With flu season upon us, Esri is providing a new map that shows flu activity in U.S. communities.
Built on Esri’s ArcGIS platform, Walgreens Flu Index provides state and market-specific information regarding flu activity.
It is compiled using retail prescription data for antiviral medications used to treat influenza across Walgreens locations nationwide.
Early this year, I wrote a short column about what3words, one of the exhibitors at the Esri Federal GIS Conference. Since then, I’ve run into a fair number of geospatial professionals who hadn’t heard about what3words. This month, I’m doing a deeper dive on it because I believe it will become part of our daily lives in just a few short years.
what3words is a global location system using tessellated grid squares of the entire Earth. Each grid cell is roughly 3 meters by 3 meters, and each cell is uniquely named using a simple three-word combination such as “fork.lamp.book.” On initial consideration, one would think, “So what?” — until you understand the ramifications.
First, this has already been done. More than 57 trillion 3-meter squares have been named using only 40,000 words.
Second, the system is non-hierarchal, and the cells have no adjacent relationship, so minor errors are dramatically obvious.
Third, unlike GPS lat/long, the United States National Grid (USNG), the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) or even street addresses, the three-word combinations are easy to remember and not easily misunderstood.
Fourth, the system is not just a 57-trillion record database; it’s a compact app (10 mb) that accurately generates the same unique name for each unique location with identifiers that are locked in concrete.
The what3words website has more information and a well-done video overview.
Surprisingly, what3words was developed not by a geospatial analyst, but by a musician who got tired of driving around trying to find the correct hotel loading dock or concert venue entrance using an address or verbal directions. Even GPS coordinates didn’t help, since it was easy to miskey numbers or misunderstand voice-relayed numbers. As a result, he and his team built an app that is easy to use, memorable and not error prone.
The system is so easy to understand that non-technical users can quickly adopt it. I believe that it will greatly speed communications, minimize mistakes, and reduce wasted time and mileage. To me, a good analogy is the World War I development of the phonetic alphabet.
In the early days of radio, voice communications were difficult and error-prone because of static, noise and garbled transmissions. To prevent mistakes, the military adopted a fixed list of words to help with aural identification of individual letters. The words were used for transmission of critical information such as map coordinates or to spell out words. (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.) A similar mind/ear relationship occurs with what3words. Here is a well-written technical appraisal and amplification by Prof. Robert Barr.
Military
The implications for the military could be significant. When I served on a destroyer, one of my duties was Gunnery Liaison Officer, providing naval gunfire support for troops in battle locations. The 5-inch gunfire was called in by concealed spotters in the battle space. The coordination and conversion between the spotter location, the spotter’s point of view, and our offshore position and line of fire required significant calculations and diligence, because friendly fire was always a concern. Current developments in GPS and laser technology have helped significantly, but friendly fire mistakes from guns, missiles and bombing are still a constant concern. The use of what3words could be a simple and quick way to double check and prevent targeting friendly locations.
Another issue that was a problem for some military bases was addressing, or E911. Some bases had buildings identified by numbers corresponding to the sequence of construction rather than street addresses, so building 245 might be next to building 1842 and next to building 38 (I’m not sure if this is still an issue). With what3words, help could be directed to exact building entrances or to exact locations in remote parts of a base.
Disaster response would also benefit. In many disasters such as tornados or hurricanes, street signs and building were obliterated. What3words would provide “addressing” for relief supply drops and other needs.
First Responders
Whether it be an air crash needing remote mountain rescue, a farm accident in a rural area, a capsized boat at sea, or a heart-attack victim in a shopping mall or home, response could be significantly faster with less chance for error. Even in urban areas, there are frequent stories of delayed medical aid because E911 street databases were not correct or updated with new construction. what3words provides complete location coverage and would serve as an easy and effective double check for street addresses.
