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UAV Special Augmented Reality Markup Language 2.0 3D City Modeling Bentley Be Inspired Awards Magazine for Surveying, Mapping & GIS Professionals January/February 2013 Volume 16 1

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Page 1: geoinformatics 2013 vol01

UAV Special Augmented Reality Markup Language 2.03D City Modeling Bentley Be Inspired Awards

Magazine for Survey ing, Mapping & GIS Profess iona lsJanuary/February

2 0 1 3Volume 16

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Some Predictions for theNew YearAt the beginning of the new year, many blogs and geospatial publications pub-lish lists of predictions for the new year, after having reviewed the past year.Truth be told, the first weeks of 2013 have already brought so much product newsand so many acquisitions, that such a list in our publication would already beobsolete. So what is new? After Esri, we now see Autodesk jumping into the cloud-based subscription model through their new offering, Autodesk Fusion 360. Thisis a cloud-based 3D modeling offering that promises flexibility, especially for small-er companies. Using the cloud means new workflows for designers: they can workfrom all over the world on one design at the same time. The software doesn’t haveto be updated and subscriptions are paid on a monthly rate. No work is discard-ed: everything is saved in the cloud. The future will tell whether an individual willbe able to navigate swiftly through all this data to find the latest version of his orher design.

Safe Software released FME 2013 for both Desktop and Server. In a recent webi-nar to showcase the new functions and features of both products, the company’sfounders joked that ‘downloading is so 2012’. Their product works by accessingand manipulating remote data, such as an FTP-server, without actually download-ing the data. On the subject of data: it’s very telling that lots of companies arenow offering webinars on handling point cloud datasets – definitely a true geospa-tial data type that is accepted by the geospatial community. A major softwarerelease that deserves to be mentioned is Intergraph Geospatial 2013; a portfolioof GIS, remote sensing and photogrammetry software that com-bines no less than 64 products; finally integrating software releas-es with new modules in a united portfolio.

A prediction for 2013, which was on every list I have read, wasthat UAVs and UAV systems will be everywhere. In this maga-zine you will find an extensive overview of the UAVs market inthe UK, which may give you an idea of the amount of providersand systems that are out there. On the image processing side,some things still need to be worked out, but this will almostcertainly happen in the near future. Right now, the marketis applying UAVs for new application fields, as the articleon 3D City Modeling indicates. And whilst we’re on thesubject; what about standards for 3D city models? Yes,there are many 3D data standards, but not as yet forthe models themselves. With combinations of reality-based modeling and generic modeling now emerg-ing, this may be a good moment to create this.

These are, in a nutshell, some observationson new products and trends. Expect moreto come on other trending topics, suchas indoor mapping and navigation,mobile apps, big data and locationanalysis, to name just a few. Thenew year has just begun.

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]

Contributing Writers:Waldir Renato Paradella, Philip Cheng, Natalia Kovach, Martin Lechner, Adam Spring, Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk, Gordon Petrie, Remco Takken.

ColumnistLéon van der Poel

[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

Webstitewww.geoinformatics.com

Graphic DesignSander van der [email protected]

ISSN 13870858

© Copyright 2013. 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.

3January/February 2013

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C o n t e n t

A r t i c l e s3D City Modeling 6

Automatic DEM Generation 10

A Russian Airborne Surveying Project 14

Augmented Reality Markup Language 2.0 18

Revisiting the North Carolina Gold Rush 22

GNSS Update 25

Commercial Operation of Lightweight UAVs for Aerial Imaging & Mapping 28

C o l u m n sGreen Surveying 40

E v e n tBe Inspired Awards 2012 42

N e w s l e t t e rCLGE newsletter 46

C a l e n d a r / A d v e r t i s e r s I n d e x 50

At the cover:A photo of a senseFly Swinglet CAM, which can be used for photographingsites such as golf courses, quarries, salt marshes, construction sites, farms etcat high resolution. Photo credit: Bluesky.

See article on page 28

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28

42

10This article describes how highresolution satellite data can beused to extract accurate digital elevation model (DEM) for a

mining application in theAmazon region. The resulting

vertical accuracy can be within RMS error of 1.5m

when using a minimum num-ber of ground control points.

14

At Bentley’s ‘Be Inspired:Innovations in Infrastructure’

conference in Amsterdam, thefeatured keynote speaker wasnot an engineer or an IT guru.He was a journalist. Wired magazine’s executive editor,

Greg Williams.

In 2012 an airborne survey,which included airborne laser

scanning, visible spectrum imagery and thermal surveywas undertaken at the SayanMountains in Russia. The most

interesting challenge of thisproject was the production of a thermal orthophoto.

Over the last few years, thecommercial operation of light-weight UAVs has become firm-ly established in the U.K. Thisarticle first outlines the regula-tory and operational environ-ment that has allowed this development to take place.

22This article examines the post-in-dustrial landscape of RutherfordCounty, North Carolina, prima-rily through artefacts connected

to the Gold Rush of 1804 -1828. Data was collected

using an iPad, iPhone, Hedcamand DSLR camera.

18Augmented Reality has been

a topic of great popular interest over the past few years. To ensure that users

will have the choice of platforms and applications

they wish to use for AR, standards are necessary.

25

After years of delay it is finallyhappening; the start of the

operational phase of Galileo.On October 12th another two

Galileo In Orbit Validation satellites were successfully

launched from Kourou (FrenchGuyana).

63D City models are now com-mon inside and outside the

geospatial industry. An expertin the city modeling field, Prof.em. Dr. Armin Gruen discusses

some current 3D modeling issues. Special attention is paid

to quality control and datamaintenance.

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Data Capture, Maintenance and Applications

3D City Modeling3D City models are now common inside and outside the geospatial industry. An expert in the city mo -deling field, Prof. em. Dr. Armin Gruen discusses some current 3D modeling issues. Special attention ispaid to quality control and data maintenance. In addition, he makes a plea for multiple uses of data,updating city models with real-time data feeds and foresees many new business opportunities in bothdata acquisition hardware and software related to 3D modeling practices, based on fieldwork in Asia.

IntroductionA few years ago, reality-based 3D city mod-els started to become popular at a rapid pace.Initially, they were often created to show theuniqueness of a city to the rest of the world.Today, their usefulness is becoming more andmore diverse. The same goes for generic mod-eling and, what is even more significant, isthat the two can be combined. An exampleof this is happening at the moment inSingapore, where five international scienceresearch centers are involved in various pro-grams. One of them is the Singapore-ETHCentre for Global Environmental Sustainability(SEC). It started with the establishment of ahighly trans-disciplinary project, the FutureCities Laboratory (FCL), which rapidly evolvesinto a global think tank and develops newmethods for better understanding the evergrowing amounts of urban data. Additionally,it will make this knowledge available to deci-sion makers, stakeholders and urban plan-ners.

Different research modules have beendefined and their data needs are combinedand treated on a simulation platform. Thisplatform includes expertise and software forGIS, remote sensing, photogrammetry, visu-alization, simulation and animation, whichhelp in modeling cities as metabolic objects.These can be understood as dynamic sys-tems and can be read in terms ofstocks and flows. Geomatics ispart of these research packages.For example, there’s reality-based city modeling where satel-lite, airborne and terrestrialimagery and laser scans areused to develop new methodsand software for realistic reality-based modeling of cities. Thistask is being undertaken by Prof.em. Dr. Armin Gruen, Institute ofConservation and BuildingResearch, ETH Zurich, Switzer -land. Here, he talks about city

modeling in current times, as well as newapplications for city modeling, new datacapture methods and the challenges of mod-eling today, most notably with UAV’s.

Data maintenance and qualitycontrolWhen discussing a city model, a question thatcomes up sooner or later is how to make a dis-

6January/February 2013

A r t i c l e

By Eric van Rees

Figure 1. Research modules of the SEC-FCL project in Singapore. The Simulation Platform models information in terms of stocks and flows andassembles and produces data needed by the other modules for storage, processing, analysis, visualization, animation.

Figure 2. 3D city model of Punggol, a new residential area in Northeast Singapore.Produced by CyberCity Modeler from a WorldView-2 stereo model.

Armin Gruen

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A r t i c l e

7Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

tinction between a good or bad reality-basedcity model. Gruen is very clear about this: “agood city model is one that is maintained, updat-ed and actual. People discuss how to producea city model, but don’t discuss how to maintainit.” What is necessary is a procedure to main-tain or update a city model. What is applicablefor maps is also applicable for city models:“everybody is happy if he has a dataset, butfive years later it’s outdated more than everbefore.” Updating 3D models with real-timedata feeds is very promising and provides manyopportunities, but there’s not much discussiongoing on in the community about doing so, saysGruen: “occasionally, people mention it but Isee no concrete development here. People arestill presenting their first work, which I call a vir-gin dataset.” Creating this ‘virgin dataset’ is hard enough,especially if there’s a deadline to be met for aclient. City modeling is almost always done inmanual measurement mode or in a semi-auto-mated manner at most. Especially quality checksrequire much manual work. And this takes time,says Gruen: “it’s quite an important issue that acustomer very often wants the result in no time,and this is not possible in Europe, but in Chinait is. In Europe, you typically have three to fivepeople working on a project, but in China thereare 100 people who can work in parallel, sothat you can fulfill almost any deadline.”

“Here we should clearly point out how wedefine a 3D city model. This is a model whereobjects like, buildings or other man-made struc-tures, vegetation, water surfaces, DTM, etc. aredistinguished from each other. Very often a digi-tal surface model (DSM) is presented as citymodel, with the claim it was produced automat-ically. This is not the domain we are discussinghere”.

The work of amateurs through crowdsourcing isnot something that could solve this Europeancapacity problem, says Gruen: “I’m deeply con-

vinced we should leave modeling to profession-als. Because, who gives you a guarantee ifsomething is correct or not correct? You see it inGoogle Earth very often, that there are funnyhouses which do not exist in this form in reality.Or the digital terrain models are crossly wrong.There’s the issue of quality control, making surethat specifications are fulfilled so that the prod-uct is reliable. This is what we are used to andthis is what we should expect in the future.”

“A major problem in this context is that thereare no standards available for 3D city models.CityGML is more a data standard, (a commoninformation model for the representation of setsof 3D urban objects – as Wikipedia puts it) andnot a specification for content. In 2D mappingwe know exactly what a map at a particularscale should contain. There is even a list ofobjects to be mapped and represented. This isnot yet available for city models and this makesit difficult to deal with the issue.”

Applications for reality-based 3Dcity modelsTraditionally, there have been a number ofapplications for reality-based 3D city modelsproduced, for example, for the planning ofbuildings, roads and location as well as archi-tecture, monument preservation, tou rism andenvironmental monitoring. New applicationsare for smart homes, 3D car navigation, trafficand crowd control, and finally, 3D cadasters.The usefulness of city models for cadastersdepends on the taxation, says Gruen: “the tra-ditional definition of cadaster is 2D so youwould need a new definition of cadaster to doit in 3D. In Switzerland they introduced the thirddimension in the cadaster some years ago, butonly as far as terrain is concerned - they’re notlooking into using it for houses. You only needthe third dimension if there’s a country whichconsiders the height of a house for taxation.”Multiple use of a dataset is the key point whenit comes to making a business in city model-

Figure 3. The Falcon-8 octocopter ready fortake-off in front of a satellite image reception

antenna on NUS (National University ofSingapore) campus.

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ing these days, says Gruen: “the problem todate was that you always had only one cus-tomer for a dataset. One should have a busi-ness model where you can sell the dataset atall times and have different users. The needsof users are not that different, and you canmake a low-resolution model out of a high-res-olution model if necessary.”

Generic modelingGeneric modeling has also found its way intothe GIS area, most notably through the acqui-sition of CityEngine by Esri in 2011. The pack-age is also used by Gruen and his colleaguesfor the modeling of future cities design scenar-ios. Procedural modeling tools are used fordesigning, visualizing and analyzing futuredesign scenarios. The resulting fancy-lookingmodels are also being used outside of thegeospatial world, for example, for the enter-tainment industry, which has been the biggestcustomer for these models so far.

Gruen notices a convergence happeningbetween reality-based and generic modeling:“people now try to make generic models moreand more realistic by using maps or footprintsand build the height of a building generically.Or, they use satellite imagery and extract thefootprints from satellite imagery and then buildgeneric models on top of this. So, it’s a com-bination of things. Even more, we are doingfirst successful tests to combine reality-basedand generic 3D modeling. We use genericmodeling for the refinement of reality-basedmodels.”

UAV imagery can also play a role here, sincethere’s technically no difference between usingUAV images or images taken from airplanesor satellites. Gruen: “there are small variationsas far as the sensor model is concerned, butthe rest is all the same and you could puteverything into one package. The fact thatcommercial software cannot handle all those

cases does not prove the opposite. Andindeed, for satellite image processing we didthat already in Singapore, with IKONOS andWorldView-2 imagery. We also used Cyber -City Modeler for 3D modeling, the same soft-ware as we use with UAV images.”

New applicationsAfter using the UAV systems for the first timein Singapore, local authorities now see manynew applications for its use, in addition to itscommon applications such as 3D base map-ping and DSM generation. The NationalEnvironment Agency, for example, wants touse it for real-time detection and the trackingof oil spills, as well as detection and 3D mea-surements of water pools where Dengue fevermosquitos reside. Gruen: “oil-spill tracking isbeing done with satellite images now but theresults come with a huge delay, because satel-lite images are not available in real-time. Youmay have clouds, and especially in Singaporeyou don’t get a good image maybe for half ayear. So this is a good example where UAV’scan fly under the clouds easily and you cando data transfer and processing in real-time.”

UAV’s have the advantage that on-site workcan continue while data is captured from theair. A problem that Gruen encountered acrossall industries which require quality controlusing photogrammetry, (for example to mea-sure an object that is coming from the manu-facturing process), is that he was asked for asystem that would work fully automatically andwithout people walking around. There’s anarea in the south of Singapore where they areputting up new residential buildings and anew business district. Gruen: “they want touse UAV for the control of the construction site,because otherwise people have no overviewof what’s going on. With the use of UAV, workcan continue there. Or there are activitiestowards flying large plantations in Indonesiaonce a week for monitoring of the crop sta-tus. In such cases the requirement is that theuser should be able to operate the UAV byhimself. “

Positive past experiences in the field havehelped Gruen and his team to get permissionto fly now: “the first time we were all alone. Imean, the National Research Foundation wasour partner, but there was no other partner,neither private companies nor governmentagencies. But now we have contact with theagencies, which probably makes our pointmore effectively.”

Future Cities Laboratory (FCL): www.futurecities.ethz.ch

8January/February 2013

A r t i c l e

Figure 4. A small 4x4 images subblock of an UAV flight over the NUS campus.

Figure 5. A building (Yusof Ishak House) as example of the very high resolution 3D NUS campus model (UAV image footprint 5 cm).

O

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WE ARE UNITED. Whether it’s by desktop, server, web, or cloud – our integrated geospatial portfolio delivers what you need, where you need it. Less hassle. Complete work�ow. One partner.

WE ARE MODERN. Our fresh and intuitive interfaces and automated technology transform the way you see and share your data. This world has new challenges. Combat them with a smarter design.

WE ARE DYNAMIC. Leverage our single integrated, dynamic environment for spatial modeling. Our core geospatial tools enable you to exploit the wealth of information found in data from any source.

GEOSPATIAL.INTERGRAPH.COM/2013

THE FORCE THAT DRIVES SMARTER DECISIONSWelcome to Intergraph Geospatial 2013

TEAM GEO-FORCE

INTERGRAPH GEOSPATIAL 2013Experience the force that’s driving smarter decisions at a road show near you.

© 2013 Intergraph Corporation. All rights reserved. Intergraph is part of Hexagon. Intergraph and the Intergraph logo

are registered trademarks of Intergraph Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.

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Using GeoEye-1 Stereo Data in Mining Application

Automatic DEM GenerationThis article describes how high resolution satellite data can be used to extract accurate digital elevation model (DEM) for a mining application in the Amazon region. The resulting vertical accuracycan be within RMS error of 1.5m when using a minimum number of ground control points.

