community gis - geospatial world · the community gis was developed involving kids and senior...

FEBRUARY 2007 VOL 11 ISSUE 2

26 SURVEYING AND MAPPING INSRI LANKA

Ananya Ghosh

30 POWERING UP: COMMUNITYINFORMATION SYSTEMS, MARGIN-ALIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT

Jon M. Corbett, Peter Keller

34 CREATIVE APPROACHES FORAUGMENTING TWO-WAY SPATIALCOMMUNICATION AND GIS

Dr. Kheir Al-Kodmany

38 ANALYSIS OF PROCESS

VARIANCE IN REMOTE SENSING

APPLICATIONS

Squadron Leader Mudit Mathur,Wing Commander YeshwantAndurkar

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CONTENTS

EDITORIAL 07 NEWS 08

EVENTS 46

24 2006: THE YEAR GONE BY...

Ananya Ghosh

An overview of the most impor-tant news events of the year2006 in the domain of GIS andRemote Sensing.

26 SURVEYING AND MAPPINGIN SRI LANKA

Ananya Ghosh

The paper chronologically tracksthe development of surveyingand mapping in the South Asiancountry of Sri Lanka.

30 POWERING UP: COMMUNITYINFORMATION SYSTEMS MARGINALIZATION ANDEMPOWERMENT

Jon M. Corbett, Peter Keller

Community Information Systems(CIS) were developed by tworural communities in Indonesia.The paper reports on theempowerment impacts thatresulted from this project.

34 CREATIVE APPROACHES FORAUGMENTING TWO-WAY SPA-TIAL COMMUNICATION AND GIS

Kheir Al-Kodmany

This paper presents web-basedtwo-way communication proto-types to augment interactionbetween community membersand planners and designers.

38 ANALYSIS OF PROCESS VARIANCE IN REMOTE SENSINGAPPLICATIONS

Squadron Leader Mudit Mathur

Wing Commander YeshwantAndurkar

Satellite based mapping ofresources has been around for anumber of years now. The wealthof data will continue to pourdown from the satellites fortimes to come.....

CONFERENCE REPORT

42 MAP WORLD FORUM 2007

44 ESRI CONFERENCE REPORT

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G I S D E V E L O P M E N T: A S I A PA C I F I C | F E B R U A RY 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 2

GIS Development Asia Pacific is intendedfor those interested and involved in GISrelated activities. It is hoped that it willserve to foster a growing network bykeeping the community up to date onmany activities in this wide and variedfield. Your involvement in providing relevant information is essential to thesuccess ofthis endeavour.

GIS Development Asia Pacific does not necessarily subscribe to the viewsexpressed in the publication. All viewsexpressed in this issue are those of thecontributors. It is not responsible for anyloss to anyone due to the informationprovided.

GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published by Sanjay Kumar.Press Yashi Media Works Pvt. Ltd. B-88, Okhla Industrial Area,Phase - II, New Delhi - 110 020. India Publication Address P-82,Sector-11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India Editor Ravi Gupta

GIS DEVELOPMENT WEEKLY

34 Creative Approaches For Augmenting Two-Way Spatial Communication And GIS - Dr. Kheir Al-Kodmany

PresidentM P Narayanan Editor in ChiefRavi Gupta Managing EditorManeesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar Honorary AdvisorProf. Arup Dasgupta Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary)Hrishikesh Samant Marketing Co-ordinator Megha Datta Sales Co-ordinatorUma Shankar PandeySr. Graphic Designer Deepak Kumar Assistant Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh

North AmericaRegional Manager Annu Negi

Asia Pacific TeamRegional Manager Sunil Ahuja Regional Sales Manager Niraj Assistant Editor Saurabh Mishra

South Asia TeamRegional Sales Manager Shivani LalSub EditorAnanya GhoshSub EditorDeepak KB

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Location TeamAssistant EditorAnamika Das Sub EditorHarpreet Rooprai

Training and Research TeamProgramme Co-ordinatorSatyaprakash Course Co-ordinator Neeraj Budhari Events Vicky Kalra, Albert Ahmed, Rupal Mehta Manager - Accounts Yatindar Mohan Srivastava Dy. Manager - AccountsAnju Rawat Registration Co-ordinator Sumit Kumar Circulation Vijay Kumar Singh

In later half of the year 2001, Media Lab of MIT, Boston and Department ofInformation Technology, Government of India formed Media Lab Asiathrough which was initiated a process to enable and encourage technology

innovation for the benefit of rural masses in India. One of the first two projectsinitiated under Media Lab Asia was "Developing Community GIS on Water".

The community GIS was developed involving kids and senior members of a village. While the kids

used the iPaqs fitted with CF GPS to come up with the digital sketch of the locality, the senior

villagers participated in identifying and discussing the issues concerning their living. The maps

developed were also provided to local administrators. These maps were later on integrated with a

Health Information System for the benefit of the health workers of the area. A year or so later, all

the kids involved in the community GIS were absorbed by a local GIS service provider, who needed

manpower to develop map based electricity consumer index for an urban area.

A year later while the above project was in progress, the process of creating community village

map using the school kids was replicated in a remote village of coastal region in Southern

Maharashtra, called Padlos. The exercise was initiated by asking the villagers to come up with

notional map of their locality. The notional map of the village was drawn by a young man in his

early twenties, who drew an oval shaped village with the temple also the community place at the

centre. In the exercise which followed using the iPaq with CF GPS engaging the school children

between the age group of 12-15 years and young men from the village, resulted in a village map

which was linear in nature. What was revealing was a settlement which was a part of the village

but was far away from the village with no motorable tracks. A fact known to the villagers but they

could not represent it on paper and provide it to the local authorities for their subsequent action.

This community map formed the first such map on which basis they approached the authorities

with their plea to look at the settlement cut off from the main village.

These were neither the first of the community mapping initiatives nor the last. Each time, such

activity is undertaken, it strengthens the need of maps for the 'Bottom of the Pyramid'. It re-iterates

that maps are one of the best ways to create awareness on the of natural resource information for

the locality. Sometimes it also made me wonder, if the community mapping is needed where the

availability of maps at large scale maps is not available. A myth which was broken in coming years.

In Feb. 2005, Google Maps was launched followed by Google Earth after few months. Perhaps the

biggest and most powerful of the community mapping was launched. People from across the world

could add place marks etc on to it. On 24th may 2006, Wikimapia was launched. By October 2006,

over 2,000,000 localities were marked on the Wikimapia from across the world.

The community mapping have extended beyond Web GIS to mobile applications. The nine com-

munity mapping initiatives compiled by Rrove Blog[http://www.rrove.com] provide a glimpse of

the spectrum it encompasses today: Wikimapia, Wayfaring[Following Everybody], Platial [The

People Atlas], Frapper [Social Atlas], Placeopedia [Mapping Wikipedia], Tagzania[Tagging the Plan-

et], Plazes [Knows Where], Yelp [Community Reviews] and Dodgeball [Connecting with Friends].

The community mapping websites are getting their members to map and define places. They are

building the attribute data content either in structured format or in unstructured but specific

interest group basis, what is also being termed as 'crowd-sourcing'.

As we are aware that search advertising, which is a fast growing industry in the Internet. Within

this market, local search is being looked upon as 'The Thing'. And, some say in few years it will be

one of the largest revenue generating segment in Internet search. Watch for '$' in community GIS!

7G I S D E V E L O P M E N T: A S I A PA C I F I C | F E B R U A RY 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 2

From Editor’s Desk

Maneesh [email protected]

“”

Advisory BoardDato’ Dr. Abdul Kadir bin Taib, DeputyDirector General of Survey and Mapping,Malaysia | Amitabha Pande, PrincipalResident Commissioner, Government ofPunjab, India | Bob Morris, President, LeicaGeosystems Geospatial Imaging,USA | BVRMohan Reddy, Chairman and ManagingDirector, Infotech Enterprises Ltd., India| David Maguire, Director,Products, Solu-tions and International, ESRI, USA | FrankWarmerdam, President, OSGeo, USA| Prof. Ian Dowman, President, ISPRS, UK |

Prof. Josef Strobl, Director, Centre forGeoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Aus-tria | Kamal K Singh, Chairman and CEO,Rolta Group of Companies, India | Prof.Karl Harmsen, Director, UNU-INRA | MarcTremblay, Vice President, Commercial Business Unit, DigitialGlobe, USA |

Mark Reichardt, President and Chief Operating Officer, OGC, USA | Prof. MartienMolenaar, Rector, ITC, The Netherlands| Matthew O’Connell, CEO, GeoEye, USA| Prof. Michael Blakemore, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University ofDurham, UK | Dr. Milan Konecny, Presi-dent, International Cartographic Associa-tion, Czech Republic | Er. MohammedAbdulla Al-Zaffin, Head of Survey Section,Dubai Municipality, UAE | Dr. PrithvishNag, Director, NATMO, India | Rajesh C.Mathur, President, ESRI India | Dr. StewartWalker, Director of Marketing, BAE Systems,USA | Prof. Stig Enemark, President, FIG, Denmark | Prof. V. S Ramamurthy,Chairman, IIT, Delhi, India

GIS-7-editorial.qxp 2/16/2007 1:07 PM

8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C

Iran seeks helpfrom JICAIran: Iran is seeking Japan'sco-operation for providingsatellite images needed forpreservation of historicalsites, said a Cultural Heritageand Tourism Organization(CHTO) official. Mohammad-Kazem Kholdinassab, theCHTO's International Depart-ment head, added his coun-try is drawing up a draft topresent to Japan Internation-al Co-operation Agency(JICA) that encourages bilat-eral cooperation in archaeo-logical excavation, monu-ments' renovation and satel-lite imagery. There are alsoplans to provide a chance forscholars of the two sides toconduct joint studies andresearch, he explained.

www.iranian.ws

China to launchsatellites forGeographicalSurveyChina: China will be able tokeep a closer watch on natu-ral resources and disasterswith the launch of six satel-lites in the next five years,officials said. Half of themwill be launched during 2007and the rest are expected tobe in place by 2010, accord-

ing to sources at a gatheringto mark the 15th anniversaryof the founding of the ChinaCentre for Resources SatelliteData and Application, whichclosed in Beijing on Decem-ber 15.

Of the three satellitesscheduled for 2007, one is forresources and two are forenvironmental and disastermonitoring, said Sun Laiyan,Chief of the China NationalSpace Administration. Forenvironmental monitoringand disaster-relief two opti-cal satellites will belaunched from one rocket,said Sun, on the sidelines ofthe two-day gathering.

These satellites will bejoined by a radar satellitesometime in the next fiveyears as part of China's ongo-ing project to build a smallsatellite constellation toenhance environmental anddisaster monitoring, he said.The constellation will com-prise eight satellites - fourradar satellites and four opti-cal ones, he said, withoutspecifying a timetable fortheir placement.

www.chinaview.cn

Korea to developthermal satellite ‘Arirang-3A’South Korea Plans to launchan Infrared detection satel-lite around 2012 that willhave both civilian and mili-tary applications, a statespace panel said. The satel-lite, to be called Arirang 3A,will be an upgraded versionof the Arirang-3 and will beequipped with a high resolu-

tion multi-spectral camera,the newly formed NationalSpace Council said. As thesuccessor to Arirang-3 sched-uled to be launched in 2009,the satellite will be equippedwith a 70 cm-grade MSC pro-viding high spatial resolu-tion of 0.7 m. The 3A willincorporate the ability topick up heat as well as verysharp images.

Once launched, the Ari-rang-3A will be placed in alow orbit of 450-890 kilome-ters above the Earth's surfaceand be able to screen an areaof 16.8 kilometers at everypass. The resolution forpanchromatic images will beon par with the Arirang-3.The satellite will have anexpected life cycle of fouryears. This can be used tofight forest fires, detect heatislands in urban areas duringthe summer and for monitor-ing volcanic activity.

www.english.yonhapnews.co.kr

Ho Chi MinhCity’s PWD toinstall GPS inbusesVietnam: Ho Chi Minh City’sTransportation and PublicWorks Department willspend about 2 billion VND(USD 129,174) to install GlobalPositioning System (GPS)system for the monitoring ofbus traffic in the city, a HCMCity Transportation Manage-ment Centre official said.

The Centre’s Deputy Direc-tor, Le Hai Phong, said thesystem would transmitimages of traffic to servers inreal time technology. It

would help the centre super-vise bus routes, speed andservice quality, he added. Fif-teen black-boxes are expect-ed to be set up initially atthree bus routes.

www.english.vietnamnet.vn

India, Pakistanmeet on SirCreek SurveyIndian and Pakistani officialsmet in Islamabad for discus-sions on the Sir Creek issue.Sir Creek is a 96 km long thinribbon of water betweenSindh province of Pakistanand the Rann of Kutch ofIndia. The dispute is overhow much of the width ofthis ribbon belongs to Pak-istan and how much to India,which in turn can have animpact on the maritimeboundaries of both.

India’s Chief Naval Hydrog-rapher Rear Admiral B.R. Raoheld talks with the Surveyor-General of Pakistan, Major-General Jamilur RehmanAfridi, on the modalities formapping the creek. The talksfollowed an agreement bythe Foreign Secretaries ofIndia and Pakistan at theirNovember 14-15 meeting foran experts' meeting inDecember for determiningthe coordinates for the jointsurvey of Sir Creek andadjoining areas "without

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07

News

9G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I CF E B R UA R Y 2 0 07

prejudice to each others'position."

The timetable for complet-ing the joint survey is Febru-ary 2007. It is expected tofacilitate a final settlementof at least one contentiousissue between the two coun-tries. The two sides conduct-ed a first joint survey in Jan-uary 2006.

www.hindu.com

First Indonesian-built satelliteworking wellThe first Indonesian-builtvideo surveillance satellitehas successfully enteredorbit and sent signal that itwas working well, a localmedia report said on January11. Weighing some 57 kg, themicro-satellite carries a highresolution colour video cam-era with a swath of 3.5 kilo-meters wide and a low reso-lution color video camerawith a swath of 81 kilome-ters. The cameras have reso-lution of 5m and 200 mrespectively.

The satellite can be used forreal-time monitoring of vari-ous conditions on Earth suchas forest fires, volcanic activ-ity and flooding. It will passover Indonesia four times aday. The satellite waslaunched on January 10 fromthe Indian Space ResearchOrganization (ISRO)'s SatishDhawan Space Center in Sri-harikota, in the southernIndian state of AndhraPradesh, using a Polar Satel-lite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C7rocket. The satellite isdesigned to have a lifetime

of two to three years, butNational Space and AviationAgency (Lapan) hoped itwould continue working forup to six years. The Lapan-Tubsat satellite wasdesigned and assembled inGermany by Lapan engi-neers working with expertsfrom Technical UniversityBerlin."

www.english.pe ple.com.cn

Antrix revenueUSD 89 million in2006Antrix Corporation, the com-mercial wing of Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO)earned Rs. 400 crore (USD 89million) this year throughlaunching satellites for othercountries and selling spaceproducts. The space agency'scommercial arm has roughlyabout 25 percent growthover the last year.

"For this year, Antrix's totalturnover is roughly about Rs.400 crore. Out of which Rs.200 crore came from launchvehicle area and remainingfrom space products, includ-ing the transponders we areleasing and the images weare sending," ISRO ChairmanG Madhavan Nair told anews agency.

The space agency expectsthat it would maintain moreor less similar growth in thecoming year as well. ISRO isalso planning further com-mercialization of its launchvehicle technology, but thatdepends on the bilateral rela-tion between Indian andother countries.

"Our cost is about 70 per-

Scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) have been asked to help explore ruins in andaround the ancient Nalanda University in the state ofBihar. P.K. Mishra, Superintending Archaeologist of theArchaeological Survey of India (ASI), Patna circle, said theradar mapping would help to explore the ruins for fur-ther excavation.

“A team of scientists from ISRO will visit Nalanda inFebruary for the radar mapping work. We could plan theexcavation after the results of the radar mapping,”Mishra said. “The radar photography has proved fruitfulacross the world for exploration of archaeological struc-tures followed by excavation in the ruins of any histori-cal site,” he added. For a long time, archaeologists were ina dilemma whether to start the excavation due to lack ofproper scientific details.

