GEO: connexion articles from July 2003

GEO: connexion archives from July 2003

Going boldly ...(upfront)
July 1, 2003... As we went to press, Britain's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was about to announce another bold step in its Specialist Schools Programme... one that could lead to the creation of so-called 'Geography Colleges' These secondary...

Esri to resell Navigation Technologies data.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Following a reseller agreement between ESRI (Redlands California and Navigation Technologies (Chicago, Illinois) ESRI customers will now have direct access to NAVTECH map data using a streamlined purchasing process. The two organisations...

Berlin's property now on-line.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Berlin's districts can now access information about properties and owners via the intranet and provide this information to customers as officially authorised material. The Automated Property Hap and me Automated Property Book (ALB) have been...

EC goes for high resolution images.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... The Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC] at the joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Ispra, Italy) has signed framework agreements with European Space Imaging (Munich, Germany; and Eurimage (Rome, Italy)...

Definiens and Digital Globe join forces.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Definiens Imaging GmbH (Munich, Germany) and DigitalGlobe (Longmont, Colorado) have signed a software partner agreement under which Definiens will have access to the latest Quickbird geometric sensor models and technical product information to...

En garde with GeoConcept.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... GeoConcept SA (Paris, France) provided a GIS client/server intranet solution for the command post of France's gendarmerie during the recent meeting of the G8 world leaders at Evian-les-Bains near the border with Switzerland. The system gave the...

Consortium hosts OS MasterMap imagery.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Infoterra Ltd (Farnborough, England) and SERCO (Hook, England) have Deer chosen by Ordnance Survey (Southampton England) to provide a hosted and managed application for the Provision of the OS Master Map[TM] imagery layer. The Infoterra-SERCO...

Bae Systems and eSpatial get defensive.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... BAE SYSTEMS C41SR (Farnborough. England) and eSpatial (Dublin, Ireland) have announced a strategic partnership to develop and supply four-dimensional secure imagery solutions based on eSpatial's proven technologies eSpatial's smart[TM] product...

Innogistic in the net.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Innogistic Software (Bristol, England) has launched its web mapping product, Cartology, Net, the latest addition to its suite of GIS software. Developed using Microsoft '.Net' technology, this gives users the ability to deliver mapping and...

Handy data capture from ESit.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... ESiT (Loughborough, England) has launched surv:A, software for the electronic capture and management of field survey data. surv:A's flexibility enables the interface to be tailored to specific industry requirements by providing an intuitive...

Abaco puts Italian land information system on-line.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... The Italian government has worked with the Abaco Group (Mantova, Italy) on the centralisation of the country's Territorial Information System (TIS) concerning land use and diner land information. Land parcel classifications in the TIS include...

NEXTMap sells in Scotland.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Intermap Technologies Corporation (Calgary, Alberta) has received a 420.000 [pounds sterling] (600,000 [euro]) order for its NEXTMap Britain terrain elevation and image data from the Scottish Executive. The data will be used by the Scottish...

New Summit Evolution release from DAT/EM.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... During the 2003 ASPRS Conference. DAT/EM Systems (Anchorage, Alaska) displayed Z/I Imaging's 8-bit stereo imagery on its Summit Evolution digital photogrammetric workstation. Other enhancements in the new release, version 2.17, are integration...

Leica Geosystems joins ESRI's Corporate Alliance Program.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Leica Geosystems (Atlanta, Georgia) has joined the ESRI (Redlands. California) Corporate Alliance Program through which ESRI works with technology leaders to deliver complete GIS solutions to joint customers. For more than 20 years, ERDAS[R],...

OS Pan-government agreement extended.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Over 500 government departments, agencies and regional orates will benefit from a new agreement extending access to Ordnance Survey's (Southampton, England) digital mapping. The Pan-government agreement has been formally launched in London by...

Bundestag revisits GI.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... As in the UK, there are some German commercial interests attempting to get the federal and state governments to make GI available more cheaply and with fewer restrictions on use for value added purposes. This led to a debate in the Bundestag in...

University of Zaragoza wins intergraph award.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (Huntsville, Alabama) in collaboration with AGILE, have awarded the University of Zaragoza, Spain the first Egomania[R] Research Grant for AGILE members, during the recent Association of Geographic...

Noisy neighbours beware!(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... The Environmental Department of the City of Dresden (Saxony) has now provided public access to its noise database with online webmap visualisation down to individual street level, his web service helps to keep citizens informed of official...

