1026
November 2014
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
the Middle East Command and the Survey of India. The
specifications of the Iraq Grid B are as follows: Spheroid: Clarke
1880, Latitude of Origin: 32º 30′ N, Longitude of Origin: 45º E
of Gr., Scale Factor at Parallel of Origin: 0.9987864078, False
Northing: 1,166,200 meters, False Easting: 1,500,000 meters.
Limits of Zone: North – 300,000 Northing line of Caucasus
Zone, East – Meridian of 60º E, South – Parallel of 28º N., West
to 57º E., South on this meridian to 550,000 Northing line of
this Zone, West on this line to 39º E., West – Meridian of 39º E.
“The Caucasus Zone Grid C is the second overlapping grid in
Iraq decided upon in 1940. The specifications of the Caucasus
Zone Grid C are as follows: Spheroid: Clarke 1880, Latitude
of Origin: 39º 30′ N, Longitude of Origin: 45º E of Gr., Scale
Factor at Parallel of Origin: 0.998461538, False Northing:
675,000 meters, False Easting: 2,155,500 meters. Limits of
Zone: North – 300,000 Northing line of Caspian Zone, East
– Meridian of 60º E, South – 300,000 Northing line of this
Zone, West – Meridian of 39º E”
(Iraq. Conversion of Nahrwan
Datum to ED UTM, Issac C. Lail, Army Map Service Geodetic
Memorandum, 9 November 1957)
.
“The Appendix by Major Thomas gives the history and
details of organization of the work done by his party, which
consisted of 75 persons of all ranks and 18 vehicles. The main
difficulties encountered were mechanical breakdowns; bogging
of vehicles; difficulties in climbing mountains due to ice, snow
and precipices; variable weather conditions consisting of icy
winds of cyclonic intensity, clouds and haze; and the difficulty
of maintaining scattered parties with water, petrol, kerosene,
rations and clothing. In a few instances parties were benighted
and had to spend an uncomfortable night on high peaks
without food, warmth, or shelter, and with temperatures
well below freeing point. In one case, where a night was thus
spent at 13,000 feet, two of the party suffered next day from
snow blindness. Two lives were nearly lost during the ascent
of a mountain station in which the surface consisted of loose
shale and slate, making a foothold extremely precarious and
dangerous”
(Notice: Trans-Persian Trigonometrical Connection
Between Iraq and India, J.C., Empire Survey Review, No. 68,
pp. 277-279)
.
Recent work has established GPS reference stations in Iraq,
and is referred to as the Iraqi Geospatial Reference System
(Iraq on the Map: Installing Reference Stations for Accurate
Engineering, Anas Malkawi, GPS World, March 1, 2011)
.
The contents of this column reflect the views of the author, who is
responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The
contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and/or the
Louisiana State University Center for GeoInformatics (C
4
G).
Grids & Datums
of information sharing”. Now the full data sets of GlobeLand30
are freely available on the web (
.
com/GLC30Download/index.aspx).
This demonstrates that we are now entering in an era in
which spatial sciences play a prominent role in preparing
information for decision makers and general public. Although
significant achievements have been achieved in the field of
earth observation and geo-spatial information science, we
are far from meeting with all the increasing demands from
the societal benefits areas. In particular, we are facing four
major challenges, i.e., providing more reliable information,
enabling advanced geo-computing, supporting collaborative
problem-solving, and promoting information from imagery. I
would like to tell you about Future Earth. A 10-year research
initiative launched recently by the International Council of
Science (ICSU), and is a global research platform aimed at
providing knowledge and supporting our transformations to a
sustainable world. Dynamic Planet, Global Development and
Transformations towards Sustainability are its three research
themes. They depend critically on the availability and
utilization of reliable information at both the local and global
scale. With the advancement of earth observation, Landsat,
and spatial information technology, more and more spatial
data sets at both the global and local scales will continue to be
generated for the future.
Prof. Chen Jun
ISPRS President
Letter From ISPRS President Professor Jun Chen
ADVERTISER INDEX
LAND INFO Worldwide Mapping, LLC •
•
303.790.9730
EMPLOYMENT
Outside sales person with 3+ years experience selling
aerial photography and LiDAR mapping services
for western Canadian Mapping company. lhume@
eaglemapping.com.
ASPRS 2015 Annual Conference
Tampa Bay Marriott Waterside Hotel
Tampa, Florida
May 4–8, 2015
Save the Date!
