Author: Art Kalinski

OpenSensorHub: Tackling a modern geospatial ‘Tower of Babel’

Last summer at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium, GEO Huntsville held its annual GEOINT workshop including a keynote by NGA (National Geospatial-intelligence Agency) Deputy Director Sue Gordon. One of the sessions, presented by Mike Botts, focused on the OpenSensorHub and related information published on GitHub.

His topic: clearing the path for use of geospatial-capable devices via the Internet, thus preventing a geospatial Tower of Babel.

In the mid-80s, I purchased my first personal computer from Sharper Image, a 286 with a monochrome monitor. The PC was not bad for its time, and I learned a lot about personal computing, but hooking up a dot-matrix printer at the time was a nightmare. There were numerous types of printer cables — 25-pin parallel, 36-pin Centronics, 15-pin, etc. Additionally, some printers needed changes to the pin configurations, so nothing about the process was easy.

Then, after the mechanical connections were made, proper drivers had to be loaded, not to mention operating system and software configuration. Today, you simply plug in a USB cable or go wireless and are off and running thanks to “plug and play.” However, plug and play is only common in popular mass-market devices such as printers, scanners and cameras. Most other devices, even commercial consumer devices, can still present maddening connection challenges.

One example: About five months ago, I tested more than a dozen different Internet video security cameras for a special project. All the cameras I tested touted quick and easy connection. Some were quite nice, while others were installation torture — I returned those after a few days.

One well-known consumer brand was especially bad. I spent more than three hours with hard-to-understand tech support in India, and after countless different IP configurations and tests, I gave up. I decided that my remaining life is too short to waste that much time on a poorly designed camera system.

(By the way, the FLIR FX and Netgear Arlo were my top choices. Both connected fast and easy, both have especially nice cloud applications and both are wireless, including power. The FLIR is rechargeable, but the battery life of the Arlo seems remarkable, although some reviewers differ, especially outdoors and in freezing weather. In my test, after three months of flawless operation indoors, the Arlo is still on the original set of batteries at 60 percent, so it gets my top nod.)

OpenSensorHub

What is OpenSensorHub, and what are they doing to help achieve universal plug and play? By their own definition:

“OpenSensorHub is a license free, open source software platform for geospatial (FOSS4G) sensors that allows you to easily, rapidly and affordably network sensors into a seamless SensorWeb of real-time, location-aware, interoperable, web accessible services. With OpenSensorHub, these OGC compliant SensorWebs can be enabled across all manner of space-based, airborne, mobile, in situ and terrestrial remote sensors — including your basic mobile device. OpenSensorHub finally makes it possible to integrate location-aware sensors into the geospatial mainstream.”

(FOSS4G — Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial — is an annual recurring global event hosted by OSGeo growing out of the GRASS and MapServer communities. OSGeo — Open Source Geospatial Foundation — promotes open source software and resources. OGC — Open Geospatial Consortium — promotes open geospatial standards for both open source and proprietary software.)

The OpenSensorHub evolved from the early work of Mike Botts of Botts Innovative Research and Alex Robin of Sensia Software for NASA. They very laboriously designed and developed systems and software to connect sensors and actuators into an interoperable and integrated environment. They also realized that this connectivity and integration process had to become streamlined and not a custom programming effort every time for every device. Thus was born the idea of Sensor Model Language (SensorML) and, thanks to NASA funding in 1999, it became a reality.

Over the years, many scientists and engineers worked to develop connectivity for devices that could be queried and controlled through the Internet, called the Internet of Things (IoT). However, a key missing element of IoT was location awareness, so in 2000, SensorML was brought to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and served as a catalyst for the creation of a suite of open standards to support location-enabled discovery, access and tasking of sensors through web services and XML encodings. They named it the OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards, or SWE for short.

The SWE standards, now in version 2.0, have been adopted worldwide supporting scientists, emergency responders and the military. Although SWE opened the door to geospatial integration, much work still remains to achieve true plug-and-play connectivity of thousands of devices. In my mind, SWE is standardizing communication protocols between sensor and actuator devices, much like USB standardized interactions between disparate devices.

However, what really enables us to plug in a USB cable and have instant and effortless communication between various devices, is the software and hardware that implement the USB standard protocols. This, in essence, is the focus of the OpenSensorHub community, to provide open software and hardware that fully implement the SWE vision and enable us to have effortless interaction between IoT devices.

This is also where the OpenSensorHub community needs your help. In addition to helping improve the significant capabilities of the OpenSensorHub Core, the OpenSensorHub community is looking for those interested in deploying sensors and in developing adaptors and adaptor technologies for adding new sensors, actuators, and processes.

If you’d like to learn more about the technology and ways that you can contribute, check out the OpenSensorHub website or contact the team at [email protected].

Other useful links include demo videos and source code.

January 7, 2016
what3words: The geospatial advancement of the year?

In this screen capture of the what3words app, the pointer is on mouse’s head at the Magic Kingdom. That grid cell is named “perform.heckle.comfortable” and will not change.

Early this year, I wrote a short column about what3words, one of the exhibitors at the Esri Federal GIS Conference. Since then, I’ve run into a fair number of geospatial professionals who hadn’t heard about what3words. This month, I’m doing a deeper dive on it because I believe it will become part of our daily lives in just a few short years.

What is what3words?

what3words is a global location system using tessellated grid squares of the entire Earth. Each grid cell is roughly 3 meters by 3 meters, and each cell is uniquely named using a simple three-word combination such as “fork.lamp.book.” On initial consideration, one would think, “So what?” — until you understand the ramifications.

First, this has already been done. More than 57 trillion 3-meter squares have been named using only 40,000 words.

Second, the system is non-hierarchal, and the cells have no adjacent relationship, so minor errors are dramatically obvious.

Third, unlike GPS lat/long, the United States National Grid (USNG), the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) or even street addresses, the three-word combinations are easy to remember and not easily misunderstood.

Fourth, the system is not just a 57-trillion record database; it’s a compact app (10 mb) that accurately generates the same unique name for each unique location with identifiers that are locked in concrete.

The what3words website has more information and a well-done video overview.

How did it come to be?

Surprisingly, what3words was developed not by a geospatial analyst, but by a musician who got tired of driving around trying to find the correct hotel loading dock or concert venue entrance using an address or verbal directions. Even GPS coordinates didn’t help, since it was easy to miskey numbers or misunderstand voice-relayed numbers. As a result, he and his team built an app that is easy to use, memorable and not error prone.

Early radio analogy

The system is so easy to understand that non-technical users can quickly adopt it. I believe that it will greatly speed communications, minimize mistakes, and reduce wasted time and mileage. To me, a good analogy is the World War I development of the phonetic alphabet.

