JULY 2008 VOL 12 ISSUE 7

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Chairman M P Narayanan Editor in Chief Ravi Gupta Honorary Managing Editor Prof. Arup DasguptaDirector Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar

Editorial Team: Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Sr. Assistant Editor Saurabh Mishra Sr. AssistantEditor Anamika Das Practice Manager Harsha Vardhan

Sales and Marketing: Regional Managers Middle East Prashant Joshi North America Annu Negi Europe NirajRegional Sales Managers South Asia Nikhil Malhotra Sales Managers Middle East and North Africa Sharmishtha Seth,Gaurav Sharma Asia Pacific Kavitha Seras Sales Manager South Asia Abhishek Kotangle Sr. Manager Marketing andCommunication Megha Datta

Design Team: Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh

Circulation: Vijay Kumar Singh

Software Development Group: Head Information Technology Kumar Vikram Member Atul Raj

Portal Team: Product Manager Shivani Lal Dy. Manager Anshu Garg Team Member Anjali Srivastava

Advisory BoardDato’ Dr. Abdul Kadir bin Taib

Deputy Director General of Survey and Mapping, Malaysia

Aki A. Yamaura Sr. Vice President, Asuka DBJ Partners, Japan

Amitabha Pande Secretary, Inter-State Council, Government of India

Bhupinder Singh Sr. Vice President, Bentley Systems Inc., USA

Bob Morris President, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging,USA

BVR Mohan ReddyChairman and Managing Director, Infotech Enterprises Ltd., India

David Maguire Director, Products, Solutions and International, ESRI, USA

Frank Warmerdam President, OSGeo, USA

Prof. Ian Dowman President, ISPRS, UK

Prof. Josef Strobl Director, Centre for Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria

Kamal K SinghChairman and CEO, Rolta Group of Companies, India

Prof. Karl Harmsen Director, UNU-INRA

Marc Tremblay Vice President, Commercial Business Unit, DigitialGlobe, USA

Mark Reichardt President and Chief Operating Officer, OGC, USA

Prof. Martien Molenaar Rector, ITC, The Netherlands

Matthew O’Connell CEO, GeoEye, USA

Prof. Michael Blakemore Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Durham, UK

Dr. Milan Konecny President, International Cartographic Association,Czech Republic

Er. Mohammed Abdulla Al-Zaffin Director, GIS Centre, Dubai Municipality, UAE

Dr. Prithvish Nag Director, NATMO, India

Rajesh C. Mathur President, ESRI India

Robert M Samborski Excutive Director, Gita, USA

Prof. Stig EnemarkPresident, FIG, Denmark

Prof. V. S RamamurthyChairman, IIT, Delhi, India

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T | J U LY 2 0 0 8 Vo l . 1 2 I s s u e 7

In this issue...

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COLUMNS

Editorial 07

News 08

Publication 62

Events 66

ARTICLES

32 New GIS based cadastralprecision efficienciesFor many years surveyors have been remotefrom the GIS industry as the levels of preci-sion they maintain was not represented...

Ian Harper, Roger Lee

38 Hydrographic SurveyingHydrography is the science that deals withthe measurements and description of thephysical features of bodies of water and...

Kalpana Ambastha

44 Surveying in India Operational IssuesIndian surveying industry too has shareddevelopments but there are certain opera-tional problems that beset the industry...

Dhyan Appachu, Lalitha R.

46 Processing Digital Vector Data

Patterning (Symbolisation)and generation of CMYKfilms from digital topo data With the advancement of technology andservice of mapping and advente...

K D Sood, R K Gupta, Brig M C Dhamija (Rtd.)

INTERVIEW

52 Hitoshi Ito President, SOKKIA

56 Book Review Prof. A. R. Dasgupta

CONFERENCE COVERAGE

60 FIG Working Week

62 BE Conference 2008

64 Intergraph 2008

ABOUT THE COVER...There is a curious disconnect between surveyingand modern tools like remote sensing and geo-graphical information systems. (More in Editorial)

GIS Development is intended for those interested and involved in GIS related activities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up-to-date onmany activities in this wide and varied field. Your involvement inproviding relevant information is essential to the success of thisendeavour.

GIS Development does not necessarily subscribe to the viewsexpressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. It is not responsible for any loss toanyone due to the information provided.

GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published by Sanjay Kumar.Press M. P. Printers B-220, Phase-II, Noida, GautambudhNagar (UP) INDIA Publication Address P-82, Sector-11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India Editor Ravi Gupta

60 62 64

Ithought this might be an appropriate start to thismonth's editorial because there are so many thinggsto talk about. This issue highlights surveying, one of

the oldest developmental activities in recoorded history. Thenas now, surveying was used to plan and execute almostevery form of construction including buildings, transporta-tion networks, communications, mapping and definition oflegal boundaries for land ownership. If ever there was atechnique in the service of the common man it is surveying.

Survey data has to be of the highest possible accuracy andone would have expected that surveyors would be the firstto adopt advanced technology solutions. Yet there is a curi-ous disconnect between surveying and modern tools likeremote sensing and geographical information systems. Forexample, see the entry under surveying in Wikipedia. GISand GPS get a mentions but remote sensing does not. So,what are these very high resolution satellites being used for?

We also often see a disconnect between national mappingagencies and agencies maintaining land records. As a result,it becomes difficult - if not impossible - to transfer informa-tion from one set of maps to the other. This is because thetopographic map may be well referenced with respect to itsscale, datum, projection and other parameters while theland record just shows the plot boundaries without refer-ences which can allow the correct orientation and place-ment of the parcel on the topographic map.

Surveying, particularly land survey or cadastral survey, is avery time consuming process and as a result the recordupdates have backlogs that are well nigh insurmountable.

So why are these technologies not popular? It is time thatsatellite data providers, software solution providers and sys-tem integrators address this issue. Many solutions havebeen explored. Some are covered in the following articles butmany remain as individual project reports. Who can act as afocus and bring all these scattered efforts together and comeout with an acceptable solution?

On another tack, geographical information is increasinglybeing viewed as a marketable commodity and therefore isgetting democratised. GPS receivers are easily available andpeople are keen to 'see' where they are going and share theirexperiences with others. All these are value additions to thebasic remote sensing data and GIS database. Can we lookforward to a similar 'value addition' in the case of surveydata? For example, a new road is planned past my house.What portion of my compound will I have to surrender? I donot want to wait till the bulldozer appears over the horizon.I need an answer now to help me plan my next course ofaction.

Many of these issues need discussion and exchange ofideas. I would also like to draw the attention of readers to theG I Science Forum 2009 to be held along with Map WorldForum 2009 at Hyderabad. I hope many of these issues couldform the subject of papers to be presented at the Forum. Wehave also started a blog on G I Science so if you have a viewit would be a good idea to discuss it there.

I would also be delighted to hear from you as it will help usto tailor the contents to meet your expectations.

7G I S D E V E L O P M E N T | J U LY 2 0 0 8 Vo l . 1 2 I s s u e 7

“”

Prof. Arup DasguptaHonorary Managing Editor arup.dasgupta@GISdevelopment.net

From Editor’s Desk

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--

Of cabbages--and kings-

Lewis Carroll (Through the Looking-Glass and What

Alice Found There)

E-Sense partners withSupresoft IncNigeria: E-Sense Technolo-gies Ltd, a GIS companylocated in Port Harcourt,has been appointed areseller in Nigeria by Supre-soft Inc, China. This dealwill see E-Sense technolo-gies representing Supresoftin the sale of their productsincluding the photogram-metric System Virtuozoseries, IMAGiS andImageXuite.

Announcing this, theManaging Director of thecompany, Mr Sibe Robinsonsaid, "The new wave ofdevelopment in the countrydemands more from loca-tion intelligent and spatialcompanies and E-SenseTechnologies and SupresoftInc are poised to take on thechallenge."

Botswana, Japanpartner innatural resourcesBotswana: Botswana andJapan entered into coopera-tion in the area of naturalresources and energy dur-

ing the Japanese Ministerof Economy, Trade andIndustry’s visit toBotswana. The two coun-tries signed an agreementto establish a geologicalremote sensing centre inBotswana for the explo-ration of mineral resources,especially rare metals, andusing Japanese space satel-lites. The project is expectedto offer Botswana and theregion a big advantage toeffectively secure basic geo-logical information in vastareas and to mine andextract minerals for thebenefit of the people.

‘Africa: Atlas ofour ChangingEnvironment’releasedSouth Africa: Africa's rapid-ly changing environmentallandscape, from the disap-pearance of glaciers inUganda's Rwenzori Moun-

tains to the loss of CapeTown's unique 'fynbos' veg-etation, was presented atthe recently held African

Ministerial Conference onthe Environment (AMCEN),thanks to the new publica-tion 'Africa: Atlas of ourChanging Environment'.The nearly 400-page longpublication was launchedby President Thabo Mbekiof the Republic of SouthAfrica who hosted theAMCEN meeting in Johan-nesburg.

The Atlas, compiled onbehalf of the ministers bythe UN Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP), underlineshow development choices,population growth, climatechange and, in some cases,conflicts are shaping andimpacting the natural andnature-based assets of theregion. The atlas featuresover 300 satellite imagestaken in every country inAfrica in over 100 locations.The 'before' and 'after' photographs, some ofwhich span a 35-year peri-od, offer striking snapshotsof local environmentaltransformation across thecontinent.

The Atlas also examinesgeographic and ecologicalissues of relevance at the national level. It pres-ents each country's unique features, and highlightssome of the major environ-mental trends and chal-lenges of each. It displayspaired satellite images,focusing on specific sites in each African nationwhere environmentalchange is visually evident.

J U LY 2 0 0 8

News: Regional

Google launches Kenya online mapTen months after opening its regional office in Nairobi,Google has launched Kenya's online map, signaling animprovement in local content generation and innova-tion. The map was developed by a team of seven stu-dents from three Kenyan universities together with ateam from India. Replacing a previously limited onlinemap of four highways, the move has now placed Kenyaon the level of other countries served by Google Maps.With a fiber-optic cable being laid by 2009, it is expectedthat the cost of Internet access and communication willsignificantly decrease while connection speeds increase,and people will be able to access Google applicationseven more quickly, said Joe Mucheru, Google lead in EastAfrica.

The online maps will eventually be available viamobile phone and can be loaded easily on computerswith low Internet speeds. The maps will support otherGoogle applications, such as Google Search, and busi-nesses will be able to list their contact information anddirections on the map.

In the past year, Kenya has been preoccupied with pol-icy issues, cables, bandwidth and cost of services. Thefocus is now shifting from supply to the demand side.

8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Jason-2 launchpostponedUSA: The launch of oceanaltimetry satellite, Jason-2,has been postponed. It was

earlier scheduled to belaunched on 15th June. Thereason for the delay rev-olves around weather relat-ed problems integrating thespacecraft with the Delta IIlaunch vehicle. Plus, addingto the delay dilemma, isNASA's slippage of their

GLAST launch, which usesthe same type of launcher,ground crews, and set-upprocedures. Jason-2 will aidin monitoring the rate ofsea-level rise and helpmeasure the strength ofhurricanes, according toLaury Miller, chief of

NOAA's Laboratory forSatellite Altimetry. NOAAwill use data from theJason-2/Ocean SurfaceTopography Mission(OSTM) to extend a 15-yearrecord from two earlieraltimeter missions that cur-rently show sea level is ris-

USA: Thousands of schools acrossthe nation have taken their geogra-phy, social studies and historyclasses into the digital age throughMaps101. Maps101 is an interactive,online geography and social studieseducational resource that offers itsmember teachers and studentsaccess to over 4,000 maps, currentevents, educational games, quizzes,lesson plans, reference atlases andmore, which can be used as teach-ing and learning resources in a vari-ety of subjects.

Liz Todd, a first grade teacher atMohawk Trails Elementary inNoblesville, Indiana, uses Maps101as a fun way to introduce young

students to the"whys andhows" of usingmaps. "In thefirst grade,"says Todd, "weintroduce thestudents tomaps bydescribingthem as 'pic-

tures of placestaken from

above - most often from an airplaneor a helicopter.' We used the SchoolLocator feature on Maps101," Toddcontinues, "to first take a look at thearea around our school with satel-lite images and then we pinpointedits roof and playground. I beganwith a long-distance view andzoomed in, one level at a time. ThenI zoomed back out, one level at atime, so the boys and girls could seehow maps can display an area fromtwo different distances. Then wewent to a non-satellite image tocompare the two views, and endedby creating a map of our classroomfrom above. The program is fun,interesting and easy to use. The

kids just love it and they get soexcited to see their school on thecomputer."

Another teacher, Justin Lovelaceof Park Hills Elementary in Gaffney,South Carolina, uses Maps101 to cre-ate an interactive lesson aboutEurope in the Middles Ages. "Ibegan," says Lovelace, "by cuttingand pasting world history mapsinto an ACTIV Flipchart from

Promethean. By incorporating themaps into the flipchart on the com-puter, the students could interact,highlight, mark and focus on thespecific aspects of the maps wewere studying. We examined themaps to determine which smallerkingdoms changed and grew intothe countries we know today.

We also used the maps on theflipcharts to recreate maps from ourtextbooks. "The use of technology,"states Lovelace, "enhances studenteducation, but more importantly itgives me, the teacher, the opportu-nity to illustrate these historicalevents and then let the studentstake control and guide the lessoninto deeper concepts with broaderknowledge.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 9J U LY 2 0 0 8

Geography, Social Studies classes becoming map-based

ing at a rate of 3.2 mm/year- nearly twice as fast as theprevious 100 years. Jason-2is a joint, internationaleffort between NOAA,NASA, France's CentreNational d'Etudes Spatiales(CNES), and the EuropeanOrganisation for theExploitation of Meteorolog-ical Satellites (Eumetsat).Like its predecessor mis-sions TOPEX/Poseidon andJason-1, Jason-2/OSTM isdesigned to extend the cli-mate data record by provid-ing a long-term survey ofEarth's oceans, trackingocean circulation patternsand measuring sea-surfaceheights and the rate of sea-level rise.

FLAIR ActintroducedUSA: A bill to develop a cur-rent, accurate Federalcadastre to inventory allFederal real property hasbeen introduced in the U.S.Senate, earning praise fromMAPPS (www.mapps.org),the national association ofprivate geospatial firms.The Federal Land AssetInventory Reform ("FLAIR")Act, S. 3043, introduced May21 by U.S. Senators ClaireMcCaskill (D-MO) and OrrinHatch (R-UT), was amongthe issues members ofMAPPS discussed withmembers of Congress dur-ing the MAPPS Federal Pro-grams Conference, held inMarch, in Washington, DC.

The FLAIR Act authorises

the Department of the Inte-rior to compile a current,accurate inventory of Fed-eral land ownership, ascalled for by the Govern-ment Accountability Office

and the National Academyof Sciences, as well as pro-vides for conducting aninventory of current inven-tories to eliminate duplica-tion and save tax dollars.

MAPPS Executive Direc-tor John Palatielloexpressed deep apprecia-tion for the leadership ofSenators McCaskill andHatch, saying they "have

10 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

News: Regional

Canada: How did a little city of 78,000souls in British Columbia earn the bigtitle of "Capital of Google Earth"? The cityof Nanaimo achieved the title inadver-tently, says Per Kristensen, Director of IT."We didn't come up with it - it was coinedby Time magazine last year," he says."They picked up on a comment made byMichael Jones, the CTO of Google, at aconference, when he said 'Nobody getsGoogle Earth like the city of Nanaimo.'"

Although Nanaimo didn't seek thetitle, it was a welcome reward for yearsof hard work and collaboration at boththe municipal and provincial level tobuild up and integrate data from variousGIS. Nanaimo has been building up itsGIS database for over 20 years bypainstakingly geo-coding (assigning geo-graphic designations to locations) andentering associated spatial and visualdata for all its paper land records, saysKristensen. "It's been a slow process withminimal investment, but we now haveover 200 layers of data."With its extensive GIS database,Nanaimo can more efficiently managemany municipal services. One exampleis mapping the graves in its cemeteries -a common problem in many cities. Manycemeteries have grown organically overtime without a grid system. "Peopleburied over the last 150 years were justdropped in," says Kristensen. "Finding agrave could only be done via placemarksin the scenery." Tackling this problem is

surprisingly important to citizens. "Thisis one of the most requested services weget from the public," he says. "Questionslike, 'Where's my family from? When didthey come here?' come up in genealogywork. And there are many people in Van-couver doing historical work that comehere looking for particular families."

The project was spurred by the loom-ing retirement of the caretaker who'd

looked after Nanaimo's cemetery for 30years. "So we did a transfer of all herknowledge by creating a spatial map andplotting the graves. It's been availableinternally for a year, and we're about toopen it up to the public."

On the economic front, Nanaimo'sadvanced GIS system allows it to respondinstantly to developers looking for sitesfor shopping malls and other commercialbuildings. In one instance, visual mapswith several potential sites were pre-pared the day after a developer made aninquiry.

GIS integration puts Nanaimo on the Google map

J U LY 2 0 0 8

Picture of downtown of Nanaimo

News: Regional

been working in a biparti-san manner to introducethis important Federal leg-islation.

Map collectionhelpful to natureloversUSA: The New York StateDepartment of Environ-mental Conservation (DEC)recently unveiled a collec-tion of maps and a search-able catalog of geographicinformation. Named Map-ping Gateway, a new pageon DEC's web site, all sortsof data are put into easy-to-use and interactive for-mats. "Whether it's manag-ing the water quality of theGreat Lakes or supportingthe cleanup of a brownfieldsite, every program man-aged by DEC deals in someway with the space we livein," said DEC CommissionerPete Grannis. The MappingGateway project features avariety of GIS tools, includ-ing a collection of printableand interactive onlinemaps.

In addition, the VirtualGlobe Data feature allowsusers to access informationsuch as contour maps forselected locations. The usercan download virtual glob-al software such as GoogleEarth to view interactiveaerial representations ofDEC bird conservationareas, environmental reme-diation sites, state invento-ry of dams and other fea-tures.

Mapping Gateway alsooffers the Geodata Invento-ry, listed on the site as "acatalog that providesdescriptive informationabout how, when, and bywhom a specific set of datawas collected and how thedata is formatted andaccessed."

National GeographicMaps launchesNational TrailsDatabaseUSA: National GeographicMaps has launched TOPO!®

Explorer, a new Web siteand related desktop appli-cation that will help out-door enthusiasts locateaccurate trail and recre-ation information nation-wide. With the outdooradventurer in mind, TOPO!Explorer presents userswith National Geographic'sdetailed topographic maps,aerial photography, hybridmaps made from the two,and an extensive, freelybrowsable, online database

of trail descriptions, recom-mendations and uniquepoints of interest. Users cancustomize and print theirmaps and connect with aGPS. The website,www.topo.com, alsoincludes an outdoor-focused community com-ponent where TOPO!Explorer users can sharetheir photos, video and trailrecommendations.

TOPO! Explorer allowsoutdoor enthusiasts tobrowse and download theexact maps they need.

Using a GPS or the applica-tion's built-in map-makingtool box, users can createand share their favoriteexcursions with others onTOPO! Explorer and createtheir perfect map by com-bining trips from the Website with their own content.

Innovations in Explorerinclude an entirely newdatabase of detailed mapsand aerial photographsknown as SuperQuads™, apowerful Web-based place

finder, support for videoand higher-resolution pho-tography, and a new inter-face and map design tools.

