GIS in Education

Trimble opened its Dimensions 2009 conference on Monday with more than 2,400 registered attendees from 67 countries around the world. The conference theme—Positioning for Success Today. And Tomorrow—provided insight into how surveying, engineering, construction, mapping, Geographic Information System (GIS), geospatial and mobile resource management professionals worldwide can harness the power of today’s technology to help face tomorrow’s challenges. Trimble Dimensions 2009 was held February 23-25 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

Attendees had the opportunity to network with key industry leaders, develop new contacts, build partnerships, discuss opportunities and discover how to overcome obstacles in today’s competitive business environment. With more than 300 sessions across multiple specialty tracks, the conference focused on increasing productivity in the field and the office to transform the way work is done.

The conference included an off-site demonstration and training area and a Partners Pavilion that showcased the complete suite of Trimble construction, survey, engineering, aerial and mobile mapping, GIS and infrastructure solutions, including products from Applanix, Crain, Geo 3D, INPHO, Meridian Systems, Pacific Crest, Quantm, RolleiMetric, SECO, Tripod Data Systems (TDS), TopoSys and XYZ Solutions. Highlighted solutions and technologies included GPS; total stations; field computing and data collection; 3D scanning; pre-design construction planning; 3D visualization; construction project management; aerial mapping; wireless communications; data transfer; and field and office software applications. Other technology providers who are Trimble partners also participated to extend the conference’s range of products and applications.

A new map of the Earth’s gravitational force based on satellite measurements makes it much less resource intensive to find new oil deposits. The map will be particularly useful as the ice melts in the oil-rich Arctic regions. Ole Baltazar, senior scientist at the National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space), headed the development of the map.

The US company Fugro, one of the world’s leading oil exploration companies, is one of the companies that have already made use of the gravitational map. The company has now initiated a research partnership with DTU Space.

Ole Baltazar’s map shows variations in gravitational force across the surface of the Earth and knowledge about these small variations is a valuable tool in oil exploration. Subterranean oil deposits are encapsulated in relatively light materials such as limestone and clay and because these materials are light, they have less gravitational force than the surrounding materials.

Ole Baltazar’s map is based on satellite measurements and has a hitherto unseen level of detail and accuracy. With this map in your hands, it is, therefore, easier to find new deposits of oil underground.

The gravitational map from DTU Space is unique on account of its resolution of only 2 km and the fact that it covers both land and sea regions. Oil companies use the map in the first phases of oil exploration. Previously, interesting areas were typically selected using protracted, expensive measurements from planes or ships. The interesting areas appear clearly on the map and the companies can, therefore, plan their exploration much more efficiently.

The success of the gravitational map is due in large part to the fact that it is not based on direct gravitation measurements but on observations of the height of the sea, which reflects the gravitation.

Provided by Technical University of Denmark

Topcon Positioning Systems announces a GIS data collection kit for the new Topcon GMS-2 Pro.

GMS-2 Pro is the handheld GIS mapping solution that provides technological advancements like an integrated laser rangefinder to the GMS-2, the industry's first GIS-GPS hand-held receiver with 50-channel dual constellation tracking, an integrated digital camera and electronic compass.

The kit can be ordered with a GMS-2 Pro and choice of software to create a complete GIS high accuracy system.

The GMS-2 Pro kit includes:

* PG-A5 external antenna with GMS-2 Pro cable;
* GMS-2 Pro pole bracket; and
* 2 meter pole.

GMS-2 Pro Features:

* Integrated 2.0 megapixel digital camera
* Integrated Distance Measuring Device
* Integrated Barcode Reader
* Easy Access USB Memory Expansion
* Replaceable, Rechargeable All-day Battery
* Dual constellation satellite tracking

Report: Google Maps is updating its information for South Africa. Over the next few weeks Google Maps will incorporate directions, local business listings and other more specified information for the country.

Until now business and street-level information on South Africa has severely lagged behind that for the USA and Europe. Limited information relating to street addresses and business locations has prevented Google from providing all of its maps services for the region.

"It's our practice with Google Maps to update the product incrementally, as new data and functionality becomes available. That's why you see varying levels of detail and local information depending on what country you look at," said Stafford Masie, country manager for Google in South Africa.

SPOT Image Corporation is pleased to announce the recent completion of thirteen Reference3D geocells over the Chugach National Forest region of Alaska. These geocells are notable, as they provide the first broad area, DTED-2 quality DEM coverage in Alaska.

Reference3D provides a great DEM solution to fill in areas of Alaska where Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM data is not currently available. The US Government has already purchased this data as a cost effective solution for their project in the Chugach National Forest region.

Reference3D is a unique geospatial product which is made up of a DTED-2 DEM, a 5m ortho-image, and a series of eight quality masks to allow users to view imagery that has been overlaid on a multi-dimensional landscape. Reference3D is produced using data collected from the High Resolution Stereo (HRS) sensor, a secondary instrument onboard the SPOT 5 satellite, which acquires stereoscopic images.

Reference3D is produced in Toulouse, France, in a partnership between Spot Image, S.A., SPOT Image Corporation’s parent company, and IGN Espace, an element of the Institut Geographique National, the French government cartographic agency.

Currently, Spot Image has collected over 112 million km2 of qualified HRS coverage from which Reference3D can be produced.

Mark your calendars for the next ERDAS Free Webinar. ERDAS announces "Automate Your Imagery Registration", a free webinar that will happen on March 3, 2009 at 11 a.m. (EST).

Whether you are dealing with new imagery that doesn't line up with your existing or you need to rapidly orthorectify your data, this webinar illustrates how to solve these problems, saving you time and making your workflow more efficient. IMAGINE AutoSync, an add-on to ERDAS IMAGINE, takes two (or more) images of potentially dissimilar types, such as IKONOS and SPOT5 or air photos and QuickBird, and automatically generates thousands of points to tie them together with high accuracy.

Each month, ERDAS is offering at least two different webinar topics. In addition to a live presentation and demonstration, each webinar also includes the opportunity for customers to interact directly with the presenters. Scheduled to last forty-five minutes, each webinar will include approximately thirty minutes of presented material and fifteen minutes for Q&A.

To register for Automate Your Imagery Registration, or find out more about other upcoming webinars, please visit: www.erdas.com

The AGU 2009 medal nomination deadline is 15 March 2009. The medals and awards of AGU are among the most respected in the Earth and space sciences communities. A list of past awardees and full details of how to prepare the nominations package is on the AGU website. Remember, if you do not nominate worthy colleagues they will not be considered.

List of American Geophysical Union (AGU) Medals to be awarded this year:

• William Bowie Medal
• James B. Macelwane Medal
• Maurice Ewing Medal
• John Adam Fleming Medal
• Harry H. Hess Medal
• Robert E. Horton Medal
• Roger Revelle Medal
• Inge Lehmann Medal

Requirements for Medal Nominations

1. a letter of nomination outlining the nominee’s significant contributions,
2. a curriculum vitae,
3. a bibliography, and
4. a minimum of three and a maximum of six supporting letters (at least two individuals are not to be currently or recently associated with the nominee’s institution of graduate education or employment).

For Macelwane Medal nominations the letter must include the birth date of the nominee. The nominee’s age must be less than 36 years of age on 1 January of the year of presentation.

ScanEx RDC started to receive NOAA-19 meteo data in test mode to its own small-aperture station "Alice-SC". NOAA-19 meteo satellite (indexed as NOAA-N Prime prior to launch) was put into orbit on February 6 from the Vandenberg air-force base (California) launch pad on Delta-2 carrier vehicle.

The satellite was successfully inserted into the operational sun-synchronous orbit of 866x858 km of altitude and inclination of 98.7 degrees. Optical scanners and VHF sensors data will be used for weather forecasts, as well as for monitoring of changes in climate. Besides, the satellite can receive and relay distress signals from water and land surfaces at long ranges through SARSAT system.

After launching NOAA-16 satellite onboard equipment tests were initiated transmitting test images in HRPT format at 1698 MHz. Three out of four channels of AVHRR radiometer are activated now, which has been developed to measure cloud cover, water surface temperatures and characteristics of ice, snow and vegetation cover.

Currently, there are 7 operational meteo-satellites in low-earth sun-synchronous orbits: NOAA-15, -16, -17 and -18 (USA), METOP-1 (Eumetsat), FY-1D and FY-3A (China). After completion of NOAA-19 satellite qualification testing, it is supposed to replace the now running NOAA-18 satellite in post meridian sun-synchronous orbit.

