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Tag: GIS

  • Mobile mapping market size worth over $40B by 2024

    The mobile mapping market size is expected to be worth more than $40 billion by 2024, according to a new research report by Global Market Insights.

    The mobile mapping market is propelled by the increasing adoption of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets across the globe. Smartphone users are extensively using mapping applications on their devices for navigation and driving assistance, the report said.

    Furthermore, they are also leveraging on the GIS and GPS applications to access geo-referenced data for searching nearby restaurants, cinema halls and other landmarks. This is encouraging the technology companies to commence mapping across the globe to acquire accurate GIS data and provide an enhanced customer experience.

    High initial investment is a major factor limiting the growth of the mobile mapping market. Currently, the market comprises a few major players with a long-standing expertise in location-based technologies. High initial investments in developing mobile mapping systems and assembling major components have restricted the entry of new players in the market.

    According to the report, the software market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 15 percent over the projected timespan. The growing demand for geo-referenced data acquisition and data analysis software among the organizations is driving the mobile mapping market growth. The software assists organizations in simplifying the data extraction process by combining the vital details. It retrieves geographic and spatial data captured by the positioning devices to develop maps and other graphic displays. This data is also used by enterprises to build effective decision support systems, which will drive the market demand.

    The report includes key industry insights in 250 pages with 341 market data tables and 38 figures and charts from the report, “Mobile Mapping Market Size, By Component (Hardware [Imaging Device, Laser Ranging Device & Scanning Device, Positioning Device], Software [Mapping Data Extraction, Data Processing], Service [Consulting, Integration & Maintenance, Managed Service]), By Application (Road & Railway Survey, GIS Data Collection, Vehicle Control & Guidance, Asset Management), By End-User (Agriculture, BFSI, Government & Public Sector, Real Estate, Retail, Mining, Telecommunication, Transport & Logistics), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia & NZ, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, GCC, Israel, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018 – 2024.”

    The mobile mapping technology is used for conducting road and rail surveys, collecting GIS data, and developing vehicle control and guidance systems and asset management systems. The road and rail survey market is expected to register a growth rate of over 17 percent during the forecast period. It is used to analyze the road and rail infrastructure and plan the engineering operations with minimum disruptions. The surveying authorities across the globe are using mobile mapping technology to create maps for the transportation department for road assessment purposes.

    The agriculture sector is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 22 percent during the forecast timeline. The integration of the GPS and GNSS devices into the farming process to acquire geospatial data is the primary factor driving the mobile mapping market share. Furthermore, the ability of the mobile mapping technology to monitor the crop yield and land variability also augments the demand for the technology among the farmers.

    The European region accounted for over 25 percent global mobile mapping market in 2017. The increasing investments by the government agencies have accelerated the adoption of mobile mapping technology in the region. For instance, in 2017, the U.K. government established the Geospatial Data Commission to frame a strategy for using the public sector location data to support the country’s growth.

    The Asia Pacific region will grow at a rapid pace over the forecast timespan. The rapid urbanization of the region and the growing number of infrastructural projects have fostered the growth of the mobile mapping market in the region. Moreover, the widespread adoption of smartphones has also driven the market size.

    Prominent players operating in the mobile mapping market are Phoenix LiDAR, Sharp Corporation, Teledyne Optech, TomTom International, Topcon Positioning Systems, MapJack, Mapquest, Navteq, NCTech, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, NovAtel, Phaseone industrial, Hexagon, EveryScape, Foursquare Labs and XIMEA.

    The major companies in the market are collaborating with other expert companies in the market to develop new product offerings and conduct strategic acquisitions to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.

    For instance, in 2017, Garmin acquired Navionics, a provider of electronic navigational charts to the marine industry. This acquisition is aimed at combining the data from Navionics charts and Garmin’s blue charts to develop improved navigational services to its customers. Similarly, in 2017, Hexagon entered into an OEM partnership with Smart Guided Systems to develop new precision technologies for commercial applications.

    The global mobile mapping market research report includes an in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates and forecast revenue in USD respectively from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments.