Californialaunches GIS-based greenbuildingsdatabaseUSA: The California Depart-ment of General Services(DGS) has developed thenation's first statewideonline database(www.applications.dgs.ca.gov/dgs/GreenBuildings) of"green" buildings thatemploys GIS mapping tech-nology.

"By using readily-avail-able GIS mapping tools, wehave created an easy-to-useonline gateway to Califor-nia's most energy-efficientand environmentally-friendly buildings," saidDGS Director Will Bush."The map highlights state-owned facilities that aremeeting GovernorSchwarzenegger's goal tobuild and operate buildingsthat save energy, conservenatural resources anddecrease their carbon foot-print, while furthering ourgoals to make state govern-ment open and accessible."

"Governor Schwarzeneg-ger has made the use of GIStechnology a priority,recognising the tremen-dous potential it has toserve Californians," saidTeri Takai, Chief Informa-tion Officer for the State of

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T12 J U LY 2 0 0 8

California. The online mapwill enable the public totrack progress made towardachieving the energy andenvironmental goals of thegovernor's green buildingexecutive order.

Boeing/InsituScanEagle flightdemonstrates real-time radar imagingusing NanoSARUSA: The Boeing Companyin partnership with ImSARand Insitu Inc., achieved amajor milestone in Maywith the real-time process-ing of Synthetic ApertureRadar (SAR) data aboard aScanEagle unmanned air-craft (UA) equipped with astandard inertially stabi-lized electro-optical (EO)camera. Combining theradar and the camera onthe ScanEagle helpswarfighters adapt to condi-tions with poor visibility.The tests marked the firsttime SAR and EO capabili-ties have flown together onsuch a small, lightweightplatform.

During test flights,ScanEagle, outfitted withImSAR's NanoSAR, flewover a variety of targets asreal-time SAR processingwas demonstrated withstreaming radar imagesdisplayed on the groundstation. Creating real-timeimages onboard ScanEagleeliminates the requirementof either processingimagery on the ground

after flight or using high-speed data links to a groundstation.

"This capability builds onour previous flight testswith the NanoSAR pay-load," said Carol Wilke, Boe-ing ScanEagle chief engi-neer. "With real-timestreaming SAR imagerynow available in theScanEagle ground station,we can provide additionaltactical, actionable intelli-gence to the warfighter.

Avencia developsConnect211.orgto geographicallysearch for socialservicesUSA: Avencia Inc., geo-graphic analysis and soft-ware development compa-ny, has partnered with theDelaware Valley Associa-tion for the Education ofYoung Children (DVAEYC)and six United Ways serv-ing Southeastern Pennsyl-vania, to develop a web-based application thatenables the public to findand route their way to morethan 12,000 organisationsand service providers in theregion.

For years, residents seek-ing heath and human serv-ice assistance in theDelaware Valley have faceda maze of options likeMedicare, county assis-tance, Social Security, dis-ability programmes, jobtraining, and drug counsel-ing - with no single source

for information aboutthem. Without an easyalternative, many peoplewould turn to 911 as a wayto get answers, in some cas-es, overburdening countyemergency call systems.Using GIS, now, they canuse Connect211.org, a user-friendly online tool forsocial workers and mem-bers of the public to find

nearby services for health,family, education, employ-ment, food, and shelter. Vis-itors to the site can easilyidentify service providersbased on where they liveand use the routing func-tion to plan a trip betweentheir homes and theproviders they have select-ed. In addition to drivingdirections, the system also

J U LY 2 0 0 8

Agribusiness grows withcrop-specific maps

USA: Crops grown in the U.S. Corn Belt and MississippiRiver Delta areas are mapped extensively in the CroplandData Layer are now available to the public for downloador on disc. The Cropland Data Layer is created by the Unit-ed States Department of Agriculture/National Agricultur-al Statistics Service (NASS). GIS software from ESRI is usedto prepare the data and build the maps.

"We create resourceful maps to identify the spatialextent and associated acreage of the crops grown in thesespecific states," said Rick Mueller, a GIS expert with NASS.

The colourful, informative maps are used by crop farmgrowers associations, crop insurance companies, seed andfertilizer companies, farm chemical companies, libraries,universities, federal and state governments, and value-added remote-sensing/GIS companies. The digital datalayers of land-cover information have proved helpful inwatershed and environmental monitoring, agribusinessplanning, crop modeling, land-use /land-cover studies,and change analysis.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 13

14 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T J U LY 2 0 0 8

News: Regional

includes bus, subway andtrain routes on the maps.

Users can search thedatabase for services at arange of geographic levelsincluding county, town-ship, zip code, neighbor-hood, and distance from aspecific address. Results arelisted by address and dis-played on a map thatenables users to select specific search results,zoom in and out, and pan inany direction.

The application usesMicrosoft .Net framework,Microsoft SQL Server, ESRI'sArcIMS, ArcSDE andArcWeb Services. AlthoughConnect211.org serves socialworkers and individualsseeking social services, itstechnology is relevant forany application in whichgeographically-basedassets need to be matchedwith a particular targetaudience. These scenariosmight include historic land-marks with the tourismindustry; museum collec-tions with visitors; andlandscape resources withconservation activists.

Remote-sensingtechniques can slowrising air, water andCO2USA: Remote-sensing tech-niques can make forestsmore productive, offsettingincreased carbon-dioxide(CO2) concentrations in theatmosphere and oceans,said Dr. Randolph Wynne,

a NASA investigator andVirginia Tech professor ofForest Biometry and Geomatics. "We've enteredthe era of precisionforestry," Dr. Wynnedeclared. "Remotely senseddata can be combined within situ data to provide accurate inventory, supportstate-of-the-art silviculturetechniques, supply accurategrowth and yield estimates,and facilitate optimal harvest scheduling. Chosenas a NASA New Investiga-tor in 2001, Dr. Wynne isnow researching ways inwhich NASA could improvethe integration of remotesensing into decision support systems used forforest carbon monitoring,among other projects.

Associate director of theConservation ManagementInstitute, Dr. Wynne notedthat protecting forests andsustainably managingthem requires the collection of remotelysensed data along with traditional ground-sam-pling techniques.

Satellite picturestell of humanrights violationUSA: The term 'the morali-ty of altitude' was coined toapply to bomber pilots whoreleased their payloads onvictims they couldn't see,without ever feeling anysense of remorse or empa-thy for the people whoselives, families, homes and

property they destroyed. Anew initiative by the Amer-ican Association for theAdvancement of Science(AAAS), publisher of thejournal Science could wellgive the term a completelyopposite and far more positive meaning. A projectlaunched by the AAAS aimsto use satellite imagery to

provide evidence of humanrights atrocities that havebeen denied by the govern-ments that perpetratethem.

The AAAS worked withHuman Rights Watch toproduce a 130-page reporton attacks on eight villagesacross the remote Ogadenregion of eastern Ethiopia,where "before" and "after"satellite images of villagesidentified by Human RightsWatch (HRW) wereanalysed by Lars Bromley ofthe AAAS.

It is confronting read, butthe really damning evi-dence lies in the 'before'and 'after' images, whichshow blackened fields anddestroyed homes wherebefore there were wholevillages.

GEOIMAGE winsALOS Reseller ofthe Year awardJapan: RESTEC (Japan)announced that GeoimagePty Ltd has won a 2007ALOS (Advanced LandObserving Satellite)Reseller of the Year Award.The awards are presentedto the top performingresellers around the globeto honour their commit-ment and dedication to thepromotion and utilisationof ALOS Data. ALOS wasdeveloped by the JapanAerospace ExplorationAgency (JAXA) and success-fully launched on January24, 2006. The mission objec-tives of ALOS include car-tography, regional observa-tion and disaster monitor-ing. The satellite has threesensors - two opticalimagers (PRISM & AVNIR-2)and an L-band SyntheticAperture (PALSAR).

New digital maps for JapanJapan: GeoMarketingrecently updated andexpanded its digital mapset for Japan. The revisedmap set includes a mapwith coverage of the coun-try's approximately 950three-digit postal code dis-tricts as well as a map fea-turing 10,000 city points.Together the maps are

J U N E 2 0 0 8

claimed to comprise themost comprehensive digi-tal map set available forpostal and administrativedistricts in Japan. The mapset is available in all com-mon data formats andincludes Japanese andinternational name attribu-tions.

Digital postal code mapsprovide companies withfoundation for sales territo-ry and expansion planning.In conjunction with a geo-marketing software appli-cation, the maps allowcompanies to visualisetheir company and marketdata through the use of thepostcodes associated withthis information.

The city maps have alsobeen completely revisedand expanded: featuringmore than 10,000 citypoints depicted accordingto the number of inhabi-tants, these maps providean ideal orientation tool.

Mapping Philippinebaselines to cost RPP10bManila: It would cost thegovernment about P10 billion to draw up the country's archipelagic baselines that will supportits claim on Kalayaanislands and other maritimeareas in accordance with the United NationsConference on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).

This was pointed out bySenator Miriam Defensor-

UAE: Ajman Municipality and Plan-ning Department received TheExcellence in GIS ImplementationAward. This award is instituted byGISTEC to promote innovation andexperimentation in the area of GISimplementation and to honor GISimplementation programmes .

Eng. Mohammed bin Omair AlMuhairy,Assistant Director Generalfor Engineering Affairs and RashidAl Kaabi Head of GIS Section received theaward in a special Ceremony held at ALBustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai .

Eng Mohammed bin Omair, said thatAjman Municipality and Planning Depart-ment was willing to implement and bene-fit form the modern technologies and sys-tems for the succession of work and devel-opment of the infrastructure under thedirection of H.H. Sheikh Rashid bin Humid

Al Nuaimi, the chairman of Ajman Munic-ipality and Planning Department.

Rashid Al Kaabi, said that the depart-ment was selected for this award becauseof the big achievement in the filed of GISapplication such as the Ajman Base MapProject that includes high resolution aerialsurvey and 3D mapping for the emirate,the Land Information System, "Locate yourLand Service" for the public.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 15

UAE: Ajman Municipality & Planningdepartment has launched "LocateYour Land" service recently.

"Locate Your Land", is a new andinnovated service that is available forthe first time on the level of Munici-palities in the UAE. It is providedthrough an interactive and userfriendly kiosk that is located in thereception hall of the Department mainbuilding. It works by simply enteringthe parcel number by touching the

screen, and then get the location of the parcel on the map in addition to all planninginformation of the parcel such as area, land use, and zoning regulations.

Ajman Municipality Receives Excellence in GISImplementation Award

Launching "Locate Your Land" Service

Eng. Mohammed Bin Omair and Rashid Al Kaabi receiving the award

Santiago, chairman of thecommittee on foreign relations, as she askedwhether the governmenthas the money to conductthe "hydrographic and geo-scientific" studies to beused in delineating thebaselines. Santiago said theNational Mapping and

Resources InformationAuthority asked for the Pl0 billion funding butbudget authorities gave itonly Pl.7 billion. These stud-ies, Santiago said, are need-ed to support the Philippineclaim on maritime territo-ries to which it is entitledunder UNCLOS.

Urban India getsunder digitalmapping radarIndia: Evasion of propertytax and construction of illegal buildings will nolonger be easy in urbanIndia. With the work onsatellite mapping of 158towns across India gaining

momentum, the city managers will soon haveeasily-accessible evidenceto nab tax evaders. Digitaldatabase and geographicalinfo-rmation system (GIS)mapping, being undertak-en by Survey of India (SOI),will help various citiespreparing their masterplans and executing detail-ed town planning, accord-ing to the officials in the

News: Regional

Satellite assessesearthquakedamageAustralia: Researchers fromthe University of NewSouth Wales (UNSW) areproviding Chinese authori-ties with highly detailedsatellite assessment of thearea devastated by theearthquake which hit Chi-na on May 12, killing morethan 60,000 people. Radarsatellite surveying of theground movements in thequake zone by the InSAR(Synthetic Aperture RadarInterferometry) team at

UNSW's School of Survey-ing and Spatial InformationSystems and the Coopera-tive Research Centre forSpatial Information is giving the China Earth-quake Authority informa-tion about the level of dam-age from the magnitude 8.0 earth tremor. TheUNSW/CRCSI InSAR teamwas among the first in theworld to generate a grounddisplacement map of thequake zone, showingupheavals in the Earth'ssurface of up to 5m. TheUNSW team is also the only

group supplying informa-tion to Chinese authorities.The high-resolution mapgenerated from analysis ofsatellite radar imagesshows ground lifting by upto 5m in areas affected bythe quake. Associate Pro-fessor Linlin Ge, who ledthe UNSW team, said theChina Earthquake Authori-ty could overlay the imageprovided by UNSW ontosatellite photos to assessdamage around buildingsor bridges.

China TransInfoTechnology to providefree GIS servicesChina: China TransInfoTechnology Corp., providerof public transportationinformation systems tech-nology and comprehe-nsive solutions in the Peo-ple's Republic of China("PRC"), has joined theWenchuan EarthquakeEnterprise Rescue Alliance("ESRI EarthquakeAlliance"), which is headed

by Environmental SystemsResearch Institute, Inc("ESRI"), by providing freeGIS services and productsto the Sichuan earthquakerelief effort. The recent 8.0magnitude earthquake inSouthwest China has seri-ously damaged basic infra-structure in SichuanProvince. By adoptingadvanced GIS technology,the ESRI EarthquakeAlliance has been provid-ing real time informationrelated to weather forecast-ing, transportation, electri-cal grids, and other areas inthe disaster zone. Throughthe ESRI EarthquakeAlliance, China TransInfoprimarily provides GISservices and technicalassistance related to trans-portation in the disasterarea. China TransInfo andits employees have alsomade cash donations ofover RMB 120,000 throughthe Red Cross Society ofSichuan to support reliefand reconstruction efforts.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T16

Red Cross workers at a relief camp

Geospatial in China earthquake relief

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Urban Development Min-istry.

The towns include PortBlair in Andaman & Nico-bar Islands, Adilabad andNalgonda in AndhraPradesh, Dibrugarh andNagaon in Assam, Arrahand Bhagalpur in Bihar,Bhavnagar and Jamnagarin Gujarat, Shimla and Solan in Himachal Pradesh,Samba and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir,Jamshedpur and Dhanbadin Jharkhand, just to namea few. Delhi, for example,has launched a pilot programme on GIS map-ping in some parts of thecity.

Sources further said that the satellite images for 120 towns in 33 stateswere already been procured, and aerial surveyis being planned for 142towns. Also, Survey ofIndia has completed con-struction of 333 permanentground control point mon-uments in 71 towns in 32 states, and 454 monuments are under observation in 66 towns in 32 states. The government's initiative is a part of the ongoingnational urban information system (NUIS).

Remote Sensingtraining centrein Kolkata soonIndia: A remote sensingapplication-training centreis scheduled to come up inthe city by the next year,

said G. Madhavan Nair,Chairman of the IndianSpace Research Organisa-tion (ISRO), at a function inKolkata.

"Work on the project hasalready started at the SaltLake City site provided bythe State government," hesaid. Expressing satisfac-tion about the success ofthe recent Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle (PSLV)launch at Sriharikota, hesaid, "Images better thanthe Google Earth will beavailable through the satel-lites in another sixmonths." Speaking aboutthe future projects of ISRO,Dr. Nair said, "theunmanned Chandrayaanlunar vehicle is in its build-ing and testing phase and isexpected to be launched bythe third quarter of thisyear."

Dr. Nair said policy restric-tions of some foreign coun-tries were hindering morecommercial satellitelaunches which are only 14as opposed to 50 indige-nous launches so far. "Weare in talks with variousinternational agencies tosmoothen the process," hesaid.

Dr. Kalam tells ISRO to help stateIndia: Former PresidentA.P.J.Abdul Kalam urgedthe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) to useits remote sensing facilities

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News: Regional

and inputs from the Car-tosat-2 mapping satellite tohelp the Kerala govern-ment develop the Man-jeswaram-Kovalam Water-way. "Chief MinisterV.S.Achuthanandan spokepassionately about thewaterway project when wemet. I request the ISRO touse its remote sensing andCartosat- 2 capabilities forthe project," Kalam said.Creation of waterwaysacross the country andinterlinking of rivers, hesaid, are among the impor-tant infrastructural necessi-ties in developing food, economic and nationalsecurity.

The Youth Satellite thatISRO proposes to launch bythe beginning of 2009 willbe a platform connectingthe youth of multiple coun-tries, Kalam said.

Weather channel oncards for IndiaIndia: The Indian Meteorol-ogy Department (IMD) hasplans to launch a dedicatedweather TV channelthrough public-private par-tnership, said director-gen-eral of meteorology AirVice-Marshal Ajit Tyagi.Briefing the reporters hereabout IMD's modernisationplans, Tyagi said the pro-posed weather channelwould be finalised by endof 2008. The channel wouldinitially telecast pro-grammes on weather forsix hours a day he said,

adding that it would beexpanded to 24-hours aftera while. Insat-III D is likelyto be launched by end ofthis year or early next yearand a receiving station willbe set up at New Delhiwhich will send real timedata to regional meteorolo-gy centres, said the IMDhead. Unfolding the mod-ernisation plans during the11th Year Plan, Tyagi said anestimated Rs 900 crorewould be invested in thefirst two years. The focuswould be on observation,communication, remotesensing and disseminationof information to public.An agro-meteorology serv-ice will be launched acrossthe country by the end ofthis year.

GIS mapping formunicipal areasby November-endIndia: For the first time inthe history of the KolkataMunicipal Corporation(KMC), a GIS map is beingcreated. Funded by theDepartment for Interna-tional Development (DFID),the map is expected to beready by the end of Novem-ber. Once the system is inplace, one can just log ontothe web portal and file acomplaint to the depart-ment concerned of theKMC. Not only this, themap will show everyminute detail of each of themunicipal ward. "We willopen an online counter

with CESC and PWD - thetwo most importantdepartments with whichwe need to coordinate allthe time. If a tax payer hasany complaints regardingthese two departments,they can mediate throughus," said a senior engineerof the civic body. AnindyaKarforma, an officer work-ing on the project, said: "Weare trying to follow Hyder-abad's approach for settingup the GIS map." Refusingto divulge details, MayorBikash Ranjan Bhat-tacharya said: "The creationof the map is a part of thecapacity building pro-gramme for which DFIDhas already issued a grant.The map will be ready inthe next six months."

RMSI ranked the'Best Workplace'across all industriesIndia: For the second year ina row, RMSI has achievedthe number one position inthe Top 25 Great Places toWork 2008 study in India.This year the study wasconducted by the GreatPlace to Work Institute, US,in partnership with TheEconomic Times- Indian'sfinancial daily. The studyrelied on direct employeefeedback. Authors of thestudy define a great placeto work as having employ-ees who trust in manage-ment, take pride in theirjob, and enjoy the companyof colleagues.

Rolta set toenter new bizverticalsIndia: Rolta India Limited isgetting into new businessverticals such as high-endsecurity systems, EPC (engi-neering procurement andconstruction managementfor power plants), and ERPimplementation for GIS andengineering companies.The company is also work-ing on infrastructure oppor-tunities and core IT andsoftware developments. "Atpresent, we are concentrat-ing on the high end securitybusiness in India. We areproviding technology forhomeland securities suchas police and fire depart-ment, and we are also look-ing into airport asset man-agement.

