Navy Official: Drones Will Only Get More Advanced

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08 February 2013 | By CBS News | 149

The technology behind drones is developing rapidly. Today, drones used to attack targets are flown by remote control by pilots on the ground. But a new generation has no pilot at all. They can be completely guided by computer. A new type of vehicle being developed by the Navy looks like stealth bomber and could probably carry 4,000 pounds of weapons, but there's no pilot in the cockpit. Navy Capt. Jaime Engdahl is director of what's called the X-47B Project. Read More

Art Ratkewicz Named Space Foundation Vice President - Operations

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31 January 2013 | By Space Foundation | 127

The Space Foundation has promoted Art Ratkewicz to vice president - operations, from his previous position as senior director - operations, effective immediately. His new responsibilities include facilities administration for all Space Foundation locations, including its world headquarters and Space Foundation Visitors Center in Colorado Springs. He also oversees customer service, information technology systems and support and all logistical aspects of Space Foundation events, including the annual National Space Symposium.

Satellite Images Find Possible US Drone Base in Saudi Arabia

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08 February 2013 | By Wired | 159

These satellite images show a remote airstrip deep in the desert of Saudi Arabia. It may or may not be the secret US drone base revealed by reporters earlier this week. But the base's hangars bear a remarkable resemblance to similar structures found on other American drone outposts. And its remote location -- dozens of kilometres from the nearest highway, and farther still to the nearest town -- suggests that this may be more than the average civilian airstrip. Read More

Historical Mapping Project Nears Completion

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30 January 2013 | By The Press | 145

The 40-year research project to map York’s historic past is finally nearing completion. A series of maps showing how the city developed from Roman times to the present day is set to be published, along with essays by leading academics. Dr Peter Addyman, chairman of York Civic Trust, had the idea of creating the cartographic study of the city’s development when he founded York Archaeological Trust in 1972. Read More

Mapping the Census: How One Man Produced a Library for All

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08 February 2013 | By The Guardian | 122

The census is an amazing resource - so full of data it's hard to know where to begin. And increasingly where to begin is by putting together web-based interactives - like this one on language and this on transport patterns that we produced this month. But one academic is taking everything back to basics - using some pretty sophisticated techniques. Alex Singleton, a lecturer in geographic information science (GIS) at Liverpool University has used R to create the open atlas project. Read More

British Army Stages Record-breaking Virtual Battle

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30 January 2013 | By BBC News | 117

The British army has conducted its largest virtual battle simulation, involving 220 soldiers. The experiment was carried out at the Army's Land Warfare Centre in Warminster, Wiltshire. The two-hour scenario saw soldiers on computers completing virtual missions in a fictional French town. Read More

Europe’s Plan for GPS Limps to Crossroads

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07 February 2013 | By New York Times | 179

Europe’s future commitment to the project, known as Galileo and designed to create a new, improved and European-controlled version of America’s Global Positioning System, is to be decided in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, when European leaders will try for a second time, after talks failed in November, to hash out a long-term budget for the 27-nation bloc. Read More

With 1M Contributors, OpenStreetMap Claims Most Detailed Maps in Some Countries

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30 January 2013 | By Gigaom | 113

The crowd-sourced mapping project OpenStreetMap has amassed a million contributors since its inception in 2005 and, according to navigation app maker Skobbler, boasts greater accuracy in England, Russia and Germany than rivals such as Google Maps. Read More

GIS Technology and Mapping for the Non-GIS Professionals

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07 February 2013 | By govloop | 169

As much as we may try, we can't all be GIS professionals or expert mappers. But that doesn't mean GIS technology should be ignored by the non-GIS professionals. Maps can and should play an integral role in helping us do our job better. One of the most significant benefits of GIS technology is improved communication internally between different teams and departments, and externally with the public. GIS-based maps and visualizations help tell an interactive story and provide context to information that is often difficult to understand. For many organizations, it is a way to reduce costs, increase efficiency and most importantly, share their message and information with the largest audience possible.  Read More

Geographers at Kent State Use Mapping Tools to Aid Disaster Recovery

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30 January 2013 | By Cleveland.com | 132

