JANUARY 2008 VOL 12 ISSUE 1 RNI 68561/18/6/98/ISSN 0971-9377 UP/BR-343/2008 Subscriber’s copy. Not for Sale

40 Status of GIS in Africa 44 Status of GIS in Europe 48 Geospatial Initiatives in Israel 54 Geo-information in the

The Global Geospatial Magazine Age of Instant Access 58 Geospatial Technology takes centre stage

Looking Forward... About the cover: Page 3

AFRICA I AMERICAS I ASIA I AUSTRALIA I EUROPE www.GISdevelopment.net

10 - 13 FEBRUARY, 2009, HYDERABAD, INDIA G27497_GIS-Dev_Oct07.indd 1 9/28/07 9:31:37 AM In this issue... Advisory Board

Dato’ Dr. Abdul Kadir bin Taib Deputy Director General of Survey and COLUMNS 48 Geospatial Initiatives in Mapping, Israel Aki A. Yamaura Editorial 05 Sr. Vice President, Asuka DBJ Partners, Japan Objectives of the Survey of Israel's National Amitabha Pande Annual News roundup 06 Geospatial Portal… Secretary, Inter-State Council, Government of India Dr. Haim Srebro Tech Horizon 64 Bhupinder Singh Sr. Vice President, Bentley Systems Inc., USA Events 66 52 Public Private Bob Morris President, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging,USA Partnership in Middle East ARTICLES BVR Mohan Reddy Implementation of PPP model in the Middle Chairman and Managing Director, Infotech Enterprises Ltd., India Usage of OGC Standards East… 30 Fernando Pizzuti David Maguire Director, Products, Solutions and International, in Indonesia, and ESRI, USA Malaysia 54 Geo-information in the Frank Warmerdam President, OSGeo, USA The current standing of the use of OGC Age of Instant Access Prof. Ian Dowman standards in the development of NSDI and Various application, product inititaives and similar projects… President, ISPRS, UK their regional usage overview… Dr. Markus Lupp Prof. Josef Strobl Dr.-Ing. Phisan Santitamnont Director, Centre for Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria 36 Geoinformatics in 2008: 58 Geospatial Technology Kamal K Singh Convergence bringing Chairman and CEO, Rolta Group of Companies, India exciting opportunities takes center stage Prof. Karl Harmsen Exciting opportunities in the Geospatial Taking stock of technological developments Director, UNU-INRA Industry as a result of convergence in busi- in 2007… Marc Tremblay ness models, technological innovations, Joseph R. Francica Vice President, Commercial Business Unit, social requirements and more… DigitialGlobe, USA Dr. David Hastings Mark Reichardt ABOUT THE COVER... President and Chief Operating Officer, OGC, USA 40 Status of GIS in Africa The perspective of authors from different regions Prof. Martien Molenaar have been depicted where they see the newer Rector, ITC, The The use of GIS by government departments technologies being developed for better growth of Matthew O’Connell the geospatial industry in the times to come. We all in the execution of their functions… look forward to this! CEO, GeoEye, USA Dr. Derek Clarke Prof. Michael Blakemore Emeritus Professor of Geography, GIS Development is intended for those interested and involved in GIS related activities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing net- University of Durham, UK Status of GIS in work by keeping the community up-to-date on many activities in this 44 wide and varied field. Your involvement in providing relevant information Dr. Milan Konecny is essential to the success of this endeavour. Europe: Opportunities President, International Cartographic Association, GIS Development does not necessarily subscribe to the views Czech Republic expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those and Challenges of the contributors. It is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided. Er. Mohammed Abdulla Al-Zaffin Overview of Geospatial industry in Europe GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published by Sanjay Kumar. Director, GIS Centre, Dubai Municipality, UAE with respect to GNSS, SDI, etc.,… Press M. P. Printers B-220, Phase-II, Noida, Gautambudh Dr. Prithvish Nag Prof. Dr. Josef Strobl Nagar (UP) INDIA Publication Address P-82, Sector-11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India Editor Ravi Gupta Director, NATMO, India Rajesh . Mathur President, ESRI India

President M P Narayanan Editor in Chief Ravi Gupta Managing Editor Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar Robert M Samborski Excutive Director, Gita, USA Editorial Team: Honorary Advisor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Associate Editor Dr. Satyaprakash Assistant Editor Saurabh Mishra, Anamika Das Sr. Sub Editor Harsha Vardhan Prof. Stig Enemark Sub Editor Gaurav Sharma President, FIG, Denmark Sales and Marketing: Regional Managers Middle East Swati Grover North America Annu Negi South East Asia Pacific Sunil Ahuja Regional Sales Managers Europe Niraj South Asia Prashant Joshi Dy. Managers Sales Middle East Prof. V. S Ramamurthy Sharmishtha Seth South Asia Anupam Sah, Vivek Rawat South East Asia Pacific Kavitha Seras Marketing Co-ordinator Chairman, IIT, Delhi, India Megha Datta Sales Co-ordinator Uma Shankar Pandey OFFICES Design Team: Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar, Prashant K Sarkar Assistant Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh India Circulation Team: Arpita Majumder, Vijay Kumar Singh GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. A-145, Sector - 63, Noida, INDIA Tel: Fax: Software Development Group: Team Leader Kumar Vikram Team Member Viral Pandey +91-120-4260800 to 808 +91-120-4260823-24 UAE Portal Team: Product Manager Shivani Lal Dy. Manager Anshu Garg Team Member Anjali Srivastava GIS Development Branch Dubai Airport Free Zone Area, P.O. Box No: 54664, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971-4-2045350, 2045351Fax: +971-4-2045352 Malaysia Suite - 22.6, Level - 22, Menara Genesis, 33 Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 50250 3 Tel: +601-72929756 Fax: +603-21447636 GIS DEVELOPMENT | DECEMBER 2007 Vol. 11 Issue 12 Email: [email protected]

From Editor’s Desk

The winds of change

ohn Naughton a control engineer - cum-journalist in his Keynote Address at UK Marketing Society in Maneesh Prasad J Managing Editor & Chief Operating Officer February, 2006 talked about our transforming world. He started with a Latin phrase - "terra [email protected] firma" or solid earth, which may give an impression to an individual that the ground on which he is standing is quite firm. But a A milestone has been crossed by the geospa- geophysicist knows that the ground on which tial community with the commercial large we are standing is shifting, continously. scale availability of the maps in mobile phones. It is now common to find an 'Off-The- The ability to sense change also depends Shelf' with satellite navigation upon where you are with respect to the refer- software. And it is not just N95, iPhone(for not ence plane! having GPS) or Android, making waves today, but we are going to see a deluge of similar The change has always been subtle. products, applications and platforms in days Although on a Year-On-Year basis perhaps the to come. We are also quite sure it is not just change detection would not have been so going to stop with street routing. It is matter explosive as compared to what it appears in a of time before the entire topographical map is decade or two. At no point of time we felt we squeezed into the pocket phone and bundled were undergoing a revolutionary change in with sundry location-based applications. the way we communicate, access information and conduct our business. But we have a mark There is little doubt, that in the 'Mobile shift from early nineties to present day in War' GPS will Rock! And so will the geospatial many of our activities . applications.

Looking into what has changed between 1st Although for many regions of the world, Jan 2007 and 31st Dec 2007: we had launch of street and other important land marks data radar imaging satellites and optical remote are not available in ready to use manner, but sensing imageries became better. We had this is not stopping cell phone companies large acquisitions and some big money were from integrating the Google Maps in cell exchanged with merger & acquisitions. The phones to start with. mainstream giants were talking about more and more aerial photographs of cities around Let us cherish this moment in geospatial his- the world. With the giants in the geospatial tory when we are moving into the revolution boxing ring, there would be availability of phase. more and more funds for the research leading to some exciting products in days to come. With best wishes for the New Year 2008 “”

GIS DEVELOPMENT | JANUARY 2008 Vol. 12 Issue 1 5 Yearly News 6-19.qxp 1/4/2008 3:52 PM Page 6

1 2 3 4 5 6 News 2007: Annual Roundup

The year 2007 was eventful for Geospatial industry. In our annual news roundup for the year 2007, we have important developments mentioned here. We are quite sure some of these developments would have long term implications on Geospatial Industry like polarisation of Geospatial Industry, Technology convergence etc. We do look forward to you views on this annual news roundup and possible indication to any particular development which you feel would have an ampact on our Geospatial Industry in years to come. - GIS Development Team

is a distributor and systems integrator outstanding shares of IONIC Software, of products and solutions for cus- a geospatial software company head- tomers in the field of positioning, nav- quartered in Liege, Belgium, as well as igation, alignment, measurements all the shares of the related American Business and surveying using various tech- company IONIC Enterprise. nologies such as optical and GPS LGGI also acquired the technology based equipment, aerial photogram- assets of Acquis, a provider of web- metry, GIS and mapping, construction based data editing software for Oracle Acquisitions and mining machine control, portable Spatial. Leica Geosystems will use this coordinate measuring machines technology to provide enterprise 'ACQUIRE AND EVOLVE' SEEMS TO BE (CMM), laser scanning, and weather functionality on the Oracle Spatial THE MANTRA OF THE 2007 GEOSPA- meteorology. The company will be database. TIAL INDUSTRY. THE COMPANY WITH fully consolidated as of 1 January 2008 Another company whos assets were A BUSY SHOPPING LIST WAS LEICA and will immediately contribute to acquired by Leica was Earth Resource GEOSPATIAL GEOSYSTEMS INC. AND Hexagon's earnings. Mapping Ltd (ER Mapper), a geospa- ITS PARENT COMPANY, - Following the acquisition of Elcome tial software company headquartered BASED HEXAGON. Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Leica Geosys- in Australia. tems Geospatial Imaging announced All the above acquisitions were Leica goes shopping... the opening of Leica Geosystems made for an undisclosed amount. Hexagon entered into an agreement Geospatial Imaging India Private Lim- to acquire all outstanding shares of ited, with its headquarters in Gurgaon Trimble acquires the Indian company Elcome Tech- (New Delhi), India. INPHO nologies Pvt. Ltd. Elcome Technologies Earlier this year, LGGI acquired all Trimble acquired privately-held ININ-

Rolta acquires Orion Technology

Buzz in the Indian Geospatial market was created by Rolta India Ltd. as it signed an agreement to acquire Orion Technology, a Canadian software and integration company specializing in enterprise web-GIS solutions. While the deal size was not disclosed, Rolta expects to generate around USD 100 million over the next three to five years by integrating the acquired technologies. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rolta, Orion will continue its operations under the same name from its headquarters in , and will be managed and operated by the management team that is currently in place. This acquisition enables Rolta to own technologies for taking its GIS offerings to the next level.

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PHO GmbH of Stuttgart, Germany in an the group's position in the Defence announced that it has acquired all-cash transaction. INPHO is a leader and National Security markets. Pixxures, Inc., a provider of aerial in photogrammetry and digital surface Helyx provides highly focused con- photographic mapping products and modeling for aerial surveying, map- sultancy, research and infrastructure services, direct-digital orthophotogra- ping and applications. services for a range of defence and phy, planimetric and topographic Financial terms were not disclosed. security customers, offering inde- mapping, vector alignment, and GIS Johannes Saile, Managing Director of pendent technical and project advice products and services via the Internet. INPHO, and his staff will join Trimble in the areas of MoD research, capabili- According to CEO, Hugh Williamson and operate as a wholly-owned sub- ty management and programme sup- III, "by adding Pixxures to our growing sidiary. The acquisition of INPHOs port. Brig Nick Rigby (retd.), Non-exec- portfolio of companies, we are execut- photogrammetry and LIDAR software utive Director, ESRI (UK) said, "The ing our plan of building XeDAR into processing technologies augment acquisition will ESRI (UK) extend an information assurance and Trimble's existing ground-based posi- its reach into related specialist sectors geospatial products and services tioning solutions to enable users to such as central government and company.” capture, extract, and analyze layers of police which are realising the poten- accurate air-to-ground data to tial of GIS to provide new levels of MapInfo merges with increase productivity. sophisticated analysis of their data." Pitney Bowes Since the acquisition of MapInfo Corp. AAMHatch announces Autodesk takes over by Pitney Bowes Inc., the name Map- acquisition of African Hanna Strategies Info has remained - somewhat - under Aerial Mapping Co. Autodesk, Inc. signed an agreement to the new name Pitney Bowes MapInfo, AAMHatch announced the acquisi- acquire Hanna Strategies, an headquartered at MapInfo's old tion of AOC Geomatics at the Map engineering services firm that offers offices in North Greenbush. With the Africa 2007 conference. In Africa, software development with centers in announcement of combining Group 1 AAMHatch will continue to use the Shanghai, China, Atlanta, and Software with the Pitney Bowes Map- AOC brand. "By bringing the experi- Pune, India. In 2006, Autodesk Info unit also was announced that it ence of AOC into the AAMHatch purchased an ownership interest in would take on a new name, Pitney Group we now have a permanent Hanna Strategies and is now Bowes Software. presence in one of the world's fastest acquiring the remaining ownership. For years the success of tech startups developing regions. This acquisition Terms of the transaction were not dis- were openly measured against Map- represents a long term investment in closed. Autodesk and Hanna Strate- Info. So the latest chapter in the Map- the sustainable development of the gies have worked closely together for Info story is important in what it African content for the benefit of all", the last five years on the development means to the local economy. To put it says Brian Nicholls, AAMHatch's Gen- of Autodesk design software products in perspective, the Pitney Bowes eral Manager. "This purchase contin- that serve the manufacturing and acquisition of MapInfo merited four ues our approach of investing in the building and construction markets. sentences. Considering the climate for best available people and mapping This acquisition will increase mergers and acquisitions, what hap- technologies to complement the wide Autodesk's investment in developing pened with MapInfo is not surprising

range of existing geospatial products solutions for Digital Prototyping, news. It was an ideal candidate for Annual Roundup and expertise that we offer." Building Information Modeling (BIM) purchase and its biggest shareholders and 3D and 2D solutions. had been calling for it to be sold for ESRI Holdings months. The one constant in business, acquires Helyx SIS Ltd Pixxures Inc. now part after all, is change. Entrepreneurs ESRI Holdings, a group of companies of XeDAR Corp. generally have a strategy from the including ESRI (UK) and ESRI Ireland, XeDAR Corporation, provider of start to go public or sell out. It is the has acquired Helyx SIS Ltd, a specialist complex data management and nature of business. People build com- defence consultancy, strengthening security solutions company, panies with an exit plan. News 2007: News 2007:

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Laser Scanning Boom! GeoWeb 2.0 API and Mashups We have been talking all this years Laser scanning is one of the areas in the Geo-enabled Infrastrucutre and Plant segments which is getting popular day-by-day. During about the releaseas of in the 2007, we saw the new equipments: Geospatial domain and various mashups being created or experi- • Trimble VX Spatial Station - January 2007 mented. The boasting part is that 48% • Leica ScanStation 2 - July 2007 of APIs being used are from Google • Topcon GLS-1000 - October 2007 Maps and 40% of Mashups being cre- Trimbles VX Spatial Station was announced during January 2007, ated are having the MAP component combines optical, 3D scanning and video capabilities to measure (Source:ProgrammableWeb.com). objects in 3D to produce 2D and 3D data sets for spatial imaging ESRI ArcWeb Services REST API is projects. The prime features of Trimble VX Spatial Station include

• Patented Trimble MagDrive servos, which spin the instrument with speed and agility-more than 100 degrees per second for ultra- smooth control for precision pointing. • Trimble VISION technology, that includes a data overlay fea- Trimble VX Spatial Station ture which enables users to view positioning data over a video display of the job site. Users can see in real-time what features have been measured before leaving a job site, giving them confidence that all required points have been measured, which reduces the poten- tial for rework and duplication. • This also comes with a choice of data collection software, including the Trimble Survey Controller, Survey Pro or Trimble Survey Manager Software.

Announced in July 2007, Leica ScanStation 2 as a successor to the already existing "ScanStation" class of scanner. The key fetures of this instrument are: ESRI ArcWeb Services REST API • The maximum instantaneous scan speed of around 50,000 points/second, the highest in the industry for pulsed scanners. • Reduced the minimum point-to-point spacing of less than 1 mm apart, for higher-defi- useful for integrating mapping func- nition surveys tionality and GIS content into brows- • This is accompanied by Leica Cyclone v5.8 software for operating ScanStation 2. er, desktop, mobile, and server appli- cations. This API offers developers an Topcon GLS-1000, announced the Topcon GLS-1000 which handles like easy alternative to using SOAP-style a total station but delivers a total scanning solution. As the office soft- ware that process the scanning data are becoming efficient in var- Web services for building mapcentric, ious processes like loading loads of data, registering the data, decision-making applications. georeferencing etc, and their features are steadily The features in the ArcWeb Services expanding. Tough low end scanners are available at REST API include:

Annual Roundup affordable prices, the limitations in • Control for multiple layers of map data capabilities have restricted their • Access to tiled map data sources use. According to an article by • Ability to automatically manage map Geoff Jacobs in Professional Sur- projections veyor, Leica Geosystems in Profes- ArcWeb Services is hosted by ESRI sional Surveyor, the prices of and also includes APIs for SOAP, Laser scanners and related soft- JavaScript, and Java Micro Edition ware tend to remain on a higher Leica ScanStation 2 side especially for high defini- (Java ME) as well as extensive geo- tion scanners. graphic content. News 2007: News 2007: Topcon GLS-1000

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Another release by ESRI is the Adobe OPEN & FREE SOFTWARE! Flex based mapping API, for going beyond simple maps and directions also includes a number of analyze remote sensing by building Web 2.0-style applica- Open Source new message translations data and produce action- tions. ESRI hosts two APIs that are Quantum GIS: The bug fix and updates for the help able intelligence. Though release added improve- pages and projection data- there are no significant ments to the 0.8 code base. releases in the Open- base. Source software, Opticks MapGuide Open Source: can be considered as a major one. Geoserver: With a primary The release of MapGuide focus to provide a com- Open Source 1.1.0 con- plete solution for serving tains many bug fixes as In another Open Source spatial data, version 1.5.0 well as the following initative, Autodesk, Inc. makes the rasters available notable enhancements: announced in September, its plans to donate coordi- as a , but • FDO 3.2 API support: also through the Web Cov- nate system and map pro- MapQuest API for Adobe ActionScript MapGuide now sup- erage Service specification, jection technology to the ports the latest FDO which gives access to the geospatial open source raw data, not just the final API community. based on Adobe Flex 2: the ArcWeb image. • Direct KML support: Services Flex API beta and the ArcWeb allows layers styled in The software, acquired from Mentor Software and Services JavaScript API. The ArcWeb The WCS passes all OGC MapGuide to be dis- Compliance tests. Other played as layers in its founder Norm Olsen, will Services Flex API provides full control notable improvements for Google Earth help users to more easily over all the mapping functionality this release include easier support geographic coordi- Opticks: Ball Aerospace & nate conversions and allow and layers of geographic content via adding of data through the web admin tools, better Technologies Corp. accurate and precise Macromedia XML (MXML) and support for Google Earth launched Opticks, the com- geospatial analysis. The ActionScript. The API is now available KML, performance and pany's first open source technology is presently scalability improvements. software project designed embedded in Autodesk's for evaluation as a public beta. to enable detailed analysis own software products, of remote sensing data. including AutoCAD Map On May 29, MapQuest announced GRASS GIS: The release Opticks is used by scien- 3D and Autodesk the beta launch of a new API for fixes a number of bugs dis- tists and analysts within the MapGuide Enterprise, and covered in the 6.2.2 source Adobe ActionScript. The latest API Department of Defense is used many organizations code. Besides bug fixes it option within MapQuest's Advantage Intelligence Community to worldwide. API, allows developers to use a toolset with the added benefits of Action- Script 3.0. MapQuest’s API for Action- of all is OS OpenSpace, a free Ord- Script allows developers with extend- nance Survey service that allows you ed capabilities in MapQuest platform to embed Ordnance Survey maps cov- withcompelling, complex animations ering England, Scotland and Wales in and graphics or quickly rendered mul- your web applications using the titudes of custom points, lines and Javascript API. OS OpenSpace allows shapes to display points of interest you to add markers, lines and poly- (POIs), routes or physical boundaries. Communicator Plugin API gons on top of Ordnance Survey maps,

The Garmin Communicator Plugin and also search for place names with Annual Roundup • Read tracks, routes and waypoints API is an exciting new software from supported recreational, fitness and our gazetteer. The API is for non-com- program that transfers data between navigation devices mercial use only and the range of Ord- websites and Garmin GPS Devices. • Write tracks, routes and waypoints to nance Survey digital products that The API allows developers to integrate supported recreational, fitness and nav- available through this service are: the Communicator Plugin into any igation devices • outline of Great Britain website. Some notable API Features • Read fitness data from supported fit- • overview of Great Britain ness devices include: • MiniScale® • Auto-detection of devices connected And the important and interesting • 1:250 000 Scale Colour Raster

to a computer News 2007:

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API Company Release Data Type Tags An important move from Google Maps came in August that freed the ESRI ArcWeb Bloggers and webmasters from the 90 day Services REST ESRI 16 April 2007 mapping evaluation API knot. All of this by mere copying API and pasting a snippet of HTML. This means users no longer need an API API for Adobe® Adobe, MapQuest 30 May 2007 Free key or knowledge of Java Script to put ActionScript mapping a Google Map on their website or blog.

