China and Nepal will jointly launch a border inspection mapping operation. Both countries will apply GPS to survey the border marks. The major mapping work will be done by Chinese workers and then workers from Nepal will check the mapping data and results. The Surveying and Mapping Bureau of Shaanxi, from northwest China, has been appointed to take the task and will form the main body of the China team. The first batch of mapping workers are scheduled to arrive in the China-Nepal border area next month and all the outdoor surveying is planned to finish by the end of September. It is expected that the final mapping outcome will be unveiled by the end of 2007. www.vnagency.com.vn

Town Development Committee (TDC) of Nepal, under the Ministry of Works and Physical Planning, is set to come up with a new land use map of the Kathmandu Valley soon aiming at finding out the changed land use pattern over the two decades. The existing land use map was prepared 22 years ago. Preparation of the detailed land use map would finish within the current fiscal year.
www.gorkhapatra.org.np

Indonesia’s National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping (BAKOSURTANAL), and Credent Technology Asia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster the application of interoperability standards and support the implementing of National Spatial Data Infrastructure policy in Indonesia. This MOU also includes an Intergraph’s Open Interoperability Grant through Intergraph’s Open Interoperability Grant Program, with a commercial value of more than US$12.4 million
http://www.credent-asia.com/

China has provided meteorological satellite data reception equipment to Pakistan to help reduce natural disaster and gather data for a variety of purposes. This technology would provide real time data collected by China’s Fengyun meteorological satellite series.
www.hindu.com

Singapore announced the completion of the first phase of its Tsunami Early Warning System while celebrating this year’s World Meteorological Day. Phase one of the system provides Singapore with the capability to exchange real-time earthquake data with seismic networks operated by countries in the region. Developed by the Meteorological Services Division of the NEA, the system worth 3 million Singapore dollars is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.
www.hinduonnet.com

NOAA has launched an updated version of the nowCOAST web portal. It is a web mapping portal providing coastal communities with real-time observations and NOAA forecasts. It allows users to view real-time surface observations ‘on-the-map’ along with the latest GOES satellite cloud imagery and NOAA National Weather Service weather radar images.
www.noaanews.noaa.gov

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), India would shortly develop a map enhanced by satellite imageries of the entire city of Kolkata. It will provide the entire satellite mapping of the city. Kolkata will be one of the first Indian cities to have its own unique satellite map. The map, developed through picture taken either through satellite or from the air, has been developed by Riddhi Communications and Netguru India has been assigned the task of maintaining the site. A GIS model has been utilised in preparing the satellite map of the city.
http://dnaindia.com

Tiruchy district in India has been selected for a national geomorphological study. The five districts are: Tiruchy (granitic terrain), Jalore (desert), Himachal Pradesh (Himalayan terrain), Mahanadhi delta (coastal terrain) and Madhya Pradesh (Deccan trap). The imageries would be utilised for the development of the economy. The study will be conducted by the National Resources Repository in association with the Geological Survey of India.
www.newindpress.com

The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, commonly referred to as GRASS GIS, is a GIS used for data management, image processing, graphics production, spatial modeling, and visualization of raster, vector and sites data. It is open source Free Software released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The new features of GRASS 6 cover a new topological 2D/3D vector engine and support for vector network analysis. Attributes are managed in an SQL-based DBMS. A new display manager has been implemented. The NVIZ visualization tool was enhanced to display 3D vector data and voxel volumes. Messages are partially translated (i18N) with support for FreeType fonts, including multibyte Asian characters. GRASS is integrated with GDAL/OGR libraries to support an extensive range of raster and vector formats, including OGC-conformal Simple Features.