GIS in Education

Chile Earthquake Details from USGS.

Magnitude: 8.8
Date-Time:

* Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 06:34:14 UTC
* Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 03:34:14 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location: 35.846°S, 72.719°W
Depth: 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region: OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
Distances:

100 km (60 miles) NNW of Chillan, Chile
105 km (65 miles) WSW of Talca, Chile
115 km (70 miles) NNE of Concepcion, Chile
325 km (200 miles) SW of SANTIAGO, Chile

Summary:
This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 80 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the Nazca plate moving down and landward below the South American plate.

Coastal Chile has a history of very large earthquakes. Since 1973, there have been 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater. The February 27 shock originated about 230 km north of the source region of the magnitude 9.5 earthquake of May, 1960 – the largest earthquake worldwide in the last 200 years or more. This giant earthquake spawned a tsunami that engulfed the Pacific Ocean. An estimated 1600 lives were lost to the 1960 earthquake and tsunami in Chile, and the 1960 tsunami took another 200 lives among Japan, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Approximately 870 km to the north of the February 27 earthquake is the source region of the magnitude 8.5 earthquake of November, 1922. This great quake significantly impacted central Chile, killing several hundred people and causing severe property damage. The 1922 quake generated a 9-meter local tsunami that inundated the Chile coast near the town of Coquimbo; the tsunami also crossed the Pacific, washing away boats in Hilo harbor, Hawaii. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake of February 27, 2010 ruptured the portion of the South American subduction zone separating these two massive historical earthquakes.

A large vigorous aftershock sequence can be expected from this earthquake.

Officials from the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Global Positioning Systems Wing announced today (February 25) the award of the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (GPS OCX) contract to Raytheon Company, Intelligence & Information Systems, Aurora, Colorado.

With a baseline duration of 73 months, the OCX development contract has option years for sustainment worth a potential total of $1,535,147,916. Raytheon teammates include Boeing, ITT, Braxton Technologies, Infinity Systems Engineering, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The contract calls for development and installation of hardware and software at GPS control stations at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado and Vandenberg AFB in California, deployment of advanced monitor stations at remote sites, and initial contractor support with sustainment options for five years.

OCX will replace the current GPS Operational Control System, maintaining backwards compatibility with the Block IIR and IIR-M constellation, providing command and control of the new GPS IIF and GPS III families of satellites, and enabling new modernized signal capabilities.

The OCX with provide new anti-jamming technologies, more advanced predictive algorithms, and more frequent clock and ephemeris updates.

Raytheon's Airspace Management and Homeland Security (AMHS) business area currently is prime contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration's GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and is also involved with implementation of India's GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system, two satellite-based systems that provide improved integrity and positioning accuracy.

The GPS Wing selected Raytheon over a team headed by North Grumman Corporation.

[source]

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a groundbreaking tool offering unequal accuracy as well as flexibility of positioning for surveying, navigation and Geographic Information System (GIS) data capture. Increasing use in automotive and consumer applications is stimulating the mobile location technologies market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 20% to cross US$ 70 Billion by 2013, says "World GPS Market Forecast to 2013", a new market research report by RNCOS.

With increasing penetration in the areas that were earlier untapped, the technology is rapidly gaining global acceptance. Thus, the number of subscribers of GPS-enabled location-based services is anticipated to grow substantially in near future, with market revenue the mark of US$ 10 Billion by 2013. Speedy enhancements and developments in digital mapping software are presenting this positive prospect for the industry.

It should be noted that the most common applications are developed around mobile phones and Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) despite the popularity of standalone devices. The GPS device market was dominated by PNDs as of the year 2007. However, this share is expected to get disturbed by the availability of GPS-enabled handsets that will account for around 66% of the market share by 2013. The report reveals that the GPS devices' shipments will grow at around 22% CAGR during the forecast period (2010-2013), although cost is certainly expected to play a crucial role in this growth.

The report also says that 2009 was crucial for the overall development of the GPS industry in the regions such as North America and Europe, owing to the economic turmoil. Emerging countries like India and China will continue to witness rapid growth in the adoption of GPS technology with the launch of low cost GPS-enabled mobile handsets in these countries.

"World GPS Market Forecast to 2013" provides a complete overview of the GPS market worldwide. All the current trends and developments of the GPS industry have been evaluated in the report. Key geographic markets, including the US, Canada, Japan and other Asian countries, have been specially focused in the research.

Our research report offers prudent analysis of end-user applications, such as Survey/Mapping, In-vehicle Navigation, Machine Control, etc. It also unveils that opportunities remain to be tapped for different vertical segments of the GPS market, including chipset availability, new advanced access devices, and the PND market.

All-in-all, the report guides clients in assessing current trends of the global and regional GPS markets, while simultaneously giving them a snapshot of the future potential of the industry worldwide.

Download the World GPS Market Forecast to 2013 here.

Leica Geosystems’ complete new Leica Zeno GIS products within the Leica Viva family targeting the data collection market is available from now on. The revolutionary Leica Zeno GIS offers professionals and newcomers around the globe the most multi-functional and easiest GNSS/GIS solution with superior performance. Leica Zeno GIS provides a one-click automated workflow between the field and office.

