Geoinfomatics News [International]

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ESRI's 25th Annual Conference Attracts Nearly 13,000 Users

The staging of ESRI's 25th annual international user conference demonstrates the company's continued strength in the industry and its popularity among users.

The numbers tell it all: Nearly 13,000 users attended from more than 135 countries. There were about 1,150 paper sessions and panel discussions, more than 400 technical workshops, 112 special interest group meetings, and 23 special displays. In addition, ESRI staged 4 concurrent conferences including the Senior Executive Seminar, Telecom, Survey Summit, and EdUC that had a combined attendance of about 1,300, as well as 38 pre-conference seminars that attracted more than 1,400 attendees.

Commenting on this year's conference theme, GIS - Helping Manage our World, ESRI president, Jack Dangermond said, "GIS provides a particularly valuable framework for managing both human and natural activities because it facilitates the integration and analysis of complex data, making it readily accessible to scientists, planners, and the general public. The GIS framework allows the assimilation of physical measurements, analytical methods, and computer models into a uniform system that allows the analysis and maintenance of workflows and perpetuates sustainable development.

http://www.esri.com/news/index.html

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Discovery Completes First of Two Test Missions

Space Shuttle Discovery launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center July 26, 2005 , ending a two-and-a-half year wait for the historic Return to Flight mission. STS-114 included breathtaking in-orbit maneuvers, tests of new equipment and procedures, and a first-of-its-kind spacewalking repair.

Discovery touched down Aug. 9 at Edwards Air Force Base in California following a successful reentry. The orbiter returned Aug. 21 to Kennedy Space Center atop a modified Boeing 747 called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Discovery is now in the Orbiter Processing Facility, where it will be readied for mission STS-121.

More about the STS-114 mission at http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/

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Galileo satellite payload testing

Testing of the first Galileo satellites, which form part of what is called the Galileo System Test Bed (GSTB), is under way. One of the two satellites arrived at the ESA-ESTEC test facilities in late July, while the payload of the other spacecraft is now being tested in Italy .
 
The payload of the GTSB-V2/B satellite, being developed by Galileo Industries, is just completing a first series of tests at the Alenia Spazio facilities in Rome . In particular, the specially developed navigation payload has been subjected to a range of extreme temperatures in vacuum. This simulation of the space environment realistically validates the payload's performance in orbit.

The campaign will continue with mechanical testing. The payload's functionality will have to be proven while exposed to strong vibration, high acoustic noise levels and shock, as encountered during launch. Whereas the mechanical investigations can be considered standard satellite testing, the first validation in the thermal vacuum environment had been awaited with special interest, as it has given early feedback on the in-orbit performance of the newly developed payload.  

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMU0S95QCE_index_0.html

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Intergraph Deployed at Largest Local Gas Supplier in Western Europe

Intergraph Corporation announced on 2 August 2005 , Berliner Gaswerke Aktiengesellschaft (GASAG), the largest municipal gas supply company in Western Europe , has deployed Intergraph's mobile workforce management software to streamline and integrate trouble reporting, field response, and repair processes. Intergraph, in cooperation with partners, Condat AG and Planung-Programmierung-Schulung (PPS/EDV) GmbH, successfully implemented the new central call center system within one year. The new solution, based on Intergraph InService(TM) technology, supports the maintenance department's entire business workflow from the moment a gas fault is reported and a crew is dispatched, to capturing and archiving the operational information on the repair work and completion. With InService GASAG can shorten response times, improve the quality of services, and better ensure the safety of a large customer base.

"With 700,000 customers and a pipe network of more than 6,800 kilometers in Berlin , GASAG is the largest municipal gas supply company in Western Europe ," said Stephan Boy, manager, GASAG Maintenance Department. "To make sure we carry out the job of supplying gas properly, it isn't enough to have the right structure and well-qualified staff. We must also have a high-quality, global IT system for handling all relevant business processes."

The central operations management part of the new system has a graphical component that displays operational locations and vehicle positions, along with the entire pipe network on a digital map. Job details are passed on to mobile maintenance units and status and operational information is fed back non-verbally via the mobile telephony system. Details and the cause of the problem along with the materials used and the time required to do the job are recorded using an online operations form in the vehicle. This information is then transferred via the radio link directly to the central SAP system for further processing. Maintenance department employees are alerted in three ways to ensure the call will reach the relevant person, even if out of the vehicle.