Communicator 13 December Garmin Free gps, mobile Free my (DATA/APPS) Plugin API 2007 We in the Geospatial world have been always asking this question to one 16 August mobile, Imagery API Getmapping NA 2007 mapping another "Should the data be free?" And no one might be able to answer Map24 AJAX mapSOLUTE 10 Free mapping from the commercial segment at one moment of time, but they can no September API 2.0 Commercial longer stand firm on that, because of 2007 the Free (data/application) revolution. Ordnance Sur- 13 December OpenSpace Free mapping Though there is a gain too, the data vey 2007 providers too with the applications like NASA World Wind, Google Earth, • 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster wants to send to the rest of its col- Virtual Earth have provid- • OS Street View® leagues all over the world. However, imagery is not available Other notable releases are Imagery within OS OpenSpace. The service is API Getmapping imagery and Map24 currently running as a closed alpha AJAX API 2 from Germany based Map- test service. The service and website solute. will be available for open registration So, as we are getting more and more in early 2008. The initative looks APIs, this is enabling developers to prime as in the generation of FREE bring out unique Mashups aimed at Google Maps in Zenoss Dashboard DATA, we have been pondering over business, fun, leisure and more. the question of the relevance of map- US based Zenoss, Inc., has added a ping agencies; and once again the direct integration with Google Maps ed; but more than that they have British Survey agency has shown the that makes real-time, geographical broke the data chains. Now more and world an answer through this move visualization of the health of distrib- more softwares, applications and add- that "The wise older Tortoise can still uted IT infrastructure available ons are popping out for web as well as be a part of this Rabbit race" and this through Zenoss Core, its free, open mobile platforms on the same lines is the message probably the agency source software product. Zenoss Core which not only provide certain sets of

Annual Roundup 2.1 Beta enables users to integrate data for viewing, but also provide a Google Maps into their Zenoss Dash- platform for the users to creat new board for advanced plotting of dis- data such as Point of Interst (POI)/ and parate centres providing real time, even data sets in some cases. And the visual availability and performance application Leica Titan has gone a monitoring. Google Maps integration step-ahead by adopting P2P concept also enables monitoring of network for data sharing between various connectivity among multiple centres users through Instant Messaging Map24 AJAX API 2 and colour-coded alerting. Interface. News 2007: News 2007:

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In the products under this category organizations and users that want to Geospatial content, the concept called we have: maintain rights to their geospatial 'Crowdsourcing' is taking strong roots. ESRI ArcGIS Explorer using which data, while simultaneously offering Under this concept the digital map users can leverage data, services, and other users within the community the content is created by the people them- applications on the Web by connect- ability to discover, access and visual- selves. ing to user's own ArcGIS services or ize the data in a secure environment. • TomTom Map Share is the first com- mercial implementation of user-gener- those published by others. This appli- TITAN comes with an interactive 3D ated map content technology directly cation will help the users to extend gateway that provides a content on a Personal Navigation Device (PND) the capabilities of Web-based services forum to view, access, communicate in which the map corrections or POI by fusing them with user's own local and share geospatial data with users additions can be input on the device on the fly and instantly uploaded and shared with the rest of the TomTom Map Share communi- ty. • Netharlands based AND (Automotive Navigation Data) has recently made available an online digital map which can be modified by all users based on Web 2.0 technology, allow- ing AND to produce maps more quickly and at a lower cost. • The Wiki City project, run by MIT's SENSEable City Labo- ratory, aims to apply wiki tech- nology to the map-making process. The project's ultimate product will permit anyone to upload content to a map and

ESRI ArcGIS Explorer utilize Semantic Web principles to cross search multiple layers of information. data. The data for ArcGIS Explorer is from around the world. provided through ArcGIS Online, terra IMS released geoXtract, a desk- Although the concept of "Crowd- which is currently in beta version. top application that provides users sourcing" is helping the community ArcGIS Online gives access to high- with an easy way to integrate exist- to get upto date POIs or map data, resolution premium imagery which ing data in a variety of formats with once the data is uploaded to the appli- includes a mosaic of 1 m resolution Google Maps and Google Earth. cation/ community becomes a part of aerial imagery for the United States geoXtract eliminates the need for the companies' data. and satellite imagery of the world at users to do any programming or man- This has evolved as a good business 500 m and 15 m resolutions. ual data processing to generate a model for companies like Google and Leica launched Leica TITAN and Google Map that displays a user's TomTom, which relies on user

Annual Roundup Leica TITAN Network at Where 2.0 data. An essential and unique advan- generated content to regularly update conference held at San Jose, Califor- tage of geoXtract is that it allows the enormous digital data they are nia. Similar to online social network users to save their data processing possessing. concepts, users will be able to create, configuration as a project, thereby But the issue of quality and publish and share a geospatial enabling users to easily recreate and reliability of data will still haunt, as 'MyWorld' which contains rich update their maps whenever their the data in most of the cases is created geospatial content authored by a user. data changes. by ammature mappers. Also the The primary driver behind Leica While softwares like this are provid- question of who finally holds the TITAN is to build a community of ing means to use, create or share data also remains a main question. News 2007: News 2007:

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SPACE RACE Lapan - Tubsat The first Indonesian-built video sur- THE EARTH OBSERVATION (EO) veillance satellite, Lapan - Tubsat, was SECTOR WITNESSED THE LAUNCH OF successfully placed in the orbit. The MANY REMOTE SENSING SATELLITES satellite was launched on January 10, THAT WILL PROVIDE VOLUMES OF IMAGE DATA. EgyptSat-1: Assembling Egypt’s first EO satellite

FOLLOWING ARE THE REMOTE SENS- ING PROGRAMMES IN PUBLIC AND PRI- resolution multi-spectral imager. It is VATE, EITHER LAUNCHED, DELAYED OR the first satellite from Egypt in a IN DEVELOPMENT STAGE. series of satellites for scientific research and remote sensing applica- Lapan-Tubsat: First Indonesian video surveillance satellite THE YEAR WITNESSED PARTNERSHIPS tions. AND POLICY AMENDMENTS ATREGION- AL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL LEVEL. 2007 from the Satish Dhawan Space RADARSAT-2 Center in Sriharikota, using a Polar RADARSAT-2, Launched Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C7 rock- Canada's com- et. The cameras have a resolution of 5 mercial Synthet- WorldView- 1 meters and 200 meters, respectively. ic Aperture Radar One of the most awaited launches of (SAR) satellite the season was the launch of Digital- CARTOSAT 2 was launched Globe's WorldView- 1, next- genera- CARTOSAT-2, the twelfth in the Indian from the tion high resolution satellite capable Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series, is Baikonur Cos- of providing sub metre spatial resolu- an advanced remote sensing satellite modrome on RADARSAT-2 prior launch tion (0.5 m) imagery. The satellite capable of providing scene-specific December 14, on delivered its first sample set of high- spot imagery. CARTOSAT-2 was suc- a Soyuz launch cessfully launched on January 10 from vehicle. RADARSAT-2 is the product of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) partnership between the Canadian SHAR, Sriharikota. Space Agency (CSA) and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA). It carries a Panchromatic camera (PAN) to provide imageries with a TerraSAR-X spatial resolution of better than one The German radar satellite TerraSAR- metre and a swath of 9.6 km. The X was successfully launched on June satellite can be steered up to 45 deg 15, 2007 from the Russian Cosmod- along as well as across the track. On rome in Baikonur. With its active January 11, the first imagery from antenna, the satellite will record high-

DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1 Image of Houston, USA Annual Roundup CARTOSAT- 2 were recieved. quality X-band radar images of the entire planet whilst circling Earth in a resolution images on October 15, 2007. EgyptSat-1 polar orbit at an altitude of 514 kilo- On, November 26, 2007, DigitalGlobe EgyptSat-1 is Egypt's first Earth Obser- metres. The launch is a significant announced that WorldView-1 has vation Satellite is aimed to support milestone in the implementation of a completed its commissioning and is development in the fields of construc- public-private-partnership (PPP) delivering imagery to National tion, cultivation and fighting deserti- between the German Aerospace Cen- Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's fication. It carried two sensors: an tre (DLR) and Infoterra's parent com- (NGA) NextView program. infrared imaging sensor and a high pany Astrium GmbH. News 2007: News 2007:

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Delayed In Making... placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 630 km. It will THEOS GeoEye-1 have a revisit period of 4 days, which Thailand's first satellite for surveying GeoEye is nearing the launch of Geo- can be improved to one day with suit- natural resources, THEOS (Thailand Eye-1, slated for late first quarter or able orbit manoeuvres. The panchro- early second quarter 2008. The satel- matic camera is designed to provide lite will be able to discern objects on - better than 1 m spatial resolution the ground 0.41-meter and will be imageries with a swath of 10 km. able to locate an object that size to within about nine feet of its true loca- EarthCARE tion on the surface of the globe with- Under ESA's EarthCARE mission, out ground control points. experts from different parts of the world met in May to discuss prepara- Dubaisat-1 tions for a mission that is being THEOS- Fighting for Space The Emirates Institute for Advanced implemented with the cooperation of Earth Observation Systems), was orig- Science and Technology (EIAST) inally due to launch in October from announced the development of UAE's Yasni, Russia, but was postponed due first research satellite, Dubaisat-1. The to delays in other launches. Costing current phase includes the design and 200 million USD, the THEOS project development of the prototypes for was initiated in 2004. the equipment and tools that will be mounted on the satellite. RazakSat Artist’s rendering: ESA’s EarthCARE satellite The year-end launch of RazakSAT, Oceansat-2 Malaysia's second low-orbit micro- Oceansat-2 to be launched in 2008 JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Explo- satellite from Kwajalein in the Mar- will play an important role in fore- ration Agency) and NICT (Japanese casting the onset of monsoon and its National Institute of Information and subsequent advancement over the Communications Technology) to Indian peninsula. The mission will address the need for a better under- involve a total estimated cost of 32 standing of earth's climate by observ- million USD with a foreign exchange ing the interactions between clouds, component of 21 million USD. aerosols and solar radiation regulate Oceansat-2 satellite will have an climate. Ocean Colour Monitor which will help identify potential areas for fishery. UK DMC- 2 DMC International Imaging, a UK RazakSAT CARTOSAT-2A company that supplies satellite

Annual Roundup India will also launch its first dedicat- imagery products plans to launch a shall Islands, has been postponed. The ed military reconnaissance satellite high-resolution optical imaging satel- 40 million USD RazakSAT capable of CARTOSAT-2A in 2008 . CARTOSAT-2A lite named UK DMC-2 in 2008 to pro- capturing aerial images of the earth at with a single panchromatic camera vide continuous Continent-level 2.5-metre resolution or higher, has capable of providing scene specific imaging with direct downlink of data been slotted for launch in the first spot imageries for cartographic appli- to customer's ground stations. The 120 quarter of 2008, using SpaceX’s Falcon cations, will have high agility with kg, UK DMC-2 will be a low cost Earth 1 rocket from the Marshall Islands in capability to steer along and across Observation (EO) satellite, carrying a the Pacific Ocean. the track up to +45 degrees. It will be 22 meter resolution multispectral News 2007: News 2007:

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DMC imager with an ultra-wide General, Jean-Jacques Dor- 660km imaging swath. The enhanced dain, and European Com- micro-satellite will be able to image mission Director General continuously while broadcasting data Heinz Zourek met on March in real-time to licensed ground sta- 22, 2007 at Roscosmos in tions. UK DMC-2 will be launched into Moscow within the frame- the existing international Disaster work of the Tripartite Space Monitoring Constellation (DMC) with Dialogue between the Euro- Deimos-1, built by Surrey Satellite pean Commission, ESA and Roscos- and so far transferred 279 technolo- Technology Ltd (SSTL) for Deimos mos. The work plans that stemmed gies to industries for commercialisa- Imaging SL, Spain. from this meeting highlight actions in tion and undertaken 270 consultan- the area of Earth observation, satellite cies in various fields. Policy and Partnerships navigation and space communica- tion. In the area of Earth observation, Chinese Space plan and initiatives US- Canada initiative for instance, the parties engaged in China's State Council approved the The U.S. Geological Survey and Natur- setting up a specific data exchange country's 11th five-year plan on space al Resources Canada have launched a mechanism; in the field of satellite development in May. Chinese Vice high-tech satellite mapping initiative navigation, compatibility and inter- Premier Zeng Peiyan stressed that the that can better monitor changes in operability between Russian and 11th five-year period (2006-2010) is the combined land cover of two European systems will be addressed key to China's space development. nations. The agreement involves a and, concerning space communica- China should give priority to a dynamic land-cover monitoring sys- tions, the parties agreed to promote manned space flight, lunar explo- tem for all of North America and the applications reaching out to other ration, new launch vehicle, high reso- development of permafrost modelling entities that are not necessarily lution earth observation. applications. There are also future involved in space. Following the projects planned for longer-term col- agreement with ESA, Surrey Satellite Japan focuses on Disaster Manage- laboration on the development of Technology Ltd (SSTL) has signed an ment radar applications. order with the Federal State Unitary With the launch of Advanced Land The land-cover mapping initiative Enterprise - The Russian Research and Observing Satellite called “Daichi” will be useful to both countries, for Production Enterprise Pan-Russian (ALOS) last year, Japan Aerospace the tri-national (including Mexico) Research Institute for Electromechan- Exploration Agency (JAXA) has a par- Commission for Environmental Coop- ics (FSUE NPP VNIIEM) and Radio- ticular focus in developing a disaster eration, as well as for international export of Russia for the supply of management support system. initiatives jointly undertaken by satellite platform equipment and “JAXA initiative in this regard is Sen- members of the Group on Earth services for KANOPUS Low Earth Orbit tinel Asia, a rapid response system Observations (GEO). One of many (LEO) Earth observation spacecraft. using satellite data and images”. examples of how unified North Amer- Sentinel Asia involves 19 nations and

ican land-cover mapping may be used ISRO invites Private Sector 52 establishments to establish a Annual Roundup is in monitoring wildfire risk across ISRO will step up outsourcing of disaster management system that is national borders. works related to satellite and rocket user-friendly to help combat natural building to the private sector, which disaster” said Kaoru Mamiya, Europe and Russia: Space in the long run could churn out over- Vice President, JAXA, when he out- collaboration all systems as the organisation focus- lined his country’s long-term space The Head of the Federal Space Agency es on R&D. Department of Space (DoS) plans at the 23rd National Space of the Russian Federation (Roscos- has associated more than 500 small, Symposium produced by the Space mos), Anatoly Perminov, ESA Director medium and large scale industries Foundation. News 2007: News 2007:

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Alert centres! oration with Department of Science data bases to address forest fire man- and Technology (DST), Department of agement relevant to pre, during and IN RESPONSE TO THE NATURAL DISAS- Space (DOS) and the Council of Scien- post fire scenarios. TERS AROUND THE GLOBE, THERE HAS tific and Industrial Research (CSIR). INFFRAS provides near real time, BEEN INITIATIVES TAKEN BY VARIOUS The National Tsunami Early Warning daily, day time and night time active ORGANISATIONS TO OPEN ALERT CEN- Centre has been set up at INCOIS, forest fire alerts during the fire season TRES FOR MONITORING AND MANAGE- Hyderabad. (Feb and June). Fire alerts are prepared MENT OF THESE DISASTERS, TO HELP The reliability of the system was using satellite data from the MODIS PROTECT PEOPLE AND RESOURCES. tested when the 8.2 magnitude earth- sensors aboard the Terra and Aqua SOME OF THE INTIATIVES HAVE BEEN quake in the southern Sumatra region platforms (for daytime observations), INCLUDED IN THIS SECTION triggered tsunami alerts in various as well as the Operational Linescan adjoining countries, including India. System (OLS) on the Defense Meteoro- India's Tsunami Early Warning The tsunami warning centre swung logical Satellite Program (DMSP) satel- Centre up and running into action and issued red alert in the lites (for night time observations). The The National Early Warning System next 13 minutes, which was down- fire alerts report only active forest for Tsunami and Storm Surges in the graded to orange in less than two fires observed by these satellites. This Indian Ocean was dedicated to the hours. INCOIS, in association with information is available to the users nation by Minister of Earth Sciences Tata Consultancy Services, has gener- on a no-cost basis. ated simulations of possible 550 sce- narios of triggering of tsunami after Japan offers Global massive earthquakes. Rainfall Map in Near Real Time The Indian Forest Fire Coinciding Response and with the Assessment System tenth Having seen the devastation of the anniversary California forests due to fires, the of the Tropi- Indian government has put in place cal Rainfall the Indian Forest Fire Response and Measuring National Tsunami Early Warning System at Hyderabad Assessment System (INFFRAS) has Mission been established under the Decision (TRMM), the Shri. Kapil Sibal in October 2007. Support Center, (DSC), under Disaster Earth Obser- JAXA’s Quasi-time Rainfall Map portal Recognising the imperative to put in Manage Support Programme, to facili- vation place an Early Warning System for tate forest fire management. INFFRAS Research Center (EORC) of the Japan mitigation of Oceanogenic Disasters Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that cause severe threat to nearly 400 has started to release image data of a million of India's population that live high-resolution global precipitation in the coastal belt and further driven distribution map in quasi real time

Annual Roundup by the national calamity due to the (about four hours after observations) Indian Ocean Tsunami of December on the Internet. The map is composed 26, 2004, the Ministry of Earth Sci- by the EORC using acquired data by ences (MoES) had taken up the earth observation satellites including responsibility of establishing the the TRMM. The image data is updated National Tsunami Early Warning Sys- Sample Data showing Forest Wildfires over India every hour, and can also be represent- tem. The Warning System has been ed as an animated image of precipita- established by MoES as the nodal min- integrates multi sensor satellite data tion distribution over the last istry at a cost of Rs.125 Crore in collab- with Geo Informatics System (GIS) 24 hours. News 2007: News 2007:

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Tech Socials encourage Googlers to cleanup their The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) are local beaches, parks, and trails close to utilizing DigitalGlobe's QuickBird Technology gets home and to share their progress satellite imagery to make effective Social… using My Maps, the initiative was conservation decisions, based on Google Earth hopes its highly launched publicly in coordination information about the status of chim- detailed, 3-D satellite images will aid with community action organizations panzee habitats and where and how the process in a new effort to utilize in fifteen countries. people use their land. the full social and educational poten- With the aid of satellite imagery, JGI tial of its images. Let there be LIGHT! has mapped human structures, farms In June 2007, Google launched Non Profit and forests to utilize in the develop- Google Earth Outreach, a programme organisations ment of a Conservation Action Plan designed to help non-profit organiza- like One and village land use plans in the tions to leverage the power of Google Change, Cana- USAID funded Greater Gombe Ecosys- Earth to illustrate and advocate for da are using tem Program. Satellite imagery is the work that they do through Google Location - being used to map tree canopies for Earth layers. ligence tech- assessing chimpanzee food availabili- John Hanke, Director of Google nology, from ty and feeding behavior. Earth & Maps explained, "Now any Switch to CFL bulbs companies organization can quickly and easily like DMTII annotate Google Earth with pictures, Spatial, to better manage their proj- video and information to tell visual, ects like Project Porchlight. Project compelling stories of the work they do Porchlight promotes energy conser- to over 200 million Google Earth vation through individual action. The users." goal of the project is to get households everywhere to change inefficient Cleaner Greener Earth… incandescent bulb to an energy-effi- Continuing its effort to spread aware- cient CFL bulb. The grassroots pro- ness, Google teamed up with dozens gram encourages community partici- of community action organizations pation by making it possible for any- one to volunteer to deliver bulbs in his or her neighbourhood. Google Earth image of Gombe National arkP Using DMTI's Location Hub Address Dr. Lilian Pintea, Director of Conser- Points, Project Porchlight can pinpoint vation Science of JGI said "By provid- the location of every single household ing objective and spatially accurate within a certain boundary area ensur- data on both chimpanzee habitats ing that the right numbers of light and human land uses, QuickBird bulbs are made available for volun- imagery revolutionized the way we teers to deliver. can do applied research and inform

Annual Roundup Project Porchlight is able to carefully conservation actions." track where each light bulb goes and Other animals like Tigers in India, maps that area on their web site Elephants in both Africa and India, Indian Tea Garden participating in the Cleanup weekend www.onchange.org to demonstrate even Penguins in Antarctica have the reach of the program as well as encouraged researchers from both around the world to coordinate an the energy savings for that area. government and non- government International Cleanup Weekend on agencies to use remote sensing and October 13-14 2007. Originally started Save the Animals GIS technologies to monitor their as an internal Google project to Animal conservation groups such as movements and habitats. News 2007: News 2007:

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Data tric signal) that can be interpreted. Interoperability TML defines the conceptual model Standards and XML Schema for describing trans- Interoperability ducers and supporting real-time experiment on Ocean OGC Principal streaming of data to and from sensor Science by OGC Membership systems. OGC launched an Interoperability Bentley Systems, Leica Geospatial Experiment on ocean science interop- Geosystems Inc., Microsoft and Rolta TEAM Engine and erability on January 29, 2007. The joined Open Geospatial Consortium, Compliance Test initiators of the experiment seek Inc. (OGC) as the Principal Member in Language participation by other organizations 2007. Principal Members have com- On 26 June 2007, the OGC adopted a interested in interoperability among plete authority over the specification new test suites, test scripts and refer- information systems used in ocean release and adoption process through ence implementations for OpenGIS research. The Oceans Science Interop- their voting rights in the Planning Specifications. A new TEAM Engine erability Experiment promotes under- Committee (PC). (Test, Evaluation, And Measurement standing of various OGC Web Service Engine) and Compliance Test Lan- (OWS) standards now implemented Standards guage has been adopted as the OGC's in various portal applications in official new compliance testing plat- the Ocean-Observing community, OGC Standards form. These new free tests and testing advance interoperability demonstra- (revision or updates) software enable technology providers tions for Ocean Science application OGC announced the release or to confirm that their products are areas, and harden software imple- approved many standards in its compliant with OpenGIS standards. mentations. The final product of the framework, to eventually have a sys- The TEAM Engine, an open source pro- experiment will be a candidate OGC tem that is interoperable with prod- gramme developed by Northrop Best Practices document for the ucts from other manufactures. The Grumman, and the test suites and ref- broader ocean-observing community. standards mentioned herein show erence implementations, contributed The Best Practices document will their latest versions and some of their by other OGC members, were among show how to use OGC specifications features. the results of the OGC's fourth OGC in marine-specific applications to Web Services test bed activity. improve discovery, access and use of SLD & SEI approved Web-accessible ocean science data OpenGIS Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) Geospatial Digital Rights and services. The OGC members act- Implementation Specification (a pro- Reference Model ing as initiators of the Interoperabili- file of the Web Map Service) and the OGC on April 10 2007 announced that ty Experiment are: related OpenGIS Symbology Encoding it has approved an abstract specifica- • Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) (SE) Implementation Specification tion for the management of digital were also approved by the OGC. rights in the area of geospatial data • Texas A&M University - Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and services. The goal of the GeoDRM • The National Centers for Atmospheric Transducer Markup effort in the OGC is to make sure that Research (NCAR) (Voting) Language 1.0 a larger market has access to geospa- Annual Roundup • The Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Version 1.0 of the Transducer Markup tial resources through a well under- Research Institute Language Implementation Specifica- stood and common mechanism that • GoMOOS (Gulf of Maine Ocean tion ("TML" or "TransducerML") was enables more than today's "all or Observing System) approved on August 8, 2007 by the nothing" protection. Motivation for OGC. Sensor systems have two this effort is the need to overcome the "GIS AS CAREER" parts - a sensing element and a trans- "ownership obstacle to data sharing" Take the Survey and Win ducer that converts energy from one in spatial data infrastructure Visit form to another form (usually an elec- scenarios. www.GISdevelopment.net/surveyq/survey.htm News 2007: News 2007:

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Third Dimension Technologies advancing the country's space launched their online mapping technology in Africa with President service for Nigerians. This website is Olusegun Obasanjo commissioning Africa an online resource for finding and the Nigerian Space Centre (NSC). sharing geographic content including The centre is said to be the first space THE YEAR 2007 FOR GEOSPATIAL maps and data. centre in Africa, has a ground control INDUSTRY IN AFRICA HAS SHOWN station/ network operation centre for INCREASING GROWTH IN THE USE OF N IGERIAN SPACE CENTRE communications satellites. It houses GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR African nations have been investing the ground receiving station for VARIOUS PURPOSES, ESPECIALLY increasingly in their space assets, earth observation satellites; and WATER, HEALTH AND RESOURCE primarily the focus is on Earth contains the first phase of the MANAGEMENT. Observation, to monitor and manage Satellite Design Centre/Satellite its resources. Assembly, Integration and Test ESRI EA launched Nigeria has put a major step in Centre. Industry leaders like ESRI have opened a regional office, ESRI Eastern Africa Ltd. (ESRI EA), in response to the evolving needs of the GIS market in Water water everywhere... the region. Educating the Authorities Nigeria takes lead Around 30 water authorities from more than 15 African countries gathered in Nairobi, Geo-information companies in Kenya, from 26 to 30 November 2007, to attend an advanced European Space Agency (ESA) TIGER training course on utilising Earth Observation (EO) technology to over- Nigeria have taken a lead to release come water-related problems. The initiative's primary objective is to help African coun- value data as a product or as a tries overcome problems faced in the collection, analysis and dissemination of water mapping portal, for the planning related geo-information by exploiting EO technology. The training course was organised in collaboration with ITC (International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth agencies associated with Oil and Gas Observation), the African Water Facility (AWF) of the African Development Bank and the Industry, Communications, etc. World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS), a programme of the United Nigerian company, Proxy Logics Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

released updated Nigeria Oil and Gas ESA is also currently working with water authorities in Egypt and the Lake Victoria Basin database. The oil and gas geo-data- to design, develop and implement EO-based capacities for the operational monitoring of base consists of all oil wells, pipeline water quality in Lake Manzalah and Lake Victoria. networks, flow stations, and concession maps of the country. Proxy IWAREMA, Zambia Logics will also release a Pollution Countries like Zambia have also launched similar projects, IWAREMA (Integrated Water Inventory for Niger Delta region of Resource management for Zambia) project, funded through ESA's DUE. Data from ESA's multispectral MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) sensor aboard Nigeria. This inventory will have all Envisat was used to create maps depicting existing water resources, suitable dam loca- oil spill locations, quantity of spill and tions and land cover for water related issues. date of spill for every oil spillage in

Annual Roundup Nigeria since 1956. GEO-AQUIFER: Algeria, Libya and Tunisia Another Nigerian company, STL, To fight water situation Algeria, Libya and Tunisia have launched an ambitious water proj- released 20 m resolution clutter and ect called GEO-AQUIFER that will use satellite imagery to support the monitoring and DEM mapping data for over 35 cities sustainable management of their common, trans-boundary groundwater resources. Recognising the overexploitation of the shared resource called the North-Western across Nigeria. These datasets Sahara Aquifer System (SASS), these three countries initiated together with the Sahara will become useful to the telecommu- and Sahel Observatory (OSS) a consultation mechanism at ministerial level. This consul- nication and Wireless Industry in tation depends on objective, timely, area-wide and consistent information. GEO- AQUIFER will use products and services based on satellite data, such as land-use and Nigeria especially in Transmission land-cover maps, change maps, surface water extent and dynamics, digital terrain mod- and RF Planning. els, and derive information on water consumption for irrigation. News 2007: News 2007:

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Middle East Managing Infrastructure… GEOSPATIAL INDUSTRY OF MIDDLE EAST KEPT ITSELF FAIRLY BUSY IN 2007. THE REGION HAS SEEN DEVEL- Dubai World OPMENTS IN SEGMENTS INCLUDING Central (DWC), a MAPPING OF UTILITIES IN MANY OF colossal 140sq km ITS CITIES, USE OF GPS AND AERIAL/ urban aviation SATELLITE IMAGING TECHNOLOGY TO community DEVELOP NEWER INFRASTRUCTURE presently under AND TO MONITOR EXISTING ONES. construction in INITIATIVES HAVE BEEN TAKEN AT Jebel Ali, has tied- THE GOVERNMENT LEVEL TO HAVE A up with Dubai SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AND Municipality's GIS ALSO USING THIS TECHNOLOGY department to pro- TO IMPROVE MANAGEMENT OF ITS vide e-mapping NATURAL RESOURCES. technology for it to speed up its con- Abu Dhabi SDI struction works in Artist's Rendering: Dubai World Central International Airport (JXB) Abu Dhabi Systems and Information September 2007. Committee launched the Abu Dhabi Dubai Municipality's e-MAP gate- The GIS department will host all Spatial Data Initiative (AD-SDI) in way will provide GPS coordinates of geographical data for DWC on dedi- August 2007. The AD-SDI represents all DWC sites. Near-real time aerial cated high performance servers, and another vital step forward in the gov- and satellite images along with GPS allow data access using the latest ernment's efforts to bring the benefits coordinates will enable DWC staff data retrieval technology, in addi- of broad-based electronic access to its and contractors to minutely identify tion to providing satellite images. service provision activities. The AD- utility services, urban land plans With the current real estate and SDI will coordinate vital data-sharing and land use blueprints within the property boom, DWC's real estate activities while leaving primary massive development centred division will get the most current responsibility for development and around the upcoming Dubai World information for onsite development maintenance of framework data with Central International Airport (JXB), and planning, enabling contractors specific custodian agencies. In this scheduled to be the world's largest. to speed up construction activity. foundation stage of the initiative, AD- SDI will work with key agencies to Mapping the focus on building a Geospatial Portal and implementation of the GIS Base to host data reference libraries, a data The Ajman Municipality and the Map project for Ajman. The AJMAN clearinghouse, and links to the data- Navayuga Middle East FTZC conclud- GIS will have features as road water hosting agencies. In addition, the AD- ed an agreement for the development and water body, building (residential,

SDI will help develop common data public, etc), vegetation features (trees, Annual Roundup coordination procedures and stan- groves etc) and utility features (pow- dards, establish an operational model er, water-distribution, etc), contours for the new Spatial Data Coordination and DEM layer, all plots/parcels, other Center (SDCC) and its interactions features (not included in above cate- with the agencies, and prepare a new gories (bill-boards, traffic signals etc), strategic plan that will set the long- all administrative units and ortho- term course for subsequent phases of images from specific aerial surveys AD-SDI development. and satellite images.

Navayuga renewing Ajman Municipality Mapping contract News 2007:

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India corridor environment related infor- GROWING DEMAND FOR SPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS GIS-BASED MAPS mation, toll plaza location and toll AND SATELLITE IMAGERY HAVE SECURED ACCEPTANCE FOR GEOSPATIAL data and construction contractor TECHNOLOGY. IT IS NOW LOOKED UPON AS AN EFFECTIVE DECISION-SUPPORT details. TOOL THAT CAN BE USED FOR EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND EXECUTION OF VARIOUS PROJECTS. ALTHOUGH THIS TREND IS STILL NASCENT, A SUBSTANTIAL MARKET HealthGIS IS EMERGING. A STUDY OF 2006, FOCUSED ON DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE The Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh GEOSPATIAL INDUSTRY INCLUDING GEOSPATIAL DATA, SERVICES (REMOTE (National Population Stabilisation SENSING AND SURVEY), SOFTWARE PRODUCTS AND EXPORT OF GEOSPATIAL Fund) undertook a project for map- APPLICATION SERVICES FROM INDIA, ESTIMATES THE DOMESTIC INDIAN MARKET ping of existing health facilities in the OF VALUE USD 412 MILLION BY 2010. country right up to the district level. An amalgamation of GIS maps and the Census figures of 2001, the survey NATMO- Golden Map Service ed for the launchi of Delhi State Spa- gives a picture of each district, its sub- Using the latest developments in IT, tial Data Infrastructure (DSSDI) proj- district, prominent towns and urban the National Atlas and Thematic Map- ect. The project is an outcome of a areas and the distance of each village ping Organisation (NATMO) announ- pilot project by Department of Science from the nearest health centre. ced in February 2007, that it would and Technology, government of India map the entire country down to the on 3D GIS in Chandni Chowk area in Open source disease village level using spatial technology Delhi in collaboration with Russian tracking software through its Golden Map Service. Academy of Sciences (RAS). Software released by Zyxware Tech- Development of a 3D GIS database nologies is supporting in the manner NSDI for NCT of Delhi will be carried out by information is collected and Shortly after NATMO's announce- Survey of India in respect of all lands processed for tracking diseases like ment, India's National Spatial Data and buildings and all under ground Chikungunya and Dengue. The soft- Infrastructure (NSDI) mission also utilities within the NCTD. The project ware has been licensed as Free Soft- received a green signal to continue comprises of two major components, ware under the GNU General Public the work delayed for over two years, Land Information System (LIS) of NCT License (GPL) on 5th October 2007. due to Ministry of Defence's restric- of Delhi and Urban Spatial Informa- Although the software was developed tions on the 4800 Survey of India tion System (USIS). for the State of Kerala, India, the GNU maps. The NSDI scheme aims to com- GPL will allow it to be downloaded bine the use of GIS, satellite imagery ROAD Information Systems and used for free by any other govern- and digital topographic maps with NHAI (National Highways Authority ment in the world. The software is data on water resources, flooding, of India) deployed a system called RIS web based and allows hospitals to rainfall, crop patterns, civic layouts to (Road Information System), a Web- report cases of diseases as soon as produce 3-D digital maps. The NSDI based system that integrates a linear they are registered at the hospital. The web-user interface will provide open referencing system for tracking the GIS interface uses Google maps to

Annual Roundup access of the information processed condition of pavements with geospa- present the data on a real time basis by the project. But further access to its tial data and analysis. It has data on a map of the state. metadata, data about data or a cata- regarding highways on the Golden loguing system, will be secure. Quadrilateral, North-South and East- Border security… West corridors. The application pro- India's Border Security Force (BSF) will Delhi State- SDI vides information on various parame- be using remote sensing and digital In November 2007, Survey of India ters such as National Highway loca- technologies to improve intelligence, (SOI), the National Mapping Agency tion details of corridors, wayside curb infiltration and protect sensitive and Government of Delhi collaborat- amenities, bridge location and details, installations. News 2007: News 2007:

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APPLICATIONS Indonesian Department of Google revamps NZ maps site Kenya's technology Health to deploy Cadcorp Google has re-launched its projects get a boost SIS-based GIS maps service in New Zealand, A team of experts from Cadcorp business partner, TIP, raising the stakes in an already Google visited Kenya to will develop system to map and crowded mapping sector examine locally built solutions analyse health facilities and out- for a possible commercialisation breaks of disease GeoCritical releases GeoCritical or financing of their develop- Terror Index Score ment Mapunity to provide traffic GTIS creates simple to under- GIS for India stand geographic representa- Mapping Center of Israel to The initiative will allow citizens tions of extensive terrorism data, launch Geography portal of the capital to check traffic drawn from government sources status ranging from the time and analyzed by experienced Google announces Yann The portal will provide Arthus-Bertrand layer in information about land, to reach their destinations, counter-terrorism subject matter outline plans, maps, trips, alternate route, choked street, experts Google Earth sites, aerial images, and bus arrival time and more Earth from Above layer in historical maps through SMS or on a map on Quova and RSA offer fraud Google Earth features over the net detection integrating IP 200 aerial photographs by French photographer and envi- GIS to help manage Indian Geolocation data ronmentalist Yann Arthus- electorates Chile implements an early red Location Intelligence platform Bertrand GIS-based maps to help tide alert system enables online businesses to in accurate identification of the Data will be made accessible determine the geographic loca- residents through the internet using a tion of their Web visitors combination of technologies that myVR Software allows users to quickly generate and distribute include GIS, interactive maps of ESRI Tracking Server 1.1 Satellite data to save Dubai large 3D models at high speed various mussel farm sites, listing released beaches and high resolution over any the current status of national The new version of Tracking Satellite images regularly network even with limited band- production activities Server offers improvements acquired by the GIS Centre of width Dubai Municipality along with to handling the history of Environmental campaigners tracked objects, enhancements field measurements are proving Osmose introduces Video Data to be good indicators for moni- utilise Google Earth to the Tracking Viewer Applet Campaigners against inappropri- and support for BEA WebLogic Capture technology to enhance toring and management of the GIS data shoreline ate mining activities to spread and IBM WebSphere configura- awareness using Google Earth tions The Osmose VDC approach integrates high-quality audio, Satellite imagery and video and GPS technology for MetaCarta introduces NewsMap GIS helps PowerGrid (India) ease-of-use by specially trained service through Reuters.com to avoid forests PRODUCTS field technicians PowerGrid is using satellite MetaCarta NewsMap service is imaging and GIS to avoid taking a new hosted service that allows New ESRI licensing program for online media outlets to display AWhere Inc. to develop Climate its transmission lines through Change Explorer tool forest covers small municipalities and counties maps that show the places men- Securing GIS software will be tioned in their news stories Mapping software solution easier for governments in the designed for delivering advanced understanding of United States with populations GeoVector announces new long-term climate forecasts for of 100,000 or less through the technology to enhance local screening climate adaptation ESRI ELA program search strategies and actions highlight- GeoVector technology allows ed links Munsys 10 released access to images or video by The Management Console sup- pointing a mobile phone or other ports a new tree interface allow- device at an object or place ESRI announces support for ing administrators to easily man- SQL Server 2008 ArcGIS 9.3 and SQL Server age the database and related Ball Aerospace launches 2008 Spatial integration will Munsys applications from a sin- Opticks open source software benefit ESRI customers to gle user interface Opticks is used by scientists and improve operational efficiency, analysts within the Department data sharing, and public service ESRI ArcPad 7.1 Mobile GIS of Defense Intelligence Commu- Envisat captures crude oil software released nity to analyze remote sensing leak off South Korea In, ArcPad 7.1, object model has data and produce actionable TNTmips integrates geotagged Crude oil from the wrecked been updated to support data intelligence photos into geospatial analysis 146 000-ton tanker, Hebei relationship rules and includes Photo positions can be convert- ed to vector point locations in Spirit, is seen polluting the sea improved data management myVR Software updates its 3D any coordinate reference system off South Korea in an image tools online streaming solution captured by Envisat. and exported to other formats

24 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 1 2

First America map to go on ISRO mapping project in display "There are only 40 to 50 geolo- U.S. Library of Congress readies TerraGo Technologies gets gists left in the MGB to contin- the first map to use the name Latin American distributors ue the Geohazard Mapping proj- 'America' for its public debut, The partnership will help ect," said an MGB official but some researchers are won- TerraGo Technologies to dering where in the world the provide comprehensive services OS free maps offer gives boost mapmaker got his information and local expertise to its to action on geography customers Ordnance Survey's offer of a ENVI 4.4 released free map for every year 7 pupil New ENVI software release GITA adds Intergraph Execu- Axes Systems to in Great Britain has seen from ITT introduces automated tive to Board of Directors automate future Swiss Map increased take-up this year, tools for image processing Volker H. Elste, Business Derivatives challenging fears of a decline in Development executive in swisstopo selects Axes Systems the popularity of geography as a PCI Geomatics releases latest Intergraph Utilities and Com- GIS cartography solution, school subject version of GeomaticaX munications unit, has been axpand, for automated deriva- The ProSDK version 1.2 offers a appointed to GITAs board tion of future maps at various Geospatial Information impor- flexible development environ- scales tant for Airport Safety, Efficiency ment and more accessible func- and Environment tionality Data to Magellan High performance, high preci- Intermap Technologies MISCELLANEOUS sion and 4D dynamic GIS are announced an agreement with TatukGIS products supporting the critical components to Magellan, to provide outdoor Oracle Spatial/Locator Data- School children in UK to design achieve System Wide Informa- map content products for Mag- base an experiment with Micro tion Management, turning col- ellans line of handheld GPS TatukGIS products can Satellites laborative decision making into devices now connect directly to the Through a contest being organ- reality Oracle Spatial database, ised by the British National without the need for any 3rd Pitney Bowes MapInfo Acquires Space Centre and Surrey Satel- party software Australian-based Software and lite Technology (SSTL) between Data Provider the ages of 14 and 18 will be According to MapInfo the Free version of ERDAS Field provided an opportunity to company will expand interna- Guide released design and launch a micro tionally with acquisition of The ERDAS Field Guide satellite Encom in high-growth natural provides background informa- resources industry tion on reasons to use GIS and OGC Processes Advance image processing and explains GEOSS Interoperability how the software manipulates Future Digital Maps will rely The OGC processes contributed data on user to the interoperability achieve- Generated content says ABI ments announced in the Research. A report by ABI Galileo signal reflections Safe Software introduces free "GEOSS Report on Progress research says "by 2012 a large FME FDO 2007" accepted by the Member used for monitoring waves part of all map and POI content Safe Software introduces Nations at the recent EO sum- and weather at sea will be generated by more than free FME FDO provider for mit at Cape Town An improved measurement 50 million active members of AutoCAD Map 3D 2008 allow- system in space could be user communities" ing quick and easy access to UN climate conference hears used to warn mariners of nine key formats how EO can help storms and to provide data for GTAA implements Bentley At the recent UN climate con- global climate change models - Geospatial Server and Oracle ference ESA showcased at the potentially even to detect BUSINESS Spatial conference its Kyoto-supporting Tsunamis Bentley Geospatial Server and services Oracle Spatial will help GTAA OGC Announces Aggregate streamline workflows and spatial Membership Serves Collaborat- NGA and Lockheed Martin to analyses on airport site and ESA and EC take major step ing Entities improve delivery of geospatial building space in an interopera- forward in Global The Aggregate Membership will data to users ble environment Monitoring for Environment and enables collaborating entities to Lockheed Martin is teamed with Security bring their common issues and One Network Enterprises, which ESA and European Commission perspectives into the OGC K Radhakrishnan is will provide supply chain man- signed and agreement to ensure process of developing interoper- Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre’s agement software and expertise timely of GMES is the European ability standards new Director to the Demand-Based Geospa- solution for the needs of citizens Radhakrishnan earlier was tial Intelligence program Director of RRSC and Director in Europe to access reliable Intermap Technologies to pro- of Budget and Economic information on the status of vide AccuTerra Digital Mapping Exodus of geologists hampers Management Analysis of entire their environment.

