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OGC Global Advisory Council
?The OGC Board of Directors created the Global Advisory Council ("the Council") as a committee of the board to function as a non-executive, "blue-ribbon" panel positioned to advise OGC concerning its global outreach and organizational strategies. The Council is chartered to become a significant, high-level and strategically motivated forum to represent OGC in global outreach activities and to act as a center for education and worldwide member recruitment. It is also intended to introduce diversity of ideas and a truly global perspective into the strategic thinking of OGC's board and membership, at the same time enabling the consortium to maintain a cohesive management core while affiliating many remarkable people with the OGC process who otherwise for political or financial reasons would find themselves disenfranchised from the consortium process.
Membership in the Council includes individuals representing diverse national groups and regions appointed by the OGC board, an elected representative of each OGC Member Forum, and interested members of the OGC Board of directors (serving or retired).
The Council is chaired by an OGC director appointed by the OGC board. The Chairman has overall responsibility for the conduct of Council business and acts as formal liaison between the board and Council on all matters concerning Council activity.?
A non-executive Co-Chairman (Co-Chair) of the Council is elected from the Council membership by majority vote. Supported by OGC staff, the Co-Chair provides leadership for planning Council activities, acts as Chair at all Council meetings and proceedings, and coordinates the development of the Council's position papers and advisory reports.
OGC Board Members who are members of the Council
Asia / Pacific
- Peoples Republic of China
- Huadong Guo (Director, Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth (CEODE) / Chinese Academy of Sciences)
- Deren Li (Chairman of the Academic Committee of LIESMARS, Wuhan University)
- Ershun Zhong (Professor Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences; President of SuperMap GIS Technologies)
- India
- Shailesh Nayak (Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences)
- K.K. Singh (Chairman and Managing Director, Rolta)
- Japan
- Morishige Ota (Fellow at Kokusai Kogyo Co. Ltd.; Lecturer University of Tokyo; member national delegation to ISO/TC211)
- Ulrich Boes (Director, URSIT)
- José-Luis Colomer (Technical Deputy Director,?Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya
- Steven Ramage?(Head of External Relations at Group on Earth Observations (GEO))
- Mauro Salvemini (EUROGI)
- Dozie Ezigbalike (UNECA)
- Dr. Derek G. Clarke (Chief Director of National Geo-Spatial Information, Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (Head of the National Mapping Organization), South Africa)
Canada / United States
- Margarite Madden?(Professor, Univ. of Georgia and Director of the Center for Geospatial Research )
- Jay Pearlman (GEO and IEEE)
- Fraser Taylor (Chair International Steering Committee on Global Mappiong (GlobalMap), OGCii)
- Michael Goodchild (Director, Center for Spatial Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara)
Latin America
- Carmen Reyes (Director General CentroGeo, MX)
- Paulo Fortes (IBGE, Brazil, PCIDEA)
- Iara Musse Felix (Business Development Director of Santiago & Cintro Consulting)
- Eric van Praag (coordinates the GeoSUR Program, a Latin American Spatial Data Infrastructure Initiative led by CAF – The Latin American Development Bank and the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH))
- Dr. Khalid A. Rahman Al-Haidan (Director of GIS Directorate in the Central Informatics Organization, and General Secretary of the National GIS Steering Committee, Kingdom of Bahrain)
Dr. Khalid Al-Haidan
Since 2003, Dr. Al-Haidan has been Director of the GIS Directorate of the Kingdom of Bahrain's Central Informatics Organization (CIO), a center devoted to helping governmental organizations be more resilient, adaptive, and sustainable through wise strategic foresight and imaginative insights regarding spatial enablement of society and government. From June 2004 to the present, he has served as member and General Secretary of Bahrain's National GIS Steering Committee. From 1993 to 2001, Al-Haidan served as Head of Geodetic Network of Bahrain's' Survey Directorate of Ministry of Housing, with responsibility for all the department-level activities associated with field survey, networks, and development solutions. In 2003, he was appointed Project Manager of the Bahrain Center for Studies & Researches (BCSR). He was appointed Acting Director of Computer Operations Directorate in the Ministry of State for Cabinet Affairs in 2006. In the same year, he also served as Acting Director of Human Resources Directorate.
Throughout his tenure at CIO, Al-Haidan has worked with a portfolio of strategy, innovation, and research projects, including: the National Spatial Database Infrastructure (NSDI) project for Kingdom of Bahrain, Signage Project, Land Information System Project for Real-estates, and establishing Bahrain Petroleum Company's infrastructure database. Furthermore, he established the National Geodetic Network and the "Geoids Model" for the Kingdom of Bahrain. In addition, he initiated a Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure for Gulf Cooperation Council Countries.?
Dr. Khalid A. Rahman Al-Haidan received a doctorate of philosophy (PhD) in National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) for the Kingdom of Bahrain from Newcastle University (UK) in 2008, and a Masters Degree in Geographic Information System (GIS) from Cranfield University (UK) in 1996. He received Masters Degrees in Cadastral, Mapping and Survey from the School of Military Survey (UK) in 1995. He has also received a BSc (Civil Engineering) from the University of Bahrain in 1993.
His areas of expertise include GIS, Remote Sensing, Geodesy, Surveying, Mapping, Cartography, Planning, Civil Engineering, and Project Management. Based on his long tenure, experience, and services in the Geospatial community, he received a 'Geospatial Pioneer Award' in the Middle East in 2010.
Ulrich Boes
Ulrich has assumed various positions in research, industry and government. In 2000, he founded the consulting company URSIT in Bulgaria and has been its director since then. URSIT focuses on geographic information, spatial data infrastructures and their business aspects. URSIT Ltd. is an associate member of OGC and pursues the vision to support the ICT sector in South East Europe in the transition towards the market economy. Before this, Ulrich worked 11 years in the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, as scientific officer; during this time he contributed to Standardisation and in particular to the creation of the European offices of OGC and W3C.
Ulrich has participated as an expert in INSPIRE, working together with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He is a lecturer and trainer in areas such as Electronic Business, IT, GIS and INSPIRE. He has worked as a consultant in several positions for the design of GIS and for information technology strategy. He works actively towards the establishment of spatial data infrastructures in South East Europe, and has on-going collaboration with international organizations in the field of GIS such as OGC, Eurogi, EuroGeographics. Ulrich has participated in several projects funded by the European Commission in the area of GIS and spatial data infrastructures. Ulrich carries out research on the collaborative geo-spatial semantic web and he has published in several articles on this subject. Further, he is the founder and one of the promoters of the "Association for Geographic Information in South-East Europe" AGISEE, of which he is also the elected president.
José-Luis Colomer
For the past 30 years, José-Luis Colomer has been working at the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya (ICC), the official mapping agency of Catalonia (Spain), as Head of the Systems and Development Unit until 1997 and as Technical Deputy Director since then. Before joining the ICC, he developed remote sensing software while at the Computer Centre of the Technical University of Barcelona, and was a part-time professor at the Computer Architecture Department of the Faculty of Informatics.
He was appointed head of the scientific committee of the 1995 ICA Congress and co-chaired Working Group II/7 (standards) of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing from 1997 to 2000. Lluis is a member of the international editorial board of The Photogrammetric Record and an Honorary Member of the International Cartographic Association. He is also member of the Executive Committee of the Spanish SDI and member of the Catalan Coordinating Body for Geoinformation. Lluis holds a degree in Solid State Physics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Herb Dhaliwal
Herb Dhaliwal is a former Canadian Member of Parliament and former Minister of Natural Resources.
Prior to entering politics, Mr. Dhaliwal had a 25 year career as a small businessman and entrepreneur in transportation, maintenance, and real estate development. Mr. Dhaliwal was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1993. As Member of Parliament, he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. He was vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Health and the Task Force on Aquaculture, and chair of the British Columbia Liberal Caucus and the Northern and Western Liberal Caucus.
