Top Stories
Laser-Scan has released a new version of its Gothic product family.
Gothic 4.1 updates all the Laser-Scan products, including the latest Java-based additions, Gothic JADE and Gothic Web Mapper. As part of Laser-Scan's continued customer responsiveness programme, Several changes has been done. The first change is to introduce phasing. The
Gothic Developer family of products (LAMPS2 etc.) has been released as the first phase; the next phase will encompass the Integrator and Java families. The second change is that Laser-Scan is releasing Gothic 4.1 to customers on request (email: support@lsl.co.uk). This allows both Laser-Scan and its customers more flexibility in upgrading flowlines. The Gothic family is based around an object-oriented spatial database and toolkit. Gothic is trusted by National Mapping Agencies and large commercial mapping and geodata suppliers worldwide to safely handle their valuable corporate spatial data through update, production and exploitation flowlines. The Gothic database is versioned, handling explicitly the way that the world changes through time. It handles vast continuous datasets, with no sheet or tile boundaries. It is an object database, storing a model of the real world in a rich schema which can handle the references and family relationships (a canal is both a transportation medium and a water feature). It dynamically
builds and maintains topology (the knowledge of connectivity, adjacency and sharing). The objects have behaviours that are automatically activated to ensure data integrity, and which add intelligence to the map features.
Visit:
www.laser-scan.com
Autodesk Location Services launches LocationLogic 2
Autodesk Location Services, a division of Autodesk, Inc., today announced availability of the second major release of Autodesk LocationLogic, a development platform for location-based services (LBS). Autodesk Location Services offers wireless operators and enterprises a comprehensive solution for location-based services, including the LocationLogic application development platform, a suite of applications built on LocationLogic, and content integration and management tools. Autodesk Location Services draws on Autodesk's experience as a leading provider of Geographic Information Systems as well as its global presence and expertise in building world-class developer networks. Autodesk LocationLogic was designed to help carriers react quickly and competitively to market conditions by enabling the rapid development and deployment of location-based applications. LocationLogic accomplishes this task by integrating, managing, and aggregating all information relevant to a user's location and preferences and making that information useful for real-life applications, such as "Find me the Nearest…" or "Provide the fastest route …". It boasts an easy-to-use, standards-based application programming interface (API) and can scale to handle large volumes of real-time transactions per second. Of further advantage to carriers is LocationLogic's ease of integration with existing IT systems.
Visit:
www.autodesk.com/locationservices
Tadpole wins epic mobile GIS Software contract
Tadpole, a mobile computing and network infrastructure developer and vendor has announces that its GIS field mapping software subsidiary, Tadpole-Cartesia, has won a large field deployment indicative of a growing trend in the user community to extend the reach of GIS into the field. The contract, from Michigan-based utility Consumers Energy, the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp.(annual revenues $15 billion, assets $16 billion), paves the way for the energy provider to put quality task and spatial data into the hands of over 1,800 field engineers, make further gains in field worker productivity, and increase customer service levels. Tadpole's business and technology relationship with ESRI combines the best practices and expertise of both companies. ESRI technology is a widely used GIS platform, and Tadpole has an enviable pedigree in developing value-add modules that allow full use of decision-making GIS technology in the field. Satisfying the myriad roles of Consumers Energy's field engineers called for Tadpole to supply its field extension modules running on ESRI's ArcPad data capture software. Tadpole's solutions integrate seamlessly with the utility's investments in existing business systems, hardware and processes such as dispatch and work order management. Prominent features of the value-add modules include a synchronization tool that automatically records new events in corporate GIS data and transmits that information to field computing devices, and functionality that permits all data formats to be read and viewed in their native forms.
Visit:
http://www.tadpole.com/
New oceanography satellite achieves proper orbit
The joint NASA/French Space Agency oceanography satellite Jason 1 has reached its operational orbit and begun six months of instrument calibrations with its sister spacecraft, Topex/Poseidon.
Mission flight controllers at France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales' (CNES) Satellite Control Center, Toulouse, France, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., last week commanded Jason 1 to fire its thrusters and lower itself into its operational orbit of 1,337 kilometers (830 miles). Jason 1 is now approximately one minute (approximately 370 kilometers or 230 miles) ahead of the Topex/Poseidon satellite, on an identical ground track. Launched December 7, 2001 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Jason 1 was initially inserted into a 1,327 kilometer (823 mile) orbit 10 kilometers (6 miles) below Topex/Poseidon. A series of thruster maneuvers over the past five weeks gradually placed Jason 1 into its current orbit. Checkout of the spacecraft and its instrument payload is now complete. All instrument and spacecraft functions and the operations systems at the French space agency and JPL are functioning nominally.
