GIS in Education

Avencia Incorporated, a geographic analysis and software development firm, announces the public release of The Philadelphia Department of Records’ LandStat web application. LandStat aggregates millions of Philadelphia real estate transactions into a set of reporting and analysis tools based on Avencia’s Kaleidocade Indicators Framework (KIF). The site was originally designed to help City staff to quickly and easily visualize and interpret geographic patterns and trends in the Philadelphia real estate market.

Public records laws and a new emphasis on government transparency have given rise to an ‘Open Government’ movement. There are a growing number of initiatives providing public access to an unprecedented range of government data. CitiStat and other performance management programs are also making government agencies more accountable in terms of the quality of the services they provide and how they are spending tax-payer money. It is in this context that the Philadelphia Department of Records (DOR) has released LandStat along with its other publicly accessible web-based applications.

LandStat incorporates information on property transactions from the DOR’s ParcelExplorer mapping database, the PhilaDox document management system and data from the assessor’s office. Individual records from these systems were geocoded to a map location and then stamped with ZIP Codes, City Council districts, wards, U.S. Census tracts, and blockgroups using the Unified Land Records System (ULRS) -- winner of the Public Technology Institute 2008 Technology Solutions Award (Web & EGovernment category). Once aggregated to these districts, the resulting dataset was then fed into Avencia’s Kaleidocade Indicators Framework (KIF), a web-based analysis and visualization software, for publication and analysis on the web. The system includes such categories as mortgages, deeds, Sheriff’s deeds (an indicator of foreclosures), Real Estate Transfer Tax (RTT), and property types.

LandStat enables city planners, real estate investors, or any interested users to create thematic maps, chart trends over time, get detailed reports on specific geographic areas of interest, and perform complex analysis through a straightforward interface using only a web browser. Data can be viewed in a map, with geographic areas color-coded to indicate different ranges of values. Being able to see hot spots or areas of inactivity quickly and easily can inform decisions and inspire ways of thinking that might not have been possible by viewing the same data in a spreadsheet. LandStat also enables users to create scatter plots, view a statistical analysis, create tables with specific ranges of data, or rank top and bottom locations for a particular indicator.

“Land records might not be the first thing people think of in the context of economic development, but having access to data related to sales, property taxes, property types and ownership information enables more efficient use of the land and real estate investments. LandStat’s purpose, like the other web-applications that the DOR has launched over the years, is meant to enable just that.” -- Joan Decker, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Records

Users of LandStat can focus their queries on individual geographic areas or specific types of transactions, or take a step back and look at the data in a larger context, depending on what types of questions they are trying to answer. The Department of Records has made the database available with the hope that it will enable both consumers and policy-makers to better understand the real estate market and thereby support more effective economic development and real estate decisions.

DubaiSat-1, the first remote sensing satellite developed by UAE, has achieved optimal position in orbit around the Earth and has successfully connected with the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science & Technology’s (EIAST) earth observation station in Dubai, says report.

The earth observation team is now working on DubaiSat-1’s calibration and data transfer processes before the satellite becomes fully operational, said a statement. DubaiSat-1 was launched into space at 10:46 pm UAE time on July 29 from the launch pad/base in Baikonour in Kazakhstan by a Russian rocket under the supervision of UAE engineers and scientists.

EIAST confirmed UAE engineers and scientists at the Dubai earth observation station were able to stabilise DubaiSat-1 in its 680 km orbit at 3:30 am local time after the satellite completed two successful orbits of the Earth. The team has also remotely deployed the satellite’s solar panels, which will power DubaiSat-1 for the next five years.

The launch of DubaiSat-1 consists of two segments: space and ground. The space segment comprises the development, design and manufacture of satellite equipment and components of the measurement and imaging. The ground segment includes the mission control station, image receiving and processing station, antenna and RF subsystem. Images from DubaiSat-1 can be used for a variety of applications from urban development, scientific research, telecommunications, transportation to civil engineering and constructions, mapping and GIS.

amLibrary, a spatial data bundle packaged exclusively for educational institutions in support of a variety of disciplines has been released by Apogee Mapping.

amlibrary includes four flagship products currently offered by Apogee Mapping: amElevation, amHillshade, amContour, and amWater. In addition to the above products, amLibrary offers fifty unique data layers depicting environmental, climactic and geologic data. Bundled together, this information provides GIS users with comprehensive and detailed terrain data that can be used as a basis upon which to conduct research and perform complex spatial analysis.

Licensees of amLibrary will be able to provide faculty and students alike with the same information and geospatial data that drives today’s most popular online mapping portals and services.

amLibrary is offered exclusively to colleges and universities – large and small – in either MapInfo .TAB format or ESRI Shapefile format.

India will be able to launch smaller satellites for United States into space by indigenously developed rockets at one third of the cost charged by American firms. This is one of the significant feature of the space agreement signed with the US during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent visit to Delhi.

"Space cooperation with the US has been the agenda of the government. The pact will enable US made satellites or with components of US to be launched from India," Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Madhavan Nair said.

ISRO offers satellite launching services for global customers at cost-effective price.

India expects to bring down the cost of sending a satellite to space by half through its heavier rocket GSLV-MKIII, which will be ready by 2010.

On the country's first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan, which suffered a glitch, Nair said space scientists would hold a review in September.

[via]

The Schneider Corporation, a full-service professional services firm that provides engineering, technology and consulting solutions, announced its 2009 GIS Conferences and User Groups will be held this year in Ames, Iowa (August 11-12, 2009) and Indianapolis (September 1-2, 2009). A significant number of Midwest counties already are using Schneider GIS products and services, including half of Iowa's counties and 40% of Indiana's counties. Schneider has over 120 local government clients across the Midwest.

The conferences, themed "Harvest More with GIS," will include information on how government organizations can use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to increase revenue, reduce expenses and minimize risk. Attendees will hear real-world examples, such as how a county assessor used GIS to identify untaxed property that generated $3.5 million a year in additional revenue.

"Beacon also will be highlighted at the show as a way to 'Harvest More' revenue," said Jeff Corns, vice president of GIS at The Schneider Corporation. "Beacon™ saves organizations an average of over 25 hours of office and phone traffic time every day; that's the equivalent of three people. Today, when organizations are trying to do more with less, Beacon™ is an especially useful tool."

Other examples of the benefits of Schneider Corporation's GIS products and services include an accurate rendition of an Indiana county and its land records which is used to place land ownership and utility information from thousands of documents including tax roll data, old paper maps, as-builds and deeds. The county contains approximately 60,000 parcels and covers more than 410 square miles. Schneider utilized its Beacon™ interactive public access tool to develop a free online portal for citizens to view their property information and utilize the Citizen Action Center, which allows citizens to pinpoint the location of an item that needs attention from the city. This information is sent directly to the proper department in the city for remediation.

Other conference topics include using GIS for emergency management, how GIS can help simplify the 2010 census, and how to use social media tools to reach constituents.

Information about the 2009 GIS Conference and User Group can be found here.

ESRI will demonstrate ArcGIS, a complete platform for sharing and analysing geospatial information on the Web, at the GeoWeb 2009 conference in Vancouver, Canada.

ArcGIS is a comprehensive platform for delivering geospatial information composed of vast amounts of geographic knowledge—data, models, analytic tools, maps, workflows, and metadata describing our world. This knowledge, created and maintained primarily by geographic information system (GIS) professionals, is increasingly being made available to everyday Web users and is playing a pivotal role in the decision-making process.

The GeoWeb makes geographic knowledge more available to people who don’t use geospatial technology on a daily basis but can benefit from it. ArcGIS, through the GeoWeb, allows everyone to leverage the billions of dollars already invested by governments and private organizations in developing basemaps, thematic datasets, and imagery. And, with ArcGIS, creators of geographic knowledge can maintain control over their authoritative data.

About 40,000 acres of government land, 126 industrial areas and thousands of companies -- all these will be brought under the GIS mapping. To keep a tab on effective utilization of land allotted to industries, all industrial sites in the state will come under GIS ambit. GIS mapping allows the department to keep constant vigil on industries.