    Mobile Mapping Market, By Component

    Hardware
    Imaging device
    Laser ranging and scanner device
    Positioning device
    Software
    Mapping data extraction
    Data processing
    Service
    Consulting
    Integration & maintenance
    Managed

    Mobile Mapping Market, By Application

    Road & railway survey
    GIS data collection
    Vehicle control & guidance
    Asset management

    Mobile Mapping Market, By End-User

    Agriculture
    BFSI
    Government & public sector
    Real estate & infrastructure
    Retail
    Mining
    Telecommunication

    Regions and Countries

    North America
    U.S.
    Canada
    Europe
    UK
    Germany
    France
    Spain
    Italy
    Asia Pacific
    ANZ
    China
    India
    Japan
    South Korea
    Latin America
    Brazil
    Mexico
    Argentina
    MEA
    GCC
    South Africa
    Israel

  • Boundless launches learning platform for its GIS products

    Logo: BoundlessOpen and scalable GIS company Boundless has launched Boundless Learning, an intuitive platform where users can browse and search a wide array of both e-learning and private instructor-led training courses on Boundless products, including Boundless Server, Boundless Exchange and Boundless Desktop, as well as open source tools such as PostGIS and OpenLayers.

    According to the company, Boundless Learning is the one-stop shop for all open GIS learning needs. With more than 60 e-learning courses on Boundless products and open source tools, the Boundless Learning platform delivers the next generation of open GIS content directly to the Boundless community, in an intuitive and fluid experience.

    Advantages of e-learning courses:

    • Designed to be the right length for “just-in-time” learning needs
    • Sample free e-learning courses, shop a la carte and buy a course at a time or subscribe and take as many as you like on demand, as well as have access to the newest additions
    • Track progress and save certificates of completion
    • All e-learning courses include lesson instructions with screenshots, data and videos

    Additionally, Boundless Learning delivers three new private instructor-led trainings on Boundless products and open source tools: Introduction to PostGIS, Boundless Server Essentials and Introduction to Boundless Desktop Powered by QGIS. Expert-level instructors will deliver two or four days of training through a mix of short lectures, demonstrations, exercises and challenges.

    Advantages of instructor-led trainings:

    • Personalized learning brings the experts to the users
    • Real-time interaction and instructor feedback for a hands-on experience in the customers’ native environment
    • Low fixed costs include course workbook, data, and system setup
    • Flexible training open to anyone interested in learning more about Boundless and open source in general

    “Boundless is dedicated to developing the best, most accessible tools for the GIS community and the enterprise,” said Christina Hupy, director of education and training at Boundless. “With the introduction of Boundless Learning, we are continuing to empower users with the resources to ensure long term success in a low cost manner so customers can focus on scaling their business.”

  • Free highway exits, interchanges data provided for Maptitude 2018

    Image: Caliper
    Image: Caliper

    GIS software company Caliper has released new highway exit data for the United States and Canada.

    Users of Maptitude 2018 with the Canada or United States country packages can download a free point layer containing all signed and numbered highway exits within their respective country.

    The highway exits layer allows users to find the nearest highway interchange to a particular location or determine proximity to a desired interchange. Applications include site location assessment, commercial real estate, franchise development and accessibility studies.

    The data can also be used in conjunction with the free U.S. traffic count data to determine traffic volumes around a chosen exit.

    The Highway Exits and Interchanges layer can be added to any Maptitude 2018 map.

    Image: Caliper
    Image: Caliper

  • Imagery works for growing city

    Image: Nearmap
    Image: Nearmap

    Location content provider Nearmap has partnered with the City of Durham, North Carolina, Public Works Department to upgrade its imagery on numerous projects.

    Using real-time imagery from Nearmap in the field, the department streamlines data collection and saves time and money.

    The department manages all infrastructure data for the city, including mapping the impervious area (structures that resist water infiltration) for the city’s $16 million a year Stormwater Utility Fee fund. “That is half a billion square feet of impervious area that we manage through digitization and review daily,” said Edward Cherry, city GIS administrator.

    After using several satellite imagery systems with low resolution and infrequent captures, Cherry and his 14-member GIS staff determined the city needed far superior quality in their mapping imagery to accommodate the city’s explosive growth.

    Captured every six months at a 2.8-inch ground sample distance, Nearmap now supplies Durham with up-to-date images accessible through web-based cloud servers.

