CPGIS Newsletter

NEWS BRIEF

• China to Launch Commercial Internet Access
• Real-Time System for Aerial Remote Sensing developed in China
• Shenzhen Urban Planning Land Information System
• University of Hong Kong Expands GIS Program
• New Vice President for SCST
• New GIS Lab in ECNU
• News from the Berkeley Group
• Communication between CIESIN and PKU via CU-SeeMe
• The 10 Most Influential People in GIS

CPGIS ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

• Report of Votes on CPGIS Bylaws Amendment
• March BOD Meeting Summary
• The Summary of The First Member Survey (II)

GIS IN THE REAL WORLD

• Dangermond Announces Coming Revolutionary Changes in GIS
• Oracle7 MultiDimension Targeted at GIS Market
• CIESIN Introduces Innovative Gateway
• GIS Markets to Triple by 2000

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• CPGIS Beijing Urban GIS Workshop
• International Exhibition on GIS, Remote Sensing, and GPS
• Global Information Infrastructure Symposium 9

FOR YOUR INFO

• 1995 China Lecturing Tour
• Connections with China
• Free ArcView Version 1 and USGS DRG CD-ROM II Available
• GIS Related Sites on the INTERNET(II)

FROM EDITORS

• Call For Contributions to Newsletter

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Time flies so fast. While we are busy for different things, the Geoinformatics '95 conference is very soon. It is time for us to prepare for attending Geoinformatics '95 - Hong Kong. This conference has attracted so much attention from different regions i n the world. Thanks to the Organizing Committee for their great job. During the conference, the first issue of Geographic Information Sciences, a CPGIS journal is coming out. Editors of the journal are working very hard to deliver the first issue to our m embers in time. Many thanks to those who has contributed their work to the journal, and thanks to the editors for their great efforts to make it happen. I strongly encourage all members to support and contribute to our own journal.

Beijing Urban GIS Workshop will be another big CPGIS event after Geoinformatics '95. A number of members will give lectures in the workshop. They will introduce new theory, methods and trends of GIS for urban applications and they will bring their experti se to our fellows in China. Their direct contributions to the GIS development and application in China are highly appreciated. Please see this issue of newsletter for detailed program.

Thanks for your support, the Bylaws amendment has been passed by member's vote. Now the amended bylaws has been sent to Calgary, Canada, the original registration office for new registration. After its effect, we will start to recruit sustaining members t o expand the support for the association. Board of Directors has decided to issue the Best Papers Award to the members annually. This award is to recognize member's great academic achievement and to appreciate their great contributions to the GIS and rela ted fields. Details will be followed by the Annual Awards Committee. Hope you will be actively involved in this event. As a part of membership benefit, the members in Europe will receive a free subscription to GIS Europe magazine. Thus every member will h ave a free subscription to one of major GIS magazines.

CPGIS WWW home page has been updated. You can find more information about our association from there and you can also access to more information about China through that site. Any suggestion or comment is welcome to improve the information services.

Last BOD meeting has decided to formalize the financial management in the association. BOD meeting will approve financial support to major events in the association. We encourage and support local activities organized and participated by our members. Plea se send your proposals to the BOD.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Looking forward to meeting you in Hong Kong.

DING Yuemin, Ph.D.

President, CPGIS

(ding@nynexst.com)

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NEWS BRIEF

China to Launch Commercial Internet Access

According to Xinhua news agency, Beijing on March 28, a communications network being launched in April will give China its first commercial access to the global Internet. China Internet, now undergoing testing by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunicatio ns, will include links to the growing global web of computer networks known as the Internet. Calling the system "the embryo of the future information superhighway," China Internet would enable users to exchange data with global Internet users and afford a ccess to all Internet information resources. The most ambitious, the China Education and Research Network, eventually will link more than 1,000 universities and weave them into the global Internet.

The new commercial system is based on the two systems developed by the Beijing Telegraph Administration in recent years -- Chinapac and the China Public Data and Digital Network (ChinaDDN). Chinapac has brought relatively advanced digital communications t o nearly 700 Chinese cities, while ChinaDDN is available in nearly 300 cities.

