Daniel Sällstedt (left), CEO of Sky Eye Innovations, and Erik Eklund, business development manager of Spacemetric, discuss their new partnership to develop inspection drones. (Photo: Patrik Hellström, Sky Eye Innovations)
To meet the growing demand for advanced industrial airborne inspection tools, Sky Eye Innovations and Spacemetric have entered a strategic partnership to provide turnkey solutions for collection, storage and management of data from airborne sensors.
Sky Eye Innovations produces a UAV solution with capabilities to control advanced sensing technologies, and Spacemetric is a provider of image data management software solutions.
More and more organizations see the enormous potential for increased efficiency in inspection, monitoring, asset assessment and preventative maintenance through use of drones (UAVs) equipped with various sensor technologies. The huge growth in drone use has been helped by software tools that support data collection and data processing, many of them provided through the cloud.
The new partnership connects a leading image management tool with a very high-performance UAV solution built for daily use in the most demanding conditions. The result is an integrated and highly effective inspection tool for preventative maintenance and decision making that uniquely combines imagery from UAVs, satellites and handheld sensor units.
“At Spacemetric we’ve actively developed our software to handle the growing volumes of data coming from UAVs. We’ve actively been looking for a UAV partner and are very impressed by Sky Eye Innovations and their unique offering, which is much in demand,” said Erik Eklund, who is responsible for Spacemetric’s new Airborne business area.
The partnership creates a unique set of expertise. Spacemetric specializes in solutions to manage large volumes of imagery and streamline the process of efficient capture and storage to accelerated sharing and delivery of geospatial imagery for users like the Swedish Air Force.
Sky Eye Innovations contributes with development and manufacturing of extremely performant UAV platform solutions that alone in the world are able to lift and control FLIR System’s most advanced cameras used for industrial inspection and monitoring tasks.
“Sky Eye Innovations are constantly working on improvements and looking at new ways to address the challenges the industry is experiencing. Our ultimate goal is to offer cost-effective solutions that drive productivity and improve working conditions. To achieve this we need our UAV platform to excel and collaboration with world-leading expertise is critical to providing high quality customized solutions that are in demand. Therefore we are proud to announce our partnership with Spacemetric, and the next generation of industrial inspection tools this will lead to,” said Daniel Sällstedt, founder and CEO of N.M.M Innovation Sweden AB (also known as Sky Eye Innovations).
Sentera LLC, a global provider of UAV hardware, sensors and data management platforms, has launched the Phoenix 2 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Phoenix 2 is light-weight and highly durable, and can follow precise grid patterns.
“The Phoenix 2 brings a level of precision and accuracy to UAVs that hasn’t been seen before,” said Todd Colten, chief aerospace engineer for Sentera. “Users can now collect highly detailed data quickly, and with complete certainty about its accuracy.” Colten went on to describe the professional-grade autopilot: “The grid pattern you specify is mapped pre-flight. The drone knows exactly what line to follow to get the exact looping radius, and the exact flight level needed for perfect tiling.”
Sentera Phoenix 2.
At only 4 pounds, the Phoenix 2 is easily hand-launched in just a few steps, and can carry multiple sensor options for up to an hour of flight time. The professional-grade autopilot is part of what makes the precision possible. It constantly auto-calculates and auto-optimizes according to the grid pattern specified to ensure the data collected meets exact specifications.
“Growers are using the Phoenix 2 with agriculture-specific sensors to collect RGB, NIR, and NDVI imagery. That imagery is so precise – [the growers] tell us they’re targeting and treating specific parts of their fields, and then they’re using fewer chemicals, saving money and increasing yields,” continued Colten. “Follow-up flights can be programmed to use the same pattern for exact data comparison at multiple times throughout the growing season. We’re getting great feedback from our customers.”
Attributes
Payload Solutions: The Phoenix 2 is a highly-versatile UAV that accepts multiple sensors, including the Sentera Double 4K Sensor, providing true RGB and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data in a single flight. The Sentera Quad Sensor, a multi-spectral six-band imager with red edge capabilities is also popular in agriculture applications. Other compatible mapping sensors include the Sentera-Q for high-resolution orthomaps and the Radiometric Thermal Sensor, which quickly builds high-resolution true temperature maps. Sentera also offers EO and IR gimbaled payloads for live video public safety missions.
