SimActive Inc., a developer of photogrammetry software, has announced a new subscription-based offering for Correlator3D UAV. The rental option allows users with a dynamic workload to access a high-end product at minimal cost.
“Correlator3D UAV was developed for leading mapping firms, military and government organizations, with a constant emphasis on ease of use,” said Philippe Simard, president of SimActive. “The subscription model now makes the only professional UAV processing tool available for all.”
To download a free trial and view different pricing options, visit www.simactive.com.
To see the latest version of Correlator3D, sign up for SimActive’s next webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
Geodata is key to the digital future and a 4.0 business world, according to a new report released at InterGeo in Hamburg, Germany. At the heart of this business vision is the networking of sensors that must have location data in order to fulfill their value.
The 116-page Intergeo Report, in parallel German and English, includes sections on smart cities, public participation, autonomous driving with live mapping, and surveying on the open seas. An eight-page GNSS Update section features CEOs answering questions market focus of their GNSS products, the role of geo-referencing in the Internet of Things, the coming-of-age of precise point positioning (PPP), and the opportunities for GNSS opened up by autonomous driving.
Access to company-specific geodata offers managers in the automotive industry a competitive ad- vantage. Apps show today’s motorists the way to the nearest electrical charging station. Soon, the same motorists will talk to their on-board computer to find a parking space. It will guide them instantly to the nearest free space. Geoinformation will then no longer just be found in the satnav but also in the integrated sensor in the road paving infrastructure and in the status reports of other road users.
Networking Everything. The Internet of Things is taking shape and permeating all areas of life. At its center are the tiny pieces of information that assign coordinates to a parking space, a loading berth for a container ship, a screw in the shelves of a supplier’s warehouse, or the alarm system of a family home. Degrees, minutes and seconds show people the way, answer a range of questions and help make informed decisions. Geoinformation is both an asset and an essential source of information.
Content Is King. Key companies in the geoinformation sector have naturally taken onboard the value of geoinformation. It forms the basis of their business activities. The use of geodata as added value for their products is still very new. Esri realized early in the sector that selling software is no longer sufficient on its own. Only data enables customers to harness the value of products. Cloud solutions store the mountains of data, while platforms deliver the answers.
Such new business leading lights as AirBnB, Uber, Facebook and Google could not survive without geoinformation. It is part of increasingly intelligent systems that make users’ lives a little easier and more comfortable, optimizing processes and enabling people to operate and participate in ways that were previously impractical or impossible.
The examples are myriad. Consider just a few. Digitally aided planning and construction in building information modeling not only streamlines processes and reduces costs, it enables public participation in planning procedures, using digital models of planned reality. Aerial surveys and data gathering by UAV, not only for traditional survey needs but for growing requirements in natural resource planning and management, infrastructure inspection and maintenance, surveillance and security, and more. Guidance systems for the blind.
All require location data. GNSS (satnav) is the core supplier of this data, but must be augmented by other technologies in special environments.
Releasing Geodata Pays Dividends. Managers of geodata realize they need to release it in order for it to lead them to “more” – more value, more benefits, more transparency, more importance. Geoinformation and digitization are inextricably interlinked, and this is just the beginning.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has released National Transit Map data, a geospatial database containing the information from 270 transit agencies that provides open, machine-readable data about their stops, routes and schedules.
The national, openly available map of fixed-guideway and fixed-route transit service in America will allow the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to demonstrate the importance and role of transit in American society and to identify and address gaps in access to public transportation.
It will also support research, planning and analysis on the benefits of transit, such as the economic impacts of transit on a community’s economic development, or on reducing poverty in low-income neighborhoods.
Figure 1. National Transit Map — 198 Participating Agencies.
The national Transit Map can be used to support DOT’s Ladders of Opportunity initiative to promote the use of existing transportation networks to connect residents to jobs, education, health, government and other essential services.
The initial National Transit Map consists of General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data feeds registered with BTS in response to a March 2016 request for the data from U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Data from 270 transit agencies provided information on more than 398,000 stops and stations and almost 10,000 routes.
This first version of the National Transit Map contains data for 84 percent of the top 25 urban transit agencies with fixed route service, 74 percent of the top 50 agencies, and approximately one-third of all urban transit agencies with fixed route service.
DOT is working to bring additional transit agencies on board for the second version of the map, scheduled to be released in late 2016. See Figure 1 for the locations of the transit agencies that are participating.
Figure 2. New York City Stops, Routes and Schedules on National Transit Map.