The police department ofMumbai, Rajast-han, Jam-mu & Kashmir is alreadyusing this technology forhigh-end security," said S KShirguppi, director, busi-ness operations & head,engineering design busi-ness group.

"As we are expanding ourbusiness verticals, we arealso bullish on increasingour headcount to 8,000 by2012," he added. Apart fromstrengthening their busi-ness in India, Rolta is alsoconcentrating on gaining astrong foothold overseas.According to a spokesper-son, the company is plan-ning to acquire firms in the US.

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Maps and atlases onagricultureMyanmar: Food & Agricul-tural Organisation (FAO)has launched a new website offering a widerange of data and informa-tion tools on agriculture inMyanmar. The site containsdownloadable digital andprinted atlases, maps fromthe FAO-maintained Geo Network digital library,agro-climatic charts and crop calendars, andrelated agriculture, forestry and fisheries publi-cations. The site alsoincludes the recentlyreleased 120-page DigitalAgricultural Atlas of theUnion of Myanmar, a collection of GIS-derivedmaps, tabular data andrelated documents depict-ing political, physical and agricultural resourcesin Myanmar.

Since nearly four-fifths ofMyanmar's populationearns its living from theland, raising crops, livestock and fish, reconstruction efforts following the devastatingcyclone Nargis will be crucial.

'FAO is eager to provideits tools, data and analysisto all those involved inreconstruction efforts, in order to assist the peopleof Myanmar in rapidlyrebuilding their liveli-hoods,' said AlexanderMüller, Assistant Director-General.

Pilot project to viewresidential propertiesthrough satellitePakistan: The Excise andTaxation Department Pun-jab has launched the pilotproject of digital mappingto view residential andcommercial propertiesthrough satellite in the cityof Lahore. The PunjabUrban Unit will provide itstechnical and administra-tive facilities in this regard.The project will belaunched throughout Pun-jab in phases. During thefirst phase, the Excise andTaxation Department willfocus on 12,000 residentialand commercial areas ofGulberg. The project willhelp the Excise and Taxa-tion Department to exam-ine each and every part ofthe property through satel-lite to evaluate its actualsize. Available data to thedepartment will facilitate itto determine the percent-age of tax. The project willalso oblige the people to gettax information. It will alsohelp them to pay their tax-es though on-line facility.

Land revenue officegoes digitalNepal: District land rev-enue office, Syangja, hasstarted putting land owner-ship certificates in comput-ers with a view to provid-ing fast and efficient servic-es to the public. The move isaimed at modernising theoffice's services, reducing

the gap between the officeand the customers and promoting services basedon ICT. The project is assist-ed by Economic CounselingUnit of the MonitoringDivision of the NationalPlanning Commission, saidchief of the office RajuPoudel.

He said the informationis stored into GIS-basedsoftware and Syangja wasone among the five districtsincluding Kathmandu andKaski selected for comput-erisation of the land revenue offices. The task ofputting the information onlandownership has beengiven to Pokhara-basedSkillnet Pvt Ltd.

B7.5bn for tapwater upgradeThailand: MetropolitanWaterworks Authority(MWA) is preparing tomake capital investmentstotaling 7.5 billion bahtbetween 2009 and 2011 toexpand its tap water capacity and improve thequality of its tap water distribution.

According to MWA governor Chareon Chaikit-tisilpa, the authority would be installing a GIS, which would allowMWA technicians to identi-fy the sources of tap waterleakage across its 25,000-kilometre pipelinenetwork covering Bangkok, Nonthaburi and SamutPrakan.

SA, Russia tofinaliseSumbandilasatellite launchRussia: South Africa (SA)and Russia are working outthe details for the launch ofthe multi-billion Rand Sumbandila science satel-lite later this year, informedthe Department of Foreign

Affairs. Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlami-ni-Zuma said the two coun-tries have agreed to meet before the end of Juneto "thrash out details" of thelaunch of the South Africansatellite.

The Minister was speak-ing at the South Africa-Rus-sia intergovernmentalcommittee on Trade andEconomic Cooperation inMoscow. The Sumbandilascience satellite is part ofthree-year integratednational space programmedeveloped by the Depart-ment of Science and Tech-nology in 2006.

The Sumbandila pro-gramme aims to provideSouth Africa affordableaccess to space technologyas well as useful data.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 19J U LY 2 0 0 8

H. Coetzee, A. Roos - amateurs who developed on Sumbandila Sat.

20 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T J U LY 2 0 0 8

Trimble’s GNSSInfrastructureNetwork forCroatiaCroatia: Trimble has beenchosen by the CentralFinancing and ContractingUnit (CFCU) at the CroatianMinistry of Finance to supply 31 Trimble NetR5Reference Stations, 31 Trim-ble Zephyr Geodetic anten-nas and Trimble VRS (Virtu-al Reference Station) technology to establish a nationwide Global Navi-gation Satellite System(GNSS) infrastructure net-work for the Republic of Croatia called the CROat-ian POsitioning System(CROPOS). The VRS networkwill provide a geospatial infrastructure for survey-ing, engineering and GIS professionals that enableshigher-accuracy, real-timekinematic (RTK) GNSS positioning without the need for separate base stations. The CROPOS network, the largest and only nation-wide network in the country, willbe operated by the State Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Croatia -Dravna Geodetska Uprava(DGU). Croatia plans to use CROPOS as the basis for the country's new geodetic reference coordi-nate system.

Sept. 10 set for theGOCE satellite launchFrance: The European SpaceAgency (ESA) has set Sept.10 for the liftoff of its GOCE(Gravity field and steady-state Ocean CirculationExplorer) satellite. The ESAsatellite, the first dedicatedto measuring the Earth'sgravity field, was due to belaunched at the end May,but the date change wasnecessitated by precaution-ary measures taken afterthe malfunction of anupper-stage section of a

Russian Proton launch vehi-cle. Now confirmed not toaffect GOCE's launcher, themost advanced gravity mis-sion to date is scheduled forliftoff from the PlesetskCosmodrome in northwestRussia aboard a SS-19 Russ-ian rocket and inserted intoan unusually low orbit. Aswell as being designed tofly in an orbit as low as istechnically feasible toretrieve the strongest possi-ble gravity signal, the ESAsaid the sleek arrow-shapedsatellite is unique in that its

instrumentation actuallyforms part of the satellite'sstructure and the space-craft has no mechanicalmoving parts. Oncelaunched, GOCE is expectedto map global variations inthe Earth's gravity fieldwith unprecedented detailand accuracy.

New radarpossibilities - doyour ownassessment ofTerraSAR-X data!Germany: ScanEx R&D Cen-ter and Infoterra GmbHoffers all users from Russiaand CIS countries to dotheir own independentassessment of TerraSAR-Xdata quality - first radarimages at 1 meter resolu-tion. The German radarsatellite was launched onJune 15, 2007 and started todeliver data to commercialusers as of January 15. Ter-raSAR-X satellite performsimaging in three differentmodes, varying in spatialresolution, nominal scenesize and polarization.

Scottish Governmentto tackle noisepollution with helpfrom Ordnance SurveyScotland: Mapping fromOrdnance Survey is behindnewly published actionplans to tackle unwantednoise in Scotland. Theaction plans, published bythe Scottish Governmentthis week, are based on

innovative noise mapsunderpinned by OrdnanceSurvey data and created byacoustic experts Hamilton& McGregor. The maps cov-er all major roads, airportsand rail lines. Users cansearch by postcode, zoomand move around to com-pare with other areas near-by.

It is hoped that the mapsand action plans will helptackle the problem of unwanted and excessivenoise. Minister for the Environment Michael Russell says: "Noise is oftenreferred to as the forgottenpollutant, but the ScottishGovernment is determinedto do more to highlight, and therefore deal with, the problem of excessivenoise. Improving our environment is a key partof our plans for a greener Scotland. "I want to look atwhat is feasible to reduceexcessive noise and makeScotland a quieter place."

The noise map study harnesses computer software that can takeaccount of landscape features and how theyaffect the spread of different sounds. Thisincludes whether some-thing is acousticallyabsorbent, such as treesand vegetation, or reflective like concrete andwater. All this informationis then overlaid on Ordnance Survey mappingdata.

News: Regional

Artist’s impression of GOCE satellite

Scientists designprocedure fordetecting shadows insatellite imagesSpain: Scientists from theUniversity of Malaga havedevised a procedure foraccurately identifyingshadows in high-resolution

images captured by satel-lites, making it possible toobtain more precise infor-mation on streets, build-ings, vehicles, crops andother elements detectedfrom space. The results ofthis research have beenpassed to a company in the

Parque Tecnológico deAndalucía (Andalusia Tech-nology Park) which isalready applying them insatellite image processingand detection of urbanchanges.

The Professor of the ITEngineering School at the

University of Malaga andco-author of the study,Vicente Arévalo, explainedthat high-resolutionimages provided by currentsatellites and planes "haveopened a new era in thefield of teledetection, andthat resolution enhance-

Italy: The Myanmar cyclone andChinese earthquake disastersdemonstrated that the world hasplenty of imaging satellites to mon-itor disasters but is still unable tomake imagery and other data easilyand widely available to emergency-response teams, government offi-cials said.

The supply of imagery continuesto grow. Italy's Cosmo-Skymed andGermany's TerraSAR-X radar satel-lites both contributed imagery to

the relief efforts following therecent catastrophes in Myanmarand China. In terms of what is avail-able, government officials said thecombination of those two satellites,along with Canada's Radarsat, hasmade radar imagery nearly as easyto obtain as optical imagery. "Todaywe can no longer complain aboutthe Earth observation infrastruc-ture," said Delilah Al Khudhairy,head of the Institute for Protectionand Security of the Citizen at theEuropean Union's Joint ResearchCenter in Ispra, Italy. "There is anoverwhelming amount of productavailable. What we need is to facili-tate the tasking of the data. It needs

to be more user-driven." In pre-sentationshere May 27-28 duringthe Berlinair show, ILA2008, Al Khud-hairy and other government offi-cials said the International Charterfor Space and Major Disasters, creat-ed in 1999 to coordinate satelliteoperators' response to natural catas-

trophes, needs to be made moreresponsive.

Charter members include theEuropean Space Agency and thenational space agencies of Argenti-na, Britain, Canada, China, France,India, Japan and the United States.

The charter has been activated 175times since 1999, most recently May12 when China, as a charter mem-ber, called on charter assistance fol-lowing the earthquake in Sichuanprovince. David Stevens, of the U.N.Office of Outer Space Affairs and acoordinator of the U.N. Space-basedInformation for Disaster Manage-ment and Emergency Response, or Spider, programme, said the two

Asiandisastersillustrate the danger of aduplication ofeffort amongresponseteams turningimagery intousable mapsfor relief work-ers. "This is thefirst time we have seen this,"Stevens said of the overlap of agen-cies assembling data on disasterareas. "It is an example of howthings are developing and it needsto be resolved." Guenter Schreier ofthe German Aerospace Center, DLR,which in 2003 established the ZKICenter for Satellite-Based CrisisInformation - a 24/7 facility toassemble satellite data in the hoursafter a disaster strikes - said what is missing is a middle layer of datamanagement between thoseassembling the data and those who need it.

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Disaster response imagery ample butdistribution still tough

ment also means that shad-ows, something inherent inany image, take on specialsignificance". Arévalo poin-ted out that the identifica-tion of shadows enables thesubsequent application ofspecific information recov-ery techniques, as well asthe preparation of three-dimensional designs.Thanks to the shadows, ITengineers can estimate,amongst other parameters,the height of elements in alandscape, such as a house.

Online mapsreveal noiselevels across UKUK: Maps showing noiselevels in towns across Eng-land have been publishedonline in an attempt toreduce the disruptioncaused by factories, planes,trains and cars, the Britishgovernment said. Residentsin 23 towns and cities willbe able to check how noisytheir area is by visiting anew government website,www.defra.gov.uk/noisemapping. Ministers say themaps represent the mostthorough attempt yet tograsp the scale of a problemthat some studies havelinked to serious illness andeducational difficulties.

The maps, drawn up tomeet a European Uniondirective, will be used tohelp cut noise in the worst-affected areas.The mapswere created using datataken at industrial sites,

roads, railways and air-ports. They cover 50,000miles of roads and 3,000miles of railways.

The information was col-lected by airport operators,the Department for Trans-port, the Highways Agency,Network Rail and the Envi-ronment Agency. London,Manchester, the West Mid-lands, Liverpool and Not-tingham are among theareas covered by the maps.Researchers have linkedloud noise to illness andeducational problems inchildren.

Nokia navigationservice harnessesOrdnance Survey dataUK: Nokia is taking advan-tage of Ordnance Surveylocation data in its newNokia Maps 2.0 service.With the launch of Nokia

Maps 2.0, Nokia is taking itsmapping and navigationexperiences to the next level. The new service fea-tures improved optional car navigation, enhancedpedestrian navigation,added multimedia cityguides, and now satelliteimages and a redesigneduser interface, OrdnanceSurvey's Code-Point data is

underpinning the GPS service by providing theexact location for the 1.7million postcodes in the UK.This allows users to getdirection information thatis both highly accurate andlinked to an actual place"on the map".

Nokia Maps 2.0 updateadds Walk, a pedestrian-focused navigation compo-nent, to the applicationwhile still offering anoptional car navigation system. The pedestrian navigation efficientlywalks you from A to B withvisual turn-by-turn guid-ance. Because OrdnanceSurvey's Code-Point datagoes beyond a simple list ofpostcodes and provideseach one with a specificlocation, users can be confi-dent they are heading inthe right direction.

New map shows firescars at differentareas across worldUK: Map shows global veg-etation over an area equiv-alent to the EuropeanUnion, EU27, burns everyyear. A University of Leices-ter geographer has come upwith a map that shows thatabout 3.5 to 4.5 millionsquare km of the globalvegetation burns everyyear, an area which isequivalent to the EuropeanUnion (EU27) and largerthan India. The map pro-duced by Dr Kevin Tansey, aleading scientist in the

Department of Geography,shows a visual impressionof the fire scars on earthbetween 2000 and 2007.

"We have produced, forthe first time, a global data-base and map of the occur-rence of fire scars coveringthe period 2000-2007. Priorto this development, datawere only available for theyear 2000. With sevenyears of data, it is not possi-ble to determine if there isan increasing trends in theoccurrence of fire" said DrTansey, a Lecturer inRemote Sensing.

NHS chooses DottedEyes for digitalmappingUK: The NHS (NationalHealth Service) InformationCentre has awarded a fouryear contract to Geographi-cal information specialistDotted Eyes to provide digi-tal mapping data to theNHS. The contract providesNHS organisations with arange of digital mappingdata products availablethrough a fixed schedule ofprices.

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SIDEREUS 2008 to take placeon Nov 26-28 in BeijingSIDEREUS is a business matchmakingevent between European and SoutheastAsian companies operating in the aero-space and ICT sectors on satellite navi-gation applications with a special focuson GALILEO. The event aims to promotethe internationalisation of European andAsian SMEs by facilitating direct busi-ness cooperation and the transfer ofknow-how and technology between Asiaand Europe. It also aims at increasingeconomic cooperation between Europeand Asia, encouraging growth andtransnational agreement in the regions inthe aerospace sector.

Luciad wins keycontract with FAABelgium: Luciad, softwareprovider for visualisation ofgeospatial information, hassigned an important con-tract for the developmentof an SUA (Special Use Air-space) editor with the USFederal Aviation Adminis-tration (FAA), the agencyresponsible for the safety ofcivil aviation in the UnitedStates. The system will sup-port AIXM 5 (AeronauticalInformation ExchangeModel), the new globalaeronautical data inter-change standard.

The FAA has awarded acontract to Luciad to proto-type a web-based editor forspecial use airspaces(SUAs). This contract buildson Luciad's record of provid-ing software solutions tolarge system integratorsand Air Navigation ServiceProviders (ANSPs).

Avenza OnlineForumannouncedCanada: Avenza SystemsInc., (producers of MAPub-lisher cartographic soft-ware for Adobe Illustratorand Geographic Imagerspatial tools for Adobe Pho-toshop) announced theinception of the AvenzaForums, a set of online mes-sage and informationgroups for all MAPublisherand Geographic Imagerusers, evaluators and otherinterested parties. The new

Avenza forums are a 24-hour a day, 7-day a weekonline resource from whereMAPublisher and Geo-graphic Imager users andother interested parties cancollect additional productinformation and dialogwith other users as well asAvenza staff. The AvenzaForum can be found at

www.avenza.com/forumand provides a three-tieredmechanism for asking andanswering questions, forlearning more about Aven-za's products and servicesand for sharing knowledgewith other users. Eachforum member's initial sta-tus in the Avenza forum isdependent upon the cur-

rent maintenance subscrip-tion held at the time of reg-istration.

CIST wins PGIScontract fromHeyuan CityChina: China InformationSecurity Technology haswon a contract to constructthe Police Geographic Infor-

News: Business

24

Mettenmeier, Tensing signpartnership agreementGermany: Enterprise mobile and geo solu-tions specialist Tensing has named Met-tenmeier as Tensing Business Partner. As abusiness partner, Mettenmeier, a consult-ant and software provider in the utilitiesindustry, will be able to sell and imple-ment Tensing's entire suite of enterprisemobility solutions to the German speak-ing market in Europe.

"The partnership between Mettenmeierand Tensing will serve to benefit growingclient needs for GIS data in every day taskssuch as maintenance and inspections. Weare honoured to work with such an inno-vative company in the utilities space,"says Dirk Verbeek, Director of BusinessDevelopment at Tensing. Tensing's mobili-ty suite includes: the field service solution,Tensing Mobile Workflow, Tensing Track& Trace, Tensing Fleet Management, andTensing Mobile and Web GIS.

Rolta's acquisition of US ITbiz intelligence companyIndia: Rolta is learnt to be close to acquir-ing a US-based IT firm in the area of busi-ness intelligence. The firm has beensearching for an asset that will add to itsskills on the IT side and complement itscore strengths in GIS and engineering.

The firm is understood to building up

skills in the areas it is not very strong andwhere it wants to grow, through acquisi-tions. Earlier this year, it had acquiredBroech Corporation, an IT company spe-cialising in ERP applications and Oracledatabase technologies, for $45 million. Theacquisition of a business intelligence soft-ware firm is a natural extension to this.

Los Angeles countyexpands agreement withPictometryUSA: Pictometry International Corp.,provider of geo-referenced aerial imagelibraries announced that its aerial imageryand software agreement with the LosAngeles Region Imagery Acquisition Con-sortium (LAR-IAC) has been renewed andexpanded. LAR-IAC is directed and man-aged by the Los Angeles County ChiefInformation Office and the County Depart-ment of Regional Planning. The renewedtwo-year agreement provides for the cap-ture of new aerial oblique and orthophotosfor the County's more than 4,000 squaremiles. Pictometry is partnering with Col-orado-based Sanborn for the high-accura-cy digital orthophotos included in the newagreement. Pictometry will capture theimagery and Sanborn will create precisionorthophotos with photogrammetricmethodologies to produce the imagery tocustomer standards.

J U LY 2 0 0 8G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

mation System for HeyuanCity, Guangdong provincein China, with a total con-tract value of $2.68 million.The contract is estimated tobe completed within 2008.The company expects thateach Police-Use GIS (PGIS)roll-out in a new city willprovide follow-on contractand maintenance service

opportunities with thepotential to generate addi-tional revenues for thecompany.

