GPS World

Tag: GIS

  • Bluesky, Bird.i partner for online, instant aerial imagery

    Aerial mapping company Bluesky has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Bird.i to provide online, instantaneous visualization of its high-resolution aerial imagery.

    Bluesky has created and maintains a high-resolution, up-to-date and accurate archive of aerial images in the United Kingdom. Established in 2016, Bird.i has developed a platform for accessing satellite, airborne and UAV imagery with a plug-and-play API that works within mapping and location-based applications.

    “The partnership with Bluesky will allow businesses across multiple industry sectors to exploit location information more accurately and efficiently,” said Corentin Guillo, founder and CEO of Bird.i. “Our commitment is to serve the most accurate and recent images available, such as those on offer from Bluesky, to our clients for mass consumption of instantaneously accessible ‘image views’. Working in partnership with Bluesky, we will streamline the overall process of image consumption and open new markets”.

    “We are delighted to partner with Bird.i because we believe that instant visualization of our detailed and accurate aerial images offers great benefits to businesses,” said Rachel Tidmarsh, managing director of Bluesky. “We see in Bird.i an innovative way forward, simplifying online access and accelerating the visualization of our images for many applications that rely on evidence-based information.”

    The agreement between the two companies will give subscribers to Bird.i’s API the ability to integrate Bluesky’s high-quality aerial images within its existing mapping applications and location-based services.

  • Third country adopts what3words as addressing system

    Caribbean Island Sint Maarten has become the third country in the world, and the first in the region, to adopt what3words for its national postal system.

    With a population of more than 40,000 people, Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As with many of the Caribbean islands, much of Sint Maarten has no official addressing. As a result, the postal service persistently experiences high rates of failed deliveries. The renumbering of houses over past decades has left many homes with multiple addresses, forced different homes to share the same address, or left others with none. As Sint Maarten continues to develop, this patchy system is holding back the growth of ecommerce, tourism and government services.

    By using what3words, every location in the country now has an instant address. what3words provides an accurate and fixed address for every 3-x-3-meter square in the world.

    As a first step, PSSNV is accepting three-word addresses from all customers, extending the service to both commercial partners and private clients. Customers will be able to identify any three-word address using the free what3words app or website and write it on an envelope.

    This gives every citizen a reliable address, whether they live on an unmarked road in the center of the island at overlays.campfire.sometime, are over the bank — a particularly poorly addressed quarter — at inkwell.residing.seabirds, or are moored for the night at music.crunchy.electing.

    what3words will be integrated across PSSNV’s internal systems, while postal workers will use a three-word address to navigate directly to the 3-x-3-meter square of a customer’s front door.

    “PSSNV is proud to be one of the first countries in the world to adopt this new method of addressing,” said Antonia Wilson, Director of Operations and Commerce for Postal Services Sint Maarten. “With what3words, PSSNV can instantly provide universal access to the postal service. This instant solution will immediately make us more efficient and reduce customer frustrations. We’ve already begun training our staff on this new system and will be communicating three-word addresses to customers across the country through our new website, radio and TV advertising, via leaflets and on all existing mail.”

    Disaster Relief. what3words is already being used in the Caribbean to support disaster relief. It was used to support Haiti’s recovery in the wake of October’s Hurricane Matthew in a project funded by the Roddenberry Foundation. Following the recovery work in Haiti, disaster response specialists IHS (Infinitum Humanitarian Systems) made what3words its default service for tracking teams and reporting problems back to the United Nation’s WASH Cluster, a water sanitation task force.

    “The entire IHS team converted to what3words while we were deployed. It proved very easy to communicate locations of issues while we were on the move,” said Eric Rasmussen, CEO of IHS. “The team was traveling to support an area out west of Jeremie where about 4,000 people were living in the coastal forest. There we rebuilt a water system for a destroyed school and medical clinic at ruminant.stronger.regularity, providing both power and the first clean water in the area since Hurricane Matthew levelled the place.”

    Available in 13 languages, including English, French and Spanish, what3words is used by individuals, delivery companies, navigation tools, governments, logistics firms, travel guides and NGOs. It is more precise than traditional addresses, simpler than descriptions, and easier to communicate and remember than long strings of GPS coordinates. The system has built-in error detection and is available both as a mobile app and API integration. The system works offline without a data connection, ensuring it can be used everywhere. It means

    “We are on a mission to change the way people communicate location,” said Chris Sheldrick, CEO and co-founder of what3words. “Sint Maarten has become a global innovator, joining Mongolia and Cote d’Ivoire in leapfrogging the hundreds of other nations that still rely on inaccurate, inconsistent or complex addressing systems. With our partners, from postal systems to ecommerce companies and disaster relief teams, we are making the world a more efficient, less frustrating and safer place.”

