GEO: connexion articles from May 2004

GEO: connexion archives from May 2004

GINIE makes the point.(Upfront)
May 1, 2004... Gaining a deeper understanding of the issues that impinge on the wider use of geographic information in Europe was the laudable aim of the GINIE (Geographic Information Network in Europe) research project. (1) Commencing in late 2000, it...

Do you need planning permission?(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Planning officers in local authorities spend a lot of their time answering questions about whether or not planning permission is actually needed--whether it is a project for a new conservatory or a factory conversion. Birmingham City Council,...

ESRI (UK) and QAS join forces.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... ESRI (UK) Ltd (Aylesbury, England) has signed an agreement with QAS Ltd. (London, England) to sell value added applications built upon QAS' technology and data. Initially this means the ProADDRESS product set that combines ESRI's ArcGIS and...

Navigation Technologies becomes NAVTEQ.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Navigation Technologies (Chicago, Illinois) has changed its name to NAVTEQ. It claims that the new name 'underscores the company's commitment to its core business and rich history while also reflecting its focus on innovation and growth. The...

Geodan data for MapInfo.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... MapInfo (Troy, New York) has signed a contract with Geodan IT b.v.(Amsterdam, the Netherlands), to resell Geodan datasets of the Netherlands and Europe, MapInfo will add the Dutch Postcode and Municipality maps, as well as the European NUTS3...

New RedSpider on the web.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... IONIC Software (Grace-Hollogne, Belgium) has released RedSpider Web 3.1, an OpenGIS compliant spatial web services. It includes functionality to build scalable and comprehensive interoperable spatial data infrastructures. Users can...

GIS for fairer flood premiums.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Norwich Union has launched a new map with which it claims to assess the risk of flooding for individual properties and set premiums accordingly. Currently, properties are assigned a risk based on their postcode. The highest risk of flooding...

Austrian-made cameras for Japan.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Vexcel Corporation (Boulder, Colorado) has announced a contract with PASCO Corporation, of Japan, for two Vexcel UltraCam large format digital aerial cameras. These 90 mega-pixel UltraCams--manufactured in Austria by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a...

AED-SICAD success in Saarland.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... The public utility company for the City of Merzig in Saarland has implemented AED-SICAD's (Bonn/Munich, Germany) SICAD-UT. The project included migrating the gas and water network data from the previous grips/Poppenhager system. Merzig is...

Definiens Imaging moves into China.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Bejing Hyundai Space Eye will distribute Definiens Imaging (Munich, Germany) image analysis and feature extraction software, eCognition, to markets in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Space Eye is a high resolution satellite imagery provider as...

EU Military planners get GIS.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union has chosen Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (Huntsville, Alabama) to deliver a GIS system to support the European Union Military Staff (EUMS). They will use Intergraph's...

Geoland meets in Berlin.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... The first major meeting of the European project 'geoland', the geoland Forum, took place in Potsdam during February. More than 100 participants, representing 56 user organisations, service providers and researchers from 15 European countries,...

Japanese buy ISTAR software.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... PASCO (Tokyo, Japan) has acquired the ISTAR (Sophia Antipolis, France) Production Suite, enabling it to provide clients with advanced digital imaging capabilities from its facility in Tokyo. ISTAR, a subsidiary of EADS ASTRIUM, has...

New WorldView in 2006.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... DigitalGlobe[R] (Longmont, Colorado) has unveiled details of the company's next-generation imaging satellite, WorldView. Due to launch in 2006, this will be the world's highest resolution commercial imaging satellite with better agility,...

Geokosmos at INTERGEO East.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Geokosmos (Moscow, Russia) is increasing its international market presence and participated at the recent Belgrade INTERGEO East as an exhibitor. Geokosmos provides airborne laser scanning services with its core business being real time...

Polish reseller for Space Imaging.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... European Space Imaging (Munich, Germany) has appointed GIS Group S.A. (Warsaw, Poland) as a reseller for it's products, including IKONOS imagery, in Poland. The partnership is expected to lead to further sales of European Space Imaging products...

Lovell Johns's new web mapping.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Lovell Johns (Oxford, England) is applying its design skills to interactive mapping for web delivery and offers a range of tools, technologies and data to support better, faster and accessible information. These include SmartMaps (SVG) scalable...

Italians go for ArcFM.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Trentino Servizi will be implementing ArcFM and ArcFM Viewer to support their utility operations with the help of SinerGIS (Trento, Italy), Miner & Miner's Italian business partner. Trentino Servizi provides services to over 70 diverse...

