GPS World

Author: Tracy Cozzens

  • Nearmap delivers new 3-D content and oblique imagery

    Nearmap has announced a national survey program providing true, high-resolution oblique imagery and derivative 3-D products.

    Nearmap provides cloud-based subscription access to up-to-date 2-D orthomosaic aerial imagery. Using its patented HyperCamera2 technology, Nearmap is applying the same access model to the oblique aerial imagery market.

    Because this new camera system provides a high degree of overlap from different angles, Nearmap can reconstruct the real world in stunning detail, producing not only high-resolution orthomosaic and oblique imagery, but also surface and terrain models, natural-color point clouds and textured 3-D meshes.

    “This level of detail and scale of coverage of oblique imagery has never been available as a ready-to-use service for commercial and government needs until now,” said Patrick Quigley, senior vice president and general manager, U.S. of Nearmap. “The HyperCamera2 process maps reality, by capturing the tops, sides and view angles of locations, buildings and objects, providing specific details of what’s exactly on the ground.

    Screen capture from a Nearmap 3D fly-through of Austin, Texas, rendered from Nearmap oblique Imagery.
    Screen capture from a Nearmap 3D fly-through of Austin, Texas, rendered from Nearmap oblique Imagery.

    Users will be able to immerse themselves in 3-D textured mesh models, improving analysis and design activities. They can see different elevations and line of sight using the 3-D information.

    These features become important in many use cases, including airport or utility planning, or to determine the best location for a crane before a construction project. Other applications include wireless telecommunications network modeling, solar panel design, tactical resource deployment, real estate development promotion, property valuation, insurance underwriting and smart cities.

    “3-D brings a whole new aspect of mapping reality to both commercial and government organizations,” said Rob Newman, CEO and managing director of Nearmap. “This new service will help industries plan, design, estimate, communicate and execute their plans — everything from major construction projects to solar installations on homes and businesses.”

    Beginning in April, Nearmap has already surveyed oblique images in Las Vegas; Indianapolis; Austin, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Phoenix; Seattle; Denver; Kansas City, Kansas; Chicago and New York, and continues to add new areas.

    By the end of 2017, Nearmap plans to complete surveying the largest urban areas covering more than half of the U.S. population — about 150 million people.

    Nearmap imagery will be refreshed up to three times per year in these coverage areas — with three orthomosaic captures incorporating one oblique capture. Nearmap’s orthomosaic imagery already covers nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population dating back to 2014. “This gives our customers the aerial imagery services they need for their businesses and projects,” Quigley said.

    Nearmap’s oblique imagery can be accessed in the MapBrowser interface or integrated into a customer’s own web application using Nearmap’s industry-standard API. Digital surface modeling is also available for export into GIS / CAD tools, including Esri’s ArcGIS Pro. Nearmap will soon enable similar access to the 3-D products.

  • Orbit GT releases UAS Mapping v17.1 with cloud feature

    OrbitGT_UAS-Mapping-v17.1-W

    Orbit GT has released v17.1 of its UAS Mapping desktop product including the all-new Upload to the Cloud feature. It is available for download from the company website.

    “This upgrade includes the capability to upload any UAS Mapping content directly to www.3dmapping.cloud, our SaaS based sharing and collaboration platform,” said Peter Bonne, CEO of Orbit GT. “It adds a great new feature for everyone collecting and creating drone based content.”

    Upload to the Cloud allows for users to instantly bring their drone/UAS/UAV data online. The upload process is fluently integrated in the known workflows of the product, with the required checks and validations. Upload time depends on the internet connection.

    Once uploaded, the data is immediately available for sharing on www.3dmapping.cloud. The new Catalog tool adds insight and overview of all data collection jobs done, indisspensible to manage large jobs.

    The update is free for holders of a license with maintenance.

  • A&M-Corpus Christi institute to provide UN with GIS expertise

    The Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science (CBI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has officially joined the United Nations-Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Academic Network. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is one of three Universities in the nation, including Harvard University and the University of Maine, who are part of this network.

    The primary goal of the UN-GGIM Academic Network is to make accurate, reliable geospatial information readily available in support of national, regional and global development. As a member of the UN-GGIM Academic Network, CBI will work alongside the United Nations to provide research and education expertise to international governments.