Thales launches improved DGPS service.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Thales Geosolutions (Houston, Texas) has launched a new generation of decimetric Differential GPS (DGPS) positioning systems, offering the oil, gas and hydrographic industries new levels of accuracy and quality of service, with no range...

Matrix trials in London.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... CPS (Cambridge Positioning Systems--from Cambridge, England) will trial its Matrix mobile location technology in London during June 2003. This follows a successful trial in Cambridge using software-enabled handsets and server technology to...

Orange open locations for developers.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Orange (Bristol, England) has launched its Location Application Programme Interface (API), a standard, secure and managed platform that enables third parties to quickly and cost-effectively use location information from the Orange network in...

NAVTECH finds its voice.(LBS News in Brief)
July 1, 2003... Navigation Technologies (Chicago, Illinois) has completed the initial rollout of its NAVTECH Map Voice Data across six countries--UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the United States. A key step towards fully voice activated navigation...

New MapInfo based field data capture system.(LBS News in Brief)
July 1, 2003... Exa-Min Technologies (Brisbane, Australia) has launched GBM Mobile, a complete out-of-the-box mapping solution for the Pocket PC based on MapInfo MapX mobile technology. Operating on a palm top computer such as a Compaq iPAQ, the application...

Pay-as-you-go tracking service.(LBS News in Brief)
July 1, 2003... Mobile Commerce Ltd, (Cirencester, England) has agreed a one year contract with Followus[TM] Ltd (Luton, England) for the supply of location data that will enable Followus[TM] to offer tracking services using mobile cell masts. They will take...

Masternaut for DTS.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... DTS Logistics has awarded a contract to Masternaut (Leeds, England) for the provision of a live fleet information service via the Internet. DTS is a leading pre-retail logistics company and aims to use Masternaut's service to improve resource...

Wanadoo chooses Tele Atlas.(LBS News in Brief)
July 1, 2003... Wanadoo (Paris, France) users throughout Europe now have access to Tele Atlas digital maps. Wanadoo selected Tele Atlas for its portals and its nearly nine million active customers. Wanadoo Maps' services are produced in 6 languages, and are...

Opportunities.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... European Commission * The Energy and Transport Directorate requires study into the development of a European radio navigation plan. This will provide information need to integrate GALILEO into existing navigation systems and to initiate...

The Department de La Manche in Northern France has awarded a 145 000 [euro] topographical survey services.(Awards)
July 1, 2003... The Department de La Manche in Northern France has awarded a 145 000 [euro] topographical survey Services contract to Jean Clerget of Belfort.

The National Forest Inventory of France based in the Bas-Rhine region has awarded Geo Siapp SA.(Awards)
July 1, 2003... National Forest Inventory Of France based in the Bas-Rhine region has awarded Geo Siapp SA a topographic mapping contract worth 120 000 [euro].

In Germany, a number of large digital mapping contracts have been awarded by Landkreis Uector Randau.(Awards)
July 1, 2003... In Germany, a number of large digital mapping contracts have been awarded by Landkreis Uector Randau to Konoptka and Nagler and Stolze

Galileo: 'definitely a reality'.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Following months of internal wrangling and US opposition, Europe's Gallileo satellite navigation system has moved two steps nearer to becoming a reality. Political commitment was cemented in late Nay when members of the European Space...

Results: all values converted to euros.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... In unaudited second quarter 2003 results, automated mapping and facilities management software and services company, Enghouse, reports revenues of 11.7 million [euro], a 291 per cent increase over the same quarter in 2002. This included 8.04...

Price watch *.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... stock price change Autodesk 13.25 -1.01 Intergraph 18.83 +0.30 MapInfo 6.19 +1.05 Trimble Navigation 22.81 +2.04 * Share price (converted to euros) as...

Intergraph plays safe.(GEO:news)
July 1, 2003... Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions is to immediately begin reselling Safe Software's Feature Manipulation Engine (FME)R products, including FME Desktop Suite, FME Professional Suite, FME Intergraph Suite, FME Oracle Suite and the FME...

Aleppo: from ancient to modern with WinGIS.(GEO:Middle East)
July 1, 2003... The ancient city of Aleppo in Syria has turned to WinGIS from ProGIS (Villach, Austria) to update its cadastral maps and to develop a modern numerical addressing system. Old Aleppo is a 360 ha World Heritage Site with some 100,000 inhabitants...

OGC meeting hears of African project.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... At a recent OGC Natural Resources Working Group meeting, BRGM (the French Geological Research Institute) gave a an update on the Africa GIS Project for Sustainable Development. Using French foreign assistance funds BRGM has embarked on a...

