The government has lifted a security hold triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks and has given scientists the go-ahead to release portions of the most accurate 3-D map of the Earth's surface ever created. Scientists at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union were expected to begin presenting some of the maps in San Francisco on Tuesday. The release comes nearly two years after the conclusion of a space shuttle mission that made the one trillion measurements used to create the global atlas. In August, NASA made one small release of data -- a swath of Colorado. The terrorist attacks the following month led the National Imagery and Mapping Agency to clamp down on the release of any further data, citing security concerns. NIMA underwrote most of the $142 million mapping mission. Last week, the agency gave NASA permission to release maps of the United States, but not foreign countries. In addition, when the foreign maps eventually are made available to the public, the vertical accuracy will be deliberately decreased to 300 feet, apparently for security reasons. The U.S. maps will be accurate to within 100 feet vertically. The global map set will be 100 times more accurate than any other atlas, according to NASA. For many parts of the world, better topographical maps already exist. However, for more remote regions -- such as Afghanistan -- that have not been as thoroughly surveyed, the data should provide the most detailed maps ever made, including every hill, valley and mountain peak.
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http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/national/digdocs/112926.htm
Top Stories
Galileo: A New Constellation For Global Navigation
With a decision expected soon over whether it will proceed with its Galileo project, the European Union is poised to enter a new space race to determine the future of satellite navigation. If it proceeds with plans to build the euro 3.6 billion ($3.2 billion) satellite navigation system, the EU would go head to head against the United States and Russia as purveyor of a Cold War-era technology whose implementation is now considered more important for commercial applications than military uses. The European Space Agency wants to start launching Galileo's 30 satellites in 2005, with preliminary service starting in 2006. The EU is seeking to gain a foothold in a market that the management consulting firm Allied Business Intelligence estimates will be worth $14 billion by 2005. But six member countries, including Germany and Britain, demanded a new calculation of costs, fearing that the planned state startup financing for Galileo could become a permanent subsidy. Even if it clears the financing hurdles, Galileo still faces competition from the United States and Russia. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is run by the U.S. Defense Department and was first put to use during the Gulf War in 1991. The Russian armed forces' Glonass system has also been available to civilian users for about 10 years, but financial constraints have stripped the system down to its bare bones. GPS, Glonass and Galileo function according to the same principle. A user's position is calculated based on the amount of time it takes for a signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver. Both GPS and Glonass were designed to guide rockets and cruise missiles to their targets more precisely than had previously been possible. However, military control of the systems, which means that civilian access to the services can be curbed at any time, has deterred many potential users from converting critical safety applications such as air traffic control to satellite navigation, even though it would be a feasible cost-cutting alternative.
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http://www.faz.com/
Pinpointing Good Navigation Plays
Global positioning systems, which can pinpoint any place on Earth using satellite signals, are looking well positioned in the market these days. The navigational aids are already a big favorite of outdoor enthusiasts - some of whom play elaborate hide-and-seek games with handheld GPS units. But with the technology showing up in more and more places and applications, investors, too, might want to get clued in. As The Post recently reported, the city struck a deal to put GPS units on haulers, which will let the city monitor trucks to make sure they don't stray between ground zero and Fresh Kills landfill. GPS units have also been put in ambulances to help direct emergency personnel. They're in rental cars, guiding drivers to a destination - and tattling if drivers go above the speed limit or beyond state lines. They're also in airplanes, helping guide pilots, and in boats, surveying ocean depths. They're being used to monitor cash machines and construction sites, and they're being installed in phones, palm pilots and pagers. One company in California is working on a "personal locator" wristwatch, marketing it to parents who want to know where their children are. GPS equipment has done approximately $3.2 billion in sales in North America this year, according to Ron Stearns, a consulting analyst with Frost & Sullivan.
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http://www.nypost.com/business/36747.htm
Maptuit & AMCi announce real time routing, tracking and monitoring of assets in transit
Maptuit Corporation and American Millennium Corporation, Inc., has announced a comprehensive solution for the transportation industry that directs, tracks, maps, and monitors the real-time movement of assets. The companies' strategic alliance will combine Maptuit's mapping, directions and geofencing technology (that alerts dispatchers if a truck has left or entered a pre-designated area) with AMCi's tracking and monitoring products. With recent security concerns, requests to proactively track the whereabouts of gasoline trucks, hazardous chemical trucks and other assets have been overwhelming. The combination of AMCi's SatAlarm system and Maptuit's AVL software not only enables the tracking of assets, but also notifies dispatchers when vehicles are off their designated route. In particular, the combined product allows the driver and/or dispatcher to pick from a set of recommended routes, and set a geofence around them.
