Under a Watchful Eye

Research assistant Asli Dogru works in the field with a GPS, carrying out earthquake research on the North Anatolian Fault Zone (Turkey). She is accompanied by local children who are curious about what the scientists are studying in their town.

Dear editor in chief

I wish to comment on the new GIM International. It's appealing to the eye and very attractive. I agree with you that it's ready for the new decade. Yes, your team put in a lot of hard work to make it refreshing. Well done. And the book review by Mathias Lemmens in the January issue is brilliant. I believe he is a geodesist like me!

However, I think it would be better if you placed captions below your pictures, so that readers don't have to turn the magazine sideways (I am referring to the editorial page). This is just my personal view.

Regarding your news item on the presidential inauguration from space, Geo-Eye 1 is a great machine of our time and its product resolution is outstanding (editorial note: see page 10).

Congratulations once again and keep the flag flying.

Dubai Comments on February's News Feature

You asked the right question in your news feature in the last GIM International. How is the credit crunch affecting Dubai?

To answer that and to get an idea of the effects, let me give you a summary of how things were before the crunch. 85% of project funding in Dubai came from outside investors who wanted to make a quick buck and leave. Initially people made lots of money. Just three months ago developers were shrugging off comments about the recession. Now, with most of the speculators gone, more than 50% of projects are on hold, off-plan properties are dead and most people are happy the hype is over. Thousands lost their jobs and are fleeing the country leaving their debt behind.