GIS helps join international parks.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... The Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Namibia is currently engaged in two initiatives that will establish parks that cross international borders. Transfrontier Conservation Areas were initiated to establish holistic ecosystem management...

Danish sponsored west African projects.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... The Institute of Geography at the University of Denmark has two ongoing research projects in Africa: the Sahel-Sudan Environment Research Initiative (Serein) that started in 1994, and collaboration with the University of Ghana's Remote Sensing...

Census mapping in Uganda & Tanzania.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... In pursuit of its mapping programme, the Cartographic Unit at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics is establishing a GIS laboratory. One of its key projects--the Geographical Sampling Area Frame--is being compiled digitally for future censuses and...

MapInfo 'on the beat' in South Africa.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... As part of its drive to optimise resource allocation, the South African Police Service (SAPS) is rolling out a geographic analysis system similar to those used by the world's leading crime fighting agencies. Based on MapInfo's MapXtreme Java...

Geomatics and GIS feature in RICS Foundation publications.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... Issac Karikari, John Stillwell and Steve Carver, all at the University of Leeds, have written an RICS Foundation report on the potential use of GIS within Ghana's Accra Lands Division Secretariat (LCS.) in Ghana. While recognising the...

Poverty map highlights African plight.(GEO:Africa)
July 1, 2003... The UN-backed Poverty Mapping organisation has released this latest map showing how Africa suffers the lowest average Human Development Index--one that averages indices on life expectancy, education and GDP. * www.undp.org/povertymap.net

Playing it cool in New Orleans.(Intergraph's GeoSpatial World 2003)
July 1, 2003... Intergraphs GeoSpatial World will probably never rival ESRI's annual user fest in size or scope, but with a good half of the 900 delegates arriving from outside the United States, the international flavour of this year's event (19-21 May) was...

GSW 2003 gallery.(GEO:connect)
July 1, 2003... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Right: Hands-on seminars, this one to familiarise GeoMedia users with AMD's 64-bit Opteron processor, proved immensely popular [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Left: Larry Ayres, former executive vice...

Location 2003: pulling the crowds in London.(GEO:connect)
July 1, 2003... Following the highly successful format adopted by ESRI (UK) for the first of this year's roadshows (see GEO:connect June issue), Location 2003 arrived in London on 13-14 May, Around 500 visitors made the trip to the Business Design Centre...

Coming down to Earth in Brno.(GEO:connect)
July 1, 2003... The 3rd International Symposium on Digital Earth, to be held at the Hotel Voronez in Brno, Czech Republic, 21-25 September, will focus on policies for formulating delivering, monitoring and evaluating EO imagery in the context of the...

International SDI symposium for Hamburg.(GEO:connect)
July 1, 2003... DVW, the German surveyor's association and CeGi, the German Center for Geoinformation, will be convening an International Symposium on Spatial Data Infrastructures on September 18 alongside this year's INTERGEO event in Hamburg. The...

Photoscape 2003: the real world mapping event.(GEO:connect)
July 1, 2003... PHOTOSCAPE 2003, to be held on 9 September at the Royal Geographical Society in London, sees the official launch of the NEXTMap Britain height datasets from Intermap Technologies. The event will also showcase the Photoscape concept, with...

GeoSolutions 2003 latest.(GEO:connect)
July 1, 2003... Visitors to GeoSolutions 2003, held in association with the AGI Conference (Earl's Court, London, 16-18 September) will find a variety of independent advice on hand from: * NEW: Data Solutions Zone: A one-stop-shop at which to source 'fit...

Two steps forward ... one step back.(AGI View)
July 1, 2003... Recent months have seen exciting activity in several areas that will help maximise the use of and open up new markets for geographic information in the UK. These have included: * Development of the Government Services Catalogue (S-CAT) to...

IGP Portugal: Instituto Geografico Portugues--Portuguese Geographical Institute.(EUROGI Profile)
July 1, 2003... Date of foundation: 2002 Status: Public Administration Institute President and Chairman of the Board: Carlos Mourato Nunes Languages: Portuguese and English Literature: Several promotional brochures available, as well as. ...

Eamer joins Infoterra.(GEO:people)
July 1, 2003... Doug Earner has joined Infoterra Ltd as a key account manager. Eamer comes from managing major telecoms accounts for Ordnance Survey and was formerly general manager of Guardline Infotech. During the 1980s he helped Laser-Scan with...

Landmark's new group managing director.(GEO:people)
July 1, 2003... Stephen Stout has been appointed as group managing director of landmark Information Group. Stout's career in information publishing spans 20 years, during which time he has lived in Singapore as Managing Director of Butterworths Asia, Australia...