The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), a premier industrial area developer and nodal agency to monitor all industrial sites, along with Technical Consultancy Services Organization of Karnataka (TECSOK), have already prepared a blueprint for GIS mapping of KIADB's 126 industrial areas, spread over 40,000 acres in the state.

Besides having particulars on availability of water and its sources, power and other basic amenities, GIS mapping of industrial areas is a ready reckoner on the total extent of land, industrial area location-wise, category of industries, status of units and plots available for allotment.

As a first step, KIADB has served notice to nearly 200 companies, seeking an immediate reply for not establishing the units even several years after the government approved the land. [via]

As reported, six University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) students and two students from other universities are using satellite imagery to identify possible habitats in Alabama for the black-legged tick that carries and transmits Lyme disease.

The students are interns with the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center DEVELOP Program. DEVELOP is a competitive internship in which students work with NASA and partner-agency scientists to carry out innovative research projects.

The eight students are working in UAB’s Laboratory for Global Health Observation (LGHO) using data from the NASA Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor on board the Terra satellite, as well as DigitalGlobe QuickBird satellite technology.

Along with the satellite remote sensing technology, the students are using GIS software to generate representations of Alabama in colorful, digital maps on their computer screens. The maps’ color patterns detail conditions on the ground such as soil moisture and vegetation that support habitats for black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks.

On Wednesday, July 29, team members will share their study results with local health officials to help raise public awareness of Lyme disease, Renneboog said. On Aug. 4, Renneboog will present the project results to senior executives at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The winners of the 2009 Galley Club Awards have been announced. In their 33rd year, and held at Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia, they celebrate excellence in book and magazine production.

Book of the Year went to EARTH, the limited edition, leather bound World Atlas published by Millennium House and distributed by Global Mapping in the UK where only 200 copies are allocated for sale at a price of £2,400 each.

Dubbed "the ultimate/biggest book about our world", the luxurious, limited edition Earth is hand-bound in leather with gilded edges and silver-plated corners. The atlas, (the largest world atlas ever produced), and its case together weigh 30kg.
The 576 pages contain 154 maps and over 800 stunning photographs backed with detailed descriptions of every country’s geography, history and culture. Lying closed, the atlas takes up a third of a square meter with four gatefolds opening out to two square meters each.

Ten cartographic experts at the British map company Global Mapping spent eight months compiling Earth with more than 100 overseas colleagues including fellow map makers, geographers and oceanographers. They worked with detail from a continuously updated world database of digital mapping.

SSTL’s UK-DMC2 satellite has successfully completed pre-launch tests and is integrated with a Dnepr launch vehicle at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in readiness for launch on Wednesday, 29th July 2009 at 18:46 UTC, 19:46 BST.

The new satellite will be operated by subsidiary company DMCii to provide an enhanced imaging capability and operational service to the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). UK-DMC2 has a number of enhancements over previous DMC spacecraft contributing to SSTL’s continuing evolutionary design approach. The satellite is also being used as a test bed for new technologies and is supporting a BNSC sponsored school science experiment called POISE.

UK-DMC2 carries a higher resolution optical payload which will provide 22m ground sample distance (GSD) images, compared with 32m GSD on the four operational satellites currently in the constellation. The 22m imagery has twice the data density of the 32m imagery without loss of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and maintains the ultra-wide 600+km swath.

The satellite carries two high-speed X-band transmitters that will both operate at 20Mbps or 80Mbps. This will enable the satellite to download images up to 10 times faster than previous DMC spacecraft. Storage capacity has increased from 1 to 1.5 GByte on the first generation of DMC spacecraft up to 12 GByte on UK-DMC2. These advancements, in combination with improved power generation and storage systems, will allow UK-DMC2 to rapidly map large areas such as Europe or other continents.

SSTL and its UK-DMC2 satellite will also support a scientific experiment developed by the winners of the Space Experiment Competition for UK students, sponsored by the British National Space Centre (BNSC). Shrewsbury School’s POISE experiment will investigate the way in which fluctuations in the ionospheric layer of the Earth’s atmosphere can affect the radio signals passing through it. The team at Shrewsbury School will use receivers mounted onboard UK-DMC2 to pick up GPS signals that have passed through the ionosphere. POISE will measure the signal properties to determine its integrity. It is thought that by monitoring ionospheric scintillation, the experiment could support research into predicting earthquakes from space.

UK-DMC2 will be launched into a sun-synchronous orbit alongside Deimos-1, another DMC satellite built by SSTL for Spanish company Deimos Space. This will bring the number of operational DMC satellites to six.

Emirates Institution for Advanced Science & Technology (EIAST) has announced that the clustered launch of a satellite group including DubaiSat-1 has been postponed to July 29. The satellite was to have been launched on July 25. The launching company, International Space Company (Cosmotras), said the launch was postponed mainly to undertake more safety and security tests.

The DubaiSat-1 is the first remote sensing satellite owned by the UAE which represents the country's determination to possess advanced space technologies to fulfil the needs of scientific and technological research, as well as to provide up-to-date spatial and earth monitoring data that aids the holistic growth drive adopted by the nation, said a top official.

The UAE task force has already achieved all tests on DubaiSat-1 and presented its report on the readiness of the satellite for navigating into the outer space. EIAST is co-operating with Cosmotras to make the launch a success on July 29, 2009.

The launch of DubaiSat-1 consists of two segments; space, and ground. The space segment comprises development, design and manufacture of satellite equipment and components of the measurement and imaging.

The ground segment comprises mission control station, image receiving and processing station, and antenna and RF subsystem. Images from DubaiSat-1 can be used for many applications such as urban development, scientific research, telecommunications, transportation, civil engineering & constructions, mapping and GIS.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2009 Fall Meeting is expected to draw a crowd of over 16,000 geophysicists from around the world. The Fall Meeting provides an opportunity for researchers, teachers, students, and consultants to present and review the latest issues affecting the Earth, the planets, and their environments in space. This meeting will cover topics in all areas of Earth and space sciences.

AGU Conference Abstract Submissions are Open. Important information about our new abstract submission software:

· Log-in requires your AGU membership ID and password.

· Your membership fee for 2009 must be paid by 20 August in order to submit.

· The person submitting must also be the First Author.

· If someone other than the First Author is submitting, you will need their membership ID and password.

· Non-members sponsored by an AGU member must provide the sponsor's member ID

· First Authors can have a maximum of 1 contributed and 1 invited abstracts, or 2 invited abstracts. One additional abstract from the First Author may be submitted to an Education or Public Affairs session.

· Oral presentations cannot be requested, although you may request Poster only.

· Submissions can be saved as drafts and edited prior to the deadline, even after payment has been made.

· A flat fee of $60 will be charged for each regular submission, and $30 for each student submission if the student is both First Author and Presenting Author. There is no fee for persons from qualifying low-income countries.

* The abstract submission fee is a non-refundable processing fee, and not based on approval of your abstract submission or attendance at the Fall Meeting.

· ALL abstracts require CREDIT CARD payment in order to be submitted and processed by the deadline. We are unable to accept other forms of payment such as purchase orders.

The deadline to submit an abstract is 3 September – 2359 Eastern Daylight Time. Late submissions cannot be accepted.

2009 AGU Fall Meeting Details
14–18 December
San Francisco, California, USA

View submission details here.

Wanted: GIS Job!

GIS Project Manager, St. Louis
Use your technical expertise and project management experience to support our users with the implementation of solutions through the entire life cycle--from requirements to rollout.

Department:
Database Services

The Team:
A career on the ESRI Professional Services and Consulting team provides you the opportunity to collaborate with our customers to support innovative database and applications development, SOA, and enterprise software solutions. The variety of project work enables you to use your software development, database engineering, GIS expertise, and project management skills in a number of growing markets such as natural resources, commercial, government, utilities, and defense. Most positions are based at our headquarters in Redlands, California and our regional office in Washington, D.C.; however, opportunities are also available in other locations.

