In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

On behalf of the organisers, I am delighted to kindly invite you to participate to two consecutive GNSS events that will take place in Croatia in April 2013. 

The 7th Annual GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions Conference will be held in Baska, Krk Island, Croatia, 18 - 20 April, 2013. A traditional and unique GNSS event in the world is organised by The Royal Institute of Navigation (London, UK) and Faculty of Maritime Studies (University of Rijeka, Croatia), addressing the most important issues of risk assessment and mitigation methods for various GNSS vulnerabilities, including the effects of space weather and the ionosphere, and their effects on performance and operation of GNSS systems and GNSS applications. Traditionally, the conference starts with the plenary session where the top officials of existing (GPS, GLONASS) and forthcoming (Galileo, Bediou) satellite navigation systems present the recent developments. Presented papers will be peer-reviewed and published in the paper conference proceedings, referenced in respectable scientific databases. More details on this conference can be found in the attached Call for Papers, including the topics, and accommodation, travelling and registration details. A modest conference fee applies. You are kindly advised to register your participation with Ms Sally-Anne Cooke, Conference Manager with The Royal Institute of Navigation, London, UK (e-mail: [email protected]).

The UN/Croatia Workshop on GNSS Applications will be held in continuation of the 7th Annual GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions Conference in Baska, Krk Island, Croatia, 21 - 25 April, 2013. Co-sponsored by the Government of the USA, this annual workshop assembles GNSS operators, scientists, professionals, regulators and users, with the aim to facilitate co-operation, knowledge transfer and ideas exchange. The workshop programme comprises: a one-day GNSS tutorial series, presentations of national GNSS-related developments, co-operation activities in three Working Groups (on GNSS Applications and Space Weather, GNSS Reference Networks and Services, and GNSS Education). This workshop is free to attend, and no conference fee applies. More information about this event (including the general information, application form, registration form, and programme-at-a-glance) can be found at the web-site of the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), VIenna, Austria at:http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SAP/act2013/croatia-gnss/index.html.   

A dedicated Exhibition area will be organised for the course of both events. Interesting parties are offered a number of stands at no additional costs (apart from the regular conference fee for the 7th Annual GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions Conference).

Both events will be held in Baska, Krk Island, Croatia, a well-known holiday resort on the northern-most island on the Croatian Adriatic coast (a photo gallery of a venue can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/satnavigator), with the lovely 2 km-long sandy beach, a well-preserved cultural heritage of the Old Town and a magnificent 4 km-long promenade along the sea. A pleasant Mediterranean atmosphere, rich programme of social events and participation of the most prominent GNSS personalities in the world will facilitate co-operation, knowledge and ideas exchange in a very relaxed atmosphere.   

Baska offers a range of accommodation options in 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels. Participants to the forthcoming GNSS events are offered specially tailored discounted all-inclusive accommodation arrangements by Hoteli Baska. You are kindly advised to consult the enclosed conference materials, or to contact directly Ms Valentina Topic of Hoteli Baska (e-mail: [email protected]) for all your enquires and accommodation package booking. Do note that offer is exclusive, and only the direct booking with Hoteli Baska will allow you to attend the conference/workshop sessions and social events.

The first registrations, abstract submissions and accommodation bookings have already arrived to Baska. I kindly invite you to consider your participation as either a speaker/paper presenter, an exhibitor, or an attendee. 

I am staying at your disposal for every additional information or clarification you may need in regard to the forthcoming GNSS events in Baska. Additionally, I will very appreciate your kind assistance in informing the colleagues about the forthcoming GNSS events.

Looking forward for your registration, submission and the privilege of welcoming you to Baska.

With my best regards,

Dr Renato Filjar, FRIN
 

Satellite navigation and space weather specialist and analyst

Associate Professor of Electronics Engineering

Member of Council, The Royal Institute of Navigation, London, UK

Dravska 44a

48361 Kalinovac

Croatia

Tel. +385 91 33 44 662

E-mail: [email protected]

Here's the latest batch-mode edition of the geonews.