    With Nearmap, the Durham Public Works Department has achieved better monitoring of pavement conditions; time savings and documentation of road repairs; more detailed maps of city riparian zones; and accurate and detailed customer billing.

    “With Nearmap, we’ve been able to update development processes and policies to support the revitalization of the downtown district as well as rapid city growth,” Cherry said.

  • Esri cosponsors HACKtheMACHINE for U.S. Navy

    Esri cosponsored HACKtheMACHINE, the United States Navy’s Digital Experience presented by the Naval Sea Systems Command, which took place Sept. 21–23 in Seattle.

    The Naval Sea Systems Command hosted the event to drive the development of innovative digital capabilities that will help the navy protect the sea, air, space and subsurface domains in the 21st century.

    The Seattle event connected developers to the needs of our nation’s navy and provided developers with access to Esri APIs and software developer kits. This will allow developers to bring context to maritime security situations through access to location data and spatial analytics tools.

    Computers, data and digital communications underpin the global economy and delivery of the world’s life-sustaining services like food, power and clean water.

    “HACKtheMACHINE is looking to reach out to a new generation and engage them in meaningful conversations about maritime security,” said Zac Staples, Fathom5 CEO, who founded the event while serving as the director of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Cyber Warfare. “It is designed to create opportunities to innovate, solve problems, and change the world for the better.”

    “Esri is honored to be chosen as one of the sponsors for this event,” said Curt Hammill, navy account executive at Esri. “Our location intelligence solutions are used by all American military branches, and sponsoring HACKtheMACHINE gives us the opportunity to continue our proven history of supporting our armed services in their most critical missions.”

    HACKtheMACHINE is composed of three tracks, and Esri participated in two of them. Track 2: Data Science & the Seven Seas, used data from ships under way on the high seas to develop algorithms to assist the navy with preventing collisions of human-operated and autonomous vessels.

    Esri is also a solution provider for Track 3: Hack for the Oceans, in which teams put themselves in the position of the first responders after Hurricane Katrina. Each team will deploy applications to a similar environment to the navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networking and Enterprise Services (CANES) Agile Core Services system, emulating what value a first responder DevOps team could add in such a scenario.

    Creative developers also had a chance to win an annual ArcGIS Developer Subscription for innovative use of the ArcGIS platform. Other prizes were awarded from other cosponsors.

    HACKtheMACHINE was organized by Fathom5 and Booz Allen Hamilton, on behalf of the United States Navy.

  • Airbus, Orbital Insight partner on OneAtlas analytics platform

    Europe-based Airbus Defence and Space has entered into a partnership with Orbital Insight, a U.S.-based geospatial analytics company, to build a suite of geospatial analytics services and tools.

    The agreement will provide Orbital Insight with access to Pleiades and SPOT satellite imagery at scale, and provide Airbus with analytics services, making Orbital Insight the first analytics partner for the Airbus Digital Platform OneAtlas.

    The OneAtlas Platform is a collaborative environment enabling users to easily access constantly updated satellite imagery, perform large-scale image processing, extract industry-specific insights, and benefit from Airbus assets to develop tailored solutions for a wide range of markets in both commercial and government sectors, the company said.

    “Under this agreement, we will offer premium analytics capabilities to a large range of users, powered by Orbital Insight’s services and tools,” said François Lombard, director of the Intelligence Business at Airbus Defence and Space. “The OneAtlas Platform is definitively the cornerstone to leverage both Airbus and partner assets to support our customers’ business development and growth.”

    “We’re proud to be Airbus’ first geospatial analytics partner on the OneAtlas Platform,” said James Crawford, Orbital Insight’s CEO and founder. “Along with our new satellite imagery agreement, this partnership drives customer value for those looking to better understand what’s happening on and to Earth.”

  • Rebrand GIS to better showcase its power

    GIS specialists are much more than mapmakers. Make sure your organization and customers understand how spatial analytics can help them succeed.

    By Adam Carnow

    Most non-GIS users hear the term “G-I-S” and think “M-A-P.” That is, they think of GIS, and GIS practitioners, as mapmakers. Most GIS practitioners have unknowingly perpetuated this image. Ask any GIS practitioner what they do for a living and most will say, “I make maps;” however, the reality is that what they do for a living is help people make better decisions through the power of location. This is what I call location intelligence.

