Best wishes for 2007

Have a prosperous and happy New Year!




Prosit!

UNGIWG-7 Follow-on Action: INSPIRE-UNSDI Meeting

Jelle.U.Hielkema
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006
Recent follow-on action in the UNSDI development as reported by Jelle Hielkema on behalf of UNGIWG Secretariat

How FAO/UNGIWG consultant Jelle Hielkema summarized the INSPIRE-UNSDI Meeting for the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group members in his letter received yesterday:
"Another important and concrete follow-up which has been a meeting, convened on 15 December by the SDI Unit of the EC-Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy, in cooperation with the Secretariat and which, apart from existing in its own right, is also to be seen as a preparatory activity for the UGPM in March. This meeting, with participation from The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain and Germany and FAO representing the UNGIWG Secretariat, discussed potential synergies and cooperation between the UNSDI development process and the ongoing European Commission INSPIRE Directive Programme, which' policy and legal framework was formally approved recently by the European Parliament and Council in Helsinki on 21 November. The meeting was highly successful, decided a number of important joint INSPIRE-UNSDI steps forward and concrete follow-up action is being formulated for discussion in March..".

Latest status of the UNSDI developments

IGM Headquarters in Santiago, venue of the UNGIWG-7.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals Resource, 2006
UNGIWG-7 Meeting Report released
Management-readable version of the basic UNSDI document is foreseen in three weeks
UNGIWG/FAO Consultant Jelle Hielkema wrote yesterday:
"The last three months have been a busy time for all of us at the UNGIWG Secretariat, starting with the preparation for and implementation of the UNGIWG-7 Plenary in Santiago de Chile from 2-4 November, organized back-to-back with the 9th Conference of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association which was convened in Santiago from 3-11 November. The principal item on the UNGIWG-7 agenda was the review and disussion of the draft report "UNSDI Vision, Implementation Strategy and Reference Architecture" by Barry Henricksen, which was communicated to you with my message of 25 October. Following the review and discussion at UNGIWG-7, this document is now being revised into a shorter 'management-readable marketing' compendium document, scheduled to be completed by the middle of January. The meeting resulted furthermore in a number of concrete steps on the way its six Task Groups (TGs) are working and their way forward. The meeting report has been completed and cleared by the UNGIWG Membership and has been posted for download today on the UNGIWG website ( www.ungiwg.org)."

HUNAGI awarded two of its member institutions

The Certificate of Acknowledgement issued by HUNAGI was awarded the very first time. Image: HUNAGI Visuals Resource, 2006

For their distinghuised service provided for the interest of the Hungarian GI community and for their support strengthen the European institutional links, two members were awarded with Certificate of Acknowledgement according to the decision of HUNAGI Presidential Board.
In 2006 the award winners are the Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing (FÖMI) as well as the Hungarian Meteorological Service (OMSZ).
The Certificates will be handover to Dr. Szabolcs Mihály Director General of FÖMI and Dr. Zoltán Dunkel, President of the Hungarian Met Service.




More info on FÖMI: www.fomi.hu
More info on OMSZ: www.met.hu

Mobile Compass Software is downloadable via WAP

Upgrade your mobile phone to serve also as digital compass!
András Gilyén, Member of HUNAGI's Student Division, wrote:"This witty application is downloadable from the WAP in Hungary since 8th of November 2006. More information on the Mobile Compass's home page: http://www.mobilosiranytu.fw.hu"

SDI and the local governance - contribution to the Geospatial Technology Conference devoted to the Local Governments

Debrecen the famous civic and university city of East Hungary, near to the "Puszta". Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2003
Impact of INSPIRE and opportunities provided by UN SDI framework to the Local Governments
This is the title of the contributed paper sent by UN SDI HUCO to the Organising Committee of the 9th Geospatial Technology Conference will be held in Debrecen, April 19-20, 2006.
The aim is to raise the awareness on the INSPIRE Directive's direct and indirect impacts on the institutions having responsibility in governance on local level.
Proven and best practices in the EU Member States will be introduced based on the most recent meetings such as the EUROGI Members' Day held in Prague and the INSPIRE-UN SDI Consultative Meeting hosted by the Unit SDI of the European Commission's DG JRC in Ispra.
Meantime, the possibility to join the ongoing international project driven by Spain will be prepared by UN SDI HUCO and HUNAGI.

