Today, mobile devices are not only tools for the communications but also personal assistants. People could use the mobile device built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to search for information based on his/her location, thus called Location Based Service (LBS). However, due to the GPS signal propagation limit, the positioning and navigation services are discontinued when the user enters the indoor environments. When users are in the indoor environments, how to continuously obtain their locations becomes a popular research topic.

Recommendations of the National Commission on Urbanization (NCU), set up in 1985, covered the aspects of emergence of nodal points; special regional characteristics of urban growth; spatial eco-tones of urbanization; spatial distribution of wheat and rice productivity and industrial employment; and spatial planning of settlements . Besides other analysis, it studied the spatial distribution of cities and urban agglomerations in 1971 and 1981 .

April 2011, 6th National GIS Symposium in Saudi Arabia, 24-26 April, Khobar, Saudi Arabia, www.saudigis.org ; Geo- Siberia 2011, 27-29 April, Novosibirsk, Russia, www.geosiberia.sibfair.ru/eng/

Tsunami in ocean, in coasts, in lands, …In our minds too.Throwing new challenges on develpoment models,Raising questions on research, earthquake predictions, etc. Managing disasters of this magnitude,
Trigerring thinking and rethinking. The tsunami continues…

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.