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December 2006 eNews


Highlights include ANZLIC Metadata Project update, State Land Information Capture Program, WinGIT member wins international award.

What’s Happening in the WALIS Community?

Merry Christmas from the WALIS Office!

ANZLIC Metadata Project Update

Spatial Technology in Schools

Drainage Project

SLICP

Cadastre Review Working Group

Help Needed from Recent Graduates

WA Atlas Migration

Interragator+ (and new ANZLIC ISO Metadata Profile!)

WinGIT Member Wins International Award

WALIS Stakeholders in the News

Latest Achievements for the Shared Land Information Platform

Polluter to Pay in National First

StreetSmart Travellers Atlas 9th Edition Released

New Information Stimulates Greenfields Exploration

Skills Survey to Highlight Areas of Need

Australian Angle

Marine Mapping Mission Continues in Western Australia

New Cyclone Tracking Map

Australian Geodesy Awarded $15.8m

Interoperability on the Horizon

More than 4,000 Extra Free Publications on ABS Website

New Tsunami Alert System for Australia

ACRES now taking Registration Requests for ALOS Non-commercial Use

Identification Survey of the Spatial Industry in Queensland

News from Around the Globe

Bringing JPEG 2000 into the GeoWeb

Mapping Technology Makes it Really Hard to get Lost

Radar Reveals View of Land beneath Polar Ice

‘Malaria Atlas’ Project Launched

Mapping Homeless Migration Patterns in the US

OGC Announces Geospatial Linking Service Interoperability Experiment

Online Map Linked to Fatal Turn

GIS Major Component of Livestock Health Initiative in Philippines

US National Centre for Safe Routes to School

Upcoming Events

Details of events in Australia and around the world
 

Interesting Website of the Month

 

What’s Happening in the WALIS Community?

Merry Christmas from the WALIS Office!
The WALIS Office wishes the WALIS Community a very happy Christmas and a safe, healthy new year.  2007 promises to be a busy, exciting year!

ANZLIC Metadata Project Update
ANZLIC Council endorsed the ANZLIC Metadata Profile at its meeting on 6 December 2006.  The ANZLIC National Office will provide details on the publication and distribution of the Profile in the near future.  The focus for the ANZLIC Metadata Project will now be the finalisation of the ANLZIC Metadata Profile User Guidelines.  The User Guidelines document is a comprehensive guide to the implementation and use of the Profile.  It is hoped that a draft of the User Guidelines will be available in February 2007.
For more information, contact the Program Manager, Mike Bradford, on mike.bradford@dli.wa.gov.au.

Spatial Technology in Schools
The students may be on holidays, but planning for the Spatial Sciences Institute Spatial Technology in Schools (STiS) competition for 2007 is progressing rapidly.  If you’d like to get involved next year you can register your interest to bronwenc@walis.wa.gov.au.  Participation rates in this competition are expected to grow substantially next year and we’ll need more mentors!

Congratulations to Meegan Maguire, Spatial Technology in Schools Coordinator for the Queensland STiS competition, who was nominated for the Young Spatial Professional of the Year for her exceptional support and innovative approaches to bringing spatial technologies into the classroom.

Drainage Project
A drainage workshop was held in late November where some 50 stakeholders provided input into the current state of play within the drainage field.  A draft report should be available prior to Christmas on the drainage project.  The drainage working group will meet in January to finalise the report feedback and sign off on the report.

SLICP
The SLICP for the 2007/2008 financial year is now open!  Typically, the WALIS Office will declare the program “open” and provide assistance to those compiling the applications (below).  If you have any questions, please contact the WALIS Office by email at slicp@walis.wa.gov.au.

**** Download your 2007-2008 SLICP Application Kit here! ****

The SLICP application kit above contains annual request forms and all accompanying documentation (including background information and examples of how to fill out the request forms).  All requests need to be submitted to the WALIS office by 31 January 2007. 

