gis-asia-cover.qxp 3/23/2007 2:57 pm page 1 gis development : asia pacific china china using remote...

MARCH 2007 VOL 11 ISSUE 3

20 GIS EDUCATION: TRAINING,

PLACEMENT AND PROSPECT

Satyaprakash

32 STATUS OF SURVEYING AND

MAPPING IN LAOS, PHILIPPINES:

GATHERING MOMENTUM

Saurabh Mishra

34 TRENDS IN GEOSPATIAL

EDUCATION FOR WORKING

PROFESSIONALS

Abdul Rashid Bin, Mohamed Sharif

36 ONLINE STUDY RESOURCES:

REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

Ananya Ghosh

38 PICTURE THIS...

42 TECH WATCH

44 BLOGBUSTER

48 PUBLICATIONS

www.gisdevelopment.net

gis-asia-cover.qxp 3/23/2007 2:57 PM

CCOONNTTEENNTTSS

EDITORIAL 05 LETTERS 07

NEWS 08 EVENTS 50

28 PERSPECTIVES

This is an attempt to present theviews of eminent academiciansrepresenting different regions ofAsia, namely, the Middle East,South Asia and South East Asia,on the status of GIS education intheir respective countries.

32 STATUS OF SURVEYING AND MAPPING IN LAOS, PHILIPPINES: GATHERINGMOMENTUM

Saurabh Mishra

The article gives a glimpse ofgeospatial scenario of the twoASEAN nations...

34 TRENDS IN GEOSPATIAL EDUCATION FOR WORKING PROFESSIONALS

Abdul Rashid Bin, Mohamed Sharif

The article outlines the structureof the geospatial courses offeredin Malaysia...

36 ONLINE STUDY RESOURCES:REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

Ananya Ghosh

Compilation of websites thatoffer online tutorials on Remote Sensing and GIS.

40 LEARNING THROUGH Bb@GIS INSTITUTE

SatyaprakashAn instructor's view of UNIGISProfessional course...

38 PICTURE THIS...

42 TECH WATCH

44 BLOGBUSTER

46 CONFERENCE REPORT

48 PUBLICATIONS

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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 | M A R C H 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 3

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

20 GIS Education: Training, Placement and Prospect - Satyaprakash

President M P Narayanan Editor in Chief Ravi Gupta Managing Editor Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar Honorary Advisor Prof. Arup DasguptaSr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Associate Editor Dr. Satyaprakash

NNoorrtthh AAmmeerriiccaaRegional Manager Annu Negi

EEuurrooppeeRegional Sales ManagerNiraj

SSoouutthh EEaasstt AAssiiaa PPaacciiffiiccRegional Manager Sunil Ahuja Assistant Editor Saurabh MishraManager SalesKavitha SerasSouth AsiaRegional Sales Manager Shivani LalDy. Manager SalesAnupam SahVivek RawatSub EditorAnanya Ghosh

MMiiddddllee EEaasstt Regional Manager Swati Grover Regional Sales Manager Prashant Joshi Manager Sales Sharmishtha Seth Sub Editor Neha Arora

LLooccaattiioonnProduct ManagerNirajSr. Asst. EditorAnamika Das Sub EditorHarpreet Rooprai

PPoorrttaallManagerKarunesh Kumar MauryaDy. ManagerAnshu GargSr. Sub Editor Harsha VardhanSub EditorDeepak KB

SSooffttwwaarree DDeevveellooppmmeenntt GGrroouuppTeam Leader Kumar Vikram Team MemberViral Pandey

DDeessiiggnnSr. Creative DesignerPrashanto SarkarDeepak Kumar Assistant Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh

TTrraaiinniinngg aanndd RReesseeaarrcchh TTeeaammCourse Co-ordinator Neeraj Budhari

EEvveennttssVicky Kalra, Albert Ahmed, Rupal Mehta Marketing Co-ordinator Megha Datta Sales Co-ordinatorUma Shankar PandeyManager - Accounts Yatindar Mohan Srivastava Dy. Manager - Accounts Anju Rawat Registration Co-ordinator Sumit Kumar Circulation Vijay Kumar Singh

GIS-contents.qxp 3/23/2007 2:59 PM Page 5

Google EarthIts really shocking to see the Google view of strategic Indianplaces. We saw detailed views of the Sardar Patel National PoliceAcademy, during our LBSNAA academy tenure. This is very riskyfor the country's security. There should be strict action againstsuch acts and prior permission should be made mandatorybefore putting any such view online by any of the searchengines. Is there no international norm guarding such acts?

Smita Pandey, IAS(P), West Bengal, India

The news about 'Google Earth to blur key Indian sites...' is mostprobably the result of arm twisting done by the Indian govern-ment. All those concerned about high resolution data, please docare to have a look at the recently published book on Indian Aer-ial Photographs by Kunal Verma - 'Ocean To Sky'. I sincerelyhope this comment does not result in an 'Official' ban on thisvery nice piece of work. I thank GIS Development in keeping thecrusade against map censorship active.

Navjot Kalra, New Delhi, India

Way cleared for fasterimplementation of India's NSDI;4,800 Survey of India maps to bereleased into public domainThis is what I have been waiting to hear all my life. This is excel-lent for my motherland.

Sanjib K. Ghosh, Professor Emeritus, USA

The euphoria over the announcement by the Head, NSDI, thatfourty eight hundred topographical maps will be available inthe open domain, is to say the least very heartening. All that Iam surprised about is that how come none have asked aboutthe total maps which cover the country? To shed some light onthe facts well hidden - India is covered by approximately 5100topographical maps at a scale of 1: 50,000. Out of these 4800were anyway, always available across the counter from Surveyof India offices. Why isn't anyone from our geospatial commu-nity hollering for the release of the so called 'restricted' mapswhich by the way are the 300 odd sheets that cover the coast-

line where most of our large towns and cities are located.

Manu Parulekar, Mumbai, India

This is the best effort the country has made. This informationwill be very helpful to town planners, NGO's, disaster management groups & hordes of others.

Sutanu K. Ghose, India

India to build comprehensive SDI for DelhiIt is a good start for India but other countries of Asia should alsoinvest in promotion of GIS to be able to manage crisis. India cantake a lead as I had emphasised to Indian delegates in Colomboduring the Water Conference. I still doubt if my point of viewwas really understood. Let USA, Europe and Russia come forward to face the global challenges like tsunamis and earthquakes.

M. Shahjahan Bhatti, Pakistan

NATMO to launch Golden Map ServiceReally good news for the future.

Surendra Pal Singh, India

Satellite killing test by China againstinternational convention: ISRO chiefFrom what I see, China has to go the other way around to succeed in outer space but not through satellite killing tests!

Ngereja. M. Mgejwa, Tanzania

7G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I CM A R C H 2 0 07

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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

CHINA

China using remotesensing to check illegalland use China is using satelliteremote sensing techniquesto check illegal land use in90 cities, said an official withthe Ministry of Land andResources on February 27.According to officials in theministry's Bureau of Law

Enforcement and Supervi-sion, the techniques will helpfind out and check illegalland use in time and give fullplay to the role of govern-ment macro-control in landsupply. Satellite picturesusing remote sensing tech-niques can show the chang-ing of a city's newly usedland for construction in aperiod, thereby find outwhether the involved landuse breaks laws.

The government check willfocus on activities likeapproving lands in contraryto government plans and

industrial policies and ille-gally expropriating farmlandfor construction, according tothe official. The Chinese gov-ernment has seen checkingexcessive growth of landsupply as an effective way ofcurbing runaway fixed-assetinvestment and cooling theeconomy. Some of the othermeasures taken to tightenland supply last year includehigher taxes on urban landuse and stripping local gov-ernments of their authorityto spend the money fromland sales.

www.english.people.com.cn

INDIA

NATMO to launchGolden MapServiceKolkata, India, 15 February2007 - Using the latest devel-opments in IT, the NationalAtlas and Thematic MappingOrganisation (NATMO),India, would map the entirecountry down to the villagelevel using spatial technolo-gy through its Golden MapService. The programme waslaunched at the concludingceremony of NATMO's gold-en jubilee on February 16.

According to Prithvish Nag,Director, NATMO, this is theera of Web cartography inmobile communication.NATMO seeks to take a lead-ing role in this field throughits Golden Map Service proj-ect. Under this project, theentire country will bemapped on large-scale mapsright upto the village level.

To begin with, the entiremap of Kolkata will now beavailable at the click of amouse.

www.hindu.com

3D mapping ofDelhi proposedThe Department of Science &Technology, Survey of India(SOI) and the Ministry ofUrban Development(MOUD), have come togetherto make the data based on 3Dcity model available for thecapital city of Delhi. The 3Dmapping of National CapitalTerritory of Delhi is sched-uled to be completed withinthree years. The project isestimated to cost over Rs. 100crores (US$ 2 million), whichwould soon be recovered byway of enhanced revenuecollection. This wasannounced at a Press Confer-ence jointly addressed byUrban Development Minis-ter, S. Jaipal Reddy and KapilSibal, Minister for Science &Technology and Earth Sci-ences.

Survey of India (SoI) wouldprepare 3D maps for 400cities in five years. The datagenerated by the mapswould be shared with all theplanning agencies and eventhe emergency and securityservices in future. In Delhi,the SoI would also embarkon a project in which theunderground utilities wouldbe mapped and used in realtime to monitor problemsand also plan for the future.

The temporal data generat-ed will be of great signifi-cance for many applications

such as change detection inbuildings and areas, recast-ing past events, crowd moni-toring. It will also help inplanning and organizingevents such as Common-wealth Games. This databasewill be a major resource indisaster management, utili-ties management and evenenhanced property tax col-lection besides security man-agement.

www.pib.nic.in

ISRO to launchOCEANSAT-2 in2008Ahmedabad, India, 14 Febru-ary 2007 - India will getsharper eyes to track rav-aging cyclones and forecastmonsoon when the IndianSpace Reserach Organisation(ISRO) launches the indige-nously-built INSAT-3D andOCEANSAT-2 satellites nextyear. The OCEANSAT-1,launched in May, 1999, haspayloads specifically tailoredfor the measurement ofphysical and biologicaloceanography parameters.OCEANSAT-2 will play animportant role in forecastingthe onset of monsoon and itssubsequent advancementover the Indian peninsula.The mission will involve atotal estimated cost of Rs129.15 crore (about $32 mil-lion) with a foreignexchange component of Rs86 crore (about $21 million).With the realisation of theOCEANSAT-2 mission, Indiawill have the capacity tocover many applications per-taining to ocean and meteor-

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ology. OCEANSAT-2 satellitewill have a Ocean ColourMonitor which will helpidentify potential areas forfishery. It will also carryradar scatterometer whichwill measure the sea surfacelevel winds.

www.hindu.com

4,800 maps to bereleased underIndia's NSDI India's National Spatial DataInfrastructure (NSDI) mis-sion that languished formore than two years withvarious departments, isfinally ready for take-off. ByMarch-end, all 4,800 SoImaps would be available inthe public domain, many ofthem for the first time. Allthe 4800 maps are part ofthe 1:50,000 scale series.Work will also begin on the40 cities project (1:10,000scale).

The NSDI promises tochange the way citizens lookat their world. The schemeaims to use GIS to meld satel-lite imagery and good oldtoposheets with data onwater resources, flooding,rainfall, crop patterns, civiclayouts to produce 3-D digi-tal maps. In other words, theNSDI network aims to super-impose all the spatial dataonto a digital map. Onceready , the NSDI will act asan online database to main-tain such data layers andbase maps in an easilyretrievable form.

India's Union Minister forScience and Technology,Kapil Sibal, said that there

will be just a few restrictionson the use of data. "This (theproject) will be rolled outthrough public-private part-nerships (PPPs). Anyone,including academics, can usethe data. There will be a feeto be paid." said Mr. Sibal.

www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

GPS, remote sensors tocheck infiltrationBorder Security Force of Indiawill soon be banking upon sensors and GlobalPositioning System along theborders with Pakistan andBangladesh as part of effortsto check infiltration.Thetechnology will help the bor-der force boost its intelli-gence gathering, counter-ter-rorist activities and checkinfiltration, a concern both atthe Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangla borders.

As part of the efforts, about20 BSF officers were giventraining in remote sensingand geographic informationsystem technology at theCentre for Disaster Manage-ment Studies under the aegisof Guru Gobind SinghIndraprastha University.

The BSF Director GeneralA.K. Mitra said the objectivebehind use of satellite imag-ing and digital data was toimprove border manage-ment to the maximum possi-ble extent. India shares morethan 14,000 km of borderwith six countries. He alsoadded that “for border sur-veillance, India needs per-sistent coverage over previ-ously exposed areas. Thelarge amount of data gener-

NSDI for India is an initiative undertaken jointly byDepartment of Science and Technology and Departmentof Space, Government of India. It is aimed at encouragingcollection, aggregation and distribution of spatial dataon different themes on a common defined set of stan-dards and formats by different mapping agencies inIndia. This infrastructure of data will provide metadataof all the data available with participating agencies andfacilitate users to obtain data as per requirements with asimple and smooth procedure from a common platform. OObbjjeeccttiivvee:: To create/integrate, maintain, disseminatedigital spatial database at All India Level over GIS atNational Informatics Centre (NIC) Headquarter.SSaalliieenntt FFeeaattuurreess::• Bringing together many Geospatial data sources and dis-semination through a web-based approach.

• National Geospatial Framework consisting of the referenc-ing system built around standard datasets with an appropri-ate institutional arrangement.

• Created and maintained to certain defined common stan-dards; Information upto Village level, the smallest unit ofadministration.

RRiicchh SSppaattiiaall DDaattaa CCoonntteenntt ccoommpprriissiinngg::• Administrative Boundaries-State, District, taluk, Block andvillage locations for the entire country.

• Village Boundary Database for six states and shall furtherextend to four other States; Major Town Locations

• Communication Layers like Road (national highways, statehighways etc) and Railway Network.

• Natural Resource layers like Major Rivers, Green Areas,Sanctuaries etc.

• Supplemented with Satellite Imagery, Toposheets and otherRaster Datasets.

www.gis.nic.in

National Spatial Database:GIS Based Web Services

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ated can make sense only ifautomation is achieved to acertain level in processingand identification of possibleareas of intrusion. Hence,BSF needs to be equippedwith positioning systemslike GPS and feed the datareal time into GIS".

www.saharasamay.com

GPS to be usedfor identifyingunauthorisedhoardingsGlobal Positioning System isproposed to reduce visualpollution caused by illegalhoardings across New Delhi.The first city in the country

to use this system, it will alsoassist the handful of munici-pal inspectors in keeping ille-gal hoarding at bay.

The new project envisagesengaging a private agency toidentify unauthorised hoard-ings, prepare an exhaustivedata about them and con-stantly update officials ontheir status.

As part of this project, allauthorised hoarding willnow have a computer chipthat will carry its uniqueidentification number thatcan be traced. The new sys-tem is scheduled to becomeoperational in next twomonths. The inspectors from

the private agency will pho-tograph the hoardings andsend the image using theGlobal Positing System backto the computers at theMunicipal Corporation ofDelhi (MCD) office.

This will allow anyone tolog in and check the status ofillegal hoardings in the city.

www.hindu.com

MALAYSIA

Ministry integrat-ing database ofland recordsThe Natural Resources andEnvironment Ministry is inthe midst of integrating thecountry's database of landrecords into one system toensure the effectiveness onthe implementation of itsprojects under the NinthMalaysia Plan (9MP). Accord-ing to the Ministry officials,the application of GeoInfor-mation Technlogy (GIS) willhelp in the integration ofthis database system as wellas applying animationeffects such as video andsound.

Deputy Secretary-General IIof the ministry, MohdIbrahim Abu Bakar said sinceland matters were under thepurview of the respectivestates, an integrated data-base of land records will bedeveloped soon for everystate in Malaysia.

