 American Surveyor
(February 2009)
 The Caves of Naica
Since it began operation in the late 1800s, the Naica Mine in Chihuahua, Mexico has proven to be one of the richest silver deposits in the world. In 1910, at a depth of 120 meters, a small cave was discovered. Named the Cueva de las Espadas (Cave of the Swords), this cave was completely covered with gypsum crystals, some reaching up to 2 meters in length.
Descending to the Challenge
In one sense, it was an exceptionally straightforward job: all that Illinois' V3 Companies was being asked to do was survey a mostly straight, 1,600-foot long, limestone quarry tunnel. Miners call it the decline, and it drops 350 feet to "the bench," a vast mined space with a 65-foot tall ceiling supported by pillars of stone with 25-foot by 50-foot footprints.
Training Recruiters: A New "TwiST"
A question often asked of surveyors is "Are we doing all we can to get the word out to the next generation of potential surveyors?" As a professor of geomatics at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), I am also responsible for establishing a recruiting program for the Department. I taught a course on plane surveying to high school students one term, and the teacher was very excited about learning more so that he could continue with GPS and GIS and quadrangle maps and hand compasses. That got me to thinking.
Vantage Point: Selling the Profession
A few months ago, I was deposed by the plaintiff in a suit for which I was serving as expert witness. The peculiar part was that the defendant had hired me, so I had an inkling that this would be an adversarial affair.
Parallax: Acts of Notice
Years ago, making the transition from strictly construction surveying to land surveying, I took employment with a tactless, rude and crusty old surveyor that really had a massive heart of gold. This fellow suffered from an affliction that I have unfortunately witnessed far too many times in our profession: optimistic procrastination. We all know how it goes. The client calls and the immediate response is "Sure, we can get started on Thursday."
A Visit to Altus Positioning Systems
For Olympians "Citius, Altius, Fortius" is Latin for "faster, higher, stronger." For surveyors, Altus Positioning Systems draws its name from the Latin word meaning high and deep. High and deep (from the heavyweight lineup of industry veterans who make up the company), their mission is straightforward--to design a first-class positioning system to meet all the needs of today's surveyors. |
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GIS Development
(February 2009)
 Dynamics of Change
Change is the only constant - though an old adage, is quite relevant in the present context. In the backdrop of economic gloom and audacity of hope, it is important to take stock of where we stand, count our blessings and assess the challenges...
Are we going around a circle?
It has been almost half a century since the first GIS, the Canadian Geographic Information System (CGIS), became operational. CGIS was developed with the objective to build and maintain a land inventory of the vast Canadian territory so that the gov...
Mapping human impacts for conservation planning
The main drivers of environmental change and loss of biodiversity can be attributed to human impacts - habitat clearing and degradation, pollution, fragmentation, hunting, exploitation and land conversion, to name a few (Mace et al., 1998)...
Integrated info system for food security
The responsible management of natural resources is the key to attaining sustainable agricultural and rural development...
GeoConnexion UK
(February - March 2009)
 Getting Beyond the Silos
Niall Carter and Bruce Gittings from the University of Edinburgh describe a middleware solution to the problem of delivering integrated geographic information to an end user drawn from diverse information providers. The solution makes use of web services technology utilising the Keyhole Markup Language
Just for the record….capturing data for the TMA 2004
On July 22nd 2004, Parliament passed the Traffic Management Act 2004,
setting in motion big changes for Local Authorities, Utility Companies and
Utility contractors across the country.
Land and Sea - Talking with SeaZone
Dr Mike Osborne talks to us about the challenges facing the marine environment and coastal zone community and comments on SeaZone’s continuing focus to promote, develop, deliver and support increasing demand for off the shelf marine geographic information ahead of the company’s 5th birthday later this year.
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GPS World
(February 2009)
 Wireless Delivery
Wireless communications employed in a network real-time kinematic (NRTK) GNSS system to deliver network corrections to roving users play a vital role in achieving good positioning performance. The communication link must ensure high flexibility and availability to satisfy the requirement of centimetric positioning accuracy and mobility that NRTK can offer. Since the advent of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) communication technology, it has been used as the best option to deliver the NRTK corrections to users and therefore it directly impacts the availability and general performance of the NRTK service.
Innovation: GNSS Antennas
The antenna is a critical component of a GNSS receiver setup. An antenna's job is to capture some of the power in the electromagnetic waves it receives and to convert it into an electrical current that can be processed by the receiver. With very strong signals at lower frequencies, almost any kind of antenna will do. Those of us of a certain age will remember using a coat hanger as an emergency replacement for a broken AM-car-radio antenna.
The System: GLONASS Happy New Year
As of January 17, GLONASS 727 (Kosmos 2447) in Plane 1, Slot 3, on frequency channel 5 has been set healthy in both the almanac and ephemerides. 727 is the second of three new GLONASS satellites, all launched on December 25, 2008, to reach this status.
NavTeq Service Targets PNDs with Relevant Ads
Digital map provider NavTeq has rolled out its LocatoinPoint advertising service, which provides location-based targeting capabilities for marketers. Available for mobile phones, PNDs, and in-vehicle navigation systems, NavTeq LocationPoint advertising is designed to give marketers with the ability to reach and engage consumers where and when they make shopping and purchasing decisions.
