GPS World

Tag: ArcGIS

  • Esri cultivates mobile GIS apps

    I’ve attended a couple of Esri events these past couple of months. They are on the move. For a big software company (est. $1 billion in annual revenues), they are reasonably nimble. Of course, if you’ve worked with Esri software, no doubt you’ve been frustrated at times, but considering the size of the organization and the dynamic nature of GIS technology, it’s understandable.

    Keeping up with the GIS technology makes me dizzy at times; I can only imagine what it’s like in the Esri roadmap planning meetings. Thank goodness Esri is a privately held company (versus a public company listed on a stock exchange). Being a privately held company gives Esri executives the flexibility to make and implement decisions quickly without worrying about quarterly (or even annual) financial performance.

    Following are roadmap slides for some of the Esri mobile GIS products. Incidentally, did you know that mobile GIS apps are the hottest in the Esri software suite?

    Collector for ArcGIS

    The big news for Collector is that it’s being rewritten using a runtime library. The current Collector will be enhanced and supported (per the above image) for the foreseeable future. Once the new runtime version of Collector (CollectorX) has caught up to legacy Collector, the legacy Collector will begin the road to retirement. In the meantime, version 10.4.3 will likely be released sometime in April. It will implement GPS point averaging, renaming photos and Workforce integration.

    CollectorRoadMap
    Esri Collector for ArcGIS roadmap.

    Expect another Collector release (10.4.4) with minor enhancements before the Esri User Conference (UC), which will take place July 10-14 in San Diego, California. According to Esri, Collector and mobile GIS in general (such as Survey123, Workforce, Navigator), are the hottest products in the Esri software suite, and iOS continues to be the dominant device that Collector is being deployed on.

    ArcGIS for Windows Mobile

    For those of you still working on the ArcGIS for Windows Mobile platform (not to be confused with Microsoft Windows Mobile on handheld devices), remember that at last year’s UC, Esri extended support (patches and hot fixes) for ArcGIS for Windows Mobile will be discontinued in July 2017 and enter mature support (request cases, phone/chat, online support services).

    ArcGIS for Windows Mobile (Water Utility Mobile Mapp app)

    If you’re still using ArcGIS for Windows Mobile, it’s time to start thinking about adopting a new mobile GIS platform. Two Esri options are Collector for ArcGIS (iOS, Android and Windows) and ArcPad (Windows and Windows Mobile). Before you start pummeling me about ArcPad, it’s a powerful and flexible mobile GIS. Unlike Collector, its user interface and functionality can be highly customized (see example screenshot below) and hit ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise (ArcGIS Server) in real time, just like Collector.

    Esri Collector
    Esri ArcPad – highly customized

    Survey123 for ArcGIS

    Quickly moving along, Survey123 for ArcGIS (iOS/Android/Windows) has become a powerful tool for collecting mobile GIS data, with one of its key features being data-collection forms using conditional logic (for instance, if/then) and the ability to create forms using Excel. Following is Survey123’s product roadmap.

    Survey123 for ArcGIS Road Map
    Survey123 for ArcGIS roadmap.

    Navigator for ArcGIS

    Navigator for ArcGIS (iOS/Android) is an interesting product owing to the ability to integrate one’s roads into the app. Navigator includes standard Street Map data with turn-by-turn directions. What’s cool about adding proprietary roads is that one can navigate to rural, proprietary assets (like a pipeline valve) using turn-by-turn directions. The time savings to guide folks to assets in an unfamiliar geographic area can be compelling.

    Navigator for ArcGIS
    Navigator for ArcGIS.

    Workforce for ArcGIS

    Rounding out the mobile apps is Workforce for ArcGIS, which is a simple workforce management tool for assigning and coordinating field work crew tasks. Assign a task along with a location to a number of work crews and monitor the progress of the tasks as they are completed.

    Workforce for ArcGIS
    Workforce for ArcGIS Road Map

    ArcGIS Online

    All of the above apps are free to use with the exception of Navigator, which is $50 a year per device. In other words, when you buy an ArcGIS desktop license, you get access to these apps as well as ArcGIS Online.