Hieun Tsang, the famous Chinese scholar who visitedNalanda in the 7th century, stated in his account that theuniversity was spread over 16 kilometres. However, tillnow hardly 1.6 square kilometres of the ruins of morethan 2,500-year-old university was excavated.

www.andhracafe.com

ISRO scientists to beginRadar Mapping ofancient university


cent of that of internationalcost. We will have a bigadvantage. But many times,the launch vehicle businessalso depends on the currentbilateral relationships," Nairsaid. According to industryestimates, the launch vehicletechnology market is valuedat about USD 2 billion globally. www.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Sri Lanka tolaunch VehicleLocation SystemA vehicle location system,which would utilize GIS tech-nology, is scheduled to com-mence early next year. Thesystem would be launchedby one of Sri Lanka’s bluechip conglomerates the IWSHoldings Group.

IWS’s group ChairmanArthur Senanayake says thecompany has invested heavi-ly on this project in technolo-gy, equipment, expert staffand training. “We willreceive approval soon fromthe Defense Ministry and wehave already completedobtaining GIS data of Colom-bo and its suburbs, GreaterColombo area and the mainroads in Sri Lanka ,” he said.

Speaking to mediaMr.Senanayake said, thecompany hopes to introducethis system for corporatecustomers and individualsfor very nominal monthlyrentals. The company’sChairman said this systemalso allows tracking andstopping the vehicle usingthe system. It can incapaci-tate the vehicle through the

website. “We have complet-ed extensive trials and weare now ready to launch, hestated.

www.lankaeverything.com

English e-map forBeijing 2008OlympicsThe English electronic mapfor the official website of theBeijing 2008 Olympic Gamesmade its debut into the web.It is the first time for anOlympic Games official web-site to use electronic applica-tions of GIS in multi-lan-guages for the OlympicGames. The Chinese versionwas released earlier on Janu-ary 23, 2005.

The dynamic map featuresspecial columns on four hottopics, including the Olympiccompetition venues, Oly-mpic licensed stores, subwaystations, and traditionaldwelling blocks in Beijing -Hutongs. The map alsoserves as a practical cityguide platform with 12 wide-ranging categories of classi-fied information available onit, such as the governmentinstitutions, health and med-ical community, academies,entertainment, media, shop-ping, real estate, chambers,sports venues, scenic spots,catering, hotels and restau-rants.

www.chinadaily.com.cn

Thailand's firstimaging satelliteto be launched Thailand's first Earth obser-vation satellite, calledTHEOS, is being readied for-

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News

India launched its latest remote sensing satellite, CARTOSAT-2, on January 12, 2007. The launch marksIndia's foray into the elite club of high resolution com-mercial satellites comprising IKONOS and OrbView satel-lites. CARTOSAT-2 data will be less expensive as com-pared to similar images received from these internation-al satellites. The images would be available fromMarch/April, 2007. CARTOSAT-2 has a spatial resolutionof 1m that enables viewing of minute objects like treesand houses which was not previously possible with CARTOSAT-1.

CARTOSAT-1, launched in May, 2005, has a spatial resolution of 2.5 metres with two cameras looking at dif-ferent angles to get height information (stereo imaging).This facilitates the generation of accurate three-dimen-sional maps. The data from CARTOSAT-2 will be used fordetailed mapping and other cartographic applications atcadastral level, urban and rural infrastructure planning,development and management, as well as Land Informa-tion System (LIS) and Geographical Information System(GIS) applications.

As mentioned earlier, the affordable CARTOSAT-2 datawill help wean away existing domestic users of foreignsatellite imageries and also create new users who earliercould not afford the data from foreign commercial satel-lites. This will not only save a lot of foreign exchange butalso generate revenues within the country.

India LaunchesCARTOSAT-2

11G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C

launching into orbit in Octo-ber this year, Science andTechnology MinisterYongyuth Yuthavong said on26 January.

The THEOS project repre-sents a co-operation of theMinistry of Science and Tech-nology and the contractedFrench company EADS Astri-um. The project has enteredits final stage and is expect-ed to be completed in Augustor September, and belaunched into orbit in Octo-ber as scheduled, the minis-ter said. EADS Astrium wascontracted to build anddeliver THEOS by the ThaiMinistry of Science and Tech-nology's Geo-Informaticsand Space Technology Devel-opment Agency (GISTDA) inBangkok in 2004.

THEOS is intended to helpThailand in implementingits agriculture policy withbetter production follow-upand improved natural disas-ter management, especiallyrelating to forest fires, floodresponse, as well as earth-quakes, he said.

www.bangkokpost.com

India to set upAerospaceCommandIndia is planning to establishsoon an aerospace commandto exploit outer space andcontrol space-based assets,Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagisaid on 28 January. The Indi-an Air Force (IAF) was in theprocess of establishing thiscommand by integrating itscapabilities, the Air Chieftold reporters. The command

would combine various com-ponents like satellites,radars, communication sys-tems and fighter aircraft andhelicopters.

Air chief Tyagi’s remarksassume significance in thewake of reports that Chinasuccessfully tested an anti-satellite missile. “We are anaerospace power havingtrans-oceanic reach. We havestarted training a core groupof people for the aerospacecommand,” he said. “The IAFneeds to transform itself toadapt to new requirements.Its basic role to protect air-space and borders of thecountry is still there, but wehave to protect our globalinterests. We plan to havestrategic reach to meet ourneeds.

“We will take the help ofISRO for the aerospace com-mand but it will have dis-tinct features as it is a mili-tary command,” Air chiefTyagi said in reply to a ques-tion on the role of the spaceagency in setting up the pro-posed formation.

www.tribuneindia.com

China launches4th Beidou navi-gation satelliteOn February 3, China suc-cessfully launched a ‘multi-purpose’ navigation satellite

into orbit, taking a step for-ward in its drive to develop apositioning system intendedto eventually rival Washing-ton’s GPS and Europe'sGalileo. The satellite - Bei-dou (Big Dipper) is China’sfourth navigation experi-mental satellite in orbit. Theprevious three were sent inspace on October 31, 2000;December 21, 2000 and May25, 2003 respectively.

The satellite was propelledby a carrier rocket, LongMarch 3-A, which blasted offfrom the Xichang SatelliteLaunch Center in southwestChina’s Sichuan Province at0:28am (Beijing time).

The satellite separatedfrom the rocket about 24minutes later. Data from theXi’an satellite monitoringcenter showed that the satel-lite had accurately enteredits orbit. According to a Chinese newspaper, an offi-cial said, “The Beidou satel-lite navigation experimentalsystem is operating well andhas played a significant rolein cartography, telecommu-nications, water conserva-tion, transportation, fishery,prospecting, forest fire monitoring and nationalsecurity.

”The satellite and carrierrocket were developed

respectively by the ChinaAcademy of Space Technolo-gy and China Academy ofLaunch Vehicle Technology,which are under the ChinaAerospace Science and Tech-nology Corporation, he said.The launch represents the95th flight of China’s LongMarch series of rockets.

www.ecanadanow.com

Lingtu-CyberCityestablished inBeijingChina: CyberCity AG and the Chinese company BeijingLingtu Software Co. Ltd. haveestablished a Beijing-basedjoint-venture called Lingtu-CyberCity. The objective ofthe company is the genera-tion of large-area 3D citymodels, starting with Beijingand Hong Kong.

Lingtu has developed theirown car navigation systemas well as a location basedservice system for mobiledevices and distributes thesesystems in China. Lingtu-CyberCity will make 3D dataavailable for these applica-tions.

Furthermore the Joint-Ven-ture will consolidate andadvance the technical possi-bilities and know-how ofLingtu and CyberCity AG andextent the market for bothcompanies globally. The con-tract was signed on Decem-ber 6, 2006 by the LingtuBoard Chairman Li Zhongliang andfrom the CyberCity party byCEO Dr. Franz Steidler andCTO Dr. Xinhua Wang.

www.cybercity.tv

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ISRO plans to setup space universityThe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) is plan-ning to set up a space train-ing centre or a university inthe state of Kerala to meetthe shortage of space scien-tists. Speaking to reporters,ISRO Chairman G. MadhavanNair said the organisationindeed was planning such aninstitute.

According to media reports,the proposed institute isexpected to come up on theoutskirts of the state capitalon a 100-acre plot. It wouldbe modelled on the lines ofthe Bhabha Atomic ResearchCentre in Mumbai. One rea-son why ISRO is planningsuch an institution is that itsVikram Sarabhai Space Cen-tre here faces a crisis due tolarge-scale retirement ofstaff members. It was in the1970s that large-scale recruit-ment was done. With mostof the staff having eitherretired or on the verge ofretirement, there is a crunchof experienced personnel.

www.mangalorean.com

China to launch"Haiyang-1B" in AprilChina will launch the coun-try's second-generationoceanic survey satellite,"Haiyang-1B" (Ocean 1B), thisApril. Ocean 1B is the succes-sor of "Haiyang-1A" (Ocean1A), which was launched in2002. The surveying abilityof "Haiyang-1B" has beenimproved greatly from the

first-generation model, andits data collection capacityhas doubled, said Jiang Xing-wei, Director of the NationalSatellite Ocean ApplicationService. He also noted thatboth the satellites and theEarth system were designeddomestically. To improvesatellites' capacity to surveythe ocean environment andocean resources, the Earthsystem is being expanded. Inanother developmentChina's State Council hasendorsed plans to launch thesecond-generation of thecountry's oceanic surveysatellites. The "Haiyang-2"(Ocean 2) series of satelliteswould be used to collect dataon offshore wind fields,ocean circulation, tides, andsea surface temperatures.

www.english.people.com

Mauritian landsto go cyberA land register of Mauritiusis in preparation. Its aims aretwo fold: to eliminate cor-ruption in the lease of statelands and to permit implementation of theNational Residential Proper-ty Tax. A land register willkeep track of every singlepiece of residential land inthe country as well as alltransactions pertaining tothem. As at now, all transac-tions on private lands areregistered at the Registrar’soffice in Port Louis. The sys-tem is far from foolproofgiven that it is not comput-erised. The lack of a register - hence an officialdatabase where all residen-

tial lands are registered - disables further the controlof transactions of residentiallands.

According to officialsources, state lands are ineven more disarray than private lands. Once the system is in place, the click ofa mouse on a virtual map ofMauritius will visually showone the area under investi-gation. Click further and onecan zoom in on the specificland or house. Another clickdetails property informationincluding the name of theowner and all transactions.

www.lexpress.mu

Indonesian agencyto use GIS forrebuilding activitiesThe Spatial Information andMapping Centre (SIM-Cen-tre) of Badan Rehabilitasidan Rekonstrucksi (BRR)NAD-Nias in Aceh Province,Sumatra, Indonesia, is usingESRI GIS software to supportthe activities of humanitari-an agencies rebuilding afterthe 2004 Indian Oceantsunami. SIM-Centre isactively building sustainableGIS capacity in the govern-ment through the creation ofan online data catalog, train-ing local personnel in GIStechnology, and creating aspatial data infrastructure(SDI).“Aceh Province will continueto develop [its GIS] well afterthe international aid com-munity has left the area,”said Yakob Ishadamy, SIM-Centre manager, BRR. “GIS

has a role to play by provid-ing information to govern-ment officials and others tosupport their efforts. Thereconstruction, economic,and social factors involvedall have a time and spacecomponent. GIS provides aninvaluable framework forbuilding an informationbase.

www.esri.com

Intergraph’s PublicSafety System forMumbai Police

Intergraph Corporationannounced that the MumbaiPolice, responsible for polic-ing the vast metropolitanarea of Mumbai, has imple-mented the Company's Inci-dent Command and ControlSystem. The implementationof the Intergraph system wasannounced by the HonorableDeputy Chief Minister R. R.Patil along with the Commis-sioner of Police A. N. Roy, atthe modernized Police MainControl Room in Mumbai.

Intergraph's Command andControl System serves as thefoundational technology forthe security systems of high-value assets and criticalinfrastructure in the publicsafety, government andtransportation industries.Integraph's software cap-tures, analyzes, organizes,and shares intelligent infor-mation to provide a commonoperational picture to theintelligence and first-respon-der communities to moreeffectively prevent andrespond to critical incidents.

www.news.google.com

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07

News


Laser-Scanchanges name to1SpatialUK-Laser-Scan has announc-ed that it is renaming thecompany as 1Spatial toreflect its ongoing evolutionin the spatial data market-place.

Laser-Scan has been in exis-tence since 1969. Originallybuilding laser plotters, thecompany moved on to thescanning of paper maps tocreate digital databases. Thecompany has transformedover time and is now in spa-tial database managementwith a specific focus on spa-tial data quality control. Thename change to 1Spatialreflects these changes.

1Spatial, formerly known asLaser-Scan, has 35 years ofexperience in providingoperational solutions toorganisations with large spa-tial databases. It specialisesin enabling spatial data to bepart of cooperative infra-structures.

www.1spatial.com

Russia remainsleader in space-craft launchesRussia conducted 45% of theworld's spacecraft launchesin 2006, maintaining its

leading position, accordingto the head of the FederalSpace Agency. "Russia's cur-rent share in the spacecraftlaunch market is about 40%,and counting joint Russian-Ukrainian launches from theSea Launch platform it totalsabout 45% of all launchesconducted in the world,"Anatoly Perminov said at ayear-end news conference. In 2006, Russia conducted 24launches, and plans tolaunch a Soyuz-2-1B carrierrocket with a Fregat boosterand a French Corot satelliteon December 27, Perminovadded that in 2007 the num-ber of launches will bereduced to about 20. Thehead of the space agencyalso said the United Stateswas in second place in space-craft launches, with 18launches conducted in 2006,while Japan and Chinashared third place.

The official said Russia willcomplete the creation of itsGLONASS satellite naviga-tion network in 2009, whichis similar to the U.S. GPS. Headded that the U.S. will useRussian spacecraft to fly itsastronauts to the Interna-tional Space Station after2010.

www.en.rian.ru

Google to putNASA data onWebGoogle and the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration have signeda formal collaboration agree-ment that calls for Google tomake NASA informationreadily accessible on theWeb. Google and NASAannounced the signing ofthe Space Act Agreement,which calls for them to col-laborate on making it easyfor people to find weathervisualization and forecastingdata, see high-resolution 3-Dmaps in real time.

In short, the partnershipseeks to make NASA's work"accessible to everyone,"Google and NASA said in astatement. Early fruits ofjoint Google-NASA work arealready evident in theGoogle Earth mapping appli-cation, which now can tapinto images and data fromNASA, officials from the twoorganizations said onDecember 18 during a Pressconference.

The public will see a steadystream of results from theGoogle and NASA partner-ship starting next year."We're quite excited aboutthis moving along very rap-idly," Worden said. Theimages and information willsurface throughout NASAand Google Web sites andproducts.Chris Kemp, Ames'director of business develop-ment, said NASA's intentionis not to hand over data toGoogle, but rather put inplace the technology mecha-

nisms that will make thatdata accessible to Google andothers. "We're going to bepublishing this data wherewe can, using open XMLstandards. This is a new wayof doing business for NASA,"Kemp said.

www.pcworld.com

Ordnance Surveyput GPS networkto NW ScotlandUK: Ordnance Survey isadding more reference sta-tions in north-west Scotlandto complete its revolutionarynational infrastructure forreceiving satellite-basedpositioning signals. Elevennew receivers to the north ofthe Great Glen will underpina range of publicly availableGPS correction servicesaimed at surveyors, highwayengineers, utility companiesand others in need of pinpoint positioning infor-mation.

The infrastructure, calledOS Net, improves the real-time accuracy of raw satel-lite-based positioning fromaround 10 metres down toaround 1 centimeter. OS Nethas now been made avail-able to commercial technolo-gy partners so they can builddistinct applications for theirown customers. "By extend-ing coverage into north-westScotland we can strengthenwhat is already a vitalenabling infrastructure forusers across Great Britain,"says Neil Ackroyd, OrdnanceSurvey's Director of Data Collection and Management.

www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

News

Trimble providesVRS for SouthernPolandTrimble has announced thatit has supplied its VRS (Virtu-al Reference Station) soft-ware to establish a nationalGPS infrastructure networkin the south of Poland. TheVRS network provides a

geospatial infrastructure forsurveying, engineering andGIS professionals. The VRSnetwork enables high accu-racy Real Time Kinematics(RTK) GPS positioning with-out the need of separate basestations or software, signifi-cantly increasing efficiencyand productivity.

