Jerry Landis, Aerial Photographer Pioneer

Jerry Landis began flying and taking pictures from planes in the mid-1950s. He started his first aerial photography business in 1958 and grew Landis Aerial Surveys to a national company before selling it in 1989. But, Jerry went on to start two more aerial photography companies, AirPhotoUSA and Aerials Express.

Jerry passed away on October 8th, 2007 after a courageous battle with brain cancer. His enthusiasm for life, and the aerial photography business, is carried on by his son Bill Landis at their company Aerials Express - which provides aerial photography throughout the US. Read more about Jerry Landis' life at Arizona Central.

Source : http://www.gearthblog.com/

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Automate field service operations with Tensing Field Vision

Tensing announced today that Heras, a subsidiary of CRH plc and a leader in the manufacture and installation of fence structures, has successfully implemented Tensing Field Vision to automate and streamline their field service operations. Tensing Field Vision is a field service management solution specifically designed to optimize the management of field staff for higher quality service delivery and improved field technician productivity.

Heras’ service division employs a mobile workforce to maintain, repair, and replace existing fencing systems.

Tensing Field Vision replaces the manual system of service delivery at Heras. The application is integrated with back office systems for seamless workflow between office and field. The field component of Tensing Field Vision is integrated with TomTom for optimized routing and navigation.

Field technicians use rugged Symbol MC70 PDAs to send and receive service orders, obtain relevant customer information and needed job materials, and report status as well as navigate to job sites through wireless communication networks. Upon completion of the job, information on materials usage, time sheets and invoices are automatically reconciled with the back office. Additionally the customer instantly receives an e-mailed summary of completed work.

“With Tensing Field Vision we are able to streamline our service process and achieve efficiencies in our operations. The organization, as a whole, benefits from the implementation,” said Michiel Nuyten, Service Manager at Heras. “Our customer service has improved greatly with the resource optimization that Tensing Field Vision provides. Repair time windows are shortened and we can communicate to our customers the immediate status of their repair or maintenance. Our accounting department is able to invoice sooner and the materials department is able to manage materials stock more efficiently.”

Tensing Field Vision is an end-on-end solution that connects the mobile workforce with back-office systems via state-of-the-art wireless communications and mobile PDA’s, laptops and pen computers. Tensing Field Vision supports any mobile process, any back-office system and any device to optimize dynamic business processes. Organizations that employ remote/mobile workers can improve the management and exchange of business critical information with their mobile work force, in any mobile process.

Visit: www.tensing.com.

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Japanese Waters Warming Faster Than World Average

The temperature of waters around Japan has risen at a much faster rate than the rest of the world's oceans in the past century, partly because of global warming, according to an official report. Average sea temperatures in areas around Japan rose by 0.7-1.6 degress Celsius between 1900 and 2006, a higher rate than the world average of 0.5 degrees Celsius, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

This compared with an average rise of 1.1 degrees Celsius in the temperature on the ground in Japan in the past century, the governmental agency said in its report this week.

The warmer ocean was expected to impact fish resources and the ecosystem including colonies of corals, said Yasushi Takatsuki, a marine meteorology specialist at the agency.

"It cannot be totally attributed to global warming. There are factors such as natural changes in the ocean environment. We want to check how much global warming accounts for the sea temperature rise," he said.

The findings were based on an analysis of temperatures recorded by ships, mostly merchant vessels, the report said.

A rise of 1.6 degrees Celsius was posted in the Sea of Japan, which Koreans call the East Sea, due largely to warming air over the Eurasian continent.

The UN's top scientific panel said at a meeting earlier this month that early, deep cuts in global greenhouse emissions could avert long-term climate change.

Japan was host of the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark treaty that requires cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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Carbon Project adds OGC filter to CarbonTools PRO

Virginia, USA, 11 April 2007: The Carbon Project announces full support for the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Filter Encoding Specification (FE) in CarbonTools PRO. The addition will allow Microsoft Windows-based systems to access an array of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) content for real-time updates, decision support, analysis and other mission critical applications.

"The Filter framework in CarbonTools PRO will let developers quickly add complex spatial, logical and comparison queries to their applications, using a language that's in the 'comfort zone' of mainstream programmers rather than GIS professionals," said Nuke Goldstein, CTO of The Carbon Project.

“As the editor of the OGC Filter Encoding Specification, CubeWerx is pleased to see the Carbon Project implementation. This implementation leads a growing movement for open, standards-based interoperable technology and it will immediately benefit government agencies and commercial enterprises,” said Edric Keighan, President and CEO of Cubewerx.

CarbonTools PRO extends the Microsoft .NET Framework for advanced location content handling, mapping and sharing. With CarbonTools PRO you can develop geosocial networking applications or extend existing systems for enhanced geospatial interoperability.

CarbonTools PRO is already in use around the world providing the foundation for many applications including the Gaia 3 viewer for Windows, available now as a free download at www.thecarbonproject.com/gaia.php.

Source: www.CarbonTools.com.

