On behalf of the organizing committee for the Third Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG-3), we invite you and warmly welcome you to Pasadena, California this coming December. The ICG-3 will be held at the beautiful Westin Pasadena Hotel in Pasadena, California, December 8-12, 2008.

The International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems is established on a voluntary basis as an informal body to promote cooperation, as appropriate, on matters of mutual interest related to civilian satellite-based positioning, navigation, timing and value-added services, as well as the compatibility and interoperability of global navigation satellite systems, while increasing their use to support sustainable development, particularly in developing countries. Participants are system providers, international governmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations.

The Chairman of the organising Committee of the Institute of Navigation and Hydrography of the Polish Naval Academy has informed us of the XVIth International Scientific-Technical Conference with the theme The Role of Navigation in Support of Human Activity at Sea, due to take place in Gdynia from 22nd to 24th October.

Further details are available on the website.

The deadline for applications and submission of abstracts is 15th May 2008.

Introduction/Background
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its UNSPIDER Programme (United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response) together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and with the support from the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction – Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning (ISDR/PPEW) and the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), are organising the above mentioned workshop to promote the access and use of space-based technologies and solutions for disaster management and emergency response within relevant communities.

In its resolution 61/110 of 14th December 2006 the United Nations General Assembly established the “United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response – UNSPIDER”, as a programme of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, to provide universal access to all countries and all relevant international and regional organizations to all types of space-based information and services relevant to disaster management. UN-SPIDER supports the full disaster management cycle by being a gateway to space information for disaster management support, serving as a bridge to connect the disaster management and space communities, and being a facilitator of capacity development and institutional strengthening, in particular for developing countries.

As part of the UN-SPIDER outreach activities, several workshops are being organized in 2008 to raise awareness within the user community of the benefits of using space-based information and solutions, to assess its needs and to contribute to specific activities of the programme. Specifically, this second international workshop in Bonn will provide an opportunity to bring together decision-makers and experts from both the space technology and disaster management communities, international scientific organizations, knowledge transfer and educational institutions, as well as internationally active private companies, with the intention of sharing their best practices and to bring their knowledge, products and technologies for risk and disaster management, humanitarian aid and emergency response.

The first workshop held in Bonn, which was organized jointly with DLR and with the support of the Government of Germany, brought together 90 participants from 39 countries. The following organizations were also involved in organizing the workshop: the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University, UNESCO, the Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the Group on Earth Observations and the German Committee for Disaster Reduction.

The programme of the first workshop was centred on the activities assigned to the UN-SPIDER Bonn office. It included plenary sessions, during which 11 presentations were given, and discussion sessions, in which participants were divided into four working groups. Group 1 discussed the platform for fostering alliances and user requirements, in co-ordination with task DI-06-09 of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), Group 2 also discussed the platform for fostering alliances but focused on horizontal co-ordination, Group 3 discussed the knowledge portal and Group 4 discussed knowledge management and capacity building (activity 11, in co-ordination with GEOSS task CB-07-02). More information on the outcome of the workshop and the presentations made during the workshop are available at the website.

The working language will be English.

If you wish to receive further information please contact Mr. Jörg Szarzynski

Back-to-Back Meeting
The following meeting is being organised back-to-back with the second international Bonn workshop: 5th UN-wide Meeting on the Use of Space Technologies for Emergency Response and Humanitarian Assistance in Bonn, 16th to 17th October 2008. For further information on this meeting please contact Mr. Tony Lyu – E-Mail: young.lyu@unoosa.org.

This is a special forum devoted to examining and resolving the manning
crisis in the maritime industry.
Recent studies by the International
Shipping Federation and BIMCO have highlighted that the major
worldwide shortage of qualified ships’ officers will become more accute
as the massive fleet of new ships is commissioned over the next three
years. With competition for quality seafarers crew retention has become a
vital issue for ship operators. There will be high profile speakers such as
V Ships India’s Managing Director Captain Rajesh Tandon, Tony Mason,
Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping and of the
International Shipping Federation.

According to literature provided by the organisers it has been suggested that educated Indians, as their counterparts in other countries, are no longer interested in working afloat and instead aim for IT or corporate positions, often with lower starting salaries. The Indian Shipping Summit will attempt to determine if careers at sea can be made attractive again, and if so, how.
Opportunities for maritime training and education in India will be discussed along with pros and cons of outsourcing versus recruiting and training in-house. Implications for global shipping will be considered along with India’s future as a global maritime player; the delivery of world-class infrastructure to the nation; the comment of the charterers; offshore oil and gas developments and energy transport; maritime technology in a changing regulatory environment and the future of shipbuilding in India.

Speakers and panellists are expected from Europe, China, South East Asia, the Middle East, India and elsewhere and it is expected that more than 600 delegates will be received. The summit will also host India’s most prestigious independent maritime awards.

Further details may be obtained on the website.

