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.
CartoPac International Inc. has added iOS mobile operating system support to its CartoPac software suite. CartoPac also supports Windows and Windows Mobile applications, but the company says the addition of iOS enables it to deliver advanced mobile functionality to a broad range of devices used for geospatial data collection.
“Companies struggle to find single mobile software that supports the diverse requirements and robust functionality needed for both asset inventory and inspection workflows,” says Glenn Vlass, CartoPac’s vice president of marketing and product management, in a news release. “With the recent addition of mobile for iOS, our software gives organizations a single platform to author, publish, deploy and manage mobile solutions for their entire workforce.”
Since its introduction in 2002, the company says the CartoPac suite has been adopted by energy companies, natural resource agencies and municipalities, as well as gas and electric utilities, to manage their assets. CartoPac applications are fully integrated with Esri GIS solutions.
The suite has the ability to configure solutions that leverage data from both the GIS database and other enterprise databases, such as work order management systems.
CartoPac Workflow Manager, a module in the suite, supports configured structured processes for bringing field data back to the enterprise. CartoPac also supports both fully integrated on premise deployments and complete hosted deployments using CartoPac Core.
“Regardless of the field device, the captured or updated data will be complete, consistent and accurate,” Vlass says.
NovAtel has launched its OEM7 7.200 version firmware. Version 7.200 firmware introduces powerful new positioning functionality including the company’s Interference Toolkit (ITK).
The ITK allows users to detect and mitigate intentional interference such as the adversarial jamming of GNSS signals, as well as the unintentional interference from external sources. The new RTK Assist corrections service assures continued high-accuracy positioning when signals from a real-time kinematic (RTK) network are unavailable or disrupted.
With the ITK, NovAtel’s OEM7 customers can auto-detect and report in-band radio frequency (RF) interference so that any interference adversely affecting their receiver’s positioning performance can be quickly nullified.
In combination with the 7.200 firmware launch, NovAtel is introducing NovAtel Connect 2.0, the latest version of its PC-based graphical user interface (GUI). Running on Microsoft Windows 10, NovAtel Connect 2.0 offers significant user enhancements including features to optimize ITK functionality.
Firmware version 7.200 expands NovAtel’s proprietary correction service capabilities with the introduction of two new subscription-based offerings:
TerraStar-L 40-centimeter correction service. This Precise Point Positioning (PPP) correction service delivers exceptionally robust 40-cm-level positioning performance at an entry-level price point, anywhere on earth without the need for a base station. With corrections derived from the fully redundant TerraStar network infrastructure, the new service is designed for broad accuracy positioning applications such as agriculture, construction or GIS.
RTK Assist correction bridging service. This globally available service allows users to maintain RTK-level accuracy when RTK corrections are disrupted. RTK Assist uses multiple geostationary satellites to beam corrections directly to the receiver to bridge outages that can occur with local RTK networks.
“Developing products that not only deliver high-precision, high-accuracy positioning, but also assure our customers’ position is central to our mission at NovAtel,” said NovAtel’s director of product management, Neil Gerein. “The release of OEM7 firmware version 7.200 reflects our company’s commitment to continually enhance positioning performance, whether by expanding receiver capabilities, or in mitigating unintentional or intentional interference as reflected with the capabilities of our new Interference Toolkit.”
For more details on all 7.200 firmware capabilities, see this PDF.
TCarta Marine LLC of Denver, Colorado, has merged with Proteus Geo of Oxford, England, to create a global mapping company that provides bathymetric and marine data sets from the shallow coastal zone out to the continental shelf.
The new company is called TCarta Marine and will maintain offices in Denver and Oxford.
“By merging, we believe the merged company provides a wider and more sophisticated range of products than any other supplier worldwide,” said TCarta Marine CEO David Critchley. “TCarta Marine is now a one-stop shop for bathymetric and marine data.”
Image: Proteus Geo
TCarta Marine will continue offering all existing product lines from the two companies, as well as new products and services under development. Primary markets served will be engineering, oil and gas, government and defense with expansion planned into the insurance, 3D modeling and aquaculture industries.
“Our goal is to make it easier for the marine community to obtain and use quality mapping data,” said TCarta Marine President Kyle Goodrich. “To support every phase of offshore projects, we now offer lower resolution bathymetry for regional planning as well as high-resolution, highly accurate seafloor modeling for precise coastal engineering activities. Additionally, we offer a range of global and regional marine basemaps.”
In recent years, TCarta Marine and Proteus Geo collaborated on many projects and had numerous clients in common due to the complementary nature of their product lines.