JANUARY 2008 25 1 2 3 4 Navigation

digital 3D map material, is of Microsoft, as part of the agreed that the missing Navigation with the size of the data. Because Virtual Earth and Search cash will be found from 3D map display of this, the new map mate- teams in the Online Ser- unspent farm subsidy cash Real 3D navigation - differ- rial requires a lot more CPU vices Group. The acquisi- already in EU coffers. It has ent from the bird view of a and memory capacity in tion is the latest in a series been reported that the con- 2D map - is pushed hard by the navigational systems of moves as Microsoft seeks struction phase will be , closely followed than the 2D maps. PND to expand its online servic- managed by the European by its competitor . manufacturers are not es to deliver software, serv- Space Agency (ESA) which For both companies this is ices, and premium content is not a part of the EU gov- an additional layer of infor- and applications to con- ernment and is having a mation that can be mone- sumers and businesses. different list of member tized. With the price of their For Microsoft the move is states. map databases decreasing another attempt to keep The ESA expects a fast- at a rate of almost 10 per- pace with competitors such moving launch programme cent a year (www.gpsbusi- as Google and , who from this point. It expects to nessnews.com), there was are vying to offer various put out a request for infor- an obvious need to develop location-based services. mation to industry by early such content. Buying Multimap gives 2008 and start receiving Microsoft a better deliveries of spacecraft in recognised consumer-fac- 2009. Planners hope to ing brand and a stronger have the system globally overly position in Europe. operational in 2013. The EU enthusiastic The acquisition gives government, in classic about equip- Microsoft a powerful new style, is still on record as ping their location and mapping tech- believing that Galileo "will devices yet nology to complement be fully operable in 2008 at again with existing offerings such as the latest", which shows 3D City map by Tele Atlas faster CPU's Virtual Earth, Live Search, that predictions in this area and more Windows Live services, may occasionally need a The first Tele Atlas 3D city memory, and most con- MSN and the aQuantive pinch of salt. maps was released in July sumers also don't want to advertising platform, with 2007, including maps for 50 invest in new hardware, on future integration potential Broadcom gets major European cities; addi- top of the expense of new for a range of other into the GPS tional European, U.S. and map material. Microsoft products and chip biz Asian cities are scheduled platforms. The acquisition of Global to be released during 2008 . Microsoft acquires Locate by Broadcom is The development of Tele Multimap Galileo mired in another step in the consoli- Atlas' 3D city maps is a joint Microsoft has acquired Mul- funding disputes dation of the GPS semicon-

Annual Roundup effort with three other com- timap though Microsoft Galileo has been mired in ductor market. In January panies: the German PIXEL has not disclosed how much funding disputes for most 2007 CSR bought Nordnav and the UK companies AGS it had paid for the privately of 2007, following the and Cambridge Positioning and 3DLABS. held business, but bankers breakdown of negotiations Systems to add GPS to its Navteq has made avail- estimated that the compa- with private sector range of Bluetooth and oth- able 3D city models for 13 ny could be worth about investors who had been er RF silicon solutions. cities in Europe and 30 £50m. supposed to provide Euros A company so focused on cities in North America. Multimap will operate as 2.4bn of the construction the mobile device market One caveat in creating a wholly owned subsidiary costs. It has recently been as Broadcom was bound to News 2007: News 2007:

26 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 1 2 3 4

Nokia to acquire NAVTEQ

In a deal announced on October 1st 2007, Nokia declared its smartphones more attractive to both consumers and the enter- intention to acquire NAVTEQ for $8.1 billion. Most of the prise. Navteq's technology also could enable Nokia to launch a industry had been waiting for the other shoe to drop after new class of location-enabled applications for both the con- PND-maker TomTom purchased Tele Atlas, but the majority sumer and enterprise markets, including location-enabled con- had expected another of the PND makers (Garmin, Magellan), tent sharing, mobile asset management, and fleet manage- or the big Internet mapping portals (Google, Microsoft) to be ment. Finally, this deal gives Nokia leverage over Google, the purchaser. Although the Nokia purchase is initially surpris- Yahoo and MSN. Navteq supplies some of the mapping infor- ing, it makes good business mation for Google Maps. sense; ABI Research was Navteq also supplies map- one of the industry-watchers ping data to Yahoo Maps, who had Nokia on a short list MSN Maps and even that of potential suitors. Nokia Web 1.0 standard of naviga- has been very clear that it is tion, MapQuest. moving toward Internet- based services, and has Now Nokia will control these been making acquisitions to relationships and be able to support its strategy (Loud- dictate to the three power- eye, , , houses of the desktop Web. Gate5). Nokia's Internet Nokia is now a major player strategy is now $8.1 billion on the desktop Web, too. clearer. It recently introduced its own PND, and has been Navteq’s stockholders vocal about its intentions. approved the merger agree- (Internet services brand) ment. Shareholders repre- is the public face of these senting over 75 percent of initiatives, which are not yet very visible in the United States the issued and outstanding common shares eligible to vote, or but that will change in the coming years. over 99 percent of the total votes cast, were in favor of the agreement. Nokia's deal for Navteq could help transform the cell phone maker into a global powerhouse for navigation services. Com- 2007 has been about the smartphone, and in particular, one bined with Nokia's interest in and its mobile smartphone: the iPhone. But if Nokia's deal for Navteq is any business platforms, Navteq's services could make Nokia's indicator, 2008 could be the year of location.

buy a GPS chip vendor, and footprint but it will soon end to mass-market introduction of the new GO with TomTom as a cus- face competition from CSR, phones. Born from the 520 and GO 720, TomTom tomer, Global Locate was which will offer no addi- integration of the Global announced a entirely new the most impressive of a tional footprint by running Locate acquisition Broad- map improvement technol- number of start-ups. How- software-based GPS sys- com Corporation has ogy: TomTom MapShare. ever, the technology is tems on existing Bluetooth announced its first single- This new piece of software developing rapidly. Global silicon. It will, in addition, chip GPS solution, BCM4750, enables users to adjust nav-

Locate may have a tiny offer triangulation as well a single-die CMOS GPS igational maps if they are Annual Roundup as GPS to overcome the receiver used for tracking no longer entirely up-to-

BCM4750 Single Chip GPS solution by Broadcom delay in getting GPS fixes in and navigation, primarily date. Those manually made urban surroundings. The in mobile devices. corrections can also be good news is that a compa- shared with other users, ny with Broadcom's clout TomTom MapShare – who will receive updates will assist in reducing clearing up the through the TomTom prices, which will enable confusion HOME desktop, all entirely GPS to move from the top Simultaneously with the free of charge. News 2007: News 2007:

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 27 1 2 3 4

Mobile Search: Clash of the Titans

There are clear signs that OneSearch platform, including U.K. and Germany, and for mobile search is maturing, that tools for publishers to submit about a year in Japan. users are ready for it, and there their content to the OneSearch are ways to monetize it. index or Yahoo Mobile Media Microsoft launched Live Search Although Google, Yahoo and Directory, and to sign up to for Mobile in February at the Microsoft have offered mobile show ads on their mobile sites 3GSM World Congress in search for awhile now, they've from the new Yahoo Mobile Ad Barcelona, releasing v 1.0 of its really begun to step up their Network. client application for Windows efforts in 2007. In addition, Mobile devices. Features pure-play mobile ad players like The OneSearch platform is include category-based local Medio, which launched a Pay mobile search from the ground searching, maps and directions, Per Click (PPC) text ad plat- up, instead of Web search traffic, contacts list integration form for mobile search, have crammed into a mobile device. and "SMS a friend." It's acquisi- come to the market with viable It's been designed to provide tion of TellMe boosts its mobile monetization options for mobile. quick bits of information with search properties with voice- minimal click-throughs. It uses enabled mobile search technol- Of the big three search much of Yahoo's underlying ogy. Microsoft spin-off ZenZui engines, Yahoo has a clear lead Web search technology, but debuted a newly developed in mobile. Yahoo expanded the also applies mobile-specific graphical browsing user inter- reach of its OneSearch mobile algorithms to create an experi- face (UI) for mobile phones search application, making it ence tailored to mobile devices. which maps the nine number available to more mobile Web keys on a phone to navigational users. OneSearch launched in Google, playing catch-up for a bookmarks. Microsoft also Navigation Search on Mobile January with the Yahoo Go for change, announced some new debuted a new mobile Web Mobile application. Yahoo features for Google Mobile, browser, code-named Deepfish, finally came true in 2007. It began showing PPC text ads in which include mostly the same as part of its Microsoft Live seems to be a breakthrough mobile search results in Octo- fare found in Yahoo's One- Labs research. year in Mobile Search now that ber. In February, Yahoo intro- Search. Google has said that the more established internet duced display advertising on its mobile search is a priority, at While 2005 and 2006 have brands have positioned in mobile-specific Web sites in 19 least in Europe. It has been each been hailed as the "Year mobile and are doing major countries. Yahoo also added testing mobile ads for at least of Mobile," there are increasing deals with operators. some publisher services to the the last six months in the U.S., signs that those predictions

It is a pretty common fact maps would be given back TeleAtlas, and to see his Communications Inc. The that the biggest frustration to TeleAtlas. But that’s not competitors Navman and transaction was closed on people have with their GPS the case. MapShare is a Mio also TeleAtlas cus- August 6, 2007. Centrality devices is the maps. Our major investment from tomers - getting the same was quickly eating market world changes rapidly and TomTom because such a information. At the share to SiRF in the low end frequently, and so far the solution needs a complex moment, TomTom will not part of the PND market, cycle of mapping the new back-end system to process be sharing the information where the biggest volume information and getting user's updates, so it is sure collected with any of the are today. Instead of that information out to GPS the company is not likely to map providers. This could launching a dangerous

Annual Roundup devices hasn’t happened give back user generated very well change in the price war, SiRF bought Cen- fast enough. Now mapping map correction for free to future. trality for $283m in cash updates can be done with and stocks. SiRF now TomTom MapShare. One SiRF Technology expects to maintain a pret- might have thought Map- acquires Centrality ty hegemonic market share Share would have been Communications for GPS chipsets on the PND launched in co-operation SiRF Technology Holdings, segment. The acquisition with TeleAtlas and that the Inc. has completed its resulted in expansion of improvements made to the acquisition of Centrality SiRF's engineering capabili-

News 2007: News 2007: MapShare - interactive map updating

28 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 1 2 3 4

ties to deliver cost effective lasted as long as two years. company has partnered handset maker or the oper- products that will address The end of the bidding with 33 others to create the ator to deliver an"unlocked" the needs of emerging con- war closely follows the Open Handset Alliance. The phone that lets the user vergence mobile devices in denouement of another list includes big names such choose applications. Opera- the portable navigation, fight between Garmin and as T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, tors may want to lock these automotive, and consumer TomTom, this one in the Intel, Qualcomm, phones into specific servic- markets. courts. The companies, and HTC and eBay. Smaller, es, just as they do with which have squabbled over more specialized compa- phones such as the iPhone, Garmin drops Tele patents in courts in the U.S., nies are also in the group. and there's nothing to stop Atlas bid; TomTom Britain, and the Nether- No mention of Verizon, such contracts emerging. wins the fight lands, jointly announced on AT&T, Vodafone, or Nokia The question then arises The navigation device mak- Nov. 15 that they had set- (which is pushing its own as to why is Google doing er cedes victory to TomTom tled all their outstanding Ovi development platform). this then? Advertising in the takeover battle and litigation. For Google to succeed, it revenue? There are extends its contract with will have to offer some- projections of billions of mapping data supplier Android: thing other platforms don't dollars of advertising Navteq. Google's answer have. So far, the biggest revenue from the mobile Garmin extends through to open source difference is that the plat- internet. Google wants to 2015 an existing contract to mobile form will be open. But that hover up as much of that as buy mapping from Navteq Over the past year, the does not require the it can. that is being acquired by industry eagerly waited for Finnish mobile-phone giant Internet giant to announce Nokia. Garmin also secured its big mobile play. Rumors Disappointment of the year: an option to renew the circulated that the compa- Real-Time Traffic agreement for an addition- ny was working on the al four years. 2007 may have been the year of the GPS, but it sure wasn't the The move brought an end year of real-time traffic information. to a dramatic takeover tus- sle that has shaken the nav- The lure of real-time traffic awareness is nothing short of driving bliss; your less informed automotive brethren drive straight into a igation business to its core 45-minute traffic delay, woefully unaware that they could have tak- and fueled surges in the en any number of alternate routes and avoided the holdup alto- gether. On the other hand, you have been alerted by your traffic- stock prices of takeover tar- Android: Mobile phone enabled GPS, and have intelligently avoided the whole mess, arriv- gets Navteq and Nether- ing at your destination refreshed and on-time! That's the promise lands-based Tele Atlas. behind real-time traffic data. The reality is that real-time traffic data is rarely "real-time", coverage areas are limited to a select few Though it has lost the bid- Gphone, something that cities, and it's pretty unlikely that the GPS will route you around a ding battle over Tele Atlas, could rival the Apple traffic jam. Garmin sure looked like a iPhone. Google dispelled It's estimated that real-time traffic information will reach more than winner to investors. It that myth. Company 83 million subscribers by 2012 (according to ABI Research). Num- already buys about 98% of instead unveiled a mobile bers like that are encouraging, but in order to make traffic informa- Annual Roundup its mapping data from software platform called tion truly valuable to drivers, three elements will be required i.e. better traffic data collection, shift focus from accident alerts and Navteq, so the extension of Android, a free, open-source improved usability. the current agreement lets operating system for a Lin- There can be little doubt that consumers want real-time traffic it proceed without missing ux phone that can run information, as evidenced by the rapid growth of companies like an operational beat. mobile Google apps and INRIX and NAVTEQ/Traffic.com. We're likely still a few years away Garmin's plan for acquiring others. Google readily from traffic data being truly useful, but the technology gap is clos- ing fast, and it won't be long before traffic data is an essential Tele Atlas included a transi- admits it can't build the GPS feature one can't live without. tion period that would have platform on its own. So the News 2007: News 2007:

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 29 Regional Overview

Usage of OGC Standards in Indonesia, Thailand & Malaysia

prominent ones being Web Map Ser- the state level to define National Spa- vice (WMS, access to digital maps) and tial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Besides, (WFS, access to OGC standards are taken up by all kinds object-modelled spatial data). of projects that can form the base of the These services are essential for the NSDI, this is the bottom-up direction. ince the forma- development of interoperable Spatial During last years both directions could tion of the Open Data Infrastructures (SDI) that are be observed in South-East Asia, show- Geospatial Con- being set up in all parts of the world. ing good development chances of SDI. Ssortium (OGC) in 1994 its stan- WMS and WFS allow standardized On international level, there are a dardisation process had an enor- access to spatial data, yet the first step number of initiatives defining require- mous impact on the geospatial of their usage is finding them in the ments and needs for application of industry all over the world. The first place. For this task Catalogue geospatial standards. first year of OGC's work brought Services are necessary which are meta- The most important are the Global the Simple Feature Specifications data registries for data and services. Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) and that were the prerequisite for the WMS, WFS and Catalogue Services the United Nations Spatial Data Infra- storage of geospatial data in rela- (web-based Catalogue Services are structure (UNSDI). In Asian region Digi- tional databases. abbreviated CS-W) define the base tal Asia makes use of the OGC stan- components SDI. dards WMS, WFS and WCS (Web Cover- This defined a big step forward for all One could say the build-up of SDI hap- age Service, allows access to raster and kinds of spatial applications. Next came pens from two directions, one being the image data) for geodata exchange. the OGC Web Services, their most top-down initiatives that are set up on Another cross-border initiative is

30 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 Sentinel Asia, a voluntary initiative first develop- for establishing a disaster manage- ment steps ment support system for the Asia-Pacif- focussed on “Build-up of SDI happens ic region. Sentinel Asia will use the development of OGC-based server infrastructure of a national stan- from two directions, one being digital Asia and therefore is another dard exchange the top-down initiatives that example of a system using WMS, WFS format, develop- are set up on the state level to and WCS. ment of a data The following article highlights some dictionary and a define NSDI. OGC standards observations regarding the uptake of web-based are taken up by all kinds of OGC standards in geospatial projects in example applica- projects that can form the Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Cov- tion. By now a ering such a large area, the article can- portal of the base of the NSDI, this is the not be (and is not intended to be) com- Infrastruktur bottom-up direction prehensive in regard to geospatial proj- Data Spasial ects making use of OGC standards, but Nasional (IDNS) rather is a spotlight that shows the is available that trend towards interoperable geospatial is based on web services. GeoNetwork OpenSource (see fig. 2). as part of IDSN allows to query a” num- This web-portal software supports a ber of catalogue services that were set NATIONAL SDI INITIATIVES number of metadata standards such as up already by different Indonesian AND EXEMPLAR PROJECTS CSDGM, ISO 19115 and Dublin Core. institutions. Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are Besides, it supports the OGC Catalogue Another interesting example of a developing National Spatial Data Infra- Services interface and the WMS inter- WMS-based geoportal was (so far as a structures (NSDI) with a number of face. prototype) developed by Samarinda similarities but also differences. A simi- This kind of portal allows access to City (fig. 3). larity of the approaches is that all three distributed metadata using catalogue This city map portal is much more initiatives are using OGC standards to service interfaces, so a user can find out focused in its usage and available data. some degree. Another similarity that is what kind of spatial datasets already It shows a number of geodata sets of shared with all NSDIs worldwide is that exist. It is also the first starting components are a possible to metadata information system ("search visualize the engine") for geospatial data and inter- data, either in active maps. Besides these top-down a standalone SDI building approaches, all three coun- map viewer or tries show a number of OGC-standards- as an integrat- based projects. The following examples ed one. Such a only discuss technical aspects of SDI viewer is able building. All mentioned SDI initiatives to display the also have significant non-technical data of a cata- aspects such as political frameworks logue search, and directives for harmonisation of at least if a geodetic and geodata standards. map service is available for INDONESIA the data at The initiative for an Indonesian NSDI interest. The was formally started in 1993 with its instance set up Fig. 1 Clearinghouse of the Indonesian IDSN

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 31 the city and its surrounding. This portal load. All screen- also was developed using Open Source shots were taken software and is fully WMS-based, using anony- which means it uses the three opera- mous access. tions defined by the WMS standard Malaysia (GetCapabilities, GetMap and GetFea- shows a good tureInfo) as its internal interfaces. The number of proj- map portal is integrated to a high ects, many of degree in the overall web portal of academic nature, Samarinda. working with OGC standards. MALAYSIA Many of these As the Indonesian one, Malaysia's NSDI projects evaluate initiative - called myGDI - shows as a the usage of first visible output a portal with meta- Open Source data query facilities and a web-based projects such as mapviewer (see fig. 3). deegree, UMN Fig. 3 The myGDI MapViewer showing local data combined with This map viewer is not a native WMS- MapServer, Map- the DENIS WMS based application but it nonetheless Builder or supports the OGC standard WMS. In GeoServer for Figure 3 a map can be seen that displays SDI building. GetFeatureInfo-Requests can be seen. geodata from the viewer itself com- The GetCapabilities windows shows bined with layers from the OGC-com- THAILAND the layers that a WMS offers and allows pliant DENIS WMS. ThaiSDI, as the SDI intiative in Thailand to switch these layers on and off (upper The Malaysian geoportal has many is called, uses OGC standards conceptu- left in the screenshot). The GetFeature- more functionalities than mere web ally to a high degree. The first phase of Info window on the right enables users mappings, such as registration and ThaiSDI - the metadata clearinghouse - to see attribute data of geoobjects that authentication of users and data down- implemented the OGC Services WMS, are selected. WFS and Cata- Besides this initiative, there is a num- logue Service. ber of other projects in Thailand that The online map are working with OGC standards. Many browser that of these projects are in the context of can be seen in disaster mapping and management Figure 1 is a and therefore often have a cross-border completely OGC setting. There also is an increasing WMS based number of studies about usage of Open Viewer. In the Source software for SDI building. These figure data from studies mainly focus on software able the WMS of the to support OGC WMS and WFS. portal itself is combined with SUMMARY data from an The usage of OGC-standards in Indone- external WMS. sia, Thailand and Malaysia by now is On the left and comparable with the situation in right of the GUI, Europe and North America. All three Fig. 2 Geoportal of the City of Samarinda in Eastern Kalimantan results of GetCa- countries show well-developed NSDI pabilities and initiatives that are technically at least

