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News : May-June 1998
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Siemens Scales New Heights in Land Record Management
Online Support Facility for Geoscience Software in India
HH Cadionics Represents GTCO in India
Disaster Management
Digital Elevation Map of Earth
KODAK and NASA Agreement for Image Printing
Autodesk View 2.0 released
Netscape, IBM push new Web imaging format
Intergraph Climbs Everest
Elcome is Leica's new Distributor in India
Siemens Scales New Heights in Land Record Management
Siemens Information Systems Ltd.(SISL) has launched its customised software application , SICADL-AND (State-wide Implementation of Cadastral Land Information Syatem). This application programme based on the SICAD/Open Geographic Information System (GIS) software from Siemens Nixdorf, is designed to computerise cadastral land records and has been specially developed with inputs from the Government of Tamil Nadu as per their requirements.
SICADLAND helps to convert existing paper based FMBs (Field Measurment Book) to a computerised database, which not only makes them accurate and easily reproducable, but also helps to integrate with land records management all the village and taluk level. This system keeps track of ownership details, transfer of ownership, division of land and corresponding changes to the land records upto the district level. Collating these digital FMBs with a computer based system will provide better management of land records through accurate creation and consolidation of cadastral and land record information at the village, taluk and district levels.
SICADLAND has been developed jointly by Government of Tamil Nadu and GIS Competence Centre of SISL based in Chennai. It was demonstrated to the Chief Secretary, Special Secretary and Secretaries of various departments. On the occasion, Mr. Umashankar, Joint Chief Electoral Officer (Computerisation), Government of Tamil Nadu said, "Revenue department which is considered to be the mother of all departments, administers the land record data. SICADLAND, a powerful tool developed by SISL, is the first state-of-the-art technology which could transform the revenue department from the present conventional administration to a high - tech administration. With this tool India could very well enter the 21st century with its head held high."
"SISL is happy and privileged to be associated with the Tamil Nadu Government in this programme. While Tamil Nadu will be the first state to benefit from SICADLAND, other states throughout India could equally benefit from it", said Mr. Anil Laud, Managing Director, SISL.
For further details please contact:
P Venkatram, Siemens Information Systems Ltd.
Tel: 011-4315296
Online Support Facility for Geoscience Software in India
An online facility for the support of Geo-scientific software has been made operational. The site created exclusively to cater to ER Mapper, Autodesk GIS and Micromine clients was made operational on 10th May 1998. The entire purpose of this support facility is to enhance customer support with the fastest response time possible from a team of dedicated support personnel. Besides this a regular telephonic and facsimile support will continue as email and Internet access is still in the fledging stages in India.
Besides this Geoscience Data Services has the unique distinction in the Indian market, as the only member of the global network of ER Mapper/Autodesk resellers able to service their clients witha complete GIS solution. Clive Poole, South Asian Reseller .
Manager, ER Mapper, commented, "We are delighted to have Geoscience Data Services as the first combined ER Mapper/Autodesk dealer in India. Their application focus in strategic Indian markets are an asset to both companies and will ensure that clients receive a complete GIS solution." And added to this is the comprehensive mining suite from Micromine Pty Australia including Micromine Windows, Gpick, Field Marshal ER Mapper.
erm_support@stph.soft.net
Autodesk - GIS autodesk@stph.soft.net
Micromine - mm_support@stph.soft.net
Facsimile support - 0674-407558
HH Cadionics Represents GTCO in India
HH Cadionics (India) Pvt. Ltd. has become the All India Distributor of Graphics Technology Company (GTCO) Digitising Equipment. Founded in 1975, GTCO manufactures high precision digitisers for over 25 years and these products are being sold in 50 countries in diverse industry segments. GTCO's input peripherals are used in variety of applications, especially to create original graphics, trace existing media, capture handwriting and measure quantities from drawings. Based on several proprietary x,y input technologies, GTCO has developed specific product solutions for specific applications.