The network is the first ofits kind in Poland and sup-plies centimeter-level RTKGPS data for a variety of posi-tioning applications includ-ing geodetic and cadastralsurveying, road and bridgeconstruction, and archeologi-cal excavation site location.There are also plans to usethe network for managingand dispatching emergencymedical and rescue teams toimprove efficiency andresponse times.

"The VRS network providesa highly reliable, cost-effec-tive means for surveyors andother professionals to workfaster and achieve more

accurate GPS positioningresults," said MaciejAntosiewicz, Chief of theSurvey Office at the Malopol-ska Regional Office of thePolish Government.

www.trimble.com

ACRES announcesreduction in ERSSAR pricesAustralia: The AustralianCentre for Remote Sensing(ACRES) has announced amajor price reduction in Syn-thetic Aperture Radar (SAR)products from the EarthResource Satellite (ERS).Prices have been reducedfrom over $2000 down to$590 as a result of ACRESbeing granted greater pric-ing flexibility by the satelliteoperator. The reduced pricewill increase the attractive-ness and utilization of ERSSAR data to a wide range ofusers. For a small fee, cus-tomers may also placerequests for the ERS satelliteto acquire data over a partic-ular area. A major advantageof SAR data is its ability toimage the Earth throughcloud or at night. C-band SARdata is particularly useful incoastal and ocean environ-ments where it has been suc-cessfully used in helping toidentify oil seeps, slicks, andship detection.

www.ga.gov.au

Universitylaunches WebCommunityMappingThe University of Minneso-ta's Center for Urban and

Regional Affairs (CURA), inpartnership with the LaborMarket Information Office atMinnesota Department ofEmployment and EconomicDevelopment (DEED), andmany other governmentagencies and nonprofitdevelopment organizations,has launched Minnesota 3-D(M3D), an Internet-basedmapping system withemployment, housing, serv-ices and economic develop-ment information and analy-sis tools.

M3D brings together morethan 90 data layers that maybe displayed visually on amap and in report formatusing Geographic Informa-tion Systems technology.Over the next year CURA andother M3D community part-ners will be working to applyM3D to planning and devel-opment projects to achieve agreater balance betweenhousing and employmentopportunities within com-munities.

M3D, developed over thelast two years, is made possi-ble by a $600,000 Technolo-gy Opportunities Program(TOP) grant from the U.S.Department of Commerceawarded to the University ofMinnesota in 2004. Theapplication is accessibleonline at www.map.deed.state.mn.us/m3d/. "Thefuture vitality of our regiondepends on our ability toefficiently connect housing,jobs and services," said KrisNelson, CURA Project Direc-tor. "M3D provides a signifi-cant tool for communities to

inform policies and imple-ment strategies for efficientand sustainable develop-ment to assure the wellbeing of working families."

www1.umn.edu

Amreesh Modi appoint-ed as VP and CTO ofNAVTEQNAVTEQ, a provider of digi-tal maps for vehicle naviga-tion and location-based solu-tions, has announced theaddition of Amreesh Modi asSenior Vice President andChief Technology Officer.Modi is responsible for set-ting the technology visionand driving Research andDevelopment for the compa-ny. He will be based in theChicago headquarters andwill report to Judson Green,President and CEO.

Bringing more than twodecades of experience indelivery technologies in thetelecommunications andinternet arena, Modi is adynamic leader with expert-ise in developing innovativesystems and software for themarketplace. Modi joinsNAVTEQ from Motorolawhere he served in a varietyof technology leadershiproles; most recently as VicePresident, Motorola Soft-ware.

In this capacity, he directedthe development of systemand application software,multimedia services andconvergence solutions forthe network, enterprise andconnected home businesses.He successfully establishedsoftware design centers

14 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07

around the world includingIndia, China, Singapore, Aus-tralia and Europe. Prior toMotorola, Modi spent 15years at AT&T Bell Labs invarious engineering andproduct development roles.At AT&T, Modi engaged inthe pioneering design anddevelopment work of soft-ware recovery and databaseintegrity for the 5ESS Switch,making it a best-in-classglobal switching system.“Weare thrilled that Amreesh isjoining NAVTEQ; he will be agreat addition to the execu-tive team and to NAVTEQ,”commented Green.

www.navteq.com

Dr. John R. Jensenwins WilliamPecora AwardThe US Department of theInterior (DOI) and theNational Aeronautics andSpace Administration(NASA) have announced thewinners of the 2006 WilliamT. Pecora Award, a presti-gious federal award given toindividuals and groups torecognize significantachievements in RemoteSensing.

The 2006 William T. Pecoraindividual Award was pre-sented to Dr. John R. Jensen

of the University of SouthCarolina to recognize his out-standing and sustainedinternational leadership inadvancing geographicalremote sensing and remotesensing education. Dr.Jensen’s research addressestwo primary themes: remotesensing of phenomenologyand image processing. Dr.Jensen has developed a widevariety of algorithms foridentifying land cover fea-tures, detecting land-coverchange, and mapping bio-physical components of theenvironment.

As a strong advocate forremote sensing on nationaland international scales, Dr.Jensen led the establishmentof the Remote Sensing Spe-cialty Group of the Associa-tion of American Geogra-phers in 1981 and served asPresident of ASPRS from 1995to 1996. The award is pre-sented annually since 1974 inmemory of Dr. William T.Pecora, whose early visionand support helped establishwhat we know today as theLandsat satellite program.Dr. Pecora was director of theU.S. Geological Survey from1965-71, and later served asDOI Undersecretary until hisdeath in 1972.

www.usgs.gov

Nelson Channamed CEO ofMagellanMagellan announced thatNelson Chan has joined thecompany as its CEO. Chanwas most recently executivevice president and head of


Recent space observations of freshwater storage by theGravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) areproviding a new picture of how Earth's most preciousnatural resource is distributed globally and how it ischanging.Researchers are using GRACE's almost five-yeardata record to estimate seasonal water storage variationsin more than 50 river basins that cover most of Earth'sland area. The variations reflect changes in water storedin rivers, lakes, reservoirs; in floodplains as snow and ice;and underground in soils and aquifers.Several Africanbasins, such as the Congo, Zambezi and Nile, show signif-icant drying over the past five years.

GRACE is also allowing scientists to estimate water dis-charged by freshwater streams from Earth's continents.GRACE measurements of the total water discharged bycontinental streams are important for monitoring theavailability of freshwater and understanding how sur-face water runoff from continents contributes to rises inglobal sea level.

The twin GRACE satellites monitor tiny month-to-month changes in Earth's gravity field that are primarilycaused by the movement of water in Earth's land, ocean,ice and atmosphere reservoirs. Hydrologists are analyz-ing GRACE data to identify possible trends in precipita-tion changes, groundwater depletion glacier melt rates,and to understand their underlying causes.

www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/

Satellite data showsrecent changes in Earth'sfreshwater distribution

the consumer products busi-ness at SanDisk Corporation,the world's largest supplierof flash memory based datastorage products and aleader in mobile audiodevices. Chan, 45, holds anM.B.A. from Santa Clara Uni-versity and a B.S. degree inboth electrical and computerengineering from the Uni-versity of California.

Chan held a number ofleadership positions at San-Disk and helped drive thebusiness from start up toover $3 billion in revenues.Chan led SanDisk's entry intothe retail business and wasinstrumental in creating anddriving its retail presencethrough a broad productportfolio. That business hasgrown to over $2 billion inyearly revenue with productbeing available throughnearly 200,000 stores world-wide.

www.magellangps.com

First satellite of SAR-Lupe systemplaced in orbitThe first German reconnais-sance satellite in the SAR-Lupe system was successful-ly placed in orbit on Decem-ber 19. The Russian Cosmos3M launch vehicle took offon schedule from the Russ-ian Plesetsk space station,placing the first of a total offive radar satellites in its loworbit at an altitude of around500 km. The four other satel-lites will be launched inintervals of four to sixmonths.

Alcatel Alenia Space has

supplied the Sensor Electron-ic units forming the core ofthe Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR), set to provide high-resolution radar imagery tothe German defense forcesstarting in 2007. Alcatel Ale-nia Space was responsiblefor the design and develop-ment of the Sensor ElectronicUnits, comprising Radiofre-quency, processing and con-trol sub-units.

This mission is based onthe most sophisticated tech-nologies in SAR radar field,able to get images under anyweather or light conditions(day or night). The systemwill supply recent and highdefinition images of virtual-ly any region in the world.SAR-Lupe will be formingpart of the European Recon-naissance System.

www.financial.de

1Spatial to leadOGC Data Quality 1Spatial (formerly known asLaser-Scan) has announcedthat their Product Director,Graham Stickler, has beenchosen to Chair a new OpenGeospatial Consortium(OGC) Working Group onData Quality.

A motion has been unani-mously passed at the OGCTechnical Committee Meet-ing in San Diego, California,to create a Working Group(WG) with specific focus onspatial data quality. GrahamStickler of 1Spatial was elect-ed Chair of this WG, withPatrick Cunningham, Presi-dent of Blue Marble Geo-graphics as the Vice-Chair.

The Charter of this WG is toattempt to establish howdata quality can be bothdefined and communicated,using standards to help inthe reuse of spatial data andin the creation and manage-ment of spatial data infra-structures. Full details of theOGC, and of this workinggroup are available on theOGC website at www.open-geospatial.org.

www.1spatial.com

DigitalGlobeacquiresGlobeXplorerDigitalGlobe, provider ofhigh resolution commercialsatellite imagery andgeospatial information prod-ucts, has announced theacquisition of GlobeXplorer,a leading geographic dataintegration and publishingcompany, from Stewart REIGroup, Inc., a subsidiary ofStewart Information ServicesCorp.

GlobeXplorer providesonline access to the world’slargest commercial library ofaerial photos, satelliteimagery, geographic maps,and real property informa-tion. Through dynamic Webapplications, Web services,APIs, Internet portals, andInternet-aware devices,GlobeXplorer distributescontent via a range of busi-ness models. Prior to theacquisition, GlobeXplorerserved as one of severalresellers of DigitalGlobe’ssatellite imagery.

“The acquisition of GlobeX-plorer will enable Digital-

Globe to provide customerswith the complete, currentsuite of easy-to-use and inte-grate geospatial data andsolutions derived from satel-lite, aerial and relatedsources. The integration ofGlobeXplorer enables us toput more complete productsand solutions more quicklyand easily into the hands of abroad range of user”said JillSmith, CEO of DigitalGlobe.

www.media.digitalglobe.com

Egypt ready tolaunch its firstimaging satelliteIn an effort to gain a footholdin space research and alsostrengthen its intelligencegathering capacity, Egypt isplanning to launch its firstremote sensing satellite onJanuary 16 from Kazakhstan.The Egyptsat 1, which weighsjust under 100 kilograms,will circle the Earth at analtitude of 668 km.

Egyptsat 1 will carry tworemote sensing devices -- aninfrared one and a multi-spectrum one. Using its high-powered multi-spectrum tel-escopic camera, it will becapable of transmittingblack-and-white, colour andinfrared images. The cameracan spot objects on theground as small as fourmeters across.

The Egyptstat satellite,jointly built by Egypt'sNational Authority forRemote Sensing and SpaceSciences in collaborationwith Ukraine, will be carriedby a Dnepr rocket togetherwith 12 light-weight Saudi

16 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07


Arabian satellites. Egypthopes to launch anothersatellite - called Desertstat -by the end of this year, cur-rently under construction inItaly.Egyptsat-1 will be thecountry's first satellite forscientific research. Egypt hasalready launched a numberof satellites for nonscientificpurposes.

www.jpost.com

German port cityto becomeGoogle Earth'sfirst 3D cityAnyone with a computerand an Internet connectionwill soon be able to take avirtual aerial tour of Ger-many's famous port city ofHamburg. Most cityscapeson Google Earth are flat - simple satellite photo-graphs in two-dimensionalspace. In a few cases, likeNew York or San Francisco, auser can soar through a for-est of blocky white skyscrap-ers with no detail on thefacades; only major land-marks like the Golden GateBridge have been filled in.But soon - in the next few

days or weeks - downtownHamburg will take a bow asGoogle's first viable three-dimensional city. Hamburgisn't the first city to be ren-dered in 3D. Cybercity has

already created 3D versionsof Paris and Florence, andPotsdam.. Remote SensingSolutions has renderedBerlin, Munich and otherGerman cities in 3D, butHamburg will be the firstmetropolis available to any-one who has downloadedGoogle Earth's free software. The approach is fundamen-tally different from Google'smain rival, Microsoft, whichwants to offer a similar 3Dversions of cities on its ownmapping service, VirtualEarth. Instead of usinguploaded photos from users,though, Microsoft simplybought a company that spe-cializes in gathering suchimages.

www.spiegel.de

Spot Image to provide imageryfor Google EarthSpot Image has entered intoan agreement with Google inorder to improve the avail-

able resolution of GoogleEarth products over wideareas of the world. Under amulti-year agreement, SpotImage will provide GoogleEarth with 2.5 meter resolution imagery takenfrom the SPOT5 satellite.

"We always look to workwith the best satellite

imagery providers and arevery pleased to be workingwith a French company. Giving our users access tothe highest quality images isvery important for us. Wehope this will help themexplore more of our planetfrom above", said Mats Carduner, Head of Franceand Southern Europe forGoogle. "This cooperationwith Google is a great oppor-tunity to enlarge the com-munity, who enjoy theimages taken by the SPOTsatellites and get benefitedby Earth observation fromspace.

www.spotimage.fr

SiRF reportsrecord revenues SiRF Technology Holdings,Inc., a provider of GPS-enabled silicon and premiumsoftware location platforms,today reported unauditedfinancial results for its fourthquarter and year endedDecember 31, 2006. “Demandfor products with SiRF GPSwas very strong at the retaillevel in Q4 resulting in anexceptional quarter for SiRF.We have recorded record revenues, shipments andoperating income plus astrong order backlog for Q1,”said Dr. Michael Canning,President and CEO.

Net revenue in the fourthquarter of fiscal 2006 was$74.2 million, an increase of37 % from $54.3 millionreported in the fourth quar-ter of 2005. Net revenue infiscal 2006 was $247.7 million, an increase of 50 %

from $165.1 million in fiscal2005. Gross margin in thefourth quarter of 2006 was55.3 %, as compared to 54.5 %in the fourth quarter of 2005.Gross margin in fiscal 2006was 55.6 %, as compared to55.4 % in fiscal 2005.

Beginning in the fourthquarter of fiscal 2006, SiRFdetermined that due to business circumstances itcould no longer reliably estimate royalty revenuesfor sales by certain licensees.As such, SiRF began recogniz-ing all royalty revenues.

www.sirf.com

OGC becomesmember of WorldWide WebThe Open Geospatial Consor-tium (OGC) recently becamea member of the World WideWeb Consortium, a stan-dards organization thatdevelops interoperable tech-nologies (specifications,guidelines, software, andtools) to lead the Web to itsfull potential. The OGC isparticipating in a W3C incu-bator activity focusing onsemantic geospatial issues.W3C Incubator Activitiesfacilitate rapid development,on a time scale of a year orless, of new Web-related con-cepts. The semantic geospa-tial activity is sponsored by W3C members OGC, SRIInternational, University ofSouthern California Informa-tion Sciences Institute(SCISI),and Oracle chaired by Tra-verse Technology's JoshuaLieberman.

www.opengeospatial.org

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CartographyThe cartographic representations in ArcGIS 9.2 let you fully control the appearance of features separately from the underlying geometry of the data. Refinements you make to individual features are stored as overrides, allowing you to consistently apply and reuse your cartographic designs. ArcGIS 9.2 also includes a suite of advanced drawing and symbolization tools that let you create professional-looking finished maps from your GIS.

