TOP
STORIES
 |
India’s
Science and Technology Minister unveils technology to aid real-time monitoring
of capital city
The Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Mr.
Kapil Sibal said that spatial technology is a tool for good governance
and it is time to use this tool...
|
|
ISRO postpones Cartosat-2 launch
to January
"There has been a delay in testing," an ISRO official said
in Bangalore. "We have solved most of the problem"...
|
|
GRASS GIS 6.2.0 released
Further improvements include substantial message translations (i18n) with
support for FreeType fonts, including multi-byte Asian characters, and...
|
|
New rules of conduct for GIS professionals
unveiled by GIS Certification Institute
“The adoption of the Rules of Conduct represents a major step forward
in enhancing the view of GIS as a respected profession,” said...
|
|
Linking locations to news stories
now made easier with NAC Enhanced Google Maps
As something happens, the first response of most people is to ask when
and where, which is the most...
|
|
|
WORLD THIS WEEK
|
Natural disaster info to be
relayed on mobiles in India
"India is the first country in the world which has introduced an
easy-to-use, bilingual disaster warning dissemination system. Through
this alert system...
|
|
UNEP unveils unique website,
shows damage inflicted areas of the Earth through satellite-photo atlas
"The format is highly effective," said Ashbindu Singh, the Regional
Coordinator for UNEP who oversaw the project. "Anyone looking at
the...
|
|
Receivers key to Galileo success,
ESA establishing the foundations
This pioneering task also demonstrated that Galileo and GPS do not interfere
with one another and can be used together. This compatibility...
|
|
Alice-SC ground receiving station
put into operation at National Centre for Remote Sensing, Nigeria
Nigerian NCRS Center, located in Jos, is one of the departments of the
National Space Research and Development Agency...
|
|
Map shows how Germany spends
on buying beer
This factor, beer consumption in restaurants, does not flow in the calculation,
resulting in the discrepancy...
|
| | |
|
| |
| |
EDITORIAL
The events this week have once again brought into sharp focus the need for a ‘active’ universal policy on disaster management, and the need for a ‘tighter’ global policy for preserving our fast-changing environment with the objective of safeguarding our living planet.
This week's events have clearly shown that inspite of all the challenges, the global scientific community is giving high priority to evolving mechanisms for managing disasters (both man-made and natural) and making people feel safe inside and outside their homes.
In the important context of disaster management, India is putting in place a natural disaster information dissemination system to alert people within seconds on mobile phones, which is claimed to be the first in the world. Through this alert system the common man would come to know about an impending natural disaster in 30 seconds.
In the other important context of environmental management, UNEP has unveiled a unique website that uses a digital map framework to catalog damage inflicted on the Earth over the last few decades. "It is as simple as seeing is believing," said Patrick Joseph, an environmental journalist who writes a blog for the nonprofit Sierra Club. "You can read a million times over that the Amazon is being deforested, but satellite imagery really helps give you an idea of the scale on which it is happening."
Undoubtedly such information in public domain would help the citizens around the world to assess how our planet is being affected by their respective activities, and how they can contribute to improving the situation from dwindling further. It needs to observed how such steps help people exercise ethical behaviour towards their environment.
Another event of this week, which needs to be mentioned, is the recent release by US-based GIS Certification Institute 'Rules of Conduct' for GIS professionals. The supplement to its Code of Ethics, the Rules of Conduct presents a set of principles toward which professionals must continually strive. “The adoption of the Rules of Conduct represents a major step forward in enhancing the view of GIS as a respected profession,” said Geney Terry, GISP Chair of the GISCI Ethics Committee.
Other institutions across the globe can take a note from this. Such code of ethics would help in laying emphasis on making GIS professionals aware of their actions and the impact of those actions. It would help set out obligations that a GIS professional has to society as a whole, employers, colleagues and individuals at large.
In light of the above there is a need to further debate the role of ethics in the geospatial domain vis a vis politics, socio-economy, culture of the various nations across the globe and evolve a common code of ethics.
Dhawal Kumar
dhawal.kumar@gisdevelopment.net
|
ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
|
Role
of Geoinformatics for disaster risk management
N.V.C.
Menon and Rani Sahay
National Disaster Management Authority, India
Disaster Management in India thus far was focused on relief, rescue,
rehabilitation and recovery. There is now a shift to a new disaster management
paradigm that stresses on prevention, mitigation and preparedness, while strengthening
its emergency response (rescue, relief, rehabilitation and recovery)...
3D
!!! - HOW?
 Dr.
Hrishikesh Samant
Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary),
GIS Development
Reader, Department of Geology,
St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, India
hrishikesh@gisdevelopment.net
We live in a three-dimensional world and our appreciation of space around
us is almost exclusively by our eyes. The spacing between our eyes, results
in the lenses in them projecting two slightly different pictures...
|
|
|
INTERVIEW
“We
want Web based applications to get best representation of the real world”
 Johannes
Kebeck
Microsoft Virtual Earth Technology Specialist, UK
In Virtual Earth (the platform which powers Windows
Live Local) we have an Ajax-control that you can embed in your applications
and control through JavaScript. You can embed it in a more complex way but JavaScript
is in general the minimum requirement… |
NEW PRODUCTS
Digital maps of Finland with 5-digit postal codes now available
On the administrative level too, maps are available
from the largest level, provinces (“Lääni”), right down
to the smallest unit, communities (“Kunnat”)...
Leica GPro version 3.2 launched by Leica Geosystems
Leica GPro is the main software tool for downloading
and ground processing Leica ADS40 airborne digital line sensor imagery...
INPHO launches version 5.0 of MATCH-AT, MATCH-T, DTMaster and OrthoMaster
New additional data types of the project file
V5.0 are orthophotos, RPC coefficients of satellite images, definition of 3-line
type sensors...
Pictometry announces new 3D product offerings
The Pictometry 3D Suite of products provides Pictometry
customers with the option to create 3D models using Pictometry images themselves...
|
|
|
|
