Astronaut Charles Simonyi in Budapest

Astronaut Charles Simonyi. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007
Charles Simonyi, Spaceflight Participant, Soyuz TMA-10 visited Hungary on 30th April and met with professionals for a one-hour interactive talk. If you are interested in details of his spaceflight, please visit http://www.charlesinspace.com/
Wikipedia introduces Charles Simonyi starting: " Charles Simonyi (Hungarian: Simonyi Károly; born September 10, 1948, Budapest) is a computer software executive who, as head of Microsoft's application software group, oversaw the creation of Microsoft's flagship office applications. He now heads his own company, Intentional Software, with the aim of developing and marketing his concept of Intentional programming. In 2007, he became the fifth space tourist and the second Hungarian in space. ..." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Simonyi
He is alumni of the University of California at Berkeley (where the ISDE5 will take place in early June www.isde5.org ) and the Stanford University. He became Chief Architect of Microsoft Applications. A detailed report on the event in Budapest is available in Hungarian at http://hunagi8.blogspot.com
The Presidium of the Hungarian Astronautical Society MANT invited HUNAGI's blog editor to the meeting hosted by the Puskás Tivadar School for Telecommunication.
A photographic portfolio of the event is available at:
www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/photos/persons/AstronautSimonyi/index.html
The Természet Világa (World of Nature), the journal of natural sciences in Hungary will devote its May issue to Charles Simonyi's spaceflight: www.termeszetvilaga.hu

Dates and venues for the forthcoming GSDI Conferences announced

Reserve these dates of the coming Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conferences on your calendar:

GSDI-10
University of West Indies
St. Augustine, Trinidad
February 25-29, 2008

GSDI-11
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
June 15-19, 2009
More information: www.gsdi.org

INSPIRE Directive published in the Official Journal on 25th April, 2007

INSPIRE Directive will enter into force in the 15th May 2007

We have just received the info note of Ms. Karen Fullerton of SDI Unit, DG JRC, Ispra as follows:
"The INSPIRE Directive was published in the Official Journal, yesterday, the 25th April 2007 This means that the INSPIRE directive will enter into force on the 15th May 2007.
Full text of the directive (EN)
The directive is available in the official languages in the
Official Journal of the European Union "
For more information please visit
http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire

GI and the Use of Renewable Energy Resources

Despite the availability of sophisticated products in the energy market, todays' increasing energy consumptions urgently call for alternative, renewable resources. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2002
GI and Energy Potentials
AGEO Information Day in Vienna
April 25, 2007

HUNAGI received invitation, which was circulated among the members .
Forestry Directorate, a Stakeholder of UNSDI HUCO used the opportunity to arrange participation.

AGEO: Österreichische Dachverband für Geographische Information
Topic: Areas and Energy Potentials
(Contribution of Geoinformatics to the use of renewable energy)
Raum und Energiepotentiale - Der Beitrag der Geoinformatik zur Nutzung erneuerbarer Energie
Begrüßung
Baurat h.c. Dipl.-Ing. Manfred Eckharter, Präsident des AGEO
Nachhaltige Energieversorgung in Regionen
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Josef Strobl, Zentrum für Geoinformatik, Universität Salzburg
Planung und Energie - e5 Programm für energieeffiziente Gemeinden im Rahmen von klima :aktiv:
Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Ritter, Österreichische Energieagentur
Energieforschungsförderung
Dipl.-Wirtschaftsing. (FH) und Dipl.-Energiewirt (FH) Robert Freund, FFG Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft
Geographisch explizite Optimierung von Biomassevergasung unter Polyproduktion
Dr. Michael Obersteiner, Internat. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA

Kunsziget Wind Park Project was introduced by oekostrom AG.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007
Energiewirtschaft durch die Geobrille - räumliche Perspektiven zur Entscheidungsunterstützung im liberalisierten europäischen Energiemarkt
Dr. Markus Biberacher, Researchstudios Austria - Studio iSPACE
Ökostrom im liberalisierten Strommarkt - Werthaltungen, Kundenbeziehungen und regionale Ressourcen
Mag. Ulfert Höhne, oekostrom AG
Biomasseinventur mittels Fernerkundung
Mag. Manuela Hirschmugl, Joanneum Research
Das Modell Güssing - Ein Energiesystem der Zukunft
Ing. Reinhard Koch, Europäisches Zentrum für Erneuerbare Energie
Abschlussdiskussion

On the homeward bound: Wind Farm in Burgenland along the highway ViennaBudapest. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007




