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GIS, GPS, surveying and spatial applications in Southern Africa

     Issue 64, April 2015   

Food security versus land reform, or not?
by Clare van Zwieten, EE Publishers

Clare van Zwieten
As South Africa enters its worst drought in over 20 years, the balance of power in the food security versus land reform debate has shifted fundamentally. Speaking at the 2015 Grain SA Congress in early March, the Minister... (more)
Looking at a drone-filled future
by Vijay Michalik, Frost and Sullivan

 

Vijay Michalik What do drones mean to your business, where will you find the next growth opportunity and, more importantly, will you find them before your competitors do? This article discusses themes such as, commercial applications... (more

World-famous GIS influencer to keynote at Geomatics Indaba 2015 


Carl Reed

Known as one of the top ten most influential people in the GIS industry, Dr. Carl Reed has agreed to be a keynote speaker at Geomatics Indaba 2015. Until recently the chief technology officer at the Open Geospatial Consortium, Reed is currently consulting with a focus on supporting the IT community in the effective use of geospatial standards... (more)
Institute of Navigation president to speak at Geomatics Indaba 2015


Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska

Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, president of the Institute of Navigation, will be one of the keynote speakers at Geomatics Indaba 2015. She will be speaking about future trends for positioning and navigation technology with respect to strategic infrastructure planning and development... (more)

PositionIT Inbox 
From our readers

 

This month's letters focus on the National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) user needs survey and the status of the mine surveying profession... (more)
RPAS training academies: A step forward for South African aviation
by Albert Drijfhout, RPAS Training Academy

 

As the RPAS (Remote Pilot Aircraft Systems) industry and the governing body, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), get ever closer to finalising the regulations concerning commercial RPAS operations, the need for RPAS training facilities has become critical. This article looks at some of the criteria these... (more)

Geomatics and its role on the Bloodhound Supersonic Car project
by Teboho Maphakisa, Department of Rural Development and Land Reform
 

 

This article details how satellite remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and surveying methods are being used on the Bloodhound Supersonic Car project to ensure that a suitable site is used for the World Land Speed Record challenge. The Bloodhound SSC (SuperSonic Car) is a rocket and jet powered car that... (more)

Bathymetric surveying and its role in the search for MH370
Information from ATSB and Geoscience Australia. 

 

Australia's national transport safety investigator, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), is leading a sea floor mapping and underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. Geoscience Australia is assisting by providing advice, expertise and support regarding the sea floor... (more)
Processes and data content at the NGI
by Raoul Duesimi, Department of Rural Development and Land Reform


It has been six years since the National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) undertook a project to restructure and integrate all its data into a single data repository. This article provides an inside look at the processes, technology and data content at the NGI since the inception of the datamodel project. National geo-spatial Information... (more)

GIS in agriculture assists informed decision making
by Annalie Fourie, SiQ. 

 

As in other industries, accurate, reliable and timely information is very important for informed decision making. For example, to reduce uncertainty in the grain industry, it is very important that accurate and reliable crop estimates be conducted. Also, to develop appropriate strategies for agriculture and to identify agricultural hubs... (more)

Image classification and generation of continuous field data sets
by Ned Horning, American Museum of Natural History 

 

Random Forests is a classification and regression algorithm originally designed for the machine-learning community. This algorithm is increasingly being applied to satellite and aerial image classification and the creation of continuous fields data sets, such as percent tree cover and biomass. It has several advantages when... (more)
A spatial multiple criteria approach for poverty eradication planning
by Roger Daniels, Western Cape Government, and Dr. Julian Smit, UCT

 

Poverty eradication as a policy issue has received significant attention since the promulgation of the South African National Development Plan (NDP). This article presents a vector-based GIS-MCDM methodology that combines Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the... (more)
Views, comment and opinion
Industry and institute news
Training news
Company and product news
 
In this issue...
- Food security versus land reform, or not?
- Looking at a drone-filled future
- GI 2015 keynote speaker: Designer of first interactive vector based GIS
- Institute of Navigation president to be keynote speaker at GI 2015
- PositionIT Inbox
- RPAS training academies: A step forward for South African aviation
- Geomatics and its role on the Bloodhound Supersonic Car project
- Bathymetric surveying and its role in the search for MH370
- Processes and data content at the NGI
- GIS in agriculture assists informed decision making
- Image classification and generation of continuous field data sets
- A spatial multiple criteria approach for poverty eradication planning
- Views, comment and opinion
- Industry and institute news
- Training news
- Company and product news

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