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) repre-sents the elevation of the top surfaceof vegetation cover and other features

(building, manmade structures, etc.) abovethe bare earth. It is a very important layerfor many types of applications such as topo-graphic mapping, three dimensional GIS,environmental monitoring, geo-spatial analy-sis, among others. In addition, continuousgrowth in the telecommunication and engi-neering industries has created even greaterdemand for DEM data. This data allows engi-neers to plan and manage infrastructuregrowth with the high accuracy required bynew spatial applications. However, for mostareas, DEMs suffer from a few common prob-lems; they are unavailable, outdated, oravailable only in low resolution (such as theSRTM DEMs, with 1 to 3 arc second spac-ing – or 30/90m postings). DEMs generat-ed from satellite stereo-pair images can beused for the applications mentioned above,and also can address the common problemscustomers face when working with existing(or missing) elevation data. Obtaining DEMsfrom satellite images is possible through twomain methods: along-track stereoscopy fromthe same orbit, using fore and aft images,and across-track stereoscopy from two adja-cent orbits. The simultaneous acquisition ofalong-track stereo data has a strong advan-tage in terms of radiometric variation versus

the multi-date acquisition of across-trackstereo data. The across-track approach hasbeen applied frequently since 1980, firstwith Landsat TM from two adjacent orbits,then with SPOT using across-track steeringcapabilities, and finally with IRS-1 C/D by“rolling” the satellite. Nevertheless, along-track stereoscopy has recently gainedrenewed popularity. Along-track stereoscopyis applicable to a large number of satellites,including JERS-1’s Optical Sensor (OPS),German Modular Opto-Electronic Multi-Spectral Stereo Scanner (MOMS), ASTER,IKONOS, QuickBird, OrbitView, SPOT-5,Formosat II, CartoSat, and the latest addition

of WorldView, GeoEye-1 and Pleiades satel-lites. In this article, we will show an exam-ple of using GeoEye-1 stereo data to extractDEM for a mining application in Brazil.

Amazon ForestThe Amazon forest is a moist broadleaf for-est that covers most of the Amazon Basin ofSouth America. This basin encompassesseven million square kilometers (1.7 billionacres), of which five and a half millionsquare kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are cov-ered by the rainforest. This region includesterritory belonging to nine nations.Approximately, 60% of the Amazon forestlies in Brazil. In this region, with a continen-tal dimension (almost 5,500,000 km2 of thenational territory), due to adverse environ-mental conditions (rain, cloud and densevegetation), difficult access and large size,the topographic knowledge is still poor, withonly 15% of the region covered by maps atdetailed scale (1:50,000). In addition, theavailable information for the remainder ofthe region was mainly produced in the1960’s and 1980’s, and is in desperateneed of updating or needs to be remapped.This area also includes, under an apparentlyhomogeneous physiognomy, an enormousvariability in forests, rivers and lakes, soils,geology, climate, plants and animal. Thelack of reliable terrain information impairsthe ability of the government to formulatepolicies, establish priorities and performessential activities like regulate colonizationand exploitation of natural resources in eco-logically sensitive areas.DEMs are a primary source of input for topo-graphic mapping. The classification of topo-graphic maps in Brazil should be performedin accordance with the NationalCartographic Accuracy Standard (PEC inPortuguese), established by the BrazilianCartographic Commission. PEC is a statisti-cal indicator (90% of probability) for planial-timetric accuracy, corresponding to 1, 6449times the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)

10January/February 2013

A r t i c l e

By Waldir Renato Paradella and Philip Cheng

Figure 1: GeoEye-1 multispectral color composite with main active open pit mines.

Figure 2: GeoEye-1 full resolution panchromatic image of the westernsector of N4E mine.

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(PEC = 1.6449 x RMSE). For a 1:25,000and 1:10,000 scales A Class map, the alti-metric RMSE corresponds to 3.33m and 1.66m, respectively (1/3 of the equidistance ofcontour lines on the map scale). A prelimi-nary evaluation of the altimetric quality of aDEM extracted from a GeoEye panchromaticstereo pair was conducted for a mountainousregion of the Carajás Mineral Province. Theresults show a promising alternative for a pro-duction and updated detailed topographicmapping in the Amazon region, where thiskind of terrain information is lacking or is cur-rently only available in poor quality.The Carajás Mineral Province is located onthe easternmost border of the Amazon

region. The Province, with an area of120,000 square kilometers, is marked bymountainous terrains, characterized by a setof hills and plateaus (altitudes from 500 to900m) surrounded by southern and northernlowlands (altitudes around 200m), deepchemical weathering which produces thickoxisols (latosols) and few outcrops.Vegetation cover is typical of the Up-LandOmbrophilous Equatorial forest communitieswith complex and multilevel canopies andnumerous species. Since 1967, when theiron deposits were discovered, a remarkablegeobotanical control given by the iron-min-eralized laterites and specific vegetationtypes has been recognized. The deposits are

covered by thick, hard iron-crusts (lateriticduricrusts) developed over volcanic rocksand ironstones. Specific low-density savan-na-type vegetation (campus rupestres) isassociated with the deposits, and shows astrong contrast (clearing) with the denseequatorial forest. Fully owned by Vale mining company, theworld’s second largest mining company,leader in iron-ore production and secondbiggest nickel producer, Carajás Provincecontains known reserves of the order of 18billion tons with an average grade of 65.4%Fe content. Following these discoveries,numerous other metalliferous deposits havebeen identified including manganese, alumi-na, nickel, tin, gold, platinum group elementsand copper. More recently, the area hasbeen recognized as a major copper-goldprovince, after the discovery of a number ofworld-class iron oxide, copper-gold deposits,and an emerging nickel laterite district, mak-ing Carajás an important and under-explored metallogenic province. The ironmining activities in the Province are concen-trated on two main ore bodies: the N4(mines N4E and N4WN) and N5 (minesN5W and N5E). The reserves of both bod-ies totaled 1.4 billion tons of ore with 65%of Fe content. Mining is carried out by con-ventional open-pit methods. In addition, animportant manganese deposit (Azul) wasalso discovered in 1971, with reserves of 65million tons of manganese with manganesedioxide content of over 75%.INPE and Vale initiated a research project inCarajás that investigates the applicability oforbital Synthetic Aperture Radar Inter -ferometry (InSAR) to determine surface defor-mations induced by open pit and miningoperations. Implementing differential interfer-ometry approaches (DInSAR) for monitoringof mining deformations could provide better,continuous coverage. As a consequence, thisshould lead to determination of more precisedeformation models of rock strata andincrease the safety margins of mining opera-

A r t i c l e

11Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

Figure 4a: Resampled image at 2m spacing Figure 4b: Extracted DEM at 2m spacing

Figure 3: DEM extracted of the entire image

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tions. Monitoring of pit depths and deforma-tions, highlight areas that require real-timemonitoring (e.g. with ground based radar),identify faults/fractures controlling deforma-tion in and around pits, heights of stockpilesand waste dumps, and levels of tailingdumps, may provide additional importantproduction data. The key-element in any interferometric analy-sis is the phase value of each radar imagepixel. Phase values of a single SAR imagedepend on distinct factors, particularly thecontribution of topography. If a detailed DEMis available, the topographic component canbe known and used in the interferometric pro-cess. Thus, the production of a high-resolutionDEM was fundamental in the DInSAR projectin Carajás, not only as input for theAdvanced DInSAR approaches (PSInSAR,SqueeSAR), but also for the production oforthoimages (panchromatic and multispectralGeoEye, StripMap TerraSAR-X, etc.), whichare used as geospatial reference basis for thevalidation of surface displacements.A research project was carried out throughsupport from FAPESP-Vale-INPE (FAPESP pro-cess 2010/51267-9). Special thanks toCNPq for a research grant (first author) andto PCI´s representative Threetek for helpingin the GeoEye data acquisition.

The GeoEye-1 SatelliteThe GeoEye-1 Satellite sensor was devel-oped by GeoEye Inc and features the mostsophisticated technology ever used for acommercial remote sensing system. GeoEye-1 is capable of acquiring image data at0.41 meter panchromatic and 1.65 metermultispectral resolution in 15.2 km swaths. Italso features a revisit time of less than threedays, as well as the ability to locate anobject within just three meters of its physicallocation. The newly developed sensor is opti-mized for large projects, as it can collect

over 350,000 square kilometers every day.The spacecraft is intended for a sun-syn-chronous orbit at an altitude of 681 km andan inclination of 98 degrees, with a 10:30a.m. equator crossing time. GeoEye-1 canimage up to 60 degrees off nadir. It is oper-ated out of Herndon, Virginia and was builtin Arizona by General Dynamics AdvancedInformation Systems.

GeoEye-1 Stereo DataIn this article we will test the vertical accura-cy of automatic DEM extraction using astereo pair of GeoEye-1 panchromatic data.The data was standard geometrically cor-rected at 0.5m resolution with rational poly-nomial coefficients (RPCs) provided.Panchromatic and multispectral in-trackstereo pairs were acquired over Carajás onJuly 1st, 2012 at 13:42 GMT with 39.81and 51.59 degrees of Sun azimuth and ele-vation. The first scene was collected withnominal collection azimuth and elevation of29.4 degrees and 82.4 degrees, respective-ly. The second scene was collected with nom-inal collection azimuth and elevation of187.42 and 62.20 degrees, respectively.Figure 1 shows the GeoEye-1 overviewimage of the study area and Figure 2 showsa full resolution of a sector of N4E mine.

Geometric Model and SoftwareA geometric modeling method is required inorder to extract the DEM from the stereo data.The Rational Function Method (RFM) has beenthe most popular geometric modeling methodin the past decade. This method uses theRaster Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs) provid-ed with the satellite data to compute themodel. Since biases or errors still exist in theRPCs, the results can be post-processed witha polynomial adjustment and several accurateground control points (GCPs). More detailsabout the RFM can be found in the paper writ-

ten by Grodecki and Dial (2003). Since theGeoEye-1 data is provided with RPCs, theRFM can be used to as the geometric model. The 2013 version of PCI Geomatics’OrthoEngine software was used for this test-ing. This software supports reading of thedata, manual or automatic GCP/tie point col-lection, geometric modeling of different satel-lites using RFM or Toutin’s rigorous model,automatic DEM generation and editing,orthorectification, and either manual or auto-matic mosaicking. Two stereo Differential GPS (DGPS) GCPswere collected on the stereo panchromaticimages. The RMS residuals when using twoGCPs were 0.4m and 0.1m in X and Y,respectively. When using only one GCP, theRMS errors of the check points were 0.4m and0.3m in X and Y, respectively. When bothGCPs were changed into check points, theRMS errors of the check points were 3.1m inX and 0.8m in Y, respectively. This means it ispossible to achieve an accurate geometricmodel within 0.5m horizontal accuracy withonly a minimum of one accurate GCP. Evenwithout GCPs a horizontal accuracy within 3mis still useful for areas where accurate GCPscannot be obtained.

DEM Extraction ResultsDEMs were extracted at 2m spacing usingzero, one and two GCPs, respectively. Theresults were compared with seven well-definedaccurate vertical check points. The RMS andmaximum errors when using two GCPs, oneGCP, and no GCP are 1.4m and 2.2m, 1.2mand 1.6m, and 1.1m and 2.4m, respectively.Figure 3 shows the extracted DEM using twoGCPs of the entire image and figure 4a and4b show the resampled image and DEM at2m spacing, respectively. Figure 5 shows theperspective view of the image generatedtogether with the extracted DEM.

SummaryHigh accuracy DEMs can be extracted usingthe GeoEye-1 stereo data. Only a minimum ofone accurate GCP is required to achieve a hor-izontal accuracy within RMS error of 0.5m.The extracted DEM has a vertical accuracywithin RMS error of 1.5m when comparing towell-defined vertical check points. These resultsshowed that the planimetric and altimetric qual-ity of the GeoEye DEM fulfilled the BrazilianMap Accuracy Standards requirements for1:10,000 A class map.

Dr. Waldir Renato Paradella is a senior researcher at INPE (BrazilianNational Institute for Space Research). He can be reached at

[email protected]. Dr. Philip Cheng is a senior scientist at PCIGeomatics. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Figure 5: Perspective view of imagegenerated with the extracted DEM

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Producing a Thermal Orthophoto

A Russian Airborne SurveyingIn 2012 an airborne survey, which included airborne laser scanning, visible spectrum imagery andthermal survey was undertaken at the Sayan Mountains in Russia. The most interesting challenge ofthis project was the production of a thermal orthophoto. This article describes the data acquisition pro-cess, as well as data processing and data control methods and concludes with a reflection on the expe-rience of implementing thermal airborne photography using a “non-metric” thermal camera.

IntroductionAirborne thermal photography occupies a special place amongst themany methods of remote earth sensing. This method of aerial pho-tography is not new and is primarily used for the study of urban areas,pipelines and large engineering facilities (factories, industrial sites).Thermal surveys allow the identification of objects requiring servicing(roofs, heating, main thermal insulation and power transmission linesetc.) and should enable the prediction of possible accident risk with-in domestic and industrial buildings, with particular regard to differ-ent thermal and electrical equipment. They also allow the identifica-tion of defects with regard to enclosing constructions, heat leakagesand moisture condensation places.

An Airborne Surveying Project in RussiaThis article describes the experience of implementing thermal airbornephotography using a “non- metric” thermal camera. In 2012 an air-borne survey including airborne laser scanning, visible spectrumimagery and thermal survey was undertaken at the Sayan Mountainsin Russia. A total of 345 square kilometers were surveyed. The widthof the survey strip was 1000 meters. The most interesting challenge ofthis project was the production of a thermal orthophoto. Accomplishing this task was complicated by the absence of geometri-cal settings of the lens (distortion coefficients) and a lack of exactparameters for the internal camera orientation (principal point, focallength coordinates). Derivation of parameters was conducted duringthe process of imagery (aero photography and thermal) management.

Equipment usedA Riegl LMS-Q680i airborne laser scanner, DigiCam 60 Mp digitalcamera and FLIR SC7700 thermal camera were used for airborne

laser scanning and imagery acquisition. The thermal camera is a partof the airborne survey equipment and is located inside a special con-tainer on one hard platform together with the laser scanner and theaerophotocamera. The visor axis of this system was orientated thesame way – in nadir, so that the systems’ visual fields coincidedapproximately in the direction perpendicular to the flight. For eachsystem the external orientation parameters are determined by thePOS/AV IGI DigiControl exact positioning and orientation system,which is part of the Q680i scanner and works by synchronizing alldata into a single time scale. GPS-time was introduced into the framestructure with help of the IRIG-B standard in order to synchronize thethermal data with other systems of the complex. The time each framewas received was determined exactly down to 10 mks GMT.The equipment was installed on the AN-2 aircraft. After the installa-tion and the calculation of the equipment offset-component parame-ters had been completed, a calibration flight for shooting a test object(usually a rectangular building) was performed. After processing thecalibration flight using special software, the correction factors werecalculated and added to the trip computer. Data processing of thecalibration flight completed the preparatory stage of the aerial sur-vey.During the flight, data was collected simultaneously in different ways:laser scanning, photography and a thermal imaging survey of theunderlying surface. Each element of this data was strictly synchro-nized precisely. Thermal data was recorded in the internal format ofthe program to control the camera and, after treatment, was convert-ed to bitmaps or video formats. A thermal imaging survey was car-ried out at 25 frames/sec. For further processing the frames wereautomatically thinned out on the basis of compliance with the longitu-dinal (60%) and lateral (30%) overlap.

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By Natalia Kovach

Heat leakage at a pipeline (thermal imaging, visible range photography and their composition).

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Thermal survey parameters:height AGL (above ground level) 800 mGroundspeed 150 km/hFrame rate 25 HzInterruption time (frame acquisition time) 1 msthermal camera GSD* 1 m

the estimated size of the frame on the surface 640 m х 512 mEstimated longitudinal overlap 95%Estimated lateral overlap 30%

*GSD - ground sample distance

Digital terrain model and orthophoto were created after completionof aerial photography and airborne laser scanning (precision of1:1000 to the scale of topographic maps).To obtain a thermal orthophoto in the project coordinate system thefollowing set of input data was used:• Thermal data in internal camera format.• Combined GNSS and inertial data trajectories.• Timestamps for each thermal strip.• Orthophotomosaic (scale 1:000) created from the airborne pho-

tography data in the visible scale.• Offset values of the thermal camera’s position in relation to the

GNSS–antenna. • Thermal camera passport data: frame size, focus distance etc.Data processing was organized in the following sequence:• Converting thermal video to frames (thermogram).• EO computing using trajectories and timestamps for each thermo-

gram.• Thermal camera calibration (derivation of lens distortion and prin-

cipal point coordinates).

• Aerial triangulation — creation and adjustment of a photogram-metric network with the purpose of exterior orientation improve-ment. Visible range orthophoto was used as a control and checkpoint source for air triangulation.

• Transformation for the DTM. Producing thermal mosaic.• Thermal orthophoto accuracy was checked with field-surveyed

checkpoints.

