Top Stories
EU Warns on Satellite Fund Delays
Transport ministers from six European Union nations threatened Friday to delay funding for the EU's planned multi-billion dollar satellite navigation network, a move the EU's head office warned could sink the project. Ministers, from Germany, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Britain urged holding back on the next phase of funding to the proposed $3.24 billion Galileo satellite system. They questioned the economic benefits of the network which is scheduled to become operational by 2008 as a rival to the U.S.-run Global Positioning System. EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio warned governments that if they failed to back the project's financing by the end of this month, the European Commission could pull the plug on the system. ``If there is no decision by the end of the year, the project is finished,'' de Palacio said. Her spokesman Gilles Gantelet added the project was already a year behind schedule. He said EU leaders would have to make a final decision whether or not to go ahead with Galileo at their summit here next week
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http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/011207/eu_satellite_1.html
Laser-Scan teams up with Snowflake Software
Laser-Scan and Snowflake Software have signed a partnership agreement to develop opportunities opened up by the recent launch of Ordnance Survey's new OS MasterMapT product. This technology partnership will allow Snowflake and Laser-Scan to work together in the pursuit of complementary solutions; it is anticipated that Laser-Scan's advanced database technology coupled with Snowflake's innovative client-side technology will lead to valuable solutions. Snowflake Software have recently launched their own OS MasterMapT viewer to
coincide with the launch of Ordnance Survey's latest flagship product. Written entirely in Java, and deployed using the latest technology from Sun Microsystems, Snowflake's OS MasterMapT viewer is packed with advanced functionality to help customers make the most of their OS MasterMapT data.
Visit:
http://www.laser-scan.com &
http://www.snowflakesoft.co.uk
Now CityView® is Web Based!
Municipal Software Corporation unveiled CityView 8.0, the first release of its innovative new 8.NET product line, at their annual user conference in Boston on November 29. CityView 8.NET combines the power of Microsoft's .Net Web-based technologies, ESRI's ArcIMS, and CityView's award-winning business process automation and management capabilities into a convenient and easy-to-use application for local government. This significant new release is the first truly Web based local government automation software on the market. It allows users of all types (municipal, agencies, contractors and the public) to access relevant business processes over any Internet connection - E-government made easy! The CityView 8.NET series features seamless integration with the Web. All modules, forms and reports can be viewed from a traditional desktop platform or through a Web browser from any Internet connection. Once the user's Web site is set up, there is no HTML coding necessary and no Web site maintenance is required. CityView 8.NET is the application to quickly and easily define, build, deploy and use business processes and data on any device and any network connection. CityView 8.NET allows users to provide secure access to any business process from anywhere. It provides real time data access from the field and remote offices with device independence - use your laptop, palmtop, or cell phone!
Visit:
www.MunicipalSoftware.com
MDA to acquire major U.S. Company to expand market reach of its geographic information products
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has announced that the company is significantly increasing its presence in the U.S. market - and expanding its capability to extract land information from images - by acquiring Earth Satellite Corporation of Maryland. EarthSat is one of the largest U.S. suppliers of information products derived from satellite imagery and other sources. Its customers include many U.S. federal agencies, as well as numerous commercial and private clients. The company has 134 employees, and presently operates at an annualized revenue of approximately $20 million (U.S.). MDA's Geographic Information Products Group already has a strong profile in Canada, at the state and local level in the U.S., and internationally. Now, with the addition of EarthSat, MDA's market reach is significantly enhanced. The Group is uniquely positioned to provide land information products to its customers, using data from a number of sources - satellite, airborne, radar, and LiDAR. MDA has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire EarthSat, subject to regulatory and governmental approvals and other terms, which are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2002. The company will pay net cash purchase consideration of approximately $30 million (U.S.) for EarthSat. The transaction is expected to be accretive to MDA's earnings. An acquisition of this magnitude by the company has been assumed in MDA's business target plans for 2002.
Visit:
www.mda.ca
ImageSat Profits From First Satellite in Orbit
ImageSat International is making profits from its first satellite and expects them to increase as it adds satellites and speeds delivery of digital photos of areas on the globe, according to its president. Twelve months ago, ImageSat launched its first in a series of lightweight observation satellites, the Eros 1, to take high-resolution pictures. ``The first satellite is more than profitable,'' ImageSat President Moshe Bar-Lev told Reuters in an interview this week. ''We have experienced high demand for images.'' Bar-Lev said, however, that performance of the privately held company is difficult to forecast and measure because the digital satellite imaging business is still in its infancy.
