A real-time upgrade option is now available for Zeb-REVO, GeoSLAM Ltd.’s handheld indoor mobile mapping system. Shown for the first time at SPAR 3D 2017, the optional upgrade consists of a revised datalogger capable of undertaking SLAM registration in real-time.
With its own integrated Wi-Fi, the results can be displayed live, as they are captured, on any browser-enabled device including smartphones and tablets.
The lightweight revolving laser scanner can be handheld, pole-mounted or attached to a mobile platform such as a vehicle or UAV, and then pass through the target survey environment to record more than 40,000 measurement points\ per second.
The datalogger is compatible with all existing standard REVOs, said Mark Reid, vice president of Product Management. “The continuous, fast pace of development at GeoSLAM meant that it was important to continue our modular approach to ensure our customers have an easy upgrade path and can quickly access the latest developments,” he said.
Richard Betts, CEO, added, “Real-time feedback enables users to see exactly what they have and haven’t captured before the survey has even finished so nothing is missed. Furthermore, as registration is happening in real time the results are available almost immediately on completion of the survey. Possibly the fastest way to undertake indoor mobile mapping has just got even faster!”
The real-time upgrade for Zeb-REVO is expected to be available for order this summer.
Commercial drone and data company PrecisionHawk has opened access to its professional mapping and analytics software, PrecisionMapper, for free.
With the software, drone operators can snap an unlimited number of photos, create maps without resolution limits, and run algorithms to analyze their data.
PrecisionHawk announced the launch of the free version of PrecisionMapper today at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference.
Drone operators can use PrecisionMapper to generate aerial data using their own drones.
“Drones have the potential to capture more high-resolution data than any other technology, but we believe that drones are being under-utilized because of the cost barriers around processing, analytics and storage,” said PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen. “Users should be able to walk into any store, buy a drone and use that drone to generate business insights for free.”
“We believe that this move allows more innovation from more people,” Chasen continued. “PrecisionHawk has gained a lot from the advanced thinking of this community, and this is our way of giving back.”
By providing this software for free, PrecisionHawk is giving operators of drones with visual cameras the capability to explore the financial value of aerial data in any industry and is encouraging further use and adoption of drone technology.
Operators can quickly and easily upload imagery collected from a drone to PrecisionMapper. Using GPS information embedded within images, the software automatically stitches together a complete map, viewable in both 2D and 3D. Free users of PrecisionMapper can create up to 60 surveys a year without resolution or export limits.
In addition, users can add ground control points and access free analysis tools for construction, agriculture, insurance, and energy including:
volume calculations
3D models
contour maps
multiple crop health indices, including visual-NDVI
“When professionals have the opportunity to get hands-on experience with PrecisionMapper, they will be able to better understand the power of aerial data and how it can be best incorporated into their existing businesses,” Chasen said.
With a legacy of delivering reliable, robust, and highly accurate small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), NASA has awarded Black Swift Technologies (BST), a specialized engineering firm based in Boulder, Colorado, the contract to develop and deliver a purpose-built scientific platform to explore volcanoes in order to improve air traffic management systems and the accuracy of ashfall measurements.
BST will deliver to NASA a tightly integrated sUAS solution consisting of an airframe, avionics, and sensors specifically designed to measure selected gases and atmospheric parameters including, temperature, pressure, humidity, and 3D winds as well as more advanced measurements such as particle sizing and trace gases.
Based on BST’s commercially available SuperSwift airframe and SwiftCore Flight Management System—which have been proven in the field to provide a cost-effective, powerful, and easy-to-operate—the SuperSwift XT [figure 1] is specifically engineered to meet the demands of high altitude flights through strong winds and damaging airborne particulates typical of nomadic scientific field campaigns in harsh environments.
“NASA and similar scientific agencies require deliverables with a high degree of accuracy and reliability,” emphasizes Jack Elston, Ph.D., CEO of Black Swift Technologies. “The SuperSwift XT will be designed to collect data in harsh environments and will enhance the performance and utility of NASA’s Airborne Science fleet.”