The 7th International Symposium in the series ISIS: International
Symposium Information on Ships will be held in Hamburg on 18th and
19th September and a call for papers has been issued. ISIS 2008 will
address the benefits and problems of up to date information technologies
on board ships, the proper use of information, practical experiences using
new information systems and the role of the human in the informationloaded
environment. Technologies, applications and projects should be
presented under the aspects: What is new and in progress? What is
possible and designable? What should be done? What is problematic?

Sessions embracing the main topics will be as follows:
Bridge Resource Management:
Workload/Human Error; MET-Training for Students and OOWs; Emergency Training; Human Machine Interface ? Where to go?
Operational Integration:
Collision Avoidance; Route Planning and Monitoring; Replacement of Standalone Equipment by INS; Cargo Tracing and Monitoring.
Function Integration:
Alarm/Alert Management; Integrity Monitoring; Interfaces and Data Distribution; Data Fusion; New ECDIS Features; Redundancy.
e-Navigation:
Harmonised Creation of Maritime Information; Data Collection and Integration on Board; Exchange and Presentation of Maritime Information on Board and Ashore; Ship to Ship and Ship to Shore Communication; Remote Control.
Sensors and Components:
AIS; Radar; Galileo; Wireless Communication on Board.
Vision and Strategies in the next years:
The Intelligent Ship; Automation and Human; Remote Control; User Requirements; More Visions.

According to DGON submissions of other related topics will also be considered.

Authors are invited to submit papers on any of the above topics for consideration by the programme committee and abstracts of about 300 to 500 words (in electronic form) should be provided by 14th March to The German Institute of Navigation by e-mail.
Abstracts should identify the title of the paper/contribution; related topic; name(s) of presenting author and co-authors; organisation/company (if applicable); mailing address; telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address.

The symposium language will be English.

A registration form is available and those wishing for more details should contact DGON.

Introduction/Background
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its UN-SPIDER Programme (United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) through its ICT and disaster risk reduction programme and the Regional Space Applications Programme, and the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) are organising the above regional workshop to contribute to helping countries within the Pacific region learn how to access and use space technology for disaster management and emergency response.

In its resolution 61/110 of 14th December 2006 the United Nations General Assembly agreed to establish the “United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response – UN-SPIDER”, as a new programme of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, to provide universal access to all countries and all relevant international and regional organizations to all types of space-based information and services relevant to disaster management to support the full disaster management cycle by being a gateway to space information for disaster management support, serving as a bridge to connect the disaster management and space communities and being a facilitator of capacity-building and institutional strengthening, in particular for developing countries.

As part of the planned outreach activities in 2008, UN-SPIDER is organising several workshops to raise awareness within the user community, to assess its needs and to contribute to specific activities of this new programme. The workshop to be held in Fiji will bring together decision makers and senior experts mainly from disaster management community from within the Pacific region, to discuss regional space-based solutions for disaster management and emergency response.

Language of the Workshop
The working languages of all planned activities will be English.

Financial support
Within the limited financial resources available, a number of selected regional participants will be offered financial support to attend the Workshop. This financial support will defray the cost of travel (a round trip ticket – most economic fare – between the airport of international departure in their home country and Suva, Fiji) and/or the room and board expenses during the duration of the event.

Deadline for Submission of Applications
The completed application form, properly endorsed by applicant’s government/institution, should be submitted either by e-mail (scanned copy) or by fax directly to the Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna no later than Friday, 15th August 2008.

The call for papers has been issued and abstracts have been invited for ION GNSS 2008, the 21st International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the US Institute of Navigation.

Abstracts should be in the form of a paper summary of between 800 and 1,000 words and should describe objectives, anticipated or actual results, conclusions, any key innovative steps and the significance of the writer’s work.
Abstracts should be submitted electronically via the ION Web site no later than 5th March 2008. Authors should go to: www.ion.org and click on the abstract submission icon for ION GNSS 2008 on the main page.
Documents may also be e-mailed to: abstracts@ion.org as a Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or text file. It is important that authors indicate the abstract title and the most appropriate session(s) for the paper.

The President of the Swiss Institute of Navigation has informed us that this event will be held from 24th to 26th June 2008 at ETH Zurich, Hoenggerberg, Switzerland.
The aim of this event in the fields of construction and agriculture is to initiate a technical and scientific discussion among researchers, academics, system and service providers as well as users.
Operation of 3D-position sensors for navigation of machinery on construction sites such as roads, tunnels, railways and airports has increased in recent years.
GPS-based applications such as crop mapping and automatic steering have also found their way into agriculture and are well integrated.

This event will contribute to the interchange of knowledge between experts regarding different applications and demands of research in this highly interesting field.

The proceedings will be in English and the following topics will be discussed: Kinematic Measurement and Sensor Technology; 3D Construction Applications (State of the Art, Trends); Agricultural Application (State of the Art, Trends); Data Processing/Flow; Control Process and Algorithm; Standardisation; Major Construction Projects.