Government and NGO activity
Some of you may be familiar with U.S. Census Bureau TIGER files and LUCA (Local Update of Census Addresses). I still can’t wrap my head around why census workers have to keep posted house numbers and street names confidential. Perhaps using what3words could provide a simpler, unclassified way to direct census workers. Additionally, many actions that currently use GPS may be better served with 3m grid locations, such as agricultural or environmental data collection.
Business
Mundane activities such as materials delivery to unaddressed construction sites or package delivery to homes and businesses will be more efficient. (Rumor has it that a prominent package delivery service is testing what3words.) Utility companies could locate cut-off valves, meters and other assets within 7 feet of their actual location. Meeting friends, getting an Uber pick up, or even having a pizza delivered to a specific bleacher location at a Little League game would become easy.
Second and third world
There are complex issues regarding the World Bank and economic development. To qualify for major economic development loans, countries have to demonstrate that they have viable property ownership and taxation system in place so loans can ultimately be repaid. We take our tax parcel system for granted, but may third-world countries don’t even have consistent and comprehensive street names and addresses. what3words can provide “addresses,” which could lead to more comprehensive parcel identification.
On an even more basic level, the majority of citizens in the world don’t have an address for simple deliveries. When I was in a rural part of Haiti, just getting some simple wood screws was an all-day trip and ordeal. I learned to really appreciate being able to take a quick run to Home Depot or get two-day deliveries at my front door from Amazon. Those “luxuries” don’t exist in many parts of the world, and their lack really cripples those trying to start or run a business. what3words gives everyone an “address.”
Don’t take my word for it; try it yourself. Download the app on your smartphone (I’m using an iPhone, so others may be slightly different). Launching the app will display a map with your location and its what3words name. Click the “eye” to view an ortho image rather than a vector map.
If the padlock is locked, unlock it and you can move the map to different locations showing different what3words names. If you are sent a what3words location, you can click on the magnifying glass and type in the three words. The app will prompt “Near Me” or “Anywhere.” If there is no match near you, it will show possible options that come close by looking at alternate spellings or words. If you click “Anywhere” it will search the entire world for a match.
Once it takes you to the location, you can use Maps or Google Maps to get directions.
what3words has been adopted by many geospatial firms, including Esri. Available online or offline, anywhere in the world, the what3words locator can be available to the GIS team or customers across the entire ArcGIS platform. Since what3words is grid-cell layer, it may be possible to do map algebra operations on the cells in Spatial Analyst. I’m not sure there would be a benefit to that other than not needing to transform the list of affected cells.
what3words is available in several languages. The words are not simple translations, but developed for each language. Although the what3words team carefully scrubbed the words used to avoid offensive terms, I hope what3words doesn’t have to deal with lawsuits from individuals unhappy with the three-word identifiers of their location.
I predict that within a few years, our business cards will also include a what3words address. Simply put, I believe that what3words may prove to be one of the most significant geospatial advancements since Jack Dangermond spatially linked points, lines and polygons to a relational database.
what3words is going to save time, money and, most important, it’s going to save lives.
P.S. If you read my March column reviewing Peter Zeihan’s book The Accidental Superpower, you may remember the importance Peter placed on 3D printing affecting the geo-politics of shipping manufactured goods from China. If you haven’t seen the new CLIP technology 3D printers, you need to view this TED video to see how far the technology has progressed.
A new app from Esri Labs is designed for developing and deploying surveys for fieldworkers using mobile devices. With Survey123 for ArcGIS, users can create form-based surveys, including polls and questionnaires, and share them with employees or volunteers. They can use the surveys to collect data in the field, even when offline. Later, they can visualize and analyze that data using Esri ArcGIS.
Survey123 for ArcGIS provides a complete workflow for creating, sharing, and analyzing smart-form-based surveys. Users can
A new app from Esri Labs is designed for developing and deploying surveys for fieldworkers using mobile devices. With Survey123 for ArcGIS, users can create form-based surveys, including polls and questionnaires, and share them with employees or volunteers. They can use the surveys to collect data in the field, even when offline. Later, they can visualize and analyze that data using Esri ArcGIS.