    “Blucher’s inclusion in this prestigious academic network is a direct reflection of the quality of our researchers at A&M-Corpus Christi,” said Dr. Kelly Quintanilla, Interim President and CEO of A&M-Corpus Christi.

    To be accepted to the UN-GGIM Academic Network, applicants must meet certain criteria. Requirements included an established track record in Geographic Information Science (GIS), a description of current programs and future GIS education and research plans. Most notably, the CBI was chosen based on their ability to positively impact the UN-GGIM Academic Network.

    “Dr. Richard Smith, CBI Research Scientist, has already assisted the United Nations by providing online geospatial education to UN staff. We are now formally linked in with a worldwide network of academics and scientists to assist the UN take advantage of recent advances in geospatial technologies we are developing here in Corpus Christi,” said Gary Jeffress, R.P.L.S., CBI director and professor of geographic information science.

    According to the Department of Labor, GIS, Geospatial Surveying and Engineering are the fastest growing fields in the United States. Researchers in this scientific discipline study data and computational techniques that are used to capture and analyze geographic information. For example, it’s with this information Google Earth and Bing Maps can function the way they do. Those who can use this system properly and find relationships within the data are in high demand.

    With this in mind, experienced professors at A&M-Corpus Christi help Island University students get hands-on experience with the latest GIS technology. The CBI has been recognized for their Free Online Curriculum for GIS and Geospatial Surveying and has worked together with United Nations staff to expand UN operations involving GIS technology. The CBI offers a Bachelor of Science in Geographic Information Science, a Master of Science in Geospatial Surveying Engineering and a Doctoral Program in Geospatial Computing Sciences.

  • Esri UC: How Esri CityEngine powered Disney’s Zootopia

    Brandon Jarratt took plenary attendees behind the scenes of city creation in Zootopia, using Esri CityEngine. (Photo: Esri)
    Brandon Jarratt, Disney.

    Brandon Jarratt took GIS professionals behind the scenes of animated city creation at the Esri User Conference, being held this week in San Diego.

    Jarratt served as general technical director for Disney’s Zootopia, which won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Jarrett took the stage during the plenary session to describe how the Zootopia team used Esri CityEngine software to create the complex city that serves as the backdrop for the movie.

    Jarratt said Disney animated features need three elements: compelling stories, appealing characters and believable worlds. That’s believable worlds, not realistic worlds.

    Disney animated movie elements. (Photo: T. Cozzens)

    In this case, the complex city of Zootopia had to be designed from the ground up as a complex city with various districts designed to accommodate the vast array of animal species.

    In the world of Zootopia, humans don’t exist. Transportation systems, houses, streets and services need to accommodate animals as tall as giraffes and as small as a shrew. To meet these challenges, the designers turned to Esri CityEngine and its multi-scaling feature.

    The Zootopia world also needed to incorporate various habitats, or in this case, districts. At the center a large complex city dominates.

    The four burroughs of Zootopia. (Image: Disney)

    CityEngine was used in the creation of the city in Big Hero 6 as well. In Big Hero 6, the base city geography used was San Francisco, upon which Japanese-style buildings were placed. In all, 80,000 buildings were incorporated into San Fransokyo.

    San Fransokyo in Big Hero 6. (Image: Disney)

    Zootopia, on the other hand, was built from scratch — including the terrain. The team started with research of various landscapes to create a basemap.

    Zootopia concept map. (Photo: T. Cozzens)

    At the city-building stage, CityEngine’s custom tool was used to lay down streets.

    Buildings were designed for each district. The building styles couldn’t be repeated too often, or the city would look unrealistic, Jarratt said. The designers used carefully calibrated mix rules to keep the cities lively.

    The desert area of Sahara Square is make of 61,000 parts, including buildings, wall segments and palm trees. (Image: Disney)

    The ability in CityEngine to change the makeup of a city, adjusting the frequency of the various parts, made it easy for the illustration team to meet the art director’s requirements. When he wanted more skyscrapers, or buildings of a certain design, the team was able to provide new concept images the same day.

    Zooptopia being built in Esri CityEngine. (Photo: T. Cozzens)

    Esri’s CityEngine GIS technology is used by city planners to design our future smart cities. “It’s so similar to how city planners create real cities,” said Esri President Jack Dangermond. He then presented Jarratt with Esri’s first-ever Best Animated Feature Using GIS award.

  • ‘Maps Are Alive’: Highlights from the Esri UC plenary

    Esri President Jack Dangermond describes the value of GIS at the plenary session of the Esri UC.

