Ji-Ning line is China’s first pipeline featuring digital technologies. World advanced technologies are applied in it, including remote sensing technology, GIS, large database, virtual reality technology, web application technology, project management, enterprise resource planning, exploring a new idea and method of in the design and operation management of long-distance pipeline. Welding has been completed for over 700 kilometers along the Ji- Ning line (from Hengshui in north China’s Hebei Province to Nanjing in east China’s Jiangsu province) for West-East Gas Transmission project. The line extends across north and east China and connects the area around Bohai Sea with Yangtze River Delta. It is expected the main pipeline will be put into operation at year-end. The pipeline will put an end to the coal-dominated energy structure in the areas alongside.
http://english.people.com.cn

Local law enforcement now has another tool to help protect children, the disabled and the elderly in Cheboygan County in U.S.A. The County Sheriff Dale Clarmont said that the “A Child Is Missing” program utilizes satellite imagery, geographical mapping and telephone technology to alert local residents when a child is reported missing. Clarmont explained how the program works: When a deputy responds to a report of a child missing, they fi rst conduct a preliminary investigation to ensure that the child is not hiding or has wandered nearby. If the child cannot be located, the offi cer will develop a description with information such as what the child was wearing, a physical description and the location where the child was last seen. The deputy then calls a specific number and gives the information to a dispatcher who then determines the calling area. The dispatch will then implement a unique calling system, putting out 1,000 calls within 60 seconds to all homes and businesses in the area. If the child is reported in another location, another 1,000 calls can go out.
http://www.cheboygannews.com

Imagine your car has been stolen and all that you need to do is to sit in front of a PC and make it ’immovable’ wherever it may be. Sounds improbable but a new device being developed by Bangalorebased MobiApps in India can make this happen. The MobiApps device, which will sit inside the vehicle, will essentially stops the car engine from functioning by taking instructions from a satellite-based communications network. In addition, it will also be able to monitor fuel-level, oil and gas level in the vehicle, tyre pressure, brake fluids and other essential resources in real-time.

The device is based on the company’s telematics platform. Telematics enables remote access to vehicle data over a wireless network. MobiApps offers hybrid communication products using converged wireless communications technologies such as 802.11, GPRS, CDMA, and ORBCOMM’s Low- Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite system to provide global communications capabilities to a number of industrial applications such as containers, heavy equipment, marine vehicles, light motor vehicles or any movable asset.
http://financialexpress.com

UK directory service 192.com has added a number of new features to its local search engine including property prices and detailed aerial imagery. A virtual high street feature lets one find online pictures of both high-street shop fronts and highresolution aerial photos when one searches for a business or people. The shop front photos give detailed information such as nearest transport links, web addresses, the average price of a meal in a restaurant and disabled access. http://www.webuser.co.uk

Ordnance Survey publishes the outcome of a consultation on proposed changes to its most highly detailed geographic information. Customers were asked to comment on plans affecting bench marks and triangulation points, both traditional sources of height data for surveyors
across Great Britain. Feedback showed a continuing need to provide symbols for these features, so they will be retained in the Topography Layer of OS MasterMap and in the Land-Line and Superplan products. However, the actual height values, including supporting information, will in time be provided free of charge on the Ordnance Survey website instead of the mapping itself. The move widens access to height data for those surveyors still requiring physical control information to check GPS measurements. It also refl ects the growing trend towards more web based geographic information. At the same time, customers agreed with plans to remove specifi c textual details from the margins of standard map sheets generated from the Land- Line and Superplan products. These include the names of areas, roads and administrative and electoral boundaries. The changes are required due to growing customer demand for seamless mapping as opposed to fixed tiles. http://www.ordnancesurvey.
co.uk//aboutus/reports/D03701.pdf

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Sidon a city in Lebanon launched a GIS project for the South with the participation of the Delegation of the European Commission in Lebanon. Recently a ceremony was held to mark the occasion at the chamber’s headquarters in the presence of South Governor Malek Abdel- Khaleq, chamber President Mohammad Zaatari, European Ambassador Patrick Renauld and several southern mayors. The chamber’s director general, Radwan Sabaa, said the two year project will provide data related to some 28,000 commercial establishments in Sidon, Tyre, and Nabatieh, without
tackling geographic information.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

People are now able to get maps on their mobile phones to fi nd their way around Bahrain. The service was launched recently , as part of Bahrain’s e-government programme, at a ceremony held at the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), Isa Town. It has been developed by the CIO which is represented by the GIS and the Addresses Directorate. Anyone having a mobile phone can now locate addresses or places like hospitals, restaurants or commercial banks, said CIO president Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com

In a case watched closely by Westport and other towns upgrading technology, the Connecticut Supreme Court in the U.S.A. has ruled that the public has a right to see aerial photos and other records of Greenwich despite concerns about privacy, crime and terrorism. The high court ruled unanimously that Greenwich must release its computer database of aerial photographs and maps known as a GIS. The court said the town failed to show the records are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act because of security concerns. Greenwich offi cials have said that the uncontrolled release of detailed information on infrastructure, public safety facilities, schools and celebrities’ homes in electronic form could lead to breaches in security and privacy.
http://www.westportnow.com

Electronic maps maintained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency do not have to be given to a non-profi t environmental group under the personal privacy exemption of the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver (10th Cir.) ruled recently.

FEMA argued and the court agreed that releasing electronic versions of GIS maps could allow the group, Forest Guardians, to match mapping data with other data to deduce the names and addresses of policyholders under the National Flood Insurance. Program. Policyholders’ identities are protected by Exemption 6 of the FOI Act, the court said. Forest Guardians first requested the data in January 2001 to geographically trace how federally subsidized flood insurance affects endangered species in New Mexico fl oodplains.

FEMA released paper copies of GIS maps that plotted the location of buildings on the San Juan, Animas, and Rio Grande fl oodplains and detailed whether they had been built after the surrounding community had bought into the flood insurance program. FEMA redacted the policyholders’ names and addresses from the paper maps, citing Exemption 6.
http://www.rcfp.org