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Point of Beginning
(February 2009)
 Connecting the Dots
Creating a compelling case for investing in new technology can feel much like a game of dot-to-dot. The crusader starts at point one--the demystifying dot--and slowly moves from one dot of persuasion to the next, waiting for each stakeholder to experience his or her “aha” moment, until all the business-case dots are finally connected, the new business picture is complete and the big box with the new technology arrives at last.
Bridging the Geomatic Divide
On December 3 and 4, 2008, geomatics manufacturers and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) broke new ground for collaboration at the NGS-Geomatics Vendor Summit in Corbin, Va., when they merged two initiatives. The first was the NGS’s new Ten-Year Plan, which presents the mission and vision of NGS supported by strategies to achieve the stated objectives...
Smart Mapping
In the wake of several natural and man-made disasters in the past few years, businesses and governments are demanding information that will allow them to mitigate their financial risks, respond faster and more efficiently to disasters, and prepare more effectively for the future. An organization’s ability to provide actionable information depends on its geographic information system (GIS)—the primary mapping and analysis instrument for land assessment, land survey research, land planning and development. |
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GEO: International
(February 2009)
 Intelligent pipeline integrity management
The requirements on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have
originally been focused on data capturing and mapping functionalities.
Current analyses state clearly, that 80% of all technical business
processes are related to geospatial questions. That’s why an intelligent
Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS) is more than
reasonable for pipeline operators. This article shall introduce a GIS
and geodata-based PIMS making use of already existing GIS and
expert data.
Photo-textured building models.
Documentation of ancient buildings is more and more frequently
performed nowadays through virtual modelling and spatial relationship
with web geo-visualization systems, like Google Maps, Microsoft Live
Maps, and Yahoo Maps
Remote sensing in terrain analysis
Plotting special analytical maps is one of the most important stages
in engineering and geomorphologic surveys. Making large-scale
geomorphological maps requires knowledge of origination,
structure and stability of terrain forms as well as that of terrain
dynamics and transformation mechanisms. Solution to this issue appears to be the
least developed particularly in plotting large-scale geomorphologic
maps and schematic maps, assessment and prediction of dangerous
phenomena, and identification of
anthropogenic activity safeguards.
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Direction Magazine
(February 2009)
Tough Talk on Selling in a Down Economy
Despite today's economic uncertainty, one thing is sure: We all need more deals. We have to be vigilant in how we spend our time going after business opportunities. So any sales activities or initiatives that don't ultimately add value to your customers' bottom line are a waste of your time (and theirs), which should be spent driving new revenue.
A View from Over There - India and NSDI
Conferences billed as events for the "world" are often populated by bureaucrats who enjoy the sound of their own voices, but offer little substance. You see the so-called leaders of worldly professional bodies with wonderful PowerPoints, but little power to their points. For five days last week I listened intently to speakers at the Map World Forum (MWF) in Hyderabad, India to see if the event would herald a step forward for GIS or a missed opportunity.
Go iLawn: Geospatial SaaS for Lawn and Landscape Companies
Software as a Service. High resolution images. Geospatial technology. Future successful geospatial applications may depend on one or more of these, or other trends. But there’s already one player out ahead of the rest: Go iLawn. Directions Magazine interviewed Grant Gibson of GIS Dynamics about the service.
Digital Pen and Paper Accelerate GIS Projects
Field data collection is vital to the work of the engineering and construction industries, driving significant decisions that ultimately affect the bottom line. Many of the current methods and technologies are inconvenient, error-prone and time-consuming. In many situations field staff collect data on paper forms or maps and those data are re-keyed in.
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Vector 1 Media
(February 2009)
Water Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink
Pour a glass of water out of a kitchen tap throughout the Canterbury region of New Zealand and chances are you’ll be staring at what many consider the finest drinking water in the world. Cool, clear and untouched, it’s originated in the mountains of the Southern Alps, travelled across the Canterbury Plains in the large braided river systems and then filtered slowly through the alluvial shingles before settling in large natural aquifers.
Spicycles - Sustainable Policies For Cities On Cycling
When the Spicycles project was launched in 2006, cycling was not the ‘hot’ mode of transport that it has become today. As project partners, we wanted to gather experience related to specific areas of cycling policy. We were keen to explore how key elements such as communication and awareness raising, and the building of local partnerships, might increase the modal share of cycling. We had big expectations at the beginning of the project regarding cycling planning, but could not have predicted the explosion in the popularity of public bicycle systems that has taken place during Spicycles.
A Bridge Over Troubled Geospatial Data - and best practice for INSPIRE
The ESDIN project, co-funded by the European Commission (EC) sets out to tackle practical elements of the INSPIRE directive (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe). It will address the INSPIRE challenges by testing the theory of integrating National Spatial Data Infrastructures (NSDIs) to provide Europe with a framework of geographic reference information or in other words a European Spatial Data Infrastructure. When presenting at the project kick-off meeting in Paris in September 2008, Krister Olson from the European Commission stated that ESDIN had received high marks in the EU scoring system. |
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Earth Magazine
(February 2009) 
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