Geospatial industry needs to involve itself in "drone" regulatory process
by Clare van Zwieten, EE Publishers
 The South African geospatial industry needs to participate in the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) regulatory process driven by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). This process seeks to govern the use of UAS in South Africa with the initial establishment of interim regulations in 2015... (more) |
Land reform and the law of unintended consequencesby Richard Spoor, Richard Spoor Inc. Attorneys
 Under the new Property Valuation Act, the price of land will be fixed by the Valuer-General, and as such, there will be no necessity to reach agreement with the land owner on price. But far from facilitating and accelerating the land restitution process, the new Act is very likely to have the opposite effect... (more)
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Unmanned aerial operator body discusses way forwardby Clare van Zwieten, EE Publishers
The Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa (CUAASA) held a well-attended member meeting at the offices of the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa (CAASA) on 17 July 2014. CUAASA is a recently established voluntary organisation which aims to serve, promote, advance and protect the interests of the commercial unmanned aircraft industry... (more) |
PositionIT Inbox - August 2014
from our readers
This month's letters focus on the multiple appointments of mine surveyors, digital mapping and the UAS interim regulations... (more)
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Mine call factor issues from a surface mine perspectiveby Monica Tetteh and Fred Cawood, University of the Witwatersrand
The theory of mine call factor (MCF) compares the sum of metal produced in recovery plus residue to the metal called for by the mines evaluation methods expressed as a percentage. The concept is well known in underground mining scenarios and therefore this article highlights some MCF issues from a surface mine perspective... (more) |
Using UAVs as a survey tool
by Craig Vorster, Global Vision
When searching for a cost-effective, accurate aerial survey solution that needs to be available on demand, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is the ideal platform. This article explains how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) work as a survey platform providing details on the photogrammetry process, volume accuracies, time savings, and how they can contribute to mine safety... ( more) |
How accessibility is transforming the 3D scanning market
by Pierre Potgieter, EE Publishers
3D Modelling is not dependent on 3D scanning technologies since manual surveys and traditional surveying techniques are often sufficient. Scanning, however, does offer the advantage of high accuracy and detailed site records... (more) |
Mapping small scale irrigation farms utilising GIS technology
by Lobina Palamuleni, North West University
Farming in South Africa's North West province is challenged by arid conditions characterised by very limited water resources due to high evaporation and erratic rainfall. This article reports on a study conducted in the North West province to map small scale irrigation farms using GIS technology... (more) |
First images from SPOT 7by Corné Eloff, Airbus Defence and Space
The SPOT 7 Earth observation satellite, designed and built by Airbus Defence and Space (DS), was successfully launched on 30 June 2014 and has started a 3-month in-orbit testing phase before its images are made commercially available. A mere three days after its launch, SPOT 7 delivered its first images of the Earth... (more) |
GIS multi-criteria decision analysis in livestock borehole allocation
by Gakethata Bontsibakae and Emmanuel Tembo, University of Botswana
In Botswana, the process of borehole allocation is cumbersome and is not carried out considering all possible criteria. This article presents work done on a study to use geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria data analysis (MCDA) to find suitable borehole points in Ngamiland... (more) |
Constructing a solar farm
Information from Topcon
Just outside of Las Vegas, more than 300 acres (120 hectares) of desert scrubland has been converted into one of the Southwest's newest solar farms, the Spectrum Nevada Solar Farm. This article describes the positioning technologies used during the construction process... (more) |
Top 10 ways to use GIS in retail banking
by Eliot MacDonald, Market Forté
What do banks do with GIS? The rare times that applications of GIS had been cited were restricted to a few examples, such as simply looking at locations on maps or for an industry-specific activity... (more) |
Paving with machine guidance systemsInformation from Sitech
This article describes how third-generation paver Stanley MacAdam met the complex design requirements for an Australian car park in record time and at a lower cost... (more) |