From the open source front:

• InaSAFE 1.0 launched, it's a "free software that produces realistic natural hazard impact scenarios for better planning, preparedness and response activities", it's also a QGIS plugin

From the Esri front:

• Interested by the SLD standard? Here's about converting an ArcMap project file into an SLD document with ArcMap2SLD (we did mention it in 2010)
• Here's how to add access to various formats to ArcGIS using GDAL/OGR
• Here's How to build an Apple Map app for iOS using the ArcGIS Runtime SDK for iOS

From the Google front:

• Google reminds us to let indoor Google Maps be your guide this holiday shopping season
• There were Big updates to Google Mars
• There's also Google Earth Outreach in Australia and New Zealand now

In the miscellaneous category:

• Bill Gates writes about GIS, GPS and maps, Digital Mapping Technology Helps Polio Vaccinators Zero In
• Here's another must-read entry on the GIS crisis from Brian Timoney, arguing that (Domain Experience + GIS)   >   (GIS + domain experience)
• James tells us about the upcoming JS.geo Geospatial JavaScript conference in Denver January 14-15, 2013, attendance is also only 10$
• Another story on Secret Stingray Warrantless Cellphone Tracking
• GLONASS corruption exposed and 200M$ stolen, GLONASS Satellite System Designer Fired
• An Apple Maps consequence; Scott Forstall Reportedly Forced Out of Apple
• A few news from MapQuest, New MapQuest Gas Prices App and MapQuest for iPhone with Traffic-Influenced Directions, and they also introduced MapQuest Discover, a new MapQuest Local, and more: "a photo-centric social and travel experience centered on places that people may want to explore"
• Geospatial isn't just for driverless cars, Motorcycle App Helps You Ride Faster, Turn Sharper, Brake Harder
• We already know about drones, More Drones Set To Use US Air Space
• An article on Taking the 'Pulse' of Volcanoes Using Satellite Images
• Meet the World's First 3D Printing Photo Booth and on that topic, How to print a 3D Google Earth building using Makerbot
• APB provides Bentley Systems by the Numbers
• Apparently, U.S. Weather Satellites Are Dying
• Here's a different 3D game, where you learn about the effects of the speed of light (via ORR)
• Here's a generic article on how web mapping is helping government improve communications and services

And finally, at the suggestion of a Slashgeo user which made a donation, we added a 'Paypal button' to ease the process of making donation to Slashgeo.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. I've been overly busy lately - like a lot of us are at that time of the year I guess - please allow the unusual delay of this entry. Have a nice holiday break!

On the Esri front:

• Via an Esri email, I learned about the National Geographic World Map to be used as a basemap with Esri products and services

On the Google front:

• Again, there's new 45° imagery available, now for Detroit, Fayetteville, Nashville, Baton Rouge and Huntsville
• The GEB has an entry on Google Earth on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus
• The GEB also shares another entry on using Google Earth in the classroom
• Finally from the GEB, here's an entry named Visualizing Google Analytics data in Google Earth
• Slashdot is discussing a story about British Telecom suing Google over Android, including several location-related patents
• Here's the official entry on last week's imagery update

In the miscellaneous category:

• APB shares their top 10 GIS stories of 2011
• SS informs us that France's Pleiades-1 high-resolution is now in orbit: "Pleiades-1 has a 70cm resolution, mulitspectral views in the visible and near-infrared bands, and a swath width of 20km"
• Read this if you want to grasp how important geospatial intelligence is to the US Department of Defense
• We often mentioned the LightSquared debacle, now they want the FCC to rule now, not a bad idea since they might run out of money in the coming months
• SS also informs us of an hyperspectral imager that can be deployed on UAVs
• We mentioned GeoSMS before, here's the OGC blog the use of GeoSMS for disaster management
• APB informs us that Facebook added Location Tagging to their Timeline Rollout
• Two weeks ago in a PR we mentioned GISLounge's GIS job skills and employment survey
• Also from a recent PR, we never mentioned before the free Dinamica EGO software, now at version 1.8, EGO standing for Environment for Geoprocessing Objects
• V1 informs us that Russia's GLONASS satellite navigation system is officially global again
• Slashdot discusses how the brain's structure changes with your spacial and navigation skills, at least for taxi drivers
• Another location-related story discussed at the same place is named Japanese Use Wild Monkeys To Track Radiation
• Finally from the same source, DigitalGlobe's satellite spotted China's first aircraft carrier
• WebMapSolutions reviews 8 mobile GIS apps for iOS and Android
• Microsoft tells us about the Updated Spatial Features in the SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release
• MapQuest updated their Mobile Flash Maps API to v7.0.7, but with Flash for Mobile officially abandoned by Adobe, what's the future of Flash?
• O'Reilly shares a long entry on the Public Mapping Project for gerrymandering the U.S. elections, which we mentioned before
• Hum... APB shares an entry named Confidence Key to Women Doing Well at Spatial Tasks