"Using this complex, integrated system, we've been able to demonstrate our efficiency in terms of providing early warnings and emergency management," said Stefan Wiesner, CEO, Condat AG. "The setup achieved by GASAG in this instance can also be applied easily in other operational areas with a little imagination and effort such as in the chemical industry and fire, ambulance and rescue service."

For more information, visit www.intergraph.com

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Spot Image and ImageONE signed channel partnership agreement for distribution of FORMOSAT-2 data

Spot Image and ImageONE have signed a commercial partnership agreement giving ImageONE exclusive rights to distribute FORMOSAT-2 data to the entire Japanese market. The agreement also grants three minutes per day priority reservation of the satellite's resources on the orbit west of Japan .

“The energy and enthusiasm that ImageONE has shown in the distribution of SPOT products in Japan convinced us that they are the best partner to promote FORMOSAT-2,” said Hervé Buchwalter, Chairman & CEO of Spot Image. “The data from this new satellite will reinforce the success of efforts to promote SPOT 5, for which we also signed in 2002 an exclusive agreement for the national security market.”

Japan 's space programmes reflect its strong interest in satellite-based Earth observation and are spurring development of thematic applications. Japan has been the biggest user of SPOT imagery in the Asia-Pacific region for several years now.

“With its daily 2m imaging capability over territories surrounding Japan , FORMOSAT-2 will certainly become an attractive data source for Japanese customers. FORMOSAT-2 will also serve as a good complementary data source to SPOT-5 for the territories surrounding Japan ,” explained Hiroshi Nashimoto, President of ImageONE.

http://www.spotimage.fr, http://www.imageone.co.jp/

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MyTopo.com and Trimble Empower Outdoor Enthusiasts to Publish Custom GPS Overlay Maps

MyTopo.com and Trimble are working together to provide outdoor enthusiasts with a convenient and easy way to publish large-format custom topographic and aerial photo maps with Global Positioning System (GPS)-based routes and waypoints overlaid on their maps. The announcement was made on 11th August, 2005 at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.

Trimble's new version of Adventure Planner™ outdoor trip planning software, which is a component of the Trimble Outdoors™ service, has a new embedded feature allowing users to automatically send trip routes and waypoints to MyTopo.com. Users are led through a short process to design a custom GPS map, which can be previewed online. MyTopo.com then prints the map to the customer's specifications and ships it to their doorstep for arrival within a few days.

"Trimble Adventure Planner users can print maps from their home computer printer today, however, many adventures are more convenient with large format, waterproof maps for navigation," said Rich Rudow, managing director of Trimble Outdoors. "After using these maps recently on a few backcountry trips, I was amazed at their durability in difficult environments. My last trip covered six USGS quads the convenience of carrying only one large format map rather than six quads can't be overstated. We're pleased to enable our customers convenient access to these maps from Adventure Planner at a reduced price."

"This announcement takes digital mapping in a new direction, allowing people to use their GPS devices and Trimble's Adventure Planner software together to create their own navigation-ready field maps," said Kevin Toohill, president of MyTopo.com

For news and information, visit Trimble's Web site at www.trimble.com, www.mytopo.com

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Amber iQ 2.0 from AmberCoreTM software

Amber iQ is a high performance spatial decision support system that allows users to truly understand the forces that affect their organization and make better business decisions. Amber iQ empowers business users to analyze and model location based information with a comprehensive set of high performance spatial analysis tools.

Visualize, predict and compare the impacts of potential business scenarios and strategic decisions. Amber iQ is the art and science of using location based information to make better decisions – decisions that need to be made quickly and efficiently.

• When should I introduce new services to my customers?
• Where should I allocate my resources?
• How should I segment my market?

Developing new business ideas and setting goals can be easy compared to the challenge of effectively implementing a strategy to achieve the desired results.