In the early days of radio, voice communications were difficult and error-prone because of static, noise and garbled transmissions. To prevent mistakes, the military adopted a fixed list of words to help with aural identification of individual letters. The words were used for transmission of critical information such as map coordinates or to spell out words. (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.) A similar mind/ear relationship occurs with what3words. Here is a well-written technical appraisal and amplification by Prof. Robert Barr.

Possible uses

Military

The implications for the military could be significant. When I served on a destroyer, one of my duties was Gunnery Liaison Officer, providing naval gunfire support for troops in battle locations. The 5-inch gunfire was called in by concealed spotters in the battle space. The coordination and conversion between the spotter location, the spotter’s point of view, and our offshore position and line of fire required significant calculations and diligence, because friendly fire was always a concern. Current developments in GPS and laser technology have helped significantly, but friendly fire mistakes from guns, missiles and bombing are still a constant concern. The use of what3words could be a simple and quick way to double check and prevent targeting friendly locations.

Another issue that was a problem for some military bases was addressing, or E911. Some bases had buildings identified by numbers corresponding to the sequence of construction rather than street addresses, so building 245 might be next to building 1842 and next to building 38 (I’m not sure if this is still an issue). With what3words, help could be directed to exact building entrances or to exact locations in remote parts of a base.

Disaster response would also benefit. In many disasters such as tornados or hurricanes, street signs and building were obliterated. What3words would provide “addressing” for relief supply drops and other needs.

The location of the helo deck on the battleship Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia, is identified as “chew.sketch.hardly”.

First Responders

Whether it be an air crash needing remote mountain rescue, a farm accident in a rural area, a capsized boat at sea, or a heart-attack victim in a shopping mall or home, response could be significantly faster with less chance for error. Even in urban areas, there are frequent stories of delayed medical aid because E911 street databases were not correct or updated with new construction. what3words provides complete location coverage and would serve as an easy and effective double check for street addresses.

Government and NGO activity

Some of you may be familiar with U.S. Census Bureau TIGER files and LUCA (Local Update of Census Addresses). I still can’t wrap my head around why census workers have to keep posted house numbers and street names confidential. Perhaps using what3words could provide a simpler, unclassified way to direct census workers. Additionally, many actions that currently use GPS may be better served with 3m grid locations, such as agricultural or environmental data collection.

Business

Mundane activities such as materials delivery to unaddressed construction sites or package delivery to homes and businesses will be more efficient. (Rumor has it that a prominent package delivery service is testing what3words.) Utility companies could locate cut-off valves, meters and other assets within 7 feet of their actual location. Meeting friends, getting an Uber pick up, or even having a pizza delivered to a specific bleacher location at a Little League game would become easy.

Second and third world

There are complex issues regarding the World Bank and economic development. To qualify for major economic development loans, countries have to demonstrate that they have viable property ownership and taxation system in place so loans can ultimately be repaid. We take our tax parcel system for granted, but may third-world countries don’t even have consistent and comprehensive street names and addresses. what3words can provide “addresses,” which could lead to more comprehensive parcel identification.

On an even more basic level, the majority of citizens in the world don’t have an address for simple deliveries. When I was in a rural part of Haiti, just getting some simple wood screws was an all-day trip and ordeal. I learned to really appreciate being able to take a quick run to Home Depot or get two-day deliveries at my front door from Amazon. Those “luxuries” don’t exist in many parts of the world, and their lack really cripples those trying to start or run a business. what3words gives everyone an “address.”

Try it

Don’t take my word for it; try it yourself. Download the app on your smartphone (I’m using an iPhone, so others may be slightly different). Launching the app will display a map with your location and its what3words name. Click the “eye” to view an ortho image rather than a vector map.

If the padlock is locked, unlock it and you can move the map to different locations showing different what3words names. If you are sent a what3words location, you can click on the magnifying glass and type in the three words. The app will prompt “Near Me” or “Anywhere.” If there is no match near you, it will show possible options that come close by looking at alternate spellings or words. If you click “Anywhere” it will search the entire world for a match.

Once it takes you to the location, you can use Maps or Google Maps to get directions.

Other points

what3words has been adopted by many geospatial firms, including Esri. Available online or offline, anywhere in the world, the what3words locator can be available to the GIS team or customers across the entire ArcGIS platform. Since what3words is grid-cell layer, it may be possible to do map algebra operations on the cells in Spatial Analyst. I’m not sure there would be a benefit to that other than not needing to transform the list of affected cells.

what3words is available in several languages. The words are not simple translations, but developed for each language. Although the what3words team carefully scrubbed the words used to avoid offensive terms, I hope what3words doesn’t have to deal with lawsuits from individuals unhappy with the three-word identifiers of their location.

Conclusion

I predict that within a few years, our business cards will also include a what3words address. Simply put, I believe that what3words may prove to be one of the most significant geospatial advancements since Jack Dangermond spatially linked points, lines and polygons to a relational database.

what3words is going to save time, money and, most important, it’s going to save lives.

P.S. If you read my March column reviewing Peter Zeihan’s book The Accidental Superpower, you may remember the importance Peter placed on 3D printing affecting the geo-politics of shipping manufactured goods from China. If you haven’t seen the new CLIP technology 3D printers, you need to view this TED video to see how far the technology has progressed.

December 3, 2015
GeoQ: Robust homeland security tools for first responders

Art Kalinski, GISP

When I was the GIS manager of the Atlanta Regional Commission, the most rewarding and important work we did was geospatial support for our first responders. The culmination of this effort was creation of a portable GIS that we could set up in the field on short notice anywhere in the region to provide situational awareness for first responders.

The system consisted of two laptops, external hard drives, a HP “E”-size plotter, foam-board laminator and an LCD projector — all housed in a portable tent. We used ArcInfo and ArcView to build and overlay vector data on ortho/oblique aerial imagery to aid visualization.

We found that police and firefighters especially liked our large laminated plots of imagery overlaid with street data, because the aerial images were easy to understand and the GIS data provided needed location references. The hard-copy plots required no computer and could be marked up with grease pencils.

Helping in our small way, we provided the same kind of large plots of New Orleans to the Louisiana National Guard days after Hurricane Katrina hit. We later learned that the plots were used by National Guard headquarters to keep track of search-and-rescue efforts by marking up neighborhood blocks with grease pencils and recording search results. They crossed off buildings that had been searched and recorded urban rescue information such as who did the search, and the date and number of live or deceased bodies found. The hard-copy plots were a low-tech embodiment of higher tech GIS data and imagery.

Nine years later, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) developed a similar but higher tech and more robust system called GeoQ.

