GPS World

Author: Tracy Cozzens

  • Arcturus UAV and Urban Robotics Fly 3D Imager

    Arcturus T-20 unmanned aerial vehicle with 3D imaging pods on a recent test flight at a Southern California test range. (PRNewsFoto/Arcturus UAV)
    Arcturus T-20 unmanned aerial vehicle with 3D imaging pods on a recent test flight at a Southern California test range. (PRNewsFoto/Arcturus UAV)

    The GeoDragon sensor system by Urban Robotics has been integrated and flown on an Arcturus UAV T-20 Tier II unmanned aerial vehicle. The sensor system is enclosed in a wing-mounted pod and is capable of high-resolution 2D and 3D image capture.

    GeoDragon adds significant 3D imaging and mapping capabilities to the T-20 UAV. The GeoDragon system can create 3D reconstructions in near-real time and output high-resolution digital elevation models, LIDAR-like datasets, and wide area maps. The system will be released in mid-2014.

    The sensor was designed by Urban Robotics in Portland, Oregon. The aircraft was built by Arcturus UAV in Rohnert Park, California.

    According to Arcturus, the unique aspects of the system are low weight (equating to longer endurance and loiter time,) small operational footprint on the ground (1 or 2 full size pick-up trucks,) a quick mount/dismount pod, quiet operation (the T-20 utilizes a modified four-stroke engine), and the ability to fly simultaneously with other payloads on the T-20, such as EO/IR.

    GeoDragon imagery is post-processed using automated 3D algorithms to rapidly generate large mapping and modeling datasets. Urban Robotics develops software and hardware solutions for 3D ISR, remote sensing and geospatial applications, including collection, post-processing, and data management.

    The T-20 is a runway independent, Tier II class, small tactical unmanned aerial vehicle with a technical readiness level (TRL) 9.  The primary mission of the Arcturus UAV is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Typical missions include aerial mapping, drug interdiction, fire-fighting, border patrol, force protection, search and rescue, as well as military ISR. Payloads include full motion video from daylight and infrared cameras. Video is then transmitted by secure data link to mission commanders on the ground. An onboard GPS autopilot with waypoint navigation accepts multiple flight plans from the Ground Control Station, allowing the T-20 to return to a specified location autonomously after up to 16 hours of flight.

    The T-20 is powered by a 190cc an air-cooled, four-stroke, fuel injected engine. Carbon fiber composite construction used in the T-20 airframe allows for payloads up to 65 lbs.

  • Trimble Adds Unmanned Aircraft System to Ag Portfolio for Aerial Mapping

    Trimble UX5 Mapping UAS
    Trimble UX5 Mapping UAS

    Trimble has added its Trimble UX5 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to its agriculture product portfolio for aerial imaging and mapping. The Trimble UX5 system can enable ag service providers to capture aerial images for scouting and monitoring crop health such as detecting pests, weeds and nitrogen deficiencies.

    The system also can locate cattle and their available forage over large areas, measure crop height, and generate topographic maps and models for land leveling and drainage applications.

    As a result, the system provides farmers’ advisors — agronomists, Trimble resellers, and other ag service providers — with a powerful data collection tool that can aid with recommendations to improve farming operations.

    The UX5 system flies at 80 kilometers/hour (50 mph) and is stable in significant crosswinds and light rain. In a single 50-minute flight, the system can cover a two square kilometer (0.8 square mile) area at five centimeter (two-inch) image resolution. It comes with a camera modified to capture the near-infrared spectrum, which helps in deducing vegetation indexes for crop health assessment. The UX5 system can capture a variety of images to be processed post flight. The output of a single flight provides geo-referenced precision images, a digital surface model (DSM) showing elevations as a color image, and a dense 3D point cloud that includes elevations.

    “The addition of the Trimble UX5 system strengthens our agriculture product portfolio and enables us to provide a solution that benefits a broad range of customers including growers, ranchers, water management contractors, agronomists and other ag service providers,” said Joe Denniston, vice president of Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “High-speed aerial imaging is a powerful tool that can quickly and easily locate problem areas to be addressed. The faster a problem area is discovered, the better the chance it can be evaluated and resolved before crop yield is impacted.”

