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.

EMRI joins hands with GEOMED for enhancing emergency response service
Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) and GEOMED Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH signed an MoU to work together on shared goals regarding the improvement of GIS based emergency health systems data utilization and related research and emergency response services internationally.
GEOMED’s focus is on the development and application of geography-based methods and technologies in public health and health care. Research and development projects deal with planning
and allocation of resources in emergency or secondary care, innovative health monitoring and surveillance applications or decision support in the context of urban health. Continuous cooperations exist
with research institutions, health services and authorities across Europe, Northern America as well as in India and China.
PHR to map health medical centres with GIS in Yemen

Yemen Partners for Health Reforms (PHR) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is training a group of decision makers in the Health Ministry Bureau,
launched a course to target provinces that are instructed in the use the GIS in order to map the health medical centers in all Yemen’s provinces. www.yobserver.com
AU Professors to evaluate GIS project

To ensure quality and take guidance in the implementation of the GIS project, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is contemplating hiring the services of faculty of the civil engineering department of Andhra University. The VMC had asked the civil engineering department to evaluate the job of Hyderabad-based Speck Systems, which was entrusted the task of satellite imaging
of the city. The VMC would enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the civil engineering department of the university shortly. the latter would play the role of a ‘third party’ in implementing the project. www.thehindu.com

US PND market doubles in Q2
Shipments of portable navigation devices (PNDs) in the United States almost doubled in the second quarter (Q2) of this year at 3.7 million units, compared to the 2.8 million units in Q2 2007, but
prices are still dropping, according to market research firm Canalys. At this time last year, unit volume shipments were depressed following an inventory buildup resulting from extremely high sales into the channel in the final quarter. While shipments have grown,
Canalys estimates that average selling prices have dropped approximately 40 percent drop year over year.
Canalys estimates that Garmin remained the US market leader with 47% share, up 4% on its Q1 position, but down slightly on the 50% it had a year ago. TomTom, in second, saw year-on-year growth substantially above the market average, almost trebling its shipments, and giving it a share of 25%. Despite this high growth, this was down on the 28% it had in Q1, meaning that Garmin increased its lead by several percentage points sequentially. Magellan retained its third place with a reduced 11% share. These three vendors have consistently taken more than 80% of the market for several quarters. Outside of the top three, several vendors posted high year-onyear
growth, notably Mio Technology, Navigon and Nextar, albeit on much lower volumes. www.canalys.com

Honeywell selects Spirent GPS simulator for NASA’s Orion project
Honeywell has selected a Spirent GPS/ Inertial simulator to develop, integrate, and verify the navigation system for NASA’s Orion project. The simulator includes comprehensive modeling of the space environment and will provide multiple radio frequency outputs. It will include multiple SimINERTIAL units Spirent Inertial interfaces that provide Honeywell engineers the capability of emulating Inertial sensor output while simultaneously simulating GPS RF signals.

SLA and MapKing launch free mobile StreetMap

Singapore Land Authority and MapKing (Singapore) Pte Ltd have jointly launched StreetMap@Singapore. It can be viewed on PDAs, PDA phones, and smart phones. Named as `SLA StreetMap Mobile’ it can be downloaded for free onto any mobile device running on Windows Mobile Operating System.

SLA StreetMap Mobile has similar functions with its online StreetMap@ Singapore at www.map.gov.sg. Anyone with a compatible mobile device can search for location maps using address, road name, postal code, building or development name on the move. Containing about 2,000 buildings, 4,200 named roads, and some 120,000 updated address points, it is driven by the MapKing engine. www.sla.gov.sg

Leica GNSS QC and Spider V3.1
Leica Geosystems introduces GNSS QC V2.1, the latest version of the GNSS quality control and data analysis software. It includes an interface to geodetic processing packages such as Bernese by adding support for the SINEX format. It provides a convenient way of displaying and monitoring site displacements and troposphere estimates computed using high-end scientific software packages that are ideal for wide area or seismic GNSS monitoring and crustal deformation studies.

Leica has also released GNSS Spider V3.1. New are a Network based DGPS service and a unique User Location Service, providing secure external online access to user location information. www.leica-geosystems.com

Europe looks for intellectual GNSS expertise

S With a public funds set aside for Galileo and EGNOS and related projects being put out to bid, Europe is also looking for intellectual GNSS expertise to help it get Galileo in orbit.

The European Commission’s director general for energy and transport is advertising for a “contractor that has extensive experience with the project management of large projects, in particular public sector procurements, and knowledgeable in a range of domains, that will assist the Commission in making strategic decisions, in taking the right programmatic approaches, in analyzing and reviewing the state of the programs at various milestones, and in putting forward recommendations. That’s according to the “invitation to tender” issued by Fotis Karamitsos, head of the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, on June 25.

This call for outside expertise arose from the moves the European Union made in late 2007 to rescue the Galileo program in the wake of the collapse of its public/ private partnership funding mechanism. As part of that decision to make Galileo an entirely public project, it created the European GNSS Programmes Committee to assist the European Commission in administering the Galileo and EGNOS programs. The full invitation to tender document can be downloaded at the European Commission Directorate- General for Energy and Transport website.

IIT Kanpur proposes micro satellite to ISRO

IIT Kanpur has submitted a proposal to the Indian Space Research Organisation, relating to design and development of a micro satellite. It shall weigh around 7 kgs, can be used as part of disaster management and in cartography. The project was expected to require a funding of around Rs 5-7 crore. www.business-standard.com

In-Stat expects Chinese GPS handset market to grow rapidly

According to In-Stat, “the Chinese GPS phone market is still small and has low penetration, but its high growth rate is a clear signal of its development, as is the fact that it is starting to have an impact on the growth of the PND market”. The findings of this report shows shipments of GPS phones will exceed 5 million in 2009 and will account for about 10% of total mobile phone shipments in 2012, compared to 0.6% in 2007. In 2008, more mainstream handset manufacturers have begun GPS phone production, and the number of models available will be at least three times that of those in 2007.