Friday 2 November 2012

Elsevier and the Society of Economic Geologists Deliver 107 Years' Worth of Scientific Maps through Geofacets


Elsevier and the Society of Economic Geologists Deliver 107 Years' Worth of Scientific Maps through Geofacets
New collaboration will create unmatched resource for geoscientists in metals and mineral exploration by January 2013
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, medical and technical information products and services, today announced its collaboration with the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) to incorporate thousands of maps from SEG's leading journal, Economic Geology, into Geofacets, Elsevier's premier research tool for geoscientists working in exploration for the metals, mining, and oil and gas industries.
The move underlines Elsevier's continued drive to accelerate geoscientists' discovery of hard-to-find scientific maps through Geofacets, supporting confident decision-making in a high-risk exploration environment. This collaboration particularly boosts Geofacets' ability to support metals and mineral exploration, given SEG's well-established footing in the industry. By January 2013 the joint venture will add a further 14,800+ maps collated over the past 107 years from Economic Geology into Geofacets, bringing the total maps within the research tool to more than 240,000.
"A significant part of SEG's mission is to disseminate geological information and aid those working in exploration, mineral resource appraisal, mining and metal extraction," said Brian Hoal, Executive Director at SEG. "Collaborating with Elsevier to make our maps and information much easier to discover, and therefore easier to apply to their work, will help geoscientists combat specific industry challenges such as low drilling success rates and the increasing difficulty in finding new ore bodies."
"We see and hear excitement from our users in the metals and mining industry every time we mention the upcoming integration of SEG content into Geofacets," said Phoebe McMellon, Senior Product Manager Geofacets at Elsevier. "By incorporating the unique content of such a renowned society as SEG, we are able to help Geofacets users discover critical, niche content that could otherwise remain buried in volumes and centuries' worth of publications."
Attendees of XVI Peruvian Geological Congress & SEG 2012 Conference in Peru from the 23rd - 26th of September 2012 will be able to preview Geofacets at exhibit booth No. 64. This conference is being held jointly with the Geological Society of Peru, and brings together members of the industry to share scientific and technical knowledge..

PHILIPPINE REGION TO USE GIS TO MONITOR SOCIAL DEVT PROJECTS


PHILIPPINE REGION TO USE GIS TO MONITOR SOCIAL DEVT PROJECTS
After finding out irregularities in social development projects allotted to several provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), local officials together with its partner NGOs are taking their project monitoring and evaluation a notch further by leveraging quantum GIS.
Quantum GIS is a free and open source desktop GIS application that provides users with data viewing, editing, and analysis capabilities. According to Darwin Rasul, Assistant Secretary at the ARMM’s Office of Special Concerns (OSC), local officials discovered awarded contracts for the construction of school buildings worth millions of pesos but was recently found out to be non-existent.
“When you look at the project report, you can see the projects that have already been awarded and bid out, the mobilisation funds already released. But when you check on the ground there is nothing,” he said. By using Quantum GIS, local authorities will be able to improve their project monitoring efforts by Geotagging projects to inform decision makers on what projects have been implemented, their exact location and how they are progressing.
Rasul said that 11 OSC coordinators in the provinces of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Lanao Del Sur and Maguindanao had undergone a five-day intensive training on how to fully maximise the software and to use cameras with GPS to geotag projects. He explained that with the system place, it will now make it easier to check whether the photos which the coordinators took on the ground matched data in the group’s database.
“Once we discover something anomalous, then we report it to the governor for proper action,” he said.

GIS NEWS :Nigeria: Google Moves to Boost Africa Regional Map Developers


Nigeria: Google Moves to Boost Africa Regional Map Developers
Google recently played host to Africa Map Developers' conference in Lagos, with a view to understanding their challenges and to share fresh ideas that would enhance their skills and performances, while using the Google Map application tools. Google Map Developers where drawn from various African regions and were given special briefing for two days, on new developments from the Google Map application tools.
The conference provided ample opportunities for regional map developers to share their challenges and successes in map creation. Fielding questions from journalists, Senior Product Manager, Google Map Maker, Mr. Jayanth Mysore, who led a team of three Google staff to the Lagos conference, said the conference was the latest in a series of mapping community forums that Google had been holding across the world in the past year.
According to him, there is no business relationship existing between Google Map Developers and Google itself, except that the developers make use of the Google Map tools available online to perfect their creative skills in map development."The maps pass through various editing and must be accepted by all developers from the particular region from where the map was developed, before getting Google's approval for uploading on the Google Map," Mysore said.
Speaking at the conference, Google Africa Community Manager, Mr. Evans Arabu said, “Regional conferences create opportunities for volunteer map developers, community leaders, and Google team members to meet each other and discuss how to strengthen the mapping communities in their neighbourhood. We are thrilled to see that the mapping efforts in Africa have been greatly supported by different countries."
The recent addition of Lesotho as a country open for editing via Google Map Maker, was announced at the Lagos conference. Also announced was the ongoing mapping initiative for all university campuses in sub-Saharan Africa. A number of universities had already been mapped including University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Benson Idahosa University (BIU) and Ahmadu Bello University, among others across Africa.
Google Map Maker provides opportunity to add and update geographic information for millions of users to see in Google Maps and Google Earth.
By sharing information about business places in towns or building names on school campus, it paves way for accurate mapping of the world around people, Mysore said, adding that updates are reviewed, and once approved, will appear online for people from all over the world to see."You can use Map Maker to make updates and improve the comprehensiveness of the areas you are familiar with in more than 200 countries and regions worldwide," he added.
During the two day conference, super map developers had the opportunity to interact with Google Map Maker engineers and Programme Managers, make presentations, provide useful information from across the continent, during a panel discussion.
For further information visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/201208270142.html

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