News
See a geographical representation of news
-
Esri and Microsoft partner up for disaster management Wed Jul 25 2012Esri and Microsoft have announced a cooperation alliance to assist public and private agencies and communities during disasters. Microsoft will display Esri's public information maps on its cloud-based Disaster Response Incident Portal, and it will also point citizens to the maps via its online outlets. Esri's ArcGIS integration within a number of Microsoft's disaster response management...
-
UN-SPIDER co-organizes Capacity Building event in Sri Lanka Tue Jul 24 2012As a follow-up to a UN-SPIDER Technical Advisory Mission to Sri Lanka in October 2011, UN-SPIDER and the Disaster Management Centre of Sri Lanka are organizing a Capacity Building event from 14-17 August 2012. Supported by the Uwa-Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, the United Nations Development Programme Sri Lanka and the National Disaster Reduction Centre of China, the event will focus on space...
-
Avanti provides prepaid satellite internet access Tue Jul 24 2012The private company Avanti launched a prepaid satellite internet access for Europe that will make internet broadband available even for remote places. This service across Europe offers a high-speed Internet connection with no monthly subscription fees. Avanti’s second satellite, HYLAS2, will launch on 2 August 2012. It will extend Avanti’s coverage to Africa, Caucasus and the Middle...
-
Geoscience Australia makes Landsat imagery freely available Tue Jul 24 2012Geoscience Australia (GA) will soon publish free satellite images in near real time. The images will be captured by the satellite Landsat 8, expected to launch in early 2013 and to be fully operational by May or June of that year. They will be published online under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. “We want to make as much data freely available as possible,”...
-
DigitalGlobe buys GeoEye Tue Jul 24 2012DigitalGlobe Inc has struck a deal to buy GeoEye Inc for $453 million, creating the world's largest provider of commercial satellite imagery. These two companies are the only suppliers of commercial satellite imagery to U.S. spy and military agencies. They are joining forces ahead of drastic cuts expected in the U.S. defense budget. Moreover, the combined company aims to prompt its commercial and...
-
Myanmar launches disaster risk reduction portal Mon Jul 23 2012Myanmar's Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD), the nodal agency for Disaster Management in Myanmar, launched an online portal for wider dissemination of policies, guidelines, manuals and activities regarding disaster risk reduction. The launch ceremony was organized on 16th July 2012 at Nay Pyi Taw and was chaired by the Deputy Director General of Relief and Resettlement Department, Ministry...
-
Camera on board of ISS to provide post-disaster imagery Mon Jul 23 2012A remote-controlled Earth-observing camera system called ISERV (International Space Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System) will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's third H-II Transfer Vehicle this week. Once installed, the system will be directed by researchers on the ground to acquire imagery of specific...
-
World Food Programme launches online version of Africa RiskViewer Mon Jul 23 2012The World Food Programme (WFP) has made available an online version of the Africa RiskView software platform that aims to quantify and monitor weather-related food security risk in Africa. To date it focuses on drought, but inclusion of other weather risks is planned. Africa RiskView translates satellite-based rainfall information into near real-time impacts of drought on...
-
Knowledge Portal: Advisory Missions section re-launched Mon Jul 23 2012Advisory Missions are at the heart of UN-SPIDER's efforts on the national level to ensure that all countries and international or regional organizations have the capacity to use all types of space-based information to support risk and disaster management. These efforts are now presented to Knowledge Portal users in the relaunched Advisory Missions section of the Portal. Interested users can...
-
Conference announcement: Risk Assessment in the Context of Global Climate Change Mon Jul 23 2012Jointly with the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, UN-SPIDER is organising the international conference "Risk Assessment in the Context of Global Climate Change". The Conference will take place on 7-9 November 2012 at Zhongmin Plaza, Beijing. Topics will cover the role of space technology for implementing the outcomes of the recent Rio+20 conference as...
-
Free Memberships at IGS for low income nations Fri Jul 20 2012At its recent meeting, the GSDI Board of Directors passed a motion that allows individuals in low and very low income nations to join the International Geospatial Society (IGS) without fees by providing specific information of value to the global community in lieu of annual cash dues. To qualify for free membership in the International Geospatial Society applicants must both be a citizen of and...
-
Caribbean: Flood Risk Reduction System Developed Thu Jul 19 2012The member states of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) now have a model flood risk reduction system in place, which can contribute to protecting the lives and property of people at the community level. The system has been developed under the Caribbean Disaster Management Project Phase 2 (CADM2). The CADM2 was implemented from January 2009 to June 2012 by the CDEMA...
-
Understanding Risk Forum: Importance of satellite data stressed Thu Jul 19 2012The risk of natural disasters can be reduced by understanding our environment and the fundamental forces that shape it. Earth-observing satellites can provide vital information to mitigate and prepare for disasters. These data can support risk assessment for a range of hazards, from hydrometeorological risks to geo-hazards such as landslides and terrain subsidence. This was one of the topics...
-
NASA celebrates 40 years of Earth Observation Wed Jul 18 2012NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT, Monday, July 23, to highlight the accomplishments of the world's longest-running Earth-observing satellite program - Landsat. The briefing will be held at the Newseum at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, and feature extensive imagery of our changing planet and local U.S. landscapes. In cooperation with the...
-
Afghanistan the First Country Mapped using Broad Scale Hyperspectral Data Wed Jul 18 2012For the first time, about 70 percent of a country has been mapped using an advanced remote sensing technique known as hyperspectral imaging. In order to assist Afghanistan in understanding their abundant natural resources, in particular the development of an economically viable minerals market, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability...
-
ESA Call for study proposals: Improving disaster response capacity Tue Jul 17 2012ESA's Integrated and Telecommunications related Applications Department (IAP) launched an open competitive Invitation to Tender (ITT) for Improving Disaster Response Capacity. It calls for feasibility study proposals aiming to satisfy the needs and constraints of the relevant users and other stakeholders and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations through the use of...
-
El Nino phenomenon: Impacts predicted for late 2012 Tue Jul 17 2012Climate indicators for an El Nino event in the western Pacific have eased slightly in the past fortnight, but meteorologists still expect the weather pattern in late 2012. The pattern typically brings below average rainfall for the Asia Pacific region, threatening the yields of agricultural crops, while America is often hit by wetter than average weather. El Nino indicators such as the Southern...
-
ESA hands over weather satellite for operations Tue Jul 17 2012ESA's weather satellite MSG-3 has smoothly traveled 36 000 km above the Equator. The satellite is now nearly in its geostationary orbit, drifting slowly east toward its final orbit position. With MSG-3 healthy and now in its place of work, ESA has handed operations over to Eumetsat, the European Organisation for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, who then commissions the payload and...
-
Crowdsourcing: Singapore Land Authority offers map-based tools Mon Jul 16 2012The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) recently launched “OneMap Crowd Sourcing Tools” to provide organisations with map facility to locate interactive activities and information. OneMap Crowd Sourcing Tools is a beta set of map-based tools that community, and organisations or Non-Governmental Organisations can use to facilitate crowd sourcing and create a function on their websites where...
-
Australia becomes Landsat 8 partner Mon Jul 16 2012Australia became an international collaborator on the new US-satellite mission Landsat 8, under an agreement signed on 12 July 2012 with the United States Geological Survey. Landsat 8, the latest in the series of Landsat satellites, is expected to launch in January 2013. It will continue almost forty years of operation of the Landsat series of land observing satellites, part of the Landsat Data...
