Quanergy Systems, a provider of lidar sensors and smart sensing solutions, is offering a new sensor.
Quanergy’s S3 lidar sensor
The S3-Qi is a miniature solid-state lidar sensor that is 15 percent the size of the previous solid-state model, the S3. Quanergy is displaying the new sensor along with its other products in Booth 767 at AUVSI’s Xponential May 3-5 in New Orleans.
The S3-Qi, offered four months after the original S3, has a smaller 1 inch by 1.5-inch footprint, weighs about 100 grams and has low power consumption. The small form factor, combined with a cost-effective design, makes the S3-Qi well suited for applications such as drones, intelligent robotics, security, smart homes and industrial automation.
Mass production of the S3-Qi is targeted for the first quarter of 2017.
“We are excited to raise the bar, once again, with the expansion of our product portfolio,” said Louay Eldada, Quanergy CEO. “We continue to push the boundaries on behalf of our customers. The S3-Qi is a testament to our focus on the user and our investment in innovation for game-changing smart sensing solutions offered at price points that make their use ubiquitous. In drones, payload and battery runtime benefit greatly from our compact sensors.”
Quanergy’s lidar sensors have applications in more than 30 market verticals including security, transportation, terrestrial and aerial mapping, and industrial automation.
In Northern Idaho, not only is the Silver Valley near Kellogg one of the richest silver mining areas ever, but it is also the focus of an extensive EPA Superfund cleanup. There are more than 600 mine and prospecting sites in Shoshone County alone. So how do we sort through them and figure out where buildings were, and what sites were actually developed?
Photo Credit: United States Forest Service, 1968
Using aerial photography and GIS technology, historians, archaeologists and environmental scientists are able to look into the past and determine what actually occurred at individual sites. The United States Forest Service (USFS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took aerial photographs of the entire area in 1937, 1948, 1965 and 1974. Other years, they partially photographed the area. Since then, aerial flyovers have been replaced by satellite imagery. All of this data tells environmental scientists where to look for waste materials.
It also tells archeologists where to look for old structures and other manmade features. Because before a mine site can be cleaned up, it’s history must be documented. Between historic imagery and modern satellite coverage, this task is made simpler.
Archaeologists all over the world are applying these same techniques, so it comes as no surprise that the 2016 TED Prize, awarded annually, went to space archaeologist Dr. Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, whose wish is to: “…discover the millions of unknown archaeological sites across the globe. By creating a 21st-century army of global explorers, we’ll find and protect the world’s hidden heritage, which contains humankind’s collective resilience and creativity,” she told the Alabama News Center.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
Parcak first earned international attention by satellite mapping Egypt using infrared imagery, discovering “17 potential unknown pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements.” At the heart of her program is an online, citizen scientist, interactive platform that will allow anyone to discover ancient sites from space. The same information and imagery gathered over time will allow her and her teams to monitor looting.
The program works simply: Once users take a quick tutorial, they are “dealt” a series of images from a deck with a general location like Northern Italy. The images are of a 50-meter-square area, and have already been processed to simplify the explorer’s search. The exact GPS location is encrypted similar to the way patient data privacy is preserved in Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to protect the exact location from potential looters and unethical archeological expeditions.
All potential discoveries, once vetted, will be passed along to authorities along with the GIS data, so they can then excavate or protect the sites. This enables archaeologists not only to detect sites, but to find and stop looters in a matter of days or weeks rather than months or years.
GIS can play a huge role in these and other archeological projects, and with the integration of virtual reality, the possibilities are even more exciting.
Georeferencing Maps and Historical Photos
While this is not possible with all sites, historical photos of some areas give archaeologists clues of where to start looking for more recent structures and human activity. Georeferencing ancient maps and photos or drawings where possible show what features have changed, what has remained the same, and what impact modern human activity has had on the site.
Photo Credit: YouTube
“Rebuilding” Structures
Once foundations and other evidence of structures have been found, 3D modeling software such as Esri CityEngine can be used in conjunction with photos to virtually reconstruct buildings, terrain and other features. This gives archeologists and scholars insight to how each site might have been used, and what other evidence to look for.