Amber iQ accelerates this implementation by putting sophisticated analytical technology in the hands of business users and decision makers. Intuitive ease of use, speed of processing and viewing information define Amber iQ as a unique approach to spatial information technology. Making location sensitive decisions accurately and efficiently is faster and easier than ever!

One of the most powerful features of Amber iQ is the ability to automate and customize work flows. Amber iQ includes easy to use wizards that intelligently walk the user through data processing, visualization and analysis. Coupled with the power of multi-threaded processing Amber iQ allows user to simultaneously process, view and compare multiple point density solutions. The inclusion of these unique wizards allows users to implement Amber iQ out of the box producing meaningful results quickly and without a long learning process.

http://www.spatialinsights.com/catalog/product.aspx?product=207

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Spatial Insights Releases Point2Point Drive, a ‘Street Smart’ Find-the-Closest Drive Time Application

Spatial Insights, Inc. announces the release of Point2Point Drive , an application that enables users to find-the-closest location using drive distance as the metric. Instead of the commonly reported straight-line distance calculated between latitude and longitude coordinates, this new tool offers a more realistic, ‘on-the-ground' measurement of how far apart locations actually are from one another based on drive time or driving distance.

Point2Point Drive works in conjunction with FreewayTM, drive time analysis software able to calculate drive times and drive distances among two sets of coordinates. FreewayTM is also available from Spatial Insights.

Point2Point Drive reads in a geocoded origin and destination file and allows for processing of all records in both files, or just the closest specified number or the closest specified percent from the destinations. Additionally, users can filter the results so that the results only reflect destinations within a certain radius, drive time, and/or drive distance of the origins.

“There are many tools that can find the closest location using crow-flies distance,” noted Don Segal, President of Spatial Insights, “but using drive time provides a more realistic indication of proximity, and provides our customers with better, more accurate results regarding access to locations for competitive analyses, scheduling, and trade area delineation”.

http://www.spatialinsights.com/catalog/product.aspx?product=209

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New Magellan eXplorist XL GPS boasts largest color screen, plus maps & expandability

Thales' navigation business, global provider of Magellan consumer GPS products, unveils its unique, new Magellan eXplorist XL handheld GPS receiver at the Outdoor Retailer show on 10th August, 2005 . Available in September, the advanced, yet easy-to-use Magellan eXplorist XL ensures navigators can easily see where they're going with the largest screen available on a rugged handheld GPS -- a 3.5”, sunlight viewable, high contrast color TFT LCD screen. It also delivers unlimited map storage with 30MB of available internal memory plus expandable memory through a built-in SD card reader/writer. The Magellan eXplorist XL's enhanced capabilities offer exceptional versatility for camping, boating, fishing, hunting or driving.

“The versatility of the Magellan eXplorist XL gives adventure seekers and outdoor sportsmen the convenience and practicality of an eXplorist in a larger form factor,” said Christian Bubenheim, vice president and general manager for Thales' consumer business unit. “The large color display screen builds on the variety of superior functionality consumers have come to equate with the Magellan eXplorist series.”

The included Magellan Geocaching Manager software simplifies the fast-growing GPS activity by loading geocaching data directly from the Internet to the Magellan eXplorist to eliminate the need to print website information or manually enter GPS coordinates into a receiver. Also included is the new Magellan MapSend Software DVD, which makes it easier than ever for customers to take advantage of the power and advanced capabilities that MapSend maps add to their Magellan handheld. Customers receive free data management software plus the ability to purchase and install newly released versions of the MapSend line's most popular software applications directly from the DVD.

Optional Magellan eXplorist accessories include carrying cases, batteries, power adaptors and mounting options for vehicles, bikes and boats. For more information, visit www.magellangps.com, http://www.thalesgroup.com/navigation.

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Orbimage announces creaction of two new Organizational Entities to enhance performance and intensify focus

ORBIMAGE Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ORBIMAGE Holdings Inc. announced on August 17, 2005 the creation of two new organizational entities to attain better alignment with customers in the domestic and international marketplace. This new structure will both facilitate growth and increase focus on strategic planning and the expansion of ORBIMAGE's large portfolio of geospatial imagery products and solutions. The first new entity is called the International Strategic Business Unit (ISBU) which will be responsible for developing new business, strategic partnerships, public relations, and products and services to support ORBIMAGE's growing international network of ground station operators, value-added resellers, and customers. The international marketplace represents more than half of the Company's current revenues. The second new organizational entity will focus on all other customer relationships, and the overall strategic planning for ORBIMAGE. It will also be responsible for expanding ORBIMAGE's U.S. government and commercial sales presence and streamlining the Company's corporate communications, marketing, and customer services departments.