The application kit above includes:

  • A brief about the SLICP program;
  • A document explaining the process from start to finish;
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs);
  • A document explaining how the program works;
  • The application for data capture;
  • The annual request forms;
  • Supporting notes to the request forms;
  • A supporting statement for partnership opportunities;
  • A map of the projected photo age at the time SLICP 07-08 capture commences;
  • Seven examples of how the forms are filled out (for topographic, infrastructure, aerial photography, ortho-imagery, cadastre, remote sensing (satellite), and bathymetry);
  • A status report on the SLICP review.

For further information contact the WALIS Office at slicp@walis.wa.gov.au or Dan Sandison (email: dans@walis.wa.gov.au  phone: 9273 7037).

Cadastre Review Working Group
A meeting of the Cadastre Review Technical Working Group was held in early December to provide an update on status and review of other developing needs.  Progress was assessed against the issues paper originally compiled by the Working Group which had identified approximately 20 issues to be addressed.  The great majority of these items have either been addressed and are now closed, or have been addressed and warrant only a follow-up ‘watch-brief’ to ensure ongoing procedural compliance.

Three notable issues remain to be addressed:

  • Lot synchronisation: A discussion paper prepared by DLI has been circulated internally and will be circulated to the Technical Working Group in the near future.  There is encouraging receptiveness within DLI to comprehensively address this issue.  A specific technical working group will be established to progress this.
  • The release of digital upgrades of the SCDB in “sections”, which causes considerable work for Local Government, etc., with derived datasets.  Now that the spatial cadastre upgrade is 79% finalised, this problem has substantially diminished, and solution of the Lot Synchronisation issue will further address needs here.  However, it was agreed that a more complete solution model (e.g., Referential Topology) was required to seamlessly ‘ripple’ cadastre updates through to externally derived datasets, and that work should be committed to explore this.  DPI (in liaison with DLI) has already commenced work in this respect.  A separate working group is proposed to provide steerage for this.
  • Storage of survey information relating to strata properties.  DLI confirmed this as an ongoing problem especially for multi-level properties, with no comprehensive solution in sight.  The New Zealand approach provides an image for each floor which can be downloaded, however, this offers no spatial integrity.  Improvements to the current process are being investigated as part of DLI’s SMARTPLAN redevelopment, and external stakeholders will be involved in developments.

Help Needed from Recent Graduates
Recently graduated?  Women in Geographic Information Technology (WinGIT) is looking for people to be involved in the “University Liaison” subcommittee of WinGIT.  If you would like to become a member of this committee and help provide support to women studying GIT, please contact Rebecca Handcock on rebecca.handcock@csiro.au.

WA Atlas Migration
A small focus group of WALIS community members has been reviewing the draft User Interface for the Atlas.  Data migration has commenced, as well as documentation of back end workflows and a re-vamped helpfile and FAQs on the new Atlas.

Interragator+ (and new ANZLIC ISO Metadata Profile!)
The ANZLIC ISO Metadata profile is now signed off!  The WALIS Office is examining the converted metadata to check for errors and is setting up processes for end users to easily check their metadata to ensure the migration was successful.  The metadata will be back-ported to the ASDD to continue to provide information nationally until such time as the ASDD migrates to the new ANZLIC standard.

WinGIT Member Wins International Award
Congratulations to Nat Raisbeck-Brown at the Broome Map Shop for winning the International Map Traders Association awards for Best Map Product and Overall Excellence in Singapore!  Nat runs the most remote map shop in the world and won the award for three satellite images of Roebuck Bay printed on transparency and sandwiched in Perspex.  The ABC news story at http://www.abc.net.au/kimberley/stories/s1798561.htm has more information about Nat’s award.

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WALIS Stakeholders in the News

Latest Achievements for the Shared Land Information Platform
The final SLIP Executive Committee Meeting, before the new WA Spatial Management Group takes over, was held on Friday 1 December 2006.  Grahame Searle, Chief Executive, Department of Land Information, was the keynote speaker at the function and reflected on the achievements of SLIP two years on.  The initiation of SLIP and its success to date have been the result of tremendous collaborative effort across the WA Public Sector and community.  The future, too, is bright for SLIP and with the continued commitment to work together, the possibilities for growth promise that it will be as exciting and fruitful as our past two years. 

