geoinformatics 2012 vol07

Racurs Conference Gatewing Migration to ArcGIS Server 10.1Real-time construction monitoring with GIS Pleiades-1A satellite imagery

Magazine for Survey ing, Mapping & GIS Profess iona lsOctober/November

2 0 1 2Volume 15

7Prod_GEO712_Prod GEO66 05-10-12 11:00 Pagina 1

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Maps and Local SearchApple Maps has been released on iOS6 and the warning signals suggesting thatbuilding a map service from the ground takes time, have become a reality: theinitially released maps were full of errors and inaccuracies. Fortunately, user com-ments on web sites, such as nytimes.com, express a more weighted view, as theypraise Apple Maps’ turn-by-turn directions. These views give an indication as tohow map products are being used in different ways these days. The map is notdead, but the way maps are used has changed a great deal.

Take for instance Google’s worldview: maps on smart phones are interfaces tolocal search, as Ed Parsons (Google) put in a recent blog post (‘Bad maps…reallya search problem’, October 3, www.edparsons.com). That‘s one way of lookingat it, and Google has made a good business out of this. The relevance of his blogpost is that he stresses that it takes time to set up a good search engine, not onlyfrom a technological perspective, but also from a business perspective. It takestime to get establish cooperation with local data owners to get it all into one sys-tem and make it searchable.

Back to Apple Maps; the Apple company claimed their mapping service wouldget better as more people used it. This caused some surprise amongst some users,who complained about privacy policy. Apparently, many peo-ple don’t know that by using an app, you give up a great dealof privacy. In effect, you permit vendors to make use of yourinformation and track you wherever you go, especially if youuse a GPS. One can only hope Apple will take note of lessonslearned by other companies regarding this issue.

In the geospatial business, the notion that maps are no longera stand-alone end product, but rather a derivative of a 3Dmodel or part of a range of cartographic products andservices, is slowly gaining ground. But in all honesty,there can be no going back. Technological innovationsas well as tighter budgets are forcing national map-ping and cadastral agencies to change their way ofbusiness. This notion is also being voiced by aca-demic research groups, where there is less fundingand sometimes less theoretical depth in research.On the other hand, however, they are in the posi-tion to be vendor-independent and experimentwith all new technology to hand.

This is the case, for example, with theuse of UAV technology. In the reviewof the Racurs conference in thisissue, you can read about newapplication fields where UAVhas a large potential, evenwith the current drawbacksthat the technology faces. But,as Apple Maps shows, you arenot always starting from a perfectsituation.

Enjoy reading,

Eric van [email protected]

GeoInformatics is the leading publication for GeospatialProfessionals worldwide. Published in both hardcopy anddigital, GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis andcommentary with respect to the international surveying,mapping and GIS industry.GeoInformatics is published 8 times a year.

Editor-in-chiefEric van Rees [email protected]

Copy EditorElaine Eisma

EditorsFlorian [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Contributing Writers:Philip Cheng, Christian Elfers, Steven Braakman,Adam Spring, Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk, Gerben Tiemens.

ColumnistsGary Gale, Mark Reichardt, Matt Sheehan

[email protected]

Marketing & SalesRuud [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 www.geoinformatics.com

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ISSN 13870858

© Copyright 2012. GeoInformatics: no material maybe reproduced without written permission.

P.O. Box 2318300 AEEmmeloordThe NetherlandsTel.: +31 (0) 527 619 000 Fax: +31 (0) 527 620 989 E-mail: [email protected]

GeoInformatics has a collaboration withthe Council of European GeodeticSurveyors (CLGE) whereby all individualmembers of every national Geodeticassociation in Europe will receive themagazine.

3October/November 2012

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C o n t e n t

A r t i c l e sPleiades Satellite 10

Con terra’s mapApps 14

North/South metro-line Amsterdam 20

Gatewing’s Unmanned Aerial Systems 26

The Third Industrial Revolution 32

First Galileo results 38

Migration to ArcGIS for Server 10.1 44

E v e n tRacurs Conference 36

N e w s l e t t e rCLGE newsletter 6

EuroGeographics Newsletter 50

C o l u m n sMobile Geolocation Technology and Services 42

New OGC standard supports “ GeoSynchronization” 48

Big Data vs. My Data 52

I n t e r v i e wGeography as a Platform 18

C a l e n d a r / A d v e r t i s e r s I n d e x 54

At the cover:Arrival of fourth Galileo satellite in Kourou (source: www.esa.eu). See article on page 34.


14

26

32This article examines the ThirdIndustrial Revolution. Used todescribe a major paradigmshift in product design and

manufacture, it is impacting onthe way information is gathe-

red and used also.

38

Maarten Vandenbroucke talksabout the recent acquisition, thecompany’s flagship product, theGatewing X100, an unmannedaerial mapping system and inte-resting new market areas thatare rapidly adopting their tech-

nology.

Researchers at the University ofNew Brunswick have publis-hed the first positioning resultsfor Galileo. Using both GIOVEA and B (which are now de-commissioned), as well as thefirst two In Orbit Validation sa-tellites, three different positio-ning modes were evaluated.

The evolution of informationtechnologies requires geospa-tial systems and infrastructuresto refocus efforts and skills inorder to improve the last mileto the user: the geospatial ap-

plication.

10This article shows the data is ca-pable of generating high accur-acy orthos using a geometriccorrection method with a few

ground controls.

18By integrating cloud technolo-gy in its core platform, Esri’slatest ArcGIS 10.1 release is

now fully cloud-enabled.‘Geography is now pervasivein the whole organization’,

says Esri CEO JackDangermond. A look at a

new way of working, manag-ing and sharing geographical

information.

50

Ingrid Vanden Berghe,General Administrator of the

National Geographic Institute,Belgium was re-elected

President of EuroGeographicsat its recent General Assembly.The event was hosted by the

National Land Survey ofFinland which recently marked

its 200th anniversary.

20The development and construc-tion of the North/South metro

line in Amsterdam, theNetherlands, called for an

ambitious monitoring effort. Tobe able to limit or prevent

damage to the historic inner city,over 1400 buildings, surface

and sub-surface, are being moni-tored on a real-time basis.


According to the Parliament of theRepublic of Moldova decision No. 433-XII, dated 26th December 1990, the

Government adopted the Decision to promotethe Surveying Profession in the private and pub-lic sector with a declaration to celebrate “Surveyors Day” each year on the last Sundayof July.

On July 26th 2012 a General Assembly of theMoldavian Union of Surveyors was organizedwith special guest Mr. Anatolie Ghilas, GeneralDirector of the Land Relation and CadastreAgency. After Dr. Vasile Chiriac, UGMPresident, delivered the Annual Report, greetingmessages from private and international survey-ing organizations were announced.Ms. Aliona Scutelnic, UGM member, presentedthe results from the young surveyors’ participa-tion in the III international and professional train-ing course organized by The ConsiglioNazionale Geometri Laureati in Athens, from3rd to 15th October 2011, strongly supportedby CLGE. She also gave a short report of her

experience as a participant in the First FIGYoung Surveyors’ Conference in conjunctionwith the FIG Working Week in Rome, Italy inMay 2012 and presented a FIG FoundationYoung Surveyor Fellow Award. Other relatedUGM members issues were also discussed.

On the weekend, outdoor picnics and sportswere organized by state institutions and privatecompanies for the staff and guests.

For the future we are planning a NationalConference to coincide with the Surveyors Day,in collaboration with national and internationalorganizations, with awards for the best survey-ors of the year. An Open Day for the youngergeneration is to be organized by state organi-zations, private companies and educationalinstitutions.

Dr. Livia Nistor-Lopatenco, UGM Secretary General

October/November 20126

N e w s l e t t e r

Surveyors Day celebrated inRepublic of MoldovaIn 2011, Vasile Chiriac, President of Moldavian Union of Surveyors UGM reported about an interesting

tradition in his home country: Surveyors Day! Based on this idea, we’ve intro-duced the Day of the European Surveyor and GeoInformation. Hereafter

we report about the latest edition of this celebration in Moldova.

Logo of the Union of Moldovan Surveyors

Secretary General Dr. Livia Nistor-Lopatenco in front of her President Dr. Vasile Chiriac (Left) and Mr. Anatolie Ghilas, General Director of the Land Relation and Cadastre Agency

Aliona Scutelnic proudly shows the Young Surveyors Award


7Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com October/November 2012

N e w s l e t t e r

5 March 2012 … 22 March 2013

In 2012, the Day of the European Surveyor and GeoInformation gave us theopportunity to honour Gerardus Mercator (the poster by the Belgian DesignerArianne Weyrich we’ve edited on that occasion is published in this issue).

Next year the Day of the European Surveyor and GI will be organized in conjunc-tion of the Surveyors Week that takes place in the United States.CLGE aims at the organization of a worldwide professional event.Talks with other Regional bodies and FIG are on-going. Whoever’s interested tojoin the idea can contact us [email protected].

Those who want to have this poster in a 70x100 cm format can obtain it on demand [email protected] for the prize of €80,-shipment in Europe included. This canbecome a collector...Please do not forget to mention your Surname,Name and snail mail address.Conclude your order by confirming that youwill pay the invoice by money transfer on firstdemand.

In 2012 the Day of the European Surveyor took place on March 5th, next year it will be on March 22nd.

This year we’ve honoured Mercator. On 12 – 13 October 2012, the CLGE General Assembly gathered

in Hanover, will decide about the illustrious surveyor to honour next year.

What the hell is DPKB?The Dynamic Professional Knowledge Base: ‘DPKB’ A revolutionary new database for geodetic survey-ing in Europe powered by CLGE.

The Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) is current-ly working on a project that could revolutionize the access toinformation about geodetic surveying in Europe. It had become

obvious during the past years that there is a considerable lack ofinformation when it comes to national rules, regulations and prac-tices of geodetic surveying throughout Europe. At the same timethere was a rising demand for such concise information.

So CLGE decided to take the initiative and drafted a concept for aso called “ Dynamic Professional Knowledge Database” . The CLGEdata base will be in English and is meant to be a regularly updat-ed comprehensive collection of all relevant information about theprofession of Geodetic Surveyors in all CLGE Member countries.All information that is already available on the profession ofGeodetic Surveyors on national or European level or within CLGEwill be integrated in the database after a validation check.

The structure of the contents shall be clear and simple in order toavoid interpretational misunderstandings and to make the regularupdating simple. Additionally this shall make the use of thedatabase as easy as possible also for clients and non-experts.

The information will be updated by the CLGE Member organisa-tions on a regularly basis. To ensure the efficient collection of theinformation as well as the regular updates each CLGE Memberorganisation will nominate a responsible person or team for themaintenance of the database within the national organisation.Additionally the CLGE will check on the updates and clarify infor-mation if necessary.

The aims of the database are manifold: The information is of course going to be a help for CLGE as therepresentative organisation of European Geodetic Surveyors to

Poster of 2012 by Arianne Weyrich


N e w s l e t t e r


even better explain and transport the situation and the necessitiesof the professionals and their clients to the European Institutions.

It will also help competent authorities on national level to learn moreabout the situation in other European countries, which will helpthem in matters of professional recognition and will improve thecontacts between competent authorities in different countries andenhance an exchange of best practice. Additionally the databasecan and probably will be an important source of information forEuropean Institutions, as such a clear overview of national regula-tory and educational structures combined with practical contactand statistical information is not available anywhere else.

A very important aspect of the database is to provide an informa-tion pool and guidance for individual Geodetic Surveyors who areinterested in providing their services in other countries. This elementcould give a boost to mobility within the profession.

Last but not least the database can be a source of information forclients and can help them understand and compare surveying ser-vices in Europe.

The key elements of the database are already quite clear:• National legal framework: The core of the data base is a collec-tion of the national legislation about the profession including anylaws containing relevant regulation in relation to the profession(e.g. building laws, legislation on real property or living space orany other legislation that relates to the profession of GeodeticSurveyors). • Fields of activity: As the fields of activities of Geodetic Surveyorsdiffer very much the database will give a description of the scopeof the profession of Geodetic Surveyors in each country and

describe the different fields of activities (e.g. real property assess-ment, property division, land use planning etc.) and the require-ments (education, authorization etc.) for working in these fields.• Professional recognition: The database will show all requirementsin relation with the different fields of activity and the proceduresand contact persons for Geodetic Surveyors from another countrywho want to a) supply cross border services or b) get permanentlyestablished in that country. • Education programmes: National Universities/other institutionsoffering education/training programmes for the profession ofGeodetic Surveyor plus a description of the relevant curricula willbe listed in the database.Additionally it will give information about requirements/obligationsand possibilities in view to continued professional education.• Statistical data/economic data: The database will also show sta-tistical and economic data that is available about the profession,e.g. number of liberal professional surveyors, number of employedsurveyors, number of male/female surveyors, number of civil ser-vants, number of students etc.The realisation of the database is already currently on-going:The defining of the technical solution, the final structure of the con-tent and the setting up of detailed requirements in all categories ofthe database is done professionally by a company from theNetherlands, the winner of a tendering procedure that was doneby CLGE. “ There is still quite a lot of work ahead of us” , says Rudolf Kolbe,CLGE Vice-President and responsible for the implementation of thedatabase. “ But we are sure that it is definitely worth it.”

