GIS in Education

Infoterra GmbH, the wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS Astrium that holds the exclusive commercial exploitation rights for the high-resolution radar satellite TerraSAR-X, has announced the first element of its TerraSAR-X ELEVATION product suite.

Featuring a 10m grid spacing and an absolute height accuracy of up to 5m, the TerraSAR-X ELEVATION DSM (digital surface model) is now operationally available for areas as small as only 500 sqkm, and up to full regional coverage, worldwide. Particularly the unique reliability of the weather-independent radar sensor makes this an ideal complement to the established Spot Infoterra portfolio of elevation data sets such as Reference 3D, based on SPOT HRS optical data.

"In addition to this unique reliability and the resulting time- and cost-efficient data acquisition, customers will particularly appreciate our flexible delivery concept;" Dr. Gertrud Riegler, Product Manager for Digital Elevation Models at Infoterra, explains: "It allows the users to adapt the scope of delivery to their individual requirements, as a set of auxiliary layers and the corresponding orthorectified image are optional additions to our TerraSAR-X ELEVATION DSM."

As the propagation of the radar beam can be measured very precisely, with the satellite featuring a unique positional accuracy, the extracted height information is based on very solid input: TerraSAR-X StripMap stereo pairs, acquired in both ascending and descending orbit directions, are processed automatically, applying radargrammetry techniques. With algorithms specifically developed for this purpose, outliers, artefacts and gaps are identified and corrected. Water body features derived from corresponding TerraSAR-X image data are included and a subsequent manual editing of shorelines guarantees hydrological consistency.

This novel approach enables Infoterra to offer highly time-efficient production schemes: "Full data acquisition and production for our minimum order unit of 500 sqkm can be carried out within about one month. For areas of about 500.000 sqkm, customers can expect the delivery within a year after ordering," Dr. Riegler says, and then confidently assures the unique quality of the TerraSAR-X ELEVATION DSM products: "The product's performance and accuracy values were determined in an extensive validation and verification campaign. In order to asses various terrain and land cover types; we have covered more than 15 test sites worldwide, with high-quality reference data available for each."

Precise elevation data is the initial foundation of any accurate geospatial product, particularly when the integration of multi-source imagery and data is performed based upon it. Topographic mapping, communications network planning, hydrologic modelling, air traffic security and, last but not least, the reliable orthorectification of high-resolution satellite imagery are only examples of the wide range of applications that benefit from precise, reliable elevation data.

Infoterra is thus working towards expanding the Spot Infoterra elevation data portfolio even further: today, radar-based Digital Terrain Models (DTM), a representation of the ground surface as so-called bare-earth terrain, are available tailor-made. An operational processing facility to generate standardised DTMs (TerraSAR-X ELEVATION DTM) is currently under development and expected to be implemented in 2010.

Lastly, the upcoming TanDEM-X mission, where TerraSAR-X and its "twin" TanDEM-X will be collecting interferometric data synchronously, has significant potentials in store: Together, the twin satellites will be collecting the data basis for a complete global elevation model, unprecedented in coverage and accuracy. TanDEM-X is scheduled to be launched on June 21, 2010; global elevation data products are expected to be available from 2013.

Sample data sets are available for free download on www.infoterra.de.

A new solution announced today at the Department of Defense Intelligence Information Systems (DoDIIS) Worldwide Conference will give defense and intelligence personnel unprecedented analysis capabilities for human terrain mapping, better arming them for current and future counterinsurgency (COIN) and anti-terrorism operations.

i2, the leading provider of intelligence and investigation software; and ESRI, the leading provider of geospatial analysis capabilities; are collaborating to release several modules in the coming months, including the ESRI Foundation Module for i2's Analyst's Notebook: a powerful and flexible geospatial analysis tool with a host of military, intelligence, law enforcement and civilian applications.

The ESRI Foundation module for Analyst's Notebook embeds some of ArcGIS's powerful geospatial analysis capabilities, into Analyst's Notebook, i2's best-of-breed analytic solution. This will create a unique, dynamic and flexible platform for sharing and exploiting the full range of geospatial and intelligence data. It will allow users to efficiently and effectively analyze and visualize in time and space their mission critical intelligence within the Analyst's Notebook platform.

"I think this is going to be of particular interest for our defense and intelligence customers," said i2 Vice President of Product Marketing Guillaume Tissot. "Human terrain mapping is an increasingly essential tool for ongoing counterinsurgency efforts in defense theaters of operation. Understanding and mapping the nuanced political, social, ethnic and religious networks in an area of operation is critical to COIN, and our collaboration with ESRI gives commanders and human terrain teams the best solution of its kind for accomplishing their mission."

"I believe this will address a growing need for our defense, law enforcement and national security customers," said Lew Nelson, Industry Solutions Manager at ESRI. "Our joint customers can now engage in multi-dimensional data fusion — examining the geographic, relational and temporal elements of any problem concurrently. ESRI's geospatial analysis capabilities integrated into i2's intelligence platform provides a solid foundation for an analytics-driven approach. From human terrain mapping in support of COIN efforts to intelligence-led policing and counter terrorism, the end result will help an organization more effectively meet their mission."