    Trimble provides training for system operators and their observers, which focuses on safety precautions and the application of the Trimble UX5 system for maximum success. The Trimble UX5 system is available from authorized agriculture distribution partners and is subject to regulations and restrictions defined by local civil aviation authorities. Unmanned aircraft systems are not allowed to be flown in some regions or for certain applications.

  • New U.S. Topo Maps for Idaho, New Mexico, Feature Public Land Survey System

    2013 U.S. Topo quadrangle, with orthoimage off.
    2013 U.S. Topo quadrangle, with orthoimage off.

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with other federal agencies, has posted new Idaho U.S. Topo quadrangles (1,193) and New Mexico quads (1,980 maps), which include the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). These are added to the growing list of states west of the Mississippi River to have PLSS data added to U.S. Topo maps.

    The PLSS is a way of subdividing and describing land in the United States. All lands in the public domain are subject to subdivision by this rectangular system of surveys, which is regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Other selected states will begin getting PLSS map data during the next respective revision cycle.

    The new design for U.S. Topo maps improves readability of maps for online and printed use, while retaining the look and feel of the traditional USGS topo map. Map symbols are easy to read when the digital aerial photograph layer imagery is turned on.

    Santa Fe, New Mexico 2013 US Topo quadrangle, showing PLSS data with contour, orthoimage and woodland layers off. Note: "US Topo maps are not legal documents. The PLSS information shown on these maps is for general reference purposes only, and should not be used to determine legal boundaries or land ownership. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the authoritative source for PLSS information at the federal level, and the US Topo representation is derived from BLM GIS data files. The management of these data is not completely uniform throughout the country."
    Santa Fe, New Mexico 2013 U.S. Topo quadrangle, showing PLSS data with contour, orthoimage and woodland layers off. Note: “US Topo maps are not legal documents. The PLSS information shown on these maps is for general reference purposes only, and should not be used to determine legal boundaries or land ownership. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the authoritative source for PLSS information at the federal level, and the US Topo representation is derived from BLM GIS data files. The management of these data is not completely uniform throughout the country.

    “It is a privilege to support production of the U.S. Topo maps, as I am an extensive user of these products,” said Kristin Fishburn, a geographer with the USGS. “The capability to turn layers on and off combined with the continuous enhancements in content makes the maps particularly useful for a recreational user. I’m excited to peruse the new Idaho and New Mexico maps.”

    Other re-design enhancements and new features include:

    • New shaded relief layer for enhanced view of the terrain
    • Military installation boundaries, post offices and cemeteries
    • New road classification
    • A slight screening (transparency) has been applied to some features to enhance visibility of multiple competing layers
    • New PDF legend attachment
    • Metadata formatted to support multiple browsers

    U.S. Topo maps are created from geographic datasets in The National Map, and deliver visible content such as high-resolution aerial photography, which was not available on older paper-based topographic maps. The new maps provide modern technical advantages that support wider and faster public distribution and on-screen geographic analysis tools for users.

    The digital topographic maps are PDF documents with geospatial extensions (GeoPDF) image software format and may be viewed using Adobe Reader, available as a no-cost download.

    These new quads replace the first-edition U.S. Topo maps for Idaho and New Mexico. The replaced maps will be added to the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, which are also available for free download from The National Map and the USGS Map Locator & Downloader website.

    US Topo maps are updated every three years. The initial round of the 48 conterminous state coverage was completed in September of 2012.  Hawaii and Puerto Rico maps have recently been added. More than 400 new US Topo maps for Alaska have been added to the USGS Map Locator & Downloader, but will take several years to complete.

  • Financial Results for Nokia HERE Show Growth

    Nokia has released its financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2013, which show growth for its HERE division, formerly known as Navteq.

    In the fourth quarter 2013, HERE had sales of new vehicle licenses of 3.2 million units, compared to 2.4 million units in the fourth quarter 2012 and 2.6 million units in the third quarter 2013. On a year-on-year basis, unit sales to vehicle customers increased primarily due to higher vehicle sales and higher consumer uptake of in-vehicle navigation.

