Google.org has launched a new grants program that includes Geo Challenge Grants for nonprofit organizations around the world. The program will help NGOs working with global development, climate change, and global public health to create projects using online mapping tools, such as Google Maps and Google Earth.
Scott Gustafson has been promoted to a vice president of Merrick & Co. and is serving as manager of the company's Los Alamos, New Mexico office, according to the company.
As modern development places homes and workplaces ever farther apart, commute times lengthen — which means more exhaust in the air, and more negative impacts on the environment. The VERTUS (Vehicle Emissions Related To Urban Sprawl) simulation tool was developed to help urban planners quantify the amount of vehicle emissions generated, given a particular level of urban sprawl at the township level.
More than 60 percent of the primary forest of tropical ecosystems has already been lost, and government agencies are struggling to prevent further destruction. In Honduras, GIS techniques, lifestyle surveys, and satellite imagery of forested areas all helped to determine the variables that predict deforestation behavior among rural families.
How can a country that's almost 10 million square kilometers in area and has a large percentage of the world's freshwater — and disparate jurisdictions responsible for that water — integrate water data collected at myriad source points? Canada's ResEau initiative is attempting to do just that, as it prototypes a new way of accessing and managing water information across jurisdictions through the use of open geospatial standards.
Oil & Gas companies around the world are investing in innovative geospatial technologies to reduce errors, cut costs, and ultimately improve the management of our Earth's precious natural resources.
