Download - geoinformatics 2010 vol01
� Mobile Mapping Systems Special � ENVI EX
� Location Intelligence for 2010 � ESRI’s Jack Dangermond Interview
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 s Jan./Febr. 2010 Volume 13
1
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Exciting Times
Exciting times ahead for the geospatial industry - With the growing popularity of social net-works, mobile devices, crowd sourcing and cloud computing (among others) the geospatialindustry is redefining itself. Although I won’t use this space for predictions for the new year,suffice to say that this issue of GeoInformatics gives the reader a good view of what’s hap-pening in ‘the industry’ these days. In addition, you can see that we are launching a mobileapplication so that our website is available for mobile, in step with our progressive natureand making GeoInformatics more widely available for everyone.
The industry’s response to new initiatives such as crowd sourcing are well described in theinterview with ESRI’s Jack Dangermond, who clearly makes a distinction between new meth-ods of data collection and those already in existence. A somewhat similar distinction isnoted by Gordon Petrie, who not only describes in detail a variety of different mobile map-ping technologies, but also illustrates the purposes for which they are used. Again, a dis-tinction can be made between the more traditional uses of data acquired by mobile map-ping systems and the new, consumer-based applications such as Google’s Street View.
Last but not least, I’d like to point out the article on the Leica High Definition Surveying andLaser Scanning Conference. Anyone who attended this conference and saw the great visualsmade by laser scanning software can understand the success of the Avatar movie, whichalso makes extensive use of 3D techniques. The continued interest in new practices such as3D scanning, particularly from outside the traditional surveying industry, makes this an excit-ing field. And you might even find a lost Da Vinci painting with it.
Enjoy your reading!
Eric van [email protected]
January/February 20103
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 Artés [email protected] Fischer [email protected] van Haaften [email protected] [email protected] Takken [email protected] Triglav [email protected]
Contributing WritersMilosch DryjanskiiFlorian FischerMark T GordonGordon PetrieHuibert-Jan LekkerkerkJoc TriglavGeoff Jacobs
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]
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Graphic DesignSander van der [email protected]
ISSN 13870858
© Copyright 2010. 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]
Corporate
Member
Sustaining
Member
Location Intelligence for 2010Jon Winslow is Global Portfolio Director for the Location Intelligence
Business at Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI). In this interview, he
explains how PBBI is embracing developments in GI such as open source
and cloud computing, and discusses recent product releases and the
importance of vertical markets for the company.
C o n t e n t
January/February 2010
ArticlesLeica’s DISTO Laser Distance MeterThe Subterranean World of Easter Island 6
Local Search Media become Social and Mobile in 2010 FinallyEverything will be Geo-tagged 10
GNSS UpdateShifting Satellites 18
Web News on your PhoneGeoInformatics on Your Mobile 25
An Introduction to the TechnologyMobile Mapping Systems 32
InterviewsLocation Intelligence for 2010At Pitney Bowes Business Insight 14
Jack Dangermond Explains the Need for GeoDesign“We Need More Geographic Thinking in the Way We Make Decisions” 22
ENVI EXWhere GIS meets Remote Sensing 28
Adapting with New Standards and TechnologiesErdas in 2010 50
Events11-16 April 2010FIG2010 International Surveying Congress 26
Continued Strong Interest in 3D Laser ScanningLeica Geosystems HDS Worldwide User Conference 44
2010 and BeyondThe Agenda for GeoDesign 56
Page 14
ENVI EXIn September 2009, ITT VIS launched its first version of ENVI EX, soft-
ware which is fully integrated with ArcGIS, bringing remote sensing and
GIS more closely together. In this interview, Rolf Schaeppi (Vice President
European Operations) speaks about ITT ’s partnership with ESRI and
what ENVI EX has to offer to the ArcGIS community.
4
Page 28
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com5
January/February 2010
On the Cover:
Milosch Dryjanski journeyed Easter Island with his team of speleologists and
three Leica DISTO laser distance meters to unlock some of Easter Island's
subterranean secrets. See article on page 6.
Erdas in 2010Mladen Stojic, Senior Vice President, Product Management and Marketing
at Erdas, discusses the new 2010 product line and main improvements
with editor Joc Triglav. Other topics discussed are the Erdas World Tour,
addressing geospatial data quality issues and the value and strength of
new data production and usage approaches in the geospatial business,
like crowd sourcing and volunteered geographic information, among
others.
Mobile Mapping SystemsOver the last 20 years, mobile mapping systems have slowly developed,
at first mainly in academic research establishments. More recently, a
number of commercially operated systems have appeared. This article offers
an introduction to and survey of the present state-of-the-art of the
technology.
Page 32
Calendar 58
Advertisers Index 58
Page 50
Page 20
Leica’s DISTO Laser Distance Meter
Lost in the vastness of the South Pacific, a unique island rises out of the ocean. The inhabitants call it “Rapa Nui”.
The European “discoverer” who sighted the island lying thousands of kilometers away from the nearest continent, or even
another island, on Easter Sunday in the year 1722, several hundred years after the Polynesians, rather unimaginatively
named it Easter Island. Milosch Dryjanski journeyed there with his team of speleologists and three Leica DISTO laser
distance meters to unlock some of Easter Island's subterranean secrets.
by Milosch Dryjanskii
The island's isolation, resulting from itsextreme remoteness, fostered the develop-ment of a remarkable culture, of which wehave scarcely any knowledge today. The mostfamous symbols, which every European asso-ciates with Easter Island, are the giant stonesculptures, referred to as “moai” in the locallanguage. Although the culture of the originalmoai builders was already in the process ofdisintegration by the time the first Europeansarrived, their culture and history, conservedand passed down in oral histories, were sooncompletely lost by exploitation of the island,deportation into slavery and the importation
of disease. Today there are several theories,some quite absurd, about the island's cultureand the reasons for its demise; however, theyall have one thing in common: They are vir-tually impossible to prove or disprove.
A Serious Case of TrespassingTo make a small contribution to solving thepuzzle that the original island dwellers leftbehind, a speleological expedition under thepatronage of National Geographic andExplorers Club traveled to the island, the topof an extinct volcano rising out of the 4,000m deep ocean. Due to its volcanic origins, the
island has an abundance of lava caves, fromvery small to extremely splendid examples –in the opinion of the speleologists. Thesecaves were used up to the middle of the lastcentury by the indigenous population for anumber of different purposes. They oftenserved as living space, but sometimes asdefensive refuges for wives and children dur-ing warlike local conflicts. They were alsoused for storing water, keeping poultry and,last but not least, for entombing bodies. Manycaves contain the remnants of hundreds ofyears of their former uses.Most caves are also very familiar territory for
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Art ic le
The Subterranean World
Januay/February 2010
today's islanders – they played in them aschildren. But until now very few of the small-er caves had been documented and surveyed.That was the task of the expedition, whichwas comprised mainly of Polish speleologistsand a US-American TV crew. In garish orangeor blue overalls – many European speleolo-gists call them “Schlatzen”, which is thoughtto refer to the mixture of mud and water oftenfound in caves – for four weeks under a trop-ical sun, the expedition members roamedthrough the sectors of the island identifiedtogether with the local national park admin-istration, searching for small cave entrances.
Every instance was marked on the map usingGPS and the interior was described and sur-veyed. For the countless spiders and cock-roaches living in the small caves, it was nodoubt seen as a serious case of trespassing!
Leica DISTOIn view of the huge number of mostly smallcaves, it was particularly important to carry outthe measurements as efficiently as possible. Itwas less about absolute accuracy and moreabout the methodical capture and cataloguingof the caves and their most important features.The Leica DISTO A3, A6 and A8 laser distance
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
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meters used in combination with external instruments for measuring inclination and magneticazimuth, sometimes also with PDAs, considerably accelerated the work.For speleologists, who often have to squeeze through narrow gaps along with all their equipment,the versatility of these instruments despite their small size, their low weight, convenient, simplepower source when remote from civilization and their robustness, play a crucial role. To the team, the strength of the Leica DISTO instruments lay in their speed of distance measure-ment. They were able to survey the caves without having to make their way over to all the mostsignificant points with a tape. Measuring wide but very low caves (with heights of about 40 cm andwidths of several meters) using a tape would have been extremely time-consuming and strenuousdue to the high temperatures encountered in caves close to ground level. In the larger caves, theroof height was determined quickly and precisely at the touch of a button on the Leica DISTO.
Recording the CavesWith the laser they worked in teams of two. One person measured, the other drew. There wasno need for a third person as there would have been with a tape. Working the instrument issimple and no real training is necessary. It was important to the speleologists that the instru-ments were resistant to substances like dirt and water, and could be easily cleaned and operat-ed, even when wearing gloves. In addition, they were able to survey and draw up the salientfeatures of the caves without stepping on potentially important archaeological sites.The built-in video viewfinder of the Leica DISTO A8 was particularly useful for accurate pointing.It was impossible to see the laser dot in the tropical sun in caves with large openings or holes
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Art ic le
Januay/February 2010
The most famous symbols, which every Europeanassociates with Easter Island, are the giant
stone sculptures, referred to as “moai” in the local language.
in the walls. But with a writing pad as a target and the camera to establishing bearing, thearrangement worked wonderfully. For caves with dimensions larger than 10 m, surveying with atape through undergrowth would have presented quite a problem.The Leica DISTO A6 transferred the data via Bluetooth to a PDA and was used with an externalmodule for determining magnetic azimuth and inclination for computer-aided mapping. The 18person strong speleologist team captured and recorded over 300 caves during the expedition.This would hardly have been possible using conventional cave research surveying methods. Wewould like to express our sincere thanks to Leica Geosystems for its generous support. Theinstruments worked excellently under the difficult conditions in the lava caves on Easter Island.
Milosch Dryjanski, by profession an electrical engineer, is Head of Building Management Systems in the Building Management Department,
University of Applied Sciences Munich. For over 25 years he has spent his free time on Alpine cave exploration.
Fa. Andres Industries AG provided a ruggedised PDA for this project.Photos: Marcin Jamkowski/AdventurePictures.eu and Tomasz Snopkiewicz
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com9
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A Swan Song for Yellow Pages It has been a huge tome delivered by the mailman every half a year. Animportant yellow coloured guidebook placed next to the telephone. Andfor me and millions of other people, an indispensable assistant in manycircumstances whether I have been in need of a special shop, or urgenthelp in the case of a water-main burst. The Yellow Pages has been anessential part of the furniture in every household for a long time. It is thebook that knows the city from A to Z. It is the book that knows every-thing about any place of importance in everyday life. It is the book thatcontains the indexed and searchable concentration of urban life, the oppor-tunities and desires every city has to offer. If you were the owner of abusiness relying on walk-in customers it was very unlikely that you werenot present in this bible of local business. For consumers it has been theone-stop encyclopaedia to find every localbusiness. But times changed and consumersstarted to reference local business informa-tion through alternative methods.Nowadays people do online local search. Theonly way they might use their old print direc-tories at the very most is as an underlayinstead of the pedestal of their computermonitor. In fact, according to a study by TMPdirectional marketing 84 percent of local busi-ness searchers own a print directory in theirhomes. While this number has been declin-ing steadily since 2007, local businesssearchers increasingly go online for localsearch. Indeed many turn towards InternetYellow Pages but local search by GoogleMaps, Microsoft Bing Maps, Yahoo Local andlast but not least Yelp have been gainingmore and more importance. Google devel-oped applications that have overtaken onlinebusiness directories in market share by 26percent in 2009. The growth of local search-es from 40 to 51 percent over 2008 can beattributed to Google Maps mostly.
Local Search are Geographic Information MediaThe focus today is shifting heavily toward consumer searches. In the past,companies successfully marketed to audiences through a few select mediachannels. Nowadays consumers have more media choices than ever. Theycan selectively control how they receive advertising. They become empow-ered consumers who are seeking out relevant business information whenthey need it. Thus companies are adopting marketing strategies that helpthem get found by searching consumers who have highly relevant, prod-uct- or service-specific needs. Looking for information about local busi-ness offers are amongst the most popular uses of the Internet. Informationportals play a decisive role for information, communication and marketingof local goods and services. Therefore they become important intermedi-aries between local businesses and their customers. In recent years geo-
graphical information media experiencedwidespread use in this domain by productslike navigation systems, mobile services, map-ping and local search services. They are geo-referenced media which are not bound to loca-tion itself and are mostly, and essentially,ubiquitous. However their content is bound tolocation as it overlays data on the physicalenvironment by geo-reference such as anaddress, post-code or coordinate. One of themost successful geo-media products is localsearch, and this is not with out a very goodreason. According to the analysts fromNeedham & Co the market for local search isa multi-billion dollar market which is largelyuntouched in the web so far. This potentialmight explain the intensive engagement ofMicrosoft, Google and Yahoo.
2009 has been the Year of LocalSearchWhile many claim that 2009 has been the yearof the mobile one might say it has also beenthe year of local search as well. In September
Art ic le
January/February 2010
In 2009 local search became a forerunner in mass-market geographic information media. With that local search media
finally replaced the good old printed yellow pages and heralded a new era in marketing local business. In 2010 local
search will increasingly go mobile and social but not without the enhanced engagement of local service providers.
This article puts a spotlight on the background of local search, the reasons why we need it, and the its future trends.
By Florian Fischer
10
Local Search Media become Social and Mobile in 2010 Finally
Everything will be Geo-tagged
Google started with Place Pages for Maps. A Place Page is a web pagefor every place in the world, organizing all information Google has gath-ered for that place. Place Pages can exist for virtually everything frombusinesses, points of interest, transit stations, and landmarks to cities allover the world. Local service providers can use the Local Business Centerto ensure even more rich content on the Place Page, like photos, hoursof operation, and offer coupons to entice potential customers. Furthermore,Google encourages local businesses to put Google-branded stickers instore windows. And they do not become tired from local search. In December 2009TechCrunch reported that Google is in discussion to acquire Yelp.com fora half billion dollars or more. Yelp is another site specializing in localsearch. It was founded in 2004 as a way to let users leave reviews onlocal businesses. It creates traffic of nearly 9 million unique visitors permonth and has been growing fast.Similarily Microsoft's Bing Maps became a very popular local search plat-form this year. The new Bing Maps is built on Silverlight and offers threedifferent viewing dimensions. 3D Streetside offers seamless stitchedimagery for 100 major cities. As for bird's eye view, the mapping servicehas data on about 95% of the US. And finally, the aerial perspective isinternationally available. Furthermore Microsoft has launched a newApplication Gallery which lets developers include their own informationon a map. Some applications are already prepared such as Twitter Maps,Photosynth, Current traffic, Restaurant finder, and Urban. Each applicationlets you see specific data based on the location you're looking at. TheBing Maps team will make this platform available to more developers inthe future. They need the power of the community as the development oflocation-based services is exploding. But Microsoft, Google, Yahoo andYelp are not the only local search media. A countless number of localsearch media have appeared in recent years such as Citysearch.com,Qype.com, and golocal.de. Several reasons make local search media toan important channel for marketing services and goods.
Why Local SearchPostmodern culture is highly fragmented and characterised by lifestyledivisions and consumption practices. In this modern consumer societycommunities are driven by shared feelings towards services and goods.In order to explain the importance of local search, a little insight into thetheory of consumption and space is necessary. Our postmodern culture ishighly fragmented and characterised by lifestyle divisions and consump-tion practices. Nowadays consumer communities - social scientists some-times name them consumer-tribes even - are driven by shared feelingstowards certain services, goods and places. Consequently a consumerdecides for a community when he decides for a product. Sometimes thedecision for a community is more important than concerns about utilityand quality of the product iself.Eventually every consumer-tribe adopts services and goods in particularplaces, thus the tribe adopts these places and creates a specific tribal-space. Every local business serves certain consumer-tribes and is part ofone or several tribal-spaces. It needs to be found and identified by thoseto generate customers. But in the light of post-modern social individuali-sation and increasing mobilisation, spatial alienation is experienced. Hencefinding an appropriate local business for one's demands becomes morecomplicated. Local search then provides the spatial awareness necessaryfor hyper-mobile and networked individualists to orientate in postmoderncomplex social spaces.Local search provides the spatial awareness necessary for hyper-mobileand networked individualists. It allows for the establishment of a connec-
tion between community members and insular places of sense for a com-munity. Thus local search applications become an agent for the evolutionof relationships between people and places. These relations are of a con-sumptive nature. Local search applications map consumptive practicesand ultimately identify appropriate urban consumption spaces. Therebythey create and strengthen links between consumers and local business-es by the mapping of consumption practices. In order to enhance thisway of local business marketing, local search media currently experiencethe convergence with two key technology approaches: social media andmobile communication. The future trend in 2010 will be the advancementof local search towards social and mobile local search media.
Local Search goes Social MediaOnline community platforms have developed enormously in recent years.Social Software has become a central foundation of Internet activities. Itincludes numerous media, utilities and applications that empower individ-ual efforts, link individuals together into larger aggregates, interconnectgroups, provide metadata about network dynamics, flows, and traffic,allowing social networks to form, become visible, and be measured,tracked, and interconnected. Next to information, communication andcooperation have become important aspects of the Internet. That is, con-sumers of information become prosumers. They can smoothly changebetween consumption, creation and co-production of media content incooperation with others. Still public and private agencies provide a greatershare of geoinformation for various administrative, scientific and everydayactivities. But they are increasingly supplemented and, especially for thedomain of everyday activities, replaced by virtual communities that col-laboratively create geoinformation content. Currently, more and more social
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Art ic le
January/February 2010
Printed Yellow Pages are
definitely a thing of the past
Google Places Pages provided a geo-referenced website for every place in the world
Microsoft increasingly catches up in local search and offers various interestinggeo-apps on Bing Maps
11
network communities integrate or are based on the idea of collaborativemapping. Their members communicate, review and comment on everydayspatialities by using geo-referenced information. That is, user-generatedcontents are tagged with geographically explicit references, a practice thatis called geo-tagging. Nowadays virtually everything is geo-tagged.Prosumption eventually resulted in consumer empowerment concerningproduct marketing in the leisure industry termed citizen marketing. As aresult the content of many portals for local search is co-produced andmaintained by their users who are organized in virtual geo-communitiessuch as Qype.com or Yelp.com. Members of these geo-communities have a special focus on geoinforma-tion to communicate and discuss their individual points of interest andpreferences such as good hiking routes, best places to buy fair-trade foodor places to avoid at night. Eventually they communicate their visions ofspace regarding relationships between people, services, goods and placeswhich are attached to the representations of the physical world, allowingfor the visualization of conflict and consensus. They are delineated bycommon interests concerning their spatialities andtheir spatial action. Hence local search becomes a modern communica-tion channel for location-specific service providersand their customers within the retail, leisure, tourismand hospitality industries. Many small and mediumscale service providers in the leisure industry areinadequately represented on global channels of dis-tribution. For them social media-aided local searchimproves access to potential customers, and hencegains importance in marketing location specificoffers.
Mobile Local SearchToday’s consumers are on the go and difficult toreach. But these mobile consumers still have a needto access local business information. According tothe 2009 study by TMP, directional marketing con-sumers use mobile applications to search for localcontent as mobile phones and PDAs comeequipped with web-based functionality. The use ofmobile local search applications rose strongly in2009. Mobile search continues to experience growth,
as more consumers have access to mobile devices with Internet browsersand applications. Smartphone owners seem to be three times more likelyto conduct local search on their mobile device than others. As opposedto Web search, mobile local search requires more immediacy and street-smart knowledge. Instead of long lists of results mobile users of localsearch need quick and direct information due to limited bandwidth anddisplay size.More and more the mobile phone emerges to be an all-in-one communi-cation and information tool. It became the central point of media conver-gence in recent years. Today’s smartphones are as capable as former gen-erations of laptops. Display size is increasing and the ubiquitousconnection to the Internet is advancing. Most new mobile phones on themarket are now enabled for localisation by cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fior even GPS. Last but not least the incredible success of the iPhone estab-lished a big global audience of users of mobile Internet applications fromthird party service providers.
2010 might be the year of strong growth for mobile local search use.Almost every provider of local search media offered mobile clients, andeven special mobile clients for Apple’s iPhone or Google’s Android, mobileOS in 2009. There is also the pressure of other competitors to have amobile client at least. However just a few people really did use it. Not tomention the small share of local search users who considered it a valu-able supplement to their need for information about local businesses.Qype.com launched a mobile client called Qype radar for iPhones. It is ageo-sensitive application for local search using the built-in GPS device ofthe iPhone. This application received great feedback within Qype’s usercommunity. But a look on Qype.com reveals that there have been only afew seriously using the mobile client. Other local search media similarlyhave not been caught by the mobile wave but this might change in 2010.As this year might be the year of location-based services mobile localsearch might take a pole position as it already has a big audience on theweb. It is an audience that increasingly experiences the pressures of mobil-ity, the resulting space alienation, and hence the need to individually buildrelationships with places of consumption.
What About the Local Service Providers?While local search wants to really become a mobile and social applicationin 2010 its success is still linked to the contribution of a certain group of
stakeholders. Local service providers are still toodoubtful and too cautious. Many business modelsare based on their financial contributions and theyhope for the marketing power of local search.Formerly, it has been enough for local businessesto pay for an advertisement or the affiliation in theindex of a local search media. In times of social andmobile media consumers expect personal feedbackand updated information. Concurrently local busi-nesses need to deal with harsh criticism from cus-tomers and the freedom of speech on the web.Serving local search media becomes a full time jobmore and more. But it might be a job that pays offas well. 2010 might be the year of local search butnot without the active contribution of local serviceproviders.
