GPS World

Tag: GIS

  • Nuxeo integrates with Google Cloud Vision API for automated image recognition

    Image objects/themes (“horizon”, “nature”) and landmarks (“savannah”) found by Google Cloud Vision service automatically added as tags.
    Image objects/themes (“horizon”, “nature”) and landmarks (“savannah”) found by Google Cloud Vision service automatically added as tags.

    The Nuxeo Platform is integrating with the Google Cloud Vision API, a new service providing information and insights automatically detected within images. The plugin is now available to download directly from the Nuxeo Marketplace, which offers optional packages to easily add new features to the Nuxeo Platform.

    The Nuxeo Platform enables organizations to manage complex digital content at massive scale.

    Using the plugin, the Nuxeo Platform exposes a powerful set of configurable image analysis features that can be applied upon file import, within a given workflow/business process, and/or on demand after a specific user action.

    Nuxeo also applies Google Cloud Vision to videos using images (video frames) captured by the Nuxeo storyboard, identifying landmarks (“Eiffel Tower”) and objects/themes (“human action”, “mobile device”) saved as tags.
    Nuxeo also applies Google Cloud Vision to videos using images (video frames) captured by the Nuxeo storyboard, identifying landmarks (“Eiffel Tower”) and objects/themes (“human action”, “mobile device”) saved as tags.

    In addition to processing any image attached to content objects, the Nuxeo Platform also applies the capabilities to video, using images extracted from the video storyboard.

    Image features detected by the Google Cloud Vision service are available for use with Nuxeo process automation and business logic, and can also be stored as metadata and tags on the content object, including:

    • Image labeling based on detection of common objects, landmarks, and/or brand logosFaces, if any, detected in the image, including simple sentiment recognition (e.g., “joy,” “sorrow”)
    • Text found within the image, extracted via OCR
    • Safe search detection of different types of inappropriate content
    • Other general image attributes, such as the dominant color

    Additionally, the Nuxeo plugin enables developers to specify business logic for customized operations with the Google Cloud Vision service, such as invoking workflows based on the presence of automatically added image metadata.

    “The Google Vision team has done exceptional work to develop this fast, reliable and incredibly valuable service,” said Eric Barroca, CEO at Nuxeo. “When the Google Cloud Vision API was placed in public beta last month, we recognized this was game-changing technology for media and digital asset management applications. We immediately went to work integrating this service into the Nuxeo Platform, and we’re proud to be among the first content management vendors to do so.”

    Barroca added, “We strongly believe our integration with Google Vision greatly extends the strategic value of the Nuxeo Platform for our customers. By automatically adding a wealth of new, actionable metadata describing content within each image, Nuxeo enables a whole new level of image-based enterprise search, workflows and automation.”

    The Nuxeo plugin, named Nuxeo Vision, has been developed to immediately support the Google Cloud Vision service, as well as other image recognition engines in the future.

    The Google Cloud Vision API enables developers to understand the content of an image by encapsulating powerful machine learning models in a REST API.

  • Surveying app designed for parcel boundaries

    cc4w-parcelboundaries-Wcc4w is offering a new surveying app, Parcel Boundaries. With the app, a legal description, subdivision lot boundary and results of a survey can be calculated for the perimeter, area, error of closure, ratio of closure, closing course and the Northing and Easting differences.

    The results can be emailed to others for review, comment and documentation.

    One feature is the plotting of aliquot parts of a legal description within a typical section. With the app, users can plot a multiple aliquot part description in color to visually see the individual locations.

    A legend is provided that identifies each aliquot part that has been entered.

  • Hexagon acquires optical 3D metrology provider

    Hexagon AB has acquired AICON 3D Systems, a provider of optical and portable non-contact 3D measuring systems for industrial manufacturing.

    Founded in 1990 and based in Braunschweig, Germany, AICON has been providing measurement systems for automotive manufacturers and companies in the aerospace, shipbuilding, renewable energy and mechanical engineering markets for more than 25 years.

    Its technology portfolio includes portable coordinate measuring machines for universal applications and specialised optical 3D measuring systems that enable efficient, high-precision monitoring, quality assurance and control in manufacturing production.

    With more than 140 employees, AICON has a direct presence in Germany, subsidiaries in China, Korea, Japan and the U.S., and a network of resellers worldwide supported by its field support resources.

    “AICON is a recognized brand with strong core technical competence across its development teams and its scanner portfolio is a strategic fit,” said Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén. “We also see opportunities for international expansion of AICON’s wider portfolio throughout Hexagon’s global footprint.”

    Also, the CEOs of AICON 3D Systems, Carl-Thomas Schneider and Werner Bösemann, further commented: “Joining Hexagon is a great opportunity to bring our first-class AICON scanner products to a wide range of customers worldwide.”

    AICON will be fully consolidated as of April. The company’s turnover for 2015 amounted to approximately 19 MEUR.

  • Esri, USDA Forest Service publicize forestry data

    usda-forest-mapEsri and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service unveiled Engagement Portfolio, a gallery of maps and apps of U.S. forestry data open to the public.

    Engagement Portfolio opens up the Forestry Inventory and Analysis database, a trove of detailed information on the nation’s forest ecosystems, which the Forest Service has maintained for nearly a century.

    “The tools we’re releasing today demonstrate the best of what’s possible through private-public partnerships,” says Carlos Rodriguez-Franco, acting deputy chief, research and development, USDA Forest Service. “We’re opening up data for more than 800 million acres of U.S. forests and woodlands that provide clean water, clean air, wildlife and fish habitat, recreational opportunities and resources for economic development.”

    Large-scale map and a chart-populated perspective of the nation’s forests are available, as well as story maps and other interactive tools.

    “Interactive access to data helps everyone make better decisions about our fragile ecosystem,” says John Steffenson, director, global business development, natural resources, Esri. “The Forest Service’s new Engagement Portfolio transforms the agency’s wealth of data into information products that anyone can relate to and that powerfully convey the value of the nation’s forests.”

  • What really matters to GIS professionals

    MLD6

    Last week I attended a workshop sponsored by the Oregon GPS User’s Group (soon to be Oregon GNSS User’s Group). OGUG invited Michael Dennis, RLS, PE, current Ph.D. geomatics student, former full-time National Geodetic Survey (NGS) employee, all-around smart guy and entertaining speaker to present an all-day workshop entitled “Space Time and Datum Forensics – A Geodetic Workshop.” Let me tell you, its 260 slides of stuff that matters in GIS, surveying and GNSS if you’re working with data at the sub-meter level and better.

    The audience was largely surveyors, and that’s a problem. I’d go as far as saying that it’s significantly more important for GIS professionals to understand this topic than surveyors. The reason is because surveyors are project-oriented. For example, Joe Surveyor is hired to complete a boundary and topo survey for a new commercial real estate development project. He does the research, does the field work, completes the deliverables, issues an invoice, and places the project file into storage. Joe might look at the file again in six months when construction begins and may never look at it again after that.

    Surveyors are short-term, project-based data generators. On the other hand, GIS professionals are long-term data managers. Therefore, for surveyors, their data doesn’t require accuracy, it requires precision. On the other hand, GIS professionals value accuracy much more, or at least they should.

    The reason is because all the data layers in their GIS need to play together. GIS layers need to be spatially consistent. Managing a spatial and tabular-robust GIS database is a substantially more complex task than the typical surveyor encounters. Perhaps that complexity is one of the reasons that the spatial geodesy of a GIS database largely falls below the noise floor. In other words, there are much larger problems to tackle in a substantial GIS database other than geodesy.

    How many surveyors have ever had to deal with SAP databases? How about an SDE (how many of you had to Google the acronym)? How about writing a script that queries a MySQL database to extract features with particular attributes? That’s just the beginning.

    Before a surveyor criticizes a GIS for its accuracy, or lack thereof, that person should spend some time dealing with some of the data-management issues encountered by a GIS professional. There are entire conferences focused on only this subject. That’s what GIS is all about: data management, long-term data management.

    A GIS doesn’t get filed after every project is completed; it gets added to the last project, and with each project, the database grows larger, more unwieldy, and likely more difficult to manage. And then, someone or some company throws a curveball at them, a new schema, a new operating system, or a new enterprise GIS software version that impacts the entire database. The IT department gets involved, and then procurement gets involved. Before you know it, it’s meetings after meetings. You get the picture.

    Among all of the complex GIS database management issues, the geodesy of GIS has stayed below the noise floor. In other words, it’s been largely ignored. But as I’ve written in the past for GPS World magazine and this publication, GNSS, remote sensing and other sensors are becoming cheaper, faster and more precise. Therefore, data being appended to GIS databases are becoming more precise.

    This creates challenges by highlighting the legacy inaccurate or imprecise data in the GIS database, which in turn creates the necessity for another decision to be made: what should we do about it? The answer to that question is for another article, or three.

    With that, there are a few slides from Michael’s total of 260 slides in the workshop that I would like to highlight.

    His second slide is one my favorites. It’s a bit rhetorical in that there is no answer, but succinctly states the problem. The value of a GIS database is the relationship of spatial data amongst its elements. How close is the gas pipeline to the nearest home? Where’s the shut-off valve for main water line on First Street? Which homes will be at risk of flooding during a storm surge in Galveston, Texas? How fast will the latest virus likely spread if the first case is discovered in Atlanta vs. Nowhere, USA? GIS can answer these questions, but its answers are only as good as the data in the GIS. Good ol’ garbage-in, garbage-out.

    MLD1

    Before we get into the weeds, this is another setup slide that succinctly frames the challenge.

    MLD2

    To be clear, a coordinate system always includes a datum (a.k.a. geographic coordinate system, geometric reference system/frame), and it may or may not also include a map projection. Examples of projected coordinate systems include UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator), US SPC (State Plane Coordinates), Web Mercator (think Google Earth), Lambert Conformal Conic, and Gauss-Kruger for my European brethren. These systems must always include a specific datum. Common geodetic datums are ITRF08, IGS08, NAD83, NAD27, ED50, and WGS-84. You may have different map projections for each datum. For example, UTM or SPC can be referenced to NAD83. It’s a straight-forward mathematical operation to change the projection if the underlying datum is the same. However, UTM coordinates referenced to NAD83 or WGS-84 is a different subject altogether. Going to/from UTM/NAD83 to UTM/WGS-84 is far from being a straight-forward mathematical operation.

    The next feature slide gets into the weeds a bit. This is a subject I’ve written about for a few years and was somewhat highlighted in two articles I wrote (and a webinar I moderated) called “Nightmare on GIS Street.” How many of you think you use data referenced to WGS-84?

    MLD3

    MLD4

    WGS-84 referenced data is probably the most widely mis-used. As you can see from the above slide, the definition of WGS-84 has changed over time. You’ll never find a survey mark on the ground with coordinates referenced to WGS-84. If you do, it’s wrong. This is because it’s a military thing. WGS-84 is managed by the US Department of Defense. More specifically, the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (formerly NIMA, formerly DMA). Fortunately, in recent years, the Department of Defense has aligned WGS-84 with ITRF (International Terrestrial Reference Frame) — most recently to ITRF08 — and ITRF/IGS coordinates are publically available. For example, IGS08 (International GNSS Service of 2008) coordinates are published for NGS CORS and available in NGS OPUS solutions (for the purpose of this discussion we can consider ITRF and IGS the same). However,  there is a caveat: ITRF08/IGS08/WGS-84 coordinates are referenced to specific dates (epochs).

    WGS-84 was aligned with ITRF08 at epoch 2005.00, meaning that the WGS-84 coordinates were defined for the date of January 1, 2005. NGS publishes IGS08 coordinates at epoch 2005.00 for CORS. But OPUS solutions give IGS08 coordinates at the date of the GPS data file, and both autonomous and WAAS-corrected GPS gives positions at the mid-year epoch of the current year (i.e., positions are now at epoch 2016.5). This matters because stuff moves, including the ground you are standing on. Some places move more than others. California moves more than Missouri. Chile moves more than Germany. January 1, 2005 is 11+ years ago. If the ground is moving 3cm/yr, that’s 33cm over 11+ years. If you’re counting centimeters, that’s quite a few of them.

    Software vendors have a hard time keeping up with modern datum transformations, and this next slide is a perfect example of that. It’s not just one vendor. Nearly all software vendors “aren’t doing it right.” In this slide, this software vendor displays 10 different transformations from “WGS84” to “NAD83”. Which one do you use? None of them get it right.

    MLD5

    The most accurate one is still 20 cm in error. The worst is more than a meter in error. It makes you wonder why you spent $8,000 on that sub-foot GPS handheld when your GIS software may be introducing three feet of error.

    Finally, should you be concerned about this stuff?

    MLD6

    If you expect some of your data layers to be accurate to less than three meters, the answer is “yes.”

    I’ll likely continue this discussion next month or in the coming months,and also provide a link to Michael’s 260-page slideshow.

    Thanks, and see you next month.

    Follow me on Twitter at GPSGIS_Eric

  • Fugro delivers surface current data with new system

    ROCIS is an airborne system for mapping surface current conditions over a wide area of ocean for current-sensitive offshore operations.
    ROCIS is an airborne system for mapping surface current conditions over a wide area of ocean for current-sensitive offshore operations.

    Fugro and technology partner Areté Associates have successfully delivered near real-time, synoptic, surface current data to characterize Loop Current and Loop Current eddy conditions in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico during a period of intense current conditions.

    Over the course of the five-month program, Fugro used the new ROCIS (Remote Ocean Current Imaging System) to survey currents over a distance of more than 125,000 kilometers — the equivalent of 3 times around the world.

    ROCIS is the first commercially available system of its kind and represents a step change in technology for mapping surface current conditions over a wide area of ocean for current sensitive offshore operations.

    Optimizing recent advances in remote sensing and aerial survey, Fugro and Areté Associates developed a system that uses a combination of digital camera technology and highly accurate positioning systems, together with advanced algorithms, to derive surface currents from wave spectra measurements. It can be installed on a suitable survey aircraft, together with an inertial navigation system augmented by Fugro’s Starfix satellite positioning system.

    Current data are reviewed in real time on board the aircraft, providing continuous assessment of data quality and the location of strong currents. Within an hour of the aircraft landing the system produces a “quick-look” map of the currents over the area while processed data files are available a few hours later.

    During the program, ROCIS data supported day-to-day operational planning and enhanced the accuracy of 3D hydrodynamic current forecast modeling.

    The key technical benefits of ROCIS are the near synoptic, wide area, high resolution, high integrity surface current measurements that allow sub-mesoscale circulation to be measured and monitored. During a four-hour flight, the system can survey ocean currents at 250-meter intervals over a track of 900-1,100 kilometers. To map currents over a similar distance using traditional methods would take a combination of four vessels 24 hours. Given sufficient daylight hours, two ROCIS flight missions can be conducted each day.

    ROCIS services can be provided to single or multiple clients to monitor offshore current conditions over specific locations or a broad area. The system can also provide support in emergency situations such as oil spill and search and rescue, as well as in oceanographic research programs.

    Fugro and Areté Associates are working on further development of the ROCIS system and services, including the use of expendable probes and the incorporation of additional airborne sensors. In 2016 Fugro will add a second ROCIS unit to further enhance its support of offshore operations.

  • Epson releases firmware update for SureColor T-Series printers

    Epson has released enhanced firmware for its current generation of SureColor T-Series large-format color printers. Models affected include T3270, T5270, T7270, T5270D and T7270D.

    The new firmware enhancements, coupled with Epson’s latest PrecisionCore TFP print head and Epson UltraChrome XD pigment ink, provide technical, corporate, marketing and government professionals a combination of precision, performance and productivity with best-in-class printing and scanning speeds.

    “Based directly on customer feedback, the new firmware offers several improvements focused on reducing the level of user interaction and streamlining workflows, all using the same hardware,” said Matthew Kochanowski, product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. “The T-Series printers offer a powerful, cost-effective and scalable printing solution that allows customers to scan and print high quality jobs quickly, while integrating the latest printing techniques and applications.”

    The updated firmware is now available for download and can be installed by end-users of the SureColor Tx270 Series Printers.

    Employing new features to simplify print and scan job workflows, the updated firmware allows SureColor T-Series users to significantly increase productivity and reduce overall end user interaction via the following improvements:

    Printing Productivity

    • Produce 24” x 33” prints up to 31 percent faster than the previous generation
    • Deliver up to 75 percent faster glossy prints with a new production print mode
    • Dual-roll models offer a 20 percent speed improvement when switching between rolls
    • New auto-roll selection is now available in Microsoft Windows® driver

    Scanning and Copying Productivity

    • Faster 200 dpi grayscale scanning at up to 13 inches per second
    • Longest scanning capability available in its class — up to 30m for black-and-white scans
    • Produce full-bleed borderless copies
    • Increased productivity and less user interaction when scanning multiple jobs

    Postscript Engine/HDD Productivity

    • Eliminates delay between postscript jobs
    • Driverless submission of jobs via the embedded web utility
    • Preflight previews of PostScript jobs
    • Thumbnail views of stored jobs on the hard drive enhance the workflow
    • Secure DoD 5220.22 M standard for HDD sanitation — ideal for the customers within enterprise, government and corporate office settings

  • OGC announces oil spill response recommended practice

    Oil-spill

    A new recommended practice has been issued for GIS and mapping professionals responding to an oil spill.

    The document — the final report of a joint project — guides professionals in using GIS technology and geospatial information to form a “common operating picture” for a spill response, so various organizations can deal with it effectively.

    According to the report, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico showed the need for a coordinated response based on timely geographic data.

    The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) through the Geomatics Committee and IPIECA (the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues) issued the recommended practice in cooperation with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and Resource Data.

    Officially named the OGC IOGP/IPIECA Recommended Practice for a Common Operating Picture for Oil Spill Response, the document is the final report of the IOGP/IPIECA Joint Industry Project to produce a recommended practice for GIS/mapping in support of oil spill response and for the use of GIS technology and geospatial information in forming a Common Operating Picture (COP) for management of the response.

    “The report lays the groundwork for coordinated activities by multiple stakeholders that need to come together quickly to respond to a spill,” said Rob Cox, Technical Director, IPIECA. “Having the report endorsed as an OGC Best Practice gives it the authority it needs to act as a focal point in support of that coordination.”

    As stated in the report:

    “Responding to an oil spill requires access to and understanding of many types of information. Effective, coordinated operations for the response are based on a shared, common picture of the situation. Interoperability provides shared situational awareness of the crisis and the response activities. What is needed is a common picture of reality for different organizations that have different views of the spill so that they all can deal with it collectively.

    “Recent oil spills have provided lessons learned and recommendations on forming a Common Operating Picture for oil spill response. Through a joint project, industry is responding to the call, moving from recommendations to reusable best practices supported by open standards that can be deployed quickly in any region of the globe.

    “This architecture report is part of the IOGP and IPIECA Oil Spill Response – Joint Industry Project (IOGP–IPIECA OSR-JIP) to produce a recommended practice for GIS/mapping in support of oil spill response and for the use of GIS technology and geospatial information in forming a Common Operating Picture to support management of the response.”

    About the players

    The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international consortium of more than 515 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

    The International Association of Oil & Gas producers (IOGP) is a unique global forum in which members identify and share best practices to achieve improvements in every aspect of health, safety, the environment, security, social responsibility, engineering and operations. IOGP encompasses most of the world’s leading publicly-traded, private and state-owned oil & gas companies, industry associations and major upstream service companies. IOGP members produce more than half the world’s oil and about one third of its gas.

    IPIECA is the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues. IPIECA was formed in 1974 following the launch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). IPIECA is the only global association involving both the upstream and downstream oil and gas industry on environmental and social issues. IPIECA’s membership covers over half of the world’s oil production. IPIECA is the industry’s principal channel of communication with the United Nations. When IPIECA was set up in 1974 the acronym stood for the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association. In 2009, recognizing that this no longer accurately reflected the breadth and scope of the association’s work, IPIECA stopped using the full title. The association is now known as IPIECA, the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues.

    Resource Data, Inc. (RDI) has been supporting the oil & gas industry with information technology for spill response since 1989. RDI brings unparalleled experience to oil spill response, leading the geographic information system (GIS) and database teams for the Exxon-Valdez spill and more recently the GIS response team in the Macondo/Deepwater Horizon spill. RDI has developed numerous spill response data systems, participated in multiple drills, and developed risk analysis systems for major pipeline networks. Our depth and breadth of expertise in spill preparedness and response uniquely positions RDI to assist in the development of a Common Operating Picture for the oil and gas industry.

  • Woolpert contracted by USGS to map, survey throughout US

    Woolpert has signed a five-year, multimillion-dollar Geospatial Product and Services Contract 3 (GPSC 3) with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to provide mapping and surveying services.

    The GPSC is a suite of contracts used by federal, state and municipal government entities to partner with USGS for the purpose of fulfilling their geospatial data requirements.

    The contract will be administered through the National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) in an effort to obtain geospatial data services throughout the United States and its territories. The contract also will be used to support the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) and used by other federal, state and local agencies.

    “This provides Woolpert with the opportunity to continue working with USGS on their 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), an eight-year program to provide highly accurate 3D elevation data of the entire U.S.,” said John Gerhard, Woolpert project director. “This data will be collected via lidar (light detection and ranging) to create the most accurate surface model, and will be used to evaluate flood risk and natural resources, support FEMA, help farmers with precision agriculture, assess and manage infrastructure, and much more.”

    Jeff Lovin, Woolpert senior vice president and director of government solutions, said the Woolpert staff is proud to have had the opportunity to work with the USGS for nearly 25 years. “Over those 25 years, we’ve had the opportunity to collaborate on different layers of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), from the development of nationwide imagery in the 1990s to 3D elevation and hydrography today,” Lovin said.”It’s very gratifying to have the opportunity to play a part in such an important program for our nation.”

  • GEO Business 2016 anticipates 3,000 attendees

    GEO Business is shaping up to be an important show in the geospatial calendar, with 3,000 international visitors expected to attend. Registration is now open and visitors are set to descend upon the Business Design Centre in London May 24-25 to take part in the showcase for the ever-changing geospatial industry.

    This year’s conference is features prominent speakers within the geospatial hemisphere, and the workshop program is set to be the most technically and commercially relevant yet.

    From its beginnings as a UK-centric show, GEO Business has won the support of an international audience. For the first time since its launch show, the event will be held outside of UK and international holiday periods, which has been welcomed by both exhibitors and visitors.

    “This event is very much being driven by industry. We are out there listening and being guided by the trade associations, societies, exhibitors and visitors and are working tirelessly to develop an event where there is a real sense of ownership within the community,” said Event Director Caroline Hobden. “The support we’ve had, and continue to have, has been phenomenal and it’s this level of involvement that makes this show such a success. Expectations are high for 2016 and we are looking forward to delivering the best show yet!”

    The program includes a two-day conference featuring presentations from leading geospatial experts that will focus on geospatial economic efficiency, infrastructure, innovation and sustainability.

    The exhibition is free to attend and visitors will be surrounded by products and services from approximately 200 multinational companies, including Leica Geosystems, Topcon, Trimble and Microsoft / Vexcel Imaging and smaller niche service companies. The line-up of exhibitor includes for the first time Land Registry, Korec and Landmark. The exhibition will also feature a brand new GIS Zone and UAV Zone.

    GEO Business 2016 will also run a series of free-to-attend commercial workshops, where exhibiting companies can provide hands-on experiences into the features and benefits of their products and services.

    GEO Business also will be hosting a Gala Dinner.

    Register before April 25 for Early Bird Rates.

    Learn more at the conference website.

  • USGS partners with European Space Agency on Copernicus Earth data

    The Sentinel satellites developed by ESA are designed to meet the operational needs of the Copernicus program. (ESA illustration)
    The Sentinel satellites developed by ESA are designed to meet the operational needs of the Copernicus program. (ESA illustration)

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have established a partnership to enable USGS storage and redistribution of Earth observation data acquired by Copernicus program satellites.

    The ESA-USGS collaboration will serve scientific and commercial customers interested in the current conditions of forests, crops and water bodies across large regions and in the longer term environmental condition of the Earth. Data acquired by the European Union’s Sentinel-2A satellite launched in June 2015 are highly complementary to data acquired by USGS/NASA Landsat satellites since 1972.

    “Landsat and Sentinel data will weave together very effectively,” said Virginia Burkett, USGS Associate Director for Climate and Land Use Change. “Adding the image recurrence of two Sentinel-2 satellites to Landsats 7 and 8 will increase repeat multispectral coverage of the Earth’s land areas to every 3 to 4 days. With more frequent views of the Earth, we will significantly improve our ability to see and understand changes taking place across the global landscape.”

    The agreement is part of a broader understanding between the European Union and three U.S. federal science agencies — NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and USGS — that was signed in October 2015. All parties are committed to the principle of full, free and open access to Earth observation satellite data produced by the European Union’s Sentinel program and by the respective U.S. agencies. An ESA article further describes the cross-Atlantic collaboration.

    “Free and open access to Landsat and Sentinel-2 data together will create remarkable economic and scientific benefits for people around the globe,” said Suzette Kimball, director of the U.S. Geological Survey. “At the outset of our partnership we can only imagine the synergies between our two perspectives from space. But I’m confident that the final product of our partnership will be an enriched knowledge of our planet.”

    Sentinel data are available at no cost from the Copernicus Scientific Data Hub. Additionally, in order to expedite data delivery around the globe, users may also download both Sentinel-2 and Landsat data at no charge in a familiar digital environment from USGS access systems such as EarthExplorer.

    Right now, only selected Sentinel data are available from the USGS in an early testing phase. Timely access to all Sentinel data will follow as the procedures for data transfer, user access and data delivery continue to be optimized at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.

    The MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) sensor on board Sentinel 2A acquires 13 spectral bands that parallel and contrast to data acquired by the USGS Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+). Unlike the Sentinel-2 satellites, Landsat satellites also include a capability to collect thermal infrared data which is used in a variety of water and agricultural monitoring applications. NASA has published an online comparison of Sentinel-2A and Landsat bandwidths.

    For technical details such as data availability, geographic coverage, acquisition frequency and resolution, visit the Copernicus and Landsat websites.

    The Landsat program is a joint effort of USGS and NASA. First launched by NASA in 1972, the Landsat series of satellites has produced the longest, continuous record of Earth’s land surface as seen from space. Landsat data were made available to all users free of charge by the U.S. Department of the Interior and USGS in 2008.

  • MediaMapper Mobile featured at GEOINT App Store

    Red Hen Systems‘ MediaMapper Mobile app for Android is available for download at the GEOINT App Store at no cost to credentialed U.S. government employees, first responders and the Department of Defense. It is the second app developed in the private sector to be added to the store.

    MediaMapperMediaMapper Mobile shows users where they have been, what they have seen, and what the environmental conditions were. This app is a Tactical Handheld Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (THISR) tool that captures photos and video, geotags points of interest, records notes with images, and creates date and time stamps. “You can literally back up data collection from any mission, real-time, using MediaMapper Mobile,” said Retired Army Special Forces Captain Bruce Donaldson.

    MediaMapper Mobile’s uses extend beyond defense to include asset management, biosurveillance, biodiversity studies, natural resources management, road and highway surveillance, and more.

    Download MediaMapper Mobile from the GEOINT App Store to an Android mobile device and complete these tasks:

    Collect Information

    • Embed GPS data (time, longitude, and altitude) and sensor information (altitude, temperature, humidity) in photos and videos.
    • Mark features of interest (FOI) while taking photographs and recording audio notes.
    • Take sequential photos based on time or distance intervals.

    View Information

    • View a complete video, along with its track log and route on a map, showing where it was taken.
    • See thumbnails of photos and videos on Google Earth to identify their locations.
    • Use photo triangulation to determine the location of a remote object photographed from at least two positions.

    Share Information

    • Generate a PDF of any photo or map screen, complete with GPS and Laser Range Finder information, then annotate the PDF, add a QR code and email it.
    • Upload photos to a server or share them via email, along with their latitude, longitude, pitch, roll and yaw.

    Download for free.