Orthophoto creationThe creation of a thermal orthophoto was conducted for specificareas (urban territories, industrial grounds, artificial structures). Asnoted above, thermal camera, visible range camera and laser scan-ner with built-in precision positioning (INS\GPS) were firmly fixedonto one platform during the aerial survey. Thus obtained inertialnavigation measurements are equally applicable to all acquired data(laser scanning, aerial photography and thermal imaging mode).Using GPS-tags, i.e. the size of the frame, the original value of thefocal length and offset parameters of the thermal camera, the ther-mal images were synchronized with the trajectory of aerial frames,previously revised in the project coordinate system. As a result, theinitial values of thermal elements of interior orientation frame werecalculated for the calibration object. Using the previously createdorthophoto 1:1000 scale, the calibration facility value of the ther-mal interior orientation and lens distortion was calculated.

During the next stage of processing the triangulation process wasperformed. To do this, at least five tie points on each image wererecruited online in the areas of overlapping of thermal images. Usingorthophoto, 1:1000 scale reference points were identified andchipped in the areas of longitudinal and transverse overlap. Elementsof interior orientation of thermal images were obtained as a result

of improved values. Thermalimages were made using calcu-lated elements of exterior andinterior orientation and theorthotransformation of theseimages on the resulting DTMpoints of classified laser reflec-tions was completed. As a resultof this transformation, thermaldigital orthophotos with a GSD1.0 m in the project coordinatesystem were received.Control of the received thermalorthophoto was conducted as

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15Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

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Airborne survey methods (Laser Scanning, Aero photography, Thermal imaging)

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the final step. For this purpose additionalnoticeable points (no less than 1 point per10 images) were identified on visible rangeorthophotos and were used as checkpoints.RMS error of resulting discrepancies wasapproximately 1m while maximum errorwas about 3 meters.

ConclusionsWe may draw the following conclusionsfrom the above-described:• The FLIR SC7700 thermal camera opti-

mally integrates with the Riegl LMS-Q680iALS and DigiCam 60Mp digital photo-graphic camera.

• The FLIR SC7700 can be involved in car-rying out the aerial survey without addi-tional installation labour costs and finan-cial investments.

• The thermal imagery obtained with a FLIRSC7700 camera can be processed viausual photogrammetric methods (centralprojection).

• When combining aerial photography orairborne laser scanning with thermal sur-veying the internal thermal camera orien-tation values and geometrical parameter

of the lens can be calculated with a suffi-cient accuracy.

• The accuracy of thermal orthophoto is suit-able for further analysis at this locationusing large scales.

• Unlike thermal camera video footage, theuse of geo-referenced data opens up newpossibilities for accomplishing a wide

range of tasks (simultaneous interpretationand positioning of objects, vectorization,downloads and interactive use of the datain the GIS).

Natalia Kovach, Head of Geoinformation Technology DivisionNIPIStroyTEK, LLC, Research, Development and Design Institute for

Construction and Operation of Fuel and Energy Sector Enterprises

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Airborne survey methods (Laser Scanning, Aero photography, Thermal imaging)

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AR In a Geospatial Context

Augmented Reality Markup Augmented Reality (AR), overlaying the real world around a user with computer-generated informa-tion, has been a topic of great popular interest over the past few years. To ensure that users will havethe choice of platforms and applications they wish to use for AR, and to also ensure publishers of con-tent that they will be able to reach large target AR-enabled user audiences, standards are necessary.An example is ARML (Augmented Reality Markup Language) 2.0, which has recently been developedwithin the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

IntroductionAs the AR industry grew significantly from theend of the past decade, various mobile ARapplications have been developed. The twotypes of AR most commonly found today are:• Geospatial AR, meaning that georefer-

enced information about points of interestis projected onto the screen according tothe device’s current location, orientationand field of vision.

• Computer Vision-based AR that analyzesthe stream of images from the camera,detects patterns known by the system (suchas colors, edges and other unique featuresof the real world, markers or referenceimages) and projects (superimposes) infor-mation assigned by an AR content pub-lisher onto the pattern.

There are currently thousands of bespokeapplications with AR features that permit usersto experience the information about the realworld. The most widely used type of applica-tions for AR are so called AR Browsers. Asopposed to AR applications for a particularuse case, AR Browsers enable developers toaddress a variety of use cases by providinga content management and publishing plat-form.The feature set of the most popular ARBrowsers is similar, however, the absence ofstandards for data format and programminginterface for publishing AR content has meantthat, for maximum reach, developers mustprepare content and separately publish expe-riences that comply with the proprietary for-mats and interfaces of each AR Browser. Thisis precisely the same situation that existedwith Web browsers before the standardiza-tion of HTML.

ARML 2.0 – A brief IntroductionARML 2.0 is an OGC standard developed ina joint effort of AR Browser vendors and AR

content developers to bridge the gap betweenthe data formats of different AR Browsers andto allow content for AR to be accessible andused by multiple AR Browsers and AR imple-mentations. It is an eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML) grammar that enables adeveloper to describe virtual objects, theirappearance and their behavior in an ARscene. The standard targets both types of ARdescribed above, and builds upon a genericobject model, ensuring that future versions willbe able to support other types of AR (audio-based, haptic etc.).ARML 2.0’s predecessor, ARML 1.0, is a pro-prietary data format developed by the cre-ators of the Wikitude World Browser. ARML1.0 concepts served as a starting point forARML 2.0, but ARML 2.0 is not backwardscompatible with ARML 1.0.The real world objects that are observed usinggeospatial methods (GPS and compass) or inthe camera and augmented in the AR sceneare called Features. Features have one or

more Anchors that locate them in an AR scene.The following types of Anchors can be usedin ARML 2.0:• (Geo-) spatial Anchors describe the loca-

tion of a Feature using fixed coordinatessuch as the WGS84 latitude/longitudecoordinates provided by a GPS. Points,Lines and Polygons are allowed.

• Trackables describe the location of aFeature using tracked targets (unique char-acteristics of a reference image, a QRcode, marker, 3D model etc.). As soon asthe referenced Trackable is detected in thevideo stream delivered by the camera, theTrackable becomes the location of theFeature in the AR scene. Two typical exam-ples of Trackables are shown in Figure 1and Figure 2

• RelativeTo Anchors describe locations rela-tive to other Anchors or Trackables alreadylocated in the AR scene. This allows anentire scene to be constructed based sole-ly on the location of one particular object.

While Anchors describe the location,VisualAssets describe how the Featureappears in the AR scene. ARML 2.0 allowsboth 2D (HTML, Plain Text, Images etc.) and3D VisualAssets to represent an object in theAR scene.ARML 2.0 also defines ECMAScript bindingsto interact with objects in the AR scene andreact on user triggered events, such as clicksetc. In the remaining sections of this article,we focus on the geospatial components ofARML 2.0 as well as areas where conceptsof geospatial formats are adopted for usecases other than geospatial.

Representing GeospatialInformationWhen we (the OGC ARML StandardsWorking Group) developed ARML 2.0, wehad one clear use case in mind that was com-

18January/February 2013

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By Martin Lechner

Figure 1: A QR Code(Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a popular type of two-dimensional barcode.

Figure 2: The OGC Logo used as a reference image. As soon as thelogo appears in the camera, it is recognized, tracked and used as

Anchor for the Feature.

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mon to every major AR Browser used. Peoplewanted to augment a particular fixed locationon the earth. Typically, the content developerswould compile or download a long list of geo-referenced Points of Interest (POIs), for exam-ple all major tourist sights in a city, then uploadthe list via the content management system ofan AR Browser and expect the AR Browser torender a visual representation of these featureson the screen as soon as this particular posi-tion was in the user’s field of vision. The OGCKML Standard, the standard used in GoogleMaps and Google Earth, appeared to be agood start for this use case, as its major usecase was visualizing points on a map, whichis somewhat similar to the use case we had inmind. During our analysis of this standard,however, we discovered that KML was too tiedto map-based applications and the EarthBrowser use case, and did not allow enoughflexibility to meet the requirements of AR expe-riences. Luckily, KML uses the geometry modelof the ISO 19107 standard to representgeospatial information, which is the samegeometry model the OGC Geo graphy MarkupLanguage (GML) Encoding Standard uses.GML focusses on describing geometries, ratherthan using them in a certain context. So weanalyzed GML and decided to adopt the GMLgeometry representation.

Types of GeometriesThe current version of GML, GML 3.3,describes a wide variety of geometry ele-ments, from 0-dimensional and 1-dimensionalto 2-dimensional, with multiple concrete rep-resentations of those high level geometries.We decided that the high number of geome-tries would be too verbose in an AR context.A typical AR developer is not likely to requirethe complex geometries that are required incomplex Geographic Infor ma tion System(GIS) applications using the latest GML

improvements. In our analysis of existing AR-enabled applications, every application’sgeospatial use cases required only Points,Lines and Polygons (the major geometry typesin GML 1 and GML 2, as well as KML). Thisresulted in the following geometries being pro-vided in ARML 2.0:• Point: specifies a position by a single coor-

dinate tuple• LineString: is defined by two or more coor-

dinate tuples, with linear interpolationbetween them.

• Polygon: a planar object defined by anouter boundary and 0 or more innerboundaries. The boundaries are specifiedusing the exterior and interior elements.The boundaries, in turn, are defined byLinearRings (i.e. closed LineStrings).

The default coordinate system used in ARML2.0 is WGS84, as it is by far the most com-monly used coordinate system in AR Browsers.However, if required, other coordinate systemscan be used by specifying the EPSG code orOGC WKT (Well Known Text) to reference thecoordinate system. As indoor location coordi-nate systems for AR become established, thisflexibility will be important.In ARML 2.0 terms, the above geometriesdescribe the Anchors that are then augment-

ed with VisualAssets. A detailed explanationof VisualAsset types can be found in the ARMLSpecification in the url below.

Geometries to describe RelativeLocationsIn ARML 2.0, geometries are not only used todescribe geospatial constructs referenced inan absolute coordinate system; they are alsoused to describe locations relative to otherobjects.In AR, a physical object, like a printed mark-er or logo, might serve as a trigger to some-thing larger. A printed marker resting on atable, for example, might not just be used toput a virtual object on top of the marker.Instead, it could be used to construct an entirevirtual scene based just on the location of theparticular marker in the real world.Figure 3 shows an example of relative loca-tions. The marker on the table is located in afixed place on the table and is 10 centimeterswide and high. The dimensions of the tableare 1.5 meters long and 85 centimeters wide.The application will track the geometrical cen-ter of the marker (the intersection of the twodiagonals) whenever the marker is visible.Instead of projecting VisualAssets onto themarker, the marker is used to augment the

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19Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

Language 2.0

Figure 3: A QR code (10x10 centimeters) on atable top is used to track the table outline

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table top boundaries for example. To achievethis, a LineString is defined relative to themarker’s center, running all around the tabletop:

<gml:LineString gml:id=”outline”><gml:posList>0.05 -0.05 0 -0.8 -0.05 0 -

0.8 1.45 0 0.05 1.45 0 0.05 -0.050</gml:posList></gml:LineString>

The coordinates are specified in meters, withrespect to the coordinate system defined bythe marker. The origin of the coordinate sys-tem is the center of the marker, the x-axis ispointing right, the y-axis is pointing towardsthe top of the marker and the z-axis is point-ing up (out of the marker).The LineString starts at the bottom right cornerof the marker (0.05 meters to the right, 0.05centimeters towards the bottom and 0 metersabove the marker’s center), continues to thebottom left corner (0.8 meters left of the mark-er’s center), top left, top right and finally backto the bottom right corner.In the same way, the marker could be used toplace virtual objects on and even beyond the

table. For example, to reference the center ofthe table, the following snippet can be used:

<gml:Point gml:id=”center”><gml:pos>-0.375 0.7 0</gml:pos>

</gml:Point>

In this way, an entire scene with multipleobjects can be constructed by using just onemarker that serves as a referent for many rel-ative locations.

OutlookARML 2.0 is currently an OGC CandidateStandard. After comments received during thepublic comment phase, concluded December2 2012, have been addressed, the OGCmembership will vote to determine the adop-tion of the standard as an official OGC stan-dard. Both Wikitude and the Georgia Instituteof Technology, the vendors of two ARBrowsers, the Wikitude World Browser andthe Argon Browser, played a vital role in thespecification phase of ARML 2.0, whichensures that the standard will be adopted intheir applications. Others are expected to fol-low soon thereafter.

Building on existing OGC standards, howev-er, has provided ARML 2.0 with somethingmuch more important than rapid developmentand multiple early implementations:Scalability. OGC standards span the full spec-trum of geospatial technologies and applica-tion domains, a scope that includes everythingfrom sensor webs, text message encoded loca-tion, aviation information systems, and hydrol-ogy to GIS and Earth imaging. In addition,OGC standards are widely deployed through-out the global geospatial technology industry.This means that AR applications will be ableto link easily to existing National Spatial DataInfrastructures, customer databases, crowd-sourced street databases, cloud-based geo-processing services and hundreds of otherresources. ARML 2.0 is positioned to be thekey infrastructure element in the next, veryexciting, phase of AR growth.

Martin Lechner, Chief Technology Officer, Wikitude and Chair, ARML 2.0 Standards Working Group.

For more information, have a look at: www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/arml2.0swg

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Data Collecting using iPad and iPhone

Revisiting the North Carolina This article examines the post-industrial landscape of Rutherford County, North Carolina, primarilythrough artefacts connected to the Gold Rush of 1804 - 1828. Data was collected using an iPad, iPhone,Hedcam and DSLR camera. The examples outlined were captured with the Third Industrial Revolutionin mind (see GeoInformatics 7, Vol. 15: pp 32-34).

Rutherford County and RutherfordtonAmerica’s first Gold Rush occurred in North Carolina following thediscovery of a 17 pound nugget near Charlotte in 1799. From thatpoint, the Old North State remained at the centre of US gold pro-duction up to the start of the mining boom in California in 1849(see GeoInformatics 8, Vol. 13: pp 28 - 30). Rutherford County andCharlotte became the main areas where mining took place through-out this period - to the extent that evidence of stream panning andhard rock mining still show up as cultural and material artefacts onthe landscape. The town of Rutherfordton even monumentalised thisperiod of its history through the Bechtler Museum and Bechtler Mine,places that are maintained in order to pay homage to the maker ofthe first US $1 gold coin.

Quality assurance A jeweller and clock maker born in Germany, Christopher Bechtlermoved to North Carolina in 1830 from Philadelphia. He immediate-ly opened the Bechtler Private Mint in 1831 and capitalised on theneed for a gold standard in a region where gold was in plentifulsupply. Bechtler coins soon became the currency used for commercein North Carolina, with regular inspections from the US Governmentin Philadelphia ensuring that Bechtler himself maintained this stan-dard too. After a Government Mint opened in Charlotte (1835) theprivate mint eventually closed in 1850, though its demise still cameafter Bechtler himself died from suspected mercury poisoning in1841. A Bechtler $1 coin is currently worth $3000. The pistol dis-cussed later in this article has been valued at $50,000.

Digital care in the communityThe workflow adopted over a four day period focused on publicengagement. A series of presentations were given outlining previousmid-range TLS, photogrammetric and image based examples. Theseacted as a visual means through which basic principle of capturecould be taught, low cost ways of obtaining 3D information withconsumer products introduced and concepts promoting data retrievalin the long term instilled. Though ideas pertaining to multidimension-ality, Empirical Provenance and modes of production were includ-ed, everyday examples were used to translate them to a generalaudience.

22January/February 2013

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By Adam P. Spring

360º panorama of the mine entrance produced in poor light using an iPhone and the free Photosynth app.

The Bechtler Pistol was reproduced from 32 images.

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Translated examplesSpindale Family Medical Practice and Biscuit the dog were used asthe translated examples. The first provided a real world scenario forconducting a basic building survey with an iPad equipped withHunter Theodolite Pro - in part this was aided by damage to thefacade caused by Hurricane Sandy. Hedcam equipped Biscuit, onthe other hand, happily demonstrated how digital workflows arechallenging notions of perspective. Though the latter exercise addeda cuddly dimension to teaching, Hedcam creator, Carl Long, subse-quently pointed out the compact and durable HD camera is beingused on security dogs as part of surveillance strategies. The Spindalecomponent of the fieldwork informed the 360º panoramas andGNSS mapping work carried out at the Bechtler Mine - a rareinstance of workings being close enough to the surface to actuallyget a GPS signal.

Digital prospection exerciseAll Bechtler artefacts were documented using a camera based work-flow. Hardware included an iPhone, iPad, Canon 60D DSLR cam-era and an imaging rig that comprised of patio furniture, a surgicallamp, snooker ball and a $30 dollar tripod. Software was a mix ofopen source and proprietary programs that included Photosynth,PTGui, 123DCatch, Adam Technology 3DM Analyst Suite, RTIBuilderand RTIViewer. Data capture was focused around the production of360º panoramas, 3D Imaging through photogrammetry and the col-lection of surface reflectance information.