(hknews@ahkcus.org, forwarded by LIU Rei, liur@hq.forestry.state.va.us)

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Real-Time System for Aerial Remote Sensing Developed in China

According to CCTV News on March 29, 1995, China has developed a Transmission System for Aerial Remote Sensing. The data capture by aerial remote sensing system in Guangxi Province (South China) can be shown in the Beijing office in 5 seconds. For a floo ding monitoring project in Guangxi, a tentative report on the flood loss was made in 20 minutes.

In the same news program, China announced the establishment of its National Railway Construction Management Information System. 3D spatial data was handled for planning and consulting works at different levels.

(LIN Hui, CPGIS Hong Kong Information Exchange Station, huilin@cuhk.hk)

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Shenzhen Urban Planning Land Information System

Shenzhen Urban Planning Land Information System (SUPLIS) has been successfully developed jointly by the Shenzhen Bureau of Land Planning and the Resource and Environmental Information System Lab of the Beijing Research Institute of Geography, Chinese Aca demy of Sciences. SUPLIS is composed of several modules such as file management, land data management (data input, update and inquiry), locational selection and mapping. The capabilities of SUPLIS include land information management, land planning, land u se evaluation and forecast. The outputs can be kinds of statistical tables and reports and maps. SUPLIS also provide the interface with other subsystem such as city information system, city planning system, municipal network system and house informatio n system.

(Reference source provided by LIN Hui and CI Tianhe)

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University of Hong Kong Expands GIS Program

The University of Hong Kong is currently expanding its GIS teaching and research facilities to meet the growing need for the technology by the government of Hong Kong. The government has greatly expanded its use of GIS in its preparation for the assimilat ion of HK by the government of China in 1996.

Presently, the University's Center of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, Department of Architecture, Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Department of Geography and Geography are all u sing GIS in both teaching and research activities. With a new equipped central GIS/LIS laboratory and a local area network, more departments will be allowed to perform teaching and research in the theory and applications of GIS. The University plans to e stablish a Geographic Information System Research Center in the near future to further promote and coordinate its GIS/LIS research activities. (ARC/INFO News, Vol. 16, No. 4)

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New Vice President for SCST

Professor XU Guanhua, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was appointed Vice President of the State Commission of Science & Technology of China before the Chinese New Year.

Professor Xu was director of the Institute of Remote Sensing Application of CAS last three years. He joined the first CPGIS annual meeting in Buffalo in 1992 and expressed his willingness to work closely with CPGIS members. Professor Xu may attend the CPG IS'95 International Symposium in Hong Kong in May with many other leading Chinese scholars.

(LIN Hui, CPGIS Hong Kong Information Exchange Station, huilin@cuhk.hk)

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News from the Berkeley Group

1. Planned Visits by CPGIS Members

Following the recent visits of Mr. Jack Dangermond, President of ESRI, and Dr. Michael Batty, Professor and Associate Director of NCGIA, to the Campus of University of California at Berkeley, the 10 members of the Berkeley group are looking forward to the planned visits by three distinguished CPGIS members: Dr. Rongxing Li, Associate Professor of Geomatics Engineering and CPGIS BOD member, from The University of Calgary, Canada; Dr. Hui Lin, First President of CPGIS, Lecturer of Geography of Geography fr om the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dr. Peijun Shi, CPGIS BOD member, Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Resources and Environment from Beijing Normal University.

Dr. Li will make a presentation on "3D Data Structures and GIS Applications" to the students and faculty in Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management on April 26, 1995.

Dr. Lin will spend the entire month of August visiting Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. Dr. Lin will collaborate with some faculty and CPGIS members on fire modeling and 3D GIS.

Dr. Shi plans to spend half a year from August visiting Berkeley. His research topic is on disaster forecasting using GIS techniques. Professor Shi will also work with Dr. P. Gong on the editorial aspects for the CPGIS Journal - Geographic Information S ciences.

2. GIS Training for Chinese National EPA

The third group of 12 Chinese EPA engineers will arrive in San Francisco on April 17 to begin their one month GIS Training and Touring in North America. After their visits in San Francisco, they will take 2 weeks training in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The instructor is Dr. Minhua Wang of R.E. Wright Associates, Inc. After that, they will visit Washington D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Toronto and Ottawa. Interested members may contact Dr. Wang at (717) 944-5501.