32 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 common under- standing of an application “Usage of OGC stan- domain by all dards in Indonesia, stakeholders. Thailand and Malaysia Examples for is comparable with such GML appli- cation schemas the situation in are CityGML that Europe and North is developed by America. All three members of the countries show well- OGC itself for 3D city models developed NSDI initia- (buildings, tives that are based streets, trees etc.) on standards such as and a number of WMS and Catalogue local (mostly Fig. 4 ThaiGOS portal with added WMS data Service national) data models for differ- ent application partly based on standards such as WMS domains such as cadastral data or data take some time until we see the” wide- and Catalogue Service. for urban and town planning. spread use of these specifications. A large number of additional projects Another application area for WFS is Many of the projects using OGC stan- exist on different levels and in acade- the creation of gazetteers which are dards are making use of Open Source mia, these being mainly focussed on needed for navigation and queries software, a trend that also can be seen WMS. Not surprisingly there still are using geographic identifiers. Develop- in other parts of the world. One of the few WFS-based applications. The rea- ment of standardised gazetteers often main reasons for this effect is that the sons for this phenomenon is that WFS- is a step following the setup of Cata- geospatial Open Source community technology is much more complex than logue Services and WMS instances. seems to embrace open standards to a WMS, especially in its regard to inter- A second (or third) step in SDI initia- high degree. operability. tives also is the usage of Symbology WFS needs well-defined semantic Encoding (SE) and Styled Layer Descrip- data models that are then translated tor (SLD) for standardization of symbol- into GML application schemata. The ogy rules. Dr. Markus Lupp process of defining and implementing As standardised symbology needs lat/lon, Kupang-NTT, Indonesia these data model is long as it requires a well-defined data models, it might still [email protected] 15.25inch(W)

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• towards new means of obtaining revenue. Several Web mapping services like these encourage customizations. Let's look at each of these conver- Indeed, several such customizations gences, in turn: have been done. So anyone has an he geospatial communi- opportunity to customize a service of ty finds itself in exciting Higher spatial, temporal and their own, using these innovations as a times, as the first decade spectral resolution of satellite basis. ofT the 21st century advances. Whether and other source data If you have a rural guest house net- one's interest is in business development With the impressive proliferation of work, urban office or hotel location, or and profit, technological innovation, or relatively high resolution satellite want to help existing or envisioned benefits to society, the opportunities for imagery, available gratis through customers with locational services, a any individual, public or private organi- maps.google.com, wikimapia.org, mul- framework is available for you. Com- zation to contribute to, and gain from timap.com, maps.live.com and other bining this with the other conver- spatial technologies is unprecedented. Web sources, the average person can gences offers an exciting opportunity now see what recently cost geoinfor- to leverage such technology for one's To some degree, this can be consid- matics professionals heavily in terms of own business or service. ered the result of several convergences: hardware, software, and data. • towards higher spatial, temporal and These services have quickly built user New collaborative spectral resolution of satellite and other awareness of such imagery. They are software/product/service source data; also increasing the areas covered by rel- development and support • towards new collaborative software /product/service development and atively high resolution imagery. A few models (including public- support models (including public-pri- months ago, I found that such imagery private and private-private vate and private-private partnerships); was available for the parts of the Cook partnerships) • towards new means of creating and Islands that I had planned to visit on distributing digital products (and reach- vacation. I could plan hiking, snorkel- Background ing large numbers of customers - who are not always ready to pay large sums ing and other adventures, and well Much early Geoinformatics develop- for products/services); and imagine the logistics of my vacation. ment was first accomplished in govern-

36 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 mental and academic institutions char- IMPROVEMENTS IN OPPORTUNITIES acterized by relatively open policies on THROUGH OPEN-SOURCE Some governments usage and enhancement. Many aca- The opportunity for any individual or are considering demic institutions and governmental company (small or large), anywhere “ moving to open- research and development (R&D) labo- with an Internet connection, to join a source and creative ratories separately developed data and globalized community of software commons forms of software for their internal use. Some developers, and make a business of it, is intellectual property software or data by government a powerful developmental and busi- protection researchers or academicians was ness opportunity. However, despite exchanged freely, though some wound widespread innovations in Asia and up with copyright claims by their insti- the Pacific, many firms cling to the tutions. Some such software packages, hope that they could become the next training, and opening access to” oppor- or their fundamentals, were commer- Microsoft or ESRI, just as Microsoft is tunities through public-private part- cially adopted by entrepreneurs who undergoing a significant shift in its nerships. placed copyright claims on resultant strategy to partnering - and is continu- Perhaps the greatest challenge for an products. ing to pursue major innovations in spa- entrepreneur is whether to join a large Many commercial datasets and soft- tial data management/services with- company, or to remain independent. In ware packages were relatively expen- out a major desktop GIS product, and the open-source community, one can sive, which limited their use resulting just as the open-source environment do both. One can participate in global in limited revenues for the developers, has consolidated under OSGEO to move communities of software developers - and impeded technological and busi- toward better integration, distribution, and thus benefit from the interactions ness opportunity in countries depend- and user service. of a critical mass of like-minded col- ent on such expensive foundations for Increasing numbers of countries are leagues. However, the open-source their businesses. In this climate a few encouraging open-source software community also encourages individual companies prospered or at least sur- development, as a means of keeping entrepreneurship as part of this global vived, and perhaps gave dreams of control of their intellectual capital. team. So, if your interest is in projection prosperity to others - but for every suc- They realize that, when they make sug- software, data format translators, inte- cess came many failures. gestions for improvements, or partici- grating GIS into a hybrid product or More recently, software and data pate in the users meeting, for commer- service, the open-source community development has bifurcated. With the cial software they have essentially giv- encourages you to do so. recent founding of the Open Source en their intellectual property to the At www.osgeo.org there are several Geospatial Foundation (www.osgeo. firm, which may adopt it into their choices where you can make a name for org), a critical mass of open-source products and lease it back to the user. yourself in virtually any niche you geoinformatics software developers, When governments develop software could be interested in. The community integrators, and distribution mecha- in an open-source environment, they is small enough for you to make a name nisms is evolving. An increasing num- benefit more directly from their intel- for yourself, while being large enough ber of individuals and businesses have lectual property. When groups of devel- to give you some support and peer been able to make businesses in the opers and users band together, they are review of your ideas and work. The broad open-source environment - sharing from the work of the communi- open-source community enables you to where the geoinformatics sector is also ty. obtain, and provide, customer support now beginning to grow. Some govern- Simultaneously, some governments beyond that possible with most com- ments are considering moving to open- have been working to build knowledge mercial software. With the latter, you source and creative commons forms of economies, by improving the environ- pay for support, make your request for intellectual property protection, in ment under which knowledge workers support, and eventually get an answer. order to better stimulate developmen- thrive. This has included improve- With open-source you go to the discus- tal and business climates in their ments in information and communica- sion group or Wiki, and find that some- domains. tions infrastructure, education and one has probably already asked your

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 37 question - with someone else having one); bookings for air, rail and bus tick- geospatial technology. These can already answered it. ets and rental cars; tourism guide mate- include business-to-business services, rials prepared by yourself or others consumer products, and developmental PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES (such as by linking to wikitravel.org or services that bring increased prosperity If you get an opportunity to partner tripadvisor.com); spatial data from to the businesses, the middle class and with a government entity on a geospa- sources like those mentioned in above even the poor. tial technology development project, I (first) Section; and your own enhance- In the latter case, services that help doubt that that entity would object to ments to create your own super Web- build markets for rural communities your proposal to do so within the open- based travel service. (including education, health, and mar- source environment - unless that entity You can obtain revenue by commis- keting of products or tourism where vil- wants to own the rights itself, and keep sions (e.g. with a service as r24.org) or lagers, not merely outside business them from the public. On the other from guest house operators, or through interests, gain work and revenues) can hand, if you work with a company that means described just below. become a win-win situation for all con- is used to the proprietary model of soft- cerned. ware development, you may face a NEW MEANS OF OBTAINING REVENUE Most countries have economic challenge if you propose to go open- If estimates and forecasts are centres, and also economic backwaters source. Yet there are advantages of correct, the amount of revenues earned which however have yet unmarketed going open-source. If you successfully from low-cost click-through revenue cultural, historical, or other potential engage with the user community, they earnings for spatial data services wealth if they can be brought into the will support each other (yet you can like Google maps soon will reach one economy in a mutually beneficial and provide services also, and be paid for hundred thousand million US dollars sustainable manner. Geospatial tech- them if you like). annually. With vehicles like Google nologies, and other information and AdSense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ communication technologies, can be an NEW MEANS OF CREATING AND AdSens), "anyone", "anywhere" can pur- asset in, and an ally to, such efforts.

DISTRIBUTING DIGITAL PRODUCTS sue services that can generate rev- The views expressed by author are his own and/or of With the Web, software and products enues, without high subscription others, but do not necessarily reflect views of the United Nations or any of its components. are now increasingly distributed charges. online. One may also integrate a num- ber of elements developed by others CONCLUSION into a holistic product, to serve online. As we can see, convergences in techno- Dr. David Hastings For instance, you can combine hotel logical advances, and in ways of work- Space Technology Applications, UNESCAP, booking (in Thailand, for example, ing together, are creating immense Bangkok, Thailand r24.org provides a back end to your own opportunities for developing new prod- [email protected] travel agency, should you wish to run ucts and services that are enhanced by

Regional Overview

STATUS OF GIS IN AFRICA

capacity and arrangements. Africa. The second project development in Africa, he developmental It is often said that Africa followed the first to then excluding any socio-eco- needs of Africa are is poorly mapped, that is, catalogue the available fun- nomic datasets such as Twell known as it there is a paucity of geo-spa- damental geo-spatial demographic data. battles to achieve the Millen- tial information. Without datasets in Africa - both in- The determination of the nium Development Goals, geo-spatial information it is country and external data fundamental geo-spatial despite the numerous efforts not possible to begin to use holdings. datasets for Africa is by national and international GIS to analyse development The geo-spatial datasets ground-breaking work and development programmes. needs and plan projects or to mentioned in Table 1 have forms the basis of any fur- monitor the impact of devel- been determined as the fun- ther work on the collection It has also been shown that opment projects. To deter- damental geo-spatial and maintenance of geo- geo-spatial information mine whether or not Africa datasets required to support spatial data to support the plays a significant role in is indeed poorly mapped development planning two projects in the Mapping Table 1 Fundamental Geo-spatial (Clarke, 2007). If this is the Africa for Africa initiative Datasets for Africa (Source: CODI-Geo, 2006) case then what is the contri- have recently been complet- Category Data Theme Dataset Geodetic control point; Height datum; Primary reference Geodetic control network bution of geo-spatial infor- ed through the auspices of Geoid model mation and the geo-spatial the Committee for Develop- Rectified imagery Aerial photography; Satellite imagery Digital elevation model; Spot height; technologies towards the ment Information's Sub- Base geography Hypsography Bathymetry development programmes committee on Geo-informa- Hydrography Coastline; Natural water bodies in Africa? In an attempt to tion (CODI-Geo) - a structure Governmental units; Populated places; Boundaries Enumeration areas answer this question a per- of the UN Economic Com- Administration and Geographic names Place names; Feature names spective on the status of GIS mission for Africa (UNECA). spatial organisation Land parcels/cadastre; Land tenure; in Africa is provided. A look The first project determined, Land management units Street address; Postal/zip code zone; Land use planning zone is taken at the status of geo- through a user needs analy- Roads; Road centerlines; Railways; Transportation spatial data, contributing sis, what geo-spatial data Airports; Ports Infrastructure standards and policies, and constitutes the fundamental Structures Bridges; Tunnels Utilities and services Power; Telecommunication human and institutional geo-spatial datasets for Environmental Natural environment Land cover; Soils; Geology information

40 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 these datasets at the nation- are available. This result is al level, commercial enter- indicative of the extent for There is little prises who only collect those which reliable demographic “evidence in the datasets with commercial data is available at the sub- majority of African countries of the value to trade with such national level - another use of GIS by data, and the collection of important dataset for devel- government datasets by organisations opment purposes. departments in that are not African govern- In cataloguing the avail- the execution of mental organisations, able fundamental geo-spa- their functions including donor agencies, tial datasets the metadata who collect the data for a for these datasets was also specific project and do not collected. The study revealed having the knowledge of the put in place any plans to that only five of the 30 existence of these datasets.” either maintain that data or datasets had complete The savings that can result to hand it over to the rele- metadata and 23 datasets from eliminating duplica- development programmes vant authority to add to the had less than 30% of its tion of data collection can be in Africa. These datasets national asset of fundamen- metadata available. The lack put to better use. must be prioritized in any tal geo-spatial data. The lack of metadata is of great con- A gap analysis for each programmes or projects, of a programmatic approach cern for the access to and Africa country has been pre- whether at national, sub- to the collection and ongo- sharing of geo-spatial data pared based on the results of regional or regional level. ing maintenance of these across organisations and the cataloguing project. Each The results of the cata- fundamental geo-spatial applications. More effort is country can use this gap logue of available funda- datasets is indicative of the required to record the meta- analysis to prioritise their mental geo-spatial datasets state of many of the nation- data at the same time as col- collection of fundamental in Africa has in part con- al mapping organisations lecting the geo-spatial data. geo-spatial data. Interna- firmed the fact that Africa is (NMO) in Africa, which are The lack of metadata can tional organisations, includ- poorly mapped, but has also poorly resourced in terms of result in the duplication of ing donor agencies, should shown that in part there is a human resources, budgets the collection of geo-spatial also use this gap analysis. lot of this data available. and equipment. data because of the In some instances where Much of the data is unreli- A summary of the extent unknown quality and relia- fundamental geo-spatial able in that it is either out of of available fundamental bility of that data. datasets are available there date, having being collected geo-spatial datasets for This project highlighted are restriction on accessing and mapped by the colonial African countries is given for what is probably the biggest and using such data. In powers prior to the country a selected number of challenge in the utilization some countries the military gaining independence, or is datasets in Table 2. Of the 54 of geo-spatial data, namely is the NMO and regard all inaccurate. There is also an African countries no contact the difficulty in knowing topographic data and the imbalance in the availability could be established in the what data exists and how to geodetic control network as of different datasets, with project for two countries, access it. A lot of time and restricted. The cost of access- some datasets, such as main namely Angola and Western effort is wasted due to not ing and using the funda- roads and railways, being Sahara. For a further seven completed and for others countries only external data Number of African countries with (selected) fundamental geo-spatial Table 2. being very poorly represent- sources were indicated, bias- datasets (Source: CODI-Geo, 2007) ed. Possible reasons for these ing the reports for those Dataset Available in No. of Countries results are that there is no countries. Geodetic control points 33 significant, if any, program- Figure 1 shows a map of Water bodies 54 matic approach to the collec- African countries where Enumerator areas 25 Land use planning zones 31 tion and maintenance of data on enumerator areas Land cover 41

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 41 these systems. Furthermore, organisations or research maintenance of the soft- groups for projects of partic- ware and hardware is not ular interest to themselves available within many and which are either limited countries and it is not in scope or are once-off type uncommon to find comput- projects. This is not to say ers lying idle because of the that there are no govern- maintenance problem. Free ment officials who under- and open source systems are stand GIS or the value of naturally very appealing to such systems, it is just that African countries, but how most of them are at the Figure 1. Distribution of available enumerator area datasets free is free? technical level without suf- (Source: CODI-Geo, 2007) In Africa this must mean ficient decision-making low cost, otherwise it is of power, there is not a critical mental geo-spatial data is to undertake the collection no benefit. The geo-spatial mass of these people, there another restriction. Data of geo-spatial data. In these technologies must also take is no political support for held by commercial entities areas it is necessary to resort into account the scarcity of these systems, and therefore must be purchased at great to remotely sensed tech- expertise in Africa. A further there is insufficient cost. A number of NMOs niques, such as satellite factor to consider is the lack resources to acquire and to have also adopted a policy imagery, but these have lim- of reliable electrical power operate these systems. of selling their data as a itations for particular supply in most places, or the Most of the technology means to generate funds - datasets. absence thereof once you standards are in place today similar to the financial mod- The non-availability of move away from the main and users do not have to els used by NMOs in Europe modern geo-spatial tech- urban centres. It is for these worry about these. The stan- and the UK. What these nologies in most African reasons that the technology dards that still need to be African NMOs forget is that countries is retarding the used in Africa must be put in place are those relat- the geo-spatial markets in collection and maintenance appropriate for the African ing to data and semantics. Europe are more mature and of geo-spatial data and the situation. Donor organisa- These standards are neces- that in their countries the subsequent processing and tions should take note of sary to ease the effort of main users of geo-spatial analyses of such data to pro- this and not impose tech- sharing data and under- data are their own govern- vide the support for devel- nologies that will be under- standing between organisa- ments or consultants con- opment planning and moni- utilised and eventually tions and between applica- tracted by their government toring. In turn, the lack of abandoned because of tions. Many applications or foreign donor organisa- available and accessible geo- maintenance difficulties. extend beyond national bor- tions. In a democratic devel- spatial information that is Undoubtedly as capacity ders and it is necessary to opmental country the fun- reliable and up to date is building programmes reach integrate datasets across damental geo-spatial data limiting the full exploitation more and more Africans national borders. should be collected and of these technologies, partic- they will become equipped A number of African coun- maintained as part of the ularly geographical informa- to make full use of these tries have developed various government's developmen- tion systems (GIS). GIS is technologies. data standards but these tal agenda and programmes. mostly proprietary software There is little evidence in may not be aligned with The collection and ongoing operating on moderately the majority of African each other. The Internation- maintenance of geo-spatial powerful computers. Such countries of the use of GIS al Organisation on Stan- data is problematic in those systems are (in the African by government depart- dardisation (ISO) and Open countries which are experi- context) expensive and ments in the execution of GIS Consortium have devel- encing internal conflict. funds are not easily avail- their functions. GIS is used oped and are continuing to Some areas are inaccessible able for the purchase of mostly by international develop standards for the

42 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 geo-spatial information cause of geo-spatial infor- valid argument. However, community. CODI-Geo is mation and the power of the many NMOs in Africa are ill- To be effective assisting in this regard by geo-spatial technologies, but equipped to take the lead “ there must be a facilitating to be effective there must be role in establishing the critical mass of the development of key a critical mass of expertise NSDI. The reasons for this expertise in GIS. standards for the African in GIS in African countries. include the fact that many The local academic continent. The local tertiary academic of them are old establish- institutions often The metadata standard is institutions often are unable ments, positioned in central are unable to pro- one such standard, where to provide the people with government and are steeped vide the required an African profile has been required technological skills. in tradition. The implica- technological skills developed, in consultation The numbers that can be tions of this are that these with many African coun- educated in this way are organisations are structured tries. Another effort at stan- limited. To further compli- in the old style civil service dardisation is the African cate the situation, many of with strong bureaucracy complementing each other. Reference Project (AFREF) these people do not return and are very slow to change. Such an interdependency” that has the objective of har- to their home country The organisations are struc- organisational model will monizing the geodetic refer- because of better employ- tured for the production of only happen with strong ence frames across Africa, ment opportunities else- 'paper' maps and have not leadership. There should be providing a unique spatial where. For those that do modernised their proce- no power games or strug- referencing system across return many find them- dures. Usually these organi- gles, with the leaders being Africa. selves without the institu- sations are also responsible big enough to remove them- National and regional poli- tional support to use their for the cadastral survey of selves from such pettiness cies are required to mandate knowledge. the country, which often and creating the environ- the establishment of SDIs The building of capacity enjoys a higher priority. ment for their organisations and give direction to SDI within the appropriate Where a country is to work together. activities. Already a number organisations is the highest involved in NSDI activity it Without geo-spatial infor- of African countries are the priority. Without the is often found that the NMO mation there can be no proud owners of such resources to undertake the has modernised and restruc- effective development. It is national policies. To receive work of developing policies, tured to take advantage of time for African govern- the required recognition for standards and organisation- the opportunities of the ments to recognise the fact these policies countries are al arrangements as well as modern geo-spatial tech- that fundamental geo-spa- being encouraged by the sustainable data collection, nologies. Visionary leader- tial information is part of UNECA to integrate these African countries will not ship is required to re-invent the national asset, under- policies into the national make any progress in estab- these bureaucratic mon- pinning its development information and communi- lishing their NSDIs and sters. programmes. This informa- cation (NICI) policies. The exploiting the power of GIS. Politicians and senior man- tion must be turned into UNECA is assisting countries NMOs are traditionally agement of government knowledge, using GIS and to achieve this, such as in regarded as the organisation organisations lack aware- other geo-spatial technolo- Rwanda and Swaziland. responsible for the collec- ness of the value of geo-spa- gies, for the betterment of Human resources capable tion and maintenance of the tial information and the Africa. of making a difference for fundamental geo-spatial importance of an African country in its SDI information, through the NSDI. SDI requires activities are a major chal- traditional mapping pro- inter-organisa- Dr. Derek Clarke Chief Director, lenge. There are a number of grammes, and it is taken for tional co-opera- Chief Directorate, individuals who have the granted that these organisa- tion, with the con- Surveys & Mapping, South Africa necessary expertise and tions will be responsible for tributing organi- [email protected] who are championing the the NSDI. This could be a sations to the SDI

