Top Stories
Z/I Imaging and Optech announce strategic alliance
Z/I Imaging Corporation (Huntsville, Alabama) and Optech Incorporated (Toronto, Ontario) announced today a strategic alliance under which the two companies will jointly market and further the development of airborne laser mapping technology. Under this comprehensive agreement, Z/I Imaging will reference-sell Optech's market-leading Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper (ALTM) and Optech will reference-sell Z/I Imaging's extensive software production tools. In addition, the two companies will cooperate to rapidly advance the state of production tools, enabling users to more effectively capture, store and process LIDAR data.
Visit:
www.ziimaging.com
RSI named sole Canadian distributor of QuickBird 2 Data
RADARSAT International (RSI) announced today that it has been appointed by DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colorado, as the sole Canadian reseller of worldwide data from the QuickBird 2 satellite. The agreement, which also includes distribution rights in the United States, has a three-year term. DigitalGlobe's QuickBird 2, successfully launched October 18, 2001, is the world's highest resolution commercial satellite, providing imagery with 61 cm resolution. In addition to the 61 cm resolution of the panchromatic data, 2.44 m resolution multispectral data will also be available. Applications for this imagery include detailed mapping and resource management, urban planning, telecommunications, and agriculture.
Visit:
www.rsi.ca
GeoDecisions forms strategic partnership with RPT
In an effort to provide local government clients with the best available technology options, GeoDecisions has signed a teaming agreement with Regional Planning Technologies, Inc. (RPT), the makers of GeoPlanŠ software. GeoDecisions is a division of Gannett Fleming, an international consulting engineering and construction management firm. GeoDecisions and RPT are combining their resources to create a comprehensive solution for geographic information system (GIS)-based applications. It will manage all aspects of local government business and allow local government agencies to fully comply with Governmental Accounting Standard Board 34 Regulations and Capacity Management Operation and Maintenance Requirements. Sewer and water system modeling capabilities will also be an integral part of this solution. Gannett Fleming's engineering expertise will also be a vital component of the teaming agreement.
Visit:
www.geodecisions.com &
www.gannettfleming.com
EarthScan adds WhiteStar to the ImageNetwork*
EarthScan Network, a leading geospatial information solutions provider, and The WhiteStar Corporation, a leading distributor of information products, today announced that EarthScan will distribute WhiteStar's OrthoStar* digital imagery and Public Land Survey (PLSS) data through its ImageNetwork*, an expanding list of EarthScan-hosted e-commerce storefronts and Intranets, and will develop an ImageCommerce* Solutions storefront for WhiteStar. The OrthoStar product consists of one-meter black and white and color images covering over 80% of the United States, and will be offered for online subscriptions and as data delivered via CD-R or FTP.
Visit:
www.whitestar.com &
www.EarthScan.com
Maporama partners with Europcar
Maporama, European leader in online mapping and geocentric information services, and Europcar, #2 car rental company in Europe, have announce their partnership to provide online maps via Europcar websites. As a result of the agreement, Internet users can now obtain access to Maporama's maps to a requested location, through the main Europcar website
http://www.europcar.com plus also via the local UK and US national websites
http://www.europcar.co.uk and
http://www.europcaramericas.com. Maporamašs services are integrated within the route planning facility section of each Europcar site, visitors simply enter their desired destination, along with the location they are travelling from and Maporama will automatically provide a detailed map and accompanying door to door itinerary, from point of origin to the chosen address. Users can also zoom-in to obtain street-level detailed map of their requested destination, while additional geocentric services such as local weather, proximity information to find local facilities, and step by step driving directions are also provided via a single click.
Visit:
/www.europcar.com/ &
www.maporama.com
GPS Technology could help Taliban fight U.S.
The military is trying to take satellite-based navigation technology out of the hands of terrorists.
GPS -- Global Positioning System -- devices are like digital roadmaps. Using satellite technology, they identify a user's location within seconds, and can even help guide you to your desired destination. The technology was once used chiefly by mariners. But it's already in cars and in planes. It can also be deadly in the hands of terrorists. That is why the Pentagon is trying to keep the technology from the Taliban. Specific military tactics are classified. But Pete Brumbaugh, a GPS manufacturer with Garmin International, believes the U.S. has already taken action and cut satellite signals to limit enemy forces. "They have selectively denied enhancement accuracy in areas that they are targeting in Afghanistan," Brumbaugh said.Without satellite signals, GPS receivers cannot tell a person where he or she is, or how to move to the next hiding place. That gives U.S. ground troops a huge advantage. They would still have working GPS devices, because the military has its own private satellite signals.