Human terrain mapping allows analysts and commanders to visually understand the social dimension of their battlespace, including religious boundaries, economic structures, community leadership and other sociological information.

The ESRI Foundation for Analyst's Notebook will allow many analysts, commanders and field operators to collaborate in mapping this data in a quickly understood human terrain picture, enabling more proactive engagement with local communities and more efficient responses to events.

This module is the first in a series of tightly packaged capabilities that i2 and ESRI defense and intelligence users have been requesting.

The ESRI Foundation for Analyst's Notebook will be generally available to users at around the same time as the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, 12-19 July. The two companies are currently working to add other modules to ensure that intelligence, defense, law enforcement and civilian users have the most powerful and flexible intelligence tools possible.

Both i2 and ESRI share many defense, law enforcement and intelligence customers worldwide. i2 is demonstrating Analyst's Notebook and ESRI capabilities at DoDIIS booth #1302. ESRI is at booth #916.

The Atlas of Living Australia goes live in September, opening the door to a rich collection of information about Australia’s plants, animals and micro-organisms.

Across Australia, people will be able to contribute sightings of plants, animals and micro-organisms; download tools and more…

In the lead up to September, the Atlas is bringing together a huge amount of biodiversity information from research, literature, records and Australia’s natural history collections and making it freely accessible online.

As it develops, the Atlas will deliver the most comprehensive information available on Australia’s biodiversity, including images, occurence and distribution data, maps, literature, genetic sequences and taxonomic information.

By integrating this previously dispersed information, the Atlas can support research, education and decision making on issues such as biosecurity, food security, climate change, sustainable farming, global change management and conservation.

The Atlas will also offer a range of analytical tools to assist in the study, identification and management of our native plants, animals and micro-organisms.

You can follow the updates via Atlas of Living Australia website.

So if you’re a landowner on the Northern Rivers, you might want to think twice about cutting down trees on your property without permission.

Satellite images are now being sent to local landowners who may have illegally cleared vegetation, reports Northern Star.

So far 22 letters have been sent to people in this region, with more expected to be sent in the coming weeks.

The NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water started the ‘high-tech education campaign’ this week.

The department says more 60 per cent of the native vegetation in NSW has been cleared, thinned or substantially disturbed.

This has led to the extinction of 77 plant and animal species.

It has also caused soil erosion, increased dry land salinity and a decline inwater quality.

But since the introduction of the Native Vegetation Act in 2003, more than 400,000 hectares of native vegetation has been conserved or rehabilitated on private land.

Add Maps to Your Java Applications – the Easy Way
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
9am PDT/12pm EDT

Where are my customers located? Which of our employees is closest to the incident? What's the best location for our new branch?

Today, these kinds of questions can be answered efficiently and effectively with a combination of geographical and business data.

New technologies are making it easier than ever to combine business information with maps, giving decision makers access to key performance indicators in powerful new ways. This allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage by making better, more informed, and faster decisions. Join us for a live demonstration to see how NAVTEQ data integrates into Oracle’s Java, database, and middleware to enable quick development and deployment of map-enabled applications.

This demo-focused webinar will teach you:

· How to create an interactive mapping application in a visual and declarative way

· Which Oracle technologies are used to create map-enabled applications

· How NAVTEQ content is leveraged to put business information on the map

Presenters:
Dan Abugov, Business Development Manager, NAVTEQ
Shay Shmeltzer, Senior Group Manager, Oracle Development Tools

Click Here to Register!

At the May 26, 2010 TAP Webinar, you will learn how to use online maps to download renewable energy resource data for an area you select. And you will learn how to use Web-based geographical information system (GIS) tools developed at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to support biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind projects. In fact, you will receive an overview of all of the GIS tools available online at NREL.

How to Attend

You can attend the Webinar via your desktop computer and phone line free of charge, but you must register in advance to obtain the URL and password for logging on to the video presentation via the Internet and the phone number to connect to the audio.

About the Presenters

There will be two presenters at this Webinar.

* Dan Getman is a systems architect with the Data Analysis and Visualization Group at NREL. Getman's expertise includes the analysis and visualization of spatial and temporal data and design and development of analysis driven applications in support of a federal, state, and local agencies.

* Ted Quinby works as a GIS application developer at NREL, where his work focuses on the application of innovative mapping and visualization tools to promote the use of renewable energy technologies.

Intergraph 2010, the international conference for users of the industry's leading engineering and geospatial software, will be held Aug. 30-Sept. 2 at the new, spectacular ARIA Resort at CityCenter in Las Vegas.

The conference will feature nearly 200 focused sessions led by industry authorities and customers from around the world who convene to share experiences and best practices while gaining practical skills through hands-on training. In addition, the conference agenda includes thought-provoking keynotes on industry and corporate trends as well as structured networking opportunities.