Survey123 for ArcGIS provides a complete workflow for creating, sharing, and analyzing smart-form-based surveys. Users can
Avineon, Inc., a global provider of information technology, geospatial, and engineering support services, will distribute discount coupons for its new Metrics Extension to ArcGIS for Server at the 2015 Esri User Conference. Ten customers who activate the permanent Metrics Extension license with the coupon code will receive it for free. All others using the coupon will receive a 50 percent discount off the $4,995 price if the permanent license is activated by Aug. 31, 2015.
Avineon will be handing out the discount coupons in booth #1015 at the Esri User Conference being held July 20-23 at the San Diego Convention Center in California. In addition, Avineon will be holding a drawing each day for a Windows Tablet. Anyone who registers at Booth #1015 will be entered into the drawing, no purchase required.
The Metrics Extension enhances the value and usability of GIS data in ArcGIS by creating a spatial data warehouse in which key business intelligence metrics can be created and stored for historical reporting. It computes and stores key metrics such as asset quantity, length, or area coverage for a specified period. Storing this data permits important historical trends to be documented and evaluated for potential performance improvements and cost savings.
“Metrics Extension gives ArcGIS users better visibility into their enterprise geodatabase by revealing trends in their global and regional data sets,” said Joel Campbell, Avineon vice president of commercial systems. “The return on investment for Metrics Extension will be fast.”
Avineon developed the Metrics Extension for ArcGIS users across all markets, especially in applications where the installation, operation, and decommissioning of assets need to be tracked over time. Asset changes and trends can be tracked by timeframe and by geographic area, such as neighborhood, zip code, and political district. The most common applications will be in energy and water/waste water utilities, telecommunications, and local/state/federal governments.
Avineon will also showcase its entire portfolio of geospatial services and solutions available to the Esri community. As a long time Esri business partner, Avineon specializes in data centric services and solutions serving a variety of industries.
Avineon Inc. will unveil the Metrics Extension to ArcGIS for Server at the 2015 Esri User Conference, being held July 20-23 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. The Metrics Extension gives ArcGIS users better visibility into their enterprise geodatabase by revealing trends in their global and regional data updates.
The Metrics Extension enhances the value and usability of GIS data in ArcGIS by creating a spatial data warehouse in which key business intelligence metrics can be created and stored for historical reporting. It computes and stores key metrics such as asset quantity, length or area coverage for a specified period. Storing this data permits important historical trends to be documented and evaluated for potential performance improvements and cost savings.
One of the most common applications of the Metrics Extension is tracking the installation, operation and decommissioning of assets for telecommunications, electric, gas, oil, water, waste water and sewer utilities. For instance, a telecommunications company can use ArcGIS for Server and the Metrics Extension to determine how many miles of buried fiber its network contained on a certain day or how many linear feet of fiber were laid in the past 30 days.
Likewise, an electric utility can report the quantity and type of smart meters, poles and cable installed by month and location. Outside of the utility industry, local, state and federal government agencies can trend geodatabase objects such as fire hydrants, real property parcels, land use and environmental classifications, vegetation, and crime instances not only by neighborhood, zip code and political district but also by timeframe.
“Avineon’s Metrics Extension elevates ArcGIS geodatabase to a true spatial data warehouse for historical reporting and data analysis. Once we release, you can download the Metrics Extension and have it installed and running in less than a day,” said Joel Campbell, Avineon Vice President of Commercial Systems. “Users can expect a quick return on their investment by deploying this technology.”
A long-time Esri Business Partner, Avineon develops and implements a wide variety of geospatial services. “Avineon has been working closely with Esri for more than 10 years to create innovative solutions for GIS clients worldwide,” Campbell said. “We invite all Esri Conference attendees to visit our booth and learn how Avineon can make your geospatial content more intelligent.”
Avineon will demonstrate the Metrics Extension publicly for the first time in booth #1015 at the Esri User Conference, as well as offering presentations and demos of its other products. For more information on the Metrics Extension, Avineon will conduct free 30-minute webinars on Aug. 11 and 25. To register for the Aug. 11 webinar click here. To register for the Aug.25 webinar, click here.
