After a year of negotiations, academic geographers have conceded defeat in their attempt to fi nd a way to make a pioneering 3D representation of the capital, Virtual London, available to all comers via the Google Earth online map. Virtual London is partly derived from proprietary data owned by, Ordnance Survey (OS). Its development was funded by another arm of the government, the offi ce of the mayor of London. Virtual London, developed by the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College, London,
represents all of the capital's boroughs in 3D, including 3m buildings. It was intended to help citizens visualise the impact of new developments and hazards such as air pollution and fl ooding. The mayor's London Connects e-government programme has also sent copies of the model, running in Google Earth, to each of London's 33 local councils. Then the problem emerged. Virtual London contains spatial data derived from OS's MasterMap, the defi nitive crown copyright database of Britain. Licences to use MasterMap data are a valuable income stream to OS, a trading fund required to earn a profi t for the Treasury by selling products and data licences. There was no problem with London's boroughs using the 3D model in-house, because, like virtually all government bodies, they have licences to use OS data. What they could not do was post Virtual London on websites for London's citizens to use. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007

Coordinates sought the view point of Ordnance Survey. Scott Sinclair Head of Corporate Communications, Ordnance Survey responds Virtual London data can be published on any London borough website and it could have been so on Google also if they had wished to license it. There were differences in what Google wanted and what our licensing framework permits that meant we were not able to reach agreement. We provide an open, fair and transparent set of terms for providers seeking to operate in the same commercial space as each other. We cannot therefore license Google in a different way to other providers. We are completely supportive of anyone putting our data on the web as long as they have a licence to do so. There is anexisting licensing model that works for the original purpose of Virtual London - the availability to London boroughs. What Google wanted to do would take it out of those licensing arrangements and put it on a commercial footing. We therefore had to approach licensing on that basis as we would with anyone else.

KLG Systel Ltd, in collaboration with SAP has developed an enterprise solution, Vidushi. It is developed on SAP Netweaver and is designed to complement the functionalities of SAP IS-Utilities (Industry Solutions for Utilities) to meet the specific needs of the electricity distribution utilities. It is designed to provide a web based solution for GIS based Consumer Indexing and Loss Analysis Solution to the distribution utilities. http://press-releases.techwhack.com

National Geographic Maps and MetaCarta, Inc has announced CartaLens, an innovative geospatial digital asset management solution. It shall be able to search and retrieve location-based information from both structured content and a broad base of digital content enabling users to fuse digital assets with maps and metadata in a collaborative and interactive viewing environment. www.marketwire.com

STL -Nigeria’s GIS solution provider released an integrated GIS solution designed for the financial industry in Nigeria. It involves the use of mapping software to interact with digital mapping data and business data such as with the location of banks, customer data, to make informed business decision. www.spatialtechnologiesltd.com

ACTED has started its emergency response operations in Bihar with the primary aim of assisting flood-affected populations upon return to their homes. In addition to its field activities, ACTED will also support the wider flood response operation by promoting the use of GIS mapping among emergency response stakeholders. www.acted.org

As per a study by Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary, India authorities, the movement pattern of specific elephants, can now be known through proper GIS mapping over the years. The monthwise flow of elephant movements out of the sanctuary in co-ordination with different parametres like cropping pattern and water availability inside the sanctuary and their co-relations can be found out from the GIS study according to officials. www.newindpress.com

Farmers will be able to avail themselves of information about soil fertility at their district and block headquarters that would also help the Department of Fertilisers to prepare and monitor equitable distribution of fertilizers and micro-nutrients. A methodology for preparation of district level digitized soil fertility map has been standardized. The Indian Institute of Soil Sciences (IISS) at Bhopal has undertaken the work for developing the digitized soil fertility map using GIS and GPS. www.hindu.com

The 40-ton gray whale is nourished by microscopic phytoplankton plants that contain chlorophyll. Researchers at Coastal Ecosystems Research Foundation, Canada, link the concentration of chlorophyll to gray whale distribution to better understand the relationship between whales and their feeding grounds by tracking the concentration of chlorophyll in the ocean using GIS. CERF collected data on the number and distribution of gray whales visiting the summer feeding grounds since 1996 by means of sight and satellites. This descriptive information was put into GIS, to generate maps, which depict the factors that influence a specific whale’s choice of feeding grounds and show changes in those factors over time. By determining the range that whales traveled, the team quantified core areas and home ranges.