The three-year program helps emerging business partners bring new and innovative products to Esri customers.
The initial partnership between Hangar and Esri will enable ArcGIS customers to request and receive autonomous, precision-captured drone data on demand from within ArcGIS, enabling industries to gain real-time awareness and insight about locations and features.
The GIS community has grown accustomed to ambiguous and infrequent imagery. While emerging robotic enablers like drones provide a high-resolution, low-cost alternative to satellite and manned aircraft imagery, there hasn’t been a feasible way for GIS professionals to repeatedly gather precision location insight at scale, from potentially thousands of features within Esri maps, Hangar said in a statement.
Hangar not only makes aerial data possible at this scale, but also available on request from within ArcGIS. Using a system of systems, Hangar streamlines and automates the 4D data supply chain, enabling task-and-receive reality capture. In the near future, ArcGIS users will be able to request aerial insights at any feature, and have imagery delivered back in 24 to 48 hours or less.
“The pain we see in the GIS community is an inability to quickly and efficiently pair 2D data with the 3D reality,” said Jeff DeCoux, CEO and founder of Hangar. “We’re excited to work with Esri to deliver on-demand, precision 4D insight to ArcGIS users. Hangar will enable businesses to take full advantage of robotics as instruments of data collection, and provide the industry much needed repeatability and scale.”
ArcGIS Online users will have the capability to request and receive aerial imagery at variable frequencies or volumes. Requests can be made manually, on an as-needed basis, or automatically, based on contextual triggers or volume requirements. Data is autonomously captured, automatically processed, then delivered back to the customer via a high-speed delivery engine.
The digital missions behind requests are saved indefinitely, and can be performed repetitively with absolute precision and accuracy, preserving data integrity over time. ArcGIS users will be able to view captures within 24 to 48 hours from the initial request, across a variety of data types.
“Hangar empowers Esri users to explore any of the thousands of features within ArcGIS maps, observing ground truth at each pin in incredible detail, today and over time,” said Francis Kelly, Esri, global partner programs manager. “Hangar adds valuable data validity and scalability to the budding drone industry. We’re excited to work with them to give Esri users the ability to analyze and consume physical world content in a new and meaningful way.”
As big-data levels of precision spatial data are collected over time, Hangar will work with Esri to intelligently apply change detection and pattern recognition to enable a new era GIS that includes artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Hangar will be attending the Esri User Conference, July 9-13 in San Diego, at booth Z19 to demonstrate its technology and showcase the partnership with Esri.
Drones and robots complement traditional platforms, delivering insights in unique use cases.
Guest column by Mike Fuller
Geographic surveys have changed in the last 150 years. What started with early film cameras strapped to hot air balloons, kites and homing pigeons has advanced — both in terms of sensors and the platforms on which they’re deployed. These innovations — which include drones and robots — are changing the way we can collect data, enabling us to gather greater detail and providing richer insights about the world around us.
These nascent platforms are set to explode in popularity. The global market for remote sensing platforms will more than double in the next four years. It’s projected to reach more than $21 billion by 2022, driven in large part by use of drones, according to an October 2017 report from MarketsandMarkets.
Despite the anticipated growth in drone and robot usage, they will not replace traditional remote sensing platforms such as airplanes, satellites and vehicles. The new technologies bring with them some limitations with regard to the number, size and weight of sensors they can carry, capture rates, area covered and and line-of-site restrictions.
As a result, drones and robots will offer new capabilities that complement the traditional platforms and provide greater geographic detail, as well as the ability to be quickly deployed and constantly monitor areas where humans cannot routinely go.
How far we’ve come
To understand how far geographic information system (GIS) mapping and remote sensing technology has come, it’s important to consider how it started. Inventors in the 1800s relied on early film cameras and somewhat unreliable, imprecise airborne platforms — such as hot air balloons, pigeons and kites — to conduct land surveys and do surveillance.
The introduction of a new kind of “bird” — the airplane — opened up new opportunities in the 1900s, supporting the use of more accurate aerial photography for reconnaissance and mapping.
Satellite technology launched remote sensing into space in the 1970s, supporting the collection of detailed multispectral data that led to improved understanding of minerals, soils, urban growth, agriculture and other geographic features.
Even though the technology has become more sophisticated, GIS professionals still leverage data from many of these historical platforms:
Manned aircraft – planes and helicopters
Satellites – high-resolution satellites and cubesats
Terrestrial – survey vehicles and handheld devices
But — much like the impact of airplanes and satellites — we’re on the precipice of another significant milestone for remote sensing. Marked by use of burgeoning drone and robotic technology, this new technology will complement traditional platforms and deliver more insights than ever before possible.
Rise of drones and robots
Drones and robots are the newest remote sensing platforms catching the eye of the GIS community. Not only are they cool and cutting-edge, they open up a new class of use cases that were previously not possible with traditional aerial survey methods. They offer new opportunities to monitor remote areas, and their form factors and cost enables a higher frequency of data collection compared to aerial survey.
Because of their unique features, users are envisioning how these platforms can be implemented for remote sensing in many fields, such as energy, oil and gas, aviation, forestry, transportation, emergency management, and natural resource preservation and restoration.
When the frequency of data from these platforms is coupled with analytics and cloud infrastructure, it is possible to acquire, analyze and act in ways that were not possible before.
Keep in mind, though, that each technology comes with trade-offs. Users should assess their goals, and weigh these factors, to determine if drones or robots will deliver the results they wish to achieve. Let’s take a closer look:
Drones
Drones are capable of delivering ultra-high-resolution data, with ground sample distances (GSD) of 1 cm and accuracy of under 5 cm. However, accuracy is highly variable; it can vary based on the drone model, terrain and software used to process the collected data.
