GIS in Education

ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) aims to facilitate the use of space technology and space-based infrastructures -- such as global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) -- for non-space applications. Nowadays, it seems hard to get around without GPS. You get in your car, turn on your navigation device, and always know when to turn left or right. However, GNSS have potential for much more than just giving us directions.

This is why ESA is sponsoring a special topic prize in the international ideas competition ESNC. The organisation will award the ESA Innovation Prize to whoever comes up with the best business idea using GNSS. The judging criteria will be the amount of time required to implement the idea and its market potential, as ESA is looking for ideas that can be incorporated quickly into a profitable business. In addition to a EUR 10,000 cash prize, the winner may be supported at one of the five ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs). There, incubated companies not only get free office space, but technical and financial support to realise their ideas, as well.

Last year, Rafael Olmedo and Luis Burillo from Spain won the jury over with their project “NEPA”, which monitors waterways to identify and locate water pollution. Detecting sources of water pollution along minor waterways is of primary interest to authorities trying to uncover illegal activities and specific sources of water quality degradation. Sensors analyse the water quality, and the GPS augmentation system EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) locates the source of the pollution. “The innovation of NEPA lies in the combination of satellite navigation, wireless communication, and electronic technologies,” says Rafael Olmedo. The jury of experts agreed in rendering their assessment: “The different technologies for measuring and tracking water pollution are already there and can be rapidly implemented in the product. NEPA’s innovation lies in how it combines these technologies in a single new system.”

Tim Springer, the ESA special topic prize winner in 2009, is currently at the ESA BIC Darmstadt, Germany. In 2009, he submitted a high-accuracy GNSS solution for locating ships at sea. His spin-off now has three employees and his service, “Positim”, is in its testing phase. “We are also working on a survey to improve the accuracy for users,” Springer reports.

About the European Satellite Navigation Competition:

The European Satellite Navigation Competition is an international ideas competition that awards the best ideas based on satellite navigation. Anyone can participate, from companies and entrepreneurs to research institutes, universities, and private individuals. What counts is the idea. Between 1 April and 30 June, participants can submit their ideas at www.galileo-masters.eu.

Having started in 2004 with three partner regions, the ESNC has since grown into a global network of innovation and expertise. More than 20 regions now compete against each other to produce the overall winner – the Galileo Master – who receives EUR 20,000 and the chance to realise their idea at an incubation centre of their choice.
www.galileo-masters.eu

WebMapSolutions have just released a demo of a native ArcGIS application running on the new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

The application is written in Adobe AIR and includes both basic and advanced functionality. It is built using an extremely flexible framework which will allow the easy addition of new tools or widgets.

Video: Mobile GIS on BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

Cityworks, the leading provider of GIS-centric management solutions, congratulates the recipients of the 2011 Cityworks User of the Year Award in Recognition for GIS-Centric Excellence and Leadership: Cucamonga Valley Water District (California), City of Delaware (Ohio), City of Kitchener (Ontario, Canada), City of Palm Bay (Florida), and Waterford Township (Michigan). The awards were presented at the 2011 Cityworks User Conference held last week in St. George, Utah.

The Cityworks User of the Year Award recognizes organizations as vanguards for their GIS-centric vision and practice which enables them to meet a variety of goals and objectives in asset management, permitting, licensing, and more. These five award-winning sites consistently demonstrate high levels of increased efficiencies and measured performance. Cityworks is very proud of their accomplishments as well as many others throughout the user community.

President and CEO of Cityworks, Brian Haslam, presented the awards at the plenary session of the Cityworks User Conference on Monday, May 16, 2011. The following individuals received the award on behalf of their organizations:

* Cucamonga Valley Water District, California - Marty Zvirbulis and Darron Poulsen
* City of Delaware, Ohio – R. Thomas Homan and Perry Mickley
* City of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada – R. Thomas Homan, Mike Bolger, Sharon McDonald and Janet England
* Palm Bay, Florida – Crystal Phillips-Mustain and Ellen Prendergast
* Waterford Township, Michigan – Carl W. Solden and Terry Biederman

“We have an amazing user base, and the group of clients awarded this year’s Cityworks User of the Year Award are as good as they get,” stated Mr. Haslam. “While it is difficult to pinpoint just a few, those selected are definitely lighthouses in our user community. We want to recognize and extend our appreciation to these organizations. They have demonstrated outstanding GIS-centric techniques and capabilities, and we are thrilled they have fully taken advantage of Cityworks robust, powerful technology combined with Esri’s leading ArcGIS software.”

Source: cityworks.com

Venezuela and China today signed a manufacturing contract for the second satellite, which will be launched in October 2012, the Venezuela News Agency reported, via People's Daily Online.

"This remote sensing satellite will be for monitoring the development and impact of natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, floods and heavy rains," said Menendez, the minister for Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries.

The construction of a second satellite with a designed service life of five to six year has begun and it will cost Venezuela 1.4 billion dollars.

In October 2008, China handed over the first Chinese-built telecommunication satellite to Venezuela.

NASA received a total of 331 applications to the NASA Earth and Space Science (NESSF) Fellowship Program announced in November 2010 in Earth Science Research and selected 57 for award, pending acceptance by each applicant and their respective institution; they are:

Andersen, Theresa K (Student); James Shepherd (Advisor); University of Georgia
The "Brown Ocean" Concept: A Spatio-Temporal and Theoretical Analysis of Re-Intensifying Tropical Cyclones Over Land

Bagnardi, Marco (Student); Falk Amelung (Advisor); University of Miami
Dynamics of Magma Storage At Basaltic Volcanoes: Multi-Parameter Geophysical Studies of The Hawaiian and Galapagos Volcanoes

Barman, Rahul (Student); Atul Jain (Advisor); University of Illinois
Investigating Biogeophysical-Biogeochemical Interactions In The Northern High-Latitudes Using A Land Surface Model Integrating Recent Advances In Terrestrial Modeling, and Land Use Change

Brown, Zachary (Student); Kevin Arrigo (Advisor); Stanford University
The Environmental Drivers of Phytoplankton Production In The Bering Sea: A Remote Sensing Approach

Capps, Shannon L (Student); Athanasios Nenes (Advisor); Georgia Institute of Technology
Employing Observations To Improve Estimates of Atmospheric Composition: Integration and Application of ANISORROPIA In The GEOS-CHEM Adjoint

Cecelski, Stefan F (Student); Da-Lin Zhang (Advisor); University of Maryland
An Investigation of Tropical Cyclogenesis From African Easterly Waves

Chaussard, Estelle (Student); Falk Amelung (Advisor); University of Miami
Testing Hypotheses About The Depth of Magma Chambers In Volcanic Arcs Using ALOS PALSAR.

