GPS World

Author: Tracy Cozzens

  • Trimble Adds Automated Mapping and Plotting to Office Suite for GIS Professionals

    Trimble has introduced a new version of its office software suite used by surveyors and geospatial professionals for processing and analyzing geospatial data. Trimble Business Center Version 3.21 introduces new coordinate reference systems and a specialized Advanced Drafting module, which enables faster project turnaround and better decision making.

    The optional Advanced Drafting module adds highly customizable templates and simplified selection tools, which are designed to reduce the time required to generate high-quality deliverables, such as geospatial maps and corridor cross-sections. Now, professionals working on road, pipeline, and railway projects can achieve efficiency gains through the software’s new automated cross-section plotting functionality.

    Also included in the new module is the ability to create 3D PDFs so that team members and clients can collaborate from any computer or mobile device using Adobe Reader software.

    “Trimble Business Center is the enterprise solution for surveyors and geospatial professionals to produce high-quality deliverables,” said Alain Samaha, business area director of GIS and Software for Trimble’s Geospatial Division. “These new capabilities demonstrate the continued evolution of our software portfolio to provide customers with an end-to-end solution to fulfill their client’s high-end requirements in the most efficient way.”

    Trimble Business Center Software version 3.21 and the Advanced Drafting module are now available through Trimble’s Geospatial Distribution Channel.

  • Google Maps Adds Terrain View

    Google Maps now has Terrain View, which enables users to see terrain maps for an area.

    Terrain view shows the 3D elevation of natural geographic features, such as mountains and canyons. Topographic contour lines are overlaid on the map to show elevation levels with altitude information displayed in gray numbers.

    Google Maps also offers traffic, transit, and biking views.

    Google Maps tweeted about the new terrain feature, showing an example:

    GoogleMaps-Terrain

    Photo: Google

     

  • North Dakota, Delaware and Maryland Quads Updated

    The latest North Dakota, Delaware and Maryland Quads are now available from the United States Geological Survey.

    The new US Topo maps for North Dakota (1,402 maps), Delaware (38 maps) and Maryland (213 maps) have been posted to the USGS Map Locator & Downloader and are also accessible through The National Map viewer.

    The new maps feature a design that was launched earlier this year and replace the first edition US Topo maps for those states. The new design presents a crisper and cleaner presentation, which enhances the readability of the maps for online and printer use.

  • CoreLogic Expands Insurance Offerings with Hail, Wind and Lightning Weather Forensics

    CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, has expanded its natural-hazard risk-management capabilities through the addition of Weather Fusion hail, wind and lightning weather forensics to provide near real-time property-specific weather event verification.

    The combination of proprietary CoreLogic data and analytics with Weather Fusion weather peril verification will enable the insurance and other industries to more reliably identify loss shortly after a weather event occurs through single-source access to multiple weather data sets and solutions.

    CoreLogic offers more than 30 weather peril verification and natural hazard risk reports nationwide, helping risk managers across all industries proactively manage risk and loss associated with extreme weather, natural hazard and catastrophe events. According to the Insurance Information Institute, insured losses due to hail and thunderstorms alone totaled $25 billion in 2011 and $14 billion in 2012. The new CoreLogic hail, wind and lightning reports will enable insurers, underwriters, property managers and owners to confidently verify the cause and date of damage and losses near real time, saving critical time and money. A product performance assessment completed by the top five Insurance Carrier’s Claims Department concluded that the Weather Fusion hail algorithm is four times more effective at identifying address-level hail fall than current hail detection algorithm-based hail data.

    CoreLogic analysis indicates that hail and wind claims are among the most significant categories of property damage expense. Insurance Information Institute data shows from 2007 to 2011, the average claim totaled $7,177, with $30 out of every $100 collected in a homeowner’s insurance premium typically going toward wind and hail claim payments. Credibly verifying damages caused by wind, hail and lightning at the property level has traditionally been a challenge for insurers. The addition of Weather Fusion science and weather forensic reports helps CoreLogic solve this challenge by delivering:

    • Historical address-level weather event insight for underwriter examination that ultimately results in smarter, more informed policy decisions.
    • The ability to accurately distinguish what areas were actually impacted and what size hail fell during a weather event.
    • Hail reports shortly after a severe weather event occurs, with maps updated as frequently as every hour.
    • Timely notifications of hail activity for custom addresses, as well as the previous day’s hail activity.
    • The ability to reduce fraudulent claims attributed to severe weather and accelerate the claims verification process by provisioning information directly after a weather event.
    • A Hail Risk Score, which compares address-specific historical hail events against historical claim experience for all relevant hail locations in the U.S., refreshed daily.
    • Digital plots of hail paths for impacted geographic areas and color-coded by quarter-inch increments illustrating hail from three-quarters of an inch to four inches in diameter.
    • Historical hailstorm data at a custom address-specific location, including hail claim verification with the dates and sizes of hail for each hailstorm, within one, three and ten miles of the address.
    • Address-specific lightning strike analysis, along with date and time (to the nearest millisecond), including count of individual lightning strokes, custom maps, latitude/longitude, polarity (negative or positive) and amplitude of a stroke.
    • Wind Risk Scores, designed to verify maximum wind gust and direction at an individual address level.

    “Traditionally, wind event verification has been considered an unsolvable problem and was based on public safety algorithms or relied on hand-drawn maps and single-point data observations collected from the nearest airport locations,” said Jay Kingsley, senior vice president for CoreLogic Insurance and Spatial Solutions. “Now, the unique weather science and data techniques behind our wind, hail and lightning solutions will provide insurance carriers with a more scientific approach to understanding individual property damage from storms,” continued Kingsley.  “Though billions of dollars are paid out every year for exterior damage to homes, up until now there has been no real way to credibly verify these losses. CoreLogic now provides a more powerful, data-driven approach to this problem through weather peril verification reports.”

  • CoreLogic Expands Insurance Offerings with Hail, Wind and Lightning Weather Forensics

    CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, has expanded its natural-hazard risk-management capabilities through the addition of Weather Fusion hail, wind and lightning weather forensics to provide near real-time property-specific weather event verification.

    The combination of proprietary CoreLogic data and analytics with Weather Fusion weather peril verification will enable the insurance and other industries to more reliably identify loss shortly after a weather event occurs through single-source access to multiple weather data sets and solutions.

    CoreLogic offers more than 30 weather peril verification and natural hazard risk reports nationwide, helping risk managers across all industries proactively manage risk and loss associated with extreme weather, natural hazard and catastrophe events. According to the Insurance Information Institute, insured losses due to hail and thunderstorms alone totaled $25 billion in 2011 and $14 billion in 2012. The new CoreLogic hail, wind and lightning reports will enable insurers, underwriters, property managers and owners to confidently verify the cause and date of damage and losses near real time, saving critical time and money. A product performance assessment completed by the top five Insurance Carrier’s Claims Department concluded that the Weather Fusion hail algorithm is four times more effective at identifying address-level hail fall than current hail detection algorithm-based hail data.

    CoreLogic analysis indicates that hail and wind claims are among the most significant categories of property damage expense. Insurance Information Institute data shows from 2007 to 2011, the average claim totaled $7,177, with $30 out of every $100 collected in a homeowner’s insurance premium typically going toward wind and hail claim payments. Credibly verifying damages caused by wind, hail and lightning at the property level has traditionally been a challenge for insurers. The addition of Weather Fusion science and weather forensic reports helps CoreLogic solve this challenge by delivering:

    • Historical address-level weather event insight for underwriter examination that ultimately results in smarter, more informed policy decisions.
    • The ability to accurately distinguish what areas were actually impacted and what size hail fell during a weather event.
    • Hail reports shortly after a severe weather event occurs, with maps updated as frequently as every hour.
    • Timely notifications of hail activity for custom addresses, as well as the previous day’s hail activity.
    • The ability to reduce fraudulent claims attributed to severe weather and accelerate the claims verification process by provisioning information directly after a weather event.
    • A Hail Risk Score, which compares address-specific historical hail events against historical claim experience for all relevant hail locations in the U.S., refreshed daily.
    • Digital plots of hail paths for impacted geographic areas and color-coded by quarter-inch increments illustrating hail from three-quarters of an inch to four inches in diameter.
    • Historical hailstorm data at a custom address-specific location, including hail claim verification with the dates and sizes of hail for each hailstorm, within one, three and ten miles of the address.
    • Address-specific lightning strike analysis, along with date and time (to the nearest millisecond), including count of individual lightning strokes, custom maps, latitude/longitude, polarity (negative or positive) and amplitude of a stroke.
    • Wind Risk Scores, designed to verify maximum wind gust and direction at an individual address level.

