GEO: connexion articles from December 2003

GEO: connexion archives from December 2003

Putting the lid on inspire.(upfront)
December 1, 2003... Despite the fanfare that accompanied the 2002 launch of INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe), its future was thrown into disarray by Britain's seeming reluctance to endorse the European Commission initiative (1) at a...

Aerodata & Meixner go digital!(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Vexcel Corporation (Boulder, Colorado) is delivering its UltraCam-D large format digital aerial cameras to Meixner Consulting (Vienna, Austria) and Aerodata Int. Surveys (Antwerp, Belgium). While Meixner is the first European enterprise to...

Intergraph makes headway in Germany and France.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... GeoMedia[R] WebMap Professional from Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (Huntsville, Alabama) has been selected by the City of Siegburg (Germany) as the basis for its SiGIS. The new resource will give departments access to geospatial...

Putting the e in government.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... England's Huntingdonshire District Council (GEO: connexion's 'home' district) is one of seven local authorities to win an Exemplar Award... one that recognised progress towards e-government by those implementing the National Land & Property...

France & Germany buy Trimble GPS.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Trimble (Sunnyvale, California) will provide GPS surveying systems to the Services des Programmes d'Observation, de Telecommunication et d'Information (SPOTI), part of the French Delegation Generale pour l'Armement (DGA). They will be employed...

Back to the land in Latvia.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... ESRI distributor, HNIT-Baltic GeoInfoServisas (HB-GIS, Vilnius, Lithuania) has been awarded a contract to develop a Land Parcel Identification System for Latvia's Rural Support Service. The system, intended to satisfy latest requirements of...

Free GIS--just a click away.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Digital Data Technologies (DDTI, Columbus, Ohio) and GeoMicro (Santa Ana, California) have made the AccuGlobe 2004 GIS available as a free download. The software was developed by DDTI using GeoMicro's AltaMap components and boasts feature...

Getmapping announces BlueSky.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Getmapping (Hartley Wintney, England) has formed a new company called BlueSky to handle its non-internet sales. BlueSky will handle all oil-line sales of Getmapping data, will support a telephone call centre and will be based at Getmapping's...

ODIN makes progress across Europe.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Now finding application in a number of nations is ODIN (geOgraphic Distributed Information), the fruit of an EC-initiated project for mobile devices that commenced in April 2000 (visit www.odiproject.org for details). For example, Ireland,...

GI market to top 8 billion [euro] by 2007.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, California) has published a new report on World Commercial Remote Sensing Imagery, GIS Software, Data, and Value-added Services Markets and predicts that revenues will grow from more than 5 billion [euro] in 2002 to...

New business venture by overview mapping.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... The Verilocation mobile phone tracking service launched in May by Overview Mapping (Northampton, England) has now led to the formation of Verilocation Ltd. The Verilocation service uses Cell Identification information from the four major...

More Cadcorp licences for IGN.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... IGN (Paris, France) the French national mapping agency, has recently placed a contract with Cadcorp (Stevenage, England) fur additional Cadcorp SIS module licences. The contract covers Map Modeller, Internet Developer's Kit (IDK), CDM Modellers...

Smart schools.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Kent County Council and five London Boroughs have worked successfully with Arete Software Limited (Bracknell, England) to adopt the Schools Mapping Admission Routeing & Transport (SMART) package developed by SIA Ltd (London, England). The...

Global goes global.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Global Imaging Technologies, Inc. (Baltimore, Maryland) has launched a "Preferred Provider" programme in respect of its precision aerial imagery. As such, it seeks distributors that have the desire and ability to serve national or regional...

Getting ready for EU enlargement.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Geo Strategies (Cambridge, England) has released more data for central and eastern Europe, with CEO Daniela Florea saying, "We can now offer fully consistent digital datasets for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania,...

Leica puts itself in the picture.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Leica Geosystem celebrated the 2003 bicentary of its home canton (St. Gallen in Switzerland) in an imaginative way. The canton in the upper Rhine Valley was the setting for 13 gigantic crop images (designed by LandArte artists from Switzerland,...

Urban Cadastre for Romania.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... GTZ (Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit-Eschborn, Germany) and AED-SICAD (Munich, Germany) have joined forces to set up KommGIS, a public private partnership in Romania. KommGIS, managed by Geo Consult International GmbH...

New releases from GeoConcept.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... GeoConcept SA (Paris, France) has announced GeoConcept V5.5 and GeoConcept Internet Server V3. Improved group working (and more communication using XML), more user friendly functions and better productivity particularly when searching databases...

