Trimble has announced it has supplied its VRS (Virtual Reference Station) software to establish a national GPS infrastructure network in the south of Poland. The VRS network provides a geospatial infrastructure for surveying, engineering and GIS professionals. The network is the first of its kind in Poland and supplies centimeterlevel RTK GPS data for a variety of positioning applications including geodetic and cadastral surveying, road and bridge construction, and archeological excavation site location and documentation. There are also plans to use the network for managing and dispatching emergency medical and rescue teams in Krakw to improve efficiency and response times.

The VRS network, known as Malopolski System Pozycjonowania Precyzyjnego, is operated by the BGUM, the survey office of the local government. Built with Trimble GPSNet and RTKNet software, the network covers the southern part of Poland, called Malopolska. In addition to improving the accuracy of results, the network is expected to enable fast measurements within 2-5 seconds. The use of the network will be free of charge for surveyors in the next three years.
www.trimble.com

Taiwan has finished establishing a real-time kinematic (RTK) system for the nation's e- GPS base stations, catching up with world standards in developing modern positioning and land-measuring technologies, the Land Survey Bureau (LSB) under the Ministry of the Interior announced. According to the bureau, two years ago efforts began to build the system as a means of achieving high-precision results on positioning, as well as for the LSB to offer multi-objective positioning services with addedvalue applications such as surveys for earthquakes, firefighting and rescue operations.
www.chinapost.com.tw

The latest additions to Russia's indigenous satellite navigation system successfully arrived in orbit after a nearly four-hour ride aboard a Proton rocket. Three 3,000-pound satellites were packaged atop the Proton launcher. The delivery was right on target, and the rocket reached the correct orbit about 12,000 miles high with an inclination of around 64.8 degrees. The GLONASS M satellites are designed to operate for up to seven years.
www.spaceflightnow.com

Russia has lifted a ban on the use of high-definition images made from space and high-precision positioning systems, news agencies reported. The move will allow such systems to be used by businesses and by drivers with GPS navigation. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said regulations needed to implement the decision were already in force, the agencies said. "This is what economy-related ministries have been asking for several years," Ivanov told Interfax.
www.themoscowtimes.com

Russia is negotiating with other countries on the possible joint use of Russia's global positioning satellite system GLONASS, Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Space Agency said."We are in active talks with India, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries on the joint use of the GLONASS space system," Anatoly Perminov said. "As far as other countries are concerned, we are primarily in talks with the United States and the European Space Agency to prepare agreements on the use of GLONASS jointly with GPS and Galileo [satellite navigation systems]," Perimov said. en.rian.ru