GIS

Google Street view hits roadblock in India

Commissioner of Police of Bangalore in India has asked Google to stop photographing streets of Bangalore. However, before Street View cars started operating, Google claimed it took permission from the traffic department of Bangalore police. The police have reservations regarding legality of Google’s Street View in India. The police reportedly acted because there were several restrictions on photography by foreigners or foreign firms in India. Even though Google Street View has proven immensely popular with users, the service has faced resistance in several parts of the world. The data in it is not shown to users in real-time but there have been privacy concerns over its use.
www.timesofindia.com

Esri creates Ocean Basemap

Esri has created and released Ocean Basemap, a comprehensive map of the world’s oceans and coastal areas. It is now available as a cached map service in ArcGIS Online. It has been designed to support a variety of maritime GIS applications. It includes fine-grained bathymetric and altimetric data from coastal areas, where most of the human activity takes place.
www.esri.com

ESRI India agreement with NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ has completed an Enterprise Reseller Agreement with NIIT GIS Ltd. (Esri India) to offer the complete suite of NAVTEQ-enhanced data solutions to its range of enterprise customers. Clients of Esri in India will benefit through access to the full suite of NAVTEQ Enterprise digital map-based products and services. This includes high quality digital mapping data for enhanced mobile asset management, internet applications, GIS applications, geomarketing applications, call centre applications and telematics services.
www.newswiretoday.com

Delhi to put land ownership data on GIS platform

All records, data, ownership details of properties under the jurisdiction of land & development office of Delhi StateGovernment in India will be soon available to all state departments and civic agencies through the GIS platform of the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure Project (DSSDIP). The property records includes those in Lutyens’ Delhi, and details of housing schemes, markets, community facilities, parks, roads, drainage and waterbodies under the purview of Delhi Development Authority in India. The step is seen as a move to cut red-tape in urban planning process.
www.timesofindia.com

India releases National Wetland Atlas

India released a National Wetland Atlas to form the basis of a comprehensive wetland conservation strategy. The atlas includes satellite imagery-based maps. It categorizes wetlands into 19 different classes. The maps are available at a 1:50,000 scale resolution. The atlas is prepared by the Space Applications Centre of Ahmedabad. www.abclive.in

Egypt GIS-based information portal

Digital Egypt launched Egypt’s first spatial information website powered by GIS. The company spent over three years to map out the country’s streets, landmarks, hotels, businesses and virtually every other point of interest, and superimposing this information on a digital map.
www.thedailynewsegypt.com

China mandate for mapping cos

China has made it mandatory for overseas web mapping companies to operate mapping services only through a tie up with Chinese companies, according to a notice issued by SBSM. The notice cited an amended regulation on overseas organizations and individuals that offer online mapping services. It also states that, for joint ventures with Internet mapping as their sole business, foreign investors cannot own more than 50 percent of the enterprise. The regulation also bans foreign companies and individuals surveying and mapping of borders between administrative regions in China, as well as surveying and mapping of oceans. www.xinhuanet.com