EADS Astrium wins263 M-euro ESAsatellite orderGermany: Satellite makerAstrium, a unit of Europeanaerospace firm EADS, has

won a contract worth some263 million euros ($415 mil-lion) to build an earthobservation satellite. Thefirm signed the contractwith ESA to develop theEarthCARE satellite. Weigh-ing some 1.7 metric tons, thesatellite is due to belaunched in 2013. The firmsaid the satellite should aid

understanding of theearth's climate and deliverdata for research and mete-orological forecasting mod-els. EarthCARE (EarthClouds, Aerosols and Radia-tion Explorer) is the sixthEarth Explorer mission tobe launched by ESA as partof its "Living Planet" pro-gramme, Astrium said.

Sierra Atlantic partners withCallidus to advance Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deliveryUSA: Sierra Atlantic, dealing in offshoring enterprise applicationsand outsourced product development,has worked out an agreement withCallidus Software, working primarily on Sales Performance Management (SPM). The master services agreement will cover areassuch as professional services, develop-ment and support. Under the agree-ment, Sierra Atlantic will provide arange of operations for Callidus Soft-ware's on-demand business, includ-ing engineering capabilities and 24/7technical services. Callidus Softwarewill train specialists at Sierra Atlantic's delivery center inHyderabad, India, to implement a broad range of integrated SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) product devel-opment processes and technologysolutions.

MDA to provide solutionfor a high-resolutionsatellite programmeUSA: MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), has beenawarded a multi-million dollarupgrade contract to supply a confi-

dential customer with additionalcapabilities for a complete systemsolution for a high-resolution satellite programme. Under this con-tract, MDA will provide the customerwith a second ground system, to belocated in a separate facility to theexisting system, capable of program-ming and receiving imagery from thesatellite. MDA will also upgrade theexisting system, previouslyannounced in May 2007, to integratewith the new system. The new system upgrade is currently beingdeveloped and will be fully opera-tional in 2009.

O'Connor to becomean executive officer ofTopcon CorpUSA: Ray O'Connor, president andCEO of Topcon Positioning Systems(TPS), has been selected to become anexecutive officer of Topcon Corpora-tion, headquartered in Tokyo. O'Con-nor is also chairman of Topcon EuropePositioning Business, and sits on theboard of Topcon America Corporationand Topcon Europe BV. He is the firstperson of non-Japanese descent andthe youngest person ever to be namedas a Topcon Corporation executiveofficer.

Intermap wins $6.8 M orderfrom NGIAUSA: Intermap Federal Services Inc.unit has won a $6.8 million deliveryorder from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The digitalmapping company said the ordercompletes the purchase of licensedimagery and elevation data fromIntermap's NEXTMap USA geospatialdataset.

Intermap said the order is the sixthpurchase of NEXTMap data from thecompany for the combined purchaseof about 8 million square kilometresof data or 3.1 million square miles ofthe contiguous United States andHawaii.

GeoEye receivesadditional Governmentawards totaling $22 MUSA: GeoEye, Inc., announced new awards totaling $22 million tosupply geospatial products and related services. Under this awardGeoEye will provide National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) a significant amount of value-added, imagery-based geospa-tial-intelligenceproducts includingthe company's airport mapping product line.

J U LY 2 0 0 8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 25

GeoSage releases RGBimage stretching toolAustralia: GeoSage hasreleased RGB ImageStretching Tool, claimed tobe a time-saving utility pro-gramme for versatile imagestretching. The Tool is aDOS-based utility pro-gramme and contains bothlinear and non-linearstretching options. Userscan define a set of band-specific, adaptable parame-ters for both options in asingle run. RGB ImageStretching Tool analyses 8-or 16-bit multiple-bandGeoTIFF inputs, and out-puts 3-band, 8-bit RGB com-posite in GeoTIFF formatwith a single image planarconfiguration.

Luciad releasesLuciadMap V8.0with OracleSpatial (11g)integrationBelgium: Luciad hasreleased LuciadMap Ver-sion 8.0 with substantialnew functionality andincreased performance,enabling developers to rap-idly and effectively buildand deploy high-end mis-sion-critical systems. Luci-ad's partnership with Ora-cle is reinforced in theseamless integration withthe latest edition of OracleSpatial. LuciadMap is asuite of customisable soft-ware components that sys-tem integrators and origi-nal equipment manufac-

turers can easily integrateinto their existing systems.The product has a globaluser base in aviation, secu-rity and maritime sectors.

Galdos SystemsInc. launchesKML ValidatorCanada: Galdos SystemsInc. has announced thelaunch of KML Validator,which was designed to helpproduce higher quality KMLfiles. The automated KMLvalidation engine is a pub-lic service to KML develop-ers and users. This servicewill make it easier to devel-op and test KML tools andcomponents, and will con-tribute to the increasinglywide spread adoption ofKML. Galdos Systems Inc.plans additional KML sup-port in the future, includingprofessional validationservices for KML tool devel-opers, and a registry of KMLtest files.

OnPoint 6.2 releasedCanada: Orion TechnologyInc., a Rolta Company,announced the latestrelease of its flagship prod-uct OnPoint, version 6.2.This newest release marksthe arrival of enhanced the-matic mapping as well assupport for various formatscommon to Europeanlocales and ESRI ArcGISServer geocoding services.It also sets the stage for themuch anticipated release ofthe OnPoint SDK.

News: PRODUCT

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T26

ALTA Photogrammetry Suite (APS)Version 7.1 releaseCanada: Groupe Alta has released Version 7.1 of its professional Alta Photogrammetry Suite (APS). This software has been re-branded from its formally known DVP-GS since version 7.0. The updated version offers new and improved functionality that increases productivity. Key features in this update include:

• On-the-fly contour and TIN using features within the view

• Export to .asp (an XML based orientation file format) for compatibility with our ALTAVU free desktop viewer

• Enhancement of multiple filter applications including better control for color balancing and other filters in Orthomosaics

Other main enhancements in Version 7.1:• Modifications for 2D snapping

• Viewing of relatively orientated stereo models (does notrequire absolute orientation before using)

• More functions incorporated to our JavaScript macro programming engine and keyboard custom keys

Rapid Surveyor from InfoterraGermany: Infoterra Ltd has launched Rapid Surveyor, anew mobile laser mapping system. The system is specifi-cally designed for mobile use, to enable the capture of precise information of the built/natural environment atunrivalled resolution and coverage. For example, RapidSurveyor can identify and accurately position assets, suchas poles and road drainage features, for planning andinfrastructure management. Rapid Surveyor is claimed tocapture high quality data with a speed of capture far fasterthan traditional terrestrial-based surveys. Rapid Surveyormakes up to 200,000 measurements per second, allowinghighly detailed 3D information.

Leica releases MobileMatriX v3.0Switzerland: In its newly released version 3.0, LeicaMobileMatriX offers the ability to synchronise survey datawith an enterprise geodatabase, transfer digital imagestaken from a mobile phone via Bluetooth and link it with afeature, in addition to many other improvements.

With the survey enhancement of distributed databasesconcept from ESRI, Leica MobileMatriX v3.0 provides a flexible and powerful mobile GIS application. Leica MobileMatriX v3.0 is designed to benefit large and complex mobile GIS projects, down to small projectsinvolving only a few field crews.

J U LY 2 0 0 8

GeographicImager 2.0 forAdobe PhotoshopCanada: Avenza SystemsInc., has released Geograph-ic Imager 2.0 for Adobe Pho-toshop CS2 and CS3. Geographic Imager 2.0 isthe latest version of thissoftware that adds geospa-tial functionality to AdobePhotoshop. GeographicImager enhances thealready commandingAdobe Photoshop imagingenvironment by adding allthe tools and technologynecessary to support theimport, edit, manipulationand export of geospatialimages such as aerial andsatellite imagery. . In addi-tion to allowing the use ofPhotoshop and its nativeimaging functions such ascropping, transparencies,individual pixel editing andbrightness/contrast con-trol, Geographic Imageradds the ability to importand recognise GeoTIFFs andother referenced raster for-mats, automatically mosaicand tile images spatially,reproject and transformimages, geo-referenceimages based on groundcontrol points and re-export images with all spa-tial information intact.

Spectra PrecisionintroducesRugged DataCollector USA: Spectra Precisionannounced the addition of

Spectra Precision Nomaddata collector running itsnew Field Surveyor 2.0 fieldsoftware for its FOCUS 10 Total Stations andEPOCH 25 GPS Systems. Therugged data collector andnew field software solutionprovides increased functionality for surveyingapplications includingtopographic data collection,staking and layout, bound-ary and cadastre, and com-prehensive COGO and road-ing routines.

PB MapInfolaunchesMapInfoProfessional 9.5USA: Pitney Bowes MapInfoannounced the release ofMapInfo Professional 9.5, the latest version of thecompany's flagship application for businessmapping and analysis. The new version offersadditional data editing and creation tools, supportsOracle Database 11g and Microsoft SQL Server2008, and provides workgroup enablementfeatures for greater IT support. MapInfo Profes-sional 9.5 offers:

• Improved data creationand editing

• Increased database support

• Greater ease of use

• Higher quality maps

• Greater programminglanguage support

• Increased support forindustry standards

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 27

Getmapping launches maps,imagery of Northern IrelandUK: Getmapping has announced the availability of newaerial imagery and mapping of Northern Ireland to add toits coverage of England, Wales and Scotland. Both the aer-ial imagery and 1:50,000-scale mapping are available forimmediate download from Getmapping.com. Aerialimagery covering the whole province of Northern Irelandis available at 25cm resolution, sufficient to clearly see,roads, buildings, trees and vegetation. The mapping isavailable at 1:50,000 scale. Specific tiles may be orderedonline for immediate download whilst specialist areasmay be ordered from Getmapping's sales office. The datais available in a variety of file formats including JPEG andECW.

Google Earth's 3D goodness comesto the browserUSA: At the Google I/O conference, VP Engineering VicGundotra stressed the supremacy of the browser amongall internet-enabled platforms. So it should come as nosurprise that the Google Earth team has announced onthe same day that it has ported the Google Earth desktopclient's 3D mapping technology into the browser. Websitedevelopers are now able to embed 3D maps, which can bemodified using Google's JavaScript API to add KML data,draw 3D buildings, attach callbacks, and more. The entireembed is powered by a special Google Earth Browser Plu-gin that end users must install. It is only available forInternet Explorer and Firefox users on Windows.

MetaCarta launches discussion blog USA: MetaCarta, Inc., provider of geographic search andreferencing solutions, announced the creation of "The MetaCarta Blog," an online community whereMetaCarta and other industry experts and visitors canconnect to discuss their views on new and innovativeideas and to share their collective knowledge of how geography is adding a new dimension to the Internet to create the "geoweb." The geoweb enables informationto be organised and searched by location and promises togenerate new consumer, business, and entertainmentopportunities.

The blog, located at http://metacarta.wordpress.com,will focus on advancing industry dialog on topics such asgeography, location intelligence, and how digital mapshave already started to become a new user interface.

J U LY 2 0 0 8

ESRI

ESRI (UK) enablesacademic access to GIsoftwareESRI has renewed andexpanded its agreement tosupply software to univer-sities, in the UK and Ireland,through the Chest schemedeveloped by Eduserv. Thenew three-year agreementadds to ESRI (UK)'s existing16 year participation inChest, through which over75 per cent of UK universi-ties and other educationalinstitutions purchase GISfrom ESRI (UK).

Institutions participatingin the scheme benefit fromdiscounted software as wellas a 50 per cent discount onESRI (UK) training coursesand access to ESRI Inc'sonline training courses. Thenew agreement gives stu-dents and staff anincreased selection of geo-graphically based softwaretools from the ESRI portfolioincluding extensions to thecore software not previous-ly available to UK educa-tional institutions and theoption to join the EDN (ESRIDeveloper Network).Administration staff can

also use the software in allaspects of universityadministration.

ESRI Canada'sSun Media'sStreetPerfect forArcGISESRI Canada announced theavailability of the Earth-To-Map GIS Inc. developedArcGIS extension called

StreetPerfect for ArcGIS.This wizard-based exten-sion utilises Canada Post'snational database, to verify,correct, and enhanceaddress data from anyCanadian location andautomates the geocodingprocess. StreetPerfect forCanadian Address Accuracywas originally developed in1992 by Sun Media Corp to

take advantage of discountmailing rates availablethrough the Canada PostCorporation (CPC) AddressAccuracy Programme. Thesoftware enables users tovalidate addresses at thetime of data entry and for-mat them to CPC standards,significantly increasingproductivity and data qual-ity.

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News: Companies

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T28

ERDAS announced the opening of a new office in Liège, Belgium. Effective May 27, 2008, ERDAS has moved from itsGrâce-Hollogne, Belgium office to a new, larger location in Liège. Supporting ERDAS' growth in Europe, the Liège officeincludes training and meeting facilities, in a convenient and central location for customers and business partners. Priorto becoming ERDAS, Inc., the company was known as Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging.

ERDAS

DigitalGlobe expands imagery solutions for the oil, gas industryDigitalGlobe has unveiled ImageConnect: Oil and Gas, an online imagery service foroil and gas professionals worldwide with on-demand access via GIS and WMS servic-es to areas of global oil and gas exploration. Built upon DigitalGlobe's standard Image-Connect solution for GIS professionals, ImageConnect Oil and Gas provides high-preci-sion, accurate imagery of geographic areas important to upstream oil and gas explo-ration, including oil basins, refineries, pipelines and high-interest geological areas forthe oil and gas industry. ImageConnect: Oil and Gas provides immediate online accessto a 1 million square kilometer global image layer of high-resolution satellite imagedoil basins.

Intergraph GeoMedia to support MS SQL Server 2008spatial enhancementsThe Intergraph GeoMedia suite of geospatial information management and analysisproducts will support Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 spatial enhancements to provideIntergraph customers with an improved capacity for interoperability and informa-tion sharing. The spatial enhancements to SQL Server 2008 will benefit all of Inter-graph's customers who utilise SQL Server for the storage and management of theirgeospatial information.

DIGITALGLOBE

INTERGRAPH

RELEASES

Apple unveils new 3GiPhone - with GPSApple introduced the 'next-generation iPhone' - whichwill be faster than the earli-er version, and capable ofsatellite navigation. The

new 8GB iPhone will cost$199 (£100) in the US. A16GB version will sell for$299. The new phone hasGPS will offer more servicestailored to the owner's loca-tion, such as the ability tofind nearby restaurantsand businesses. The newdevice would be availablein 22 countries.

Inrix DebutsNavigation SoftwareSuiteTraffic data provider Inrix ismoving beyond traffic data,unveiling a comprehensivesuite of products for navi-gation devices, telematicsservices, and other in-carapplications. Inrix Connect-ed Services uses a third-generation routing engine,dynamic traffic data cover-ing 800,000 miles of road-ways, additional location-relevant content, and adeveloper zone designed tosimplify creation of loca-tion-based service applica-tions. The routing technolo-gy involved incorporatesreal-time, predictive, andhistorical traffic informa-tion.

MapmyIndialaunches 'iNav'navigationservicesMapmyIndia launchediNav, its GPS navigation

solutions for mobilephones. iNav offers com-prehensive maps and navi-gation software for thegrowing number of GPSphones. Its wide networkincludes 2,80,000 points ofinterest across 52 cate-gories, such as ATMs,restaurants, petrol pumpsand police stations. Asmany as 55,000 towns andvillages, landmarks in 150cities, national and statehighways and detailedstreet, by-lane, locality, sub-locality and comprehensivepoints of 18 major cities areavailable for the users.

CSR launcheschipset withBluetooth, GPSand FMCSR has launched its sev-enth generation BlueCore

silicon. BlueCore7 is adevice integrating Blue-tooth v2.1+EDR, Bluetoothlow energy, eGPS and FMtransmit and receive tech-nologies on a single chip.CSR's BlueCore7 reduces thepower, size, cost and com-plexity of adding multipleradios into a mobile phone.CSR has reduced the costand made significant pow-

er and performance impr-ovements necessary forembedding GPS functional-ity into a mobile handset.CSR's eGPS provides userswith faster and more accu-rate position information.

Microsoft unveils OSfor PNDsMicrosoft introduced itsfirst operating systemdesigned for manufacturersof handheld portable navi-gation devices. WindowsEmbedded NavReady 2009,which is based on WindowsEmbedded CE, includestechnologies for connectingPNDs to online services,mobile phones using Blue-tooth, and Windows-basedPCs. The OS includes onlinesearch through Microsoft'sLive Search and alsoincludes the software mak-er's Live Search Map service.

BUSINESS

OxLoc ties upwith TomTom onfleet managementTomTom Work and OxLochave integrated theirrespective technologies forequipment monitoring andfleet management. Userscan monitor the locationand condition of remoteequipment via the OxLocAsset Alert, an autonomousGPS/GPRS unit with a bat-tery life in excess of threeyears. This information issent onto TomTom's

1 2

30 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Location

Garmin Launches nüvifone in COMMUNICASIA 2008

Garmin International has launched the nüvifone which combines communi-cation, navigation and some basic MP3 at the CommunicAsia 2008.

Mio launches 2 PNDs with South East Asia maps

Mio Technology has launched its new portable navigation system, theC320b and C230 with the four pre-loaded maps of the South East Asiancountries of Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia at the Communi-cAsia 2008.

CommunicAsia 2008: Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

Samsung has launched a new touch-screen smartphone called Omnia fea-turing a 5MP camera with smile detection and geo-tagging features atCommunicAsia 2008

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Launches at COMMUNICASIA 2008

31G I S D E V E L O P M E N TJ U LY 2 0 0 8

Webfleet, a real time vehi-cle management applica-tion which connects withvehicles fitted with Tom-Tom Go navigation units.

SatNav secures$7M fromSequoia CapitalSatNav Technologies hasrecently attracted invest-ment of $7 million from oneof the venture capital play-ers, Sequoia Capital. Theinvestment will be used toenhance the product port-folio of SatNav besidesboosting the depth of thecompany's map contentwhich is the backbone of allits products.

Intrinsyc toacquire parts ofDestinatorIntrinsyc Software Interna-tional Inc. has entered intoan agreement to acquirecertain parts of navigationsoftware provider Destina-tor Technologies Inc. Thedeal includes Destinator'snavigation technology andproducts. Destinator isundergoing a court-orderedrestructuring; the acquisi-tion is subject to court-administered restructuringproceedings in Canada andthe United States involvingDestinator and certain of itsaffiliates.

TomTom-Tele Atlasdeal receives EUapprovalAfter a six-month review

by European antitrust officials, TomTom receivedunconditional approval toproceed with its 2.9 billion($4.5 billion) acquisition ofdigital mapmaker TeleAtlas. The commission saidthat the merger would notsignificantly impede effective competition inEurope. The Commissionsaid its investigationfocused on the mergedcompany's ability andincentive to increase thecosts of other personal navigation device (PND)manufacturers for digitalmaps, or to limit theiraccess to these maps.

APPLICATION

Tata IndicomAnnounces Plansto Deploy First A-GPS Location-Based Service inIndiaTata Teleservices announ-ced that it will commercial-ly deploy a new location-based service that is thefirst to use Qualcomm'sAssisted GPS (A-GPS) tech-nology in the Indian mar-ket.

