GPS World

Tag: geospatial

  • Where’s the Beef? If I’m an Investor, Where Do I Place My Money in the Geospatial Industry?

    If I’m an investor, where do I invest my money in the geospatial industry? In other words, where’s the most upside in the geospatial industry over the next few years? GIS software? GIS data? GIS Services? Satellite imagery?

    If you recall, a few weeks ago I published a list of geospatial trends that was released by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management. I think the list of trends paints a pretty accurate picture of where things are headed in the geospatial space.

    Open source software/data, cloud computing, location-based services, geospatial services, geo data, sensors, government leadership, and location privacy are all trending upwards. There’s money to be made in all of these areas (and more). Geospatial technology growth, even throughout the global economic downturn, has been solid. In the worst case, growth has been flat for short periods of time, but mostly 10+% annual growth rate has been realized consistently over the past 10 years. It’s not smoking hot growth, but it’s been pretty stable with some specific areas of high growth (GPS navigation and other LBS).

    No matter which way you look at it, the common denominator across all trends in the geospatial industry is geospatial data. It is the fuel that feeds the geospatial engine. Metaphorically, you can install bigger pistons, a more efficient exhaust system, turbochargers, a blower, even nitrous oxide to your geospatial engine (software), but without high-quality fuel to run the engine, those are useless features.

    There’s a fair amount of geospatial fuel (data) available now. Street maps and points of interest for vehicle navigation have largely been developed. Airborne and satellite imagery are available, at varying levels of quality, all over the world. But we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.

    How do we make more fuel?

    Sensors are the geospatial future that will fuel the growth in all things geospatial, especially location-based services.

    People have been speculating about the huge potential of location-based services for many years. The lack of geo data has been locking the LBS horse in its stall.

    Sensors are the refineries that manufacture the fuel. What’s different from five years ago is that data refineries are growing exponentially. Whereas there was a limited number of data refineries a few years ago, all of us are becoming data refineries, and we are producing more accurate and feature-rich data than before.

    Since the geospatial industry started, there’s been a limited number of sensors producing a limited amount of data that’s of mediocre quality. For outdoor sensors, remote sensing (airborne and satellite imagery) and GPS are two affordable and efficient sensors that have contributed widely to developing the outdoor geo data world. For collecting indoor geo data, there’s not much in terms of affordable and efficient sensors.

    But that’s changing, and that’s where there’s a lot of upside. Behind the change is the world of mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets, and gaming devices). Over the next few years, you’re going to see mobile devices producing a tremendous amount of rich geo data, much more than today. Yes, today’s crowd-sourcing produces some level of geo data, but it’s not very good largely because it’s inaccurate and therefore has limited utility. However, if you look at the research and development (R&D) resources being spent on developing a wide variety of geo sensors (higher precision GPS, inertial navigation, accelerometers, RFID) to integrate them inside mobile phones, tablets and gaming devices (Nintendo, PlayStation, etc.), you can see the picture is going to look much different in the next few years. Each person carrying a mobile phone will be a geo-data refinery producing highly accurate, feature-rich data which they can choose to share (or not) with the rest of us via OpenStreetMap or similiar data warehouse.

    For geospatial professionals, the picture looks even better. The proliferation of sensors in consumer apps (gaming, mobile phones, tablets) will drive down the price of mobile devices capable of collecting high-quality geo data for geospatial professionals. With the price of such devices becoming very affordable, the number of high-quality geo data “refineries” will grow exponentially.
    Thanks, and see you next week.
    Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GPSGIS_Eric

  • Hexagon Acquires Minority Stake in Blom ASA

    Hexagon AB announced that it will acquire 25 percent of the shares in Blom ASA for a total amount of approximately 9 MEUR.

    According to the announcement, Blom ASA has headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The company is a European service provider in the geospatial arena, offering a wide selection of geographic services to the government, enterprise and consumer markets. Services include the acquisition, processing and modeling of maps and images. With subsidiaries in 13 countries, Blom’s geographic information database houses one of the largest collections of maps, aerial images, and geospatial models across Europe. Through its online services, Blom provides access to its expansive database enabling customers to update their own datasets and partners the ability to create applications using Blom’s location-based services and navigation solutions.

    “Our alliances with geospatial information providers around the globe strengthens our vision of providing “dynamic”, more accurate and in the end real-time updates of the world around us”, said Ola Rollén, president and CEO of Hexagon AB. “With this investment, Hexagon secures access to high resolution and up-to-date geospatial information which is becoming increasingly important to our entire customer base, especially within Intergraph, where access to such data provides the foundation for industry-specific software solutions”.