With the new products of the Leica Zeno GIS series, it has never been so easy to manage and maintain assets, inspect infrastructure, respond to emergencies, ensure public safety, explore natural resources and conduct as-built and incident mapping with ease. Leica Geosystems’ outstanding survey technology is now brought to the GIS market.

The Leica Zeno 10 provides a color graphic display in portrait format and a numeric keypad. Alternatively users have the choice to purchase the larger Leica Zeno 15 with a full QWERTY keyboard and a display in landscape format. Both GNSS/GIS devices support:

* First fully rugged GNSS/GIS handheld working in the most demanding environments
* Dual-constellation (GPS/GLONASS) and SBAS tracking
* Zeno Field software based on an OEM version of the popular ESRI ArcPad™ 8 software enhanced with GNSS functionality
* An integrated digital camera linking photos to feature locations
* High Performance: from sub-meter to decimeter accuracy

Dual-constellation tracking guarantees higher productivity with more satellites available – in particular in urban canyons and where tree canopy blocks the number of visible GPS satellites.

The new Leica Zeno Field software is an OEM version of ESRI ArcPad 8 and provides - in addition - a full range of functions to easily control the integrated GNSS receiver and to manage the data collection process such as GNSS raw data logging, easy handling of GNSS real-time configurations, feature accuracy management, and an automated workflow between the field and office.

With Leica Zeno, Leica Geosystems introduces EasyIn, the simplest dataflow between the field and office. EasyIn simultaneously checks in features and GNSS raw data, automatically post-processes GNSS observations and updates feature vertices to the most accurate location in one easy, automated step.

Together with Zeno Office users can easily manage feature quality over time and benefit from automated import and export functions to a wide range of different formats such as ArcGIS™ geodatabase, shapefile, dxf, dgn, and dwg. Zeno Office is also available as an extension to ArcGIS Desktop. Finally an easy mobile GIS solution enters the market.

The Zeno GIS Field Software is available in 29 languages. The software, license keys as well as Leica Zeno manuals are available on the new web portal
myWorld @ Leica Geosystems: http://myworld.leica-geosystems.com/

The City of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, found a solution for managing their vacant and rental properties as well as general upkeep needs in Cityworks, by Azteca Systems, Inc., the leading provider of GIS-centric management solutions. Coon Rapids reports on the cost-effective, innovative nature of Cityworks and how it can be uniquely tailored to fit the needs of an organization.

Prior to deploying Cityworks, the Coon Rapids Housing and Code Enforcement Departments wanted to gain a better understanding of the impact vacant and rental properties had on city neighborhoods. Since the Public Works Department experienced such great results using Cityworks, the City wanted to incorporate the program into the Housing and Code Enforcement Departments as well. Now using Cityworks, service request and work order templates are created based on input received from staff, work orders are created on address points, and tasks are used to track the progress of properties with focus on vacant properties, rental properties, and general upkeep.

With Cityworks in place, City staff can view the status of a property in question at any time. Prior to Cityworks, Coon Rapids was unsure of the number of vacant properties throughout the City. Now, when vacant houses are reported, Public Works is notified and the property is entered in Cityworks triggering water shut-off to prevent damage from frozen pipes. The first winter season, the number of homes with burst water pipes dropped substantially.

“Adapting Cityworks to fill the City’s unique needs is proving to be a cost-effective, innovative solution for Coon Rapids,” states Cindy Hintze, GIS Specialist at the City of Coon Rapids. “Creative work order templates, tasks, custom fields, and custom inspections in Cityworks provide the City the information we need in a format that ca be easily retrieved, viewed, and shared.”

For rental properties, custom fields are used to capture information and tasks are used to track details about properties. Using Crystal Reports, work order reports are created so rental property details can be reviewed at a glance. For general upkeep needs, work orders for buildings and yards are created on address points within Cityworks mitigating issues such as weeds, overgrowth, debris, and structure maintenance. In addition, the City has found Cityworks to be useful in informing citizens about planned projects for the upcoming year along with Housing and Code enforcement issues in their specific neighborhoods.

“Our unique and innovative approach to asset and maintenance management is clearly the differentiator in places like Coon Rapids,” says Brian Haslam, President, Azteca Systems. “A non-modular, GIS-centric approach allows our customers to utilize Cityworks across a wide array of disciplines – from traditional outdoor, buried infrastructure to indoor facilities and property. Coon Rapids is a perfect example of how easy it is to apply Cityworks and without having to license individual modules, program flex-type technology, synchronize with GIS data or develop a costly integration.”

Report: The Ministry of Education in NZ is after a GIS system to help it analyze school and student data.

The supplied system should include software, data and geocoding components. The Ministry will use it to help track migration patterns of students over time through the use of geocoded information and student identification numbers.

It also wants to develop internal maps for displaying a variety of information on schools, such as performance, truancy or demographics. The deadline for replies is Monday, March 15.

Horizon Navigation announced the availability of NavMate 5 navigation software.

NavMate 5’s advanced map rendering engine displays detailed 3D building models with rapid zoom and map scrolling. A re-designed search engine finds places based on any word in the name and allows the user to enter the street, city, or post code first.

NavMate 5’s positioning engine has been updated with support for tunnel guidance. A multi-sensor option is also available for reliable positioning when GPS is obscured. NavMate 5 can be licensed for personal, in-car, and mobile phone navigation. Per copy, expiry, and advertising supported licensing options are available.

