GEO: connexion articles from March 2003

GEO: connexion archives from March 2003

Seek and ye shall find?(upfront)
March 1, 2003... As that consummate master of disburse baffles the world on the whereabouts of his weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein might well grin at the recent re screening in Britain of a tongue in cheek television documentary. The programme...

Test data available for all the Isles.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Britain's national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey (Southampton, England) has signed an historic agreement giving its Developer Partners access to sample data for the whole of the British Isles, Including the Channel Islands The agreement...

Idevio compress NIMA's world.(news)(National Imagery and Mapping Agency)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Idevio (Goteborg, Sweden) has compressed one of the largest publicly available map datasets, the VMapI dataset from the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). The dataset has been compressed from the original distribution on 56 CDs down...

Innogistic expands at home and abroad.(news)(Innogistic Software PLC)(Berenice International Group S.r.l.)
March 1, 2003... Innogistic Software plc (Brostol, England) has partnered with italy's Berenice International Group S.r.l. in a comprehensive development, marketing and delivery strategy. Innogistic and Berenice will jointly develop web-based GIS solutions. the...

Earth Resource Mapping news.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Earth Resource Mapping San Diego. USA has released a CD-ROM of ECW Plug-ins and Tools This provides free compressors and tools for accessing ECW images in common GIS applications such as ESRI[R] and ERDAS[R] Compression of images up to 500MB is...

Hungary chooses GeoMedia[R].(news)(Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Hungarian Ministry Agriculture and Regional Development (MARD) has chosen GeoMedia[R] technology from Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (Huntsville, USA as the core software for its META project at county land offices. The project...

Correction.(news)
March 1, 2003... Correction: the lead-in to the GEO:talk column on page 34 of our February issue inadvertently misspelt the name of the author of the open letter. This should, of course, have read Sindre Langaas. Our apologies

Getmapping helps in risk assessment.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... ISL offering insurance risk assessors the facility to view UK aerial photographs of properties on their PC screens. Getmapping (Hartley Wintney, England) is supplying the aerial photography that is being incorporated into ISL's latest risk...

ESRI strategic partnership with OS.(news)(ESRI (UK))(Ordnance Survey Great Britain)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Ordnance Survey Great Britain and ESRI (UK) (Aylesbury, England) have signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement to facilitate the enterprise-wide deployment of ESRI technology. The agreement provides a framework for Ordnance Survey to make...

Latest iSmart from espatial.(news)(eSpatial)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... eSpatial (Dublin, Ireland) has released iSmart(tm) 4.0, a spatial application development environment. The iSmart Product Suite supports the consolidation of disparate spatial and business data sets, their integration with the wider IT...

On-line ordering for IKONOS.(news)(Space Imaging)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Space Imaging (Denver Colorado) is now offering worldwide Geo I-meter and 4-meter resolution IKONOS satellite imagery through its Internet portal Carterra Onlne[TM]. The IKONOS archive has more than 900.000 images acquired in just the last...

ISPRS helps evaluate SPOT-5.(news)(International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) (London, England) is to participate in a campaign to evaluate the new High Resolution Stereoscopic (HRS) instrument on the SPOT-5 remote sensing satellite. The...

OGC news.(News)(Open GIS Consortium Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Open GIS Consortium Inc (OGC) (Wayland, USA) has embarked or/a Comformance and Interoperability Test and Evaluation Initiative (CITE). The expected outcome is a process whereby software vendors can test and validate their products for...

PCI improves its Spanish.(news)(PCI Geomatics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... PCI Geomatics (Richmond Hill, Canada) has signed an agreement with the University of Alcala, Spain for PCI to provide software services in return for assistance with the company's Geomatica Focus interface. This support includes the translation...

Sokkia on the right wavelenght.(news)(Sokkia Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Sokkia Ltd (Crewe England) has won a contract to supply the MDL Laserace 300, a personal laser surveying system, to a telecommunication provider in Spain. Sokkia will supply '38 units will be used in the pre-siting of cellular masts at...

Magnetic generalisation.(news)(Mapping Agencies Generalisation NETwork)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Ordnance Survey Great Britain (OSGB)and Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen (KMS, Denmark) are the first members of the Mapping Agencies Generalisation NETwork (MAGNET) project. MAGNET aims to consolidate and extend current generalisation capabilities in...