The form factor of many drones also limits the ability to do multi-sensor flights. A drone typically can cover no more than a few square miles per day with a visible or multispectral camera, compared to manned aircraft that span hundred of thousands of acres a day carrying hyperspectral, lidar and orthophotography devices simultaneously.
Because they can be deployed quickly, and on a daily basis, drones offer a cost-effective, practical approach for covering small areas compared to other aerial survey methods. But drone usage currently faces a significant impediment.
Current regulations require operators to maintain sight of the devices during all flights. These line-of-site restrictions limit the distance a drone can go on each flight, and require operators to change locations multiple times for a single survey. As a result, frequent revisits can be labor intensive.
Battery life also plays a role in the usability of drones. Most commercial drones can fly for only about 45 minutes, despite continued improvements in battery technology. Combined with the line-of-site restrictions, battery life impacts the amount of territory drones can cover. Most can handle only a few square or linear miles during each flight, making helicopters or airplanes better suited for projects that span hundred of miles or more.
Despite some of the drawbacks, drones are proving ideal in many use cases — from damage assessment and power restoration after hurricanes to data collection for hydraulic modeling, stream restoration design and aquatic habitat assessment.
For example, drones equipped with bathymetric and terrestrial laser scanning sensors are ideal for supporting riverine mapping applications. In these cases, drones offer an effective alternative when the waterway cannot be accessed, or it is too dangerous to use ground- or water-based survey methods for collecting channel geometry.
Robots
Robotic platforms are flexible, enabling users to attach a variety of sensors, including thermal cameras, lidar and sniffers for natural gas or other hazardous material. They are rarely hampered by payload restrictions, like drones.
And, with programming, robots can return to their chargers when their batteries dip below a certain threshold.
Like drones, there are many potential applications for terrestrial remote sensing robots. One use is for precision agriculture to test soil, water and plant health.
Many utilities are expressing serious interest, too, for robots. These robots can include onboard spectral, thermal and lidar sensors, precision navigation and hazard cameras to perform fine-scale spatial mapping and can acquire a wide array of data from electrical substations.
In this scenario, the robotic platform could detect physical and spectral changes, identify objects, monitor corrosion, detect liquid and gas leaks, and conduct thermal monitoring. Using this model, utilities could track substation environments remotely, saving time associated with physical inspections and enabling earlier detection of potential problems.
Systemwide approach required
Traditional remote sensing platforms — airplanes, satellites and vehicles — will continue to play an important role in GIS mapping. Drones and robots give us new tools that will have a dramatic impact on the amount of detailed geographic information collected.
For these new platforms to be used effectively as complements to traditional platforms, the industry must adopt a systems approach that takes into consideration a number of factors:
The end application
The sensors and acquisition protocol that will collect data at the precision required by the end application
The actionable analytics that need to be extracted from the data
How the data and insights integrate with the business processes used for decision making.
By taking this approach, those who work in a variety of fields can gather the insights they need to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently, while leveraging the unique strengths offered by these emerging platforms.
Esri has launched the Africa GeoPortal, a comprehensive cloud-based platform that provides rich content and solutions from Esri and its partners.
The geoportal provides access to Esri’s ArcGIS Online service as well as geographic data and imagery for Africa.
The African Union, African Development Bank, other international agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), academia, businesses and national government funds will be able to use the geoportal to address the most urgent development challenges — from economic development and climate adaptation to conservation and health care.
“Access to this Africa GeoPortal powered by the ArcGIS platform will provide my colleagues at the iLab, and others in the network of African Technology Hubs (AfriLabs), with the information and analytical capabilities that we need to make the most effective development interventions for our citizens and communities,” said Luther Jeke, Manager of iCampus at iLab Liberia.
The complimentary software-as-a-service technology is offered to all who are supporting African nations for positive economic, social and environmental outcomes — African citizens, NGOs, and international development agencies alike.
The geoportal offers access to spatial analytics capabilities and authoritative content for charting compelling, educational, informational, entertaining and beautiful maps of Africa, Esri said.
“We are deeply committed to helping the people of Africa discover, explore, and understand the vast information available to them through the power of maps,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “Through this service, we hope to provide our users with the benefit of ongoing developments and investments at Esri so they can foster missions to the best of their abilities.”
To learn more about the Africa GeoPortal and Esri’s commitment to supporting the global community in the quest for sustainability through better mapping and location intelligence, visit go.esri.com/africa_geoportal.
All of us aspire. It is the voice in our heart — our calling, the bud of our true self wanting to bloom. In each of us a seed is planted and when that seed begins to prosper another shoot springs forth. It is how we know we are on the right path. As we approach our true purpose goals and accomplishments align, there is clarity of vision, resistance wanes, and a virtuous cycle lifts us up.
But what if that calling was having every disaster that befalls a nation laid at your feet? Who then among us would willingly take on so great a burden? You might imagine anyone wanting to do so must first pass beneath a door upon which are inscribed the words, “Only the strong of heart may pass and they too shall be challenged.”
Who would be brave enough to enter knowing the lament and sorrow of a nation would be their sustenance? And yet, there is one who willingly accepted the call. He is a giant, forged, not born, in the fires of calamity, chaos and crisis.
But who within the geospatial community would bear such a heavy labor? Would it not be Christopher Vaughan, geospatial information officer (GIO) of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA)? He is the first person to hold the GIO position for FEMA.
