GPS World

Author: Tracy Cozzens

  • Global Mapper update improves 3D tools

    Blue Marble Geographics is offering a version 18.1 update to Global Mapper that includes numerous functional enhancements and introduces an new tools, upgrades to existing components, performance improvements and support for new formats and online data sources.

    The release of version 18 of Global Mapper in September 2016 introduced a redesigned interface with significantly improved layer and workflow management as well as enhanced 3D display.

    Building on this foundation, version 18.1 further improves the 3D experience with a new option to freeze the 3D View while working in the adjacent 2D view, speed improvements when rendering raster or 3D model formats, and improved functionality for creating 3D fly-though visualizations. For lidar module users, a new data quality-control tool is available for adjusting point cloud elevations to match surveyed ground control points.

    Blue Marble’s GIS software is used by hundreds of thousands customers throughout the world who need affordable, user-friendly, powerful GIS solutions. Users are in industries including software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying and technology companies, as well as government departments and academic institutions.

    The release of version 18.1 offers numerous enhancements that are a testament to the ever-increasing importance of 3D data. Global Mapper’s 3D view, which introduced the ability to display an “infinite view” of all loaded 3D data in version 18, now offers the option to pause the 3D rendering when interacting with the 2D map. This streamlines workflow and significantly improves memory usage by eliminating the need to continually refresh the display.

    The rendering speed for 3D raster layers as well as 3D models has also been drastically improved. When creating a 3D fly-through visualization or recording, the flight parameters now include bank angle, to more realistically simulate a pilot’s eye view, and variable velocity, allowing the flight speed to be adjusted between segments.

    Other enhancements in version 18.1 include a new option to calculate a summary of the color statistics in a raster layer within a defined area; faster loading and display of large vector files such as shapefiles; support for many new formats, including exporting of LandXML and importing of RMaps/MBTiles and BPF lidar files; and expanded online data options including the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO).

    Users of the optional Global Mapper Lidar Module, which provides advanced point cloud processing tools, can now perform precise quality control of their data against established ground control points. This allows the elevation values associated with each point to be adjusted to conform to the surveyed elevations at these locations.

    “With more and more data having a height or elevation component, the importance of Global Mapper’s 3D viewing capability is underlined,” stated Blue Marble President Patrick Cunningham. “For several years, our development priority has been to optimize the user experience when interacting with lidar, DEMs or other 3D layers and with the release of version 18.1 we are seeing some of the results of that effort with more display control, improved 3D interaction, and stunning 3D visualization.”

    Blue Marble application specialists will be conducting a live webinar on Tuesday, March 21, during which they will showcase the highlights of this release. This hour-long presentation is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Time) and it will provide an opportunity to both see the latest tools and to ask questions about the new functionality. Space is limited and registration is required so be sure to sign up today.

    For a complete list of new features and enhancements or to download a trial copy of Global Mapper 18.1, visit the website.

  • New book explains GPS for the rest of us

    I’ve absorbed the basics of how GPS works in the decade since I joined the staff of GPS World magazine, when I barely gave the positioning system a thought. But in those first few months, this is the book I wish I’d had.

    Terms I needed to learn back then included pseudorange (nothing to do with juicy fruit), geodesy (not an undiscovered work by Homer) and multipath (not a forking trail in a park).

    All of these and more are described in the new book GPS for Everyone: You Are Here by Pratap Misra. Pratap is Professor of the Practice, Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University, and he sent me his new book for review. As a non-engineer, I have found it a great resource — Pratap explains complex subjects in an entertaining, highly readable narrative, accompanied by photos, illustrations and even a few cartoons.

    Even if I’m not looking for a little background, I find myself engaged in the story of GPS: its history, its uses today (location-based services, defense, UAVs), privacy concerns and more.

    For instance, I hadn’t given much thought to how general relativity had to be taken into account in designing the clocks for GPS satellites. If the clocks hadn’t been designed with an offset, GPS would lose 38 milliseconds a day. So much for an accurate timing reference.

    Aother interesting story was the rescue of U.S. pilot Captain O’Grady, downed during the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s and quickly rescued because he was able to provide his coordinates from his handheld Flightmate GPS receiver. Today, of course, military receivers would automatically provide the location, and rescue would be even faster.

