GIS in Education

GOES-15, the final spacecraft in the latest series of NOAA geostationary satellites, took its first infrared image of Earth on April 26, NOAA reported.

GOES spacecraft help NOAA forecasters track dangerous weather conditions and solar activity that can impact the satellite-based electronics and communications industry.

Infrared imagery is critical for accurate weather forecasts, revealing a range of information -- from the swirling motion of clouds and sea-surface temperatures, to moisture profiles of the atmosphere and the movement of smoke plumes from wildfires.

GOES-15 was launched March 4, 2010, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. After approximately five more months of tests, NASA will officially “hand over” the satellite to NOAA, which will place it in orbital storage mode. GOES-15 will be ready for activation if any of NOAA’s other four geostationary spacecraft experiences trouble.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean, to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

GOES-15 – took its first full-disk infrared image of the Earth on April 26 at 17:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. EDT). Clouds associated with the low pressure areas over the Ohio Valley and southern Minnesota and the cold front coming into the Pacific Northwest are visible. (Credit: NOAA/NASA /SSEC)

The launch of ISRO`s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15) fixed for May 9, 2010 has been rescheduled. A marginal drop in the pressure in second stage of the vehicle was noticed during the mandatory checks carried out on the PSLV-C15 vehicle. The new date for the launch of PSLV-C15 mission will be decided after preliminary results of the analysis are obtained.

PSLV-C15 is planned to launch India`s Cartosat-2B, an Algerian satellite ALSAT-2A, two nano satellites NLS 6.1 and NLS 6.2 from University of Toronto, Canada and STUDSAT, a satellite built by students from academic institutions in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

I thought I should share this with you - Microsoft Excel tips. I am working with some data points in Excel right now and encountered unnecessary empty cells or empty rows that I don't want to be included in the database. I could have just deleted it one by one, however, it will take me forever to finish 23,000 rows.

Googling led me to DigDB Excel add-in. It is an Excel macro add-in file that you can download and use for free.

Download the Excel macro add-in file:

DigDB.xla.zip for Excel 2000/XP/2003 (or DigDB.xla)
1 meg

DigDB.xlam.zip for Excel 2007 (or DigDB.xlam)
1 meg (supports 2007's million-row limit)

How to install?

1. Download the zip file
2. Open the zip, take the DigDB file out, place it on desktop.
3. If you never had DigDB before, just double-click DigDB to run it. If Excel has DigDB previously installed, start Excel first, click DigDB->Uninstall to uninstall the old version, close Excel. Double-click the new DigDB and run.
4. Add DigDB to Excel menu if you want to.

Add DigDB to Excel menu

You don't need to do this if you only use DigDB occasionally. You can simply place the downloaded macro on desktop and open it when needed. But if you use DigDB frequently, it's easy to make DigDB load up automatically when Excel starts.

For Excel2000/2003, go to Excel->Tools->Add-ins..., use "Browse..." to find and select your DigDB.xla file, make sure Digdb checkbox is checked, ok out.

For Excel2007, click the upper-left Office button, then "Excel options"->"Add-ins"->"Manage 'Add-ins' Go...", then use "Browse..." to find and select your DigDB.xla file, make sure Digdb checkbox is checked, ok out.

Thanks to digdb.com.

University of Southern California, USC College, has launched a new Web site for its online Geographic Information Science and Technology Master of Science and Graduate Certificate Programs.

The programs are designed and overseen by geography professor John Wilson, one of the world’s leading scholars in spatial sciences.

“The U.S. Department of Labor recently identified geospatial as one of the three most important emerging and evolving fields of study and employment growth over the next two or three decades,” Wilson said.

The online courses are designed to enhance a student’s spatial thinking abilities, build knowledge of the field and develop skills in geospatial technologies.

Coursework prepares graduates of these programs for existing and emerging jobs in emergency and environmental management, food production, intelligence, public safety, real estate, and telecommunications and utility sectors.

“USC is committed to providing distance learning programs that reflect the academic quality one expects from a world-class research university,” said Howard Gillman, dean of USC College.

The benefits of the USC College programs include:

• interacting with our world-class faculty;
• collaborating, networking and exchanging ideas with a diverse student population;
• learning from an approach that examines today’s problems from multiple perspectives, including health, planning, architecture and more;
• participating in a one-week trip to the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island;
• accessing an online program at any time from any place.

The courses are not limited to individuals following a geography path. “I found [the] technology to be interdisciplinary in nature, enhancing the decision-making process and allowing individuals to communicate complex issues across language and cultural barriers in a clear, concise and easily understandable way,” said Jeremy Olson-Sheton ’09. “It changes a PowerPoint filled with words into a dynamic illustration of the issue being presented.”

Matthew Stuemky, a Geographic Information Science and Technology certificate graduate with a degree in business administration and computer applications and systems, said that he appreciated the program’s quality. “I am glad I discovered it when I did, as I was ready to take my career in a new direction.”

Students enrolled in the Master of Science program — which can be completed in one year — will prepare an individually guided thesis to take with them when they apply for a job in the marketplace.

To learn more about these programs, visit gis.usc.edu

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 2 urged all Local Government Units to prioritize establishing their own Geographic Information System (GIS) to mainstream disaster risk reduction in planning, says report.

Regional Director Milagros A. Rimando said the Regional Geographic Information Network (RGIN) aims to establish a more systematic and organized sharing of geographically referenced information.

She said the geographic information from the different municipalities will be incorporated to the information available to the RGIN.

Rimando explained that by using available maps in the municipality, buildings, road networks, infrastructure and utilities must be digitized.

Leomar Israel, GIS expert of NEDA, further explained that the maps help point out risky areas during calamities.

Israel sets as an example the use of GIS in flood risk management. He pointed hat through the GIS map the areas with low elevation, prone to erosion will be easily determined as well as number of buildings and population to be damaged.

DNA India reported that the coral reefs of the Central Indian Ocean have now been quantified and mapped in the world’s first coral reef atlas, prepared by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad.

The atlas, called the ‘Coral Reef Atlas of the World’, also gives a report on the health of different reefs.

It has emerged that Gujarat’s coral reef cover has eroded by 23.2% over the past two decades. One of the main factors cited for this degradation is anthropogenic influence, i.e., impact of human activity.

A detailed assessment of the health of the coral reefs in the Central Indian Ocean is given in the Coral Reef Atlas along with an assessment of the health of the other coral reefs of the world.

The atlas gives an idea of the health of the reefs through maps indicating their extent, distribution and habitat.

NASA celebrates 20 years of Hubble Telescope discoveries. NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute, or STScI, in Baltimore are celebrating Hubble's journey of exploration with stunning new images or photos.

Enjoy the following Hubble Telescope Photos - Hubble Images:

This brand new NASA Hubble photo is of a small portion of one of the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula.

These two images of a three-light-year-high pillar of star birth demonstrate how observations taken in visible and infrared light by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal dramatically different and complementary views of an object. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI):

This is a series of close-up views of the complex gas structures in a small portion of the Carina Nebula. The nebula is a cold cloud of predominantly hydrogen gas. It is laced with dust, which makes the cloud opaque. The cloud is being eroded by a gusher of ultraviolet light from young stars in the region. They sculpt a variety of fantasy shapes, many forming tadpole-like structures. In some frames, smaller pieces of nebulosity can be seen freely drifting, such as the 2.3-trillion-mile-long structure at upper right. The most striking feature is a 3.5- trillion-mile-long horizontal jet in the upper left frame. It is being blasted into space by a young star hidden in the tip of the pillar-like structure. A bowshock has formed near the tip of the jet. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI).