    “Maps are alive,” declared Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president, on the plenary stage at the world’s largest GIS event. The 38th annual Esri User Conference is taking place July 10–14 at the San Diego Convention Center.

    We are on the cusp of a data and information explosion, Dangermond explained while introducing the conference theme “The Science of Where.”

    “We are about to launch in to a different scale,” he predicted. GIS is changing rapidly with numerous new information streams and advances in real-time data, and maps are central to understanding our changing world. GIS provides a platform for managing, analyzing and applying that data and information, he said.

    His advice? “Share, collaborate. Communicate so we collectively can learn all bout world. Let’s take our work collectively to scale.”

    GIS is vital to understanding developments in numerous areas: population growth, climate change, social changes, natural disasters and political polarization, to name a few. “We have to do everything we can to better understand and form collaborations to address these areas,” he said.

    “Today’s businesses and governments require new ways of thinking,” said Dangermond. “Our users are leading the charge, using mapping and analytics to empower digital transformation, accelerate understanding of big data, and democratize technology. It is an inspiration to see how so many different organizations are applying the science of geography and the technology of GIS to gain insight into their data and reveal hidden patterns and spatial relationships.”

    Dangermond presented numerous examples of organizations using GIS in new ways. For instance, Oak Ridge National Laboratory has created an “energyshed” map similar to a watershed map. An orchard is using GIS and GPS tracking to collect data on cherry picking. The Democratic Republic of Congo is making use of crowdsourcing to generate maps.

    Story Maps are aiding what Dangermond calls “geo-journalism,” telling stories about new developments in virtually every field.

    A screenshot of “Washington's Ice Age Floods” story map from the Washington Geological Survey.
    A screenshot of “Washington’s Ice Age Floods” story map from the Washington Geological Survey.

    Dangermond also presented the following awards:

    • Ice Age Floods, by the Washington Geological Survey, won Best Story Map.
    • The GIS Digital Transformation Award went to Abu Dhabi, which “has taken GIS to new frontiers” in every government agency with every citizen, Dangermond said.
    • The Enterprise GIS Award went to the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for maintaining the largest GIS database in the world, with daily updates and a user-friendly portal.
    • The President’s Award, chosen personally by Dangermond, was given to the United Parcel Service (UPS), which saves up to $400 million a year with its location-enabled Orion system. It puts the ability to update maps in the hands of supervisors, who constantly are optimizing routes. Now deployed in the U.S., the Orion system is going worldwide.

    Other speakers and their topics at the first-day plenary included:

    • Renowned author and theoretical physicist Geoffrey West — His book Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies, explores dynamic growth and the challenges of achieving that growth sustainably.
    • Oakland County, Michigan — Making government services more cost-effective
    • Chesapeake Conservancy — Analyzing imagery and sensor data to protect watershed areas
    • Taylor Shellfish Farms — Transforming the family-run business by implementing cloud GIS solutions so staff can perform spatial data collection in the field
    • Severe Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS), Calgary, Canada — Powering real-time decision support systems to improve emergency services
    • Smart Dubai — Empowering one of the smart cities of the future with citizen engagement and smart growth
    • Walt Disney Animation Studios — Behind the scenes of Zootopia.

  • senseFly brings drone education to Esri User Conference

    senseFly will showcase how to integrate drone imagery into current workflows at the Esri User Conference, which takes place July 10-14 in San Diego. senseFly is hosting a series of workshops designed for surveying, mapping and GIS professionals.

    As a producer of mapping drones and an Esri Silver Partner, senseFly will present the innovative ways in which its drones are being used with Esri’s Drone2Map for ArcGIS software to deliver on-demand high-resolution imagery and robust GIS projects.

    Drone Surveying 101 – Wednesday, July 12

    This workshop will be led by Francois Gervaix, surveying project manager, and is aimed at visitors wanting to know more about drone mapping and surveying. He will explain how senseFly solutions can be used as a surveyor’s own imagery sourceanytime, anywhere — as well as how Esri’s Drone2Map for ArcGIS makes the creation and integration of drone imagery into workflows even easier.