    Pratap also co-authored with Per Enge of Stanford a graduate-level engineering textbook on GNSS. But for the rest of us, GPS for Everyone: You Are Here is available through bookstores everywhere.

  • LizardTech releases MrSID gen 4 decode SDK version 9.5.4

    Developers can add support for MG4 files created with LizardTech’s GeoExpress Version 9.5.3

    LizardTech, a division of Celartem Inc. and a provider of software solutions for image asset handling, has released MrSID Generation 4 Decode SDK Version 9.5.4 to compliment the release of LizardTech’s GeoExpress Version 9.5.3.

    This latest SDK release includes support to view MrSID compressed Harris Geiger-Mode LIDAR point clouds, paralleling previously incorporated tools for viewing MrSID compressed LAS and LAZ point clouds.

    LizardTech continues to enhance lidar and raster compression capacity across its image asset handling platform for image compression, management, distribution, integration and deployment. This includes updating compilers, refreshing target computing platforms and improving compression performance.

    Trusted as a raster format by geospatial professionals since 1992 and supported in a broad spectrum of GIS and CAD applications, MrSID is the highest quality file format with the most advanced compression technology available. A no cost download of the MrSID Generation 4 Decode SDK is available at http://developer.lizardtech.com, and enables application developers to add support for viewing and decoding multiple image files and most recently Geiger-mode, LAS and LAZ point clouds compressed into MrSID.

  • Sokkia releases CX series total station

    Sokkia-cx60-gallery04Sokkia announces the release of the CX-60 total station in the Americas with upgraded data transfer and storage options for the series. Featuring RED-tech reflectorless capabilities, the new CX-60 is designed to provide an entry-level solution with a fast and powerful EDM.

    “The CX-60’s RED-tech technology reflectorless EDM offers a fast distance measurement of 0.9 seconds,” said Ray Kerwin, director of global surveying products. “The instrument also offers a new USB option for quick and easy data transfer, along with 2- and 5-arc second accuracies ideal for land surveying, topography, construction layout, foundations and exterior job sites as well as as-built projects.”

    RED-tech technology allows the total stations to operate reflectorlessly with an EDM of up to 350 m or 4000 m with a prism.

    The CX-60 instruments offer optional Bluetooth functionality, providing connectivity of up to 10 meters (32 ft.) with controllers.

    Additional features include 10,000 points of memory, a battery life of up to 15 hours, dual axis compensation, a waterproof design, and a laser pointer.

  • OGC seeks data and services for Testbed 13's mass migration scenario

    As part of the Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) Testbed 13, the OGC is requesting information to identify, assess and gather the current state and available geospatial data and services in the Europe and Middle East regions that may be used to support the development, testing and demonstration of OGC standards and technologies advanced during Testbed 13.

    OGC Testbed 13 participants will implement services, access data, and demonstrate capabilities using the services and data identified during this request for information (RFI).

    The overarching theme for Testbed 13 is mass population migration. The Testbed aims to understand and document how information sharing and safeguarding tools and practices — including open geospatial standards — can enable cross-domain interoperability on an international level for structured communication exchange and border surveillance to assist law enforcement and humanitarian aid operations.

    The demonstration scenario for Testbed 13 will focus on addressing challenges related to the coordination of multi-regional/national operations arising from the current exodus of people from the Middle East to Europe. This includes any messaging related to the displacement and mass movement of populations in response to conflict.

    As an OGC Innovation Program initiative, Testbed 13 will investigate and develop new or enhanced OGC web service or encoding specifications over a wide variety of technology work areas. These technologies will be tested and demonstrated in an architecture and a deployed environment in support of the mass migration theme, as shown in the following diagram:

     

    OCG-Testbed13-W

     

    A wide variety of source data or data provider services available for public use are needed to support the scenarios and use cases associated with this testbed. As such, OGC is looking for your help in providing us with information on the availability of these data and services.

    The following is a partial list of types of source data or services, required over the area of interest, that could support the development of, and testing in, Testbed 13:

    • Map data and/or services
    • Feature data and/or services, such as road networks, rivers, water bodies or water sources, jurisdictional boundaries, etc.
    • Satellite imagery and/or services
    • Predictive model related data, such as base and ancillary data as well as outputs of predictive models
    • Medical and Health facilities and locations (or could be part of other feature data sources or services)

    Recommendations for additional source data or services that provide data of various types across the region of interest, are available for public use, and could support the scenario, development, and testing in Testbed 13, are welcome and encouraged.