Mr. Dhaliwal played an active and prominent role in trade missions and parliamentary delegations. He participated in the International Parliamentary Union Conference in Beijing, China, which resulted in the acceptance of the Canadian delegation's resolution banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.
Mr. Dhaliwal served as Minister of National Revenue from 1997 to 1999. In 1999, He was appointed Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and was re-elected to Parlaiment for a third term in November 2000. As Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Mr. Dhaliwal led the ratification of the United Nations Fish Agreement in 30 countries around the globe. In 2001 he instituted an annual international conference on Oceans Stewardship in Vancouver and chaired the Ministerial Section of the UN Environment Program Meeting, where more than 100 countries were represented, for the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities. Mr. Dhaliwal also played a prominent role in promoting sustainable aquaculture development.
Dozie Ezigbalike, PhD
Dozie Ezigbalike is the Data Management Coordinator in the African Centre for Statistics (ACS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), a position he has held since December 2009. He joined UNECA in 2001 as a Development Management Office (Geoinformation), in the erstwhile Development Information Services Division (DISD). In 2002 he was seconded to UNECA's Institutional Strengthening Programme (ISP) as the Knowledge Management Coordinator and served in that capacity for 18 months, before returning to DISD as a Senior Geographic Information Systems Officer, and subsequently the Chief of the Geoinformation Systems Section in the ICT Science & Technology Division (ISTD) that replaced DISD.
While in DISD and ISTD, Dozie provided strategic direction to UNECA's work in the field of geoinformation, with emphasis on implementing the African Reference Frame (AFREF) and supporting member States to develop national spatial infrastructures. His current responsibility focuses on supporting member States to adopt sound data management practices to ensure that statistical data are used in evidence-based decision making, as well as incorporating geospatial technologies in statistical processes.
Before joining UNECA, Dozie lectured at the Universities of Zimbabwe (1988 – 1990), Melbourne (1990 – 1998) and Botswana (1998 – 2000). He was a Visiting Scholar to the Sasol Centre for Innovative Environmental Management of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (2000-2001), where he contributed to the data management initiatives of the SAFARI 2000 project.
Dozie holds a PhD in Land Information Management from the University of New Brunswick in Canada (1988). He started his geomatics education at the Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria with a BSc (Hons) degree in Land Surveyor (1979). He obtained an MSc in Land Surveying from the Ahmadu Bellow University in Zaria (1983), where his thesis dealt with the computerization of the Nigerian geodetic records.
Luiz Paulo Souto Fortes
Luiz Paulo Souto Fortes holds a BSc in Cartographic Engineering (Engineering Military Institute - IME, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1981), a MSc in Computer Science applied to Cartography (IME, 1997) and a Ph.D. in Geomatics Engineering (University of Calgary, Canada, 2002). He has been working during the past 28 years for the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE. He currently holds the position of Director of Geosciences. He also holds the position of Associate Professor at the Cartographic Engineering Department of the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. He is President of the Permanent Committee for Geospatial Data Infrastructure of the Americas - CP-IDEA, and Executive Secretary of the National Commission on Cartography in Brazil. Dr. Fortes has published more than 50 papers published in journals, magazines and proceedings in Brazil and abroad.
Michael F. Goodchild
Michael F. Goodchild is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Director of [email protected]. He received his BA degree from Cambridge University in Physics in 1965 and his PhD in geography from McMaster University in 1969. He was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006, and in 2007 he received the Prix Vautrin Lud. He was editor of Geographical Analysis between 1987 and 1990 and editor of the Methods, Models, and Geographic Information Sciences section of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers from 2000 to 2006. He serves on the editorial boards of ten other journals and book series, and has published over 15 books and 400 articles. He was Chair of the National Research Council's Mapping Science Committee from 1997 to 1999, and currently chairs the Advisory Committee on Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation. His current research interests center on geographic information science, spatial analysis, and uncertainty in geographic data.
Huadong Guo
Prof. Guo Huadong is Director-General of the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has been engaged in remote sensing research since 1977, focusing on research on radar remote sensing, development of new earth observing systems, and remote sensing applications.
As one of the founders of the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), he serves as the Secretary General of ISDE and Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Digital Earth, the official journal of ISDE published by Taylor & Francis. He has also been actively involved in the leadership role on earth science data access and data mining, acting as an Executive Committee member of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), and Chairman of the Society on Environment Remote Sensing of China.
With over 200 publications including 15 books, Prof. Guo has been Principle Investigator for more than 20 major national projects/programs in China, and PI for seven international radar remote sensing programs, as well as Guest Professor at seven Universities in Australia and China. He was appointed to be the Leading Scientist of the National Expert Committee for Information Acquisition and Processing Technology in China from 1992 to 2000. Due to these achievements, Prof. Guo was named "National Outstanding Expert" by the State Council of China and CAS in 2000 and 1992. In 2009, he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Science by Curtin University of Technology, Australia.
Irwin Itzkovitch
Dr. Irwin Itzkovitch has had a distinguished career leading the development, transfer and implementation of technology in both Canadian Private and Public Sectors. His work in the private sector included serving as Noranda Inc.'s Senior Vice-President, Shared Business Services, and Chief Technical Officer between 1995 and 1999 and as an International Consultant on Sustainable Development in Mining and Minerals. From 2000-2006, when he retired, he was Assistant Deputy Minister, Earth Sciences Sector. This sector consists of Geomatics Canada, the country's national surveying, mapping and remote sensing organization, which has responsibility for GEOCONNECTIONS a partnership program to create Canada's Geospatial Data Infrastructure – the data highway containing data Canadians can use for a variety of purposes and making it readily available to them using open standards; and the Geological Survey of Canada Canada's oldest scientific agency.
Dr. Mike Jackson
Mike holds a research Chair in Geospatial Science at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he is also Director of the Centre for Geospatial Science (CGS) and Chair of the University Crime, Security and Defence Priority Group. CGS is a multi-disciplinary post-graduate research centre focussing on geospatial intelligence, location-based services and geospatial interoperability. Prior to 2005 he was Director of QinetiQ's Space Division.(QinetiQ, formed from the UK's Defence Research and Evaluation Agency, is a leading science and technology organisations with more than 10,000 scientists and engineers). In earlier appointments, Mike was Head of Location Platform at Hutchison3G UK, a Hutchison Wampoa third generation mobile telecommunications company, and CEO of Laser-Scan Holdings plc, an organisation which took an early and active role in the specification and development of standards within OGC. Mike has first-class honours and PhD degrees from Manchester University and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from Kingston University in 2002. Professor Mike Jackson has been a director of OGC since 2001.
Sanjay Kumar
As Chief Executive Officer of GIS Development, a geospatial media company, Sanjay Kumar has worked towards facilitating and accelerating growth of the geospatial industry worldwide and raising awareness of the industry's contribution to the global development agenda.
Sanjay, who holds a Masters in Political Science and M. Phil. in International Studies from the University of Delhi, began his professional career in 1994, studying industrialization in rural India. This study led to a project management assignment, setting up industrial units in the Himalayan region. This and subsequent roles helped him understand the complications and benefits of industrialization from both a community and an industry point of view.
In 1997, Sanjay joined a diverse group of professionals to co-found the Centre for Spatial Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), a not-for-profit organisation focussed on applying GIS in development and environmental planning. Through this work, Sanjay saw how little industry and government knew about geographic information and related technologies, which inspired him to co-found GIS Development Private Limited in 1999. Since becoming CEO in 2002, Sanjay has transformed GIS Development into the leading geospatial media company in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He has actively collaborated with global geospatial organisations, and a major achievement has been to conceptualise and successfully execute, since 2007, the Map World Forum, a global biennial event.