Read complete article at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011213/tc/tech_israel_imagesat_dc_1.html
Pacific Aerial Surveys Hits One Million
Pacific Aerial Surveys (PAS) has announced that it has archived its one-millionth aerial photograph. Located near the Oakland Airport and owned by HJW GeoSpatial, Inc. (HJW), the PAS image library houses current imagery acquired by its flight operations, as well as historic aerial photography of the San Francisco Bay Area dating from the 1920s. Open to the public, the photographs are widely used for environmental, land use, legal and real estate applications. Founded in 1949 as a forestry management firm, HJW purchased the PAS aircraft, flight operations, photo lab and library in 1972 from Clyde Sunderland, a nationally recognized pioneer of aerial photography. Since PAS acquires aerial photography of the entire Bay Area on a semi-annual basis, the library is a repository of vertical photographs that record landscape changes over the past several decades. PAS uses proprietary software that makes it possible to search the archive geographically, facilitating searches for any site in any given year. In addition to the photography, satellite imagery from Landsat 7 and Space Imaging satellites are available at PAS.
Visit:
www.hjw.com
Marin Municipal Water District moves forward with SAP's Industry Solutions
ea consulting, inc., an SAP National Implementation Partner and a certified SAP Hosting Partner, announced the successful ``go live'' of SAP for Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) in Corte Madera, California on December 3, 2001. ea consulting conducted the first tandem implementation of two SAP(TM) software solutions, IS/PS (Industry Solution/Public Sector), and IS/U-CCS (Industry Solution/Utilities-Customer Care System). Faced with major changes in the utility industry, MMWD began preparing itself for the future by updating its business processes. ``I believe implementing SAP sets us up in stature in the utility world. We are in very good shape for moving forward. This step now allows us to do the new and innovative things we want to pursue,'' says Terry Stigall, MMWD's Project and Finance Division Manager. MMWD replaced their obsolete financial system, an older customer service system, and several manual (paper) processes. SAP moves them dramatically forward by providing a fully integrated system of tremendous flexibility, offering in depth analysis tools, improved reporting capabilities, ``best in class'' cost management tools, Internet functionality, integrated work order management with GIS functionality, and excellent customer service capabilities. To start the calendar year with a new payroll system, the HR Payroll modules will go live December 17th.
Visit:
www.sap.com
LeadDog releases Mexico Major Roads & Highways
LeadDog Consulting has announced the release of Mexico Major Roads & Highways. Designed for routing, tracking and any location based service application, the LeadDog product covers every major road and highway in Mexico. "This allows our clients to immediately use data sets with a high level of confidence they will meet application requirements," says LeadDog's President, Jim Anderson. "We take the mystery out of the currentness and quality of international GIS data."
Visit:
http://www.goleaddog.com/
Asia News
Land Info expands GeoSpatial Data coverage with Taiwan topographic maps
LAND INFO International, LLC, a leading producer of worldwide geospatial information, announced new topographic map coverages for Taiwan. The company now offers full country coverage of 1:50,000 and 1:200,000 scale topographic maps. The digital datasets are fully geo-referenced to accommodate use with GPS, GIS, and engineering applications.
LAND INFO color scans paper topographic maps to produce a high resolution, digital image. Latitude and longitude coordinates are then assigned to each map. This enables engineers, GIS project managers, and other end users, to overlay other geospatial data on top of the base topographic map. For example, RF engineers may overlay satellite photos and cellular tower data on top of the topographic map for analysis purposes.
LAND INFO offers a variety of derivative products based on the Taiwan topographic maps. The company specializes in creating digital elevation models (DEM), road layers, hydrology layers, and other value-added datasets from the original topographic maps. Through a series of production steps, LAND INFO extracts the contour elevation data from the source map to create a 3D interpretation of the land area, and extract roads, waterways, buildings, and other features published on the map.
Read Complete Article:
http://www.LANDINFO.com
`Space-based data infrastructure soon'
INSAT 3C would be launched on January 16, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr K. Kasturirangan, said on Thursday, adding that a major space-based information support system for decision-making will be put in place soon.
Insat 3C is to be launched from Kouru, off the coast of French Guyana, by Arianespace next month.
"Gradually, we plan to move on to fourth-generation satellite systems,'' Dr Kasturirangan said, while delivering a lecture at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI).
In a yet another important initiative, the Department of Science and Technology and ISRO will soon establish a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), which will provide information support mechanism for decision-making to the Centre and States.
Being undertaken as a shared responsibility, this initiative will provide information in digital format for irrigation and thematic maps aimed at providing informed solutions.
The ISRO Chairman said that the effort was to broadbase its commercial applications.
Already, the Indian space programme supports several major multinationals such as Matra Marconi, Inmarsat, Hughes Space & Communications, Intelsat and Lockheed Martin.
Source:
Business Line
Space Imaging, a provider of Earth imagery and related services to commercial and government markets, has announced that it is offering price reductions on several IKONOS imagery product suites. New prices are effective immediately. Since its launch in September 1999, the IKONOS satellite has collected more than 20 million square kilometres of nearly cloud-free imagery of the planet and has generated more than 500,000 images, which are stored in the company's digital archive. Images have been collected over every continent. For a detailed pricing information.
