Leicestershire, UK, 24 July 2008 - Aerial mapping company Bluesky is the supplier of choice of aerial photography in Cumbria. Four out of the six district councils are already using Bluesky supplied GeoPerspectives imagery and five out of six have placed orders for new survey to be flown this summer.
In addition to the District Councils, Bluesky has also supplied high-resolution aerial datasets to Cumbria County Council, the Lake District National Park Authority and Cumbria Wildlife. The aerial photography is being used widely across Cumbria providing real world detail at the desktop, across corporate-wide intranet geographical information systems (GIS).
Allerdale Borough Council is one of Cumbrian Council’s gaining benefits from the aerial imagery. Currently accessed by users of their desktop GIS and available to every user of the Council’s IT network via their intranet mapping service the 2008 imagery will also be posted on the Council’s mapping portal where users can search by an address or postcode and locate local amenities, places of interest and Council services.
“The aerial photography provides real world detail at the desktop facilitating informed decision making,” said Steve Evans, GIS Officer, “and, by working in partnership with other districts to procure this valuable resource we have been able to achieve significant cost savings and have a consistent information base across the County.”
Julia Jackson, GIS Officer at Copeland District Council added “The Bluesky imagery is an important resource for frontline staff. The imagery helps contact centre staff locate problems as they are reported, for example fly tipping or graffiti, allowing service delivery staff to concentrate on resolving the issue. The Bluesky imagery has also attracted considerable interest from partner organisations such as the police. By plotting incidents against the photo background we can pinpoint hotspots and even identify contributing factors.”
“Aerial photography offers a time stamped record of land use, urban development and the general environment,” said Robert Stapleton, GIS Manager at Carlisle City Council. “This is invaluable for Planning Enforcement and has also been used by our Tree Officer as proof of illegal hedgerow removal. The 2008 imagery will further enhance our monitoring of change as not only can we analyse differences between the two datasets we can also continue to compare with field records.”
GeoPerspectives is a joint venture between BlueSky and Infoterra providing national coverage of orthorectified aerial photography, digital terrain & surface models for 3D modelling, and colour infra-red imagery for vegetation analysis.
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
Geo Social Location Checkin to Twitter from iPhone - With the cool SXSW event taking place Austin, TX, everyone who's anyone in social and social location seems to have rolled out updates this week, making your choice for how to check-in to your social media bookmarks even tougher to decide on!
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
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