The British Geological Survey is to use a state of the art laser scanner to map volcanoes, glaciers and other natural phenomena. The RIEGL VZ-1000 purchased from 3D Laser Mapping will be used around the world to collect data that will be used to create photorealistic fl y-throughs, 3D height models and highly accurate area and volume calculations.

Under the watchful eye of ESA’s Vecmap initiative, the Asian bush mosquito is about to get bitten in Belgium. First observed in Belgium in 2002, the Asian bush mosquito can spread viruses such as Chikungunya, Dengue, and West Nile. Vecmap tests the accurate mapping of mosquitoes in Europe and in particular, mosquitoes carrying diseases.

Esri has joined the ocean business alliance World Ocean Council (WOC) and will support its international initiatives for sustainable development and conservation of the ocean. Esrichief scientist Dawn Wright will share her geospatial expertise with WOC’s Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) and Ocean Science working groups. WOC members are oil and gas, seafl oor mining, shipping, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, and offshore renewables companies.

Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden, launches a unique 3D web service engaging citizens to contribute with ideas and suggestions for the development of the city. Citizens can explore the city in 3D on the web and interactively propose projects based on the latest gaming technology. Suggestions are shared on Facebook and rated by the community using common social media features. Users can easily navigate in the virtual 3D model of the city and make changes to the model with user friendly tools.

VisionMap Ltd has announced that its A3 digital aerial camera imagery is now supported by Intergraph’s LPS photogrammetry software. This new compatibility provides LPS users the ability to perform stereo compilation with A3 imagery for mapping applications.

The U.S. Army Geospatial Center (AGC) and Engineer Research and Development Center recently released the Hydrologic Data Resources Application (HyDRA) – a Web-based data survey and analysis tool created to provide the Dept. of Defense (DoD) logistics and geospatial intelligencerelated water communities with information on water resources data collection, visualization and dissemination in a mobile, enterprise-enabled environment. HyDRA allows users to view, collect and edit unclassified water resources features via Android 2.2+ OS smart devices using Google MapsTM and Google EarthTM applications.

The UN Cartographic Section (UNCS) is planning to develop global multi-scale geospatial datasets (or UNmap) for rapid map production and web mapping in support to the Security Council and the Secretariat including UN field missions. Currently, an interim version of UNmap in scales of 1:1 million, 1:5 million and 1:10 million are in the final stages of completion. These maps are being used as primary geo-databases for UNCS and UN field missions.

Blue Marble Geographics has announced the release of GeoCore 2012, the all-in-one data conversion developer toolkit for geospatial data. The updated version of GeoCore features GeoCalc 6.5, GeoTransform 6.2, and GeoTranslate 5.2. If desired, the latest versions of these software development kits are also available for individual purchase. When combined into GeoCore users can seamlessly work with any Blue Marble data conversion toolkit in the same development environment to build powerful geospatial software.

The GIS Research Centre at Feng Chia University in Taiwan developed Taiwan’s first municipal works cloud-based map platform. It will allow city government officials and policy makers to have a clear picture of the city’s major construction projects. The platform, which was commissioned by the Taichung City Government, will integrate the city’s digital map libraries including urban planning and cadastral map libraries, and will allow users to browse records concerning the city’s major construction projects and tenders.

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China, UK build geospatial research center
The Sino-British Geospatial Information Research Centre, jointly built by the China Academy of Surveying and Mapping and U.K. University of Nottingham, opened in Beijing on Dec. 13. This research centre will develop geospatial information research to solve …