Metadata boost for Theme Browser.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Nieuwland Automatisering (Wageningen, the Netherlands) has released version 3.0 of its Theme Browser--an extension for ArcView 3.2 or higher that claims to bridge the gap between ArcView 3.x and ArcGIS. The latest release features enhanced...

OS MasterMap--what do you think?(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... "OS MasterMap is fundamentally different to Ordnance Survey's existing large-scale digital mapping product, Land-Line[R]". This was the preamble to a new leaflet ('Implementing OS MasterMap--the essential guide'), made available at four recent...

Torture at the tower.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... The Tower of London has been using ArcView GIS from ESRI UK (Aylesbury, England) to help conserve historic buildings that receive more than two million visitors each year. Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the charitable trust that manages the...

Tele Atlas extends its net.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Tele Atlas (Ghent, Belgium) has launched MultiNet for Poland, claimed to be the first digital map of the country. As well as a road network covering all municipalities, street-level data with house number ranges will make it easy to find...

Insuring with better data.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Britain's Norwich Union (NU) insurance giant is assessing the flood risk for every property by exploiting the NEXTMap Britain terrain database from Intermap Technologies (Denver, Colorado). The nationwide map, derived from airborne radar...

10bn [euro] LBS market by 2005.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Mobile operators are forecasting revenues of (10bn [euro] from high accuracy location-based services by 2005--but only if low cost mass market enabling technologies are in place to drive the market. Overall, operators forecast average annual...

Cyantel LBS for Vodafone Germany.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Cyantel (Cork, Ireland) is delivering its E-Z-Manage Resource Manager to support a "FleetManagement" service to be offered by Vodafone Germany (Dusseldorf, Germany). E-Z-Manage Resource Manager pinpoints the location of cellular handsets...

Stop press.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... London: As we went to press, it was announced that the vote in the GIS category of this year's Information Management Awards (IM2003) went to the National Assembly for Wales for WISARD (Welsh Information System for Agriculture and Rural Data),...

Wayfinder on Nokia with Tele Atlas.(LBS News in Brief)
December 1, 2003... Wayfinder Systems AB (Lund, Sweden) has announced that its MobileGuide[TM] and Mobile Navigator[TM] software will be pre-installed on the Nokia 6600 handset, due to be launched shortly, Mobile MapGuide[TM] easily upgrades to Mobile...

Taking the inside track.(LBS News in Brief)
December 1, 2003... Ubisense (Cambridge, England) has demonstrated its Local Positioning System (LPS) technology using ultra-wideband technology to accurately track people and assets within buildings, 'Ubitags' are tracked in real time and displayed on a map as...

MapInfo signs with Siemens.(LBS News in Brief)
December 1, 2003... Under a recently-signed OEM agreement. MapInfo (Troy, New York) is to incorporate its miAware[TM] "GeoToolBox" for mapping, routing and geocoding, in a location Enabling Server operated by the Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group...

Orange buses don't all come at once!(LBS News in Brief)
December 1, 2003... Orange Business Solutions (London, England) and Metroline have announced an initiative that aims to reduce the 'bunching' phenomenon suffered by buses in Greater London and, thereby, run services according to the timetable. Using the...

Poland's Ministry of the Environment has been awarded Phare funding for the acquisition of water quality monitoring and IT equipment.(European Commission)
December 1, 2003... Poland's Ministry of the Environment has been awarded Phare funding for the acquisition of water quality monitoring and IT equipment. The contract specifically mentions 55 handheld GPS sets 10 dataloggers and GIS software.

Slovakia's Ministry of Finance has also received Phare funding for IT.(European Commission)
December 1, 2003... Slovakia's Ministry of Finance has also received Phare funding for IT, including a GIS, to held the Republic's Nature Conservancy monitor ecosystems.

The Joint Regional Council of the EC requires contractors to verify, by remote sensing methods, area aid applications submitted each year by farmers throughout the EU.(European Commission)
December 1, 2003... The Joint Regional Council of the EC requires contractors to verify, by remote sensing methods, area aid applications submitted each year by farmers throughout the EU. Contractors will be required to compile a dossier of sample applications...

The transport department in Besancon seeks GPS hardware and software.(France)
December 1, 2003... The transport department in Besancon seeks GPS hardware and software for a passenger information system.

The municipal authority of La Rochelle requires a detailed geotechnical study.(France)
December 1, 2003... The municipal authority of La Roche requires a detailed geotechnical study to determine the optimum configuration for the new port basin.

