Transcript
  • www.geoinformatics.com

    FME 2009 Magellan ProMark 500 The OpenGeo Stack Cyclomedia Kalypso Open Source

    M a g a z i n e f o r S u r v e y i n g , M a p p i n g & G I S P r o f e s s i o n a l sMarch 2009 Volume 12

    2

  • GPS BY ITSELFWOULD BE GREAT.

    IF THE WORLD WERESTILL FLAT.IMPROVEYOURGPS.COM

  • Creating Opportunities instead of Problems

    This editorial will be not be about the economic crisis. Well, maybe a little bit. The crisis is

    also affecting the geospatial industry, but I prefer to talk about the opportunities this creates

    rather than all the negative effects that fill the papers and news broadcasts 24-7. In this

    issue you can read about innovative, successful initiatives undertaken by companies, user

    communities, scientists and more: people who are determined to get the best out of their

    products and data and are looking for new opportunities if present solutions fall short. The

    articles we present here give a broad overview of how the industry is on the move,

    everywhere and all the time.

    For the first time we are presenting a series of articles on Open Source GIS solutions. Its

    success didnt come overnight, but was in most cases the result of years and years of

    development. The advantages of open source software are clear: free source code and free

    distribution. In a time when you need to cut back on expenses, free software is tempting.

    But lets not hurry things too much: software can be free but this does not mean your

    problems are solved.

    However, we believe we need to inform you about new initiatives in the open source

    landscape. Last year we presented an interview with open source guru Paul Ramsey, and

    with this issue we offer you a series of articles on open source software initiatives such as

    QGIS, Kalypso and OpenGeo Stack. These three articles represent just the tip of the open

    source iceberg and Im very proud the authors wanted to share their experiences with open

    source software in GeoInformatics. Also, the efforts of Fugro Aerial Mapping and Cyclomedia

    should be mentioned when it comes to innovative new products. Spatial data experts will be

    happy to find an interview with Safe Software, which just released FME 2009. In the

    surveying, mapping and photogrammetric contributions I find the same innovative approach

    as in the articles Ive mentioned, so I can safely say that this issue will give the reader a lot

    of inspiration for creating opportunities in his or her daily work.

    Enjoy your reading,

    Eric van Rees

    [email protected]

    March 20093

    GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis and commentary with respect to the international surveying,mapping and GIS industry.

    PublisherRuud Groothuis [email protected]

    Editor-in-chiefEric van Rees [email protected]

    EditorsFrank Arts [email protected] Fischer [email protected] van Haaften [email protected] [email protected] Takken [email protected] Triglav [email protected]

    ColumnistJames Fee

    Contributing WritersFlorian FischerGordon PetrieJoc TriglavRemco TakkenHuibert-Jan LekkerkerkGernot BelgerMichael HaaseThomas JungKaj LippertSebastian BenthallOtto DassauGary ShermanTim SuttonMarco HugentoblerPaolo CavalliniRebecca Peck

    Account ManagerWilfred Westerhof [email protected]

    SubscriptionsGeoInformatics is available against a yearly subscription rate (8 issues) of 89,00.To subscribe, fill in and return the electronic replycard on our website or contact Janneke Bijleveld [email protected]

    Advertising/ReprintsAll enquiries should be submitted to Ruud Groothuis [email protected]

    World Wide WebGeoInformatics can be found at: www.geoinformatics.com

    Graphic DesignSander van der [email protected]

    ISSN 13870858

    Copyright 2008. GeoInformatics: no material maybe reproduced without written permission.

    GeoInformatics is published by CMedia Productions BVPostal address:P.O. Box 2318300 AEEmmeloordThe NetherlandsTel.: +31 (0) 527 619 000 Fax: +31 (0) 527 620 989 E-mail: [email protected]

    c r o s s m e d i a l p u b l i s h e r

    Corporate Member

    Sustaining Member

  • Cyclomedias large scale VisualisationsDutch company Cyclomedia specializes in creating large amounts of

    panoramic spherical imagery. These visualizations are finding their way

    to a broad range of costumers and different work fields. To maintain a

    lead in the market, research and development of the system connected

    to capturing the imagery is indispensible. CSO Sander Jongeleen explains

    all about the companys main product, recent projects and R&D activi-

    ties.

    C o n t e n t

    March 2009

    ArticlesHigher Accuracies with FLI-MAP 400 6Innovation Project strengthens Fugro Aerial Mappings Market Position

    Enterprise Mash-ups 14Spatial Business Intelligence the Way You want It

    The Reykjavik Graffiti Project 30Handheld Computers with Built-In GPS Capabilities help to clean up Graffiti

    GNSS Update 34GLONASS Glory

    Kalypso Open Source 36A GIS-based Platform for Environmental and Water Resources Modeling

    The OpenGeo Stack 40An Open Source Web GIS Solution

    Quantum GIS 1.0 44A Testimony to the Power of Open Source

    A Profile of the ScanEx Company 54A Russian Commercial Remote Sensing Success Story

    Product ReviewMagellan ProMark 500 18Back to the Future

    InterviewsFME 2009 10Improving Performance in handling Spatial Data

    Cyclomedias large scale Visualisations 22Creating up-to-date Panoramic Spherical Imagery

    Geoserve 26Adding Value to the Distribution

    Chain of Satellite Imagery

    An Interview with Pitney Bowes James Buckley 48New Software, New Division

    Page 22

    FME 2009In January 2009, Safe Software

    released FME 2009. Joc Triglav

    had an interview with Safe

    Softwares co-founders Don

    Murray and Dale Lutz and asked

    them all about the improve-

    ments of this new soft-

    ware, its new data trans-

    formers, FME Server,

    support for 3D data

    and more.

    Page 10

  • Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com5

    March 2009

    On the Cover:

    Satellite image of Bandar Abbas, a port city in the south of Iran.

    Image owned by Digital Globe. See the article on page 26.

    Enterprise Mash-upsMash-ups have become very popular in the domain of neogeography and

    big players like Microsoft, Intel and IBM have developed incredibly easy-

    to-use mash-up tools. Florian Fischer has a look at these tools and exam-

    ines how mash-ups could make their way into enterprises to make busi-

    ness intelligence tools more spatially aware.

    Page 26

    The OpenGeo Stack The OpenGeo software stack provides a way to connect people with geo-

    graphic information through the web, but with a difference: it is entirely

    open source. The stack includes PostGIS, a spatial database; GeoServer, a

    server for geospatial data; GeoWebCache, a tile caching proxy; and

    OpenLayers, a map viewing library. They can be used individually and with

    a variety of other projects. But OpenGeo's comprehensive support makes

    it especially easy to combine them all into a complete and customizable

    web GIS solution.

    Page 40

    ColumnPutting Spatial Analysis in Front of Users p.35By James Fee

    EventsPanasonic Toughbooks, the Seventh Generation 52Advancements in LED, Touch Screen and Connectivity

    Calendar 58

    Advertisers Index 58

    Page 14

  • Higher Accuracieswith

    FLI-MAP 400A Dutch innovation project for the Ministry of Transport

    (Rijkswaterstaat) with very demanding accuracy

    requirements contributed to a further refining of the

    FLI-MAP system. Through the use of so-called LiDAR

    marker boards, higher accuracies can now be achieved

    when surveying roads, rail roads and DTM-design

    projects. These successes can be used as input for

    comparable projects abroad. Huug Haasnoot, Managing

    Director of Fugro Aerial Mapping B.V. explains how such

    high accuracies of better than 20mm can be reached and

    what this means for Fugros market position.

    By Eric van Rees

    How has FLI-MAP been developed into the system youhave now with such a high accuracy?

    We started with FLI-MAP 10 years ago and since then it has under-

    gone an enormous amount of development. Two years ago we intro-

    duced much more accurate lasers onto the market, which allowed sur-

    vey ranges to be measured within 1 centimetre. This presented us with

    the challenge to increase the total accuracy of the LiDAR point cloud

    by defining the position and attitude of the helicopter as precisely as

    possible. The solution was reached by minimalizing the error in the

    positions through the use of LiDAR marking points.

    Back in 2003, we carried out a test with the Dutch Ministry of Transport

    to define the accuracy of FLI-MAP and to see if all road-side details

    could be recorded. The conclusion was that this system was just not

    accurate enough and did not record small features such as hectometre

    poles: the resolution for this was not sufficient.

