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AZARBAIJAN
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'Single
window' for property management
The services of Azerbaijan
State Committee on State Property Management will be integrated into ‘single
window’ system. For this purpose, work is underway to create a digital map of
the real estate cadastre. The database of real estate will then be transferred
into electronic form to create online registration system.
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AUSTRALIA
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Meteorology
bureau to enhance spatial data
The Bureau of Meteorology
(BoM) is considering replacing its data extraction software system with an advanced
extract, transform and load (ETL) software system. With the new system, the BoM
aims to extract water-related data in a range of formats from an increasing number
of sources, which produces producing spatial data.
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'Queensland
needs emergency broadband network'
The final report of
Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry called for creation of a dedicated wireless
broadband network for the emergency services which will be integrated with GIS.
The report findings revealed that black spots for the analogue radios used by
Queensland emergency services at the time of the floods were “inevitable.”
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All buildings
to be mapped in 3D
A group of public and
private bodies partnered to create the Virtual Australia & New Zealand Initiative
(VANZI). Under this initiative, a 3D virtual model of every building in Australia
and New Zealand will be created. VANZI’s mission is to work with owners of spatial
data to devise a way they can all share it more effectively and widely online.
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'Australia
needs advanced deepwater surveying tech'
According to a marine
geologist, Australian waters are not well mapped because of a lack of availability
sonar technology. While the technology has existed for many years, Australia's
surveying capability has been held back by the limited resources; there's only
one vessel available with deep-water multi-beam sonar.
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BRUNEI
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Survey department
to be modernised
The State of Brunei
Darussalam is modernising the way Brunei Survey Department manages and delivers
geospatial information to its government agencies, as well as to the general
public. Rolled out in two phases under the Survey Spatial Data Infrastructure
project, this effort provides an infrastructure that increases the productivity
of geospatially-related tasks.
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CHINA
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Beijing
launches city management app
Beijing Bureau of City
Administration and Law Enforcement, China, launched a new iPhone application,
‘I love Beijing’. The application enables residents to participate in the management
of the city through a mobile platform. This app is an extension of the GIS-based
integrated service platform that the bureau launched in 2011.
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NGO tracks
polluters using Google Maps
The NGO Institute of
Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) turned to Google Maps to track the location
of some of China’s most heavily polluting companies. The IPE aims to put pressure
on multinationals to clean up their Chinese supply chain. According to the NGO,
China’s transformation into a manufacturing superpower has left a dire legacy
of air and water pollution.
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GNSS-based
earth crust monitoring system
China developed a system
to monitor the movement of the earth's crust and predict earthquakes, according
to an official of the China Earthquake Administration. The system, based-on global
navigation satellite system (GNSS), involves a network of 260 constant observing
stations and 2,000 part-time observing stations with data-processing technology.
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South China
Sea mapped to reinforce territorial claims
China started mapping
South China Sea (SCS) with an aim to step up exploration for oil and gas and
to reinforce its territorial claims. China may step up its exploration of South
China Sea to reinforce its territorial claims following announcement that geographical
surveys of the area are underway.
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'Farmers
should embrace precision farming'
Most Chinese farmers
face water scarcity and often damage the environment by using too much of nitrogen
fertilisers. A professor has urged Chinese farmers to embrace precision farming
technologies, such as drip irrigation and GPS guidance systems that offer savings
in the use of water and chemical inputs.
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Researcher
discovers new section of Great Wall of China
A structure in the heart
of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert – lost for a thousand years and marked on maps as ‘The
Wall of Genghis Khan’ – is still standing and part of the Great Wall of China,
claimed a researcher. He used Google Earth and GPS to find the structure. The
structure is located in Ömnögovi Province, a region 25 miles north of the China-Mongolian
border.
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HONG
KONG
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Surveyor
elected as chief executive
A 1,193-member panel
of Hong Kong billionaires, academics and professionals elected Leung Chun-ying,
a real estate surveyor, over two other candidates to lead the city, as the next
Chief Executive, for the next five years. According to a report, Leung needs
to address anger over surging property prices that have made Hong Kong the world’s
most expensive place to buy a home.
