Geoinformatics 2012 Vol02

Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Strategic Software Alliance AHABs Chiroptera laser scanner
Geoinformation provision in the Safety Chain RapidEye

Magazi ne f or Sur veyi ng, Mappi ng & GI S Pr of essi onal s
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Scaling and geography
Geographers tend to look at the world in terms of spatial occurrences and changes.
Economic geographers look at corporations and their lifecycles both in time and
geographically. If one looks at geospatial conferences and how they act geo-
graphically, there are some interesting things happening that tell us something
about the geospatial industry as a whole.
For example, a combination of events, which in the past were held independently,
but are now combined, such as the Hexagon conference that hosts both the Leica
HDS and Intergraph user conference. With a huge boom in geospatial events
worldwide over the last few years, such combined events are in many ways a
blessing, although for these events it means that a person can only be in one place
at a time and with many parallel sessions going on will miss out on a lot, but
hey, thats life.
Another event that caught my eye is the FOSS4G North America event in April,
announced sometime after the large FOSS4G conference, which is to be held in
Beijing later this year. Now, with open source conferences there are often region-
al conferences too, which is where the largest user base is (such as with GVSIG
in Spain), making a regional edition of the event viable.
For those who look at sponsors and speakers during open source conferences
such as FOSS4G, you will notice that commercial GIS software vendors are also
present, and the same goes for an open source initiative such as 52 North.
Although the ways of making money for open source community and commercial
software vendors differ, they are both out there to make a prot so its not too
strange to see both becoming more and more intertwined.
A criticism heard that innovation is happening in commercial companies more
than in open source communities may be true, but as an answer to that Id say:
dont underestimate the power of the masses: they can make a difference in sales
(and therefore a base for driving new product innovation).
A last word here on Google: with a user base of 90 million world-
wide for Google+, the company has reached a huge audience in a
short time (although its less than the 600 million Facebook users
who visit the site once a month), which gives it a large potential for
pushing its products and services, such as Google Maps, The
Game a way to push its Google Map product. Google also
recently announced a charge for big users of Google Earth,
and is already moving to other (free) alternatives such as
Open Street Map. Where is this all heading? To be
continued.
Enjoy your reading,
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics is the leading publication for Geospatial
Professionals worldwide. Published in both hardcopy and
digital, GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis and
commentary with respect to the international surveying,
mapping and GIS industry.
GeoInformatics is published
8 times a year.
Editor-in-chief
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
Copy Editor
Frank Arts
fartes@geoinformatics.com
Editors
Florian Fischer
fscher@geoinformatics.com
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com
Remco Takken
rtakken@geoinformatics.com
Joc Triglav
jtriglav@geoinformatics.com
Contributing Writers:
Kim Douglass,Johanna Born, Ilkka Valli, Remco
Takken, Gordon Petrie, Ingrid vanden Berghe, Patrick
Brooijmans, Johannes Rechenbach, Henk Scholten,
Joc Triglav, Erik van der Zee, Louisa Welton
Columnists
Lon van der Poel
Wijnand van Riel
Steven Ramage
Finance
nance@cmedia.nl
Marketing & Sales
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rgroothuis@geoinformatics.com
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ISSN 13870858
Copyright 2012. GeoInformatics: no material may
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magazine.
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March 2012
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Ar t i c l e s
The RapidEye System 6
UAVs compared to Traditional Surveying 14
AHABs Chiroptera 24
Dreamsnow in Kitzbhel 26
EuroGeographics Newsletter 28
Digital measurements with 3D laser scanner 30
The Sky is on the move 32
Basic Condition in Safety Issue 38
Symetri helps Liberty Drilling Equipment 43
E v e n t s
EuroCOW 2012 44
I n t e r v i e w
Mobile Devices and Applications 10
Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software Strategic Aalliance 18
Exelis Visual Information Solutions 34
C L GE Ne ws l e t t e r 46
C a l e n d a r / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x 50
At the cover:
Natural Color image of Venice, Italy, acquired March 8, 2011.
See article on page 6.
6
14
18
Autodesk and Pitney Bowes
Software wish to help infra-
structure owners and architec-
ture, engineering and con-
struction organizations make
more informed decisions and
drive greater efficiencies
across the plan, design, build,
manage lifecycle of infrastruc-
ture. BIM goes MapInfo
26
UAVs are increasingly used in
the geo and mapping sector
as an alternative to traditional
surveying methods: small un-
manned airplanes or multicop-
ter type UAVs take aerial ima-
ges of the area of interest.
Bergbahn AG Kitzbhel is
notably the only cable-car
operator in Austria to have
twice claimed the Chamber of
Commerces Sustainability
Prize. Its prowess in measuring
snow depths played a special
role in this achievement, dating
back to the run-up to the
07/08 Hahnenkamm races.
Steadily growing its name and
customer base since 1998,
RapidEye has worked hard
becoming a major imagery
provider. With new owners to
help guide the future, the
company is building on the
things they have been doing
right all these years.
24
Using twin laser rangefinders,
AHABs newly announced
Chiroptera laser scanner system
allowing the easy integration of
bathymetric and topographic
measurements within the same
data set.
38
Without maps, its hard to get
an overview and insight when
dealing with complex disaster
situations. Besides information
there are other crucial
elements that are indispens-
able, such as the education
of people or the legislation
concerning information
provision.
32
Admittedly, in competition with
the American GPS and the
Russian Glonass, prestige
plays also a role for the
European Galileo satellite
navigation system.
28
In this first contribution to
GeoInformatics, Ingrid Vanden
Berghe outlines her goals for
the next two years and
discusses the ways in which
EuroGeographics members
are meeting the demands of
data users to benefit people
living right across Europe.
Covering a Lot of Ground
The RapidEye System
Steadily growing its name and customer base since 1998, RapidEye has worked hard becoming a
major imagery provider. With new owners to help guide the future, the company is building on the
things they have been doing right all these years.
The Power of Five
As RapidEye observed its third year of com-
mercial operations last month, its continual-
ly growing archive exceeded 3 billion
square kilometers of earth (yes, thats bil-
lion...with a B ). To put this into perspec-
tive, the land mass of the globe is approxi-
mately 150 million square kilometers,
meaning that RapidEye has imaged the
world almost twenty times. This is a slightly
simplistic explanation, considering there are
parts of the world that are imaged more
heavily than others, and cloud cover makes
at least some of the data partially unusable.
At any rate, this is quite a feat for a system
to accomplish in 36 months.
After examining the limitations of commer-
cial satellite systems to collect, process and
deliver large areas, the RapidEye system
was conceived, designed, developed and
launched. Sporting a constellation of ve
identical satellites, it has the ability to image
substantially more of the world in a shorter
time frame than its nearest competitor. Its
customers not only obtain consistent, quality
imagery, but with the capacity to image over
4 million km
2
every day, they can expect
much quicker delivery of regions, states or
full countries.
In addition to the sheer magnitude of data
that the satellite constellation collects,
RapidEye offers image users an unrivaled
combination of frequent revisit intervals (any
point on earth can be revisited daily), high
resolution (ve meter pixel size) and imagery
in ve spectral bands (red, green, blue, near-
infrared and red-edge).
RapidEyes archive expands every day, giv-
ing users the possibility of diverse scenes from
multi-season or multi-year time frames. This
allows for the purchase of a comprehensive
time series over an area so that a temporal
analysis can be made. This is helpful across
many industries for multiple purposes.
A constellation of ve identical satellites pro-
vide an additional benet to RapidEye users;
a signicant amount of data can be
acquired at or near nadir conditions.
Seventy percent (over two billion square kilo-
meters) of imagery in RapidEyes archive is
10 degrees off-nadir or less; giving users
higher spectral reliability of the data with-
out the concerns higher off-nadir imagery
can bring into the data analysis due to atmo-
spheric and other physical effects.
EyeFind: The Pictures Worth a
Thousand Words
Naturally, users want to get a feel for how
much imagery is available over an area
theyre interested in; and seeing a preview
of that imagery is an important part of mak-
ing their selection.
To catalog its 3 billion square kilometers of
imagery and allow customers to browse pre-
views of that data, RapidEye created a dis-
covery tool called EyeFind; an online pro-
gram available anywhere, anytime.
Since new imagery is processed and cata-
loged daily, EyeFind is an invaluable tool
for RapidEye users, as the newest, freshest
data can be seen no later than 36 hours
after collection.
March 2012
6
By Kim Douglass
Figure 1: Natural Color image of Venice, Italy, acquired March 8, 2011.

Ar t i c l e
Users can browse and preview every
RapidEye image, based on a selection of
date, cloud cover and product type.
Advanced options allow for parameters to
be entered on a map or for a shape le to
be uploaded outlining an area of interest.
Once the selected images have been paired
down and previewed, inquiries can be sent
to RapidEyes Customer Service Department
via EyeFind for a price quote and an esti-
mated delivery time.
Small Wonders
You may be wondering how this all hap-
pens. How can ve satellites produce that
much data? Just one satellite can cost bil-
lions to design, assemble and launch, cant
it? Dont most satellites weigh over 2,000
kg?
Actually, some satellites are quite large and
do cost billions to design and launch.
Technology has come a long way in recent
years. Where once an entire building would
be needed to house one computer, an
incredibly powerful one can t in the palm
of your hand. Following the same trends, we
have now entered into the era of the micro-
satellite.
Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd. (SSTL)
designed and built the ve RapidEye pay-
loads and busses which each weigh just
150 kg and measure less than one cubic
meter each; about the size of an average
household dishwasher. Each circles the
globe every 90-95 minutes, which allows
for the collection of such an impressive
amount of high-quality imagery from the
satellites.
The satellites have identical on-board sen-
sors from German Jena-Optronik, are equal-
ly spaced in the same orbital plane and
identically calibrated. RapidEye invests sig-
nicant man-power and resources into cali-
bration between the satellites themselves
and between the satellites and the ground
to ensure that an image from one satellite is
indistinguishable from one taken from any
of the other four.
Swimming in China
In February 2009, early calibration activi-
ties and post-launch testing on the satellites
were complete, and RapidEye ofcially
announced it was open for business.
Immediately after, with the assistance of its
Chinese distributor Beijing Eastdawn
Information Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly
BEO), a contract was signed with the
Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) for the
Peoples Republic of China for a large por-
tion of the country.
This early contract win was quite advanta-
geous for RapidEye. The MLR put faith in a
satellite system that at the time had no
proven track record. They provided an
extremely large challenge and took a gam-
ble that RapidEye, a relatively new compa-
ny, could do something that others in the
industry had tried and failed to achieve.
The MLR has managed the planning and
protection of Chinas natural resources, a
country of 9.3 million square kilometers, for
over ten years with the help of remote sens-
ing. They had never been able to nd a com-
pany that could acquire all of the imagery
that it needed in one growing season, or
even one calendar year. The project under
the rst contract with RapidEye was named
One Year, One Map by the ministry,
because this was their ultimate goal.
When RapidEye signed the rst contract
with the MLR, it promised to deliver 80% of
China (7.8 million square km) with a maxi-
mum of 10% cloud cover within a six-month
collection window. Other areas were
agreed to be delivered cloud-free, at the
request of the MLR.
The imaging campaign included selected
areas that are continually cloudy, making
collection challenging. However, with a con-
stellation of satellites, RapidEye has the
opportunity to return to the area whenever
historical cloud data would predict better
chances for lower or cloud-free imagery,
even if that time is tomorrow.
After successfully overcoming the data man-
agement challenges involved with such a
large and complex task, RapidEye came
through for the MLR in a way that no other
image provider could.
One month into the collection window,
almost one-quarter of the project was deliv-
7
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com March 2012

Figure 2: RGB image of the El Hierro underwater volcano, acquired October 26, 2011.
RapidEye was able to image the submarine disturbance 15 times from 13 October to 13 November, 2011.
Figure 3: Color Infrared (CIR) image of Mato Grosso, Brazil, acquired August 9, 2010.
Ar t i c l e
ered; at the 60 day milestone, the MLR had
received 40% of their requested data, and
by the end of the third month, over 75% of
the imagery had been collected (5.85 mil-
lion square km). A full month before the
agreed project deadline, RapidEye made its
last delivery with an average statistical
cloud cover of less than 6%. Not only had
the MLRs realization of One Year, One
Map been realized, it had been obtained
in just ve months!
The Ministry of Land and Resources was so
pleased to have high-resolution imagery
from one growing season, they budgeted to
have the project repeated in 2010, which
was completed with similarly outstanding
results as the year before. During the fourth
quarter of 2011, RapidEye won the contract
once again and has just nished delivering
to the MLR for the third consecutive year.
As a result of these three specic contracts
and some additional ll-in areas that were
collected, RapidEye has now archived 353
million km
2
of China alone. Ninety million
km
2
of that imagery contain 10% cloud
cover or less.
REDD and REDD+
With the largest collection capacities and
the quickest return time to any place on
earth, RapidEyes constellation of satellites
is extremely well suited to image countries
involved in the United Nations initiatives
REDD and REDD+.
As part of its effort to assist participating
REDD countries to achieve REDD-ready
status, RapidEye offers an extensive and
very recent archive of imagery, which can
provide users with a wealth of information.
Maps can be created showing current land
use or land cover in regions, while multiple
coverages can show changes that have hap-
pened to an area over time.
Whether identifying which areas are forest-
ed or tracking the change of forested land
over multiple years, RapidEye imagery can
help. Wall-to-wall coverages of most REDD
countries are available in the RapidEye
archive for many uses under the UN REDD
and REDD+ initiatives.
Moving Forward
2011 was a year of change for RapidEye. In
September it was acquired by the Black -
Bridge group, consisting of Black Bridge
Aerospace, Geomatics and Net works, head-
quartered in Lethbridge, Alber ta, Canada.
Soon after its purchase, multi-year, multi-mil-
lion dollar deals were struck with the National
Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and
the European Space Agency (ESA). Addi -
tionally, the Ministry of Land and Resources
(MLR) for the Peoples Republic of China
ordered a third coverage of its country.
One thing that RapidEye has continued to
do well over the course of the last three
years of operations is to demonstrate that
its a reliable source for quality, high-resolu-
tion imagery, comments Ryan Johnson,
RapidEyes CEO. Its not just the system that
makes that happen; the entire RapidEye
team has contributed to this positive image,
and thats something we plan to build on.
RapidEye is currently developing new image
products to advance its goal of Delivering
the World. One product set to roll out this
year is RapidEyes seamless natural color
image mosaics. Regional selections are cur-
rently being made in coordination with its
distributors and customer base, and its user
community is invited to contact them on the
topic during the coming months with feed-
back or to discuss priority areas.
With new and dynamic ideas being brought
forward and a long-standing workforce
ready to make things happen, the future
looks bright. A change in ownership has
brought a new customer-focused approach
to the business, and an evaluation of
RapidEyes place in the market is currently
underway. Of course, not everything will
change, but it is denitely a time to renew
long-standing relationships and for the com-
pany to explore prospective new projects
and partnerships as it moves through this
year and beyond.
Kim Douglass, douglassk@rapideye.net Communications Manager.
Kim Douglass lived and worked in the United States until 2006.
Since then, she has been living in Germany and has been
employed by RapidEye. She has held the position of
Communications Manager since January, 2011.
Internet: www.rapideye.net
Eyefind: http://eyefind.rapideye.net
Ar t i c l e
8
March 2012
Figure 4: Over the last three years, RapidEye has archived 353 million km
2
of China alone. Ninety million km
2
of that imagery contain 10% cloud cover or less.

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Esri and Mobile Technology
Mobile Devices and Applications
Mobile devices and applications are increasingly important to enterprise computing today. David
Cardella, Product Manager at Esri talks about the companys mobile hardware and software solu-
tions. He explains how mobile technology is commonly used and explains the increased interest from
enterprises in mobile technology.