In the maps category:

• While I'm a bit late for Christmas gifts, VS mentions interesting typographic maps of various U.S. cities on sale, VS also links to reasonably priced 'vintage' geography gifts
• Here's OWNI's list of Best Maps of 2011, a few of them previously mentioned here
• Discussed over Slashdot, a New All-Sky Map Shows the Magnetic Fields of the Milky Way
• O'Reilly shares this British map of traffic casualties

First, I'm sorry for not publishing the "batch mode" version of the geonews for the last two weeks - along with several other responsibilities, taking care of two young daughters at home is certainly fun, but engulfs all available time. In this batch mode edition, there are certainly a few geonews that could deserve their own entry - click on what interests you to learn more!

From the Google front:

• In my previous Google entry earlier today, I forgot to mention the GEB entry detailing even more major improvements of Xavier Tassin's Google Earth Flight Simulator, now at version 0.7
• This one via APB, Google Maps rolls out business interiors in Street View

From the Esri front:

• Via VerySpatial, ArcGIS for Android 1.0 has been released
• Two weeks ago, mandown informed us that the ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 3 Now Available For Download

From the miscellaneous category:

• GeoIQ launched GeoIQ Social, "the first and only product that provides self-service analysis of social media data by time and location"
• On the OGC blog, there's an interesting short entry on "Big Data" vs SDI in geospatial
• Clearly, WebGL is en vogue, mapperz mentiones the new Nokia Maps 3D WebGL, and Nokia is readying LiveView, which blends maps and augmented reality for their upcoming Windows Phone
• Apple expanded iPhone 4S GPS capabilities with GLONASS support and Apple Siri's support for maps and local search is coming to international customers in 2012
• MapQuest refreshed their Developer Network
• The name Atanas Entchev ring a bell to you? He's an active member of the geospatial community and he needs our help, he's facing deportation from the U.S.

In the maps category:

• Mapperz mentions the UK car crash map
• Ok, not exactly a map, but trying to find what are the Wall Street protestors are so angry about, here's a breakdown of income inequality, the Gini coefficient, by countries

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. Some of those news could have deserved individual announcements.

From the open source / open date front:

• Regarding the FOSS4G 2011 conference, the community can now vote to determine the program of the FOSS4G 2011 conference, and there will be an Introduction to Geospatial Open Source day-long event
• The final version of MapGuide Maestro 3.0 has been announced
• OpenStreetMap has been recognized by the United Nations Foundation
• OpenStreetMap data can be used in the X-Plane flight simulator
• GeoTools 8.0-M0 has been released
• Here's a new review of the PostGIS in action book, which is now available on Amazon:
  PostGIS in Action
• Talking about books, here's the new Locate Press, focussing on publishing on open source geospatial projects
• O'Reilly offered and article named open source tools look to make mapping easier
• GRASS GIS now has a barb module

From the Google front:

• Ogle Earth shares a long entry named Finding Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad mansion with Google Earth, with numerous screenshots
• Slashdot runs a story named Your Location 'Extremely Valuable' To Google
• The official Google Lat Long blog shares an entry named Post-tornado mapping in Google Maps and Earth
• Slashdot also discussed a story named Using Google Maps To Simulate Tsunamis

From the ESRI front, Mandown shares several entries, including:

• ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 2 Released
• Learn The Basics Of Developing Applications With The ArcGIS API For iOS and ArcGIS API For iOS 1.8 Now Available
• ArcGIS Viewer For Flex 2.3.1 Released and ArcGIS API For Flex And ArcGIS Viewer For Flex 2.3 Released

In the miscellaneous category:

• VerySpatial shares iOS Apps for learning Geography while APB mentions the MagicPlan App to easily map your house
• MacRumors shares a story named Apple Hints at Future Turn-by-Turn GPS Directions With Traffic for iPhone
• On the same topic, Slashdot ran a story named Share Your iPhone Location Data Like You Mean It
• While SS shares an entry named Where’s the Geospatial Industry’s Response to ‘Locationgate’?
• The timing was ripe for O'Reilly to share an article named What does the attention around tracking mean?, especially in the context of online payments
• V1 informs us that Russia's Putin Invites Sweden Into GLONASS
• MapQuest is celebrated 15 years of existence
• It's been a while since RFID has been mentioned, Slashdot discussed a story named Hotel Tracks Towels With RFID Chips

In the maps category:

• TMR shares an entry named Mapping Long-Term Radiation Exposure at Fukushima too bad Japan lost one Earth Observation Satellite on Tsunami Mapping Mission
• TMR also shares an interactive map of oil production from 1960 to 2010

Here's the recent geonews that we haven't already mentioned in batch mode.

In addition to last Friday's FOSS4G geonews:

• There's a new open source Microsoft Bing Maps Android SDK available
• MapFish 2.1 has been released, and it's now BSD-licensed instead of GPL
• Here's news of what's coming for OpenLayers 2.11
• Shapely 1.2.9 has been released

In the miscellaneous category:

• The FGT blog is excited about Voyager, a tool to catalog and search your local geospatial datasets (free and paid version available)
• Several sources have mentioned that the U.S. data.gov and other open sites are closing
• Kurt offers an entry on the U.S. marine cadastre
• There's a first GLONASS smartphone available in Russia
• I smiled when I read the newly introduced "NoGIS" term, remisnescent of WebGIS and neogeography, James Fee shares what he thinks of it
• Slashdot discusses ESA's GOCE satellite detailed information about the Earth's gravitational shape
• If you're that curious, the last Google imagery update included the set from the upcoming 'The Hobbit' movie shot in New Zealand
• The Geonames blog shares an update on the geolocation of Wikipedia articles and Wikipedia Web Services

In the maps category:

• TMR links to NYT day-by-day situation map of the Libyan uprising
• JF mentions a nice Census map analysis of New York City using Google Fusion Tables
• Here's a map of Canada's ridings for the national election early next month
• TMR also shares a map of the decline of ozone in the Arctic
• The prolefic TMR also mentioned the book "Railway Maps of the World"
• Ok, maybe not newsworthy, but here's 25 Mind-Blowing Aerial Photographs Around the World

The Royal Institute of Navigation, London, UK, the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy, University of Nottingham, UK, and the Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Rijeka, Croatia have a pleasure in welcoming you to the 5th GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions 2011 Conference to be held 23 - 25 May, 2011 in Baška, Krk Island, Croatia.

This traditional and unique world-wide event aims to gather GNSS experts and focuses on GNSS problems and vulnerabilities, as well as to developments aiming to improve the accuracy and reliability of GNSS. The unique environment of Baška and its natural resources and rich history, combined with friendly hospitality will again create an inspiring atmosphere for ideas and knowledge exchange, well known to those who attended the last year's conference. A photo-gallery of Baška, a well known tourist resort with the range of 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels, is available at: http://bit.ly/9ij0p4.

Conference activities will be organised in the following sections:

• Core satellite navigation systems (plenary),
• Space Weather and Ionospheric Effects on GNSS,
• Safety- and Mission-Critical Applications for Air, Marine, Land and Personal Navigation, and Search and Rescue Operations,
• Location-Based Services (LBS),
• Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and
• Regulatory and legal aspects of GNSS utilisation.

Interested parties are kindly invited to submit the extended abstracts (300 - 500 words) of the proposed papers to Sally-Anne Cooke, the RIN conference and events manager (e-mail: [email protected]) no later than 25th March, 2011. Submitted papers will be considered by the International reviewing committee, with the acceptance report to be distributed before 15 April, 2011.

You are kindly invited to join the leading GNSS experts and discuss the most important issues related to further exploitations of satellite navigation systems in the wonderful Mediterranean environment of Northern Adriatic. In addition, the organising committee kindly appreciate your efforts in informing your colleagues about the event.