Sanjay Kumar has also been associated with many geospatial professional societies and served as Chair of ISPRS WG VI-4 on distance learning from 2000-2004. He is founding Secretary of the Association of Geospatial Industries of India.
Deren Li
Prof. Dr. Deren Li is a scientist in photogrammetry and remote sensing who holds dual membership in both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is a member of the Euro-Asia International Academy of Science and he holds an honorary doctorate of ETH. At present, Dr. Li is Professor and PhD supervisor at Wuhan University; Vice-President of the Chinese Society of Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography; Vice-president of the Hubei Association for Science and Technology (HAST); and Chair of the Academic Committee of Wuhan University and the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing.
In the 1980s, Prof. Deren Li was mainly engaged in studies of observation errors and processing methods in geodesy and photogrammetry. For his work on the separability of model errors he received the 1988 Best Paper Award of the German Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing as well as the Hansa Luftbild Award. His recent contributions include development of several major software systems as well as contributions to the Chinese Space Program and remote sensing programs in Asia.
Since 1989, Prof. Deren Li has supervised 166 PhD and post-doctoral students and he has published over 615 papers and 11 books. His awards include a National Great Invention Award, three National Science and Technology Progress Awards, a National Excellent Textbook Award and others.
Prof. Deren Li served as Comm. III and Comm. VI president of ISPRS in 1988-1992 and 1992-1996, worked for CEOS in 2002-2004 and was the first president of the Asia GIS Association (2003-2006).
Marguerite Madden
Marguerite Madden is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia (UGA) and the Director of the Center for Geospatial Research (CGR). She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in Biology from the State University of New York in 1979 and 1984, and her Ph.D. in Ecology from The University of Georgia in 1990. Her research focus is GIScience, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), spatio-temporal analysis, geo- visualization and geographic object-based image analysis, as applied to landscape-scale biological/physical processes and human-impacts on the environment. Professor Madden is a Fellow and Past President of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and Editor of the ASPRS Manual of GIS (2009). She has edited four books, published over 60 peer-reviewed publications and served as Associate Editor/Editorial Boards of seven international journals. She has been involved in the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) since 1988 serving as Chair and Co-Chair of ISPRS Working Groups on GIS and Landscape Modeling/Visualization, Technical Commission President of Commission IV, "Digital Mapping and Geodatabases" (2008-2012) and currently serving as Second Vice President of ISPRS Council (2012-2016) and Treasurer of The ISPRS Foundation. She is the recipient of the ISPRS Willem Schermerhorn Award (2004), ASPRS Col. Claude H. Birdseye President's Citation (2008), ASPRS Presidential Citations (2005, 2009 and 2011), ASPRS Outstanding Service Award (2010) and SAIC Estes Memorial Teaching Award (2011).
Dr. Shailesh Nayak
Dr. Shailesh Nayak has been Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), since August 2008, providing leadership for the programs related to science of climate change, weather services, polar science, ocean modeling, ocean survey and resources and ocean technology.
He obtained Ph. D. in Geology from the M.S University of Baroda in 1980. He joined the Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organization in 1978 as a scientist, and was elevated as the Director of Marine and Water Resources. He was responsible for conceptualizing; formulating and executing many national level projects related to application of satellite data on ocean color, integrated coastal zone management, snow and glacier studies and water resources.
He was appointed as the Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the Moses in May 2006. At INCOIS, he set up set up a state-of-the-art Early Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges in the Indian Ocean.
He is recipient of the National Mineral Award for the year 2005. He was awarded the Indian National Remote Sensing Award for the year 1994 by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.
He is President, Indian Society of Remote Sensing. He is elected as the Chairman, Indian Ocean-Global Ocean Observing System (IO-GOOS) for the term 2008-10. He is Vice-Chair of the Inter-Governmental Coordinating Group on Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (ICG-IOTWS). He was President, International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), Technical Commission (TC) IV on 'Geo-databases and Digital Mapping' for the term 2004-08.
He has published about 80 papers in International and National journals and atlases.
Morishige Ota
Mr. Morishige Ota is a Fellow of Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd. He entered this company in 1973 as a surveyor and started the GIS investigation in the next year. He studied Photogrammetry at the postgraduate level at ITC in the Netherlands in 1979. Afterwards, he worked for Japanese central and regional government agencies as a GIS consultant.
He was a visiting professor of the Center for Spatial Information Sciences at the University of Tokyo from 2005 up to 2007. Currently he is a board member of GIS Association of Japan, a part-time lecturer for the Department of Technology at University of Tokyo, and a member of the study group on the investigation of Japanese GIS&T Body of Knowledge.
He was a member of the Japanese delegation to ISO/TC211 from 1995 up to 2004. He was a project leader for Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) X 7108 - Temporal Schema and X 7115 - Metadata, which are identical to ISO/TC211 standards. He was awarded the International Standardization Contributor Award from the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry in 2007. Currently he is a member of the ISO/TC211 domestic committee and is a project leader for the standardization of JIS X 7136 - GML.
Jay S Pearlman, PhD
Dr. Jay Pearlman was Chief Engineer of NCOC&EM at Boeing and a Boeing Technical Fellow. He was responsible for advanced development of information systems. Previously he was Northrop Grumman deputy program manager of Hyperion on the NASA EO-1 satellite program and was active on the International Science team for EO-1. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology. Jay is a Fellow of the IEEE and was IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing VP for Information Services. Dr. Pearlman is Past Chair of the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation and Co-Chair of the GEO Architecture and Data Committee, which is the organization building the GEOSS SoS information infrastructure. Through IEEE, he supports programs in Europe and Africa. Jay is a member of the Committee of Earth Studies of the US National Research Council and the US National Academy's Ocean Studies Board. Dr. Pearlman has more than 75 publications and 25 international patents.
Steven Ramage
Since 2016 Steven Ramage has been leading global stakeholder engagement and external relations for the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an intergovernmental partnership promoting the value and usefulness of Earth observations (EO) for research, policy, decisions and action. GEO works on behalf of more than 100 UN Member States (including more than 1000 national government agencies globally) to highlight the role of EO to provide insights and actionable information for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; with a focus on open data access, sharing, policies and use. Steven worked in the private sector for 20 years before consulting on geospatial policy topics to the World Bank and the United Nations. He was previously an owner of 1Spatial in Cambridge, UK, before taking on a role as an Executive Director of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and then Managing Director of Ordnance Survey International and a Board Director of what3words. Steven is a SASNet Fellow at the Urban Big Data Centre at the University of Glasgow and Visiting Professor at the Institute for Future Cities, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow in Scotland. He's also a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Geneva, Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES) in Switzerland, a Member of the OGC Global Advisory Council and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). He tweets as @steven_ramage
Mark Reichardt
Mark Reichardt is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC). Mr. Reichardt has overall responsibility for Consortium operations, overseeing the development and promotion of OGC? standards and working to ensure that OGC programs foster member success. He works with other standards development organizations and professional associations to establish alliance agreements to assure that OGC standards and other standards work together fluidly. Such coordination is critical, for example, to support standards that enable the full integration of geospatial information with real time sensor data and Building Information Models (BIM) used in architecture, engineering, construction and full life cycle management of buildings and other physical infrastructure. Mr. Reichardt joined the Consortium in November 2000 as Director of Marketing and Public Sector Programs; became the President of OGC and a member of the Board of Directors in September, 2004; and was appointed President and CEO in January 2008.
