GPS World

Tag: GIS software

  • myWorld Inspection & Survey v2 supports iOS, Android and Windows

    UbiSense-MyWorld_Survey-W

    Ubisense Group plc, an enterprise location-intelligence solution company, has released version 2 of myWorld Inspection & Survey. Version 2 of the software offers a host of new features to transform the way utility and telecommunications teams conduct inspections and surveys.

    myWorld Inspection & Survey enables field workers to collect inspection data on any mobile device, eliminating paper-based processes and is a dramatic improvement on first-generation software solutions, Ubisense said. Users now have the flexibility to run the system on iOS, Android or Windows and dynamically push both data and application code updates, significantly reducing IT management costs, UbiSense said.

    Based on discussions with existing customers, Ubisense has also incorporated a range of new workflow and data capture features to make day to day inspections and management even easier.  Users of myWorld Inspection & Survey are now able to:

    • Carry out multiple surveys concurrently, significantly improving productivity.
    • Assign multiple crews or surveyors to a single survey or inspection order, enabling support of a wider range of existing business processes without requiring any product customization.
    • Support for “dual pass” surveys, in which each survey item needs to be visited twice in order for the survey to be regarded as complete.
    • Enhanced map filtering, to allow users to only display items relevant to the survey(s) that they are currently working on.
    • Process checks to automatically turn off surveying when the vehicle speed exceeds a specified value, avoiding accidentally marking something as surveyed incorrectly.

    “We know that our customers want the flexibility to use any device in the field,” said Peter Batty, Geospatial CTO at Ubisense. “We allow them to run iOS, Android or Windows with a single application giving them more flexibility in device selection and future proofing their hardware decisions.”

  • LandWorks introduces spatial alignment tool at Esri UC

    LandWorks Inc., developer of land management software, has advanced its integration with Esri technology by creating a new Spatial Alignment Tool that runs as an ArcGIS Desktop extension and automates polygon editing tasks for land mapping professionals and land asset managers.

    LandWorks will demonstrate the product at booth #2404 at the 2016 Esri User Conference, June 27-July 1, at the San Diego Convention Center.

    The new software can be used in any country and in any industry that maps land boundary polygons using Esri’s ArcGIS Platform.

    Previously, when a more accurate version of land grid (Public Land Survey sections, Texas abstracts, etc.) or tax parcel data was made available by a data vendor, any polygons in an updated area of the grid had to be manually realigned to snap to the more accurate grid. With LandWorks’ Spatial Alignment Tool, manual realignment is no longer necessary.

    “Land grid and parcel data providers typically deliver quarterly updates to customers. The labor intensive task of realigning mapped land polygons to the updated version has been a long-term challenge that many companies choose to forgo rather than implementing the more accurate version of the land grid or parcel data,” said Jerry Bramwell, President and CEO of LandWorks. “With our new Spatial Alignment Tool, what once required months to complete now takes hours, resulting in more accurate land agreement polygon boundaries without the high cost of manually snapping them to the updated grid or parcel data.”


    The Spatial Alignment Tool works with any vector land grid or parcel data. Users need an original source land/parcel grid and an updated source land/parcel grid. The tool detects vertex movements between the original land/parcel grid and the corresponding updated layers, then automatically aligns the selected polygons based on those detected changes.

    Users can easily adjust the tolerance and alignment settings if not satisfied with the results. Once the alignment process is complete, users can review the aligned polygons before committing them to the enterprise geodatabase.

    In addition to easily maintaining the accuracy of GIS data for better analysis, the new software also saves companies significant time and money if they choose to switch land grid or parcel data suppliers for quality, supply or budgetary reasons.

    “Traditionally, companies have been hesitant to change land grid or parcel data vendors because of the seemingly Herculean task of transferring the polygons from one land grid or parcel layer to another,” said Bramwell. “Automating this task using the Spatial Alignment Tool now makes switching suppliers a viable option.”