John Angerman, Horizon’s VP of Business Development, commented, “Our tests show that NavMate 5 requires 25% fewer key presses to enter typical destinations than the top selling personal navigation systems.”

George F. Hepner, Marguerite Madden, J. Chris McGlone, and Clifford J. Mugnier have been named the 2010 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 April at the ASPRS 2010 Annual Conference in San Diego, California.

GEORGE F. HEPNER
George Hepner is currently a professor at the Department of Geography, University of Utah. Hepner earned his B.Ed and MS from the University or Toledo in 1972 and 1975 respectively and his PhD from The University of Arizona in 1979. His research focused on rural to urban land use conversion.

MARGUERITE MADDEN
Marguerite Madden is Director of the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping at The University of Georgia. She received her BA and MA degrees in biology from the State University of New York in 1979 and 1984 respectively, and her PhD in Ecology from The University of Georgia in 1990. She also participated in the SUNY Study Abroad Program at the University of Copenhagen in 1979. Her research interests are landscape ecology and use of remote sensing and GIS for vegetation studies and natural resource management.

J. CHRIS McGLONE
J. Chris McGlone is currently a photogrammetrist at SAIC, Inc., working on urban modeling from lidar and other sensors. He received his BS in Civil Engineering in 1974 from the University of Kentucky and his MS and PhD in Photogrammetry from Purdue in 1977 and 1980, respectively. His dissertation topic, supervised by Dr. Edward M. Mikhail, was “Photogrammetric Analysis of Aircraft Multispectral Scanner Data.”

CLIFFORD J. MUGNIER
Clifford J. Mugnier graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana in 1967. He attended the U.S.A.F. Aeronautical Chart & Information Center Professional Cartographer course in St. Louis where he first joined the American Society of Photogrammetry in 1967. He is currently General Manager of the Photogrammetry Division of Owen & White, Inc. Consulting Engineers.

There is one week left to submit your abstracts for the Western Pacific Geophysical Meeting, to be held 22-25 June 2010 in Taipei, Taiwan.

The deadline to submit an abstract is 25 February, 2359h Eastern Standard Time, 03:59+1 GMT. Late submissions cannot be accepted after the submission site is closed.

Select from 133 sessions in all areas of geophysical sciences, including two Union sessions on Typhoon Morakot and Related Atmospheric and Hydrogeomorphic Processes and South China Sea: Its Dynamics and Potential Hazards

Please visit the Scientific Program page of the WPGM website to search all sessions, review abstract submission instructions, link to the abstract submission software, and to access the Abstract Viewer to search all abstracts currently submitted.

Regards,

Joanna Ward
Meetings Manager, WPGM

Bing Maps imagery released the updates on new images and the expansion of the Enhanced Birds Eye outside the United States. The following is a list of the coverage.

Bird’s Eye

* Italy – 5,547 sq. km.
* Netherlands – 554 sq. km.
* Romania – 1,414 sq. km.
* Spain – 512 sq. km.
* Sweden – 1,174 sq. km.
* United States – 120,181 sq. km.

Aerial (Ortho)

* Australia - 54,488 sq. km.
* Botswana - 46,179 sq. km.
* Canada - 391 sq. km.
* Lesotho - 6,201 sq. km.
* Mexico - 584,527 sq. km.
* Morocco - 109,448 sq. km.
* Namibia - 47,199 sq. km.
* New Zealand - 57,540 sq. km.
* Portugal – The Whole Country!
* South Africa - 221,336 sq. km.

As always, check out all the new imagery highlighted on the Bing Maps World Tour.

British company DMCii is using satellites to acquire new images of the Congo rainforests from space, validating a system that can map the vast Congo Basin every year to measure changes in its forest cover. If adopted, the new system will provide more accurate and up to date information for forest management, policy making and programmes such as the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) throughout the region.

Spanning 2 million square kilometres, the forests of the Congo Basin are the second largest area of dense tropical forest in the world, rivalled only by the Amazon rainforests. However, little is yet known about the rate and location of the degradation of the forests of the Congo Basin, or their role in the Earth’s carbon cycle. Earth observation from space is the only way to effectively and efficiently manage such vast landscapes and to provide independent, regular and detailed information about changes in forest cover.

Until recently the resolution of satellite images was too coarse to provide effective local forest management and the data could not be provided in a timely manner, but DMCii now has the satellites, experience and software systems to do just that. Dave Hodgson, Managing Director, DMCii explains: “Our experience monitoring the Amazon rainforest and sub-Saharan Africa, combined with recently extended imaging systems, means that we could rapidly acquire high resolution cloud-free images of the Congo Basin to help the world better understand the location and scale of deforestation.”

DMCii uses a group of satellites called the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) to provide images of any part of the world every day. It is unique because each satellite is independently owned and controlled by a separate nation which includes African nations, but the satellites are coordinated by DMCii making it possible to image a specific place every day.

Satellite imagery provides essential “base data” that is used to create maps for local governments, foresters and independent auditors. This data can be combined with ground reports to target policing of illegal logging, or to measure the scale of forest clearing. For example, maps based upon the images can be used to identify forest clearance, which is near impossible to manage by foot patrol due to the vast scale and inaccessibility of the rainforests.