Member organizations of NASA’s Airborne Science Program can all benefit from the measurements provided by this system in various atmospheric conditions using different sensor payloads which, by design, are easily interchangeable. The sUAS will provide targeted, in situ observations from previously inaccessible regions that can significantly advance NASA’s goal of safe, efficient growth in global aviation by aiding in the collection of scientific data from which predictive Volcanic Ash Transport and Dispersion models (VATD) can be used to inform air traffic management systems.
Leveraging BST’s proprietary Mission Planning Software, scientists can program the SuperSwift in minutes to calculate the area under review and then begin collecting data for immediate analysis and decision making. With its intuitive tab-driven interface, flight planning is simple and easy to accomplish.
Mission monitoring and mapping is all done from a handheld Android Tablet loaded with BST’s SwiftTab software. Gesture-based controls enable users to confidently deploy their SuperSwift with minimal training while being able to collect data over geography that is topically diverse with confidence.
The existence of a sUAS capable of carrying the necessary instruments routinely through harsh environments adds an invaluable contribution to the calibration and validation of data collected from ground- and satellite-based methods. The flight envelope, concept of operations (CONOPS), and rugged nature of the SuperSwift XT will permit researchers to collect data previously unobtainable through traditional data collection methods or existing sUAS.
This includes gathering difficult to obtain data sets such as from volcanic plumes shortly after eruption (i.e., particle size-frequency distribution, vertical ash concentration distribution, SO₂ flux, etc.).
The innovations of the SuperSwift XT, including the total sensor suite, can be utilized for scientific research by federal and state public agencies and other state-funded laboratories to collect data on coherent atmospheric structures such as smog, volcano plumes, wildfire smoke, chemical fires, forest humidity, etc.
Commercial applications for private industry exist as well, such as utilizing the SuperSwift XT to assess the composition, and relative danger, of chemical fires at refineries or the chemical composition of smokestack exhaust.
Boundless Desktop is a native, cross-platform desktop GIS built upon open-source software.
Boundless has been awarded a $36 million contract by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the primary source of GEOINT for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community.
The new contract supports NGA GEOINT Services and purchases services required to package, deliver, maintain and patch accredited open-source geospatial software packages.
NGA delivers geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, that provides a decisive advantage to warfighters, policymakers, intelligence professionals and first responders. Both an intelligence agency and combat support agency, NGA fulfills the president’s national security priorities in partnership with the intelligence community and the Department of Defense.
NGA also is the lead federal agency for GEOINT and manages a global consortium of more than 400 commercial and government relationships.
Boundless offers an open GIS ecosystem through a combination of technology, products and experts that gives enterprises deeper intelligence and insights using location-based data. The Boundless platform is built upon open source technology and open APIs that generate actionable location intelligence across third-party apps, content services and plugins for enterprise applications.
In November 2016, the company extended its GIS platform with Boundless Connect, a subscription service to a comprehensive repository of GIS data, and Boundless Desktop, a full-featured, professional desktop GIS.
“It is great to see an organization like NGA adopting open source GIS,” said Andy Dearing, CEO of Boundless. “So many organizations are quickly realizing the power and flexibility of open source and the value that Boundless brings to market. This announcement further demonstrates the NGA’s commitment to Boundless and we are excited to continue our work with the agency.”
TCarta Marine, a global provider of marine geospatial products, will unveil two new offshore data offerings at the 2017 Esri Petroleum GIS Conference in Houston — the Gulf of Mexico Marine Basemap Plus service and 2-meter Satellite Derived Bathymetry dataset.
The Marine Basemap Plus is a streaming data service that delivers up-to-date value-added marine layers directly into Esri ArcGIS on a subscription basis.
The 2-meter Bathymetry product is an off-the-shelf shallow water, coastal zone bathymetric dataset derived from high-resolution satellite imagery.