Before joining the OGC, Mr. Reichardt was involved in technology modernization and production programs for the US Government. In the mid 1990's, he was a member of a DoD Geospatial Information Integrated Product Team (GIIPT) formed to help transition the DoD mapping mission to a more flexible and responsive geo-information based paradigm. Under Mr. Reichardt's leadership, the GIIPT Production Team validated the ability of commercial off the shelf hardware and software to meet many of the DoD functional requirements for geospatial production operations.
In 1998 Mr. Reichardt accepted an assignment with Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government to manage a program to illustrate how the use of geospatial information and technologies could improve local to federal government coordination. In early 1999, Mr. Reichardt was selected to establish and lead an international Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) program for the US Federal Geographic Data Committee. In this position, Mr. Reichardt helped to establish globally compatible national and regional SDI practices in Africa, South America, Europe, and the Caribbean. He was instrumental in establishing several nation-to-nation collaborative SDI agreements.
Mr. Reichardt serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association and on the BuildingSmart Alliance Board of Direction.
Carmen Reyes
Dr. Carmen Reyes is a researcher and expert in the fields of Geographic Information Systems, Cybercartography, and Geomatics. She completed a BSc in Mathematics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a MSc in Mathematics at the Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico. Afterwards, she obtained her PhD in Geographic Information Systems at Simon Fraser University in Canada. For more than thirty-five years, Dr. Reyes has worked in different areas of Geomatics.
Dr. Reyes has received several academic distinctions such as a doctoral fellowship granted by the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) as well as a supplementary grant rewarded by Simon Fraser University in Canada. After the completion of her studies, Dr. Reyes was rewarded the "Samuel Gill Gamble Award for Cartography" by the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History of the Organization of American States (OAS). Dr. Reyes is one of the founding members, and former president, of the Mexican Association of Geographic Information Systems (AMESIGE). She has participated in numerous national and international conferences.
In January 1999, Dr. Reyes founded the Jorge L. Tamayo Center for Research on Geography and Geomatics (CentroGeo) and was the Director General for ten years. CentroGeo belongs to a consortium of 27 research centers which are supported by CONACYT. Currently, Dr. Reyes is a Senior Researcher at CentroGeo (www.centrogeo.org.mx).
Fran?ois Robida
Fran?ois Robida is Deputy Head of Information Systems and Technologies Division at BRGM. BRGM is France's leading public institution involved in the Earth Science field for the sustainable management of natural resources and surface and subsurface risks. In his current position, he is in charge of research and development and supervises European and international projects in the domain of Information Systems for geosciences and environment in general (such as Orchestra, Rise, Swing, Genesis, Aegos, EuroGeoss, OneGeology).
Prior to taking this position in BRGM, Fran?ois Robida held different positions in the organization related to computer science applications to earth sciences. Following his first work in mining geostatistics, he was in charge of the design and development of software related to all aspects of geology, and especially to 3D modeling. He was then responsible for the BRGM software group, co-coordinating the development and marketing of software developed by BRGM.
As "Terre Virtuelle" project leader since 2001 (Terre Virtuelle / Virtual Earth is a BRGM R&D corporate project to support the development of new services through the use of new technologies), Fran?ois Robida has promoted and introduced interoperability, Grid computing and Virtual Reality technologies within BRGM. The project delivered in 2003 the first OGC compliant portal in France.
Involved as an actor of the development of interoperability at different levels, he has been a member of the European Expert Group for INSPIRE during the preparation phase, and he chairs the Working Group on "Geographic information & INSPIRE" of the European Geological Surveys association (EuroGeosurveys). He also represents BRGM in CNIG (French council for geographic information), in OGC (BRGM became the first French OGC member in 2001), and has also been a member of the OGCEurope advisory board.
Fran?ois Robida is currently member and treasurer of the Council of IUGS/CGI, the Commission for Geoscience information which develops GeoSciML, the geosciences markup language. He is co-coordinating the technical development of the OneGeology initiative (94 countries) that aims at delivering a geological map of the world based on interoperability principles. Fran?ois Robida is a Mining Engineer, graduate of the Nancy School of Mines (Engineer Degree in geostatistics).
Mauro Salvemini
Mauro Salvemini is an internationally recognized expert in applied informatics to spatial planning, environment and e-government and a pioneer of spatial data infrastructure SDI.
A civil engineer since 1972, he taught applied computer technology in planning and urban design in several foreign universities, was a professor at Sapienza University of Rome, where he is now Distinguished University Professor.
As a UN expert for the UN Human Settlements initiative, recently he was invited to join a small group of world experts to implement the UN World Conference on Geospatial Information Management. As an expert and evaluator of the European Commission for e-government and spatial information in Framework Programs of Research, he has been involved since the beginning in the INSPIRE directive of ?the European Union. Head of the Laboratory of Geographic and Environmental Information Systems, University of Rome and president of the Italian Association AMFM GIS Italy, he is the past president of the European Association, EUROGI. He is the former President of AGILE, the European association of research laboratories for geospatial information, and he has taught in Chinese, American, Spanish and Egyptian universities. He was the initiator and author of the ECDL-GIS certification programme. Prof. Salvemini has been head of research for public and private organizations and the designer and project manager of major public contracts in the field of information systems and digital mapping. He is the author of more than eighty publications, most of which were refereed and presented at international conferences. He is a member of national and European committees and a director of public corporations. Prov. Salvemini is settled in Italy between Rome and Anzio, often traveling widely in the world, evangelizing geospatial information and sustainable utilization.
K.K. Singh
As Chairman and CEO, Kamal K. Singh has spent the last four decades creating the Rolta group of companies as a multi-faceted organization with a strong base of fundamentals and a wealth of Intellectual Property. He is also Founder Promoter of the Group with Rolta India Ltd., the flagship company of the group, which is listed on the BSE, NSE, LSE and Singapore Stock Exchanges.
An Engineering Graduate with a Masters in Business Administration, Kamal is an Executive Committee Member of FICCI, ASSOCHAM and several other prominent trade organizations of India. He is the President of the "Association of Geospatial Industries", a member of the Board of Governors of IIT Indore and NITIE, and the Honorary Consul-General of Ukraine in Mumbai for the territory of certain Indian States. He has also served as a Govt. of India nominee Director on the Board of one of India's largest banks – Punjab National Bank.
Over the years, Kamal has been the recipient of various industry honours, including the "The Best IT Man of the Year 2005″ award by the Foundation of Indian Industry & Economists, the "Oceantex 2006 Leadership & Excellence" award for Technology Service Provider, the "Amity Leadership 2007″ award, the "Glory of India" award by the Institute of Economic Studies and the "2007 IMM Award for Excellence as Top CEO" by the Institute of Marketing Management. He has also been bestowed with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Honorable Vice President of India, at Map World 2009. Recently he was conferred with the Geospatial World Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship at the Geospatial World Forum 2012 by the Honorable former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Dr. Fraser Taylor
Professor Taylor received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Edinburgh and did post graduate work at the University of London and Harvard University. Currently he is Distinguished Research Professor of International Affairs and Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He is also Director of the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre.
Dr. Taylor's main research interests in cartography lie in the application of geomatics to the understanding of socio-economic issues both in a national and international context. He has extensive international experience in Africa, Latin America and China. Dr. Taylor's current funded research involves working with communities in the Canadian north to empower these communities to express their perceptions of their own environmental and socio-economic reality in new ways. He is the author of numerous publications.
Dr. Taylor is a Board member of the Geospatial Interoperability Institute and a member of an international GEOSS Data Sharing Task Force, which is creating guidelines for access to earth observation data. Currently Dr. Taylor is Chair of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM), an international body producing a digital map of the world dealing with sustainable development. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the US's committee examining The Geographic Foundation for Agenda 21. He has held leadership positions in the Canadian Association of African Studies, the Canadian Cartographic Association, the International Cartographic Association, and the International Union for Surveys and Mapping. Dr. Taylor was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in June 2008.
