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GIS in Telecommunications, a new title from ESRI Press

GIS in Telecommunications, a comprehensive look at how telecommunication companies worldwide are using geographic information system (GIS) technology to gain a competitive edge in a highly aggressive market, is now available for purchase. GIS in Telecommunications carefully illustrates how GIS is enabling innovative firms to thrive in this highly competitive industry. Through several in-depth case studies, author Lisa Godin explains how companies are boosting their telecommunication services and activities with GIS. The book describes several state-of-the-art GIS telecommunication applications including how Main Course Technologies Inc., of Los Angeles, is integrating GIS and cellular technology to allow customers to view the location of vehicles, people, and other mobile objects on a map; how Telcordia uses GIS to design and document its fiber-optic, coaxial, and copper networks; and how other companies are using GIS to find the clearest paths for wireless operations, solve difficult connectivity problems, and uncover solutions to many other geography-based problems.

Visit: http://www.esri.com/esripress

ESRI (UK) supports National Land Use Database project

The government-led project to create and maintain a location-based national land use database (NLUD) received new impetus with the release of a royalty-free extension for geographic information systems (GIS). This technology is key because it will help local authorities define and maximize the use of brownfield sites. ESRI (UK), leaders in the supply and implementation of GIS, have developed the NLUD data capture tool as an Extension to the very popular ArcView GIS software which is used widely in local authorities and central government agencies. To support the project, ESRI (UK) is making the NLUD Extension available as a no-cost download from the Internet. This provides instant access for existing users of ArcView software or those who purchase additional licenses of this Desktop GIS. The NLUD project was initiated in 1998 to assist in managing the growth of future urban development. As well as being an ongoing planning tool, NLUD has already been used to help government policy makers advise ministers about those sites, which may not now be suitable for housing because they fall within mapped flood plains.

Visit : http://www.esriuk.com

Hitachi Software Global Technology outsources e-commerce operations to Digital River

Digital River, Inc., a leading global e-commerce outsource provider, has announced that it is building, managing and hosting e-commerce operations for Hitachi Software Global Technology (HSGT), the leading developer of imaging and raster-to-vector conversion software for Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). As part of the agreement, Digital River is providing transaction management, digital product fulfilment and 24X7 customer service for HSGT's recently launched e-commerce site, located at http://www.hsgt.com/.The new site introduces HSGT's FeatureXTR software application, which offers a fast and easy way to extract features from satellite and aerial imagery. FeatureXTR supports HSGT's Image Series software products developed for imaging and feature extraction for CAD and GIS data.

Visit : http://www.digitalriver.com/

Cartographers put 'bunnies' on the map, tricking copycats and sometimes tourists

Matt and Jane Walsh live at the corner of Geek and Lombard streets, a humorous address if Geek Street actually existed. But Geek Street, which appears on the San Francisco transit map published by Carto Graphics, is a bogus boulevard created by a crafty cartographer to trick copycat competitors. Bay Area maps are littered with similar sneaky touches, known among mapmakers as bunnies. Geek Street is among the most famous bunnies because it is near Coit Tower and the curvy section of Lombard Street. Stories abound of tourists wandering around, maps and cameras in hand, searching for a landmark that isn't there. Still other mapmakers, such as those at the California State Automobile Association, shun bunnies entirely and rely upon distinctive typography to fool copycats. "To us, accuracy is more important," said Chuck Kurnow, manager of the association's cartography department. Kurnow said the association hasn't used bunnies since the early 1970s, when a cartographer named Bill Westermeyer made a habit of including "Westermeyer Creek" on every map he made. Map bunnies are named for an old newspaper puzzle that challenged readers to find rabbits in a drawing. They're also known by the less-colorful, but perhaps more accurate, term "map trap." Scholars believe bunnies first appeared about a century ago, when new technology made it easier to mass-produce maps, increasing competition. "Once there was more competition, there was an incentive for an operator to try to cut costs by simply plagiarizing someone else's map," said Mark Monmonier, a University of Syracuse geography professor. Maps have been around almost as long as people have been trying to get from Point A to Point B without getting lost. Computers and high-tech gadgetry like global positioning satellites have made cartography more accurate, but mapmakers said their craft is as much art as science. So cartographers started dotting maps with bogus streets, landmarks and the occasional town to trap thieves.

Source : San Francisco Chronicle

Asia News

Ariane's problems may delay INSAT-3C launch

BANGALORE: India's launch of its INSAT-3C communications satellite intended for September or October may be postponed in view of problems faced by launch firm Arianspace, a spokesman for the space agency said on Tuesday.

The European satellite launch firm suffered a serious blow last month when its Ariane-5 rocket sent two satellites into a flawed orbit after a launch from French Guiana. Details of a probe on the malfunction will be made public next week.

"September is now not possible," the spokesman for state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told Reuters.

"They (Arianspace) have to reschedule the whole thing and talk to their customers," he said. He said the talks had not taken place yet with ISRO, a regular customer.

Source: The Times Of India

Map of Mysterious Mt. Meili Published

LANZHOU, August 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The first version of the map of snow-capped Meili Mountain in southwest China's Yunnan Province has been published in both Chinese and English by the Xi'an Map Publishing House.

The glacier mountain, 6,740 meters above sea level, attracts a large number of mountain climbers and scientists every year. However, the lack of a map had created many difficulties for the adventurers, including some of whom have lost their lives on the mountain.

Mi Desheng, a research fellow with the Lanzhou Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in northwest Gansu Province, has spent years in Mt. Meili collecting geographic data with advanced remote- sensoring devices, and drew the map with a 1 : 1 million scale.

The map specifies the location of glaciers and vegetation genres in the mountain, and describes different climate features and road conditions in the area.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Monument Erected in East China to Indicate Ancient Geological Section

HANGZHOU, August 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A landmark monument was erected Friday in Coal Mountain in east China's Zhejiang Province Friday to indicate the section between two ancient geological eras, when drastic biological changes happened billions of years ago.

Some 100 geologists from 15 countries and regions were on the spot to witness the ceremony, and paid their respects to the great achievement that Chinese scientists have made in the world's geological arena. Locations marking geological sections are known as global stratotype sections and points (GSSP). The section found in Coal Mountain divides the geological ages of the Paleozoic Era and Mesozoic Era, which mark catastrophic biological alteration more serious than the time when dinosaurs became extinct.

Richard Lane, vice chairman of the International Stratum Committee and senior Chinese officials, unveiled the monument, which is one of 13 standard sections selected to separate geological ages on earth.

The designation of the location has taken 80 years of efforts by Chinese and foreign geologists. The supposition of the location was made by an American Chinese expert in 1923. An institute set up by experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences was set up here in 1977 to conduct intensive tests. The principal work of the International Stratum Committee is to specify GSSPs. For over 100 years, scientists could only assume the location of the division between the Paleozoic Era and the Mesozoic Era with fossilized ammonite stone. The distribution of the stone is limited, which created difficulties in the dating.

The mountain located in Changxing County, Zhejiang, is home to an ancient gingko community and a nature reserve for the endangered Chinese alligator. Another old stone monument written in both the Chinese and English languages was set in the mountain area. The date engraved on it is "March 14, 1980." This indicates the sustained effort to protect the geological features by local people.

Source: Xinhua News Agency