Both products will be demonstrated by TCarta Marine in booth #403 at the Esri Petroleum Conference being held April 12-13, in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center.
“The Marine Basemap service covering the entire Gulf of Mexico is available now,” said TCarta Marine President Kyle Goodrich. “Datasets for additional marine regions around the world will be added this year with the North Sea available this summer.”
The streaming data service was developed with the oil and gas industry in mind, allowing customers to choose from two subscription tiers for the Gulf of Mexico. The GoM Marine Basemap is a tiled map service intended to provide users with an informative and aesthetically pleasing backdrop streamed into the desktop GIS environment. The Basemap is a scale-dependent display of a stylized bathymetry image with labeled contour lines and marine feature names
The Marine Basemap Plus incorporates best-available resolution bathymetry grids, contour lines and other valuable data for modeling, analysis and derivative work. The entire gulf is covered at 90-meter resolution while many areas have been mapped at 30-meters, with higher resolution data to be added.
“Marine Basemap Plus will appeal to oil and gas companies of all sizes because the streaming data is extremely affordable and updated constantly through the subscription process,” said Goodrich. “The GIS manager at an energy company will never have to worry about obtaining the most recent or highest quality offshore data because it will be downloaded automatically.”
The Gulf of Mexico Marine Basemap Plus also includes information enhanced from authoritative sources such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), National Ocean Service, Department of Energy and Bureau of Energy Management. The five main value-added layers relate to:
Navigation – Seafloor elevation data including dredged channels and shipping lanes
Geology – Natural features and seismic anomalies
Lease Blocks – Active leases, well, and pipeline information
Habitat – Reefs, grasses, corals and other marine ecosystems
Shoreline – Vector derived from lidar and satellite imagery
Also making its U.S. debut at the Esri Petroleum show will be the 2-meter Satellite Derived Bathymetry offering developed by TCarta Marine, DHI and DigitalGlobe with funding from the European Space Agency. This is an off-the-shelf version of a custom product introduced in 2011 by Proteus Geo, which merged with TCarta Marine this year. It will eventually be a global marine dataset.
To create this product, accurate seafloor depths are extracted by DHI using a primary production technique before TCarta Marine ensures that all data undergoes a rigorous quality control procedure. All depths are derived from eight-band multispectral imagery captured by DigitalGlobe’s high-resolution WorldView satellites, the commercial imaging constellation.
“This process derives bathymetric measurements at 2-meter resolution to an average depth of 20 meters in the near-shore coastal zone, where environmental conditions allow,” Goodrich said. “The 2-meter product will be sold by the square kilometer, which means clients only pay for the data they need, making this a very cost-effective product.”
The off-the-shelf 2-meter product covering the Arabian Gulf is available for purchase now, with the Red Sea planned for completion by later this year. By mid-2017, TCarta Marine will make the 2-meter products available for instant searching, purchasing and downloading through an online portal called Bathymetrics.
The Gulf of Mexico Marine Basemap Plus and 2-meter Bathymetric products can be ordered through [email protected].
Remote GeoSystems Inc. has released a new LineVision Google Earth Extension. The extension is commercial software for UAV, airborne and terrestrial mobile inspection and survey projects requiring georeferenced video playback, analysis, collaboration and reporting using Google Earth and other GIS applications.
Unlike its stand-alone predecessor, the new LineVision Google Earth is a true application extension and gives users the full functionality of native Google Earth, including Pro edition. Now anyone with a GPS-enabled video camera, drone or geospatial DVR that can geotag video in the proper format can immediately load their videos and photos to Google Earth along with compatible KML and other traditional geospatial data.
As the video plays, a position marker moves along an aerial or terrestrial GPS track positioned three-dimensionally in Google Earth, continuously indicating where the current frames were recorded. Users may also geospatially “navigate” a video recording by simply clicking a single point along an aerial or terrestrial GPS track.
