Paris,
15 March 2010
EFITA newsletter / 452 / European Federation for Information Technology in
Agriculture, Food and the Environment
To read this newsletter
on the efita.net web site...
See: http://www.efita.net?d=6769
Most French farmers are connected to the Internet (Gentilleau, 2010)
|
Number
of farmers |
470
000 |
|
Number of computerised farms |
315 000 |
|
Number
of farms connected to the Internet |
230
000 |
Contact:
Guy WAKSMAN
E-mail: Waksman(a)acta-informatique.fr
International conference “Discovering, Mining and Managing Complex Agricultural
Data”
1 – 3 July - Crete, GREECE
See: http://www.ise.ufl.edu/cao/CAODM2010/index.htm
Contact : Petraq PAPAJORGJI
E-mail: petraq(a)ufl.edu
Google Maps…
Some weeks ago I send a demo to friends of the EFITA newsletter how to
make Google Maps with existing data – free available on the web.
Unfortunately the page with "Airports in France" was moved and some
visitors couldn't find the example. That's why I send you a new example: now
cities and regions in France: Data is available for free in some gazetteers.
See the example on my website:
http://www.2travel2.nl/VVV-in-landen/steden-in-frankrijk-en-hun-regio.html
Gazetteers offer a lot of free geographic data. It is not very difficult to
develop Google Maps using these data.
It works as follows:
Go to the link below and open in IE (Internet Explorer):
http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=1&men=gcis&lng=en&des=wg&geo=-79&srt=npan&col=abcdefghinoq&msz=1500&pt=c&va=x
Copy the TABLE with your preferred data.
Paste this table in Excel and edit the file. You must have the columns: Name,
Description, Latitude, Longitude and ICON (type of marker).
See for a working example: http://www.2travel2.nl/maps/frankrijk/cities-in-france.xlsx
Then go to:
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=googleearth
You upload your Excel file (Upload your GPS data files here) It will produce
a KMZ (zipped) or KML file (Unzipped). Save this file and give it a name.
You can open this file in Google Earth - right mouse click on the file-name
and "open in Google Earth".
See: http://www.2travel2.nl
See: http://www.visitholland.nl
Contact: R. HUSKEN
E-mail: r.husken(a)geo-t.nl
Satellite operators offer new Commissioner help to enable 100% coverage
to EU citizens
Over a million business and households in rural areas could be connected
to broadband Internet via satellite by the end of 2010
Brussels, 9 February 2010 – The European Satellite Operators Association
(ESOA) welcomed the European Parliament’s approval of Neelie Kroes as the
new Commissioner for the Digital Agenda portfolio. During her confirmation
hearings in January, Ms Kroes identified the provision of safe and secure
broadband access to 100 percent of Europeans as one of the key building blocks
for her next five-year term. ESOA has offered to support the new Commissioner
in coming a few steps closer to achieving this objective.
“Satellite technology is unique in that it can provide immediate connectivity
to the Internet backbone, especially to those areas in Europe lacking commercial
interest for terrestrial operators.” said Aarti Holla, Secretary General of
ESOA. “Satellite infrastructure is already in place and more capacity will
be launched this year but we still need public support, both at EU and Member
State level, to overcome the obstacles preventing isolated citizens from becoming
part of the 21st century information society.”
The latest figures
published by the European Commission on broadband coverage show that the EU
is still far from reaching the 100 percent connection goal. Although progress
has been made, DSL for example - the dominant means of enabling high-speed
connectivity in Europe - has yet to close a pronounced gap between urban and
rural areas. Close to 10 million households in Europe are not covered by any
kind of terrestrial broadband solutions.
As Aarti Holla explained, “today, the political focus is on high-speed Internet,
which suggests that most networks need upgrading to provide speeds that are
today not generally available. This technocratic approach inevitably pushes
one technology that is identified as the only one capable of doing the job:
fibre. This means that those who still have no connectivity at all risk remaining
without it for even longer as rolling-out fibre to everyone is likely
to take 20-30 years and require over €100 billion of public funding. Only
a mixture of technologies will achieve 100% coverage in any acceptable timeframe
and at a reasonable cost.”