Intergraph 2010 will be held at the recently opened 61-story ARIA Resort at the 67-acre CityCenter, an extraordinary urban resort destination featuring premium dining, shopping, entertainment and recreation. Intergraph chose this location after a national search for a venue that met its conference specifications and the necessary level of quality and service its customers have come to expect.

Intergraph was forced to reschedule Intergraph 2010, originally scheduled for June 14-17 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee, due to unprecedented flooding.

"The swift rescheduling of Intergraph 2010 underscores Intergraph's unwavering commitment to its customers globally and to delivering a conference of outstanding quality and value," said Intergraph Chief Operating Officer Reid French. "Every effort is being made to ensure a seamless transition for our attendees whom we thank for their patience as we transition to Las Vegas from our original conference venue."

Early conference registration savings are available through July 23 and room rates at ARIA are just $139 per room per night plus taxes. To register and for more information, please visit the Intergraph 2010 Web site.

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, confirms its long-standing partnership with S2Bvisio in the development and distribution of expert agricultural services based on RapidEye imagery.

S2Bvisio and RapidEye have been partnering for several years and are committed to developing value-added products for canola and cereal crops which are beneficial to farmers. Ongoing research and development activities are concentrating on cereals, sunflower and sugar beet crops and focus on nitrogen fertilization, irrigation and yield prediction. French specialized research institutes are also involved in many of these projects.

This strategic value-added service collaboration will be intensified in future projects including pasture monitoring and biomass management. RapidEye and S2Bvisio will study the development of services for agricultural operators, processors and other key players in the agricultural world. The vision that new technologies are an important element in the development of sustainable agriculture is shared by both companies.

Marie-Joseph Lambert, Head of Marketing at S2Bvisio, stated, “The innovation and the flexibility of the Visioplaine platform merged with the satellite-based expertise of RapidEye offers a quality and an availability of field-based data which is unique in France.”

Head of Sales for RapidEye, Clint Graumann, commented, “We are confident in our solid, ongoing partnership with S2Bvisio for the development of agricultural services in France. This partnership opens important opportunities for the future.”

For more information about RapidEye, please visit www.rapideye.de.

More information about S2Bvisio and their online platform Visioplaine can be found at
www.visioplaine.com.

Fully customizable, mid-scale mapping that has been specifically designed for the Web has now arrived in OS OpenData, with the release of OS VectorMap District.

OS VectorMap District is now available for developers to download, order on disc and view via Ordnance Survey’s free mapping portal. The new dataset has been specifically designed for use online and created to support the aims of Data.gov.uk, offering a clear and customisable background on which to display a whole range of other information.

Rob Gower, Ordnance Survey Technical Product Manager, comments: “If you look at the range of public data that has been made available, a huge amount of it is based around location. From health statistics to crime rates and transport data, it all makes most sense when viewed in a geographical context. That’s why we’ve created and released OS VectorMap District to provide that context.”

OS VectorMap District is best viewed at scales from 1:15,000 to 1:35,000 and is available in both raster and vector formats, the latter offering developers the chance to come up with their own unique styles to meet specific needs.

“There are 38 different types of features, all of which can be customised and altered. If you want to highlight the roads, urban areas, change their colours or remove them completely, you can,” Mr Gower adds. “We wanted to make it as flexible as possible whilst even the ‘raster’ version has a clean and clear design. We’re very excited to see what people will use it for.”

The release of a new product marks a hugely successful first few weeks for the free mapping portal. Mash-ups and applications are already appearing as developers get to grips with what is available. Early uses include a post code look-up service and maps displaying a range of information available through data.gov.uk, including pharmacies, bus stops and stations.

Mr Gower continues, “We’ve seen a huge amount of data downloaded by people spread across six continents, which is great to see. We are looking forward to receiving feedback from users of the product so that we can continue to develop it."

A wide range of Ordnance Survey mapping was made available for free reuse on 1 April after a public consultation document set out various long-term strategic options. The consultation period closed on 17 March, and on 1 April the then Communities Secretary, John Denham, launched the service from Ordnance Survey’s Southampton head office.

OS VectorMap District is part of the OS VectorMap family of products. Its larger‑scale counterpart, OS VectorMap Local, was launched in 2009 and is available under licence.

OS VectorMap District has been released as an ‘alpha’ product, meaning it will be developed and enhanced over time in line with user feedback.

To view, download or order data from OS OpenData, visit: www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendata

Digital mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) software developer Cadcorp has announced in a press release that after a thorough and competitive evaluation process, Cleveland Fire Brigade has selected Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller software and associated Workload Modeller application as part of the brigade’s new ICT strategy to improve efficiency and effectiveness of resource deployment within the organization.

The Workload Modeller application provides transparent and flexible methods to model current resource workload against historic incident databases. It will allow the brigade to monitor levels of efficiency, model various planning scenarios and to plan for ‘what if’ situations. The Workload Modeller application is underpinned by the powerful, standards based analytical and GIS capabilities of Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller. The combination of the two products will provide Cleveland Fire Brigade with a deeper insight into the data being analysed and an invaluable toolset for deployment planning work.

