GPS World

Category: Mapping

  • A drone can hear the shape of a room

    A drone can hear the shape of a room

    With a speaker and four microphones, drones can echolocate like bats

    Mathematicians at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, have found that drones can determine position with echolocation.

    The signal-processing research has potential applications for people, underwater vehicles and even cars, said Mireille “Mimi” Boutin, a Purdue University associate professor of mathematics and electrical and computer engineering.

    Boutin and Gregor Kemper, a professor of algorithmic algebra in the Department of Mathematics at the Technical University of Munich, have worked to reconstruct the wall configuration of rooms by using echoes picked up by microphones on the drone.

    Mathematicians found a method to hear the shape of a room using four microphones mounted on a drone. Pictured: Mireille Boutin. (Photo: Purdue University)
    Mathematicians found a method to hear the shape of a room using four microphones mounted on a drone. Pictured: Mireille Boutin. (Photo: Purdue University)

    When a microphone hears an echo, the time difference between the moment the sound was produced and the time it was heard is recorded. That time difference shows the distance traveled by the sound after bouncing on a wall — much like bats use echolocation to orient themselves with their surroundings.

    The challenge is to determine which distance corresponds to which wall, a process called echosorting. Sorting the echoes accurately ensures that all the walls heard are truly there. This way, the algorithm used does not produce “ghost” walls.

    The research is directly related to two complementary problems in engineering: localization (determining where you are in an environment) and mapping (determining the shape of your environment).

    The research, which uses methods from commutative algebra, proves that it’s possible for a minimal setup of four microphones arranged in a non-planar shape, along with a loudspeaker emitting a singal signal, to reconstruct a room.

    The microphones and loudspeaker could be mounted on a moving car, a robot navigating in an indoor environment, or an underwater vehicle exploring a wreck in the ocean. Some of these situations put restrictions on rotations and translations that can be applied to the microphone configuration. The impact of such restrictions on the reconstruction problem will also be studied in future work.

    The next steps will be to consider other scenarios, such as when the movement of the drone is restricted, or when the drone listens to the echoes of consecutive sounds as it is moving.

    Citation.     “A Drone Can Hear the Shape of a Room,” by Mireille Boutin and Gregor Kemper, SIAM Journal on Applied Algebra and Geometry, 4(1), 123–140, Published online Feb. 6, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1137/19M1248534.

  • Analysis of satellite imagery shows reduced NO2 in China, Italy

    Analysis of satellite imagery shows reduced NO2 in China, Italy

    Screenshot: ESA video
    Screenshot: ESA video

    Descartes Labs, a geospatial data analytics company, is using satellite imagery analysis to examine how the coronavirus reduced nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions in China.

    NO2 is produced by vehicles, power plants and heavy industries such as cement manufacturing, which were shut down during the coronavirus epidemic.

    Descartes Labs shared its visualization in a Facebook post. The visualization maps a time series of NO2 levels across Eastern China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula using data from the European Space Agency (ESA)  Sentinel-5P satellite.

    Plots of NO2 emissions from 2019 compared to 2020 show declines of nearly 60%. Read more on Descartes Lab’s blog.

    Copernicus data shared

    In a video provided by ESA, a drop in concentrations in late January is visible in China, coinciding with the nationwide quarantine; from the beginning of March, the nitrogen dioxide levels have begun to increase.

    Italy reduction

    Copernicus data also reveals the decline of air pollution, specifically nitrogen dioxide emissions, over Italy. This reduction is particularly visible in northern Italy, coinciding with its nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

    “Satellites offer a unique vantage point to monitor the health of our planet,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s director of Earth Observation Programmes. “Sentinel-5P is one of seven Copernicus satellites in orbit today. It currently provides the most accurate measurements of nitrogen dioxide and other trace gases from space.

    “As nitrogen dioxide is primarily produced by traffic and factories, it is a first-level indicator of industrial activity worldwide,” Aschbacher said. “What is clearly visible is a significant reduction of nitrogen dioxide levels over China, caused by reduced activity due to COVID-19 restrictions, but also the Chinese New Year in January. The Copernicus programme is a perfect example of how space serves all European citizens by combining the political strength of the EU with the technical excellence of ESA.”