  • Topcon, Bentley Systems integrate Magnet 4.0 and ProjectWise

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    Topcon Positioning Group and Bentley Systems have announced a new level of direct communication between Bentley’s design applications and Topcon mobile work force products with the upcoming Magnet 4.0 release.

    With the direct communication from Magnet Enterprise to Bentley’s ProjectWise, users of Topcon’s family of Magnet and 3D-MC software solutions can, while working in the field, access or receive i-models created by Bentley’s OpenRoads design modeling technology.

    Furthermore, the survey data and as-built conditions captured by Topcon’s field devices can be brought back into Bentley’s design applications using the same Magnet to ProjectWise direct connection.

    Topcon_Bentley_man-at-desk-W“The direct connection to Bentley’s ProjectWise in Magnet Enterprise allows project managers to distribute i-models directly to their Topcon field devices,” said Jason Hallett, Topcon vice president of global product management. “With this drag and drop functionality, i-models from ProjectWise easily move from the Magnet Enterprise Data Manager to your mobile work force.”

    The integration will allow for direct import and export of i-models in Magnet Field and Magnet Office products.

    “With the simplified workflow from ProjectWise to machines with a Sitelink3D connection from Magnet Office or Enterprise, updated models can be quickly sent to a machine, reducing the chance of rework and ensuring the most current data can be sent to project teams,” Hallett said.

    With the upcoming release, users will be able to deliver any Magnet project files as i-models into ProjectWise for the purpose of capturing “as constructed” conditions of infrastructure projects.

    Dustin Parkman, Bentley vice president of product development, said, “We are excited to offer the industry-first ability to ‘round trip’ i-models. Soon operators will be able to send i-models directly to their mobile work force, who can consume the models, update them directly on the job site, and then send the updated i-models from the field back to ProjectWise with selected data (points, point lists, layers library) directly to an i-model.

    “The integration between ProjectWise and Magnet Enterprise has opened up endless new possibilities for construction-driven engineering workflows using OpenRoads and Magnet Office,” Parkman said.

    Magnet 4.0 is expected to be available in late June with additional upgrades and functionality for users.

  • Sentinel imagery now works inside ArcGIS

    Esri has enhanced its ArcGIS technology to simplify the use of free global imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite launched by the European Space Agency. ArcGIS supports visualization, interpretation, and analysis of Sentinel imagery, which is of significant value in applications for forestry, agriculture, land resources management, and environmental monitoring.

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    Sentinel-2 color infrared image.

    “Scientists and GIS professionals rely on consistent access to high-quality imagery data and information products for a range of applications in their work observing, modeling and predicting Earth systems,” said Lawrie Jordan, Esri’s director of imagery and remote sensing. “Sentinel imagery can also be enhanced by the Landsat imagery already available in ArcGIS Online, which provides additional temporal depth.”

    One of the unique capabilities ArcGIS offers is that it can work simultaneously with a wide range of spectral bands and indices at different resolutions. ArcGIS has image processing and analysis tools that allow people to view and analyze all types of imagery.

    Institutions, organizations and startup businesses use ArcGIS to manage, analyze and share imagery and applications related to land monitoring, maritime, climate and security issues.

    For those working with a large collection of images, Esri released an image management workflow for Sentinel. The workflow ensures that Sentinel scenes can be quickly served as dynamic image services, making the full information content accessible to applications for use on desktop, web, and mobile devices. All processing is applied on the fly, with no intermediate storage required.

    “The single-button image management workflow tool is an easy way to share and provide access to a wide range of derived Sentinel-2 imagery products,” said Jordan.

    Find specific and technical details on the Esri blog.

  • Smart maps track Zika outbreaks globally

    Colombia – Percent Change in Cumulative Zika Cases by Department, Feb. 13 -March 26, 2016.
    Colombia – Percent Change in Cumulative Zika Cases by Department, Feb. 13 -March 26, 2016.

    Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) is using the Esri platform to track the outbreak of the Zika virus on a global scale. By sharing mapped intelligence with health services and aid responders, PDC is able to provide essential information that defines the characteristics of the virus and its carrier’s breeding grounds.