Rob van de Velde
Rob van de Velde is currently director of Geonovum, the Dutch National SDI Executive Committee. Geonovum's mission is to realize better access to geo-information in the public sector and full integration of its services to public and industry. Geonovum has been mandated by the National GI-Council to implement the EU INSPIRE Directive in The Netherlands and to develop a National Georegister. Furthermore Geonovum develops and manages the national framework of geo-standards.
In his current role as director Mr. Van de Velde is strongly engaged in stimulating location awareness and organizing strategic cooperation amongst leaders in national and local government, academia and industry. He has a part-time position as lecturer in Spatial Informatics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Economics. He has contributed to more than 40 publications on spatial decision support systems, environmental impact assessments and e-Government services based on geospatial technology.
Graduated as a human geographer (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), he started his career in geospatial technology when joining the National Planning Agency in 1985, the first Governmental Agency in the Netherlands to acquire GIS technology from ESRI inc. In 1988 he led the development of the first Dutch National Digital Atlas, presented by the Minister of Spatial Planning and Environment to national parliament, local politicians and leaders of industry. Later he served the National Environmental Protection Agency, responsible for developing a corporate geographical information system. He directed a consortium that developed the 10 Minutes Pan-European Land Use Database and was managing partner of an international collaboration between governmental agencies and universities under the EU-INTERREG3 program, entitled "Participatory Spatial Planning in Europe". In 2000 he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Food Quality, heading the GIS Competence Center. Here he experienced the key value of accurate spatial data and geospatial technology in managing the severe outbreaks of aviaire influenza and foot-and-mouth disease. Building on this he initiated the development of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure for Disaster management, a joint effort of several public agencies, which was awarded the Public Safety Innovation Award in 2007.
Eric van Praag
Mr. Eric van Praag?currently coordinates the GeoSUR Program, a Latin American Spatial Data Infrastructure Initiative led by CAF – The Latin American Development Bank and the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH). GeoSUR has established the first Latin American Network of geospatial data providers, in support of better project planning and decision making in the region. Mr. van Praag also serves as the Information Technology Officer in charge of designing and implementing ICT for development projects in the Latin America region on behalf of CAF. He is the South American representative and the Chair of the Technical Committee in the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association.
Mr. van Praag obtained his bachelor degree in Computer Sciences from Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela) in 1986 and his M.Sc. degree in Environmental Sciences from Salford University (UK) in 1991. Before joining CAF in 2006 he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey for 7 years, coordinating the development of geospatial projects in Latin America and for the United Nations Environment Program – Caribbean Environment Programme for 2 years in the establishment of a Caribbean Environmental Data Network. He has done consulting work for several national and international organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Bank, the Organization of American States (OAS) the World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) and several Venezuelan institutions.
Ershun Zhong
Zhong Ershun is the founder of SuperMap Software Co., Ltd.
Zhong Ershun received his Ph.D. degree in geography from Beijing University in 1991. Since then he has been working on geographic information technology research and development and has been involved in a number of key research programs on GIS in the country, including those of the Chinese Ecological Research Network, China Land Use Database of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 863 program initiated by the Ministry of Sciences and Technology of China.
In 1997, he founded SuperMap Software Co., Ltd. and he has continued to develop a series of innovative GIS technologies, making SuperMap a leading GIS platform in China. SuperMap is widely used in governmental and industrial sectors of China. Zhong Ershu has personally been involved in building a number of application systems, such as the land information systems in the cities of Nanning, Xiamen, Liuzhou and Jilin, as well as digital government. As a deputy Chairman of the China GIS Association, he is active in the development and promotion of China's GIS industry and has initiated research on China's Geographical Information Industry Policy. Also, he is the recipient of several key scientific and technological Awards, including a Science and Technological Award from the State Government in 2004.?


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The City of Lakewood offers a wide range of programs and
levels of financial assistance for preschool-aged children. Parents are
encouraged to enroll their child as soon as possible because of limited
availability in some programs. Please feel free to ask staff to clarify any
questions you may have regarding the descriptions. All information you provide
will be confidential.Early Childhood Programs provide an enriched
preschool environment at two locations in the City of Lakewood:
This fun, developmentally
appropriate environment and curriculum is designed to support the growth of
children in problem solving and social skills as well as early literacy,
language, math, science and motor skills. Children must be 3 years old but not
yet 5 years old, by October 1 and class size is limited to 16 students with 2
teachers. Instructors are City of Lakewood Early Childhood Education staff.Fees:
As part of
our Early Childhood Programs, the Colorado Preschool Program (CPP) provides a
no-fee or discounted (except for a $30 non-refundable enrollment fee)
educational experience for 3 and 4-year-old children who are experiencing life
circumstances that may interfere with their learning. In order to be eligible
for the current program year, children must be 3 years old but not yet 5 years
old, by October 1. Children must be screened for CPP eligibility.

subset: commoncrawl


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As Florida brothers Harris and Michael Stolzenberg sat in their living room watching news coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, they felt not only empathy and compassion for them, but they identified with them in a unique way.
Michael, 13, is a quadruple amputee. He also excels at lacrosse and loves to run around with his two brothers.
When he was eight years old, he got a bacterial infection and spent seven weeks in the hospital. He spent two weeks in a medically induced coma, and suffered from septic shock and a lack of oxygen to his limbs.
Doctors worked for two months trying to get oxygen to circulate in Michael's limbs but had no luck. His limbs turned purple and black, and doctors were left with no choice but to amputate both of his hands and feet.
He now walks and runs on prosthetic legs.
"Me and my brother were just kind of sitting there and we heard that there were going to be a lot of amputees," Harris, 17, who will attend MIT in the fall, told ABCNews.com. "We thought we could do something to help. We thought if we could raise $10,000, that we could help one person and make a difference in their lives, then it would be worth it."
The brothers decided to start a website called MikeysRun.com. Their goal is to raise $1 million for amputee bombing victims, and Harris hopes to run the Boston Marathon in 2014.
They have teamed up with the nonprofit Scott Rigsby Foundation to ensure that the money goes directly to the amputee victims. The website launched on Tuesday and has already raised more than $12,000.
"Everyone just latched onto the story. We never really imagined it getting this big," Harris said. "Right now it's just taking off and we're definitely going to help a lot more than one person."
Prosthetics range from $10,000 to $100,000 for a pair depending on the quality, material and size. For growing children, new prosthetics are needed several times a year, so the bills pile up.
Harris also enlisted in his future MIT classmates for help. He has been accepted to the school and will start in the fall. After he and Michael hatched their idea, he posted on the MIT Class of 2017 page on Facebook for some technical help.
The first person to respond was Corey Walsh of San Diego, Calif., who has never met the Stolzenbergs.
"I thought it was a great story and definitely something I was interested in," Corey, 18, told ABCNews.com. "I love using my technical skills to help people."
Corey created and manages the website and the public relations campaign. A third future student, Karan Kashyap, is going to lead special projects for Mikey's Run.
Corey was in Boston visiting his future school the day of the bombings and left town just hours before the terrorist attack. He ate lunch at the campus' Stata Center near where MIT Police Officer Sean Collier would be killed just days later.
"I definitely have a personal connection," he said.
Harris is inspired by his brother's positive attitude and strength.
"My brother is such an inspiration to me and he thinks that he could really help others," Harris said. "He just likes being a normal kid."
"He's just awe-inspiring and he's had a wonderful attitude from the beginning, so many friends and he just never looked back," the boys' mom, Laura Stolzenberg, told ABCNews.com.
Michael was at school today and not available for an interview but talked to the Sun Sentinel about empathizing with the Boston victims.