HUNAGI Visuals resource provides a photographic flashback on the event at:
http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/photos/events/AGEO2007Spring/index.html

Mision Report on the FIG COM3-UNECE WPLA Joint Workshop

Peter Creuzer, Chair of UNECE WPLA and Chryssy Potsiou, Chair of FIG COM3.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007

For background, please visit the blogspot of March 26, 2007 on this site

Mission to Athens, Greece taking part on the Joint Workshop and Conference of the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the FIG COM3 “Spatial Data Management” between March 28-31, 2007 in Cape Sounio near Athens, Greece representing EUROGI Working and Advisory Group on International Affairs (WAG IA) and the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure (UN SDI) Hungarian Coordination Office.
Report in English:
http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/ATHENS-v3.pdf

Chinese Delegation of National SDI Coordination will meet with the Stakeholders of UNSDI HUCO

HUCO website visitors from P.R.China up till now. Larger size circle represents 10-99 visitors. Captured from ClustMaps (TM), 2007
Visit of a high-profile Chinese Delegation in Hungary


3rd (extraordinary) Meeting of the Steering Committee of the UNSDI HUCO devoted to the Delegation of the National SDI Coordination Committee of P.R.C.

Rearranged Date: 23rd May, 2007
Venue: FÖMI Remote Sensing Centre, Budapest
Preliminary agenda (will come soon)

Chinese Delegation includes: Mr.Chen Xuanqing, Deputy General Director, Head of DelegationState Commission of Development and Reform, Ms.Li Junfen, Inspector State Commission of Development and Reform, Ms.Pan Mali, Deputy Division Chief State Commission of Development and Reform, Ms.Zeng Lan, ProfessorAcademy of Macroeconomic Research of the State Commission of Development and Reform, Mr.Huang Denshan, Researcher The Ministry of Finance P.R.C., Mr.Wang Zhiqiang, Associate ProfessorInformation Center The Ministry of Land and Resources P.R.C., Mr. Liu Haiqi, Researcher The Ministry of Agriculture P.R.C., Mr.Chen Changsong, Deputy General Director State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Mr.Huang Tieqing, Division Chief Bureau of Science and Technology for Resources and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr.Wu Bingfang, Professor Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr.Liu Zhenmin, Deputy Division Chief State Ocean Administration P.R.C., Mr.Lu Jiankang, Division Chief Jiangsu Provincial Commission of Development and Reform, Mr.Rao Gangjian, Deputy Division Chief Guangdong Provincial Commission of Development and Reform
HUCO Stakeholders include:
Zsolt Barkóczi, Director of Informatics, VÁTI, Dr. Csaba Csapodi, Ministry of Economics and Transport, Dr. Előd Both, Director Hungarian Space Research Office, MoEW, Dr. Pál Bozó, Director General, Ministry of Environment and Water, Dr. Kordos László, Director, Hungarian Geological Institute, Col. László Buga Director Mapping Service, Ministry of Defense, Dr. Péter Csóka Director General, Renewable Resources, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Zoltán Dunkel, President, Hungarian Meteorological Service, Gábor Horváth, Director General, Land Administration and Geoinformation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Prof.Dr. Béla Márkus Dean, Faculty of Geoinformation, University West Hungary, Dr. Szabolcs Mihály Director General, Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing FÖMI, Academician Dr. Tamás Németh Director General, Research Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Zsolt Sikolya President, HUNAGI, Col. Gyula Szabó Chief of Service Geoinformation of the Hungarian Defense Forces, Assigned Representative, National Office of Research and Technology, Assigned Representative, National Directorate General for Disaster Management, Evelin Lantos, Hungarian FAO National Committee, Péter Gresiczki Hungarian UNESCO National Committee, Mariann Kovács Deputy General Director International and EU Relations MoARD, Academician Zsolt Harnos, Budapest Corvinus University, Prof. Miklós Herdon, President, Hungarian Federation for Agroinformatics
Special Guests includes:
Ms. Maria Kadlecikova, Representative of FAO at the Subregional Centre for Eastern and Central Europe
Michal Demes, Informatin Officer, FAO SEUR, Budapest
Jelle U. Hielkema, Consultants, UNGIWG/UNSDI

Host and Chair of the Meeting: Gabor Csornai, Head, FÖMI Remote Sensing Center
Direct link with the Chinese Delegation is provided by Gabor Remetey-Fülöpp, Head, UNSDI HUCO

Telecon initiated by Unit SDI, DG JRC on Digital Earth

The teleconference was held on 20th April between 10:00-10:45 using the telecon facility of DG JRC. The invited partners of the host Mr. Alessandro Annoni were Prof Milan Konecny, Member of ExCom Digital Earth, President of ICA, Jelle U. Hielkema, Consultant, UNGIWG and Gabor Remetey-Fülöpp, Secretary General of HUNAGI, plenary speaker of the ISDE5. Alessandro Annoni and Jelle U.Hielkema accepted the invitation to be co-authors. Apart this presentation other important aspects have been discussed and agreed.