QinetiQ wins ODPM contract.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Qinetiq (Farnborough, England) leads the consortium that has won a contract to implement a mapping service for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The "Maps on Tap" service will enhance area-based decision making across Government....

Danes buy MapText software.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... The National Mapping Authority of Denmark, KMS (Kort & Martrikelstyrelsen), has bought Label-EZ[TM] and Label-Edit[TM] software from MapText, Inc. (Plainsboro, New Jersey) to be used for automatic text placement within it's topographic map...

Photographic Storefinder.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Those shopping for photographic equipment and accessories on the Jessops web site can now locate their nearest store, map their route, and access other useful information such as store opening times and a map, thanks to Multimap.com, (London,...

AND signs with Siemens.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... AND (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and Siemens VDO Trading GmbH have agreed to integrate and retrofit the AND globa road data for Eastern Europe. Africa and South America into the VDO Dayton in-car navigation systems. The companies will first...

Masternaut continues expansion.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... Masternaut (Leeds, England) has awarded a [pounds sterling]1M ([euro]1.4M) contract to FibreCity as part of a partnership to deliver web-based services to companies operating fleets of sales, service and delivery vehicles, FibreCity will host...

Pay congestion charge with multimap.(LBS News in Brief)
May 1, 2004... Multimap.com (London, England) is working with Transport for London to improve its payment finder system on www.cclondon.com to help drivers to pay the central London congestion charge. The system gives users access to detailed maps and...

CPS targets Chinese wireless market.(LBS News in Brief)
May 1, 2004... Cambridge Positioning Systems Ltd (CPS, Cambridge, England) and Wisemax, a developer of value added mobile services have announced plans to target the Chinese wireless market with a location-based applications and enabling technology package....

Multi network tracking in Germany.(LBS News in Brief)
May 1, 2004... PTV AG (Karlsruhe, Germany) and OECON GmbH (Hannover, Germany) have announced their co-operation on a system-independent mobile tracking and communication portal for all mobile communication networks. The solution has been specifically designed...

NAVTEQ hits the road.(LBS News in Brief)
May 1, 2004... Navigation Technologies (Chicago, Illinois), the world wide digital map data provider has changed the company name to NAVTEQ. From March 2004 the new name and logo will designate not only the company's 100 offices in 17 countries but also its...

Opportunities.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... GEO: connexion publishes this sample round-up of business opportunities and contract awards courtesy Geo-UK Ltd's twice-weekly newsletter of GIS, mapping and surveying-related tenders and contracts. More information on individual items from:...

Galileo consortia take the stage.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... More than 500 individuals from the worlds of space, high-tech, transport and finance gathered recently in Brussels recently for a Concession Day organised by the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU). Rainer Grohe, executive director of the GJU....

MapInfo raises US$44M.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... MapInfo Corporation has completed the sale of 4,312,500 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of US$11.00 (9.05 euros) per share. Net proceeds from the offering, after underwriting discounts, commissions and estimated expenses,...

+ + results + + + + results + +: all values converted to euros.(GEO:News)
May 1, 2004... * Leica Geosystems (Heerbrugg, Switzerland) reported a third quarter 2003/2004 sales growth of 1.8 per cent to 112,16 million euros and improved operating earnings, with EBIT of 4.37 million euros and EBITDA of 15.37 million euros. Group net...

UNOSAT maps deluge.(GEO:Africa)
May 1, 2004... A full story about UNOSAT can be seen on the Middle East news page but this recent map of floods in Namibia shows the power of satellite imagery to provide a synoptic view of large area phenomena. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

3DT support for Nigerian SDI.(GEO:Africa)
May 1, 2004... Third Dimension Technologies (Lagos, Nigeria) is leading the way to a spatial data infrastructure in Nigeria Although its web site gives few clues as to its principals, it does publish an online magazine, Geostar[R], edited by Alabi Opeyemi...

GAF aids Mozambique water authority.(GEO:Africa)
May 1, 2004... GAF AG (Munich, Germany) has been awarded a consulting service contract by the World Bank funded Second National Water Development Project (FIPAG) in Mozambique. The aim of the project is to improve the performance, sustainability and coverage...

Comparex GIS makes business more intelligent.(GEO:Africa)
May 1, 2004... Comparex Africa GIS (Midrand, South Africa), is a data and services company, providing spatially-oriented business intelligence solutions to a wide spectrum of both corporate and government clients. It focuses on the top 200 companies in the...

Wallingford scoops ESRI award.(GEO:Middle East)
May 1, 2004... Wallingford Software (Wallingford, England) has received the 'Foundation Partner' award from ESRI, the world leader in GIS software and technology. The award, made at the 2004 ESRI Business Partner Conference in Palm Springs, California,...