Mobile Technologies supported by Esri
Mobile devices and applications are increasingly important to enter-
prise computing today. Mobility is also an integral part of the com-
plete ArcGIS system. Currently, Esri supports ve mobile GIS tech-
nologies: ArcGIS for Windows Mobile, ArcPad, ArcGIS for iOS,
ArcGIS for Windows Phone and ArcGIS for Android. Each of these
technologies provides a specic set of capabilities that meets the
needs of different end-user application requirements. Trade-offs in
hardware and software capabilities, mobile OS, price, size, device
ruggedness, and battery life help determine which of these Esri tech-
nologies are best suited to an organizations size, workow, project
scope, and/or development scenario.
Cardella: ArcGIS for Windows Mobile and ArcPad are designed
for mobile data collection where organizations need to support dis-
connected and occasionally connected workows, while maintain-
ing a high level of GPS accuracy. It is closely integrated with ArcGIS
for Desktop and ArcGIS for Server and allows for pre-planned as
well as ad-hoc data collection.
These technologies can be deployed on ruggedized handheld units
running Windows Mobile (Windows Embedded handheld) or lap-
tops running Windows. ArcGIS for iOS, Android and Windows
Phone are designed to leverage GIS on smartphone and tablet plat-
forms. Enterprise GIS customers can use these technologies as a
mobile gateway into their existing ArcGIS system via ArcGIS Server
or ArcGIS Online.
Cardella: Each of these mobile technologies has a ready-to-deploy
10
March 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Eric van Rees
Figure 1: GIS on mobile devices allows users to extend the reach of
their GIS capabilities from the office to the field and also throughout
their entire organization.
In the enterprise space we will also
see an iOS and Android increase and we
expect Windows Phone to slowly start
to be adopted as well. While the iPad
currently dominates the tablet market
we also expect Android tablets to have
a modest increase in market share
because of the price point and the
variety of devices available.
I n t e r v i e w
11

application that is customizable and congurable. The applications
are built using a Software Developer Kit (SDK) that we make avail-
able to our users. So, developers can use the SDKs on these plat-
forms to develop and brand custom mapping applications that meet
their specic business needs.
Rapid data collection
GIS on mobile devices allows users to extend the reach of their GIS
capabilities from the ofce to the eld, and throughout their entire orga-
nization. ArcGIS allows users to carry a digital version of their maps to
the eld. With a mobile GIS its no longer necessary to carry an atlas
of hard copy maps because digital maps are cheaper to produce and
can be updated in near real time. The ability to collect and update geo-
graphic information is also a necessity for users who need to maintain
their assets. This is certainly widespread throughout the utilities indus-
try, local government (public works), forestry, and oil and gas, to name
just a few.
Being able to take your GIS into the eld improves the efciency and
accuracy of eld operations while at the same time minimizing the
potential for failure when collecting data. It allows for rapid data col-
lection and seamless integration. All of which allows users to make
informed and timely decisions.
ArcGIS on mobile devices also extends GIS throughout the entire enter-
prise, says Cardella: With the popularity of smartphones and tablets,
its much easier to disseminate geographic information from the GIS/IT
department to the rest of the workplace, and also outside the work-
place to consumers.
ArcGIS Online
ArcGIS Online is a cloud-based system for creating and sharing
maps and geographic information. Through a catalog, users can
quickly search and access data, maps, apps, analysis models, and
other geographic content. Users can upload and style geographic
data, create intelligent web maps, and then use these maps on any
mobile device. Users can upload and share their content with every-
one or with specic groups, or keep their content completely pri-
vate. So, where do ArcGIS Online and mobile technology meet?
Cardella: ArcGIS is available on the iOS, Android and Window
Phone platforms and the application can be downloaded free of
charge from the respective app stores and markets. These ArcGIS
apps use intelligent web maps. Intelligent web maps are a new
medium that is open and leverages the tremendous amount and value
of the authoritative content created and maintained by GIS users.
ArcGIS Online is the authoring and repository platform for these
rich and interactive maps.
The intelligent web map makes it easy for customers to get their data
on a smartphone or tablet device and is an integral way in which
users congure the applications.
Developers are also encouraged to build custom applications that
use intelligent web maps. Maps make it easy to change data and
user experience within the app without the need to implement code
and re-submit to the App Store/Market. Cardella: For example,
adding a pie chart to the popup of a map can be done using one
of the authoring tools in ArcGIS Online without the need to add code
to your application.
When asked if there are any plans to release a mobile ArcGIS appli-
cation like the Flex ArcGIS viewer, Cardella answers: We have
many mobile applications that run on many different platforms. The
ArcGIS app we have on the iOS, Android and Windows Phone plat-
forms act as a gateway into our customers online or on-premise
GIS. It is an ArcGIS viewer application and is congurable through
the Intelligent web map. For example, if a web map is authored with
an editable feature service then users of the ArcGIS app will be able
to collect data. Authoring popups in the map change the way in
which data is presented to the user when they tap on the map.
Mobile and desktop GIS workflows
ArcGIS Desktop is used extensively to author and deploy full GIS
capabilities in the eld where geocentric workows are required (i.e.,
utility companies, national mapping agencies, and federal, state and
local governments).Mobile projects and services can be authored
with desktop GIS and deployed to mobile devices. Cardella: Once
data is collected in the eld and synchronized with an enterprise GIS,
ArcGIS Desktop can be used to understand the geographic context
of your data and have access to a full range of advanced GIS tools
and functionality, i.e., editing and network analysis. For users who
need to work directly with geodatabases, this is the most robust tech-
nology.
Additionally, ArcGIS Desktop includes support for tablets and real-
time differential GPS simplifying its use in the eld. It also includes
ArcGIS Explorer Desktop that gives users the ability to access their
GIS data and services through an intuitive user experience.
Figure 3: With the iOS and Android SDKs Esri currently supports off line use of basemaps (i.e. tiled layers).
Figure 2: With the explosion of Tablets in the market - especially iPads-
many executives are using these devices in workplace to provide a dash-
board or a snapshot of their business. The pressure from executives within an
organization to use these devices is another reason why organizations are
supporting them, says Cardella.
Smartphone versus tablets
Both the smartphone and tablet have had a huge impact on the GIS indus-
try. The use of maps and GIS functionality on phones has increased dra-
matically in the consumer space where the public essentially becomes a
data sensor and participates in Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI).
While iPads and other tablets are heavily used in the consumer space they
are also popular in organizations among executives and in some eld
workows like emergency response and asset management.
But which type of device is to be preferred in the end, a smartphone or
tablet? And why? Cardella states that both devices are excellent in terms
of data viewing and data collection, however more options are available
on the tablets because of the larger form factor and more powerful CPUs.
Cardella: The ArcGIS application on iPhone and iPad has the same func-
tionality but its presented very differently depending on which device you
run the app on. Due to its form factor we are able to display the map, leg-
end and popup on the iPad at the same time making it ideal for users who
have to work with the application for long periods of time.
Increased enterprise interest in mobile
Mobile has so far been consumer focused, with the popularity of loca-
tion based services companies like Foursquare. But enterprise interest is
growing, says Cardella: With the increased popularity of smartphones
and tablets among consumers, Esri is seeing these devices being inte-
grated in the Enterprise, especially in the utilities, local government (pub-
lic works), forestry and oil industries.
This trend is being driven by four factors, says Cardella: Employees of
organizations are bringing their personal devices to the workplace to
access email as well as other company resources. Organizations are
seeing the advantage of supporting their employees personal devices
by implementing bring-your-own-device programs thereby making
employees easily accessible and more productive.
Executives also play a role: With the explosion of tablets in the market
- especially iPads - many executives are using these devices in the work-
place to provide a dashboard or a snapshot of their business. The pres-
sure from executives within an organization to use these devices is anoth-
er reason why organizations are supporting them.
Costs are also an important factor: These devices are relatively cheap
when compared to rugged handheld devices or laptops. Many cus-
tomers have said to us they can purchase ve tablets for the same cost
as a single rugged handheld unit.
And nally, more control over administration: IT departments are able
to secure and administer these devices more easily than before. The
applications that can be run and the web sites the employee can visit
can all be controlled centrally within the organizations IT department.
Data on these devices can be wiped quite easily should the device be
lost or stolen.
Offline capabilities
Often mobile devices are used in areas where there is no Wi-Fi, but Esri
provides occasionally connected support on their ArcPad and ArcGIS
for Windows Mobile\Windows Embedded Handheld products.
Cardella: Users can provision data to the device, go out to the eld
where theres no connectivity and stay productive by completing their
data collection or inspection workow. Once connected this data can
be synchronized back with their Enterprise GIS.
With the iOS and Android SDKs, Esri currently supports ofine use of
basemaps (i.e. tiled layers). Esri is currently in the process of implement-
ing the ability to prolong features on the device to allow for ofine data
collection.
Augmented reality apps for mobile phones
Augmented reality (AR) applications have had some success in the con-
sumer space. Applications that tell users where restaurants, coffee shops
and various retail stores are located have become quite popular. But
what about AR apps and Enterprise GIS? Cardella: While AR apps
have had slow adoption, in Enterprise GIS are starting to see a trend
where customers who have underground assets, e.g. oil companies,
are looking at this technology to keep inventory of their assets that
arent visible. Since our smartphone and tablet SDKs are native to the
platform we already integrate well with existing AR libraries. A good
example of this is Layar.
Esris mobile future
Looking to the future Cardella sees more adoption of Android and iOS
devices among consumers while Blackberry devices will continue to
decline in this space. In the enterprise space we will also see an iOS
and Android increase and we expect Windows Phone to slowly start to
be adopted as well. While the iPad currently dominates the tablet mar-
ket we also expect Android tablets to have a modest increase in market
share because of the price point and the variety of devices available.
The Windows Mobile\Windows Embedded Handheld platforms are
popular among customers who need a high accuracy solution in a
rugged eld device. Since theres no other emerging technology that
provides this mix of capabilities, this platform will continue to be very
strategic for us. We will continue to develop new functionality in our
applications and SDKs on the iOS, Android, Windows Phone and
Windows Mobile platforms. When other platforms emerge that make a
signicant impact in mobile GIS and affect how our customers do their
work we are likely to support it.
Thanks to Matt Sheehan.
12
March 2012
Figure 4: ArcGIS for Windows Mobile
and ArcPad are designed for mobile
data collection where organizations
need to support disconnected and
occasionally connected workflows
while maintaining a high level of
GPS accuracy.
Figure 5: Authoring popups in the map
changes the way in which data is present-
ed to the user when they tap on the map.
I n t e r v i e w
I believe in precision.
Leica Geosystems AG
Switzerland
www.leica-geosystems.com
Precision is more than an asset when your
reputation is at stake, its an absolute necessity.
Zero tolerance is the best mindset when others need to rely on
your data. Thats why precision comes rst at Leica Geosystems.
Our comprehensive spectrum of solutions covers all your meas-
urement needs for surveying, engineering, construction, and
geospatial appli cations. And they are all backed with world-class
service and support that delivers answers to your questions.
When it matters most. When you are in the eld. When it has
to be right.
You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly precise
solution for every facet of your job.
The new Leica ScanStation C10: this high-denition
3D laser scanner for civil engineering and plant
surveying is a ne example of our uncompromising
dedication to your needs. Precision: yet another
reason to trust Leica Geosystems.

March 2012
Ar t i c l e
A Good Alternative?
UAVs compared to Traditional
UAVs are increasingly used in the geo and mapping sector as an alternative to traditional surveying
methods: small unmanned airplanes or multicopter type UAVs take aerial images of the area of
interest. After the flight true orthophotos or digital elevation models are calculated from the data.
The achieved orthophotos or digital elevation models serve as a basis for mapping, planning and
other surveying tasks.
U
AVs have several advantages compared to traditional survey-
ing methods. These new tools convince in cost efciency, ex-
ibility and data quality. The orthophoto UAV SIRIUS I manu-
factured by MAVinci is a xed wing UAV with about 1.6 m wingspan
and less than 3 kg take off weight. The system also includes an high-
ly advanced ight planning software (MAVinci Dekstop) for automat-
ed ight planning to achieve the highest possible data quality.
The performance of the system shows the advantages of UAV com-
pared to traditional surveying methods. Due to the low ight altitude
of about 150 m high resolutions of 2-10 cm GSD are typically
achieved. Aerial images for computation of orthophotos covering
150 500 ha can be acquired in only one 40 min ight.
Alternatively data for a digital elevation model/true orthophoto of
45 - 130 ha is collected in one ight. This high performance results
in low operation costs per ha. For larger areas multiple ights have
to be carried out. In this case the ight planning is optimized and
supported by MAVinci Desktop.
Interfaces to Various Solutions
The post processing of the single aerial images to geo information
products such as orthophotos, DTMs/DSMs, volume calculations,
image classication is performed after the ight. Several post pro-
cessing solutions for UAV data exist and they facilitate the calcula-
tion of different geo information products. To provide as much exi-
bility to the UAV operator as possible MAVinci Desktop has interfaces
to various solutions:
1. Automatic online cloud service for easy fast and cost efcient cal-
culation of true orthophotos and DEMs
Pix4D Cloud
2. Providers of personal value added service for individual post
processing needs
GeoID (Belgium)
Giscat (Germany)
Pieneering (Finland)
3. Stand-alone Software for cost efcient calculation of true orthofo-
tos and DEMs independent of internet connection and online ser-
vices
Photoscan by Agisoft
Enso Mosaic by Mosaic Mill
The MAVinci SIRIUS I UAVs are currently employed in several use
cases:
Civil and Industry Applications
The Finnish UAS operator, UAS Imaging was founded in 2011 to focus
on producing orthophotos for a variety of civil and industry applica-
By Johanna Born and Ilkka Valli
14
UAV job in Brasil.
Ar t i c l e
15

Surveying
tions. The experience gained so far from over 100 ights across cus-
tomers in the peat industry, civil engineering, environmental and forestry
applications has clearly shown that the imaging equipment used has to
be carefully chosen to match the operational requirements for aerial
photography and suit the prevalent local environmental conditions.
Flight sites in Finland can be situated in remote areas often close to
lakes or in wooded areas. Weather conditions involve fairly strong
winds throughout most of the year and light conditions vary signicant-
ly by season. Overall compass declination is high although radio traf-
c is minimal given the low population density. Currently no applicable
legal framework for UAV operation exists, although EU regulations are
in development and expected within the next few years.
The Mavinci Sirius I has been found to be the most suitable for these
conditions due to its advanced autopilot. The autopilot enables straight-
forward ight planning and quick ight plan modications in the eld.
This together with the excellent camera (Lumix GF-1) produces really
good quality photos even in poor light conditions and also makes it
possible to prolong the yearly operating time by ying even in low light
conditions.
The hand assisted launch is reliable and easy to perform, with three
different ight modes available for landing which makes landing
straightforward in even difcult weather conditions and also ensures
the Sirius I fullls the strictest UAV ight operation requirements now
and most likely in the future.
The plane has a more traditional single engine xed wing design rather
than being a wing model design but this makes it more durable and
easier to maintain in the event of any damage; the plane is made of
Elapor material which is both durable and easily repairable an impor-
tant aspect when operating in the eld where complex repairs would
be difcult to perform under eld conditions and where maximizing the
operational ying time is the main business consideration.
The ight time has been continuously improved and now reaches 30
minutes of active ight time, which together with a good payload capac-
ity is already adequate for many photographic uses when 3-5 ights
can be achieved in a single day.
UAS Imaging has used Sirius I extensively in peat land mapping appli-
cations including; aerial planning/implementation comparisons, aerial
review of waterway protection systems, water management and soil
drainage inspection, aerial review of soil topology changes and aerial
conrmation of areas to be excluded from peat production.
In the future UAS Imaging expects there to be an increased demand
for the creation of digital surface models to supplement the orthophotos
and allow for even more detailed mapping and analysis applications
in both industry and civil planning uses.
UAS supported erosion research in Spain and
Marocco
Erosion is a huge problem for farmers in Spain. More and more areas
used for agriculture are destroyed due to the inuence of wind and
water. The exploration of this phenomenon is possible by monitoring
the volume change of the erosion canyon (gully) over years. 3D mod-
els of the landscape are used to determine this volume change.
Until now Prof. Ries and Dr. Marzolffs teams from the University of Trier
and Frankfurt used hot-air balloons and kites to acquire aerial images.