    Sales to vehicle customers represented well over 50% of external HERE net sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, as well as in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the third quarter of 2013.

    The automotive success was partially offset by lower sales to personal navigation device (PND) customers. External sales for PNDs went up 10 percent, from €204 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 to €225 in the fourth quarter of 2013.

    HERE total sales decreased from €278 million to €254 million (10 percent), which Nokia said is because of the fast decline of internal sales (such as navigation and maps found in Nokia devices). Sales were €74 million at the end of 2012, compared to only €29 million for the end of 2013.

  • App Divides up Tree Stem for Loggers

    Corvallis Microtechnology, Inc., has released its Virtual Tree Bucking application software for use on an iPAD, iPhone or iPod touch device.

    When segmenting a tree stem into log products, the important question to ask is how to maximize the income from the stem, the company explained. In some cases, it will be more profitable to divide the tree into a saw log segment and a pulpwood segment. In other cases, it may make more sense to sell the entire stem as pulpwood and not bother cutting it up. The logger will usually rely on past experience and also do some calculations to figure out the best way to utilize the tree stem for the current market. When there is the possibility of getting three different log products out of the same stem, the decision can be difficult to make.

    The Virtual Tree Bucking app will help remove some of the guesswork. It will let the user set up the log merchandise grades, conversion factors and prices by volume or by weight. Before actually cutting up the stem, the user can divide up the stem on the screen of this app and try various scenarios to view the yield of wood quantity and potential revenue for each case. The user may enter up to three products per stem and the app will report the volume/weight and value for each log as well as the sum total for the stem.

    The app provides the option to save the reported results to a PDF file for later review. It will work with both Metric and English units.

    Also included are functions for precisely adding points, lines and areas to the screen, the ability to measure distances and areas as well as the ability to locate a point by address or by coordinates.

    The app comes with a detailed built-in help document. It is available at the Apple App Store.

    Photos: Corvallis Microtechnology, Inc.

  • TerraGo Unveils New Version of Geospatial Collaboration Software

    TerraGo, a provider of location intelligence solutions, has released v.6.0.4 of its geospatial collaboration software, including TerraGo Publisher, TerraGo Composer and TerraGo Toolbar. It is hosting a webinar on January 30 to demonstrate key capabilities.

    The latest release includes features that improve the user experience, introduce new field data collection capabilities, and provide enhanced support for Esri ArcGIS v.10.1 and v.10.2.

    According to Chief Technology Officer George Demmy, “Our software enhancements are designed to simplify the way ArcGIS users share products derived from their work and analysis with the people who consume them, anywhere they might be, and to make it simple and intuitive for those end users to analyze and update those products and even contribute their own observations without specialized software or training.”

    With a strategic group of partners, including systems integrators and software providers, and more than 1,000 global customers, including those in defense and intelligence, crisis response, transportation and natural resources, TerraGo solutions enable organizations to discover, integrate and deliver location intelligence to the edge of the enterprise and back, the company said.

  • Proteus Provides Satellite-Derived Bathymetric and Seafloor Maps for Military Exercise

    Proteus FZC, a provider of satellite-derived mapping solutions, has delivered accurate bathymetric and seafloor classification maps for a joint UK-France amphibious military exercise on the Island of Corsica. In the pilot managed by the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO), Proteus partnered with DigitalGlobe to derive accurate bathymetric measurements and identify four seabed types to a depth of 12 meters from multispectral satellite imagery without ground control.

    “We completed the Corsica coastal marine mapping project at about one-tenth the time and cost of traditional sonar or LiDAR,” said Proteus CEO David Critchley. “Because the data is derived exclusively from satellite imagery, we leave no environmental footprint and face no airspace restrictions.”

    For the joint military operation, the British and French armed forces requested detailed information about water depth and the submerged seabed along specific sections of the Corsican coastline so that amphibious military vehicles could be launched from larger vessels anchored offshore and safely landed on the island’s beaches. The custom maps created by Proteus were used by the military to select precisely where the landings would occur.

