On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS) to be celebrated in Beijing, China, 18-23 October, 2009, I as General Secretary of AARS, would like to say some words about the review of ACRS…

E-Government (or Electronic Government) is described in Wiki as the use of information and communication technology to provide and improve government services, transactions and interactions with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government…

GPS has revolutionised positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) over the last twenty-fi ve years. During this period, we have come to rely on GPS to an unprecedented extent and GPS has gone from being an interesting research and development topic, to a professional niche market maker, to becoming the fourth utility and now to today’s mass market phenomenon…

Bentley has introduced the ‘Be Employable’ initiative. Can you explain what it is designed to accomplish?
Malcolm Walter: Worldwide, the infrastructure community is facing the relentless pressures of a diffi cult economy, and the downsizing of design and engineering organizations has become widespread. Bentley’s mission of ‘sustaining infrastructure’ encompasses the need to ‘sustain the professions’ that design, build, and operate our infrastructure, and the Be Employable program is dedicated to doing just that.

Th e ESA International Summer School on GNSS 2009 was held from July 20th to 30th in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria – Germany. Aft er the great successes in 2007 and 2008 the European Space Agency adopted the International Summer School on GNSS which itents to educate Satellite Navigation in an intersdisciplinary way and give a comprehensive overview on the design and development of satellite navigation systems and its applications. Bernd Eissfeller, leading organizer and director of the Institute of Geodesy and Navigation of the University FAF, Munich was plesed about this change. “Not only ESA is now part of this international activity concerning GNSS education”, he pointed out, “but also many high ranking universities which supported the Summer School for the fi rst time.” Th e 2009 organizing committ ee consisted of Eissfeller`s institute, the Stanford University (USA), the Institute Supérieur de l`Aéronautique et de l`Èspace (France), Aalborg University (Denmark) and Graz University of Technology (Austria). 47 participants from all over the world joined Summer School 2009, i.e. Russia, China, Australia, etc.

“Thank you for attending this year,” said President Jack Dangermond, ESRI, as he welcomed attendees at the 2009 ESRI International User Conference (ESRI UC). “Many things have taken place over the last year, and I’m particularly grateful you are here with us today. I know some of you came on your own money and traveled halfway around the world–I can’t say how much I appreciate that.”

November 2009

International Symposium on GPS/GNSS 2009
4-6 November
Jeju, Korea
gnssws@gnss.or.kr
www.gnsskorea2009.org

NAV09
Maritime : 10 November, Southampton
Positioning & Location:12 Nov., Nottingham
Land : 19 November, Teddington
Timing : 20 November, Teddington
Air:25 Nov., london
www.rin.org.uk/news-events/events

WALIS International Form 2009
11-13 November
perth convention Exhibition Centre, Australia
www.Walis.wa.gov.au

INCA 2009
25-27 November
Kolkata, India
http://www.incaindia.org

ISPRS (Geospatial Data Cyber Infrastructure)
25-27 November
Hyderabad, India
http://www.incois.gov.in/isprs

GPS/IGNSS Symposium 2009
30 Nov – 1 Dec 2009
Tokyo, japan
www.gnss-pnt.org/symposium2009

Citizens demand performance, effi ciency, accountability…
As they expect better service.
And governments do respond.
E-government is one such strategy.
The UN monitors E-Government through regular global E-Government Surveys.

“I always read that the world, land and water, was spherical… Now I observed so much divergence, that I began to hold different views about the world and I found it was not round…. but pear shaped, round except where it has a nipple, for there it is taller, or as one had a round ball and, on one side, it should be like a woman’s breast, and this nipple part is the highest and closest to Heaven….” – Kenneth C. Davis New York Times Best Seller “Don’t know much about Geography” Permissions Department, William Morrow and Company, New York, NY, 1992.

We have Bhuvan now!
Few months back, ISRO announced its plans for Bhuvan.
And now it is a reality.
An Indian earth observation visualization portal.
Showcasing Indian imaging capabilities.
Unique and different.
From India and for India.
Open to public.
There is euphoria; there are expectations.
And a long way to go.
The first step has been taken.
Kudos to ISRO.