Server-Based GIS With ArcGIS Server, it’s easy to publish your geographic information and user-focused geospatial applications. Serve models and applications authored with ArcGIS Desktop as GIS services that can be consumed by browser-based, desktop, and mobile clients. Out-of-the-box capabilities and templates let you get started creating services with no programming. ArcGIS Server also includes the new ArcGIS Explorer client, which supports a wide variety of 3D mapping services as well as geoprocessing services for spatial analysis.

Copyright © 2006 ESRI. All rights reserved. The ESRI globe logo, ESRI, ArcGIS, the ArcGIS logo, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

To view online demos, visit www.esri.com/completegis.

Image Processing ArcGIS Image Server provides fast access to large imagery collections by reducing the time between imagery acquisition and use. It processes imagery on the fly and serves it on demand to GIS, CAD, imaging, and Web clients. ArcGIS Image Server also performs advanced image processing such as image enhancement, orthorectification, pan sharpening, and complex image mosaicking, further extending the uses of imagery and allowing organizations to get the most out of their investment in imagery.

Interoperability For more than 30 years, ESRI has built open and interoperable commercial off-the-shelf software products. ArcGIS 9.2 expands ESRI’s support for a number of industry standards including IT and Web services; the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC); the International Organization for Standardization (ISO); and DXF and KML. ArcGIS 9.2 also includes better support for many transformation procedures (extract, transform, and load), FGDC standards, and metadata (ISO 19139 standard).

Visualization and Analysis ArcGIS 9.2 lets you make better decisions through improved visualization and analysis of your data. It provides new tools that allow you to create, play back, and export time-based animations and graphs of how processes evolve, thereby revealing patterns and trends. ArcGIS is already recognized as the world’s most advanced system for true topological and raster analyses, and ArcGIS 9.2 provides new modeling and analysis tools for advanced exploration of your spatial data.

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G23203_GIS-Dev-AP_Dec06.indd 1 12/7/06 4:29:8 PM


Tele Atlas establishesTele Atlas RUSTele Atlas, a global providerof digital maps and dynamiccontent for navigation andlocation based solutions,announced it has established

a new company, Tele AtlasRUS. With headquarters inMoscow, Tele Atlas RUS willassume the databases and allactivities of Navmaps, Rus-sia’s leading provider of nav-igation maps. The new com-pany will strengthen TeleAtlas’ operations in Russiaand increase its direct inter-action with suppliers andwith Roskartographia, theFederal Agency of Geodesyand Cartography.

Tele Atlas and Navmapsbegan working together in2004 and have alreadydeveloped a navigable digi-tal map of Russia thatincludes Moscow, St. Peters-burg, Kaliningrad and thesurrounding regions, as wellas the major connecting road

network that joins the mostimportant cities in the Euro-pean and Asian parts of thecountry up to the Chineseborder. The map includestens of thousands of POIs,house numbers and naviga-tions attributes.

Jack Reinelt, Tele Atlas COO& Managing Director forEurope, Middle East andAfrica said the move is yetanother significant step for-ward for Tele Atlas. “TeleAtlas RUS will strengthenour leading position in Russia and Eastern Europe”he said.

www.teleatlas.com

Detailed maps forNorway and Sweden byNAVTEQNAVTEQ, a provider of digi-tal map data for vehicle navi-gation and Location BasedSolutions announced thatwith the addition of com-plete detailed coverage forNorway and Sweden, all theNordic roads have been fullyattributed to the NAVTEQdata specification.

NAVTEQ’s detailed cover-age provides precise func-tionality for customers usingNAVTEQ maps to developthe full range of navigationand location enabled appli-cations, including turn-by-turn navigation applicationsrequiring the attributed andaccurate digital map data.NAVTEQ’s detailed coveragemaps include collection of upto 200 data attributes suchas access restrictions, one-way streets and speed limitsfor each link in the road net-

work, and the coverage ofvirtually every road from thehighest volume multi-lanehighways to the smallestresidential streets.

In addition to 860,000 kilo-meters of road, the geo-graphical characteristics ofthe territory encompassmountainous terrain,numerous connected islandsand seasonal conditions thatforce road closures and makesigns difficult to see. Cus-tomers using NAVTEQ mapsin the Norway and Swedenfor on-board or off-boardnavigation, internet direc-tions, proximity searches,fleet applications, and busi-ness and enterprise solutionswill be able to access over27,000 points of interest,including over 4,300 petrolstations, 4,000 restaurantsand 1,400 hotels.

www.navteq.com

Optech introducesALTM GeminiOptech Incorporatedannounced another techni-cal advance in airborneLiDAR mapping: an acceler-ated scanner ALTM Geminiwhich now scans at rates upto 100 Hz. This acceleratedscan frequency will directlybenefit all surveyors usingOptech’s ALTM Gemini.

Cost-benefit analyses showthat faster scan frequenciesallow surveyors to reducetheir single greatest expense,the amount of time spent inthe air acquiring data. Withits new 100 Hz scanner, theATLM Gemini is now one ofthe fastest scanning LiDAR

instrument on the market. The increased scanner speedallows for an optimal distri-bution of laser points,heightened accuracy and asignificant improvement inoverall system performance.With the ALTM Gemini,either less time will be spentin-flight or, if the flight-timeis the same, more data willbe acquired. In either casethe end result will be a bot-tom line increase in ROI.

www.optech.ca

TopoSys introduces‘Harrier 56/G3’TopoSys has introduced thethird generation of the Air-borne laser sensor system“Harrier 56/G3”. It allowsscanning with 200,000 laserpulses per second and pro-vides high level details forapplications such as corridormapping. The TopoSys sen-sor system Harrier 56 thatwas introduced in October2005 has been permanentlyimproved and is now pre-sented in the third genera-tion as “Harrier 56/G3”.

The pulse rate of the laserhas been increased from100,000 laser pulses to200,000 laser pulses per sec-ond. This is currently world-wide the highest pulse rateof an Airborne Laser scan-ning sensor system. Thepoint density of this sensorsystem is twice as high, whatresults in a lot of advantagesespecially for corridor map-ping applications and in thesector of construction andengineering.Due to point

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07


densities of up to 40 meas-urements per square meterin many cases terrestrial orphotogrammetrical meas-urements are no longer nec-essary. For this reason areduction of costs can beachieved and the advantagesof Airborne Laser Scanningcan be extended on applica-tions that in the past wereonly suited for other survey-ing technologies.

www.toposys.com

CARIS release newBathymetric DataManagementsoftware CARIS has announced therelease of Bathy DataBASE2.0 for the creation and man-agement of bathymetric sur-faces. Bathy DataBASE wasdeveloped to allow hydrog-raphers to overcome obsta-cles of large bathymetricdata sets and data sources.The software allows users tovalidate, prepare and com-pile bathymetric data frommultiple formats and sourcesto create products.

Among some of the fea-tures of Version 2.0 are newsource data managementand storage tools, Subset Edi-tor for point editing,redesigned 3D graphics dis-play and navigation tools,and true position contouring.

With ever expanding vol-umes of raw multibeam sur-vey data and large numbersof archived historical datasources, a data managementsystem for source bathyme-try is essential. The manage-ment of high-density

bathymetry is essential forproduct creation where safe-ty of navigation is applica-ble. The goal then is not tomanage bathymetry at sur-vey density but at a usefuland significant resolution.Bathy DataBASE covers thiscrucial need allowing usersto focus the management ofbathymetry data at the "opti-mal" density for the mostfunctional and practical solu-tion.

www.caris.com

Leica SmartPoleunveiledBy introducing Leica Smart-Pole, Leica Geosystems addsa further tool to its System1200 Series surveying sys-tem. With Leica SmartPole,the coordinates and orienta-tion are determined On-the-Fly whilst conducting thesurvey, using both GPS andTPS. This saves time in plan-ning and executing the sur-vey.Leica SmartPole savestime in both the office andthe field. No longer is it nec-essary to identify controlpoints in the office andsearch for control in the field,to first measure orientationpoints and only then detailpoints.

Traversing is not required,each TPS set up can be con-ducted independently withnew coordinates and orien-tation being determinedwith SmartPole GPS. Oncethe TPS orientation and coor-dinates are known, all meas-ured points are automatical-ly updated. The user canchose control points that

deliver the best geometricdistribution whilst simulta-neously completing the sur-vey. This ensures maximumflexibility and hence produc-tivity.With Leica SmartPole,both TPS and GPS are avail-able at all times to ensureevery point can be measured.When GPS is restricted byoverhead obstructions useTPS; when no TPS line-of-sight is available use GPS.The surveyor benefits fromeasy-to-use GPS and continu-ous productivity.

www.leica-geosystems.com

AdVance RTK launchedby NovAtel Inc.NovAtel Inc., a precise posi-tioning technology compa-ny, has launched its newReal Time Kinematic (RTK)precise positioning solution‘AdVance RTK’ - providingsignificant technologyadvancement to the compa-ny’s OEMV family ofreceivers through superioralgorithms that enhance pre-cision and performance.NovAtel’s GNSS OEMV-2 andOEMV-3 receivers will nowbe available with the newAdVance RTK as part of theVersion 3.100 firmwarerelease.AdVance RTK deliv-ers performance enhance-ments, including more reli-able ambiguity solutions andfaster narrow lane conver-gence on short, medium andlong baselines. Time to ambi-guity resolution on baselinesup to 20 kilometers is virtu-ally instantaneous. As aresult, AdVance RTK enablesusers to work more reliably

and efficiently in a widerrange of conditions.Source :

www.novatel.com

3D Laser MappinglaunchesStreetMapper 23D Laser Mapping haslaunched StreetMapper 2, anew modular vehicle-mounted system for rapid 3Dmapping on and off road.The portable system useslasers to 3D map assets andthe landscape to millimeteraccuracy at speeds of up to70 km an hour. The data col-lected by StreetMapper 2 canbe used to create a highlydetailed 3D model of theenvironment with everydetail along a street corridorincluding overhead features.The information can be usedfor a wide range of applica-tions including road surfaceand safety inspections, land-scape mapping, street assetrecording, bridge height sur-veys and road width map-ping for entire routes. Thelatest version developed inpartnership with Germanfirm IGI, a specialist in navi-gation and precise position-ing for aerial survey.StreetMapper technologyinvolves a series of lasersthat measure the position offeatures relative to the vehi-cle with an onboard comput-er that can process over40,000 points per second.The system is calibrated sothat each laser transmits itsoptical pulse at a knownangle and uses satellite technology.

www.3dlasermapping.com


In-car Satnavgives directions An in-car satellite navigationsystem offers the fastestroute to motorists, minimiz-ing greenhouse gas emis-sions, although the bestroute might not be thefastest nor even the shortest.The system known as Satnavdeveloped by scientists atthe Lund Institute of Tech-nology in Sweden has beenprogrammed to work out themost efficient route, accord-ing to the latest issue of theNew Scientist.

System developers Eva Eric-sson and her colleagues havebeen testing the Satnav sys-tem and the tests on thestreets of Lund have shownthat their Satnav system canwork out routes that are sig-nificantly less polluting thanthe standard options, accord-ing to the science magazine.The researchers assignedfuel consumption factors forthree types of car on 22streets in a Satnav's digitalmap database, which werebased on the street's class,taking account of informa-tion such as its width andspeed limit and typical traf-fic flows in both peak andoff-peak hours. The testresults showed that the aver-age fuel saving on the 22streets was 8.2 percent com-pared with journeys plannedby other methods.

www.english.people.com.cn

NAVTEQ launchesMap Reporter NAVTEQ, a provider of digital map data for vehicle

navigation and location-based solutions, has updatedits popular online feedbacktool and renamed it NAVTEQMap Reporter. Now in its11th year and having alreadyhandled tens of thousands ofupdate requests, the updatedsystem is now map-based,giving users who discoverpotential discrepancies aneasier way to provide feed-back by pinpointing theexact location of the concernfor possible updating of thedatabase.

NAVTEQ maps are consult-ed an estimated 90 milliontimes a day through vehiclenavigation systems, portablenavigation systems, internetmapping sites and geograph-ic information systemsapplications. Map accuracy isthe single most importantindicator of a user’s satisfac-tion with their navigationsystem. Many of the users ofthe NAVTEQ map haveexpressed a desire to providefeedback directly to the com-pany and NAVTEQ hasresponded with an intuitiveweb interface.

www.navteq.com

Detailed coverage mapfor Bulgaria by ANDAutomotive Navigation Data(AND), leading provider ofworldwide digital mappingdata for 'in-car' and personalnavigation, has released newnavigation maps data forBulgaria. With these mapscustomers using the ANDdata can now develop thefull range of applicationssuch as Internet mapping,

fleet management and navi-gation.The maps for Bulgariainclude all necessary naviga-tion features and are in linewith the high quality specifi-cations as defined by AND incooperation with its cus-tomers. The digital map ofBulgaria covers more than60,000 kilometres linkingmore than 4,000 Bulgariancities and villages to the roadnetwork.

www.and.com

SmartPlant 3D2007 released byIntergraphIntergraph Corporation hasannounced the availabilityof SmartPlant 3D 2007.SmartPlant 3D deliversincreased designer produc-tivity for initial modeling,detail design and designmodifications, and reducedtime to produce and updateintelligent drawings.

SmartPlant 3D 2007 sup-ports tight integration withthe SmartPlant Enterpriseportfolio. Among otherenhancements for all designdisciplines and automaticdrawing production the newversion include new model-ing functions which extendthe capabilities of Smart-Plant 3D to meet the uniquestructural requirements ofpower plants, pharmaceuti-cal projects and offshoreprojects.

SmartPlant 3D continues totransform the way designersundertake 3D plant model-ing, empowering customerswith schedule reduction,increased designer produc-

tivity and increased engi-neering quality,” notedPatrick Holcomb, ExecutiveVice President of Intergraph

www.intergraph.com/

Service-OrientedArchitecture GIS introduced by ESRIESRI recently released ArcGIS9.2 software, designed tosupport Service-OrientedArchitecture (SOA) systems.SOA focuses on an approachthat supports heteroge-neous, loosely coupled serv-ices. ArcGIS supports thisenvironment by providing acomplete set of spatial toolsfor the desktop, server,mobile devices and Web thatis combined with robustApplication DevelopmentFrameworks (ADF) for .NETand Java.

Many organizations facethe challenge of reacting tofrequently changing busi-ness requirements while try-ing to increase productivityand reduce costs. GIS pro-vides the visualization andanalysis that help illustraterelationships, connections,and patterns that are notnecessary in any onedataset, enabling organiza-tions to make better deci-sions based on all relevantfactors. ArcGIS 9.2 meetsthose needs with enhancedfunctionality, fine-grainedobjects, and extensive docu-mentation, allowing quicker,easier, and cost-efficientdevelopment of mappingand sophisticated GIS analy-sis applications.

www.esri.com

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07

Global Navigation Satellite SystemsIn January 2006, Russia expanded its global navigation satel-lite system (GLONASS) with the launch of three satellites, twoof which were of Glonass-M series. These satellites have alonger service life of seven years and are equipped withupdated antenna feeder systems and an additional naviga-tion frequency for civilian users. Later in December, the con-stellation was replenished by launching three more Glonass-M satellites. A future modification, Glonass-K is to be tested in2007. In November, the Russian government announced thatGLONASS would be made available to civilians in the countryby 2007, and by 2009 it would be offered to commercial cus-tomers worldwide.

The U.S is also not far behind in upgrading its Navstar GPSsatellites. It has started replacing its Block II, Block IIA, BlockIIR satellites with the Block II R-M satellites.Of the total eightGPS Block II R-M satellites being developed by Lockheed Mar-tin, three were launched in 2006. The Block IIR-M seriesinclude new features that enhance operations and navigationsignal performance for military and civilian GPS users aroundthe globe.The fourth generation of GPS Block II-F satellites arescheduled to be launched in 2007.

Europe has started building its very own satellite naviga-tion system called Galileo.Galileo will be under civilian con-trol unlike the GPS, which is run by the US military. The firstof the Galileo satellites, GIOVE-A was placed in orbit inDecember 2005. It began transmitting its first signals in Janu-ary 2006.The pilot satellite marks the initial step towards fulloperability of Europe’s Galileo, being built by the EuropeanSpace Agency in collaboration with the European Commis-sion.

