The demand for geospatial applications is growing lik

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geospatial ⁰⁸

²⁰¹⁰ Rs. 100/- www.geospatialtoday.com

TODAY

The demand for geospatial applications is growing lik

e never before

INTERVIEW

ARTICLES

MICHAEL GOULD

EDUCATION INDUSTRY DIRECTOR, ESRI

UNDERWATER CABLES, PIPELINES AND MARINE GIS GEOGRAPHIC VISION FOR THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

ISSN 0972-6810

APPLICATIONS ON THE

GO

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TODAY

geospatial

Publications Director Ramprasad

Vice President (Operations) Umamaheswar Rao P Sr. Assistant Editor T P Venu Assistant Editor Omer Ahmed Siddiqui Copy Editor G Srinivas Reddy Head – Design Jayaraj Frederick Sr. Designers Masa Vijay, Lakshmi D Designers

Srinivas P, Nagaraju N S Web Upender Reddy V

Applications on the go

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NEWS COVER STORY

The demand for geospatial applications is growing like never before

A SYNERGISTIC ACQUISITION The integration of Intergraph enables Hexagon to become a complete solution provider for the measurement technology market from capturing data to delivering information via GIS and CAD solutions

GEOGRAPHIC VISION FOR THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY Petroleum industry is known for its unpredictability in terms of pricing. GIS has been proved to be effective in offsetting quite a lot of problems the industry is facing in conducting business WHAT MATTERS IS THE ‘WHERE’

Location-aware CRM is set to break through into the mainstream to become a critical business tool over the next five years

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES Geoenabled ERP solutions provide a single point access for interconnected data, enabling easy data sharing CARTOSAT-2B - ANOTHER INDIAN EYE IN SPACE

The successful launch of Cartosat-2B has not only enhanced remote sensing capabilities of India, but has also reinforced the credibility of PSLV as a successful launch vehicle

EVENTS

Mark your calender THE ‘GAME CHANGER’ IN

HEALTHCARE BUSINESS PLANNING

Prof Ian Masser Visiting Professor, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analyses, University College, London, UK Jack Dangermond Founder and President, ESRI Dr Shailesh R Nayak Secretary, Min of Earth Sciences Dr V Jayaraman

Director, NRSC Maj Gen (Dr) R Siva Kumar CEO-NSDI, Head - NRDMS K R Sridhara Murthi Managing Director, ANTRIX Corporation Ltd.

M Moni

Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre, Government of India Rajesh C Mathur Vice Chairman, ESRI India Mukund K Rao GIS Activist Dr R Nagaraja Group Head, NDC, NRSC Dr N L Sarada Prof. Computer Science &

Engineering Department, IIT Bombay

Editorial advisory board

32

Education industry director, ESRI

Michael Gould

^Interview

20

UNDERWATER CABLES, PIPELINES AND MARINE GIS

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02 |geospatial TODAY August 2010

News

August 2010 geospatial TODAY|03

Saudi Arabia and India to cooperate on space sciences

ndia and Saudi Arabia are

I

planning to collaborate in developing space sciences.

A delegation from Saudi is expected to visit ISRO shortly to ink an agreement in this regard. The collaboration will help Riyadh in developing its indigenous space programme for peaceful purposes. A memorandum of understanding was signed between King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and ISRO during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Riyadh earlier this year. Since ISRO has been conducting a variety of operations for both Indian and foreign clients, its cooperation will tremendously help in taking forward the space programme of Riyadh.

should be conducted in ways that emphasise openness and transparency.

According to Peter Marquez, director of space policy at the White House National Security Council, the policy has taken a less confrontational approach than the United States had championed in the past. In the space sector, Obama administration’s top priority is to “energise domestic industries.”

” he Obama administration has released a

T

new space policy that emphasises on international cooperation, including the possible development of an arms-control treaty that would limit the development of space weapons. The policy further says, It is the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space to help prevent mishaps,

misperceptions and mistrust. Space operations

“

The US space policy calls for international cooperation

he Geomatics Solutions

T

Development Group (GSDG) of C-DAC in collaboration with the Forest department of ‘Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), is developing a project named ‘Aranya,’ which is a Comprehensive Spatial Decision Support System for use by forest managers to take well-informed decisions covering various aspects including wildlife.