© Otto Hainzl: Dipl. Ing. Rudolf Kolbe, CLGE Vice President, responsible for the implementation of the CLGE DPKB


Geometric Correction, Pan-sharpening and DTM Extraction

Pleiades SatelliteThe successful operation of the Pleiades-1A satellite provides another alternative using high resolutionsatellite imagery. With the panchromatic sensor at 0.7m resolution and the multispectral sensor at2.8m resolution, the data can be used in different applications. This article shows the data is capableof generating high accuracy orthos using a geometric correction method with a few ground controls. Apan-sharpening method can be applied to fuse the panchromatic and multispectral data to producehigh resolution multispectral data, and a DTM can be extracted using the stereo data with a DSM toDTM conversion software.

On December 16, 2011, the Plei -ades-1A was launched successfullyin orbit via a Russian Soyuz ST

rocket out of French Guiana. Pleiades-1A isthe first satellite of the Pleiades constellation.The Pleiades constellation will be composedof two very high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites on a Sun-synchronousorbit at 694km. With Pleiades 1A in orbitand Pleiades 1B scheduled for launch in2013, the Pleiades constellation will providevery high-resolution optical products inrecord time, offering daily revisit to anypoint on the globe and acquisition capabili-ties tailored to meet the full spectrum of civiland military requirements. Pleiades acquisi-tion capacity and exceptional agility maxi-mize the number of images of a given areaof interest, so more requests can be satisfiedon the same pass including along trackstereoscopy and tri-stereoscopy images. Thesatellite consists of a panchromatic bandwith resolution of 0.7m in nadir viewing andfour spectral bands (blue, green, red andnear infrared) with a resolution of 2.8m in

nadir viewing. Image correction accuracywithin 1m and 10m can be obtained withand without ground control points (GCPs),respectively.

Pleiades image data is distributed in eitherJPEG or TIFF format. There are two levels ofprocessing products available: primary andortho. The primary product is closest to theimage acquired by the sensor and restoresperfect collection conditions. The sensor isplaced in a rectilinear geometry and theimage is clear of any radiometric distortion.This level is optimal for users familiar withsatellite imagery processing techniques whowish to apply their own production methods(for example orthorectification or 3D model-ing). To this end, Rational PolynomialCoefficients (RPCs) and the sensor model areprovided with the data. The ortho productis georeferenced images in Earth geometry,corrected from off-nadir acquisition and ter-rain effects. The user can order bundled(panchromatic and multispectral) product orPMS (pan-sharpened) product.

Most users would like to perform customorthorectification using primary data. In thisarticle we will examine different methods ofprocessing Pleiades primary data. Firstly, wewill test pan-sharpening using Pleiadespanchromatic and multispectral data.Secondly, the geometric correction methodand accuracy with and without GCPs willbe examined. Lastly we will test the digitalsurface model (DSM) extraction using the tri-stereoscopy data and a tool to convert theDSM to a digital terrain model (DTM). Asample Pleiades primary data set consistingof panchromatic, multispectral, PMS and tri-stereoscopy images of Melbourne, Austra -lia, was provided by Astrium Geo Services.The image consists of mainly urban areaswith vegetation and buildings.

Pan-sharpeningSimilar to most high resolution satellites,Pleiades panchromatic and multispectraldata provide the opportunity to create 0.7mmultispectral pan-sharpened images. Al -though the user can purchase Pleiades pan-


A r t i c l e

By Philip Cheng

Figure 1a: Pleiades panchromatic image of Melbourne, Australia Figure 1b: Pleiades PMS image of Melbourne, Australia Figure 1c: Pleiades PCI pan-sharpened image of Melbourne, Australia


sharpened (PMS) product directly,in some cases the user may wantto apply their own pan-sharpening.It is always preferable to performthe pan-sharpening process beforegeometric correction if a pan-sharp-ened orthorectified image isdesired, and this method works formost areas with gentle terrain. Performingpan-sharpening after geometric correction ofthe separate panchromatic and multispectraldata often results in small misalignmentsbetween the ortho data due to the accuracyof GCPs and DEMs used in the orthorectifi-cation process. The PCI pan-sharpening pro-gram was used to test this case. The algo-rithm was written by Dr. Yun Zhang at theUniversity of New Brunswick, Canada. It isbased on least squares approximation of thegrey level value relationship between theoriginal multispectral, panchromatic, and thepan-sharpened image bands for a best colorrepresentation. Figure 1a, 1b and 1c showthe panchromatic, PMS, and PCI pan-sharp-ened Pleiades images of the same area,respectively.

Geometric Correction In order to leverage the Pleiades images forapplications such as GIS, it is necessary toorthorectify the images. A geometric model,ground control points (GCPs) and a digitalelevation model (DEM) are required. TheRational Function Method (RFM) has beenthe most popular geometric correctionmethod in orthorectifying high resolutionimages. This method uses the RPCs provid-ed with the satellite data to performorthorectification. More details about theRFM can be found in the paper written byGrodecki and Dial (2003). Since thePleiades primary product is provided with

RPCs, RFM can be used to orthorectify thedata.The latest version of PCI Geomatics’OrthoEngine software was used for this test-ing. This software supports reading of thedata, manual or automatic GCP/tie point(TP) collection, geometric modeling of differ-ent satellites using RFM or Toutin’s rigorousmodel, automatic DEM generation and edit-ing, orthorectification, and either manual orautomatic mosaicking. Since biases orerrors still exist in the RPCs, the results canbe post-processed with a polynomial adjust-ment and several accurate GCPs. One ofthe purposes of this paper is to determinewhich polynomial order of RPC adjustmentis required for Pleiades data. 0 and 1storder polynomial adjustment require a mini-mum of 1 and 3 GCPs, respectively. 0 orderpolynomial adjustment is always preferablebecause the GCPs can be collected any-where on the image. 1st order polynomialadjustment requires the GCPs to be collect-ed uniformly on the image and cover theentire image.High accuracy control points with accura-cies within 10-15cm were provided byProfessor Clive Fraser from the University ofMelbourne, Australia. Pleiades panchromat-ic image was used for the testing in thiscase. Table 1 shows the results using 0 and1st order polynomial RPC adjustment withdifferent number of GCPs and check points.From the table it can be seen that using 0

order polynomial RPC adjustmentwith a few GCPs give the bestresults with root mean square(RMS) errors within 1m.

DSM ExtractionA great innovation of thePleiades system is to offer high

resolution stereoscopic coverage capability.The stereoscopic coverage is realized byonly a single flyby of the area, whichenables collection of a homogeneous prod-uct quickly. In addition to the “ classical”forward and backward looking stereoscop-ic imaging, Pleiades can acquire an addi-tional quasi-vertical image (tri-stereoscopy),thus enabling the user to have an image andits stereoscopic environment. In general, aforward and backward looking stereo pairproduces the highest accuracy, but this com-bination is limited to areas with gentle ter-rain. A nadir and forward/backward look-ing stereo pair can be used in most kinds ofterrain. A tri-stereoscopy data set of the same areawas provided. The along-track viewingangles of the backward, forward and nadirlooking images are -14.91, 14.31 and -0.9degrees, respectively. Using 0 order poly-nomial RPC adjustment and 3 GCPs collect-ed on each image, the RMS errors of 38check points on each image area are 0.3min X, 0.4m in Y, 0.5m in X and 0.5m in Y,and 0.9m in X and 0.7m in Y, respectively.Since the images consist of mostly urbanareas with gentle terrain, only the backwardand forward looking images were chosento generate a 2m spacing DSM using PCIOrthoEngine software. Comparing theextracted DSM with the check points, thevertical RMS error is 1.6m with an averageerror of 1.2m and a maximum error of

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Table 1: Error report using 0 and 1st RPC polynomial adjustment


4.0m. Figure 2.1 and 2.2 show the imageand corresponding DSM, respectively.

DSM to DTMA DSM extracted from stereo images repre-sents the earth’s surface and includes allobjects on it, for examples, buildings andtrees. Many applications require the DTMwhich represents the bare ground surfacewithout any objects. To convert a DSM to aDTM through manual editing is a very timeconsuming process. An automatic DSM toDTM conversion program was developed atPCI Geomatics. Figure 3 shows the automat-ically converted DTM of the same area.When comparing the converted DTM witha DTM provided by the University ofMelbourne (with vertical discrepancy of0.6m comparing to 25control points), theaverage vertical difference was approxi-mately 0.8m.

SummaryIt is possible to perform pan-sharpeningbefore geometric correction with thePleiades primary panchromatic and multi-spectral data. Using the RPCs provided withthe Pleiades data and RFM, it is possible toachieve within 1m and 10m geometric cor-rection accuracy with and without GCPs,respectively. The best accuracy is using 0order polynomial RPC adjustment with a fewGCPs. DSM extraction is possible using thestereo or tri-stereo data. DSM can be con-verted to DTM using an automatic program.The author would like to thank ProfessorClive Frasor of University of Melbourne forproviding the control points and DEM.

Dr. Philip Cheng [email protected] a senior scientist at PCI Geomatics.

A r t i c l e


Figure 2.1: Pleiades Melbourne image

Figure 2.2 : Pleiades Melbourne extracted DSM.

Figure 3 : Pleiades Melbourne extracted DSM converted to DTM


ADVERTENTIE


User Experience to the front

Con terra’s mapAppsThe evolution of information technologies requires geospatial systems and infrastructures to refocusefforts and skills in order to improve the last mile to the user: the geospatial application.

By building spatial data infrastructures in their various forms,the geospatial community had one major goal in mind, whichis to gain knowledge for making better decisions. Knowledge

is achieved through applied information, and information is a resultof receiving and analyzing data. From these many components, thefocus is still on data. SDI is all about services, data, metadata, por-tals, viewers. All these are essential for the preached message thatall you need is “ Publish-Find-Bind” .

Whilst this is not wrong, there is one last piece missing. This miss-ing, underestimated and mostly undeveloped piece is the last step toaddressing consumer needs. If you look at most of today’s web map-ping applications, they have one common problem: they do not pro-vide a sufficient problem/solution fit. Instead they try to cover it all,

with toolbars stacked with generic functionalities, lots of services,layers, feature types and other artificial concepts. In the end, theyare leaving it all up to the user to find out how this could help insolving problems. In short, they are a burden to use.How can this be done better? The geospatial community can learna lot from other sectors, especially media, entertainment or gaming.

Learning from AppleCompanies like Apple have impressively demonstrated how essen-tial a good user experience is. This one citation from Steve Jobs cov-ers it pretty impressively: “ When you start looking at a problem, itseems really simple—because you don’t understand its complexity.And your solutions are way too oversimplified, and they don’t work.Then you get into the problem and you see it’s really complicated.


A r t i c l e

By Christian Elfers

Digitalradio.de – a mapApp that answers exactly one question: “ which radio stations will receive in what quality at this position?”


And you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s where mostpeople stop, and the solutions tend to work for a while. But the reallygreat person will keep going and find the key underlying principle of theproblem and sort of come full circle with a beautiful, elegant solution thatworks.”

This introduces important concepts that need to be addressed: the prob-lem/solution fit, elegance and aesthetics, ease and efficiency. The Germansoftware company con terra implemented a lot of these concepts inmapApps, a new software solution for geo web applications based onEsri technology. Also in customized solutions using mapApps within theirteams, with partners, customers and universities. The following will sharethe experiences in more detail. The problem/solution fit means investigating the underlying principle ofthe problem to find out what is needed to solve it. This includes the data,functionality and context. One key to success is to focus on this, and onlythis. A good fit provides not more, but also not less, than what is required.Consequently, this means a focus on single problems or tasks. The result-ing solutions are normally small, preconfigured and called apps insteadof applications. There is a reason why this started on the mobile sector:the limitations of a mobile device forces focus. So rather than providingone application that tries to do and provide everything, provide smallapps that solve just one task.

Ease and efficiency: a MapFlowAnother key is to combine these ingredients in such a way that supportthe flow of work, and do not require additional user selection. A simpleexample: instead of providing a generic identify tool that works on solarsites as well as on running routes, resulting a clumsy table of feature data,provide a tool “ Solar Site Information” and a second one “ RunningRoute Details” , each of which is preconfigured on a specific data sourceand has a prebuilt pop-up display that is specific for the content it repre-sents. Link the tool to the content and provide it only if the content is inthe users focus. As such you could even skip a tool-button and simplymake the one or the other the default “ on-click” tool. This will allow usersto see the content, just click on it and easily receive information.

A r t i c l e


Example of a mapApp that provides information on different transportation means through a series of preconfigured transportation maps.


Ease and efficiency: The above-described approach of preconfig-ured, concrete tools is already one important means to make it easyand efficient for users. Another one is to use natural and/or knownconcepts and apply them to geospatial content and workflows wherea majority of the concepts are artificial and not known to non-geo-experts. One example is working with maps which can be really dif-ficult if there is more than one to choose from. Now apply some-thing known: to some extent the concept of a map is similar to theconcept of an audio album. An album is a combination of contentthat makes sense, that belongs together; you can consume an albumas a whole or select tracks. Well, a map is a combination of layersand features. You can load a map as a whole and/or select singlelayers. Albums have booklets, maps have metadata. Albums have acover, a single picture of the nature of the theme, maps can benefitfrom the same. If this is the case, provide maps as if they werealbums. A known navigation concept is Coverflow from iTunes; sowhy not use a Mapflow?