    There is a tremendous growth opportunity for GIS in government across the enterprise. GIS was created to perform spatial analysis. GIS can often be underutilized because non-GIS users sometimes don’t understand the reach of spatial analysis and how it can help them. GIS practitioners need to market and evangelize the power of spatial analysis to help change that image.

    Photo: rmnoa357/Shutterstock.com
    Photo: rmnoa357/Shutterstock.com

    You can break down location intelligence into six categories. As you move down this list, the value of the location intelligence increases:

    • Understanding Where. A map (could be paper or PDF, but should be an interactive web map) showing where the fire stations are located across a city.
    • Measuring Size, Shape and Distribution. A map showing the size, shape and distribution of wetlands across an area would help with wetland protection and preservation.
    • Determining How Places Are Related. Showing how certain soil types correspond to flood zones.
    • Finding the Best Locations and Paths
      • To find the best location for a new fire station, run a drive-time polygon process to show the coverage area for each fire station. The areas that are uncovered are where a new fire station is needed.
      • To find the best path for field inspectors: We have 50 inspections to do today and three inspectors. Divide the inspection locations among each inspector and create the most efficient route to get their work done.
    • Detecting and Quantifying Patterns. Crime analysts look at crime data to try to predict where the next one may occur and to help identify known perpetrators. (See also An inside look at fighting crime with GIS.)
    • Making Predictions. Modeling a watershed can allow for flood predictions based on anticipated rainfall.

    Another way to help break the mapmaker image is to rebrand. Most staff in any organization use spreadsheets daily for a multitude of things that bring value to the organization – some say it’s the number one business intelligence (BI) tool.

    There are GIS software tools that are as easy to use as a spreadsheet; in fact, you can use GIS inside of spreadsheets.

    Wetlands map, Oregon's Klamath Lake. (Map: USGS)
    Wetlands map, Oregon’s Klamath Lake. (Map: USGS)

    Even though spreadsheets are such a useful tool, you don’t see a Spreadsheet Department. Spreadsheet is just the name of the tool, so you don’t have, or name, a department for it. A department should be named based on the function, or value, it serves.

    GIS should be thought of as BI with location data and spatial analysis, or location intelligence. A great way to get people to understand the real value and power of GIS is to rebrand your GIS department to something like Enterprise Location Intelligence.

    One such example of this is Walgreens. As the drugstore chain’s GIS department became more strategic and tied to the analytics of the organization, the company rebranded it as Enterprise Location Intelligence.

    If your organization has a BI group, they should consider reorganizing to put GIS with that BI group. I’m seeing real-world examples of this rebrand:

    • GIS job title changes to things like:
      • Data Analytics Manager
      • Content Delivery Manager
      • Business and Location Intelligence Manager
    • Reorganization putting GIS with BI: A major city has a Smart City initiative, and in response the city has reorganized its IT group — they now have a Data Analytics Group that consists of a BI team and their GIS team.

    This rebrand, and expansion of the understanding of the true purpose and value of GIS, will not just help the organization realize more return on investment (ROI) for their GIS investment, it will help the GIS practitioners elevate their value to the organization and hence their careers.

    What can you do? If you’re a GIS practitioner:

    • Explore rebranding your title and your GIS group as a start to changing your image from mapmaker to solution provider.
    • Evangelize the power of location intelligence. This is actually pretty easy to do. When someone asks for a map, ask them why they need it, probe to find out more about their project; you will probably uncover a need for spatial analysis.
    • Start to enable others in your organization to become GIS users via easy-to-use web maps and apps. As they use GIS, they will realize its full potential and seek to utilize it more often.

    If you’re not a GIS practitioner, seek out your GIS team to learn more about their capabilities and how they can help you. And, become a GIS user, there are plenty of GIS tools available that are easy to learn and use.

    This article originally appeared on Govloop.com and is reprinted with permission.

    Adam Carnow is an Esri community evangelist and part of the GovLoop Featured Contributor program.

  • Dewberry provides data analytics for Houston post-flooding

    Dewberry, a privately held professional services firm, has been selected as a consultant to Civis Analytics to perform comprehensive data analytics, including flood hazard and property loss modeling and damage estimation, to support the city of Houston’s post-Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.

    Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. (Photo: FEMA)
    Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. (Photo: FEMA)

    The granular, structure-level understanding of this catastrophic flooding event will be critically important to the city’s efforts to catalog impacts and direct resources to the rebuilding and recovery efforts, Dewberry said.

    The resulting data will be made accessible to authenticated city staff and non-profit organizations through the new Houston Estimation and Analysis of Loss (HEAL) platform. A cloud-based system that will be used in disaster mitigation planning, HEAL will aggregate data, analytics, tools and visualizations in a web-based environment available to city, state and federal officials and other stakeholders.

    Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. (Photo: FEMA)
    Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. (Photo: FEMA)

    The data development effort featured a hindcast model of the historic Hurricane Harvey storm event, which dropped 51 inches of rainfall within the city of Houston and surrounding areas over five days in August.

    The HEAL platform will provide the city with a comprehensive data collection and analytical architecture with the ability to calculate and report unmet needs at various levels, such as structure, parcel and census block.

    The analytics will include extensive modeling to estimate flood depth and extent and the structural and contents losses created by it. Model validation will use a wide set of data from debris removal pickup locations, and community field data collection, to federal assistance information, as well as non-traditional sources such as social media videos.

    Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. (Photo: FEMA)
    Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. (Photo: FEMA)

    For this complex project, Dewberry’s innovative approach has involved strong applications of science and engineering including meteorological data processing, 2D flood risk modeling, and damage assessment to replicate post-Harvey conditions in Houston.

  • City emergency support improved with Nearmap imagery

    Nearmap aerial imagery in ArcMap. (Screenshot: Nearmap)
    Nearmap aerial imagery in ArcMap. (Screenshot: Nearmap)

    The Shelby County, Tennessee, Emergency Communications District has implemented Nearmap high-resolution aerial imagery to geocode and plot new addresses and developments into its 911 mapping systems.

    The mapping systems help fire and rescue, emergency medical services and law enforcement get instant access to updated maps needed to get to the right locations as soon as possible.

    The Emergency Communications District is responsible for establishing local emergency telephone service, providing the network call-handling equipment, and updating the geographic information systems (GIS) data for each Public Safety Answering Point within Shelby County.

    Nearmap provides frequently updated, high-quality aerial captures to ensure that the district’s GIS data, geocoding and the 911 mapping systems are up to date, providing public safety and law enforcement the most accurate information, the company said.

    Benefits of Nearmap aerial imagery for the Emergency Communications District include:

      • The imagery is delivered through the cloud as a subscription service, making it accessible to all team members via mobile and desktop.
      • Nearmap imagery is taken at least twice a year, both leaf-on and leaf-off to provide different views of locations in different seasons.
      • Aerial captures integrate directly into Esri ArcMap, ArcPro and ArcGIS Online applications, so GIS information can overlay directly onto the high-resolution imagery.

    Before Nearmap, Shelby County’s aerial image process required a contracted flight to photograph the county areas. Because of the high cost of capturing those images, the county purchased images once every two years, after pooling resources from various county entities.

    “With our old aerial imagery provider, there were issues with mosaicking separate images together, and since the imagery was taken every two years, many rural and unincorporated areas were out of date,” said Timothy Zimmer, GIS administrator for Shelby County’s Emergency Communications District.

    With out of date images, the county had to develop alternate methods to locate addresses for the 911 systems. Now, the combined impact of data services, base maps, Nearmap imagery and third-party data are improving all aspects of public safety, including law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services, Nearmap said. Even other agencies are using the district’s imagery and GIS data.

    “There’s a certain context and currency you can get from Nearmap imagery that you simply can’t get from any other imagery products,” Zimmer said. “Other agencies, such as the County Clerk and the Utility Company, are using our addressing data because Nearmap has helped enable us to be much more current.”

  • GIS is key to developing smart cities and buildings

    ItalImage: Italy3d/Shutterstock.comy3d/Shutterstock.com
    Image: Italy3d/Shutterstock.com

    GIS is growing in importance to urban development, whether for environmental impact studies, geofencing or building information modeling (BIM). Sharing GIS data with developers is critical to a coordinated approach to smart city growth.