"First, they will be sad," Michael told the paper. "They are losing something they will never get back, and it's scary. I was scared.... But they'll be OK. They just don't know that yet."
"It's a huge impact on your life, but at the same time, you can still accomplish everything you want to accomplish in life," Harris said. "There's always a silver lining."
The Boston Marathon bombings left three people dead and more than 260 injured. At least 14 people had a limb or limbs amputated.


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- Introduction & Quick Facts
- Land
- People
- Economy
- Government and society
- Cultural life
- History
Malta, island country located in the central Mediterranean Sea. A small but strategically important group of islands, the archipelago has through its long and turbulent history played a vital role in the struggles of a succession of powers for domination of the Mediterranean and in the interplay between emerging Europe and the older cultures of Africa and the Middle East. As a result, Maltese society has been molded by centuries of foreign rule by various powers, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Swabians, Aragonese, Hospitallers, French, and British.
The island of Malta specifically played a vital strategic role in World War II as a base for the Allied Powers. It was heavily bombarded by German and Italian aircraft, and by the end of the war Malta was devastated. In 1942 the island of Malta was presented with the George Cross, a British award for great gallantry, in recognition of the wartime bravery of the Maltese people. After the war, the movement for self-governance became stronger. The country of Malta became independent from Britain and joined the Commonwealth in 1964 and was declared a republic on December 13, 1974. It was admitted to the European Union (EU) in 2004. A European atmosphere predominates in Malta as a result of close association with the Continent, particularly with southern Europe. The Maltese are renowned for their warmth, hospitality, and generosity to strangers, a trait that was noted in the Acts of the Apostles, with respect to the experience of St. Paul, the Apostle, who was said to have been shipwrecked off Malta in 60 ce.
Roman Catholicism is a major influence on Maltese culture. Various traditions have evolved around religious celebrations, notably those honouring the patron saints of towns and villages. The eight-pointed, or Maltese, cross, adopted by the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem in 1126, is commonly linked with Malta's identity and is printed on the country's euro coin. Valletta is the capital city.
The country comprises five islands—Malta (the largest), Gozo, Comino, and the uninhabited islets of Kemmunett (Comminotto) and Filfla—lying some 58 miles (93 km) south of Sicily, 180 miles (290 km) north of Libya, and about 180 miles (290 km) east of Tunisia, at the eastern end of the constricted portion of the Mediterranean Sea separating Italy from the African coast.
The islands of Malta are dominated by limestone formations, and much of their coastlines consist of steep or vertical limestone cliffs indented by bays, inlets, and coves. They lie on the submerged Malta-Hyblean Platform, a wide undersea shelf bridge that connects the Ragusa Platform of southern Sicily with the Tripolitana Platform of southern Libya.
The main physical characteristic of the island of Malta is a well-defined escarpment that bisects it along the Victoria Lines Fault running along the whole breadth of the island from Point ir-Raħeb near Fomm ir-Riħ Bay to the coast northeast of Għargħur at Madliena Fort. The highest areas are coralline limestone uplands that constitute a triangular plateau; Ta' Żuta, which rises to 830 feet (253 metres) in the southwest, is the highest point. The uplands are separated from the surrounding areas by blue clay slopes, while an undercliff area is found where the coralline plateau has fallen and forms a subordinate surface between the sea and the original shore. The total shoreline of Malta is about 136 miles (219 km).
In northern Malta the escarpment is occasionally abrupt and broken by deep embayments. To the south, however, the plateau gradually descends from about 600 to 830 feet (180 to 250 metres) into undulating areas of globigerina (derived from marine protozoa) limestone less than 300 feet (90 metres) in elevation. The western area is characterized by deeply incised valleys and undercliff areas, while to the east there are several valley systems that descend to the central plains.
The west coast of Malta presents a high, bold, and generally harbourless face. On the east, however, a tongue of high ground known as Mount Sceberras, on which the capital city, Valletta, is built, separates Marsamxett Harbour and Grand Harbour. Because of tectonic activity, Malta has been tilted in a northerly direction, producing cliffs of up to about 800 feet (250 metres) high on the south and southwestern coasts, while slopes descend to low cliffs and rocky shores on the northern and eastern coasts.
The landscape of the island of Gozo is characterized by broken upper coralline mesas, with the highest point being Ta' Dbiegi Hill (636 feet [194 metres]). Gozo has a gentle easterly dip, so the lower coralline limestone, which forms high cliffs on the west coast, declines to below sea level but reappears on the east coast at Qala Point. Semicircular bays have formed on coastal cliffs where sinkholes have been invaded by the sea. The rounded bays at Xlendi and Dwejra on the west coast of Gozo originated as underground caverns with roofs that have collapsed.
The island of Malta possesses favourable conditions for the percolation and underground storage of water. The impermeable blue clays provide two distinct water tables between the limestone formations—the perched and the mean sea-level aquifer. The principal source for the public supply of water has for several centuries been the main sea-level water table. The absence of permanent streams or lakes and a considerable runoff into the sea, however, have made water supply a problem, which has been addressed with an intensive reverse-osmosis desalination program. About half of Malta's daily water needs are supplied by desalination plants throughout the islands.
Mainly young or immature and thin, Maltese soils generally lack humus, and a high carbonate content gives them alkaline properties. Human settlement and construction developments have altered the distribution and composition of soils. The Fertile Soil (Preservation) Act of 1973 requires that, when soils are removed from construction sites, they be taken to agricultural areas, and level stretches in quarries are often covered with carted soil.
The climate of Malta is typically Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers, warm and sporadically wet autumns, and short, cool winters with adequate rainfall. More than three-fourths of the total annual rainfall of about 22 inches (550 mm) falls between October and March; June, July, and August are normally quite dry.
The temperature is very stable, with the annual mean in the mid-60s F (about 19 °C) and monthly averages ranging from the mid-50s F (about 12 °C) to the mid-80s F (about 29 °C). Winds can be strong and frequent; the most prevalent are the cool northwesterly (the majjistral), the dry northeasterly (the grigal), and the hot and humid southeasterly (the xlokk, or sirocco). The relative humidity rarely falls below 40 percent.
Plant and animal life
Malta's flora and fauna are typical of the low-lying coastal regions of the Mediterranean. Excessive exploitation of the forests for timber and the clearance of land for construction and agriculture have destroyed much of Malta's woodlands, though a few stands of holm oak remain. Aleppo pine has been successfully reintroduced. Maquis, a scrubby underbrush, is found along valleys and below escarpments and consists of lentisk, carob, olive, bay laurel, and in some places the sandarac gum tree (Malta's national tree). Garigue, a low-growing Mediterranean scrub, is the most common vegetation in Malta and covers much of the country's limestone plateau. The steppe in Malta is dominated by various grasses, thistles, and leguminous and bulbous plants. Reed beds occur wherever there is abundant freshwater, and club mosses, sedges and grasses are found in wetlands. Glassworts, rushes, and seablites are native to the salt marshlands. Sand couch, sea kale, and sea daffodils are found on Malta's few remaining coastal dunes, while golden samphire, rock samphire, and sea lavenders (several of which are endemic) are characteristic of low-lying rocky coasts. Cliffs and coastal screes support many of Malta's native species, which include monotypic genera such as the Maltese cliff-orache (Cremnophyton lanfrancoi) and the Maltese rock-centaury (Palaeocyanus crassifolius), the latter of which is the national plant.
The native mammals in Malta include a subspecies of the Sicilian shrew and several types of bats. Most of the country's other mammals, including the Algerian hedgehog, Mediterranean chameleon, Etruscan shrew, rabbit, and weasel, have been introduced. Native reptiles include the Maltese wall lizard, the ocellated skink, the Moorish and the Turkish gecko, the western whip snake, and the leopard snake. The only amphibian in Malta is the painted frog, a species endemic to Sicily and Malta. Invertebrates, including insects, arachnids, and snails, are abundant.