"We want to achieve anupdated, effective, efficientand accurate National LandAdministration System viathe utilisation of Informa-

tion Communication Tech-nology (ICT), such as the E-Tanah project which com-prises areas in land adminis-tration like disposal, registra-tion of titles, transferapprovals and many others,"he said. He was speaking toreporters after delivering hiskeynote address at a confer-ence entitled `Industry Meet'jointly organised by the min-istry and GIS DevelopmentSdn Bhd.

www.bernama.com.my

Japanese experts toassist development offlood hazard mapsMalaysia will seek help fromJapanese experts to developa flood hazard mapping sys-tem which will enable thecountry to forecast theeffects of global warming.Natural Resource and Envi-ronment Deputy MinisterDatuk S. Sothinathan saidthe system will enable thegovernment to predict theworst case scenario of flooddisasters in 50 to 100 yearsdue to climate change thathad already taken its tollglobally. "This will be a guide forfuture action on how toorganise action during flood,the location of the relief cen-tres and the best route toreach the disaster area" sincefloods have been one of themost devastating naturaldisasters in East and South-east Asia.

Sothinathan also elaborat-ed upon the fact that theflood hazard maps coupledwith the geographic infor-

mation system (GIS) technol-ogy and other informationsuch as the extent of theflood, the number of peopleinvolved could help to estab-lish flood relief operationsfor the particular river basin.In addition, the flood hazardmaps could include probabil-ities of depths of flood inun-dation for risk assessment ina flood plain.This would helpin determining the floodinsurance premiums morereasonably based on thedegree of flood vulnerability.

In some developed coun-tries, flood hazard maps areeasily accessible to the publicfor public awareness andeducation.

www.bernama.com.my

JAPAN

Japan launches4th spy satellite Japan launched its fourthspy satellite on February 24,improving its ability to mon-itor potential threats includ-ing North Korea, whose mis-sile and nuclear tests havespooked the region. An H-2Arocket, delayed three timesby bad weather, finally liftedoff from the southern islandof Tanegashima, carrying aradar satellite that joinedtwo optical satellites andanother radar satellite

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

already in operation. Withthe full complement of foursatellites, Japan will be ableto monitor any point onEarth once a day, govern-ment officials have said. Therocket also carried an experi-mental optical satellite,aimed at improving the levelof detail obtained from thenext generation of satellites.Japan's spy satellite pro-gramme was initiated afterNorth Korea launched a bal-listic missile in 1998 thatflew over Japan.

www.cnn.com

RUSSIA

Russia to launchfirst micro-satel-lites in 2008Russia intends to launch itsfirst research micro-satellitesin 2008, the Federal SpaceAgency said on Monday,March 5, 2007.

The agency said that theLavochkin Research and Pro-duction Center is developinga unified Karat micro-plat-form for astrophysical, Earthremote sensing and otherfundamental research micro-satellites, which will operatefor at least five years.

According to the spaceagency, “the platform will be

used to build Konus space-craft (for the research ofgamma-ray bursts and solarflares), Micro Mars spacecraft(for Mars research and surrounding space) and the placement of variousdevices in the interests of theRussian Academy of Sci-ences. The first launch isscheduled for 2008”. Micro-satellites will be launched asadditional payload to heavyspacecraft.

www.inform.kz

VIETNAM

Vietnam to launch itsown remote sensingsatellite by 2010Vietnam plans to harnessspace technology by buildingits own remote sensing satel-lites in the next decade, a topspace official has said. PrimeMinister Nguyen Tan Dunghas recently approved a pro-gramme for space technolo-gy research and applicationsthat will last until 2020. TheSpace Technology Institute(STI) will be responsible forthe design and manufactureof small satellites. It plans tolaunch the first small remotesensing satellite by 2010.

The programme is designedto assist the country’s eco-nomic growth by makingspace technology an impor-tant industry in the nextdecade, and to use thatindustry to survey and moni-tor natural resources, theenvironment and naturalhazards. www.vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

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Pollution from Asia is helping generate stronger stormsover the North Pacific, according to new research.Changes in the North Pacific storm track could have aneffect on weather across the Northern Hemisphere.

Satellite measurements have shown an increase intiny particles generated from coal burning in China andIndia in recent decades, researchers report in the latestissue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci-ences. The team, led by Renyi Zhang of Texas A&M Uni-versity, studied pollution and clouds between 1984 and2005, concluding that increasing particles enhanced thecloud updraft to generate more intense thunderstormsthan previously. Comparing 1984-94 with 1994-2005they found an increase of 20 percent to 50 percent indeep convective clouds.

The Pacific storm track, they noted, plays a critical rolein global atmospheric circulation, and altering thisweather pattern could have a significant effect on the cli-mate. "The intensified storms over the Pacific in winterare climatically significant," the researchers wrote. "Theintensified Pacific storm track can also impact the globalgeneral circulation." A particular threat, they added, isthe potential for increased warming of polar regions.

The research was supported by National Science Foun-dation, Department of Energy and the National Aeronau-tics and Space Administration (NASA).

RRaannddoollpphh EE.. SScchhmmiidd,, TThhee AAssssoocciiaatteedd PPrreessss(http://www.theolympian.com/101/story/68954.html)

Asia's pollution brewsstorms over Pacific

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AUSTRALIA

Satellite images showriver pollution threaten-ing Great Barrier ReefPesticide-rich plumes of sedi-ment spewing out of Aus-tralian river mouths havebeen shown to reach theGreat Barrier Reef, theworld's largest coral reef sys-tem, threatening to damage

the coral and other marinelife that make up the naturalwonder. Australia's Com-monwealth Scientific andIndustrial Research Organi-sation (CSIRO) has publishedsatellite images which showthat the commonly-heldbelief that river waterswould disperse before reach-ing the reef was not alwaystrue.

The plumes are the result ofheavy rainfalls in northernQueensland in late Januaryand early February 2007 fol-lowing a long dry season.The resulting flood waters

carried a larger sedimentload than during regularrainfall and river flow. Lowrainfall preceding theincreased flow means thatpotentially harmful pollu-tants such as pesticides, her-bicides and fertilisers havehad time to accumulate, hav-ing a significant impact onthe marine ecology of thereef.

The CSIRO used imagesfrom NASA satellites to buildup a picture of what washappening during theseextreme events which mayhave gone unnoticed abovethe surface but could havelasting consequences forcoastal waters.

www.edie.net

US to build military satellitecommunicationsbase in AustraliaThe United States will build anew military satellite com-munications base in Aus-tralia according to Australianforeign minister AlexanderDowner. The agreement, itwould appear, has beenarrived at after three years ofsecret negotiations betweenthe two governments.

The new base, to be locatedat Geraldton, 400 km northof the city of Perth, will relaysignals and intelligence toUS forces in the Middle Eastand Asia. According toDowner, construction of thebase will start in a fewmonths. The United Statesalready operates a base atPine Gap, near Alice Spings,which tracks missile launch-

es in Asia and the MiddleEast, and provides earlywarning. Pine Gap is alsolinked to a new Space BasedInfrared System (SBIRS) ofsatellites which give imme-diate warning of missilelaunches anywhere on earthand are a key part of the cur-rent US administration'sMissile Defence programme.

The United States is alsoinvolved in the operation ofanother base at NorthwestCape in Western Australia,which acts as a signals basefor US nuclear submarines inAsia and the Pacific. Anotherfacility at Geraldton inter-cepts mobile telephone sig-nals and communications ina region extending from theAntarctica to Siberia.

www.domain-b.com

BRAZIL

Brazil, Ukraine tojointly establishspace companyAn agreement between theBrazil and Ukraine seeks toestablish Brasília - a jointventure company for rocketsand satellites, that shouldbegin operating this year.Brazil will open up its spacebase in Alcântara, in thenorthern Brazilian state ofMaranhão while Ukrainewill provide its rocketlaunching technology.

The objective is to enter thecompetition for the globalsatellite launching market,worth US$ 10 billion. Thepartnership is aimed atlaunching rockets and satel-

lites from the Alcântara Base,in the northeastern Brazilianstate of Maranhão. The firstlaunch should take place by2009, according to the Brazil-ian Space Agency (AEB),which completed 13 years ofexistence on February 10th,2007. The company is expect-ed to earn profit of roughly10% of the global satellitelaunching market, worthUS$ 10 billion, over the nexteight years, since countriesthat own satellites will needto pay to use the base andthe launching technology.

Another goal of AEB is tolaunch a third satellite, builtin partnership with China,which will provide images ofthe national territory, suchas deforested areas in theAmazon Basin.

http://www.anba.com.br

USA

NASA, Virgin Galactic to Explore FutureCooperation NASA officials signed amemorandum of under-standing on February 21 witha U.S. based company, VirginGalactic, LLC, to explore thepotential for collaborationson the development of spacesuits, heat shields for space-ships, hybrid rocket motorsand hypersonic vehicles

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capable of traveling five ormore times the speed ofsound. The memorandum isonly a framework to explorepotential collaborations. Itdoes not include training ofNASA astronauts, an agree-ment to buy seats on a VirginGalactic flight, or provisionof technical advice by NASAto Virgin Galactic.

“This understanding withVirgin Galactic affords NASAan opportunity to work withan emerging company in thecommercial human spacetransportation industry tosupport the agency’s explo-ration, science and aeronau-tics mission goals,” said S.Pete Worden, director ofNASA Ames Research Center.

The agreement with VirginGalactic was negotiatedthrough NASA’s Space Portal,a newly formed organizationin the NASA Research Park atAmes, which seeks to engagenew opportunities for NASAto promote the developmentof the commercial spaceeconomy. The memorandumof understanding will be ineffect for two years and stip-ulates that neither NASA norVirgin Galactic will berequired to pay any fees orprovide funds to support theareas of possible collabora-tion.

www.nasa.gov.in

Web-Based EmergencyResponse ProposedIn the age of wireless Inter-net and mobile phones, casu-alties occuring due to lack ofcommunication might beavoided. Researchers suggest

that a Web-based service,which could be up and run-ning in three to five years,could improve reporting ondisasters, the coordination ofa response, the dissemina-tion of information and pro-mote resident-to-residentassistance.

Ben Shneiderman, profes-sor and founding director ofthe HumanComputer Inter-action Laboratory at the Uni-versity of Maryland, and col-league Jennifer Preece, pro-fessor and dean of the uni-versity's College of Informa-tion Studies, outline theiridea for a communityresponse grid

The researchers point to thesuccess of Web-based socialcomputing services such asMySpace and Craigslist.com,which service millions ofusers every day. If local, stateand federal agencies adopteda similar model, they couldestablish a two-way line ofcommunication betweenindividuals and emergencyresponders. The idea is toestablish a website wherecommunity members regis-ter in advance. Such a sitecould link to communitygroups that already exist,such as parent-teacher asso-ciations, tenant organiza-tions or wildlife clubs, forexample. People would visitthe site regularly as activemembers of their group,building their communityand trust. In the face of anemergency, alerted memberscould contact fire and lawenforcement personnel viaemail or mobile phone with

3D Laser Mapping has supplied a high performance laserscanning system to assist with a European research proj-ect to map the footprints of dinosaurs. The project, jointlyundertaken by the University of Manchester and Univer-sitat Autònoma de Barcelona, used an advanced RIEGLlaser scanner with integrated digital camera and satellitepositioning technology to accurately record and locateindividual dinosaur footprints. The project is tracing themovements of dinosaurs and is assessing the effects ofweathering and erosion on the footprints.

“This project would simply not have been possiblewithout the laser scanning system,” said Dr David Hod-getts, Lecturer in Reservoir Modelling and PetroleumGeology, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmen-tal Sciences at The University of Manchester. “Due to thefragile environment and the sensitivity of the site wewere not permitted direct contact and therefore all meas-urements had to taken remotely. Laser scanning allowedthe rapid, high resolution digital mapping of an other-wise inaccessible site.”

The project will document and record the effects ofweathering and erosion on the dinosaur relics and provide a permanent record in order that researchers can

understand the move-ments of these

ancient rep-tiles. The data

generated by thelaser scanner will be used to

produce highly detailed andaccurate 3D models.

www.directionsmag.com

3D laser mapping technology tracks dinosaurs

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such details as location, pho-tos and even video. The web-site could also be accessed byemergency responders, whocould, for example, send awarning via email or textmessage to registered usersliving in a danger zone. Orthanks to GPS-enabled cellphones, they could locatemembers on a geographicalmap and contact them withspecifics about where to goand what to do.

Paying to use social net-working as an infrastructurefor emergency responsecould be a challenge. BenShneiderman and Preecesuggest that a communityresponse grid could be paidfor with user fees collectedby Internet service providers.

www.dsc.discovery.com

THEMIS LaunchedSuccessfully Taking multitasking to newheights, NASA launched fiveTHEMIS (short for Time History of Events andMacroscale Interactions dur-

ing Substorms) satellitesaboard a single Delta II rock-et from Cape Canaveral Air

Force Station in Florida onFebruary 18. The launch wasdelayed by one day becauseof high upper-level winds.Racing into space on theflaming power of three rock-et stages and nine solid rock-et motors, the five THEMISprobes separated from theDelta 2 rocket more than anhour after launch.

The satellites will dispersearound Earth to monitorpowerful geomagnetic sub-storms in the Earth's atmos-phere that can damage com-munications satellites, dis-able power grids and shoothigh levels of radiationdown on spacewalkingastronauts and airplane pas-sengers flying over northernlatitudes as well as intensifythe Northern Lights or auro-ra borealis. NASA is under-taking the mission to investi-gate what causes auroras inthe Earth's atmosphere tochange in appearance anddissipate. Discovering whythe light of auroras can fluc-tuate and fade will providescientists with importantdetails on how the planet'sprotective magnetosphereworks and on the sun-Earthconnection.

www.nasa.gov.in

Michael GoodchildReceives GITA’sLifetime AchievementAward The Geospatial Information& Technology Association(GITA) announced on March7 that Michael F. Goodchildof Santa Barbara, California,has been presented with

GITA's 2007 LifetimeAchievement Award. Theaward recognizes an individ-ual’s outstanding contribu-tions and long-standingcommitment to the geospa-tial industry.

The presentation was madeduring GITA’s Annual Con-ference held between March4-7, 2007, at the Henry B.Gonzalez Convention Centerin San Antonio, Texas.

Goodchild is a professor ofgeography at the Universityof California, Santa Barbara;chair of the Executive Com-mittee, National Center forGeographic Information andAnalysis (NCGIA); associatedirector of the AlexandriaDigital Library Project; anddirector of NCGIA’s Centerfor Spatially IntegratedSocial Science.

Goodchild received hisbachelor’s degree from Cam-bridge University in physicsin 1965 and his Ph.D. in geog-raphy from McMaster Uni-versity in 1969. He firstencountered geographicinformation systems andcomputer mapping in thelate 1960s, when it was astruggling high-end comput-ing application, and said heis particularly gratified bythe response the technologyhas received in universities.Goodchild expressed hispleasure on the fact that vir-tually anyone with a Webbrowser can make use ofgeospatial tools; but, at thesame time he said thatgeospatial professionalshave only begun to recognizehow far they still have to go

in giving everyone access tothe basic spatial literacythat’s needed to use the toolseffectively.

“I’m immensely honored bythis award, especially as itcomes from an organizationthat emphasizes the impor-tance of education in thebroad and expandinggeospatial community. Thisis a very exciting time to beworking in this area, particu-larly for the younger genera-tion,” Goodchild said.

www.spatialnews.geocomm.com

EUROPE

Envisat completes fivesuccessful yearsLaunched from Kourou inFrench Guiana on the nightof 28 February 2002, ESA’sEnvisat spacecraft marks its

fifth year in space. Havingorbited Earth more than 26,000 times, the world’slargest and most complexenvironmental satellite everlaunched has travelled a distance of more than 1,000,000,000 kilometres,nearly the equivalent of trav-elling to Jupiter and back.

Generating some 280 Giga-bytes of data products daily,Envisat has gathered

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500 Terabytes to date. Theamount of data returned by Envisat’s suite of 10instruments is providing scientists with a global pic-ture of our environment andis helping to fulfil the initialneeds of the Global Monitor-ing for Environment andSecurity (GMES) initiativeuntil the launch of Sentinelsatellites. Results of ongoingresearch projects using datafrom Envisat, as well as otherESA satellites, will be pre-sented at the 2007 EnvisatSymposium in Montreux,Switzerland, from 23 to 27 April. This anniversary is particularly importantbecause it marks the end ofEnvisat’s nominal lifetime,as the satellite was initiallyonly intended to stay in orbitfor five years. However,given the overall excellentstanding of the satellite, theESA Member States haveagreed to fund the missionoperations until 2010.

www.esa.int

GIOVE-A2 to secure theGalileo programmeESA awarded a contract toSurrey Satellite TechnologyLimited (UK) for initial activi-ties leading to the construc-tion of a second spacecraft,GIOVE-A2, for the Galileosatellite navigation systemon March 5. The new satellite will bebased on the company’sproven GIOVE-A technology.The GIOVE-A2 satellite willbe ready for launch in thesecond half of 2008.