Intergraph Security, Government and Infrastructure (SG&I) has unveiled I/Map Editor for ArcGIS, a product that works directly with Esri’s ArcGIS Platform to migrate geospatial data into Intergraph’s Computer-Aided Dispatch software (I/CAD), creating greater efficiencies for users of both systems.
Also, SG&I has established Studio One, a user experience design and development lab that provides space for multi-disciplinary teams to collaborate on innovative, user-centered products and solutions.
I/Map Editor for ArcGIS brings advanced mapping features to Intergraph’s map build environment, automating and streamlining map creation in I/CAD. I/Map Editor for ArcGIS is designed to minimize the number of different systems and steps required for ArcGIS users, offering them a one-stop shop for uploading data into their I/CAD system.
‘I/Map Editor for ArcGIS enables ArcGIS users to more efficiently get their GIS data into I/CAD using tools familiar to them,” said Kalyn Sims, chief technology officer, Intergraph SG&I. “It also provides them with the ability to more frequently update their data, which benefits agencies and the public they serve. Our goal is to provide public safety organizations with the most up-to-date geospatial data possible within their first responder systems.”
Intergraph’s industry-leading I/CAD system is critical to public safety operations, enabling agencies to quickly answer emergency and non-emergency calls, create and update incidents and manage multiple resources in real time. Intergraph’s I/Map Editor products facilitate the use of GIS data as the source of mapping information in I/CAD.
Built on Intergraph’s GeoMedia, I/Map Editor permits the use of GIS data from third-party systems as the source of map graphics in I/CAD. Built on ArcGIS, the new I/Map Editor for ArcGIS enables I/CAD map production within ArcGIS. An extension hosted in ArcMap, it natively connects to Esri data sources.
In March, Intergraph and Esri announced collaborative efforts to enhance geospatial capabilities for public safety and security agencies. Through the collaboration, the companies have been working together to more tightly align Intergraph’s I/CAD software and Esri’s ArcGIS Platform.
Studio One. Located at Intergraph SG&I’s headquarters, Studio One is an extension of the company’s strategic efforts to ensure its products are built to meet the needs of users, some of whom are in high-pressure environments.
“The methodologies and technologies of UX (user experience) are maturing very quickly. For example, now we can accurately assess whether software raises or lowers stress,” said Amy Hawkins, UX team manager, Intergraph SG&I. “As we move information technology closer and closer to users, in the form of mobile and wearable devices, we need to be very sure that we are making people’s jobs easier, not harder. That’s why we established Studio One.”
Comprised of a distributed group of user researchers, designers, technical architects and functional designers, Intergraph SG&I’s UX team conducts customer site visits, ethnographic observation, interviews and surveys to understand customer workflows and environments. The UX team has traveled to multiple cities across the U.S., visiting a dozen different public safety agencies in four different metropolitan areas. In the Denver area, the team conducted approximately 47 ride-alongs with police, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.
The UX team works with product development teams to build usage metrics collection into Intergraph SG&I’s products so that strategists and design and development teams have the best possible data on which to base product direction decisions. The team also works with research groups at universities such as Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and the University of Alabama in Huntsville to get independent perspectives on user mental models and emerging technologies.
“By working directly with users, we get a clear understanding of how to meet customer needs now and in the future as new technologies and challenges emerge,” Hawkins said. “Our customers are in the business of providing important public services. Studio One is all about, helping people help people.”
Intergraph SG&I’s UX team will meet with customers for UX assessments during HxGN LIVE, Hexagon’s annual international user conference, in Las Vegas from June 1-4.
Editor’s Note: Learn more about how the TerraGo Edge replaces single-use GPS handheld devices and enables mobile workers and field crews to easily collect and share field data. Attend GPS World’s May webinar, Say Goodbye Proprietary GPS Devices, Hello TerraGo Edge.