  • OGC seeks public comment on conceptual hydrography model

    The membership of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) seeks public comment on its WaterML 2 – Part 3, Surface Hydrology Features Conceptual Model.

    The OGC WaterML 2 – Part 3, Surface Hydrology Features Conceptual Model (HY_Features) is part of an intended ‘OGC WaterML 2’ suite of standards that groups water-related OGC standards. The candidate standard follows Part 1: Timeseries, and Part 2: Ratings, Gaugings and Sections.

    The candidate standard is available for review at portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=72353&version=3. Comments are due by Feb. 16 and should be submitted to [email protected].

    The candidate HY_Features standard defines a common feature model for the identification and description of surface hydrologic features. The feature model is based on established models and patterns in use in the Hydrology domain and endorsed by WMO and UNESCO, such as those documented in the “International Glossary of Hydrology.”

    The candidate HY_Features standard also defines a common conceptual information model for surface hydrologic features independent of their geometric representation and scale. The model describes fundamental relationship types that exist among major components of the hydrosphere. This includes relationships such as hierarchies of catchments, segmentation of watercourses, and topological connectivity of hydrologic features based on the flow and conservation of water.

    The standard is intended to be used to document and share information about real-world objects that are studied in a wide range of hydrologic study types. The original design goal for HY_Features was to link hydrologic information across the scientific and technical programs of organizations with local to global scope, and to assist in discovery, access, and use of hydrologic data from different sources.

    The HY_Features model is designed to support many types of hydrologic information and sub-disciplines. The model supports referencing information about a hydrologic feature across disparate information systems or products, thereby improving data integration within and among organizations.

    Similarly, the model can be applied to cataloging of observations, model results, or other study information involving hydrologic features. The ability to represent the same catchment, river, or other hydrologic feature in several ways is critical for aggregation of cross-referenced or related features into integrated datasets and data products on global, regional, or basin scales.

    Agreement on common concepts and methods is necessary to enable semantic interoperability of hydrologic data and services. The HY_Features model was developed in order to formalize concepts and relationships of hydrologic and hydrographic features using the WMO/UNESCO “International Glossary of Hydrology” as a starting point.

  • Esri's advanced analytics designed to increase retail sales

    Esri is partnering with GISinc to analyze customer behavior to help retailers increase sales.

    Esri will integrate itsspatial analytics platform with GISinc’s indoor mapping capabilities to analyze data collected by sensor-enabled overhead smart lighting systems and from opt-in mobile data from customer phones. The solution will enable retailers to track behaviors, using information including customer locations inside the store and items selected for purchase. The store can then tap into such data to improve customer assistance and position merchandise in the places most likely to attract purchases.

    “Analyzing customer choices and mapping go hand in hand,” said Sonny Beech, Internet of Things (IoT) business development manager at GISinc. “Why a person bought something where they did is an example of spatial data. Using ArcGIS analytics, we can enable retailers to make more strategic decisions about where to place merchandise and in-store marketing materials.”

    With more than two-thirds of consumers using smartphones while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, retailers have to deliver more relevant experiences by becoming more precise in how they interact with shoppers. In-store location technologies provide opportunities for retailers to increase touch points in the aisle and on the shelf by delivering messaging and services in real time based on a customer’s location in the store.

    Studies show that the spatial customer behavior analysis Esri provides can boost the probability of purchase by up to 70 percent and increase basket size by up to 60 percent for smartphone-enabled shoppers, Esri said.

    “Esri enables retailers to access vast amounts of customer information while allowing the customers themselves to take advantage of advanced analytics,” said Gary Sankary, retail industry manager at Esri. “With the widespread use of smartphones during in-store shopping, indoor mapping provides businesses with a tool to understand shopper behavior and improve sales accordingly.”

    Indoor-mapping initiatives and smart lighting systems, like other IoT implementations, have become more affordable and accessible — in fact, much of the technology can be integrated directly into the infrastructure of a brick-and-mortar store. Customers benefit by downloading mobile apps and opting in to shared-data environments that make the shopping experience more efficient and enjoyable.