According to ESOA’s estimates, satellites are in a position to connect over
a million extra business and households in rural areas by the end of this
year making a significant contribution to bridging the existing digital divide.
“We look forward to making the case for the satellite solution to Commissioner
Kroes in the coming weeks,” said ESOA’s Secretary General.
>>> Spanish Presidency
Spain, which has taken over the EU presidency for the first half of the year,
has set a Telecommunications work-programme
which can contribute greatly to accomplish the goal set by Ms Kroes. Its intention
is to extend the provision of universal service requirements to broadband
Internet. If the plan is approved, it will make compulsory for member states
to guarantee that this type of service is available all across their territory.
“Spain can set an excellent example of how a collaboration between space and
earth based technologies can be instrumental in enabling communication services
to evolve to their fullest potential”, Aarti Holla said. “Thanks to the Broadband
Extension Programme (PEBA in Spanish), which paid special attention to the
use of satellite technology to serve the most remote and isolated areas in
the country, satellite access has recently increased in Spain delivering broadband
to 8.4 percent of the population in rural areas according to the most recent
OECD
data.”
See: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/benchmarking/broadband_coverage_in_europe.pdf
See: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st17/st17696.en09.pdf
See: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/41/39/44381795.pdf
Contact: Fernando ANTON
E-mail : fanton(a)cambre-associates.com
The Trouble with Harry!
A first-grade teacher, Ms. Brooks, was having trouble with Harry, one of her
students.
The teacher asked, 'Harry, what's your problem?'
Harry answered, 'I'm too smart for the 1st grade. My sister is in the 3rd
grade and I'm smarter than she is! I think I should be in the 3rd grade too!'
Ms. Brooks had had enough. She took Harry to the principal's office.
While Harry waited in the outer office, the teacher explained to the school
principal what the situation was.
The principal nodded gravely and told Ms. Brooks he would give the boy a test.
If he failed to answer any of his questions he was to go back to the 1st grade
and behave. She agreed.
Harry was brought in and the conditions were explained to him and he agreed
to take the test.
Principal: 'What is 3 x 3?'
Harry: '9.'
Principal: 'What is 6 x 6?'
Harry: '36.'
.... And so it went with every question the principal thought a 3rd grader
should know.
The principal looked at Ms. Brooks and told her, 'I think Harry can go to
the 3rd grade.'
Ms. Brooks said to the principal, 'Let me ask him some questions.'
The principal and Harry both agreed.
Ms. Brooks asked: 'What does a cow have four of that I have only two of?'
Harry, after a moment: 'Legs.'
Ms Brooks: 'What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?'
The Principal wondered why would she ask such a question!
Harry replied: 'Pockets.'
Ms. Brooks: 'What does a dog do that a man steps into?'
Harry: 'Pants.'
Ms. Brooks: What starts with a C, ends with a T, is hairy, oval, delicious
and contains thin, whitish liquid?'
Harry: 'Coconut.'
The Principal sat forward with his mouth hanging open.
Ms. Brooks: 'What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft and sticky?'
The Principal's eyes opened really wide and before he could stop the answer,
Harry replied, 'Bubble gum.'
Ms. Brooks: 'What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and
a dog does on three legs?'
Harry: 'Shake hands.'
The Principal was trembling.
Ms. Brooks: 'What word starts with an 'F' and ends in 'K' that means a lot
of heat and excitement?'
Harry: 'Firetruck.'
The Principal gasped a sigh of relief and told the teacher,
'Put Harry in the fifth-grade, I got the last seven questions wrong...'
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail: harkin(a)iol.ie
About the EFITA mailing list
You can use the efita moderated list (>4000 subscribers) to announce
any event / product / web site / joke (!) related to IT in agriculture, environment,
food industry and rural areas.
If you do not wish to receive our messages, please see: http://www.efita.net
to remove your E-mail address from our mail list.