The service leveragesQualcomm's QPoint solu-tion and gpsOne chipsettechnology, with hostingservices from wireless com-munications providerTeleCommunication Sys-tems.

MAP PROVIDERS INNEWS

Navteq Signs upNavigon for 3-Year DealNavteq has reached a three-year agreement to provideGermany's Navigon withits maps as a preferred sup-plier. The agreement coversonboard navigation acrossall Navigon's PNDs, plussoftware products for otherPND brands and mobilephone customers world-wide. This is in addition to arecent contract to supplymapping products for Nav-igon's off-board business.

Tele Atlas UnveilsMultiNav DevelopmentPlatformTele Atlas has unveiled Tele

Atlas MultiNav, its digitalmap platform for next-gen-eration mapping applica-tion development. Multi-Nav provides Tele Atlas digital map database deliv-ered with a smaller data

footprint, which willdecrease developers time-to-market by speeding thedevelopment process andallow a smaller run-timeformat for their applica-tions.

Report

Declining Prices, Rising Demand Driving Global GPS Technology Market

The global market for mobile location technologies is anticipated to grow ata CAGR of 17% from 2007 to 2010. This 17% growth in GPS systems issupported by the portability feature of the systems:

RNCOS

Technology Integration and Business Acquisitions Likely to Define GPS ICMarkets

Semiconductor vendors that pioneered the GPS market may face anuncertain future, and might best ensure their continued ability to innovateby being absorbed into much larger IC manufacturers:

ABI Research

GPS-enabled devices to exceed 830M units by 2012

Worldwide shipments of GPS-integrated mobile devices will grow at anannualized rate of nearly 40% over the next five years, reaching 834 mil-lion units in 2012:

Parks Associates

ABI: GPS Handset Market Poised for Huge Expansion

The market for GPS-enabled handsets is set to boom over the next fouryears, with more than 550 million units shipping in 2012:

ABI Research

For many years sur-

veyors have been

remote from the

GIS industry as the levels of

precision they maintain was

not represented in cadastral

databases and the business

case to rectify that is only

now being recognised.

The spatial accuracy ofcadastral databases is nowseriously on the agenda astechnology provides highaccuracy across all data. Thetime has come for cadastralmanagement in GIS to bedriven by surveyors, theirsurveying methods andtheir high level of spatialawareness.

SURVEY BOUND-ARY DEFINITIONPROCESSESSurvey information is pre-served on public record forsurveyors to accuratelyredefine property bound-aries in the field and servesunderpin land title securityguaranteed by government.Surveyors create the cadastre with the highestprecision but that spatialquality is lost in creatingcadastral databases.

Surveys are now undertak-en with the highest accura-cy in measurement and geo-detic spatial referencing.However when definingboundaries they often have

to interpret accurate spatiallocation on the ground fromsurvey plans that may beover 100 years old withdubious accuracy or occa-sionally contain incorrect ormisleading information. Itbecomes an exercise in sur-vey experience to fit thatrecord information withsurvey marks or monu-ments found on the groundto effect a decision on thespatial location of a proper-ty boundary.

In Australia and many oth-er jurisdictions, all the evi-dence to make that decisionis represented on publicrecord and provides confir-mation of the title measure-

ments to the authority reg-istering the plan. That dataalso provides current (moreaccurate) title measure-ments of surrounding prop-erties. Up till now this sup-porting survey measure-ment information used inthe surveyor's decision mak-ing process was neverutilised in GIS cadastralmanagement.

A CADASTRALDATABASE BUILTSOLELY FROM SURVEY MEASUREMENTS20 years ago experiencedland surveyor turned aca-demic Dr Michael Elfick and

J U LY 2 0 0 8G I S D E V E L O P M E N T32

Cadastre Survey

New GIS based cadastralprecision efficiences

Fig.

IT Systems Analyst MichaelFletcher recognised thatposition based systems(GPS) would supersedemeasurement based sys-tems that historically haddefined land boundaries. Aprocess based on surveymethods was developed tomeet that challenge.

Property ownership under-pins the capitalist economyand defining that owner-ship accurately can be criti-cal. Changing the surveymethod of defining thoseboundaries will not happenin the near future as survey-ors are required to verifydefinitions in comparisonwith historical records andmark the new location onthe ground with surveymarks.

When a surveyor placessurvey marks to redefineparcel corners, the measure-ments between those marksoften differ from the dimen-sions shown on the title.Usually older titles have thegreater differences. This dif-ference means trying to fittogether shapes only

defined by the title dimen-sions will not replicate thecontinuous fabric of thecadastre in the real world.Slithers and overlaps occurwhen only the raw title datais modeled and adjustmentof that data is required tocreate the continuous fabric.In the model, the parceldimensions are adjusted,however, the original titledimensions legally definethe property and shouldalways be available as thetitle attributes.

Elfick has developed anelectronic process that fol-lows survey boundary defi-nition protocols to provide acadastral database systemthat combines historical sur-vey measurement informa-tion with modern measure-ment and computing tech-nology. This creates a SUR-VEY DATA MODEL as thebasis for a geodetic cadastraldatabase.

A high level of financialresponsibility rests on a sur-veyor's boundary definitionwork and as such, normalpractice is to incorporate as

much checking of theirwork as possible. Thislevel of rigour is inher-ent in the Elfickprocess.

GIS CADASTRALDATABASE HISTORYUp till the 1990's cadas-tral databases consist-ed of paper or plasticfilm charting maps

maintained byhand. Spatialaccuracy forcharting mapswas not impor-tant as they pro-vided the link tothe registered sur-vey title planswhich providedthe survey meas-urements and backgroundmonument information forspatial accuracy in a localreference frame.

These charting maps werethe only reference databaseof the cadastre and weregenerally digitised to pro-vide the first electroniccadastral databases for GIS.This was adequate at thetime as the GIS representa-tion was 'pictorial' and wasa means of linking to otherfeature datasets relating tothe property. Also the com-puting technology limitedthe storage & computationsof accurate Geodetic coordi-nation.

These databases were ofno benefit to surveyors oth-er than as a mapping toolfor 'big picture' representa-tions.

As GPS technology high-lighted the spatial deficien-cies of cadastral databases,improvements to the preci-sion of cadastral databasesinvolved 'rubber sheeting'the model to fit surveyedcoordinates. Increasing thedensity of coordinatedpoints then increased modelprecision. This method pro-

vides no spatial validity tointermediate pointsbetween accurately coordi-nated points and canbecome 'survey' intensive.

More recently, spatial pre-cision has been increased byadding varying degrees ofsurvey measurement infor-mation. This is a progressiontowards the Elfick model butwill always remain animproved mapping outcomerather than a tool of surveymerit.

SURVEYORS MEASUREMENTDATABASES Surveyors are renowned fornot throwing away any-thing. In their records everyjob they have worked oncontains some elements ofsurvey information thatmay be of benefit to them inthe future. Thus for years,these file records on paperhave been retained as theirpersonal database.

Since the 1980's Geodeticreferencing of surveys wasrequired, but the majority oftitles were still referencedby local survey monumentssuch as pegs, buried pipes or

33G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Fig. 1: DATA ENTRY - Survey Information collected

Fig. 2: PARCEL JOINING

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J U LY 2 0 0 836 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

concrete blocks. Surveyorsfound these marks to orien-tate their surveys andstored references to them intheir records. Some of thisdata would be used in thepreparation of subdivisionplans and would then beavailable on public record.

The surveyor's public data-base consists of the surveyplans of subdivisions doneby other surveyors andstored on paper in local orState Offices.

The advent of computersand coordinate geometrysoftware then allowed themto electronically store theirpersonal survey boundarydefinitions, firstly on a localdatum and more recently ona standard geodetic one.

CREATING A SUR-VEY DATA MODELAND CADASTRALDATABASE

The measurements fromsurvey plans are used tomodel the parcels and thoseparcels are then joined toform a mesh of surveygeometry known as theSURVEY DATA MODEL. TheSURVEY DATA MODEL is

then usedby the leastsquaresadjustmentto fit thegeometrymesh togeodeticsurvey con-trol marksand then

generate coordinates to cre-ate the cadastral database.The stages of the processare:

DATA ENTRYThe options to create a sur-vey data model include:Manual data entry of surveyplans - Survey measure-ments are used to defineparcels. Other survey infor-mation from plans isentered to provide updateddimensions and connectivi-ty to other parcels. Connec-tions across roads are alsogenerated to ensure thoseroads maintain their nomi-nated fixed width. Surveybearings and measurementsare entered and held fixedin tables. Other cadastralparcel attributes are includ-ed. i.e. Plan Number, Age,Area, survey status (histori-cal, compiled). Weightingsare generated to nominatesurvey quality based on theage of the plan or can benominated manually.

Manual data entry is thepreferred method as 'parcel'miscloses are checkedbefore joining to the modelwhich checks data entry

and plan quality.Importing electronic datafrom other survey geometrysoftwware - Survey softwarepackages can usually outputrelevant cadastral data(with parcel attributes) in aformat which can beimported to the survey datamodel. Migration of other existingGIS cadastral databases -Blocks of some mappingdatabases are able to beimported by inversing theexisting mapping bound-aries. This method is used toquickly populate a cadastraldatabase but has no surveymerit and is often too inac-curate to be adjusted. Insuch circumstances, pocketsof good data can be used toimprove large areas of rela-tively poor data as an itera-tive process.

PARCEL JOININGThe geometry model of eachparcel is then joined to theSurvey Data Model whichinvokes another level of sur-vey rigour.

Each point of the joiningparcel is joined directly tothe correct node on themodel. If a point sits some-where along an existing linethat point is designated as a'line point' to maintain theexisting line as a straightline.

As each point is connected,the precision of the 'fit' ofthe new geometry to thesurvey data model is meas-ured so the spatial quality of

the new geometry is report-ed. A parcel is not joineduntil the user is satisfiedwith the joining residuals.Drafting or other problemswith plans are quicklyfound in this process.

The joining process is cur-rently being investigated bythe Land Titles Office ofNew South Wales (Aus-tralia) as a means of check-ing the survey integrity ofnew subdivision plans rela-tive to the existing cadastralsurvey data model and as aformat for future electroniclodgment.

THE ADJUSTMENTThe survey data modelstores the original measure-ment data and alwaysreturns to that original datato form the least squareequations for every adjust-ment. ACTIVE control pointsare held fixed and thegeometry mesh is adjustedto them. NON-ACTIVE con-trol points are not held fixedand new coordinates arecalculated through the mod-

Fig. 3: The Adjustment Report

The GIS can assist the surveyorwith additional information (aerialphotography) thatmay assist in locatingsurvey marks or otherassets in the field

“

”

37G I S D E V E L O P M E N T J U LY 2 0 0 8

el for them. They provide anindependent check on thespatial quality of the data-base created. After eachadjustment is run by theoperator, a report is avail-able which compares thecomputed database distancewith the original surveyeddistance for every line in themodel.

THE OUTCOMESFOR A SURVEYDATA MODEL

• Curve geometry is mathe-matically defined

• The survey data model pro-duces the most completeand accurate representationof the legal cadastre.

• The precision of the modelis determined by the accura-cy of the survey informationused.

i.e. for modern survey infor-mation the model accuracyshould be less than 20-30mm

• Once entered, all the sur-vey information is stored aspart of the model and is effi-ciently updated with newinformation.

• As the model uses surveymeasurements to computethe database coordinatesbetween control points, theamount of survey control isgreatly reduced.

THE SURVEY DATAMODEL AS A FIELDSURVEY TOOL

Using laptop computers,surveyors are taking the sur-vey data model in the fieldto locate remote or buriedsurvey marks by handheldor RTK GPS with sub-meteraccuracy. Once a survey

mark is found the surveycoordinates are held fixedfor that point in the modeland the adjustment is rerun.Within 15 minutes the sur-veyor is then searching forthe next mark with a muchhigher model precision. Thishas been of great benefit inrural areas or rugged terrainor to quickly confirm a markhas probably beendestroyed. Surveyors havereported benefits by beingable to resolve problemswith old or poor standardplans in the field.

As surveys are completed,a coordinated survey data-base is built. This informa-tion is available as a basisfor future surveys in thesame or adjoining areas.

THE OUTCOMESFOR GIS If an existing database isspatially accurate, there is agreater awareness of allusers to ensure new infor-mation meets the same levelof spatial quality, so all databeing added to an assetdatabase should retain itsspatial integrity.

The rules for an accuratedatabase can then ensurethat no data is adjustedaway from an accurate coordinated spatial locationto match a poor qualitycadastre

A NEW RELATION-SHIP BETWEENSURVEY AND GISSurvey accuracy in a cadas-

tral data-baseencouragesa mutuallybeneficialenviron-ment forboth sur-veyors andGIS profes-sionals

In localgovernment and utilities,the surveyors are now work-ing more closely with theGIS staff for a mutually ben-eficial environment. Survey-ors are now more interestedin contributing accurateinformation for the GIS. TheGIS can assist the surveyorwith additional information(aerial photography) thatmay assist in locating sur-vey marks or other assets inthe field.

THE BUSINESSCASE The benefits of an accuratesurvey data model are effi-cient operations and noproblems caused by a cadas-tral layer of unknown spa-tial quality.

Currently there is noappreciation of the realeconomies of the issues andno true accounting of thereal cost of inefficiencies orproblems.

Spatially accurate data ismore efficiently migratedinternally & externally andrisk management issues andpotential liabilities arereduced.

THE FUTUREIn New South Wales a Continuous Operating Refer-ence Stations (CORS) net-work of GPS stations willsoon provide centimetreaccurate geodetic coordi-nates to surveyors across the State and the general accessibility of modern spatial technology means a spatially accurate cadastral database is critical to effective datamanagement.

The survey data model isthe key to meeting thefuture spatial challenges of Surveyors and GIS Professionals so the cadastral layer has surveyand spatial merit.

Fig. 4: CONTROL REPORT - Review of modelprecision through non-active control points

Ian Harper*harper@geodata.com.au

Roger Lee**DirectorGeodata Australia lee@geodata.com.au

Maritime safety and naviga-

tion are important issues in

transoceanic conveyance.

Government agencies, private companies

and investment groups often need to col-

lect hydrographic data in order to enable

safe navigation and freedom of manoeu-

vre at sea and to exploit the physical oper-

ating environments above and below the

water surface for strategic, operational

and tactical advantage.

Hydrography is the science that dealswith all measurements and descrip-tions of the physical features of bodiesof water and their littoral land areas.Hydrographic surveys support a vari-ety of activities such as port and har-bour maintenance (dredging), coastalengineering (beach erosion and replen-ishment studies), coastal zone manage-

ment, and offshore resource develop-ment. In broad terms hydrographic sur-veys would include all underwater sur-veys encompassing all navigational,pipeline routing and sub marine cableinstallation and dredging surveys.However, typical hydrographic surveysare carried out for the purpose of navi-gation and other surveys differ from itin terms of techniques used and thefinal desired output. For example,bathymetric surveys are aimed at col-lecting depth data.

A bathymetric map or chart usuallyshows floor relief or terrain as contourlines (called depth contours or iso-baths). They don not provide additionalsurface navigational information suchas accurate positions and representa-tions of hills, mountains and lightstowers that will aid in fixing a ship's

position. Similarly, reflection seismolo-gy or 'seismic' is used to map the sub-surface structure of rock formations.Seismic offshore surveys are the pri-mary method of exploring oil and gasdeposits on land, under the sea and inthe transition zone between the landand sea (depths less than 30 to 40metres).

The surveys are most commonly con-ducted by or under the supervision ofnational organisations with responsi-bilities for chart making and distribu-tion as per the standards set by variousinternational agencies such as the IMO(International Maritime Organisation),IHO (International HydrographicOrganisation), ISO, IMCA (InternationalMarine Contractors Association) andCommission 4 of the International Fed-eration of Surveyors (FIG) .

Hydrographic SurveyingHydrographic Surveying

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T38

Primer

J U LY 2 0 0 8

TECHNOLOGYThere are five fundamental considera-tion in a hydrographic survey, viz. theposition, orientation or a direction orazimuth to orient the survey, scale,shape and the detail of informationrequired which will include - regularwater depths, least depth positionsover all shoals, wrecks, reefs, banks andobstructions, coastline position (HW -high water, and LW - low water mark) ,nature of the bottom, tidal measure-ments, the positions of breakers, tiderips, fishing stakes, positions of allfloating navigation marks among oth-ers. The surveys should also establishdatum controls (Horizontal and Sound-ing), time, hydrographic position, hori-zontal positional accuracy using Differ-ential Global Positioning System(DGPS) and establish resolution Stan-dards before undertaking the survey.

The complex nature of hydrographicsurveys entails the use of advance tech-nologies and devices. Early hydro-graphic surveys consisted of depthsmeasured by sounding pole and handlead line, with positions determined bythree-point sextant fixes to mappedreference points.

The development of single-beam echosounders in the early 1930s greatlyspeeded up the survey process andallowed more data points to be collect-ed. Further advancement came with

the development of electronic naviga-tion systems in the 1940s . In the 1970s,multibeam swath mapping systemswere developed, improving quality andcoverage with multiple sounding sen-sors (Figure 1).

Modern surveys make use of a rangeof software and equipment that can beinstalled on an inflatable craft, such aszodiacs, small craft, AUVs(Autonomous underwater vehicles),UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vehi-cles) or large ships, and can includesidescan, single beam and multibeamequipment for hydrographic surveysprimarily with side scan and multi-beam sonar. The surveys are increas-ingly being conducted with the aid ofairborne remote sensing LIDAR sys-tems and optronics. The core advantagein LiDAR technology is to measurequantities faster and better by utilizingstate of the art lasers techniques. Inter-ferometric sonar systems are capable ofproviding large swath bathymetry inshallow-water areas.

The Single-beam echo sounder or Sidescan sonar (Sound Navigation andRanging) consists of three basic compo-nents: a towfish, a transmission cable,and the topside processing unit. Thetowfish is dragged behind a ship nearthe sea floor, where it transmits soundenergy and receives echoes from thesurrounding sea bed. The strength ofthe return echo is recorded, creating a"picture" of the sea floor where objectsprotruding create a dark image (return)and shadows from these objects arelight areas (little or no return). Side scansonar is most useful to locate sea-floorfeatures and possible obstructions, butdoes not provide depth information.

Multi-beam eecho-sounder may beconsidered as a series of single-beamecho sounders mounted on an array.For example, in SeaBat 8101, there are

altogether 101 transducers (beams),each with 1.5 degree along track andacross track respectively. Every ping ofsignal emitted will be equivalent to afan-shape transmission from directlybeneath a ship's hull which results inthe receiving of 101 soundings acrossthe track of the vessel. Multibeamsonars produce a "swath" of soundings(i.e. depths) to ensure full coverage ofan area.

The Scanning Hydrographic Opera-tional Airborne Lidar Survey (SHOALS)system system was developed for theUS Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) bythe Joint Airborne Lidar BathymetryTechnical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX)as part of an objective to facilitate pri-vate sector investment in Lidarbathymetry by demonstrating thetechnology and commercial applica-tions in 1994.