    The session takes place 12-1 p.m. in room 30 B of the San Diego Convention Center. Refreshments will be provided. To register, go to https://dronesurveying101.eventbrite.com.

    senseFly User Meeting – Thursday, July 13

    With the geospatial market needing specific and integrated solutions, Briton Voorhees, sales engineer, will give existing senseFly customers an in-depth look at its latest features. This includes senseFly Corridor, a new platform enhancement that vastly simplifies the drone mapping of linear sites, for applications such as utilities monitoring, as well as the newest release of eMotion 3.

    The user meeting takes place 12-1 p.m. in room 30 B – SDCC, where refreshments will be provided. Register at https://senseflyusermeeting.eventbrite.com.

    Briton will also speak at the pre-conference Imaging and Mapping Forum on the various sensors available to senseFly users and detail how they can apply to imaging applications.

    senseFly’s drones offer full compatibility with Esri’s Drone2Map for ArcGIS mapping and spatial analysis software.

    senseFly is also exhibiting at the UC Expo and encourages visitors to stop by booth 2126 to speak to its team of experts.

  • Avineon launches portal to highlight Esri’s Utility Network in ArcGIS

    Avineon Inc. has launched a new portion of the Avineon Innovation Lab dedicated to articles, white papers and videos highlighting the impact of Esri’s Network Management System in the ArcGIS Platform. Avineon is a provider of geospatial, information technology and engineering support services.

    The new section focuses on Avineon’s contributions, expertise and partnership with Esri on the next evolution of GIS Network Management: the Utility Network.

    Part of the ArcGIS platform, the Utility Network is available on any device.
    Part of the ArcGIS platform, the Utility Network is available on any device.

    GIS services and solutions have been a part of Avineon’s success for the last 25 years, which is keeping pace with evolving technology and the impact GIS has on companies in the utility and telecommunications industries.

    The Utility Network lets users create, manage, and share electric, water, wastewater, gas, district heating, and telecommunications asset data. The beta release of the Utility Network comes with base data models for electric, gas and water networks.

    The technology is capable of supporting other networks — such as district heating, telecommunication and wastewater — but, for now, users need to build their own data models or rely on partners. Esri will provide base data models in some of these areas in later releases.

    “Avineon has been a valuable partner and contributor to Esri’s Utility Network throughout the early adopter program, providing valuable feedback to our product teams,” commented Bill Meehan, Director of Utility Solutions for Esri. “The resulting Network Management System in the ArcGIS Platform will support utility and telecommunication companies as they execute their business plans for innovation, digital transition and transformation, sustainability, and smart ecosystems (smart grid, smart buildings, smart transportation, smart cities, etc.). We believe Avineon’s partnership with Esri and offerings like Avineon’s Head Start program, as well as observations into the practical applications of the Utility Network, through their Innovation Lab, will help industries understand the strategic and tactical pathway to maximize the value of their GIS now and into the future.”

    Joel Campbell, Avineon’s vice president of Commercial Systems, added, “As an Esri business partner, it is exciting to support our customers and contribute to Esri’s vision of the ArcGIS Platform. These new capabilities serve as the foundation for delivering a new generation of business applications leveraging web and services patterns as well as evolved network management capabilities. We at Avineon look forward to utilizing our Innovation Lab as an outlet to share the lessons learned, best practices, and case studies around the newest evolution of GIS and its impact on the utility and telecommunication industries.”

  • Leica Cyclone REGISTER 360, cloud services offered for digital reality-capture market

    Lieca-Cyclone-WHexagon announced today its new Leica Cyclone REGISTER 360 laser scanning software for simpler, automated registration, and its Cyclone Cloud Services platform for secure global collaboration through an on-demand software-as-a-service model.

    Together, the new products offer users smarter ways to register, visualize and collaborate around digital reality projects, delivering solutions into the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), plant, survey and public safety markets through the connected Leica Cyclone family.

    “Digital realities are enabling professionals and newcomers to laser scanning to shape the world around us. Whether it’s on a construction site for building documentation or in a plant environment for life cycle updates, efficiencies and productivity gains are realised with the ability to merge reality and digital data quicker and with more accuracy,” said Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén. “These new developments in laser scanning registration with our Cyclone software improve the user experience and overall workflow of point cloud processing.”

    Lieca-Cyclone-W2Cyclone REGISTER 360 is the a professional-grade registration software that combines automation, high performance and ease of use into one powerful package available to novices and experts alike. Simplifying and automating the entire production process, Cyclone REGISTER 360 enables users to automatically process, validate and deliver point clouds according to rigorous quality control and reporting standards.