To visit the Galaxy Zoo page, go to http://www.hubble.galaxyzoo.org.

For Hubble 20th anniversary image files and more information, visit http://hubblesite.org/news/2010/13 or http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic1007/.

The Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont, built on ESRI's ArcGIS technology, was launched on Earth Day, April 22, 2010, ESRI reported. Web site visitors can identify, visualize, and analyze data about existing and promising renewable energy projects for Vermont's towns and counties.

Visitors to the Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont Web site can select from biomass, efficiency, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, and wind renewable energy data layers and use geographic information system (GIS) tools to view existing and proposed projects by area. All renewable energy data layers were created and analyzed using ESRI's ArcGIS Desktop software and published with ArcGIS Server.

The Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont will assist town energy committees, funders, educators, planners, policy makers, and businesses in making informed decisions about renewable energies in their communities, decisions that ultimately lead to successful projects, greater energy security, a cleaner and healthier environment, and better quality of life across the state.

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Fountains Spatial, and Overit Media collaborated to develop the atlas in hopes of moving the state's renewable energy projects from concept to reality. ESRI provided professional service support.

"We were looking for a way to show people how renewable energy flows through their communities so they can see the options for harnessing it," said Scott Sawyer, research, evaluation, and communications coordinator at Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. "The Web site lets them zoom in to a town level or subtown level and look at the renewable energy and efficiency possibility. Our goal was to make the Web site easy and fun. GIS technology, good data, Web design, and easy-to-use applications made this possible."

The suite of renewable energy options is further broken down into 20 categories of data for specific renewable energy analysis. For example, users can select options for a town, biodiesel, and vegetable oil and see all the restaurants where they can potentially find vegetable oil waste that could be useful for making biodiesel fuel. The site also provides tools for calculating energy potential. A solar model, for instance, allows users to enter a roof's facing direction, tilt, and percentage of tree shade and produce a calculation of solar energy potential.

The basemaps for the Web site have a beautiful cartographic look. These were acquired from ESRI's ArcGIS Online basemap services (World Street Map and World Imagery).

"We are excited to work on the project that supports Vermont's green economy," noted Mark Haberle, senior project manager at Fountains Spatial. "ESRI's GIS technology enables the development of tools for robust information discovery and dissemination that makes it easy for people to understand the possibilities of renewable energy. It is our hope that the Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont will support sustainable job development for Vermont and help the state meet its vision for a carbon-constrained future."

"GIS technology provides a means for citizens to become informed about their communities and actively participate in making them environmentally sustainable," said Robin Smith, ESRI's environmental solutions manager. "ESRI is encouraged by Vermont's use of geospatial technology to help its citizens participate in the state's renewable energy efforts."

Learn about developing a renewable energy Web site for your community by contacting Haberle at Mark.Haberle@fountainsamerica.com. Learn more about ESRI's GIS solutions for the environment at www.esri.com/environment.

Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of unlimited wireless services, today announced the availability of Cricket Navigator, a new premium voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation solution that will be exclusive to Cricket customers. In addition to the core navigation features, Cricket Navigator features specific functions that put time and money-saving local information at a user’s fingertips.

Examples of the premium features include:

* Gas Savings – Cricket Navigator allows users to search for all nearby gas stations, and lists the results by both price and distance to current location. The user can then select the station of their choice, and receive directions to the location.

* Traffic – For users who need to get to their location quickly, Cricket Navigator identifies potential traffic holdups on a user’s route and then alerts the driver with information about the issue ahead. Cricket Navigator will then provide the driver with the option of a detour to assure a traffic snarl-free ride that will get them to their destination on time

* Local Entertainment– When a user is on the road in a new city, Cricket Navigator can help travelers explore the nightlife and local entertainment. Users can search by a specific event venue, look for nearby bars and restaurants, or view show times and read reviews of movies playing at local theaters.

* Hyper-Local Search – Cricket Navigator is pre-loaded with search features that let users avoid the hassles of the yellow pages and find any specific business or location. Users can search for anything from the nearest Cricket retail store, to the specific address of a friend or family member.

“Cricket users have been buzzing for a premium turn-by-turn navigation solution, and we believe Cricket Navigator will be just what they’ve been looking for,” said Jeff Toig, vice president/general manager of voice/data services for Cricket. “We bring innovative features to our customers while making sure we continue to provide the best value in wireless.”

Cricket Navigator will be powered by TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS), a world leader in highly reliable and secure mobile communication technology.

“Cricket Navigator is a feature-rich navigation product that Cricket customers will quickly discover to be reliable and trustworthy, whether they’re looking for something down the block or in a place they’ve never been,” said Doug Antone, senior vice president of TCS' Navigation and Telematics Group. “Today, mobile consumers expect apps and mobile services to deliver a compelling and intuitive experience. Cricket Navigator, powered by TCS, serves up a fresh navigation experience that can meet such consumer expectations and more.”

Cricket Navigator can be downloaded from Cricket’s Games and Apps catalog, and is currently available on the Samsung MyShot II device. Over the coming weeks, the application will be rolled out to more phones, and will be available on the majority Cricket devices by the end of this summer.

Cricket Navigator will be offered in Cricket’s new nationwide $50 and $60 rate plans, and available as a bolt-on to the new nationwide $30 and $40 rate plans.

[via press release]

New Zealand Land Use Datasets Free Online Download. New Zealanders will now be able to download the latest land use data following the completion of a major mapping exercise by the Ministry for the Environment.

The integrated land use map (LUM), which provides an in-depth snapshot of land use in New Zealand from 1990-2008, has been produced as part of the Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS).

Users of the LUM will be able to:

• Measure changes in land uses between 1990 and 2008.
• Assess the relationship between land use and pressures on freshwater systems as a result of these changes.
• Use the data as an evidence-base for academic research projects.
• Use data as a base on which to overlay operational data to help shape decisions and policies.

LUM was derived from satellite imagery provided to government agencies as a result of an all-of-government licence negotiated by the Ministry for the Environment.

The data is available now for electronic download from www.koordinates.com, a geospatial data distribution site.
[via]

Report says, that ten scientific institutions from Spain and Portugal have joined forces to create the SPALINET lidar network, radars with laser technology intended to study the aerosols in the atmosphere. The aim of the team is to homogenize and enhance the quality of measurements in order to better understand the scattering of these particles in the sky over the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands.

In March, the Geophysics Centre of Évora (Portugal) became the tenth scientific institution to join the Spanish and Portuguese Aerosol Lidar Network (SPALINET). This type of device works in similar fashion to a conventional radar, but instead of using radio waves, it emits optic waves (laser light), which is reflected by the particles and later redetected by an optical system.

The Lidar (Light Detection And Ranging) can be built into satellites (such as those carried by ICESAT and CALIPSO from NASA) or aim at the atmosphere from earth, from fixed or mobile stations. The latter is what SPALINET has done in the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands.

