This is the section I promised to set aside in order to share our views and vision with our readers regarding geoinformation activities and practices. In this issue, the title of this section is “GeoTech Road Map” and is primarily addressing:

• our geoinformation projects
• our scientific and technical activities
• our research on geoinformation and Information Technology (IT).

Our Group is very proud to be a major player in the design, implementation and operation of numerous geoinformation projects in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) Geodatabase project, which was undertaken by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and GeoTech Group jointly, was successfully completed in March of 2005. Thus, a very comprehensive geodatabase was created consisting of seamless layers of topographic maps, landbases, orthorectified Medium Resolution (MR) and High Resolution (HR) satellite images, Digital Elevation Models (DEM), plans, clutters and telephone network data.

Prof. Dr. Kamil EREN
President

Another significant geoinformation project of ours is The Planning Information System (PIS) Project undertaken for The Deputy Ministry of Town Planning (DMTP)/Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA). This is the second phase of the project consisting of seamless layers of topographic maps, orthorectified MR and HR satellite images, structural, master and local plans, and subdivision plans. Expert visitors from other Ministries, the UN, World Bank, and others have stated that this is probably the most successful GIS/PIS project in the entire Middle East. Due to the success of this project, our Group was awarded the project to establish the PIS Center in MOMRA to serve the Ministry, Municipalities and other government agencies. GeoTech also helped MOMRA to establish the following:

• a new datum based on ITRF-2000 coordinates
• 13 x CORS
• 659 special order geodetic control points throughout the Kingdom.

Istanbul Municipality had a tender on June 15, 2005 for the production of 1:1,000 digital mapping and orthophoto covering an area of about 5,500 km2. The tender aimed to produce traditional spaghetti data without any serious consideration of intelligent data compilation and structuring! GeoTech teamed up with a very strong international photogrammetric company and initially decided to participate. But, because of the time constraint to go over all the traps set by the tender and competitors, we did not participate in this particular project. The requirements set by national law and the client could be met by one Turkish company only, which does not specialize in this field at all! In spite of all the drawbacks, GeoTech is eager to promote geoinformation in Turkey and provide the most professional services in this field. In fact, in June 2005, Dr. Fahri Kartal was appointed as the General Manager of GeoTech Group in Turkey. Dr. Kartal has broad experience and has successfully managed numerous IT projects in Saudi Arabia. He started his new mission by forming a very strong team in Turkey.

Scientific and Technical Activities

Since the publication of the previous issue, GeoTech took part in four scientific and technical activities as presented in the Editorial.

Our R&D on Geoinformation and IT Services

GeoTech is very keen to contribute to research and development in geoinformation. Therefore, we have a strong research team working on the development of 3D GIS, terrain views, and virtual cities. A powerful software called GTVS and City3D handles full resolution terrain views using images, GIS vector overlay and representation of 3D structures. GeoTech is also involved in the research and development for Location-Based Services (LBS). Another important area pursued in depth by GeoTech is the implementation of CORS with improved RTK capability. We are actively involved in research and development of this area.