    ArcGIS Desktop & Pro

    A quick word about ArcGIS Desktop: Esri is beginning to transition away from ArcGIS Desktop and towards ArcGIS Pro. Expect Esri to start encouraging you to move that direction, too. If you already have an ArcGIS Desktop license, you have access to ArcGIS Pro.

    The focus of Esri development is going to be on the ArcGIS Pro platform, so you’ll need to head that direction eventually. ArcGIS Pro is Esri’s next-generation 3D, analysis, image processing and data management GIS platform.

    Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS

    Finally, I’d like to mention Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS. While it’s not a mobile GIS app, it certainly leverages data collected by mobile GIS. Another free app from Esri, Operations Dashboard allows one to create an executive dashboard showing a variety of charts, maps and gauges for monitoring project progress. It is available as a Windows client and a browser-based application (think iPad).

    An executive doesn’t need to have a piece of Windows software installed to view an executive dashboard. Simply email a link to the custom dashboard and they can view it on their iPad while on the go. Dashboards can be customized with widgets and map tools using the ArcGIS API for Javascript.

    Whether you love them or not, Esri is pushing the technology envelope. For a company like Esri that thoroughly dominates an industry, it would be easy for them to sit on their laurels, enjoy the fruits of their labor and be averse to taking risks. Hand it to the Esri team for continuing to stick their necks out.

    Upcoming events

    For those interested, I’m conducting a couple of one-day workshops in Oregon and Washington in May:

    I hope to see you at one, or both, workshops. We already have quite a roster registered, so sign up ASAP if you’re interested in attending.

    Editor’s note: In the next month or two, look for an update and continuation of January’s column, “3D GNSS data and the GEOID.” It’s a complicated subject (see if you can spot the error in the article), but one that needs attention.

    Follow me on Twitter.

    Media: Esri

  • Esri's advanced analytics designed to increase retail sales

    Esri is partnering with GISinc to analyze customer behavior to help retailers increase sales.

    Esri will integrate itsspatial analytics platform with GISinc’s indoor mapping capabilities to analyze data collected by sensor-enabled overhead smart lighting systems and from opt-in mobile data from customer phones. The solution will enable retailers to track behaviors, using information including customer locations inside the store and items selected for purchase. The store can then tap into such data to improve customer assistance and position merchandise in the places most likely to attract purchases.

    “Analyzing customer choices and mapping go hand in hand,” said Sonny Beech, Internet of Things (IoT) business development manager at GISinc. “Why a person bought something where they did is an example of spatial data. Using ArcGIS analytics, we can enable retailers to make more strategic decisions about where to place merchandise and in-store marketing materials.”

    With more than two-thirds of consumers using smartphones while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, retailers have to deliver more relevant experiences by becoming more precise in how they interact with shoppers. In-store location technologies provide opportunities for retailers to increase touch points in the aisle and on the shelf by delivering messaging and services in real time based on a customer’s location in the store.

    Studies show that the spatial customer behavior analysis Esri provides can boost the probability of purchase by up to 70 percent and increase basket size by up to 60 percent for smartphone-enabled shoppers, Esri said.

    “Esri enables retailers to access vast amounts of customer information while allowing the customers themselves to take advantage of advanced analytics,” said Gary Sankary, retail industry manager at Esri. “With the widespread use of smartphones during in-store shopping, indoor mapping provides businesses with a tool to understand shopper behavior and improve sales accordingly.”

    Indoor-mapping initiatives and smart lighting systems, like other IoT implementations, have become more affordable and accessible — in fact, much of the technology can be integrated directly into the infrastructure of a brick-and-mortar store. Customers benefit by downloading mobile apps and opting in to shared-data environments that make the shopping experience more efficient and enjoyable.

  • SAP debuts Geographical Enablement Framework

    SAP debuts Geographical Enablement Framework

    SAP-geo-framework-W
    Insurance company Munich Re uses spatial data-processing capabilities in SAP HANA with predictive analytics to assess risk and identify natural hazard profiles for millions of locations around the globe, so that it can efficiently coordinate loss adjustors after a major catastrophe or calculate hospitals, schools and roads impacted by an impending hurricane or flood. (Image: SAP)

    SAP SE unveiled its SAP Geographical Enablement Framework, powered by SAP HANA, at the 2016 Esri User Conference, held June 27 to July 1 in San Diego, California.