Bechtler Pistol The Bechtler Pistol was reproduced with rapid prototyping in mind.Normally under lock and key in a bank vault, the $50,000 artefactnow provides a rare physical insight into what the Bechtler familydid after the private mint closed. Currently under the guardianshipof North Carolina historian, Robin Lattimore, previous attempts atreproducing the pistol included a suggested trip to China, a processthat would have involved it being disassembled, copied, reassem-bled and sent back. A 3D replica based off the point cloud andmesh generated will now act as the affordable solution the museum

was looking for. In this case, a Polynomial Texture Map (PTM) wasproduced to additionally highlight key surface information.

Interactive relightingTom Malzbender and Dan Gelb of HP Vista Labs had refined thePTM process by 2001. Originally developed as an extension to tex-ture mapping in computer graphic led processes like 3D video gam-ing, the technique is now used in animations produced by studioslike Pixar. Developed by Disney Pixar’s Ed Catmull in the 1970s,texture maps contain colour information collected independently oflighting, so often, when relighting texture maps, the results are notconvincing. A PTM denotes colour and intensity changes on a sur-face as a function of lighting direction.

Application and camera calibrationAlong with the reflective properties of a surface, Polynomial TextureMaps require the light conditions of the surrounding environment tobe considered. Application includes a camera left in a fixed posi-tion (this includes fixed focus of the camera lens), as well as multipleimage captures with a moving, even domed distribution of light usingan external light source. Both are crucial to producing good results.It is important to calibrate the camera’s light settings to be totallydependent on the external light source - minimising the amount ofdiffuse or scattered light taken in a photo. In addition to creating amean light value for the PTM, reduction of scattered light allows forspecular or refined light to be extracted, thus giving an additionalsurface value that is mirror perfect, enhancing features not visible tothe human eye.

SummaryThe use of consumer based products was vital to the data captureprocess. It allowed extra work to be achieved in a small window oftime and taught the Rutherfordton community how to think abouttheir surroundings digitally. They ended up being able to considerheritage as part of digital geodetic processes. Smart technologiesare reaching a stage where they can be used for applications wherethe parameters of use are more rigidly defined. Results were gener-ated that will be used to enhance and support future work.

Links:http://video.unctv.org/program/gold-fever-and-bechtler-mint

www.hedcamz.comhttp://photosynth.net

www.ptgui.comwww.adamtech.com.au

http://culturalheritageimaging.org/What_We_Offer/Downloads

23Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

a Gold Rush

The first $1 gold coin produced in the US is now worth $3000 per coin.

If a glossy black is included to track theequidistance light source, raking light can

show so much more.

A r t i c l e

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25January/February 2013

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What to use…

GNSS UpdateAfter years of delay it is finally happening; the start of the operational phase of Galileo. On October 12thanother two Galileo In Orbit Validation satellites were successfully launched from Kourou (French Guyana).In December they were declared operational. These two satellites are transmitting on the E1, E5 and E6signals. The E1 (open) signal is, however, different from the previous In Orbit Validation satellites.

With this launch, users can start test-ing their Galileo receivers, eventhough it will be for just a few short

moments when all four are in view. This meansthat users are still a long way from using Galileoon a daily basis. With three dual launchesplanned for 2013, plus two dual launches andone four-satellite launch for 2014, a minimumof 18 satellites could be feasible by 2014.Whether this is realistic remains to be seen. AnEC official has already stated that operationalcapability is considering having 12 satellites forthe civil Open Service in 2014 (over Europe).

CompassAnother two BeiDou-2 / Compass satellites werelaunched on September 18th. This brings thetotal number of satellites to 11; only three shy ofregional operations. This should be good newsfor Chinese GNSS users. Western users willmost likely start to profit from Compass at a laterdate. They will probably have to buy Chineseequipment to make full use of Compass as, todate, no complete Interface Control Document(ICD) has been made public outside China. Thismakes it difficult for system developers outsideof China to create fully compatible devices.

In 2007 researchers from Stanford Universityreverse engineered the Compass signals andpublished their results. On December 27th 2011

a ‘Test Version’ of theICD was released bythe Chinese Govern -ment giving very little further information thanthat which was already available. EarlyDecember there was an unofficial rumour stat-ing that the document would be released beforethe end of December 2012. At the time of goingto press the ICD had still not been released.

All in all the Chinese government has not beenvery forthcoming with information regardingCompass. The only result seen to date is the dis-pute between the EU and China over the use ofthe frequency spectrum. The dispute was sup-posedly discussed during a broad EU-Chinasummit in September and then discussed againin December 2012. To date there is no furtherinformation on the outcome of that discussion.

GPSOn October 4th the third IIF satellite waslaunched. All the satellite’s frequencies wereswitched on a week later. The satellite itself wasset to ‘unhealthy’ until it reached its final slot (1of Plane A) on December 5th. The launch of thissatellite means that a third satellite with the newcivilian L5 signal is available. For full use, how-ever, a minimum of four satellites will be requiredat any one time. Based on the current launchrate (3 satellites in 2 years), this situation will

probably not be realized for a fewyears. The third GPS generation (GPS III) isonce again one (small) step closerwith the completion of the vacuumtesting for the navigation payload ofthe so-called Non-Flight SatelliteTestbed (GNST). Although the namesounds impressive, this is still just aprototype that will never see the(near) vacuum of outer space.

Augmentation SystemsOn December 13th the second Russian SBASsatellite (Luchs-5B) arrived at its geostationaryposition. The satellite is part of the RussianSystem for Differential Correction andMonitoring (SDCM) which sends corrections forGPS measurements in a similar fashion toWAAS for the USA and EGNOS for Europe.

These SBAS systems are primarily developedfor the safety of aircraft navigation but are alsoused, for example, for car navigation. Shippinghas, to date, used dedicated beacons in theMedium Frequency (MF) band set up near har-bours. These so-called IALA beacons requiretheir own maintenance. Earlier this year a testwith the Belgian research vessel ‘Belgica’ wasperformed to examine the usability of EGNOSfor vessel navigation. In addition to EGNOSsignals, the use of Galileo signals was also test-ed. During the tests the effect of multi-path, fromboth the sea as well as from harbour structuresand radar systems, was researched.

Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk [email protected] is a free-lance writer and trainer in the fields of positioning and hydrography.

By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

Launch of two Galileo IOV satellites (source: www.esa.int)

Galileo IOV satellites on theAriane rocket (source:

RV Belgica used for Egnos and Galileo testing (source: www.esa.int)

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With Particular Reference to the U.K.

Commercial Operation of Lightweight U Over the last few years, the commercial operation of lightweight UAVs has become firmly establishedin the U.K. This article first outlines the regulatory and operational environment that has allowed thisdevelopment to take place. It then goes on to describe the different types of platform and camera thatare being used in the U.K. for a variety of imaging and mapping tasks based on the use of aerial photography acquired by UAVs. After a discussion of the various photogrammetric approaches thathave been implemented to handle and process this type of photography in the U.K., the article concludes with a description of the imaging and mapping activities that are currently being under -taken by a representative group of UAV service providers in the U.K..

I – IntroductionIt has been very interesting to observe the large number of paperson imaging and mapping from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plat-forms that have been published recently in conference proceedingsand academic journals. For many academic researchers, it is cur-rently regarded as a “hot” topic. However, in the opinion of the pre-sent author, what appears to be missing from many of these publi-cations and presentations is any reference to the existing routinecommercial operation of UAVs for aerial imaging and mapping,Which is all the more unusual, given that there has been a very sub-stantial activity in this field for quite a number of years in several ofthe more highly developed countries in Europe.

By contrast with the situation in the U.S.A. - where there has beenuntil now an almost complete embargo by the Federal AviationAuthority (FAA) on authorizing commercial UAV flights – the situa-

tion in certain European countries is rather different, with a sub-stantial cooperation between (i) the constructors and commercialoperators of UAVs on the one hand; and (ii) the appropriate civilaviation regulatory authorities that are responsible for the civilianuse of airspace. This has resulted in the formation of policies andthe development of regulations that permit the commercial operationof UAVs for the acquisition of aerial photography, albeit under astrictly controlled regime. These regulations vary somewhat betweenthe different European countries. This article limits itself to consider-ing the situation within the U.K. in the context of lightweight (under7 kg) non-military UAVs. The precise definition of “lightweight” willof course differ from one country to another; current European pro-posals are to define it as being under 5 kg.

II – Operational EnvironmentThe overall policy of the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) governing the operation of lightweight UAVs is set out in a paper by Haddon and Whittaker which can be downloaded from the Internet using the following URL –www.caa.co.uk/docs/1995/srg_str_00002-01-180604.pdf. A fur-ther document entitled “Unmanned Aircraft SystemOperations in UK Airspace” [CAP 722] provides generalguidance to the certification and operation of UAVs in the UK’sairspace. This document is available at www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP722.pdf

(a) Regulation of UAV FlightsWithin the U.K., the detailed regulation of flights by lightweight UAVsthat are being undertaken for commercial aerial photography and theactual permission to fly is given by the Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) in Articles 166(5) and 167(1) of the UK’s Air NavigationOrder [CAP 393] that was published in 2009. These set out in detailthe specific conditions under which these flights can be made. In verybroad terms, permission for flights is granted subject to the UAV notbeing flown (i) at altitudes greater than 400 feet (120 m) above groundlevel; (ii) beyond a maximum range of 500 m or out of visual range;and (iii) over or within 150m of an organised open-air assembly ofmore than 1,000 people. (iv) Besides which, the UAV must not beflown over or within 50m of any person not having knowledge of ornot having been warned of the UAV flight. This is reduced to 30m forthe take-off and landing of the aircraft. (v) Needless to say, no opera-

28January/February 2013

A r t i c l e

By Gordon Petrie

Fig. 1 – A Schiebel Camcopter UAV fitted with a belly pod containing a RIEGL VQ-820-GU bathymetric laser scanning system. (Source: RIEGL)

Fig. 2 – A SwissDrones Waran TC-1235 UAV fitted with a Leica Geosystems RCD30 medium-format digitalcamera system. (Source: Leica Geosystems)

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tor is allowed to fly a UAV in various restricted areas without havingfirst obtained permission from the CAA. (vi) Furthermore UAV flightsover congested (e.g. urban) areas are very highly restricted and alsorequire prior permission to be obtained from the CAA. The full text ofthe Air Navigation Order [CAP 393} is available from the CAA Website using the following URL – www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP393.pdf.The specific Articles 166 and 167 that apply to small unmanned air-craft are contained on pages 5 and 6 of Section 1, Part 22 of thisextensive (480 page) document.

(b) UAV AirworthinessWithin the U.K., the “Light UAS Scheme” (LUASS) – where UASis an acronym for Unmanned Aerial Systems – covers (i) the design,construction (including the functionality of embedded FCS software),airworthiness and operation of UAVs; (ii) pilot/crew qualifications;and (iii) an exemption or permission to operate a UAV in the UK’sairspace. For detailed information, copies of the LUASS Guide canbe downloaded from the Web site of the European UnmannedSystems Centre (EuroUSC) – which is the organisation that isauthorized by the CAA to issue “Design & Construction Certificates(of Airworthiness)” for those lightweight UAVs that are being flown

in the U.K. and in those territories that fall under the remit of theU.K.’s CAA. See the following document that is available via theInternet - http://eurousc.com/documents/LUASS_Brochure_2010_web_lck.pdf.

(c) Pilot & Crew QualificationsThe EuroUSC organisation also manages and offers courses andexaminations for the award of the generic Basic National UASCertificate (BNUC), which is the CAA’s approved Pilot/CrewQualification for operating lightweight UAVs. There are two levelsof this certificate. (i) The BNUC-S (Level 1), which was introducedin April 2010, is aimed at the operation of lightweight UAV aircraftbelow 20 kg. (ii) The BNUC (Level 2), which was introduced in2008, is aimed at the operation of larger UAVs between 20 and150 kg in weight. In practice, if a commercial operator of UAVs islooking for insurance then, almost certainly, there will be the pre-requisites of (i) obtaining a permit to fly; then (ii) ensuring that theUAV aircraft has been certified; and (iii) that a pilot with the appro-priate BNUC qualification is being employed to fly the aircraft.

(d) Commercial Operators of UAVsNotwithstanding the various regulatory requirements and restrictionsthat have been outlined above, numerous commercial operators oflightweight powered UAVs are already offering aerial photographicand imaging services in the U.K. These can conveniently be dividedinto (i) those operating fixed-wing UAVs; and (ii) those utilizingrotary-wing UAVs. There are at least 19 companies in the U.K.operating commercial airborne imaging services using fixed-wingUAVs and more than 50 companies operating rotary-wing (mini-heli-copter) UAVs. Links to the Web sites of all of these individual U.K.companies are given within my Web Links Database –Geoinformatics. Please see the links that are given within theappropriate categories – (i) www.weblinks.spakka.net/db/100for the fixed-wing UAV operators; and (ii) www.weblinks.spakka.net/db/127 for the rotary-wing UAV operators. Of course, there maywell be still more companies that are operating UAVs on a commer-cial basis in the U.K. that are not known to the present author.

III – UAV PlatformsIn very broad terms, and leaving aside powered airships, blimpsand parafoils and un-powered tethered kites and balloons then, as

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29Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

t UAVs for Aerial Imaging & Mapping

Fig. 3 – The swinglet CAM flying-wing UAV, together with its carrying case and the laptop computer that isused to control the flight operations of the UAV and to process the acquired data. (Source: senseFly)

Fig. 4 – The SmartOne flying-wingUAV. (Source: SmartPlanes)

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noted above, powered UAV platforms based on airframes can besub-divided into two main categories – (a) fixed-wing; and (b) rotary-wing.

(a) Fixed-Wing Platforms Fixed-wing UAVs are very familiar from media reports on thevaried activities of large military drones such as the Predator andGlobal Hawk that are equipped with powerful engines. However,very lightweight UAVs lie at the other end of the UAV spectrum interms of their size and power. Viewing them purely from the map-ping standpoint, electrically-powered fixed-wing UAVs are the typethat is of most interest. They provide reasonably stable platformsand modern examples are relatively easy to control during theautonomous flights that need to be undertaken to cover the terrainin a systematic manner for mapping purposes. However they doneed to fly forward continuously in order to generate enough lift totake off and to remain in flight and they need space in which to turnand to land.

(b) Rotary-wing PlatformsBy contrast, rotary-wing aircraft are much less stable and areoften more difficult to control during flight. However they can hoverover a fixed position and at a given height and they can fly vertical-ly – which is essential in certain types of monitoring activity and inthe acquisition of panoramic photographic coverage of an areaaround a given position. Furthermore they can take-off and land ina very small space and at a very specific location. Indeed a numberof UAV systems using rotary-wing aircraft have been developedspecifically for mapping purposes by partnerships comprising anaircraft manufacturer and a mapping systems supplier.

An example is the Schiebel Camcopter S-100 UAV with its rotaryengine, which has been equipped witha RIEGL CP-820-GU bathymetric laserscanner [Fig. 1] and (quite separately)with the Quest Innovations Condor-1000 MS5 multi-spectral camera.Another example is the AeroscoutScout B1-100 UAV using an air-cooled gasoline engine which hasbeen fitted with a RIEGL LMS-Q160laser scanner. Still another example isthe SwissDrones Waran TC-1235UAV with its twin boxer motor, whichhas been equipped with a Leica

Geosystems RCD30 medium-format digital camera [Fig. 2].However, these are comparatively large UAVs driven by mechanicalmotors, which, together with their sensors, weigh 130 kg (Schiebel),60 kg (Aeroscout) and 50 kg (SwissDrones) respectively. Thus theydo not fall into the very lightweight category that is being discussedhere. Furthermore, in terms of cost, they also fall into a quite differ-ent category as compared with the lightweight UAVs and systemsthat are being covered in this article. None of these much largersystems are in current commercial operation within the U.K.

IIIA – Lightweight Fixed-Wing UAVsWith regard to those fixed-wing aircraft that do fall into the class oflightweight UAVs, there are essentially two main types of airframeto be considered – (a) those with a flying wing design with notail; and (b) those with a more conventional design comprising afuselage, wings, a fin and a tail plane, similar to that of a conven-tional commercial aircraft, but hugely scaled-down in size.

