GIS in Education

Ottawa receives ESRI Award of Excellence

2009-11-07T15:39:00.000-06:00

The City of Ottawa received the Award of Excellence by ESRI for integrating geographic information system (GIS) technology with enterprise business systems to enhance municipal operations including public works, surveys and mapping, and urban forestry management. The ESRI enterprise GIS, which uses a services-oriented architecture (SOA) approach, will enable the City to more easily incorporate and adopt new technologies in the future.

The City of Ottawa has been using ESRI ArcGIS technology since 2002 and has extensively used GIS in its operations including urban mapping, land use and natural resource planning, and sewer, water and wastewater management. The City also uses GIS for health and public safety program planning and has leveraged the technology to monitor, track and develop appropriate action plans to protect its citizens from infectious diseases such as the West Nile virus in 2003. GIS is also applied in the City's urban tree preservation programs and is a key tool in managing and addressing the current emerald ash borer infestation in Ottawa and surrounding areas.

RapidEye satellite imagery for ESA

2009-11-07T15:35:00.000-06:00

RapidEye signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide RapidEye satellite imagery for monitoring and change detection in areas prone to natural disasters.

The contract between RapidEye and ESA is based on a list of pre-defined, high-risk areas, for which RapidEye will provide satellite imagery before and after an emergency event has occurred. With its constellation of five satellites, the RapidEye system has the capability to revisit an area daily, which accommodates frequent monitoring intervals and can provide the most up-to-date information on environmental changes.

ESA will be using RapidEye's satellite imagery mainly for the project 'Safer', a security and emergency project of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program in Europe. GMES is a European program for implementing a European capacity for Earth Observation, with an objective to monitor and better understand the environment. By contributing to the success of the 'Safer' project, RapidEye will support ESA in reinforcing the European capacity to better respond to emergency situations deriving from storms, fires, floods, earthquakes or landslides. For more information about the GMES program of ESA please go to gmesdata.esa.int.

Enabling Geospatial Scholarship

2009-11-05T14:24:00.001-06:00

The Scholars Lab at the University of Virginia Library will host two rounds of an NEH-funded Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities, on the theme of Enabling Geospatial Scholarship. A first four-day event (November 2009) is geared toward 20 library, museum, and digital humanities center professionals, and aims to shape policy and build the technical capacity of the institutions they represent to support boundary-pushing geospatial scholarship.

A second round of the Institute (May 2010) is geared toward humanities faculty members, graduate students, and other scholars. An opening discussion will identify central questions facing the studies of space and place in the digital humanities. Martyn Jessop’s 2008 article on inhibiting factors in humanities GIS will serve as a guide, and Jessop will present his work. Participants will explore a variety of tools and core GIS concepts through hands-on activities, and discuss the challenges of applying science-based GIS tools to research in the humanities.

See the Institute’s home page for more information. Participants will be selected through a competitive application process.

More news on GIS and Remote Sensing scholarships and grants in the archive.

New Placer Gold GPS Receivers from Trimble

2009-11-05T14:15:00.001-06:00

Trimble releases Placer Gold receiver, a 12-channel GPS receiver, designed to provide reliable, fully-configurable vehicle location and reporting for mission-critical automatic vehicle location (AVL) applications. Trimble's Placer receivers are used by public safety and emergency responders to more efficiently locate and dispatch response vehicles.

In addition to 12 channels, the Placer Gold features indicator lights (a new feature not previously available on the Placer 450), a small form factor, and compatibility with point-to-point protocol (PPP) data radios. The Placer Gold DRU’s on-board dead reckoning sensor outputs position data in the absence of satellite signal reception using a built-in angular rate sensor, a vehicle speed input, and a reverse signal input. This solution allows dispatchers to track vehicles through obstructed areas, such as tunnels, urban canyons, and mountains.

According to the company, the Placer Gold offers:
•Reliability: The Placer product line has had a mean time between failures (MTBF) of more than 100,000 hours. This reliability results in a need for fewer spares to support a large fleet and one spare unit can typically serve as a back up for a fleet of up to 1,000 vehicles, Trimble said.

•Robustness: Throughout its history of actual field usage, the company said, the Placer product line has proven to be robust, generally unaffected by in-vehicle radio frequency interference (RFI) or a "sagging" power source.

•Full configuration: With two separate serial/USB ports, multiple output protocols (NMEA and TAIP) and a digital I/O port, the Placer Gold may be configured to work with major public safety Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, in-vehicle mapping and/or CAD application software. The Placer Gold receiver can connect directly to a laptop, a mobile data radio modem, or both a laptop and modem, with each independent serial port configured to output the same or different protocols and baud rates.

