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Surveying and Mapping is published monthly by South Pacific Science Press International Pty Ltd (ACN 082 312 810) | |||||||||||
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 NEWS HEADLINES Missing Helicopter Defeats Sensors Air and ground search operations involving 1000 people and six aircraft carrying an array of sophisticated sensors have so far failed to find any trace of a helicopter carrying Dr Judson Tagal and six others. Tagal is the Malaysian assistant state minister in the Chief Minister's Department. The helicopter has been missing since 12 July. It was flying between Bario and Ba'Kelalan in the interior of Sarawak, adjoining the Kalimantan border. The search has now been taken up by a gyro-stabilised thermographic scanner, co-located with a video camera (the Kelvin 350 Mark II), operated by an Australian company, Gyrovision, based in Sydney. To read more ... Japan Plans EO Constellation A Japanese group plans to launch two Earth observation satellites into space by 2008. To read more ... Maps of Malaria Required Better maps are required to define the risk of being infected by malaria. Doctors need to know where the disease strikes most often so they can plan their response. This is the conclusion of Dr Simon Hay and colleagues from the Oxford University Zoology Department. They have analysed the past and present distribution of malaria and the populations that are at risk. To read more ... go to top FEATURES Fleet Dispatch in Taiwan The Geographic Information Systems Research Centre at Feng Chia University has been working on integrating GPS with GIS and relational databases. The practical application of this has been to create an efficient vehicle management system for Formosa Plastics Transport Corporation in Taiwan. To read more ... Chinese EGNOS Trials Recently a ferry equipped with a satellite receiver successfully navigated from one side of the Yangtze River to the other. The trip was the first trial of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) in China. EGNOS is an initiative of the European Space Agency, the European Commission and Eurocontrol. To read more ... go to top OTHER NEWS Map of Hong Kong Navteq has launched a map of Hong Kong. The company also offers maps of Singapore, parts of Malaysia and Taiwan. The map of the SAR contains over 2000 km of roadway and provides navigable digital map coverage of almost 60 per cent of the population. This includes the Central, Western, Eastern, Southern, Wan Chai and Islands districts, along with Kowloon, Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po, Wong Tai Sin, Yau Tsim Mong and Kwai Tsing. The map includes 160 attributes and about 5800 Points of Interest. Navteq will not sell the data directly to the public. It is looking for business partners who will embed the data in products of their own. 'Hong Kong consumers adopt advanced technology very quickly. Our customers are looking for new ways to penetrate this market.' said John MacLeod, the executive vice president of global marketing. More information. New Geospatial Consultants Position One Consulting was launched on I July in Australia, Germany, Japan and the US. The consultancy will offer services to the geospatial and location based services industries. Senior partners will be located in each of the new offices. Robert Lorimer will run the Brisbane office. Peter Goellner, will be located in Frankfurt and Dave Vaughn in San Jose. Jose Briceno, a Brazilian with 25 years experience of Japanese business, will head the Tokyo office. The company will focus on providing consultancy services in the areas of strategy, marketing and sales to companies supplying products and services to geospatial markets. Enquiries to Robert Lorimer ; ph: +61-7-3821-5543. More information. Global Locate Establishes Distribution in Region Global Locate Inc, a US-based vendor of GPS products, has signed distribution agreements with three local semiconductor distributors: Cytech Technology Limited in China, Uniquest in South Korea and EDOM Technology in Taiwan. The company has an existing office in Tokyo. Global Locate sells a range of chipsets including IndoorGPS, which is aimed at the mobile phone market and is claimed to be very sensitive. For more information see: Global Locate Cytech Technology Limited Uniquest EDOM Technology Intergraph at PT Batam, Hanoi Intergraph South East Asia in Singapore says it has finished testing its G/Electric software package at PT.PLN Batam. The company is a subsidiary of PT.PLN (Persero), Indonesia's national electric company. Batam Island is about 20 km from Singapore. Intergraph has recently also announced the sale of a telephone facility management system to Ho Chi Minh City Post and Telecommunications (HCMC P&T). PT.PLN Batam is a subsidiary of Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Indonesia's state-owned electric company. In Vietnam, Intergraph's system is part of a bid to deploy 540,000 new telephone access lines in Ho Chi Minh City. More information Garmin to Sell NavTalk GSM Phone in China GPS-manufacturer Garmin International will shortly begin selling its NavTalk GSM mobile phone in China. The phone will be distributed by Beijing-based CEC Telecom Co. Ltd. The phone has an in-built GPS, and comes with software to enable users to find their position, or report their position to other people. CEC says the Garmin can form the basis of a low-cost tracking system for dispatch operations. More information New LBS in Beijing Sky Light Communication Ltd. and LocatioNet Systems Ltd. have joined forces to introduce location-based services in the Chinese wireless market. According to the agreement, LocatioNet will provide Sky Light with its