New Zealand Ranks 4th in Global Open Data - Report

Monday, 11 November 2013, 3:00 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Government

Hon Bill English
Minister of Finance

Hon Chris Tremain
Minister for Internal Affairs

Hon Maurice Williamson
Minister for Land Information

11 November 2013

NZ ranked 4th in Global Open Data

New Zealand has been ranked 4th in the 2013 Global Open Data Barometer, released in London by the World Wide Web Foundation and Open Data Institute.

“This is a real coup for New Zealand. The Barometer is the first survey of global trends which ranks 77 countries on how they release their public data and the benefits those initiatives have for citizens and the economy,” says Mr English.

“This is proof we are lifting the performance of the public sector through transparency and shared information. New Zealand was commended for its Declaration on Open and Transparent Government, its release of open data, in particular, maps, land ownership and census data and for regular reporting to Ministers.”

“The open government data work aligns with the Government’s better public service targets that New Zealand businesses have a one-stop online shop for all government support and can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment,” says Mr Tremain.

“The Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) is leading this work through the ICT Strategy and Action Plan which was launched in June last year.”

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is a lead agency in terms of making public data available for reuse, innovation and enterprise.

“A great example of this is the internationally-acclaimed LINZ Data Service (LDS), which has set the benchmark for the release of public data and is a testament to the value of the Government’s open data programme and geospatial strategy,” says Mr Williamson.

“The Government is committed to meeting the changing needs of New Zealanders through digital technologies. However this does not mean all data is open and freely available. The key focus will remain on maintaining privacy and security for restricted information.”

For further information go to: http://www.opendataresearch.org/dl/odb2013/Open-Data-Barometer-2013-Global-Report.pdf

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Europe and Asia to Drive Market Growth in Unmanned Aerial Systems Market in the Next Ten Years

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones have repeatedly proved their worth in recent conflicts. Drones have certain inherent advantages over manned platforms, motivating the interest of military forces and driving the market for military drones. Despite projections for a substantial increase in spending on UAVs, reduced military expenditure by the United States is causing uncertainty among industry stakeholders.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.aerospace.frost.com/), Military Unmanned Aerial Systems Market Assessment, finds that total market revenue is likely to be $ 61.37 billion across the forecast period 2011-2020. It is estimated that the global military unmanned aerial systems (UAS) market generated $ 4.55 billion in revenues in 2010, a figure that is set to rise to $ 7.31 billion in 2020.

“The United States will reduce its spending on UAS as it is adequately equipped to meet its needs,” notes Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Mahendran Arjunraja. “Although the country has plans to increase its inventory by more than 35 per cent over the next ten years, market revenues are expected to decline at least till 2020; the U.S. military UAS space is undergoing a transition from procurements to sustainment with most future procurements likely to be limited to upgrades.”

At the same time, Europe is facing intense competition in the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV segment, as more domestic companies are collaborating to develop indigenous equipment. Existing high altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAVs are too expensive for many nations, even while MALE equipment has limited capability. Hence, an opportunity exists for equipment with capabilities between MALE and HALE.

As the operations in Afghanistan are expected to reach an end soon, governments are unlikely to show keen interest in renewing lease agreements. This will have an immediate impact on UAV leasing companies. However, this restraint is set to become a driver in the long-term, as cash-strapped countries would be able to allocate resources for equipment procurement.

“Reduction in spending by the United States is expected to slow down the UAS market,” cautions Arjunraja. “Fortuitously for market participants, this slowdown will be partly off-set by the growth in the European and Asian markets.”

The military UAV market in Europe and Asia will witness significant growth in the next ten years. This is the opportune time for UAV manufacturers and suppliers, therefore, to explore opportunities in these emerging markets.

If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an e-mail with your contact details to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at joanna.lewandowska@frost.com.