Virtual Reality
As 360-degree cameras have become more affordable and portable (with the release of several new models like the Nikon KeyMission 360), filming sites once they have been visited in this comprehensive way will allow archaeologists who are unable to physically reach the location to “look” for evidence, and offer advice and insight to those on location.
Explorers in Parcak’s programs who make new discoveries will be able to accompany archaeologists via Periscope, Skype, Google Hangouts and social media, all of which are headed toward 3D video capability, allowing for more immersive and meaningful visits.
Infrared photos from space allow us to see things on the ground not previously visible. Three dimensional modeling allows us to visualize structures no longer there, and 360-degree video and virtual reality allow us to visit these places from far away.
The way we discover new things about our world and the way we explore them is changing, and much of that change is possible due to the blend of GIS and virtual reality.
Troy Lambert is a freelance writer, editor and thriller author living in Boise Idaho. He became interested in using GIS for unique applications while at a museum, and now looks for and writes about unique ways GIS is used and can be used to change our world.
Photogrammetry software company SimActive is releasing a new version of Correlator3D with a redesigned aerial triangulation (AT) module.
Correlator3D is a patented end-to-end photogrammetry solution for the generation of high-quality geospatial data from satellite and aerial imagery, including UAVs.
The tie point extraction and bundle algorithms have been enhanced, along with the added capability to address problematic input data (such as low overlap projects).
The release features an alignment tool that automatically registers new projects to older mosaics and DEMs. It removes the need for recollecting ground control points (GCPs). In addition, a new semi-automatic workflow was developed for GCP tagging.
“Our significant R&D efforts on the AT are due to its substantial impact on all subsequent results,” said Louis Simard, CTO of SimActive. “As such, the release vastly improves and simplifies the entire production chain.”
For a live demonstration at AUVSI’s Xponential 2016 (May 2-5 in New Orleans), visit booth 260 or send an email to [email protected].
Aerial images from a drone are being evaluated as a method to survey seagrasses scarred by boat propellers.
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) has partnered with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi to determine if using unmanned aircraft systems is as effective as using planes.
Seagrasses serve as a refuge and nursery ground for fish, shrimp and crabs. They provide oxygen to the water column and serve as an area for growth of drift algae, a food source for shrimp, fish and crabs.
A law prohibiting the uprooting of seagrasses coast-wide was passed by the Texas Legislature during the 83rd legislative session and has been in effect since September 2013. Motorboats cause propeller scarring when they drift into shallow waters and tear a trough in the bay bottom.
Michael Starek, assistant professor of engineering, has been analyzing the images and data collected from flights in December of a small UAS about 450 feet above Redfish Bay’s seagrasses.
TPWD has conducted aerial surveys since 2007 using piloted aircraft flying at an altitude of about 2,000 feet, said Faye Grubbs, Upper Laguna Madre ecosystem leader with TPWD.
The project will compare the output from each method, and analyze costs of processing and ease of mobilization.
TPWD continues to collect aerial imagery in four areas along the Texas coast to evaluate the effects of the regulation. Based on the outcome of this project, Grubbs said the department may use drones for not only monitoring changes in propeller scarring, but possibly for mapping other habitats as well.
“We are comparing the accuracies of the different imagery sets — manned versus unmanned — and how well we are able to map scar features observed in the imagery,” she said.
UAS-collected imagery has the potential to change environmental monitoring at many scales, not just in coastal regions, Starek said.
The first step is to show drone-captured data is comparable to that collected from manned planes. University researchers have been doing just that for several years, flying along the coast and comparing drone-captured images to data from on-the-ground and in-the-water surveying by traditional means.
One of the biggest challenges with aerial imaging of the sea floor is weather and water clarity, Starek said.
“This experiment showed that with proper flight planning for weather conditions, mapping of prop scars with a small UAS can be a viable alternative to more costly, piloted airborne surveys,” Starek said. “Results from the flights show impressive spatial fidelity in the UAS-collected imagery. Pixel resolutions down to one inch will allow mapping of seagrass impacted by prop scaring at very fine spatial detail previously unattainable.”
Although the results show the capabilities, Starek said UAS technology still has to evolve both in platform endurance and in regulations to allow these systems to fly autonomously over much larger areas, such as an entire bay system. This latter component will evolve as the technology and confidence in its use matures.
