management systems.

GGP GIS is used by a number of departments within Homes for Haringey, including Building Services, Design and Engineering and Estates Services, as an advanced solution for the creation, management and communication of detailed geographical information relating to the housing stock, ownership and the surrounding environment. GGP GIS will be integrated with back office solutions from Anite Systems, including Codeman the market leading asset management software and an SQL based property database.

“By providing desktop access to an array of information held in back office systems both internally and within the Council we are able to answer more of our resident’s enquiries, specifically those relating to property improvements and renewals. This will dramatically improve the service we provide to residents. Using GGP GIS we are hoping to make much of this information available via an online mapping function on our website.” said Kevin Loomes, Head of Knowledge Management at Homes for Haringey.

Source : http://www.ggpsystems.co.uk

To help the community keep tabs on crime, the City of Tigard has launched CRIME Spotter, a web-based mapping tool for general information about criminal activity. CRIME Spotter provides the public with a map based 'report centric' GIS application showing where crimes have occurred.

CRIME Spotter uses GeoNorth's MapOptix and Multi-Map Framework, as well as ESRI's ArcIMS, ArcSDE, ArcGIS and Adobe's ColdFusion. The MapOptix Multi-Map Framework is an extensible FuseBox solution that provides the basis for a report centric mapping application. It provides an intuitive way to query a database and generate summary pages with a map and report.

CRIME Spotter is specially designed for public use. It works by entering an address, which in turn generates a one mile buffer map with a summary of reported crimes with descriptive information. Individual summary maps for major crimes, such as burglary and motor vehicle theft, are available by clicking specific tabs within the application. A random 1/4 mile grid overlay also shows crime intensity by graduated colors.

Data for CRIME Spotter originates from the Portland Police Data System, a large multi-jurisdictional crime database to which the City of Tigard contributes. Through a series of automated scripts, a special reported crime extract is created each month. Then, a series of ArcGIS geoprocessing scripts parse out the individual crime point layers, as well as update polygon grid layers for creating special graduated color thematic layers of crime totals. The scripts replace the layers in ArcSDE and result in a 12 month moving window of reported crime data.

CRIME Spotter has received a favorable response from the City and community. The City is planning on expanding the report centric framework to include other spatial information, such as utilities, planning/zoning information, neighborhood information, and parcel information.

"By simplifying the front end with just a simple address query, followed by a series of intuitive tabs with maps and data in an easy to read format, the user's experience is greatly enhanced. Users do not need to worry about panning, zooming, or figuring out what layers to turn on" says Preston Beck, City of Tigard GIS Coordinator.

"With the extensibility of the MapOptix Multi-Map Framework, we will be able to create focused maps with information in an intuitive format so the public can quickly get the information they need without the fuss of traditional interactive web-based mapping" added Beck.

Source : http://www.geonorth.com/

To accommodate growth in its oblique aerial imaging business, MultiVision USA has moved its headquarters office to a new location in Orlando. The Orlando headquarters is home to MultiVision USA marketing, sales and business development support personnel.

The MultiVision USA production facility, which underwent an expansion earlier this year that effectively doubled its processing capacity, will remain at a separate location in Orlando, just a few miles from the headquarters office.

“MultiVision USA has experienced remarkable growth in our share of the oblique aerial imaging market in 2007, which has necessitated larger accommodations for our operations,” said Dave Ledgerwood, MultiVision USA President. “We anticipate a further expansion of our client base in 2008, especially after we introduce an enhanced version of the MultiVision viewing system later this year.”

Among the dozens of contracts awarded to MultiVision USA in 2007, the most significant was the Massachusetts state-wide oblique imaging project won in a competitive bidding process by MultiVision USA’s parent company, Greenman Pedersen Incorporated (GPI). Massachusetts plans to deploy the MultiVision USA tool at four state-wide levels. The system will be used by the Massachusetts Highway Department for project planning, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the State Police for emergency response planning, and by the Massachusetts GIS division as the state-wide depository for spatial data. In addition, the system will be available to each of the state’s 351 cities and towns for project planning, public presentations, and for performing tax assessments of properties in their respective areas.

MultiVision USA credits its growth in 2007 to the introduction of its integrated oblique imagery and 3D viewing solution, the first of its kind unveiled in the United States specifically for use by multiple departments within city and county governments. Still popular among Property Appraisers, the MultiVision system has been embraced by Public Safety and Public Works departments as well.

A major factor in the multi-departmental acceptance of MultiVision technology is that it enables users to view infrastructure in true 3D and run simulation analyses, like floods and storm surges, in their GIS environment without third-party vendors or expensive add-on modules.

Source : http://www.mv-usa.com/news.htm

CE Info Systems, which owns MapMyIndia.com, has received an investment of Rs 10 crore (2.5 mn USD) from venture capital firm, Nexus India Capital. Following the investment, Suvir Sujan, managing director, Nexus India, has joined the board of CE Info Systems.

CE Info Systems, GIS provider in India, has been focussed on the development of navigable maps. The company recently released the first version of nationwide GPS-based road network navigable maps. These navigable maps are designed for use on multiple media including internet portals, car navigation, mobile navigation and several other location-based and GIS applications targeting the needs of consumers and enterprises.

CE Info Systems has partnered with Yahoo India, Wayfinder and Airtel to offer mapping services to internet and mobile users in the country. With intent to reach out to a larger audience in the consumer space, the company has also launched India's first interactive mapping portal MapMyIndia.com.

Rakesh Verma, co-founder and CEO, CE Info Systems, has said, “We chose to partner with Nexus because of the team there. They understand how companies are built. We share a common understanding with them as well as existing investors, Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo Ventures, on how to take this company forward.”