Joy of useOther examples of known concepts are a working desk to make iteasy to work with intermediate results, store them when you leaveand restore them when you come back: just like you do with yourworking desk when you go home in the evening and come backnext day. Stacks for working with reports, Post-Its, Mailboxes for visu-al workflow-support, the app as a result of work and the like. Elegance and aesthetics: The look and feel of an app is the onlything that influences the first impression on the users, and the firstimpression matters. The way the human brain works is that an unfa-vorable first impression will cause a person to lose interest, not look-ing deeper into what functionality or how good something is underthe packaging. The “ Look” can be applied through consistent lay-outs, attractive color schemes, beautifully styled maps, etc. But thereis also the “ feel” , with aspects like ease and efficiency, but also

the fun factor. Make working with an app entertaining. This can bedone by providing excitement features, the simplest of which areanimations. Move, bounce and fade tools and widget (but with care,as animations can be easily over-exaggerated). Another examplefor an excitement feature we have created is “ Follow Me” , thatallows users to invite others users to share their map. The organizercan steer the map app, explaining meeting points, holiday experi-ences, etc., and all participants follow in real-time. They can alsosketch and make plans together, for the next joint biking tour or forbusiness workforce management.

When all these aspects are properly addressed and well balanced,the app gains another characteristic: the user will experience theapp as being a “ joy of use” . An enjoyable feeling is derived fromthe sum of the user experience that the implementation of the differ-ent concepts provide. This also includes non-visual concepts like per-formance. “ Enjoyable” is the most hard to achieve, but also themost valuable asset for an app. It motivates users, helps build long-standing relations and helps “ spreading the word” .

The given are just some examples, but the positive feedback receivedso far shows clearly that the right combination of these concepts pro-vides major improvements and a lot of user acceptance. But it is alsoa lot of work and requires changes in the way we work.Preconfiguration shifts work to the operator, so providing good toolseases that. Also new skills are required: user experience design,design, empathy and a consequent change of focus – it is not ourdata, systems, services or the infrastructure, they are simply a meansto an end. It is the user and his problems that we need to focus on.

Christian Elfers is leading con terra's product developement team and the product line manager of mapapps & sdi.suite.

For more information: www.conterra.de

A r t i c l e


Zuers-public.de – a mapApp providing a one-click assessment on natural hazard risks to the public.


One System, Multiple Apps

Geography as a PlatformBy integrating cloud technology in its core platform, Esri’s latest ArcGIS 10.1 release is now fully cloud-enabled. ‘Geography is now pervasive in the whole organization’, says Esri CEO Jack Dangermond. Alook at a new way of working, managing and sharing geographical information.

The cloud: a new technical and business patternOnce a backend-technology, but now available to the whole organiza-tion, GIS and geography have become pervasive within the whole orga-nization. With Esri’s latest ArcGIS 10.1 release, cloud technology is nowpart of its core platform. This means that desktop users can have accessto cloud infrastructure for computational work, for storage and also forpublishing and making maps available to users across the organization.This new approach is a big change from a technical standpoint, as wellas a commercial standpoint. First, the technology: “ we’re selling themthe software, as well as services, through subscriptions. Through doing

that, ArcGIS is making its capabilities available across the organization,through thin apps that can be configured for different kinds of audiencesin the organization, such as Microsoft Office users.” Basically, Esri supports a number of patterns: there’s the desktop pattern,the de vice/mobile pattern and server pattern. It’s the cloud that bringstogether all different patterns, says Dangermond: “ all these patterns canfall back on to the shared computational environment that not only allowspeople to share their own organization’s data, maps and models, butalso lets other people in the organization access and use them.” At a higher level, multiple organizations are now starting to share theirdata and use each other’s data, meaning the Esri cloud, via ArcGISOnline. Again, this is not only a new technological frontier, computingwith geo in the cloud, but also a new way to collaborate for the Esri’suser base, through agencies or departments. Finally, the cloud also means a new business pattern for Esri, saysDangermond: “ to make this all happen, we had to invent a way toadopt the Software as a Service (SaaS) business model so that peoplecould acquire this shared infrastructure, which comprises not only thecomputational space using for instance Amazon and Microsoft, butalso the shared software environment, data sharing and content space.”

‘Hockey stick’ effectThe reason the platforms and techniques are coming together now has alot to do with technology, says Dangermond: “ twenty years ago the infras-tructure wasn’t there and neither was our software, but now it is. ArcGISOnline is different than just our server in the cloud; it’s actually a new ver-sion of the ArcGIS Server in the cloud which can deal with scaling up forvery large volumes of use and the management of content across the orga-nization. This combination created a technical challenge.”


I n t e r v i e w

By Eric van Rees

Figure 1a and 1b: ArcGIS Online has a variety of basemaps demographic maps, image services, commercial data, and other ready-to-use content.

Figure 2: GIS professionals can use ArcGIS Online and Location Analytics to add mapping visualization andgeographic intelligence to business analytic systems for better insight and decision-making.

18


Esri has been building ArcGIS Online (Figure 1a and 1b) for three yearsand is receiving an interesting response, says Dangermond: “ in the firstyears it was free access, and after that period Esri added the ability to putin other kinds of content and support the API’s. It wasn’t until the summerwhen it was put into a subscription business model, because then we wereable to round it out with hosting and online analytics.” In December, thesystem counted about 22,000 maps in the system, but when Esri releasedan open beta for the next generation at the beginning of June, it had almosta 100,000 and now it has over half a million. Dangermond: “ we hadn’treally promoted it until the most recent Esri User Conference, so there’skind of a hockey stick effect of interest by our users, them sharing theirdata and participating in larger communities.”

Geoanalytics ArcGIS Online is primarily designed for Esri’s user base, but also forperforming geoanalytics and web developers (Figure 2). How do thesetwo groups fit into Esri’s platform? Dangermond: “ as we got into design-ing ArcGIS Online, we realized it’s a platform for geospatial analyticsas well.” Last year Esri bought SpotOn, which merges ArcGIS Servertechnology into the Cognos environment for Business Intelligence (BI).Dangermond noticed that after this acquisition, people very much want-ed to be not just in Cognos but also in Sharepoint, SAP, etc.. “ That’s rel-atively straightforward for us to do,” says Dangermond, “ as it supportsthat at the same foundation work that we have done to support our users.And there’s some synergy between those two: often a GIS departmentof organizations wants to feed an analytics division and vice versa.”

DevelopersDuring a press meeting at the last Esri User Conference, Dangermondannounced his intention to open an office in Silicon Valley, to sup-port software developers. What’s the reason behind this?Dangermond: “ we’ve never addressed the developer market assuch, but we know our API’s are stronger than simple consumer map-ping API’s that have some analytics behind them. When looking atthe content that our users are sharing, there’s a certain dynamicbetween the developer market which has been left to sell their appli-cations back to the GIS people and business analytics market andthe organization as a whole– one way to think of it is that these arethree separate markets, but in fact it’s one system and there’s threeapps.”

GIS in the organization: the GIS professionalWith the new software and service offerings, the road ahead is clear-er. In a way, cloud technology is a lot about IT – but how does it alterthe way in which a GIS professional works? Dangermond states thatthe GIS profession is healthier than ever, especially since Google intro-

duced maps to their developer community, causing a growing interestin true GIS. On a technological level, with respect to GIS, things aregetting easier to do, admits Dangermond: “ but this doesn’t mean thatthis will obsolete the GIS profession, since GIS professionals have hugeknowledge about geospatial content and they’re some of the only peo-ple that know how to do (spatial) information integration, modelingand analytics.” See Figure 3.

IT departments and the cloudThe cloud also causes challenges for IT departments. They are beingconfronted with new user demands for working in the cloud, and formaking use of the technology itself. What can they do to address thesechallenges? Dangermond admits that there’s a tension between thepublic cloud and the private cloud behind a firewall, but they will haveto come to their own conclusions: “ as their own infrastructure gets writ-ten off from a cost perspective, IT departments have to look at alterna-tives. If internal IT departments are not cheap enough for the depart-ment of users, they’ll go around that and use external services. So smartIT organizations are going to buy their own cloud and will develop acloud architecture with back-end cloudservices. We already see thathappening in a number of the federal agencies who have taken ourArcGIS Online and put it behind their firewall, partly because of secu-rity and partly because they want to use it themselves.” With ArcGIS Online (Figure 4), Esri handles a dual strategy, saysDangermond: “ you can either put it in on premise, or you can use thepublic cloud that we piggy-back on. We’re not saying we’re buildingour own cloud, but we’re just using the existing infrastructure. We aretechnologically supporting implementation in both ways.”

Internet: www.arcgisonline.com


Figure 3: ArcGIS Online forOrganizations is a cloud-based, col-laborative content managementsystem, for sharing geographicinformation within and outside anorganization.

I n t e r v i e w

Figure 4: In ArcGIS 10.1 users can share their workwith colleagues in a work group, between depart-

ments in an organization, or with other ArcGIS usersvia ArcGIS Online’s cloud based infrastructure.


Real-time Construction Monitoring with GIS

North/South metro-line The development and construction of the North/South metro line in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, calledfor an ambitious monitoring effort. To be able to limit or prevent damage to the historic inner city,over 1400 buildings, surface and sub-surface, are being monitored on a real-time basis. An informa-tion system, based on GIS, has been developed to manage and provide access to the monitoring data.The information system contains numerous tailor-made functionalities to provide real-time answers toreal-time questions from project managers, construction engineers and contractors. The informationsystem, therefore, plays an important role in the dynamic construction process of the metro-line.

North/South metro-lineIn the late 90’s of the previous century, the city of Amsterdam decided todevelop a new metro-line. The new metro-line would accommodate thegrowing number of people travelling by public transport, as well as estab-lish a new infrastructure that would connect the historic centre of Amsterdamwith the parts of the city located north of the IJ river. The line, total lengthabout 10 km, will run underground across the historic inner city ofAmsterdam for about 3,8 km, from Damrak to Scheldeplein, see Figure 1.


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Figure 2: Tunnel Boring MachineVictoria entering station ‘De Pijp’ at

28 meters below street level(Photo by Gé Dubbelman).

Figure 1: Part of the alignment of the North/South metro-line in map view and longitudinal section, southend on the left. Red arrows indicate the direction of tunnelling by tunnel boring machines. A total number of

eight separate tunnels are being constructed.

By Steven Braakman

20


This part of the alignment will consist of a number of deep undergroundstations, connected by twin tunnels. The stations will be constructed byexcavation. To minimise impact on everyday life on the streets, the tun-nels are constructed by tunnel boring machines, see Figure 2.

The conditions for construction of the tunnel in the inner city called foran optimised design to minimise effects. In the design phase geo-graphic information systems (GIS) were used to minimise the anticipat-ed effects of construction on the surroundings. Using GIS technology,the subsurface was mapped by creating a three dimensional geotech-nical model. GIS also played an important role in subsequent risk assess-ment, calculation of ground volumes, cost calculations, effects of vibra-tions and communication and visualisation of technical solutions in two,three and even four dimensions.In the construction phase it was necessary to measure the effects on thesurroundings. This called for the monitoring of the buildings and sub-surface on an unprecedented scale. The biggest monitoring endeavourin history so far was in the making: in addition to geotechnical sub-sur-face monitoring (i.e. extensometers, inclinometers), over 1400 build-ings in the construction zone have been monitored since 2002. In addi-tion, as tunnel construction commenced, it was decided that the surfacewas to be monitored by means of reflector less readings by robotictotal stations. This resulted in over 20,000 (virtual) sensors producingreadings at a frequency that varies from daily to hourly (during con-struction). At its peak, about 200,000 readings are produced per day.The monitoring is performed by contractor Soldata-Grontmij V.O.F.

ChallengeIn the period 2002-2010 the monitoring information was accessiblethrough a desktop based GIS. The desktop based system sufficedfor the construction of the stations, but as tunnel construction com-menced in 2010, the municipality of Amsterdam was faced with anumber of new challenges. Project manager tunnel construction forthe municipality of Amsterdam, Joost Joustra: “ Tunnelling is a twen-ty-four hour, seven days a week operation. As a consequence, theautomated monitoring of this process has to be continuously opera-tional and its results accessible for all persons involved. The abilityto access all information, regardless of location, was going to beessential” .The information needs, within the project team, changed according-ly. New functionality was needed and the demands for system avail-

ability increased to match the tunnelling process’s around-the-clocknature. The new information system was to provide real-time accessto construction and monitoring data to a growing number of users.Some 70 people from different organisations within the project nowhad to access the information: e.g. designers, managers, contrac-tors, supervisors, surveyors and the communications department.

Web-basedThis called for a web-based information system. The new system thatwas developed was named Mobonz (Monitoring system Boringphase Noord/Zuidlijn). The system was implemented in 2010. Themain processes concerned with the IS are shown in figure 2. Theprocesses can be subdivided into Extract, Transform and Load (‘ETL’),‘information processing’ and ‘visualisation and reporting’. The sys-tem is accessible through role-based authorisation only.

Extract, Transform and Load (ETL)Of course the system contains basic GIS functionality and more orless static geo-data to fulfil basic information needs: topography,cadastre, infrastructure (such as locations of buildings, tram lines,canals, underground cables and pipes) but also information on sub-surface conditions and surveys.The data on the tunnelling process is dynamic: every five minutesthe status of the active TBM(s) and progress of tunnelling is importedinto the system. Another dynamic and more or less constant datastream are the monitoring readings of the 20,000 sensors spreadacross (and under) the city. In addition it is also possible to uploadfiles manually through the web-based interface; this offers flexibilityin the dynamic project.The data streams are automatically processed. Part of this process-ing is data validation. The data is validated according to both for-mat and content. This is a process that is essential to the successfuluse of the information system. If this filter is not performed correctly,the information that the system delivers can be inaccurate or false.With these numbers (currently 300 million readings), database man-agement and, more specific, the performance of the database man-agement system, is crucial.