GeoQ: Geographic Work Queueing and Tasking System

GeoQ is an open-source geographic tasking and management system that facilitates collection and display of diverse geographic and geographically tagged data across large areas to provide situational awareness for all involved. As needed, the large areas can be broken down into small grid squares and assigned to teams or team members for detailed analysis or tasking.

The system is designed to be very transparent so all involved can view the workflow and assist as needed, while avoiding duplication of effort. This NGA video is a well done and rapid overview of GeoQ.

GeoQ software was developed by NGA and the MITRE Corporation to leverage NGA tools and data to the benefit of Homeland Security personnel. In 2013, the leadership at NGA made a gutsy decision to share some of their unclassified geospatial tools with the nation’s first responders through GitHub, an open-source software developers’ online collaboration environment. With more than 2 million participating programmers, GitHub hosts more software source code than any other single service in the world.

GeoQ was the first NGA product shared through GitHub, and was in keeping with a change in philosophy at NGA to take advantage of feedback and improvements generated by the huge and diverse talent pool available through GitHub. NGA was the first intelligence agency to share some of its work in this open-source environment, and the results have been extremely beneficial to all involved.

The Huntsville Connection

With more than 70 geospatial firms and agencies, Huntsville, Ala., has always been an early adopter of geospatial technology. Several years ago it was again a Huntsville team that developed a first-ever Google Earth Enterprise-based emergency response system called Virtual Alabama. The system was so effective that eight other states adopted the model. Work was underway to build a national version when Google announced the phasing out of Google Earth Enterprise. We now know that Google was not motivated to build authoritative geospatial systems, but was focused on building products and services that attracted customers so it could accomplish its primary business of selling advertising.

Fortunately, the work of the Virtual Alabama team was not wasted. Team members became experts regarding first-responder operations and their unique situational awareness requirements. They learned that first responders needed much more than just a GIS. The best analogy I can think of is that one could use PowerPoint as a word processor, but that wouldn’t be a very efficient system. Likewise, MS Word could be used for presentations, but not as elegantly as PowerPoint. The same holds true for rapid dissemination, communication and perception of a common operational picture. Geospatial tools and analysis are part of situational awareness, but the work flow and many components are different, not necessarily spatial and need to be assembled and processed at their own pace.

The timing was almost perfect, since GeoQ was released as Google Earth Enterprise was being phased out. Huntsville again seized the opportunity to build on its experience, and GEOHuntsville became a prime GeoQ testbed. I recently met with Chris Johnson, one of the early Virtual Alabama leaders and president of A Visual Edge, Inc., a Huntsville geospatial firm. She demonstrated GeoQ and Huntsville’s role in advancing the technology.

GitHub has a very thorough description of GeoHuntsville, a non-profit 501c6, and its role with NGA to test and share lessons learned through a “Blueprint for Safety” pilot project involving other cities to improve rapid disaster response. The sharing of lessons learned, code sets and documentation through the multi-city collaboration is called “Exemplar City.”

Another aspect of the Blueprint for Safety is support of rapid sensor deployment in support of first responders through common standards. Sort of a “plug-and-play” for complex devices. (See the GeoQ projects page and the OpenSensorHub.)

There is quite an extensive collection of material on GitHub regarding GeoQ and other NGA, projects including support of FEMA and GeoQ technical specifications. NGA doesn’t directly support these efforts, with legal language such as “NGA assumes no responsibility for the use of the software by any parties, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about the software quality, reliability, or any other characteristic.” Still, NGA is behind the creation of the software and is working on other tools and support that will expand the capabilities. Participation of both GeoHuntsville and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) bodes well for future use, since I don’t envision the same situation we ran into with Google and Virtual Alabama/USA.

Update on What3Words

In February, I wrote about what3words. The simple what3words system is now available as a locator, accessible via the Esri ArcGIS platform.

November 5, 2015
NGAUS 2015: National Guard Leaders Meet to Learn and Confer

Three weeks ago I attended the National Guard Association of the United States Conference (NGAUS 2015) in Nashville, Tenn. Few people understand that — unlike the U.S. Army and Air Force, which are under direct federal control — each state has its own National Guard organization under the control of the individual state governors. They serve as the state’s local militia responding to disasters and civil unrest as directed by the governor.

The National Guard is also part of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, and in that capacity many National Guard units have been called up to serve in overseas operations alongside their active duty counterparts such as in the Mideast. This dual control leads to countless discussions regarding Title 10 or Title 32 funding and jurisdiction.

Additionally, the National Guard is administered by the National Guard Bureau (NGB), which is the communications channel between the states and the departments of the Army and the Air Force. NGB is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and is a joint activity of the Army and Air Force. NGB provides policies, training requirements and, most important, funds for the state units. This makes the NGAUS annual conference much more than a social gathering. It’s an opportunity for the leadership of each state to learn and coordinate, to view new technology and share best practices. It’s also an opportunity to provide official feedback to NGB regarding policies and all-important funding.

Behind-the-Scenes History. A panel discussion I found especially fascinating was the Joint Domestic Operations session. One of the speakers was the former chief of the NGB, retired Lt. General H. Stephen Blum. General Blum was the NGB chief during Katrina, and shared some behind-the-scenes discussions he had with President Bush as Katrina unfolded. We now know that the New Orleans mayor delayed giving the order to evacuate the city, resulting in thousands stranded and hundreds dead. You may remember the photo of more than 100 school buses that went unused and ultimately flooded and unusable. The governor also delayed the order to evacuate, and the request for outside help from other National Guard units and the federal government.

Anxious about the growing disaster, president Bush’s cabinet was pushing him to federalize the National Guard and take charge of the situation. However, General Blum was the single voice against federalization, telling the president that if you seize charge now you will “own the whole problem forever.” Fortunately, the call for help soon came from the Louisiana Governor, and military and National Guard action was almost immediate. General Blum was able to proudly draw the president’s attention to the TV news feed showing the military in action with the under caption “The Cavalry arrives!”

Conference Exhibitors. The NGAUS conference is held in a different state each year. Last year it was in Chicago, and next year it will be in Baltimore. Although this is not a geospatial-centered event, a number of exhibitors and sessions involved geospatial topics, with the following being good examples. I was able to shoot video clips of some of the exhibitors, since seeing technology in action is always more informative than just writing about it.

Esri. For years Esri ArcGIS has been the most common GIS platform used by most states. Several years ago, MajGen William Reddel, Adjutant General of New Hampshire, arranged to consolidate dozens of ArcGIS licenses to one enterprise license for all National Guard units. This greatly simplified GIS software procurement and saved taxpayers thousands.