News on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services

Extreme Transport - even ITS won't help Source: A.T Sherry, 2007

Awareness raising... please click on the header and enjoy the presentation

ITS Award of Excellence has been announced by HUNAGI's partner organisation "Intelligent Transportation Systems " ITS Hungary: Details: www.its-hungary.hu

The 6th European Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services will be held in Aalborg, Denmark between 18-20 June, 2007

More information: http://www.ertico.com/en/news_and_events/ertico_newsroom/aalborg_2007_preliminary_programme_now_available.htm

NOAA's Global Observing Systems Information Center

New service introduced at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center

This new, already operational service facilitates the access to data, data products and information provided by various programmes including GCOS (Climatic), GOOS (Oceanic) and GTOS (Terrestrial) as well as partner programmes such as Global Atmospheric Watch and the World Weather Watch.

Source: Jelle U. Hielkema, Rome

Mention should be made, Ken McDonald (who co-chaired the 22nd CEOS WGISS Meeting hosted by HUNAGI and EOGEO Hungary in Budapest last year, and who - together with Ivan Petiteville of ESA - was for the establishment of the WGISS - GSDI liason), has just left NASA to join NOAA's GEO Integrated Data Environment Project (GEO-IDE) that is addressing improvements to the access and use of NOAA's data and information resources. The new service of NOAA at NCDC in Asheville Norh Carolina will be surely introduced at the 24th Meeting of CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services in Hanoi, scheduled for late May (Details: http://hunagi19.blogspot.com , http://wgiss.ceos.org )

Online Atlas of the Millennium Development Goals

Hungarian governmental delegation including the heads of the Land and Mapping Administration and FÖMI visiting the World Bank in Washington DC. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2004


Online accessible global visualisation of the improvement related to MDG
A service provided by The World Bank

The eight Millennium Development Goals

are as follow:

1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2 Achieve universal primary education
3 Promote gender equality and empower women
4 Reduce child mortality
5 Improve maternal health
6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7 Ensure environmental sustainability
8 Develop a global partnership for development

Map-based visualisation of is provided by the World Bank's on-line Atlas at http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/

Source of the awareness raising: Jelle U. Hielkema

Details on the promise related to the Millennium Development Goals:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html

UN Statistical Division introduces a new portal service in Summer 2007

UN Headquarters in New York City.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2004
The coming UN Statistical Portal promises easy access to data

The new portal of the UN Statistical Division announced to be opened in Summer 2007 will have the following features:
- free of charge access to United Nations Statistics Division data,
- search and browse several databases using one easy to use interface,
- new and improved data and metadata presentation.
Recently the UN Statistical databases can be reached at the conventional entry point:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/databases.htm
Source: Jelle U. Hielkema

GI and the eContentplus

Medieval visualisation of the topography of Luxembourg
Location-related information on the fortress had high value.
Image taken in a Berlin Library : HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2003

eContentPlus Information Day in Luxembourg.
Value and importance of GI/GIS related eContent is obvious but is well reflected?

According to the "eContentplus.net Newsletter dated 17 April 2007" just received: "On Thursday 24 May an Information Day will be held in Luxembourg for the third call for proposals of the eContentplus programme. Subject to the completion of all the necessary procedures, it is intended to launch the call in June 2007 with a provisional deadline for receipt of proposals on 4 October 2007.Further information and the draft work programme as well as the draft call text can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/calls/proposals/index_en.htm "
Information source: Preparing for eContentplus a joint initiative of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia focusing on co-operation in the field of digital content.Address: A-1020 Vienna, Karmeliterplatz 1/15, phone: +43.1.212 85 22.14; fax: +43.1.212 85 22.9central@econtentplus.net; www.econtentplus.net

According to the recent communication of the European Umbrella Organisation for Geo-information, EUROGI (www.eurogi.org), the Work Programme has been published (still as a draft) on the web on April 16:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/index_en.htm
Here the bad news are that targeted projects are not any more in the programme but only TN.

