Chile's SDI portal

Here's another good SDI portal in the Latin American & Caribbean Region - SNIT - the National System of Coordination of Territorial Information of Chile, with an online map viewer and linkages with other sources of Chilean geospatial information. It's in Spanish of course, but still very understandable as an example of what the Region needs more of - spatial data/ information that's easily available to the public. And this one has been around a few years now.

Here's a quick summary in English.

GPS - is the sky falling?

According to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) , "It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption". As you may know, the USAF maintains and controls the Navstar GPS system. The GAO estimates that the full constellation of 24 satellites may fall below the 95% committed/ expected availability in 2010 through 2014, with the probability of a full constellation falling to 80% for 2012. The report and executive summary are available here. So, will the world as we know it come to its Mayan Calendar end, or will the EU's Galileo, China's COMPASS and Russia's GLONASS GPS systems see here an incentive to expand their operations as a global public service?

Guatemala's Spatial Data Infrastructure Prototype

Via the GSDI Mailing List: Guatemala has launched a new Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) portal. It's in spanish, and the universal language of spatial data and maps. It was built using Open Source tools and though it has some rough edges, it's a very good start and an excellent development for SDI in the Region.

If you like, just for the information, you can read the Home Page in English.

Geospatial Framework Development - The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

The Government of Puerto Rico in partnership with NOAA's National Geodetic Survey is currently conducting a Geodetic Reference Framework Project on the island of Puerto Rico. This, in part, involves the improvement of the Vertical and Horizontal framework which form the foundation for Geospatial products and services, Land Surveying, and Geodesy.

The article entitled "Coordenadas en NAD83 y PRVD02 y la Ley" by Dr. Linda L. Vélez Rodríguez, MS, PE, PLS describes the project, legal implications, and the challenges involved. The article can be found at http://cms.ciapr2.org/templates/CIAPR/tecnomundo/Tecnomundo%20mar-abr%2009.pdf

For further information regarding Land Surveying and Geodesy in Puerto Rico visit http://cms.ciapr2.org/

Please note - the article is in spanish