The video then automatically advances to that point in the recording so that users can visually interpret what was recorded at that specific place and time. If something of interest is detected in the video, users may also “snap” a still image from the video, which is geotagged and saved for future analysis.
The LineVision Google Earth Extension was designed to be an open and versatile tool for geotagged video analysis. The software is compatible with properly formatted georeferenced video files from a variety of consumer handheld and action video cameras, drones and specialized mobile geospatial DVRs, including Remote GeoSystems’ own geoDVR geospatial FMV recorder.
In addition to video, users can import oblique photos and KML data from survey and inspection projects. All these imported data types can be saved in a Remote GeoSystems geoProject file for data portability, reporting and future analysis in other versions of LineVision desktop, cloud and server applications.
Features include:
Playing videos from single and multi-camera data collection platforms
“Click-on-Map” video navigation
Setting a custom geo-fence around the moving position marker
Loading any Google Earth-compatible KML or shapefiles
Saving video and photo work as geoProjects for simple project reporting, archive and search
I’ve attended a couple of Esri events these past couple of months. They are on the move. For a big software company (est. $1 billion in annual revenues), they are reasonably nimble. Of course, if you’ve worked with Esri software, no doubt you’ve been frustrated at times, but considering the size of the organization and the dynamic nature of GIS technology, it’s understandable.
Keeping up with the GIS technology makes me dizzy at times; I can only imagine what it’s like in the Esri roadmap planning meetings. Thank goodness Esri is a privately held company (versus a public company listed on a stock exchange). Being a privately held company gives Esri executives the flexibility to make and implement decisions quickly without worrying about quarterly (or even annual) financial performance.
Following are roadmap slides for some of the Esri mobile GIS products. Incidentally, did you know that mobile GIS apps are the hottest in the Esri software suite?
Collector for ArcGIS
The big news for Collector is that it’s being rewritten using a runtime library. The current Collector will be enhanced and supported (per the above image) for the foreseeable future. Once the new runtime version of Collector (CollectorX) has caught up to legacy Collector, the legacy Collector will begin the road to retirement. In the meantime, version 10.4.3 will likely be released sometime in April. It will implement GPS point averaging, renaming photos and Workforce integration.
Esri Collector for ArcGIS roadmap.
Expect another Collector release (10.4.4) with minor enhancements before the Esri User Conference (UC), which will take place July 10-14 in San Diego, California. According to Esri, Collector and mobile GIS in general (such as Survey123, Workforce, Navigator), are the hottest products in the Esri software suite, and iOS continues to be the dominant device that Collector is being deployed on.
ArcGIS for Windows Mobile
For those of you still working on the ArcGIS for Windows Mobile platform (not to be confused with Microsoft Windows Mobile on handheld devices), remember that at last year’s UC, Esri extended support (patches and hot fixes) for ArcGIS for Windows Mobile will be discontinued in July 2017 and enter mature support (request cases, phone/chat, online support services).
ArcGIS for Windows Mobile (Water Utility Mobile Mapp app)
If you’re still using ArcGIS for Windows Mobile, it’s time to start thinking about adopting a new mobile GIS platform. Two Esri options are Collector for ArcGIS (iOS, Android and Windows) and ArcPad (Windows and Windows Mobile). Before you start pummeling me about ArcPad, it’s a powerful and flexible mobile GIS. Unlike Collector, its user interface and functionality can be highly customized (see example screenshot below) and hit ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise (ArcGIS Server) in real time, just like Collector.
Esri ArcPad – highly customized
Survey123 for ArcGIS
Quickly moving along, Survey123 for ArcGIS (iOS/Android/Windows) has become a powerful tool for collecting mobile GIS data, with one of its key features being data-collection forms using conditional logic (for instance, if/then) and the ability to create forms using Excel. Following is Survey123’s product roadmap.
Survey123 for ArcGIS roadmap.