This press release and a DMC satellite image in medium resolution can be downloaded from www.ballard.co.uk/dmcii. Print quality images are available from Robin Wolstenholme (see contact details below).

Press contact:

Robin Wolstenholme, Ballard Communications Management
Tel: +44 (0)1306 882288
Email: r.wolstenholme@ballard.co.uk

Google Russia, in cooperation with Russian Railways, is offering free "virtual journeys" along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway, beginning in Moscow at the Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal and ending in Vladivostok, a port on the Pacific Ocean.

The journey spans two continents, 12 regions and 87 cities.

The joint project lets you take a trip along the famous route and see Baikal, Khekhtsirsky range, Barguzin mountains, Yenisei river and many other picturesque places of Russia without leaving your house. During the trip, you can enjoy Russian classic literature, brilliant images and fascinating stories about the most attractive sites on the route.

Intermap Technologies released 76 ski resort maps for its AccuTerra iPhone App, including a special application for Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort. This application allows consumers to see where events of 2010 Winter Games are taking place, locate lifts, view trails by difficulty, find lodging and check weather forecasts. AccuTerra for Whistler-Blackcomb is available in 2D and 3D giving 2010 event spectators all the features of a paper trail map in the palm of their hands.

Building upon the success of AccuTerra GPS for the iPhone, AccuTerra is growing its library of applications by adding snow sport terrain. As visitors make their way to Whistler-Blackcomb and home viewers watch events unfold, AccuTerra allows them to navigate the upcoming events by displaying detailed, high resolution images of the ski trails and surrounding area used during the competition.

Created with the same accuracy, map detail, and social aspects of the award winning AccuTerra GPS, the Whistler-Blackcomb app lets visitors use the full functionality of the topographic map, while toggling between Google Maps for on-road data – essentially creating an all-in-one mapping app for the 2010 events. Similar to all AccuTerra iPhone applications, the snow sport terrain apps allow users to create personal tours and record and share outdoor experiences through photos and videos. In essence, create an interactive personal journal.

Michael Bullock, vice president, Intermap Consumer Electronics, said, “As spectators and home viewers watch the winter events, the AccuTerra application serves as another way to participate in the experience with the most detailed terrain images available of the Whistler-Blackcomb area. The AccuTerra experience goes beyond the 17 day event as people come to visit Whistler year after year and can use the map to ski the same trails they watched on TV.”

Resort map downloads range from $1.99 to $5.99 and are available for resorts across the country, such as; Northern Colorado (15 resorts), Lake Tahoe Area (10 resorts), Northwest (8 resorts), Northeast (5 resorts), Northern Rockies (6 resorts), Southwest (8 resorts), Southern California (5 resorts), Utah (10 resorts) and Vermont (9 resorts).

The AccuTerra GPS App is available in the App Store on iPhones. Using the in-app purchasing feature, users can access the GPS map store to download map data bundled in a variety of packages; state bundles, state and national park bundles, and special interest areas across the country. Map bundle prices range from $.99 to $5.99 and are automatically integrated with neighbouring areas as additional bundles are purchased.

Two robot submarines will plunge into the Arctic next month in an effort to help Canada stake a claim to a large swath of potentially mineral-rich seafloor in the polar region. According to Larry Mayer, chief scientist of the mission, apart from the land claims, the missions have scientific significance. The Arctic maps could also have important ramifications with respect to climate modelling and climate change because the global distribution of heat is controlled by ocean currents. Where heat flows is often controlled by the sea floor.

Mapping more of the Arctic basin has strategic benefits as well, according to its proponents. "From the Navy's perspective, bottom surveys support safety of navigation for submarines and for surface ships in areas where the water becomes shallow," said Capt. Tim Galludet, the deputy director for the Navy's Task Force Climate Change.

So far, much of the Arctic deep remains a mystery and is likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future since exploration is costly and difficult. About five percent of the Arctic floor has been mapped with modern sonar technology, notes Rear Adm. David Titley, the Navy's official oceanographer and head of its Task Force Climate Change.

Data gathered by the yellow torpedo-shaped probes will become part of Canada's bid to prove its continental slope stretches far beyond the 200-nautical-mile territorial limit. The matter will be decided by a U.N. panel overseeing claims under the 28-year-old Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway are involved in a scrum over Arctic bottomland and long-frozen shipping lanes that have started to thaw as global temperatures rise. With scientists predicting that Arctic summers may be ice-free by the 2030s, the five nations have mounted studies they hope will help expand their territories.

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) mission next month will expand that effort. The two 20-foot vehicles will be outfitted with specialised echo-sounder equipment intended to help scientists create a three-dimensional map of underwater peaks and valleys. The AUVs can continuously collect data for about 250 miles at a time, potentially creating continuous images of the expedition's 2,500 or so miles.

“But AUV technology is far from a sure thing in the Arctic. If there is a problem with an AUV in a standard mission, the vehicle can resurface, put up an antenna and call for help,” said James Ferguson, vice president of International Submarine Engineering, which built the AUVs. “The subs are programmed to return to a home base on a stable ice floe every three days for a battery charge. But the Arctic's howling winds can move floating ice about a mile a day, and while AUVs are outfitted with a homing beacon, it is not foolproof,” Ferguson added.