Commenting on the project, Mahesh Kale, project leader (R&D) at GSDG said that the system provides details on sites of crime related to

poaching, tree felling, illegal entry into forest etc. for any given area along with associate attributes such as date of crime, animal poached, material seized and number of person involved.

Aranya uses GIS technology to run user-specific query and display the relevant results in the form of a map. The GIS database has been developed at division level and can provide different information at a mouse click. Other attributes covered under the project include plantations carried out in a particular

division with relevant temporal details, potential areas for relocation of forest villages under development

planning and carbon calculator system to calculate carbon pool/ sequestration by a forest in a given area.

US military integrates geospatial data

up-to-date geospatial imaging information on areas under the US military occupation. Powered with GIS maps, the browsing speed of G3C is similar to that of Google Maps, even in remote locations. Earlier, access to unclassified geospatial information was not easily available to troops in the field, as they had to logon to multiple sites for various maps and raw data.

money previously spent to collect the same data for two separate military branches.

Development of G3C website was initiated in 2009 and it provides all military personnel S Army Central Coalition

U

Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) and US Air Forces Central (AFCENT) are pooling their geospatial data sources under the newly formed Geospatial Central Command Collaborative (G3C) to have a broader, more complete network of geospatial data. G3C is expected to reduce

duplication in data collection, saving the time, energy and

G3C reduces duplication in data collection and offers easy access to updated geospatial information on areas under US military occupation.

Aranya – A SDSS for wildlife conservation

ndonesia is planning to

I

launch two satellites namely Lapan-A2 and Lapan-Orari in 2011. These are

microsatellites, each weighing around 70 kg and will be used for communication and remote sensing applications.

The satellites have been developed in-house by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan).

Commenting on the satellite launch, Toto Marnanto Kadri, head of the Aerospace Electronics Technology Center at Lapan said, “They’re both

very small, measuring 45 X 45 X 35 cm, so that obviates the need to buy our own satellite launcher. Instead, we’ll be piggybacking on India’s launcher from their base in Sriharikota, because they plan to put their own satellite, the Astrosat, into orbit next year.” Satellites developed at Lapan

Indonesia gets ready for more satellite launches

olta has signed an MOU

R

with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to be the resource partner for providing geospatial technology vocation course for XI & XII standard students.

Under this MOU, Rolta will provide technical assistance, develop and create the curriculum, and also impart advanced training to CBSE teachers across the country.

As part of the curriculum, Rolta will provide information on Rolta Geomatica – one of the world’s best geospatial technologies. The vocational course will enable Indian students to acquire better understanding of the practical aspect of geospatial

technologies, teaching them to develop real-life

applications to overcome day- to-day challenges. Potentially, there are about 11,000 CBSE schools who may want to

introduce this course and Rolta is offering 11,000 software licenses of Rolta Geomatica, which is a potential donation of Rs 165 crore at current license costs. K K Singh, Chairman and CEO of Rolta Group of Industries said, “We are honoured and privileged to be a part of the vision for educational reforms in India. By being an integral

Lapan-A2 and Lapan- Orari will be released in

the equatorial orbit aboard Indian launch vehicle.

are different from other remote sensing satellites as they run in an equatorial orbit rather than a polar one. Coverage of Indonesia is relatively low by satellites moving in polar orbits as compared to those moving in equatorial orbit. Toto added,

“During a 24-hour cycle, a satellite in polar orbit will only pass over Indonesia very briefly, yielding only two to four sets of data. However, a satellite in equatorial orbit at a height of 650 km will pass over Indonesia for up to 97 minutes, yielding 14.7 sets of data.” part of geospatial technology vocational training for CBSE, I am certain that Rolta Geomatica platform will empower students to learn various aspects of geospatial technology. I am sure this initiative will go a long way in building up a critical mass that is required for the nation, enabling the country to rise up above the rest.”