Chen, Haidi (Student); Galen McKinley (Advisor); University of Wisconsin - Madison
Impact of Mesoscale Eddies and Mode Water Circulation On Surface Chlorophyll and Phytoplankton Size Distribution In The North Atlantic

Coburn, Sean (Student); Rainer Volkamer (Advisor); University of Colorado at Boulder
Interpretative Analysis of DOAS Measurements of Reactive Gases Over The Tropical Pacific Ocean: Satellite Validation and Use of Satellite Data For Interpretation

Darnell, Kristopher N (Student); Douglas MacAyeal (Advisor); University of Chicago
The Supra-Glacial Hydrological System of The Greenland Ice Sheet: A Numerical Model Constrained By Airborne and Satellite Data

DeVisser, Mark H (Student); Joseph Messina (Advisor); Michigan State University
NESS Fellowship: Land Cover Change and Disease Ecology: The Unintended Impacts of Prosopis Juliflora In Kenya

Di Pierro, Maurizio (Student); Lyatt Jaegle (Advisor); University of Washington
Satellite Observations of Arctic Aerosols

Dolgos, Gergely (Student); J. Vanderlei Martins (Advisor); University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Airborne, Polarized Imaging Nephelometer For Measuring Aerosol Phase Matrix: In Situ Experiments and Comparison To The New Generation of Remote Sensors

Duncanson, Laura (Student); Ralph Dubayah (Advisor); University of Maryland
Combining Lidar/Radar Fusion, Allometric Scaling Theory, and Ecosystem Modeling For Improved Estimation of Forest Biomass, Structure and Dynamics

Dwyer, John G (Student); Adam Sobel (Advisor); Columbia University
Shifting Seasonal Cycle, Changing Monsoons, and The Role of Sea Ice

Girotto, Manuela (Student); Steven Margulis (Advisor); UCLA
Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Sierra Nevada Snowpack Using A Fractional Snow Covered Area Data Assimilation Approach

Hampton, Haydee (Student); Bruce Hungate (Advisor); Northern Arizona University
Climate Forcing Implications of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Management

Hanshaw, Maiana N (Student); Bodo Bookhagen (Advisor); University of California, Santa Barbara
Volumetric Glacial Changes In The Central Andes During The Past Four Decades: Climate Change, Debris Coverage, or ENSO Variability?

Hirpa, Feyera Aga (Student); Mekonnen Gebremichael (Advisor); University of Connecticut
Ensemble Data Assimilation of Satellite-Based Soil Moisture and Surface Water Area Estimates For Accurate Flood Forecasting

Hull, Vanessa (Student); Jack Liu (Advisor); Michigan State University
Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Animal Habitat Selection Across A Coupled Human and Natural System

Jones, Alexandra L (Student); Larry Di Girolamo (Advisor); University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
3D Radiative Impact On Dynamical and Physical Properties of Modeled Marine Trade Wind Cumulus

Kelly, Anne E (Student); Michael Goulden (Advisor); University of California
Climate Controls On Forest Biomass, Productivity, and Species Distribution Along The Western Sierra Nevada Gradient

Kenny, William T (Student); Gil Bohrer (Advisor); The Ohio State University
Modeling The Effect of High-Resolution Land-Surface Heterogeneity and Forest Structure On Emission, Chemistry, and Dispersion of Volatile Organic Compounds and Reactant Species

Liu, Yingjun (Student); Scot Martin (Advisor); Harvard University
Experimental Investigation of Isoprene Oxidation For Different Limiting Chemical Regimes: Updating The Oxidation Mechanism To Evaluate and Improve Satellite Retrievals of Formaldehyde and Glyoxal

Meigs, Garrett W (Student); Robert Kennedy (Advisor); Oregon State University
Mapping Disturbance Interactions From Earth and Space: Insect Effects On Fuels and Wildfires Across Forests of The Pacific Northwest

Midekisa, Alemayehu A (Student); Michael Wimberly (Advisor); South Dakota State University
Integrating Multi-Sensor Satellite Data For Malaria Early Warning In The Amhara Region of Ethiopia

Miege, Clement (Student); Richard Forster (Advisor); University of Utah
Estimating Southeast Greenland Annual Snow Accumulation Over The Last Decades Using Ice-Surface Radar, Airborne NASA Icebridge Radar and Firn-Core Data

Mims, Amanda (Student); Chris Ruf (Advisor); University of Michigan
Development of Ocean Surface Wind Vector Retrieval Algorithm For Passive Microwave Radiometers In Tropical Cyclones

Minchew, Brent (Student); Mark Simons (Advisor); Caltech
Temperate Glacier Observations With L-Band Sar

Mini, Caroline (Student); Terri Hogue (Advisor); UCLA
Predicting Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Urban Water Use Under Climate Change and Societal Influence

Moon, Woosok (Student); John Wettlaufer (Advisor); Yale University
Arctic Sea Ice: Trends, Stability and Variability

Myers, Timothy Albert (Student); Joel Norris (Advisor); University of California, San Diego
Marine Stratiform Cloud Variability: Driving Mechanisms and Change Due To 2Xco2

Nasrollahi, Nasrin (Student); Soroosh Sorooshian (Advisor); University of California, Irvine
Improving Satellite-Based Precipitation Retrieval Using MODIS Multi-Spectral Image and Cloudsat Cloud Classification Map

Nievinski, Felipe G (Student); Kristine Larson (Advisor); University of Colorado
GPS Interferometric Reflectometry: Developing A Ground-Based Method To Measure Snow Water Equivalent

Olson, Elise (Student); Dennis McGillicuddy Jr. (Advisor); Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Understanding The Role of The Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacterium Trichodesmium In The Oceanic Nitrogen and Carbon Cycles: In Situ Measurement, Satellite Observation, and Biogeochemical Modeling.

Ouellette, Jeffrey (Student); Joel Johnson (Advisor); The Ohio State University
Empirical Studies of Soil Moisture Estimation Using L-Band Radar Systems

Patton, Jason C (Student); Brian Hornbuckle (Advisor); Iowa State University
Comparing Different Sources of Vegetation Water Content Data For Use In SMAP Soil Moisture Retrieval

Purkey, Sarah G (Student); LuAnne Thompson (Advisor); University of Washington
Analyzing Sea Level Rise Through The Synthesis of Satellite Altimetry, Satellite Gravity and Full-Depth Ocean Temperature and Salinity Data

Rasmussen, Kristen Lani (Student); Robert Houze Jr. (Advisor); University of Washington
Analysis of High Impact Weather Patterns Seen By TRMM

Reed, Kimberly A (Student); Stephen Nesbitt (Advisor); University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
An Orographic Optimization Technique For Improved Satellite Quantitative Precipitation Estimation In Complex Terrain

