GEO: connexion articles from April 2005

GEO: connexion archives from April 2005

Change over time: hello and welcome to GEO:connexion international magazine. We have changed a few things as you have probably already noticed.
April 1, 2005... While I have replaced Peter FitzGibbon as editor, Peter remains with us and will be involved in other ventures that the company is pursuing. I am sworn to secrecy and cannot yet tell you about those! I would like to acknowledge Peter's...

Feel in control: Topcon (Capelle A/D Ijssel, The Netherlands) launches the FC-2000, win CE field computer, the latest product for use with its total stations and GPS units.
April 1, 2005... The unit, which supersedes the FC-1000, features a high visibility, colour screen with touch controls. The spec reads: 400 MHz processor, 128MB internal memory, Windows CE.NET 4.2 operating system, lithium ion rechargeable battery with an...

Multiple zoom maps.
April 1, 2005... The Overview Group (Northants, UK) is currently developing a consistent cartographic map dataset for the whole of Europe. Using the NAVTEQ vector database, Overview is producing a single, seamless raster tiled dataset which will allow it to...

Return of the Jeti.
April 1, 2005... Oce (UK) Ltd (Essex, UK), part of the digital document company Oce NV (Venlo, the Netherlands), has agreed an exclusive distribution deal to market and sell Gandi Innovation's (Texas, USA) Jeti 3300 and Jeti 5000 "grand format" printing systems...

And for my next trick ...
April 1, 2005... AND Automotive Navigation Data (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) has launched a new product, detailed digital maps of Turkey and Poland. The maps are suitable for personal and vehicle navigation and are the first in a new series of maps for central...

Seamless and consistent.
April 1, 2005... MapInfo (Windsor, UK) has launched Cartique Europe 2004, the latest version of its 28-layer, digital map base for graphic output, backdrop mapping and route planning. The 1:300,000 mapping is seamless and provides consistent coverage across the...

Look Smart: Leica Geosystems (Heerbrugg, Switzerland) announces Smartstation, a clever combination of a total station with GPS capabilities.
April 1, 2005... Described as "another milestone in the success story of the Leica System 1200 product family", the system can reduce set up and orientation times by 80 per cent. The total station and GPS receiver can be used as standalone systems with the...

My mate, RoadMate.
April 1, 2005... Thales (Carquefou, France) has launched the next product in its family of portable vehicle navigation systems, the Magellan RoadMate 300. The system has a full colour, touch screen and provides turn-by-turn text and voice navigation. "The great...

Pythagoras rules! Adw Software (Vosselaar, Belgium) releases Pythagoras 10.30, an integrated drawing and calculation program for land surveyors and civil engineers.
April 1, 2005... It includes a number of upgrades including a real time GPS link with Thales Z-Max receivers, advanced AutoCAD compatibility, extended Pythagoras VBA object modelling and real time data capture from any brand of total station. The software is...

Galileo test receivers: the next phase.
April 1, 2005... The ESA has awarded a contract for the next phase of the development of the Galileo test user receivers to a consortium led by Septentrio (Leuven, Belgium). The other consortium members are QuinetiQ, Delft University of Technology, Ursa Minor,...

3D super model: Cybercity AG (Zurich, Switzerland) completes a pilot project to generate 3D models of parts of the city of Munich, on behalf of the Bavarian state mapping agency.
April 1, 2005... The models included the semi-automatic derivation of main roof types from lidar data and the visualisation of the 3D city model with TerrainView from ViewTec AG (Zurich, Switzerland). The Bavarian Surveying Administration supplied the cadastral...

I see no ships.
April 1, 2005... Saab TransponderTech and CSI Wireless Inc. (Calgary, Canada) have signed an agreement under which CSI technology will be integrated with Saab's Automatic Identification System (AIS) product line. AISs use GPS to Identify and monitor maritime...

Finding fitness fast.
April 1, 2005... Multimap (London, UK) and Holmes Place, a European wide health club chain, have announced a deal under which visitors to the Holmes Place website will be able to locate their nearest gym. Searches can be made by postcode and the results will...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
April 1, 2005... We take this opportunity to correct the author signoff at the close of the article entitled 'The mobile revolution' (March issue) by emphasising that NAVTEQ is principally a supplier of navigable databases and not as stated.

Quick off the mark: geoinformation provider, Pasco Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) named as the first distribution partner for TerraSAR-X radar data products.
April 1, 2005... A first agreement was reached in November 2004, this has now been finalised with Joerg Herrmann, managing director of Infoterra GmbH (Friedrichshafen, Germany) and Yoichi Sugimoto, president and CEO of PASCO, signing a contract worth [euro]10...