The method is highly time and manpower consuming. In addition the
hot-air ballons can only be used in absolute still air and the kite needs
farily strong wind to y. Also it is difcult to hold a constant ight height
during a mission so that all pictures have the same resolution.
By now the team Ries/Marzolff got to know the advantages of the
MAVinci UAV system. Its application area is larger compared to kites
and hot air ballons because the system is more user-friendly. The resolu-
tion of the pictures taken with the MAVinci UAV can be varied easily
with different ight heights from 50 - 500m. The UAS shows especially
great advantages when larger areas are covered. The UAS pictures
have a constant overlap and cover the chosen area perfectly. Another
advantage is the small pack size and the low weght of the system which
makes transport easy. Pictures can be taken of an area on very short
notice and are therefore available very fast. During the research cam-
paign in Autumn 2010 in Marocco 12.000 pictures were taken in only
20 ights.
Johanna Born www.mavinci.de
and Ilkka Valli www.uaskuvaukset.fi.
A 3D model of a stone pit.
C
O
L
U
M
N
National TV series are showing the impact and power of geospatial
information for a mass audience. What would happen if there was to be a
European view on things?
A
few months ago, I got a glimpse behind the
scenes of Nederland van Boven (The
Netherlands from Above), the Dutch version
of the popular TV series Britain from Above. At a
glance I could see how the vast amount of GPS data
for all ship movements in Rotterdams harbor over a
one day period was processed and consolidated
with state-of-the-art technology and presented as one
animated container ship. It also revealed to me the
story of the harbor master. High above in his tower,
he and his team largely rely on geographical data
for their day-to-day operations and logistics, as well
as for their planning and crisis management func-
tions.
This story of the harbor in Rotterdam is just one of
the many examples in the series. In other episodes
you could see how masses of geographical data
are packaged into neat digestible stories for, and
about, real people. Thats one of the things that
makes the series so appealing, the way spatial
awareness is introduced to a large public. But there
is something else that I nd makes this series so inter-
esting, they give you another view on a country, a
true helicopter view. The bigger picture is present-
ed and you can zoom in or zoom out of the com-
posing elements. The helicopter view is an efcient
way to look for a strategy in times of crisis. In other
words, as shown in another story: from a distance,
you will see that in a trafc jam an aerial view offers
a completely different set of dynamics than when
you are actually sitting in your car in the midst of it.
Besides the British and Dutch versions, there is also
a German edition: Deutschland von Oben, and it
is very conceivable that more countries would be
interested in the concept. Why? Because it has a
very high level of infotainment, a fascinating idea
developed in a clever format. As a whole, the TV
series tells us our storya story we already know
that almost all the important social, economic and
political structures are largely built on geographical
information. Furthermore, the tools with which we
capture, analyze and manage this geoinformation
are very effective and contribute to our common wel-
fare.
Birds-eye View
So what will happen if the format of this TV series
is adopted by more than a few European countries?
Lets say all the European countries? We could all
enjoy a birds-eye view of Europe! And what will
you see if you imagine yourself ying over the
European landscape? On one hand you can see a
continent in turmoil, with its nancial and banking
crisis, unemployment rising, shrinking housing mar-
ket, stagnating economic growth and a simmering
energy crisis. These numerous crises, like a conti-
nental drift, are dividing Europe. On the other hand,
however, when you take the helicopter view, with
all the sophisticated geo-senses we have, you will
see all kinds of connections and complex interrelat-
ed networks throughout Europe; highways, rail-
roads, waterways, ber optic networks, energy
super grids and so on. In fact there is no other part
of the world where so many countries are literally
so well connected as they are in Europe, and
geospatial data is the glue that connects them all.
To face todays challenges all across Europe, the
need for more helicopter views and geospatial tools,
is now a prominent issue when it comes to crisis
management. We will also rely more and more on
the crucial roles, that often used to be the people
behind the scenes, to make strategic and critical
decisions like the harbor master I discovered not so
long ago on TV.
By Wijnand van Riel
Wijnand van Riel, Business manager
Geo-ICT/Senior Geo-ICT Consultant.
Europe from Above
C o l u mn
16
March 2012
Copyright 2012 Esri. All rights reserved.
Empowering the
Mobile Workforce
With Esri
mobile solutions, you can quickly capture, update, and

share geospatial information using custom and ready-to-deploy
mobile applications. Mobile GIS saves time, increases data
accuracy, and makes your feld staff more productive.
Learn more at esri.com/geoinfomob
For Esri locations worldwide, visit esri.com/distributors.
F.Y.R.O.M.
gisdata.hr
Germany
esri-germany.de
Georgia
geographic.ge
Greece and Cyprus
marathondata.gr
Hungary
esrihu.hu
Iceland
samsyn.is
Israel
systematics.co.il
Italy
esriitalia.it
Malta
geosys.com.mt
Moldova
trimetrica.com
The Netherlands
esrinl.com
Norway
geodata.no
Poland
esripolska.com.pl
Portugal
esri-portugal.pt
Romania
esriro.ro
Austria
synergis.co.at
Belgium and
Luxembourg
esribelux.com
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
gisdata.hr
Bulgaria
esribulgaria.com
Croatia
gisdata.hr
Czech Republic
arcdata.cz
Denmark
informi.dk
Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania
hnit-baltic.lt
Finland
esri-finland.com
France
esrifrance.fr
Russia
dataplus.ru
Slovak Republic
arcgeo.sk
Slovenia
gisdata.hr
Spain
esri-es.com
Sweden
esri-sgroup.se
Switzerland
esri-suisse.ch
Turkey
esriturkey.com.tr
Ukraine
ecomm.kiev.ua
UK/Ireland
esriuk.com
Quick Wins and Synergies
Autodesk and Pitney Bowes
The recent agreement between Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software will go far beyond the already
existing exchange of open geo information standards. Together, both companies wish to help infra-
structure owners and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organizations make more
informed decisions and drive greater efficiencies across the plan, design, build, manage lifecycle of
infrastructure. BIM goes MapInfo
U
nder the terms of the strategic alliance agreement, Pitney
Bowes Software and Autodesk will join forces, and through
coordinating the integration of existing applications, both
companies will work together to deliver solutions which address
some of the more immediate business issues within a number of iden-
tied vertical markets.
Shared Global Reach
Over the last few months Pitney Bowes James Buckley and
Autodesks Richard Humphrey have been working together internal-
ly to look over the aligned agreements and what it would mean to
both companies. In their joint press statement, James Buckley, Senior
VP and General Manager Customer Data & Location Intelligence,
says: Shared global reach and industry sectors reect the strong
afnity between Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software. Our comple-
mentary capabilities will enhance the value of our solutions and cre-
ate enormous efciencies for our customers.
Product Integration
The collaborative efforts between Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software
and the published papers surrounding the news are not suggesting that
both companies merge. Buckley: This is a strategic alliance be tween
two companies. But the underlying question is in terms of exploring
how far we should or could go, or exactly what it is that would create
value. Therefore we needed to be able to start engaging with our cus-
tomers in the wider market place. Part of what was driving the ofcial
18
March 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Remco Takken
Richard Humphrey:
What weve been working on
in GIS from an Autodesk
perspective is continuing to
enhance our basic platform Map
3D, merging it with products
like Topobase, to be able
to make it more of a plan
and management tool for
different purposes.
Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler
press announcement was that now we had the opportunity to go out
and talk to customers we had in common. We need this to be customer
and market led, rather than us sending our respective engineering teams
away to build something new. We want that real input and feedback.
The agreement certainly provides for us to build joint products and
create new products together, those will emerge overtime.
Richard Humphrey, Director, Civil Infrastructure Business Line, Autodesk
adds to that: There are no specic plans right now to come up with a
new joint solution. It is fairly early in the relationship and all thats evolv-
ing. The rst thing that well look to do is integrate our products so that
there is a much more useful workow. Integration will start with how
do you exchange data most appropriately, and then extend from there.
So were now really focused on the short term. How do you connect
products and workows better? I think long term it is open to any kind
of opportunity, and theres a lot of possibilities. It might encompass a
deeper integration of products, leveraging each others technologies
and potentially doing some joint development of software.
Time Frame
Shortly after this magazine reaches the shelves, the rst results will be
visible to the outside world. Humphrey estimates that You will proba-
bly see something in the rst half of this year in terms of delivering the
opportunities in this strategic alliance. We think that there are technolo-
gies in both companies that allow us to make a connection really quick-
ly. Sure we know how to exchange data, and were rapidly pulling
together how we want to go to market. This would not be a complete
integration in terms of combining products physically, like the ones we
acquired, such as Topobase, which had to be made t for our portfo-
lio.
DWG to TAB
The MapInfo le format (TAB) is widely known and accepted in the GIS
world, but the average AutoCAD user might never have heard of it.
Humphrey explains that data exchange is not a major concern for the
average user: We support, through our FDO, the ability for Autodesk
users to pull in many different le formats. We would look to enhance
that type of capability so that they are able to pull in bi-directionally
exchange data between the Autodesk and the Pitney Bowes solutions.
We are trying to pull CAD data directly into a TAB le. That is some of
the integration work our integration teams are looking at right now. But
our users dont have to worry about the data exchange, its a verdict
for them. And we dont want them to be worried about what they do
with the data once it comes in the application. Theyre actually going
through their workows and making decisions that are critical to them.
A much better Experience
Autodesks AutoCAD Map 3D is widely used in maintaining and visu-
alizing captured geo-information around infrastructures and public
space, MapInfo has a great reputation in the elds of proling, busi-
ness intelligence and spatial analysis and Engage 3D extends the ef-
I n t e r v i e w
19

Software Strategic Aalliance
Confirm, an infrastructure asset management software product.
ciency, analytical and 3D capability of MapInfo Professional .
Humphrey is aware of the advanced technology within MapInfo: You
can bring geo data in AutoCAD Map, create maps and do some basic
GIS analytics. That is our GIS platform. But you know, Pitney Bowes
really makes that a much better experience. When you can have that
data in an Autodesk-friendly environment and do the kind of business-
like GIS analytics and visualization that Pitney Bowes delivers. On the
manage side, where we have products like Topobase, and were into
records management, which rmly delivers true strategic asset man-
agement to our customers. Those are the things that we really see as
key.
Three Verticals Overlap
The separate elds of business intelligence and proling versus design
and data capture suggest that possible overlap is quite limited. This is
a deceptive view. Humphrey says: Effectively, we both cover a lot of
different vertical industries. We are focusing our energy on wheres the
most overlap. The places where we see some of the most immediate
opportunities to go to market are specically in three verticals that we
are already actively engaged in. Right now, we are guring out how
to combine our solutions into something better to offer those markets.
The rst vertical that we share is the transportation market, where we
think we can both deliver a robust solution across the whole lifecycle of
plan, design, built and manage. Similarly, both Autodesk and Pitney
Bowes Software are active within the industry of natural resource extrac-
tion. In terms of targeting mining owners and AEC consulting rms that
do work for those owners and in the supply chain. The third vertical
that we are really looking at as well, is local government. We will again
be combining the capabilities we have around GIS/BIM and GIS ana-
lytics in CAD to really deliver something much more robust, much more
of a game changer into the government market. Beyond those three,
we are looking at a lot of different opportunities where we do overlap,
be it utilities or other areas.
Transport Lifecycle
Buckley explains some of the drivers behind the collaboration within
the transport sector. The already looming synergy makes for a quick
win, according to Buckley: In the transport sector in particular we
share many customers in common around the world, be they big infras-
tructure owners, public sector agencies or all the engineering rms that
help public sector maintain and manage highways around the world.
We are selling our solutions and products mainly to people who design,
build and then manage highway infrastructure around the world. If we
bring our software assets together we believe we can provide a richer
and more integrated solution to that whole lifecycle. From the Pitney
Bowes Software point of view, you know us mainly for the MapInfo
product family, but back in 2004, we also acquired a product called
Conrm. Its an infrastructure asset management software product. If
you think about where MapInfo traditionally would be used in a sort of
macro-planning GIS analysis around the environment, for example at
the front end of the process around strategic planning and decision
making. Position Autodesk in the design and build phase of managing
public infrastructure and then the Conrm product from the respective
operate and maintain perspectives.
Natural Resources
In Natural resources, Pitney Bowes acquired a company called Encom
in 2007 in Australia, a partner of MapInfo that provides software sys-
tems for the mining sector. Buckley: Its really around prospecting and
decision making about where a mining company should be doing its
exploration. Once that decision is made, there is a whole lot of infras-
tructure build that needs to go on and then management of that infras-
tructure lifecycle of that mine. I think there, both Autodesk and Pitney
Bowes have relationships with large mining companies and big engi-
neering companies that use our software separately. When bringing
them together, we can provide a solution that will help our customers
better manage the entire lifecycle right from the exploration to the
decommissioning of the mine.
Government
Certainly the ongoing discussions concerning the gap between CAD
and GIS arent necessarily just limited to the governmental world.
Buckley explains: There is a paradigm, and it is denitely true in local
government, where there is a GIS department that provides access to
I n t e r v i e w
20
March 2012
MapInfo has a great
reputation in the fields
of profiling, business
intelligence and spatial
analysis and Engage
3D extends the
efficiency, analytical
and 3D capability of
MapInfo Professional.
geo data in different ways to different parts of the organization. And
also of a consumer of CAD data that is generated by other parts of the
organization. I think that certainly we see an opportunity together,
where we can join some of those workforces up. This is especially true
in local government, in land management, economic development and
town planning. Thats a real opportunity where we can enhance those
processes, joining up what today can be siloed in those organizations.
But having said that, I think the intent and the results of that are to
enhance the ability of the GIS analyst to provide data in a quicker and
more efcient way to the organization rather than undermine what they
do, or what they need to do, for the organization.
In the eld of design data, Autodesk has a huge history in the architec-
tural and engineering world. However, Richard Humphrey asserts,
We dont see ourselves as necessarily a CAD company. Although
thats our history, really we recognize that its all about the data and
the information, how our customers manage and leverage that data in
all their different workows. The combination of Autodesk and Pitney
Bowes Software really adds a lot more exibility in terms of how GIS
analysts leverage their data with our combined offering.
Data-As-A-Service
Next to the different markets that are shared by both Autodesk and
Pitney Bowes software, is the more horizontal side of things that these
companies are aiming at, which is hosting. Humphrey, enthusiastically:
The other thing that Pitney Bowes delivers is a really interesting and
robust data-as-a-services offering. It is a good opportunity to connect
those two, where our customers need to get data, we can give them
access to the Pitney Bowes Software content server. It really helps.
BIM for Infrastructure
Humphrey rightly sees a perfect synergy, although AutoCAD Map has
its own GIS user base, and they are not giving that up. Autodesk con-
tinues to invest in our GIS capabilities and working with Pitney Bowes
adds a lot to that. What weve been working on in GIS from an
Autodesk perspective is continuing to enhance our basic platform Map
3D, merging it with products like Topobase, to be able to make it more
of a plan and management tool for different purposes. Also, because
we are a 3D design company, we really view this concept of BIM for
infrastructure as something that is a workow that cuts across all the
lifecycles of the whole asset all the way from plan to manage. The
Autodesk Infrastructure Model is all about how do I take 3D, share this
information, and visualize that GIS information in a 3D context, which
is city modeling. We envision the ability to grow an offering like that
into the future of how you represent any kind of data. Thats the context
in which people live, so they will understand it more easily. If you can
visualize GIS information in 3D and then start authoring, manipulating
and editing that data in 3D. It goes back into your GIS back end sys-
tem, and it goes forth into the basic design process. Then youve hit
something. You really change the way people think about information
and GIS. In making the move towards 3D visualization and analytics
of the data, we want to see an integration of what Pitney Bowes has
been doing and what we are doing. Get a real context and start doing
analysis in overlaying and theming, what traditionally has been 2D
GIS analytics and do this in 3D as well.
