 American Surveyor (January 2009)
 Point to Point: Minimum Level of Competency
We turn now to a subject that has annoyed me for years, and shortly you shall see why. Discourse is, by its very nature, most useful when the language used moves the conversation in a helpful direction. But we have a term in licensing that (to me) seems calculated to truncate that conversation, smothering debate with a meaningless platitude. Of course I am referring to the phrase, "minimum level of competency."
Finding My Inner Indiana Jones—Using Carlson SurvCE to Survey History
Every day as I headed to my job, the theme from Indiana Jones kept running through my head. I even had the hat! The site I was surveying was older than any piece of property I had ever worked on before
A View into Stadium Innovation from the Top
The new 63,000-seat-plus Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis will no doubt serve notice to sports fans, sports media and industry around the nation that the Circle City is a serious entertainment and convention business player.
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GPS World (January 2009)
 Assessing the Spoofing Threat
Seven years after the Volpe Report warned that "[a]s GPS further penetrates into the civil infrastructure, it becomes a tempting target that could be exploited by individuals, groups, or countries hostile to the U.S.," civil GPS receivers remain as vulnerable as ever to this threat. Among other types of interference, the Volpe report considers civil GPS spoofing…
Helping Farmers Save the Reef
Farmers will be trained to use GPS technology to manage their crops as part of a $23 million rescue package for the Great Barrier Reef, reports The Age of Melbourne, Australia.
A 2007 report on water quality linked the reef’s decline to fertilizers, chemicals, and soil being washed from Queensland farms into the ocean. One researcher says the reef will be dead within 30 years unless human activity changes quickly. According to the report, 6.6 million tons of sediment had been discharged into the reef — four times higher than estimated pre-European settlement levels.
Remote Asset Management Worth the Cost
Companies that invest in remote asset-management recouped their investment within the first 12 months of deployment and saw returns well over 100 percent within the first five years of implementation, according to an industry research study.
The study, The Impact of Remote Asset Management Technology on the Goods Transportation Industry, will be released this month by communication consultant CSMG, the strategy division of TMNG Global, and sponsored by GPS-enabled remote asset-management provider SkyBitz.
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GIM International (January 2009)
 That Sinking Feeling
Some 25 metres beneath the surface of its streets, workers are toiling in fine sandy soil to construct a 3.8km underground railway tunnel that will connect the northern and southern parts of the city. Once completed, the Noord/Zuidlijn will measure 9.7km.
BIM: Building Information Model
BIM standards are crucial for increasing productivity, more and more important in a world struggling to recover from problems related to real-estate financing. Standards reduce costs in design, construction and management throughout the lifecycle of capital projects such as office buildings, bridges and airports.
Road Extraction for Hazard Management
Fully automatic object extraction has not yet become an operational reality and is still subject to fundamental research (see textbox). However, semiautomatic approaches are becoming increasingly viable in operational settings. Methods that combine multiple views, different sensors, external data or other evidence sources within a sound statistical framework may further enhance the level of automation.
Techno-hyperactivity
Geographic Information Technologies in Urban Hazard/Disaster Analysis is soon to be published by Springer, but none of the work described is useful if not effectively communicated to decision-makers and the general public. Carefully compiled reports often lie on a shelf gathering dust. |
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Point of Beginning (January 2009)
Controlling the Sway
When the new Pitt River Bridge opens to traffic later this year, this CA$198 million (approx. US$167 million), seven-lane cable-stayed structure, which connects the British Columbia cities of Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam, will support more than 80,000 vehicles per day, allow up to 52 feet of vertical marine clearance and provide paths for cyclists and pedestrians. ...
Flood Control from the Air
The Red River flows northward at a minimal slope as it traverses the relatively flat terrain between North Dakota and Minnesota. At least once a year, the Red River overflows its banks. Most of these floods are minor; however, in 1997, an extreme set of conditions conspired to create the region’s most disastrous flood since 1826. ...
Professional Topography: Recession-proof surveying.
The popular press is printing a lot of advice about how you can insulate yourself from the recession.
The writers often encourage you to get into a business or a profession that some sage person has determined is immune to the recession. If you already work in or own a surveying business, this advice may not seem very useful. But some of the basic principles can still apply. |
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GEO: International (December/January 2009)
Not going with the Proverbial Flow
Adam Riley describes how an active US non-profit organization is utilizing LiDAR to restore neglected streams and wetlands using an Optech ALTM 3100C.
Successful Franchising with GIS
Where do you locate that next fast food restaurant? Read how a major US franchising business uses GIS as part of a strategic solution incorporating ESRI software to help its quick service restaurant chain grow.
Taking Lidar Data to the Next Level
As our cover image shows, Infoterra Limited is capable of capturing ever higher resolution LiDAR data from both ground and air, where British cities are being re-captured at 8 points per metre.
A New Information ERA – Slip
The Western Australian Government developed a common information framework allowing agencies to share their spatial information online, resulting in the Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP).
Regression Analysis Tools for GIS Modeling
ArcGIS 9.3 tools now make it easier to model complex spatial relationships for predicting spatial trends relevant to planning and decision making in society and business.
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| Other Publications |
InfoGEO (Spanish)
(January 2009) |
Nature
(January 2009) |
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Direction Magazine (January 2009)
Community Health Assessment Using Self-organizing Maps and Geographic Information Systems
From a public health perspective, a healthier community environment correlates with fewer occurrences of chronic or infectious diseases. Our premise is that community health is a nonlinear function of environmental and socioeconomic effects that are not normally distributed among communities.
A Collaboration Portal for a Humanitarian Emergency
When Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar in May 2008, governments and international relief agencies were faced with a humanitarian emergency that required swift action. Because of the size and complexity of the emergency, the United Nations deployed a Humanitarian Information Center (HIC) website to coordinate relief efforts.
Crime Mapping Wave
If you look at the media's coverage of GIS and online mapping in the past month or two you'll see a crime wave. No, there's not necessarily more crime everywhere (though in many areas, it is up); there are just more crime maps online and more discussions about them. Here in the U.S. it seems a great many small towns, counties and large cities have, or will have, some type of online crime map in the coming months. I see at least one article each week in local, city or regional papers highlighting implementations. |
Vector 1 Media (January 2009)
Enhanced Oil Recovery Revives Petroleum Fields and Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Carbon dioxide is not always the villain. It can actually be quite beneficial for companies like Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, which is using the greenhouse gas for enhanced oil recovery, a process that involves injecting otherwise tapped out wells with CO2 to produce additional oil. Anadarko uses GIS to track pipeline maintenance, view land reclamation, and keep up with revegetation of native grasses.
Norway - LNG-Fueled Ferries Reduces Air Pollution
Some 50,000 islands and thousands of narrow fjords cut into the mountainous countryside along Norway’s jagged coastline. Diesel-fueled ferries have transported people and goods between the islands and across the fjords for decades, but a new fleet of natural gas-powered ferries is now improving mobility without emitting noxious fumes that pollute the marine environment.
Ten Predictions for 2009
Energy—The continuing interest in environmental issues is spurring increased growth in investment, political change, and the development of new technologies related to the exploration, research, monitoring and education of energy related technologies. This will become increasingly important to the geospatial community. |
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Earth Magazine(January 2009) 
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