Star shines bright at IGN.(news)(National Geographic Institute)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Belgium's IGN (National Geographic Institute) has chosen STAR GIS from STAR INFORMATIC (Liege, Belgium) for public dissemination of its topographic mama on CD-ROM at scales of I/50,000 or I/250,000. It is expected that these will be popular...

Nordic progress for NAVTECH.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... With full coverage of Sweden and Denmark already in its NAVTECH navigable map database, Navigation Technologies (Best, The Netherlands) is planning to complete mapping of Norway by the middle of 2003 and Finland by mid 2004. At the end of...

Clarification.(news)
March 1, 2003... We have been asked to clarify an aspect of the article headlined 'Census 2001: are you ready?' published in the February issue. For this reason, and to avoid possible misinterpretation, we are pleased to elaborate on the interesting...

GML relay success for Laser-Scan.(news)(Geography Markup Language)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Laser-Scan (Cambridge, England) Radius Topology was employed in several stages of the recent GML Relay held at the headquarters of Topografische Dierist (TDN) in the Netherlands. The GML Relay tested the ability of various organisations to...

Intelligent spatial search software.(LBS News in Brief)(from Maporama)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Maporama (Paris, France) has launched Maporama Search Deluxe with which users can to pinpoint a selection of addresses on a single map. This means that Maporama's customers can access a simple and powerful tool to highlight pre-defined...

Action Engine powers AA for mm02.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... mm02 has launched the AA Roadwatch and Route Planner services as part of its my02 services on the XDA. These are powered by the Action Engine (Redmond, USA) browserless Mobile Web Services Platform. XDA Pocket PC phone users can key in details...

Tourists may soon taste CRUMPET.(news; wireless service)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... CRUMPET aims to implement, validate, and trial tourism-related value-added services for nomadic users (across mobile and fixed networks). The project is co-ordinated by Queen Mary College of the University of London (London, England) with...

InterContinental Hotels check in with ultimap.com.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Multimap.com (London, England) has designed a unique service for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, part of the Six Continents Hotels Group. "Insider Concierge" has been developed to provide an extra level of service to InterContinental hotel...

WEBfleet BeNeLux.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... After successful introduction in Germany, England, Austria, Italy, Russia. Saudi-Arabia and South Africa. WEBfleet (Leipzig, Germany) is now available in BeNeLux provided by Trace-IT B.V. Trace-IT aims to revolutionise fleet management for...

Phare programme funds have been made available to Latvia to develop management mechanisms for the country's agriculture and rural support service.(European Commission)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Phare programme funds have been made available to Latvia to develop management mechanisms for the country's agriculture and rural support service. IT equipment, database and applications software is required, as are printers and plotters.

Phare funding has also been made available to the Romanian government for pilot surveys relating to waste and water discharge data collection.(European Commission)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Phare funding has also been made available to the Romanian government fur pilot surveys relating to waste and water discharge data collection; a study on the indicators of sustainable development, and the setting up of a national inventory of...

The transport authorities in Alencon seek consultants for environmental impact studies over a length of the planned A28 motorway.(France)
March 1, 2003... The transport authorities in Alencon seek consultants for environmental impact studies over a length of the planned A28 motorway. The contract is divided into 7 lots.

In Haute-Savoie, the Ministry of Transport and Housing requires aerial and topographic mapping services for road projects and associated land acquisitions.(France)
March 1, 2003... In Haute-Savoie, the Ministry of Transport and Housing requires aerial and topographic mapping services for road projects and associated land acquisitions. The contract is divided into 4 lots covering 4 geographical areas.

The Paris Police Department wants to update.(France)
March 1, 2003... The Paris Police Department wants to update site plans and building layouts.

The Laboratory of Ballistic and Aerodynamic Research (MINDEF), seeks a system.(France)
March 1, 2003... The Laboratory of Ballistic and Aerodynamic Research (MINDEF), seeks a system able to process and digitise signals received on the GPS frequency.

The Uecker-Randow district requires a contractor.(Germany)
March 1, 2003... The Uecker-Randow district requires a contractor to produce a seamless digital map for a number of corridors in the region.

Donegal County Council wishes to let a contract for archaeological services connected with construction of the NI5 Bundoran-Ballyshannon Bypass.(Ireland)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Donegal County Council wishes to let a contract for archaeological services connected with construction of the NI5 Bundoran-Ballyshannon Bypass. They are likely to include geophysical surveys, archaeological excavation, topographical surveys,...