ScanEx Center specialists are glad to inform the Alice-SC operators about the possibility to acquire HRPT format test data from NOAA-19.

PCI Geomatics announced the availability of Geomatica 10.2, the latest version of its image-centric desktop software, emphasizing automation and productivity for turning spatial data into information.

Geomatica 10.2 is PCI Geomatics complete set of geo-imaging software for remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, raster spatial analysis, map production, mosaicking and automated production workflows.

Enhancements to 10.2 include additional satellite sensor support including GeoEye-1 and COSMO-SkyMed. Also new is a "Get Data" option that allows users to access different data provider websites to locate their data in an easy and convenient way. Additionally, Geomatica 10.2 offers added support now available for Automatic GCP extraction from vectors such as roads. Also, incorporated in Geomatica 10.2 is support for Windows Vista.

The new version of ESRI's StreetMap Premium, a street dataset that works with ESRI’s ArcGIS software to provide geocoding, routing, and high-quality map display, now includes expanded coverage and more licensing options. The enhanced dataset now gives users of ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Desktop access to street data for the United States, Canada, and Europe that is tailored to their specific needs and geographic regions.

The commercial street data in ESRI StreetMap Premium is optimized, structured, and compressed to ensure ease of use and deployment with ESRI software products. The ready-to-use datasets, based on data from NAVTEQ, include streets and road networks as well as basemap data.

The standardised data structure of StreetMap Premium enables users to achieve the highest address geocoding match rates and generate the best routes and driving directions as well as produce superior basemaps. StreetMap Premium works seamlessly with cartographic applications that require address information and scheduling applications that require the most updated streets and addresses.

NAVTEQ has announced the release of navigable map coverage in Chile and Venezuela, providing automotive-grade quality content to portable and mobile devices. The initial NAVTEQ map for Chile includes over 57,000 km of road network and the NAVTEQ map for Venezuela includes over 86,000 km. To deliver NAVTEQ’s quality, both maps include up to 260 attributes. These road attributes include information such as direction of travel, road barriers, and turn restrictions; and, are critical for supporting accurate turn-by-turn guidance in high performance navigation systems and portable devices.

In addition to road attributes, the high quality NAVTEQ map provides geometry and content that bolsters customer satisfaction when using navigation systems and mobile devices. For example, inclusion of validated Points of Interest (POIs) and address ranges offer end-users more options on how to select their destination and discover new locations. 3D Landmarks and 3D City Models support next generation navigation by providing end users an improved sense of place in unfamiliar or complex navigation situations.

In addition to the Chile and Venezuela maps, NAVTEQ’s South America coverage includes maps for Brazil and Argentina.

NASA's $273 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica shortly after launch today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL booster. Telemetry indicated a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate early in the climb to space, weighing the rocket down and preventing the spacecraft from reaching orbit.

The 986-pound satellite's four-stage solid-fuel Taurus XL rocket blasted off at 4:55:30 a.m. EST and roared away from its Vandenberg launch pad about five minutes behind schedule because of a minor technical glitch. The ascent appeared normal and telemetry indicated all systems were working as planned through the first stage burn, stage separation and second stage ignition.

Seven seconds after the second stage fired up, the satellite's protective clamshell nose cone was commanded to separate. The 63-inch-wide carbon composite fairing is designed to separate in two pieces and fall away using small pyrotechnic devices that are activated by a series of electrical pulses.

While engineers were studying telemetry, the Taurus XL's third and fourth stage motors ignited as planned. But it soon became clear the fairing was still in place and that its weight was preventing the rocket from accelerating normally.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was designed to study natural and man-made carbon dioxide emission and absorption to help scientists assess how the greenhouse gas might be contributing to global warming.

A Taurus is scheduled to launch another NASA environmental research satellite - Glory - later this year. Officials said today it's too early to say how the mishap might affect those plans.

This was the eighth launch of a Taurus XL rocket and the second mission failure. It was NASA's first mission using the solid-fuel rocket after a certification process intended to ensure safety and reliability.

Source info and image.

The Castle Rock town in Colorado, USA through its Castle Rock Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has made its latest mapping technology available to the public.

Chief technology officer Kevin Capp and GIS Administrator Bobbie Peters unveiled the new Web site, CRgov.com, at the Feb. 17 town council meeting.

"Our GIS Division is pleased to launch a Web page that citizens can use to access information about the town, 24/7," Peters said. "We hope that residents find the site to be a useful tool where they can get answers to their questions and maybe learn a little about what GIS has to offer."

Residents could log on to CRgov.com any time of the day or night to access such information as:

- The zoning (permissible uses) of a property

- The distance from their house to a fire hydrant for insurance purposes

- Snow plowing route priorities

- Search tools for specific addresses or nearby parks

Residents also can zoom in on an area and print the map for themselves, or e-mail the PDF of their custom-made map to a friend.

Capp says that the GIS mapping will be a helpful economic development tool for the town and business owners alike.

Try it the crgov.com online interactive maps here. I posted a screen shot above.

Report: U.S. scientists say they have discovered they can use satellite images to detect oil seeping from oil fields beneath the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico. Chuanmin Hu, an optical oceanographer at the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg, and colleagues from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth said they have found they can detect oil seeping naturally from the seafloor by examining satellite images of streaks amid "sun glint" -- the reflected sunlight on the ocean's surface.

The researchers said oil decreases the roughness of the ocean surface. Depending on the angles of the satellite camera and of the light reflection, oil creates contrasting swaths that can show up in the images as either lighter or darker than the surrounding waters.

Hu said the new technique can provide more timely and cost-effective means to survey the ocean for oil seeps, to monitor oil slicks and to differentiate human-induced spills from seeps.

RapidEye, has reached a contractual agreement with the Mexican company Bufete de Ingeniería en Telecomunicaciones y Sistemas, S.A. de C.V. (B.I.T.S.), to be their sole distributor of satellite imagery in Mexico and Central America. The agreement was signed in Brandenburg, Germany, between the CEO of B.I.T.S., Mr. Hector Betancourt and RapidEye's CEO, Mr. Wolfgang G. Biedermann.

Hector Betancourt, CEO of B.I.T.S., said: “We are extremely satisfied to be part of the worldwide team of RapidEye distributors. RapidEye's satellite image data will provide our customers in Mexico and Central America with invaluable information about our countries. Due to our country's geographical and meteorological characteristics, we trust RapidEye data will be of vital importance. We are positive about the capacities of RapidEye's satellite system and the quality of their satellite imagery and will contribute to the economic growth of RapidEye in our region.”

“We are very proud to have B.I.T.S. as a dynamic business partner, and we have been talking with them for quite some time. RapidEye is happy that we have a common vision for the partnership of our companies,” commented Michael Prechtel, Head of Marketing and Sales for RapidEye. “We are looking forward to working with Hector and his team. They have a great enthusiasm that should help increase our visibility and boost the sales of our products on that side of the Atlantic.”

GeoEye, Inc., announced that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) notified the company that imagery from the GeoEye-1 satellite has been certified as meeting their stringent requirements for quality, accuracy and resolution. GeoEye is now delivering GeoEye-1 sub-half-meter ground resolution satellite imagery to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

As a result of the certification, the GeoEye-1 satellite is fully commissioned and GeoEye is able to begin recognizing revenue of $12.5 million per month under the terms of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) signed with the NGA in Dec. 2008. Deliveries to NGA begin Feb. 23, 2009.

The NextView 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.

Blue Marble Geographics has released an update to their flagship developer toolkit, GeoCalc, the comprehensive coordinate conversion engine. Found under the hood of the popular Geographic Calculator and other industry standard seismic analysis solutions, GeoCalc supports over 12,000 coordinate system transformations, along with pre-defined linear and angular units, ellipsoids, geodetic datums and coordinate systems. Blue Marble’s coordinate conversion technology is used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software companies, universities, oil and gas companies, civil engineering, surveying, technology, enterprise GIS groups, government and military organizations.