Precision: Up to a 60-minute endurance and cruise speed of 30 mph, the Phoenix 2 is capable of covering broad areas that other UAVs of the same size cannot. The highly reliable and accurate Kestrel OnBoard autopilot ensure images are captured with precise, even spacing and overlap that is auto-calculated and can be adjusted by the user at the click of a button.
Ease-of-Use: Effortlessly hand-launched in just a few steps, the 4-pound Phoenix 2 flies autonomously on a predetermined flight pattern that can be updated during flight by accessing the easy-to-use ground station software. Upon completion, the Phoenix 2 automatically returns to safely land.
End-to-End Solution: The Phoenix 2 includes the aircraft, ground station, transportation cases, batteries, chargers, and software with multiple training options available. Sentera offers a wide variety of sensors, ensuring every application has the perfect imagery solution. Sentera’s AgVault and OnTop Open Software Platforms manage the multitude of images and data collected during flight, and allow near-real time reading and analysis of the data, including working with other data sources via APIs.
LandWorks Inc., developer of land management software, has advanced its integration with Esri technology by creating a new Spatial Alignment Tool that runs as an ArcGIS Desktop extension and automates polygon editing tasks for land mapping professionals and land asset managers.
LandWorks will demonstrate the product at booth #2404 at the 2016 Esri User Conference, June 27-July 1, at the San Diego Convention Center.
The new software can be used in any country and in any industry that maps land boundary polygons using Esri’s ArcGIS Platform.
Previously, when a more accurate version of land grid (Public Land Survey sections, Texas abstracts, etc.) or tax parcel data was made available by a data vendor, any polygons in an updated area of the grid had to be manually realigned to snap to the more accurate grid. With LandWorks’ Spatial Alignment Tool, manual realignment is no longer necessary.
“Land grid and parcel data providers typically deliver quarterly updates to customers. The labor intensive task of realigning mapped land polygons to the updated version has been a long-term challenge that many companies choose to forgo rather than implementing the more accurate version of the land grid or parcel data,” said Jerry Bramwell, President and CEO of LandWorks. “With our new Spatial Alignment Tool, what once required months to complete now takes hours, resulting in more accurate land agreement polygon boundaries without the high cost of manually snapping them to the updated grid or parcel data.”
The Spatial Alignment Tool works with any vector land grid or parcel data. Users need an original source land/parcel grid and an updated source land/parcel grid. The tool detects vertex movements between the original land/parcel grid and the corresponding updated layers, then automatically aligns the selected polygons based on those detected changes.
Users can easily adjust the tolerance and alignment settings if not satisfied with the results. Once the alignment process is complete, users can review the aligned polygons before committing them to the enterprise geodatabase.
In addition to easily maintaining the accuracy of GIS data for better analysis, the new software also saves companies significant time and money if they choose to switch land grid or parcel data suppliers for quality, supply or budgetary reasons.
“Traditionally, companies have been hesitant to change land grid or parcel data vendors because of the seemingly Herculean task of transferring the polygons from one land grid or parcel layer to another,” said Bramwell. “Automating this task using the Spatial Alignment Tool now makes switching suppliers a viable option.”
Size, weight and power designed for smaller unmanned platforms
MB-Two module by Trimble.
The MB-Two GNSS module delivers highly accurate GNSS-based heading plus pitch or roll in an advanced industry standard form-factor for system integrators. The module’s embedded Z-Blade GNSS technology uses all available dual-frequency GNSS signals equally, without any constellation preference, to deliver fast and stable centimeter-accurate position and heading information. The MB-Two is designed for a wide variety of applications such as unmanned, agriculture, automotive, marine and military systems. The MB-Two features an enhanced dual-core GNSS engine with 240 channels capable of tracking L1/L2 frequencies from the GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou constellations. The GNSS engine supports Trimble RTX correction services, including CenterPoint RTX and RangePoint RTX, delivered worldwide via L-Band satellite. The MB-Two combined with CenterPoint RTX delivers centimeter-level positioning without requiring a local base station or VRS network.
High performance, uninterrupted positioning for vehicle applications
The S1722DR8 GNSS dead-reckoning receiver, compared to a U.S. penny.