Source : http://www.alootechie.com

The members of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) have approved Version 1.0 of the Transducer Markup Language Implementation Specification ("TML" or "TransducerML").

Sensor systems have two basic parts - a sensing element and a transducer that converts energy from one form to another form (usually an electric signal) that can be interpreted. TML defines the conceptual model and XML Schema for describing transducers and supporting real-time streaming of data to and from sensor systems. TML defines:

-- A set of models describing the response characteristics of a transducer

-- An efficient method for transporting sensor data and preparing it for use with other data through spatial and temporal associations

Along with other specifications coming out of the OGC's Sensor Web Enablement activity, TML enables developers to create loosely coupled open systems for discovering, controlling and using Web-accessible sensors and transducers of all kinds, from simple digital switches to satellite-borne imaging systems.

The OpenGIS(R) Transducer Markup Language Implementation Specification can be downloaded from http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards.

Tags: GIS News, GIS Developments

GeoSpatial Training Services, a provider of virtual and instructor led GIS training and consulting services, has released a new "how-to" style GIS blog called GeoChalkboard. GeoChalkboard covers hands on exercises, tips, and tutorials for integrating Google Earth, Google Maps, ESRI, and Microsoft Virtual Earth technologies.

For more information on GeoChalkboard please visit http://geochalkboard.wordpress.com or http://www.geospatialtraining.com.

GeoSpatial Training Services, LLC provides virtual and instructor led training courses designed to keep GIS professionals on top of the rapidly evolving and increasingly technical nature of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In today's world, implementing a GIS increasingly requires advanced skills that blend geospatial theories and concepts with advanced computer science skills. Our goal at GeoSpatial Training Services is to integrate these sometimes disparate concepts into training materials that can be used to become a more effective GIS professional. Our affordable, self-paced virtual training courses are designed to fully engage the student in the learning process through the use of audio lectures, visual software demonstrations, exercises, Flash based lectures, and one-on-one interactions between the student and instructor. Users can quickly and easily order virtual training materials that provide a fast, easy, inexpensive, and highly effective method for acquiring GIS skills. Some of the key features of our training CD's include:

* An average of 40 hours training with each full length course.
* Exercises and data included with each full length course to give hands-on experience with the software.
* Courses offered in a variety of formats including full length courses, chapter length courses, and job aids.
* Unique compression that allows us to put many hours of high quality audio and video on a single disk.
* Compatible with PCs and Mac
* Training delivered by experts in both audio and video as you watch the instructor's computer desktop, and the software in action - Anyone can learn regardless of your learning style (auditory or visual)
* Lessons can be repeated anytime you like, from anywhere you like.

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. has announced that it has been selected by the Remote Sensing Applications Center of the USDA Forest Service to support two wildfire monitoring and forest mapping projects in 2007 with the VistaNav- SSR Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The Remote Sensing Applications Center, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, will provide technical assistance to the agency’s field units using advanced geospatial technology for improved monitoring and mapping of natural resources.

The VistaNav-SSR (Smart Surveillance and Reconnaissance) system is a complete, high-performance UAS that includes a ground control station integrated with 3D Synthetic Vision and a small-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The system features miniaturized airborne and mission computing image processing capabilities designed to improve control and command functions, increase situational awareness, and integrate ground-imaging computations for aerial remote sensing applications such as oil and gas pipeline monitoring, border surveillance, forest fire detection and monitoring, precision agriculture, and more.

“Wildfire operations can be very costly in terms of equipment and personnel, especially higher-risk night operations,” said Sally Collins, Associate Forest Service Chief, Forest Service. “Together with Mercury, the Forest Service will employ VistaNav-SSR unmanned aircraft systems to help in providing precise imagery and actionable intelligence to Incident Command Teams leading to significantly safer tactics in fighting wildfires,” he added.

Source : http://www.mc.com/

Digital mapping and GIS software developer Cadcorp announced that its business partner in the Netherlands, Vicrea Solutions BV, has recently won contracts from several Dutch municipalities to supply and implement Vicrea’s Geo Vastgoed Registraties (GVR) application, which has been developed using Cadcorp SIS – Spatial Information System.

Recent government legislation in the Netherlands has made municipalities responsible and accountable for registering and maintaining accurate information relating to the land, property and associated address information within their administrative boundaries. In response to this, Vicrea developed its GVR application to enable the creation, management and maintenance of both the spatial and the administrative data within a unified spatial database. The application uses Cadcorp SIS to provide integrated geospatial functionality.
A number of municipalities, both large and small, throughout the Netherlands have recently implemented Vicrea’s GVR to enable them to fulfil their legal requirements under the new government legislation. These include Utrecht, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Tilburg, Leiden, Den Haag and Alkmaar. Several others are currently in the process of installing and implementing the system.

“The main benefit to municipalities of selecting GVR is the integration of spatial and non-spatial data, allowing highly sophisticated manipulation of data, both alphanumeric and geographic. Furthermore, it allows complex spatial queries of the database without users needing to know or to look for spatial relationships in the data. This saves time and reduces the possibility of errors occurring”, said Gerard Hagen, managing diretor, Vicrea Solutions BV. “The system is also easy to learn and easy to use”, he added.

Source : www.cadcorp.com

The members of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) have approved Version 1.0 of the Transducer Markup Language Implementation Specification ("TML" or "TransducerML").