Wayfinder code made available as open source

Vodafone has made Wayfinder code available via open source. The development is in line with Vodafone’s decision to remove turn-by-turn location based services from its core business. Competition from Google’s free turn-by-turn navigation through Android is said to have significantly influenced Vodafone’s decision. Voda’s Internet director, Pieter Knook said, “We look forward to seeing the code’s continued use in all sorts of different applications in the future.”

Phone-based navigation to outrun PNDs

According to a report released by iSuppli, the number of GPS- enabled phones being released into the world market is drastically increasing and their popularity is expected to outrun the PNDs by 2014. Considering the growing popularity of smartphones, approximately 80 per cent of all phones shipped at the end of 2011 will be GPS enabled, as compared to 57.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2010. By 2014, 18 per cent of all laptops and 42 per cent of portable game players are expected to become GPS enabled.

Apple acquires Poly9

Apple has acquired Poly9, a developer of 3D mapping software which can be used to produce a programme similar to Google Earth using satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS, to create a life-like virtual atlas. Earlier, Apple had acquired PlaceBase that produces digital maps similar to Google Maps. While Apple and Google remain allies in many ways, the two have also become competitors. Recently, Apple acquired Siri, a voice-activated mobile app that may be able to compete with Google voice search on mobile phones.

Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resources releasing the teacher’s training manual

CBSE & Rolta partner to offer courses

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News

August 2010 geospatial TODAY|03

Saudi Arabia and India to cooperate on space sciences

ndia and Saudi Arabia are

I

planning to collaborate in developing space sciences.

A delegation from Saudi is expected to visit ISRO shortly to ink an agreement in this regard. The collaboration will help Riyadh in developing its indigenous space programme for peaceful purposes. A memorandum of understanding was signed between King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and ISRO during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Riyadh earlier this year. Since ISRO has been conducting a variety of operations for both Indian and foreign clients, its cooperation will tremendously help in taking forward the space programme of Riyadh.

should be conducted in ways that emphasise openness and transparency.

According to Peter Marquez, director of space policy at the White House National Security Council, the policy has taken a less confrontational approach than the United States had championed in the past. In the space sector, Obama administration’s top priority is to “energise domestic industries.”

” he Obama administration has released a

T

new space policy that emphasises on international cooperation, including the possible development of an arms-control treaty that would limit the development of space weapons. The policy further says, It is the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space to help prevent mishaps,

misperceptions and mistrust. Space operations

“

The US space policy calls for international cooperation

he Geomatics Solutions

T

Development Group (GSDG) of C-DAC in collaboration with the Forest department of ‘Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), is developing a project named ‘Aranya,’ which is a Comprehensive Spatial Decision Support System for use by forest managers to take well-informed decisions covering various aspects including wildlife.

Commenting on the project, Mahesh Kale, project leader (R&D) at GSDG said that the system provides details on sites of crime related to

poaching, tree felling, illegal entry into forest etc. for any given area along with associate attributes such as date of crime, animal poached, material seized and number of person involved.

Aranya uses GIS technology to run user-specific query and display the relevant results in the form of a map. The GIS database has been developed at division level and can provide different information at a mouse click. Other attributes covered under the project include plantations carried out in a particular

division with relevant temporal details, potential areas for relocation of forest villages under development

planning and carbon calculator system to calculate carbon pool/ sequestration by a forest in a given area.

US military integrates geospatial data

up-to-date geospatial imaging information on areas under the US military occupation. Powered with GIS maps, the browsing speed of G3C is similar to that of Google Maps, even in remote locations. Earlier, access to unclassified geospatial information was not easily available to troops in the field, as they had to logon to multiple sites for various maps and raw data.

money previously spent to collect the same data for two separate military branches.

Development of G3C website was initiated in 2009 and it provides all military personnel S Army Central Coalition

U

Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) and US Air Forces Central (AFCENT) are pooling their geospatial data sources under the newly formed Geospatial Central Command Collaborative (G3C) to have a broader, more complete network of geospatial data. G3C is expected to reduce

duplication in data collection, saving the time, energy and

G3C reduces duplication in data collection and offers easy access to updated geospatial information on areas under US military occupation.

