GPS World

Author: Tracy Cozzens

  • Mapillary raises $8M Series A to map world through photos

    Mapillary, a community-based photomapping platform, has received an $8 million Series A funding round led by Atomico, with participation from Sequoia, LDV Capital and PlayFair.

    Anyone can contribute photos to the Mapillary platform and mobile app (available on iOS and Android) with a smartphone or action camera. The company’s computer vision software automatically extracts geographic information, blurs license plates and faces, and detects traffic signs from each photo uploaded. Then, the photos are meticulously stitched together on the map alongside other users’ photos, creating a digital representation of each location through the eyes of those who have been there.

    Mapillary’s growing global community has uploaded more than 50 million photos and mapped more than 1.2 million kilometers in over 170 countries to date.

    “Mapillary is reinventing the way we map and navigate our world,” said Niklas Zennström, CEO and founding partner at Atomico. “Their ambition is to transform the way we plan our cities, develop transport networks, and understand all parts of the globe. We’re proud to invest in the next phase of their growth and we look forward to working alongside Jan Erik and his team as they advance their technology and scale the business.”

    Cities, corporations, and nonprofits can access Mapillary’s platform through an extensive API, which holds multiple layers of visual data. Mapillary’s ArcGIS integration — built in partnership with Esri — lets governments, nonprofits and businesses see locations evolve in real-time, arming them with insight into infrastructural problems like inefficient public transportation and changes in road conditions.

    Mapillary partners with several nonprofits to help them improve infrastructure in developing countries around the world. The World Bank trains university students and local community members to use Mapillary in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, to create accurate maps of the most flood-prone areas of the city, and the Red Cross has been mapping Haiti so NGOs and individuals can use the data to better respond to crises affecting the area. Mapillary allows nonprofits to allocate resources more efficiently and to empower communities to contribute to the growth and development of their cities and towns.

    From backyards to Antarctica, Mapillary allows anyone to be immersed in places both familiar and unknown. This funding is bringing the company one step closer to accomplishing its goal of creating an open and complete digital representation of the earth to benefit governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations and curious explorers alike.

  • Hexagon software integrates natively with SAP HANA

    Hexagon Geospatial has released a GeoMedia data server for SAP HANA, enabling enterprise business and geographic information system (GIS) users to run spatial and non-spatial business applications and processes within the SAP HANA platform.

    Developed by Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure with support from SAP, the native integration between Hexagon’s GeoMedia and SAP HANA coordinates data and processes across different SAP HANA platforms, helping improve accuracy, reliability and efficiency, which can reduce costs and errors.

    The new data server pushes down query and analysis of spatial and business data directly into SAP HANA, enabling direct read/write access at the object and feature level. Through the integration, users can perform spatial queries and advanced analytics, manage spatial relationships and visualize the results for industry-specific uses, providing new opportunities for operational reporting, predictive analytics and more to benefit their businesses.

    The commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integration is designed to be faster, easier to implement and more sustainable than integrations built with custom commands and web services. Hexagon joins a growing list of GIS vendors that integrate their offerings natively with SAP HANA.

    This integration leverages GeoMedia from the Producer Suite in Hexagon Geospatial’s Power Portfolio of desktop, web and mobile geospatial applications and Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure’s industry-specific applications for utilities, telecommunications, transportation, public works and other functions.

    “Today, many businesses recognize the vital need to incorporate geospatial information into their decision-making processes,” said Mladen Stojic, Hexagon Geospatial president. “By combining our geospatial acumen with the high-performance, advanced data processing and enterprise readiness of SAP HANA, we can support customers in harnessing the flood of information provided by spatial data and help give them the power and flexibility they need to make smart, timely and ultimately, profitable decisions.”

    “Our customers want to develop much closer coordination and integration between spatial and non-spatial business systems to streamline work processes, enable automation and gain greater insight,” said Maximilian Weber, senior vice president, EMEA, Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure. “This integration between Hexagon and SAP HANA supports our strategic direction to more closely integrate our solutions within our customers’ wider enterprise information architectures.”

  • Antennas: The unsung heroes of the GNSS industry

    By Tracy Cozzens
    Managing Editor

    Antennas. When I was a kid, antennas meant the pair of rabbit ears sitting on top of the family TV set. We had to constantly adjust the angles to get the best reception, using aluminum foil to improve the signal.

    Wow, how things have changed. Today, consumer users of smartphones, Fitbits, smartwatches, tablets and a hundred other electronic devices don’t even think about antennas. Most consumers probably haven’t given a thought to the fact that their favorite device contains an antenna.