Military Unmanned Aerial Systems Market Assessment is part of the Defence Growth Partnership Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets: United Kingdom Civil Security Market - Revenue Opportunities & Stakeholder Mapping, and Revenue Opportunities and Stakeholder Mapping in the French Land Defence Market. All research included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.
SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

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Report: Global GPS Market worth $26.67 Billion by 2016

According to a new market research report “Global GPS Market: Products (Marine, Aviation, Automotive, Outdoor/fitness & GPS Enabled Smart Phones), Applications (Navigation, Machine Control, & Logistics Tracking) & Geography (2011 - 2016)”, published by MarketsandMarkets, the total GPS market is expected to reach $26.67 billion by 2016 at a CAGR of 23.7% from 2011 to 2016.

Browse 33 tables and in-depth TOC on Global GPS Market (2011 - 2016). Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports.

GPS is an engine of economic growth and jobs, and has generated billions of dollars of economic activity. GPS application market is diversified into large number of segments. Even the automotive devices are heading towards maturity in North America and Europe; but it has a large scope in the APAC region; of which China and India will be taking the lead in the near future. The emerging markets like African and Arab countries will also seek the positive growth.

GPS helps in determination of position in three dimensions, timing, and velocity using precise radio navigation signals. In addition to creating efficiencies and reducing operating costs, the adoption of GPS technology has improved safety, emergency response times, and environmental quality, and delivered many other less-readily quantifiable benefits. The market for GPS is already a multi-billion dollar industry; future potential is significant.

Governments around the world are in the process of setting up the more satellites and integrate them with each other technologies, which in result are going to help in solving the problem of errors caused during the transfer of signals with any means like air, water, or any physical object. This will help the companies to grasp the untapped market and increase their productivity. The new line of products such as Tablets, GPS enabled smartphone, fitness devices will be a major driving factor in the growing regions.

Including hardware, software is also one of the major growing markets of GPS. Some of the technology such as augmented reality, touch less gestures, voice enable commands has increased the scope of the overall GPS market. Increased used of telematics in the automotive sector has also increased the scope of GPS software market.

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is a global market research and consulting company based in the U.S. We publish strategically analyzed market research reports and serve as a business intelligence partner to Fortune 500 companies across the world.

MarketsandMarkets also provides multi-client reports, company profiles, databases, and custom research services. They cover thirteen industry verticals, including advanced materials, automotives and transportation, banking and financial services, biotechnology, chemicals, consumer goods, energy and power, food and beverages, industrial automation, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor and electronics, and telecommunications and IT.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. To know more about us and our reports, please visit our website www.marketsandmarkets.com

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Report: Satellites to be Built & Launched by 2020, World Market Survey

Euroconsult, the leading international research and analyst firm specializing in the satellite and space sectors, forecast today that an estimated 1,145 satellites will be built for launch during the next ten years (2011-2020), 51% more satellites than the previous decade2. These projections come from Euroconsult’s just-released “Satellites to be Built & Launched by 2020, World Market Survey.” According to the report, now in its 14th edition, revenues from the manufacture and launch of these 1,145 satellites will be worth $196 billion worldwide, of which 70% can be attributed to government demand.

“Governments continue to dominate the space market, as satellite systems are critical infrastructure for communications and geo-information solutions for civilian and military users” said Rachel Villain, Director for Space for Euroconsult and editor of the report. “The government market is worth more than double the commercial market, but is largely closed to non-domestic manufacturers. However export opportunities for manufacturers exist with governments in countries with no space industry.”

Government agencies from 50 countries will launch a total of 777 satellites in the decade ahead, though more than 80% of these satellites will come from the six major space powers ( i.e. the United States, Russia, the European countries, Japan, China, and India). Accounting for this 80% is the fact that established space countries are replacing systems that have already been operational, in addition to launching new satellites, whereas newcomers are only building and launching new systems, as they are not yet at the stage of replacing existing satellites.

Over two-thirds of the government satellites to be built for launch in the coming decade are for civilian and dual-use; dedicated military satellites remain concentrated in a limited number of countries (the US, Europe, Russia, China, Japan and Israel). Defense and security agencies generally favor proprietary systems for secure communications and imagery intelligence, but budget constraints for defense spending are leading to more public-private partnerships (PPP) and government payloads hosted on commercial satellites. An even more limited number of countries will launch space surveillance and missile defense satellite systems to be used in combination with ground networks.