Successful INSPIRE - UN SDI Consultation in Ispra

Some of the participants of the INSPIRE-UNSDI Consultative Meeting chaired by Messr. Alessandro Annoni, Head of Unit SDI, IES, DG JRC and Jelle Hielkema, Consultant of FAO/UNGIWG. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006
Task Force
is working on "Why and How INSPIRE-UNSDI should work together? "

It is a great honour for the Hungarian Spatial Data Interest Community that the approach of the Hungarian UN SDI Coordination Office (HUCO) was proposed to be adopted/used as example at the Meeting of the Global Partner Conference of UNGIWG on SDI will be held at ESA-ESRIN in Frascati in Early March next year. It was one of the findings of the recent consultation meeting arranged by FAO and DG JRC and hosted by the Unit Spatial Data Infrastructures at the IES of DG Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The invited participants on the UN side include GeoNetworks specialist Jeroen Ticheler of FAO, as well as representatives of the Dutch UNSDI Coordination Office represented by Jan Cees Vanema of NLR and Patrick E.Van Laake of ITC, the Czech UNSDI Coordination Office represented by Karel Charvat of SCC and an expert from the Olomutz University, finally the Hungarian UNSDI Coordination Office represented by Gabor Remetey-Fülöpp of HUNAGI. On Inspire side the following experts were invited: Martin Lenk, Head of IMAGI (the German Federal Geographic Data Committee) , Daniel Holweg, Project Manager of the European project Humboldt, as well as Spanish expert of the gvSIG Salvador Bayarri Romar of IVeR and José Ángel Alonso Jiménez of DG IGN in Madrid.
The presentations and discussions were attended by some of leading experts on SDI, GMES at IES, DG JRC

The presentation of the Hungarian Coordination Office is downloadable here:
http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/InspireUNsdiHUCO.pdf

HUNAGI Presidential Board Meeting

Foggy morning panorama of Buda as seen from the Board Meeting room.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006
Support provided by INSPIRE LMOs FÖMI and the Hung Met Service for ensuring the EUROGI membership acknowledged

Hosted by HUNAGI President Zsolt Sikolya of the e-Government Centre of the Prime Minister's Office, the Board Meeting addressed two issues on its agenda.
First the preliminary report on the accomplishment of the 2006 Financial Plan and Working Plan were reported by the Treasurer dr. Rezső Berencei and the Secretary General respectively.
Both reports were approved by the Board Members and special appreciation was expressed for the Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing as well as for the Hungarian Meteorological Service for their committed support helping to keep the presence and activity of HUNAGI in the European Umbrella Organisation for Geo-information on the same level as it was in the past.
New member of HUNAGI the application of the Department of the Geodesy and Mine Surveying of the Institute of Geotechnology and Geoinformatics at the Miskolc University was unanimously approved. Congratulation! This academic workshop is the partner of HUNAGI to set up a georeferenced inventory of the big trees in Europe, a project to be launched on European scale in 2007 using also the EUROG institutional framework.

50 Year Anniversary Meeting of the Hungarian Society for Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing

Dr. József Ferencz, Section Head of the Transylvanian Society of Engineers highlighted the benefits of the emerging cross-border partnership. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006
Ceremonial Meeting hosted by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
on December 12, 2006

The Meeting was chaired by the founding Secretary General Frigyes Raum. The keynote lecture delivered by Academician István Klinghammer addressed the evolution of the history of mapping from the Hungarian point of view.

The HSSMRS was welcomed by Fülöp Benedek, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as Gyula Szabó, Commander of the Mapping Service of the Hungarian Defense Forces and Dr. József Ferencz of the Transylvanian Society of Engineers

Call for Abstract - AGILE conference 2007

Source: Monica.Wachowicz@wur.nl> 12/05/06 1:42 pm>>>

10th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science
'The European Information Society: Leading the way with
geo-information'
8-11 May 2007
Aalborg, Denmark