Florian Fischer, GIS Editor and Research Assistant at the
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for GIScience in
Salzburg, Austria.
Art ic le
January/February 2010
Google Places Pages provided a geo-referenced website for every place in the world
Yelp.com is the biggest local search community in the United States
12
Web Mapping APIsUse Fast, Intuitive Web Maps to Share Your Geographic Knowledge
You can easily access and leverage your GIS with clients built on
Flex™ | Silverlight™ | JavaScript™
Copyright © 2009 ESRI. All rights reserved. ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, ArcGIS, and www.esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
With ArcGIS® Web Mapping APIs, you can create and deploy GIS applications that are best suited for
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routing. Discover how ArcGIS Web Mapping APIs can deliver mapping and GIS functionality in your
Web applications; visit www.esri.com/mappingapis.
For ESRI locations worldwide, visit www.esri.com/distributors.Czech Republicwww.arcdata.cz
Denmarkwww.informi.dk
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuaniawww.hnit-baltic.lt
Finlandwww.esri-fi nland.com
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Austriawww.synergis.co.at
Belgium and Luxembourgwww.esribelux.com
Bosnia and Herzegovinawww.gisdata.hr
Bulgariawww.esribulgaria.com
Croatiawww.gisdata.hr
Hungarywww.esrihu.hu
Icelandwww.samsyn.is
Israelwww.systematics.co.il
Italywww.esriitalia.it
Maltawww.geosys.com.mt
Moldovawww.trimetrica.com
The Netherlandswww.esrinl.com
Norwaywww.geodata.no
Polandwww.esripolska.com.pl
Portugalwww.esri-portugal.pt
Romaniawww.esriro.ro
Russiawww.dataplus.ru
Slovak Republicwww.arcgeo.sk
Sloveniawww.gisdata.hr
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Switzerlandwww.esri-suisse.ch
Turkeywww.esriturkey.com.tr
Ukrainewww.ecomm.kiev.ua
UK/Irelandwww.esriuk.com
Location Intelligence for 2010
At Pitney Bowes Business InsightJon Winslow is Global Portfolio Director for the Location Intelligence Business at Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI).
In this interview, he explains how PBBI is embracing developments in GI such as open source and cloud computing,
and discusses recent product releases and the importance of vertical markets for the company.
By Eric van Rees
Question: In September, you held akeynote at the AGI GeoCommunityConference in the UK on behalf ofPitney Bowes Business Insight. Couldyou give us a short impression onwhat were the key topics and howyou valued the conference in general?
Jon Winslow: The depth and breadth of tech-nological achievement and debate at thisyear’s AGI conference was a real reflection ofhow far GIS/LI has come in the last 20 yearsor so. When MapInfo introduced one of theworld’s first desktop GIS application in 1986,few business managers grasped the value oflocation intelligence. The role that geo-spatialanalysis could play in business decisions wasa concept that fewer still understood.
Today, GIS technology is pervasive in society.The advent of satnavs and Google Earth, forinstance, has created a commoditisation ofmapping and a democratisation of geograph-ic data that reaches well beyond the enter-prise. However, the key benefits of this rev-
olution are being felt most significantly with-in public sector and commercial organisa-tions, with cloud computing and Web 2.0applications making possible unprecedented,low-cost access to location-based informa-tion. By enabling organisations to cost-effectivelyand easily use location-based data to comple-ment existing financial and corporate data, andto present this information to customers in asimple, interactive form, we have moved clos-er to the wholly location intelligent enterprisethan we might have ever thought possible.This year’s AGI also highlighted location-based data as being vital to effective riskmanagement – particularly the reduction ofrisk exposure in a changing climate.
For example, when natural disasters strike,insurers can calculate potential losses bymapping storm paths against policies inforce. Such models make it easy to determinewhen and where reinsurance makes sense,and calculate the number of adjusters need-ed to review and manage expected claims.
Similarly, contingency planning by both cen-tral government and UK local authoritiesdepends upon location-based data to accu-rately predict, respond and mobilise in theevent of flooding or storm damage, and crit-ically, communicate with citizens. With 2009seeing some of the worst flooding in UK his-tory, local authorities – charged with bothprevention and cure – are turning to location-based information, data and analysis to tack-le citizen-critical services and improved assetinfrastructure.
Last year James Buckley, VicePresident Services at PBBI EMEA,was interviewed in this magazine.When asked about PBBI’s view oncombining desktop tools and webapplications, he stated that ‘thewhole future of the business isabout integrating and bringing
together our enterprise and desktopcapabilities’, mentioning PBBI’senterprise SOA platform and theStratus product range. How far isthis development at the moment atPBBI and where will it lead to in the future in terms of product combinations?
JW: The product portfolio teams at PBBI haveworked hard in 2009 to deliver on our ‘Locate,Connect, Communicate’ vision, which sees thevalue of location and geo data convenientlyharnessed and served up in an easy-to-accessformat across the enterprise via the cloud.This ‘mantra’ provides the framework to cre-ate the wholly location intelligent enterprise.Our applications enable shared data accessand analyses via the desktop, web browseror mobile device, and can be delivered on-premise or via SaaS-orientated solutions andseamlessly integrated with other business sys-tems.
In the last twelve months, we have madegreat strides in defining cloud-based locationintelligence with the launch at the end of2009 of MapInfo Stratus, PBBI’s preliminarySaaS (Software as a Service) offering. We areconfident that MapInfo Stratus will deliverunprecedented operational cost and efficien-cy benefits to businesses and particularlypublic sector organisations under pressure todeliver citizen self-services and address datasharing compliance such as EU INSPIRE.
As a web-mapping application, MapInfoStratus comprises an out-of-the-box applica-tion and developer software development kit,with a focus on usability and interface design.It facilitates the delivery of information with aspatial context and lets users publish datathat the public can immediately interact with.
Government agencies are under constantpressure to deliver higher value and easilyaccessible citizen services in a climate of new
14January/February 2010
Jon Winslow
Interview
directives, legislation and industry standards(OGC/ISO/INSPIRE /NSDI/UNSDI), and bynecessity are becoming domain experts onhow best to acquire, process, distribute,use, maintain, and manage spatial data –which is where open source and SaaS deliv-ery models come in.
In working closely with a number of earlyadopters of MapInfo Stratus in local govern-ment, it’s clear that the benefits of cloud-based location intelligence services arethreefold: lowering operational coststhrough quicker development and deploy-ment, particularly relevant as councils facemajor public spending cuts in 2010 andcome under pressure to do more with less;enabling greater data analysis to improveinformation processing; and delivering tan-gible ROI through fixed payments of soft-ware services and support based on actualusage.
As our flagship SaaS offering, MapInfoStratus is just the first of a raft of PBBI prod-ucts to be released in 2010 via the SaaSmodel – it’s going to be a busy year!
drawing increased demand from a number ofvertical industry sectors where location-basedinformation and intelligence is operation-criti-cal. In the insurance market, for example, cli-mate change has hugely impacted the need formore effective risk management.Location intelligence gives insurance brokers,
Can you elaborate on the typicalPBBI vertical markets and where thepriorities are at the moment?
JW: While the public sector will continue to bean important market for PBBI, our product capa-bilities and delivery model diversification are
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Interv iew
15January/February 2010
A Cloud Map of the World
underwriters, adjusters, marketers and agentsan intuitive, visual way to understand informa-tion and to realize meaning behind largeamounts of data. Our spatial technology – fromMapInfo Professional to Spectrum TechnologyPlatform – has become an invaluable strategictool to many leading insurers worldwide, allow-ing insurance professionals to see the data,clean it, recognise patterns and trends, and drilldown for detailed analysis and improved deci-sion-making.
For example, after a severe storm, one UK insur-ance company experienced a wave of claims,some of which fell outside the path of thestorm. Rather than alienate customers with flat-out denials, the company updated their webmapping using information that geocoded theexact path of the storm. They applied a gener-ous buffer zone, which eliminated any chanceof error and invited claimants to double checkthemselves whether they really wanted to sub-mit that claim. With the ability to see the sameinformation that underwriters saw, many decid-ed to “unsubmit” their request – saving thecompany time, money and hassles.
Another vertical industry embracing location-based intelligence is financial services, wherepredictive analytics based on geo-demograph-ics can provide a critical early-warning mecha-nism to detect borrowers who may be at riskof bankruptcy and default – this is a criticalinsight of particular relevance during this eco-nomic downturn.
The burgeoning growth of mobile and wirelessnetworks has also given rise to demand forlocation intelligence solutions in the telecom-munications industry, with operators using geodata for everything from improving network per-formance to increasing sales through more
accurate retail site location.Essentially, PBBI’s value proposition crossesover to all customer-centric organisations wherelocation intelligent tools facilitate a higher levelof customer service. The huge operational ben-efits of integrating corporate mapping with CRMsystems, allowing call centre operatives to inter-rogate systems via a map while seamlesslycombining back office functionalities to presenta ‘single view of the truth’, is vital for effectivecustomer service. In the public sector, this capa-bility delivers on the self-service ‘holy grail’ –much aspired to also by private sector organi-sations.
MapInfo Professional 10 v. 10.0offers support for PostSQL andPostGIS Database systems. How doyou value and see the future ofopen source demand for MapInfousers?
JW: In introducing PostGIS in MapInfoProfessional 10.0, we were responding initial-ly to demand from large public sector organi-sations in EMEA, where open source direc-tives had taken hold impacting some of ourlargest local and central government cus-tomers, with 5,000-plus user bases.
With enhanced data access including supportfor PostGIS, MapInfo Professional 10.0’s newfunctionality has been widened to additional-ly include Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for glob-al users. Enhanced usability in version 10 hasallowed organisations to make significant timesavings in sharing data securely without theneed for translation into different formats.
While open source is still regarded by manyorganisations as lacking maturity in a mission-critical environment, it is clear that the col-
laborative and interoperable development ofbusiness applications will increasingly play animportant role in enterprise strategy. As such,Pitney Bowes Business Insight will continueto listen to MapInfo users and provide inter-operability with open source solutions asappropriate.
In conclusionWhile spatial analysis is now hitting its stridein terms of business applications, it is likelythat there are many major breakthroughs yetto come.
A new generation of individuals who havegrown up in a map-centric world has justentered the workforce, and expect as a mat-ter of course to be able to cross-referencedata within a geographical context. The ubiq-uity of mobile- and cellular-GIS applicationsmeans that entire new sets of location dataare now revealing their potential. And the abil-ity to intelligently interact with consumerswhile they travel out of the house opens newdoors for analysis, targeting and rich forms ofcommunication.
We can expect that branded consumer appli-cations will continue to attract the most atten-tion in the news, but behind the scenes,Pitney Bowes Business Insight and others willcontinue to explore the possibilities of loca-tion-enhanced business applications, enablingorganisations of all sizes to locate, connectand communicate with their customers andprospects in a way that is simple, appropri-ate and cost-effective.
Eric van Rees is editor-in-chief of GeoInformatics.For more information, have a look at
www.pbinsight.com
16
Interv iew
January/February 2010
A Flooded Road
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Emergency Landing Zone
(34°10’47.98” N, 84°25’08.70” W)
The US is planning to reconfigure the GPS constellation to provide a better, 27-satellite geometry over Afghanistan.
At the moment 30 GPS satellites are operational but a number of these are located quite close together effectively
creating a 24 satellite constellation. With the proposed reconfiguration the currently experienced outages in
mountainous Afghanistan could be countered. If the repositioning takes place it would take around six months to
complete.
By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
A 30 satellite, geometrically spread, constellation would be even bet-ter but is unsupported by the current system, although the plannedupgrades for GPS III would solve the problem. In fact, there are 35 oper-ational GPS satellites right now although only 30 are set 'healthy'. At themoment the de-facto limit is to have 31 operational satellites in the 24satellite geometry constellation. The current constellation of 30 satellitesis due to ground testing of the BlockIIF satellites, which claim one PRNcode, effectively making this unus-able to the remainder of the world.
The US-based company L-3 InterstateElectronics Corporation hasannounced that it has tracked thenew M-code on the launched BlockIIR-M satellite.Meanwhile the problems mentionedin the previous GNSS update with theL5 frequency on SV49 have nowbecome a serious issue. The majorproblem was that during the earlycheck of this satellite, which waslaunched in March 2009, the new L5
frequency impacted the operation of the legacy L1 and L2 signals, byreflecting back from the L5 antenna on the satellite into the L1 and L2antenna's and then being rebroadcasted. As a result of this 'satellite-induced multipath' the satellite was set 'unhealthy' for the time being.
During a review panel the question was asked to the assembled par-ticipants on how to progress fromhere. The suggestion from the GPSWing of the US Air Force was toadjust it and set it back 'healthy'with the potential impact of givinga degraded accuracy for someusers. This suggestion was accept-ed and as a result yours truly advis-es you to monitor SV49 and manu-ally switch it off if ever you suspectit corrupting your data! Under nor-mal circumstances there should beno problem, but some manufactur-ers have been known not to imple-ment the GPS specifications 100%and their products may suffer fromthis.
18
Art ic le
January/February 2010
Number of healthy GPS satellites over the years (source: www.gpsworld.com)
Shifting SatellitesG N S S U p d a t e
GlEngineering model of Galileo In OrbitValidation Satellite on the antenna test(source: www.esa.eu) onass-K satellite
GalileoA rumour is circulating in the GNSS industry that a 350 million Euro con-tract for eight satellites has been awarded to OHB Technology (Germany),one of the two consortia bidding for the development and constructionof the first Galileo satellites. OHB leads a consortium that also includesSurrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL - Great Britain) which built and nowoperates the GIOVE-A satellite. Originally the tender called for 28 satel-lites, but this was reduced to 22 with an option on both 16 and 8 satel-lites to be ordered as well.
In September, SSTL repositioned GIOVE-A in such a way that it is nowoperating 113 km above the orbit of the future 27 operational navigationsatellites. The higher orbit should ensure that GIOVE-A will not cross theorbit of the operational Galileo constellation for more than 100 years.
In the Rome facilities of Thales Alenia Space the satellite engineeringmodel integration tests have been completed. These tests are an impor-tant step towards building and launching the first four In Orbit Validationsatellites. The engineering model is used to perform an early verificationof the electrical functionality and interfaces, and is representative of theflight model without having the complete redundancy.
Meanwhile the main ground station for Galileo, Kourou in French Guiana,was inaugurated on November 19th. Kourou is part of the Galileo groundsegment and one of two Galileo Control Stations from which navigationalmessages are uploaded to the future Galileo satellites. Kourou is also the main launch site for the Galileoconstellation satellites, the first of which are the InOrbit Validation satellites scheduled for launch in pairsat the end of 2010 and in early 2011 using a Soyuzrocket. Originally these launches were planned for early 2010but due to problems with the satellites the launch hasbeen postponed. Galileo is now, according to officialcommunications, to assume initial operational capa-bilities by 2014, a year later than the previous esti-mate and already years behind the original schedule.
GlonassThe development of the Glonass constellation hasslowed down with the postponement of the launch
of three new Glonass-M satellites from Baikonur. The postponement ofthe launch, which was planned for late September, followed the problemswith the signal generator onboard a previously launched Glonass-M satel-lite that was taken out of service on August 31st.
As a result of the problems found, none of the scheduled 6 satellites forlaunch in both September and early December have yet been launched,with a planned launch date of February 2010. As a result the Glonasssatellite constellation has dwindled to 16 operational satellites (and twoin maintenance) in Mid-December instead of the planned full constella-tion of 24 satellites.
It is still unsure whether the two additional launches, which are plannedfor 2010, will still go ahead at the scheduled time (September andDecember 2010). One of the satellites scheduled for launch in 2010 is thenew Glonass-K model which should bring the Glonass performance on apar with GPS giving it a design life-time of 10 years in contrast with the 3years of the current generation of Glonass-M satellites. The 2010 Glonass-K satellite should also broadcast the new CDMA signal on the Glonass L3frequency (1201.4 MHz), with interoperable CDMA signals in the L1 and L5band to follow in later models.
CompassThe second Beidou / Compass satellite, G2, launched in April 2009 hasdrifted 10 degrees from its initial geostationary orbit. This is not the firstBeidou satellite to come adrift after demonstration satellite Beidou 1D
began drifting around 4.5 degrees per day. Beidou1D was launched in February 2007 supposedly toreplace Beidou 1A which appeared to have malfunc-tioned. Beidou 1D was moved from its orbit inFebruary 2009 by increasing its altitude by 130 kilo-metres. In July it was just west of Greenwich.It is unknown what the effect of this drifting will beon the launch of new satellites. So far the scheduleis being characterized as having 10 launches over thenext two-three years, giving local, Chinese, coveragein 2012. Full operational capability is still expectedfor 2020.
One of the major comments on the Beidou / Compassdevelopment so far has been the lack of an Interface
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Art ic le
January/February 2010
Glonass-K satellite
Ground control station in Kourou (source: www.esa.eu)
19
Control Document (ICD) describing the functionality of the system. Suchan ICD is necessary for the development of receivers by manufacturers.During a presentation in October it was announced that a Chinese andEnglish-language draft ICD will probably be released before the end of2010.
Initial tests with the Beidou satellites have shown that the positional accu-racy of the satellites is worse (by a factor of 10) than those obtained withGIOVE-A (20 centimetres versus 2 centimetres). It was also noted that themeasurements contained significantly more cycle slips (17 - 24 times asmuch) than those measured with GIOVE-A. Chinese researchers contributethese problems partially to the location of the tracking stations as well asthe relatively poor quality of satellite equipment and receivers used fortracking the satellites.
Augmentation systemsAs most of our Pan-American readers will know, the WAAS or Wide AreaAugmentation System has been operational in the United States forquite a few years now, improving the accuracy and reliability of the GPSsignals.The European Union has long been working on making a similar sys-tem, EGNOS, operational whilst Japan and India have been in the designphase for quite a few years now.As a last addition to this augmentation business, the Russians haveannounced their own plans for a similar augmentation system, SDCM.
EGNOSOn October 1st, the long awaited and official start of the free Open Servicefor non-safety-of-life operations of the European Geostationary NavigationOverlay Service (EGNOS) finally began. The system, which provides correc-tions to the GPS signals, is composed of transponders aboard three geo-stationary satellites hovering high above the Eastern Atlantic and theEuropean continent, linked to a ground network of about 40 positioningstations and four control centres, all interconnected. According to the European Commission the performance of EGNOS is 2meters at a 99% confidence level although this is supposedly under idealconditions with high grade equipment. Tests under more realistic circum-stances show an accuracy of around 5 meters.
The current system, which has been in the (operational) test phase since2003, is not yet certified for aviation and safety-critical operations; thissafety-of-life service is expected to be operation by mid 2010. The maindifference between the safety-of-life service and the open service is thewarning message in case of a malfunction of the system.A commercial service is expected to be in operation sometime during 2010.Part of the commercial services will be the availability of historical EGNOSdata through the EGNOS Data Access System (EDAS). Through this ftp ser-
vice users can download Rinex B format data from the monitoring sta-tions (RIMS-A stations). The delay in publishing the data is currently around6 hours.
GAGAN, QZSSAs far as GAGAN (GPS-aided Geo Augmented Navigation), the Indian couter-part to WAAS and EGNOS, is concerned, the work is steadily progressing.A contract has been awarded to build the ground stations.In the same manner, the Japanese counterpart, QZSS (Quasi-Zenith SatelliteSystem), is also progressing as expected with a new ground station inGuam. The first QZSS satellite is expected to launch in 2010.
Glonass SDCMRussia is planning on having its own Space Based Augmentation System(SBAS) named the Glonass System of Differential Correction and Monitoring(SDCM). This SDCM will be a counterpart to the already existing EuropeanEGNOS and American WAAS as well as the planned Indian GAGAN andJapanese QZSS system.
In addition to the regular meter-level service, a centimetre-level, real-time,precise service is also planned which will be operational with a range ofabout 200 kilometres from the base station. The plans are to launch twogeostationary satellites in December 2010 and 2011 to support SDCM. Theposition of these extended Luch communications satellites will be at 16°Wand 95°E.
eLoranOn October 28th, president Obama signed a bill that will terminate theLoranc-C signal on January 4, 2010 after certification from the US CoastGuard that it is not needed for navigation and from the Department ofHomeland Security that it is not needed as backup for GPS.On November 20th, the Commandant of the US Coast Guard signed a doc-ument certifying that termination would have no adverse impact on navi-gation. At the time of writing it is not certain that certification was alsogranted by the Department of Homeland Security. If this is the case (whichis more than likely) the agreement says that a detailed termination planhas to be submitted to the congressional committee involved within 30days of certification.
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk [email protected] is a freelance
writer and trainer in the fields of positioning and hydrography.
20
Art ic le
January/February 2010
Compass signals and frequencies as projected (source: www.gpsworld.com)
Mr Tajani, European Commission Vice-President for Transport Policy declaresEgnos operational (source: www.esa.eu)
© 2009 Spectra Precision. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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Jack Dangermond Explains the Need for GeoDesign
During the ESRI European User Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Jack Dangermond sat down for an interview with
GeoInformatics. Topics of interest were GeoDesign, volunteered geographical information, the need for creating more geo-
awareness, open data sharing policies and ESRI’s new software technology to facilitate this. Also, Mr. Dangermond shared
his opinion on new ways of collecting geographical data as opposed to more traditional ways: “the use of crowd sourcing
techniques for certain kinds of data collection will be a very exciting chapter in the history of geography”.