3. The First Issue of Geographic Information Sciences is in Press

The first issue of CPGIS Journal - Geographic Information Sciences, is in press by Science Press, Beijing. The journal is targeted to appear during the Geoinformatics'95, Hong Kong conference. Four peer reviewed papers and some advertisements are include d in the first issue. The editorial team will be expanded based on nomination and recommendations. The Editorial Committee look forward to members' various contributions including letters to editors, product review, business and personal news as well as technical paper submission. Papers or reviews written in Chinese are particularly welcome. Send your contribution to:

Dr. P. Gong

145 Mulford Hall

University of California

Berkeley, CA 94720-3114

Phone 510 642-5170

Fax: (510) 643-5438

(GONG Peng, gong@nature.berkeley.edu)

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Communication between CIESIN and PKU via CU-SeeMe

CIESIN(Saginaw, Michigan, USA) and the Institute of Remote Sensing, Peking University(Beijing, China) had a nice and exciting communication via computer (Macintosh), a small camera (QuickCam) and the software-CU-SeeMe from 1:30am to 3:00am (east time) on March 23. More than 20 people are in IRS, PKU during this time, including Mr. GAN Shijun, Director of the Department of Social Development of the State Science Committee, Mr. WANG Qiming, Mr. SHI Han, Mr. CHEN Xiaolin, Project Manager of Agenda 21 office of State Science Committee, Prof. WANG Yiqiu, Vice-President and Provost of PKU, Prof. LI Jing, Head of IRS, Prof. LI Qi, Vice-Head of IRS and others. Four people are in CIESIN at the same time, including Dr. Roberta Miller, President of CIESIN, Mr. Rich ard Cicone, Special Projects, Mr. CHEN Luming, Data Technician, and Dr. LIU Chuang, Information Scientist. Prof. LI Qi gave an excellent presentation about the Spatial Information System and the Golden Bridge Project in China vie video. and then we began to talk to each other both with voice by voice and text by text in the screen, the image is black and white and about two second delay when each action happened, the voice is OK but the speech needs to be slow down so that they can hear clearly, This is our first time to talk to each other via information network and computer.

(LIU Chuang, lchuang@CIESIN.ORG)

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The 10 Most Influential People in GIS for 1995

According to GIS WORLD, its Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) members recently have chosen 10 most influential people in GIS for 1995.

1. Jack Dangermond, President, Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (ESRI), Redlands, California, USA.

2. Denny Parker, President, GIS World Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado. USA.

3. Michael Goodchild, Director, National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of California at Santa Barbara, California, USA.

4. John Bossler, Director, Center for Mapping, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

5. Bob Marx, Associate Director for Decennial Census, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., USA.

6. Roger Tomlinson, President, Tomlinson Associates Ltd., Consulting Geographers, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

7. Larry Ayers, Executive Vice President, Utilities and Mapping Sciences, Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, Alabama, USA.

8. Nancy Tosta, Chief, Branch of Geographic Data Coordination, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA.

9. John Antenucci, President, PlanGraphics Inc., Frankfort, Kentucky, USA.

10. David Schell, President, Open GIS Consortium Inc.(OGC), Wayland, Massachusetts, USA.

(Source from GIS WORLD Vol. 8, No. 4, 1995)

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CPGIS ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

Report of Votes on CPGIS Bylaws Amendment (BOD Solution 94-12-1)

Dear CPGIS members:

The BOD Solution 94-12-1 (Bylaws Amendments) was published on the CPGIS-L and the Newsletter for CPGIS members' approval vote on January 26, 1995. As of the official close date, March 3, 1995, total 46 ballots were received.

After counting the votes and double checking the validation, the Bylaws Amendment Committee now announces that the BOD Solution 94-12-1 has been approved by an over 3 quarters of votes required by the Bylaws Article XI, Section 2.

The amendments shall be registered in Alberta, Canada, where CPGIS officially registered in. After the amendments are registered, they shall take effect immediately according to the Bylaws Article XI, Section 3.

The following is a summary of the votes on the Bylaws amendments:

Total votes: 46

Yes: 45

No: 0

Abstain: 1

Valid votes: 43

Yes: 42

No: 0

Abstain: 1

If you have any questions about this result, please feel free to send your e-mail to:

cpgis@neuro.ensu.ucalgary.ca

or write to:

Prof. Yanni Xiao

Department of Geography

University of Lethbridge

4401 University Drive

Lethbridge, Alberta

Canada T1K 3M4

FAX: (403)329-2016

Thank you for your attention.