David Critchley established Proteus Geo in the United Kingdom in 2011 to leverage a new technology that derives high-accuracy seafloor survey and seabed classification information from multispectral satellite imagery. Operating at a fraction of the cost of traditional ship and airborne bathymetric technologies, the Proteus methodology has been deployed extensively in energy exploration, infrastructure engineering and environmental applications in shallow-water coastal zones.
“The two-meter satellite-derived bathymetric data can be derived to depths of 35 meters depending on water clarity and every depth has an uncertainty value assigned,” said Critchley.
TCarta Marine was started in 2008 by Kyle Goodrich to fill an enormous gap in quality bathymetric data from the littoral zone out to the base of the continental shelf, distance often spanning hundreds of kilometers. The firm developed proprietary techniques for aggregating seafloor depth data from numerous medium- to coarse-resolution sources, including navigation charts, ship tracklines, and boat surveys. TCarta Marine has built an off-the-shelf line of 90- and 30-meter GIS-ready products covering the Earth’s most important marine areas.
“Our bathymetric products are available via annual subscription for streaming directly into our clients’ GIS and mapping applications,” said Goodrich. “Oil, gas and renewable energy companies have become major users of TCarta Marine products.”
As president of the new TCarta Marine, Goodrich will focus on developing additional products and innovative methods for delivering them. The global company seeks to expand its foothold in traditional marine markets and cultivate new applications for seafloor data. Critchley, as CEO of TCarta Marine, will be responsible for business development in new geographic regions of the world.
In the near term, TCarta Marine and Proteus Geo customers can look forward to purchasing the existing 90-, 30- and 2-meter resolution product lines online through a new web portal, now under development. Information can be found and orders placed now through the new unified TCarta Marine website at www.TCartaMarine.com.
Proteus FZC, an affiliated company of Proteus Geo based in the United Arab Emirates, will remain a stand-alone company offering terrestrial geospatial and marine consulting services in the Middle East.
TCarta Marine LLC of Denver, Colorado, has merged with Proteus Geo of Oxford, England, to create a global mapping company that provides bathymetric and marine data sets from the shallow coastal zone out to the continental shelf.
The new company is called TCarta Marine and will maintain offices in Denver and Oxford.
“By merging, we believe the merged company provides a wider and more sophisticated range of products than any other supplier worldwide,” said TCarta Marine CEO David Critchley. “TCarta Marine is now a one-stop shop for bathymetric and marine data.”
Image: Proteus Geo
TCarta Marine will continue offering all existing product lines from the two companies, as well as new products and services under development. Primary markets served will be engineering, oil and gas, government and defense with expansion planned into the insurance, 3D modeling and aquaculture industries.
“Our goal is to make it easier for the marine community to obtain and use quality mapping data,” said TCarta Marine President Kyle Goodrich. “To support every phase of offshore projects, we now offer lower resolution bathymetry for regional planning as well as high-resolution, highly accurate seafloor modeling for precise coastal engineering activities. Additionally, we offer a range of global and regional marine basemaps.”
In recent years, TCarta Marine and Proteus Geo collaborated on many projects and had numerous clients in common due to the complementary nature of their product lines.
David Critchley established Proteus Geo in the United Kingdom in 2011 to leverage a new technology that derives high-accuracy seafloor survey and seabed classification information from multispectral satellite imagery. Operating at a fraction of the cost of traditional ship and airborne bathymetric technologies, the Proteus methodology has been deployed extensively in energy exploration, infrastructure engineering and environmental applications in shallow-water coastal zones.
“The two-meter satellite-derived bathymetric data can be derived to depths of 35 meters depending on water clarity and every depth has an uncertainty value assigned,” said Critchley.
TCarta Marine was started in 2008 by Kyle Goodrich to fill an enormous gap in quality bathymetric data from the littoral zone out to the base of the continental shelf, distance often spanning hundreds of kilometers. The firm developed proprietary techniques for aggregating seafloor depth data from numerous medium- to coarse-resolution sources, including navigation charts, ship tracklines, and boat surveys. TCarta Marine has built an off-the-shelf line of 90- and 30-meter GIS-ready products covering the Earth’s most important marine areas.
“Our bathymetric products are available via annual subscription for streaming directly into our clients’ GIS and mapping applications,” said Goodrich. “Oil, gas and renewable energy companies have become major users of TCarta Marine products.”
As president of the new TCarta Marine, Goodrich will focus on developing additional products and innovative methods for delivering them. The global company seeks to expand its foothold in traditional marine markets and cultivate new applications for seafloor data. Critchley, as CEO of TCarta Marine, will be responsible for business development in new geographic regions of the world.
