Pufferfish, a multitouch digital display technology company, displays its PufferSphere product at the 2015 Esri Federal GIS Conference, held Feb. 9-10 in Washington, D.C. PufferSphere is spherical, 360-degree display system made for multinational corporations, public and private institutions. It is innovating the understanding of trends, phenomena and correlations in global data.
Tag: GIS
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SpaceCurve to Display Spatial Data Platform at Esri Federal GIS
SpaceCurve, developers of a platform built for organizing and enabling the analyses of large-scale spatial data, will exhibit at the Esri Federal GIS Conference, held Feb. 9-10 in Washington, D.C.SpaceCurve fuses geospatial, sensor, Internet of Things (IoT), social media, location and other streaming and historical data and makes the data immediately available for analytics and operational intelligence.
SpaceCurve enables Esri users to seamlessly deploy spatiotemporal data analytics initiatives, across billions of records in real-time, within their existing Esri environment. All spatial records can be accessed from a single silo, and without latency, for true real-time queries of those records as they stream in real time, according to SpaceCurve. It also eliminates common PostGIS or SDE geodatabase issues within Esri by speeding up access to that data.SpaceCurve partners include AirSage, Esri and L-3, and with customers in government, defense, transportation, location analytics and telecommunications.
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Lehmann Rolls Out OpsCenter Upgrade, Drops Drone Price
The Lehmann L-A 300 drone is designed for mapping. Lehmann Aviation has rolled out a new version of its OperationCenter, a flight preparation and mission control software program for automatic orthomosaic flights. Also, the company dropped the price for its L-A 300 fully automatic professional drone designed for mapping, because of an uptick in demand and increased production.
The new version of Lehmann OpsCenter, designed for Windows 8.1 tablets and PCs, now includes:
- New mission control functions (holding, auto return, non-flying zone)
- Terrain awareness during mission preparation, for safer flights in mountain areas
- Integration with Google Earth for flight preparation and replay
- New easier upgrade and update procedures directly through the web
- New options to manage new cameras (GoPro, Canon) for orthomosaics and surveying.
Priced at $2,890, the L-A 300 is a professional drone designed for accurate mapping and digital elevation models (DEMs) that works with the GoPro, Canon S110 and multispectral cameras. It flies automatically for 30 to 45 minutes at a trajectory pre-prepared by the user in the OpsCenter (the range is 18.5 miles).
“In 2014 we significantly increased our production volume thanks to numerous orders from all around the world,” said Benjamin Lehmann, founder and CEO of Lehmann Aviation. “This enabled us to reduce the price for our best-sellers, all L-A-series drones. We also made the decision to follow our strategy of offering really high-tech aerial solutions at fair prices.”
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LizardTech Releases GeoViewer iOS at Esri Federal GIS Conference
LizardTech, a provider of software solutions for managing and distributing geospatial content, has released an update to its free iOS GeoViewer application for viewing geospatial imagery and vector overlays. The release was announced at the Esri Fed GIS Conference, being held this week at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
GeoViewer for iOS enables iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch users to view MrSID and JPEG 2000 imagery on their mobile devices. GeoViewer includes measurement tools, image band selection, and more.
The latest release includes free support for bookmarks and base maps. Users can purchase additional functionality such as displaying web map service (WMS) imagery, area measurement, and address search via a single in-app purchase of $4.99, which includes support for additional projection systems and tracking a user’s current location for measurement purposes.
To download GeoViewer for iOS, visit the LizardTech website or the iTunes Store.
Attendees at the conference can learn more at LizardTech’s booth, number 619.
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Esri Launches Site to Find Open Data
Esri has launched a website to help citizens discover organizations sharing open data around the world and provide direct access to thousands of open government datasets. Citizens can search, download, filter, and visualize this data through their web browser or mobile device.
Since July 2014, more than 1,200 organizations from all levels of government, including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina; Tampa, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Muroran, Japan, have used Esri’s ArcGIS Open Data to configure custom open data sites to serve local citizens and businesses. Now the public can search across these sites to find authoritative data by location and topic.
“We are excited about the large number of organizations currently sharing open data and believe we have a great opportunity to boost global support for open data and open knowledge,” said Andrew Turner, CTO of Esri’s DC R&D Center. “As more of the 380,000 organizations we work with across the globe begin to contribute open data, we will be able to help foster innovation by connecting the millions of datasets created by government agencies and shared through ArcGIS Open Data.”
Any organization can make its data available through ArcGIS Open Data, and people can now discover this data by visiting opendata.arcgis.com.
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Safe Software Offers Geospatial with Minecraft Webinar
A city hall built in Minecraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Safe Software is offering a webinar that discusses how the popular building game Minecraft offers a gaming approach to real-world geospatial scenarios. The presenters will discuss examples such as rapid design prototyping to increasing citizen and youth engagement, and helping urban planners create the perfect city block.
The presenters say they also will show attendees how they can integrate GIS, CAD, and BIM data sources with Minecraft in an automated way.
Minecraft has been downloaded more than 18 million times and is now being used in educational settings.
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Google Shows Commitment to Project Tango 3D Mapping Device
Google has reaffirmed its commitment to Project Tango, moving it from the Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) to a new home inside the company itself, reports Digital Trends.Project Tango, unveiled in 2014, aims to make it possible to create a 3D model of the space around a smartphone. For instance, a user can map an area, such as a home, by walking around with the phone.
ATAP is Google’s mobile-focused project development laboratory, and shifting Tango from there to a new base suggests Google is happy with the way the project is progressing and ready to take it to the next level, Digital Trends reports.
Google has been collaborating with universities, research labs, and industrial partners in nine countries to concentrate the past 10 years of research in robotics and computer vision into a mobile phone.
Project Tango devices contain customized hardware and software designed to track the full 3D motion of the device, while simultaneously creating a map of the environment. These sensors allow the device to make over a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating its position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around you.
Early prototypes run Android and include development APIs to provide position, orientation, and depth data to standard Android applications written in Java, C/C++, as well as the Unity Game Engine.
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CompassData Granted ISO Certification for Quality-Management Systems
CompassData, a worldwide provider of geospatial data and services, has received ISO 9001:2008 Certification for Quality Management Systems from Orion Registrar Inc.. The ISO 9001:2008 certification is well established in the United States and around the world as a quality-management system tool.
CompassData completed a rigorous audit in which Orion Registrar reviewed each step in the firm’s quality-management methodologies used during the creation of GPS-surveyed ground control and other geospatial products such as orthorectified imagery, digital elevation models (DEM), sensor calibrations and GIS map products.
This certification recognizes that CompassData has established a quality-management system that addresses the scope of the company’s core processes: supplying ground-control points and other high-accuracy products, services and content for the geospatial community. Superior ability to capture and satisfy customer requirements was a key element in the demonstration of the quality-management system to the registrar.
“CompassData has set itself apart by becoming one of the few geospatial survey data providers in the world whose quality-management systems and processes are ISO 9001 certified,” the company said in a statement.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization), the supplier of the ISO 9000 family of quality and management standards, is a network of national standards institutes from 163 countries working in partnership with international governments, organizations, businesses and consumer representatives.
The ISO 9000 quality-management standards are designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting regulatory requirements related to a product. More than one million organizations worldwide are independently certified, making ISO 9001 one of the most widely used management tools in the world today.
“This certification assures our customers of our commitment to meeting their needs by using standardized procedures that have been independently verified as being in conformity with ISO 9001:2008 requirements,” said Doug Braddock, CompassData’s quality manager. “Our customers will know that the product they receive from us has been created in an environment where internal processes are consistent and continually improving.”
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DigitalGlobe’s Geospatial Big Data Platform Enabling New Commercial Solutions
DigitalGlobe, Inc., has agreed to provide another commercial customer access to its Geospatial Big Data (GBD) platform, paving the way for new analytic products serving the insurance, forestry, oil & gas, and mining industries, the company said.
Exogenesis is a provider of advanced analytics, algorithm development, and predictive modeling and simulation. The company has subscribed to DigitalGlobe’s GBD service to facilitate new product development enabled by large-scale data analysis.
The agreement includes access to algorithms, expertise, and petabytes of high-resolution satellite imagery collected over the past 15 years. DigitalGlobe customers Orbital Insight and Cuende have also subscribed to the service and are introducing unique products to their commercial markets.
DigitalGlobe’s cloud-based GBD offering is a “platform as a service” model that provides access to DigitalGlobe’s vast image library. It is designed to create a new ecosystem in which partners and developers can leverage their expertise and API’s to create new customer solutions without the cost of owning and operating costly IT infrastructure, DigitalGlobe said.
The GBD platform is one of the strategic initiatives propelling DigitalGlobe toward its vision of becoming the indispensable source of information about the planet, the company said.
“Exogenesis is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with DigitalGlobe, the biggest name in commercial satellite imagery,” said Sean Anklam, president of Exogenesis. “As an early adopter of DigitalGlobe’s Geospatial Big Data platform, we will be able to provide the most advanced decision support information derived from source imagery of the highest quality.”