The S1722DR8 GNSS dead-reckoning receiver integrates a three-axis gyroscope/accelerometer and barometric pressure sensor with a GNSS receiver. Using wheel speed data from a vehicle, the S1722DR8 achieves 100-percent coverage. It can be flexibly mounted in any orientation, and does not have to be placed horizontally as do conventional dead-reckoning solutions that use a single-axis gyroscope. Its auto-calibration feature simplifies installation, while the short calibration time upon first use improves the user experience. The barometric pressure sensor provides highly accurate altitude information, which is useful for differentiating floor levels of multi-story parking garages or stacked highways.The S1722DR8 measures 17 x 22 millimeters. It offers continuous navigation even in GPS-signal-denied environments such as tunnels or underground parking lots.
The HX-DU1603D rover radio is an advanced, high-speed, Bluetooth-enabled wireless data link designed for GNSS/RTK (real-time kinematic) surveying and precise positioning. It is a lightweight, ruggedized UHF receiver for digital radio communications between 410 and 470 MHz in either 12.5- kHz or 25-kHz channels, which can be widely used in GNSS/RTK surveying and GNSS precise positioning systems. The HX-DU1603D is equipped with a Bluetooth transceiver for cable-free communications with external devices. It features an internal, rechargeable battery for ease of use and portability that allows long operational hours. Its display screen and buttons can be used to configuration parameters such as frequency, protocols, power display, serial port baud rate and air baud rate. By deploying the technology, users can instantly communicate with GNSS precise positioning receivers that share the same protocols throughout the world. The rover radio HX-DU1603D joins the line of Harxon products that include 25W base radio HX-DU8602T with simplex and 35W base radio HX-DU8608D with Duplex.
EyesMap3D generates accurate 3D models and point clouds, measured directly from images. It allows users to create high-density points clouds with textures achieving a realistic 3D model appearance. It is able to measure accurately on the images to generate true orthophotos, and geo-reference and scale the results. eyesMap3D users can use their cameras, mobile phone or camera drone to capture images. The program is compatible with most popular software packages on the market. The goal of maker eCapture is to allow the user to easily generate and work with 3D models and photogrammetric tools, while maintaining data quality.
The fire swept through Fort McMurray, destroying more than 1,600 homes and buildings and forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta’s history.
People described it as hell on Earth, comparing the disaster to movies, war, and the apocalypse. By the end of the week, the fire had grown to more than 101,000 hectares, significantly larger than the city of Calgary.
BURN SCAR: On May 4, the Landsat 7 satellite’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus acquired this false-color image combining shortwave infrared, near infrared and green light (bands 5-4-2). Near- and short-wave infrared help penetrate clouds and smoke to reveal hot spots of fire (red), smoke (white) and burned areas (brown).
The entire city population of 88,000 evacuated in a rush, many through falling embers from wildfires beside roadways.
On May 5, DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 satellite (WV-3) peered through smoke using shortwave infrared to take the image on the left. GIS analysts can also measure the intensity of the fire using the image.
As of press time, the fires continue to spread across northeast Alberta, impacting Canada’s oil sand operations, and into the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.
The wildfire may become the most costly disaster in Canadian history.
The fire swept through Fort McMurray, destroying more than 1,600 homes and buildings and forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta’s history.
People described it as hell on Earth, comparing the disaster to movies, war, and the apocalypse. By the end of the week, the fire had grown to more than 101,000 hectares, significantly larger than the city of Calgary.
BURN SCAR: On May 4, the Landsat 7 satellite’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus acquired this false-color image combining shortwave infrared, near infrared and green light (bands 5-4-2). Near- and short-wave infrared help penetrate clouds and smoke to reveal hot spots of fire (red), smoke (white) and burned areas (brown).
The entire city population of 88,000 evacuated in a rush, many through falling embers from wildfires beside roadways.
On May 5, DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 satellite (WV-3) peered through smoke using shortwave infrared to take the image on the left. GIS analysts can also measure the intensity of the fire using the image.
As of press time, the fires continue to spread across northeast Alberta, impacting Canada’s oil sand operations, and into the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.
The wildfire may become the most costly disaster in Canadian history.
According to a new market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, the Lidar drone market was valued US$16.1 million in 2015 and is estimated to reach US$144.6 million by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.2% between 2016 and 2022.