The special thanks should go to our active members who participated and supported this vote process.

Co-Chairs

The Bylaws Amendment Committee, CPGIS

LI Yuanjun, clad122@ris001.ris.or.gov

XIAO Yanni , xiao@rose.uleth.ca

(LI Yuanjun, clad122@ris001.ris.or.gov)

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March BOD Meeting Summary

Dear members,

The following are the decisions made by March BOD meeting. The total number of votes by BOD members is 13. Co-chairs, Chief Editor and Regional Coordinators participated in the discussions in the meeting. If you have any comment, please send it to cpgi sbod@umgis.merrick.miami.edu.

Thank you.

Yuemin Ding

1. BOD Solution 95-3-1: Formalizing the Financial Management in the Association. a) CPGIS need maintain only one bank account at this stage. The secretary general should be responsible to manage it and report to president and the treasurer twice a year (April and September).

b) Major expenses should be approved by BOD. Minor expenses can be approved by the president and treasurer. The secretary general can also approve minor expenses in case of urgency.

c) All members in US and Canada should forward their membership fees directly to the secretary general. RCs in these countries do not collect membership fees. The central funding may support some regional activities if BOD approve it.

d) Members in other countries should forward their membership fees to their corresponding RC who is responsible to manage the fund and report to the president and the treasurer once a year (September).

e) The treasurer is responsible to supervise the finance management and present the finance report to BOD by the end of his or her term (October).

f) All major fund raising activities should be approved by BOD and reported and monitored by the president and treasurer.

g) Budgets should be made and presented to BOD for major CPGIS events (e.g. annual conference). It subjects to the approval from BOD.

* When possible, we should hire a part-time professional consultant to take care of financial matters to avoid possible legal complications.

[13] Yes

[ 0] No

[ 0] on Table

2. BOD Solution 95-3-2: Membership Dues

a) Membership covers a calendar year, from January 1 to December 31.

b) The president or the secretary general should send out a reminder letter with renewal form to all members in December for renewal of the membership for the next year.

c) The due date of the membership fee is January 1. The Bylaws offers members three month window after due date to pay the membership fee.

d) New membership is accepted any time during the calendar year as the membership for the current year ending at December 31.

[ 13] Yes

[ 0] No

[ 0] on Table

3. BOD Solution 95-3-3: Issue the Annual Award of the Best Papers:

Rule and Procedure of the Annual Award for the Best Papers.

a) Eligibility of the award

- The lead author(s) of the paper must be a CPGIS member with annual dues paid.

- The paper has been published in a professional journal or a proceedings of a professional conference.

- The paper has not been used to apply for other awards.

b) Criteria

1) innovative ideas for research paper or successful example of application paper: 50%

2) new methodology: 30%

3) presentation (writing, graphics, figures): 10%

4) others merits: 10%

--------

100%

The best papers will be selected as the first place, second place and the third place. Awards are $100, $75 and $50 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.

The financial award is subject to change annually. Sustaining members are welcome to sponsor the awards.

c) Procedures:

- The applicant shall send six copies of the paper to the Annual Award Committee by the deadline.

- A panel of five referees organized by the Annual Award Committee is responsible for the selection of the submitted papers.

- A certificate of the best papers and a check will be issued by CPGIS to the applicants of the selected papers.

[ 10] Yes

[ 0] No

[ 3] on Table

(Yuemin Ding, ding@NYNEXST.COM)

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The Summary of the First Member Survey

The Opinions and Suggestions

PART II: Please give your opinions on the following questions.

Question 1: What are the key problems for CPGIS currently?

* Lack of industrial GIS projects topics. Too "Academic-Oriented" which is not the top priority in China.

* Getting more people ACTIVELY involved.

* Producing some concrete and measurable benefits for members.

* Expanding its influence.

* Funding.

* Image, celebrity and reputation not satisfactorily established.

* Assistance in China's GIS development mainly remained on academic level.

* Failed to introduce best GIS software and bring applications experiences to China to meeting the immediate needs, such as GIS at the city level, enterprise level, and regional level.

* Main contacts in China only focused on "Key" individuals in the academic field, not on the governmental and various individual levels.

* Failed to provide consultation for China in helping define the directions for the China GIS development.

