Sundosoft Brings GIS to Korea and other International GIS News

The Korea Times has a feature on Yoon Jay-joon (Jay Yoon), CEO of Sundosoft, a large GIS player in the country. One of the graphics is of a box of ArcGIS 9. I guess 10 is not yet out there.

- Korea Times

Panasonic's new GPS enabled cameras may not work quite right in China. How and exactly why is not clear, but apparently geotagging is illegal in that country.

- GPS Tracklog

Mackenzie District Council in New Zealand is fight against bad GIS data.

"During the last revaluation, it was discovered the information we sent to our valuers was incorrect. This was due to multiple users creating different copies of the data, manipulating the information and treating it as correct," Mr Morris said.

"If council chose to do nothing, the GIS information will get progressively worse.

But the local government does not want to put a dedicated outside person in charge of cleaning up the data. Instead, it's looking into a shared position.

- Stuff.co.nz

The Doolin Coast Guard team in Co Clare Ireland will be the only such unit in the country with a GIS. It'll be run on tablets to increase efficiency in response and planning.

The system also contains up to date information on the locations of caves, popular surfing spots and other areas where the team might be requested to respond to an incident.

It will also aid in incident planning as it contains information such as radio reception blackspots, access routes and helicopter landing sites.

- Clare Herald

Another Woman Uses GIS to Explore Marine World and other Education GIS News

In the Gulf of Thailand, where [SFSU] Associate Professor of Geography Ellen Hines conducts her field work, fishermen, scientists and policymakers know very little about the vulnerable marine life that lives locally.

But she does in part because of the use of GPS and GIS.

- SFSU News

The New Zealand Geospatial Office in collaboration with Eagle Technology has produced a prototype application, currently known as the Educational GIS web portal which aims to introduce the value of GIS to students in New Zealand High Schools.

- FutureGov which seems to source, but does not cite the NZGO blog (please cite, it's the right thing to do!)

H Ramachandran, Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi argues for geography in a piced titled "How to Save the World." In it, he cites some skills those pursuing GIS will/should learn.

Basic skills required are the ability to isolate similarities and diversities, observational skills, the ability to create mental maps and abstraction, and the ability to unravel the relationship between physical and human attributes. It is important to have an ability to analyse, correlate and synthesise as well as to write clearly and cogently. 

Austintown [OH] Fitch [high school] senior Alex While, 17, created a commemorative sign for Ed Wilhelm, a cross country runner for Fitch in the late 1970s who died while trying to save a girl from drowning in 1979. The sign, which also shows a map of Austintown Township Park and the current cross country course route, was installed at the finish line inside the park.

IT Lessoned Learned from NZ Earthquakes and other Government GIS News

Computerworld NZ offers up a great "leasson learned" article with some insight from Chirstchurch City Council IT manager Gavin Till around this year's two earthquakes. Among other quotes, he notes: “The problem was the sheer volume we had to deal with.”

- Computerworld NZ

Hume Council, Australia is working to manage the rabbit population in Sunbury. The plan: map rabbit warrens on a GIS, try different techniquest to limit populations, then check back to see if the effort was successful.

- Subury Leader

Upper West Side [New York] City Councilwoman Gale Brewer wants to use GPS to keep tabs on food trucks, which she says are invading residential areas and driving locals crazy with noise, fumes, and trash.

Her vision: a real time tracking system so that only a limited number of trucks can be in any neighborhood at one time. She also has ideas about making the trucks quieter and greener.

- DNAInfo

City workers in Houston suggested that they've been fixing water main breaks in wealthier neighborhoods. So...

Mayor Annise Parker's office released this map  [[pdf] to show exactly where the city's 4,327 broken water mains have been repaired from June 1st until this week.

- Houston Examiner

International GIS Tidbits

Fiji

In article about mapping in Fiji several interesting tidbits appear. First off, on many Pacific islands GPS is not recognized for surveying, meaning older practices must be used. I also learned:

Satellite sensors work in way similar to a photocopier, so the image is not distorted.

The user can map on the computer screen immediately using satellite information and images.

- Fiji Times

New Zealand

 

"Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) will commit $3.1 million over six years to establish and support the LINZ Data Service."

The data will be open and the ROI is expected to be 10:1.

- Computerworld

Pakistan

The Ministry of Health launched a GIS to monitor and improve salt iodisation programmes across the country. Implemented and funded by the Micronutrient Initiative (MI), the goal is to monitor the manufacture of iodized salt to spread its use in the country where iodine deficiencies are a problem. Still, use of iodized salt has risen from 17 to 80% in the last 10 years. Data in the GIS is updated monthly.

- Express Tribune