Hungarian Delegation at the FIG Working Week

Downtown as seen from the tallest building in Hong Kong.
Image courtesy by Dr. Sam C. M. Hui, 2003

Three HUNAGI member institutions will be represented at the FIG Working Week in Hong Kong

Commission Presidents Messrs. Prof. Béla Márkus and András Osskó as well as Dr. Szabolcs Mihály will actively take part on the FIG Working Week in Hong Kong next month.
The FIG Commission 3 (Spatial Information Management) chaired by Dr. Chryssy Potsiou has a Working Group devoted to Spatial Data Infrastructure.The Working Plan has been been drafted and discussed in Cape Sounion workshop last month, where the Hungarian participant representing HUNAGI/UNSDI HUCO and EUROGI WAG IA accepted the invitation to take part in the activities lead by Paul Kelly from Australia and Prof. Dr. Hartmut Müller of the Mainz University of Applied Sciences. Dr Szabolcs Mihaly was also invited to the actions. A working plan has been drafted by Robin McLaren in the subject Megacities and SDIs.
FIG COMM 3 WorkPlan:http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/FIGC3wp.doc
The FIG Hong Kong event details:http://www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/HK1.doc

Hungarian speaker at the ISDE5 in Berkeley

Golden Gate of the San Francisco Bay Area. Image: Olympus Co., 2005

Partial list of presenters at the 5th Digital Earth Symposium

A partial list of the speakers includes John Garamendi, Lt. (Governor, State of California); Dr. Lu Yongxiang (President Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China); Dr. Berit Johne (Counselor for Science, Royal Norwegian Embassy);Dr. Tim Foresman (President, ICRSE, Baltimore, Maryland)Dr. Edgar Mitchell (Astronaut)Ambassador John McDonald (President, IMTD, Washington, DC)Dr. Doug Engelbart (Director, Bootstrap Alliance, Fremont, California)James H. Kuntsler (Author, Sarasota Springs, New York)Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris (Evolutionary Biologist, Author, Santa Barbara, California)Jack Dangermond (President, ESRI, Redlands, California)Michael T. Jones (CTO, Google Earth, Mountain View, California)Brig. General Peter Worden (Director, NASA Ames Research Center)Dr. Robert Corell (Director, Global Change, Heinz Center, Washington, DC)Dr. John Townshend (Chair, Geography, U of Maryland, College Park, Maryland)Professor Guo Huadong (Director, International Society for Digital Earth, Beijing, China)Steve Killelea (Chairman, Integrated Research, Sydney, Australia)Dr. Astrid Stuckelberger (Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva)Dr. Lee Schwartz (Geographer, US State Department)Lars Bromley (AAAS, Washington, DC)Native Nations Accepting Governance Challenge Yukon Chiefs* (Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, Alaska)Governor Jim Geringer (ESRI, Wheatland, Wyoming)Councilman Richard Simpson (City of Auckland, New Zealand)Dr. John Francis (Planetwalk, Pt. Reyes, California)Dr. Hiromichi Fukui (Director, Digital Asian Network, Keio University, Japan)Prof. David Wortley (Director, Serious Games Institute, Coventry University, UK)Dr. Joseph Kerski (ESRI, Redlands, California)Frank Niepold (NOAA, Maryland)Dr. Michael Goodchild (NCGIA, U.C. Santa Barbara)Vice President Al Gore* (*working on it)Dr. Tetsuya Sato (Director, Earth Simulator, Tokyo, Japan)Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher (Director, NOAA, Washington, DC)John Graham (Senior Developer, SDSU Visualization Center, San Diego)Bill Gail, Virtual Earth (Microsoft)Chuck Stein, GeoMatrix Tool Kit (GeoFusion)Dr. David Maquire, ArcGIS Explorer, Server and On-Line (VP ESRI)Dr. Pat Hogan, World Wind (NASA)Brian McClendon, Google Earth (Google Earth)Dr. Gabor Remetey – Fülöpp (Budapest, Hungary)Dr. Mike Liebhold (Senior Scientists, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, California)Dr. Glen Lauder (New Zealand)PlanetWorkBioneers

HUNAGI representative is also in the ISDE International Steering CommitteeThe event venue will be the University of California at Berkeley

The Hungarian presentation is scheduled for the Closing Session

Source: Rebecca Sheranian, Digital Earth Internship February, 2007

http://rs-msmit.livejournal.com/

Now, there is a new attractive category for the NGOs: full participation for USD 360

Official website including the preliminary programme (as of early April): www.isde5.org

Newsblog of the Organiser Tim Foresman dr: http://isde5.blogspot.com/

UN: "Delivering as One" Strategy implementation started

From our today's mailbox:
Jelle U. Hielkema wrote: "Please find attached some recent evidence of action on the 'Delivering as One' strategy implementation in the Food Security area between FAO, WFP and IFAD."

