In the Spotlight

Topcon Europe Positioning introduces ‘next-generation' field controller technology with its new FC-250. The FC-250 is designed to give users increased power and performance in a rugged and compact unit.

Political and financial instability remain a feature of the business landscape as a result of the recession, according to Aon Risk Services, the global risk management and insurance brokerage business of Aon Corporation. The company launched its 17th annual Political Risk Map in a global webcast January 27th 2010.

Many readers will not be able to place West Lindsey on the map. But most readers will have heard of the ‘Dam Busters'. Well, the Dam Busters - 617 Squadron - took off from RAF Scampton in what is now West Lindsey, with very few lights showing, on their way to the Ruhr in 1943.

Trimble introduced a new version of its Trimble 4D Control software, the core of Trimble monitoring solutions, that combines Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and optical technologies for real-time deformation monitoring applications. The software is ideal for monitoring dams, bridges, buildings, pipeline support piers, large-scale construction and excavation sites, underground and open pit mines, landslides, tunnels, and other structures.

FME 2010 introduces innovative new capabilities that deliver greater efficiency and flexibility in accessing spatial data, while providing a wider variety of deployment options to enable tight integration

Publishing Company CMedia Productions offers its magazines through mobile immediately. This means that all on line messages of GeoInformatics can be read on mobile phones from now on. The interest in mobile Internet is growing. This is not only because of lower prices, but also because of better techniques such as larger screens, faster data traffic techniques (EDGE/UMTS/HPSDA) and special data cards for laptops.

The spatial data infrastructure (SDI) field goes back twenty years but it did not really take off until about ten years ago. Since then it has been transformed by two momentous developments. The first of these is the accelerated diffusion of SDIs throughout the world during the last ten years. As a result, most countries in Europe have now taken steps to implement at least one component of a national SDI. The INSPIRE initiative has played an important role in promoting this diffusion process in Europe but similar developments have taken place throughout the whole world.

3D laser scanning industry leader Leica Geosystems held its 7th annual worldwide user conference specifically for users of its High-Definition Surveying (HDS) laser scanning products

This year’s 250-th anniversary of the invention of the famous watch H-4 that ultimately resolved the longitude problem and the 400-th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope is also an opportunity to look at geodesy as a science of measuring the Earth’s shape as a function of time. The paper gives an insight in some basic developments and describes the historical development of geodesy by pointing out and demonstrating the relations between the Earth’s shape, geolocation and time measurements from the ancient times to the present time.