Civilian government agencies are expected to procure more satellites for operational missions in Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, and communications. In most countries, communications satellites (comsat) are now primarily acquired by private companies for commercial services, but several governments continue to fund comsat technology development domestically to ensure they have cost-effective systems when needed. As more national and multilateral agencies require imagery for a variety of purposes, Euroconsult expects over 200 government Earth observation satellites to be built for launch over the decade, making it the largest civilian government satellite application. The Euroconsult report also indicates that governments will develop more missions for space science and exploration (up 30% over the previous decade), with missions varying widely in terms of complexity and cost.

In the commercial space business there are approximately 50 companies operating communications and broadcast satellites in geostationary orbit, and an additional ten companies operating satellites in lower altitude orbits for communications and Earth observation services. This market is driven primarily by established operators’ investment cycles for replacing in-orbit capacity (representing 70% of orders in the past), and to a lesser degree by new systems for newer commercial companies and governments.

Euroconsult forecasts 203 commercial communications satellites with a market value of $50 billion will be launched into the GEO arc over the next ten years. Some of these satellites were recorded in satellite manufacturers’ order books during the flurry of ordering activity over the past five years.

Commercial satellite services outside the geostationary orbit will get a boost over the next decade with a total of 165 satellites to be built and launched into medium and low Earth orbits (MEO and LEO). Three quarters will be communications satellites to replace the first LEO generation satellites (operated by Iridium, Globalstar and Orbcomm) and for O3b’s first- generation system, which will be the first commercial constellation launched into MEO. In addition, about 40 satellites will be launched into LEO for commercial optical and radar imagery (e.g. Astrium Services, GeoEye). According to Euroconsult, the market value for manufacturing and launch of these 165 satellites will be one fifth the figure for GEO comsat satellites. This is largely because they are smaller and launched at lower altitudes.

For more information visit: www.euroconsult-ec.com.

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GIS Market in Asia Pacific to Increase

According to a report posted by Research and Markets, the Geographic Information System (GIS market in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14 percent.

TechNavio’s analysts forecast the Geographic Information System (GIS) market in the APAC region to grow at a CAGR of 14 percent over the period of 2010–2014. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing adoption of GIS by the Government and Public sectors in developing countries. The GIS market in the APAC region has also been witnessing increased utilization of GIS for transportation management. However, barriers faced by vendors in the integration of GIS and cloud technologies could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

Key vendors dominating this market space include ESRI, GE Energy, Autodesk, Cadcorp, and IBM.

TechNavio’s Geographic Information System in APAC 2010–2014 report has been prepared based on an in-depth analysis of the market with inputs from industry experts. The report focuses on the APAC region and covers the scope and growth of the GIS market, including the Software and Services segment of the GIS market in the APAC region.

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Mississippi's Guide to Geospatial Technology, publication released

The University of Mississippi's Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS) announced the release of "Mississippi's Guide to Geospatial Technology" a magazine-style publication about geospatial technology.

The guide provides information about how geospatial technology offers everyday solutions for everyday business areas including homeland security, real estate, agriculture, utilities, natural resource management, recreation, transportation, and public health among others.

The Guide was a special collaboration with the Mississippi Business Journal and was featured as a special supplement.

Some of the topic areas covered in the publication includes utilities, media, insurance, natural resource management, real estate, and recreation.

The goal of the publication is to educate potential customers about the innovative and cost effective solutions geospatial technologies can provide to industry and government. This includes decision makers in a variety of private businesses as well as economic development organizations, and all levels of government, but cities and counties in particular.

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2009 Geospatial Technology Report is now available

The Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) announced the publication of the 2009 Geospatial Technology Report. This 144-page report contains detailed information on the complexity, direction, and completeness of geographic information system (GIS) projects being implemented at 515 organizations—a 9% increase in participation from the 2008 edition.