    SAP Geographical Enablement Framework helps organizations enrich business applications with geographic data from geographic information systems (GIS), such as Esri ArcGIS.

    “In many asset-intensive industries such as energy, transportation and public sector, the ability to visualize business objects on maps is critical to improving efficiency and decision making,” says Irfan Khan, GM and global head, database and data management, SAP. “SAP Geographical Enablement Framework, powered by SAP HANA, can help organizations streamline the processing of both enterprise and spatial data for greater location awareness across business processes.”

    To develop spatially enabled business applications, organizations can use the framework to:

    • Enable smooth integration and bidirectional navigation between SAP applications and Esri ArcGIS. Developers can use application programming interfaces published by GIS to fetch geospatial data. Also, business data augmented with geometric attributes can be published as a service, so that GIS users can access SAP business data from within their GIS tools.
    • Embed a responsive map user interface in a business application to display both business and spatial data simultaneously to provide greater insight.
    • Store the geometry of any SAP business object in the SAP HANA platform and accelerate spatial data processing in memory to deliver real-time insights, enriched with spatial context, to improve decision making.
    • Visualize, filter and search for business objects — such as functional location, equipment, linear assets, notifications or work orders — on a map from within a spatially enabled application. From a desktop or a tablet, users can also drill down through multiple map layers to gain better insight.

    With continued collaboration between SAP and Esri, organizations can gain contextual insight from business and spatial data, enabling business and GIS users to work within the same multiuser access and editing environment, the company says.

    “At EDF Renewable Energy, we have built a truly innovative enterprise business intelligence and data warehouse platform that combines Esri geospatial data along with asset sensor data and ERP transactional data in SAP HANA,” says Devang Shah, manager of database and business intelligence, EDF Renewable Energy. “This provides us with near real-time insights to help us operate more efficiently.”

    As an open platform, SAP HANA is certified with the Open Geospatial Consortium, enabling organizations to easily consume spatial data from third-party spatial solutions that also adhere to the standard. SAP HANA also supports synchronous and asynchronous imports of data from any spatial reference system or coordinate reference system to ease access to local, regional or global geographic entities.

    Native geocoding delivered by SAP HANA smart data quality helps rapidly convert addresses to latitude and longitude within SAP HANA, the company says.

    “Munich Re is one of the leading reinsurance companies in the world,” says Andreas Siebert, head of geospatial solutions at Munich Re. “We use spatial data processing capabilities in SAP HANA, in conjunction with predictive analytics, to assess risk — such as to identify natural hazard profiles for millions of locations around the globe, to efficiently coordinate loss adjustors after a major catastrophe or to calculate how many hospitals, schools and roads may be impacted by an impending hurricane or flood.”

  • SAP debuts Geographical Enablement Framework at Esri UC

    SAP-geo-framework-W

    SAP SE unveiled its SAP Geographical Enablement Framework, powered by SAP HANA, at the 2016 Esri User Conference, which is being held June 27 to July 1 in San Diego, California. SAP Geographical Enablement Framework helps organizations enrich business applications with geographic data from geographic information systems (GIS), such as Esri ArcGIS.

    “In many asset-intensive industries such as energy, transportation and public sector, the ability to visualize business objects on maps is critical to improving efficiency and decision making,” says Irfan Khan, GM and global head, database and data management, SAP. “SAP Geographical Enablement Framework, powered by SAP HANA, can help organizations streamline the processing of both enterprise and spatial data for greater location awareness across business processes.”

    To develop spatially enabled business applications, organizations can use the framework to:

    • Enable smooth integration and bidirectional navigation between SAP applications and Esri ArcGIS. Developers can use application programming interfaces published by GIS to fetch geospatial data. Also, business data augmented with geometric attributes can be published as a service, so that GIS users can access SAP business data from within their GIS tools.
    • Embed a responsive map user interface in a business application to display both business and spatial data simultaneously to provide greater insight.
    • Store the geometry of any SAP business object in the SAP HANA platform and accelerate spatial data processing in memory to deliver real-time insights, enriched with spatial context, to improve decision making.
    • Visualize, filter and search for business objects — such as functional location, equipment, linear assets, notifications or work orders — on a map from within a spatially enabled application. From a desktop or a tablet, users can also drill down through multiple map layers to gain better insight.

