Great News for the Tropics
The Thai Earth Observing System (THEOS) satellite was successfully launched on October 1st. The first imagery of the west side of Phuket shows wonderful detail over the well known Khata Thani Resort at Kata Noi Beach. THEOS has an earlier equatorial crossing than other optical satellites meaning that it has a greater chance of obtaining data before cloud systems develop. See http://www.gistda.or.th/Gistda/HtmlGistda/Html/index2.htm Kim Geomatics is proud to have been associated with GISTDA for the past few years.
More good news is the availability of FUGRO Earth Data’s GeoSAR system with simultaneous multi-look P- and X-band radar imagery. This system can provide the basic information for a geospatial data infrastructure for a tropical environment in one pass. Kim Geomatics is working with Fugro’s Maryland operation to further develop interest in this ground breaking system. Contact us for further information.
MDA Sale Not Approved
The Government of Canada blocked the sale of MDA’s Space Division. This was the first sale of a company with a value over $200 million blocked by the Government – of over 1500 such sales over the past twenty years. While not directly involved in the process, Kim Geomatics did provide briefing materials to the political level on the government side during this most interesting process. The level of support for the Government’s actions from among the general population was quite amazing. Shortly after the sale being blocked, CSA announced significant contracts for MDA.
Our Work Around the World Continues
We have continued to work with clients around the world over the past six months in strategic planning, data policy, commercialization of research, preparation of materials for clients, business development, and the other areas of expertise.
· We have successfully completed a contract with the Government of Bermuda to look at their geospatial data handling. As part of this activity we gave workshops on both strategic planning and change management. Those invovled in this project included Bob Ryerson, Ann Blair, Stan Aronoff, Terry Fisher, Kevin Lim, and Al Stevens. With this team it is no surprise that our client liked the work we did for them. We are now working with AG Research of Bermuda to market similar strategic planning services to small island states and development agencies on the use of geospatial information on small islands. Contact us for further information…and come see our paper at the ASPRS in Baltimore!;
· We have begun to work with one of the world’s best known suppliers of image analysis software to help them better prepare materials for their clients;
· We are also working in a strategic consulting capacity with another image analysis system supplier. The trust shown by both companies in us – each knows that the other is a client – is gratifying. Integrity is something we bring to every assignment with every client and we are happy to see that recognized;
· We continue to work with the Government of Thailand’s GeoInformation and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) on data policy and related consulting. (See our paper downloadable on this site.) We urge everyone to look at the THEOS data on the THEOS web site. It is quite an exciting event;
· Commercialization of research has continued to be something we have enjoyed working on with clients such as GEOIDE, with several private sector companies, and university groups. We have completed our contract on commercializing research in remote sensing with the wine industry. We hope to see a commercial service offered by our partner Environmental Geo-Solutions. A paper we prepared has been presented at the ASPRS meeting this year and is available here;
· We have recently signed a contract to work with Fugro Earth Data. Our first meeting and tour of their Maryland facility showed us that the expertise and experience that they have built in radar remote sensing to support their GeoSAR offering is truly remarkable;
· We have signed an exclusive agreement with the developers of Dragon Software to sell the company. Dragon and PCI are the only systems that were commercially sold in the late 1980s that are today still independent. Contact us for further information.
The Future
The number of exciting opportunities grows as more and more people, companies, communities and countries gain ready access to geospatial information. This growth has become the basis for our new book on the GeoEconomy now in progress. We maintain that we are in a new economic environment that is largely based on geographic information. Those who have access to and effectively use geospatial information will meet with success. Others will simply become uncompetitive and fade away. We have given talks on this topic in Montreal, and Wellington, New Zealand. Future talks are planned for a Geomatics Industry Association Meeting in Mississauga Ontario, and York University.
We are also giving talks on data policy to the Space Summit to be held in Montreal at the end of November and on our work with small islands to the ASPRS Annual Meeting in Baltimore in March 2009.
In the coming months we expect to announce the award of several more major contracts for our company, and look forward to uploading even more of our papers to our expanding web site.
