Google Campus Ambassador Program 2013 for Nigerian Undergraduates and other Sub Saharan African Universities

If you are undergraduate in any of the Universities in Sub Saharan Africa (Nigerian Universities are included if are unaware) and you are 21st century ICT compliant this information is for you. i received an important mail from Google Campus Ambassador Program Coordinator
Read more after the cut.

Abuja Residents hail new landlord, tenant bill -

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), say the new landlord, tenancy Bill presently before the Senate, if passed into law, will revolutionise tenant/landlord relationship in Nigeria's capital

city. Read more after the cut.

Global warming may have fueled Somali drought

Global warming may have contributed to low rain levels in Somalia in 2011 where tens of thousands died in a famine, research by British climate scientists suggests. Scientists with Britain's weather

service studied weather patterns in East Africa in 2010 and 2011 and found that yearly precipitation known as the short rains failed in late 2010 because of the natural effects of the weather pattern La Nina.

Europe, Russia agree tie-up on missions to Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it signed a deal on Thursday with its Russian counterpart to launch two unmanned missions to Mars, a quest that was rocked by a US pullout last year. Called ExoMars, the scheme entails sending an orbital probe to the Red Planet in January 2016 to look for atmospheric traces of methane gas, a pointer to the existence of microbial life.

UK urges urgent world action on climate change

Declaring open a day-long conference on climate change and climate security in London capital on Tuesday, UK Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire stressed the need for immediate action by all countries to limit global average temperature hike.

FIG Working Week 2013 in Nigeria – Environment for Sustainability

Abuja, Nigeria, International Conference Centre

Welcome by surv. (Hon) Bode Adeaga, fnis, President Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, NISD

I feel privileged to welcome you on behalf of  International Federation of Surveyors,FIG and the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) to the 2013 FIG Working Week in Abuja, Nigeria.
Read more after cut

Top 10 Environmental Issues

Read on to know what are some of the top 10 environmental issues that need to be addressed with immediacy.

NIMET’s 2013 seasonal rainfall prediction

Last weekend, our own meteorologists, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, briefed Nigerians about what to expect from the weather this year. The Director-General of NIMET, Dr Anthony Anuforom, said that the rainfall pattern in most parts of Nigeria was likely to be similar to that of 2012, however some areas in North-Western parts of the country, which also fall within the catchment area of River Niger, are predicted to have a total rainfall that may exceed that of 2012. These are Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara states and environs. He advised relevant authorities to use the NIMET’s updates issued regularly to control possible adverse impacts, while pointing out that the forecast was not automatic as the predictions could change due to climate change. In his words, ‘‘The conditions that determine rainfall pattern over Nigeria have become more variable due to the effects of climate change and global warming.’’

learn how to use Google Map Maker to improve your Google Map Part 1

 Sometime in April 2011 Google opened up the U.S. map for editing in its Map Maker application, allowing web developers and any user, for that matter, to add places, edit places, add roads, and review edits made by others on the Google Map.

Map Maker gives you the capability to edit Google Maps directly, giving you access to correct errors you may find, add missing points or places of interest, roads, monuments, business locations.

Google Map Maker allows you to add and update geographic information for millions of users to see in both Google Maps and Google Earth. Once your edits are made and approved you will provide the world a more accurate view of the locations and points of interest that are under your appraisal.

Rigours of the Surveying Profession

Rigours of the Surveying Profession

The fact that the profession is associated with several hours of fieldwork under the intense African heat is enough reason to discourage the new comers. This is coupled with the fact that the remunerations are not commensurate to the amount of time and energy put into each survey work. The other issue is the high cost of purchase of surveying and geoinformatics equipments. It is difficult for both the professionals and institutions afford even on a rental basis. This is coupled with the fact that the models of surveying equipment change very frequently. In a continent with so much poverty, it will be difficult to cope with the cost of purchasing new equipment almost every two years.
The other is the know-how on the application of the relevant software. The other issue to deal with is the inconsistent supply of electricity to power the computers for the processing of the field data. In the case of manual equipment, manual computations and final presentations becomes an inevitable puzzle. The combination of the above act negatively on the survey products in terms of the delivery time and values to be added.

(Surveying and Geoinformation in Africa: Problems and Prospects Peter C. NWILO and Dennis A. OSANWUTA, Nigeria)

GPS Tip - Position Averaging

Today's GPS tip is using position averaging.

Most mobile GIS software defaults to using one single GPS
position to define the XY of a point feature. That's quick but it
may not be very accurate.

Say that the accuracy of your GPS unit is 3 meters. You can imagine
an imaginary 'accuracy circle' with a radius of 3 meters extending
out from your GPS position.

When you start logging GPS data, the positions come in at whatever
frequency you've specified - maybe one position a second.

The majority of those positions will fall within the imaginary
accuracy circle - some of them closer to your actual location,
others farther out along the perimeter of the circle.  Some will
even fall outside of the circle entirely.

If only one GPS position is used to define the feature's coordinate,
it may dead-on at the actual XY, but it might just as easily be
outside of the circle - a difference of 3 meters in this example.

Position averaging allows you to collect several GPS positions
instead of just one.  Most will be in the circle, some will not -
but all get averaged together.

That averaged XY becomes the final coordinate of the point feature
and it's a very simple way to improve the accuracy of point data.
                                                           

Happy Mapping!

Source: www.GeoMattix.com