    With continued collaboration between SAP and Esri, organizations can gain contextual insight from business and spatial data, enabling business and GIS users to work within the same multiuser access and editing environment, the company says.

    “At EDF Renewable Energy, we have built a truly innovative enterprise business intelligence and data warehouse platform that combines Esri geospatial data along with asset sensor data and ERP transactional data in SAP HANA,” says Devang Shah, manager of database and business intelligence, EDF Renewable Energy. “This provides us with near real-time insights to help us operate more efficiently.”

    As an open platform, SAP HANA is certified with the Open Geospatial Consortium, enabling organizations to easily consume spatial data from third-party spatial solutions that also adhere to the standard. SAP HANA also supports synchronous and asynchronous imports of data from any spatial reference system or coordinate reference system to ease access to local, regional or global geographic entities.

    Native geocoding delivered by SAP HANA smart data quality helps rapidly convert addresses to latitude and longitude within SAP HANA, the company says.

    “Munich Re is one of the leading reinsurance companies in the world,” says Andreas Siebert, head of geospatial solutions at Munich Re. “We use spatial data processing capabilities in SAP HANA, in conjunction with predictive analytics, to assess risk — such as to identify natural hazard profiles for millions of locations around the globe, to efficiently coordinate loss adjustors after a major catastrophe or to calculate how many hospitals, schools and roads may be impacted by an impending hurricane or flood.”

  • ArcGIS apps for the field launched at Esri UC

    ArcGIS apps for the field launched at Esri UC

    Esri has launched two new ArcGIS apps for field operating efficiency at the Esri User Conference, being held June 27–July 1 in San Diego. Attendees can see live demonstrations and experiment with Drone2Map for ArcGIS and Survey123 for ArcGIS.

    “These two apps are already becoming game changers,” said Esri President Jack Dangermond. “What we’ve done is make it much easier for our users to collect data, including imagery, and then right away start working with that data — mapping, analyzing, sharing—in ArcGIS.”

    Drone2Map for ArcGIS provides safe and affordable imagery on demand—a benefit especially useful to people who work in land analysis or infrastructure inspection and those monitoring events such as natural disasters and environmental change. Drone2Map takes still imagery captured by a drone and quickly turns it into high-quality 2D and 3D products in ArcGIS.

    The app detects camera and sensor parameters and intelligently applies appropriate defaults. Its rapid-process capability allows teams in the field to be sure they’ve captured everything they need to avoid costly return trips. The imagery products created using Drone2Map can be used for analysis in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to support informed decision-making.

    Esri Survey123.
    Esri Survey123.

    Survey123 for ArcGIS is a simple yet powerful form-centric field data gathering solution that makes it possible to create, share, and analyze surveys in three easy steps. With Survey123, paper forms are effectively transformed into digital surveys. Surveys, from simple to sophisticated, are authored and then shared in ArcGIS.

    Using the Survey123 mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows, teams in the field capture survey results with their smartphones and tablets, even in disconnected environments. Data captured in the field is immediately available for analysis in ArcGIS to help users make better decisions. Survey123 is a versatile data collection solution already popular with people in public health, education, public works, disaster response, and humanitarian agencies.

    Attendees of the Esri User Conference can see live demos and get hands-on experience with both of these new apps along with hundreds of other solutions designed to enable a smarter world.

    ]The annual event attracts 16,000 geographic information system (GIS) users, managers, and developers. It offers 300 moderated sessions, 450 hours of technical training, access to 300 software vendors, inspirational keynotes, and one-on-one sessions with Esri technical and professional support staff. See more of GPS World’s coverage.

    Learn more about Esri apps for the field.

  • Sentinel imagery now works inside ArcGIS

    Esri has enhanced its ArcGIS technology to simplify the use of free global imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite launched by the European Space Agency. ArcGIS supports visualization, interpretation, and analysis of Sentinel imagery, which is of significant value in applications for forestry, agriculture, land resources management, and environmental monitoring.

    ValleAurina_SENTINEL2_CIR-W
    Sentinel-2 color infrared image.