“We are confident that the Cadcorp solution will provide Cleveland Fire Brigade with an excellent GIS and Mapping system whilst also demonstrating excellent value for money. The solution will be integral in supporting service planning and improvements in order to achieve our strategic priorities and objectives over the coming years.”

“It is a pleasure to welcome Cleveland Fire Brigade into the growing community of Cadcorp SIS users in the UK’s fire, rescue and emergency services,” said Mike O’Neil, managing director, Cadcorp. “We look forward to working with their staff to help the service achieve its goals.”

Avenza Systems announced the release of MAPublisher 8.3 for Adobe Illustrator. It is the latest version of mapmaking software used to produce high quality maps from GIS data for both print and electronic distribution which now offers support for the new version of Adobe Illustrator, CS5.

MAPublisher 8.3 for Adobe Illustrator is free of charge to all current MAPublisher Maintenance Program subscribers and replaces the current shipping version of MAPublisher, version 8.2, for all new customers using Adobe Illustrator CS3, CS4 and CS5.

Ted Florence, President of Avenza, said, "We have once again listened to the requests of our users and implemented a host of new features with MAPublisher 8.3. In addition to support for Illustrator CS5, this new and exciting MAPublisher version now offers the ability to transfer map objects between documents, automatically create knockouts for text objects and contains an enhanced MAP Web Author JavaScript API and dozens of other features which together significantly advance this powerful and widely used cartographic and map-design platform.”

MAPublisher 8.3 includes all the significant functionality introduced in earlier releases of MAPublisher as well as the following new features and enhancements. New Features of MAPublisher 8.3 for Adobe Illustrator include:

- Compatibility with Adobe Illustrator CS5 for both Mac and Windows.
- New Line Plotter function to create polylines by entering coordinates or the distance and bearing values between points.
- Import MAP Objects to copy MAP objects between documents, including Stylesheets and MAP Selections.
- Enhanced MAP Selection functionality offering additional selection options including spatial, art and attribute.
- New knockout function for easily creating knockouts for text objects.
- Buffer Art function to create area objects around points and lines.
- MAP Attribute Panel enhancements and optimisations.
- New Layer Notes functionality to record information including original dataset path, format, co-ordinate system, object count and date.
- Enhanced export to Geospatial PDF functionality now offers control over exported layers with attributes, ability to easily assign attribute values to be used as object names, item sort order and round-trip data control.
- MAPublisher Spatial Database import system for ESRI geodatabases now included (Windows only).
- New MAPublisher Web Author JavaScript API functionality including various runtime operations.
- New functionality to create MAP Views from Adobe Photoshop paths (Geographic Imager license required).

Visit Avenza for purchasing details.

NASA will hold a media teleconference Friday, May 21, at 3:15 p.m. EDT with the crew of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, living underwater off the coast of Florida.

On May 10, NASA sent two astronauts, a veteran undersea engineer and a scientist on a 14-day expedition to test exploration concepts and to learn more about working in an unforgiving, treacherous space-like environment.

Reporters should contact NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111 by noon May 21 for dial-in information. Canadian reporters should RSVP to the Canadian Space Agency at 450-926-4370.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut and veteran spacewalker Chris A. Hadfield leads the 14th NEEMO mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory. The crew also includes NASA astronaut and flight surgeon Thomas Marshburn, Electric Rover Deputy Project Manager Andrew Abercromby and research scientist Steve Chappell.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website.

There was a time when Australia stood proud as a pioneer of orbital spaceflight. The successful orbital flight of WRESAT made the country only the fourth - after the USSR, USA and France - to design and build a satellite for launch from its own territory.

Sadly for Australian spaceflight visionaries, WRESAT - named for its builder, the Australian Weapons Research Establishment - flew from the Woomera test range north-west of Adelaide aboard a modified American Redstone rocket in 1967. The mission successfully completed 642 polar orbits before burning up on re-entry, but remains the country's sole launch.

Since then, the country's involvement in space science and industry has "drifted and the sense of purpose has been lost", according to a 2008 Australian Senate report.

Now, the government hopes to join the space age with a more coherent vision. In early May the second round of the four-year, A$40 million ($36 million) Australian Space Research Programme (ASRP), part of a four-year, A$46.8 million Australian Space Science Programme, concluded. The programme also created a dedicated Space Policy Unit within the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, to act as the central point of contact for the country's national and international civil space activities.

The Australian Space Science Programme is in turn part of a wider A$1.1 billion Super Science development initiative.
[via]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Education, Integration Division, Minority University Research and Education Programs,
in cooperation with NASA’s four Mission Directorates – Aeronautics Research, Exploration Systems, Science, and Space Operations, solicits proposals for the Curriculum Improvement Partnership Award for the Integration of Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum (CIPAIR) project.