    “Esri provides the backbone for visualizing an event and understanding the locality and context for any disaster, including the Zika virus,” said Ray Shirkhodai, PDC executive director.

    The center provides situational awareness information for all manner of disasters. Esri, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, creates technology that generates smart maps derived from a wide variety of data resources and then publishes them across information networks.

    PDC uses these capabilities to add different data layers — hospital density, rain, vector programs, and so forth—to maps. Maps make it easier and faster for disaster managers to understand the scope of a region’s vulnerability to disease. The center serves its map products around the world to organizations that depend on it for intelligence about specific regions.

    “Esri GIS technology specifically allows us to characterize the Zika virus outbreak and contextualize it for decision makers,” explained Joseph Green, PDC’s health risk specialist. “Our maps describe the distribution of suspected cases at national levels throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.”

    PDC gathers Zika virus information from weekly epidemiology updates and bulletins obtained from health organizations worldwide. In return, the center publishes regular updates, including online maps that track the increase and decrease of reported and suspected cases over time.

    The solution to containing the Zika virus is to dispose of mosquitos, which carry the disease. Mapping regional vulnerabilities to virus outbreaks highlights the value of mosquito management programs. Learn more about using GIS for vector-borne disease surveillance and control at go.esri.com/vector-ready.

  • Blazegraph update enables geospatial searching

    Blazegraph, creator of a high-performance database for large graphs, is now offering version 2.1.0. Updates of the graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerated program give users faster, easier access to key data sets, such as new support for processing geospatial coordinates and optimizing queries against the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s (NCBI) PubChem database.

    In addition, Blazegraph 2.1.0 provides new tools that enable semantic search on the largest data published in the Linked Open Data structure, which is heavily used in global publishing, cultural and open government projects.

    To deliver the speed and performance needed to work with these massive data sets, version 2.1.0 includes significant improvements to its bulk load and query performance capabilities.

    Blazegraph 2.1.0 users are powering complex SPARQL queries to uncover new insights. For example, Wikidata, the free knowledge-base community, has deployed version 2.1.0 to power its query service. With it, data experts are using the geospatial capabilities to create graphs such as shared state borders in the United States, a map of all earthquakes and a map of chemical elements and their discovery locations.

    Blazegraph-example

    Another Blazegraph user, Seven Bridges, is a biomedical data analysis company selected by the National Cancer Institute to develop the Cancer Genomic Cloud program. This first complete ecosystem gives cancer researchers immediate access to one of the world’s largest genomic data sets — The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) — and the computational resources to analyze it.

    “We chose Blazegraph to manage the metadata on the Cancer Genomics Cloud because it helps researchers to easily build complex queries based on how they think, not on how the data is stored,” said Igor Bogicevic, CTO at Seven Bridges. “In addition to helping scientists find the data they need, Blazegraph and its new 2.1.0 version is just plain fast. It helps us deliver the scale and performance needed to meet some of the biggest cancer genomics data analysis challenges.”

    Learn more at the Blazegraph website.

     

  • GeoBullseye for ArcPad version 2 released

    GeoMobile Innovations has released GeoBullseye for ArcPad version 2. GeoBullseye is a software extension that turns Esri’s ArcPad mobile GIS software into a high-accuracy GNSS, three dimensional (collecting X, Y and Z) solution supporting Esri workflows.

    GeoBullseyeV2_Accuracy display RTKGeoBullseye supports accurate collection of positions and quality-control GNSS attributes for confident deployment in horizontal XY and vertical Z, including GEOID12 for accurate Mean Sea Level (MSL) elevations.

    GeoBullseye displays real-time estimated accuracies on the ArcPad main map screen and supports automated recording of GNSS/GIS metadata, including key horizontal and vertical accuracy metrics and real-time differential correction status results.