* Failed to raise enough funding to support relevant activities.

* Loose organization.

* Continue its growth.

* Identify its relationship with other professional organizations.

* Realize that different groups of members (students, working people, etc.) have different needs from CPGIS; try to provide substantial benefits to our members.

* Lack of professional organization and communication.

* Need a task for linking most members' interests.

* The key problems of CPGIS is the development in Mainland China where the email connection is extremely weak. In order to increase the participation of China members, email connection has to be strengthened.

* Attract more members. Some kind of regular publications in addition to the newsletter.

* The link between CPGIS overseas members and members or professionals in China needs further development.

* Administration work and membership development is not formalized.

* Most members are not involved in the activities.

* CPGIS-L net is not efficiently used.

* Communication between BOD and the members is somewhat impeded.

* Participation and involvement from members and non-members and sponsorship.

* Financial support and sponsorship from industries, governments, and other organizations.

* Most members are working or studying in universities. Although they have strong research leadership in GIS, they often lack the practical experience in GIS projects, which are the integrated works of GIS, other information technology, project management and communications. CPGIS may do something......

Question 2: What do you expect from CPGIS or What are your major needs?

* Find GIS project opportunities in China.

* Achieve the goals outlined in the bylaws and make useful contributions in promoting communication and collaboration among members, between members and colleagues in China, and between Chinese scientists and non-Chinese-speaking experts.

* Link to China.

* Bridging China and western countries in GIS development and applications.

* Grow stronger and mature in terms of being able to put knowledge and resources together to help solve problems.

* Increase celebrity and reputation.

* Be involved in the China GIS development.

* Information.

* CPGIS has a major difference than other American professional societies in that CPGIS is related to China in many ways. Thus I hope CPGIS emphasizes more on ways to bridge our members to China-related projects.

* A interest group overseas so we can help each other.

* A coordinator for Chinese projects when it is of need.

* Info exchange.

* Cooperative projects.

* Expect CPGIS to help me in knowledge enhancement, career development and catching up of new technology and news in GIS field.

* Looking forward to research cooperation chance with other members in other part of the world.

* Get general GIS related information, in academic, professional, technological and business areas;

* Follow up GIS development in China, and get chances to contribute to it.

* Get assistance in professional development, e.g. job, publishing, and etc.

* Keeping in touch with colleagues in other regions.

* Info or help regarding joint projects with China.

* Exchange information and ideas in RS/GIS field.

* Expect CPGIS to provide a forum to discuss GIS related issues in general and especially in China; to promote GIS development and applications in China; and to provide a good network for its members.

* Share information and knowledge.

* Do something for China's GIS development.

* Friends in GIS field.

* information of CPGIS's activities.

* Products and development of GIS in private and public sectors.

* Bridge function between China and abroad.

* Delivery of GIS news, especially GIS in China.

Question 3: How should we improve CPGIS-L computer network list?

* Automatically set the "Reply-To" to the sender, not the list.

* This is largely a member-driven activity. If people raise interesting questions, they may get useful answers.

* It is fine as it is.

* Reduce non-academic emails.

* Can be any of them if the topics are interesting.

* Establish and enforce rules in using CPGIS-L to reduce junk and personal mails.

* Increase news in the GIS development, particularly in China.

* Encourage bring up topics either in Academic or industry which may interest majority members.

* More 'serious' people participate.

* To improve our discussion quality and quantity, and to avoid arguments which have occurred on the net ("my product is better than yours", "US vs. Europe", etc.), I'd suggest that the president appoints someone to a facilitator role. This person will be active on the net, help channel an effective and democratic discussion.

* Need more organized discussions.

* Good enough.

* To restrict other organization's posting to cpgis-l, only allow them to post related information, but not their administrative stuff. This maybe the work of the "public relationship committee" or "network communication committee" or the like. It involv es also the cooperation with other similar organizations, not only technical list maintenance work.

* Pretty good now.

* Establish a common rule.

* Form some discussion topics by groups periodically.

* Formalize some groups for information collection and distribution.

* So far, pieces of message in the list are moderate. It would be better if we can restrict some personal message or direct it to related person, not for everyone.

* Set up some focuses for discussion.

* Add two lists: index files and specific files.

Question 4: In which way would you like to be involved into CPGIS activities? (e.g., meeting, network discussion, technical group, projects, publications, ant etc.)