GeoEyeGeoEye was formed in January 2006 as a result of the acquisi-tion of Space Imaging by Orbimage, making it the largest com-mercial remote sensing company in the world. In September2005, Orbimage Holdings Inc. had announced that it would beacquiring its rival company, Space Imaging LLC, for $ 58.5 mil-lion after its owners put it up for sale. But why was Space Imag-ing sold out when it had built a sizeable customer base bylaunching the world’s first commercial spy satellite, IKONOS, inSeptember 1999?

Space Imagery from IKONOS had a resolution of one-meter

which made Space Imaging a leading supplier of derivativeproducts and services from satellite imageries. It also boasted ofa clientele of 13 ground stations all over the world which boughtaccess to IKONOS from Space Imaging. The company soon real-ized that it urgently needed a $ 500 million contract from the USgovernment-the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency(NGA) NextView contract for developing a next-generation highresolution remote sensing satellite. Without a new satellite, thefuture of Space Imaging was uncertain as IKONOS was expectedto lose its effectiveness from 2007/2008. To make mattersworse, Space Imaging lost the first of the two $500 million NextView contract to Digital Globe. The final nail in the coffin wasthe grant of the second $500 million NextView contract toOrbimage by NGA. Space Imaging lost the crucial contract as itsowners, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co., refused toguarantee loans to finance the deal. Finally, Space Imaging wasput up for sale. Orbimage soon acquired Space Imaging andrenamed itself as GeoEye. Orbimage’s success in winning theNextView contract has put it back on track to build a next-gen-eration high-resolution satellite, which is now known as Geo-Eye-1. It is slated for launch in early 2007. The launch of GeoEye-1 would be an important milestone not only for the commercialsatellite market but also for the newly established GeoEye.

Intergraph Now A Private FirmOn August 31, 2006, Intergraph Corporation, a leading providerof mapping and visualization software, was acquired by aninvestor group headed by Hellman & Friedman LLC and TexasPacific Group in a leverage buyout worth $1.3 billion. Leveragebuyouts are those in which investor groups borrow large sumsof money to buy a company and make it a private enterprise.Intergraph, therefore, has ceased to be a public enterprise and isnow a private company that is not subject to the vagaries of thestock market.

Intergraph, founded in 1969, specializes in software called spa-tial information management (SIM). SIM enables major organi-zations to analyse complex data and deliver visual reports.Today, SIM is becoming all-encompassing; from data manage-ment, Web-based graphical designing to Google Maps andMicrosoft MapPoint, making it an extremely lucrative businessprospect. It is projected that most of the IT firms will be usingthis technology more and more in the future. Hellman & Fried-man and Texas Pacific Group have, as a result, acquired Inter-

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C F E B R UA R Y 2 0 0724

News Analysis

2006: The Year Gone By...

graph keeping the future prospects ofSIM in view.

Intergraph’s buyout is being seen as agood deal by the investors. They foreseeenormous potential for the company onaccount of it having fantastic products inthe pipeline. Also, now that Intergraph isa private enterprise, there are immensegrowth opportunities because long terminvestments can be made without worry-ing about the ups and downs in the stockexchange. Product development is tout-ed as one of the key areas of investmentby the company. The year 2007 will see alarge number of Intergraph products andservices entering the market, marking anew beginning for the erstwhile publicenterprise.

China’s CompassThe Chinese announcement to build itsown satellite navigation system calledCompass made the space fraternity sit upand take notice. It is seen as an attemptby China to decrease its dependence onUSA’s GPS and Russia’s GLONASS. It willalso allow China to strengthen its hege-mony in the Asian region. China’s space-systems are designed to consolidate theburgeoning Chinese economy andimprove its military might, serving a dualpurpose. Firstly, a powerful satellite nav-igation system will not just provideenhanced services to the Chinese peoplebut also exploit the growing telecommu-nications market in the neighbouringcountries. Most of these countries today,are dependent on GPS and GLONASS forproviding navigation information. Sec-ondly, in the modern world, space tech-nologies are becoming vital for launchingmissile attacks, acquiring intelligenceinputs, navigation and for command andcontrol. Thus, China sees enormous bene-fits accruing from building its very ownsatellite aided navigation system.

The Galileo Joint Undertaking [GJU] hadshut down operation by the end of 2006,and Galileo Supervisory Authority [GSA]

would take over the charge which wouldlimit the access for China along withIsrael as GSA membership will be closedfor non-European countries. Only timewill tell whether China succeeds in itsgrand plans or not. But, the coming yearspromise to be exciting, with the GPS,Galileo, Compass and other regional navi-gation systems all fighting for a share inthe satellite navigation system pie.

China: News in 2006For China, the year 2006, was a happen-ing one in terms of satellite launches,announcement of future plans alongwith application of geospatial technolo-gies.In March 2006, it announced itsplans to launch 18 land observation satel-lites in the next ten years. China's firstspace launch of the year came on April 27,when it launched Remote Sensing Satel-lite-1. China's National Bureau ofOceanography, launched an oceanic envi-ronment survey on July 15 to probe theconditions of its maritime space. For thefirst time, the country sent into orbit arecoverable "seed satellite" speciallydesigned for seed-breeding in space. Chi-na has also completed a 1:50000 databasefor the national fundamental GIS. Chinahas started applying remote and GPS toascertain the actual length of the GreatWall of China.

Asia and AfricaThe year 2006 was a remarkable year interms of satellite launches by variouscountries in the Asian region. Japanlaunched the ASTRO-F Infrared Astro-nomical satellite on February 22,2006, tomap the sky using infrared wavelengths.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) launched the 22nd Scientific Satel-lite (SOLAR-B) on September 23, 2006.Japanese scientists believe the satellitewould help them understand the originand consequences of active phenomenathat take place in the sun's corona by sur-veying the visible surface of the sun. Ear-

lier, on September 11, Japan launched itsthird intelligence-gathering satellite toenhance its ability to monitor neighbour-ing North Korea, two months afterPyongyang shocked the region with abarrage of missile tests. Similarly, SouthKorea had launched Arirang-2, a high res-olution satellite that provides visual dataof North Korea three times a day, on July28, 2006. On the same day, it alsolaunched KOMPSAT-2 Earth observationsatellite that would provide VHR imageryfor South Korea’s needs in mapping,urban planning and hazard manage-ment. The Korean administration alsobegan overhauling its national mappingsystem. Its largest open source nationaldigital map database will meet interna-tional standards by using digital streetmap and address. Vietnam will also bejoining the satellite owners league soonwhen it launches its first communicationsatellite, Vinasat, in 2008. In May, Indiamade public, its plans of building theIndian Regional Navigation Satellite Sys-tem (IRNSS). IRNSS will provide an inde-pendent, indigenously developed con-stellation of satellites to provide satellite-based position, navigation and timingservice for critical national applications.The proposed IRNSS, which will consist ofa constellation of eight satellites, is likelyto be operational in six years time.

In the African realm, Nigeria dominatedthe news headlines. On May 10, 2006, itannounced its proposed 25-year plan toventure into space technology by manu-facturing and locally launching its ownsatellite. South Africa too joined the'Space Race', started by Nigeria five yearsago, by announcing that it plans to haveit very own space agency in a year or twoto promote cutting edge technology,including satellite development.


Ananya GhoshSub-Editor, GIS [email protected]

The history of surveying in Sri Lanka dates back toancient times when sophisticated irrigation sys-

tems were laid down using excellent surveying tech-niques.

The Greek geographer, Ptolemy, in his seminal work Geographia, drew the first outline map of Sri Lanka that waspublished around 150 AD. Ptolemy's depiction of the arealextent of Taprobane (Sri Lanka) was grossly over estimatedowing to his limited knowledge of the world that lay outside theGreco-Roman world. Was Taprobane actually Sri Lanka? A defin-itive answer to this debatable question has not been found asyet. Many centuries later, artistic maps of Sri Lanka (then calledCeylon) were drawn by the Dutch imperialists in the 17th and18th century using charts and more scientific cartographic tech-niques. The British were the ones who played an instrumentalrole in carrying out accurate surveys of the largest islands of theBay of Bengal in the 19th century.

BEGINNING OF MODERN MAPPINGThe British published accurate maps of the island colony titled'One inch to 4 miles map of Ceylon' for the first time in 1840. By1897, the foundation for 'topographical mapping' was laid downafter the survey for establishment of triginometrical stations forthe Triangulation of Ceylon was completed. In 1924, a total of 72maps, having a representative fraction of 1 inch to 1 mile wasreleased. These maps not only depicted relief features but alsocontained cultural features, geographical names, administra-tive boundaries, contours etc. The 72 map series was drawn onthe basis of plane table surveys. Within the next 25 years, oldmethods gave way to new ones after Sri Lanka gained inde-pendence from British rule in 1948. Aerial surveys for the wholeof the island nation was conducted in 1956 on the scale of

1:40,000. The later part of the next decade witnessed the estab-lishment of an Institute of Surveying and Mapping in the year1969.

UPGRADATION OF MAPS, SURVEYING ANDMAPPING METHODSThe ready availability of trained surveyors and cartographersgave an impetus to the Land Use Mapping Programme, carriedout between the years 1982-1991, wherein the entire countrywas surveyed at a district level on a scale of 1:100,000 using aer-ial photography and satellite imagery. The period from 1985onwards saw a lot of activity in the field of mapping and sur-veying in Sri Lanka. The first edition of maps drawn on a metricscale of 1:50,000 was completed between 1985 and 1996 withthe help of extensive ground and aerial surveys. These mapswere essentially an updated version of the 1 inch: 1 miles series,albeit on a metric scale. In 1988, the first National Atlas of Srilanka was published. By 1992, digital data compilation wasintroduced using photogrammetric techniques on aerial photo-graphs. In 1994, a satellite image mosaic map of the countryhaving a scale of 1:500,000 was published using IRS 1B LISS IIimagery acquired from the National Remote Sensing Agency,India in 1992. ( see fig.1)

Sri Lanka's expertise in remote sensing activities dates back tothe late 1970s when the Center for Remote Sensing (CRS) wasestablished under the Sri Lanka Survey Department. The Sri Lan-ka Center for Remote Sensing is the central organization forRemote Sensing related activities in the country. CRS is largelyengaged in specific operations essential for interpretingremotely sensed data, specially interpretation of aerial photo-graphs and satellite images. The main goal is to provide supportand also supplement the existing mapping services in Sri Lankathat include land use mapping, national archiving of satellitedata and satellite image mapping.


SRI LANKA

SURVEYING AND MAPPING

IN SRI LANKA

Ananya Ghosh

The 1990s was a also decade of digitiza-tion of maps and surveys at large scales.Digitization of topographical maps weretaken up. Also, the map series of scale1:250,000 was completely digitized. Bythe end of the decade, the entire countryof Sri Lanka was surveyed using aerialphotography on a scale of 1:20,000.

In the early 1990s, surveyors realisedthat the existing triangulation system inthe country was not accurate enough tobe used by systems like EDM (Electro-Magnetic Distance Measuring) and GPS(Global Positioning System). There wasalso a rising demand to establish a LandInformation System that required precisegeodetic control points. Thus, Sri Lanka'sfirst highly accurate GPS device was pro-cured in 1994. Using the GPS, triangula-tion surveys were conducted by measur-ing the distance between the base sta-tions in order to establish precise controlnetwork. The longest line measured wasfrom Jaffna to Matara with a distance of417.26674 km having an accuracy of 3 cm.

In 1999, the coordinates of all controlpoints was published. This system cameto be known as Sri Lanka Datum 1999.

PRESENT STATUS OF SURVEYING AND MAPPINGThe current status of surveying and map-ping looks extremely promising for thegeospatial information community in SriLanka. Digital land use maps are beingdrawn at 1:50,000 scale using topograph-ical maps of the same scale as the data-base. The second edition of National Atlasof Sri lanka is also in the pipeline. Sri Lan-ka is also one of the contributor countriesto the Global Mapping Program organ-ised by the International Steering Com-mittee for Global Mapping. The globalmap data will have eight layers of data-base that include Elevation, Drainage,Land Cover, Vegetation, Land Use, Bound-aries, Transportation and Population Cen-tres. The establishment of digital topo-graphic vector database on 1:250,000 and1:50,000 scales has been completed,while the digitization of 1:10,000 data-base is still in progress. Once completed,the series will have 1834 maps. Fig.2shows the current status of the digitiza-tion of 1:10,000 scale database.

MAP PRODUCTS IN PUBLICDOMAINTopographical maps are available onthree different scales, namely, 1:250,000(available in English and Sinhala);1:50,000 (available only in English) and1:10,000 which are presently available forselected areas only. Administrative seriesmaps having a scale of 1 inch to 1 mile,showing Electoral Districts, Administra-tive Areas and Local Authority Areas, areavailable only for limited areas. Historicalmap series is also available on sale whichcomprises Portuguese, Dutch and Britishperiod maps available for Galle Fort, Anu-radhapura, Polonnaruwa and Colombo.Town maps of almost all the major townsand cities of Sri lanka are available to the

general public. Road maps are availablein English, Sinhala and Tamil. In Sri lanka,geo-referenced satellite image maps hav-ing a resolution of 40 meter are also avail-able for public consumption. The price ofthese image maps vary according to theareal extent of the area represented. Aeri-al photographs, on the other hand haverestricted access. They are issued only onapproval by the Ministry of Defence, Gov-ernment of Sri lanka.

FUTURE SCENARIOThe tsunami that struck the Indian Oceanislands in December 2004 deserves spe-cial mention as it is reported to havechanged Sri Lanka's coastline. At thesouthern port district of Galle, approxi-mately 10 to 20 metres of the beach waslost while at Arugam Bay in the east, theproblem was far more acute with the seacoming in about 150 metres. BJP Mendis,the Surveyor General of Sri lanka, hadearlier announced that it is quite possiblethat the whole island may have shiftedslightly from its original location. He had


Fig. 1: Satellite mosaic map of Sri Lanka (Source: Survey Department, Sri lanka)

Fig. 2 : Current Status of 1:10,00 scale data-base (Source: Survey Department, Sri Lanka)

made the observation based on the GPSreadings taken before and after the pow-erful tsunami had struck the island coun-try in December 2004. Accurate surveysneed to be carried out at the earliest inorder to ascertain whether there was ashift in the island's location or not. Also,the land use maps prepared by the Sur-vey Department need to be updated fre-quently to show the present scenario ofurbanization in Sri Lanka for a compre-hensive understanding of the trends andpace of urbanisation which are vital fac-tors for urban and regional developmentplanning in Sri Lanka.

The completion of digital spatial data-base will serve the geospatial informa-tion community in Sri Lanka in manyways than one. It is quite obvious thatGeographical Information System (GIS)which makes use of digitized spatial datais bound to make the local and regionalplanning process more productive. SriLanka's Department of Agrarian Develop-

ment(DAD), under the Ministry of Agri-culture, is already using GIS for planningand management of irrigation systems.GIS is being utilized not only as a systemto monitor the changes in agriculturalpatterns but also the impact of the reha-bilitation of the irrigation systems on theliving conditions of the poor farmer fami-lies.

Cadastral information is the keystonefor developing a Spatial Data Infrastruc-tures (SDI). The cadastral layer is the mostfundamental layer on which the SDI isconstructed. In Sri Lanka, the SurveyDepartment is the organization that isresponsible for land parcel information.There is an urgent need to collect addi-tional information on land use and build-ings built on the surveyed land parcels.Although the Survey Department has theresponsibility to maintain the cadastralrecords of state land, it does not have suf-ficient information about private landparcels which are surveyed by the Private

Licensed Surveyors. The spatial compo-nents of the proposed Sri Lankan SDI willcomprise cadastral maps prepared by theSurvey Department.

Surveying and mapping will thus, con-tinue to play a vital role in the planningprocess of Sri Lanka in the years to come.The survey and mapping methods needto be updated time and again to keeppace with the changing technologies.Only then will the tiny island country inIndia's neighbourhood be able to estab-lish a strong foothold in the South Asiangeospatial community.