However, Pentagon reiterated its support for the treaty in its defence strategy road map, stating that signing on would support cooperative engagement in the Arctic. It noted that such involvement could promote a balanced approach to improving human and environmental security in the region.

International LiDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF) conference programme will include two presentations on how LiDAR is being used in Haiti to assess the damage from the recent earthquake and the future probability of subsequent earthquakes.

Kenneth W. Hudnut, Ph.D, Geophysicist at the U. S. Department of the Interior - U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) will present ‘The M 7.0 Haiti Earthquake of 12 January 2010: How LiDAR Helps’ at the upcoming International LiDAR Mapping Forum. The Paper will focus, not only on the future probability of aftershocks, but also on how LiDAR data is being used to assess the distribution of earthquake-induced landslides in Haiti and in the general relief effort by assisting agencies with assessing the damage to buildings, roads, bridges and port facilities.

Imagery of the region damaged by the M 7.0 Haiti earthquake, including high-resolution photography and airborne LiDAR, has revealed a variety of ground failure that resulted from shaking. Surprisingly, the Enriquillo Fault seems to have not ruptured at the ground surface, so the negative result obtained from imagery has significant implications.

The USGS issued a statement, based on imagery analysis, that because it is clear that the rupture of the Enriquillo Fault was clearly farther west than Port-au-Prince, and because rupture was buried deep on the fault, there is a significant risk of not only regular aftershocks, but also the threat of a subsequent large event that could occur even closer to Port-au-Prince. The probability of one or more subsequent earthquakes of M 7 or greater increased by about 3% for the 30 days following 21 January 2010. Although this is a low probability, it would be a potentially very high impact event. High-resolution imagery was crucial to this assessment.

Building on the overview presented in Dr Ken Hudnut's paper, John Antalovitch, President and Andrew Mitchell, LiDAR Processing Specialist of Kucera International in Willoughby,OH, are then giving a paper on their LiDAR missions in January this year covering the Haiti earthquake fault area and Port Au Prince and Leogane. Kucera International in collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and ImageCat of Long Beach, California was sponsered by the World Bank to perform a high resolution aerial lidar and multispectral image survey of primary earthquake damaged areas and fault zones.

The surveys were performed from Kucera's dual-sensor port twinengine aircraft using Kucera's Leica ALS60 aerial LiDAR system and RIT's WASP multispectral sensor. The aerial flyover was conducted from January 21 through January 27 and covered Port-au Prince, Leogane, Petit Goave, Grand Goave, Fermante, Jacmel and the western and central Enriquillo fault line. The data is currently being used for the ongoing relief and rebuilding effort.

Kucera's presentation will review the performance of the aerial survey, the expedited processing and distribution of the aerial data, and potential future refinement and applications of the data.

BBC News reports that over the next couple of years, the Sun will reach its period of maximum activity and solar flares will be at their highest point in years. It has made some scientists worried that GPS signals will be interfered with in a way that could cause minor issues for some GPS users. The researchers point out that the military uses a much more complex GPS system than consumers have access to and military use of GPS should not be affected.

When solar activity reaches its peak is that the low-power GPS signals the navigation device in a car relies on for positioning information won't be able to pick the GPS signal from orbiting satellites due to radiation from solar flares. Ultimately, GPS receivers in consumer devices may be blinded for tens of minutes a few times a year when the sun is at maximum activity.

Throwing another issue into the mix for GPS receivers is that the ionosphere changes in composition depending on the amount of solar radiation hitting it and can lengthen the time it takes GPS signals to make it to the ground adding more of a chance of errors for GPS devices.

Professor Cathryn Mitchell, University of Bath, said, "We can look at the measurements from the last solar maximum. If we project those forward, it varies quite a lot across the Earth; looking at the UK it will be about 10-meter errors in the positioning."

Scientists at Cornell University warned about the potential for adverse effects on GPS systems caused by solar flares in 2006. They warned that the effects could have big problems for emergency services that rely on GPS.

Trimble introduced an indoor mobile mapping solution for facilities management at SPAR 2010 Conference on 3D Imaging and Positioning. Using innovative technologies, this solution produces fast and accurate maps allowing users to translate their environments directly into 2D and 3D models of structured interiors. The solution enables building owners, facilities managers, engineers and construction professionals to more efficiently plan and manage building assets and properties.

Currently, mapping an indoor space can be time consuming. A tripod, laser and camera are set up to capture measurements and images at various locations. The equipment is then moved and set up multiple times until all perspectives of a room are captured. With the new Trimble solution, a simple walk-through of an interior space allows for 360 degree indoor coverage. Geo-referenced spatial data is captured accurately and quickly as the mobile system moves through the building at walking speed. The solution integrates active and passive sensors with an intuitive user workflow to enable true indoor GIS capability. Maps and models, covering thousands of square feet of indoor space, can be created in minutes and entire buildings can typically be completed in a day.

The Trimble indoor mobile mapping solution provides:
- High-accuracy 2D and 3D maps of interior spaces
- Reduced mapping time and associated cost
- Visual models to optimise the management of building resources
- Situational awareness through complete interior space mapping for build security and special event planners
- Quick and accurate map production through complete work flow and data processing

Peter Canter, director of Advanced Mapping Systems at Trimble's Applanix subsidiary, said, "The Trimble indoor mapping capability has been rigorously demonstrated in a variety of interior spaces, including apartment buildings, subways and shopping malls. In all of these environments, the system delivered exceptional results, both in accuracy and in ease-of-use. Equally as important is the integration with existing software and workflows."

