International Tidbits
Ireland
Ireland may have postcodes by year’s end.
The Cabinet agreed to the procurement system for the national postcodes at its last meeting before Christmas, Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has confirmed. The process to award the contract for the project – with estimated costs of less than €15 million – will be completed by summer.
Korea
Seoul City Tuesday added information about 22 walking tour courses and other cultural programs to its GIS portal (gis.seoul.co.kr).
Phillipines
Today, the city [Manduaue] will launch its Geographic Information System (GIS) at Robinland. The system will display information on the status of a business establishment. A color-coded map of Mandaue City will show whether establishments have paid taxes (green), are due for collection (red), or have paid taxes but still lack other requirements (yellow).
Kenya
Google is mapping Korogocho, one of Nairobi’s informal settlements. Volunteers are trained and do the work. It’s unclear if they go into the field.
China
Beijing Red Cross Foundation (BRCF) will offer 20,000 GPS cellphones to the city’s primary and secondary school students for their safety.
In addition to talking and text message functions, the watch-shaped cellphone allows parents to locate where their children are, according to officials with the Hongxian Fund under BRCF.
Students are not to use them while at school, unless there’s an emergency. Parents pay about US$127 for the phones and two years of service.
- TMC Net