  • SPAR 3D expo focuses on Smart Cities, emerging markets, UAVs

    spar3d_expo_rgb_horiz-wFor nearly two decades, SPAR 3D has been the premier vendor-neutral event for the application of 3D technology in industry. But the surge in innovation and commercial uses for 3D technologies has brought opportunity for expansion.

    In 2017, SPAR 3D will highlight cutting-edge innovation in 3D technologies from input to output, covering 3D sensing, 3D processing and 3D visualization tools. The expo and conference will take place April 3-5 in Houston, Texas.

    In the exhibit hall, new products and hands-on demonstrations will be showcased.

    Keynote Address

    Paul Doherty of the Digit Group will speak on “The Emerging Power of Smart Cities and the Role of 3D, UAVs and the Conquering of Space.”

    Because of the uncanny timing and convergence of global market conditions, technology innovation, social wants and government needs, a smart cities market has exploded on a global scale that dwarfs any previous notion of the value given to the built environment.

    Sometimes described as part of Big Data or the Internet of Things programs, Smart City initiatives being implemented in many urban environments around the world today require accurate and authenticated data in which to work properly, but require 3D data generation and display innovations.

    Doherty will explore trends, solutions and implementations from greenfield and existing Smart Cities real estate developments from China, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United States. He will explore the market-making abilities of Smart Cities that are developing solutions using 3D and UAVs, as well as the emerging privatization of outer space.

    Sessions

    Sessions will cover:

    • Big Data and Working in the Cloud
    • Wearables
    • AR/VR
    • 3D Printed Buildings
    • 3D Technology in AEC
    • Autonomous Vehicles

    Market-specific sessions will focused on the end-to-end application of 3D tools.

    Also, an “Intro to 3D Technology” track for professionals new to 3D will be offered.

    Learn more about SPAR 3D at the event website.

  • International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2017 keynotes announced

    ilmfThe organizers of International LiDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF) has announced the 2017 keynote lineup. The event takes place Feb. 13-15 in Denver, Colorado.

    ILMF is a technical conference and exposition covering the newest airborne, terrestrial and underwater lidar as well as emerging remote-sensing and data-collection tools and technologies,

    The keynote speakers are:

    • Larry Mayer, professor and director, School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire
      Keynote: “Challenges of Mapping the Deep Ocean: If Only Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Worked in 10,000m of Water”
    • Timothy Trainor, co-chair, United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management; chief of Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau
      Keynote: “Role of Technology and Geospatial Information Toward Achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals”
    • Roy E. Wright, deputy associate administrator for Insurance and Mitigation, FEMA
      Keynote: “What FEMA Seeks from Geospatial Information: Risk Management, Risk Reduction”
    • Eric E. Poehler, associate professor of Classics and co-director, Digital Humanities Initiative; University of Massachusetts – Amherst
      Keynote: “Mapping Pompeii: New Discoveries with New Technologies”

    “We’re honored to have such a stellar lineup to kick off the ILMF conference,” said Lisa Murray, event director. “These keynotes demonstrate the incredible breadth of uses for lidar technology — from mapping the ocean floor to mapping the ancient city of Pompeii, to using lidar for global sustainable development and for risk management and reduction.”

    These leaders are among 60 aerial mapping experts at ILMF 2017 who will share their knowledge at ILMF. Other sessions will cover topics including:

    • Analyzing Lidar for Decision-Making
    • Bathymetry Lidar and Topobathy
    • Coastal Monitoring
    • Forestry
    • Geiger-Mode Lidar (GML) and Single-Photon Lidar (SPL): What’s the difference and why does it matter?
    • Landslide Detection and Mapping
    • Multi-Sensor and Data Fusion
    • New Developments In Mobile Mapping
    • New Technologies
    • Point Clouds: From Processing & Feature Extraction To Analysis & Management
    • Topo-Bathy & Shoreline Mapping
    • UAVS and Lidar
    • Unique Applications
    • Updates from USGS

    View the complete Conference Program here.

    Running alongside the conference is an exhibition featuring the world’s top providers of lidar and new and complementary solutions. See the exhibitor list here.

    “ILMF is the best opportunity of the year for mapping professionals to learn about the newest lidar solutions, raise their technical competence, network with other practitioners, and see the latest technology,” said Ms. Murray.

