GIS

DHS puts 275 GIS-based datasets online

To better prepare for and respond to national emergencies, the Department of Homeland Security in the US needed to adopt new technologies that facilitated community collaboration — while also continuing to secure the data needed to maintain homeland security.

To that end, DHS has opened 275 geospatial datasets from its Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data collection to support nationwide homeland security collaboration. The HIFLD Open website provides access to the datasets as well as up-to-date downloadable fi les and visualization tools. Location information is available on two dozen categories of assets, from border crossings to refrigerated warehouses. Developers can also use these datasets for web applications, while analysts can download data for modeling and predictive analysis. https://gcn.com

Rs 300 crore to map 1.5 lakh bridges, culverts

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has launched a project worth Rs 300 crore to map 1.5 lakh bridges and culverts across the country. The Integrated Bridge Management System (IBMS), when fully operational, will become the world’s largest system, a top offi cial from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said. So far, the IBMS has mapped 50,000 such bridges and culverts out of about 1.5 lakh in the country, the official said.

IDEC Engineers have been appointed as the project consultant for it and the system will have data like national identity number, longitude and latitude details, classifi cations and socio-economic details of the area among others. www.dnaindia.com

Flood Mapping in Odisha to Reduce Risk Factors

The coastal district of Kendrapara witnessed severe floods 12 times from 1994 to 2013. Loss of life and property was enormous. To avert such huge losses like in 2011 when 473 villages under nine blocks were badly hit, the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) released a Flood Inundation Mapping (FIM) for Kendrapara. The survey teams referred to 15 years of fl ood history of Kendrapara district for the mapping which has been prepared under Government of India-UNDP project on Enhancing Institutional and Community Resilience to Disaster and Climate Change-2013-17 www.newindianexpress.com

GIS Cloud develops ‘Fastest Map Engine’ in the world

Croatia based GIS Cloud has announced of developing what the company is calling the ‘fastest software for digital mapping in the world.’ Assured with its performance, the company has also launched a global competition “The Fastest Map Engine Challenge”. On their website, GIS Cloud has also posted a video, which shows how in just 31 seconds it managed to create a digital map of the American city of Fort Collins, with 86,100 addresses, 10,600 lines and 69,700 polygons, which uses as a base a digital satellite map from Microsoft’s Bing Maps.

University of Twente starts capacity development projects in Africa

NUFFIC has awarded funding to two NICHE projects of the ITC Faculty of the University of Twente. The aim of the projects is to strengthen education and training capacity in developing countries, and they thus align seamlessly with the mission of the ITC Faculty. In the fi rst project, the Tanzania-Netherlands Energy Project, ITC will collaborate with various other knowledge institutes to achieve a range of goals which include strengthening energy-related education in the fi eld of geothermics as well as gas extraction in Tanzania and on Zanzibar. The second project involves, among other things, strengthening the Eastern Africa Land Administration Network (EALAN) and building capacity in land administration and land governance in eight East African countries. www.itc.nl

GIS mapping to link transport services

Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) is planning a GIS mapping of the Greater Cochin area to develop traffi c and transport infrastructure. KMRL has sought the state government’s approval for the Rs 1.25 crore-project, which will be implemented by Keltron. The mapping process is a critical part of the integrated ticketing system being implemented by KMRL, where a common smart card will link all public transportation facilities. http://timesofi ndia.indiatimes.com

Forest guards to get digitized beat maps

The Kolhapur forest division is preparing digitized maps of every beat in a bid to improve the quality of vigilance as well as keeping a check on forest guards. Around 60 forest guards are being equipped with GPS and cameras to record their forest visits. The work is 80% complete and the fi rst trial run will be conducted soon.

A geographical area is divided into beats, where the forest guards are expected to make routine visits as per the forest department’s instructions and carry GPSenabled devices to mark their digital track. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Improvement of Jordon’s real estate mapping

The EU and the Department of Lands and Survey (DLS) have launched a 1 million euro twinning project aimed at enhancing the technical and administrative capacities of the DLS in the fi elds of cadastre (mapping real estate ownership and values) and administration.

DLS is the main benefi ciary of the project — dubbed “Reducing discrepancies between the physical reality and the graphical cadastral information in Jordan” — while co-benefi ciaries and participants include the Greater Amman Municipality, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre and the Association of Owners of Land Survey Offices, the minister noted. www.jordantimes.com