    “We can certainly attribute a part of the nitrogen dioxide concentration reduction to the impact of the coronavirus,” said Claus Zehner, ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission manager. “We currently see around a 40% reduction over Chinese cities, however these are just rough estimates, as weather also has an impact on emissions. We are conducting a detailed scientific analysis which will soon provide more insights and quantified results in the following weeks and months.”

    The Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor mission, also known as Sentinel-5P, is dedicated to monitoring air pollution by measuring a multitude of trace gases as well as aerosols — all of which affect the air we breathe.

  • Esri provides mapping software for organizations fighting COVID-19

    Communities in need of resources can access location intelligence technology at no cost with six-month trial

    Logo: EsriLocation intelligence company Esri is making its software available to public and private sector organizations fighting the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    The COVID-19 outbreak has escalated rapidly across the globe, and with municipalities struggling to respond, Esri has built out resources to help organizations understand the potential impact of the disease on public health, as well as potential community risk areas and their capacity to respond.

    A COVID-19 GIS Hub site provides much of this essential data, including case locations and social vulnerability, that communities and health organizations can use to inform their response.

    To help public health agencies and other organizations jump-start their response, Esri is providing the ArcGIS Hub Coronavirus Response template at no cost through a complimentary six-month ArcGIS Online subscription with ArcGIS Hub. The template includes examples, materials, and configurations to rapidly deploy a local ArcGIS Hub environment. ArcGIS Hub is a framework to build a website to visualize and analyze the crisis in the context of an organization’s or community’s population and assets.

    “Esri has always prioritized assisting communities during large-scale emergencies and natural disasters,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “For the past 25 years, our Disaster Response Program provides data, software, configurable applications, and technical support for emergency operations. We consider it part of our mission to provide these services free of cost during this time of national crisis.”

    For more information on the complimentary software and the disaster relief support, visit esri.com/disaster.

  • Genasys releases COVID-19 interactive map layer service

    Genasys releases COVID-19 interactive map layer service

    Access to global web map service feature free for public and enterprise use

    Image: wildpixel/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Image: wildpixel/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Genasys Inc., a global provider of critical communications solutions, has released an interactive map layer service for daily monitoring of Coronavirus – COVID-19 cases.

    The company-created Web Map Service (WMS) displays daily spatial data from Johns Hopkins University. The data from reporting countries, which includes U.S. states and territories, tracks confirmed cases and other information.

    “As a global provider of critical communications solutions, Genasys is strongly committed to providing information to help keep people safe during emergencies and crisis situations,” said Richard Danforth, chief executive officer, Genasys. “We are providing free use of our WMS feature to keep people informed and assist businesses with decisions regarding employee safety. Additional Genasys COVID-19 response initiatives are planned.”

    Follow this link for more information and access to the interactive Genasys WMS: genasys.com/corona/

    The unified Genasys Public Safety Mass Notification Platform provides a multi-channel approach to deliver geo-targeted alerts, notifications, instructions and information before, during and after public safety threats and critical business events. The Company’s end-to-end critical communications solution includes SMS, cell broadcast, email, social media and other mobile device emergency messaging.

    Genasys systems are in service in 72 countries around the world in diverse applications, including public safety, national emergency warning systems, mass notification, defense, law enforcement and critical infrastructure protection.

  • Oxford University explores feasibility of coronavirus tracing mobile app

    Oxford University explores feasibility of coronavirus tracing mobile app

    Photo: stevanovicigor/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: stevanovicigor/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    A team of medical research and bioethics experts at Oxford University is supporting several European governments to explore the feasibility of a coronavirus (COVID-19) mobile app for instant contact tracing.

    According to Oxford, the team has provided European governments, including the U.K., with evidence to support the feasibility of developing a contact tracing mobile app that is instant, could be widely deployed and should be implemented with appropriate ethical considerations.