•Time and distance reporting: It allows triggering of position reports when time or distance criteria are met; this feature allows emergency responders to automatically increase the reporting frequency based on vehicle speed, which results in reduced network bottlenecks and wireless transmission costs.

Placer Gold APU and Placer Gold DRU are available now from Trimble’s Mobile Resource Management (MRM) sales team.

One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI) for NASA Internship/Fellowship Opportunities

2009-11-04T17:44:00.002-06:00

One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI) for NASA Internship/Fellowship Opportunities

The NASA Office of Education, Higher Education Program, solicits proposals in response to the One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI) for NASA Internship/Fellowship Opportunities: (1) Business Management and (2) Broker-Facilitator Corps announcements. The selected proposers will support a NASA-wide integrated application, selection and placement system for student engagement in STEM research, aerospace education and the space exploration workforce pipeline. Students will visit one website to submit one application for all NASA internship/fellowship opportunities.

The selected Business Management organization will provide programmatic management for the OSSI system and work in partnership with the other four strategic partners (OSSI System Administrator, OSSI Broker-Facilitator Corps, NASA Education, and NASA Office of Human Capital Management). NASA Office of Education provides oversight for the OSSI system.

Broker-Facilitator Corps proposers must historically serve as an advocate for one of the following institution types: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), Predominately White Institutions (PWI), Predominately Black Institutions (PBI), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), or Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU). A single organization for each institution type will be selected as a member of the Corps and serve as a culturally competent expert. The Corps will focus on designing and implementing recruitment, retention, and career development strategies that broaden the diversity of institution types and number of high performing participants in NASA's internship and fellowship application pool.

The two solicitations may be accessed through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES).

You can also apply for the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program.

NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program

2009-11-04T17:41:00.002-06:00

NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program 2010-2011.

NASA announces a call for graduate fellowship proposals to the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) program for the 2010-2011 academic year. This call for fellowship proposals solicits applications from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing Master of Science (M.Sc.) or Doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in Earth and space sciences, or related disciplines. The purpose of NESSF is to ensure continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA's scientific goals. Awards resulting from the competitive selection will be made in the form of training grants to the respective universities.

The deadline for NEW applications is February 1, 2010, and the deadline for RENEWAL applications is March 15, 2010.

The NESSF call for proposals and submission instructions are located at the NESSF 09 solicitation index page - click on "Solicitations" then click on "Open Solicitations" then select the "NESSF 10" announcement. Also refer to "Proposal Submission Instructions" listed under "Other Documents" on the NESSF 10 solicitation index page.

All proposals must be submitted in electronic format only through the NASA NSPIRES system. The advisor has an active role in the submission of the fellowship proposal. To use the NSPIRES system, the advisor, the student, and the university must all register. Extended instructions on how to submit an electronic proposal package are posted on the NESSF 10 solicitation index page listed above. You can register in NSPIRES.

For further information contact Russell Deyoung, Program Administrator for NESSF Earth Science Research, Telephone: (757) 864-1472, E-mail: larc-nessf-Earth@lists.nasa.gov or Dolores Holland, Program Administrator for NESSF Heliophysics Research, Planetary Science Research, and Astrophysics Research, Telephone: (202) 358-0734, E-mail: hq-nessf-Space@nasa.gov.

Promoting GIS Development in Canada

2009-11-04T16:46:00.000-06:00

ESRI Canada today announced that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has signed a five-year agreement under the ESRI Canada Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) program to strengthen the development of geographic information system (GIS) technology in the province. The program provides affordable access to GIS software, maintenance, services and training over the term of the agreement.

"We're pleased to be moving forward a project that will further develop GIS in our provincial IT sector," said the Honourable Tom Marshall, Minister Responsible for the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Newfoundland and Labrador. "Provincial Government departments and GIS-related businesses in our province will be provided with further opportunity to improve their GIS expertise and capacity, and provide a solid platform to leverage this technology to benefit government and industry."

Newfoundland and Labrador has applied GIS across government departments for several years. The system is used in the province's water resource portal, which provides public access to valuable information including drinking water quality. GIS is used to locate and manage the province's natural resources such as crown lands, provincial parks, protected areas, wildlife species and mineral resources. It also uses GIS to improve efficiency in business processes such as land-use planning and administering the Mineral Rights Administration Database (MIRIAD), an online system to manage mineral claim stake applications. The ELA is expected to help the province to further utilize GIS for a number of projects in the future.