I had the great honor to speak with him recently as he enters his eighth year at FEMA. Being the first GIO meant there was lots of work to do. The geospatial infrastructure for FEMA had to be developed and integrated into the operational core. Operational units needed training to use GIS and learn to become proficient with it. It is a process that could not happen overnight.
There was also the cultural mindset to overcome whenever new technologies enter the workplace, and, no matter how valuable GIS has proven to be there is always resistance to change. These were barriers Chris had to deal with while at the same time doing what he came to FEMA to do — support emergency management operations as disasters occurred; and, as you will see, there is never a reprieve from the whims of Mother Nature. Her wrath is unquenching, unceasing and unrestrained.
Chris became the FEMA GIO in May 2010, after the Haiti Earthquake, arguably one of the worst humanitarian crises in the northwestern hemisphere. Death tolls reached 220,000 according to FEMA’s Earthquake Response Report (FEMA 2010)[1] and over 1.1 million people were displaced; plus, making matters worse, a cholera epidemic broke out during the earthquake recovery efforts. That was the job he walked into.
Even though Haiti is not a responsibility of the United States, it is in U.S. interests to help stabilize the region and provide goodwill to our neighbors. This put Chris up close and personal with the devastation, challenges and aftermath. Several lessons emerged from the Haiti Earthquake which continues to shape Chris’s view of Disaster Response and Recovery (DR&R) to this day, one of the most prominent being, crisis mapping, using crowdsource efforts involving a worldwide audience.
Chris shares that the International Conference of Crisis Mappers held a meeting in 2010 right after the earthquake, “There were about 100 to 150 people from all over the world. I still run in circles with about 40 to 50 of those folks. It was sort of like a Who’s Who of disaster operations.” International volunteers working remotely mapped Haiti in the aftermath so well that Craig Fugate, the FEMA Administrator at the time, recognized Crisis Mappers as having created, “the most comprehensive and up-to-date map available.” Chris would later draw upon this lesson in future emergency management operations.
The Haiti Earthquake stretched FEMA’s responsibilities beyond U.S borders and Chris understood that FEMA needed to prepare for operations in neighboring countries if needed. Chris will most likely be involved in providing much of the geospatial support for those efforts because of FEMA’s advanced technical capabilities and its organizational strength.
That first year was daunting, but there is no respite from the storm, so to speak, and within one year, Chris was faced with the most active tornado season on record. Over 360 tornados touched down in April over a three day period killing a total of 348 people in 21 states in what has been named the 2011 Super Outbreak. Not a month later, Chris was met with yet another defining moment in his career.
On Saturday, May 21, 2011 a storm system developed over the Midwest. Local news reported two tornados had touched down in Kansas — nothing unusual, but storms in the Midwest always cause concern. The next day, Sunday, May 22, 2011, there was more tornado activity. Weather warnings covered the map from the Great Lakes to Texas. Several tornados touched down throughout the day, but for all appearances by late afternoon it looked less severe than the previous month’s outbreak.
Early that evening, the phone calls began and didn’t stop coming in. Reports were that a tornado had devastated Joplin, Missouri. Details were scarce. Communications into Joplin were down. Chris couldn’t get any answers. He needed a clear picture. Where did the tornado touch down? What was the tornado’s track? How big was it? How many people were missing? Where was the damage? What was damaged? Who needs support? Who can be brought in to provide that support? News poured in getting worse with each successive call.
“I needed that GIS perspective so I could see. It was like a surgical knife went right through this town and in that boundary were two nursing homes, one school, a fire station and a hospital. That is what GIS brings to the fight – clarity and context. I didn’t have that.”
The Joplin Tornado turned out to be the deadliest in over 60 years and the most expensive in U.S. history. It was nearly one mile wide and almost 22 miles long killing 161 people. “Joplin, Missouri will always color me for the rest of my career, in how I approach Disaster Response and Recovery Operations, not knowing how big that event really was until we got our arms wrapped around it. We struggled for a long time with just how big that storm path was. We were waiting days on those tornado tracks. We’ve gotten a lot faster. We are down to hours now. The storm prediction center has done some amazing things. They’ve got a whole innovation lab using radar to determine where the tornado touched down. It’s not perfect but it’s far better than where we were.”
The year of 2011 was the worst tornado season in U.S. history. In all, there were 1,697 tornados reported throughout the U.S., the Joplin Tornado being the most significant. Out of that crisis social media evolved as a tool for DR&R operations. This would further develop Chris’s vision for FEMA.
Chris calls 2011 his most difficult year. He has dealt with many of the most infamous events in his eight years as the GIO. Following is a short list:
the Mississippi River flooding (2010),
Hurricane Irene (2011),
the tornado Super Outbreak (2011),
the Joplin Tornado (2011),
Super Storm Sandy (2012),
The Yarnell Fires (2013),
Moore Oklahoma Tornado (2013),
the Oso mudslide (2014),
the Northern California wildfires (2017),
blizzards throughout the U.S. (almost every year)
and most recently
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (2017).
In fact, in total, since Chris became the GIO, FEMA has declared 1,003 disasters. On average, that is one declared disaster every three days, and disasters last for weeks, and months, and sometimes years, so these have compiling effects.
Dealing with so many disasters, so often, in so short a period of time, Chris has developed a disaster consciousness as he discusses, “There are obviously natural cycles. There is a rhythm to it all. We are pretty accustomed to the rhythm. The snow pack begets the flood season. We are watching the snows and where they build-up because that leads into the flood plains, or drought as the case may be. Our timelines span months. So, we watch El Niño and La Niña. April and May bring the tornados. Then that slides right into wildfire season. But, you never know when that earthquake is going to hit.”