Electronic Land Development Process (eLDP)
(Lead Agency:  Department for Planning & Infrastructure)

  • eLDP has implemented the Short Track Pilot system, proving that timelines for approvals of subdivisions can be substantially reduced;
  • eLDP has completed a detailed multi-volume Feasibility Study and associated Business Case, approved by a wide variety of stakeholders in the land development process;
  • The eLDP Business Case will be submitted as part of the DPI Capital Bid: notification of funding success should be available in February 2007.

Key activities for 2007 will be:

  • Continue operation of the Short Track Pilot throughout 2007.  Short Track currently connects six Local Government authorities, DPI, Water Corporation and Western Power; during 2007, it is planned to additionally connect City of Bunbury, Shire of Busselton, AquaWest and Busselton Water.
  • If funding is approved, development of the full SLIP-eLDP system will commence in 2007.

Emergency Management (EM)
(Lead Agency:  Fire & Emergency Services Authority)

  • Implemented governance structures, reporting to the State Emergency Management Committee, coordinating development of SLIP-EM and GIS capability for the State Emergency Management sector;
  • Initiated, and continue to manage, liaison with WA Police Service (Search and Rescue, Counter Terrorism and Special Event Planning), Department of Environment and Conservation (Bushfire), and FESA (Bushfire and HAZMAT) to develop support of State endorsed hazard responsibilities;
  • Implemented the SLIP-EM Pilot system to support State HAZMAT, Search and Rescue, Bushfire, Counter-Terrorism and Special Event Planning activities; including implementing interim data services to support SLIP-EM Pilot services and facilitation within WALIS to undertake data improvement programs for State routable road centreline and integrated drainage datasets;
  • Obtained Commonwealth Funding in support of SLIP-EM and various WALIS agency projects;
  • Published the Emergency Services Directory for the Northern Wheatbelt Emergency Management District.

Key activities for 2007 will be:

  • Extending the SLIP-EM Pilot system and services:

Further customisation and improvement of the Pilot system capabilities;
To accommodate off-line use (particularly for regional operations off-line use);
To ensure various key online service and data providers deliver web services at the required service levels for SLIP-EM use;

  • Publish an Emergency Services Directory covering the South West Emergency Management District;
  • Extending the SLIP-EM Pilot system and services to support additional State endorsed hazard activities, provided that further funding for ongoing operational support for SLIP-EM is approved;
  • Migrate the SLIP-EM Pilot system and services into a fully operational facility, provided that further funding for ongoing operational support for SLIP-EM is approved.

Natural Resource Management (NRM)
(Lead Agency:  Department of Agriculture)

  • NRM has delivered pilot and production releases of a web interface for accessing a wide range of information products (interactive maps and reports) from across the NRM agencies: some 80 datasets are being used to generate information on Soils and Land Degradation Hazards, Wetlands, Coastal, Marine and Aquatic Environments, Native Vegetation and Rare and Priority Flora and Fauna;
  • A data trawl of NRM data sources from State Agencies was completed and used to develop the information products available through the web interface;
  • A prototype testing the integration of crown land information across NRM agencies was also implemented via the web interface, enabling users to interactively update integrated spatial data records for crown reserves;
  • A second phase of work (August 2006 to June 2008) has been funded through the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) and National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP):
Focusing on integrating data and information management between the NRM Agencies and Regional NRM Groups delivering on-ground outcomes;
Producing a second release of the NRM Info portal;
Developing a system for capturing information on the location and detail of regional investment projects;
Developing information management procedures for ongoing delivery of NRM information products via SLIP;
Producing a comprehensive set of information products (interactive mapping, reports and charts) to cover the major NRM reporting themes (Matters for Target); and
Developing information management processes for shared maintenance of NRM information products via SLIP. 

