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..

For further information visit: http://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=1122133&printerfriendly=1

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.

For further information visit: http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2012/sep/21/philippine-region-use-gis-monitor-social-devt-proj/

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

BlueTooth Speaker

Harman JBL OnBeat aWake, is Blue tooth Speaker. Special for Ipad, Iphone, Ipod.

details : http://goo.gl/w4wjf

4K TV Sony Bravia KD - X9000

4K TV Sony Bravia KD - X9000

               4 time better resolution with 3480X2160 compared currently available TVs. 84 inch size, 3D technology, Simulview mode for PlayStation 3. Spectacles for HD 3D. Surround Sound, Wifi, Ethernet, 4 HDMI Out, USB Multimedia Playback

detials : http://goo.gl/W2rgs

GIS NEWS : Locating Earthquake Victims, New GIS Tools, now in the Cloud

Locating Earthquake Victims, New GIS Tools, now in the Cloud

New tools to locate victims of earthquakes, and global information systems, to be featured at Global Humanitarian conference in Seattle. The world's first reliable earthquake victims locator, new global information systems (GIS) platforms, latest cloud based tools to be featured at IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference October 21 -24, 2012 in Seattle, Washington.

If there is a major earthquake over five points on the Richter scale this app automatically and instantaneously sends an email out to say you've been in an earthquake, says Australian business leader Adam Wells, developer of Earthquake Buddy to be featured at the conference. And if you're not heard from within, say thirty minutes, that they can come and find you.

Earthquake Buddy is an app downloaded from the iPhone App Store and has no monthly fees. Its the worlds first, nothing else like it, says Wells. During an earthquake anywhere in the world people preselected will receive a notice from the cloud. From international seismic feeds there will be a tagged map of where you were when the earthquake happened, says Wells.

Also featured at the conference and using new cloud enabled technology is a GIS platform that enables relief agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) to see the real world around them in fine geographic detail. We've found ways to abstract nearly everything that could be seen in the real world, says David Gadsden, who is leading the nonprofit organization program for the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri). This is really a paradigm shift for Esri technology, and GIS technology globally. Prior to the roll out of the cloud it really took some investment in infrastructure to implement GIS across an organization.

Both Wells and Gadsden made their comments on the Science News Radio Network program, the Promise of Tomorrow with Colonel Mason which is covering the conference. The program originates in Dallas, Texas, and is now archived and Webcast for its world audience. Wells spoke by phone from a site on the bay in Sidney, Australia, and Gadsden from his office in Olympia, WA.

Solutions to cure the worlds greatest human problems will get a thorough study at the conference, produced by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). More information on conference technical sessions, website registration, hotel reservations and exhibiting is available at the website www.ieeeghtc.org

For further information visit: http://www.examiner.com/article/locating-earthquake-victims-new-gis-tools-now-the-cloud

Testing Mars and Moon soil for sheltering astronauts from radiation

Testing Mars and Moon soil for sheltering astronauts from radiation

Humans venturing beyond Earth orbit deeper into space face increased exposure to cosmic radiation, so ESA have teamed with Germany’s GSI particle accelerator to test potential shielding for astronauts, including Moon and Mars soil.

ESA’s two-year project is assessing the most promising materials for shielding future astronauts going to the Moon, the asteroids or Mars.“We are working with the only facility in Europe capable of simulating the high-energy heavy atomic nuclei found in galactic cosmic radiation – the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany,” explained Alessandra Menicucci, overseeing the project.

“We assessed materials including aluminium, water, polyethylene plastic, multilayer structures and simulated Moon and Mars material – the latter on the basis these will be accessible to planetary expeditions.

Lunar soil simulant

“We have also confirmed a new type of hydrogen storage material holds particular promise.”Space is awash with charged particles, meaning that astronauts are officially classed as radiation workers. The International Space Station orbits within Earth’s magnetic field, safeguarding its occupants from the bulk of space radiation. To venture further out, dedicated shielding will be required.

Space radiation comes from the Sun – in the form of intense but short-lived ‘solar particle events’ – as well as galactic cosmic radiation originating beyond our Solar System: atomic nuclei produced by dying stars, their passage sped by magnetic fields as they cross the galaxy.

GSI

“Solar particle events are made up of protons that can be shielded quite simply,” added Alessandra.“The real challenge for deep-space missions is galactic cosmic radiation, which cannot be shielded completely because of its very high energy, although the exposure level decreases with increased solar activity.

Most are small protons or helium nuclei, but about 1% are larger, the size of an iron atom or more – known as ‘high-ionising high energy particles’ or HZE for short. Radiation shielding can be counter-intuitive because denser and thicker does not always mean better.

Astronauts

HZEs striking metal shields can produce showers of secondary particles that might be even more harmful. And as shield thickness increases, overall the energy loss of ionising radiation rises to a peak then declines rapidly.“In general, the lighter a material’s atomic nuclei the better the protection,” notes Alessandra.

Water and polyethylene performed better than aluminium for instance, and new hydrogen-rich materials developed by UK Company Cella Energy tested better still. Cella Energy originally developed its patent-pending materials for storing hydrogen fuel but is currently investigating their radiation resistance.

For further information visit: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMERGERI7H_index_0.html