Information processingThe data stored in the system needs to be combined to derive businessinformation on the construction processes based on business rules. Keep

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e Amsterdam


in mind that the tunnel boringmachine is a mobile factory (itcan even be thought of as a sub-marine as it operates below theground water table) movingabout 20 meters per day.Joustra:” When monitoring a tun-nel boring machine, slowlyadvancing underneath the citystreets, it is essential to correlatethe observed settlements to theexact position of the machine.Only when measured settlementsare visualised and supervisedrelative to the geometricallypassing TBM, does it becomeuseful information for processcontrol. The Mobonz system reli-ably combines TBM data andmonitoring data which allowedus to plot settlement relative to TBM position. This creates a uniform cri-terion to assess TBM settlement performance. As far as we know, theNorth/South metro-line project was the first time this was done on sucha large scale and in an automated way” .

Keeping track of deformations is supported by an early warning mod-ule that determines an alarm status for a monitoring sensor, based onthe monitoring reading value and a set of trigger levels. This entails acoding comparable to a traffic light system: the status can be green,yellow, amber or red, in ascending order of magnitude.

Reporting and visualisationThe Mobonz system is equipped with various means of reporting and visu-alisation. Moni toring data can be visualised by means of charts and tables

through the Mobonz web-based interface. The system also contains func-tionality for maintenance of content, configuration and system applica-tions.Accessing information through maps is essential to this project. Most, if notall, of the information has a spatial component (or at least a spatial con-text). Using maps then offers a good accessing point to the monitoringinformation, as depicted in figure 4.The construction processes take place on a large scale, so that reportingby means of a map creates an overview of the project status at any pointin time. To this end Esri’s ArcGIS Server was implemented.

The role-based authorisation and secure authentication allow different typesof users to only access those pages relevant to their role. For instance, thetunnelling contractor had a connection via the Internet showing the GIS on

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Figure 3: Processing chain of the Mobonz information system.

Figure 4. GUI of the Mobonz GIS: access to environmental data and monitoring data.


their own “ dashboard” inside the TBM.Another example is the monitoring contractor. He has access to Mobonz-pages to verify that his information has been handled correctly. It is alsopossible for him to determine where the TBMs are at a specific moment(see figure 5), so that he can determine where to focus his efforts for main-tenance of sensors However, neither contractor will be able to access pages with analysesand information not relevant to their processes.

ChallengesOn developing and maintaining the system a number of challengingcircumstances had to be dealt with:1) Changing scope and conditions. During the design and develop-ment of the IS, the scope and conditions were changing rapidly. Initiallythe system would only serve the tunnel construction process. But as theconstruction of station pits was delayed, it became clear that the infor-mation system also had to serve the station construction processes withits distinct functionalities. Besides, the interference between the process-es introduced new challenges that had to be dealt with. Tight collabo-ration with and co-ordination between stakeholders (management,users) and stringent handling of functionality requests (effective changemanagement) proved to be essential in overcoming these challenges.The modular framework used for the system enabled accommodatinga large number of the change requests.

2) 24/7 availability. As tunnel construction is a continuous process,the system has to be available 24/7. If, at any time, information onsettlements was not available, the TBM might have to be stopped.This would bring about enormous costs as the project would bedelayed. Therefore, the robustness (availability, security and integri-ty) of the system was paramount and was focussed on. A lot of effortwas put into the development and testing process: a DevelopmentTesting Acceptance and Production (DTAP) roadmap was followed.Extensive testing on the functionalities was done in order to minimisethe number of bugs. Availability of the system is now kept high (>99.9%) with a redundant infrastructure and pro-active service man-agement. Of course the maintenance of the system takes place in a24 hr environment. Service management for the system in the formof user support (using the Kayako SupportSuite) and application anddatabase management are provided and for technical managementan IT services hosting company is contracted.

3) Functional and technical challenges. The requirements for the sys-tem were challenging in both functional and non-functional dimen-sions. Examples of functional challenges are the geospatial analysisof the monitoring readings (relative distance of static sensor to dynam-ic TBM) and the implementation of the “ time-of interest” principle.This principle states that users of the system always have to be ableto go back to any point in time and reproduce the information as it

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was known at that particular point in time.Note that in this way it is always possible toreproduce and reconstruct certain actions.Technically challenging are the 300 M read-ings that have been collected over a periodof 10 years. The user has to be able to retrievethe readings of any sensor, a considerableamount of data, at any time. Joustra: “ Witha measurement programme as extensive asthat in Amsterdam, the huge amount of dataonly becomes meaningful if one has quick andeasy access to it. The Mobonz system provid-ed exactly that.” The system has been successfully operationalnow for over two years, with high availabilityand robust performance.

FutureThe Mobonz system was implemented in2010. With the end of construction of thetunnels and stations expected in about sixmonths, the phase of the possibility of influ-encing the surroundings ends in 2013. Theadded value of the Mobonz system willthen decrease and eventually it will endwith a black screen. This is the fate of anyinformation system that supports a con-struction process that is by definition tem-porary: it will be turned off as soon as con-struction is finished. Or will it? Theexpertise of the developers, of course, willbe put to use in other projects and compo-nents of the monitoring system are beingreused for other monitoring projects. Theseprojects are not limited to the geotechnicaldomain, as the monitoring informationframework is a universal framework notrestricted to the monitoring of settlements.

Steven Braakman [email protected] is a geo-information consultant and project manager for the

North/Southline monitoring information system project at Witteveen+Bos engineers.

For more information on the North/Southline, please visit www.amsterdam.nl/metro

For more information on Witteveen+Bos, please visit www.witteveenbos.nl.

A r t i c l e


Figure 5. Keeping track of the mobile factory: TBM Noortje passes the Dam square. The point symbols represent the sensors;

the symbology reflects the alarm status of the sensors.

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Mapping Rapid and Safely

Gatewing’s Unmanned Aerial SGatewing is a Belgium-based company that develops and produces Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).The company was bought by Trimble in April 2012. President Maarten Vandenbroucke talks about therecent acquisition, the company’s flagship product, the Gatewing X100, an unmanned aerial mappingsystem and interesting new market areas that are rapidly adopting their technology.

Gatewing originated from the idea ofdeveloping an unmanned aerialmapping system from Peter Cosyn,

now Director of R&D at Gatewing. His the-sis about the aerodynamics of smallunmanned systems sparked this idea. Thecompany was started in 2008 by Cosyn,together with Maarten Van Speybroeck(Director of Finance and Operations) andMaarten Vandenbroucke (President of thecompany) and now has a total of 25employees. The company’s flagship productis the Gatewing X100, an unmanned rapid

aerial mapping system. The company’s focus is on mapping and sur-veying professionals that use the X100 fora number of different applications, such astopographic surveying, mapping for con-struction sites, compliance and planning,volume calculations of the potential of openmines, as well as compliance of vegetation;an industry that holds large potential.

Trimble and GatewingEarlier in 2012, the company was boughtby Trimble. Why did Trimble choose this par-

ticular company, since there are manyproviders of UAV’s on the market? Van -denbroucke: “ an important reason for thisacquisition was that Gatewing is mainlyfocused on a specific market, namely sur-veying professionals, and has a UAS toolthat has been developed as an add-on forsurveyor’s current surveying tools, such astotal stations and GNSS receivers and thelike. In fact, they were looking for a rapidunmanned mapping system for some time,and the Gatewing X100 fits perfectly in theproduct line of Trimble as a high-end sur-


A r t i c l e

By Eric van Rees

The three founders ofGatewing, Maarten Van

Speybroeck, Peter Cosyn enMaarten Vandenbroucke.


veying tool.” The use of UAS can be seen as filling thegap between traditional surveying and pho-togrammetry: some projects are very largefor surveyors and, therefore, take a lot oftime to complete, and can be very danger-ous. “ Take for example surveying in mines,near dangerous machinery or surveyingalong dangerous roads” says Vanden -broucke. “ For these type of projects, theGatewing X100 is an ideal solution and cando the work in an hour and safely, sincenobody has to enter a dangerous site.Surveyors can do their work more easily andmore safely, which means that they arehappy with this new technology rather thanskeptical” .

PopularUAV’s are popular nowadays. There aremany providers and the technology is updat-ed incrementally. Why is the interest so bigand growing? “ The UAV-technology is rela-tively young but one that is developing

rapidly. Many systems for civil use havebeen developed from the military or aca-demic world and are now being producedby professional companies such asGatewing. Now that most countries havecreated clear legislation for UAV’s andunmanned systems for different applicationsand proven their value and return on invest-ment, we have seen that not only the earlyadopters buy these systems but also thatmainstream companies invest in the technol-ogy” says Vandenbroucke. “ The big advantage is that you are in con-trol for a mapping project: you can takeaerial photos at any given moment and evenduring bad weather circumstances becauseyou can fly underneath the clouds. As for acomparison with satellite imagery, you arefully dependent on others for acquisition.Satellite images are expensive and some-times you have to wait for a long time forthe results since a satellite has to be in theright position and there shouldn’t be anycloud coverage.”

When looking at the use of laser scannersin comparison with aerial pictures, the lastones have the advantage that for all pointsand colour information is also available.Also, aerial images make DSMs (DigitalService Model), point clouds or orthopho-tos, whereas laser scanners only produce inpoint clouds.

WorkflowSince our foremost target audience consistsof surveyors who have little or no knowledgeof operating the planes, the company hasdeveloped the X100 in a way that makesthe operating process very easy. A projectthat needs to be mapped is programmedbeforehand through an easy software wiz-ard where the mapping area is shown onthe digital map. The flying altitude is set, thedesired overlap of the imagery (which is bydefault a 75%) and the take-off and landinglocation. This flight plan is then loaded inthe plane that is launched with a catapult.Once the plane is in the air, you don’t have

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Systems

Gatewing X100 flying over a quarry.


to do anything and the X100 starts to fly inparallel lines and map the area. Once theproject has been finished, the X100 willland at the designated place. At this point,the image processing can start by usingGatewing Stretchout or other image pro-cessing software. The digital camera of theX100 is a Ricoh GRD IV that has been cho-sen because of its compactness, durability,and navigability through USB and the lowlens-distortion. Gatewing Stretchout is a highly automaticimage processing software that processes,with only a few clicks, the imagery data ofthe X100 in high resolution orthophotos (up

to 3.3 cm GSD) and dense DMSs. The solu-tion is based on new stitching software; theso-called vision software that in overlappingimages searches for tens of tie-points to jointhe photos. Vandenbroucke: “ we like to com-pare the accuracy with LiDAR, since LiDARyields accurate data and after testing wecame to the conclusion that our DSMs haveLiDAR-like accuracy. DSMs that have beengenerated through Stretchout are very densebecause for almost every pixel you have aheight value. LiDAR is still more expensivebecause these sensors are produced in lesshigher quantities than the digital cameras thatwe use in the X100.”

Gatewing has its own cloud solution, calledGatewing cloud, which allows its users toload their image data on to its cloud serverthat will then handle the image processing forthis project. After a few hours, the orthopho-to and DSM can be downloaded. “ Theadvantage of Gatewing cloud is that onedoesn’t need any knowledge of image pro-cessing, the price is per project and you don’thave to invest in a powerful computer for pro-cessing the data” , says Van den broucke.

PotentialPrecision farming is an application thatholds a large potential for mapping with

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Orthophoto of a quarry


UAV’s, especially in regions with large farm-ing parcels, such as in South America. Thecrops are overflown with a Near-Infrared(NIR) camera so that afterwards one can seeperfectly which crops show stress becauseof drought or disease. Using this system,farmers can respond appropriately byapplying water or pesticides where needed,which, in turn, results in a saving in time andirrigation resources.In the US, legislation is underway for the useof UAS, says Vandenbroucke: “ although itis already possible to fly in the US with aUAS for non-commercial ends, such as foruniversity study projects, for commercial usethe FAA is still working on legislation. Oncethese rules are in place and commercial useis possible, the US will be a very large mar-ket for the Gatewing X100 because of thesize of the country, the acceptance of thetechnology and the many open mines” . A recent project for Gatewing took place onEaster Island, where an archeological pro-ject was performed with the Gatewing X100by National Geographic Channel in coop-eration with the University of Long Beach. Avolcano in high-resolution was mapped toestablish which way the known images thatwere hollowed out by the volcano weretransported to the coast. The documentarywill be broadcasted by National Geo -graphic Channel in November.

Internet: www.gatewing.com

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Orthophoto of countryside


From capture to marketplace in a few easy clicks

The Third Industrial RevolutionThis article examines the Third Industrial Revolution. Used to describe a major paradigm shift in product design and manufacture, it is impacting on the way information is gathered and used also.Smart technology applications like Theodolite Droid, open sourced hardware, crowd funding, non-linear workflows and affordable camera solutions like Hedcam are discussed. Digital designs made oneveryday mobile devices can be transformed into real life usable or ornamental products. The Cornwalland West Devon Mining Landscapes World Heritage Site was used to generate examples.