BTS has worked jointly with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the DOT Office of the Chief Information Officer to develop and release the inaugural map.
The National Transit Map includes the National Transit Layer — national data feeds that provide open, machine readable spatial and tabular data about the nation’s transit systems stops, routes and schedules. It also has a National Participation Map that shows which agencies have volunteered to take part in the National Transit Map. In addition, Interactive Mapping Apps that provide tools such as calculators for distances from transit stops, trip frequency and time of day coverage will be released shortly.
Figure 2 shows a sample of the New York City routes and stops data contained in the National Transit Layer. It highlights schedule and stop information for a specific bus trip that is available from the data.
The National Transit Map will be a National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) within the National Transportation Atlas Database (link is external) (NTAD), a set of nationwide geographic databases of transportation facilities, networks and associated infrastructure. It will be a substantial update to the previous transit-focused map, which was released in 2004 and only included the location of fixed-guideway transit such as rail systems. The new map includes fixed route systems such as bus.
gvSIG 2.3, the new gvSIG version, is now available to download.
According to the gvSIG association, this version has been a qualitative leap — on a functional level as well as an architecture one — because of all the improvements and features.
Downloads are available from the project website, and there are two distribitions: installable and portable.
Features of this version include distributions for Mac and Windows 64-bit; PRJ file support for projections; access to Google Maps, Bing Maps or Street View; and lidar data support.
If users have questions or experience any errors, they can be sent to the user mailing list. Feedback is important to continue improving gvSIG, the association said.
NVIDIA and TomTom announced they are partnering to develop artificial intelligence to create a cloud-to-car mapping system for self-driving cars.
The work combines TomTom’s HD map coverage, which spans more than 120,000 kilometers of highways and freeways, with the NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 computing platform. Together, the solution accelerates support for real-time in-vehicle localization and mapping for driving on the highway.
“Self-driving cars require a highly accurate HD mapping system that can generate an always up-to-date HD map in the cloud,” says Rob Csongor, vice president and general manager of Automotive at NVIDIA. “DRIVE PX 2 for AutoCruise provides TomTom with a real-time, in-vehicle source for HD map updates.”
The NVIDIA DriveWorks software development kit now integrates support for TomTom’s HD mapping environment. The open solution is available for all automakers and tier 1 suppliers developing autonomous vehicles.
If you are responding to a disaster that may have destroyed cell phone towers, and you have no power or otherwise limited connectivity, how will you work GIS data and imagery under these seemingly impossible conditions? Every map query, location shift, every zoom in/out requires a fresh query of the data from the server — precisely what you can no longer do. Now an inventor has come forward with a device that can provide phone or internet connectivity in environments that would be impossible for traditional equipment.
As a frame of reference for this disaster scenario, five years ago when I was still working for Pictometry, I participated in a large DHS disaster response exercise in New York City. This was a full blown NIMS exercise that included more than 250 local, state and federal participants at the command center with even more personnel in the field. The exercise simulated a massive oil spill between Staten Island and Bayonne and was a full mobilization of personnel and equipment including the Coast Guard and related commercial businesses just as if it was a real event.
The ad hoc command center was set up in a large ballroom of a Staten Island hotel and was organized and operated in accordance with “National Incident Management System” (NIMS) guidance. The Incident Command and Control Center was laid out as recommended by the Incident Command System (ICS). Standard NIMS procedures and communications were followed as the exercise ramped up with participants arriving at the hotel setting up their equipment. Most had cell phones, laptops and other communications devices.
For my part I had a computer and large LCD projector to display GIS data and high resolution oblique imagery of the disaster location on a large screen for all participants to see. I was getting a lot of oohs and aahs as the measureable high resolution imagery hit the screen. For a while I was the center of attention as everyone became familiar with the visual details of the disaster site and surrounding locations. I was using a an online capability developed by Pictometry and Lockheed Martin called Intelligence On Demand (IOD). The system accessed Pictometry servers containing over 4 petabytes of measureable ortho and oblique imagery overlaid with multiple layers of GIS vector and raster data. The system was very robust and was able to help participants build a common operational picture of the unfolding scenario. But my glory was short-lived since IOD had an Achilles heel.