How and where from MSN.
April 1, 2005... MSN Maps & Directions has updated its free, online digital mapping service with a new set of features and services. Availability of the service has increased to eleven countries with the inclusion of Australia, Belgium and Spain; it is also now...

ArcIMS 9 sets sail.
April 1, 2005... ESRI (California, USA) is shipping the latest version of ArcIMS 9 Route Server. One of the improvements is the ability to handle data from a greater number of sources. Data vendors are invited to contact ESRI if they would like to add their...

Call for papers: EC GI & GIS workshop.
April 1, 2005... The 11th EC GI & GIS workshop will be held in Alghero, Sardinia from 29 June to 1 July 2005. The theme of this year is "ESDI: Setting the Framework" and the objectives of the workshop include reviewing the current state of progress of the draft...

INPHO sets up shop in us.
April 1, 2005... INPHO GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany) has established a new company in North America, inphoUSA Inc., which is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. The new company is a subsidiary of INPHO and was established due to increasing usage of INPHO...

Magdeburg opts for AED-SICAD: the public utility of Magdeburg in Germany (SWM Magdeburg) is to introduce a new network information system, ArcFM UT.
April 1, 2005... ArcFM UT from AED-SICAD (Bonn/Munich, Germany) on ArcGIS technology will be used for all its six sectors of its supply and waste management industry. With the new solution, SWM Magdeburg aims to extend the use of the expensively captured...

Calling all car care centres.
April 1, 2005... IONIC Software (Grace-Hollogne, Belgium) has been awarded a contract with the DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Centre (CAC), based in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The CAC provides support to customers in 13 countries for eight different...

Read all about it.
April 1, 2005... The humanitarian news portal, AlertNet, is to become spatially enabled with technology from ESRI (UK) (Aylesbury, UK). The service, which is provided by Reuters, will provide geocoded news feeds allowing users to search for stories by region or...

To the rescue: Verilocation (Northants, England) has been awarded a contract by motoring organisation, RAC, to provide a mobile phone location service to assist the company when responding to breakdown calls.
April 1, 2005... Almost 50 per cent of calls to the RAC are made by mobile phone placing greater emphasis on the member to accurately describe their location. RAC Roadside head of service delivery, Simon Sheldon-Wilson said, "VeriLocation was awarded the...

Answers on a postcard.
April 1, 2005... Global Marketing Insights Inc (Cleveland, USA), under a contract for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, satellite and information services division, has launched a comprehensive study of international remote sensing markets...

Weighing up the market: a software package to calculate optimal division of sales areas is the latest offering from Geoconcept SA (Paris, France).
April 1, 2005... The application, Territory Manager, can be used by sales managers to define sales areas which take into account restrictions such as existing territories, or to plan a sales campaign in a new market. It takes into account a number of criteria...

Fully engaged.
April 1, 2005... Tydac (Bern, Switzerland) has launched a new product, Engage 3D, a fully-integrated 3D solution for MapInfo Professional. The package allows users to display and analyse MapInfo maps, gridded surfaces, points, lines, volume models and 3D DXF...

China in your hand.
April 1, 2005... Tele Atlas (Ghent, Belgium) and Shanghai ChangXiang Ltd (SIS. Shanghai, China) announced a joint venture partnership through which they will develop "NaviAtlas", a combination of Tele Atlas' mapping technology and SIS's local market knowledge...

ModelBuilder Competition.
April 1, 2005... School departments and students that use ESRI's (California, USA) ModelBuilder have been invited to submit models that relate to GIS or remote sensing to the Best Practices in Science Modelling Competition. The deadline for submissions is 15...

A breath of fresh air.
April 1, 2005... SeaZone Solutions Ltd (Hampshire, UK) has released details of its recent project with npower renewables (Reading, UK), to develop onshore and offshore wind, hydro and co-firing biomass projects, and supporting the development of 'new'...

Stock watch: a summary of recent stock market events and emerging GI related business information.
April 1, 2005... Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) has announced a record fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 25, 2004... 27 percent revenue growth during the fourth quarter and 31 percent during 2004... "We introduced a record number (50) of new products...

Software patents: James Martin discusses the issue of patents. There is a common misconception that software cannot be patented in the United Kingdom and other states which are signatories to the European patent convention (EPC).
April 1, 2005... While it is correct to say that UK patent law expressly excludes computer programs "as such" from patentability, computer programs are patentable if they make a technical contribution or, more precisely, when they produce a technical effect...