    “Coronavirus is unlike previous epidemics and requires multiple inter-dependent containment strategies,” said Professor Christophe Fraser from Oxford University’s Big Data Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine. “Our analysis suggests that almost half of coronavirus transmissions occur in the very early phase of infection, before symptoms appear, so we need a fast and effective mobile app for alerting people who have been exposed. Our mathematical modeling suggests that traditional public health contact tracing methods are too slow to keep up with this virus.”

    Fraser’s team at Oxford University’s Big Data Institute are continuing to simulate performance of the application so it can be adjusted to include mobile app guided coronavirus testing, and/or provide targeted responses in areas with particularly high rates of transmission, the university said.

    “Current strategies are not working fast enough to intercept transmission of coronavirus,” Fraser said. “To effectively tackle this pandemic, we need to harness 21st century technology. Our research makes the case for a mobile application that accelerates our ability to trace infected people and provides vital information that keeps communities safe from this pandemic.”

  • Cesium to collaborate with Smithsonian to stream high-resolution 3D models online

    Streaming 3D geospatial technology company Cesium will support the Smithsonian Institution by streaming 3D models of massive objects in its collection, such as the Space Shuttle Discovery. The models will be streamed over the internet in high resolution for the first time.

    The collaboration is part of the Smithsonian’s Open Access Initiative. Through the initiative, the Smithsonian will release about 2.8 million 2D and 3D images, public collections metadata, and institutional research data sets as Creative Commons (CCo) for any purpose, such as education, research, commercial endeavors, creative reuse, computational analysis, and innovative explorations.

    “The Smithsonian Open Access Initiative aligns perfectly with Cesium’s vision to make the world’s collection of data more useful and accessible,” said Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi. “We are proud that our technology will give researchers, educators, and the public the ability to study 3D models in the Smithsonian’s collection in the highest resolution detail from anywhere in the world.”

    Cesium Stories enable 3D storytelling

    Cesium Stories enable creation and sharing of 3D geospatial presentations on the web, without requiring any writing of code. An intuitive interface enables story creation using Cesium’s 3D world terrain basemap, the user’s own 3D data, or a combination of multiple datasets, fused into interactive scenes. Learn more here.

    Making massive high-resolution 3D models shareable begins at the intersection of Cesium’s core competencies of computer graphics, 3D data and open standards. With Cesium, glTF models are converted to 3D Tiles, an open specification developed by the company and adopted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (“OGC”) to make sharing massive amounts of 3D data as simple as sending a link.

    Cesium develops, supports, and promotes open standards with organizations like the OGC and The Khronos Group to advance technology, encourage collaboration and fuel cross-disciplinary innovation.

    The Space Shuttle Discovery — on display at the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia — is one of the largest objects in the Smithsonian’s collection. It is more than 122 feet long and weighs more than 4.5 million pounds.

    Now, a shareable, high-resolution 3D rendering will enable anyone to rotate, zoom in, and study its details from anywhere in the world.

    Explore the 3D model at www.cesium.com/smithsonian.

  • HERE offers location services for Microsoft Azure customers

    HERE offers location services for Microsoft Azure customers

    HERE-Azure logo

    Microsoft Azure customers now have access to HERE Location Services within its self-hosted Azure environments. HERE is providing a new set of application programming interfaces (APIs) for developers to build location-aware applications.

    Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service for building, testing, deploying and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.

    According to HERE, HERE Location Services such as Routing, Geocoding and Map Tiles APIs offer developers useful tools while ensuring high performance for an application’s most critical processes.

    Software developers rely on the accuracy and scale of HERE Location Services to incorporate core location-oriented components into the enterprise-grade applications they build and manage, the company said.

    The HERE Location Services available for self-hosting in Azure Virtual Machine environments are:

    • Routing – provides access to and use of global, real-time and historical traffic information.
    • Forward Geocoder and Reverse Geocoder – provides comprehensive coverage in 196 countries and several territories with a high-precision mapping of geo-coordinates or addresses.
    • Map Tiles – shows fresh day-time map tiles in multiple styles (for example, base and aerial) including rendered live-traffic tiles for flow overlay.