NEW YORK – U.S. Coast Guard is responding to fuel oil discharged from a barge in Kill Van Kull at Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island N.Y., Dec. 15, 2012. The barge’s tank holds approximately 147,000 gallons of #6 fuel oil. Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class Jetta H. Disco
IOD relied on a continuous connection to the server. Every map query, location shift, every zoom in/out required a fresh query of the data from the server. This was no problem with a fast connection but as the number of participants grew the internet connection slowed to a crawl even with a T1 line serving the facility. With more than 250 participants all crowding the line, it was difficult to send even a simple email. I was dead in the water and learned a painful lesson.
A had a similar experience several years ago during the multiple tornado outbreaks in northeast Alabama. With power out for over a week we experienced our own isolation with no cable service, limited TV and spotty sporadic cell phone service. We had to charge our phones using our cars but had to be frugal with that since area gas pumps were also out of commission.
I had numerous discussions with the Pictometry engineers asking if there was some way that at the start of an event, when we identify a disaster location, that we could cache the needed imagery of the location negating the need to keep hitting the server. Not sure if that’s been done yet.
The engineers kept referring to new methods in the works to provide connectivity in lean environments. I’ve seen some of them ranging from portable towers, overhead aircraft, satellites and even aerostats but most are not cheap or quickly available. Two month ago at a geospatial technology showcase I saw a device that may provide the answer: the Plum Case.
I’m not a communications/internet expert so I’m relying on third party experiences and opinions that the Plum Case, developed by a retired communications CEO, seems to be a solution for many applications. It simply is a “network in a box” that can deliver cell phone service and fast internet connectivity in locations that may have weak or seemingly no service. It does that using an array of very sensitive antennas that nurse even the weakest signals and boost them to usable connectivity for the local users.
Below is a video clip of the Plum Case being demonstrated at the recent TechVet conference.
The inventor, Lee Williams, said he named it a Plum because Apple was taken. Simply put, the Plum Case is a network in a box with GPS. It can provide phone or internet connectivity in environments that would be impossible for traditional devices. It does that by jumping between four wireless services and choosing the best one or MU-MIMO (Multiple User – Multiple Inputs/Multiple Outputs).
It can provide phone or internet connectivity in environments that would be impossible for traditional devices. It does that by using highly sensitive vertical polarity antennas spaced in a specific arrangement that far exceeds most antenna systems such as those found in smartphones, wireless cards or dongles. As a result, this “hyper-sensitive” receiving system can extract connectivity when all other equipment indicates “no signal. Additionally, the very robust connections result in very high data transmission rates.
What this means is that if you are responding to a disaster that may have destroyed cell phone towers, no power or otherwise limited connectivity, the Plum Case will extract connectivity under seemingly impossible conditions. Contact the people at Plum Laboratories for additional information and current user experience and testimonies.
“The goal of TerraPop is to enable research, learning and policy analysis by providing integrated spatiotemporal data describing people and their environment,” the authors say.
The paper describes TerraPop‘s collection strategies, details the geospatial workflows involved in preparing data for ingest into the project database and those used to transform data across formats for dissemination, and discusses the system used to capture and manage provenance metadata throughout the project, according to the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries. A key aspect of the project is the development of global current and historical administrative unit boundaries that can be linked to census data.

The Journal of Map and Geography Libraries Best Paper Award is presented annually to the best paper published in the previous year. The evaluation criteria for the award are the papers’ quality of research and writing, interest in the topic by current and future readers and the likely influence of the article on future research, the journal says.
Esri launched its new Global Content Challenge, where qualified students use the Esri Story Map Journal app to explore a variety of scientific themes. The contest is open from now until 5:00 p.m. PST on Nov. 11.
With access to Esri content, students will tell their own compelling scientific stories using the Esri Story Map Journal app. Entrants will use personal geographic analyses, visualizations, predictive models and more, according to Esei.
“Esri views science as helping us to understand not only how the earth works but also how the earth should look,” says Dawn Wright, Esri chief scientist, in a news release. “Science is the study of how we should look at the earth. GIS places scientific data in a visual context.”
Esri says judges will select the best map journals to be awarded prizes, and the company will share the winning map journals on its Collaborative Resource portal, as well as feature them at Esri’s Federal GIS and Education GIS Conferences and Esri Young Professionals Network events.
Esri’s Global Content Challenge is open to undergraduate or graduate students at colleges or universities and to high school students enrolled in an advanced-placement human geography or environmental science course. Esri’s land, ocean and population categories of premium content libraries will be made available to entrants.
Three winners will be awarded their choice of a cash prize or Esri software in each category. The first-place winner will receive $10,000 or software of equivalent value. Second- and third-place prizes are $5,000 and $2,000, respectively, or software of equal value. The competition is open from Aug. 29 until 5:00 p.m. PST on Nov. 11.