New features and enhancements in Blue Marble Geographics GeoCalc 6.4 include:

• Support for Canadian Alberta Township System (ATS) Land Grids, British National Grid 10 Figure Grid Reference, and NGA’s Global Area Reference System (GARS)
• Ability to Import Datum Transformations from ESRI native GTF files
• Ability to record edits to the GeoCalc Datasource through a ‘changelog’ class, important for high quality data management
• Support for Danish DVR 90 Geoid model

The purpose of the ERDAS Field Guide (version October 2008) is to provide background information on why one might use particular geographic information system (GIS) and image processing functions and how the software is manipulating the data, rather than what buttons to push to actually perform those functions. This book is also aimed at a diverse audience: from those who are new to geoprocessing to those savvy users who have been in this industry for years. For the novice, the ERDAS Field Guide provides a brief history of the field, an extensive glossary of terms, and notes about applications for the different processes described.

For the experienced user, the ERDAS Field Guide includes the formulas and algorithms that are used in the code, so that he or she can see exactly how each operation works.

Although the ERDAS Field Guide is primarily a reference to basic image processing and GIS concepts, it is geared toward ERDAS IMAGINE users and the functions within ERDAS IMAGINE software, such as GIS analysis, image processing, cartography and map projections, graphics display hardware, statistics, and remote sensing. However, in some cases, processes and functions are described that may not be in the current version of the software, but planned for a future release. There may also be functions described that are not available on your system, due to the actual package that you are using.

The enthusiasm with which the first four editions of the ERDAS Field Guide were received has been extremely gratifying, both to the authors and to Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping, LLC as a whole. First conceived as a helpful manual for users, the ERDAS Field Guide is now being used as a textbook, lab manual, and training guide
throughout the world.

The ERDAS Field Guide will continue to expand and improve to keep pace with the profession. Suggestions and ideas for future editions are always welcome, and should be addressed to the Technical Writing department of Engineering at Leica Geosystems, in Norcross, Georgia.

Download Free Version ERDAS Field Guide here.

I have been looking for a statistical software that could do partial least square regression, step-wise regression and neural net. I found it in JMP Statistical Discovery Software. First impression of the software was awesome! It is very interactive and highly visual. I recommend you try to download the free JMP trial software and you'd know what I mean.

Free JMP Tutorial Statistical Graph Guide. Use the guide below to interpret JMP Results.

An Australian venture capital company called Ipernica has purchased a small geospatial startup in Western Australia called NearMap.

NearMap's founder Nixon says NearMap is a vehicle to launch the next generation of technology. It is an engine for mosaicing large amounts of very high definition imagery. Its novel imaging technology is set to enable the capture of 3D urban models.

Imagery is sourced from NearMap’s HyperPod aerial camera system, which consists of four oblique cameras grouped around a nadir camera. It generates about a gigabyte of raw data every second. It is the subject of a new patent in the US.

Initial prototype and pre-production testing was carried out in Perth. Between June and November, high-resolution photomaps of the city were captured on a monthly basis.

TDC Group, Inc. has announced a new Basic Edition of its GIS Freeance Mobile software for BlackBerry. Freeance Mobile - Basic Edition allows organisations to use live GIS maps and custom GPS data collection forms on their BlackBerry smartphones for less than $1,000.

Large organization that want to realise the time and cost savings of mobilising GIS maps and related information, can use Freeance Mobile Basic for simple map lookup, field inspections or asset logging. Freeance Mobile Basic allows live access to ArcGIS Server and custom GPS forms with digital photos all captured with a BlackBerry smartphone. And because Freeance Mobile - Basic Edition allows an unlimited number of users, hundreds of users within an organisation can go mobile.

Smaller organisations with limited funding and technical resources will also find Freeance Mobile Basic the right choice for mobilising field workers with live GIS and custom GPS forms. Freeance Mobile Basic does not involve programming but is a plug-and-play application that allows organisations to quickly connect to their ESRI maps and enterprise databases and create custom mapping and GPS data collection forms for use on BlackBerry smartphones.

Google Earth is now publishing U.S. maps on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The production of the maps were funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy through the joint North American Carbon Program.

A science team led by researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., integrated seven primary data sets, including imagery of Earth's surface captured by the NASA-built Landsat 5 satellite, fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy, and population data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Researchers from the project, named "Vulcan" for the Roman god of fire, constructed an unprecedented inventory of the carbon dioxide that results from the burning of 48 different types of fossil fuel. The data-based maps show estimates of the hourly carbon dioxide outputs of factories, power plants, vehicle traffic and residential and commercial areas.

First released to the scientific community in April 2007, the emissions data have now been integrated into an image-based format that has become a standard online viewing tool for content that spans broad geographic areas.

The new Vulcan maps assimilate fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions data that was previously available from disparate sources and in different formats into one comprehensive data product. The fine level of detail offers more accuracy for estimating the fossil fuel contribution to the global carbon budget, the balance of carbon absorbed by Earth and released into the atmosphere. The Vulcan data product provides new scientific opportunities to assess the relationship between fossil fuel emissions and climate in the atmosphere and to see what future variability and extremes may bring.

Vulcan Project data and maps will complement observations from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA's Aqua spacecraft and the upcoming Orbiting Carbon Observatory, which is set to launch next week. This mission will use space-based instruments to precisely make the first global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the accuracy and geographic coverage required to improve estimates of the sources and sinks of the greenhouse gas.

Gurney and colleagues now have a second phase of NASA-funded work underway to create similar inventories of carbon dioxide emissions for Canada and Mexico.

Note: View the Vulcan carbon dioxide map on Google Earth [you must have Google Earth Plugin installed in your PC]

Info Source: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

China plans to launch a third ocean survey satellite in 2010 to upgrade its capacity for maritime weather forecasting and disaster relief. The satellite, Haiyang-2A, an ocean dynamic environmental satellite, will be used to monitor ocean wind fields, sea levels and temperatures, Jiang Xingwei, an official with the National Marine Environment Forecast Center, was quoted as saying.

China plans to have a system consisting of ocean color remote sensing satellites, ocean dynamic environment satellites and ocean surveillance satellites. The color remote sensing satellites (Haiyang-1 series) use infrared remote sensing technology to monitor ocean pollution and topography in shallow waters. The dynamic environment satellites (Haiyang-2 series) use microwave remote sensing technology to monitor ocean wind fields and ocean surface temperatures.

The ocean surveillance satellites (Haiyang-3 series) will have the combined features of the previous two series.

WhiteStar Corp., a supplier of cartographic data products and services to energy and natural resource industries, has introduced WhiteStar OPUS, a turn-key hardware/software solution that provides immediate enterprise access to 18 terabytes of pre-rendered geospatial data. Cached map data includes four WhiteStar Enterprise data sets.

WhiteStar OPUS was developed to meet the enterprise mapping needs of oil & gas, forestry, utility, pipeline and alternate energy companies with assets and operations across the country or around the world. WhiteStar will unveil OPUS at the ESRI Petroleum Users Group (PUG) Conference being held Feb. 23-25 in Houston.

WhiteStar developed OPUS on top of the ESRI ArcGIS Data Appliance Server Bundle, which is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device pre-loaded with a variety of worldwide best-of-breed geospatial data sets. Designed to plug into existing IT or GIS infrastructure, the appliance has powerful data fusion and viewing software that makes accessing data layers as simple as clicking on a shapefile. It automatically generates the data layers selected by the user in their choice of scale.

In creating OPUS, WhiteStar has augmented the ArcGIS Data Appliance with several WhiteStar Enterprise data layers including Unlimited Grid Access (UGA), Unlimited Well Access (UWA), Unlimited Pipeline Access, and Unlimited DEM Access. These layers are rectified with the core data sets offered in the appliance by ESRI – nationwide and worldwide transportation layers, raster imagery, topographic maps, shaded relief maps, elevation data, place names, and administrative boundaries.

WhiteStar offers a subscription support service for OPUS that provides quarterly updates to all of the WhiteStar data sets. This eliminates data updating issues for the enterprise user and makes WhiteStar OPUS a maintenance-free mapping solution.

The four WhiteStar Enterprise data layers included in OPUS are –

* Enterprise Grid based on the U.S. Public Land Survey data in the WhiteStar Unlimited Grid Access (UGA) product,

* Enterprise Wells including all U.S. oil and gas well locations from the WhiteStar Unlimited Well Access (UWA) product,

* Enterprise DEMs (Digital Elevation Models) created from the latest available 10-meter USGS data, converted to SDE format.

* Enterprise Pipelines including U.S. natural gas, crude, and refined product pipelines.