FAO-WFP-IFAD Joint Letter on Food Security Theme Groups.tiff98K Download

TOR-FoodSecurityThemeGroups.doc34K View as HTML Open as a Google document Download

ePSIplus actions organised by epsiplus

ePSIplus logo. Courtesy by ePSIplus Network, 2007
Prague. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006

Re-use of Public Sector Information: ePSI+ workshops

From the daily mail of HUNAGI:
"Dear ePSIplus Stakeholders,

The ePSIplus Thematic Network is helping to organize fifteen international expert meetings designed to debate a wide range of issues and to arrive at a consensus on recommendations for the 2008 review of the PSI directive (2003/98/EC of 17 November 2003). These conclusions will be validated at the pre-review conference organized by the ePSIplus project in a close cooperation with the European Commission.Detailed meetings schedule and all information related to the upcoming meetings is available on the ePSIplus website (http://www.epsiplus.net/).Currently the registration is open for the following two ePSIplus thematic meetings:

Public Sector Culture and PSI-re-use. Prague, Czech Republic. April 11, 2007.

This meeting will be of interest to private and public bodies with an interest in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), e-Government and government transformation issues in relation to PSI and its re-use.The meeting coincides with the 5th East European E-Government Days Forum (Prague, 11-13 April, 2007).

Helsinki. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2005

Pricing. Helsinki, Finland. April 19 – 20, 2007.

The target audience for the Pricing meeting is private and public organizations with an interest in PSI pricing issues. Detailed information package is available on the ePSIplus website.ePSIplus offers support for travel and accommodation costs for meeting participants.For more information please visit http://www.epsiplus.net/.http://www.epsiplus.net/ - Europe’s one-stop shop on Public Sector Information re-useContact: Rob Davies, ePSIplus Network Co-ordinator (Rob.Davies@ePSIplus.net)The ePSIplus Network is funded under the European Commission’s eContentplus programme

Co-Chairs of the UNGIWG changed

Outgoing co-chairs David Kaatrud of the World Food Programme and Jeff Tschirley of FAO are listening the speech of Jelle U. Hielkema at the UNSDI Global Partners Meeting held in Frascati early March. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007

Outgoing Co-Chairs of the United Nations GI working Group delegated by WFP and FAO gave the floor for the new pair delegated by OCHA and UNHCR earlier this week.

The new Co-Chairs are since 4th of April 2007 are still David Kaatrud of UN-OCHA (who moved from WFP to OCHA meantime), while the second Co-Chair is Karl Steinacker from UNHCR.

ICA President met with Secretary General of HUNAGI today

Prof.Milan Konecny (right) met the Secretary General of HUNAGI. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007

Newest action in the emerging Czech - Hungarian link

in GIS and Cartography

Prof. Milan Konecny visited Budapest today and used the opportunity to invite the Secretary General of HUNAGI for a coffee break to discuss topics having mutual interest (including UN SDI National Coordination Offices, NGIAs, Chinese Delegation, Digital Earth etc)

More on ICA: www.icaci.org

Prof. Konecny submitted invitation folder for the 2nd International Conference on Cartography and GIS will be held in Borovec, Bulgaria between January 21-24, 2008. The event will be organised under the auspices of the Rector Prof.Dr.Penio Penev of the University of Architecture, Civil Engng and Geodesy, Sofia.

For details please visit the website:

http://www.datamap-bg.com/conference2008

Tisza River Development Project Manager visited UNSDI HUCO

The Tisza River Watershed Area in the eastern part of the Carpathean Basin. Relief details of a poster exhibited et ESA ESRIN. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007

EUROGI and HUNAGI will also participate the Tisza Development Project Workshop in Brussels
Mr. Béla Jarolics of IHLET Pbc visited UNSDI HUCO today to discuss joint actions.
The topic of the talks covered the preparation of the Project Workshop will be held in the European Parliament between 23-25 May, 2008 with the active participation of EUROGI President Prof. Dr. Mauro Salvemini and the EUROGI Working and Advisory Group on International Affairs. IHLET Bublic Benefit Company is the newest member of the Hungarian GI Association. HUNAGI Secretary General also in his capacity as Director of EUROGI WAG IA will participate in the preparation in close cooperation with IHLET advisor Ms. Vivien Gyuris. The project takes into account the European Water Framework Directive and the INSPIRE legislation framework just approved by the European Institutions as EC Directive.
More details on IHLET: www.ihlet.org