The Department of Housing in the Saone and Loire region plans a new road improvement scheme.(France)
December 1, 2003... The Department of Housing in the Saone and Loire region plans a new road improvement scheme on the RN 80 at Sante Helene, for which a detailed land survey is needed.

The Central German Mining Authority in Eastern Saxony.(Germany)
December 1, 2003... The Central German Mining Authority in Eastern Saxony requires survey services.

The Federal Institute of Hydrology wishes to commission hydrographic surveying.(Germany)
December 1, 2003... The Federal Institute of Hydrology wishes to commission hydrographic surveying in the North Baltic Sea.

The Petroleum Affairs Division at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources wishes to engage geophysicists.(Ireland)
December 1, 2003... The Petroleum Affairs Division at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources wishes to engage geophysicists on a contract basis to undertake part-time seismic interpretation.

The Irish Aviation Authority requires the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning.(Ireland)
December 1, 2003... The Irish Aviation Authority requires the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of three en route Distance Measuring Equipment systems.

Kerry County Council requires archaeological investigation prior to commencement of the proposed N22 Gortatlea to Farranfore Road improvement scheme.(Ireland)
December 1, 2003... Kerry County Council requires archaeological investigation prior to commencement of the proposed N22 Gortatlea to Farranfore Road improvement scheme. The work includes targeted testing, central line test trench and offsets, structure...

The Calabrian regional river basin authority seeks topographic survey equipment.(Italy)
December 1, 2003... The Calabrian regional river basin authority seeks topographic survey equipment, including GPS and laser levels, as well as the installation and maintenance of a GIS.

ENI SpA wishes to acquire a quality control system geared to the oil and gas industry.(Italy)
December 1, 2003... ENI SpA wishes to acquire a quality control system geared to the oil and gas industry, part of which will include a GIS and digital mapping.

Getmapping cancels share issue and places question mark over Millenium Map.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Britain's Getmapping plc has cancelled its proposed share flotation on the Alternative Investment Market ('AIM') and withdrawn its commitment to maintaining the Millennium Map, a high resolution aerial photographic dataset covering the entire...

Fugro acuires Thales Geosolutions.(GEO: news)
December 1, 2003... Fugro has finalised an agreement to acquire Thales Geosolutions, a provider of integrated survey services to the offshore industry, for a cash payment of 147.5 million [euro]. "By divesting this business, Thales has completed a major step in...

Leica Geosystyems.(++Results ++++Results ++: all values converted to euros)
December 1, 2003... Leica Geosystems reports continued momentum in its business, with a second quarter growth in sales and earnings. Sales from operations increased 5 per cent (7 per cent on a currency adjusted basis), with an order intake of 106.1 million [euro]...

Intergraph Corporation.(++Results ++++Results ++: all values converted to euros)
December 1, 2003... Operating results from Intergraph Corporation for its third quarter ended September 30, 2003 show revenue climbing to 112.2 million [euro], up 4.4 million [euro] on the preceding quarter. Q3 net income was 10.8 million [euro], compared to 0.7...

Electoral Commission boosts GIS in Kenya.(GEO: Africa)
December 1, 2003... The chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK--Nairobi, Kenya), Mr. S.M. Kivutu, commissioned their new GIS and declared that 'The Commission can now produce maps at the touch of a button'. Mapping is an essential component in the...

Intergraph South Africa sell Laser-Scan Radius Topology.(GEO: Africa)
December 1, 2003... Intergraph Systems Southern Africa (ISSA) is to resell Laser-Scan's (Cambridge, England) Radius Topology product. ISSA will focus on delivering added value to existing GeoMedia and Oracle users through the advanced data management capabilities...

Dakar GIS conference stresses local development.(GEO: Africa)
December 1, 2003... The 6th Africa GIS meeting was held in Dakar, Senegal with the theme "Meeting the information needs of NEPAD". Over 300 delegates attended from 30 African countries and 12 from other countries. Officially opened by Senegal's Minister for...

Intergraph in Morocco.
December 1, 2003... Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (Huntsville, Alabama) has signed Tele Ressource Controlle (TRC Casablanca, Morocco) as its first Moroccan-based Intergraph Registered Solutions Provider (RSP). TRC's business is focused on GIS,...

MAP&GUIDE chooses MapIT in S Africa.
December 1, 2003... On a recent trip to South Africa, electronic mapping specialists, MAP&GUIDE (Karlsruhe, Germany) chose MapIT (Irene, S Africa) as their South African partner for the provision ot geographic information services for the African continent. ...