Sensor systems have two basic parts - a sensing element and a transducer that converts energy from one form to another form (usually an electric signal) that can be interpreted. TML defines the conceptual model and XML Schema for describing transducers and supporting real-time streaming of data to and from sensor systems. TML defines:

# A set of models describing the response characteristics of a transducer

# An efficient method for transporting sensor data and preparing it for use with other data through spatial and temporal associations

TML enables developers to create loosely coupled open systems for discovering, controlling and using Web-accessible sensors and transducers of all kinds, from simple digital switches to satellite-borne imaging systems.

The OpenGIS Transducer Markup Language Implementation Specification can be downloaded from http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards.

Source : http://www.opengeospatial.org

Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging and IONIC announce their silver sponsorships at Map Asia, August 14-16, 2007 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Individuals from both Leica Geosystems and recently acquired IONIC are keynote speakers at the conference. Brad Skelton, CTO, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging is presenting “Image Exploitation for the Enterprise.” Vincent Dessard, President and CEO, IONIC Software is speaking on “Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): An Interoperable Web Services Architecture for Better Access and Diffusion of Geospatial Information.”

“In Asia, the demand for geospatial solutions is growing at an unprecedented rate,” said Bob Morris, President and CEO, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging.

“Map Asia is a significant platform for showcasing technology and exchanging ideas,” added Vincent Dessard.

Map Asia leverages an international initiative aimed to provide a platform for the convergence, sharing and use of geospatial technologies. Founded in 2002, Map Asia is the largest annual Asian GIS, GPS, aerial photography and remote sensing conference.

For more information about Map Asia, please visit http://www.mapasia.org

Source : http://www.leica-geosystems.com

India's space agency Indian Space Research Organisation will next year launch a special platform to put into space miniature satellites catering to the needs of developing countries and the domestic scientific community.

ISRO is developing a 100-kg "satellite bus" as demand has picked up for launching nano-satellites, chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

The platform will have a unique imaging system that can be used by third world countries. "With low-cost terminals, they can receive data about their region, that's going to be servicing the needs of various developing countries," added Nair

Source : http://www.rediff.com

The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) has announced that it has launched the data collection process for its eighth annual Geospatial Technology Report. The report will contain detailed information on the complexity, direction, and completeness of GIS projects being implemented at nearly 400 infrastructure-based organizations around the world. The report is one of the major industry surveys of the geospatial community.

Users with active GIS implementations are invited to complete the survey at gita.org/gtr_survey.
The deadline to complete the survey is August 15, 2007. Other than company name, number of customers, and start date of the companies’ GIS, all information is kept confidential, and none of the data provided is associated with the responding organizations in the published report. The survey saw a record 31% growth in 2006 as nearly 400 user organizations participated.

Source : http://www.gita.org

GIS NEWS: SAN Holdings, Inc., provider of data access solutions, announced the sale by SANZ, Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary, and Solunet Storage, Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of SANZ, of its EarthWhere business unit to SPADAC Inc.

SPADAC is headquartered in McLean and provides predictive analysis products and services to improve decision making. The buying of the EarthWhere unit will improve the companies predictive alaysis model by incorporate geographical attribute to it. As, EarthWhere automates the management of geospatial data, elevation models, scanned maps, satellite imagery and aerial photography, allowing companies and government agencies to quickly ingest, catalog, explore and provision raster data.

"The sale of EarthWhere is another strategic step forward for SANZ. This transaction is good for us and it's good for SPADAC," said Todd Oseth, Chairman and CEO of SAN Holdings, Inc. "It allows SANZ to focus on growing our core data access solutions business, and it allows SPADAC to complement and expand upon its existing geospatial predictive analytics solutions."

Source : http://ir.sanz.com
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GIS NEWS: eSpatial, an enterprise geospatial software and technology company and Geomatic Technologies (GT), one of Australia’s providers of location-based business intelligence solutions, information products and services, announced at the 2007 GITA Conference the signing of a strategic Partnership Agreement. Under the Agreement GT will deliver enterprise GIS and value add solutions built on iSMART, eSpatial's GeoSpatial software suite for development of integrated, enterprise grade spatially enabled applications.

eSpatial’s iSMART supports a number of deployment models which include Pure Web and Customized Client within a scalable, role-based and secure environment. The architectural features delivered with iSMART address standard IT requirements for the deployment of enterprise business applications.

With offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and North America, and operating around the world, GT will deliver iSMART-based web delivered solutions within their existing lines of business systems.

“eSpatial is delighted to enter this Partnership with Geomatic Technologies and I believe together we will deliver innovative spatially enabled applications and solutions to a wide customer base" said Philip O’Doherty, CEO, eSpatial.

Source : http://www.espatial.com

GIS NEWS: Intermap Technologies Corp. has signed an agreement with the Slovak Hydro-Meteorological Institute (SHMU) in Bratislava for the cooperative development of a windstorm evaluation and risk management tool that will complement Intermap’s existing risk management platform.

Intermap’s insurance risk management platform includes a detailed flood risk map of the Slovak Republic that has been successfully utilized by three major insurers in the Slovak Republic since 2006. The partnership with SHMU will create a new product for the insurance industry that evaluates and performs risk assessment of windstorms. The windstorm risk layer will seamlessly integrate into the existing risk management platform for the Slovak Republic. The entire project is being conducted in cooperation with the Slovak Insurance Association.

The last significant windstorm in the Slovak Republic in 2004 inflicted serious damage over an area of more than 200 square kilometers. The storm affected more than 5,000 people who were cut off from municipal infrastructure and trapped within the damaged areas. Over 1,500 of those affected were left without water supply, electricity, and sewage. It took more than 9 months to repair major traffic corridors. Financial losses directly attributed to the windstorm were estimated at approximately 400 million dollars.