    Version 2 collects up to 35 configurable “auto” attributes to support confidence in critical field data-collection efforts. GeoBullseye is a XY and Z centimeter accuracy RTK GNSS collection solution that can be tightly integrated in a fully disconnected workflow with ArcGIS as well as connected, real-time synchronization with ArcGIS Online (AGOL) and/or ArcGIS Server including SDE environments.

    “The high-accuracy GNSS 3D mobile GIS solution and can be deployed with today’s various Esri workflows,” said Geomobile Innovations President Richard Ash. “We recognize that centimeter-level GNSS data collection is a strong trend in mobile GIS and are excited to bring that capability to the Esri environment.”

    GeoBullseyeV2_prefs_datumFurthermore, GeoBullseye Version 2 implements a rigorous 14-parameter datum transformation to solve a critical horizontal datum shift problem for the specialized positioning needs of North American GPS users mapping in NAD83 (2011 epoch) datum while using satellite-based augmentation service (SBAS) such as WAAS or commercial services like Atlas, OmniSTAR, Terrastar and Starfire. Those services produce coordinates that are referenced to the ITRF08 datum, which is substantially different (greater than 1 meter) from NAD83/2011, the national standard in the U.S.

    “Professional groups such as small and large utilities, engineering, land and natural-resource impact consultants and more are seeking confident collection of high-accuracy RTK horizontal and vertical positions and the ability to efficiently cycle this data to and from the field and update their GIS, perhaps when they return to the office or in real-time out in the field,” Ash said.  “GeoBullsye for ArcPad is an easy-to-use solution that checks the critical ‘must-have’ boxes for organizations that want to streamline their field collection to GIS back-end workflows. It supports the key data elements necessary for reporting, and defending their horizontal and vertical GNSS data collection efforts.”

    GeoBullseye V2 is priced at US$295.00. It is available for purchase through GeoMobile and authorized GeoMobile GNSS reseller specialists.

  • ArcGIS Earth 1.1 now available

    Thousands of people have downloaded ArcGIS Earth, the successor to Google Earth. ArcGIS Earth has an engaged community of users from all over the world, according to Esri. “We are happy to release the 1.1 version and excited to share some of the new key capabilities that deliver on many of [customer] requests and help connect you with more of the data in your organizations,” Esri said in a press release.

    Features include:

    Visualization of Time-Based Patterns. Use the newly added time slider to animate and explore time-enabled KML data.

    Use of OGC WMS and WMTS. Add Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Map Tile Services (WMTS) to ArcGIS Earth and take advantage of open standard data in an organization. WMTS in ArcGIS Earth is able to use pre-rendered, cached tiles just like Esri cached map and image services.

    Importing of CSV and TXT Files. Add tab-delimited text (TXT) and comma-separated value (CSV) files to quickly import large numbers of points. Users who are logged in to Portal for ArcGIS with a configured locator can also perform address geocoding.

  • USGS reveals 6 new California seafloor, coastal maps

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    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released six new sets of publicly available maps that show the diverse and complex range of seafloor habitats along 80 miles of the central California coast from the Monterey Peninsula north to Pigeon Point, according to a news release form the organization.

    The new USGS publications, products of the California Seafloor Mapping Program, combine new and legacy data to reveal offshore bathymetry, habitats, geology and seafloor environments in high resolution. Environments range from the rugged granitic bedrock along the coasts of the Monterey Peninsula, to the bedrock reefs that form the surfing point breaks on the Santa Cruz County coast, to the smooth sand and mud in a large delta bar at the mouth of the Salinas River, and to the steep walls and sinuous channels of one of the largest underwater canyon systems in the world.

    “The new high-resolution datasets and maps are stimulating research – scientists are excited,” said Sam Johnson, the USGS project lead. “Our stakeholders like to say that you can’t manage it, monitor it or model it if you don’t know what the ‘it’ is. Our seafloor mapping provides that important ‘it’ to the entire coastal community.”

