Sensis has acquired one of Australia's largest providers of request for quote services, Life Events Media, in a move which could see it link quotes to online services and digital maps. LEM operates the online business 'Quotify', which compares quotes for various services. The quotes could then be provided as part of data shown on […]

Data from earth observation satellites could deliver more timely warnings flood warnings to Australians, according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO). A project being carried out by the CSIRO in collaboration with the Vienna University of Technology, and funded by the European Space Agency, will see observations from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar […]

Police, fire brigade and ambulance services will be able to access location data about emergency callers using mobile phones as a result of new rules made by the communications regulator. The new rules require mobile carriers to provide emergency service organisations with the most precise mobile phone location information available for emergency calls made from […]

  The CRCSI2 issued the first communiqué for the national positioning programme last month. The Positioning Program brings together GNSS researchers, private industry and government agencies to address the challenge of designing, building and operating a high accuracy, real-time, nation-wide positioning infrastructure. Research activities will be strategically focused so that long-term benefits are seen by […]

  Esri has established a research and development (R&D) centre in Beijing, China. The centre will provide geographic information system (GIS) software development to support a number of sectors. Esri's Chinese software engineers will develop core technologies for web and cloud-based mapping systems, advanced spatial information visualization, and mobile mapping solutions. Scott Morehouse, Esri's director […]

  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to launch a remote sensing earth observation satellite by the end of this month, officials said this week. Resourcesat-2 will replace Resourcesat-1 launched in 2003, which has outlived its original mission life of five years. For some time Resourcesat-2 and Resourcesat-1 will work together before […]

  The All Points Blog says Seattle is starting a lift car-share sharing pilot called Avego. All things Things Spatial asks if Google is losing its Midas touch. GIS Development tells us about a 3D model of Abu Dhabi. Google Maps Mania posts on the World Bank’s apps for development. Mapperz has news on the […]

Researchers in the UK are using a Google Android phone to create the first ever satellite powered by a smart phone. The 11.8-inch satellite Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator (STRAND-1 ) will be launched into lower-earth orbit to take pictures of Earth on a mission later this year. Researchers from the University of Surrey […]

  South Australian police want all mobile phones to provide them with GPS coordinates when someone calls 000 in an emergency. The Australian Communications and Media Authority is currently conducting an inquiry into a proposal to require mobile phone carriers to provide limited location information available "on demand". But superintendant Colin Cornish, head of the […]