The program will offer paper presentation sessions, plenary round
table debates, poster sessions and pre-conference workshops to share your
ideas, explore on-going research, future developments, including
state-of-the-art applications, and to network with the professionals
from academia, industry and government who are interested in promoting
GI teaching and research activities among GI laboratories at the
European level. It is with a great pleasure that I announce the three keynote
speakers:
Prof. Peter Fisher, City University London, editor IJGIS
David Schell, CEO, OGC Interoperability Institute
Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environment Agency.
Potential contributors are invited to submit
* Long abstract submission (2000 to 3000-word manuscript) of
original and unpublished research work. High-quality scientific and
strategic (industrial and governmental) submissions will be accepted
for presentation at the conference and published in the AGILE proceedings
volume (with ISBN). Papers must be written in English according to the
submission template and formatting guidelines.
* Short abstract submission (500 to 1000-word manuscript) of
original scientific and strategic research work. High-quality
submissions will be accepted for poster presentations at the
conference and provide the exceptional opportunity to stimulate scientific
discussions and exchange novel ideas. Papers must be written in
English according to the submission template and formatting guidelines.
Authors' instructions are available at www.agile2007.dk. All submissions must be sent electronically via the on-line conference manager.
Important Deadlines
Deadline for receipt of abstracts January 18th 2007
Notification of abstracts acceptance February 20th 2007
Camera-ready abstract copies due March 31st 2007
Conference May 8th -11th 2007

Looking forward to seeing you in Aalborg!
Monica Wachowicz
Programme Chair
AGILE www.agile-online.org

GSDI9 - Summary by the GSDI Association

Outgoing GSDI President Prof. Harlan Onsrud addressed the leading theme: SDI for reducing poverty. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006

GSDI Association's summary on the GSDI9

Source: "GSDI News" <news@gsdi.org> 12/08/06 9:18 pm

The 9th International Conference of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association was conducted in Santiago, Chile from November 6-10, 2006. The conference theme focused on the use of spatial data and affiliated information technologies and infrastructure for addressing poverty issues. The conference attracted over 400 registrants representing 62 nations. It featured over 193 presentations and 53 posters in 58 technical sessions, 8 workshops, 6 round tables, and many business meetings. The venue was the historic and beautiful Chilean Military History Museum.

The GSDI 9 inauguration ceremony featured welcoming presentations by the Director of the Chilean Instituto Geographic Militar, Colonel Luis Alegria M., and the Chilean Minister of National Assets, Mrs. Romy Schmit. The President of the GSDI Association, Harlan Onsrud, gave an opening address on Critical Issues in the Alleviation of Poverty: The Relevance of Geographic Data and Tools. All of the opening talks highlighted the critical need for spatial data and information infrastructure for better assessing the key underlying causes of regional poverty and for better directing infrastructure and human capital investments.

Other keynote and plenary sessions featured presentations by Dr. Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard, Director of the Transportation and Urban Development Department at the World Bank, Dr. Carmelle Terborgh, Manager of Global Affairs at Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Peter Batty, Chief Technology Officer of Intergraph Corporation, Ivan DeLoatch, Director of the US Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), Jorge Duran, Senior Manager of Municipal Development and Capacity Building at the Organization of American States (OAS), and Ricardo Quiroga, Principal Economist of the Environment Division of the Sustainable Development Department at the Inter American Development Bank.

The vast majority of speakers and participants in the technical sessions were from Latin American nations. However, further featured speakers representing global or major regional organizations included Santiago Borrero (PAIGH), Stig Enemark (FIG), Peter Holland (PCGIAP), Bruce McCormack (EUROGI), Mario Reyes (PCIDEA), Carl Reed (OGC), Fraser Taylor (ISCGM), Jeffrey Tschirley (FAO), and David Kaatrud (WFP). Other featured speakers offering global visions or perspectives included Robert Chen (CIESIN), David Coleman (Canada), Jeff Labonte (Canada), Nick Land (EuroGeographics), Vanessa Lawrence (UK), John Moeller (USA), and Paul Uhlir (USA).

Another highlight of the conference were the numerous free three-hour workshops in which participants were able to address spatial data infrastructure concepts and challenges in greater depth.

Winners of the poster competition included:
First - Using GIS for Integration of Social Concerns for the Assessment of Former Dumpsites: The Case of Bacolod City, Philippines; Francoise Orban-Ferauge (Belgium) and Mary Ann Pandan (Philippines)
Second - ILRI's Attempt at Spatial Data Infrastructure, Mr. Michael Arunga (Kenya)
Third - Use of Spatial Data Infrastructures for Assessing Urban Vulnerability to Earthquake Hazards; Veronica Botero Fernandez (Colombia)

Thanks to everyone that contributed items to the silent auction. Carmelle J. Terborgh, Chair of the GSDI Sponsored Projects Committee, took the lead in organizing this effort and reports that the activity raised significant donations and cash in support of the developing nation fund. Approximately fifteen people received substantial contributions from that fund to partially cover their travel expenses to attend the GSDI-9 conference.