The 2009 Geospatial Technology Report addresses GIS projects in six infrastructure vertical markets: electric, gas, water, pipeline, and telecommunication utilities, as well as the public sector. Information in each industry section focuses on land base accuracy, sophistication, maintenance cycles, application usage, and interfaces, as well as the top 10 applications and technologies.

"In many ways, we see this Report as the answer to a call for help for our infrastructure. These are real application examples from electric utilities, communications companies, public sector agencies – just to name a few – that are putting geospatial technologies to work to help own, operate, maintain and protect the infrastructure," said Robert M. Samborski, GITA executive director.

Provided free of charge to users who completed surveys that provided the data, the report is available for $299 for GITA individual members and $449 for nonmembers.

Copies of the report may be ordered online at GITA's Web site, www.gita.org/bookstore, or by contacting GITA headquarters at 303-337-0513 or info@gita.org. For information on participating in the surveys for the 2009 report, contact Kathryn Hail at 303-337-0513 or khail@gita.org.

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Map of North Korea prison camps

American TV journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee are kept in one of North Korea's prison camps. North Korea sentenced the two Americans to 12 years of hard labor.

The map was published by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea via CNN's Anderson Cooper’s blog. The document shows satellite images of the camps.

I posted below a research work by David Hawk, U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea entitled "The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps Prisoners’ Testimonies and Satellite Photographs."

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Report: World GPS Market Forecast to 2013

RNCOS, a market research and information analysis company has recently added a new Market Research Report titled, "World GPS Market Forecast to 2013" to its report gallery. Growing usage of GPS in automotive and consumer applications is propelling the mobile location technologies market, which is forecast to grow at a CAGR of more than 20% to cross US$ 75 Billion by 2013, says the new report.

The technology is fast gaining acceptance worldwide with rising penetration in previously untapped areas. Thus, the number of GPS-enabled LBS subscribers is expected to take a big leap in coming years with market revenue reaching around US$ 9.8 Billion in 2013. The positive outlook for the industry is accredited to the rapid development and enhancements in digital mapping software.

Although standalone products are quite popular, the most common applications are built around Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) and mobile phones. As of 2007, PNDs dominated the GPS device market with more than 90% market share. However, this share is expected to get disturbed by the availability of GPS-enabled handsets that will account for around 70% of the market share by 2013. The report says that the shipments of GPS devices will grow at a CAGR of more than 24% in the forecast period but cost will play a critical role in this projected growth.

The report also says that 2009 will be crucial for the overall development of GPS industry in regions such as North America and Europe owing to the current economic market turmoil. Emerging countries like India and China will continue to see rapid growth in the adoption of GPS technology with the launch of low cost GPS-enabled mobile handsets in these countries.

“World GPS Market Forecast to 2013” provides a comprehensive review of the GPS market across the world. The report thoroughly evaluates the current industry trends and developments vital for the success of GPS industry. Analysis is presented for major geographic markets such as the US, Canada, Japan and other Asian countries.

The report gives a detailed analysis of end-user applications, including In-vehicle Navigation, Survey/Mapping, Machine Control and others. It also says that opportunities remain untapped for various vertical segments of GPS market, which include new advanced access devices, chipset availability and PND market. [via]

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SDSU: GIS CE Triennial Report 2006-2008

The Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence (GIScCE) of the South Dakota State University (SDSU) recently released its GIScCE Triennial Report 2006-2008. According to the triennial report editor, Prof. David Roy, the report summarizes the last 3 years (2006-2008) of the Center's activity. The intent of the report is to advertise the GIScCE achievements to the wider academic community, attract new students and post-doctoral researchers, and to provide a baseline to measure our future progress.

A preview of the report is shown below.


The report can be downloaded from the globalmonitoring.sdstate.edu website: Mid-resolution (29.4 MB) and Low-resolution (9.0 MB). Note: Neither one of these versions is suitable for printing.

Hard copies will soon be available for public release.

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