All GTCO digitisers automatically perform diagnostic self-tests on power-up. If a fault is detected, a distinctive alarm is set-off. This feature assures proper operation and alerts the user to possible problems that could cause measurement inaccuracies. The system ensures that you can accurately digitise through a whole book of blueprints.
For details please contact:
Niti Sehgal, HH Cadionics India Pvt. Ltd.
Tel.: 011-6230001 Fax: 001-6230030
Email: Can.hhcad@axcess.net.in
Disaster Management
Gujarat fails to save lives, Maharashtra learns from Latur
How can an insensitive and untrained administration risk lives of thousands was demonstrated to the country during the recent cyclones, which hit the west coast of the country. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued four cyclone alerts every 24 hours from June 5, 1998, a good four days before the cyclone ripped through Gujarat coast. One June 7, the IMD issued a warning that set a window from 8.30 p.m. on June 8 to 8.30 p.m. on June 10. The cyclone hit the coast on the night of June 9. Inspite of these early warnings, more than 1000 people lost lives due to the tragedy in Gujarat state. Kandla port suffered the most. The workers living near the port say that no warnings were issued to them. This is a poor commentary on the sorry state of disaster management machinery in the country.
Seeing the plight of Gujarat, one is happy to note that Maharashtra State has taken steps to implement a disaster management plan in the state. This initiative came after the devastating Latur earthquake. The 52 crore Disaster Management Information System (DMIS), a part of Maharashtra Emergency Rehabilitation Project, aided by the World Bank and the British Government, envisages setting up a special communication network on the VHF and VSAT modes to link all the tehsils, districts and divisional headquarters with one another and also the main control room at Mantralaya in Mumbai for dissemination of urgent information on disaster taking place in the state.
The Nagpur based Maharashtra State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (MSRSAC) is developing the GIS based digitized data base on Disaster Management Plan (DMP) up to tehsil level on 1:50,000 scale. This would be coupled with hazard maps of each tehsil for hazard forecasting, loss estimation, emergency response and even development planning. This involved pinpoint demarcation of all earthquake-prone zones and identification of disaster management infrastructure, including government offices, hospitals, police stations and other agencies.
ESRI India, has bagged the 2.6 crore GIS System Integration contract for this project. The compa-ny will insta-ll PC ArcVi-ew in all the thirty-one districts of the state, MSRSAC and in the Mantralaya. Network Analyst, a software for logistics man-agement, will also be implemented by ESRI. This will help in better resource management, route planning and will act as a decision support system for local authorities before and after a disaster.
Digital Elevation Map of Earth
A dream of 'Digital Elevation Map (DEM) of the Earth', may come true provided NASA Space shuttle mission scheduled for December 1998 succeeds. Although radar images have created DEM's for parts of the globe, but never the entire planet. Eleven day Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, sponsored by National Imaging and Mapping Agency, is expected to produce a digital topographic map of Earth 30 times more detailed than maps currently available to the public. In addition to defence applications, DEM may be used for aiding the placement of microwave transmission towers, which require clear lines of sight between adjacent towers. DEM data could also be used to create accurate maps for various public and recreational uses.
The map will depict 80% of the globe containing nearly 95% of its population. The rest of the part of the globe could not be covered as the shuttle is unable to orbit Earth's poles and thus, the map will not include Antarctica, northern Canada, most of Alaska and areas surrounding the North and South poles.
KODAK and NASA Agreement for Image Printing
Eastman Kodak announced an agreement with NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, aimed at determining public interest in obtaining quality photographic digital prints from images of NASA missions.
The market trial agreement calls for Kodak to be the supplier of digital photo- graphic prints of astronaut photographs of Earth available for purchase on-line through the NASA Earth from Space Internet Site. This will enable the people to have the opportunity to easily obtain high quality digital photo-graphic prints of NASA collection of images. "We are pleased to play the key role with NASA in this programme", said Joanne E. Braeunle, Director, Imaging Products and Systems, Kodak.