By Eric van Rees
22
Interv iew
“We Need More GeographicThinking in the Way We Make Decisions”
Januay/February 2010
Question: Gov2.0 Summit Washington. How do you seeyour role as company in data exchange for governmentalorganizations? How can these organizations create a com-mon organizational picture? And what is the role of yourcompany in that?
Jack Dangermond: In the U.S. there’s a new initiative to make all governmen-tal data available to the public via the Internet. The federal government hasestablished a new government portal called Data.gov and is requiring orrequesting that agencies make all of their data (not just geospatial) availablefor download by citizens and other organizations. This is being promoted asthe next step in open government and open democracy. There are also thosewho feel that this data will provide greater citizen transparency and possiblynew business or research opportunities for the scientific community. I am per-sonally interested in what this trend toward open data sharing means for theGIS community.While data sharing has always been a key for success in GIS (i.e., clearing-houses, portals, etc.), it hasn’t resulted in a framework where people can com-bine data easily. I am advocating that agencies make their data available asservices, not simply as downloads. People could consume these services oreasily mash them up with other services. That’s starting to happen. There area variety of vendors that provide that technology. The average citizen can’t do anything with downloaded data unless theyacquire or write some software. If we’re going to build an infrastructure likean SDI or INSPIRE, we have to move from the notion of data access to thenotion of putting that data into a form of services. In answer to your second question ‘How is ESRI involved in that?’ we haveGIS server technology that serves maps and map services, and I think there’sprobably 50.000 of those servers out there being used now, so I’m simplyencouraging users to begin to make those services available more publicly.People can then mash them up and build an infrastructure based on search-ing for services, integrating services, or building applications with those ser-vices and ultimately building app-stores that are application suites that bringthose services together for various public applications. And to make that work,you need to have RESTful services, they need to be standards based, youneed to have open and free API’s that can adjust those and mash them up --all of which is available in our technology.
That seems to me one step further than INSPIRE, becausethat doesn’t include any services.
JD: While I think the vision of making the data available via an Internet portalis interesting, it doesn’t result in a geospatial infrastructure that easily lever-ages national investments in geospatial data. To do that we need a series ofgeospatial Web services.In the U.S., the Federal Geographic Data Committee has spent the last 17years discussing and working on the so-called NSDI. In some ways this resem-bles work ongoing under INSPIRE. During that time period they have definedcoordinated data responsibilities among agencies, created data interoperabili-ty standards, and promoted geoportals (metadata catalogues of data and ser-vices). Today, geodata.gov, our national portal, has over 100.000 registrationsof spatial data and services that are available for browsing and use. Theseefforts, while important, have not resulted in an integrated system. While itallows us to download data freely and use it on our own systems or in vari-ous ways, and while valuable, it leaves much to be desired. Making all gov-ernment data available (not just with geospatial data but with all data) does-n’t get us to an open standards-based framework that allows people to easilyintegrate and combine data sets. That requires considering the Web as a plat-form and implementing a network of higher interoperable distributed servicesthat provide a backbone for Web applications. By “serving” data from a local,state or national government agency, there will emerge a whole new class ofapplications that fuse (mashup) these services. What I imagine is a geospa-
tial “app” store similar to Apple’s store for the iphone, where people will buildand share or sell applications. These applications will be related to defensefields, emergency management, logistics and transportation, land use plan-ning, citizen empowerment, etc. People will be able to get these apps anduse them immediately on top of that services infrastructure. For me, that’swhere I think the next big step is. To make it happen, organizations will needto understand the value of this shared infrastructure and open up with sharedservices. That doesn’t mean ‘just give the data away,’ it means provide ser-vices with the data (e.g., maps, spatial analysis) and applications that incor-porate map knowledge. These services will be served into an environmentthat can be easily and dynamically programmed to support applications.
The second question is also related to your keynote presen-tation at the ESRI European User Conference where youspoke about new connections between governments andcitizens, governments and other governments. I’m interestedhow you see the role of citizens, will they be contributinggeodata?
JD: Yes, UGC or “user generated content,” sometimes called volunteered geo-graphical information (VGI) will increasingly become a part of GIS systems.Yesterday afternoon there was a presentation by an NGO here in Lithuaniawho set up a GIS server that allows citizens to register environmental issues,like abandoned cars, waste dumping, illegal forest cutting, etc. Basically, anycitizen can come to the Web site and describe an environmental issue. Thatpoint data is taken by the NGO, verified, and sent to the regulatory agenciesthat do something about it. That kind of citizen information is an alerting sys-tem that causes the government to respond. Here in Europe you have 112 systems. In the US we call them 311 systemsand many of our city’s citizens inform the cities about potholes in the streetor a broken tree or whatever their complaint is, and the government gets thatinformation and responds to it. That’s one kind of UGC that I see, specially built around municipal systems.Another type involves support for citizen science, where people are recordingthings like bird observations by putting dots on a map describing the obser-vations. This organizes citizens to participate in a workflow cycle of measur-ing, analyzing, visualizing, and making their data immediately available toothers on the Web. The vision here is that millions of people on the planetcan begin to become remote sensing devices, observing things and puttingthat information on to a web map. Currently, the consumer mapping sites are experimenting with this kind ofdata collection. The problem is that it’s not generally structured in such a waythat it can be made useful. There’s no ontology or data model organizing theobservations that are being put in. ESRI has been developing a software solution and workflow for the ArcGIS 10release that supports exactly this kind of application. Basically, a GIS organi-zation will be able to set up a server for Web editing of observational datainto a geodatabases. The geodatabase can be set up with a science-basedontology and data model so that people making observations put them direct-ly into a database with a scientific framework. One of the most successful examples of citizen impact on geospatial data isan effort in the UK called Open Street Map. They allow anyone to calibratestreet map measurements using multiple input formats (i.e., sketching, airphotos) or uploading existing street data sets. This effort resulted very quick-ly in a global street map. While it isn’t as accurate and doesn’t carry many ofthe attributes of the street map vendors, it’s quite extraordinary. One of the main reasons why it’s been so successful is that they thoughtthrough the data model on a server so that when people entered data theyweren’t just sketching unstructured information. The authors of the projectorganized how they wanted people to enter their data and built a system todo that. We have basically copied that model in ArcGIS Server 10 with thevision that users in many settings (governments, NGOs, private companies,
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Interv iew
23January/February 2010
etc.) will want to set up those open UGC services to get citizen or volunteeredinput from various sources. I see this changing the science of geography bycreating standard ways to get a new type of geodata input into GIS. Crowdsourcing techniques for collecting broad based geographic measurements willbe a complimentary set of data to the traditional authoritative source datacollection. There’s some debate as to how this data will be fused and used,but I’m sure that will be figured out over time. The use of crowd sourcingtechniques for certain kinds of data collection will be a very exciting chapterin the history of geography. While not replacing traditional methods, it willintroduce new ideas that need to be properly reviewed and integrated intoGISs.
What is the legal basis of the mutations of ‘volunteers’?
JD: This crowd sourcing/UGC data collection is not just happening with geospa-tial information, it’s happening in all information that people are being exposedto. The technique of the social media environment for news, for example, arereplacing or at least augmenting traditional authoritative sources and tech-niques. People are starting to make judgments about truth based on howmany stars a particular data source has. This is becoming a method for deter-mining the quality of the data set, and that is very scary to traditional mea-surement and science people. But it shouldn’t be. These are simply new meth-ods. It’s going to be a new source of information that we have to learn howto deal with, and it will have legal and governance implications, such as whoowns that data and who has the rights to use it. So it’s a new world. Mysense is that traditional high quality data sources from authoritative organiza-tions will have strong metadata and will continue to typically be trusted more.It’s a very exciting time for the geospatial measurement field, and what’senabling this is the technology of the Web. Will there just be one player likeGoogle that ultimately owns all of the data? What are their legal rights to thegovernment data? If an agency puts its data into such a proprietary system,will they continue to own it? There’s considerable controversy emerging onthese subjects. My own view is that there will be many thousands of serversaround the world that will serve information openly in a networked environ-ment of on premise and hosted environments.
The third question is about raising geo-awareness. ESRI isvery active in education throughout the world. And even ifthe economy is bad, there are still a lot of jobs in GIS, howcan this gap be filled, how will it be filled and how do youforesee the future in raising and creating geo-awareness?
JD: Today the GIS market is very strong and growing. It continues to groweven in difficult economic times. I use ESRI’s software sales as an indicationthat our field is and will continue to prosper and do better and better. I thinkthe reason for this is that geographic and locational information continues tobe very valuable to people and organizations. It helps them make better deci-sions and communicate more effectively. We’re seeing some businesses, forexample, that continue to expand. They see GIS as a strategic way to savemoney. Product delivery and transportation companies are using GIS to savemoney and make their organizations more efficient. Some organizations likecities are using GIS to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by doing GIS-basedrouting of their delivery and garbage disposal trucks as well as inspectionvehicles. They’re cutting up to 20% of their greenhouse gas emissions. Theseexamples and dozens like them show that even in troubled economic timesGIS is continuing to deliver value. In fact, business efficiency is becoming aneven greater reason to buy it. This growth is also because more managementand decision makers are more aware of the value. So there is a lot of demandfor GIS jobs even in a down economy. The second point I want to make is isthat the U.S. National Academy of Sciences looked into the value of spatialthinking and geography in education and the results were extraordinary. Thestudy suggested that people who were introduced to spatial thinking at an
early age grow more extensively in other intellectual fields (i.e., math, science,and literature) as a result of this early introduction. I conclude for this thateducators can basically use techniques like GIS to accelerate learning andintellectual development. This excites us, professionally. Over the years, ESRI has invested extensively with partners like the NationalGeographic Society and the Association of American Geographers in develop-ment of K-12 educational materials. We have a team of people who do noth-ing but work with teachers and develop standards-based curricula. We feel thisis both of interest and a core strategy of our organization. We do it becausewe think it does good, makes people more aware of their environment, increas-es their intellectual capabilities, and advances geographic thinking. The third point that you’re suggesting in your question is that there’s a linkbetween our investments in education and development of the professionalworkforce. That is also true. We see that by getting to kids at an early ageand teaching them GIS tools, they are more likely to seek higher educationand emerge a richer and stronger professional. It is our belief that there is aneed for that kind of professional right now. Our experience working with kidsin secondary school is that they fully comprehend the fundamental conceptsof GIS (i.e., measurement, spatial analysis, and visualization), and can suc-cessfully apply these concepts to projects that make a difference at an earlyage. We like to promote the idea that students be given the opportunity tocarry out GIS projects. This involves “project-based learning” where kids goout and observe a problem, measure it, analyze it, come to a solution, andthey get credit for it. That sort of science-based methodology for problemsolving can be accomplished at very young ages, and the earlier that youlearn that process, the more effective you become as a professional. Youbecome more motivated, more interested, and more capable of applying sci-ence in your work. We support this idea a lot. I’m not sure that there’s a ratio-nal reason why ESRI does this other than “we like it.” I think one of ESRI’score values and goals is ESRI is to create a more geospatially literate society,and I think that has benefits along the same lines of why ESRI exists at all.
Can you please tell me something about the GeoDesignConcept?
JD: My original field of study was landscape architecture and that is probablythe mother profession of GeoDesign. GeoDesign is about integrating designwith geographic and science-based information. In the early days of ESRI, Ialways expected that people would apply GIS to design-based problem solv-ing and finding the best location for something. I have been a little disap-pointed that didn’t happen as rapidly or as naturally as I thought it would.My motivation for emphasizing it in the last year has been in part to makepeople aware that there’s a huge opportunity to move in this direction tomake a better world. I also found that there have been tools missing in GIS,so we’ve been developing new software capabilities that support theGeoDesign process. In January we will host the first GeoDesign Summit. It willbring people from both the GIS and design fields together and have themshare their work and get a conversation going. I’m not totally sure what theoutcome is going to be, but I’m hoping a new profession or direction willemerge. I think we need this kind of mixing at this point to bring these twofields together; people who design the world with people who design thefuture. Today, geography lives very well in its world and designers live verywell in their world, but there’s not this cross-mixing. I believe the outcomewill be much enlightened ways to do development; ways that bring scienceinto how we design things: cities, the environment, highways, everything thatwe do. Today we certainly see the need for this all the way from global warm-ing to designing more livable and sustainable cities. We need more geograph-ic thinking in the way we make decisions. GeoDesign is an attempt to try todo something about that.
Eric van Rees is editor in chief of GeoInformatics. For more information, have alook at www.esri.com
Interv iew
January/February 201024
Interest in the mobile Internet is growingrapidly. This is not only because of lowercosts, but also because of better techniquessuch as larger screens, faster data transfertechnology (EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA) and specialdata cards for laptops. However, the mobileInternet market is not yet that big: five mil-lion page views per month. Not much com-pared to standard Internet usage, but all rel-evant research suggests a steep growth curve.Fueled by the most recent telephones andPDAs (which are more handy to use thanmobile Internet browsers), decreasing costsfor mobile data traffic and a bigger supply ofmobile content, the market will certainly growrapidly in the coming years.Publishers should unlock their content formobile use, otherwise an imbalance will occurbetween supply and demand. Ruud Groothuis,
publisher of GIS Magazine, CAD Magazine andGeoInformatics predicts: “in three to five yearsmobile Internet will be as huge as standardInternet.” By that time GeoInformatics willhave acquired a good position by alreadymanifesting itself in the market. “Mobile willnot be as big as I initially thought”, Groothuissays, “but actually even bigger as a result ofthe use of open standards, the growth ofdata, sensor elements and new devices.”The number of mobile Internet users thatmake use of it every week grew last year by53 per cent. In The Netherlands, there are 1,3million users of mobile Internet twelve yearsof age and older, according to a marketresearch study in September 2009. The per-centage of mobile phones that are suitablefor mobile Internet has increased to 60 percent.
Users are more familiar with mobile sites thanwith applications that have to be installed.Since a mobile site is more suitable for dif-ferent types of phones (unlike an application),a mobile site reaches the largest potential tar-get audience. Draw backs for mobile websitesare screen size, high costs for mobile Internet,connection speed and lack of standardizationof browsers and URL's. Until now, these issueshave obstructed the growth in mobile Internetuse. However, new developments are follow-ing each other rapidly. Telecommunicationproviders are offering more often subscrip-tions with unlimited Internet access for a fixedprice. Screens are getting bigger (for examplethe iPhone). Also, there are international ini-tiatives such as dotMobi to standardize URL'sand the design of websites.
25
Publishing Company CMedia Productions
offers immediate access to its magazines
through mobile internet. This means that
all on line GeoInformatics messages of
can now be read on mobile phones.
Web News on your Phone
GeoInformatics on Your Mobile
www.geoinformatics.comJanuay/February 2010
“In three to five years from now, mobile
internet will be as big as
standard internet”,
Ruud Groothuis,
publisher of GeoInformatics.
Art ic le
11-16 April 2010
A very sincere “G’day” to all readers of GEOinformatics and a warm, collegiate invitation to travel “Down Under” this year
to attend the FIG2010 Congress in Sydney Australia on 11-16 April 2010. This article details the Congress itself and some of
the “extra-curricular” activities in which you may wish to indulge during your visit.
Try to imagine an edition of GEOinformatics with over 650 interestingand relevant technical articles, plus your own personal, face-to-face accessto each of the authors. Combine this with “editorials” by internationallyrenowned leaders in geoinformation, providing insight into their visionsfor the future, and this is equivalent to just the base level of the FIG2010Congress.
FIG Congresses are like the Olympics for Surveyors: they occur every 4years and there is a great deal of competition in being chosen to hostone. For our Sydney “Olympics” Congress, we have already struck Goldwith a record breaking number of technical paper abstracts being received:over 200 more than any previous FIG Congress. This number of submis-sions has guaranteed that only the best quality papers will be deliveredand only current topics will be discussed, ensuring a Congress that is rel-evant to all delegates.
The Fédération Internationale des Géomètres, FIG, (or InternationalFederation of Surveyors) is the international, non-government organisationwhose purpose is to support collaboration for the progress of surveyingin all fields and applications. Over 110 countries are now represented onFIG and there are some 250,000 members worldwide.
The work of FIG, highlighted in the congress technical papers, is organ-ised through “Commissions” covering the key surveying disciplines. Thereare ten Commissions which, under the guidance of their chairs, are respon-sible for pursuing FIG’s professional and technical objectives. The tenCommissions are:
Commission 1 – Professional Standards & Practice Commission 2 – Professional Education Commission 3 – Spatial Information Management Commission 4 – Hydrography Commission 5 – Positioning & Measurement
Commission 6 – Engineering SurveysCommission 7 – Cadastre & Land Management Commission 8 – Spatial Planning & Development Commission 9 – Valuation & the Management of Real Estate Commission 10 - Construction Economics & Management
I am sure that at least one of these Commissions is relevant to the workyou do. There will be technical sessions dedicated to each of theseCommissions.
The Congress keynote will be delivered by Professor Tim Flannery, who isone of Australia’s leading thinkers as well as an internationally acclaimedscientist, conservationist, author and 2007 Australian of the Year.Consistent with our Congress theme of ‘Facing the Challenges’, Tim willspeak about Climate Change and our profession’s role in sustainable devel-opment: arguably the greatest challenges facing our world in the 21stCentury. Whether you are a Climate Change fanatic or a Global Warmingsceptic, I am sure that this Keynote will challenge your beliefs and mobiliseyour thoughts both personally and politically to face the challenges beforeit is too late.
Plenary speakers from the international scene include Daniel Fitzpatrick,the UN’s land rights adviser for tsunami-affected Indonesia, who is cur-rently finalising the UN’s Guidelines on Addressing Land Issues after NaturalDisasters. His presentation will focus on land systems that are vulnerableto natural disasters due to poor land use planning and weak land admin-istration systems. Santiago Borrero, Secretary General of the Pan AmericanInstitute of Geography and History, will concentrate on the key challengesbeing faced in Latin America as it works towards building Spatially-enabledGovernment. Paul Munro-Faure, Chief of the land Tenure & Managementunit of the Food & Agriculture Organisation, is yet another internationallyrenowned speaker who will detail the crucial role played by Good LandGovernance in the work of the FAO.
26
Event
Januay/February 2010
FIG2010 InternationalSurveying Congress
And where would a “spatially-enabled” Congress be without Google? EdParsons, Google’s Geospatial Technologist for Europe, Middle East and Africa,will outline his vision for organising the spatial component of the world’sinformation systems using tools such as Google Earth and Google Maps.
A surprise concept being trialled at this congress is the introduction ofafter lunch sessions led by the major spatial thinkers of our generation,providing their vision of the future of our geospatial technologies and therole of our profession in providing our unique contribution to society.These sessions will inspire and challenge you, and should not be missed.They do, indeed, emphasise the value of international Congresses: pro-viding delegates with direct access to those who influence our professionand its place in society.
Also consistent with our Congress theme, one of the key features of theFIG2010 Congress will be the Workshop on ‘Small Island Developing Statesand the Millennium Development Goals’. This Workshop is being heldspecifically due to the location of the Congress on the doorstep of theAsia/Pacific Region and will focus on the issues confronting island nationsas they face critical land governance issues.
The Congress will also include a special Forum for Chief Executive Officersof National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies, giving them the opportunityto network and discuss organisational trends and policy issues.
Australia is a long way from almost anywhere, which is why the Congressorganisers have put a lot of effort into making this event a “working holi-day” for you, with the opportunity for some memorable experiences before,during and after the Congress.
Congresses are just as much about the experience as they are about edu-cation. The Congress organisers have worked hard to ensure that yourexperiences “down under” are memorable ones. In the week prior tothe Congress, our Young Ambassadors have arranged pre-Congress toursto the very heart of our island nation. One of these tours, for the adven-turous surveyor, commences at Alice Springs and commemorates the 150thAnniversary of the raising of the Union Jack over the geographical centreof Australia, and includes a helicopter ride to the top of Central MountStuart. Catch details of this and other “Young Surveyor” tours on theCongress website at www.fig2010.com.
A pre-Congress two day History Workshop has also been arranged for thosewith an interest in both Australian and world-wide Surveying history.
During the Congress, technical tours include a float-on-a-boat to FortDenison in the middle of the magnificent Sydney Harbour; watching ‘BigBrother’ watching you at the impressive Transport Management Centre,fighting bushfires at the emergency operations centre of the Rural FireService and a tour of the SNAP (Satellite Navigation And Positioning) laboratory at the University of New South Wales.
The local Institution of Surveyors has recognised how difficult it is for delegates to concentrate on technical papers and tours for a whole 5days, and has organised a little distraction on day 4 of the Congress: golfat the magnificent, world class, Lakes Golf Course. An extra special discount has been organised for delegates but due to limited numberson this exclusive diversion, you’ll have to be quick to book!
An attractive feature of this Congress is “at cost” optional tours for dele-gates and their families: because our professional congress organiserarinex is also a travel agent, there is absolutely no Congress mark-up ontours. Arinex will also staff the registration desk each day to help dele-gates organise last minute tours and activities. Planned activities includea BridgeClimb along the top of the arch of the iconic Sydney HarbourBridge, a guided tour of the famous Sydney Opera House and a coffeecruise on the waterways of Sydney Harbour. More adventurous diversionsfor those delegates and their families include a Hunter Valley Wine Tour, atrip to the world heritage area of the Great Barrier Reef and a journey intothe “aboriginal dreamtime” of the Red Centre of Australia.