Imagery helps UN operations in Iraq.(GEO:Middle East)
May 1, 2004... Remote sensing, particularly earth observation (EO) satellites, can provide useful geographic information needed by the humanitarian and development communities. However, non-EO specialists often find it difficult to obtain adequate information...

Dubai GIS goes public.(GEO:Middle East)
May 1, 2004... Orion Technology Inc. (Richmond Hill, Ontario) has launched its new OnPoint[TM] Professional product in January and has already sold licenses to 12 organisations and municipalities in Canada, the USA, and Dubai. OnPoint[TM] Professional...

24th EARSeL Symposium, Dubrovnik, Croatia.(GEO:Connect)
May 1, 2004... EARSeL, the European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories convenes its 24th Symposium and General Assembly this month at the Inter University Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia (25-27 May). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Eurimage 2004, Rome, Italy.(GEO:Connect)
May 1, 2004... This month (19-21 May), satellite imagery provider Eurimage holds its 2004 International Meeting at the Hotel Villa Vecchia in Monte Porzio Catone, Rome. Key topics for discussion at the event, to be attended by current and aspiring...

PHOTOMOD, Minsk, Belarus.(GEO:Connect)
May 1, 2004... 'Digital Photogrammetric Technologies and Applications' is the theme of the 4th International PHOTOMOD User Conference, scheduled for the Hotel Yubileiny in Minsk, Belarus, 7-10 September 2004. Organised by Racurs, developers of PHOTOMOD...

Oceanology International GIS Conference, London, England.(GEO:Connect)
May 1, 2004... Spearhead Exhibitions, organisers of the recent GIS in the Marine and Coastal Environment Conference in London, confessed to being overwhelmed at the level of response. Held in mid-March alongside Oceanology International at the ExCeL centre in...

ArcGIS 9: UK launch dates.(GEO:Connect)
May 1, 2004... ESRI (UK) will be holding three events this summer to mark the launch of ArcGIS 9, the next major release of the ArcGIS product suite and one that features new capabilities in the areas of geo-processing and 3D visualisation. The launch will...

UDMS 2004, Chioggia, Italy.(GEO:Connect)
May 1, 2004... The Urban Data Management Society (UDMS) will host the latest in a series of international symposia in Chioggia (on the lagoon near Venice, Italy), 27-29 October 2004. Proposals for papers on the following themes have been invited: Nature,...

FIG Working Week & General Assembly, Athens, Greece.(Geo:Connect)
May 1, 2004... Information, additional to that published in our February issue, has been issued by FIG, the International Federation of Surveyors, in respect of this month's Working Week (Intercontinental Athanaeum, Athens, Greece, 22-27 May). As well as...

GeoSolutions 2004, Birmingham, England.(Geo:Connect)
May 1, 2004... CMP Information, organisers of this year's GeoSolutions event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England, (29-30 September) have announced that a seminar theatre, located on the showfloor, will help visitors make the most of their...

Special Interest Groups have their say.(AGI View)
May 1, 2004... Hand-in-hand with the recent re-structuring of the AGI (now completed), the Association is implementing greater transparency and closer working between the various components of the organisation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The part of the...

The GSDI Association is born: Ian Masser outlines its mission and strategy.(GSDI News)
May 1, 2004... The creation of a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association and the election of its first Board in February 2004 marks an important stage in the global debate regarding spatial data infrastructures. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since...

Geomatics.org.uk: a new dawn; While this UK-wide educational initiative has just received an extra boost, help is still needed as Jon Mills, David Parker and Stuart Edwards explain.(Focus on ...)
May 1, 2004... Geomatics.org.uk, the web-based initiative launched in 2000 to promote geomatics into schools and colleges, has received a [pounds sterling]67,000 (EURO SYMBOL) continuation grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council...

GIScience 2004.(NewsRound)
May 1, 2004... GIScience 2004, an international conference bringing together scientists from academia, industry, and government, will focus on emerging topics and basic research findings across all sectors of geographic information science. To be held...

Geographical Association.(NewsRound)
May 1, 2004... Each year, the International Committee of Britain's Geographical Association organises an overseas Study Tour, the aim of which is to introduce educators to key aspects of the contemporary geography of the destination country. Teaching...

Early April saw the launch of a special TV magazine dedicated to Space with its first issue devoted to Galileo, the European navigation satellite programme.(NewsRound)
May 1, 2004... Early April saw the launch of a special TV magazine dedicated to Space with its first issue devoted to Galileo, the European navigation satellite programme. Produced by EuroNews in collaboration with the European Space Agency, the magazine is...