The full report is titled “Lidar Drone Market by Product (Rotary Wing, and Fixed Wing), Component, Application (Corridor Mapping, Archaeology, Construction, Environment, Entertainment, and Precision Agriculture), Geography — Global Forecast to 2022,” and is available through the MarketsandMarkets website.
The 125-page report includes and 66 market data tables and 42 figures.
Factors such as technological superiority, encouragement from governments and institutes for adoption of lidar drones, and its use in emerging applications such as precision farming are the key drivers for the growth of the lidar drone market. The use of lidar drones for delivering products generates further opportunities for lidar drone manufacturers.
Rotary-wing. The rotary-wing lidar drone market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The ability of rotary-wing lidar drones to take off without runways and its high degree of maneuverability are the reasons for the high growth of this market.
Corridor mapping. The corridor mapping application held the largest share of the market in 2015. Highway corridors are built after proper planning and designing to ensure that they can withstand the pressure exerted by vehicles on a regular basis.
As highway projects are constructed from a long-term perspective, it is necessary to conduct a thorough feasibility study of the terrain on which the highway is to be constructed. Lidar drones provide this information by building three-dimensional (3D) elevation models of the surveyed area.
Infrastructure development is further expected to increase in coming years, which would, in turn, lead to increased usage of lidar drones for inspecting the growth of the infrastructure project. These benefits drive the market in the corridor mapping application.
North America. The North American market held the largest share of the global lidar drone market in 2015. The increasing awareness about the benefits of lidar drones such as high accuracy and low cost is one of the reasons for the large market share of the North American lidar drone market. The use of lidar drones in precision farming is driving the lidar drone market in North America.
Major players. The major players operating in this market are Velodyne Lidar (U.S.), Phoenix Aerial Systems (U.S), Riegl Laser Measurement Systems GmbH (Austria), SICK AG (Germany), and YellowScan (France), 3D Robotics, Inc. (U.S.), DJI (China), FARO Technology (U.S.), Leica Geosystems AG (Switzerland), Optech, Inc. (Canada) and Trimble Navigation Limited (U.S.).
The research report categorizes the global lidar drone market on the basis of components, products, applications and geography. It describes the drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges in the lidar drone market. The Porter’s five forces analysis has been included in the report with a description of each of its forces and its respective impact on the market.
Related Reports
Lidar Market by Product (Aerial, Ground-based, and UAV LiDAR), Component, Application (Corridor Mapping, Engineering, Environment, ADAS, Urban Planning, Exploration, and Metrology), Services and Geography – Global Forecast to 2022
UAV Drones Market by Type (Fixed Wing, Rotary Blade, Nano, Hybrid), Application (Law Enforcement, Precision Agriculture, Media and Entertainment, Retail), & Geography (Americas, Europe, APAC, RoW) – Analysis & Forecast to 2020
Intergeo 2016 host DVW German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management gathered together experts from the worlds of business, public authorities and science to talk about this year’s key topic of the show: the “smart city.” Held in April at Hamburg’s Agency for Geoinformation and Surveying, the event focused on what an intelligent, digital city might look like and what role geoinformation would play as cities and metropolitan regions become “smart.”
Intergeo 2016, the leading international event for the geospatial community, will be held Oct. 11-13 in Hamburg, Germany, and also will focus on smart cities as a multi-faceted issue to shape the future.
During the preview, attendees agreed that cities must, and will, become more intelligent because of the benefits it has to society, Intergeo officials say in a May news release.
“They all agreed that the increasing penetration of digital technologies into cities is not an end in itself.” Intergeo says in the news release. “First and foremost is the common good of society and the advantages that digitalization offers inhabitants. This will ensure that cities can be run on a more intelligent basis and thus become a sustainable living space. The preview participants felt that smart geodata was an essential prerequisite in this regard.”
The host city for Intergeo 2016, Hamburg has been quick to position itself with “Hamburg’s Strategy for the Digital City,” which aims to develop a standardized smart city strategy. Key areas include mobility, energy, business and work, accommodation and city life. The city’s residents also will be involved in the strategy.