    Seamless onshore-offshore geologic maps incorporating subsurface data document the location and geometry of the San Gregorio fault and show how different strands of the fault extend through Carmel Canyon — across the continental shelf west of Santa Cruz and Davenport — and combine to uplift Año Nuevo State Park and Año Nuevo Island. A separate fault system to the east in Monterey Bay is part of an actively deforming wedge of the Earth’s crust caught between the converging San Andreas and San Gregorio faults, the organization said. The six new sets of California maps are Offshore of Pigeon Point, Offshore of Scott Creek, Offshore of Santa Cruz, Offshore of Aptos, Offshore of Monterey Canyon and Vicinity and Offshore of Monterey.

    Each publication includes 10 map sheets, a pamphlet and a digital data catalog with web services. The web services are a new addition to the publications and all previous products in the map series, and can be viewed on smartphones. The USGS said the maps and data provide:

    • A foundation for assessing marine protected areas and habitats.
    • An understanding how marine species such as bull kelp, rockfish, crabs and sea otters use the seafloor.
    • Baselines for monitoring coastal change and sea-level-rise impacts.
    • Critical input data for modeling and mitigation of coastal flooding.
    • A framework for understanding coastal erosion and developing regional sediment management plans.
    • Contributions to earthquake and tsunami hazard assessments.
    • More accurate data for safer navigation.
    • Essential information for planning, siting or removing offshore infrastructure.

    “These new seafloor maps – used in partnership with the USGS – will give us an additional tool to protect Californians, as well as fish and wildlife,” said John Laird, California’s secretary for natural resources and OPC chair. “The new maps will be used to analyze offshore faults and earthquake hazards. They will also help us identify sources of sand to replenish beaches – and will help establish a scientific baseline to track changes in habitat near shore over time. This investment will pay off for Californians in ways that we cannot even imagine now.”

    The California Seafloor and Coastal Mapping Program is supported by the USGS, the California Ocean Protection Council, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, California State University at Monterey Bay, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and other government, academic and industry partners.

    (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

    Maps: USGS

  • Nuxeo integrates with Google Cloud Vision API for automated image recognition

    Image objects/themes (“horizon”, “nature”) and landmarks (“savannah”) found by Google Cloud Vision service automatically added as tags.
    Image objects/themes (“horizon”, “nature”) and landmarks (“savannah”) found by Google Cloud Vision service automatically added as tags.

    The Nuxeo Platform is integrating with the Google Cloud Vision API, a new service providing information and insights automatically detected within images. The plugin is now available to download directly from the Nuxeo Marketplace, which offers optional packages to easily add new features to the Nuxeo Platform.

    The Nuxeo Platform enables organizations to manage complex digital content at massive scale.

    Using the plugin, the Nuxeo Platform exposes a powerful set of configurable image analysis features that can be applied upon file import, within a given workflow/business process, and/or on demand after a specific user action.

    Nuxeo also applies Google Cloud Vision to videos using images (video frames) captured by the Nuxeo storyboard, identifying landmarks (“Eiffel Tower”) and objects/themes (“human action”, “mobile device”) saved as tags.
    Nuxeo also applies Google Cloud Vision to videos using images (video frames) captured by the Nuxeo storyboard, identifying landmarks (“Eiffel Tower”) and objects/themes (“human action”, “mobile device”) saved as tags.

    In addition to processing any image attached to content objects, the Nuxeo Platform also applies the capabilities to video, using images extracted from the video storyboard.

    Image features detected by the Google Cloud Vision service are available for use with Nuxeo process automation and business logic, and can also be stored as metadata and tags on the content object, including:

    • Image labeling based on detection of common objects, landmarks, and/or brand logosFaces, if any, detected in the image, including simple sentiment recognition (e.g., “joy,” “sorrow”)
    • Text found within the image, extracted via OCR
    • Safe search detection of different types of inappropriate content
    • Other general image attributes, such as the dominant color

    Additionally, the Nuxeo plugin enables developers to specify business logic for customized operations with the Google Cloud Vision service, such as invoking workflows based on the presence of automatically added image metadata.