Even with all the real disasters taking place FEMA runs exercises preparing for those rare, cataclysmic events happening once every several hundred years. It’s been over 100 years since a major cataclysmic event of that magnitude has occurred. Scientists predict we are due for one.
Yellowstone, for example, is a huge volcanic caldera. It’s been quiet for hundreds of years even though it remains very active.
The New Madrid seismic zone is also an area of concern. It has been over 200 years since a major event occurred in this area. In 2008 FEMA wrote an in-depth report on the New Madrid and has been conducting exercises on the region ever since.
USGS just released a report focusing attention on the Hayward Fault near Oakland, CA which includes videos of ground shaking simulations (USGS 2018) . The USGS study is not forecasting an event is imminent, but it is a prediction that a 72% chance of a 6.7+ magnitude earthquake will happen in the area within the next 25 years.
“I can promise you this,” says Chris. “If we aren’t involved in a big event we are preparing for one. We are always preparing for the next big one. Right now we are laser focused on earthquake planning. A lot of our time is spent thinking about the worst case scenarios. We’re talking about a Cascadia Subduction event. What would happen if a New Madrid seismic zone event occurred and how would we move that much logistics and people and resources? Where would we put limited resources to affect the most good? We can plan for those types of events. We know where the major faults are. We rely on our partners like USGS to give us their risk assessments of where we should be paying attention. We haven’t had a catastrophic event like that in over 100 years. Getting the emergency management community to think in those terms is probably in the neighborhood of 100,000 people dead. That is a huge task at that scale. That is why we are training.”
FEMA just released their 2018-2022 Strategic Plan and the three key goals are to
Build a Culture of Preparedness,
Ready the Nation for Catastrophic Disasters, and
Reduce the Complexity of FEMA.
FEMA’s exercises are building a culture of preparedness, but for the strategic plan to work FEMA has to engage the population. DHS has a volunteer force called the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and all interested citizens are encouraged to join. There is most likely one in your area. (Learn more and find out how to get engaged).
CERT is an area Chris would like to tap into. “I think organizations like CERT, the National Map Corps, and other large volunteer based groups that are geographically dispersed are who we need to tap into for crowdsourcing. We are looking at ways to harness this collective power. They are there for a reason. They want to be part of the conversation. So, we want to engage them and are figuring out ways to pull them into our efforts.”
Shortly after the interview with Chris, FEMA announced the 2018 National Level Exercise (NLE) will be incorporating CERT in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season. By the time this article is published the event will have passed, but plan ahead for next year and register for CERT. The information on the website will benefit you, your family and your community. You might even see me there as I will be getting involved too. In the future, those with special skills such as remote sensing, GIS and data science might develop into a specialized corps of volunteers as FEMA works more closely with CERT.
There are some successes Chris celebrates. One of those is the advancements in dealing with floods. Chris states, “We were getting our tails handed to us on floods. No one could really figure out floods. Now, I feel like we’ve got a good handle on it. It was to the point where they’ve stood up a new National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with a joint venture between U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, FEMA, and I am sure USGS is involved. I would put it on the same scale as the National Hurricane Center. It is building out the National Water Model and it will tell the risk for a given area and provide information on where the flood is actually occurring.”
Another success Chris is excited to talk about is the geospatially enabled alert system called the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) that FEMA created. In Chris’s words, “it is an elaborate community where NOAA, the National Weather Service, the state, county and local level feed information into the system and it alerts people in specific areas using geofencing. There is a new REST API the geo-community can use to embed the information into webpages.”
The Making a Difference Award given by Esri. (Photo: FEMA)
Chris is building a legacy in disaster recovery and response by harnessing the power of the crowd. It first happened with the Haiti Earthquake. It was further developed during the Joplin Tornado, and it evolved further during Superstorm Sandy earning Chris and FEMA the Making a Difference Award from Esri in 2013.
Jack Dangermond presented the award, saying, “FEMA supports our nation during crises, and its leadership and staff at all levels work extremely hard to carry out that mission every day. We want to recognize their tremendous work during Sandy. The agency supplied intuitive mapping applications that allowed people to understand the emergency as it unfolded and to begin the process of rebuilding.”
Chris continues advancing the use of GIS in disaster operations and harnessing the power of crowdsourcing, most recently using it during the 2017 hurricane season for operations in Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
NOTE: January’s Geospatial Solutions article covers many of those advancements: How GIS and You can Aid In Disaster Response. This article is a follow-on to the January article.
When asked about the success of crowdsourcing efforts Chris shared his views, saying, “You’ve got all kinds of walks of life participating in this. Never before in the history of mankind have we had this speed of communication. I can conference call someone anywhere in the world and have no delay in our conversation. Look, we’ve always had millions of people sitting on the periphery. This is just the explosion of communication we are seeing. I mean, the internet has really only been in wide use for the last 20 years, so we’ve got to put things in perspective. Google Earth came out in 2005, the iPhone in 2007, ArcGIS Online in 2011. So, we’ve come so far in just the past 10 years… it’s really amazing.”
Building on lessons learned from engaging the crowd FEMA has an app that everyone needs to download to their smartphone. You can receive National Weather Service alerts, locate shelters, talk directly with FEMA, and upload pictures about where you are in the event of a disaster. It is an app providing information that can potentially save your life.
