says Maj Gen M Gopal Rao, Surveyor General of India while discussing the vision, status and
direction of Survey of India.When Survey of India (SoI) had the basic role of meeting Defence needs
of mapping, it fulfi lled this national commitment with fl ying colours.
Defence and Security agencies primarily depend on the topographical
maps in every activity of planning their strategy.

Says Dr Irwin Itzkovitch, Assistant Deputy Minister,Earth Sciences Sector, Natural Resources Canada
while discussing various aspects of Indo-Canada relationship in the field of Geomatics.Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) helps shape the important contribution
of Canada’s natural resources sector to our economy, society and
environment. The segments on which NRCan focuses are forestry,
energy, minerals and metals, and Earth sciences, including geomatics,
geoscience and related industries. Canada’s natural resources industries
are high-tech, innovative and growing.

250 Village resources centres by March end

As many as 250 Village Resource Centres (VRCs), aimed at providing
locale-specifi c information to rural population by effectively using
satellite techonology, will be set up in the country by March end this year,
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

Digital Thailand to launch mapping service

A system has been developed to conduct satellite mapping specifically for Thailand. Starting in February,
Digital Thailand plans to begin distributing satellite maps on compact discs to interested public and students. Digital Thailand’s online map service, also being launched in February, also will be made available to the public.

Thales ProMark™3 reduces survey time

Thales has recently introduced ProMark3 with which surveyors can reduce their fi eld data collectiontime by up to 33%, saving critical time and resources that all add up to profi tability for surveyors. It is also the first all-in-one GPS survey solution in the industry to offer both centimeter accuracy in post-processing and GIS capabilities included in a single rugged package. It provides submeter, real-time accuracy using WAAS or EGNOS, centimeter level accuracy in post-processing,and keeps working even in urban canyons and dense foliage using optimized multi-path mitigation.

February 2006
International GIS Conference & Exhibition
13-15 February, Kuwait
http://www.gulfgis.com/

says K Ramalingam, Chairman, Airports Authority of …

The 49th Annual General Meeting of Institution of Surveyors …

As the GPS surveying techniques started showing promise of high accuracy geodetic positioning in the early 1990s, few “open-minded” geodesists realized the possibility of using ellipsoidal heights in place of orthometric heights. Many conceptual approaches were mentioned and proposed in various applications. However, Steinberg and Papo were the fi rst to publish a paper entitled “Ellipsoidal Heights: The Future of Vertical Geodetic Control” (GPS World, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1998). As could be expected, Petr Vanicek, a geodesy professor, was quick to downplay the proposed new “type” of vertical control (GPS World, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1998). It seems that Steinberg and Papo did not “defend” their new proposal. Thus, in this paper, a review has been made to check and comment on Vanicek’s example against the ellipsoidal heights, reference to orthometric islands, and issuance of a warning for non-dissemination of ellipsoidal heights to Canadian users.

GNSS is a global navigation satellite system comprising of network of satellites that transmit ranging signals used for positioning and navigation anywhere around the globe; on land, in the air or at sea. The US Global Positioning System (GPS/Navstar GPS), the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and the upcoming European GALILEO system, Data communications satellites with navigation payloads and Augmentation systems are all part of GNSS.