ForeFlight. For years you may have seen pilots dragging large document cases through the airport. These contained countless paper maps, charts and documents required for the safe navigation of aircraft. Finally, after years of work and the incorporation of digital content that many of you created, the FAA has approved electronic flight bags. See what they look like in this video.

ForceX. ForceX and Z Microsystems have numerous tools to register and incorporate full-motion video and imagery into geospatial environments. See their technology in this video.

Rapid Composites. Rapid Composites builds high-end UAVs for the military and first responders.

As a UAV user myself (DJI Inspire 1), I’m especially interested in the proposed UAV impact tests that will be conducted by the FAA starting in October. Currently, the FAA authorizes the commercial use of drones up to 55 pounds in non-restricted airspace. However, there is a growing concern that a “Sully on the Hudson” incident could severely curtail drone use. The Mississippi State-led Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) will be doing such testing in conjunction with the FAA. ASSURE will test the effect of UAV impact on aircraft windshields, control surfaces and engines.

Knowledge Center. The Knowledge Center has an overarching system that manages assets and personnel for first responders. See their system in operation.

Other exhibitors included Soft Power Solutions LLC, which displayed a geospatial-based personnel and asset management system, and Ball Aerospace, which showed off its new compact real-time 3D collection system that I previously wrote about. The new system has been redesigned to be under 12 pounds and suitable as a payload for many military UAVs.

October 1, 2015
Is GEOINT Too Exclusive?

Dr. Todd Bacastow, PSU, talked with me about geointelligence in the broader business community. See the full interview below.

Time for a Revolution — or Evolution

In July at GEOINT 2015 I was talking with long-time colleague Dr. Todd Bacastow. Many of you may know him as the retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and Penn State professor heavily involved in the Geospatial Intelligence Certificate program and the lead for the GEOINT Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) series focused on GEOINT. He proposed a topic for my column that struck a nerve with me since I and others had danced around the potentially heretical issue — is it time to open and expand the GEOINT community to a larger audience?

As retired military officers, Todd and I share a common overarching loyalty and desire to do what we can to make life better and more survivable for our colleagues on active duty. GEOINT has certainly helped by providing detailed and timely actionable intelligence for those at the tip of the spear. However, can we do even better? Most assuredly yes!

The most advanced tip of the spear is our Special Operations community. Manycivilians picture Special Operations members as knuckle-dragging Rambos shooting up the countryside, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, they are without doubt the most intelligent, observant and capable people on our DOD team. They’ve learned over decades of experience that they can complete their missions and accomplish far more by winning the hearts and minds of individuals they deal with. Doing that requires hours, days and weeks of due diligence reviewing intelligence and any crumb of information that will make a difference.

Gone are the days of just looking at aerial photography. Now we have countless sources and types of imagery, analytics, tracking, social media, signals and human intelligence. Putting that complex slurry of information together into solid actionable intelligence is everyone’s goal, and the business community is no exception.

Looking around the GEOINT Expo, I saw countless three-letter agency reps, military and homeland security personnel. There were an equal number of defense contractors and related business personnel, but everything was focused on military/security applications. Other than Pitney Bowes showing MapInfo, primarily a business-focused GIS, there were few exhibitors showing technology not aimed at the traditional GEOINT community.

Our military and other first responders have tasks and responsibilities that are serious, complex and becoming more challenging. Limiting the talent pool and body of knowledge to only the narrow GEOINT community is not something we can afford to do. The creative talent found in the broader business community is too valuable to neglect.

Watch the video interview I shot at GEOINT 2015 with Bacastow and Dennis Bellafiore, Ph.D., both of Pennsylvania State University.

My chief concern is bringing the business community in with the understanding that this would be an open and sharing environment. My first real use of GIS after retiring from the Navy in 1993 were some business applications, mostly site studies and trade area analysis. In those early days, GIS grew rapidly within the business community. There were trade shows aimed at business applications of GIS, and even a publication called Business Geographics. Much to my surprise, Business Geographics and associated trade shows died out after only a few years. Some said that everyone learned all there was to learn! I don’t think so. A more likely reason was that the geospatial technology gave businesses a competitive edg.e so there was little incentive to expose trade secrets. Everyone wanted to learn about GIS, but few wanted to open their own kimono.

Would an all-inclusive GEOINT organization run into the same fate? Perhaps if we promote it as “we are all in the same boat” and this is your opportunity to help those at the “tip of the spear.” In this age of cyber warfare and corporate espionage, perhaps we might be able to make this happen by promoting mutual aid and security. I think USGIF and most geospatial industry partners would be interested and very supportive of the idea. But most important, can you imagine the explosion of ideas and the benefits to all geospatial users.

Todd, Dennis and I would really appreciate your opinion. Please leave comments below.

August 6, 2015
GEOINT 2015: Rapid Data Sharing, Teaming and Transparency
GEOINT 2015, like other major conferences, was both fascinating and frustrating. There was so much to see and learn and absolutely not enough time to take it all in. GEOINT 2015 took place June 22-25 in Washington, D.C.

Fortunately, the USGIF staff along with the USGIF Trajectory magazine staff under CEO Keith Masback’s direction made the best of this mega event through superb event planning and top-notch documentation, both in print and video. This column is just one man’s view and covers highlights that I saw and documented.

I shot video clips of technology that caught my eye, but with more than 300 exhibitors, keynote sessions, break-out and educational sessions plus special interest meetings (such as the Army Geospatial Center GeoPDF workshop), covering it all was not possible. However…

Every day of the conference, the USGIF Trajectory magazine staff published and printed a Show Daily. This slick publication was available every morning and served as a guide to the day’s events, along with providing highlights of the previous day. You can view/download each day’s issue. These five documents are probably the fastest way to get a full overview of the conference.

Below is a playlist of the videos I shot.

Key presentations that are a must-read:
- Retired General Stanley McChrystal talked about transforming the Joint Special Operations Command from a purely top-down organization to one of shared intelligence and responsibility. Thanks to this “shared consciousness,” local units were able to act quickly, responding to rapidly changing events with smart autonomy because everyone shared the same intelligence.
- National Security Agency (NSA/CSS) Director Adm. Michael Rogers said that each component of the signals intelligence (SIGINT) world has a physical location, and described how he has directed a much closer working relationship with the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (NGA) to further intel and cyber efforts. He said that humans are very visually oriented, and although NSA’s SIGINT tools and products are very powerful, a more complete picture could be visualized if enhanced with GEOINT.
I was able to interview NGA Director Cardillo and Admiral Thad Allen, former commandant of the Coast Guard. I asked Director Cardillo about the NGA Emerald program and Adm. Allen about eLoran, one possible back up to GPS/PNT.

The pre-conference included education sessions and a fascinating group of five-minute lightning talks (pecha-kucha). I’m going to cover these in detail sometime in the next few months.