For a demo of WhiteStar OPUS in action, visit Booth 314 at the ESRI PUG Conference next week in Houston.

PCI Geomatics, announced that the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency has selected GeoConference software to assist with its emergency preparation and planning.

As of January 1, 2009, the Swedish government announced a new organization called the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), which is responsible for unifying, coordinating and supporting tasks before, during, and after emergencies. MSB replaces the Swedish Rescue Services Agency, the Swedish Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and the Swedish National Board of Psychological Defence - all of which ceased operations on December 31, 2008. GeoConference was purchased for the new organization as a tool for assistance with disaster management by facilitating the cooperation and communication between government and various vital agencies.

GeoConference software allows groups to share and view maps and imagery interactively over the web, in real-time. It contains tools for hosting interactive geospatial teleconferences, linking clients in remote locations and facilitating connections to geospatial databases.

Met GeoInfo has released CityGRID 2009; this version of the revolutionary 3D management software further improves model performance and increases the ability for the sharing of 3D city models.

System enhancements enable users to find information faster and easier than ever before, with improvements to CityGRID Manager, Administrator, Reader/Writer and Modeler.

In this latest release several new features will help with day to day use and management of 3D data, furthering CityGRID as the premier software for intelligent 3D data management.

Latest features include:

* Improved model surfacing – already a key feature, however now further algorithms have been introduced to reduce common digitizing errors.

* Extended data schema’s for Terrains and Buildings – providing clients with the ability to manage multiple versions for terrain models. Vertical roof faces now have their own element class, and model faces can now be extended beyond ground level.

* Improved database connectivity of Reader/Writer – CityGRID 2009 supports FME 2009 in full. The reader/writer element now also communicates directly with the manager database allowing for fast retrieval and export of models, ultimately providing users with more control of the export process.

TerraGo Technologies, a leading provider of geospatial collaboration software solutions, announced today enhancements to its products that add support for the proposed geospatial extensions to ISO 32000. In related news, the specification for TerraGo’s original GeoPDF was recently approved by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) as an OGC Best Practice. By adding support for the ISO 32000 extension, TerraGo customers can now create GeoPDFs that adhere to either specification.

“In keeping with our strategy, we are committed to giving our customers the ability to compose geospatial applications that leverage all types of geo-located information across their enterprise, no matter what the source or publication method,” said Rick Cobb, president and CEO of TerraGo Technologies. “With more than 700 organizations currently using our software to build libraries of geo-enabled PDF files that can be extended across TerraGo’s mobile, desktop and web environments, we remain focused on adding value to our customers’ GIS investments.”

The enhancements made to the TerraGo suite of software solutions, including the ability to read, write and roundtrip all geo-referenced PDF files, will be generally available this March. TerraGo software solutions enable geospatial collaboration for enterprises that rely on maps, images and other location-based information to make better decisions, respond faster and be more productive.

MapMerger Detective reconciles an existing street network that may have been user-modified with a newer update that may or may not contain these modifications. The tool set compares the new update with the existing data to find attribute and geometry conflicts and assist in resolving them.

MapMerger Detective is relevant to organizations that need their data to be current and accurate. Instead of bypassing updates for fear of overwriting your edits, MapMerger Detective enables you to keep your edits as well as the new information contained in the vendor update.

MapMerger Detective operates as an ESRI ArcMap extension. It supports point, line, and polygon vector data and will operate with SDE enterprise databases as well as shapefiles and personal geodatabases.

While U.S. intelligence officials have spent more than seven years searching fruitlessly for Osama bin Laden, UCLA geographers say they have a good idea of where the terrorist leader was at the end of 2001 — and perhaps where he has been in the years since.

In a new study published online today by the MIT International Review, the geographers report that simple facts, publicly available satellite imagery and fundamental principles of geography place the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks against the U.S. in one of three buildings in the northwest Pakistan town of Parachinar, in the Kurram tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.

Despite keen interest in the terrorist recluse and a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture, academics have shied away from getting involved in the quest to find him, the researchers contend. Meanwhile, dramatic improvements in remote-sensing imagery have improved the odds of civilians doing so.

The researchers advocate that the U.S. investigate — but not bomb — the three buildings. They warn that if bin Laden indeed remains to this day in the tiny city of Parachinar, or even elsewhere in the relatively thinly populated tribal area of Kurram, he may move to the city of Peshawar (population 1.4 million) in the neighboring tribal area of North-West Frontier Province if Peshawar falls to the Taliban. News reports have warned of that possibility since last summer.

The findings are based on the last information on bin Laden's whereabouts to be made public by U.S. intelligence sources, which have closely guarded the details of any efforts to locate him. One and a half months after the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, a walkie-talkie radio broadcast placed bin Laden in Tora Bora, a cave complex in eastern Afghanistan. In an unsuccessful attempt to capture bin Laden, U.S. forces attacked the caves the following month.

The UCLA findings rely on two principles used in geography to predict the distribution of wildlife, primarily for the purposes of designing approaches to conservation. The first, known as distance-decay theory, holds that as one travels farther away from a precise location with a specific composition of species — or, in this case, a specific composition of cultural and physical factors —the probability of finding spots with that same specific composition decreases exponentially. The second, island biogeographic theory, holds that large and close islands have larger immigration rates and will support more species than smaller, more isolated islands.

Inspired by distance-decay theory, the seven-member team started by drawing concentric circles around Tora Bora on a satellite map of the area at a distance of 10 kilometers — or 6.1 miles — apart.

Then, informed by island biogeographic theory, the researchers scoured the rings for "city islands" — or distinctly separate settlements of considerable size.

The approach netted 26 cities within a 12.4-mile radius of Tora Bora on imagery from Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), a global archive of satellite photos managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. With a 2.7-square-mile footprint, Parachinar turned out to be the largest and fourth-least isolated city, the team determined.

The researchers ruled out cities on the Afghanistan side of the border because the country was occupied at the time by U.S. and international forces and has been particularly unstable ever since.

Faced with the prospect of picking from more than 1,000 structures clearly portrayed in the satellite imagery of Parachinar, the team decided to come up with a short list of the criteria that bin Laden would need for housing, based on well-known information about him, including his height (between 6'4" and 6'6", depending on the source), his medical condition (apparently in need of regular dialysis and, therefore, electricity to run the machine) and several basic assumptions, such as a need for security, protection, privacy and overhead cover to shield him from being spotted by planes, helicopters and satellites.

So they looked for buildings that could house someone taller than 6'4" and were surrounded by walls more than 9 feet tall (both as judged by mid-afternoon shadows depicted on the satellite imagery), and that had more than three rooms, space separating them from nearby structures, electricity and a thick tree canopy.

Only three structures fit the criteria. The buildings also appeared to be the best fortified and among the largest in Parachinar. Two are clearly residences, the study states. The third may be a prison. But whatever the third structure is, it has "one of the best maintained gardens in all of Parachinar," the study says.

While the three structures meet all six of the criteria that the researchers believe would be required for lodging bin Laden, an additional 16 structures in Parachinar appear to meet five of the six criteria. If bin Laden is not in the first three structures, the U.S. military should investigate these other buildings, the study urges.

The outgrowth of an undergraduate geography course in remote sensing, the study lists five 2008 UCLA graduates as co-authors. The students have since gone on to a range of endeavors, from selling real estate and attending law school to earning a master's degree from Oxford University. One now works for a remote-sensing company.

Undergraduates had attempted to take on the same study in 2006, but at 30 x 30 meters — or nearly 100 x 100 feet — the resolution of publicly available satellite images of the area at the time was insufficient. In contrast, today's resolution is 0.6 meters, or just under 2 feet, Gillespie said. The remote-sensing company that employs one of the alumni authors plans soon to unveil a 0.4-meter resolution of the entire world.

"Finding Osama bin Laden: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery" is not the first attempt by Gillespie and Agnew to bring scientific analysis to nettlesome political issues. In September 2008, they received widespread attention for a satellite study of the density of lights in the night sky of Baghdad in the time leading up to, during and immediately following the U.S. military surge of 2007. The findings cast doubt on the role claimed by the U.S. military in quelling violence during that time and suggest instead that intra-sectarian conflict was responsible for clearing whole portions of the city, leaving them both dark and devoid of the objects of Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence.