Richey, Sasha S (Student); James Famiglietti (Advisor); University of California, Irvine
A GRACE-Based Index of Global Freshwater Availability and Stress

Sachs, Michael Karl (Student); John Rundle (Advisor); University of California
Virtual California Simulations For Nasa Insar Data

Schmidt, Clint T (Student); Timothy Garrett (Advisor); University of Utah
Application of Ceres Energy Budget Data To Improve Understanding of The Dynamic Role of Clouds In The Earth's Planetary Albedo

Shah, Rashmi (Student); James Garrison (Advisor); Purdue University
Remote Sensing of Ocean Surface Using Digital Communication Signals

Shaw, Jeremy (Student); Dacian Daescu (Advisor); Portland State University
Optimization of The Information Error Statistics In Multi-Sensor Atmospheric Data Assimilation

Shinko, Andrew P (Student); Sadhan Jana (Advisor); University of Akron
Shape Memory Polyimide Aerogel Composites For Lightweight Aerospace Applications

Siegfried, Matthew R (Student); Helen Fricker (Advisor); Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Investigating Ice Sheet Processes From Repeat-Track Satellite and Airborne Laser Altimetry

Tao, Cheng (Student); Haiyan Jiang (Advisor); Florida International University
Climatology of Hot Towers In Tropical Cyclones and Their Role In Tropical Cyclone Intensity Changes Based On 12 Years of TRMM Data

Tredennick, Andrew Thomas (Student); Kathleen Galvin (Advisor); Colorado State University
Fuelwood, Savannas, and Climate Change: Integrating Modeling, Field Experimentation, and Optical and Radar Remote Sensing

RapidEye, a leader in wide area, repetitive coverage of Earth through its constellation of satellites announced today that a partnership agreement has been signed between RapidEye and the ImageSat International.

The agreement allows ImageSat to use RapidEye imagery to colorize their panchromatic 0.7 meter resolution imagery to produce a colorized product.

John Ahlrichs, RapidEye's Vice President commented, "This unique partnership combines the strengths of two major imaging companies. RapidEye's global, fresh archive of five meter data is the perfect source for ImageSat to use in creating a color ImageSat product. We can almost guarantee that we will have imagery in our extensive archive that will meet the needs of Imagesat and their customers."

"This parthnership allows ImageSat to bring another dimension to the very high resolution panchromatic EROS images," said Rani Hellerman, Director of Business Development for ImageSat. "The combination of RapidEye's constellation and the EROS satellites allows ImageSat to offer colorized data with great quality for a wide range of applications.“

RapidEye is continually forming strategic partnerships in multiple markets with the goal of creating business opportunities worldwide.

Pictometry International Corp. announced that it has acquired Indianapolis-based GeoEstimator, a leading provider of roof measurements based on aerial imagery.

“The combination of Pictometry and GeoEstimator is a perfect match for our growing insurance and construction verticals,” said Rick Hurwitz, Pictometry CEO. “Pictometry is evolving and growing more fully into its vision of being a complete, online solutions provider for commercial industries and this acquisition marks a sizeable step in that direction.”

As a result of the acquisition, GeoEstimator’s 80-person workforce will join Pictometry’s global team but will continue to work out of their Indianapolis headquarters. In addition, Pictometry will be making a significant investment to further scale the overall operation to meet the growing demand for roof reports, as insurers recognize the benefits of quick, independent and accurate reports to speed the claims process.

Dale Thornberry, Founder and CEO of GeoEstimator said, “We are proud to join the Pictometry Team and help bring new and innovative solutions to the remote measuring industry, while expanding our capacity to meet the demands of this growing market.”

GeoEstimator’s innovative technology combines Pictometry’s high resolution imagery and measuring capabilities with reporting capabilities to create drawings and accurate calculations of roof area, lineal footage of ridge, valley, eave, rake, hip and step flashing. The end result is a downloadable file that can be easily adjusted to accommodate any additional information that’s needed.

The annual Open Source GIS Conference - OSGIS 2011 Conference is being hosted by the Centre for Geospatial Science at Nottingham University on June 21-22nd.

Registrations close on 31st May.

The OSGIS conference series has a strong international focus and takes a holistic approach in bringing together speakers and delegates from government, academe, industry and open source communities. High profile speakers from all over the world are invited for giving presentations and running hands-on workshops for the conference series.

The key aims of OSGIS conference series are:

1. to hear presentations from government, academic, industry and policy makers on open source, open standards and open data geospatial technologies
2. to provide platform to network and develop ideas for future collaborative work in open source GIS
3. to understand current developments in open source GIS
4. to act as a focus for open source, open standards, open data GIS research

OSGIS 2011 Keynote address - "Open Source Geospatial Business Intelligence"- Professor Thierry Badard (Laval University, Canada)

"Open Nottingham- Knowledge without borders" -Professor Christine Ennew (Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Nottingham) & Prof. Wyn Morgan (University of Nottingham)

"The impact of open data, open source software and open standards on the evolution of National SDIs" -Professor Mike Jackson, Director, Centre for Geospatial Science

OGC-OSGeo Interoperability Day (Organised by Tyler Mitchell, Executive Director, Open Source Geospatial Foundation)

Confirmed workshops for Interoperability Day on 21 June 2011:

Consuming and Publishing Ordnance Survey Open Data with Open Source software Workshop - (Astun Technology, UK)
One Geology Workshop - (British Geological Survey)
Geoserver Workshop - (GeoSolutions, Italy)
WMS/QGIS Workshop - (Faunalia,UK)

European Space Agency, ESA, is helping to take the bite out of mosquitoes and their deadly diseases by tracking their distribution and habitat via observation satellites, satnav, and mobile communications.

The Vecmap initiative is testing the accurate mapping of mosquitoes in Europe, in particular, mosquitoes carrying diseases, for public health agencies and regional mosquito controllers. Testing began in 2009 in the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy. Transmitters of disease such as mosquitoes are known as vectors.

With this information, the insects can be kept below the level where they become a nuisance or able to spread disease.

Vecmap is now being refined and is planned to be tested further by users in several European countries during the next two summer seasons before it is marketed commercially.

Predicting mosquito presence, abundance and risks is difficult. The conditions, location and timing of hatching vary widely between species. Highly detailed and frequent information on the local environment and weather conditions are required.

ESA has enabled three companies to join forces in developing Vecmap, who are now working closely with future users. Users are being coordinated by The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

Vecmap addresses the problem by integrating the entire process of producing risk maps into a single package that can be used by a wide range of practitioners.

Vecmap combines inputs from field work and Earth observation satellites such as vegetation, land temperature, moisture and water bodies. The field measurements are entered into a palm-to-web terminal or smart phone, which pinpoints them using satnav. Then they are transferred to a central database. In this way, the field work can be done effectively and independently.