“In the not too distant future, I can foresee the day when a fleet of small UAS equipped with cameras can routinely map an entire bay system at a fraction of the cost for traditional piloted airborne surveys,” he said. “The potential for UAS technology is immense.”
Spectra Precision‘s MobileMapper 300 smart antenna is now directly driven by DigiTerra Information Services’ DigiTerra Explorer 7 GIS software for mobile mapping.
“Users running DigiTerra Explorer 7 on their Windows devices now have the ability to achieve GNSS accuracies directly and more simply with the MobileMapper 300,” said Olivier Casabianca, Spectra Precision’s business area director, in a news release.
MobileMapper 300 is a professional-grade GNSS receiver with scalable advanced accuracy options, from mapping grade to full RTK accuracy, including RangePoint RTX over IP support. It is designed for use in combination with a wide variety of mobile devices, including smart phones, tablets and notebook computers.
DigiTerra Explorer offers mobile mapping, GIS data collection and maintenance, as well as field-to-office workflow solutions. The software is used in the GIS forestry and agriculture markets in Europe and is expanding into North America.
Esri is hosting a live training seminar, Extend ArcGIS Pro Functionality with Add-Ins, on April 21. Using the new ArcGIS Pro 1.2 SDK for the Microsoft .NET framework, Microsoft .NET developers will be able to create unique tools and workflows for ArcGIS Pro.
The seminar will teach users how to use ArcGIS Pro SDK for .NET for developing and deploying custom add-ins. Presenters will demonstrate how to modify the ArcGIS Pro user interface and build customizations that leverage the SDK’s asynchronous programming pattern, the company said in an announcement.
The seminar will teach users how to:
Create and deploy a simple add-in using the ArcGIS Pro SDK for .NET Visual Studio template.
Modify the ArcGIS Pro user interface using Esri’s desktop application markup language (DAML) functionality.
Apply the ArcGIS Pro asynchronous programing pattern using C#.
A basic familiarity with the C# programming language and knowledge of object-oriented programming concepts will be helpful, according to Esri. A broadband Internet connection and an Esri account are required to watch the live training seminar.
A Sanborn fire insurance map of the Chicago Union Stockyards from 1890 (Image: Library of Congress)
Founded in 1866 to produce fire insurance maps, the current Sanborn Map Company offers high-tech mapping services that include mobile and aerial light detection and ranging (lidar), aerial oblique imagery and orthoimagery, 3D visualization, autonomous robotic indoor mapping, FAA-approved unmanned aircraft system (UAS) services and more.
Sanborn made key contributions to America’s World War II effort, secretly housing classified Allied invasion maps critical to the D-Day invasion of Normandy in its historic Pelham, New York, building. That building is 110 years old this year, and Westchester County has declared April 20 as “Sanborn Map Building Day” to honor both the building and company anniversaries.
Sanborn’s legendary fire insurance maps are distinctive because of their sophisticated set of symbols that precisely and clearly convey complex information. The Library of Congress Sanborn map collection includes 50,000 editions of the maps comprising an estimated 700,000 individual sheets dating back to 1867. The maps depict commercial, industrial and residential sections of 12,000 cities and towns across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
A sample of Sanborn’s oblique imagery. (Photo: Sanborn)
Today, Sanborn has embraced modern geospatial technology, pioneering the collection and delivery of digital orthoimagery and collecting and processing high resolution oblique aerial imagery and designing derivative products.
The firm has a vast oblique imagery collection. In 2015, Sanborn added 2.8 million new images to its Oblique Imagery Solutions database and provides proprietary tools, such as Sanborn Oblique Analyst software, so its customers can extract the maximum value from the imagery.
Sanborn also offers 6-inch resolution orthoimagery covering the entire continental U.S. in both natural color and infrared products, and has one of the industry’s widest range of 3D, off-the-shelf mapping products. These include 3D Buildings, a suite of modeling products designed for 3D visualization and geographic information system (GIS) applications; 3D Cities for virtual city implementation; and CitySets, which comprise digital datasets covering the core downtown areas of most major U.S metropolitan areas.
Thousands of people have downloaded ArcGIS Earth, the successor to Google Earth. ArcGIS Earth has an engaged community of users from all over the world, according to Esri. “We are happy to release the 1.1 version and excited to share some of the new key capabilities that deliver on many of [customer] requests and help connect you with more of the data in your organizations,” Esri said in a press release.
Features include:
Visualization of Time-Based Patterns. Use the newly added time slider to animate and explore time-enabled KML data.
Use of OGC WMS and WMTS. Add Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Map Tile Services (WMTS) to ArcGIS Earth and take advantage of open standard data in an organization. WMTS in ArcGIS Earth is able to use pre-rendered, cached tiles just like Esri cached map and image services.
Importing of CSV and TXT Files. Add tab-delimited text (TXT) and comma-separated value (CSV) files to quickly import large numbers of points. Users who are logged in to Portal for ArcGIS with a configured locator can also perform address geocoding.
The AirMap Digital Notice and Awareness Dashboard(TM) airport manager view.
AirMap and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) have released the Digital Notice and Awareness System (D-NAS), created to allow UAS operators to provide airports with real-time digital information about the location of their flights.
AirMap is a provider of airspace information and services for unmanned aircraft. On April 7, the company announced that it raised a $15 million Series A financing led by General Catalyst Partners to accelerate its global development airspace management tools for drones.
D-NAS works by allowing a UAS operator to send an encrypted digital flight notice to a secure dashboard at an airport’s operations center. Flight information can be submitted through various UAS interfaces, including the flying apps provided by drone manufacturers DJI, Yuneec and 3DRobotics.
These connections facilitate the transmission of important safety-critical information to airports, including the GPS location of the UAS flight. Participating airports will access this information through the AirMap D-NAS dashboard, which provides a map view of flights in proximity to the airport and the option to contact the UAS operator directly.
“Safety has always been a priority for DJI,” said Brendan Schulman, DJI’s vice president of Policy and Legal Affairs. “Providing our customers the capability to easily notify nearby airports of their flights is a huge step forward in convenience and functionality. A high-tech notification system complements the safety features DJI builds into every drone, as well as DJI’s close work with policymakers on practical approaches for drone technology.”
More than 50 airports across America have already joined the D-NAS pilot program, including Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby airports, Denver International Airport, Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, Charlotte-Douglas Airport in North Carolina, Reno-Tahoe Airport in Nevada, New Castle Airport in Delaware, Cape May Airport in New Jersey, Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska, and the Oxnard and Camarillo Airports in Ventura County, California.
The AirMap Digital Notice and Awareness Dashboard map view.
“Participation in the D-NAS pilot was a no-brainer for us. In the face of growing concerns over UAS operations near airports, AirMap has developed an effective and unique solution,” said Steve Runge, Division Manager for the Houston Airport System. “D-NAS is a game changer for how we will manage low altitude air safety.”
D-NAS not only provides heightened awareness to airports; it also makes it easier for UAS operators to comply with Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which requires notice to be given to airports within five miles of a drone’s flight location.
Ben Marcus, CEO of AirMap and an airline transport rated pilot and flight instructor, said, “Everyone involved in aviation sees the promise and potential of unmanned aircraft. However, we can’t reach the potential of this amazing technology unless we ensure that safety critical information keeps pace with innovation. We are focused on building the tools for unmanned aircraft to safely integrate into the national airspace system.”
“We are excited to work with AirMap to improve the safety features of our products,” said Yuneec CEO Tian Yu. “As an airplane and helicopter pilot myself, I know first-hand how important it is to keep the national airspace system safe.” Yuneec is the manufacturer of the Typhoon and Tornado series of multirotor drones and recently announced a $60M investment from Intel.
TerraGo has released TerraGo Edge 3.9.3, which features full support for OGC GeoPackage, a universal format for sharing maps and geographic data across mobile devices and all platforms.
TerraGo Edge enables users to import and export OGC GeoPackage as a SQLite database optimized for performance on iOS and Android devices.
“Because we listened to our customers, we designed TerraGo Edge from the ground up to be an open solution for exchanging field engineering, GIS, GPS and asset management data across vendor platforms and devices,” said John Timar, vice president, Worldwide Sales at TerraGo. “GeoPackage is an important win for customers because it’s a dramatic shift away from proprietary formats and technology. GeoPackage breaks through user dependence based on vendor data lock-in, enables platform-independent data exchange and refocuses customer value on software features and performance.”