TerraGo, a geospatial collaboration and enterprise mobility software company, is offering a new version of its OpenGeoPDF software, now available with TerraGo Publisher for ArcGIS, TerraGo Composer and TerraGo Toolbar. The latest release gives end users powerful new spatial database features, including the ability to search and update feature attributes, with an interactive OpenGeoPDF map accessible to any end user without requiring them to purchase any software.
“TerraGo’s OpenGeoPDF lets people turn static maps into interactive GIS-lite applications by letting ArcMap users share a free portable client application,” said Kevin Coles, manager of Enterprise GIS at Lumos Networks. “With OpenGeoPDF, end users can do more than view maps and imagery. They can interact with maps in ways previously only available with GIS software including the ability to control layers, measure distances, query, update and extract feature data in a universal format.”
OpenGeoPDF produces a measurable return on investment by enabling organizations to leverage their GIS investment to create free GIS-Lite solutions for non-GIS users. One of the many benefits of the OpenGeoPDF approach is that GeoPDF maps with embedded feature attributes can be accessed, searched, updated and extracted as an OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) GeoPackage.
“The incredible value of geospatial data and an organization’s investment in GIS should result in more than a paper map or flat image in a PowerPoint,” said TerraGo Chief Technology Officer George Demmy. “OpenGeoPDF offers limitless, new possibilities for geospatial data interchange and creates much richer analytical applications for end users.”
To start a trial of TerraGo Publisher for ArcGIS, download here.
To start a trial of TerraGo Toolbar for Adobe Reader, download here.
CycloMedia Technology and Esri have expanded their business relationship to deliver high-definition, street-view imagery via ArcGIS Marketplace.
In efforts to leverage each other’s expertise in government, transportation and utilities markets, CycloMedia developed the Street Smart web application. Customers who have purchased CycloMedia’s HDstreet level imagery can utilize an ArcGIS-compatible application for viewing and analysis. Users can now visualize and edit their data from a street-view perspective with the goal of enhancing their GIS database while reducing costly field-based collection practices, CycloMedia said.
CycloMedia began capturing its 100-megapixel HD-Cycloramas for customers in January 2015. With Street Smart, users can overlay their own GIS data layers, precisely capture location, record dimension measurements and edit attributes all from within a street-view perspective. Links to “information-tagged” images can be shared among ArcGIS Online subscribers within the enterprise and pictures shared with the wider community.
“CycloMedia’s Street Smart app allows customers to visualize and share information about the built environment from a new perspective,” said Joe Astroth, CEO of CycloMedia USA. “Street-level imagery adds a new dimension to a GIS database by enabling the overlay and measurement of geographic features directly inside our HD Cycloramas.”
Through Esri’sArcGIS Marketplace, geospatial professionals can learn about CycloMedia’s products and services, request new data collection and add comments and feedback to help improve the user experience.
By Art Kalinski, GISP
For more than a decade, the military has been struggling with cataloging and retrieving its huge libraries of full motion video (FMV). The video, captured by both manned and unmanned aircraft, rapidly reached unmanageable levels. If you have ever tried to organize vacation photos after returning home from a long trip, you know that it’s easy to lose track of where each photo was taken. Date/time stamps help, but the effort is still difficult if your vacation took you to numerous locations.
Now imagine trying to retrieve several critical minutes out of thousands of hours of video of barren land or repetitive-looking villages, and you get a sense of the magnitude of the problem. Without some way to catalog the video, critical details can be lost, because finding the right video clip becomes impossible in a reasonable period of time. Everyone agreed that the solution to the problem is to index the video clips by date/time and location, preferably with an exact georeferenced footprint. This is now possible with tools from Esri, Hexagon Geospatial and others.
Several years ago, at the USGIF GEOINT Tech Days, Sarnoff (SRI) demonstrated a system that pinned aerial video to its geographic footprint and maintained that registration despite the movement of the aircraft. It was an achievement that impressed everyone in the audience. I changed jobs soon after that conference and lost track of developments in the FMV field. At the February Esri Federal Users Conference, I was thrilled to see Jack Dangermond briefly demonstrate the same kind of FMV georeferencing capability in ArcGIS 10.2 during his opening plenary session. I learned that Esri developed the capability in 2013, and later learned that Intergraph (Hexagon Geospatial) also developed a similar capability in 2010.