    “Scientists and GIS professionals rely on consistent access to high-quality imagery data and information products for a range of applications in their work observing, modeling and predicting Earth systems,” said Lawrie Jordan, Esri’s director of imagery and remote sensing. “Sentinel imagery can also be enhanced by the Landsat imagery already available in ArcGIS Online, which provides additional temporal depth.”

    One of the unique capabilities ArcGIS offers is that it can work simultaneously with a wide range of spectral bands and indices at different resolutions. ArcGIS has image processing and analysis tools that allow people to view and analyze all types of imagery.

    Institutions, organizations and startup businesses use ArcGIS to manage, analyze and share imagery and applications related to land monitoring, maritime, climate and security issues.

    For those working with a large collection of images, Esri released an image management workflow for Sentinel. The workflow ensures that Sentinel scenes can be quickly served as dynamic image services, making the full information content accessible to applications for use on desktop, web, and mobile devices. All processing is applied on the fly, with no intermediate storage required.

    “The single-button image management workflow tool is an easy way to share and provide access to a wide range of derived Sentinel-2 imagery products,” said Jordan.

    Find specific and technical details on the Esri blog.

  • Esri introduces high-precision GNSS mobile GIS software

    In its 47-year history, Esri has never before built a high-precision GNSS mobile GIS software . Sure, one could connect a high-precision GNSS receiver to ArcGIS Mobile or even ArcGIS desktop running on a tablet, but in those cases and all others, there’s no direct support for high-precision GNSS receivers.

    By support, I mean the software features that one needs to automatically collect reliable, verifiable and defensible high-precision GNSS coordinates and associated metadata, like real-time estimated accuracy, correction age and other metadata that can be referenced months or years later to understand the quality of the data collected.

    Until now…

    Collector for ArcGIS is a cross-platform mobile GIS app that’s available for iOS, Windows 10 and Android. Until now, Collector did not differentiate between low-precision GNSS data (for instance, a smartphone’s internal GNSS receiver) and RTK GNSS (centimeter-accuracy) receivers, so it was difficult to know what sort of accuracy one was achieving even when a centimeter-accurate receiver was connected to it.

    Esri is on its way to solving this problem.

    Earlier this month, Esri introduced a beta version of the new Collector for ArcGIS mobile GIS software that incorporates features for high-precision GNSS data collection. While Collector has been around for a few years, it has not allowed the user to differentiate between low-precision GNSS data (such as a smartphone internal GNSS receiver) and RTK GNSS (centimeter-accuracy) receivers. To circumvent that limitation, high-precision GNSS receiver vendors offered companion apps that run concurrently with Collector to display metadata. However, that’s not a fun solution because if the user wants to records GNSS metadata, he would have to tab between apps and hand-enter the GNSS metadata into attribute fields in Collector.

    Another nagging problem for high-precision GNSS users with Collector is the lack of an on-the-fly datum transformation feature. Sources of high-precision GNSS receiver corrections come in different datum flavors (ITRF08, NAD83/2011, NAD83/CSRS, etc.). Those datum flavors don’t necessarily match a user’s GIS database, sometimes introducing a meter or more of error.

    Historically, Collector didn’t give the user an opportunity to apply an on-the-fly datum transformation to reconcile datum differences between the high-precision GNSS receiver datum and the geodatabase datum. Yeah, you could fix it later by applying a datum shift after the fact, but it’s a tedious and laborious task to do so, and sort of defeats the purpose of having an efficient real-time GNSS data collection workflow.

    I was using the beta version of iOS Collector for ArcGIS this week with a survey-grade  RTK GNSS receiver that, according to GPS World’s 2016 Receiver Survey, delivers 1-centimeter RTK accuracy. Setting up the GNSS correction profile is a bit tricky. There are three settings you need to select. Following is a screen capture of the profile settings I used for RTK in Collector when the RTK base was referenced to NAD83/2011:

    MOBILE-GIS-3

    When setting up a GNSS receiver profile to use WAAS/SBAS as a source of corrections in Collector, you’ll need to select GCS ITRF 2008 instead of GCS NAD 1983 2011.