In response to customer order initiated from the Earth from Space Internet Site, Kodak will provide hardcopy digital photographic prints of images in four sizes. Kodak will establish a Service Fulfilment site on a secure server which will accept the customer order and credit card information. This software will forward the details of the order electronically to Kodak's print production facility
For further details please contact: Bob Lunquist
Email: lunquist@felix.kodak.com
Autodesk View 2.0 released
Autodesk has announced the worldwide availability of Autodesk View 2.0 software, which is the latest addition to the company's full-scale family of design products. The software delivers real-time pan and zoom viewing capabilities of AutoCAD Release 9-14 DWG, DXF, ACIS and DWF files.
The company claims that the software makes it easier for customers to collaborate on project by letting design users within an organisation to access and provide feedback on design data without altering the original image. It is ideal for teams working at different locations that need to obtain drawing updates or share project-related engineering data. It even supports common business formats so that users can include project spreadsheets, report summaries, and presentation database drawings to further enhance and convey additional project information for the design team. The software is Windows based and retails for $195 with upgrade pricing at $69 for registered users of Autodesk View software and Softdesk Viewbase software. Customers who have purchased Autodesk View since January 1, 1998 are eligible for free upgrades.
Netscape, IBM push new Web imaging format
ADOBE, Netscape, and IBM say they have the format to popularise vector graphics on web the Precision Graphics Markup Language, or PGML. The companies have pitched the language to the World Wide Web Consortium as an open secification for vector graphics.
Rather than the pixel-by-pixel definition of todays Web graphics standards - the GIF and JPEG formats - vector graphics use concise mathematical expressions to describe shapes, lines, and even animated positions. Vector formats are typically more efficient than bitmapped formats at handling special graphics tricks on a Web page, such as animated letters dropping into place in a sentence.
The current front-runner among vector formats is Flash, Macromedia's proprietary technology for rendering graphics in browsers.
But the trio of companies says PGML better satisfies the Web's scalable, lightweight vector demands while giving graphic designers better precision over fonts, color, layout, and composting. It describes a graphic as a collection of graphical objects - path objects, shape objects, image objects, and text objects.
In addition to using an imaging model similar to Adobe's PostScript language and Portable Document Format, PGML is built around the vaunted extensible markup language (XML). Comparing it to Flash, Adobe's director of Web authoring products emphasized this XML basis for the language. "Flash is more of a binary kind of format, and not as easily readable", said Ted
Intergarph Climbs Everest
The Mount Everest Challenge team is carrying notebook computers on their expedition which will be used to communicate with the base camp via satellite uplink. After their return, publication chronicling the expedition will be created, edited and catalogued on ExtremeZ Visual Workstations, and the resulting graphics, images, and information will be disseminated via the Web, video and print. All the software and hardware used will be provided by Integraph.
Integraph develops, manufactures, sells, and supports computer systems and advanced graphics accelerators for the creative and technical desktop in markets such as traditional CAD, MCAD, animation, content creation, publishing and prepress, and digital media.
Rolta India Ltd., the flagship company of the Rolta Group, is the leading solution provider from Intergraph in India. It has been presenting the best from Intergraph solutions, through technology seminars it has been conducting around the country at regular intervals. Rolta has brought to the Indian market the WINTEL workstations from Intergraph.
Elcome is Leica's new Distributor in India
"Leica Geosystem and BIMC have decided to terminate their existing distribution agreement in India and as on 1st September 1998 Leica would be represented in India by Elcome Technologies. However all the order booked by BIMC till this date will be executed and all support commitments would be met by Leica and Elcome. The new company would have Head Office in Delhi and branches in Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Hyderabad, Vizag, Cochin to start with. The Delhi office address would be:
If you have any enquiries please contact Leica Liasion Office in India.
Leica Geosystem India
Ph: 6802362, 6802271 Fax: 6804171
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