    Early-bird registration ends Jan. 31, with $175 in savings. Registration is available online here.

  • Copernicus reveal: Sinking towers, shifting lands

    The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites show that the Millennium Tower skyscraper in San Francisco, California, is sinking by a few centimeters a year. Completed in 2009, the 58-story tower has been showing signs of sinking and tilting, possibly because the supporting piles aren’t firmly resting on bedrock.

    Studying the city is helping scientists improve monitoring of urban ground movements, particularly for subsidence hotspots in Europe. Scientists combined multiple radar scans from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 twin satellites to detect subtle surface changes down to millimeters. The technique works well with buildings because they better reflect the radar beam. It is also useful for pinpointing displacement hotspots over large areas, thanks to Sentinel-1’s broad coverage and frequent visits.

    mapping-sinkingWorking with the European Space Agency, the team from Norut, PPO.labs and Geological Survey of Norway have also mapped areas in the wider San Francisco Bay Area that are moving. European cities experience similar subsidence to the Bay Area. For example, the area around Oslo’s train station in Norway is reclaimed land. Newer buildings, such as the nearby opera house, have proper foundation into bedrock, but the older parts of the station experience severe subsidence.

    The open data policy and regular coverage plan of Copernicus promise cost-efficient and reliable deformation data. “The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is, for the first time, making it possible to launch operational national deformation mapping services,” said Dag Anders Moldestad, Norwegian Space Centre.

    The Sentinel-1 twins provide “radar vision” for Europe’s Copernicus environment monitoring program. In addition to watching land movements, they feed numerous other services for monitoring Arctic sea ice ;routine sea-ice mapping; surveillance of the marine environment; mapping for forest, water and soil management; and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis situations.

  • LizardTech unveils lidar data improvements in GeoExpress 9.5.3

    LizardTech, a provider of software solutions for managing and distributing geospatial content, has unveiled lossless compression of Harris Geiger-Mode lidar data in the newest release of its GeoExpress software.

    Users of GeoExpress 9.5.3 can now convert massive Geiger-Mode point clouds directly from their native binary point file (BPF) format to industry-standard MrSID files without losing data.

    “Direct conversion from BPF enables GeoExpress clients to fully leverage the rich information content of Geiger-Mode lidar data sets,” said Terry Ryan, LizardTech federal government sales manager. “In addition, the compressed files are easier to process, archive and share.”

    Harris has provided airborne Geiger-Mode lidar data to the U.S. government for two decades and recently rolled the technology out to the commercial sector for a variety of large-area mapping applications. Geiger-Mode employs a multi-angle illumination method to capture extremely dense point clouds of the Earth’s surface. Compared to traditional LiDAR, Geiger Mode offers higher resolution and greater information content, but in much larger data sets.

    BPF is the native format used for raw Geiger-Mode data because it readily accommodates enormous files with multiple metadata and attribute fields. However, the BPF format is not supported by most commercial lidar processing software packages.

    As a result, Geiger-Mode customers had to convert BPF to the more common LAS format for generation of surface models, digital elevation models and other map products. This BPF-to-LAS conversion was time consuming and lost data in the process.

    GeoExpress 9.5.3 eliminates the intermediary step of converting to LAS and compresses directly to MrSID files, which can be easily processed by all commercial LiDAR software packages.

    “The full information content of the Geiger-Mode LiDAR data is retained, and processing time is reduced with GeoExpress 9.5.3,” Ryan said.

    GeoExpress is LizardTech’s flagship software product, enabling geospatial professionals to manipulate digital image and LiDAR data sets and compress them to MrSID or JPEG2000 files for cost-effective processing, storage and transmission. In addition to the new Geiger-Mode handling capabilities, GeoExpress 9.5.3 offers other enhancements, including advanced color balancing, default RGB transformation and easier licensing.

    A free trial of GeoExpress 9.5.3 is available.

    Details of latest GeoExpress release are discussed and demonstrated in a recorded webinar:

  • DigitalGlobe releases first image from WorldView-4 satellite

    Image courtesy © DigitalGlobe 2016
    Image courtesy © DigitalGlobe 2016

    DigitalGlobe has released the first image from its new WorldView-4 satellite.

    Captured on Nov. 26, the first image shows the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya, Tokyo, and can be downloaded from the WorldView-4 microsite. The site hosted events during the 1964 Olympic Games and will again host international competition when the games return to Tokyo in 2020.

