ASM Newsletter – April 20 – 2012 « Asian Surveying & Mapping

April 20th, 2012
ASM Newsletter – April 20 – 2012

Apr 20, 2012
Matt Ball
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2012, April 20, ASM, newsletter
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Friday, April 20, 2012

Astrium’s SpaceDataHighway Promises Imagery Anywhere in Minutes

Astrium, in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), is working to build a satellite communication system to speed the delivery of high resolution imagery anywhere on the planet with near real-time speeds. This ambitious project will support ESA’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) satellites, while also offering capacity for commercial partners to send their own large image files via the network for a fee.

Contact Lost with Flagship Envisat Spacecraft

Contact has been lost with the European Space Agency’s (Esa) flagship Earth observation mission – Envisat. Controllers stopped receiving data from the eight-tonne spacecraft on Sunday, and have not as yet been able to re-establish communications.

Australia Calls for Unified Map Data Network

Australia is still lagging badly in providing a comprehensive, detailed and nationwide network of spatial data which is essential in most areas of government, from handling natural disasters to adjudicating between militant farmers’ groups and coal seam gas extraction projects, according to a spatial industries group. While deficiencies in flood mapping have been highlighted since the disastrous 2010 Queensland floods, a much-improved spatial data network should be informing a range of other government activities and policies, says the Spatial Industries Business Association.

Lockheed Loses $70 Million Over GPS Satellite Overruns

Lockheed Martin will lose its entire fee of about $70 million to defray an 18 percent cost overrun on the first newly designed Global Positioning System satellites, according to the Air Force. The Bethesda-based company, the biggest U.S. defense contractor, had estimated that it would cost $1.5 billion to develop, test and build the first two GPS III satellites. However, Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein said the cost had risen to $1.62 billion.

New Micro Laser Adds Precise Measurement to Handhelds

UK-based Measurement Devices Ltd. (MDL) has developed a tiny eye-safe micro laser for the mobile phone market that could revolutionize field data collection. The Micro Laser Module can make hundreds of measurement a second for objects within a 120-meter radius and weighs only 34 grams. Now that the hardware has been developed it is being marketed to original equipment manufacturers for the development of software and interfaces for different applications.

North Korean Rocket Launch Fails

Despite warnings and appeals from many countries, North Korea went ahead with a rocket launch Friday but officials in South Korea, Japan and the U.S. said it appeared the rocket failed not long after the launch.

Little Boy Lost Finds His Mother Using Google Earth

An Indian boy who lost his mother in 1986 has found her 25 years later from his new home in Tasmania – using satellite images.

Russia, India and China Laud their Trilateral Cooperation on Disaster Management

The Ministers underlined the importance of cooperation in the field of disaster management and appreciated the outcome of the trilateral programme for exchange of information and expertise on the use of geo-spatial technologies in monitoring and forecasting flood and drought.

Remote Sensing Catches Bees Entering Australia

Electronic surveillance is about to enter the insect world with devices now being tested to prevent bees trying to sneak into the country through sea ports, potentially carrying with them pests and disease that could devastate the honeybee industry and food production.

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New Rugged Trimble Pro Series GNSS Receivers

Trimble introduced the next generation of its GPS Pathfinder family—the Trimble Pro 6H and Pro 6T receivers for GIS and mobile mapping. The Trimble Pro series deliver unparalleled flexibility in professional GIS data collection. The series offers a new streamlined form-factor and dramatic productivity improvements in difficult GNSS environments with Trimble Floodlight technology.

TomTom Delivers Broader and Richer Map Coverage for Business Customers

TomTom announced the availability of its latest map product update for automotive, government, and enterprise customers. TomTom maps now cover more than 200 countries and territories globally, with navigable coverage for 109 countries or 36 million kilometres of roads. “TomTom prides itself on being able to deliver a high quality map with industry leading coverage,” said Charles Cautley, Managing Director of TomTom Automotive & Licensing.

ISTAR The World’s First Automatic Rapid 360º Camera Launches

Scotland based camera design and manufacturing company, NCTech, is launching the world’s first fully automatic instant 360º panoramic camera. Designed to be integrated seamlessly into the Lidar scanning process, this revolutionary new type of rapid imaging camera is the first 360º camera with the power to process its images internally, with no need for a computer to complete post-production processing or stitching.

SuperGIS Network Analyst Extension 3.0 Released

SuperGeo Technologies launched the latest SuperGIS Network Analyst 3.0. Utilizing SuperNetObjects 3.0 as the development core, SuperGIS Network Analyst 3.0 adds hierarchy settings and greatly improves its performance in operation and analysis.

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