"Satellites provide global coverage, but 10 must pass before returning to the same point, whereas coordinated ground-based lidar offer the high time and vertical resolution of each station and the space sample in the geographical area they cover simultaneously," Michaël Sicard, a member of the network and researcher at the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (UPC) told SINC.

Sicard indicates that out of all the direct applications of the network, "it is worth highlighting the monitoring of atmospheric aerosol transport in Spain and Portugal, as well as the estimation of the impact of aerosols on the global radiative balance (solar radiation that absorbs and/or allows atmospheric aerosols to pass) and therefore the climate."

Some climate models related to the scattering of aerosols over the Peninsula, as well as the details of SPALINET, were published recently in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

The objective of this project is to investigate aerosols, solid particles in suspension of natural origin (volcano emissions, dust storms...) or caused by humans (burning of fuel). Their study is of great interest in order to analyse the dispersion of pollutants and test weather forecast models.

Russia could build a satellite for the detection and tracking of submarines from space, a defense industry spokesman said on Thursday, via RIA Novosti.

Vladimir Boldyrev, of the Kosmonit science and technology center, said the group had developed a space satellite module that could carry out remote sensing of the sea and "detect submerged submarines."

"Hopefully, it will be tested in space as early as 2011," he said, adding that work on the module started over a decade ago.

He offered no indication as to when the new satellite would enter service with the Russian Armed Forces.

Boldyrev added that the dual-use module would be used for both defense and civilian purposes, in particular, providing meteorological data.

Submit your abstracts! Map Asia 2010 will host technical sessions on varied themes. The sessions will give members of the Asian geospatial community an opportunity to showcase their work through paper and poster presentations. The proposed focus areas for technical sessions are:

* Agriculture and Precision Farming
* Climate Change
* Disaster Management
* Natural Resource Management
* Marine and Coastal Resources
* Water Resources
* Urban and Rural Planning
* Innovative applications using geospatial technologies
* Emerging Technology Trends
* Global Positioning and Navigation Systems
* Photogrammetry
* 3D Modelling
* LiDAR
* Surveying and Mapping
* Mobile Mapping
* Web GIS
* Infrastructure and Enterprise Management
* Data Structures and Standards
* Spatially Enabled Government
* Spatial Data Infrastructure
* Spatial Econometrics

Map Asia 2010
July 26-28, 2010
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Submission link is here.

Geosemble Technologies, Inc., and BAE Systems announced that they have integrated their respective technologies to bring users greater utility and efficiency in geospatial decision making. The companies will demonstrate the technology at the 2010 BAE Systems GXP International User Conference and Professional Exchange in San Diego, April 19 – 22. Geosemble has created a text visualization plug-in that can be used with BAE Systems’ SOCET GXP software.

Geosemble has created a text visualization plug-in that can be used with BAE Systems’ SOCET GXP software.

SOCET GXP is a geospatial-intelligence tool that uses imagery from commercial, satellite, and tactical means to identify and analyze ground features. With SOCET GXP, users can automatically measure and store properties such as scale, elevation, latitude, and longitude in a series of images to expedite geospatial production, image analysis, and map creation. The data then can be used to perform before-and-after site comparisons, coordinate operational missions, assess navigation safety, and monitor changes over time.

Geosemble’s product is a geographic data visualization tool that automatically integrates various textual sources into aerial imagery. The system, known as GeoXray, allows users to click on buildings and locations and automatically see the events and activities associated with those locations. The GeoXray plug-in is targeted to enterprise customers and is currently being used by two U.S. federal government agencies and several municipalities.

When implementing GeoXray into SOCET GXP as a plug-in capability users gain the benefit of broad, contextual knowledge about geographic areas. The information can come from current, internet-based information sources as well as proprietary, internal data that an organization may have that relates to a geographic location.

Using the GeoXray plug-in with SOCET GXP offers greater interoperability among image analysts, geospatial production technicians, and decision-makers at all levels. The combined technology enables informed, geographic-based decisions earlier in the geospatial-intelligence lifecycle.

For more information or a demonstration of the integrated capability contact Geosemble Technologies, Inc.

Samaylive reports: Undeterred by the failure of its cryogenic rocket mission last week, India is preparing to launch an advanced remote sensing Earth observation satellite in May. "We are going ahead with the schedule of launching the remote sensing Cartosat-2B satellite in the sun-synchronous polar orbit in May second week (8-10) by using a smaller rocket from our spaceport at Sriharikota," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told.

The 300-tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C15) will inject the 690-kg Cartosat-2B in the Earth's lower orbit at an altitude of 630 km. "Cartosat-2B will have a sophisticated panchromatic camera on board to take higher (0.8 metre) spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 9.6 km of specific spots for cartographic applications such as mapping, land information and geographical information system," Satish said.

The Rs.100 crore (Rs.1 billion) rocket will also carry an Algerian satellite (Alsat), two nano satellites from Canada and a satellite - Studsat - built by college students from Bangalore and Hyderabad at a cost of Rs.5.5 million, as additional payload. The one-kg Studsat (student satellite) is designed to operate in low Earth orbit. Its payload consists of a camera capable of capturing images with a ground resolution of 90 metre.

"The satellite will send the image and telemetry data from the orbit to the ground station," Satish added.

"Activities for the launch of PSLV-C15 carrying Cartosat-2B are progressing satisfactorily. All the solid propellant propulsion stages have been cast and assembled. Integration of propulsion stages is in progress," Satish pointed out.

India's attempt to test flight the indigenous super-cooled cryogenic upper stage engine failed nearly eight minutes after the 416-tonne geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-D3) deviated from the flight path at about 60 km and spun out of control to plunge into the Bay of Bengal along with the 2.2-tonne GSAT-4 on board Thursday.

"The failure of the cryo engine, though disappointing, has not affected the launch schedule of Cartosat-2B or subsequent launches of GSAT-5 and GSAT-6 later this year. The setback has resolved us to pursue other missions as vigorously as before," Satish noted.

As part of the earth observation system, Cartosat-2B will augment the remote sensing capability of providing scene-specific spot imagery of its earlier versions such as Cartosat-2A, launched in April 2008, Cartosat-2, launched in January 2007, and Cartosat-1 that was launched in May 2005.

"The other three Cartosat satellites have been functioning well, providing operational services to the user community. The data from the satellites is being used for urban and rural infrastructure development and management as well as applications in land information system," Satish recalled.

More Iceland Volcano MODIS satellite images released by NASA. The MODIS Rapid Response System was developed to provide daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses in near real time.

For more information and a real-time MODIS image gallery, visit MODIS link.

Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland


Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted Wednesday, April 14, for the second time this month. The volcano is still spewing ash into the air and the ash clouds are impacting air travel in Northern Europe.

NASA's Terra satellite flew over the volcano the following day at 11:35 UTC (7:35 a.m. EDT) on April 15, 2010, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS instrument onboard Terra captured a visible image of the ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull Volcano.

Icelandic Ash Cloud Over Europe
The MODIS Rapid Response System was developed to provide daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses in near real time. True-color, photo-like imagery and false-color imagery are available within a few hours of being collected, making the system a valuable resource. The MODIS Rapid Response Team that generates the images is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

NASA works with other agencies on using satellite observations to aid in the detection and monitoring of aviation hazards caused by volcanic ash. For more on this NASA program, visit: http://science.larc.nasa.gov/asap/research-ash.html.