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C28

Ananya GhoshSub-Editor, GIS [email protected]

References1. www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk/gis/gis_mapping_history. html

2. www.survey-dept.slt.lk/

3. www.esri.com/news/arcnews/winter0304articles/srilanka.html

4. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world /article408330.ece

Increasingly local communities and their intermedi-aries are using community mapping and digital

Geographic Information Technologies (GITs) to com-municate information to decision-makers.

This information might be related to local spatial knowledge,traditional lands as well as community aspirations. There is anemerging set of principles and practices concerned with the useof GITs for personal, social, cultural or economic developmentwithin communities, this is referred to generically as Participa-tory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) . PGIS is combinedwith a growing research interest in how different GITs canempower communities. Claims have been made that the use ofPGIS by disadvantaged groups can be empowering by enablingcommunity groups and members to communicate local infor-mation and world views in a way which might influence decision-making processes related to land use and planning.However, others claim that PGIS is disempowering due to thecomplexity of the technologies, inaccessibility of data, restrictive representation of local geographic information,often-low levels of community participation, as well as cost. .This final point can be illustrated by the cascading costs ofimplementing a GIS, “for every dollar spent on GIS hardware,$10 must be spent on software and training and $100 on acquir-ing and updating data” .

This research contributes to the debate on GIS and empower-ment. The paper reports on a research project that facilitated thedevelopment of Community Information Systems (CIS) in tworural communities, called Benung and Tepulang, in the Indone-sian district of West Kutai on the island of Borneo (see Figure 1).The primary focus of this paper is on examining the relationshipbetween empowerment and the CIS intervention.

THE CIS PROJECTThe goal of the CIS project in Indonesia was to facilitate twocommunities to collect, store, manage and communicate theirland-related information in a digital format, while avoiding theuse of costly and highly sophisticated software. The projectteam selected low-budget, easy-to-use software solutions thatwould allow community members to master the technologies1.The focus was on enabling community members to documenttheir own data, using the knowledge of expert communityinformants. A participatory process was employed to ensurethat community members made all decisions related to theproject and were trained in the necessary technological skills .Community members trained to use the tools were called thecommunity’s ‘operators’.

CIS acts as a system for managing, referencing and accessingdigital information stored in textual image, video and audio for-mat, using an interactive Cartesian map interface as the pri-mary organisational tool. The map gives spatial reference to theattribute multimedia components and allows the user to navi-gate through the community’s data; this is a style of informa-tion retrieval referred to as “hyper media” . Furthermore, themap is important because of contentious claims made on tradi-tional territories of Indigenous groups throughout the regionwhere this project took place. One of the potential applicationsof the CIS is to communicate this spatially related informationto outsider groups using the CIS to negotiate with outsiders.

OBSERVING AND EVALUATING EMPOWERMENTFor the purpose of evaluating the CIS project, the notion ofempowerment is given two distinct definitions:

1. Empowerment is a tangible increase in social influence orpolitical power; conversely disempowerment is a decrease in


COMMUNITY INFORMATION SYSTEM

POWERING UP: COMMUNITY

INFORMATION SYSTEMS,

MARGINALIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT

Jon M. Corbett

social influence or political power, and 2. Empowerment capacity refers to

aspects of the deeper process of change inthe internal condition of an individual orcommunity that influence their empow-erment.

These two definitions of empowermentclearly operate on two social scales,namely the individual and the communi-ty, and involve four catalysts including:

• the information, which refers to the infor-mation gathered during the course of theCIS project: this can be in diverse formatsincluding maps, text, photographs andvideos;

• the process, which refers to the specificparticipatory process used by the CIS;

• the skills, which refers to the new skillsacquired by individual community mem-bers and communities as a whole throughthe training associated with the CIS; and

• the tools, which refers to the specificequipment used during the developmentof a CIS, including the hardware, forexample a computer, video camera or dig-ital camera, and the software used.

EMPOWERMENT AND THEINDIVIDUALIn both communities, individuals closelyassociated with the CIS project experi-enced changes in their social and politicalinfluence and roles as a result of theirinvolvement.

Increased social influence of femalecomputer operatorsThe process used by the CIS project aimedto increase the involvement of women inthe project as one facet of achievinggreater participation of all sectors of thecommunity. One intervention was torequest that at least one of the computeroperators in each village be a woman.Both of the selected women wereempowered through becoming opera-tors, but to different degrees.

The woman selected from Benung wasmarried with a young family. Shebecame an able and involved member ofthe computer operator team. As well, shebegan to be more involved in general

community meet-ings, particularlythose related toCIS project deci-sion-making. Shecalled and facili-tated several com-munity meetingsand contributedsubstantially tomeeting’s out-comes. This was amarked changefrom her previousrole in the com-munity. However,tensions emergedbetween this woman and her husbandconcerning her involvement with theproject. He claimed that the computertraining and information collection wasdetracting her from domestic chores.

Decreased social influence of malecomputer operatorsIn Tepulang a young male computeroperator appeared disempowered by hisincreased skills. He was considered “tooambitious and put on airs of intelligence”(respondent Tepulang). This, plus hisefforts to monopolise the skills and tools,contributed to his marginalization withinthe community and led to his resignationas the head of the village advisory com-mittee.

It is hard to determine how much thesechanging social roles are a direct andexclusive result of the CIS project or howmuch they can also be attributed to otherinfluences or pre-existing conditions.

EMPOWERMENT CAPACITYAND THE INDIVIDUAL Changes in capacity for empowermentwere noted in individuals in both communities, computer operators,informants, and community leaders aswell as community members not asclosely involved in the project.

Increased confidence to communi-cate information to outsidersSome individuals expressed an increasedsense of confidence when communicat-ing information through the video media,compared to presenting this informationface-to-face. For example a middle-agedmale from Tepulang recorded a videopiece, intended for presentation to elect-ed regional leaders, describing the impor-tance of the forest for the community andthe need for any forestry companies toconsult with the community before start-ing logging operations in their traditionalterritory. In the video he expressed somestrong opinions about the village’s rightsto its forest and his expectations of theresponsibilities of the regional govern-ment to regulate this situation.

Decreased self-esteem and frustra-tion among community members Mastery of technological skills was con-sidered highly desirable by people in bothcommunities. At the outset of the CISproject emphasis was placed on theresponsibility of the computer operators(i.e. those trained to use the equipment)to pass on their skills to other people inthe community. However, skill transfer toother members of the community wasnot as successful as hoped at the outset of


Fig. 1: Map of Indonesia Showing the Location of Community Sites.

the CIS project. These limitations inaccess were mostly due to the CIS projectonly being able to install one set of equip-ment in each community.

The operators’ level of commitment andapproach to training was very differentbetween the two communities. InBenung the computer operators wouldtrain other community members inresponse to direct requests. Demandfrom other community members was nothigh, perhaps because of a relatively highconcentration of older people in the community, who tended to show lessinterest in being trained. By the end ofthe project fieldwork, seven people hadbeen trained to varying levels by thecommunity operators in Benung, and thetraining had been informal and unstruc-tured.

In Tepulang the computer operatorsagreed to give two structured computertraining courses. The first was completedsuccessfully, but the second failedbecause of disagreements that grew intoopen conflict between the operators.After this conflict emerged, few peoplefrom the community, including the operators, continued to show a high levelof interest in the project.

Increased economic opportunity forcomputer operatorsIt was strongly believed in both commu-nities that learning new, in particularcomputer, skills would “allow the youthto get jobs in companies in the region”(respondent Tepulang). As a result of theskills learnt during the CIS project, twooperators, one from Benung and one fromTepulang, were employed by the regionalgovernment.

Computer operators who remained inBenung were also able to apply their newtechnological skills to moneymaking ven-tures through recording videos, transfer-ring them to video compact disc (VCD)and selling them outside of the village.

However, the intention of the training

in the CIS project was not to focus on jobrelated skills, especially if they resulted invillage operators being hired into thecommercial marketplace rather thanremaining in the community in whichthey were trained. Although the individual may have increased his or her capacity for employment and empower-ment, the community as a whole lostcapacity as they lost a valuable resourcefor developing the CIS and passing ontheir skills to others in the community.

EMPOWERMENT AND THECOMMUNITY This section will examine the empower-ment impact of the CIS project on thecommunities. This is indicated by anincreased ability of the community toinfluence decision-making processes andother events within the wider region.

Increased social influence withregional decision-makersDuring the CIS project there were twoprominent examples where informationwas used successfully to communicatewith groups outside of the village andinfluence events in the wider region.

The first incident involved multipleincursions by illegal loggers from theneighbouring village onto Benung’s traditional land. The village leaders confronted the illegal loggers and videotaped the incident. During the confronta-tion the loggers admitted fault, apologised, and departed.

Four months later the same group ofillegal loggers returned to the forest andbegan to poach timber again. The villageleaders wrote to the local governmentrequesting a meeting, where they presented the recorded evidence from theprevious encounter. The governmentwas sympathetic and ordered all thefelled timber to be returned to Benung.They also threatened the illegal loggerswith severe fines if they encroachedagain.

Increased social influence with othercommunitiesThe second incident involved illegal log-ging by Tepulang on the traditional landsof Benung. As logging activitiesincreased in the area, the people ofBenung and Tepulang decided it was nec-essary to document the location of theboundary between the two villages. On aprearranged day, elders from both vil-lages met and walked the boundarybetween the two villages, agreeing onthe position of the boundary withoutconflict. Using a video camera, peoplefrom Tepulang recorded the entireprocess.

Six months later Tepulang began log-ging in the vicinity of the boundarybetween the two villages. Soon afteroperations had commenced Benungclaimed that the logging operation wasstraying onto their territory. A joint vil-lage meeting was called. As a result ofthe information contained on the video,the conflict swiftly was resolved, and thelogging operations withdrew from thecontentious area leaving the felled tim-ber behind.

Both these examples show the commu-nity of Benung using the informationgathered as part of the CIS project toresolve conflict with outside groups suc-cessfully. However, it cannot be assumedthat these successes indicate a long-termincrease in power for local communities.

EMPOWERMENT CAPACITYAND THE COMMUNITY The analysis of empowerment capacityat the community scale explores howgroups within the community, definedby gender, education level and age, aswell as the community as a whole,gained increased empowerment capacitythrough the CIS project.

Increased community confidence tomake statements to outside groupsThe CIS was used by Benung to present


G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I CF E B R UA R Y 2 0 07 33

community views on their vision or plansfor the future. One recording was madeto demonstrate to the regional govern-ment the community’s ideas on how tolog the forest using more sustainable tra-ditional methods. Another recordingfrom Benung explained the importanceand history of their longhouse, and endedwith a request to the regional govern-ment for funding for its repair. Showinginformation in this way complementsthe traditional oral system of communi-cation and furthermore enables commu-nity members to present visual informa-tion. It also bolsters the communitymembers’ confidence by giving them themeans to prepare a presentation inadvance, rather than have to talk directlyto people in positions of power. However,success in influencing decision-makersstill depends on the non-technologicalability of community members to inter-act with these powerful people. The infor-mation as it stands alone is unlikely toinfluence outsiders, but it might be usefulin providing communities with supportand increased confidence in promotingevidence and plans to decision-makers.

Increased (in Benung) and decreased(in Tepulang) community cohesionbetween generations through sharinginformationDuring the CIS project youth in both vil-lages were attracted to learning to usethe technologies. The community elders,however, controlled the knowledge thatwould populate the information system.Successful development of the CIS there-fore required interaction and anexchange of skills and knowledgebetween these two groups, this process inturn contributed to strengthening com-munity cohesion as well as identity.

There is evidence from Benung that theCIS project facilitated the transfer ofinformation between different genera-tions within the community and con-tributed to greater community cohesion.

There are several examples that indicatethat the interest of younger computeroperators in cultural information wasraised as a result. For example one com-puter operator began to record hisfather’s folktales. He became increasing-ly well known for his interest in culture,history and local traditional law.

There remains a need to have a pre-existing and functional relationshipbetween elders and youth within thecommunity in order for successful information flow to take place. In Tepu-lang, there were only two elders whowere involved and highly motivated bythe project. The others persisted in think-ing that these tools were only somethingto help the young to find work. The resultwas that the management of the toolswas largely left to the youth who endedup using the computer in an undirectedway and without the support of the elders. At the same time some peoplefrom the older generations accused theyoung operators of documenting infor-mation that was false and asserted thatthey had no right to be recording thisinformation in the first place. It was part-ly because of the emphasis on the youthto manage the tools and implement theCIS process that the project came to a haltin Tepulang. This reflected the dysfunc-tional state of the community, where theCIS project appeared to further exacer-bate pre-existing divisions between generations.

Decreased community cohesionbetween educated and less-educatedThe tools were initially chosen for thesimplicity of their use, and there wereexamples of people with only primaryschool education using the computer andlearning specific software as well as elders with no education learning to navigate around the information systemusing the map interface. Nonetheless itwas observed that the CIS skills weremonopolized by the better-educated

youth in the village while the less educat-ed were further marginalized.

EMPOWERMENT SUMMARYThe above analysis, indicated by specificobserved incidents, has demonstratedthat the CIS project both empowered anddisempowered individuals as well ascommunities. In particular the resultsshow that empowerment and empower-ment capacity is more closely related tothe multimedia components of the project, rather than the geographic/map-ping element of the technologies. Howev-er, overall, the CIS project appeared to fitinto, rather than change, the pre-existingpower structures of the community andregion.

It was found useful to have separatedempowerment from empowermentcapacity in the analysis, because it is inthe latter category that the potential forthe project to empower the individualsand communities in the future can bespeculated. These internal changes incapacity are likely to be more substantialand hence more permanent than thedirect indicators in empowermentobserved in this study.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis paper describes findings from a col-

laborative research project. The authorsof this paper acknowledge the otherexternal collaborators including the Cen-tre for International Forestry Research(CIFOR) and the Konsorsium SistemHutan Kerakyatan, Kalimantan Timur(SHK-KalTim). NOTE: The entire article with full references can be found atwww.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/asia/years/2007/feb

Jon M. Corbett Community, Culture and GlobalStudies,University of BritishColumbia, [email protected]

Peter Keller Department of GeographyUniversity of [email protected]

The research in this paper reflects views about theimportance of incorporating citizen participation

into computer-based planning efforts.

The phrase “public participation GIS,” or PPGIS, describesrecent research from the planning profession that is rooted inthe concern that all voices should be heard in a democracy. Inparticular, it aims at improving access to GIS among non-gov-ernmental organizations and individuals, especially those whohave been historically under-represented in public policy mak-ing. Individuals and citizens’ groups without access to GIS mayfind it difficult to gain entry into a public policy-making processthat relies on GIS data and difficult to challenge policies thatwere created through the use of “expert” GIS systems. Advo-cates of PPGIS claim that GIS technology does not adequatelyrepresent many societal groups. Some researchers and practi-tioners instead seek to develop alternative GIS systems (calledGIS/2) that are more adaptable to input from citizens and non-official sources (Obermeyer 1998b). In this model, the role ofparticipants in creating and evaluating data is primary. GIS/2systems seek to accommodate an equitable representation ofdiverse views (Aitken and Michel 1995; Rundstrom 1995; Curry1995; Obermeyer and Pinto 1994; Obermeyer 1995; Al-Kodmany,2000).

METHODOLOGYGetting users’ feedbacks on the Web is becoming increasingpopular. Sending text input or polling choices is widely used toget users’ opinions. However, when working with spatial infor-mation, it is important to be able to visualize such feedback. Intwo-way communication, we want to allow users to annotatemaps and to delineate their concerns on maps. One option is to

allow users to draw various features, such as points, lines, cir-cles, and polygons on the map. It is also possible to add textalong with drawn features. When users send their input to theserver, the server detects the x, y coordinates of such drawingsand saves them. This makes it possible to define a particularlocation. Users can indicate exactly which location they are talk-ing about.

Such a spatial feedback system may be designed with or with-out GIS software. One of the solutions that receives spatial userfeedback on the map is GIS software, specifically, ArcIMS. Theworkflow on the server side is the same as in the data retrievalmethod. However, the function of drawing on the map requiresJava applets and Java and ArcIMS plug-ins in the client side. Theserver and client must work together heavily for this method.Figure 1 shows an example of two-way communication usingArcIMS.