The Third Industrial RevolutionThe Third Industrial Revolution is a concept firstoutlined by the American Economist JeremyRifkin. It is currently used to describe the waydigital technologies are affecting design andmanufacture processes. It is deemed the‘Third’ because it is seen to follow the factorybased model that came out of Victorian Britainand the assembly line approach to manufac-ture championed by Henry Ford. Wired edi-tor in chief and joint owner of diydrones.comChris Anderson cites Thingiverse.com - a web-site where predominately Trimble SketchUpdrawn designs are readily downloadable for3D printing - as the example of the ThirdIndustrial Revolution in action.

Internet of thingsIt is no coincidence the Internet of Things, andlater the Thingiverse, have become popularterms used to explain such phenomena. Bypresenting humans and objects as indepen-dent agents in the distribution and communi-cation of knowledge, the idea sits well withproducts designed for general media con-sumption. The role of the smartphone or tabletin the collection of spatial information - as wellas the relationship between the user and thetechnology - is well defined at an applicationstage. So too is the data narrative, which doc-uments information collection as a process.

Theodolite Pro and DroidSuch mobile technologies as the iPad haveindeed made general audiences more famil-iar with spatial information. The ApplicationProgramming Interface - more commonlyknown as the app - allows the user to accessthe different functionalities of a smartphone ortablet. App’s like Hunter Theodolite Pro foriOS or Theodolite Droid for Android even goso far as to turn them into effective and versa-tile prospection tools. Theodolite Pro and Droid access the inbuiltcamera, GPS and motion orientation technol-ogy of a smartphone or tablet - turning theminto an all in one inclinometer, opticalrangefinder and GPS receiver. Accuraciesobtained from the inbuilt GPS of most mobiledevices are between 1.5 to 3 meters depend-ing on location and satellite fix. As TheodolitePro developer Dr. Craig Hunter points outs,using an iPad or iPhone as an opticalrangefinder can: ‘On a tripod, with a clearview of the target, generally give range towithin 2% or so.’ To ensure the latter, captureshould include orthographic shots of an object or surface.

Linear and non-linear workflows A key thing to note about the app market isthe way it presents a shifting trend in the waytechnology is used to collect and interact with

information. Smartphone and tablet use is cen-tred around the solution provided as opposedto processor power - something that has beena staple part of most digital workflows sincethe meteoric rise of the personal computer inthe late 1990s. A progression from the clientserver to the cloud, this has ironically takendata processing back to an approach remi-niscent of mainframe computing. A ubiquitousform of terminal based computing throughsmart technology has become en vogue andmultidimensional workflows part of everydaylife.

Specialist applicationsThe same can be said for specialist applica-tions where the flow of information no longerhas a clearly defined beginning or end point.Paradigm changing activities like crowd-sourced data logging through geo tagging -even design and manufacture apps - areincreasingly explained through guru compli-ant terms like the Internet of Thing and a ThirdIndustrial Revolution. Terms ambiguousenough to bring order, or give ownership to,activities that are otherwise tangible and in aconstant state of change. With a watchful eyegazing over companies like Google andApple, even large precision measurementcompanies like Hexagon AB are advocatingthe only restrictions now placed on digitalinformation come from the user themselves.Though consumer products like the tablet didnot lead to the development of the non-linearworkflow they have made them difficult toignore.


A r t i c l e

By Adam P. Spring

Figure 1: Even with distortion caused by field of view, it is possible to use products like Hedcam to generate 3D data

Figure 2: Processing stills from Hedcam in software like 123D Catch

will contain evidence of the 135 degree view of the lens


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Open source hardwareFurther optimization of applications can occurthrough open sourced hardware. Such hard-ware promotes the use of digital devicesthrough physically mobile hardware. Anexample that continues to gain momentum in

spatial sectors is the unmanned vehicle. UAVand drone projects like diydrones.com andmikrokopter.de have matured and are makingaerial photo and video capture easier, cheap-er and achievable by one person in the field.There is even the Arduino driven Arducopter,

which married the UAV and open hardwaremovement to create what is essentially a fly-ing robot. UAVs can be used to generatephoto based Digital Terrain Models or videosthat represent the experiential - the sights,sounds and sense of a place. Even additive

Applications like Theodolite Droid access the inbuilt GPS, camera and motion sensor in handheld devices to gather spatial information


printing a landscape, building model, artefactor the UAV itself has become affordable tocasual users.

Unmanned vehiclesUnmanned vehicles have widely been associ-ated with the capture of aerial photographsand video in recent times. It is important tonote, however, that unmanned data captureis not solely the preserve of the UAV or drone.Applications extend to underwater pho-togrammetry using Autonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUVs), for instance, or computervision inspired laser scanning solutions, suchas that offered by Pittsburgh based companyAllpoint Systems. It is a shift in design andmanufacture practices - the Third IndustrialRevolution - that have made the UAV the mostaccessible unmanned vehicle to date.

Crowd sourced innovationCrowdsourcing is driving a range of opensourced hardware. Even the crowdfunding siteKickstarter is changing the way products aredeveloped. Described in the New York Timesas the peoples National Endowment for theArts, it is having a noticeable, impact on cul-tures based around innovation and the pro-duction of ideas. A prime example is theWashington based company Rhino CameraGear who used Kickstarter to develop theSlider tripod system.

The Rhino SliderThe Rhino Slider is a tripod designed for shoot-ing motion video. Intended for movie makersusing DSLR cameras, its intuitive design makesit an ideal tool for stereo pair image capturealso. Much like UAVs, it can be used in con-junction with any camera system, tablet orsmartphone. In fact, it would even be wellplaced alongside a gigapan. Include an applike Theodolite Pro or a GPS attachment for acamera (Canon and Nikon now produce theirown) into a Slider assisted workflow and aquick, effective way to take georeferencedstereo photographs is created.

Shifting design and manufacturecultureFinally, there is a further significant element tothe Third Industrial Revolution, which is thatthe design and manufacture of a product doesnot have to occur in the same place. Theseprocesses can happen anywhere and inde-pendent to one another. In fact it is this - com-bined with the connectivity made possible bydigital technologies - that is seen to have driv-en costs of manufacture down as well as lib-erate processes from the factory as a physicalentity. Even 3D printing can be achieved innumerous ways. For instance, the Universityof Bath created reprap.org - a project used todesign and develop open source 3D printersthat are self-replicating and affordable to amass market. Point and click solutions likeshapeways.com even offer a mail orderapproach to rapid prototyping. The only deci-sion the user need make is whether they wantto know how 3D printing works.

123D exampleOffered by Autodesk for free, the 123D soft-ware range is the most apparent example ofthe Third Industrial Revolution currently in playin the spatial sector. Following Rifkin’s line ofthinking, the 123D toolbox can be used toprint out parts for a UAV that, once assem-

bled, can be operated by a tablet throughopen sourced software like phonedrone. Asmartphone can be mounted to the UAV too -serving as a sensor used to collect pho-tographs, video and GNSS data. Any imagesgenerated can then be processed in 123DCatch and the data sent off for 3D printing.This is achievable for under USD $1000. Inthe examples outlined a Hedcam video cam-era - a waterproof system designed forextreme sports enthusiasts - has been used fordata capture.

SummaryThe changing face of production and manu-facture processes continues to impact on thegeospatial sector, making the Third IndustrialRevolution a reality. The development of apps,especially free or low cost apps for mobiledevices, along with open sourced hardwareis making digital capture and modelling easi-er and cheaper. Crowd sourced funding anddistribution models are taking 3D image cap-ture into new territory by enabling an individ-ual with an idea turn it into a reality. The finalelement is that rapid prototyping can readilyturn these digital products into hard copy in arange of materials from plastics to metals towood - anywhere in the world where they arerequired at low cost and without internationaltransport costs.

Aerial mapping using a UAV, a digital SLR camera and AdamTechnology 3DM Analyst

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BqAr3ap3WU&feature=g-all-u

Automated laser scanning using Allpoint Systems Scan-time solution:www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDZUGIQqsHo

Using a smartphone on a UAV:www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XXXIX-

B4/349/2012/isprsarchives-XXXIX-B4-349-2012.pdf

The Vampire UAV designed in Trimble SketchUp and available atThingiverse.com:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLrN-lrLtUs

Open sourced hardware Arduino: www.arduino.cc

Using the Arduino to create a flying robot:http://code.google.com/p/arducopter

Parrot designed drone that can be operated using a smartphone ortablet:

http://ardrone2.parrot.com

Phonedrone open source UAV operating application:www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdZokmVdroc

The Rhino Slider has great potential in stereo pair capture:http://rhinocameragear.com

Lightweight, durable video cameras, such as GoPro and Hedcam, con-tinue to play an increased role in 3D image capture and DTM produc-

tion: www.hedcamz.com


The Rhino Slider is ideal for stereo image capture and can be extended to any length

The Vampire UAV was designed in Trimble SketchUp and can be downloaded for printing from Thingiverse.com

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Digital Photogrammetric Technologies

Racurs ConferenceThe latest edition of the annual Racurs International Conference offered three days of seminars, work-shops and group meetings exploring state-of-the-art photogrammetric and remote sensing technolo-gies. Participants shared the latest news in digital airborne and space cameras, remote sensing dataand innovations in software development, as well as practical methods for using digital photogram-metry and remote sensing for different economic activities and integrated geoinformatic solutions.

IntroductionThe twelfth International Scientific andTechnical conference entitled ‘From imagery tomap: digital photogrammetric technologies’took place from September 24-27 in the townof Alvor on the Algarve, Portugal. Once again,the event was organized by Racurs, the com-pany from Moscow, renowned for its pho-togrammetric software product Photomod. Theevent was sponsored by Meridian,DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, VisionMap, CTT Groupand GIA Innoter, and was supported by ISPRSand the Russian GIS association. For the firsttime, the event was broadcast live on the inter-net by Zemel’nye Resursy from Russia, whichdrew an audience of several hundreds of peo-ple, as was reported during the event.The programme consisted of three days of pre-sentations and software master-classes, cover-ing a number of inter-related themes, such asphotogrammetric processing of digital aerial

imagery and remote sensing data usage, aswell as methods and software for space remotesensing data processing, photogrammetry and3D modeling, to name but a few.Although the event is dominated by Russianparticipants (who are mostly Photomod usersas well), there are always a number of local(European) partners, as well as contributionsfrom the international scientific community,making this event truly international. The sizeof the event is not too big and not too small,although the amount of papers submitted isgrowing, leading to a larger number of pre-sentations. This is not a problem as long as thepresentations are good, which was certainlythe case. The same goes for the questions anddiscussions after the presentations.

Conference openingEvery year, the conference is opened by VictorAndrov, Managing Director at Racurs. The

company has been in business since 1993,and not only sells Photomod software, but alsopromotes supplementary geoinformatics soft-ware products and distributes satelliteimagery. The company has sold 1497 licens-es worldwide for Photomod, of which 794were sold in Russia. The software is availablein Spanish, English and Russian. His speechwas followed by a word of welcome byCarlos Rodrigues from the General Directorateof Territory from Portugal.

Geodesy, mapping and geospa-tial information managementGottfried Konecny from Leibnitz University inHannover, Germany spoke about the historyof geodesy, how it is used for mapping theearth’s surface and how to manage it for sus-tainable development. After a short courseabout the history of geodesy; the art and sci-ence which determines the size and shape ofthe earth, Konecny stated that the combinationwith GNSS and geodesy made it an indis-pensable earth science tool. Mapping fromspace was covered briefly with a slide oftoday’s high-resolution satellites: WorldView-2,Pleiades 1, GeoEye 1 and TerraSar X. Thesesatellites yield data, which is processed andused, leading to web portals, use of smart-phones as data capture devices and naviga-tion devices and internet browsers. I was sur-prised Konecny didn’t speak about the cloudas a substitute for geoportals. After wards heclearly expressed his reservations about thepopular embracement of the cloud, especiallyin the US. He said a few words about geospa-tial companies not listed on the stock marketwhich, therefore, keep their independence.This enables them to remain sustainable in eco-nomic terms. Companies in point are Esri andRacurs.The second part of his presentation was spenton a joint project between ISPRS and theUnited Nations about a study on the status ofmapping on the world. In particular, what parts


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By Eric van Rees

Group Photo


of the world are mapped by official mappingagencies, when they are updated and whatscales are used for the paper maps etc. etc. Asurvey with a questionnaire has been repeat-ed every six or seven years from 1968 untilnow. The results are interesting. Included in itare industrial mapping results, but it is notknown how accurate the results are. For exam-ple, one commercial map vendor offers mapsof North Korea, but it is not known how thisvendor acquires the data and, therefore, castsdoubt on whether it is correct. Another interest-ing example is a radar mapping program inAlaska; the accuracy of which is also in doubtdue to heavy cloud coverage. One participantremarked that maps shouldn’t be updated atall, but be treated as a by-product from a 3Dlandscape model. This mapping paradigmchange is heard more and more often thesedays, but the traditional 2D is still currently inuse and not only by national mapping agen-cies. Konecny’s second talk about the relation-ship between governments as partners forprogress in geoinformation, industry andacademia was met with enthusiasm and yield-ed lots of input for discussion later that day.

