Topcon GPS order for Romania

10 December 2007, 2:14pm

CAPELLE AAN DEN IJSSEL, The Netherlands – The Romanian Agency of Payments and Interventions in Agriculture ( APIA ) has acquired 530 units of Topcon Europe Positioning’s successful GMS-2 units from the TOPCON Czech exclusive distributor GEODIS BRNO and its Romanian daughter company GEODIS RO. This makes it the largest sale of Topcon’s hand held mobile GPS-receiver, not only in Romania, but also Europe-wide. More than 40 local offices of the APIA organization received training in the use of the GMS-2.

“530 Units is a large number, even if you take into account that already more than 1.2 million Romanian farmers submitted requests for EU-subsidies for their farmland since the beginning of 2007. The units will undoubtedly be used to their maximum”, says Stefan Naumann, GIS Product Marketing Manager.

Already performed

“APIA has already performed the gigantic task thanks to the in-time delivery of Topcon’s hand-held GMS-2. In a period of 4.5 months 60.000 plots were surveyed and verified. There were no claims regarding the accuracy or other technical problems”, says Jindřich Čapek, Managing Director of Geodis Brno.

Checking the amounts

According to EU regulations eligible Romanian farmers can obtain subsidies of 50 euros per hectare of land in addition to 30 euros per hectare from the Romanian state budget. For the management of distribution of these European Community Funds the Agency of Payments and Interventions in Agriculture has been installed. The amounts of hectares the farmer actually owns will naturally have to be checked.

Large scale task

“The Romanian government launched both administrative simultaneous checks and spot checks in the field to verify what the farmer has applied for. Using Topcon’s GMS-2, this large scale task should be easily accomplished”, Naumann continues.



Hand held

Aimed at the surveying and GIS professional market Topcon’s new GMS-2 GIS hand-held mobile is the industry’s first GIS-GPS product with:
• Dual-constellation tracking;
• An integrated digital camera linking photos to feature locations;
• An electronic compass for bearing and direction information; and
• The functionality to be used as a GIS mapping system, an L1 static survey grade receiver or a field controller.

Unparalleled solution

With all these features—and options to suit every job site situation and budget—in one small, durable unit, Topcon's GMS-2 provides an unparalleled solution for multi-function GIS-GPS tasks in the field. Using a Windows CE operating system, the GMS-2 is equipped with vivid, color touch-screen, a powerful Intel processor, internal wireless Bluetooth™ connectivity, and accuracy levels from sub-meter to centimeter range, removable, rechargeable lithium ion battery, SD memory slot and USB port.

Bright future

The sale of 530 GMS-2’s is not only a big success for the exclusive TOPCON distributors GEODIS BRNO and its Romanian daughter company GEODIS RO, but also for the Topcon Europe Positioning Agricultural Department. Matthew Bexson, Sales Manager GIS & Ag for Topcon Europe Positioning. "With the GMS-2, Topcon has revolutionized the market, and after the extensive testing and evaluation in the field, this order for 530 pieces is a great confirmation of the unit's powerful features, and what is to come!"

www.topcon.eu

Geo: International