(a) Flying Wing DesignsThis type of UAV aircraft has come into fairly widespread use forcommercial airborne imaging and mapping within Europe in theform of the Trimble Gatewing X100 (from Belgium); the senseFlyswinglet CAM (from Switzerland) [Fig. 3]; and the SmartPlanesSmartOne (from Sweden) [Fig. 4]. Each of these electrically-pow-ered aircraft features a flying wing with a very small fin (or evelon)at each end of the wing. The wing spans of these three examplesare 80 cm (swinglet CAM); 1 m (Gatewing X100); and 1.2 m(SmartOne) respectively. [N.B. The senseFly company announced atIntergeo 2012 that it will introduce its new eBee flying-wing UAVwith a 1m wing span at the beginning of 2013.]. Examples of allthree of these flying wing aircraft are in operation in the U.K. Theyinclude several examples of the senseFly swinglet CAM. These are

being used in the commercial mappingoperations that are being carried outby Bluesky International Ltd.; TheGeoinformation Group; McKenzieGeospatial Surveys; Digital Mapping& Survey; exeGesIS Spatial DataManagement Ltd.; Six-West Ltd.;Walker Ellis Associates; and the largeCostain engineering and constructioncompany – as well as the presentauthor’s own University department!A short minimal fuselage is incorporat-ed into the wings of all of these vari-

30January/February 2013

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Fig. 6 – An example of the MAVinci Sirius UAV. (Source: Grupoacre)

Fig. 5 – (a) An early model in the series of Quest Manta 300 UAV flying wing aircraft with the fins (vertical control surfaces) mounted part-way along the wings.(b) A production batch of the later models of the Quest UAVaircraft with the elevons mounted at the wing tips. Nigel King, the head of QuestUAV Ltd., is the person in the white shirt at the far right of this photo. (Source: QuestUAV).

[a] [b]

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ous flying wing aircraft in order to accommodate the electric motor,battery, camera, radio link and GPS/IMU and/or autopilot unit. Allthree of those flying-wing aircraft mentioned above use electro-motorsdriving a pusher propeller for their forward flight. However the pay-loads of these three UAVs are relatively limited. In order to carry anincreased payload such as a second camera, some of the UAV oper-ators in the U.K. have designed and built their own flying wing UAVaircraft. Examples are the Quest 100, 200 and 300 UAV aircraft[Fig. 5] that have been constructed by QuestUAV Ltd. with wingspans of 1.5 m and 2.1 m. Another example is the G2 UAV aircraftof Callen-Lenz [Fig. 24 (a)] with a wing span of 2.0 m and a pay-load of 2 kg. In this respect, these aircraft are considerably largerin size than the designs from the three non-U.K. European suppliersmentioned above. So far, the Quest flying wing aircraft have mainlybeen purchased by various universities and research agencies, bothin the U.K. (including Northumbria, Newcastle, Leeds, Exeter andStirling Universities) and in Europe (in Austria and Finland). TheCallen-Lenz G2 aircraft have been used mainly to carry out in-houseprojects.

(b) Conventional Fuselage DesignsThree representative examples of this alternative type of fixed-wingdesign that are being used for airborne imaging and mapping inEurope are the MAVinci Sirius (from Germany); the TriggerComposites Pteryx (from Poland); and the CropCam UAV (fromCanada) with wing spans of 1.6 m; 2.8 m and 2.4 m respectivelyand fuselage lengths of 1.2 m, 1.4 m and 1.2 m respectively. TheCropCam aircraft is essentially a powered version of a model

sailplane. However, there areonly a very few examples ofthese aircraft that are opera-tional in the U.K. Those that areknown to the present writerinclude a single MAVinci Siriusaircraft [Fig. 6] and a singleCropCam. However, again various other similar aircraft have beenproduced in-house by service providers in the U.K. An example isthe LLEO Maja UAV [Fig. 7] built by the G2way company, whichis based in Nottingham in the East Midlands of England. Again themotivation for this development is to be able to carry a greater pay-load such as the multiple cameras that are required for multi-spectralphotography.

III B – Lightweight Rotary-Wing UAVsThere are a large number of lightweight rotary-wing UAVs in use inthe U.K. (a) Quite a number of these are of the single-rotor type,similar to, but heavily scaled-down models of conventional heli-copters. In this account, they will be grouped together with thosehaving coaxial-rotors featuring two contra-rotating rotors that aremounted one above the other on the same axis. (b) However manyof those rotary-wing UAVs that are being used in the area of imag-ing and mapping in the U.K. are of the multi-rotor helicopter typefeaturing three or more rotors mounted on separate axes.

(a) Single-Rotor & Coaxial-Rotor UAVsIn general terms, at least within the U.K, these types of UAV are invery widespread use, but mostly for aerobatics and other recreation-al activities, flown by radio-controlled model helicopter hobbyists.However a number are in use for the acquisition of aerial photogra-phy. Those single-rotor helicopter UAVs that appear to get most usein the airborne imaging area within the U.K. are the Joker modelsthat are manufactured by the German Minicopter company andvarious models from Mikado [Fig. 8] and Vario, also based inGermany. There are further examples of the single-rotor UAVs thathave been built by Align-Trex in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Chinaand are being used for airborne digital data acquisition in the U.K.Almost all of these lightweight single-rotor UAV aircraft are poweredby electric motors. However one or two are powered by petrolengines. Usually these are being employed to carry the heavierequipment required for professional filming operations rather thanthe digital cameras that are being used to acquire the “still” frameimages required for mapping purposes.

The majority of the single-rotor UAVs that are being utilized for theacquisition of oblique and panoramic aerial photography in the U.K.are doing so for publicity, marketing & public relation purposes; forcoverage of sports events; and for use by estate and commercialproperty agents and by building contractors (to assess progress oncontracts). For these applications, the hovering capability of the heli-copter is really useful. However it is interesting to note that a num-ber of the companies in the U.K. that are engaged in this type ofactivity with their UAVs also operate ground-based pole camerasequipped with telescopic masts that are mounted on vehicles, trail-

A r t i c l e

Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

Fig. 7 – A LLEO Maja UAV that has been fitted with visible & IR cameras. (Source: G2way)

Fig. 8 – A Mikado Logo 600SE single-rotor UAV with its Photoship One three-axes stabilized camera mountthat is being operated by sUAVe Aerial Photographers. (Source: Jed Servo)

Fig. 9 – Very tall telescopic masts (up to 100 ft[30 m] in height) equipped with pan-and-tilt

cameras can be mounted on a trailer that, in thiscase, is being towed by a four-wheel drive vehi-

cle. (Source: Cloud 9 Photography)

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ers [Fig. 9] or tripods for use in those areas where the use of UAVsis either forbidden or impractical. There are over 100 commercialoperators of pole cameras in the U.K. Only a certain relatively smallnumber of these operate both a UAV and a pole camera.

(b) Multi-Rotor Helicopter UAVsBy contrast with the single-rotor type, a multi-rotor mini-helicopterUAV requires no cyclic or collective pitch control. Thus it can havesimpler control mechanisms and it supplements these with the addi-tional electronic stability augmentation components that are requiredfor stable flight. The aircraft will still be highly manoeuvrable withthe potential to hover and to take off, fly, and land in small areas.Because of these characteristics and their capability to accommo-date heavier payloads, multi-rotor UAVs are being used ever morewidely by commercial companies in the U.K. for imaging purposes.Nevertheless many of them are still being used mainly to acquireoblique aerial photos for pictorial purposes – again for use by realestate and property marketing companies and for environmentalmonitoring purposes – but also for infrastructure, industrial or build-ing inspection, rather than mapping applications. However thereare a small number that are equipped with GPS/IMU sub-systemsand suitable autopilots that are capable of autonomous flights in thegrid pattern that is required to cover the ground in a systematic man-ner so that the resulting aerial photography can be used for map-ping applications.

The commonly used examples of those multi-rotor UAVs that arebeing used in the imaging and mapping field in the U.K. again comemainly from German suppliers – from the Aibotix, AirRobot,Ascending Technologies; HiSystems (MikroKopter) and

Microdrones companies. For example, Microdrones MD4 (four-rotor) UAVs are in use by the Bonnington Aerial Surveys, MW PowerSystems, Skydrones and Skylens companies. The larger Falcon-8octocopter [Fig. 10] from Ascending Technologies is in use by theCyberhawk Innovations, Flying Scotscam and Skylens companies.Also the Draganfly company from Canada and the DJIInnovations and XAircraft companies from Hong Kong andSouth China have supplied multi-rotor (six- and eight-rotor) UAVs tovarious operating companies here in the U.K. So has theDroidworx company from New Zealand – though this supply oftentakes the form of the main airframe, the stabilized camera mountand the booms that support the electric motors and rotors: the air-craft electronics appear to come mainly from MikroKopter [Fig. 11].Yet another supplier is Freefly Systems from the U.S.A. with itsCinestar-8 UAV. Within this overall class of lightweight UAVs that isthe subject of this article, quite a number of these eight-rotor UAVsare often classified as being “heavy-lift” UAVs – meaning that theycan carry payloads of 2.5 to 4 kg, rather than the 1 to 1.5 kg whichis typical of the four-rotor models!

IV – CamerasThere are very many issues regarding the digital frame cam-eras that can be deployed on lightweight UAVs. They include (i)those of the camera weight relative to the available UAV payload;(ii) the very small formats of the camera images; (iii) the numerousnon-metric characteristics of the cameras; (iv) the need for very shortexposure times to help combat the effects of platform instability; and(v) the requirements for high framing rates arising from the speed ofthe UAV platform over the ground from a very low altitude and thevery large longitudinal and lateral overlaps that need to be employedfor mapping purposes; etc. So much so, that a complete paper couldbe devoted to addressing these issues. However, sticking to the sub-ject of this article that is concerned with commercial usage of UAVswithin the U.K., the cameras that are currently in use range fromlightweight consumer models (weighing as little as 150 grams and

32January/February 2013

Fig. 11 – A Droidworx octocopter UAV equipped with a gyro-stabilized camera mount and camera. (Source: Flying Eye UK)

Fig. 10 – An Ascending Technologies Falcon-8 multi-rotor UAV equipped with a Panasonic Lumix camera.(Source: Cyberhawk Innovations)

Fig. 12 – A Canon IXUScamera mounted on a

swinglet CAM UAV – thesilver box at the nose ofthe aircraft is the lithium

polymer battery.(Source: senseFly)

A r t i c l e

Fig. 13 – A Canon EOS 5D camera mounted underneath a rotary-wing UAV (Source: Eyera)

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costing £200) at the low end of the cost scale to the much moreexpensive (£2,000+), more capable and much heavier professionalsmall-format cameras that are already familiar to the photogrammet-ric mapping community from their use on manned light aircraft.

Starting with the consumer-level cameras, in the case of thosethat are in use in the fixed-wing UAV aircraft mentioned above,both the swinglet Cam and Smart One flying-wing aircraft utilizecertain models in the Canon IXUS range as standard [Fig. 12]. Theyare equipped with lenses having a focal length of circa f = 25mmand generate colour images that are 10 to 12 Megapixels in size.The Gatewing X-100 utilizes the Ricoh GRD IV compact camerawhich has a quite similar specification. In the case of many of thelightweight rotary-wing UAVs that are operational in the U.K,the GoPro Hero 2 camera with its 12 Megapixel format is inwidespread use, as are various models in the Panasonic Lumixrange, again generating images with similar (10 to 12 Megapixel)format sizes. Going to the other end of the price and weight scale,the most commonly used professional-level camera on UAVs inthe U.K. appears to be the Canon EOS 5D [Fig. 13] in its variousMk I (12 Megapixel), Mk II (21.1 Megapixel) and Mk III (22.3Megapixel) forms. Examples of these are in use with the Arc-Video;Flying Fern Films; Flying Video/ Skylens; Helicam Media; High Spy;Horizon AP; Microdrones (U.K.); sUAVe Aerial Photographers andUpper Cut Productions companies. Some other users employ theSony NEX-7 (with its 24.3 Megapixel image). At the intermedi-

ate-level, the Canon EOS 7D and 550D models and the SonyNEX-5N appear to be in fairly widespread use. It goes without say-ing that there are many other similar cameras from other manufac-turers that are being used in smaller numbers.

Besides these standard digital frame cameras that are generatingcolour or false-colour images, consideration needs to be given toother more specialized types of airborne camera. An inhibiting fac-tor in the case of thermal-IR cameras is that, given the embargoon UAVs being operated over urban areas in the U.K., they cannotbe used for urban heat loss surveys. Nevertheless there are a fewoperators of UAV aircraft in the U.K. who are utilizing thermal-IRcameras on other applications. An example is that flown byOvershoot Photos which utilizes a FLIR Tau 320 model mounted ona Draganflyer X4 UAV [Fig. 14] that is generating images that are320 x 256 pixels in size. Similarly there are also a few operatorsof multi-spectral cameras in the U.K. In the case of QuestUAV,the company can operate a twin camera unit on its Quest 300 fly-ing-wing aircraft with both cameras exposing their images simulta-neously. The one camera produces a colour RGB image, while theother generates an image in the near-IR (NIR) part of the spectrum.To obtain four-channel data, the separate images from the red, greenand blue channels of the first camera are combined with the imagedata from the near-IR camera. From this data, the NormalizedDifference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values can be derived forthe vegetated areas that are present on the ground. QuestUAV hasalso fitted a Tetracam six-channel Mini-MCA (Multi-Camera Array)multi-spectral camera [Fig. 15 (a)] to one of its Quest 300 UAV air-craft. Other operators have also fitted this camera to their multi-rotorUAVs [Fig. 15 (b)].

V – Photogrammetric Data ProcessingIn broad terms, the well-known and well-established digital pho-togrammetric workstations (DPWs) from the mainstream pho-togrammetric system suppliers such as the Hexagon group of com-panies – Leica Geosystems, Intergraph and ERDAS – (with their LPS& ImageStation systems), BAE Systems (with its SOCET GXP prod-uct) and Trimble/INPHO are well able to handle the multiple frameimages acquired by UAVs. Within this particular context, and givingthe viewpoint of another of these major system suppliers, it is inter-esting to note the remarks accompanying the recently introducedversion of the well-established PHOTOMOD DPW software from theRussian Racurs company. In this account, the company has

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33Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

Fig. 14 – A FLIR Tau 320 thermal-IR camera mounted on a Draganflyer X4 UAV. (Source: Draganfly Innovations]

Fig. 15 – (a) This Quest 300 flying-wing UAV is shown together with its Tetracam Mini-MCA six-channel multi-spectral camera. (Source: QuestUAV Ltd.)(b) This Tetracam Mini-MCA camera is mounted on a Microdrones MD4-1000 quadcopter UAV. (Source: Microdrones)

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observed that “certain features of UAV aerial photographic datapose serious problems for photogrammetric processing. They include(i) the low quality of the images; (ii) the low accuracy of the on-board GPS/IMU data; (iii) the use of uncalibrated consumer cam-eras; and (iv) the problems arising from the instability of the flight.All of this has required the addition of special tools to the PHOTO-MOD system to neutralize these disadvantages and to obtain high-quality deliverables.” Similarly, a version of yet another well-knownand established photogrammetric software package – EnsoMOSAICfrom MosaicMill in Finland [Fig. 16] – has been developed specifi-cally to handle UAV imagery.

However, turning next to the rather different viewpoint of some(though not all) of the UAV aerial photographic operators in the U.K.– many of which are relatively small start-up companies with lowcapitalization – these sophisticated and highly capable mainstreamDPWs are regarded by these U.K. operators as being rather tooexpensive and requiring too much knowledge and experience ofphotogrammetry to be utilized by them for the subsequent imagedata processing. Thus the approach that has been followed by theseoperators is to simply arrange to have this photogammetric process-ing work outsourced to external service providers who have therequired expertise. Thus the photogrammetric data processing ofsome of this UAV aerial photography has been outsourced to cer-tain companies in India which already provide photogrammetricprocessing services at a relatively low cost to a number of the majorU.K. commercial mapping companies.

Alternatively the photogrammetric processing work is being carriedout by companies that have been set up expressly to cater for thismarket. An example of this latter approach is that followed by thePix4D company based in Switzerland – which, along with its fel-low Swiss company, senseFly, has recently received extensiveinvestment and support funding from the French Parrot Group.The Pix4D company has developed its Pix4UAV photogrammetricsoftware package with an emphasis on automated DEM andorthophoto production. The Pix4D package is available either (i) asa processing service (called Pix4UAV Cloud), which is carried outby Pix4D; or (ii) as licensed software (called Pix4UAV Desktop) foruse by the UAV operating companies [Fig. 17]. The processing ser-

34January/February 2013

Fig. 16 – (a) The target providedby MosaicMill for the frequent cali-bration that is required for unsta-ble small-format camera systems,such as the compact cameras car-ried by lightweight UAVs. (Source:MosaicMill)(b) The display of an EnsoMosaicDPW showing the ortho-mosaicingoperation that is being undertakenon a block of UAV aerial photogra-phy. (Source: TerraPan Labs)

Fig. 17 - This orthophoto mosaic has been processed using Pix4D software. It took 746 photos (with 80%longitudinal overlap and 70% lateral overlap) to make this mosaic which covers an area of 2.2 x 2.2 km.

