This Friday will see Japan launch 4 satellites into space including 1 for Korea. These satellites will include   "an instrument to observe water-related targets such as precipitation, water vapor, sea surface wind speed, sea surface temperature, soil moisture, and snow depth." In addition,the SGLI (Second Generation Global Imager) will monitor "the carbon cycle and radiation budget, such as clouds, aerosol, ocean color, vegetation, and snow and ice."

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Space, time and scale are important variables when developing 3D visualizations. Everything within a picture is located in space. Some visualizations may be static, and a large amount of graphical representation is of this type. Virtual reality, animation and changing graphical content consider changes over time. And, the scale at which 3D visualization operates ranges from very small to exceedingly large. But only small amounts of the visualizations include higher levels of embedded intelligence. Assigned details and values to features within visualizations can significantly increase these data and make them more useful. 

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The 2nd Esri European Aviation Summit was held in Brussels, Belgium April 3-4, 2012. Following on the success of the first event in Paris, France this year's event was also held within the airport. Attending were leading aviation and airport professionals representing industry, business and government from around the world. The Summit serves as a place for interested parties to share successes, discuss ongoing challenges in airport operations and management as well as providing an opportunity to learn from each other. 

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Airports and aviation services are rapidly changing. Digital spatial technologies now underpin advanced operations within these facilities including operations, flight planning, business services, utilities, transport in addition to providing revolutionary 3D applications and spatial analysis. Some even speculate that airports are digital cities in their own right. Eurospatial Communications editor Jeff Thurston interviewed the Esri aviation team of Terry Bills - Transport Industry Manager, Ian Koeppel - Business Development Manager and Bruce Frank - Manager, Aeronautical Services Division at the recent 2nd Esri European Aviation Summit in Brussels, Belgium. 

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Virtual worlds and 3D simulation are increasingly being used in government agencies. These activities are extending well beyond the gaming community alone, and include applications designed for health, business, environment, defense, infrastructure and other formal government agencies. Many of the earlier problems and issues that were apparent in providing sumulated environments and virtual reality in 3D have been solved, and virtual worlds and simulations are no longer restricted to large, computing intense universities and company's. A continuum ranging from individuals to large government agencies all now experience such applications. 

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