    “Traditionally, wind event verification has been considered an unsolvable problem and was based on public safety algorithms or relied on hand-drawn maps and single-point data observations collected from the nearest airport locations,” said Jay Kingsley, senior vice president for CoreLogic Insurance and Spatial Solutions. “Now, the unique weather science and data techniques behind our wind, hail and lightning solutions will provide insurance carriers with a more scientific approach to understanding individual property damage from storms,” continued Kingsley.  “Though billions of dollars are paid out every year for exterior damage to homes, up until now there has been no real way to credibly verify these losses. CoreLogic now provides a more powerful, data-driven approach to this problem through weather peril verification reports.”

  • CoreLogic Expands Insurance Offerings with Hail, Wind and Lightning Weather Forensics

    CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, has expanded its natural-hazard risk-management capabilities through the addition of Weather Fusion hail, wind and lightning weather forensics to provide near real-time property-specific weather event verification.

    The combination of proprietary CoreLogic data and analytics with Weather Fusion weather peril verification will enable the insurance and other industries to more reliably identify loss shortly after a weather event occurs through single-source access to multiple weather data sets and solutions.

    CoreLogic offers more than 30 weather peril verification and natural hazard risk reports nationwide, helping risk managers across all industries proactively manage risk and loss associated with extreme weather, natural hazard and catastrophe events. According to the Insurance Information Institute, insured losses due to hail and thunderstorms alone totaled $25 billion in 2011 and $14 billion in 2012. The new CoreLogic hail, wind and lightning reports will enable insurers, underwriters, property managers and owners to confidently verify the cause and date of damage and losses near real time, saving critical time and money. A product performance assessment completed by the top five Insurance Carrier’s Claims Department concluded that the Weather Fusion hail algorithm is four times more effective at identifying address-level hail fall than current hail detection algorithm-based hail data.

    CoreLogic analysis indicates that hail and wind claims are among the most significant categories of property damage expense. Insurance Information Institute data shows from 2007 to 2011, the average claim totaled $7,177, with $30 out of every $100 collected in a homeowner’s insurance premium typically going toward wind and hail claim payments. Credibly verifying damages caused by wind, hail and lightning at the property level has traditionally been a challenge for insurers. The addition of Weather Fusion science and weather forensic reports helps CoreLogic solve this challenge by delivering:

    • Historical address-level weather event insight for underwriter examination that ultimately results in smarter, more informed policy decisions.
    • The ability to accurately distinguish what areas were actually impacted and what size hail fell during a weather event.
    • Hail reports shortly after a severe weather event occurs, with maps updated as frequently as every hour.
    • Timely notifications of hail activity for custom addresses, as well as the previous day’s hail activity.
    • The ability to reduce fraudulent claims attributed to severe weather and accelerate the claims verification process by provisioning information directly after a weather event.
    • A Hail Risk Score, which compares address-specific historical hail events against historical claim experience for all relevant hail locations in the U.S., refreshed daily.
    • Digital plots of hail paths for impacted geographic areas and color-coded by quarter-inch increments illustrating hail from three-quarters of an inch to four inches in diameter.
    • Historical hailstorm data at a custom address-specific location, including hail claim verification with the dates and sizes of hail for each hailstorm, within one, three and ten miles of the address.
    • Address-specific lightning strike analysis, along with date and time (to the nearest millisecond), including count of individual lightning strokes, custom maps, latitude/longitude, polarity (negative or positive) and amplitude of a stroke.
    • Wind Risk Scores, designed to verify maximum wind gust and direction at an individual address level.