The GIS community is a growing segment of Newfoundland and Labrador's advanced technology industry. Through the ELA, members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries (NATI), whose primary business is GIS-related, will receive preferential pricing on ESRI Canada solutions for use in the province. Eligible GIS solutions and data developers and consultants based in the province will receive membership discounts for the ESRI Canada Business Partner Program, which provides valuable sales, marketing, service and training support.

"NATI commends the Provincial Government for pursuing partnerships such as the agreement with ESRI Canada, which promotes technological advancement and growth of our local IT industry," said Ron Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, NATI. "This agreement provides significant opportunities for governments and businesses in the province to expand the use and development of GIS, and create opportunities to collaborate on future GIS projects."

To further enhance GIS skills in the province, ESRI Canada will provide annual scholarships over the term of the agreement to students at Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic to promote careers in GIS. ESRI Canada will host an annual conference in the province to provide a venue for local businesses, GIS professionals and vendors to learn and share best practices and further develop GIS capabilities. ESRI Canada will also provide a set number of sponsorships for GIS users, developers and business partners from the province to attend local ESRI training courses, and national and international ESRI conferences.

"Governments need solutions and programs that can help extend the value of technology to their constituents," said James Wickson, Vice President of Sales and Professional Services, ESRI Canada. "Canadian governments such as Newfoundland and Labrador have used GIS for many years to leverage geographic information and create more efficient processes and enhanced services. We are pleased to provide the province with a cost-effective means to expand GIS use and deliver further benefits to its citizens."

For more information about the ESRI Canada ELA, contact your nearest ESRI Canada Regional Office.

Geomatica 10.3 Software, released

2009-11-04T16:45:00.000-06:00

Geomatica 10.3, the latest version of its image-centric desktop software, which now includes imaging tools for GIS, is now available, announced PCI Geomatics.

Geomatica is complete set of software for remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, raster spatial analysis, mosaicking and automated production workflows. Version 10.3 includes support for ESRI ArcGIS Server Image Extension, as well as multi-sensor support through OrthoEngine for ArcGIS users. These users can now rely upon PCI’s OrthoEngine technology to accurately and efficiently correct raw satellite imagery, opening new doors for the integration of remotely sensed imagery into GIS workflows.

Other enhancements to Geomatica 10.3 include improved manual mosaicking, which has been completely redesigned, as well as the addition of algorithms to create full AirPhoto orthorectification workflows within the Visual Modeler environment.

Free MATLAB webinar

2009-11-03T15:19:00.002-06:00

MathWorks invites you to join a free one-hour MATLAB webinar on November 11, 2009.

Application Deployment with MATLAB
11 Nov 2009
11:00 AM EST

This webinar describes how to use the MATLAB Compiler application deployment software and MATLAB builders to create MATLAB based components that can run on machines without MATLAB technical computing software.

This webinar will cover the creation of:

• Standalone executables from MATLAB, using MATLAB Compiler
• C and C++ shared libraries, using MATLAB Compiler
• Java .jar files with MATLAB Builder for Java
• .NET and COM components for Web or non-Web applications, using MATLAB Builder for .NET
• Excel macros or add-ins, using MATLAB Builder for Excel

A Q&A session will follow the presentation and demos. Register for this webinar.

AGU Fall Meeting 2009: Announcing New Late Breaking Sessions

2009-11-03T12:34:00.003-06:00

Two Late Breaking Sessions are now open for abstract submission to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting.

1. The 2009 Samoan and Sumatran Earthquakes: Origins, Impacts and Consequences
2. The 29 September 2009 Tsunami and Earthquake

Session descriptions are posted on the AGU 2009 Fall Meeting website.

The deadline for submitting to both sessions is 06 November 2009, 2359h EDT, +1 3:59h GMT.

Regardless of whether or not you already submitted an abstract to Fall Meeting, you will be able to submit one additional abstract to each of these sessions. The person submitting must be the First Author.

The Abstract submission site is now available.

After logging in you must select a Late Breaking submission role.

If you need any assistance during this process, please feel free to contact the ScholarOne Technical Support team.

Phone: Monday-Friday from 0300 to 1030 Eastern Time.
Direct: +1 + 434-964-4100
Toll Free (US Only): 888-503-1050

Email and web-based technical support is available 24 hours a day, Monday-Friday.
Email: ts.acsupport@thomson.com

AGU Conference Dates:
2009 AGU Fall Meeting
14–18 December
San Francisco, California, USA

GIS Learning CD for GIS Teachers and Students

2009-11-03T10:45:00.002-06:00

SuperGeo released ‘GIS Learning CD’ worldwide. Within 2 months, the unique teaching and learning tool has interested numerous GIS teachers and learners all over the world.