In Aosta, architectural services are sought for building development.(Italy)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... In Aosta, architectural services are sought for building development in the 'Espace Aosta' industrial park

The Department of Culture in Palermo requires the printing and publishing of plans.(Italy)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Department of Culture in Palermo requires the printing and publishing of plans, including archaeological information of the Sicilian region.

The National Institute of Farming (INGA) seeks contractors to verify the area aid applications.(Portugal)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The National Institute of Farming (INGA) seeks contractors to verify the area aid applications submitted each year by farmers.

Tres Cantos, Madrid, wishes to let additional contracts relating to the GeoMadrid maintenance inventory project.(Spain)
March 1, 2003... Tres Cantos, Madrid, wishes to let additional contracts relating to the GeoMadrid maintenance inventory project. Included in this latest tranche is the mapping of a ground information at 1:5,000 scale, production of urban information at 1: ,000...

Glasgow City Council wishes to appoint a contractor to support a flood prevention scheme.(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Glasgow City Council wishes to appoint a contractor to support a flood prevention scheme. The scope of the project includes bore holes, trial pits geophysical surveys, laboratory testing and reporting.

Medway Council seeks consultants to prepare a detailed development framework for Chatham Centre and Waterfront.(United Kingdom)
March 1, 2003... Medway Council seeks consultants to prepare a detailed development framework for Chatham Centre aid Waterfront. This will include a detailed spatial plan, a transport and parking plan, and a phasing and delivery plan.

GAF AG.(Awards)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... In Magdeburg, Germany, a data preparation and processing services contract has been awarded to GAF AG.

The Procurement Service in Belfast has awarded contracts to ADAS, Bullen Consultants, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, Marence Environmental Consultants and WS Atkins.(Awards)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Procurement Service in Belfast has awarded contracts to ADAS, Bullen Consultants, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, Marence Environmental Consultants and WS Atkins to identify, survey and monitor nature conservation sites in Northern Ireland.

Stratagem Ltd.(Awards)(North Glasgow University Hospitals)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed Strategem Ltd to conduct a Disability Discrimination Act Access audit survey at 100 buildings on 8 sites operated by the Trust.

IGN France International.(Awards)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Through the Phare programme, the Government of Romania has awarded a contract for a land use survey to IGN France International.

Hays Redfern Ltd.(Awards)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Hays Redfern Ltd has been awarded a contract by Warwick Police to supply and install a crime recording and mapping system with interfaces to the National Management Information System.

Groupement de Bourayne.(Awards)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Authorities in Bordeaux have awarded Groupement de Bourayne a topographic mapping contract

GITA 2002 technology report.(news)(Geospatial Information & Technology Association)
March 1, 2003... In its fifth and latest annual survey *, the-US based Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) publishes detailed information on the complexity, direction, and completeness of geographic information systems (GIS) projects at 187...

Milestone for TopSat EO mission.(news)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A QinetiQ-led consortium of British companies engaged in realising the TopSat high resolution Earth Observation platform, has passed a key milestone with successful vibration testing of the satellites high resolution camera Concerns were...

PriceWatch *.(news)(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... PriceWatch * stock price change Autodesk 13.32 [down arrow] -1.25 Integraph 16.48 [down arrow] -1.13 MapInfo 3.23 [down arrow] -1.15 Trimble Navigation 14.68...

Stop press.(news)(Autodesk Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Autodesk has announced plans to ship the latest versions of its Map and Civil series products within weeks. Featuring significantly faster file handling operations, speed improvement in file handling, a brand new GUI and numerous...

First quarter dip for MapInfo.(Results: all values converted to euros)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Results posted by MapInfo Corporation for the the first fiscal quarter of 2003 show revenues dipping to 19.2 [euro] from 21 million [euro] in the same period last year. Net loss for the quarter was 1.75 million [euro] compared to 1.48 million...

Dangerous times.(Middle East)
March 1, 2003... * Readers may have seen that an American citize was killed in Kuwait in January and a colleague was badly wounded. Both worked for Tapestry Solutions (San Diego, USA) and were installing software for the US Military at the time Tapestry's...

Telmap and Partner manage Fleets.(Middle East)(Partner Communications Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... * Telmap Ltd. (Heizlia, Israel) has been selected by Partner Communications Company Ltd operating the Orange(tm) mobile network in Israel as a supplier for Partner's Fleet Management offering to its enterprise customers, Vega[TM], Telmap's...

GAF AG hunts oil & gas.(Middle East)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... * GAF AG (Munich, Germany), a geo-information technology company, has developed and successfully implemented the Uplift Probability Map (UPM) product for the detection of potential hydrocarbon-bearing structures in the earth's subsurface, UPM...