This NRA is intended to strengthen the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curricula of two-year and four-year Minority Institutions (MIs) so that their graduating students will have the skills, knowledge, and hands-on experience that will make them competitive when applying for employment with NASA, academia, or the aerospace industries. Successful proposals shall incorporate NASA’s unique STEM content, and system engineering and project management approaches to introduce sustainable curriculum reforms at their institutions.

The solicitation, Announcement Number NNH10ZNE007N, may be accessed through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) at http://nspires.nasaprs.com.

NASA update as Fri, 14 May 2010 10:01:39 AM CDT regarding the Space Shuttle launch happening this Friday afternoon.

Space shuttle Atlantis' six astronauts are boarding space shuttle Atlantis. Prelaunch activities continue on schedule as teams prepare for Atlantis' liftoff at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

The shuttle's external tank is fully loaded with more than a half million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The fueling process started on time at 4:55 a.m. and finished at 7:56 a.m. as the tank entered "stable replenish." The launch team is not tracking any issues at this point that would prevent an on-time launch.

Weather remains favorable, with STS-132 Weather Officer Todd McNamara predicting a 70 percent chance of good conditions at launch time.

To satisfy customers’ desire for more information on restoration efforts, Oncor is piloting a new website including a map of outages and real-time weather information. Following the worst winter storm in Oncor’s history, customers asked Oncor to provide more detailed information about where outages were most concentrated. In response to these requests, Oncor is piloting a new site with frequently-updated weather-related outage information, as well as storm and safety tips from respected WBAP meteorologist Brad Barton.

“Customers asked for an outage map and Oncor delivered,” says Oncor’s Chief Customer Officer Brenda Jackson. ”These tools will make Oncor.com a more helpful and useful site during significant weather events, and we will incorporate user feedback to improve the storm site.” Future upgrades include a smart phone browser-friendly version of Oncor.com, and a mobile application to help customers easily report outages.

“Weather – including high winds, thunder and lightning, and snow or ice – is a top cause of electrical outages,” says WBAP Chief Meteorologist Brad Barton. Barton’s blog and storm safety tips will help customers understand where outages are most likely to occur and how to prepare in the event of a disruption in service.

Oncor’s 24x7 storm site 1.0 will be enhanced as more Smart Meters are installed across the service area, providing real-time outage information even before customers call to report.

“Oncor wants to use technology to engage directly with customers so we can better understand their concerns and gain their trust,” Ms. Jackson said. “The first version of Oncor’s new storm site – including an outage map and real-time weather information – is yet another step toward providing not just safe and reliable electric service but also excellent customer service.”

The new storm site can be accessed at http://oncor.com/community/outages.

EU Satellites that observe the Earth's surface for environmental and security purposes came a step closer on Tuesday, when Industry Committee MEPs unanimously approved a draft regulation providing a legal basis for them, plus €107 million for initial operations in 2011-2013. The regulation has still to be approved by the full Parliament, probably in June.

Like the Galileo satellite navigation programme, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme involves developing the EU's own infrastructure, but, unlike Galileo, it is funded only with public money. The primary purpose of earth monitoring is to provide detailed environment and security data, tailored to user needs. The programme should boost innovation, research and technological development, and also become a key tool for supporting biodiversity, ecosystem management, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Satellite observation data can help emergency services to deal with natural or man-made disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and oil spills, faster and more efficiently. This data can also inform decision making in range of policies including soil and water management, agriculture, forestry, energy and utilities, urban development, infrastructure and transport.

Funding for the operational phase

In the so-called "pre-operational validation phase", GMES services were developed through EU seventh research framework programme projects. To enter the operational phase, the programme now needs a new legal basis and additional funding, which the new regulation will provide, to start initial operations in 2011-2013.

The EU funding foreseen for the 3-year initial operations phase is €107 million, supplemented with €209 million from the seventh research framework programme's "space" theme for accompanying research actions. The GMES programme should be fully operational by 2014. Technical co-ordination and implementation will be responsibility of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Open access to information

Committee members strongly advocated open access to data gathered by satellite and this provision is included in the final draft. All information, except for security sensitive data, will be fully and openly accessible through a free-of-charge licensing and online access scheme. This should maximise benefits for the widest possible range of applications and foster a "downstream market" for which small and medium-sized software companies can develop new applications.

The draft GMES regulation was unanimously approved in committee, with 38 votes. It is currently scheduled for a plenary vote in June.

In chair: Herbert Reul (EPP, DE) [report]

Galileo Group, Inc., announced today that it will be collecting airborne hyperspectral imaging data from select areas of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline impacted by the oil spill and donating it to environmental groups, universities and research organizations. The information contained in the data sets can play a key role in helping to identify traces of oil in sensitive areas that can not be detected through standard means and greatly assist in the clean up effort.

Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced remote sensing technology, typically deployed from aircraft, which can lock onto and display unique naturally occurring spectral feature characteristics in specific targets of interest. As the oil strike reaches landfall and begins to interact with wetlands and sensitive environmental areas, Galileo's airborne hyperspectral technology will be able to track and pinpoint the spill within these complex mixed environments using advanced targeting algorithms.