    For more information on Testbed 13, view the Call for Participation. The RFI is available for download. Instructions on how to submit responses to, or questions concerning, the RFI are available in the download.

    Responses to the RFI are due by 15 March 2017.

  • Emergency 112 calls in Europe saving lives with GNSS

    Emergency 112 calls in Europe saving lives with GNSS

    On Feb. 11, the European Union (EU) celebrated 112 Day in honor of the single European emergency phone number. The 112 system uses Advanced Mobile Location (AML) to receive location information from mobile phones.

    112_map_EU-location-W
    Photo: 112 SOS

    Every year, about 300,000 people who call the emergency services cannot describe their location because they may not know where they are, because they are too young to say or they are too injured to communicate. In these situations, knowing the exact location of the caller can help emergency services react quickly and save lives, according to the European Commission.

    Europeans can dial 112 for free in any EU country if they need to contact emergency services, thanks to EU legislation introduced in 1991. Today’s mobile and smart devices are able to provide emergency services with accurate caller location via an SMS or data channel using GNSS or Wi-Fi capabilities.

    An EU-financed project — HELP 112 — looked into how GNSS can improve caller location using the AML solution. It was tested in the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Italy and parts of Austria.

    A new report shows significant improvement for caller location in several EU countries. Lithuania upgraded its network-based location solution to ensure significantly more accurate caller location. The United Kingdom and Estonia deployed the AML handset-based caller location solution that can locate a person to within 100 meters.

    Currently, AML handset-based caller location for emergency services is available only on Android phones.

    Life-saving assistance

    (Photo: North West Air Ambulance/Flickr)
    (Photo: North West Air Ambulance/Flickr)

    The system has already saved lives. On Jan. 10, an emergency call was received by the Klaipeda Public Safety Answering Point in Lithuania. The caller was an 8-year-old boy who reported he had found his father unconscious or dead, probably struck by electricity. He told the operator that he didn’t know his address or the telephone number of any of his relatives.

    Although the boy unaware of his address, cell-ID location information received by the emergency services had a radius of 14 kilometers. Fortunately, around one minute after the call was received, the operator received the location via Android Emergency Location (Advanced Mobile Location), with a radius of 6 meters.

    The police and ambulance services were dispatched, and emergency responders provided acute medical care to the man who had suffered an epileptic seizure.

    In Austria, a woman riding a horse fell on her head and was unable to describe where she was. GNSS provided emergency services with her exact location within seconds, so she could be rescued.

    Galileo increases accuracy

    “Satellite navigation is crucial in determining the precise location of the 112 caller and saving lives,” says Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs. “Galileo, Europe’s own satellite navigation system, will be able to locate the caller with much greater accuracy. The launch of Galileo’s initial services and first Galileo smartphones available on the market show how space data is making a difference in daily lives of EU citizens.”

    In addition to funding research, the commission is also improving EU rules on 112. In September 2016, the commission proposed an update of EU telecom rules in the form of an Electronic Communication Code. The commission wants to enhance the relevant provisions of the Universal Service Directive to facilitate the use of handset-based caller location as complement to network-based location data.

    According to the proposal, member states will be obliged to ensure that caller location, be it network based (provided by the mobile operator) or handset based (retrieved from a GNSS or Wi-Fi enabled phone), arrives in a timely manner to the public safety answering point that handles emergency calls.

    Whichever technology is used, caller location will be free for citizens and the public safety answering points.

  • Mapping avalanches for safety

    A researcher prepares to use lidar to scan snow depth at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. (Photo: Riegl)
    A researcher prepares to use lidar to scan snow depth at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. (Photo: Riegl)

    In 2014, an avalanche injured two Colorado avalanche control workers. They had been using an “avalauncher” compressed gas cannon to shoot charges into slopes that posed a serious avalanche risk to motorists below, but the charge exploded too early, in the barrel of the launcher.

    The accident prompted a re-evaluation of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s avalanche control techniques.

    Now, transportation officials have brought in researchers who are applying lidar to safely map snow depth in steep terrain, making avalanche control safer and more efficient for safety teams.