Source: http://web.mit.edu/mitir/

Attendees at this week's ESRI Federal User Conference in Washington, D.C. will get a firsthand look at the latest trends in GIS field data collection using digital pens. Capturx software for fast GIS collection will be showcased on the conference exhibit floor and in the International Development paper session. Over 28 federal agencies and numerous state and local governments are using Capturx to enable maps, forms, designs, and notes to be printed on ordinary paper, marked up with a digital pen, and then integrated directly into ESRI ArcGIS, Microsoft Office, and CAD applications.

Capturx solutions provide agencies and military teams with fast and reliable ways to collect GIS data in the field without the time and cost of transcribing paper or deploying mobile computers.

From February 18 - 20, attendees can learn how Capturx recently helped agencies improve emergency response and preparedness during a Terrorism Emergency exercise in New England at Adapx booth #325. Teams were able to easily collect information about changing field conditions on paper maps using digital pens, which automatically integrated data into ArcGIS for immediate sharing with the Emergency Operations Center.

Capturx will also be featured in the INT Land Tenure and Economic Development paper session on Thursday, February 19 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am in Room 101. This session will present multiple projects underway that utilize GIS in innovative ways to enhance the effectiveness of economic development in Ghana, Timor-Leste, and the US Virgin Islands.

Leica Geosystems has announced Leica HDS6100, an improved, ultra-high speed laser scanner for many as-built survey applications. The Leica HDS6100 is claimed to feature several key enhancements over its predecessor, the Leica HDS6000 phase-based scanner.

Compared to its predecessor the new Leica HDS6100 scanner features:

• 37% increase in the operating temperature range (now -10ºC to +45ºC)
• 67% increase in battery life of the internal, removable battery (now 2.5 hours)
• New, integrated wireless LAN (WLAN) scanner control option
• Reduced range noise at longer ranges (e.g. 25m and 50m)

Leveraging the phase-based engine’s inherent ultra-high scan speed (up to 508,000 pts/sec) and full field-of-view (360º x 310º) design, advances in the Leica HDS6100 let users take advantage of the benefits of ultra-high speed High-Definition Surveying (HDS) in more conditions and locations with less hassle.

Phase-based scanners are often used in plant, civil and architectural survey applications, both indoors and outdoors. They offer completeness, safety, accuracy and productivity advantages for many types of as-built or topographic surveys. Inside plants and in many outdoor locations, however, ambient temperatures can be quite high or quite low. In the past, for these more extreme temperature situations, users could either not take advantage of ultra-high speed phase scanners at all or they had to try to work around a scanner’s ambient operating temperature constraints, for example, allowing the scanner to warm up or cool down in a separate area before using it again for short periods. The Leica HDS6100 overcomes these constraints.

The new Leica HDS6100’s longer battery life and convenient wireless LAN control make ultra-high speed scanning more productive and more hassle-free, while less range noise in the scan data provides more accurate survey results and increased application versatility.

With the introduction of the Leica HDS6100, Leica Geosystems replaces the Leica HDS6000 scanner. Owners of Leica HDS6000 scanners can upgrade their scanners to Leica HDS6100 with a factory service.

The new Leica HDS6100 will be a key part of the Leica Geosystems’ family of laser scanners and software. The family includes the Leica ScanStation2 scanner, the industry’s most versatile and popular laser scanner, the new HDS4400 long range mine scanner, and the most popular and comprehensive suite of software (Cyclone, CloudWorx, and TruView) for standalone or CAD plug-in processing of laser scan data for virtually any application.

Leica HDS6100 is immediately available.

An innovative United Nations atlas of Kenya using satellite images to pinpoint shrinking tea-growing areas, disappearing lakes, rising loss of tree cover and increased mosquito breeding grounds has highlighted the East African country's need to invest in 'green' development to escape from poverty.

Kenya's "Vision 2030" is a national development blueprint that takes into account challenges it faces, including youth unemployment and rapid urbanization, and seeks to meet targets such as sustained economic growth in the next two decades.

"Kenya: Atlas of Our Changing Environment," launched in Nairobi by the country's Environment Minister John Michuki and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, is the first of its kind to document environmental changes in a single country through satellite images from the past 30 years.

The new atlas' key findings include:

• The amount of land available to each Kenyan has plummeted from 7.2 to only 1.7 hectares between 1960 and 2005 due to a surge in population, soaring from 8 million in 1960 to 38 million currently. The population is expected to continue growing, with land available per person forecasted to shrink to 0.3 hectares by 2050.

• Only a 2 degrees Celsius climb in temperature would render large parts of Kenya unsuitable for tea growing, which accounts for more than one-fifth of the country’s total export earnings. Roughly 400,000 smallholder farmers grow 60 percent of Kenyan tea.

• Lake Olbollosat, which has dried up and come back to life in the past, may disappear for good this time due to rapid population growth and the conversion of land cover within its catchment.

The 2009 Indiana GIS Conference offers participants a choice of activities both at the Bloomington Monroe County Convention Center and offsite on the Indiana University campus. This will include a number of hands-on workshops hosted by University Information Technology Services (UITS), opportunities to network with friends and colleagues, catch up on the latest GIS technology, and a chance to enjoy Bloomington.

2009 Indiana GIS Conference
Date: February 17 - 18, 2009
Place: Bloomingtown Monroe County Convention Center, Downtown Bloomingtown, USA

Join the conference.

You can download a GPS tracking system for your GPS enabled cell phone!

Global Satellite Assist (GS Assist) is a GPS tracking system that can be downloaded to your GPS enabled cell phone. The days of carrying a cell phone and a GPS tracking solution are now over... travel light with just your cell phone!

By using GS Assist, boaters can have an added sense of security and peace of mind both on the water and ashore as it provides a visual story of your travels and adventures to friends and family, viewable on any internet enabled PC. And you're in control: you select the people who can see your location and let them know you are safe. As you travel, GS Assist advises you of the political and environmental climate before you arrive in each destination port. The system will also relay SOS emergency emails to up to 10 recipients, relay emergency SMS messages to up to 10 mobile phones, and provides 24/7 phone line assistance for access to emergency advice and rescue services, personal security briefing, and related crisis management services.

The GS Assist service allows you to see your GPS enabled smartphone handset wherever it may be being used in the world on maps, satellite images, and ariel photography via Google Maps or Windows Virtual Earth. Two distinct views provide a "current position" report on a single boat or handset together with the history of where it has been over the last 6 months, and a "follow live" service which gives a continuously updated view of where multiple boats belonging to a single group, company or agency are located.

Features

* Global Satellite Locating Service
* Maps, Satellite, Ariel Images - All on your cell GPS enabled cell phone!
* Live positions of multiple users
* Standard position reports
* Emergency position reports
* Emergency messages relayed to Email
* Emergency messages relayed to mobile phones

To unlock the wealth of information in a map, a person must know how to read one. That’s why ESRIS's book Map Use: Reading and Analysis, Sixth Edition, will be a valuable book for people who work with, study, and appreciate maps and want to improve their map reading and analysis skills.

Replete with nearly 500 maps, photographs, tables, and charts to illustrate the text, this informative volume from ESRI Press teaches the basic concepts of geography and the skills of map reading and analysis. The book includes an overview of different types of maps, map scale and projections, grid coordinate systems, relief portrayal, qualitative and quantitative thematic maps, area and volume measures, GPS and maps, and spatial pattern analysis.

Map Use is ideal for people who need to understand the world spatially including anyone who must know how to read and analyze maps for professional, navigational, and recreational purposes such as sailing, mountaineering, and flying. Map Use also serves as a resource for introductory cartography courses and is an invaluable reference for the home, office, and library.

ESRI Press acquired the rights for this latest book from longtime Map Use publisher JP Publications, owned by Phillip C. Muehrcke, professor emeritus of geography at the University of Wisconsin, and Juliana O. Muehrcke, the founding editor of Nonprofit World. The Muehrckes wrote the first edition of Map Use, Reading, Analysis, and Interpretation in 1978, which was followed up with four subsequent editions, the last two co-authored with Kimerling. Aileen R. Buckley, a cartographic researcher at ESRI, joined the three other authors on this new project.

Map Use: Reading and Analysis, Sixth Edition (ISBN: 9781589481909, 528 pages, $99.95), is available at online retailers worldwide, at www.esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit www.esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options or contact your local ESRI distributor. For a current distributor list, visit www.esri.com/distributors. Interested retailers can contact ESRI Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.