Leica Geosystems HDS and INOVx announced a partnership to jointly develop advanced software for converting laser scan data into intelligent plant models at the SPAR 2010 conference and at the ARC World Industry Forum. Integrated products will be based on Leica Cyclone software and INOVx RealityLINx software. Availability of first integrated products is planned for the second quarter 2010.

As the use of 3D laser scanning to capture as-built geometry of plants has rapidly grown, industry is increasingly taking advantage of intelligent 3D models based on this data for better plant Operations & Maintenance and better Design & Construction. This has, in turn, led to increased demand for (1) more accurate intelligent models, (2) more office-efficient software for creating these models and (3) open solutions that can be deployed regardless of the specific type of laser scanner used or plant design software involved. By improving the process for converting point cloud data into intelligent objects, the partnership will create new, interoperable software solutions optimised to meet this increasing demand and accelerate adoption.

Joint development will leverage each vendor’s complementary strengths. From Leica Geosystems strengths, integrated solutions will reflect fast, highly accurate geometric modelling of as-built laser scan data using advanced, geometric modelling algorithms and the powerful point cloud engine (pcE) in Leica Cyclone software. In addition, solutions will reflect Cyclone’s multi-vendor support of scan data formats, including native formats.

Efficient, accurate attachment of intelligence to the geometric model will take advantage of INOVx’ rich plant design catalogue links and the friendly user interface of INOVx’ RealityLINx software. Users will further benefit from INOVx’ strength in seamless, open systems data exchange of the resulting models with all major plant design systems.

Juergen Dold, President, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Solutions Division, said, “We see continued strong demand for our CAD plug-in solutions and our standalone plant modelling solutions. INOVx is a great partner for making plant models intelligent for Operations & Maintenance with seamless exchange to plant design software. Our integrated solutions will provide significant accuracy, efficiency and open systems benefits.”

Costantino Lanza, CEO of INOVx, said, “Partnering with Leica Geosystems is a great fit for expanding and enhancing our software product offerings and our reach into the global market. Further improvements to the creation of intelligent models from as-built geometry based on laser scanning will support our Asset Virtualisation solutions by sustaining virtual models that accurately reflect plant changes and thus maximise value to our customers.”

Recently, Leica Geosystems and MicroSurvey Software also announced plans at SPAR 2010 for Leica Geosystems to resell MicroSurvey’s new PointCloud CAD mapping software on a global basis.

The new PointCloud CAD software was developed by MicroSurvey using Leica Geosystems’ point cloud engine (pcE) technology to efficiently manage large laser scan data sets from any scanner or aerial Lidar as users process point cloud data into mapping elements in the software’s final deliverables. The product is planned to be available from Leica Geosystems Feb. 15, 2010.

Join this one hour live web seminar for a high-level overview of the IDL Advanced Math and Stats Module. This IDL Module integrates the comprehensive mathematical and statistical routines of the IMSL C Numerical Library, with the advanced data visualization and analysis capabilities of IDL. In this webinar, you will learn how to quickly and easily add more mathematical and statistical capabilities to your IDL applications.

Topics covered will include:

• Basic Statistics
• ANOVA
• Regression
• Random Numbers
• Differential Equations
• Quadrature

This web seminar is open to all and suitable for all levels of IDL proficiency. Pre-registration is required.

This web seminar will be offered at two different times:

2:00 pm US Eastern Standard Time: Link.

2:00 pm London Standard Time: Link.

Details: IDL Advanced Math and Stats Module

Date: Thu, Feb 11, 2010
Time: 02:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 hour
Host(s): ITT Visual Information Solutions

British satellite imaging company DMCii welcomes International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander’s announcement that the UK has joined forces with the Indonesian government to tackle deforestation and prepare Indonesians for the impacts of climate change.

Managing Director Dave Hodgson commented, “We are in the unique position of having tried and tested systems in place to measure deforestation in Indonesia, and have seen first-hand the wide scale damage that forest clearing and peat fires produce. We welcome the government’s commitment to supporting Indonesia to jointly tackle deforestation.”

Britain is currently leading a programme of systematic wide-area forest monitoring in Indonesia that is coordinated through the European Space Agency (ESA). DMCii is leading a team comprising the University of Leicester and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to show how satellite imagery can be combined with other data and expert knowledge to provide more powerful tools to tackle deforestation.

The clearing of forests to make way for oil palm plantations is currently one of the biggest contributors to deforestation in Indonesia. DMCii employs a group of 5 satellites called a constellation to provide consecutive images of the forest as it changes. This imaging system has proven particularly successful at gathering cloud and smoke-free images in tropical forests because it provides almost daily “windows” of opportunity to acquire updated images of an area.

Indonesia has made an ambitious pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 41 per cent with the UK’s support. Such targets can only be met and monitored by accurately and regularly monitoring forest cover in the region.

With its partners, DMCii is able to provide maps and statistics that are based upon irrefutable measurement of changes in forest cover. The high resolution and regular provision of new images also makes it possible to pinpoint areas of deforestation before it spreads. This up to date and accurate information would improve our understanding of the location, extent and causes of deforestation and help Indonesia to reverse deforestation as it builds its new low carbon economy.