Interest Enquiry (formerly Register of Interests)
(Lead Agency:  Department of Land Information)

  • Interest Enquiry is currently developing the initial prototype system into a new pilot system that will identify all available interests in land where they exist over a selected area and display the result spatially, as well as in a report;
  • System development is scheduled to commence in January 2007 with the current proposed delivery of Release 1 to Landgate account customers at the end of the 2nd Quarter 2007;
  • In the first release, the Interest Enquiry system is planned to provide information about:

Aboriginal Heritage sites;
Emergency Services Levy report;
Unexploded Ordnance report;
Registered Native Title information;
Lodged Native Title information.

  • Future enhancements to Interest Enquiry may include mandatory seller disclosure: research is being undertaken to assess implementing such a solution;
  • A business case is currently being developed to accommodate a full roll-out of the Interest Enquiry system to all users (including the general public) and to progress the availability of industry identified critical datasets.

The Enabling Framework (EF)
(Lead Agency:  Department of Land Information)

  • SLIP-EF has put into place an infrastructure to allow the connection of agencies and data, in the spatial environment;
  • Agencies have already been connected, and data is available through the framework (and used by various pilot systems);
  • Processes are in place to continue rolling out facilities using the framework: in the first half of 2007, more agencies and data will be connected, delivering on the original SLIP Implementation Plan;
  • A Map Viewer and a Catalogue have been procured and implemented, with additional facilities (WA Atlas, WA Interrogator+) being implemented in early 2007;
  • Legally “acceptable” agreements governing the provision and consumption of services (OLA’s and SLA’s) are in progress, and will be put in place throughout 2007;
  • Various policies, including for pricing and charging, are due for delivery in early 2007.

The key activities for 2007 will be:

  • Finalising delivery of the core framework and associated facilities and policies, etc;
  • Transitioning from a development environment into an ongoing operational environment: including implementing support facilities and processes, and consideration of various operational issues such as 24x7 support.

For further details on SLIP, refer to the SLIP Collaboration Portal. 

Polluter to Pay in National First
Australia’s most stringent and progressive contaminated sites legislation came into effect in Western Australia on 1 December.  Announcing the new laws at Leighton Beach, Mark McGowan (then Environment Minister) said a public database listing 50 sites confirmed to be contaminated in WA would go live at 1 pm.  Mr McGowan said the database (http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/contaminatedsites) would be freely available to anyone wanting information on whether or not land was contaminated.  “Other States have various forms of contaminated sites legislation, but we are the only State that has a free public database of contaminated sites and the only State that requires the polluter to pay for the clean-up.”
The Minister said the legislation also makes it mandatory for owners, occupiers and polluters to report known or suspected contaminated sites to the Department of Environment and Conservation.
For more information, read the Media Statement at http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/media/media.nsf/news/277C289A293F306448257237000AA665?opendocument. 

StreetSmart Travellers Atlas 9th Edition Released
The latest edition of the StreetSmart Travellers Atlas of Western Australia provides the most up-to-date information on new roads, rest areas, parks, reserves and forests throughout the State.  The Department of Land Information (DLI) has fully revised its popular and comprehensive 304-page Western Australia touring atlas to include 154 pages of fully indexed and colour coded regional maps.  A variety of mapping scales have been used to provide clearer reading.  A major feature of the 2006 edition is the addition of 20 new regional town-site enlargements, including popular destinations such as Dunsborough, Kununurra, Derby, Bridgetown, Kalbarri, Toodyay and York.  Another new feature is the inclusion of a description of road types, which is extremely helpful for drivers who are travelling in unfamiliar territory.
http://www.dli.wa.gov.au/docvault.nsf/web/MR_DLI_23112006b/$FILE/MR_DLI_23112006b.pdf

