GPS World

Tag: technology

  • what3words addresses Rio ahead of Summer Olympics

    RioGo
    The RioGo app.

    what3word’s three-word addressing system has been integrated into numerous mapping and navigation services ahead of the Summer Olympics, being held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Aug. 5-21.

    what3words is used in the RioGo app (which won the Rio Olympics Transport Challenge) and Navmii, an offline satnav app.

    what3words makes it easy to find and get to any location in the world, the company explains. The service works both online and offline, and is based on a location reference platform that uses a global grid of 57 trillion 3 x 3-meter squares. Each square has a unique pre-assigned three-word address, no matter how remote. This makes it easy to both pinpoint an address and communicate it — in whichever of its nine different languages travelers prefer, including Brazil’s national tongue Portuguese.

    At the Olympics, specifying exactly where to meet or where to go can be difficult. For example, there are four entrances to the Aquatic stadium: expired.stud.cucumber, carbon.padding.puddles, ducks.hillside.frocks and saying.rosette.slogged.

    Meeting friends or family in the Olympic Park is easy — meeting at forgiven.milder.dragon (the handball entrance in the Future Arena). If medical attention is needed, tourists can navigate offline to the Jacarepagua Pharmacy is at hint.laws.squares, while the Victoria Hospital is at reheat.admit.take

    Outside of the Olympic Park, tourists can park near the Christ the Redeemer statue at puff.goggles.really, or find the start of the walking trail to Sugar Loaf at replays.chain.assist.

    Getting around with what3words

    There are many different ways what3words will be used during the Olympics. what3words is in RioGo, the official Olympics public transit app — so visitors can use multi-modal journeys (bus, bike hire, walking, taxi…) to navigate around the city.

    For navigation when walking or driving, users can type in three-word addresses into Navmii for offline routing to and from three-word addresses.

    PocketEarth, an app available on Apple OS, lets users view worldwide street maps and key locations of hostels, cafés, bars, hiking trails and more. Guests simply download the offline map for Brazil and they can navigate the entire country simply, using 3 word addresses for every location.

    When planning their trip, visitors can use TripUGo’s travel guide to find museums, swimming spots, adventure playgrounds, hiking and biking trails and much more. Every TripUGo location has its 3 word address listed — from the skatepark at akward.tilting.beams or the Casa do Pontal Museum at owner.includes.solo to the surf spot at Saquarema beach.

    Guest houses are now listing their three-word addresses to make sure travelers can find them, even offline. Brazilrentmyhouse.com, for example, set up by entrepreneur Matthew Parker to help visitors find local accommodation during the Rio Games, lists three-word addresses for each rental.

    Rio Security

    DigitalGlobe has developed an extensive security package to ensure the safety of guests and athletes during Rio 2016. Using its fleet of WorldView satellites, DigitalGlobe’s package that detects disruptions to infrastructure, identifies high-crime zones and offers the most up-to-date imagery of Rio as seen from space, providing security officials with the information needed to formulate comprehensive security planning. It also will help people avoid mosquito zones (Brazil is facing a servere Zika virus outbreak).

    what3words has been integrated into the platform. While GPS coordinates are accurate, communicating long strings of numbers between humans is prone to error. With what3words, security teams and those on the ground can quickly identify and easily communicate incidents, team rallying points, helicopter landing sites or temporary triage tents. They can share an accurate location with a paramedic, a security team member or even with civilians and guests.

    The DigitalGlobe Rio Olympics security package consists of more than 100 geospatial layers containing over 80,000 features and 1.25 million building footprints, extracted and compiled from DigitalGlobe imagery and publicly available data.

    Rio_Rocinha_favela
    Brazil doesn’t track addresses for its favelas, such as Rio’s largest, Rocinha.

    what3words in the favelas

    The residents of Rio’s largest favela, Rocinha, already know all about the efficiency of what3words. According to many official maps, Rocinha is just an empty space. More than 3,000 streets and the homes of more than 70,000 residents are invisible.