39G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Fig. 1: Evolution of Hydrographic surveyingtechniques (Source: http://www.oceanservice.noaa.gov)

Figure 2: The shipwreck Herbert D.Maxwell (sunk on May 16, 1910, east ofAnnapolis, Maryland )depicted by side scansonar (top) and Digital Terrain Model(DTM) generated from multibeam sonardata (bottom). (Source: http://www.oceanservice.noaa.gov)

J U LY 2 0 0 8

SHOALS employs a Lidar based tech-nique known as Airborne LidarBathymetry (ALB) or Airborne LidarHydrography (ALH) to rapidly and accu-rately measure seabed depths andtopographic elevations. SHOALS cansurvey over large areas, far exceedingthe capabilities and efficiency of tradi-tional survey methods. The attractionof ALB lies in its ability to overcomemany of the disadvantages of conven-tional acoustic survey technique.JALBTCX executes survey operationsusing the Compact Hydrographic Air-borne Rapid Total Survey (CHARTS) sys-tem and industry-based coastal map-ping and charting systems. CHARTSincludes an Optech, Inc., SHOALS-3000Lidar instrument integrated with anItres CASI-1500 hyperspectral imagerthat collects Lidar or bathymetric data.Survey operations support the USACENational Coastal Mapping Program andNAVOCEANO nautical charting mis-sions.

DIFFERENTIAL GPSDifferential GPS (DGPS) is now the prin-cipal system used in hydrographic sur-veying to accurately determine theposition of seabed features. These errorcorrections are then broadcast througha radio link to the ships in the vicinity.By applying the corrections to the sig-nals received, a user can typicallyimprove the accuracy in the order of 5metres or less depending on the qualityof the receivers.

DATA PROCESSING ANDPRODUCTS Massive amount of data to the extent ofseveral soundings per square foot is col-lected during the typical hydrographicsurvey. Various errors (bad soundings)get incorporated in the data necessitat-ing correction for the effects of tides,

Andrew Hoggarth,Marketing and SalesManager of CARIS onthe current status andevolution of thehdyrographic surveyindustry.

What constitutes ahydrographic survey? Do

the requirements for a survey,say one focused on identiffi-cation of sea-floor materialsdiffer from that for port andharbour maintenance?A hydrographic survey cantake place in a river, lake,port, seaway or the oceanitself. The simplest definitioncould be a geodetic datagathering exercise primarily,but not exclusively, for naviga-ble waters.

How have new techno-logical advancements

such as ECDIS, ENC facilitat-ed hydrographic surveying?What role doess GIS play?The purpose of an ECDIS isthe same whether the vesselis conducting hydrographicsurveys or transporting cargo.It aids the mariner to navigatesafely through chartedwaters.

On a hydrographic surveyvessel ENCs may also beused as an information layerin the online navigation sys-tem to accurately plan andexecute the survey itself. Theonline navigation system isnot an ECDIS, it is a special-ized system used by hydro-graphic surveyors to providethe survey line information forthe mariner to follow and toacquire the various surveysensor inputs. The marinerwill often plot lines on papercharts, especially if the surveylines are long but the ECDISitself will not be used to dis-play the survey-pertinentinformation.

The increasing use of ENCand ECDIS systems has cer-tainly given Mariners accessto more geospatial informa-tion on board. ENC with itsrich attribution and symbologyhas brought GIS conceptsinto the nautical realm, but itis important to remember thatits principle purpose is to aidnavigation not to serve gener-ic geospatial information.

The role of GIS in the marinerealm becomes more inter-esting when you start to con-sider other data types e.g. thelocation of environmentallysensitive habitats, icebergmovements and oil spills. Thistype of information can bemodelled using IHO S-57,which is the data model thatofficial ENCs utilise, asMarine Information Overlays(MIOs). These MIOs couldadd another dimension, notdirectly related to safety ofnavigation, which could pro-vide a basis for decision-mak-ing and spatial analysis e.g.the impacts of coastal ero-sion or tsunami based flood-ing and the effects of pollu-tion on the coastal environ-ment. While ENCs provide avery useful backdrop for sur-vey operations, MIOs coulddeliver additional benefits.Traditionally, the type of infor-mation that is modelled in aMIO would be gathered pre-survey in the form of a desk-

top study. This informationcould now be mapped andoverlaid on the ENC back-drop in field.

How is the surveyingprocess governed by

local government policies?How open arre various coun-tries policies to allow privateplayers in this field?While I am not sure, I believe

this likely varies from countryto country and in certaincountries state to state.Hydrographic surveys may beconducted for reasons of sov-ereignty, to determine anation's coastal waters andrights to minerals. Surveysmay be conducted in order tobuild infrastructure in thecase of surveys relating to oiland gas or in the installationof telecommunicationscables, this kind of surveywork will likely be initiated bythe oil or telecommunicationscompany in question, with thecountry's permission. Anation's Navy or national sur-vey agency responsible forthe safety of navigation mayalso conduct surveys. It iscommon for these types ofsurveys to undertaken bycommercial survey companieson behalf of the country inquestion.

Are there any standardsfor the hydrographic sur-

Role of GIS in the marwhen data types are c

Andrew Hoggarthandrew.hoggarth@caris.com

Caldera in the Monzier Rift

This image was producedusing CARIS HIPS andSIPS from data collectedusing EM300 Multibeamsystem onboard the RVSouthern Surveyor duringtwo surveys conducted by the University of Tasmania and supportedby Geoscience Australia.This image shows anunderwater caldera withinthe Monzier Rift, which isactively splitting apart the Hunter Ridge in thePacific Ocean.

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J U LY 2 0 0 840 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

waves/heave, water level and watertemperature differences (thermo-clines). The accuracy of sounding usingmulti-beam echo sounder deterioratesfrom the beam at nadir to the outer sidebeams because of the dynamic move-ment of the vessel (Figure 3).

The one data type common to allhydrographic surveys is water depth.With the advent of modern swath map-ping and seafloor imagery systems, the density and types of data available has changed radically. Copious bathymetric data acquired by thesesystems pose very serious technicaland philosophical challenges to the tra-ditional data processing and carto-graphic approaches. Research is aimedat developing new, efficient, and statis-tically robust approaches and algo-rithms for data processing along with asuite of new cartographic and visuali-zation products. Projects such as Com-bined Uncertainty and BathymetryEstimator (CUBE) of NOAA /UNH(National Oceanic & AtmosphericAdministration) that takes advantageof the inherent density of multibeamsonar data and applies automated,objective statistical techniques toremove outliers have tried to addressthe initial bottlenecks in the data pro-cessing pipeline.

Hydrographic surveys provide information on height, depth contoursand spot heights and various irregulari-ties both above and below the sea surface. They have the following deliverables

• Electronic Charts - There are twokinds of official digital charts commonlyavailable; Electronic NavigationalCharts (ENC) and Raster NavigationalCharts (RNC)

• Digital Terrain Model

• Volume calculation for dredging

• Topography information

• Bathymetry information

41G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

veying softwares to complywith the IHO and internationalorganizations specifications?Yes. CARIS software usesinternational standards toensure robust and reliableresults. The IHO has manysuch standards. S-44 is thestandard for establishing thequality of surveyed bathyme-try data; data can be dis-played and filtered to thisstandard in the CARIS HIPSapplication. The InternationalStandards Organisation (ISO)has also established stan-dards to ensure the quality ofbathymetry data as well.These standards are oftenstipulated in a statementdescribing what is requiredfrom the survey work.

Other groups like the Interna-tional Marine ContractorsAssociation (IMCA) and FIGhave extensive standards forhydrographic surveying thatare widely used in industry.

What are the challengesin ensuring the accuracy

of data and handling of volu-minous amount of data?Bathymetry data, especiallyfrom modern multibeam sen-sors, is among dense ofhydrographic survey datasets.A few days of multibeamacquisition can result in tensof Gigabytes of data and atotal survey into the Terrabyterealm. In order handle this

quantity of data, it is essentialto achieve efficient acquisi-tion-to-processing ratios (thetime to collect versus he timeto process). Processing isessential to not only geo-ref-erence seafloor data but alsoto remove erroneous noisethat will corrupt the results.Processing is also required totidally correct the verticalmeasurement, to remove theeffects of vessel motion andfor sound velocity whichaffects the results if not cor-rected for. Software likeCARIS HIPS is used for thisprocessing task.

Accuracy of data is also criti-cal to meet international stan-dards, this coupled with thepressure of processing hugevolumes of data quicklymakes it essential to ensurethat real features are notremoved. Quality controlmethods and workflows insoftware like CARIS HIPS

enables the hydrographer tobe confident the data is safeand accurate.

The result of processedbathymetry data is a georef-erenced validated soundingset or DEM. The density ofthe cleaned dataset will beless than the raw data thatwas initially collected but itwill still be large and there-fore difficult to manage and

access for future projects.This problem is being solvedby the emergence of soft-ware like the CARIS BathyDataBASE which allows theDEMs to be stored along withmetadata allowing for efficentdata access and retrieval. Inaddition to data management,this type of technology shouldallow contours and soundingsfor use in engineering andnavigational charts to bequickly derived from theDEMs stored within Data-BASE.

What is the current trendin the market for hydro-

graphic survey in terms offocus and technnology? Wheredo you see it heading?There is the desire to get themultibeam measurement orthe echosounder "Ping" on tothe "Chart" in as short atimeframe as possible. Newdata processing techniqueslike the Combined Uncertani-ty Bathymetric Estimator(CUBE), a semi-automateddata cleaning algorithimdevised by the University ofNew Hamshire (UNH) in theUSA, is helping with this chal-lenge. Another focus area isin the characterisation of theseafloor geology and newtechnologies like Geocoder(also devised by UNH), areproviding advanced capabili-ties in seafloor imaging whichcan only benefit the hydro-graphic survey community.

The rapid and safe creationof electronic chart productsfrom newly acquired surveydata is also an area of greatinterest, especially with inter-national communities desirefor ENC to become mandato-ry carriage requirement forocean going vessels. Like-wise, as hydrogrpahic survey-ing plays an increasing role inthe care and protection of ourenvironment and as the cre-ation of MIOs for applicationsbeyond safety of navigationhydrographic surveying ismore important than ever.

marine becomes interestingre considered

Pearl Harbor

This is a view from CARISBASE Editor is of thePearl Harbor Naval facili-ties looking West towardFord Island and the MiddleLoch. The US Army Corpsof Engineers Portland andSt. Louis Districts collect-ed the bathymetry for thenavy. The survey will beused for dredge projectplanning and for theupdate of National Ocean-ic & Atmospheric Adminis-tration (NOAA) NauticalChart: Pacific Coast #19366.

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NAVIGATIONAL CHARTS - ENC & RNCWith the amendment to SOLAS (Safetyof Life at Sea ) convention in 2002, IMOmakes it encourages its member statesto make use of Electronic NavigationalCharts (ENC's) in place of conventionalpaper charts on board the ships for nav-igation.

ENCs are new generation of nautical

charts. ENC data is vector based consist-ing of points, lines and area featureswith detailed attributes; and is organ-ized into cells. They also conform to IHOspecifications, as contained in Publica-tion S-57. In order to display ENC andmake use of the information it con-tains, ships have to be equipped withan Electronic Chart Display and Infor-mation System (ECDIS). Unlike static

paper charts, the dynamic ENCs canprovide varied levels of displayeddetails to suit prevailing situations,alarm functions, has automatic updat-ing features, and provides time-varyinginformation such as tidal levels.

Raster Navigational Charts are rastercharts that conform to IHO specifica-tions and are produced by digitallyscanning a paper chart image. Since thedisplayed data are merely a digital pho-tocopy of the original paper chart, theimage has no intelligence and otherthan visually, cannot be interrogated.

Standards and specifications for navigational charts

Several International bodies establishthe hydrographic data content stan-dards as;

• International Hydrographic Organiza-tion (IHO) - IHO governs chart con-tents, updating and display.

• International Maritime Organization(IMO)

IMO sets the ECDIS Performance Stan-dards, the focus of which is on the navi-gational safety & functionality aspects.

• (IEC International ElectrotechnicalCommission)

IEC identifies and describes the per-formance tests for IMO-compliantECDIS (IEC Publication 61174 (IEC 61174)).Raster Chart Display System (RCDS) areused for display as per SOLAS carriage

J U LY 2 0 0 842 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Table 1: Major hydrographic companies and their products

Company type Product category Product

Hydrographic equip-ments manufacturers

AUVs/ROVsDesert Star's SeaMorKonsberg's Hugin

Echosounders

• RESON - SeaBat, NaviSound

• Simrad's (Navico) EA502, Simrad EM3000D,

• ATLAS Fansweep 20-200

• Edgetech LS100,

• Furuno

• GeoSwath Plus

• L-3 SeaBeam

Velocimeters

• RESON's SVP's

• Nortek Velocimeters

• Odom Digibar

GPS/ DGPS/ Positioning

• Ixsea's Hydrin

• Simrad's MX525A DGPS Sensor

• Trimble

• TSS (UK) Ltd. POS/MV

Gyrocompass • Ixsea's Octans

LIDAR• Optech - Optech's Shoals Airborne Laser Bathymeters

• AHAB's Hawk Eye II

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler(ADCP)

• Nortek

• General Acoustics

Software solutionproviders

Survey Planning and Navigation

• TritonNav (DelphNav), Triton's survey planner• Kongsberg

Charts and design

• Caris S-57 Composer, Caris GIS Professional

• Chartworx's TheMAP TRAX and Quodfish.

• TritonMap

• Hypack Design

Hydrographic Data processing and visualization

• Caris Bathy DataBASE, Caris Hips and Sips

• Triton - Survey Office, Isis Playback, TargetPro,

BathyPro, TritonMap

• SAIC - SABER

Surveying consultancy services

Fugro, Gardline Hydro of the Gardline Marine Sciences Limited (GMSL)

Fig. 3: Geometric Consideration of Multi-beam Echo-sounder

requirements for nautical charts, to fillin the gaps at places where the ENC'sare not available.

HYDROGRAPHIC DATABASES Many countries maintain massivedatabase of survey results, charts, anddata for public use. The National OceanService (NOS) Hydrographic Data Base(NOSHDB), maintained by NGDC inconjunction with NOS, provides exten-sive survey coverage of the coastalwaters and Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) of the United States and its terri-tories. The NOSHDB contains data digi-tized from smooth sheets of hydro-graphic surveys completed between1851 and 1965, and from survey dataacquired digitally on NOS survey ves-sels since 1965.

The Hydrographic and OceanographicDepartment of the Japan Coast Guard(JHOD), has been publishing the Elec-tronic Navigational Chart (ENC) since1995. In Singapore Computer IntegratedHydrographic Operations System(CIHOS) which was implemented in1989, has aided hydrographic functionssuch as hydrographic surveys, surveydata processing, chart production andmaintenance, and the management ofhydrographic information. Hydro-graphic Offices of Canada and Australia

make their RNCs and ENCs available tousers via their own distributor net-works; these distributors often offeradditional folio services to shippingcompanies. The worldwide digital databank of oceanic soundings is main-tained in several data bases, includingthe GEODAS global marine geophysicaldata base, and the Hydrographic Sur-vey Data System. IHO provides aninteractive web catalogue (www.iho.int) displaying the status of worldwideENC production. This system has point-ers for guiding users to ENC suppliersand distributors. A three-colour schemeis used to distinguish between degreesof accessibility (Figure 5).

MARKET TRENDSA number of private companies oper-ate in the hydrography and oceanogra-

phy sector offer-ing services andsoftware solu-tions. It includescompanies asFugro that pro-vides a broadpackage of solu-tion-orientedservices andproducts forentire projectcycle; Companies

that manufacture navigational, posi-tioning, ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Cur-rent Profiler), LIDAR, ROV (RemotelyOperated Underwater Vehicles),echosounders, Velocitimeters and othersurvey equipments such as IXSea andNortek; and the geospatial softwareproducers catering to the hydrographicand marine industries as Caris andTrimble (Table 1).

Technology wise, there is growingemphasis on automated process flowsfor and innovative techniques thatenable faster and error free processingof torrents of survey data acquired dur-ing SONAR and LIDAR hydrographicsurveys. The aim is to take advantageof the full power of modern computervisualization tools to create a multidi-mensional, interactive, system inwhich traditional navigational safetyproducts can be extracted (respectingestablished hydrographic protocols)directly from the cleaned and processeddata model and to integrate a widerange of bathymetric and other infor-mation into a dynamic and intuitivedisplay that can serve the mariner aswell as a range of other users.

43G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Fig. 5: IHO Global ENC Catalogue displaying the global availability of ENC's, March 2007

Kalpana AmbasthaResearch Associatekalpana.ambastha@GISdevelopment.net

Fig. 4: Electronic Chart formats used to represent hydrographic data

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J U LY 2 0 0 8G I S D E V E L O P M E N T44

Viewpoint

Now, those total station instrumentsare being replaced by auto focus, reflec-torless and robotic systems which arelong range, high precision, high accura-cy and operable by single person.

Indian surveying industry too hasshared the ongoing developments butthere are certain operational problemsthat beset the industry. Let us look atfew of them

• Unrealistic pricing, competion andunderquoting - Since most of the bids

are price based and surveyors are usu-ally subcontractors to some engineer-ing consultant, there is scope for under-quoting by the surveyor or the mainconsultant. This usually results in poorquality of work; sometimes even thefield data is not validated .

• Increase in the surveyor's scope ofwork - To save time and cost, clientsprefer a single agency to undertake allthe pre construction activities like sur-vey, related investigations, securing theboundary, pre engineering services likegeotechnical, geological & hydrologicalinvestigations, site grading, access

roads, sourcing water, environmentalclearance etc. Survey of undergroundburied utilities, meteorological data etc.,are also included in the surveyor's workscope. The above requirementsdemand a high level of multi taskingand multi skill set.

• Consistent delay in payment - Thenature of work is such that the entirework assigned cannot be completedwithin the deadline because of severalconstraints like free access to site, lackof clarity etc. Some clients take advan-tage of the situation by extending pay-ment cycles upto 6 - 9 months.Bankers are also reluctant to lend forwant of collaterals.

• Staff Attrition - A trained surveyor is avaluable asset and is in great demand.Many good surveyors especially fromreputed companies switch jobs to takeup assignments in the Gulf and MiddleEast Region. Surveyors also leave tojoin large contracting firms and corpo-rate who are undertaking massive infra-structure projects. Some surveyors alsoretire since surveying entails long staysaway from the family.

• Lack of good training institutes - InIndia there is a lack of good traininginstitutes producing surveyors.

• Local opposition at site while survey-ing - This is a growing problem and canbe quite serious. Usually the locals areagitated when a survey is carried outthat may involve the acquisition of thelocals' land. This puts the surveyor atrisk of physical assault by the localsand loss or damage to expensive sur-veying equipment.

• Getting permission to fly is a very longand tedious process. Granting of per-mission for aerial mapping. may takebetween 6 - 9 months, whereas theproject has to be completed within 3months.

Surveying in IndiaOperational issues

In India, till the 70's, Surveying was confined to basic theodolite, plane table, sight rule and levels followedby manual drafting. It was gradually replaced by

electronic distant measuring devices (EDMs) followed by low order Total Stations and GPS with limited range of focus,storage capacity, battery backup, accuracy etc.

• The latest high resolutionsatellite data can be pro-cured only through thenational agency and furtherpermissions delays the deliv-ery.

