Top Stories
Axion completes compression of entire USGS Image Database
Axion Spatial Imaging Inc., a leader in software technology for display, distribution, and manipulation of geographic information, and Pixxures, Inc., one of the world's largest providers of digital mapping products, services and online delivery services, announced today they have completed the compression and online delivery of the entire USGS DOQQ Image Database. This database of digital orthophoto quarter quads (DOQQ) totals more than 13 terabytes of data.
Compression of the DOQQ image library, consisting of 188,000 image tiles of 1 m pixel resolution, began last spring and was completed by Axion in 71 days. In order to complete the process and to serve these images on an ongoing basis on its online Image Library, Pixxures uses the compression technology developed by Axion to minimize disk storage space and significantly reduce retrieval time. The imagery compressed using Axion's proprietary compression techniques, gives users a manageable, geometrically accurate product useful for many different applications. Pixxures calls these products QuickDOQQs, as the technique creates a file that is manageable in size and maintains the exact geometric accuracy of the traditional DOQQs. Each QuickDOQQ covers an area of 3.75 minutes of latitude by 3.75 minutes longitude (roughly 4 miles by 4 miles). The photography is georeferenced so that other digital map layers are overlaid. QuickDOQQs come in black and white, color, and color infrared.
Visit:
http://www.axionspatial.com/ &
http://www.pixxures.com/
Tripod Data Systems releases Survey Pro Software for Pocket PC Devices
Tripod Data Systems (TDS) has announced the release of Survey Pro for Pocket PC. This new version of TDS' popular surveying software allows surveyors to use small handheld computers
for land surveying applications in the field. Survey Pro for Pocket PC comes with most of the features available in earlier versions of Survey Pro CE, including the popular roads functions. Survey Pro's complete suite of surveying functions includes COGO, roads, traverse and sideshot routines, coordinate translation and rotation, plus offset staking, slope staking and DTM staking routines. Survey Pro for Pocket PC also contains several new features designed to take advantage of the Pocket PC platform. Survey Pro for Pocket PC comes with a Quick Pick menu that allows quick access to 15 commonly used features. The Quick Pick button, which is visible from most screens in the program, can quickly pull up the map view, calculator, raw data, manage layers screen and popular COGO functions as well as others. Surveyors can also use the Compaq iPAQ to map the keys to the most common Survey Pro functions. TDS plans to sell accessories such as environmental cases with ruggedized connection support to help users make their handheld computers more durable in the field. Survey Pro for Pocket PC is available now through authorized TDS dealers.
Visit:
www.tdsway.com
NovaLIS Technologies merges with business partner TerraSoft
NovaLIS Technologies and business partner, TerraSoft are formally joining forces to provide customers with the best Geographic Information System (GIS) based, assessment solution on the
market. Under the agreement, both companies will maintain their individual names and continue to serve their customers. The goal of the merger is to become the most advanced provider of Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal and Assessment Administration (CAMA/AA) related technologies such as valuation methodologies, user definable customization, workflow capabilities, and complete GIS/CAMA integration. This will be accomplished by combining NovaLIS' development and product resources with TerraSoft and President Bill Wadsworth's industry expertise. Presently, NovaLIS and TerraSoft are working together on a customized
Geodatabase-oriented Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal and Assessment Administration (CAMA/AA) System for Alachua County, Florida.
Visit:
www.novalistech.com
NovAtel Inc. and Raytheon sign contract for LAAS GPS receiver development
Raytheon Co. has awarded a long term, multi-phase development contract to NovAtel Inc. for a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to be used in Raytheon's next generation satellite based landing system. The receiver is a key component in Raytheon's LAAS ground facility (LGF) being developed for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This award follows NovAtel's successful completion of a three month Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) receiver requirements definition and risk reduction program with Raytheon. The next phase, worth approximately US $400,000, is scheduled for completion in March 2002. LAAS is the GPS based commercial precision approach and landing system being developed by Raytheon as part of a government industry partnership with the FAA. This precision landing system augments the available GPS signal to provide the high accuracy, reliability, integrity, and safety required for low visibility and all-weather precision approach and landing.