Responsibilities:
Work with customers to understand their business activities, workflows, and needs; determine how GIS technology can help meet those needs and formulate and implement cost-effective GIS-based solutions.

Create and manage the scope, cost, schedule, and contractual deliverables through the application of planning, tracking, quality assurance, change control, and risk management.

Lead project teams during all phases of the application development life cycle including requirements gathering and analysis, design, build, test, and deployment.

Develop and manage project work plans including tasks, resources, schedule, and budget.

Monitor and manage project performance including deliverables, milestones, and expenditures.

Manage subcontractors to ensure that contractual project commitments are met.

Manage customer relationships and expectations.

Work with the ESRI marketing and sales teams to develop new business opportunities.

Requirements:
Bachelors or masters in computer science, engineering, GIS, geography, or related field.

U.S. citizenship and ability and willingness to obtain a security clearance.

Demonstrated experience with GIS, geodesy, remote sensing, or cadastric sciences.

Minimum of three years of leadership experience focused on engaging others in the delivery and execution of technical solutions and service deliverables.

Experience utilizing ESRI-related technology in a professional environment.

Recommended Qualifications:
An understanding of the range of GIS and information management software products, from desktop to server applications and development tools.

Working knowledge of database utilization, including the use of quality assurance procedures, database management, and data conversion.

Experience working with state and local governments, especially as it relates to the utilization of GIS technology and geospatial solutions.

Military or defense experience or background.

The Company:
Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. We develop and support innovative tools for visualizing, analyzing, and managing geographic data on the desktop, on a server, across the enterprise, in a mobile environment, and on the Web. With annual revenues of $660 million and our software used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide, ESRI is the market leader in GIS.

ESRI employs 2,700 people in the U.S., 800 of whom are in our 10 regional offices across the U.S. We offer exceptional benefits, competitive salaries, 401(k) and profit sharing programs, tuition assistance, opportunities for personal and professional growth, and much more.

Learn more about a career in GIS Services at ESRI and apply online at www.esri.com/careers.

ESRI is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) supporting diversity in the workforce.

Additional Job Details.
Employment term : Full Time
Degree : Bachelors
Travel : Yes
Job level : Mid Level 2-6 yrs.
Job site : 380 New York St
Redlands, CA 92373
United States
# Work Authorization : Authorized to work

ESRI (UK) today announced ‘GIS for Schools’, a new programme offering improved access to GIS technology to help teachers meet curriculum requirements and make lessons more engaging. Designed to help students learn more effectively, the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative has been designed to overcome the barriers to teachers using GIS in schools. So far 35 schools have signed-up to the new scheme.

Already used in a number of schools around the UK, GIS became part of the national curriculum for Geography at GCSE and A-level in 2008 and its uptake in schools is expected to rise. Most teachers do not have time or budget to become trained GIS experts and need to apply new technologies mandated by the curriculum as easily as possible. ESRI (UK)’s new programme makes GIS straightforward to use through online lesson plans and short video tutorials, mapped directly to the curriculum. Containing all necessary software, maps, data, lesson plans and online tutorials for an annual cost of £250, GIS for Schools costs less than half the normal price for the ESRI software alone.

"As one of the UK’s largest GIS companies we recognised that many schools were struggling to get started with GIS, particularly as it’s now on the curriculum in England and Wales. GIS helps students learn more effectively and we’ve created the scheme to make it more available to them. Our vision is to get GIS into every secondary school over the next five years,” explained Richard Waite, Managing Director, ESRI (UK). “It’s not a money-making venture for us – this is about helping teachers to help children learn more effectively. Future plans include similar schemes for primary schools and universities and expanding the programme across other subjects such as history and biology."

Historically, GIS has not been easily accessible to teachers, with many software companies just offering standard software at discounted prices. ESRI (UK)’s GIS for Schools not only offers vastly discounted software, but includes the necessary resources wrapped around it, so teachers can take advantage of its benefits quickly and easily. GIS in the classroom can be used in a variety of ways from plotting information sources on a map, to examining population migration or urban redevelopment.

“GIS helps students to have an increased understanding of geography, make more informed decisions and it brings the subject to life,” commented David Lambert, Professor of Geography Education & Chief Executive of the Geographical Association. “A modern method which aids geographical investigation, students relate well to GIS. It not only develops their ICT abilities but the mental skills need for problem-solving and understanding of relationships in the environment, better preparing them for future employment or Higher Education."

"GIS for Schools is perfect for us, as the package addresses all of our concerns with getting up to speed with GIS, in support of the curriculum,” said Steve Yetman, Teacher of Geography and ICT at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford. “Having all the elements of GIS software, data, lesson plans and mini training videos combined, at such a good price, make it a great way to start applying it in the classroom sooner rather than later."

At the centre of GIS for Schools is a new website: www.esriuk.com/schools, where schools sign-up to the scheme and receive access to resources such as lesson plans and tutorials downloadable as pod-casts. ESRI (UK)’s long-term objective is to build an online GIS community and create a forum where teachers submit their own lesson plans, swap advice and discuss problems.

Key features of GIS for Schools:

* ESRI (UK) software is easy to install and use, teachers don’t need IT support
* A more basic version of software is available for KS3 and KS4 while a more advanced version caters to A-level for more sophisticated GIS analysis
* New data bundle designed for schools to use with the GIS software, consists of OS map data, census data, aerial photography – saves schools paying for data separately
* Fast-start online lesson plans show how to teach topics using software and map data
* Short online video tutorials link with lesson plans and curriculum to support self-learning

Everyone should check this one out -- Gapminder! Gapminder provides time-series animated graphs of demographic data for countries. This is a very interesting tool for monitoring information issues.

Here's a video example: GapMinder - Population in Urban Areas

The European Space Agency (ESA) has implemented OGC’s geospatial interoperability standards in interfaces and encodings that are essential parts of the Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility (HMA) initiative. HMA is ESA's interoperability framework for coordinated data discovery and access set up in collaboration with the European and Canadian Space Agencies of the GSCB. HMA will be exploited within the Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security activity (GMES) to ensure interoperability among some 40 different Earth Observation satellite missions. GMES is the European Initiative for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation. The main objective of GMES is to monitor and better understand our environment.

ESA's most recent HMA contract, awarded to EOX IT Services GbmH -- an Austrian company leading a consortium that includes GIM from Belgium, Jacobs University Bremen from Germany and Spot Image from France -- is "HMA Follow On – Online Data Access." Under this contract, an Earth Observation extension to the OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) Interface Standard will be submitted to the OGC, possibly leading to a community-specific profile.

To foster industrial implementation of the standard in products and broad uptake of those products in the marketplace, the contract has as one of its deliverables an open source software implementation of the EO-WCS.

Blue Marble Geographics released the Geographic Calculator 7.3 via the Blue Marble Desktop 2.0.

Geographic Calculator version 7.3 contains added support for Alberta Township System v4.1, Global Area Reference System (GARS), and British National Grid (BNG) string point data formatting. Performance enhancements for the ESRI / Geographic Calculator extension, additional XLS read write support, and a new arbitrary scale and translation for point database conversion jobs are also featured.

There is also a new projection recovery tool for finding the projection information on vector files when there is none present. These tools extend the power of the Calculator to enable geospatial data definition, manipulation and management across the user’s organization.

To learn more about Geographic Calculator 7.3, please visit the website.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture - National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover for the 2008 crop year. The images, referred to as the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), identify geospatial crop locations in three U.S. regions: the Mid-Atlantic, the Southwest and Southeast.

Agribusinesses and farmers, as well as government, researchers and academic institutions, use the CDLs to study pesticide risk, epidemiology, transportation, fertilizer usage and potential, market data analysis and carbon dioxide fluxes.
NASS produced the CDLs using satellite images observed at 56 meter (0.775 acre) resolution and collected from the Resourcesat-1 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), Landsat Thematic Mapper and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

The entire inventory of CDL products, including metadata and accuracy assessments, is available online at the USDA National Resource Conservation Service's Geospatial Data.

Taiwan-SuperGeo, a global provider of complete GIS solutions, is pleased to announce the availability of SuperPad 3 Beta.