• Continuously changingtechnology - Running a largesurvey company involvesmany technological chal-lenges. Survey equipment,computer hardware, soft-ware, scanners, plotters,printers etc., must continu-ously be updated and thestaff trained on theseupdates which is capitalintensive.

• Poor return on investmentand effort - Surveying inIndia, is not as remunerativeas it is in Western Countries,it is difficult for Indian com-panies to generate financesto purchase the new andexpensive surveying equip-ment with the latest technol-ogy. Customs duties alsorender these Survey equip-ments much costlier thanthey would be in the USA orEurope. There is also theabsence of leasing of equip-ment which is common in theUSA.

THE FUTURESurveying and mapping hastremendous scope in a devel-oping country like India.With the opening up of theIndian economy, there is agreat demand for Infrastruc-ture Services. The work is get-ting more diverse from windfarms, SEZs, telecom infra-structure to traditional areaslike roads, pipelines, irriga-tion networks and town-ships. New and exciting tech-nologies like LIDAR Mappingand Mobile Video Mappingare starting to make inroads.These technologies are still in

their infant stage in India,though they have existed incountries like the USA forover a decade. Private sectorph- togrammetric mapping isalso making a beginning.We foresee stunted andrestricted growth in the private sector aerial mappingunless the permission process is made friendlierand the permit processingtime is cut down drastically.

There is large scope forCadastral mapping anddevelopment of Land Information Systems in thecountry and this provides atremendous opportunity.Andhra Pradesh has madethe first steps with its Bhub-harathi program and otherstates are also developingsimilar programmes. All these projects demand aerial mapping since theareas are very large andwidely distributed. We must liberalise the permittingprocess to be on similar linesas other developed nations, ifthese projects are to be implemented in a rapidand timely manner.

J U LY 2 0 0 8

Dhyan Appachu*Chief Technical Officerdhyan.appachu@secon.in

Lalitha R*Manager - Survey QAQClalitha.r@secon.in

*Secon Pvt. Ltd., India

With the advance-

ment of technol-

ogy and service

of mapping and advent of

printing, multicopies of maps

was made feasible. The art of

cartography and map printing

kept pace with the advance-

ment. Now a days, most map

data is archived in vector digi-

tal form which is used for print-

ing multicolour maps on paper.

Hither to for cartographyand map printing had beenin sole domain of theNational Mapping Agency,the Survey of India (SOI). SOInow, has with them a hugecollection of vector digital

mapping data in polyconicprojection. Publishing of itshuge quantum of maps hasstretched the inhouseresources of SOI. SOI hasdecided to get this workdone from commercialagencies. As part of qualify-ing criteria to participate inthis out sourcing by SOI, allinterested bidders wererequired to produce printready colour separates. PanIndia being an in houseR&D agency accredited byDSIR, Ministry of Scienceand Technology, under tooka pilot project to producethe color separates ready forprint. This exposition briefly

describes the methodologyfor this task.

Offset printing solves thepractical limitation. Successof print run depends on theproduction of printingplates which are producedby photographically expos-ing the image on to them.To do an accurate work inoptimum registration ofdetail and colour, this is cur-rently achieved by the state-of-art image setters. Wherean inkjet printer sprays inkdroplets, the image setterbuilds up its output, dot bydot with absolute pin pointaccuracy of resolution betterthan 2500 dpi. The image

setter accepts post script.This post script output is aprogramme that has to bedesigned. Commerciallyavailable software need tobe supplemented withuser's symbol library. It is ageneral understanding of allcomputer users that anything that appears on theirscreens can be printed outby simply processing theprint command. Howeverour understanding forunknown to computerusers, is that there are builtin software in printer andits driver. The image appear-ing on screen undergoes to aprocessing not obvious tothe user which briefly is animage processing assemblythat combines a first inputof copied image data and asecond input of electronicdata to a storage device. Acontrol device compares theresolution and orientationof the two types of datawith each other. Where theresolution does not matchor the orientation does notmatch, one type of data isrotated to match the orien-tation of the other type ofdata. The properly convert-ed and oriented data arecombined as well as halftoned and then printed outas CYMK colour separatedfiles.

There is a growingdemand for GIS map prod-ucts to be mass-produced.When it is not cost-efficientor practical to make multi-ple copies of a digital prod-

Map Publishing

Processing Digital Vector Map DataPatterning (Symbolization) and generation of CYMK films from digital topo data

J U L Y 2 0 0 8G I S D E V E L O P M E N T46

uct on a plotting device orcolour output device such asa colour laser printer, it isthen necessary to combinethe technology of digitalmapping and offset print-ing.

There are a variety ofmeans to this end, depend-ing on the user'ssoftware/hardware capabili-ties, and also on the capabil-ities of the printing vendorsin one's area to accept andutilize electronic data, or touse mechanical separationsto accomplish the finished,four color CYMK product.

SCREEN MAPS V/SPAPER MAPSIt is important to realisethat printed maps arevery different from screenmaps. The major distinc-tion is that screen mapsusually have some degreeof dynamism, whereaspaper maps lack this charac-teristic completely.

The producers of printedmaps have to make surethat their maps are as clearand legible as possible.Traditionally in map print-ing, special techniques andmethods are used toachieve this aim.

Software that is used toprepare maps for printingmust make it possible touse cartographic techniques,whereas GIS software usual-ly does not, at least not in anefficient way. GIS softwarewas developed to collect,structure, manage and

analyse geospatial data andto display the resultingmaps on a screen, not onpaper.

GIS providers addedmodules to convert theirscreen maps to a formatthat is printable. Mostoften they used PostScript,sometimes TIFF, more andmore PDF now (the newstandard in the printingindustry). As was alreadypointed out above, astraight copy of a screenmap is not readily usable asa paper map, because of thehigher demands on clarityand legibility of the letters.There are other reasons aswell, such as the fact thatGIS operators usually workon a small section of themap by zooming in. Thismeans that there is never aneed to visualise the wholemap in detail on the screenand that shortcomings inthe symbolization of thedata remain undetected.

Another reason thatmakes converted GISmaps less suitable asprinted products originatesfrom the fact that theyusually have a temporarycharacter. Therefore, produc-ers of these maps do not(want to) spend a lot of timeon designing the symbology(the "looks") of the map. Andtherefore, in their turn, thedevelopers of GIS softwarehave not spent a lot ofattention to providing thedesign tools needed forthe symbology of printed

maps. As a consequence ofall this, high-quality pub-lishers usually need tospend a considerableamount of time and effortto turn the converted GISmaps into paper mapsthat comply with theirstandards. Modificationsmay include but are notrestricted to the:

Correction of inks and col-ors (as the RGB to CMYKconversion may run astray)

Replacement of fonts

Removal of hairlines

Addition of high-qualitysymbol definitions

Re-arrangement of layers

The production of ready-for-publishing documentscan be automated com-pletely by means of anumber of commercial soft-ware. These modulescombine the strength of aprofessional workflowmanagement software anda purpose-built cartograph-ic layer.

We distinguish 6 majorsteps in the first-time pro-duction of a map or chart:

• Importing the geospatialdata

• Designing the symbology

• Defining the map layout

• Adding production features

• Performing a final check

• Generating the output

Converting incoming datato a single format has anumber of definite advan-tages. First of all, we can usea number of standard opera-tions to filter and correct thedata. Secondly, it is easy tocombine data coming fromdifferent sources into a sin-gle map.

The imported sample dataare used to define the sym-bology for the areas, lines,points, text and images thatwill appear on the map. Asthe data are kept in vectorformat throughout thewhole workflow, we imme-diately see the result ofour work on the screen.More importantly still is thefact that the maps will comeout on paper exactly as wesee them on the screen.Thanks to our WYSIWYGtechnology (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). This ispossible because Mercatordoes not work in RGB butwith representations andcompositions of the actualprinting inks (CMYK andPantone).

J U L Y 2 0 0 847G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Software that is used to preparemaps for printing must make it possible to use cartographictechniques, whereas GIS softwareusually does not, at least not in an efficient way

“

”

The symbology defini-tions are stored in a so-called Map Style File. ThisMSF also contains the infor-mation on the printing pri-orities of the objects withrelation to each other. TheMap Style File is stored inde-pendently of the data, sothat we only have to createit once and can then apply itto all maps in the sameseries. Extra map elementssuch as the legend, scale-bar and text boxes can allbe created and added to themap to create a completecartographic document.Images (TIFF primarily) canalso be included.

Elements that are usedin more than one mapcan be generated andstored once and are thenlinked to all the documentsin which they are used. If anelement has to be modifiedlater, this only needs to bedone once for all the docu-ments in which the elementis used.

As, said before, everythingwe do should immediatelybe visualisable on the screen

in WYSIWYG (at an unsur-passed speed). This allowsto check designs immedi-ately. If necessary, we canswitch off and on layers tomake the checking processeasier still. As the importedGIS data remain in vectorformat, we can correctthem till the last minutebefore the final output.

It is also possible to checkthe final map ink per ink, sothat we can look at theprinting separations onthe screen and correct anymistakes in the maskingwithout wasting consum-ables.

For high-volume produc-ers that make use of dif-ferent external printinghouses, the TIFF Group 4output option seems thebest possible option for con-sistency in printing results.

All production parametersshould be possible to besaved independently ofthe map. They can then bere-applied to other mapsin the same series, withno or only with minoradaptations.

PROJECTION &DATUM ISSUES

SOI has, interalia, laiddown some proceduralguide lines for layout orien-tation, symbology & otherswhich briefly are as under:

The open series map are tobe published in UTM projec-tion on WGS84 datum. Thecentral meridian of UTMprojection lies at the centreof 6 degree longitudinal beltzone. Dimension and orien-tation of each UTM project-ed sheets differ amongthemselves in 'East West' aswell as in 'North Southdirections. It also differsfrom existing sheets whichare projected on polyconicprojection. The latitude linesof UTM projected sheets arenot parallel to X-axis (hori-zontal). Tilt towards east orwest increases as we goaway from the centralmeridian of UTM Zone.Maximum deviations willbe in the Western and East-ern edges of a UTM zone.Dimension & Orientation ofsheet also varies as per lati-tude. Maximum tilt is up to2 degree. Therefore design-ing a standard layout for themap for OSM (UTM project-ed) is much more complicat-ed than the polyconic maps.Besides there are guidelineson designing the lay-out.The guidelines also give thedetails of layout and sym-bology along with levels(layers) in which the datahas been organized. SOI hasvectorised the data in 63

levels. Each level contain aspecified item such as build-ing, Hydrology, land cover,boundaries & so on. Eachfeature in any level has aunique four digit featurecode and level code. Withthis kind of specification, itbecomes imperative to carryout a thorough examinationto eliminate all possibleinconsistencies. As hasalready been stated that ifany discrepancy remainunnoticed the entire workmay have to be re-done,which involves lot of timeand expense. We followedthe procedure set by SOI andare able to get our samplesafely from our system on toprinter service provider's. Itis now ready for direct out-putting. For colour work,however, there's a wholeother stage involving CYMKcolour separates and digitalhalf toning that has to begone through to ensure thatthe results come out as wewould like. That stage is pre-press and beyond the scopeof this exposition, since it ismore of print technologythan cartographic techn-quie.

Now the sample data pro-vided by SOI was patternedas per the data structure.Printout of the map wastaken on colour laser printeras per standards laid downfor hard copy examination.Corrections were carried outaccordingly, after the exam-ination. Now the digitaldata was ready to generate

48 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T J U L Y 2 0 0 848 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T J U L Y 2 0 0 8

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scan-to-printscan-to-filescan-to-net

final output of patternedmap without hill shades.

Yellow and green tint wasextracted now from thefinal data as a separate fileand imported to a new filein ARC-GIS 9.1. This file wasoverlaid on Hill shade file(.eps/.tiff) provided by SOI.50% transparency wasapplied to yellow and greentint, vector data and savedthe output as another .epsfile. After this, inkjet plots ofpatterned output with hillshading and with / withoutcontours were generated.

CYMK films were generat-ed from the above data now.Data scrutiny in 63 levels isa huge task in itself. Manualchecking involves openingeach level and visuallyexamining and correctingdiscrepancy. We thereforehave undertaken develop-ment of software for autodetection of discrepancies inlevel assignment and theseare displayed in single file.By this a lot of optimisationand time saving has beenachieved. This software iscurrently in beta versionand work is in progress torefine and optimise it.

SOME SOLUTIONSWhile there are a variety ofanswers to any productionproblem, some experimen-tation is required to discoverthe most straightforwardapproach to a solution, tai-lored to the hardware andsoftware available to theuser. In the case of SOI maps

the straight forward linewas for us to produce .EPSfiles using shadesets basedon the four color process col-ors of Cyan, Magenta, Yel-low and Black, and to deliverthem in digital .EPS formatto a commercial printer whohad the capacity to createcolor separation. .EPS filesand output them directly totheir image setter device toproduce half toned CYMKcolor separated films. In theprocess, for the future refer-ence, we also experiencedthat mechanical separationsoriginating from these samedigital .EPS files, separatedwith Adobe Separator, andoutput on our high resolu-tion laser printer result invery satisfactory final print-ed maps, in cases when weare proofing without usingtraditional offset printingmethods.

This indirect method ofoutputting PostScript filesundoubtedly works and itallows budget programs likeMicrosoft Publisher to claimthat they can produce com-mercial print. However, inthe real world the problemssoon mount up. The first isthe far more problematic isthe whole question of con-trol. By its very nature, thePostScript file process isinflexible. Once the Post-Script file has been createdthat's it. It will either outputas you wanted it to or itwon't; there is no room formanoeuvre. If we notice alast minute typo the only

option is to change it on theoriginal, recreate the file andtransfer it again. Moreimportantly, for advancedwork there are the wholehost of settings-halftonescreens, trapping, cropmarks and so on - that mustbe set exactly to ensure cor-rect output. If any of these iswrong- and without a Post-Script printer you won't beable to proof your design tocheck them- you have justwasted a lot of time andmoney.

Ultimately then the indi-rect PostScript print fileroute is a non-starter formost serious work. It's liketrying to operate on apatient in another room-and with your eyes shut. Forthe level of control neces-sary for regular successfuloutput the only viableoption is to output yourpublication files directly.That means finding animage setting bureau happyto accept PC work. Not onlythat, they must also use thesame software as we or-more realistically - we mustuse the same software asthem.

Cartographers face thedaunting task of compilingand maintaining hugeamounts of data in order tocreate digital map files. Theproblem often faced is thatthe existing applicationscannot produce a map,acceptable for final outputand publication, either onpaper or electronically.

Maps, created in a GIS oftenlook pixelised and on papercontain various colours andtextures that do not matchwith what was initiallypresent on the computerscreen. As well, problemwith text is common.

In order to avoid suchproblems, several carto-graphic solutions are avail-able. These were examinedby us. Some of these areMercator carto editor, usedin SOI, Intergraph Map Fin-isher, Map Publisher layAdobe illustrates andMacromedia and Carto-graphic Software packageby ACE the completedescription of these is out ofscope for this exposition.

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the management of Pan IndiaConsultants Pvt. Ltd. for theirpermission to publish this exposition. Moreover the authors are grateful to Mr. Darshan Singh, CEO Pan Indiafor his valuable advice andunstinted support for writing this exposition.

KD Sood*M. Tech, Manager Cartography & RS

RK Gupta*Ph.D.Manager Geo System

Brig MC Dhamija (Rtd.)*former DDSG, SOI & GM (Co-ord)

Pan India Consultants Pvt. Ltd.Indiapaie@vsnl.com

50 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T J U L Y 2 0 0 8

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What is the philosophy

of SOKKIA as a compa-

ny, its objectives and product

portfolios?

We aim for the highest accu-

racy and precision in our

products. Our main product

categories are GPS, Total Sta-

tions, Digital Theodolites (DT)

and Levels, and we have

recently introduced instru-

ments with automatic meas-

urement capabilities within

these categories.

Our business is growing from

being a surveying instrument

manufacturer to include posi-

tioninginstruments as well as

focusing on measurement

accuracy and measuring the

sensors themselves.

How has SOKKIA

witnessed changes in

the Geospatial domain

(more and easy access to

data, demand for acccuracy,

developments in IT, land

surveying to present 3D

scanning, etc.)?

We aim for the highest accu-

racy based on our Total Sta-

tion, DT and GPS technology.

Our recent GIR1600 is an

example of the application of

our base technology for the

GIS and positioning market.

GIS is a vast market and we

focus on the data collection

aspect of it through our sur-

veying and positioning equip-

ment.

Another way SOKKIA is

responding to increased

demands for accuracy is the

MONMOS 3D Coordinate

Measuring System for the

emerging industrial measure-

ment market.

MONMOS provides a flexible

solution for monitoring appli-

cations even during construc-

tion. We consider the industri-

al measurement industry to be

a key market ahead and

MONMOS is part of our strat-

egy to expand from surveying

to positioning and GIS.

In terms of technnology

what initiatives has

SOKKIA made in the GIS

mobile mapping segment?

A. We continue to supply

Q.

Q.

Q.

Interview

SOKKIA and TOPCON partnershipSOKKIA and Topcon have a long history in the sur-veying and positioning industry, 88 and 76 yearsrespectively. Both companies regularly introduceout-of-the-box technological innovations and ideas tothe market. SOKKIA and Topcon are proud of theirtechnological capabilities which in turn will help todevelop advanced and intuitive products to meet thefuture needs of our users. This association ofSOKKIA and Topcon is one of complimenting com-panies that will allow SOKKIA to become numberone in the industry.

We will continue to focuson high-end products...rather than LBS

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Hitoshi Ito joined Sokkisha Co., Ltd. (presentlySOKKIA CO., LTD.) in 1972. In 1994, he was promoted to Manager of the ManufacturingAdministration Department and later in 2000was appointed to the Board of Directors. He hasbeen President of SOKKIA since 2003

52 J U LY 2 0 0 8

products that have both GPS

and GIS attribute capturing

capabilities and support

images. We have entered into

a business partner relation-

ship with ESRI to better

understand the needs of GIS

mapping community. We also

have created a Geospatial

Technology Information divi-

sion in 2005. Prior to 2005

we had already started to pre-

pare the delivery of products

that support ESRI products

such as ArcGIS and ArcPAD.

Currently we are developing

extensions that support post-

processed DGPS and are

provide increased accuracy.

Our software provides unique

and original solution for geo-

referenced imagery and is

competitive with respect to

accuracy.

How is the issue of

interoperability dealt

with - among SOKKIA

products and between

SOKKIA's prroducts and that

of others?

We understand that some of

our data formats are unique to

SOKKIA. We entered into a

business partnership with

ESRI to increase the useabili-

ty of our product, but we need

to collaborate with others in

the industry in order to

develop solutions that are

compatible with each other

and are based on standards

such as those developed by

the OGC.

Does company plan to

enter into applications

development sector for diiffer-

ent areas?

A. Our company primarily

focuses on the production of

advanced hardware sensors

and basic data collection and

analyzing capabilities. Differ-

ent applications call for differ-

ent methods of data collec-

tion, monitoring and analysis

which is why our users can

expand our products to

include special technological

advances with support from

both SOKKIA and our part-

ners.

Will SOKKIA make an

entry in small scale

asset management in the

LBS market?

A. The main emphasis of

asset management in the

LBS market is placed on

compact instrument size over

accuracy and precision.