For more information and a real-time MODIS image gallery, visit: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that it has imaged one billion square kilometers of the surface of the Earth since it became commercially operational on February 4, 2009.

All of the data collected over the last 14 months is available in the RapidEye Library which contains multiple datasets including the freshest images imaged just a few minutes or hours earlier. The library is continuously growing as new images are downloaded from RapidEye's satellite constellation daily. The newest coverage of the Somalian-Ethiopian border was acquired by RapidEye 1 (Tachys) on April 7, 2010 at 8 A.M. UTC and made the collection of one billion square kilometers complete. One billion square kilometers represents approximately seven times the Earth's landmass.

The image of the Somalian-Ethiopian border is available for viewing on RapidEye's homepage at www.rapideye.de.

RapidEye continues to image the Earth in unparalleled quantities and will continue to make its satellite imagery available through the RapidEye Library, which can be searched either through a local distributor or directly through RapidEye's Customer Service department. If you would like to know if you your area of interest is available in the RapidEye Library, or if you would like to inquire about RapidEye data, please send an email to sales@rapideye.de. To find a distributor in your area, please visit the RapidEye website at www.rapideye.de/distributors.

This 2010, the 18th annual GIS in Action conference will add Portland State University as a new co-sponsor, joining the local URISA and local ASPRS chapters which have hosted the conference in past years. Holding the conference at Portland State creates exciting opportunities to include PSU students from other departments, members of the open source community and engineering, surveying and natural resources professionals who are all an important part of the GIS community.

GIS in Action Conference 2010: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 and Thursday, April 15, 2010 at Portland State University.

Computer World posted that the Australian Crime Commission is seeking to map crime tendencies across Australia. According to commission documents, the maps would be created through geographic information systems (GIS) and vector mapping software supplied by a panel of providers.

The panel would provide geospatial imaging and support that would "assist with the identification and exploration of crime themes and patterns within Australia and in particular allow for comparative analysis of states and territories as well as suburbs”, the document read.

The software would also allow users to create custom map layers for the department's requirements, which could ideally then be exported to publicly available mapping applications such as Google Maps, Street View and Microsoft's Bing Maps.

The five year contract, to begin in June this year, includes the software, detailed local and international vector and raster maps, as well as consulting and support services throughout the contract.

The software would have to work on the department's existing fleet of Citrix-based thin clients and be compliant with existing Oracle databases. The software would be deployed on 64-bit servers running Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as SPARC-based Solaris 10 servers.

The Defence Imagery & Geospatial Organisation (DIGO), a division of the Department of Defence, developed geospatial and imagery intelligence services for defence purposes in 2000. It offers geospatial products to other Commonwealth and State government departments. It is unknown, however, whether the Australian Crime Commission will consider these products as part of the panel.

I was trying to access NASA's LVIS website using the Firefox browser and a warning appears that the "Connection is Untrusted."

Firefox thinks the website lvis.gsfc.nasa.gov is too risky to visit. Really?!

Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) is the website for a NASA aircraft based Laser Altimeter.

Screen shot:

Report: The design of a new highway, the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, the installation of an industrial complex. Decisions on resource planning and management, as well as the elaboration of public and private policies, will be facilitated with the introduction of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (INDE), to which users will have access by means of an internet portal, the SIG Brasil. Initially, the portal will integrate geospatial data of federal institutions of the Brazilian government and will permit information visualization and access, making it possible to mix geospatial information in the internet environment. During the next decade, other national organizations – at state and municipal level, for example – will be able to join INDE. The signing of INDE launch minutes will mark the portal inauguration, and will take place on April 8, at the auditorium of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, in Brasília, with the presence of minister Paulo Bernardo Silva; the president of CONCAR and secretary of Strategic Planning and Investments Afonso Oliveira de Almeida; the substitute president of CONCAR and president of IBGE Eduardo Pereira Nunes; the executive secretary of CONCAR and director of Geosciences of IBGE Luiz Paulo Fortes, besides representatives of other entities.

The portal SIG Brasil is a practical result of the introduction of INDE, an initiative of the Federal Government aimed at cataloging, integrating and harmonizing geospatial data produced or kept by institutions of the Brazilian government, so that they are easily located, handled in their characteristics and accessed for the more diverse uses, by any client with internet access. INDE foresees the establishment of norms and standards for data production, storage, share and dissemination. Also, the celebration of interinstitutional agreements of data share, besides qualification and training for producers and users of such information.

Instituted by Decree no. 6.666, on November 27, 2008, INDE is being implanted under the coordination of the National Commission of Cartography (CONCAR), a collegiate organ of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, counting on the participation of several ministries, federal and state institutions, and enterprise associations involved in geospatial information production and use. It is up to IBGE, as the entity responsible for technical and administrative support to CONCAR, to construct, make available and operate INDE access portal, the SIG Brasil.

INDE aims at arranging the generation, storage, access, share, dissemination and use of geospatial data of federal, state, district and municipal origin; promoting the utilization, in geospatial data production, of standards and norms ratified by CONCAR; and avoiding double actions and resource wasting in the attempt to obtain geospatial data by public administration organs, through the publishing of metadata related to these available data at public entities and organs.

INDE implantation plan has the duration of 10 years and three cycles: the first began in August of last year, and its conclusion is expected for the end of this year; Cycle II will take place from 2011 to 2014; and Cycle III, from 2015 to 2020. At the end of Cycle I, portal SIG Brasil is expected to count on a minimum infrastructure of hardware, software and telecommunications, with engines of geospatial data and metadata search, handling and access. The portal will be fed and updated with geospatial information from diverse organs.

Geospatial information are, for instance, cartographic and topographic data that represent territory, satellite images, orthophotographs, the network that represents transport infrastructure, the location and descriptions that represent protected areas, the description and representation of urban and rural properties, as well as the distinct uses of soil. Also considered geospatial information is that of statistical nature describing demographic aspects, as well as the population distribution or socioeconomic variables. INDE information is classified in three groups: Reference Data – related to Geodetics, topographic and registry charts; Thematic Data, related to vegetation, soils, geology, land coverage and use and other themes, defined especially by the physical environmental characteristics and by the action of economic sectors; and Value Added Data. This group originates from the previous two, added by users or producers (public or private) to the Reference Data, due to a certain interest and specific utilization, and may have a wide diversity of thematic detailing and geographic coverage.

Access the portal here.

Nokia on Friday said it will acquire MetaCarta, a privately-held company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that specializes in finding content for location-aware services.

MetaCarta's technology bridges the gap between content and maps, according to the company. Its Geosearch technology can find content, data and information about a place and present it in a single view and its Geotag technology can be used to find geographic references in various types of content, which then can be used in other applications. For example, the NewsMap application processes the text within news stories to extract the geographic places mentioned in them. The result can the be overlayed on a digital map, according to MetaCarta.

Nokia is giving few details on how it plans to use MetaCarta's various technologies, only saying that it "will be used in the area of local search in location and other services," according to a statement. Nokia didn't provide financial details about the deal.

The deal reinforces the importance that Nokia is putting on maps and location-based services, according to Paolo Pescatore, analyst at CCS Insight.

