I have to apologise that this one is a little late but I’m, currently on a Land Administration assignment in the Solomon Islands and the internet access here leaves a little to be desired. 

VirtualGeography is a collection of interesting snippets from all over the shop, dealing with industry issues concerning the computer based visualisation of geography and a few other associated (or otherwise) interesting bits and pieces. You are receiving this either because you subscribed to VirtualGeography or you have had recent dealings with VizMAP Pty Ltd. If you do not wish to receive further instalments of VirtualGeography, just click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this e-mail. 

A new VirtualGeography is pushed out about once per month, towards the end of the month, which shouldn’t be too big a drain on your mailbox if you’re not already subscribed (of course it won’t be a drain on your mailbox if you ARE subscribed, either ). If you know of anyone who might like to get VirtualGeography, feel free to forward this to them and ask them to subscribe. By the way, subscription and unsubscription details are at the bottom (click here).

So, g’day to all you enthusiasts requiring to visualise and simulate both urban and rural geographic information (GIS), cartography, photogrammetry, remote sensing, digital elevation modelling (DEM) and general mapping.

By the spelling of "Visualisation" you may have already guessed that we’re not US based – that’s a good thing, or at least not a bad thing. This comes to you from Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia, where it’s beautiful one day and perfect the next. The link between visualisation and mapping may seem a little esoteric if this is your first encounter with this sort of stuff, but let me tell you, the bond is significant… but enough of that: on with the show… I hope you like it. Any feedback you might have is highly appreciated. E-mail me here to make your comments. Enjoy… Graeme Brooke VizMAP Pty Ltd

P.S. You’ll need an active internet connection to view any images that are in the content. We’ve done it this way to keep the size of the e-mail to a minimum.

The system, developed by the Technical Services Department of British Waterways at Leeds, offers the worlds first boat-mounted inland waterway 3D spatial survey system. 

The GeoScaN system will provide information on the canal and river beds, heights of banks above water level and provide information on bank protection. Research has been ongoing into the dredging of river and heights of flood banks and the effects on recent floods. Now this research can be carried out in one simple exercise, offering agencies and the general public much needed reassurance. 

In addition the system will provide a geographical reference for all structures such as locks, bridges and weirs. All the information will be logged on computer and will also be recorded on digital video for future reference. Positional information will utilise Differential GPS as well as satellite imaging for flood plain mapping. 

Laurence Waterhouse, the system designer at British Waterways said “The GeoScaN project is cutting-edge technology utilising lasers, infra red sensors and sub-bottom profiling and we are taking out a patent for the system. As far as I know it is the first time combined hydrographic/topographic/GIS data collection from one piece of equipment has been used. 

We will be able survey everything above the water line with a scanning laser, whilst profiling the bed with scanning sonar. This is all linked to a sub metre accuracy DGPS offering a resolution of less than 0.9m RMS horizontal and less than 3cm vertical. All the data collected can be verified by four on board digital video cameras also linked to DGPS. These cameras follow the line of the laser scanners so data can be checked and assigned to GIS assets. The boat is also fitted with an underwater infra red video camera and a magnetometer 

It will offer real time information on dredging requirements, flood bank height and condition, asset location etc, in fact all the data that hydrologists and flood defence engineers have been requesting for years. Until now, actual collection has entailed sending out three or four different teams of surveyors which takes time and costs money. Now we will be able to collect the data quickly, efficiently and economically. 

In fact this system does it all ” 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (March 19, 2003)–SGI (NYSE: SGI) today announ-ced that Germany’s Waterway Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) heavily invested in SGI® technology for high-performance computing (HPC) to meet challenges in future numerical simulation projects. BAW’s coastal division in Hamburg, which designs, monitors, analyzes and repairs all waterways and tidal flood zones in the country’s coastal areas, has installed two of the new SGI® Origin® 3000 servers. The two supercomputers harness the power of 288 MIPS® processors and run the high-performance SGI® IRIX® operating system. 

The acquisition worth approximately €3 million (roughly $3.2 million U.S.) will not only greatly increase computing power for performance-hungry users, but will also establish an HPC environment that offers highly flexible usability and uniquely enhances supercom-puting productivity. The new SGI platform replaces BAW’s former vector-based supercomputer system, Cray SV1TM, and won the business over other major vendors’ competitive system offerings by delivering convincing benchmark performance and the best price/performance value. 

Using computer modeling and numerical simulation techniques, BAW achieves an increasingly precise understanding of the complex physical processes that govern fluid dynamics and suspended material transport phenomena within tides-influenced coastal waterway systems like the big river mouths of Elbe, Weser and Ems. 

Sometimes one of the most important factors in marine navigation goes unnoticed. Each year thousands of Notice to Mariner (NTM) changes takes place in US waters. Typical changes include relocation of navigation aids; channel shifts and shoaling; depth soundings, submerged obstructions (like rocks, jetties, and wrecks); and new danger areas. 

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) charts are the bible for commercial and recreational boaters. Many captains, as well as recreational boaters are unaware of the extent and the importance of these changes for safer navigation; changes that may not be included even in a current edition of a chart. Maptech is the only company that includes all the "critical changes" to produce up-to-date digital NOAA charts. These changes are incorporated into a variety of Maptech products that include Digital ChartKit and Marine Navigator CD-ROMs, as well as new editions of Maptech paper waterproof charts and ChartKit books. 

Each year Maptech offers a substantial discount to existing customers to stay current and update their digital charts for less than $100 per Region – a 50% discount. In addition new users are offered a special CD at the time of purchase that includes any new NOAA chart editions. This exclusive Maptech procedure (NTM changes and NOAA new chart editions) gives buyers the advantage of using the most current NOAA charts for the area purchased. 

Last year 10,741 Notice to Mariner critical changes occurred in US waters. A "critical change" is defined as a change that impacts safe navigation. These changes are published only by Maptech on a weekly basis as part of an update service that is delivered to subscribers over the Internet

Sample still images from the completed dynamic visualisation database are displayed here. An active internet connection is required to be able to view these scenes.

Click on these small resampled images to view the full screen images on the VizMAP website. Bear in mind that these are just screen dumps from a dynamic, interactive, 3D "flythrough". 

This time the spinning was literal. Gare’s company, Intuitive I.N.K., moved Verizon’s branding guidelines, previously scattered across various locations and media, onto a single DVD disc, complete with interactive motion menus and full-screen video exposition.

Verizon’s reasons for publishing the disc make as strong a case for DVD publishing as Gare’s immaculate results. Although influenced by the sheer capacity of the format, the company’s move to DVD was ultimately triggered by customer requests for media choice and meaningful interaction. “For corporations, there is truly useful interactivity in DVD,” says Gare. Reason enough for any business to go there and with DVD Studio Pro, easy enough to do.

No Medium, No Message
It was not always so easy. Gare, who experimented with multiplexed media long before he had anywhere to play it, developed an appetite for digital motion graphics during his graduate studies at the Apple Media Center in 1988. “We had only postage stamp-sized video running at 4 frames a second,” Gare remembers, “but it was the most incredible thing we’d ever seen. I knew someday the Mac would do full-speed, full-frame video and motion graphics on the desktop. We waited and waited.”

• DirectionsMag Events
• GeoCommunity Year 2002 Events
• GISCafe Upcoming Events 
• Geoinformatics Calendar
• ISPRS Events Calendar
• National Centre for Simulation Calendar of Events
• Position Magazine Calendar of Events

I said, "Sir, how about this. Why not explain what I should do as if I were a small child."

He said, "Ok. Son, could you please put your mummy on the phone?"