Geographers Andrew Curtis and Jacqueline Mills and their colleagues spent long, hectic days in the Baton Rouge emergency operations center during Hurricane Katrina. The husband-and-wife research team, who relocated to Kent State University last fall from the University of Southern California to set up and run KSU's Geographic Information Systems Health and Hazards Lab, are using advanced geographic, computer and video tools to better understand complicated, large-scale urban problems. That's a major focus of the Kent State geography department. The aftermath of natural disasters is an ongoing study target for the couple, who are among a tiny number of researchers in this emerging field. Read More

Eyes in the Sky: Remote Sensing in the Service of Human Rights

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07 February 2013 | By Physics Today | 124

Once the exclusive purview of cold war intelligence agencies, satellite imagery has, in the past decade, become an indispensable tool in civilian applications ranging from navigation to crop monitoring. For those of us working in the human-rights field, it has provided a new window into areas of the world once off-limits for reasons of politics, security, or physical inaccessibility, and where abuses were known only through the erratic descriptions of those who managed to escape. Read More

Mapping the Very Shallow Geothermal Potential in Europe

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29 January 2013 | By earthzine | 157

Europe is undergoing an energy transition with the aim to abolish nuclear, coal and other non-renewable energy sources through renewable energy developments. Such renewable energy resources are rapidly gaining importance. Besides the well-researched and already implemented solar, wind and hydropower domain, less research has been done in the analysis of very shallow geothermal energy resources in Europe. Thus, the ThermoMap project addresses the topic of very shallow geothermal potential or ‘vSGP’ in Europe, defined as the natural thermal conductivity of the unconsolidated underground, to a maximum depth of 10 meters. Read More

Drone Boosters Say Farmers, Not Cops, Are the Biggest U.S. Robot Market

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06 February 2013 | By Wired | 141

To Chris Mailey, a vice president with the drone promotion organization known as AUVSI, the cop shops represent short money. “Agriculture,” Mailey tells Danger Room, “is gonna be the big market.” To Mailey, it’s a question of where the growth opportunities are. Military drone purchases are plateauing, even as the drones become increasingly central to U.S. counterterrorism. And there are limits, financial and otherwise, to the ability of police departments to purchase drones. Farming looks like a drone market with both fewer impediments and bigger incentives for early technological adoption.

Lawmaker Wants $80 Million for Earthquake Warning System

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29 January 2013 | By Los Angeles Times | 122

A group of California’s top earthquake experts announced an $80-million plan to build what would be the nation’s first earthquake early warning system. State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) is proposing a bill that would search for funding to pay for the installation and upgrade of underground sensors and other equipment to create the network. Read More

New Technology Helps Doctors Link a Patient’s Location to Illness and Treatment

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06 February 2013 | By Washington Post | 136

Epidemiologist David Van Sickle spent years studying asthma, but like many researchers of the chronic disease, he was frustrated by the obstacles to determining precise triggers of an individual attack. That frustration gave him an idea for a rescue inhaler topped with a GPS sensor. The invention would map the user’s location every time he took a puff and send that information back to his doctor. Read More

Nicholas Stern: 'I got it wrong on climate change – it's far, far worse'

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29 January 2013 | By The Guardian | 153

Lord Stern, author of the government-commissioned review on climate change that became the reference work for politicians and green campaigners, now says he underestimated the risks, and should have been more "blunt" about the threat posed to the economy by rising temperatures. In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Stern, who is now a crossbench peer, said: "Looking back, I underestimated the risks. The planet and the atmosphere seem to be absorbing less carbon than we expected, and emissions are rising pretty strongly. Some of the effects are coming through more quickly than we thought then." Read More

Brazil Deploys Tracking Devices on Trees to Help Halt Deforestation

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06 February 2013 | By Mongabay | 144

Illegal loggers beware: trees will soon be calling—literally—for backup. The Brazilian government has begun fixing trees with a wireless device, known as Invisible Tracck, which will allow trees to contact authorities after being felled and moved. Brazilian authorities fix the Invisible Tracck—smaller than a deck of cards—onto a tree. An illegal logger cuts down the tree and puts it onto a truck for removal, unaware that they are carrying a tracking device. Once Invisible Tracck comes within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of a cellular network it will 'wake up' and send a signal to Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente (IBAMA), who will then be able to track the moving tree to the mill and arrest the criminals at will. Read More