3D GIS
The 3D revolution totally changed the design world a few years
back, and it is about to shufe the GIS environment as well. We
absolutely see the potential in the way in which 3D changes the GIS
community. We provide a huge amount of additional value in that
area to our traditional MapInfo customer base, says Buckley. He
does recognize the time lapse that occurred between 3D CAD and
3D GIS, but: Weve been enhancing our 3D capabilities in MapInfo
Professional. Also, through the acquisition of EnCom we picked up
the eEngage 3D product, which was very much focused on mining
and natural resources. Weve taken that product and worked to
enhance it so that it can also be a real aid in crime analysis through
our Crime Proler product. So, I think that we can bring some capa-
bilities from both companies that will create a whole new way in
which our users can interact with their data.
Internet: www.pb.com/software
www.autodesk.com
I n t e r v i e w
21
The 3D capabilities in
MapInfo Professional
have been enhanced.
W
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D
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E
O
S
P
A
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A
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Copyright Hexagon AB, 2011. All rights reserved. All trademarks or servicemarks used herein are property of their respective owners. Hexagon
makes no representation or warranty regarding the accuracy of the information in this publication. This document gives only a general descrip-
tion of the product(s) or service(s) offered by Hexagon and, except where expressly provided otherwise, shall not form part of any contract. Such
information, the products and conditions of supply is subject to change without notice.
THINK OPPORTUNITIES
Join Leica Geosystems in Las Vegas, NV, 4-7 June for targeted sessions
and workshops, visionary keynote presentations, interactive technology
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Using twin laser rangefinders, AHABs newly announced Chiroptera laser scanner system is designed
to carry out the acquisition of elevation and depth data over areas of shallow water, shorelines
and adjacent land surfaces simultaneously, so allowing the easy integration of bathymetric and
topographic measurements within the same data set.
R
eferring to my article on
Airborne Bathymetric Laser
Scanners that was published in
the December 2011 issue of
GEOinformatics, unfortunately, the
material on the new Chiroptera air-
borne bathymetric laser scanner from
the Swedish company, Airborne
Hydrography AB (AHAB), did not
reach me in time for its inclusion in the
article. Since this system falls quite de-
nitely into the new generation of bathy-
metric scanners that were being dis-
cussed in that article, it seems
appropriate to provide an account of
its main features now that the informa-
tion is to hand.
The name Chiroptera is that given
by zoologists to the family (or biologi-
cal order) of ying bats, the vast majority of which carry out their in-
ight navigation and their location of prey using pulse echo sound-
ing. In this respect, the rather unusual name does appear to be
appropriate, although, of course, light pulses are being employed
in the laser scanner rather than the high-frequency sound pulses that
are being emitted by bats. Turning next to the actual Chiroptera
bathymetric scanner, it utilizes twin laser rangenders as the basis
of its measuring system. (i) The rst of these is the systems bathy-
metric laser rangender with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF)
of up to 18 kHz, which generates its pulses in the green part of the
electro-magnetic spectrum at the well established wavelength () of
532 nm for bathymetric depth measurements. (ii) The second is a
topographic laser rangender, similar to that employed in the
AHAB DragonEye topographic laser scanner, which uses multiple
pulse technology. This latter device can generate its pulses at PRF
values of up to 400 kHz in the near infra-red (NIR) part of the spec-
trum, operating at the wavelength () of 1064 nm.
Like the Optech ALTM Aquarius and the RIEGL VQ-820-G bathymet-
ric scanners that were discussed in the previous article in the
December 2011 issue, the green rangender that is used in the
AHAB Chiroptera scanner is optimized for operation in shallow
water, both along sea coastlines and in inland waters. Typically this
bathymetric scanner can measure maximum depths of 10 to 15 m
from altitudes in the range 250 to 400 m in suitable conditions
which will depend largely on the tur-
bidity of the water column through
which the laser pulses will pass. The
topographic laser scanner is, as the
name suggests, used to measure the
elevation values of the objects on the
land surface that surround or are adja-
cent to the areas of water. The two
scanners both use a Palmer scan
mechanism that generates an ellipti-
cal scan pattern of discrete measured
points over the sea (or lake) surface,
the seabed (or lakebed) and the land
surface that are being measured with-
in a scan angle of 20 degrees on
either side of the ight line. The scan
frequency (or scan rate) is pro-
grammable at speeds up to 70 revolu-
tions per second.
The two laser rangenders operate in parallel simultaneously and
both sets of detectors can carry out the full waveform digitiza-
tion of the returning signals that are being reected from the water
or land surfaces. The resulting digital data is stored on ruggedized
data recorders having removable solid-state disks. The GNSS/IMU
sub-system that is planned to provide the positioning and orientation
elements of the Chiroptera laser scanner system is the AEROcontrol
system from the German supplier, IGI. The IGI company can also
supply its CCNS-5 ight planning, navigation, control and guidance
system and its DigiCAM digital frame camera for use with the
Chiroptera system. The overall system is relatively compact in size
and weighs less than 50 kg, which will allow it to be mounted in a
small helicopter or xed-wing aircraft. This should result in a rela-
tively high degree of cost-efciency during its actual operation in the
eld.
AHAB has developed its new Chiroptera bathymetric laser scanning
system in close collaboration with the Coastal Studies Group of the
Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at the University of Texas,
which is located in Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas.
This Bureau forms part of the Universitys Jackson School of Geo -
sciencesand also functions as the Texas State geological survey.
The Coastal Studies Group has already gained a great deal of rele-
vant experience, having carried out airborne laser scan surveys of
the whole of the coastline of Texas over the past several years. See
24
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Gordon Petrie
Figure 1: The AHAB Chiroptera airborne bathymetric laser scanner, showing the twin ports for
the bathymetric and topographic scanners and the third (smaller) port for the accompanying
digital camera, all located on the underside of the system box. (Source: AHAB)
Another New Airborne Bathymetric Laser Scanner!
AHABs Chiroptera
the following Web pages for further details of these activities:-
www.beg.utexas.edu/coastal/survey/altm.htm - and
www.beg.utexas.edu/coastal/poster_measuringchange.htm
Conclusion
The new AHAB Chiroptera airborne bathymetric laser scanner -
which is planned to enter service later this year (2012) - is yet anoth-
er system that can carry out the mapping and charting of areas of
relatively clear shallow water both at sea and in inland waters and
can simultaneously gather high density elevation data of the
surrounding coastlines and topography. Further information about
the system can be found on the AHAB Web site:-
www.airbornehydro.com/chiroptera
Gordon Petrie is Emeritus Professor of Topographic Science in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences of
the University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. E-mail Gordon.Petrie@glasgow.ac.uk ;
Web Site http://web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~gpetrie
Ar t i c l e

GPS+ Technology and Piste Management
Dreamsnow in Kitzbhel
Bergbahn AG Kitzbhel has long championed the cause of sustainability. The Tyrol-based company is
notably the only cable-car operator in Austria to have twice claimed the Chamber of Commerces
Sustainability Prize. Its prowess in measuring snow depths played a special role in this achievement,
dating back to the run-up to the 07/08 Hahnenkamm races.
T
he ARENA PistenManagementSystem has
now been tested and rened over numer-
ous seasons, leading the team in
Kitzbhel to deploy it across the entire area.
After all, it provides optimal support for snow-
making and piste bashing.
Taking control for the
Hahnenkamm races
The technology makes sense from more than just
an ecological standpoint. Its also economically
sensible across a range of time that can be
viewed as sustainable; this applies to the GPS+
supported Pisten Mana ge ment-System as well.
Manmade snow costs a huge amount of money,
sometimes in three different ways: When its pro-
duced, when its applied and in some cases
when its redistributed in the spring. To conserve
resources as much as possible during this pro-
cess, Dr. Burger, CEO at Bergbahn AG
Kitzbhel, opted for a snow-depth measurement
system that has since been redeveloped to cre-
ate the Pisten Mana ge ment System. The motiva-
tion at the time was the Hahnenkamm races.
The FIS (International Ski Federation) stipulates
a minimum snow depth and surveys snow
depths all over the course shortly ahead of the
race before it gives the green light for racing to
take place. The testers move about the race-
course using traditional methods to measure
snow depth. The FIS ndings exactly matched
the snow depth gures provided by the snow
groomers. This was an absolute afrmation of
the quality and effectiveness of Topcon GPS+
technology and the ARENA Pisten Mana ge -
mentSystems by Power GIS.
Test passed
Engineer Richard Profanter (now retired) was in
charge of trail maintenance at the time. He led
and helped develop the PistenManagement pro-
ject from its infancy: In the winter seasons that
followed, the system functioned awlessly in the
central Hahnenkamm-Pengelstein area, and dur-
ing the last season, 2010/2011, the rest of the
area was outtted with 8 additional groomers.
13 piste bashers in all were outtted with the
GPS+ supported Pisten Mana ge mentSystem 9
with cable winch models and 4 solo vehicles.
Weve since dened snow depths for the entire
ski resort based on set parameters to ensure that
we dont make too much or too little snow.
Defining target conditions
the MasterPLAN
An important part of the ARENA Pisten Ma na -
ge ment-System is developing an effective strate-
gy. Its the only way to tap this fantastic instru-
ments true power. In an extreme case, this
means dening how much snow will be pro-
duced down to the individual hydrant, and the
maximum amount of water that will be allowed
to ow before a controlled stop is implement-
ed! Naturally, the targets are initially based
on estimates, but over time they are increasing-
ly tailored to real observed conditions until peak
efciency is achieved.
No ski resort or mountain face is comparable
with another! A great deal of experience is
needed to dene the targets. Yet even the pros
can be wrong about just how much snow is actu-
ally on the pistes at any given time.
The solution for objective decision-making data
comes through GPS+ technology from Topcon,
which uses deep integration of the American
GPS and Russian GLONASS signals for pre-
cise location determination. ARENA Pisten -
Management Software by PowerGIS then pro-
cesses the signals in real time.
How it works
Where ARENA PistenManagementSystems are
used strategically, water consumption can be
planned. Close adherence to water specica-
tions can cut consumption by 10% on average,
with correspondingly lower energy consump-
tion. Simply put, the ARENA Pisten Mana -
gementSystem surveys the surface of individu-
al sections of each piste.
That surface is multiplied by the target water
depth to produce the total volume of water
required. That overall gure is then distributed
as evenly as possible between the hydrants
responsible for covering the relevant section of
piste with manmade snow. Once the desired
volume has been reached, the snow blowers
are moved to different areas or are turned off.
Once snow piles have been equally distribut-
ed using snow depth measurement tools, the
new results are used to ensure that the proper
mass has been achieved. Follow-up snow
blowing can then be organised as required.
First published in InPosition, September 2011,
www.inposition.eu.
26
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Stuart Proctor
Figure 1: Safe and resource-saving piste grooming in Kitzbhel. Figure 2: Clear snow-depth charts help trail managers decide where additional snow blowing and grooming is needed with minimal waste of resources.
Figure 3: Drivers can check snow depths in real time on the monitor. Figure 4: The base station receives both the American GPS and Russian GLOBASS signals
[1] [2]
[3] [4]

20 MicrosoL CorporaLion. All righLs reserved. MicrosoL, UlLraCam, UlLraCamXp, UlLraMap, and vexcel lmaging CmbH are eiLher regisLered Lrademarks or Lrademarks o MicrosoL CorporaLion in Lhe UniLed SLaLes and/or oLher counLries.
WiLh plans Lo esLablish a high-resoluLion aerial image library o China and cusLomers
across 30 dierenL governmenL deparLmenLs, Peace Map Co., LLd. (PMC) needs a qualiLy
digiLal phoLogrammeLric sysLem Lo eecLively serve Lheir large markeL. 1haL's why PMC
chooses MicrosoL UlLraCam or Lheir digiLal-image acquisiLion.
Mr. Xiang knows LhaL Lhe cosL Lo y missions is his greaLesL operaLional expense. 1hanks
Lo Lhe large image ooLprinL and sLable perormance o Lhe UlLraCam, he has seen a
signicanL increase in eciency compared Lo oLher digiLal aerial cameras. 1he conLinual
innovaLion o Lhe UlLraCam helps PMC deliver breaLhLaking images Lo cusLomers, reduce
cosLs, and plan or sLeady growLh inLo Lhe uLure.
1he UlLraCam Fagle is Lhe laLesL Lechnological advance, eaLuring an ulLra-large image
ooLprinL and revoluLionary enhancemenLs or high-qualiLy imagery aL unprecedenLed
eciencies. For deLails, visiL www.UltraCamEagle.com.
Xiang Yu,
Peace Map Co., Ltd.
Visit iFlyUltraCam.com
to see the PMC video.
Or scan tag and watch on
your mobile phone.
Downl oad the free tag reader app at http: //gettag. mobi .
A new era for EuroGeographics
EuroGeographics Newsletter
Ingrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator, National Geographic Institute, Belgium was elected
President of EuroGeographics (AISBL) at the Associations 2011 General Assembly. In this first contribu-
tion to GeoInformatics, she outlines her goals for the next two years and discusses the ways in which
EuroGeographics members are meeting the demands of data users to benefit people living right across
Europe.
Ar t i c l e
By Ingrid vanden Berghe
28
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
A mission to maximise the use of geo-information
EuroGeographicsstrength lies in its extensive membership, currently 56
organisations from 45 countries, who work across geographic, eco-
nomic and cultural boundaries to ensure that reliable, high quality
geospatial information for Europe is readily available and accessible
to users.
As President, it is a great privilege to represent so many highly-skilled
and knowledgeable GI professionals. I want to take every opportunity
to demonstrate the value of interoperable, authoritative geo-information
so that its benets are widely understood, and its use becomes com-
monplace, by all sections of European society. One way in which we
are doing this is through EuroGeoInfo, a website for nding the nation-
al spatial data infrastructures, products and services available from our
members, which has been widely welcomed by members and data
users alike.
Events, such as a recent meeting in the European Parliament, also
enable us to stress members commitment to supporting initiatives such
as the European Digital Agenda and 2020 strategy for smart, sustain-
able growth to policy and decision-makers. Central to this is the cre-
ation of the European Location Framework or E.L.F, which will link data
to a common, maintained location framework of denitive, reliable
public sector reference data. The E.L.F, whose foundations were laid
by the successful completion of the European Spatial Data Infrastructure
Network (ESDIN) project, will provide the high quality, trustworthy infor-
mation needed for a vibrant digital single market, providing a vital link
among otherwise unconnected information frameworks.
Fast-access to pan-European mapping for disaster
and crisis response
As the Association for the European national cadastral, land registry
and mapping authorities, EuroGeographics is ideally placed to facili-
tate the delivery of members data to the GMES emergency manage-
ment service. Our partnership agreement with the European
Environment Agency (EEA), ensures that civil protection agencies,
national and local emergency services, humanitarian aid organisations
and European Union bodies working in the immediate aftermath of dis-
asters will benet from fast access to pan-European mapping and dam-
age assessment maps created as part of the service. This may be acti-
vated on any day at any time and aims to provide reference maps just
6 hours after gaining access to earth observation data and damage
assessment maps within 24 hours. We look forward to continuing our
work with the EEA, which shows the wide-ranging benets that can be
achieved through a willingness to share expertise and knowledge.
A new era for EuroGeographics
This year marks the ofcial winding up of EuroGeographics as a
French Association as we change our status to that of an interna-
tional not-for-prot organisation (INPO) under Belgian Law. Our struc-
ture stays the same and our aim remains to achieve interoperability
of members national land and geographic data to provide an infor-
mation asset supporting Europes goal of becoming the most com-
petitive and sustainable economy in the world. The new status, how-
ever ensures a solid foundation for future activities that will benet
policy and decision makers, data users and members alike. It
enables us to build upon a decade of growth and organisational
development, ensuring that, together, we can continue to deliver tan-
gible social, economic and environmental benets and meet the
demands of a rapidly changing market.
Like our head ofce, I am based in Brussels, which means I too am
well placed to represent members in the very heart of European pol-
icy making. Whilst many of our activities inevitably remain focussed
on engagement with the European Commission and Parliament, the
outcomes and benets from this work extends to all our members,
whether they are part of the European Union or not.
