City approves $2M for sewer projects

The St. Joseph, Missouri city council passed two bills April 16 for roughly $2 million worth of sewer work. The largest will contract Snyder & Associates for the design of the Eastside Wastewater Improvement Project. The job aims to address wastewater concerns in the Candy Creek watershed. Snyder & Associates will find a site large enough to accommodate future wastewater needs, construct a new pump station, and extend gravity sewer lines to an area near Candy Creek. The city manager said the city will be able to better pump sewage to its treatment plant, while locating the new infrastructure in a way that would help transition to another plant well in the future. The second bill will construct a new pump station.

Details Here

first published week of:   04/23/2012

City of Beijing encourages satellite navigation sector
by Gao Yuan ( chinadaily.com.cn)

The municipality of Beijing is encouraging investment in the navigation and location-based services industry, suggesting there is a market worth at least 50 billion yuan ($8 billion) by 2015 after China put its own satellite navigation network into commercial use.

The reaction comes after the latest satellite in China's Beidou-2 navigation system was launched in Xichang in October. The system is expected to start providing positioning and navigation services for China and neighboring areas by the end of this year and provide global coverage by 2020.

The Beijing municipal government said there is capacity for at least 100 location-based services in the city, Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday, citing Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, the industry regulator.

Beijing-based navigation companies expected to use the Beidou System, include NavInfo Co Ltd, AutoNavi Holdings Ltd, Beijing UniStrong Science and Technology Co Ltd.

AutoNavi, which is providing map services to Apple Inc in the Chinese mainland, said Beidou will help the company to better service its Chinese users.

Jiang Derong, senior vice-president of AutoNavi, said: “Beidou is set to beef up our services and I am not worried by the head-on confrontation of Beidou and GPS from the United States. Beidou has its own strengths in China.”

Details Here

first published week of:   11/26/2012

City provides new mapping resources

A new web-based mapping system in Maryville provides a faster and more efficient way for city staff to access important information to aid in community improvement.

Midland Geographic Information Systems Solutions, with headquarters here in Maryville, created a way for the city to collect data and map utilities. With the release of the Integrity GIS, city staff can take current mapping abilities and use them through an online program.

Midland GIS Director Christina James said the system increases communication by allowing workers to access information without having to come see her.

“It’s at their fingertips,” James said. “Whenever people have the data and information right there in front of them, they can see where problem areas are and where they need to work.”

City Manager Greg McDanel said they would like to one day be able to release the system to the public for online use. McDanel said citizens will be able to find information easily on their own, such as square footage of property, zoning, and the location of utilities in their neighborhood.

“Citizens won’t have to call City Hall or go get a map just to get information,” McDanel said.

first published week of:   11/12/2012

City report trashes 911 call response

New York City’s 9–1–1 system is riddled with problems that could cost crucial seconds in dispatching emergency services despite a $2 billion overhaul, a May 4 report released by the city’s mayor found. The shortcomings of the $2 billion system, launched in May 2009, were numerous and resulted in 14 recommendations for improvements included in the report. Most centered on the lack of coordination between police and fire departments in creating what was supposed to be a “unified” response to get emergency vehicles to the scene more quickly. Among the findings: there is no unified governance structure for 9–1–1; city police department (NYPD) and city fire department (FDNY) call takers waste valuable time asking duplicative questions and taking identical actions for the same 9–1–1 caller; 9–1–1 operators answer every call by stating their ID number, a practice dating back to before computers; under current protocols, callers in distress have to wait until the seventh question to be asked the most critical question: “What is the emergency?”; and the FDNY and NYPD do not have agreed–upon policies or training curriculum for how to respond to a surge of 9–1–1 calls and use separate maps. Furthemore, 38 percent of all 9–1–1 calls in 2010 were made by accident. Most were thought to be “pocket dials” by cell phones, eating up precious seconds that could be devoted to genuine emergencies.

Details Here

first published week of:   05/07/2012

Congress doesn't like it when employers ask for Facebook login details

A bipartisan group of senators and representatives introduced the “Password Protection Act” in both houses of Congress today. This is a second federal legislative attempt (the first one was just two weeks ago!) to halt the practice of employers requiring employees or job applicants to disclose their accounts on social media websites.

The new bill prevents employers from accessing information on a computer or device that isn’t “owned or controlled by an employee.” It includes exceptions for certain public sector workers (notably those who work in national security and the military) and employees who work with children under the age of 13.

The bill tells employers they may not compel or coerce “any person to authorize access, such as by providing a password or similar information through which a computer may be accessed, to a protected computer that is not the employer’s protected computer, and thereby obtains information from such protected computer.” If they do, employers may be subject to a $10,000 fine.

The new bills appear to be a direct result of senatorial inquiry that came in the wake of an article published by the Associated Press earlier this year, which outlined the practice among dozens of law enforcement agencies around the country. Facebook later decried the practice, and said it may try to sue such employers.

For now, civil libertarian and privacy groups appear to be generally on-board with the new bills, saying that they are a step in the right direction.

Details Here

first published week of:   05/14/2012

County looks into GIS sharing agreement
Boone County, Iowa approaches Marshall County with idea

Marshall County has been approached by Boone County into sharing Geographic Information Services and the local director, Wayne Chizek. The Board of Supervisors discussed this proposal at its meeting Tuesday.

Marshall County would save half of Chizek’s salary and benefits if they agree to share his services with Boone County.

The GIS department provides maps and data for a wide range of county work.

It is early on in the possible agreement as research will be done to see if it will work.

Chizek said he is willing to explore the opportunity and it appears the supervisors are willing to as well.

“I think we need to look at this as a very positive chance,” said Supervisor Dave Thompson.

Details Here

first published week of:   05/21/2012