    The Brazilian post office does not deliver in favelas, but a local co-operative, Carteiro Amigo, is using what3words to address every single house in the teeming favela to safely deliver letters and parcels.

  • Red Hen’s isWhere 3.1.0 offers fast processing for geotagged imagery

    Red Hen Systems has released isWhere 3.1.0, a media mapping add-on tool for viewing geotagged imagery on Google Earth.

    isWhere 3.1.0 is for professionals and enthusiasts who want a quick, straightforward, affordable way to view, analyze, compare and organize geotagged videos and their corresponding track logs, the company said.

    The decoding and capture speed of isWhere 3.1.0 has increased ten-fold. Its georeferencing capabilities have expanded to include text files and image files. Anyone with a camera and a GPX logger can view a video track on Google Earth using this tool.

    Screenshot from isWhere 3.1.0 shows a video tracklog. The larger purple arrow (in the larger red circle) indicates where the video was collected and the video at the top is of that point. The timecodes within the red circles match. A white bubble on the right displays collected data. The window at lower left is used for selecting styles and customizing colors.
    Screenshot from isWhere 3.1.0 shows a video tracklog. The larger purple arrow (in the larger red circle) indicates where the video was collected and the video at the top is of that point. The timecodes within the red circles match. A white bubble on the right displays collected data. The window at lower left is used for selecting styles and customizing colors.

     

    isWhere 3.1.0:

    • decodes geospatial enabled media 10X times faster than earlier versions
    • captures frames 10X faster than with previous versions
    • georeferences .doc, .docx, .pdf and all other text files
    • georeferences tagged image file format (.tiff)
    • displays videos with GPS Exchange Format(.gpx) overlay companion files for Garmin VIRB cameras.

    “Our reasons for adding these significant features are twofold,” Director of Software Engineering Bogdan Besfamylnyy said. “We want to improve the user experience by accommodating more file formats and make decoding GEM videos and extracting frames faster.”

    “We also want to put isWhere into the hands of those who want to use our tools with video taken with action cameras or cameras from manufacturers who output georeferenced companion files with captured video,” Besfamylnyy said.

    Visit the Red Hen website for a video demonstration and to see more screenshots demonstrating isWhere’s capabilities.

  • Esri and Leica partner to offer grants to governments

    Geographic information system (GIS) provider Esri has partnered with Swiss-based spatial measurement instrument manufacturer Leica Geosystems to encourage innovation of mobile field data collection in government by offering grants totaling $143,250 in goods and services.

    esri-logo

    Known as the Smart Communities Innovation Challenge, 10 governments that submit detailed project proposals demonstrating increased efficiencies in collecting data for decision support or improved productivity in delivering governmental services will be selected to receive a grant.

    Project proposals will be accepted from Aug. 15, 2016, until the official submission deadline at 5 p.m. (Pacific daylight time) on Oct. 14, 2016. Grant recipients will be announced on Oct. 31.

    leica_logoTo be entered for consideration, proposal submissions must be uploaded in conjunction with the organization’s identifying information through a form on the Smart Communities Innovation Challenge landing page.

    So long as operations are based in the United States, any government or department, whether municipal, regional, special districts, state, city, county, or otherwise, is qualified to receive a grant.

    To be selected, it is necessary that a project confirm the value of combining GIS and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies for data collection, optimizing workloads, and providing real-time information that supports field mobility. Proposal reviewers will look for ideas that support complete workflows extended to back-office processes such as operational dashboards.

    Priority will be given to projects that tie GIS and GPS to daily workloads, influence sharing of geographically enabled data across multiple jurisdictions or interdepartmental ventures, and clearly convey a perceived benefit or return on investment.

    The intent of the joint program is to supply governments with the tools to succeed as they implement progressive methods to streamline workflows. By providing technology, training, and technical support grants, Esri and Leica aim to inspire legislative bodies to devise transformational approaches to improving the efficiency of mobile fieldworkers.

    As innovative ideas from the government community are brought forward for solving real-world problems, the best applications will be those of universal appeal and the ability to be shared between governments through an open exchange hub.