The consortium is led by Avia-GIS (BE), a company specialising in spatial risk management, and includes ERGO (GB), MEDES (FR) as developing partners; VITO (BE) and EARS (NL) which provide remote sensing imagery; and RIVM which represents the user community.

Representatives from NOAA and the Agulhas-Somali Currents Large Marine Ecosystem (ASCLME) recently formalized an agreement that will help African and Indian Ocean states better manage their ocean ecosystems and resources. The collaboration will support the collection of much-needed data and provide NOAA with shiptime from the region to improve weather forecasts and provide climate information. This agreement also fills the remaining gap of the Tropical Moored Buoy Array so that it spans the Pacific, Atlantic, and now Indian oceans.

During the past three years, a partnership and collaborative understanding has been growing in this region between NOAA and the ASCLME Project, which is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project represents the interests of nine countries in the western Indian Ocean—Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania—with France also engaged as an observer country.

NOAA and UNDP will work together for the next five years to launch and maintain long-term monitoring systems in the western Indian Ocean. These systems consist primarily of offshore ocean-atmosphere data collection buoys, known as the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA). RAMA will acquire data for monitoring ocean conditions and for models that eventually will be part of an early warning system for monsoons, climate change, droughts, floods and ecosystem variability.

The agreement also provides for technical training in mooring deployment and maintenance as well as data analysis, and provides research vessels to NOAA for this work. The African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development, a European Union Satellite consortium, also participated in this workshop and plans to couple their remote sensing with in-situ ocean observations of the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel, which collects data from the autonomous Argo floats and other devices.

The doctorate program at the Clark University Graduate School of Geography is top-ranked in the nation by the National Research Council (NRC).

In April, the NRC released an update to its Data-Based Assessment on Research Doctorate Programs in the United States, a complex and long-anticipated assessment first published in September 2010. Clark ranks at the top with UCLA, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Clark stands out among the 49 geography doctoral programs evaluated in the NRC report as the only top-10 department that is housed within a liberal arts research university, and as one of a small number of departments that sustains a balanced program of research and education across the full breadth of the discipline.

As the oldest, sustained doctoral program in Geography in the country, Clark Geography has granted the largest number of doctoral degrees in the United States and is consistently ranked among the top programs and sustains its reputation in various polls and peer-review rankings.

Clark Geography faculty and students have established themselves as global leaders in innovative, theory-driven research spanning geography's subfields (urban-economic, human-environment, earth-system sciences, Geographic Information Science). Clark's new president, David Angel, is an economic geographer.

Clark doctoral alumni achieve prominent academic and senior non-academic research positions (e.g., NASA). Many international alumni hold important government positions in their home countries (e.g., European Commission) or with non-profit organizations (e.g., National Coffee Growers' Federation in Colombia).

Clark University is a teaching and research institution founded in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in the United States. Until Clark instituted undergraduate programs in 1902, the university offered only Ph.D. granting programs. Clark is also one of the oldest universities to offer formal graduate programs, second only to Johns Hopkins University.

The NRC assessment is based on a variety of data, including faculty research funding, publications, faculty composition, program size, and others. The doctoral programs assessed were scored within two major categories: peer-to-peer survey assessment and objective categories. The updated NRC report also ranks Clark University among the top in a number of objective categories, including percentage of students with external fellowships, average number of Ph.D. graduates, percentage of international students, diversity, faculty performance and awards, research activity and citations per faculty publication.

To learn more, visit the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University, or contact Email Contact.

CONTACT: Marketing and Communications, +1-508-793-7441

SOURCE Clark University

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Board of Directors approved the formation of a Lidar Division at its Board meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Thursday, May 5. Lewis Graham, CEO of GeoCue Group, was appointed Interim Division Director until a national election for this position is held in late 2011. The new division would subsume the current ASPRS Airborne and Mobile Lidar subcommittees (retaining them as subcommittees within the Lidar Division) and have a top level link on the ASPRS web site.

Graham first proposed the formation of a Lidar Division at the ASPRS 2010 fall Board of Directors meeting. The Board unanimously agreed that they would support the formation of a new division and instructed Graham to obtain support from the required number of voting members of ASPRS. More than sufficient signatures were collected, enabling a Board ballot to finalize the establishment of the Division.

The rationale for forming a Lidar Division stems from the fact that technology in this area is currently exhibiting the most growth and innovation. According to Graham, "We are, I believe, at a critical point in the evolution of laser scanning technology for mapping. ASPRS is currently the only organized repository for technical information for mapping lidar. The Society has released guidelines for horizontal and vertical accuracy for airborne laser scanning. ASPRS also, of course, is the keeper of the LAS, the ubiquitous file format exchange standard for kinematic lidar data." Graham’s intent was to form a vertical division within ASPRS for what he calls Kinematic Laser Scanning. The focus being moving lidar platforms, not stationary tripod scanners (these devices are solidly an element of the survey community and are technically covered by the ASTM).

Reacting to the decision by the Board, ASPRS Executive Director Jim Plasker observed "Establishing the Lidar Division represents yet another forward-leaning action by ASPRS. Over the years, one of the most important aspects underpinning the evolution of ASPRS has been its ability to maintain its relevance with respect to the cutting edge technologies of the day, and to adapt the organization to those changing technologies. Thus, the Society began with only photogrammetry as its focus (and within its name), but over time embraced each major technological breakthrough in the (now) geospatial sciences. This has kept ASPRS in a strong leadership position throughout its history, and we see the Lidar Division fitting well within that arc."

The last new division added by the ASPRS Board was the Geographic Information Systems Division in late 1988. When individuals join ASPRS, they indicate their technical division preference on the membership form and are invited to participate in the ongoing technical work of the divisions. ASPRS has operated with five divisions for the last 23 years -- the Geographic Information Systems Division, Photogrammetric Applications Division, Primary Data Acquisition Division, Professional Practice Division, and the Remote Sensing Applications Division.

Ivan John Uy, Chairman, Philippine Commission on ICT (CICT), proposed that Philippine government agencies should come up with a unified GIS so geospatial information will be available to the different government sectors for more effective decision-making and better streamline of public services and to bring about cost savings.

Uy was in an interview with FutureGov. He said, “Other government departments are using their own GIS, they are getting budget for it. In fact, if budget are put together and come up with a single GIS and everybody will just populate their own then it would have been simplified and information would have been easily shared.”

With a unified GIS, the government will maximise the power of the GIS instead of having islands of information, he added. The CICT has a budget of Php53 million (USD 1.2 million) which is only “about the budget of medium-sized barangay”, Uy continued.

The national government has allocated Php 1 billion (USD 23 million) as the e-government fund. In addition, Uy informed that the Commission on Election, Social Security Services, National Bureau of Investigation, and Philippine National Police, for instance, has their own biometric capture system.