Ordnance Survey.(NewsRound)
May 1, 2004... Britain's Ordnance Survey is offering a free Explorer map to every 11-year-old from the start of the 2004 autumn term. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The move was announced by the national mapping agency's Director General and Chief Executive...

Ormsby joins Innogistic.(GEO:People)
May 1, 2004... Daniel Ormsby has joined Innogistic Software plc (Bristol, England) as business development manager where he will spearhead Cartology. Net web GIS solutions into new market areas. He has worked for the last three years in a similar role at...

New Infoterra directors.(GEO:People)
May 1, 2004... Infoterra Ltd. (Leicester, England) has appointed Dr Anthony Denniss and Dr Andy Wells to the positions of technical and sales directors respectively. They join the management board as Infoterra maintains its record growth. [ILLUSTRATION...

BGS Robson for Oracle Users Group.(GEO:People)
May 1, 2004... The British Geological Survey (Keyworth, England) has announced that Peter Robson (the BGS Database Administrator in the Edinburgh office) has been appointed a Director of the UK Oracle User Group. This appointment reflects the international...

Campbell for Ten Sails.(GEO:People)
May 1, 2004... Ten Sails (Cambridge, England) has appointed Gordon Campbell to its finance team. Campbell joins from UbiNetics, one of the world's leading suppliers of 3G mobile communications technology and will work with Martin Cartwright, chief financial...

Goodwin promoted at ODPM.(GEO:People)
May 1, 2004... Richard Goodwin has been appointed the e-Planning program director for Britain's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). In this role, he will coordinate the Planning Portal, the Planning Casework Service from the Planning Inspectorate, and...

New directors for Sarantel.(GEO:People)
May 1, 2004... Sarantel (Wellingborough, England), the GPS antenna manufacturer, has appointed David Dey as chairman and Jayne Chace as a non-executive director. Dey was responsible for setting up Energis in the mid 1990s and has also served on the main board...

Consuming passions: Robert Barr sets his students a tricky question, the answer to which is far from academic.(Dangling Segment)
May 1, 2004... I recently set an examination question, "The future of GIS lies in the consumers' pockets. Discuss?". [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Such questions help students demonstrate understanding, breadth of knowledge and an ability to think...

EU enlargement: its impact on Community Trade Marks; It's all in the dates, says Tasneem Haq.(GEO:Legal)
May 1, 2004... As of this month, the EU welcomes ten states as new members: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. Others countries, such as Bulgaria and Romania, are expected to join...

What NEXT for Britain? A new dataset finds itself tailor-made for environmental applications reports William Allbrook.(Environment)
May 1, 2004... Concerns about our environment abound, with problems wrought by climate change, such as coastal erosion and flooding, being among the most pressing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While datasets become available by the day to enhance our...

ArcGIS 9: the complete geographic information system.
May 1, 2004... ArcGIS[R] 9 is a framework of integrated GIS software products from ESRI for building a complete GIS. The fundamental architecture of ArcGIS enables users to deploy GIS functionality and business logic wherever it is needed in desktops, on...

Going places with English Nature: English Nature puts location intelligence at the heart of its conservation strategy. Report: Matthew Spencer.(Environment)
May 1, 2004... Playing a pivotal role in conserving Britain's countryside and wildlife for future generations is English Nature (www.englishnature.org.uk), an independent government agency that owns and manages 200 National Nature Reserves (87,700 hectares)...

Making water fit to drink: with safe drinking water an increasingly scarce resource, George Greene IV offers a personal account of how GPS technology is helping one aid organisation rise to the challenge.(Environment)
May 1, 2004... As a non-profit organisation dedicated to resolving a variety of water-related problems in developing countries, Water Missions International (WMI) custom-designs community systems for water treatment and distribution, wastewater management and...

GIS for contaminated land assessment: a UK local authority viewpoint; Steve Smith, Colin Harding, Stuart Gillies and Lander Jimenez-Ocio report on how Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is discharging its statutory duty.(Environment)
May 1, 2004... Since their formation, Britain's local authorities have played a significant role in safeguarding the environment and public health. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In more recent years, Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990...

Fair claims detective: Dimitris Panagiotidis describes the use of satellite image processing and analysis to verify EU common agricultural policy subsidy claims.(Image Processing & Analysis)
May 1, 2004... Remote sensing has been applied in the EU to monitor subsidy payments for arable and forage land since 1995. Using this method, land parcels are verified as to the declared crops and areas under cultivation... a procedure that allows...