There is a whole range of accommodation options available in Sydney,from sharing a tent on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour to luxurious 5 star hotels close to the Congress venue in Darling Harbour. A new YouthHostel has just opened in the historic ‘Rocks’ area of the city, with mag-nificent harbour views that cannot be beaten for the price.
This is your Congress: you owe it to yourself to attend and we look for-ward to seeing you “down under”. Registrations are open now on theCongress website www.fig2010.com. This website contains completedetails of the Congress and all associated activities.
See you at the Congress!
Mark T GordonAssistant Congress Director (Administration)
FIG2010 Congress
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Event
27January/February 2010
ENVI EX:
Where GIS meets Remote SensingThe boom of available satellite imagery didn’t go unnoticed in the geospatial world. But rather than using imagery as
a backdrop, GIS users now discover that it can be used for a lot more, like monitoring of wildfires, establish land cover
maps, extracting features of interest etc.. In September 2009, ITT VIS launched its first version of ENVI EX, software
which is fully integrated with ArcGIS, bringing remote sensing and GIS more closely together. In this interview,
Rolf Schaeppi (Vice President European Operations) speaks about ITT ’s partnership with ESRI and what ENVI EX
has to offer to the ArcGIS community.
By Eric van Rees
Question: Could you tell us a bitabout the company’s origins andyour products?
Rolf Schaeppi: While working with NASA’sMars Mariner missions at the Laboratory forAtmospheric and Space Physics at theUniversity of Colorado, our company’sfounder, David Stern, began work on whatwould eventually become IDL, a programming
language for data visualization and analysis.In 1977, after several years prototyping, IDLwas commercially released. NASA and otherscientific organizations quickly realized IDL’spotential and were among the first IDL cus-tomers. Soon, leading research laboratoriesand major universities across the country wereusing IDL to solve their data analysis andvisualization challenges.IDL also quickly became popular in the disci-
plines of earth science and remote sensing,to the extent that ENVI was developed usingIDL as an application for extracting importantinformation from satellite and airborneimagery. The first version of ENVI wasreleased in 1994.As data sets have become larger and morecomplex, the need to extract answers fromdata has grown as well. IDL and ENVI bothcontinue to expand in capability and gain
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Interv iew
January/February 2010
The ENVI EX interface is a dynamic, advanced interactive display window that supports even large imagery files. Intuitive menus allow you to display imageryquickly and easily. The Image Overview allows you to see the larger image and select an area for viewing. The Layer Manager allows you to select layers for viewing
and manipulating. The Preview Window displays results at each processing step during the workflow on-the-fly.
prevalence in the marketplace. In 1998, IDLwas named a "NASA Milestone Technology ofthe First 40 Years” for its value in helpingNASA scientists make important discoveries.ENVI has also become an industry-leadingproduct for image analysts and image scien-tists worldwide. This year ITT released a newproduct to bring image analysis to a new setof GIS users. The new product, ENVI EX,delivers the robust image analysis of ENVI instep-by-step workflows for the imagery tasksmost needed by GIS professionals.
We are here at the ESRI EuropeanUser Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania.ITT VIS has a partnership with ESRIfor some time now. How did thispartnership came into being?
RS: Our partnership with ESRI started whenITT Visual Information Solutions developedthe NITF Extension for ArcGIS three years ago.The partnership between ESRI and ITT VisualInformation Solutions has strengthened overthat time with the shared belief that imageryis now a part of GIS and imagery is more
important than ever for GIS users today.Imagery is growing in availability and is ofgrowing value to the GIS user. Both ESRI andITT are pursuing product development strate-gies that integrate the ArcGIS and ENVI prod-uct lines with the intention of creating toolsthat facilitate the integration of imagery intoGIS workflows.
How are remote sensing and GIScombined with ENVI EX? And whatproblems does it solve for the GISuser?
RS: The challenge with integrating imageryand remote sensing technology into GIS work-flows is that it often requires a lot of imageryanalysis to get information that is useful tothe GIS professional. Historically, tools to ana-lyze imagery have been difficult to use andanalysts needed image science backgroundsto derive meaningful products. The challengewas to distill the vast amount of functionalityof ENVI into easy to use workflows so thatthe scientific rigor is maintained and the enduser can produce accurate and repeatable
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Interv iew
29
results without having a deep background inRemote Sensing science.ENVI EX, as a result of this effort, is the newsolution for image processing, analysis andexploitation for the ArcGIS community. Theintegration of the ENVI EX and ArcGIS reducesthe complexity of working with imagery toenable geospatial analysts and GIS profes-sionals to get useful information from imageryquickly and easily. Based on ENVI, ITT’s premiere image process-ing and analysis solution, ENVI EX now pro-vides ArcGIS users with the superior imageanalysis methods and algorithms trusted byimagery professionals for years. The product’seasy to use interface with intuitive processesguides users step by step through analyzingsatellite and airborne imagery and data acrossa wide range of imaging modalities.The new workflows in ENVI EX provide auto-mated processes for solving problems thatare common in GIS applications across a vari-ety of industries. These workflows includetying an image to its geographic coordinatefor accuracy in mapping, extracting featuresof interest from a large geographic area,
Brief Product Introduction
IDL IDL is an ideal software for data analysis, visualization, and cross-plat-form application development. IDL combines all of the tools you needfor any type of project, from "quick-look," interactive analysis anddisplay to large-scale commercial programming projects. Thousands oftechnical professionals use IDL every day to rapidly develop algo-rithms, interfaces, and powerful visualizations and quickly crunchthrough large numerical problems.
ENVI & ENVI EXENVI is an ideal software for extracting important information from alltypes of digital imagery. ENVI’s image processing package includesadvanced yet easy-to-use spectral tools, geometric correction, terrainanalysis, radar analysis, raster and vector GIS capabilities, extensivesupport for images from a wide variety of sources, and much more.
Being developed using IDL, ENVI in combination with IDL, is com-pletely flexible and extensible, thus adaptable to meet the customer’sspecific requirements.ENVI is the choice of many imagery scientists and professionals forextracting scientifically accurate information from imagery. Now ENVIEX delivers the accurate, scientifically proven processes that ENVI isknown for in revolutionary step-by-step workflows that quickly andeasily guide you through advanced image processing tasks, regard-less of your experience level.
IAS – Image Access SolutionsImage Access Solutions considerably improves the storage, access,management and delivery of image files by optimizing the waveletcompression capabilities of the JPEG 2000 standard. Using intelligentstreaming technology, Image Access Solutions delivers important infor-mation faster, increasing the speed and accuracy of your decision-making process.
The image on the left is the “before” scene, the middle image is the “after” scene, and a 2CMV change detection visualization result is shown at the far right. The areasthat have been removed from Time 1 to Time 2 are shown in red, and the areas that are new between Time 1 and Time 2 are shown in blue.
detecting change in a region by comparingdifferent images, classifying land cover, andfinding anomalous features in an area. (Seeexamples below.)The seamless integration between ENVI EXand ArcGIS allows GIS users to easilyexchange data and files from ArcGIS to ENVIEX with simple drag and drop methods thatpreserve the style, symbology, vectors, andlayer information from one product to anoth-er. In addition, ENVI EX provides direct accessto the full suite of map composition toolsavailable in ESRI’s ArcGIS. This new capability gives users of both prod-ucts increased workflow efficiencies and timesavings when integrating imagery with GISapplications.
How do you explain the interest inimagery in GIS?
RS: GIS professionals recognize that imageryis essential for understanding what is hap-pening in the world, learning how the envi-ronment is changing, and giving context toother types of data. Imagery availability, thepower of its information content and the num-ber of dissemination methods are rapidlyincreasing. While digital orthophotography isan essential element in a GIS professional’sgeospatial data store, high resolution colorand multi-spectral satellite imagery is alsocoming into common use. As the spatial andspectral fidelity of these sources improve, sodoes the ability to extract important informa-
tion to GIS professionals.One of the most common applications is theuse of imagery as a data source to populate,update and assess the quality of GIS databas-es. Map accurate orthophotos or satelliteimages are used to collect (digitize) featuressuch as road centerlines, land use areas,building footprints and utility infrastructure.Up-to-date imagery makes it easy to identifyareas of development not yet captured in theGIS database. Automated image processingmethods tailored for feature extraction can beused to reduce the effort of often tedious dig-itizing tasks of this type.Other applications exploit the spectral con-tent of the imagery to accomplish land useand land cover mapping; measure, monitorand assess environmental conditions; assessthe condition of pavement and other publicworks assets; and identify building materials.Change detection is also possible whenimagery is collected over time. The knowledgegained from these analyses is invaluable asinput to land development models and fore-casts, environmental impact statements, assetmanagement budgets and reports for commu-nicating important issues to community con-stituents.A major focus of recent and ongoing ENVIdevelopment is providing tools and methodsto extract information from images, and tothen integrate these results with GIS databas-es. ENVI currently has many tools for thesepurposes, including workflows for commonimage processing tasks for GIS professionals,
converting to and editing common vector dataformats, and geodatabase support. Moreover,upcoming releases will improve and add tothese capabilities.
What do you think is going to bethe future when looking at the part-nership between ITT VIS and ESRI?
RS: As imagery continues to proliferate andthe tools to extract features and informationimagery grow, so too does the demand forimage processing and management solutionsacross a wide variety of industries. It is ourjob to continue to provide the GIS user com-munity with easy to use tools, like those inENVI EX, so that they can get the benefit outof the many available and ever increasingimage sources across distributed portals.Having made available that ‘ease of use’ onthe desktop, the next steps are now to pro-vide the same ‘ease of use’ and functionalityin an enterprise environment. ITT VisualInformation Solutions provides a comprehen-sive set of image and data preparation solu-tions, as well as image management and dis-semination functionality that meets thedemanding needs of today’s geospatial enter-prise deployments. Development plans forENVI include many new workflow tools thatwill make image processing services availablein the enterprise and even easier, leveragingproven ArcGIS server technologies.
Eric van Rees is editor in chief of GeoInformatics Magazine.
For more information on ENVI EX, have a look atwww.ittvis.com/ProductServices/ENVI/ENVIEX.aspx
www.ittvis.com
30
Interv iew
January/February 2010
The new Map Layout view in ENVI EX allows users to take all image processing results and apply an ESRImap template for map composition, all from within the ENVI EX interface. (This capability is also available
now in ENVI.)
An Introduction to the Technology
Mobile Mapping SystemsOver the last 20 years, mobile mapping systems have slowly developed, at first mainly in academic research
establishments. More recently, a number of commercially operated systems have appeared. These have mostly been
one-off systems that have been developed in-house by the companies that are operating them. Most of them have been
utilized for the collection of data on road infrastructure or building facades. However, over the last two or three years,
some very big companies such as Google, Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ have adopted the technology on a large scale,
introducing substantial fleets of mobile mapping vehicles for their imaging and mapping operations. This has resulted
in the further rapid development of the technology which can now be regarded as being well established and proven.
This article offers an introduction to and survey of the present state-of-the-art of the technology.
By Gordon Petrie
This survey of the technology will be conducted in three main parts.(i) The first deals with the main components of mobile mapping sys-tems. These include the digital imaging devices; the laser ranging andscanning devices; and the positioning (or geo-referencing) devices whichare the principal building blocks that are being used in the construc-tion of such systems. (ii) The second part will cover the system suppli-ers who integrate these different components and offer the resultingsystems for sale to users. (iii) The third part covers a representativeselection of service providers, but paying particular attention to thesystems used by the large imaging and mapping organisations thathave been mentioned above in the introduction to this article.
I - Main Components
Imaging DevicesArising from the speed of movement of the mapping vehicles and theclose proximity of the target objects (of a few tens of metres), the digi-tal frame cameras and pushbroom line scanners that are familiar to themapping community from their airborne imaging operations are simplynot suitable for use with mobile mapping vehicles. Although imaging(pushbroom) line scanners have been used experimentally in certainmobile mapping vehicles that are being operated by academic researchgroups, so far they have had little use in commercial mapping opera-tions. Instead digital frame cameras are used almost universally.However the format sizes are very small (1 to 2 Megapixels is typical);framing rates are high (typically 7 to 15 frames per second); exposuretimes are very short (to eliminate image blur); and the use of multiplecamera arrays to provide 360 degree panoramic images in the horizon-tal plane is very common. Taking as an example a mobile mappingvehicle that is being driven in an urban area at 30 kph, it travels a dis-tance of 1 km in 120 seconds or 8.3 m in one second. If it travels at60 kph, it travels a distance of 16.7 m in one second. If the imagingsystem has to acquire successive sets of frame images at intervals of 2to 8 m from four to eight cameras simultaneously to ensure the contin-uous coverage of a street or road, then it is obvious that very highrates of data transmission and storage of the images will need to beimplemented. This involves the use of interfaces and cabling technolo-gies such as FireWire or iLINK (that adhere to the IEEE1394 standard)[Fig. 1]. These devices can transmit uncompressed image data from mul-tiple cameras either at 400 Megabits per second (50 Megapixels per
second) – which is the IEEE1394-A standard - or at 800 Megabits persecond (100 Megapixels per second), which is the IEEE1394-B standard.
The individual camerasindividual cameras that are being utilized to implement and sat-isfy these requirements are digital video frame cameras using very small-format CCD or CMOS area arrays as their imaging sensors. These cam-eras are manufactured in large numbers for industrial use by numeroussuppliers such as Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba (Japan); IMI (Korea);IMPERX, Pelco and Arecont Vision (U.S.A.); PixeLINK (Canada); and AVT,PCO and Basler (Germany). A typical type of digital video camera thatwas used in early mobile mapping operations was the Sony DFW-500model that could acquire 640 x 480 pixel (0.3 Megapixels) colour frameimages at rates up to 25 frames per second. More modern types ofSony CCD cameras can output images having the much larger framesize of 1,024 x 768 pixels (0.8 Megapixels) at the rate of 15 frames per
32
Art ic le
January/February 2010
Fig. 1 – A diagram showing a network of video cameras, a GPS receiver and anodometer (with its optical encoder) being controlled using high-speed IEEE1394
interfaces and cabling. (Source: Point Grey Research)
second or frame images that are 1,280 x 960pixels (1.2 Megapixels) in size at a rate of 7.5frames per second. These individual cameraswill often be deployed in multiple in differentconfigurations depending on the specific typesof features that need to be mapped [Fig. 2].Usually each of the individual cameras that aremounted on a mobile mapping vehicle will beenclosed in a special housing that will protectit from rain and dust. Often the housing willbe equipped with a Sun shroud and also witha heater/defroster unit, the latter helping tokeep the camera operational in cold weatherconditions.
However the use of fully integrated multiplemultiple
cameracamera units is now very common in mobilemapping vehicles. As will be seen later, theLadybug series of multiple cameras built byPoint Grey Research, based in Richmond, B.C.,Canada, have been adopted widely for use inmobile mapping systems [Fig. 3]. The compa-ny’s Ladybug2 multiple camera unit has sixSony CCD digital video cameras. Five of thesecameras are arranged concentrically in a hori-zontal ring pointing outwards to produce a360 degree panoramic image within the hori-zontal plane, with the sixth camera pointingvertically upwards. These cameras have aFireWire-B (IEEE1394-B) 800 Megabit interfaceand cabling to provide camera control andpower and to implement video data transmis-sion at the rate of 15 uncompressed frame images per second, eachimage being 1,024 x 768 pixels (= 0.8 Megapixels) in size. The Ladybug3unit also has a set of six Sony CCD cameras arranged in a similar circu-lar five-camera configuration (plus a single vertical camera) but withstill larger formats (1,600 x 1,200 pixels). Thus it can generate six 2-Megapixel images that can be streamed as uncompressed images atthe rate of 7 frames per second or as compressed JPEG images at a 15frames per second rate. Each Ladybug multiple camera unit can be sup-plied attached to a mast that can be mounted on a roof rack that hasbeen placed on top of the mapping vehicle to provide a clear view ofthe surrounding objects.
Another integrated multiple camera unit that has received a great dealof publicity and attention from the media because of its distinctiveshape and appearance is the Dodeca 2360 [Fig. 4] The name is derived
from the geodesic geometry of the dodecahe-dron, which is a 12-faced solid figure (witheach face having a pentagonal shape) thatapproximates to that of a sphere. The overallDodeca 2360 unit utilizes eleven of the 12faces, in each of which a small-format camerais mounted, while the twelfth face forms thebase on which the camera is mounted. Usuallythe camera will be attached to a mast thatcan be mounted on the roof of the mappingvehicle. The Dodeca camera was devised byanother Canadian company, Immersive MediaCorporation Inc. (IMC), based in Calgary,Alberta. Originally the camera was manufac-tured by Freestone Systems in Dallas, Texas.In 2007, IMC acquired the Freestone compa-ny, which was then renamed IMC Sensors Inc.Each of the Dodeca cameras generates aframe image that is 640 x 480 pixels in size,the overall size of the resulting merged andstitched “spherical” image formed from themultiple individual images is 2,400 x 1.200pixels.
The Google company made use of this type of Dodeca frame imagerywhen it introduced its “Street View” service in 2007. However Googlethen switched to using its own multiple camera units thereafter. TheGoogle integrated multiple camera system comprises nine individualCCD cameras, eight of which are arranged, spaced equally, in a concen-tric ring pointing outwards, with the ninth camera pointing verticallyupwards [Fig. 5]. The individual cameras are reported to have been sup-plied by an American company, Elphel Inc., which is based in Salt LakeCity, Utah. The Elphel 313 and 333 models are digital network camerasusing CMOS area arrays that are delivered with software source codesupplied under Open Source terms (like those applying to the Linuxoperating system or the Firefox browser). The Elphel 313 camera gener-ates images with a frame size of 1,280 x 1,024 pixels at the rate of 15frames per second or larger images, e.g. with 1,600 x 1,200 pixels, at alower rate. The later Elphel 333 camera can generate compressed JPEG
images that are 2,048 x 1,536 pix-els (3.2 Megapixels) in size at therate of 12 frames per second.
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Art ic le
January/February 2010
Fig. 2 – These diagrams show the different configurations of digital video cameras that have beenutilized on the mobile mapping vehicles that are being
operated by Tele Atlas. Diagrams (a), (b) and (c) showalternative arrangements using four cameras, while
(d) shows a six-camera arrangement. (Source: Tele Atlas; Re-drawn by Mike Shand)
Fig. 3 – The cylindrical-shaped Ladybug2 (left) and the pentagonal-shapedLadybug3 (right) integrated multiple camera systems, which are operated with
FireWire-B (IEEE1394-B) interfaces and cabling. (Source: Point Grey Research)
Fig. 4 – The Dodeca 2360 integrated multiple camera
system produced byImmersive Media comprises
eleven individual video camera firing simultaneously.
(Source: Immersive Media)
Fig. 5 – The integrated nine-camera system that is mountedand operated on the Google compa-ny’s cars that acquire imagery for itsStreet View service. (Source: Google)
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Laser Ranging & Scanning DevicesThe numerous, varied and well-established types of tripod-mounted 3D3D
laser scannerslaser scanners that are in widespread use by land surveyors under-taking terrestrial or ground-based laser scanning – including bothpanoramic and camera-type laser scanners; the use of the phase mea-suring technique for short distances; and the need for both horizontaland vertical angles to be measured – have had little part to play inmobile mapping systems. Indeed the 3D laser scanners that are avail-able at present for surveying work can only be used for static measure-ments in their native 3D operational mode, even when mounted on avehicle - since the scanning operation at a single fixed location oftentakes several minutes. However a very small number of 3D laser scan-ners from the German Faro and Z+F companies have been operated onmobile mapping vehicles, but with their horizontal (azimuth) angularmovements disabled – which effectively makes them into 2D laser scan-ners.
Indeed the main emphasis in mobile mapping is on the use of 2D laser2D laser
scannersscanners that can very rapidly acquire range or elevation profiles com-prising the distance and angular values measured within a single 2Dplane. These profile measurements are carried out using the laser scan-ner to measure the required distances and angles simultaneously with-in a series of successive parallel planes intersecting the road surfaces,pavements, “street furniture”, buildings and vegetation that are locatedadjacent to the roads or streets along which the mobile mapping vehi-
cles are being driven. Indeed, in many respects, the 2D laser scannersthat are mounted on mobile mapping vehicles are, in principle, quitesimilar to the laser scanners that are being used in airborne laser scan-ning – except that they are usually being operated over distances of afew tens of metres, instead of the several hundreds or thousands ofmetres that are encountered in airborne laser scanning. As with air-borne laser scanning, the third dimension to the captured profile datais being created by the forward movement of the vehicular platform onwhich the 2D laser scanner is mounted. The location of each new rangeprofile is being measured continuously (and very accurately) using anintegrated suite of positioning devices – comprising a GPS or GNSSreceiver, an IMU; and an odometer or DMI device – as the vehicle trav-els forward.