    Unlike broadcast antennas back in the day, modern GNSS antennas in consumer devices are invisible to the consumer, but perform even in less-than-ideal conditions. Every year brings new improvements and smaller sizes.

    Then there are the external antennas, which grow more rugged to withstand the elements while receiving more signals from more constellations, such as BeiDou and Galileo.

    GPS World has traditionally published its Antenna Survey in February following the Receiver Survey in January. The first antenna survey appeared in 2001, nine years after we published our first receiver survey. Perhaps it took a few years to realize how critical antennas are in GNSS systems.

    As usual, the Antenna Survey encapsulates the important specifications on dozens of antennas, from stand-alone designs for high-precision commercial, defense and timing applications to micro antennas for integration into a variety of smartphones, UAVs and automobiles.

    This year, 30 antenna manufacturers provide all the details on their products. Check out the 20-page survey supplement, sponsored this year by NovAtel.

  • Epson unveils new Pro G-Series large venue projector

    Epson--Pro-G7000-Series-ProjectorEpson recently announced in a news release the launch of its Pro G7000-Series large venue projectors for simulators, mapping, digital signage and command centers.

    New features include increased brightness and motorized lenses, uncompromising image quality, low total cost of ownership and $199 replacement lamps, Epson says. Eight models deliver up to 8,000 lumens of color brightness and 8,000 lumens of white brightness.

    The series also features the world’s first zero-offset ultra short-throw lens with 0.35 throw ratio for space constrained venues and digital signage applications. The Pro G-Series will be on display at ISE 2016 in Amsterdam from Feb. 9–12 at Epson’s booth, No. 1-H90.

    “The Epson Pro G-Series offers bright, brilliant images combined with advanced features, making them our best-selling large venue projectors,” said Phong Phanel, product manager of large venue projectors, Epson America Inc. “The new Pro G7000-Series raises the bar with higher brightness, 4K Enhancement resolution, new motorized lenses and advanced technology to captivate any audience, underscoring our commitment to delivering a broad portfolio of solutions to the large venue projector market.”

    Epson projectors offer three times higher color brightness than competitive 1-chip DLP models to ensure vivid colorful images. The Pro G Series 3-chip 3LCD projectors are ideal for large venues, including events staging, auditoriums and sanctuaries.

    The Epson Pro G7000-Series will be available in May starting at $3,799 MSRP. The projectors come with a three-year limited warranty with next business day replacement, including free shipping both ways7, and a 90-day limited lamp warranty.

    The color brightness specification — measuring red, green and blue — published by the Society for Information Display (SID) allows consumers to compare projector color performance without conducting a side-by-side shootout.

  • MAPPS presents excellence awards, bestows highest honor to Teledyne Optech

    From left to right: John Palatiello, MAPPS executive Director; Jim Green; Mike Sitar and Michel Stanier of Optech Teledyne.
    From (L to R) John Palatiello, MAPPS executive Director; Jim Green; Mike Sitar and Michel Stanier of Optech Teledyne.

    Teledyne Optech‘s ALTM Titan lidar sensor earned the 2015 Grand Award in the ninth annual MAPPS Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards, MAPPS recently announced in a news release. The awards ceremony was held Feb. 2 at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nev.

    Teledyne was also presented with an award in the Technology Innovation category.

    The company said in a news release that Titan is easy to handle in complex scenarios, such as acquiring three wavelengths simultaneously; incorporating a metric camera imbedded in the system; creating a sensor that fits in a 16-inch gyro-stabilized mount; and increasing the depth penetration of the bathymetric sensor. To achieve this, Vaughan, Ontario-based Teledyne Optech had to develop new fiber lasers and a triple wavelength receiver which allowed for the collection of bathymetric lidar, topographic lidar and multispectral lidar in one single sensor.

    “Teledyne Optech’s ALTM Titan is a marvel in lidar engineering,” said Robert Burtch PS, CP, professor emeritus at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., and chairman of the panel of judges. “This development allows the collection of bathymetric lidar, topographic lidar and multispectral lidar in one single sensor.”

    The MAPPS awards competition recognizes the professionalism, value, integrity and achievement that member firms have demonstrated in their projects and technology developments over the previous year.

    MAPPS also honored winners in six technical categories.

    Woolpert of Dayton, Ohio, was selected in the Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation category with the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Headstone Mapping Project that utilized lidar to locate and map 4,320 headstones and 280 battlefield markers.