For instance, in Taiwan, many famous institutes, inclusive of Academia Sinica and several noted Universities, have procured GIS Learning CD for teaching and promoting GIS concepts. During TGIS Conference, the largest event as well as communication platform for GIS and Urban Geoinformation in Taiwan, this product also attracted a large number of visitors and potential buyers.

In the US and Canada, where GIS was first developed and GIS related tutorial materials are fairly mature, the CD has demonstrated bright sales record. Many users have purchased this CD and shown highly positive feedback.

Within SuperGeo’s global reseller network, the reseller in Bahrain, Aeromap Technology System, has marketed the CD not only inside the local market but also in other countries in Middle East. In India, the exclusive reseller in Karnataka State, Spaceinfo Technologies, has found several significant channels, such as big book stores and schools, in the local territory. Spaceinfo is planning to market the CD in a large base.

Video: GIS Learning CD

GeoTranslate 5.1 Software, Free Beta Test

2009-11-03T10:40:00.001-06:00

Blue Marble Geographics announces the release of a Beta Version of GeoTranslate 5.1 with Spatial Connect along with GeoTransform 6.1. GeoTranslate and GeoTransform are incorporated into the Blue Marble’s GeoCore SDK an all-in –one geospatial data translation developer toolkit that supports coordinate, geometry, vector, CAD, raster, and LIDAR data. Blue Marble’s geospatial data manipulation and conversion solutions are used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software companies, universities, oil and gas companies, civil engineering, surveying, technology, enterprise GIS groups, government and military organizations.

Blue Marble is looking for user participation in the GeoTranslate 5.1 Beta test with Spatial Connect along with the GeoTransform 6.1 Beta for raster data. This testing program will give users a chance to evaluate and test the new spatial database connectivity functionality at no cost. Your feedback will also help to identify interface use issues and enhancement requests that we can integrate into new versions of the developer tool.

If you are interested in participating in this beta testing period please sign up at http://www.bluemarblegeo.com/products/betasignup.php.

Airborne LIDAR-based mapping

2009-11-03T10:37:00.001-06:00

Aerotec introduced its second-generation airborne LIDAR-based mapping product for identifying and locating vegetation in the vicinity of electric power transmission rights-of-way that presents a significant risk to the operation of the transmission line conductors.

A featured component of the vegetation management product is a handheld unit that provides the utility forester with the capability to measure, locate, analyse, and report the vegetation violation on-the-spot, with a two-second response time, using a single-shot of the handheld unit’s laser rangefinder.

Using AeroTec’s 3-D models of the rights-of-way, the utility forester is able to use and re-use the right-of-way models with the handheld unit to re-inspect, conduct on-site analysis, map, and report on vegetation violations well into the future.

Aerotec’s handheld unit is based on the TOPCON GRS-1 unit integrated with the Laser Technology TruPulse 360 laser rangefinder. Aerotec’s proprietary software for this application produces GIS-compatible (shape-file) results to provide the end-user with complete vegetation violation inventory maps both inside and outside the transmission right-of-way based on an initial airborne LIDAR data capture and processing operation.

Geoportal emapsite partners with GIS specialist Geoplan

2009-11-02T10:31:00.001-06:00

UK geoportal emapsite has improved its portfolio of spatial address products under a new partnership with postcode GIS specialist Geoplan. The supply agreement gives emapsite's customers easy access to some of the most accurate and up to date postcode geography data on the market.

The Geoplan products, created using Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File and definitive, highly detailed Ordnance Survey mapping, are ideal for localised planning and analysis. Applications include demographic profiling, drive time analysis, retail planning, market research and defining sales, service, franchise and dealer territories.

Geoplan products available from emapsite include:

- Geoplan XT, designed for detailed applications that demand the highest level of postcode boundary accuracy and continual update

- Geoplan Pro, including boundaries for postcode areas, districts and sectors as well as the UK’s 1.8 million individual postcode units

- Postcode Address File, a Royal Mail database of address details for every household in the UK

- Drivetime Tables providing approximate drive times between postcode sectors

- Geoplan Census Data, including demographic data based on Census 2001 output areas

- Consumer data for customer profiling and identifying behaviours for households by postcode

Through emapsite, customers log in to their management portal to download the data that has been ordered from Geoplan. As the data source is continually enhanced, customers can stay up to date with amendments on the ground caused by property development, redevelopment and house or street name changes.

The agreement with Geoplan is the latest enhancement to emapsite’s service which provides access to a range of digital geographic content. Customers, partners, integrators and suppliers use emapsite to source mapping, aerial photography, addressing, height data, historical maps and environmental reports.