The 2D laser scanners that are probably the most commonly used inmobile mapping are those manufactured by the SICK company, which isbased in Waldkirch, Germany. The SICK company makes an almost bewil-dering range of laser scanners - including bar code scanners; scannersfor displacement and volumetric measurements; and scanners that aredesigned for proximity determination and safety purposes - togetherwith numerous other types of encoders, switches, controllers and sen-sors that are designed for a wide range of industrial, logistic and com-mercial applications. Certain models in the SICK LMS (Laser MeasurementSystems) series of laser scanner are designed specifically for outdooruse, the LMS 291 model being that mainly used in mobile mapping [Fig.6]. This scanner combines (i) a rapid firing laser rangefinder using thetime-of-flight (TOF) distance measuring principle; with (ii) a rotating mir-ror whose angular directions are also being measured continuously usingan angular encoder. Using this technology, the LMS 291 generates a fan-shaped scanning angle of 180 degrees within its 2D scanning plane andcan measure ranges of up to 80 m to objects having a reflectivity of70%.; 60 m to objects (such as a wooden house) with a reflectivity of40%; and 30 m to objects with 10% reflectivity. The measuring resolu-tion in range of the LMS 291 model is stated to be 1 cm, while the accu-racy is +/- 6 cm. An additional LMI controller can be supplied to controlthe operation of multiple LMS scanners. Still longer-range 2D laser scan-ners are available from LASE GmbH, which is another company in theSICK Group based in Wesel, Germany. The LASE LD-LRS laser scannercan measure ranges up to 250 m with suitable highly reflective objects;110 m to objects with 20% reflectivity; and 80 m to objects with 10%reflectivity, and has a 300 degree scanning angle. Still another companyin the SICK Group, Ibeo, based in Hamburg, Germany also offer laserscanners that are suitable for mapping purposes – see the followingWeb page - www.ibeo-as.com/english/3d.asp
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January/February 2010
Fig. 6 – A SICK LMS 291 2D laser scanner set on its side to produce a vertical profile comprising a series of measured range and angular values to one side
of a mobile mapping vehicle. (Source: SICK)
Fig. 7 – (a) The Riegl Q120 2D laser scanner which is equipped with alaser rangefinder and a continuously rotating polygon mirror with itsattached angular encoder to produce successive range or elevationprofiles as the mapping vehicle is driven forward.(b) The operating principle of the Riegl Q120 2D laser scanner.(c) A diagram showing the coverage of the profiles generated by twoQ120 laser scanners, pointing in opposite directions at right angles tothe direction of travel of the mobile mapping vehicle. (Source: Riegl)
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
[a]
[b]
[c]
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Besides the SICK scanners, there are several other TOF 2D laser scan-ners that are used quite widely in mobile mapping operations. Theseare made by specialist suppliers such as Riegl (based in Horn, Austria)and Optech (based in the Toronto area in Ontario, Canada). Both com-panies are well-known suppliers of airborne and terrestrial laser scan-ners to the surveying and mapping industry. In general terms, the 2Dscanner units from these companies provide greater ranges; fasterspeeds and higher measuring accuracies than those provided by theSICK laser scanners. However they are also considerably more expen-sive. The Riegl Q120 laser scanner with its continuously rotating poly-gon mirror has been used in a number of mobile mapping systems [Fig.7]. It has a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 30 kHz; a range of
150 m to targets with an 80% reflectivity; a ranging accuracy of +/- 25mm; a scanning angle of 80 degrees within the plane in which it isscanning; and can be operated at scan rates up to 100 Hz. The recent-ly introduced VQ-180 model from Riegl offers still higher PRF values(up to 200 kHz) and scan rates (up to 120 Hz) and it also has a largerscan angle (of 100 degrees). Furthermore Riegl has introduced a pow-erful new VQ-250 model that is designed specifically for use in mobilemapping. It provides a “full circle” 360 degree scan within its 2D scan-ning plane and can measure ranges up to 200 m (with 80% reflectivi-ty) with PRF values up to 300 kHz and scan rates of 100 Hz, while stillmaintaining an accuracy of +/- 10 mm [Fig. 8].
By contrast, Optech does not sell its in-house-built laser scanners asseparate products to system integrators and suppliers in the mannerof SICK and Riegl. Instead it incorporates its 2D laser scanners to formpart of its own LYNX mobile mapping system. The laser scanners thatare used in its LYNX V200 system provide a “full circle” 360 degreescan; a PRF of up to 200 kHz; a scan rate of up to 200 Hz; and a rangeaccuracy of circa +/- 10 mm [Fig. 9].
Mention should also be made in this account of the Velodyne HDL-64EHigh Definition Lidar [Fig. 10] that was developed for use by competi-tors in the DARPA Urban Challenge for unmanned vehicles of 2007.Indeed it was used by five of the top six finishing teams in that event.This unique 3D laser scanning device is based on a battery of 64 indi-vidual laser ranging units that are placed at specific fixed angles toprovide a 26.8° angular spread within the vertical plane, thus eliminat-ing the need for the vertical mechanical (angular) motion of the singlelaser rangefinder that is normally used in a terrestrial 3D laser scanner.The HDL-64E system also features high horizontal rotation rates (inazimuth) of the vertical bank of laser rangefinders as a whole aroundthe vertical axis of the unit, at up to 15 Hz, with an angular resolutionof 0.09°. The Class 1 lasers that are used in the HDL-64E instrumentoperate at the wavelength of 905 nm with a 10 ns pulse width. Theranging accuracy is claimed to be +/- 2.5 cm for distances of 50 m and120 m with reflectivities of 10% and 80%, respectively. The data collec-tion rate of 1.8 million measured points per second of the latest S2version of the HDL-64E scanner instrument is really quite phenomenal.
The positioning systems that were used on the vehicles that took partin the DARPA Urban Challenge were completed with the addition of anintegrated DGPS/IMU unit. A few examples of the results that can beachieved using this system for mapping purposes have been published.A recent announcement from Velodyne mentioned that “the HDL-64Elidar is currently in use capturing 3-D highway data for multiple statesin the U.S.”. Furthermore various mobile mapping cars that have beenequipped with the Velodyne HDL-64E unit on their roofs have beensighted and photographed, with the photos being published on the
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January/February 2010
Fig. 8 - The VMX250 laser scanning system that has recently been introduced tothe market by Riegl. The system comprises two VQ-250 2D laser scanners, each
generating its own 360 degree “full circle” profile scan. The system’s IMU islocated inside the mount that houses and supports the two laser scanners.
(Source: Riegl)
Fig. 9 – The Optech LYNX laser scanner that generates a 360 degree “full circle”2D profile scanning pattern. (Source: Optech)
Fig. 10 – (a) The Velodyne HDL-64E High Definition Lidar. (Source: Velodyne)(b) This diagram shows the main features of the HDL-64E rotating laser scanner
with its multiple laser rangefinders. (Drawn by Mike Shand)
[a] [b]
36
Flickr Web site. However no mapping company or organisation has asyet admitted to its use of these systems, despite their obvious poten-tial for 3D mapping and terrain modelling applications. Currently anHDL-64E Lidar is being used in conjunction with a multiple video cam-era system by the Real Time Race company from the U.K. to acquirethe elevation and image data that is needed to form detailed 3D digi-tal terrain models of Formula One race courses. These models will beused both for video games and during the live TV coverage of actualraces.
Positioning (Geo-referencing) DevicesA dual-frequency survey- or geodetic-grade GPS or GNSS receiverremains the primary device that is used in mobile mapping systemsfor the determination of the absolute position of the moving vehicleand its imaging (camera) and ranging (laser scanner) devices. Thereare a large number of suitable GPS/GNSS receivers available fromTrimble, Topcon, Leica, NovAtel, Javad, etc. that can generate the sur-vey-quality positional data that is required. Invariably the GPS or GNSSreceiver will be operated in differential mode relative to a suitable localbase station or using a global DGPS service such as OmniSTAR. Indeedsolutions based on such global services or on national monitoring net-works (such as CORS) are largely replacing the use of local base sta-tions. A number of mobile mapping systems feature a second GPSreceiver with its antenna placed at a known distance (or base line)from that of the primary GPS receiver. The difference in position thatthis secondary receiver gives with respect to the primary receiver usingthe carrier phase observations from both receivers gives a very accu-rate measurement of the vehicle’s heading, even when the vehicle’sdynamics are low. However, since so much mobile mapping takes placewithin urban areas with tall (high-rise) buildings or in areas with densetree canopies – where observation of the GPS or GNSS satellites maybe restricted (giving rise to a weak geometry) or completely lost – theuse of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and an odometer (or dis-tance measuring instrument) to provide additional positional informa-tion in these situations is almost standard.
There are a large number of IMU devicesIMU devices that can generate a continu-ous stream of position and orientation data when the GPS or GNSSsatellite signals are unavailable. However confining the present discus-sion to those that are most used in mobile mapping systems, threemain types can be identified. (i) Those that use ring laser gyrosring laser gyros (RLG)are the most accurate type. However they are expensive to manufac-ture, so their use is confined to those applications that demand thevery highest accuracy. (ii) Fibre Optic GyrosFibre Optic Gyros (FOG) employing longcoiled optical fibres as an alternative to the optical blocks or rings ofthe RLG give a very acceptable accuracy and, since they are less expen-sive, they are widely used in the current types of IMU utilized in mobilemapping. (iii) Those gyros that are based on Micro Electro-Micro Electro-
Mechanical SystemsMechanical Systems (MEMS) technology utilize tiny quartz tuningforks as sensors that are integrated on to silicon chips. They are theleast expensive type. While they are also the least accurate, they arestill sufficiently accurate for many purposes. So they are coming intomore widespread use in mobile mapping applications. Two of the bestknown system integrators of the IMUs that are used in mobile map-ping systems are (i) Applanix, which is a Trimble company based inthe Toronto area in Ontario, Canada and produces its widely used POSLV sub-system [Fig. 11]; and (ii) IGI from Kreustal in Germany which pro-duces its TERRAcontrol sub-system. The Applanix POS LV systems useeither MEMS gyros (in Models 220 and 420) or RLG gyros (in the Model610), while the IGI TERRAcontrol uses FOG gyros. Other suppliers includeCrossbow, located in San Jose, California, which supplies GPS-aidedinertial systems mainly based on MEMS technology; iMAR, based in
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2010
LASER MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
RIEGL
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RIEGL LMS GmbH, A-3580 Horn, Austria, [email protected]
RIEGL USA Inc., Orlando, Florida, [email protected]
RIEGL Japan Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, [email protected]
Laser Scanners for , ,
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37
St.Ingbert, Germany, with its iNAV-FMS-LSURV range using FOG technol-ogy; and Oxford Technical Solutions (OxTS) from Oxford in the U.K.,whose Inertial+ and RT3000 products are based on MEMS technology.
Finally, as mentioned above, most DGPS/IMU systems that are used inmobile mapping are also supplemented by a distance measuringdistance measuring
instrumentinstrument (DMI) or odometer. This comprises an optical angularencoder with an attached data transmission cable mounted inside ahollow rod that is fitted to the rear wheel of the mapping vehicle. DMIunits suitable for mobile mapping are available from the U.S.A. – e.g.from Jamar Technologies based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania and fromQuixote Transportation Technologies of Durham, North Carolina with itsNu-Metrics NiteStar DMI products.
II – System Suppliers
As mentioned above in the introduction, initially many of the mobilemapping vehicles that have been used operationally were built in-houseas individual one-off systems by the companies or agencies that weregoing to use them. However the mobile mapping field has now becomesufficiently well established for fully integrated systems to be offeredas Commercial Off-the-shelf (COTS) products by a number of systemsuppliers. Potentially, the purchase or lease of these COTS productsoffers substantial savings in terms of development, testing, mainte-nance and overall cost as compared with those systems that have beendeveloped in-house. The system suppliers concerned include severallarge companies such as Topcon, Trimble and Optech, which are alreadywell-established as suppliers of surveying instrumentation and airborneimaging and laser scanning systems to the surveying and mappingindustry.
3D Laser Mapping
This small specialist company, which is based in the small town ofBingham, near the city of Nottingham in the U.K., has acted as a sys-tem integrator in developing its portable StreetMapper system specifi-cally for mobile mapping use when mounted on a suitable vehicle [Fig.12]. The company has developed this system in close collaboration withthe German systems supplier, IGI. For use in the StreetMapper, IGI sup-plies its TERRAcontrol DGPS/IMU system - which is derived from theAEROcontrol unit that it builds for use with its LiteMapper airborne laserscanning system and with a wide range of airborne digital imagers. Thedual-frequency GPS receiver can come from any one of several suppli-ers. 3D Laser Mapping supplies the hardware and software solutionsthat are used for the mission planning, the control of the laser scan-ners and the data storage within a StreetMapper system. The controlunit and its computer are housed in a cabinet that is mounted insidethe mapping vehicle.
Until now, the multiple laser scanners that have been used onStreetMapper systems have been supplied by Riegl. On most existingStreetMapper systems, between two and four of the older LMS-Q120scanner units (with their 150 m range) have been fitted on a roof rack,together with the IMU and the GPS antenna. However the latest Street -Mapper 360 systems utilize the newer Riegl VQ-180 or VQ-250 units,the former having a 100 degree FOV and a range of up to 150 m; thelatter giving a full circle (360 degree) scan and ranges up to 300 m. Achoice of video or digital still frame cameras from different manufactur-ers can be supplied in order to generate the higher quality images thatwill be needed to supplement the laser scanned data. Touch screenLCD displays installed on the dashboard of the vehicle are used for thedisplay of the captured data. On the software side, IGI also contributesits TERRAoffice software (which is derived from its AEROoffice package)for the processing of the IMU data, while the differential GPS data isprocessed using the Graf-Nav package that is supplied by the Waypointdivision of NovAtel, which is based in Canada. The TerraScan/TerraModeler/ TerraMatch suite of programs from Terrasolid in Finlandis then utilized for the processing of the laser scan data and its trans-formation into the final 3D elevation model data.
The StreetMapper system has been supplied to a number of interna-tional customers, including, most recently, Geomaat (Nether lands),Transport & Road Research Institute (Lithuania), Geokosmos (Russia);Tecdawn (China) and Terrametrix and GeoDigital (U.S.A.). A StreetMappersystem has also been used extensively by Halcrow, a large engineeringconsultancy company, to carry out corridor surveys along roads for high-way asset management and to capture street level data in city centresin the United Kingdom.
TopconTopcon Positioning Systems has introduced its mobile mapping system– which is called the IP-S2 ‘Integrated Positioning System’ [Fig. 13] – tothe market in the spring of 2009. However, when the company
announced during this introduction that “morethan 400 units are currently in use world-wide”,it was only too obvious that it had indeed beensupplying these systems for some time – main-ly, it seems, to Google Inc. The IP-S2 systemincludes a Topcon dual-frequency 40-channelGNSS receiver operating at 20 Hz, which is cou-pled to a Honeywell HG1700 tactical-grade IMUbased on a ring laser gyro (RLG) that is operat-ing at 100 Hz. The resulting DGPS/IMU position-al data is supplemented by that generated by awheel-mounted odometer with an angular
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January/February 2010
Fig. 11 – The main components of an Applanix POS LV 420 DGPS/IMU system -comprising (from left to right) the primary Trimble GPS receiver; the secondaryTrimble GPS antenna; the black electronics cabinet in the centre of the picturethat contains the POS LV system controller and computer; and the IMU at far
right. In the background is the odometer with its wheel encoder and itsattached rod that carries the cables to the controller.
Fig. 12 – (a) A StreetMapper mobile mapping vehicle.(b) The various imaging, laser scanning and positioning elements of aStreetMapper system that are mounted on aroof rack situated at the rear of the vehicle.(Source: 3D Laser Mapping)
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[a]
[b]
encoder operating at 30 Hz to complete the overall positioning capa-bility for the IP-S2 system. Besides these positioning devices, the imag-ing and laser scanning capabilities of the IP-S2 are based on well-knownunits that are available off-the-shelf. They include the Ladybug multi-camera unit from Point Grey Research that carries out the 360 degreepanoramic imaging with framing rates of up to 15 frames per second.The laser scanning that is carried out using the standard configurationof the IP-S2 is provided by three Sick LMS 291 scanners operating at75 Hz. One of these laser scanners is pointing directly forwards (orbackwards) towards the road in front of (or behind) the vehicle, whilethe other two scanners point to each side to provide a continuousseries of range or elevation profiles within the vertical plane. All ofthese imaging and scanning devices send their data to a central con-trol box which then passes it via a high-speed FireWire-B (IEEE1394-B)link to the PC that is mounted in the vehicle for the recording and pro-cessing of the data. An LCD display screen allows the vehicle’s crew tomonitor the connectivity and operation of all the various positioning,laser scanning and frame imaging devices.
In the version of the system that is used in the Google Street Viewvehicles, the Ladybug multiple camera has been replaced by Google’sown multiple camera system [Fig. 5], which is based on the use ofElphel digital frame cameras. Although the IP-S2 system has only beenoffered for sale by Topcon quite recently, already an example is in oper-ation by the Geodis surveying and mapping company based in Brno inthe Czech Republic.
MitsubishiAnother Japanese system supplier is the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation,whose IT Space Solutions Department showed its MMS (Mobile MappingSystem) [Fig. 14] at the Intergeo trade fair held in Karlsruhe, Germany inSeptember 2009. This product has been developed jointly by staff mem-bers of Waseda University in Tokyo in collaboration with Mitsubishi since2006. Several examples are already in use in Japan. The system is beingoffered in three different versions. (i) The most basic version is the MMS-A, which has three roof-mounted GNSS receivers arranged in a triangularpattern; an IMU; an odometer; and a sensor control box. This version isbeing offered mainly as a vehicle positioning device, with the choice ofcameras and laser scanners and their integration being left to the cus-tomer. (ii) The second version is the MMS-S which is offered with twovideo cameras and two laser scanners in addition to the positioningdevices included in the basic MMS-A version. (iii) Finally the MMS-X ver-sion is offered with multiple (up to 6) cameras and (up to 4) laser scan-ners, again in addition to the positioning instrumentation included in the
MMS-A version. In the literaturethat accompanied this introduc-tion, the supplier of the dual-fre-quency GNSS receivers was stat-ed to be Trimble; the IMU wasfrom Crossbow, using a FOG gyrosupplied by Japan AviationElectronics; the frame cameras
were supplied by IMPERX from the United States; while the laser scannerswere the ubiquitous LMS 291 model from SICK.
TrimbleThe mobile mapping systems that are being supplied by Trimble’sGeoSpatial Division were developed originally by the Geo-3D company,which is based at Brossard, near Montreal in Canada and was acquired byTrimble in January 2008. Its main product has been its Trident-3D mobilemapping system. This has been fitted on a variety of different vehicles andin a number of different configurations as specified by the customers. Digitalvideo and still frame cameras from various suppliers have been fitted –including, in one case, the use of a Redlake multi-spectral camera – whilethe laser scanners that have been used have been supplied by SICK andRiegl. The DGPS/ IMU systems that are used for geo-positioning have beenthe POS LV units supplied by Applanix (another Trimble company), includ-ing Trimble GPS receivers. The system controller and rack-mounted com-puters that form parts of the overall system were built-up by Geo-3D, whichhas also supplied the distance measuring instrument (DMI). Various dis-play options were also offered by Geo-3D. The latest version of this vehi-cle-based mapping system is now called the Trimble Cougar system [Fig.15]. Besides the hardware aspects of the overall system, Geo-3D had alsodeveloped a series of software packages for use with the Trident-3D sys-tem. These have included the Kronos package for survey data acquisition;Trident-3D Analyst for data extraction and processing, including the semi-automatic detection, recognition and extraction of objects such as roadsigns; and Trident-3D Vision for image viewing and analysis.
The majority of customers for the Trident-3D mobile mapping system areagencies that are involved in road surveys, including federal, state, provin-cial and municipal departments of transport and a number of engineeringcompanies that provide services to these agencies. In total, over 50 Trident-3D systems have been sold, the majority in North America. However arounda dozen are in operation in Europe, principally in France and Belgium.
OptechOptech, which is based near Toronto in Canada, entered the field of mobilemapping towards the end of 2007, when it released a completely newproduct, called the LYNX Mobile Mapper [Fig. 16]. This includes a purpose-built spinning laser profiling system that is designed specifically for attach-ment to standard vehicle roof racks with mounts for two of these laserscanners and two (optional) calibrated digital frame cameras in its stan-dard configuration. The LYNX system also includes an Applanix POS LVsub-system, complete with its IMU; a dual-frequency GPS receiver andantenna; and a Distance Measuring Instrument (DMI), for coordinate posi-tioning purposes. The laser scanners that are used in the LYNX systemare built in-house by Optech and utilize a Class I laser as the basis fortheir laser rangefinders. They have a maximum range of 100 m; a full cir-
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Art ic le
39January/February 2010
Fig. 13 – (a) This IP-S2 “Integrated Positioning System” from Topcon PositioningSystems has been mounted on a raised platform and located at the rear of an
open-backed truck.(b) A close-up photo of the IP-S2 imaging, laser scanning and positioning sub-sys-tems. At the foot of the photo is the yellow Topcon controller unit; adjacent to
this unit to the left and right are two white SICK LMS 291 laser scanners; sittingon top of the control box is the system IMU; sitting on a bracket above the IMU
is the red Ladybug3 multiple camera unit; while at the top of the stack on asmall mast is the antenna of the Topcon GNSS receiver. (Source: Topcon)
Fig. 14 – This van is equipped with aMitsubishi MMS mobile mapping sys-tem, showing its cameras, laser scan-ners and three GPS antennas mount-ed together on its roof platform.(Source: Mitsubishi Electric)
[a] [b]
cle 360° angular coverage; a pulse measuring rate of 100 kHz; and a scanrate of 9,000 rpm (150 Hz). The system control unit with its embeddedpositioning and navigation solution that is based on the Applanix POS LV420 DGPS/IMU sub-system can control up to four laser scanners simulta-neously using the laptop computer that is attached to the unit. TheApplanix POSPAC MMS (Mobile Mapping Suite) software is used to pro-cess the POS LV DGPS/IMU data, while Optech supplies its own LYNX-Survey and DASHMap software for the final post-processing of the mea-sured data. Currently two models of the LYNX Mobile Mapper are on offer– the V100 and V200. The latter gives an increased range (200 v. 100 m);a higher Pulse Repetition Frequency (200 kHz v. 100 kHz); and a higherscan rate (200 Hz v. 150 Hz) than the former (which is essentially the LYNXin its original form).