    Hexagon reports that it has no current plans for any further offer with respect to shares in Blom. The transaction will close as of Friday, June 1, 2012.

  • GeoSpatial Experts Announces Hamilton County Implements GeoJot iPad Data Collection App

    GeoExperts announced that Hamilton County, Ill., is using GeoSpatial Experts’ GeoJot field data collection app on an iPad to correlate street addresses with parcel coordinates. Initiated for tax assessment and E911 purposes, this photo project is creating the rural county’s first digital map database that matches property addresses to their correct geographic locations.

    “Most houses have been assigned streets addresses, but they’ve never been correlated to our county parcel database,” said Mark Becker, Hamilton County Supervisor of Assessments. “People still have to give their address verbally when they call 911 for assistance.”

    Hamilton County is rapidly updating its address and property database to meet E911 standards using the iPad and GeoSpatial Experts’ GeoJot application, according to Becker. GeoJot is an easy-to-use app that converts an iPad or iPhone into a field data collection device. Available from the Apple App Store, GeoJot is a companion application created for exclusive use with the PC-based GPS-Photo Link photo-mapping software. GPS-Photo Link is able to map photographs and accompanying attribute information captured with a GPS camera, smartphone with GPS, or any digital camera used in conjunction with any GPS unit. Digital map output includes Esri shapefiles and geodatabases as well as Google Earth files.

    In Hamilton County, college interns walk from house to house taking photos of each one with the iPad 2. They then key in the house number, street name and street direction to keep the Assessor’s tax database up to date. These attributes – along with the GPS coordinates – are permanently linked to the correct property photo by GeoJot. Back at the Assessor’s Office, the GeoJot files are uploaded to the GPS-Photo Link photo-mapping software running on a PC.

    “Mapping addresses will save money for Hamilton County by making its assessment activities more efficient,” said GeoSpatial Experts’ President Rick Bobbitt. “More importantly, an accurate address map is a necessity for timely E911 response to emergency calls.”

    In 2011, GeoSpatial Experts introduced GeoJot to leverage and maximize the built-in geotagging capabilities of the camera-equipped iPad and iPhone. These mobile devices use internal GPS chips to stamp each photo with location coordinates where the photo was taken. GeoJot maximizes the geotagging accuracy of the internal GPS chips by up to four times – putting it well within the accuracy specifications of many business-related photo-mapping applications.

  • Geospatial Mapping Enhances Arlington National Cemetery Management

    Officials at Arlington National Cemetery will use an Army-designed geospatial mapping system to manage cemetery operations, said the executive director of the Army National Cemeteries Program.

     

    Kathryn A. Condon testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee's disability assistance and memorial affairs subcommitee to provide an update on the progress made in rectifying long-standing management problems at Arlington National Cemetery.

    Source: Arlington National Cemetary

    "Arlington is no longer a paper-based operation. By producing a single electronic map of Arlington, the staff will assign, manage and track gravesites with an authoritative digital map," Condon said. "It will allow us to synchronize in real time our burial operations at Arlington."

    The geospatial mapping system allows officials to synchronize burial operations with other daily operations, such as public ceremonies, infrastructure repair, grounds upkeep and public safety activities, Condon explained. The system is linked to Arlington's interment scheduling system, which allows schedulers to assign gravesites and assign procession routes. It also alerts Arlington staff of other activities in the area, she said.

    Arlington is the first national cemetery to use this technology, Condon told the panel.

    The geospatial mapping system will use the information collected and validated as part of the Army's gravesite accountability study. The gravesite accountability effort resulted in the first review, analysis and coordination of records kept in various ways at Arlington over the cemetery's history, Condon said.

    The Gravesite Accountability Task Force physically examined and photographed 259,978 gravesites, niches and markers using a custom-built smartphone application and matched each photo with records in a database. Arlington officials are 84 percent complete in validating records, officials said, and are on track to finish this summer.

    Once complete, Arlington's accountability effort will create a single, verifiable and authoritative database of all those laid to rest at Arlington, officials added, and it will be linked with Arlington's geospatial mapping system.

  • Orion Partners with Sky-Shine

    Orion Technology Inc. has formed a partnership with Sky-Shine Corporation Sdn. Bhd., a firm specializing in GIS development and mapping services, surveying and mapping systems, and environmental and laboratory instrumentation in Malaysia.