Mapping access to emergency contraception: Guy Picton Phillipps, geographic information manager, Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust outlines the relationship between location and access to services.
April 1, 2005... Concerned at the high rate of teenage pregnancies in two wards in the West London Borough of Brent, Mala Morjaria, a Nurse Practitioner specialising in Sexual Health and working at Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust for SHOC (Sexual Health On...

GIS for cultural heritage management in Petra: Lisa Pierce traces the evolution of a conservation aid for a World Heritage site.
April 1, 2005... Cultural Resource Managers are increasingly realising the merit of digital data management for better conservation and analysis of their archaeological sites. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A recent grant by the World Bank to The Hashemite...

Project file: recording in the Rift; GIS aids historic research into one of the middle east's most important but poorly-documented border regions.
April 1, 2005... For more than 45,000 years, the Wadi Arabah--a northerly extension of the Great Rift Valley that links the Dead Sea with the Gulf of Aqaba--has served as a communications route between southern Jordan and Israel's Negev Desert. As such, it...

Finding and mapping the data of Africa: the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure is a good starting point when beginning to search for African spatial data.
April 1, 2005... Beginning with the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) link for digital elevation data provided by the United States Geological Service (USGS), the seamless online data server can be selected (http://seamless.usgs.gov/). This site provides...

All change for AFRICAGIS 2005.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2005... The organisers of the AFRICAGIS 2005 Conference have announced new dates and a new venue for the event which will now run from 30 October to 4 November 2005 at the CSIR Convention Centre in Pretoria, South Africa. ...

Stormy times in Cape Town.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2005... The City of Cape Town, which suffers an acute water shortage, is implementing a Geographical Information System to store and retrieve its road and storm water plans. A pilot project, which involved scanning, storing and indexing 5,000...

FIG heads for Accra.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2005... The 5th Regional Conference to be staged by FIG, the International Federation of Surveyors, will be held in Accra, Ghana in March 2006. It will be the first FIG Regional Conference to be held in Western Africa and the first FIG event in the...

Small boat survey 'goes large': Ted Read discusses a small boat hydro survey for a big boat's requirements.
April 1, 2005... The recent arrival in Bridgetown of the massive Cunard flagship Queen Mary II has caused a minor parking problem, with a length of 345m and a draft of 9.7m there is now a need to investigate the further dredging of an extended docking area for...

Spot data supporting on-line mapping: the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure is a good starting point when beginning to search for African spatial data.
April 1, 2005... Spot Image joined the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) as an associate member in June 2002. Since the launch of SPOT 5 the same year, Spot Image has developed a new data format called DIMAP (for Digital Image MAP) designed to facilitate exploitation of...

Decisions with faces? As the inspire (infrastructure for spatial information in Europe) draft directive makes its way through the EU's legislative process, one of the first milestones is rapidly approaching.
April 1, 2005... Under the "co-decision" process, the draft text sent to Parliament by the European Commission (1) was routed to the Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), under the care of rapporteur MEP Frederika...

Building systems to integrate spatial information: Zdenek Drbohlav discusses the issues surrounding the integration of spatial information within organisations located in the Czech Republic.
April 1, 2005... Users of spatial information often need simple, quick and credible answers to their questions. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Unfortunately, building systems to provide relevant answers quickly, can be difficult, especially within the context...

Ortho-rectification of QuickBird satellite: very high resolution satellite data is now being used for applications traditionally covered by aerial photography. Most of these applications require that the data extracted from the satellite imagery be accurately located on a map; Therefore the geometrical processing of the imagery becomes a key issue.
April 1, 2005... This article discusses the options available for the ortho-rectification of QuickBird data, and gives results of tests of accuracy achievable starting from different data products, using Rational Polynomial Coefficients. [ILLUSTRATION...

Blowing in the wind: GIS tools are playing an important role in the growing wind energy industry. That role is being investigated at one of the worlds largest wind research facilities in Denmark.
April 1, 2005... The wind is following the terrain surface, and changing with it. Therefore, a good terrain description is crucial for a reliable assessment of the available wind resource. Especially for developing countries, some of the global databases like...

Imagery overview: in August 1960 an American CORONA spy satellite showed, for the first time, what the earth looked like from space. Images were captured to film and jettisoned to Earth in a canister which was snatched from the-air by a USAF c-119 aircraft.
April 1, 2005... Since each satellite operated for just a few days before its supply of film was exhausted, the cost per image was huge. In all just over 100 CORONA satellites, costing US$850 million, returned around 800,000 images over a 12 year period. Not...

