The Rural Road Development Project, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) is using GIS for planning and decision making. An Online management tool OMMAS is being developed to populate the attribute data for GIS and provide access to the citizens to view status of various rural roads and other related information. Public Works Department Rajasthan is playing leading role in creating GIS data base and implementing the PMGSY Scheme. A customized standalone GIS software GRIMMS to run various queries related with planning of roads is being developed. Web GIS module is also being developed to make the complete system transparent and will allow citizens to access the information in spatial format related with PMGSY. C-DAC Pune is providing the technical assistance. Submitted by K.K.Mishra, mishra09720@itc.nl

The Municipal Corporation Delhi, through a new project worth Rs 3 crore, aims to put all information about roads online in the form of a digital map, linked with a GIS. Once this is done, one will be able to log on and avail information on any MCD road in the Capital - when it was built, when it was repaired and how much it was tendered out for. The GIS mapping will start soon. The GIS mapping will help curb corruption, as it would make all information available to everyone on a transparent system. All roads will be marked on the map that will also carry basic information pertaining to their length, breadth and the degree. This map, according to the MCD officials, will enable one to see when a particular road was repaired, and how much it cost, and provide information about the tenders and the contractors involved. http://cities.expressindia.com

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is planning a heritage map for the country, logging in unprotected monuments and antiquities to curb trafficking and ensure they are not neglected. The Rs 90-crore project, National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, proposes a locational analysis that would include not only the protected monuments but thousands of others which according to the project document are ‘‘unprotected or in utter state of neglect’’. As of now, only 3,659 built heritage sites are protected by the ASI; about 3,500 are conserved by the states.
www.indianexpress.com

Armed with the new PDA advanced system, Sharjah Municipality inspectors are all set to conduct their examinations of various outlets selling food including supermarkets, restaurants and groceries to safeguard the health of consumers. The equipment has entailed an estimated cost of half a million dirham. The main objective of using the device is to ensure the safety of the food items offered for sale in the emirate of Sharjah. The PDA device will ensure the quality and the safety of various food items offered in the market. The device features electronic maps that will facilitate the job of the inspectors in determining the locations of the food outlets.
www.khaleejtimes.com

The Israel Security Agency has developed an intelligence processing system designed to quickly detect insurgency plots and relay real-time alerts to field commanders. The system developed by ISA’s computer branch, collates data and intelligence from a range of sources and processes them into digital maps and other situational awareness graphics. The system then relays the information to everyone from senior officials and analysts to field commanders and police patrols. The system has foiled scores of suicide bombing attempts over the last year. The system is being examined by a range of countries for use in counter-insurgency and homeland security missions. www.menewsline.comes

Recently the Population and Socio-economic Atlas of Nepal was published. With 210 maps on 10 different themes related to social, economic and demographic indicators, the atlas offers graphic versions of data from the 2001 census, dissecting Nepal into cross-sections viewed through a host of parameters. The atlas will be a very useful tool for geographers, development planners, policy makers and researchers. Jointly conceived and produced by the Survey Department and Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) with support from the EU, the main objective was to present demographic socio-economic indicators based on the last census.
www.nepalitimes.com

Eastern Kentucky University geography professor Dr Dan Weir has developed a project for mapping and identifying the 200-plus burial plots in the Old Soldier’s Cemetery as part of a renovation effort. Weir, along with EKU geography students, Boys and Girls club members and Richmond Rotary club members, used GPS units to map the site and determine the position of the tombs.The Old Soldier’s Cemetery has housed tombs of black soldiers and war veterans for more than 130 years. Nearly two-thirds of the headstones are missing, and the number of people buried at the site, as well as the identity of many, is unknown. Weir is hoping that, by determining the latitude and longitude of each existing headstone and plotting it into a map of the cemetery. www.kentucky.com