"We have over twelve years of proven experience in remote sensing, usually in tough places under tough conditions," said Michael Barnes, Galileo Group CEO. "Large numbers of people and marine life will be affected adversely by this spill in both the near and long term. We believe a proactive role using 21st century technology is warranted to help address the situation. The organizations that can make the most sensible use of the information are probably the ones who can least afford these types of missions. As a Florida company experienced in coastal and offshore operations, we are committed to giving back and preserving the environment both now and for future generations. We plan to remotely sense the interaction of contaminant materials along select shoreline, rivers and wetlands, and donate the data sets to research organizations involved in the monitoring effort. This donation will assist researchers and planners in better understanding the long-term effects of this massive oil spill, thereby giving them an advantage in helping to preserve the environment in the best way possible."

Additionally, Galileo Group will provide standard commercial hyperspectral collection services on a quick response basis to government and business entities requiring data sets in a rapid response role.

About Galileo Group

Galileo Group Inc is an advanced technology company specializing in applied hyperspectral imaging. The technology was initially developed for US government applications such as detecting various ground combat targets through aerial reconnaissance. Galileo is focused on expanding its products and services using its proven hyperspectral imaging technology. The company has transitioned its imaging technology from government to commercial applications. This capability includes the digital extraction and analysis of spectral signatures, or "natural" bar codes, for detection applications such as the environmental, forestry and biotechnology markets. For more information, visit www.galileo-gp.com.

Source: Galileo Group via PR USA.

BBC reports: A national map of all of Scotland's native forests is starting to emerge for the first time.

Surveyors are conducting research in about 730,000 hectares of woodland across the whole of the country as part of a six-year study.

Their results have so far detailed the location, size and type of forests in eight local authority areas.

The areas covered are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, North, South and East Ayrshire and East Renfrew.

Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said: "Scotland's woodlands are becoming increasingly important to us in a number of ways - from sustaining and enhancing biodiversity to helping in the fight against climate change, from serving as a lynchpin for many rural enterprises, to offering a wide range of recreational opportunities to communities across the country.

"This is a hugely important survey and I am confident will make a significant contribution towards protecting, enhancing and expanding this magnificent resource."

Landowners, conservationists and local authorities will be able to use the information gathered to help them protect and develop these woodlands.

The research is being conducted by the Forestry Commission Scotland, with support from Scottish Natural Heritage.

A Forestry Commission spokesman said: "Our forests and woods are becoming increasingly significant factors in key industries such as green tourism and recreation provision.

"There is great potential to utilise the native woodland resource to enjoy these activities, and there is widespread public support for more native woodland in the landscape."

This summer Washington College is hosting a Computer Mapping Technology Summer Camp from June 20-26, 2010.

Computer mapping technology, also known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is an up and coming technology field with many future career opportunities for the youth of America. Many of today's young people are not aware of the possible future opportunities available to them. The Washington College summer camp experience is designed to introduce this new field and teach students how to utilize this technology on important community issues. These include environmental studies, governmental management of municipal infrastructures such as sewer and water, emergency management from natural disaster management to 9-1-1 response, and important community planning issues, such as future growth and the social impacts of this growth.

For more information please visit the site.

GeoEye, Inc. a premier provider of superior satellite and aerial-based geospatial information and services, announced today that it has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar order with its Russian reseller, ScanEx Research and Development Center, for more than two million square kilometers of high-resolution satellite imagery.

GeoEye’s high-resolution IKONOS satellite will capture imagery of infrastructure facilities, major population centers and tourist locations over Russia and neighboring areas. ScanEx is also able to sell imagery from GeoEye-1, the world’s highest resolution and most accurate commercial Earth-imaging satellite.

Moscow: Central District. IKONOS, 12.04.2010 (GeoEye, 2010)

— We are happy to continue our cooperation with GeoEye. Today, considering the size of the country and lack of current cartographic data, satellite imagery often serves as the only reliable source of information about territories. Moreover, for tasks related to infrastructure monitoring and search, rescue or recovery operations after emergencies, imagery is the most efficient data source for timely decision making, — said Olga Gershenzon, vice president for ScanEx.

Paolo Colombi, vice president of International Sales for GeoEye, commented:
— We are very pleased with this new order from ScanEx. The Russian market for high-resolution satellite imagery is very important to us, and we’ve been conducting imaging operations over Russia for some time. In 2009, our satellites collected some 11 million square kilometers of the Russian landmass.

IKONOS is the world’s first civil high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite able to see objects on the ground as small as 82 cm in size. GeoEye has already begun building GeoEye-2, its next generation commercial-imaging satellite slated for launch in late 2012.

— As a partner, ScanEx can count on us for high-resolution satellite imagery to meet the current and future needs of their customers, — added Colombi.