Yesterday evening, an Ariane 5 ECA launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport at Kourou, in French Guiana, on its mission to place two multi-role telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbits. Two auxiliary payloads were also launched during this mission.

Lift-off of flight V187 took place at 23:09 CET/Paris on 12 February (22:09 UTC/GMT; 19:09 UTC-3/Kourou). The satellites were accurately injected into the correct orbits about 30 minutes later.

The payload comprised Hot Bird™ 10, which will provide television, radio and interactive services across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and NSS-9, which will provide relay services for broadcasters, government users, and carriers across the Pacific region and for the maritime industry. Two small Spirale satellites, which are demonstrators for a French space-based optical early-warning system, were carried as auxiliary passengers in the launch vehicle’s payload ‘stack’. The payload mass was 8511 kg; the satellite masses totalled 7420 kg, with payload adapters and dispensers making up the additional 1091 kg.

Arianespace and Europe’s Spaceport are planning six to eight launches during 2009, maintaining the heavy-lift vehicle’s flight rate. The ability to sustain high launch rates has already been demonstrated - during the period 12-month period from August 2007 to August 2008, there were nine launches (V177 to V185, inclusive).

The Ariane 5’s cryogenic, liquid fuelled main engine was ignited first. Seven seconds later, the solid fuel rocket boosters were also fired, and a fraction of a second after that, the launch vehicle lifted off.

The solid boosters were jettisoned 2 min: 23 sec after main engine ignition, and the fairing protecting the payload during the climb through the Earth’s atmosphere was discarded at 3 min: 11 sec. The launcher’s main engine was shut down at 8 min: 56 sec; 6 seconds later the main cryogenic stage separated from the upper stage and its payload.

Four seconds after main stage separation, the engine of the launcher’s cryogenic upper stage was ignited to continue the journey. The upper stage engine was shut down at 24 min: 38 sec into the flight, at which point the launch vehicle was travelling at 9378 metres per second (just over 33 700 km/h) at an altitude of 627 kilometres and the conditions for geostationary transfer orbit injection had been achieved.

At 26 min: 31 sec after main engine ignition, Hot Bird 10 separated from the launcher’s upper stage, followed by NSS-9 at 32 min: 08 sec. Spirale A and B, the auxiliary payloads, separated at 33 min: 52 sec.

Ariane 5 ECA is the latest version of the Ariane 5 launcher. It is designed to place payloads weighing up to 9.6 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit. With its increased capacity, Ariane 5 ECA can handle dual launches of very large satellites.

Info Provided by ESA

Diadiem.com is providing the Vietnamese consumer with Asia’s first 3D mapping technology on the web and iPhone. The company has been working with various partners to build useful applications that can be enriched with innovative mapping technologies.

The 3D map enables users to understand the size and perspective of buildings and the surrounding areas. DiaDiem adds a main feature that helps find out a user’s current location using both non-GPS phones and GPS phones. This helps locate the point of interest closest to the user and they get directions to other locations without entering their current location.

A screenshot of the Diadiem.com environment is below. It is more like a Google map clone, with the features the site contains. The difference is that it is focused for the Vietnamese viewers or tourists wanting to learn the ins and outs of Vietnam's streets.

You will be prompted with a Vietnamese language window once you click the site. However, there is a button right on top for the "English" option.

I tried to use the "direction" feature and it took almost 5 minutes to load a map that shows a simple route from point A to B. The loading speed has to be looked into!

GIS and Demographic Mapping Made Easy! TRF’s PolicyMap.com announced that it is opening up its online market and demographic data to university students at a discounted rate. Students now have easy, affordable access to the same professional-grade data utilized by thousands of policymakers and professionals across the nation. The electronic resource is intended to aid scholarly research and support class discussions through the application of credible data that was previously scattered across the web or unavailable for students.

University students can utilize TRF’s PolicyMap.com for quick access to more than 4,000 data indicators related to demographics, real estate markets, education, employment, money and income, crime, energy, and public investments. These indicators are aggregated from a variety of sources including U.S. Census, Claritas, FBI, IRS, the Postal Service, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

I posted a sample of their map products below.

Free datasets include Census, Postal Service, FBI Crime, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, County Business Patterns, HUD, HHS and much more.

Farallon Geographics (www.fargeo.com), working with the Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara, The Nature Conservancy, and Ecotrust, has developed "MarineMap", a Web 2.0 mapping and decision support system to identify marine protected areas. I checked out the site and it contains categories that serve as layers of your map. Quite cool!

Marine Map combines an extensive catalog of GIS data, sophisticated spatial analysis, and an intuitive user interface to enable members of the public to participate in the selection of marine environments that should be designated for conservation, recreational, and commercial uses. MarineMap allows participants to identify and design marine protected areas (MPAs) interactively, and to share proposed MPA areas among stakeholders.

Farallon is helping to develop the MarineMap application to achieve several goals:

* Allow stakeholders in the MLPA Initiative to draw the boundaries and indicate the allowable uses of proposed Maps on a map of the Southern California coast.
* Automatically check that stakeholder-defined MPAs meet spatial requirements and scientific criteria defined by the California Department of Fish and Game.
* Allow MarineMap users to share and collaborate on their proposed protection areas.
* Provide robust geospatial data creation tools that do not require GIS training.
* Support mapping professionals and scientists by providing direct access to MPA data using powerful GIS tools to support offline and ad-hoc analyses.

For the first time, two intact spacecraft have accidentally run into each other in space.

Report: Two space satellites smashed into each other on Tuesday in an unprecedented orbital accident. Government agencies are still assessing the collision aftermath, but early radar measurements have detected hundreds of pieces of debris that could pose a risk to other spacecraft.

As first reported by CBS News, a defunct Russian Cosmos satellite and a communication satellite owned by the US firm Iridium collided some 790 kilometres above northern Siberia on Tuesday.

The NASA office, which detects and tracks debris measuring less than 10 centimetres across, has just begun its assessment of the damage, Johnson told New Scientist.

The two craft were moving in almost perpendicular directions when they collided, and the extent of the damage will become clearer as the debris from the two satellites spreads out, Johnson says. According to Iridium documents, such satellites orbit at speeds of more than 25,000 kilometres per hour.

Most of the debris is expected to stay in orbit for years.

The Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence (GIScCE) of the South Dakota State University (SDSU) recently released its GIScCE Triennial Report 2006-2008. According to the triennial report editor, Prof. David Roy, the report summarizes the last 3 years (2006-2008) of the Center's activity. The intent of the report is to advertise the GIScCE achievements to the wider academic community, attract new students and post-doctoral researchers, and to provide a baseline to measure our future progress.

A preview of the report is shown below.


The report can be downloaded from the globalmonitoring.sdstate.edu website: Mid-resolution (29.4 MB) and Low-resolution (9.0 MB). Note: Neither one of these versions is suitable for printing.

Hard copies will soon be available for public release.

VidTeq (India) Private Limited announces navigation concept based on Video Maps. Video Map is a feature rich next generation navigable map built on a traditional digital map. Video Map is a video clip of the complete route between source and destination with features such as business logos, background music, turn-by-turn audio overlay, road names etc. embedded into it. Video Map is built of individual geo-tagged video segments.

Driving directions provided traditionally consist of digital map and turn by turn text directions. These directions are easy to follow provided all the streets are marked with clearly visible street nameplates, which is usually not the case in countries like India. This is where need for visual navigation aid arises and the Video Map product would address this space.

Video Map is meant not only for navigation but is also useful for locating businesses and exploring the streets, all sitting in front of your computer.

VidTeq plans to render their service both through Portal as well as Cell phones. Initially the service will be offered only for Bangalore city. The Web service will be offered starting Feb 9th and the Cell based service will be offered in a month from then. As part of the initial service Vidteq will have Video Maps covering all the Main roads and some of the internal roads of Bangalore city.

FortiusOne, a provider of next-generation location intelligence that bridges the analysis of GIS with the open and intuitive GeoWeb, announced their integration with CloudMade, a provider of cartographic tools built around OpenStreetMap data. CloudMade's HTTP Tile API will be integrated into the GeoCommons platform to enable even greater flexibility when building rich map visualizations. CloudMade's customizable tiles will allow FortiusOne's customers to design and import custom tiles as basemaps in GeoCommons.

