Top Stories
Space Imaging Signs Agreements to Orthorectify IKONOS Satellite Imagery
Space Imaging has announced the first major photogrammetric software companies that will incorporate the ability to orthorectify IKONOS satellite imagery into their software suites. Users of ERDAS®' IMAGINE OrthoBASE(tm), Z/I Imaging's ImageStation OrthoPro(tm), or PCI Geomatics' Geomatica(tm) OrthoEngine® soon will all be able to orthorectify IKONOS satellite imagery with Space Imaging's newest product, Geo Ortho Kit. Geo Ortho Kit consists of a high-resolution Geo image derived from the IKONOS satellite and an Image Geometry Model (IGM) digital file. The IGM is a mathematical way of expressing the complex sensor geometry of the IKONOS camera, which is necessary to correct the imagery for terrain distortions. By incorporating the IGM and a Geo image into the leading commercial imagery software suites, users will now be able to create an accurate ortho image by using their own digital elevation models (DEMs) and ground control points (GCPs). The product is available as a part of the Geo product suite in 1-meter black-and-white, 1-meter color, or 4-meter multispectral.
Visit :
www.spaceimaging.com
DMTI Spatial Releases CanMap 5.0
DMTI Spatial, North America's leading spatial solutions provider for Canadian spatial products and services, leaps ahead with thousands of new street segments in its latest release of CanMap®.
DMTI Spatial's CanMap 5.0, shipping now, is the only street file to boast street names for Canadian communities as small as 1,000 people. This latest release also includes street addressing for communities as small as 2,000, significantly improving routing accuracy in rural areas. This release of CanMap 5.0 also includes some special bonuses such as DMTI Spatial's Populated Placenames database, a rich and comprehensive source of cities, towns, villages and communities across Canada; the Census Subdivision Boundaries; and the official Nunavut boundary. Two of DMTI Spatial's Enhanced Point of Interest Layers is also included with CanMap: toll booths and car pool parking lots. CanMap is also supplied with a Free Canada Directory including Boundaries for Area Codes, Time Zones, Provinces, Regional Municipalities, a Coarse Water Layer and DMTI Spatial's Urban Areas. Land use classifications, building footprints and general reference points are also included.
Visit :
www.dmtispatial.com
Trimble Introduces MediaMapper Software
Trimble has introduced the addition of MediaMapper(R) software to its mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) product line. The software allows easy integration of digital imagery with Global Positioning System (GPS) data from Trimble's GIS data collection systems. The MediaMapper software is ideal for asset inventory, environmental impact assessment, habitat monitoring, archaeological site mapping and many other applications. The announcement was made at the 21st ESRI International User Conference. MediaMapper software, developed by Red Hen Systems, Inc., adds the power of digital imagery to GIS data collection and maintenance projects. With no cabling between the GPS system and the digital camera, collecting georeferenced images is an easy one-person operation. With a simple camera click, GIS users can instantly collect an image of an asset that can be analysed and interpreted back in the office.
Visit :
www.trimble.com
OpenLS Testbed Call For Participation Now Available
The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announces that the Call for Participation for the Open Location Services (OpenLS) Testbed is available at http://www.openls.org. The testbed will develop fundamental interfaces and services to allow a wide variety of location solutions to interoperate between infrastructure platforms and wireless devices. Sponsors of the testbed include Hutchison 3G UK, ESRI with SignalSoft, Oracle with Webraska, Sun Microsystems, and In-Q-Tel. This testbed will benefit location aware applications including public safety, emergency response, disaster management and a range of business and consumer services. This initiative will help increase the ability of location-based services to operate across the various networks and platforms that characterize the global wireless market and stimulate best of breed application services for meeting wireless customer requirements. Organizations interested in participation or sponsorship of this testbed are invited to OpenLS Day on July 31, 2001 at the Hyatt Regency Reston, Reston VA. At the meeting OGC staff will discuss opportunities for involvement and sponsors will present their goals. There will be time for potential participants to interact and have their questions answered.
Visit :
http://www.openls.org/Events/infoday.htm
Laser-Scan technology boosts National Land Information Service Channel
Laser-Scan is providing essential technology to one of the National Land Information Service (NLIS) Channels, which is now up and running, providing land and property information to the legal and business sectors in the UK. The NLIS vision is set to transform the way residents of England and Wales buy and sell property. This will be achieved through links to the various sources of information that were previously held at disparate and unconnected locations, making them accessible by a single service: NLIS. Laser-Scan is providing this service to MacDonald Dettwiler (Channel) Ltd (MD(C) L), who have signed a channel licence to become a land and property information reseller of NLIS products and services to end users through the Internet: Laser-Scan is providing the national Ordnance Survey (OS) Land-Line mapping. Customers such as solicitors, estate agents and other property professionals can request conveyancing-related searches of relevant land and property databases at national and local levels through one of the NLIS channels.
Visit :
www.nlis.org.uk &
www.laser-scan.com
MapInfo Technology Wins Explorer Award
MapInfo Corporation has announced that the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal's (DHCR) use of MapInfo technology won an Explorer award for its e-government online application. The Web-based, interactive Affordable Housing Directory enables users to easily access the interactive directory, offering a convenient, continually updated and comprehensive directory of affordable low- and moderate-income housing throughout New York State. DHCR is showcasing its Affordable Housing Directory at the E-Gov Conference and Exposition 2001, in the expo's Government Solutions Center. The Explorer Awards recognize public sector professionals who have developed innovative Electronic Government programs that increase productivity, save limited public resources and improve the quality, timeliness and accuracy of citizen services.