    “The vertical accuracy of our bathymetric maps was verified at 10-15 percent of water depth,” said Critchley. “If ground truth data were available, the measurements would have been accurate to a solid 10 percent of depth.”

    Working with eight-band multispectral image data with two-meter resolution collected by DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 satellite, the Proteus-led team achieved the bathymetric measurements in Corsica’s Mediterranean coastal zone to a total depth of 12 meters. In a separate processing procedure, the team also extracted four critical seafloor types from the imagery – sand, rock/debris, vegetation and mixed seabed.

    Since 2011, Proteus has been producing seafloor survey and seabed classification projects using multispectral satellite imagery. The product generation technology that can be carried out in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. These mapping projects have been delivered for environmental, oil and gas, marine biology and other coastal zone applications in Europe, the Middle East and Caribbean. Derived products have high accuracy, meeting the requirements of engineering, environmental monitoring and strategic geospatial planning applications.

    The project was written up in the January/February 2013 issue of Hydro International magazine.

  • British Trade Delegation to Libya Taps Proteus for Mapping Expertise

    Proteus, a provider of satellite-derived bathymetric mapping and seabed classification services, represented the mapping industry in a British trade delegation to Tripoli organized by the Libya-British Business Council (LBBC). Proteus presented potential solutions to coastal mapping challenges faced by Libya during meetings with the National Oil Corporation, Ports and Maritime Transport Authority, University of Tripoli, and Libyan Center for Remote Sensing.

    “At every meeting, we were introduced to government ministers and business leaders who are eager to begin rebuilding Libya,” said Proteus CEO, David Critchley. “Libya recognizes that mapping will be the critical first step in rebuilding infrastructure across the country.”

    Invited to participate by Tilden International, Proteus was the sole mapping representative in the LBBC delegation, which included British companies involved in the energy, security and computing sectors. Held in late September 2013, the delegation mission was led by Sir Dominic Asquith, former British Ambassador to Libya.

    Since 2011, Proteus has been delivering offshore mapping projects for environmental, oil and gas, marine biology and other coastal zone applications in Europe, the Middle East and Caribbean, completed in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. Proteus is currently engaged in a major offshore project in the Arabian Gulf, providing bathymetric and seabed classification services in the coastal zone using satellite imagery.

    “Whether exporting petroleum products from its shores or bringing tourists into the country, Libya sees development of its Mediterranean shipping ports as key to future economic success,” said Critchley. “Upgrading existing ports and building new ones will require mapping the seafloor several kilometers from the coast, and that’s why Proteus was invited to join the delegation.”

    Proteus uses commercially developed processes to derive bathymetric and seafloor classification information from high-resolution, 8-band multispectral imagery collected by DigitalGlobe Inc.’s WorldView-2 satellite and acquired by Proteus through its direct relationship with DigitalGlobe. Derived products have high accuracy, meeting the requirements of engineering, environmental monitoring and strategic geospatial planning applications.

    “Compared with maritime sonar and airborne LiDAR, satellite-derived bathymetric surveys are completed at a fraction of the time and cost,” said Critchley. “The ecological constraints, submerged reefs, and political issues that hamper traditional hydrographic mapping methods are of no hindrance to us.”

  • Astrium Partners with Analytics Specialist IHS on Geo-Information

    Astrium has announced that the geo-information activities of Astrium Services have entered into a partnership agreement with IHS, a source of defense and security information, to deliver satellite imagery and services for intelligence analysis and reporting.

    Leveraging this partnership will enable IHS to provide new insights and even more up-to-date and detailed information, meeting demand for fused intelligence sources to tap easily accessed information, Astrium said. Geospatial data plays a critical role in developing intelligence, formulating strategic policy and driving operational interventions.

    Astrium Services brings to IHS the capability to deliver imagery and defense-oriented services based on unique access to the only multi-resolution imaging satellite. Astrium’s offering has been specifically developed to support  high-currency requirements, including the varied challenges faced by military and intelligence agencies.

    Under the agreement, Astrium Services will provide newly acquired imagery from its Pléiades, SPOT and TerraSAR-X satellites for use as primary sources and fusion with open source information, for actionable intelligence. It will also provide access to the GO Monitor service, which delivers reliable surveillance and change information anywhere on Earth.