    When we introduced our new FLI-MAP 400 system onto the market,

    there was also a tender for an innovation project just released by the

    Ministry of Transport, Public Work and Water Management (also known

    as Rijkswaterstaat). The ministry wanted to reward five innovative

    projects that contribute to new developments. For this, a proposal had

    to be written from which ultimately five providers would be chosen.

    FLI-MAP was one of them, and subsequently we did a test with

    Rijkswaterstaat to find out how a road design, using FLI-MAP 400,

    could be executed. In September 2006 we completed the flying

    6

    Interv iew

    Innovation Project strengthens Fugro

    Aerial Mappings Market Position

    March 2009

  • followed by a lot of research and data processing. After field and accu-

    racy controls were done by Rijkswaterstaat, the conclusion reached was

    that the necessary accuracy could be achieved with FLI-MAP for creat-

    ing a road design. The report by the Ministry was very positive and we

    have since been able to use FLI-MAP 400 for a number of projects in

    the Netherlands. At the same time we took this expertise to our

    European clients and FLI-MAP partners, in both Serbia and Greece,

    where quickly and accurately a road corridor had to be surveyed.

    The high accuracy can also quite easily be achieved using traditional

    surveying methods, but with projects like these you are dealing with

    hundreds of kilometres and a short timescale to completion. Since we

    can survey by air, we can deliver the data to the client much faster.

    These types of projects always lack time. People are always behind

    schedule because the surveying work is mostly a side-issue, and as

    always, the results had to be known yesterday.

    How could you guarantee the accuracy with all theseorders?

    To guarantee this, we placed LiDAR marker boards alongside the

    corridor. We put control points every few kilometres, which we

    surveyed very accurately using RTK GPS and precise levelling. That way

    we can obtain extremely accurate benchmarks, which can be easily

    recognized in the laser data. This allows us to perform an accurate

    control of the surveyed position and height.

    Ultimately, we developed special software to correct the position of

    the helicopter with the use of additional control measurements of these

    boards. We have mastered this really well and that way we correct the

    data until it fits within circa two centimetres. We do this particularly

    with roads, railroads and design projects that require a high-accuracy

    level.

    We are a company that wants to get as much as possible out of our

    FLI-MAP system in this particular market. We are known as an innova-

    tive company and we want to maintain that position. With FLI-MAP 400

    we made a big step forward. The current market is demanding more

    and more, particularly higher details, higher accuracies and detailed

    visual information.

    An example of this is that RGB values are measured independently

    and saved immediately, 250.00 per second. A linescan camera is inte-

    grated with the laser so that after the flight we immediately get the

    x,y,z and RGB colour values. Admittedly, these are not photos from a

    camera, but they can be used directly as true-orthos for further

    processing. Our most recently developed system has been used com-

    mercially since September. Besides the frequency of 250,000 laser dots

    per second, the system is also capable of producing a multiple pulse

    in the air-solution, which means that the next pulse can be sent out

    before the previous one has returned. This allows us to fly at a higher

    altitude and therefore survey a wider corridor. We also made a step

    forward in providing better visual material by developing a dual down-

    ward camera so that flying at higher altitudes, we record an even small-

    er pixel size and wider strip. If we fly at 200 meters, the pixel size is 2

    centimetres and you are able to zoom-in with high detail. At 1000 metres

    we still can get a 15 centimetre pixel size.

    To what extent are you engaged in data analysis for cus-tomers, or are you only concerned with acquiring data?

    In the Netherlands we are engaged in data analysis and processing

    for end products, but abroad we often hand this over to our FLI-MAP

    partner. Spain and Portugal are good examples of this. There we have

    a partner, Estereofoto, which has developed an impressive GIS applica-

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    7March 2009

  • Connect to a world of new possibilities.

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  • tion together with the client for the FLI-MAP data. The juridical, posi-

    tioning and maintenance information of all roads and associated objects

    like traffic signs, are stored in one large database. For example, you can

    find information on how old the signs are, when maintenance has been

    performed and also when they have to be renewed or replaced. We try

    to implement this type of information with partners in other countries.

    What are your expectations for the rest of the worldwhen looking at the growth of higher accuracies whichcan now be obtained?

    Maybe we can fly even higher and simultaneously capture in one pass

    more data without losing this our accuracy. 10 years ago we flew

    corridors of 100 meters wide at a height of 125 meters, now we are

    flying at roughly 1000 meters a corridor with an 1150 width and obtain-

    ing the same specifications. This is already a factor of 10. If you could

    continue this development, maybe in another 10 years youd be able to

    fly at a height of 10,000 metres and then you are talking about captur-

    ing large areas at commercially attractive rates.

    We try to focus on countries that we think contain a growth potential,

    like Belgium, Great Britain and Germany. Those countries already have

    height models, but not quite as accurate. The 10 points per m2 that

    we offer for the current height model in the Netherlands (AHN 2) is

    cheaper than the one point per m2 of AHN 1, and that way we try to

    show in other countries that you get a lot more detail and accuracy for

    a little more money. We will certainly promote this in the countries

    where we are active now and where we think it is necessary, like Britain,

    which faced many floods in the last couple of years.

    We do a lot of work in Britain, but of a smaller size than in the

    Netherlands. The accuracy requirements are less compared to here. The

    Environmental Agency there is responsible for flood defence and has

    its own commercial systems. Only when their capacity is insufficient, or

    when they need a higher accuracy, FLI-MAP is deployed.,

    How important are smaller, local partners for you? Howsaturated is the mapping market in terms of suppliers atthe moment?

    You often see the same companies in the market, thats why we try to

    focus on the niche market of high accuracy and details, where the level

    of competition is not as great. On the one hand, my feeling tells me

    the market is getting saturated at the moment. The LiDAR market has

    certainly grown up. Until a few years ago clients would be willing to

    accept data even if it was not optimal, but nowadays this is not the

    case. You get a lot more distinction between companies that deliver

    quality and those that have trouble delivering quality. I personally think

    this is a good development.

    The nationwide Height Model of the Netherlands for example, was not

    only large, but the responsibility of controlling and proving the achieved

    quality was put much more to the contractor. The contractor is fully

    responsible for the delivered quality of the end products and the client

    limits the control to spot checks. For this, we had to adjust our busi-

    ness processes quite a lot. Fortunately, we are part of a very large

    FUGRO company, which enables us to make use of various kinds of

    expertise, and we really needed it this time. These types of projects

    have helped to distinguish us from the average supplier, who will

    undoubtedly face difficulties in the long term. Such a project asks for

    more than just putting a scanner under a helicopter or an airplane. Its

    a challenge we enjoy, as it allows us the opportunity to go after

    projects of this complexity and level of accuracy. It gives our company

    a lot of satisfaction to hear from clients that we have delivered a

    top-quality product that fulfils their requirements for more than 100%.

    Eric van Rees is editor-in-chief of GeoInformatics.

    For more information, have a look at: www.flimap.nl

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Art ic le

    9March 2009

    Survey of the city of Rotterdam using the FLI-MAP 400 system

  • Improving Performance in handling Spatial Data

    In January 2009, Safe Software released FME 2009. Joc Triglav had an interview

    with Safe Softwares co-founders Don Murray and Dale Lutz and asked them all

    about the improvements of this new software, its new data transformers,

    FME Server, support for 3D data and more.

    By Joc Triglav

    We had an extensive interview lastyear in the January/February issue ofGeoInformatics. What is new in yourcompany in the last year?

    Over the last year, the biggest news for

    Safe Software has certainly been the arrival

    of FME Server. The launch of our new prod-

    uct last spring introduced two major capabili-

    ties to FME users: 1) The ability to distribute

    their spatial data over the web using data

    download and data streaming services, and

    2) The ability to validate, load and convert

    high volumes of spatial data, right over the

    web. FME Servers scalable architecture

    enables users to perform much larger data

    validation and transformation tasks than ever

    before, and enables organizations to easily

    share their spatial ETL tasks across their orga-

    nization through a simple web form. Best of

    all, weve designed the platform to integrate

    directly within our users current infrastruc-

    ture, so they can continue to use their pre-

    ferred applications and systems to work with

    their spatial data.