    The winning project in the Remote Sensing category was by Aerial Services Inc. of Cedar Falls, Iowa, for The Race for Now: Maximizing Crop Yields Using Innovations in Remote Sensing project, which acquired imagery using multiple sensors during the critical growing phases to produce a web-based precision agriculture service in the State of Iowa.

    In the GIS/IT category, Merrick & Company of Greenwood Village, Colo., was selected for GIS Models Visualize Ancient Flooding Problems in the country of Columbia. As project manager, Merrick provided technology transfer and GIS data and training, and introduced a new methodology, “monotonicity,” which guarantees that acoustic bathymetry, lidar and breaklines are correctly integrated.

    The winner in the Surveying/Field Data Collection category was the Baltimore, Md., office of AECOM for its Protocol for Determining Grass Channel Credits project. Using GIS, lidar and aerial imagery, AECOM worked with the Maryland State Highway Administration to identify roadway ditches to assure compliance with the Department of the Environment grass channel treatment criteria.

    TerraSond of Palmer, Ark., earned the award in the Small Projects category for the Bradley Lake Hydro Power project. TerraSond teamed to perform an inspection of a diversion tunnel to a dam and power tunnel inlet in Homer, Alaska to identify the quantity of debris that was covering the inlet screen by comparing the debris profile with the as-built drawings to determine the amount of debris that needed to be removed.

    Titan, Teledyne Optech’s multi-spectral lidar sensor, also won in the Technology Innovation category.

    A panel of independent judges evaluated projects submitted by MAPPS members for the awards program.

  • Topcon releases compact digital sensor for construction

    LS-100D_Topcon-WTopcon Positioning Group has released the latest addition to its line of compact digital laser sensors — the LS-100D. The sensor digitally displays the offset value to on-grade, which is designed to help make elevation and vertical alignment control easier and faster for any application.

    “The LS-100D features an extra-wide beam capture sensor that also rejects annoying interference from strobe-light exposures,” said Kris Maas, director of construction product management. “The large and bright LCD displays (front and back) feature nine channels of grade information and digitally display the distance to on-grade. By pressing the hold button, the display is locked so the user can conveniently read the results.”

    The sensor offers three colored LED’s and a magnet mount for vertical operation, which is designed to be useful for steel erection or operator grade-checking while excavating. Alert icons appear on the LCD if the accompanying Topcon rotating laser instrument is disturbed (HI alert) or when the laser battery is low.

  • OGC seeks comment on land and infrastructure standard

    The membership of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) seeks public comment on its candidate OGC Land and Infrastructure Conceptual Model Standard (LandInfra). Deadline for comments is March 2.

    LandInfra defines concepts for land and civil engineering infrastructure facilities.This conceptual standard will provide a basis for one or more implementation standards for encoding infrastructure data. Developers will use the encoding standard to implement software and services that enable users of diverse technologies and vendor platforms to efficiently exchange information about land and civil engineering infrastructure facilities.

    The extended stakeholder community for this standard spans civil engineering (such as road and rail) and surveying; land parcel; facility and asset management; and government information communities. It is applicable throughout the entire facility lifecycle, including planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and removal. It represents a seminal venture into GIS-CAD-BIM integration.

    After evaluating the LandXML 1.2 schema, the OGC Land and Infrastructure Domain Working Group (LandInfraDWG) recommended the development of an alternative standard to be part of the OGC standards baseline. With shared interest by the buildingSMART International Infrastructure Room, it was agreed that this would be a concepts-only document — encodings such as GML, IFC, and possibly others would follow as separate implementation standardization efforts. An anticipated GML encoding will be compatible with other GML standards such as CityGML. Having a common underlying Conceptual Model across all LandInfra encodings will help ensure compatibility across multiple encoding standards.

    The OGC is an international consortium of more than 515 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

  • Woolpert-KZF joint venture to build Corps of Engineers complex

    The Japan District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded the Woolpert-KZF Joint Venture (W-KZF JV) three task orders totaling approximately $6.95 million to support the design of a $150 million CV-22 complex at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, Japan.

    The facilities, which will support the bed-down of CV-22 Osprey aircraft at the base, include an aircraft maintenance hangar, a squadron operations building, an MRSP warehouse, a flight simulator facility and a headquarters building.

    W-KZF JV is working closely with Jacobs Engineering of California. Jacobs is providing design services in support of the horizontal infrastructure improvements for the CV-22 campus development.

    Woolpert is a national architecture, engineering and geospatial firm headquartered in Dayton, and KZF Design is an architecture, engineering, planning and interior design firm based in Cincinnati. The Ohio firms’ joint venture also was selected this summer to provide full design and construction services for the schools serving U.S. military families in Japan.