Visit:
http://www.novatel.com/
CNH signs supply contract with CSI Wireless
CSI Wireless, Inc., a provider of advanced wireless and GPS technologies for the automotive, commercial and consumer markets, has announced that it has signed a $4-million supply agreement with CNH Global N.V., the world's largest manufacturer of agricultural tractors, and third-largest manufacturer of construction equipment. Case Construction Equipment, a CNH brand, has incorporated CSI Wireless's AssetVision product as the GPS tracking component of the brand's new FleetLink asset-tracking service in North America. FleetLink is an after-sales option for new and used Case Construction Equipment products, and is designed to improve fleet equipment utilization and maintenance management while raising productivity and resale values. The system employs monitors that are mounted on the equipment to keep in touch with the fleet wherever it goes. Each monitor contains a CSI Wireless AssetVision unit, which houses a reliable GPS receiver and cellular transmitter that enable the system to accurately track any piece of equipment position to within a few feet of its exact location. There is no software to download and no upgrades to maintain. A vehicle's or a fleet's location, operating performance and detailed maintenance information are all accessible via a secure Web site. With FleetLink and the AssetVision product, customers are able to access various real-time, up-to-the-minute fleet data. The expected result is increased efficiency in almost every operational area.
Visit:
http://www.csi-wireless.com
RF Micro says to buy GPS operations of IBM
Communications chip maker RF Micro Devices Inc. on Tuesday said it agreed to buy the Global Positioning System operations of International Business Machines Corp. to expand its market presence and customer base. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Greensboro, North Carolina-based RF Micro said it expects the deal to be completed in its fiscal third quarter ending December 31. Global Positioning System, or GPS, allows precise measurements of geographic locations by relying on a constellation of U.S. government-owned satellites. GPS has become increasingly prevalent in ships, cars, and other modes of transportation, and are also being built into handheld computers and mobile phones. IBM's GPS business is staffed primarily by engineers and marketing specialists and will be incorporated into RF Micro Devices' communications semiconductor division, RF Micro said. Also, RF Micro will add two design centers, in New York and California, as a result of the transaction. Industry analysts expect the market for GPS chips to grow to about $1.2 billion in 2005 from about $270 million in 2000, RF Micro said.
Visit:
http://www.rfmd.com/
Intergraph customer, WA Department of Agriculture wins Premier's Award for Locust Control Campaign
Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions, a division of Intergraph Corporation has congratulated its long term customer, Western Australia's Department of Agriculture, for winning the 2001 Premier's Award for its Australian Plague Locust Incident 2000. The department won both the overall award for Excellence in Public Sector Management and the Innovation section of the awards. A key component of the success of the program was Intergraph's GeoMedia Web Map technology, which was used as a valuable tool to minimise the impact of a recent locust plague outbreak in the State's agricultural region. As a result, the locust control campaign was able to save the State from a potential damage bill from locusts of $50 million. The Premier's Awards were established to formally recognise excellence in the WA public service. This year, 125 applications were received - the highest number in the six years of the awards. During the locust control campaign, Intergraph worked closely with the Department of Agriculture's Spatial Resource Information Group to devise a web- based mapping solution and decision support tool, using information provided by entomologists and GeoMedia Web Map technology. The solution enabled locust-mapping information to be disseminated in a timely manner via the web, allowing officers out in the field to make informed decisions.
Visit:
http://www.intergraph.com/au/gis/
ImageSat International celebrates first year in space
ImageSat International celebrated its first-year anniversary of the launch of its high-resolution imaging satellite on December 5 2001. ImageSat International successfully launched the Eros A1 - the world's first lightweight commercial high-resolution imaging satellite - on December 5, 2000. Since its launch, the satellite has completed 5,564 orbits around the Earth. Throughout the year, Eros A1 has successfully responded to numerous acquisition requests, and has covered global events such as regional conflicts, floods, fires, and volcanic eruptions. The Eros A1 satellite provides high-resolution imagery services from the standard of 1.8 meter to 1.0 meter when over sampled. The system is supported by a central control Ground Station in Israel, a global network of numerous Ground Stations around the world which are interconnected online, and a central archive and archiving system in Cyprus, which enables ordering and retrieval of imagery by customers. ImageSat international will increase its services and capabilities by launching a constellation of satellites into sun synchronous orbits. The Eros B satellite, with improved capabilities, has been ordered and is scheduled to be launched by 2003.