At the time of its introduction, Optech announced that LYNX systems hadalready been supplied to two European companies – the Infoterra map-ping company based in the United Kingdom and the Sineco company inItaly. Since then, further systems have been sold to TopScan in Germanyand Teccon in Belgium. Still more systems have been supplied to variousNorth American users, e.g. to Aerial Data Service, Michael Baker, WH Pacific,Sanborn, Surveying & Mapping (SAM) Inc. and McKim & Creed in theU.S.A. Highway and railway infrastructure surveys and urban modellingsurveys appear to be the main applications that have been undertakenby these mapping companies using their LYNX systems.
III – Service Providers
The author is very well aware that there are numerous small and large com-panies in the more highly developed countries that operate individualmobile mapping vehicles, offering their services especially to those agen-cies that are concerned with highway management and maintenance.However the principal emphasis in this section will be on the technologiesbeing used by those companies that are carrying out street-level imagingand mapping operations on a regional, national and international scale.
Tele Atlas Tele Atlas is a Dutch-owned mapping company that is based in the townof s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Originally an independent compa-ny, in July 2008, it was bought by and became a subsidiary of the TomTomcompany, which is a major Dutch supplier of car navigation systems. Inpractice, Tele Atlas still supplies digital map data to a wide spectrum ofusers besides TomTom. These have included Google, which, in October2009, decided to stop using Tele Atlas map data for the U.S.A. – which itwill now generate from its own mobile mapping activities. However Googlewill still continue to use Tele Atlas map data in other countries. The TeleAtlas company has a large centre in Ghent, Belgium from which it directsits European mobile mapping operations and a similar centre in Lebanon,New Hampshire for its operations in North America. The processing andanalysis of the data that has been acquired by its fleets of mobile map-ping vehicles is carried out partly in Poland and partly in Noida, a suburbof the Indian capital, New Delhi. In fact, the latter data centre is ownedand operated by an Indian company, Infotech Enterprises, which boughtthe centre from the Indian subsidiary of Tele Atlas in 2005 and received along-term contract from Tele Atlas to process its digital map data as partof the deal. See the following Web page:- www.teleatlas.com/WhyTeleAtlas/Pressroom/PressReleases/TA003239
Tele Atlas had entered the mobile mapping field in the second half of2004 using the technology that had been developed by a Polish compa-ny, PPWK GeoInvent. By mid-2005, Tele Atlas had over 20 vans in opera-tion in Europe, 13 of which were large Volkswagen camper vans to allowthe crews to operate in more remote and less populated areas [Fig. 17]. InOctober 2005, Tele Atlas bought the GeoInvent company. Each of theseTele Atlas vans is equipped with either 4 or 6 digital video cameras invarious configurations depending on the area being surveyed [Fig. 2]. Theframe images that are generated by these cameras have a format size of1,200 x 960 pixels and are acquired at the rate of three frames per sec-ond when travelling at normal speeds on the roads. The forward-pointingcameras can generate overlapping 3D stereo-images, which allows them
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January/February 2010
Fig. 15 – A Trimble Cougar Mobile Mapping System. (Source: Trimble GeoSpatial Division)
Fig. 16 – This Optech LYNX system hasbeen mounted on a mobile mapping vanoperated by the TopScan mapping compa-ny from Germany. It is equipped with two“full circle” laser scanners that are separat-ed by the IMU and GPS antenna of theApplanix POS LV unit. At the right end ofthe roof platform is a digital video camera.(Source: TopScan)
Fig. 17 – (a) A Belgian registered Volkswagen camper van that is operated by Tele Atlas with two digital video cameras located above the driver’s cabin and pointing forward in the direction of travel. The logo on the Tele Atlas vans is based on a well known Swedish children’s book about a boy, Nils, who gets a unique view of the
world from the back of a flying goose.(b) A Toyota mini-van that is being operated by Tele Atlas in North America, with its imaging, laser scanning and positioning elements fitted on its roof rack.
(c) A close-up photo of some of the roof-mounted elements of the Toyota mapping vehicle. They include a Ladybug multiple camera unit mounted on its mast at leftrear; two digital video cameras in the middle, the one pointing sideways, the other pointing upwards; and a SICK LMS 291 laser scanner at right. (Source: Tele Atlas)
[a] [b] [c]
to be used as photogrammetric source material. For precise positioning,each van is equipped with a GPS unit operating at 5 Hz, which makesuse of Fugro’s OmniSTAR wide-area differential GPS service employingsatellite broadcast techniques. For use in tunnels and urban canyons,where the GPS signals are either lost or are much restricted, the vans areequipped with a single-axis gyroscope recording at 100 Hz that providesdirectional (heading) data and an odometer attached to one of the rearwheels of the vehicle. The image and positional data are continuouslyrecorded on the PCs that are mounted in the back of the van. This datais also displayed continuously on monitor display screens for the crew tocheck their operation.
A similar fleet of smaller Toyota vehicles was then developed and broughtinto service in North America. Besides a set of digital video frame cam-eras, similar to those being used in Europe, most of these vehicles areequipped with twin 2D laser scanners from SICK that generate a continu-
ous series of range profiles across the surrounding landscape at rightangles to the vehicle’s direction of travel. Besides which, numerous pho-tos that have appeared in the media also show that many of the TeleAtlas vans that are in use in North America have been equipped with addi-tional mast-mounted Ladybug panoramic cameras providing 360 degreepanoramic images of the road and its surroundings from the moving vehi-cles. Photos from the same media sources also show that at least someof the survey vans are equipped with full-blown inertial measuring units(IMUs) rather than the single-axis gyroscopes mentioned above. Besidesthe two large fleets of vans that are in operation in Europe and NorthAmerica, an additional but much smaller number of vans have beendeployed in south-eastern Asia – in Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand.According to press reports, in total, more than 50 mobile mapping vansare currently being operated by Tele Atlas.
NAVTEQNAVTEQ is a large American mapping company with its headquarters inChicago. In December 2007, the company was purchased by the FinnishNokia organisation, which is a major supplier of telecom networks andcell phones on a world-wide scale. Nokia also provides its Ovi Maps prod-uct (previously called Nokia Maps), which can be downloaded free bythose customers who have purchased the company’s smart-phones thatare equipped with a suitable processor, display screen and operating sys-tem. However, besides supplying digital map data to Nokia for incorpora-tion in these products, NAVTEQ appears to operate in a fairly indepen-dent manner. Like Tele Atlas, NAVTEQ still provides digital map databasesfor the navigation systems that are being installed in the cars that arebeing built by several different manufacturers. Besides which, the compa-ny also supplies digital map data for use in portable GPS sets and in theInternet-based map applications that are provided by Microsoft (Bing Maps)and Yahoo (Yahoo Live Maps). NAVTEQ has a large map data productioncentre located in Fargo, North Dakota, that is supplemented and support-ed by a network of smaller national and regional offices world-wide.
For a number of years until recently, revision of the NAVTEQ map databas-es of road networks had been carried in a relatively simple manner usingsurvey cars with a crew of two. These cars were equipped with a roof-mounted GPS receiver and a laptop computer that had been loaded withthe map database (stored as vector files) for the local area that was beingsurveyed or revised. While undertaking the survey or revision operation,the successive positions of the survey car that were being measured bythe DGPS service were being recorded and plotted continuously on themap that was being displayed on the laptop computer’s screen. All thedata regarding changes or updates to the map data were being recordedsimultaneously as audio files by the surveyor/co-driver using a headsetand microphone. Any supplementary positional data that was required forthe location of specific objects could also be entered into the computerby the surveyor using a hand-held controller or a digital data tablet. Thusinitially no digital video or still camera images were being acquired formap revision purposes. However, by 2006, a digital video camera hadbeen installed in many of the NAVTEQ survey cars to provide a videorecord of each survey trip.
In 2008, a new fleet of mobile mapping vehicles (comprising cars andSUVs) was introduced by NAVTEQ. Each of the vehicles in this fleet isequipped with an array of six or eight digital video cameras [Fig. 18]. Theseare placed on a specially designed tray that is mounted on the roof ofthe vehicle and they are enclosed in a transparent Perspex cover. Each ofthe six (or eight) cameras acquires its images every 5 metres; in total,they provide a 270 (or 360) degree coverage of the road and its sur-roundings as seen from the mapping vehicle at each successive positionwhere the images are being acquired. The new vehicles are also equipped
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Art ic le
January/February 2010
Fig. 18 – (a) This NAVTEQ mobile mapping vehicle is equipped with roof-mounted cameras and a GPS antenna.
(b) A close-up picture of the array of multiple cameras housed in a transparentperspex cover on the roof of a NAVTEQ mobile mapping vehicle with the GPS
antenna situated to the left of the perspex cover. (Source: NAVTEQ)
Fig. 19 – (a) An early example of a Google Street View mapping car, showing itsLadybug multiple camera and Topcon GPS antenna.
(b) A later version of a Google mobile mapping car with its own (Google) multi-ple camera unit; three SICK LMS 291 laser scanners; and a Topcon control box,all mounted on top of its sturdy mast. The antenna of the Topcon GPS receiver
is located at the rear (at the left end) of the supporting platform.(c) A pedal-powered tricycle that has been equipped with the same set of imag-
ing, laser scanning and positioning devices as the Google car, as seen atWarwick Castle in England. (Source: Google)
[a]
[b] [c]
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with an Applanix POS LV IMU and a Trimble GPS receiver, which utilizes adifferential GPS service. The resulting measured image and positional dataare recorded on a powerful PC. The data tablet and the head-set/microphone equipment that allows the audio recording of the featuresbeing described by the surveyor/co-driver while riding in the vehicle appearto have also been retained in these recently introduced mobile mappingvehicles. On 7th December 2009, NAVTEQ announced that it would besupplying its street-level imagery to Microsoft for incorporation in its new“Bing Maps Streetside” product.
GoogleGoogle’s Street View is a special feature of the well-known Google Mapsand Google Earth services that can be accessed via the Internet. The StreetView software gives access to the panoramic images that have beenacquired at intervals of 10 to 20 m along the streets of many cities withinthe more highly developed countries of the world – in the U.S.A., WesternEurope, Japan and Australasia. The service was first introduced with cover-age of a few cities in the U.S.A. in May 2007. The American coverage hasbeen continually extended since then. Just over a year later, in July 2008,Street View was introduced to Europe, in the first instance, for those townsin France that were involved in hosting the Tour de France. Later that year,further coverage of a number of French cities was added, together with theinitial coverage of certain cities in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K.Since then, work has continued intensively and on a massive scale toextend the coverage to ever more cities and to expand the coverage of thestreets within each city that is being covered.
The numbers and types of mobile mapping cars that have been used toacquire Street View imagery in different countries has varied considerablyfrom country to country. At the start of the programme, the imaging tech-nology that was used also varied considerably. Initially, in 2007, much ofthe imagery of the first batch of cities that were covered in the U.S.A. hadbeen collected by the Immersive Media company on contract using its dis-tinctive Dodeca multiple camera systems. However this contract terminatedat the end of that year (2007). Since then, Googlehas been collecting the required image and posi-tional data using its own vehicles, steadily expand-ing its fleets of mobile mapping cars for the pur-pose. In the U.S.A., Australasia and Japan, the carswere at first equipped with Ladybug multiple cam-eras [Fig. 19(a)]. However, since then, these havebeen replaced by the now standard nine-camerasystem mounted on a sturdy mast that is itselfattached to a roof rack that is fitted to the roof ofthe car [Fig. 19(b)]. The mast and camera systemcan be folded down on to the roof rack when notin use.
As discussed previously, the nine digital camerasfrom Elphel that make up the Google multiple cam-
era system comprise eight that, in total, provide a 360 degree panoramain the horizontal plane, while the ninth camera points vertically upwards torecord the undersides of bridges and overpasses and the top surfaces oftunnels. Each car is equipped with a combined DGPS/IMU system that hasbeen supplied by Topcon, together with a wheel-mounted odometer that,in conjunction with the IMU, can help establish position wherever GPS cov-erage is poor or has been lost in tunnels or within high-rise urban areas.The Google Street View cars also feature a pair of SICK LMS 291 laser scan-ners that continuously measure a series of range or elevation profiles oneither side of the mapping vehicle. A third SICK scanner measures the roadsurface in front of the vehicle. Besides the car-based mobile mapping sys-tems, Google has also introduced a number of pedal-powered tricycles(trikes) that are equipped with a similar set of cameras, laser scanners andpositioning equipment [Fig. 19(c)]. These are being used for data collectionin areas such as pedestrian precincts and public parks and along cycletracks where cars cannot be operated.
Immersive MediaThis Canadian company, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, specializes in“spherical immersive video”. Its activities include making “immersive” filmsof underwater activities (such as viewing coral reefs and whales) and sport-ing events (surfing, basketball and football) and for tourism purposes.The company’s collection of street-level imagery began in 2006 with itsown in-house “GeoImmersive City Collect” project to acquire street-levelimagery of U.S. cities. This was followed by its work on image data acqui-sition for Google’s Street View service during 2007. With regard to thesemapping/imaging activities, they were executed using its own Dodeca 2360“Spherical Video System” with its 11 individual cameras capturing imagedata simultaneously [Fig. 4]. This multiple camera is mounted on a mastthat is fixed to a roof bar which is mounted on a Volkswagen New Beetlecar [Fig. 20]. As with other mobile mapping systems, each car uses a DGPS,a gyroscope and an odometer for positioning and geo-referencing purpos-es. According to press releases issued last year (2008), Immersive Mediais still collecting street-level imagery for certain cities in North America forlocal customers using its small fleet of these mapping cars. A similar smallfleet of cars using the same technology is operated in Europe by the TXImmersive (TXi) company, which is based at the Shepperton film studiosin London.
Other Service Providers
(a) Imaging & Mapping ApplicationsThere are quite a number of much smaller commercial companies thatoperate in the same general area of imaging and mapping as thosediscussed immediately above. Needless to say, being very considerablysmaller and not having the same financial resources, they cannot offer
the same international coverage as Google,NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas. Thus they attempt toserve national and local government and com-mercial customers and to operate in certainniche markets. An example is Facet Technology,which is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.Using its vehicles equipped with cameras andlaser scanners, it has developed its SightMapproducts that provide the digital map contentfor nation-wide road networks within the U.S.A.,including road maps, and data for use in loca-tion-based services, vehicle navigation and
portable positioning devices. Further detailedinformation about its activities can be obtainedthrough an inspection of the company’s Web site- www.facet-tech.com. It is also worth noting
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January/February 2010
Fig. 20 – A Volkswagen NewBeetle car that is being operat-
ed by Immersive Media, witha Dodeca 2360 multiple cam-era unit mounted on a mast
that has been fitted to a cross-bar placed on top of the car’s
roof. A white Trimble GPSantenna is located on the rear
left wing of the car, while aDMI unit (odometer) has been
fitted to the left rear wheel.(Source: Immersive Media)
Fig. 21 – An SUV mobile mapping vehicle that isbeing operated by Facet Technology with the
Windows Live Local logo pasted on the back win-dow of the vehicle and with a large array of cam-
eras mounted on the roof. (Source: FacetTechnology)
reports that FacetTechnology collectedthe imagery forMicrosoft’s street-levelphotography [Fig. 21]that appeared in asomewhat experimen-tal form in February2006 for parts of thecities of San Franciscoand Seattle. See thefollowing preview ordemonstration Website:-http://preview.local.live.com. IndeedMicrosoft has justannounced (on 2ndDecember 2009) that itwill be introducing anenhanced version of
its Streetside photography under the title of “Bing Maps Streetside”for 56 metropolitan areas in the U.S.A. As noted above, the new imagerywill be supplied by NAVTEQ.
Another example of an American company that is acquiring street-levelphotography is Earthmine Inc., which is based in Berkeley, California.This company uses SUVs equipped with a stereo-camera system whosedesign has been licensed from Caltech-JPL [Fig. 22]. This system usesfour pairs of cameras, with each pair mounted vertically and spaced 90degrees apart horizontally. The vehicles are also equipped with theNovAtel SPAN DGPS/IMU system for position location. Each pixel in thefinally processed images has 3D (X, Y, Z) coordinates. At the time ofwriting this article, Earthmine is reported to have imaged or mapped12 metropolitan areas, mainly in the western part of the United States.On 8th December 2009, Earthmine also announced its partnership withAero-Metric, a large American aerial mapping company, in respect ofthe value-added resale of its street-level panoramic image data. Moredetails on these developments can be obtained from the company’sWeb site www.earthmine.com.
Another relatively small company that is also engaged in this generalarea of photo-imaging and mapping of urban areas in the U.S.A. isEveryScape www.everyscape.com, which is based in Waltham,Massachusetts. Yet another similar company concerned with street-levelphoto-imaging is MapJack http://mapjack.com, which is based in SanFrancisco, California and has given assistance to various companieslocated in Sweden www.hitta.se/gatubild; Canada www.canpages.ca;and Thailand to enter this particular field. Within Europe, similar com-panies that undertake the photo-imaging and mapping of urban areasare Seety Ltd. www.seety.co.uk which is based in London; NORCwww.norc.at which acquires street-level imagery of towns in Austria and Eastern Europe; and Cyclomedia www.cyclomedia.nl in theNetherlands – whose activities in the mobile mapping field have alreadybeen covered in an article written by the editor-in-chief (Eric van Rees)of GEOInformatics magazine which was published in the March 2009issue (Vol. 12, No. 2) of the magazine.
(b) Road & Rail Maintenance & ManagementThe other main group of commercial companies that are engaged in mobilemapping operations are those that are undertaking surveys of the roadinfrastructure for maintenance and management purposes on behalf of
national and local government highway agencies and departments of trans-port. In recent years, these surveys have been extended to cover rail net-works as well. Quite a number of the companies that are undertaking thistype of work have already been mentioned above in the context of thosecustomers who have purchased systems from the various systems suppli-ers. However there are many others that have developed their own sys-tems in-house. A few representative examples within Europe are OmnicomEngineering www.omnieng.co.uk/index.php? id=47, which is based in Yorkin the U.K. and is much engaged in rail as well as road surveys; and EagleEye Technologies www.ee-t.de from Hamburg and 3D Mapping SolutionsGmbH www.3d-mapping.de/ dynasite.cfm?dssid=4324 from the Municharea in Germany. In Belgium, both the geoVISAT company www.geovisat.eu and the GeoAutomation company www.geoautomation.be/en/technology.html offer mobile mapping services, as does the GISPRO mapping com-pany www.gispro.pl/EN/aktualnosci. dhtml from Szczecin in Poland. Thereare many others! In the U.S.A., there are still more. A few representativeexamples are EarthEye www.eartheye.com/Mobile from Orlando, Florida;Lambda Tech www.lambdatech.com/ gpstech.html from Fort Wayne, Indiana with its GPSVision vans; Blue Dasher Technologieswww.bluedashertech.com which is based in Miami, Florida; MandliCommunications Inc. www.mandli.com/systems/systems.php from Madison,Wisconsin; and the Transmap Corporation http://74.218.19.11, with its On-Sight mapping vans, which are based in Columbus, Ohio and Tampa,Florida.
Summary & ConclusionAs mentioned in the introduction, the development of mobile mapping sys-tems started quite a long time ago. Initially these developments were quitemodest and were not of much interest to the mainstream mapping indus-try. However, over the last five years, gradually the corridor mapping ofhighways and rail networks and the 3D modelling of cities have becomeimportant applications – though at first, these activities were carried outmostly using “one-off” mobile mapping systems built by the operators.Now the demand has grown to the point that there are several system sup-pliers offering COTS products to satisfy this particular market. Then, start-ing three or four years ago, the increasing demand for digital road naviga-tion data and cartographic (vector) data that could be used in personallocation devices resulted in Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ entering this field withtheir fleets of mobile mapping vehicles. Finally, over the last two years, theInternet giants (Google and Microsoft) have created such a huge demandfor visual street-level image data that a very large number of mobile map-ping vehicles have been brought into operation to satisfy it, especially byGoogle.
From this survey of current mobile mapping systems, it is also apparentthat, not only is the technology now well established, but currently thereare two main categories into which the resulting systems fall, largelydepending on their intended applications and the quite different accuracyspecifications that they have to meet. (i) On the one hand, there are thosesystems that are being used for the acquisition of digital images for street-level image display purposes and for cartographic mapping applications.(ii) On the other hand, there are those systems that are being used to col-lect data about the road and rail infrastructure that is needed for engineer-ing, maintenance and management purposes. Clearly the accuracy require-ments for the map or survey data that has to be measured can besubstantially different in each case, with the second category usually beingmuch more demanding in this particular respect.
Gordon Petrie is Emeritus Professor of Topographic Science in the Dept. ofGeographical & Earth Sciences of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. E-
mail - [email protected]
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43January/February 2010
Fig. 22 – This Earthmine SUV mapping vehicle isequipped with four pairs of stereo cameras mount-
ed on a mast, each pair acquiring its 3D stereo-imagery in the vertical plane in four different
directions at right angles to one another. A GPSantenna is mounted at the top of the mast.