"SuperPad 3, which is based on SuperGIS Mobile Engine, can be implemented on mobile devices supporting .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP2 or higher to extend the performance platform." said Super Wang, CEO of SuperGeo Technologies Inc. "In addition, this mobile GIS software is revolutionary and facilitates field-workers to manipulate and significantly improves efficiency at work."

SuperPad 3 can enhance field-workers' productivity because its user interface, functionalities, computational efficiency and flexibility of customisation are improved. Moreover, the files in SuperPad 3 and the settings and the symbols in SuperGIS Desktop or other GIS software are exchangeable in order to increase the speed of mapping and the use of project.

The key features of SuperPad 3 are listed below.

• New User Interface
• Smart Editing Bar
• Highly Flexible Open Architecture
• Multiple Customized Extensions

USA-DeLorme, which is into mapping, GIS, and GPS technology, announced its release of the 2009 edition of USA Topographic Map Data for use with the XMap GIS software suite.

This dataset offers users of DeLorme's three-tiered XMap GIS suite a highly detailed and customisable base map with coverage for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico on a single DVD.

This latest release of the USA Topographic Map Data 2009 includes a significant number of updates and other improvements including:

• Over 30,000 new or updated roads and streets in the U.S.
• Detailed road and street coverage for Canada and major roads in Mexico
• 200,000 new places-of-interest
• More than 4,000 new trails
• Enhanced map colors for superior cartographic display
• Improved horizontal accuracy

Because USA Topographic Map Data 2009 is in vector format, map features can be turned on or off as needed providing an optimised backdrop for managing and displaying the GIS layers or other map data. Unlike raster-based topographic maps, USA Topographic Map Data 2009 is scalable so the optimal concentration of map features is displayed at every zoom level.

As an integrated component of the XMap suite, the USA Topographic Map Data 2009 adds value to the software by enabling key features and functions:

• 3-D Terrain modeling
• Elevation profiling
• Customisable contour and shaded relief display
• Road and trail routing as well as in-vehicle navigation
• Address geocoding

GeoCat announced the release of GeoNetwork opensource 2.4.0 software. GeoNetwork opensource is a standards based geospatial catalog application that helps people and organizations to organize and publish their geospatial data through the web. It is currently used in numerous Spatial Data Infrastructure initiatives across the world.

The software provides an easy to use web interface to search geospatial data across multiple catalogs, combine distributed map services in the embedded map viewer, send annotated interactive maps to friends by email, and publish geospatial data using the online metadata editing tools and optionally the embedded GeoServer map server. Administrators have the option to manage user and group accounts, configure the server through web based and desktop utilities and schedule metadata harvesting from other catalogs.

GeoNetwork opensource is part of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo, http://www.osgeo.org) software stack, providing software you can trust to be free, open and sustainable. Voluntary support is provided through mailing lists, websites and online forums.

The Louisiana National Guard (LANG) uses an advanced geospatial platform that has fundamentally changed how it processes and makes available highly accurate imagery. What once involved many hours of manpower has now been reduced to minutes.

The LANG GIS section teamed with Geographic Information Services, Inc. (GISi), to implement ESRI ArcGIS Server and its Image extension and provide additional application development services. An ESRI business partner, GISi is a GIS consulting firm established in 1991 and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Using ArcGIS Server 9.3 and the Image extension, raster datasets that had been deemed unusable because of their size were immediately turned into image services by LANG GIS staff.

An advanced GIS application developed by GISi allows Web users to locate coordinates on a map, whether by manual entry or with a mouse click on a location, and view the data in several different format types. They can also enter an address and have it automatically connect to the ESRI geocoding service that locates it on the map, then converts it to different formats.

Users also have sets of tools for easily creating graphics and text over current geospatial data. There is a measuring tool that allows them to quickly measure distances and areas. These tools let Web users create accurate situational overlay maps, which help them better plan their mission.

SPOT LLC unveiled the new "SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger," which is 30 percent smaller than the SPOT Satellite personal tracker. It features custom messaging modes, and uses a GPS chipset and satellite communications to offer enhanced reliability and performance, the company said.

The SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger uses the GPS satellite network to determine a customer's location and the SPOT network to transmit that information to friends, family or an emergency service center. The device also lets people track users progress in real-time via Google Maps. It also features a SOS 9-1-1 Alert button to let emergency responders coordinate a rescue with the users’ GPS location, the company said.

The latest model offers globally recognised symbols for its message buttons to accommodate use in international markets and drive distribution to customers in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The new SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger will include the following new features designed to enhance customer usability:

* 30% smaller and lighter than the original model at 5.2 ounces
* New enhanced satellite antenna for improved performance in foliage or canopied environments
* Advanced GPS performance chipset
* GPS Acquisition light
* “Message Sending” indicator light
* Dedicated GPS Tracking button
* New, dedicated pre-programmable Custom Message button
* Protective covers over S.O.S and Help button to prevent inadvertent message transmission
* Illuminated buttons
* Choice of orange or silver
* Included case and neoprene fastening band

The Entrepreneurs at ESA’s Business Incubation centre in the Netherlands have used radar technology from the agency’s Envisat remote-sensing satellite to develop a compact, high-resolution radar that can monitor land and buildings from small aircraft.

The space radar can monitor structures such as dams, harbours, canals and buildings, leading to maps for urban planning, territory surveillance and cadastral updating. Several flights over the same location can spot changes between pictures, revealing ground movements that could affect structures.

The sensor’s main advantage is that it can be flown on small, readily available and inexpensive aircraft. In comparison, conventional bulky radar requires large, costly planes, while laser systems need more time to take high-resolution pictures, and are therefore often flown on costly helicopters.

Forty years ago on July 20, 1969, the world watched as the crew of Apollo 11 took the first human steps on the surface of the Moon. In celebration of this historic occasion, Google launched Moon in Google Earth, an interactive 3D atlas of the Moon, viewable with Google Earth 5.0. Moon in Google Earth was announced at the Newseum, in Washington, DC, where Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Google Senior VP of Engineering Alan Eustace, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, A Man on the Moon author Andrew Chaikin, and space tourist Anousheh Ansari delivered remarks.

With Moon in Google Earth, users can explore a virtual Moonscape, follow guided tours from astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17), see the latest rover concepts by teams competing in the Google Lunar X-PRIZE, view high-resolution ’street View' style panoramic photos, watch previously unreleased video footage captured from the lunar surface, and much more. Moon in Google Earth will also incorporate a complete lunar terrain data-set by Kaguya LALT, produced by JAXA/NAOJ, which will serve as the atlas’ base-map.

The most recent tool to have been developed as a result of the Space Act Agreement between Google and NASA, Moon in Google Earth enables information about the Moon to be accessible to anyone in a unique three-dimensional context.

In addition to satellite imagery and terrain, the following layers can be explored with Moon in Google Earth:

• Featured Satellite Imagery – Explore overlaid satellite imagery and detailed descriptions of selected areas on the Moon from Arizona State University’s “Lunar Image of the Week”

• Spacecraft Imagery – View selected imagery captured by the Apollo Metric Camera, Clementine, and the Lunar Orbiter.

• Apollo Missions – Travel back to the Apollo era and discover the landing sites of Apollo missions 11-17. Explore “Street View”-style panoramic images, watch previously unreleased footage from Spacecraft films , and read about the places astronauts saw on their trips to the Moon.

• Guided Tours – Take a narrated tour of the Moon from Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17).

• Historic Maps – Discover Apollo-era geologic and topographic maps of the Moon that were used in mission control for trips to the Moon.

• Human Artifacts – Learn about the various types of exploratory equipment that humans have left on the Moon and where those objects can be found today. Artifacts from the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the EU, Japan, and India are included, some of them as 3D models.

The planet Jupiter may have been hit by a comet. NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility took photos of the far gaseous planet and showed the section where it has apparently been struck by an object -- an object that scientists say could be a comet due to the dark scar in Jupiter's atmosphere near the south pole.