Generally, when I attend conferences I try to visit the small booths on the periphery of the exhibit hall. I’ve found that many showcase emerging technologies or are uniquely interesting. One example at GEOINT was the “Cartographic and Geographic Information Society” booth manned by Dr. Eric Anderson and Dr. Lynn Usery. They really struck a nerve with me — in the massive exhibit hall packed with high-tech wonders was this simple booth with a simple message: promoting good cartography. In this day of computer mapping and electronic media, too many technicians produce maps and sites that are really terrible looking and hard to grasp, so I fully appreciate the importance of good cartography to communicate effectively. See my Powerpoint/mapping rant several years ago to get my perspective.

Here are my videos of other exhibitors on the floor:
- CACI — The ability to predict human activity with very high correlation using social media
- GeoWeb3D — Very rapid display of imagery and 3D models
- TerraGo — Edge, a disruptive technology for data collection
- HeadWall — UAV systems
- Pitney Bowes — A demonstration of the latest capabilities of MapInfo
- Zebra Technologies — 3D hologram prints
USGIF Trajectory also posted most of keynote speeches and many EXPO floor videos on its website, at geointTV. Two that caught my attention:
- OGSystems — fast development
- Digital Reasoning — Big Brother?
USGIF CEO Keith Masback (right) presents Bosarge with the USGIF Academic Research Award.

Tipping my hat to my adopted state of Alabama, I was pleased to see a Huntsville booth touting the 70-plus geospatial firms in the city along with a keynote from Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle highlighting GEOHuntsville’s pending 2015 GEOINT Workshop August 12. Additionally, native son George Stanley Bosarge, University of South Alabama, was awarded the USGIF Academic Research Award for his work in assessing post-oil spill recovery and reef habitat off the coast of Alabama.

In general, attending GEOINT was like drinking from a firehose: lots of information in a very short period of time. However, I did build a list of great material for future columns, including a potentially small underground revolution growing in the GEOINT community.
July 2, 2015
Art Kalinski Reports from GEOINT 2015

Editor’s Note:This week, Geointelligence Insider’s Art Kalinski reports from GEOINT 2015, being held in Washington, D.C., June 22-25.

GEOINT 2015 is not your daddy’s geospatial conference. If there is a common theme to this convention, it’s the problem of too much data and not enough analysts, so there are many exhibitors addressing the issue with automated systems that merge the “man and machine,” taking advantage of the best capabilities of each.

Introduction

NGA Director Robert Cardillo on the Agency’s Strategy

NGA Director Robert Cardillo discusses the agency’s new strategy at GEOINT 2015. Cardillo became the sixth director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in October 2014.

A Demonstration of Esri’s ArcGIS Full Motion Video Add-In

Geointelligence Insider’s Art Kalinski talks with Craig Cleveland, Esri solution engineer, about the ability to geo-register full motion video inside an ArcMap.

Thad Allen Discusses eLoran at GEOINT 2015

In this interview Admiral Thad Allen, former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, discusses PNT alternatives to GPS for navigation, including eLoran and the activation June 19 of a signal on an eLoran tower in preparation for a timing signal trial.

Allan is an executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, and a leader in the firm’s Departments of Justice and Homeland Security business in the civil market. In 2010, President Obama selected him to serve as the National Incident Commander for the unified response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Geoweb 3D Demonstration at GEOINT 2015

Vincent Autieri, vice president and CEO of Geoweb 3D, explains the company’s 3D mapping engine.

CACI Predictive Tool Using Social Media Discussed at GEOINT 2015

Andrew Doyle, engineering senior manager of CACI, describes the EMBERS system, which uses social media to predict socially significant events such as protests or disease outbreaks.

June 23, 2015
Geospatial a Surprising Highlight of eMerge Trade Show

Two weeks ago I helped a colleague with a trade show in Miami called eMerge Americas. This was a general-interest trade show focused on U.S. and Latin American trade and economic development. It wasn’t GEOINT or an ESRI users conference, so I didn’t expect any significant geospatial exhibitors, but I was wrong.

In fact, there were so many geospatial-related displays, I decided to build my column around it — not because there were new developments, but to give you a feel for how business in general is being exposed to and shaped by our geospatial technology.

I found so much visual content that under the “picture is worth a thousand words” philosophy, I shot video clips of exhibitors so that you could quickly hear and see their stories. I discovered a number of true start-up businesses, as well as a large area devoted to showing robotics from local school programs. You may not have the time to view each clip, so the following are brief descriptions of each exhibitor that caught my attention:

Introduction to eMerge Americas

Esri. Because Latin America is a large and growing market, Jack Dangermond had his team there.

Indra. A large Spanish firm demonstrating their end to end solutions including building 3D models overlaid on Google.

Cisco. Cisco had a very large display showing city management of transportation/utilities/ planning using geospatial tools and management systems.

Fish. A company that tracks people and assets using RFID tags and indoor location technology.

Florida International University. FIU had numerous technology displays but their autonomous catamaran doing bathymetry data collection and mapping was impressive.

CartoData. This was a Mexican firm doing some very impressive end-to-end solutions including the use of Pix4D to build 3D models from UAV data.

ImPlaces. A small start-up that builds Smartphone GPS location enabled applications for self guided tours such as museums, parks, real estate, etc.

Baptist Health. Baptist Health demonstrated its 3D remote surgery system that was dimensionally scalable. These systems permit a surgeon to work at a macro level while the surgical tools operate a at microscopic level.

ICONICS. A company that can zoom from a country or regional map down to the detail of an individual valve in a specific plant using CAD/BIM data.

RangeVideo. A UAV company with a very flexible platform and 3D operator viewing goggles.

ALTA Systems. An alternative to powered UAVs.

SnowLizard Products. A small start up building durable waterproof Smartphone cases with Bad Elf GPS and solar panel recharging.

Catbird. A data system security oversight system.

VSN 360. There was a lot of interest in this product. VSN was showing a new 4K HD quality 360-degree video camera a little bigger than a coffee mug with many features. My video of a video didn’t do it justice, so here is a link to the demo video.

For fun, view these non-geospatial exhibitors:

Holography Box USA. A portable, rear projection, point-of-sale video display that looks like a 3D hologram.

TeamSandTastic. A company that provides sand sculptors for trade shows or other events. Doesn’t sound exciting, but just like a Zamboni clearing the ice, you can’t stop watching as an artist turns a pile of sand into a sculpture.

Robotics. Local students show off their robotic construction efforts and operational talents.