The latest TerraGo Edge 3.9.3 release closes the loop for a complete GeoPackage collaboration workflow by allowing Edge app users to import GeoPackage data from a mobile device, collect location-tagged field data and roundtrip the information back to the GIS or other enterprise systems of record.
BYOD GPS Gets Real: Lessons Learned with the New Rules of GPS Data Collection
Thursday, April 14, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
In this GPS World webinar, join us as we examine how five organizations from five industries (oil & gas, engineering, water utility, transportation and natural resources) made the switch from GPS handhelds to smartphones and tablets for their field data collection needs. Speakers are Michael Gundling and David Basil, TerraGo.
Version 3.9.3 features these enhancements:
Advanced GIS Integration
Deliver GeoPackage data to any TerraGo Edge mobile app user
Create offline map when GeoPackage is embedded in a GeoPDF
Simultaneously import GeoPDF and GeoPackage data back to Edge server
Improved Mapping Experience with EdgeMap Optimizer
Automatic detection of best resolution (DPI) for offline maps upon import by mobile user
Manually select the optimal resolution upon import
Data collection enhancements with the New Form Template Selection, including a new search function in form fields to improve user productivity and data integrity.
Maptiks‘ web map analytics is now integrated with Esri’s ArcGIS platform and available on ArcGIS Marketplace. It is now possible to receive analytics surrounding use of a web-mapping application.
ArcGIS Marketplace is a destination that enables ArcGIS users to search, discover, and get apps and content from qualified providers.
Using Esri’s ArcGIS API for JavaScript and Esri Leaflet, Maptiks now provides user activity analytics for your web maps. It helps answer key design and U/X questions such as how and where are users interacting with a web map.
“Many web map developers are lacking the right metrics and data to see how users are actually converting and using their maps,” reads a Maptiks press release. “Google Analytics provides some insights, but it lacks the capability to really dig into where users are looking on the map, where they are clicking and how they’re actually using it.”
Standard websites, apps and web applications have a slew of developer friendly analytics solutions that help businesses dive into their users’ activities. But, developers building out applications based on web maps such as Uber, Nextdoor and Strava that have GIS dependent products require more detailed metrics into their users.
Will Cadell, CEO of Maptiks, spoke about the integration. “We’re really excited to be integrating with Esri’s platform. The development community around Esri is massive and we’re looking forward to giving them an analytics tool they’ll actually use. We’ve had a lot of requests from web map developers who wanted this integration, and thanks to the Esri Startup Program, we were able to fast track the integration with our development team. The Esri team has been very supportive. We’re looking forward to help Esri development community build even better Esri maps with the help of our analytics.”
Maptiks, is a startup based out of Prince George, B.C., founded by Will Cadell. Maptiks is built by Sparkgeo, a geospatial web company with over a decade of experience in the GIS & Technology industries. Working with clients such as Wildlife Conservation Society, and Map My Fitness, Sparkgeo has built Maptiks to measure how users interact with web maps increasing map conversions so they can build a better map.
Hexagon AB plans to acquire the GeoRadar division of the Italian-based company Ingegneria dei Sistemi S.p.A, a privately owned company with core expertise in radar-based solutions for multiple industries.
Located near Pisa, Italy, with approximately 60 employees, the IDS GeoRadar division provides the mining and geospatial industries with innovative radar solutions for structural health monitoring and underground utility mapping.
GeoRadar’s structural health monitoring solutions enable engineers to remotely monitor — in real time — movements and vibrations of the earth such as mine walls, landslides, and glaciers and a wide variety of infrastructures such as bridges, buildings and dams. Its underground utility detection solutions provide engineers with dimensional information such as size and location of buried pipes and/or the health condition of roads and rail tracks through the detection of underground cracks and cavities.
“GeoRadar’s solutions nicely complement our reality capture solutions, enriching Hexagon’s portfolio across a wide variety of segments like surveying, construction and mining,” said Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén. “Additionally, combining GeoRadar’s technologies with our mobile reality capture portfolio broadens our solution offering for large-scale asset management across segments like utilities, road and rail.”
The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions. Closing is expected during the second quarter of 2016. IDS GeoRadar turnover for 2015 amounted to approximately 18 MEUR.