SMART Cities, 3D city modelsand UAV’sArmin Grün from the Institute of Conservationand Building Research (Switzerland) held apresentation on the next generation of SMARTcities and the role of geomatics in this. Hisview on modelling and mapping lies more inthe 3D-realm than in the 2D realm. This isunderstandable as he has been working inAsia with the latest technology in progressivescientific projects on urban modelling. As hehas noticed a changing perception in theworld regarding mapping, he has asked fora new concept for 3D mapping and mod-elling, including consideration of the time-fac-tor as a fourth dimension. During his presentation he showed manyexamples of how different data sources can

be used for managing the urban environment,whether it’s for capacity planning or for home-land security, 3D car navigation, smart homesor risk transports. Grün did not to try to hidethe general shortcomings of city modelling northose of UAV’s; a technology he has beeninvolved with for a while now. Maybe thebiggest gain in the use of UAV’s has been thatofficial government agencies have finally beenwon over, as they have been using UAV for abroad range of applications and, therefore,are more eager to give permission to fly inpublic space. This has led to a number of newapplications, such as building models forproperty developers, real-time detection andthe tracking of oil spills and micro-climate mod-elling.

VisionMap, Leica Geosystemsand VexcelThere were a number of commercial presen-tations from the event’s sponsors. Yuri Raizmanfrom VisionMap (Israel) held a presentationabout the further development of the A3 fami-ly of digital mapping systems. VisionMap A3system is comprised of the A3 digital airbornecamera and LightSpeed fully automatedground processing system. A new feature isA3 Edge, which promises an even larger foot-print than the current one of 60,000; namely80,000 pixels. There will be a pixel size of5.5 micron, which will yield 29 mega -pixels/frame, the highest resolution per alti-tude and the latest generation of CCDs andelectronics, providing the highest dynamicrange imagery.For the first time, there was a joint presenta-tion of how the merging of both LeicaGeosystems and Z/I Imaging aerial equip-ment worked out. Valentin Zaytcev of LeicaGeosystems AG (Switzerland) presented acomplementary product portfolio, where bothproduct lines are developed further in a waythat they can complement each other. The air-borne sensor portfolio discussed consists of

the Leica ADS Pushbroom, the Z/I DMC IIFrame, the Leica RCD Frame (all three forimaging) and the Leica ALS for LiDAR.Together they form part of Hexagon’s airbornesystem design of tomorrow.Engelbert Breg from Microsoft/Vexcel spokeabout how multiray photogrammetry is usedfor Bing Maps, where cities are flown andmapped for city models inside of Bing Maps.The aim is to make a global ortho consistingof the US and Western Europe with 30 cmGSD, for10,400,000 square kilometers –good for 24 months of initial acquisition anda refresh in the next two years. Breg spent theremainder of the presentation giving an expla-nation of how the UltraMap 3.0 workflowworks and yields orthos, true-orthos, pointclouds and DSM’s.

PhotomodRacurs themselves were also present duringthe event with a number of presentations onPhotomod. Dmitry Kochergin from Racurs helda presentation about the basic functionalitycapabilities and future development of thePhotomod product line. The module can beused to transform radar, aerial and satelliteimages into a number of geospatially refer-enced maps and images and as output for-mats used by other software vendors. Mainfunctions of the software are image process-ing, aerial triangulation and block adjustment,as well as 3D feature extraction, ortho-mosaic-ing and the creation of digital maps, to namebut a few. For this coming year, a number ofmajor changes for the software have beenannounced, as well as a number of upcom-ing features, such as a full 64-bit system ver-sion and integration of all system modules intoone environment. Other presentations fromRacurs addressed the topic of 3D modellingin Photomod and modern DSM creation algo-rithms in DPW’s.

For more information, have a look at www.racurs.ru

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Conference audience


GNSS Update

First Galileo resultsResearchers at the University of New Brunswick (Canada) have published the first positioning resultsfor Galileo. Using both GIOVE A and B (which are now decommissioned), as well as the first two InOrbit Validation satellites, three different positioning modes were evaluated.

Though GIOVE A and B were neverintended for positioning, but for the test-ing of system aspects, the researchers

used their positioning signals. The four satel-lites were together for just a few days andfor a few hours on these days, giving theminimum requirements of four satellites forpositioning. Using all the available signals,a code-phase, carrier phase and precisepoint positioning solutions were calculated.Though the results should not be comparedto the future results, they are a good indica-tion of the achievable accuracies. With theavailability of the next In Orbit Validationsatellites the results should improve.

The final results of the measurements aregiven in table 1. For surveyors and thoseinvolved in precise positioning the carrierphase results are probably the most relevantas they give an indication of achievableaccuracies using RTK systems. A graph ofthe obtained results is given in figure 1.

Major issues with the results obtained wereinconsistencies in the measured ranges,poor geometry of the four satellites and bias-es in the code observations. All in all, theresults demonstrate that cm level positioningis well within the possibilities of Galileo andthat it is to be considered at least on a parto GPS based carrier phase measurements.

GIOVE A and B retiredThe two Galileo test bed satellites, GIOVEA and B, have recently been decommis-

sioned. GIOVEA was launchedin December2005 and haslasted almost 7years, givinguseful results upto the end of itsoperational life.Originally it wasdesigned tooperate for nomore than 27months and was

built on a tight deadline to allow Galileo tosecure the radio frequencies it had claimedat the International TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU).

GIOVE B, which was launched in April2008, has also been decommissioned. Thisis to allow space for the next two In OrbitValidation satellites that are to be launchedin October 2012 from Kourou in FrenchGuyana. The first two satellites have nowstarted the transmission of dummy signalsfor the final modulation scheme. Thisscheme, which is designed to allow full inter-operability with GPS, is important for theoperational services.

GPS and CompassThe next GPS satellite (SVN65) to belaunched will be a Block IIF satellite and isscheduled for October 4. It will be posi-tioned in a slot currently used by an olderBlock IIA satellite (SVN39) which has beenoperational since June 1993. This will bethe third Block IIF satellite out of a scheduledtotal of 12. Meanwhile the first GPS Block


A r t i c l e

By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

Figure 1: Achieved positioning accuracies for all three positioningsolutions (source: www.gpsworld.com)

Figure 2: RMS plot for the carrier phase solution (source: www.gpsworld.com)

Figure 3: Galileo IOV satellites being prepared for launch (source: www.esa.eu)


III satellites are currently being tested anddesigned by Lockheed Martin and shouldbe ready for launch in 2014.

Two compass/beidou satellites are (at thetime of writing) scheduled for launch onSeptember 18. Originally set for launch inAugust, it was postponed due to unknownproblems. A third satellite is scheduled forlaunch in early October.

Augmentation systemsThe year 2012 seems to have become theyear of space based augmentation systems.The first augmentation satellite launched wasthe SES-5 satellite in July. SES-5 transmitsEGNOS signals on both L1 and L5 frequen-cies (PRN 136), as well as functioning as a

communications satellite. This means that thesignals are now completely compatible withthe United States WAAS satellites. A secondSES satellite is under construction andshould be launched in 2013.

By the time you read this, the second IndianSBAS satellite should have been launched,namely GSAT-10. This satellite has aGAGAN (GPS and GEO-Augmentation)transponder. The satellite should be posi-tioned at 83° E and will be using PRN 128.The first satellite (GSAT-8) was launched lastyear and is now transmitting GPS L1 correc-tions on PRN 127. Although GSAT-8 shouldalso have L5 capabilities, no correctionshave been detected so far.

Those using GNSS systems in Russia andwaiting for free SBAS correction signalsneed to exercise a bit more patience. Thelaunch of the next satellite, Luch-5B has beenpostponed from the scheduled date ofOctober 15 to at least November. This is theresult of an issue with the Briz-M upperstage. Meanwhile the first of the two satel-lites, Luch-5A, started its transmissions onJuly 12 (PRN 140). So far Luch-5A is onlytransmitting GPS L1 corrections, but noGlonass corrections, although this wasexpected.

Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk [email protected] a freelance writer and trainer in the fields of

positioning and hydrography.

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Figure 4: Arrival of fourth Galileo satellite in Kourou (source: www.esa.eu)

Figure 5: Artist impression of EGNOS SES-5 satellite (source:www.esa.eu)

Figure 6: Luch 5-B satellite being prepared for launch (source: www.gpsworld.com)


COLU

MN

Geo-location technology and related services are much discussed but less wellunderstood. Let’s have a look at this ever more popular technology, and itspotential use in the oil and gas pipeline sector.

Mobile Geo-Location AppsAs with the Internet, mobile computing has beenadopted quickly by consumers. So called LocationBased Services (LBS) are being developed by a newbreed of geo-marketing companies to influence buyerbehavior at the point of sale. Google have made WebMapping very popular. With Apple and others enter-ing this space, we are seeing a broadening and deep-ening of the services provided. GeographicInformation Systems (GIS), historically a niche technol-ogy popular in the public sector, has become increas-ingly more popular. New GIS platforms have beenlaunched, such as Esri’s ArcGIS Online. These havemade both publishing and accessing location baseddata considerably easier.

Oil and Gas Pipeline SectorMobile location technology and services could play akey part in improving operations in the pipeline indus-try. A spate of recent accidents has focused attentionon pipeline operators. There are increasing demandson changes in internal processes. Key issues include:• Problems with data accuracy - Investigations into

the PG&E Corp natural-gas pipeline explosion inSan Bruno, California in 2011, highlighted datadiscrepancies as a key causal factor.

• Increased regulations and drive to improve safety– There are now far greater demands on opera-tors to increase both the quantity and quality ofdata collected, and increased scrutiny by regulato-ry agencies.

• Demands to reduce risk and improve efficiency –There is greater focus on incident prevention. Also,should an incident occur, how quickly can the orga-nization react and how effective were the measureswhich were put in place? Mobile computing andlocation technology and services bring potentialsolutions to many of these issues. These include:

• Maps – Using interactive maps which include basemaps and feature layers of interest, field workerscan view information about assets near their cur-rent location.

• Data collection – Updating the attributes of specificfeatures, and adding new features to a dataset ismade considerably easier with mobile. This will bea key factor in improving data accuracy.

• Discovery – From simple queries such as show meall pipes laid before a specific date in an area, towhich valves need to be closed to stop the flow ofoil or gas to this particular break in the pipe?

• Collaboration – Not only uploading and sharingquickly field data using mobiles, but also using themobile communication tools; texting, video confer-encing, voice.

• Organization – Managers can track the locationof field workers, and help coordinate projects.

Geo-Location and Mobile GIS Services – The FutureThe mobile sector is rapidly evolving. New productsand services are being launched almost daily. Withinthis evolution a number of trends are emerging:a) New Geo Platforms and Services – The cloud hasbrought with it a slew of new location based products.Foremost among these in the geo-space is ArcGISOnline. Allowing for easy data publishing, and access.This we will discuss in our next column.b) Offline Solutions – For mobile devices, areas outsideof cellular (3G,4G) or Wi-Fi coverage remain a chal-lenge. How does one interact with maps, and edit fea-tures without network connectivity? It now possible toaccess both map tiles and FeatureLayers (or equivalent)locally on mobile devices. c) Geo-Location Technology System Integration – TheGIS sector have historically tried to solve problems usinglocation as the starting point. To continue the adoptionand use of this location technology, particularly withinthe Enterprise, there need be a change in emphasis.Location data is part of a bigger whole. Starting fromthe perspective of solving business problems, locationdata will most effectively be used in conjunction withother business data to provide solutions.

ConclusionWithin the Enterprise mobile adoption is proving a slowprocess. The challenge remains persuading senior man-agers that mobile technology brings real benefits to theEnterprise. The key is to demonstrate, using real worldexamples, how mobile location technology, in conjunc-tion with other business technology and data, can bothimprove decision making and reduce costs. In thepipeline sector improving safety and reducing risk arehugely important, and should provide a strong argumentfor wide-scale mobile adoption.

Matt Sheehan is Principal and SeniorDeveloper at WebmapSolutions.

The company build location focusedmobile applications for GIS, mapping and location based services (LBS).

Matt can be reached at [email protected].

Mobile GeolocationTechnology and Services

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Hands-on Experiences

Migration to ArcGIS for Server 10.1The latest release of ArcGIS for Server has major changes in architecture and functioning. This articlefocuses on upgrading to ArcGIS for Server 10.1, with hands-on experiences from the work field.

The Desktop part of ArcGIS software, version 10.0, was given anew look and feel with several new features and major changesas compared to the 9.3.1. However, the ArcGIS server version

10.0 didn’t contain many major changes compared to the previousversion. This summer ArcGIS 10.1 was released by Esri. The 10.1release of ArcGIS for Desktop (notice the change of name) containedsome new features, but the principal changes this time are for theArcGIS for Server (another name change!). These major changes inarchitecture and functioning are the main reason for this article aboutupgrading. Described below are some of the issues experienced whenupgrading from an ArcGIS Server 10.0. For users with earlier versions(most likely 9.3.1), the upgrading experience will be pretty similar.

What is new and important?The first thing to notice is the change to 64bit software. This means,you need 64bit hardware and operating system (Windows or Linux) torun ArcGIS for Server 10.1. In this case, a Windows 2008 R2 systemwas used to upgrade. The second big change is the included dedicat-ed web server application. During installation it will install a separateserver by default on port 6080. And the third modification is the use of

a single system account (“ ArcGIS” ). The SOM-SOC model is no longerused. Not all of these changes will be described in detail. If you requiremore detail, you can find this on Esri’s website. It is more important toknow how to deal with it.

PreparingSo, what do we basically need to upgrade and run the ArcGIS forServer 10.1?