According to Dr. Manfred Krischke, Intermap’s managing director and European vice president, “Our agreement with SHMU will allow us to develop a high-quality windstorm risk layer that will facilitate more precise risk assessment for the planning of new housing and infrastructure developments. In addition, the improved risk assessment created by this new layer will allow insurance companies to better estimate potential losses caused by windstorms, as well as enable more effective prevention planning, reduced losses, and help shorten response times for rebuilding and reconstruction.”

Source : http://home.businesswire.com

Tags: GIS, Remote Sensing, Satellite Image

Geodynamic Solutions Inc. (GSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of LandWorks Inc., introduced Layer Wizard, an ArcGIS extension that enables GIS users to quickly find data layers based on themed categories, workspace locations, or metadata searches. The Layer Wizard extension can replace the ‘Add Data’ button on the ArcGIS toolbar for users to access a variety of data-layer search, preview and access functions.

It allows GIS users to query, find and add any layer and its preferred symbology to ArcGIS. Users can logically organize their data layers by one or more categories, retrieving multiple symbologies for the same layer which are easily previewed before adding them to the current ArcGIS session.

Layer Wizard comes complete with an Administrator application that allows one or more designated users to control the configuration of the main user interface and workspace. The Administrator can establish standardized symbology and file naming conventions across the entire enterprise and can also limit specific database access to various end users.

“Geodynamic Solutions designed the Layer Wizard for GIS users who have very large numbers of data layers stored across multiple ArcSDE instances, personal geodatabases, or shapefiles throughout their enterprise.” said Sam Marcello, GSI Business Development Manager.

Source : www.geodynamic.com

Visre Inc. announced that it will make available both network adaptable and Internet enabled libraries of street level imagery and video to providers of GIS, geopositioning and geospatial technology product and services. The company offers full 360° visualizations captured from the street of residential and commercial properties that are GPS located and geo-coded to street addresses and county property IDs. Parcel photos, panoramas and "DriveBy" video can be accessed online via a Flash viewer that integrates the imagery to parcel line enhanced satellite image mapping or can be integrated directly to GIS applications.

With each camera capturing imagery at 12 frames per second, Visre equipped vehicles capture dozens of images each in photographing approximately 4,000 parcels per day. Post-processed for color and clarity, Visre archives the imagery and can make it available to subscribers as a web enabled service or through purchase of its PhotoBank line of servers or rack storage solutions that GIS providers can license and integrate to their in-house networks and solutions.

Visre imagery will be sold in geographic "zones" of parcels typically ranging in number from 10,000 - 50,000 parcels or more. A "Same Day Subject" image service will enable clients to order new property photos that will be quickly shot and uploaded from the field for a nominal fee. Visre will begin video capture of residential neighborhoods nationwide in the 4th quarter and throughout 2008.

"Spatial and geographically referenced information can now incorporate static and moving visuals that are exacting and highly auditable as a source of reference to be included in data analyses. Visre can add new polygon layers to GIS, bringing maps and satellite views to the street." explained Billy Meadow, Visre's president and founder.

Tags: Remote Sensing, Imaging Satellite
Source : www.visre.com

The Sindh Ministry of Agriculture has launched a GIS project to determine size of main cash crops, such as cotton, wheat and rice. The system launched in collaboration with Suparco is based on satellite data, has been started in a few districts on trial basis.

Secretary of Agriculture Mohkam Din Qadri said that the existing conventional method to determine size of crop would continue along with the satellite survey to ensure greater accuracy of the crop data.

The manual system, even though consumes more time and requires a lot of manpower takes into account the damaged or infested portion of a standing crop.

Mr Qadri said speculations about the size of the crops were started well before the crops are matured. These are aimed to influence the market by some vested interest. Some trade bodies in cotton field do not rely on estimates made by the government but carry out their own surveys to plan their future buying and selling activity. The secretary expressed the hope that with the satellite system of determining crop size, the trade would be greatly benefited.

Tags: GIS news, GIS Developments

Source : http://www.bharattextile.com

MS GIS and Remote Sensing is an inter-disciplinary program that will offer state-of-the-art technology to the Geographers, Scientists, Engineers, Planners, Economists and other professionals. The MS Program will help improve the spatial data awareness and also achieve excellence in research and development in this multi-disciplinary field. The program has designed by renowned academicians in Pakistan. It is a research based 39 credits program offered after 16 years of education in Geography and allied disciplines.

In first session of MS 48 students have been short listed out of more than 80 candidates from various professional fields. This program has started as a regular evening program of University of Karachi.

Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) will host a live audio Web cast of its annual analyst meeting. The meeting, which is being held in Trimble's Westminster, Colo. facility, will include presentations by Trimble's executive management and business segment leaders.

What: Trimble Second Annual Analyst Day

When: Tuesday August 7, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. MDT

Where: On the Web at: http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=41098

How: Live over the Internet -- Simply log on to the Web at the
address above. Or contact Willa McManmon for details on
attending the event.

Contact: Willa McManmon
Director, Investor Relations
408-481-7838

At the July meeting of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) in Paris, France, Charles Roswell received an OGC Lifetime Achievement Award, the first ever granted by the OGC.

Charles Roswell has been an active participant in the OGC from the Consortium's beginning. Through his decades of experience in geospatial standards in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and its predecessor organizations, and at NATO, Roswell anticipated the need for interoperability standards like those that have been developed in the OGC, and he has been a key factor in making these standards a reality.