As we have seen with the INSPIRE and Directive on the re-use of Public
Sector Information, the work of the EU has impact and inuence in
countries far beyond its borders. Indeed, we continue to embrace
links with like-minded organisations across the world, including our
pioneering strategic collaboration with PSMA Australia, which pro-
vides a strong link between the government agencies responsible
for spatial data across two continents, and our participation in the
United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management Forum.
This international work will continue in the coming year as we believe
collaboration with global geospatial communities is essential as the
world market in geo-information continues to grow.
Working with my colleagues in EuroGeographics Management
Board and head ofce, I am committed to ensuring that the focus of
our activities continues to deliver benets to all members and to the
society we serve. If you would like to work with us or get involved
in any of our activities, I would love to hear from you.
For more information,
please visit www.eurogeographics.org.
To see members geographical information in action,
visit www.youtube.com/eurogeographics.
29
German Scanning Project
Digital measurements with
If three-dimensional measurement of structures has been very complicated, expensive and error-prone
up until now, then data collection with the latest generation of 3D laser scanners is now easy, accurate
and rapid.
3
D laser scanners can be used to com-
pletely and accurately convert entire
buildings and their ttings into digital
models. Current scanners record up to one
million measuring points per second: this
means that surfaces up to a distance of
about 50 meters can be reproduced in
detail and at high resolution. The extremely
small deviations of about 0.1 percent lie
within the required DIN tolerances for con-
struction.
Now the scan data can be easily edited by
the end user, because the computer hard-
ware has become more powerful and
because direct CAD import has become pos-
sible thanks to AutoDesks point cloud
engine for AutoCAD and Revit Architecture.
This eliminates expensive external process-
ing of the data, so that the costs drop to a
level similar to that of classical dimension-
ing. Thus the current niche existence of 3D
documentation is now a thing of the past in
many application areas: Laser scanning will
revolutionize the current use of survey data.
Spatial building models have a number of
advantages compared to traditional 2D sur-
veys. As all the information in a spatial
model is available in three dimensions, mul-
tifunctional applications are possible. This
ranges from simple measurement and area
calculations to stereoscopic navigation in vir-
tual buildings. Because the scanner records
all the visible structures of buildings and
components, this results in completely seam-
less records that can be used across various
disciplines. Information that is not needed
for the particular application can be delet-
ed in order to reveal important details and
keep le sizes small.
The areas of use are extremely diverse;
everywhere where the precise geometric
investigation of the environment and rapid
visualisation of the same are needed, opti-
cal 3D measurement using the latest laser
scanning technology is impossible to beat:
Survey documentation of
objects for:
Plant engineering: modications to instal-
lations and production lines
Architecture: monument protection, reno-
vation planning, quantity surveys
Civil engineering trafc structures, vol-
ume determination in open pits
Recording and digitisation in
the areas of:
Shipbuilding CAD import of free-form
surfaces
Reverse engineering 3D modeling in
CAD after scanning a prototype
Quality management production analy-
sis of e.g. wind turbines
Transfer of the scan data in
virtual reality applications for:
Forensics location- and time-independent
crime scene analysis
Film business location scouting und com-
puter-generated sets
Urban development 3D city models and
virtual ights
The project
Re-glazing was carried out using aluminum
prole construction with highly insulated
Schco elements as part of the energy-related
renovation of the glass roof over the listed
30
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Mr. Johannes Rechenbach
Evaluation of the scan data and engineering with AutoCAD
Architecture
Leibniz University Hanover
courtyard of the Guelph castle. This is support-
ed by the steel structure spanning the court-
yard, with an area of around 1200 m
2
. The
survey documentation of the spatial support
structure, made of steel tubing and double I
beams, were too old and imprecise to provide
all the necessary measurements. After intense
consideration, the company in charge of the
project chose Langenhagen-based Masche
Metallbau to carry out surveying with 3D doc-
umentation.
This service was provided by architect J.
Rechenbach and his Laser Scanning Archi -
tecture ofce. To do this, the steel substructure
was measured in three dimensions in 12 indi-
vidual scans; the scan data were then transmit-
ted to the in-house CAD department for the
planning work.
Using this procedure, it was possible to gener-
ate the 3D digital image of the complete geom-
etry and pass it on within two working days.
The laser scanner was on site for only 3 hours.
Manual measurement would have taken about
40-60 hours of work, but without the assurance
that every dimension had been determined to
the last detail. These numbers show that the 3D
documentation method is not only accurate
and rapid, but also very economical.
Visualization of the 3D point
cloud using FARO SCENE and
AutoDesk Navisworks
Clear visualization was implemented using
various software solutions. First, the FARO
SCENE software provides a photo-realistic
display mode for the recorded data; in
addition, the scan was also read into
AutoDesk Navisworks. This makes it possi-
ble to combine the data from the laser scan
with 3D data from other sources.
This allows a comparison of target and
actual values to be carried out, in which
the scan data are presented superposed on
the newly created CAD plan so that devia-
tions immediately become visible. Planning
errors could thus be systematically avoid-
ed early on, thereby optimizing the con-
struction process. In this case, the faulty
production of a single large aluminum-
glass element would have been more
expensive than the entire 3-D measurement
of the object.
AutoCAD Architecture as an
optimal tool for further use of
the data
The detailed drawings were made in
Masche Metallbaus CAD department in 2D
mode using AutoCAD Architecture. To do
this, the 3D point cloud model was sliced
randomly to show the true geometry of the
steel substructure at the desired position and
to plan the glass elements of the roof accord-
ingly. The freely available plug-in from
AutoDesk, Cloud Point Extraction, was
applied directly in AutoCAD. As a result, the
complex 3D model can be reduced to any
2D content quick as a ash. The process is
very intuitive and simple. This allowed all
the desired measurements to be made and
the 2D details to be worked out rapidly.
Transfer to SchcoCAD based on
AutoCAD Architecture
Once the basic geometry had been deter-
mined and the axis spacing of the support
points had been specied, the component
library of the Schcad software was
accessed in order to incorporate the proles
to be constructed in detail in the CAD plan-
ning.
Conclusion
The successful completion of the construction
project now documents how accurately the
digital surveying data are and what great
benets 3D documentation technology offers
for construction applications in surveys and
architectural monument preservation. 3D
documentation precisely portrays the as-built
condition especially in more complex geo -
metries and older buildings in which defor-
mations may have occurred, thus offering a
high degree of planning reliability for an
optimized construction process.
Mr. Johannes Rechenbach, Dipl.-Ing. Architekt.
Internet: www.faro.com
Ar t i c l e
31

3D laser scanner
Axonomic representation of the steel structure
Re-glazing
The Benefits of Galileo
The Sky is on the move
Admittedly, in competition with the American GPS and the Russian Glonass system, prestige also plays
a role for the European Galileo satellite navigation system. But above all, the continental economy and
the people of the old world will gain from the five billion Euro cost and with this the most important
and largest high tech project in Europe.
O
n October 21, 2011, the rst two
Galileo satellites were launched from
Europes Spaceport in French
Guyana, aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.
Navigation, positioning, and location infor-
mation generated with the aid of satellites
have been earmarked by European econom-
ic leaders as the largest potential growth mar-
kets over the next decade. Independent stud-
ies for example have shown that through
Galileo new solutions for trafc management
and environmental protection will create more
than 100,000 jobs.
Whether its about economic transport sys-
tems, the rapid clearance of trans-boundary
goods transportation or the tangible life quali-
ty of each individual, Galileo will enable a lot
of innovative services as a reliable infrastruc-
ture for commercial and private endeavors.
This is why the European Space Agency (ESA)
has decided to encircle the earth with 14 satel-
lites from a height of 23,000 km and by the
year 2020, the total will be 30 satellites.
Europes answer to GPS & Co will do much
more than just navigate drivers, pilots or cap-
tains through transport routes. Antonio Tajani,
Vice President, Brussels EU Commission for
Enterprises and Industry boasts: Galileo
drives innovation through exceptional naviga-
tion applications.
From wheelchair to harvesting
machine
With the integration function for example,
wheelchair users are able to take advantage
of location based services (lbs) and satellite
navigation data available in every city in the
world, to avoid obstacles and improve their
mobility. The close search application for dis-
aster management helicopters, or a person
overboard system (pob) for crews aboard
ships, will allow faster preparation and res-
cue when dealing with missing persons. And
if Galileo is about enabling worldwide con-
tainer tracking for logistic companies or allow-
ing farmers to remotely control their harvest-
ing equipment while navigating rows of
strawberries or lettuce plantations, then the
basis of an orbital navigation system is world-
wide ICT support on the ground.
Without reliable logistics management on the
ground, satellite-guided navigation wont be
possible, says Ralf Nejedl, Managing
Director of T-Systems Belgium, responsible for
the Galileo program at the large customer divi-
sion of Deutsche Telekom. With Galileo, a
32
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
Door Jurry de la Mar
Representation of Galileo (source: ESA)
complex system of software, specialized hard-
ware and network components will come into
force an exceptional technological project,
provided with exceptional durability and large
availability.
Robust logistics on the ground
for signals from space
The heavy 13-ton satellites, from the Bremen
space group OHB Technology, will have to cir-
cle the earth in three different orbits for at least
14 to 17 years and exchange data. The task
for T-Systems, as a rst step, was to plan the
systems for logistic construction, then manage
and facilitate the construction of their own
space infrastructure for European satellite nav-
igation on the ground. Charged with this task
is Spaceopal, a joint venture of the German
Centre for Air and Spacecraft (DLR) and the
Italian Telespazio satellite navigation special-
ists, the daughter company of Telekom.
Because of the good experience that T-
Systems has with networks and components,
we are striving for a long term relationship
with the German Telekom daughter company,
since the beginning of the contract negotia-
tions for the Galileo ground segment, states
Spaceopals director Christian Langenbach.
At this moment T-Systems is the Core Team
Member of the joint venture and will take over
another task in the new year. For Galileo the
Ground Data Dissemination Network (GDDN)
is an important part, said Spaceopal direc-
tor Francesco DAmore. We are now prepar-
ing the inauguration of the consortium led by
T-Systems for next year.
Sending and receiving data
Besides the control centers in Italy and
Germany, 40 satellites, signal control stations,
two performance centers (for permanent evalu-
ation of the quality of the signal) and nine up-
link stations (ULS) that continually actualize the
update of the released data signals, will com-
municate with each other 24 hours a day. Some
of the ground stations are located in remote cor-
ners of the earth, including Papua New
Guinea, French Guyana and Troll in Antarctica.
Experts at T-Systems have to guarantee the reg-
ular replacement and maintenance of the infras-
tructure, namely IT systems, with updates and
patches, and the delivery of components such
as electronics and software modules, comput-
ers and the most recent receiver technology.
Furthermore, the German IT service provider of
the worldwide infrastructure for Galileo guar-
antees round-the-clock monitoring, and control
and exploitation of the telecommunications
infrastructure in several separate networks. At
the same time, T-Systems is responsible for the
purchase and safety tests of new network com-
ponents, and the enforcement of redundancy
concepts to increase reliability starting with
the supply of spare parts.
Control centers
When the more than ve billion Euro-costing
Galileo project becomes operational in three
years, the focus will also be on the ground
infrastructure in the control centers at Fucino,
Italy and Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany. The
two identically designed control centers, one
on either side of the Alps, will be able to
assume complete control and operational func-
tionality should either center break down or
malfunction during satellite operations. This
capability is one of the most important phas-
es of the project and ensures industrial com-
panies, governments and 700 million
Europeans can fully rely on the system. ESA
requires that construction of the Galileo logis-
tic system be in accordance with internation-
ally accepted practices and those of the
Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) guidelines.
This will guarantee that the operational costs
and availability of the system are continuous-
ly optimized throughout the life cycle of the
satellites.
Internet: www.t-systems.nl
www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html
Ar t i c l e
33
March 2012
On October 21, 2011, the first two
Galileo satellites were launched from
Europes Spaceport in French Guyana
on board a Russian Soyuz rocket
(source:ESA/CNES/Arianespace/
Optique Video Du CSG).
Control Room (source: Thomas Ernsting)
Changes in business operation explained
Exelis Visual Information
Last year, ITT Corporation has spun off its three business units into three standalone, publicly traded
companies. This change officially took place on October 31, 2011, when the parent organization, ITT
Defense & Information Solutions, became Exelis, Inc. As a part of the overall change, ITT Visual
Information Solutions became Exelis Visual Information Solutions. In this interview, Jaye Lampe,
President of Exelis Visual Information Solutions gives detailed information on the new company and
its products and services.
L
ast year, ITT Corporation has spun off its
three business units into three stan-
dalone, publicly traded companies.This
change ofcially took place on October 31,
2011, when the parent organization, ITT
Defense & Information Solutions, became
Exelis, Inc. As a brand new company,
Exelis, Inc. remains committed in providing
navigation, networked communications,
sensing and surveillance, electronic war-
fare, air trafc management and informa-
tion systems.
As a part of the overall change, ITT Visual
Infor ma tion Solutions became Exelis Visual
Information Solutions (VIS), which remains
a subsidiary of the parent company, and
while the name has changed, their commit-
ment to providing the geospatial market-
place with world-class products like ENVI,
IAS, IDL, E3De and all of their complemen-
tary geospatial products and services
remains the same.
When asked about the main reasons for this
change in your business operation, Lampe
answers that ITT Corporation had three main
businesses while Exelis has only one. This
narrower focus will allow Exelis to be more
agile and better able to
meet the needs of our
customers, says Lampe:
just as our parent com-
pany remains committed
to their products, services
and customers, Exelis
Visual Information Solu -
tions remains committed
to providing advanced
software products and
custom solutions that
enable our customers to
turn geospatial data into
actionable information.
One of the benets of the
change that we are see-
ing is a closer working
relationship with other divisions within Exelis
and our products and technology becoming
key components in their offerings.
Geospatial products and services
Exelis VIS provides geospatial software and
solutions that help professionals in a variety
of industries visualize, analyze and share
data and imagery. The ENVI product line has
advanced processing and analysis tools,
many of them automated, to help users get
information from geospatial imagery. Lampe:
E3De, our newest product, was released in
October of last year to address the growing
marketplace demand for more advanced
LiDAR processing and analysis software.
E3De has tools to enable our customers to
create 3D visualizations and extract impor-
tant features and products from their LiDAR
data. Another one of the companys prod-
ucts, IAS, is designed to compress and deliv-
er imagery so users can quickly deliver and
exploit geospatial imagery data even with
limited bandwidth. Last, but not least is IDL,
which is a scientic programming language
that lets users transform their data into visual
representations that allow them to interpret
their data and create applications.
ENVI
One of the Exelis VIS agship geospatial prod-
ucts is Envi. Exelis VIS have found that people
in different industries have similar challenges
that can be overcome with the help of informa-
tion extracted from imagery. With this in mind,
they have developed ENVI so that profession-
als across industries can extract the information
they need from their imagery. While ENVI does
contain some tools for specic applications, the
most commonly used tools, like change detec-
tion and feature extraction for example, are
applied in many different industries.
Lampe: We are however seeing an increased
use of ENVI in Defence and Security and
Environmental Monitoring. Defence and
Security personnel commonly use ENVI for
everything from detecting threats and identify-
ing targets to visualizing topography. Our
Environmental Monitoring customers use ENVI
for applications like mapping land cover and
wetlands to assessing forest health to monitor-
ing agricultural yield.
34
March 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Joc Triglav
Jaye Lampe, President of Exelis
Visual Information Solutions.
ENVI image analysis software is used to process and analyze a multispectral image to help with
building extraction. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
E3DE
Exelis VIS also provides E3De, an interac-
tive software environment for extracting 3D
information from LiDAR data. It was released
E3De last fall and the company received a
lot of positive feedback, much of it due to
the softwares workow, which guides users
from the visualization of their point cloud
data to extracting important information for
geospatial applications. The E3De workow
is comprised of four basic steps data
preparation, identication and extraction of
3D features, renement of results, and the
export of 3D products.
Lampe: E3De users have the choice of iden-
tifying features of interest through an auto-
mated feature identication tool or manual-
ly in their 3D visualization. They can then
export these features as products or layers
to perform additional geospatial analysis,
share them with colleagues or include them
in their GIS. We designed E3De so that the
results it provides can be used in a variety
of geospatial tools like ArcGIS and ENVI.