In an effort to improve government interoperability, the CICT has develop applications for e-Business Permits and Licensing System (e-BPLS) and Real Property Tax System (e-RPTS) on open source and deployed them for free to the local government units. Around 200 local municipalities have already adopted e-BPLS and e-RPTS, said Uy. There are 1,600 municipalities in the Philippines.

Argentina's National University of La Plata is joining hands with NASA and Dassault Systems Solutions in a project that will see the Argentine engineering and aeronautics experts collaborating in the building of a climate change monitoring satellite.

The partnership was hailed as the first collaboration of its kind, mainly because of NASA's decision to outsource some of the key work.

Dassault Systemes, a major player in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management solutions and the Argentine university unveiled their key contributions to Project Aquaries-SAC-D, a satellite mission that uses scientific applications that help predict climatic changes accurately.

UNLP used Dassault Systemes solutions to design, develop, test and manage two of seven major instruments that make up the SAC-D Aquarius project.

Argentine industry analysts hailed the announcement as a major advance for Argentina as it endeavors to regenerate its aerospace and defense industries. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has set military industry modernization as of her announced goals.

SAC-D resulted from an international partnership between Argentine, French and U.S. companies. The partnership includes the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Center, Dassault Systemes and Argentina's National Commission for Space Activities, known by its Spanish acronym of CONAE or Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales.

Dassault Systemes has headquarters in Velizy-Villacoublay, France but operates most of its operations in the Americas from regional headquarters in Lowell, Mass. The company has more than 130,000 customers in 80 countries.

Students at UNLP's Faculty of Engineering and Aeronautics Department used Dassault Systemes' ENOVIA V6 for live online collaboration and program management, the companies said in a joint news release.

Also used in the project were CATIA PLM Express for the design of multiple structure modules and SIMULIA for satellite structural calculations.

Dassault Systemes helped simplify the complex tasks involved in conducting multiple version reviews, tracking and approving design, document and drawings changes.
[SOURCE: Spacemart]

GIS Job Description: Utility GIS Consultant, Senior Programmer/Analyst

Wind Lake Solutions, Inc., (WLS) a leading GIS data and consulting company, is looking for a GIS Consultant and/or Senior Programmer/Analyst in our Mukwonago, Wisconsin office. Our software development team provides design and development for our internal production staff as well as consulting and custom applications to our external customers. WLS has an excellent full-time career opportunity for a Consultant with experience in the analysis, design, development, and deployment of utility GIS solutions and the integration of GIS with other utility Operations Support System (OSS) applications. WLS is also interested in adding a strong Senior Programmer/ Analyst to our team who will be responsible for the design, development, testing, and implementation of software solutions for GIS as well as WLS’ external product development. The successful applicant will work as a member of the team in Wind Lake’s Mukwonago, WI office.

Responsibilities:

This individual will perform a variety of tasks relating to the analysis, design, development, and deployment of information systems solutions for utility companies. Additional responsibilities may include:

- Supporting sales activities including participating in sales calls, proposal development, and customer interviews and presentations.
- Working with utility customers to analyze and document requirements associated with implementation, replacement, or enhancement of systems and/or processes.
- Working independently and in collaboration with company and customer peers in the development of design specifications for systems and associated processes.
- Developing and analyzing logical and physical data models.
- Designing, developing, testing and implementing various software solutions for WLS’ customers and in support of WLS ongoing product development.
- Working with peers to develop strategies to support the organization’s objectives.

Wind Lake Solutions offers competitive wages and benefits including life insurance at no cost to employees, generous health and dental plan with WLS paying 75% for you and your dependents, long-term disability coverage, paid holidays, and no waiting period for vacation and sick time accrual.

To be considered for this position, email resume and salary requirements to jobs@windlakesolutions.com or submit hardcopy information to:

Human Resources Department
Wind Lake Solutions, Inc.
400 Bay View Road, Suite A
Mukwonago, WI 53149

Requirements:
The ideal candidate will have experience and knowledge of utility OSS functionality and its integration with utility business processes, solid written and verbal communications skills, creativity and problem solving skills, as well as leadership capabilities. Additional requirements are:

- At least two years experience in the design, implementation, or deployment of utility GIS solutions. Experience in implementation and/or integration of WMS, OMS, MWM, Network Design, or Network Analysis solutions a plus.
- Experience with ESRI ArcGIS, Miner & Miner ArcFM and other industry-leading utility OSS applications as well as commercial RDBMS environments such as Oracle or SQL Server.
- Prior experience as an IS consultant or business analyst. Such experience in a utility environment a plus.
- Process analysis and design experience.
- Data modeling experience.
- Technical / development experience with ESRI ArcGIS, ArcSDE, ArcObjects and /or ArcIMS. Development experience with Visual .NET (VB, C++). Web development experience with HTML, ASP.NET, IIS, etc. Data interchange experience with XML.
- BS in engineering, computer science, or a relevant business discipline. Job experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
- Solid desktop applications use capabilities.
- Ability to travel. Travel requirements will vary, but may reach 50% if required to support specific customer needs.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form an innovative partnership of federal agencies to address America’s growing water resources challenges.

Water resources decision makers nationwide require new and more integrated information and services to adapt to the uncertainty of future climate, land-use changes, an aging water delivery infrastructure, and an increasing demand on limited resources. These agencies, with complementary missions in water science, observation, prediction and management, have formed this partnership to unify their commitment to address the nation’s water resources information and management needs.

To meet this demand for information, the Collaborative Science, Services and Tools to Support Integrated and Adaptive Water Resources Management MOU signed today will facilitate addressing water information needs including the creation of high-resolution forecasts of water resources showing where water for drinking, industry and ecosystems will be available. In addition, integrated water information will provide one-stop shopping through a database portal to support stakeholders in managing water resources.

The MOU also sets the foundation for other federal agencies and partners to elect to join the collaborative partnership in the future.

The Honorable Terrence (Rock) Salt, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, and Dr. Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey signed the MOU during a ceremony at Georgetown Waterfront Park, near the Potomac River streamgage in Washington, D.C.

“Water resources management will be one of the most significant challenges facing the nation in the 21st century,” said The Honorable Terrence (Rock) Salt, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “This Memorandum of Understanding is a commitment by our agencies to work together and closely coordinate our efforts in water management to

provide the nation with critically needed water resources information and support for better and smarter water planning and management. The agreement achieves one of our objectives to build a federal partnership to align programs and capabilities to support the states and stakeholders in smart, collaborative efforts.”

“This initiative will leverage each agency's expertise to improve water resource forecasts and facilitate informed decisions, all utilizing the best available science," said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "This marks a step forward in providing tailored, easily accessible and usable water information services to the people who need it."