• The ArcGIS for Server software DVD or ISO• Database drivers for your specific (enterprise) geodatabase in

both 64bit and 32bit if you have your data in a geodatabase.• The ArcGIS for Desktop software DVD or ISO (not necessarily

installed on the same system, but for my upgrade it was)• License for the ArcGIS for Server 10.1• License for either a standalone Desktop or a License Manager

file (if you use floating licenses)

Backing up and de-installationEsri didn’t provide an upgrade system for the existing software and ser-vices on your ArcGIS Server. Therefore, you will need to backup allyour existing MXD files and also copy the configuration files of yourservices. You can find the latter in your install folder for Esri applica-tions: \server 10.0\server\user\cfg\. The configuration files containthe necessary information about the settings you made for pooling, pro-cesses, capabilities and recycle times. You will need the names of theseservice files and open these .cfg files with a text editor while creatingthe new 10.1 services. Eventually backup or move your mapservicecache folders. These can be imported later on (not tried here) with theToolbox. But users are advised to recreate these caches. It will only costyou a little processor time.After the careful backup of these very important files, the de-installationcan start. You can use the Esri de-installer that is provided on the 10.1DVD’s for Desktop and Server. In general, that de-installer is faster thandoing it via the Windows control panel and also checks that there isno remaining old software left. De-install both ArcGIS Desktop andArcGIS Server. If you use the same server as the License Manager serv-er, de-install that software too, but do it as the last of the three items.

InstallationThe license manager is the first thing to upgrade. You would not want tohave your users waiting to work with their Desktop clients for too long.The installation, the de-installation and installation and upgrading of theLicense manager took less than 15 minutes. Esri have made this processreally easy. After the de-installation, the licenses remain on the system.So, after installing the new license manager you can just click the “Upgrade Now” button. The new licenses are there within a few minutes.How to start the installation of your ArcGIS for Server software; the


A r t i c l e

By Gerben Tiemens

Figure 1: ArcGIS for Server Web Manager - This is how the interface looks after a fresh install. It will con-tain a sample map service. The interface is totally different than the previous versions.

Figure 2: Registering Web Adaptor - The Web Adaptor can be installed on a different hosting system. After installation you are requested to connect the Web Adapter to the ArcGIS for Server using its

6080 port number. To enhance security, you can use a shared key for the communication.

44


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installation is fairly easy and fast. Choose the components and locationof the software. Then make or reuse a Windows account. For 10.1 youwill only need one account. The default from Esri is a new accountnamed “ ArcGIS” . In this case, the existing ArcGISSOC account onmy domain was reused. Why the SOC account? This account is anexisting domain account, so the IT staff didn’t have to be asked to makea new domain account, which made things easier. Adding to that, italready had the specific read and write access to the fileserver andfolders with my geodata, so it took no extra time. After this, the Desktop software was also installed, but that is fairlysimple, since nothing has really changed since the previous version.

ConfigurationEsri writes that this installation has no post-installation. In fact, it is nowincorporated in setting up your ArcGIS Server site web manager. Afterthe installation is finished, you start the web manager through theWindows Start Menu. You will be guided through a wizard. An accountwill be created for the Administrator of the ArcGIS for Server. Thisaccount is not Operating System related, but it will be the most impor-tant account for administering the server. So write the account nameand password somewhere safe so that you or any future personnel canfind it again. In addition, you will need to set the directories onto whichArcGIS for server will write all configuration, data and caches.

Figure 3: RESTService Directory ViaWeb Adaptor - When the Web Adaptor

is properly installed, you can reachthe REST service Endpoint of ArcGISfor Server using its default format

http://<servername>/arcgis/rest/


One thing that was immediately apparent was that this web manageris available on an address that ends with: 6080. This is the defaultinstallation port for the new internal server that ArcGIS for server uses.Announce to your IT staff that you will use this port for HTTP and beaware that some firewalls can block it by default. Esri delivers someadaptors to install on your default HTTP Webserver (most likely ondefault port 80). In this case, the Web Adaptor for IIS was installed.Ensure that you eventually remove the old folders of ArcGIS in the www-root before installing the Adaptor. It may conflict. After installing theWeb Adaptor you have to link it to your installation. You will need thepreviously made administrative account for the web manager. The WebAdaptor does not necessarily have to be on the same host system. Inthis case, it was installed on the separate server where my web appli-cations were also installed. The resulting web addresses will look likethe following: ArcGIS for Server http://server1:6080/arcgis/rest andWeb Application Server: http://server2/arcgis/rest/ and http://serv-er2/webapplications.

Recreating ServicesNow comes the repetitive part. If youhad a lot of MapServices and otherservices on your old installation, youwill need to invest a good deal of timeto recreate these. If you have webapplications depending on these ser-vices, you must be very precise whennaming and placing these in the cor-rect folders again.The first thing to do is to make newspatial connections to your database.It is important to note that the Desktopstill runs 32 bit, so for Direct Con -nections you need a 32bit driver. The Server, however, runs 64bit, sothat will need a 64bit driver. This can cause a lot of headaches if youare not aware of this. After creating the connection you need to registerthat connection with the ArcGIS for Server. This step is new, but ensuresthat the database can connect to the database with your geodata. It islikely to fail if you have a driver problem. This registering process has tobe repeated for every data source you have: geodatabases and geoda-ta folder locations. Now pick up your backed-up MXD files and copy them to a folder youwill maintain as MXD folder for services. In ArcCatalog point to thesefiles and open them in ArcMap. Restore any lost connection for layers ifneeded. The publishing toolbar you are used to from 9.3.1 and 10.0 isgone. From now on, you will use the function “ Share As Service” in theFile menu of ArcMap. Slightly above this is also the “ Analyze” button.The Share As Service wizard is completely new. In short, to ensure theexact requirements for your data, mxd and settings in the new ArcGIS10.1, the best way to proceed is this: choose your capabilities and pressthe analyze button on top of the wizard. You will see immediately somehigh priority errors in the ArcMap screen below the wizard, dependingdirectly on the chosen capabilities. This is exactly why Esri wants you torecreate all the services. The requirements are stricter and you will alsosee if the data source is registered properly with the ArcGIS for Server.One extra requirement is the “ Summary” , “ Tags” and “ Description” .Esri marks these as low severity warnings, but in some cases they arerequired before going to the next step. You can add them on the Mapdocument properties or during publishing on the service.Since we are upgrading, we will need to have the exact names of theservices and folders we used in the old installation, so the existing webapplications can pick up the services immediately. Refer to your “ con-figuration file” backup for this. Eventually you will need to open the old

.cfg files to see the specific settings and capabilities for your services toset them in the new publishing wizard.The “ share as service” will generate Service Definition (.SD) files. Thesefiles are new compared to the old MXD/MSD system. The SD files cancontain an ‘all in one’ package. This means that the wizard will copyall settings (MXD/MSD), data and, if applicable, geo-processing intothis file. This will become handy when you have a separate ArcGIS forServer with no administrative connection from the computer you areworking on. In this case, there was an administrative connection, so allSD files were without data and directly copied to the server folders.

Tip: If you have lost your MXD file for a certain mapservice you canrecover it from the .SD file. Use a ZIP/UNZIP program to open the SDfile (it is just a zip file) and browse for the MXD. You will find it in one ofthe subfolders. You can also find the .MSD file. For those of you whoare curious, yes indeed, this is also a zip-file, but with an xml configura-tion in it. In older ArcGIS versions this looks like the old .AXL files.

ExperiencesWhile busy creating services, somepositive differences for the mapser-vices were noticed almost immediate-ly. All the problems related with IIS aregone. For example, REST cache (norefresh needed after change tomapservices) and” sleeping” services(now a fast response when first timeopening a service via REST). Esri men-tioned a lot more improvements to per-formance. As the installation used forthis article was the one in production(apart from all the development and

pre-release installations), there wasn’t enough time to test all of the‘improvements’. I suspect these upgrades will be apparent after longerusage. In fact, I’m certain a lot more improvements will come to lightwhen using the system for longer.Another important thing to note is the REST service based manager.Every action you can do in the webmanager or from Arc Catalog to yourArcGIS for Server can now be scripted. This greatly enhances the admin-istrative part. Examples of this are: stopping and starting services fromscript to update or backup geodata during nighttimes, checking the ser-vices and restarting if needed, reading log files and changing user per-missions, etcetera.

ConclusionThe installation part of the upgrading process is not the hardest. In fact,with single server architecture, it is simpler than ever before. Seeingthe plans and installation parts of a multi-server environment, this shouldalso be a lot easier than before. If you have a lot of (map)services on your 10.0 or older server, youwill most likely need to recreate the vast majority of them and investseveral hours republishing your services. You will, however, be reward-ed with a better performing server afterwards.There are also some changes for web applications. The REST interfaceof ArcGIS for Server has changed. Most functions are still the same,but some have more options and there are a lot more functions. Ourown product GeoWeb 4.0, was 99% compatible without changing thecode. We have enhanced the product now to be fully compatible andto ensure we get the best experience out of the new ArcGIS for Server.

Gerben Tiemens, Consultant at Grontmij Netherlands B.V.

A r t i c l e


Figure 4: Webmanager Setup - After installing the ArcGIS for Server there is no post-installation wizard. Instead, you have to complete a web-wizard for the webmanager. When installing a new single server, you must choose to create a new Site. When having multiple ArcGIS for

Server machines you can join an existing Site.


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Limited bandwidth? Uncertain connectivity? Diversity of data sources? Sharing data is still possible.

In many situations, distributors of data need to repeated-ly collect data from multiple data producers, validatethe data, and make it available to others. Having many

local practitioners provide data that gets rolled up into aregional database is a good way to make lots of currentand detailed data available to many users from one cen-tralized source; however, validating and synchronizingthe data layers across distributed systems presents a chal-lenge. This is a particularly significant challenge in emer-gency and disaster management and defense and intelli-gence applications.

The problems mount when the scenario involves frequentupdates at random times from lightweight clients operatedby people with limited training in geospatial data collec-tion. This is yet more difficult when those client devices areonly intermittently connected to the Internet, or when physi-cal media are the only option. This can occur when data isbeing crowdsourced by Volunteer Geographic Informationproviders after the occurrence of a disaster.

What's needed is a GeoSynchronization service, deployedby a data provider, that enables data collectors to submitnew data or make modifications to existing features. Thismust be done in an efficient manner, without directly affect-ing the features in the provider's data store(s) until valida-tion has been applied, thus ensuring that the data publishedby the provider is of high quality.

A prototype standard interface for GeoSynchronization ser-vices and a related approach to bulk data transfer weredeveloped during the OGC's Canadian Geospatial DataInfrastructure (CGDI) Interoperability Pilot (CGDI-IP) projectin 2007. The CGDI-IP project was developed byGeoConnections Canada in the OGC's InteroperabilityProgram to test the feasibility of using open, standards-based technology to improve the management and dissem-ination of geospatial data across Canada, from local tonational level government organizations. The CGDI pilotdemonstrated that multiple vendors' services implementingthe OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) Interface Standardcould interoperate to provide access to the most currentand authoritative data, thereby maintaining currency, avoid-ing unnecessary versioning and minimizing duplication ofthe data.

The initial concept was further enhanced during the OGCWeb Service Phase 5 (OWS-5) project, which involved the

Ministries of Natural Resources Québec and TransportQuébec and US Army Geospatial Center (AGC). TheGeoSynchronization work continued last year in OWS-8and this year in OWS-9. All the projects have tested andextended the concepts of a federated GeoSynchronizationand Bulk Data Transfer system.The OGC GeoSynchronization 1.0 Standards WorkingGroup is working to produce an implementation standardbased on the work that has been done.

An OGC Best Practice document describes the steps in set-ting up a federated GeoSynchronization and GeospatialBulk Data Transfer (GBT) system.The steps are basically:

1. Initialization of a target WFS implementation with thedesired feature types, over a network or via physical media.

2. Conversion of data to an open standards basedGeodata Bulk Transfer format or GBT. The data (both spa-tial and non-spatial) for each feature type is encoded usingGML, and the metadata, if available, is encoded usingISO19115. All these files are packed into a zip archivethat also includes a manifest of what feature types are con-tained in the GBT file.

The candidate OGC Best Practice describes how to use theOGC's open interface and encoding standards to imple-ment services that mediate interaction between geospatialdata providers, the content repositories, and the externalentities acting as data collectors. Such services support dataentry with validation, notification of changes to interestedparties and replication of the data content submitted to mul-tiple repositories.

Geosynchronization and Bulk Data Transfer are two signifi-cant standards-based capabilities that will aid in data col-lection, updates and maintenance in environments with noaccess to a network or limited access. More often than not,in disaster and emergency response worldwide, limited net-work access is a major obstacle.

One outgrowth of the GeoSynchronization work is aGeoPackage standard that is being proposed to the OGCmembership by the US Army Geospatial Center.GeoPackage is a format for geospatial data (vectors, tilesand full rasters) that is suitable for use in offline scenarios.

Mark Reichardt, President and CEO OpenGeospatial Consortium (OGC)

New OGC standard supports“GeoSynchronization”

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Exchanging Information, Ideas and Inspiration

EuroGeographics NewsletterIngrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator of the National Geographic Institute, Belgium was re-elected President of EuroGeographics at its recent General Assembly. The event was hosted by theNational Land Survey of Finland which recently marked its 200th anniversary. The meeting was attend-ed by 140 Chief Executives and geo-information experts from more than 40 countries, and includedkeynote speeches from Esko Aho, Executive Vice President of Nokia and Professor Paul Cheung, UnitedNations Director of Statistics.

