Richmond Hill, Ontario – May 14, 2008:  PCI Geomatics announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth (CEODE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

Under the terms of the MoU, collaborative plans are outlined for the development of an initial project for a Wetland Environment Monitoring and Applications System in China, with additional projects under review.  The MoU highlights the purpose of the first project, which is to automatically monitor and analyze wetland areas with radar imagery focusing on the use of RADARSAT-2 imagery. 

Established in November 2007, CEODE offers a national service for the acquisition, processing, archiving and distribution of airborne and spaceborne remote sensing data. In partnership with other institutions, the center engages in research on the scientific and technical development of geospatial information and Digital Earth.  “We are very pleased to have PCI Geomatics as our strategic partner,” said Prof. Guo Huadong, Director-General, CEODE.  “We fully believe that the collaboration between the two organizations will make fruitful future progress.”

“We are delighted with the strategic collaboration between PCI Geomatics and CEOIDE,” said Dr. Robert Moses, President and CEO, PCI Geomatics. “The joint efforts of both organizations will help to benefit both the environment and the people of China.”

For more information, visit http://159.226.20.110:8090/ceodeWeb/en/info.jsp?column=191, www.pcigeomatics.com

Back to Top

May 9, 2008. Reston, VA, USA.On February 24th  2008 in Trinidad, the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI) Board of Directors elected Professor Bas Kok as President of the Association. Professor Kok replaces Jarmo Ratia of Finland who served as GSDI President for the previous term.

Bas Kok has been active for many years in the global movement on spatial data infrastructures and the crucial role of SDIs to support intra and inter governmental data sharing. He participated in the very first global GSDI conference in 1996 and has been actively involved ever since, serving most recently as a co-chair of the GSDI Legal and Economic Issues Working Group from 2000 through 2007.

Mr. Kok begins his work as President of the Association at a time when SDI is moving rapidly from concept to reality; many nations around the world have compatible policies and standards that enable critical sharing of geospatial or "location" information to address important social, economic and environmental issues. Professor Kok noted that " The time is ripe for the GSDI community to accelerate further advancement of SDI practices worldwide by emphasizing excellent results and implementations established by organizations and nations worldwide ".

Back to Top

The launch partner for DigitalGlobe’s much-anticipated WorldView-2 satellite has finally been announced.  The first satellite to detect four additional bands of color, this newest earth-orbiter will soon be producing some of the most accurate satellite images available. 

Satellite technology leader DigitalGlobe has announced plans to launch its third commercial imaging satellite in mid-2009.  The company, which supplies high-resolution satellite images to hundreds of government and commercial clients including Google Earth, has selected Boeing Launch Services for the launch of WorldView-2.  The launch will be the third partnership between DigitalGlobe and Boeing Launch Services – Boeing successfully launched DigitalGlobe’s previous satellites, QuickBird and WorldView-1, which launched in September 2007. 

The WorldView-2, which costs around $400 million, is the only satellite of its kind to be built without any government funding. WorldView-2 will offer several improvements on its predecessor’s image capture and storage capabilities and help companies keep up with the increasing demand for high-resolution satellite images.  The new satellite will fly at an altitude of 800 km and produce the highest-resolution pictures yet, capturing images with a resolution of 0.5 meters (compared to WorldView-1’s 0.6 meters). 

For more information about the WorldView-2 or imaging solutions from Satellite Imaging Corporation, please call 1-832-237-2900 or visit www.satimagingcorp.com.  

Back to Top

May 6, 2008 New Delhi, India: GIS Development is pleased to announce Speck Systems as a Corporate Partner for the upcoming Map World Forum. Speck Systems Ltd. is a pioneer in the field of geospatial technology and applications in India. They offer a range of comprehensive geospatial solutions in land administration, defence, urban planning and mangement, utilities, natural resources management, rural development and disaster management. Map World Forum,
the biennial conference is scheduled for Februray 10 – 13, 2009 at Hyderabad, India. The theme for the upcoming Forum is “Geospatial Technology for Sustainable Planet Earth.”

K. C. M. Kumar, Managing Director, Speck Systems expressed his pleasure at joining the Forum by stating, “It is our privilege to be associated with the prestigious Map World Forum as its Corporate Partner. Speck is committed to promote geo-spatial technology and offer indigenous solutions, which touches the lives of every individual. The Map World Forum, aimed at building a global platform for geospatial industry, is indeed an ideal platform for Speck to interact, promote
and share relevant and purposeful technology with geo-spatial community experts.”

