GPS World

Tag: Geoxphere

  • New app helps local governments reduce traffic

    New app helps local governments reduce traffic

    Photo: Geoxphere
    Photo: Geoxphere

    A new software app helps local governments in the UK plan alternative routes, infrastructure and access that facilitate walking and cycling in cities, reducing traffic. XMAP, a cloud-based web geographic information system (GIS) for local governments from Geoxphere, now offers Isochrone. It provides a detailed and visual insight into existing transport infrastructure, assessing accessibility and the local environment to calculate and compare travel times by foot, cycle and car. The tool enables planners to understand how the existing infrastructure is enabling or restricting green journeys. It also helps them model and visualize how improvements to the transport network can be made and engage with communities to promote specific schemes and opportunities for active travel.

    The XMAP Isochrone tool allows a user to create polygons on a map showing how far it is possible to drive, walk or cycle in a set amount of time. Using algorithms that take into consideration the actual road, foot path or cycle network, as well as historic speed data and average walking and cycling rates, it provides a more accurate methodology of calculating travel times compared to traditional concentric circles based on straight line distances.

    XMAP is accessible from any web-enabled device, without plug-ins, bolt-ons or additional installations. It includes a suite of inbuilt workflows to support delivery of local government services such as planning, housing, waste and recycling, and street services. XMAP comes complete with more than 250 geospatial data layers, from a variety of government agencies, as well as a fully maintained Ordnance Survey map stack.

    Provided as a Software as a Service (SaaS), XMAP allows users to create and share business-critical map data without the risks involved in using open-source silos of GIS or the high cost of traditional GIS solutions. XMAP gives access to Ordnance Survey mapping, aerial photography, together with third party and in-house datasets, for more than 1,700 government organizations as well as a range of commercial clients. 

  • Bluesky launches online streaming service for panoramic aerial images

    Bluesky launches online streaming service for panoramic aerial images

    The Bluesky MetroVista range includes high-resolution imagery combined with high-accuracy, wide-scale 3D models. (Image: Bluesky)
    The Bluesky MetroVista range includes high-resolution imagery combined with high-accuracy, wide-scale 3D models. (Image: Bluesky)

    Aerial mapping company Bluesky is releasing its entire catalog of geographically referenced oblique aerial images of cities in the United Kingdom (UK) via a new subscription-based streaming service.

    Working with Geoxphere, a specialist in cloud-based GIS, Bluesky will offer MetroVista imagery via an easy-to-use web viewer that also includes measurement tools for detailed analysis of building features, façade details and street furniture locations.

    “Oblique imagery offers an unparalleled view of the built environment revealing real world features simply not present in any other type of aerial image or map,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, managing director of Leicestershire-based Bluesky International. “The MetroVista imagery can be used to inform decision making with time stamped intelligence, and even evidence, as well as improving engagement with colleagues through better communication of ideas. All of this without even leaving your desk!

    “However this wealth of information, as you would expect, can present some issues when it comes to storing and consuming data. The MetroVista Oblique Viewer overcomes these issues meaning the value of the data can be realised without the burden of storing, processing or updating.”

    With a data-as-a-service (DaaS) solution powered by Geoxphere’s XMAP geospatial cloud technology, the MetroVista Oblique Viewer is a fully managed subscription service meaning there is no need to download or store large volumes of data locally. The MetroVista Oblique Viewer does not require any specialist software, plugins or downloads and, as the data is also managed, newly captured images are automatically added to an account as they become available.

    The MetroVista Oblique Viewer has split screen options and rotating views allowing the user to toggle through images to get a 360 degree view of a building. The Bluesky Geoxphere Viewer also includes height and area measurement tools for recording a building height or distance from a feature and its façade area.

    Captured using the world’s first large format imagery and lidar hybrid airborne sensor, Bluesky MetroVista imagery collection includes simultaneously captured oblique and vertical aerial photography. The MetroVista datasets also include geographically accurate, photo-textured, mesh models ready for use in 3D GIS, CAD and other modelling software as well as visualisation, gaming and Virtual Reality workflows.

    Bluesky has already captured MetroVista data for cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, Norwich, Leicester, Derby and Newcastle as well as Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Doncaster, Eastbourne and Southend.