Top Stories
BasinSoftT for watershed analysis
PixSell Inc. has announced the release of BasinSoftT, a user-friendly GIS application program designed for hydrology and watershed analysis. BasinSoftT computes more than 30 parameters of watersheds for use as inputs to a wide range of regional flood frequency, low-flow, and surface-water runoff regression equations and open-channel flow and water-quality models that require measurement of drainage basin morphology as input parameters. This is the first time BasinSoft is available to the commercial GIS market. BasinSoft lends itself as a tool to help resolve a myriad of spatial analytical problems in several areas, including: Agriculture: Modeling agricultural land for the purpose of computing area-weighted statistics for erosion susceptibility, defining marginal land usage, and identifying best area for sustainable agriculture practices.
City Planning & Community Development: Resolving transportation issues, such as best location for transportation lines and identifying areas of urban sprawl. Environmental Impact: Conducting environmental studies, such as remediation, and environmental impact analysis. Civil and Structural Engineering: Conducting risk analysis studies, creating flood inundation and land erosion models for decision support systems. PixSell developed BasinSoft with the novice GIS user in mind, though it is also an effective, time-saving tool for experienced GIS professionals. BasinSoft requires a full installation of ESRI's ArcINFO 7.2 or later.
Visit:
www.pixsell.com
NASA Satellites Launched in California
A rocket blasted off from a coastal launch pad Friday, carrying into orbit a satellite to keep tabs on the oceans and another to probe the least-studied region of the Earth's atmosphere. The Delta II rocket lifted off at 7:07 a.m., soaring into the dawn sky on the central California coast. Nestled atop the rocket was its double payload: the Jason I and Timed satellites. Mission controllers later received confirmation that both satellites had separated from the Boeing Co.-built rocket, had deployed their solar panels and were safely in orbit. ``The intent of these two satellites is to help us understand the Earth's climate and its variations,'' said Ghassem Asrar, an associate administrator at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Scientists expect it will take several months before the satellites are fully operational and collecting data. Although the two satellites are different, they were designed to focus on how the Earth behaves as a dynamic system, driven by the sun's heat. Jason 1 was built by the French space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore built Timed, an acronym for Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics and Dynamics. Mission plans called for the French-built Jason 1 satellite to eventually replace the Topex/Poseidon satellite, which were launched in 1992, in monitoring how the oceans and atmosphere interact to affect global climate.
Read complete article at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011207/sc/satellites_launch_4.html
Parcel maps & tax information now available for Galveston County, through Landata's CD LandMap
Landata Information Services Inc., a Stewart Information Services company, has announced the release of CD LandMap(R) for Galveston County, Texas. CD LandMap(R) is a parcel mapping software that provides seamless, overlapping coverage of accurate parcel maps at any scale and area specified by the end user. CD LandMap(R) is an easy-to-use, point-and-click system of drop-down menus and dialog boxes. The software provides instant access to more than 150,000 detailed parcel maps and property records. Information included for each parcel includes ownership, property configuration, dimensions and frontages, street address, legal description, tax identification number and parcel acreage. Properties can be located by account number, owner, address, address range, facet map or key map grid. Other features include radius maps, marketing lists and the ability to print presentation quality maps. Landata also provides this product for Harris and Bexar Counties, Texas, in addition to maintaining tax maps for 26 counties in New York.
Visit:
www.landata.com
Leica Geosystems signs Distribution Agreement with major US Building Supply Retailer
Leica Geosystems has announced that it had signed a distribution agreement for its DISTO product with Lowe's, one of the largest building supply retailer in the United States. The DISTO™ hand-held laser meter measures distances to millimeter-accuracy with the push of a button. "This is a significant breakthrough for our Consumer Products Division," said Klaus Brammertz, President of Leica Geosystems' Consumer Products Division. "Beginning in January 2002, we will begin selling a retail version of our DISTO™4 "Lite" product through the 700 retail outlets of Lowe's. Sold under the name "DISTO™ Tape", this product will be targeted to the professional builder and tradesman. At a price point under $400, this product offers an attractive solution for professional builders who need accurate and simple measuring solutions at a reasonable price," said Brammertz. According to Hans Hess, CEO of Leica Geosystems, "We are naturally very excited about this first step into the enormous US building supply market and believe we have an attractive and competitive product for this customer segment. We do not, however, expect any material sales impact from this agreement in the short-term, and are treating this venture initially as a learning opportunity," said Hess.