Welcoming the collaboration, Sanjay Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, GIS Development said, “We are very pleased to welcome Speck Systems on board. With this collaboration, we are sure to provide Speck Systems with a unique opportunity to reach out to a global audience with their company message. Speck Systems has made tremendous contribution to the development of geospatial technologies in India. We are confident that platforms such as Map World Forum will prove as an ideal media for companies to market their services and for participants to develop a broader perspective on the application and usage of geospatial technologies.”

Map World Forum is set to be a global confluence of geospatial thought. It will attract nearly 2500 professionals from across the geospatial domain. In addition, with the focus on using Geospatial Technologies for Sustainable Planet Earth, the forum will also see an audience from fields like Environment, Wildlife, Climate Change as well as Transportation, Telecommunication, Energy, Housing and the like. The Forum has already gained support from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India as the Principal Government Partner and Rolta India as the Principal Industry Partner. ERDAS Inc. had earlier joined as a Corporate Partner too. It also has support from GIM International, ASM newsletter and Directions magazine as the media partners and FIG, ISPRS, GITA and OGC as Affiliate Partners.

Included JavaScript APIs Integrate Spatial Data and Services to Optimize Decision Making

Redlands, California—ESRI will demonstrate the new mashup capabilities of ArcGIS 9.3 at the Where 2.0 conference in Burlingame, California, May 13 and 14, 2008. The JavaScript APIs included in ArcGIS 9.3 give end users the capability to combine geographic information system (GIS)-based Web services from ArcGIS Server with other Web content. This new capability makes it easier to deploy ArcGIS Server data and services in custom applications and deliver spatial analysis throughout the enterprise. ArcGIS 9.3 is the first GIS to provide mashup capability. 

The ArcGIS JavaScript APIs reduce the learning curve and development time for distributing scalable and responsive GIS applications on the Web. End users can deploy map data and GIS processing tasks in lightweight, customized Web mapping applications, providing large numbers of customers with real decision-making tools.  

The new ArcGIS JavaScript APIs are a simple way to integrate ArcGIS Server with Web mapping services provided through ArcGIS Online or with other Web mapping platforms such as those provided via Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth.
Attendees of Where 2.0 can visit ESRI at booth #2 for more information on these mashup capabilities. You can also interact with online demonstrations of the JavaScript APIs by visiting www.esri.com/serverdemos.

Back to Top

23 April 2008,  GRASS 6.3.0 is a "technology preview" release, the first beta on the path to GRASS 6.4-stable, and also marks the start of work on GRASS 7. As such GRASS 6.3.0 is not intended to be a stable release with ongoing support, but after five months of quality-assurance review users can be confident to use this version for their day to day work, indeed due to the open development model many already do.

This release brings hundreds of new module features, supported data formats, and language translations, as well as a number of exciting enhancements to the GIS. A prototype of the new wxPython user interface is debuted, and for the first since its inception with a port from the VAX 11/780 in 1983, GRASS will run on a non-UNIX based platform:MS-Windows. This is currently still in an experimental state and we hope  that widespread testing of 6.3.0 will mean the 6.4 release of WinGRASS will be fully functional and robust. Existing users will be happy to know that these new features do not disrupt the base GIS which remains as solid as ever and fully backwards compatible with earlier GRASS 6.0 and GRASS 6.2 releases.

Several infrastructure changes accompany this release with the project becoming a founding member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). This includes a new home for the website, the Wiki help system, source code repository, community add-on module repository, integrated bug tracking system, and formal membership for the project in a non-profit legal entity. We hope that these changes will guarantee that the GRASS community will be well supported and vibrant well into the future.

Software download at http://grass.osgeo.org/download/ and numerous mirror sites.

Full story at http://grass.osgeo.org/announces/announce_grass630.html

Back to Top

April 30, 2008, Park Ridge, IL - The California GIS Council (CGC), the primary geographic information systems coordinating council for the state, has formally endorsed the GIS Certification Institute's (GISCI) certification program for GIS professionals. California has joined New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and North Carolina as the five states to offer endorsements of the program.

"The California GIS Council recognizes and endorses concepts embodied in the certification program of the GIS Certification Institute," wrote CGC council member Michael Byrne, GISP. "The certification program of GISCI provides a firm basis for identifying requirements for those practicing the profession. The certification program and related programs provide a cadre of GIS professionals to develop and apply geospatial data to meet the needs of California."