Navigator for ArcGIS
Navigator for ArcGIS (iOS/Android) is an interesting product owing to the ability to integrate one’s roads into the app. Navigator includes standard Street Map data with turn-by-turn directions. What’s cool about adding proprietary roads is that one can navigate to rural, proprietary assets (like a pipeline valve) using turn-by-turn directions. The time savings to guide folks to assets in an unfamiliar geographic area can be compelling.
Navigator for ArcGIS.
Workforce for ArcGIS
Rounding out the mobile apps is Workforce for ArcGIS, which is a simple workforce management tool for assigning and coordinating field work crew tasks. Assign a task along with a location to a number of work crews and monitor the progress of the tasks as they are completed.
Workforce for ArcGIS Road Map
ArcGIS Online
All of the above apps are free to use with the exception of Navigator, which is $50 a year per device. In other words, when you buy an ArcGIS desktop license, you get access to these apps as well as ArcGIS Online.
ArcGIS Desktop & Pro
A quick word about ArcGIS Desktop: Esri is beginning to transition away from ArcGIS Desktop and towards ArcGIS Pro. Expect Esri to start encouraging you to move that direction, too. If you already have an ArcGIS Desktop license, you have access to ArcGIS Pro.
The focus of Esri development is going to be on the ArcGIS Pro platform, so you’ll need to head that direction eventually. ArcGIS Pro is Esri’s next-generation 3D, analysis, image processing and data management GIS platform.
Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS
Finally, I’d like to mention Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS. While it’s not a mobile GIS app, it certainly leverages data collected by mobile GIS. Another free app from Esri, Operations Dashboard allows one to create an executive dashboard showing a variety of charts, maps and gauges for monitoring project progress. It is available as a Windows client and a browser-based application (think iPad).
An executive doesn’t need to have a piece of Windows software installed to view an executive dashboard. Simply email a link to the custom dashboard and they can view it on their iPad while on the go. Dashboards can be customized with widgets and map tools using the ArcGIS API for Javascript.
Whether you love them or not, Esri is pushing the technology envelope. For a company like Esri that thoroughly dominates an industry, it would be easy for them to sit on their laurels, enjoy the fruits of their labor and be averse to taking risks. Hand it to the Esri team for continuing to stick their necks out.
Upcoming events
For those interested, I’m conducting a couple of one-day workshops in Oregon and Washington in May:
This workshop explores the growing trend of using smartphones and tablets (BYOD) for high-precision GNSS/GIS data collection.
I hope to see you at one, or both, workshops. We already have quite a roster registered, so sign up ASAP if you’re interested in attending.
Editor’s note: In the next month or two, look for an update and continuation of January’s column, “3D GNSS data and the GEOID.” It’s a complicated subject (see if you can spot the error in the article), but one that needs attention.
Topcon Positioning Group introduced Topcon ContextCapture, powered by Bentley Systems, a reality modeling software solution that will be offered with Topcon UAS (unmanned aerial systems).
Context Capture software by Topcon.
The system is designed for mapping, construction and surveying professionals to quickly turn simple photographs and or point-cloud data into true-to-life, highly detailed 3D models for use throughout a project lifecycle.
“The offering will include Topcon ContextCapture Standard and Topcon ContextCapture Advanced,” said Charles Rihner, vice president of the Topcon GeoPositioning Solutions Group. “The standard package will be bundled with Falcon 8 and Sirius Basic/Pro and allows operators to process data from these UAS into textured 3D reality meshes, point clouds and orthophotos. ContextCapture Advanced allows users to process data from any UAS. It also includes ContextCapture Editor, which enables operators to take advantage of all project data by integrating reality meshes and point clouds, into infrastructure workflows. The result is access to a wide variety of reality modeling tools to help increase productivity.”
The ContextCapture Advanced integration includes computer-aided design (CAD), inspection, GIS, civil engineering, and survey workflows on desktop and mobile devices, in multiple formats.
