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IZOIC Launches eBuild GBS 2.0

IZOIC Incorporated has announced the availability of eBuild Geographic Business Services (GBS) 2.0, a new industry product targeted at facility owners such as utility and telecommunications companies, and municipalities that require sophisticated, GIS solutions for building, analyzing, and maintaining an infrastructure network. This release of eBuild GBS is designed for facility management professionals who are responsible for maintaining an accurate database of their assets, and need intelligent business logic to identify and address potential conflicts with those facilities. eBuild GBS is a component of the eBuild application suite from IZOIC, extending spatial data capture and management capabilities. Using advanced spatial and relational technologies eBuild GBS also includes the ability to build, maintain, and validate business rules that drive business processes such as locate request dispatch. eBuild GBS leverages Autodesk's MapGuide technologies, and exclusive IZOIC geo-spatial tools for display and management of facility owner data.

Visit:- http://www.izoic.com/

Satellite Surveillance Helps U.S. and Canadian Fire-fighters

U.S. and Canadian firefighters and land managers are using satellite data from both NASA and the European Space Agency to combat wildfires raging in the North American continent's Northwest region. NASA's Terra satellite is providing a view of fires across the entire United States, helping local officials manage fires more effectively, both during and after wildfires. The effort, a collaboration between NASA, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. Earlier in the month, REMSAT, an ESA-supported satellite ground station that supplies up-to-the-minute fire mapping and logistics support, was a vital part of the Canadian firefighters' arsenal as they fought blazes in British Columbia.

Visit:- http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/satellite_firefighters_010821-1.html

Maptuit Forms Alliance with Agis and Connectopia

Maptuit Corporation, a leading global provider of wireless and wireline eGeo services, has announced strategic alliances with Singapore-based Agis Pte Ltd., a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) company specializing in the collection of map data, and Connectopia, the owner of Zeepee, a Short Message System (SMS) entertainment and people finder, to launch an eGeo system that will allow Singaporeans to locate businesses and local attractions via GSM mobile phones and get directions to those locations. Maptuit, which opened offices in Singapore last April to supply wireless and Internet routing services locally, uses a database of the global road network to allows users of wireless devices to look up addresses, create maps, search for points of interest and calculate most efficient routes between two points. Maptuit has successfully completed modeling the Singapore road network and will soon be offering directions, traffic and weather conditions to mobile phones through alliances with local communication companies.

Visit:- http://www.maptuit.com/web/index.html

AVL Information Systems signs distribution agreement in Mexico

AVL Information Systems has signed an agreement with Sistemas Informacion Satelital (SIS) for distribution of AVL's Chaperone Personal Tracking Unit, certified for use on the Numerex Cellemetry(R) wireless data network. Cellemetry(R) Data Service provides two-way, wireless data connectivity for a variety of machine-to-machine communications that remotely monitor, measure, or track fixed and mobile assets. Cellemetry's patented technology has been licensed to a network of strategic partners and application developers who provide a broad range of solutions widely available across North America.

Visit:- http://www.avlinfosys.com/

Asia News

Digital Sea Chart Developed in China

BEIJING,August 22 ╔inhuanet-- A digital sea chart developed by a navy navigation department has lately passed experts' appraisal, marking another contribution made by Chinese researchers in the field of human navigation,according to today's Peopledaily.com.

Digital sea chart is another new technology developed after radar, satellite positioning and satellite communication technologies. The chart, which is in form of digitalization, can demonstrate ocean geographical activities and give a timely transmission ； combined with multi-technologies as computer technology, multi-media technology, geographical information system, it makes the ocean information digitalized.

Information capacity in the chart is quite large, it can imitate ocean reality. One disc can store hundreds of sea charts. You can also save data within several seconds. Users can download the chart on Internet and input data into ship operation system to operate ship.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Korea leaving nothing to chance in IT sector

SEOUL - The government on Friday decided to inject 10 trillion won (US$7.8 billion) into research and development (R&D) projects involving information, bioengineering, environment, culture and nano technologies over the next five years.

At the end of a meeting of economic ministers, businesspeople and scholars presided over by President Kim Dae-jung, the government decided to set aside 1.286 trillion won this year for R&D projects in the five next-generation technologies. The government has earmarked 1.65 trillion won for 2002, 2 trillion won for 2003, 2.4 trillion won for 2004 and 2.8 billion won for the following year.

The R&D budget for the five next generation technologies will account for 43.2 percent of the government's entire R&D budget by 2005, a sharp increase from 29.1 percent over this year.

Under the government's ambitious project to foster information technology, a total of 1 trillion won will be put into the program to train 200,000 IT experts by 2005 to serve as the driving force behind the country's projected quantum leap in the sector, which will underpin the economic rebound.

Source: www.atimes.com

UNDP-Aided Sustainable Land Use Project Initiated in China

BEIJING, August 21 (Xinhuanet) -- A project to promote the sustainable land use in China was jointly launched here Tuesday by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) andthe United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The five-year project, with total input of 6 million U.S. dollars, is the first cooperation project between UNDP and the MLR. Under the project, ten pilot areas will be selected from 200 state-level land consolidation and reclamation demonstration zones, which have been set up nationwide with 1.2 billion yuan of government funding.

The ten pilot areas, representing different geological and socioeconomic features, will showcase the results of the experiments on implementing new policies, promoting public participation in law enforcement, protecting farmers' interests and the surrounding environment, said Gao Xiangjun, director with the Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Center of the MLR.

Kerstin Leitner, representative of UNDP, said that in addition to the funding aid, UNDP will help supply foreign experts for the project. She said that the population density in some other countries and regions might be higher than that of China; however, some of them can solve the conflict between limited land resources and large population. China can borrow from their experience on the efficient land use. She noted that UNDP intends to help China import advanced technologies and experiences, as well as increase public awareness and understanding of land laws and policies.

According to Gao Xiangjun, since China's new Land Law went into effect in 1999, some 46,000 ha. of arable land has been saved through comprehensive land planning. However, he pointed out that China's land consolidation and reclamation with a primary purpose of saving farmland is still at a low level.

Source: Xinhua News Agency