Bruce Joffe, GISCI President, added, "We welcome California's endorsement.  As geodata usage and GIS services become more mainstream in government and industry, the identification of GIS professionals who are GISCI-certified becomes more valuable to both service receivers and employers, as well as to service providers."

Currently, 122 certified GIS professionals (GISPs(r)) reside in the state of California. There are 2,125 GISPs(r) as of March 25, 2008. Fr more information regarding the GISCI certification program please visit www.gisci.org or email:info@gisci.org

Back to Top

NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS; Caliper Corporation is now shipping the latest version of Maptitude, the world's most capable and affordable mapping software. This next generation of Maptitude, the award winning GIS desktop software, continues to provide easy-to-use yet powerful mapping tools. Maptitude 5 remains the most competitively priced, full-featured GIS/mapping product available.

Maptitude 5 has many new features that greatly enhance ease-of-use. These include the most powerful mapping wizard in any professional mapping product, with start-to-finish assistance for locating, thematically displaying, geographically analyzing, and mapping data. The Display Manager toolbox allows for the viewing and control of the style, visibility, and label settings for all of the layers, selection sets, and feature display settings in a map.

Maptitude 5 has new travel-based tools that allow the creation of bands based on distance, time, or other costs along street lines, plus the ability to assign roads to zones or districts based on proximity to point locations such as stores.

Back to Top

Heerbrugg, 6 May 2008: Leica Geosystems has been a pioneer in integrating direct IMU georeferencing systems into airborne sensors. The new Leica IPAS20 modular standalone system delivers direct georeferencing for a wide range of airborne sensors such as imaging, LIDAR, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), thermal and multispectral systems. Leica IPAS20 is equipped with the latest GPS/GLONASS technology and a plug and play IMU interface. Leica Geosystems provides a complete airborne workflow that includes software.  The workflow includes direct georeferencing of airborne sensor data and camera orientation, flight planning, flight execution, flight evaluation and project management.

New compact IPAS20 Control Unit
As successor to its Leica IPAS10, Leica Geosystems introduces the IPAS20 system. This solution for airborne direct georeferencing is comprised of reliable, high-quality hardware components conforming to international airborne standards. The Leica IPAS20 Control Unit supports different airborne sensor types and multi-sensor systems with up to four sensors. The plug and play IMU interface enables connection to  various types of IMUs, selected based on user requirements for accuracy and exportability.
 
System integration and optimal workflow
“Perfect integration of hardware and software into one complete system is the key for effective airborne sensing projects. Leica Geosystems has decades of experience in this field. Leica Geosystems provides total system solutions comprised of flexible and modular subsystems that can also be used as standalone components,” states Juergen Dold, Senior Vice President of the Leica Geosystrems Imaging & Scanning Business Area. In the complete Leica Geosystems workflow, IPAS20 with IPAS Pro and IPAS CO permit data acquisition and direct georeferencing of airborne sensor data and camera orientation. Leica FPES is used for optimized flight planning, flight evaluation and project management. Leica FCMS performs flight guidance and sensor control, plus in-flight data evaluation, recording and reporting.

No GNSS base station setup required
Post-processing includes Precise Point Positioning (PPP) technology that takes advantage of downloaded precise satellite orbit and clock corrections to the trajectory. The accuracy is between 5 cm and 40 cm. With PPP, no base station setup is required as it is for the traditional differential GNSS positioning technique. 

Cost saving GNSS-only configuration
A Leica IPAS20 without IMU is a cost saving solution for airborne imagery and photogrammetry projects. This GNSS-only solution includes PPP technology and provides precise photo centers after GNSS data post-processing.. Through the acquisition of precise positional coordinates of the photo centers and their use in an AT photogrammetric block adjustment, the number of ground control points (GCP’s) can be reduced to a few check points. This results in a significant cost saving in GCP establishment compared to costs for traditional airborne projects.

RCIF30 interface for RC30 aerial camera system - an ASCOT successor
The RCIF30 interface is available for users of the Leica RC30 aerial camera system. It is side mounted on the IPAS20 Control Unit and optimally connects the aerial camera system to the IPAS20 and FCMS. All components act as one compact system that provides direct georeferencing, flight guidance and camera control for RC30 users. This setup is the successor to the Leica ASCOT for RC30.

