Philippine president unveils 3-D mapping project
President Benigno Aquino III of Philippines announced that the Government allocated PHP 1 billion for three-dimensional mapping of the entire country. According to Aquino III, it is designed to minimise damage during natural disasters. Aquino made this announcement during the inauguration of the new PHP 243-million Agno River Basin Flood Forecasting and Warning System.

Russia invites Sweden to join GLONASS
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin invited Sweden to increase its cooperation on GLONASS satellite navigation system, during his visit to Stockholm, Sweden. Both countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in the space industry, including their intention to launch Swedish satellites using Russian carrier rockets.

TomTom apologises for giving users’ data to cops
TomTom apologized for supplying driving data collected from customers to police to use in catching speeding motorists. The data, including historical speed, has been sold to local and regional governments in the Netherlands to help police set speed traps. As more smartphones offer GPS navigation service, TomTom has been forced to compensate for declining profit by increasing sales in other areas, including the selling of traffic data, Dutch newspaper AD reported.

Trimble to acquire OmniSTAR for land applications: Trimble has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets related to the OmniSTAR Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal corrections business from Fugro N.V. The acquisition is expected to expand Trimble’s worldwide ability to provide correction services for land-based agriculture, construction, mapping and GIS and survey applications.

Expert blames poor infra for tsunami disaster: More infrastructures spending by Japan could have lessened the impact of this month’s deadly tsunami but the government has become too reliant on low-cost measures such as handing out warning maps, said Professor Fumihiko Imamura, Tohoku University’s Disaster Control Research Center.

EU aims to curb Galileo costs: The EU Commission isn’t willing to accept further costs increases for the Galileo satellite navigation system, German daily Handelsblatt reported, citing industry commissioner Antonio Tajani. “On the contrary, the estimated additional costs for the time after 2014 must decrease,” Tajani told

Israel, Russia to boost cooperation in space: Israel and Russia have agreed to increase cooperation on space research and exploration. According to Zvi Kaplan, Director, Israel Space Agency, a project has been proposed which includes remote sensing of Earth from space, planetary studies and space medicine. Kaplan said that the two nations may also join forces on astrophysical research and satellite navigation.

GPS power for Australian public transport info: The next generation TransLink mobile website will include Journey Planner easy travel, featuring a GPS capability that allows customers to search for stops, go card retailers and journeys near their current location, according to Annastacia Palaszczuk, Transport Minister, Australia.

India grant-in-aid for GAGAN project: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in India approved a one time grant-in aid of INR 378 crore as budgetary support for implementation of GPS-aided Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN). The GAGAN system, estimated to cost INR 774 crore, would make the skies from South-east Asia to Africa, including Indian airspace, much safer. The system, being developed jointly by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), would place India in the fourth position along with the US, Europe and Japan to have such an advanced navigation system.

India terminates S-band contract
As allegations of wrongful allocation of S-band frequencies for radio waves to a private company is mounting pressure on the Government of India, the government decided to terminate the controversial contract with Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia. It also claimed that it had not incurred any financial losses because of the contract. But the Department of Space conceded it had not fully informed the Cabinet that G-SAT6 and G-SAT6A satellites it intended to launch were meant primarily for use by Devas Multimedia.