Darpa Wants Next-Gen Spy Hardware to Literally Dissolve

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29 January 2013 | By Wired | 147

Forget about a kill switch. Planned obsolescence? Already obsolete. The Pentagon’s blue-sky researchers want tomorrow’s military hardware to literally cease to exist at a predetermined point. Welcome to the age of suicidal sensors. Read More

Apple Makes Massive iOS Maps App Hiring Push

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06 February 2013 | By Applebitch | 147

Apple has started advertising for a large number of iOS Software Engineers whose specific focus will be on improving the Apple Maps app that is included with iOS 6. The company is advertising for ten new Software Engineer positions, all dedicated to working on various aspects of the Maps app that has courted both praise and criticism since it launched last year, replacing Google Maps as the standard iOS 6 mapping application. Read More

ARGUS Drone Spots You from 20,000 Feet

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29 January 2013 | By NBC News | 172

The latest scary spy apparatus lives 20,000 feet up, turning 30 or more square miles into live video sharp enough to spot individual people walking around. The system is called ARGUS, after the 100-eyed god of Greek myth, and fittingly, it works by hooking together hundreds of inexpensive image sensors like those found in mobile phones. The non-classified parts were featured last week in an episode of the PBS show "Nova" all about drones and surveillance. Read More

Remote Sensing Reveals the Impact of Cannabis Growers on the Land

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06 February 2013 | By Mother Jones | 137

No place in America is better known for marijuana growing than Northern California's Humboldt County. The same forgiving climate and rugged terrain that gave rise to ancient redwoods (and decades of frenzied clear cutting) has brought about a "green rush"—of pot growers. In this video, made with hi-res satellite images from Google Earth, Anthony Silvaggio, an environmental sociologist with Humboldt State University's new Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, exposes the extent of the devastation wrought by industrial-scale grows. Read More

SSTL to Build Satellites for FORMOSAT-7’s Global Weather Forecasting Programme

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28 January 2013 | By SSTL | 201

SSTL has been awarded the contract by the National Space Organization (NSPO) in Taiwan for the design and manufacture of up to twelve satellite platforms for the FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 constellation. The contract was awarded in an open international competition, with SSTL providing the most cost-effective solution.

Lawmakers Aim to Limit Drones and Safeguard Privacy

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04 February 2013 | By New York Times | 127

A drone, no bigger than a toy airplane, hovered north of the Texas Capitol, floating over the heads of lawmakers who were momentarily distracted from their morning meetings. Several of them gathered beneath it, faces tilted skyward, marveling over a pair of goggles that allowed them to watch live video of the craft’s panoramic bird’s-eye view. But when the conversation turned to the reason for the demonstration, the tone shifted. Representative Lance Gooden, Republican of Terrell, said he was sponsoring legislation to prevent this futuristic technology — increasingly used by everyone from aviation hobbyists to law enforcement authorities — from capturing “indiscriminate surveillance.” Read More

Ball Completes $75 Million Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Boulder

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28 January 2013 | By Denver Post | 162

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.'s expanded facility in Boulder is more than just an enlarged manufacturing workspace — it signals the company's plan to climb the ladder among aerospace prime contractors. The $75 million investment from its parent company, Broomfield-based Ball Corp., is a mark of confidence in the future of its aerospace branch. Read More

British Military Outfitted with Micro Drones

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04 February 2013 | By Associated Press | 126

Britain’s military says its soldiers in Afghanistan have been issued with surveillance drones so small they can fit in the palm of your hand. The Scandinavian-designed Black Hornet Nano weighs as little as 16 grams (0.56 ounces) — the same as a finch. The four-inch-long (10-centimeter-long) helicopter is fitted with a tiny camera which relays still images and video to a remote terminal. Read More

Spread the Word: The Value of Local Information in Disaster Response

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28 January 2013 | By The Conversation | 164