AidforAid uses ESRI kit in Lesotho.
December 1, 2003... AidforAid (Aylesbury, England) are a charity dedicated to providing maps and GI for disaster relief world wide. They have just completed their first mission--to Lesotho where they supported the UN World Food Programme (WFP). Using a combination...

Jordan tackles water shortage with InfoWorks.(GEO: Middle East)
December 1, 2003... The Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) is using the InfoWorks WS water-supply and distribution software from Wallingford Software (Wallingford, England) to analyse its distribution infrastructure. In common with its neighbours, Jordan suffers...

New interactive world map of the web.(GEO: Middle East)
December 1, 2003... Globalis, a software tool that highlights similarities and differences between nations, has been developed by the United Nations Association of Norway in cooperation with UNEP/GRIB-Arendal, the UNU/Global Virtual University and the University...

Telmap teams with Navitech Intel, SiRF in Geneva.(GEO: Middle East)
December 1, 2003... Telmap (Herzliya, Israel), Navigation Technologies (Chicago, USA), Intel (Santa Clara, USA) and SiRF Technology (San Jose, USA) shared a stand at the telecom Geneva 2003 exhibition in October to present a range of navigation, location...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2003... In our July/August issue (p18 Poverty Map highlights African Plight) we inadvertently showed an old map of the Human Development Index (HDI) with an incorrect web address. The latest HDI mapping is available through Globalis. We would like to...

Surveying the scene: our INTERGEO roundup continues by sampling some of the survey-related products and services that made their debut at this world-class event.(INTERGEO 2003, Hamburg)
December 1, 2003... This year's INTERGEO event in Hamburg maintained its popularity as a trans-Atlantic showcase for new and improved products and services. Similarly, its traditional focus encouraged many suppliers to debut their latest offerings for...

Into the third DiMENSion.(MENSI User Group Meeting)
December 1, 2003... MENSI, developer and supplier of 3D laser scanners and point-cloud processing/modelling software, staged its third DiMENSIon Conference in Paris over 2 days in October. The event attracted 3D scanning and modelling users from all parts of...

Educating in Houston.(GITA 12th GIS for Oil & Gas Conference)
December 1, 2003... The 12th Annual GIS for Oil & Gas Conference, organised by the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) attracted 579 people to the JW Marriott Hotel in Houston, Texas, at the end of September: The only event of its kind that...

Open house in Miami.(Intergraph GeoSpatial World 2004)
December 1, 2003... Intergraph Mapping & Geospatial Solutions and the Intergraph GeoSpatial Users Community (IGUC) have announced GeoSpatial World 2004, the 4th annual training and management conference for Intergraph customers, to be held J2 14 May in Miami...

AGI goes solo in London.(AGI 2004 Conference & Exhibition)
December 1, 2003... As reported in our November issue, Britain's Association for Geographic Information (AGO has parted company with the GeoSolutions Show and is busy organising a new event, AGI2004, to be held in London's Chelsea Village, 18-20 October. ...

STAR hosts 12th MERCATOR user group meeting.(Events in brief)
December 1, 2003... STAR Informatic, new owners of the MERCATOR cartographic publishing software, hosted the annual user group meeting at its headquarters in Liege, Belgium. Some 30 delegates registered for the three-day meeting in September, the first of...

New trade fair for South-East Europe.(Events in brief)
December 1, 2003... INTERGEO EAST--a new 5,000[m.sup.2] trade fair and conference for land management, geoinformation, construction and the environment will be held at the Exhibition Centre in Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro, 4-5 March 2004. HINTE GmbH in...

Survey Supplies hits the road.(Events in brief)
December 1, 2003... Survey Supplies GIS Mapping Division will be taking to the road with a new series of UK roadshows, the emphasis being on one-to-one consultation with those seeking or using GIS data collection and management solutions based on Trimble GPS. ...

Location, location, location!(Events in brief)
December 1, 2003... The 18th Retail Location Analysis development programme, organised by Templeton College, will be held at the Oxford Institute of Retail Management. 23-25 February 2004, This residential three-day course--the only one of ts kind in Europe--will...

Free seminars from The GeoInformation Group.(Events in brief)
December 1, 2003... Preparations are on track for GeoDATA 2004, the second in a series of free one-day seminars showcasing the benefits of geographic data in the public and private sectors. Hosted by Training 4 GIS[TM] the training and consultancy arm of The...

... Now for something special.(AGI View)
December 1, 2003... One of the ways that the AGI reaches out to serve existing members, as well as to attract new ones, is through its Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These provide a forum for focused awareness raising, debate, consultation, and on occasions,...