    In this last year we have also launched

    two releases of FME. Our 2008 release last

    spring introduced, among many other things,

    the ability to integrate 3D spatial data with

    traditional 2D spatial data. The industrys

    growing interest in the convergence of 3D

    with GIS, CAD and other systems is proven by

    the continuing emergence of 3D integration

    workflows popping up among our customers.

    At Safe we take great care to listen to the

    markets needs, interact with our customers,

    and then respond accordingly. Our introduc-

    tion of support for the most popular 3D

    formats last year is a direct result of this

    strategy.

    Another request weve been hearing

    more and more of from our users is the need

    to transform larger datasets even into the

    terabytes. While FME Server offers the pro-

    cessing power to achieve transformation of

    these enormous datasets, many of todays

    computers do not. That is why weve decided

    to enter the world of cloud computing, part-

    nering with WeoGeo, an organization known

    for their cloud computing expertise, in the

    first-ever initiative to bring spatial ETL tech-

    nology to the cloud. Weve developed FME

    Server in a way that is compatible with this

    new possibility of using vast networks of

    high-processing machines based in the cloud

    to achieve extremely high volume data trans-

    formations.

    10

    Interv iew

    March 2009

    FME 2009

    Safe Software co-founders

    Don Murray (left) and Dale Lutz.

  • Obviously, FME 2009 is the topheadline news. Please, give us ashort overview on the softwaresmain new characteristics andimprovements.

    The key enhancement that all users will

    experience is the improvement in perfor-

    mance. We have worked hard to make FME

    2009 the fastest FME ever, and through our

    internal testing we are seeing an average of

    a 20% speed improvement. Some tests are

    showing results that are even 20 times faster.

    While most software gets slower as more

    capabilities are added, we are determined to

    ensure that each FME release raises the bar

    in performance expectations, becoming faster

    than each previous release at the same time

    as adding the functionality our users require.

    Don: As weve done with every release of FME,

    we added support in 2009 for more than a

    dozen new formats. FME now ships with read-

    ing/writing for 225+ formats, right out of the

    box. Some of the more exciting formats weve

    added support for include Adobe Geospatial

    PDF, Autodesk 3DS, CityGML, IBM Informix

    Spatial and OpenStreetMap (OSM) XML. Of

    course there are more, but these are a few

    that a significant portion of our users appear

    to be most interested in.

    We also always spend a large amount

    of time improving our FME Workbench envi-

    With the end goal of making their spatial data

    available to the users who need it, customers

    have implemented FME Server as a data

    accessibility and sharing solution, and as a

    data upload and validation solution. As

    Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) initiatives like

    the European Unions INSPIRE begin to be

    implemented, the need for a tool that can

    enable the uploading of valid data in a stan-

    dard model, without impacting the data

    authors existing infrastructure, will continue

    to grow.

    This is one of the strengths of FME

    Server that it works alongside whatever

    system an organization already has, and com-

    plements it. We recognized right away that

    we had to make it easy for organizations to

    integrate the platform in whatever language

    they are currently using. With the current

    release, we have provided APIs in C++, JAVA,

    .NET, SOAP and through simple http requests.

    Looking down the road you will also see

    other interfaces being defined such as REST

    and others, to ensure that we continue to

    make FME Server easy to integrate with what-

    ever system an organization already has in

    place.

    Please, describe the new FME 2009transformers, like the Raster Expres -sionEvaluator, the Decelerator andXML data handling.

    ronment, as that is the graphical user inter-

    face with which our users spend most of their

    time designing their spatial data flows

    (workspaces); it is the authoring environ-

    ment that powers both FME Desktop and FME

    Server. Here we have made several small, but

    impactful, changes that help make users more

    productive as they create their workspaces.

    How has FME Server met the usersexpectations since its introductionlast year? In which ways is FMEServer helpful in solving commonusers problems? How can the usersintegrate it into their current IT envi-ronment?

    We created the FME Server platform in

    direct response the needs of our users, and

    the reaction in the marketplace is what we

    hoped it would be. There were several major

    needs in the market that lacked a solution -

    the need for a system that is designed to

    work alongside 3rd party web mapping solu-

    tions to provide data download capabilities,

    the need for on-the-fly data transformation,

    validation and loading, and the need to per-

    form all these actions on large data volumes.

    We now have customers on several conti-

    nents, including Europe, North America and

    Australia, who have found that FME Server

    meets their needs and have implemented the

    platform within their existing environment.

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    11March 2009

    The new set of XQuery transformers in FME 2009 make it easy to perform queries on XML datasets. In this screenshot of FMEs graphical authoring environment, a sample

    workspace extracts vehicle accident data from an XML dataset for the city of Austin, Texas. The workspace then turns this extracted information into true spatial data capable

    of being written out for use in a GIS or visualization tool, or combined with other data as a mashup.

  • I believe in innovation.

    Leica Geosystems AGSwitzerland

    www.leica-geosystems.com

    SmartStation the worlds first total station with

    integrated GPS is a fine example of our uncompro-

    mising dedication to your needs. Innovation:

    yet another reason to trust Leica Geosystems.

    Innovation is intelligence

    tap it and let your work flow.

    You want the tools of your trade to be state-of-the-art. Thats why

    Leica Geosystems is continuously innovating to better meet your

    expectations. Our comprehensive spectrum of solutions covers all

    your measurement needs for surveying, engineering and geospatial

    applications. And they are all backed with world-class service and

    support that delivers answers to your questions. When it matters

    most. When you are in the field. When it has to be right.

    You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly innovative

    solution for every facet of your job.

  • Transformers in FME are objects that

    carry out the restructuring of features in

    other words, they transform spatial data so

    that it is produced in the model that the end

    user requires. Transformers also enable users

    to perform complex spatial data validation

    operations. FME ships with a library of over

    300 transformers. One of our new favourites

    in FME 2009 is the Decelerator transformer.

    We joke that we had to create it because we

    made FME so much faster! What the

    Decelerator is really useful for is to slow down

    the rate of requests that are sent to web ser-

    vices, which are called from within an FME

    spatial ETL operation. Basically it ensures that

    FME doesnt send requests too quickly so that

    the receiving web services dont get over-

    whelmed or time out.

    The transformers we created for XML

    handling add the ability to use XQuery

    (XQuerier) within FME. XQuery is an incredi-

    bly powerful XML processing technology that

    enables users to extract and reformat XML.

    Adding these transformers to FME fits well

    within our philosophy of embracing other

    technology and folding it into FME.

    The RasterExpressionEvaluator is a

    powerful new transformer that enables users

    to work on one image or combine two images

    through pixel-by-pixel algebra. Our users

    asked for the ability to integrate raster data

    at the pixel level, and so we delivered it to

    them.

    we have added support for several key 3D for-

    mats. These, coupled with the 3D systems we

    introduced support for in FME 2008, enable us

    to now move data between many different sys-

    tems. As we add new 3D formats and continue

    to understand more about the nuances of true

    3D data exchange, were continuing to enhance

    our support beyond positional information, pro-

    viding further visual representation information

    such as vertex normals and texture coordi-

    nates.

    How would you evaluate the influen ceof the current global economic andfinancial crisis on your company andits products?

    So far our sales have been strong despite

    the economic downturn. It is difficult to say if

    this is going to continue, but our sense is that

    since our products enable organizations to save

    money and be more efficient with their time

    and resources, we are well positioned to ride

    out the storm.

    We have always, and will continue to, re-

    invest heavily in research and development so

    that we bring truly innovative, productive and

    high-value products to our users a strategy

    which we are confident will ensure a continu-

    ing revenue stream.

    Joc Triglav [email protected] is editor of

    GeoInformatics. For more information on Safe

    Software and FME 2009, have a look at www.safe.com

    Dale and I both enjoy travelling around the

    world, seeing the amazing things that our users

    do with FME, and so it is no surprise that Im

    excited to see what our users do with these new

    transformers.

    In which ways can users achievemore flexibility in data manipulationusing Generic Writer?

    The Generic Writer enables users to author

    a spatial ETL task (workspace) where the out-

    put format and data model are not specified until

    the task is run. This enables the user running

    the workspace to choose the destination format

    they prefer from the 200+ formats FME supports,

    instead of needing the workspace to be dupli-

    cated for each potential output format.