While the GeoCommons platform currently supports major tile providers such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Road, Aerial, Terrain via the open-source ModestMaps library, there are still limitations and assumptions to the base cartography in popular tiles. By adding CloudMade's customizable tiles, users can better convey the stories they are telling.

About FortiusOne
FortiusOne is leading the next-generation of location intelligence by bridging the powerful analysis of GIS with the open and intuitive GeoWeb. FortiusOne technology enables faster decision-making, increased ROI and greater collaboration within your organization.

The ESRI ArcLogistics Navigator live training seminar will provide an understanding of how in-vehicle navigation can enforce efficiencies gained by using the routing and planning tools in ArcLogistics. Learn how ArcLogistics and ArcLogistics Navigator can reduce expenses and decrease your fleet's off-route miles.

Date and times: Thursday, February 12, 2009
9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time (US & Canada)
12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US & Canada)
5:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. UTC/GMT

About ArcLogistics Navigator
ArcLogistics Navigator, ESRI's in-vehicle navigation solution, keeps fleets on schedule by guiding drivers to optimized stops created in ArcLogistics. Specifically designed for trucking, fleet, and logistics applications, ArcLogistics Navigator creates a complete solution for organizations looking to plan optimum routes and schedules on the desktop and see them followed in the field.

ArcLogistics is a desktop solution for creating optimized routes and solving scheduling problems. Organizations that use it typically save 15 to 20% in fleet-related costs within months of implementation. Because ArcLogistics Navigator is tightly integrated with ArcLogistics, route planners can now send these optimized stops directly to in-vehicle devices, ensuring drivers follow the exact streets chosen for the route.

ArcLogistics Navigator includes NAVTEQ map data for the United States, Canada and Europe. The NAVTEQ dataset for ArcLogistics Navigator includes the latest street geometry with navigational attributes that facilitate turn-by-turn directions and enable in-dash vehicle and portable navigation devices, route planning and map display services. NAVTEQ’s extensive street database provides ArcLogistics users a high level of accuracy and helps users find locations and route efficiently to their destinations.

Live Training Seminars are live, interactive, and free. Find out more.

ViewRanger, the personal outdoor GPS navigation software for mobile phones, is now available for the Nokia 5800 and other Symbian S60 touch screen mobile phones. The ViewRanger application, which is popular with outdoor activity enthusiasts across Europe, takes full advantage of the touch screen to put detailed topographic maps at your fingertips and offer a simplified navigation and outdoor exploration experience.

ViewRanger is a sophisticated but easy-to-use off-road satellite navigation application that offers instant access to detailed topographic mapping across Europe along with rich content including points-of-interest and leisure route guides. Maps can be downloaded directly to the handset via WLAN or mobile internet, downloaded via the web to be side-loaded onto a handset, or are available pre-loaded on SD memory-cards.

3-GIS, an Alabama based software and services company has announced it will offer a Software as a Service (SaaS) pricing model for their thin client solutions to its consumers in the utility, telecommunications and Homeland Security industries.

With the SaaS subscription model, 3-GIS will eliminate the customer’s need to install or maintain its software. Instead of purchasing software with a one-time fee, customers will pay a monthly subscription fee. This subscription fee will alleviate the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and IT support.

3-GIS developed this subscription business model to allow companies that don’t have the financial and/or personnel resources an opportunity to utilize a GIS with an extremely low cost of ownership. The SaaS subscription model allows for the avoidance of capital expenditures (CAPEX) and frees up a company’s cash to focus on other critical needs. “There are consumers in the GIS field who have wanted an alternative to the traditional pricing model for quite some time,” says Tommy Siniard, Chief Technical Officer of 3-GIS. “Considering the current economic climate, we feel like our subscription model is a great answer for these consumers and are happy to be the first to provide it.”

“We see SaaS in GIS as the future for small to medium sized telecom and utility companies,” says Tom Counts, President of 3-GIS. “We want to take the headache of database tuning, software version management, landbase currency, hardware scalability, and reliability away from our customers. This approach alleviates the barrier to entry for many companies desiring a GIS solution.”

In addition to the Software as a Service model, 3-GIS will continue to offer a traditional licensing and maintenance model. Leasing options and Enterprise License Agreements are also available to customers looking for alternative pricing schemes.

RAY HELMERING and THOMAS R. LOVELAND have been named the 2009 ASPRS Fellow Award winners. The ASPRS designation of Fellow is conferred on active Society members who have performed exceptional service in advancing the science and use of the mapping sciences (photogrammetry, remote sensing, surveying, geographic information systems, and related disciplines).

The designation of Fellow is awarded for professional excellence and for service to the Society. Candidates are nominated by other active members, recommended to the Fellows Committee, and elected by the ASPRS Board of Directors. Up to 0.3 percent of the Society’s active members may be elected as Fellows in any one year. The nominees must have made outstanding contributions in a recognized Society specialization whether in practice, research, development, administration, or education in the mapping sciences.

Members of the Fellows Committee and the Executive Committee are ineligible for nomination. This year’s awards will be given in March at the ASPRS 2009 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

A new NOAA polar-orbiting environmental satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and is now circling the globe every 102 minutes taking images and measurements to support NOAA’s efforts to forecast and monitor the environment. NOAA-19 joins NOAA-18 and one European environmental satellite already in polar orbit.

NOAA-19 carries seven scientific instruments, including two search and rescue instruments and a data recording system. Unique with this satellite is a new data collection system that will relay meteorological, oceanographic data – even track migration patterns of wildlife – to help researchers improve their study of Earth’s environment.

Data from NOAA-19 will support several NOAA programs, including:

• Weather analysis and forecasting
• Climate research and prediction
• Global sea surface temperature measurements
• Atmospheric soundings of temperature and humidity
• Ocean dynamics research
• Volcanic eruption monitoring
• Forest fire detection
• Global vegetation analysis
• Search and rescue operations.

Agricultural Camera or AgCam, a specialty camera designed and built by University of North Dakota students and faculty from a number of university departments, was launched into space in November aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor. This spring AgCam is expected to begin taking frequent satellite images of crops and rangeland in the upper Midwest, offering producers a more timely tool to keep an eye on changes taking place on their land.

AgCam consists of two digital cameras with a telephoto lens that will take high-resolution satellite images from space in both visible and infrared light, allowing landowners and others to analyze the health of crops, trees and other vegetation. Those who register for the free service and share information about what area they want photographed, what they plan to use it for and their impressions of the service, are expected to be able to view images within two days of when they are taken through the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium’s website. The images will be archived on the website where anyone can view them, but only registered users will be able to request images be taken of specific locations.

The government-run land satellite program or Landsat provides similar satellite images, but satellite images are only taken every 16 days and if it is cloudy the day the images are taken in a specific location, a farmer might wait a month or more to get updated images of their land.

Agricultural Camera or AgCam Applications

Space Applications

AgCam is a space-related research project that will result in the delivery of direct benefits from space to the general public. Increasing the relevance of any space-related research activities with respect to the daily lives of the general public will benefit all ISS applications, whether for space or earth applications. By using AgCam data in support of precision agriculture activities, the public will receive benefits synergistically from three different space systems: (1) Earth-observing from the ISS; (2) in-field navigation from the Global Positioning System; and (3) data delivery via satellite communications. With respect to the educational aspect of the AgCam project, using students to develop and operate AgCam helps train the next generation of scientists and engineers that will work on future space-based applications.

Earth Applications

For broad-band multi-spectral systems, the two most useful frequency bands for studying vegetation are the same red and the near-infrared bands that AgCam will collect. Agricultural efficiency and competitiveness can be enhanced through the practical application of data products that are derived from reflectance measurements taken in these spectral regions. The combination of characteristics that AgCam can provide, high-temporal data acquisition in these two bands at medium-high resolution, and delivered with minimal latency, will offer a unique data source that will allow aspects of agricultural efficiency that are of particular importance to the northern Great Plains to be investigated and improved. Specific AgCam data and information products that we anticipate developing from AgCam imagery include nitrogen application maps to improve fertilizer use, agriculture management zone decision support systems to improve nutrient and invasive species management, and rangeland management tools to improve livestock allocation and evaluation. The rapid responsiveness of AgCam imagery may also aid in disaster management application such as flood monitoring and wildland fire mapping. Educational benefits from AgCam include experiential learning opportunities for engineering, computer science, space studies, and other students at the University of North Dakota during the design, test, and operation of AgCam. Other educational benefits will arise during operations; end users making requests for AgCam images will include K-12 teachers as well as educators at the university level.