(Source: Pteryx)

Fig. 18 – This perspective view of Clifford’s Tower, York has been generated using the Agisoft Photoscansoftware, based on the DTM and image data acquired by the Align UAV of sUAVe Aerial Photographers.

(Source: sUAVe Aerial Photographers)

Fig. 19 – The generation of the3D model of a specific feature orobject often requires the acquisi-tion of multiple, overlapping pho-tographs from the UAV platform ina circular configuration as input tothe modelling software. (Source:M.J. Westoby)

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vice is available either on a subscription basis or on a pay-as-you-go basis. The Pix4D software can handle the data acquired by mostfixed-wing and rotary-wing UAVs. So this service has been utilizedby several of the U.K. commercial operators of UAVs and by vari-ous U.K. universities that are operating UAVs for research mappingpurposes. Another software company that offers a comparable alternative solu-tion of a processing service or licensed software is the FinnishPIEneering (Parallel Image Engineering) company with itsRapidStation (software) and RapidCluster (service) products. Stillother similar suppliers of alternative software or service products arethe Icaros company based in Israel with the special UAV version ofits IPS3.0 photogrammetric software and DroneMapper based inColorado.

Yet another player in this photogrammetric software development isthe Agisoft company, which is based in St.Petersburg, Russia, andis already well known in the area of terrestrial close-range pho-togrammetry. It has developed its Photoscan software suite whichis available (i) in a standard edition (costing $179); and (ii) a pro-fessional edition (costing $3,499). The standard edition simply gen-erates the 3D point cloud from overlapping photographs and thenforms the 3D model of the terrain. The professional edition allows thegeneration of the terrain model data in the 3D coordinate referencesystem using airborne and ground control data and the generationof an orthophoto based on this terrain model data. The suite can alsobe supplemented (i) by the Agisoft StereoScan tool that can beused to create textured perspective 3D models from stereo imagepairs [Fig. 18]; and (ii) by the so-called Agisoft Lens, which is anautomatic lens calibration software tool that uses an LCD screen as a

calibration target. Severalof the U.K. companies thatoperate in the commercialUAV aerial photographic business, including Cyberhawk Innovations;QuestUAV; Sky-Futures; and sUAVe Aerial Photographers, are usersof these Agisoft photogrammetric software products.

Yet another approach that has been adopted by some UAV aerialphotographic service providers in the U.K. is to use the open-sourcesoftware and services that are offered by the University ofWashington (Bundler-PMVS); Microsoft (Photosynth); Autodesk (123DCatch); and the University of Louvain (ARC 3D). These organisationsoffer a Web-based service that allows the user to upload multipleoverlapping photos acquired by the UAV to the cloud-based serversthat are operated by each of these organisations. These servers thenreconstruct a 3D point cloud or a set of mesh data from the multiplephotos in a highly automated manner and supply the user with a 3Dmodel, which can then be exported for use in other applications.However the use of such a service means that the users may have toshare their images publicly on the Web – which, as far as U.K. usersare concerned, may not be an acceptable solution, either on com-mercial or on privacy grounds. Furthermore the procedure may notbe wholly rigorous and may not produce the geometric accuraciesthat are required by the client. Nevertheless, for some other users,the results of using the software and service that are offered are quiteacceptable for visualization purposes. This is especially so in the casewhen, for example, a large object such as an individual building,monument or bridge has been photographed from the UAV from sev-eral different positions and directions, e.g. in an arc or circle aroundthe object [Fig. 19].

35Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

Fig. 20 – (a) A Maxi Swift flying-wingUAV that is being operated by Flying

Scotscam.(b) An aerial photo of a “Henge” monu-

ment forming a small part of the archaeo-logical site at Forteviot, Scotland that is

being investigated by the StrathearnEnvirons and Royal Forteviot (SERF)Project of the University of Glasgow.

(Source: Flying Scotscam)

Fig. 21 – (a) A Mikado Logo 600SE single-rotor UAV being operated on the survey of Monmouth Beach forming part of the Jurassic Coast in southern England. (b) An aerial photo of an excavation being conducted overEddisbury Hill Fort. This is an Iron Age monument situated near Delamere in Cheshire that is thought to have been built in the 3rd century BC. (Source: sUAVe Aerial Photographers)

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It should also be mentioned that, in some cases, simple imagematching and stitching software is being used by certain U.K.operators to produce UAV image mosaics. Needless to say, the result-ing images might be visually pleasing and “map-like”, but they stillcontain substantial geometric displacements and distortions. Thusthey are not orthophotos. So they will not fit the corresponding mapor GIS data and cannot be used for accurate measurements of posi-tion, distance, angle, area or volume. By contrast, all the variousphotogrammetric packages mentioned above have the required geo-metric basis and components that allow them to fully rectify the UAVimages into orthophotos and orthomosaics using a digital elevationmodel (DEM) within the rectification process. Thus the resulting prod-ucts are free from the geometric displacements caused by tilts andby terrain relief in those areas with elevation variations. If suitableground control points (GCPs) are also utilised in the process, thenvery high accuracy orthophotos and orthomosaics will be generatedfrom the UAV photography – which can then be used in the mostdemanding topographic mapping applications, e.g. in cadastralprojects and those underpinning large engineering projects.

VI – Service ProvidersIn this section, the aerial imaging and mapping services that arebeing offered and some of the work that has been undertaken by anumber of representative companies in the U.K. will be outlined.They include both small and large service providers operating quitedifferent types of UAV aircraft and cameras on a great variety ofprojects in different parts of the U.K. Hopefully they form a repre-sentative cross-section of the industry as it currently exists in the U.K.

(a) Flying ScotscamThis is a small company based in the town of Kirriemuir, near the cityof Dundee, Scotland. It mainly utilizes an Asctec Falcon-8 octocopter,in this case equipped with either Pentax or Panasonic cameras, forits image data acquisition. However the company has also used anexample of the Maxi Swift flying-wing aircraft [Fig. 20 (a)] built byMS Composit in the Czech Republic. Much of the company’s work isconcerned with the surveys associated with archaeological investiga-tions [Fig. 20 (b)] and with surveys of historic buildings and theirassociated historic landscapes that are being executed on behalf ofofficial government agencies (especially Historic Scotland) and localarchaeological societies. Other survey and mapping work is beingcarried out for local government and national environmental agen-cies and universities, including the mapping of coastal erosion. Thecompany also carries out basic inspection services for various indus-trial and infrastructure organisations. Flying Scotscam mainly out-sources its data processing, making use of the facilities, software (LPS,PhotoModeler) and expertise provided by McCreadie Associates(located near Edinburgh) to produce the orthophotos, DTMs, 3D per-spective views, etc. that are required by its clients.

(b) sUAVe Aerial PhtographersThis is another small company that, in this case, is based in Wigan,located near the city of Manchester in north-west England. By con-trast with the other exemplar companies, the sUAVe company oper-ates a single-rotor UAV. Originally an Align-Trex model (built inTaiwan) was used. However currently the company operates aGerman-built Mikado Logo 600SE model equipped with a Canon

36January/February 2013

Fig. 22 – (a) This Quest flying-wing UAV is being hand launched.(b) A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the area around the Roman Fort at Birdoswald, Cumbria. (Source: QuestUAV)

Fig. 23 – (a) A MAVinci Sirius UAV that is being operated by Cyberhawk Innovations.(b) A contoured orthophoto of the large Five Sisters “bing”, located near Livingston, Scotland, that has been produced from UAV photography. This huge “bing” contains the waste material from the processing of oil shale that took place in this area during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. (Source: Cyberhawk Innovations)

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5D small-format (21 Mpix) camera which is mounted on a stabilizedgimbal mount that has been supplied by the Photoship One compa-ny from the U.S.A. [Figs. 8 & 21 (a)] The final photogrammetric dataprocessing has either been outsourced or it has been carried out byclients such as English Heritage who already possess the requiredsoftware and expertize. However the Agisoft Photoscan softwarehas also been used in-house whenever required, especially for theinitial verification of the aerial data. A great variety of imaging andmapping projects have been undertaken. They include numeroussurveys of archaeological sites [Fig. 21 (b)] and historic buildings.The latter include the Roman Amphitheatre and Walls in the city ofChester and Clifford’s Tower (originally built by William theConqueror) in the city of York [Fig. 18]. Other projects have involvedsurveys carried out in connection with engineering and constructionactivities, including flood alleviation projects; the remediation ofindustrial land and river frontages; and, not least, a survey of theroof and the campus surrounding Manchester City’s Etihad footballstadium. A research-oriented mapping project has been the base-line survey of the wave-cut platforms that form part of the JurassicCoast, a major UNESCO World Heritage Site on the south coast ofEngland [Fig. 21 (a)].

(c) QuestUAV Ltd.As mentioned above, QuestUAV Ltd. manufactures its own flying-wing UAV aircraft [Figs. 5 & 15 (a)], which it sells mainly to univer-sities and research agencies. However the company also operatesas a service provider, formerly under the separate title of Blue RiverStudios. The two arms of the now single consolidated company

(since September 2011) are both based in Amble, a small townlocated in Northumbria on the north-east coast of England. The com-pany’s aerial mapping services are conducted in a conventionalmanner using its own Quest flying-wing UAV aircraft with the air-borne data acquisition underpinned by a network of signalized andmeasured ground control points (GCPs) if the accuracy specificationrequires it. This is followed by automated aerial triangulation, thegeneration of a DTM and the production of orthophotos and ortho-mosaics using the Agisoft Photoscan software – for which theQuestUAV Ltd. company is now a re-seller. The company also oper-ates a multi-rotor UAV for use on those projects that require a hover-ing capability. Many of QuestUAV’s mapping projects are researchrelated, including (i) a survey of Exmoor’s rare peatlands located inthe south-west of England [Fig. 22 (a)]; (ii) the survey of a NationalTrust peatland site in the Yorkshire Dales National Park; (iii) cover-age of a upland area in Bulgaria, located east of the capital, Sofia,for archaeological prospection, using both multi-spectral and near-infra-red (NIR) cameras; and (iv) many archaeological and historicsites in England [Fig. 22 (b)]. Indeed, in May 2012, Nigel King,the head of QuestUAV Ltd., was presented with the Fox Talbot Awardfor 2011 for his professional work by the British Institute ofProfessional Photographers (BIPP). Besides which, the RutherfordAppleton Laboratory (RAL) – which is one of QuestUAV’sresearch customers for its flying-wing UAV – has carried out surveysof an area in the Atacama Desert in Chile that is being used to testrobotic rover vehicles that are planned to be used on the surface ofthe planet Mars. A DTM of this test area has been produced basedon the imagery acquired by two Quest flying-wing aircraft.

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Fig. 24 – (a) A Callen-Lenz G2 flying-wing UAV. (Source:Callen-Lenz)(b) A near-IR (NIR) image showing areas of crop stress in Lady Rosetta potatoes that have been captured by the G2 UAV. (Source: Project Ursula)

Fig. 25 – (a) This LLEO Maja UAV, equipped with two cameras, is about to be launched using a catapult and ramp. (Source: Low Level Earth Observation (LLEO))(b) A sample orthophoto mosaic of a golf course. (Source: Bluesky International)

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(d) Cyberhawk Innovations Ltd.This company is located in the town of Livingston, near Edinburgh,Scotland. It utilizes its fleet of UAVs (i) to carry out the inspection ofindustrial facilities; and (ii) to execute mapping projects. In the caseof the former, it specializes in the inspection of operational facilitiesin the oil, gas and chemical industries both onshore and offshore inthe U.K. and abroad using its fleet of Falcon-8 multi-rotor UAVs fromAscending Technologies. These activities include the inspection ofcooling towers, chimneys, live flares, wind turbines and structuressuch as the buildings, storage tanks, gantries and walkways inrefineries and offshore platforms. For its aerial mapping work,Cyberhawk utilizes a fixed-wing MAVinci Sirius UAV [Figs. 6 & 23(a)] for the data acquisition with in-house photogrammetric process-ing of the acquired data using the Agisoft Photoscan software men-tioned above and the LSS software from McCarthy Taylor for thegeneration of DTMs and 3D visualization products. Many of the sur-veys have been carried out over potential wind farm sites. Otherprojects involve repeated surveys of quarries for volume determina-tion, management and safety purposes [Fig. 23 (b)]. Still other map-ping projects have been carried out for the state forestry service andfor cultural landscape and heritage sites. A typical project covers anarea of 200 to 300 ha, but the mapping of larger areas of up to 1to 2 sq km has also been undertaken.

(e) Project URSULAProject URSULA (UAS Remote Sensing for Use in Land Appli ca -tions).is a two-year research and development programme that isusing small unmanned aircraft to explore the potential of imaging inland applications, primarily high input arable farming – which isbeing supported by the Welsh Assembly Government. The project isbased in Aberystwyth, a town on the west coast of Wales, and isdeveloping various agronomy products and services related to agri-culture and precision farming, based on the image data that is beingcaptured from UAV aircraft. The project is being implementedthrough a close collaboration between two commercial companies –Environmental Systems Ltd. and Callen-Lenz Associates. The Callen-Lenz company provides technical consultancy in aviation. The com-pany’s operational arm is the Gubua Group, which operates boththe in-house developed G2 flying-wing aircraft [Fig. 24 (a)] alreadymentioned above, and a G6 multi-rotor UAV with a 1.5 kg payload.While DEMs and orthophotos are being generated from the result-ing imagery in the conventional manner, the final products are ori-ented towards forestry, agriculture and environmental applications.

Thus, depending on the specific application, the UAVs are equippedwith either colour, colour infra-red (CIR) or thermal-IR cameras forimage data capture [Fig. 24 (b)]. These include the ADC and MCAcameras manufactured by Tetracam. The Environmental Systemspart of the partnership is concerned primarily with the analysis ofthe acquired image and map data and their applications to the envi-ronmental, agricultural and land use sectors.

(f) Bluesky InternationalBluesky International is a major supplier of conventional large-for-mat aerial photography and mapping products within the U.K. Thecompany is based in Coalville, Leicestershire in the East Midlandsof England. In addition to its well established aerial photographicservice and products, it is now offering a UAV imaging and map-ping service, which is aimed at the production of detailed and accu-rate aerial surveys of small areas (up to 5 sq km). For the aerialimaging part of these surveys, Bluesky uses the services of the UAVsthat are being operated by other smaller specialist companies.However it carries out the subsequent photogrammetric processingin-house, including the geo-rectification and ortho-rectification of theimagery. This is executed using conventional DPWs, using the pro-cedures that are provided by the Intergraph/ERDAS ORIMA soft-ware and various Trimble/INPHO software packages. Applicationshave included small-area surveys of golf courses [Fig. 25 (b)]; saltmarshes (for the National Trust); sporting estates; construction sites;and areas of high-value agricultural crops.

(g) Blom UKThe Blom Group is of course one of the largest companies engagedin aerial surveys and mapping within Europe with offices in almostevery European country. These include the Blom UK company, whichis based in Cheddar, Somerset in south-west England. In July 2011,Blom UK announced that the services of the Personal AerialMapping System (PAMS) that Blom Germany and its daughtercompany, Germatics, have developed in cooperation withSmartPlanes AB from Sweden would be available in the U.K. Severalpapers giving details of the system and of Blom’s extensive experi-ences with its 12 operational PAMS systems in Germany,Scandinavia, the Netherlands & the U.K. have been published byDr. Werner Mayr of Blom Germany and Dr. Ralf Schroth of BlomRomania. As mentioned above, the SmartOne flying-wing UAV [Figs.4 & 26 (a)] that forms the aerial component of the PAMS system isproduced by SmartPlanes. As utilized by Blom, it carries calibrated

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Fig. 26 – (a) This SmartOne UAV that is being operated by Blom is being hand-launched. (Source: SmartPlanes)(b) An orthophoto of a gullied area in County Durham in the north-east of England that has been derived from UAV aerial photography. (Source: Germatics)

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cameras producing images in the range 7 to 10 Megapixels in size,which are acquired in rectangular blocks with 80% longitudinal andlateral overlaps. Rapid image processing and the production of asimple rectified mosaic can be undertaken on-site for checking pur-poses. Thereafter the data is uploaded via the Internet to Blom’soffice where the final processing, including the production of thefinal DTMs, orthophotos and visualization products, takes place. Thenumerous projects undertaken by Blom include surveys of golf cours-es, railway infrastructure, quarries, waste dumps, landslide monitor-ing, as well as mapping for agricultural, forestry and environmentalpurposes [Fig. 26 (b)].