    By Christine Easterfield, Principal Analyst, Cambashi

    Just over half the world’s 7 billion population lives in cities. In Europe, this rises to three quarters, and 30 cities worldwide have populations of more than 10 million — the majority in India, China and South America.

    This trend will continue. It is projected that the global population will reach almost 10 billion by 2050, which means cities will need to cope with increasing demands on housing, transport and communications.

    Growing urban populations place considerable stress on housing stock. Cities need to provide scope to build new, but also to look at best use of existing properties.

    In the growing urban population, there will always be a proportion that needs more support as employment rates shift and wages do not always keep up with city expenses. Social housing projects need to keep pace, and making the most of city resources opens opportunities for smart buildings.

    The role of GIS

    Proposed Indianapolis zoning map. (Image: City of Indianapolis)
    Proposed Indianapolis zoning map. (Image: City of Indianapolis)

    Coordinating new build and refurbishment plans across a city requires planning and organization, and a set of tools to support planners and designers. The layout of city-planning zones is the starting point for many new developments — sharing data about these areas is typically achieved using a GIS (geographic information system).

    The standard city map with records of roads, emergency routes, bike routes, key buildings, new development zones, existing housing stock, utility services and street lighting are a central resource for most cities.

    Sharing data between these city maps and developers’ plans is critical to a coordinated approach to city growth.

    Environmental impact

    The early stages for many developments involve an environmental impact study. How will the new development fit into the existing landscape? What restrictions are imposed because of the conditions of the site or the current demands on local resources? What options are there for addressing these constraints?

    This last point is important for acceptance of the development. Being able to show a level of flexibility to accommodate local concerns and developers’ challenges will build a cooperative relationship. The ability to easily integrate building plans with the city map means that confidence is quickly built into the new plans.

    Combining the geography of the city view with the building model destined for development provides a perfect foundation for an integrated GIS/BIM model to take the development from drawing board to handover.

    Maintaining a digital twin of a development, in the form of a BIM, provides a rich source of information about the as-built building — exact measurements, materials used, changes from the original design and more. Integrating this with the city maps held in GIS means a continuous dataset can be formed.

    Tools for construction site inspection and reporting

    construction
    Photo: Alen Ajan/Fotolia.com

    Developing building information models (BIMs) requires monitoring the build activity and accurate recording of the construction. The best way to do this is as it happens.

    Simple-to-use tools that are robust enough to cope with a construction site are becoming more available from software providers. These support gathering data by construction teams and contractors as the work is completed.

    As well as recording data, these tools are also useful in registering the progress and completion of tasks. Many enable interaction with central systems that can send changes and updates directly to the site for immediate action.

    The same tools can register the location of the user, enabling safer working practices to be enforced.

    The practice of geofencing to monitor or even restrict access to parts of a construction site, by registering the location of a device against a predefined region on a map of the site, can track critical activities and react with the most appropriate action if an incident is reported.

    Remote site inspection and reporting

    The Aeryon SkyRanger. (Photo: Aeryon Labs)
    The Aeryon SkyRanger. (Photo: Aeryon Labs)

    The safest inspections don’t involve human intervention at all. Sending an unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV or drone, to fly over your site removes risk to staff when viewing hazardous environments.

    Photographic imagery collected by drone can be loaded into GIS tools and accurately registered against the map of the area to provide a seamless view of the site.

    Data integration is key

    The range of data that can be accurately gathered and viewed together now covers original 3D designs, 2D construction plans, inspection photo-imagery and as-built updates.

    Integration of BIM and GIS tools means that these different data types can be viewed together and in the same spatial context.

    Support for building operation, management and maintenance in the wider context of a smart city

    On-the-spot data capture of accurate as-built building information models that can seamlessly integrate with existing city plans leads to a data resource that cities can build on to improve safety, security and facilities for their citizens.

    So what should the smart city planner be looking for?

    Existing geospatial and data management tools already address many of these challenges, and when an opportunity for a technology refresh is presented, the approach to smart city support should be a big part of the mix.

    Christine Easterfield
    Christine Easterfield

    Christine Easterfield is principal analyst for Cambashi. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the software business. Her experience has covered geospatial asset management for the utility industry: assessing market needs and opportunities, managing customer requirements, liaising with development teams and running global product introduction programs.