“This represents the next step in the Topcon and Bentley collaboration to advance the concept of constructioneering — allowing users to start from a reality-captured survey context and leverage and update their digital engineering models throughout the construction process, and finally deliver the as-built infrastructure in real time,” Rihner said.
“We are excited to bring to market this new joint offering that enables greater efficiency and productivity in the global construction market,” said Phil Christensen, Bentley vice president of reality modeling. “Our reality modeling solution for mapping, construction, and surveying professionals will enable them to quickly turn UAS imagery into engineering-ready 3D reality models that can be used immediately and updated throughout the construction lifecycle. Since we announced our constructioneering partnership last November, we see this as only one of many new integrations between Bentley and Topcon that will enable better project outcomes.”
Esri has awarded Microsoft Corporation with the New Technology Integration Award at the Esri Partner Conference in Palm Springs. The award honors a company in Esri’s Partner Network for taking map visualization and location analytics to the next level by integrating ArcGIS in a new or innovative way.
Microsoft was recognized for integrating Esri’s ArcGIS Maps into Microsoft Power BI, a set of business analytics tools. Power BI allows users to share insights in the form of interactive maps layered with authoritative data in one process. Users can access valuable geographic information in order to make better business decisions more efficiently without having to export data from numerous sources online, Esri said.
Power BI enables users to create dashboards, reports, and visualizations of data through a cloud-based service. This allows anyone in an organization to use Power BI’s powerful analytical capabilities anywhere, and access them via an application that can be downloaded to mobile devices. For instance, a retailer surveying a new location can use ArcGIS Maps within the Power BI mobile app from the field to determine its proximity to potential affluent consumers.
“We’re excited and humbled to receive the 2017 Esri Partner Conference New Technology Integration award,” said Kamal Hathi, general manager, Power BI, Microsoft Corp. “Thanks to the dedicated team across Esri and Microsoft, we delivered a sophisticated solution in record time. This was made possible by the open and extensible Microsoft Power BI platform which makes it easy for partners such as Esri to plug in and add value to our mutual customers. ArcGIS Maps for Power BI continues to iterate and improve based on customer feedback, reflecting the agility and customer oriented approach of both companies.”
Armed with what Esri calls The Science of Where, a transformational way to unlock data’s full potential, Power BI users can create informed location-based analyses for everything from allocating resources to the best places to start a new business.
Blue Marble Geographics is offering a version 18.1 update to Global Mapper that includes numerous functional enhancements and introduces an new tools, upgrades to existing components, performance improvements and support for new formats and online data sources.
The release of version 18 of Global Mapper in September 2016 introduced a redesigned interface with significantly improved layer and workflow management as well as enhanced 3D display.
Building on this foundation, version 18.1 further improves the 3D experience with a new option to freeze the 3D View while working in the adjacent 2D view, speed improvements when rendering raster or 3D model formats, and improved functionality for creating 3D fly-though visualizations. For lidar module users, a new data quality-control tool is available for adjusting point cloud elevations to match surveyed ground control points.
Blue Marble’s GIS software is used by hundreds of thousands customers throughout the world who need affordable, user-friendly, powerful GIS solutions. Users are in industries including software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying and technology companies, as well as government departments and academic institutions.
The release of version 18.1 offers numerous enhancements that are a testament to the ever-increasing importance of 3D data. Global Mapper’s 3D view, which introduced the ability to display an “infinite view” of all loaded 3D data in version 18, now offers the option to pause the 3D rendering when interacting with the 2D map. This streamlines workflow and significantly improves memory usage by eliminating the need to continually refresh the display.
The rendering speed for 3D raster layers as well as 3D models has also been drastically improved. When creating a 3D fly-through visualization or recording, the flight parameters now include bank angle, to more realistically simulate a pilot’s eye view, and variable velocity, allowing the flight speed to be adjusted between segments.