    The challenge’s grant winners will be thought-leading governments that have plans in place to jump-start projects such as facility inspections, emergency reporting, asset inventory, environmental management and monitoring, efficient employee routing, code enforcement, population and housing enumeration, mosquito abatement and/or sign inventory.

    To learn more about the Smart Communities Innovation Challenge and other grants sponsored by Esri, visit go.esri.com/pr-mobilegrant.

  • Helping the blind see: UAV mapping turns UNESCO site into 3D model

    amphitheatre-rayCloud-pix4dmapper-pix4d-cyprus-O

    The ancient city-kingdom of Kourion on the southwestern coast of Cyprus can now be “seen” by those with impaired vision.

    Kourion, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Paphos, was once an important urban center. While most of the archaeological remains — including several buildings with well conserved floor mosaics — date to the Roman and Early Byzantine periods, the most ancient finds connect to settlements and tombs of the Ceramic Neolithic period (circa 5500-4000 BCE).

    A tactile map: In summer 2015, sections of the virtual 3D model, including the amphitheater, were printed in 3D and displayed in the visitor center with Braille explanations, providing an interactive history to those with visual impairments.
    A tactile map: In summer 2015, sections of the virtual 3D model, including the amphitheater, were printed in 3D and displayed in the visitor center with Braille explanations, providing an interactive history to those with visual impairments.

    British drone manufacturer QuestUAV, in cooperation with the Cyprus University of Technology, acquired high-resolution aerial images of Kourion Archaeological Park with a surveying drone, and then created a virtual 3D model from the images with Pix4Dmapper Pro.

    The QuestUAV team (a pilot and laptop commander) flew over 100 hectare of the archaeological park at 400 feet with a Q-200 Surveyor drone equipped with a Sony A6000 camera and a 16mm wide-angle lens, taking 330 aerial photographs during a 20-minute, fully autonomous flight.

    The automatic camera trigger and the gimbaled camera system enabled acquisition of pin-sharp pictures, even at wind speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour.

    The images have a ground sampling distance of 2.5 centimeters with an overlap of 80 percent in flight direction and 65 percent sidelap. During the flight, the Q-200 Surveyor recorded the GPS coordinates of each camera position in a log file, allowing for image geo-location.

    The entire survey took no longer than an afternoon.

    Aerial view of the ampitheatre.
    Aerial view of the ampitheatre.

     

  • WorldView-4 satellite heads to Vandenberg for September launch

    Built by Lockheed Martin, the WorldView-4 satellite will expand DigitalGlobe’s constellation of high-accuracy, high-resolution satellites, and double the availability of 30-cm resolution imagery for commercial and government customers.
    Built by Lockheed Martin, the WorldView-4 satellite will expand DigitalGlobe’s constellation of high-accuracy, high-resolution satellites, and double the availability of 30-centimeter resolution imagery for commercial and government customers.

    Final preparations are underway at Lockheed Martin to ship DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-4 Earth imaging satellite to Vandenberg Air Force Base for a Sept. 15 launch.

    The Lockheed Martin team is completing final satellite testing and checkout before shipment. Testing includes calculating the weight and center of gravity of WorldView-4, completing a health check of major systems, and testing out image collection and downlinking capability.

    “The high-resolution and high-accuracy images taken by WorldView-4 will support DigitalGlobe’s worldwide customer base,” said Carl Marchetto, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space. “DigitalGlobe’s smart imagery serves hundreds of thousands of end-users charged with the safety and security of nations, and enables the maps and geospatial applications relied on by billions of consumers.”

    “Only the DigitalGlobe constellation, with the addition of WorldView-4, offers the highest quality, and most comprehensive global coverage of our changing planet through 2030, so our customers can be confident they will have the information to make critical decisions,” said Walter Scott, founder and chief technology officer, DigitalGlobe. “WorldView-4 will help us continue to transform the way we see the world, and advance our mission of keeping our planet and its people safe and secure.”