Several other conferences and meetings were held in conjunction with the GSDI-9 meeting. Among them included:
* International Earth Sciences Congress, 9th Meeting
* United Nations Permanent Committee for the Infrastructure of Geospatial Data of the Americas (PC-IDEA) 6th Meeting and Workshop on SDIs Serving the Needs of Latin America
* United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG), 7th Meeting
* International Cartographic Association (ICA): Standards Group Meeting
* Knowledge Sharing for the Natural Resources Community (FRAME - U.S. AID)
* International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM), 13th Meeting
* Americas Global Map Project (MGA-2)
* Global Land Cover Network Meeting (GLCN), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
* Pan-American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH), 39th Meeting of the Directing Council

At the GSDI Council business meeting, Jarmo Ratia, Director of the National Land Survey of Finland, was elected as new president of the GSDI Association and will lead the association through GSDI-10. Bas Kok, Director of RAVI, the SDI Advocacy Group in The Netherlands, was elected as vice-president (President Elect) for the same tenure. Harlan Onsrud as immediate past president will remain as interim Executive Director. Other newly elected members joining the eighteen member GSDI Board of Directors include (1) Delegate from Academic Organization: Yola Georgiadou, ITC - Netherlands, (2) Delegate from an Asia Pacific Organization: Li Weisen, State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, China, (3) Delegate from South American Organization: Rodrigo Barriga, IGM, Chile and (4) Delegate from Global Initiative: Greg Yetman, CIESIN, US. Abbas Rajibifard from the University of Melbourne was appointed treasurer and Gabor Remetey-Fülöpp from HUNAGI was appointed secretary. The GSDI-10
meeting is currently planned for February 2008 in central Oceania.

The platinum sponsor efforts were led by Ignacio Guerrero from Intergraph and Jeanne Foust from ESRI who warrant our extra special thanks and appreciation. Although too numerous to mention here but highlighted on the conference web site, the committee personnel and additional sponsors involved in helping to support and organize the conference receive our special thanks. Finally, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and the Instituto Geografico Militar (IGM) of Chile are to be heartily congratulated once again for making GSDI-9 a great success.

The Statement of Santiago and Final Resolutions from the conference are or will be posted on the web site. The conference web site remains at http://www.gsdi9.cl but will eventually be archived with updated final material at http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiConferences.asp
****************************
If a friend or colleague would like to sign up for the GSDI News List,
direct them to http://www.gsdi.org/
To unsubscribe/change profile:
http://www.mailermailer.com/x?u=31730856q-ade366ef
To subscribe:
http://www.gsdi.org/newslist/gsdisubscribe.asp
Our address:
c/o Onsrud 5711 Boardman Hall, Univ. of Maine Orono, Maine 04473
Email list management powered by http://MailerMailer.com

GSDI Association's Small Grants Program for the year 2006

Source: "GSDI News" <news@gsdi.org> 12/08/06 9:40 pm

The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association is pleased to
announce its Small Grants Program for the year 2006 with expenditures in
2007.

Summary: awards for spatial data infrastructure or EOS-related
activities in economically disadvantaged nations, application deadline
of 15 January 2007, 2000 words maximum, awards of $2500 US in
professional services or $2500 US in cash

Background
The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association is dedicated
to international cooperation and collaboration in support of local,
national, and international spatial data infrastructure developments
that would allow nations to better address social, economic, and
environmental issues of pressing importance. We are committed to
bringing about an infrastructure that will allow users globally to
access spatial data at a variety of scales from multiple sources that
ultimately will appear seamless to all users. The GSDI Association
supports the work of organizations to develop their own SDI initiatives,
nationally and regionally, and collaborates with local, national, and
international organizations to ensure that spatial data, services, and
metadata are accessible through interoperable standards-based services,
systems, software, and products that operate in a web-enabled
environment. The success of the GSDI Association depends on the quality
of its partnerships with
public, private, academic, and non-governmental organizations. Through
adoption of common, international standards, key architecture
principles, and approaches for capacity building in developing
countries, the GSDI initiatives also link national SDI efforts with the
vision and goals of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and its Global
Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS).