The latest development is that Dr. Mayr and the staff of Germaticsconcerned with UAV imaging and mapping have all left the compa-ny and are now working for a new independent company, calledGerMAP. Besides undertaking UAV aerial photography, theGerMAP company is also offering a data processing service for UAVimagery.

VII – ConclusionFrom the account given above, it is obvious that commercial imag-ing and mapping from lightweight UAV aircraft is already fully oper-ational in the U.K. On the one hand, where this activity is based onthe use of fixed-wing UAVs, the procedures largely follow thewell-known and well-established methodologies of airborne photog-

raphy and photogrammetric mapping that are used in the aerial sur-veys that are carried out with manned aircraft. However this devel-opment with fixed-wing UAVs has taken place in the U.K. withoutreally competing with the established commercial aerial mappingindustry. Instead it largely supplements the established industry, hav-ing opened up a new niche market of mapping small areas such as(i) archaeological and historic sites; (ii) individual quarries, wastedumps, construction sites and agricultural farms; (iii) wind farm andelectricity sub-station sites; and (iv) small areas of interest to forestersand field scientists. Previously these areas would have been deemedtoo small to be considered for mapping using aerial photogrammet-ric procedures – mainly due to the fixed overhead costs and themobilization costs that were involved. By contrast, rotary-wingUAVs have (i) opened up a completely new and very different mar-ket in the area of close-range industrial and infrastructure inspec-tion, while, (ii) at the same time, offering stiff competition to the largeand well-established aerial photographic industry in the U.K. thatacquires mainly oblique imagery for marketing and pictorial pur-poses – mostly, until now, using manned light (e.g. Cessna 172) air-craft and pole cameras mounted on telescopic masts.

Gordon Petrie is Emeritus Professor of Topographic Science in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences ofthe University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. E-mail – [email protected] ; Web Site –

http://web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~gpetrie

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COLU

MN

Not long ago I was asked during an interview, for a big surveying project, about the way my company looks at sustainable entrepreneur-ship.

Iinterpreted this question to mean ‘how green isyour survey company?’ The answer whichimmediately came to mind was: not as green

as I would like it to be. Ideally, I would like to trav-el to the site on my bicycle, but equipment andtools are often too heavy or big to be transportedby bicycle. Does this mean that my company isorange or even red instead of green?

Substantial companies dosometimes look at the com-bination of profit, the effecton the planet (environment)and the people (social).The study of these threefactors is generally knownas the triple bottom line ortriple p and it is commonlyaccepted that these threeelements should be in somekind of balance. This isdone by capturing valuesand using criteria for mea-suring success; economicalas well as ecological andsocial. As is often the case,there is a standard for this.In this particular instance itis the ISO 26000, but thisstandard is not intended or appropriate for certifi-cation purposes (www.iso.org).

Other certifications clearly state, however, thatthey are based on the ISO 26000, which makesthe difference between guideline and certificationvery small.

So what often happens is that bigger companiestend to get official certification to prove that theyare doing something with the triple p bottom line.For smaller companies this is not so easy. In mostcases it is difficult and expensive to get certifica-tion. But what is this sort of certification worth?A good example is the ISO 9000. For most con-struction companies they insist on yearly calibra-

tion of the tools including the surveying tools. Thisresults in an impressive sticker on the side coverof the instrument which tells the user when theinstrument should be calibrated and sometimeswhen the last calibration took place. So when youhave an instrument with such a sticker on the sidecover, which states it should be calibrated in, forexample, July 2013 and you ask the user of this

instrument if this instrumentis ok, in most cases the userwill say the instrument is ok.If, however, the stickerwould say the instrumentshould have been calibrat-ed in July 2012, the cus-tomer is normally not sosure if the instrument is okor not. I often pose thesesorts of dilemmas toemployees during training.When I tell them that theinstrument was transportedfrom the supplier to the con-struction site by parcel ser-vice, they are even morehesitant as to whether theinstrument is still ok, even ifthe sticker on the side coverstates that it doesn’t need to

be calibrated until July 2013. Surely it would bebetter to write in the requirements that the usershould check the instrument before using it. Theuser is actually more important than the certifica-tion.

How green is my own company? We recyclepaper, the ballpoints are made of compostablematerial instead of plastic, and we do not use thestandby, but turn off the computers when we gohome. We are making a significant contribution,but we still don’t have any certification. In gener-al, for smaller companies certifications only costmoney and time.

Ing. Léon van der Poel is director at LEOP,a company which combines surveying and

training of surveyors www.leop-bv.nl.

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“We are making a significant

contribution, but we still don’t

have any certification.

In general, for smaller

companies certifications only

cost money and time.”

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Information Mobility

Be Inspired Awards 2012At Bentley’s ‘Be Inspired: Innovations in Infrastructure’ conference in Amsterdam, the featured keynotespeaker was not an engineer or an IT guru. He was a journalist. Wired magazine’s executive editor,Greg Williams, intelligently matched his vision with that of Bentley’s industrial apps for mobile devices.

These mobile Apps had been presentedthe day before, which made Williams’thoughts on ‘mobile’ most appropriate.

For instance, in his keynote Williams men-tioned the great efforts of the Open StreetMap team right after the March 2011 tsuna-mi in Japan. Most people working in a CAD,construction, or GIS environment are new toinnovations like Arduino, the open-sourceelectronics prototyping platform based onflexible, easy-to-use hardware and softwarethat Williams discussed. He also showedsome mind-boggling inventions, mostly madeby hobbyists and creative artists. For a sam-ple, check out the Arduino-based ‘EnoughAlready’ product designed to block or can-cel annoying celebrity voices on your TV set!

Winner Innovation inGovernmentDuring the main part of the conference, some‘usual suspects’ popped up. It wasn’t the firsttime representatives of the London Crossrailproject had attended a Bentley event to talkabout GIS and asset models. Still, the project’s

efficient information flow, data management,information accessibility, and data interoper-ability deserve and gain respect – enough tobecome a winner in the category ‘Innovationin Government.’ Crossrail is being built undercentral London to link network rail lines to theeast and west of the United Kingdom capital.The project includes 21 kilometers of twin tun-nels and multiple below-ground stations. Theproject demonstrates a federated dataapproach that links systems and 2D/3D datarepositories. Crossrail’s strategy incorporatesa combination of standards, methods, andprocedures as well as software, tools, andhardware. To ensure integrated data manage-ment throughout all phases of the project,Crossrail integrated MicroStation, Pro ject -Wise, Bentley Map, Bentley Geo WebPublisher, gINT, Hevacomp, Bentley RailTrack,and STAAD.Pro.

Finalist Innovation inGovernmentIn New Zealand, Napier City Council dealtwith water issues and a proprietary GIS his-

tory. Moving forward, during Napier’s GISrenewal, it reviewed ‘everything’, replacedthe old software as well as model data anddata migration. Napier City Council consol-idated its infrastructure asset managementsystems, known as WorkIT, to create a sin-gle authoritative data source for surveying,CAD, GIS, and asset management applica-tions. Standardizing on one technology plat-form allowed data to be reused withoutbeing reworked. The new data flow beginswith the existing CAD drawings and thenmoves to survey data of the actual as-builtsituation, into GIS, AMS, and finally theOracle database for storage. Bentley’sEnterprise License Subscription saved theCouncil money since it no longer neededseparate GIS licenses. WorkIT II hasimproved workflow and data flow whilemaintaining data accuracy. For city watersupply services, Bentley Map has replacedthe existing GIS product; Bentley Water pro-vides tools for enforcing business rules; andan Oracle database tracks data changes.

Winner of Rail and TransitThe Hallandsas ‘Live BIM’ Railway Projectis a Swedish 3D object library/BIM platformthat notably includes a tunnel section. Thistunnel section will increase capacity fromfour to 24 trains per hour as well as allowthe weight of the freight trains to be dou-bled. The Swedish Transport Administrationmanages and provides template and controlfiles that support building information mod-eling (BIM), which was implemented to cre-ate value during several stages of the pro-ject. Sweco used MicroStation, InRoads,Bentley Rail Track, ProjectWise, and BentleyNavigator as the BIM platform for the rail-way from Förslöv to Båstad, Sweden.

Environmental studiesAlso worthy of note is Quigg EngineeringInc., whose project submission in the Railand Transit category for its work on theChicago-St.Louis high-speed rail project was

42January/February 2013

E v e n t

By Remco Takken

Innovations in Government. From left to right: Richard Zambuni,Global Marketing DirectorGeospatial and Utilities at Bentley Systems, Daniel Irwin, GIS Technical Analyst at Crossrail

and Ton de Vries, Solutions Executive, Government at Bentley Systems

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named a finalist. For its extensive environ-mental studies conducted to help minimizethe project’s footprint, Quigg used lots ofmaps to help visualize the situation. Withnatural resources preservation a conditionfor construction, Quigg Engineering per-formed environmental studies along 35.24miles of mainline track to locate sensitiveareas, endangered species, and wetlandswithin 100 feet of the centerline. Micro -Station and GEOPAK enabled the team toproduce aerial plan sheets for field work,associate correct plane coordinates withDGN files, attach GIS shape files to correctlocations, and identify natural features onaerial plan sheets for the environmentalassessment.

Winner Water and WastewaterTreatment PlantsAnother winner in the Be Inspired competi-tion was ‘A 4D Giant’ project by CarolloEngineers in Denver, Colo., USA. Basically,4D is a 3D model with the addition of timeas the fourth dimension. Carollo Engineershad been reviewing a contractor’s construc-

tion schedule in the South SecondaryImprovements Project, a wastewater projectinitiated by The Metro Wastewater Recla -mation District in Denver, Colo. The Districtis modifying and upgrading the SouthSecondary Treatment facilities to treat 114million gallons of wastewater per day. Theproject had to be completed within the state-mandated compliance schedule, requiringthe contractor to place approximately75,000 cubic yards of concrete and installthe major electrical, mechanical, and instru-mentation equipment in the first 2.5 years.

4D has been used as a tool for risk mitiga-tion, detailed review, and identification ofissues in a schedule. Within the 4D modelthe start of a new activity turns the new itemgreen within the model. After ‘finish activi-ty,’ it turns it to the standard model color.Some of the ‘information mobility’ implica-tions include the risk of not working with theright version of a document. Also, peopleare bringing their own devices to the workspace. In logistics, cost and time are animportant factor. In review, mark-up capture

should be clear and accurate. Lastly, syn-chronization is important for feedback to theworking team. Carollo Engineers usedMicroStation, Bentley Navigator, Project -Wise, and InRoads to link 12,154 activitiesfrom the contractor’s Primavera P6 baselineschedule with the 3D model to create the 4Dvisualization. The detailed 4D model aidedthe project team in evaluating whether theaccelerated schedule was achievable.

Bentley Utilities DesignerOne of the technology previews at BeInspired 2012 was the V8i (SELECTseries 3)release of Bentley’s Utilities Designer. Thebiggest announcement: Bentley UtilitiesDesigner is now ‘completely GIS agnostic,’meaning that it does not require replacementof your existing GIS. Furthermore, it is a ‘sin-gle-install’ product, with all the necessaryMicroStation functionalities right in it. Thismight seem a very logical thing to the enduser, but Bentley watchers might see it as asign: the ‘free’ functionality of ‘classic’Bentley (and/or former Haestad) productsare gradually becoming a commodity.

Bentley and TrimbleDuring the 2012 edition of Bentley Systems’annual Be Inspired event, Bentley SystemsCEO Greg Greg Bentley noted the recentstrategic alliance with Trimble. He explainedthat geospatial coordinates, as measured bythe surveying equipment of Trimble, providea simulation of real-world conditions thatserves as a “dial tone” through which onecan connect back to information about thereal world using information modeling.

This alliance between Bentley and Trimbleis meant to enhance construction and oper-ations quality, efficiency, and safety.Employing advanced information mobilityinnovations, the exchange of physical andvirtual data can be more easily leveragedby engineers and contractors to reduce pro-ject risk while increasing overall productivi-

43January/February 2013Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

E v e n t

For its extensive environmental studies conducted to help minimize the project’s footprint, Quigg associated correct plane coordinates with DGNfiles, attached GIS shape files to correct locations, and identified natural features on aerial plan sheets for the environmental assessment.

The tunnel section of Hallandsas ‘Live BIM’Railway Project, a Swedish 3D object

library/BIM platform.

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ty, according to both parties. In the result-ing environment, physical and virtual infor-mation can be used to improve and validateon-site construction processes. The seamlessexchange of information between the virtu-al and physical can be achieved by utiliz-ing Trimble’s field positioning technologies,such as robotic total stations, 3D laser scan-ners, and global navigation satellite system(GNSS) positioning solutions, and Bentley’sinformation modeling software—with worksharing and dynamic feedback being man-aged in ProjectWise.

Greg Bentley said: “Through the intrinsic‘geo-coordination’ in Bentley’s applicationsand ProjectWise geospatial services, almostevery project’s information modeling contentis virtually positioned with engineering pre-cision in the ‘project space.’ Intelligent posi-tioning now enables these engineering mod-els to be real-time and real-place referenced,from and into mobile devices in the field,through immersive environments from bothBentley and Trimble. Users piloting the inte-gration of physical positioning from Trimblewith virtual positioning from Bentley, facili-tated by information mobility innovations,

have identified significant savings of timeand money, and continue to uncover newbenefit cases.”

Industrial AppsWhen Greg Bentley talked about ‘informa-tion mobility,’ he was not only referring tofield surveyors deploying GPS and sendingdata back and forth to the office. Lately,Bentley has been watching the huge growthin iStore apps available on the market, andrecognises the opportunities for Micro -Station users: “Having more apps is good!”Bentley stated. He doesn’t feel challengedby the fact that consumer apps are practi-cally given away, and only make a profitafter a million downloads or so. Looking atthe installed base of Bentley users, heremarked: “Essentially, we have been a sub-scription company from the start.” 

Within Bentley’s own industrial apps align-ment, licensed users are entitled to a ‘pass-port’ to get their apps, which are mostlydesigned for one specific purpose. One ofthose new apps is the Microsoft Sur -face/Windows 8: ProjectWise Server.Bentley Map Mobile supports Android

devices, and, later on in 2013, will supportiOS. This tool is meant for field workers,who might be non-GIS users. Data is com-ing in via connected webservices; whenworking on a disconnected SQL-databaseon a mobile device, Bentley’s i-model con-cept is being called upon. Being able towork disconnected with Bentley Map Mobileon portable devices is essential, for instancein the case of crises or outages.

Please touchDuring the Be Inspired event, a ‘pleasetouch’ environment was set up with manyexamples of devices running the new indus-trial apps. Attendees could try them out forthemselves, with competent assistance ofcourse. Bentley Vice President ProductManagement Robert Mankowski showed alive demo of the Android version of BentleyMap. While most apps currently supportAndroid, one of Mankowski’s app demoswas already running on Apple iOS:ProjectWise Explorer was shown in actionon an iPad. Features like 3D visualisationsand redlining popped up, and it appearedthat the app was also running fine in ‘dis-connected’ mode. Deploying its EnterpriseLicense Subscription to the max, Crossrail inLondon is one of the first users with its ownApp Store containing Bentley iWare. Someof the industrial apps used by Crossrailinclude Structural Synchronizer, NavigatorPano Viewer, and ProjectWise Explorer.

Next issueBentley Systems COO Malcolm Walter con-vincingly advocated the idea that the venueof this year’s Be Inspired Awards celebra-tion, the beautiful 19th century HotelKrasnapolsky in Amsterdam, would havebeen a sure winner of at least three awardsfor its deployment of several building, elec-trical, and architectural innovations of itstime. If only the Be Inspired Awards hadexisted one hundred years ago…. In 2013,the Be Inspired event and awards ceremonywill not be taking place in Amsterdam,though its new location has not yet beenrevealed.

For more information, have a look at: www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Be+Inspired+Awards+Event

E v e n t

January/February 201344

During the Be Inspired event, a ‘please touch’ environment was set up with many examples of devices running Bentley’s new industrial apps.

Carollo Engineers used MicroStation,Bentley Navigator, ProjectWise, andInRoads to link 12,154 activities from the contractor’s Primavera P6 baseline schedule with the 3Dmodel to create the 4D visualization. 

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The Outcome of the 2012 CLGE Students’Contest heralds the 2013 edition!