While representing the NGA in the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), working on the NSDI Framework, Roswell became involved with the OGC in the Consortium's first year and he promoted FGDC involvement. Roswell has continued to serve as ambassador and "connector," facilitating inter-organizational cooperation. He was a main contributor to the successful relationships between OGC, ISO TC211 and ANSI/INCITS L1. As the International Representative for INCITS L1 to ISO/TC211, Roswell has led the United States Delegation in ISO TC211, advancing both diplomacy and technology.

Roswell made significant contributions to the development of the abstract model for Coverages. Bridging the conceptual gap between discrete vector based GIS and gridded remote sensed imagery, Coverages has matured into a joint OGC/ISO abstract specification and it also provides the basis for key OpenGIS(R) Specifications.

Mark Reichardt, president of OGC, said, "In addition to being a consistent advocate for collaboration, Charles has earned the respect and admiration of OGC members for his careful and thorough articulation of interoperability requirements, as well as his authorship of and review of OGC documentation. The framework of OGC and ISO standards has benefited deeply from Charles' commitment and leadership over the past decade."

The OGC(R) is an international industry consortium of more than 340 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location services, and mainstream IT. They empower developers to make complex spatial information and services useful with all kinds of applications.

Source: www.opengeospatial.org

Sybase iAnywhere announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Coboplan, Japanese provider of GIS software solutions.

Sybase iAnywhere positions itself in mobile and embedded databases, mobile management and security, mobile middleware and synchronization, and Bluetooth and infrared protocol technologies. On the other hand, Coboplan provides context-aware mapping capability for applications ranging from sales force automation to road, city planning, and waterworks civil engineering projects in both local and national government institutions. Sybase, with this acquisition, is hoping integrate the technology into solutions which will allow it to further grow in the areas of corporate CRM systems, Sales Force automation and Field Force automation systems, embedded car telemetry and home embedded systems.

“This acquisition positions Sybase with a powerful GIS offering that, when combined with our mobile database, synchronization, RFID and natural language products, will enable the company to deliver new, integrated, context-aware, location-based solutions,” said Terry Stepien, President, Sybase iAnywhere.

Source : http://www.sybase.com

Pictometry International Corp., provider of digital, aerial oblique imagery and easy-to-use measuring software systems, announced that it will formally launch its Strategic Advantage Suite at APCO 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland from August 5 – 9, 2007, to the Public Safety Community.

The Strategic Advantage Suite is a mobile PC based command station that will provides law enforcement professionals and others in the public safety community with the real time information they need to successfully stage surveillance points, preplan raids, deploy and monitor resources, and produce safer and more effective incident management outcomes.

Along with Pictometry’s software, other technologies comprising the Strategic Advantage Suite include:

# A self contained remote camera component that enables officials to monitor distant incident areas from the internet. The system is based on wireless cellular and does not require an internet connection for the camera.

# Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) tracking software that enables monitoring vehicle locations in real time, and viewing them on Pictometry oblique imagery – displaying the precise location of equipment and personnel during incidents.

# The Pictometry Strategic Planner (PSP) combines rapid creation of realistic 3D models and detailed oblique imagery of the incident scene. PSP provides line of sight tools that can help law enforcement identify obstacles, optimally place manpower and equipment, plan raids, view weapons range, and virtually navigate through the scene with realistic 3D fly-throughs. The ShotSpotter gunshot detection and location system that provides a tool which identifies the occurrence of a weapon discharge, and its precise address location, and then displays Pictometry’s unique imagery of the address in the Electronic Field Study system.

“Combining these different technologies into one integrated system produces a tool that is greater than the sum of its parts, This combined system decreases response time, reduces crime rates, and improves responder safety.” said Dante Pennacchia, Chief Marketing Officer.

Source : http://www.pictometry.com

South Yorkshire Police has implemented crime mapping technology, saving the force over £50,000 per month through efficiency improvements. The intranet mapping service (IMS) is based on a geographic information system (GIS) from supplier ESRI (UK) and gives all members of the force access to crime and anti-social behaviour information.

Police analysts produce the latest neighbourhood crime trends and resource allocation data using the Crime Analyst technology, and IMS will give police officers direct access to the results up to 20 times faster than making a traditional manual request as the data is refreshed on the IMS every two weeks, that is in line with National Intelligence Model tasking processes.

Over the next 12 months, the force plans to update software to further expand IMS’s capabilities so users can request, for example, specific time periods of crime information.

‘The current version does not support inspectors inputting their own date parameters and will only reveal the last two weeks of data. Feedback has shown users want to add this facility so they can make comparisons with previous years, for example,’ said Paul Thompson South Yorkshire Police’s GIS analyst.

‘Previously we had to extract data from repositories such as the Crime Management System and analyse it in Excel to create reports of anti-social behaviour which could take up to an hour. Now it takes a few minutes for an officer to access the information in real-time,’added Thompson.

Source : http://www.vnunet.com/

Thailand's first satellite for surveying natural resources, THEOS (Thailand Earth Observation Systems), is scheduled to be launched into the orbit in November. The satellite data from THEOS is expected to aid the state officials deal with natural disasters, suppress drug trafficking and predict crop estimates.

Charnchai Peanvijarnpong, deputy director of Geo-Informatics and the Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda), said agreements had already been signed with several state agencies to use the satellite's services. These include the Royal Irrigation Department, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and the Defence Ministry.

Mr Charnchai said the ONCB would use the information from the satellite to detect opium fields and the Defence Ministry could use the information to produce higher quality maps far cheaper than using information from aerial mapping surveys. ''Thanks to its remote sensing capacity, we will be able to provide accurate information on natural resources in the country and other places in the world. This information can be applied for preventive measures against natural disasters such as floods and drought in the country, also the satellite data can help us in forecasting the productivity of commercial crops in Thailand and in neighbouring countries'' he added.

