NEWSBRIEFS – GIS

Mar 2008 | Comments Off

INDUSTRY | LBS | GPS | GIS | REMOTE SENSING | GALILEO UPDATE

Jharkhand state in India goes online at the grassroots level

Common service centres would be set up at each of the 4,562 panchayats in the state by soon where villagers can avail services like registration of certificates, filing commercial taxes among others. According to R. S. Sharma, Secretary of IT, 3000 of such centres has already been set up. Use of GIS for digital mapping of districts shall also be done to locate the villages and also to calculate the amount of rainfall an area receives in a year to facilitate irrigation. Water harvesting mapping using GIS shall also be emphasised. www.telegraphindia.com/

Free software powers this GIS

The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, has launched the State’s first Active Web GIS service in public domain using free and open source software technology. KR Srivathsan, Director of the institute said, Active Web GIS, is to make dynamic geographical information available in a simplified, open Web nterface. www.hindu.com

GIS for Maharashtra and Gujarat

The Science and Technology Park at the University of Pune, India has completed an elaborate GIS mapping of Maharashtra and Gujarat to aid the National Informatics Centre’s pan data-based national mapping programme. The remote-sensing based GIS mapping of these states shall help future drafting of development plans, national level master plans and planning of infrastructure and road network, said the official of the Technology Park. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Private companies gear up to give healthcare a booster dose

With private players foraying into the field, saving lives will be easier now. ‘Dial 100’ service in Mumbai in which Rolta is the major private player that has implemented GIS. This service is provided by the Mumbai police department for emergencies and distress situations. The Mumbai police receive around 30,000 calls everyday. While these emergency call details are being registered, operators can also quickly locate the police patrol vehicle that is nearest to the reported incident site using data that is continuously transmitted to the control room from GPS units fitted to these vehicles. Now, Rolta is rolling out similar services in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan. Rolta is expecting revenues worth Rs 1,000 crore by the end of March.

ISPRS announces Winner of Brock Gold Medal

gis march The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) has announced, Professor Dr Armin Gruen, Chair of Photogrammetry at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Switzerland the winner of the ISPRS Brock Gold Medal for 2008. The Medal is donated by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and is awarded for an outstanding landmark in the evolution of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences.

Prof Roonwal awarded gold medal by Indian Geophysical Union

Prof. G S Roonwal Visiting faculty at the inter University Accelator Centre, New Delhi has been awarded “Dr. H. N. Siddique” Lecture and gold medal by the Indian Geophysical Union.

ESRI received “Strong Positive” rating

ESRI received a Strong Positive rating, the highest possible, from Gartner, Inc., the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry. ESRI received this rating in the report entitled MarketScope for Public Safety Geographic nformation Systems, 2H07 by Bradley Williams and Jeff Vining and published October 31, 2007.

New President of the GSDI Association

abbas Associate Professor Dr Abbas Rajabifard (Department of Geomatics, University of Melbourne) has been elected as the next President of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association, a leading international association in the development of spatial information and management. Associate Prof Rajabifard was a member of the GSDI Board and Treasurer of the Association. Abbas teaches and research in SDI and related areas, and is part of Coordinates’ Advisory Team. He was elected Vice- President (President Elect) of the GSDI Association in 2008, becoming President in 2009 at the recent GSDI 10 International Conference and Board meeting in Trinidad in February 2008. This appointment, with his role in the UN sponsored Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific as Vice Chair of Working Group on Spatially Enabled Governments, will enable him to provide international leading in the discipline over the next four years.