“This partnership is a great example of how forward-thinking government agencies can enhance their complementary resources while providing great service to the nation on issues of critical importance,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt. “We built upon a successful collaboration developed during times of extreme events, and we are extending it to a stronger, enduring relationship through the MOU.”

The MOU will serve as an umbrella agreement that will allow the participating agencies to coordinate and cooperate in activities to improve water resource services. Cooperative activities in these fields may include, but are not limited to, project plan development; exchange of technical information, tools and services; joint studies; research and development activities of mutual interest; joint educational and communications activities to advance the understanding of water resources planning and management; and exchange visits and work details of individuals sponsored by all agencies who are engaged in water resources projects of mutual interest.

The MOU is designed to facilitate the ability of agency scientists, engineers, and managers to work together; achieve mutual goals and leverage resources for sharing information; and plan, develop, and implement initiatives in support of integrative and adaptive water resources management.

NOAA, USACE and USGS have a long history of working with one another and information sharing. For example, for more than 100 years, the USGS, in collaboration with the USACE and 850 other cooperators, has operated a nationwide streamgage network that monitors the water level and flow of the nation’s rivers and streams. The National Weather Service, under NOAA, forecasts flooding using this streamgage data to reduce losses from flood damages.

The new agreement will further facilitate earlier and more accurate flood predictions and allow these government agencies to expand river and flood maps showing forecasted spatial extent and depth of flooding, which is only one example of the activities that will support the intent of the agreement.

The partnership will address the goals of the Integrated Water Resources Science and Services (IWRSS) initiative and the objective of the Building Strong Collaborative Relationships for a Sustainable Water Resources Future initiative to build a Federal Support Toolbox for Integrated Water Resources Management.

After taking part in a competitive tender process, CARIS is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the National Survey Storage System project from Rijkswaterstaat.

Rijkswaterstaat, the executive body of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment in the Netherlands, has several responsibilities: ensuring the safe and smooth flow of traffic on roads and waterways; protection against flooding; providing sufficient, clean water; and supplying reliable and useful information to stakeholders. Because the Netherlands has one of the most advanced and busy waterway networks in the world, the best possible management is essential to maintain this important economic driver. The management of the waterways is not only important to the Netherlands' economy, but also neighbouring Germany and Belgium.

CARIS software will be utilized in the processing, storage and delivery of the huge volumes of data generated to keep the waterways running smoothly. The data is used to support good dredging practices, to assess the state of maintenance of the waterways, and for flood management and scientific research.

Geerten Blessing, managing director at CARIS Geographic Information Systems BV in the Netherlands, says, "I am pleased and proud that CARIS has been awarded the contract for the delivery of our commercial off the shelf solution, which will be used as a standard for Rijkswaterstaat throughout the Netherlands. This contract underlines for me the clear vision CARIS has, as well as the approach we have taken in providing optimal solutions to the hydrographic community. This is especially rewarding for our highly skilled staff, which have put a lot of dedication and expertise into the CARIS Ping to Chart solution of which CARIS Bathy DataBASE is an important part."

Rijkswaterstaat will be utilizing components of CARIS' Ping-to-ChartTM solution for their National Survey Storage System. CARIS BASE Manager will be used to analyze the data, with the data then being stored on Bathy DataBASE servers connected to Oracle® Spatial databases. The CARIS Spatial Fusion Enterprise Server publishes this data, which can then be accessed by a Spatial Fusion Enterprise Viewer, as well as any other Open Geospatial Consortium compliant map client.

"I'm pleased that the project team of Rijkswaterstaat has found a future-proof solution with a broad customer base," says Esther Hoveling, project manager at Rijkswaterstaat. "With this commercial off the shelf product we can implement the solution in a short time and, because of its interoperability, we will be able to connect it to our application architecture and retain the agility that modern government agencies require. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration".

The National Survey Storage System is expected to have more than 100 Rijkswaterstaat users deployed at 10 regional departments throughout the Netherlands. In addition to the software, CARIS will provide training, at least seven years of technical support and, together with MX Systems, the expertise for data migration to the new system.

Oracle Spatial User Conference 2011
Experience Extreme Spatial Performance

Thursday, May 19, 2011
Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center
Washington, DC

Oracle announces the 7th annual international Oracle Spatial User Conference on Thursday, May 19, 2011, in Washington, D.C. For the first time this year, the User Conference will be held as a stand-alone event separate from the GITA Solutions Conference.

Do you want to:

- Use Oracle Exadata Database Machine to experience extreme Spatial performance?
- Learn how leading solutions - in utilities/SmartGrid, business intelligence and more - exploit mapping and spatial analysis?
- Incorporate network analysis, web services and mapping into your applications, using Java and Oracle development tools?
- Deliver ROI by using the world's leading IT platform to leverage location in your business?

You'll find all this at the 2011 Oracle Spatial User Conference:

- Latest updates and developments on Oracle products
- A variety of technical training sessions on Oracle Spatial and Oracle MapViewer – direct from the developers
- Best practices for Oracle Spatial in an Oracle Exadata Database Machine environment
- Use case sessions from customers and partners

Click here for Pricing/Registration Information - Pre-Registration ends May 16th!

This only concerns Russia [via RIA Novosti]. A Moscow court upheld a ban on Friday prohibiting the Russian research and development company ScanEx from distributing satellite images of Earth at a resolution higher than two meters.

Scanex works under license from the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, to collect, process and disseminate Earth remote sensing data.

A 2008 ban prohibited ScanEx from distributing high-resolution images, considered by the defense ministry to contain sensitive military information.

ScanEx appealed the ban, citing the Russian defense minister as saying in 2006 that all restrictions on satellite imagery resolution would be lifted.

Commenting after the court decision was announced, a ScanEx spokesman said the company would file another appeal.

Blue Marble’s geospatial data manipulation and conversion solutions are used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software companies, universities, oil and gas companies, civil engineering, surveying, technology, enterprise GIS groups, government and military organizations.

With this toolkit, developers can read and write many of today's most popular GIS vector file formats. Developers are also granted direct access to a wide variety of geometry objects, which can be created and manipulated on-the-fly. Along with these geometry objects, developers have the ability to access the metadata and attributes that are commonly associated with these geometries. Additionally this architecture makes it easy for the developer to write their own file format support out of the box.

With version 5.1, developers can also reach out to spatial data stored in larger relational and spatial database systems such as Oracle, PostGIS, and Esri personal, file and SDE based Geodatabases. New interfaces for direct coordinate conversion of many formats can significantly speed up data transformation processes. Also, new in version 5.1, is the ASPRS compliant LAS formats for LiDAR datasets. Combined with the true vertical conversion capabilities of the GeoCalc toolkit, 3 dimensional data handling has never been easier!