Costing 200 million USD, the THEOS project was initiated in 2004, in cooperation with French company Eads Astrium. It was originally due to launch in October from Yasni, Russia, but was postponed due to delays in other launches.

Source : http://www.bangkokpost.com

Blue Marble Geographics has released their GIS data conversion developer tool, GeoTranslate 5.0, with a version for Linux development environments. This C++ vector file translation and feature manipulation tool, which may be easily embedded in custom GIS applications, for scalable spatial data translation.

Based on the GeoConvert component that was formerly part of the GeoObjects developer toolkit, and the foundation of Blue Marble's Geographic Translator application, GeoTranslate provides all of the original GeoConvert functionality and much more.

Source : http://www.bluemarblegeo.com

AWhere, Inc announced the availability of a Virtual Earth add-in for their geovisual business mapping software, AWhere. The add-in allows AWhere users to display the Microsoft Virtual Earth map interface inside the AWhere 3.8 map window as a backdrop to other layers of geolocated data. The add-in installs a button on the main AWhere toolbar, from which the Virtual Earth map interface can be turned on or off and "views" of Virtual Earth can be selected; either the "Road" view, the "Aerial" (photo) view, or a "Hybrid" view.

AWhere is geovisual software that creates maps from spreadsheet or database data and then mashes it up with data from weather and scientific studies, U.S. Census, on-line mapping services i.e. Virtual Earth, etc. It develops geovisual software that leverages the location component in business data, the "where", of what was bought or sold.

"By adding a Virtual Earth street view underneath, our users can not only predict their new customers, but see where they are located and even the demographics surrounding the location. It completes our business proposition."aid Jim Pollock, President of AWhere.

Source : http://www.awhere.com

A new definition of a member firm in MAPPS, the national association of private geospatial firms, was approved by a unanimous vote of the association's membership during the annual business meeting at the MAPPS Summer Conference at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH.

The amendment to the MAPPS bylaws redefines the requirements for membership in MAPPS, which over the past 8 years has strategically expanded to include firms in the broader geospatial data and geographic information systems profession.

The by-laws change is effective immediately. It redefines the types of firms that are eligible for full MAPPS membership, as well as associate and emeritus members.

The membership levels are defined as:

# Active Member: Any firm whose home office is located in the United States of America and is engaged in the geospatial profession. "Engaged in the geospatial profession" means any private, for-profit organization where one of its purposes is the creation, collection, dissemination and application of geo-referenced graphical or digital data to depict natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, or boundaries of the earth, geospatial intelligence, and any information related thereto, including any such data that comprises a survey, map, chart, geographic information system, remotely sensed satellite or aerial image or data.
# Associate member: Any firm engaged in the manufacturing and/or supplying of geospatial equipment, services, supplies, hardware or software, that supports but is not engaged in the geospatial profession, any firm not engaged in but with an interest in the geospatial field, and any firm meeting the definition of "Engaged in the geospatial profession" whose home office is located outside of the United States of America may become an associate member.
# Emeritus Member: Any individual who has been an officer of a firm which has been an active, associate or sustaining member firm for at least the preceding five consecutive years, who has reached the age of 60 years, who has retired from such firm and is no longer engaged in a full time practice in the geospatial profession may become an Emeritus Member.

The vote occurred on Monday, July 16, 2007 during the annual membership business meeting of MAPPS held during the association's 25th anniversary conference in Bretton Woods, NH.

"Just as the geospatial community has evolved over the past 25 years, so has the MAPPS membership. These by-law revisions providing new membership definitions are not a change as much as a codification of the diversity of membership that we have been experiencing and implementing. These definitions should make a wide variety of private geospatial firms feel welcome as new members of MAPPS," said John Palatiello, MAPPS Executive Director.

Source : http://www.mapps.org/newsroom

ClickSoftware unveiled its street-level routing (SLR) tool that incorporates real-time traffic data to help field technicians avoid the snarls that delay services, ensuring on-time arrivals and increasing customer satisfaction. The new functionality extends the capabilities of ClickSoftware’s optimized mobile workforce management solution enabling them to dynamically select the shortest travel time, not necessarily the shortest distance, to minimize time on the road and maximize productivity and efficiency.

Utilities, telcos, home appliance, IT and office equipment companies, and many other service organizations depend on SLR applications based on GIS to determine the best route for field technicians to take from job to job. These systems use static GIS points, and can’t predict if a new construction or a vehicle accident will cause a 30-minute delay.

ClickSchedule and ClickMobile receive online traffic updates on an as-needed basis, and compare that information to the GIS routes between jobs. If the traffic updates indicate a problem, ClickSchedule and ClickMobile can automatically reroute field technicians to a faster path. ClickSchedule can either deliver the real-time traffic updates to dispatchers and/or automatically revise schedules for optimum service delivery, while ClickMobile delivers the information directly to field technicians via their mobile devices.

“Street-level routing with online traffic updates is like having a personal traffic helicopter fly above field technicians, giving them, as well as dispatchers and the software’s decision making engine, up-to-the-minute traffic views and telling them where to go and/or which jobs to reschedule to maintain on-time arrivals,” said ClickSoftware Chairman and CEO Dr. Moshe BenBassat.” This will enable our clients to operate closer to the real time service enterprise concept.”

Source : http://www.clicksoftware.com

As part of the IWAREMA (Integrated Water Resource management for Zambia) project, funded through ESA’s Data User Element, data from ESA’s multispectral MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) sensor aboard Envisat was used to create maps depicting existing water resources, suitable dam locations and land cover for water related issues. The project is carried out by the Belgium Company GIM (Geographic Information Management) in partnership with the University of Zambia and the Zambian water authorities.