Israeli traffic software.(Middle East)
March 1, 2003... * Estimotion Ltd. an Israeli provider of traffic forecasting technology has selected ESRI (Redlands, USA) to deliver highly accurate, real-time traffic information to mobile workforce and urban commuters worldwide. Systematics Technologies,...

First metadata clearinghouse node in Senegal.(Africa)
March 1, 2003... * Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) registered the first metadata clearing house node in Senegal in November 2002. The CSE clearing house node will collect and update metadata covering atmospheric and climatic data, administrative and political...

Paris to Dakar with Webraska.(Africa)
March 1, 2003... * Webraska (Paris, France) collaborated with Cobra Automotive Technologies to track two vehicles participating in the 25th Annual Paris-Dakar rally. Webraska claims to have completed its part of the project in three days including map data...

GISL in Mozambique.(Africa)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... * GISL (Egham, England) has been working in Mozambique on the E-Government for Development Programme. This supports the introduction of e-government applications to enhance social and economic development in developing countries and countries...

AGIT 2003.(connect)
March 1, 2003... AGIT 2003, the 15th Symposium and Exposition on Applied Geoinformatics takes place 2-4 July at the University of Salzburg in Austria. Topics under discussion will include Geographic Information (GI) Science. GI in Cadastral Management,...

26th Annual Conference of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association.(connect)
March 1, 2003... The 26th Annual Conference of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) kicks-off in San Antonio, Texas, USA, this month (2-5) under the slogan Wide Open Spatial Frontiers: Adding Value to Your Business. As such, it promises...

AGILE 2003.(connect)
March 1, 2003... Lyon in France is the setting for AGILE 2003, (24-26 April), a conference staged by the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe and hosted this year by LISI-INSA de Lyon. Its theme, 'The Science behind the...

What future for remote sensing?(connect)(Pegasus Workshop )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The chance to find out comes at The Pegasus Workshop, being held this month (17-18) in Mol, Belgium, at the premises of Vito, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research. The event promises an opportunity for all with a professional...

The searching stops here! Providing direction for location-based, geographic solutions.(connect)(Location 2003 events)
March 1, 2003... Back by popular demand following last year's nationwide events sponsored by FSRI (UK) and supported by GEO: connexion Magazine, Location 2003 will, appeal to all who wish to gain insight into the way geographic information is meeting challenges...

Setting course for Geneva.(connect)
March 1, 2003... Scheduled to convene at the Palexpo in Geneva, Switzeriand, this year's NavSat 2003 Convention and Exhibition (24-27 June) is being held in conjunction with the month-long World Radio Conference. With its focus on positioning systems and...

World of Geomatics on the move.(connect)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A regular fixture in the UK calendar, the World of Geomatics exhibition moves to a new venue at the International Centre in Telford for this year's outing (7-8 May). Measuring, Mapping and Managing Geospatial Information is the theme for...

Linking people and pixels.(connect)
March 1, 2003... Studying Land Use Effects in Coastal Zones with Remote Sensing and GIS--a new conference in The International Colloquium Series on Land Use/Cover Change Science and Applications--is to be held 13-16 August 2003 in Kemer/Antalya, Turkey. ...

Progress report.(AGI View)
March 1, 2003... The first few months off 2003 have seen the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) making progress to achieve its objectives for the year [set out in last month's issue--Ed]; Structural review: this kicked off, initially by exploring...

Another presidential candidate.(EUROGI Update)
March 1, 2003... Mauro Salvemini, a steering committee member of AM-FM GIS Italia and a member of EUROGI's Executive committee, has announced his candidacy for the upcoming election for a successor to Ian Masser. In an eight-point declaration Salvemini believes...

SOGI-OSIG: Schweizerische Organisation fuer Geo-Information Organisation Suisse pour l'Information Geographique Organizzazione Svizzera per I'Informazione Geografica Swiss Organisation for Geographic Information.(EUROGI Memeber Profile)
March 1, 2003... Date of foundation: 1994 (incorporating GISWISS since 2002) Status: Non-profit umbrella association President: Sigi Heggli Secretaries: Thomas Glatthard, Heinz Lindenmann Language: German, French, Italian, English Number...

Promotions at Land Use Consultants.(people)(Phil Gilmore)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Phil Gilmore (GIS Specialist) has been appointed an associate of Land Use Consultants (London, England). Gilmore is responsible for the application of GIS in a wide range of project work, including landscape character assessments, strategic...