The Jupiter images also show bright upwelling particles in the atmosphere, detected in near-infrared wavelengths, as well as a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.

NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility is located t the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii.

Remote sensing image of Jupiter hit by a comet:

MAPPS, the association of private geospatial firms, has announced that it will host its third annual Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards competition, recognizing the professionalism, value, integrity and achievement that member firms have demonstrated in their projects and technology developments over the previous year.

"The Awards Program is an opportunity for MAPPS member firms to showcase the high-quality work that is being preformed in the geospatial community," said John Palatiello, MAPPS Executive Director. "The awards program demonstrates the cutting edge technology and professional expertise that MAPPS member firms implement in projects serving their clients."

The award recipients will be announced and recognized on Wednesday, November 18 during the MAPPS/ASPRS Joint Specialty Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards program has six categories: airborne and satellite data acquisition; photogrammetry/elevation data generation; remote sensing; GIS/IT; small projects; and technology innovation. A Grand Award will be selected from the six category winners to represent the MAPPS Project of the Year.

In 2008, the MAPPS Project of the Year was awarded to Fugro EarthData (Frederick, Maryland) for the "Mapping a Vital Marine Resource in Texas" project. The project, conducted for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Services Center (CSC), created benthic habitat maps to support the Texas Seagrass Monitoring Program. It helped protect the shallow marine environment in the 1,400 square miles of estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The mapping project involved three elements: high-resolution aerial mapping, object-oriented classification and quantitative accuracy assessment.

The 2008 category winners were Intermap Technologies for "Ultra Long Lines: Increasing Airborne Data Acquisition Rates" in the category of Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition; Aero-Metric, Inc. for "Interstate 35W Bridge Collapse" in Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation; and Photo Science for "Legislative Atlas" in the GIS/IT category. The Fugro EarthData project was the category winner among Remote Sensing project entries.

The 2009 contest is open to all MAPPS Member and Associate Member firms. The deadline for submitting entries is August 7, 2009.

To learn more information about MAPPS and the Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards program visit MAPPS.

Tele Atlas digital map data will be added to the upcoming version of ESRI StreetMap Premium. The enhanced street database works with ESRI’s ArcGIS software to provide geocoding, routing and high quality map display.

The optimised data structure of StreetMap Premium, achieved through ESRI’s Smart Data Compression format, ensures ease of use with ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Desktop to deliver the highest address geocoding match rates, generate the best routes and driving directions and produce superior base maps. StreetMap Premium users have the flexibility to license the latest Tele Atlas maps by geography (continent, region, country or state/province) and by business function (e.g., display, geocoding, and/or routing).

Google Maps are now available in the Android SDK with a fairly nice user experience. Implementing a map with overlays is reasonably simple for skilled developers.

Not all Android devices will have Google Maps integrated in. That is a component one must license from Google; it is not part of the open source Android project. Hence, smaller device manufacturers, or those perhaps trying to reduce licensing or silicon costs, may skip Google Maps. As a result, your application will not be installable on those devices.

Also, Google Maps has a terms of service for developers using the API, and those terms of service may contain clauses with which you are uncomfortable. For example, clause 8.7 restricts your use of Google Maps, barring many logical uses of the technology, such as real-time navigation or fleet management. This is not necessarily Google's fault, as they license much of the Google Maps data from other firms, and those firms impose their own usage restrictions.

Download Android 1.5 SDK, Release 3.

Federal scientists released hundreds of historical spy satellite images of Arctic sea ice. The U.S. Geological Survey website's opening immediately followed National Research Council report, also released, calling for "immediately" disseminating the spy satellite images to scientists.

For the last decade, scientists have worked through the MEDEA program with spy satellite agencies to send archival high-resolution images of environmental hotspots to scientists.

The NRC report, "Scientific Value of Arctic Sea Ice Imagery Derived Products," a collaboration between scientists and intelligence agency veterans, called for release of images from six Arctic locales most relevant to retreating sea ice. Earlier this year, NASA satellite research confirmed summer Arctic sea ice is thinning, raising prospects of an ice-free region in coming decades, with implications for trade, mineral resources and national security.

The international UNIGIS MSc postgraduate degree is now offered in Australia through the UNIGIS (www.unigis.net) study centre at the University of Canberra, ACT.

Students are invited to enrol in a joint programme combining the capacities from the University of Canberra and University of Salzburg, Austria.Continuing and higher education in Geographic Information Science and Technologies and Geoinformatics methods is important for developing Spatial Data Infrastructures across nations and regions as a foundation for sustainable economies, societies and environments.

Increasingly, enterprises, non-governmental organisations and public agencies apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reach their objectives and to better serve their customers. "GIS" has become an attractive and rewarding career path for motivated and skilled professionals worldwide - with the UNIGIS academic network being the global leader in GIScience distance education. This new UNIGIS study centre is led by Prof. George Cho at the Institute of Applied Ecology, University of Canberra. It offers in-service distance education for professionals interested in GIS and Geoinformatics.

Courses towards the MSc will be launched with an on-site workshop in later in 2009 and lead students to recognized international academic degrees.

Contact: George.Cho@canberra.edu.au

Crisis Event Service is a new web service providing timely and accurate pre- and post-event satellite imagery to aid in emergency planning, response and recovery announced DigitalGlobe.

The new online service is designed to provide a comprehensive picture for global crisis including at least three high-resolution imagery versions of each affected area: the most current pre-event imagery from DigitalGlobe’s extensive ImageLibrary archive, imagery during or just after the event, and a follow-up image within 30 days following the event. Crisis Service images will be available online within one to three days of any given event through DigitalGlobe’s online platform. DigitalGlobe will determine events included in the Service based on definitions set by the International Charter of Space and Major Disasters.

DigitalGlobe’s Crisis Event Service supports emergency preparedness risk and planning analysis for local, civil and federal governments, defense and homeland security, insurance and reinsurance agencies, and multinational and humanitarian agencies. Satellite imagery is a useful decision support tool when on-ground accessibility is difficult or dangerous.

Imagery for the Crisis Event Service is collected from DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird and WorldView-1 satellites. Imagery from DigitalGlobe’s 8-band multi-spectral satellite, WorldView-2, will be added to the service upon successful launch and product availability.

Broadband coverage maps created with GIS technology are providing a competitive advantage during the funding application process for $4 billion in broadband grants and loans available through the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The maps are produced with the help of Connected Nation, a nonprofit corporation, using ArcGIS technology from ESRI. Several states already have the maps in hand to provide applicants with strong, detailed support for their cases.

Connected Nation develops broadband landscape maps that identify areas with broadband service gaps and has worked with seven states (Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia), with others under development. The maps use ArcGIS technology to combine service data from broadband providers with household demographic information to create a complete picture of current broadband coverage gaps and development potential at the street, household, and census block levels.

Application submissions for the first of three rounds of funding are open now and close August 14, 2009. Public and private entities will compete for more than $4 billion in federal funds, which will be dispersed in the form of grants and loans to build and expand broadband infrastructure, public computing centers, and sustainable broadband adoption programs. Federal funds are also available for states to create and maintain GIS broadband maps. Connected Nation is working with a number of states to apply for mapping funds.

The Cental Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), an arm of the Coal India Limited, signed an MoU with the Survey of India for preparation of the large scale updated topographical maps of 28 major coalfields of the country, based on remote sensing technique.

The project, for which the Coal India Limited has funded Rs 117 crore, will be jointly implemented by CMPDI & Survey of India and will complete in five years. This is said to be a major task for the CMPDI to expedite coal exploration, mine planning, environmental management and infrastructure development in the coalfields area to match the coal-based energy demand of the country.

CMPDI CMD A.K. Singh said topographical maps will be prepared for about 26,000 sq km area on 1:5000 scale with 2 m contour interval in digital GIS formats. Large scale digital topographical maps will be useful for detail coal exploration, mine planning, infrastructure planning, railway siding for coal transportation, rehabilitation and resettlement and environmental management planning as well as integrated master planning of the coalfields.