The mobile navigation sector has been heating up this year. On Jan. 21, Nokia introduced a new version of Ovi Maps that included turn-by-turn voice guidance for walking and driving navigation for free. The update is a direct response to Google, which had already done the same for its Android OS.

The deal is the second time in two weeks that Nokia has acquired a privately-held U.S. company. On March 26, Nokia bought Novarra, a Chicago business that specializes in mobile browsing.

[via Business Week]

Renowned Explorer Will Steger Shares Polar Adventure Experiences and Firsthand Climate Change Observations at April 19th program at South Dakota State University (SDSU).

Steger joined by SDSU Distinguished Professor Dr. W. Carter Johnson at public program on SDSU campus.

Renowned polar explorer and adventurer Will Steger will present a free program on Monday, April 19th at 7 pm on the SDSU campus in Rotunda Building, Room D. Steger, who has been leading significant and record-breaking expeditions in the world’s harshest, polar environments in the Arctic and Antarctic regions for over four decades, will provide an intimate portrait of these magnificent landscapes including documentation of global warming impacts to these environments, and he will share solutions to the global warming crisis.

“What I have witnessed in the Arctic over 45 years, and more importantly in the past ten years is alarming,” said Steger. “I have seen firsthand dramatic signs of global climate change on our polar regions, from rising thaw levels, to disappearing glaciers, to ice shelves disintegrating entirely or calving and re-locating to new locations.”

To prevent further destruction to polar ecosystems Steger sees great promise in the transition of the American energy sector to cleaner, renewable energies.

Steger has traveled by dogsled and kayak on expeditions in some of the world’s most challenging environments. Steger led the first dogsled journey to the North Pole without resupply in1986. He also led a 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland, the longest unsupported dogsled expedition in history in 1988, and in 1989-1990 he led the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica, an historic seven-month, 3,741-mile International Trans-Antarctica Expedition. In 1995 a team led by Steger made the first dogsled traverse of the Arctic Ocean in one season from Russia to Ellesmere Island in Canada.

In 1995, Mr. Steger joined Amelia Earhart, Robert Peary and Ronald Amundsen in receiving the National Geographic Society's prestigious John Oliver La Gorce Medal (formerly the Gold Metal) for “Accomplishments in Geographic Exploration in the Sciences, and Public Service to Advance International Understanding”. He has also received the National Geographic Adventure Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on climate change. In 1996, he became the National Geographic Society's first Explorer-in-Residence and received the Explorers Club’s Finn Ronne Memorial Award in 1997. In 2006 Steger joined Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Dr. Thor Heyerdahl and Neil Armstrong in receiving the Lindbergh Award. Steger was given this award for "numerous polar expeditions, deep understanding of the environment and efforts to raise awareness of current environmental threats, especially climate change."

Recently, Steger formed the Will Steger Foundation, with a personal and professional commitment to foster leadership and international cooperation through environmental education and policy. He has been face-to-face with what we now know to be the gravest environmental threat of our time — global warming. The Will Steger Foundation is educating, inspiring and empowering the public in a campaign to solve global warming. Steger is the author of four books: Over the Top of the World, Crossing Antarctica, North to the Pole and Saving the Earth.

Joining Will Steger at this program to present about global warming impacts is SDSU professor and researcher Dr. W. Carter Johnson.

Dr. Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, has studied the effects of climate change on natural ecosystems, particularly wetlands, for nearly forty years. He and his research team have published extensively on this theme in science journals, culminating this year with an article in the February issue of the journal BioScience that gained attention from national and international news media.

Dr. Johnson will be discussing his newest research for the first time on the SDSU campus. The title of his talk: “Global Climate Change: How Might South Dakota Fare?” Dr. Johnson and his team have determined that the Northern Plains region appears to be much more sensitive to climate warming and drying than previously thought.

Steger and Johnson will be available for a question and answer period following their presentations. This program is sponsored by the Sierra Club and the SDSU Sierra Club.

[via SDSU email]

Bowdoin College has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to conduct important multidisciplinary climate change research in the Gulf of Maine. Bowdoin was one of only 25 research institutions selected from among 112 applicants nationwide.

The three-year Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) grant will fund a team of Bowdoin scientists and their colleagues at Michigan Tech, U.S. Geological Survey, Yale, and the University of New Brunswick using NASA satellite imagery to assess the flux and processing of dissolved organic carbon and nutrients from three major river systems (Androscoggin/Kennebec, Penobscot, St. John) draining into the Gulf of Maine.

The project will incorporate historical data sets to develop a baseline of land use and climate change over the past century, and will include models for predicting how hydrology and carbon cycling is likely to be altered with projected changes in land use and climate change over time.

"What's unique about this study is that it is one of the first to use remote sensing of both the terrestrial watersheds and the marine environment to examine global change questions," notes Phil Camill, Rusack Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Earth and Oceanographic Science, a lead investigator in the research.

"We'll be analyzing forested watersheds and wetlands to see how much water, carbon, and nutrients are moving through these ecosystems into the rivers and out into the coastal marine environment. We can study real-time measurements of river discharge and dissolved organic carbon as it flows into the mouth of the estuaries with our buoy-mounted senors. We want to get a handle on how these materials are changing in quantity and quality through river transport and interaction with the coastal ocean currents, which will have broader impacts on socially relevant issues like ground fisheries and harmful algal blooms (red tides)."

Findings from the project will become part of NASA's ongoing investigations of climate change.

The research brings together scientists from diverse backgrounds, with expertise spanning terrestrial remote sensing and GIS, aquatic biogeochemistry, hydrology, carbon isotope analysis, and ocean remote sensing.

Other Bowdoin faculty on the research team include Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies John Lichter; Associate Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science Collin Roesler; and Professor of Chemistry Elizabeth Stemmler.

This is via Google Earth blog. Today, scientists announced a new hominid fossil discovery in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa. The discovery is one of the most significant palaeoanthropological discoveries in recent times, revealing at least two partial hominid skeletons in remarkable condition, dating to between 1.78 and 1.95 million years. We are especially excited because Google Earth played a role in its discovery.

So how did this come about? Back in March 2008, Professor Lee Berger from Witswatersrand University in Johannesburg started to use Google Earth to map various known caves and fossil deposits identified by him and his colleagues over the past several decades, as it seemed the ideal platform by which to share information with other scientists. In addition, he also used Google Earth to locate new fossil deposits by learning to identify what cave sites looked like in satellite images.

At the beginning of this project, there were approximately 130 known cave sites in the region and around 20 fossil deposits. With the help of the navigation facility and high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth, Professor Berger went on to find almost 500 previously unidentified caves and fossil sites, even though the area is one of the most explored in Africa. One of these fossil sites yielded the remarkable discovery of a new species, Australopithecus sediba. This species was an upright walker that shared many physical traits with the earliest known species of the genus homo — and its introduction into the fossil record might answer some key questions about our earliest ancestry in Africa.

We’re absolutely thrilled about this announcement, and delighted that our free mapping tools such as Google Earth and Google Maps continue to enable both individuals and distinguished scientists to explore and learn about their world. With these tools, places both foreign and familiar can be explored with the click of a mouse, allowing for new understandings of geography, topology, urbanism, development, architecture and the environment. Our efforts to organize the world’s geographic information are ongoing — but at the end of the day, seeing the way these tools are put to use is what most inspires us.