About GeoEye
GeoEye, Inc. is an international information services company serving government and commercial markets. The Company is recognized as one of the geospatial industry's imagery experts, delivering exceptional quality imagery products, services and solutions to customers around the world. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, the Company has 534 employees, as of December 31, 2009, dedicated to developing best-in-class geospatial information products and services. GeoEye is a public company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol GEOY. The Company provides support to academic institutions and non-governmental organizations through the GeoEye Foundation (http://www.geoeyefoundation.org). Additional information about GeoEye is available at www.geoeye.com.

About ScanEx
ScanEx Research and Development Center is the leading Russian company in the remote sensing market that offers services ranging from acquisition to thematic processing of Earth-observation images from space. ScanEx’s offerings include designing and manufacturing of hardware and software systems for spatial data reception and processing, development of software applications for satellite data reception and storage, processing and interpretation. ScanEx catalogues imagery data from leading remote sensing programs and generates thematic products, renderings and Web-mapping services.

Autodesk University 2010 User Conference. Autodesk University is coming up at the end of November, and if you’d like to teach a class, now is the time to submit your proposals.

AU's high-quality classes and knowledgeable instructors are some of the best to be found anywhere. Take this opportunity to distinguish yourself, share your expertise with like-minded professionals, and play a special part in making AU 2010 a great success.

This year's focus is on entirely new content for both the AU 2010 Conference and AU Virtual, which will be recorded at the AU 2010 conference in Las Vegas and broadcast via the Internet to technical professionals worldwide.

Visit the AU 2010 Call for Proposals website.

Autodesk University 2010 User Conference and Exhibition
Mandalay Bay Resort
Las Vegas, USA
November 30–December 2, 2010

The small but powerful camera of ESA’s Proba-V mission can fit on a single laboratory table for testing. But when it reaches orbit, this compact sensor will deliver a daily overview of virtually all vegetation growth across Earth.

Daily global monitoring is an ambitious enough goal for a full-sized mission, but Proba is ESA’s smallest satellite platform – smaller than a cubic metre.

The aim is to have a microsatellite doing an equivalent job to the wide-swath ‘Vegetation’ camera on France’s full-sized Spot-5 satellite. But engineers needed to shrink it by a factor of ten, swapping glass lenses for lighter aluminium mirrors and combining three separate telescopes.

A test version of Proba-V’s wide-viewing imager has been subjected to a combination of hard vacuum and temperature extremes in ESTEC’s Mechanical Systems Laboratory, simulating conditions it will face in space.

“We are checking the instrument temperature stays within set limits,” said Jorg Versluys of Belgium’s OIP, the company building the imager. “Because its three telescopes have overlapping views, any temperature-driven deformation could put them out of alignment.”

Proba-V is a new departure for the Proba series, explained Karim Mellab, Proba-V Project Manager: “Proba-V’s Vegetation payload will need to be operational on top of its experimental nature.”

For the past 12 years, the Vegetation camera on Spot-4 and Spot-5 has been recording global vegetation growth and land cover changes, using its extremely wide 2250 km multispectral viewing swath and the ability to revisit all locations on Earth on a daily basis.

But France’s planned Pleiades follow-on satellites have no room to carry further Vegetation cameras. Instead, ESA and the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office began investigating the feasibility of flying a cut-down version of the instrument to continue delivering data to its users.

“One of our main objectives is to get the new sensor in orbit by mid-2012,” explained Mr Mellab. “This will give us overlap with Spot-5’s Vegetation sensor, allowing us to calibrate the new instrument.”

ERDAS announces the release of ERDAS APOLLO Feature Interoperability, a new product extending ERDAS APOLLO’s native vector support by adding support for additional CAD and GIS formats and tools. IMAGINE Feature Interoperability was released in late 2009, adding similar support to ERDAS IMAGINE users.

ERDAS APOLLO Feature Interoperability provides access to GIS data formats, including a DGN Connector to ERDAS APOLLO that enables direct access to MicroStation’s DGN v7 and v8 format files via web services. The module is powered by Safe Software’s FME technology, which provides direct read and write support to a large and expanding number of vector feature formats.

“ERDAS APOLLO Feature Interoperability makes it easier for users to exchange data, easily converting to and from various formats,” said Mladen Stojic, Senior Vice President, Product Management & Marketing, ERDAS. “The ability to directly read and write the DGN format makes this format available in ERDAS APOLLO for visualization, analysis and mapping.”

Safe Software’s FME Workbench and Universal Viewer are bundled and enable format conversion, data manipulation and analysis. FME Workbench provides a graphical environment to quickly translate, transform and integrate spatial data in hundreds of formats. By dragging and dropping data, features and processes onto the canvas and making relevant connections, a multi-step conversion of features can be reduced to a single workflow. The FME Universal Viewer allows for visualization of the data, symbology edits and feature attribute queries.

ERDAS APOLLO Feature Interoperability is included in the ERDAS Software 2010, Version 10.1 release. For more information on ERDAS, please call +1 770 776 3400, toll free +1 877 GO ERDAS, or visit www.erdas.com.