The GSDI is being advanced through the leadership of many nations and
organizations represented by a GSDI Association Council and Board of
Directors. The multi-national Board includes representatives from all
continents and all sectors: government, academia, and the private sector
as well as regional SDI initiatives referred to as permanent
committees:

* Africa: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Committee on
Development Information: Geo Subcommittee (CODI-GEO)
* Americas: Pan-American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH)
* Asia and Pacific: Permanent Committee for Geographic Information for
Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) (ex-officio)
* Europe: European Umbrella Organization for Geographic Information
(EUROGI)

Please visit the GSDI Association website (http://gsdi.org) to
familiarize yourself with the mission, goals, programs, accomplishments
and priorities of the organization.

Small Grants Program Description

The GSDI Association, along with partners and participants, has
allocated resources from the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee and
the GISCorps of URISA, to fund a small grants program to support
national or sub-national activities that foster partnerships, develop
in-country technical capacity, improve data compatibility and access,
and increase political support for spatial data infrastructure and earth
observations application development. These resources will be used to
offer two types of grants this year:

* Grants in Cash up to 2,500 USD
* Grants in Professional Services up to the value of 2,500 USD

Grants in Professional Services will be coordinated by the GISCorps
(http://www.giscorps.org), an international initiative that offers GIS
services by qualified volunteers to emerging economies.

Activities to receive support may focus on technical or institutional
projects, as long as there are concrete/tangible outputs and several
institutions collaborate on the effort. Sample activities include
(these are not exhaustive):

* Convening of national or sub-national seminars or workshops related
to SDI
* Producing SDI- and EO-related training manuals and modules (these
materials must not duplicate existing materials)
* Establishing metadata and clearinghouse nodes
* Establishing web mapping services and applications
* Accomplishing surveys or inventories
* Producing and disseminating newsletters and awareness-raising
materials about SDI
* Drafting policy and legislation related to SDI

Priority will be given to projects in developing nations and countries
with economies in transition. Grants can be awarded to SDI coordinating
bodies (councils, committees) and GIS user groups, but the GSDI
Association asks that one institution take responsibility for
receiving/depositing the funds. Grants will not cover organization
overhead expenses.

Proposals should include information under the following headings:
1. Title of Project/Activity
2. Focal Point Institution
3. Contact Person (business street address, phone/fax, email, and
website)
4. Introduction and Background (include a description of the national
or local institutional framework and what has been achieved thus far)
5. Project Description
6. Summary of Deliverables
7. Period of Performance (time-line for overall project, deadline dates
for deliverables, date of final project report to be submitted to
grants@gsdi.org)
8. Indicate your preference for an award of cash or professional
services. Budget (itemize how the money is to be spent or the predicated
extent of services needed for specific tasks)
9. Details of additional or in-kind funds to co-finance the activity
10. List of Collaborators (with contact information)
11. Envisioned Follow-up Activities
Appendix: Include the Final Reports from any previous GSDI Small Grant
Awards

Proposals must be submitted in English and should be preferably two
pages in length but no more than five pages or 2000 words (excluding any
appendices). Please submit your proposal as a .pdf file (or
alternatively .doc or .rtf file) using 12-point Times Roman or Arial
font. A fax is also acceptable.

We anticipate funding up to 12 Grants in Cash and up to 6 Grants in
Professional Services. Grant funds will be issued as paper checks in US
dollars or as wire transfers. If the recipient chooses to receive funds
by wire transfer, $50 US will be deducted from the award amount to cover
the processing costs for the wire transfer. The recipient institution
will be required to provide a project report and an expense report upon
completion of the project. The GSDI Association may include excerpts of
the project reports in GSDI newsletters or on its website. Awardees are
encouraged to publish a local press release highlighting the award from
the GSDI Association as well as the proposed activities, and to send
copies of these to the GSDI Association.