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INDONESIA
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GIS to improve
education
SMKN 4 Palangkaraya
Senior High School has purchased GIS tools to utilise GIS technology to improve
the education quality and innovation in geography. The school, located in Kalimantan
Province decided to invest in GIS software to create a practical learning environment
and arouse students’ interests in learning geographic knowledge and skills.
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JAPAN
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JAXA hands
off satellite instrument to NASA
Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) handed off the new satellite instrument, Dual-frequency Precipitation
Radar (DPR), to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Goddard
Space Flight Center. The DPR is one of the two instruments that will fly aboard
NASA's Core Observatory for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission.
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Grants for
forest preservation scheme
The Japanese government
granted a fund of USD 7.8 million to Ghana to finance a special training programme
on GIS and forestry inventory-taking. The programme aims to capture the benefits
of emerging financing for services from the forest through reduction of emission,
degradation and deforestation (REDD), among other aspects.
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MALAYSIA
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GIS lowers
crime rate
The government’s measures
to reduce crime rate have boosted the confidence of foreign investors in the
country. Under the Safe City Programme, several measures like separating pedestrian
walkways from motorcycle lanes, installation of security mirrors, CCTV cameras,
better lighting and security alarms and crime mapping through GIS were used.
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Villagers
learn surveying to claim land rights
The Dayak Bidayuh National
Association (DBNA) encouraged Bidayuh villagers to document their native customary
rights (NCR) over lands themselves, without the help of government. To facilitate
this ‘self survey’, the DBNA provided training to villagers on how to survey
their land using GPS technology.
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GIS-based
oil pipeline route planning earns excellence award
Abdullateef Balogun,
a Nigerian researcher, developed a GIS-based method to find optimal way to route
oil pipelines and mitigate disasters, winning him an excellence award. The primary
objective of this research was to guide decision makers to select the best pipeline
route from multiple alternatives, a route that will be environmentally friendly
and financially viable.
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Google announces
real time traffic info service
Google Maps added a
number of new features to keep the people of Malaysia updated about the traffic
situation in their country. The company implemented the traffic layer, which
provides data about real time road congestion on the map. With the help of this
tool, users can see whether roads are congested or flowing freely, based on colour
coding.
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NEW
ZEALAND
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CRCSI funds
geospatial research projects
The Cooperative Research
Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) granted funds to three New Zealand research
projects. The first project is being developed by University of Canterbury’s
HITLab and Christchurch-based ZNO Ltd. The project aims to develop a mobile phone
application which will be used to visualise the future urban design of Christchurch.
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NORTH
KOREA
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EO satellite
to be launched soon
North Korea will launch
Kwangmyongsong-3, an earth observation satellite, in April 2012. The satellite
will be blasted off southward from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the
western province of North Pyongyang. The launch is aimed to “offer an important
occasion of putting the country's technology of space use for peaceful purposes
on a higher stage.”
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PHILIPPINES
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Local governments
to set up land info centres
The Provincial Environment
and Natural Resources Office in Bohol, Philippines, encouraged all local government
units (LGUs) in the province to set up their respective public titling and land
information offices to create the cadastral council in preparation for its comprehensive
public land titling programme.
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'Crowdsourcing
for Health' initiative launched
The Philippine Health
Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) launched a first of its kind ‘Crowdsourcing
for Health’ initiative using Google Maps. With the help of this initiative, PhilHealth
aims to maximise the benefits of social networking platform by encouraging the
online crowd to map all health facilities in Philippines and pin all health facilities
on an online map.
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Geo-hazard
mapping of gold mines
South Cotabato’s environment
office and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-12, Philippines, have joined hands
for geo-hazard mapping in high-risk areas in gold-rich T’boli town. The aim is
to ensure safety in small-scale mining sites at the mountains of T’boli.
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RUSSIA
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Oil refinery
implements GIS to enhance safety
The Saratov Oil Refinery,
a TNK-BP subsidiary, implemented a GIS monitoring system with a view to enhance
the company’s industrial safety. The GIS will materially enhance response efficiency
of the Saratov Refinery specialists who have got online access to the two-dimensional
computer plan of the refinery facilities.