    “Traditionally, wind event verification has been considered an unsolvable problem and was based on public safety algorithms or relied on hand-drawn maps and single-point data observations collected from the nearest airport locations,” said Jay Kingsley, senior vice president for CoreLogic Insurance and Spatial Solutions. “Now, the unique weather science and data techniques behind our wind, hail and lightning solutions will provide insurance carriers with a more scientific approach to understanding individual property damage from storms,” continued Kingsley.  “Though billions of dollars are paid out every year for exterior damage to homes, up until now there has been no real way to credibly verify these losses. CoreLogic now provides a more powerful, data-driven approach to this problem through weather peril verification reports.”

  • Enhanced Sea-level Prediction System to Improve Coastal Flooding Plans

    National Geodetic Survey logoAs the Gulf Coast begins another hurricane season, researchers with the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science (CBI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will be improving the data collection system to allow for more accurate planning and predictions for flooding and sea-level rise.

    CBI has been awarded $1.35 million to enhance the National Spatial Reference System that helps model and predict sea level rise.

    Forecasters are predicting a hurricane season with one or two major hurricanes, but flooding can still pose significant threat, especially to the vital infrastructure along the Gulf coast, which includes 10 of the 14 largest ports. The long-term stability of this region’s infrastructure is in question due to the impact of sea level rise and associated increases in risks of flooding. Growing Gulf coastal populations, up 32 percent from 1990 to 2008, compound the risks. Preparing for sea level rise, flooding and other impacts requires accurate data about what’s occurring at the water’s edge. Collection methods for this type of geospatial data will be enhanced through this project.

    The funding, from the National Geodetic Survey, a project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, provides the foundation for modeling along the northern Gulf of Mexico through the National Spatial Reference System.

    The project focuses on an area that is most exposed to inundation from tropical storm surge and has a high risk of flooding and long-term effects of climate change and subsidence.

    “We are excited to be part of this project to provide the latest geospatial data with information from tide gauges, sea level observations, land elevation reference points, and 3D positioning,” said Gary Jeffress, director of CBI. “This system will help local and regional leaders plan for improved resilience to the impacts of sea level rise and flooding and develop long-term strategies to address impacts along the northern Gulf of Mexico.”

    The project will extend and improve monitoring stations from Texas to the Florida Keys to provide additional measurements, including more accurate data regarding elevations, 3D positioning, subsidence rates and sea level observations, that will establish ongoing monitoring of the relative sea-level change along the northern Gulf of Mexico in the coming decades.

    Jeffress, Ruizhi Chen and James Rizzo, with CBI and Texas Spatial Reference Center, will lead the project for A&M-Corpus Christi. Researchers from University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University and Florida Atlantic University are also partners in the project.

  • Trimble Adds Agronomic Service to Connected Farm Solution

    Trimble is offering a new agronomic service that is part of its Connected Farm solution. The new service, Soil Information System (SIS), provides farmers and their trusted advisors with in-depth 3-D soil data they can use to make more informed decisions about their crop production goals.

    The SIS data is accessed through Connected Farm and can be used with Trimble’s Farm Works farm management software or other GIS platforms. Connected Farm enables better decision making by providing one central location for accessing key information impacting farm operations such as rainfall totals, weather forecasts, commodity tracking, planting coverage, yield mapping, fleet management, and irrigation monitoring and control, Trimble said.

    The SIS 3D soil mapping technology uses advanced sensors along with intelligent targeting and geoprocessing algorithms to produce high-resolution, accurate soil and topographic information. By providing a greater understanding of the physical and chemical characterization of the soil, including how inputs move through the soil, SIS enables farmers to initiate more effective solutions to resolve the unique challenges of each area of their fields. The SIS solution outputs precise, multi-layer soil models that are more comprehensive than traditional methods used in the industry today. Some examples of map types include: root zone depth, soil texture, plant available water, compaction depth, macro and micro-nutrient levels, soil nutrient holding capacity, and salt and toxicity concentrations.

    By analyzing soil variability and patterns prior to sampling — and by using its industry-exclusive data acquisition and analysis software — SIS provides targeted recommendations on the best locations where soil samples should be taken. In some cases this reduces the number of samples required to provide high-quality information by as much as 60 percent over traditional sampling methods. As a result, the solution enables agronomists to be more efficient with in-field data collection, providing valuable time and operating cost savings.