Google maps of South Africa

2009-11-02T10:28:00.000-06:00

New detailed maps of many South African cities and towns, including Johannesburg; Cape Town; Durban; Pretoria; Port Elizabeth; and East London, were made accessible on Google Maps through any web browser via Google Maps for Mobile on data enabled handsets.

Although already available in South Africa, the map data has been improved dramatically and is now available with additional features. In addition to searching online Maps, Google Maps users will now be able to find businesses and check driving directions. Businesses will be able to add their own business listings for free via Google Maps Local Business Centre.

The map data includes a substantial amount of user generated content provided via Google Map Maker as well as thousands of business listings for South African cities. The new maps also include 'My Maps' and hotspots of a number of South African artists and experts such as music favourites Freshlyground and Thandiswa Mazwai, and designer Desre Buirski.

Information on streets, addresses and local businesses and services will also be accessible via mobile phones. Google Maps for Mobile can be downloaded for free. With this tool, users will be able to access detailed maps of South Africa and the world on the go.

In the future, Street View images of South Africa will be available in Google Maps and Maps for Mobile, allowing users to virtually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through 360 degree panoramic street-level images. Users can look up restaurants or hotels before travelling, explore neighbourhoods and arrange meeting points.

XMF Alerter Software for GIS performance monitoring and management

2009-10-30T14:05:00.003-05:00

geoXMF LLC announced today the newest version of its industry-leading enterprise GIS performance monitoring and management software XMF Alerter Version 2.5. Benefits of the new version include:

· Support for ArcGIS Direct Connect XMF Alerter now allows you to set up monitoring for SDE availability via ESRI's Direct Connect support for Oracle, SQL Server and DB2. Alerts will fire when the SDE connection is interrupted so that you can proactively address the issue.

· Remote batch (file initiation) script support This improvement allows managers to remotely run scripts to manage ArcGIS Server services. For example, to restart services via a batch script.

· XML API for Alert status With this API the status of all alerts is available via a URL or "web service" which responds with XML. Using this web service, the Alerter can be integrated with other desktop applications or other web-based applications - such as an existing enterprise dashboard.

This latest version of XMF Alerter is available for download and evaluation at www.geoxmf.com.

XMF Alerter is a complete enterprise performance monitoring and alerting solution for ESRI GIS. XMF Alerter integrates with and enhances ESRI’s industry-standard GIS architecture to deliver a comprehensive tool to improve overall IT efficiency and productivity.

Campbell County, WY and City & County of Honolulu join a growing list of geoXMF clients, including The Nature Conservancy, City of Zurich, Deere & Company, Tallahassee –Leon County GIS, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Providence Water Supply Board and United Power among others.

About geoXMF
geoXMF LLC is a leader in real-time GIS monitoring and services. geoXMF’s industry leading technology integrates with ESRI Internet mapping software and is used by organizations including transportation, agriculture, water and wastewater utilities, power distribution and local/regional governments. geoXMF provides products that enable GIS professionals to effectively manage their spatial enterprise and proactively monitor the key components of their GIS technology stack.

The company’s XMF Alerter software responds to the growing need for organizations world-wide to maximize GIS performance and reliability.

DigitalGlobe and Microsoft for High-Resolution Aerial Imagery

2009-10-30T14:02:00.000-05:00

DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution world-imagery products and services for defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial customers, today announced it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to launch the Clear30 program, an initiative to distribute high-resolution, 30-cm aerial imagery of contiguous landscapes, initially in the U.S. and Western Europe. These orthophoto mosaics will be available through Bing Maps and through DigitalGlobe channels.

The Clear30 initiative is a new agreement that expands the current relationship between Microsoft and DigitalGlobe and reflects a commitment to increase accessibility and use of high-resolution digital imagery. To collect the first ever multicontinental aerial imagery from 30 cm, the companies will use the UltraCamG, a large format digital aerial camera manufactured by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, which is based on Vexcel’s UltraCam large format camera systems, the top selling large format aerial sensors internationally.

“We’re excited about the launch of the Clear30 program and our continued relationship with DigitalGlobe,” said Steve Stanzel, general manager of Bing Maps at Microsoft Corp. “By providing DigitalGlobe exclusive access to our advanced UltraCamG imagery, we can provide our mutual customers easy access and integration of high-resolution digital aerial orthophotos for vast landscapes around the world.”

“We are very pleased to be expanding our relationship with Microsoft and look forward to introducing the UltraCamG imagery into our world imagery solutions,” said Jill Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe. “The addition of large quantities of very high-resolution digital aerial imagery, collected quickly and published on a consistent update schedule, will further enhance our ability to distribute a comprehensive digitized globe to our customers.”