    Applications for HERE Location Services include the following.

    Fleet management and emergency services

    • Create safe and efficient routing solutions for multiple vehicle types
    • Provide the most efficient routing options based on real-time traffic conditions

    Seamless mobility

    • Provide routing options for pedestrians and public transportation
    • Help cities run more smoothly with improved traffic flow and transportation network usage

    Business intelligence:

    • Understand trends and behavior of citizens in relation to their location and mobility patterns
    • Understand shifting market dynamics to inform real-estate investments
    • Verify insurance claims and authenticate transactions

    HERE Location Services are available to Azure customers who want to manage and deliver highly available location-based services. The self-hosted architecture ensures maximum availability and resiliency for Azure customers running critical business applications that rely on “always-on” location services.

    “Location anchors our connected world and HERE Location Services enable industries to solve complex challenges while delivering valuable new products and experiences,” said Mithun Dhar, General Manager, Developer Relations at HERE Technologies. “Demands on business require flexibility in software architecture, and HERE is proud to offer robust and high-quality location services to customers operating across public cloud, self-hosted or hybrid environments.”

    HERE Location Services are also available as Serverless Functions on the Azure Marketplace. For the latest Azure developer content, go to HERE | Azure Marketplace.

  • 1Data Gateway helps streamline data delivery

    1Spatial has released 1Data Gateway, an intuitive self-service web-portal for handling data validation, data processing and data enhancement.

    1Data Gateway forms part of 1Spatial’s Location Master Data Management (LMDM) suite of products which ensures spatial data quality and consistency across the enterprise.

    Available in the cloud or on-premise, 1Data Gateway offers internal and external users a secure, fully scalable and customisable product to handle both spatial and non-spatial data files. Transportation and infrastructure companies, government agencies, and utility companies are among the types of organisation that can utilise 1Data Gateway to help improve productivity, lower costs and guarantee control, compliance and data governance, for their data supply chains.

    1Data Gateway applies 1Spatial’s renowned rules-based approach to help users manage their data. For organisations dealing with complex and varied supply chains, 1Data Gateway ensures data is checked at source. Using the centralised management of suppliers, partners and rules to create a collaborative approach, it promotes efficiency in data capture and submission across the supply chain.

    Users simply upload their data files by dropping them onto the interface and 1Data Gateway applies the high-performance rules that have been pre-configured by an administrator in order to perform validation, correction or enhancement. This process means that users do not require training and can get results within minutes.

    Once processed, results can be previewed on a map or downloaded into a local system. 1Data Gateway empowers administrators by providing analytics and dashboard capabilities to track and analyse the quality of the data that groups or organisations are submitting.

    “We believe 1Data Gateway has the power to transform the manipulation of spatial data. We’re always driven by the needs of our customers, and in identifying the requirement for an easy to use, yet powerful portal for data quality and integration, we’ve developed 1Data Gateway,” Seb Lessware, CTO, 1Spatial said.

    “Our customers need to unlock information contained within spatial data from multiple suppliers, in multiple formats, often submitted via different means. 1Data Gateway provides a single place for data submission, allowing the data to be validated, harmonised, cleaned and enhanced, making it fit for purpose and allowing the insight it can provide to be unlocked. It’s an exciting update to our product range, and should help revolutionise the way organisations manage their data flow.”

  • AI helps create street maps from satellite imagery

    AI helps create street maps from satellite imagery

    Creating detailed street maps and keeping them updated is an expensive and time-consuming task performed mostly by large companies. They ignore the many parts of the world where this task is not profitable, even though the need is high due to rapid growth and change in the street network, such as in Thailand.

    To automate the process and make accurate digital maps available in any country, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Qatar Computing Research Institute have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model called RoadTagger. It uses satellite imagery to tag road features in digital maps, such as lane counts, which are essential for reliable navigation.

    Satellite imagery companies are constantly expanding their coverage and increasing their refresh rate, so this source of mapping data is more readily available and up to date than the data collected on the ground, such as by Google’s fleet of mapping cars. However, satellite imagery often suffers from occlusion from trees, buildings, overpasses and other obstacles.

