The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has launched its new, online National Water Information System (NWISWeb) and in so doing opened the doors to the public to much more of the 100 years of water data collected by the federal earth science agency. The new website allows users to access several hundred million pieces of archival and real-time data, all from their home or office computers. NWISWeb is an integral part of the USGS mission to disseminate important
water-quality and quantity data to the public. These data can help water managers, engineers, scientists, emergency managers, recreational water users, utilities, etc. to evaluate current water supplies and plan for future supplies, forecast floods and droughts etc. NWISWeb data comes from a vast, nationwide network of more than 1.5 million USGS water data collection stations.
Visit:
http://www.water.usgs.gov/nwis/
Top Stories
Census2000 data available at DemographicsNow.com
SRC, LLC, of Orange, Calif., has made the first installment of block-level Census2000 data available to the media industry through www.demographicsnow.com the company's online demographic data retrieval service. Users choose from more than 675 variables to instantly profile the demography of a specific geographic area, as well as survey PL94-171 redistricting data. The service also generates more than 25 custom reports as well as full colour maps for a visual data display. After just a few minutes of training, users can access analyses based on standard radii, create custom reports and produce detailed maps -- all within seconds at anytime and virtually anywhere.
Visit :
www.demographicsnow.com
CTS Wireless Components introduces ultra-small ceramic filter for GPS Receiver Applications
CTS Corporation, an innovator in wireless handset component technology and a world leader in wireless component manufacturing, today announced the availability of a miniature 4mm x 4mm x 2mm ceramic filter for Global Positioning System (GPS) applications operating in the 1575 MHz frequency range. The patented CTS monoblock design and advanced processing technologies have enabled CTS engineers to achieve this ultra-small, state-of-the-art ceramic filter design. The new CTS filter, Model CEROO32A offers handset manufacturers an advanced technology that meets, or exceeds, the industry's exacting performance standards -- in an ultra-small package. According to CTS Wireless Components' vice president and general manager, Jerry Gabbard, "With very low 1.2 dB insertion loss and high rejection of PCS and Cellular band signals at 50 to 60 dB, this filter provides improved handset performance and quiet operation to the user. In addition, this new design provides a smaller filter, which can translate to a smaller handset. Early customer feedback indicates that Model CER0032A will be broadly accepted by leading-edge handset developers."
Visit :
www.ctscorp.com
Orbital's satellite-based vehicle tracking system to help dispatch snowplows in Michigan
Orbital Sciences Corporation has announced that the South-eastern Michigan Snow and Ice
Management (SEMSIM Partners) have selected the company's ORBTRAC-100 system to help track and manage a portion of its fleets of road maintenance vehicles. The company's automatic vehicle location (AVL) and data collection system will be installed on 290 snowplows, with phased installations of the SEMSIM Partners' entire 500-vehicle fleet over the next two to three years. A significant enhancement to be built into this project will be the ability to distribute data over the Internet through a browser-based system to the various road maintenance agencies that make up the SEMSIM partnership. In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, SEMSIM Partners unites the four largest road maintenance agencies in Southeast Michigan to improve the snow clearance process in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties and in the city of Detroit. Other participants include the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) and the University of Michigan.
Visit :
http://www.infozone.orbital.com/TMS/
SignalSoft Appoints Dave Whalen to Senior Vice President
SignalSoft Corporation (Nasdaq: SGSF), the developer of the Wireless Location Services® software suite, has announced the appointment of Dave Whalen as senior vice president of worldwide sales. In this role, Whalen will oversee SignalSoft's worldwide sales and partnering initiatives in the North and South American, European and Asia-Pacific regions. Whalen will be responsible for continuing to grow the global presence of SignalSoft's Wireless Location Services.
Whalen joins SignalSoft with more than 12 years of sales, marketing and services management experience in the wireless telecommunications industry. Prior to SignalSoft, he served as senior vice president of global sales & solutions at mobile software provider Wireless Knowledge, a Microsoft and QUALCOMM company.
Visit :
http://www.signalsoftcorp.com
At Laser-Scan Boosts Hardware Support Division
As part of Laser-Scan's continuing strategy to deliver the best possible service to customers the company's hardware support division is undergoing a period of dynamic growth. Over the years Laser-Scan's hardware team has developed its approach to provide specialist support for the cartographic and security printing industries. The hardware team is now committed to expanding and developing its skills to meet the needs of its customers and to explore new business opportunities. Further investment will ensure that Laser-Scan's hardware team can build on its excellent reputation in the hardware support field. This period of development is underpinned by Laser-Scan's new focus on the needs of its customers and partners.
Visit :
www.laser-scan.com
Asia News
Chinese Primary Schools to Go Online
China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) has planned to extend online education to 8,000 primary schools set up by the Project Hope within three years by way of building websites and multi-media classrooms. Chinese government has decided to enable about 90 percent middle and primary schools nationwide to share online education resources in the coming five to ten years.
In view of the necessity and urgency for speeding up the construction of online education in the backward areas CYDF has worked out the aforesaid plan to provide more opportunities for youngsters in those less developed areas. Founder Computer, a forceful IT company, has donated 2 million yuan for the project. It is essential to bridge the "digital gap" between the developed and the remote frontier areas and the company will make more efforts in China's education informationization process, Founder says.
Source : People's Daily
ASEAN to Establish Working Group to Enhance IT Cooperation
KUALA LUMPUR, ASEAN plans to establish a working group to enhance the member countries' cooperation in the area of information communications technology development. The formation of the proposed working group was discussed at the second ASEAN Telecommunications Senior Officials Meeting (TELSOM), which opened here Wednesday. The working group could be responsible for the formulation of recommendations on policies, regulations or even matters technical in nature, said the secretary-general for the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia Halim Shafie. He said recommendations could be made for the adoption of certain standards and the best methods of rolling out the needed infrastructure in the region.
Source : Xinhua via COMTEX
South Korea 17th in world in IT development
Korea's level of "informatization" ranks 17th in the world, according to the 2001 National Informatization White Paper, published Thursday by the National Computerization Agency (NCA).
The Informatazation level in the year 2000 stood at 17 out of a total of 50 countries. Korea's ranking has jumped two notches each year since 1998. It was 21st in 1998. But Korea still lags behind major Asian nations. Hong Kong was 11th, Taiwan 12th and Japan 16th. The so-called informatization index is calculated by a formula, which includes indices from the International Telecommunication Union in four categories, including computers, the Internet, telecommunications and broadcast media.
Source : Asia Pulse