MISB: The Critical Improvement
The key technical development that made this possible was NGA’s creation of “Motion Imagery Standards” and the Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB). The MISB developed standards for a consistent way to capture and record telemetry data during the video capture as metadata that becomes part of the video stream. This “Open Standard” metadata includes information such as the accurate xyz location of the aircraft, attitude, tilt, camera angle, and camera characteristics. This information travels with the individual video frames and permits the GIS/viewing software to perform the georeferencing.
This process is very similar to the oblique imagery capture system used for years by Pictometry, which at 20 FPS was technically FMV. MISB like Pictometry requires accurate GPS and IMU data to continuously capture and record the metadata. The MISB also gets involved with video compression standards such as the newer H.264 used on Blu-Ray discs and streaming video. H.264 has, for the most part, replaced MPEG2 and older MPEG4 as the video compression standard of choice. Much of the video captured by low-end small UAVs is just a simple video stream with no MISB telemetry data. However, I’m sure that lower prices, increased capability and smaller size of sensors will fix that with time. Sorry, no one has yet figured a way to “hack in” the metadata for legacy video captured without the MISB telemetry data. The one exception is those videos that contain usable telemetry data that was burned into the video and can be read with OCR. It might be possible to insert that information as MISB-compliant data.
The ArcGIS Full Motion Video Add-In
The ArcGIS Full Motion Video 1.2 Add-In (for ArcGIS 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3) is a free tool for ArcGIS users. It permits users to play georeferenced live or previously recorded video files in the map view. The screen capture below shows several features of this tool and is from an online video.
The re-sizeable smaller window displays the video as it runs. The map view shows a changing footprint (green trapezoid) of the video as the aircraft flies over the site. The short green line shows the flight path of the aircraft. Demonstrating the interconnectivity of the two data sets, the user in the demo video drew a light blue polygon on the map view. Note that the Esri Intersect function re-projects and displays the same polygon correctly in the video view.
Frames from the video can be extracted as single georeferenced images or groups of images and stored as a mosaic dataset. Playback of time-stamped video data can be synchronized with other time-enabled data and played together on the map. Features can be digitized directly on the video player and will appear on the map and vice versa.
The extension supports playback and management of multiple simultaneous video feeds. The Add-In also allows you to record the sensor, frame center, and footprint data in a geodatabase so the Bookmark Manager can perform searches for bookmarked video scenes. For more information regarding the Esri FMV tool, visit this ArcGiS site.
Hexagon Geospatial GeoMedia Motion Video Analyst Professional
Another robust FMV system that takes advantage of MISB telemetry is GeoMedia Motion Video Analyst Professional (MVA) from Hexagon Geospatial. The Hexagon Geospatial system includes tools to catalog videos as geospatial features with attributes extracted from the metadata, and has some elegant graphic selection tools that help an operator search and retrieve needed video clips.
In the screen capture below, you can see the map view with the geo-registered color video overlaid on the black-and-white ortho base image. As the video plays, the georeferenced video footprint continuously moves to the correct location as the tracking graphics in red show the position of the aircraft. The transparency of the video can be adjusted so an operator can compare features between the base image and the video and digitize directly in the map window.
MVA also includes a full set of tools for placing clipmarks as geospatial features with attributes and linked to the cataloged video, extracting snapshots and videos clips, on-the-fly enhancements, stabilization, registration and more. The system also facilitates rapid report generation so as an operator searches and plays appropriate video clips, the same operator or a partner can rapidly generate reports as documents or PowerPoint presentations in minutes. Another feature of the system is a “de-hazing” tool that removes a surprising amount of haze or smoke.
See a very good video overview of GeoMedia Motion Video Analyst Professional on this Hexagon Geospatial page. Like the Esri video, both are far better at explaining the capabilities than I can in this short column.