However, ArcIMS has substantial drawbacks, particularly atthe client side. It requires a thick client and a heavy server. A“thin” client means a client computer with just a Web browser,while a “thick” client implies a computer with a Web browserwith other add-ins, such as Java applets, ActiveX controls, andplug-ins to evoke special effects. The thick client needs to down-load such add-ins at runtime or beforehand. A “light” server is aWeb server computer having only HTML documents and relatedfiles, but a “heavy” server has other components, such as data-base applications and GIS software working together with theWeb server. For ArcIMS, the server requires heavy processingwith GIS software and a Java Servlet, and the client also needs aJava plug-in installed beforehand and Java applets at runtime toenable the drawing functions.

In ArcIMS, the download time for data, map and attribute dataretrieval is quite long and it requires substantial bandwidth.Most importantly, the interface design and interaction behav-


COMMUNITY GIS

CREATIVE APPROACHES FOR AUGMENTING TWO-WAY SPATIALCOMMUNICATION AND GIS

Dr. Kheir Al-Kodmany

iour is not intuitive. Because of thesedrawbacks of ArcIMS, we have investedresearch in developing alternative meth-ods for two-way communication. Wedivide them into four categories: grid-based, freehand, a combination of gridand freehand or a “complete interface,”and a compositional method.

Our earliest project was a survey con-sisting of one exercise titled, “Urban Lika-bility and Dislikability” (ULD). Simplyspeaking, participants logged on to theproject Web site where they could view ahigh-resolution aerial photograph oftheir community with a grid overlaid ontop of it. We limited the geographic areato the vicinity of the 18th Street commer-cial district, since this area was the pri-mary focus of revitalisation efforts. Par-ticipants were asked to point out areas onthe map that they liked and disliked andto provide the reasons for their responses.Each square of the grid was identified byits centroid (the centre of the square).This centroid was coded as the actual lon-gitude and latitude of the centre of thesquare. Figure 2, shows an early exampleof a Java Grid based two-way interaction.

Participants were asked to identify theareas of their community that they mostliked and disliked by clicking on theappropriate square of the grid. The onlyvisual assistance on the map was the

name of streets. They were to use aGREEN pointer to indicate liked areas anda RED pointer to indicate disliked areas.When participants clicked on the square,a small window with a question markappeared, asking them to state their rea-sons for liking or disliking that area of thecommunity. When finished, the partici-pant clicked on a button labelled “Sub-mit” and their input was transferred tothe UIC server. Each of the participants’selections could then be stored in theWeb access logs for analysis and feedbackinto the planning process.

Since the server was linked to an Oracledatabase and a GIS application, we hadthe capability of taking all the points thatwere selected by the participants, sortingthem by longitude and latitude, and plot-ting them on a map automatically. TheOracle database could also group theassociated comments. In this manner, acommunity-input database was createdthat contained the range of views aboutareas liked and disliked with the associat-ed reasons.

We then created a number of GIS choro-plethic maps to illustrate the intensity oflikes and dislikes (urban likability andurban dislikability). We used dots to rep-resent intensity: the number of dots ineach cell of the map was proportionate tothe number of times that area was select-

ed by the resi-dents in the sur-vey exercise. Inaddition, theseGIS maps wereinteractive; click-ing on an area (orcell) of the mapopened a windowof text that listedthe residents’stated reasons forliking or dislikingthat area. Sincethe maps provid-ed written evalua-

tions for each point, they were extremelyuseful in supplying specific directions forimprovement and could easily be incor-porated into the next stages of the com-munity planning process.

In a later prototype we used nestedmaps. As mentioned above, the primarydisadvantage of this method is that userscannot select the specific buildings orcombination of buildings that they wishto comment upon, since the size of thefinal selection square is predefined. Theadvantages are clearly evident in theabove example where the uniform selec-tion areas allowed researchers to easilycreate sort and analyse the users’ feed-back.

In evaluating the grid as a selectionmechanism, it has clear advantages anddisadvantages. As in the above example,the grid enables very fast analysis andcompilation of spatial data that can beeasily compared among participants. Onthe other hand, we found that users didnot have enough discretion in selectingthe particular areas of the communityand buildings that they wished to com-ment on. In addition, they were con-strained to the square shape of the grid:even if they only wanted to comment onone building in a corner of this largesquare, they had to select the entiresquare.


Fig. 1: Shows an example of two-way communication using ArcIMS.

A community-input databasecontains rangeof views aboutareas liked anddisliked withthe associatedreasons

As a way to compensate the shortcom-ing of the grid method, we introduced thefreehand sketch method. This projectintroduces an entirely new technologyfor enabling user feedback using Web-based maps. In this new prototype, par-ticipants can go to the online survey Website and use a drawing tool to select theareas of the community that they wish tocomment upon; their locational choicesare not limited by the pre-defined geo-graphic areas of the square grid. On theinitial screen, the participants view astructure base map of the communityalong with two buttons labelled “Click toselect area with drawing tool” and “Clickto type in comments.” When a partici-pant clicks on the drawing button, thecursor turns into an arrow and uponpressing and holding down the left but-ton of the mouse, it starts to draw. Theuser may draw any shape on the mapand when the mouse is released, the linesclose on themselves to form a polygon. Ifthe user does not draw an enclosedshape, the program approximates theline that closes the shape into a polygon.Figure 3, shows an example of sketchingcapabilities on aerial photograph.

Each of the discussed prototypes so farprovides particularly features; some are

designed tosketch, others totype in com-ments. Some aregrid based andothers are basedon freeform draw-ing. Some havezooming othersdo not. We are inthe process ofdeveloping a Website that will com-bine the bestdesign features ofthe interfacesdescribed above.Users will have

options to work with or without the grid,to zoom in and out, to add layers, to typein comments, to sketch, and so on. Thishas apparent advantages (more choices)and disadvantages (confusion, technicaldifficulties to create the interface and towork out the database). Figure 4, showsan attempt to create a “complete” soft-ware interface for two-way communica-tion.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PARTICI-PATORY PLANNINGPublic participation in a communityplanning processis important indemocratic socie-ty; however it is acomplex under-taking. Ourresearch exploresstate-of-the-artinformation tech-nology (IT) tofacilitate theprocess. Web-based mappingopens up thepotential forinvolving a widerrange of people by

bridging time and space. At the same, IThas the potential to automatically collateparticipants’ responses and ideas in acohesive manner as described in the pre-vious examples. Traditional public par-ticipation in planning usually relies onsame-place and same-time meetings,which restricts involvement. Web-basedmapping can be utilized for wideningand diversifying channels of communica-tion among the public, planners, andpoliticians.

Our research has asked the question,how can Web-based GIS aid participatoryplanning? It would be useful to place thisquestion in the framework provided byWeidemann and Femers (1993). They pre-sented a public participation ladder mod-el that arranged the tasks of public partic-ipation in a vertical dimension. Theorder, from top to bottom, is as follows: 1)public participation in final decision, 2)public participation in assessing risks andrecommending solutions, 3) public partic-ipation in defining interest, actors anddetermining agenda, 4) public right toobject, 5) informing the public, and 6)Public right to know. Kingston (1998)argues that most Web GIS models areconfined within the two lungs of the pub-lic participation ladder; the “public rightto know” and “informing the public.”


Fig. 2: An early example of a Java Grid based two-way interaction.

Fig. 3: An example of sketching capabilities on aerial photograph.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I CF E B R UA R Y 2 0 07 37

Our research aims at expanding the roleof Web-based GIS from being limited tothe last two tasks to including as many asall six tasks. We envision that a loop ofcommunication facilitated by two-wayspatial communication may enable thepublic to “object,” to “define interests andagenda,” and to “assess risks and recom-mend solutions.” This could be possibleby further developing Web-based map-ping that employs a wider range ofincreasingly powerful Web technology.

Present commercial Web-GIS softwarelends themselves well to one-way com-munication with the public. The methodis appropriate to allow the public toaccess spatial information from remoteplaces such as home or office. Two-waycommunication on Web-based maps isintended to not only provide spatialinformation about a particular planningproblem, but also to provide a forum forthe public and planners to express theirperspectives and concerns in a spatial for-mat. Planners as well as governmentofficials can learn about local knowledge,which is necessary for sound planning.The three-way communication conceptfurther supports democratic decision-making by allowing the public to view

the opinions of allparticipants.

The tools wehave developed inthese prototypicalinterfaces havethe potential to beused by a varietyof agencies formultiple purpos-es. For example, ithas beenobserved thattransportationplanning andlocal “comprehen-sive” planningtend to occur sep-arately, resulting

in some cases in policies that work atcross purposes. A partial solution couldbe that comprehensive planning andtransportation planning leaders couldincorporate these kinds of Web-basedtools to both inform the public and alsolearn about public concerns and views.By sharing future planning ideas andlearning about public concerns, costlymistakes could be avoided. This kind ofcommunication could be used to addressother issues such as urban sprawl, creat-ing subdivisions, transportation plan-ning, landscaping, and identifyingadvantageous options for developmentand environmental protection.

CONCLUSION It is increasingly important to directresearch to discovering the most effectivemethods and tools for interacting withthe public using maps. As there has beena dramatic increase in the number of peo-ple exposed to and using screen-basedgeographic information products for gen-eral use, two-way communication of spa-tial information must become more effi-cient and more easily comprehended.Researchers in the field have estimatedthat “up to 90% of all business data has a

geographic component” (ARC News 1997),while an estimated 80% of all govern-ment information is spatially referenced(Huxhold 1991). Governments them-selves publish geographic informationon-line. For example, the San Diego, Cali-fornia Police Department publishes dataon crimes on a public Web site just 24hours after the incidents occur. Localplanning agencies use the Web as anadjunct to the traditional public meetingformat. A number of U.S. governmentagencies, including the U.S. CensusBureau (Web.census.gov), the GeologicalSurvey (Web.usgs.gov), and the NationalCancer Institute, provide maps via theWeb. Without direct research into whichdesigns, tools and methods of presentingand receiving spatial information aremost easily used and comprehended bythe public, we may be misinformed inestimating the level of communicationthat is actually occurring.

New Web technology has made it possible to create map-based surveys toreceive feedback from the general public,but it is not yet clear what kind of graphicdesign alternatives and digital mapdesigns and tools are the most useful fornovice map-readers. In the future, weplan to empirically compare these inter-faces to learn more about how peoplecomprehend screen-based maps vs.paper-based maps. More research isneeded in order to understand the uniquechallenges and important advantages ofWeb-based maps in general, and the use-fulness of each graphic design and tool inparticular. By beginning to examine Webcartography, we are taking one step fur-ther toward understanding how peoplecomprehend and utilize screen-basedmaps.NOTE: The entire article with full references can be found atwww.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/asia/years/2007/feb

Fig. 4: An attempt to create a “complete” software interface for two-way communication.

Kheir Al-Kodmany, Ph.D.Director of Graduate StudiesAssociate ProfessorUniversity of Illiniois, [email protected]

Satellite based mapping of resources has beenaround for a number of years now. The wealth of

data will continue to pour down from the satellites fortimes to come. Analysis of data, reducing it to usefulinformation and disseminating it to the intendedusers will keep a part of remote sensing communityoccupied.

A broad range of concepts, to describe and prescribe the processof decision making needs to be developed, to bring co-ordina-tion in the chaos of data and information. Considering theuncertain environment, the chance that "good decisions" aremade increases with the availability of "good information." Thechance that "good information" is available increases with thelevel of structuring of the process of Knowledge Management.

In near future optimization of the data acquisition process itselfis likely to receive considerable attention. The process becomesall the more significant in view of myriad number variables thatare required to be fine tuned for obtaining the best results and aneed to learn from wealth of available experience.

In the paper, entire experience space has been reduced to fourdimensions namely, the sensors, the scenarios, the mathemati-cal models of analysis and time; which in combinations formpatterns of knowledge. However, the consolidation of experi-ence is likely to run into situation similar to the celebrated ‘Chi-nese Room Problem’ unless adequately guarded against. Thepaper proposes use of advanced statistical techniques such as‘ANOVA’ to put the process on a more secure foundation

THE CHINESE ROOM : PROBLEM The Chinese Room argument, devised by John Searle centers ona thought experiment in which someone who knows only Eng-lish sits alone in a room. Imagine a man who does not under-stand Chinese, enclosed in a room with a heap of symbols writ-ten in Chinese. Imagine that the man receives similar Chinesesymbols through a window. The symbols he receives may beconsidered some kind of queries. The man is also provided witha look table; that tells him which symbol from the heap is to bereturned out of the window, as an answer to the query. Assum-ing that look up table is good enough; this man inside the roomwould appear to be ‘understanding’ Chinese to those outsidethe room.

The argument is intended to show that while suitablyinformed person may appear to converse in natural language;they are not capable of understanding the language, even inprinciple. Searle argues that the thought experiment under-scores the fact that a person may merely use syntactic rules to


REMOTE SENSING

ANALYSIS OF PROCESSVARIANCE IN REMOTESENSING APPLICATIONS

Squadron Leader Mudit Mathur, Wing Commander Yeshwant Andurkar

Fig. 1: Purity of information to knowledge

manipulate symbol strings, but have nounderstanding of meaning or semantics.Searle's argument has broad implicationsfor functionalist and computational theo-ries of meaning and data interpretation.

PHASE SPACE OF REMOTESENSING DATA & CONSOLI-DATION OF EXPERIENCEA large number of environmental vari-ables, sensor characteristics, mathemati-cal models of analysis, etc influence dataacquisition, and analysis in remote sens-ing field. Relating the correctness of theinterpreted data to the large input vari-ables can be misleading if not all the rele-vant variables have been factored in,some way or the other. The existingpanoptic human dependent process actu-ates itself close to Chinese Room. Even ifthe system gives correct output for alarge sample size, there is always achance that you are actually mistaking aChinese Room situation for a meaningfuldata interpretation.

ANALYSIS OF PROCESSVARIANCE: PROBLEM REDEFINEDA real world pattern of perceiving a phys-ical object by a naked eye consists of fol-lowing events

• Ray of light originates in entire band-width of spectrum from the source.

• Light falls on object interacts with it:.Interference, Lambert diffusion and radi-ance reflectance.

• The eye cap-tures scatteredlight. Remotesensing.

• Image formedon the retina.Sensorial acquisi-tion and imageformation.

• Image isreduced to pulsesby rods andcones in the reti-na and carried tobrain by opticalnerve. The imageis stored in thebrain in the con-tent and contextform andretrieved asrequired.

• The data isinterpreted intouseful informa-tion by sequenceof complex rou-tines inside the brain. The data interpreta-tion routine is probably selected / fine-tuned for optimal performance in the con-text of the problem and past experienceof the success rate.

The process of acquisition to analysis ofremote sensing data by sensor can beequated with similar analogy. Theenabling variables in the process are vir-tually impossible to handle in a linearsequential dimension due to extremeinterdependence. These variables need tobe reduced to manageable number. Thiscan be defined as non-dimensional num-bers or variables similar to Mach number,Reynolds number etc of fluid mechanics.

It is hypothesized that the innumerablevariable in remote sensing can be similar-ly reduced to the following 3-Dimensions;with adequate safeguard against Chineseroom situation.

• Sensorial dimension.

• Scenarios dimension.

• Mathematical functions dimension.

It is to be noted and understood thedimensional pattern is true and defini-tive in a time domain only. Therefore, wecan safely define the fourth dimension astime or temporality.

UNDERSTANDING DIMEN-SIONSDimension is nothing but a sequence ofknown possibilities or points in a defini-tive pattern. One may choose any num-ber of possibilities as the points in asequential definitive pattern.

SENSORIAL DIMENSIONIn a sensorial dimension the points canbe marked and named as the seriallyordered bandwidths, which can beemployed for postulating spectra ofimageries. This can also be interdepend-


Fig. 4: Dimensional Analysis Cube: Pattern

Fig. 3: Dimensions for Process Analysis

D3 TIME(TEMPORALITY)

SCENARIO

MATHEMATICAL

SENSORIAL D1

D2

D4 FUNCTIONS

n

n

CHINESE ROOM PROBLEM

APPLICATION

APPLICATION

RESULT

C RR1R2

R3

C1

C2C3

B

A

Fig. 2: Chinese Room Problem

TIME & SPACE BARRIER

ently computed between the satellitesensor and bandwidth segmentation e.g.for a set of sensors such as MODIS, NOAA,LANDSAT etc the points can be computedinto a micro-bandwidths of 0.45 µm to0.50 µm and 0.50 µm to 0.55 µm and similar segmentation of 0.05 µm toachieve linearity in the random and dis-tributed sensor chaos of various satellitesensors.