The permanent presence of

GIOVE-A2 in orbit will main-tain European rights to thefrequencies and allow con-tinuation of the experimentsinitiated with the successfulGIOVE-A mission andplanned for the upcomingGIOVE-B satellite.

GIOVE-A2 will help main-tain the critical InternationalTelecommunications Union(ITU) frequency filingsecured by GIOVE-A for a fur-ther 27 months and facilitatefurther development ofground equipment alongwith the monitoring of thespace environment.

The new satellite will incor-porate some enhancementsover GIOVE-A which willallow additional signals tobe generated and received onthe ground.The aim will beto provide early in-orbitexperimentation with thecommon baseline L1 openservice signals recently rec-ommended by the EuropeanUnion and the United States.In the future, these openservice signals will providefree of charge position andtiming competitive withother GNSS systems.

GIOVE-A was the first Euro-pean satellite to be launchedinto Medium Earth Orbit(MEO). It carries two environ-mental monitors.

These units have beenoperating almost continu-ously since its launch andare gathering vital dataabout the Galileo orbit environment that will helpin the design of the full constellation.

www.esa.int

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I CM A R C H 2 0 07 15

Geoscientists from the University of Texas at Austin,USA, will visit the world’s deepest known sinkhole,Cenote Zacatón in Mexico, to resume tests of a NASA-funded robot called DEPTHX, designed to surveyand explore for life in one of Earth’s most extremeregions and potentially in outer space.

Sinking more than 1,000 feet, Zacatón has only beenpartially mapped and its true depth remains unknown.During eight years of research, doctoral student MarcusGary and hydrogeology professor Jack Sharp from TheUniversity of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, discovered that the system’s unusualhydrothermal nature is analogous to liquid oceans underthe icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Technologydeveloped to explore the sinkholes could be applied tofuture space probes of Europa, where scientists believethat deep cracks and holes in the ice offer a chance offinding extraterrestrial life. It could also be used toexplore Earth’s ice-bound polar lakes, which hold clues tothe origins of life on Earth.

The probe is designed to map underwater caves, measure geochemical properties of the water, search formicrobes and other life forms, and bring back samplesfor subsequent analysis. The probe does not rely oninstructions from humans to decide where to go or whatto do. It creates 3D maps of previously unexplored areasas it swims along and then uses those same maps to navigate back to the surface.

www.webwire.com

Prototype space probe to explore Earth’s deepest sinkhole

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Garmin releasesGPSMAP 5000 Seriesof touchscreen chartplottersGarmin International Inc., aunit of Garmin Ltd., hasannounced the GPSMAP5000 series of multifunctiondisplays (MFDs), super-bright touchscreen chart-plotters.

The touchscreen makesnavigating menus a snapbecause the “virtual buttons”change depending on thefunction, allowing boaters tointuitively see and select theinformation they want,while eliminating the clutterthey don’t. The 5000 series’sleek flat-screen design looksgreat flush mounted andalso includes a bail mountfor upright mounting.

The GPSMAP 5212 comespre-loaded with detailed U.S.coastal charts, includingdetailed Explorer Charts datafor the Bahamas. The unitalso features an enhanced

worldwide satellite imagerybasemap to enhance thestandard vector chart format.Garmin also offers BlueChartg2 Vision technology. Inaddition to high-resolutionsatellite imagery, g2 Visionfeatures true “mariner’s eyeview” which provides a true3D map perspective abovethe waterline and “fish eyeview” for an underwater 3Dbathymetric contour per-spective.The g2 Vision datacard also enables auto guid-ance technology on compati-ble units, searching all thechart attributes to suggestthe best navigational course.For help in navigating trickyharbors and channels, orlocating marinas and resorts,g2 Vision cards offer a grow-ing database of aerial refer-ence photos.

www.garmin.com

Complete versionof CarbonToolsPRO releasedThe Carbon Project recentlyannounced that its Carbon-Tools PRO software nowincludes support forMicrosoft Virtual Earth. Thefull release of CarbonToolsPRO, an extension to theMicrosoft .NET 2.0 Frame-work, will provide foradvanced location contenthandling, mapping and shar-ing. CarbonTools PROincludes many new featuresto support open-geospatial.NET development projects.The software enables the.NET developers to effortless-ly add complex geospatialdata types, layers and servic-

es, using a language that iseasily understood by main-stream programmers ratherthan GIS professionals.

CarbonTools PRO provides aunified API for geospatialinteroperability with anarray of location content andservices. This meansMicrosoft Virtual Earth,Google Earth, Yahoo Maps,OGC web mapping, GML,ESRI Shapefiles and more canbe used in open-geospatial.NET applications quiteseamlessly. It also includes apowerful new symbologyengine for meaningful maps,tools for working online oroffline with location content,tools for creating and shar-ing geospatial-notes, overtwenty code samples tojump start development andall the source code for Gaia 3- a powerful application foraccessing, visualizing andsharing location content.

CarbonTools PRO with Vir-tual Earth is also the founda-tion of ((Echo))MyPlace, thefirst ever geosocial network-ing application that usesIPv6 based, peer-to-peer net-working.

www.thecarbonproject.com

Autodesk introduces slew ofproductsAutodesk has introducedAutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD LT2008, Autodesk DesignReview 2008, AutodeskImpression 2008, AutoCADMap 3D 2008 and AutoCADRaster Design 2008 at itsWorld Press Day event heldrecently.

AutoCAD 2008 is the latestversion of the world's mostwidely used computer-aideddesign (CAD) software. Thelatest update to AutoCADsoftware focuses on improv-ing designers' ability toquickly and easily documenttheir designs, with a level ofcontrol that helps ensurethat their drawings look asprofessional as they require.AutoCAD LT 2008 is the lat-est version of 2D draftingapplication.

While AutoCAD softwareoffers 3D conceptual deigntools, advanced rendering,network licensing anddeployments and more,AutoCAD LT is whollyfocused on 2D drafting pro-ductivity for individualusers. AutoCAD LT 2008 fea-tures the improvements todrafting tasks that are foundin AutoCAD 2008.

Autodesk, Inc. also unveiledits AutoCAD Map 3D 2008and AutoCAD Raster Design2008 geospatial softwareproducts at its World PressDay event. The latest prod-ucts further improve theintegration of geospatialdata by planning, engineer-ing and operations personnelin utilities and municipalgovernments.

These two applications,combined with AutodeskMapGuide Enterprise Web-based GIS software andAutodesk Topobase infra-structure design and man-agement systems, offer cus-tomers and developers alikethe right GIS solution.

www.pressreleases.autodesk.com


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NAC Smart Tag TurnsMicrosoft Office intoLayman's GISNAC Geographic ProductsInc. recently announced therelease of the NAC Smart TagDLL for Microsoft Office - anintegration of the NaturalArea Coding System withMicrosoft Smart Tag technol-ogy. NAC Smart Tag is a tagbased on a Natural AreaCode (NAC). Once you installthe NAC Smart Tag DLL onyour computer, moving thecursor on it will pop up itsaction menu and you canclick it to get the map of theNAC immediately.

Because of the convenienceof using NAC Smart Tag tospecify any accurate locationor area in the world, policeofficers, journalists and otherauthors can include NACs intheir reports or emails sothat readers of the docu-ments can conveniently getthe maps of the exact loca-tions whenever they want.All salespersons can store theNACs of their customers inan Excel spreadsheet or anAccess table which can beused as an efficient tool tomap any customer locationon the list without the sup-port of any GIS software.NAC Smart Tags in Officedocuments can even besaved with the contents inweb pages which can bedirectly published on theInternet to significantlyreduce the work of referenc-ing accurate locations forlocation sensitive stories.Search engines can even usethe NACs to sort stories

according to their locations.Therefore, the free NACSmart Tag turns MicrosoftOffice into powerful andeasy-to-use GIS software forgeneral users.

www.nacgeo.com

Leica GeosystemsReleases OrthophotoProduction System Leica Geosystems GeospatialImaging has launched LeicaOrtho Accelerator (LOA),offering a streamlinedorthophoto production envi-ronment. Leica Ortho Accel-erator was developed tospeed up the rate and accura-cy with which digitalorthophotos are produced. Itis a CuePac add-on toGeoCue, a geospatial processmanagement system. Withorthorectification andmosaicking capabilities, LOAtakes advantage of the dis-tributed and scheduledworkflow processing capa-bilities provided by GeoCue.

LLOOAA ffeeaattuurreess iinncclluuddee::• LOA is highly scalable, withbenefits for large and smallorganizations

• Distributed processingincreases throughput, allowingoperators to focus on othertasks

• Distributed processing har-nesses the processing powerof several CPU nodes toachieve greater throughput

• Using processing nodesinstead of full photogrammet-ric workstations representslower costs

• Real-time and accurate sta-tus updates of all processingcomputers as the project pro-gresses.

www.geospatial-online.com

GIS Institute adPage 17

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Intermap to provide 3D datafor Microsoft'sVirtual EarthIntermap Technologies Corp.has announced an agree-ment to provide MicrosoftCorp. with NEXTMap Britaindigital elevation data for usewithin Microsoft’s VirtualEarth platform. The agree-ment enables Microsoft to

create and deliver a LiveSearch Maps product pow-ered by the most current andaccurate digital terrainmodel of Great Britain.Intermap’s 3D digital terrainmodel data will serve as thebase layer or foundation forthe placement and align-ment of aerial photographyand other geospatial layers.Images are draped overIntermap’s three-dimension-al foundation to create aunique and accurate userviewing experience.

The agreement also setsthe stage for the future

development of applicationsand solutions that rely onaccurate digital elevationmodels that can serve a mul-titude of business and con-sumer needs around theworld. These applicationswould have otherwise beenunachievable prior toIntermap’s creation of these3D data sets. Additionally,Intermap is now aggressive-ly mapping Europe undertheir NEXTMap Europe pro-gram. The collection of theentire country of Germany isnow complete and theremainder of WesternEurope is scheduled for com-pletion by the end of 2007.The continental U.S. is beingmapped concurrently withthe European initiative andis scheduled for completionby the end of 2008.

www.intermap.com

Hyundai Heavy to buildSouth Korea's firstsatellite launch padThe world's largest builder ofmarine vessels, HyundaiHeavy Industries, is nowlooking skyward, with a planto build South Korea's firstspace rocket launching pad.It has won the contract tobuild a rocket launchingplatform at the Naro SpaceCenter on the coast of SouthCholla Province, South Koreaby 2008.

South Korea is in line tobecome the ninth nation tolaunch a space vessel whenit lifts off a 100-kilogramsatellite into orbit from theNaro site as early as nextyear. The construction of the

site began in 2000 at a costof 265 billion won ($285 mil-lion) and is about 90 percentcomplete, except the launch-ing pad. Hyundai will buildthe launching platform on aturn-key contract with theKorea Aerospace ResearchInstitute. The constructioninvolves building surfaceand underground platformsas well as fueling systemsand a control room. Accord-ing to the firm the launchingpad will be able to accommo-date two rockets and will bejointly designed with a Russ-ian counterpart.

The establishment of theNaro Space Center is the firststep by South Korea tobecome a major player inspace exploration. Naro is tobe the 26th launching site inthe world.

De Beers grants contract to new aerialsurvey company –Southern MappingBarely two months intooperation, the SouthernMapping Company has beengranted a contract by mininggiant De Beers to conductlidar aerial surveys of its

own Namaqualand diamondmine and its newly formedjoint venture with govern-ment, Alexkor diamond

mine. The Southern MappingCompany will conduct lidaraerial surveys of the Kleinzeeand Koingnaas areas thatform part of the Namaqua-land Mining community.According to Hugh Jones,Chief Surveyor at De BeersNamaqualand Mines,“through the three-dimen-sional imaging of the earth,De Beers will benefit by theinvaluable informationwhen planning the miningoperations. The lidar aerialsurveys will assist in accu-rately quantifying the reha-bilitation liability and willprovide De Beers with anaccurate DTM of the dis-turbed area, enabling masshaul diagrams or quantitiesto be computed and costed.”

The Southern MappingCompany’s newly leased air-craft has been fitted with thelatest in aerial surveyingequipment, the ALTM 3100EA, which is an airbornelaser terrain mapper worthover $1-milion that provideshigh resolution, high accura-cy digital elevation datafrom a laser. The ALTM'srapid coverage and data out-put sees 1,000 km2 coveredin less than 12 hours, and theDEM data is available within24 hours. In addition to accu-rate colour Ortho-imagesand digital raster pictures forvisual interpretation, theinformation obtainedthrough the lidar aerial sur-vey will also assist De Beersin developing a rehabilita-tion and closure master planfor Namaqualand Mines.

www.moneyweb.co.za

M A R C H 2 0 07

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According to a study conducted in 2006 by geospatial media agency in

association with Antrix Corporation, the GIS market(domestic and export) is expected to grow from USD209 million in 1995 to USD 613 million by 2010 at aCAGR of 14.5%.

Further it has been estimated that the domestic market in Indiaamounts to about USD 122 million in the year 2005 and isexpected to reach USD 396 million by 2010, at a CAGR of 17.57%.These figures present a really bright picture of the GIS Industryin India. As per an article by Chirasrota Jena (Business Finder:extending GIS, www.expresscomputeronline.com, December 11,2006) the awareness level about the Geomatics in India is rela-tively low, although many government and semi-governmentagencies and some corporates have started realising the powerof this technology.

THE STUDYThe growth of this Industry in India is directly linked to the

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I CM A R C H 2 0 07

20

Education

GIS Education: Training, Placement and Prospect

Satyaprakash

An Indian Perspective

20-25.qxp 3/23/2007 3:03 PM Page 20

quality and quantity of personnel beingtrained and educated in the field of Geo-Informatics.

To get a first hand view of the quality ofthe education and their placement in theindustry, we took GIS Institute as a testing bed. GIS Institute is the educationand training division of GIS Develop-ment, and is conducting courses in thefield of Geo-Informatics for the last sixyears.

In this article we have made an attemptto analyse the quality of training of theparticipants, their employment opportu-nities, how they are placed, how do theylook at the overall GIS Industry and dothey see any future prospect?

THE ANALYSIS AND RESULTSWe analysed the data of all the partici-pants of the GIS Institute from January2004 till December 2006. The partici-pants were asked different questionsregarding their educational background,geomatics study, work experience, salary,growth and satisfaction level. Partici-pants contituted 227 former studentsfrom GIS Institute and their geographicalspread is shown in the Fig-1.

Although thecoverage is acrossthe country, it canbe seen that mostof the participantsattending courseat the GIS Insti-tute are from theNational CapitalRegion (NCR) ofIndia. This is alocational phe-nomenon as theinstitute is locat-ed in NCR. Region-wise analysis of all theparticipants showed that almost 60% ofthem were from the northern region,whereas west and south contributed only9% each towards (Figure-2).

This might be because there are manyinstitutions in the south conducting GISand Remote Sensing courses (see box)and also there are some institutions inthe west, whereas there are few Institu-tions offering courses in the field of Geo-Informatics from the northern region.Also there are not many institutions inthe eastern region providing training/education on these technologies, partici-

pation from theeastern region was22% of the total.

Amongst all the participants66% were post-graduate whenthey opted for thetraining, where asthey were equallydivided undergraduate and post-graduate diploma(Figure-3). Therewere no partici-pant undergoingGIS training aftercompleting schoollevel education.This might be

because there does not exist good careeropportunities just after leaving school(class 10), and one should have at leastgraduate level of education, before look-ing at a career option in Geo-Informatics.75% of the participants were satisfiedwith the quality of education whereas25% were not.