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 43 Regional Overview

TOWARDS A EUROPEAN SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE The vision of a 'Europe without borders' is making substantial political and practical progress. This is demonstrated by the expansion of 'Schengen-space' now including 25 European countries without internal border controls. Paradoxically, the cross-border inte- gration of digital representations of European spaces seems to be a more difficult undertaking with only limited progress until today. Motivated by the 1994 presidential 'Executive Order' launching the US SDI initiatives, ideas for a European SDI were put forward from 1995 onwards under the 'GI 2000' umbrella. While GI 2000 did not succeed with STATUS OF GIS IN EUROPE substantial operational steps towards a European SDI, it certainly created a favorable environment agreeing on the OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES need for a common GI strategy, and then infrastructure. From an industry perspective, the parallel 'Public Sector expected to yield less than exciting Information' (PSI) initiative (made a results. GIS is used widely in public mandatory directive in 2003) helped administration and for the usual array with establishing a business view on of business applications, much like in the vast public holdings of georefer- many other parts of the world. There enced data. seems to be a decreasing market share Initial attempts by the European IS, from a of European software technologies, Commission aiming at centralized GIS 'geoinforma- even more so in the hardware sector. developments generated mixed results. tion perspec- There is one particular exception to GISCO, the 'GIS for the Commission' Gtive' (availability of data sets) as well as the global-business-as-usual view- built by the statistical office Eurostat from a methods, techniques and software point, though. Europe is a cluster of never achieved its ambitious aims, and technology perspective, certainly is a politically independent countries, and the interagency Committee on Geo- globalized phenomenon. The GIS industry at the same time is working towards graphic Information (COGI) was mainly is mainly based on some global players, integrating into a common economic limited to awareness raising. with regional differences in societal space. Sectoral initiatives like the pioneering frameworks, and thus policies and opera- This development is driven by the 'Coordination of Information on the tional practice, limited to a few areas like centralized policy implementation Environment' (CORINE), though, deliv- cadastre or approval of permits. body of the European Commission, ered some early success stories demon- under joint legislative power by the strating that unified European data Identification of particular European Council of Ministers and the European sets on themes like land cover could be aspects of GIS therefore might be Parliament. developed. Similarly, research funding

44 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 for integrated European digital road main thrust aims at making geographic search capabilities, and online map databases helped with establishing a data readily available to European cen- services demonstrate some aspects of strong European industry position in tral government agencies. While the the practical value of an integrated this area for example, demonstrated data harmonization required to achieve European spatial information infra- through Tele Atlas and Navteq. this aim certainly will result in sub- structure. Still, the political and practical diffi- stantial benefits for other public and culties of merging numerous countries particularly business uses of Geograph- THE SPACE SEGMENT into one political entity and into an ic Information, from an industry point The INSPIRE initiative is not the only integrated economic space left many of view even after a full implementa- pan - European approach defining the lessons to be learned, and required tion INSPIRE will not primarily serve current and future state of GIS in starting over again with a modified the more general purposes of an SDI. Europe. At least two major keywords approach. Still, the general INSPIRE principles have to be mentioned at this point - the are a critical step forward for GIS in GALILEO satellite navigation project INSPIRE'ATION Europe, emphasizing point like: and the Global Monitoring for Environ- Based on the success • Data are to be collected only once and ment and Security initiative (GMES) maintained at the level (of government) of CORINE includ- framework. where this can be done best (i.e., not ing the estab- necessarily at a central agency). Galileo recently has been in the lishment of a • Spatial data from different sources are media, unfortunately, for the wrong European Envi- to be combined seamlessly and shared reasons: Funding difficulties and result- ronmental between different users and applica- ing delays have eroded some of the tions. Agency, and driv- optimism and trust needed for major • Spatial data needed for good gover- en by the cross-bor- initiatives of this scale. Now this Euro- nance shall be 'available on conditions der requirements for environmental not restricting its use' (obviously, this pean satellite navigation system aim- monitoring and policies, this current phrasing is a compromise between con- ing at providing 'a permanent refer- approach was strongly promoted by flicting business models). the European 'ministry' (Directorate • Services need to be available for data discovery, evaluating its fitness for an General) for the environment. intended purpose, and to establish con- The INSPIRE initiative (Infrastructure ditions applicable for its use. for Spatial Information in Europe - The European GI industry will enjoy http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/) had to substantial indirect benefits from the go through a lengthy negotiation pro- complex implementation process ence in time and space' again seems to cedure but finally in 2007 was turned required for INSPIRE. Currently 'imple- be on track for deployment. into a directive which makes it manda- mentation rules' are being developed in The prospect of an independent, fully tory for EU member countries to imple- several committees ('drafting teams') operational high quality satellite posi- ment legislation implementing responding to input from 'Spatial Data tioning service is one of the key drivers INSPIRE over a two-year period. The Interest Communities' (SDICs) and of development initiatives across many main aim of INSPIRE is to make avail- 'Legally Mandated Organisations' application domains, already today able relevant, harmonized and quality- (LMOs). This broad-based participatory contributing substantially to cutting- controlled geographic information for approach involving many stakeholders edge work in the GIS industry. GALILEO the purpose of formulation, implemen- will ultimately contribute to a valuable has been jointly initiated by the Euro- tation, monitoring and evaluation of EC body of knowledge and skills important pean Union and the European Space policy-making. to the European GIS industry at large. Agency (ESA) and will support users in Obviously, this mission now goes far A first glimpse at INSPIRE outcomes is many sectors such as transport (vehicle beyond environmental monitoring and available at the 'EU portal for Geo- location, routing, toll systems, speed essentially makes INSPIRE the founda- graphic Information' (www.inspire- control, navigation, etc.), social services tion for a European SDI, or, more cor- geoportal.eu). Access to a metadata cat- (e.g. aid for the disabled or elderly), the rectly, a European Commission SDI. The alog, a map client with extensive customs, security and justice systems

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 45 ture is in line with the strong reliance potential complementary role of differ- on industry cooperation. The GIS indus- ent business models facilitated by the There seems to try is expected to ultimately implement industry trend towards services-based “ and operate GMES services, making this infrastructure. This trend can be consid- be a decreasing a beacon for future business prospects. ered a precursor for next-generation market share of distributed infrastructures. European software SOFTWARE INDUSTRY With a few exceptions, recent and EUROPEAN GI technologies, even ongoing consolidation in the GIS soft- INSTITUTIONS AND more so in the ware industry has not exactly strength- ORGANIZATIONS hardware sector ened the European position in the mar- The broad range of agencies and associ- ketplace. Looking beyond the major ations managing 'GIS in Europe' is an global players in this field, though, we interesting mix of top-down and bot- can observe and expect major and tom-up approaches, including govern- (location of suspects, border controls),” interesting contributions to technolo- ment branches as well as academic and public works (geographical information gies and architectures of the future. user associations. systems), search and rescue systems, or One indicator early on was active A top level view is provided by the leisure and tourism services. membership in the Open Geospatial European Commission's GI & GIS Portal The GMES (www.gmes.info) is an Consortium (OGC) and the founding of (www.ec-gis-org) providing access to effort to bring data and information OGC Europe. Through strong academic all GI related activities, projects and providers together with end users, and industry participation European documents. From an operational per- obviously with a focus on environmen- actors were able to first learn, and then spective, the EC Joint Research Centre tal and security-critical information. contribute substantially to standards with its Spatial Data Infrastructures GMES currently is an important source developments. This development is pri- Unit is one of the key facilitators of research and development funding marily driven by the urgent needs for regarding the evolution of SDI services contributing to GIS in Europe. standardization for interoperable dis- (ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/ > sdi.jrc.it) One of the starting points for the tributed services as e.g. required by the The European Umbrella Organization GMES initiative, and the key common INSPIRE initiative. Active participation for Geographic Information denominator of 'environment' and in first standards, and then services (www.EUROGI.org) is an independent 'security' is space-based remote sensing development had led to the emergence NGO drawing its membership from information. Europe over many years of several leading edge startup soft- national GI organizations and industry. has developed a strong remote sensing ware companies. Some are using a pro- It is acting as a voice for the European capability across different sensor tech- prietary software business model, but a GI community in order to "… ensure nologies. GMES now aims at bringing large and growing group of companies good governance, economic and social these into operational practice from a are considered leaders in the open development, environmental protec- spatial monitoring perspective. source communities. tion and sustainability, and informed GMES is strongly motivated by user Their important role is clearly visible public participation, the mission is to requirements defining the integration at major European geospatial industry maximise the availability and effective of data from space-based (and in-situ) exhibits (see www.intergeo.de, use of GI (geographic information) earth observation capacities. As a first www.gi-forum.org) where the FOSS throughout Europe." With an academic step pilot operational services ('fast contributions are featured prominently focus, the Association of Geographic track services') are being developed, and attract extensive interest. This kind Information Laboratories for Europe with emphases on emergency of side-by- (AGILE - plone.itc.nl/agile/) is aiming to response, land monitoring and marine side pres- "promote academic teaching and services, to be followed by services for ence is research on Geographic Information other application domains. The reliance indicative Science by representing the interests of on a services infrastructure architec- for the those involved in GI-teaching and

46 JANUARY 2008 research at the national and the Euro- OPPORTUNITIES? lingual and historically multifaceted pean level". AGILE membership is based CHALLENGES? environment. Lessons learned, though, on academic research units, and one of Obviously, the European approach likely will contribute to progress world- its widely recognized activities is an towards creating a common, transna- wide. Whenever there is a dominant annual research conference (see tional framework for Geographic Infor- player in any SDI initiative, results like- www.agile2008.es). Of course numer- mation has led to a particular situation ly will be achieved through hierarchical ous other organisations serve particu- offering chances to learn for SDI proj- top-down processes. In contrast, lar communities, one example being ects anywhere. The long-term project Europe's diversity and the need for con- the Geographical Information Systems of European integration gives special sensus-based negotiated decisions are International Group (GISIG - meaning to the idea of an SDI as a com- not an easy route to success, but are www.gisig.it) which is quite success- mon foundation to achieve a unified more likely to fully leverage the bene- fully implementing European-level space for administration, economy and fits of true 'infrastructure thinking' in projects in areas like environment, individual movement. It is therefore the information society. The broad water resources and conservation. expected that European mega-initia- movement towards European integra- Increasingly, the general community tives like INSPIRE, GMES and the Galileo tion has not always been welcomed by participation of GIS experts and project will remain the defining ele- its citizens. researchers is shifting towards a ments for GIS in Europe. The opportuni- pan-European level. This is an indicator ty to make progress based on the need of progress in integration, and for for an open and interoperable services Prof. Dr. Josef Strobl Director, Z_GIS Centre for the important contribution of various infrastructure is balanced by the chal- GeoInformatics Salzburg University & Director, Geographic Information Science institutions towards borderless Euro- lenges of making this happen in an Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria pean GIS. extremely diverse, segmented, multi- [email protected] [email protected] Regional Overview Geospatial Initiatives in Israel

collection and the staff of the SOI does Inter-agency Committee with refer- quality control and integration of the ence to the national geospatial meta- data into the National GIS. Then, the data standard based on ISO19115, this ince 1991 a National GIS SOI provides data and services directly standard was adopted for the portal as was created by the Survey to the end users. well. Meta-data for 400 layers of of Israel (SOI) to serve the geospatial data has already been pre- Sgovernment ministries and agencies as THE GEOSPATIAL PORTAL pared and is accessible in the system. well as to support the community of Around a year ago SOI launched The system works quite fast and nation-wide geospatial consumers. National Geospatial Portal (NGP). This passed successfully loading simula- portal has been developed in coopera- tions. Potential users are exposed to the The data source of the National GIS was tion with the Inter-agency Committee portal and are very satisfied with it, based on triangulated aerial photo- for SDI. The portal is already working. It including the education community graphs, taken at 40,000 ft altitude, is part of the e-Government initiative and potential emergency applications. using analytical and digital pho- and will serve simultaneously as a togrammetry. The current revision geospatial portal for the public and a Main objectives cycle is 3-4 years except roads and governmental GIS clearing house. For The first objective of the portal is to orthophoto which are revised annually. the time being it serves the public free consolidate, to integrate and distribute The National GIS of the SOI consists of of charge. Following a thorough analy- geospatial data following the e-Gov- a topographic data base including ten sis of the options, the decision was ernment policy of making the data topographic layers: orthophoto, eleva- made to build a geospatial data ware- available to the public. tions, roads, buildings, hydrographic house at the first stage, in order to The second objective of the portal is to features etc., a cadastral database improve the quality control of data. serve as a clearing house of geospatial including blocks and plans, and a data- This approach was adopted because of data between governmental offices base of addresses. the variety of data sources. Though the and thus to save governmental invest- The National GIS infrastructure con- quality of data covered in the National ment and to improve compatibility and sists of the infrastructure of the Survey GIS is very good, of Israel and many government offices one cannot as well as medium and large cities and assure the quali- towns, utility companies and public ty of uncon- organizations. trolled data com- The usual mode of cooperation Orthophoto production and data col- ing from all min- “ between the SOI and the private lection is carried out by the private sec- istries and agen- sector is that SOI defines the tor. This is the main trend, and Israeli cies; so the inte- companies provide integrated geospa- grated applica- specifications; private companies tial services for satellite imagery, tions of the sim- carry out the data collection and orthophotography, mapping, GIS, ple end web-user the staff of the SOI does quality cadastre, visualization tools and more. may not meet control and integration of the data The usual mode of cooperation the expected into the National GIS between the SOI and the private sector standards. is that SOI defines the specifications; Following the private companies carry out the data resolution of the ”

48 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 integrativity between governmental offices regarding geospatial and loca- tion based applications. The expectation is that the exposure of data will also stimulate processes of improving the quality and precision of the data.

Organization A steering committee of the two organ- izations headed by the Director General of the Survey of Israel (who chairs the Inter-Agency committee) defines the goals and confirms the planning. A working team of the committee defines the requirements and controls their achievement while working teams of the Survey of Israel are responsible for their execution. The main components of the system are: data collection, data integration, Fig. 1: The Online Geospatial Configuration simple web operational search mecha- nisms, national geospatial meta-data- base, data sharing and data distribu- public (the web users) can either query basic mapping (roads, buildings, tion mechanisms and a variety of links the NGP directly for pure geospatial addresses, orthophoto, contours, to GIS and mapping web sites. subjects, or access via the government hydrology, institutes, various scales of The architecture of the NGP is based portal, a portal of a government office raster topographic layers etc.), layers of on servers in the SOI, which operate as for a complicated issue. cadastre and planning (blocks, plots, a Data Warehouse supporting, via The portal of the government office town plans, master plans, land intranet, internal users of SOI and dis- will integrate its internal IT and GIS reserves, etc.), tourist information tributing the data to an identical envi- data extracted by the NGP using API (national resorts, national parks, hiking ronment at the central web site of the (Application Programming Interface), trails, forests, woods, parking areas, government using its services, includ- see figure 2. etc.), administrative boundaries, trans- ing security of data. The government portation, infrastructure, security and site data is distributed to the various Data included in the portal national emergencies. The portal government offices including web The core of the National Geospatial Por- enables simultaneous presentation of services and via Fire Wall and the inter- tal is a Geospatial Data Warehouse that multiple layers of information, with net to the public. includes more than 120 layers of high cartographic fit, linked to attribute The mode of interaction between the geospatial data collected by govern- information in various formats accord- SOI, the government offices and the mental organizations, thirty of which ing to the spatial entities. public is as follows (see figure 1): The are from the SOI. In addition based on the general data SOI collects GIS data of various govern- The Portal represents data with great in the system, there are engines that ment offices and public organizations variability and richness that enable the enable links to other databases, that using the coordination of the Inter- system to sort the layers under main might give specific information Agency Committee for SDI, checks the topics and the user to extract relevant in special operative applications in data and integrates it into the Geospa- metadata. The portal is integrative and the future, for internal governmental tial Data Warehouse of the Portal. The the data includes many topics, such as usage.

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 49 The metadata CONCLUDING REMARKS component in Following the current trend, the future the geospatial of National Mapping Agencies will be portal based on online services both to the The metadata is general public and to other govern- an important ment and public organizations. This component in the refers to geodetic services based on geospatial portal. satellite permanent stations (combin- The develop- ing GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO) both ment of the portal for horizontal and vertical references. It is progressing in refers to coordinate based cadastral accordance with framework, databases and computer- the ripening of ized archives as well as supporting con- the trol of cadastral mutations based on the Fig. 2: A Model of Integration between the National Geospatial Portal and the Organization Portal Israeli national permanent stations. This refers also to geographic meta- geospatial databases including rectified data standard, as imagery (either from aerial photo- The functionality of the portal a component of the National GIS stan- graphs, or satellite images), topograph- As mentioned above, the portal's dards. ic data, addresses and more. The data concept allows its operation by any These processes are taking place in integrated in GIS should be accessible user, professional, or layman, from var- SOI as a result of the activities of the through the web, through geospatial ious disciplines. With this principle in Inter-Agency Committee for SDI. The portals, either free of charge, or selec- mind the tools are divided into two new metadata standard was approved tively accessible due to security, or pay- sets: standard tools, which are present- and adopted by the committee. ment policies. ed on the main screen, and advanced The development of the metadata The geospatial data should be accessi- tools that are not presented to unskilled component is based on ISO 19115, and ble to government agencies for integra- users. In addition, the portal includes an was constructed in a way that will tion with the IT infrastructure for inte- external interface to other operation enable its direct feeding to ARC CATA- grated web services through web por- systems (general and flexible API with LOG (An ESRI product), but will be tals. A special attention should be paid parameters). User interface allows sim- observed (in Hebrew) similarly to other to the use of geospatial information by ple as well as sophisticated modes of portal components on commonly used portals of learning geography for the operation. web computers/terminals. full range between kindergartens and All the information in the portal is university graduates. accessible to the public, with no These activities should be taken care limitation or a need of passwords or of by partnership between the govern- A special attention permits. The metadata search engine of ment and the private market. The gov- “should be paid to the portal can search through 400 ernment should define the vision, the the use of geospa- layers of GIS of countrywide coverage, goals, the specifications and supply or of national interest, in spite of the budgets if necessary, while the private tial information by fact that the information included in sector should be the contractors and portals of learning the portal includes only a quarter of sometimes also promote initiatives. geography for the these layers. full range between The rest of the layers are not kindergartens and ready for presentation for various university graduates reasons: homeland security, intellectu- Dr. Haim Srebro al property, privacy and lack of updated Director General, Survey of Israel ” data. [email protected] 50 JANUARY 2008

Regional Overview Public Private Partnership in Middle East

the flat, 2D interface that we have on in Dubai, the level of spirit that agen- Widespread geoinfor- the web today, but in a virtual reality cies are putting into play pursuing this mation and communi- walkthrough”. The geospatial industry scope is truly impressive. However, Wcation technologies is actively and relentlessly finding and some fundamental key factors are across the different fields of society and providing new engineering solutions, missing or unclear - such as willing- economy is a key factor that is boosting tools and application to accomplish the ness to the change, policies and competitiveness, developing information goal to electronically explore, travel, processes, leadership, management societies, radically influencing many lev- study, and look at the earth from a vir- skills, future road to the transitional els of decision-making. tual reality perspective. The world of change etc. Moreover, while we recog- geospatial data provision is changing nise needs for privatisation and PPP’s, The transition to a knowledge based rapidly with new revolutionary devel- nearly at all levels of public service we economy sets new requirements to opment of technology, globalization of receive different amount of attention every sector of our society, demanding markets, liberalization of markets, etc. to each level, based on internal beliefs new skills, networked practices, and For some of us deeply involved in the of precedence. Water, Power, Telecom- innovation potential from govern- geospatial industry, the exciting elec- munication, Transportation are ments, businesses and services. As gov- tronic transformation has begun, for undoubtedly primary needs. No doubt ernments offers more online services some others in the developing coun- that a desalination plant or the con- and information to the billions of con- tries this transformation is just excit- struction of a new highway needs all nected people, public awareness and ing as it is frustrating. In the recent the necessary attention from public use are increasing accordingly. Today, times together with, Internet driven, agencies, but related or correlated serv- it’s difficult to engage discussion on rising awareness we have witnessed ices do need the same level of atten- geospatial activities without hearing the successful stories of Public-Private tion. It’s wrong to believe that PPP’s, or comment and references to Google Partnerships implementation, and BOT’s, more common to this region, Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, satellite how PPP has revolutionised and re- need to be implemented to ensure suc- image availability, hence remote sens- engineered public sectors operations. cess and maximising investment and ing, or emerging, new, Net-base servic- This is true for most of the developed returns only on multimillion projects. es. The Internet is a multi-face technol- countries. Deep and radical are the dif- My impression is that one of the sec- ogy that has the ability to transform ferences with organisational, adminis- tors being penalised by such way of and bring our traditional daily activi- trative and economic aspects in each thinking is the geospatial industry, this ties to new and unknown frontiers. region. Generally speaking, it seams is because it has not been placed in the Important to the millions of connected that there is no doubt that Asian primary level of needs, yet. Asian users, internet finally provides regions should need PPP’s implementa- Together with other authoritarian an access window to general and tion, where we find enormous needs to reports and case studies, the famous geoinformation, shading lights to a improve infrastructures, but it is diffi- ISO Bulletin of July 2001, stated that “at powerful mass-reality and awareness. cult to generalise Public-Private Part- least 80% of public and private deci- Bill Gate’s vision statement of the nership success world wide. In the geospatial Internet: "You will be walk- Middle East and especially the GCC ing around in downtown London and countries, governments seem to be be able to see the shops, the stores, see actively promoting PPP’s. Following what the traffic is like. Walk in a shop the 2nd annual congress Public-Private Fernando Pizzuti Pictometry Middle East, Dubai, UAE and navigate the merchandise. Not in Partnership on Infrastructure Finance [email protected]

52 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 sion-making is based on some spatial aspects”. This state- ment startled government organizations urging them to deeply reconsider the value of this industry. In developing countries, such statements has at least underlined a simple concept: geoinformation relevant to our everyday life needs to be organized, searched, used and made available in an easy to access geospatial context. Question is: what hap- pened to all the promotional or goodwill plans made in the last ten years for standardization, cadastre, GIS centres, national spatial data infrastructures, training centres etc.? While Asian institutions are still battling to find the route to a feasible change to traditional roles and trying to keep their mandates intact, continuous population growth is followed by urban development, real estate, transportation, telecom- munication and all of the relevant utilities and services, that just can’t wait any longer on the slow pace of change in the public sector. Agencies at all levels of government organiza- tions are still the main producers and owners of spatial information. Despite decades of constructive criticism, most- ly aimed to improve products and services, the traditional monopoly still persists throughout the Asian region. Lack of collaboration between governments institutions form the first barriers to create knowledge base relationships, which later creates barriers for functional partnership with the pri- vate sector to create services that are beyond public sectors capabilities. Here, there is an enormous need for collaboration and lots of constructive partnerships with the same heavy producer of spatial data and innovative solutions - the private sector. In this context, the public and private sector should work together to develop opportunities offered by the modern concepts of information and PPP’s, concentrating on activi- ties that best suit their respective skills. For the public sector, the key skill should lie in developing policies on service needs and requirements, while the private sector should deliver those services at the most efficient cost and with best returns on investments. Finally it is not the production, nor the procurement, the security of the sensitivity of spatial information the impediment of public agencies to allow effective change and provide better services. The problem is to be found in the willingness of these agencies to “relax” on monopolies built in a time of steady government finances with little or no market competition. Understanding, that the realisation of geospatial infrastructures, delivery and access of geoinformation, derived products and services is part of a primary need, to catch-up with the future that is already here.