    Once launched, WorldView-4 will double DigitalGlobe’s coverage of the world’s highest resolution imagery and increase the rate at which it grows its 15-year library of time-lapse high-resolution imagery. WorldView-4 will orbit Earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and capturing more 680,000 square kilometers of the Earth’s surface daily (19.5 terabytes) the equivalent of the land area of Texas.

    With an orbit approximately 400 miles from Earth, the satellite will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket provided by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services.

  • White House seeks public input on plan for civil Earth observations

    The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is seeking public input on development of the second U.S. National Plan for Civil Earth Observations, the 2017 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations.

    Today, the Federal Register posted OSTP’s Request for Information (RFI) on the development of the plan, which will build upon the priorities and supporting actions identified in the 2014 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations. Through it, OSTP aims to advance the United State’s capabilities to ensure stable, continuous and coordinated Earth observations for the benefit of society.

    The RFI is publicly accessible here.

    The public input provided will inform OSTP as it works with federal agencies and other stakeholders to develop the plan.

    OSTP welcomes input to develop the plan, and encourages anyone interested to respond via the RFI’s electronic template (to be posted here), which should be sent to [email protected].

    Comments of up to approximately 2,000 characters per question are requested and must be received by 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time), July 15, 2016, to be considered.

  • Dam repair monitored by robotic total station

    The project raised the dam height by 60 centimeters, reinforcing existing abutments and adding two piano key spillways.
    The project raised the dam height by 60 centimeters, reinforcing existing abutments and adding two piano key spillways.

    At the Razisse dam in southwest France, a Spectra Precision Focus 35 robotic total station was used to monitor structural movements during major repairs.

    The Focus 35 total station on the job.
    The Focus 35 total station on the job.

    The Focus 35 monitored to a half-millimeter accuracy movement of the arch dam abutments during a critical six-week period in the project. Raising the height of the dam was expected to cause the abutments to settle, so the Focus 35 was positioned to measure XY movement to ensure they were settling properly and within expectations.

    Measurements were taken at each step, with results communicated in real time to the contractor through an Excel file. The results enabled engineers to make critical decisions on whether to move further into the project. The final movement was less than a tenth of a millimeter, well within the acceptable value.

  • Skyline PhotoMesh 3D: On-the-fly models while flying

    During my tenure as the GIS manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission, I had the opportunity to work with many first responders, primarily police, fire and E911. I always promoted the capabilities of GIS to develop a common operational picture.

    However, most first responders were not interested in becoming GIS experts, especially with traditional GIS software and ortho imagery. They just wanted easy and effective tools that would help them do their job better. Then Pictometry metric oblique imagery hit the scene. It was a game changer because it was easy to use and, most important, the oblique images provided a visual perspective that average users could grasp quickly. (See my 2008 column that explains why.)

    Soon, 3D model creation and navigation became common. In my opinion, 3D models are just a more robust way of viewing oblique views. 3D models are becoming more commonplace, but generating those models is more time consuming and resource intensive.

    A few of you may remember that four years ago, USSOCOM (U.S. Special Operations Command) had more than 20 — yes, 20 — different 3D model viewers. These were mostly proprietary systems from major contractors that required separate maintenance and support, and sometimes led to user confusion and delays, not to mention expense. USSOCOM appointed a team to evaluate and reduce the number of 3D viewers, and they got it down to two, with Skyline TerraExplorer being one of them.

    Building on that 3D reputation, Skyline Software Systems recently developed a 3D model creation capability that puts easy and rapid model creation in everyone’s toolbox. PhotoMesh is Skyline’s new 3D model creation software designed to build photorealistic 3D models as a fully automated process using auto-triangulation (AT) of multiple aerial images. Skyline can provide 3D model creation as a service or provide the software so customers can do the model creation in-house.

    Below is a screenshot of a sample model created using PhotoMesh from UAV video I shot. then geolocated by Remote GEO (see my February column). The below 3D model was processed locally by Skyline using a typical laptop, and the entire process was finished in under 35 minutes. However, if speed was critical, Skyline could generate the model in the cloud, with the whole process taking a minute or two.