    Jeffrey Deems, a researcher with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, and his colleagues developed the new application for lidar systems that map snow depth at high resolution. The researchers craft detailed maps of the slopes in summer, without snow, and then compare them to snow-covered slopes months later.

    The researchers have been testing the technique at Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, where they help snow safety teams target explosives placements. The snow-depth change maps help the safety teams look for old and new snow accumulation patterns.

    The data help the safety team refine their explosives targeting plans and guide them when they need to decide whether to shoot explosives into certain areas.

    Also, explosives delivery tram lines for a ski area expansion are being planned and refined with the aid of the lidar-derived snow depth maps, allowing more efficient and effective tram network design. The lidar snow depth maps revealed less-obvious accumulation spots and supported a redesign of the planned tram line network.

  • Cesium Consortium offers virtual globe

    Bentley Systems has been named a co-founder of the new Cesium Consortium, along with Analytical Graphics Inc. (AGI).

    The Cesium Consortium is an open-source, browser-based virtual globe, first developed by AGI in 2011 for the aerospace and defense communities.

    Cesium streams massive datasets through a browser to desktops, tablets and smartphones for geospatial viewing. The consortium will collaborate on a roadmap to accelerate and support the requirements for building infrastructure modeling.

  • DroneDeploy offers flight logs solution to simplify regulatory compliance

    DroneDeploy, a cloud-based drone software platform, is offering a flight logs solution with its partners Airnest, Drone Complier, DroneLogbook, Healthy Drones, Kitty Hawk, NVDrones and Skyward.

    The logs contain highly detailed GPS positioning, drone battery life, camera activity and more, providing a vital record of flight activities often required for regulatory compliance and insurance.

    Direct access to actual flight logs eliminates the tedious, manual data entry process for capturing flight data and enables drone operators to easily track and monitor their drone flights for regulatory compliance, insurance and fleet maintenance.

    DroneDeploy’s more than 10,000 users in 130 countries can access logs of their DroneDeploy mapping flights. Leveraging their actual flight log data with DroneDeploy’s partners enables businesses to:

    • Automate logging and recording of all drone flights for compliance and insurance purposes
    • Monitor equipment performance to recommend preventative maintenance
    • Explore trends in flight characteristics to define best practices

    “Many large companies and enterprises are looking to scale their drone program and do it efficiently,” says Jonathan Evans, CEO of Skyward. “Now, with access to DroneDeploy flight logs, Skyward customers can manage flight information across their entire fleet.”

    Other solutions on the market today typically require a high cost investment and lock businesses into working with a single drone software vendor, DroneDeploy says. DroneDeploy’s offering enables businesses to select what works best for them from a selection of industry leading drone compliance, insurance and fleet management partners. This highlights DroneDeploy’s approach to addressing the needs of the commercial drone market by developing a best-of-breed offering with ecosystem partners.

  • Oregon moves to tablets for no-stake 3D design

    The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is embracing the growing trend in highway construction to go “stakeless” and push to full 3D design.

    With more contractors using automated machine guidance applications, ODOT’s construction personnel are being asked to inspect projects with fewer stakes and visual indicators for line and grade. Employees are seeking to use the same data and information to determine line and grade when building or fixing stretches of road.

    ODOT inspectors Jorge Jimenez and Mike Stennett at Multnomah Falls, preparing for a night-time paving operation. (Photo: Chris Pucci)
    ODOT inspectors Jorge Jimenez and Mike Stennett at Multnomah Falls, preparing for a night-time paving operation. (Photo: Chris Pucci)

    To address this need, rugged tablet maker DT Research worked closely with ODOT to design purpose-built Inspector Positioning Tablets that run GPS locating and 3D modeling applications, and take advantage of the Oregon Real-Time GNSS Network.

    “MicroSurvey Field Genius surveying software is used to read XML files directly, allowing the inspector to work with the same files that the contractors received from the roadway designers,” said Chris Pucci, ODOT Construction Automation Surveyor.

    The tablets enable ODOT to fully use its knowledge of the Oregon Real-Time GNSS Network and expertise in survey-grade RTK GNSS to achieve accuracies of +/0.05 feet.