Other enhancements in version 18.1 include a new option to calculate a summary of the color statistics in a raster layer within a defined area; faster loading and display of large vector files such as shapefiles; support for many new formats, including exporting of LandXML and importing of RMaps/MBTiles and BPF lidar files; and expanded online data options including the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO).
Users of the optional Global Mapper Lidar Module, which provides advanced point cloud processing tools, can now perform precise quality control of their data against established ground control points. This allows the elevation values associated with each point to be adjusted to conform to the surveyed elevations at these locations.
“With more and more data having a height or elevation component, the importance of Global Mapper’s 3D viewing capability is underlined,” stated Blue Marble President Patrick Cunningham. “For several years, our development priority has been to optimize the user experience when interacting with lidar, DEMs or other 3D layers and with the release of version 18.1 we are seeing some of the results of that effort with more display control, improved 3D interaction, and stunning 3D visualization.”
Blue Marble application specialists will be conducting a live webinar on Tuesday, March 21, during which they will showcase the highlights of this release. This hour-long presentation is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Time) and it will provide an opportunity to both see the latest tools and to ask questions about the new functionality. Space is limited and registration is required so be sure to sign up today.
For a complete list of new features and enhancements or to download a trial copy of Global Mapper 18.1, visit the website.
Developers can add support for MG4 files created with LizardTech’s GeoExpress Version 9.5.3
LizardTech, a division of Celartem Inc. and a provider of software solutions for image asset handling, has released MrSID Generation 4 Decode SDK Version 9.5.4 to compliment the release of LizardTech’s GeoExpress Version 9.5.3.
This latest SDK release includes support to view MrSID compressed Harris Geiger-Mode LIDAR point clouds, paralleling previously incorporated tools for viewing MrSID compressed LAS and LAZ point clouds.
LizardTech continues to enhance lidar and raster compression capacity across its image asset handling platform for image compression, management, distribution, integration and deployment. This includes updating compilers, refreshing target computing platforms and improving compression performance.
Trusted as a raster format by geospatial professionals since 1992 and supported in a broad spectrum of GIS and CAD applications, MrSID is the highest quality file format with the most advanced compression technology available. A no cost download of the MrSID Generation 4 Decode SDK is available at http://developer.lizardtech.com, and enables application developers to add support for viewing and decoding multiple image files and most recently Geiger-mode, LAS and LAZ point clouds compressed into MrSID.
Esri has released a virtual reality (VR) solution for CityEngine, the company’s 3D modeling software.
The newest version of CityEngine allows urban planners, architects and GIS professionals to simply and quickly create VR experiences on mobile devices, the company says in a news release. These experiences can be viewed in the free ArcGIS 360 VR app from Esri Labs. Users can immerse themselves into 3D scenes by teleporting to static viewpoints and comparing different urban planning scenarios.
“We are pleased to see Esri add a mobile VR solution to its 3D smart city platform,” says Christian Huerzeler, project manager at the department of urban planning in Zurich. “By using ArcGIS 360 VR, our planning board and jurors can now study the impact of new architectural developments and urban planning scenarios from the perspective of pedestrians and citizens.”
Now, rather than relying on high-performance graphics computers and cumbersome wired VR accessories, having a simple smartphone paired with an affordable wireless headset is all that is required to be immersed in a VR experience.
“We greatly simplified the creation and sharing of the mobile VR experience,” says Dominik Tarolli, head of 3D geodesign at Esri. “In a matter of minutes, a CityEngine user can now create a VR experience out of a 3D scene and share it in ArcGIS Online, Esri’s cloud solution.”
CityEngine comes with many new additional features, including an OpenStreetMap-ready rule set, says Esri, who is offering a 30-day free trial.
A real-time upgrade option is now available for Zeb-REVO, GeoSLAM Ltd.’s handheld indoor mobile mapping system. Shown for the first time at SPAR 3D 2017, the optional upgrade consists of a revised datalogger capable of undertaking SLAM registration in real-time.
