Modern technologies should appropriately be blended with government developmental programmes.India is an agrarian country with about 72 per cent (about 80 Crores) of its population in about 5,75,936 villages, the villages are inhibited by the rural poor with agriculture as their predominant occupation.They are largely small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, artisansand scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. A large number of rural people (about 30 crore) are still living below the poverty line and often face thebasic problem of survival, viz., jobs, poverty, hunger, shelter, ill-health and disease.

This paper introduces the use of the map database as a sensor in driver assistance and awareness applications.Driver Assistance and awareness applications such as Adaptive Cruise
Control (ACC) and Forward Collision warning need to identify the
primary target in the host vehicle lane,which requires accurate estimation
of the geometry of the road between the host and the target vehicle.

The most important ingredient for “Preparedness”.Unless we are “fully” prepared, we cannot have good and timely
response. And, to be fully prepared with good coordinates is in the
hands of geodesists, surveyors, map or chart makers, and all others,
who generate data. In turn, correct and accurate “Good Coordinates”
and quick and timely advice will strengthen the hands of the country’s
leaders, civil and/or military.If anything is lacking in good
coordinates, “We” would be failing with no room for any excuse(s).

Says Clement Woon, President of Geosystems Division, Leica while explaining the technological
trends in GPS applications. Hexagon AB, a Swedish publicly listed company, acquired Leica
Geosystems AG in October 2005. Since then we have been organized
into three divisions; namely the Geosystems Division, the Measuring
Tools Division and the Geospatial Imaging Division. We are now part
of a larger global group focusing on measurement technologies.

says Maj Gen M Gopal Rao, Surveyor General of India while discussing the vision, status and
direction of Survey of India.When Survey of India (SoI) had the basic role of meeting Defence needs
of mapping, it fulfi lled this national commitment with fl ying colours.
Defence and Security agencies primarily depend on the topographical
maps in every activity of planning their strategy.

Says Dr Irwin Itzkovitch, Assistant Deputy Minister,Earth Sciences Sector, Natural Resources Canada
while discussing various aspects of Indo-Canada relationship in the field of Geomatics.Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) helps shape the important contribution
of Canada’s natural resources sector to our economy, society and
environment. The segments on which NRCan focuses are forestry,
energy, minerals and metals, and Earth sciences, including geomatics,
geoscience and related industries. Canada’s natural resources industries
are high-tech, innovative and growing.

GIOVE-A transmits first Galileo signals

The GIOVE-A satellite is in good health and started transmitting the
fi rst Galileo signals from medium earth orbit on 12 January.
GIOVE-A was placed in orbit (altitude 23,260 km) by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket
operated by Starsem on 28 December last from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

250 Village resources centres by March end

As many as 250 Village Resource Centres (VRCs), aimed at providing
locale-specifi c information to rural population by effectively using
satellite techonology, will be set up in the country by March end this year,
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

Digital Thailand to launch mapping service

A system has been developed to conduct satellite mapping specifically for Thailand. Starting in February,
Digital Thailand plans to begin distributing satellite maps on compact discs to interested public and students. Digital Thailand’s online map service, also being launched in February, also will be made available to the public.

Lockheed Martin GPS updates enhance system accuracy

Lockheed Martin has upgraded the software processing and modeling forthe Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS), enhancing the Air Force’s ability to monitor GPS satellites and improve system accuracy 10-15 percent for users worldwide. The recently completed update, named the Legacy Accuracy Improvement Initiative (L-AII), doubles the amount of navigation data collected and provided to Air Force operators.