Although there are relatively few breeding birds, migrating species are plentiful. Sea birds include the storm petrel and the Mediterranean and Cory's shearwaters. Among the most notable birds are the Spanish sparrow, which is the most common bird in Malta, and the blue rock thrush, Malta's national bird.
Ethnic groups
Malta's population is composed almost entirely of ethnic Maltese, the descendants of ancient Carthaginians and Phoenicians as well as of Italians and other Mediterranean peoples. Attempts to form a unifying and homogenizing Maltese ethnicity can be traced back to the late 13th century; these efforts were consolidated in the nationalistic discourses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Aside from the Maltese population, there are small communities of British nationals, Sindhis, Palestinians, and Greeks on the islands. Since the 1990s, influxes of more transient but no less significant groups have arrived from North Africa and the Balkans and, in the early 2000s, from countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Maltese and English are the official languages of Malta as well as official languages of the EU. Maltese resulted from the fusion of North African Arabic and a Sicilian dialect of Italian. It is the only Semitic language officially written in Latin script. English is a medium of instruction in schools. Italian was the language of church and government until 1934 and is still understood by a sizable portion of the population.
Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Malta, but there is full freedom of religious belief. More than nine-tenths of Maltese are Roman Catholic; however, only about three-fifths of these practice their faith. The islands are an independent province of the church, with an archdiocese in Malta and a diocese in Gozo. Very small numbers of Maltese are adherents of other Christian denominations or of Islam. There are Roman Catholic cathedrals at Mdina and Valletta, an Anglican cathedral at Valletta, and a mosque at Corradino Heights.
Settlement patterns
During the 16th and 17th centuries, under the rule of the Knights of Malta (Hospitallers), the country evolved as a maritime power, and, by the late 17th century, Valletta and other towns were thriving maritime centres. By the mid-19th century the Maltese lived mainly in the relative seclusion of clustered villages and hamlets; the fragmentation of farm holdings accentuated the individuality of the farming community. The zuntier, a parvis forming part of the church square, was the traditional focus of village life.
During the British occupation of Malta (1800–1964), the growth of the dockyard complex resulted in the ongoing development of new settlements around Grand Harbour. In the 20th century the Sliema region, just north of Marsamextt Harbour, became the most fashionable part of Malta and by the early 21st century had become a commercial and tourist centre. Following the country's independence in 1964, the advent of industrial estates located near major villages somewhat increased urbanization, but higher living standards have given rise to residential developments all over Malta island; its central areas are now densely populated. Overbuilding has been a cause for serious concern, spawning legislation meant to protect the environment. More that 95 percent of Malta's population is concentrated in urban areas.
The essentially rural character of Gozo's many hilltop settlements has been largely preserved in the new housing that has rapidly increased there since the 1990s. Victoria, in the south-central part of the island, is the administrative and commercial centre of Gozo. More rural still is Comino, which is mostly inhabited by tourists.
Demographic trends
Malta has one of the highest population densities in the world, though the increase in the country's population has somewhat leveled off since the mid-20th century, with a considerable decline in the birth rate. At the same time, the death rate has remained fairly stable, having fallen only slightly, while the infant mortality rate has dropped significantly.
Following World War II, mass emigration was encouraged and even financed by the government because of high unemployment on the islands. From 1945 until the mid-1970s about 150,000 people left Malta and Gozo and settled in other English-speaking countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia). By the 1990s, however, emigration had tapered off, and many Maltese expatriates began returning to their homeland.
Until the mid-1960s the Maltese economy depended heavily on the British military presence in Malta. In the 1950s Britain began to withdraw its armed forces, which necessitated a drastic diversification of the economy. A series of development plans after 1959 were supported by government grants, loans, and other fiscal incentives to encourage private investment. Import and capital controls, which were extensive until the second half of the 1980s, were progressively dismantled during the 1990s, moving Malta toward a more market-driven economy as the Maltese government pursued a policy of gradual privatization beginning in 1999. Capital controls were fully lifted only when Malta was acceded to the European Union (EU) in 2004. The Maltese economy faces major constraints because of its small domestic market, and it depends on other countries for many imported goods.
Agriculture and fishing
Agricultural development is hampered by land fragmentation (that is, plots of land resulting from decollectivization that are too small or too irregularly configured to be farmed efficiently), shallow soils, and lack of adequate water supplies. Most farming is carried out on small terraced strips of land that preclude the introduction of large-scale mechanization. As a result of the growth of urbanization, the agricultural labour force has become increasingly older, and more farming is done on a part-time basis; nevertheless, production has risen gradually because of improved techniques in the cultivation of some crops, especially horticultural ones. The major crops are potatoes, tomatoes, and fruit (especially citrus and drupes). Since the late 1990s there has been a substantial increase in grapevine and olive production. Malta is generally self-sufficient in food production, but beef is mostly imported. Upon the country's accession into the EU, Malta's agricultural sector became competitive.
Fishing is seasonal and, to a large extent, undertaken on an artisanal basis. The common dolphin fish (Coryphaena hippuras) and the bluefin tuna (Thunnus), however, are caught for export. Aquaculture, introduced in Malta in the late 1980s, has surpassed fishing as a source of income. The European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) are grown in floating sea cages, and the bluefin tuna from the sea are fattened on farms for four to six months before export. After Malta joined the EU, Maltese fishermen benefited from funding programs, particularly to promote the export of tuna.
Resources and power
Malta is poorly endowed with natural resources, and its only exploited mineral resource is limestone, which is quarried and used for construction. Offshore oil exploration has been under way since the mid-1990s, but no significant oil reserves have been discovered. Fossils fuels are imported and supply all of Malta's energy. There are thermal power stations on both Malta and Gozo.
Industrial development began in earnest in the second half of the 1960s, and by the early 21st century the manufacturing sector was contributing about one-fifth of gross domestic product (GDP). Since the 1980s the manufacture of computer parts, instruments, and electronics, as well as of a large variety of consumer products (toys, cosmetics, detergents, and foodstuffs), has been important. In the early 2000s, light manufacturing (pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and automotive and airplane parts, along with software) replaced much of the low-cost labour-intensive production that had earlier played a more important role in Maltese manufacturing. Pharmaceutical production in particular has grown rapidly as a result of the patent law advantages that Malta gained upon EU membership.
Shipbuilding and repair have been the foundation of Malta's economy since the Knights of Malta (Hospitallers) transferred Malta's administrative centre from the medieval inland location of Mdina to present-day Valletta in the Grand Harbour area in 1570. Since the mid-20th century, however, the shipbuilding industry has consistently operated at a loss and had been dependent upon government subsidies. Efforts aimed at engendering financial sustainability during the late 20th century were not successful. Upon EU accession, such subsidies were no longer permissible, and the Maltese government has taken steps to reduce and privatize the industry.
The Central Bank of Malta was founded in 1968. Malta's former currency, the lira, was adopted in 1972. On Jan. 1, 2008, the euro became the country's official currency. The banking system remains highly concentrated, with half of the local commercial banks accounting for about nine-tenths of total loans and deposits. The Malta Financial Services Authority, established in 2002, is an autonomous body and the single regulator for financial services, taking over supervisory functions that were formerly carried out by the Central Bank of Malta, the Malta Stock Exchange, and the Malta Financial Services Centre. The Maltese government encourages and facilitates direct foreign investment, which began to increase in the early 2000s. While the private sector still consists mostly of small enterprises, there are some internationally owned companies operating in Malta, mostly in the pharmaceutical, automotive, and electronics sectors.
