India map in 3D satellite imagery
A new project to map all areas in the country using a three-dimensional satellite imagery would be launched soon, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal said. http://www.hindu.com/

Trimble to acquire RolleiMetric. Introduces Multi-GNSS CORS Receiver
Trimble Navigation has agreed to acquire RolleiMetric from Rollei GmbH, Germany. RolleiMetric is a provider of metric camera systems for aerial imaging and terrestrial close range photogrammetry.
Trimble has introduced the Trimble® NetR8™ GNSS reference receiver. It can operate as a campaign receiver for post processing, as a Continuously Operating Reference Station receiver, portable base station for RTK applications or as a scientific reference station collecting information for specialized studies.
Specific applications include high-accuracy positioning as part of a Trimble VRS™ network, support for DGPS MSK beacons, and integrity monitoring of networks and physical infrastructure such as bridges, dams and mines. It has 76 channels and supports GPS L1, L2, L2C and L5 signals as well as GLONASS L1/L2 signals. There are also four channels dedicated to tracking SBAS.http://www.trimble.com

US businesses expected to spend 11 billion dollars on mobile apps by 2012
According to CompassIntelligence.com, businesses in the U.S. will spend roughly $11.6 billion on mobile applications by 2012. This year U.S. businesses are expected to spend an estimated $4.9 billion on mobile applications. This market is poised for double-digit17 growth over the next 5 years, driven by the growth in remote and telecommuting employees, the movement in “open Mobile Devices,” and the explosion of new and emerging free and fee-based mobile applications available for download. This research is part of Compass Intelligence’s Applications and Business Wireless
research. http://www.gpsdaily.com

When professions like Engineering, Information Technology, etc thrive,
The surveying profession loses its charm.
Despite, Surveying is a critical Service also.
A Service that serves the society and people at large.
A ‘less rewarding’ profession, may be.
Not glorified. Not acknowledged.
But, it is a profession that lays the foundation of so much more.
Though foundations are invisible.
The importance of foundations …

Septemeber 2008

Institute of Navigation’s Satellite

Division ION GNS 2008

September 16-19, 2008

Savannah, Georgia, USA

http://www.ion.org

The Perspectives, The role of Surveyors in the European Economy and Society

17-19, September

Strasbourg, France

http://www.geometre-strasbourg2008.eu

CARIS 2008

September 22 – …

The drivers for a successful take off of LBS
Remi Challamel
INS/TACAN/ALT- an alternative solution
for positioning
Piotr Kaniewski
Watch your steps
Alison Brown and Peter K Brown
Oil spills pollution
Salem issa

Industry officials predict current procurement plan will delay
The heads of Europe’s two biggest satellite prime contractors urged the European Commission to accelerate its procurement of the Galileo satellite navigation system or face what might become politically unacceptable delays in getting the service started.
Attending an information conference of European Union space ministers here July 20-22, the chief executives of Astrium Satellites and Thales Alenia Space said the current Galileo procurement process, which began July 1 and is scheduled to continue through
May 2009, is unnecessarily slow “The procurement has been substantially delayed and this schedule introduces more delays,” said Evert Dudok, chief executive of Astrium Satellites. “We need
procurement decisions in 2008 to keep to the service introduction date.” Dudok made his remarks here July 21 during a tour of Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport as part of a delegation that included French Research Minister Valerie Pecresse and European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen.
Dudok was addressing Pecresse because France assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union July 1. Dudok said France, which has identified space policy as one of the key priorities of its six-month presidency, could use its influence to accelerate the Galileo procurement. Dudok urged Pecresse and Verheugen to use
their influence to get the European Commission permission to remove what he said were needlessly complicated rules on the Galileo procurement.
In an interview, Dudok said it is his understanding the commission has the leeway to bypass some of its procedures to speed up the procurement as long as the major concerns — fair bidding and
inclusion of subcontractors that are not part of the prime contractor’s corporate family — and other concerns are respected.
Thales Alenia Space Chief Executive Reynald Seznec agreed. In an interview, Seznec said Astrium Satellites, Thales Alenia Space and its major subcontractors have assembled a contract proposal that
distributes work throughout Europe and limits the prime contractors’ dominance in a way that complies with European Commission concerns. “We really believe we have come up with a contracting profile that responds to the commission’s concerns and that we could negotiate a final contract much sooner” than mid-2009, Seznec said.
The European Commission, which has assumed overall authority for
Galileo and has delegated the European Space Agency (ESA) as contract oversight authority, issued detailed procurement rules July 1 for the six Galileo work packages. www.wibw.com/
weather/headlines/26238124.html

Geneq’s geomatics division came in being in 1993 to supply GIS grade GPS receivers to meet the growing needs of submeter mapping industry. With 2003 came the SXBlue PS, the world’s first GIS grade Bluetooth submeter GPS receiver. Later in 2007, a second generation, the SXBlue II GPS was born, adding …

ISRO to forecast crop behavior
The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics has tied up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the project to forecast crop condition and drought-like situations with the

help of satellite images. Satellite images of the ground where the crops are harvested will be matched, analysed and calculated with the data provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and a conclusion will be arrived at. Initially, the project will be carried out in Karnataka on a pilot basis. Later, it will be implemented in other major agricultural states like Maharashtra.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

GLONASS-K Birds go into production
Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev Co. has begun the production of the K-series of GLONASS satellites for Russia. The first launch of a GLONASSK satellite is scheduled for launch in 2010, according to Russia’s Federal Space Agency. GLONASSK is the third generation of Russia’s GLONASS positioning satellites. In contrast to GLONASS and GLONASS- M satellites, which have relatively short service lives of only a few years, GLONASS-K has a planned service life of 12 years, a depressurized platform, and a decreased weight, according to Reshetnev.