Visit:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/kpix/20011023/lo/1583_1.html
York County, SC selects NovaLIS Technologies' Assessment Office solution
NovaLIS Technologies will provide York County, South Carolina with a complete Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal solution and Geographic Information System. NovaLIS Technologies' Assessment Office (AO), a mass property appraisal software, will be employed by the County to assist in the reassessment of properties and the generation of the County's Tax Roll. York County will also use NovaLIS Parcel Editor (PE) and Geographic & Attribute Transaction Engine (GATE) products to maintain the County's parcel database on an on-going basis and fully integrate with the CAMA system. AO's flexible viewers will enable the County to create tailored land records
management screens for assessors, managers, and other users. The Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) solution integrates Marshall & Swift cost tables, SQL Server database, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), workflow, and document and image management technologies.
Visit:
www.novalistech.com
Manifold Achieves "Designed for Windows XP" Status
manifold.net has announced that Manifold System Release 5.00 Professional Edition has achieved "Designed for Windows XP" status by fulfilling all requirements of Microsoft's logo requirements for special compatibility with Windows XP. Microsoft's Windows XP logo program includes several level of compatibility for software applications, hardware systems and accessory hardware devices. The "Designed for Windows XP" status achieved by Manifold requires a high level of Windows XP engineering compared to the ordinary "Compatible with Windows XP" status ordinarily achieved by applications.
Visit:
www.manifold.net
Marine Geography 2002-Call for Article Submissions
Marine Geography 2002 is planning the next issue scheduled for publication in spring 2002. Marine Geography is an extensively reviewed multidisciplinary magazine devoted to Marine GIS research, and is a publication spawned from the success of the Marine Geography section of the 2001 issue of Conservation Geography. The magazine is targeting annual publication. Submissions are now being solicited, and authors may indicate interest or send review copies of submissions to:
Joe Breman, ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373 or
email at:
jbreman@esri.com Papers dealing with any aspect of the application of GIS in Marine mapping, research, management, and analysis are invited. The target date for submissions is Dec. 1, 2001.
Visit:
http://www.esri.com/library/esripress/congeo.html
Asia News
Bannari Infotech to launch fleet tracking device
COIMBATORE, Oct. 22 - THE Coimbatore-based Bannari Infotech Pvt Ltd is readying to launch a device to track the movement of vehicles which can be analysed by the computer later.
The company, belonging to the Bannari Amman (Sugars) group, has tied up with a US software major for assistance which will have a global positioning system (GPS)-based location recording device, software and digital map package. It will be commercially launched in early December, according to Mr K.S. Sundara Raman, MD, Bannari Infotech Pvt Ltd.
He told Business Line that the device weighing around 200 gm, would be competitively priced. Even for someone, who is not computer-savvy, accessing the data would not be a complicated process, he said.
There are several devices available for such tracking purposes including those based on satellite-navigation and those based on cellular communications. But these required high-capital investment and monthly recurring costs.
Hence, his company had opted for a more cost-effective system that suited the Indian scenario where commercial transportation was dominated by small operators and was largely unorganised.
By mapping the information relating to latitude, longitude and time on a digital map, it would be possible to track the movement of a vehicle even up to individual street level, apart from knowing the speed of travel, location, time and duration of stops, where the signal was lost and regained etc, he said.
This would help analyse traffic-compliance, optimisation of fuel consumption etc. And it needed just five clicks for a person to log on to the map.
His company was experimenting with the possibility of making IT a regional language software for easier user-adaptability. It will not be an intimidating experience and most of the interfaces were graphic-interfaces, which even a layman could use.
Source:
Business Line
Japan to help China build ecological database
Chinese and Japanese science research institutes will jointly establish a database on China's ecology from next year to keep an eye on environmental problems in that vast country, as those problems are believed to affect neighboring countries, Environment Ministry officials said.
From fiscal 2002, the National Institute for Environmental Studies, an affiliate of the Environment Ministry, and the China Academy of Sciences will begin compiling information on water resources, forests and desertification in China. The data will be used to plan land use and environment preservation projects. It is also expected to help predict the movement of yellow sand blown from China to Japan.
Citing security reasons, the Chinese authorities have been reluctant to work with foreign research institutes to analyze information on the country's geographical features. However, they agreed to work with the Japanese institute due to mounting concern that Chinese environmental problems would determine the state of pollution of the East China Sea.
The two institutes will make use of temperature and land-moisture data gathered by the U.S. Earth Observation Satellite, to learn about desertification. Facilities in Beijing and Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in western China, will receive the satellite information and send it to the research institutes.
The Japanese researchers are also expected to help create computer simulation models to analyze the satellite information. Researchers have long called for the use of satellite information to gain an overview of China's ecology, as the country is too vast to gain an accurate picture solely through ground-level information. Satellite information would also help provide a picture of the state of farmland that has deteriorated due to increased production of crops to meet food needs.
Source:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20011024wo72.htm