    The model DT391GS tablets have 9-inch touchscreens. The tablets can be used as handhelds or with an external antenna and pole. ODOT purchased one of four GNSS options offered by DT Research for the DT391GS tablets. The options enable inspectors and construction crews to employ a combination of GPS locating and 3D modeling to guide construction workers.

    The goal is to allow the inspectors to make the same checks they would have made if there had been traditional construction staking on a project, not to make inspectors into surveyors, Pucci noted.

    A one-day training is provided to train construction personnel before they are issued a tablet. “The tablets have been very well received by our construction inspection personnel,” he said.

    The tablet project is now in the pilot phase with 20 tablets deployed to eight construction offices and more than 70 construction personnel having been trained. “We also just placed an order for 22 more tablets for the upcoming 2017 construction season,” Pucci said.

  • Cartographies of Disease traces long history of maps and medicine

    CartographyDisease-Esri-WThe new edition of Cartographies of Disease: Maps, Mapping, and Medicine from Esri traces the long history of how maps have been used to help unlock the mysteries behind the cause and spread of diseases such as cholera, yellow fever and Ebola. Ebola is the focus of two new chapters.

    Cartographies of Disease was first published in 2005 and showed how maps could be used as an important tool for studying both chronic conditions and disease epidemics. It became a must-read for policy makers and others working in public health and medicine.

    In this expanded edition, author Tom Koch adds new material to deepen readers’ understanding of medical mapping from the 17th to 21st centuries. The book covers the mapping of diseases and medical conditions such as cholera, yellow fever, typhoid fever, sandfly fever, hernia, lymphoma, arteriosclerotic heart disease, cancer, influenza, AIDS, West Nile virus and Ebola.

    “Cartographies of Disease is a book about our confrontations with bacterial and viral agents across history,” Koch wrote in the book’s introduction. “It is also about how maps help us profile those conditions in our attempts to restrict them. Ebola in 2014 reminded us that it’s urgent to understand the conditions that promote disease and the ways we confront them on the ground.”

    The book provides a nontechnical narrative and a visual history of mapping’s role in studying what causes disease, understanding where and how diseases spread, and how they can be combated. The illustrations include more than 100 maps and charts, from a pair of 1694 maps of plague locations and containment zones in Bari, Italy, to digital maps of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, created using geographic information system (GIS) technology.

    Ebola charted

    Ebola is the focus of the two new chapters. In Chapter 13, the international perception of Ebola’s threat is charted and, with it, the fear engendered by the possibility that a local outbreak might become an international pandemic. Perceptions of the disease and reactions to it are mapped using contemporary technologies such as GIS.

    Chapter 14 is devoted to the practical issues of mapping an infectious virus like Ebola in developing countries. It describes how the potential for Ebola to spread was initially overlooked and how, in the future, new epidemics might be better contained. Mapping, Koch argues, can help identify disease threats, direct medical assistance when necessary, and educate people—locally and internationally — about new diseases.

    Koch is a medical ethicist and gerontologist based in Canada. As an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, he developed a series of teaching labs for medical geography.

    Cartographies of Disease: Maps, Mapping, and Medicine, new expanded edition, is now available in print (ISBN: 9781589484672, 412 pages, US$79.99) or as an e-book (ISBN: 9781589484764, 412 pages, US$59.99). The print edition of the book can be obtained from online retailers worldwide, at esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778.

    The e-book edition is available for purchase from online retailers. Outside the United States, visit esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options.

  • FAA and SkyPan reach agreement on unmanned aircraft enforcement cases

    The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced a comprehensive settlement agreement with aerial photography company SkyPan International of Chicago. The agreement resolves enforcement cases that alleged the company operated unmanned aircraft (UAS) in congested airspace over New York City and Chicago, and violated airspace regulations and aircraft operating rules.

    Under the terms of the agreement, SkyPan will pay a $200,000 civil penalty. The company also agrees to pay an additional $150,000 if it violates Federal Aviation Regulations in the next year, and $150,000 more if it fails to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement.

    SkyPan also agrees to work with the FAA to release three public service announcements in the next 12 months to support the FAA’s public outreach campaigns that encourage drone operators to learn and comply with UAS regulations.

    The agreement settles enforcement cases involving a $1.9 million civil penalty that the FAA proposed against SkyPan International Inc. of Chicago in October 2015. It is the largest civil penalty the agency has proposed against a UAS operator.