    Cyclone Cloud offers professionals a new way to consume and deliver digital reality data through a highly scalable, intuitive and web-based platform. TruView Cloud Services is the only cloud-based digital reality visualization and collaboration platform that enables quick setup of private user communities, connecting with and making the data available anywhere in the world.

    Users can publish digital reality content in Cyclone from handheld devices and terrestrial, mobile and unmanned aerial vehicles. With open application programming interfacing, the data can be delivered in any device and operating system with connectivity for building information modeling, geographic information systems and computed-aided drafting.

  • Teledyne Optech coastal and ocean monitoring helps with disasters

    Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar System (CZMIL) to be shared at conferences as a critical rapid environmental assessment tool for both natural and manmade disasters

    Teledyne Optech’s Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL) system is a critical rapid environmental assessment tool for monitoring natural and man-made disasters. From detecting sewage pipe leaks, mapping oil slicks and measuring coastline changes after hurricanes, to counting underwater debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, CZMIL excels at identifying and monitoring oceanic environmental changes, especially in emergency scenarios.

    • At the Oceans ’17 MTS/IEEE conference in Aberdeen, Scotland, Senior Scientist Viktor Feygels will present “CZMIL as a Rapid Environmental Disaster Response Tool.” Using case studies from CZMIL and its predecessor systems, Feygels will describe four distinct applications of Teledyne Optech lidar bathymeters. Attendees can catch this presentation in Room 15 on June 21 at 12:10 p.m.
    • Research Scientist Hieu Duong and Marine Business Manager Bob Marthouse will present “Small-Object Detection using Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL)” at the Teledyne CARIS International User Group Conference in Ottawa, Canada. Conference attendees can hear about these applications on Thursday, June 22, 10:05 am, in the Rideau Room.

    “CZMIL has proved to be ideally suited for rapid environmental assessment and small-object detection,” said Bob Marthouse. “Both the upcoming MTS/IEEE Oceans ‘17 conference and the recent United Nations Ocean Conference during the week of June 5 underline the urgent requirement to more critically monitor our oceans and coastlines. At Teledyne Optech, we were pleased to be part of this ongoing effort.”

  • Utility post-processing software delivers CAD drawings

    Leica-DXutility-WLeica Geosystems has released its new DX Office Vision utility post processing software for mapping ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data from the field into a CAD drawing.

    DX Office Vision allows even non-experienced users to obtain professional 3D CAD drawings and visualize the detected underground utilities in a simple way, according to Leica. The intuitive interface enables users to filter, select, identify and make annotations of the located targets. With DX Office Vision, post-processing for all ground-penetrating data requires no add-on or third party software.

    “Following the demo of the new DX Office Vision I have to say I am impressed. The user interface is very intuitive with key processing views easily manipulated for fast interpretation of ground penetration radar data. I was particularly impressed with the DX Office Vision feature that allowed me to clean up the scan and highlight certain areas to give a clearer view of hyperbolae,” said Alex Rampton, surveyor at Plowman Craven.

    DX Office Vision was developed by utility surveyors who know what is needed from a post processing software. The software was created to reduce the post processing time and eliminate all unnecessary steps to convert data or chose parameters. The software guides the user to create a reliable 3D map of the underground detected utilities with minimal training.

    “DX Office Vision aims to make interpretation of GPR data easy to master for constructors and surveyors who are not familiar with how to interpret it,” said Tughan Telatar, product manager, Construction Tools for Leica Geosystems. “DX Office Vision is so simple to learn that anyone from the crew can take over data processing into professional CAD drawings in five steps and 50 per cent faster than traditional methods.”

  • Harris providing industry training to NGA employees

    Harris Corporation and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) are partnering to provide industry training for NGA employees, including skills in industrial practices and procedures which are not available through military or civil education programs.

    Participants in the Training with Industry (TWI) program spend a year at Harris learning its business practices — such as workflows, innovative technologies and commercial processes — and then execute an assignment directly related to the training they received.

  • Harris providing industry training to NGA employees

    Harris Corporation and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) are partnering to provide industry training for NGA employees, including skills in industrial practices and procedures which are not available through military or civil education programs.

    Participants in the Training with Industry (TWI) program spend a year at Harris learning its business practices — such as workflows, innovative technologies and commercial processes — and then execute an assignment directly related to the training they received.