Visit :
http://www.mapinfo.com/company/events/web_seminars/index.cfm
SGI and ESRI announce porting of ESRI ArcIMS and ArcSDE for use with Oracle Software
SGI, the leading provider of high-performance computing and visualization solutions for technical and creative users, and ESRI, the leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, announced today that ESRI ArcIMS(R) and ArcSDE(TM) software for use with Oracle(R) software are being ported to the SGI(TM) IRIX(R) operating system. More than one million people around the world use ESRI GIS and mapping software to improve the way their organizations conduct business. From image processing, mapping, charting and geodesy to dissemination on the Web, SGI offers a broad range of power, price and performance points to the growing community of ESRI users. ArcIMS and ArcSDE run on the SGI(TM) IRIX 6.5 operating system, a fifth-generation UNIX(R) operating system and one of the most important UNIX operating system releases in the industry. IRIX 6.5 is characterized by a rich set of scalability, big data management, real-time 3D visualization enhancements and middleware features, along with an improved release process for increased robustness and stability for broader server and workstation deployment.
Visit :
http://www.sgi.com/
DCSE Announces Release of Map Library Portal
DCSE Inc, a California developer of collaborative web-based project solutions, announced the launch of a new product line, called Map Library Portal(TM). Designed to increase end user access to increasing numbers of GIS maps developed by the growing ESRI user community, the application is built with Macromedia Coldfusion and SQL Server. Map Library Portal is a web-based collaboration server that eases the task of finding maps for a specific purpose at a given time. Unlike simple file servers, Map Library Portal makes query based searches much easier for non-technical staff who did not create the maps in the first place. It provides an easy to use and scalable application for project participants to share and connect project critical maps. It is applicable to utility and infrastructure projects, where many users wish to see the information in a map, but without calling the GIS department to have one recreated.
Visit :
www.dcse.com
Asia News
Intergraph Southeast Asia Awarded Hanoi Post and Telecommunications Contract
Intergraph Corporation has announced that Hanoi Post and Telecommunications (HNPT), a division of Vietnam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT) Corporation, awarded Intergraph Southeast Asia a contract for the supply, implementation and commissioning of a complete Outside Plant Management System - Automated Mapping/Facilities Management/ Geographic Information System (OMS-AM/FM/GIS). The system will enable HNPT employees to design the communications network more efficiently, accurately track work order processes and complete customer service requests at a faster pace with the highest level of service support and expertise. Using the automated system, HNPT's engineering and planning departments can rapidly construct an end-to-end facility model showing all planned and in-progress network construction across the organization. Based on Intergraph's communications-specific Geospatial Operational Support System (G/OSS) solution for outside plant management, the OMS-AM/FM/GIS project is an investment in the overall management of the HNPT telecommunications network and marks a milestone in Vietnam's progressive modernization initiatives in the Hanoi capital area. The system provides a continuously updated model, enabling multiple users throughout the organization to have instant access to the most recent network facility information, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Source :
http://www.intergraph.com/ &
http://www.vnpt.com.vn/
Japan sets goal to be IT leader
Japan is about to announce "E-Japan 2002," a high-priority programme designed to turn the country into the world's most advanced IT nation in less than five years' time.
This ambitious goal was initiated by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who also helped to establish Japan's IT Strategy Headquarters last year, explained Cabinet Secretary to Japan's IT Policy Office, Mr Hiroshi Takahashi.
He said that last year Japan had established the IT Strategy Headquarters, which was comprised of Cabinet members and headed by the Prime Minister, and later, since there had been nothing on the ground to promote IT throughout Japan, the Government had also established the IT Strategy Council.
Source : Bangkok Post
Ministry of Information Technology goes to school
THE MINISTRY of Information Technology (MIT) has decided to use schoolchildren as their target audience – for developing software and for the use of internet in teaching. S Ramakrishnan, senior director in the MIT and head of the education, research and technology division of the ministry, said that the MIT had decided to play the role of a promotional agency.
"We will look at teacher training, course development and networking in professionals in schools," said Ramakrishnan, adding that the ministry was "open to ideas and proposals from enterprising people and organisations".
"We have already funded five programs for online learning and some of them have been for institutions like Indira Gandhi National Open University, BITS-Pilani, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Delhi." Apart from these, three projects in Jadavpur University, IIT-Delhi and Vanasthali Vidyapeeth have been lined up by the MIT.
Ramakrishnan was speaking at a seminar on 'Internet in Education' organised by an education portal. The seminar examined the role of internet in education.
Source : The Hindustan Times
Korean Government to provide trade financing to IT companies
In a bid to bolster falling information technology exports, the Korean government has decided to provide IT venture firms with trade financing covering approximately 80-90 percent of their export value.
The Korean government also decided to establish export promotion centers in Tokyo, Shanghai, London and a city in the United States by the end of the year to help the country's information technology venture startups make inroads into foreign markets.
Source : The Korean Herald