GeoTranslate leverages the coordinate conversion power of GeoCalc, which is Blue Marble Geographics coordinate transformation engine. GeoCalc is recognized for its reliability, accuracy, and flexibility, and it ensures that the transformations performed within GeoTranslate are as precise as possible. This tool kit also provides users with access to the largest commercially available database of geodetic definitions, which includes the latest EPSG database (v7.2) and more. Together, these technologies add up to a very robust and effective vector translation solution.

“GeoTranslate 5.1 makes available a ton of new geospatial power for our developers,” stated Blue Marble President Patrick Cunningham. “The spatial database support combined with our unmatched support of highly accurate LiDAR 3-D coordinate transformation really enables our OEM partners to bring a bunch of important support to their products.”

About Blue Marble Geographics: Blue Marble Geographics of Gardiner, ME is a leading developer and provider of software products and services for highly accurate geospatial data conversion solutions. Blue Marble is known for their coordinate conversion expertise and is the developer of The Geographic Calculator and GeoCalc SDK. The company has been writing GIS software tools and solutions for over 18 years and currently serves hundreds of thousands of users worldwide. Learn more at www.bluemarblegeo.com.

NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world, announced the launch of NAVTEQ Traffic in Russia, delivering comprehensive, real-time traffic information to nearly 16.5 million people in three major cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.

According to recent Frost & Sullivan research, 93% of Russian consumers are interested in having access to real-time traffic information. Proprietary NAVTEQ research also shows with regular use, drivers with traffic-enabled navigation in this region could spend 18 percent less time driving on average than those without navigation--enabling Russian drivers to potentially spend four days less on the road each year.

NAVTEQ Traffic is a quality-tested, comprehensive solution that links up-to-the minute traffic information to map data and enables wireless transmission directly to in-vehicle navigation systems, personal navigation devices and cell phones. NAVTEQ Traffic delivers detailed information about traffic speeds, allowing drivers to make better routing and re-routing decisions.

The world’s largest and most diverse traffic network, the NAVTEQ Traffic mission is to provide peerless traffic information so consumers know where and when to drive to save time, fuel and

“Moscow and other Russian cities are among the most-traffic congested cities in the world,” said Howard Hayes, senior vice president for NAVTEQ Traffic. “The launch of NAVTEQ Traffic in this region represents our continued dedication to deliver comprehensive real-time traffic information that saves travelers around the globe time and money.”

NAVTEQ’s Russian coverage includes close to 19,000 kilometers of roadways across the three cities, encompassing nearly 16.5 million people.

For more information on NAVTEQ, please visit http://corporate.navteq.com.

Via scidev: China will start building a test satellite later this month (April) to detect electromagnetic anomalies in the atmosphere, as part of the country's proposed earthquake monitoring network, and hopes to launch it in 2014.

The China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) has been in development since 2003 and is the first spaced-based component of the network. Its data will be correlated with data from ground-based monitoring systems.

The network is eventually intended to provide advance warning of earthquakes, such as the one off the coast of Japan last month (11 March).

Strong seismic activity often causes electromagnetic anomalies in the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, aiding the monitoring and prediction of earthquakes, studies suggest.

Shen Xuhui, a senior researcher at the Institute of Earthquake Science, China Earthquake Administration (CEA), and leader of the CSES working group, said the satellite will eventually be connected to a larger observation system. China hopes to launch another two satellites by 2017 and begin predicting earthquakes from 2020.

Longtime GIS educator David DiBiase joins Esri as the director of education within the company's Industry Solutions division. He succeeds current director, Dr. Michael Gould, who is returning to Europe to manage Esri's education programs in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

DiBiase begins part-time consulting at Esri immediately and will assume leadership of the education team on August 1, 2011.

"I have followed the Esri education team with admiration for many years and look forward to contributing to its continued success as director," says DiBiase.

DiBiase currently directs the John A. Dutton e-Education Institute within the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. He is a senior lecturer in the university's department of geography and faculty coordinator of its certificate and master of GIS degree programs, offered online through the university's World Campus.

DiBiase has master of science and bachelor of science degrees in cartography from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is both a certified mapping scientist, GIS/LIS (American Society for Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing) and a geographic information systems professional (GISP). DiBiase has written extensively on GIS, geography, and education for more than 20 years.

"We welcome David to the Esri campus," says Lew Nelson, Esri's industry solutions manager. "With his extensive knowledge of GIS programs in higher education, I am sure he will soon make positive contributions to his team and the education community."

Source: Esri

The OpenStreetMap (OSM) project is the topic of the first-ever INTERGEO BarCamp. INTERGEO 2011 is scheduled to be held in Nuremberg, Germany, during September 27 - 29, 2011. According to a press statement by INTERGEO team, the number of OSM members currently stands at 389,302 and is continuously growing. The importance of the global OSM community is also rising steadily. Hence, it will be the key attraction. However, the conference programme includes many other highlights as well.

The conference trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management will focus on key issues in the areas of land management and property valuation, and the latest developments in satellite navigation, the EU INSPIRE Directive and the ALKIS official property and land register information system.

According to the press statement, free geodata played an invaluable role in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. By providing a clear picture of the devastation, this information supported the work of the emergency services on the ground. "We received a thank-you e-mail from the leader of a U.S. rescue team for the fast and excellent data that was available shortly after the earthquake", said Marco Lechner, Vice President of FOSSGIS e. V.

Quoting a report published in New York Times, the press statement stated that better coordination and communication between voluntary Internet mappers and aid organisations such as the United Nations and the Red Cross is needed in future to harness the full potential of digital maps. Martin Scheu, head of the DVW Working Group "Geoinformation and geodata management", also believes there should be more cooperation: "Open data and official geodata are two avenues that must be more closely interlinked in future. Vast potential could be tapped by linking these topics more closely and effectively."

INTERGEO premiere - BarCamp

It is widely accepted that the classic style of conference is not suited to the open data community. However, the INTERGEO Academy, which was launched in 2010 with great success, offers plenty of scope for discussing OSM in a BarCamp - a type of open-space conference. Participants will set the programme themselves at the start of the event based on the lively online discussions that take place ahead of the meeting at www.intergeo.de/osmcamp.

OSGeo Park presents the latest projects

"Something is stirring in geopolitics. I hope that more and more data will be made available to the public", stated FOSSGIS Vice President Marco Lechner. He not only wants to present OSM to a wide audience at INTERGEO, but also other unusual open source projects. The OSGeo Park offers his association the perfect platform to do just that. The OSGeo Park's joint presentation has been sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) since 2009.

The detailed conference programme of INTERGEO 2011 will be available from mid-May at www.intergeo.de.

GeoEye IKONOS provided satellite images of the hideout of Osama bin Laden who was killed this weekend by US Navy SEALS. The image below was taken from Abbotabad, Pakistan on May 2, just hours after the raid.