    “By adding the Soil Information System solution to Connected Farm, Trimble is providing farmers and their agronomists with critical soil information they can use to improve crop production and benefit the bottom line,” said Levi Kettle, Connected Farm business area director of Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “For example, knowing the soil’s plant available water capacity can aid in irrigation layout, scheduling, moisture sensor targeting, root stock selection and many other management decisions.”

    “Variability in yield and quality are due primarily to non-uniform soils being managed as uniform soils. In the past, our inability to identify the components of this soil variability prevented us from achieving greater crop uniformity and better economic returns,” said Robert Wample, Ph.D., a plant physiologist and owner of Edgeknoll Consulting, an SIS service provider. “SIS allows us to take a proactive approach to overcoming soil variability, and when combined with geo-referenced variability in crop yield and quality, the effectiveness of this approach is enhanced even more resulting in an ‘agricultural forensics’ approach to precision agriculture.”

    The SIS solution is available in several service levels depending on the accuracy and resolution required for the particular crop type and the grower’s production goals.

  • Jack Dangermond of Esri Pledges $1B of Mapping Software to Schools

    Jack Dangermond, founder and president of Esri, has announced that Esri will make its advanced mapping software ArcGIS available for free to K-12 schools across the country, reports FORBES. Through the program, students will have access to the same cloud-based GIS technology used by governments and businesses to map and analyze data. The program is set to benefit more than 100,000 schools, with each ArcGIS online account worth about $10,000, adding up to a total potential value exceeding $1 billion, according to Esri.

    “This is not a new endeavor by us. We have been supporting GIS in schools for more than 25 years,” Dangermond told FORBES. “Bringing GIS into schools gets the kids very excited and indirectly teaches them different components of STEM education. That’s been illustrated at school after school.”

    The idea began when Dangermond met with President Obama a few months ago to discuss how Esri can contribute to the ConnectED Initiative, a program by the White House to help strengthen STEM education for K-12 students. “I asked myself: ‘What’s the biggest idea that we can go for?’” Dangermond recalled. As soon as he proposed that Esri would offer its software for free for every K-12 school in America, the president was immediately on board. “We thought this is a way to scale it up and bring GIS education to schools in the whole country,” Dangermond said.

    Esri previously experimented with the initiative on a smaller scale in different states. In Detroit, students used the company’s software to identify environmental issues and come up with plans to fix them. Students also have used ArcGIS to map health issues in Los Angeles and use demographic data to get Walmart products delivered to returning veterans.

  • AT&T Ready For Hurricane Season as Part of Disaster Recovery Program

    AT&T’s Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) program, as the first private company certified by the Department of Homeland Security for private-company voluntary disaster preparedness, is committed to maintaining and restoring the AT&T global network when natural disasters strike, the company said.

    Despite predictions, no one is certain when the next tropical storm or hurricane will ravage the coastline. With $600 million invested in the NDR program, AT&T’s arsenal of equipment includes more than 320 technology and equipment trailers that can be quickly deployed, making it one of the nation’s largest and most advanced disaster programs.

    “Staying connected during severe weather events is critically important to consumers, businesses and our emergency management officials,” said Sonia Perez, president, AT&T Louisiana. “That’s why AT&T invests a tremendous amount of resources in our network reliability and disaster response capabilities.”

    The Network Disaster Recovery team works closely with other AT&T response teams, local AT&T network personnel, regional Emergency Operations Centers and Local Response Centers to fortify network facilities and equipment, and stage technicians and resources near the storm impact area. In the event of damage, teams are poised to restore and maintain service until permanent repairs can be made.

    AT&T also conducts readiness drills and simulations throughout the year to ensure its networks are prepared and its personnel are ready to respond at a moment’s notice. Since its inception in 1991, the NDR has responded to more than 20 catastrophes across the U.S.

    Response equipment readied in the wake of an event includes:

    • Mobile cell sites and mobile command centers
    • Emergency communications vehicles
    • A self-sufficient base camp, complete with sleeping tents, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry facilities, on-site nurse and meals ready to eat (MREs)
    • Hazmat equipment and supplies
    • Technology and support trailers to provide infrastructure support and mobile heating ventilation and air conditioning
    • Internal and external resources for initial assessment and recovery efforts.

