The decision by India’s National Disaster Response Force to use drones to help Nepal map the scale of devastation caused by last month’s earthquake indicates how India has enthusiastically taken to these pilot-less aircraft — the so-called eyes in the sky.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center(WHRC) in Massachusetts, USA have developed vegetation height maps for the entire tropics at very fine spatial scales. These first-of itskind high resolution maps can help researchers estimate forest cover, monitor biodiversity and wildlife habitats, and manage and monitor timber.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 25 May 2015 announced the complete operationalisation of the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN).

AT A GLANCE
► A new three party agreement between Ordnance Survey (GB), Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) and Land and Property Services (LPS) Northern Ireland is set to improve access and availability of mapping services for customers and government users operating across the UK and Ireland.
► Raytheon-built GPS III system delivered
► Apple buys GPS fi …

The Certification Center Svyaz-Certificate in Russia is now using the R&S CMW500 to certify ERA-GLONASS systems in line with the TR CU 018/2011 technical guideline.

DAT/EM Systems International and Icaros, Inc. has announced the release of a collaborative software solution that processes and analyzes Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) data.

SimActive has announced Correlator3D™ version 6.1, now with point cloud generation. The new feature builds on its autocorrelation techniques using the GPU.

The global market for third party Internet of Things (IoT) platforms will show solid growth in the next few years, according to Berg Insight.

FARO Technologies has released newly designed PointSense for Autodesk’s Revit® building design software. It introduces functionality to improve the evaluation and conversion of point cloud data to Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Two new Galileo satellites have been successfully placed in orbit, joining the existing six probes in the constellation. The operation went off without a hitch – something that can’t be said for the troubled assent of the fifth and sixth Galileo satellites.