After speaking with Chris I left the conversation understanding the only thing bigger than Chris’s responsibility is his heart. Many times during the conversation he talked about ensuring FEMA was there for the most vulnerable populations and that the job of the GIO was to make operations more efficient and save time, because in disasters time saves lives.
Chris Vaughan is a giant in the geospatial world and worthy of the title. He has been forged by calamity, chaos and crisis; and, through it all, remains humble in service to those most in need. Harnessing the power of GIS and the crowd he has forever altered emergency management operations connecting the “Federal” to the “Individual.” He is a leader of the Geospatial community, both by title and by deed. Surely, people’s lives have been saved through Chris’s efforts and countless more will be. When we seek relief because some catastrophe has found its way to our door we can turn our hope towards FEMA that we might be rescued in our darkest hour thanks to the power of GIS and the vision of the FEMA GIO.
William H, Tewelow, GISP
Further information
If you would like to pad your resume FEMA has several free online courses that offer college credits. The courses which most pertain to readers of this article are IS-103: Geospatial Information Systems Specialist; IS-922: Applications of GIS for Emergency Management; IS-63.b: Geospatial Information Infrastructure (GII); IS-60.b: The Homeland Security Geospatial Concept-of-Operations (GeoCONOPS) for Planners and Decision Makers; IS-61.b: The Homeland Security Geospatial Concept-of-Operations (GeoCONOPS) In Depth; IS-62.b: The Homeland Security Geospatial Concept-of-Operations (GeoCONOPS) In Use; and, IS-42: Social Media in Emergency Management. Visit https://training.fema.gov for more information on these courses. If you are a GISP this will afford opportunities to earn points towards certification and renewal.
Information on FEMA’s text alert program
Subscribe to FEMA text: INFO to 43362
Locate open shelters text: SHELTER +Zip code to 43362
Locate Disaster Recovery Centers text: DRC +Zip code to 43362
FEMA’s U.S. Coast Guard Retiree to FEMA Reservist Initiative has nine GIS Specialist positions available: Salary ($15.82–23.69/hr) Position Description: The PLAN GIS Specialist (PLAN0001) conducts basic geo-processing, develops geospatial products, uses specialized geospatial software, operates and calibrates GPS units and mobile data collection devices, and supports customers as needed.
Location intelligence system introduced for nations in need of modernized land governance
Esri will join this year’s FIG Congress, hosted by the International Federation of Surveyors, taking place May 6–11 in Istanbul, Turkey.
At the annual event, Esri will showcase its new program for modernizing land administration systems tailored to the needs of developing countries and island nations.
Good land governance requires effective policies, efficient processes and institutions that can determine, record and disseminate information about the tenure, value and use of land. The new Land Administration Modernization Program allows land administration organizations in developing nations to meet these challenges and lay the foundation for economic success.
Esri’s program delivers an inexpensive, scalable platform that allows simple field capture, management and publication of parcel data in the cloud, or that can be implemented as an enterprise system meeting the needs of any modern land administration office.
The software is donated to eligible countries for four years from date of order, and includes maintenance updates and support from Esri.
At FIG Congress, Brent Jones, land records/cadastre industry manager at Esri, will host the workshop, “Modernize Land Administration Systems: Off-the-Shelf GIS Technology for Modern Cadastral Operations,” May 9, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m., at Hamidiye Hall, Istanbul Congress Center.
The workshop will demonstrate how Esri’s ArcGIS platform is a complete, interoperable, open, and purpose-built system for cadastral operations to improve efficiency, manage data integrity, and share data across organizations and with the public. ArcGIS delivers necessary capabilities ranging from fit-for-purpose to enterprise cadastral systems, whether the aim is improve data quality, increase throughput, or enhance spatial accuracy.
Bentley Systems, a global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, has acquired Plaxis, provider of geotechnical software, based in Delft, Netherlands.
Bentley has also agreed to acquire soil engineering software provider SoilVision, based in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The acquisitions, with Bentley’s market-leading borehole reporting and data management software gINT, serve to make Bentley a complete digital source for geotechnical professionals.
With the acquisitions, building information modeling (BIM) advancements can be extended to the essential subsurface engineering of every infrastructure project.
Projects necessarily begin with geotechnical surveys and sampling, captured with gINT for versatile documentation and reporting.
Next, professionals perform engineering related to soil properties, soil behavior, and groundwater flow using SoilVision’s SVOFFICE applications, supplemented by Plaxis’ offerings.
Then, soil-structure interaction is analyzed through Plaxis’ design, simulation, and engineering software (for example, PLAXIS 2D, PLAXIS 3D).
The new opportunity, by way of digital workflows enabled through Bentley’s comprehensive modeling environment, is for geotechnical applications to be integrated with Bentley’s structural applications (such as STAAD, RAM and SACS) for unprecedented geo-structural engineering performance.
As changes may occur in owner requirements, structural strategies or site conditions (continuously surveyed through UAVs and Bentley’s ContextCapture for reality modeling), geotechnical analysis could be continuously applied for improved outcomes, as managed through ProjectWise collaboration services.
For today’s infrastructure demands, geotechnical considerations are coming to the fore.
Urbanization, for instance, drives growth both vertically and underground, with emphasis on the capacity of foundations and tunnels. And new infrastructure projects of every type depend upon constructed dams, embankments, dikes, levees and reservoirs to improve their resilience.
Moreover, new asset types such as offshore wind turbine structures require new geotechnical analysis capabilities, in this case to be accomplished with Plaxis’ forthcoming MoDeTo software.
