Top Stories
Domtar receives awards for innovative Forest Management web site
Domtar Inc. was recently recognized by the Environmental Science Research Institute (ESRI), a world leader in the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for its industry first approach in bringing forest management planning to the Internet. On May 7, 2001 ESRI presented Domtar with their National Award of Excellence at an ESRI user conference in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In addition to the Canadian award, Domtar also received the ESRI International 'Special Achievement' award at their annual conference on July 12 in San Diego, California. Domtar's application was selected from over 60,000 websites worldwide for its innovative use of GIS. The award recognized Domtar's latest achievement, a powerful new interactive web-based application, which enables recreational forest users, outfitters and the public at large to review and to comment on Domtar's forest management operations in Canada. This industry leading application uses ESRI's ArcIMS (Internet Map Server). Users of the Domtar web-based application can also personalize their maps and view various planning themes including harvesting, planting and thinning, road construction and land use.
Visit:
www.domtar.com &
www.transmap.com
New Magellan GPS Handhelds First With Secure Digital Memory Capability
Thales Navigation, manufacturer of Magellan(TM) Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, have announced the new Magellan Meridian(TM) series, the first line of GPS handhelds to offer Secure Digital Memory Card capabilities for significantly expanding flash memory capacity for storing and downloading data. This premium line of high-performance, waterproof handhelds includes the Meridian GPS and Meridian Gold, available in September 2001, and the Meridian Marine and Meridian Platinum, available later in fall 2001. Meridian receivers deliver better than three-meter accuracy and up to 16 MB of extensive built-in US map data as well as a new rugged, ergonomic design, complete with a larger screen. The four Meridian receivers offer customers different capabilities that extend from entry-level options to high-end navigation tools. The Meridian GPS offers a 2 MB base map with a worldwide database of political boundaries and major cities. Meridian Gold provides a 16 MB US database of maps for interstate highways, state highways, major roads, parks, waterways, airports, cities and more. The Meridian Platinum offers the same 16 MB US street-map database plus a barometer and a three-axis digital compass. Meridian Marine provides a 16 MB US database that includes map data and marine navaids such as fixed navaids, buoys, obstructions, wrecks and lighthouses.
Visit:
www.magellangps.com
NASA begins global 3D map release
The American space agency (NASA) has released the first section of the most accurate 3D map of the world yet produced. It was created with data from a space shuttle mission. "The map is going to be 100 times better than any other global map that we have," Shuttle Radar Topography Mission deputy project scientist Tom Farr said. The shuttle flew an 11-day mission in February 2000, during which it trailed a 60-metre (197-foot) radar-surveying boom. It collected more data on the shape of the Earth's surface than was collected over the previous 30 years by other means. The data collected ran into several terabytes, comprising a trillion measurements of the Earth's surface. The project was a collaboration between the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), NASA, and the German and Italian space agencies. NIMA, part of the US Department of Defense, financed much of the mission and will use the data to improve flight simulators and targeting systems.
The first chunk of the data to be made public covers a 20,500-square-kilometre (8,000-square-mile) swathe of the US state of Colorado.
SnapTrack and TechnoCom team up to provide gpsOne-based E9-1-1 services
SnapTrack, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated and TechnoCom Corporation, have announced a joint effort to provide integration and deployment support for
E9-1-1 emergency cell phone location and location-based commercial services for QUALCOMM's SnapTrack-enhanced, gpsOne-based wireless location systems. gpsOne technology provides industry-leading accuracy, availability and performance, and comprises a complete client-server-based wireless location systems solution for carriers worldwide, including integrated chipsets supporting multiple wireless standards and SnapTrack's SnapSmart Position Determination Entity (PDE) location server software. The agreement between the two companies establishes TechnoCom as the preferred field-test, engineering services, and integration contractor for carriers and SnapTrack OEMs for deployment services, trial management and implementation of gpsOne-based wireless location systems in the United States.
Visit:
>www.snaptrack.com
GPS technology now available for hand-held radio systems
For the first time, GPS technology is available in a fully portable location and emergency tracking system. CyTerra Corporation is unveiling the newest version of RadioTrac for use with hand-held, two-way radio systems. RadioTrac systems are designed to enhance the safety of public service and public safety personnel by providing instant location and emergency tracking information through a customer's existing mobile or hand-held two-way radio system. All RadioTrac systems integrate the latest GPS technology and come complete with a base station, a miniature GPS transceiver with patented encoding/decoding techniques, and CyTerra's proprietary mapping software, which is tailored to meet specific customer needs.
