Top Stories
Design Visualization, Inc. To Offer GDT Products in MicroStation Format
Geographic Data Technology, Inc., a developer of premier map databases, today announced that it has joined with Design Visualization, Inc. (DVI) to provide GDT data products in MicroStation(R) format. DVI will convert and resell all standard GDT products, including street and address databases and telecommunication boundary products, for users who need MicroStation format. This agreement expands the product format options available to GDT users. MicroStation, a product of Bentley Systems, allows users to create 3D models and electronic simulations of real-world objects. Patrick Kearney, GDT's vice president of sales and marketing said, "The availability of GDT data in MicroStation format will be tremendously useful to GDT customers in the utility and telecommunications industries, many of whom use CAD-based systems for planning and managing their facilities. The team behind DVI has a strong background working with MicroStation users and will be able to meet and exceed the needs of GDT customers who use this format for their geospatial data."
Visit:
www.geographic.com
New version of SICAD Spatial Desktop: Perfect for project organization and analysis
The new Version 5.0 of SICAD Spatial Desktop (SICAD/SD) simplifies the task of organizing projects and provides benefits in terms of analysis. SICAD/SD V5.0 is based on pioneering technological standards such as the WMS interface of the OpenGis Consortium (OGC) and the XML programming language (Extensible Markup Language). The added features and the intuitive user prompts in the new version are the result of close cooperation with users of this desktop GIS. SICAD GEOMATICS will be offering the new version of SICAD/SD from December 2001. Users of the new version of SICAD/SD can perform project management tasks in a tree structure with the aid of GeoDataExplorer (GDE). For analysis tasks, SICAD/SD now has new selection options and evaluation methods such as blending and buffering functions. The new version of SICAD/SD has user-configurable menus and button bars, making it easier to use. SICAD/SD V5.0 has the same look and feel as the SICAD Internet Map Services. With this new version of SICAD/SD, SICAD GEOMATICS has taken a further step toward homogenizing the entire product range.
Visit:
www.sicad.com
Syncline launches MapCiti academic program to promote the benefits of Web-based GIS
Syncline, Inc., has announced the launch of its MapCiti(TM) Academic Program, an initiative designed to raise awareness about the impact that Web-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can have in enhancing development, planning and research efforts. As part of the MapCiti Academic Program, students learn to use spatial information to solve problems, to support theories, and to visually highlight trends or relationships in a geographic context. The MapCiti Academic Program allows students to explore innovative approaches to research, planning and policy-making in their specific areas of study through the combination of Web technology and GIS. Students gain hands-on experience with GIS by using MapCiti, Syncline's fully automated online mapping service, to easily create, publish and share their maps over the Internet.
Visit:
www.syncline.com
Meteorlogix introduces innovative GIS-based weather tool
Minneapolis-based Meteorlogix, the world's largest commercial weather services provider, today introduced a product that can help improve the public safety of U.S. citizens. MxInsight MetroWatch(TM) is a breakthrough weather-enabled GIS-based decision support system that allows city decision-makers to make timely and more accurate weather-related decisions. MxInsight MetroWatch key solution capabilities include: (1) Integration of weather information with chemical plume modeling tools: Meteorlogix provides the latest in weather support for plume modeling solutions, which can determine more accurately where hazardous chemical concentrations (2) Weather in Geographic Information System (GIS) formats: City decision-makers need to precisely correlate changing local weather conditions with urban geographic information to improve public safety decision making. Meteorlogix is the only commercial weather services provider to place real-time weather observations into a GIS, map-based format. (3) Urban hydrologic analysis: Meteorlogix provides unique rainfall estimates derived from radar in addition to real-time rain monitoring from conventional gauges. (4) Real-time severe weather alerts: Meteorlogix technology provides real-time alerting to severe weather conditions for more accurate decision-making, offering the opportunity for public safety professionals to plan and act.
Visit:
www.meteorlogix.com
National Geographic unveils a 3-D solid terrain model of Afghanistan
National Geographic has unveiled a first-of-its kind 8' x 8' 3-D solid terrain model of Afghanistan for public display at Explorers Hall, the museum of the National Geographic Society, located at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. National Geographic, WorldSat Inc., and Solid Terrain Modeling Inc. (STM) collaborated to create the unique model, which features the terrain of Afghanistan, much of Pakistan, and portions of the surrounding countries. The model is part of a new collection of STM models on display at Explorers Hall. The result of the collaboration is the first 3-D model to combine a precise topographic rendering of Afghanistan with an exact high-resolution colour satellite image superimposed accurately upon its surface. It dramatically portrays the rugged geography of the Afghanistan region, including the snow-capped peaks of the Hindu Kush Mountains in the north, the southern desert areas, and the Indus Valley in Pakistan. The vivid imagery and absolute realism give viewers an unparalleled understanding of the topography and geographic features of this global region.