Stowarzyszenie uzytkownikow krajowego systemu informacji o terenie--GISPOL: GISPOL: National Land Information System Users Association of Poland.(EUROGI Member Profile)
December 1, 2003... Date of foundation: 1996 (Joined EUROGI 1997) Status: Non profit umbrella association providing a forum for individuals and user, producer and research organisations President and Chairman of the Board: Dr Edward Mecha (since 1996) ...

GIS certification: what's the point? Peter Batty finds flaws in U.S. attempts to devise a certification scheme.(GEO: skills)
December 1, 2003... In the 'States, the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (www.urisa.org) is promoting a scheme that will "recommend a formal system to evaluate the competency of professionals whose primary job responsibility involves the design...

Karlsruhe's seal of quality: those studying for a Masters in geomatics at one of Germany's leading institutes can be assured of a quality-led approach, thanks to ASIIN accreditation.(Focus on ...)
December 1, 2003... The Masters Degree programme in Geomatics at Karlsruhe's University of Applied Sciences has been awarded full accreditation by ASIIN, the German Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and...

FP6UK.(Newsround)
December 1, 2003... A new UK Government initiative, FP6UK, was launched in November to help UK organisations benefit from European Union funding for research and development projects. FP6UK can be contacted online at the URL below or via a central telephone...

Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES).(Newsround)
December 1, 2003... Steve Jackson has been appointed to the Education, Training and Membership Committee of Britain's Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES). A Chartered Engineer, Jackson is already actively involved with the activities of the...

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (IMGS).(Newsround)
December 1, 2003... Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (IMGS) has announced its third annual Best Practices Awards for educators and Poster Competition for students. The worldwide competitions are intended for those teaching at or enrolled in...

The Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperial College London, the Xinjiang Bureau of Seismology, and satellite mapping services provider, HME Partnership, are offering scientist from a range of disciplines the opportunity to study the geology.(Newsround)
December 1, 2003... The Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperial College London, the Xinjiang Bureau of Seismology, and satellite mapping services provider, HME Partnership, are offering scientists from a range of disciplines the opportunity to...

Robot wars! Bob Barr warns that the 'Robot War' between Ordnance Survey and local government is seriously undermining Britain's spatial data infrastructure.(dangling sement)
December 1, 2003... Some of you may enjoy Robot Wars, the bloodless high-tech gladiatorial contest that occupies off-peak hours on minor TV channels. Teams work tirelessly to build remote-controlled robots whose sole function is to destroy their opponents. A...

Bulgaria: signposting the way the way in South-East Europe: Wolfgang Steinborn sings the praises of a nation that is turning adversity into opportunity.
December 1, 2003... The 'problem' with EU enla-rgement, as some might view it, is one of absorbing the number of nations awaiting accession. Ten will be integrated by May 2004; Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey remain candidates for later accession. But that is...

Summers joins Cadcorp.(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... Cadcorp (Stevenage, England) has appointed Nick Summers as a GIS technical specialist. Summers graduated in science from Kingston University and subsequently worked with Spelthorne Borough Council, establishing its land & property gazetteer and...

Board appoitments at Metoc.(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... Metoc plc (Bordon, England) has appointed Chris Mooij and Dr Mike Osborne to the board in recognition of their contribution to the continued growth of the company's technical and project management services. Mooij will continue to lead the...

Wild takes ILM role at Autodesk UK.(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... Autodesk UK Ltd (Farnborough, England) has appointed Alan Wild as business manager, Utilities Sector, for its Infrastructure Solutions Division. Wild will work primarily with the company's Professional Services Division to deliver...

New face at ESRI (UK).(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... David Rix has joined ESRI (UK) (Aylesbury, England) as managing consultant for the Government Sector Consultancy group. Rix will be responsible for all consultancy projects in both local and central government and work closely with business...

Woodsford visits UCL.(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... UCL (University College London) has appointed Peter Woodsford as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Geomatic Engineering. Woodsford has degrees in Maths and Computer Science from Cambridge University and helped launch Laser-Scan Ltd...

GEO:connexion editor is Journalist of the year.(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... Peter FitzGibbon, editor of GEO:connexion has won the AGI Journalist of the year Award that was presented at Church House in Westminster on 13th November. The citation stated that his editorials are characterised by his ability to relate...

Green Wins RSGS award.(GEO: people)
December 1, 2003... The Royal Scottish Geographical Society has presented The XYZ Digital Nap Company Award to David Green, lecturer in the Department of Geography & Environment at the University of Aberdeen. The award recognises Green's outstanding...