Because infrastructure assets are crucially linked to subsurface environs, they are vulnerable to geo-environmental risks including seismic activity, subsidence and weather impacts. Leveraging new digital workflows which incorporate real-time monitoring and analytics during infrastructure operations, geotechnical professionals can play the increasingly valuable role they deserve in achieving geo-environmental resilience.
“My colleagues and I welcome our new teams from Plaxis and SoilVision, which have in common a zeal for applying science for better engineering practice,” said Greg Bentley, Bentley Systems CEO. “Dr. Ronald Brinkgreve from Plaxis and Dr. Murray Fredlund, founder of SoilVision, exemplify this. I believe that every geotechnical engineer has benefitted from Plaxis’ continuous advancement, in scope and quality, of tools for their discipline to add value. With a professional and dedicated management team led by Jan-Willem Koutstaal, Plaxis has become one of the most successful software businesses I have ever seen.”
Bentley added, “While most infrastructure engineering disciplines converged around intuitive 3D models, geotechnical applications seem to have followed a less graphically intensive development path, and so have remained isolated from cross-discipline workflows. This ‘disconnected’ mindset prevailed even while Plaxis, SoilVision, and gINT mainstreamed 3D innovations. Our BIM platform’s comprehensive modeling environment will finally embrace the geotechnical profession in digital workflows for every infrastructure project and asset.”
Tony O’Brien, global practice leader for geotechnics for Mott MacDonald, said, “PLAXIS is one of our core analysis tools being used across our global geotechnics practice. When used by experienced specialists, PLAXIS can analyze many of our most complex ground-structure interaction problems. In Bentley’s hands, we have high expectations that we can accomplish more through digital workflows made possible through integration of PLAXIS technology with Bentley’s comprehensive modeling environment—workflows that are compatible with Mott MacDonald’s commitment to connected thinking and solving complex infrastructure challenges.”
NavVis, a global leader in mobile indoor mapping, visualization, and navigation, announces a new add-in for Autodesk Revit.
The add-in lets Revit users connect their BIM models to 360-degree immersive imagery and point clouds captured by the NavVis mobile mapping system. The add-in simplifies the process of creating and updating outdated BIM models to reflect the current state of the building.
NavVis technology is an all-in-one reality capture solution that has made it possible to quickly scan the current state of large industrial and commercial properties and stream the data on any device.
The data is captured by the NavVis M6 mobile mapping system, an innovative mobile mapping system that can scan indoor environments at the speed of walking. The data is then visualized in the NavVis IndoorViewer, which is browser-based software that streams the immersive panoramic images and point clouds.
With the Revit add-in, the NavVis IndoorViewer can now easily be integrated with Revit BIM models. Integrating Revit and IndoorViewer allows for a side-by-side comparison of the BIM model and the scanned state of the building, remotely from a desktop. This lets users quickly spot the changes that have been made since the model was created and the current state was captured, helping to speed up the process of updating BIM models. Integrating BIM and IndoorViewer also overcomes data silos and reduces planning errors that occur as a result of outdated information.
Revit users who install the add-in will be able to access the added value of the NavVis IndoorViewer, which includes adding and searching for information and mark-ups, taking measurements, route finding and online collaboration with stakeholders.
NavVis IndoorViewer Add-In visualizes buildings in Autodesk Revit.
Through the new Esri Official Statistics Modernization Program, the company will donate perpetual use licenses for ArcGIS software to eligible official statistical agencies in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS).
The program provides access to Esri ArcGIS Enterprise technology in support of the upcoming census counts that all countries will undertake during the Census, 2020 Round.
The data collected as part of these census counts is crucial to nations for competing on the global stage. By using authoritative methods of collection and the cutting-edge mapping and analytics tools that Esri is donating, developing nations can gain an advantage in making data-driven policy decisions suited to a globalized economy.
The Esri Official Statistics Modernization Program provides access to the same software that hundreds of thousands of Esri customers—from public agencies to private enterprises—rely on every day to run their organizations. Esri will also provide guidance and best practices workflows at no cost so countries can implement their own systems to help with collecting data for their census.
“Population and housing censuses are big efforts for countries, especially those that may not have the resources readily available,” said Linda Peters, Esri global business development manager. “These censuses are important, as the data collected is one of the primary sources of information needed for formulating, implementing, and monitoring policies aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and sustainability.”
Modernization efforts around census activities are helping countries leapfrog from paper-based workflows to digital and mobile ones. The United Nations (UN) expert group that specifically focuses on integrating statistical and geospatial information advised all countries to use a Global Statistical Geospatial Framework (GSGF) to aid in the modernization program.
This framework requires nations using GIS technology like Esri’s to ensure the implementation of up-to-date capabilities like data accessibility, ease of use of the technology, and the conversion of addresses into geographic coordinates on maps (geocoding).
The Esri Official Statistics Modernization Program was announced at the GIS for a Sustainable World conference in Geneva, Switzerland, co-organized by Esri and the UN. For more information on the program and nation eligibility, visit go.esri.com/officialstatisticsprogram.
An oblique image of downtown Chicago, captured in June 2017, with measurements. (Image: Nearmap)
Guest column by Sanchit Agarwal Vice President, Field Operations, Nearmap
With high-resolution imagery comes the ability to model reality, creating real-life visualizations for engineers, planners, construction teams and many others.
A quantum leap in computing capacity has allowed us to model and analyze the real world — all from our desktop and mobile devices. In days past, maps were purely for visualization and direction.