Aranya – A SDSS for wildlife conservation

ndonesia is planning to

I

launch two satellites namely Lapan-A2 and Lapan-Orari in 2011. These are

microsatellites, each weighing around 70 kg and will be used for communication and remote sensing applications.

The satellites have been developed in-house by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan).

Commenting on the satellite launch, Toto Marnanto Kadri, head of the Aerospace Electronics Technology Center at Lapan said, “They’re both

very small, measuring 45 X 45 X 35 cm, so that obviates the need to buy our own satellite launcher. Instead, we’ll be piggybacking on India’s launcher from their base in Sriharikota, because they plan to put their own satellite, the Astrosat, into orbit next year.”

Satellites developed at Lapan

Indonesia gets ready for more satellite launches

olta has signed an MOU

R

with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to be the resource partner for providing geospatial technology vocation course for XI & XII standard students.

Under this MOU, Rolta will provide technical assistance, develop and create the curriculum, and also impart advanced training to CBSE teachers across the country.

As part of the curriculum, Rolta will provide information on Rolta Geomatica – one of the world’s best geospatial technologies. The vocational course will enable Indian students to acquire better understanding of the practical aspect of geospatial

technologies, teaching them to develop real-life

applications to overcome day- to-day challenges. Potentially, there are about 11,000 CBSE schools who may want to

introduce this course and Rolta is offering 11,000 software licenses of Rolta Geomatica, which is a potential donation of Rs 165 crore at current license costs.

K K Singh, Chairman and CEO of Rolta Group of Industries said, “We are honoured and privileged to be a part of the vision for educational reforms in India. By being an integral

Lapan-A2 and Lapan- Orari will be released in

the equatorial orbit aboard Indian launch vehicle.

are different from other remote sensing satellites as they run in an equatorial orbit rather than a polar one.

Coverage of Indonesia is relatively low by satellites moving in polar orbits as compared to those moving in equatorial orbit. Toto added,

“During a 24-hour cycle, a satellite in polar orbit will only pass over Indonesia very briefly, yielding only two to four sets of data. However, a satellite in equatorial orbit at a height of 650 km will pass over Indonesia for up to 97 minutes, yielding 14.7 sets of data.”

part of geospatial technology vocational training for CBSE, I am certain that Rolta Geomatica platform will empower students to learn various aspects of geospatial technology. I am sure this initiative will go a long way in building up a critical mass that is required for the nation, enabling the country to rise up above the rest.”

Wayfinder code made available as open source

Vodafone has made Wayfinder code available via open source.

The development is in line with Vodafone’s decision to remove turn-by-turn location based services from its core business.

Competition from Google’s free turn-by-turn navigation through Android is said to have significantly influenced Vodafone’s decision. Voda’s Internet director, Pieter Knook said, “We look forward to seeing the code’s continued use in all sorts of different applications in the future.”

Phone-based navigation to outrun PNDs

According to a report released by iSuppli, the number of GPS- enabled phones being released into the world market is drastically increasing and their popularity is expected to outrun the PNDs by 2014. Considering the growing popularity of smartphones, approximately 80 per cent of all phones shipped at the end of 2011 will be GPS enabled, as compared to 57.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2010. By 2014, 18 per cent of all laptops and 42 per cent of portable game players are expected to become GPS enabled.

Apple acquires Poly9

Apple has acquired Poly9, a developer of 3D mapping software which can be used to produce a programme similar to Google Earth using satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS, to create a life-like virtual atlas. Earlier, Apple had acquired PlaceBase that produces digital maps similar to Google Maps. While Apple and Google remain allies in many ways, the two have also become competitors. Recently, Apple acquired Siri, a voice-activated mobile app that may be able to compete with Google voice search on mobile phones.

Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resources releasing the teacher’s training manual

CBSE & Rolta partner to offer courses

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News

R-Infra steps up to a GIS-enabled decision support system

eliance-Infra has a

R

diversified portfolio of services including construction and development of urban infrastructure, metros, highways, power plants, specialty real estate, and generation, transmission, distribution, and trading of electricity. To provide world- class customer-centric services and to achieve operational and financial excellence, R-Infra has successfully integrated all its technologies, i.e. SCADA, OMS, NMS and AMR with enterprise systems like SAP, GIS,

document management system and workflow management system. The technology integration has helped in developing a successful decision support system that enables taking strategic decisions to achieve business excellence.

he Indian government has

T

expressed plans to install a uniform electronic toll collection system on its national highways, which is expected to increase revenue, curb leakages and ensure smooth travel across the country. Scheduled to be functional by 2012, the toll collection system will be based on RFID technology.

Commenting on the benefits of the toll system, Kamal Nath, road and transport

minister, said, “Passive RFID will ensure that a person can travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari without stopping anywhere. The revenue leakage at present is at least 15 per cent of the toll collection, which comes to about Rs 300 crore.” A committee headed by former Infosys chief executive and UID Chairman Nandan Nilekani, has been set up for this purpose. A RFID tag will be attached to the vehicles

erala Police is catching up

K

with geospatial technology for better management of law and order in the state. A GIS-based crime mapping facility will be developed for effective management and analysis of data pertaining to law and order. Spatial logistics and patterns derived from the data will be used for intelligent decision-making. Police

Kerala Police catches up with geospatial technology

personnel are being trained by Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala (IIITM-K) for using GIS technology in crime mapping.

Initially, training is being

imparted to the officials of the Special Branch-Crime Intelligence. Subsequently, it will be extended to other wings in the police department. The training programme is divided into three phases – introductory, advanced and decision support. Emphasis will be on GIS fundamentals and data generation, spatial analysis and decision-making.

The GIS-based crime mapping system will enable better management and analysis of data pertaining to law and order.

and when the vehicle passes by any toll booth across the country appropriate toll will

be deducted. The vehicle owners can recharge their toll accounts.

India to soon have automated toll system

New facility for in-orbit testing of Galileo

Spaceport in French Guiana in mid-2011. The in-orbit validation will be conducted at the Galileo ground segment that comprises 18 sensor stations, five uplink stations, two telemetry, tracking and command stations, and two Galileo control centres. The control centres will be situated at Fucino, in Italy, and Oberpfaffenhofen, in Germany.

performance of payloads on the four Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites.

The testing process involves measuring radio frequency and baseband parameters for the navigation L-band downlink and the C-band uplink.

The first two IOV satellites will be launched atop a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s new facility for in-orbit

A

testing of Galileo has been inaugurated at the Redu centre of European Space Agency (ESA). In-orbit validation of the satellite navigation system which is jointly being developed by European Union and ESA will be conducted at the facility.

The validation process involves verifying the

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News

R-Infra steps up to a GIS-enabled decision support system

eliance-Infra has a

R

diversified portfolio of services including construction and development of urban infrastructure, metros, highways, power plants, specialty real estate, and generation, transmission, distribution, and trading of electricity. To provide world- class customer-centric services and to achieve operational and financial excellence, R-Infra has successfully integrated all its technologies, i.e. SCADA, OMS, NMS and AMR with enterprise systems like SAP, GIS,

document management system and workflow management system. The technology integration has helped in developing a successful decision support system that enables taking strategic decisions to achieve business excellence.

he Indian government has

T

expressed plans to install a uniform electronic toll collection system on its national highways, which is expected to increase revenue, curb leakages and ensure smooth travel across the country. Scheduled to be functional by 2012, the toll collection system will be based on RFID technology.

Commenting on the benefits of the toll system, Kamal Nath, road and transport

minister, said, “Passive RFID will ensure that a person can travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari without stopping anywhere. The revenue leakage at present is at least 15 per cent of the toll collection, which comes to about Rs 300 crore.” A committee headed by former Infosys chief executive and UID Chairman Nandan Nilekani, has been set up for this purpose. A RFID tag will be attached to the vehicles

erala Police is catching up

K

with geospatial technology for better management of law and order in the state. A GIS-based crime mapping facility will be developed for effective management and analysis of data pertaining to law and order. Spatial logistics and patterns derived from the data will be used for intelligent decision-making. Police

Kerala Police catches up with geospatial technology

personnel are being trained by Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala (IIITM-K) for using GIS technology in crime mapping.