Phase One Industrial has introduced the iXU-RS aerial camera series, featuring a breakthrough central lens shutter design, according to the company. The new shutter technology is based on an innovative direct-drive concept with electronic charging that enhances exposure speed to as fast as 1/2500s, while guaranteeing half a million exposures, an unprecedented shutter life span.
The series’ flagship 100MP iXU-RS1000 camera system, with the advanced lens shutter, an exceptional capture rate of 0.6 seconds per frame and its CMOS sensor with superior light sensitivity of 50-6400 ISO, is uniquely designed to expand the efficiency of aerial imaging operations, including under deteriorating weather conditions or on days that were previously not conducive to image capture. This allows for faster flights and larger surface coverage.
For a small-bodied medium format camera, the iXU-RS1000 offers a large-format-quality experience thanks to its sensor technology and high-performance optics, which can deliver 11,608 pixels cross-track coverage. Users can gain more image coverage during a flight, while maintaining the same ground sample distance (GSD), or a lower GSD, while flying at the same height. Its small form factor supports multiple uses — as a standalone camera for photogrammetric work or as part of an array (to cover a larger swath) or as part of an oblique camera system.
Other iXU-RS series cameras include the 80MP iXU-RS180, and 60MP iXU-RS160 and 160 Achromatic systems. All iXU-RS series cameras feature accurate metric calibration, scalability to form multi-camera arrays, and easy integration with popular flight management systems and GPS/IMU receivers. There are seven available lens options, including: 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 70mm, 90mm, 110mm and 150mm. Lenses have been designed and built for aerial photography by Rodenstock and Schneider Kreuznach, and factory calibrated for infinity focus.
Easily integrated into existing or new set-ups, the cameras offer maximum connectivity with diverse systems and help operators execute and manage missions, such as: surveying, mapping, critical infrastructure inspection and many other applications with greater reliability, cost effectiveness and operational efficiency. The iXU-RS1000 is also suited to four band-imaging applications.
DT Research has released the DT395CR and DT395GS rugged tablets. While designed for field professionals, the tablets cost less than consumer-grade tablets over the lifetime of the product, DT Research said.
The DT395GS rugged tablet by DT Research.
Both DT395 tablets are highly durable to withstand extreme environments, designed with fully integrated options to eliminate easily broken attachments in mission-critical scenarios, and include security, privacy and productivity settings.
The DT395GS tablet is designed for field applications with a high-accuracy GNSS module that is compatible with existing GIS software for mapping applications and brings together the advanced workflow for GIS data capture, accurate positioning and data transmission. The u-blox M8 GNSS module is capable of concurrent reception of GPS and GLONASS for up to 2-meter accuracy.
“Many businesses have adopted mobile tablets with the goal of increasing productivity by leveraging the versatile tablet form-factor,” said Daw Tsai, president of DT Research. “But companies within construction, field service, logistics, manufacturing and warehousing have found that consumer-grade tablets are too fragile for their environment — requiring costly repairs and replacements that introduce expensive downtime. Our new DT395 rugged tablets give vertical industries exactly what they need with high reliability and lower TCO (total cost of ownership) over the lifetime of the product.”
According to a VDC Research study, the average annual TCO of a ruggedized tablet is 22 percent lower than the average annual TCO of a non-rugged tablet. The study found average failure rates for non-rugged tablets is 15.2 percent compared to 6.9 percent for rugged tablets. Lost productivity, as a result of mobile device failure, was a leading contributor to higher TCO for non-rugged tablets. Mobile workers lost an average of 52-80 minutes of productivity when their mobile device failed. (Source: VDC Research, “Total Cost of Ownership Models for Mobile Computing and Wireless Platforms,” Third Edition.)
Unlike consumer-grade tablets, the DT395CR and DT395GS ruggedized tablets are designed to be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments with full HD anti-reflection outdoor viewable displays. The tablets are IP65 and MIL-STD-810G rated to withstand 4-foot drops and extreme temperatures (-4° F to 140° F), and resist water, dust and humidity.
“We tried iPads, but they were not suited for our environment,” said Marty Phillips, director of engineering at Murray Equipment, Inc. “Our customers do millions of dollars of fertilizer loading within an eight-week window in a broad range of weather conditions. If a remote control tablet is down for even an hour, it’s a significant revenue loss. We have used DT Research rugged tablets in our automated liquid-handling facilities across the U.S. for more than three years with no downtime or repair/replacement costs. The reliability of DT Research’s rugged tablets is unmatched.”