PLACEMENTGIS Institute also caters to the placementof the participants and analysing thedata for the type of jobs the participantsgot after completion of the course, almost67% of them joined private organisationwhereas 25% opted for government jobs(Figure-4). A majority of this 25% arethose who were either sponsored fromtheir departments or came on leave toundergo training in Geo-Informatics, astheir job profile demanded expertise on


FFiigg.. 22 Pie-chart showing regionwise distribution of participants

FFiigg.. 11 Map showing the distribution of participants

FFiigg.. 33 Distribution of participants based upontheir basic educational qualification

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M A R C H 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 C22

GGIISS EEdduuccaattiioonn aanndd TTrraaiinniinngg aatt IInnddiiaann IInnssttiittuuttee ooff RReemmoottee SSeennssiinngg

WWhhiillee mmaapp rreeaaddiinngg aanndd uussee hhaass aa lloonngg hhiissttoorryy,,aa ppaarraaddiiggmm sshhiifftt hhaass ooccccuurrrreedd iinn ddyynnaammiicciinnffoorrmmaattiioonn eexxttrraaccttiioonn ffrroomm mmaappss aanndd aattttrriibb--uutteess ddaattaa iinn tthhee ffoorrmm ooff GGIISS aapppplliiccaattiioonn.. In lessthan four decades since early GIS conceptswere demonstrated, many developments havetaken place in computer technology, spatialdatabase management systems, and mobileand communication technology. Such a wide-spread use is also dependent on presence ofGIS literacy in all segments of users, namelytechnical support, intelligent users, and inte-grators of information as well as students whowish to pursue GIS as a career.

Geoinformatics Education : The World ScenarioMany universities, institutions, colleges, soft-ware companies and research organizationsare providing Geoinformatic training/ educa-tion based programs in remote sensing, GIS,global positioning system, geodesy, surveyingand cartography etc.

According to Rhind & Raper (2004), there arearound 2 million GIS users at present andabout 2000 universities run courses on GIS.Hundreds of other courses are additionally runby non-academic organizations, such as soft-ware vendors. According to estimates, worldover as many as one lakh fifty thousand stu-dents enroll for GIS as a specialized programor one of the subject. Surveys conduced in 19countries indicate that there are 78 post grad-uate programs, 38 alone in UK itself and 54undergraduate programs. GIS education hasalso moved to schools at primary levels,notably in Sweden, Australia, Germany, Cana-da, Switzerland, Denmark and US. There aremore than 100 institutions/ universities/

organizations/ software companies in USAalone are offering undergraduate / graduateprograms in geoinformatics (http://spatial-news.geocommunity.com/education/links/usa.html). Amazingly there aremore than 3,10,000 have registered at ESRIvirtual Campus itself from 187 countries, whichitself speaks its spread in few years time(Michael Phoenix, 2004). As a marketing strat-egy, ESRI Inc. may not divulge the actual num-bers of personnel who are actively engaged ingetting online training from virtual campus(http://campus.esri.com/ ).

GIS Education in IndiaGIS has emerged as a new discipline in theeducation field in India. Majority of GIS educa-tion in India is offered at postgraduate level aspart of M.Tech., M.Sc. and diploma courses invarious disciplines such as Engineering (Civil,Electronics, IT, Computer Science and applica-tions, Mechanical and electrical, etc.) and Sci-ence streams (Geography, Botany, Agriculture,Soil science, Geology, Ocean sciences, Envi-ronmental sciences and Forestry, etc.). Howev-er, some universities are offering GIS, with dif-ferent nomenclature at graduate level, likeAnna University, Andhra University and PuneUniversity etc.

IIRS started offering GIS education in India,first as Land Information System training wayback in 1991 and later as focused GIS cours-es (1995 onwards) in disciplines such as agri-culture, soils, land use, forestry and ecology,geosciences, water resources, coastal andmarine sciences and geoinformatics technolo-gy as well. With increasing popularity anddemand, IIRS started postgraduate diplomaand masters programs (visit http://www.iirs-

nrsa.gov.in for more information). There aremore than 20 institutions/ universities follow-ing this trend, and offering exclusive Geoinfor-matics/GIS postgraduate courses, which start-ed in the last five years or so, in addition toRemote Sensing and GIS courses at postgrad-uate level that are being offered for manyyears. (P.L.N. Raju et.al, 2004)

IIRS Educational ProgramsThe prime objectives of IIRS are training, edu-cation and research in the field RS & GIS fornational capacity building programs and pro-fessional excellence. There are four types ofeducational programs (Table 1) that are beingoffered at IIRS including CSSTE-AP RS & GISprogram.

EDUSAT utilization for trainingThe use of Remote Sensing, Geographic Infor-mation System (GIS), Global Positioning Sys-tem (GPS) and associated geo-spatial tech-nologies is increasing rapidly, creating anurgent demand for trained manpower. IIRS iscurrently utilizing the EDUSAT facility for con-ducting training on RS, GIS and GPS for uni-versities spread across the country.

Under the EDUSAT facility, IIRS has estab-lished a Teaching end Studio and Up-linkingfacility in the campus under national beamcoverage of EDUSAT and link with users. Aspart of the first training program twelve univer-sities/institutions are participating in 6 weekstraining on Remote Sensing and GIS. Present-ly more than 45 universities have been setwith Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs) underConsortium for Educational Communication(CEC), UGC network (www.cec-ugc.org/)where they can also participate in the pro-posed training program. This facility will beexpanded gradually to cover larger number ofuniversities /institutions in the coming years.

AcknowledgementsWe are thankful to Director, NRSA and Chair-man, NRSA GB for leadership and guidance toexpand IIRS role in education and training atnational and international level and to run IIRSprograms. Special thanks are also due toNational Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS), Department of Space(DOS) for sponsoring the new initiative called EDUSAT based training program forUniversities.

NNOOTTEE:: The detailed version of this article with complete references can be found atwww.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/asia/years/2007/mar

S.No. Type of Program

S.No.Discipline/Specialisation

Accredited by Duration

1 M.Tech. Remote Sensing and GIS Andhra University 24 months

2 M.Sc. Geoinformatics ITC, The Netherlands 18 Months

3 M.Sc.Geoinformatics in Geo-Hazards

ITC, The Netherlands 18 Months

4 M.Tech*. Remote Sensing and GIS Andhra University 24 Months (min)

Table 1: IIRS educational programs

PP..LL..NN.. RRaajjuu,, VV..KK.. DDaaddhhwwaall aanndd CC.. JJeeggaannaatthhaannIndian Institute of Remote Sensing (National Remote Sensing Agency), Dehradun, India

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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

Geo-Informatics and there was no train-ing available in their respective depart-ments. The private organisations inwhich they were employed were concen-trated in the NCR region, except a few,where they were placed either in thesouthern region or in the west.

SOFTWARE USAGEOne of the aims of this study was to lookat the usage of GIS and Remote Sensing

software in the Industry and what wecould find was that AutoCAD/ AutoCADMap still dominates the GIS Industry,with as high as 92% of the respondentsusing it, followed by ArcView 3.x andERDAS Imagine at 67%. ArcGIS and Map-Info was used by approximately 58% ofthe respondents whereas other softwarewere equally placed. Figure-5 shows thedistribution of different GIS and RemoteSensing software usage across the indus-try, in the NCR. As per the software usagedata available at GISjobs.com, Autodeskproducts are used by around 59% of therespondents and ESRI products by 67%,while MapInfo is preffered by 40% andERDAS Imagine by 31%.

SALARYRecently (February 2007) discussions on ablog was going on whether the IndianGIS Industry is low paying job andwhether the people in the Industry, are

satisfied with the job or not. We did acheck and could find that around 75% ofthe respondents feel that their job satis-faction level (on a scale of 10, with 10being the best) is more than 6 and below9 and only 8% are very dissatisfied withtheir current job status. Another questionwe asked was about the “Feel Good” fac-tor of the GIS Industry and 84% are opti-mistic about the future prospect of theGIS Industry in India and are looking at

M A R C H 2 0 07 23

Indian Universities/Institutions teaching Geo-Informatcis

FFiigg.. 44 Distribution of participants based ontheir job type, after completion of the course

84% of therespondentsare optimisticabout thegrowth of GISIndustry in India

As the awareness about GIS technologyand application, in both private and publicsectors, is increasing, this has created ademand for personnel educated andtrained in the principles and practices ofGIS. Today, GIS provides students withopportunities to find suitable jobs in thisgrowing field. As a result, number of edu-cational programmes, at the undergrad-uate and post-graduate level in GISand related technologies are beingoffered by various universities andinstitutes across India. Apart fromthe regular courses at the universi-ties, many institutes like the IndianSpace Research Organisation(ISRO), National Remote SensingAgency (NRSA), Space ApplicationCentre, Ahmedabad, Survey TrainingInstitute, Hyderabad, National Thematicand Mapping Agency (NATMO) conductshort term and long-term courses andworkshops.

Although GIS and/ or Remote Sensing isan integral part of syllabus of some of thepostgraduate courses in Geology/ Geog-

raphy/ Earth Sciences in many Universi-ties, we have compiled those Universi-ties/ Institutes which offer courses

exclusively on Geo-Informatics. This datahas been compiled based upon the infor-

mation available at the University GrantCommission's website,http://www.ugc.ac.in and inputs from oth-ers. All those Universities/ Institutions arealso shown graphically.

It can be seen most of the Universities/Institutions offering courses on GIS & RSare concentrated in the southern part of

India. Among the southern states, TamilNadu has the most number of institu-tions conducting course on GIS &Remote Sensing. On the other hand,in the northern states most of theUniversities and Institutions areteaching GIS & Remote Sensing aspart of a curriculum in Geography/

Geology/ Earth Sciences/ NaturalResources and not as a separate

course. However, there are some Institu-tions which are offering courses in differ-ent applications of GIS and RemoteSensing. Indian Institute of Remote Sens-ing, Dehradun, Uttarakhand is the leaderby offering several courses and educatinga significant number of students and pro-fessionals in the field of GIS and RS.

20-25.qxp 3/23/2007 3:03 PM Page 23


SSttaattee UUnniivveerrssiittyy//IInnssttiittuuttiioonn WWeebbssiittee aaddddrreessss CCoouurrsseess OOffffeerriinngg

Andhra Pradesh

• Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

• Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kukatpally, Hyderabad

• Osmania University, Hyderabad

• National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad

• Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati

www.andhrauniversity.info

www.jntu.ac.in

www.osmania.ac.in

www.nrsa.gov.in

www.svuniversity.in

ME/M.Tech in Remote Sensing

M.Tech in GeoInformatics and Surveying Technology.

M.Sc. In GeoInformatics.

M.Tech in Geotechnical Engineering.

Series of Training Courses will be conducted

M.Tech. In Geotechnical Engineering

Arunachal Pradesh • North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Itanagar www.nerist.ac.in M.Tech in Environmental Science and Engineering.

Gujarat

• Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications and GeoInformatics, Gandhinagar,

• M.S. University of Baroda, Faculty of Tech & Engg, Vadodara.

• Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad

www.bisag.gujarat.gov.in

www.msubaroda.ac.in

www.cept.ac.in

Conducts training for various government departments, organ-izations and Institutes

MSc. Geo Technology & post B.Sc. P.G. Diploma in Geotech-niques

Series of training programmes in GIS.

Jharkhand • Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi www.bitmesra.ac.in M.Tech in Remote Sensing

Karnataka

• Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri, Mangalore.

• Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta, Shimoga

• Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Center, Bangalore

• Centre of Information Science and Technology (CIST), University ofMysore, Mysore

• Bangalore University. Jnanabharathi, Bangalore

www.mangaloreuniversity.ac.in

www.kuvempuuniversity.org

www.ksrsac.gov.in

www.uni-mysore.ac.in

www.bangaloreuniversity.net

M.Sc. In Geoinformatics

M.Sc. In Remote Sensing & GIS

M.Tech in Remote Sensing.

P.G. Diploma in Geoinformatics

P.G. Diploma in GeoInformatics

Kerala

• Centre for Environment and Development, Thiruvananthapuram

• Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi

• Indian Institute of IT & Management - Kerala (IIITM-K), Trivandrum,

www.cedindia.org

www.cusat.ac.in

www.iitk.ac.in

Diploma courses in RS & GIS

P.G. Diploma Course in GIS

P.G. Diploma in Geoinformatics.

Madhya Pradesh

• Barkatullah Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal

• Jiwaji University, Gwalior

• Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal

www.bubhopal.nic.in

www.jiwaji.edu

www.manit.ac.in

M.Sc./M.Tech. Remote Sensing and M.Sc. in GeoInformatics.

M.Sc. In Remote Sensing & GIS

M.Tech in Remote Sensing and GIS.

Maharashtra

• Center of Studies in Resource Engineering(CSRE), Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

• University of Pune, Pune

• Symbiosis Institute of GeoInformatics, Pune

• K J Somaiya College of Science and Commerce, Mumbai

• Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Pune

• Rashtrasantha Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur

• Santa Gadge Baba Amaravati University, Amaravati

www.csre.iitb.ac.in

www.unipune.ernet.in

www.symbiosisgeoinformatics.in

www.somaiya.edu

www.cdac.in

www.nagpuruniversity.org

www.sgbau.ac.in

Post Graduate Course in Natural Resources Engineering

M.Sc. In GeoInformatics and P.G. B.Sc. In Applied GIS & RS.

Master's programme in Geoinformatics

P. G. Diploma& Certificate Courses in RS and GIS

Diploma in Geoinformatics.

M.Sc./M.Tech Remote Sensing.

M.Sc. In Advaced Remote Sensing in Geosciences,

Meghalaya • North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya www.nehu.ac.in Diploma and Certificate Courses in GIS

Delhi

• School of Planning Architecture, New Delhi

• Sikkim Manipal University, Delhi

• Jamia Millia Islamia Central University, Delhi

www.spa.ernet.in

www.sikkimmanipal.info

www.jmi.nic.in

Master's programme in Environmental Planning

M.Sc. In Geo-informatics

Advanced Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS Applications,

Orissa • Berhampur University, Berhampur www.bamu.nic.inM.Sc. In Biological Oceanography & Remote Sensing

M.Sc. In Physical Oceanography & Remote Sensing

Tamil Nadu

• Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai

• SRM institute of Science and Technology, Chennai.

• Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai

• Annamalai University, Annamalainagar

• PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore

• Centre for Remote Sensing, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchinapally

• Madras University, Chennai

• Gandhigram Rural University, Dindigul

• Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

www.mkuniversity.org

www.srmuniv.ac.in.

www.annauniv.edu

www.annamalaiuniversity.ac.in

www.psgtech.edu

www.bdu.ac.in

www.ruraluniv.org

www.iitm.ac.in

M.Sc. Environmental Remote sensing & GeoInformation Technology

M.Tech. Remote Sensing and GIS

B.E. In GeoInformatics

P.G.Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS

U.G. And P.G. Programmes in Geotechnical Engg & GIS.

M.Tech Geological Remote Sensing & Geo Informatics andM.Sc. Geo Informatics

M.Sc.in Geoinformatics.

Master's programme in Surveying

Uttar Pradesh

• Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad

• Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

• Bundelkhand University, Institute of Earth Sciences, Jhansi

• University of Allahabad, Allahabad

www.mnnit.ac.in/

www.amu.ac.in

www.bundelkhanduniv.org

www.allduniv.edu

M.Tech in Remote Sensing and GIS

Diploma in Geomatics & about to start M Sc in Geomatics.

M.Sc.GIS & Remote Sensing

P.G. Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS

Uttarakhand• Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun

• Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

www.iirs-nrsa.gov.in

www.iitr.ac.in

M.Tech in Remote Sensing and GIS, M.Sc. In Geoinformatics

M.Tech GIS

West Bengal

• Vidyasagar University, Midnapore

• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

• The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman

• University of North Bengal, Darjeeling

• University of Calcutta, Kolkata

www.vidyasagar.ac.in

www.iitkgp.ernet.in

www.buruniv.ac.in

www.nbu.ac.in

www.caluniv.ac.in

P.G. in Remote Sensing and GIS

Short term couuse on RS & GISM.Sc. in Geographic Information System & Remote Sensing

M.Phil. in GIS & Remote Sensing Applications,

P.G. Diploma in GIS

20-25.qxp 3/23/2007 3:03 PM Page 24

good growth opportunities in the timesto come. Although the salary is propor-tional to the amount of time you havespent in the industry, your skill sets andother factors, besides academic qualifica-tions and domain knowledge, we couldfind that around 60% of the respondentswere drawing annual salary in the rangeof INR 1,00,000/- to 3,00,000/- (most ofthe respondents are in the Industry onlyfor maximum three years, for which thedata has been analysed). However, there

were some respondents who had priorexperience and domain knowledge, aredrawing annual salaries in the range ofINR 5,00,000/- to 7,00,000/- (Figure-6).Another analysis of the salary data showsthat 75% of the respondents are in theannual salary range of INR 60,000/- to2,00,000/-, which is on the lower side,considering the fact that the skill setsrequired is intense and expenditure onthe training is on the higher side.