    RoadTagger gets around this problem by using a combination of neural network architectures to predict hidden features. Testing of the model with digital maps of 20 U.S. cities showed that it predicted the number of lanes with 77% accuracy and the road type with 93% accuracy.

    An AI model developed at MIT and Qatar Computing Research Institute that uses only satellite imagery to automatically tag road features in digital maps could improve GPS navigation, especially in countries with limited map data. (Image: Google Maps/MIT News)
    An AI model developed at MIT and Qatar Computing Research Institute that uses only satellite imagery to automatically tag road features in digital maps could improve GPS navigation, especially in countries with limited map data. (Map data: Google/MIT News)

    RoadTagger, which combines a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a graph neural network (GNN) is fed only raw data and automatically produces output, without human intervention. The CNN, commonly used for image-processing tasks, takes as input raw satellite images of target roads. The GNN — widely used to model relationships between connected nodes in a graph — breaks the road into roughly 20-meter “tiles,” each of which is a separate graph node.

    For each node, the CNN extracts road features and shares that information with its immediate neighbors, thereby propagating road information along the whole graph. For example, if only two lanes of a four-lane road are visible in an image, the model uses information from nearby tiles, such as road width, to conclude that the road has four lanes.

    The researchers trained and tested RoadTagger using the OpenStreetMap data set. First, they collected confirmed road attributes from 688 square kilometers of maps of 20 U.S. cities, then they gathered the corresponding satellite images from a Google Maps dataset. The training taught the model what weight to assign to various features and node connections, and it now automatically learns which image features are useful and how to propagate those features along the graph.

    The researchers hope that RoadTagger will help humans validate the constant stream of changes in OpenStreetMap and similar datasets as well as enrich them with details that they do not already contain, such as whether a road is paved.

    Citation. He, S., Bastani, F., Jagwani, S., Park, E., Abbar, S., Alizadeh, M., Balakrishnan, H., Chawla, S., Madden, S., & Sadeghi, M. A. (Dec. 28, 2019). “RoadTagger: Robust Road Attribute Inference with Graph Neural Networks.” arXiv:1912.12408v1.

  • MGISS launches web app for visualization of buried assets

    MGISS launches web app for visualization of buried assets

    Image: MGISS
    Image: MGISS

    MGISS, a U.K. geospatial specialist, has released a new version of its web app TopoGrafi that allows for the display of 3D data in real-world models. With enhanced 3D data processing capabilities, TopoGrafi is an end-to-end platform for capturing buried asset data and processing it for augmented reality visualizations.

    Aimed at the utility and infrastructure sectors, TopoGrafi is helping organizations in water and highway sectors enhance asset location data, improve on-site safety and reduce construction and maintenance costs.

    Designed to be used alongside apps such as Esri Collector for ArcGIS, the TopoGrafi platform uses GNSS data.

    It applies near-real-time conversions, transforming the recorded positions to local reference systems and aligning it with high-accuracy mapping including Ordnance Survey MasterMap.

    The TopoGrafi toolkit also includes functionality to “snap” 3D features to each other and to other spatially referenced data, in order to create a true 3D model that can then be used to create Augmented Reality visualizations accessible from the desktop or in the field.

  • Lidar USA completes integration of Optech CL-360

    Lidar USA completes integration of Optech CL-360

    The Snoopy CL-360 lidar scanner. (Photo: Lidar USA)
    The Snoopy CL-360 lidar scanner. (Photo: Lidar USA)

    The Optech CL-360 has joined the ranks of Lidar USA Snoopy systems.

    The Snoopy CL-360 has been meticulously designed for integration on backpack, vehicle and UAV applications. Weighing 5 kilograms fully assembled, the Snoopy CL-360 is capable of delivering highly accurate results, up to +/-0.01 feet on paved surfaces from a vehicle.

    The system has a scan line rate of 250 Hz with a 500-kHz data rate, giving a uniform result along and across track. The systems are easily configurable with multiple scanners (similar to internet of things applications) to avoid occlusions.