    Once I got the proper datum transformations dialed in, RTK GNSS accuracy was where it should be when compared to a survey mark (3.7mm):

    MeasurementPostCollection-W

    Another tricky area with Collector is the GNSS metadata. It’s great that Collector supports automated GNSS metadata recording, but in order for Collector to record GNSS metadata, you’ll need to follow the Esri data model for GNSS metadata. Essentially, add fields to your database that will be populated. Here’s a link to the supported GNSS metadata fields.  http://arcg.is/22h41yR. Note that you’ll need to log in using your Esri account credentials to view the link.

    I didn’t add the GNSS metadata fields to the database to try it because this iOS beta version doesn’t support GNSS metadata (Esri says it will be supported on the next beta release), I did collect a bit of data. Here’s what the Collector screen looks like:

    MOBILE-GIS-1

    Some of the fields on the iPad Mini were cut off (I’ll report that to Esri), but you can see that it is entirely possible for Collector (iOS) to accept and record data from an iPad using an RTK GNSS receiver (note accuracy value at the bottom left corner of the screen.

    So, to Esri’s credit, they’ve appeared to address the GNSS metadata and datum transformation problems in the beta release of Collector, making it the first Esri mobile GIS that supports high-precision GNSS. The iOS and Windows 10 beta versions are available now to users who register for Esri’s Collector beta program. For support and answers to questions, you can visit Geonet.

    Before you get too excited, even with the new features Collector is still a light-weight mobile GIS and likely always will be, as long as it’s a free app (although not always free to use). But this is certainly a move in the right direction for high-precision GNSS receiver users who want to live in the Esri ArcGIS Online/Portal/Server ecosystem and rid themselves of shp files.

    Some of you may beg to differ that Collector is Esri’s first high-precision GNSS mobile GIS data collection software. I know ArcPad has been around for years and has supported high-precision GNSS receivers for many years. In fact, if you install the GeoBullsEye plug-in, ArcPad becomes the only 3D, high-precision GNSS data collection software that works real time in the Esri AGOL/Portal/Server ecosystem. But, it wasn’t built by Esri :-). An Australian company named Maptel built ArcPad, and then Esri acquired the company a few years ago.

    While the beta versions of Collector for Windows 10 and iOS are available now, Esri reports that the beta version of Collector for Android should be available next week.

    Thanks, and see you next month.
    Follow me on Twitter at GPSGIS_Eric

  • Esri adds what3words address system to ArcGIS Marketplace

    what3words will be providing its three-word address and location reference system to ArcGIS Marketplace. ArcGIS Marketplace is a destination that enables ArcGIS users to search, discover, and get apps and content from qualified providers.

    what3words is an addressing and location reference system based on a global grid of 57 trillion squares of 3 x 3 meters. Each square has a unique pre-assigned three-word address. For example, recruiters.infusions.fastening is the location of a fire hydrant on inverness Drive East highway in Denver, Colorado. This what3words system is being used by Esri partner Metcom911 to manage 57,000 fire hydrants serving over a million people to ensure fast and effective response to emergencies.

    Learn more about what3words in Art Kalinski’s column for Geointelligence Insider, and watch the video below.

  • Esri seminar teaches ways to simplify CAD-GIS workflows

    With ArcGIS for AutoCAD from Esri, AutoCAD users can access maps and data from Esri ArcGIS software for use in computer-aided design (CAD) drawings. This free application makes it simple for AutoCAD users to find, create and edit content stored in ArcGIS.

    To learn how to work with the application, tune in to the live training seminar Simplify CAD-GIS Workflows Using ArcGIS for AutoCAD on March 10. In the seminar, you will learn how to easily create data, edit ArcGIS enterprise geodatabases, and leverage ArcGIS web services—without ever having to leave your familiar AutoCAD environment.

    After viewing the seminar, you will understand how to

    • Easily edit GIS data using AutoCAD and ArcGIS for AutoCAD.
    • Access and interact with ArcGIS for Server web services inside AutoCAD.
    • Configure and customize ArcGIS for AutoCAD to meet the requirements of a production environment.
    • Use ArcGIS for Desktop, web, and mobile applications from within AutoCAD.

    AutoCAD users who want to use CAD editing workflows to create and maintain GIS data stored in Esri ArcGIS will find this live training seminar highly useful. The seminar also will be of interest to engineers and designers who want to access data stored in ArcGIS to make more informed design decisions and to GIS professionals who want to streamline their CAD-GIS workflows and easily share data with coworkers or consultants.