As dozens of bushfires continue to burn across the country (not least in New South Wales) many Australians find themselves unable to return home while many others have no home to return to. While we all rely on the media for information about imminent threats, it’s at the local level that some of the most valuable information-gathering is being done. Read More

Forest Conservation Goes High-Tech

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04 February 2013 | By Jakarta Post | 122

Experts say satellite-based remote sensing technology has proven to help slow the rate of deforestation in the Harapan rainforest in Jambi province during the workshop on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation — Fast Logging Assessment and Monitoring Environment (REDD-FLAME) held at the International Convention Center of the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in Bogor. The workshop marked the end of the REDD-FLAME program, which used the advanced technology in Mawas, Central Kalimantan. The project was part of a European Commission-funded research effort known by the acronym FP7-SPACE. Other workshops will also be held in Mozambique in February and then in Brazil in March. Read More

What Is Geodesign–and Can It Protect Us from Natural Disasters?

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28 January 2013 | By Scientific American | 206

Careful study of GIS data—which includes weather data but also takes into account population demographics, land use and a variety of other factors—could uncover clues about the likely intensity and impact of future storms as well as the extent to which zoning decisions can mitigate potential damage, according to Fisher, the emcee and moderator of this week’s Geodesign Summit hosted by GIS mapping software maker Esri at the company’s Redlands, Calif., headquarters. “This is an issue with Sandy—do we rebuild on the same sites, considering there could be another [major] storm within the next seven or so years? My sense is not that we lack data but that we’ve lacked the ability to visualize it and apply it to certain places,” he adds. Read More

Delhi Conference Urges Good Governance of Natural Resources for Sustainable Development

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04 February 2013 | By Trust | 104

Good governance of natural resources and sustainable development must go hand in hand, or economies and nature are at risk, experts, diplomats and business leaders warned at a weekend summit in New Delhi. According to the experts at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, the growing impacts of climate change also is putting nations – including those on a “green” path – at risk of losing essential resources that are the building blocks of their economies. That suggests an urgent need to be efficient with resources such as water, and to manage them well. Read More

How Does GIS Come Into Your Daily Life?

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28 January 2013 | By 7 News Belize | 153

Geographic Information Systems or GIS, many people use it, but very few actually understand the technicalities. Every time you consult Google or Bing Maps, look at a map of Belize City, or consult the GPS on your smart phone, you are using a form of GIS. And the authorities on the topic in Belize are trying to promote the commercial use of GIS, as well as increasing awareness of GIS in industrial use. Read More

Satellites in Thailand Monitor Slash-And-Burn

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04 February 2013 | By Satnews | 111

Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi has ordered northern provincial authorities to use satellite surveillance to monitor bushfires and cut down on haze pollution. He said satellite imagery was the most accurate tool to detect bushfire hotspots and should form an integral part of the government's campaign to reduce haze pollution in the North. Read More

Apple Patents Smart Shoes That Feature Embedded Sensors

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28 January 2013 | By Tech Crunch | 161

Apple has been dabbling in wearable tech, at least when it comes to the U.S. Patent Office, and a new application uncovered Thursday by AppleInsider adds to that growing category. Apple has filed for a patent covering so-called “smart shoe” systems which feature sensors that can track wear and usage and tell you when you need to replace them, charting your progress on a companion app for a mobile device, or via built-in LED lights, speakers or displays. Read More

Regional Study to Help Agencies Share GIS Mapping Resources

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03 February 2013 | By Watertown Daily Times | 120

Thanks to a $70,000 grant from the state Local Government Efficiency Program, the Development Authority of the North Country will hire a consultant to complete a regional feasibility study to find ways for municipalities and agencies to share GIS, or geographic information system, mapping resources. Participants in the study, to be completed in the summer, are DANC, Jefferson County, Lewis County, the city of Watertown and the Tug Hill Commission. The authority funded the study on behalf of the entities with a $10,000 matching amount. Read More

Vancouver City Council to Look at Mapping Artistic and Cultural Assets

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28 January 2013 | By Straight.com | 133

A motion calling for artistic and cultural resources in Vancouver to be identified and mapped is set to go before city council next week.