    When used with FME Server, the possi-

    bilities are very exciting as now an organization

    can publish a data model and leave it to the

    requesting user to decide, at run time, what for-

    mat they want the data model to be produced

    in. The Generic Writer in FME 2009 is just the

    first step in a much larger development effort

    to take spatial ETL technology to a new level.

    Is there anything new in FME 2009regarding the support for 3D dataand the preservation of 3D datafidelity during translation?

    3D/BIM continues to be one of our most

    active development areas. In the 2009 release,

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    13March 2009

    In this screenshot, the FME Server data download service has been integrated with Google Maps, allowing users to select the data they wish to download using a familiar visu-

    al interface. Designed for distributing and loading spatial data, FME Server can be integrated directly into an organizations existing environment.

  • Spatial Business Intelligence the Way You want It

    During my studies in geoinformatics I became familiar with the concept of service chaining, a way to arrange web services.

    Then we were working with aggregate services that orchestrated various OGC web services to build a complex application.

    It was a rather complicated process, and substantial programming skills were necessary. Maybe the time is now ripe for

    change. Mash-ups have become very popular in the domain of neogeography and big players like Microsoft, Intel and IBM

    have developed incredibly easy-to-use mash-up tools. This article will take a look at these tools and examine how

    mash-ups could make their way into enterprises to make business intelligence tools more spatially aware.

    By Florian Fischer

    Let the GIS Orchestra beginIn the last issue of GeoInformatics I talked

    about the new version of ArcGIS Desktop. It

    allows for complex geo-processing and work-

    flow management. These workflows can then

    be disseminated to a broader public of non-

    GIS experts to fulfil their tasks and use GIS

    functionality. Since Spatial Data Infrastructures

    (SDI) have become widespread, the idea has

    been to give these GIS non-experts tools to

    create workflows by themselves at least sim-

    ple workflows. If you have a list of real estate

    properties and just want to draw them on a

    map to make a simple visual analysis, it

    seems rather ridiculous to ask a GIS expert

    to create a workflow today, doesnt it? High-

    end desktop GIS systems have been efficient

    only in the hands of GIS experts. Conceptually,

    SDIs allow the creation of workflows by non-

    GIS experts. But the middleware for combin-

    ing services needs to be developed using con-

    ventional programming languages. Thus every

    modification for every single workflow has to

    be made within a programming environment.

    At this point the dream crashes again because

    the non-expert needs to be a software engi-

    neer. This makes all the more promising the

    concept of Web Service Orchestration (WSO),

    an automated arrangement and combination

    of various (geo-)web services to fulfil a cer-

    tain task. WSO, which stems from the

    paradigm of Service Oriented Architecture

    (SOA), would provide an easy and flexible way

    to link services to build applications on

    demand. Workflows are then mapped as ser-

    vice chains and configured with graphical

    tools. The XML-based language BPEL

    (Business Process Execution Language) is an

    example of this way of mapping workflows.

    The service chain is represented as a BPEL

    document and can be executed in a web ser-

    vice orchestration engine like Twister, an

    14

    Art ic le

    March 2009

    Enterprise Mash-ups

    Figure 1: Microsofts tool Popfly uses a graphical interface to create mash-ups

  • open-source implementation of the

    BPEL standard LGPL. BPEL and Web

    Service Orchestration are considered

    to be a way of organizing web-based

    geospatial applications in the future

    as it is already widespread in main-

    stream IT.

    Workflows for EmergencyManagementA research group organized around

    Alexander Zipf and Albrecht Weiser at

    the University of Applied Sciences in

    Mainz worked on proof-of-concept

    within the domain of emergency man-

    agement. The project OK-GIS was

    aimed at the development of an archi-

    tecture that ensures flexible reactions

    to the various demands of emergency

    management. The framework was to

    be applicable for various scenarios

    and requirements in the event of a

    disaster. In particular the OGC WMS

    GetMap request was tested with the

    Oracle BPEL Process Manager. The trial

    demonstrated that it is possible to create

    workflows of a certain granularity with added

    value by aggregating standardized base ser-

    vices. But a necessary requirement for the

    orchestration is a continuous service chain

    without human intervention. Furthermore,

    orchestration on-the-fly was still not possible

    and still too complicated to be achieved by

    non-technical users.

    Mapping Mash-upsIn a totally different paradigm,

    Web 2.0, the concept of mash-ups

    is widely known. Basically mash-

    ups are web applications that

    combine content from multiple

    sources in a way that is seamless

    to the user. After the appearance

    of geobrowsers, various mash-ups

    emerged combining the capabili-

    ties of the mapping platforms with

    web services that before then had

    not been spatially oriented. Open

    Application Programming

    Interfaces (API) such as Googles

    Map-API are normally used to cre-

    ate these geo- or mapping mash-

    ups. While Web Service

    Orchestration uses loops and decisions, and

    actively calls and organizes a chain of web

    services, mash-ups are rather new applica-

    tions that emerge from the combination of

    content. Some mash-ups even offer their own

    APIs to enable further mash-ups to be built.

    Mash-ups are also focused more on content

    combination than on service combination, but

    this is not compulsory as APIs are somewhat

    ing the websites to be mashed up

    and telling Intels Mash Maker how

    and what to connect, a mash-up is

    created. Mash Maker even allows

    sharing of mash-ups within a virtual

    community. Mash Maker enables

    users to build mash-ups on the fly

    and to tailor a mash-up to their spe-

    cific needs. Popfly from Microsoft is

    a visual tool to construct and share

    not only mash-ups but also games,

    gadgets, web sites and applications.

    It is even possible to rate other user-

    s mash-ups and remix creations

    from Popfly. An advanced option

    allows for rapid-prototyping by pro-

    grammers and then refining their

    applications by real coding. IBMs

    Mash-Up Center provides similar

    functionality. While Intel and

    Microsoft are focusing more on per-

    sonal mash-ups, IBM sees enterprise

    mash-ups as an important aspect of

    its Mash-Up Center to combine

    sources of information both inside and out-

    side an enterprise. More and more enterpris-

    es see opportunities for enhanced spatial

    business intelligence applications by using

    enterprise mapping mash-ups. Thus they

    intend to do more than just look for some

    locations of some branches. The approach of

    a visual construction kit for enterprise mash-

    ups enables a broad audience within an enter-

    prise to create customized

    tools for their respective pur-

    poses and analyses.

    Consequently various service

    components can be combined

    in different ways to create

    new applications that can be

    shared within the enterprise

    (see Figure 1).

    Enterprise MappingMash-upsThe combination of mapping

    services with spatial data such

    as KML or GEORSS reveals a

    variety of options for spatial

    business intelligence, says

    Tobias Loerracher. A graduate

    of the Karlsruhe University of

    Applied Science, Loerracher

    did his diploma thesis on the topic of enter-

    prise mash-ups in cooperation with

    Microsofts Virtual Earth business unit. Typical

    questions in spatial business intelligence are

    about the most profitable branches, the ideal

    distribution of promotion material to the tar-

    get audience and the whereabouts of a cer-

    tain article. The core of spatial business intel-

    ligence is geo data which is segmented into

    of a service interface as well. ESRI software

    also uses APIs to make GIS functionality capa-

    ble of being integrated into websites.

    Mapping mash-ups have become very popu-

    lar in the Web 2.0 domain. Currently more

    than half of all the mash-ups on the renowned

    Program mableWeb list are categorized as

    mapping mash-ups (ProgrammableWeb

    2008).

    The Web the Way You want ItUntil recently basic programming skills were

    necessary to get through the API and build a

    mash-up. But more and more mash-up tools

    have emerged that have graphical interfaces

    to ease the creation of mash-ups using not

    much more than drag and drop. Intel has a

    tool called Mash Maker which is integrated

    into the browser as an add-on. By simply pick-

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Art ic le

    15March 2009

    Figure 2: Exemplary result of an enterprise mash-up for site selection

    (from: Courracher, T. , 2008)

    Loerracher writes that enterprises will use mash-ups

    extensively within their business intelligence units in the

    future. While consumer mash-ups are usually freely

    accessible to everyone, enterprise mash-ups will need to

    integrate internal data which has restricted access.