    Jacobs, headquartered in Pasadena, is a large and diverse providers of technical, professional and construction services.

    Project Manager Rebecca Knolle said Woolpert has been working on the CV-22 campus development plan with Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) since 2013.

    “We’ve been with this endeavor from the outset,” Knolle said. “What’s novel about this project is that it will require the W-KZF JV and Jacobs teams to work collaboratively. We see this as a good opportunity for knowledge sharing.”

    Construction is expected to begin on the complex in 2017 and will be completed in 2020-21.

  • Tilt sensor enables accurate performance in industrial applications

    The 0729-1760-04 Dual Axis RS-485 inclinometer by The Fredericks Company.
    The 0729-1760-04 Dual Axis RS-485 inclinometer by The Fredericks Company.

    The Fredericks Company has released a new inclinometer. The 0729-1760-04 Dual Axis RS-485 inclinometer uses a Fredericks TrueTILT wide-range electrolytic tilt sensor and RS-485 signal conditioner to provide reliable tilt measurement.

    By measuring and signaling tilt from a level position, the inclinometer helps to ensure precise execution in applications such as semiconductor manufacturing, satellite dish alignment, robotic controls, aerial lift platform leveling and wheel alignment systems. It is designed for measuring position in industrial applications to ensure accurate performance and consistent production.

    The inclinometer uses RS-485 communications, which allows up to 32 sensors on a single network to reduce wiring requirements. Additional benefits include low power consumption, small size, long life and excellent resolution and repeatability. It has a supply voltage of 5 V DC, ±10˚ dual axis range and operating temperature of -40 °C to +70 °C.

    “The Dual Axis RS-485 Inclinometer provides reliable tilt measurement for a wide range of applications where high precision leveling is critical,” said Heidi McKenna, president of The Fredericks Company.

  • DigitalGlobe receives $335M in commitments for satellite imagery

    DigitalGlobe has received a third customer commitment for direct access capacity on the WorldView-4 satellite, bringing the total in commitments for both WorldView-3 and WorldView-4 to $335 million. The WorldView-4 satellite will provide 30-cm imagery, the highest resolution commercially available, to international defense and intelligence customers.

    WorldView-4 is scheduled to launch in September and begin commercial operations of gathering digital imagery in early 2017. DigitalGlobe is a global provider of commercial high-resolution Earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions.

    Artist's depiction of the WorldView-4 satellite (previously named GeoEye-2). Photo: Digital Globe
    Artist’s depiction of the WorldView-4 satellite (previously named GeoEye-2). Photo: Digital Globe

    Since the end of the third quarter of 2015, DigitalGlobe has received contracts and letters of intent from international defense and intelligence customers totaling $335 million for capacity on WorldView-3 and WorldView-4, representing $38 million of incremental annual revenue starting in 2017.

    DigitalGlobe accelerated the launch of WorldView-4 to meet strong international demand for the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite imagery, and these pre-launch commitments ensure that the satellite will begin generating revenue in early 2017.

    Approximately 60 percent of this potential future revenue is under firm contract. While there is no assurance that revenue reflected in the letters of intent will turn into contracts, this has historically been the case.

    WorldView-4 revenue is expected to start to be recognized in the first quarter of 2017.

    “The fact that we have this level of commitment from multiple international customers — more than half in the form of firm contracted revenue — this far in advance of the WorldView-4 launch is unprecedented,” said Jeffrey R. Tarr, DigitalGlobe president and chief executive officer. “It is a testament to the unique value of our resolution and accuracy and our long history of performance with these customers who rely on us for the safety and security of their nations.”

    With the most advanced constellation of satellites in orbit, DigitalGlobe is investing in the best technology to meet the growing needs of its customers. The company has been upgrading the ground stations of its Direct Access Program customers to a common architecture to fulfill the demand for rapid access to the entire DigitalGlobe constellation and offer more imaging opportunities to these customers. Four of these Constellation Direct Access Facilities are now online, with a fifth ground station expected to be upgraded in the second quarter and all facilities upgraded for full constellation access by early 2017.

    “We are in discussion with many other nations interested in our high resolution, high accuracy 30 cm satellite imagery, and the launch of WorldView-4 will allow us to satisfy unmet customer demand across much of the world,” said Daniel L. Jablonsky, DigitalGlobe general counsel and general manager for International Defense & Intelligence. “The investments we are making to enhance our customers’ direct access facilities will expedite access to WorldView-4 in 2017 and allow us to provision additional access facilities with greater speed and efficiency.”