Please make plans to join your fellow IDL and ENVI users at VISualize 2010 in Washington, DC on May 19-20. VISualize is designed to bring together IDL and ENVI users to provide opportunities for networking, sharing ideas, and working on strategies that advance our scientific data analysis and visualization community.

IDL Topics: May 19

· Some Useful Routines in the JHUAPL Library
· CASVU: The Cassini Saturn Visual Data Analysis Software Tool
· IDL as a Tool for Astrophysics Classes
· IDL 8.0 – The IDL Roadmap
· Data Mining and Visualization for Radio Astronomy
· Visualization of 4D Weather Cubes

ENVI Topics: May 20

· Remote Sensing Grain Crops with ENVI
· MRO CRISM Hyperspectral Data Filtering
· The ENVI Roadmap
· ArcGIS and ENVI Integration Using Python
· 3D Urban Terrain Generation using Airborne Hyperspectral and LIDAR Data
· On-Demand Remote Sensing and GIS Technology Demonstrator (Fire Response)

When:
05/19/10 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Where:
VISualize 2010
World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th St NW #6, Washington, DC 20037
USA

Register here.

The study — titled "Quantification of global gross forest cover loss" by Profs. Matthew Hansen and Peter Potapov of the Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence at the South Dakota State University — was posted last week on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Web site. USA Today covered the story:

Out of seven of the most heavily forested nations on Earth, the United States experienced a greater percentage of forest loss from 2000 to 2005 than did any of the other countries, a study said Monday.

The United States lost more than 46,000 square miles of forest in those years, a size roughly equivalent to the state of Pennsylvania. That's about 6% of the nation's forested land.

"That's the most of the seven countries that have over 1 million square kilometers of forest," says study lead author Matthew Hansen of South Dakota State University.

Worldwide, researchers determined that the globe lost forest cover of nearly 400,000 square miles — roughly 3% of the world's forested areas — during the first half of the last decade. The other countries in the study were Canada, Russia, China, Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The study found that the forest loss was the result of both human and natural causes.

"We do not quantify what the causes are, and we do not quantify how much forest gain there was from 2000 to 2005," Hansen says. "But clearly, industrial harvesting/clearing is very important."

Man-made causes of forest loss include logging and wildfires caused by people. Natural causes would include natural wildfires and storm damage.

The one part of the contiguous USA that experienced the most forest loss was the Southeast, a large chunk of which lost more than 10% of its forest cover from 2000 to 2005, the year for which the most recent data were available.

Hansen points out that the forest loss in the USA isn't necessarily permanent: "This does not mean that (the forests) do not regenerate, and we make no statements whatsoever about sustainability," he says. "But, compared to other regions of the world, a lot is going on."

The first of its kind, the study used satellite images to measure forest loss around the world. Hansen says much more study in the area is needed as improvements are made in satellite technology and accessibility. "We need to be more ambitious," he says. "If we had an improved monitoring capability, you could imagine a daily 'land report,' akin to weather, where fires, floods, crop emergence, new forest clearing, new construction are quantified."

Some of those who left comments online did not agree with the research results:

From smc8660:

As a forester in the southeast, it saddens me to see this article. By only covering the LOSSES they are crying wolf. Here in the Southeast, we supply most our country's timber but as any good forester knows our pine plantations are crops. Just like you would do with corn, we replant our trees. Usually, we replant in the same year that we harvest. Pine in the SE can be fully mature and ready for harvest, under good management at 25 years. If it is for pulpwood (paper products) it can be ready in 15 years.

So yes, you will see truck after truck of mature pine being taken to a mill. What you never see is the truck containing thousands of seedlings. Big trees are easy to see, the thousands that arrive in refrigerated trucks are not.

Think about it, would it make ANY sense to ignore replanting? We wouldn't have a career if we didn't replant. Plus, I guarantee, most people cannot tell the difference between 20 yr old pine and 40 year old pine. In the SE, "old growth" (a misleading term at BEST) is 50-70 yrs.

Support agriculture, support your land-grant universities, support your future with responsible forestry.

Please be a more balanced reporter Mr. Rice, it would improve your reputation.

SuperGeo’s latest desktop geographic information system, SuperGIS Desktop 3, is going to be released.

SuperGIS Desktop 3, the flagship desktop GIS software of SuperGIS 3 series products, has various and powerful GIS tools, enabling GIS experts to display, edit, manage, query, analyze the geospatial data and the related data. Therefore, the experts can obtain the distribution type of spatial data, geographic analysis, spatial relationship and so on, and the data could be the essential reference for policy making.

SuperGIS Desktop 3 supports Windows 7. Due to supports of 64-bit and multi-core processor and significant improvement of the use of memory, the performance of Windows is greatly enhanced. The support of Windows 7 can make the powerful GIS capabilities of SuperGIS Desktop 3, like map editing and management, data processing, etc be used much more adequately. Consequently, users can effectively deal with a large quantity of complicated spatial data in a high-efficiency and high-quality operating environment.