  • 3OKKIAUNDERSTANDSTHATTODAYlSSURVEYORSMORETHANEVERNEED TO RELY ON THEIR EQUIPMENT NOMATTER HOW ROUGH THECONDITIONS ARE4HAT IS WHY THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE FOR OUR*APANESEENGINEERINGTEAMISTODEVELOPMOREPRECISEANDRELIABLEPOSITIONINGSOLUTIONSEVERYDAY

    !SA RESULT3OKKIAlSCOMPLETE INSTRUMENT LINEUPPROVIDESACCURATEAND RELIABLEMEASURING SOLUTIONSWITH THE LOWESTCOST OF OWNERSHIP IN THE ELD OF SURVEYING TUNNELLINGMONITORING CONSTRUCTION AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS 4HISPERFECTLY BALANCED RANGE OF INSTRUMENTS PROVIDES THEACCURACYYOUNEEDTOGETYOURWORKDONEFASTANDRELIABLE

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    MOELOPVDETOISTEAMINGNEERYDAERYVNINGSOLUTIONSE

    LINUMENTINSTRCOMPLETESOKKIAlWSOLUTIONSINGMEASURELIABLER

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  • internal and external data from the enterprise

    viewpoint. Internal data is directly related to

    the enterprise, like branch locations and sales

    areas. This geo data can even be dynamic,

    such as the whereabouts of a product, usual-

    ly detected by RFID (Radio Frequency

    Identification). External data like population

    data, socio-demographic and socio-economic

    data, is normally necessary for in-depth mar-

    ket analysis. All this information needs to be

    geo-visualized in order to derive knowledge

    for managerial decisions, while the most com-

    mon way for this is by positioned signatures

    and choropleth maps. Loerracher writes that

    enterprises will use mash-ups extensively

    within their business intelligence units in the

    future. While consumer mash-ups are usually

    freely accessible to everyone, enterprise

    mash-ups will need to integrate internal data

    which has restricted access. In his thesis

    Loerracher developed a showcase for an

    Building the Incredible GeographicMachineThe work of Tobias Loerracher shows that

    map-based enterprise mash-ups can be

    applied to simple spatial reasoning. Thus, in

    the future, building an incredible machine for

    geographic information processing might be

    as easy as making a cup of coffee. The cre-

    ation of enterprise mash-ups by employees

    takes into account their particular needs. The

    expenditure of time needed for the develop-

    ment of a mash-up is considerably small in

    comparison to traditional GIS development.

    Mapping data and tools for geo-visualization

    are provided by external services like

    Microsoft Virtual Earth and applications can

    easily be rearranged. Nevertheless, in the

    brave new world of mapping mash-ups

    Geographic Information Systems are still nec-

    essary to solve complex spatial problems.

    Florian Fischer [email protected], GIS

    Editor and Research Assistant at the Austrian

    Academy of Sciences GIScience research facility in

    Salzburg, Austria. For this article, the author made

    extensive use of the following publication:

    Lrracher, T., 2008 (unpublished). The Location

    Intelligent Enterprise kartenbasierte Enterprise

    Mashups. Zusammenfassung der Diplomarbeit .

    Hochschule Karlsruhe.

    Links to mash-up tools:

    Microsoft Popfly: www.popfly.com

    Intel Mash-Maker: http://mashmaker.intel.com/web

    IBM Mash-up Center:

    www-01.ibm.com/software/info/mashup-center

    enterprise mash-up using Microsoft Virtual

    Earth and Microsoft SQL Server. It is a simple

    search for site selection. The user defines the

    criteria for a new site and the mash-up cre-

    ates a map showing all relevant areas and

    gives additional information such as the avail-

    ability of real estate (see Figure 2).

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Art ic le

    17March 2009

    Figure 3: Possible enterprise mashup tool based on Microsoft Popfly suggested by Tobias Lrracher

    Get ahead with Conservation Ecology and Environmental Change at BU.

    To find out more or to register for an open day please visit: www.bournemouth.ac.uk/pgenvironment or contact the askBU Enquiry Service: Tel: +44 (0)1202 961916 Email: [email protected]

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    The expenditure of time needed

    for the development of a mash-up

    is considerably small in

    comparison to traditional

    GIS development.

  • Back to the Future

    It has been a while since we last tested an RTK system. There are various

    reasons why, but the main ones are simply that its been a while since a new

    product has emerged, and also that Ive moved houses and simply did not have

    the time. The Magellan ProMark 500, however, has been on my wish list for a

    while. Until recently, though, it was not available from Magellan for a review.

    So my main Christmas present this year consisted of a ProMark 500 that

    Magellan shipped to my home.

    By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

    That meant that over the holidays (and a while after that) I was busyworking with the ProMark 500. Our regular readers will remember that

    2007 was the last time we tested an RTK receiver from Magellan, the

    Z-Max. The ProMark 500 replaces that unit and is Magellans new flag-

    ship. It is also the first receiver in a long time to come from Magellan

    (or its predecessors) with GLONASS available.

    I reviewed a base-rover combination with a UHF radio link. The units

    are standard equipped with a GSM modem to receive GPRS corrections.

    Unfortunately I did not have a subscription to a correction service, so

    all results below were obtained using a UHF radio connection. As a

    result no tests were made with the ProMark 500 in combination within

    a network with receivers from other brands.

    ReceiverAs Ive mentioned before in GPS reviews, beauty is in the eye of the

    beholder, and in my opinion the ProMark 500 is a good-looking receiv-

    er. Not that such a thing is overly important, but lets be honest: it does

    help. All the usual connections are present on the receiver and it even

    has a built-in GSM modem as standard. If you want to make use of it,

    however, make sure you order that option activated or it will not be

    usable. A small whip antenna is included with the unit so just pop in

    your SIM card and you can start using RTK (almost) out of the box.

    One of the nice features of the ProMark 500 is the graphic OLED dis-

    play where most competitors have a few LEDs to indicate the status.

    Although relatively small, it is very easy to read and will give you all

    the important status information as well as information on logging and

    error messages. The disadvantage of an LED display over small LEDs

    however is that they break more easily when the unit is accidentally

    dropped. There are only a few buttons, so the only thing one can con-

    trol without using the controller are logging, memory, RTK status, alarm,

    firmware version, on/off and browsing through the displays. This is usu-

    ally enough, however.

    The units reviewed (base and rover) were not identical, the rover hav-

    ing an optional UHF module internally and the base having a separate

    UHF radio that was connected to the base using the RS232 / RS422

    communication port.

    ControllerThe controller supplied with the receiver is the trusted MobileMapper

    CX series that featured before in the ProMark 3 series review. As with

    most controllers a full keyboard is miss-

    ing although a small numeric key-

    board is present as well as the

    main control buttons. The color

    screen is easily readable, even

    with the sun shining brightly or

    in the (semi) dark.

    18

    Review

    March 2009

    ProMark base and receiver set in transport case with

    (almost) all necessary accessories.

    Front of the (base) receiver with OLED display

    Underside of the (base) receiver

    with connections and battery

    compartment (replaceable)

    Magellan ProMark 500

  • There are not many communication options on

    the controller; besides Bluetooth, just a single

    SD card slot is available. A detachable docking

    station that clips to the controller allows for

    more connections such as USB and a serial port

    as well as a power supply.

    One disadvantage that we registered with the

    MobileMapper CX earlier is that there is no pen

    storage in the controller itself making pens very

    easy to lose. This is something Magellan seems

    aware of since the set I received had two pens

    with it. The pen delivered with the unit has the

    same size (and shape) as a regular ballpoint,

    making it very comfortable in everyday use.

    As with all modern GPS receivers, the receivers

    are linked to the controller using a Bluetooth

    connection. At first the controller and the base

    had some problems getting paired using the

    Bluetooth link, but after a few tries both the

    base and rover were recognized on the first try

    and after that no more problems were experi-

    enced.

    Setting upSetting up the base is slightly more complicat-

    ed then with other RTK sets Ive reviewed in the

    past. The main reason is that the UHF radio is

    a separate unit and connected to the receiver

    on one side and a power supply (in my case a

    12 V battery) on the other. It is not possible to

    power the UHF radio directly from the receiver.

    The cable that came with the set was a few

    meters long, making an advantage of the sepa-

    rate radio; it can be placed a few meters away

    from the receiver, or higher, giving more options

    for good placement and thus a larger range.