Winner in category “Geodesy, Topography”.Geodetic Works In Research And DevelopmentPlan For Remediation Of Landslides Kostanjek.Diana Bečirević, Daria Dragčević, Jakov Maganić,Kristina Opatić, Ljerka Županović (Croatia)

The modern surveyor can play an important role in the field of dis-aster risk management, although in most cases, the activities willtake place as part of multidisciplinary task forces. In this student paper, the results of the student’s field workshop onthe Kostanjek Landslide were presented. The whole idea was realised in 2011 and 2012 within the frame ofa scientific Japanese/Croatian project and will continue. The entirework is important for further implementation of this international pro-ject which is being implemented in three Croatian universities.According to the data from the existing investigation, the KostanjekLandslide is the largest landslide ever to occur in Croatia and sinceit’s activation in 1963, has caused substantial damage to infrastruc-ture. The topic has been increasingly important for local administra-tion which has implemented a plan for recovery after landslides in2001.Student workshops, which include the application of different meth-ods of geodetic surveying in the research of landslides, were imple-mented in several phases. Each phase, survey method and therequired accuracy was adjusted to the needs of further research.The application of different surveying methods shows the importantrole of geodetic science in the management of high-risk areas suchas landslides.The work is unique because of the multidisciplinary approach to solv-ing the problems of rehabilitating the largest landslides in Croatia.

Winner in category “GIS and Mapping”.Impact of Persistent Organic Pollutants on humanhealth and analysis of the damage caused bythem using GIS tools.Constantin Gisca (Moldova)The main purpose of this projectis to research the damagecaused by persistent organicpollutants on the environmentand public health • namely causes for the in -

creas ed number of cancer dis-ease cases

• using Geographic InformationSystem (GIS) tools.

The lack of an adequateinfrastructure for appropriate-ly locating, storing and man-aging dangerous householdwaste, i.e. the problem ofPersistent Organic Pollutants(POPs), is regarded as one ofthe most pressing environ-mental problems. Organicpollutants have a negative influence on human health. One of thenegative consequences of POP is the mortality rate increase causedby cancer. This paper shows the analysis of POP warehouses in Moldova. High-risk index warehouses were selected, but also included were thoselocated close to populated areas. They were surveyed to determinethe adverse effects of POP on human health, namely how it increas-es the number of cancer diseases. 

The following results were achieved: • the surface of soil contaminated by persistent organic pollutants

constitutes approximately 4500 ha. Most of these soils have thequality index of over 65; 

• in the districts with the greatest number of cancer diseases, a largenumber of warehouses with persistent organic pollutants storedwere identified, 30-50% of these warehouses are located close topopulated areas and 30% have a high risk index; 

• districts reporting an increase of cancer diseases have a signifi-cant number of warehouses with POPs and the rate of warehous-es located close to human settlements constitutes 30%. 

The results analysed show that persistent organic pollutants presenta great danger for public health and quick intervention is requiredto remove them.

Omar-Pierre Soubra, Trimble, Addresses the Croatian winning team in the category “Geodesy – Topography”

N e w s l e t t e r

46January/February 2013

On 10 October 2012, CLGE presented its first Students’ Contest Award during the CLGE Students’ meet-ing at INTERGEO. In this issue we have produced the abstracts of the two winning papers. The full ver-sions as well as the other contending papers are available on www.clge.eu. Moreover, the regulationsfor the 2013 edition are also available on our website. As well as Students, Young Surveyors maynow take part in the third category entitled “Students and Youngsters engagement”.

Constatin Gisca from Moldova presents his winning paperin the category “GIS and Mapping”

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On Wednesday 19th September partici-pants were received by Mayor FabianStang for a reception in the City Hall,

before the formal opening took place onThursday 20th September. The opening wasattended by representatives from the Ministry ofEnvironment, Norwegian Courts Administration,Norwegian Mapping Authority, and the presi-dent of CLGE.

The opening ceremony underlined the impor-tance of good land administration in modernsocieties, and that higher education and com-petence are essential for the land surveyor tofulfill the role in society. Key note speaker at thecongress was Ed Parsons, GeospatialTechnologist at Google. He presented his viewson our technological future. While in formertimes the main user of geoinformation has beenthe “hardhats”, that means the military and peo-ple in the construction industry, it is now the “hip-sters” who are increasingly using maps and spa-tial data in all possible contexts. Ed Parsonssuggested that this trend will continue in thefuture. The Congress was based on Nordic presenta-tions in four sessions focusing on a) modernmapping techniques b) 3D and BIM c) infras-tructure in the underground and d) the land sur-veyor’s role in conflict prevention/resolution.

Modern mapping techniques: National digitalelevation models are established in severalNordic countries. The Swedish elevation modelis established by airborne laser scanning andhas a resolution of 0.5 -1 points per m2. Thereis great emphasis on quality assurance systems,developed in collaboration with the supplier -Blom. Accuracy is 3-5 cm in open areas, whenscanning is performed at an altitude of 2000meters. Also presented in this session was themajor trend with respect to the use of drones(UAS) for mapping. In the U.S. there are now

more UAS pilots than regular pilots in the U.S.military. Drone mapping is used for the map-ping and monitoring of smaller areas/infrastruc-ture projects. Mobile mapping from road vehi-cles is also a technology that is developingrapidly, using kinematic laser scanners rotating360 degrees. The result is a point cloud whichprovides an image of the surface. One advan-tage of this is that the field work can be donerapidly, with high accuracy and with low risk ofinjury for the surveyor. In Denmark surveys ofprotected natural areas are now conducted by

47Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2013

We are inviting all European Bachelor and Master Students to join theCLGE Students’ Contest 2013. The full rules can be found on our web-site www.clge.eu (questions: [email protected]).Interesting prizes are on offer. You can win a €1000 award, which willinclude participation in a major European or Worldwide event orga-nized by one of our main sponsors.Two academic categories are available:• Geodesy and Topography• GIS, Mapping and Cadastre (thus this category was opened for

papers about the Cadastre).

The third category concerns Students’ engagement or Youngsters’ attrac-tion to the profession (2010 – 2013).

In this category both students and young surveyors may apply. The com-petition is open to anyone who will be younger than 36 years old on31st December 2013.

In this category, there will also an award of €1000. Additionally, thewinner will be appointed as a special board member of CLGE, in chargeof implementing the project that he or she has designed.

Apply for Edition 2013!

The XXII Nordic Surveyors Congress. Oslo,September 19-22, 2012.Yet another smart tradition from the North: the Nordic Surveyors Congress has been held since 1920,generally every four years. At this year’s XXII Nordic Surveyors Congress in Oslo, the participantsexperienced a comprehensive and extensive program, both academically and socially.

Reception at the Oslo City Hall.

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N e w s l e t t e r

fieldwork and aerial photography to collectinformation about the natural areas’ character,animal and plant life and conditions etc. A newWebGIS system has been developed for the pro-ject; if irregularities are found, the area must bechecked in the field. New methods for theassessment of forests have been developed bythe Norwegian researcher Erik Nesset. LaserScanning is used as a method for creating a ter-rain model and colour aerial photography isused for classification. The methods are in usein several countries in Europe, mostly inScandinavia and Finland.

3D and BIM: In connection with the renova-tion of the National Theatre in Oslo, Statsbygginitially wanted a 3D laser scanning model ofthe facades, and later this was extended to allinside building elements. This resulted in largesavings and did away with huge paper stacks.An open question is: how will the point cloudbe used in the future. In Sweden it is now legalto register 3D properties. 3D properties followthe same rules as all other properties. The bound-aries must be described and documented anda 3D survey must be performed exactly as aregular survey. There is still no 3D cadastre inSweden. The session ended with a presentationabout free geographic data in Finland. Therehas been pressure on the Land Survey for 20years to release their data; this pressure hadincreased over the last 2 years. After becominga political issue, all data has now been releasedand is open to the public. This means that alllaser data, orthophoto and topographic data,are now available free of charge! After only 3months, the use of this data has increased 50fold.

Underground infrastructure: All Nordiccountries have extensive challenges with under-ground facilities. The underground infrastruc-tures represent great value. Questions aboutcompensation for losses that occur, how toimprove the legislation, conditions to put cablesin the underground, need to be answered. Thecadastral surveyor in Sweden can establish aright for pipelines in a survey. In Finland themajor impact of more extreme weather, caus-ing damage to the pipelines and blackouts forlonger periods in the affected areas was anissue. Good overviews in the form of maps andrecords are essential to prevent and managecritical situations. Another key question is howthe underground infrastructure can be affectedby deformation from buildings and structures onthe surface. Also presented was howCopenhagen has established a system for real-time measurement and monitoring of deforma-tions during construction of the new Metro. Largeamounts of data will be collected and all defor-mations mapped. In Norway there are efforts

to create good cooperation forums betweeninstitutions, to create more effective interfacesand data exchange.

The land surveyor’s role in conflictprevention/resolution: This session wasdevoted to one of the land surveyors more fun-damental tasks; conflict prevention and con-flict resolution. The Danish chartered surveyorprovides a thorough description of boundariesto public records and, thereby, contributes toconflict prevention and possible future con-flicts. A land owner cannot go directly to courtwith a boundary dispute in Denmark, as priorto the court case a survey must be conductedby a chartered surveyor. Approximately 70disputes are handled by the chartered survey-ors every year, with an average of 12% goingto court. The majority of these conflicts areabout adverse possession. In Sweden thecadastral surveyor is a state or local govern-ment officer. Generally the surveyor is a bach-elor or master within the field of surveying,but nowadays lawyers can also becomecadastral surveyors.

Boundaries and rights are handled in the sur-vey and the Swedish surveyor has the author-ity to make decisions. Normally surveys arebased on mutual agreements by the parties,but if there is a dispute the surveyor will makea decision. In Finland the situation is general-ly the same as in Sweden for cadastral sur-veying. The Land Court is an old institutionfrom the 1700s, and handles all appealsabout cadastral surveys. Since 2010, the LandCourt has also handled land registrationappeals. In Norway there is a special situa-tion compared to the other Nordic countries.Local authorities are responsible for ordinarycadastral surveys, but cannot make decisionsif there are disputes. The Norwegian land con-solidation courts solve problems and makedecisions in land disputes, and have land sur-veyors. There is no link between local authori-

ties and the land consolidation court. Thereare many conflicts about boundaries andrights in Norway. In addition to the four sessions with Nordicspeakers, there were several plenary speak-ers. Lyn Wilson from Historic Scotland pre-sented how historians have worked with tech-nical specialists in the terrestrial scanning ofRosslyn Chapel. David Powell from Englandexplained how resolving border disputes arepossible even in a country that does not haveaccurate surveying and mapping of propertyboundaries. Line Langkaas and Per-ErikOpseth from The Norwegian MappingAuthority presented plans for the constructionof a new geodetic observatory on Svalbard.The new observatory will map the movementsof the Earth, the Earth’s rotation and its pre-cise location in space and provide basis foraccurate climate monitoring of the Arcticregion. Torbjørn Tveiten from Via Nova pre-sented the use of 3D and BIM for infrastruc-ture in model-based design and practical usein the construction phase of Ring 3 at Økern,a major development project in Oslo. Thecongress ended with a technical and socialtour visiting the Økern project and the oldObservatory. This observatory was an astro-nomical observatory for 100 years from1833, and is the foundation for institutions likethe Norwegian Mapping Authority, NorwegianMetrology Survey and the NorwegianMeteorological Institute. Accompanying personsvisited the Munch Museum and HolmenkollenSki Museum, and there were the traditionalhome visits. At the gala dinner, congress prizesfor excellent work were awarded to young sur-veyors, Cecilia Rogvall and Camilla Backmanfrom Sweden, Eivind H. Ramsjord from Norwayand Karin Kolis from Finland.

Read more on the website about the XXII Nordic Congress surveyor here:http://kongress2012.njkf.no.

Leiv Bjarte Mjøs, Chair of the Organizing Committee and CLGE vice-president

48January/February 2013

Kristin Andreasson from Sweden presenting the Swedish surveyor taking a decision when there is a dispute

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Februari

14-15 February IV International Conference“Geodesy, Mine Survey and Aerial Photography.At the turn of the centuries”Novotel-Hotel, Moscow, RussiaInternet: http://con-fig.ru/?r=indexen

19-20 February MapInfo Professional FoundationLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm

26-28 February Munich Navigation SatelliteSummitThe Residenz München, Munich, GermanyInternet: www.munich-satellite-navigation-summit.org/Summit2009

27-28 February International Workshop “The Roleof Geomatics in Hydrogeological Risk”Padua, ItalyInternet: www.cirgeo.unipd.it/geomatics4risk

March

04-05 March Powered by INSPIRE/ Safety,Mobility, Sustainability and more...Brussels, BelgiumInternet: www.poweredbyinspire.eu

05-06 March MapInfo Professional AdvancedLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi3info.htm

06-08 March GeoViz_Hamburg 2013: InteractiveMaps That Help People ThinkHamburg, GermanyE-mail: [email protected]: www.geomatik-hamburg.de/geoviz

07 March GEO-NorthReebok Stadium, Bolton, U.K.Internet: www.pvpubs.com/events.php

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

11-13 March “Wavelength 2013”Glasgow, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.rspsoc-wavelength.org.uk/wavelength2013

19-20 March MapInfo Professional FoundationLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm

19-20 March 12. Internationales 3D-Forum LindauLindau, GermanyInternet: www.3d-forum.li

24-28 March ASPRS 2013 Annual ConferenceBaltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore, MD,U.S.A.Internet: www.asprs.org/Conferences/Baltimore2013

April

03-07 April 11th Vespucci Institute “SynthesizingPopulation, Health, and Place”Catalina Island, CA, U.S.A.E-mail: [email protected]: www.vespucci.org

08-10 April 8th EARSeL IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY WORK-SHOP

Nantes, FranceInternet: www.sciences.univ-nantes.fr/lpgnantes/earsel-is-2013

15-17 April 19th Annual CalGIS ConferenceWestin Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.Internet: www.calgis.org

16-17 April MapInfo Professional FoundationLevel Training CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm

17-19 April International Forum “IntegratedGeospatial Solutions - the Future of InformationTechnologies”Moscow, RussiaInternet: www.sovzondconference.ru/2013/eng

18 April FMEdays 2013Dublin, Ireland E-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

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

23-25 April ENC 2013 ‘The European NavigationConference’Vienna, AustriaInternet: www.enc2013.org

25-26 April 3D Documentation ConferenceMarina Mandarin Hotel, SingaporeInternet: www.3d-documentation-conference-2013.com

May

01-02 May GEO-SouthHoliday Inn, Elstree, U.K.Internet: www.pvpubs.com/events.php

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

14 May FMEdays 2013Milan, Italy E-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

14-15 May MapInfo Professional Foundation LevelTraining CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm

15-17 May The fourth China Satellite NavigationConference (CSNC 2013) Wuhan, ChinaInternet: www.beidou.org/english/news.asp

21-22 May Location Intelligence + Oracle Spatialand Graph User Conferences 2013Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center,Washington, D.C.Internet: www.oracle.com

21-24 May ISPRS Workshop “High-ResolutionEarth Imaging for Geospatioal Information” Hannover, GermanyInternet: www.ipi.uni-hannover.de/isprs_hannover2013.html

22-24 May FOSS4G North America 2013Marriott City Center, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.Internet: http://foss4g-na.org

23 May FMEdays 2013Fribourg, SwitzerlandE-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

28 May FMEdays 2013Brussels, Belgium E-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

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

30 May FMEdays 2013Malmo, Sweden E-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

June

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

03-07 June 11th Vespucci Institute “Ontologiesand models for integrated assessments of multi-ple-scale processes”Fiesole, ItalyE-mail: [email protected]: www.vespucci.org

04 June FMEdays 2013Barcelona, SpainE-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

06 June FMEdays 2013Madrid, Spain E-mail: [email protected]: www.fmedays.de/index_en.shtm

11-12 June MapInfo Professional Advanced LevelTraining CourseCDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.E-mail: [email protected]: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi3info.htm

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

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

DATEM www.datem.com 16

ERDAS www.erdas.com 9

Esri www.esri.com 52

FOIF www.foif.com.cn 41

Geneq www.geneq.com 20

GEO-North/GEO-South www.pvpubs.com 26

GIS Research UK 2013 http://liverpool.gisruk.org 39

International Forum www.sovzondconference.ru 45

Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 2

Microsoft UltraCam www.iFlyUltraCam.com 13

Optech www.optech.com 51

Pacific Crest www.pacificcrest.com/adl 17

Riegl www.riegl.com 24

SPAR www.sparpointgroup.com 27

SuperMap www.supermap.com 49

Topcon www.topcon.eu 21

Advertisers Index

50January/February 2013

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