Video: Hominid ancestor discovery aided by Google Earth

On behalf of the Atomflot Federal State Unitary Enterprise, ScanEx RDC will conduct collection and processing of radar data on the ice situation in the Northern Sea-route and non-Arctic freezing seas of Russia. The right to manage this project was granted to ScanEx RDC within the frames of the open contest held in mid March, according to press release.

An operational radar space monitoring of the Barents, Kara, White, East-Siberian, Chukchi and Laptev Seas, as well as of the Ob, Yenisei and Lena Rivers’ estuaries will be ensured by this project.

“Thanks to its widely-spread network, ScanEx ground receiving stations in Moscow, Megion and Magadan provide the coverage of the entire Russian Arctic area. We are pleased to note that the satellite data reception and processing technology has been developed in Russia,” said Vladimir Gershenzon, General Director, ScanEx.

It was made possible to launch the programme of satellite-based monitoring of such vast territories due to the operation of the network of ScanEx ground receiving stations and the availability of proper licenses on RADARSAT-1 (Canada) and ENVISAT-1 (ESA) satellites imagery data, as well as those of 10 optical satellites of leading remote sensing operators from the USA, France, India and Israel.

The advantages of using the technology of direct reception, processing and delivery of products based on satellite data to the end users are as follows:
- High operational efficiency of data reception (1-3 hours after imaging of all the Arctic area);
- Moderate prices of the end product due to exception of foreign receiving stations from the work cycle;
- High repetivity and reliability of imaging due to the application of multi-satellite technique.

Data will be delivered to end users via FTP-protocols and internal “Atomflot-Kosmosnimki” geo-service that has been created to resolve project tasks based on Kosmosnimki.Ru geoportal.

A team of Chinese archaeologists revealed findings dating back thousands of years after a successful expedition to one of China's most intriguing and dangerous areas - Lop Nur, or Lop Lake also known as the Sea of Death from which nobody escapes. They employed remote sensing (RS) archaeology for the first time in the region to help with their investigation that included confirming previously discovered sites and uncovering new ones. The remote sensing technology saw 80 percent accuracy, according to Liu Guorui, Director of archaeology at Xinjiang Cultural Heritage Bureau.

"The new discoveries include gravesites, wooden architecture and evidence of farmlands. Mulberry trees along the river are proof of a prosperous civilization in this area," said, Yang Lin, director of the Archaeology Institute at the National Museum of China.

Liu said that the team found some colourful pottery relics could date back to 3,000 years ago. Items from this period of history have never before been found in the area. In the area's yadan hills, landforms created by wind erosion in Xinjiang's dry areas, the team uncovered graves that date back to the Han and Jin dynasties (206BC-220AD and 265-420AD). "We found and recorded more than 200 immovable cultural sites in Lop Nur, including about 100 uncovered by British archeologist Aurel Stein 100 years ago," Liu said.

The field study was part of a larger expedition that ran from September to December and covered 32,500 kilometres from northern to southern Xinjiang. A vast terrain of deserts, meadows and mountains were investigated, with 800 immovable cultural sites recorded. The involvement of the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications at the Chinese Academy of Sciences saw the application of remote sensing archaeology, which Liu said was not only helpful in their exploration, but has also paved the way for future expeditions.

Lop Nur is located between the Taklimakan and Kuruktag deserts in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. A former saline lake occupying roughly 2,000 square kilometres in the 1950s, Lop Nur ceased to exist by about 1970 and is now largely dried up with a group of marshes and small shifting lakes receiving channels of the Tarim River.

In 1900, Swedish archaeologist Sven Hedin uncovered the ancient city of Loulan and in the early 1900s British archaeologist Aurel Stein further discovered about 100 cultural sites in the area. In 1980 the lake lived up to its threatening reputation, Chinese archaeologist Peng Jiamu disappeared without a trace.

As part of China's Third National Cultural Relics Investigation, a team of 22 archaeologists faced the seemingly uninhabitable region and spent 20 days in Lop Nur in November, using state-of-the-art technology to map their way through difficult terrain and discovering a host of historical sites and cultural relics.

Philippines' first fully-automated web GIS parcellary mapping service at www.mapsys.ph, has been launched. It was the project of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA). Now, locating and determining the classification or attributes of a piece of land anywhere in the Philippines would not be a problem.

Rodolfo G. Valencia, author of the landmark Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund Law and other laws related to housing and real estate, a congressman and former Mindoro Oriental governor, hailed MapSys.ph as a revolutionary, potent tool not only for the private land sector but also for local government units (LGUs). The MapSys web service generates an accurate lot plan and information-packed vicinity map for any parcel of land in the country. The information can be downloadable via Internet.

Addressing real estate industry practitioners at the membership meeting of CREBA, Valencia said that the pioneering system used by MapSys.Ph may be adopted to help resolve, among others, decades-old contentious issues on land classification and conversion. The colourful and professionally laid-out map displays the parcel polygons plotted on a vicinity map that contains multi-layers of spatial information, such as the road networks, waterways networks, LGU-approved land use, Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ) and land cover.

The information also includes administrative boundaries from the provincial down to barangay level, elevation and slope, fault lines, banks, schools, churches, hospitals, commercial/industrial and tourist establishments, power/ water facilities and many others. Valencia said that with this information about the parcel and its vicinity, the map would serve many purposes, among them, determining the economic value of the land and its sustainability for either agricultural or non-agricultural purposes.

Valencia said that this particular issue has been a bone of contention among private land owners, LGUs and the Department of Agrarian Reform in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP). The MapSys map could provide a reasonable or factual basis in helping resolve such issue.

Visit the site here.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) produces fundamental geologic and environmental information about America's submerged lands. This information includes maps, geospatial data, and interpretations that characterize the geology of the continental shelf, estuaries, and large lakes. The information addresses a wide range of scientific and management issues that are important to the environment and economy of coastal communities and entire Nation. USGS studies are undertaken in locations chosen to respond to these key issues, and are developed in cooperation with other Federal and State agencies and academic institutions.

This website provides a portal to access published USGS maps, reports, and digital data that depict the bathymetry, surficial geology, and/or subsurface structure of submerged areas over a wide range of scales. The digital data are available as shape files, images, or grids in Geographic Information System (GIS) format. The map on the right shows the outlines (colored polygons) of maps currently available; it will be updated as new maps are completed. Click on an outline to see the report title and links to the report and to the data catalog. Use the scrollbar or mouse wheel to zoom in. Navigate around the map using the arrows in the upper left corner or the pan tool; zoom in and out using the scroll bar.

The need for comprehensive scientific information about America's submerged lands is increasingly recognized by researchers, policy makers, and resource managers at all levels. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (2004), the National Research Council (2004), and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force (2009) all stress the need for scientific information to inform decision-making, and the importance of regional, State, and local engagement in developing and applying science products.

Visit this the USGS page for the list of maps by geographic area.

The Foundation Geographical Information Institute (FGII) of Shanxi Province, China, recently introduced new technology - Topcon IP-S2 Mobile Survey System - in the region.

Mr. Wu Boyi, deputy director of Shanxi FGII, said, "To my knowledge, we are the first entity to introduce a vehicle-mounted mobile survey system in our country. As an exclusive publisher of maps, cityscape models and other geographical information of Shanxi province, we needed to utilize this new technology to revolutionize our workflow in order to meet the exploding demand for our products."