DMCii has experience coordinating challenging satellite imaging campaigns over the rainforests of the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin and Indonesia, and temperate forests in Siberia, Scandinavia, Europe and North America.

About DMC International Imaging Ltd
Link: www.dmcii.com

DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMC data is now used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

In partnership with the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the other DMC member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter: ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunami, hurricanes, fires and flooding.

DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the DMC with the support of the BNSC and in conjunction with the DMC member nations Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain.

Contacts:
Robin Wolstenholme, bcm, www.ballard.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1306 882288
Email: r.wolstenholme[at]ballard.co.uk

Paul Stephens, Sales & Marketing Director, DMC International Imaging Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804299 Email: p.stephens[at]dmcii.com

URISA is seeking nominations for it's GIS Hall of Fame which recognizes and honors the best in GIS. Introduced in 2005, the URISA GIS Hall of Fame documents the contributions made by key individuals. URISA welcomes nominations from any profession and is not restricted to those having a past or current relationship with URISA. This award is not given every year, and in some years there may be multiple recipients.

The selection criteria for this honor are:

* At least 25 years of sustained professional involvement in the GIS field.
* Original and creative contributions to the field.
* Well known and respected by a wide range of peers.
* Consistent demonstration of sound professional and personal ethics.

Previous inductees include:

* 2005 Inductees: Edgar Horwood, Ian McHarg, Roger Tomlinson, Jack Dangermond, Nancy Tosta, and the Harvard Lab
* 2006 Inductee: Dr. Gary Hunter
* 2007 Inductees: Don Cooke and Michael Goodchild
* 2009 Inductees: Will Craig and Carl Reed

Nominations must be submitted to URISA by May 1. For details and to learn more about current members of URISA’s GIS Hall of Fame, visit this link.

Petroleum and pipeline professionals using geographic information system (GIS) technology will gather for the 2010 ESRI Petroleum User Group (PUG) Conference February 22–24 at the Houston Marriott Westchase in Texas. The PUG Conference is the best place for oil and gas GIS users to find everything they need to fully leverage the technology in their business, staying up-to-date on capabilities and training, and return to work able to teach their colleagues and advance their GIS projects.

"It's the combination of technical workflow-oriented content and the opportunity to interact with your community peers that makes the PUG Conference so successful and valuable," says ESRI's natural resources industries team lead Geoff Wade. "It's of utmost importance to offer fundamental and advanced concepts in an environment conducive to collaboration. Plus, with this being the event's 20th anniversary, we'll revisit some of the GIS achievements over the years and look at plans to continue to serve the community."

The agenda is designed for all levels of GIS experience and positions including managers; teams; consultants; and those who work in the information technology, exploration, production, pipeline, health, safety/security, and environmental domains. There will be an ESRI GIS Solutions EXPO, where attendees can meet with ESRI business partners and evaluate GIS-driven solutions for their organizations. There will also be user presentations and technical workshops where participants can hear about case studies and learn technical approaches on topics such as data management, enterprise GIS, and risk assessment. Additionally, the conference Map Gallery will display real-world industry applications of GIS.

"I always walk away from this conference with increased knowledge, whether it relates to analysis or mapmaking," says Vicky Mercer, exploration technologist, Cobalt International Energy, Inc. "I like the wide variety of workshops and user presentations."

Attending the PUG Conference will be a great way to find out about the latest best practices proven to widen the scope of a GIS investment including addressing trends, lowering costs, and gaining efficiency. From one-on-one time with ESRI staff and industry thought leaders to the social gatherings and hosted lunches to sessions explaining newly developed geospatial tools, there will be numerous resources for attendees to come away equipped and ready to launch and grow any ArcGIS software project.

For more information about the conference and to register, visit www.esri.com/pug.

Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) says it is planning to launch the satellite FORMOSAT-5 in 2013.

The satellite will carry a high-resolution optical remote sensing instrument for earth sensing and earth observation. The instrument was designed, manufactured and packaged in Taiwan.

FORMOSAT-5 is Taiwan's first remote sensing program. The project is part of Taiwan's plan to further improve its space technology.

The loss of wetlands in the prairie pothole region of central North America due to a warmer and drier climate will negatively affect millions of waterfowl that depend on the region for food, shelter and raising young, according to research published today in the journal BioScience.

The new research shows that the region appears to be much more sensitive to climate warming and drying than previously thought.

“The impact to the millions of wetlands that attract countless ducks to these breeding grounds in spring makes it difficult to imagine how to maintain today’s level of waterfowl populations in altered climate conditions,” said Dr. Glenn Guntenspergen, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher and one of the report authors. “Parents may not have time to raise their young to where they can fly because of wetlands drying up too quickly in the warming climate of the future,” he added.

A new wetland model developed by the authors to understand the impacts of climate change on wetlands in the prairie pothole region projected major reductions in water volume, shortening of the time water remains in wetlands and changes to wetland vegetation dynamics in this 800,000-square kilometer region in the United States (North and South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Iowa) and Canada.

Many wetland species -- such as waterfowl and amphibians -- require a minimum time in water to complete their life cycles. For example, most dabbling ducks -- such as mallards and teal-- require at least 80 to 110 days of surface water for their young to grow to where they can fly and for breeding adults to complete molting, the time when birds are flightless while growing new feathers. In addition, an abundance of wetlands are needed because breeding waterfowl typically isolate themselves from others of the same species.