In the near term, TCarta Marine and Proteus Geo customers can look forward to purchasing the existing 90-, 30- and 2-meter resolution product lines online through a new web portal, now under development. Information can be found and orders placed now through the new unified TCarta Marine website at www.TCartaMarine.com.
Proteus FZC, an affiliated company of Proteus Geo based in the United Arab Emirates, will remain a stand-alone company offering terrestrial geospatial and marine consulting services in the Middle East.
A webinar next week will focus on the benefits of open-source geographic information systems (GIS) for the agriculture industry, led by Boundless and featuring Monsanto Company.
“Using Open Source to Help Feed the World” will be held Jan. 31 at 11:00 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET, hosted by
Andy Dearing, CEO of Boundless, and featuring Martin P. Mendez-Costabel, Geospatial Big Data Engineering and Strategy Lead of Monsanto.
In the free webinar, attendees will learn how to unlock their geospatial data with open GIS solutions to gain major business benefits. The webinar will offer insights into how to combine a GIS ecosystem with a scalable open system, best practices in system deployment and rising trends in open GIS systems.
Organizations selected to participate in Testbed 13 will develop prototype solutions based on the sponsors’ use cases, requirements and scenarios. These are described in detail in the CFP. Participants’ prototype solutions will implement existing OGC standards as well as new prototype interface and encoding specifications introduced or developed in Testbed 13. Prototype specifications may ultimately become official, member approved OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards.
OGC testbeds are part of OGC’s Interoperability Program, a global, hands-on and collaborative prototyping program designed to rapidly develop, test, innovate and deliver proven candidate standards into OGC’s standards program where they are formalized for public release.
In OGC’s Interoperability Initiatives, international teams of technology providers work together to solve specific geoprocessing interoperability problems posed by the Initiative Sponsors. OGC Interoperability Initiatives include testbeds, pilot projects, interoperability experiments and interoperability support services — all designed to encourage rapid development and mobilization of OGC standards.
This leading-edge standards work has enormous potential and value for testbed stakeholders — both technology users and technology providers. Shared investment in spatial standard prototype solutions brings improved sharing and integration of spatial information, which has widespread and longstanding value for the testbed sponsors and for society at large.
Technology providers gain market exposure, market intelligence and a chance to quickly take advantage of the business opportunities that arise with the introduction of new standards and associated technical capabilities.
Anyone interested in learning more about this opportunity should contact Scott Serich, Director Interoperability Programs ([email protected]). See www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/programs/ip for more information about the Interoperability Program in which OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are organized, planned and managed.
Mapping firm adds nearly 2.5 million images to inventory
The Sanborn Map Company has added 35 newly available oblique imagery datasets to its inventory. Sanborn specializes in acquisition and processing of high-resolution oblique aerial imagery.
In 2016, the firm collected more than 2.5 million new images, covering more than 12,000 square miles.
Sanborn offers its Oblique Imagery Solutions as a licensed product available with Sanborn Oblique Analyst 2.0 and the firm’s cloud service, allowing customers to securely store, analyze and access their data. This complete package provides an end-to-end solution. Sanborn’s data licensing policy offers additional value for customers.
The new 2016 data also is accessible on a pay-as-you-go basis through Sanborn’s new Mezurit.com subscription oblique imagery service.
“As our customers continue to recognize how oblique imagery can streamline workflows through greatly enhanced visualization and analysis of all types of infrastructure, Sanborn will have one of the nation’s most current and accurate oblique data sets ready for them,” said Jason Caldwell, Sanborn’s vice president of business development and sales.
Topcon Positioning Group announces the release of the latest addition to its ES total station series in the Americas, the ES-60. Featuring advanced reflectorless capabilities and an upgraded data-transfer functionality — the new ES-60 is designed to provide an entry-level total station option with a fast and powerful EDM.
“The ES-60 is an excellent solution for customers looking for the dependability and accuracy of the ES series in an entry-level package,” said Ray Kerwin, director of global surveying products. “Incorporating all the time-honored expectations of the ES series along with a reflectorless EDM of up to 350 m, and 4000 m with a prism — the instrument also offers a USB option for quick and easy data transfer.”
The ES-60 offers 2- and 5-arc second accuracies. “It’s ideal for land surveying, topography, construction layout, foundations and exterior job sites as well as as-built projects,” said Kerwin.
Additional features include 10,000 points of memory, a battery life of up to 15 hours, dual axis compensation, a waterproof design and a laser pointer.