Incorporating around-the-corner sensing technologies such as high-precision GNSS receivers, IMU (inertial measurement unit), vehicle wheel encoders, 360° digital video camera and laser scanners, "the IP-S2 offers high-speed, cost-effective 3D spatial data collection solutions," said Mr. Osamu Hoshida, Topcon Corporation's special adviser for the mobile surveying and mapping technologies.

Mr. Wu said, "Most of the detailed maps in our region (specified maps and analyzers) are available to licensed surveyors only, and the maps for general public often have incomplete information. We have an ambitious plan to create new web-based digital maps that provide the general citizen with additional values. For these goals, we were looking for the most effective surveying technologies and the IP-S2 was exactly the one we needed."

Mr. Hoshida said, "The IP-S2 will provide an ideal solution to increase the data collection efficiency. It is our pleasure to be able to support the creator of new digital maps and geographical information databases that will certainly benefit the Chinese society."

The IP-S2 system was delivered to Shanxi FGII in January 2010. A number of government officers attended the delivery ceremony held at their premises. Mr. Niu Laiyou, director general of Shanxi Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, and Mr. Qin Yanping, director of Shanxi FGII, welcomed Topcon executives including Mr. Norio Uchida, director and managing executive officer of Topcon Corporation, and Mr. Zou Xiguang, representative of Topcon Beijing office.

Shanxi Bureau of Surveying and Mapping recently established the first and only training center in Asia specialized for the 3D mobile surveying and mapping technologies, in cooperation with Beijing Topcon Business & Trading Limited (BTBT), a Topcon distributor. At the opening ceremony of this facility, Mr. Wu Boyi and Mr. Ni Han, vice president of BTBT, confirmed their common goal to revolutionize the surveying and mapping industry in China by implementing next generation mobile data collection technology.

ESRI's ArcLogistics, the geographic information system (GIS)-based routing and scheduling software known for helping organizations save as much as 30 percent in vehicle-related costs, is now available as a Software plus Services solution.

Those looking to improve their delivery or service routing can download the software client and leverage Web services, including a street map and imagery for route display, as well as route solvers, all hosted by ESRI. Customers purchase a subscription based on the number of trucks they need to route, making it affordable for small fleets and scalable for larger enterprise operations.

ArcLogistics helps organizations optimize delivery and service routes based on their unique business operations including vehicle capacities, specialties, truck restrictions, and customer time windows.

The new release continues to build on the field-proven results of the ArcLogistics desktop product, developed in the late 1990s, whose users consistently reported operational cost savings of 15 to 30 percent. The availability of ArcLogistics online provides a lower cost of entry for small fleets and gives potential customers the ability to try the service before subscribing. Like earlier versions, this release requires no GIS knowledge; its workflow-driven interface provides a step-by-step process for entering and scheduling locations, vehicle, driver/crew, and order information.

ArcLogistics goes well beyond finding the shortest path between a set of stops by incorporating driver and vehicle costs, capacity, schedules, and street restrictions when creating routes.

Organizations that implement ArcLogistics typically see reductions in fleet-related expenses including fuel, maintenance, capital investment, and route planning time. Their customer service and on-time performance improve through the provision of tighter time windows. Anyone who operates a fleet of vehicles and is interested in ArcLogistics can download the software and try it free for 30 days. To get the trial or more information, visit www.esri.com/arclogistics. Outside the United States, contact your local ESRI distributor. For a current distributor list, visit www.esri.com/distributors.

TerraGo Technologies, a leading provider of geospatial collaboration software solutions, has released a new version of TerraGo Mobile, which enables users to interact with GeoPDF maps on smartphones and ruggedized handheld mobile devices. With the ability to take highly portable, interactive maps that feature embedded geographic coordinates, imagery, and GIS data anywhere, users can access, collect and share information in any situation, then deliver current on -the -ground intelligence back to a central database. The latest version of TerraGo Mobile makes geospatial collaboration easy for everyone, with an enhanced user interface, improved export features, and expanded functionality for embedding multimedia at points on a map.

In contrast to high-end, complex portable GIS solutions, TerraGo Mobile is designed for users who are not GIS experts. Field personnel only need to be familiar with the Microsoft Windows interface and how to open a PDF file to be instantly productive. Users responding to a natural disaster, policing a high- profile event, researching a proposed roadway route, repairing powerlines, or operating on a military mission can navigate with TerraGo Mobile as well as complete forms, measure distances and add comments, audio, photos, and video to maps and imagery.

Information users collect in the field with TerraGo Mobile can be shared with other mobile or desktop users in a workgroup or returned to a central GIS or ERP system by e-mail, file transfer protocol, or other means to create a real-time, user-enhanced common operating picture. Not only is TerraGo Mobile effective at exchanging data with GIS systems such as ESRI ArcGIS software, but it also interoperates with applications such as Google Earth™ via KML files and other file formats.

“Government and business organizations increasingly look to unlock GIS information and get it into the hands of mobile users to enable them to improve productivity and make better decisions with greater intelligence,” said Chris Watson, VP of marketing and business development for TerraGo. “TerraGo Mobile extends the reach of GIS several steps further by completing the collaboration cycle and including all users, even those operating beyond the edge of the network.”

Optech Inc. has announced that it will host the Mapping in Motion workshop at the ASPRS 2010 Annual Conference. The workshop will be held in San Diego, California, on April 27, 2010.

Brent Gelhar, Optech’s Vice President, Sales and Strategy, said, "The Optech ASPRS workshops are a great opportunity for industry professionals to keep abreast of the latest innovations in sensor hardware and software design. We have been extremely busy over the past year and have a lot of information to share. I am certain that every client will find something they can incorporate to maximise their collection and processing efficiencies. Whether it is our latest ALTMTM sensor platform, our enhanced production software capabilities, or our new hardware toolsets, expect a very informative session this year."

This year’s Mapping in Motion workshop will include presentations and discussions on Optech’s latest hardware and software innovations in airborne and mobile mapping products. Dramatic advances in mobile mapping are turning the traditional surveying and engineering workflows upside down. Mobile terrestrial mapping works and its value proposition is a compelling one. Optech will discuss strategies to manage large data sets, how to plan with Lynx software tools, and how to use surveying parameters to produce engineering-grade data.

In anticipation of the imaging season of 2010, ScanEx RDC and European Space Imaging Company (EUSI) considerably reduced prices for highly-detailed IKONOS images.

IKONOS image data from European and Middle East branches of Space Imaging (EUSI and SIME) archives as well as satellite mosaics already prepared on the basis of this data can be obtained at a price of $5 per 1 sq. km before May 31. The minimal ordering area is 50 sq. km only and the area of ready mosaics depends on the region selected by you. Special conditions apply to stereo imagery as well at a price of $10 per 1 sq. km. We also take orders for preparation of new IKONOS mosaics at a special price*. Currently archives of EUSI and SIME, which are being updated up from 2000 to 2009, contain images covering the total area of more than 22 mln sq. km.

IKONOS highly-detailed data (up to 0.8 m in panchromatic and 3.2 m in multispectral modes) are rightfully in high demand and are used for plotting and updating maps and plans (up to the scale of 1:5000), digital elevation models, solution of urban and land planning tasks, ecological monitoring and assessment of environmental changes, etc. When joined into one frame, seamless mosaics properly color-balanced, in their turn, can be the basis for creation and development of geoportals.