    Here is a quick overview video that will give you an idea of the system capability.

    Live demo at GEOINT 2016

    While I was at GEOINT 2016 this May, I had had the chance to talk to Steve Marks, the director of business development at Skyline. He gave me an excellent video overview of PhotoMesh.

    Steve then provided additional detail in several aspects of PhotoMesh including:

    Other developers have come up with similar capabilities, but the Skyline system is the most robust I’ve seen, especially with the flexibility for very rapid model creation through the cloud or local creation in a disconnected environment. Additionally, unlike many other 3D model systems, the Skyline models do include trees and shrubs so viewshed and line-of-site analysis is very realistic and accurate.

    How would it be used?

    In actual use, I can envision first responders arriving at a scene. They could use legacy imagery such as Pictometry oblique images to build a historic as-built model. They could then launch UAV or manned aircraft and capture current geo-located video, selecting and processing images in PhotoMesh and getting back a current 3D model in minutes via the Skyline Cloud service.

    In a disconnected environment, the models could be generated locally but at a slower pace. The 3D models would permit horizontal, vertical and angular measurements. Other analyses could include: line-of-sight and viewshed, determination of blast zones and shielding, overhead hazards such as power lines.

    ince the system is so robust and easy to use, I can see it supplementing ortho and oblique imagery while providing a very user friendly common operational picture as well as very capable analytic tools.

    Retiring soon

    At age 70, I’m looking at real retirement later this year so I’m also looking for a relief. If you have an interest or know someone interested in taking over this monthly column, let me know. The folks at Geospatial Solutions and North Coast Media have been a pleasure to work with so I don’t want to leave without a replacement. You can email me at [email protected]

  • GammaTech introduces customizable, rugged PC

    Durabook-v10bb-03GammaTech Computer Corp.is offering a new all-in-one computer, the Durabook V10BB. The unit is a highly customizable, ultra-rugged, all-in-one computer designed specifically for military and homeland security applications.

    The unit is compliant with multiple military standards and IP67 specification to meet extremely harsh conditions while providing highly reliable CCCI and battle management capabilities.

    The V10BB can be tailored to meet specific applications or requirements through optional military connectors, programmable function buttons, and various military I/O interfaces.

    “When it comes to engineering and manufacturing computer devices that can withstand the most hostile, toughest military applications, GammaTech stands head and shoulders above the competition,” said Tom Wang, GammaTech president. “The rugged Durabook V10BB all-in-one computer provides our military and homeland defense personnel with the accuracy, efficiency, reliability, and durability they deserve and need, whether in actual combat or preparing for it.”

    The Durabook V10BB is compliant with multiple military standards, including:

    • MIL-STD-461F for control of electromagnetic interference (EMI)
    • MIL-STD-810G for vibration, water, temperature, shock and dust proofing
    • MIL-STD-1250 for corrosion prevention and deterioration control
    • MIL-STD-1275 for military ground vehicles (Optional)

    Because of its functionality and safety features, the Durabook V10BB is designed for combat or non-combat military operations in extremely harsh environments.

    Other key features of the Durabook V10BB include:

    • Multi-function display withspecial night mode; and optical bonding with EMI mesh to optimize direct sunlight readability
    • Intel Broadwell MCP processor which supports both 4 GB or 8 GB onboard memory and a 2.5-inch wide temperature 500-GB SATA SSD
    • Thin all-in-one tactical PC: 2.25 inches; 11 pounds
    • Supports SSD quick-release and quick data erase/distract function to protect valuable data.

     

  • Esri agreement to provide access to Chinese maps, imagery

    Dean Angelides, director of International Operations, Esri (left), and Feng Xianquang, director for NGCC, signed the historic agreement to share data with users around the world.
    Dean Angelides, director of International Operations, Esri (left), and Feng Xianquang, director for NGCC, signed the historic agreement to share data with users around the world.