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 53 Geospatial Trends Geo-information in the Age of Instant Access

Apple iPhone has not yet been sive Media Corp. invented a dodecahe- launched in this country, iPhone infor- dron-shaped digital camera system ith the merging of mation via web-board and web sites, with eleven lenses, including, GPS and geo-spatial and and even, specialized iPhone service processing hardware, which can be information com- shops are already available. mounted on a Volkswagen Beetle. Wmunication technologies (ICT) into one, The latest technology for mobile There are now more than ten such users can access instantaneously, data phones is known as "Androidology". vehicles in service all over the USA. The for sophisticated processing and distribu- Android is a new operating system for innovative product from Immersive tion. For example, to enhance their mobile phone, free of charge, which Media is one of a core features of capacities, businesses in information has been developed from the open Google Maps. Now there are competi- services can now use geo-spatial informa- source . Google, the developer of tors, such as EveryScape tion and ICT, which formerly were only Android, claims that Android can per- (www.everyscape.com), MapJack used by geo-spatial specialists. This arti- form more efficiently than PC, with its (www.mapjack.com), for the USA and cle elaborates such phenomenon. various applications, such as spinning JietuSoft (www.city8.com, www.jietu- globe and the well-known, Google soft.com), who has developed the WIRELESS NETWORK AND Maps, and "StreetView". StreetView panoramic views of China as shown MOBILE PHONE USERS and its similar applications allow vir- here. Currently there is an increasing tual walking or driving through cities demand for mobile phones and wire- streets, including virtual entry to ON-LINE MAP SERVICES less gadgets, which are parts and buildings. AND STREET MAPS parcels of ICT. One of the most attrac- Map is useful in many ways and tive features of mobile phones, is PANORAMIC VIEW OF should help somehow cognitive devel- instant connection to 'always-on' high- STREETS AND PLACES opment. Therefore in some Western speed network e.g., General Packet In this digital camera era, we can cre- countries, maps are readily available to Radio Service (GPRS), (Enhanced Data ate panoramic view much easier than the publics. Thanks to Google and oth- GSM Environment (EDGE), and High ever. Taking contiguous pic- Speed DownLink Packet Access (HSP- tures and 'stitching' them DA). The major operating systems for seamlessly is a matter of using StreetView by Google Maps, USA mobiles are, Symbian, and "Microsoft CLICK. We can produce a Window Mobile", with more operating panoramic view with systems to follow. mosaics of overlapped pho- Since June 29, 2007 Apple has been tos, automatically, and then marketing its innovative mobile phone project them onto a spheri- with special features, "multi-touch", cal surface. intelligent web browsing, and integra- A series of panoramic tion of Google Maps, including virtual views can be lined up with- keyboard, Wi-Fi. Somehow Thailand in an on-line map for view- has caught the iPhone fever! Although ing. Years ago the Immer- Fig. 1 Illustration of two similar panoramic view applications

54 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 Fig. 2 Mash-up of OGC Web Service (OWS) and Google Maps map service

er internet-based map services, more grated seamlessly on top of interactive acquired NAVTEQ, one of the world and more countries in the World can virtual globe software packages, e.g. leading street map suppliers. TomTom, now access detailed street maps, Google Earths, Microsoft Virtual Earth, a leading maker of car navigation including high-resolution satellite ESRI ArcGlobe, Leica TITAN, NASA devices, has offered to buy shares from orthomaps. WorldWind, WorldWind JAVA SDK and TeleAtlas, who has access Asian road A new paradigm of GIS, called, "mash- OSSIM Planet. The latter three pack- datasets. Both NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas up" map services application, has ages are full-blown free and open have complete Thai street map aroused immense interest in the inter- source software (FOSS) and have high datasets, which are constantly being net community. Ordinary 'internauts' potential for further extension. updated. Microsoft has also acquired with some knowledge of JavaScript, The well-known Ordnance Survey, Multimap, a UK-based mapping com- but without having any prior experi- Great Britain's national mapping pany. ence with GIS or satellite orthomap, agency, has recently introduced "OS By 2011, ABI Research claimed, most could integrate this map service appli- OpenSpace", based on this paradigm. navigation systems will be far more cation into their homepages with a The OS OpenSpace is a free mash-up sophisticated with incorporation of 3-D few lines of JavaScript. Popular map service that allows users to embed OS and panoramic view displays (ABI services are, Yahoo! Maps, Google maps covering Britain in their web Research 2007). Maps, MapQuest, Multimap with glob- applications. The mash-up mapping At the Thai National Conference on al map coverage and some other serv- application is operated using, web Mapping and Geo-Informatics 2007 in ices with USA only map coverage. services model, JavaScript, JaSON, XML Bangkok, a paper, "Mash-up OGC and Mash-up map services can also be inte- and other geo-spatial exchange stan- Google Maps Services", was presented dards. by P. Santitamnont and C. Neng-com- Electronic street map and ma (2007). This paper describes how to using "StreetView-like" by JietuSoft, China point-of-interest (POI) are combine Open Geospatial Consortium major components for, in- Web Services (OWS) and Google Maps car navigator, and personal application interface (API), to enhance navigation device (PND). quality map services and contents, With the increased demand simultaneously. The authors explain for map services, there is how map services quality and contents more demand for street can be achieved. The former is by map and POI, stimulating applying, Google Maps API, multi-reso- more business competitive- lution tiling and caching of orthoim- ness, e.g. through business age, and the latter by instant overlay- acquisition. Nokia has now ing the user's own data (i.e. features

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 55 Numap street data Cascading Google Maps service

Fig. 3 Thai indigenous LongDo map service

and orthomaps), the moment the pro- national flag-pole at Chulalongkorn lite and air-borne digital imageries. gram is invoked using OWS. University can be, TG:KY5S-A2VLW or, Over a century the science and art of In Thailand Metamedia Technology TG:BCPY-CVKZ or, TG:DOM-IRC, with map-making from analogue aerial Co.,Ltd. has developed the indigenous an accuracy of 1-meter, 10-meter and photography has been steadily devel- on-line "LongDo Map" as map services 100-meter, respectively. The geocode oped. But a decade ago, the 1996 Annu- for local consumption. The LongDo "TG:DOM-IRC" is easy to remember and al Conference of the International Pho- Map services have two major sources key-in for geo-spatial identification of togrammetry and Remote Sensing of street data, one from a GIS consult- Chulalongkorn University (Santitam- (ISPRS) in Vienna seemed to mark the ing company, Numap Co.,Ltd., and the nont 2007). beginning of a digital photogrammet- other from cascaded Google Maps by Google map service also provides ric era, as acknowledged by the confer- mashing-up technique. LongDo Map Google Maps for Mobile (GMM). The ence papers of prevalent usage of the also has a J2ME version installable on latest released of GMM by the end of digital photogrammetry. mobile phone. 2007 is version 2, with a simple posi- Since the year 2000, air-borne digital Metamedia Technology has applied tioning system, "My Location". "My cameras of, "medium- and large-for- the Longdo Map with a traffic report- Location" can approximate the position mat" have been increasingly used in ing system. The traffic reporting sys- of a mobile phone, using information making orthomap. There is an estimate tem using LongDo map serves real- broadcasted from mobile towers. The of about 400 digital camera systems in time traffic information of Bangkok result of the initial experiment showed use, in the last 5 years, comparing with from the Thai Intelligent Transport position accuracy within the range of the estimated 800 analogue aerial System Forum (Thai ITS Forum). 500 meters and just a few kilometers. cameras used in the last century Another interesting feature of Long- The accuracy of "My Location" cannot, (Walker 2007). do Map is pop-up window of the Thai by any means, compare with that of a Nowadays earth imaging users can Geocoding (TG). handheld GPS, but at least it is costless Thai Geocoding is a spatial geocoding and can also track the user's position scheme developed by Chulalongkorn on the GMM. Similar to GMM, University. The anticipated geocoding Microsoft also provides Virtual Earth standard makes use of limited Thai "VE" for Mobile as solution. geographic extent and 32-based numeral encoding to achieve compre- ORTHOMAP AND hensive, flexible and compact geocod- PHOTOGRAMMETRY ing. The TG will show up immediately Orthomap is regarded as one of the when users right-click on the LongDo major sources for rapid GIS updating. map. For example, a geographic posi- There is a massive production of tion at 100º53'.202, 13º 73'.846 of the orthomaps using high-resolution satel- Fig. 4 Illustration of THEOS satellite

56 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 opt for air-borne photography or high- missioned to a French company for resolution satellite imaging, e.g., SPOT- design and construction, the satellite 5, IKONOS, QuickBird, WorldView-1, operation will be totally operated in The geo-spatial and more satellite systems being Thailand by the Thai engineers trained “information is developed. in France. 3-D rich and has Thailand has conducted most ambi- The THEOS imageries could be ideally tendency to tious and largest coverage mapping supplement the out-dated orthomaps, expand further, project in Thai history, led by the Min- scale 1:4,000, produced by the MOAC. creating a bright istry of Agriculture and Cooperative THEOS imagery can be geometrically consumer market (MoAC). More than 70,000 aerial pho- improved by taking information from tographs scale 1:25,000, were taken the more precise MOAC DEMs and mostly during the year 2001 to 2003. orthophotos, scale 1:4,000. All the photographs were systemati- In the U.S. the earth imaging technol- of mobile phone and wireless gadget” cally scanned at 15 micron resolution ogy, by using concepts of oblique pho- for instant and easy access to geo-spa- and photogrammetrically reproduced tography, has been recently developed. tial information services. to 0.5-meter resolution orthophotos Oblique photography is described in Diversity of mapping applications and 5-meter gridded Digital Elevation basic Photogrammetry textbooks but can now enable mobile devices to per- Model (DEM). The orthophoto project this concept has never been put into form as effectively and efficiently as was completed in 2007, and is now practice. Pictometry International desktop PC. The geo-spatial informa- ready for service. This project is sup- Corp. makes use of this technology and tion is 3-D rich and has tendency to posedly to be largest large-scale pho- patented it. Oblique images of cities expand further, creating a bright con- togrammetry mapping project in the are systematically collected and sumer market. region. processed. Users, therefore, can have Quality of on-line mapping applica- The on-going prestigious THai Earth visual information for easy under- tions on devices and web services will Observation System (THEOS) project standing of buildings, and their envi- be dramatically improved because of will be another source providing high- ronments, without having any photo mash-up techniques, together with resolution satellites imageries for map- interpretation skills. Pictometry should contents integration. ping. The THEOS satellite will be also be useful for urban safety, town There will be more suppliers of earth launched in beginning of 2008, accord- and country planning, including imaging for map updating processes, ing to the latest public announce- tourism. more alternative technologies, e.g. ment.THEOS system will orbit round Walker (2007) reported that more panoramic view, Pictometry, for the earth at the altitude of 822 kilome- than 70 air-crafts equipped with medi- enriching 3-D geo-spatial data and ters and can produce up to 2-meter res- um-format cameras were flying over ways of dissemination. Thailand olution imageries. major populated cities in the States for should learn and understand experi- Although the THEOS system is com- Pictometry International Corp. There ences from other countries, in order to has been acceptance of 'Pictometry' choose and integrate the most appro- technology, as for example, Microsoft priate technology and web services for integrates this technology into their Thailand. Countries should also learn Virtual Earth product, and "Ordnance from each other for spatial data shar- Survey has teamed up with BLOM ing and opportunity for system inter- Aerofilms Limited to become author- operability. ized resellers of Pictometry data of Great Britain" (News released on 28 Dr.-Ing. Phisan 40.5 meter Feb. 2006, OS). Santitamnont Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, CONCLUSION Chulalongkorn University, Patumwan, Bangkok, Thailand There has been constant development [email protected] Fig. 5 Measurement of Oblique Photo

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 57 Geospatial Trends

more information is exposed through the internet to allow them to see land parcel information, demographics, and Geospatial other data that assists economic devel- opment.

GEOSPATIAL DATA WAS Technology KEY IN MOVING MARKETS The location technology section saw increased market awareness in the area of data. The companies holding Takes Center the key the world's digital street cen- terline data moved markets. NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas stood to benefit from an Stage increased awareness of geospatial data. The result, NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas were acquired by Nokia and TomTom, respectively. Sales of person- al navigation devices (PND) soared ware on both existing platforms as with the likes of Garmin and TomTom well as application programming benefiting. As such, we came to under- interfaces (APIs) from Google, stand just how much geospatial tech- n 2007, the world awoke to Microsoft and others, but also on open nology was worth. Nokia's offer to buy geospatial technology. From dig- source technology. The result is an NAVTEQ was US$8.1 billion or nearly 14 ital navigation devices to busi- explosion of software, mashups, and times NAVTEQ's 2006 earnings of nessI intelligence dashboards (See figure web services as well as the adoption of US$581 million. NAVTEQ also acquired 1), the maps and location-based informa- new software development strategies Traffic.com earlier in 2007 for US$177 tion affected both enterprise solutions like service oriented architecture (SOA) million. Then, last July, TomTom and consumer electronics. and Agile, just to name a few. extended an offer of $2.5 billion to buy Tele Atlas, a 32% premium over the We see the technology being used STATE AND LOCAL GOV- stock price. everywhere: Managing telecommuni- ERNMENT MARKETING In March, Pitney Bowes acquired cations, mitigating terrorist threats, CONTINUES TO EXPAND MapInfo for $408 million, or approxi- and locating retail stores as well as In North America, the past year saw mately 2.5 times MapInfo's 2006 fiscal finding the most efficient routes for continued growth in the traditional revenues of $165.5 million. The acquisi- supply chain management, dynamic markets of local and state government. tion will eventually result in the inte- weather analysis for storm modeling The business of government is intrinsi- gration of MapInfo technology with and reacting to the consumer demand cally tied to geographic information. Group 1 Software, previously pur- to locally search for goods and services. Tax assessment, emergency response, chased by Pitney Bowes (PBI), which Mapping technology is ubiquitous: in environmental management, urban allows the company to stake its claim cars, on your mobile phone and on the planning, and economic development in the marketing services business. PBI web. And in 2008, that impact will be are but a few of the duties of govern- has the dominant brand in the postal felt even more. ment agencies that are increasingly metering business in North America Nearly forty years after some of the relying on geospatial technology to and while this is a shrinking market in first GIS solutions offered by ESRI and help them to become more effective the age of Internet communication, the Intergraph came to market we are see- and cost efficient. It is a natural associ- direct marketing business is expand- ing more companies developing soft- ation and the public is taking notice as ing. PBI's acquisition of MapInfo, its

58 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 largest purchase ever, will link MapIn- vide in visualizing information. Ask mobile personnel to alert them to fo's marketing analysis tools with any businessperson if they have seen changes in scheduling or other needs Group 1's address validation and data Google Earth and the answer is clear. to reallocate resources. This "enterprise cleansing technology to create a loca- This is leading to different questions mashup" is significant because it repre- tion-based solutions entity. Combine about how to expose customer infor- sents an example of how a visualiza- the "geo" side with PBI's existing mar- mation through mapping technology. tion tool like Google Maps and a select- keting groups like Imagitas and Digital This is benefiting not only the tradi- ed set of geospatially-enabled applica- Cement and PBI's strategy will create tional GIS companies but other, larger tions like Oracle Field Service have no strong linkages between predictive information technology firms as well inherent GIS solution as a component. analytics, target marketing, site selec- in the enterprise market. It is a self-contained application that tion, and lifestyle psychographics. The trickle-down affect to the enter- offers the user an industry solution prise market saw both Oracle and without GIS software, as we know it. COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY Microsoft stake an even greater posi- Oracle has many applications that TAKES NOTICE

These acquisitions had an impact on Fig. 1 Courtesy of Oracle the broader market. Private industry, previously slow to recognize the value of "location," is adapting to a new busi- tion with Oracle offering more integra- can leverage the Google Maps API as ness climate. Businesses are not only tion of their business intelligence well as its own MapViewer application pushed internally to look at how to applications with Oracle Spatial and and either may be offered to many of manage supply and demand but to Microsoft introducing the next version Oracle's existing users who need to understand the new language soft- of SQL Server with support for geospa- consume location-based information. ware solution providers are using - A tial data types. With a large percentage According to Oracle's Steve Garth, "Ora- location intelligent approach. Many of the North American market using cle Application Server MapViewer is a businesses are finding that they must either of these two relational databas- J2EE service for rendering maps using rely on location-based information, like es to store geospatial data, both are spatial data managed in Oracle Data- those in the real estate and transporta- poised to grow because of these new base by Oracle Spatial and/or Locator. tion industries. Some businesses have features and products. MapViewer provides services and tools succeeded quite well without location that hide the complexity of spatial data technology but that too is changing as The Google Affect queries and cartographic rendering, consumer products are exposing more The influence of Google cannot be while providing customizable options business people to what maps can pro- ignored and it is even affecting some of for more advanced users. MapViewer is the larger information technology designed to integrate with Location- companies. For example, Oracle Based services and applications, and announced that Google Maps for Enter- supports relevant Open Geospatial While ESRI remains a “ prise is currently available as a part of Consortium (OGC) standard specifica- key player in the GIS Oracle Field Service software. As with tions." All of this contributes to setting market and companies other field service applications, the up the following situation: Oracle sees like Caliper and Tactician maps are part of the solution that sup- demand from existing customers as continuing to offer desk- ports routing and scheduling of field well as internal product groups who top mapping software, the service technicians as they make their want to use mapping technology. Plus, North American market daily rounds to customers. "We're put- as Oracle makes huge advances in has seen others adapt to ting customers in the context of a search engine technology the result is geospatial plane," said Guy Waterman, a near perfect storm that could gener- a changing business Oracle's Senior Director for Product ate huge market awareness for spatial- atmosphere Management. Dispatchers who use the ly enabled applications at the enter- ” field service application can locate prise level.