Finally, you are invited to contact either RIN (e-mail: [email protected]), or Dr Renato Filjar, FRIN (e-mail: [email protected]) for any further information or assistance you may need in regard to your participation to the 5th GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions Conference in Baška. The latest developments in regard to the fothcoming conference can be followed at: http://twitter.com/satnavigator, and at the RIN web-site: http://bit.ly/9tuseX.

The conference organisers are looking forward for a privilege to welcome you to Baška.

With my best regards,

Dr Renato Filjar, FRIN MIET
The Royal Institute of Navigation
Tel. +385 91 33 44 662
E-mail: [email protected]

Here's the Friday geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• A third entry in the series of the Free Shapefiles of Countries of the World, focusing this time on small countries
• Mapperz mentions FacilMap.org Beta, that aims to group together layers of various OpenStreetMap projects
• An entry on OpenPisteMap, for mountain sports
• Via Kurt, here's NOAA's new bathymetry data viewer
• There's a new offline editing plugin for QGIS
• GeoNetwork opensource v2.6.2 released
• Shapely 1.2.8 has been released

From the ESRI front:

• SS summarizes Jack Dangermond's opening talk at the GeoDesign Summit and shares a second entry named Exploring the Esri Approach to GeoDesign
• James praises for Python in ArcGIS

In the miscellaneous category:

• There has been quite a few entries on the Australian flood maps, the best one I found is from VerySpatial
• Here's the Top 10 Spatial Law and Policy Stories of 2010
• Via APB, here's DigitalGlobe's Top Ten Imagery Related Events of the Decade
• APB mentions that a Japanese Company Achieves 3 cm Accuracy for GPS
• GLONASS-enabled phones are coming in March
• Here's Cédric's seven 2011 geo predictions
• Kurt mentions the Earth Observer iOS app
• SS mentions Satellite Monitoring Employed to Prevent Civil War in Sudan, supported by actor George Clooney
• Slashdot ran a story named 'French Use Space Tech To Find Parking Spots'

In the maps category:

• A map of North American English Dialects
• An entry on Michael Zeiler's Solar Eclipse Map Website

The Russian Federal Space Agency has fired two (2) Russian Space Agency officials over the recent crash of 3 GLONASS satellites. You can read the full news story on GPS World.

The Sunburned Surveyor

Here's the usual Friday geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• A Wall Street Journal article on OpenStreetMap getting noticed by Microsoft and MapQuest
• Autodesk's CEO shared interesting comments on open source and MapGuide: "He commented that the effort has been a success based on the large number of users, but that Open Source was a bit of a ‘last gasp of the commoditization of desktop software.” He mentioned that the push toward mobile and cloud computing have eclipsed the interest in open source as a means to extend software capability, and that the phenomenon in the geospatial space that made this the right move doesn’t translate well to other markets that Autodesk serves."
• If you're into MapGuide and FDO, see this MapGuide Wishlist and this FDO wishlist
• An entry named 3D visualisation and DEM creation in QGIS with the GRASS plugin
• Also about QGIS, an overview of QGIS for MapInfo users, an entry on Quick graticule in QGIS and a new QGIS 1.6 brochure is available
• An entry about a workflow for creating beautiful relief shaded dems using GDAL
• libspatialindex 1.6.1 has been released
• OpenGeo Suite Community Edition 2.3.1 Released

From the ESRI front:

• The new ESRI Technical Certification Program has been announced
• ArcGIS 10 Data Interoperability Extension Service Pack 1 Released
• ArcGIS API For Microsoft Silverlight/WPF And ArcGIS API For Windows Phone 2.1 Now Available

From the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft reminds us of their nice Destinations Maps map app
• Bing Maps introduced mall directory maps

In the miscellaneous category:

• Three Russian GLONASS satellites were lost in the Pacific at launch
• Nigeria is launching two new OE satellites next February, the first one was in 2003
• SS shared an entry on Autodesk’s Project Galileo, promising to meld CAD, GIS and BIM
• Here's a followup entry on Free Shapefiles of Countries of the World
• A friend sent me a link to this article named Five good reasons why publishers should care about geolocation
• The U.S. Census Bureau started providing 2010 Population Estimates

In the maps category:

• An informative entry named the Uses and Misuses of the Mercator Projection
• Maps of Internet users and Internet penetration
• A map of Forest Restoration Potential