Visit:
http://www.imagesatintl.com/news/press.html
Asia News
Bentley Systems India has aggressive plans to capture the premium infrastructure engineering software market
Bentley Systems has strengthened its lead in the infrastructure software technology market by unveiling a powerful new software - MicroStation® V8. With this addition to its product portfolio, Bentley India is now looking at contributing more than 15% revenue to the APAC region and doubling the installed seats of software in the country. Bentley Systems India has already successfully deployed more than 5000 seats of software at over 350 customer sites in the South Asia region. Mr. Sandeep Srivastava, Managing Director, Bentley Systems India, said, "Bentley has been in India since 1996 and has recently become a 100% subsidiary. Over the last three years Bentley has invested more than US$ 1.2 million in the Indian operations and this is expected to go up to US$ 2 million in 2002". He further added, "With this investment, addition of people and offices, and the rapid adoption of our technology by local companies we expect our revenue to grow by more than 100% in the year 2002." According to research done by CMIE (Centre for Monitoring of the Indian Economy), Rs. 85,000 crore has to be invested in infrastructure to just maintain the current level of annual GDP growth at 5.5%. To achieve 8% GDP growth by 2005-06, Rs. 250,000 crore investment has to be made in basic infrastructure like road, bridges, rail, etc. Globally it is proven that such dramatic deployment requires use of new software technology to design, create, build and maintain the assets, Bentley India is well positioned to deliver this to its Indian customers.
Visit:
http://www.bentley.com
Kochi to be Kerala's IT hub
Kochi will be made Kerala's Information and Communication Technology hub, tapping the strategic location of the commercial city and worldclass facilities avaliable, according to the UDF government's IT policy.
"The city has all the necessary enablers in place including virtually unlimited bandwidth on tap from the VSNL gateway, concentration of technical and non-technical human resources, a cosmopolitan social environment and excellent air connections," the policy announced today, said.
The Kochi international gateway with two submarine cable landings would be leveraged to the state's advantage using 100 per cent digital infrastructure backbone in the state,it said.
An IT corridor connecting the Nedumbassery international airport with the city would be established as part of the 'Special Economic Zone continuum.'
The facilities would be developed through joint venture partnership with private sector.
The document also proposed setting up an international business school at Kochi in the next three years.
Source: Hindustan Times
Staff and members of the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) contributed significantly to the recent top-level IIR ``GIS in Telecoms'' Conference held November 12-15 in Geneva, Switzerland. Seventy leading technologists and managers at telecommunications and GIS companies gathered to hear and present talks related to the spatial data needs of the telecoms market. OGC's first Open Location Services (OLS) Forum was held in conjunction with the meeting. In the conference and at the OLS Forum, Louis Hecht, OGC's VP Business Development, spoke about the importance of an open standards infrastructure for Location Based Services. Forum participants learned of the progress in OGC's OpenLS-1 Testbed, a fast-paced, multi-vendor effort to develop candidate open interfaces and protocols to support exchange of spatial information and spatial service requests in a heterogeneous environment of web servers and mobile Internet devices. The conference workshop was an all day course on OGC's GML (Geography Markup Language), the world standard XML encoding system for spatial data and spatial processing. OpenLS-1 Testbed Sponsors include Hutchison 3G (UK), Oracle, Webraska (France), ESRI with Sun Microsystems, SignalSoft and Syncline, In-Q-Tel, and Sun Microsystems with LocatioNet. Sponsors' market assessments determined the technology requirements and constraints for the testbed. The new open interfaces and protocols will support an initial set of Core Services based on these requirements and the present state of technology in communications, Internet, and GIS. Location Services is at the intersection of these three technology areas.