The roll-out of intelligent solutions for individual segments of the city is done in dialogue with residents, politicians, administrators, business people and scientists. Taking traffic as an example, smart mobility concepts are designed to improve the flow of traffic so as to minimize the delays caused by congestion while also lowering CO2 emissions, Intergeo says. Measures of a smart city include intelligent transport systems, semi-automated vehicle guidance, sharing concepts, intelligent parking facility management, apps for inhabitant participation and city planning processes that help to avoid traffic in the best-case scenario.
Everyone at the preview agreed that a standardized language must be developed and understood if forward-looking, complex processes such as the development of an intelligent digital city are to be successfully rolled out, according to Intergeo.
Colombia – Percent Change in Cumulative Zika Cases by Department, Feb. 13 -March 26, 2016.
Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) is using the Esri platform to track the outbreak of the Zika virus on a global scale. By sharing mapped intelligence with health services and aid responders, PDC is able to provide essential information that defines the characteristics of the virus and its carrier’s breeding grounds.
“Esri provides the backbone for visualizing an event and understanding the locality and context for any disaster, including the Zika virus,” said Ray Shirkhodai, PDC executive director.
The center provides situational awareness information for all manner of disasters. Esri, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, creates technology that generates smart maps derived from a wide variety of data resources and then publishes them across information networks.
PDC uses these capabilities to add different data layers — hospital density, rain, vector programs, and so forth—to maps. Maps make it easier and faster for disaster managers to understand the scope of a region’s vulnerability to disease. The center serves its map products around the world to organizations that depend on it for intelligence about specific regions.
“Esri GIS technology specifically allows us to characterize the Zika virus outbreak and contextualize it for decision makers,” explained Joseph Green, PDC’s health risk specialist. “Our maps describe the distribution of suspected cases at national levels throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.”
PDC gathers Zika virus information from weekly epidemiology updates and bulletins obtained from health organizations worldwide. In return, the center publishes regular updates, including online maps that track the increase and decrease of reported and suspected cases over time.
The solution to containing the Zika virus is to dispose of mosquitos, which carry the disease. Mapping regional vulnerabilities to virus outbreaks highlights the value of mosquito management programs. Learn more about using GIS for vector-borne disease surveillance and control at go.esri.com/vector-ready.
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) today announced the five recipients of its 2016 Awards Program. Winners were recognized on the main stage at USGIF’s GEOINT 2016 Symposium, held May 15-18, at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
This year’s recipients are The Geospatial Semester at James Madison University; Exemplar City Inc.; the Santa Clara County Fire Department’s iMAP Team; ABACO SpA’s Research & Development Team; and Gunnery Sgt. Jesus M. Bocanegra, Marine Special Operations Company, U.S. Special Operations Command.
The USGIF Awards Program annually recognizes the exceptional work of the geospatial intelligence tradecraft’s brightest minds and organizations pushing the leading edge. The five award categories recognize GEOINT achievements in academia, community support, government, industry, and military. Award winners are nominated by their colleagues and selected by the USGIF Awards Subcommittee.
“The number and diversity of the nominations received for the 2016 USGIF Awards Program was outstanding,” said Kevin Jackson, USGIF Awards Subcommittee chair. “From year to year the quantity of nominations may vary, but the number submitted this year sets an all-time record, and the competition in all the categories was fierce. However, some things do remain constant. Underneath the outstanding achievements of the individuals and teams that we honor each year at the Symposium, are people of great character and commitment, each with a true sense of purpose.”
USGIF also announced at the symposium the Honorable Martin C. Faga, former director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), as the 2016 recipient of the Foundation’s Arthur C. Lundahl-Thomas C. Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award.
Faga is the 12th individual to receive this prestigious award and was recognized during USGIF’s GEOINT 2016 Symposium general session. (Read more about Faga below.)
2016 Winners
Academic Achievement Award
The Geospatial Semester, James Madison University
The Geospatial Semester is a dual enrollment partnership between James Madison University (JMU) and school districts across Virginia. Participating students learn about geospatial technologies and apply them to local and global problems. The class culminates with an extended, in-depth local project. Students can earn up to six credits at JMU, which are transferable to the school of their choice. Since its inception in 2005, nearly 3,000 students have participated and gone on to a variety of careers using geospatial technology, including intelligence. JMU faculty members are regular visitors to the high school classrooms to interact with teachers and students as well as to provide technical and project support.