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 59 services sets the stage for more servic- place, and is implementing that strate- es that involve location as the key gy. Perhaps it caught Google looking “The location technology business driver. From location-based the other way (at 700MHz spectrum?), section saw increased advertising to social networking, North and perhaps Garmin has a Plan B, but market awareness in America can expect to be hit with a Nokia knows where it is going and is in the area of data. The barrage of new services from which to a big hurry to get there first." choose. companies holding the The use of real-time traffic informa- SUMMARY key the world's digital tion is gaining traction among many The GIS market is certainly evolving. street centerline data travelers. Real-time traffic information There are relatively few companies moved markets. NAVTEQ supports the reduction in fuel costs that now focus entirely on providing and Tele Atlas stood to and helps to avoid traffic tie-ups due to mapping software and data. With the benefit from an increased sporting events, major accidents, or acquisition of MapInfo earlier in the awareness of geospatial simply the slow downs that may be year by Pitney Bowes, and the acquisi- data. predicted on a daily basis. But the pen- tion of Intergraph in 2006 both compa- etration of this service is very nies are sure to change their business low...only about 8% of vehicles have in- models and move more into industry vehicle systems and most don't have a specific services and solutions. While LOCATION-BASED ” way to accept real-time traffic. This is ESRI remains a key player in the GIS SERVICES TAKE-OFF IN rapidly changing. By the beginning of market and companies like Caliper and NORTH AMERICA 2008, thirty PND's will offer real-time Tactician continuing to offer desktop Market awareness of location-based traffic as a service. Companies like mapping software, the North Ameri- services (LBS) is driving a high adop- INRIX are using probe data to analyze can market has seen others adapt to a tion rate for applications on mobile traffic congestion and support local changing business atmosphere. Some devices in North America. Of the $118 and state government transportation consulting and service firms are offer- million in revenue that downloadable operation centers. In addition, having ing open source technology solutions mobile applications such as LBS, historical data collected throughout to clients that are looking only for a weather applications, chat/communi- the country will allow companies like selected set of features. And it is still ty, and personal organization tools INRIX to offer predictive traffic infor- unclear whether geospatial web serv- generated during Q2 2007, LBS repre- mation and wider market coverage. ices will offer customers a clear differ- sented 51 percent. Networks In Motion What's next? With the acquisitions of entiator to desktop solutions. (NIM), an LBS navigation publisher for NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas there will cer- As such, we are likely see a rapidly products including Verizon Wireless' tainly be more products that will shake evolving market for geospatial solu- VZ Navigator, secured a 27 percent up the market. Writing in Directions tions. We are approaching an intersec- share of carrier revenue from mobile Magazine, ABI Researcher Mike Ippoliti tion of three major ecosystems in GIS, applications and leads all mobile appli- says that, "Both deals to acquire key mobile location-based services, and cation publishers. Unlike buying an map data suppliers (TomTom-Tele enterprise information technology. "off-board" navigation system like a Atlas, and now Nokia-NAVTEQ), were This collision will spawn new markets Garmin or TomTom, "leasing" your arranged by European companies. This and solutions that will drive growth in navigation system from a carrier that is a clear indication of the more 2008. uses a solution from NIM or others advanced, and adventurous, state of compares quite favorably in cost. In European businesses and consumers addition, the smaller form factor for a regarding LBS. There are implications phone versus a wider screen naviga- for Handsets, GPS, Telematics, and for Joseph R. Francica Editor-in-chief & Vice Publisher, tion device provides some additional the entire LBS market…Nokia has been Directions Media convenience. thinking long and hard about a Loca- [email protected] This broad adoption of navigation tion-Based world, has a strategy in

60 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008

Crystal Ball

available UAVs. There was a UAV at 15deg oblique angle from the coastal Sensing in 2015! city. I requested for a special permis- sion to manoeuvre the UAV and the camera. While, I waited for the per- mission to be granted, Noni had Sitting in the National Disaster diately moved to the 19th floor, already downloaded the required Response cell, I received an update which has all the data receiving and data for the entire coastal region on my cellphone from the weather processing capabilities. For want of with the 'eye of the storm' at the department about a major hurri- time we had to get the processed centre of each of the scene. She pre- cane striking the SW coast within a data from the satellite. In other pared the map showing the path of couple of hours, which is within few times, we would have downloaded the hurricane and projected that the miles form the financial capital. the data and processed at our pro- hurricane may strike the coastal city cessing centre. We all logged on to within 115minutes. I had to prepare a evacuation plan three different terminals and Jermy for the coastal city. As if this was started looking at the ASWE637 data The message was relayed to all the not enough, the cellphone beeped and Noni looked at ZNTR-HR data. mobile service providers, ham radio again with another message about Jermy logged on to the satellite and operators and hobbyists with a an earthquake in the central part, accessed the available data. He request that the message be trans- close to the business hub. Both the found the data was available for the mitted to all the subscribers, with a disaster needed immediate atten- last three hours and could be used. caution not to panic, but to be pre- tion towards preparing the evacua- He ran the OBPR (Object Based Pat- pared. Beep, and the message in my tion plan for the coastal city and the tern Recognition) algorithm and the mobile was the confirmation of the recovery plan for the earthquake hit computer in the satellite processed permission granted to access the region. I logged on to my system the satellite image for the last three UAV and its data, as per my require- and looked for the possible satellites hours. The satellite identified the ment. I again logged onto the available above the two regions. I damaged physical infrastructure department of defence website and found ASWE637, a 0.2m resolution and prepared a new image and sent accessed the UAV though the satellite, available over the central a message that the required image received authorised login id and part and ZNTR-HR, recently is available for download. Before password. I manoeuvred the UAV downloading the vertically to the coastal city through processed image, Jermy the path of the hurricane and oper- ran the RNV module to ated only the Thermal IR camera, convert the identified LiDAR and the Z-band frequency of infrastructures to vector. SAR. By the time, the image was downloaded (at a This generated three different maps speed of 1Tbps), the vector not only for the coastal region but map of the destroyed also for the path of the hurricane. I assets were also prepared. tried to keep the sensors and camera Jermy used the GIS soft- of the UAV over the 'eye of the ware available with him storm' and kept monitoring its and overlaid the new map progress. A feed from the same with the archive map of monitoring screen was given to the the region. The house national TV broadcasting station, numbers and other data which helped the citizens, actually were extracted from the watch the progress of the hurricane. archived map and was When 35minuts were left for the integrated with the new hurricane to strike the coastal map. This gave an esti- region, we could see the hurricane launched meteorology cum remote mate of the extent of the damages getting weak and changing its sensing satellite available for the and the number of people affected. course due to the low pressure area coastal region, which can also pro- Using the recently acquired satellite in the Kings island, 500miles further vide 0.1m resolution satellite image, image and the updated vector map, SW of the coastal city. This gave us on demand. Both the satellites are Jermy was able to prepare the disas- some relief, however, the earth- new into the orbit and had demon- ter recovery plan for the region in quake hit region demanded our ear- strated their capabilities in the lab, 45minutes and was sent to the relief ly attention. I asked Noni to keep an but this would be their D-day, when commissioner and the mayor of the eye on the hurricane and hurried to people from my department would city for further action. Jermy for possible assistance. I use the images for their practical logged out of the UAV's manoeuvra- usage. While Jermy was assimilating the bility menu, not before putting it to I quickly called two of my best offi- data for the central region, Noni its original course and also deacti- cers, one was playing a game of was busy with the data of the vated my login id and password. squash and other was in a meeting coastal region. Meanwhile, I logged with his client. Luckily, both of them into the department of defence spe- Dr. Satyaprakash were in the 20 floor building, which cial service (disaster cell has a [email protected] houses this response cell. We imme- authorised login) and looked for the

62 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008

Tech Horizon

gons. Both data types provide proper- ties and methods that can be used to Katmai perform spatial operations such as cal- culating distances between locations and finding geographical features that New kid on the block intersect one another. The geography data type operates on a geodetic model like WGS84 and is useful when dealing SQL databases provide a much more with geographic coordinates. The elegant solution to such problems. geometry data type conforms to the eography is being rede- Solutions can be found easily by the OGS simple feature model and is used fined by technology. field operators themselves without for data which is referenced to a map Geography is also becom- having to call upon the services of projection with locally assigned coordi- Ging ubiquitous. An address is not just a piece experts. However, SQL databases were nates. There does seem to be a bit of of text; it is a set of directions, a picture, and not meant to be used with graphical confusion here because this geometry a location on a satellite image. data. How do you define a road? You is nothing but projected geography. may say that it is an array of x and y There is some discussion on the need The spatial context is now central to values but then so is a polygon repre- for two separate data types. any information system. For example, a senting a park. How does the database Operations like the proximity analy- telephone user has a number which is differentiate a park from a road? Clear- sis in our example above can be easily also uniquely associated with an ly there is a need to define data types done through a few SQL statements. address. If the line develops a fault it for such entities. The Open Geospatial The size of the CLR types has been has to be localised within a route of Consortium, OGC has defined a stan- enhanced to be able to handle large cables, junction boxes and distribution dard for Simple Feature Specification polygons. An adaptive multilevel grid boxes. All these have a spatial context. for SQL and there are implementations indexing system is included which The fault could be due to a repair crew, of graphics representation in SQL data- helps in faster retrieval of data. A ques- trying to locate a leaking water pipe, bases like Oracle. tion which will arise in a developers snapping a cable unknowingly. We see Katmai is the code name for Microsoft mind is how to integrate existing data. in this example a need to have a spatial SQL Server 2008. Katmai Spatial offers Katmai supports GML and Well Known database of the telephone cabling sys- several new data types specific to spa- Text and Well Known Binary types as tem and the water supply system and a tial data. SQL Server 2008 provides the specified by OGC. More than 70 func- need for the two independent authori- geography data type for geodetic spa- tions and methods will be available for ties to be able to share their data. tial data, and the With a conventional GIS using graph- geometry data ic elements and a relational database type for planar spa- the maintenance crew would have to tial data. Both are locate the address from the relational implemented as database to its location on the road lay- Microsoft .NET “Solutions can be er, identify the cable routing, call up the Framework Com- found easily by the water authority database to see where mon Language repair works are scheduled, locate these Runtime (CLR) field operators on the pipeline layer and then do an types, and can be themselves without overlaying, buffering and proximity used to store differ- analysis. We would not see thing hap- ent kinds of geo- having to call upon the pening so easily and then too it would graphical elements services of experts. need the services of the GIS division to such as points, understand how to set up the analysis. lines, and poly- ” 64 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 manipulating the data. These mainly conform to the OGC specifications but Magitti: The Intelligent Mobile Platform there are additional features. However, Microsoft feels that channel partners PARC (Palo Alto Research Center, Inc), was founded in 1970, and is well known for could add more functionalities as the inventions like laser printing, Ethernet, object-oriented programming, ubiquitous demand arises. Existing users of ESRI computing etc. Last September, PARC announced the creation of mobile applica- products will be pleased to know tion platform, Magitti. The software codename Magitti, comes from two early design concepts: 'Magic Scope' and 'Graffiti that they are working closely System'. with Microsoft and plans to support the new spatial Magitti, the leisure city guide system will be sold by Recommendation Server Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), Japan. type as a standard part Infer the Select the most appropriate of ArcGIS clients via activities Information DNP has working closely with PARC since 2005 on this project. Using contextual information such as direct connect and Contextual information (location, time) Information such as time of the day or positional information obtained retail outlets, events, etc. ArcGIS Server via the via a GPS in the mobile phone, this system would Preference ArcSDE gateway. It is information use the Artificial Intelligence (AI) based algorithm Recommendation to forecast or recommend options to the users laid not clear if ultimately Mobile terminal out across to him as text options or overlayed on the system will provide Local Area map of the locality. Consumer a complete standalone topologically ordered spatial Magitti is designed to assist in getting "location based Magitti System Overview information". It will also suggest activities based upon the model or will still depend on a local area data, like shopping, dining, banking etc matching GIS to provide this functionality. the consumer's location, his behaviour pattern and time of day. The most obvious question that arises What differentiates this with other GPS enabled mobile applications, is the Artifi- cial Intelligence. in our minds is why it took so many years for Microsoft to come out with The will mature with the use or in other words, as one uses such a product. Microsoft has experi- this tool, the data base of preferences and habit based upon the time and location would start getting populated. Hence over a period of time, it would be able to ence with spatial data through Ter- predict the user behaviour. It will not only use the location raServer, MapPoint and Virtual Earth. based services for this, but the text in the SMS and text However, it is only now that they have from the voice communication too would be used to analyse an individuals taste. It will be sitting little close to decided that the technology is more the fence dividing the personal privacy and exciting utility. than just 'interesting' and needs to be But considering that most of the data would be analysed in the handset, it may give little comfort to the privacy transformed to a product. The other big freaks. According to those from the media present during question is price. The market will look the demonstration last September at PARC, the interface is for a product with a good price/per- similar to the iPhone but the overall user interface (UI) is not as cool. On the positive side you can operate this device formance ratio, given the fact that there using one hand only. But one will have to wait and see are priced and open source products how the device interprets the language. For a word can already available in the market for the have different meaning in different context. Also in per- sonal communication one tends to have a relaxed last five years or so. All in all Katmai has approach in terms of abbreviations, three letter codes raised a lot of hopes as well as a lot of (TLCs) etc. Magitti User Interface questions. Whatever it may be the Although technical specifications about Magitti geospatial world is looking forward to has not been released, but with the mobile phones becoming seeing the product in its final form. A lot increasingly powerful with sensors, entertainment tools, accelerom- of interest has been generated and eter, GPS etc. perhaps the AI would make more sense in shorter time span opening a new domain of powerful personal assistant with developers will soon have a new tool to intelligence. examine and incorporate in their resource kit. The trials are expected to take place early this year and commercial Magitti sales would start in 2009 in Japan, thereafter followed by US. A. R. Dasgupta [email protected] Maneesh Prasad, [email protected]

JANUARY 2008 GIS DEVELOPMENT 65 Planner

www.intergeo-east.com 16 - 18 April Remote Sensing - 19 - 21 February The Synergy of High Technologies Munich Satellite Navigation Moscow, Russia Summit 2008 www.sovzondconference.ru/eng Munich, Germany www.munich-satellite-navigation-summit.org July 2008 19 - 20 February 1 - 4 July 2008 Indiana GIS Conference Geoinformatics Forum Salzburg Indianapolis, USA (GI_Forum2008) www.in.gov/igic/conference/index.html Salzburg, Austria, Europe, Salzburg 21 - 22 February www.gi-forum.org International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2008 Denver, USA 21 - 25 July January 2008 www.lidarmap.org GeoWeb 2008 Vancouver , B.C., Canada 14 - 15 January 25 - 28 February www.geoweb.org HealthGIS 2008 12th Annual GIS / CAMA Technologies Bangkok, Thailand Conference August 2008 www.e-geoinfo.net/hgis.html New Orleans, USA 4 - 8 August www.urisa.org/gis_cama 17 - 18 January 6th International Conference on Case ESRI Asia Pacific User Conference 25 - 29 February Histories in Geotechncial Engineering Tokyo, Japan GSDI 10 Washington , D.C., USA www.gis.esri.com/intldist/intlevents_ex.cfm Trinidad and Tobago www.6icchge2008.org www.gsdi.org/gsdi10/index.htm 21 - 24 January 5 - 7 August DGI Europe 2008 GEOBIA, 2008 London, UK March 2008 Calgary , Alberta, Canada www.wbr.co.uk/dgieurope/index.html 9 - 12 March www.ucalgary.ca/geobia 21 - 24 January GITA’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions 19 - 21 August Second International Conference on Conference Map Asia 2008 Cartography & GIS Washington, USA Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sofia, Bulgaria www.gita.org/events/annual/31/index.asp www.mapasia.org www.datamap-bg.com/conference2008 11 - 14 March 25 - 26 August 27 - 30 January MicroRad 2008 Map Africa 2008 GIS Ostrava 2008 Florence, Italy Cape Town, South Africa Ostrava, Czech Republic www.microrad2008.org/index.asp www.mapafrica.gisdevelopment.net www.gis2008.com 17 - 20 March TUgis 2008 September 2008 Maryland, USA February 2008 8 - 11 September www.tugis.towson.edu 6 - 8 February Tenth International Symposium Map India 2008 April 2008 on High Mountain Remote Sensing Greater Noida, India Cartography 5 - 8 April Kathmandu, Nepal www.mapindia.org Spatial Analysis for Business 2008 www.icimod-gis.net/news/showDetail.php?id=193 7 - 8 February Redlands, CA USA www.spatialconference.org Location India 2008 October 2008 Greater Noida, India 8 - 10 April 29 - 3 October www.location.net.in/india Map Middle East 2008 FOSS4G 2008 Dubai, UAE 16 - 17 February Cape Town , South Africa www.mapmiddleeast.org Digital India 2008 www.foss4g2008.org Hyderabad, India 15 - 19 April 30 - 2 October www.gisindia.in Association of American Geographers INTERGEO Annual Meet 18 - 20 February Bremen, Germany Massachusetts, USA INTERGEO EAST 2008 www.intergeo.de www.aag.org/annualmeetings Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

66 GIS DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2008 Photogrammetrically DERIVE STEREO PAIRS, TERRAIN and ORTHOS, then EXTRACT features in 3D.

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to maximize your workflow. ERDAS IMAGINE® Build and publish your 3D-rendered scene from LPS Automatic Terrain Extraction the barest of resources: raw imagery and ground control points. Use our seamlessly-integrated LPS Stereo Leica Photogrammetry Suite to create stereo LPS Terrain Editor pairs, extract terrain and create orthorectified imagery. Take these same stereo pairs into IMAGINE Enterprise Loader™ Stereo Analyst for IMAGINE and extract realistic 3D architecture features. Add depth IMAGINE Enterprise Editor™ to your 3D models by texturizing from the scene imagery or from detail-rich libraries. Combine all these geographic products together in Leica Virtual Explorer Architect Stereo Analyst® for ArcGIS and construct your highly-realistic, geographically-accurate 3D reality. Finally, use IMAGINE AutoSync™ Leica Virtual Explorer Server to efficiently stream rich 3D environments and let your clients navigate. IMAGINE Easytrace™

Leica Virtual Explorer Architect From preparation of source material to final product generation, maximize your workflow with tools from Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging. Call us at +1 877 463 7327 or Leica Virtual Explorer Server +1 770 776 3400 or send an e-mail to [email protected]

Copyright © 2007 Leica Geosystems. All rights reserved. ERDAS IMAGINE is a registered trademark and exclusive property; Stereo Analyst is a registered mark. IMAGINE Enterprise Loader, IMAGINE Enterprise Editor, IMAGINE Easytrace and IMAGINE AutoSync are trademarks. Geospatial Imaging Chain is a trademark, service mark and property of Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging, LLC. 4th Annual Middle East Conference and Exhibition on Geospatial Information, Technology and Applications

8 - 10 April 2008, Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Dubai, UAE

PLENARY SPEAKERS THEME Geospatial Leadership: Technology Trends and Best Practices Prof. D. R. F. Taylor Eng. Mohammed Al Zaffin Dean P. Angelides Prof. Harlan J. Onsrud Distinguished Research Professor Director GIS Centre Manager International Sales Executive Director Carleton University Dubai Municipality and Operations GSDI Canada UAE ESRI USA USA PLENARY SESSIONS Technology Policy Best Practices WORKSHOP David Schell Cindi Salas Michael E. Shaw Dr. Marc Tremblay Chief Executive Officer Manager GIS Director Vice President and Space Law for Decision Makers Open Geospatial Consortium CenterPoint Energy PNT General Manager - Commercial Business Unit USA USA USA Digital Globe USA REGIONAL SESSIONS Spatial Data Infrastructure Municipal GIS

POSTER SESSION Stig Enemark Dr. Michael Gurber Prof. Michael Blakemore Dr. Derek G. Clarke Submit abstract for poster session President Chief Scientist Photogrammetry Emeritus Professor of GeographyChief Director Surveys & Mapping FIG Microsoft Photogrammetry University of Durham Department of Land Affairs before February 16 2008 Denmark Austria UK South Africa PRE-CONFERENCE TRAINING Spatial Data Infrastructure for Emerging Business Models GIS for E-Governance

K R Sridhara Murthi Dr. Kunal Dutta Roy Executive Director Vice President (Oil & Gas) Antrix Corporation Scicom Technologies India USA EXHIBITION More than 2500 sq. mtr space of exhibition will provide a platform to the Geospatial Industry to showcase the innovative applications and advancements in the field and a strong networking opportunity for business development. For details please visit: http://www.mapmiddleeast.org/2008/exhibition/whyexhibit.htm

Platinum Sponsors Co - Organiser Organiser

Gold Sponsors Silver Sponsor

® s

Government Sponsors

Ajman Municipality Land Department Military Survey Department Space Reconnaissance Centre Emirate of Abu Dhabi UAE Government of Dubai, UAE UAE UAE Department of Municipal Affairs Al Ain Municipality

Knowledge Partners Co-Sponsor Media Partners

United Arab Emirates University

Contact: Map Middle East 2008 Secretariat GIS Development Branch Building 4A 505, Dubai Airport Free Zone, P O Box 54664, Dubai, UAE Mobile: + 971 50 6400768 / 6400769 Email: [email protected] www.MapMiddleEast.org