Vision Vancouver councillor Heather Deal will introduce a motion requesting that staff work with the recently formed arts and culture policy council to identify the sites, including buildings that are at risk of development. Read More

Dayton Firm Uses 3D Mapping to Aid Hurricane Sandy Recovery

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03 February 2013 | By WHIO | 117

A Dayton-area engineering and design services firm is using three-dimensional laser mapping technology to help a number of New York and New Jersey coastal communities plan a smart recovery from the destruction of Hurricane Sandy.Beavercreek-based Woolpert Inc. is taking part in a Rutgers University project to collect 3-D visual data of hurricane-ravaged areas using geospatial mapping technology, company officials said. The data will be used as resource to identify damaged objects and plan the reconstruction. Read More

DigitalGlobe Said to Cut Rate on $550 Million Loan for GeoEye

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25 January 2013 | By Bloomberg | 208

DigitalGlobe Inc. (DGI), a provider of high-resolution satellite imagery, cut the rate it will pay on a $550 million term loan B it’s seeking to back its acquisition of GeoEye Inc. (GEOY), according to a person with knowledge of the transaction. The seven-year debt, will now pay interest at 2.75 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, down from a range of 3.25 percentage points to 3.5 percentage points, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The Libor floor will remain unchanged at 1 percent. Read More

Why We Shouldn’t Fear Personal Drones

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03 February 2013 | By Time Magazine | 141

Drones, like most robots, are designed for jobs that are “dull, dirty or dangerous.” We know what that means in a military context — everything from endless “loitering” over combat zones to remote-controlled warfare with the pilots safely in a trailer in Nevada — but soon civilian drones will be flying commonly overhead here at home. What will they be doing? Read More

Filmmaker Sir David Attenborough Calls Humans a Plague

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24 January 2013 | By Matt Ball | 221

Sir David Attenborough, the famed British naturalist and television presenter, has some harsh words for humanity. "We are a plague on the Earth," Attenborough told the Radio Times. "It's coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so." Attenborough went on to say that both climate change and "sheer space" were looming problems for humanity. Read More

SFRI Develops GIS-based System for Soil, Water Analysis

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03 February 2013 | By The Nation | 113

Enterprise level GIS based system for soil and water analysis of 69 tehsils of Punjab has been developed by Soil Fertility Research Institute Lahore. Soil Fertility Director told the Secretary that more than 13,000 samples of fertilizers had been analyzed by the Institute during past five years in fertilizer adulteration control campaign. He said more than 6.8 million samples of soils, water and fertilizers were analyzed by this institute since its inception. He added that 3.4 million soil whereas 302,488 water samples of farmers had also been analysed by this institute to provide them advisory services. The official said 59,098 field trials of grain crops, cash crops, fodders, oil seeds and fruits and vegetables were also conducted for research work. Read More

Climate Change Bill Readied for 2013 Legislature

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24 January 2013 | By Salt Lake Tribune | 226

Climate change is making it harder and costlier to deal with wildfire on state lands, so land managers should take up the proper tools, according to a bill headed for the 2013 Utah Legislature. Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, is proposing legislation, HB77, that urges the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to adopt pre-suppression strategies with an eye on the how climate change is already affecting wildfire in the Utah. Read More

The Newt Frontier for Google Maps is Personalization

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02 February 2013 | By Tech Crunch | 123

Google Maps just won Best Mobile App at the Crunchies 2012 and Daniel Graf, Google’s director of Google Maps for mobile talked to Tech Crunch after accepting the award. In the interview, Graf noted that it was a unique opportunity for him and his team to start from scratch. Looking ahead, Graf stressed that the next frontier for maps will be about personalization. Read More

GIS to Help Create National Product Traceability System for Ghana‏

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24 January 2013 | By Citifm | 218

The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has rolled out a geographical mapping of companies to create a data base for a national product traceability system, as the country hopes to rake in about $3.3 billion from its exports this year. The Geographic Information System (GIS) will create a data base for exporters in food and agro processing products, which will enable Ghana to avoid the risk of having its exports to the European Union (EU) markets reduced. Read More

