Top Stories
Winners in the ERDAS web launch "celebration" contest announced
Ruth Spell of California is the Grand Prize Winner in the ERDAS®, Inc. Web Launch Celebration Contest. As the Grand Prize Winner, Ms. Spell won an HP Pavilion XL756 and 17-inch monitor, and ERDAS MapSheets Express™, an easy-to-use mapping and presentation software package containing geographic and demographic information that easily incorporates maps and images into reports, presentations and worksheets. The second-place winner, Christopher Kennedy of Virginia, won a Compaq iPAQ H3635 Pocket PC. Ms. Spell, Kennedy and others who registered at ERDAS Central (www.erdas.com), April through June, were automatically qualified in the contest. The winners were announced in July at the conclusion of the contest, held to mark the launch of the totally redesigned.
Visit :
www.erdas.com
Control Vision introduces hand-held Nexrad weather for private aircraft
Control Vision Corp., a leading Kansas aerospace company specializing in hand-held technology for General Aviation, introduced at Airventure 2001 a hand-held GPS navigation system for private aircraft that displays close to real-time weather compiled by national weather services. The product, Anywhere Wx(TM), operates on a Pocket PC such as the Compaq iPaq(R) and is expected to compete directly with built-in radar systems traditionally installed in airliners and large executive aircraft. It addresses several key shortfalls in those systems. Anywhere Wx delivers high-resolution snapshots from a national network of over 160 local radar and satellite stations, formatted to the altitude, position and heading of the airplane requesting the weather. Airborne radar's accuracy, in comparison, falls off in direct proportion to the distance from the aircraft. Anywhere Wx images are displayed directly over the products GPS moving map.
Visit :
www.anywheremap.com/cv/
SignalSoft selected by Orange, UK for nationwide location services core infrastructure
SignalSoft Corporation, the developer of the Wireless Location Services(r) software suite, has
announced that mobile communications company Orange UK has signed a major contract to enable the delivery of location-based services across WAP, SMS and interactive voice platforms. This is the second contract win for SignalSoft with the Orange group - Orange Switzerland bought a similar package at the end of 2000. SignalSoft's Wireless Location Services software suite is the link that brings together a subscriber's location details with location-based content, applications and information to enrich the user experience, increase subscriber loyalty, differentiate wirefree (operators and increase revenues. The Orange UK contract covers SignalSoft's latest Location Manager) software and MAPS, its Geographic Information System (GIS) provisioning platform.
Visit :
www.signalsoftcorp.com
PA Gov. Ridge announces $30 million in `growing greener' grants
Gov. Tom Ridge has announced that more than 237 organizations in nearly every Pennsylvania County will receive $30 million in "Growing Greener" grants for watershed restoration, protection and education. "We are protecting our natural resources with this $30 million investment through Pennsylvania's 'Growing Greener' program," Gov. Ridge said. "We're working to make grow Pennsylvania cleaner and greener in the 21st century. The environmental improvements these grants will facilitate include: 500 acres of abandoned mines reclaimed; 188 acres of wetlands created or restored; 20 oil and gas wells plugged; 114 miles of streams impacted by acid mine drainage cleaned; 60 miles of riparian buffer planted; 95 miles of stream banks improved; and 20 new watershed groups formed. On Dec. 15, 1999, Gov. Ridge signed "Growing Greener" into law, marking the largest environmental investment ever by a Pennsylvania governor -- $650 million over five years. This is the third round of grants awarded by DEP under the "Growing Greener" initiative.
Visit :
www.growinggreener.org and
www.state.pa.us
Hrnicek to Provide GIS Expertise in Woolpert's St. Louis Office
Eric Hrnicek recently joined Woolpert LLP's St. Louis office as a technical specialist in geographic information systems (GIS). Hrnicek will frequently consult with Woolpert staff as well as current clients with regards to implementing ESRI ArcGIS Geodatabases. His presence in Woolpert's St. Louis office is the beginning of the GIS expansion in the region. Hrnicek brings to Woolpert expertise in several ESRI software applications, including ArcGIS, ArcSDE, and ArcView 3.x.. Furthermore, he has experience with database resources such as Oracle, Microsoft Access, and SQL Server. Hrnicek utilized and developed his knowledge working on projects such as the City of Cleveland's Water Division Geodatabase design, and the City of Cincinnati's Water Works Arc 7 to Arc 8 migration.
Visit :
www.woolpert.com/news/pressrls/pr.html
Arc Second releases beta version of PocketCAD DWFView
Arc Second, Inc., the leading provider of mobile CAD software solutions, today announced the beta release of DWFView(TM), a custom add-in designed for use with PocketCAD PRO 4.0. The DWFView beta can be downloaded free of charge until August 15, 2001 at http://www.pocketcad.com/. Powered with AutoDesk(R) technology, PocketCAD PRO software offers mobile professionals a comprehensive solution for creating, editing and viewing design drawings at the job site reducing the need to bring paper blueprints into the field. PocketCAD 4.0 reads and writes DWG(TM) and DXF files and is compatible with nearly all desktop CAD software packages, including AutoCAD(R) Release 12 through 2002. With PocketCAD PRO 4.0 and the DWFView add-in, users can import DWF files into PocketCAD and then interrogate, annotate, and edit the drawing. The drawing can then be saved as a .CAD file (PocketCAD format) that can be later translated to a DWG or DXF(TM) file.