Urban Mapping, the provider of location-rich content for interactive applications, announced advanced features for Routeserver, the company's standard-setting multi-modal routing engine that supports walk, drive, bus, train, subway and other modes of transportation. Developed with pedestrian navigation in mind, Routeserver can be ported to specific hardware and platforms, supporting true "on board" navigation. Additionally, the routing engine can be deployed for large-scale interactive publishers or as a hosted solution for rapid implementation.

The new enhancements to Routeserver enable a range of advanced capabilities such as dynamic re-routing incorporating real-time mass transit events, narrative customisation to support multi-lingual or editorial conventions and "cognitive transfers," a new option in route customisation that recognises varying perceptions of wait times.

With the combination of Routeserver and its URBANWARE Mass Transit database, which provides highly detailed data for over 100 pedestrian-specific attributes, Urban Mapping enables an advanced pedestrian navigation experience for over 70 systems in the United States, Canada and Europe.

WorldView-2, scheduled to launch on October 6th, 2009, will be the first 8-band multispectral commercial satellite available today! With a mission life of 7.25 years, and operating at an altitude of 770 km, the WorldView-2 system is expected to bring unsurpassed agility, capacity, accuracy and spectral diversity to commercial earth imaging.

Join this Free Webinar to hear Dr. Kumar Navulur, DigitalGlobe's Principle Scientist, as he discusses how the new spectral bands will improve remote sensing applications such as better feature identification and classification, improved bathymetry, better change detection and more.

In Free Webinar You Will:

* See how the four additional spectral bands (coastal blue, yellow edge, red edge, and near infrared 2) enable broader ranges of classifications, enhanced vegetation and coastal analysis, the extraction of more features and the identification and tracking of coastal changes and infractions.

* Discover how the new red edge (the first in the commercial industry) and yellow edge spectral bands deliver more granular field classifications, improve the understanding of vegetation analysis (health, age, type, species) and provide early warning capabilities to industries that interact with, and depend on, the environment such as pipeline monitoring, environmental mapping and precision agriculture applications.
* Learn how the new coastal blue spectral band will enhance bathymetry studies for sea floors, coastal plains and waterways, discriminate features of the shallow ocean floor more accurately and increase the scope of coastal remote sensing applications--improving the safety of marine navigation and providing much needed insight into the ever changing marine environment.
* Discover how the WorldView-2 based portals and navigation devices will see the world in the truest natural state--bringing better definition and clarity to the user's visual reality, and allow mapping experts to use those bands to pinpoint more points of interest and create more diverse, interesting navigation applications.

Who Should Attend?
Key decision makers within enterprise, oil and gas, telecom, portals, location based services and government agencies.

WorldView-2 Free Webinar Details
Date: Wednesday, July 29
Time: 11:00am or 7:00pm MDT
Duration: 45 Minutes
Presenters: Dr. Kumar Navulur, Principle Scientist, DigitalGlobe

Free registration here.

Dates for the 9th Annual Cityworks User Conference were announced today by Azteca Systems, Inc., the leading provider of GIS-centric management solutions. The event will be held Monday, May 17 – Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at the Dixie Conference Center in the beautiful city of St. George, Utah. Cityworks pre-conference training is available to new and existing users as well as specialized implementation training for Cityworks business partners on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 at the Hilton Garden Inn in St. George, Utah, adjacent to the Dixie Conference Center.

The 2010 User Conference features Cityworks technical and application sessions, user case studies, vendor presentations, an exhibit hall, and Cityworks Doctor’s Office, all in a casually comfortable environment. Pre-conference activities including hiking, biking, golfing, and others are scheduled for Sunday, May 15 – all designed to take advantage of the breathtaking surroundings. Conference check-in and a welcome reception follow on Sunday evening.

Surrounded by the scenic red-rock terrain of southwestern Utah, St. George offers breathtaking mountain scenery in a casual, rustic setting and a variety of outdoor activities with world-class golf courses, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and other tourist attractions within short driving distances. With something for everyone, St. George is in close proximity to Las Vegas, Nevada – about an hour and forty-five minute drive northeast. Conference attendees can fly into Las Vegas and enjoy a stop at the world-renowned entertainment hotspot. Shuttles are available to and from Las Vegas and St. George a number of times daily at a low price, making it easy for travelers with or without a car to hop from city to city.

Over 400 people attended the 2008 Cityworks User Conference held in Snowbird, Utah. Attendance to the 2010 conference is open to all Cityworks customers and business partners and by invitation to potential customers and others. Additional details and registration information will be available online soon at www.cityworks.com. The conference website will be available in August and online registration will be available in November.

For more information, contact:
Lindsay Ferguson
Communications and Marketing
Azteca Systems, Inc.
801.523.2751
www.cityworks.com

The first temperature map of the planet's southern hemisphere at infrared wavelengths, charted with Venus Express's Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS. The new map hints that our neighbouring world may once have been more Earth-like, with a plate tectonics system and an ocean of water. The map comprises over a thousand individual images, recorded between May 2006 and December 2007, from a distance of about 60 000 km. Because Venus is covered in clouds, normal cameras cannot see the surface, but Venus Express used a particular infrared wavelength that can see through them.

The new data are consistent with suspicions that the highland plateaus of Venus are ancient continents, once surrounded by ocean and produced by past volcanic activity. The map is centred at the South Pole. The measured temperatures range from 442°C (or 715K), red to 422°C (or 695K) blue; higher temperatures correspond to lower altitudes, while lower temperature correspond to higher altitudes. The temperature difference is key to understanding whether Venus is volcanically active today. However, a 'flux anomaly' may be related to temperature difference and to different surface emissivity.

Credits: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA

A GPS Locator application that would provide small and medium-sized businesses with real-time visibility into the location of the mobile workforce has been announced by AT&T and Xora Inc.

The new easy to deploy solution is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application designed to help AT&T business customers improve the productivity and accountability of field-based employees, as well as lower expenses related to overtime and fuel costs, said a press release.

The GPS Locator from is based on technology from Xora GPS Timetrack solution, and can be accessed from the same web-based portal as Xora GPS Timetrack and Xora GPS Timetrack In-Vehicle.

The application does not require any software to be loaded on the phone, providing quick and easy deployment. Field-based employees simply power on their mobile devices and office staff can see their locations using Xora's Web-based maps and reports.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) is preparing two satellites for launch on 25th July. The Earth observation missions, UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1, will be launched onboard a Dnepr rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 25th July 2009 at 18:46 UTC, 19:46 BST.

The new satellites will enhance Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) satellite daily imaging capacity for applications such as deforestation mapping, urban planning, natural resource management, security, agriculture and disaster relief operations.

Deimos-1, which is owned by Spanish company Deimos Space, and SSTL's own UK-DMC2 satellite, will use the latest SSTL technologies that have been developed by adapting and improving space-proven technologies from the Company's previous 21 Earth observation missions. As well as being the debut for its new 22-metre multispectral wide-swath imaging subsystem, SSTL's UK-DMC2 satellite will play an important role as a test bed for new technologies for use in future missions.

UK-DMC will provide data continuity for the many organisations worldwide that make use of DMC data.

Gearworks released the etrace 7.1, an enhanced version of its powerful wireless and Web-based mobile workforce management solution that enables enterprises to supervise and optimize their personnel and activities in the field as easily as they do in the office.

etrace taps the GPS capabilities of wireless mobile devices to provide organizations full visibility of its workers in the field. By delivering real-time supervision and coordination, enterprises can integrate multiple aspects of their business, enhance efficiencies, and improve overall productivity. The enhanced etrace 7.1 raises the bar with several new features, enabling organisations and mobile workers with greater flexibility, accessibility and ease of use.

etrace 7.1 includes the following new features:

-Editable Timecards — Time sheet mistakes made in the field are now quick and easy to fix through the Web portal. Administrators can correct the date and time of worker shifts/breaks and end open shifts/breaks. To ensure accuracy, the administrator can also view a complete history of edits made to worker time sheets.

-At-a-Glance Report — Now, keeping track of key business indicators is as easy as reading an email. The daily report is sent via email to supervisors, summarising key business metrics for payroll, travel, jobs completed and policy violations.