    “The Google Vision team has done exceptional work to develop this fast, reliable and incredibly valuable service,” said Eric Barroca, CEO at Nuxeo. “When the Google Cloud Vision API was placed in public beta last month, we recognized this was game-changing technology for media and digital asset management applications. We immediately went to work integrating this service into the Nuxeo Platform, and we’re proud to be among the first content management vendors to do so.”

    Barroca added, “We strongly believe our integration with Google Vision greatly extends the strategic value of the Nuxeo Platform for our customers. By automatically adding a wealth of new, actionable metadata describing content within each image, Nuxeo enables a whole new level of image-based enterprise search, workflows and automation.”

    The Nuxeo plugin, named Nuxeo Vision, has been developed to immediately support the Google Cloud Vision service, as well as other image recognition engines in the future.

    The Google Cloud Vision API enables developers to understand the content of an image by encapsulating powerful machine learning models in a REST API.

  • Esri, USDA Forest Service publicize forestry data

    usda-forest-mapEsri and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service unveiled Engagement Portfolio, a gallery of maps and apps of U.S. forestry data open to the public.

    Engagement Portfolio opens up the Forestry Inventory and Analysis database, a trove of detailed information on the nation’s forest ecosystems, which the Forest Service has maintained for nearly a century.

    “The tools we’re releasing today demonstrate the best of what’s possible through private-public partnerships,” says Carlos Rodriguez-Franco, acting deputy chief, research and development, USDA Forest Service. “We’re opening up data for more than 800 million acres of U.S. forests and woodlands that provide clean water, clean air, wildlife and fish habitat, recreational opportunities and resources for economic development.”

    Large-scale map and a chart-populated perspective of the nation’s forests are available, as well as story maps and other interactive tools.

    “Interactive access to data helps everyone make better decisions about our fragile ecosystem,” says John Steffenson, director, global business development, natural resources, Esri. “The Forest Service’s new Engagement Portfolio transforms the agency’s wealth of data into information products that anyone can relate to and that powerfully convey the value of the nation’s forests.”

  • Mapillary raises $8M Series A to map world through photos

    Mapillary, a community-based photomapping platform, has received an $8 million Series A funding round led by Atomico, with participation from Sequoia, LDV Capital and PlayFair.

    Anyone can contribute photos to the Mapillary platform and mobile app (available on iOS and Android) with a smartphone or action camera. The company’s computer vision software automatically extracts geographic information, blurs license plates and faces, and detects traffic signs from each photo uploaded. Then, the photos are meticulously stitched together on the map alongside other users’ photos, creating a digital representation of each location through the eyes of those who have been there.

    Mapillary’s growing global community has uploaded more than 50 million photos and mapped more than 1.2 million kilometers in over 170 countries to date.

    “Mapillary is reinventing the way we map and navigate our world,” said Niklas Zennström, CEO and founding partner at Atomico. “Their ambition is to transform the way we plan our cities, develop transport networks, and understand all parts of the globe. We’re proud to invest in the next phase of their growth and we look forward to working alongside Jan Erik and his team as they advance their technology and scale the business.”

    Cities, corporations, and nonprofits can access Mapillary’s platform through an extensive API, which holds multiple layers of visual data. Mapillary’s ArcGIS integration — built in partnership with Esri — lets governments, nonprofits and businesses see locations evolve in real-time, arming them with insight into infrastructural problems like inefficient public transportation and changes in road conditions.

    Mapillary partners with several nonprofits to help them improve infrastructure in developing countries around the world. The World Bank trains university students and local community members to use Mapillary in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, to create accurate maps of the most flood-prone areas of the city, and the Red Cross has been mapping Haiti so NGOs and individuals can use the data to better respond to crises affecting the area. Mapillary allows nonprofits to allocate resources more efficiently and to empower communities to contribute to the growth and development of their cities and towns.

    From backyards to Antarctica, Mapillary allows anyone to be immersed in places both familiar and unknown. This funding is bringing the company one step closer to accomplishing its goal of creating an open and complete digital representation of the earth to benefit governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations and curious explorers alike.