The companies did not provide financial details concerning the agreement.

Imagery from the UltraCamG will further expand DigitalGlobe’s industry leading ImageLibrary and will complement the satellite imagery products available from the DigitalGlobe high-resolution satellite constellation, including the recently launched WorldView-2 satellite. Current collection areas for the UltraCamG program include the 48 contiguous United States and Western Europe.

To learn more about advanced DigitalGlobe’s constellation of sub-meter satellites, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

Download Free, Open-Source Geopublisher

2009-10-29T14:50:00.003-05:00

What is Geopublisher?

Geopublisher is an atlas authoring system which allows easy publication of geo-data, documents, images, videos, and statistics in form of digital multimedia atlases. These atlases can be understood as minimal, pre-configured end-user GIS which offer selected functionality only where its meaningful.

Geopublisher provides tools for quality assurance and multilingual meta-data management. No in-depth knowledge of HTML, SLD or XML is required to create an atlas. Atlases can be directly published on CD, DVD, memory stick, external hard-drive or the Internet. The software is platform-independent and Open-Source.
Features as a glance:

Geopublishing.org software has some unique features which make it especially applicable in the fields of international research, participatory GIS, capacity building, and development cooperation. These features include:

* Atlases created with Geopublisher are simplified end-user GIS with selected functionality available only where it's meaningful.

* Hybrid online and offline atlases make geo-data accessible in areas beyond the digital divide.

* Multilingual management of meta-data avoids redundancies and allows for the quick release of updated atlases.

* Integrated WYSIWYG editors for SLD and HTML allow geopublishing without knowledge of SLD, XML or HTML.

* All software is Free and Open-Source Software compliant with OGC standards.

* Geopublisher + QuantumGIS + OpenOffice provide a free Open-Source Geopublishing desktop.

The software is OpenSouce and can be downloaded free: Geopublisher and AtlasStyler development version, download ZIP file (67.43 Mb)

Installation

1. You need at least a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 6.

2. Uncompress the ZIP file. In Windows we recommend the folder C:\Programme, using Linux it could be /home/user/bin. The ZIP file contains a subfolder called Geopublishing.

3. Open the Geopublishing-folder and double-click start_AtlasStyler.bat or start_Geopublisher.bat. For Linux there are corresponding start_AtlasStyler.sh and start_Geopublisher.sh scripts.

Using KML for Thematic Mapping

2009-10-29T14:39:00.003-05:00

Bjørn Sandvik of the Thematic Mapping blog shared his MSc research paper titled "Using KML for Thematic Mapping".

Paper Abstract
The use of geobrowsers has increased considerably over the last few years. Thematic mapping has a long history in cartography, but the new geobrowsers (like Google Maps and Earth) tend not to focus on this aspect of geographical information representation. This paper examines how Keyhole Markup Language (KML) can be used for thematic mapping. KML is not targeted towards thematic mapping, but it is possible to use KML elements in ways that were probably not intended. Current possibilities for making proportional symbol maps, chart maps, choropleth maps and animated maps with KML will be presented. These experiments show that KML and geobrowsers offer great potential for thematic mapping, but that there are gnificant issues that need to be resolved.

"Using KML for Thematic Mapping" paper is available for free download (PDF, 2.3 MB).

Lithuanian Universities to Use ESRI GIS Software in Classrooms

2009-10-29T14:32:00.001-05:00

Lithuania's minister of education and science, Gintaras Steponavičius; ESRI president Jack Dangermond; and Linas Gipiskis, managing director of HNIT-BALTIC, UAB, ESRI's distributor in Lithuania, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the recent ESRI European User Conference. The MOU allows Lithuania's universities and colleges to obtain educational site licenses for ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) software products, providing access to ArcGIS core software and its extensions.

"This agreement opens the door to increased problem solving-based learning for university students across Lithuania, something that helps build valuable job skills," said Steponavičius.

Dangermond added, "Several Lithuanian universities have already demonstrated the value of GIS in their teaching and research activities. This agreement facilitates the uptake of the technology by a wider range of academic departments that are considering how spatial thinking and problem solving can impact their studies."

Gujarat Ecology Commission: GIS-based website

2009-10-29T14:28:00.001-05:00

An apex body working under the Forest and Environment Department, Government of Gujarat, the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC) launched its GIS website. The commission's website is the first in the state of Gujarat to be developed based on GIS.