Because eMerge has been so well received, I’m happy to see plans are in place to make this an annual event. Latin America is a large and growing market with many talented individuals, some of whom I met at this conference. As a country, we seem to take Latin America for granted, but this a region that shares our values. We need to nurture our relationships and work to prevent the kind of attitudes found in areas hostile to American values.

June 4, 2015
TerraGo Edge: Every Soldier a Data User and Data Collector

For years, when I was the GIS manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), I’d get an annual visit from the Layton Graphics sales rep trying to sell me something. Layton Graphics was an Atlanta blueprint company. I never needed blueprint services so I politely listened and sent the sales rep on his way. In 2005 that changed when the sale rep demonstrated his company’s eye-opener GeoPDF, a significant leap in GIS-enabled map publishing. With the invention of the GeoPDF, the company was reformed as TerraGo, and the rest, shall we say, is history.

Screenshot of Edge on an iPhone showing data capture points in red and current location in blue.

Until GeoPDFs, we published our GIS data as Shapefiles on CDs and relied on users to display the data correctly using their own GIS software. Since many new GIS users had no cartographic training the resultant maps frequently looked terrible or, even worse, completely misrepresented the data. As the publishers of the raw data, we frequently got blamed for some very crappy-looking maps- including those created by our own ARC transportation and land-use planners. GeoPDFs changed that since the cartography remained intact. Not until Esri’s Map Publisher, now ArcGIS Publisher, and subsequent cartographic tools was cartography preserved as the originator intended.

A GeoPDF was a single Adobe document that bundled GIS data, imagery and resultant maps into one compact file with no lost data files, no improperly displayed data and no incorrect data pointers. The Acrobat file was, in effect, an interactive GIS map display that permitted a user to pan, zoom, turn layers on and off, view, import social media and navigate 3D models and many other functions in one single compact file. GeoPDFs proved so valuable that they became the Army’s and other federal agencies’ geospatial publication method of choice.

The Next Geospatial Leap

Recently, TerraGo made another geospatial technology leap, doing for geospatial data collection what the company did for geospatial data display. TerraGo streamlined and sped up geospatial data collection with its new product, TerraGo Edge. TerraGo Edge is a cloud-based application that works on PCs, tablets and even smartphones. A user downloads the app and can then build a data-collection environment that is completely tailored to the needs of an organization. Field personnel can then rapidly collect enterprise data using a PC, tablet or smartphone with very little training and no additional software. The application permits the collection of tabular data, photographs, video clips and more that are georeferenced using the mobile device’s built-in GPS to locate each data point. All data is saved in the cloud and instantly shareable with designated users.

Now the even better news: If the network connection is lost or weak, the field collection can continue in the disconnected environment. The collected data is stored locally, then automatically synced when the connection is restored. The simplicity of the system and disconnected use may help make the Army’s Future Combat Systems vision, in which each soldier is a data user and data collector, a cost-effective reality.

Field Test

Bryan Burns of TerraGo collects data with his iPhone and Bluetooth-connected Bad Elf GPS.

I had to see the system in actual operation, so I paid a visit to the TerraGo Atlanta offices last week. Scott Lee and Bryan Burns of TerraGo gave me a full demo. I previously loaded the TerraGo trial app on my iPhone, which you can also do by going to your app store and downloading the free trial application. The software is fairly intuitive, and I was able to shoot a georeferenced picture and record some notes on my own. Bryan and Scott demonstrated the more advanced Edge features, especially the creation of custom collection forms that greatly speed data collection by field users.

Form creation is an important aspect of Edge, because it not only speeds data collection, it also reduces the chance of errors. As most of you know, sloppy data capture can really corrupt a database. Poor spelling, missed keystrokes, etc., can make database searches difficult and even result in missed records. Developers have found that entry errors can be minimized and collection speed enhanced with several simple data collection tools and techniques that are part of TerraGo Edge. Some of these include the use of pull-down menus for frequently used terms, numeric/alphanumeric entry key restrictions, checkboxes, the use of “radio buttons” for multiple choices, and others. As a result, field users can collect data as quickly as they can walk from one location to another with minimal data entry errors or corruption.

How Much Does It Cost?

$360 per year, with up to three devices. If you want TerraGo to host your operation, storing and backing up your data, that’s another $360 per year. The only additional cost, assuming you already have a smartphone, is additional GPS hardware to achieve better accuracy than the native 5 meters of a smartphone. The additional hardware cost depends on your accuracy needs. A Bad Elf plug-in device gives you 2-meter accuracy for $300 and 1-meter accuracy for $600. Better is a sub-meter accuracy iSX Blue II for $2,000, and even an RTK centimeter system, the EOS Arrow 200, for $6,000. This graph shows the hardware comparisons.

Keep in mind that the GPS units permit data collection even if disconnected, and all available GPS metadata is captured with each fix, so additional post-processing could be done at a later date if needed. The system also comes with a ton of GeoPDF maps, vector data such as OpenStreetMap, WMS feeds and imagery to serve as a backdrop for your data collection. As you would expect, the data you collect can be saved and exported in popular formats such as Esri Shapefiles, KML and GeoPackage, the new OGC handheld standard being supported by AGC and NGA.

How Good Is It?

This image shows the water fountain in front of the TerraGo offices. The green dots show the data points I captured with the Bad Elf Bluetooth GPS.

We then went outside for a short data-collection test using the Bad Elf Bluetooth GPS. It was easy to pair the Bad Elf to my iPhone, and I was able to collect data as fast as I could walk from one location to another. Since this was a short test in the open, I couldn’t judge how quick data collection would be in less than ideal conditions such as building canyons or tree canopy cover. I’d certainly want to spend a day collecting under different conditions to get an accurate feel for the speed, accuracy and reliability of each hardware option in a production environment.

Go to the TerraGo website for a much deeper dive. Edge looks like it will give the competition a real run for the money, not to mention the very significant smartphone accuracy improvements being tested in the labs. So, in short, you can have in your hand a networked GPS datalogger with up to cm accuracy that can operate in a disconnected environment. It seems like smartphones are slowly replacing our stand-alone devices — watches, media players, digital/video cameras, car navigation, compass, level, PC and flashlight. I can even use my iPhone as a magnetometer. Now, even high-end GPS dataloggers are in the smartphone crosshairs.

A good way to see TerraGo Edge in action will be the GPS World webinar at 1300 EDT May 28. Registration is free.

P.S. With Mother’s Day and Memorial Day coming up soon, I’d like to call your attention to my column last year. We frequently read about the bravery and hardships of our military, but the families at home not so much. The mother in the column was so selfless I can’t forget her. You won’t either.