You can order data you are interested in and consult with specialists as well as receive detailed information about the conditions for purchase of space imagery products, contacting us at +7(495)739-73-85 or at sales@scanex.ru.

Join colleagues from many sectors of commercial business at the ESRI Business GIS Summit to be held July 11–12, 2010, at the San Diego Convention Center in California. ESRI software users and nonusers alike are encouraged to attend and learn how to profit from business geographic information system (GIS) strategies.

The summit will kick off with a morning Plenary Session featuring two keynote speakers addressing innovative uses of business GIS: Manny Rios, senior vice president, P&C underwriting, USAA; and Charles A. "Mac" McClure III, CCIM, FRICS, CRS, chairman of the board, McClure Partners. Rios will share how and why he has championed the use of GIS for risk management and is leading the way to greater adoption of the technology at USAA. McClure will describe how his full-service real estate brokerage and development company has used GIS to underwrite and acquire some of the country's top franchises during a time of great economic duress.

After the plenary, attendees will enjoy breakout sessions to be presented by members of the commercial user community and followed by an evening networking social and ESRI Solutions EXPO. On the second day of the summit, attendees will be able to tap into the larger ESRI user community by participating in the ESRI International User Conference plenary, included as part of the summit registration.

"With the beginning of a new decade, many people are thinking positively about the global economic situation," says Simon Thompson, director global commercial marketing, ESRI. "The summit this year will highlight creative leaders who have used GIS not only to survive one of the greatest recessions of our time but also to profit during it. Their understanding of how to do business in today's economy is inspiring."

Participants will come away with an understanding of the geography of their business and the ability to gain a competitive edge. The sessions will be valuable across many industries including real estate, retail, logistics, economic development, manufacturing, banking, insurance, media, and transportation. Attendees from related industries, such as utilities, health care, telecommunications, and public safety, will also benefit from the summit. For more information on the summit and to register, visit www.esri.com/bizsummit.

DigitalGlobe announced that its content library now contains more than one billion square kilometres of earth imagery, 33 percent of which is less than one year old. Jill Smith, CEO of DigitalGlobe, said, “The power of our industry-leading constellation enables us to persistently break new ground for the industry and we strive to offer our customers the largest collection of accurate, current satellite imagery available.”

DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1, QuickBird and recently launched WorldView-2 satellites combine to form the industry’s largest satellite constellation. These three satellites, together with DigitalGlobe’s aerial network, enable the company to offer the highest collection capacity of high-resolution earth imagery to customers around the world, adding roughly 1.5 million square kilometres of imagery every day or three times the Earth’s landmass annually. The result is DigitalGlobe’s highly complete ImageLibrary, containing imagery used to inform critical decisions across a range of industries.

To learn more about DigitalGlobe and its ImageLibrary, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

Ordnance Survey has launched OS OpenData, an online portal providing free and unrestricted access to a large range of mapping and geographic information (GI).

OS OpenData allows users to download a wide range of mapping and geographic information for free reuse direct to their computers; view maps and boundary information for the whole country; and develop web-map applications using Ordnance Survey’s OS OpenSpace API (Application Programming Interface).

Today’s launch follows the announcement by the Prime Minister on 17 November that some Ordnance Survey mapping would be made freely available as part of the ‘Making Public Data Public’ initiative. The project, championed by web-inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt, the Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Deputy Head (Research) of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, aims to support greater transparency and accountability within Government, improve public services and create new economic and social value.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee comments: "I'm delighted that the Ordnance Survey is releasing this data for free re-use. It will help people make fuller use of other government data on data.gov.uk, as well as stimulating innovation in mapping itself."

Professor Shadbolt adds: "OS OpenData makes critical geographic information freely available to all of us. Our goal has been to facilitate innovation and reuse, to allow everyone the opportunity to enrich this valuable public data.

“The process of consultation has seen ongoing negotiation across government around which data was best for release, and all I would say is that it’s a huge credit to everybody at Ordnance Survey who have been working on this. I’ve been impressed by the willingness to adapt, to extend, to think about new forms of project management and to really step up to the mark, so we’re hugely grateful.”

The release of free data comes after a public consultation document, released on 23 December 2009, set out various long-term strategic options for Ordnance Survey. The consultation period closed on 17 March, and on 31 March, the Department for Communities and Local Government published the Government’s official response. The launch of OS OpenData marks the culmination of this process, delivering greater access to geographic information in Britain than ever before.

Communities Secretary John Denham welcomed the launch of OS OpenData saying: “This shows the UK is at the cutting edge of a digital revolution. The move to free up public data encourages fresh thinking - people re-using information in different and more imaginative ways than may have originally been intended. A seemingly endless stream of new applications and websites continues to show the potential of combining information, creative vision and digital technology.

“Increasing access to Ordnance Survey data will attract a new wave of entrepreneurs and result in new solutions to old problems that will benefit us all. It will also drive a new industry, creating new jobs and driving future growth.”

“The changes signal a wider cultural change in Government based on an assumption that information should be in the public domain unless there is a good reason not to - not the other way around. Greater openness, accountability and transparency in Government will give people greater choice and make it easier for individuals to get more directly involved in issues that matter to them.”

OS OpenData, which is being funded by government, is made up of a range of raster and vector mapping datasets. These include the detailed 1:10 000 scale OS Street View, Boundary-Line, which provides the electoral and administrative geography of the country, and Meridian 2 and Strategi which offer customisable views of Britain’s topography.

The following datasets are included in OS OpenData:

• OS Street View
• 1: 50 000 Gazetteer
• 1: 250 000 Colour Raster
• OS Locator
• Boundary-Line
• Code-Point Open
• Meridian 2
• Strategi
• MiniScale
• Land-Form PANORAMA
• OS VectorMap District (available May 2010)

OS VectorMap District, a brand new mid-scale vector dataset which has been specifically designed to display information on the web, will be available from May 2010.

Vanessa Lawrence CB, Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey, says: “Over the past few months we have been working extremely hard to put in place all the steps which were necessary in order to deliver the Prime Minister’s objective. I believe that OS OpenData delivers on that vision, providing a wide range of Ordnance Survey mapping for reuse and without restriction. I am really looking forward to seeing the public’s response to OS OpenData and watching the creation of new applications and services, all being underpinned by Ordnance Survey data.

“Since the release of the public consultation we have seen the launch of data.gov.uk, with over three thousand datasets being released on the website. As a result many people have requested high quality and well maintained geographic information to enable data from different sources to be linked. I am therefore pleased that Ordnance Survey data, long recognised as world-class, for currency, accuracy and quality, has been identified as having a fundamental role to play in underpinning the future growth of the ‘Smarter Government’ and ‘Making Public Data Public’ initiatives.”

Sir Rob Margetts CBE, Ordnance Survey’s Non-Executive Chairman, adds: “The launch of OS OpenData has been made possible because of the Government’s commitment to providing ongoing funding to support this data package, in order to ensure a sustainable Ordnance Survey for the future, for which I am thankful. This is fundamental to maintaining the quality of the data for which Ordnance Survey is globally renowned.”