New Information Stimulates Greenfields Exploration
Many new mining tenement applications, potentially worth tens of millions of dollars in exploration expenditure alone, have been taken up for under-explored land in the southern Yilgarn, Paterson, Gascoyne and Eastern Yilgarn areas.  The new tenements follow the release of geophysical data from low level flights over large areas of Western Australia as part of a $12million State Government program.  The previous Minister for Resources, John Bowler, said the survey work being undertaken by the Geological Survey of Western Australia was providing valuable information.  “It is very important that greenfields areas are explored to ensure the continued sustainability of WA’s resources industry,” Mr Bowler said.  “The airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys provide the resources sector with valuable data which encourages mining companies to make decisions about applying for new tenements.”
http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/media/media.nsf/news/BE34D2A21436E13E48257230000EA155?opendocument

Skills Survey to Highlight Areas of Need
The State Government is conducting a survey of Western Australian businesses to find out which skills are in demand across the Perth metropolitan area.  Small Business Minister Margaret Quirk said the survey would be conducted by the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) in conjunction with the Federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).  The survey results would assist in establishing where the greatest needs lay for training and recruitment, as well as skilled migration.  The survey, which only takes five minutes, will be conducted over the next few weeks, with staff from the SBDC and DEWR contacting local business operators to ask about their recent recruiting experiences.  The Minister said the information received would be confidential and used only to develop strategies to address training and recruitment issues identified as being of concern.
http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/media/media.nsf/news/636129B405AAC53A4825723E0006B004?opendocument

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Australian Angle

Marine Mapping Mission Continues in Western Australia
Cutting-edge underwater mapping technology is revealing the hidden depths of Western Australia’s sea floor.  The $4.2 million Securing Western Australia’s Marine Futures project, running for just under a year, uses hydroacoustic surveys and underwater video footage to generate state-of-the-art habitat maps of the marine environment from Kalbarri to Eucla.  Funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust and the Western Australian Government, the project is a partnership between the South Coast Regional Initiative Planning Team, the University of Western Australia, Fugro Survey Pty Ltd and natural resource management agencies, with input from stakeholders.  For more information contact Dr. Jessica Meeuwig on (08) 6488 1464.  More detail on the Natural Heritage Trust is at www.nht.gov.au.  For the South-west Marine Bioregional Planning process visit http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mbp/south-west/.  To read the media statement, see http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/env/2006/mr13dec406.html. 

New Cyclone Tracking Map
The Australian Government on 15 December unveiled a graphic new cyclone tracking map which doubles the forecast period of a predicted storm system to 48 hours.  Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for the Bureau of Meteorology, Greg Hunt, announced details of a new Tropical Cyclone Forecast Track Map.  “The colourful visual on the Bureau website will make it easier for people to see where the cyclone has been - and where it is forecast to go,” Mr Hunt said.  “People living in cyclone-prone regions will also welcome the advances in science that allow the forecast period to be doubled to two full days.  The new, enhanced graphics combines features from the original cyclone tracking map launched in 2002 with a separate forecast track, trialled last cyclone season, which showed the 24-hour forecast movement.”
http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/ps/2006/psmr15dec06.html

Australian Geodesy Awarded $15.8m
On 27 November, the Hon. Julie Bishop, the Minister for Department of Education, Science and Training, awarded $15.8 million for Australian Geodesy.  This coupled with State pledges will result in the single largest injection of funds into Australian geodesy ever.  Federal funding is provided under NCRIS (National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy) which is a major initiative under the Government’s “Backing Australia’s Ability - Building our Future through Science and Innovation”.  The bulk of the funds will be spent on building national geodetic infrastructure at an unprecedented level of accuracy.  It and other NCRIS funded infrastructure will be used to build a world’s first, continental-scale, four-dimensional, open access data model of the Australian continent.  It will help researchers make fundamental contributions to understanding and managing our environment, to developing mineral/energy resources, to supporting positioning for a whole new range of GNSS users and applications.  Globally this network will be the single-most important contribution to geospatial instrumentation in the southern Hemisphere.
The Roadmap and the complete list of priority areas for investment are available through the NCRIS website: http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/policies_issues_reviews/key_issues/ncris/