Both the DT395CR and DT395GS have an 8.9-inch display with 1920 x 1200 resolution and capacitive touch, and weigh 2.87 pounds. The tablets run on an Intel Atom Quad Core CPU with 4GB RAM running Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS.
Security, privacy and productivity settings
“Security, privacy and productivity are a growing concern in many organizations,” Helen Fanucci, GM of Americas Device IoT Experience, Microsoft. “We are pleased to see DT Research utilize the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise-grade security to support mission-critical rugged tablets for customers and deliver a safer device experience, which enhances productivity for a variety of mobile scenarios in manufacturing, field service, logistics and other industries.”
The DT395 tablets leverage advanced Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS security including Device Guard, combining hardware and software security to lock down a device so that it can only run trusted applications. The DT395 also includes lock-down features to protect against malicious users while providing a custom-defined user experience.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and RFID can pose a security issue when using consumer-grade tablets within a business environment. DT Research DT395 rugged tablets can be purpose-built with a camera privacy mode and
preconfigured with Bluetooth, RFID and Wi-Fi disable functions. The DT395 rugged tablets can also eliminate access to internet or social media applications to address productivity challenges.
Customizable options
DT Research offers customizable options for the DT395CR and DT395GS including an optimized OS and BIOS. Customers can choose to have the options below fully-integrated.
3G WWAN or 4G LTE
2D Barcode Scanner
Class 1 Bluetooth (1000 feet)
Camera (5 Megapixel back camera)
GNSS Module (u-blox M8)
HF/RFID 13.56MHz reader
HDMI-in and Ethernet port
Six-pin push/pull connector for EIA/RS-232/485/422, USB port and Ethernet port
BIM 360 Layout is designed to provide vertical construction contractors the ability to connect the coordinated model to the field layout process — helping to increase job site productivity, while improving the accuracy of staked or installed building components.
“We are committed to the interoperability between our products and Autodesk software making workflows increasingly simple for common customers,” said Ray Kerwin, director of global surveying products. “Now operators taking advantage of the iX series’ smoothest and most accurate prism tracking ability can also layout or QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) with the BIM 360 Layout app.”
With the addition of the iX series, operators now have a choice of instruments in the Sokkia family with BIM 360 connectivity, including the SX total station series.
Lockheed Martin is set to launch the WorldView-4 high-resolution imaging satellite for DigitalGlobe aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Sept. 16. WorldView-4, also built by Lockheed Martin, will capture photos and data about Earth.
With the WorldView-4 satellite, DigitalGlobe more than doubles its ability to deliver images of Earth at 30-centimeter resolution — sharp enough to identify the make of an automobile. WorldView-4 will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, capturing 600,000 square miles of imagery everyday.
Artist’s rendering of the DigitalGlobe WorldView-4 satellite in orbit. (Image: Lockheed Martin)
Rocket/Payload: Atlas V 401 flying the WorldView-4 mission for customer DigitalGlobe.
Location: Space Launch Complex 3 East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Date/Time: Friday, Sept. 16, 2016
Launch Time: The launch window opens at 11:30 a.m. PDT and closes at 11:44 a.m. PDT. Separation occurs approximately 20 minutes after liftoff.
Mission Description: This mission will deliver the WorldView-4 satellite into a 617 km, sun-synchronous orbit for DigitalGlobe, the global leader in earth imagery and information about our changing planet.
By leveraging DigitalGlobe’s advanced constellation scheduling system to operate in concert with WorldView-3, WorldView-4 will more than double DigitalGlobe’s coverage of the world’s highest-resolution 30 cm commercial satellite imagery.
Once launched, the satellite will orbit earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and capturing as much as 680,000 square kilometers of the Earth’s surface daily (18 terabytes) – the equivalent of the land area of Texas.
Also aboard the launch will be seven U.S. Government-owned CubeSats that will be deployed after separation of the WorldView-4 satellite.
Launch Provider: Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services is the exclusive provider of Atlas V rockets to all non-U.S. government customers. With dedicated launch sites and unparalleled orbital insertion accuracy, Atlas V is unmatched for performance, reliability and schedule assurance.
Updates: To keep up-to-speed with updates to the launch and learn more about the WorldView-4 mission visit www.lockheedmartin.com/worldview4.