    One disadvantage noticed with the separate

    radio was that it had to be pre-programmed with

    the correct frequencies and could not, as with

    the Z-Max, be changed to any frequency sup-

    ported by the radio in the field. According to an

    engineer Ive spoken to, the radio should be pro-

    grammed using a terminal program with a spe-

    cific set of commands. These were, however, not

    listed in the manuals that accompanied the unit.

    Selecting pre-programmed frequencies is easy

    enough with the FAST Survey software.

    FAST SurveyThe controller came with the FAST Survey soft-

    ware, which Ive reviewed before with the Z-Max,

    already installed. Some development has been going on since our last

    review and this version differed in some aspects from that tested with

    the Z-Max. Since FAST Survey is derived from a generic survey package,

    it will also let you connect to other brands or models of surveying equip-

    ment such as total stations, echo sounders and other GPS receivers.

    From the layout of the software one gets the impression that a survey-

    or has designed it. All the buttons are on the large side. There are very

    few pull-down menus and instead of the tiny onscreen keyboard pro-

    vided by Microsoft, it has its own keyboard that covers (almost) the full

    display allowing for easy entry.

    All the survey options one could want are available such as staking out,

    continuous logging etc. There is a graphical dis-

    play of the survey results that will accept back-

    ground maps, but as a result of the rather large

    onscreen buttons, the available space is limited.

    Although the graphics look as though they came

    from an old Windows 3.1 computer, they are very

    functional.

    SurveyingNo review can be complete without a small sur-

    vey where data is acquired, processed and pre-

    sented. Since Ive moved houses since my last

    reviews, I decided to figure out if I had gotten

    the acreage of land I had paid for. This meant

    bringing the ProMark 500 into one of the most

    hostile GPS environments possible, the Urban

    Jungle (also known as my neighborhood).

    First of all it was cold. The average temperature

    during the review was just a few degrees above

    freezing, with high humidity. As a result, battery

    life suffered and the six hours quoted were

    beyond reach. Not that the survey lasted six

    hours, but based on an indicated loss of 60% of

    battery life on the receiver over three hours, the

    total surveying time would have come out at

    around five to five-and-a-half hours.

    Second, the survey area had a lot of shielding.

    As a result the RTK fixed solution was lost on

    several occasions due to a lack of satellites. The

    receiver has a specific development from

    Magellan called Blade technology that can cover

    small gaps in the reception of the correction sig-

    nal, as well as make it possible to work in a net-

    work with receivers from other manufacturers.

    Since the horizon was shielded from the satel-

    lites instead of the UHF link, the Blade technol-

    ogy did not give me an advantage in this situa-

    tion. Re-initialization of the receiver was

    comparable to other units at between 10 and 15

    seconds, but nowhere near the 2 seconds quot-

    ed.

    The actual survey was easy enough: simply point

    and click with the pole. The weight of the rover

    / pole / controller combination is around three

    kilograms, depending on the type of pole, with

    the weight distributed nicely around the pole.

    Without the UHF module the unit is 200 grams

    lighter, making the weight distribution even bet-

    ter and easier to handle.

    ProcessingSince I had no control point available, I decided upon a two-step

    approach. First of all I logged raw data on the base station (while it

    was in base mode and transmitting corrections to the rover). While the

    base was collecting the raw data, I proceeded with the survey using an

    approximate position (derived from the base GPS position) to collect

    the data points in RTK mode on the rover.

    Using the supplied GNSS Solutions software, I processed the raw data.

    As control points I used the three Dutch IGS stations that continuously

    log raw GPS data, which is then put on the Internet. This process is

    very simple with GNSS Solutions since one can connect to this data

    using the program itself. Simply select the date and station to use and

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Review

    19March 2009

    Base station setup with external UHF radio

    Rover with internal UHF radio

  • the software will

    download the data

    and correction files

    itself.

    The data collected

    with the rover had to

    be processed using

    GNSS Solutions as well

    since I had to shift all

    the rover positions

    using the correct base

    position. When the

    data is already correct-

    ed, a simple export

    from FAST Survey is

    enough to get an X, Y and Z file (or a graphics / GIS file). Now, Ive

    used GNSS Solutions before with the ProMark 3 review, and both then

    and now I found that, although it is a very complete package, it can

    also upset a novice GPS user. There are a few simple steps to take for

    a base shift, but the user interface is that of a complete adjustment

    and raw data processing package so the correct option is very hard to

    find. It also takes quite a while on my somewhat older (but still quite

    potent) computer for recalculating and redrawing the data.

    PresentationGNSS Solutions is not very strong at making graphics or turning surveyed

    data into GIS files, so I had to use my trusted Global Mapper package for

    this. Using the ASCII export, I then imported the data back for presenta-

    tion and also to make some checks. Some of the data points collected

    during the survey were partly shielded, and this directly showed in the

    collected data. A few angles that had to be straight were slightly skewed;

    upon inspection of the data I found out that they were collected with float

    solutions (which I had been duly warned about during the acquisition)

    and had an RMS of a few decimeters, resulting in incorrect positions.

    ConclusionThe ProMark 500 is a big step up from the Z-Max that we reviewed

    before. In relation to the competition there are a few additions that

    make it stand out such as the OLED display, its design and the built-in

    GSM modem.

    In terms of things that can be improved upon, there is the GNSS

    Solutions software which is perfect for processing raw data but much

    too complicated for simple RTK surveys. It would help if something like

    a correction wizard were included.

    Another thing that I, personally, would like to see changed is the need

    for a separate battery to power the radio on the base. In my view tak-

    ing an extra power supply should be an option, not a requirement.

    But having said that, the arrival of the ProMark 500 means it has

    become even harder than before to choose your RTK solution amongst

    the available solutions, especially when one considers the price at which

    the ProMark 500 is offered. According to Magellan your quote should

    be in the order of 30% less than for comparable systems from the com-

    petition.

    Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk [email protected] is editor

    of GeoInformatics as well as project manager at IDsW.

    This article represents his personal views.

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Review

    21March 2009

    Manufacturers response to ProMark 500 product review.Magellan Professional greatly appreciates the effort of GeoInformatics

    to review the ProMark 500. However, the reviewer was only able to test

    some of the capability of the system. For example, he did not test the

    Network RTK performance of our product, as he only used reference

    data from another ProMark 500 using a UHF radio link. The particular

    advantage of our BLADE technology is seen primarily when using a

    ProMark 500 in a network of other manufacturers base stations. This

    is because the ProMark 500 is constantly estimating the GLONASS hard-

    ware biases of the reference receiver. Without properly accounting for

    these biases, most of the rovers GPS+GLONASS are not able to use the

    GLONASS corrections unless the reference receiver is the same brand

    as the rover. BLADE allows the ProMark 500 to work seamlessly in any

    Network RTK environment, regardless of the type of correction (VRS,

    MAC or FKP) or brand of the reference receivers. ProMark 500 confers

    to the user the great advantage of optimal use of the GLONASS sig-

    nals, with higher performance in GPS+GLONASS RTK network and harsh

    survey environments. We invite readers to learn more about BLADE at

    pro.magellangps.com/en/products/technology.asp and contact us for the

    BLADE White Paper at [email protected].

    MobileMapper CX

    controller (b)

    Survey results in GNSS Solutions (a) and after export and further processing in

    Global Mapper (b).

  • large scale Cyclomedias VisualisationsThe Dutch company Cyclomedia specializes in creating large-scale panoramic

    spherical imagery. With this expertise it is not just local governments that are

    interested in their visualization products but a broad range of customers

    involved in many different work fields. To maintain a lead in the market,

    ongoing research and development into the systems technology is essential.

    Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Sander Jongeleen explains all about the

    companys main product, recent projects and R&D activities.

    By Eric van Rees

    Cyclomedia is a market leader in the areaof capturing large-scale 360 panoramic

    imagery. The high resolution and georefer-

    enced image products (called Cycloramas) are

    used by a wide range of clients, such as

    insurance companies, and national and local

    government agencies. The company, which

    started in the Netherlands, is now active in

    11 countries. Last year Cyclomedia intro-

    duced a new data-capturing system, where

    every five meters, a panoramic picture can

    be taken from a vehicle traveling at 80 kilo-

    meters per hour. Although building databas-

    es of panoramic imagery is the companys

    main activity, the technology behind it is of

    equal importance. CSO Sander Jongeleen

    explains: We develop our own equipment

    and patent our technologies. In terms of mea-

    suring, we capture everything that is the size

    of a city and larger, since our system is too

    costly to capture small places. In Holland we

    capture images of all public paved roads,

    with a five-meter interval, and all that is done

    every one and a half year. In other countries

    we work in a different way: sometimes we

    first acquire a project before we start captur-

    ing the data.