Proposals are due on 15 January 2007. Please either e-mail or fax them
to:

Sponsored Projects Committee
GSDI Association
grants@gsdi.org
Fax +1-703-852-7917

For more information about the GSDI or to subscribe to the GSDI News
List, please see http://gsdi.org. For questions about this request for
proposals, please contact grants@gsdi.org

Note: The Small Grants Program is intended as a benefit of "full
membership" in the GSDI Association. Because the GSDI Association is
fairly young, we are making this opportunity available currently to
non-members as well. However, full members may obtain favored treatment
in the instance in which two grant applications have been ranked
similarly in the peer review process. Note that the annual GSDI
Association membership fee may be as little as US$200 for national
organizations in low per capita income nations. See the requirements
for membership at http://gsdi.org/joinGSDI.asp

****************************
If a friend or colleague would like to sign up for the GSDI News List,
direct them to http://www.gsdi.org/
To unsubscribe/change profile:
http://www.mailermailer.com/x?u=31730856q-ade366ef
To subscribe:
http://www.gsdi.org/newslist/gsdisubscribe.asp
Our address:
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Please note, HUNAGI is a full member of the GSDI Association.
HUNAGI member institution MTA ÖBKI won one of the Small Grant Program in the year 2005.

INSPIRE - State of the Art

Letter from the European Commission received today:
"To: SDIC and LMO point of contact
Madam, Sir,
You are receiving this message because you are registered as the point of contact of a Legally Mandated Organization (LMO) or Spatial Data Interest Community (SDIC). The aim of this message is to update you about the current state of affairs around the proposed INSPIRE Directive.
We are pleased to inform you that on 21 November 2006 the European Parliament and the Council have reached agreement on INSPIRE. You can view the press release of the Commission at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1612&format=HTML&amp;aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Currently the final text of the INSPIRE Directive is being compiled. After this is ready, the INSPIRE text will be translated in the official languages of the EU, and formally adopted at the beginning of 2007.
SDICs and LMOs are invited to continue their commitment to the process of drafting the Implementing Rules. The work of the INSPIRE Drafting Teams is progressing well, and the Commission services are working together with the Drafting Teams to prepare the first consultations with SDICs and LMOs. In the mean time the work for the INSPIRE Transposition Phase 2007-2008 is being drafted, which will include a calendar of foreseen consultations with SDICs and in order to help you in your planning.
We would like to thank your SDIC or LMO for the support received until now, and look forward to our continued collaboration!
Sincerely
DG Environment, EUROSTAT, and JRC"

Please note, according to our knowledge the following oerganisations are registered LMOs or SDICs:
FÖMI - LMO (Legally Mandated Organisation)
Hungarian Meteorological Service - LMO
HUNAGI - SDIC (Spatial Data Interest Community)
If anybody knows another LMOs or SDIC entities from Hungary, please use the comment function below.

International Conference on Urban Planning, Regional Development and Information Society in Vienna

Contemporary architecture in Vienna. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006
Letter from our mailbox this morning:

REAL CORP 007
12th international conference on Urban Planning, Regional Development and Information Society,
and 2nd International Vienna Real Estate Conference and GeoMultimedia007

will be held from May 20-23 2007 at Tech Gate Vienna, Austria
under the general topic "To plan is not enough" Strategies, Concepts, Plans, Projects and their Successful Implementation in Urban-, Regional- and Real Estate Development

A major goal is to intensify the discussion between real estate experts and urban planners and develop common ideas for shaping the future, with a special focus on chances and challenges of the information- and knowledge society. As usual all info can be found at www.corp.at

CALL FOR PAPERS and REAL CORP AWARDS
The call for papers is open until January 31st 2007.
If you are interested in presenting your work and your projects at the international
REAL CORP 007 conference please use the online-form at www.corp.at for submitting your paper.
There are several possibilites for presentation:
Case studies, project presentations (non-reviewed-papers)
Scientific papers (reviewed papers)
Posters
The program will be compiled by the international program commitee.
Peer-Review for scientific papers
For scientific papers there is a peer-review-process, which improves both the quality of the papers and presentations as well as the value of the publication for the authors.

Timeline for papers and presentations
The timeline for submitting papers is as follows
REVIEWED PAPERS
Submission of abstracts until January 31st 2007
Info on acceptence of paper until February 15th 2007
Full-Paper submission until March 15th 2007
Review process and feedback
Final version of full paper until April 15th 2007
NON-REVIEWED PAPERS
Submission of abstract until February 28th 2007
Info on acceptence of paper until March 15th 2007
Full-Paper until March 31st 2007
PUBLICATION, PROCEEDINGS:
All papers will be published as proceedings as well on CD-ROM as online.
REAL CORP AWARDS:
In 2007 for the first time there will be REAL CORP AWARDS for outstanding projects and initiatives in the fields of urban planning and real estate.
The categories are
Working environments for the information- and knowledge society
Housing for the information- and knowledge society
Urban Info-Society-Initiatives
Urban- and Environmental Technologies
Transport- and Logistics-solutions
Geoinformation-applications
Best REAL CORP paper
The awards are primarily idealistically, the results, winners and winner-projects will be widely published and presented.
Submission for REAL CORP Awards can be done from January until March 2007 via online-form at www.corp.at The prize-ceremony will be held during REAL CORP 007