Theres even a direct link from E3De to ENVI
so users can quickly open ENVI with their
E3De results ready for further analysis.
IDL
The companys powerful and modern scien-
tic programming language IDL (Interactive
Data Language), allows its users to evaluate
their data and interpret it through dynamic
visual representations.
Lampe: what many people dont realize
about IDL is its been around for over thirty
years its what our company was original-
ly founded on.Today, our users tell us that
the IDL language is easy to learn, easy to
use, and typically requires fewer lines of
code than other programming languages.
And, because IDL is a dynamically typed
language, users have the exibility to
change variables and values at runtime ver-
sus recompiling and re-executing their code.
This is a big time saver.Another time saver
with IDL is the development environment,
which was redesigned several years ago to
allow programmers to quickly access devel-
opment tools like wavelet toolkits, code tem-
plates and more.
Lampe: the IDL graphics system is extreme-
ly important to our users. Its what allows
them to visualize and understand their data,
share results with colleagues, and create
publication quality graphs, maps and image
displays.And, because the IDL graphics sys-
tem is designed to leverage OpenGL hard-
ware acceleration, even extremely large
data sets are easily turned into powerful
graphics.
Another key benet is the ability to cus-
tomize ENVI with IDL. ENVI was built using
IDL, so ENVI features and functionality are
easily customized to the specic project
needs of Exelis VIS customers.
Professional Services Group
In addition to these products, the Profes -
sional Services Group creates customized
solutions to help customers solve problems
through the use of geospatial imagery and
scientic data.
Lampe: A business activity that we are
always focused on is updating our products
to address the evolving needs of our cus-
tomers. One way we learn about these
needs is through our Professional Services
Group, which works directly with customers
to develop custom solutions to specic prob-
lems. When we develop these solutions, it
gives us a great understanding of what our
I n t e r v i e w
35

Solutions
Defense and intelligence personnel use E3De software to create powerful 3D visualizations and easily extract important features from
LiDAR data in order to perform line-of-sight analysis.
For people interested in speaking with one of our representative face-to-face, here
are some of the international geo-events and conferences Exelis plans to attend in
the coming months:
Geoinformatik 2012, Braunschweig, Germany, March 28-30
DoDIIS Worldwide Conference, Denver, Colorado, April 1-4
Rencontres SIG La Lettre 2012, Paris, France, April 3-5
European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 22-27
EUSAR 2012, Nuremberg, Germany, April 23-26
SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, Baltimore, Maryland, April 23-27
Geospatial World Forum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 23-27
International Radar Symposium, Warsaw, Poland, May 23-25
GEO Summit 2012, Berne, Switzerland, June 19-21
2012 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California, July 23-27
customers are trying to get done, their time-
lines, sources of data and how their outputs
need to be formatted to be consumed by
their end users. When applicable, we use
this knowledge to update our products so all
our customers benet.
Another focus is continuing the integration
of our products with partner Esris products:
because the worlds of GIS and image anal-
ysis continue to merge, we see these inte-
gration efforts as benecial to both Exelis
and Esri customers.
In order to understand the needs of the
defense and intelligence community, Exelis
VIS employees frequently attend classied
sessions and they also host their own classi-
ed user symposiums: doing this allows us
to learn, rst-hand, about their mission chal-
lenges and technological needs. From what
we learn, we create off-the-shelf and custom
tools to help the Defense and Intelligence
community get the actionable intelligence
they need for mission success. We also sup-
port this community with both classied and
unclassied training courses that help users
stay up-to-date with the latest image analy-
sis methods and technology.
Image Access Solutions
IAS (Image Access Solutions) is an image
dissemination platform for rapid delivery
and real-time access to the geospatial
imagery. It provides users with advanced
image streaming and compression capabili-
ties so they can securely deliver and man-
age geospatial imagery and metadata.
Lampe: with IAS, users can access and
view any portion of an image at any resolu-
tion over any bandwidth. They can zoom
and pan within an image without having to
receive or decompress the entire multi-giga-
byte le. What this means to our customers
is, they can download extremely large
images in minutes or seconds as compared
to hours.
In terms of the professional areas IAS is use-
ful in, it's most commonly used for disaster
management and Defence and Security
applications: an example that comes to
mind is, after the devastating earthquake
that struck Haiti in January 2010, IAS was
used by emergency response personnel to
quickly receive and view imagery collected
by a variety of sources. Having this informa-
tion in the hands of emergency responders
allowed them to understand the extent of
damage that had occurred and where to
nd safe routes for deliveries of emergency
equipment and supplies.
Mobile solutions
Exelis VIS currently provides an Android
client with its IAS product for receiving image
data on mobile devices. They also have a
prototype Android application that is
designed to enable users in the eld to inter-
act with geospatial data and related services
that reside on a centralized server. The pro-
totype of this has been on display at the
Exelis booth at GEOINT this past October.
Lampe sees a lot of potential in the mobile
geospatial market for supporting forward
deployed personnel, particularly in defense
and intelligence and disaster management
situations: I can see a future where, for
example, disaster response personnel in the
eld can create geospatial products on-the-
y through the use of online services without
the need for local access to powerful work-
stations and GEOINT processing software.
In regards to where geospatial mobile tech-
nologies are now, Lampe believes that
geospatial markets are on par with other
mainstream applications in exploiting Web
I n t e r v i e w
36
March 2012
Following an earthquake in Haiti, emergency responders used IAS software to quickly receive and view imagery and plan their actions intelligently. Image courtesy of GeoEye.
2.0 capabilities: Id say
there are two key areas
that Web 2.0 facilitates.
First, it facilitates the abil-
ity to deliver feedback
from the eld into cen-
tralized databases by
conrming or denying
information. Se cond,
Web 2.0 facilitates the
sharing of information.
Third party
applications
When asked if any
organizations choose
Exelis VIS products as
their platforms for devel-
oping data visualization
and image analysis soft-
ware applications, Lam -
pe conrms that com-
panies in different
in dus tries use IDL and
ENVI as their platforms
for developing data
visualization and image
analysis programs and
applications specic to
their needs. Lampe: for
example, NASA devel-
oped SPICE, an ancil-
lary information system
that provides scientists
and engineers the capa-
bility to include space
geometry and event data into mission
design, science observation planning and
science data analysis software. SPICE
comes with a full IDL library and documen-
tation suite.
Another example of a third party applica-
tion was developed by the California
Institute of Technology: COSI-Corr is an
ENVI plug-in that is designed to measure
ground deformation following seismic activ-
ity using optical satellite and aerial images.
Training courses
Exelis VIS offers many ways for its users to
learn how to apply our products in their
work. Depending on what one needs to
learn, there are options that range from in
person classroom training to user group
events to online web seminars.
Lampe: Our training courses are designed
and taught by experts and are great for
everyone from those just beginning to dis-
cover IDL and ENVI to experienced users
who want to learn advanced techniques.
We also offer onsite training which is pop-
ular among organizations that want us to
tailor training to specific business or pro-
ject needs.
Live seminars and user groups are designed
to connect our customers with others in their
eld so they can share and learn from oth-
ers challenges and solutions. If in person
training events dont t into your schedule,
Exelis VIS hosts a variety live web seminars
that cover the functionality of its products
and how they can be used to solve specic
industry challenges.
Technical support
Exelis VIS Support Services main goal is to
support the success of our customers. They
do this by helping customers with everything
from setting up our products to understand-
ing how to effectively use them to extract
information from data and imagery. Lampe:
we offer support Monday through Friday
from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Mountain time in
North America over the phone, through
email or on-line through our web site. To
help our customers around the world, we
have support based out of Europe, Asia and
an international distributor network. And,
we offer a variety of self
help options on our web
site.
Geospatial market
predictions
As for the future, how will
the geospatial market in the
year 2020 look like and
how will Exelis VIS be posi-
tioned then on this market?
Lampe: I explained earlier
my thoughts on where the
mobile geospatial market is
going and Im very excited
about that. But when I look
at the geospatial market in
general, I expect to see
tremendous growth by
2020. Much of this growth
will be due to the large
number of Earth monitoring
satellites that will be
launched between now
and then and the advanced
geospatial data they will
provide. Professionals
across industries will real-
ize how this geospatial
data can benet their orga-
nization and will apply it to
an increasing number of
complex commercial prob-
lems. Of course, to maxi-
mize the benets of this
data they will need a tool to extract infor-
mation from it, which is where Exelis Visual
Information Systems comes in. We are com-
mitted to developing our software solutions
to utilize new data types and to meet the
ever changing needs of our customers.
Internet: www.exelisvis.com
I n t e r v i e w
37
March 2012
The IDL programming language requires fewer lines of code than many other languages (bottom). Five lines of IDL code were used
to create a contour plot of coastline topography (top).
Without maps, its hard to get an overview and insight when dealing with complex disaster situations.
Said in another way, situational awareness is basically impossible without good geodata. Besides
information there are other crucial elements that are indispensable, such as the education of people or
the legislation concerning information provision.
C
urrently, there are two developments that have a major inu-
ence on the geoinformation provision in the domain of Public
Order and Safety in the Netherlands. On the one hand theres
a strong improvement in the supply of information and on the other
hand the implementation of a statewide crisis management system
(LCMS 2.0) where geoinformation can be exchanged and integrat-
ed in a uniform way. In both developments, standards such as the
Information Model for Public Order and Safety (IMOOV in Dutch)
and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) fulll a crucial role.
Information requirement in the safety chain
The information requirement in public order and safety can be relat-
ed to the different phases within the safety chain. There is a distinc-
tion between four cold phases and one warm phase (see Figure
1). In the warm (repression) phase theres an actual incident or cri-
sis and there is a need to intervene.
Chain partners in the safety chain include, among others, the re
brigade, police, the medical assistance organization in the region,
safety regions, municipalities, provinces, water boards, the statewide
operational coordination center, national crisis center and the
Ministries of the Interior, Defense, Safety and Justice. During a warm
phase, the scale of the disaster (GRIP-phasing) determines which
chain partners will be involved in the emergency response. The
impending ooding during January of this year showed for example
the important role of the
water boards.
Warm phase
During the warm phase of
a crisis, the information
requirement is at its peak
and there is a need for dif-
ferent types of information.
To manage a disaster
effectively and efciently,
the availability and
exchange of these four
types of data must be in
order:
Basic information: this information consists of both static and
dynamic information and describes the reality of the situation, and
is not inuenced by the disaster. Static information remains stable
during the disaster situation. Think of topography, aerial imagery,
borders and thematic information such as re hydrants and sirens.
Dynamic information changes during the disaster situation, such
as the weather, twitter feeds and trafc jams.
Preparative information: this is information that has been
generated in preparing for an emergency response, such as acces-
sibility maps.
Incident information: this is information that is being generat-
ed during the disaster by emergency response participants and
pertains to the disaster itself. Think for example of incident loca-
tion, positions of road blocks, care centers for injured persons,
demarcation of the disaster area, log actions and diverse types of
imagery (incident room, COPI).
Model information: predictive information about the near future
in relation to the crisis. These can be predictions about the time of
high water in a river, the increase in the size of a ooding area
in case of a dike breach, the spread of a poisonous gas cloud or
the prediction of trafc jams after a road accident.
Strategic Vision
To improve the information provision in the safety chain, the Ministry
of the Interior drafted the Information Policy concerning Safety (IBV
in Dutch), a strategic vision aimed at an as free as possible infor-
mation exchange between safety courts. Figure 2 shows the IBV con-
cept graphically. The green circle represents the free exchange of
information. The central
orange circle represents
the joint framework of
agreements in order to
establish the freely ex chan -
g ed information. These
agreements lead to ICT
solutions, represented in
the blue circles. Over the
last few years, concrete
action has been taken in
order to translate this strate-
gic vision into improve-
ments at an operational
level.
38
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Patrick Brooijmans, Henk Scholten and Erik van der Zee
Figure 3: The safety chain.
Figure 2: Platter model IBV.
Figure 1: The extension of available
datasets in 2010-2011.
Geoinformation Provision in the Safety Chain
Basic Condition in Safety Issue
Ar t i c l e
40
March 2012
Improvement of the infor-
mation supply
Over the last two years, enormous
improvements have been made in
both the information supply of the gov-
ernments generally, as well as within
the safety domain. Six initiatives have
prospered in this period, as shown in
Figure 3. The Base Registration for
Addresses and Buildings (BAG in
Dutch), the Digital Accessibility Map
and RO-Online have been completed,
and there is a national geodata infras-
tructure (Public Service on the Map,
PDOK in Dutch) that has been achieved. Through this infrastructure,
topographic and thematic geoinformation is offered to all govern-
ment courts through web services.
A lot of attention has been given to governance and the structural
coverage of management of the realized registrations and systems.
Also, the application of ICT standards has been adopted so that
interoperability is guaranteed. With the availability of the aforemen-
tioned initiatives, the information provision has been greatly
improved and guaranteed for the future.
Information about neighboring countries (INSPIRE)
Disasters are without borders. It often happens that disasters such as
forest res and oods cross state borders. It is therefore very impor-
tant that emergency services on both sides of the border are able to
share basic information as well as incident information.
Until recently, this exchange of information was both technically and
organizationally problematic. Because of this, either no information
was available or when it was available, it was outdated.
The European INSPIRE legislation has led to an improvement of this
situation. In denite terms, INSPIRE prescribes that all EU member
states should retrieve geoinformation of 33 themes through OGC
web services. INSPIRE not only states the demands regarding the data
(data model and upgrade frequency of one year maximum), but also
the quality of the service (Quality of Service) and the searching and
nding of information (Discovery of services). By means of INSPIRE
web services, the exchange of basic geoinformation between
European countries has improved immensely and with it cross-bor-
der crisis management.
Sharing information
Besides the availability of the right informa-
tion, sharing that information between chain
partners is of great importance. Incidents are
reported in the community management sys-
tem. By scaling up, the LCMS is deployed.
With the development of LCMS 2.0 (National
Crisis Management System), a statewide geo-
database will become available with more
than fty basemaps that are important for cri-
sis management. By making datasets avail-
able centrally, the safety regions don t have
to shop around any longer with the separate
data providers. This leads to cost savings (har-
vesting datasets will become easier) and also
ensures that data is more up-to-date. The
datasets are made available through SOAP,
Rest and OGC web services.
LCMS 2.0
An important development for 2011-
2012 is the implementation of LCMS
2.0 in 25 safety regions. The
statewide crisis reporting system con-
sists of a central provision and decen-
tralized clients . In the case of a dis-
connection the clients can continue
working because all data are also
locally available. When the connec-
tion is xed, all data is immediately
synchronized through a peer-to-peer
mechanism. With the release of
LCMS 2.0, the Netherlands gets a cri-
sis management system that is based on OGC standards. Through
these standards it is possible to integrate data of PDOK, INSPIRE and
other data sources, such as the Provincial Risk Map or the Digital
Accessibility Map.
Innovation in information provision
New technological developments enable further improvements in the
information provision in the safety chain. New concepts are tested
in a parallel innovation track. When proven to be added value, the
concepts are applied as new functionalities. At this moment, intelli-
gent map layers, modeling as a service and the use of social media
are being looked at within i-Bridge 3.0.
The Netherlands a trend setter?
The information provision in the Netherlands has improved a lot with the
release of LCMS 2.0. However, theres certainly room for improvement.
For example, more attention could be paid to information about the avail-
ability of INSPIRE web services and the possibilities of using these services
for crisis management. Another point of attention: the Inspire Annex III
themes are targeted at environmental data. In a European context there
could also be a list of data sets put together specically for crisis man-
agement (Annex IV). For example, sensitive objects, sirens or re hydrants.
Serious attention should also be paid to a sector-wide information model.
There is however the Information Model Public Order and Safety
(IMOOV), but this is incomplete and dates from 2008.
Role of the user
Most important however is not the role of the supplier but the role of the
user. People in the Public Order and Safety sector are normally not geoin-
formation specialists, often they re not even informatics-oriented. If The
Netherlands wants to be a trend setter then users will have to be support-
ed in fullling their jobs. Experiences in the
province of Gelderland have shown that within a
year all personnel can be educated and trained
in an environment that is new to them. After this,
simulation can start and large benets will occur.