The e-NC Authority's Broadband Access Mapping Application enables you to view the location of available high-speed Internet access and other telecommunication services in North Carolina. This is a stand-alone application that uses ESRI's ArcGIS Server software, but much of the data that can be displayed in this mapping application originates from the e-NC Authority's Service Provider Update (SPU) application. SPU is a relational database and online editing application that allows Internet Service Providers in North Carolina to log in and add new or update existing information about the types of services they offer and the location of those services. This database is not accessible by the general public, but a subset (non-sensitive information) of this database is exported on a periodic basis and joined to the various GIS layers contained in this mapping application.

This application is available to inform a variety of public and private decisions:

* Telecom Service providers can view the information they have approved for display to verify that the location and attribute information is current and to see how they fit into the distribution patterns of regional services in their industry.
* Economic developers and site selection process managers can quickly assess services in a region and find contact information for details on service availability from particular service providers. This mapping application also contains demographic information from the US Census Bureau and the NC Department of Commerce EDIS data, such as population, housing, and employment, is attached to the Counties layer, as well as the 2000 Census Blocks layer.
* Private Citizens can use this site to identify the types of high-speed Internet services (Cable Modem, DSL) offered in an area and also to locate contact information for the service providers. Note: Although someone may reside within a telecom service area where a provider has stated they offer high-speed Internet access, they do not guarantee that each home within the service area will be able to obtain high-speed Internet service. Line quality and last-mile distance from transmission equipment can affect service availability. Prospective customers must call the service provider to confirm availability.

Natural Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman and State Chief Information Officer Teri Takai announced the launch of a new Web site (http://atlas.ca.gov) to help government agencies coordinate their geospatial efforts and allow public access to geospatial data. The innovative approach to technology, called Cal-Atlas Geospatial Clearinghouse will allow the general public to access maps, data and information.

The new Web site will centralize a variety of data and information. Cal-Atlas provides a number of important Web accessible services. These include:

• A catalog for use by organizations to categorize and share information about their geospatial information resources (e.g., maps and geospatial data, web services and applications)
• A library from which interested parties may obtain GIS data and where agencies can place their data to share with others
• Tools to make it easy to find GIS data and services
• A “gallery” of maps and mapping sites contributed by Cal-Atlas users
• A portal to help organizations work together on GIS data and share the costs of acquiring imagery and other kinds of geospatial data.

The maps and information available on Cal-Atlas will help users answer important questions related to where to go in cases of an emergency, where a new road might be routed, where are the best places for different activities and recreation.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) CLICK (Center for LiDAR Information Coordination and Knowledge) and Airborne 1 Corporation, have entered into a collaboration to share extents of the largest compilations of high-resolution LiDAR point cloud data in the world.

This data will reside separately on the CLICK site (http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov) and lidardata.com. Data on lidardata.com is available in various formats including LAS, ENZI, XYZI, and DEM. This collaboration will provide an informational link between the two efforts, showing users where both free, publicly-available lidar data exist on CLICK, as well as commercial, pre-flown resale data exist on lidardata.com. Technical integration of the two sites is ongoing and a release date will be announced soon.

The ORNL DAAC discontinued the distribution of Collection 4 MODIS Land Product Subsets on January 31, 2009, as part of the MODIS Land Team's switch from Collection 4 to Collection 5. The Collection 5 products and subsets, created using improved algorithms, have been available since September 2006.

The ORNL DAAC will continue to offer Collection 5 MODIS Land Product Subsets in a variety of ways including:

1. Subsets for over 1,000 fixed sites world wide in ASCII and GeoTIFF formats: http://daac.ornl.gov/modisfixedsite

2. Subsets for any user selected site world wide in ASCII and GeoTIFF formats: http://daac.ornl.gov/modisglobal

3. Programmatically obtain ASCII subsets using SOAP based Web Service [Beta]: http://daac.ornl.gov/modiswebservice

The ORNL DAAC is also pleased to announce the following updates to our MODIS Global Tool:

1. Availability of 500-m Collection 5 MODIS land cover product (MCD12Q1)

2. Stackable time series visualization for inter-annual comparison

For more information about ORNL DAAC MODIS products see: http://daac.ornl.gov/MODIS/modis.html .

The ORNL DAAC is a NASA-funded center archiving and distributing terrestrial ecology and biogeochemical dynamics data.

InstantAtlas (UK) is being used in the UK and internationally by national, regional and local crime and policing bodies for online crime mapping and reporting. IA enhances the value of data by making patterns and trends in crime statistics easy to see and explore. No specialist expertise in software development or GIS mapping is needed - yet the results can be stunning and highly effective.

InstantAtlas is being used at a national, regional and local level in the following areas:

* Reporting of crime statistics to external citizens

* Reporting of crime statistics to internal staff and partners, for example performance reports to management, delivery of local policing profiles, out-of-the-box neighbourhood information systems and area profile reporting tools

* Highly interactive presentation tools to use in community workshops, management meetings or one-to-one sessions

GeoWise have included some recent crime reporting examples at www.instantatlas.com/crime, some of which are live operational applications, others are demonstration samples to show the power and flexibility of InstantAtlas.

In the UK, following its use for national crime mapping and reporting by the Home Office, a number of UK police forces have also adopted InstantAtlas as the optimum tactical solution for public facing crime reporting. Some forces also intend to use the tool for internal performance reporting. A number of local authorities, local strategic partnerships and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) have also adopted InstantAtlas to allow them to share this type of data effectively across multiple local partners and present it in an intuitive and understandable way - see the Cornwall Crime Explorer example below for the Amethyst Project.

More than 2000 global experts and users of geospatial technologies will gather together at Hyderabad International Convention Centre from February 10 - 13, 2009 to discuss, deliberate and evolve ways to create a Sustainable Planet Earth for the conference, Map World Forum. The conference is being organized by GIS Development, which is a leading geospatial media company based in Noida. The Forum promises to be a Global Congregation for thought and discussion between experts from various fields like Environment, Finance, Management, Technology and Governance with Geospatial specialists striving to make our planet a sustainable one. It aims to bring the geospatial community into limelight with regards to mainstream development organisations at a global level.

Founded in the year 2007, this is the second biennial conference, being organized under the patronage of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences is the Patron of the conference. The conference will be formally opened by the Hon’ble Vice President of India, Mohd Hamid Ansari on February 10, 2009.

The Honorable Minister for Science and Technology & Earth Sciences, Government of India, Kapil Sibal states, “Government of India stands committed to create, update, manage and disseminate geospatial information and use it to the best possible manner to improve the quality of the life of its citizens and development of the nation. Keeping this in mind we organized 'Map World Forum' which brought the global leadership in geospatial sciences on one mega platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the geospatial science and technology growth and its role for human development in the next decade. Overwhelmed with the need and positive response of such a forum, Government of India is privileged to host the Second Map World Forum”

During the Plenary Sessions of the conference, many experts from different backgrounds and focus areas will present their views and opinions on how geospatial technologies are being used or have the potential to solve the problems of the environment. In addition to the Plenary Sessions, the technical agenda of the conference will include a host of other activities from Panel Discussions, Symposiums, Seminars, Forums, Summit, and Technical Sessions. These sessions will cover the various aspects of map making like Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, Cartography, 3D laser scanning to its application areas like Agriculture and Food Security, Infrastructure Development, Climate Change, Energy and many more.

Map World Forum will also host a 3000 sq mtr exhibition area where 60 companies dealing with geospatial technologies will showcase the state-of-the-art equipments, software/hardware demos and the user segments will display the innovative usage they have put these latest maps to.

Sanjay Kumar, the Chief Executive Officer of GIS Development and Convenor of the Forum invites participation of delegates by stating, “Map World Forum will not just be a conference, it will be a Forum that will aim to Converge Ideas and Expand Horizons for Sustainable Planet Earth. It will aim beyond speeches and discussions to find practical ways to protect the Earth and improve people's lives. Its mission, therefore, will be to encourage the geospatial family and the society at large to function in ways that protect the Earth's natural environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of present and future generations. I welcome participation of all the individuals and organisations who would like to contribute to this goal for making our planet a better place to live in.”