Spatial data sharing in Lithuania, a new vision: the LGII (Lithuanian Geographic Information Infrastructure) is a component of the physical and economic infrastructure of the country, ensuring stable and balanced development of the economy, and its efficient functioning.
April 1, 2005... Studies from developed nations show that GI plays a crucial role in underpinning whole economies and delivering efficient government, indicating that it should be used as widely as possible. The wide utilisation of GIS software, the high...

Documenting and finding geospatial data: metadata developments are helping to describe growing amounts of spatial information and data. They also provide a more comprehensive solution with respect to documentation.
April 1, 2005... As well as ensuring the organisation of data management, metadata primarily help a wide public to locate geospatial information and supports the exchange of geodata among users. In other words, a metadata catalogue enables users to google...

It's obvious isn't it ...? Generating metadata for datasets you have created is an essential process--yet few of us actually bother. Bob Barr looks at why we should take the time and effort.(DANGLING SEGMENT)
April 1, 2005... The case for metadata seems to be incontrovertible. If an organisation has gone to the effort of creating or acquiring a geographic data set, surely the small extra effort of describing it so that it can be easily found; so that we know how it...

The father of GIS: Roger Tomlinson is widely regarded as the 'father of GIS'. It was his initial work in Canada together with others that led to the first developments of geographical information systems (GIS).
April 1, 2005... He holds a Masters degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and a Doctorate degree from University College London, England. A tall, amiable man, Dr. Tomlinson openly discusses GIS issues passionately. He has been honoured with the...

Geospatial metadata; Part 1: use today, innovate for tomorrow; Many people are interested to know more about metadata and which major standard formats for documenting geospatial data are important.
April 1, 2005... They appear convinced that without an all-out, concerted effort in metadata collection and exploitation, interoperable spatial data infrastructures (SDI) will not become reality. I am not entirely satisfied, however, with the complacent...

From GEO-based data to business processes: the 9th AED-SICAD international users' forum for GEO information systems was held on February 23rd and 24th in Duisburg. Over 35 presentations were presented to an audience of 300 visitors.
April 1, 2005... The primary fields of interest at the event included the latest GIS trends and solutions for land management, utilities as well as local authorities and e-government. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Special emphasis on this years' forum...

XXII International Cartographic Conference.
April 1, 2005... The International Cartographic Association (ICA) will hold the XXII International Cartographic Conference and the XIII General Assembly of the Association from 11th to 16th next July, as well as an specific programme of workshops and work...

Diary & events.(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOUR EVENT INCLUDED ON THIS PAGE PLEASE EMAIL THE DETAILS TO rosiewaddicor@geoconnexion.com. April 2005 16-21, Cairo, Egypt, FIG Working Week and XXVIII General Assembly. Details: www.fig.net/cairo or email...

AND Automotive Navigation Data.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... AND Automotive Navigation Data -- that's the new name for digital mapping company AND. The company has also re-located its headquarters to the Van Vollenhovenstraat in Rotterdam. "We are very proud to announce our new name 'AND Automotive...

Apache Corporation.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... Apache Corporation (Texas, USA) has joined DigitalGlobe's (Colorado, USA) Enterprise Partner Programme, a mechanism that streamlines access to geospatial products, and provides quick and easy data viewing and ordering in a desktop environment....

Capital Signals Companies Ltd.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... Capital Signals Companies Ltd has been named as a new dealer for NavCom Technology's (California, USA) Safari Network and GPS solutions in Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies. Using NavCom technology, Capital Signals will provide a cellular...

ESRI.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... "Introduction to ArcIMS" is a new, free training seminar from ESRI's (California, USA) Virtual Campus. It provides an overview of ArcIMS components and acquaints participants with ArcIMS tools for internet map authoring, website design, and...

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions' (Alabama, USA) mobile resource management solutions have been used to streamline the collection and storage of natural resource information by students at Latrobe High School (Tasmania, Australia)....

El Paso Electric Company.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... El Paso Electric Company (EPE. Texas, USA) has selected Miner & Miner's (Colorado, USA) ArcFM Solution together with ESRI's ArcGIS core technology to provide a streamlined system for facility management and design for its transmission and...

US Department of Agriculture.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has exercised a fourth year option with RADARSAT International (British Colombia, Canada) for the supply of LANDSAT data in 2005. It uses the data to estimate crop production, investigate crop vigour and...

