GIS Development News Update 15th March 2004

Applications

Let me take the discussion of Location Based Applications a bit further with news items of last month where the policing and control arm of our societies are finding varied relevance in technology.

A modern control room has been set up in the office of Commissioner of Police at Chennai, India to aid police in tracking criminals. Set up at a cost of Rs 1.27 crore, the communication-cum-GPS technology aims to reduce the time taken to respond to a complaint. In another part of the world, in an otherwise uneventful commissioners court meeting in Athens. Texas, U.S. David Holstein, the county judge talked about using GPS as a possible money-saving security measure. GPS bracelets were eyed as solution to jail overcrowding.

Added to this was the interesting debate of the time-effectiveness of GPS in policing matters that raised discussions on GPS surveillance probably working better in terms of miles than feet. While lawmakers of US point to GPS technology as a tool in keeping track of released sex offenders, GPS tracking isn’t without limitations. Other similar news are listed below.

Another absolutely different and worthwhile venture was the tie-up between a South African company and a Taiwanese computer firm that aims at helping motorists arrive at their destinations faster. This is meaningful considering the nations involved. MobiTrak and Comparex Africa launched HandyMAP - a detailed map and routing software system covering all of South Africa.

The aspect of tracking and control extends to other remarkable uses too like predicting wolves’ intentions or understanding seal movement patterns! However, maps are the tools here than GPS.

Scientists from a New York-based wildlife group and researchers from Wisconsin say they have developed a high-tech way to predict where wolves might prey on livestock, perhaps allowing farmers to prevent the attacks. Likewise, six orphaned seals are to have their every move logged by satellite for a groundbreaking study that aims to improve the odds of seals raised in captivity surviving in the wild.

Scientists also hope to use satellite-based technology to help them better estimate the coyote population of Badlands National Park. Wildlife biologists have fitted 10 coyotes with radio collars equipped with global-positioning system receivers, which use satellite transmissions to pinpoint an animal's location to within a few feet.

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Business News

Five key happenings are worth pointing out amongst the other shortlisted business moves that took place this month.

Hans Hess, CEO of Leica Geosystems, announced the appointment of Bob Williams as President of the company’s Surveying and Engineering Division for the Americas selling region. Williams replaces Matthew Smith, who is moving to corporate headquarters in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, to work on corporate and international projects.

Photography giant Eastman Kodak Co., announced about realigning its holdings as it launches full-steam into digital imaging, and is selling its remote-sensing-systems unit to ITT Industries Inc. for $725 million.

Bentley Systems, announced the CADD/GIS Technology Center has signed a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with Bentley estimated at $25 million. ESRI, announced the formation of ESRI Finland Oy from the recent reorganization of Novo Meridian Oy, the former Finnish distributor of ESRI's GIS software products and services.

And lastly, setting the tone for future business initiatives in India, COWI, with 390 million USD annual fees consultancy organisation from Denmark, effected changes to Board nominees.

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Products

Researchers from New Mexico State University have completed the first phase of what will be the most detailed map ever produced of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border and its 39 crossings. The project, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, comes as a result of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Following recent presentations in France and Italy, Laser-Scan was invited to showcase Radius Topology at Oracle Spatial Special Interest Groups (SIG) in both the United Kingdom and Germany. Laser-Scan demonstrated Radius Topology's role within sustainable interoperability, as well as the migration path now available from Oracle9i to Oracle Database 10g.

Earth Resource Mapping (ERM) has reaffirmed its commitment to open standards and JPEG 2000 in particular. PCI Geomatics announced that Geomatica 9 Version 9.1, the company's geospatial software release, is now available for Linux users. Geomatica support for RedHat Linux represents its commitment to develop geospatial software for all commonly used operating systems.

MapInfo announced the release of the latest 2001 Expenditure Estimates, a marketing dataset that provides the retail, property and telecommunications sectors with vital information regarding consumer and business spending in the UK.

Other key product related news are,

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Miscellaneous

Messages related to satellites marked this fortnight.

Extending the search for water and life in Mars as mentioned last time too, this period had an important announcement. NASA scientists said that the Mars rovers have found what they were looking for -- hard evidence that the red planet was once "soaking wet."

A team of astronomers may have discovered the most distant galaxy in the universe. Located an estimated 13 billion light-years away, the object is being viewed at a time only 750 million years after the big bang, when the universe was barely 5 percent of its current age.

In another interesting move, the assembly of Fengyun-2's No. 4 meteorological satellite independently developed by China has so far been completed and relating tests are underway. It is predicted that China will launch the satellite in the later half of this year.

Eutelsat is planning to launch a new satellite on March 16, which will improve Turkish communications and speed up its internet service capacities. The satellite, designated W3A, which cost 250 million dollars and was designed to serve Europe. Japan plans to resume the use of its H-2A rocket and launch a new satellite for weather observation as early as in November to replace an aging satellite.

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