However, without education and training there
are limited possibilities for making use of the
potential of geoinformation during complex pro-
cesses that come with crisis management.
Foreign countries are looking with interest at these
developments in the Netherlands, which adds an
export product that ts in well with the current dis-
cussion about top sectors in the country.
This article was produced from a translation of
Veiligheid bij BZK from the website of
Foreign Administration http://bit.ly/ry6eMk.
Figure 4: The architecture of LCMS 2.0..
Figure 5: 50 km zone around the Netherlands.
C
O
L
U
M
N
The OGC membership develops open interface and encoding standards and best
practices that facilitate information flow and integration for anyone working
with geospatial data and technology. Communicating where information and
geospatial queries and responses becomes increasingly important as the world
becomes more connected.
New members
OGC membership grew from 400 members in early
2011 to 440 as of January 2012. This means more orga-
nizations are understanding the business value of using
open standards and participating in open standards devel-
opment. OGC members are mainly government organi-
zations, businesses, universities, research organizations
and not-for prot organizations. In 2011 the Open
Geospatial Consortium (OGC) implemented a revised
pricing structure for members in developing nations and
also a new GovFuture Membership option for local and
subnational government agencies worldwide.
Standards
During 2011, the OGC membership adopted several new
standards and revised standards.
Several contributed candidate standards were revised and
adopted as OGC standards, including the OGC Network
Common Data Form (netCDF), for communicating multidi-
mensional data such as climate data; and the lightweight
OGC Open GeoSMS Standard (soon to be published),
for communication of location content using Short
Message Service (SMS). Another provides open interfaces
for joining attribute data in one database on a network
with points, lines, or polygons stored in another network
accessible database. WaterML 2.0, for representation of
in-situ hydrological observations data, was submitted in
2011 and will shortly go to public comment.
The OGC Web Feature Service Standard 2.0 was
approved as an ISO Standard (ISO 19142:2010).
2012 will be equally busy. There is a new Augmented
Reality working group processing a candidate OGC
ARML 2.0 standard. The Geosynchronization, Pu -
blish/sub scribe operations, CityGML, Sensor Observation
Service, and KML standards working groups will complete
work in 2012. The RESTful geoprocessing services work-
ing group will dene OGC practices for RESTful service
standards. Theres also a GeoBI (Geospatial Business
Intelligence) working group. Other topics under discussion
include IndoorGML and Smart Grid.
Events
In 2011, OGC Technical Committee meetings were held
in Germany, Taiwan, USA, and Belgium. These meetings
provided venues for other events, including: the Third
International AR (Augmented Reality) Standards Meeting,
special workshops on INSPIRE and the Digital Agenda for
Europe (DAE); GEOSS Workshop XLIII - Sharing Climate
Information and Knowledge; a 3D Summit; an
Oceans/Meteo rolo gy/Hydrology Water Cycle Summit
and an Internet of Things workshop. In 2012, the OGC
Technical Committee Meetings will be held in the USA
(Austin, Texas in March), the UK (Exeter in June) and Korea
(Seoul in October).
The OGC and the Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and
Maritime Affairs co-hosted a 2011 OGC Korea
Interoperability Day event in October 2011 in Seoul, in
conjunction with SMART KOREA 2011 and as a comple-
ment to the High-level forum on UN-Global Geospatial
Information Management being held in October in Seoul.
Towards the end of 2011, OGC staff and Board Members
participated in the Eye on Earth Summit and Exhibition
supporting the work of AGEDI, EEA, UNEP and others to
prepare a declaration and series of activities for Rio+20.
Interoperability Initiatives
OGC testbeds, pilots, and interoperability experiments
are an important part of the OGCs standards process. In
2011, the 8th annual OGC Web Services testbed, OWS-
8, addressed a wide range of technology threads, from
aviation to data fusion. Other initiatives included a 3D
Portrayal Interoperability Experiment, a Hydrologic
Forecasting Interoperability Experiment, and a Special
Activity Airspace (SAA) Dissemination Pilot. The 2012
OWS-9 Testbed is just getting underway
The OGC continues its lead role in the multi-year
Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) for the Global Earth
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), as well as work-
ing in the Standards and Interoperability Forum (SIF).
Partnerships
The OGC has partnerships with many other standards
organizations and industry associations. In 2011 OGC
and OSCRE (the Open Standards Consortium for Real
Estate) updated their Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to reect OSCREs new global focus. The OGC
and EuroGeographics signed an MOU to promote inter-
operability through open standards to benet the
European geospatial community, and the OGC and the
OpenMI Association signed an MoU to promote develop-
ment, use, management and maintenance of the Open
Modelling Interface (the OpenMI).
By Steven Ramage
Steven Ramage, Executive Director,
Marketing and Communications
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
Internet: www.opengeospatial.org/contact
OGC activities in 2011 and some 2012 plans
C o l u mn
42
March 2012
43
March 2012
Ar t i c l e
Meeting the Deadline
Symetri helps Liberty
Drilling Equipment
When Aberdeen-based Liberty Drilling Equipment (LDE) was founded in October 2010, it had a tight
deadline hanging over its head. It had to get its first products for the oil and gas industry designed and
built by the following January, or risk losing a valuable client even before the business had really
T
o add further pressure, the three-strong team knew that, to make
this goal at all possible, they needed to use the latest design soft-
ware. But, there was one problem; they were all skilled in 2D
design, but none of them had used 3D digital prototyping software.
In September of that year LDE attended a presentation given by manu-
facturing design software specialist Symetri at Offshore Europe in
Aberdeen, the hub of the UK oil and gas industries. It had been
impressed by Symetris expertise in 3D design and their knowledge of
the oil and gas industry.
We liked the fact that they had ofces in Aberdeen as at the time, we
thought we would need constant support so this would make it easier
to call on them, explains Lindsey Macaulay of Liberty Drilling.
Macaulay and the team bought three seats of Autodesk Inventor, plus
importantly, a number of sessions at Symetris fully-equipped Aberdeen
training facility.
This was our rst move into 3D design but we found the software very
user-friendly, says Macaulay We certainly wouldn t have been able
to meet our January deadline using 2D design software.
The training was thorough and we came away feeling condent we
could start using the software straight away. Also we didn t have to
waste time travelling elsewhere in the country to attend the sessions,
he adds.
Symetris training methods were certainly effective. After these sessions,
the team became highly productive very quickly and were soon able to
develop, a huge number of brand new and innovative products in a
short space of time, including a surface wellhead system, a variety of
mudline suspension systems and a range of large diameter pipe cor-
rectors. Consequently, they were able to design and build their rst
systems to achieve their goal.
Faster Design
So why and how does Inventor enable faster design? First, says
Macaulay, it enables designers to check the interfaces of all individual
parts to avoid clashes and interferences.
Also, a change made anywhere in the model is automatically updated
everywhere else in the design. Using 2D design solutions this was a
massive task; for signicant revisions it could take weeks to coordinate
everything. Using Inventor everything is done automatically and takes
a few minutes at the very most.
This means designers can afford to experiment and try out ideas to
optimise the design without wasting too much time. The process is faster
and because designers have time to reach the best possible solution,
condent that all parts of the model and associated documents have
been coordinated, the design is more reliable and accurate saving
more time further down the line.
Although Liberty Drillings design team is based in Aberdeen, the equip-
ment is actually produced in Holland. However, Macaulay believes
that collaboration is made smoother by Inventors ability to produce
top quality drawings from the 3D models, so that the 3D geometry can
be fed directly into the machine shop. There have been very few
queries or errors from our colleagues here which is another massive
benet, says Macaulay.
Digital Prototypes
The visual element of a 3D model also brings advantages. As time
goes by, fewer people will be able to read a 2D drawing, he adds.
With a 3D model even customers who are not trained in engineering
can understand what we are doing. This boosts their condence which,
in turn, leads to faster decision making.
Also, because of the restricted space available on an oil platform, it is
vital that equipment can t on the deck and doesn t take up more area
than necessary. Using digital prototypes, the team can check the foot-
print of a product and ensure it ts.
Now that the team is established in its use of Inventor, it is planning to
install Autodesk Vault data management system to store all its les and
control who can revise a drawing or model and prevent changes being
made inadvertently.
It is also keen to explore the benets of Autodesk Publisher to enable
the fast and cost-effective development of manuals for the installation of
its equipment from Inventor models. This eliminates the need for costly
design and printing and means we can update them quickly and when-
ever needed.
Louisa Wetton, Junior Media Specialist, Whiteoaks.
By Louisa Wetton
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
Machining Wellhead components in Holland directly from the Autodesk 3D model.
In addition to EuroSDRs Commission I, the ISPRS Working Groups
which support the EuroCOW 2012 are:
I/3: Multi-Platform Multi-Sensor Inter-Calibration
I/5: Integrated Systems for Sensor Georeferencing and Navigation
III/1: Pose Estimation and Surface Reconstruction from Image and/or
Range Date
III/5: Image Sequence Analysis
The EuroCOW intends to bring together the world experts, both from
public and private sectors, to present and discuss the recent ndings
and developments on Sensor Calibration and Orientation. It is a small
workshop where the organizers try to set the conditions for a practical,
informative and informal three-day meeting in a relaxed atmosphere,
and to attract real experts with hands-on experience in the eld.
Topics
From the EuroCOW 2012 terms of reference listed below, one can
realize that the workshop tries to cover some fundamental topics of
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing:
Geometric orientation and calibration
Radiometric modeling and calibration
Orientation and calibration of multi-sensor systems
Precise navigation and kinematic positioning: progress in GNSS and
INS technology
Progress in imaging sensors
Integrated orientation and navigation
Orientation and navigation of Unmanned Systems
Orientation and navigation of terrestrial Mobile Mapping Systems
Standardization and certication of photogrammetric and remote-
sensing systems
Evaluation of operational performance of photogrammetric and
remote-sensing systems
This years EuroCOW had a double track papers submission proce-
dure consisting of a paper review track and of an abstract review
track. Authors had the option to have their paper peer reviewed, to
be published in this special issue of the PFG (paper review track) or to
have their paper included in the workshops proceedings (abstract
review track). The paper review track mode is intended for those uni-
versity students and researchers who are request to publish in indexed
journals. On the other hand, authors interested in bringing last minute
results and happy to publish in the EuroCOW proceedings abstract
review track just need to prepare an abstract and, once accepted,
write and submit the full paper.
The EuroCOW 2012 included a pre-workshop tutorial on Camera ori-
entation: practice with an open source photogrammetric software given
by Dr. Marc Pierrot-Deseilligny from IGN (France).
The EuroCOW 2014 is scheduled for 2014-02-12 to 14.
Internet: www.ideg.es
Calibration and Orientation
EuroCOW 2012
The EuroCOW, the European Calibration and Orientation Workshop, is a biennial event organized by
the Institute of Geomatics on behalf of the EuroSDR (European Spatial Data Research) and the ISPRS
(International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing). The first EuroCOW took place in 2006
and its last edition, in February 2012, counted with 72 participants from 18 countries and 34 papers
and/or presentations.
44
March 2012
E v e n t
By the Institute of Geomatics
Figure 1 and 2: The EuroCOW intends to bring together the world experts, both from public and private sectors, to present and discuss the recent findings and developments on Sensor Calibration and Orientation.
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The CLGE Students Contest 2011 2012
CLGE Newsletter
CLGE has launched its first students contest for this academic year 2011 - 2012. If youre a student we
engage you to take part! If youre a professional or a teacher: Please spread the word and motivate
youngsters to take part in one of the three categories. The prizes are 1000,- per winner or winning
team and the participation in a special event.
How to take part:
Students can send in papers in three cate-
gories:
Geodesy, Topography
GIS and Mapping
Students and youngsters engagement
For a valid participation in the contest, papers
have to be sent in English before the
15
th
July2012, following the guidelines bellow.
Please notice that in all three categories
group work is allowed but in case of a win-
ning group, the prize money has to be
shared.
The rst two categories are rather plain and
will not be explained in more detail. It can
of course be an abridged version of vaster
personal and original work, referring to the
full version for further details. This work
should have been conducted in-between
2009 2012.
The third category is meant for personal and
original work in the eld of students
engagement or youngsters attraction to the
profession (also 2009 2012).
The result must be a paper describing a pro-
ject that would propose a solution to one of
the following issues:
How could CLGE motivate young surveyors
to be more active and or more engaged in
the association (national and or internation-
al levels);
How could CLGE act to give an increased
added value to its members, especially
young members or potential members of the
national associations;
What could CLGE do to motivate youngsters
to choose for the studies of Geodetic
Surveyor and to enter the profession?
The paper should describe the full project,
including the nancial and logistical or other
practical aspects.
If the project is judged feasible and desir-
able by CLGE, the author(s) could be asked
to implement it and to report to the CLGE
Executive Board and or GA about the
progress.
The GA could vote a budget to implement
the plan. However, if the needed amount of
money is higher than > 5000 euro, the
paper should propose ways to raise the
needed funding.
Youngsters considering to work in this eld
may contact the CLGE president for a con-
dential discussion about their project before
starting with their paper (skype pirlot.jy or
jean-yves.pirlot@clge.eu).
The cooperation with our
sponsors
Trimble and Esri are also committed to sup-
port the Students Contest.
They should help students with free evalua-
tion or academic licences of software (Esri
and Trimble) or support in hardware
(Trimble).
On a higher level, Trimble will support CLGE
and DVW in organizing the students party.
At this occasion, the awards will be deliv-
ered and short presentations made. The
accent will be put on the students meeting
with a limited academic part.
The Evaluation Process - Awards
A jury chaired by Leiv Bjarte Mjs, CLGE
Vice President, is composed by delegates
from CLGE representing the professional,
academic and associative sectors as well as
one delegate from Trimble and one from
Esri.
However, IT IS NOT mandatory to use soft-
or hardware from those two companies.
Each winner (or winning team) will receive
a CLGE award worth 1000 euro.
On top of this, Trimble (Geodesy or Topo -
graphy) and Esri (GIS or Cartography) will
invite the respective winners to a worldwide
or European event.
The winner of the third prize will be invited
to take part in a CLGE GA, to defend the
project and perhaps to implement it.
46
March 2012
Ne ws l e t t e r
Guidelines for papers and questions
The full paper should not exceed 4000
words, including a summary of 300
words. The language must be English.
The paper should describe the stu-
dents work, ndings and conclusions.
When submitted to CLGE, we will have
the right to publish the paper on
CLGEs website.
The papers have to be sent before 15
July 2012 to Leiv.Bjarte.Mjos@hib.no. Any questions can be sent to
the same address.
Leiv Bjarte Mjs
For editorial reasons due to a high level
of activities, the announced interview
with Danko Markovinovi, CLGE Vice
President for Geodesy and Geo Infor -
mation, will be published in a later
issue.
Our apologies for the inconvenience
The CLGE Executive Board is happy
and proud to announce that on 2nd
February 2012, Ph.D.DankoMarkovinovi was appointed Director
General of the Croatian Geodetic Administration.
look for CLGEPresident
CLGEPresident Jean-Yves Pirlot
For those who have missed the
start, heres what youll get, the
latest news, always up to date.
Moreover it will reduce our updates during
General Assemblies and would make them
more effective.
28 Jan: #GSA will be extremely well housed in Prague. The Czech
Republic is an attentive host. We wish them all the best and back
their endeavour.
25 Jan: Less than 3 years after becoming member of
www.CLGE.eu, the Croatians have decided massively to join the
EU. Congratulations!
25 Jan: Bound for Prague to chair a panel at www.galileo-
prague2012.eu/program_eng, a congress about EGNOS and
Galileo in the high precision segment
22 Jan: European Surveyor, get your free subscription to
GeoInformatics. Just register and receive it for two years, for free
www.clge.eu/news/index/66
2 Jan: Bound for Vitoria (ES) where we will draw the future of the
Surveying Profession in Europe and Spain [] A real challenge!
