ESRI president Jack Dangermond has been awarded the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Outstanding Service Award for 2007. Dangermond is being recognized for his endowment of the ESRI Best Scienti? c Paper in GIS Award. Established in 1991, the award is given each year by the ASPRS Foundation to individuals who publish papers of scienti? c merit that advance the knowledge of GIS.

Geological Survey of India (GSI) established Vision 2020 as a government's policies to discover, assess and augment natural resources through intensive and extensive exploration, to monitor past, present and future demands for natural resources and reorient activities accordingly, to continuously update geological database of the land and offshore areas and so on. The main strategies focuses on Natural Resource Assessment, Environment and Earth System Studies and Information Services. It visualizes intensifying specialized thematic mapping and creation of database on natural resources. It also intends to develop comprehensive geoenvironmental database for usage in impact assessment and monitoring. www.gsi.gov.in

In February 2006, the GIS software, data, and expertise of the United Nations Information Management System (UNIMS), developed for post-tsunami emergency response in Indonesia, were successfully transitioned from UNIMS to the Indonesian government. The Indonesian government's Spatial Information & Mapping Centre (SIMCentre) was established. The SIMCentre is part of a temporary building and reconstruction arm of the Indonesian government in the province and oversees the work of the humanitarian agencies and ensures the needs of the local population are met. It will function until the middle of 2008, when its activities will be absorbed into the standard departments of the Indonesian government. SIMCenter's online metadata catalog is free service available to cooperating agencies that provides information and access to necessary datasets. sim. centre@brr.go.id. www.esri.com

Kapil Sibal Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India while listing his achievement of his three years tenure highlighted three major legislations will change the way the things are being done. These are Survey of India Bill for restructuring of the Department, Public Funded R&D Bill for Protection, Utilization & Regulation of Intellectual Property and Medical Devices Regulation Bill. He said the foundation stone for a modern India is being laid where S&T will touch the lives of common man. He also mentioned the Map Policy, NSDI and 3D GIS Chandni Chowk as some of his achievements. http://pib.nic. in/release/release.asp?relid=28342

The ProLAND project was launched by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) of the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands and the China Land Survey and Planning Institute (CLSPI) of the Chinese Ministry of Land Resources (MLR). It brings together a multi-disciplinary consortium of Dutch and Chinese institutes in land planning and cadastral development. At the Dutch side, there will be RUG and the Dutch Kadaster (DK) teaming up with several Chinese counterparts: the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); the LSPI; and the Nanjing Agricultural University. In addition, the project will also actively involve representatives of the Chinese and Dutch private sector (real estate developers) in the delegation meeting, and the international conference on land planning and cadastral development. www.gim-international.com