“By making these organizational enhancements, ORBIMAGE will be able to meet its business objectives, while better serving our customers and further expanding its role as the industry leader,” said Bill Schuster, ORBIMAGE's Chief Operating Officer. “Both entities will be oriented toward customer satisfaction, strong revenue growth and profitability. Each unit will be led by dynamic managers with proven track records, considerable industry experience, and unwavering dedication to success.” Schuster said.

For more information, visit http://www.orbimage.com.

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Australia’s Largest Road Construction Project Uses Trimble Positioning Technology

Trimble announced on August 23, 2005 that it has been selected as the preferred supplier of machine control and survey equipment for Thiess John Holland, the lead contractor building Australia's largest road project¯EastLink in Melbourne. With total construction costs of AU$2.5 billion (US$1.9 billion), the scale of work required for timely completion of Melbourne's EastLink is beyond that ever tackled before on any single infrastructure project in Australia.

EastLink's three-lane, freeway-standard road is expected to be built over three and a half years. Construction includes two million square meters of paved road, more than eighty bridges, seventeen interchanges and 1.6 kilometers three-lane twin tunnels. The project will deliver Melbourne 's second fully-electronic tollway, comprising about 45 kilometers of freeway-standard road connecting the city's eastern and south-eastern suburbs. Connecting the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne 's east to the Frankston Freeway in the south-east, EastLink is expected to become a major commuter road and a key intracity arterial route.

Responsibility for EastLink's design and construction lies with Thiess John Holland. The joint venture commenced major construction in March 2005. According to Greg Sparkman, Thiess John Holland's General Manager Project Wide Delivery, smart technology will be the key to achieve productivity gains in such a short time frame.

“With 7.5 million cubic meters of soil to be moved, the traditional method of putting stakes in the ground to guide the machinery was never going to be satisfactory,” said Sparkman. “Trimble technology has addressed that problem for us and has opened all sorts of opportunities on this project to increase productivity.”

Ultimate Positioning, Trimble's distributor of 3D machine guidance and survey solutions in Melbourne , has already installed four Trimble NetRS™ base stations and a Trimble SNB 900 radio network along the 39 kilometers EastLink route. Other Trimble equipment that will be used includes: two BladePro?? 3D systems for graders¯to run from ATS total stations; four BladePro 3D GPS systems for graders¯optioned to swap to ATS; four dual-antenna SiteVision?? systems for dozers; six Trimble S6 Robotic Total Stations and six Trimble SPS 780 GPS Rovers with internal radios.

Within months, two-way communications between the design office and construction equipment will be installed, allowing designs to be immediately uploaded into machines and as-constructed information relayed back to the office.

ConnectEast Group is the concessionaire for EastLink. It was awarded the contract to finance, design, construct and operate EastLink for a period of approximately 39 years, beginning in late 2004. The tollroad is due to begin operations in late 2008.

For more information on the EastLink project, visit: www.connecteast.com.au

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Lantmaeteriet selected INPHO’s MATCH-AT and OrthoBox

Lantmaeteriet / National Land Survey of Sweden, with their headquarters in Gaevle, have selected MATCH-AT and OrthoBox as the software platform for their Image Unit (Bilden­heten). The installation consists of several pro­duction li­censes each.

MATCH-AT and OrthoBox (OrthoMaster & OrthoVista) from INPHO, Stuttgart, Germany are professional production tools for highly automated aerial triangulation and rigorous orthorectifi­ca­tion of aerial images com­bined with fully auto­mated color balancing and image mo­saicking. They offer superior performance along with unsurpassed qual­ity at a reasonable cost.