"It is for the first time in the state that a website has been developed based on GIS. The website will be offering database on environmental conditions in the state of Gujarat. While currently the information dates back to 2004, we are in the process of updating it continually", said SK Nanda, principal secretary, forest and environment.

The commission is engaged in various environmental conservation programmes along with strengthen of village level organisations. Nanda added that in order to create environmental data base commission had developed more than 300 GIS based maps on various parameters of environment along with more than 2000 tables.

The main features of the website include, up to date information on mangrove plantations and mangrove cover in Gujarat, and information on integrated coastal zone management programme funded by World Bank and to be implemented by commission, among other things.

Moreover, under its Environmental Information System (ENVIS) project, information on various environmental factors such as land, water, forests, agriculture, animal husbandry, health mines and mineral, coastal environment and energy has been uploaded.

MODIS Satellite Data to Enhance XMWX Product to Track Fish

2009-10-28T12:04:00.001-05:00

WorldWinds, Inc. and the NASA Short–term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) at the Marshall Space Flight Center have enhanced a product to track favorable conditions of certain pelagic fish species. The daily Chlorophyll–a composite product uses data from NASA’s MODIS satellite and has been applied in the XMWX commercial weather product which provides live, site-specific atmospheric and oceanographic information to motorists, boaters, outdoorsmen, commercial mariners, and emergency personnel allowing them to make more informed decisions while saving time and fuel.

Mariners are among those most in need of reliably available, quality meteorological and oceanographic information. The difference between reliable, quality data and otherwise can have a huge impact on completing a job, having a successful research cruise, the efficient use of fuel, safety, or enjoyable recreation. The equipment needed to receive and display the data, a small antenna, with embedded receiver, and a display device, can be installed in any type of home or vehicle. This weather data is available anywhere in the continental United States and up to 600 miles offshore in coastal US waters. An accompanying GPS option also makes it possible for users to plot their own position on the interface map, showing their movements in relation to storms and other features.

To provide mariners with all of the needed aspects of meteorological and oceanographic data, WorldWinds and partners WxWorx ( www.wxworx.com) and XM Satellite Weather, developed a suite of data products, dubbed XMWX, that includes: current in–situ measurements; sea surface temperature; significant wave height, period, and direction; current and forecasted wind, sea level pressure, and visibility; cloud cover mosaic; marine zone forecasts, additional in–house proprietary data, including FishBytesTM, and other pertinent information.

Funding and support for this project is from the NASA SPoRT group at Marshall Space Flight Center. WorldWinds has made this data available to the public. Data is posted to the public web site within one hour of the daytime MODIS/Aqua collection and can be accessed at: http://www.worldwindsinc.com/Chlorophyll.htm.

WorldWinds presented the results of the project at OCEANS ’09 Conference. The project is also included in the upcoming October issue of NASA’s Spinoff magazine.

Brunei and Philippine Maps from Tele Atlas

2009-10-28T11:54:00.001-05:00

Tele Atlas unveiled its first maps for Brunei and the Philippines and also increased coverage across Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Tele Atlas maps for Asia Pacific are now the most complete available, with navigable coverage of 15 countries and territories including more than 6.6 million kilometers of roadways and 8.5 million points of interest (POIs).

Tele Atlas maps for the Philippines cover more than 11 million inhabitants and offer over 10,000 POIs. The maps include coverage of nearly 10,000 kilometers of navigable roads, including fully attributed street network coverage of Manila. Tele Atlas maps of Brunei cover more than 2,700 kilometers of roadways, including complete street network coverage of the country.

Further building on its coverage lead in Southeast Asia, Tele Atlas navigable maps now include:

• Expanded coverage of Indonesia with 340,000 kilometers and more than 96,000 POIs, including detailed street network coverage in all major cities;

• Malaysia coverage with more than 32,000 POIs and 73,000 kilometers of roadways, including 10,000 new kilometers backed by Tele Atlas’ proprietary mobile mapping van technology;

• Thailand coverage of more than 765,000 kilometers and 476,000 POIs, marking an increase of more than 10,000 new POIs and more than 80 percent of fully attributable coverage;

• The addition of 110,000 kilometers and two million POIs in China, for a total of more than 2.1 million kilometers and 10 million POIs available for the country.

The new Tele Atlas maps are immediately available to all Tele Atlas personal navigation, wireless, Internet, automotive and enterprise customers worldwide. The latest updates also include a range of Tele Atlas enhancement products such as 3D Landmarks, 2D City Maps and Digital Elevation Models, which give local search application users maps that more closely reflect their surroundings.