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GLONASS
stations to be set up in 34 countries
Russia will set up GLONASS
ground support stations in 34 countries across the globe. According to Russian
Space Systems General Director and General Designer Yury Urlichich, Russian Space
Systems has all the necessary resources to install such stations in nearly 20
countries including Australia.
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Rosreetr
to unify real estate databases
The Federal Service
for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) rolled out a project
to unify real estate information systems in the Russian Federation. Working with
others in real estate, Rosreestr is also gathering and publishing information
about market conditions detailing useful statistics about the growth or fall
in prices for selected periods.
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SOLOMAN
ISLANDS
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Climate
change to be monitored with GIS
In a bid to monitor
climate change and land use, Solomon Islands will use remote sensing mapping
and GIS capability to map forest cover, agriculture, pasture, mangroves, plantations,
coral reefs, water bodies and biodiversity. Since there is no comprehensive land
cover mapping for Solomon Islands, there is a need to document and create a baseline
data.
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SOUTH
KOREA
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Land reclaimed
through antique maps
The Northeast Asian
History Foundation, South Korea, released three maps, which strengthen Korea’s
territorial claims over the Dokdo Islands. One of the maps, printed in 1892,
used different colours for Japan and Dokdo, while another one from 1895 did not
include the islets within the boundaries of Shimane Prefecture.
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'Telecom
companies misuse location data'
Subcontractors of two
South Korean mobile carriers sold location information of 200,000 customers.
A the daily observed that this theft highlighted a deep hole in the protection
of location information and is a grave infringement of the privacy of subscribers.
The daily warned that misuse of location-based services (LBS) is on rise in the
country.
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Daily space
weather alert services launched
South Korea’s National
Radar Research Agency (RRA) launched a new space weather service that is designed
to support earth-based activities that can possibly be impacted by space weather.
The new space weather system aims to provide up-to-date information about space
weather for earth operations and systems.
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TAIWAN
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Dementia
activists urge Taiwan govt to subsidise GPS devices
The Taiwan Alzheimer’s
Disease Association urged the government to subsidise GPS tracking devices for
individuals, suffering from Alzheimer's disease which causes dementia. The Association
said equipping sufferers of the illness with the device will prevent them from
wandering in the streets and enable family members to find them easily, but is
very cost prohibitive.
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'Tap potential
of navigation system market'
Taiwan and Europe could
jointly tackle the growing market for a new satellite navigation system, given
Taiwan’s strength in the field of electronics and semiconductors. An expert said
that cooperation between Taiwan and European manufacturers on the road market
segment must be considered to address growing markets.
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TAJIKISTAN
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World Bank
to fund USD 10 mn for cadastre
The World Bank announced
USD 10 million fund as an aid to Tajikistan to support the projects of registering
farmland and increasing energy conservation. A news report claimed that these
projects will help in sustainable agricultural development of Tajikistan. The
WB funding will help in expanding the restructuring of farmland holdings.
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THAILAND
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Google Street
View makes its debut
Google Inc. launched
its ‘Street View’ service for Thailand in conjunction with Tourism of Thailand
(TAT). The project offers street view or 360-degree street-level imagery of three
best-known provinces of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.
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GIS to determine
flood catchment area
A government committee
rejected Thailand Agriculture Ministry’s plan for larger flood catchment and
diversion area. The committee rejected the ministry’s proposal to acquire 3 million
rai (1 Hectare = 6.25 Rai), saying that the actual amount of land needed was
only 2 million rai. The Ministry has to resubmit its plan based on GIS.
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VIETNAM
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Belgium-based
firm selected for EO mini satellite
Vietnam Academy of Science
and Technology (VAST) signed contractual pre-agreements with the Belgium-based
SPACEBEL, a software engineering company operating in the space and earth monitoring
applications sectors, for the supply of an earth observation mini-satellite,
VNREDSat-1b (Vietnam Natural Resources, Environment & Disaster Monitoring satellite).
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Rayward Chung
Dr. Chih-Hong Sun