Community Support Achievement Award
Exemplar City Inc.
Exemplar City, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established by Huntsville, Ala., Mayor Tommy Battle, assists local governments in preparing, responding, mitigating, and avoiding natural/manmade disasters through planned resilience. Exemplar City’s peer-to-peer collaboration brings municipal stakeholders together to build safe, secure, and sustainable communities. Exemplar City partners with Geo Huntsville, focusing on geospatial technology applications for public safety and homeland security. Together, they use technology instruction and field-based data gathering, and interface with geospatial technology experts to bring geospatial technology advances to governmental officials throughout the nation. In 2014, the Blueprint for Safety (BfS) pilot was launched to increase multi-jurisdictional information sharing and enhance situational awareness among agencies to improve rapid disaster response and sustained recovery. Through BfS, a concept emerged allowing shared lessons, code sets, and case documentation using Exemplar City to create a multi-city collaboration.
Government Achievement Award
iMAP Team, Santa Clara County Fire Department
The Santa Clara County Fire Department’s iMAP Team developed an enterprise GEOINT system used to manage all fire and medical service operations throughout Super Bowl 50. Together with its partner Intterra, the developers were able to integrate 911/computer-aided dispatch information, map special events throughout the region, monitor resource availability, view GIS layers to include near real-time imagery, and analyze data trends. This system provided the Santa Clara County Multi-Agency Coordination Center with a true GEOINT decision and situational awareness platform. It allowed decision-makers to keep informed on current activity and make decisions faster than ever before. The iMAP team created dynamic situational awareness of all Super Bowl 50 events, providing valuable insight for first responders, resulting in a safe environment for fans and players.
Industry Achievement Award
ABACO R&D Team, ABACO SpA
ABACO SpA, based in the United Kingdom and Italy, specializes in advanced geospatial intelligence data processing and portrayal techniques. In 2016, its R&D team designed a new augmented reality (AR) “Farm Visor,” to help the farming community easily access big data. Integrated with an advanced 3D processing server, Farm Visor facilitates location of plots, visualization of attributes, and consumption of services to manage farming activities. The AR solution can further benefit from a new agricultural portal, Project groundSITE, which supports decision-making, farm agenda management, controlled chemicals spraying, and water consumption control. The R&D Team members awarded are: Oreste Tommasi, R&D director; Alberto Bignotti, software factory manager; and Alessandro Zilocchi, product owner.
Military Achievement Award
Gunnery Sgt. Jesus M. Bocanegra, Marine Special Operations Company, U.S. Special Operations Command
Gunnery Sgt. Bocanegra deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve from July 2015 to January 2016. During the deployment, Bocanegra increased operational allocation of ISR assets by more than 300 percent. In total, he acquired more than 3,500 hours of ISR collection supporting six different units spanning an area of more than 200,000 square kilometers. Bocanegra created and disseminated more than 100 specialized imagery and topographic products in support of deliberate targeting efforts. He continually mentored the six units in the utilization of measurement & signature intelligence in order to leverage ongoing national technical means collection efforts in support of intelligence preparation of the environment. As a result, the units struck 25 deliberate targets and created 30 additional developmental targets for follow-on actions, maintaining pressure on ISIL.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Faga was unable to attend the Symposium and accept the award in person, but he instead recorded an on-camera interview about his career and how it feels to receive this recognition.
“It’s hard to express how much the award means to me,” Faga said. “I actually knew Arthur Lundahl—he was retired by the time I knew him but he was very active in mentoring people in the field… To receive an award in his name is a special privilege for me. As exciting as the last almost 50 years has been, I look forward to what’s happening in the future, particularly in the processing of imagery and the ability for anybody on a laptop to do almost anything they want. As the same goes, 20 years from now people will look back and say they haven’t seen anything at that point.”
Faga was the 10th director of NRO, where he most notably led the declassification of NRO’s existence following more than 30 years of secrecy. He revolutionized NRO support to the military, downgraded the classification of NRO products, and appointed a deputy director for military support. Faga also initiated the transition of NRO’s separate Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Air Force, and Navy programs into functional directorates in signals, imagery, and communications.