    The large, national scale at which the com-

    pany captures data is an advantage when it

    comes to attracting new customers: the

    main clients of Cyclomedia in the Netherlands

    are local government agencies, but the mar-

    ket has grown to include banks, insurance

    companies, national government agencies

    and public safety agencies after weve raised

    our cover factor. For these parties youre only

    interested when youre active on a national

    scale.

    ImageryThis large demand for panoramic pictures

    begs the question, why is this imagery so

    popular and what can be done with it?

    Jongeleen: The imagery we create nowadays

    can be used for much more than visualization

    alone. One of the things our customers do

    with it, is to project data on the images. Since

    our images are georeferenced, as well as the

    geometry within it, we are able to project vec-

    tor information (such as CAD imagery) onto

    the imagery, so that you can see electricity

    wires in 3D on the photograph. Another thing

    that is done is linking the imagery to an

    administrative system through a GIS, which

    22

    Interv iew

    March 2009

    C r e a t i n g u p - t o - d a t e P a n o

    CSO Sander Jongeleen

  • will allow you to click on a map that shows

    the panoramic image of a house and its

    administrative data. This comes in handy

    when outsourcing the administration of pub-

    lic spaces, so that people who are in the

    street have exactly the same image of a situ-

    ation as a GIS expert. We create a virtual inter-

    face of administrative data.

    The panoramic images have also been used

    in a large-scale disaster management exercise

    in the Netherlands, called Eagle 1. Along with

    ESRI and Microsoft, the Dutch company

    Geodan built a GIS infrastructure based on

    Microsoft Virtual Earth, which was the first

    local Virtual Earth installation outside of the

    United States. The panoramic images helped

    to create a common operational picture for

    sharing information with a large audience.

    Now that all parties share the same imagery,

    they can cooperate faster and more efficient-

    ly. A fire department vehicle for instance can

    see what is the shortest route to a fire after

    consulting the Cycloramas. (see also

    www.ve.geodan.nl).

    A Flemish Traffic Sign DatabaseThe Flemish government put out a tender for

    generating an inventory of everything related

    to traffic signs. They wanted this to be done

    using a mobile mapping system so as not to

    disturb other traffic on the roads. For a pro-

    ject on as large a scale as Flanders, to be fin-

    ished within two years is quite a challenge.

    Together with a partner, Cyclomedia is carry-

    ing out the project, capturing all the traffic

    signs with the partner generating the inven-

    tory.

    A Cyclorama contains everything needed to

    create this inventory. Data is captured on a

    large scale, and has the metric quality to be

    related road content. Jongeleen: If you want

    to avoid unwanted traffic through residential

    areas, you need to route traffic in a better

    way. But in order to do this, you need to pro-

    vide this information to digital map providers

    so that they can adjust their navigation sys-

    tems. Thats just one of the reasons people

    are capturing this data.

    Also, it shows that there are more efficient

    ways of indexing the environment.

    measured in a secure way. A Cyclorama can

    be imported into a GIS environment to allow

    you to see where signs are located. They can

    also be measured and collected into a

    database. This project started within the

    scope of the European Union Rosatte project

    (www.rosatte.eu), aimed at establishing an

    efficient, and quality-ensured data supply

    chain, from public authorities to commercial

    map providers, with an emphasis on safety-

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    23March 2009

    r a m i c S p h e r i c a l I m a g e r y

    CEO Paul Bosman

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    ProMark 500 and now the new ProFlex 500 for backpack and remote antenna

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  • Cycloramas are one way of doing this.

    Classically measured objects can be captured

    with the panoramic pictures that we provide

    to our clients. Also, in Belgium the govern-

    ment is looking for a way to accelerate the

    process of updating the national base map

    by using our imagery instead of taking terres-

    trial measurements.

    After classifying and filing these traffic signs,

    the next step is to automate this process. We

    created a whole new type of algorithm, which

    automatically detects, classifies and measures

    traffic objects. It also tells us where this pro-

    cess works and where it does not, so that we

    know where to check things manually. What

    we want to produce are databases of stan-

    dardized base material, with Cycloramas, aeri-

    al photography and various types of content

    able to be automatically measured, such as

    traffic signs, lamp posts, etc. You can run the

    automatic feature detection across the screen

    through a series of images. The algorithms

    measure corresponding points and if they are

    recognized they can be measured automati-

    cally. This creates a 3D registration of the

    environment that looks like a point cloud,

    which you can then use as a model to over-

    lay the Cycloramas as a texture. With special

    monitors that show depth, we project these

    It writes approximately 80 megabytes of raw

    imagery per second to a PC with several par-

    allel disks. We organized a network of people

    to bring all that data to our office in time.

    With our new system we can capture imagery

    very quickly, in comparison to our old system,

    where we had to stop after each recording

    point for six seconds. Also, these images were

    captured from one point of view.

    Our main product is the imagery, but we need

    this high-tech system to create imagery with

    such high quality. The fact that we understand

    so well how to build our cameras, means that

    we can produce large registrations with excep-

    tionally high quality. We possess this combi-

    nation. We are also able to do content analy-

    sis because we know how to position these

    images, independent of how and where a

    vehicle was at the moment of capturing the

    image. You cant do this with a random image,

    you have to know how its being created.

    Sander Jongeleen is CSO of Cyclomedia. For more

    information, have a look at: www.cyclomedia.nl.

    Other links:

    www.rosetta.eu

    www.ve.geodan.nl

    models to create environments you can mea-

    sure virtually. We are not interested in small

    models, but think of models of one country

    as whole.

    R&DCreating Cycloramas requires a lot of technol-

    ogy and research. Jongeleen: When looking

    at the Cyclorama chain, we develop our own

    camera systems, processing software, man-

    agement software based on standard

    databases, our hosting applications, and anal-

    ysis and 3D construction software. This is all

    done in-house. At the moment we have 40

    R&D employees. We position ourselves as

    content makers, integrating this content

    inside an application. We also have partners

    for all markets that we serve. What a lot of

    people dont realize, is that theres a whole

    chain around this capturing process. It takes

    a while before you are able to start driving

    and capturing images, for instance, calibra-

    tion of the system. We add around five vehi-

    cles a month with our new image capturing

    system.

    The new system contains a high-quality GPS

    antenna, two specific cameras, a temperature

    tuning unit and an eye-view trackers naviga-

    tion sensor, all packed into one compact unit.

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    25March 2009

    Cyclomedia vehicle

  • Adding Value to the Distribution Chain of Satellite Imagery

    Geoserve is a Dutch distributor of satellite data and offers information and distribution services. Active since 1997, the

    company specialized itself in getting the right data for the customer. At the moment they are operational in 18 countries

    all over the world. Frank Wouters, CEO of Geoserve, explains how the company operates in the data satellite imagery

    distribution chain, and why culture is so important. Last year, a self-organized conference for suppliers and end users

    of satellite imagery showed the added value of the company in this highly specialized and rapidly growing market.

    By Eric van Rees

    Can you give an overview of thesatellite imagery market? What isGeoserves place in this market?

    Actually, we supply raw data to everyone

    who needs it, like large end users such as oil

    companies, ministries, large engineering com-

    panies and the like. But we also win service

    contracts, such as those from the JRC in Italy:

    this is the research agency of the European

    Union that writes out tenders on which you

    can bid. If you win such a contract, you have

    supply rights for five years for a fixed price.

    Apart from this, there are lots of small clients

    who incidentally need data, and what Id call

    interesting gadgets. For instance, people

    who want to know if dredging work has been

    done according contractual agreements.

    I started this company by myself in 1997,

    and now we are six people. We have a sales

    volume of 1,5 to 2 million Euros a year and

    this amount is still growing. One notices that

    the kind of sales and the way of doing busi-

    ness changes very much, and also the

    amount of work is growing more and more.

    In the early days, you could choose between

    four or five satellites but now there are twen-

    ty five of them, so you need to have more

    knowledge which takes a little more effort,

    before you can give your customers good

    advice.