May 7, 2015
Georeferenced Full Motion Video: Mitigating a Difficult ‘Big Data’ Problem

The unmanned drone RQ-4 Global Hawk in flight in 2007 (Image credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Bobbi Zapka)

By Art Kalinski, GISP

For more than a decade, the military has been struggling with cataloging and retrieving its huge libraries of full motion video (FMV). The video, captured by both manned and unmanned aircraft, rapidly reached unmanageable levels. If you have ever tried to organize vacation photos after returning home from a long trip, you know that it’s easy to lose track of where each photo was taken. Date/time stamps help, but the effort is still difficult if your vacation took you to numerous locations.

The manned U.S. Air Force Beech King Air 350 and 350ER MC-12W Project Liberty Aircraft are designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Now imagine trying to retrieve several critical minutes out of thousands of hours of video of barren land or repetitive-looking villages, and you get a sense of the magnitude of the problem. Without some way to catalog the video, critical details can be lost, because finding the right video clip becomes impossible in a reasonable period of time. Everyone agreed that the solution to the problem is to index the video clips by date/time and location, preferably with an exact georeferenced footprint. This is now possible with tools from Esri, Hexagon Geospatial and others.

Several years ago, at the USGIF GEOINT Tech Days, Sarnoff (SRI) demonstrated a system that pinned aerial video to its geographic footprint and maintained that registration despite the movement of the aircraft. It was an achievement that impressed everyone in the audience. I changed jobs soon after that conference and lost track of developments in the FMV field. At the February Esri Federal Users Conference, I was thrilled to see Jack Dangermond briefly demonstrate the same kind of FMV georeferencing capability in ArcGIS 10.2 during his opening plenary session. I learned that Esri developed the capability in 2013, and later learned that Intergraph (Hexagon Geospatial) also developed a similar capability in 2010.

MISB: The Critical Improvement

The key technical development that made this possible was NGA’s creation of “Motion Imagery Standards” and the Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB). The MISB developed standards for a consistent way to capture and record telemetry data during the video capture as metadata that becomes part of the video stream. This “Open Standard” metadata includes information such as the accurate xyz location of the aircraft, attitude, tilt, camera angle, and camera characteristics. This information travels with the individual video frames and permits the GIS/viewing software to perform the georeferencing.

This process is very similar to the oblique imagery capture system used for years by Pictometry, which at 20 FPS was technically FMV. MISB like Pictometry requires accurate GPS and IMU data to continuously capture and record the metadata. The MISB also gets involved with video compression standards such as the newer H.264 used on Blu-Ray discs and streaming video. H.264 has, for the most part, replaced MPEG2 and older MPEG4 as the video compression standard of choice. Much of the video captured by low-end small UAVs is just a simple video stream with no MISB telemetry data. However, I’m sure that lower prices, increased capability and smaller size of sensors will fix that with time. Sorry, no one has yet figured a way to “hack in” the metadata for legacy video captured without the MISB telemetry data. The one exception is those videos that contain usable telemetry data that was burned into the video and can be read with OCR. It might be possible to insert that information as MISB-compliant data.

The ArcGIS Full Motion Video Add-In

The ArcGIS Full Motion Video 1.2 Add-In (for ArcGIS 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3) is a free tool for ArcGIS users. It permits users to play georeferenced live or previously recorded video files in the map view. The screen capture below shows several features of this tool and is from an online video.

The re-sizeable smaller window displays the video as it runs. The map view shows a changing footprint (green trapezoid) of the video as the aircraft flies over the site. The short green line shows the flight path of the aircraft. Demonstrating the interconnectivity of the two data sets, the user in the demo video drew a light blue polygon on the map view. Note that the Esri Intersect function re-projects and displays the same polygon correctly in the video view.

Frames from the video can be extracted as single georeferenced images or groups of images and stored as a mosaic dataset. Playback of time-stamped video data can be synchronized with other time-enabled data and played together on the map. Features can be digitized directly on the video player and will appear on the map and vice versa.

The extension supports playback and management of multiple simultaneous video feeds. The Add-In also allows you to record the sensor, frame center, and footprint data in a geodatabase so the Bookmark Manager can perform searches for bookmarked video scenes. For more information regarding the Esri FMV tool, visit this ArcGiS site.

Hexagon Geospatial GeoMedia Motion Video Analyst Professional

Another robust FMV system that takes advantage of MISB telemetry is GeoMedia Motion Video Analyst Professional (MVA) from Hexagon Geospatial. The Hexagon Geospatial system includes tools to catalog videos as geospatial features with attributes extracted from the metadata, and has some elegant graphic selection tools that help an operator search and retrieve needed video clips.

In the screen capture below, you can see the map view with the geo-registered color video overlaid on the black-and-white ortho base image. As the video plays, the georeferenced video footprint continuously moves to the correct location as the tracking graphics in red show the position of the aircraft. The transparency of the video can be adjusted so an operator can compare features between the base image and the video and digitize directly in the map window.

MVA also includes a full set of tools for placing clipmarks as geospatial features with attributes and linked to the cataloged video, extracting snapshots and videos clips, on-the-fly enhancements, stabilization, registration and more. The system also facilitates rapid report generation so as an operator searches and plays appropriate video clips, the same operator or a partner can rapidly generate reports as documents or PowerPoint presentations in minutes. Another feature of the system is a “de-hazing” tool that removes a surprising amount of haze or smoke.

See a very good video overview of GeoMedia Motion Video Analyst Professional on this Hexagon Geospatial page. Like the Esri video, both are far better at explaining the capabilities than I can in this short column.

Other defense contractors are taking advantage of the MISB metadata, so check with your provider. Although these systems found their first home with military analysts, the Esri and Hexagon Geospatial reps indicated that many other users are finding the capability valuable in their work. Emergency operations centers come to mind first, but more mundane uses include rail and utility property management, the news media and video used in court proceedings. So, if you shoot lots of aerial video and need to catalog and retrieve video clips quickly, consider using MISB in your capture process.

April 2, 2015
The Accidental Super Power

Geography Paints Both Rosy and Grim Picture of the World

In the late ’80s, as a graduate student at UNC Charlotte, I was learning about “New Geography” using a cutting-edge technology called GIS (Geographic Information Systems). One of our professors coined a perfect definition of what made this New Geography different from traditional cataloging of locations and attributes. Quoting Dr. Gerald Ingalls, “Old geography dealt with the simple question: What is where? New geography, using analytical tools such as GIS, is now able to answer: Why what is where.” So knowing the quantifiable “why” hopefully gives us insight into ways to shape and mitigate geography-related problems.

It’s easy to focus on the technology aspects of GIS and forget the reason for our tradecraft. I was reminded of that reason when I recently read a book that took me back to our geospatial roots and demonstrates New Geography exceptionally well. The book, The Accidental Superpower by Peter Zeihan, effectively uses geography and analytics to explain how the world has been shaped and is evolving. In his book, Mr. Zeihan links many current geopolitical events to geography, demographics and the 1944 Bretton Woods settlement which to me is one of the clearest examples of American exceptionalism.