We also compared the salary data at theGISjobs.com web-site (Salaries aresubmitted and dis-played in the cur-rency unit nativeto the region thesubmissions arefrom) and couldfind that averageannual salary for apersonnel ofaround 5 years of

experience is INR 1,65,000/- and for people with around 10 years of experi-ence, it is approximately INR 2,60,000/-.

LOOKING AHEADThe respondents are very optimistic

about the status of GIS Industry in thecoming years and think that planning,decision making, Land Information Sys-tem, Property tax and infrastructurecould be the key for growth of the domes-tic market. Also, with the availability ofdata through Google Earth and freeGoogle API, the application section willdominate in the coming years and wecould see lot of application being devel-oped for mobile devices, besides desktopapplication, because 3G is going to bedominated by map based services!


FFiigg.. 55 Software usage in the GIS Industry

FFiigg.. 66 Annual Salary Distribution

SatyaprakashAssociate [email protected]

20-25.qxp 3/23/2007 3:03 PM Page 25


In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries likeBahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, GIS

courses and training programmes are offered by research-inten-sive government agencies and universities. The community col-leges do not offer GIS courses. In South Asia, India is the undis-puted leader in GIS education and training among the SAARCnations. Most of the degree courses on geoinformatics areoffered by universities in South India, while in North India, GISis generally taught as part of Geography, Geology, Urban Plan-ning, Civil Engineering etc. Today, GIS education has becomeimportant in the South East Asian countries, especially for man-agement and monitoring of natural disasters like tsunami,earthquakes, floods and landslides in the region.

The all-pervading view, therefore, is that GIS will soon becomean integral part of the school and college level curriculum. Thegeospatial industry, in turn, is expected to grow at a rapid pacewith the influx of trained GIS professionals in the coming years.

The following are the views expressed by Dr. M.M Yagoub(UAE University, UAE), Prof. M.S Nathawat (BIT Mesra, India), Dr.Phisan Santitamnont (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) andProf. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd (UTM, Malaysia) on the statusof GIS education in their respective countries.

STATUS OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS EDUCATION

• Is there any governmental support for GIS Education in yourregion in the form of grants?

• Is GIS Education affordable for the average income family stu-dent?

DDrr.. MM..MM YYaaggoouubb:: Currently, there are three public universitiesand more than ten private universities in the UAE. The publicUAE University was the first one to establish a GIS program inthe Department of Geography in 1999. Many other Universitiessuch as the Higher College of Technology, Zayed University,Ajman University, American University in Dubai, AmericanUniversity in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Al Hosn are start-ing to incorporate directly or indirectly GIS in their curriculume.g. as part of Urban Planning and Surveying Engineering or amodule with IT Courses.

There is strong support from the government to the GIS educa-tion and this is clear from the diffusion of GIS across the coun-try. The main reason behind this support is the high demand formore professionals trained in GIS by governmental and privateemployers. The undergraduate GIS education in the UAE isavailable to average income family students "almost free ofcost" provided that the student has scored well in the highschool certificate examination (70% and above), is good in Eng-lish, and has basic IT skills. It is almost a similar situation acrossthe region. The "Master of Remote Sensing and GIS" programmein UAE is expensive for average income family students. How-ever, students receive grants from the government to cover thetuition fee.

PPrrooff.. MM..SS NNaatthhaawwaatt:: I consider that GIS education in India is ata young stage and it is gradually approaching towards maturi-ty as more and more educational institutes are offering degreesin this field. One can find a wide spectrum of courses beingoffered by the universities such as B.E./M.E.Geoinformatics,M.Tech.Remote Sensing, M.Tech.GIS, M.Sc.GIS, M.Sc.Geoinfor-matics, M.Sc.Remote Sensing & GIS, B.Sc.GIS etc. apart fromnumber of diploma and certificate courses offered by more than40 universities in India.

Perspectives

M A R C H 2 0 07

This is an attempt to present the views of eminent academicians representing different regionsof Asia, namely, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia, on the status of GIS educationin their respective countries.

28-29-30.qxp 3/23/2007 3:04 PM Page 28

29G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C

Governmental support to GIS education is provided by grantsunder various schemes of University Grants Commission (UGC)& Department of Science and Technology programmes. Depart-ment of Space, under its NNRMS programme, also offers courses/trainings in RS-GIS to university teachers.

GIS education is affordable for the average income family stu-dents. Many institutes also offer fellowships/scholarships to theneedy students. They also have a wide choice of universities andinstitutes for selecting a course suitable to their qualificationsas well as resources, which were not available a decade ago inIndia.

DDrr.. PPhhiissaann SSaannttiittaammnnoonntt:: There has been tremendousadvancement in the development of Remote Sensing and GIS inThailand. Aerial photographs for the whole of Thailand areavailable at the scale of 1:25,000. A new curriculum on GIS hasbeen designed for students. More courses on computers and GIShave been introduced for students. A compulsory course onGeospatial Database is running at the university level.

Although, government grants are not available towards GISeducation to a great degree, the government agencies are sup-porting GIS education through Geo-Informatics and Space Tech-nology Development Agency (GISTDA).

GIS education is quite affordable for students in Thailand.Most of the GIS courses are taught in government universities.But, for students who come from a sound economic background,private universities also offer GIS courses. The cost of GIS educa-tion in private sector is nearly five times higher than that ofgovernment-run universities in Thailand.

PPrrooff.. MMoohhdd IIbbrraahhiimm SSeeeennii MMoohhdd:: In Malaysia, UTM is the onlyuniversity that offers B.Sc. programmes in remote sensing andGeoinformatics. In other universities, remote sensing and GISare offered as subjects in their Bachelor and Diploma pro-grammes. For postgraduate programmes, five universities offerM.Sc. and PhD programmes in these fields. I think the presentstate of education is quite satisfactory.

CAREER PROSPECTSDDrr.. MM..MM YYaaggoouubb:: There is a steady growing trend of employ-ment including as GIS analysts and geographical and environ-mental specialists in utility management, town planning,telecommunication, oil industry, transportation, military, andpolicing. In addition to this , graduates are also working in thefield of education such Geography teachers, GIS instructors, andlecturers.

PPrrooff.. MM..SS NNaatthhaawwaatt:: As awareness in geoinformatics utiliza-tions, almost in all sectors, is increasing day by day, so are thecareer prospects.

DDrr.. PPhhiissaann SSaannttiittaammnnoonntt:: The prospects for GIS professionalsare good. Many GIS projects have been launched by the govern-ment agencies and provincial authorities, creating demand forGIS experts. The participation of Thailand in GEOSS throughGISTDA has given rise to the demand for satellite data archivesand services, value added image-maps and web-based satellitedata browsing system.

PPrrooff.. MMoohhdd IIbbrraahhiimm SSeeeennii MMoohhdd:: The number of students whoenroll into our programmes are in line with the requirements ofthe job market. Graduates in Geomatics have no problems ingetting jobs since this course is an established professionalcourse that has been offered for the past 35 years. However,Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics courses are fairly new andthe market has only started to grow over the last 15 years. As faras the trend goes, most of the graduates do not face much diffi-culty in getting jobs in various government agencies, localauthorities and private sectors since these sectors have startedto implement projects that utilize remote sensing and GIS related technologies.

TRAINING INSTITUTES • Are they run by private or government agencies?

• If yes, are the courses affordable for the common student?

DDrr.. MM..MM YYaaggoouubb:: There are a number of private companiesthat run short courses in remote sensing and GIS. However,prices of the courses are considered too high for any body notunder sponsorship.

Examples of these companies include Hansa Luftbild, HyderACER, GISTEC, Global Scanning Technology, International Sur-veying and Mapping, Khatib and Alami, MAPS GeoSystems,NorPlan, Scott Wilson, Bentley Middle East, Intergraph MiddleEast, and Space Imaging Middle East. With the development ofInternet, more and more institutes worldwide have started tooffer degrees in geo-science through distance learning pro-grammes.

PPrrooff.. MM..SS NNaatthhaawwaatt:: Number of educational/training insti-tutes is increasing in the country. The cost of training at privateinstitutes is high compared to the universities.

M A R C H 2 0 07

GIS education is afford-able for the averageincome family students.Many institutes also offerfellowships/scholarshipsto the needy students.

28-29-30.qxp 3/23/2007 3:04 PM Page 29

GIS EDUCATION POLICYDDrr.. MM..MM YYaaggoouubb:: In UAE there are a good number of graduateswith a Bachelor's Degree. Soon (by the end of 2007) there will bea moderate number with Master's Degree in Remote Sensingand GIS. Based on this reality I suggest starting a one year Diplo-ma and an introduction to remote sensing and GIS course at theschool level.

PPrrooff.. MM..SS NNaatthhaawwaatt::Two steps are required to promote anddevelop GIS education in India.

• Development of a uniform course curriculum.

• Increase in Government support and encouragement for use ofGIS in all its departments so that a real demand for trainedhuman resources be created .

DDrr.. PPhhiissaann SSaannttiittaammnnoonntt:: GISTDA and ITC, Netherlands shouldtogether promote courses on geoinformatics. Open Source GISsoftwares need to be encouraged. There is also a need to developnew courses for creating a geospatial database.

PPrrooff.. MMoohhdd IIbbrraahhiimm SSeeeennii MMoohhdd:: In order to operationalizeremote sensing and GIS technologies successfully in variousagencies, we need well trained graduates who are capable inimplementing these technologies in the related fields. In orderto attract more students to pursue degree programmes in thesefields, the career path for these graduates should be establishedby creating posts/ schemes especially in the government sector.

ENCOURAGING OR DETRIMENTAL FACTORSTOWARDS EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVESDDrr.. MM..MM YYaaggoouubb:: An important factor affecting on penetrationof remote sensing and GIS in the UAE is the economy. The rev-enues from oil has put UAE in a better position than other devel-oping nations for laying down the infrastructure for remotesensing and GIS (hardware, software, data, salary, etc.). Privati-sation of some governmental departments in the UAE alsoaffects the penetration of geo-science. Management authoritiesin these departments recognized the potential for the use ofgeo-science as a system that provides integration framework,expedites customer services, makes the information databasemore accessible, provides a strong foundation for executivedecision support, and has the ability to help in achieving pri-vatisation objectives.

PPrrooff.. MM..SS NNaatthhaawwaatt:: UGC, DST and ISRO are supporting thedevelopment of capacity building in this sector. The future looksbright. The detrimental factors are slow changing mindset andlow adaptability of the technology by a section of governmentemployees and policy makers, who are apprehensive because ofthe transparency provided by this technology using which any-one can evaluate and monitor the progress of development.

DDrr.. PPhhiissaann SSaannttiittaammnnoonntt:: In Thailand, there has been a lot ofpromotion for Open Source GIS software. It has evolved a lot in

the past year especially due to the involvement of the OpenGeospatial Consortium (OGC).

FUTURE OF GIS EDUCATIONDDrr.. MM..MM YYaaggoouubb:: Introduction of remote sensing and GIS in theUAE is a part of global geo-science revolution as well as theresult of a regional impact by the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC). Remote sensing and GIS are not isolated islands, butaffected by other factors like computer literacy, Internet, andawareness about the technology. Schools in the UAE are start-ing to introduce computers in their classes, which will have adirect impact on remote sensing and GIS. With Web-GIS, it isexpected that GIS education will reach a large portion of thesociety through schools, colleges and universities. Some aca-demic institutes in the UAE are now offering degrees in remotesensing and GIS.

PPrrooff.. MM..SS NNaatthhaawwaatt:: The GIS industry at large demands a criti-cal number of well-trained persons at all levels in a reasonabletime frame. Hence, it is a right time for policy makers to thinkand keep up pace with the demand and development of thetechnology. The increasing support by the appropriate agencies,will lead to more universities coming forward to establish newdepartments and courses in geoinformatics. Indian policy mak-ers & geoinformatics practitioners must be well prepared toface the challenges of the new knowledge-driven millennium,where knowledge of Geoinformatics will be the driving forcebehind the overall socio-economic development of the nation.

DDrr.. PPhhiissaann SSaannttiittaammnnoonntt:: GIS will play a more important rolein education and development in Thailand. Google Earth hasmade a big impact in Thailand. People are now more awareabout maps and satellite imageries. The Digital Thailand pro-gramme initiated by GISTDA to provide content for GoogleEarth will create demand for geography and GIS. There is also aGIS Master Plan for Thailand in the pipeline which would be afoundation for the country's spatial data infrastructure willencourage students to take up courses in geoinformatics. Min-istry of Education is taking steps to build GIS into the highschool curriculum within the ambit of geography.


Dr. M.M Yagoub

Director-Masters, Programme on RS and GIS UAE University, UAE

[email protected]

Dr.-Ing. Phisan Santitamnont

Assistant ProfessorSurvey Engineering Department, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

[email protected]

Dr. M.S Nathawat

Professor and Head, Department of Remote Sensing, BIT-Mesra, India

[email protected]

Prof. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd

Dean, Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering UTM, Malaysia

[email protected]

28-29-30.qxp 3/23/2007 3:04 PM Page 30

Laos - Southeast Asia’s smallest nation with immensenatural resources including tropical wood, hydro-

electricity, rubber, minerals, and agricultural land, and theprogressive Philippines - the third largest English speakingcountry with its liberalised trade regime in areas of telecom,mining, oil sector and power (us-asean.org) - offer multifar-ious opportunities for GIS tecnologies to grow. The articlegives a glimpse of geospatial scenario of the two ASEANnations.

LAOS PDR

The National Geographic Department (NGD) NGD is the authority in charge of land surveying, mapping, andgeodetic control networks. The department has recently compiled a country wide 1:100,000 scale topographic map, andin addition larger scale maps (1:25,000 and 1:10,000 and 1:5,000) of the agricultural plains and areas of high impor-tance. With the main interest of GIS users in high quality digitalmaps equivalent to 1:50,000 scale covering the whole of Laos,NGD is now working on updating the country wide topographic

map in digital forum. The latest printed map covering the wholeof Lao PDR is the result of survey carried out from 1980 to 1981,twenty-six years ago. It was a part of mapping project supportedby the then Soviet Union. Vietnam, Japan and Finland havesponsored aerial photography and other mapping activities inthe country as part of several development projects. (Table 1)

The main policy document that exists in geospatial domain isthe Decree on Surveying, Aerial Photography and MappingActivities in the Territory of Lao PDR, No. 255 / PM. By anotherpolicy, Decree No 73/PM, dated 14th July 1994, NGD is given thepower to promulgate regulations and supervise surveying, aeri-al photography and topographic mapping. The Decree statesthat all surveying activities in Lao PDR, should conform to a sin-gle unified system. However, there is not yet a technical instruc-tion on the practical implementation. The Decree also empha-sises that all surveying, aerial photography and topographicmapping needs approval from the NGD and after completion ofsurvey projects the results shall be submitted to NGD. Only feworganisations have adhered to the Decree that is why it is acumbersome exercise to get an overview of the geographicaldatasets available in Laos today. In 1997 Laos got a new geodet-ic datum with recourses from the Land Titling Project. It isreferred to as Lao National Datum 1997 and has the origin inVientiane, Nongteng, Astro Pillar. NGD is recommending allland surveys in the country to use this datum.

Other major organisations that generate GIS data are: • Science, Technology and Environment Organisation (STEA)

• Forest Inventory and Planning Division (FIPD)

• National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute(NAFRI)

• Information Center, Ministry of Agri-culture and Forestry (MAF)

• Ministry of Transport, Communica-tion, Post and Construction(MTCPC)

• Mekong River Commission (MRC)

Recently it has been announcedthat the STEA will establish a newNational Database Centre withsupport from the Indian Govern-ment.

