In the Spotlight

The world cultural heritage city of Salzburg was the setting for the annual conference of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG). The IAMG2011 conference was a forum for exchanging ideas on theory and the practical application of a broad spectrum of mathematical geosciences concepts, addressing a wide range of geoscientists and civil engineers, and providing opportunities for students and young scientists to engage with some of the best geosciences minds in the world.

In a landmark deal, itmsoil Holdings signed a preferred supplier agreement with Topcon Europe B.V. for itmsoil to utilise Topcon’s MS AX high accuracy total station range for their monitoring projects around the Globe. itmsoil is a specialist in the design, manufacture, installation and monitoring of geotechnical and structural instrumentation. To complement their geotechnical portfolio, itmsoil have chosen to use Topcon’s MS AX range of geodetic sensors, thanks to significant product feature benefits, reliability and the operational cost savings that will be realised. The MS AX will be used on projects that itmsoil is involved with throughout the world.

The RL-SV2S is a tool for any general construction or engineering project. It has an operating range (radius) of 400m so it has the power to cover even the biggest job sites.

Over the next five years, the Bavarian Agency for Surveying and Geographic Information (Landesamt für Vermessung und Geoinformation Bayern (LVG)) will equip all of their Cadastral Offices with the latest total station technology from Leica Geosystems. The LVG has 51 state survey offices with 22 satellite offices in Bavaria, which between them manage and continuously update the official land survey register containing over 10 million plots of land.

The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand’s South Island. It is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand. The river has a mean flow of 203 cubic meters per second and a mean annual seven-day low flow of 87 cubic meters per second. It rises in the Southern Alps, travelling 150 kilometers in a generally easterly or southeasterly direction before entering the Pacific Ocean 50 kilometers south of Christchurch. For much of its journey, the river is a braided river, running through a wide shingle bed. Close to Mount Hutt, however, it is briefly confined to a narrow canyon known as the Rakaia Gorge.

Autodesk, a provider of 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, and Pitney Bowes Software, a provider of customer data, location intelligence, analytics and communication software and services, announced they have entered into a strategic alliance agreement. The new agreement will serve as a framework for both companies to provide resources, services and solutions to help infrastructure owners and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organisations make more informed decisions and drive greater efficiencies across the plan, design, build, manage lifecycle of infrastructure.

The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next generation Global Positioning System has delivered the program’s pathfinder spacecraft to the company’s Denver-area facility. The pathfinder, known as the GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST), will now undergo final assembly, integration and test activities in a new facility designed to maximize efficiencies and reduce costs of satellite production.

Using Esri Community Analyst, the City of Fullerton, California, won a State of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Planning Grant. The grant will be used to explore opportunities for a transit loop extension, including a fixed-route trolley, in the downtown area. City staff used Community Analyst to gather information on the number of households and local employment statistics required to complete the grant application.

The Mauritius Police GIS (MPGIS) is a customized GIS application for Mauritius Police Force (MPF). MPGIS is part of the CCTV for Port Louis and Grand Bay project (CCTV System), which is a Chinese Foreign Aid project for Mauritius, and is designed for reducing crime in Port Louis and Grand Bay of Mauritius.