Job title: Stereo compiler operator - Photogrammetrist - Aerial Photographer

Job location: San Jose, CA 95110 United States

Compensation: Compensation depends on experience. Health, 401K,

Job Description: Stereo Compilers using IMA or BC-2 plotters. Fulltime / part time depending on work load. Aerial Photographers (Part-time) Photogrammetrist production manager. (Fulltime)

Job Requirements: Education, training, experience: Must have experience, excellent work ethic and references.

Apply here.

Looking for the ENVI Band Math tutorial or help guide? Look no more. I found a useful ENVI Band Math tutorial document from ENVI's users guide.

ENVI Band Math is a flexible image processing tool with many capabilities not available in any other image processing system. You can use ENVI's Band Math dialog to define bands or files used as input, to call a user Band Math function, and to write the result to a file or memory. ENVI's Band Math function accesses data spatially by mapping variables to bands or files. Spatial data that are too large to read entirely into memory are automatically accessed using ENVI's data tiling.

I found the document while searching for the right Band Math expression for the different data types and their casting functions. Here are few of them: data type, casting function, dynamic range.

Byte: byte() : - 0 to 255

Integer: fix() : -32768 to + 32767

Unsigned integer: uint() : 0 to 65535

Long integer: long() : approximately +/– 2 billion

Unsigned long integer: ulong() : 0 to approximately 4 billion

Here is the complete Band Math Function Tutorial

Remote Sensing phenology data. Download free Remote Sensing phenology data online from the USGS/EROS Center.

The USGS has made its long-term historical remote sensing data and graphics about biological life-cycle events available to the public at no charge on the web, Secretary of the Interior Salazar announced.

Orbiting hundreds of miles above the earth, remote sensing satellites track plant and animal life cycle events that occur at certain times of the year, such as plant leafing and flowering or bird migrations. The scientific term for the study of these recurring life cycle events is phenology.

Dating back to 1989, the USGS historical datasets provide a widely accessible and impartial record (at one-kilometer resolution) of the time of year that measurable cyclic events in nature have occurred over the conterminous United States. These historical remote sensing phenology data for the conterminous United States can be accessed online at http://phenology.cr.usgs.gov/get_data.php. The data are acquired from satellites and then compiled and maintained at the USGS-EROS Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.

“With its long-term observational networks, extensive databases, and diverse research expertise, the USGS is helping provide the broad scientific perspective needed to expand our understanding of climate change and its impact on the nation’s resources and economy,” said Secretary Salazar.

NATO’s satellite imaging experts have created a map that predicts likely flooding patterns and areas in Afghanistan, making it possible to plan preventive action for future flood seasons. The map is soon to be formally handed over to the Afghan authorities in Kabul.

Using knowledge previously acquired during the mapping of minefields as well as other technologies, the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A), in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, helped create a map to predict when and where floods are likely to occur.

The map has been validated by key external civilian experts, and has been described as extremely useful in predicting and preparing for future flooding. It is accurate for over 95%, making it possible to offer alternatives to threatened populations before the flood comes.

The map will be released to the Afghan national authorities shortly, as a means to prevent disasters like those of the past and put an end to the constant reconstruction efforts.

Using Depiction, new software that costs less than most college textbooks, universities across the globe are enabling professors and students to build, use and present custom, interactive maps and simulations.

"Depiction is the first software tool I've found that leverages the wealth of online geographic data while also offering amazing power and ease of use," said Dr. Timothy Hare, a professor of anthropology at Morehead State University. Dr. Hare will be using Depiction in regional analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) education, as well as in workshops for business and local government professionals.

"Depiction looks great. I really envision using it in my Emergency Management course," said Dr. Thomas Mueller, Director of the Institute for Analysis of Safety and Security Issues using Spatial Technologies at California University of Pennsylvania. "In the fall I can start working on some step-by-step labs." California State University, Long Beach is also piloting the use of Depiction in their Emergency Management Master's Program.

Educators are using Depiction to enhance student learning with scenarios and labs because it offers the unique capability of combining real world geography, data and other information with "what-if" possibilities, from rising sea levels to terrorist attacks. This makes it particularly useful for training emergency managers and first responders, but fields as varied as anthropology and GIS education are also finding Depiction to be an invaluable tool.

"We're excited to see pilot programs like those at Cal State developing new and exciting ways to use our software's interactive maps and simulations," said Depiction, Inc. CEO Mike Geertsen.

With Depiction software, professors, teachers and students can:

* Build living maps by merging some of the tremendous amounts of freely available online data with their own;
* Turn spreadsheet columns into living elements that interact with their surroundings;
* Update their depictions onscreen with live field reports sent in from colleagues around the world.

Easy-to-use and affordable--at only $89--Depiction creates visual "stories" in a living, interactive map environment. Depiction is everyday software purchased and downloaded over the Web--it runs on Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Vista laptop and desktop computers. Current users can update their copy of Depiction to this latest version for free. Visit depiction.com/trial today to download Depiction's free 30-day trial, to check out example scenarios for applications such as sharing situational awareness, or to develop your own scenarios.

To learn more about Depiction, sign up for a weekly webinar with Depiction staff on Wednesdays, starting July 8. Additionally, on July 23th, attend a special scenario depiction webinar, and see how Depiction can be used to develop and present flooding, wildfire and security scenarios.

About Depiction, Inc:
Depiction was developed by a privately-funded team in the Seattle, WA area--including former Microsoft staff, computer science PhDs from the University of Washington, a retired US Navy captain and base commander, active-duty firefighters, and a world-class team of software developers--all of whom are inspired by a deep belief that technology should be meaningful and accessible to everyday people. Designed to be a software platform, Depiction can be extended by its users, computer programmers and industry consultants who can create, share and sell their own "what-if" add-ons.

Watch this video: Predictive what-if mapping software created visualization of possible placement of seawall, breakwaters and locks to save New York city proper, and what areas would fall outside those flooding barriers.

There are always easy things we think we already know, yet we actually don't. There are also easy things that we might have used or tried before but have forgotten them already. Such as the case of a friend who asked me how to copy Excel data and charts to Word or PowerPoint, without importing the entire workbook into your Word document or PowerPoint slide.

Here are the easy steps.

1. Select the data or chart you want to copy.
2. Click Copy Button image.
3. Switch to Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint.
4. Click in the document or presentation where you want to put the Microsoft Excel data or chart, and do one of the following:

How to Copy and Paste the Excel data into Word
1. Click Paste on the Formatting toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, click Customize on the Tools menu, and then click the Toolbars tab.).

2. Click Paste Options next to the data, and then do one of the following:

- To paste the data as a Word table, click Match Destination Table Style or Keep Source Formatting.

- To paste a link to the Excel data, so that the data in the Word document is updated whenever you change the data in the original Excel workbook, click Match Destination Table Style and Link to Excel or Keep Source Formatting and Link to Excel.

- To paste the data as text with each row in a separate paragraph and tabs separating the cell values, click Keep Text Only.

How to Copy and Paste an Excel chart into Word
1. Click Paste on the Formatting toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, click Customize on the Tools menu, and then click the Toolbars tab.).

2. Click Paste Options next to the chart, and then do one of the following:

- To paste the chart as a chart, so that when you double-click the chart in the Word document you can use Excel to edit it, click Excel Chart.

- To paste a link to the Excel chart, so that the chart in the Word document is updated whenever you change the chart in the original Excel workbook, click Link to Excel Chart.

- To paste a bitmap picture of the chart, click Picture of Chart.

How to Copy and Paste the Excel data into PowerPoint
* On the Edit menu, click Paste Special, and then do one of the following:

- To paste the data as an Excel range, so that when you double-click the range in the presentation you can edit it with Excel, click Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object. If data is cut off, double-click the object and resize the columns to show all the data.

- To paste a link to the Excel data, so that the data in the presentation is updated whenever you change the data in the original Excel workbook, click Paste link, and then click Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object.

- To paste the data as text that you can edit in PowerPoint, click Formatted Text (RTF) or Unformatted Text.