Faga retired in 2006 as president and chief executive officer of the MITRE Corporation. Prior to his promotion to president and CEO in May 2000, Faga served as executive vice president and senior vice president and general manager of MITRE’s Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems. Since retiring, Faga has been elected to the board of directors for Electronic Data Systems, GeoEye, and Orbital ATK.
Before joining MITRE, Faga served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space from 1989 to 1993, simultaneously serving as director of NRO. Faga received many awards and distinctions throughout his career, including the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the DoD Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and in 2004 was awarded the Intelligence Community Seal Medallion. President George W. Bush appointed Faga to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2006 to 2009 and to the Public Interest Declassification Board from 2004 to 2009.
“The Honorable Martin C. Faga — patriot, thought leader, visionary, trailblazer — has been at the forefront of the GEOINT tradecraft for five decades,” said The Honorable Jeffrey K. Harris, Chairman of USGIF’s Board of Directors. “Whether serving in government or industry, Marty has always focused first and foremost on the GEOINT mission. We are proud to recognize his leadership, technical acumen, and political savvy.”
The Lundahl-Finnie award recipient is nominated and voted on by the USGIF Board of Directors. This distinguished award is named after Arthur C. Lundahl and Thomas C. Finnie, celebrating their accomplishments — in imagery analysis and mapping, respectively — and their legacies within the GEOINT Community.
Lundahl is known as the father of modern imagery analysis and imagery intelligence for being the founder and first director of the National Photographic Interpretation Center. Finnie was the Defense Mapping Agency’s (DMA) director of management and technology, and was one of the primary architects of DMA’s evolution to the digital era.
To learn more about the USGIF Awards Program and past award recipients, visit USGIF.org.
GeoMobile Innovations has released GeoBullseye for ArcPad version 2. GeoBullseye is a software extension that turns Esri’s ArcPad mobile GIS software into a high-accuracy GNSS, three dimensional (collecting X, Y and Z) solution supporting Esri workflows.
GeoBullseye supports accurate collection of positions and quality-control GNSS attributes for confident deployment in horizontal XY and vertical Z, including GEOID12 for accurate Mean Sea Level (MSL) elevations.
GeoBullseye displays real-time estimated accuracies on the ArcPad main map screen and supports automated recording of GNSS/GIS metadata, including key horizontal and vertical accuracy metrics and real-time differential correction status results.
Version 2 collects up to 35 configurable “auto” attributes to support confidence in critical field data-collection efforts. GeoBullseye is a XY and Z centimeter accuracy RTK GNSS collection solution that can be tightly integrated in a fully disconnected workflow with ArcGIS as well as connected, real-time synchronization with ArcGIS Online (AGOL) and/or ArcGIS Server including SDE environments.
“The high-accuracy GNSS 3D mobile GIS solution and can be deployed with today’s various Esri workflows,” said Geomobile Innovations President Richard Ash. “We recognize that centimeter-level GNSS data collection is a strong trend in mobile GIS and are excited to bring that capability to the Esri environment.”
Furthermore, GeoBullseye Version 2 implements a rigorous 14-parameter datum transformation to solve a critical horizontal datum shift problem for the specialized positioning needs of North American GPS users mapping in NAD83 (2011 epoch) datum while using satellite-based augmentation service (SBAS) such as WAAS or commercial services like Atlas, OmniSTAR, Terrastar and Starfire. Those services produce coordinates that are referenced to the ITRF08 datum, which is substantially different (greater than 1 meter) from NAD83/2011, the national standard in the U.S.
“Professional groups such as small and large utilities, engineering, land and natural-resource impact consultants and more are seeking confident collection of high-accuracy RTK horizontal and vertical positions and the ability to efficiently cycle this data to and from the field and update their GIS, perhaps when they return to the office or in real-time out in the field,” Ash said. “GeoBullsye for ArcPad is an easy-to-use solution that checks the critical ‘must-have’ boxes for organizations that want to streamline their field collection to GIS back-end workflows. It supports the key data elements necessary for reporting, and defending their horizontal and vertical GNSS data collection efforts.”
GeoBullseye V2 is priced at US$295.00. It is available for purchase through GeoMobile and authorized GeoMobile GNSS reseller specialists.
The sensor offers real-time data, 360-degree scanning, 3D distance and calibrated reflectivity measurements for the mapping, automotive, UAV, security and robotics markets.