New compact Leica IPAS20 Control Unit

 
IPAS, FPES, FCMS integration and workflow, flight planning, execution, evaluation and post processing

For further information please email:  alessandra.doell@leica-geosystems.com or visit www.leica-geosystems.com

Back to Top

Santa Clara, Calif., April 28, 2008 – DigiTerra Explorer mobile GIS and field mapping software is now available pre-installed on an SD card with the Magellan MobileMapper CX handheld GPS/GIS receiver.  Digiterra Explorer with the MobileMapper CX sub-meter real-time GPS receiver promises exceptional productivity at low-cost for field mapping and data collection applications.  DigiTerra Explorer is gaining attention as a fast and easy-to-use GIS application package for visualizing, analyzing, editing and collecting digital topographical and descriptive data in the field.

“MobileMapper CX pre-loaded with DigiTerra Explorer makes it easier than ever for asset managers to combine the benefits of these two industry-leading GIS data collection solutions,” said Francois Erceau, general manager, Magellan Professional.

The MobileMapper CX is unlike any GIS data collector in its class.  The keypad of the MobileMapper CX  has the familiar look and feel of a typical cell phone keypad interface that permits convenient one-handed operation enabling users to manipulate the device with a speed and efficiency that shortens the learning curve and makes field use easy.  The Digiterra Explorer mobile GIS and Mapping software offers a wide range of utility for many types of field data collection including agronomists, foresters, field biologists, firefighters, utility transmission companies, geographers, hydrologists, landscape architects and surveyors.

For more information contact : Robert Wick @ robertwick@verizon.net

Back to Top

29.04.2008, GEOKOSMOS celebrated its 15th Anniversary. During the celebration which was held in the “Rai” Club (Paradise), one of the best clubs in Moscow, Sergey Melnikov, GEOKOSMOS Group of Companies President, said: “All these years we have been committed to progress, innovations and excellence. We aimed to showcase the best of our services and state-of the-art technologies.”

It all started fifteen years ago with a group of enthusiasts – undergraduate and post-graduate students from the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography who decided to join their efforts and make a private geodetic laboratory. No one knew that within fifteen years the laboratory would grow into the leading surveying and mapping company in Russia and CIS. The 90s of the last century were tough years marked by a painful process of the post-Soviet economy transformation into the market-based economy. At that time a lot of enterprises appeared. Many of them came into vain; few ones managed to stand the test of time. GEOKOSMOS happened to be one of such companies. Gradually GEOKOSMOS expanded its activities at the international level.

At the awarding ceremony many of GEOKOSMOS people were thanked and congratulated for their accomplishments by Sergey Melnikov. In his turn, the company President heard a lot of heartwarming words from his friends, colleagues and partners who came to the anniversary from all over the world. Alexander Wiechert, Business Director, Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a Microsoft Company, Bob Hanks, Worlwide Manager, Survey Department, Trimble, came up to the stage and congratulated Sergey Melnikov and his team. “I am sure it will inspire more creativity, understanding and collaboration between our companies” –Sergey answered.

Left image: Alexander Wiechert, Business Director, Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a Microsoft Company

For enquiries: Тel.:  +7 495 953 00 74, Fax:  +7 495 959 40 93, E-mail: marketing@geokosmos.ru

Back to Top

The latest update for the acclaimed geomarketing software applications RegioGraph and DISTRICT makes it possible to perform geomarketing from directly within MS Office 2007’s Excel, Word and PowerPoint. The plug-in lets users easily implement geomarketing into their daily work routines.

Thanks to a new development by GfK GeoMarketing, users of the geomarketing solutions RegioGraph 10 and DISTRICT 10 can access geomarketing functionality from directly within the Microsoft Office 2007 applications, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The 2008 update of RegioGraph and DISTRICT 10 includes this new plug-in along with a map set of a European country of choice and purchasing power data for European countries and regions. RegioGraph 10 is offered as a stand-alone product or bundled with Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business Edition.

Wolfram Scholz, GfK GeoMarketing’s managing director, emphasizes the user-friendliness of this new update: “With the new seamless integration of RegioGraph 10’s and DISTRICT 10’s functions into the well-known Microsoft Office applications Word, Excel and PowerPoint, it’s easier than ever for users to adopt geomarketing as part of their daily work routines and quickly take advantage of the advantages this offers.”

Further information on RegioGraph and DISTRICT 10 can be found at www.gfk-geomarketing.com/software.

Back to Top

SP  FOUNDATION invites nominations , worldwide, for the 2008 SP RESEACH AWARD in geotechnical engineering, and/or geotechnical earthquake engineering for young engineers/scientists, 40 years or younger. The award consists of cash prize of
US$ 1100, and a plaque. The last date of nominations is May 31, 2008. For details of nomination, please visit our web site  www.yoga10.org

2007 SP RESEARCH AWARD has been won by    Tarek  Abdoun, RPI, Troy NY, and Ellen M Rathje, Texas University, Austin, TX USA. Previous award winners are from Greece, Italy, Canada,  Japan, Spain, Thailand, UK, USA, and India.