    For Geoserve, its more or less accidental

    where we are active and where we are not.

    At the moment, we have customers in 18 dif-

    ferent countries, which is not bad for a small

    company.

    Last year you organized a conferenceat Schiphol Airport in the Nether -lands, where you invited severalsatellite imagery distributors andtheir clients. Can you tell me aboutthe use and necessity of this conference? How do you look back at the event?

    For us, organizing this conference was an

    experiment that turned out to be a success.

    We as a company are so convinced of our

    added value in the distribution chain and of

    the fact that this market is so complicated, that

    we decided to put all our clients and distribu-

    tors in one room. There was a risk of clients

    saying we dont need Geoserve, I can do busi-

    ness with suppliers directly, but we were sure

    26

    Interv iew

    March 2009

  • of our role so we didnt think we would be

    eliminated from the chain. It was also a nice

    experiment, because our clients could speak

    to our suppliers, which is something they dont

    normally do because we are the intermediate

    party. Everyone had a good time that day, and

    I have the feeling that we gained more cus-

    tomers instead of losing clients. We hope to

    organize the next Geoserve conference in 2010.

    Also, we want to keep it free for everyone and

    organize it at a location that can be reached

    easily, to show that logistics is a matter of

    using ones brains.

    When we started in 1997, the internet was all

    very new and we didnt know if everybody was

    going to gather information all by themselves,

    and not consult us. Before that time, we were

    the only ones having fax and telephone con-

    tacts with main suppliers. We were uncertain

    if we could make a difference in this market

    now that suppliers could publish their prod-

    ucts on the internet so that everyone could

    look these up for themselves. The answer has

    always been yes, and I foresee that this will

    stay that way: of course everyone can go to a

    supplier and get an offer, but the question is

    if you havent deprived yourself seriously.

    One thing that struck me during thepresentations of all the data distrib-utors, was that you have to knowevery little detail to be able to tellthe difference between the servicesof one distributor and another.

    This is exactly our problem when finding new

    employees. You can get employees with a cer-

    tain basic knowledge, but you will have to

    not as their main activity, but as a side line. I

    have always thought that in the long run, you

    cannot afford this because the industry would

    professionalize so that only the companies

    that would invest and focus most would sur-

    vive. And thats what were trying to do.

    educate them yourself. This is a disadvantage,

    but you can turn this into an advantage as

    well. Our mission is also unique in Europe,

    except for the big organizations, but I dont

    know any small companies that focus purely

    on distribution in Europe. There are a lot of

    companies out there that treat distribution

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    27March 2009

    Satellite Imagery samples

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  • Has the quality of satellite imageryyet reached a maximum? And howabout the techniques of acquiringthis imagery?

    No, the techniques are still developing rapid-

    ly. At this moment there is the problem of leg-

    islative restrictions instead of technical restric-

    tions. The GeoEye-1 imagery is more detailed

    than what is sold. Technically seen, it can be

    41 centimeters resolution but it is sold at 50

    centimeters. In terms of detail rendering, there

    is not much more possible, but at the same

    time you can add more spectral bands so that

    you get 100 channels of a certain area. With

    this you can perform mineral analysis in a

    much better way for instance.

    With satellite imagery you can see if a tree

    is healthy or not. These optical bands have

    all been determined, but, the more frequen-

    cies you have, the more data youll get. In the

    past, the bandwidth was limited for record-

    ing and sending data to the ground. That

    meant you had to make a choice in terms of

    frequencies. Now this becomes less a restric-

    tion so you can record more frequencies, but

    now the problem is that you have to know

    who do know how to deal with it work for

    government agencies and dont teach. Even if

    you educate someone, this person is not yet

    a radar expert, because you need to have a

    couple of years of practice before you can call

    him or her an expert. So these people are not

    there at the moment. And the best studies

    that are there are all commercial ones, pub-

    lic universities have not yet caught up with

    offering this studies.

    For more information,

    have a look at www.geoserve.nl

    what you want with all

    these frequencies.

    An area that has a lot

    of potential at the

    moment is radar

    imagery. In terms of

    detail, a lot is possible

    but the problem is that

    hardly anyone at the

    moment exactly under-

    stands how to analyze

    this and acquire the

    information from it.

    There is an enormous

    backlog when it comes to people who can

    interpret radar well.

    How come nobody knows how to dothis?

    Those satellites providing radar images have

    lots of possibilities that have only recently

    become available. The problem is that lots of

    radar data have been made available for the

    commercial market only recently and that

    theres hardly anybody to deal with it and

    therefore nobody to teach this. The people

    Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

    Interv iew

    29March 2009

  • Handheld Computers with Built-In GPS Capabilities help to clean up Graffiti

    The Reykjavik Graffiti ProjectThe City of Reykjavik Department of Public Works Department began a pilot project to identify and stop the citys growing

    graffiti problem. Using Trimble Recon and Trimble Nomad handheld computers, individuals collected precise GPS data

    points for nearly 25,000 graffiti points. Also, staffers captured attribute data such as size, mark, type, and location of

    graffiti. The team shared GIS and attribute data with police to support stronger legal action against graffiti. With this

    information the they implemented a more systematic and efficient cleaning schedule to paint over tagged areas.

    In six months, the department reported a 62 percent decrease in the number of graffiti marks in Reykjavik city centre.

    By Rebecca Peck

    Founded in 1786, Reykjavik is the capital ofIceland and the northern-most capital city in

    the world. The Reykjavik Capital Area has just

    under 120,000 inhabitants, which is about 40

    percent of the total population of the coun-

    try. As the modern capital of a highly devel-

    oped country, the city boasts a first-class

    infrastructure that is managed by city council

    and maintained by the City of Reykjavik

    Department of Public Works.

    In 2007, the Reykjavik community began to

    notice a growing problem on the city streets:

    graffiti. Faced with this issue, the citys depart-

    ment of public works began an important

    pilot project. Two staff members from the

    citys GIS group began using Trimble Recon

    handheld computers equipped with ESRI

    ArcPad software to collect data points and

    other attributes about graffiti marks. With

    these handhelds the GIS team performed reli-

    able, accurate, and validated field data col-

    lection of graffiti marks located on city prop-

    erty, including traffic signs, parking meters,

    trashcans, and other public assets.

    Combating Graffiti City-wideThe team also collected GPS coordinates and

    took digital photos of graffiti on private (as

    well as public) property, including tags found

    on garages, private residences, fences, and

    more. For the initial project, the team focused

    on a small section of the city centre, captur-

    ing data points for about 3300 (se poster)

    unique graffiti marks all at a reliable 2 to 5

    meter accuracy level. The team then loaded

    the data into the public work databases to

    allow further analysis and to share this

    detailed information with the citys police

    department and the city council. With data

    from the pilot project in hand, the city coun-

    cil determined it was time to implement a

    more strategic and long-term plan for com-

    30

    Art ic le

    March 2009

  • bating graffiti city-wide. Trimble will use their

    experience from this pilot project with few

    changes to use in the project Clean City 2008.

    In 2008 the council enacted Project Clean

    City and at that point we knew we needed to

    extend our investment in Trimble to make the

    project a success, said Hermann Her -

    mannsson, GI specialist for the Reykjavik

    Department of Public Works. We purchased

    five Trimble Nomad handheld computers to

    month period the students worked a com-

    bined 1,600 hours and collected nearly 25,000

    unique graffiti points. Using the integrated

    GPS receiver within the Nomad devices, they

    captured the precise location of each graffiti

    mark along with valuable attribute data,

    including: type of position (i.e. garage, house,

    lamp pole, etc.), size of graffiti mark, and type

    of graffiti (i.e. words, images, etc.). For even

    more detail, the team took about 8000 digi-

    collect, save, and transmit data in the field

    because they are rugged, have a long battery

    life and they include built-in GPS, bar code

    scanner, and digital camera.

    Saving Time and MoneyTo get the project off the ground quickly, the

    department hired students studying GIS at

    Reykjavik University to collect graffiti data

    points throughout the entire city. Over a five

    Latest

    Art ic le

    31March 2009

    Graffiti and tags in Reykjavik city center March 2008

    Graffiti and tags in Reykjavik city center October 2008

  • Are you using costly, outdated paper map books to complete

    time-sensitive projects such as field mapping, asset inventory,

    asset maintenance, inspectio


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