(Source: Earthmine)
Continued Strong Interest in 3D Laser Scanning
Leica Geosystems HDS WorldwideUser Conference
OverviewThe goal of the conference was to help usersincrease their success with HDS. Reflectingtoday’s times, the conference had a theme,“Leveraging HDS tools for maximum successin today’s economy”. The conference featured38 presentations, including a luncheonkeynote by Dr. Dieter Fritch, Director of theInstitute for Photogrammetry and RemoteSensing, University of Stuttgart, Germany.Most presentations were by users who edu-cated attendees about the latest HDS appli-cations and workflows, over a wide array ofmarkets. Two presentations were panel dis-cussions; another was a “product input” ses-sion in which users stated their latest wishlist for HDS product & service enhancements
to key Leica staff.The conference also featured eight (8) half-day, hands-on workshops, an exhibit area,and several, popular networking events.Feedback was very positive, with >98% ofrespondents stating they would like to attendfuture HDS user conferences. For the firsttime, the conference was also webcast.Almost all presentations are available foronline viewing.
Informative PresentationsThe conference is built around 2 days ofpresentations in which almost all were givenin one main conference room to over 200attendees. Highlights of several are givenbelow.
New Laser ScannerLeica’s Dr. Greg Walsh gave an insightful pre-sentation on the new Leica ScanStation C10laser scanner, announced shortly beforeIntergeo. Dr. Walsh was one of the heads ofLeica’s US-Swiss team which jointly developedthe compact, “all-in-one” laser scanner. Hedescribed several features not detailed in mar-keting and spec sheets, but which are of inter-est to users. For example, he noted that manyparts of a Leica ScanStation C10 are the sameas those used in Leica’s total stations. Theseinclude four read head absolute angleencoders found in the high-end Leica TM30,-arc second total station; System 1200 laser
plummet; onboard touch screen display; totalstation batteries & charger; and TPS high-pre-
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Conference
January/February 2010
Underscoring the strong interest in laser scanning the 2009 Leica Geosystems HDS Worldwide User Conference was wellattended despite the current economy. Image courtesy: Leica Geosystems
Dr. Dieter Fritsch of the Institute forPhotogrammetry, University of
Stuttgart, delivered the keynoteaddress on the need for further
development of software for more efficient extraction of deliverables
from laser scan data. Image courtesy: Leica Geosystems
Leica Geosystems held its 7th annual worldwide user conference specifically for users of its High-Definition Surveying
(HDS) laser scanning products. Held 26-28 October 2009, in San Ramon, California, near the company’s HDS offices, the
conference drew 255 registrants from 20 countries on 5 continents. Despite the global recession, attendance was down
only slightly from 2008, when it peaked at ~300 attendees. The conference’s relative success is a symptom of continued
strong interest in 3D laser scanning.
By Geoff Jacobs
cision, nitrided azimuth ball bearings. Theseall contribute to the ScanStation C10 being a“next-generation platform” on which users canexpect to see incremental enhancements overtime compatible with other Leica instruments. Dr. Walsh also described how ScanStationC10’s new Smart X-Mirror design works toenable both oscillating scans for capturingfine details at long distance and spinningscans for capturing full-dome interior scans inless than two minutes (>20 times faster thanthe ScanStation2 scanner).
ForensicsThe use of laser scanning in forensic investiga-tions is growing rapidly and a presentation onthe morning of the first day prepared byValentin Vanhecke and Theo Kok of the DutchNational Police (Korps landelijke politiediensten– KLPD) showed why. Their presentationdescribed use of both a long range, time-of-flight ScanStation2 scanner and a short-range,ultra-fast, phase-based Leica HDS6000 scannerto investigate major incidents. The long rangescanner is mostly used outdoors and for bigobjects, such as a fallen crane or a stretch ofroadway; the short-range scanner is mostlyused indoors or when extra, close-range detailis needed. The department can contact region-al Dutch police agencies to access two morescanners.The department’s origins are investigating traf-fic accidents with serious injury or deaths; theirlargest was a 114 car pile up in Badhoevedorp.They also recorded the Firework explosion inHolland and several terrorist attacks in theMiddle East for the UN, plus the 2009Queensday tragedy. Scanning is used on many, but not all, cases.For forensic investigations, things they need torecord are fading and disappearing over time,
of the main speakers on this topic was BertJeeninga, Managing Director of QPS BV, Zeist,The Netherlands and Houston, USA. The com-pany is a leading software developer and sys-tems integrator for hydrographic mapping thathas recently applied their expertise to mobilelaser scanning. In particular, Bert Jeeningafocused on the keys to success for userswanting to integrate an ultra-fast LeicaHDS6000 scanner (up to 508,000points/second) into a mobile mapping system.QPS has successfully done several such instal-lations, including one for M3DM, a sub-com-pany of Advin, The Netherlands.
Attention was drawn to the challenges ofimplementing a mobile scanning system tomeet user needs. Several aspects weredescribed in detail:1. system integration of various sensors2. accurate timing3. sensor alignment and system calibration4. GNSS outages and their affect on
positional accuracy5. data volumes and data reduction6. QA/QC
As an example of the above items, BertJeeninga explained that for a vehicle travelingat 90 kph, just one millisecond timing error(0.001 second) leads to 2.5 cm horizontal posi-tional error. He also showed a 2m long rampfixture that QPS uses for calibration - a vehicletravels sequentially in opposite directions tocapture the fixture and results are then overlaidon each other for comparison. Further on posi-tional accuracy, it was shown that GNSS can bea source of significant vertical error and thatselection of the best INS sensor is key for highaccuracy results. Lastly, for creating real-timeresults, Bert Jeeninga provided several techni-cal insights to data reduction approaches thatdo not compromise accuracy. In addition to thispresentation by QPS, mobile scanning was alsoaddressed by knowledgeable speakers fromGermany and from Turkey who have also suc-cessfully used Leica phase scanners in mobilemapping.
some in a matter of moments. Plus, there isalmost always a need to clean up the site, suchas a roadway, quickly. Some sites are also notsafe to occupy, so speed is again beneficial.This need for speed is one of the major rea-sons why scanning is used. Another reason iswhen a high level of detail is needed. Valentincited a shooting scene as an example - a bul-let hole in a wall that was not originallyobserved was later found in scan data. Anothersituation benefiting from detail is where theinvestigating team is not clear what needs tobe captured, so to be safe, they try to captureeverything. Regardless of the situation or toolsused, their goal is an unbiased, independentrecording of the site.
Deliverables typically include 360º photogra-phy (from a Spheron camera), Leica TruViewpoint clouds, and a plan drawing of the scene.Sometimes 3D computer models are created.Deliverables are used in different ways:1. in an interrogation or to go back
“virtually” to the crime scene with a witness
2. as a visual aid to case detectives 3. as a visual aid in the courtroom (also dur-
ing questioning of witnesses and accused)or to paint a general picture of what happened.
On Day 3 of the conference, Sara Watson ofthe Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Departmentgave a similarly interesting presentation onhow their crime lab uses their two (2)ScanStation2 scanners for major incidents inCalifornia.
Mobile ScanningAnother featured topic was the use of laserscanners in mobile vehicle applications. One
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Conference
45January/February 2010
Conference attendees get a demo of the Leica ScanStation C10 scanner in the conference exhibition area.Image courtesy: Leica Geosystems
Leica's Dr. Greg Walsh used this cutaway view tohelp describe the ScanStation C10's Smart X-Mirror
design to conference attendees. Image courtesy:Leica Geosystems
Scanning-to-BIMBIM (Building Information Modeling) andlaser scanning are both hot topics. To getbeyond the buzz, the conference featured twoindividual presentations and a panel discus-sion with several Leica HDS users who areactive in both areas. One individual presentation on scanning andBIM was by Dale Stenning of HoffmanConstruction, Seattle, USA; the other by LemMorrison, president of Mercator LandSurveying, New York, USA. Panelists includedDale Stenning, plus Chris Zmijewski, Stantec(US and Canada), Odd Erik Mjorlund,GEOPlan (Norway), and Shane Loyd, RLSGroup, (US).Dale Stenning’s presentation was interestingbecause he represents a $1 billion/yr con-struction company that has been using bothBIM and scanning successfully for manyyears. He gave numerous practical exampleswhere the two had been used in tandem.Many uses of HDS were for QA/QC of portionsof a construction project that involve criticalstructures. With this QA, downstream con-struction project risks involving these struc-tures were reduced, thus avoiding possiblecostly fixes and project delays. Other usesincluded quantity surveys and final as-builts.The general idea was to use HDS to keep theoriginal BIM model up-to-date, reflectingactual construction. This not only enabledconstruction to proceed more smoothly, butthe final model could also be used with con-fidence by building owner/operators for facil-ity management or additional engineeringneeds.Lem Morrison’s presentation showed how hissmall survey company used HDS to assist adeveloper client with better leasing plans fora New York City property. Scanning and BIM
in this case served as better asset manage-ment tools than traditional methods.Perhaps most intriguing and exciting was thepanel discussion on Scanning-to-BIM. Here,the question was posed to the panel as towhether or not Scanning-to-BIM was hype orreal. What attendees heard from the expertpanel was that it was already very real. Stantec’s Zmijewski cited a scanning-to-BIMcontract that his 130-location, 10,000-employ-ee firm had just won with a potential for $30million in scanning services over the next 5years. Scanning was based 100% on theowner/operator’s requirement for scanning. Inthis case, the owner/operator was the GeneralServices Administration (GSA) which is land-lord for many US government buildings.Shane Loyd’s RLS Group had won a similar
sized contract for small, regional firms. The role of government in driving BIM for-ward was reinforced by GEOPlan’s Mjorlund,who cited a Norwegian Government require-ment to use BIM on all new construction by2010 and all existing buildings by 2012. Theconsensus was that BIM had recently transi-tioned from talk into actual heavy projectusage by most leading construction firms andlarge architectural/engineering firms and thatHDS was a natural fit for accurate 3D as-builtinformation. Several presenters at the confer-ence cited BIM as a major business opportu-nity for those in laser scanning.
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Conference
January/February 2010
Valentin Vanhecke of the The Dutch NationalPolice describes how his department uses laserscanning for forensic investigations. Image courtesy: Leica Geosystems
Bert Jeeninga, Managing Director of QPS BV,informs conference attendees about integrating aLeica HDS6000 laser scanner into a mobile scan-ning system Image courtesy: Leica Geosystems
Bert Jeeninga of QPS BV described how to integrate a Leica HDS6000 scanner into a mobile mapping system,such as this one for MD3M Image courtesy: QPS BV
Searching for a Lost Da VinciPaintingHeritage applications of High-DefinitionSurveying were also a key topic throughoutthe conference, with seven (7) individual pre-sentations plus a panel discussion withexperts Ben Kacyra, CyArk and founder of CyraTechnologies, USA; Erwin Christofori,Christofori und Partners, Germany; Siro Kim,WIPCO, Korea; Simon Barnes, UK; and ZhongChen, Dynasty Group, China and USA.One of the most fascinating presentations onthis topic was the conference’s very last oneby Michael Olsen, representing the Universityof California at San Diego (UCSD) and OregonState University. He described research effortsaided by HDS to locate and identify The Battleof Anghiari (1505), a lost painting by Leonardoda Vinci. Its main scene depicted men ridingwar-horses engaged in battle. A 1603 drawingby Rubens (Louvre), The Battle of theStandard, was based on an engraving derivedfrom the original da Vinci painting. Referredto as, "The Lost Leonardo", some believe thatit was not only da Vinci’s best work but thatit’s also still hidden behind a later mural paint-ed by Vasari in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Olsen described various sensing and measure-ment techniques including x-ray, ultraviolet flu-
sons that companies who are into HDS are gen-erally faring better in today’s challenging econ-omy than those who only do traditional survey-ing.Another obvious trend was that today construc-tion companies and fabricators now clearly “getit” as far as seeing the significant financial ben-efits of 3D laser scanning for their business.Several presentations were by constructioncompanies or fabricators who own their ownLeica HDS scanners and software. Multiple pre-sentations showed that scanning is also notjust the domain of large organizations – oneand two-person companies also use HDS verybeneficially for their everyday business. Lastly,the exploding use of TruView (including webportals) and the proliferation of fly-throughmovies made it clear that more clients areincreasingly appreciating the benefits of the richdata that high-definition surveys can deliver.
SummaryThe 2009 Leica Geosystems HDS WorldwideUser Conference was a major success with rich,high-quality content and outstanding network-ing. With a global composition, attendees werevery open about sharing their experiences withothers, providing greater value for all. Planswere announced to hold the next HDSWorldwide User Conference in the fall of 2010,but details are not yet available.
Geoff Jacobs, [email protected].
Currently Sr. VP, Strategic Marketing for the
Scanning Business unit of Leica Geosystems AG.
Geoff’s role includes organizing the annual Leica
Geosystems HDS Worldwide User Conference.
Geoff has been involved in laser scanning since
1998 when he joined Cyra Technologies, which was
acquired by Leica Geosystems in 2001. Geoff has a
Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the
University of Rochester and a Master of Science in
Engineering from Penn State University.
www.leica-geosystems.com/hds
orescence scans , thermography, and infraredreflectography which can “see through” sur-face frescoes and characterize content beneaththe surface. Many of these techniques can onlybe done precisely on very small areas, so HDSis used to piece them together into a geomet-rically correct mosaic. The research effort is ledby UCSD’s Dr. Maurizio Seracini and is fundedlargely by National Geographic which plans toeventually broadcast its final results. No pho-tography or video was allowed during this ses-sion, reinforcing how special of a treat thispresentation was for attendees.
Key TrendsThe conference highlighted several trends.Overall, it is clear that laser scanning/high-defi-nition surveying is spreading wider into moreapplications and penetrating deeper within indi-vidual applications. Examples include the useof HDS in fixed installations to monitor con-struction projects and the use of HDS for celltower installations in which scan data is notonly being used for engineering purposes butalso for asset management. During his confer-ence presentation, Doug Brown, MD of StarNetGeomatics (Scotland), cited a recent award for>1 million Euros for cell tower surveys with HDS.This growth in adoption is one of the main rea-
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Conference
January/February 2010
The conference included panels discussions on Scanning-to-BIM and on Heritage Image courtesy: Leica Geosystems
Laser scanning was used for this BIMproject by Hoffman Construction
Image courtesy: Hoffman Construction
Mike Olsen of UCSD and Oregon State Universitydescribed how HDS is being used to help find a lost
da Vinci painting, The Battle of Anghiari, whichwas the basis for this Rubens work, The Battle of
the Standard Image courtesy: Wikipedia
47
featuring- major conference
- seminars and workshops- full trade exhibition
- gala evening with entertainment
CONFERENCEFor 2010, the m3 conference returns with a full programme
of sessions over two days with keynote plenaries and adebate. Full details of the programme will be available
early in the new year.
FOR EXHIBITORSGEO-10 is the complete geo-event and is the UK's only
dedicated national geospatial trade exhibition. For detailsof stand availability call +44 (0)1438 352617
FOR VISITORSYou can visit GEO-10 exhibition free of charge by registering
at www.pvpubs.com Further details of the conference willbe announced shortly.
a world of geomatics and GIS innovations
www.pvpubs.com
24 & 25 March 2010 @ Ricoh Arena, Coventry
mEASURINGmODELLINGmANAGINGg e o s p a t i a l i n f o r m a t i o n
and applying!
V
SESSIONS & WORKSHOPS ON
GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
Register to Attend at www.aag.org
AAG Annual Meeting
Attend the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Washington, DC, to learn more about Geospatial Information Technologies
Adapting with New Standards and Technologies
Erdas in 2010Mladen Stojic, Senior Vice President, Product Management and Marketing at Erdas, discusses the new 2010 product line
and main improvements with editor Joc Triglav. Other topics discussed are the Erdas World Tour, addressing
geospatial data quality issues and the value and strength of new data production and usage approaches in the
geospatial business, like crowd sourcing and volunteered geographic information, among others.
By Joc Triglav
Question: Erdas announced a new 2010 software releaseof its product line at the recent GEOINT Symposium.Please, outline for our readers the new Erdas product lineand the main improvements of the new software.
Mladen Stojic: We overhauled the entire look and feel of Erdas Imagine,implementing a ribbon interface. This provides customers with greateraccess to the tools they need, when they need them. This includesenhanced tools for parallel batch processing, spatial modeling, map pro-duction, mosaicking and change detection. Performance has also beenimproved in Erdas Imagine 2010, making it easier to view and exploit goe-graphic data, including imagery, terrain and feature layers. We recognizethat mosaicking large datasets is critical to our customers, so our mosaick-ing tools have been enhanced and streamlined across the product line.With the mosaicking improvements, customers now have decreased mem-ory use and greater processing speed, making it easier (and faster) tomosaic a large number of images. Erdas Imagine is also more of a multi-thread application, running multiple processes on multiple processers.
For interoperability, we’ve implemented the OGC Web Processing Service(WPS). Spatial models created in Erdas Imagine can be published and thencataloged and served as web services. This workflow is critical to achiev-
ing our vision of extending the use of geographic information beyondthe GIS/remote sensing/photogrammetry world. The connectivitybetween Erdas Imagine and our enterprise product for managing anddelivering large volumes of data (Erdas Apollo) is even stronger.
In the radar area, we've introduced Imagine SAR Interferometry, whichincludes new interpolation techniques that increase the quality andfidelity of radar data. A part of the Imagine Radar Mapping Suite,Imagine SAR Interferometry includes InSAR, Coherence Change Detectionand D-InSAR processing capabilities.
In this release, we are also showcasing a preview of a new technologyfor automatically extracting highly accurate and dense pointclouds fromstereo imagery. This new product is called LPS eATE and works withairborne and satellite imagery. We are agnostic in the types of sensorswe support with this approach.
In our enterprise products, we have integrated Erdas Image Web Serverand components of Erdas Titan into Erdas Apollo. From a low-cost,remarkably fast image and feature server to a comprehensive data man-agement and on demand geoprocessing system, the three new tiers ofErdas Apollo provide unprecedented performance, even when handlingthe largest data archives. For organizations that require interoperablecataloging and delivery of imagery, terrain and vector data through OGCWeb Services to any client application, Erdas Apollo Essentials—SDI isappropriate. Government organizations with geospatial imagery thatneeds to be delivered via a public access website can easily do thiswith Erdas Apollo Essentials—Image Web Server. Organizations thatneed to manage massive amounts of geospatial data need Erdas ApolloAdvantage. For users that need to manage data, as well as perform on-demand spatial analysis to extract information, Erdas ApolloProfessional is appropriate. Erdas Apollo Professional also offers a pow-erful geoprocessing (WPS) component, unrivaled in complex algorithms.
You are in the middle of organizing Erdas Rocks WorldTour events, which bring together your customers andpartners. How are these events organized and what areare the main benefits for the attendees?
MS: Several years ago we made the decision to annualize our productreleases to keep up with change. We recognize that our customers’ work-flows need to be updated and maintained – there is an ongoing need tosupport additional data formats, sensors, and extend Geospatial BusinessSystems across organizations. To better meet our customers growing (andchanging) needs, we decided to have both a major and minor releaseeach year, responding to these growing requirements with agility. As a company, it is important for us to stay connected with our customers
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Interv iew
January/February 2010
Mladen Stojic
and partners. In devising the Erdas World Tour, we drew parallels withmusicians and bands, which also release albums regularly and then travelto promote these releases. Similarly, we decided to launch a world tour,offering special customer events to our geographically dispersed customerbase. This is an ideal opportunity for us to share our vision, strategy andproduct updates. Additionally, it is equally important for us to listen toour customers, giving them an opportunity to voice their feedback indi-vidually and collectively in person.
These events are organized on a global basis, and we have worked withour partners to organize and promote these world tour events. We havetargeted geographies where our customers are easily congregated toattend these events.
The world tour is just a part of an ongoing conversation that we strive tomaintain. All of our efforts to engage our customers are done with thehope of building the right products and solutions to fully meet their cur-rent (and future) needs. With our 2011 release, we will once again hostanother world tour with a new concept and a new vision.
The Vespucci Initiative for the Advancement of GeographicInformation Science has issued a position paper with a jointvision on the Next-Generation Digital Earth (available online athttp://ijsdir.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.php/ijsdir/article/viewFile/119/99. Analyzing capabilities of the Erdas 2010 product line,please elaborate which requirements and ideas from thisvision are already present in Erdas products and how.
MS: The Erdas 2010 portfolio of products supports understanding of ourchanging earth. The best way to understand it is through the use of a“Digital Earth,” a multi-resolution 5D (x, y, z, time, information) represen-tation of the planet. This representation makes it possible for us to find,see and derive information from the vast amount of geographic informa-tion on the Earth’s physical and social environment. As the Earth changes,the need to understand it increases. At Erdas, we believe that change isthe primary spark and business driver that fuels an information lifecyclethat is necessary to achieving a sustainable Digital Earth. This lifecyclehas four primary components and Erdas (together with Leica Geosystems)provides a workflow to create, update, maintain, manage, share, deliverand use information associated with our Digital Earth.