New staff at Innogistic.(people)(Innogistic Software Plc, Guy Smith Ferrier, Wendy Francis)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Innogistic Software Plc (Bristol, England) has expanded its development team. Guy Smith Ferrier has joined as a senior designer and Microsoft .NET developer. Previously working at Borland, he has 17 years of commercial experience and is well...

Intermap gets new vice president.(people)(Intermap Technologies, Eric DesRoche)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Intermap Technologies (Denver, Colorado) has appointed Eric DesRoche as vice president of GLOBAL Terrain and Value Added Products. DesRoche has over 15 years experience in the GIS and mapping industry. He has a Bachelors of Science in Surveying...

Salford GIS expands.(people)(appoints Nick Hall, Rob Knight as directors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Two new directors have joined Salford Gig Limited (Manchester, England). Nick Hall and Rob Knight both bring knowledge and experience of the market place, and have skills that will complement those of company founders Paul Coward and Chris...

Glennie chairs ICES regional affairs committee.(people)(Harry Glennie, Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Harry Glennie has been appointed as the chairman of the Regional Affairs Committee for the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES), a professional institution and educational charity dedicated to civil engineering surveying...

Fresne joins OGC.(people)(Ron Fresne, Open GIS Consortium Inc)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Open GIS Consortium. Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, USA) has appointed Ron Fresne to the position of interoperability initiatives manager Working with teams of technologists from agencies, companies, and universities around the world, he will have...

The Vespucci Initiative and the First Annual Summer School on Geographic Information Science. Villa Demidoff, Pratolino (Florence), Italy, 28 Jul-8 Aug 2003.(Focus on ...)
March 1, 2003... Billed as the 'mother of all Summer Schools', the event cited above (scheduled as two week-long sessions) will celebrate the fifth centenary of discoveries made by Amerigo Vespucci, the famed (and controversial) Florentine scholar turned...

AGILE.(Newsround)
March 1, 2003... AGILE, the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe has concluded agreements with two industry-leading vendors. In the first, ESRI is to provide internships for AGILE student members at its headquarters in Redlands,...

Eduspace.(Newsround)
March 1, 2003... Eduspace, the European Space Agency's Earth Observation education service for secondary schools, convened a workshop in Frascati, Italy, towards the end of last year. The sessions, involving some 60 teachers from across Europe, covered such...

GI in Land Management International Summer School.(Newsround)
March 1, 2003... A GI in Land Management International Summer School is being organised by the University of West Hungary, College of Geoinformatics for 14-19 August 2003. To be held in Szekesfehervar, 60km from Budapest, the event is promoted by the...

Intergraph.(Newsround)
March 1, 2003... Intergraph is to provide software, training, and support for the Australian Government's new Spatial Information Cooperative Research Centre. In aligning the programmes of four research universities with Key government departments and the...

Underpinning the knowledge economy. Fulfilling a national need; Keith Murray sets out the position on Ordnance Survey's strategic direction.(futures)
March 1, 2003... Todays customers expect more for three reasons: they are more experienced in handling geographic information, they are better prepared professionally and they demand better value for money. This is certainly true in Britain and where...

Tactical mapping: Bill Metcalf reviews developments in HF radio communications and propagation mapping.(talk)
March 1, 2003... Up until round 1980, high frequency (HF) radio links were the principal means of communicating over medium and long distances. In practice, there was a major subdivision within the HF band-long-haul communications that passed through the...

Germany's living SDI: Sabine Jendritzki outlines a stimulus to geodata market development that could have some far-reaching effects.(strategies)
March 1, 2003... SDI initiatives are presently underway in many European countries, their basic intention being to stimulate the market for geoinformation. A prime example is to be found in Get many and where, since Autumn 1999, several GI vendors and...

Outsourcing to India--making it work for you: onshore or offshore? Or why not have the best of both worlds.(viewpoint)
March 1, 2003... If you haven't actually outsourced work to India, you will have undoubtedly received more than one e-mail selling you the benefits. Clearly, there are a lot of ready and willing suppliers, but their are also many stories of where the perceived...

What goes around comes around: Robert Barr revisits a television series of the early 1980s and asks, 'what's new?'.(dangling segment)
March 1, 2003... I was pleased to receive quite a spate of emails after my last article. Many confirmed that the duplication of effort involved in establishing a definitive street gazetteer really is an issue causing great difficulties. Of course, this is...