Access the free Landsat images fast and easy using Esri's Landsat Image Services tool.

Working in close collaboration with the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Esri is pleased to announce the release of Landsat image services. These provide access to almost four decades' worth of Global Land Survey (GLS) Landsat data developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and DOI's US Geological Survey. Esri provides access to the full multispectral, multitemporal Landsat data for free on ArcGIS Online as dynamic image services.

"These Landsat image services expand the ability to monitor landscape change to Internet users worldwide," says Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. "We're excited to showcase this valuable government resource that uses ArcGIS to rapidly deliver Landsat data so that it can be used to help users understand changes in the world."

Esri has also published an interactive website that leverages these Landsat image services to provide a starting point for understanding earth changes over time.

"The Esri Landsat services suite will enable users to access satellite images of the earth and see through time what’s happened to our globe," stated Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. "Whether you’re a fourth grader or in the midst of writing your PhD thesis, having the ability to go back 30 years and visualize multitemporal earth imagery can be tremendously helpful in answering questions about how we should manage the planet and address real-world problems.”

The Landsat image services from Esri leverage the 40-year, multibillion-dollar US government investment in the collection and archiving of continuous worldwide Landsat imagery for earth observation. At 30-meter spatial resolution, Landsat imagery is excellent for mapping regional trends in climate change, agriculture, wildlife habitat, forestry, regional planning, coastal zones, and national security. Each Landsat satellite image also "sees" more than humans by collecting data in nonvisible wavelengths such as the infrared and optical (natural color) portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

For more information, visit esri.com/landsat.

Esri has released ArcGIS for INSPIRE, a product developed to meet the data, services, and metadata requirements of the European Union-mandated Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE). Organizations can use ArcGIS for INSPIRE to achieve the technical requirements necessary to meet this directive and create shareable geospatial information and services to make better decisions across Europe.

"ArcGIS for INSPIRE supports the workflows, as well as the data management, dissemination, and integrity, that are required by INSPIRE," says Roberto Lucchi, ArcGIS for INSPIRE product manager, Esri. "This is a complete technical solution that can be used by all relevant stakeholders including data producers, developers, and the general public."

ArcGIS for INSPIRE extends Esri's ArcGIS software in the following ways to provide a solution for all levels of European government:

- ArcGIS Desktop to create and maintain INSPIRE-compliant geospatial data and metadata
- ArcGIS Server to create, maintain, and serve INSPIRE-compliant view and download web services
- INSPIRE-compliant geodatabase templates and data models
- Esri Geoportal Server to catalog, index, and serve INSPIRE-compliant metadata and discovery services

ArcGIS supports the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) with open standards and meets specific INSPIRE requirements for geospatial services, datasets, and metadata. Learn more at esri.com/inspire.

Optech Incorporated, the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced lidar, aerial digital camera and survey instruments, announces its new medium-format ortho-camera, the CS-8900.

This rugged new camera provides high-definition mapping with the clarity that only Optech’s patented Forward Motion Compensation (FMC) can provide. Standard features include: patented field-replaceable shutter system; field-interchangeable metric and athermal lens capability; kinematic camera mounting system; a wide range of aperture and shutter speed options; and near real-time light metering capability. The flexible camera controller includes scalability to add additional Optech camera modules covering visible and infrared wavelengths, plus tools to co-register imagery. Additional ultra-light packaging options facilitate UAV installations.

“Our clients demanded technology innovation without sacrificing reliability,” said Julien Losseau, Camera Product Manager for Optech, “and the new CS-8900 was built to deliver both. By incorporating patented and field-proven technologies to increase operational robustness and flexibility, the new CS-8900 represents a huge leap in image collection capability and quality.”

The CS-8900 also integrates tightly with Optech’s complete line of ALTM Airborne Laser Terrain Mappers. Coupled with Optech’s extensive line of specialty airborne cameras, clients can now build custom active/passive imaging solutions that are fully supported by a single manufacturer.

America’s land mass has shrunk by an area larger than the size of Connecticut in the last decade, according to the Census Bureau. The nation’s total land area has decreased by about 5,500 square miles, five times the size of Rhode Island, to 3,531,905 since 2000. But government geographers say Americans should not panic that the country is disappearing, as most of the decline is the result of improved mapping technology.

The government agency said improvements in satellite imagery mean it is now easier to distinguish between land and water and that is the reason for much of the decline. But the experts acknowledged that some of the decrease in land area may have come from erosion, hurricane damage and rising sea levels.

At the same time the Census Bureau recorded an 11,808 square mile increase in the measurement of America’s territorial waters since 2000 to 264,837 – a rise equivalent to the surface area of Lake Ontario.

Some of the biggest shifts in land size were recorded in Louisiana, which suffered severe flooding and erosion after Hurricane Katrina. In New York, the Borough of Queens, shrank by one square mile in the ten years, because of erosion and rising sea levels. Since 2000, the state’s land mass decreased by more than 350 square miles.

URISA is pleased to announce the details of its 2011 GIS in Public Health Conference, taking place in Atlanta, June 27-30, 2011. The deadline to take advantage of discounted registration and hotel fees is June 1.

“What makes this conference such a valuable experience is the mix of academics and practitioners, experienced GIS professionals and younger public health staff, with students from a variety of disciplines as well. While the trainings, lectures and presentations add to one’s knowledge, the real perk of the conference for me is the interactions that occur during scheduled breaks and over dinner and evening activities. I came away from the last conference in Providence very inspired, and developed a new graduate seminar in Spatial Perspectives in Community and Family Health at my university in part as a result of the conference.” Russell Kirby, PhD, MS, FACE - University of South Florida

The conference was developed primarily from submissions received through the Call for Abstracts. More than 80 abstracts were received. Two preconference workshops will be presented:

Introduction to Public Participation GIS (PPGIS): Using GIS to Support Community Decision-Making (URISA-Certified Workshop)

Tools for Common Challenges in Public Health GIS: Aggregation, Smoothing and Masking

In addition to the twenty-one comprehensive educational sessions on topics ranging from “Using Mapping to Assess Community Health Risk” to “Applications in GIS and Remote Sensing for Environmental Health”, three keynote speakers will be featured:

Geomedicine: A Patient's Perspective – presented by Bill Davenhall, Global Manager - Health and Human Services, Esri

GIScience in Public Health: Chagas' Disease, Dengue and West Nile Virus – presented by Dr. Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec, Research Scientist, Department of Environmental Studies, Emory University

GIS and Health: Where Can We Go from Here? – presented by Dr. Ellen K. Cromley, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

The poster session is a key part of the conference with nearly 30 participants to date. Exhibits and networking events round out the conference experience.

For complete conference, exhibits, travel and registration information, visit URISA.org today!