    Consumers and businesses also should have a plan in place. When preparing for an evacuation or shelter-in-place, remember these tips:

    • Keep your wireless phone batteries charged at all times. In case of a power outage, have alternate means of charging your phone available, such as an extra battery, car charger or device-charging accessory. Sales tax holidays are a great time to stock up on cell phone accessories for your household.
    • Keep your wireless phone dry. The biggest threat to your device during a hurricane is water, so keep your equipment safe from the elements by storing it in a baggie or some other type of protective covering, such as an Otterbox phone cover.
    • Have a family communication plan in place. Designate someone out of the area as a central contact, and make certain that all family members know who to contact if they get separated. Most importantly, practice your emergency plan in advance.
    • Forward your home number to your wireless number in the event of an evacuation. Because call forwarding is based out of the telephone central office, you will get incoming calls from your landline phone even if your local telephone service is disrupted at your home. In the unlikely event that the central office is not operational, services such as Voicemail, Call Forwarding, Remote Access call forwarding and call forwarding busy line/don’t answer may be useful.
    • Track the storm and access weather information on your wireless device. Many homes lose power during severe weather. If you have a working wireless device that provides access to the Internet, you can watch weather reports through services like AT&T U-verse Live TV or keep updated with local radar and severe weather alerts through My-Cast Weather, if you subscribe to those services.
    • Take advantage of location-based mapping technology. Services such as AT&T Navigator and AT&T FamilyMap can help you seek evacuation routes or avoid traffic congestion from downed trees or power lines, as well as track a family member’s wireless device in case you get separated.

    Keeping the lines open for emergencies

    During evacuations, the storm event and its aftermath, network resources will be taxed. To help ensure that emergency personnel have open lines, keep these tips in mind:

    • Text messaging. During an emergency situation, text messages may go through more quickly than voice calls because they require fewer network resources. All of AT&T’s wireless devices are text messaging capable. Depending on your text or data plan, additional charges may apply.
    • Be prepared for high call volume. During an emergency, many people are trying to use their phones at the same time. The increased calling volume may create network congestion, leading to “fast busy” signals on your wireless phone or a slow dial tone on your landline phone. If this happens, hang up, wait several seconds and then try the call again. This allows your original call data to clear the network before you try again.
    • Keep non-emergency calls to a minimum, and limit your calls to the most important ones. If there is severe weather, chances are many people will be attempting to place calls to loved ones, friends and business associates.

    Small Business Tips:

    • Set up a call-forwarding service to a predetermined backup location. Set up a single or multiple hotline number(s) for employees, employees’ families, customers and partners, as appropriate, to call so that all parties know about the business situation and emergency plan.
    • Back up data to the Cloud. Routinely back up files to an off-site location. Services such as Mobile Workplace are a suggested solution for small businesses.
    • Outline detailed plans for evacuation and shelter-in-place plans. Practice these plans (employee training, etc.). Establish a backup location for your business and meeting place for all employees.
    • Assemble a crisis-management team and coordinate efforts with neighboring businesses and building management. Be aware that disasters affecting your suppliers also affect your business. Outline a plan for supply chain continuity for business essentials.
    • Consider a back-up cellular network. Services like AT&T Remote Mobility Zone, allows organizations to protect their critical communications by installing small cell sites at the businesses’ locations. If a disaster disables primary communications networks, the back-up cellular network can help keep your company connected.

    Additional information and tips for disaster preparedness can be found at www.att.com/vitalconnections.

  • Lehmann Aviation Tests LA300 Drone with Cameras

    Lehmann-Aviation-drone-0

    In 2013, Lehmann Aviation launched the LA300 — a fully automatic personal drone working with Nokia Lumia 1020 and Windows 8 Tablet and designed for mapping and DEM.

    Flight tests in May have proven compatibility of the GoPro Hero3+ camera, in addition to Nokia Lumia 1020 41-Mp camera, with the LA300 for orthomosaics and digital elevation models (DEM), which makes this drone the an affordable and easy-to-use professional rugged solution for mapping and surveying, Lehmann Aviation said.