Visit:
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0201/14jason1/
Signiant enables secure electronic delivery of Space Imaging's Satellite Images
Signiant Inc., Space Imaging is the company that owns and operates the one-meter resolution IKONOS satellite, most recently drawing national attention by being the first to provide high-resolution images of New York and Washington, D.C. following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Signiant's services enable Global 1000 companies to achieve strategic business objectives by automating and speeding secure electronic data movement between disparate software environments across their enterprise and throughout their value chain. The company's service platform is designed for ease of use, compatible with existing information technology infrastructures and business processes, and secure via selectable encryption levels and built-in digital authentication certificates. Under the terms of the agreement, Space Imaging's first application of Signiant's service would automate the entire process of delivering images from its IKONOS satellite to two global customers, starting from receipt of image orders and inventory management through to secure image delivery and billing. In the second phase of the deployment, Space Imaging would expand its use of the Signiant service to enable satellite image delivery to most of its top customers.
Visit:
http://www.signiant.com/ &
http://www.spaceimaging.com/
PlanGraphics announces two new contract vehicles
PlanGraphics, Inc., a provider of professional spatial information technology services, has been awarded two competitively bid contracting vehicles that will allow current and future clients to take advantage of PlanGraphics' full life cycle of spatial integration services without delays typical of competitive processes. PlanGraphics was placed on the State of New Jersey GIS Services Term Contract. This is a multiple-award, indefinite quantity contract to provide services in GIS needs assessment and implementation planning. In addition, PlanGraphics has been approved for the Los Angeles County Information Technology Support Services Master Agreement (ITSSMA) contract in categories V (Client-Server Systems Planning and Development) and X (Web-based Development Services). The purpose of the ITSSMA is to give Los Angeles County departments access to a qualified pool of information technology specialists.
Visit:
www.plangraphics.com &
www.state.nj.us/
Asia News
China's role in global environmental cooperation reinforced
China finds its role in global efforts and negotiations for the settlement of major environmental issues more and more important as its international influence is increasing. As the world's biggest developing country and having great significance in global environmental protection, China has been actively involved in international cooperation of environmental protection, according to an official with the State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA).
He said "environment diplomacy" is becoming vital to a country's foreign relations because the influence of environmental factors now have increasing impacts on various fields such as national security, economy and foreign trade.
China has signed more than 30 bilateral agreements or memorandum on environmental protection with 27 countries, as well as agreements on cooperation in the field of nuclear safety with some 10 countries, said Wang Zhijia, director of the SEPA's Department of International Cooperation. The country is also a key member of many environmental organizations in Asia and Pacific regions, Wang said. So far, China has joined in more than 20 international conventions that deal with environmental issues such as biological diversity, climate change, the protection of the ozone layer, and the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes.
Through using Global Environment Funds, donated funds and loans from the World Bank and foreign governments, China has been able to fulfill its commitments to the international society to solve environmental problems step by step, Wang said.
He said international and domestic situations at present are favorable for China to carry out international cooperation in environmental sector. To achieve sustainable development has become a consensus of many countries, which in turn will enable China to obtain more overseas supports to promote the industry of environmental protection.
Source:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
ESRI, has announced that ArcIMS Site Starters 1.1 is now available. ArcIMS Site Starters are a suite of application templates, each addressing a specific business function (such as a database search). Web developers can easily configure the ArcIMS Site Starters applications to use with their specific data. The foremost enhancement offered with version 1.1 of the ArcIMS Site Starters is the introduction of the buffer application. This new application combines a typical database search application with spatial query functionality from the GIS. Users can locate features, define buffer parameters, and generate buffer reports with integrated maps. Version 1.1 also offers enhancements to the dynamic map display page as well as support for Netscape 6.2 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 browsers. In addition, users now have an even wider selection of presentation styles from which to choose. Version 1.1 marks the latest milestone in the ArcIMS Site Starters continued goal of providing simple, specific, and elegant application solutions for the ArcIMS community. Users benefit from an intuitive, step-by-step path to generating maps and reports, while developers can take advantage of the customizable application framework. ArcIMS provides the foundation for distributing high-end GIS and mapping services on the Internet. It enables users to integrate local data sources with Internet data sources for display, query, and analysis in an easy-to-use Web browser.