- To paste a bitmap picture of the data, click Picture or Bitmap.

How to Copy and Paste an Excel chart into PowerPoint
* On the Edit menu, click Paste Special, and then do one of the following:

- To paste the chart as a chart, so that when you double-click the chart in the presentation you can use Excel to edit it, click Microsoft Excel Chart Object.

- To paste a link to the Excel chart, so that the chart in the presentation is updated whenever you change the chart in the original Excel workbook, click Paste link, and then click Microsoft Excel Chart Object.

- To paste a bitmap picture of the chart, click Picture.

Geomatica 10.2.1 software by PCI Geomatics is the latest version of the image-centric desktop software which provides users with additional satellite sensor support as well as new functionality for the SAR Polarimetric Workstation (SPW).

PCI Geomatics has included in this release support for RapidEye – a constellation of five sun-synchronous Earth observation satellites which provide large area, multi-spectral images with frequent revisits in high resolution. Additional support for the high resolution X-band SAR imagery provided by TerraSAR-X is also included in this upgrade.

The SPW provides a complete set of tools and applications designed specifically for the processing and analysis of Polarimetric SAR (POLSAR) data, and version 2.1 is now available and compatible with Geomatica 10.2.1. The Touzi Decomposition introduces new parameters which remove certain ambiguities not previously understood and provide vastly superior results as compared to conventional algorithms.

GPS PhotoMapper is a plug-in software to ArcGIS 9.2 / 9.3 from ESRI, one of the world's leading geographic information systems. It serves the purpose of importing geo-indexed and non-geo-indexed photos to your mapping application for visualizing photos on the maps and organizing and retrieving large amounts of photos.

GPS PhotoMapper indexes photos located on your hard drive and imports a reference to a geodatabase.

A point layer is created from the photo locations in ArcMap. A click on these points in the map opens a pop up window and displays the photo of that location.
Photos can also be added to ArcMap by drag & drop. Pictures with no coordinates can be georeferenced with GPS PhotoMapper. The photos can also be added to the layout pagein order to print them.

You can purchase/buy it from here.

GPS PhotoMapper NG2 - YouTube video

The trial version of the new CartoVista Publisher is now available online, announced DBx GEOMATICS Inc. With the trial version, end users can load their own maps and create rich flash-based maps for display within CartoVista 2.0.

The new CartoVista Publisher is a state-of-the-art desktop application designed to support every aspect of a CartoVista 2.0 deployment. The CartoVista Publisher features advanced management tools to create and maintain any maps or data used by the application.

It centralizes the management of the users' map files and style settings so that they can rapidly create maps without having to find map files each time, or reapply style settings. CartoVista Publisher provides tremendous cartographic freedom to create very high quality maps from existing GIS data.

The trial version allows users to load their own map datasets and associated thematic data to explore CartoVista capabilities. The GIS formats supported in this first release are MapInfo tables and ESRI shapefiles.

WHAT'S NEW WITH CARTOVISTA 2.0

* Mapping content
o Map and Data Publisher
o Labeling Priority and Duplicate Labels
o Map Layer Feature Classes
* Development and Customization
o CartoVista API
* Management of selections
o Selection Styles
o Unselect All Tool
* Presentation and look and feel
o New Graphic Design
o Full-Screen View
* Thematic Analysis
o Number of Ranges and Color Schemes
o Interactivity for the Foreground Theme
o Expandable Legends and Graduated Pie Charts
o Histogram for Foreground Themes
o Animations and Effects

Isle of Wight Council is creating the UK’s most detailed road network map as part of a GBP 850 million (US$1400 million) investment in the Island’s highways, as reported. The digital map is being created using special mapping software from Mayrise Systems called MapNow that is linked to an asset database. The map not only provides comprehensive information of every highway asset such as manholes, footpaths, road signs and bollards, but also describes their type, condition and value.

Isle of Wight has been selected by the government to pioneer a new round of Highway Maintenance Private Finance Initiatives (PFI). The MAYRISE highways map forms a key part of a Transport Asset Management Plan and provides new levels of certainty and accuracy for a highways asset inventory. It will assist PFI bidders and then provide an important resource for subsequent works and maintenance over the planned twenty five year PFI programme.

All councils are creating highways asset databases to meet government directives but the Isle of Wight realised previously used specifications were simply not comprehensive enough. “For PFI bidders there is a lot of additional information that is quite crucial to assessing asset value and liabilities. With more accurate asset information including details to assess materials, condition and values, costs can be predicted with much greater accuracy reducing the financial risk,” says Malcolm Smith, Isle of Wight Council Highways PFI Technical Manager.

Isle of Wight council has set up a five strong team to quality check and enhance some 140,000 asset records. The MAYRISE system integrates data captured in the field with Ordnance Survey MasterMap mapping, the National Street Gazetteer (NSG) and the Council’s Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG). These geo-referenced records of highways assets form the basis of the highways map created using the fully integrated MapNow mapping software.

“With its integrated MapNow mapping, MAYRISE software is proving invaluable for managing our highways information. It is easy to use and allows us to store, retrieve, query and view highways asset data for both day-to-day highways management, customer service enquiries and the PFI bid,” says Smith. “The information will be compatible with other systems and will form part of a virtual ‘Data Room’ that will include a new online mapping facility.”

The additional detail collected by the Isle of Wight includes a three level asset condition (good, fair, poor), type of material for assets such as bollards, with additional assets such as manholes identified by type. The Island has 822 kilometres of road and unusually the PFI Project will also cover an extensive network of footpaths and bridleways, which run over a similar length.

The primary objective of the highways map is to create much more accurate financial information such as distinguishing between a £20 plastic bollard and a £150 iron bollard. Condition, meanwhile, provides an indicator of likely replacement costs; further improving the financial modelling. “Knowing the value and predicting future costs is the key,” says Smith.

Contact: Mark Clarke, Mayrise Systems: Tel. +44 (0)1453 827 400, www.mayrise.co.uk

The GeoExt community released the GeoExt 0.5, the first GeoExt version.

GeoExt brings together the geospatial power of OpenLayers with the user interface savvy of Ext JS to help, build powerful desktop style GIS applications on the web with JavaScript.

GeoExt 0.5 comes with a fine selection of widgets and data access components for rich web-based geospatial applications.

Some of the highlights include:
- MapPanel for seamless integration of OpenLayers maps in Ext JS applications
- LegendPanel to display legends for WMS layers
- LayerNodes and LayerContainers to create customized layer switchers in Ext trees
- Popups as anchored Ext windows
- Ext data components for convenient handling of OpenLayers data structures like layers
and vector features

Australian consumers are now able to get real time traffic updates such as traffic incidents, road closures and other delays that could affect their journey from Ovi Maps on web and via their Nokia GPS enabled phone carrying the latest Maps application for mobile devices.

Nokia has tied up with Australian company Sentinel Content to integrate Sentinel’s Live Road Sense Traffic as a free service from www.maps.ovi.com and a subscription based service on Nokia’s GPS devices running the latest version of Ovi Maps for mobile devices. The service will initially cover Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and will be expanded to include other Australian cities later in the year.

Nokia GPS enabled devices that can be upgraded to the latest version of Ovi Maps for mobiles include the Nokia 6120 Navigator, Nokia E71, Nokia E66, Nokia N82, Nokia N85, Nokia N78, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia 6220, Nokia N97 and Nokia N85. The latest Maps application is available for download at www.nokia.com/maps. [via]

[report] The first remote sensing satellite developed by a UAE entity - the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science & Technology (EIAST) has been shipped from its development base in South Korea to the launch pad in Baikonour in Kazakhstan.

DubaiSat-1 is a stepping stone in the UAE's attempt to create a sound infrastructure that enables the collection of space and earth observation data to power the comprehensive development of the nation. The satellite highlights the commitment of EIAST to create a knowledge based economy by leveraging the advances in satellite technology.

The launch of DubaiSat-1 consists of three segments; space, ground and actual launch. The ground segment comprises mission control station, image receiving and processing station, and antenna and RF subsystem.