“Unfortunately, the model simulations show that under forecasted climate-change scenarios for this region (an increase of 4-degrees Celsius), the western prairie potholes will be too dry and the eastern ones will have too few functional wetlands and nesting habitat to support historical levels of waterfowl and other wetland-dependent species,” said Dr. W. Carter Johnson, another study author and a researcher at South Dakota State University.

The authors noted that their model allowed a more comprehensive analysis of climate change impacts across the northern prairies because it simultaneously examined the hydrology and vegetation dynamics of the wetland complex, which are both important for the wildlife that depend on the prairie potholes for part or all of their life cycles.

“Our results indicate that the prairie wetlands are highly vulnerable to climate warming, and are less resilient than we previously believed,” said Guntenspergen. “All but the very wettest of the historic boom years for waterfowl production in the more arid parts of the prairie pothole region may be bust years in a 4-degrees Celsius warmer climate.”

These findings may serve as a foundation for managers and policy makers to develop management plans to prepare for and adapt to climate change in the prairie pothole region.

The article, Prairie wetland complexes as landscape functional units in a changing climate, was published in BioScience (60[2]:128-140) and authored by researchers with South Dakota State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Montana, St. Olaf College, The Desert Research Institute-University of Nevada, and the University of Idaho.

Contact Information:
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Office of Communication
119 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
[via]

A geoinformation system will be developed in Lipetsk Region, uniting general plans of all settlements of the region. It is to be created within the frames of the target program of town planning documentation compiling about the region and its settlements over the period of 2005-2009. It should be noted that such systems are currently introduced in many regions, though they differ a lot in their functions, destination and technical solutions.

We would like to stress that the interest to such geoinformation systems is connected with the requirement to process an increased volume of data flow, especially in large cities and intensively developing regions. The systems enable to more efficiently resolve issues, related to region planning, land use control, taxation, etc. Introduction of geoinformation systems is of interest not only to large cities administrations, but to the management of relatively small municipal entities as well. Regional geoportals of the town of Volgograd and Volgograd Region can be used as an example, as well as a number of projects of Yekaterinburg administration and many more.

As there are quite a lot of projects, there are also plenty of technical solutions. There are solutions based on the ArcGIS and ArcGIS Server functionality and there are projects based on MapInfo. “Triaterra” system of the ScanEx RDC, including GIS Mappl, proved to be quite efficient, same as the ISIAD (Environment for Informatization of Administrative and Business Tasks) document exchange system. Besides, quite a large number of own makes are used. All the projects of this type can be divided into two big groups – those based on Web-technology and those using “desktop” applications. The first ones have an advantage of providing access to spatial information and to databases of a large number of users, including “rank-and-file” citizens, the second ones as a rule function in local area networks of different agencies and organizations and are used to ensure confidential data safety.

“Such projects are of great demand” – said the leading specialist of RS data thematic processing of ScanEx Sergei Mikhailov. “This partially had to do with the “2010 Problem”. Based on the introduction of Triaterra-like systems they may resolve issues related to land taxes and real-estate, reduce utility services costs due to better performance, control the condition of limited land use areas, etc. In other words, the understanding of the fact that GIS and spatial data can provide a benefit due to an increase in tax imposition and services planning optimization has already taken shape”.

There are no standards in this issue yet and none are to be expected in the nearest future, though the spatial data and services standardization issue has been quite topical lately. In particular, GIS-association has been actively working in this direction. Nonetheless, different organizations have already processed large volumes of data and found proper technical solutions for their tasks. Therefore, it should take quite a lot of time, even due to purely technological reasons, before all this will start to take shape.

In an effort to ensure their compliance with North Dakota’s state-mandated agricultural assessment standards, Emmons County, North Dakota (in the US), has selected Sidwell Company to provide professional GIS services to aid its assessment officials in the task of calculating soils valuations for agricultural tax parcels. Sidwell will also provide a GPS unit that will be used for the purposes of locating points in their GIS and mapping county infrastructure, such as bridges, culverts, etc.

The company will provide the jurisdiction with agricultural parcel file development services by creating a digital GIS parcel file for all of the county’s agricultural parcels, to be used in conjunction with the soils map layer, to support soils computations using the Farmland Assessment and Report Management System (FARMS)—an ArcGIS-compliant software solution for agricultural tax assessments. The firm will further enhance Emmons County’s GIS data in the urban areas by adding annotation such as lot and block numbers and subdivision names to the GIS files.

One distinctive advantage of this ArcGIS-compliant software solution for agricultural tax assessment is the ease with which the generated data can be exported to various formats for the purposes of complete system integration. Additional features of the software module include being able to set up user-defined tolerances for easily identifying discrepancies between assessed and measured acreages, the ability to then normalise these acreage discrepancies and the capabilities to create customised thematic maps for presentation, set spot symbol placements and record related comments for each parcel.

In addition, Sidwell will provide Emmons County with on-site, specialised training that focuses on the use of the FARMS software extension within ArcGIS 9.3, covering basic operations for processing agricultural parcels, all processing tools and reporting features of the system and the different user customisations that are available within the reporting application.