SCENARIOS DIMENSIONThis dimension can be defined as variousprobabilities of observance needed in theremote sensing activities to observe geo-logical and morphological feature. Someof the suggested scenarios in remotesensing are forest, desert, snow, definedman-made features and so on.

MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONSDIMENSIONThis is probably the most complex and ill-defined dimension as the mathematicalmodels and standard practices are stillevolving. This dimension represents the

reduction of theacquired data tousable informa-tion. e.g. to bringan imageryacquired in band-width between0.49µm to 0.51 µm(sensorial dimen-sion) the dry for-est will give a veryhigh reflectanceleaving a relative-ly no space forinterpreting andanlaysing data onshrubs, thornybushes and cacti.Whereas the samedata (sensorialdimension) mod-eled with specificbreakpoints, con-

volution and filters (mathematical func-tions) can bring out interpretable infor-mation on a shrubs and cacti. This mathe-matical function model can be similarlyand seamlessly utilized for all the scenar-ios keeping the sensorial dimension con-stant and can be used in metamorphinginterdependent information between thevarious dimensions.

POPULATING THE EXPERI-ENCE SPACEThe fourth dimension to the experiencespace is temporal. The space can be popu-lated with the data along the four dimen-sions. The correctness of remotelyacquired data can be crosschecked byphysical verification, and can be gradedusing a suitable criterion on an arbitraryscale such as 0-10 or 0-1. The statisticalanalysis of the data using techniquessuch as ‘ANOVA’ can facilitate in assign-ing the confidence or reliability evaluatesto the remote sensing experience for eachpoint in the experience space. These val-ues will get continuously refined as thedata fills in the experience space and thusgenerate a useful lookup table for reliabil-ity of the remotely acquired data in multidimensional space. The inbuilt iterationof values at each point in experiencespace will lead to consolidation of experi-ence. It is proposed that such an organiza-tion of experience space would beimmune to vagaries of Chinese Room likesituation.

ANOVA compares means by using esti-mates of variance. Specifically, the sam-pled observations can be described interms of the variation of the individualvalues around their group means, and ofthe variation of the group means around


Fig. 7: Process of Variance Affecting Population Purity

Fig. 6: Integration of Multi Sensor in Sensorial Dimension

SAMPLING

DEFINE RISK LIMITATIONSCONFIDE LARGE PROBABILITIES

VULGARISEDECISION/ANALYSIS

STIMULATE

POPULATIONOF

PATTERNSSAMPLE

SAMPLING TECHNIQUESSAMPLE DISTRIBUTION

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07 41

the overall mean. These measures are fre-quently referred to as sources of "within-groups" and "between-groups" variabili-ty, respectively. This makes it suitable forassignment of values to each point in theexperience space.

It would be easy to verify the hypothe-sis if sufficient data is organized into afour dimensional matrix and analyzed assuggested. Emergence of a Chinese Roomlike situation and failure of the hypothe-sis would point to a necessity for redefin-ition of the experience space alonggreater number of dimensions.

In real world the analytic thinking aftersubstantial temporality and sizeableinformation will mass the model affirm-ing in decision making process. This willmake controlled risk modeling and in-sight, a large complex probabilities forthe population of patterns. It will alsohelp in extrapolate a very large popula-tion of multi dimensional covariant andconfidence established data between sce-

narios, sensors, and mathematical func-tions. Resulting in establishing better andfine-tuned sampling techniques, strongsample distribution with sharper valuesin central limits. This will in turn providepure sample for multidimensional covari-ant & iterated matrix, provisioning clear-er samples for analysis and decision-mak-ing. This circle of population, sampling,and decision will subsequently bring inever purifying and steadying process.

CONCLUSIONThe behavior of non-linear dynamical

systems can be reconstructed in terms ofsymbolic probabilistic language definedby finite-state, stack or nested-stackautomata. So a basis exists for directlycomparing the symbolic computation ofthe Chinese Room with that of a ANOVAin remote sensing defined & undefined(experienced) attributes. Understandingthe multi dimensionality and interdependence between scenarios, mathe-

matical functional model, and sensors ina defined and sequential temporality isthe main basis of linear spatiality of theproblem. The interdependence in intangi-ble features by the help of Multi-factoranalysis of variance & covariance pro-vides insight to the source of potentialproblems in the remote sensing analysisprocess and identify whether variation inmeasured output values is due to vari-ability between various processes, orwithin them. Statistical techniques thushelp to make an accurate assessment ofvariations in a remote sensing process. NOTE: All rights reserved with Yeshwant Andurkar and Mudit Mathur. Document may not be copied in part or fullwithout express written permission from the authors.

Squadron Leader MuditMathurIndian Air [email protected]

Wing Commander YeshwantAndurkarIndian Air [email protected]


CONFERENCE REPORT

Coinciding with its 10th anniversary of the annual 'MapIndia' conferences in the field of Geographic Information

Sciences (GIS), GIS Development undertook a giant leap forwardto organize a conference at global level, 'Map World Forum'. Themeet was held at International Convention Centre in Hyder-abad, India from January 22 to 25, 2007.

With the mission of being a medium of convergence for various stakeholders of the geospatial community and its inte-gration with end users, GIS Development through this conference provided a platform to world geospatial communityto focus on various domains of GIS and other related technologies.

Department of Science and Technology, Government of Indiawas the patron and principal sponsor of the event.. The megameet received support in a big way from other governmentinstitutions and private industry.

PARTICIPATIONMap World Forum had 1737 delegates visiting the 4-day confer-ence, representing 64 countries from across the world. Partici-pants included representatives from the geospatial communitycomprising of map producers, users, educational institutions,technology developers from government, private industriesand policy makers. Overall the conference featured 180 paperspresented at the conference over, 5 plenary sessions, 11 seminars, 14 technical sessions and 5 workshops, which hadan impressive list of national and international speakers.

INAUGURATIONThe glittering inaugural session began with opening remarks-by Dr. T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Tech-nology, who touched the right cord by saying that the confer-ence's objective was to 'link technology to policy and their use'and at the same time he said it could well be achieved as “it is aspecial gathering of the geospatial community with a specialpurpose”.

Dr. M P Narayanan, President, GIS Development gave theintroductory remarks briefly tracing the history of Map IndiaConference, from 1998, when it was first launched and celebrat-ing the 10th anniversary of it this year.

The presidential address was delivered by Y Rajashekhar Red-dy, Honorable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who exclaimedin his saying how Hyderabad has been home to remote sensingexpertise in India since the formation of the NRSA.

The guest address was presented by Dato’ Seri Haji Ajimi BinKhalid, Honorable Minister of Natural Resources and Environ-ment, Government of Malaysia. He mentioned that Malaysia isa huge trading partner of India where one of India's mainexports to his country is "GIS expertise."

In his inaugural address Kapil Sibal, Hon'ble Minister of Sci-ence & Technology and Earth Sciences mentioned that “Indiahas the capacity to capture the outsourcing opportunities in theGIS market”. He also said that Government of India is contem-plating a legislation to "revitalize and re-engineer" SOI and provide greater freedom and flexibility to the organization.

MAP WORLD FORUM 2007

In 10 years 'Map India' reaches to 'Map World Forum'


Maneesh Prasad, COO and ManagingEditor, GIS Development delivered vote ofthanks to all the dignitaries and delegatespresent during the occasion.

PLENARY SESSIONSThe conference had 5 plenary sessions,which had a very impressive list ofnational and international speakers. Thetopics discussed at plenary sessionsincluded

• Geospatial Technologies: Return onInvestment

• Geographic Information as Public Utility

Technology Trends

• Capacity Building

• Geospatial Information - Emerging Business Models

SEMINARSThe seminars at the conference proved tobe equally diverse and interesting. All thesessions included a discussion of theworld-view and perceptions of digni-taries from across the globe coveringmost of the topics relating to GIS, RemoteSensing and its sub domains. The newidea of panel discussions at the seminarsevolved to an informative, interestingand thought provoking discussions.

The topics discussed in seminars included

• Cartography

• Geospatial Technologies in Utilities &critical Infrastructure Protection

• Spatial Data Infrastructure

• LIDAR

• Disaster Management

• Geo Web Services

• Global Outsourcing in Geospatial Industry

• Aerial Photogrammetry & RemoteSensing: Digital sensor systems andautomatic production

• Urban Renewal and Information Systems

• Standards and Interoperability and

• Surveying and Mapping

TECHNICAL SESSIONSIn total there were 14 technical sessionsrunning parallely in six different halls.These sessions provided opportunity tospeakers to present papers on variedfields of technical and social applicationsof spatial technology. The technical ses-sions covered were

• GIS in Mountain Environment

• Earth Sciences

• Health and Medical GIS

• Natural Resources and Ecology Monitoring

• Agriculture and Forestry: Monitoringand Analysis

• Transportation Management

• Global Positioning Systems

• Urban Planning and InfrastructureDevelopment

• 3D Terrain Modeling

• GIS Based Modeling

• Web GIS

• Crime Detection and National Security

• Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry

• GIS Applications and Trends

EXHIBITIONThe exhibition space was spread over anarea of 1500 sq ft with over 69 exhibitorsfrom across the globe showcasing anddisplaying products, services and solu-tions. It also presented 3 best exhibitorawards based on participants' feedback,which went to UAE Armed Forces,Autodesk and Leica Geosystems.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTSThe other highlights of the conferencewere Workshops, Poster sessions, Editors

forum, Students forum and User meets.The conference had 5 specialized success-ful workshops, which were executedunder the guidance of GIS experts. Postersessions at the conference provided achance for various speakers to share theirexperience and expertise in GIS and related topics.

MAP WORLD FORUM-2007AWARDSBest Paper Award – Technical Session in SeminarsMetadata and Data quality: Does itImpact Interoperability?

Manoj Mishra, Formed Head of GIS andStrategic Business Development, RMSI,India

Best Paper Award – Technical SessionIndustrial Resiting in View of ImpendingUrban Sprawl : A Case Ctudy of EIA,Industrial Estate of Hyderabad

S Padmaja, Professor, Osmania Universi-ty, India

Best Paper Award- StudentCalculation of Human Resources Indexusing GIS Software and GUI Customiza-tion

G Saradha and N Muthulakshmi,College of Engineering, Anna University

Best Student Poster AwardDevelopment of a System for 3D Visualization of LiDAR Data

Sudhasheel Ghosh, Ph.D Student, IITKanpur

Best ExhibitorsUAE Armed ForcesAutodeskLeica Geosystems

Fig. 1: Glittering Exhibition Hall at MWF

Deepak PatelSub-Editor, GIS Development [email protected]

The Second ESRI Asia-Pacific User Conference was success-fully held on 18th and 19th of January, 2007 at Taj Palace

Hotel, New Delhi, India. It brought together both individual andorganizational users of ESRI.

GIS usage has expanded to various new areas, ESRI has been atthe forefront in this arena. The Asia Pacific region itself, hasemerged as a hub for a large number of GIS applications that aredeployed world over. The Second ESRI Asia-Pacific User Confer-ence offered participants a glimpse of the latest developmentsand technology trends spearheaded by ESRI.

THEME: GIS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTAsia Pacific, one of the most distinct world regions in terms ofgeography, culture and economic development, is in the midstof a rapid change. This change, largely an effect of globalization,is supported by the rapid development, transmission and use ofinformation and knowledge. Effective economic developmentstrategies depend on answering a variety of questions such asthe spatial patterns of households, businesses and proposedinfrastructural facilities within a community, which are prima-rily geographic in nature. Through demand for services andinputs, economic development fosters job growth, strengthenslocal industries, spurs demographic changes, influences house-hold spending patterns, and raises the volume of income circu-

lating throughout the economy. The Second ESRI Asia PacificUser conference provided a platform to discuss the economic,social and environmental benefits of GIS.

The paper sessions at the conference provided a platform forESRI users to share their valuable work on GIS with topics,

• Infrastructure

• Cadastre

• Telecommunications

• Transportation & Logistics

• Defence

• Education

• Utilities like Gas, Electricity, Water, Wastewater

• E-Government

• Environment

• Health

• Agriculture.

The Conference hosted an exhibition in which ESRI solutionpartners displayed their solutions for the GIS market. The eventwas attended by hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of atten-dees from ESRI user organisations across the globe.


CONFERENCE REPORT

Second ESRI Asia-PacificUser Conference

Deepak PatelSub-Editor, GIS Development [email protected]

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EDITORIAL CALENDAR - YEAR 2007

Month Theme Country Pages

JanuaryThe Year Ahead - Viewpoints on issues, needs,trends, future plan, etc .

India

February Community GIS Sri Lanka

March 3D Mapping Philippines, Vietnam, Laos

April GIS Education Malaysia

May Photogrammetry Japan

June Infrastructure Korea

July High Resolution Imaging & Remote Sensing Indonesia

August Open Source GIS China

September LiDAR Thailand

October Defence/Security Singapore

November Landuse Planning/ Urban Renewal Pakistan

December Business GIS/Economics of GIS Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar

Send in your contributions to editorial@gisdevelopment .net .Please follow the Editorial Guidelines (http://www .gisdevelopment .net/magazine/index .htm) while preparing your articles .

46 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A F E B R UA R Y 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C

PLANNER

MARCH 20076 - 8 March 2007Munich Satellite NavigationSummit 2007Munich, Germany

www.munich-satellite-navigation-summit.org

12-14 March, 2007International Conference onWater and Flood ManagementDhaka, Bangladesh

www.buet.ac.bd/icwfm/

13-16 MarchGEOFORM+ 2007Moscow, Russia

www.geoexpo.ru/defaulteng.stm

21-23 March, Singapore3rd Asian Space Conference

http://pdcc.ntu.edu.sg/ASC2007

April 2007 9 - 11 April 2007Map Middle East 2007 Dubai World Trade Center Dubai, UAE

www.mapmiddleeast.org

23 - 25 April 2007, Saudi ArabiaThe 2nd National GISSymposium in Saudi Arabia Le Meridian Hotel, Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Website: http://www.saudigis.org/default.aspx

May 2007 14-18 MaySpatial Sciences InstituteBiennial InternationalConferenceHobart, Tasmania, Australia

www.ssc2007.com

21-24 MayIntergraph 2007Nashville, Tennessee, USA

www.intergraph2007.com

23-25 MayGeoinformation for DisasterManagement (Gi4DM2007)Toronto, Canada

http://gmoss.jrc.it

28-30 MayInternational Conference onIntegrated Navigation SystemSaint Petersburg, Russia

www.elektropribor.spb.ru/enfrset.html

28-31 May5th International Symposiumon Mobile MappingTechnologyPadova, Italy

www.cirgeo.unipd.it

June 2007 6-8 June2nd International Conferenceon Managing Rivers in 21stCentury: Solutions TowardsSustainable River BasinsKuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

http://rivers07.eng.usm.my

12 - 13 June 2007 Location India 2007 Banglore, India

www.location.net.in/india/2007/conference

12-18 June21st Pacific Science CongressOkinawa, Japan

www.psc21.net

18-22 June27th ESRI International UserConferenceSan Diego, California USA

www.esri.com

20-22 JuneGeoinformation Forum JapanPacifico Yokohama, Japan

www.jsurvey.jp

July 2007 11-13 JulySecureIndia 2007Mumbai, India

http://www.secureindia.co.in/

15-20 JulyCambridge Conference 2007 Cambridge, UK

www.cambridgeconference.com

August 2007 4-10 AugustXXIII ICA InternationalCartographic ConferenceMoscow, Russia

www.icc2007.com

28-29 AugustISPRS Workshop on UpdatingGeospatial Databases withImageryUrumchi, Xinjiang, China

http://isprs-wg41.nsdi.gov.cn

14- 16 August, 2007 Map Asia 2007 Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Email: [email protected]

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