    Esri and the National Geomatics Center of China (NGCC) have signed an agreement providing access to NGCC’s mapping web services, starting this fall.

    The historic agreement will allow more users outside of China to access the country’s authoritative cartographic and imagery data. Users of the Esri ArcGIS platform will have access to the maps for no additional charge.

    NGCC is a government agency attached to National Administration of Surveying, Mapping (NASG) and Geoinformation of China. NGCC is responsible for national data that is used in surveying and mapping projects in China, as well as facilitating the scientific and technological communication between agencies in China, in the areas of sharing geographic data and services over the web.

    “The cooperation between NGCC and Esri will enable a large number of ArcGIS online users to gain access to the rich regional online geodata of China,” said Zhigang Li, NASG chief engineer, on behalf of NASG. “The agreement will facilitate the scientific and technological communication between agencies by sharing geographic information and services over the web in the Asia Pacific Region. NGCC hopes this joint work is able to promote regional, even global, promotion of spatial data.”

    “We are honored to work with the government of China to provide access to the most current and authoritative basemaps for the country,” said Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. “We look forward to continued collaboration.”

    The web services will be available in the third quarter of 2016.

    Photo: Esri

  • Hexagon launches SMART Build for construction management

    Hexagon-SMART-Build

    Hexagon AB has launched HxGN SMART Build, an enterprise construction management software solution designed to alleviate cost overruns and delays.

    SMART Build facilitates the convergence of construction planning and execution through real-time clarity, accountability and management of the project lifecycle. This empowers construction executives with top-down visibility of progress and deviations and field crews with automation and real-time access to the relevant and up-to-date information they need every day on the job site, Hexagon said.

    “General contractors face an almost impossible challenge with the number of variables they deal with every day,” said Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén. “SMART Build will deliver cost savings, improved workflows, increased productivity and countless other benefits to an industry seeking a better way to deliver projects on time and on budget. Hexagon has long been a leader in information technology software solutions for large scale construction in the process, power and marine industries and HxGN SMART Build is our next-generation offering, providing the AEC/BIM industries with a fully integrated solution that did not previously exist.”

    Leveraging industry leading technologies from Hexagon’s Process, Power & Marine and Geosystems businesses, SMART Build is a fully integrated construction solution that brings all relevant project information together on a single platform — from design down to the smallest tasks — in a secure, cloud-based environment.

    Participants at all levels can access data and information any time, from anywhere — from 2D drawings and 3D models, to work packages, detailed instructions, point clouds, and as-built measurements, to project progress and deviations from plan. This real-time visibility and transparency clarifies, connects and simplifies the construction management process, the company said.

  • New ArcGIS Full Motion Video release gives faster access

    Esri’s latest version of ArcGIS Full Motion Video (FMV) presents new capabilities to improve the way analysts and managers interact with videos.

    ArcGIS FMV allows users to view, organize and analyze video from drones and other collection platforms.

    The new release includes a performance boost in playback and panning, and in zooming the video during playback. It offers full support for JP2, and TIFF support for video mosaics including full image transformations for better accuracy. A new search tool makes it easier to find video segments based on location, time, and selected features.

    “ArcGIS FMV expands the capabilities of ArcGIS as a complete, professional platform for managing, sharing, and extracting value from geospatial data,” said Gerald Kinn, Esri’s lead product engineer for imagery. “Imagery from video is one of the most important sources of data in ArcGIS.”

    The previous version of ArcGIS FMV included a multiplexer tool that allowed users to transform non-MISB format videos, such as from UAVs or drones, into MISB-compliant videos compatible with the FMV add-in.

    “ArcGIS FMV tools add a dimension to our remote sensing analysis not previously possible,” said Verne LaClair, general manager for Vertex Geo, an Esri partner that specializes in civilian, municipal, defense and intelligence initiatives. “The ability to map FMV content will play an important role in search-and-rescue operations, wildlife tracking and monitoring, and cinematography projects.”

    For specific and technical details about this and the latest version, visit Esri.com/FMV.