Cesium is an open source, browser-based virtual globe, first developed by AGI in 2011 for the aerospace and defense communities.
HUB-Robeson Center at Penn State. (Image: Cesium Consortium)
Cesium’s performance in streaming very large datasets through a browser to desktops, tablets, and smart phones has enabled it to become the virtual globe of choice for geospatial viewing. The consortium will now enable AGI and Bentley to collaborate on the Cesium roadmap to better accelerate and support the requirements for building infrastructure modeling (BIM) and for owners of infrastructure assets.
In addition, the consortium will support feature development, priority bug fixes, expansion of outreach efforts, and the hosting of social coding events such as code sprints and bug bashes.
Beaver Stadium at Penn State. (Image: Cesium Consortium)
Bentley Systems is adopting Cesium to visualize and interact with highly detailed infrastructure engineering models set in the reality context of their surrounding environment. The digital engineering models are created with Bentley’s MicroStation and BIM applications, and the context is provided through reality meshes, created from digital photography and scanning devices using Bentley’s ContextCapture.
“We are thrilled to join the Cesium Consortium as a founding member,” said Keith Bentley, founder and CTO of Bentley Systems. “I commend AGI for their leadership and vision, not only for creating an open source solution for highly performant 3D web-based applications but, more importantly, for fostering an ecosystem to leverage it. I expect Bentley and our users will build Cesium-based Web clients for immersively viewing BIM models, reality context, asset databases, IoT streams, and myriad other geo 3D services. We look forward to working hand in hand with AGI and future members of the consortium to expand Cesium as an open standard.”
Bentley’s work to date illustrates the advantages that the infrastructure community can expect from Cesium. Data created with both MicroStation and ContextCapture can be exported to 3D Tiles, an open format developed by the Cesium team to stream massive geo-coordinated 3D datasets. Cesium will enable Bentley users to stream their digital engineering models over the Web to desktop and mobile devices with unprecedented performance and precision.
“We are very excited to collaborate with Bentley. Bentley shares our vision and technical approach and has already done some fantastic work with Cesium and 3D Tiles,” said Patrick Cozzi, Cesium founder. “Bentley’s support will be key within our submission team proposing 3D Tiles as an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Community Standard.”
For more information on how to join and accelerate the Cesium Consortium, contact [email protected].
Cesium is an open source, browser-based virtual globe, first developed by AGI in 2011 for the aerospace and defense communities.
HUB-Robeson Center at Penn State. (Image: Cesium Consortium)
Cesium’s performance in streaming very large datasets through a browser to desktops, tablets, and smart phones has enabled it to become the virtual globe of choice for geospatial viewing. The consortium will now enable AGI and Bentley to collaborate on the Cesium roadmap to better accelerate and support the requirements for building infrastructure modeling (BIM) and for owners of infrastructure assets.
In addition, the consortium will support feature development, priority bug fixes, expansion of outreach efforts, and the hosting of social coding events such as code sprints and bug bashes.
Beaver Stadium at Penn State. (Image: Cesium Consortium)
Bentley Systems is adopting Cesium to visualize and interact with highly detailed infrastructure engineering models set in the reality context of their surrounding environment. The digital engineering models are created with Bentley’s MicroStation and BIM applications, and the context is provided through reality meshes, created from digital photography and scanning devices using Bentley’s ContextCapture.
“We are thrilled to join the Cesium Consortium as a founding member,” said Keith Bentley, founder and CTO of Bentley Systems. “I commend AGI for their leadership and vision, not only for creating an open source solution for highly performant 3D web-based applications but, more importantly, for fostering an ecosystem to leverage it. I expect Bentley and our users will build Cesium-based Web clients for immersively viewing BIM models, reality context, asset databases, IoT streams, and myriad other geo 3D services. We look forward to working hand in hand with AGI and future members of the consortium to expand Cesium as an open standard.”
Bentley’s work to date illustrates the advantages that the infrastructure community can expect from Cesium. Data created with both MicroStation and ContextCapture can be exported to 3D Tiles, an open format developed by the Cesium team to stream massive geo-coordinated 3D datasets. Cesium will enable Bentley users to stream their digital engineering models over the Web to desktop and mobile devices with unprecedented performance and precision.
“We are very excited to collaborate with Bentley. Bentley shares our vision and technical approach and has already done some fantastic work with Cesium and 3D Tiles,” said Patrick Cozzi, Cesium founder. “Bentley’s support will be key within our submission team proposing 3D Tiles as an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Community Standard.”
For more information on how to join and accelerate the Cesium Consortium, contact [email protected].
