| Saudi Arabia, 24 April 2006: The Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawaa and Guidance, Salah Al Sheikh announced the launch of a new system that monitors Saudi mosques electronically through a network based on the Geographical Information System (GIS). As the GIS system was launched, the Minister said the project aimed at creating a program to monitor all mosques and to set up monitoring systems inside. The minister clarified that this would enable the Ministry to be acquainted with the mosques everyday through modern technology.
The project has already been implemented in the mosques of Al Malaz quarter, east of Riyadh. By mid 2007, monitors would have been set up in other mosques of Riyadh. By mid 2008, the ministry hopes to have included all of the kingdom's mosques in the project. GPS/GIS to locate mail addresses in Saudi Arabia
| Four consortia of Saudi companies are to invest over SR1 billion in a state-of-the-art postal delivery system under a phased program covering all parts of the Kingdom. Usamah M.S. Altaf, vice president of Saudi Post, said the new service known as Wasel, would be a high-tech delivery system. It will rely on the integration of GIS, GPS and satellite imagery to locate houses and commercial addresses.
Post boxes will be installed in residential areas to enable registered members to post their mail. Altaf conceded that it would be a challenge to expedite postal delivery. “But with this high technology we hope to achieve our goal,” he said.
A core feature of the system is the use of smart chip embedded in the mailbox fixed to the entrance of the house or the apartment that alerts the postman when he is in the vicinity of an addressee. Altaf said that a fleet of vehicles equipped with the new technology will be used.
The system guides the driver to the right destination. There is also a track and trace system on the Saudi Post’s website that lets a registered user know the whereabouts of his mail.
A beginning has been made with the mobilization of a workforce in Riyadh. The plan calls for a gradual increase to 2,000 employees when the postal service covers the entire Kingdom in two years.
Altaf said the kingdom will be divided into eight postal regions, with each region further subdivided into squares ranging from 1km x 1km (as in cities) to 4km x 4km (in remote locations), depending on the density of the population.
Digital codes have been assigned to different cities, starting with 1 for Riyadh, 2 for the Western Province, 3 for the Eastern Province, 4 for Madinah. Each zone has a unique number, while other digits from 0 to 5 indicate the axis in each zone comprising the digital map of the Kingdom.
Altaf said 2,536 mail boxes will be placed in residential, commercial and industrial areas allowing post to be deposited without the need to visit a post office. He said mail boxes would also be available at the post offices and private postal agencies.
These boxes are made available for individuals, government departments, companies and establishments after a payment of SR300 once every three years. There are 408,751 P.O. boxes kingdom-wide in addition to 104,750 boxes at the private postal agencies.
This service comes within the framework of Saudi Postal Corporation’s efforts to diversify its public services and save its customers efforts and money. “This kind of mail can be easily handled without any postal clearance. Commercial organizations wishing to mail publicity material could save time, money and effort as the mail is stamped as “Postpaid.”
Altaf said companies and establishments could send large quantities of printed material to customers promoting their products and services.
Source : http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1ion=0&article Saudi Arabia set to launch six mini satellites
| Saudi Arabia will launch either by the end of this year or early next year six mini satellites for a range of applications, including the location of water and mineral sources, environmental pollution control, urban planning, agricultural production and weather observation.
They are part of a group of 24 mini satellites manufactured and designed in the Kingdom by a team of Saudi scientists and engineers as part of a program to harness space technology for commercial purposes, according to Prince Turki Ibn Saud, vice president of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Research Institutes. He was speaking at an international seminar on remote sensing and its applications.
Prince Sattam, accompanied by Dr. Saleh Al-Athel, president of KASCT, opened a scientific exhibition held on the sidelines of the conference. The participants include companies specialized in space imaging, GIS and various remote-sensing applications.
About 500 experts from 29 countries are attending the five-day event, which has been sponsored by KACST in collaboration with International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and Global Sensing Group (GSG).
Addressing the gathering, Prince Turki said KACST’s plan is eventually to launch a total of 24 low-orbit satellites. Two satellites — Saudisat-A and Saudisat-B — were launched by a Russian rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, while a third communications satellite was placed in orbit with the help of a Russian rocket. Saudi Arabia is the second Arab country after Egypt to launch satellites.
Source : http://www.arabnews.com Saudi Arabia to launch 3 more satellites soon
| Saudi Arabia will launch three new satellites using a Ukrainian rocket by the end of this month, according to reports appearing in the press.
The satellites - Saudi Comsat 1, 2, and 3 - will be launched from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Ukrainian rocket, Dnepr, had previously launched 12 satellites for Saudi Arabia, Britain, Italy, Malaysia, Germany and the United States, with 15 more planned for this year. Saudi Arabia uses the satellites for communications purposes, added the reports.
The Kingdom has three satellites so far. The third one, which was put into the orbit on December 21, 2002, was designed and fabricated by a team of Saudi scientists at the Institute of Space Research in King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology.
It provides vital data on weather conditions and oil exploration and monitors the movement of vehicles in remote regions of the Kingdom, said the reports.
The Kingdom was the second Arab country after Egypt to launch its own satellites. It has a Center for Remote Sensing and an Institute of Space Research, which provide remote sensing technology, including satellite imagery and data, for the public and private sectors.
These images and data are vital to research in areas like agriculture, geology, cartography and natural disaster studies, said the reports.
Baikonur Cosmodrome is the launch complex from where Sputnik 1, the Earth's first artificial satellite, was launched. The rocket that carried Yuri Gagarin, the first human in orbit, was also launched from Baikonur. The name Baikonur is misleading as the actual launch complex is about 200 miles southwest of the mining town near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan.
Source : http://www.menafn.com Space Imaging releases IKONOS satellite image of Mecca, Saudi Arabia taken during the Hajj pilgrimage
|  This one-meter resolution commercial satellite image of Mecca (Makkah), Saudi Arabia was collected on Feb. 22, 2002 at 11:20 a.m. local time by Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite. The image shows a large number of Muslims during the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Each year approximately two million Muslims from around the world visit Mecca to fulfill an once-in-a-lifetime religious obligation -- one of the five pillars of Islam. Pilgrims visit the Haram Al Sharif (Grand Mosque) and encircle the Kaaba, the oldest house of worship in the world according to the Koran. This is visible in the center of the image. The annual Hajj is performed in the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. IKONOS travels 423 miles above the Earth's surface at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour. It's the world's first commercial high-resolution remote sensing satellite.
Source : http://www.spaceimaging.com/
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