Indian Ministry or Earth Science Focuses on Developing Tsunami Early Warning System

In an interview conducted with Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Science (Government of India), we discussed the use of GIS in developing a tsunami warning system that was begun shortly after the Indonesian tsunami in December 2004. India recognized a need for a rapid response system for tsunami warning. His department instituted a program to develop a three-part system using sensor systems to monitor tides, ocean bottom pressure recorders, and other coastal monitoring stations. He emphasized the need to acquire data in real-time. However, in order to enact a warning system that was accurate, there was a need to establish a huge database of tsunami models.

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Creating a Sustainable Lens…a Digital Globe: Remote Sensing CEO’s Offer Future Vision

Two remote sensing technology CEOs offered provocative insights into how they will conduct their companies in the near future at the Map World Forum in Hyderabad, India today. Jill Smith of DigitalGlobe wants her company to proactively collect imagery of regions of the world where climate change or other problems might be of interest to the global geospatial community. Dr. Robert Moses of PCI Geomatics believes that one day we will use a web service to query and analyze for change detection in a region using not only a time-series of remotely-sensed imagery but advanced classification algorithms to automatically map and highlight the affected areas. "The greatest opportunity is to enable a true model using all of the available sensors," said Moses.

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Geospatial Industry in India: “I do not see any specific slow down” Says Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Science

It’s rare that a politician can wax prophetically on geospatial technology. Maybe it’s his training as a lawyer, but Shri Kipal Sibal, India’s Minister of Science & Technology, can articulate better than most any geospatial technologist a vision for what’s needed to expand opportunity in his country.

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Vice President of India Offers Sobering Insights of Geospatial Technology

The comments of the Vice President of India, Shri M Hamid Ansari, were sobering. While recognizing the true benefits of geospatial technology, he offered as many cautions as kudos. The full text of his speech to the Map World Forum delegates is recommended reading because it not only points to the advantages but the dangers of more open access to geospatial information.

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