M A R C H 2 0 07

Country Pages

Status of Surveying and Mapping in Laos, Philippines

Saurabh Mishra


Gathering Momentum

YYeeaarr OOrriiggiinn,, SSuuppppoorrtt DDeettaaiillss SSccaallee

1963 - 67 US Army Map Service

404 map sheets based on aerialphotography 1:50,000

1963 - 67 US Army Map Service

Based on Transverse Mercator pro-jection and the Everest ellipsoid, 29 sheets

1:250,000

1975 - 1980 Soviet Union Assistance

Maps series based on Gauss projection using the Krassovskyellipsoid were established.

1:10,0001:25,0001:100,0001:200,0001:500,0001:10,00,000

1980 - 1981 Soviet Union Assistance

Aerial photography of the wholecountry

1:30,0001:60,000

1993 JICA Aerial Photography covering anarea south of Pakxan 1:25,000

1995 JICA Topographic maps, 112 sheets 1:25,000

1996 JICA GIS base map,163 sheets covering 90% of the country 1:100,000

1998 - 2003 Finland

Digital map of the Vientiane Plainscovering 3600 km2, 500 sheetsDigital maps of the townships ofLuangprabang, Thakhek, Savannakhet, Pakxe Total 200 km2, 32 map sheets

1:5,000

Source: Draft Report ‘GI in use in Lao PDR‘ by Anders Åberg

Table 1: Overview of Maps in Laos PDR

32-33.qxp 3/23/2007 3:05 PM Page 32

PHILIPPINES

National Mapping and ResourceInformation Authority (NAMRIA)NAMRIA is the central mapping agencyof Philippines, which is an archipelago ofabout 7,100 islands. Other agencies forgeneration of cadastral and topographicdata are - 1) the Land ManagementBureau (LMB)/Land Management Service(LMS) which are the technical agencieshandling the cadastral survey and gener-ating large-scale maps of lands classifiedas alienable and disposable (A&D); 2) theLand Registration Authority (LRA); and 3)the Department of Agrarian Reform(DAR) as a special cadastral agency.

NAMRIA currently is digitising the1:50,000 paper maps. There are 653 sheetson 1:50,000 scale for the whole country.The digitisation work has started withthe data on eastern side of the countrysince the region is more prone to floods;around 50% of work has been completed.

There is no clear policy of the country asfar as data acquisition or generation isconcerned. There exist only operationalguidelines. The major policies/laws thatgovern surveying and mapping opera-tions and generation and disseminationof GIS data are - 1) Executive Order No. 192(Reorganization Act of the Department ofEnvironment, Energy, and NaturalResources); 2) DENR (Department of Envi-ronment and Natural Resources) Admin-istrative Order No. 31 (Guidelines inImplementing EO 192); 3) EO 45 (Adoptingthe Philippine Reference System of 1992as the Standard Reference System for Sur-veys in the Philippines, as amended by EO280 and EO 321); 4) DENR AdministrativeOrder No. 2005-13 (Revised Guidelines forthe Implementation of the Philippine Ref-erence System of 1992); and 5) DENRAdministrative Order No. 2006-12 (Guide-lines on the Development and Manage-ment of a Standard Seamless NationalDigital Topographic Database). Organ-isatons and departments apply to NAM-

RIA for digitaldata. A Memoran-dum of Data Shar-ing is entered intoand usage is doneon the basis ofterms and condi-tions in the mem-orandum. Broadly,reselling is bannedand the agency ororganisationfound doing itmay be "blacklist-ed". It is basicallyon the project basis that work on digitisa-tion and creation of large-scale datasetstake place.

Local governing units have been provid-ed 1:10,000 scale data but that too ontheir specific project requirements. Largescale data is available mainly for urbanareas. NAMRIA coordinates with Nation-al Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) for theirremote sensing data needs specific to agiven project. The NRSC and NAMRIAPhotolaboratory were establishedthrough the ‘Republic of the Philippines-Australia Remote Sensing Project’.

NATIONAL SPATIAL DATAINFRASTRUCTURESince 1993, the Philippines has beenundertaking activities that will pave theway for the establishment of a NSDI. Itstarted with the creation of an Inter-agency Task Force on Geographic Infor-mation (IATFGI) on April 15, 1993 by virtueof Memorandum Order No. 01-93 whichwas issued by the National StatisticalCoordination Board (NSCB). With NAM-RIA as Chair and the NSCB as Co-chair, theIATFGI was initially composed of the fol-lowing seven member-agencies:

• Housing and Land Use RegulatoryBoard (HLURB)

• National Statistics Office (NSO)

• National Computer Center (NCC)• Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)

• Deptt. of Sc. & Tech. (DOST) through thePhilippine Volcanology and Seismology

• Bureau of Soils and Water Manage-ment (BSWM)

• National Economic and DevelopmentAuthority (NEDA)

PRIVATE INDUSTRYThe major sources of base maps for theprivate companies are NAMRIA, theNational Statistics Office (NSO), Commis-sion on Elections and city/MunicipalPlanning Development Offices. The majorprivate intiative in this field was whenIntermap Technologies in 2004 generat-ed data of whole of the Mindanao, one ofthe three major island groupings, the oth-er two being Luzon and Visayas.

Philippine Geomatics Association,Inc.(PhilGEO) is the prime organisationrepresenting the private companies oper-ating in the country. It started as theassociation of seventeen (17) companiesbut now has thirteen (13) members.Industry has some qualms on govern-ment policy; Dennis Nevara of Cybersoftand ex-Preisdent of PhilGEO comments“There should be an essential require-ment of the non-native company to tieup with local players if it plans any proj-ect in the country; we too can deliver.”

With inputs from Christoph Feldkoetter (MekongRiver Commission), Anders Aberg (Swede Survey),Dennis Nevera (Cybersoft) and Linda SD Papa(NAMRIA).

SSaauurraabbhh MMiisshhrraa, [email protected]


Major users of spatial Information in Philippines

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Malaysia is well positioned totake full advantage of the capa-

bilities of the geospatial science and technology.

Geospatial education is available at the polytechnics, Universi-ties, training centers in the private sector and also within gov-ernment agencies. Polytechnics generally award diplomaswhile the universities provide training at the bachelors and postgraduate levels. This article will outline the structure of thegeospatial courses available in the country offered at variouslevels of education.

The far sightedness of the country's planners had ensured thatsufficient number of Malaysians, particularly academicians,received the right training in the geospatial discipline fromsome of the best schools in the world. As a result of this vision-ary thinking, Malaysian universities and main geospatial agen-cies have the core group of personnel to provide leadership andtraining to students interested in pursuing academic degrees inthe geospatial arena. Today, Malaysia is beginning to attract asignificant number of students from abroad who come here topursue Masters and PhDs in the fields of geosciences.

BASIC EDUCATION OPTIONSAt the bachelor's degree level, UTM and UiTM are the main play-ers that help provide the nation with well trained and educatedgraduates who form the bulk of the workforce. In addition tothese locally trained graduates, a minority group of Malaysianswho studied geospatial courses abroad also form an importantgroup of contributors to the industry.

The local educational institutes play a positive role in produc-ing the technicians, technical assistant, and geospatial engi-neers/surveyors at the bachelor's level. As this group of newgraduates enters the workforce, there are opportunities forthem to further enhance their knowledge and skills if theychoose to pursue a fulltime higher degree. However, the reali-ties of today's competitive work environment does not allow fora large number of staff to pursue higher education on a full timebasis. There is thus, a need for fresh thinking into the formula-tion of special programs to cater to needs of the workforce. Onesuch program is the Masters in RS and GS offered after officehours and during the weekends at the Universiti PutraMalaysia. Such programs allow the employees to improve theirknowledge, skill, and competitive levels while holding onto totheir full time salaried jobs.

In addition to this, mature students also have the opportunityto explore new projects which have a potential for their compa-ny or to extend one of the projects undertaken at the office to aMasters level research project. This not only helps the companywhere the student works but also paves the way for practicalprojects to be brought into the academia. Government agencies

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C M A R C H 2 0 0734

Education

Trends in GeospatialEducation for WorkingProfessionals

Abdul Rashid Bin I Mohamed Sharif

This article outlines the structure of the geospatial courses offered at various levels of education in Malaysia.

34-35.qxp 3/23/2007 3:06 PM Page 34

and the industry too gain as they do not"lose" employees to full time post-gradu-ate education. On the contrary, theemployers gain as these mature studentsbecome better workers with the state ofthe art knowledge and training receivedin the Masters program. Considering thisscenario, we certainly need to explorehow to make such Masters programviable and suited especially for the work-ing students. Some of the major factorsthat impact a program of this nature arediscussed below.

Location of Program: The program forthe matured students needs to be withina reasonable traveling time from theworkplace/homes of the maturated stu-dents. Students should be able to get totheir classes within a reasonable amountof time after office for the evening andnight classes.

Time of Courses: The courses should beheld during the weekend. In circum-stances where there are a significant

number of students from organizations,then prior arrangements maybe made forspecial teaching camps, where teachingcontact hours for a traditional semestermay be covered in a shorter period.

Funding Arrangements: Governmentfunding in terms of study loans with longterm repayment period, grants to univer-sities to conduct teaching for profession-als and low interest rate private sectorfunding will be a boost to the success ofthese programs for the matured students.

Institutional Relationships: Healthy and positive relations between the government/private agencies with theuniversities will see a healthy growth in the professional matured students program since employees at the govern-ment/private agencies will have a sense of confidence that their educationis being valued by their employers. University lecturers will also be able togain primary data sources to aid theirresearch projects.

Keeping in view the fact that theMalaysian government is actively pursu-ing the IT agenda, especially with thesupport given for the Multimedia SuperCorridor, it is envisaged that greater support and enthusiasm for the Profes-sional Masters program will lead to moreinternationally competitive Malaysiangeospatial products .

Masters program has tobe made viablefor the workingstudents

Abdul Rashid BinMohamed SharifUniversiti Putra [email protected], [email protected]

ESRI Usermeets AdPage 35

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The following presents a list of websites whichcan act as a guide on basics of GIS, and

Remote Sensing. Although there are hundreds of web-sites available on these topics, we have tried to com-pile those, which we think could come handy for any-one looking for basic information on geomatic tech-niques and technologies . Please note that the websiteslisted below have not been arranged in any particularorder.

GIS TUTORIALS

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/products/sccoasts/html/gistut.htmThis tutorial has been developed for those working on coastalresource management and are not familiar with the more tech-nical aspects of GIS and remote sensing data.

http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/This website elaborates upon what is GIS. It talks about howdoes a GIS work, data issues (capture, integration, structures,modelling and output), characteristics of GIS, applications of GISin different fields, preparing 3D models using GIS, Web GIS andlastly, future of GIS.

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/tutorialsThe tutorial gives a very basic information GIS, remote sensing,aerial photogrammetry and image processing.

http://www.mapcruzin.com/learn_to_mapThe website aims at teaching GIS and basic digital mappingthrough an ebook tutorial.

http://libinfo.uark.edu/gis/tutorial.aspThis tutorial is designed for ArcGIS Desktop version 9 ArcInfo™ Functional Level (includes ArcView® and ArcEditor™functionality) that allows a user to get started with ArcGIS™applications without actually having to go through the ESRItutorial exercises.

http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/maps/gis/tutorials.htmlThe introduction to GIS tutorial consists of a three-part movieaccompanied by hands-on exercises.

http://gislounge.com/ll/tutorials.shtmlThe above website provides lessons on a wide range of subjectmatters for learning GIS.

http://www.pasda.psu.edu/tutorials/gisbasics/The aforementioned webpage contains a module designed forthose wanting to understand what GIS is, how it works, andwhat one can do with it. This tutorial features many sections,for instance, what is GIS? - A basic overview of the primary com-ponents of a GIS; how it works - A glimpse at what makes GISworks; GIS data types - differences between raster and vectordata; what is not a GIS - concepts often confused with GIS; anduses of GIS - an overview of how various industries use GIS.

http://people.revoledu.com/kardi/tutorial/GIS/index.htmlThe tutorial introduces GIS along with features for


Educational Resources

Online Study Resources: RemoteSensing and GIS

Ananya Ghosh

This article is an attempt to list some of the websites that cover the fundamentals of RemoteSensing and Geographic Information System (GIS).

36-37.qxp 3/23/2007 3:07 PM Page 36

using Arc GIS (Arc View, Arc Editor or Arc Info).

http://gis.nitle.org/resources/GIST.htmThe modules have been designed toexplain the fundamentals of makingmaps with ESRI's ArcGIS software. EachModule is a stand-alone unit, completewith step-by-step instructions and data to guide one through the use ofArcGIS 9.1.

http://www.ci.fort-collins.co.us/gis/tuto-rial.phpThe pages are designed to provide somebasic GIS knowledge and to offer supportfor GIS applications.

http://www.geomatics.ucalgary.ca/~habib/r_tutorials.htmlThis tutorial provides overview of GISunder various headings, namely, Intro-duction, benefits, and contributing disci-plines; GIS as a set of interrelated subsys-tems; impact of recent technologicaladvances and needs on GIS; GIS in Cana-da; future of GIS; and the role of nationaland international GIS.

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/intro/intro.htmlThese materials were developed by Ken-neth E. Foote and Margaret Lynch,Department of Geography, University ofTexas at Austin, 1995. The website dealswith GIS as an integrating technology, itscontext, concepts, and definitions.

http://www.main.nc.us/GIS/guide/using/

tutp2gis.htmlThis website pro-vides answers toquestions likehow can I useGIS?, who makesGIS softwares?,why is GIS notused by the gener-al public?, andhow do I find spa-tial data?

REMOTESENSING

http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Front/tofc.htmlThis website is hosted by NASA. It coversvarious topics related to remote sensingthat include the elements of remote sens-ing, history, photogrammetry and imageprocessing as well as remote sensingapplications.

http://satftp.soest. hawaii.edu/space/hawaii/vfts/oahu/rem_sens_ex/rsex.spectral.1.htmlThe website provides introductory tutori-als on remote sensing.

http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/An introduction to aerial photo interpre-tation and remote sensing can be foundat this website.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/RemoteSensing/The topics covered in the website includeintroduction and history of remote sens-ing, radiation, electromagnetic spectrum,absorption bands and atmospheric windows, spectral signatures, pixels andbits, color images and remote sensingmethods.

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/rs/This is a website which introduces thebasics of radars, features of radar

imagery, interpreting Doppler velocitypatterns, and Doppler radar applications.

http://www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/personal/JonathanBamber/teaching/ccrs_tutorial/tuto-rial/tutore.htmlThe Canada Centre for Remote Sensingoffers this tutorial on remote sensingtechnology and its applications.

http://www.profc.udec.cl/~gabriel/tutori-ales/rsnote/contents.htmThis web resource provides detailed lessons on fundamentals of remote sensing, sensors, remote sensing methods, platforms, data used in remotesensing, image interpretation, image processing, and applications of remotesensing.

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/remote/remote_f.html

The information in this website isorganized under foundations of remotesensing, aerial photography, digitalimage processing besides, thermal,hyperthermal scanning, and radar(microwave) scanning. An USGS glossaryhas also been provided.


Ananya GhoshSub [email protected]

36-37.qxp 3/23/2007 3:07 PM Page 37


Picture this...

Mud Bath

On the island ofJava, a “mud vol-cano” has been

spewing thousands ofcubic meters of mud everyday since late May 2006.According to BBC news,British geologists believethat oil and gas drillingruptured pressurized lime-stone rock and enabledwater and mud to reachthe surface. The oil compa-ny and others have sug-gested that the eventcould be related to theMay 27 earthquake nearYogyakarta. Regardless ofthe cause, the volcano hasbecome a major hazard,creating a huge mud lakethat buried villages andagricultural land.

These images from theAdvanced SpaceborneThermal Emission andReflection Radiometer(ASTER) on NASA’s Terrasatellite show the progres-sion of the mud flow fromSeptember 3, 2006, (mid-dle) to February 10, 2007(top). The bottom image,acquired on March 11,2005, shows how the arealooked before the mudflow began. In theseinfrared-enhanced, “false-color” images, bare ground

appears gray, waterappears dark blue, andvegetation appears red.Robust vegetation appearsbright red. Althoughclouds partially obscurethe February 10 image, themud flow’s advance canstill be detected. In thisimage, the mud flow hasspread beyond the tollroad toward the east.Areas of robust vegetationin this image are smaller,although that could bepartially due to a differ-ence in season.