Conference info:
CORP & Real Estate Conference = REAL CORP
CORP-conferences are held annually since 1996 and are Europes major congresses on Urban Development and Information Society.
About 400 experts from around the world from the fields of urban planning, transport planning, information- and communication technologies, architecture, ecology, real estate, surveying, multimedia technologies and more come together in Vienna to discuss actual tasks and topics on urban planning, regional development and information society in an international and interdisciplinary conference.
Speakers and participants come as well from private companies, research institutions and public administration. The common element is "thinking in spatio-temporal relations" in the field of urban and regional development.
REAL ESTATE: There is a historically unique situation in Europe, the new member countries of the European Union show an enourmous dynamic development and also the markets in Russia and Asia influence the development. Those global perspectives also show their influences on the local level, so Vienna is growing again - the unique geopolitical situation has enourmous impact on the real estate buisness.
Vienna International Real Estate Conference focuses on actual trends and perspectives in the field. Vienna also is kind of a hub for the development of the Central and Eastern European real estate markets, so this region will be in special focus. Beside that the topics of technological development - ICT and the needs of the information society - and the impacts on real estate buisness will be discussed.
REAL ESTATE & CORP = REAL CORP: As on the one hand the real estate sector is directly influenced by spatial planning on all levels and on the other hand strategies, concepts and plans alone do not make a successful urban development it is obvious that it makes sense to have a common look on the topics real estate development and spatial planning with the general topic TO PLAN IS NOT ENOUGH!

Who should attend
CORP addresses experts from industry, consulting, politics and administration, especially planners, strategic decision makers, service providers and researchers involved in "spatial thinking". CORP is an interdisciplinary event with participants coming from all over the world and from various fields, e.g. spatial planning, real estate, geography, economy, transportation, computer science, architecture, human and social sciences, surveying and much more, with a common interest in "developments in space and time".

Venue
REALCORP 007 will be held from May 20th to 23rd 2007 at Tech Gate Vienna (http://www.techgate.at ).
Topics of REAL CORP 007:
Main topics:
The main topic "To Plan Is Not Enough" focuses on the relationship between urban development and real estate business,
some of the sub-topics are from abstract plans to realized projects: co-operation of urban planning and real estate development in cities
PPP - Public Private Partnerships in urban and real estate development
Private and public space in the city of the future - who pays and who benefits
The needs of information- and knowledge society for the urban fabrique
Housing the info-society
Transport- and logistics-buildings: the underestimated live veins of the city
Urban-, Environmental and Transport technologies and their role in successful project-realization
Special topics:
Beside the main topic there will be special forums for the following topics during REAL CORP 007:
Transport hubs as knowledge hubs
Digital Cities
Airport Cities
Geo-Multimedia-Technologies
Geo-Information-Infrastructures and Technologies
General topics of interest:
Interesting contributions in the following fields are always welcome:
Urban planning and regional development in the information-society
City, Transport, Environment and reciprocal effects
Information- and communication technologies as planning support tools
Influences of ICT on spatial development
Interdisciplinary approaches to shape the future
Future perspectives of planning disciplines in the information society
"New Media " as communication-, co-operation and participation tools
Data sources and new methods for strategic spatial planning

The detailed program for REAL CORP 007 will be published in march 2007.
It would be great to welcome you to Vienna in May 2007.
Best regards,
Manfred Schrenk
(managing director)
CEIT ALANOVA
Central European Institute of Technology
Urbanism, Transport, Environment & Information Society
concorde technology center schwechat (concorde.tcs)
Am Concorde Park 2, Gebäude F
A-2320 Schwechat / Austria
tel +43 1 90360 1241
fax +43 1 90360 1299
m.schrenk@ceit.at
www.ceit.at
Director CORP - Competence Center for Urban and Regional Planning, www.corp.at

Audio Interview: New Satellite Service for Developing World

Image courtesy by GEO Secretariat, 2006

Earth Observation supported Services for Developing World
Voice of America Interview panelists are:
Mikael Rattenborg: Director of Operations, EUMETSAT
Bill Jefferies: Chief Technical Officer of Geospatial Services, MacDonald Detwiller, earth observation satellite services
Donald Hinsman: Director of Space Programs, World Meteorological Organization
Lorant Czaran: ReliefWeb Map Center, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
A new inexpensive satellite-based information system called GEONETCast will permit governments in poorer nations to tap information from the sophisticated satellites and weather stations run largely by the world's richer industrial countries to access environmental and health data across the world. We'll talk about this new system and how developing nations will be able to benefit from it.
Listen to this Program: please click on the grey header text above.