Southern Company.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... US electricity provider, Southern Company, has recently completed a three year project with Space Imaging (Denver, USA) to collect IKONOS imagery of environmentally sensitive areas in south east USA. Southern Company owns property and assets in...

Tele Atlas.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2005... Tele Atlas (Cannes, France) is providing digitised map data for Europe and North America to Wayfinder for its Java-based mobile phone navigation systems. "We have responded to a clear market demand for a Java-based service and it will make our...

CPS and SiGe.(HARDWARE)
April 1, 2005... CPS (Cambridge, UK) and SiGe Semiconductor are collaborating to provide network operators and cellular service providers with a positioning solution for the delivery of seamless, reliable location based services. GSM handsets will be equipped...

DAP Technologies.(HARDWARE)
April 1, 2005... DAP Technologies (Quebec City, Canada) has introduced a 1.3 megapixel camera into its Microflex CE5000X mobile unit. The CE5000X with integrated camera also supports GPRS wireless WAN or 802.11b WLAN to enable real-time data communications. The...

Matrox Graphics Inc.(HARDWARE)
April 1, 2005... Matrox Graphics Inc. (Montreal, Canada) has released the Millennium P650 PCIe 128 graphics card for PCI Express. The product has full native X 16 PCI Express support, 128MB of graphics memory and Matrox DualHead for use with two digital or...

NavCom Technology, AXYS Technologies and ITS Corporation.(HARDWARE)
April 1, 2005... NavCom Technology (California, USA), AXYS Technologies and ITS Corporation (ITS) have been selected by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) to deploy an RTK-StarFire GPS buoy system to support the existing RTK-StarFire technology used by...

SiRF Technology and Gizmondo Europe Ltd.(HARDWARE)
April 1, 2005... SiRF Technology (California, USA) and Gizmondo Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of Tiger Telematics Inc (Florida, USA), have collaborated on SiRF's SiRFstarlle/LP GPS chipset and SiRFXTrac high sensitivity software which lies at the heart of the new...

TDC Ltd.(HARDWARE)
April 1, 2005... Electronic component distributor, TDC Ltd. (Basingstoke, UK), is now shipping the Jupiter 20, a surface mount 12-channel GPS receiver module from Navman. The chip features low power consumption, Flash memory and the ability to use either active...

Applanix.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Applanix (Ontario, Canada) has released version 3.0 of its Image View 3.0 software. The upgrade is specifically designed for use with its Digital Sensor System (DSS) and it incorporates a toolset designed to maximise the DSS's capabilities in...

Esko-Graphics.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Esko-Graphics (Ghent, Belgium) has released versions 4.0 of PackEdge, BackStageEdit, Plato, and PlatoEdit, all components of the company's Scope workflow. All feature updated input and output file compatibility including PDF 1.5 support;...

ESRI.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Mapping Service (WMS) client and server support is now available from ESRI (California, USA) with the service pack 2 release of ArcGIS 9. An enhanced WMS connector is now also included with ArcIMS. The OGC...

Leica Geosystems.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Leica Geosystems (Heerbrugg, Switzerland) has launched version 2.0 of GPS Spider V2.0, an integrated suite of software for controlling and operating single reference stations or networks of stations from a central location. Integrated within...

LizardTech Inc.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... LizardTech Inc. (Seattle, USA) has released Express Server ArcIMS 9.0 Integration Toolkit, designed specifically to meet the needs of ArcIMS 9.0 users. It uses MrSID Generation 3 technology and this version offers a significant performance...

Miner & Miner.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... The upcoming release of Miner & Miner's (Colorado, USA) ArcFM Solution, version 9.0.2, features several new products that will take advantage of ESRI's ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Engine architecture including a viewer for ArcGIS Engine, ArcFM...

SCP.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Colorado 7.1, the new version of SCP's (Aachen, Germany) large-format colour copy solution, is now available. One enhancement to the package is that it may be switched into a 3-button mode for VIDAR and Contex scanners for simplified scanning,...

Version 4.0 of DaylightRIP is now available from SCP (Aachen, Germany).(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Version 4.0 of DaylightRIP is now available from SCP (Aachen, Germany). SCP has added the option to adjust a printer's grey balance, simplifying the RIP process and leading to print quality enhancement especially on third-party media. In...

Wallingford Software.(SOFTWARE)
April 1, 2005... Wallingford Software (Wallingford, UK) has announced the availability of version 4.0 of FloodWorks, its flood warning and flood management system. In this version users can import node and link and polygon feature data from different sources...