    Lehmann-Aviation-droneLA300 is a fully automatic professional UAV designed for accurate mapping and surveying. To get the geo-referenced orthomosaics or DEM, the user needs to take three simple steps (watch the video below):

    Step 1: Download the free Lehmann Aviation software — Operation Center — to any Windows 8 Tablet, Windows Phone 8, or PC.
    Step 2: Make the flight path by drawing on a touchscreen Windows 8 device the area of interest (on the map) and entering the waypoints, after which the software will automatically generate the mission.
    Step 3: Transmit the data to the drone by Wi-Fi, launch it by hand, and wait until the aerial robot returns to any chosen point with HD images or video on the SD card.
    Step 4: Use Operation Center to geotag each image after the flight, with LAT/LONG/ALT/YAW/PITCH/ROLL information.

    The pictures then can be processed in any popular orthomosaic/DEM software to generate professional orthomosaics and 3D models.

    Lehmann-Aviation-drone-2The drone flies at a range of up to 15 km, at speeds of 20-80 km/h. It can be flown in harsh environments, between -25 °C up to +60 °C (-13 °F up to 140 °F), with winds up to 35 km/h (20kt). The LA300 weights 950 grams (including Nokia Lumia 1020 or GoPro Hero3+ camera), with a wingspan of 92 cm and the length of 45 cm. The drone is launched by hand and lands in a few meters of space.

    All Lehmann Aviation drones come with one-year warranty and can be regularly upgraded to newer versions.

  • Fanbeam Laser Radar Delivers Dynamic Positioning to Offshore Vessels

    Seajacks_and_Fanbeam-W

    The new Fanbeam laser radar sensor from Renishaw’s spatial measurement division provides repetitive, high-accuracy dynamic positioning (DP) to offshore support vessels (OSV) and other marine structures.

    This next-generation system adds greater performance and stability through new control software that increases reliability of its single-target tracking capability, and allows multiple operator stations for situations where control needs to be transferred between bridge personnel. The new software’s advanced target tracking and modeling prevent spurious targets from causing a drive off, while the intelligent clutter rejection capability provides clearer signals for a better understanding of the operational environment. A training package with a fully featured, realistic simulator is also included.

    The Fanbeam system uses position data to automatically hold vessels on station, and is typically the primary position reference during critical short-range operations, such as cargo container lifts from platform supply vessels. The system provides collision avoidance, gangway monitoring and docking assistance on vessels operating in crew supply, anchor handling tug supply, construction support, dive support, dredging and rock dumping capacities. Other applications include seismic source positioning for geophysical exploration vessels and positioning of mine detection equipment.

    Fanbeam laser radar sensor.
    Fanbeam laser radar sensor.

    The system uses a laser sensor with a unique vertically “fanned” output, allowing returns to be observed from passive retro-reflective targets despite relative movement of the vessel. Accurate to 20 cm, the laser rotates horizontally in both directions via motorized base, and can be tilted ± 15˚ in the vertical plane using a built-in Autotilt mechanism with servo-driven gearbox. The motorized yoke has a software-selectable scanning speed up to 50˚/s, horizontal range of 0˚ to 360˚ and 0.01˚ horizontal resolution. A reflective tube target is used for short-range operations, while various prism cluster target options allow long-range operations up to 6562 ft (2000 m).

    Built for harsh environments, the system’s operating temperature range is -13˚F to +158˚F (-25˚C to +70˚C), with a water/dust resistance rating of IP66, and is EN 60945/EN 609950-1:2001 compliant. A marine-grade embedded PC and machined aluminum enclosure equip the system for rugged use. The compact system is approximately 8”W x 12”L x 11.5”H (200 x 300 x 290 mm) and weighs only 28 lbs. (12.9 kgs).

    Fanbeam Production Moves to Renishaw Facility. After acquiring Measurement Devices Limited (MDL) in 2013, Renishaw moved production of Fanbeam systems to its assembly facility in Gloucestershire. The facility was named the UK’s Best Electronics Plant in 2012. “Vessel operators depend on Fanbeam systems for reliable, safe operations in tough conditions,” said Keith Park, Marine Business and General Manager, Renishaw. “Now, they can have confidence that these systems are produced at one of the world’s best design, production and servicing facilities.”