Easing the pressure: Manuel Alonso explains how to give your hard-pressed image server a new lease of life.(Image Processing)
May 1, 2004... Geographical images (or geo-images) of any kind (aerial photographs, satellite images, Digital Elevation Models, etc.) have become an essential part of any GIS or map server application. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The increased...

MIRAGE in-the-making: Richard Proud concludes his description of the new satellite imagery retrieval service for the LBS sector by examining the business case.(Remote Sensing)
May 1, 2004... Data can be stored locally within the MIRAGE environment (e.g. imagery specifically purchased to support particular applications/customer requirements), and/or it can be retrieved from third-party Web Map Servers. With the growing number of...

Prophet or doom? Military reliance on commercial EO imagery has clear benefits. But at what price? Jonathan Shears concludes his review on a cautionary note.(Satellite Remote Sensing)
May 1, 2004... The increased use of commercial space-based imaging for defence and national resilience raises particular security issues. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the case of Israel, the use of CSI came earlier than planned when Ofeq-3, the nation's...

SIGTIM: a computerised mining cadastre and registration system; All that glitters could be gold for one of Africa's most disadvantaged nations. Stefan Saradeth, Luc Ghys and Antje Kupper report on how technology paves the way.(Cadastre)
May 1, 2004... Mining is fundamental to the economic well-being of many countries. In some African nations, for example, around half of all exports are generated by mining-related activity Others, although rich in mineral resources, suffer from decades of...

Surveying update: Mike Bedford takes a sighting on what's new and what's improved in the world of surveying instruments.(Hardware)
May 1, 2004... Choosing categories of equipment to include in our annual update is never easy. After all, surveying instruments are many and varied and attempting to include everything would result in a very superficial coverage. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

BlueSky.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... BlueSky (Coalville, England) is now an accredited contractor for the supply of data to Ordnance Survey for its OS MasterMap Imagery Layer. Data meeting this standard has to be fully compliant with the Acceptable Quality Levels outlined in...

CAPS Solutions.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... CAPS Solutions (Aylesbury, England), the City of Edinburgh Council and Stirling Council have jointly won the award for "Outstanding performance and quality in Development Control", at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning, for the...

NovaLIS Technologies.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... NovaLIS Technologies (Charlotte, North Carolina) and CDC Ltd. (Northern Ireland) are extending their successful European partnership in GIS-based property valuation software to North America. NovaLIS will market and support CDC's spatialest[R]...

Cities Revealed[R].(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... Cities Revealed[R] (Cambridge, England) has released a new and higher resolution dataset of aerial photography for Greater London. Flown in the 2002-2003, this is their third air survey of the city within the last decade. Over 80% of London's...

Digitech International.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... Visitors to the recent Geoevenement 2004 show in Paris were able to see an 8 Terabyte (8,000GB) colour orthophoto dataset in the ECW compressed image format, covering the whole of France. Digitech International (Bagneux, France) carried out the...

ESRI (UK).(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... NEMLAC -- the North East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council has launched a new website making regional history easily available to the North East's 3.2 million citizens. Served via ESRI (UK)'s (Aylesbury, England) Internet Map Server,...

Geo Strategies.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... Geo Strategies (Cambridge, England) is eleven years old and has celebrated by launching a new web site. The company, with offices in Romania as well as England, has extended its coverage of central and eastern Europe to match the demand for...

Getmapping's.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... Getmapping's (Hartley Wintney, England) aerial photography forms the basis of a new illustrative book that plots the history of London from Roman times through to the present day. London Revealed, published by Collins, ventures through all...

Environment Systems.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... Environment Systems (Aberystwyth, Wales) is using Intermap's NEXTMap Britain digital height data with Getmapping (Hartley Wintney, England) aerial photography to create a three dimensional map of the Welsh landscape. This model enables the...

GGP Systems.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... GGP Systems (Croydon, England) has supplied its web-based GIS to South Holland District Council in Lincoldnshire. eGGP will be part of a major e-government project called 'Get Connected' that will provide easy and widespread access to council...

Highways Agency.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... The Highways Agency in UK is to introduce new methods of aerial surveying on motorway and trunk road networks that will improve services for road users. The state-of-the-art LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system will cut the time taken to...

Idevio's.(Business Briefs)
May 1, 2004... UndSakC, the Swedish Armed Forces Intelligence and security centre has equipped its Anubis system for compiling intelligence information with Idevio's (Gothenburg, Sweden). RaveGeo software Geo SE, part of the National Land Survey of Sweden has...