Source of the news: circular notice of Lorant Czaran of UN OCHA to CEOS WGISS members
Audio source:
http://www.voanews.com/english/newsanalysis/talktoamerica.cfm

Please note, UN OCHA is the elected co-chair of the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG), which launched the UN SDI initiative having The Netherlands, Czech Republic and Hungary as invited pilot participants. The first INSPIRE-UNSDI talks are scheduled for December 15 in Ispra hosted by Alessandro Annoni of the Unit SDI DG JRC.

Central Europe: Preparing for eContentplus IV - Next action

Rooftop colours of the St.Stephan Church in Vienna
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006
Preparing for eContentplus IV -
Digital Libraries: Cultural Content -
Vienna 1&2 Feb. 2007

HUNAGI just received the following mail from the Austrian organisers:

"We are happy to announce the programme of the event 'Preparing for eContentplus IV' - Digital Libraries: Cultural Content in Vienna on 1 & 2 February 2007.
You can download the programme here:
http://www.econtentplus.net/index.phtml?articleId=245

The programme will present top-class speakers of all four Central European countries, from the academic and the private sector as well as from the EU Commission. It will provide you with an excellent opportunity to meet potential partners for projects on a European level. Although the conference focuses on Central Europe you will meet people from all over Europe.

At this event you will have the possibility to
- learn about European and global trends in cultural content
- obtain insights into the Central European markets
- meet key-players in the field of cultural content

The past three events in Prague, Budapest and Bratislava showed that there is a high demand for such matching events: Participants from 10 different countries took the chance to attend the conferences and find partners for projects on a European level.
For the upcoming event in Vienna we also expect high representatives from the different sectors and the whole value-chain of content development, production, publishing and distribution

Due to the benefit of the four Central European ministries the event will be free of charge.

Nevertheless, we ask you to register as soon as possible: http://www.econtentplus.net/index.phtml?formid=17&event=3

Please find all necessary travel information here:
http://www.econtentplus.net/data/A/245/hotels_in_vienna.pdf

In case of any questions don’t hesitate to contact us.
Best Regards,
Hans-Peter Ritt
preparing for eContentplus
project management
a-1020 vienna, karmeliterplatz 1/15
p: +43.1.212 85 22.11; f: +43.1.212 85 22.9
info@econtentplus.net; www.econtentplus.net

Preparing for eContent.plus is a joint initiative of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia focusing on co-operation in the field of digital content. For any further information please contact our website http://www.econtentplus.net "

INSPIRE - UNSDI Meeting at the European Commission

Entrance gate of DG JRC in Ispra. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2003

INSPIRE - UNSDI Meeting scheduled for 15 December, 2006. UNSDI HUCO representative is among the invited experts





The Meeting arranged by Unit SDI at DG JRC in conjuction with UNGIWG co-chair FAO will take place at the Ispra Establishment of the European Commission.
Presentation on UN SDI Hungarian Coordination Office will highlight the following aspects:
1) Formal mandate the presented initiative has got from regional or national authorities;
2) Composition and partnership;
3) Priorities (policies, development, …);
4) Resources, programmes & strategies;
5) How you see the link to INSPIRE.

Tentative agenda: http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/INSPIRE_UNSDI_agenda.pdf

UN SDI HUCO contributing paper for EFITA/WCCA 2007

UNSDI HUCO submitted abstract to the EFITA/WCCA 2007 Conference

The conference of EFITA will be a joint event with the World Congress on Computers in Agriculture. Participants from all over the world are expected.
The abstract can be downloaded here: http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/efita2007unsdihu.pdf

More on EFITA, the European Federation of IT in Agriculture: http://www.efita.net

Note, the President of EFITA ic Karel Chravat, Coordinator of the Czech Coordination Office of the UN SDI!
The world is small...