    You will need a broadband Internet connection and an Esri Account to watch the live training seminar. Creating an Esri Account is free: visit esri.com/lts, click Login at the top right, and register your name and email address.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Septentrio’s PinPoint-GIS available on ArcGIS Marketplace

     

    GNSS receiver maker Septentrio has announced the availability of its geographical information systems (GIS) PinPoint-GIS on the ArcGIS Marketplace.

    PinPoint-GIS was developed to enable straightforward GIS data collection without the need for expensive additional software linking a GNSS receiver with the Esri ArcGIS Platform

    PinPoint-GIS helps ArcGIS users make informed and timely decisions, Septentrio said. It turns GNSS data collected by Septentrio’s receivers such as the Altus NR2, Altus GeoPod and the AsteRx-U into actionable GIS data. Height and other project parameters are available directly in the ArcGIS workflow without any additional steps by the user.

    Pinpoint GIS makes ArcGIS easily accessible through existing hardware — consumer commercial and ruggedized device, tablet or even smartphone — regardless of operating system. PinPoint-GIS Web makes ArcGIS available from a standard web browser or from an Android app, downloadable from Google Play.

    The Android app works with Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS and provides an accuracy widget which confirms horizontal and vertical accuracy in a highly visible way. This brings the user the immediate security that the captured data meets the required accuracy in both the horizontal and vertical.

    “Integrating ArcGIS functionality into PinPoint-GIS empowers ArcGIS Online users,” said Gustavo Lopez, PinPoint-GIS Product Manager. “With the click of a button, a PinPoint-GIS user can turn accurate and reliable GIS data collected from their Septentrio GNSS receiver into actionable data needed for smarter decisions, effective analysis and customized maps all within the easy-to-use ArcGIS.”

  • Esri ArcGIS to support SAP HANA as enterprise geodatabase

    esri-logoEsri plans to commercially support ArcGIS using SAP HANA as an enterprise geodatabase, SAP SE announced in a news release.

    sap-se-logoThis release of ArcGIS, planned for 2016, expands the existing native integration with SAP HANA and allows customers to run SAP Business Suite and ArcGIS applications within an architecture based on SAP HANA. The companies said they will further enhance the SAP HANA platform by more deeply integrating advanced ArcGIS geospatial capabilities and content across SAP’s broader application portfolio.

    The collaboration between SAP and Esri is expected to provide the ability to run both GIS workloads and advanced spatial analytics on a single SAP HANA geodatabase. The companies stated that customers will be able to apply sophisticated business rules and relationships to spatial data directly in SAP HANA, define advanced georelational models such as topologies and networks, and permit both GIS and enterprise business users to work within the same multiuser access and editing environment.

    “We’re very excited about the enterprise geodatabase support for SAP HANA,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri’s president. “It will bring our customers speed, simplicity and better integration with their enterprise information. For SAP customers, it delivers a complete platform for mapping and geospatial intelligence. By synchronizing our platforms, our respective customers will benefit across the enterprise. We’re doing the work to make sure that GIS and mapping is available to all — not just traditional mapping experts.”

    SAP and Esri have been technology partners for a number of years, providing integration of their respective platforms, SAP HANA and Esri ArcGIS. Companies invested in Esri and SAP can immediately create maps populated with data from SAP HANA and instantly access those maps anywhere on any ArcGIS client, as well as in SAP or custom applications. Today users of SAP HANA can access ArcGIS for geospatial data and geoservices and perform analytics, while Esri users can similarly access, analyze and query both spatial and nonspatial data directly in SAP HANA. Esri supports deployments of SAP HANA with query layers and features services for customers that want to dramatically increase spatial query performance by running SAP HANA side by side with ArcGIS.

    “Our customers represent a new generation of data stewards requiring an in-memory computing platform that performs at scales unseen before — including large-scale geography,” said Daniel Schneiss, senior vice president and global head, SAP HANA Platform and Databases, SAP. “As we enter a world of exponential data growth and the Internet of Things, the need to geospatially analyze Big Data will only increase from this point forward. We look forward to teaming with Esri to address this need by integrating the full power of ArcGIS technology with SAP HANA.”