“Lantmaeteriet is renown for their high photogrammetric standards being also one of the first ci­vil­ian gov­ernmental organizations worldwide having acquired a large for­mat digital aerial cam­era”, said Johannes Saile, Managing Director of INPHO GmbH . “ Fully digital photogrammet­ric pro­duction incorporates huge data volumes and re­quires powerful soft­ware for maintaining high quality, productivity and profitability. INPHO is proud of having been selected by Lant­maeteriet as their software supplier for one of their key business ar­eas. We are looking forward to a close co­operation and mutually beneficial relationship with Lantmaeteriet.”

“Digital aerial triangulation and digital orthophoto production are the main activities of one of our produc­tion sections in Gaevle. When re-furnishing our pro­duc­tion fa­cili­ties very re­cently we were looking for production-oriented soft­ware offering high throughput, high quality and compatibility to our system environment,” said Mrs. Birgitta Fyrberg, Head of the Image Unit of Lantmaeteriet . “INPHO's pro­fessional software tools provided perfect match to our needs for intense orthophoto production and they nicely combine rigorous photogram­metry with ease-of-use. Furthermore, INPHO and FM-Profes­sional provided us with pro­fes­sional support during the software testing and setting up the produc­tion lines. We are looking forward to a long-term customer rela­tionship with INPHO.”

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New ENVI DEM Extraction Module

The new ENVI DEM Extraction Module helps you to quickly create DEMs – and get more information from your imagery. It provides an easy-to-use, wizard-based tool to create highly accurate, digital elevation models for orthorectification, topographical analysis, visualization and contour map generation. The ENVI DEM Extraction Module supports RPC's from multiple pushbroom sensors: ASTER, IKONOS, OrbView-3, QuickBird and SPOT 1-5. Whether you're analyzing terrain attributes in an image or looking for features within a target area, there is a growing need for spatially accurate, orthorectified 3D representations.

http://www.rsinc.com/Envi/addons_demmodule.asp

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Definiens Announces Expansion to North America

Definiens AG, a leader in advanced image intelligence solutions, announced on August 1, 2005 , the opening of a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Definiens Inc., which closely follows the company's global expansion plan. This momentous growth is also due to an increased demand for Definiens' products and solutions, as well as part of an effort to continue the high level of services and support that Definiens' customers have come to expect and appreciate. Additionally, the U.S. and European offices have been undergoing an increase in staff in order to support the growing demand for the new products and solutions.

To better serve its customers Definiens will open offices in Boston , Massachusetts , and Boulder , Colorado . “ Definiens is experiencing significant growth in the U.S. for its image intelligence software solutions and services, ” said Thomas Heydler, Definiens' CEO. “ Our expansion into the United States is a major step in developing our international business. A U.S.-based branch will enable us to expand our presence in our most important market and demonstrates our commitment to our North American customers. "

The company will retain its main offices in Munich , Germany , which houses its R&D and the international operations.

http://www.definiens-imaging.com/press/e/usa.htm

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Short term course on GPS Surveying

A short term course on "GPS Surveying" is scheduled to be held during November 28 to December 02, 2005 for FIVE days at IIT Rorkee. It is expected that the course will be of very high quality as numbers of outside experts and inter-disciplinary faculty members will be drawn for delivering lectures on various topics on GPS Surveying. Moreover, extensive hands on training on data collection and processing using all fundamental types of GPS receivers (Magellan's Navigational GPS receivers, Topcon's Positioning System, Leica's Dual Frequency Geodetic GPS receivers, Trimble's RTK DGPS receivers) will also be a part of the course.

It may be emphasised here that since last FOUR years short term courses on "GPS" are being organised by me at IIT Rookee. This was being attended by participants from all over India and different organisations like SAC Ahmedabad, NRSA Hyderabad, TATA Steel Jamshedpur, FSI Dehradun, SWALAL Project UP/UA, RRSSC Lucknow, CRRI NewDelhi, NPCIL Mumbai, IRICE Pune, ICAR Bangalore, CWC New Delhi, HSRSAC Chandigarh, different universities like Guwahati, Kolkata etc. had sponsored their candidates for these training courses.

For more information please contact Dr. Jayanta Kumar Ghosh at gjkumfce@iitr.ernet.in

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