Visit:
www.cyterracorp.com
VARGIS makes first major U.S. purchase of ISTAR data
VARGIS LLC of Herndon, Va., has taken delivery of the first major North American purchase of high-resolution ISTAR orthoimagery. The purchase was conducted through ORBIMAGE of Dulles, Va., an ISTAR distributor. VARGIS, a broker of digital orthoimagery and provider of mapping project management services, bought the equivalent of 245 quarter-quads acquired by ISTAR over California and packaged as the ORBIMAGE OrbView Cities Plus product series. VARGIS inspected the orthoimagery and bundled the scenes with other geospatial data for delivery to a client.
Visit:
www.istar.com
Laser-Scan takes on real-time Geographic Data Management
World leading geospatial expert Laser-Scan Inc. is hosting a series of presentations by high profile delegates at its User Group conference this month on 28th and 29th August. The theme of the event is "Integrated Systems for Real-time Geographic Data Management". Delegates from across North and South America will hear presentations from prestigious speakers representing Laser-Scan's wide customer base across both continents; Laser-Scan's team of experts will also be contributing to the agenda. The conference will cover topics from generalisation to interoperability. During the event delegates will also have the chance to take part in a number of workshops to see how Laser-Scan technology is used in different ways across the industry.
Visit:
www.laser-scan.com
LiDAR Myths And Realities-topic of upcoming seminar series
"The Myths and Realities of LiDAR" is the topic of an upcoming seminar series sponsored by the Sanborn Map Company. The program will begin September 18 in Charlotte, North Carolina and will be presented in seven additional U.S. cities throughout the fall. At the half-day workshop, industry experts will explain the benefits, capabilities and limitations of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology. The interactive program will allow attendees to learn about LiDAR from case studies and question whether this maturing technology is suitable for their unique applications.
Visit:
www.sanbornmap.com
Asia News
Chinese Experts Draw First Topographical Map of Antarctic Site
WUHAN,August6, Xinhuanet-- The first topographical map of Mt. Grove in the Antarctic region, drawn by experts from Wuhan University, was recently published and issued,according to latest issue of Beijing Review.
Located approximately 400 to 500 km south of China's Zhongshan Antarctic Research Station, Mt. Grove covers an area of roughly 3,200 square km. Mt. Grove, which has a complex topography, is one of the few unexplored places in the Antarctic region. Its uncharted territory is the reason many nations are drawn to Mt. Grove, and are interested in building research stations there.
Between 1999 and 2000, China's 15th and 16th expedition groups to the Antarctic region explored Mt. Grove on foot for the first time in human history.
Surveying and mapping experts from Wuhan University conducted thorough field measurements in the region, and created a topographical map of approximately 120 square km at a scale of 1£º25,000. During their expedition, the team set up two Global Positioning System (GPS) stations and placed three permanent survey plaques.
The experts consider the creation of the topographical map a great achievement, both for the tectonic research of the South Pole and the entire planet. Many people would now have a clearer mental picture of Mt. Grove.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
China Kicks off Drilling into Earth Crust Project
BEIJING,August 6-Xinhuanet-- Known as "Telescope into the Earth", with drilling started at Maobeizhen, Donghai County, Jiangsu Province on August 4, the project is the first of like major geological scientific endeavor ever carried out in China, according to today's People's Daily.com.
Drilling exploration into the earth is an important geological scientific task, it can help people get a better understanding of crust component, structure, and its evolution, and it is also significant to enhance China's theory in earth scientific study and improve earth drilling technology level. A 5,000-meter-deep hole will be drilled into the earth to form the first scientific hole in China.
Maobeizhen, drilling site of the hole, lies on the world's largest high-pressure metamorphism belt- Dabie-Sulu mountain belt, which is considered a natural lab for studying crust structure and global geological movement.
So far, about 100 holes have been drilled in 13 countries across the world. A major scientific engineering project set for the 9th-five Year Plan period, approved as an international continent scientific drilling project in 1998, the drilling project is to be undertaken at an estimated cost of 150 million yuan. The Zhongyuan Petroleum Prospecting Bureau has been put in charge of the drilling work as successful winner of the bid under the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Japanese data suggest El Nino activity
The western Pacific Ocean is getting warmer again in ways that Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) researchers say suggest a new El Nino cycle of abnormal weather on a global scale.
The group's assessment, reported Thursday, was based on readings of ocean currents and surface temperatures from a buoy off the coast of New Guinea in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean.
El Nino refers to increases in surface temperatures of two to four degrees above normal from the coasts of Peru and Ecuador to the equatorial central Pacific. The phenomenon can last from six to 18 months and occurs about once every four years.
Since the spring of 1998, the JAMSTEC observers have charted the temperature and current readings. They noted that from late June to early July this year, surface temperatures above 29 degrees began moving eastward at about 5.4 kilometers an hour. At that rate, the warm current is expected to reach the South American coast by year-end.
The El Nino that began in 1997 brought droughts and fires in the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Africa and Central and South America and flooding in North America. It usually causes warm winters and cool summers in Japan.
Source:
www.asahi.com/english/national/K2001080400458.html