    “We are pleased to again partner with LidarUSA in their innovative approach to UAV integration with the addition of our CL-360 to their product portfolio. Featuring true 360-degree scanning without blind spots, CL-360 integrated by LidarUSA will provide an exciting addition to the UAV marketplace,” said Optech Executive Vice President and General Manager Michel Stanier.

    Users can also benefit from a UAV deployment, achieving scans with usable data as much as 60 degrees off nadir (widths of more than 1,100 feet while scanning at the 400-foot ceiling). The small beam size of 0.3 mrad allows the CL-series to reliably collect ground points (such as on or near the dirt through vegetation) while also providing better detection of fine linear features such as power lines and railroad tracks.

    The integration of the CL-360 into the Snoopy series of systems from Lidar USA is expected to be a huge plus to the mapping community in 2020, according to Lidar USA. Users can expect to see the benefit of decreased field-collection effort and increased product quality resulting in a growing and profitable business.

    “As more technologies embrace lidar collection to reduce their field time, we expect to see the CL-series become the ‘go to’ solution for many of them,” said Jeff Fagerman of Lidar USA. “The CL-series provides the accuracy and point density often necessary to meet the client’s every growing demands for more, more, more. By designing the system for car and UAV, as well as multiple configurations (two or more systems running together), our users will greatly benefit where they feel it most — the bank.”

  • Vexcel Imaging to acquire image resources from Verisk

    Vexcel Imaging to acquire image resources from Verisk

    logoVexcel Imaging, a provider of aerial imagery data, large-format aerial cameras and photogrammetry software, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the imagery sourcing group from Verisk’s Geomni business.

    The acquisition will combine Geomni’s imagery surveying and content-related teams and assets into Vexcel. Verisk, a data analytics provider, will be a minority owner in Vexcel with full access to all aerial imagery libraries.

    The combination of Geomni’s fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and aerial operations, mapping business and oblique aerial image library together with Vexcel’s sensor business and data program will create a world-leading geospatial data library.

    Geomni’s analytics team and assets will remain part of Verisk and continue to focus on world-class advanced analytics. The team will work closely with Vexcel on a strategic road map and joint projects.

    “The strategic alliance between Vexcel and Verisk demonstrates both companies’ resolve to drive rapid innovation across imagery and analytics — to enter new markets, create new categories, and better serve commercial and insurance customers,” said Jeffrey C. Taylor, president of Geomni. “Partnering with Vexcel is a huge leap forward in the services we can provide customers.”

    Vexcel Imaging was founded in 1992. The company’s successful line of UltraCam systems was launched with the first UltraCam in 2003. Vexcel is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado; operates an office in Graz, Austria; and will now have teams and operational hubs strategically located throughout the United States and in Spain.

    “Our alliance with Vexcel benefits our customers through a unified, robust, and rapidly expanding global aerial imagery library that will deepen their understanding of ground truth,” said Mark Anquillare, chief operating officer of Verisk. “The combination of Verisk’s and Vexcel’s data will provide tremendous coverage for customers and help drive Verisk’s proven ability to innovate advanced analytic solutions.”

    “By combining forces with Verisk, we’re making a progressive move to accelerate innovation within the geospatial data industry,” said Erik Jorgensen, chairman and CEO of Vexcel Imaging. “Vexcel and Verisk share tremendous synergies, and we look forward to bringing the definitive imagery and geospatial data library to the market — unmatched in its size, quality and breadth.”

    Vexcel maintains a strong partnership with the Geospatial Intelligence Center (GIC), an insurance industry consortium spearheaded by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting insurance fraud and crime, and powered by Vexcel’s data program. The GIC empowers its member insurers to improve their decision making and risk management by leveraging aerial imagery and data in visual tools and automated processes. The partnership will provide enhanced support to GIC member insurers in the form of additional flying and processing capabilities as well as access to the newly scaled and unified geospatial library and enhanced analytics.

    The transaction is expected to close the first quarter of this year, subject to the completion of customary closing conditions.