Initially, training is being

imparted to the officials of the Special Branch-Crime Intelligence. Subsequently, it will be extended to other wings in the police department. The training programme is divided into three phases – introductory, advanced and decision support. Emphasis will be on GIS fundamentals and data generation, spatial analysis and decision-making.

The GIS-based crime mapping system will enable better management and analysis of data pertaining to law and order.

and when the vehicle passes by any toll booth across the country appropriate toll will

be deducted. The vehicle owners can recharge their toll accounts.

India to soon have automated toll system

New facility for in-orbit testing of Galileo

Spaceport in French Guiana in mid-2011. The in-orbit validation will be conducted at the Galileo ground segment that comprises 18 sensor stations, five uplink stations, two telemetry, tracking and command stations, and two Galileo control centres. The control centres will be situated at Fucino, in Italy, and Oberpfaffenhofen, in Germany.

performance of payloads on the four Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites.

The testing process involves measuring radio frequency and baseband parameters for the navigation L-band downlink and the C-band uplink.

The first two IOV satellites will be launched atop a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s new facility for in-orbit

A

testing of Galileo has been inaugurated at the Redu centre of European Space Agency (ESA). In-orbit validation of the satellite navigation system which is jointly being developed by European Union and ESA will be conducted at the facility.

The validation process involves verifying the

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News

esearchers at University

R

of New South Wales (UNSW) are developing a satellite for real-time monitoring of flooding, bushfires, deforestation and earthquakes. The satellite development is a part of US$

4.7-million Australian Space Research Program grant from the Federal Government.

Andrew Dempster, Associate he European Space

T

Agency (ESA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) have inked an agreement to enhance the use of satellite data in maritime safety and to combat pollution from shipping. The agreement strengthens collaboration between ESA and EMSA for the development and use of space- based technologies to enhance safety in European seas.

Since EMSA is a major user of satellite data, ESA keeps their

aytheon Company is

R

developing Raytheon Android Tactical System (RATS), a software that can analyse aerial images from an unmanned aircraft or satellite to check for a given person’s facial features or license plates of cars. The software runs on Google's android operating system and can be installed in a mobile phone.

The software can also help ri Lanka has got its first GPS

S

road navigation system named Sala ProSat. It has been developed by Sala Geo Information Systems Pvt. Ltd.

The navigation system can be used to locate and navigate for any address in Sri Lanka. It also provides turn-by-turn guidance for travelling to any place along the shortest route.

‘ ’

Professor of UNSW’s School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems in the Faculty of Engineering, is investigating on flying formations of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)- equipped satellites to develop highly accurate, three- dimensional imaging of the Earth’s surface, creating new, niche space capabilities for Australia.

“

” requirements into

consideration while planning for future satellite missions and instruments such as those being developed for the Global

soldiers in tracking each other’s movements. The cell phone also includes encryption technology, identity

recognition software and GPS to trace it in case it goes into the wrong hands.

Commenting on the software, Mark Bigham, vice president for defense and civil mission solutions at Raytheon said,

“RATS provides our US military forces with a last mile Commenting on the product

launch, Managing Director of Sala GIS, Chinthaka

Wijewickrama said, Our aim is “

Satellite data to enhance maritime security

Tracking enemy movement on cell phone

Dempster said, Flying satellites side-by-side allows an instant 3D surface map to be produced, while flying them one above the other might allow us to examine the depth of forest material. This project will investigate all aspects of these formations, including accurate positioning of the spacecraft using GPS, and determining the best orbits for this type of satellite.

“

” Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, in collection and analysis of data from current and future missions.

of connectivity for delivering images and full motion video to our warfighters. Utilising existing technologies provides developers the ability to focus on requirements that our warfighters need now. ” to take advantage of Sri

Lanka's post-war economic boom including the development in the tourism sector. We are confident that the introduction of the System will benefit a very large cross- section of users, and will be a national asset that enhances the country's image in the region.”