20 Dec: The new EU Professional Qualications Directive was
adopted as announced http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/quali-
cations/docs/policy_developments/modernising/COM2011_883
_en.pdf. Lets read it carefully!
17 Dec: On 19 Dec, the EU will revise the #professional_qualica-
tions_directive. The text will be available the day after on
http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm
17 Dec: Some might like www.clge.org ... but to follow us, please
prefer www.clge.eu; and take care of your former addresses
14 Dec: Good news: CLGE and #GeoInformatics will join forces in
2012 - 2013 www.geoinformatics.com/blog/latest-news/co-opera-
tion-clge-and-geoinformatics
3 Dec 2011: Our Ex-Board met in Siek to honour two long serving
Board Members and Launch the 1
st
Day of the European Surveyor
and GI www.clge.eu/news/index/64
21 Nov: Reserve the date! 05 March 2012, Mercators Day of
Birth = The First Day of the European Surveyor and GI www.clge.eu
5 Nov: Our study with GSA on #GNSS benets is pending.
Interesting reading by now: http://saveourgps.org/pdf/GPS-Report-
June-22-2011.pdf realized to save GPS against #LightSquared
3 Nov: R. Blasi: The Market Study on GNSS is a good example
of cooperation between www.gsa.europa.eu and CLGE, a great net-
work of Surveyors
1 Nov: The #European_Parliament announces new measures to
improve professional mobility. This is important for Surveyors too!
www.europarl.europa.eu/en/pressroom/content/...
25 Oct: Bound for www.geoexpo.be: quite a good Belgian Fair.
About 600 participants and more than 30 booths. Not yet #INTER-
GEO but still nice.
15 Oct: 18 Oct The Belfast talks make it clear: www.eurogeo-
graphics.org should consider to move from a Non-Prot Organisation
to a European Agency.
15 Oct: Danko Markovinovi, CLGE VP for GI, took part in the Eupos
Symposium on GNSS, Space and Ground-Based Augmentation
Systems,11 October, Berlin
8 Oct: Weve posted the opening address of the Third International
Training Course in Topography for Young Surveyors.
www.clge.eu/news/index/59
1 Oct: Bound for Athens. Opening of the III International Training Course
for Young Surveyors, organized by the Italian CNG (CLGE member)
30 Sep: #CLGE has released its contribution to the Green Paper
Modernizing the Professional Qualications Directive by the
#European_Commission.
24 Sep: #CLGE takes part in #INTERGEO. Its Interest Group
IG-PARLS will have a General Meeting (Publicly Appointed and
Regulated Liberal Surveyors).
19 Sep: The Council of European Geodetic Surveyors has unani-
mously adopted a new measurement code of oor areas in build-
ings. www.clge.eu
Ne ws l e t t e r
47
T
he aim was to bring together profession-
als in the region, represented by the
Spanish Association of Geodetic Sur -
veyors, as graduates will be called after its
adaptation to European standards, to discuss
the future opportunities of the sector.
The denition of property boundaries in Spain
is source of many problems, disputes and
inconsistencies, which can be seen as an
opportunity for technical experts in land man-
agement. In addition to attenuating the judi-
cial system overhead, the resolution of these
problems would be a qualitative and quanti-
tative improvement in all aspects related to the
ownership of land, and a job opportunity for
many land management professionals.
The conference was opened by the President
of The Spanish Association of Geodetic
Surveyors, Mr. Andrs Dez, who noted that
events like this, which incite an exchange of
knowledge, provide the groundwork for
enhancing the professional prole of Sur -
veying Engineer. This happens by consolidat-
ing and expanding its scope of skills, and
matching it with what exists in other European
countries. He outlined that our professional
Association must take part adding a revitaliz-
ing element to the programs of studies elabo-
rated by the Universities and he considers
indispensably "to "accredit" the technical
knowledge and professionals acquired by the
university graduates.
The president of the CLGE, Mr. Jean-Yves
Pirlot, opened the lectures by outlining the sta-
tus of the profession and its relationship with
the European framework. The CLGE (French
acronym: Liaison Committee Gomtres des
Europens) is the European Council of
Surveyors, which includes the Ofcial College
of Technical Engineers in Topography. This
association represents more than 50,000
experts in the territory of all Europe, which
gives an idea of the importance of the group
it represents. In some countries they are called
Surveyors, in other Geometres, in Spain
Topographical Engineers. He conrmed the
huge opportunities that lay ahead and insist-
ed on the role that COITT could play in help-
ing its members to grasp them.The president
of the Swiss Surveyors, Mr. Maurice Barbieri,
exposing the continued success story of
Switzerland, a world leader in the representa-
tion of the territory through the maps and the
structure of property management, where the
profession of PAS (Publicly Appointed
Surveyors) is essential.
Mr. Pedro Ortiz, member of COITTs Executive
Board and Head of International Affairs, as
well as CLGEs Delegate, explained the steps
taken by The Spanish Association of Geodetic
Surveyors to promote the function of the PAS
(Publicly Appointed Surveyor) in Spain, using
the support of our European colleagues and
the work done by the newly created Interest
Group Publicly Appointed and Liberal
Surveyors (IG-PARLS-SP), outlining the broad
horizon and job opportunities that would open
in the same way as in other European coun-
tries applying this approach.
The afternoon session continued with the pro-
gram, the discussion included land manage-
ment as a fundamental pillar of the sustain-
ability and the environment, in line with the
fact that green capital of Vitoria-Gasteiz, and
nally involved several representatives from
both, the public and private sector. The civil
servants were represented by Mr. Miguel
Angel Castilla. From the privaterms we had,
Alejandro Guinea (Geograma), lvaro
Arroyo (Estudios GIS), Ricardo Antequera
(Altais) and Ricard Gonzlez (Infraplan), end-
ing with a round table that discussed actively
about the changes that society needs to take
advantage of opportunities.
As a conclusion we remark how important the
role of CLGE is when it comes to the develop-
ment of all European countries with the aim
of promoting changes in their cadastral/prop-
erty systems.
There were not only discussions about cadas-
tral surveying topics but also about geoinfor-
mation in a broader sense. The important role
of the rms and entrepreneurs of the survey-
ing industry for the development of the geoin-
formation industry and its support to the
cadastral system.
The local organisation committee wants to
thanks for the support, the City Council of
Vitoria-Gasteiz and the sponsors of the event:
Leica, Al-top and Faynot-Feno.
Ne ws l e t t e r
48
March 2012
Present and future of the industry in Europe and Spain
I
st
International Symposium "Geomatics,
Surveying, Land and Real Estate Property
The Spanish Association of Geodetic Surveyors (COITT) held its first congress in 2012 at the Palacio de
Congresos Europe Vitoria. The event was held in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Land Spain) during January 4th
2012. The conference, attended by 125 experts related to earth sciences, discussed the professional future in
Europe and Spain for professionals involved in land management and physical description of the property.
Mr. Andrs Dez Mr. Jean-Yves Pirlot
R
ecently a surveyor phoned me regarding
problems with his GNSS rover, so we checked
all the settings, signal strength, number of
satellites etc. This resulted in identifying some
sources which could cause those problems. The
problems were not only related to the internet con-
nection, which was not always available near the
border of our country, but also to the correction sig-
nal itself. One of the base stations was not active
and intense solar activity was also shown to have
an inuence. At that particular moment I was also
thinking about the White House in Washington. I
am waiting for a sponsor to send me to Washington
to test something I had read on the internet some
time ago. When you walk past the White House in
a straight line, your GPS (GNSS) device tells you
that you have made a detour. Is somebody jam-
ming, meaconing or spoong the signals at the far
end of our country to produce the same effects as
those around the White House?
Galileo
Those three words produce the same effect for sur-
veyors and mean problems. Jamming normally
causes the GPS signal to disappear and does not
give you a position. Meaconing is the rebroadcast-
ing of the signal, which will cause a misreporting
of the position. And spoong is creating control-
lable misreporting of the position. The problems
can be created by accident or on purpose. With
systems that control the use of roads in order to col-
lect a tax, people can install equipment in their cars
to avoid these charges. Criminals also use jammers
on purpose in case they suspect the car they want
to steal has a tracking device installed. Such a com-
mercially available jammer can affect tracking at a
range of 300 to 6000 meters. Checking the inter-
net showed me that for 25 Euro it is already possi-
ble to buy a GPS jammer. Of course, this is illegal
but nevertheless it will have an effect on the signals
we would like to use for getting an accurate posi-
tion.
Another possible threat to the surveyor is what
would happen if the United States could not nd
sufcient funding to keep the GPS constellation at
a proper level. This might sound surreal but it was
mentioned in a report by the United States General
Accounting Ofce way back in 2009. We
Europeans might think that Galileo will help but this
will not always be the case when the problems are
caused by jamming, meaconing, spoong, or sun
storms.
Vulnerability of the GNSS systems
Deliberate and accidental jamming, meaconing,
spoong and the effects of sun storms can cause
problems for surveyors. But does this mean that we
can no longer rely on GNSS and should go back
to the measuring tape and plane table board as
the title suggested? This is of course strongly exag-
gerated, but we cannot blindly trust the results of
GNSS positions. In the past, we should not have
trusted the results without checking them. In prac-
tise, it was always ok but unfortunately in many
cases the checking was skipped. The current sun
storm activity clearly indicates the vulnerability of
the GNSS systems and alas, it also shows that too
many surveyors lack sufcient knowledge about
what is actually happening.
Ing. Lon van der Poel is director at LEOP,
a company which combines surveying and training of surveyors.
For more information, have a look at: www.leop-bv.nl.
Source used: www.raeng.org.uk/gnss
Back to measuring Tape
and Plane Table Board
Deliberate and accidental jamming, meaconing, spoofing and the effects of
sun storms can cause problems for surveyors. But does this mean that we
can no longer rely on GNSS and should go back to the measuring tape and
plane table board as the title suggested?
C o l u mn
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Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
C
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March
21-22 March GEO-12 a world of geomatics and
GIS Innovations
Holiday Inn, London Elstree, U.K.
E-mail: sharon@pvpubs.demon.co.uk
Internet: www.pvpubs.com/events.php
21-22 March 3rd HUNAGI Conference - Mobile GIS
Hotel Gellrt, Budapest, Hungary
Internet: www.hunagi.hu/G/pub/Orszagos/1stCallEN.pdf
21-22 March Network Analysis
Newcastle University, Newcastle, U.K.
E-mail: ceg.cpd@ncl.ac.uk
Internet: www.ncl.ac.uk/cegs.cpd/cpd/netanalysis.php
26-27 March Free and Open Source Tools for GIS
Internet: www.ncl.ac.uk/cegs.cpd/cpd/osgis.php
26-29 March Esri Developer Summit
Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.esri.com/events/devsummit/index.html
26-30 March 6th GeoTunis 2012
Tunesia
Internet: www.geotunis.org/2011
27 March Open Source GIS Workshop
CDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.
E-mail: sales@cdrgroup.co.uk
Internet: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_intro.htm#MIOSW
28 March Introduction to Spatial Databases
Internet: www.ncl.ac.uk/cegs.cpd/cpd/osgis.php
April
02-04 April OReilly Where: The Art & Business of
Location
San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: http://whereconf.com/where2012
12 April The International Civil Unmanned
Aircraft System Event 2012
High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Internet: http://uasevent.com
15-18 April SPAR International, Conference on 3D
Imaging & Positioning for Engineering/
Construction/Manufacturing/Security
The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention
Center, The Woodlands (Houston), TX, U.S.A.
E-mail: lmclaughlin@divcom.com
Internet: www.sparpointgroup.com/international
16-19 April Global Aerospace Summit 2012
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
E-mail: mail@smg-online.com
Internet: www.aerospacesummit.ae
17-18 April MapInfo Professional Foundation
Level Training Course
Internet: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm
17-18 April 6th International Satellite Navigation
Forum - NAVITECH 2012
Expocenter Fairgrounds, Moscow, Russia
E-mail: e.sinitsa@expocentre-europe.com
Internet: http://eng.glonass-forum.ru
17-19 April 8th International Exhibition &
Scientic Congress Interexpo Geo-Siberia
Novosibirsk, Russia
E-mail: argina.novitskaya@gmail.com
Internet: www.expo-geo.ru
23-27 April Geospatial World Forum 2012
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Internet: www.geospatialworldforum.org
25-27 April The European Navigation Conference
Gdansk, Poland
Internet: http://enc2012.org
25-27 April VI International Conference "Remote
Sensing - the Synergy of High Technologies"
ATLAS PARK-HOTEL, Moscow, Russia
Internet: www.sovzondconference.ru/2012/eng
May
01-02 May MapInfo Professional Advanced Level
Training Course
06-10 May FIG Working Week 2012 - Knowing to
manage the territory, protect the environment,
evaluate the cultural heritage
Rome, Italy
Internet: www.g.net/g2012
07-09 May 4th International Conference on
Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis - GEO-
BIA 2012
Windsor Barra Hotel and Conventions, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
E-mail: geobia2012@dpi.inpe.br
Internet: www.inpe.br/geobia2012
08-10 May 2nd International Conference and
Exhibition on Mapping and spatial Information
(ICMSI 2012) and 19th National Geomatics
Conference
National Cartographic Center (NCC), Teheran, Iran
E-mail: icmsi2012@ncc.org.ir
Internet: http://conf.ncc.org.ir
14-17 May Global Geospatial Conference 2012
(GSDI 13 World Conference, GEOIDE Annual
Scientic Conference and Canadian Geomatics
Conference)
Qubec City Convention Center, Qubec City, Canada
Internet: www.gsdi.org/gsdiconf/gsdi13
14-18 May 8th Taipei International Digital Earth
Symposium (TIDES 2012)
Taipei, Taiwan
Internet: http://deconf.pccu.edu.tw/2012TIDES/en-wel-
come.html
21-24 May 32nd EARSeL Symposium Advances
in Geosciences
Mykonos Island, Greece
Internet: www.earsel.org/symposia/2012-symposium-
Mykonos/index.php
22-23 May MapInfo Professional Foundation Level
Training Course
23-24 May Taza GIS_Days, International
Symposium of GIS users
Taza, Morocco
E-mail: hassan.tabyaoui@usmba.ac.ma
Internet: https://sites.google.com/a/usmba.ac.ma/taza-
gis-en/home
28 May-02 June 5th International Conference BAL-
WOIS 2012 on Water, Climate and Environment
Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia
Internet: www.balwois.com/2012
29-31 May MundoGEO#Connect LatinAmerica 2012
Frei Caneca Convention Center, So Paulo, Brazil
Internet: http://mundogeoconnect.com/2012/en
30 May-02 June GEODETIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CONFERENCE EUROMATYKA2012
Poznan University of Technology/LOS Puszczykowo,
Poland
E-mail: biuro@euromatyka2012.pl
Internet: www.euromatyka2012.pl
June
03-09 June 10th Annual Summer Institute on
Geographic Information Science:
Interoperability 360
Florence, Italy
E-mail: info@vespucci.org
Internet: www.vespucci.org
04 June FME World Tour
Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: fme@conterra.de
Internet: www.conterra.de/fme/worldtour/index_es.shtm
Madrid, Spain
Internet: www.conterra.de/fme/worldtour/index_es.shtm
04-05 June Introduction to GIS
Internet: www.ncl.ac.uk/cegs.cpd/cpd/giscourses.php
04-07 June HEXAGON 2012
Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.
Internet: www.hexagonconference.com
Dsseldorf, Germany
Internet: www.fme-wt.de
Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to: calendar@geoinformatics.com
C a l e n d a r 2012 / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x
CHC www.chcnav.com 45
ERDAS www.erdas.com 52
European Space Imaging www.euspaceimaging.com 2
Esri www.esri.com 17
FOIF www.foif.com.cn 39
Geospatial World Forum www.geospatialworldforum.org 22
HEXAGON 2012 www.hexagonconference.com/geo 23
Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 13
Microsoft UltraCam www.iFlyUltraCam.com 27
Optech www.optech.com 51
Remote Sensing Conference www.sovzondconference.ru 25
SuperMap www.supermap.com 41
Trimble www.trimble.com/juno 9
Advertisers Index
50
March 2012
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