Today, they have graduated to full-blown analytics platforms empowering users to make decisions faster than ever before.
Why?
They closely represent truth on the ground — truth created from high-resolution aerial imagery captured at heights of up to 18,000 feet. Camera systems mounted in the bellies of planes can efficiently map the real world in incredible high detail. These aerial photographs are updated continuously.
In years past, access to aerial mapping content and services was reserved for more significant players.
Today, with easy access to scalable high-definition mapping content, anyone can utilize the power of maps in applications that extend far beyond directions and navigation.
There are two essential attributes of aerial maps driving this transformation — image resolution and model density. Today, most users are applying low-resolution satellite images that lack the detail needed for accurate decisions. But, as resolution increases, the imagery becomes more detailed; the visualizations, more vivid.
Ground features have gone from fuzzy satellite photos to clearly identifiable homes, buildings, roads, lakes and more — all captured using powerful cameras that have found the perfect pixel. With high-resolution comes added benefit.
Aerial image of the Aria Resort in Las Vegas captured in May 2017. (Image: Nearmap)
Users can manipulate the imagery — zoom closer and closer without losing the details. Computers can classify the features, distinguishing skylights from solar panels, walking paths from sidewalks, and pools from ponds.
Rich imagery is yielding richer data used to instantly query massive databases and return results that answer complex questions for businesses and government.
With high-resolution imagery comes the ability to model reality, creating real-life visualizations for engineers, planners, construction teams and others.
These models of landscapes, cities and neighborhoods are portrayed inside design tools and mapping systems, saving the analyst countless days of traveling to the site only to be surprised that the outdated low-resolution imagery does not depict what’s actually on the ground.
Imagery can vary greatly in resolution. Pixel resolution refers to the actual distance on the ground that each pixel represents in the orthophotography — the vertical image. For example, one-foot pixel resolution means that each pixel in the image covers one foot on the ground.
Common resolutions include three-inch, six-inch, one-foot and one-meter. The higher the imagery resolution (for instance, three inches per pixel), the greater the visible detail within the photograph. Clearly, a three-inch resolution is much better than a one-foot resolution.
Most mapping content currently consumed is two-dimensional and generated from low to mid-resolution nadir imagery. In other words, you see the land as if you were staring straight down at it, not height-of-ground features and certainly not change over time.
While that was adequate for some users, others reached for higher resolution and, while they were at it, decided they needed a third and fourth dimension — namely, height and time. These new perspectives provide more analytical options, more insights and a variety of new use cases that show change over time, height and multi-perspectives of the same property or landscape.
With the democratization of mapping products and services and the general trend toward consumption of multi-dimensional experiences, there is an implicit need to increase resolution, detail, dimensions and perspectives in mapping content and services as well.
The Rancho Mirage community of California, captured in February 2017. (Image: Nearmap)
Traditionally, satellite imagery has been used to monitor large areas of the earth at scale remotely. The resolution of the satellite imagery has graduated from multiple meters to feet with the advent of advanced mapping satellites.
The challenge here is the resolution. Low-resolution satellite imagery, although scalable, is good for macro-analysis of cities and neighborhoods but is not detailed enough for accurate measurements and micro-analysis at the level of each individual property.
On the other end of the spectrum come drone mapping solutions that offer the promise of delivering incredibly high-resolution datasets (sub-centimeter resolution) but fails to provide the scalability and repeatability.
Let’s get specific. Why does resolution matter?
You cannot measure what you cannot see. The resolution of imagery provides a more detailed, zoomed in and richer view of the real world, thereby enabling desktop based reconnaissance, inspection, analysis and measurement of features that are not traditionally visible in satellite imagery.
Higher resolution means high fidelity and dependable measurements. With the added details and definition of features that high-resolution offers comes the much-needed advantage of clearly and legibly identifying feature boundaries and hence measuring the feature with high precision and accuracy.
Higher resolution map content means fewer site visits. Rather than travel onsite to inspect and measure, many organizations are now relying on high-resolution imagery and, in the process, not having to waste resources sending team members on site.
High resolution means more detailed documentation of reality. Gamers have experienced reality-like landscapes for quite some time. Now, 3D and 4D mapping content allows users to immerse themselves in the landscape, navigate through street views, and fly like a bird to inspect rooftops with ease.
High resolution and refreshed content means more accurate change analysis. Identifying how locations have changed over time through multiple captures that embody leaf-off and leaf-on imagery allow users to not only visualize detail but also notice progress, changes in construction, degradation of property features, growth in vegetation and more.
High-resolution content means more automated workflows. High-resolution content allows for better feature definition models resulting in higher success rates in interpreting and analyzing the reality algorithmically. Higher success rates of automated algorithms results in efficient exploitation of datasets to solve real world problems.
Machine learning thrives on high-resolution content. There’s no shortage of news on the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in data science. With the advent of high-resolution maps, machine learning is now able to differentiate skylights from solar panels, decks from patios and pavement from pavers. In turn, the ground features identified are being stored in databases for lightning fast queries to complex problems.
The higher the resolution, the higher your confidence will be.
Boundless Anywhere is a new mobile application for enterprises needing to collect and distribute location information from handheld devices and tablets, available for iOS or Android.
With Boundless Anywhere, organizations can collect data in the field and store it instantly in a database. Collected data can then be visualized on clients such as desktop GIS, web and mobile. With real-time access to location-based data, the entire organization can now accomplish work faster and more efficiently.