Other defense contractors are taking advantage of the MISB metadata, so check with your provider. Although these systems found their first home with military analysts, the Esri and Hexagon Geospatial reps indicated that many other users are finding the capability valuable in their work. Emergency operations centers come to mind first, but more mundane uses include rail and utility property management, the news media and video used in court proceedings. So, if you shoot lots of aerial video and need to catalog and retrieve video clips quickly, consider using MISB in your capture process.
Mason, Bruce & Girard Inc. (MB&G), a natural resource consulting firm, has released version 2.0 of its mobile mapping application, MobileMap.
MB&G MobileMap provides GIS capabilities to field staff. It focuses on supporting large datasets and integrating information from diverse sources. The app provides data visualization, analysis and editing while operating in disconnected environments.
MobileMap supports an unlimited number of base maps and feature types, and allows users to quickly switch between data by turning layers on and off. Version 2.0 of MobileMap provides flexibility in how data is organized on a device, and by supporting Esri’s shapefile format, users can define the map symbology of shapefiles.
By targeting the Android platform, MobileMap takes advantage of a large range of device options as well as capabilities unique to Android such as support for MicroSD cards, which greatly enhance storage capacity while dramatically reducing data transfer speeds for large datasets.
A major component of this release is improved data sync capabilities. MobileMap leverages enterprise GIS technology from Esri by enabling seamless sync with ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online feature services. Users will always have data that is backed up and up-to-date. By establishing a Wi-Fi connection, data can be synced to a secured service. In order to provide greater control over this process, MobileMap allows users to separate sync into separate upload and download tasks.
According to MB&G, MobileMap 2.0 provides improved measurement and navigation capabilities; users can now measure both distance and area of features and can choose the appropriate map units for each parameter.
MobileMap 2.0 displays the distance and direction to any selected feature, allowing field staff to navigate to management areas, survey plots or specific assets. Another new capability is the ability to perform offline search of features. While other mapping tools use internet connections to search for relevant data, MobileMap supports the ability to search offline data to identify where particular attributes or conditions exist in the landscape. When features are discovered, they are highlighted and the map zooms to their extent. These capabilities provide field staff with a valuable tool for discovering data and locating areas of interest.
MobileMap’s data capture also has been improved. Previous versions supported GPS tracking of a travel path and the ability to define new features using GPS coordinates, or by tapping to create points or vertices in lines and polygons. Users now can collect lines and polygons by tracing the desired shape in a single motion.
Data entry has been improved by supporting additional business rules, such as range domains and required fields. Data managers can carefully specify data integrity rules using Esri data models, and MobileMap will respect and enforce those rules in the field. This functionality helps to ensure that MobileMap users will collect high quality data thereby minimizing the need for data editing back in the office.
Esri has released its Nighttime Flow Analysis solution. The COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) configuration of Esri’s ArcGIS platform helps water utilities identify areas with underground leaks and other sources of non-revenue water loss.
“This solution really highlights how ArcGIS can be used in a holistic workflow at a utility,” said Michael Miller, Esri solutions manager. “Utilities can quickly show a return on investment from managing an accurate asset database.”
Esri says the return on investment from Nighttime Flow Analysis comes from utilities finding and fixing underground leaks and other sources of water loss that could go undetected, sometimes for months.
“Over the long term, Nighttime Flow Analysis improves the utility’s operations and capital planning through narrowing down the areas of high water loss,” Miller said. “This can cut repairs from months to weeks or even days, and it can even prevent service disasters.”
Nighttime Flow Analysis works by using an optimal time to analyze for leaks, which typically at night when household water consumption is significantly low. At the lowest point, the observed GPM from the area is entered into the solution. By comparing this observation to the expected flow, the utility can iterate through different Sub-DMA configurations without creating permanent DMA’s to determine potential nonrevenue water loss, or water that flows somewhere but isn’t reaching a meter.
Learn more about Esri’s ArcGIS for Water Utilities here.