Malta imports machinery and transport equipment, chemical products, and mineral fuels. The country's main export products are semiconductors, but it also exports other manufactured goods and refined petroleum. Italy, the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., and Singapore are Malta's major trading partners.
Services account for about half of Malta's GDP and employ about three-fifths of the labour force. Tourism is a major source of income and follows a seasonal pattern, with June through October being the peak season. Some notable tourist sites include the ancient megalithic temple Ġgantija on Gozo and the temples of Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, and Tarxien on Malta; this group of temples was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980. Also on Malta are spectacular medieval castles and cathedrals, as well as the ancient inland capital of Mdina. Tourism has had a major impact on the natural environment of the Maltese islands, and the government has attempted to promote ecotourism.
Labour and taxation
The majority of Malta's workforce is employed in the manufacturing and services sectors. Women make up about one-third of the workforce. The public sector is to a very large extent unionized. In the private sector, most large enterprises are unionized. Malta has two chief labour unions—the General Workers' Union, Malta's largest union, and the Union of United Workers—as well as a confederation of smaller sectoral unions, each of which came into being around the mid-20th century. Although unions are independent of political parties, they have tended to occupy a central role in national issues and at times have operated on the basis of the party affiliations of their members.
The bulk of government tax revenue comes from a progressive income tax system. There is a value-added tax on consumer goods and services. Taxes on real-estate transactions also contribute to government revenue.
Transportation and telecommunications
The island of Malta's road system connects all towns and villages and includes a coast road and a panoramic road. Bus services radiating from Valletta provide inexpensive and frequent internal transportation. Taxis and rented vehicles are available on the island. Most families own automobiles, and the number of cars per household is one of the highest in Europe. There is no railway. Ferry services operate between Malta and Gozo, and Malta and Sicily are connected by both ferry and high-speed catamaran. The national airline, Air Malta, connects Malta with most European capitals as well as with North Africa, the Middle East, and North America. Since 2007 a number of low-cost airlines have offered services to and from Malta.
Malta's telecommunications sector was fully liberalized in 2004, after Malta joined the EU. The mobile phone penetration rate increased substantially in the early 21st century; the majority of the inhabitants now use cellular telephones, while the number of fixed-line phone lines has remained relatively static. Internet usage increased as well. The Malta Communications Authority, established in 2001, is the regulatory body of the telecommunications sector.


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Source: Bravewords.com
Gothenburg, Sweden's METAL MONARCHS – a tribute to heavy metal featuring members of HAMMERFALL, DREAMLAND and DRAGONLAND – will reunite for a run of shows in 2013.
Following a lengthy hiatus, the band are ready to roll once again, stating: "Now it's time to take the classic metal to the masses again."
Formed in the fall of 2003 by Oscar Dronjak (Hammerfall) and Mats Rendlert (Dreamland), with Jesse Lindskog (Dragonland) and Eric Rauti (Dreamland) joining shortly thereafter. Dan Cardesjö (THE BREEDING) was enlisted on vocals, and this five-some performed numerous times together throughout 2004. Dan was replaced by Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland) in the beginning of 2006, expanding the number of songs the guys could execute extensively with his wide vocal range.
The object was – and still very much is – to play songs they love from their favourite bands, trying to come as close to the original as possible. That includes the little nuances in tone in guitar solos, drum fills, the wailing on the vocals etc. Being the die-hard heavy metal fans they are, having enjoyed listening to the songs thousands of times collectively, this is very important. And that is where the tribute aspect comes in. The name Metal Monarchs is a play off of MANOWAR's Kings Of Metal, but instead of referring to themselves, it's the songs being performed that the monicker is aimed at.
Metal Monarchs lineup:
Vocals: Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland, DESTINY)
Guitar: Oscar Dronjak (Hammerfall)
Guitar: Eric Rauti (Dreamland, TORCH)
Bass: Mats Rendlert (Dreamland, SANDALINAS)
Drums: Jesse Lindskog (Dragonland)
Updates to follow.


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We know Nokia and director Christopher Nolan have a thing going--after all, Nokia has appeared in a previous "Batman" film and we've seen a limited run of Batman themed Lumia 800's back in December. There were only 40 of those created.
Now they're looking to jump on the release of "the Dark Night Rises" with a more widely available (but still super limited) Batman edition of the Lumia 900, etched with a Batman logo on the back.
Phones4U are confirmed to be getting a batch and the device will go on sales in France and Germany too.
No word on pricing or just how many will be available but it sounds like you'll need to be quick to get one. Also no confirmation of an AT&T version--we'll be surprised if the massive carrier doesn't offer something similar, so we'll keep an ear out.
Source: Pocket-lint; via TechRadar; Thanks, Joe G., for the tip


text: These gloves insulate the palm, deadening the vibration that causes stress to the hand and wrist. The thick palm insert is flexible and cased in soft goatskin leather. Spandex on the back of the hand provides a snug and comfortable fit. There are other top-of-the-line anti-vibration gloves available, but they are about four times the price. These moderately priced gloves are suitable for home shop use.


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Madam Butterscotch ~
is the (hitman!) alter ego of mother and tea shop owner, Tilda Llewellyn.
Having come out of hiding and moved to a quaint town, she is forced to re-enter her old world to
ensure peace and happiness for herself and her daughter - but can she balance being a killing machine and a mother?
Hello! I'm Lisa Cummins, aka Baggy. Blackpool born and bred comic artist now living in Manchester. I've been working on Madam Butterscotch now since 2010 and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I've worked on various projects, particularly for conventions up and down the UK. I try to attend as many events as I can, especially MCM London Expo, MCM Manchester Expo and Thought Bubble.
Remember your life choices when you work for a man on the tv
First Published 2012
MadamButterscotch©Lisa Cummins. All rights reserved.
My work may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted in any way without my permission.


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- Home
- EW Bonneville Black Cherry Pearl Paint 96 OZ
EW Bonneville Black Cherry Pearl Paint 96 OZ
EW Bonneville Black Cherry Pearl Paint 96 OZ
Item #50280ZP Brand: Eastwood
for exceptional long-lasting beauty
About EW Bonneville Black Cherry Pearl Paint 96 OZ
EW Bonneville Black Cherry Pearl is a premium acrylic urethane topcoat that provides exceptional long-lasting beauty and durability. This premium two component topcoat system is blended with top-quality raw materials and advanced composition coatings technology. Superior to acrylic, alkyd and lacquer coatings, a catalyzed urethane system offers unsurpassed durability and resistance to UV exposure, chemicals and annoying stone chips. Eastwood's line of paints will hold their gloss longer and won't yellow. 96 Fl. Oz 3:1 Single stage Topcoat system, requires 21856ZP activator.
96 Fl. Oz.
21856 ZP activator required. 50250 ZP Urethane Clear and 50251 ZP Activator 50240 ZP Urethane primer and 50241 ZP Activator 50040ZP THRU 50042ZP PAINT PREP KITS 12454Z Block sanding kit, 12252 3-gun set 20472 Air managemnet system 51550 Concourse HVLP Gun
Always wear appropriate eye, skin and breathing protection. Consult MSDS for specific safety instructions
Made in USA
Clean surfaces of all contaminents. Abrade surface to be painted with a minimum of 320 grit sandpaper working up to a 600 grit for maximum adhesions. Re-clean surface. After shaking paint, mix 3 parts paint with 1 part activator Use caution mixing materials as paint may begin to gel after 2 hours at 70Ö. HVLP gun setting 8-10psi 1.4-1.8mm tip. Eastwood paint is designed to give complete coverage in 2 coats. Allow 10 minutes flash time between coats, should be tack free in 45-60 minutes, full cure in 18 hours
Eastwood Offers Free Lifetime Technical Support
Click here for product SDS information
Attention California Residents - Proposition 65
WARNING - Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov