Tag: survey

Esri Launches Photo Survey Web App for Property Surveys

Many local governments use large teams of volunteers to evaluate property conditions and identify structures that may be abandoned or in disrepair. Property surveys may take several months to complete and are hard to maintain over time.

To simplify survey data collection Esri has partnered with the City of New Orleans (NOLA) to create Photo Survey, an ArcGIS for Local Government solution. Photo Survey is a web application that can be used by local governments to publish street-level photo collections and conduct focused property surveys that may identify blight, damaged structures or construction activity. Like all ArcGIS for Local Government solutions, Photo Survey is included with an ArcGIS subscription.

“Photo Survey leverages location-enabled photos produced by commercially available cameras and simplifies data processing so that street-level photo collections can be combined with relevant survey questions and used to inventory property conditions,” says Chris Buscaglia, Esri local government solutions engineer. “The street-level photo collection can then be published with the Photo Survey application and shared with the general public so property conditions can be crowdsourced from members of the community.”

In addition to blight inventories, Photo Survey could also be used to identify structures damaged by a natural or man-made disaster, construction activity that may lead to reappraisal efforts, and/or dilapidated buildings that pose public health and safety concerns to fire service personnel, according to Esri.

“We’re excited to crowdsource the property survey process with the Photo Survey application,” says Greg Hymel, NOLA enterprise GIS manager. “Enabling New Orleans citizens to conduct surveys for us with this app will effectively remove neighborhood bias so that, when we go live, we can make projections about the entire city instead of pockets of special-interest areas.”

Photo Survey can be downloaded now from the ArcGIS for Local Government solution site.

September 24, 2015
Spectra Precision Introduces New and Enhanced Survey Solutions

Spectra Precision introduced at INTERGEO this week new and enhanced products in its portfolio of survey solutions. With the new additions, survey and construction professionals have more positioning instrument choices to meet their job requirements, the company said.

Spectra Precision made the announcement at INTERGEO 2015, the world’s largest conference on geodesy, geoinformatics and land management.

The new and enhanced products include:

Spectra Precision FOCUS 35 RX – A new range of motorized total stations providing high-speed, accuracy and precision in measurement. The FOCUS 35 RX robotic instrument moves the power of the observer from the instrument to the range pole, improving efficiency. The speed of observation and precise positioning of the FOCUS 35 RX Robotic Total Station is provided by patented StepDrive motion technology, which controls the horizontal and vertical motion of the motors, eliminating the need for traditional motion locks. The FOCUS 35 RX includes a tracking sensor that uses LockNGo FastTrack tracking technology, enabling the instrument to constantly lock onto the prism.

The FOCUS 35 RX is available in 2”, 3” or 5” accuracies, features market leading extended operating time with its dual battery system and is controlled externally by Spectra Precision Ranger, Nomad, or T41 data collectors running Spectra Precision Survey Pro or Spectra Precision Layout Pro field software on the Ranger or Nomad.

“The streamlined design, extremely light weight, very quick turning speed and exceptional battery life enhance the overall value-proposition of the FOCUS 35 RX and make this instrument a very compelling choice for a wide range of survey and construction applications,” said Olivier Casabianca, Spectra Precision Business Area Director. “With the introduction of the FOCUS 35 RX, Spectra Precision continues to expand and improve its portfolio with powerful solutions using new technologies.”

Spectra Precision Nomad 1050 Data Collector — The Nomad 900 has been updated with new features and capabilities. The Nomad 1050 has more RAM, more Flash and more speed. The base processor is now 1 GHz compared to 806 MHz on Nomad 900 and the Nomad 1050 has 512-MB RAM and 8GB flash storage. The other major enhancement is a new 3.75-G dual-mode GSM and CDMA WWAN modem to provide fast and versatile connectivity for Spectra Precision customers. Also, the new WWAN module uses an internal antenna eliminating the need for an external antenna.

Spectra Precision Survey Pro 5.7 Field Software — Constant improvement and enhancement continues with Survey Pro. Survey Pro version 5.7 contains significant changes to enable more productive field data collection. Included in this update are new map displays that enable viewing and managing most of the map features that are located on the main map display. The GNSS and robotic staking screens can also display a map view to include background maps along with the standard dynamic guidance control option. The GNSS offsets routine has been updated and now includes a distance-distance option. For those customers who wish to use GNSS and robotic simultaneously, there are now enhanced options for configuration and switching between modes.

Spectra Precision Survey Office v3.60 Software — Spectra Precision Survey Office now includes enhanced functionality; support for the Spectra Precision FOCUS DL-15 Digital Level and the import of leveling data from any DiNi level; least squares and 5 and 7 parameter Helmert transformations with reports; Geoid 12B support and grouping by country in the Coordinate System Manager; Point Cloud support plus many more additional enhancements.

Spectra Precision MobileMapper Field GIS Application for Android Devices — A new version of the popular MobileMapper Field GIS application now running on Android devices. This new software is dedicated to GIS data collection and focuses on simplicity to maximize the number of field personnel contributing to the geospatial business. Primarily for MobileMapper 300 users, the application will be the key component of Spectra Precision’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) solution. This makes it possible to pair Android tablets and/or smart phones with the MobileMapper 300 GNSS receiver to collect GIS data with survey-grade accuracy.

“With the introduction of these new and enhanced products into the Spectra Precision portfolio, survey and construction professionals have a wider range of economical choices to get the job done,” said Olivier Casabianca. “These new Spectra Precision optical products complement the ground-breaking line of Spectra Precision solutions, enabling Spectra Precision to offer a complete range of survey products.”

September 15, 2015
Carlson SurvCE 5.0 Improvements on Display at INTERGEO
Advanced control for multiple rod heights and prism offsets.

Carlson Software experts will be demonstrating the newest abilities of the 5.0 version of SurvCE, its data-collection software, at INTERGEO, being held in Stuttgart, Germany, Sept. 15-17. Carlson will have two stands: indoors at C8.017 (Hall 8) and outdoors at FG.004.

SurvCE v. 5.0 software is scheduled to be officially released and available for download following extensive testing and after final enhancements are completed in October. Those buying a new license of SurvCE 4.0 software between now and the release of SurvCE 5.0 will receive an automatic upgrade to 5.0.

SurvCE 5.0 focuses on speed and power. A new memory allocator empowers users to do more, faster, opening large drawing and coordinate files with ease.

Mission Planning user-defined list for obstruction masking.

Other top new improvements include the following:
- Enhanced GNSS tilt sensor (IMU) for confirmation of level and the taking of measurements with tilted GPS/GNSS poles (works with selected GNSS such as Stonex and CHC in addition to Carlson);
- All-new GNSS Mission Planning, which will include GLONASS mission planning;
- Newly designed two-step stakeout procedure now intuitively and accurately guides the user to his point, delivering easy to follow navigation that shifts to proximity information as he gets close to target;
- And map-picked, cursor-displayed stakeout and one-pick measurement options.
Featuring hundreds of additions and improvements, Carlson SurvCE 5.0 continues to support the widest range of popular and new release RTK GPS and conventional/robotic total stations of any other data collection software on the market.

“SurvCE 5.0 is incorporating new emerging technologies like IMU support, while still providing its renowned friendly user environment,” says Jesus Latova, SurvCE product director. “Simplicity and safety are our main focus in developing these new features, together with continuing the extensive instrument support capacity of SurvCE.”

Carlson SurvCE is both powerful and easy to use, providing users with the options to collect data as they prefer. SurvCE 5.0 will be available in nearly two dozen languages. These include: English, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swediish, Tagalog, and Turkish.

Hardware from Carlson SoftwareAlso visit the Carlson outside stand (F.004, outside Hall 8) at Intergeo to see and sample its hardware options, produced to work specifically with its popular software. These will include the rugged, fast, and popular Surveyor2 data collector, the BRx5 GNSS receiver, and other equipment recommended by Carlson.

For more information about SurvCE 5.0 and additional Carlson Software offerings, call 606-564-5028 (U.S.) or +31 36 750 1781 in the Netherlands and ask for your local Carlson representative.
September 14, 2015
Septentrio Launches AsteRx-U and AsteRx-U Marine

Septentrio this week is launching two successors to its APS-U: The AsteRx-U and the AsteRx-U Marine multi-constellation dual-antenna receivers. The AsteRx-U will be presented to the public for the first time at two trade shows this week. ION GNSS+ takes place Sept.14-18 in Tampa, Fla., and INTERGEO 2015 will be held in Stuttgart, Germany, Sept. 14-18.

The AsteRx-U and the AsteRx-U Marine incorporate the latest GNSS tracking and positioning algorithms and interference mitigation. Machine-control users in the agricultural and construction industries, as well as users in marine and mining industries, benefit from a complete system with integrated UHF radio, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth and cellular connectivity and a spectrum analyzer, Septentrio said. All configurations can be done via the on-board web interface.

The AsteRx-U and AsteRx-U Marine feature a full range of positioning techniques and algorithms to ensure that users have the highest accuracy and reliability. The spectrum analyzer enables users to visualize the RF spectrum. Based on its extensive experience with real-life interference sources and their mitigation, Septentrio has developed interference mitigation technology that automatically counteracts various kinds of ambient intentional and unintentional RF interference.

The AsteRx-U family of receivers is built around Septentrio’s latest ASIC, GReCo4, which was introduced in 2014. It incorporates built-in jamming detection and countermeasures, multi-path rejection, fast acquisition and other advanced features. Both receivers have more than 500 hardware channels to track all available constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, IRNSS and QZSS) and feature many algorithms: LOCK+ technology to maintain tracking during heavy vibration machine use and IONO+ technology to assure the accuracy of the position even in regions of elevated ionospheric activity.

The AsteRx-U has decimeter- and centimeter-level RTK positioning including TerraStar. The AsteRx-U Marine also supports Veripos PPP augmentation services. It includes extra anti-jamming technology to counter Iridium and INMARSAT-uplink interference, as well as an extra antenna connector for a dedicated L-band antenna to optimize L-band reception at high latitudes.

Straightforward to set up and integrate with existing systems, the AsteRx-U and AsteRx-U Marine use any device with a web browser to facilitate usability and configuration for the user.

“We want to make it easy for our customers to use high-accuracy positioning in their work,” said Jan Leyssens, Septentrio product manager. “Using the integrated communication functionality in the compact and portable AsteRx-U, users won’t have to worry about adding their own modems or UHF radios to get access to corrections.”

Leyssens continued, “The receiver web interface is available wirelessly on any mobile device. It was designed together with several of our key customers, resulting in an interface that is not only easy to use by field operators, but also provides many useful troubleshooting tools, such as the spectrum analyzer, to solve problems in the field and minimize downtime.”

Septentrio will be at Booth 318 at ION GNSS+, and at Hall: 4, Booth: D4.014, at INTERGEO.

September 14, 2015
Survey Market Key to Maxtena’s Growth

Vanja Maric

Exhibiting at CTIA Super Mobility 2015, Vanja Maric, director of sales and marketing for Rockville, Maryland-based antenna-maker Maxtena, pointed out the challenge that exists for antenna makers in an uncertain drone market: forecasting what will happen next and planning for that future.

“The problem with the drone space its so volatile and so fragmented, and it’s very, very hard to predict,” Maric said. “Speaking to industry leaders in the UAV market, they don’t even know what it’s going to be in three years, and it’s very hard to put all your cards in that.”

That fragmentation is largely a dichotomy between the needs of the professional-grade market and the recreational drone pilots, Maric said. Maxtena is currently the antenna provider for several large UAV manufacturers, although confidentiality prevents them from being named.

Maxtena M1516 L1 GPS GLONASS Passive Embedded Antenna

“It all comes down to the necessity of precision, and different industries have different needs. UAVs, for example, some use very simple GPS patch antennas, simple receivers and precise location is not as important,” he said. “Then you have guys in the professional space where it is a necessity.”

That necessity right now is in the survey market, particularly RTK solutions for construction and mining operations in emerging countries. The company has seen an uptick in customers from Asia looking for antennas for Beidou. More specifically, Maric said handhelds for lone worker tracking in open pit mining in China has had “fantastic” growth. The M1227 antenna released earlier this year accomplishes this goal.

Maxtena GPS antennas at CTIA 2015

“It’s not just hardware; they have a lot of costs—software, mapping— in on all that, and if that package is right, you have something special. However, don’t forget: The antenna is the link between you and the satellite. That antenna has to be right; that’s what most companies forget,” Maric said. “You can have the best receivers and software in the world, but if you can’t make the link you can’t do it.”

September 13, 2015
Aerial Photography, Surveying Top FAA-Approved Business Uses for UAS
A Sensefly eXom UAV inspects a structure.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) today released a report that finds more than 25 types of business operations have been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly unmanned aircraft systems commercially in the National Airspace System (NAS). According to the report, aerial photography received the most exemptions followed by real estate and aerial surveying. The report also finds that exemptions have been approved in 49 states.

“These figures show that businesses across every industry sector have been waiting to use UAS for years and are excited to finally get this technology off the ground,” said Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI. “From inspecting bridges and power lines to filming movies and supporting emergency services, the applications of UAS are virtually limitless and enable researchers, public agencies and businesses to do things that were previously considered to be impossible.”

In May 2014, the FAA announced it would consider granting exemptions for certain low-risk commercial UAS applications under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. Since then, the agency has received more than 2,700 requests and approved more than 1,400 petitions.

AUVSI analyzed the first 1,000 exemptions approved by the FAA. Specifically, the report finds:
- The approved exemptions cover more than 25 types of business operations, with aerial photography receiving the most approvals with 512. Real estate followed with 350 exemptions and general aerial surveying with 301 exemptions.
- Exemptions were approved for operators from 49 states. California received the most with 114, followed by Florida with 97 and Texas with 82.
- California companies also manufactured the most platforms mentioned in the approvals, totaling 140. Florida followed with 19. In all, 22 states house manufacturers of platforms approved in the first 1,000 exemptions.
- More than 90 percent of the first 1,000 exemptions were granted to small businesses.
- Companies that received exemptions generate at least $500 billion to the U.S. economy annually and represent more than 600,000 jobs.
While the Section 333 process has continued to unlock the potential of UAS technology, AUVSI emphasized that regulating by exemption is no substitute for finalized rules.

“For the full potential of the UAS commercial market to be realized in the U.S., the FAA needs to finalize its small UAS rule as quickly as possible,” Wynne said. “Once this happens, we will have an established framework for UAS operations allowing anyone who follows the rule to fly. The positive effects of the regulation will be felt across the whole country.”

An economic impact study released by AUVSI in 2013 found the UAS industry will create more than 100,000 new jobs and more than $82 billion in economic impact within the first ten years following UAS integration.

The complete study, including state-by-state data, is available.
September 10, 2015
Tallysman Introduces VeraPhase 6000 High-Precision GNSS Antenna
Tallysman’s VeraPhase 6000 high-precision GNSS antenna.

Tallysman, a manufacturer of high-performance GNSS antennas, announces the commercial availability of the VeraPhase 6000 antenna series, a family of antennas that provides the lowest axial ratios (horizon to horizon, through all azimuths) across all GNSS frequencies (70 percent), a tight PCV (± 1mm through all frequencies, azimuths, and elevations), and a consistent PCO through all frequencies.

The performance of the VeraPhase rivals that of choke ring antennas, but is much lighter, smaller and more economical, Tallysman said. The antenna family is designed for use in survey, precision RTK and reference antenna applications.

The VeraPhase 6000 also provides an available PCB within the base of the antenna for integration of a custom system board such as a dual-band or RTK GNSS receivers or other applications.

The VP6000 family provides high receive RHCP gain over the full GNSS spectrum:
- low GNSS band (1164 MHz to 1300 MHz)
- L-band correction services (1525 MHz to 1559 MHz)
- high GNSS band (1559 MHz to 1610 MHz).
Each model features a robust, high IP3, pre-filtered LNA to minimize desensing from high-level out-of-band signals, including 700 MHz LTE, and that yet still provides a noise figure of less than 2.5 dB. Non-pre-filtered versions are also available with a noise figure of less than 1.5 dB.

The VP6000 antenna family is available in three formats:
- A survey-grade all-band antenna that provides 35-dB LNA gain and is available with a robust rubber bumper for field use.
- An all-band base station antenna is available with 35-dB LNA gain or with an internal 15-dB pre-filtered pre-amp for OEM applications.
- An all-band reference antenna that features a 50-dB gain LNA, a conical radome to shed snow ice and birds, and is available with a robust monument mount for sub-millimeter precision.
Each antenna has a well defined phase centre offset relative to the antenna reference plane.

The base housing of the VP6000 is IP67-compliant and weighs less than 700 grams. The antenna is 167 millimeters wide at the top, 110 millimeters wide at the base and 110 millimeters in height. Each model has a 5/8-inch x 11 TPI thread for mounting and is available with either a TNC or an N-type connector.

A white paper is available on Tallysman’s website.

Tallysman’s booth at INTERGEO is in Hall E8, Booth 038. Follow GPS World on Twitter for the latest news from INTERGEO.
September 9, 2015
Sony’s Vertical Take-off Drone Aimed at Surveyors

Sony is developing an unmanned aerial vehicle that lifts off and lands vertically like a helicopter (also known as a VTOL craft for vertical take-off and landing.) The VTOL drone is being developed with a Tokyo robotics firm under a collaborative company called Aerosense.

The drone can carry up to 22 pounds, fly continuously for two hours, and reach a speed of 106 miles per hour. Sony is developing it for business customers, who would use it for “measuring, surveying, observing and inspecting” as soon as next year, so it will likely carry different types of instruments, depending on the task a customer requires.

The video below shows a prototype flight on Monday.

Aerosense, created this month, is a joint venture between Sony and Tokyo-based startup ZMP Inc., which specializes in autopilot technology. The venture is part of Sony’s efforts to move beyond its core consumer products into enterprise markets. Aerosense will offer services such as inspecting aging infrastructure and surveying land that is difficult to access. The drones would be piloted automatically based on input from users about which areas they want surveyed.

August 28, 2015
OPUS Unavailable this Weekend for Station Upgrade

The Continuously Operating Reference Station network’s Silver Spring facility will be go offline starting at about 2 p.m. Eastern time Friday, but is expected to be back online by noon Sunday. “Our alternate facility will have full data holdings,” the National Geodetic Survey says on its CORS website.

The shutdown is for a building-wide upgrade. The Online Positioning User Service (OPUS) will be unavailable during the entire shutdown period.

Eric Gakstatter, GPS World’s Survey/GIS editor, has outlined alternatives that surveyors and GIS professionals can use during a shutdown.

August 20, 2015
MicroSurvey FieldGenius 8 Provides Control in Field Data Collection
The newest version of MicroSurvey FieldGenius delivers expanded toolsets and enhanced capabilities for fast, accurate and complete field data collection, according to maker MicroSurvey Software. FieldGenius 8 was developed through close market collaboration and feedback from users, and provides tight control over crucial aspects of field data collection through expanded toolsets and an enhanced user experience, the company said.

Benefits of the new release include:
- Easy GNSS Local Transformation. A redesigned interface provides a streamlined workflow along with the ability to export/import localization files and use Helmert transformation.
- Enhanced DXF Support. Blocks, extrusion vectors, circles, and other entities are now supported in DXF file format for faster and easier drawing import.
- Advanced Point Averaging. The routine allows users to take multiple GNSS and/or TPS temporary measurements of a point and calculate an averaged position for increased accuracy and reliability.
- All-New Electronic Bubble. Integrated inertial sensors are now supported, which enables tilt compensated surveying on selected receivers and improves efficiency at difficult job sites.
- Native Unicode Support. Unicode character encoding has been implemented throughout the program. International users can now use their own language for data entry inside FieldGenius.
- Simplified GIS Mapping. GIS attributes can now be easily added to figures. In addition, users can quickly access default/previous values for both points and figures to make mapping tasks even easier.
FieldGenius 8 also includes improvements to road alignments, an onboard basic measurement mode, dynamic screen rotation, and expanded ASCII export options. Additionally, supported coordinate systems, geoids, instruments, and data collectors has been expanded, making it easier to integrate into existing survey operations.
August 12, 2015
Topcon Partners with Ascending Technologies on UAS

The AscTec Falcon 8 drone.

Topcon Positioning Group announces a worldwide distribution partnership with unmanned aerial system (UAS) provider Ascending Technologies. The agreement gives Topcon exclusivity for the global distribution of the AscTec Falcon 8 rotary-wing model, plus the GeoEXPERT and the InspectionPRO sensing and feature packages.

“We are excited to add the brand new Topcon Falcon 8, powered by Ascending Technologies, to our scope of aerial mapping solutions,” said Eduardo Falcon, executive vice president and general manager for the Topcon GeoPositioning Solutions Group. “By distributing both core target models on a worldwide level, Topcon can offer more end-users the flexibility and proven advances that these patented rotary-wing systems provide for survey, inspection and monitoring applications.” The Topcon-branded UAS includes the latest AscTecTrinity autopilot technology.

Based in Germany, Ascending Technologies is a developer and manufacturer of micro UAS for professional, civil and research use. “The AscTecFalcon 8 has been in series production since 2009 and still is the first choice UAS of world market leading inspection and surveying service providers,” said Jan Stumpf, one of the four CEOs and co-founder of Ascending Technologies.

“We are proud that our proven and advanced technology can now be easily accessed throughout the world. With the help of Topcon and its reseller network we can provide our high standards of support and customer service everywhere. This partnership gives us the freedom to continue the development of game changing technologies our customers need, while quickly extending our active fleet of reliable UAVs,” said Stumpf.

August 3, 2015
JAVAD GrAnt Antenna Designed for High Performance
The GrAnt by JAVAD GNSS is a versatile high-performance antenna.

With J-shield — the JAVAD GNSS filter that protects GPS L1, Galileo L1 and GLONASS L1 bands — the GrAnt antenna can track GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN and QZSS signals. J-shield brings in all the useful signals intact and rejects out-of-band signals with the slope of about 12 dB/MHz. Similarly, the filter protects GPS L2, GPS L5, GLONASS L2, GLONASS L3 and Galileo L5, and has slope of about 9 dB/MHz. The filters have been extensively tested with five different innovative tests that prove that the filters also improve the performance of GNSS receivers.

The GrAnt antenna can be mounted on flat surfaces with four screws or mounted on standard poles (5/8-11 or 1-14 inch thread). The antenna cable can be connected via the standard TNC (N-type optional) connector on its side or routed through the center of the antenna for ultimate protection in harsh environments.

An optional ground plane can be purchased to increase multipath mitigation.

The top-level model, the GrAnt-G5T, supports a wider band to accommodate additional signals, with frequencies of 1555-1610 MHz and 1164-1300 MHz. Full signal capability of the GrAnt-G5T is:
- GPS L1/L2/L5
- GLONASS L1/L2/L3
- Galileo E1/E5ab/E6
- BeiDou B1/B2/B3
- WAAS L1/L5,EGNOS,MSAS,GAGAN
- QZSS L1/L2/L5/LEX
August 3, 2015