Gujarat uses satellite imagery to chalk out its tribal land

Gujarat is the first state in India to use satellite imagery for selecting land for tribal use. The satellite imagery has been prepared by the Hyderabad- based National Remote Sensing Centre. Commenting on the development, state tribal welfare minister Mangubhai Patel said, “The Gujarat government has approved 19,054 applications, including 18,745 from individuals and 309 from groups. The right to forest land is decided by verifying the records of the forest people through three generations or 75 years – under the provision of the forest settlement report or working plan or statement of some elderly person.”

Bengaluru initiates Electoral System Transformation project

The Bengaluru Electoral System Transformation project (BEST) has been jointly initiated by the Election Commission of India and Janaagraha to provide a hassle-free voter-registration system and near 100 per cent accuracy in electoral rolls within the next six months. The pilot project has initially been initiated in Shantinagar and will be subsequently extended to other assembly constituencies in the city.

BEST will ensure the development of a voter registration system that is time- bound, transparent, citizen- friendly and eliminates errors of omission, commission and spelling mistakes in electoral rolls. The pilot project has been first initiated in Shantinagar due to its central location and availability of GIS maps.

Geospatial data on-demand grows

he need for citizen self-

T

services, increased transparency, combined with the need for reduction in costs and increased efficiency are driving wider mainstream adoption of location-based data, and fuelling the appetite for geospatial data on-demand in the UK public sector, according to Pitney Bowes Business Insight.

According to Scott Robinson, Director, Global Data Products, PBBI, “Many local authorities already have huge investments in mapping and GIS applications that are largely used internally.

Now, they must expose these assets to citizens via their local websites. Users are demanding access to even better and more efficient services that meet their needs and make interaction with central and local government organisations and agencies easier.”

Sri Lanka gets its first navigation system ESRI UK releases ArcGIS 10

reliable analysis ultimately delivering a superior customer service whist driving down costs. The package provides easy access to commonly used

geoprocessing tools and introduces new features such as a new search window in ArcMap to quickly locate maps, data, and tools and a catalogue window built into ArcMap for faster browsing and adding of data.

across the desktop, web and in the field. Users can author data, maps, globes and models on a single integrated platform across desktop, server, web and mobile.

ArcGIS 10 enables

automation of processes and integration with other mission critical systems such as CRM, thus empowering users to make better business decisions based on more SRI UK has released

E

ArcGIS 10 with enhanced new features that enable users perform their GIS work faster. Offered as an interoperable platform, ArcGIS 10 revolutionises how organisations use geographic data, delivering a host of possibilities with new tools and workflows to enhance user productivity. It enables organisations to seamlessly leverage their capabilities eica has released

L

CloudWorx-VR for 3ds Max, 3ds Max design, and Maya. This plug-in provides a convenient way for

Leica CloudWorx-VR for 3ds Max and Maya

RATS takes the US military a step ahead in tracking enemy movement. professionals to efficiently

create more photorealistic and compelling models,

renderings, and animations based on rich, High-Definition

Satellite for real-time monitoring of natural calamities

Sala ProSat will not only help in navigation but also benefit the growing tourism sector in Sri Lanka.

Survey data of sites and structures as collected by 3D laser scanners.

The use of visually rich, high- definition survey data for multimedia applications has been steadily growing.

However, traditional methods of processing as-built and topographic point cloud data and merging it with models and photography for multimedia applications have been time consuming. Now, Leica CloudWorx-VR enables Autodesk 3ds Max or Maya users to overcome these

limitations, making it easy to create even more compelling multimedia deliverables based on laser scan data.

CloudWorx-VR lets users apply 3ds Max and Maya tools directly to large point cloud data sets. Users can efficiently load a dense, coloured point cloud as a 3D background, merge point cloud data with other model elements, cast shadows on the cloud, and even process point clouds into smooth surface models – all within the 3ds Max or Maya interface.

06 |geospatial TODAY August 2010 August 2010 geospatial TODAY|07

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