As of April 1, 2007, Natural Resources
Canada (NRCan) began offering
its electronic topographic mapping
data for free over the Internet. It
is now permitting people to freely
redistribute this data, helping to
ensure that users receive accurate
and consistent information. It will
make its data collections available
through GeoGratis (geogratis.gc.ca),
which is a portal, provided by the
Earth Sciences Sector of NRCan.
New Zealand Geospatial
Strategy approved
The New Zealand Geospatial Strategy
has been approved by Cabinet which is
designed to improve knowledge of and
access to the geospatial assets owned,
maintained or used by government.
The strategy sets out to co-ordinate
and direct the way geospatial
resources are developed and
managed, and aims to ensure
compatibility when data is
collected by different agencies
and reduce duplication and
fragmentation of effort. www.linz.
govt.nz/home/news/items/20070302-
geospatial-strategy/index.htm
GOSIC is now fully
operational at NCDC
Global Observing Systems Information
Center (GOSIC) is now fully
operational at the National Climatic
Data Center (NCDC) and can be
accessed on-line at http://gosic.org.
It provides unique tools for searching
and accessing data such as matrices
and portals that allows users to
search for specific data such as
data located at NCDC, as well as
at other global data centers.
Australian telecom gets
mapping capability
Telco Industry researcher, Market
Clarity has released a new edition of
its Australian Telecommunications infrastructure catalogue. It identifies
the location of Australia's current
telecommunications infrastructure
in a database that tracks information
on the infrastructure holdings
deployed and in service from 118
different infrastructure owners.
Market Clarity has developed and
expanded its telecom GIS database by
enabling the production of detailed
telecoms infrastructure maps.
Live search maps service
for cities in UK
Microsoft has extended the 3D
capabilities of its Live Search Maps
service to the UK. Buildings in cities
like Plymouth, Cardiff, Bristol,
Gloucester and Wolverhampton.
GIS mapping centre in
Nagaland, India goes hi-tech
Nagaland GIS mapping centre has
launched its website under the
State's Planning department and
was linked to the state's official
website, www.nagaland.nic.in. it
provides information on the state,
including roads, railways, airports,
towns, major rivers, industries,
polling stations and villages and
their jurisdictions with break up
of population, hospitals, tourist
spots, business centres, power
stations, schools, panchayat
halls and areas where the famous
Naga Raja Mircha is grown.
Tele Atlas plans to map
out Asia
Tele Atlas NV has announced that
its orange mobile mapping vans will
be hitting the streets of Asia this
year to collect data. It plans to target
Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
and Taipei, Taiwan this year.
The vehicles are equipped with
six high-resolution cameras, GPS,
receivers, laser scanners and onboard
computers. They collect road and
lane information, images of street
signs, store fronts and building
heights. www.newsvine.com/_news