Visit:
www.stm-usa.com &
www.nationalgeographic.com
BAE SYSTEMS Increases its Focus on Support to Interoperability
The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. has announced that BAE SYSTEMS has become an OGC
Strategic Member. BAE SYSTEMS joined OGC in 1995 and has been a Principal Member of OGC since 1997. As BAE SYSTEMS has grown to become a premier integrator for the geospatial and imagery communities, they have recognized the need to also lead in the development, understanding and implementation of geospatial specifications and interoperability standards. Under the terms of BAE SYSTEMS Strategic Membership -- the highest level of membership in OGC -- the company's Information Systems Sector will provide, on loan to OGC, a senior technical program manager, Terry Idol, who will serve full-time on OGC Staff as Deputy Director, Interoperability Program. Mr. Idol will support OGC's Interoperability Program Director, who is responsible for OGC's Interoperability Initiatives, which include testbeds, pilot projects, feasibility studies, technology insertion projects, and the OGC Network. Mr. Idol will assume responsibility for initiative preparation, architectural and non-architectural documentation, operations management, process and internal/external reporting functions. His work will focus on Open Web Services (OWS) initiatives that will drive the future architecture of imagery and geospatial systems for government and industry.
Visit:
www.opengis.org
Remsoft Inc. and Forest Technology Group form alliance
A strategic alliance was announced by Remsoft(TM) Inc., a leading provider of forest and wildfire management software, and Forest Technology Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Westvaco Corporation that provides information technology services for forestry and natural resources management. Under the agreement, Forest Technology Group becomes an exclusive marketing agent of Remsoft's forest management software packages, Woodstock and Stanley, as well as WeatherPro3, Remsoft's weather data collection and analysis software, and Behave by Remsoft, the company's fire behavior prediction software. Forest Technology Group will offer Remsoft software to its clients, which include forest products companies, government agencies, forestry investment organizations, private woodlot owners, forestry consulting firms and others engaged in managing natural resources. In addition to being a marketing agent, Forest Technology Group becomes the exclusive licensed trainer for use of the Woodstock and Stanley programs. With this agreement, Forest Technology Group will also have a representative based in Remsoft headquarters, its first outside the United States. New offices and representatives in other parts of the United States will be announced in the near future. Forest Technology Group offers geographic information systems and decision-support tools for diverse forestry and natural resources applications.
Visit:
www.remsoft.com &
www.ftgrp.com
Asia News
National Remote Sensing Award-2001 awarded.
National Remote Sensing Award-2001 has been awarded to Dr. Arun K. Saraf. The award has been given in recognition of his work in the fields of Remote Sensing and GIS. Dr. Saraf is an Assistant Professor, in the Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.
Visit:
http://drarunsaraf.tripod.com or Mail to:
saraffes@iitr.ernet.in
Seismologists say 2 expected quakes in Japan will be stronger
New calculations warn the next Nankai and Tonankai quakes will be more powerful and more widespread.
There is about an even chance that strong earthquakes will strike central and western Japan in the next 30 years. When they do, government seismologists now say, their intensity could be at least one degree more powerful than temblors that struck those regions about a half-century ago.
In new calculations on earthquake potential, the Earthquake Research Committee said last week that it has adjusted upward its expected damage-causing potential for the Tonankai quake in central Japan and for the Nankai temblor, projected to strike southwestern Japan.
The seven-point Japanese intensity scale measures the strength of temblors in relation to the potential damage they can inflict. It differs from the Richter scale, which measures the magnitude of energy released at the source of a quake.
The committee said it now considers it probable that the magnitudes of the two expected earthquakes, as measured on the Richter scale, will be greater than those of the 1944 Tonankai quake, which registered 7.9, and the 1946 Nankai quake, which registered 8.0 on the open-ended scale of magnitude.
They say there is about a 50 percent chance of the Tonankai Earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 8.1, and about 40 percent probability of another Nankai Earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 8.4.
The committee used five ranks of intensity to illustrate its new projections, and plotted them on maps of the affected regions.
They now expect that the strongest jolts will register in the low 6 range. That means that homes in those areas that have not been built to ``give'' in earthquakes could very likely collapse.
A panel of the Central Disaster Prevention Council is working on a report for 2002 on tsunami and related damage projections and necessary disaster-preparedness measures.
A disaster-preparedness coordinating committee was formed in November of 30 prefectures between Chiba and Kagoshima.
http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2001121100241.html
Ordnance Survey has released the first OS MasterMapT data, the new generation of detailed digital mapping. OS MasterMapT is an unbroken web of 400 million features stretching from
Land's End to John O'Groats. This seamless database has been developed over the past two years with the help of Laser-Scan's advanced technology. OS MasterMapT has evolved from Land-Line data and is designed to enable sophisticated analysis in GIS applications and to allow closer integration with third party data. At the heart of this evolution is the creation of object-based data making features represent objects in the real world rather than the graphical elements of a map. The complete reengineering of the large-scale data was completed way ahead of schedule with just a year of processing and less than 1% of manual editing. Laser-Scan technology has created the ability to produce a single continuous dataset from thousands of separate tiles, healing the breaks across the old tile boundaries, and inferring lots of 'missing links', such as property lines across suburban shared front gardens. Users of the new OS MasterMapT data will be able to download "change-only" updates instead of complete tiles. They will be able to request the changes when they want, even daily, providing a dramatically more up-to-date model of the world.
