Canadian Space Geodesy Forum
The Canadian Space Geodesy Forum (CANSPACE) is a computer-
communications-based information dissemination and discussion group
that was established in 1989 as an aid to improving communication
among scientists and engineers working with the techniques of space
geodesy. Messages consisting of news, comments, questions, and answers
are exchanged among forum participants by means of a LISTSERV list.
LISTSERV is an electronic mail utility that allows a message to be
"exploded" (sent simultaneously) to a list of individuals simply by
sending the message to the list address. The address of the Canadian
Space Geodesy Forum is canspace@unb.ca.
Any topic related to the space geodetic techniques (Navstar Global
Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, very long baseline
interferometry, satellite laser ranging, satellite altimetry, etc.)
may be discussed. Questions are particularly encouraged. The list
features daily postings of GPS satellite constellation status reports
(Department of Defense Notice Advisories to Navstar Users) and reports
of significant solar and geomagnetic field activity. Information con-
cerning satellite launches is posted regularly. Although initially
intended to link Canadian geodesists and geophysicists together,
CANSPACE now has a wide international subscriber list and is open to
all.
How to Subscribe
----------------
To subscribe to CANSPACE it is necessary for you to send an e-mail
message to listserv@unb.ca (NOT to the CANSPACE address itself) with
the following text in the message body:
SUB CANSPACE your name
Once you are a subscriber, you may post a message to CANSPACE simply
by sending the message to canspace@unb.ca. The message will be
automatically distributed.
Setting the Topics Option
-------------------------
CANSPACE makes use of the LISTSERV "topics" option. The subject
headers of postings optionally contain a three- or four- letter
designator. These designators are "topics" identifiers that allow you
to specify which kinds of CANSPACE postings you would like to receive.
You do not have to receive all postings from CANSPACE -- you can
select which groups you would like to receive.
At the moment, there are five topics:
DOD: for the GPS Constellation Daily Status Report from USNO (DoD
NANUs)
IPS: for the geomagnetic warnings from IPS Radio and Space Services
TCG: for the postings of Tables of Contents in Geodesy (journals)
CSIC: for the postings of the GLONASS status reports (including
NAGUs) from the Coordinational Scientific Information Center
of the Russian Space Forces
OTHER: for everything else that is posted to the CANSPACE list.
Initially, CANSPACE subscribers are automatically registered for all
five topics. If you wish to change the topics to which you are
subscribed, you will have to send an e-mail message to listserv@unb.ca
(DO NOT SEND IT TO CANSPACE!). The form of the message is as follows:
SET CANSPACE TOPICS: xxxxx
xxxxx may be the list of all topics you wish to receive or one or more
topics preceded by a plus sign (+) to add a topic to or a negative
sign (-) to drop a topic from your current list. For example, to drop
the DoD NANUs and keep the other topics, just send the following:
SET CANSPACE TOPICS: -DOD
Signing Off from CANSPACE
-------------------------
To remove yourself from the list, send the following message to
listserv@unb.ca:
SIGNOFF CANSPACE
Message Archives
----------------
All messages posted to the LISTSERV-based CANSPACE mailing list are
archived in monthly notebooks. You can request that a particular
notebook be sent to you by sending listserv@unb.ca a message of the
following form:
GET CANSPACE LOGYYMM F=MAIL
where YY is the year and MM the month. The file will be sent to you as
an e-mail message. Warning: the notebooks may be several hundred
kbytes in size.
Individual archived postings can be recovered using a Web archive
interface or the LISTSERV database function.
All of the postings in each monthly notebook (from the first of 8 June
1989) can be examined and the whole archive can be searched for
particular postings using keywords, subjects, dates, and/or the
author's address. The URL of the CANSPACE Web archive interface is
https://listserv.unb.ca/archives/canspace.html.
Postings can also be recovered using the LISTSERV database function.
Here is an example of how to use this function. To get an index of the
postings in the archives that contain, for example, the word "launch"
as well as excerpts from the indexed postings showing the context of
the search term(s), the body of a message sent to listserv@unb.ca
should look like this:
Search launch in CANSPACE
The result of the archive search will be sent back to you as an e-mail
message. You can substitute any other words or phrase for the word
"launch". Phrases should be enclosed in single quotes. You can
retrieve the full text of particular postings from those identified in
the search by following the instructions in the return e-mail message.
To find out more about the LISTSERV database function running on our
Unix machine, consult the LISTSERV General User's Guide available at
http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/userindex.html.
Other Information
-----------------
UNB and CANSPACE maintain a Web-based directory of GPS Receiver Manu-
facturers, System Integrators, Equipment Suppliers, and Service
Providers.
Other related public discussion lists maintained at UNB include GPS
for Aviation Discussion Group (GPS-AERO) and GPS for Ionospheric
Research (GPS-IONO). For information on these lists, send the follow-
ing message to listserv@unb.ca:
INFO GPS-AERO
or
INFO GPS-IONO
CANSPACE is maintained at the University of New Brunswick as a free
service by Richard Langley and Terry Arsenault. They can be reached
directly by e-mail addressed to se@unb.ca or by phone at (506) 453-
4698 or by fax at (506) 453-4943.
If you have any difficulties in accessing CANSPACE or want more
information on the use of LISTSERV facilities, consult your local
computer communications resource person or contact the Department of
Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at UNB.
25 May 1991; Revised 26 September 1991; Revised 16 December 1991;
Revised 6 March 1992; Revised 4 July 1992; Revised 15 February 1993;
Revised 1 December 1993; Revised 1 April 1994; Revised 6 August 1994;
Revised 20 August 1994; Revised 1 October 1994; Revised 2 May 1995;
Revised 17 November 1995; Reformatted 6 April 1996; Revised 1 July
1996; Revised 26 July 1997; Revised 17 February 2001; Revised 8 August
2006.