    Sky-Shine offers a full range of geospatial information technology services, from data conversion to application development and implementation. It serves both public- and private-sector agencies, and provides services in GIS system development and implementation, digital mapping and data acquisition, data conversion, and remote sensing.

    Sky-Shine is the distributor of Digital Globe’s QuickBird high-resolution satellite imagery product and provides value-added services to the remote sensing industry in the region. In addition, Sky-Shine is also a distributor for GeoExpress from LizardTech, a geospatial software package for managing, distributing, and accessing complex geospatial imagery. As an ESRI business partner in Malaysia, Sky-Shine serves clients in various sectors including government, private, and educational institutions.

    “We are committed to exceeding customer expectations for quality and prompt delivery. Being a partner of Orion, our vision becomes more global, and more focused on system and data integration. Our ‘GeoWeb’ initiative, powered by OnPoint, will be the platform of geo services within Malaysia,” noted Zalizan Mohd Salleh, technical manager of Sky-Shine.

    By using Orion’s OnPoint Web-GIS solution, Sky-Shine will enhance its services pertaining to spatial data access and solution integration, for both their existing clients and new clients in the region. OnPoint comes with an administration tool, providing a simple user interface to create Configuration Files that define views. The user can easily change the appearance, functionality, data content, and security of OnPoint. OnPoint allows users to publish their GIS data quickly and securely over the Web and connect to any spatial and nonspatial data throughout their organization, turning their Web-GIS into a true enterprise solution.

    “OnPoint continues to gain further acceptance throughout the world as the standard for Web-GIS. Sky-Shine is a well-established firm that shares our commitment to delivering quality, leading edge solutions to clients. Sky-Shine has significant opportunities to leverage OnPoint in the Malaysian market, and we look forward to working with them in this regard,” commented Faizal Hasham, director of Sales and Marketing at Orion.

  • 700,000 IKONOS Images Available through EVC Store

    East View Cartographic (EVC) has added 700,000 IKONOS satellite images to the online EVC Store. According to EVC, this is the first time that IKONOS imagery has been available in a fully functioning e-commerce environment complete with the support of experienced customer service representatives. Customers can browse available images geographically and place an order directly online, or get further personalized help from a representative.

    EVC President and CEO Kent Lee described this addition as “A significant step forward in online imagery sales. Customers can buy IKONOS imagery online as easily and quickly as they can book a flight on Expedia.” Lee added, “This will allow GIS professionals to easily order an IKONOS scene informed by full scene metadata and a large preview pane of the scene without having to wait for a quote. It will also allow customers without GIS experience to quickly see what is available over their area of interest.” East View Cartographic is an authorized reseller of IKONOS imagery via an agreement with GeoEye.

    This extensive catalog of satellite imagery could not be easily browsed and purchased online without EVC’s MetaLog Store. MetaLog Store is a robust platform with the ability to display large collections of data geographically, sort and filter using metadata, and allow online purchases. MetaLog Store powers EVC Store and is also available as a turnkey geospatial data management system.

    This selection of IKONOS imagery with less than 25 percent cloud cover is the first of EVC’s imagery offerings to be added to EVC Store. New IKONOS data will be added on an ongoing basis, and SPOT imagery will be added to the website in the near future. Currently, SPOT imagery, QuickBird imagery, customized IKONOS scenes, and additional satellite imagery can all be ordered through EVC customer service representatives.

  • NSGIC Honors FGDC’s Ivan DeLoatch with Distinguished Service Award

    The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) Board of Directors has given its NSGIC Distinguished Service Award to Ivan DeLoatch, staff director of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). The award recognizes an organization or individual who has demonstrated leadership in advancing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) by promoting NSGIC’s goal of efficient and effective government through prudent implementation of geospatial technologies. DeLoatch was cited for his work with the FGDC pertaining to the Geospatial Line of Business, one of the president’s E-Government initiatives.

    The NSGIC Distinguished Service Award recognizes exemplary service that exceeds the normal expectation of duty and that has occurred over an extended period of time. Criteria for nominations for the Distinguished Service Award include actions that: benefit more than just the nominee’s own agency or organization; demonstrate measurable improvements in implementing the NSDI; provide leadership that benefits the nation; and work as a champion for all stakeholder groups.

    Chris Cannon, (R) Representative for Utah’s Third District, and Geraldine Otremba, director of Congressional Relations at the Library of Congress, were the featured speakers during the event. The main topic of the breakfast was NSGIC’s “Imagery for the Nation” proposal, which is gaining increased interest among federal agencies and in Congress.