A scientific survey pub-lished in the GeologicalSociety of America’s Feb-ruary issue of GSA Todaystated that the mud vol-cano could releasebetween 7,000 and150,000 cubic meters ofmud every day for years.According to Reuters,there was concern thatmud might pollute thewater, damaging thearea’s shrimp industry. Inan attempt to slow themud flow, the Indonesiangovernment has approveda plan to drop concreteballs linked by heavychains into the mouth ofthe volcano, according tonews reports.

NNAASSAA iimmaaggee ccrreeaatteedd bbyy JJeessssee AAlllleenn,, uussiinngg ddaattaa

pprroovviiddeedd bbyy NNAASSAA//GGSSFFCC//MMIITTII//EERRSSDDAACC//JJAARROOSS,, aanndd

UU..SS..//JJaappaann AASSTTEERR SScciieennccee TTeeaamm..

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/nat

ural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14120

38.qxp 3/23/2007 3:09 PM Page 38

The teaching process here is not only didactic butalso very practical which allows us to indulge in

team spirit and experiments”

The above is one of the few of the comments of the studentsundergoing the UNIGIS course at GIS Institute.

ABOUTGIS Institute is the education and training division of GIS Development Pvt Ltd. Distance learning course of UNIGIS isbeing conducted at the GIS Institute facility in Noida as a full-time course, for the first time, for which the participants will beawarded UNIGIS Prof (Post-Graduate Diploma in Geo-Informat-ics).

This six months course comprises 8 modules covering basics ofGIS, its technology, processes, applications, database manage-ment and programming.

The eight modules, being covered, during the course are,• GIS Introduction

• Data Modeling and Data Structures

• Data Sources and Data Acquisition

• GeoDBMS

• Spatial Statistics

• Application Development

• Geographical Analysis

• Visualization and Cartography

and the software being used are ArcGIS, ArcInfo with Spatial,3-D, Network and Geo-Statistical Analyst and GeoMedia Profes-sional, besides LandSerf, CaseStudio and Visual Basic.

ALTHOUGHThe course has been designed in Blackboard environment and ishosted at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Through a validuserid and password, the material is made available to the par-ticipants, worldwide and at all the times, over Internet. Howev-er, the same is made available to the participants through theBlackboard Backpack (Bb), where the participants have theoption of downloading the reading materials, exercises, assign-ments and additional materials, if Bb is installed on the desktop,which they can use as per their convenience. The updates to thecourses is made available to the participants, as soon as they arecompleted and Bb updates the material on the desktop, as soonas the participant logs on to the campus.

The course is a well designed one where lot of research hasgone in the preparation of study materials, exercises, assign-ments and additional resource materials. The modules aredivided into lessons. Lessons are taught using presentations andsupporting notes. Assignments evaluates the participants oftheir understanding of the lessons and exercises are the extend-ed assignments although they are not evaluated for grading, asit is done for assignments.

Additional resources and reading materials are availablethrough “Hungry Minds”, where the interested participants canactually explore more resources and can enhance their knowl-edge further, beyond the mandatory presentations. Besides thefree course of ESRI Virtual Campus, the participants also getaccess to other courses, which are otherwise paid. Apart fromthese materials, there are prominent people from the industryand academia, who are available as online faculty and anyquery to them is resolved within a couple of days.

GIS Institute provides all the necessary hardware and soft-ware, besides Internet connection and full-time faculty. The fac-ulty helps the participants in making them understand and


Education

Learning ThroughBb@GIS Institute

Satyaprakash

An instructor’s view of UNIGIS Professional Course

“

40-41.qxp 3/23/2007 3:10 PM Page 40

learn the lessons and query resolution.The faculty at the University of Salzburgalso skype with the participants twice inevery module, so that unresolved query,if any, could be attended.

This course is oriented towards impart-ing GIS education to the participants andnot just the training on GIS and the soft-ware. In the initial modules, the partici-pants are exposed to the basic method-ologies and processes which are theessential requirements of Geomatics.Once they have undergone through thebasics, they are given exposure to thesoftware for database design and somevisualization software. When they findthemselves comfortable in using these,they are left to explore GeoMedia Profes-sional through “Help”.

This gives them an idea of the variousprocesses in the workflow of GIS and thedifferent analysis techniques and results.In the next stage they are required toexplore ArcGIS and continue learningconceptual knowledge on GoeDBMS andGeoStatistics. GeoDBMS is taughtthrough Oracle and SQL and GeoStatisticsthrough GeoStatistical Analyst extensionof ArcGIS. Upon completion of these mod-ules, they are exposed to the conceptualprogramming through Visual Basic andits integration to ArcGIS through COMand DLL programming.

The next two modules are on Analysisand Visualization. In the analysis section,the participants learn the different analy-sis techniques viz., Network, Spatial and

3-D through problem solving in ArcGIS.The last section is Visualization and Car-tography, where they learn the differentconcepts of presenting the data in a muchmore effective way, so that “Map Speaks”.

HOWEVERThe minimum entry qualification for thecourse is Bachelor's, but at times, it is feltthat it should have been post-graduatedegree or degree with at least 2/3 years ofworking experience. At times, the con-cept of GIS and mapping are really diffi-cult for the graduates to understand andcomprehend. Also this slows down thepace of the course as such participantstake more time to understand. Thiscourse also requires reasonably goodInternet bandwidth and speed. At times,if this is not there, the initial time, whenone downloads the entire module, non-availability of this becomes a constraint.Software availability in India to studentsis another point of concern. AlthoughUNIGIS and the University of Salzburghas mutual understanding of providingeducational one year licenses of ArcGISand GeoMedia to the participants, thesecould not be made available to partici-pants, due to some customs related issue.

Availability of free one year educationallicense to the participants shall helpthem in getting more exposure time tothe software. In GeoDBMS, although the-ory for Oracle is there, but practical expo-sure to this should also be included withstripped down version of Oracle.

Visual Basic pro-gramming andGeoDBMS has beenincluded in thecourse as manda-tory. However,these could bemade elective withanother module ofAdvanced Analy-sis, so that the par-ticipant could

choose either of them and as per theirinterest and requirement. One aspect ofGIS, which the course does not take intoaccount is data-capture. A section on thiswith the finer points and processes couldbe introduced in the initial modulesusing some industry standard softwareviz., Autodesk AutoCAD Map or BentelyMicrostation or even ArcGIS.

TO CONCLUDEThe course is comprehensive and up-to-date, however, scope of some modifica-tions in the structure and modules isalways there.


SatyaprakashAssociate [email protected]

Amit Sutwane• Every module of this is sequentiallyplaced • Assignment is the most advantageouspart of this course

Bipasa Das• The teaching process here is not onlydidactic but also very practical whichallows us to indulge in team spirit andexperiments

Kamal Kumar• The tough part of the course has actu-ally been managing my time to completeall the assignments

Shahab Moeni• It gives intense knowledge on particulartopic in term of “hungry minds” material • We evaluate through online “Quiz”

Rakesh Kumar• Every time I visit University website, thecourse content is updated automaticallythrough Backpack

Joyjeet Dey• I can share my doubts with otherfriends who are doing this course as well

DK Sivakumar• With an aim of becoming a complete“Geo-database Manager” and “GIS Ana-lyst”, I strongly believe that this coursesurely lift me to high rises in my future

SOME COMMENTS...

40-41.qxp 3/23/2007 3:10 PM Page 41

Mobile Social Networking is the latest phe-nomenon to hit the LBS segment companies

are trying to develop applications for mobile phonesand mobile social networking.

The likely potential of this innovation is such that experts arecalling it the killer application for 3G. The reason could be sim-ple. People prefer to connect with their friends on mobile thanon a computer. Who would wait to get home and switch on thecomputer to share the latest hot hangout with friends. The 'tra-ditional' combination of web and cell phones provided a limitedscope. Now adding GPS technology is giving a whole newdimension to the wireless social-networking by allowing usersto know each others location. In this issue of TechWatch, we arelisting some of the Mobile Social Networking sites/ services,which are different from each other in terms of services theyoffer.

LOOPTLoopt, a California based company has built a "social mapping"service that turns your cell phone into a friend finder withdetailed maps that show the exact location of a person. Onceusers download the Loopt application to their cellphones, andinvite and verify their friends, they can click on the applicationicon to view a map that will display their friends' locations asgreen dots.

HELIO'S BUDDY BEACONHelio, a wireless company is offering devices named Heat and Drift that offer GPS technology on mobile, enablingHelio's Buddy Beacon application. GPS-powered Buddy Beacon application, also dubbed “Friendar”, is a useful toolwhen you want your friends to know your location or vice-ver-sa. Other features include GPS-enabled Google Maps and GetLocal Guidance.

SOCIALIGHT'S STICKY NOTESLaunched in the fall of 2005, Kamida Inc.'s Socialight servicerequires you to tell it where you are by sending it a text-mes-sage with your location. Once you "check-in" by doing so, itallows users to share geo-tagged “Sticky Notes” for other peoplewho have checked into the vicinity.

There are 3 ways to access Socialight using your mobile phone.The first is using SMS (text messaging) - Socialight Text. Yousend an SMS to Socialight, and you get a response with a cus-tomized message. The second is the socialight.com mobile website and the third is the Socialight Mobile Java application.

FAMILY LOCATOR Sprint Nextel has launched a family oriented location basedservice called Sprint Family Locator. The service allows the usersto track the location of their family members. The company ismarketing the service as a way to give "Peace of Mind" to par-ents. It should be noted that Sprint Family Locator can only findphones that are in their coverage area and are turned on.

The application uses GPS technology to determine the locationof authorized mobile phones, which it then displays on an inter-active map. Sprint Family Locator also provides an intuitiveinterface for text-message communication and account man-agement. These features are accessible from both a registeredmobile phone and the secure Sprint Family Locator Web site.

ENTOURAGERave Wireless, a USA based provider of mobile applications andmobile phone programs that strengthen college and universitycommunities, is using GPS technology to power a new servicecalled "Entourage". It allows users to make their location avail-able to friends in their Rave address book. Rave Entourage is asocial networking service that enables users to create communi-ties and determine the locations of community members whowant to be located.

MOLOGOGOMologogo (named for Mobile Location Go! Go!) is a free service

that will track you and your friend's GPS-enabled cell phonefrom another phone or on the web. The service combines real-time tracking system, location based search and alerts, mobilemaps, social networking and location-aware chat. The Molo-gogo user himself controls the data and can specify who sees hislocation.


Tech Watch

Harpreet RoopraiSub [email protected]

Mobile Social Networking

42.qxp 3/23/2007 3:11 PM Page 42

Instead of starting with a regular yada yada,what a blog and blogging is all about, lets jump

in to the world of geospatial blogs. With this issue, the team at GIS Development will bring to you a compilation of blogs to keep you abreast with the latest development which cannot be covered in a single issue of this magazine. The aim is to bring toour readers, the contributions that others are puttingup through their blogs.

In this issue we have brought out some blogs on education,and it was also interesting for us to learn about how variouspeople, including teachers are using GIS tools to teach Geogra-phy at Primary/ Secondary education level.

INFINITE THINKING MACHINEThis blog is aimed at K-12(North American

designation for primary and secondaryeducation) educators and students, “toshow how today's digital tools canimpact student learning in meaning-ful ways”.The blog has been designed to help

teachers and students thrive in the 21stcentury. It showcases innovative instruction

methods through content in the form of ideas from leading

experts, internet TV shows, and other media resources. One ofthe several posts in this blog is by Mr.Steve Hargadon titled - ‘AGreat "Mashup:" Mapping Literary Journeys’ . Mr.Steve is fromCalifornia, United States and he is actively working in the pro-motion of Open Source technologies in K-12 education. Hewrites about the site 'GoogleLit Trips' in which Google Earth hasbeen used in explaining the classical literature like The Grapesof Wrath, Candide, Macbeth, The Aeneid and others to the stu-dents by plotting out three-dimension versions of the journeysmade in those novels.

He also writes “In addition to the Google Earth file that hasbeen created for each book, there are short podcasts and screenshots for each one that give a brief description of what you willfind when you open it in Google Earth...”.We call this real educa-tion.......

Interested? visit :

http://www.infinitethinking.org

This blog also features a video on the important role that"maps" play in the 21st century. The video can be viewed ordownloaded in Quicktime format at the following link

http://www.infinitethinking.org/2006/11/cerfs-up-maps.html

GEOGRAPHY MATTERSGeography matters is a blog from ESRI,to discuss how geography and GIS canimprove many facets of our lives fromsustainability to education to businessand economic development. Under the


A compilation of blogs on GIS education.

Blogs: GIS Education

44-45.qxp 3/23/2007 3:12 PM Page 44

Education Tag, we have posts on theimportance of GIS for Librarians andMuseums, and GIS Education in MarineExploration. The most important pointhas been placed in the post “GeographyMatters Visually: Why Not Use Videos inthe Classroom” which explains thatGeography teaching is no more confinedto paper maps and textbooks;Videos areexcellent resources as “Geography is byits nature a visual discipline and the pru-dent use of movies in the curriculum canmake geographic issues, technologies,and careers come alive for your students.”

Visit http://blogs.esri.com/roller/ for more infor-

mation

JUICY GEOGRAPHYJuicy Geographyis a blog that hasresources for

educators. The Google Earth blog high-lights projects like “San Francisco: Visual-izing a Safer City”.

This project is about making the stu-dents to use a variety of spatial data tocarry out a planning exercise to make SanFrancisco safer during major earth-quakes.

More details on this project can be found at

http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearthsan-

fran.htm

The “GPS for Geography Teachers” post,targets primary/ secondary school teach-ers - to know what is GPS and teach stu-dents about it. The post also suggests

some topics of interest within GPS alongwith relevant links to other usefulresources.

This blog has much more to explore, so visit the

link http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/ for some

juicy education stuff!!

DIGITAL GEOGRAPHYThis is a blogabout ICT forGeography

teachers, using new technologies in theGeography curriculum. A variety of tagsinclude 3D visualization, Google Earth,Google Earth lessons, ICT, Student work,Teaching resources and videos.

The post "BBC Bitesize podcasts" leadsyou to a range of Geography revison“audiobite” podcasts that have appearedat the BBC Bitesize site.

Visit at http://www.digitalgeography.co.uk/

ALL POINTS BLOGThis already pop-ular blog withinthe Geospatial

community has a lot of posts to dig in to.One thing we find interesting is a post on"LBS on Campus" which talks about howstudents are tracking the location of theshuttle bus on their cell phones throughthe implementation of location-awareservices (LAS). Here is a quote from thearticle--- "Shop around. If the differencebetween a $60 book and an $80 book is anice map, students would rather buy thecheap book and Google a map."

Visit All Points Blog at

http://www.allpointsblog.com

ANYGEOThere is a digest ofinformation in the GIS-user blog AnyGeo byMr. Glenn, the Founder

& Managing Editor of GISuser.com. The education section in this blog can

be considered as an important informa-tion on conferences, scholarships, awards

etc. for students at secondary schools/col-leges/universities. Apart from this, thereare a variety of articles arranged in cate-gories. Users can select the category oftheir choice to browse through relatedposts.

Visit the link

http://gisuser.blogspot.com/search/label/educa-

tion for more information.

GEOTECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

This blog tries to relate thenews on spatial data,training events, books,ideas, curriculum and thebenefits to the educationsegment. It discusses thechallenges, benefits, spa-tial data, training events,

books, ideas, curriculum, and other topicsrelated to the use of Geotechnologies(GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing) in education.The author of this blog is Joseph Kerskifrom United States. He works as a Geog-rapher at the USGS and is also an instruc-tor for primary and secondary schools aswell as universities. He conducts researchon how and why teachers implement GISinto their curricula, and the effectivenessof GIS in teaching and learning.

Visit him at

http://geotecheducation.blogspot.com/

GIS IN EDUCATIONThis blog has regularly updated featurestories, articles, updates in GIS andRemote Sensing. A compilation of Uni-versity/College/Academic sites offeringcourses on Geographic Information Sys-tem (GIS) is also available. The universi-ties list has been categorised according tothe regions, namely, Asia Pacific, Europe,Middle East and the Americas. It hassome other sections like Conferences andSeminars, Software updates, NASA News,Remote Sensing updates etc.