    The successful launch of WorldView-4 on Nov. 11 marked the culmination of months of planning, including unforeseen delays caused by the nearby Canyon Fire that impacted Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

    WorldView-4 is the fifth and most advanced satellite in DigitalGlobe’s active, industry-leading constellation, and will more than double the company’s capacity to collect the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite images for its customers.

    The SpaceView 110 camera aboard WorldView-4, and the satellite’s primary payload, was developed by Melbourne, Florida-based Harris Corporation. From an altitude of 617 kilometers, SpaceView is capable of collecting imagery with a panchromatic resolution of 31 centimeters and 1.24 meter multispectral resolution, meaning it will be able to distinguish data points just a foot apart.

  • Esri offers on-demand deployment and managed cloud services

    At this year’s AWS re:Invent, Esri announced that customers can now deploy select ArcGIS licenses from Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace instantly, using a pay-per-use pricing model available through hourly or annual subscriptions.

    AWS re:Invent is being held Nov. 28–Dec. 2 at the Venetian and the Mirage in Las Vegas.

    Automated software provisioning allows users to launch new projects, respond to emergency requirements, address spikes in usage, and respond seamlessly to business needs without being tied to restrictive enterprise licensing models, Esri said.

    Esri also offers a full suite of managed cloud services to support customers that do not have the resources to design, deploy, and manage cloud-based geographic information system (GIS) implementations in-house. Esri has the skills, staff, and experience to manage complex public and private cloud environments.

    Esri managed services professionals not only design and configure ArcGIS implementations, but they can also provide ongoing management of the environment, allowing internal resources the freedom to focus on the mission.

    “Esri is excited to join AWS Marketplace,” said Dean Angelides, head of international alliances and partners at Esri. “Flexible pay-as-you-go deployment models and service options make launching GIS in the cloud simple, unleashing the power of maps, geographic analytics, and comprehensive developer tools to users around the world.”

    Developers and starts-ups require innovative, productive technologies to support high-growth businesses with limited capital. Using Esri software on AWS enables developers to share assets and build new applications that take advantage of a range of ready-to-use content with location and mapping services.

  • TomTom extends multi-year deal with MapQuest

    TomTom has extended its the multi-year partnership with AOL Inc. to power its core mapping services for MapQuest, a subsidiary of AOL.

    In addition to providing access to TomTom’s extensive digital map database, across all digital platforms including MapQuest.com and its iOS and Android apps, and MapQuest for Business API solutions, the new deal now includes TomTom’s leading traffic solution.

    “Every day, millions of people depend on MapQuest for maps, driving directions and location information to make their lives easier and thousands of business depend on MapQuest’s suite of geospatial solutions to meet their needs,” said Brian McMahon, senior vice president and general manager at MapQuest. “We truly value the partnership with TomTom, and we look forward to continuing to build upon and evolve our product suite with TomTom data. By expanding our agreement with TomTom, we are continuing our commitment to provide MapQuest users and business customers with the most innovative products and solutions.”

    “We are delighted to enhance our partnership with MapQuest,” commented Anders Truelsen, Managing Director of Licensing for TomTom. “Integrating TomTom’s mapping and traffic data into MapQuest products ensures millions of people can make better and more informed decisions about every journey.”

  • TomTom extends multi-year deal with MapQuest

    TomTom has extended its the multi-year partnership with AOL Inc. to power its core mapping services for MapQuest, a subsidiary of AOL.

    In addition to providing access to TomTom’s extensive digital map database, across all digital platforms including MapQuest.com and its iOS and Android apps, and MapQuest for Business API solutions, the new deal now includes TomTom’s leading traffic solution.

    “Every day, millions of people depend on MapQuest for maps, driving directions and location information to make their lives easier and thousands of business depend on MapQuest’s suite of geospatial solutions to meet their needs,” said Brian McMahon, senior vice president and general manager at MapQuest. “We truly value the partnership with TomTom, and we look forward to continuing to build upon and evolve our product suite with TomTom data. By expanding our agreement with TomTom, we are continuing our commitment to provide MapQuest users and business customers with the most innovative products and solutions.”

    “We are delighted to enhance our partnership with MapQuest,” commented Anders Truelsen, Managing Director of Licensing for TomTom. “Integrating TomTom’s mapping and traffic data into MapQuest products ensures millions of people can make better and more informed decisions about every journey.”