CaptureWhether from a space borne, airborne or terrestrial sensor, “snapshots ofgeography” can be captured and recorded as the Earth changes. The Leica
ADS80 sensor captures TB’s of imagery that can be used to create andextract valuable geographic information. The Leica ALS60 airborne laserscanner captures TB’s of point cloud data that is used as the basis formodelling the earth’s terrain and the geographic features located on theearth’s surface. Data captured from the Leica SmartStation provides thefoundation for modelling the earth at much greater detail and accuracy.Similarly, the Leica ScanStation C10 offers the ability to capture high den-sity and high accuracy terrestrial point clouds for use in modelling street-level information. With the accelerated changes on the earth’s surface, theneed to capture geographic data faster has also increased and Leica iswell positioned to capture the digital earth from the air and the ground.The idea of “geosensing” the world is a tenet of the Digital Earth initia-tive.
AuthorOnce remotely sensed data is captured, “authoring” systems ingest rawsource content to produce useable data and information products. ErdasImagine 2010 is the all-in-one desktop authoring platform supporting theproduction of imagery, GIS data and maps from multiple sensor systems(airborne and satellite). LPS 2010 supports the production of highly accu-rate orthorectified imagery, terrain, 3D models and feature databases fromstereo imagery.
Manage & ConnectAs the Earth changes, data organizations also have be agile and innova-tive to accommodate to the growing volumes of data. Erdas Apollo 2010helps organize geographic information, enabling users inside and outsidean organization to have the ability find, view and directly use the geo-graphic information. Based on a 100% Service Oriented Architecture, ErdasApollo 2010 provides a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) that manages anddelivers TB’s of GIS data, imagery and terrain information to customers.The heart of the SDI is the catalog and the key component of the catalogis metadata. To achieve a vision of a connected Digital Earth, an interop-erable and open catalog is critical. Erdas Apollo provides an out-of-thebox environment for cataloguing data and services in order to achieve aDigital Earth.
DeliverOnce data is organized and managed, the next step is to get the geo-graphic information to users of a Digital Earth. It’s one thing to deliverdata to users as web services. But it’s another thing to deliver on-demandgeographic information products to a community. This is possible with
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Interv iew
51January/February 2010
Erdas Imagine
Erdas Imagine
the delivery of on-demand geoprocessing capabilities. Together, ErdasImagine 2010 and Erdas Apollo 2010 support an end-to-end workflow fordesktop to enterprise geoprocessing. Connecting to a catalog, users havethe ability to publish spatial models that can then be extended to every-one through the internet so that information products from the DigitalEarth can be requested, visualized and used.
How are the geospatial data quality issues addressed inthe Erdas 2010 product line? Which options do the usershave using Erdas software to select and combine variouskinds of geospatial data for a certain area and of a cer-tain spatio-temporal data quality?
MS: The value of geospatial data is directly correlated to its accuracy andquality. Our products are designed and developed to maximize the accu-racy of output, data production and information extraction based on rig-orous geospatial, scientific approaches. For example, in LPS 2010, we sup-port the ability to model the quality with which photogrammetric dataproducts can be produced. This includes support for rigorous error propa-gation, along with detailed output reports, which identify the accuracyand precision with which data products are produced. Similarly, in ErdasImagine 2010, we also support the ability for users to understand andquantitatively determine the accuracy and precision which land cover data,feature data and image data and terrain data are produced. The data prod-ucts produced by both Erdas Imagine and LPS are subsequently cata-logued by Erdas Apollo 2010. As a result of cataloguing and serviceenabling these products, we also support the ability to catalog the meta-data associated with the input data. This, of course, includes all metada-ta, both spatial, temporal and quality data.
In terms of combining and fusing various kinds of geospatial data, ErdasImagine, with the geoservices explorer application, supports the ability togo into an area of interest, broadcast a query to an Erdas Apollo catalogbased on user defined metadata criteria, such as date, keyword, spatialextent, or data type and retrieve that data and information directly intoErdas Imagine as a collection of interoperable OGC web services. As aresult, users of Erdas Imagine can subsequently exploit file-based data,information in a database and web services all in one desktop platform.
Another example of this is the free Erdas Titan Client. With the new ErdasTitan 2010 Client, customers can connect to the Erdas Apollo 2010 OGCcompliant catalog, and discover map, image, vector and terrain web ser-vices and directly consume and exploit those services in a 3D virtual globe
environment. During the discovery process, users have the option to filterthe search based on date, keywords, and other metadata criteria. In addi-tion to this, users can directly load local data into the same 3D environ-ment and create geospatial mash-ups for a variety of applications.
In your opinion, what should be done in the globalgeospatial industry in order to make the geospatial datastandards and metadata more understandable and practi-cally usable to the everyday users as well as producersof geospatial data?
MS: Over the last 30 years, the geospatial industry has made greatstrides in extending the utilization of geospatial technology for under-standing our changing earth. However, during that same time, we have,unfortunately, created numerous walls that make it difficult to shareand exchange geographic information EASILY. These walls need to comedown. In order to do this, several factors need to be understood andachieved.
At the moment, we still operate in departmental and organizationalsilos for preparing geospatial data and using geographic information.For example, if you were to tour large agencies using geospatial tech-nologies, the GIS group would be using one product, the public worksdepartment would be using another product to support their data type,a photogrammetry department using another product, remote sensingdepartment using a different product, a cartography department usingits own finishing product, and of course, other business departmentsusing different products to fulfil their daily needs. These silos have alot in common – they work on the same geography, yet they fail toeffectively share data and information. Both the OGC and ISO havedone a great job in providing a framework upon which the industry canbegin establishing a common and consistent definition of how geo-graphic information and data can be used throughout (and betweenorganizations). However, this is just a framework. As humans, we needto change. And that requires a behavioural change, one that is fosteredand nurtured to grow to embrace the idea of sharing data and infor-mation for the common good. Until we change, we cannot expect anychanges in how organizations effectively use geographic information.Theses changes are ultimately reflected in national/state/regional/city/organization policies that foster and encourage the open and securesharing and geographic information.
From a software company’s perspective, we need to ensure that wecontinue to build and offer the community products that facilitate shar-ing and the dissemination of geographic information. Erdas remainscommitted to supporting geospatial data standards and metadatadefined by the various standards committees. One day, the walls andsilos that have prohibited openness will come down.
Do you feel the existing complexity and variety ofgeospatial data standards and metadata are an obstacleor as a necessity?
MS: Many times over the past thirty years, Erdas has been approached tomake remote sensing and photogrammetry easier for GIS – easier to use,understand, teach and implement. In discussions with our users, they allwant to retain the rigorous and scientific capabilities of the products, butwould like to extend the power to others that don’t necessarily have abackground in a geospatial technology. As a result, we have looked forways to build solutions that make it easier for non-geospatial users toleverage the depth and power of geographic knowledge that can bederived from geographic data and information.
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Similarly, standards for data and metadata are technical. We cannot waterdown the science associated with capturing, authoring, managing anddelivering geospatial data and information. If we did this, we would suf-fer on quality, and as a result, our accurate decisions would be in jeop-ardy. Therefore, data and metadata standards need to preserve scientificexcellence while also balancing ease of implementation, ease of use andease of understanding. Without this balance, I am afraid that the powerof interoperability and open exchange of geographic information will suf-fer. The balance can only be achieved with standards and software solu-tions. The balance will only be achieved by active and direct participationfrom software vendors, users and academia.
Taking into account the recent Bauerlein’s book ‘TheDumbest Generation’ the current global trends in webusage among the younger generations are not encourag-ing at all. How does the software of the Erdas 2010 pro -duct line help the users, especially the younger ones, touse its web capabilities in a smart way?
MS: We are now beginning to see a social phenomenon which has result-ed from the “I want it, and I want it now” mentality. With the advent andgrowth of the internet age, users have an expectation to quickly find,understand and use information. For example, when I was in high schooland university and was assigned a paper, I would go to the library, findthe relevant books I needed, read those books and begin formulating thethesis and body of the paper. This was a time consuming task. Today,however, students can go online, use the various search engines and findan abundance of information which they can incorporate into their ownversion of a completed paper. The challenge, however, with the internetage is the abundance of data and information – and not all of this isequal. The challenge is finding the right information from a credible sourceand filtering the pages upon pages of content to get to what is needed.This is time consuming. Time must be dedicated to authoring a paperbased on credible sources and this will always be the case. The challengeis to make it easier to discover, retrieve and use all the information avail-able to us for the task at hand. These are pre-conditions to solving thechallenge presented before us.Looking at our products, we have always assumed that customers knowabout data, the tools, and the application for them to do their jobs. Theseare all incorrect assumptions. Typically, customers know what they wantor what their desired outcome needs to be. The challenge they face on aday to day basis is knowing what data is needed, where that data is, howto integrate that data with ancillary input sources, and how to use that
data to achieve a specific task. That’s a lot to ask for, considering thelevel of knowledge needed to solve that problem.For example, an emergency response crew may need to identify the bestlocation to land a helicopter during a forest fire to evacuate civilians. Thecommand control crews do not know what input data to use or the appro-priate data formats, data types, sensor models, databases, web services,SOA architecture, or any of the other buzz words we have a tendency tooveruse. They simply need to be able to understand events as they arehappening on the ground, and immediately determine the best place toland the helicopter. As geospatial professionals, it is our job to determinethe best data to use and how to process and deliver that data in anunderstandable form so it can be used to save lives. With the new Erdas2010 release, we have started a journey along that vision.
We have taken Erdas Imagine, which was first built and introduced inthe early 1990s, and given it a renaissance. This renaissance is basedon easily providing customers the tools they need, when they needthem to complete a specific task. This is based on the flexibility of thenew ribbon interface, which supports the customization of vertical mar-ket workflows. This journey is not complete with just the 2010 release.Our vision and strategy is to provide customers with tools to maketheir jobs easier so we can satisfy the vision of getting people theinformation they need, when they need it, in a form they can easilyunderstand. With every annual release we will move closer to achiev-ing this vision and strategy.
What is your opinion on the value and strength of newdata production and usage approaches in the geospatialbusiness, which became known recently as neologismslike crowd sourcing, volunteered geographic information,produsers(=producers+users), urban sensing, cloud com-puting, etc.? How do these novelties change the globalgeospatial business? How will Erdas adapt to them in thenear future?
MS: These novelties serve as drivers that spark innovation in how weunderstand our changing Earth. For example, cloud computing is nowmoving from being a buzz word to becoming a reality. Customers areevaluating business models for hosting data and software in the cloud,along with geoprocessing. Erdas continues to adapt to new technolo-gies. Our enterprise products are designed to operate in the cloud.Therefore, customers have the option of deploying internal “cloud sys-tems” or third party hosted cloud systems. The key for Erdas is toensure that our solutions adapt with new standards and technologies.
Joc Triglav is editor of GeoInformatics. For more information, have a look at www.erdas.com
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Interv iew
January/February 2010
Erdas Apollo Pro
53
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What is GeoDesign? Diana Sinton of the University of Redlands definedit as “a planning approach that grounds design methods and practices intemporal and spatial knowledge of human and natural geographic con-texts.” Michael Flaxman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technologydefined it as “a design and planning method which tightly couples the cre-ation of a design proposal with impact simulations informed by geograph-ic context.” Others provided alternate definitions. But the GeoDesignSummit was less about a common definition than it was about a commonunderstanding: in fact, the biggest takeaway may have been a clear real-ization by most attendees of the important role that GeoDesign can playin leveraging geographic knowledge to effect positive change in our world.
Over the course of the three-day event, the more than 200 attendeesheard from a variety of speakers on the theory and practice ofGeoDesign. A number of “Idea Labs” were held—breakout sessionswhere participants could brainstorm on different elements of GeoDesign,such as theoretical research, public participation, the role of 3D, sketch-ing, architecture and BIM, regional landscapes, urban areas, supportingtechnology, and educational curricula.
While GeoDesign as a discipline, a field of study, and a practice is stillevolving, a number of action items were identified by the end of theSummit. This agenda, developed primarily out of the Idea Labs effort,includes such topics as:• Obtain a broader consensus on the definition and application of
GeoDesign. Everyone is invited to participate in this discussion athttp://participatorygeodesign.ning.com/ andhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/geodesign.
• Identify the new geospatial functionality, tools, and technologiesneeded to support broader adoption of GeoDesign.
• Hold a “GeoDesign Challenge” with a significant cash prize, toencourage the development of real-world GeoDesign projects.
• Expand communication efforts for GeoDesign, to include the publi-cation of articles, a book of case studies, and possibly a journal.
• Determine the optimal methods of teaching design principles togeospatial professionals and develop a GeoDesign curriculum.
• Hold another GeoDesign Summit in early 2011 to review progress.Jack Dangermond again offered to host the Summit at ESRI’s confer-ence center and provide financial support for the event.
• Dangermond was adamant about de-coupling the vision ofGeoDesign from ESRI. It was agreed that a broader cross-section ofgeospatial technology companies would be invited to participate inthe 2011 GeoDesign Summit.
A survey of attendees showed that 95% felt that the GeoDesign Summitwas beneficial, and the same number wanted to have another Summitin 2011.
Matt Artz is the GIS and Science Manager at ESRI in Redlands, California USA and edits the GISandScience.com blog.
He can be reached at [email protected].
56
Most professional conferences exist to support the needs of a mature community. But the purpose of the first GeoDesign
Summit, held 06-08 January 2010 in Redlands, California, was quite different: to further refine the concept of GeoDesign,
build a community around it, and task that community with creating an agenda for moving it forward.
By Matt Artz
2010 and Beyond
The Agenda for GeoDesign
Event
January/February 2010
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software
FOIF FieldGenius field software
Calendar 2010
Advertiser Page
AAG www.aag.org 49
ERDAS www.erdas.com 17
ESRI www.esri.com 13
FIG www.fig2010.com 31
Foif www.foif.com.cn 57
Geo-10 www.pvpubs.com 48
GEODIS www.geodis.cz 15
Geo-Siberia www.geo-siberia.com 54
ISPRS www.isprs100vienna.org 55
ITT www.itt.com 60
Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 2
Riegl www.riegl.com 37
Sokkia www.sokkia.net 59
Spectra Precision www.spectraprecision.com 21
Spot Image www.spotimage.com 7, 9
Topcon www.topcon.eu 34
Advertisers Index
22-25 March 2010 ESRI Developer SummitPalm Springs, CA, U.S.A. Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 3743 E-mail: [email protected]: www.esri.com/devsummit
22-25 March CARIS 2010 StrongerTogether – People, Products, InfrastructureMarch 22-25, 2010, Miami, FL., U.S.A.Internet: www.caris.com/caris2010
24-25 March GEO-10 The complete GEOEvent Ricoh Arena, Coventry, U.K. Internet: www.worldofgeomatics.com
April
11-14 April Geospatial Intelligence MiddleEast 2010Manama, Bahrain, UAE E-mail: [email protected]: www.geospatialdefence.com
11-16 April XXIV FIG International Congress2010 ‘Facing the Challenges - BuildingCapacity’Sydney, Sydney Convention & ExhibitionCentre, Australia Tel: +61 (02) 2 9265 070 Fax: +61 (02) 2 9267 5443 E-mail: [email protected]: www.fig2010.com
12-16 April SPIE Photonics EuropeBrussels, Belgium Internet: www.spie.org
14-16 April IV International Conference"Remote Sensing - the Synergy of HighTechnologies"Moscow, Atlas Park Hotel, RussiaTel.: +7 (495) 988-7511, 988-7522, 514-83-39E-mail: [email protected]: www.sovzondconference.ru/eng
14-18 April AAG 2010 Annual MeetingWashington, DC, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected]: www.aag.org/annualmeetings/2010/index.htm
19-23 April BAE Systems GXP InternationalUser Conference and Professional Exchange! San Diego, CA, Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines,U.S.A. Internet: www.gxpuserconference.com
25-29 April 2010 Geospatial InfrastructureSolutions Conference Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected]: www.gita.org/gis
26-30 April 2010 ASPRS Annual ConferenceSan Diego, CA, Town and Country Hotel,U.S.A. Internet: www.asprs.org/SanDiego2010/index.html
27-29 April GEO-Siberia 2010Novosibirsk, Russia E-mail: [email protected]: www.geosiberia.sibfair.ru/eng
27-29 April SIBMINING – 2010Novosibirsk, Russia E-mail: [email protected]: www.mining.sibfair.ru andwww.petroleum.sibfair.ru
28-29 April CERGAL 2010Rostock, Germany Internet: www.dgon.de
May
03-06 May IEEE/ION PLANS 2010Indian Wells/Palm Springs, CA,RenaissanceEsmeralda Resort & Spa, U.S.A. Tel: +1 (703) 383-9688 E-mail: [email protected]: www.plansconference.org
04-06 May Rencontres SIG La LettreMarne-la-Vallée, ENSG, France E-mail: [email protected]: www.sig-la-lettre.com
12 May CGS Conference 2010Ljubljana, Ljubljana Exhibition andConvention Centre, Slovenia Tel: +386 1 5301 108 Fax: +386 1 5301 132 E-mail: [email protected]: www.cgs-konferenca.si
18-20 May POSITIONALEStuttgart, Germany Internet: www.positionale.de
19-21 May INTERGEO EastIstanbul, Istanbul Convention & ExhibitionCentre, Turkey Internet: www.intergeo-east.com
25-29 May BALWOIS ConferenceOhrid, Republic of Macedonia E-mail: [email protected]: www.balwois.com/2010
27-28 May GISCA 2010 - Central Asia GISConference - Water: Life, Risk, Energy andLanduse Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic Internet: http://gisca10.aca-giscience.org
June
02-04 June ISPRS Commission VI Mid-TermSymposium: "Cross-Border Education forGlobal Geo-information"Enschede, ITC, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected]: www.itc.nl/isprscom6/symposium2010
07-10 June 2010 Joint NavigationConferenceOrlando, FL, Wyndham Orlando Resort,U.S.A. Tel: +1 (703) 383-9688 E-mail: [email protected]: www.jointnavigation.org
08-10 June 58th German Cartographers Day2010 Berlin and Potsdam, Germany E-mail: [email protected]: http://dkt2010.dgfk.net
20-25 June 10th InternationalMultidisciplinary Scientific Geo-Conferenceand Expo – SGEM 2010 (SurveyingGeology & mining Ecology Management)Albena sea-side and SPA resort, CongressCentre Flamingo Grand, Bulgaria E-mail: [email protected]: www.sgem.org
21-22 June 2nd Open Source GIS UKConferenceNottingham, University of Nottingham, U.K. Internet: www.opensourcegis.org.uk
22-24 June Mid-Term Symposium of ISPRSCommission V: Close range image mea-surement techniquesNewcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle University,U.K. E-mail: [email protected]: www.isprs-newcastle2010.org
23-25 June INSPIRE Conference 2010Krakow, PolandInternet:http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/conferences/inspire_2010
Februari
09 February ESRI (UK) DeveloperHubConferenceBirmingham, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1296 745666 E-mail: [email protected]: www.esriuk.com/events
08-10 February SPAR 2010 - 3D Imaging &Positioning for Engineering, Construction,ManufacturingThe Woodlands , TX, Woodlands WaterwayMarriott Hotel & Convention Center, U.S.A. Internet: www.sparllc.com/spar2010.php
10-17 February 9th Terrasolid EuropeanUsers EventLevi Summit, Kittilä, FinlandInternet: www.terrasolid.fi/en/events/terrasolid_european_users_event_2010_agenda_an
17-19 February 2010 ESRI Federal UserConference Washington D.C., U.S.A. Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 2421 E-mail: [email protected]: www.esri.com/feduc
21-24 February GIS World 2010Dubai, JW Marriott, UAE E-mail: [email protected]: www.iirme.com
22-24 February 2010 ESRI Petroleum UserGroup ConferenceHouston, TX, U.S.A. Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 2894 E-mail: [email protected]: www.esri.com/pug
March
03-05 March 2010 Smallworld EMEAIConferenceNoordwijk, Hotels van Oranje, TheNetherlands E-mail: [email protected]: http://registrationassistant.com/emeai10/default.asp
03-05 March 10th International LiDARMapping Forum 2010Denver, CO, Hyatt Regency, U.S.A. Internet: www.lidarmap.org
07-10 March GEO 2010 9th Middle EastGeosciences Conference and ExhibitionBahrain, Bahrain International ExhibitionCentre, Kingdom of Bahrain E-mail: [email protected]: www.aeminfo.com.bh/geo2010/about.html
08-11 March 14th Annual GIS/CAMATechnologies Conference, “LeveragingTechnology to Do More With Less... BigValue in Little Rock”Little Rock, AR, U.S.A. Tel: +1 847-824-6300 E-mail: [email protected]: www.urisa.org/conferences/2010gis_cama
08-11 March 15th GIS Advanced TrainingSeminar Munich, Audimax in Technische UniversitätMünchen, Germany E-mail: [email protected]: www.runder-tisch-gis.de
08-12 March FMEdays 2010Münster, Factory Hotel, Germany E-mail: [email protected]: www.fme-days.com
09-11 March Oi10 - OceanologyInternational London Excel, U.K. Internet: www.oceanologyinternational.com
Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to:[email protected]
58January/February 2010
Corrigendum
In the latest issue of GeoInformatics, (volume 8, December 2009), photo credits were
omitted. The appropriate credits are as follows: The top image on page 16, is courtesy of
Bentley Systems, Incorporated. The second image on page 16 courtesy of Maharashtra
Jeevan Pradhikaran. The top image on page 18 is courtesy of Mott McDonald. The second
image on page 18 is courtesy of Edge Structures Ltd.
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