The project focused on the Kafue River Basin, which is a sub-basin of the Zambezi River. The Kafue Basin is of great importance to the country’s economy and is home to more than half of the country’s population. The rate of urbanisation has been unprecedented and has therefore exceeded the rate of infrastructure development and service provision, such as water supply and sanitation.

Land cover and water resource maps generated from the data will allow authorities to determine the expansion of urban areas and loss of forest and agricultural areas as well as calculate the risk of erosion, change in water availability and percentage of surface water, which will allow for early flood warnings. The land cover change maps will also help the government look at past trends in terms of deforestation, reclaimed land and new settlement areas to determine the long term affect and implement corrective measures.

IWAREMA was one of the projects initiated under ESA’s TIGER initiative, launched in 2002 to assist African countries to overcome water-related problems and to bridge Africa's water information gap using satellite data. To date, more than 100 African water basin authorities, universities and other organisations have become involved in TIGER projects across the continent.

Source : http://www.esa.int

MultiVision USA, a provider of high-resolution oblique imagery and 3D viewing software, will demonstrate public safety applications of oblique aerial photography at APCO International’s 73rd Annual Conference & Exposition. APCO, the Association of Public Communications Officers, brings together professionals from public safety and communications in August every year.

MultiVision USA representatives will be on hand to discuss the wide variety of public safety applications that MultiVision technology addresses. Specifically, into the applications of oblique viewing technology by the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department and a number of other agencies in metropolitan Kansas City through a unique cooperative program.

MultiVision technology enables users to view infrastructure in true 3D and run simulation analyses, like floods and storm surges, in their GIS environment without third-party vendors or expensive add-on modules. In less than a year, this solution has become a favorite oblique viewing tool in Property Appraisal, Public Safety and Public Works applications.

“We’re excited to demonstrate how public safety professionals from across the country can use our technology to keep their citizens safe,” said Dave Ledgerwood, President of MultiVision USA. “Law enforcement and emergency management organizations are increasingly recognizing the value that MultiVision technology provides when it comes to planning and actively responding to incidents. We’re sure APCO attendees will see the potential, too.”

Source : www.mv-usa.com

East View Cartographic (EVC) recently delivered the latest in a series of digitization projects for Harvard University's Center for Geographic Analysis. The most recent project involved creating a vector data set derived from over 50 ethno-linguistic maps of the African continent. This project will give teachers, students and researches broader access to these unique and rare materials and decrease the need to access special collections.

EVC has worked with the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University to develop many of their paper map collections into accurate and accessible digital databases. Projects include feature extraction from standard topographic maps, vectorizing and georeferencing multi-source historical maps into seamless vector data sets for Europe and Africa, and creating a spatially accurate digital representation of a set of Civil War era maps.

East View Cartographic (EVC) is a provider of authoritative worldwide maps, geospatial data, as well as GIS services and solutions. For such custom projects EVC creates itemized project schedules that include recommendations on the best way to create consistently high-quality digital data from historical maps which often require unique approaches. EVC's GIS experience helped in the creation of seamless vector data sets from unusual source materials, such as maps of the Roman Empire for an undergraduate course, that do not follow a standard grid or share a standard projection and datum. The final results of projects like these are digital databases that provide researchers and students easier access to valuable data that can be used in many more applications university-wide.

Tags: GIS, Cartography, Mapping
Source : www.cartographic.com

Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency, is hosting a series of one day seminars across Great Britain to help local authorities and the emergency services get the most out of its flagship product, OS MasterMap.

The seminars will cover everything from the latest developments at Ordnance Survey to highlighting the new and innovative ways OS MasterMap is being used. Activities during the seminar include talks about the future of OS MasterMap and how it can be used throughout local government, from policy making to service route planning. Special breakout sessions allow attendees the chance to share ideas and talk about their own experiences.

Source : http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed assembly and performance testing of WorldView I, the remote sensing satellite built for DigitalGlobe. Ball Aerospace and DigitalGlobe have completed their comprehensive pre-shipment review and the satellite is now being made ready for delivery to California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base for a mid-September launch.

Ball Aerospace built the satellite bus and the WorldView 60 camera for WorldView I, the next-generation commercial remote sensing satellite. The satellite will provide high resolution imaging capability for DigitalGlobe’s customers, including The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and other customers around the world. Once launched, WorldView I will be provide half-meter data which is of higher resolution capability than the QuickBird satellite.

The Control Moment Gyroscopes mounted on the WorldView I spacecraft will afford the flexibility to capture more imagery than ever before. This high spatial resolution, panchromatic imagery is used for civil government mapping, land-use planning, disaster relief, exploration, defense and intelligence, and visualization and simulation environments.

For WorldView II, Ball Aerospace is building a Ball Commercial Platform 5000 spacecraft bus, and will integrate the remote sensing instrument that provides eight bands of multi-spectral for life-like true color imagery and greater spectral applications in the mapping and monitoring markets. WorldView II will be ready for launch in late 2008.