Bretton Woods

For those of you not familiar with Bretton Woods, it was pretty much the United States telling the rest of the world how things will be after the pending end of WWII. The U.S. had turned the tide of war, built up its own industrial power while not suffering home-front damage, and had fashioned the world’s strongest Navy. You can imagine the shock of world leaders when they learned that the U.S. was not looking for reparations or even new land other than enough to bury their dead. Instead, the U.S. was going to open its markets to the world, use its Navy to protect free trade, and even help rebuild devastated countries with programs like the Marshall Plan. All has been pretty good for the past 70 years as Bretton Woods created a global holiday from instability. However, according to Mr. Zeihan, the forces of geography, demographics and new technology will unravel Bretton Woods and slowly change the world.

The Bretton Woods Conference, 1944.

Geographic Factors in the Analysis

We all learned in high school geography that severe climates such as frigid or oppressive tropical climates stifle civilizations, while more temperate climates help civilizations advance. Those are very broad generalizations, but the world is more complex than that, and Peter Zeihan has woven detailed geography into a complex picture of the world. He cites many factors that uniquely and collectively benefit the United States but are shortcomings to a greater or lesser extent in other countries. Key factors included farmable land, rivers and coastal ports for economic trade, oil, industrial capacity, education, demographics and others. In the lottery of world geography, the U.S. has been blessed. I would add that the character of its citizens also plays a key role.

Although there are critics of some of Zeihan’s conclusions and predictions, there is no doubt that his book is an exceptionally detailed compendium of countries and the geopolitical pressures that affect them. He focuses strongly on the presence of rivers, since they provide very cheap transportation of commodities thus reducing the need for many transportation infrastructure projects. The book gets into great detail about countries that most of us can’t even point to on a world map such as Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Uzbekistan and other stans. He explains why many factors bode well for Uzbekistan, but not so much for Russia and China. He shows why Russia considers keeping Ukraine in its camp absolutely vital to its own survival.

One surprise was the case he built that Alberta, Canada, may be motivated to leave its non-supportive national government to join a more like-minded and geographically connected United States. This would completely open the U.S. market for Alberta grain and oil while providing seamless transportation throughout the U.S. Additionally, as a state, the Keystone pipeline would not fall under State Department or executive review.

Demographics

Mr. Zeihan addresses the importance of demographics using a well-known example, Japan. Low birth rates and limited immigration have placed Japan into the difficult position of supporting an increasingly older population with fewer and fewer young citizens. This inverted population pyramid is a pure numbers issue that cannot be solved quickly. He shows how many European countries are trending in the same direction on a slightly later schedule. Russia is suffering from both lower birth rates and decreased education of its population. By contrast, better birth rates and better educated immigrants are preventing an inverted pyramid here in the U.S.

Technology

Mr. Zeihan highlights technology as playing an important role in raising or lowering the importance of some geographic factors. Two in particular have snuck up on the radar: fracking and 3D printing. Who would have thought that the U.S. would be on a path to becoming the world’s largest energy producer thanks to fracking? This will obviously diminish our need for Mideast oil and have a very serious effect on small unfriendly oil producers such as Venezuela, who is already seeing a drop in sales of its relatively hard-to-refine black oil. (Note the political unrest there this week as oil revenues decline.)

I wrote about the potential impact on industry of 3D printing last year, and Peter Zeihan seems to share that opinion. As manufacturing moves closer to the consumer, jobs in China will decline, as will the need of transoceanic shipment of finished goods. The result: the U.S. will see a rebirth of local manufacturing.

Rings containing superconducting magnets will confine the plasma inside the reaction chamber. (Credit: Eric Schulzinger/Lockheed Martin)

If fracking and 3D printing are going to be significant factors, imagine what will happen to the world order if the recent announcement by Lockheed Martin that its researchers have cracked compact fusion comes to fruition. This was announced too late for inclusion in Mr. Zeihan’s book, but my guess is that he would consider it to be the quintessential game changer. It would affect many geographic factors — lower the cost of all transportation, expand industry, desalinate water cheaply, make marginal land farmable, negate the limitations of oil/gas access and do all of this while reducing pollution, increasing safety and eliminating the ability to militarize this form of nuclear power.

Conclusion

I was only able to touch on a few key points in Peter Zeihan’s book. The total picture is very complex. It was clearly well researched and logically thought through. I have only two criticisms. First, Mr. Zeihan stated that he has “always loved maps,” but this book has mediocre black-and-white maps that are less than ideal to display complex geography. It screams for decent color maps, if not in print at least as supplemental website PDFs.

Second, the book delves into significant predictions that I believe should be read with a very critical eye. There are many wild cards and personalities that can steer geopolitics. As a former analyst for the geopolitical security firm Stratfor, Mr. Zeihan worked for George Friedman, the co-author of the 1991 book The Coming War with Japan. I’m glad that didn’t come true.

I know that for many of you working in the intel community this will be very basic information and analysis that is your daily bread and butter. For the rest of us, it’s a good overview and I recommend getting this book. It will be a handy reference, if for no other reason than to sound knowledgeable at water cooler debates. However, I believe that its value is more serious than that and will prove repeatedly useful as an overarching insight as history unfolds.

March 5, 2015
what3words: A new way to identify any 3-meter location gains traction

what3words (w3w) is such a simple concept that I’m kicking myself for not think of it first. Developed in 2013, what3words is gaining traction with many non-GIS users as a more user-friendly way of identifying locations. It’s a system of 3-meter grid cells covering the Earth’s surface, with each cell identified with a unique three-word group.

The three words don’t mean anything, but like the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta…) used in radio communications, the words make it easy to communicate and easy to remember. By contrast, a long string of lat long degrees, minutes and seconds, or MGRS characters are tedious to copy, hard to remember and easy to screw up.

Additionally, because the w3w cells are small, communicating an exact location is easy. So, if I wanted to meet someone at a large sporting event in the parking lot or particular gate, the unique 3-meter cell puts me face-to-face with my colleague. Since the words follow no particular hierarchy or grouping, an error in one word would be very obvious or show zero return.

See the video at the what3words website for a full explanation. My guess is that very soon your business card will not only list your address, but the three word location of the right door to enter your building and perhaps even your cubical location, once indoor location technology is perfected.

My column is short for now because I’ll be attending the Esri Federal GIS Conference in Washington next week. I’ll be posting video clips from the conference and expo, so watch this space Monday and Tuesday for highlights.

February 5, 2015