    By fusing IHS insight with Astrium Services imagery, IHS analysts will be able to deliver broader contextual analysis and more granular insight to meet the needs of business and national security professionals, Astrium said.

    With more than 100 years of history as Jane’s, IHS has a reputation built on products such as IHS Jane’s Fighting Ships, IHS Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft and IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly.

  • Conference Casts an Eye on Wicked Geospatial Problems

    The Spatial Plexus ’13 international conference takes a twist on the conference paradigm by bringing problems to the practitioner and educator, versus bringing practitioners to the problems.

    The annual live environment (November 4-6, 2013, Atlanta, Georgia) and continuous online community created by Spatial Plexus fosters direct interaction between educators and practitioners, those who have worked with the U.S. Department of Labor to create a Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) — the National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence, run through the Technical Colleges and Higher Education partners — and those who are writing job descriptions, assessing skills and setting salaries against it — private and public sector employers.

    According to organizers, intricacies and interdependencies of “wicked problems” (those difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements) can be exposed, better defined, dissected, better managed and reassembled through the geospatial approach.

    Wicked problems highlighted this year through panel presentations and audience interaction are packaged as: “Geospatial Intelligence in Higher Education,” “GIS 4 Sustaining the Built Environment,” “GIS 4 Business Intelligence,” “GIS 4 Public Health,” and “GIS 4 Public Safety.” Open mic and topical roundtables will encourage discussions about the those issues and additional issues of interest, including “GIS in the Cloud,” “GIS and IT: integration/separation/recognition,” “Challenges for GIS,” “Speculation/forecasting future issues,” and “GIS 4 Social Media.”

    Contributions by distinguished keynote speakers will build the story of geospatial literacy, articulation from education to work force and real-world implementation, respectively. These speakers include Daniel Edelson of the National Geographic Society, Rachel Kornak of University of Southern California, Frederic Grant of Emory University, and Major General Reddel of the Adjutants General Association of the United States of America.

    Other noteworthy panelists and contributors include:

    • Art Kalinski established the U.S. Navy’s first GIS, and is the editor of GeoIntelligence Insider for Geospatial Solutions.
    • Josh Knauer, president and CEO of Rhiza, a Spatial Plexus sponsor, has served on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology
    • Carl Anderson was an original author of the “United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard” and is the president-elect of URISA
    • Shan Arora, a non-geospatial practitioner/former attorney, will present information on the first clean energy industries census for the southeast.

    Additional conference content and activities include:

    • an Academic Showcase of geospatial programs from across the country.
    • a social mixer highlighting Spatial Plexus sponsors, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), MapLarge, Rhiza, Elmhurst College, and GPS World magazine (Geospatial Solutions’ partner site).

    This year’s event will be held at the Georgia Tech Historic Academy of Medicine, with space exclusively for Spatial Plexus. A tour of this historic building and its assets, including Gone With the Wind chandelier, will be offered. Registration (a nominal $350 fee), hotel information and more conference information are available through the spatialplexus.com website. Continuous break foods and lunch will be provided.

  • DirectMail.com to Launch GeoInsight at DMA 2013

    DirectMail.com will launch GeoInsight, the firm’s advanced marketing intelligence and data sourcing tool, at DMA 2013. DirectMail.com will demonstrate GeoInsight’s capabilities at the Direct Marketing Association conference in Chicago on October 13–15.

    According to DirectMail.com, GeoInsight puts powerful, easy-to-use database analytics capabilities into marketers’ hands. Based on a web-based map interface, GeoInsight provides the following functionality:

    • The combined power of enterprise-level, location-based data analytics and real-time, customer-rich profile information,
    • Instant analysis of markets, customers and prospects, yielding visual and quantitative displays of geographic concentrations and lifestyle and purchasing characteristics, and
    • A new level of selectivity and precision in targeting prospects and engaging existing customers by combining a marketer’s existing database with GeoInsight’s location-based, data-mining and modeling information.