Four directors general meet at Ordnance Survey.(GEO:people)
July 1, 2003... Major-General Brian St G Irwin CB, Director General of Ordnance Survey from 1969 to 1977 started the digital mapping revolution. He was succeeded by Walter Smith CB OBE (1977-1985) and Peter McMaster CB (1985-1991) who continued the revolution...

Green becomes non-exec at Infotech Europe.(GEO:people)
July 1, 2003... Infotech Europe has appointed Richard Green to its board as a non-executive director. Green brings considerable managerial, acquisition and strategic development experience coming from a background in utilities and telecommunications a founder...

Tele Atlas appoint vice president of European sales.(GEO:people)
July 1, 2003... Lee Wood has been appointed vice president European sales at Tele Atlas based at the European Coordination Office in Gent, Belgium. Wood will be responsible for developing the European sales strategy in the GI and LBS sectors. He will work...

New staff at SIA Ltd.(GEO:people)
July 1, 2003... SIA Limited, suppliers of dataMAP GIS software solutions, have welcomed two new members of staff, Victoria Park, Marketing Executive and Jane Rogers, Accounts Manager. Park has a background in marketing at international level, and previously...

Charging for public sector geodata: psuedo-religious dogma or economic reality? Roger Longhorn and Michael Blakemore say it's time for fresh thinking.(viewpoint)
July 1, 2003... The debate on charging for geographic public sector information (G-PSI) revolves around access and exploitation rights that can become entrenched positions of good (i.e. free) versus bad (i.e. chargeable data). Research undertaken by the...

I know where my phone is! Robert Barr traces an long-lost friend and looks forward to keeping in touch--but worries about the hidden cost.(dangling segment)
July 1, 2003... Some time ago, I complained in this column about my cellular network operator's refusal to tell me where my 'phone was after I'd mislaid it. I could ring the handset but I couldn't find it and I didn't think it had been stolen. Even so, they...

Bridging the gap: Fritz Staudacher reports on construction surveying of the Viaduc de Millau ... a world-beater in every respect.(surveying)
July 1, 2003... As of late April, the highest of the seven bridge piers under construction at Millau in Southwest France had reached 172m--barely half its full height of 343m. Even so, the enormity of an elevated highway that will soar higher than the Eiffel...

Boxing clever! GPS RTK connection charges getting you down? This box of tricks could be just the answer.(New product showcase)
July 1, 2003... As a provider of GPS Real Time Kinematic (RTK) reference station networks in The Netherlands, Rijswijk-based LNR Globalcom has clients who need RTK survey data over both long and short time periods. Most use GSM links to receive RTK data...

Detecting leakage in water networks with Ground Penetrating Radar: John Trust and Keith Allen outline the value of the technique at a time when water conservation is high on the political agenda.(GIS/GPS data capture)
July 1, 2003... Most UK based water companies now have robust Economic Levels of Leakage (ELL). ie., levels at which the cost of reducing network leakage outweighs the cost or increasing supply. However, ELL targets are dynamic and allow water suppliers to...

Creating DEMs and orthos from ASTER satellite imagery: Richard Selby shows how to make the most of this low-cost resource.(photogrammetry metry)
July 1, 2003... This tutorial sets out to show how easily a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and orthorectified image can be created from low cost ASTER satellite imagery. PCI Geomatica OrthoEngine is the software used to perform image processing of an area...

The cultural revolution: Part 2: consolidation: Patrick Wong continues his analysis of a movement that democratised an erstwhile elitist profession.(photogrammetry)
July 1, 2003... In an earlier article (GEO.talk, April issue), the author touched on the origin of a revolution that shaped the bold new world of photogrammetry technology: a dramatically lower pricing benchmark. It was the first of several steps, the second...

GIS vs. cartographic data: the map takes centre stage: Jim Irvine brings clarity to an issue where boundaries can blur.(Cartographic data)
July 1, 2003... Cartographic production systems and GIS applications require digital map data to function, But do they require different types of data to operate effectively? This article explorers this question, with particular reference to smaller scale...

Building an historical remote sensing Atlas and multimedia GIS for Al Ain: M.M Yagoub describes a resource that offers new insight into the evolution of a desert city.(Multimedia)
July 1, 2003... The location of historical sites can often be inferred from remote sensing techniques by defining areas where human activity has likely occurred (villages, forts, oases, and burial grounds). Combining temporal remotely sensed imagery in the...

