Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
New nature zones covering hundreds of thousands of hectares are to be set up across England, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman revealed today. The 12 Nature Improvement Areas (NIA) announced today will each get a share of £7.5 million to create wildlife havens, restore habitats and encourage local people to get involved with nature. Read More
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Satellite navigation systems maker TomTom said on Tuesday it had booked a 31% drop in sales in the final quarter of 2011, booking net profit of €12m, compared with €52m in the year-earlier period. In particular, consumer sales of its satnav systems were down 40% in the fourth quarter and 28% over the full year, in
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
GIS is helping to tell the story of Gareth Morgan’s ‘Our Far South’ expedition to Antarctica. The objective of the expedition is to raise New Zealander’s awareness of the importance of the area between Stewart Island and the South Pole. This includes highlighting the reasons why this area is so valuable, the threats it is
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
CoPilot GPS will let users download maps onto their iOS device to use, even when they’re not connected to a network. The app will offer mapping capabilities, including millions of pre-installed points of interest, as well as route-planning capabilities. To that end, CoPilot GPS will deliver many of the same features found in ALK’s CoPilot Live
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
The Utah House of Representatives gave its approval to the first of multiple bills that would require the federal government to turn over land in Utah to the state or local governments. The House gave the nod to Rep. Ken Sumsion’s House Bill 511 which would empower counties and cities to use eminent domain to gain
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
A document setting out the objectives of a Strategic Plan for Environment and Development, to replace the 20-year-old Structure Plan, was unveiled for public consultation today. The Minister for Tourism and the Environment, Mario de Marco said the plan focused more on redevelopment of already used land, and the de-coupling of development and economic growth. Read
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
The European Space Agency (ESA) is developing 3-D imaging lidar as a navigation aid for deep-space exploration. Lidar operates in the same fashion as radar but with shorter wavelengths since it uses light rather than radio waves. A pulsed laser beam scans targets by measuring the time it takes for the light to bounce back;
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Climate change is one of the major present-day priorities. Business houses have begun to acknowledge the phenomenon. They are concerned about climate change, and the systemic and sector-specific risks associated with it. Owing to the high levels of risk faced by countries such as India, the immediate need to shift to a low carbon growth path
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
At its February 24, 2012 meeting, the URISA Board of Directors again considered the draft Sierra Club vs. Orange County, California amicus brief. A Board motion to sign an earlier version of the brief on February 2 failed to pass a vote.
Monday, February 27th, 2012
To ensure safety at sea in the vulnerable fjords of Svalbard Norway is establishing a system for compulsory pilotage on the Arctic Archipelago. Compulsory pilotage in the fjords of Svalbard is an issue that has been discussed for many years. Many of the fjords on Svalbard are quite dangerous with strong torrents and narrow fairways.