    Previous roles include programming, training, consultancy and product marketing management.

    She has worked for a range of companies from multinationals to small start-ups, resulting in an understanding of how different sized organisations operate, grow and manage change. Christine has a BSc in Computational Sciences and an MA in English Literature.

  • Spookfish expands coverage with New South Wales imagery

    Aerial imagery specialist Spookfish has expanded its capture program into New South Wales (NSW), now covering the NSW coast and Sydney’s entire metropolitan area. Spookfish’s coverage in NSW now spans from Newcastle to Kiama and from Lithgow to Manly.

    The expansion into NSW marks the next stage of a nationwide rollout for Spookfish. In the past 12 months, the company has expanded coverage into the South Australian, Victorian, Australian Capital Territory and now NSW markets, in addition to its Western Australian coverage.

    The expansion of coverage will give businesses and government agencies across Sydney and regional NSW the opportunity to access high-resolution aerial imagery and save thousands of dollars by reducing the time spent on site.

    Spookfish now covers the entire Sydney metropolitan area, home to 71% of the NSW population. The city’s growth presents development opportunities for businesses, all of which need to fit within city planning regulations. High-resolution aerial imagery will play an important role in the planning stages.

    Spookfish also captures regional cities and towns, including Albury and Wagga Wagga, at the same consistent specification as capital cities.

    With the addition of Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide’s entire metropolitan areas, Spookfish offers users access to more than 55,000 square kilometers of high-resolution imagery across Australia. The platform provides customers a clear view on any device with no data caps to give users access to unlimited high-resolution aerial imagery without the risk of unexpected costs.

    “Sydney has the greatest population density in Australia, and continues to grow with new projects commissioned to meet this growing population,” said Jason Waller, Spookfish CEO. “We are very pleased to be able to offer businesses access to high resolution imagery of this unique city, to help drive effective and precise planning of developments and urban areas.

    “Every day our platform is being discovered by many Australian businesses, helping them save time and money by providing precise aerial imagery with the timeliness and convenience of cloud delivery. We offer our customers a service like no other, where they can access extremely high resolution images at an affordable price across very large areas, with no data caps.”

    Spookfish utilizes a fleet of specialized planes to capture imagery for its platform. With regular updates in capital cities across Australia, customers have an up-to-date and evolving view of their world.

  • DigitalGlobe makes available MDA RADARSAT-2 data in SecureWatch

    Logo: DigitalGlobe
    Logo: DigitalGlobe

    Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from Maxar’s MDA RADARSAT-2 satellite will become available to SecureWatch subscribers on Oct. 1, according to DigitalGlobe.

    SecureWatch, DigitalGlobe’s cloud-based geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) platform, will now combine the company’s high-resolution optical imagery and MDA’s SAR imagery in one platform, enabling defense and intelligence analysts to deliver actionable insights to decision makers regardless of weather and light conditions, the company said.

    Maxar’s MDA will refresh hundreds of global sites on a weekly basis using RADARSAT-2’s Wide Ultra Fine format (3 meter resolution, 50 kilometer scene width).

    RADARSAT-2 imagery allows users to observe features and changes that go undetected using other imaging techniques, and provides day and night coverage regardless of weather.

    SecureWatch users can access timely RADARSAT-2 imagery using current subscription plans. When combined with 30 cm optical imagery, analysts will have an even more uniquely powerful and reliable toolset to perform analysis to make decisions with confidence, the company said.

    “Adding RADARSAT-2 imagery to SecureWatch is a perfect demonstration of Maxar Technologies’ unique promise: create valuable, integrated and innovative solutions that address customers’ critical challenges,” said Mike Greenley, group president of MDA. “MDA’s RADARSAT-2 information has played a key role in supporting security missions for over two decades, and partnering with our sister company, DigitalGlobe, immediately enhances our offerings and expands our global reach.”

    “SecureWatch subscribers now have an exciting new tool to enrich GEOINT gathering and decision-making,” said Dan Jablonsky, DigitalGlobe president. “Combining SAR and optical imagery takes analysts’ abilities to the next level to deliver powerful insights into what’s happening in their areas of interest and allows them to save lives, resources and time.”