Making waves in Gothenburg: efficient district heating is a 'must' where minus temperatures prevail for three months in every twelve. MapInfo tools help one Swedish city stay snug, and much as else besides.(local government showcase)
July 1, 2003... For over 8,000 years, the site on Sweden's west coast now occupied by the City or Gothenburg has been the nation's trading gateway. With a population of heady half a million and a regional population double this number. Gothenburg plays...

Idrisi Kilimanjaro: Steve Carver lays hands on a new incarnation of an old favourite ... and rubs them with glee.(hand on)
July 1, 2003... Idrisi is a combined raster-based GIS and image processing (IP) package that has been around for 18 years and is now in its 14th edition. I will start with a quick SWOT analysis, although those familiar with earlier versions may wish to skip...

Applied modeling technologies 3d limited.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... (Louisbourg, Ireland) has announced a strategic partnership with Next.GIS of Salzburg, Austria which will build on opportunities for the production of photo realistic and geometrically accurate 3-dimensional digital computer models of...

Cadcorp.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... SSi Solutions, a specialist provider of fire prevention and incident planning solutions to the emergency services has become a value added reseller for Cadcorp's (Stevenage, England) Spatial Information System. Cadcorp already have several...

Bartholomew Limited (Glasgow, Scotland), the mapmaking and geographical data service within HarperCollins Publishers, has changed its name to Collins Bartholomew Limited.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... Bartholomew Limited (Glasgow, Scotland), the mapmaking and geographical data service within HarperCollins Publishers, has changed its name to Collins Bartholomew Limited. This brings Bartholomew into the Collins fold and, as part of this...

Bentley.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... Frankfurt Airport has now standardised on Bentley (Exton, Pennsylvania) Building Information Modelling (BIM) for operations and facilities management. Bentley BIM enables Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (FRA) to integrate and...

DigitalGlobe.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... President Bush's newly released "U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy" has been welcomed by DigitalGlobe (Longmont, Colorado) who operate the Quickbird[TM] satellite with high resolution earth observation sensors. The policy means that...

Earth Resource Mapping.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... Earth Resource Mapping (Perth, Australia) has announced that its open standard Enhanced Compression Wavelet (ECW) technology has been adopted for the Terratracer Terrashader[R] terrain rendering plug-in used for animated films. The use of the...

European Space Agency.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... Italy and Germany have reached an agreement on contributions to the Galileo satellite navigation programme. The agreement gives Italy responsibility for the engineering part of the programme, while Germany will manage the space element and host...

ESRI China.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... ESRI China (Beijing) Ltd., has been selected to provide the GIS component for the Beijing Cadastral Investigation and Land Registration Office. The system will be deployed in the 18 districts d Beijing and includes ESRI's ArcSDE and MapObjects...

GeoInformation Group.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... The GeoInformation Group's (Cambridge, England) Historical Air Photo product was launched at London's Imperial War Museum, in June. BBCi has now used this imagery in its activities to commemorate D-Day and BBC Online published a moving account...

Getmapping.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... York City Council in England has begun using digital aerial photography to automate the mapping of highway markings for the Highway Regulations Section. The high-resolution photography from Getmapping (Hartley Wintney, England) viewed on screen...

GGP Systems.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... GGP Systems have moved to a new headquarters in Croydon, England, Their new address is: Cygnet House Sydenham Road CROYDON CR9 2ET Tel 0208 686 9887 Fax 0208 662 8665

GGP Systems.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... Plymouth City Council are the latest local authority in Britain to use a GGP Systems corporate GIS network to link to over 130,000 properties held in a database as the Local Land and Property Gazetteer. This has now reached Status I, the...

Kingswood MapMechanics.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... The Register of English football Facilities (REFF) is a new web site for users to find the exact location of Football grounds and facilities across Britain Kingswood MapMechanics (Brentford, England) have provided the digital mapping tools for...

Land Info International.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... LAND INFO International (Denver, Colorado) a provider of worldwide map data and data conversion services, has launched its Interactive GeoStore with technology partner MapSpring, an online mapping service provider. The new GeoStore enables...

Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping (Atlanta, Georgia) has become a non-exclusive reseller of the Emerge Digital Sensor System (DSS). This medium-format sensor captures high quality, digital rectifiable imagery, and has been developed by the Emerge...

AirZip.(Business Briefs)
July 1, 2003... AirZip (Cupertino, California) has appointed Lovell Johns (Oxford, England) the lead company for promoting its Accelerator and Website Secure technologies in the UK mapping market, AirZip Accelerator reduces connection times, improves...