European Space Agency to Track Forests Worldwide

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01 February 2013 | By Venture Beat | 154

Irish forestry company Treemetrics has just signed a $1 million (800,000 EUR) deal with the European Space Agency to monitor forests all over the world. Treemetrics provides a 3D laser scanning system to accurately measure the height, straightness, taper, and volume of the trees in a section of forest. The European Space agency will combine the latest satellite data with Treemetrics’ ground-based forest information. Read More

Japan Launching Spy Satellite To Monitor North Korea

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24 January 2013 | By Defense News | 174

Japan is to launch a new spy satellite Jan. 27 to strengthen its monitoring capabilities amid concern that North Korea may carry out more missile and nuclear tests. A rocket carrying a radar-equipped satellite is scheduled to blast off from a space center at Tanegashima in the southwest, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has announced. The space agency said the satellite would be used for information-gathering, including data following Japan’s 2011 quake and tsunami, and did not mention North Korea by name. Read More

Air Force Wants You to Design Its Next-Gen Sensors (For Cheap)

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31 January 2013 | By Wired | 133

On Wednesday afternoon, the Air Force’s imaging and targeting support directorate let it be known it’s looking for the next generation of tools for geospatial (GEOINT) imagery. Everything’s on the table, hardware and software, and so the Air Force is dreaming big. According to a request for information about what’s technologically feasible, aimed at the defense industry and academics, it wants tools for “GEOINT in anti-access, denied areas”; for tracking and characterizing data taken from “underground facilities”; for identifying concealed and camouflaged targets; and it wants them to “significantly exceed current bandwidth and onboard data storage requirements.” Read More

Cartographic Grounds: Projecting the Landscape Imaginary

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24 January 2013 | By Places | 181

The ascendance of “mapping” and data visualization in design culture has changed the way architects, landscape architects and urban designers communicate ideas about buildings and landscapes, often privileging abstract forces and flows over the material conditions of the site. This exhibit reimagines the projective potential of cartographic practices that afford greater proximity to the ground itself. The approaches presented here seek to reconcile the precision and instrumentality of the plan with the geographic and territorial scope of the map. Read More

Night-Sensitive Satellite Spots Elusive Clouds

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31 January 2013 | By Discovery News | 131

The nighttime viewing capabilities of the Suomi NPP satellite are giving earth scientists new views of the planet's surface once the sun goes down. An image taken on Sept. 27, 2012, and released recently by NASA's Earth Observatory, shows off the satellite's penetrating gaze with a view of low-level, marine layer clouds off the coast of California. These clouds are invisible to technologies previously used to view nighttime scenes. Read More

Winds of Change in Geospatial Data Visualization

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24 January 2013 | By The Hive | 172

Geospatial data is everywhere, from the maps app on your phone which tells you where to go for the best burrito or navigate traffic on your way home, to the GPS in your car, the game you might be playing that collects data on your walking patterns, or the more incendiary topic of using espionage drones to collect changes in geographic data. One thing is sure, its importance is immense, and the amount of insight and information you can draw from it to solve an almost infinite number of issues is immense. The problem however comes down to visualizing it in order to draw that insight, and as happens typically with data visualizations, the end oftentimes seems easier than the means. Read More

British Library Enlists Public Help on Digitizing Cartographic Collection

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31 January 2013 | By Culture 24 | 124

Enthusiasts are being asked to update arguably the greatest map collection in the world. The British Library wants online volunteers to add further insights to its vault of ancient terrains, using Google Earth and location tagging to work out where historic sites might lie today. The last time the library invited the public to help update its collection of more than 4.5 million maps, 708 new additions were made in a week. Read More

Speech Gives Climate Goals Center Stage

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22 January 2013 | By New York Times | 227

Mr. Obama is heading into the effort having extensively studied the lessons from his first term, when he failed to win passage of comprehensive legislation to reduce emissions of the gases that cause global warming. This time, the White House plans to avoid such a fight and instead focus on what it can do administratively to reduce emissions from power plants, increase the efficiency of home appliances and have the federal government itself produce less carbon pollution. Read More