Interoperability on the Horizon
The first public demonstration in Australia of GeoSciML, a new web-based data delivery tool, has been completed at the International Solid Earth and Environmental Grid (SEE Grid) Conference in Canberra.  Geoscience Australia, CSIRO and GeoScience Victoria completed the demonstration in front of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Hon Bob Baldwin MP, and a crowd of earth, environmental and computer scientists. The demonstration highlighted the immediate impact this will provide to the future management and exploration of Australia's natural resources.  “GeoSciML is a new web platform that enables users to access and exchange data between computers, and view internationally standardised information immediately,” Mr Baldwin said.
http://www.ga.gov.au/news/#see

More than 4,000 Extra Free Publications on ABS Website
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has added more than 4,000 extra publications to its collection of free online publications.  The set of mainly historical material includes all ABS publications, national and regional titles, released during 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 including the Australia and State Year Books.  With the addition of this set, the ABS website will hold all ABS publications released from 1994 to the present day.  This latest addition represents a 50% increase in the number of publications that people can view and download for free from the ABS web site at www.abs.gov.au.  Head of the ABS Information Services, Kerrie Duff, said the addition of the material was a large step forward in the ABS mission to encourage informed decision making in the community by making statistics available to the public.
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/BED8D75E1A31C729CA25722F001DF9C6?OpenDocument

New Tsunami Alert System for Australia
A new Tsunami alert system tailored for Australia and Australian conditions commenced operations from 7 December.  Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Greg Hunt, said the Bureau of Meteorology would deliver warnings and advice on possible tsunami activity in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.   Mr Hunt said the Bureau had previously passed on advice from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii and the Japan Meteorological Agency in Tokyo to Australian authorities.  “Now the Bureau will interpret intelligence received from these centres and provide Australian-specific tsunami bulletins to State and Territory emergency services and media,” Mr Hunt said.  “When a major earthquake is detected in our region, the Bureau of Meteorology’s National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, based in Melbourne, will work with Geoscience Australia to interpret the information and issue an initial bulletin through the Bureau's national weather communication network.”  The bulletins are being issued under the existing Australian Tsunami Alert System.
http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/ps/2006/psmr06dec06.html

ACRES now taking Registration Requests for ALOS Non-commercial Use
ACRES is now accepting registration requests from users to have their proposed use of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) data approved as non-commercial.  ACRES will be distributing ALOS data for non-commercial purposes only, so customers must first apply to ACRES to have their proposed use approved and registered as non-commercial.  Before submitting their registration request, customers are advised to become familiar with the content of the new ALOS web pages.  At this stage ACRES is still performing final testing and validation of our new ALOS online ordering system through the ACRES Digital Catalogue. A separate announcement will be made when we are ready to start accepting orders.
For more information, visit http://www.ga.gov.au/acres/whatnew.jsp#ALOSNov. 

Identification Survey of the Spatial Industry in Queensland
As part of wider investigations into understanding the Queensland spatial information industry’s market needs, including a perceived skills shortages within the industry, Queensland Spatial Information Council (QSIC) realised they needed to actually define, understand and establish a base line of businesses and organisations who could be classified as being either ‘within’ the industry or ‘users’ of the industry.  QSIC has recently finalised a draft framework for a proposed identification survey of Queensland businesses and organisations.  The draft Identification Survey of the Queensland Spatial Information Industry outlines the proposed framework and provides a set of draft questions and definitions.  The draft document will be made available soon from the QSIC website under Key Projects.  The QSIO will be seeking feedback in relation to the proposed questions and the definitions used.  For more information, read the QSIC newsletter.