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www.maptuit.com
Spatial Announces Publication of 3D Modeling with ACIS
Spatial Corp., a market-leading provider of world-class 3D software components, today announced the publication of the book 3D Modeling with ACIS written by Jonathan Corney and Theodore Lim. This new edition is a revision of the 1997 book entitled 3D Modeling with the ACIS Kernel and Toolkit, that has been updated, and extended, to cover the most recent versions of ACIS (i.e. 6.3 and 7.0). The new edition contains information for all users, including novices, occasional users, who know the principles but cannot recall the valid syntax; programmers (both commercial and academic); and people who are interested in an overview of the capabilities of ACIS. 3D Modeling with ACIS includes numerous new topics that provide value to a myriad of ACIS users, including, but not limited to, modifying models via local operations such as shelling and blending, graph theory, laws, selective Booleans, skinning and lofting, and healing. The text is a companion (rather than a substitute) for the existing ACIS documentation and details how different aspects of ACIS can be utilized via the API and Scheme interfaces available to ACIS users. Published by Saxe-Coburg Publications, the book can be purchased from their site or by contacting one of their representatives. For more information about the book and to place orders.
Visit:
http://www.saxe-coburg.co.uk/pubs/descrip/acis.htm &
http://www.spatial.com/
RedVector.Com - Professional Surveyor Magazine
In an effort to offer online education to Land Surveying and Geomatics professionals on an unprecedented level, RedVector.com and Professional Surveyor Magazine have announced an exclusive partnership that will rattle the industry. The companies plan to pool their resources to round out RedVector.com's current online course offerings within the land surveying and geomatics industries. This high profile partnership will culminate in the creation of a Land Surveying Instructional "Dream Team," with the formal announcement of selected subject matter experts and available online content to come shortly. The increasing number of land surveying students currently in the workforce, and busy professionals in need of continuing education credits, has made it more difficult for seminars and other traditional education outlets to serve them in a timely manner. Until now, no complete service has offered them the flexibility RedVector.com can provide on an international level. According to RedVector.com Chief Operations Officer, Brent A. Craven, "This collection of elite experts is going to create many exciting new online courses for land surveyors to choose from, helping them overcome the various obstacles they previously faced when required to complete continuing education." The Land Surveying Instructional "Dream Team" is to be led by Program Coordinator Joe Betit, PLS. Betit currently serves as the Surveying Coordinator in the Engineering Technology Department at Old Dominion University, where he worked to transfer all of ODU's geomatics/surveying courses into distance education formats.
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www.profsurv.com &
www.RedVector.com
Asia News
China Reports Progress in Monitoring Qomolangma Atmosphere
GUANGZHOU, December 16 (Xinhuanet) -- A Chinese expedition freed ozone balloons twice around Qomolangma (Mount Everest)this year, and obtained a large amount of data for reference.
This will be of great significance for studying ozone loss around the world's highest mountain and its impact on human life, said Wang Wei, a senior engineer with the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The expedition was the second of its kind since Wang's institute, together with two other Chinese organizations, launched a ten-year expedition program to monitor the environment of the mountain last year.
"Global human activities have severely affected the natural environment around Qomolangma," said Wang, adding that he believesthat the monitoring of changes in the atmospheric environment can help mankind better understand the major environmental accidents taking place in the world and the related impact on the global environment.
According to Wang, the researchers with the expedition also measured organic pollutants around the mountain.
Wang added that the results of the monitoring will show the interaction between the climatic environments of the east and west,and will be of value for the construction of a strategic warning system, as well as provide a reliable scientific basis for ecological construction in the country's ongoing campaign to develop the vast western region.
Source:
Xinhua News Agency
Japanese IT firms stride ahead in Korea
Globally competitive Japanese information technology (IT) companies are making noticeable gains in Korea's retail market, industry insiders said Friday. Domestic IT market watchers said that after the lifting of Korea's import diversification regime last year, more and more Japanese firms have set up shop here.
The trend was fueled by companies like JVC which had set up direct local operations ahead of the pact and posted sizeable profits. JVC, one of Japan's top three electronic appliance manufacturers, reported sales in excess of 100 billion won (US$78.4 million), since it opened a local corporation in October of 2000. The company said that its revenues grew five-fold compared to when it sold products through a wholesaler.
Taking a cue from JVC, Toshiba said that it would invest 2.7 billion won in capital to create its own branch operations on the peninsula. The company Toshiba Digital Media Network Korea will have a Korean chief executive officer and about 60 local employees.
In the past, the Japanese electronics giant concentrated on notebook computers but will now expand the product line to include digital audio component systems, video equipment, projections TVs and plasma display panel (PDP) TVs. The company also plans to use its position as an official sponsor for the 2002 FIFA World Cup to be co-hosted by Korea and Japan to strengthen its brand image in the country.
In addition, Sony Computer Entertainment, which controls 90 percent of the world home video game market with its runaway success Play Station, will create a subsidiary by February of next year and begin selling its products directly to consumers.
An interesting characteristic of Japanese firms conducting or planning to do business in Korea is that they are staying clear of large household appliances like refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines, where domestic conglomerates hold sway.
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Asia Times