SOKKIA will continue to

focus on high-end products

offering precision and accura-

cy rather than on the smaller

and less accurate GPS

receivers for the LBS market.

We will, however, continue our

constant effort to make our

high-end products as com-

pact as possible.

WWhat is SOKKIA's strat-

egy for different regions

viz. Asia, Africa, Middle East,

Europe and America?

A. Cadastral mapping, envi-

ronmental management, large

scale asset management, sur-

veying and construction are

key emerging markets in Asia,

Africa and the Middle East,

and it will be our objective to

cater to all of these segments

in these regions in terms of

hardware, software and tech-

nical support.

Our focus for the American

and European markets will be

to maximize our market size

across all of the application

sectors.

53

Q.

Q.

Q.

Q.

Hitoshi ItoPresident, SOKKIA

We entered into a business partnership with ESRI to increase theuseability of our product, but we needto collaborate with others in theindustry in order to develop solutionsthat are compatible with each otherand are based on standards

GIR-1600(Photo)The SOKKIAGIR1600 is acompact sub-meter accura-cy DGPS receiver. TheGIR1600 features a single 12channel integrated receiver forGPS and SBAS (EGNOS,MSAS, and WAAS) correctioninformation realizing real-timesub-meter DGPS for use in awide range of GIS applica-tions. This compact receiverhas the industry's lightest(100g, 13.5oz) and onlydetachable antenna that allowsyou to take measurementswearing the trekking set. TheGIR1600 can also be used formobile mapping and polemounted surveys, giving youthe freedom to choose the bestmethod for the job. IntegratedBluetooth® wireless technolo-gy allows a cable-free connec-tion with your PDA, digital cam-era and other Bluetoothenabled devices. MONMOS (Photo)

SOKKIA'sNET12003D Stationopens a newdimension ofprecision,range andspeed forlarge struc-ture 3Dmeasure-ment. Usethis industrialtotal stationto measureships, tunnels, buildings,bridges, domes and other largeobjects. Some of the featuresinclude long-life detachablebattery, one-second precision,a weather-proof compact body,and laser-pointer and targetillumination functions.

Product Overview

J U LY 2 0 0 8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

The subtitle of this book reads "A

comprehensive guide to principles,

techniques and software tools" and

this perhaps highlights the contents of this

excellent work. The book aims to cover the

entire sspectrum of spatial analysis covering

GIS and other software. Geospatial analysis

encompasses many teechnologies and tech-

niques which this book covers in great detail.

The introductory chapter describes the moti-vation behind the book and media formatsused to disseminate it. The book is compre-hensive but does not claim to be exhaustive.At the same time, by providing an on-lineversion that is updated regularly it aims tokeep itself up to date. The stress is on appli-cations and tools and techniques are dis-cussed in this context. I found the sectionson Terminology, Common measures andNotations and the listing of software toolsmost useful. The authors may consideradding ILWIS developed by ITC to the list ofsoftware tools. ILWIS is now open sourceand I have found it very useful as a teachingand learning aid.

Chapter 2 deals with concepts and is sys-tem and technology neutral and thereforevery useful for teaching basics and funda-mental principles. I would make chapter 2essential reading for a course on anygeospatial topic. Basic concepts relating todata in terms of location and attributes, spa-tial objects, spatial relationships and statis-tics are covered extremely well. The discus-sions bring out the unique features of spa-tial relationships and spatial statistics. How-ever, the discussion on Spatial Data Infra-structure at this stage is somewhat prema-ture and therefore inadequate. The historicaland methodological context discussed inchapter 3 deals with project planning. Herethe coverage is adequate to start off thethinking process. It identifies the various ele-ments and the role of analytical methodsand tools. However, if project planning isyour task then this chapter can only providea philosophical background.

Chapters 4 to 8 cover the bulk of the analy-sis tools and methodologies and here the

coverage is extensive and exhaustive. Chap-ter 4 deals with the basic building blocksand covers data models, geometrical, query,computation, distance and direction and gridoperations and map algebra. An interestingaspect is the discussion on classificationand clustering. This is treated as a part ofgeometrical and related operations and bydoing so a very coherent treatment of thesubject is possible. This section can well beviewed as a taxonomy of classificationbeginning with univariate and multivariateanalysis and proceeding to multispectral andhyperspectral image analysis. I found thistreatment of image operations as a part ofgeospatial analysis very interesting as it putsthem in the perspective of overall geospatialanalysis. Too often I have seen artificial bar-riers created between remote sensing andGIS resulting in the under exploitation ofboth systems. The section on queries andcomputation brings out the importance ofcombinatorial analysis and its applicability toboth vector and raster data sets. The sec-tions on distance and direction operationsbrings out the complexities of what seemsat first glance to be a simple topic.

Application of statistical techniques to spa-tial data is not straight forward as classicalconcepts of randomness and independencemay not be applicable in a spatial context.Chapter 5 does a very thorough job ofexamining these issues and covers a widevariety of statistical measures adapted tospatial data analysis. Chapter 6 deals withsurfaces and fields. The concept of fieldwhere we can use any parameter as 'height'can give rise to many interesting visualisa-tion and analysis possibilities. In this chapterI had expected to see a coverage of pho-togrammetry as a topic. Photogrammetry isan important geospatial analysis tool and Ido hope future editions will cover this area.Other than this the subject is coveredexhaustively. The sections on interpolationare specially recommended to those whoneed to work on geospatial modelling.Chapter 7 deals with network analysis. Thischapter would be extremely useful for thoseworking in the field of Location Based Ser-vices. The final chapter deals with modellingand should be of great interest toresearchers. Models over time and spaceenables us to draw pictures of the future. Allthe serious studies on global warming domake use of such models.

The coverage and discussion of this topic isexcellent. Some of the topics like cellularautomata, agent based modelling, artificialneural networks, genetic algorithms andevolutionary computing are covered here.Visualisation is a topic that is missing. Strict-ly, visualisation is not a part of analysis butagain analysis without visualisation is incom-plete. So this also remains on my wish list.

The strategy adopted by the publisher is tohave a hard copy and a PDF version. Thisenables the book to be produced withoutcolour illustrations thereby controlling thecost. The colour illustrations can be referredin the PDF version. Special student dis-counts are available. For reference, an on-line free edition that is periodically updatedis available. A very good set of educationalresources are available on-line for instruc-tors. For more details see http://www.spa-tialanalysisonline.com

Prof. Arup Dasguptaarup.dasgupta@GISdevelopment.net

J U L Y 2 0 0 856 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Book Review

Authors: Michael J de Smith, Michael F Goodchild, Paul A Longley

Geospatial Analysis

“The book is comprehensive but does not claim to be

exhaustive.”

In this age of convergencescientific researchis becoming afusion of severaldisciplines. Thefield of geospatialinformationsystems is alsosubject to this phenomenon.

We observe that a subjectlike geography has beenstrongly influenced by technologies like remotesensing, global positioning,information systems and communications. Technology has enabledgeographers to becomemultidisciplinary in theirapproach to research. Similarly, other disciplineslike computer science, geodesy, communicationstechnology and social sciences have absorbedgeography and come out with innovative solutions for spatially oriented problems.

In order to address thiscomplex, multidisciplinarymilieu it is necessary that professionals from contributing disci-plines come together on acommon platform to dis-cuss current issues andshare their experiences andso contribute to this enor-mous body of knowledge

that we call GeospatialInformation Science. Thisincludes the core areas ofgeography, geodesy andcartography; supplementarysubjects like statistics andmathematics and the mod-ern areas like computer science, communicationsand information systems,and emerging areas likecognitive science and appli-

cations in the social sector.

Conferences related toGIScience are organisedmainly in Europe andAmericas. Some of thepopular conferencesinclude

• AGILE • COSIT

• GI_Forum • GIScience

These event and forumsare of great benefit toresearchers. GIS Develop-ment realises the need forsuch initiative in the Asia

Pacific region, to cater tothe GIScience communityhere and provide a platformto share research findings.

Geospatial Science Forumis the outcome of thisvision, and efforts in thisarea includes a dedicatedPortal and Geospatial Science Forum 2009, a

Symposium on GeospatialInformation ScienceResearch which will be held along with Map WorldForum 2009 at Hyderabadfrom 12 to 13 February2009.

The broad topics that willbe covered include:

• Data Acquisition • Data Processing • Data modelling • Data Analysis• Human Interaction• Interaction with SocialSystems

An opportunity for researchers

Call for Papers

Researchers working on any ofthe topics listed above areencouraged to submit papersof their original work for theseminar. A panel of experts willselect the papers and theauthors will be given an oppor-tunity to present them in detailat the seminar. The seminar willconsist of four half-day ses-sions. In each session there willbe a maximum of four papersfollowed by a panel discussionto identify a research agendafor the session topic. The fol-lowing tracks have been identi-fied for the symposium:

• Data Acquisition systems• Data processing, database,interoperability• Spatial Analysis and Model-ling• Human Interfaces and Appli-cations

Selected papers will be printedas a monograph and distributedwidely in the research commu-nity dealing with the topics ofGeospatial Information Science.

Authors can submit papersonline at http://www.easy-chair.org/conferences/?conf=gsf09

Important datesPaper submission 26 Sep’08Acceptance24 Nov’08Camera ready papers1 Dec’08Conference12-13 Feb’09

For details mail us at:giscience@gisdevelopment.net

The conference witnessed a rich culturalmilieu of nearly 950 delegates from 95countries, which is an all time high figure forFIG Working Week. The conference had aninteresting theme - Integrating Generations,which aimed at developing capacities of theyoung surveyors while integrating knowl-edge base of the older ones. There wereover 450 scientific and professional paperspresented during the 7 day event. In con-junction to the Working Week, a Seminar on"Improving Slum conditions through Innova-tive Financing" was held by FIG and UNHABITAT. The event was sponsored by Trim-ble, ESRI, Lantmateriet, Swedesurvey and Structutor.

The programme for the Working Weekbegan on Friday, June 13th with the Councilmeetings, a Workshop on History of Survey-ing and Measurement, FIG ACCO meetingand FIG General Assembly meeting. TheOpening Ceremony on June 16th startedwith the majestic and melodious welcomemusic by the Swedish Mountain Band ofRoyal Lifeguard. The ceremony was laterfollowed by a very alluring performance oftraditional folk dances from different partsof Sweden by a theatre group. The WelcomeAddress was given by Mr. Svante Astermo,Conference Director and SLF Director. Mr.Astermo commented on the success of thetheme 'Integrating Generations', as the con-ference had more than 100 studentsattending from various countries. He said

that Integrating Generation is a bridge notonly of ages but of countries and cultures aswell. This was followed by the WelcomeAddress by Prof. Stig Enemark, PresidentFIG, who spoke on the relevance of thetheme Integrating Generations and encour-aged the student community by saying thatstudents are the future and FIG is alwaysbehind them. Prof. Enemark said, "FIG isbecoming a majour partner in supportingsustainable development and achieving themillennium development goals as adoptedby UN." Prof. Enemark introduced a newterm, Land Governance that relates to thespatial dimension of landproperty and naturalresources. He commentedon how "…property rightsare the basic right for eco-nomic development andgrowth."

The Inauguration ceremonywas formally opened by Mr.Andreas Carigren, Ministerfor Environment, Sweden.

Following the formal opening of the FIGWorking Week, Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, ExecutiveDirector of UN HABITAT addressed theaudience by presenting the OpeningKeynote Speech.

The technical programme of the conferenceconsisted of 70 Technical Sessions in addi-

tion to 3 Plenary Sessions on SustainableUrban Development and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, Land Administrationand Finance Systems and Technical andOrganisaitonal Innovations, which had somevery diverse issues being addressed andgave opportunity to an equally diverse set ofPlenary Speakers to present their views.Running parallel to the conference was anexhibition with participation from Blom,Bentley, Lantmateriet, Swedsurvey, ESRI,Trimble, Leica and Fugro. The working weekbrought out the dynamic and multifacetedconcerns that a Surveyor faces today. Itaddressed issues such as land administra-tion, land management, land governance,environment management, education, coop-eration, human resource issues of the Sur-veying profession and many more suchissues in the technical sessions and the net-working circles. FIG gave due importancenot only to issues related to the 'hardcore'surveying work, but also to 'soft' skill setsand surrounding concerns like retention ofhuman resource in the surveying field,knowledge management, communication,coordination, partnership and dialogue. Theevent was a time the survey community tookto validate their existence and 'feel good'

about being an importantcomponent of Geospatialworld.

The closing ceremony washeld on Thursday June19th where Mr. SvanteAstermo, Chair of the LocalOrganising Committee pre-sented the conferencereport and Prof. Stig Ene-mark gave the Closingaddress and summarised

the proceedings of the Working Week. Hewelcomed delegates for the next FIG Work-ing Week, scheduled from May 3-8, 2009 atEilat, Israel. The theme for the forthcomingconference is 'Surveyors Key Role in Accel-erated Development: New Horizons AccrossRed Sea'.

Megha Datta, megha.datta@GISdevelopment.net

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T60 J U LY 2 0 0 8

Stockholm 2008

GIS Development participated in the recently held FIG Working Week at the

Stockholm City Conference CCentre in Sweden. The Working Week was

organised by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) iin association

with the local organising body - Swedish Association of Chartered Surveyors (SLF) under

the patronage of the King of Sweden, His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf.

FIG Working Week - Integrating Generations

It was a time the survey communitytook to validate theirexistence and 'feelgood' about being animportant componentof Geospatial world

”

“

Stockholm, Sweden 14 - 19 June 2008

J U LY 2 0 0 8

Glimpses

BE Conference 2008

CEO Greg Bentley shared keybusiness developments of theyear 2007 with respect to company's new products andacquisitions. "The quality of lifedepends on the quality of ourinfrastructure,” Bentleyremarked. He focused onBridge Information Modeling(BrIM) as an example of theway Bentley is making its solutions portfolio more comprehensive while advancing interoperability over the asset lifecycle

28 - 30 May, Baltimore, Maryland

62

Keith Bentley,CTO, addressedthe issues and presentstrategies forcreating anddeployingsoftwaretechnology inorder to enableBentley users tomeet their own long termobjectives in thecreation of asustainableworld

Senior Vice President ofBentley Software, Bhupinder Singhwas joined byVice PresidentsShaun Sewall,Styli Camateros,and Rob Whitesell to present Bentley'sproducts andsolutions for sustaininginfrastructure

THEME"BEst Practices for Sustaining Infrastructure"

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

63J U LY 2 0 0 8

Malcolm Walter, COO, made his closing remarks by featuring user projects which illustrate “ROI3: Return on Investment, Return of Interoperability, and Return on Innovation

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Andrew Winston founder of Winston Eco-Strategies and co-author of the "Green to Gold", delivering Guest Keynote

BE Communities Web Site

Launched at BE Conference 2008, BE Communities website isaimed to help shape technologies and advance best practices.This social networking site allows one to find information andshare knowledge through several means of communicationsunder one interface; Forums, Wiki, Blogs, Image and File Repositories.

2008 BE Awards ofExcellence

The 2008 BE Awards programmereceived a record number of outstanding projects and recognised 17 professional category winners.

Industry/Solutions Categories• Innovation in Cadastre and

Land Development

• Innovation in Commercial orResidential Building

• Innovation in Industrial Facilities

• Innovation in Metals and Mining

• Innovation in Military, Installations,Campuses, and Airports

• Innovation in Oil and Gas

• Innovation in Power Generation

• Innovation in Rail and Transit

• Innovation in Road and Bridge

• Innovation in Utilities and Communications Networks

• Innovation in Water Resources

Special Categories

• Attaining Return on Innovation

• Communicating Through Visualization

• Connecting Project Teams

• Developing the InfrastructureWorkforce

• Sustaining Society

• Sustaining the Environment

Jury for BE Awards

Glimpses

J U LY 2 0 0 8G I S D E V E L O P M E N T64

INTERGRAPH 2008Experience the PowerJUNE 2-5, LAS VEGAS, NV, USA

R. Reid French Jr., Executive Vice Presidentand Chief Operating Officer

The 2008 Icon Awinnovative use o

Intergraph 2008International Users'Conference had 2,600 attendees from more than60 countries and 50corporate event sponsors.It is claimed to beIntergraph's biggestconference ever and aresounding success!

Sessions under Security,Government &Infrastructure (SGI)included Defense andInteliigence, Government,Photogrammetry, PublicSafety, SG & I -Technology, Transportation,Utlities and Communities

Halsey WiseChairman,

President and CEO

Lance Armstrong(Guest Keynote Speaker)with Halsey Wise

J U LY 2 0 0 8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 65

con Awards were presented to eight industry and government leaders for theire use of Intergraph’s enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software

Exhibit Area

Planner

July 200819 - 23 JulyMAPPS 2008 Summer Conference Sun Valley , ID , USA

www.mapps.org

21 - 24 JulySpatially Enabled Government 2008 Canberra, Australia

www.iqpcevents.com:80/ShowEvent.aspx?id=82362

21 - 25 JulyGeoWeb 2008 Vancouver, Canada

www.geowebconference.org

August 20084 - 8 AugustESRI User ConferenceSan Diego, USA

www.esri.com/events/uc

6 - 9 AugustTechnology Exhibition; Geoinformation, GPS and Mapping; National Coordinating Agency for Survey aand MappingJakarta, Indonesia

http://www.geospatial-exh.com25 - 27 AugustGITA 2008

Sydney, Australia www.gita.org.au

25 - 29 AugustURISA’s Fourth Caribbean GIS Conference Grand Cayman, USA

www.urisa.org

September 20088 - 10 SeptemberCanalys Navigation Forum - EMEA Budapest , Hungary

http://emea.canalysnavigationforum.com

8 - 11 September10th International Symposium High Mountain RS CartographyKathmandu, Nepal

www.icimod-gis.net/news/showDetail.php?id=193

26 - 27 SeptemberASIA GIS 2008 Busna, Korea

www.asiagis2008.com

29 September - 3 October FOSS4G2008Cape Town , South Africa

www.foss4g2008.org

30 September - 2 October INTERGEOBremen, Germany

www.intergeo.de

October 20081 - 3 October4th Asian Space Conference Taipei

www.nspo.org.tw/ASC2008

27 - 31 October7th International Conference of the AfricanAssociation of Remote Sensing of the Envi-ronment (AARSSE)-2008Accra, Ghana

http://www.aarse2008.org/index.html

28 - 30 October2008 ESRI Europe, Middle East & Africa UserConference London, United Kingdom

www.esriuk.com/emea2008

November 20082 - 4 November2008 China International Trade Fair for Geo-desy, Geo-Information and Land Manage-ment Surveying TTechnology and EquipmentShanghai, China

www.chinageo-expo.com

10 - 14 November29th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing Colombo, Sri Lanka

http://220.247.235.243/acrs2008/index.html

12 - 14 NovemberDigital Earth Summit on GeoinformaticsPotsdam, Germany

www.isde-summit-2008.org

J U LY 2 0 0 8

GIS DEVELOPMENT EVENTS

66 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

18 - 20 AugustMap Asia 2008Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

www.mapasia.org

25 - 26 AugustMap Africa 2008Cape Town, South Africa

http://mapafrica.gisdevelopment.net

20-21 OctoberGeospatial Technologies for Design andEngineering 2008Dubai, UAE

info@gisdevelopment.net

10 - 13 February, 2009Map World ForumHyderabad, India

www.mapworldforum.org

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