| May 2007 |
| China cracks down on illegal
surveying, mapping |
China continues cracking down
on illegal surveying and mapping
and investigate and punish leaks of
state secrets, said an of?cial from
the State Bureau of Survey and
Mapping (SBSM). Seven government
departments including SBSM, Ministry
of Information Industry and National
Administration for Protection of State
Secrets have pledged to strengthen
control of the geographical information
market. A total of 759 cases of illegal
surveying and mapping were found in
2006, and many of the cases involved
foreign organizations and individuals.
Last year, two Japanese scholars
were ?ned a total of 80,000 yuan and
deported for mapping the coordinates
of an airport and water facilities
in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region. It was feared their results
could be used for military purposes. |
| Singapore police gets
vehicle tracking system |
Astrata Group Inc.has supplied a
Vehicle Tracking and Immobilization
System for Singapore’s Police Force.
The Police were able to monitor
a ?eet of cement mixers that had
been ?tted with tracking solution
and had been granted access to a
restricted area (where most vehicles
were denied during the conference). http://houston.dbusinessnews.com |
| In Iran, cheetahs collared
with GPS devices |
An international team of scientists led
by the Wildlife Conservation Society
working in Iran has successfully
?tted two Asiatic cheetahs with
GPS collars. This would help track
highly endangered population of
big cats. http://caribjournal.com |
| South Korea aims to develop
GPS-guided missiles |
According to the Defense Acquisition
Program Administration, South
Korea would spend 43 billion won
to develop GPS-guided missiles by develop GPS-guided missiles by
2012. The project is aimed
at equipping currently-used
missiles on ?ghter jets with
the advanced navigational
and surveying system. http://
english.yonhapnews.co.kr |
| Research leads to more
ef?cient in-car GPS |
Researchers at the University
of New South Wales (UNSW),
Australia, have developed
the ?rst receiver that can pick
up both the L1 and L2C GPS
frequencies, as well as the signal
from the ?rst prototype Galileo
satellite.
www.sciencedaily.com |
| GLONASS should be
cheaper and better |
The global navigation system
GLONASS should be cheaper
and of better quality than the
GPS system. A total sum of
9.88 billion rubles (USD 380 million) has been earmarked for GLONASS program in 2007. In
2006, the ?gures were 23 billion rubles,
respectively. According to Russia’s
Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov,
Russian global navigation satellite
system will be put into operation
by the end of the year orbiting 18
space aircrafts of the GLONASS
system by the end of 2007. www.
kommersant.com, http://en.rian.ru |
| Poland deploys nationwide
GNSS infrastructure network |
Trimble has been chosen by the
Polish National Of?ce of Geodesy
and Cartography, GUGiK, to supply
78 Continuous Operating Reference
Station (CORS) receivers and
Trimble VRS (Virtual Reference
Station) technology to establish a
nationwide GNSS infrastructure
network. The VRS network will
provide a geospatial infrastructure
for surveying, engineering and
GIS professionals that enable
high accuracy real-time kinematic
(RTK) GNSS positioning without
the need of separate base stations
or software. www.trimble.com |
| GPS breakthrough set to
revolutionise undersea navigation |
Engineers working for
the US Of?ce of Naval
Research have found
a simple way to let
submarines and divers
get an accurate GPS
?x. It may lead to a
revolution in navigation,
as GPS would not
work underwater due
to the inability of radio
signals to pass through
water. According to New
Scientist, a base station is
tethered to the seabed at known
depth and known GPS location. A submersible
anywhere in the area sends out a sonar request
pulse to which the base station replies with a
signal that gives its GPS position and depth,
as well as the bearing angle from which such
request arrived. The submersible then uses
its own depth, the round trip pulse time, and
the bearing angle sent by the base to calculate
its own position. www.dailyindia.com |
| GPS to be used for identifying
unauthorised hoardings |
| GPS shall be used to reduce visual
pollution caused by illegal hoardings
across New Delhi, India, which will
help in keeping illegal hoarding at
bay. A private agency will identify
unauthorised hoardings, prepare
an exhaustive data about them and
constantly update of?cials on their
status. All authorised hoarding shall
have a computer chip that will carry
its unique identi?cation number that
can be traced. www.hindu.com |
GPS navigation plan
to help blind |
Il Village, a ?rm in Turin in northern
Italy has been developing a service
called Easy Walk aimed at giving
blind people greater independence
and mobility. It uses a mobile phone
that runs the Symbian operating
system, a small Bluetooth GPS
receiver, text to speech software called
Talks (though rival products are also
compatible) and a call centre that
will operate around the clock seven
days a week. http://news.bbc.co.uk |
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