Visit the blog http://gis-education.blogspot.com

HHaarrsshhaa VVaarrddhhaann, [email protected]


Add GIS Developmentnews to yourblogs throughRSS feedsTo Subscribe:

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/news/rss.asp

44-45.qxp 3/23/2007 3:12 PM Page 45


Report

OOSGeo-India actively participated and was well repre-sented at the Map World Forum 2007, held in Hyder-abad,India during January 22-25, 2007. The major activ-

ities that the organization organized at this premier interna-tional forum of geospatial community were - (i) OSGeo Work-shop and (ii) OSGeo Exhibition Booth. In addition, the first meet-ing of the Executive council of OSGeo-India was held.

The OSGeo workshop was conducted on 24th of January. Themain aim of this workshop was to provide a platform to dissem-inate and educate the geospatial community of the enormousopportunities that FOSS4G provides, the advances and the levelof technology development in order to provide effective geospa-tial solutions. During the workshop different models of develop-ment and use of FOSS tools and its potential in the domains ofacademia, government (mainly for organizations mandatedwith national development, and e-governance), and businesswere presented. The workshop also had the presence of othercountries from Asia, namely, China, Japan and Vietnam.

Prof. Deekshatulu giving the inaugural address mentioned theadvantages that FOSS tools provide for a large country likeIndia, and in particular emphasized the advantages of the use ofFOSS4G tools in the different decision making bodies of thecountry using these tools with remote sensing. He also applaud-ed the timing of this effort and hoped that it will help mobilizethe geospatial community in the country to spread the use ofthese technologies to a much wider public audience. Mr. GeoffZeiss of Autodesk shared the changes in the business ideas andhow partnering with Open Source is of mutual benefit. He alsoemphasized the need for concerted efforts towards Open Stan-dards and Open Content in addition to Open Source, which canhelp create further business opportunities and how it can helpin building a Spatial IT ecosystem. Dr. Roy informed the audi-ence about the efforts in the establishment of OSGeo-India andthe plans including outreach, which it has set for itself in theshort and mid-term. Some of the ongoing Indian initiatives tak-

en up by organizations like NRSA/DOS, GSI, SACON. NIC, KEL-TRON, etc were also shown in the presentation. He also men-tioned the challenges and opportunities in the Indian context,especially with the establishment of Village Resources Centersand Krishi Vigyan Kendras, which are mandated to provide arange of services and information including geospatial informa-tion. He encouraged all the participants of the workshop toactively participate and contribute in developing a sharedvision for the community. Representatives of China, Japan andVietnam also gave an overview of the efforts of their respectivechapters.

OSGeo-India put up an Exhibition Booth during the Map WorldForum, to showcase its efforts, the launch of the India Chapter,dessiminate information on OSGeo-India, demonstrate some ofthe ongoing projects, and provide for a personal interactionbetween Chapter members and the geospatial community. Itreceived a great response from the visitors. Many of them com-mended our effort and objectives. A few of them also invited theChapter to organize some events like tool demonstration andtraining in different parts of the country. A sizeable number ofpeople have agreed to continuously interact with OSGeo asusers, partners, developers or promoters in their own respectiveorganizations.

The other important event that took place on the sidelines ofthe Map World Forum was the first meeting of the ExecutiveCouncil of OSGeo-India. The council had a good discussion onhow it would like to take the efforts forward and develop on theresponse at this first major activity. It has bought on board rep-resentatives of academia, government and industry to helpmake it an inclusive effort and has also consciously provided fora pan-India representation to the Chapter. Representatives ofChina, Japan and Vietnam attended the meeting as observers,and there was a discussion on how to build interaction and syn-ergy between the different Chapters.

All these efforts of OSGeo-India were made possible by thegenerous financial support that was extended by GNOME Foun-dation and OSGeo.org. OSGeo-India would like to thank theseorganizations for the support, that not only made the logistics ofthe event possible but also helped provide travel support for thedelegates from Asia. It is hoped that such efforts will go a longway in fulfilling the objectives of our respective organizations,while looking forward to a continued interaction in the future.

K S Rajan, OSGeo-India

OSGeo at Map World Forum 2007

46.qxp 3/23/2007 3:12 PM Page 46


Print Publications

GGIIMM IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall ((MMaarrcchh 22000077))http://www.gim-international.com/index.php

GGeeoommaattiiccss EEdduuccaattiioonn iinn CCrrooaattiiaaThe author provides detailed background information and pre-liminary evaluation of the courses offered at Faculty of Geo-desy at the University of Zagreb.

GGeeoommaattiiccss EEdduuccaattiioonn iinn LLaattvviiaa The author provides some background and discusses the newGeomatics programme to be launched in academic year2007/2008.

KKaaddaasstteerr:: AAmmbbiittiioonnss aanndd GGooaallssThe author sketches the ambitions and goals of the Nether-lands Cadastre (Kadaster) against a background of Europeanpolicy, ICT developments and customer expectations.

CCaarr NNaavviiggaattiioonnCar navigation systems significantly ease safe arrival at a des-tination. However, one side effect is a dramatic increase inheavy goods vehicles passing through rural villages and sub-urbs, significantly reducing quality of life for people living alongthese roads.

LLaasseerr SSccaannnniinngg TTeecchhnnoollooggyy CChhaalllleennggeeddIn this month’s Insider’s View Prof. Heinz Rüther puts somecritical points on the shortcomings of laser-scanning technolo-gy in the spatial documentation of heritage sites.

GGEEOO TTIIMMEESS ((MMaarrcchh 22000077))http://www.geotimes.org/current/printTOC.html

PPuuttttiinngg UUttaahh oonn aa PPeettrroolleeuumm MMaappSince the 1890s, companies have been exploring and produc-ing petroleum in Utah. Though oil production has waned inrecent years, a renaissance may be underway thanks to the2003 discovery of a new oilfield in central Utah.

IInntteeggrraattiinngg BBiiooffuueellss iinnttoo tthhee FFuueell SSuuppppllyyChevron is expanding its energy portfolio by enhancingresearch on biofuels.

DDiiggggiinngg ddeeeepp iinn tthhee GGuullff ooff MMeexxiiccooThe offshore region is possibly the last unexplored frontier inoil production, especially in the United States. But with newtechnologies, energy companies are increasingly finding newoilfields.

PPuutt ttoo tthhee NNuucclleeaarr TTeesstt:: SSeeiissmmoollooggyy aanndd tthhee IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaallMMoonniittoorriinngg SSyysstteemmThe nuclear explosion by North Korea put the InternationalMonitoring System to the test, as seismologists tried to pin-point where the explosion occurred and if it was indeed anuclear explosion.

NNoo MMoorree IIvvoorryy TToowweerr:: CCoommmmuunniiccaattiinngg GGeeoosscciieennccee ttoo SSoocciieettyy A graduate seminar on communicating science to the greaterpublic can facilitate learning about both the importance ofbroader impacts and provide practical experiences in whichstudents can engage the general public.

DDaattaa PPrreesseerrvvaattiioonn:: OOlldd SSaammpplleess PPrroodduuccee NNeeww KKnnoowwlleeddggeeRaw data collections are of particular value to the geo-sciences, but the ability to preserve and maintain geosciencedata and collections has not kept pace with the growing needfor information.

AA CChhaannggee iinn CClliimmaattee iinn CCoonnggrreessss:: TToo AAcctt oorr NNoott TToo AAccttIt seems that the climate for global climate change legislationmay be changing in Congress, as several new bills havealready been introduced to address climate change.

SSccoouuttiinngg ffoorr GGeeoollooggiissttss CCoommiinngg llaatteerr tthhiiss mmoonntthh!!The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts provide an important way foryoung people to discover geology.

GGEEOO:: GGeeooccoonnnneexxiioonn IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall MMaaggaazziinnee ((MMaarrcchh 22000077))http://www.geoconnexion.com/geo.php?PHPSESSID=016f340430c665f3c4e5ee01b29b651c

GGIISS aass ssttrraatteeggiicc ttoooollThe energy industry depends upon innovation to enable betterdecision-making. Both companies and regulatory agencies cannow tap into the potential of geography for planning and man-agement.

LLaanndd iinn NNeeww SSppaacceeFrom Italy to Poland, land management accounts for about80% of all government activity one author explains. Tools formanaging land and cadastral records require strong integra-tion capabilities.

VViieewwss ooff tthhee EEaarrtthhPersistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-RAY) produces crystalclear visualisations that beckon human eyes and minds.

VViissuuaalliissiinngg iinn rreeaall ttiimmeeDanish fish research vessels are using real-time GISapproaches to understand the ocean. Continuous data flowsenable 3D visualisations coupled to other navigation measure-ments.

UUnniiqquuee IInn EEuurrooppee What covers 1 million square meters, costs 800 million Euroand opens in the spring of 2007 - and is ecologically friendly?The new Deutsche Messe Stuttgart was no small surveyingproject.

MMeerrggeerrss aanndd AAccqquuiissiittiioonnss When enterprises change hands, so too do data and ITrequirements. Learn about one company's approach based onusing a ‘GIS Data Hub’.

PPrrooffeessssiioonnaall SSuurrvveeyyoorr ((FFeebbrruuaarryy 22000077))http://www.profsurv.com/teasers.php

FFaarrmmiinngg tthhee EEaassyy WWaayyMeasuring fields with GPS technology and applying it to theguidance of farm vehicles allows for more precise agriculture,saving time, money, and headaches.

SSeeccoonndd TThhoouugghhttss:: OOuurr SSuurrvveeyyiinngg SSoocciieettiieessIt's more than just the science!

33DD SSccaannnniinngg:: FFiieelldd PPrroodduuccttiivviittyy FFaaccttoorrss iinn LLaasseerr SSccaannnniinngg,,PPaarrtt 22For professionals who are investigating laser scanning sys-tems, understanding various field productivity factors for thesesystems can be very valuable.

WWhhoollee NNeeww BBaallll GGaammeeA project to laser scan a baseball stadium in texas shows howeducated clients are driving the demand for high definitionsurveying.

FFeeaattuurree:: LLaasseerr SSccaannnniinngg HHiittss tthhee RRooaadd RRuunnnniinnggHigh-definition scanning proves useful in measuring roadways— here are the ins and outs.

GGIISS DDeevveellooppmmeenntt MMiiddddllee EEaasstt ((JJaannuuaarryy -- FFeebbrruuaarryy 22000077))http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/mid-dleeast/2007/jan-feb/index.htm

SSuuppppoorrtt SSyysstteemm ffoorr GGaass DDiissttrriibbuuttiioonn NNeettwwoorrkk The paper details on the design and implementation of gasdistirbution network.

SSppaattiiaall DDaattaa MMooddeellss FFoorr TThhee EE&&PP IInndduussttrryy This paper gives an insight into the initiatives by various organisations in enabling Geospatial Data Standards for theExploration & Production industry.

GGIISS EEdduuccaattiioonn iinn GGCCCC RReeggiioonnThis article tries to identify the current status of GIS educationat geography departments in various universities of GCC (GulfCooperation Council) countries.

AARRCCGGIISS IImmaaggee SSeerrvveerrA product that has literally redefined how imagery is managed,processed, and distributed.

CChhaannggiinngg ppeerrssppeeccttiivvee ooff pphhoottooggrraammmmeettrryyA review of several trends, stressing the rapidly changinghardware for airborne digital imaging.

PPaatthhwwaayyss ffoorr ggrroowwtthhAs GIS has been around for many decades, can we reallyexpect major innovation, or do we rather look at slow, incre-mental evolution?

GGeeooWWoorrlldd ((MMaarrcchh 22000077))www.geoplace.com

MMoovvee tthhee DDiissccuussssiioonn ffrroomm IInntteerrooppeerraabbiilliittyy ttoo IInnffrraassttrruuccttuurreeInteroperability is, at best, an ill-defined objective, and I believe it’s time to focus our energies in a different direction: "infrastructure."

UUnnddeerrssttaanndd RReessoolluuttiioonn ttoo ""TThhiinnkk wwiitthh MMaappss""One of the most fundamental concepts in the paper-mapworld is geographic scale: the relationship between a distance on a map and its corresponding distance on Earth.

MMoobbiillee LLooccaattiioonn SSeerrvviicceess RReevviissiitteeddThere have been advancements with small devices and voicerecognition and text-to-voice for mobile phones, but therehave been barriers to acceptance.

FFeeeedd tthhee FFLLAAMMEE -- UUttiilliittyy IInntteeggrraatteess FFiieelldd AApppplliiccaattiioonnssUtilities have historically planned, designed and deployed each of their major IT systems into the utility enterprise independently. As a result, these systems often sit in solitude,incapable of sharing their information with the rest of theenterprise.

YYoouutthh EEmmppoowweerrmmeenntt tthhrroouugghh EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttaall GGIISSThe Kids GIS project aims to equip youths with geospatialskills and technology to address issues related to the health ofthe natural environment.

LLaannddsslliiddee SSuusscceeppttiibbiilliittyy ---- MMaappppiinngg iinn aa PPeerrmmaaffrroosstt EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttLandslides, a constantly occurring natural geological process,can be devastating. The February 2006 mudslide that sweptthe village of Guinsahugon in the Island of Letey, Philippines,buried hundreds of villagers.

Online Publications

GGIISSuusseerr ((MMaarrcchh 22000077)) http://www.gisuser.com/content/section/3/28/

HHaacckkeerrss TTaapp IInnttoo tthhee FFuunnccttiioonnaalliittyy aanndd SSiimmpplliicciittyy ooff GGoooogglleeMMaappss --Developers are tapping into a wealth of online mapping andwebservices, integrating the data with other databases, andcreating very simple, yet effective web services driven by theGoogle Map API.

TThhee GGIISSuusseerr''ss GGuuiiddee ttoo llooccaattiinngg aanndd ddoowwnnllooaaddiinngg FFrreeeeUUSSGGSS ddaattaa Before you begin working with USGS data, make sure youare familiar with some of the pieces of information.

PPOOBB OOnnlliinnee ((MMaarrcchh 22000077))(http://www.pobonline.com/CDA/Articles/Column)

SSuurrvveeyyiinngg GGIISS--WWhhyy SShhoouulldd II RReeccoorrdd MMyy SSuurrvveeyy?? How many times have you heard the question “If not the sur-veyor, then who?” It’s certainly a fair question. Unfortunately, itgoes unanswered all too often, even by the surveying com-munity.

TThhee TTeecchhnnoollooggyy BBeenncchhmmaarrkk--PPrriiccee FFiixxiinngg vvss.. CCoosstt FFiixxiinnggI travel heavily in my duties as a consultant and trainer andhave discovered a theme that runs through almost every sur-veying firm I visit.

TThhee GGPPSS oobbsseerrvveerr--GGLLOONNAASSSS aanndd GGPPSS UUppddaatteess An Update on GLONASS: Those of us who use satellitereceivers for surveying can purchase a pair of receivers thatprocess signals from GPS satellites only or from both GPSand GLONASS constellations.

TThhee BBuussiinneessss SSiiddee--WWiillll tthhee RReeaall CCoommppaannyy PPlleeaassee SSttaanndd UUpp?? In this column, I will address two issues faced by companiesthat contract surveying and engineering services.

48.qxp 3/23/2007 3:14 PM Page 48

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April 2007 9 - 11 AprilMMaapp MMiiddddllee EEaasstt 22000077Dubai, UAE

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16 - 18 AprilLLooccaattiioonn IInntteelllliiggeennccee 22000077San Francisco, USA

www.locationintelligence.net/conference

23 - 25 April 22nndd NNaattiioonnaall GGIISS SSyymmppoossiiuumm && EExxhhiibbiittiioonnKhobar, Saudi Arabia

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29 April – 3 May BBEE CCoonnffeerreennccee 22000077Los Angeles Convention Center , California

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May 2007 9 - 11 May GGIISS ffoorr UUrrbbaann EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt SSuummmmiitt 22000077 Johannesburg, South Africa

13 - 17 May FFIIGG WWoorrkkiinngg WWeeeekk Hotel Kowloon Shangri La, Hong Kong

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14 - 18 MaySSppaattiiaall SScciieenncceess IInnssttiittuuttee BBiieennnniiaall IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall CCoonnffeerreenncceeHobart, Tasmania, Australia

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21 - 24 MayIInntteerrggrraapphh 22000077Nashville, Tennessee, USA

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June 2007 5 - 9 June55tthh IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall SSyymmppoossiiuumm oonn DDiiggiittaall EEaarrtthhSan Francisco, USA

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