Visit:
www.leica-geosystems.com
Raven Industries announces acquisition of Starlink to expand company's GPS Technology
Raven Industries, Inc. has announced the acquisition of privately held Starlink, Incorporated for approximately $8 million in cash. Raven management said it acquired the Texas-based company primarily for its Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology. "This is a great combination of two of the leaders in our industry," President and CEO Ronald M. Moquist said. "The acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings within the first year, and is expected to ship in the neighborhood of $7 million over the next 12 months," Moquist added. Starlink's GPS-based guidance systems for the agriculture and marine markets expand Raven's commitment to precision agriculture as well as providing new technology and growth opportunities, the CEO stressed. The Starlink facility in Austin, Texas, with approximately 40 employees, will remain open, he added, and will be integrated into Raven's Flow Controls Division to research, develop and provide cutting-edge new products.
Visit:
www.ravenind.com
Global Positioning System May Help Measure Sea Height
Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have conducted groundbreaking research, proving that Global Positioning System altimetry may be an inexpensive, effective tool to measure sea levels. Altimetry uses special instruments that measure height. The findings come from an experiment at Crater Lake in Oregon. It disproved the idea that Global Positioning System signals are too weak to provide accurate sea level measurements.
The goal was to first test the technology's capability over a lake, with the eventual goal of testing it over the ocean. A constellation of satellites with Global Positioning System receivers could watch the global sea level rise. Monitoring ocean eddies is vital to environmental studies. These whirlpool-like features serve as nutrient-rich environments that foster and transport juvenile plants and fish. Oceanographers also believe that eddies can affect the dispersal of pollution. With satellites covering Earth's surface, the Global Positioning System is capable of receiving continuous high-resolution information on sea level. Within hours, this information could be fed to computer climate ocean models, which could lead to better forecasting.
Read complete article at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/gps-01r.html
Asia News
ITC using Net to help farmers
CHENNAI, Dec. 8 - ITC Ltd is looking to the Internet to enhance farmers' competitiveness while utilising the traditional marketing structure to source raw materials for its international business cost effectively, according to Mr M. Srinivasa Rao, Chief Manager Value Added Food Products, ITC Ltd International Business Division.
Addressing the Foodpro 2001 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Chennai on Saturday, he said the `click and mortar' model represents a cost effective route to sourcing raw material while directly interacting with the farmer to enhance quality of the produce.
Following the initiative for Soya farmers in Madhya Pradesh last year, ITC is exploring possibilities of similar initiatives in the mango processing belt in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh and Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu; for aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh; rice and wheat in Uttar Pradesh; and coffee in Karnataka, he said. While the prevalent opinion has been that large numbers of intermediaries account for the high cost of agriculture produce, it has to be realised that these intermediaries play a critical role in marketing, he said.
ITC, through its crop-specific web pages is looking to develop virtual clusters of the players in the value chain to achieve benefits of contract farming. For instance, through its soyachoupal.com for soya farmers in Madhya Pradesh, it is attempting to disseminate information, products and services for the farmers to improve productivity and remuneration, and cut costs. Farmers can source latest local and global information on weather, farming practices and market information at the village itself through the web portal - all in the local language.
Read complete article at:
Business Line
Quaky about shaky ground
Very soon you will be able to take stock of the area where your house stands and check out on the micozonation chart how it will fare in case of an earthquake. There are at least three microzonation studies under way for the capital which will be able to predict how different areas will behave in an earthquake.
At least two years ago, this may not have been a major concern for the average citizens of the country. A quake was normally what you read about in newspapers and donated for victims of after the disaster.
When Gujarat reeled under the shock of the Bhuj earthquake on January 26 2001, so did the rest of the country. For the first time in recent history in India, this earthquake hit not only the rural and semi-urban zones but the urban economic centres as well.
And brought home to residents the folly of thinking that earthquakes would not touch their lives. The seismic vulnerability maps are today in great demand. Buyers are also asking developers for concrete proof that the structures are quake-resistant.
Take for instance Delhi’s premier builder and developer which concentrates on the Gurgaon suburb-- DLF. ``We had to take three weeks off from our schedule in completing DLF Atria to incorporate more quake-resistant features than was earlier included.
For the seismologists too there are several lessons in urban economics to be learnt here. AT a recent Indo-French meeting on seismic charting, one of the key issues discussed was that of microzonation of cities.
Says Dr RK Bhandari of the National Centre for Disaster Mitigation technologies, ``When the Jabalpur earthquake took place, the city was microzoned. Once this list was published, it directly impacted land rates and there have been several cases of the study being challenged in court.
Today the realisation has dawned on consumers around the country. Geologists can no longer simply say that these studies are scientific in nature. They have to weather scrutinisation in court.
Source: Economic Times 09 December, 2001
