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A lot of nonsense is spouted about the mobility behavior of people. The people for and against adding more roads have done battle against each other for years with arguments about why it is or why it is not a good idea to construct more roads. In his book ‘Connecting People While Preserving the Planet' French author Jean Poulit makes clear the choices people make in their daily travel behavior and why they do so. Poulit relates these choices to spatial-economic theories that policy makers can use for linking spatial policy and mobility policy in better ways. Growth in mobility is necessary for realizing the economic potential of a country as a whole, but green spaces must be reserved for resolving and recreation, according to Poulit. Sustainable development is necessary for the longer term.

The rise of commercial applications with 3D-visuals is unstoppable. The Dutch-Swedish company 4Sight develops successful 3D- and 4D-visuals of spatial projects of governments, real estate developers and housing corporations. Interactive virtuals with a high level of detail are built from GIS- and CAD-data, among others, so that clients will have a better view on the final plans.

Digital large format aerial cameras have been used for aerial survey and mapping operations for several years. One example is the UltraCamX, developed by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, Graz, Austria. UltraCamX was introduced into the market in May 2006 and is currently the largest digital frame camera for photogrammetric applications. Since May 2006, Vexcel has been operating under the ownership of Microsoft Corp. and as such contributes to the Microsoft Virtual Earth Initiative. This huge project is based on high quality aerial images for fully automated, three dimensional, digital re-construction of urban areas. Vexcel now introduces a new processing software called UltraMap Platform which implements a complete photogrammetric workflow including quality control and visualization.

On February 22nd 1978 the first Block I satellite; Navstar I, was launched which means that February 22nd of this year marked the 30th anniversary of GPS. Navstar, now called GPS has been a military project from the start although there seems to be a gradual shift in government policy, giving the civilian sector an increasing voice in GPS.

In the coming months, insurance companies will have access to commercial satellite images precise enough to determine whether an insured homeowner living in a fire-prone area like southern California should thin the brush in his backyard to prevent the spread of a forest fire. Defense and intelligence communities will have access to imagery that is an ideal tool for broad area mapping.

In October 2007 it was announced that Arcadis had acquired its second contract in New Orleans, this one worth $50 million. The first, worth around $150 million, was between Arcadis and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. With these two contracts, Arcadis becomes one of the few foreign companies that have made headway in New Orleans.

“In the style of Google Maps” proclaimed the popular German magazine, FOCUS Online, back in July 2005. But Virtual Earth has definitely distinguished itself from its competitor since then. For better insight I spoke to Dr. Josef Kauer, Business Development Manager for Virtual Earth, and Michael Amrehn, Manager, Virtual Earth and also to Tobias Lörracher, a graduate student at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. All three belong to the Virtual Earth Business Unit for Central & Eastern Europe based in Microsoft’s offices in Munich, Germany.

Spatial ETL (extracting, transforming, and loading) tools have been around for over a decade. Yet only in the past few years has their true strategic value emerged in geospatial initiatives around the globe. Now more than ever, it’s the data that’s pushing the capabilities of Spatial ETL tools into a whole new dimension. This article describes how the future of these critical data moving tools is being shaped by emerging data model, source, and format requirements alongside the trends in web and traditional IT technologies.

Oceanology International (OI) is the marine science and ocean technology community’s premier forum, and for well over three decades has provided a focal point every two years for the diverse range of individuals and organizations that work in this sector to debate and discuss crucial topics. It also provides a unique networking opportunity for companies to showcase the latest state-of-the-art technological solutions in use or under consideration by the industries that work in the ocean environment.