Trimble’s LaserAce™ 1000 rangefinder
Trimble has introduced the new Trimble® LaserAce™ 1000 rangefinder, an easy-to-use handheld measurement tool combining a laser distance meter, digital inclinometer, sighting scope and Bluetooth® wireless technology. The new rangefinder expands Trimble’s portfolio by seamlessly integrating with its Geographic Information System (GIS) data collection solutions.
www.trimble.com/laserace.

Taiwan releases its first aerial photography drone
A local company has unveiled Taiwan’s first indigenous unmanned vehicle for aerial photography, hoping to break into a market that so far has been monopolized by imported products. The AI Rider, a system based on a six-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle weighing about 1,450 grams, is highly competitive because of its price and after-sales service, including training that is more easily available to domestic customers, said Clark Lin, vice president of Gang Yu Corp.
The remote-controlled aerial photography vehicle is said to be entirely developed in Taiwan and made with domestic components. It can carry a payload, such as a video camera, of up to 400 grams, and can climb to an altitude of 550 meters.

European satnav competition opens for entries
The eighth European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) is now open for innovative ideas in the field of satellite navigation. Deadline for companies, entrepreneurs, research institutes, universities and individuals from all over the world, to submit their ideas is June 30, 2011. One can submit entries online at http://www.galileo-masters.eu. ESA

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.

Did you pack in the camera? Where’s my toothbrush? Hey, don’t forget the blanket! These are just some of the words of excitement that seem to flow around Civil Engineering students at IIT Kanpur as their 5th semester nears an end. It’s time for the Nainital Survey Camp to start. It is ironical that people think you are going for a vacation, while this is actually classified as a proper course with credit based weightage and is thus mandatory without attaching any of the holiday related ideas to it.

Tsunami in Japan:Shunji Murai; A long way to go:Rajib Shaw; Real time indoor location based service test bed:Li-Ta Hsu, Wen-Ming Tsai, Shau-Shiun Jan; A geo-spatial approach to urban development:Mahavir

I was given the title of this article “How Japan is managing the disaster of this magnitude?” by the Coordinates magazine but I dare to say that Japan is not yet managing the disaster but suffering from the hardships. Though all Japanese people are in mourning the sorrow, I feel it should be my duty as an old scholar to report on the biggest earthquake and Tsunami to the rest of the world. I hope that my report would be useful to prevent the similar misery.

An earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred on 11th of March at 14:46 in the east of Japan, causing a tsunami which hit the east coast, and made extensive damages in five prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki, and has made direct and indirect impacts to the other nearby provinces including Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. As of March 21, the confirmed number of death is 8,450 with reported missing 12,931. Thus, the total casualty may be over more than 21,000 people, and therefore making it as the worst disaster Japan has experienced after the World War II.