“It’s a privilege to bring our Geospatial Big Data capabilities to the market with an innovative partner like Exogenesis,” said Shay Har-Noy, DigitalGlobe’s Senior Director for GBD. “We are committed to investing in Geospatial Big Data in order to create a living digital inventory of the surface of the earth, enabled by our unmatched satellite constellation, commitment to ecosystem partners, and ability to convert imagery at scale into searchable, analytics-ready information layers.”
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University of Tennessee Hosts Father of Geographic Information Science
Michael Goodchild, emeritus professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will speak on “Space, Place, and GIS” at the University of Tennessee Department of Geography on Feb. 12 in Knoxville.
Goodchild will deliver the annual Hammond Lecture in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of John C. Hodges Library. A reception will be held at 3 p.m., and the presentation will follow at 3:40 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Goodchild is considered by many to be the father of geographic information science, also known as GIS. He is also widely credited with coining the term volunteered geographic information, which is spatial data that has been contributed for free by volunteers. His research interests focus on geographic information science, spatial analysis, and uncertainty in geographic data.
Goodchild will explain that modern technology uses concepts of latitude, longitude, and measurements of distance to describe the geographic world. On the other hand, humans think of the geographic world in terms of places and their associations. He will discuss the possibility of “palatial” technology that will combine the two different concepts of geography to fill the gap and help people share geographic knowledge more naturally.
“It is truly a great honor to have someone of Michael Goodchild’s reputation visit UT and the Department of Geography,” said Derek Alderman, head of the Department of Geography. “GIS has emerged as an important innovation, not just within the discipline of geography, but across the social and natural sciences and the digital humanities.”
Goodchild will also meet with and mentor graduate and undergraduate students and faculty members to brainstorm the future of geographic information science, and he will assist in efforts to enhance the UT GIS program.
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Topcon’s Android App Drives LN-100 Layout Navigator
Topcon Positioning Group has released a new app designed to drive the LN-100 Layout Navigator system MAGNET Construct. The no-cost app, available for the Android market, is built to provide “out-of-the-box” productivity with LN-100W hardware.
“The MAGNET Construct app offers intuitive options to drive an LN-100W for fast as-built measurements as well as graphical guidance to your design data.” said Oscar Cantú, senior manager of product marketing.
“When combined with the LN-100W, the app provides an entry-level precise measurement solution for diverse 3D layout applications such as traditional construction, complex landscape layout, architecture, as well as quickly checking existing stakeout locations before proceeding on a project,” said Cantú.
MAGNET Construct offers optional connectivity with MAGNET Enterprise for real-time data exchange from active project sites to and from the office within a user’s private company account.
“The addition of the new MAGNET Construct app exemplifies our focus to keep the LN-100W productive even with bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenarios. Android tablets and smartphones wirelessly driving precise hardware, along with secure connectivity to your office keeps projects productive and profitable,” said Cantú.MAGNET Construct is currently available for Android users to download for free on the Google Play store.
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Global Mapper v16.1 Introduces 3D and UAV Video Playback Tools
Global Mapper version 16.1, what Blue Marble terms an “interim release,” adds a UAV Video Playback Tool, new options to rotate the map view, and the ability to select and measure features in the 3D viewer. It is available for download.
To introduce the new version, Blue Marble is presenting a free webinar titled “What’s New in Global Mapper v16.1” on February 19 at 2 p.m. EDT.
The release includes a variety of updates to both the Global Mapper base product and the optional LiDAR Module. A new video playback tool allows users to play a video derived from the flight of an aircraft or UAV. The playback option displays a video file synced to any line feature with per-vertex times, fly-through lines or point features with recognized timestamp attributes.
Version 16.1 of Global Mapper also offers the option to rotate the map view as needed, allowing the user to more clearly visualize any spatial data with a unique alignment. The automatic “Track Up” mode works when connected to a GPS device and rotates the map view based on the current GPS heading. The new release also introduces the ability to select vector features with the Digitizer tool in the 3D Viewer. This functionality links the 2D and 3D maps, allowing users the option to pan, zoom, measure, and add vector data in one viewer while automatically replicating actions and updating features in the other. The right-click menu enables users to perform many Digitizer operations on the selected features in the 3D window.
Single-user license upgrades for version 15 are available for $169; upgrades are also available for USB dongles and network licenses. To purchase a dongle or network license upgrade, contact sales at [email protected].