    The GeoInsight tool features enhancements such as:

    • A data visualization engine that allows customized reporting based on relevant data points,
    • Thematic map overlays, using either client data or enhanced consumer data,
    • Access to digital behavior insights, enabling better cross-channel marketing and timing,
    • Targeted segmentation and messaging strategy models, and
    • Analysis of client files based on customer transactional or summarized data.

    “DMA 2013, the global event for data-driven marketers, is the ideal venue for launching GeoInsight,” said Joe Leger, vice president of Data and Analytics, DirectMail.com. “Marketers who understand data’s power to transform a brand and a business will be amazed by how this innovative marketing intelligence and data sourcing tool brings a whole new level of selectivity and precision to the task of targeting prospects and engaging current customers. With GeoInsight’s revelations about customer behaviors and lifestyles, their ability to increase market share — and do so with greater return on marketing investment — will be facilitated.”

  • Tuck Mapping Integrates Leica RCD30 Camera with Applanix POSTrack

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    Leica Geosystems Inc. today announced that Tuck Mapping Solutions Inc. has completed the first integration of a Leica RCD30 airborne camera with the Applanix POSTrack system. With technical support from Leica Geosystems and Applanix, Tuck Mapping contracted Lead’Air Inc. of Kissimmee, Florida, to perform most of the software upgrades and new cabling required to integrate the Leica digital camera with the POSTrack all-in-one GNSS-aided inertial direct georeferencing and flight management system.

    The Leica RCD30 is a true metric camera built for mapping. Introduced by Leica Geosystems as a digital follow-on to its RC30 film cameras, the RCD30 is a medium-format digital imaging system developed for a variety of photogrammetric and remote sensing applications. The 60 MP single-camera-head design delivers co-registered, multispectral imagery in the Red, Green, Blue and Near IR portions of the spectrum. The sleek modular design allows the camera to fit easily in aircraft previously outfitted with film cameras, and the RCD30 integrates with many LiDAR sensors, including the Leica ALS series.

    For the many current owners of the POSTrack system, the availability of integration by Lead’Air makes the Leica RCD30 a more affordable and attractive choice among medium-format digital cameras. When buying a new Leica RCD30, POSTrack owners do not have to purchase the Leica flight management system, train flight crews in the use of multiple interfaces, and install redundant equipment in their aircraft.

    “The integrated systems enable our flight crews to operate the Leica RCD30 and a third-party LiDAR sensor with a single flight management interface,” said Tuck Mapping President, Bobby Tuck. “In addition, POSTrack collects the GNSS location and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) attitude data needed to georeference the imagery and LiDAR data sets.”

    Based in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, Tuck Mapping is a photogrammetric services and aerial mapping firm with a reputation for engineering innovative solutions related to geospatial data collection. Tuck was among the first aerial mappers to use a helicopter for LiDAR scanning operations, and more than a decade ago the firm took the lead in successfully integrating an airborne camera and LiDAR sensor for simultaneous collection. Tuck Mapping owns four POSTrack systems, three helicopters, two fixed-wing airplanes, and state-of-the-art airborne cameras and laser scanners.

    “Bobby Tuck deserves credit for driving the integration of the Leica RCD30 with the POSTrack system,” said Jean Gardiner, General Manager of Leica Geospatial Solutions. “From a business perspective, Leica believes that supporting the compatibility of our products with other manufacturers’ products is an integral part of providing solutions to our clients.”

    “This joint integration project exemplifies the maturity of Leica and Applanix,” said Joe Hutton, Applanix Director of Inertial Technology and Airborne Products. “It’s a natural progression of good customer support.”

    Jointly developed by Applanix and Track’Air, the POSTrack product integrates the Applanix POS AV direct georeferencing technology, utilizing GNSS and IMU components, with the XTRACK Flight Management System software from Track’Air into a single, compact package. POSTrack provides direct georeferencing for airborne mapping sensors, mission planning, real-time sensor control and pilot guidance.

    Lead’Air, a subsidiary of Track’Air, specializes in integrating the Track’Air flight management systems with any airborne camera or LiDAR sensor. Now that the first Leica RCD30/POSTrack integration has been completed for Tuck Mapping, Lead’Air offers this integration as a commercially available service.