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News from Around the Globe

Bringing JPEG 2000 into the GeoWeb
JPEG 2000 (JP2) is quickly becoming an accepted file format for storing large amounts of geospatial imagery.  This is not just because JP2 is yet another new file format — we certainly have enough of those in our industry already — but rather because of the fundamental capabilities that JP2 technology brings to us.  We described the JP2 technology in detail in an article titled “Image Compression and Intel” in the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of GeoIntelligence magazine (pp 36-41).  A year and a half later, a number of groups around the world are taking the next step: bringing JP2’s capabilities into our geospatial networks — or in other words, into the GeoWeb.
The GeoWeb is one of this year’s industry buzzwords. Like its close cousin Web 2.0, the GeoWeb can be hard to pin down. However, roughly speaking, the GeoWeb is about defining the global geospatial network and doing for geographic data what the World Wide Web originally did for text data: making it shareable, searchable, and ubiquitous.
For more information, visit Geospatial Solutions: http://gismap.geospatial-online.com/gssgismap/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=381763
Source: Geospatial Solutions www.geospatial-online.com

Mapping Technology Makes it Really Hard to get Lost
Soon you'll be able to hail the nearest available taxi, even when you're not sure where you are.  Your mobile phone will provide your precise location to the taxi driver.  In Britain, some insurance companies are already tracking when you use your car and which roads you have taken in calculating rates.  Drivers pay as little as a penny a mile on quiet country lanes and far more on busy and dangerous roadways during rush hours.  Exercise fanatics can now automatically log jogging routes, distance and speed on their mobile phones, so they can measure their performance over time.  Scores of such innovations intended to improve our lives are flowing from the convergence of advanced mapping technology, satellite tracking and wireless communication.  Industry insiders say that navigational services that tell users how to get from here to there have only scratched the surface of what is possible.
For more information, visit http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/mapping-technology-makes-it-really-hard-to-get-lost/2006/12/06/1165081005636.html

Radar Reveals View of Land beneath Polar Ice
In the first test of a new radar instrument, scientists have seen through more than a mile of Greenland ice to reveal an image of land that has been hidden for millions of years.  Ohio State University scientists and their colleagues will use what they learn from the instrument, dubbed GISMO (for Global Ice Sheet Mapping Orbiter), to determine how global climate change will affect the ice.  In the past, scientists who wanted to study Greenland’s ground profile from an aircraft could only acquire data from directly beneath the aircraft.  Those radar profiles were effectively two dimensional - they gave the height of a particular spot of land directly along the thin line of the flight path.  Ken Jezek, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State, and the GISMO team acquired the first effectively three-dimensional image of the ground - in a strip about one and a half kilometres wide, 1.9 kilometres beneath the ice.  They were able to do so because GISMO features multiple, electronically steerable antennas which operate while the airplane is flying, coupled with special processing algorithms.
For more information, visit the Ohio State University website at http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/underice.htm. 

‘Malaria Atlas’ Project Launched
Researchers in Kenya and Britain say they are creating a global map to pinpoint locations where malaria is most likely to strike.  They say it will help fight the mosquito-borne disease by enabling individual countries to work out infection rates and required drugs.  The map should be complete within 18 months.  Writing in the open access journal Plos Medicine, the researchers say they are gathering information for the Malaria Atlas Project (Map).  It will be based on malaria data from past surveys, population censuses and satellite data and other sources.  At present, national reporting of malaria is highly inadequate and is often based on best guesses, the researchers say.
Visit BBC News for more information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6210744.stm. 

Mapping Homeless Migration Patterns in the US
Blogdowntown's Eric Richardson has been building a very useful tool with his employer - a homeless census map of downtown.  The map shows the number and concentration of homeless people living on Skid Row's many corners in two-week increments represented by the LAPD's biweekly homeless counts.  The samples are then set up in javascript layers to show dynamically how the population is shifting geographically from one corner to the next.  While Eric admits the map has limitations of precision, it does seem to be a potentially useful tool for police and for policy-makers to track how their work with homeless people is affecting - or being affected by - the conditions of the streets, buildings and businesses around them.
Visit LAvoice.org for the full story: http://www.lavoice.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2449

OGC Announces Geospatial Linking Service Interoperability Experiment
On 15 January 2007 the Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. (OGC) will launch an Interoperability Experiment on “geospatial linking”.  The Geospatial Linking Service Interoperability Experiment will test methods for linking attribute data (typically records in a database) to those data records’ geospatial representations (typically stored as digital maps) when both data and geospatial representations are stored at separate locations on the Internet.  The experiment is expected to validate the functions of Web services specified in the “Geospatially Linked Data Access Service (GDAS)” and “Geospatial Linking Service (GLS)” OGC Discussion Papers.
For more information, visit the OGC website: http://www.opengeospatial.org/pressroom/pressreleases/647
Source: Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. 