* Projects.

* All those listed and whatever I can be of some help.

* All if possible.

* Meetings.

* Network discussion and projects.

* Meetings and publications.

* Facilitator for some discussion topics.

* Facilitator for some potential cooperations.

* Volunteer for China-related projects.

* Involve in meetings, network discussions, publications and technical groups.

* CPGIS should encourage local group activities, which is in a smaller area than the geographic region now. 2-hours drive is a good definition for "local" areas, beyond that, the "region" does not mean much, but the political region (such as Hong Kong) an d country means a lot, in terms of convenience in tele and postal communication.

* Network discussion is a better way to do this.

* Technical groups.

* Discussions related to specific topics or projects.

Question 5: What are your suggestions on successful fund raising?

* Contract projects. They do not have to be big at the beginning stage.

* We need to have specific projects and then raise money for those specific projects.

* CPGIS members need to design cooperative project proposals.

* Lure funds from vendors by getting GIS industry leaders involved and help introduce well-recognized GIS software vendors as well as hardware vendors and consulting firms to China.

* Publish high quality journal in terms of research and applications so as to encourage ads from vendors.

* Set up workshops and provide consulting services in various GIS aspects.

* Do something actually benefits the members.

* Contact some Fund (American as well as China) for our proposals well prepared.

* Through projects and conference organizing.

* The success of fund raising from industry must be based on mutual beneficial grounding. For example, to initialize research project that can benefit to industry and market needs or providing promotion and advertising chance to industry.

* Think about who can benefit from supporting CPGIS, then approach them and convince them to do that.

* Attract more members from industries.

* Utilize every channel to expand the effects of CPGIS.

* Show the power by doing some actual, significant projects.

* Provide the information of CHINA GIS market to industries and bridge the gaps.

* GIS consulting such as introducing GIS projects.

* Develop GIS applications and incorporate them into available commercial GIS software.

Question 6: How do you view the function of the Board of Directors (BOD)? Any suggestions to improve it?

* Coordination.

* Make correct decisions on setting organization's path and goals.

* Understand outstanding issues in the mean time and in the near by requesting comments from all members.

* Enact and encourage all members to be involved in the implementation of policy and decision.

* Remote Control.

* The function the BOD is carry out regular operation in CPGIS, organize and coordinate different activities and working groups of CPGIS.

* Bring the issues to all members level as much as possible.

* Need to involve more non-Ph.D. members into BOD, for they have difference needs, interests, and different viewing angles to various issues. These shall be well reflected in the CPGIS's decision making. Also they are a large group in all members, also the most energetic group.

* The balance of gender in BOD is not an issue, bring well developed professionals.

* There seems to be too many meetings.

* Make decision on the key issues for the CPGIS: e.g., development direction, major activities, and projects.

* Too many Doctors in BOD.

Question 7: How do you view the function of the Newsletters, Any suggestions to improve it?

* Why not send the newsletter through the list? There shouldn't be any technical problems.

* Good as it has been.

* Few people have time to read it.

* The contents of the Newsletter have been just fine.

* Suggested to replace electronic version, ps format, with a plain text format.

* An e-mail version of CPGIS newsletter.

* When use CPGIS HKIES news, please confirm with HKIES first before publishing.

* The newsletter acts as a essential communication channel amongst CPGIS members and is also the service that can be enjoyed by members at this moment.

* Good job!

* News about CPGIS, activities, and the members.

* Information sharing.

* BOD's "mouth".

* It seems that the current newsletter goes by materials. If we dedicate it with some common columns like president's column, people connection, new frontiers, new products, etc., it will be more informative and effective for editors and members to collec t info or write news reports.

* News from other Journals or Newsletters can be included in.

Question 8: What are your suggestions on short-term plans for achieving our goals defined in the Bylaws?

* Survey of thesis and dissertation research topics and organization of short term discussion and support groups and report of group activities to the CPGIS-L.

* More workshops in China and gradually become less centralized.

* Do a good job in publishing the Journal of GIScience.

* Edit and publish a GIS book series under CPGIS.

* Step by step.

* Establishing a University Club at very beginning.

* To provide more benefit to the members, so they feel worth of staying in CPGIS.