Source : http://www.ballaerospace.com

Tele Atlas, digital maps and dynamic content provider for navigation and location-based solutions, announced the availability of Tele Atlas Connect, which provides digital map coverage for more than 170 countries and territories. With Tele Atlas Connect complementing the company’s comprehensive MultiNet global digital map database, Tele Atlas map data now covers more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Tele Atlas maps will now feature data for more than 30 million kilometers (more than 20 million miles) of road coverage globally, with the additional map coverage featuring data for countries in Latin America and regions of Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Tele Atlas Connect is intended to provide partners with a single, seamless global coverage solution for digital map and location-based applications. It features basic mapping and routing functionality and allows cross-border routing that links the Tele Atlas Connect road network to the MultiNet database. Tele Atlas Connect will help enable the delivery of global digital map coverage in a standard database format and can be utilized in applications such as those that help end users initiate local searches all over the world.

Source : http://www.teleatlas.com

Recently developing a WiFi-enabled mobile asset management systems, Florida Turnpike is now able to dynamically collect and readily access asset and geospatial information in the field, eliminating the need to post-process geospatial information, using the Leica ADE software.

After developing the Turnpike Enterprise Asset Management System (TEAMS), the Florida Turnpike quickly recognized the necessity to migrate their data into Oracle Spatial, a foundation for deploying enterprise-wide spatial information systems. Florida Turnpike then selected Leica ADE, a geospatial enterprise solution providing web-based and wireless location-based applications fully integrated with Oracle databases and application server technologies. Leica ADE operates in a disconnected and connected environment, allowing Florida Turnpike to migrate to WiFi technology without redesigning or redeveloping their data maintenance or reporting components.

This solution allows staff to copy live data onto their laptop, update or collect new data in the field, and then, when back in the office, instantly upload new data into TEAMS. Built upon Oracle Spatial, Leica ADE integrates with the system, providing swift and accurate information on the exiting sign inventory, assuring a timely restoration of signage after inclement weather. The efficiency added with Leica ADE allows emergency response crews to respond appropriately, eventually impacting the safety of the motoring public.

Source : http://gi.leica-geosystems.com

ArcGIS Survey Analyst 9.2 offers a survey-based approach to Land Information Management. The application’s new capabilities, such as the Cadastral Editor, enable users to record and maintain survey data and continuous parcel layers as elements that are part of an integrated dataset and data model, called the cadastral fabric.

New features enables users to:

# Store both a continuous parcel fabric as well as survey-based subdivision plans without loss of any information in the original survey record.
# Incrementally improve the accuracy of your cadastral representation as each new subdivision or survey plan is entered. Using the cadastral editor, individual parcels and subdivisions are entered using coordinate geometry (COGO)-based plan entry. An integrated cadastral fabric is developed from all relevant survey and plan data using least squares adjustment for the best fit representation of the parcel layer.
# Track parcel history and lineage by maintaining data such as surveyor record and the legal recording dates.

ArcGIS Survey Analyst enables surveyors and GIS professionals to create and maintain survey and cadastral data in ArcGIS. With this application surveyors can centrally locate, process, and manage their data, enabling them to work more efficiently. GIS professionals use ArcGIS Survey Analyst to manage and continually enhance the accuracy of their data using existing survey methodologies. With the latest release, record data can be held in a continuous database supporting a GIS system for complete spatial data management and analysis. These new features and capabilities for ArcGIS Survey Analyst 9.2 are released as part of the ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 3, which can be downloaded from the ESRI Support Web.

Source : www.esri.com

NAVTEQ, digital map data for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions provider, announced the release of maps for four new countries in Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. With the addition of these countries, NAVTEQ's coverage in the southern Africa region has increased to over 450,000 km of road network. The NAVTEQ Map now includes166 cities with areas of Detailed Coverage, NAVTEQ's highest specification, meaning that its full set of over 200 road attributes have been applied and verified.

The number of foreign tourists to the area has doubled over a ten year period with many of them arriving in South Africa as their point of origin into the region. NAVTEQ's latest coverage provides connector roads from these countries to South Africa's full coverage map.


Source : http://navteq.com

South Coast Water District (SCWD) selects Spatial Wave to implement key Enterprise GIS products in support of its GIS implementation program. This would include implementing a powerful yet cost effective suite of turnkey enterprise GIS solutions including Mapplet.NET, Field Mapplet, and MapLibrary. The implementation of the Enterprise GIS will facilitate the timely and accurate capture, documentation, and distribution of network asset information to the entire workforce and provide spatially enabled file management, web portal, markup management, office to field workflow and map production.

The Spatial Wave suite of GIS products will assist SCWD to further enhance customer service, facilitate upgrades to its water and sewer infrastructure, meet competitive challenges, and achieve performance levels established by key stakeholders. Spatial Wave's products will be used to leverage the GIS data to support SCWD's day-to-day business operations.

Source : http://www.spatialwave.com

Advances in wildfire prevention planning will be discussed by representatives from Dudek's urban forestry and GIS consulting practices at the 45th annual national conference of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) to be held August 20 to 23 in Washington, D.C.

Sophisticated technology such as spatially-explicit fire behavior modeling lets foresters and fire officials to analyze the physical nature of a potential fire using information about the fire environment. A precise plan can then be developed that includes improved brush thinning techniques to reduce fuel sources while preserving habitat and strategies for effectively responding to a wildfire emergency.

Scott Eckardt, Dudek's licensed forester and Lisa Lubeley, a certified GIS professional will be addressing the issues related to wildfire prevention planning and fire protection and also describe variety of advanced spatial applications used specifically for wildfire prevention planning at the conference.

Dudek, based in California, is involved with consulting practices in urban forestry and has helped numerous fire agencies develop wildfire prevention plans. The state has a particularly serious problem with fires in the so-called Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). The state's forestry division estimates approximately 12 million homes are located in 7.8 million acres with WUI designation. The WUI fire issue could become even more serious with the California's population expected to grow from 28 million to 50 million people by 2050.

Source : http://www.dudek.com