“Mobility is at the heart of today’s technology, and the rapid proliferation of smartphones and tablets in recent years has had a profound impact on the GIS industry,” said Anthony Calamito, chief geospatial officer at Boundless. “The ability to access all kinds of data — including location data — from the palm of our hands at any given time or place has become essential. With this extended offering, Boundless offers mobile capabilities that empower users to do more while on the move.”
With Boundless Anywhere, users of the Boundless enterprise GIS platform can collect geospatial data wherever they are and use maps to engage a community, validate data, make observations, report, respond and communicate in real-time. The new solution simplifies field collection workflows and improves the accuracy of geospatial data, saving time and money.
Users are able to capture new data and edit or delete existing data with or without an internet connection, and can sync instantly once they are back online. Updates and edits are instantly available on Boundless Exchange, where the entire team can analyze and share findings with the rest of the organization.
Key advantages:
Collaborate in real-time to make faster decisions. View mobile edits instantly on the web, making it easy to pull data into your GIS for mapping, analysis, and reporting.
Ground-truth data to improve accuracy. Take expensive transcription errors out of the equation. Mobile workflows modernize field collection away from clipboards and cameras, ensuring data collected on-location is current and accurate.
Empower responders to collect, even when offline. A good network connection is never guaranteed in the field – the Boundless Anywhere solution lets you edit GIS data in even the most remote areas and sync it when you’re back online.
GIS apps don’t have to be cumbersome. Collect GIS data and photos in a straightforward interface that’s easy to use and can turn your entire team into data collectors.
Boundless solutions are built on open GIS technology and APIs that generate actionable location intelligence across third-party apps, content services and plugins for enterprise applications.
Mapping company NavVis has launched the M6, a next-generation indoor mobile-mapping system that the company says can overcome the scalability and data quality constraints of reality capture technology.
Surveyors and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals can now use reality-capture technology for large-scale indoor mapping projects. The M6 can be used for factory planning and creating and updating as-built BIM (building information modeling) models and construction monitoring.
The NavVis M6 is an all-in-one system that captures 360-degree immersive imagery, photorealistic point clouds, Bluetooth beacons, Wi-Fi signals and magnetic field data.
The NavVis M6 features a mobile lidar system that lets it scan up to 30 times faster than stationary devices, letting users capture up to 30,000 square meters in a day.
Cutting-edge 6D simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology significantly improves the quality of data captured. Thanks to 6D SLAM, M6 continuously scans even complex indoor environments, including uneven surfaces or changing elevations such as ramps, open spaces or long corridors without compromising the quality of the data.
M6’s innovative software is complemented by hardware features designed to improve the quality of data and ease of capture: four laser scanners with a range of up to 100 meters are arranged to maximize scan coverage, while six cameras automatically take high-resolution images during mapping. The innovative design of the M6 includes camera placement that keeps the operator in a blind spot.
NavVis IndoorViewer software gives stakeholders access to the scanned environment through an interactive virtual building in their browser.
“The NavVis M6 marks a quantum leap in indoor mobile mapping,” Felix Reinshagen, CEO of NavVis. “Anyone who needs to scan large properties, run repeated scans or would like to move into the field of reality capture will profit from the groundbreaking data quality.
“With M6, users can now quickly capture large, complex indoor environments for typical tasks such as updating floorplans, documenting construction progress or creating as-built BIM models. At the same time, M6 captures the data needed to provide customers with additional deliverables such as browser-based immersive walkthroughs and indoor navigation,” Reinshagen said.
TCarta, a global provider of marine geospatial products, has delivered pre- and post-disaster surface models for the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda for use in Hurricane Irma recovery efforts.
The satellite-derived surface models contain seamless datasets of onshore elevation and offshore water-depth measurements for each island.
The United Kingdom government commissioned the Hurricane Irma disaster mapping for Antigua and Barbuda as part of the Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme. TCarta won a competitive tender, which specifically requested end products derived from satellite imagery.
“By specifying satellite-derived data as the deliverable in its tender, the U.K. government acknowledged the speed and cost advantages this technology offers compared with traditional shipborne surveying or airborne lidar collection,” said TCarta CEO David Critchley.
Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean in September 2017. The governments of Antigua and Barbuda requested accurate data for onshore land elevations and offshore water depths from before and after the storm hit.
The datasets will be used in digital change detection analyses to determine how Irma altered the surfaces of the land and seafloor. This will be vital information in repairing onshore drainage systems and updating coastal navigation charts.
“A seamless onshore-offshore dataset is crucial for the hydrographic computer modeling to accurately visualize the integrated nature of the dynamic terrestrial and near-shore environments,” Critchley said.
For the seafloor dataset, the TCarta team generated satellite-derived bathymetry products by extracting accurate water-depth measurements from high-resolution multispectral imagery acquired by the DigitalGlobe WorldView satellites. In the clear Caribbean waters around Antigua and Barbuda, bathymetric points were delivered on a 2-meter spacing to deeper than 20 meters.
The TCarta team created digital surface models of the terrain on Antigua and Barbuda, using a technique to derive surface elevations at 0.5-meter point spacing from multiple WorldView images captured over the islands. Vegetation was then removed from surface models to yield bare-Earth elevation models.
TCarta delivered the high-quality before-and-after datasets to the UK government which in turn distributed them to scientists on Antigua and Barbuda for damage assessment and planning for the coming hurricane season.
The initial partnership between Hangar and Esri will enable ArcGIS customers to request and receive autonomous, precision-captured drone data on demand from within ArcGIS, enabling industries to gain real-time awareness and insight about locations and features.