* Actively utilizing CPGIS-L net, e.g., to have a rule for posting on the net, to form some stable group to keep the net "alive".

* Enforce the membership administration to expand CPGIS.

Question 9: What are your suggestions on the long-term plans for achieving our goals defined in the Bylaws?

* Good plans.

* More cooperation with colleagues in China.

* The long term goal of CPGIS should migrate the base from North America to Mainland China while keeping her international nature. CPGIS should try her best to act as a major and influential GIS body or organization in Asia/Pacific region.

* Financially independent is very important, and given GIS as a very marketable technology, CPGIS has great chances to be financially successful. One possible step is to form two entities, CPGIS as non-profit academic entity, and a "CPGIS, Inc." or the l ike as a profit, business (consulting) entity separately registered. But the leadership of the two has to be combined, and the later has the obligation to support the former financially, while the former support the later in expertise.

* Unity and stability.

* Keep good relationship and connections with China.

Other Opinions:

* Yes, CPGIS should be neutral. However, we should be flexible, not stiff on being neutral. We could introduce to China with various GIS software and hardware from many vendors. Actively establish contacts with major industrial players and accept fund and ads.

* set up a WWW site for people who can use Mosaic to update their records or retrieve old newsletters and other info.

(Yuemin Ding, ding@NYNEXST.COM)

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GIS IN THE REAL WORLD

Dangermond Announces Coming Revolutionary Changes in GIS

During a presentation at GIS'95 in Vancouver, BC, March 28, Jack Dangermond, CEO of ESRI, described a new fast spatial database server using Oracle, Sybase, and other common database products as the basis for a new generation of GIS. Dangermond indicated that this development will be as revolutionary for GIS as any in the 25+ years that ESRI has existed. (Bob Jacobson, Worldesign Inc., Seattle, EMAIL: cyberoid@u.washington.edu)

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Oracle7 MultiDimension Initially Targeted at GIS Market

On the GIS `95 Conference, March 28, 1995, Vancouver, British Columbia, Oracle Corp. announced a breakthrough technology that will allow corporations to efficiently manage both spatial and attribute data within a single relational database. In delivering this technology, called Oracle7 MultiDimension, Oracle becomes the first major database vendor to provide support for spatial data. This latest innovation from Oracle now makes it possible for organizations to build enterprise-wide decision support syst ems around a common database architecture capable of handling all types of information: structured, text, images, video, audio and now, spatial.

Spatial data is defined by multiple dimensions-latitude, longitude and elevation-and typically describes the geographic characteristics of a particular area or object. Until now, the high cost of managing spatial data electronically has limited its use fo r mainstream business applications. With Oracle7 MultiDimension, Oracle eliminates the need for costly, proprietary spatial databases, making it possible for any organization to manage spatial data using open, industry-standard technology. The result wi ll be a host of new business opportunities for Oracle and other companies, as well as the emergence of hundreds of new business applications that will impact nearly every major industry, including financial services, health care, pharmaceuticals, insuranc e and consumer goods.

Prior to Oracle7 MultiDimension, relational databases have been inefficient for managing spatial data. While the now universally accepted relational architecture was conceived to manage uni-dimensional "rows and columns" data, Oracle7 MultiDimension is c apable of managing data referenced by up to 32 dimensions. Under development for five years, Oracle7 MultiDimension introduces a series of innovative datatype, HHCODE (Helical Hyperspatial CODE), which replaces external indexes; spatial extensions to SQL (Structured Query Language); and dynamic data partitioning. Combined, they provide a methodology to ensure accuracy, data integrity, and high performance.

To bring this technology to market, Oracle has formed the MultiDimensional Solutions Initiative (MSI), under which it is bringing together a number of software developers and systems integrators to spur the development of solutions using spatial data. Charter members include Advanced Visual Systems, Inc.; Andyne Corp.; Argus Technologies; Canadian Hydrographics Service; Cognos; Dun & Bradstreet; E-Systems; MapInfo Corp.; Mosaix Pty. Ltd.; SAIC; SHL Systemhouse; Strategic Mapping, Inc.; TASC, and Univer sal Systems Ltd.

Oracle Corp., a $2 billion company with headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif., is the world's leading supplier of information management software. The company offers its products, along with related consulting, education and support services in more tha t 90 countries around the world.

For more information, find Oracle's WWW Page at http://www.oracle.com.