Online Map Linked to Fatal Turn
Questionable directions given by online mapping services could have contributed to the death of James Kim, who perished while trying to save his stranded family.  Kim was driving home from a vacation with his wife and daughters on 25 November when he took a wrong turn and they became lost in the wilderness in Oregon, in north-west US.  Kim left his family on Saturday to find help, but never returned.  When searchers found his lifeless body yesterday, he had already walked 13 kilometres through rugged terrain, wearing only light clothing.  But Kim - undoubtedly tech-savvy given that he worked as a technology reporter for the online publisher CNET - may never have made that fateful wrong turn if he hadn't used the internet to look up directions for his journey, US media reports suggest.
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/online-map-linked-to-fatal-turn/2006/12/08/1165081119464.html

GIS Major Component of Livestock Health Initiative in Philippines
ESRI announces that ArcGIS software is playing a major role in the Philippine government’s Environmental Animal Health Management Initiative (EAHMI), launched earlier this year.  The initiative will analyse animal disease distribution and environmental conditions, identify risk factors, and develop sustainable environmental animal health management strategies for the Philippines and is essential for cost-efficient disease control and sustainable agricultural development.  A core component of the initiative is the establishment of the GIS, which focuses on livestock resources, animal disease distribution, and environmental conditions throughout the country.  The Philippines government’s goal is to strengthen the national capacity in data collection, management, and analysis and develop mathematical models to map disease risk and identify hot spots of potential disease occurrence and environmental concerns through the implementation of GIS technology.
For more information, visit http://www.esri.com/news/releases/06_4qtr/livestock_health.html. 

US National Centre for Safe Routes to School
The National Centre for Safe Routes to School has launched a new website, located at www.saferoutesinfo.org, offering a resource to assist communities in enabling and encouraging children to walk and bicycle to school in the US.  The site is a comprehensive Safe Routes to School reference manual which includes nine chapters and two pull-out guides on topics such as how to start a Safe Routes to School program, information on engineering, enforcement, encouragement and education.  Established in May 2006, the National Centre for Safe Routes to School assists communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bike to school. The Centre strives to equip Safe Routes to School programs with the knowledge and technical information to implement safe and successful strategies.
http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/news_room/2006-09-15_web_site_launch.cfm

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Upcoming Events

Map World Forum
22-25 January 2007, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India
Map World Forum will be a medium of convergence of various stakeholders of global geospatial community and its integration with end users of geospatial information.  The Forum will encourage various international professional societies focusing on different sub domains of geospatial community to discuss latest developments and its integration with other sub-domains.  For more information, visit http://www.mapworldforum.org/.

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Interesting Website of the Month

Mappy Hour
You are thirsty.  You want a beverage and you want it cheap!  Click on a happy city, or anywhere on the map, to zoom in and display nearby bars and their happy hour specials.
http://mappyhour.nerl.net/index.php

 

 

Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is provided for general information purposes.  It does not constitute professional or expert advice and you must not use or rely upon it for that purpose.  WALIS and the State of Western Australia, do not guarantee and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness and reliability of the information contained in this newsletter.  The opinions contained in the information do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WALIS or the State of Western Australia.  Links to other Internet sites are provided for your convenience only and they do not constitute an endorsement, approval or recommendation of the material contained in those other Internet sites.  It is your responsibility to evaluate the relevance, accuracy, completeness and reliability of material contained in those other Internet sites.