Please visit Foundation website at  www.YOGA10.ORG for complete details. If you have any questions, please  contact   Prakash@mst.edu

Back to Top

22nd - 31st of July 2008, Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area – Italy, Students from all over the world gathered last summer in Crotone at the Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area to attend the second edition of the Dive GIS course that will be held again this year from the 22nd to the 31st of July 2008. The course, organized by Mappamondo GIS, represents a unique training initiative that offers the chance to learn Geographic Information Systems methodologies while becoming a certified SCUBA diver. Participants learn to use state of the art technologies and combine them with passion oriented sport and field activities in the context of marine environment management and science. The challenging objective of the organizer is to provide the bases for a multi-skill career.

Participants are introduced to the underwater world through PADI Open Water Diver and specialty courses, to the digital cartography and imaging world through classes based on  software and training material from ESRI, the world-leader in the GIS field,   and to in depth applications of Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing tools for marine scientists. The course involves computer lab and field sessions and it is well suited for people novice to both GIS and diving, as well as for people that had already some knowledge and skills in both fields but that wished to gain an additional experience.

During the course, the participants work on a real case study concerning the mapping of marine habitats using on-screen visual interpretation of satellite images, the ArcGIS 9.2 software and the wide set of available georeferencing, editing and geoprocessing tools. This allows identifying and quantifying vulnerable areas with high environmental value. Students also learn to identify marine flora and fauna, to collect scientific data about their distribution and to use handheld GIS and GPS units. Biodiversity and species distribution data are entered in the GIS to study their correlation with the habitat and other biotic and abiotic environmental parameters.

For further information about the course, reviews and photos from previous editions, scholarship applications and online registration visit the following website: www.mappamondogis.it/divegis.htm, or email to training@mappamondogis.com

Back to Top

April 29th, 2008, Aero Geometrics Ltd. would like you to consider an incredible locally developed voxel based technology allowing a better way to communicate this existing spatial data.   The intuitive and user friendly technology enables users to visualize and interact with the information including images in 3D, providing a more realistic, intuitive and user friendly method of viewing, visualizing, and analyzing enhanced digital geospatial data more realistically superior to any other existing protocol.  Typical file sizes for Black and White image models are approximately 2 megabytes.  The small file size retains a high degree of resolution and is suitable to transfer via email.

The technology offers the user a powerful unique ability to visualize and interpret geospatial data more accurately in interactive 3D, to make better decisions and communicate results more effectively. Decision makers who rely on geospatial data to analyze and interpret environmental impact scenarios and critical and hazardous situations use NGRAIN technology to help make better decisions and communicate recommendations more convincingly and with more impact.  Turn traditional 2D geospatial data into the NGRAIN interactive 3D format, and create more realistic and accurate visualizations and simulations of terrain and scenarios, in real time.

NGRAIN’s unique interactive 3D visualization and simulation solution enables more realistic and detailed viewing and simulation of scenarios. As a result, information can be viewed, analyzed and interpreted more accurately, leading to better informed decisions. And with NGRAIN, simulation results can be communicated to stakeholders more effectively, more convincingly and with more impact, by embedding the interactive 3D simulations inside Microsoft® Word or PowerPoint® files, for more engaging and convincing presentation of the findings.

Fire fighters can for instance predict where and how fast a fire is likely to spread, based on forest density, steepness of terrain, wind and composition of the forest. This enables them to better gauge if and which residences or other structures are in danger’s way. City planners can assess how heavy rains or dams affect flood planes. Give project and program managers the ability to visualize and simulate scenarios in a detailed, realistic and interactive 3D format, allowing them to make more effective decisions and present recommendations to stakeholders for approval, in a more credible and convincing manner so key decisions can be expedited, and unnecessary delays to a project can be avoided. And since seeing is believing, convincing others about required actions is now made easier than ever. By including interactive visuals and simulations inside Microsoft® Word or PowerPoint® files, more realistic, accurate and convincing data can be shared with decision makers anywhere, anytime. With NGRAIN, interactive 3D simulations can be deployed to common desktop, laptops or tablet computers, providing end users with access to the information they need, when and where they need it, be it at the office or out in the field.

For more information contact email at manager@aerogeo.com

Back to Top