LBS applications. Sky Light Communication Ltd. is a joint venture of the Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing at Wuhan University, the Shougang Group and the Cheng Kong conglomerate. LocatioNet is a specialist in LBS. It has offices in the US, South America, and Israel. More information Thai PC Initiative Microsoft is offering a low cost version of its operating system in Thailand. The bundle, called XP Starter Edition, includes Windows XP and Office XP for B1550 ($53). Last year, Thailand's Information and Communications Technology Ministry was trying to increase the numbers of home PCs by offering low-priced computers. The Ministry asked Microsoft for support for the initiative, but was refused. The Ministry went ahead. It offered computers bundled with a Thai version of Linux and an office automation product for $363.After a month, it had 100,000 orders. After seeing the success of the Linux venture, Microsoft made its offer, which was accepted. The Ministry is now offering low-cost laptops and other deals for government workers. There are no English menus in the bundle. The goal is to keep the Thai software in Thailand. New Appointment at MapInfo MapInfo has appointed more staff to its Beijing office. Geraldine Yeo is the new channel marketing manager for South East Asia. Vivien Zhang has been appointed as a marketing specialist in North Asia. Yeo joins MapInfo with over seven years of strong IT marketing experience, having held positions with IXOS Software, Epicor Software and Unisys in Singapore. Zhang also possesses strong marketing and media experience, having work in the IT industry for over five years at Beijing Enterprises and Ezenia International. DMC for Air Survey Z/I Imaging has sold a Digital Mapping Camera to Asia Air Survey in Japan. AAS is one of the largest survey, mapping and engineering consulting firms in the world. The acquisition of the DMC marks the transition to an all-digital production system at AAS. AAS has also recently acquired an airborne scanning system. The combination of a digital camera and a laser scanner will make it possible to produce three-dimensional data and an authorectified image in less than a day. go to topNEW PRODUCTSToposys TopoSys, a remote sensing company in Germany, intends to unveil a new way of treating measurements from airborne laser scanners at a meeting of the ISPRS in Istanbul (19-23 July). The new technique is based on taking a large number of overlapping measurements instead of only a few points. More information Pos LV and PosPac Applanix has released a new version of Pos LV -its inertial position and orientation system for land vehicles. The new version has improved real-time performance and streamlined operational capability. The company has also released a new version of POSPac- POSPac 4.2. The new version incorporates a number of additions and enhanced features aimed at increasing data accuracy, and simplifying processing operations. More information Adam's Analyst 2.1a Adam Technology has released a new version of its 3DM Analyst and CalibCam products. A key new feature of Analyst 2.1a allows all artefacts, including breaklines, to be digitised directly in the 3D View. 3D images can now be exported directly into Maptek's Vulcan 3D modelling and mine planning software. Dip and dip direction are now reported and depicted in the 3D View. More information 10g and ArcSDE 9 ESRI says ArcSDE 9 for Oracle has been certified for use on Oracle's 10g database. Certification for Oracle 10g ensures a high level of interoperability and provides additional options for open and scalable solutions to ESRI software users. More information G/Technology 9.2 Intergraph released the latest version G/Technology, version 9.2 on 9 July. Key improvements include advanced metadata tools and better upgrade mechanisms for FRAMME sites. A new Application Programming Interface makes it possible to program in Visual Basic for Applications. An updated user interface includes support for slide-out and roll-up dockable controls that maximise screen use and display fidelity and give users access to all the data and tools needed to support complex workflows. More information DSW700 Scanner Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping has released a new version of its scanning software called the DSW700 Digital Scanning Workstation. It scans 30 percent faster than previous versions and offers improved radiometric quality and lower cost of operation. The DSW700 is a high-performance photogrammetric film scanner for both cut film and roll film. It can take film transport rolls up to 152 metres long and operates autonomously. More information go to topEVENTSAn international symposium on GPS and Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GNSS2004, will be held in at the University of New South Wales in Sydney 6-8 December, 2004. The organisers have organised an impressive list of speakers, including Gerard Lachappelle from University of Calgary. More information Laser-Scan's user and partner conference will be held in Cambridge, 15-16 September. The 2004 meeting will focus on the way that spatial data quality management can help organisations to realise the power of their data. This applies to a wide range of geospatial issues and spans different industries. There will also be presentations from the company's network of partners, which includes a number of leading GIS vendors. This year's event follows a management buyout in July 2003. More information MapIndia 2005 will be held at the Taj Palace hotel in Delhi from 7 - 9th February. For more information contact the Map India 2005 Secretriat on +91- 120 - 2502180 to 87; More information go to top |
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