Visit :
www.pocketcad.com
CARIS Spatial Fusion 2.5.1 Released for Web-Mapping Developers
CARIS has announced that Spatial Fusion 2.5.1, the latest version of its
web-mapping development toolkit, is now available. CARIS Spatial Fusion is a web-mapping development platform used to build a customized Internet GIS solution by integrating its flexible front-end Java components coupled with distributed back-end spatial services. With Spatial
Fusion's unique distributed service-based architecture, data can be securely shared across any network, from an Intranet to the Internet. This release of Spatial Fusion introduces three new Spatial Fusion Services. These Services provide access to data in multiple formats and enable spatial functionality. With the Redlining Service, users can edit spatial data online by creating intermediary files that can be incorporate into the data or disregarded after quality assurance. Second, the AutoCAD Service enables Spatial Fusion to read and merge DWG and DXF files. Finally, the new ODBC Service lets users create a map using point data stored in any ODBC compliant
database. The Oracle Service has also been updated in this release allowing support for Oracle 8.1.7, while remaining backward compatible with 8.1.6. Client-side developers will also find it improved support for developing Servlets and thin-client deployments.
Visit :
www.caris.com and
www.spatialcomponents.com
Asia News
Chinese Banking Customers Get Mobile
The Shanghai branch of China's Bank of Communications (BOC) has teamed with Hong Kong-based Cyber On-Air to enable its customers to access their bank account details and conduct financial transactions from their WAP-enabled mobile phones.
The recently launched Banking On-Air wireless Internet solution combines SMS and WAP gateways with software applications, enabling users to check bank balances, access account details, conduct forex transactions and effect funds transfers.
Cyber On-Air had partnered with Singapore-headquartered EdgeMatrix and processor giant Intel to introduce to the Mainland market its turnkey Banking On-Air solution, said to be the first wireless Internet application offering available to the country's financial industry.
Source :
www.asia.internet.com
Japan, Korean to Recognize IT Credentials
The scope of permits for Korean Information Technology (IT) technicians to be employed in Japanese firms is expected to increase as Japan decided to recognize Korea's National IT Technician Certificates because of the lack of manpower Japan in IT sectors.
Korea is the second foreign country whose IT certificate Japan has recognized, following India. It was agreed recently with visiting Japan Information Technology Engineers Examination Center (JITEC) Secretary General Machio Kawasaki to permit by the end of this year both Koreans or Japaneses with IT certificates to work in either country, stated Koo Cheon-seo, the director of the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRDK) Tuesday.
Koo added that an official memorandum of understanding (MOU) is scheduled to be signed in mid-September. This indicates that Japan has acknowledged the standard of Korean IT manpower and more Korean IT-related workers may also move to Japan. For the holders of certificates in the two fields of Information Processing Technicians and Infomation Processing Industrial Technicians, Korea and Japan agreed to grant work visas. There are 98,877 IPT and 109,478 IPIT holders in Korea.
Source: Digital Chosun Online Newspaper
Floods expose Orissa govt
The devastating floods in the state have exposed the chinks in the state government's disaster preparedness ability.
After the supercyclone wreaked havoc, words such as ‘disaster preparedness’ became the new mantra in the state, for the government and NGOs alike. But now, as floods unleashed their fury, ‘disaster preparedness’ has proved to be an exercise in futility.
The Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) in collaboration with the United Nations had unveiled ‘Community Based Disaster Preparedness’ to combat cyclones and floods and even brought out a manual for this purpose.
The first anniversary of the super cyclone on October 29, 2000 was even observed as ‘Disaster Preparedness Day’ in the state. But, the bitter irony is that the state remains as ill equipped to combat any kind of disaster as before.
The purpose of the OSDMA manual on disaster preparedness ‘was to aid a community that was facing a natural calamity threat. It was ment to reduce their dependence on the government and prepare them to get ready on its own with whatever resources at hand.
The community contingency plan unveiled by the OSDMA and UN had talked of hazard mapping, risk mapping and opportunity mapping of the villages. Today the much hyped "disaster preparedness" plans face the real test with the onslaught of the floods.
Source: Hindustan Times, 24 july 2001
Japan to host E Asian IT meet in September
HANOI — Japan will host a conference aimed at enhancing East Asian cooperation in information technology on Sept 17 in Okayama, western Japan, Japanese officials said Tuesday.
The confab will bring together government officials, businesspeople and academics from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea, the officials said.
Source: Kyodo News
