Ordnance Survey have created a Minecraft world representing over 224,000 sqkms of Great Britain using two of their OS OpenData products…

India has officially inaugurated Data Portal India, a portal for the public to access and use datasets and applications provided by ministries and departments of the Government of India. The Portal functions as a single access point for open government datasets across the country. Currently, there are about 3500 datasets from 49 government departments available for the public to access and use. The datasets include agriculture, commerce and industry, defence, finance, health, information and broadcasting, energy, transport and water resources, among others. http://data.gov.in/

The National Geographic Institute (IGN), the mapping agency of Peru, has launched a project for digitisation of national cartography. The idea of the project is to have a high precision data in order to contribute to the growth of public and private investments that can benefi t from this updated mapping information.

Mapping information showing the locations of publicly accessible land across New Zealand has been released by the New Zealand Walking Access Commission (NZWAC) to enable researchers, government agencies and app developers embark on their own mapping projects.

INDUSTRY | LBS | GNSS | GIS | IMAGING | GALILEO UPDATE

Congress cuts funding for updating flood maps
Congress has cut funding for updating flood maps by more than half since 2010, from $221 million down to $100 million this year. And the president’s latest budget request would slash funding for mapping even further to …

OS VectorMap by Europa Technologies
Europa Technologies has announced an innovative new way to license OS VectorMap Local map data for Great Britain. This new offering consists of three off-the-shelf urban packages speci cally designed to meet the needs of organisations that focus on the nation’s population. The entry level Urban package includes cities and large towns, covering approximately 62% of the population.

PetroVietnam University (PVU) has joined the Intergraph® Education Grant Program, selecting SmartMarine® Enterprise solutions for its curriculum to support Vietnam’s offshore oil and gas industry. PVU is located in the offshore oil and gas hub of southern Vietnam, and was established to focus on the development of the country’s oil and gas industry. www.pvu.edu.vn

A detailed assessment of the country’s mineral resources is required before mines are put up for bidding with the aim of revenue maximisation, said the Economic Survey. “In order to meet the objective of revenue maximisation in an open, transparent and competitive manner, this should be preceded by detailed geological mapping of the mineral wealth of the country,” said the Economic Survey 2012-13, tabled in Parliament. http:// articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/

$3 billion generated by Indian geo services industry in 2011

The Indian geo services industry generated $3 billion in revenue in 2011 alone while accounting for approximately 1,35,000 jobs, according to a BCG report commissioned by Google. The report said that the impact of the geo services industry is valued at approximately 15 times it’s own size

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has launched its fi rst copy of the UAE’s electronic statistical atlas. It comes within the framework of the strategic initiatives of the NBS to meet requirements of data users. The atlas is the latest sophisticated data device linked to the GIS technologies and their applications. http://gulfnews.com