(Otmar Pilgerstorfer, ae@adv.maglinz.gv.at)

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CIESIN Introduces Innovative Gateway

---- CIESIN released news

SAGINAW, MI USA, Dr. Roberta Balstad Miller, President and CEO of the Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), announced the availability of CIESIN's Gateway, a sophisticated system for the on-line search and retrieval of a wide range of environmental and socioeconomic data and information.

Beginners can explore the Gateway through an assortment of pop-up menus and keyword selections, scrolling through information until they find what they are seeking. More experienced users can employ their own search techniques, including Boolean "and/or/ but not" queries. While other systems only allow for the sequential exploration of data from other sources (which can easily take days or months by itself), CIESIN's Gateway enables the user to search for and retrieve data and metadata (data about data) in a fraction of the time it would normally take. Current data and information sources include NASA's EOSDIS, the Global Change Master Directory, and CIESIN's archives, the latter, a rapidly expanding distributed network of database servers around the wor ld comprising CIESIN's Information Cooperative.

CIESIN was founded in 1989. Its mission is to provide access to and enhance the use of information worldwide, advancing the understanding of human interactions in the environment, and serving the needs of science and public and private decision making. C IESIN is supporting major programs in information management for several US federal agencies---NASA, the Department of Defense, EPA, USDA--and also the World Bank and the United Nations system. As a consortium, CIESIN draws upon the expertise of universi ties and non-profit research organizations, and is headquartered in Saginaw, Michigan, USA.

For more information about CIESIN's Gateway, use the URL: http://www.ciesin.org/Gateway/gw-home.html or contact CIESIN User Services by phone at 517.797.2727 or via e-mail at: ciesin.info@ciesin.org.

(LIU Chuang, CIESIN, chuang@ciesin.org)

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Geographical Information System (GIS) Markets to Triple by 2000

Worldwide markets for geographical information systems (GIS) software and services will triple from $1.2 billion in 1993 to $3.8 billion in 1999. Frost & Sullivan, an international high-technology research firm, projects a 21 percent compound annual growt h rate for the GIS industry in their report, WORLD GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS SOFTWARE AND SERVICE MARKETS: MIGRATION TO FAST Pcs FROM WORKSTATIONS RECHARACTERIZES GIS MARKETS.

Government agencies are increasingly using GIS to control costs as they deal with massive volumes of geographically related data. Over 80 percent of government data is estimated as being geographically related. Businesses use GIS technology to track inv entories, site stores and warehouses, develop sales and marketing strategies and comply with government mandates.

Continuing Technological advances are reducing costs of data acquisition and conversion. Advances in client/server computing, emergence of parallel processing and evolution of distributed database technology are expanding the ability of GIS to serve more users. It is expected that The share spent on software will rise from 46 percent in 1993 to 52 percent by 1999; the current platform of choice for high-end GIS installations will shift from the Unix based workstation to the powerful PC with Windows NT; th e GIS market will shift from the current domain of technical users to the core of a company's central information management system; and the software developments like object-oriented programming, graphical user interfaces and multimedia 2-D and 3-D funct ions, as well as data compression, will lead to a rapidly growth of GIS markets.

(Reference Source: Frost & Sullivan, forwarded by cyberoid@u.washington.edu)

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

CPGIS Beijing Urban GIS Workshop

May 30- June 6, 1995, Beijing

To enhance the CPGIS Geoinformatics'95, an urban GIS workshop will be held in Peking University right after the conference. A preliminary program is appended in the following. There is an exhibition on "The International GIS, Remote Sensing, and Global P ositioning System" during the workshop.

Preliminary Program

Sponsors:

• The Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Systems (Abroad) - CPGIS
• National Natural Science Foundation of China

• Peking University
• University of California at Berkeley
• Beijing Normal University
• The Chinese Association for Urban Studies

• Co-Chair: Dr. Gong Peng, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Co-Chair: Professor LI Jing, Peking University, China
• Co-Chair: Dr. SHI Peijun, Beijing Normal University, China
• Professor ZHANG Wanzhong, Peking University, China
• Professor BAO Shixing, The Chinese Association for Urban Studies, China
• CHEN Jun, Global Resources & Environmental Assessment Technologies - GREAT, USA
• ZHENG Xiaoming, University of California, Berkeley, USA