Delegates heard how their data isbeing used by customers such as theEuropean Environment Agency and

Eurostat, and learnt more about Euro -Geographics’ close work with EuroSDR. TheAssociation also welcomed the ItalianMilitary Geographic Institute as a full Mem -ber and elected Tomas Petek, Sur veying andMapping Authority of the Republic ofSlovenia; Elita Baklāne-Ansberga, The StateLand Service, Latvia to join Ingrid VandenBerghe, General Administrator, NationalGeographic Institute, Belgium on the Euro -Geographics Management Board.

Opportunities to exchange information,ideas and inspiration with like-minded pro-fessionals are a major benefit of Euro -Geographics’ membership and the annualGeneral Assembly is a key part of this.Hosted each year by a different member, itenables delegates to review the previous 12months. In addition they can renew andform new friendships, and hear about cur-rent and future trends from a wide range ofexperts, including those who rely on the geo-information provided by Eurogeographics’members, the European National Mapping,Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities.

This year we were welcomed to Helsinki byArvo Kokkonen, Director General, NationalLand Survey Finland and by Risto Artjoki,Secretary of State, Ministry of Agricultureand Forestry, Finland. Discussions focusedon EuroGeographics’ role in connectingpeople to the definitive geo-informationframework for Europe, the European Loca -tion Framework (E.L.F). This will link data toa common, maintained location frameworkof definitive, reliable public sector referencedata and is at the heart of the Association’scommitment to further the development of

the European Spatial Data Infrastructure(SDI) and will achieve interoperability ofmembers’ national land and geographicinformation assets. Key to this is the integra-tion and unification of dense nationalGlobal Navigation Satellite System networksolutions and the availability of reliablecadastre and mapping data.

The business of locationThe importance of accessible, accurate loca-tion-based data was the central theme ofEsko Aho’s presentation which also reflect-ed on the challenges of creating integratedcross-border data sets. As Executive VicePresident of Nokia, Mr Aho has first-handexperience of integrating location-baseddata from local sources to create successfulglobal business solutions that meet customerneeds. EuroGeographics faces similar chal-lenges in creating its pan-European productsand services and his insights generatedmuch debate among delegates.We were also delighted to welcomeProfessor Paul Cheung, United Nations

Director of Statistics who told members whytheir support and contributions are crucialto the United Nations Global GeospatialInformation Management initiative (UN-GGIM). He underlined the role of the UN-GGIM Expert Committee. As a result of thisinitiative, the UN has drawn political atten-tion to its Member States’ authoritative, reli-able and maintained geospatial informa-tion. EuroGeographics has been involved inmeetings and consultations which culminat-ed in the first World Forum on UN-GGIM.The 2nd meeting of the UN Committee ofExperts on Global Geospatial InformationManagement, which I attended, was held inNew York last August. On behalf of ourmembers, I presented the written report ofthe state of SDI in Europe. With the help ofthe Co-Chair of the UN Committee ofExperts on Global Geospatial InformationManagement, Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, wediscussed future reporting arrangementswith the European Commission (Eurostat) toensure that the activities on geographicinformation management in (geographic)Europe are coordinated and well reportedto the UN. The first UN-GGIM committee of expertsdecided it would be helpful to document thefuture direction of the geospatial informa-tion industry with the vision of having ashared global view of geospatial manage-ment. The paper, presented to members byDr Lawrence, is one of the first main deliver-ables of UN-GGIM and will be finalised inearly 2013. As EuroGeographics is current-ly working on its future strategy, it providesextremely useful input to our deliberations.

For more information about EuroGeographics and the work of itsmembers, please visit www.eurogeographics.org. Alternatively,

you can contact me by emailing [email protected].


N e w s l e t t e r

By the editors

EuroGeographics General Assembly Helsinki 2012


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We all produce a staggering amount of data. Whether it's Facebook or Twitterstatus updates, Instagram or Flickr photos or Foursquare checkins, this datais both immensely personal and is often geotagged. But what happens whena service you've used dies or gets acquired? What happens when you wantyour data back? Maybe your data isn't really yours at all.

Today’s geo-social networks are finite. They getborn, if they're lucky they grow and then at sometime or other they ... stop. If it's a social network

you don't use then it doesn't really bother you much.But if it's a network you've shared a lot of contentthrough, what happens then? A lot of people, myselfincluded, immediately think I want my data back.

But is it your data? Of course it is. You made it. Youcomposed that Tweet. You took that photo. You wereat that place you checked-in at. Of course it's yourdata and it’s your online history as Aaron Cope of theSmithsonian points out; anything you do for any sig-nificant amount of time, no matter how dumb or trivialit seems at first, becomes a part of your history.

But there's a point to be made here. You may havecreated that data, you may own that data, but thecopy of that data in that social network is just that. It'sa copy. It's not necessarily your data and becausemost of us don't preserve what we send on its way toour social networks. You may have created it, but thecopy in the cloud isn't necessarily yours.

It's an easy mistake to make. Most of us aren’t lawyersbut we think we're educated enough in matters legalto look at the terms of service of a social network. Wesee phrases like you retain your rights, you own thecontent and you always own your information andimmediately the subtleties and complexities of owner-ship, licensing, copyright and intellectual property arecast aside. We say to ourselves, it's my data, I ownit, I want it.

And it's this belief that we really are lawyers in ourspare time that us think that somehow the data we’veshared via a social network is physically ours, ratherthan a bit for bit perfect copy that we've licensed tothat social network. We forget for a moment that we'reusing that social network as a cloud backup, in somecases the only backup, of our creations. We mutterdarkly about holding our data hostage.

The blunt, and often harsh reality, is the age old adagethat you get what you pay for. If you pay, you're prob-ably a customer. If you're using something for freethen you're probably, unknowingly or unwittingly, theproduct. It's our content that the social networks mon-etize and that allows them to keep their servers anddisk storage up and running.

So it’s not my data, it’s a copy of my data. But I creat-ed the original, it’s important to me, so can I get acopy of it back? Sort of. Facebook will give me backall my data since I enabled Timeline on my account,which is some but not all my data. Twitter will onlygive me back a theoretical maximum of 3,200 Tweets,not the 14,000 I have created and only through writ-ing some code via their API. Foursquare, Flickr andInstagram fare slightly better; I can get everything I’vecreated but I still need to write code and use their API.

If we can’t get all of our data back, then maybe weshould make a backup of it before it goes into theCloud? Thd notion of personal digital archiving hasbeen slowly growing in recent years. You can nowfreely download code to do this for you. Projects suchas Aaron Cope’s parallel-flickr, parallelo-gram andprivate-square can maintain archives of Flickr,Instagram and Foursquare for you and synch themwith their social networks in the sky. Preserving yourTweet-stream is still problematic and for now, stickingyour account’s feed into an RSS reader is the next bestthing.

Your online history may not be that important in thegrand scheme of things, but it's your online history,it's personal, you made it. When social networks gothe place where software goes to die, you might justwant to preserve that personal history before theservers get powered off forever.

Gary Gale is Director of Places for theLocation & Commerce group of Nokia. He is co-founder of the WhereCamp EUunconference, the chair of the W3G conference and sits on the UK's AGICouncil. In his spare time he writes

WordPress plugins themed around mapsand contributes to the MapstractionJavaScript mapping API. You can find

him online at www.garygale.com, he blogs at

www.vicchi.org, mainly on maps and location and Tweets too much as @vicchi.

Big Data vs. My Data

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November

05-07 November Trimble Dimensions InternationalUser ConferenceThe Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.Internet: www.trimbledimensions.com

06-07 November MapInfo Professional AdvancedLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi3info.htm

08-09 November GEO HuntsvilleDavidson Center for Space Exploration, Huntsville, AL, U.S.A.E-mail: [email protected]: www.geohuntsville.com/conference

08-10 November CAMUSS, the InternationalSymposium on Cellular Automata Modeling forUrban and Spatial SystemsOporto, Portugal Internet: www.camuss.dec.uc.pt

06-09 November 20th ACM SIGSPATIAL InternationalConference on Advances in GeographicInformation SystemsRedondo Beach, CA, U.S.A.Internet: http://acmgis2012.cs.umd.edu

12-14 November SPAR Europe Conference on End-to-End 3DWorld Forum, The Hague, The NetherlandsInternet: www.SPARPointGroup.com/Europe

12-16 November 6th URISA Caribbean GISConferenceMontego Bay, JamaicaE-mail: [email protected]: www.urisa.org/conferences/caribbean/info

13-14 November Be Inspired - Thought Leadership inInfrastructure EventHotel Krasnapolsky, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsInternet: www.bentley.com/nl-NL/Community/BE+Awards

20-21 November MapInfo Professional FoundationLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm

22-23 November ICA symposium Service-OrientedMapping (SOMAP) 2012Vienna, AustriaInternet: http://somap.cartography.at

20-22 November spatial@gov Conference andExhibition 2012National Convention Centre Canberra, Canberra, AustraliaE-mail: [email protected]: www.cebit.com.au/spatial

26-29 November 8th FIG Regional ConferenceMontevideo, Uruguay Internet: www.fig.net/uruguay

27-30 November Pacific Islands GIS&RS UserConferenceHoliday Inn, Suva, Fiji Islands Internet: http://picgisrs.appspot.com

30 November-05 December LiDAR IntensiveProgrammeUniversity of Salzburg, Salzburg, AustriaE-mail: [email protected]: www.zgis.at/IntensiveProgrammes

December

03-05 December European Space Solutions ‘Discoverwhat space brings to your life’Central Hall Westminster, London, U.K.Internet: www.space-solutions.eu

04-05 December European LiDAR Mapping Forum2012Salzburg, AustriaInternet: www.lidarmap.org/ELMF

10-14 December FIG Commission 3 Workshop‘Spatial Information, Informal Development,Property and Housing’Athens, GreeceE-mail: [email protected]: http://bit.ly/FIG3_Athens2012

11-12 December MapInfo Professional FoundationLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm

13-16 December Gi4DM 2012UT, Enschede, The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]: www.gi4dm.net/2012

2013

2013 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Geomatics (UAV-g)Rostock, GermanyInternet: www.uav-g.org

21-23 January Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2013London, U.K.E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.wbresearch.com/dgieurope/home.aspx

24-25 January GeoDesign SummitEsri, Redlands, CA, U.S.A.Internet: www.geodesignsummit.com

06-08 February CEGeoIC Conference 2013Bogota, ColombiaInternet: http://CEGeoIC.net

11-13 February International LiDAR Mapping Forum2013Denver, CO, U.S.A.Internet: www.lidarmap.org/ILMF.aspx

07-08 March EUROGI Conference 2013Dublin, IrelandInternet: www.eurogi.org/conference-2013.html

24-28 March ASPRS 2013 Annual ConferenceBaltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.Internet: www.asprs.org

21-23 April Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event (JURSE 2013)Sao Paulo, BrazilInternet: www.inpe.br/jurse2013

13-16 May Geospatial World ForumBeurs/ World Trade Center, Rotterdam, The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]: www.geospatialworldforum.org

29-31 May UDMS 2013, 29TH Urban DataManagement SymposiumUniversity College London, London, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.udms.net

03-06 June Hexagon 2013 (ERDAS, Intergraph,Leica, Metrology)Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.Internet: http://2012.hexagonconference.com

16-22 June 13th International MultidisciplinaryScientific GeoConference & EXPO SGEM2013Albena Resort & SPA, BulgariaE-mail: [email protected]: www.sgem.org

18-20 June MundoGEO#Connect LatinAmerica 2013São Paulo, Brasil Internet: http://mundogeoconnect.com

25-27 June RIEGL International Airborne, Mobile,Terrestrial, and Industrial User Conference 2013Marriott, Vienna, AustriaE-mail: [email protected]: www.riegl.com

25-30 August 26th International CartographicConferenceDresden, GermanyE-mail: [email protected]: www.icc2013.org

17-22 September FOSS4G 2013 ConferenceEast Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, U.K. Internet: http://foss4g4uk.posterous.com

29-31 October ASPRS/ CaGIS 2013 Falll Conference Crowne Plaza San Antonio Riverwalk, San Antonio, TX,U.S.A.Internet: www.asprs.org

2014

23-27 March ASPRS 2014 Annual ConferenceGalt House Hotel, Louisville, KY, U.S.A.Internet: www.asprs.org

Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to:[email protected]

C a l e n d a r 2 0 1 2 / 2 0 1 3 / A d v e r t i s e r s I n d e x

Advertisers Index

54

CHC www.chcnav.com 51

DATEM www.datem.com 33

ERDAS www.erdas.com 17

Esri www.esri.com 56

Exelis www.exelisvis.eu 13

FOIF www.foif.com.cn 49

GEOSAR SA www.soft-gis.com 9

Global Geo Supplies www.softmouse3d.com 53

Imagima www.imagima.mc 30

ITC www.itc.nl 40

Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 2

LiDAR www.lidarmap.org 23

Microsoft UltraCam www.iFlyUltraCam.com 31

Optech www.optech.com 35

Pacific Crest www.pacificcrest.com/adl 43

Racurs www.racurs.ru 45

Riegl www.riegl.com 15

Spectra Percision www.spectraprecision.com 24

SuperMap www.supermap.com 47

Topcon www.topcon.eu 25

Trimble www.trimbledimansions.com 41

Visionmap www.visionmap.com 55


geoinformatics 2012 vol07

Documents

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