  • Bluesky creates Microsoft UltraMap for aerial photomap production

    5-cm OrthoVista of RICOH Arena in Coventry.
    5-cm OrthoVista of RICOH Arena in Coventry.

    UK aerial mapping company Bluesky has reduced the time taken to process the terabytes of data captured by more than 75 percent, which will speed the production of aerial photography.

    Following a major research project, the team at Bluesky’s Leicestershire production facility has implemented an UltraMap system from Microsoft, which has allowed for the introduction of a continuous, uninterrupted processing workflow. By investing in an entirely new workflow, Bluesky has also improved the quality of the aerial images, reducing “building lean” and image distortion, and the accuracy of its digital height models.

    Bluesky’s investment in software follows the recent purchase of two UltraCam Eagle cameras, also from Microsoft, and the introduction of new flying practices.

    Bluesky has recently secured a number of high-profile contracts, including a multimillion pound contract for the supply of geographic data to Central Government organizations awarded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and a four-year contract to supply the national mapping agency for Great Britain, Ordnance Survey.

    Earlier this year, Bluesky announced plans and commenced data capture for the first high-resolution aerial survey of the whole of the Republic of Ireland, and will also create digital surface models and terrain models.

    “2015 has been a phenomenal year in terms of data volumes to be processed,” said Bluesky’s Technical Director James Eddy. “We have introduced new flying methods, we have secured a number of large contracts and we are actively pursuing our own ambitious flying program. This has meant the volume of raw data to be processed is unprecedented.”

    Microsoft UltraMap is an end-to-end photogrammetric workflow system that provides highly automated processing capabilities, allowing Bluesky to rapidly generate quality data products from UltraCam cameras. The improved workflow is designed to process huge amounts of data in the shortest possible time with the highest degree of automation, supported by guided manual interaction, quality control tools and powerful visualization.

    “In order to process the many terabytes of data produced in a flying season — for example, we are looking at over a trillion DSM (digital surface model) points alone — the UltraMap system is just one component of a complex system,” continued Eddy. “We have also invested significantly in hardware, including an array of multi core processors, our network infrastructure, a robust backup system, internally produced software to increase and improve QA and improve productivity, and of course, perhaps most importantly, skilled and experienced staff.

    “We now believe we operate one of the most advanced aerial imaging processing facilities in the UK, if not the world and we have the capacity to handle our largest-ever projects.”

  • Eos Positioning announces RTK NTRIP app for Android

    Google Maps is tightly integrated with the app to display the user’s location anywhere in the world, and detailed satellite information includes a skyplot tracking each visible satellite.
    Google Maps is tightly integrated with the app to display the user’s location anywhere in the world, and detailed satellite information includes a skyplot tracking each visible satellite.

    Eos Positioning Systems has introduced a comprehensive RTK NTRIP app for Android that works with its Arrow line of RTK GNSS receivers. An Arrow GNSS receiver combined with the NTRIP app turns an Android smartphone or tablet into a powerful data collector capable of recording 1-centimeter accurate GIS data in real-time.

    “We designed Eos Tools Pro for the RTK user,” said Chief Technology Officer Jean-Yves Lauture. ”It is, by far, the most comprehensive NTRIP app for Android on the market today, turning smartphones and inexpensive Android tablets into powerful high-precision GNSS data collection devices.“

    The app, named Eos Tools Pro, has user-configurable audible and visual alarms to alert the user of high PDOP, lost RTK correction, unacceptable correction age and several other important metrics. It supports all current and future constellations — GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou.

    The Arrow 200 by Eos Positioning Systems.
    The Arrow 200 by Eos Positioning Systems.

    To eliminate any confusion as to which GPS/GNSS device the user’s app is using, Eos Tools Pro features a dropdown menu so the user may select any receiver the Android device has been paired with.

    “The Eos Tools Pro app enables Android devices running Esri’s Collector app on Android smartphones and tablets to collect data as accurate as 1cm when connected to an Arrow GNSS receiver,” said Esri Product Manager Jeff Shaner. “It’s a big leap forward to enable Collector to serve the high-precision GNSS user.”

    Google Maps is tightly integrated with the app to display the user’s location anywhere in the world. Detailed satellite information such as a skyplot that plots each visible satellite, whether it’s being used or not, and signal strength bar graphs from each constellation are also displayed. Finally, a Terminal screen displays the NMEA data flowing and allows the user to send commands to the receiver.

    Eos Tools Pro and Arrow receivers are targeted at high-accuracy applications like GIS; environmental; agriculture; electric, gas, water utilities; surveying; machine control; and federal, state, and local government.