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London creates air pollution alerts with the help of ESA

London, UK, 29 March 2007: The city of London has launched an innovative service, funded by ESA, which delivers air pollution alerts and health advice via SMS text messages to those who suffer from asthma and other conditions vulnerable to poor air quality. The airTEXT service officially kicked off at London’s City Hall yesterday. The service will provide people with crucial information about peak periods of air pollution localized for the part of London.

AirTEXT is a free service aimed at those who have been diagnosed with asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease or angina as well as for those who live or work in London. The service has operated in the Borough of Croydon, the largest borough by population, since July 2005 and has received a positive response with 80 percent of users saying it has helped them manage their symptoms better and reduce their exposure to air pollution.

Subscribers can choose whether they want airTEXT alerts delivered through SMS text messages, voicemail or e-mail and whether they want to receive the alerts the morning of days when air pollution is likely to be higher than normal or the evening before. Forecasts are generated for each London borough. The airTEXT service works by combining satellite data from ESA’s Envisat on regional air quality forecasts provided by PROMOTE with information on local road traffic patterns and monitoring stations around the city.

Messages will indicate moderate, high or very high levels of pollution are expected, what effects are likely to be noticed, such as wheezing, difficulty in breathing or chest pains, and what should be done to minimise the effects, such as avoiding long periods outdoors, avoiding strenuous outdoor activity and increasing the dose of reliever medication as directed by a physician.

The Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC) developed airTEXT using information from ESA’s PROMOTE project, which aims to improve air-quality forecasting using satellite technology. In addition, PROMOTE aims to construct and deliver a sustainable and reliable operational service to support informed decisions on the atmospheric policy issues of stratospheric ozone depletion, surface ultraviolet (UV) exposure, air quality and climate change.

Source: www.gisdevelopment.net

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Hyundai Heavy to build South Korea's first satellite launch pad

South Korea, 27 February 2007 - The world's largest builder of marine vessels is now looking skyward, with a plan to build South Korea's first space rocket launching pad.

Hyundai Heavy Industries said on February 26 that it has won the contract to build a rocket launching platform at the Naro Space Center on the coast of South Cholla Province by 2008.

South Korea is in line to become the ninth nation to launch a space vessel when it lifts off a 100-kilogram satellite into orbit from the Naro site as early as next year. The construction of the site began in 2000 at a cost of 265 billion won ($285 million) and is about 90 percent complete, except the launching pad.

Hyundai said it will build the launching platform on a turn-key contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. The firm didn't disclose the amount of the contract, but it is ``less than what people may imagine,” a public relations official said.

“The most important thing is that Korea will learn the know-how of rocket launching. So far, we had to depend mostly on Russian technology,” the official said.

Hyundai will build surface and underground platforms and equipment as well as fueling systems and a control room. According to the firm the launching pad will be able to accommodate two rockets and will be jointly designed with a Russian counterpart.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has been vowing to make the country one of the top-10 space powers by 2015, while neighboring countries are already boasting their space technology. The establishment of the Naro Space Center is the first step by South Korea to become a major player in space exploration. Naro is to be the 26th launching site in the world.

Source : http://times.hankooki.com

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Space Capsule Successfully Recovered

The Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota on January 10, 2007 was successfully recovered today (January 22, 2007) after being maneuvered to reenter the earth’s atmosphere and descend over Bay of Bengal about 140 km East of Sriharikota.

Since its launch, SRE-1 was going round the earth in a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 637 km. In preparation for its reentry, SRE-1 was put into an elliptical orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 485 km and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 639 km by issuing commands from the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) of ISTRAC at Bangalore on January 19, 2007 . The critical de-boost operations were executed from SCC, Bangalore supported by a network of ground stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Sriharikota, Biak in Indonesia, Saskatoon in Canada, Svalbard in Norway besides shipborne and airborne terminals.

The main parachute was deployed at about 2 km altitude and finally, SRE-1 splashed down in the Bay of Bengal with a velocity of 12 m/sec (about 43 km per hour) at 09:46 am . The flotation system, which immediately got triggered, kept the capsule floating. Recovery operations were supported and carried out by the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy using ships, aircraft and helicopters.

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English e-map for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games launched

China, 16 January 2007 - The English electronic map for the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games made its debut today. It is the first time for an Olympic Games official website to use electronic applications of geographic information system in multi-languages for the Olympic Games. The Chinese version was released earlier on January 23, 2005.

The dynamic map features special columns on four hot topics, including the Olympic competition venues, Olympic-licensed stores, subway stations, and traditional dwelling blocks in Beijing -- Hutongs. The map also serves as a practical city guide platform with 12 wide-ranging categories of classified information available on it, such as the government institutions, health and medical community, academies, entertainment, media, shopping, real estate, chambers, sports venues, scenic spots, catering, and hotels and restaurants.

Each category is divided into several sub-categories to particularly identify the potential needs of the users. The "shopping" column, for instance, comprises of shopping malls, supermarkets, shopping centers, furniture centers, bookstores, and others. One of its highlights is that users can choose to zoom in or out on the map to best fit their preferences. In the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, more information and functions will be integrated into the map. Users will be able to acquire competition information, basic introduction of the venues, and weather information as well.

Source : http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

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