New GeoEye-1 Multi-Site Option

2009-10-27T11:48:00.001-05:00

AAMHatch is pleased to announce the popular Multi-Site product is now available for 50cm GeoEye-1 satellite imagery. Multi-Site, already available for 80cm IKONOS imagery, allows clients interested in multiple captures over small areas to acquire the higher resolution and more accurate GeoEye-1 satellite imagery.

“CTF Solution has reached the milestone of acquiring more than 1,000,000ha of submetre resolution satellite imagery to undertake property planning and mapping. The majority of the high resolution satellite data we have utilised has been IKONOS multi-site data, which we are sourcing from GeoEye’s Australian Reseller, AAMHatch”, says Tim Neale – Director, CTF Solutions.

Neale goes on to advise that, “Over the past year, AAMHatch has provided CTF Solutions with good advice and timely service, and we have been able to take good advantage of the cost-effective Multi-Site product for our clients, both in Australia and internationally.”

“As many clients wish to acquire imagery over multiple smaller sites or over multiple dates, this new option is really cost effective” says Lisa Dykes, AAMHatch Satellite Imagery Team Leader.

The benefit of this new offer is really that the minimum new capture area of 100km2 is slashed to only 50km2 if the same site is imaged 3 times annually or 3 separate sites of 50km2 are ordered at the same time. This equates to a 50% saving on each new capture order. The added advantage is that users still maintain the other benefits, i.e.

1. 2km x 2km guaranteed cloud free area
2. 15% cloud cover or less assurance policy
3. Unparalleled horizontal accuracy of 3m (excluding terrain effects) without ground control
4. 4 band multispectral imagery

For further information, visit the satellite imagery webpage here.

DMCii satellite imagery approved by US Department of Agriculture

2009-10-27T11:40:00.001-05:00

Remote sensing solutions provider DMCii has [today] been approved as a supplier of satellite imagery to the Office of Global Analysis, USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service (OGA USDA FAS) through its procurement agency Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC).

DMCii was invited to supply satellite imagery to the OGA USDA FAS because it provides a unique combination of technical advantages for agricultural monitoring. Firstly, its satellites provide 22m and 32m Ground Sample Distance (GSD) multi-spectral imagery with a large 650km swath width that is capable of monitoring large areas rapidly. Secondly, the company is able to acquire daily images of a given location by coordinating the multi-satellite DMC constellation. Finally, multispectral image data is ideal for monitoring crop growth and is delivered in a highly calibrated Landsat-compatible format for immediate use in crop monitoring applications. DMC data has long been in regular use by precision agriculture services in Europe, where the speed of acquisition, accuracy and very large image size are exactly what is needed for successful monitoring of critical crop growth stages across entire countries.

Bob Tetrault, USDA Satellite Imagery Archive Manager, commented, “The use of DMC satellite data allows the crop analysts to receive broad area, multi-temporal monitoring coverage which is critical in our operational global food security analysis.”

Dave Hodgson, Managing Director DMCii, added, “Our multi-satellite imaging service is ideal for frequent coverage and crop monitoring as the data is collected as large images and delivered in a highly calibrated Landsat-compatible format so applications don’t need to be reinvented.”

DMCii delivers highly calibrated ortho-rectified imagery that can be imported directly into GIS applications. It has delivered 32metre GSD multispectral imagery since the first DMC satellite launched in 2002. The recent launch of two new 22metre GSD satellites, UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 has greatly increased the imaging capacity of the constellation and has also doubled the number of image pixels per hectare to boost the effectiveness of the system for monitoring agriculture.

By coordinating the constellation of satellites, DMCii covers vast areas within a very short space of time so that data shows the state of vegetation for a very specific period. For example, DMCii coordinated the imaging of 38 countries in Europe within tight time windows specified by each country. DMCii will provide a rapid delivery of data to OGA USDA FAS so that it can be used for rapid decision making during growth seasons.

Cross compatibility is another important consideration when using different satellite imagery. The multi-spectral imagers used on the DMC satellites provide exactly the same spectral bands as the Landsat bands 2, 3 and 4 (R, G, NIR). They are also specially designed to provide highly calibrated imagery, with negligible differences in radiometry between DMC satellites so that data can be combined seamlessly. The large size of DMC images saves considerable time and expense for end users, because they cover huge areas and reduce the need to process large numbers of datasets.

Through the agreement, DMCii data is now available on an approved supplier list from which the OGA USDA FAS and other Government departments coordinate data supply without the duplication of effort and expense.

About DMC International Imaging Ltd
DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMC data is now used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

In partnership with the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the other DMC member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter: ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunami, hurricanes, fires and flooding.

DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the DMC with the support of the BNSC and in conjunction with the DMC member nations Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain.