Geoinformatics 2009 Vol08

G Flood Hazard Mapping G Cloud Computing and SDIs
G BE Inspired Awards G ESRI and Cadastre

Magaz i ne f or Sur veyi ng, Mappi ng & GI S Pr of es s i onal s
December 2009
Volume 12
8
Geospatial moving into The Cloud
In preparing this, the last issue of 2009, it seemed a good moment to look back at the
years developments in geospatial. Despite the economy, there was lots of news and
geospatial projects to write about. In talks with professionals during conferences throughout
the year, I didnt get the impression that the geospatial industry is suffering badly. Quite the
opposite: Organizations who want to save money is a reason to buy GIS, as one captain
of industry told me, and hes not the only one to say this.
Another thing that struck me is that geospatial is no longer an independent and isolated
field, separate from the IT world. A recent issue of The Economist ran no less than two
articles on Cloud Computing, and I was happy to notice that the geospatial world is taking
this subject seriously. The AGI Geocommunity 2009 Conference from last September
featured some interesting talks on the topic and Im happy to announce the 52North article
in this issue.
As one can see, there are quite a number of conference reviews in this issue. Every year
there seem to be more geospatial conferences than the previous year and I think it shows
how the geospatial world is growing, together with an awareness of geospatial in general.
I think its an exciting time for the geospatial industry since we dont know the outcome of
some important and fundamental issues that are now happening in the IT world. Andy
Cootes column in this issue comes to mind, but also the fight on whos going to dominate
The Cloud. The internet (and finding common agreements on how to use it) is still in
development. The outcome of these developments is not yet clear. But one thing is very
clear to me though: geospatial awareness is growing all around the world and will continue
to grow. Communities and consumers of spatial data will continue to use it but also
produce their own data. Technology enables this and we will continue to provide you, the
reader, with all the new and interesting trends that are related to geospatial.
Enjoy your reading!
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
December 2009
3
GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis and
commentary with respect to the international surveying,
mapping and GIS industry.
Publisher
Ruud Groothuis
rgroothuis@geoinformatics.com
Editor-in-chief
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
Editors
Frank Arts
fartes@geoinformatics.com
Florian Fischer
ffischer@geoinformatics.com
Job van Haaften
jvanhaaften@geoinformatics.com
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com
Remco Takken
rtakken@geoinformatics.com
Joc Triglav
jtriglav@geoinformatics.com
Columnist
Andy Coote
Contributing Writers
Neil Brooker
Matthew DeMeritt
Florian Fischer
Michael Haase
Thorsten Hens
Thomas Jung
Kaj Lippert
Account Manager
Wilfred Westerhof
wwesterhof@geoinformatics.com
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svanderkolk@geoinformatics.com
ISSN 13870858
Copyright 2009. GeoInformatics: no material may
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BE Inspired Symposium & Awards
A crowd of 350 attendees could choose from more than fifty finalist
presentations during the festivities around the BE Inspired Awards in
Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 13th, 2009. In the end, in
attendance of the major of Charlotte, seventeen award winners were
announced and brought to the stage during a dinner and awards
ceremony. The independent panel of Be Inspired Awards jurors, which
included Bentley users and industry experts, selected the winning
projects from more than 250 nominations.
C o n t e n t
December 2009
Articles
A Software Whose Time Has Come
LandXplorer and Designing Digital Cities 6
In Accordance to the EU Flood Directive
GIS, Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Mapping 20
Into the Google and Amazon Cloud
Geoprocessing in the Clouds 24
An Evolution of the Millennial Pair (Pt. 2)
Geolocation and Time 36
Three New Printers from HP
Printing and Communication 44
Interviews
Navteq on New Trends in Navigation
You Have Reached Your Destination! 14
An Interview with Nick Land (ESRI)
GIS, Cadastre and Land Registration 46
Events
More Than 50 Finalists
BE Inspired Symposium and Awards 16
A Report on the Greece 2009 Conference
From Imagery to Map: Digital
Photogrammetric Technologies 30
European User Experiences
ESRI European User Conference 42
Column
The Rat in my iPhone 28
Review
The New ArcGIS Explorer
GIS for Everyone 10
Page 16
GIS, Flood Hazard and
Flood Risk Mapping
The European Parliament and Council passed the Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and
management of flood events (EU Flood Directive) in October 2007 because of the severe flood
events in the recent past and possibly worsening conditions due to climate change in the future.
The Directive demands that the EU member states shall prepare flood hazard and flood risk
maps until the end of 2013. These laborious tasks can only be accomplished in time and within
a reasonable budget frame by utilizing efficient software tools such as the ArcGIS Toolbox solu-
tion presented hereafter.
4
Page 20
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
5
December 2009
On the Cover:
Elbe flood of 2002 depicting the Zwinger in Dresden (by courtesy of Fotostudio
Heselbarth, Dresden). See article on page 20.
GIS, Cadastre and Land Registration
ESRIs Nick Land explains how ESRI is currently involved in INSPIRE. Also,
the companys role in cadastral issues in Europe is explained. Where is
Europe, cadastre-wise? And how does Europe hold up cadastre-wise com-
pared to the US? How are new European countries doing cadastre-wise,
and is there an ESRI vision on cadastre?
Geoprocessing in the Clouds
Cloud Computing is one of the latest trends in the mainstream IT world.
While the processing part in SDIs has already been tackled, Cloud
Computing has not been regarded in the context of SDIs yet. This was the
starting for this article to explore the capabilities of Cloud Computing with
a special focus on the processing part in SDIs. In order to get first hands-
on experience, the 52North Web Processing Service (WPS) implementa-
tion was migrated as a proof-of-concept study into the Google and Amazon
Cloud.
Page 24
Calendar 50
Advertisers Index 50
Page 46
Page 20
A Software Whose Time Has Come
LandXplorer and
Designing Digital Cities
What impact is Autodesks acquisition
of LandXplorer having on
digital cities?
By Neil Brooker
The creation of cities which are safe, envi-
ronmentally responsible, aesthetically pleas-
ing and also pleasant and enjoyable to live
in is one the great challenges of our time.
But, while much of the world is becoming
increasingly urbanised, other regions have
seen a flight to the suburbs. This push and
pull is intensifying and stretching our conur-
bations, turning them into great pools of
humanity which develop in an organic yet
haphazard way.
At the same time the green agenda demands
better and more energy-efficient buildings in
neighbourhoods which nuture their residents
and are built to last. Increasingly government
agencies and others require a fully-synthe-
sised and holistic view of the structures with-
in their city not just for the present, but also
to support the entire lifecycle.
Because of this, visual images and fly-through
simulations of cities in 3D environments made
up of basic terrain models and block build-
ings have become commonplace. On a more
professional level, a number of municipalities
across Europe have commissioned local sur-
veys to develop urban 3D models for the pri-
mary aim of marketing and engaging citizens
in planning decisions.
However, these models are usually generated
as a result of one-off investment projects
rather than maintained on a rolling basis. As
a result, they represent snapshots in time
and become rapidly out of date. Increasingly,
planners and other city stakeholders are look-
ing for a way of not just visualising their city
now and in the future, but also being able to
integrate different types of data to give real-
time, totally accurate information for better
quality decision-making.
Milestone Acquisition
Consequently, Autodesks timely acquisition of
the German firm 3D Geo last year marked a
milestone in the whole issue of convergence
and urban modelling. 3D Geos flagship prod-
uct LandXplorer was, of course, already well-
known to geospatial professionals and visu-
alisation experts alike, not least as the
software was used to produce a large-scale
3D model of the centre of Berlin. The model,
which contains over 40,000 buildings, can be
explored on line through Google Earth.
But, Autodesks interest reflects a consensus
that the creation of digital cities is not just a
one-off, experimental exercise. The software
vendors policy of democratising emerging
technologies by pulling them out of their
niche and making them available to all main-
stream designers is well-known and it looks
as though the user-friendly LandXplorer will
benefit from this treatment too.
Already, Autodesks data access technology,
FDO, has been added to allow direct access
to geospatial data, whether held in a file for-
mat such as shp or sdf, or a spatial database
such as Oracle Spatial or MySQL. This also
means it can aggregate and visualise data
from AutoCAD, AutoCAD Map 3D, Revit
Architecture, Topobase and 3ds Max.
This means that users have the capability to
integrate detailed BIMs with rich, data-centric
3D models to bring intelligence to what was
before merely a picture. Analytical queries
can now be run and data interrogated at dif-
ferent scales, from a single room to an entire
city in order to generate meaningful informa-
tion. This can then be presented in a multi-
tude of formats.
This advance also brings a real flexibility in
level of detail (LoD) and an accuracy and pre-
cision not possible with other products on the
market or indeed with Google Earth. In gen-
eral, AutoCAD Map 3D can be used to create
and manage geospatial data and also create
and manage 3D block buildings (LoD1) for the
LandXplorer city model. More complex build-
ing designs with a higher degree of rendering
6
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
Over the past eighteen months or so, Autodesk has
announced it is working with three major global
cities on pilot digital city schemes.
(LoD 3 and 4) can be created for landmark
buildings or those of specific interest and
brought into the LandXplorer cityscape.
Likewise, 3ds Max models can also be taken
into the LandXplorer environment. These may
be highly precise and realistically rendered
buildings, but could also be other visual fea-
tures such as cars or vegetation. However,
LandXplorer can further strengthen the 3ds
Max model by enabling geospatial data, such
as land use and environmental information,
along with utility information such and pipe
networks and civil engineering to be integrat-
ed into the model too. The visual impact of
the LandXplorer city model can then be
heightened further by the addition of meteo-
rological features such as sun elevation or
cloud cover and movement.
In this way, a digital city created in
LandXplorer can bring together in an open
platform the inside (heating systems, utili-
ties, furniture, walls, doors, windows and
structure detail) and outside (road access, sur-
rounding landscape) with the infrastructure
below the ground (underground water,
wastewater, gas, power and telecommunica-
tion systems) integrating GIS with CAD, BIM
and underground asset data.
These intelligent images can be shared with
both internal and external stakeholders in
several ways. Autodesk LandXplorer Xpress
lic needs to be consulted, then digital city
models created in LandXplorer can be pub-
lished to Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual
Earth.
Imagine a local authority or municipality is
concerned about the effect a new high-rise
building will have on the immediate vicinity
and they want to look at it in its geographic
context. If they already have a digital city
model, they can drop in the architects accu-
rate 3ds Max model into the wider cityscape,
maybe do some simple shadow analysis and
have a very visual way of assessing whether
the building will enhance the area or become
a white elephant, blocking sight lines or steal-
ing light from its neighbours.
Light and Shade
In fact, the potential of this digital ecosystem
is seemingly huge, especially when combined
with the simulation and analysis capability of
contributing software such as Revit. For
instance, it could, in future, be used to mea-
sure the load impact of a new building on a
utility network, how a building will shade the
surrounding area at different times of the day
and year, how much daylight will be available
in interior spaces at various times of the day,
how noise from a nearby football stadium will
impact residents and how the building will
affect traffic patterns.
And it also provides a business tool to help
better plan, see, sell and operate the sustain-
able development essential for tomorrows
high performance conurbations. On a more
commercial and practical level, it can also
demonstrate the proximity of a particular loca-
tion to airports, motorway networks and
recreation and educational facilities.
Viewer software is a free, downloadable pro-
gram which enables users to rapidly distribute
city models, customised if required, to all
involved. Alternatively large scale city mod-
els and urban designs can be hosted by
Autodesk LandXplorer Server and then secure-
ly shared via the web and explored using a
generic web browser. If distribution needs
to be wider; for example, if the general pub-
Ar t i cl e
7
December 2009
City Library of Salzburg
Data Analysis, Salzburg
In fact, Autodesk sees the convergence of CAD,
GIS, BIM and visualisation technologies as just
the start. Its infrastructure modelling team is
currently working closely from experts from its
gaming division (between 85 and 90% of all
contemporary computer games have been cre-
ated using Autodesk tools) to discover ways
to demonstrate human behaviour patterns.
To illustrate this, Autodesk and the Ordnance
Survey (OS) recently worked together to devel-
op an intelligent 3D model of the city of
Liverpool. OS large-scale topographic data
was enhanced with photogrammetrically-gen-
erated building heights. This was further com-
bined with OS aerial imagery and a number
of detailed building models built with 3ds Max
and modelled within LandXplorer.
This opens up another new field of research
and experimentation. For example, potential-
ly this could be used to assess the impact of
a complete range of scenarios from traffic flow
to a terrorist attack.
But how will this progress affect the geospa-
tial community in particular? Many profes-
sionals in this field we speak to recognise that
they should be thinking and working in 3D
and modelling their geographic data this way.
However they are still deciding if its really
what they want and assessing ways to go
about it.
A Digital City Scheme of Mozarts
Birthplace
LandXplorer is a powerful tool, but its also
relatively straightforward to use and afford-
able and, despite its strength requires only
mid-specification computing power. The fact
that it is now under the Autodesk umbrella
makes it more accessible for users outside its
former central European base.
Theres no doubt that LandXplorer and digital
cities will accelerate the take-up of 3D design.
In return, the sector will be able to make deci-
sions that are far better informed and a new
understanding with partners from other disci-
plines.
Over the past eighteen months or so,
Autodesk has announced it is working with
three major global cities on pilot digital city
schemes. These go from the beautiful, his-
toric birthplace of Mozart, Salzburg in Austria,
to Incheon, a brand new urban experiment in
Korea - with the forward-looking Canadian city
of Vancouver in between.
But, the benefits of digital cities are available
to smaller architecture or engineering prac-
tices and local authorities or municipalities
too who want to begin to look at the wider
picture. These might want to model a rela-
tively small area of a city or town, but
nonetheless, the integration of buildings,
infrastructure and geographic features will still
carry great value both to the users them-
selves, to their clients and the wider commu-
nity.
Autodesk LandXplorer is a software whose
time has come. The spotlight is on our envi-
ronment and surroundings more than ever
before and city planners have a weight of
responsibility on their shoulders. However,
by sharing and consulting with other stake-
holders more easily and readily and also by
knowing data is of the utmost integrity - they
can lighten their load. While, at the same
time, ensuring their city is a safer and more
enjoyable place to live.
Neils Brooker, Technical Manager, Infrastructure
Modelling, Autodesk, Northern Europe.
Internet: www.autodesk.com/landxplorer
8
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
Register online: www.lidarmap.org
Denver, Colorado, USA
March 3 5, 2010
ILMF 2010, the tenth in a series that has
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LiDAR event, attracts professionals from
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LiDAR technology and services
Organized by
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CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION
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The New ArcGIS Explorer
In the realm of virtual globes, ESRI's ArcGIS Explorer occupies a unique niche with distinctive features and GIS
capabilities. Designed for those who need to use GIS data, but are not GIS experts themselves,
ArcGIS Explorer offers a compelling way to deliver access to GIS content and functionality.
ESRI's virtual globe opens the doors to a wealth of geographic knowledge by providing
users a way to access information that may have previously only been available to GIS professionals.
ArcGIS Explorer can also be extended to include powerful GIS tools in an easy-to-use framework
that enables anyone, not just GIS analysts, to apply the power of GIS to solving problems.
By Matthew DeMeritt
The new ArcGIS Explorer is ready to use with content and capabilities
delivered via ArcGIS Online, a comprehensive collection of basemaps,
layers, and tools that provide users with the essentials to start making
globes and maps. ArcGIS Explorer also supports a wide variety of com-
mon GIS data sources, including ArcGIS map and globe services, layer
files, layer packages, raster files, shapefiles, geodatabases, and more.
In addition, users can import GPS data or connect to GeoRSS feeds.
Photos, reports, links, and other data can also be embedded into maps
and easily presented with its new presentation mode.
ArcGIS Explorer is available in five languages: English, French, German,
Japanese, and Spanish. It is a free download on ESRIs Web site.
New Ribbon Interface
The latest version of ArcGIS Explorer was released this past summer
and includes some new features and capabilities that further distin-
guish it from other virtual globes. Among these is a Word 2007-style
ribbon interface that provides a whole new user experience. Because
the interface is so familiar, the new UI makes ArcGIS Explorer intuitive
to use and easy to learn. Conveniently, hovering over the controls on
the ribbon explains what each tool does. For more advanced function-
ality, a built-in help guide provides more in-depth explanation.
As it's best to cover the basics first, a handy topic to get started with
is Navigating and Exploring Maps. Clicking on it opens a list of
subtopics showing how to navigate with the mouse, keyboard, and
navigation control located on the lower left of the globe viewer panel.
The topics are illustrated with graphics and diagrams, reducing the
amount of text that can sometimes be intimidating to first-time users.
Expanded Basemaps and Controls
An important feature update in ArcGIS Explorer is the built-in Basemap
Gallery. This feature allows users to choose from imagery, streets, topo-
graphic maps, and more at the click of a button while maintaining all
other layers on the map. Among the basemaps to choose from are the
Microsoft Bing Maps for Enterprise, aerials, hybrid, and roads. The
gallery can also be extended with custom basemaps, making it easy to
tailor to specific needs.
Also new in this version is a 2D/3D button. Clicking it switches the
view from 3D to 2D mode, providing complete map visualization con-
trol. In 2D mode, ArcGIS Explorer supports the same projections as the
10
r evi ew
December 2009
ArcGIS Explorer includes a new Basemap Gallery with a range of useful options
for a variety of needs.
Switching between 2D and 3D mode is simple as clicking 2D/3D on
the Home tab.
GIS for Everyone
professional ArcGIS Desktop and projects all data sources into the view
of choice on the fly.
Layer Packages and Data
A new capability introduced in ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1 is the ability to create
layer packages, which encapsulate ArcGIS Desktops cartography and data
in a single file. ArcGIS Desktop users can create layer packages to easily
share their data with other ArcGIS users. The layers, including their
attributes and the way they have been symbolized, display in the pro-
gram itself just as they would be displayed in ArcGIS Desktop. Once a
layer package has been added to ArcGIS Explorer, users can work with its
contents like any other layer. For example, users can click layer features
to identify them, view a layer package's legend, hide and show its layers,
and so forth.
There are several ways to add layers into a map in ArcGIS Explorer. Users
can drag and drop layers from Windows Explorer directly into the program
or they can use Add Content on the ribbon. Layer files and packages can
also be added by double-clicking them in Windows Explorer, Outlook e-
mails, or links on Web pages. Files launched this way will automatically
load in ArcGIS Explorer if it is running. ArcGIS Explorer also supports KML
and KMZ files.
ArcGIS Online
Many layer packages can be accessed through ArcGIS Online, a grow-
ing online database of sharable map resources constantly being updat-
ed with new content by ESRI and ArcGIS users. Because it is accessi-
ble via the Add Content button on ArcGIS Explorers ribbon interface,
ArcGIS Online is the easiest place to start your search.
Besides providing ready-to-use basemaps and layers in ArcGIS Explorer,
ArcGIS Online can be used as a source of content to add to maps. Its
also a great way to share data and maps with others in the ArcGIS com-
munity. In addition, ArcGIS Online is the home of the ArcGIS Explorer
group which provides access to selected maps, layers, and add-ins, as
well as the ArcGIS Explorer Labs group, which contains unsupported
samples and examples.
Integrated Presentation Mode
One of the most exciting new features in ArcGIS Explorer is a presenta-
tion mode. Now users can immediately create and display dynamic
geographic presentations by accessing simple controls on the top of
the interface. Presentation mode combines PowerPoint-like slides with
the real-time data access, exploration, and navigation capabilities of
ArcGIS Explorer. A user can use any data source in a presentation and
can also include rich media content to complement that data - a con-
venient way to steal the show at the next meeting.
Creating a presentation is easy. Clicking the Edit Presentation button
opens the Slides window and opens the Presentation tab in the rib-
bon. A Capture New Slide control not only takes a snapshot of what-
ever image is displayed in the globe window, it also captures the cur-
rent zoom, active and inactive layers, titles, pop-up windows, and more.
The Slides window lists the slides that have been captured for the maps
presentation. Starting your work-in-progress or finished presentation is
as easy as clicking the Start Presentation button on the ribbon.
Extensibility
If needed, ArcGIS Explorer can be extended using Add-Ins which deliver
new capabilities integrated directly into the application ribbon. You can
choose from a variety of samples that can be accessed directly from
ESRIs Web site or you can create your own by using ArcGIS Explorers
software development kit (SDK).
GIS for Everyone
The new ArcGIS Explorer appeals to a wide range of virtual globe users.
Because of its deep functionality, it is a popular utility in the GIS pro-
fessionals toolset. And thanks to the huge variety of professionally
produced GIS content that can be easily draped over the ArcGIS Explorer
globe, non-GIS professionals will find it useful, as well. With its expand-
ed capabilities, it is an ideal and fun way to get started exploring your
world, making maps, and using GIS.
To download ArcGIS Explorer, visit ESRI's Mapping for Everyone site at
www.esri.com/mapping.
Matthew DeMeritt , ESRI.
Revi ew
11
December 2009
Layers can be combined and extruded for more dynamic and expressive
map displays.
Embed rich media content into ArcGIS Explorer maps, including photos and
live video feeds from the Web.
Navteq on New Trends in Navigation
You Have Reached Your
Destination!
Google Maps and Microsoft Bing Maps regularly promote their map updates in connection with countries that host
footballs mega-events. So it is not surprising that Navteq, one of the world's leading companies in the field of
location-based mapping, is following suit. It recently presented a brand-new pedestrian navigation product for
Johannesburg, one of the host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Navteq Discover Cities contains navigation
information for pedestrians in some 100 cities around the world and shows that navigation is still a very dynamic
and expanding market segment. Earlier this year Florian Fischer talked with Oliver Marc Schtzle from Navteq
about recent trends in mapping and navigation.
By Florian Fischer
You Have Reached Your Destination
almost. In many cases car navigation sys-
tems just direct drivers to places close to their
destination such as a place to park. Then the
real journey starts, as many pedestrian desti-
nations are not properly mapped at all.
Though navigation systems are mostly mobile
devices, a true pedestrian guide needs to pro-
vide specific geo-information different from
car navigation data. For pedestrians it is
important to know about footbridges, pedes-
trian crossing areas and pedestrian lights,
while one-way streets are no obstacle for
them, unlike for car drivers. Detailed informa-
tion about city centers and their pedestrian
zones becomes important. Specific points of
interest can be valuable as was the case with
public viewing areas during the 2006 World
Cup.
Similarly, trucking makes specific demands on
navigation data. Problems caused by truck
drivers using normal car navigation systems
are increasing, and customized maps are
urgently needed to alert truck drivers to dan-
gers. Navteq can provide data about height
and load limits of bridges, special parking,
and the location of washing plants for trucks.
Local Stakeholders Provide Local
Knowledge
In Germany Navteq maintains nine offices that
are responsible for geo-research and for estab-
lishing bilateral communication with local stake-
holders. The on-site staff know the key contact
people in administrative departments so they
can get timely information about changes in
streets, road signs, points of interest and land
use. None of Navteqs competitors has estab-
lished this kind of decentralized infrastructure
for gathering information. These geo-
researchers are responsible for the whole infor-
mation chain from data acquisition to data
input. Geo-research is not a trivial matter. The
information that is being gathered is continual-
ly increasing in complexity and quantity. Navteq
employs graduates with research skills who
pound the streets to gather geographic infor-
mation and input their data into the Navteq
database.
Open Data A Foresight in the
Glass-sphere
Volunteered geographic information, a form of
collecting geo-information from users, is an
interesting option for Navteq as geo-research is
very cost-intensive. Similar to its competitors,
Navteq offers Map Reporter to its customers in
order to let them propose corrections to map
data. All incoming proposals are prompted via
a map interface. A team at Navteq sorts them
and does a rough verification and relevancy
assessment. Then they forward the requests to
one of the local research teams.
Open-data projects like OpenStreetMap (OSM)
come with ever increasing data richness and
quality, driven by their community and free of
cost. Will they be competitors to Navteq or even
replace its costly mapping products? Oliver Marc
Schtzle considers OSMs database to be good
quality but, they are not a professional chal-
lenge. While Navteq meets the professional
challenge, can manage deadlines for customers,
and offers worldwide coverage, OSM is consid-
ered to have a leisure-time character.
Doubtless there is some truth in this depiction
as OSM data is generated by a crowd of vol-
unteers who gather geographic data in their
leisure time. And it might be exactly this leisure-
time orientation that makes OSM data so valu-
able in the context of leisure-time activities,
which represents a significant potential market
for geographic information.
More Demand for Individual Geo-
information
Finally, Oliver Marc Schtzle believes there is a
growing demand for geographic information,
especially within the consumer domain, one of
Navteqs three organizational units. Content
will increase in richness and more information
will be required as personal preferences
become more and more diverse, he argues. In
the leisure and tourism industries the impor-
tance of geo-information in providing advice to
consumers has strengthened in recent years.
The who, what, and how counts very
much for everyday activities. Geo-information
can provide valuable advice for consumers and
14
I nt er vi ew
December 2009
Oliver Marc Schtzle, Marketing Manager EMEA
for NAVTEQ Germany
is a useful channel for communication between
local service providers and their potential cus-
tomers. Thus Marc Oliver Schtzle is confident
that location-based marketing and advertising
is definitely on the way up. Navigation and
mapping have not reached their final destina-
tion yet. Rather the feeling is that more and,
most notably, more diverse geographic infor-
mation is needed. When traditional private
mapping agencies like Navteq are challenged
by a community of geographic information vol-
unteers they improve themselves, reflecting
their strengths, and even gain an advantage
from the age of neogeography.
Florian Fischer, GIS Editor and Research Assistant
at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for
GIScience in Salzburg, Austria.
Interesting Links:
http://corporate.navteq.com/advanced_
discover_cities.html
http://mapreporter.navteq.com
I nt er vi ew
15
December 2009
Map Reporter enables customers to send data corrections to NAVTEQ
UNI__GIS
Educating GIS Professionals Worldwide www.unigis.org/uk
Study for a postgraduate qualification in GIS
by distance learning
With over 16 years of experience presenting distance learning courses
to professional standards, UNIGIS offers you access to the premier
international network of Universities in GIS education.
Our courses meet the learning needs of busy professionals, or those
seeking to enter the GIS industry. We support you with personal
tutors, on-line help and optional residential workshops. Our courses
are assessed by coursework - there are no examinations.
Find out why the UNIGIS postgraduate courses are so successful:
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Networking with an international community
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More Than 50 Finalists
Be Inspired Symposium & Awards
Roundup
The 2009 Be Inspired: Infrastructure Best Practices Symposium and Awards
focused on compelling best practices sessions presented by Bentley users, but
a number of key Bentley acquisitions were announced.
By Remco Takken
The 2009 Be Inspired: Infrastructure Best
Practices Symposium and Awards, held October
12-14, in Charlotte, North Carolina, drew 350
attendees to hear more than fifty finalists pre-
sent infrastructure projects that brought to life
Bentleys The Year In Infrastructure 2009 year-
book.
In an evening ceremony attended by the mayor
of Charlotte, Bentley executives acknowledged
seventeen extraordinary projects and the organ-
isations that created them. Judged by indepen-
dent panels of Be Inspired Awards jurors, con-
sisting of Bentley users and industry experts,
the winning projects were chosen from more
than 250 nominations.
Mitigating Water Supply Crisis in India
The Government of Maharashtras Water Supply
and Sanitation Department received a Be
Inspired Award for becoming the first user in
India to combine Bentleys modelling software
with its water-specific GIS platform (Bentley
Water). To mitigate a water shortage crisis, the
project team created scenarios to re-engineer
the system, which allowed the team to take cor-
rective measures. This resulted in the elimina-
tion of a weekly thirty-hour time lag before the
water department refilled the network pipes
once drinking water after supplies had been
interrupted. The solution saved the water
department from shipping in drinking water
once a week at great cost to accommodate
nearly 17 million people.
Executive Roundtable
The Government of Maharashtras Water Supply
and Sanitation Department was again the focus
of attention at the events Executive Roundtable
on Water and Wastewater networks the next
day. The roundtable initiative made its success-
ful debut connecting Bentley users and Bentley
Software executives in small groups. Specialists
from Maharashtras Water Supply and Sanitation
Department discussed in depth their workflows,
technical challenges, as well as their request for
new capabilities in Bentleys software products.
The roundtables provided a forum for Bentley
to listen to the needs of new users in develop-
ing economies. Direct contact such as this is a
great way for companies to provide their users
with additional support, while, at the same
time, gaining interesting insight into the work
of these GIS practitioners.
16
Event
December 2009
Bentleys Jack Cook, solution executive water & wastewater, BE Inspired-winner Madhuri Mulay and Richard
Zambuni, global marketing director Geospatial.
To mitigate a water shortage crisis, the water department of Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (India) devel-
oped a hydraulic model that allowed engineers to locate the problem and design a solution.
Communicating Through Visualization
U.K. organisation Mott McDonalds railway transport consultancy
had two finalist presentations. Its winning Model Railway project
is an ongoing process of improvement and development, demon-
strating that 3D design is relevant at all stages of the project lifecy-
cle. Using Bentley Rail Track and MicroStation 3D modeling technol-
ogy, Mott MacDonald has taken the railway modeling process from
survey data collection through interdisciplinary design review.
The second presentation demonstrated how rail track and building
design are immediately fit to visualize. The global shortage of good
technicians forces us to work more smartly, said Mott McDonald
engineer Mark Eaden, but this is only the start. We do have to
work hard to comply to all those data standards. At the same time,
Mott McDonald is pushing the limits of whats achievable. One of
the frontiers Mott McDonald currently faces: it is not yet possible
to move virtual persons through its beautiful station designs.
Mott McDonald also discussed its transition from MXRail software
to Bentley Rail Track. Before transitioning, Mott MacDonald identi-
fied two pilot projects for trial implementation. The first was an
ongoing project moving from outline design using MXRAIL to
detailed design using Bentley Rail Track. The transition improved
the interface between design and drawing tools, enabling design-
ers to react to project change more efficiently.
Wimbledon
One of the many intriguing presentations came from the award-win-
ning British firm Edge Structures. Its concept to redevelop the world-
famous Wimbledon Centre Court included the design of a retractable
roof. This was only one aspect of the design challenges. The project
scope also included redeveloping the east stand of Centre Court,
extending the terrace to accommodate an additional six rows of seat-
ing.
Its first prototype of the new roof was remarkably well received. This
was hilariously explained by John Westmuckett of Westmuckett
Hawkes. Of course, the design of the retractable roof is quite difficult
to grasp. Thats why we put a lot of money in creating a quick little
model to demonstrate this to people: a couple of coat hangers and a
bit of jay cloth.
It wasnt the first time Wimbledon underwent a face-lift on such a large
scale. The contemporary designers saw themselves confronted with a
Systembergreifendes
Datenmanagement
und Datenqualitt in
Geoinformationssystemen
(GIS)
Durchgngige Integration von Geodaten und GIS-
Funktionalitten in IT-gesttzten,
unternehmensweiten Geschftsprozessen;
Verbesserung der Datenqualitt und
Datenintegration, Kopplung der Systeme sowie
mobiler Einsatz von GIS
Fr weitere Informationen wenden Sie sich bitte an:
Madeleine Tischer, E-mail: anzeigen@marcusevansde.com
Tel.: +49 30 890 61 240, Fax: +49 30 890 61 434
www.marcusevansde.com/GIS
Hilton Kln
09. und 10. Februar 2010
Referieren werden u.a.:
Richard Schwarz
Strategischer Planer fr das
sterreichische Hochdruckgasnetz,
Projektleiter NEMESYS
AGGM Austrian Gas Grid
Management AG
Helmut Wittmann
Leiter der Abteilung Netzzugang und
Kapazitten
AGGM Austrian Gas Grid
Management AG
Guenter Okon
Kriminalhauptkommissar und
VerfahrensverantwortlicDirk Jedrau
GIS-Projektleiter
Gelsenwasser AG
Andreas Siebert
Leiter Geospatial Solutions
Mnchener Rckversicherungs-
Gesellschaft AG
Manfred Farthofer
Anforderungsmanagement IT-Systeme
Salzburg AG
Wilfried Schreiber
Leiter Koordinierung/IuK Technologie
Stadtoberbaurat, Stadt Karlsruhe
Tiefbauamther fr GIS
Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt
Uwe Lippmann
Leiter Mediaplanung Vertriebsdirektion
Einzelhandel/Konsumgter
Deutsche Post AG
Artur Rysch
Projektleiter GIS
Dortmunder Energie- und
Wasserversorgung GmbH
conferences
Profitieren Sie u.a. von folgenden Themenschwerpunkten:
Unternehmensweite Integration des GIS und Optimierung der Geschftsprozesse
Harmonisierung der Daten und der Weg zu qualittsgesicherten Geodaten
Datenmanagement und Datenerfassung Effizienzsteigerung durch
qualittsgesicherte GIS-Daten
Systembergreifender Datenfluss: Intelligente Verknpfung von GIS mit ERP-,
CRM- und CAD-Systemen
Schaffung systembergreifender Transparenz und durchgehend einheitlicher und
widerspruchsfreier Geodaten mit komplikationsfreiem Abruf in Echtzeit
Darstellung aktueller Technologien und Trends zu mobilen Anwendungen
Media Partner:
The Executive Roundtable initiative made its successful debut in
connecting Bentley users and developers in small groups. Specialists
like Madhuri Mulay could lay bare even the deepest details of their
work process, talk about technical hiccups and lay out future wishes.
18
Event
December 2009
colourful array of additions to the original
design. Step by step, Wimbledon had changed,
and all those post-1923 extensions had to be
treated with care. Edge Structures was required
to maintain the existing character of the
building.
Acquisitions and business news
During the event, Bentley announced some
recent acquisitions and strategic collaborations.
9SQ Corporation and PlantWave
Bentley recently acquired 9SQ Corporation, a
provider of integration services and plant
design software based in South Korea. With
9SQs PlantWave, users can streamline the pro-
duction and delivery of 2D orthographic gener-
al arrangement (GA) drawings for process,
power, offshore, and marine industry applica-
tions from 3D design models created using
AutoPLANT, PlantSpace, PDS, and PDMS.
KSJ Beijing and BridgeMaster
During the BE Inspired event, Bentley Systems
announced the acquisition of Beijing KSJ
Software Technology Co. Ltd., which includes
the BridgeMaster product line. BridgeMaster is
AutoCAD-based software, featuring parametric
drawing creation. BridgeMaster is used in China
for the fast and efficient automated production
of bridge construction drawings. Bentleys
development plans for BridgeMaster include its
integration with Bentleys ProjectWise. Longer-
range plans will enable Bentley to deliver the
first Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM) solu-
tion tailored to the needs of the hundreds of
design institutes in China that already employ
BridgeMaster.
gINT Software
Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, gINT
Software produces geotechnical and geo-envi-
ronmental products. A quick glance at gINT
Enterprise, the companys newest product,
explains why Bentley acquired this company.
gINT Enterprise maximizes the value of central-
ly managed subsurface data through multipro-
ject reporting and dramatically extended query-
ing power. Offering a solution for transportation
operations, engineering consultancies, plants,
campuses, and state and federal agencies with
vast quantities of geotechnical data, gINT
Enterprise facilitates the reuse of subsurface
mapping information.
Pointools and Vortex Engine
Bentley recently entered into a technology
agreement with Pointools, a vendor of software
that exploits point clouds captured by 3D laser
scanning of infrastructure assets, including aeri-
al LiDAR surveys. Bentley has licensed
Pointools fast Vortex API engine (and its ongo-
ing upgrades) for incorporation in MicroStation
and all other products that leverage Bentleys
platform technology. The Pointools engine is
able to handle large point cloud datasets, com-
prising billions (not millions) of points, and
from virtually every scanning source.
Bentley i-models
ProjectWise Navigator V8i (SelectSeries 1)
became available in October. The new version
can be used by infrastructure teams to interac-
tively view, analyze, and augment project infor-
mation. To make this process dynamic, so feed-
back can flow in both directions for any
participant to add value, Bentley also intro-
duced i-models. An i-model is a container for
open infrastructure information exchange. A key
characteristic of i-models is provenance:
knowledge of its origin and evolution its
change management history.
While ProjectWise collaboration servers are not
required to work with i-models when using
ProjectWise Navigator V8i (SELECTseries 1),
there are advantages to be gained. For exam-
ple, in a dynamic collaboration environment
powered by ProjectWise servers, notifications
can be issued so that subscribing team mem-
bers are always kept aware of subsequent
changes to their work.
A success in Spite of
The Financial Crisis
The 2009 Be Inspired: Infrastructure Best
Practices Symposium and Awards, with its
many presentations and news flashes, gave a
great picture of the activities of Bentleys users
in different industries. The invitation-only event
drew 350 attendees, quite remarkable given
the economy and the number of organisations
streamlining their travel budgets. In spite of the
financial crisis, much great work still gets done
on infrastructure projects.
Remco Takken rtakken@geoinformatics.comis a
contributing editor of GeoInformatics. More infor-
mation on all BE Inspired Award winners an
finalists can be found at
www.bentley.com/projectsearch. For additional
information about BridgeMaster, visit
www.ksj.com.cn. For additional information about
PlantWAVE, visit www.bentley.com/9SQ. For more
information about the Pointools technology, visit
www.pointools.co.uk. For additional information
about dynamic collaboration, i-models, and
ProjectWise Navigator V8i (SELECTseries 1), visit
www.bentley.com/ProjectWise. For additional
information about the gINT product line, visit
www.gintsoftware.com.
One of the presentations by Mott McDonald dealt
with the transition from MX Rail-software to
Bentley Rail Track.
a. The new roof of Wimbledon Centre Court.
b. All previous additions to the original
Wimbledon design had to be approached with
care. Requirements demanded that the existing
character of the building had to be maintained.
[a]
[b]
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INTRODUCING THE NEW FOCUS SERIES
FOCUS 8 FOCUS 6
In Accordance to the EU Flood Directive
The European Parliament and Council passed Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood events
(EU Flood Directive) in October 2007 because of the severe flood events in the recent past and the possibility of worsening
conditions in the future due to climate change. The Directive demands that the EU member states prepare flood hazard
and flood risk maps up to the end of 2013. These laborious tasks can only be accomplished in time and within a
reasonable budget frame by utilizing efficient software tools such as the ArcGIS Toolbox solution presented here.
By Michael Haase, Thorsten Hens, Thomas Jung and Kaj Lippert
Introduction
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states in its report on
Climate Change and Water that globally, the number of great inland
flood catastrophes during the last 10 years (19962005) is twice as
large, per decade, as between 1950 and 1980, while related economic
losses have increased by a factor of five. According to this report flood
risk in Europe is projected to increase throughout the continent. The
regions most prone to a rise in flood frequencies are Eastern Europe,
then Northern Europe, the Atlantic Coast and Central Europe, while pro-
jections for Southern and South-Eastern Europe show significant increas-
es in drought frequencies. In some regions, both the risks of floods
and droughts are projected to increase simultaneously. These projec-
tions seem to coincide with the observed rise in major flood events in
the recent past, e.g. within the Danube, Elbe (see figure 1) and Odra
catchments.
According to the European Environmental Agency over 100 major dam-
aging floods occurred in Europe between 1998 and 2002. Since 2000,
at least 700 fatalities have been recorded, half a million people were
displaced and at least 25 billion in insured economic losses have
been caused by floods in Europe. In addition to economic and social
damage, floods can also have severe environmental consequences.
Against this background the European Parliament and Council passed
the Directive 2007/60/EC in October 2007 on the assessment and man-
agement of flood events (EU Flood Directive). This directive calls for
immediate action from all countries of the European Union and con-
tains three main action lines as are depicted in figure 2. The prelimi-
nary flood risk assessment has to be completed to December 22, 2011.
The Directive requires flood hazard and flood risk maps to be complet-
ed by December 22, 2013 and, finally, flood risk management plans
need to be set up and published by December 22, 2015. According to
the Directive the preliminary flood risk assessment is to be reviewed
and updated first by December 22, 2018, the flood hazard and flood
risk maps shall be reviewed and possibly updated first by December
22, 2019 and, finally, the flood risk management plans shall be first
reviewed and updated by December 22, 2021. The Directive requires
that all of these activities shall be carried out every six years from the
first revision. It also explicitly calls for the likely impact of climate change
on the occurrence of floods to be taken into account in these reviews.
Requirements and Background
According to the EU Flood Directive, floods are defined as temporary cov-
ering by water of land not normally covered by water. Flood risk is referred
to as the combination of the probability of a flood event and of the
potential adverse consequences for human health, the environment, cul-
tural heritage and economic activity associated with a flood event. Floods
may for instance result from storm weather events with heavy rainfall or
melting of snow covers due to sudden changes in general weather condi-
tions; but they may also result from e.g. crevasses and failures of other
man made structures.
Flood hazard maps shall cover the geographical areas which could be
flooded with a low probability (extreme events), a medium probability
with return periods greater or equal than 100 years and, optionally, with a
20
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
Figure 1. Elbe flood of 2002 depicting the Zwinger in Dresden (courtesy of
Fotostudio Heselbarth, Dresden).
Figure 2. Action line of the EU Flood Directive.
GIS, Flood Hazard and
Flood Risk Mapping
high probability. These maps shall include the flood extents, water depths
or water levels as appropriate, and flow velocities where appropriate.
Flood risk maps shall depict the potential adverse consequences associat-
ed with flood scenarios referred to in the previous paragraph. They shall
contain the indicative number of inhabitants potentially affected; the type
of economic activity of the area potentially affected; installations concern-
ing integrated pollution prevention and control which might cause acci-
dental pollution in case of flooding. Potentially affected protected areas
and other useful information, such as the indication of areas where floods
with a high load of transported sediments and debris can occur, as well
as information on other significant sources of pollution, shall be present-
ed in these maps.
In 2006 the European EXCIMAP project (European Exchange Circle on Flood
Mapping) was launched under the auspices of the French Ministry of
Ecology and Sustainable Development, and the Swiss Federal Office for
the Environment in order to serve as a European exchange circle on flood
mapping. The aim of this project is to establish a platform for gathering
existing experiences in flood mapping in Europe and to identify knowl-
edge as well as good practices that can be shared in this field of applica-
tion. EXCIMAP has published the Handbook on good practice on flood
mapping in Europe which is accompanied by an Atlas of Flood Maps
containing examples from 19 European countries, the USA and Japan.
The project identifies two generally different graphical presentations of
flood hazard and flood risk maps serving different purposes: (i) detailed
maps with high accuracy down to the cadastre level are provided at scales
between 1:5,000 and 1:25,000 and (ii) overview maps with a low accuracy
showing whole river basins at national and/or transboundary levels with
scales between 1:50,000 and 1:1,000,000. The purpose and use of flood
hazard maps focuses on land use planning and land management, water-
shed management, water management planning, hazard assessment on a
local level, emergency planning and management, planning of technical
measures and overall awareness building. Thus, the target groups are
national, regional and local spatial planners, flood managers, emergency
service managers, forest service managers and the public at large.
Typical flood hazard map parameters comprise flood extents according to
event probabilities and/or past events, inundation depths, flow velocities,
flood propagation and the degree of danger. Flood risk maps mainly serve
as a basis for policy dialogue, setting priorities for measures, developing
flood risk management strategies, emergency management as well as
overall awareness building. Here, the target groups include insurance man-
agers, national, regional and local emergency service managers, and water
and land use managers. Flood risk maps depict parameters such as assets
at risk, flood vulnerability, probable damages and probable losses per
unit of time.
Since floods are not limited to Europe, Northern America and Japan these
procedures might be adopted and transferred to other parts of the world
where appropriate, e.g. the Zambezi in Southern Africa, the Mekong River
in South-East Asia or the Yangtze River in China.
Technical Basis
The basic input for creating flood hazard and flood risk maps are hydraulic
simulation results (water levels and flow velocities) on the basis of hydro-
logic characteristics (flood waves based on a range of hydrological return
periods, e.g. 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000 years).
Kalypso an open source and freeware tool for environmental and water
resources modeling is an option for carrying out these calculations. The
Kalypso modules Kalypso Hydrology, Kalypso WSPM, Kalypso 1D/2D,
Kalypso Flood and Kalypso Risk provide comprehensive tools for process-
ing input data for flood hazard and flood risk maps. This modeling suite
has been presented in the GEOInformatics Magazine issue of March 2009.
Depending on the required spatial accuracy of the simulation results either
one-dimensional (e.g. Kalypso WSPM), coupled one- and two-dimensional
or solely two-dimensional (e.g. Kalypso 1D/2D) hydraulic models are
applied for generating water levels and flow velocities on the basis of
hydrologic inputs. Numerous other modeling tools are available for this
Ar t i cl e
21
December 2009
Figure 3. Workflow for generating flood hazard maps with the ArcGIS Toolbox.
Figure 4. Example of a flood hazard map depicting the inundation areas and
water depths resulting from a flow event with a statistical return period of 100
years (blue colors) and potential areas at risk to flooding (yellow colors) but not
directly connected to the water body, in this case being protected by a flood
protection wall.
purpose, but these are generally not free of charge. Some examples include
WSPWIN from Bjrnsen Consulting Engineers, SOBEK River and SOBEK
Rural from Deltares, Hydro_AS-2D from Nujic Engineering Firm, MIKE 11
and MIKE 21 from Danish Hydraulic Institute, TELEMAC from SOGREAH or
HEC-RAS from US Corps of Engineers (also available free of charge).
Hydraulic models determine water levels and flow velocities at computa-
tional model nodes, e.g. at cross sections in one-dimensional hydraulic
models. These data need to be reprocessed taking other data, such as
DTMs, land use, distribution of people and assets, into account. The over-
all objective of these works is to generate meaningful and geographically
validated information and to depict this information in flood hazard and
flood risk maps.
Flood Hazard Mapping
The GIS Toolbox has been designed and implemented in order to auto-
mate the required processing for generating flood hazard maps to the
utmost extent. These tools enable experts to fully control each step in the
process chain and correct data according to his/her hydraulic and techni-
cal expertise. ESRIs ArcGIS, Version 9.3 provides the framework for oper-
ating the tools; the tools are contained in a separate ArcGIS Toolbox and
are implemented in Phython, VB and C#.
The workflow consists of six work steps. Figure 3 depicts this workflow
including examples of corresponding geoprocessing inputs and results.
Step 1: Interpolation of water levels from modeling results
Import filters for a variety of hydraulic modeling systems are available, e.g.
WSPWIN, SOBEK, MIKE 11, Hydro_AS-2D. New import filters for hydraulic
modeling results can be easily implemented and added to the system. Due
to the variety of input data different methodologies are required for gener-
ating triangular irregular networks (TIN) or raster datasets (GRID). These
methods have been integrated into the Toolbox. In general, a complete
coverage of water levels for the flood plain is required in order to deter-
mine the full flood extent by intersecting the water level TIN coverage with
the TIN derived from the DTM.
One-dimensional hydraulic models (1D) reduce real world three-dimension-
al hydraulic processes to one dimension on the basis of characteristic cross
sections. Flow velocities and water levels are determined for these cross
sections by the modeling systems. Therefore, these water levels need to
be spatially interpolated between consecutive cross sections. The flood
extents also need to be generated from these data by utilizing DTM data.
Two-dimensional (2D) hydraulic models determine water levels and flow
velocities on the basis of a two-dimensional mesh of finite elements or a
finite difference raster. Spatial interpolations of these data including the
determination of flood extents result, in general, in an enhanced mapping
of flood characteristics. Coupled one- and two-dimensional hydraulic mod-
els (1D/2D) allow for optimizing modeling and postprocessing efforts accord-
ing to the hydraulic regime to be modeled. Here, flow velocities and water
levels are available at nodes of the finite element mesh and at cross sec-
tions in the one-dimensional case resulting in procedures for interpolating
water levels and flood extents similar to the ones described earlier.
Step 2: Intersection of water levels with digital terrain model data
The water level and DTM data are intersected on the basis of TINs in order
to determine flow depths and flood extents. Using TINs in this operation
is to be preferred against employing a raster-based analysis although the
computation is more complex and the overall execution time longer. TINs
allow for a comprehensive inclusion of breaklines and other information
relevant for hydraulic analysis in this process. In particular, connections or
disconnections of possible inundated areas with the main stream, due to
dikes and flood protection walls for example, can be automatically taken
into account in this analysis by using TINs. In order to effectively handle
these time consuming TIN intersections in batch mode, a special ArcGIS
geoprocessing tool has been developed and added to the Toolbox.
Alternatively, these calculations can be carried out on GRID basis.
Step 3: Determination of inundation depths
After having intersected the water level and DTM data TINs, the resulting
TIN is converted to a GRID with a user-selectable resolution. This dataset
might contain blurs which directly result from the intersection of water
level and DTM data TINs. These maps show flood areas and inundation
depths which sometimes appear to be non-reliable due to uncertainties in
DTMs as well as in the hydraulic modeling results. These effects can be
compensated for in Step 4 of the workflow.
Step 4: Analysis of the inundation areas
The aforementioned blurs appear as very small areas within a close neigh-
borhood on the map which are either dry or inundated; the latter pos-
sessing a small variance of inundation depths. Small inundated areas with
no connection to the main stream will be eliminated from the data set;
small islands within inundated areas are redefined as being inundated.
Larger dry areas within inundated surroundings are classified as possible
dry island areas which need to be verified by an expert review. Possible
inundated areas due to subsurface flows in the vicinity of the main inun-
dated areas are also automatically detected. These areas are subject to
verification by an expert review as well.
In order to eliminate these effects geostatistical functions may be employed
by the user for classifying inundation depths according to e.g. area size
and water depth as well as connectivity of these areas to the main stream.
The parameterization of these features is preconfigured in the system but
can be altered easily by means of a graphical user interface by the expert.
Step 5: Correction of the inundation areas
After having analyzed and verified the identified features with the Toolbox
in Step 4, the Toolbox now reclassifies all of the identified features accord-
ing to the results of the expert review. The result comprises semi-auto-
matically derived inundation areas on GRID basis which may be subject
to further manual processing in Step 6.
Step 6: Manual editing of inundation areas
Due to modeling restrictions and missing information on culverts, which
are not part of the DTM, the inundated areas might be extended or clipped
by manually defined polygons in order to take care of these local condi-
tions.
22
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
Figure 5. Schematic diagram of a stage-damage curve for a residential house.
Ar t i cl e
23
December 2009
The Toolbox has been applied in numerous projects and has proven to
be a very valuable tool for efficiently generating flood hazard maps. Among
others, the Toolbox has been employed in projects funded or co-funded
by the European Union such as in the SAFER (Strategies and Actions for
Flood Emergency Risk Management) project and the TIMIS (Transnational
Internet Map Information System) project. The latter being set up as a
contribution to a uniform policy of the European Union for flood protec-
tion with the intention of being used as a prototype for other regions with
transnational flood issues. Figure 4 depicts a flood hazard map which has
been generated with the Toolbox. The Toolbox has also been applied and
proven to be of great value for generating flood hazard maps in various
other projects in Austria, Germany and Poland.
Flood Risk Mapping
The EU Flood Directive defines flood risk as the combination of probabili-
ty of a flood event and the potential adverse consequences to human
health, the environment and economic activity associated with a flood
event. Flood risk therefore combines flood hazard with flood vulnerability.
Thus, flood hazard maps form an important prerequisite for determining
flood risk maps. Information on flood risk can be manifold covering vul-
nerability parameters like affected population, economic assets, human
activities and environmental issues as well as potential flood damages
per unit area or the annual expected damage values per unit area in
[
.
m-
2
.
a-
1
].
The latter may be determined on the basis of inundations resulting from
hydrological events with different return periods and damage functions
(e.g. stage-damage functions) taking different land use classifications and
other specific object details into account. Figure 5 depicts a schematic
diagram of a stage-damage curve for a residential house. The resulting
annual expected damage values are classified in this case into six classes
differentiating highly affected, medium affected and little affected
for settlement areas and unsettled areas. An example for such a flood
risk zone map is depicted in figure 6.
Dr. Michael Haase, Thorsten Hens, Thomas Jung and Dr. Kaj Lippert are with the
Department of Hydroinformatics at Bjrnsen Consulting Engineers in Koblenz,
Germany www.bjoernsen.de, e-mail: info@bjoernsen.de. The company dis-
tributes the presented ArcGIS Toolbox and also offers training courses for apply-
ing this Toolbox to create flood hazard and flood risk maps.
Also have a look at: kalypso.sourceforge.net
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):
www.ipcc.ch
European Environmental Agency (EEA):
www.eea.europa.eu
The EXCIMAP Handbook on good practice on flood mapping in Europe and
Atlas of Flood Maps material is accessible at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/flood_atlas/index.htm.
Kalypso: http://kalypso.sourceforge.net
GeoInformatics Issue March 2009:
http://fluidbook.microdesign.nl/geoinformatics/02-2009/.
Figure 6. Example of a flood risk zone map.
Into The Google and Amazon Cloud
Cloud Computing is one of the latest trends in the mainstream IT world. While the processing part in SDIs has already
been tackled, Cloud Computing has not yet been regarded in the context of SDIs. This was the starting point for this paper
to explore the capabilities of Cloud Computing with a special focus on the processing part in SDIs. In order to get first
hands-on experience, the 52North Web Processing Service (WPS) implementation was migrated as a proof-of-concept
study into the Google and Amazon Cloud. This article describes a review of the basic concept, how the technical concept is
evaluated and what are likely to be interesting topics for a further research agenda.
By Bastian Baranski, Bastian Schffer and Richard Redweik
1. Introduction
Cloud Computing is one of the latest trends in
the mainstream IT world. The term Cloud
Computing uses a cloud metaphor to represent
the Internet or other large networking infras-
tructures. From a provider perspective, the key
aspect of the cloud is the ability to dynamical-
ly scale and provide computational power, stor-
age, and other applications, even complete
infrastructures in a cost efficient and secure way
over the Internet. From a client perspective, the
key aspect of a cloud is the ability to access
the cloud facilities on-demand without manag-
ing the underlying infrastructure and dealing
with the related investments and maintenance
costs.
Existing Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) are
mostly focused on data retrieval and data visu-
alization. The migration of the data processing
part from classical desktop application to a dis-
tributed environment could be regarded as the
next step, while the adoption of Cloud
Computing principles would be the next but
one step. While the processing part in SDIs has
already been tackled, Cloud Computing has not
yet been regarded in the context of SDIs. This
was the starting point for this paper to explore
the capabilities of Cloud Computing with a spe-
cial focus on the processing part in SDIs.
We believe that the paradigm behind the Cloud
Computing buzzword is promising for geospa-
tial applications in order to enable new and
hopeful business models for building up, oper-
ating and utilizing SDIs. Adopting the Cloud
Computing principle would allow the
Geoinformation (GI) domain to be open to the
mainstream IT world and thereby broaden the
limited GI market.
In order to get first hands-on experience, the
52North Web Processing Service (WPS) imple-
mentation was migrated as a proof-of-concept
study into the Google and Amazon Cloud.
The remainder of this article is structured as fol-
lows. First, a review of the basic concept is pro-
vided. This is followed by a technical descrip-
tion of the WPS migration into the Google and
Amazon Cloud. In the next section, our techni-
cal concept is evaluated in terms of scalability
as one of the key aspects of Cloud Computing.
Finally, the article ends with a conclusion focus-
ing on the described framework and a discus-
sion about interesting topics for a further
research agenda.
2. Background
This section tries to identify the paradigm
behind the propagated buzzword Cloud
Computing and introduces some background
information from the SDI domain.
2.1 Characteristics
The term Cloud Computing hints at a future in
which the storage of data and computations
are no longer performed on local computers,
but on distributed facilities operated by third-
party storage and computational utilities. The
characteristics of Cloud Computing open up
new perspectives for tackling different problems
and lead to the following set of core value
propositions.
Efficiency
Cloud Computing enables IT organizations to
increase hardware utilization rates enormously
and to scale up to massive capacities in an
instant without heavily investing in infrastruc-
ture in advance.
24
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
Cloud Computing is one of the latest trends in the mainstream IT world. The term Cloud Computing
uses a cloud metaphor to represent the Internet or other large networking infrastructures.
Outtasking
By outtasking software and data to scalable
facilities operated by third parties, users and
customers don't have to operate their own dat-
acenters anymore. Therefore, enterprises of all
types can decrease their infrastructure costs
enormously. They can take advantage of trans-
forming their fixed IT costs into variable costs
as a business advantage by focusing on their
core business.
Scalability
The allocation of cloud resources is done in real
time and most cloud infrastructures scale
deployed applications automatically on demand
(for example in case of high request rates). This
gives cloud users and cloud application
providers the option of handling peak load very
efficiently without operating their own datacen-
ter and without managing their own infrastruc-
ture.
On-demand
Allocating cloud resources on a real time and
on-demand basis helps enterprises to scale up
their business capacities in a quick and efficient
way. The absence of long-term contracts in com-
bination with pay-per-use revenue models
allows the low-cost start-up of new ideas for
business models. The total cost of ownership
of self-hosted datacenters minimizes start-up
costs and helps enterprises to put new promis-
ing business models into the market.
Additional features of Cloud Computing infras-
tructures are the application of Service Level
Agreements (SLA). Such contracts are important
for cost-performance ratio transparency and
therefore an essential skill for all kinds of IT
and IT-based geospatial business models.
In essence, Cloud Computing is not a com-
pletely new concept. Under the umbrella of the
specific applications and can be scaled on-
demand to handle peak load. The Amazon
Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) provides
a web services interface that can be used to
store and retrieve large amounts of data
(dSaaS). The Amazon Elastic MapReduce is a
web service that offers computational power to
process efficiently vast amounts of data.
In contrast to AWS, the Google App Engine is
an adequate example for pure PaaS. The Google
App Engine provides a sandbox for running
Java- and Python-based web applications. The
web applications are deployed on the Google
infrastructure so they can take advantage of the
same scalable and load balancing technologies
that usual Google applications are built on. On
the one hand, the key advantage of Google App
Engine is that Google App Engine offers an easy
way of deploying web applications in the cloud.
In particular, the overhead of dealing with vir-
tual machines and entire (virtual) server sys-
tems could be ignored. On the other hand,
applications deployed in the Google App Engine
are restricted to a specific (Java- or Python-
based) application framework that runs in a
restricted sandbox limiting, for example, the
web service request duration.
Different projects and initiatives drive the gen-
eral development of Cloud Computing tech-
nologies and open standards for interoperabili-
ty in clouds. The Open Cloud Consortium (OCC)
is an initiative dedicated to cloud interoperabil-
ity and initiated the Open Cloud test bed. The
Open Cirrus Project is a cloud computing
research test bed between research and indus-
try partners. In the Eucalyptus initiative, an
open source-based implementation of the
Amazon API is under development.
2.3 Web Processing Service
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web
Processing Service interface specification (OGC
2007) describes a standardized method to pub-
lish and execute web-based processes for any
type of geoprocesses. According to the WPS
interface specification, a process is defined as
any calculation operating on spatially refer-
enced data.
In detail, the WPS interface specification
describes three operations: GetCapabilities,
DescribeProcess and Execute. GetCapabilities is
common to any type of OGC Web Service and
returns service metadata. In the case of WPS it
also returns a brief description of the process-
es offered by the specific service instance. To
get more information about the hosted pro-
cesses, the WPS provides process metadata
through the DescribeProcess operation. This
operation describes all parameters, which are
required to run the process. Based on this infor-
mation the client can perform the Execute oper-
ation upon the designated process. As every
term Cloud Computing a family of well known
and established methods and technologies is
collected. For example Software as a Service
(SaaS) as a model for software deployment and
Virtualization as an efficient hosting platform.
Besides, it describes a paradigm of outsourc-
ing applications and specific tasks to a scalable
infrastructure and therefore consequently
enabling new business models with less up-
front investments.
There are still a number of open issues for
Cloud Computing. One deals with the general
barriers of adopting Cloud Computing and is
examined for example in the so-called "Open
Cloud Manifesto". Besides data backup and
recovery responsibilities, the outsourcing of
confidential and economically relevant data
from data owners facilities to third party infras-
tructures is always problematic in context of
trust. Using public clouds as a deployment plat-
form for applications in risk management sce-
narios is a security issue in situations when the
underlying cloud suffers an outage.
2.2 Projects and Initiatives
A lot of enterprise corporations are trying to get
into the Cloud Computing business by offering
services to access their huge and grown over
the years infrastructures. Microsoft with the
Azure Services Platform, IBM introduced its
"Blue Cloud" platform and SUN for example
offers Cloud Computing solutions as well. In
this chapter we describe the cloud solutions
from Amazon and Google in more detail.
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) product is a
collection of services that are offering
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Datastorage
as a Service (dSaaS) and some aspects of
Platform as a Service (PaaS). The Amazon
Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) provides
a web service interface to manage virtual
machines (IaaS) that are used to host customer-
Ar t i cl e
25
December 2009
Figure 1. Comparison of normalized response time of Google App Engine (blue) and local (red) deployed WPS
over number of simultaneous requests.
OGC Web Service, the WPS communicates
through HTTP-GET and -POST based on an
OGC-specific XML-message encoding.
3. Concept
This chapter provides a description of the tech-
nical concept of the 52North WPS migration
into the Google and Amazon Cloud.
3.1 Deployment
On a technical level, the classical 52North WPS
is implemented as a Java Servlet that is execut-
ed as a single web application in an Apache
Tomcat runtime environment.
Due to platform independence gained by the
Google App Engine Java support, the existing
52North WPS components could be easily
compiled on a local machine with the propri-
etary Java compiler provided by Google. The
resulting web application package then will be
deployed on the Google App Engine platform
via command line tools provided by Google.
According to the number of requests, the
deployed application is able to automatically
scale up by means of the Google Cloud mech-
anisms.
The existing 52North WPS components could
be easily deployed to the Amazon Cloud by
means of creating an Amazon Machine Image
(AMI) containing the required operating system,
application binaries and associated configura-
tion settings. This machine image is then
uploaded to the Amazon Cloud. Furthermore, a
load balancer is configured to boot additional
instances of the prepared machine image in
case of an increasing high demand of simulta-
neous requests.
In general, the deployed WPS instances provide
geoprocesses to customers, which is the classi-
cal SaaS aspect. This is built on the PaaS
aspect, which fosters the automatic scalability.
By deploying the WPS in the Google and
Amazon Cloud, the end-user is still able to find
and bind a single URL representing the WPS,
even though multiple instances exist on the
sever side to maintain a scalable service.
Therefore the classical publish-find-bind SDI
paradigm is not modified by using cloud tech-
nologies. However, the use of standardized
interfaces such as a WPS ensures interoperabil-
ity from the client perspective. Cloud interoper-
ability from a provider perspective is not given,
since every cloud infrastructure has its own APIs
and requirements.
3.2 Scenario
As our test case, we implemented a simple
buffer process, which takes two inputs. First,
geographic features to be buffered encoded as
GML (for example provided by an OGC Web
Feature Service, WFS) and second, a distance
for the buffer calculation. As a result, geograph-
ic features representing the buffers around the
input geographic features are computed. The
resulting dataset could be fetched either encod-
ed as GML (as exercised with uDig) or KML (as
exercised with Google Earth).
4. Scalability Evaluation
Scalability is one of the key aspects of Cloud
Computing. Therefore, we tested our approach-
es in this direction. We used a stress test to
simulate an increasing high demand of simul-
taneous requests. We expected a constant
response time by the WPS deployed in the
cloud in contrast to a linear rising response time
by a non-cloud setting.
4.1 Methodology
The WPS was stress tested with the simple
buffer algorithm, deployed on the Google Cloud
platform, in the Amazon Web Service framework
as well as on a local installed and non-cloud-
enabled Apache Tomcat installation. The geo-
metric data for that process was also delivered
via a web service (deployed at the cloud in the
first case and deployed on the local and non-
cloud-enabled machine in the second case).
A cumulative approach was used, starting with
1 and up to 200 requests that were sent almost
simultaneously in a short period of time to the
deployed services. The elapsed time from send-
ing the request to receiving the response on its
own, as well as for the cumulative sum of the
request/response times was measured. In order
to compare the local setting with the remote
cloud settings, the results are normalized by
only regarding the response time relatively to
the maximum/minimum interval of all requests
to the specific machine.
4.2 Results
Figure 1 show the normalized response time of
the online (Google App Engine) as well as of
the local deployed WPS over the number of
simultaneously sent requests. The response
time of the remote WPS (blue) stays nearly con-
stant up to 200 simultaneous requests where-
as the local WPS response time (red) grows lin-
early.
Figure 2 shows the average response time of
Google App Engine (red) and Amazon Web
Service (blue) over a number of simultaneous
requests. In both cases the average response
time stays nearly constant up to 200 simulta-
neous requests.
4.3 Evaluation
The performance evaluation shows to some
degree that Google App Engine and Amazon
Web Service scale at high request rates, as the
response time for many simultaneous requests
stays nearly constant in contrast to the non-
cloud deployment.
The slight increase of the response time of the
WPS deployed at the Google App Engine and
Amazon Web Service platform could be
explained by bottlenecks concerning the data
allocation from an external server, laborious
internal processing steps in the performance
testing tool, and high traffic at the local machine
and in the local sub-network when running the
performance testing tool. A slight overhead for
replicating new service instances on the server
side could also be assumed. The peaks in both
curves for the measured response times could
be explained by means of managing the (virtu-
al) server instances in the backend. The mech-
anisms used by Google App Engine are not vis-
ible to the end-users. The mechanisms used by
Amazon Web Service must be manually adjust-
ed via the Amazon CloudWatch and Auto
Scaling services. A fine-tuning of the used setup
was not realized in the presented test case.
5. Conclusion & Outlook
This article presents an approach of bringing
the OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) to the
26
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
Figure 2. Comparison of average response time of Google App Engine (red) and Amazon Web Service (blue)
over a number of simultaneous requests.
cloud. On a conceptual level, we showed that Cloud Computing
is not a completely new concept and applied to SDI, the classi-
cal publish-find-bind pattern in SDIs does not have to be modi-
fied. Therefore, we see a paradigm shift from technological to
economical aspects in contrast to a complete paradigm change.
On a technical level, our tests showed that using the Google and
Amazon Cloud, average response times could be held almost con-
stant during an increasing high demand of simultaneous requests.
However, our tests also showed, that for the cloud approach, bot-
tlenecks outside the cloud have to be taken into account and
could eliminate the positive cloud effects if not carefully evaluat-
ed. Nevertheless, the tests showed that Cloud Computing keeps
its promises and should be regarded further in sophisticated
setups.
The presented approach is to our knowledge the first OGC-com-
pliant cloud service ever and could pave the way for a paradigm
shift in SDIs. On the basis of our past experience we still believe
that Cloud Computing is promising for building up, operating and
utilizing SDI in an effortless way and promising for geospatial
applications to enable new business models with less up-front
investments.
Furthermore, Cloud Computing could be potentially the missing
element to popularize SDIs to a broader non-expert community.
To further advance the adoption and combination of Cloud
Computing and SDI, the 52North Geoprocessing Community mem-
bers will continue their basic research by addressing the following
questions and topics. How can Cloud Computing lower the barri-
ers for building, operating and utilizing SDI? How can Cloud
Computing promote innovative and promising geospatial e-com-
merce models? How can Cloud Computing popularize geospatial
applications to a broader and collaborating community?
This article was submitted on behalf of The 52North Initiative for
Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH.
Bastian Baranski Baranski@52north.org is a research associate at the
Institute for Geoinformatics (IfGI) at the University of Mnster. He is
working on his PhD thesis with a focus on the integration of Service Level
Agreements (SLA) in open standards based SDIs.
Bastian Schffer Schaeffer@52north.org holds a degree in Geoinformatics
from University of Mnster. He is currently in the process of writing his
PhD thesis and works for 52North as the head of the Geoprocessing
Community.
Richard Redweik Redweik@52north.org is a
student assistant at the Institute for Geoinformatics (IfGI) and works for
52North as a software developer. Currently he is elaborating the applica-
tion of Cloud Computing in the GI domain.
Links:
www.52north.org/wps
www.opencloudmanifesto.org/
www.microsoft.com/azure/default.mspx
www.ibm.com/ibm/cloud/
www.sun.com/solutions/cloudcomputing/index.jsp
www.opencloudconsortium.org
http://opencloudconsortium.org/testbed.htm
https://opencirrus.org/
www.eucalyptus.com/
http://udig.refractions.net/
http://earth.google.de
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I bought myself a new Apple iPhone recently. Its really neat, great design, built-in GPS, Google mapping and vast num-
ber of new locationally-aware add-ons from the App Store. Everything is fine until I need to remove the sim card
Im going to Libya and need to get a local one. I remove the UK sim card and temporarily replace the holder.
But, I put it in the wrong way round and it jams halfway in.
I book an appointment and go to the Apple Genius Bar (tech sup-
port to you and me) in a very fancy shop in Oxford Street, Central
London. There I am told that the iPhone is terminally damaged
and my only option is to buy a new phone for circa $200. Im
angry and relate the story to my friend Nick Land from ESRI. He
puts iPhone sim card problem into Google and sure enough the
blogging world is onto this. Theres a stream of invective about
this being a flaw in the usually excellent Apple design standards,
but theres also advice force an old sim card
back in the slot and hey presto it releases!
Whats the point of this story? The good -
praise be to the crowd sourced solution, the
bad even Apple make design mistakes, the
ugly the customer service.
Now lets translate this into the geospatial
open source world:
Crowd sourcing anyway you look at it, its
exciting, whether it be creating new data that helps the third world
credit where its due to Google and OpenStreetMap (OSM); cor-
recting errors in mission critical routing databases from Navteq;
or the wisdom (and selflessness) of people who spend time solv-
ing someone elses problem on the other side of the world who
theyve never met for the love of it.
Design flaws yes they are bad, but ultimately we live with them,
to paraphrase a presenter at the recent Where 2.0 conference in
San Jose, sure the open source widget doesnt fit perfectly with the
architecture of the rest of my system but its free, so Ill work around
its limitations.
Customer support can be ugly. Sure, the online technorati are a
great resource in the OpenGeo world. But, when it comes down to
application down at 5
pm
on Friday evening before the big upgrade
in a multi-national organisation, Im not sure I want to be reliant
upon a garage-built component from an open source library. At
the moment, with a few exceptions, the lack of coherent robust
support for geospatial open source can discourage those of us who
provide strategy advice from recommending it.
Getting the iPhone has also caused me to think more seriously
about some other geo-ethical issues, particularly the privacy of
locationally-based personal data. A recent article in the New
Scientist, the UKs premier science magazine, titled rat in your cell-
phone described how companies that specialise in phishing can
reassemble information from your discarded phone to provide a
complete picture of you, your family, business dealings and where
youve been.
You could be sanguine and take the view that
the genie is out of the bottle. Should they
want to abuse it, your bank, supermarket
(from your loyalty card) and network provider
already knows more about your life than you
do yourself. However, location brings literally
an extra dimension to their knowledge about
you. If you leave location services enabled on
your smartphone and thats usually the
default, you are enabling the provider (and
possibly who they choose to sell the data
onto) to build up a complete picture of your
movements. If you think about that falling into criminal hands it
could be used for blackmail, burglary or worse.
Im with Gary Gale of Yahoo on this one, you should have to opt
in to allowing such data to be reused by others. However, the
key point is that we, as a geospatial industry, really do have to
think about locational data privacy now. Otherwise, well not have
thought through the arguments when someone in Government or
the European Commission grabs hold of it as a result of a popular
press campaign. At that stage, and reacting to public opinion, the
chances are that our legislators will do something draconian that
undermines a lot of the location apps we are starting to depend
on, for our livelihoods and in our personal lives.
At the moment, with a few
exceptions, the lack of
coherent robust support for
geospatial open source can
discourage those of us who
provide strategy advice from
recommending it.
Column
The Rat in my iPhone
Andrew Coote is a Director of ConsultingWhere, an IT consultancy specialising in geospatial technology.
You can register for a free copy of their latest assessment of the UK geospatial market at
www.consultingwhere.com/reports.htm
28 28
December 2009
www.topcon.eu
Handheld with GPS & GLONASS
from meter to cm RTK
One 4 all
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A Report on the Greece 2009 Conference
From Imagery to Map:
Digital Photogrammetric Technologies
With an installed base of 4,000 digital photogrammetric workstations (DPWs)
operating under 1,100 separate licences,, and with 400 individual organisations
and companies using its PHOTOMOD software in over 50 countries, the Russian
Racurs software company is a distinct success story. So is its user conference,
which is now in its ninth year and is looked forward to with much anticipation
by its now regular and devoted core of participants.
By Gordon Petrie
Following on from the 2007 and 2008 confer-
ences that were held in Bulgaria and Croatia
respectively, the organisers had once again
selected an attractive seaside resort in south-
eastern Europe as the venue for the conference.
In this case, it was the large Mare Nostrum Hotel
[Fig. 1] located in the town of Vravrona on the
Aegean coast of the Attica Peninsula, 35 km
east of Athens in Greece. With its suite of con-
ference halls and rooms [Fig. 2], it proved to be
an excellent choice for the 2009 edition of this
annual conference. Furthermore the organisers
also followed the format that had proven to be
very successful during the two previous confer-
ences. Thus the first day was devoted largely
to mapping from airborne imagery, while, on
the second day, attention was concentrated on
the acquisition and processing of spaceborne
imagery. The third day was taken up with a
series of presentations and master classes
focussing on the Racurs companys own soft-
ware products, while the fourth and final day
was given over to a bus tour of the Attica
Peninsula for the participants. This culminated
in a memorable visit to the ancient ruined
Temple of Poseidon, perched high on its com-
manding site on the headland of Cape Sounion
at the southern tip of the peninsula, as the Sun
set over the Mediterranean Sea which gave a
fine end to a very good conference!
Day 1 Airborne Imaging &
Mapping
1 (a) National & Commercial Mapping
The conference opened with brief welcoming
addresses given by [Fig. 3(a)], the
managing director of the Racurs company, and
of the Hellenic Military
Geographical Service (HMGS). These introduc-
tory speeches were followed by a more sub-
stantial account of the development and the
current status of photogrammetry in Greece
given by , the agent for Racurss prod-
ucts in Greece. From this presentation, it
appears that photogrammetry is flourishing
within the country, with the establishment of
the Hellenic Mapping & Cadastral Organisation
(HEMCO) providing a major source of work [See
the Web site www.okxe.gr/engprof.htm for
additional information]. Of further note was the
information given about the HEPOS (Hellenic
Positioning System) that provides real-time
positioning services covering the whole of
Greece through a network of 98 permanent GPS
reference stations [See the Web site
www.hepos.gr/ for more detailed information].
The next speaker was of the
Leibniz University of Hannover who gave an
overview of photogrammetry in the very specif-
ic context of cadastral systems. This was based
on his own extensive experience of this activi-
ty, gained while acting as an adviser to a num-
ber of governments in different parts of the
world. He estimated that currently only between
30 and 50 countries have operational cadastral
systems with a further 50 countries trying to
establish such systems. This means that over
90 countries have no cadastral systems what-
soever. However there are numerous deficien-
cies even in those systems that are operational.
The surveying and photogrammetric technolo-
gies that are needed for the measurement and
description of cadastral boundaries are widely
available; the huge shortfall in their application
is due almost entirely to institutional and polit-
ical problems.
The next presentation was given by
of Map World Technologies in India, who pro-
vided an update on the progress of the mas-
sive New Delhi 3D Project that he had first intro-
duced at the previous years conference held in
Croatia. After which, there was a short presen-
tation on the extensive use of the Racurs
PHOTOMOD software in Bulgaria made on behalf
of of the GIS-Sofia company.
This was followed by a detailed account of the
geo-information market in Russia that was
given by of the countrys GIS
30
Conf er ence
December 2009
Fig. 1 The Mare Nostrum Hotel at Vravrona, Attica, Greece the venue for the 2009 Conference.
(Source: K. Petrie)
Association [See the Web site
www.gisa.ru/16183.html]. Among the many inter-
esting items in this presentation was the news
that, from 2010 onwards, no transactions in
land can take place in Russia unless they are
registered with the national cadastral system.
The next presentation within this section was
again given by . He gave an
account of the numerous projects undertaken
by students in surveying at the University of
Nairobi, that make ingenious use of Google
Earth to provide the image and map bases for
their many varied and useful thematic mapping
projects. Finally [Fig. 3(b)]
gave an account of the extensive imaging and
mapping activities of the Hellenic Military
Geographical Service (HMGS) which is respon-
sible for the national topographic mapping of
Greece, including the production and mainte-
nance of 11,587 monochrome maps at 1:5,000
scale and 387 multi-coloured maps at 1:50,000
scale. The Service now has a new Internet por-
tal for the supply of its maps, complete with
an e-shop and electronic payment facilities [See
the Web site www.gys.gr/ for more informa-
tion].
1 (b) Digital Airborne Imaging &
Equipment
This section started with a series of presenta-
tions given by representatives of a number of
pany who had described the companys A3
digital stepping frame camera at last years con-
ference in Croatia followed with the latest
news about this rather novel product [Fig.5].
This included the interesting news that seven
of these cameras have already been sold. They
comprise one sold locally to the Ofek mapping
company within Israel and a further six to U.S.
and European companies. The latter include two
that have been sold to the Fugro EarthData
company in the U.S.A. Finally, within this sec-
tion, the present writer gave an
account of current developments in airborne
laser technologies. These include the introduc-
tion of much lighter and more compact sys-
tems; the use of higher PRF values (largely due
to the introduction of the multiple pulse tech-
nique) and higher scan rates; and the more
widespread availability of the full waveform dig-
itizing of the pulse reflections from the ground
as an optional feature. Furt hermore improve-
ments in the supporting GNSS and IMU tech-
nologies have resulted in higher accuracies in
the final elevation data that can be derived from
laser scanning. Another noticeable trend has
been the introduction of a number of lower cost
and lower performance systems that are
designed specifically for corridor mapping.
1 (c) Photogrammetric Processing of
Digital Aerial & Close-Range Images
[Fig. 3(b)], the scientific director
of Racurs, began this section by tracing the
development and the ever improving capabili-
ties of the PHOTOMOD software and DPWs over
the 15 years since it was first offered commer-
cially in 1994. He was followed by
of the Moscow State University of
Geodesy & Cartography (MIIGAiK) who gave an
account of his experiences with PHOTOMOD in the
processing of close-range images for use in
architectural photogrammetry. In turn, he was
followed by of the
system suppliers bringing the latest news about
their products in the airborne imaging field to
the audience. of Leica Geosystems
outlined the current status of the companys
ADS80 large-format pushbroom line scanner
with its alternative SH81 and SH82 imaging
heads; the RCD100 and RCD105 medium-format
frame cameras; and the new PAV80 gyro-stabi-
lized mount that can accommodate each of
these digital imagers and indeed most other
cameras that are available on the market. He
also covered the ALS60 and ALS Corridor
Mapper that are having considerable commer-
cial success in the field of airborne laser scan-
ning. Similarly of Intergraph cov-
ered the corresponding Z/I Imaging products,
including the DMC large-format digital frame
camera. However his presentation focussed
strongly on the companys RMK-D medium-for-
mat multi-spectral camera [Fig. 4] that was
announced last year and has now started to be
delivered to customers. Most interesting of all
was the news that a new version of this cam-
era (called the RMK-D/x) with an additional
super-medium-format (12 k x 12 k) panchromat-
ic channel will become available in the first
quarter of 2010. A further development (called
the RMK-D/lidar) featuring an Optech laser scan-
ner instead of the panchromatic imaging chan-
nel will then follow later in 2010.
Next of the Israeli VisionMap com-
Conf er ence
31
December 2009
Fig. 2 This Conference ses-
sion is taking place in the
Artemis conference hall
within the Mare Nostrum
Hotel. (Source: Racurs)
Fig. 3 (a) Dr. V. Adrov, the Managing Director of
Racurs, welcomes the participants to the
Conference. (b) Captain A. Gkegkas (left) of the
Hellenic Military Geographical Service (HMGS)
giving his presentation, watched by his chairman,
Dr. A. Sechin, the Scientific Director of Racurs (on
right). (Source: Racurs)
[a]
[b]
National University of Athens (NTUA) who
described the first experiences of himself and
his colleagues using PHOTOMOD. The cited exam-
ples included the close-range photogrammetric
survey of a church in Cyprus and the mapping
of the classical marathon course between
Marathon and Athens from airborne imagery.
of the Surgutneftegaz company then
outlined her successful experience of process-
ing the airborne digital images acquired by an
IGI DigiCAM system using the PHOTOMOD soft-
ware. After which, of the GIS-Sofia
company described in detail the production of
large-scale orthophotoplans of Sofia
Municipality using PHOTOMOD, carried out on a
block of 6,900 large-scale aerial photos that
had been acquired using an Intergraph DMC
digital camera. Finally returned to
describe a robust algorithm for the detection
and measurement of tie points in large blocks
of aerial photographs using a newly developed
image correlation technique.
Day 2 Spaceborne Imaging &
Mapping
2 (a) Spaceborne Image Data Suppliers
The day started with an overview and compari-
son of the capabilities of the newer very-high-
resolution WorldView-1 & -2 and GeoEye-1 satel-
lites that was given by of the
Sovzond company. After which, she then went
on to make a further comparison of the rela-
tively high-resolution spaceborne SAR imageries
that are being generated by the newer radar
satellites such as TerraSAR-X, COSMO-SkyMed
and Radarsat-2. Finally she reviewed the capa-
bilities of the various software packages ENVI,
INPHO, Bentley MicroStation for which
Sovzond are the agents. The next three speak-
ers A. Shumakov (GeoEye), B. Bertolini (SPOT
Image) and P. Ziemba (DigitalGlobe) all spoke
about their companies high-resolution space-
borne image data acquisition and products.
had some interesting information to
impart about the characteristics of the forth-
coming GeoEye-2 satellite that is currently under
development for launch in 2012, including its
use of a 1.1 m diameter primary mirror and the
probability that the satellite will be licensed to
acquire its panchromatic image data with a GSD
of 0.25 m. concentrated on the
characteristics of the images (with a GSD of 0.5
m) that will be generated by the two Pleiades
satellites, the first of which is currently sched-
uled to be launched in October 2010, with the
second due to be launched 12 to 18 months
later. Finally discussed the charac-
teristics, capacity and coverage of the
WorldView satellites, the second of which (WV-
2) [Fig. 6] was actually launched on 8th October
only two days after his very timely presenta-
tion! Indeed the first WV-2 images were collect-
ed on 20th October only 12 days after its
launch. He also announced the commissioning
of two new ground receiving stations to receive
spaceborne image data direct from
DigitalGlobes satellites. These new stations are
located in Europe (Germany) and the Middle
East (Abu Dhabi) respectively.
2 (b) Technologies, Software &
Processing of Spaceborne Image Data
This section began with the report by
of Ural Geoinform giving the results of
tests of geometric accuracy and the inter-
pretability of the medium-resolution imagery
acquired by the RapidEye satellite constellation
[Fig. 7] that was placed in orbit in August 2008
and only came into full operation in February
2009. Using the RPC approach, the accuracy
achieved at the check points within the test
field was +/- 7 m (= one pixel). The interpreta-
tion of vegetation and agricultural land use on
the RapidEye images could be carried out to a
high standard of accuracy and completeness;
however the location of pipelines and power
lines was not always possible.
of Sovzond gave further detailed information
on the RapidEye satellites and imagery for
which her company is the authorized distribu-
tor for Russia and the CIS countries. Already
25% of Russia has been covered with RapidEye
imagery [Fig. 8]. Then of Inforterra gave
a fairly frank and honest assessment of using
both the SAR interferometric technique and the
32
Conf er ence
December 2009
Fig. 4 (a) The new Intergraph Z/I Imaging RMK-D multi-spectral medium-format airborne digital camera. (Source: Intergraph) (b) Showing the arrangement of the
four lenses of the RMK-D camera with their attached filters that collect the image data in four separate spectral channels RGB & NIR. The space in the housing that
is at present blank will house either the lens of the additional panchromatic channel or the laser scanner in forthcoming models of the RMK-D camera.
(Source: air-survey-base)
[a]
[b]
radargrammetric method employing a 3D stereo
approach for the construction of DEMs. With
the former method, the coherence of the over-
lapping imagery is all important; if there is low
coherence, then the required DEM cannot be
generated. Thus, for general world-wide appli-
cations, such as the construction of a global
DEM, the radargrammetric approach is usually
the more appropriate one to be utilized, even
if the accuracy of the resulting elevation data
is lower. Next of ScanEx out-
lined the many software packages that have
been developed by his company for the pro-
cessing of the spaceborne image data that is
acquired by the numerous ground receiving sta-
tions that have been built by ScanEx. These
include the specialist packages that have been
developed to process Radarsat, Envisat and
SPOT imagery. These can be supplied as boxed
solutions with a fairly universal application as
well as their specific use with ScanEx ground
stations. The company has also developed a
number of GISEye boxed solutions that are
available to change image formats and to trans-
form image data from one projection to
another.
of the Panorama company
then outlined the application of remote sens-
ing image data for map revision and the gen-
eration of thematic maps using both boxed
solutions and the customized solutions that
have been developed by the company. This was
followed by a contribution by
of the Grad Territorial Planning Institute in
Omsk, who described in rather broad and gen-
eral terms the use of remotely sensed image
data for regional and urban planning purposes.
The final presentation in this section was deliv-
ered by the present writer who
gave an overview of the recent use of space-
borne imagery for environmental and disaster
monitoring, providing numerous examples
world-wide, including many that had been
acquired under the aegis of the International
Charter on Space & Major Disasters.
1:10,000 scale. In practice, the interpretational
properties of the imagery have proven to be
very adequate for mapping at this scale. Next
came a most interesting presentation by
, the commercial director of Racurs.
He first outlined the companys involvement
with international tests of high-resolution
imagery from newer satellites such as Cartosat-
1 and GeoEye-1, for which the PHOTOMOD soft-
ware produces geometric accuracy figures of
approximately +/- one pixel in planimetry over
well established test fields. On the production
side, Racurs has undertaken various projects
utilizing imagery from the SPOT, Kompsat-2 and
Formosat-2 satellites for the topographic map-
ping or orthoimage mapping of extensive areas
at 1:25,000 scale in conjunction with DEMs that
have been derived either from existing maps or
from SRTM elevation data. The company has
also supplied SPOT-5 imagery covering large
areas in the Tyumen region of West Siberia to
various customers in the oil and gas exploration
sector. There was much else of interest in his
presentation, which, in my opinion, needs to
appear as a written publication in a suitable
journal to reach the much wider audience that
would appreciate having this very valuable
information.
The last group of papers were all concerned
with the classical use of spaceborne remote
sensing image data within the field sciences.
2 (c) Mapping from Spaceborne Image
Data
This part of the programme began with a report
from of the Goszem -
cadastrsyomka (VISHAGI) organisation on her
continuing series of tests of the high-resolution
imagery from the Russian Resurs DK-1 satellite
which is available much more cheaply within
Russia than the corresponding imagery from the
GeoEye and DigitalGlobe companies. Using
PHOTOMOD, planimetric accuracies of around +/-
2 m have been achieved using both the RPC
and strictly correct (rigorous) solutions over
ground test fields. Her presentation was fol-
lowed by a further report given by
of the East Siberian affiliated branch of
Goszemcadastrsyomka (VISHAGI). This gave
details of the organisations widespread use of
spaceborne imagery acquired by the various
U.S. very high-resolution satellites for those of
its mapping operations that are carried out at
Conf er ence
33
December 2009
Fig. 5 (a) The latest version of the VisionMap A3 digital stepping frame camera in its new housing.
(b) The stepping mechanism of the twin digital cameras that provide the cross-track coverage of the
A3 camera. (Source: VisionMap)
Fig. 6 (a) The DigitalGlobe
WorldView-2 (WV-2) satellite which
has been constructed by Ball
Aerospace. It is equipped with an 8-
channel multi-spectral pushbroom
scanner supplied by ITT.
(b) The launch of WorldView-2 took
place at Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California on 8th October 2009 using a
Boeing Delta-2 rocket. (Source:
DigitalGlobe).
[a]
[b]
[a]
[b]
of the Institute of Forestry based in
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia discussed the use of this
type of data in conjunction with a DEM to esti-
mate forest conditions and dynamics in an area
that is due to be flooded by a new hydro-elec-
tric plant. of NIIAS reported on the
further use of spaceborne imagery for the mon-
itoring of the potentially dangerous impacts of
underlying geology and soils on the railway
infrastructure a topic that he had first intro-
duced last year at the 2008 conference held in
Croatia. Finally there was a group of three
separate but linked papers presented by
and of
Gazprom VNIIGAZ, the giant Russian oil and gas
company. With the search for new oil and gas
fields moving ever further north into the Arctic
parts of Russia, SAR imagery has become ever
more important in these areas where bad
weather frequently occurs. Dr. Baranov had
much to say regarding the use of interferomet-
ric SAR imagery, which is now being used to a
considerable extent to monitor the settlement
of land due to the extraction of oil and gas
not only in the Arctic but also in the area of
Astrakhan on the coast of the Caspian Sea.
Other applications of SAR imagery by Gazprom
include the monitoring of areas of permafrost
and active faults on the land and the monitor-
ing of sea ice around Novaya Zemlya and the
detection of oil seeps in the Barents and Kara
Seas along Russias northern Arctic coast as well
as in the Caspian Sea.
In summary, it is quite astonishing to see and
hear about the extensive use that is being made
of spaceborne imagery in Russia as compared
with the densely populated and highly devel-
oped countries of Western Europe where it has,
by comparison, rather limited use. All of which
appears to be a consequence of the sheer
extent of Russias territories, large areas of
which are still sparsely populated and little
developed.
Day 3 Racurs & PHOTOMOD
The third days programme started with
giving an overview of the PHOTOMOD
software and of the various modules that cur-
rently form integral parts of its overall structure.
However the PHOTOMOD Radar software package
is really a separate stand-alone product
designed for use with spaceborne SAR imagery
rather than forming part of the main software.
Similar remarks can be made (i) about the
GeoMosaic product which can operate with dig-
itized raster maps as well as airborne and
spaceborne images; and (ii) the GeoCalculator
package that carries out transformations
between different projections and coordinate
systems. But otherwise the modules within the
main PHOTOMOD software system
are highly integrated and very
compatible with one another. Dr.
Adrov also gave an account of
some of the larger production
mapping contracts that have
been undertaken by Racurs in its secondary role
as a service provider. Besides those involving
large numbers of aerial photos, this work has
also included a project involving the mapping
of 300,000 sq. km. from SPOT spaceborne
imagery that was undertaken in 2007 and 2008.
, the head of the technical support
department for PHOTOMOD, then outlined some
of the main features of PHOTOMOD 5.0, concen-
trating on the new analytical aerial triangula-
tion system with its new and very reliable image
correlation algorithm. Up to 20,000 images can
now be accommodated in a single project.
Another important change that has been incor-
porated in the new release is the dynamic re-
building of the TIN network and contours while
the editing of the elevation data is being under-
taken. The new release now supports 16-bit
raster data as well. , the head of soft-
ware development at Racurs, gave still further
information on the new release of PHOTOMOD
from the computing point of view. It includes a
revised data storage structure and a new data
format based on Open Standards (using TIFF
and XML); a new integrated GUI; and extensive
use of multiple distributed processors and ded-
icated hardware processing devices such as
graphics processing units (GPUs) to speed up
the overall operations of PHOTOMOD. Future
developments will include a 64-bit version of
PHOTOMOD. Finally, , who is the lead-
er of the group developing the PHOTOMOD Radar
software, spoke about the new possibilities that
are being offered by its latest version. These
include modules for coherent change detection
and for object motion tracking (such as iceberg
tracking). As one would expect, the software
now supports the processing of the SAR
imagery from the recently launched TerraSAR-X,
COSMO-SkyMed and Radarsat-2 satellites. The
InSAR processing of TerraSAR-X image data of
the Ayers Rock area in Australia was used to
demonstrate the software in detail. All of these
new features from both the PHOTOMOD and
PHOTOMOD Radar software packages were then
demonstrated further in the series of master
classes that followed these presentations.
Conclusion
As usual, it was a busy, very well organised and
very useful conference that sent the participants
homewards in good spirits and well informed
about the software and system developments
that are being undertaken by the Racurs com-
pany which is certainly not resting on its lau-
rels and on its considerable and well earned
reputation as a DPW supplier.
Gordon Petrie is Emeritus Professor of Topographic
Science in the Dept. of Geographical & Earth
Sciences of the University of Glasgow, Scotland,
U.K. E-mail - Gordon.Petrie@ges.gla.ac.uk
34
Conf er ence
December 2009
Fig. 7 (a) The constellation of five RapidEye
mini-satellites that were built by SSTL
(Surrey) in the U.K. Each is equipped with a
JSS pushbroom imaging scanner built by
Jena Optronik in Germany. (b) The RapidEye
satellites are seen being placed on the Dnepr-
1 launcher at Baikonur in Kazakhstan prior
to their launch. (Source: SSTL)
Fig. 8 (a) A RapidEye image
showing the centre of the
city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
(Source: RapidEye via
Sovzond) (b) The correspond-
ing plan of the city centre of
St. Petersburg. (Source:
Lonely Planet)
[a]
[a]
[b]
[b]
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An Evolution of the Millennial Pair (Pt. 2)
Geolocation and Time
This is the second and last part of the article that was printed in the previous issue of GeoInformatics (issue nr. 7,
October/November 2009). Part 1 was about a short history of relations between Geolocation and Time, describing the
following topics: The Shape and the Size of Earth, Latitude, Longitude and Time, From the Spherical to the Ellipsoidal
Earth, Transition to the Geoid and the Third Dimension in Geodesy. Part 2 continues with the fourth dimension in geodesy
and describes shortly the main topics of geodesy and its scientific field in the beginning of 21st century, which are the
cornerstones that allow modern geodesy to provide globally the best possible service to the various daily life fields of
work and living of an individual and to the society as a whole.
By Joc Triglav
2.5 Fourth Dimension in Geodesy
The development of geodetic methodology has made its first steps into four-
dimensional geodesy at the end of 19th and in the beginning of 20th centu-
ry with the detection of earth polar motion and the observations of the earth
tides as well as with measuring crustal motions and deformations due to
earthquakes and postglacial rebound. Then in the second half of the previ-
ous century, space geodetic methods like laser ranging and VLBI techniques
(Figure 10) have developed and are being applied to support the scientific
field of geodynamics, which includes the study of the interior structure and
composition of the earth, its crustal motions and deformations, the rotation-
al dynamics (Figure 11), and the terrestrial potential fields. Thus, the concept
of the figure of the Earth has definitely widened from three-dimensional rigid-
ity to four-dimensional time-dependence.
Technology developments of the last decades especially in the field of laser
technology, signal processing, atomic clocks, time transfer, IT developments,
etc., were supporting the development of space geodetic techniques and the
remarkable progress in their accuracy as shown in Table 1.
This development brings us to the definition of geodesy as a science of
measurement and presentation of earth's surface and its external gravita-
tional field, including its temporal changes. Modern geodesy is based on
three pillars:
Geometrical shape of the Earth as a function of time,
Orientation of Earth in space as a function of time and
Earth gravitational field as a function of time.
The four-dimensional aspect of geodesy allows geodesists to employ
improved modelling of their observations in evaluation and presentation
of the slow long-term changes of the Earth and its gravity field. This way
a firm scientific foundation is set for other natural and social sciences,
which can use it as a skeleton for the development of their geospatial-
temporal fields of work in order to provide access to a common digital
model of temporally geolocated information on the Earth. The already
achieved high accuracy and the anticipated further progress open new
fields for research and multidisciplinary applications in the 21st century.
3 Geodesy and its Scientific Field in the Beginning of 21st
Century
Geodesy was the science and profession, which widely opened an insight
into the secrets of mathematics, geometry and trigonometry to geodesists
and navigators in the beginning of 17th century with the manuals written
in English language. Until then these secrets were wrapped in Latin and
Greek writings, which were accessible to only a very narrow group of schol-
ars. The primary task of geodesists in the past periods of development of
geodesy and society was at the basic level of measuring the size and
shape of the Earth and its gravitational field. Using geodetic application
technologies the geodesists were able to measure, monitor, supervise and
register the data on geolocation of objects in the agreed reference sys-
tems of countries, regions, continents or the world, with the most accu-
rate mutual mathematical relations established.
For centuries, the role of geodesy was in production of plans and maps,
therefore the majority of public still understands this as its main goal. In
present time, the above mentioned (see 2.5) three pillars are equally
important in spite of the fact that a large part of
information provided by geodesy is still mainly in
the domain of geolocating. Geolocating as a sub-
ject of this paper belongs to the first above men-
tioned pillar of geodesy; it is that task of geodesy,
which is best understood by most of the people.
Geolocating is absolute determination of coordi-
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December 2009
Figure 10.VLBI is an advanced space geodetic technique that can measure a
distance of thousands of kilometers between its antennas with an accuracy of
few millimeters, by receiving radio signals from deep space as far as several
billion light years away. (Credits: http://vldb.gsi.go.jp).
Table 1. Progress in
accuracy of space
geodetic techniques
nates on land, at sea or in space, in relation to terrestrial reference sys-
tem. With a group of points, an entire space can be discretely described;
therefore the term of geolocation of an individual point is used. The prob-
lem of geolocating is defining point coordinates, if known coordinates of
measured extra-terrestrial objects like stars or satellites exist, and if quan-
tities, connecting terrestrial point with these objects are measured.
Geolocation is defined in a reference system, which is only an agreement,
a definition of mathematical, physical and geodetic rules and constants
that define how to write a certain geolocation in the form of algebraic
numbers, i.e. with coordinates in a reference system. In order to make a
reference system usable in practice, a realization (materialization) of the
reference system is unavoidable. For a materialized reference system
with physical or virtual objects having defined geolocation with coordi-
nates of a chosen reference system the conception of the geoinforma-
tion infrastructure is also used. A reference system from a practical point
of view is all the space, defined with geolocation coordinates.
Ensuring a further improvement of geolocating quality and a simplifica-
tion of the geolocating procedures to the users will be in the focus of
development of geodetic science and profession, aiming at the expand-
ing geolocation usage in various fields. This basis has to be accessible
on a global level in a simple way equally to all relevant scientific disci-
plines and to the entire global community in its widest spectre of daily
life applications, where geolocation and timing are relevant. The bases
for the three-dimensional temporally dependent geolocating on a glob-
al, regional or national level are the geodetic reference systems and
frames. For this reason, the basic scientific geodetic research will be
aimed at the definition and realization of the global and regional refer-
ence systems and frames, as well as at the
development of the analysis and methods of
processing geodetic observations. Various tech-
niques of terrestrial, airborne and satellite mea-
surements will continue to be an object of
research regarding their accuracy and reliability,
their advantages and weaknesses as well as
their development potentials. A large part of the
research in the field of geodesy has to be devot-
ed right with the daily life applications in mind
and with a strong emphasis to the significance
of geolocation and timing for them.
3.1 Base Quantities and Units
Due to the importance of a set of well defined and easily accessible
units universally agreed for the multitude of measurements that sup-
port todays complex society, units should be chosen so that they are
readily available to all, are constant throughout time and space, and
are easy to realize with high accuracy. The International System of Units
(SI) defines seven base quantities length, mass, time, electric current,
thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, and luminous inten-
sity and their corresponding base units. Among them are length, mass
and time, which are used as base quantities also in geodesy. The defi-
nitions of the base units of the SI were adopted in a context that takes
no account of relativistic effects. These units are known as proper units.
Current formal definitions of the three SI base units important for
geodesy are listed in the Table 2.
Although all the base quantities are by convention regarded as inde-
pendent, their respective base units are in a number of instances inter-
dependent. For example, the definition of the metre incorporates the
second.
3.2 Reference Systems
For the purpose of this paper, two groups of reference systems are essen-
tial: celestial reference system for locating celestial positions in space and
terrestrial reference system for geolocating points on Earth.
The basis for realization of these reference systems is the movement of
Earth and satellites. Earth itself has two periodic movements, that are
important in this context it is moving around the Sun in the ecliptic
plane and it is rotating around its polar axis (Figure 12).
Equatorial plane is perpendicular to the Earths axis of rotation. The inter-
sections of the both planes with the imaginary celestial sphere define the
ecliptic and celestial equator. The vernal equinox, where the Sun transits
from the southern to the northern hemisphere, is the intersection of the
equator and the ecliptic. It also defines the direction of the X-axis of the
celestial reference system. The axis of rotation is the Z-axis and Y-axis lies
perpendicular to both in the equatorial plane. Terrestrial reference sys-
tems are tied to the Earth and so they rotate and move around the Sun
along with the Earth. Celestial reference systems do not move around the
Sun, but they can rotate with the same angular speed as the Earth does.
Among the celestial system is also a group of reference systems of satel-
lite orbits, which do not rotate with the Earth, but they move around the
Sun along with the Earth.
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December 2009
Figure 11. Precession and nutation. The rotation axis of the Earth moves in
inertial space approximately on a straight cone inclined by 23.5 regarding the
pole of the ecliptic. This not fully regular circular motion of Earth's axis around
the pole of the ecliptic shows short-period variations. (Credits: Beutler, 2003).
Table 2. Current formal definitions of the base units of the metre, the kilogram and the second (BIPM, 2006)
Celestial reference systems are in use in different forms for millennia.
In modern times, the most precise realization of the celestial reference
system is based on extra-galactical radio sources. Until the advent of
highly precise space geodesy techniques in the 1960s and 1970s (see
Table 1) there was no need to take into account the deviations from
Newtonian physics in the solar system. Since then the theory of rela-
tivity had to become considered in defining celestial reference sys-
tems. In 1991, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted the
conceptual definitions within the framework of General Relativity for a
system of space-time coordinates of the Barycentric Celestial Reference
System (BCRS) with its origin at the solar system barycenter and of
the Geocentric Celestial Reference System (GCRS) with its origin at the
geocenter. The IAU 24th General Assembly defined both systems of
space-time coordinates with the resolution in the year 2000.
Since 1997, the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) is
adopted as the idealized barycentric coordinate system to which celes-
tial positions are referred. The axes of the ICRS are defined by the
adopted positions of a specific set of extragalactic objects, which are
assumed to have no measurable proper motions. It is kinematically
non-rotating with respect to the ensemble of distant extragalactic
objects.
ICRS is in practise realized by the International Celestial Reference
Frame (ICRF) (Figure 13), which is a set of extragalactic objects whose
adopted positions and uncertainties realize the ICRS axes and give the
uncertainties of the axes. ICRF is also the name of the radio catalog
whose 212 defining sources are currently the most accurate realization
of the ICRS.
For solving practical problems of geosciences, we need reference sys-
tems, which are tied with the body of the Earth, i.e. terrestrial refer-
ence systems of the highest achievable quality. The International Union
of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) adopted in 1991 at the Vienna IUGG
General Assembly the Conventional Terrestrial Reference System (CTRS)
for analysis of data from different measurement techniques or for com-
bination of solutions of individual techniques, e.g. the already men-
tioned VLBI, SLR, LLR, GPS and DORIS.
The Perugia IUGG General Assembly in 2007 endorsed the definitions of
a Geocentric Terrestrial Reference System (GTRS) and of the International
Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) as the specific GTRS. GTRS is a sys-
tem of geocentric space-time coordinates within the framework of General
Relativity, co-rotating with the Earth, and related to the GCRS by a spa-
tial rotation, which takes into account the Earth orientation parameters.
It replaces the previously defined Conventional Terrestrial Reference
System. In addition, IUGG adopted the ITRS as the preferred GTRS for
scientific and technical applications and urged other communities, such
as the geospatial information and navigation communities, to do the
same.
Realizations of the ITRS system are the responsibility of the International
Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). The ITRS is the rec-
ommended system to express positions on the Earth and is realized in
the form of International Terrestrial Reference Frames (ITRF) by a set of
instantaneous coordinates (and velocities) of reference points - mainly
space geodetic stations and related markers - distributed on the topo-
graphic surface of the Earth. Currently the ITRF provides a model for esti-
mating, to high accuracy, the instantaneous positions of these points
(Figure 14).
A system that has to be mentioned here is the World Geodetic System
1984 (WGS84) (Figure 15), which is used in the GPS measurements. The
latest realization of the WGS 84 Reference Frame implemented since
January 2002 is designated as WGS 84 (G1150) and compared to ITRF2000
shows a RMS difference of one centimeter per component, which is sig-
nificantly smaller than previous solutions. Precise geodetic applications
must account for temporal effects, such as plate tectonic motion and tidal
effects. Further improvements and future realizations of the WGS 84
Reference Frame are anticipated.
Very important for Europe is the European Terrestrial Reference System
1989 (ETRS89), which is the European reference system, used in practice
as the EUREF reference frame, based on the actual European terrestrial
reference frames ETRF-YY. The ETRF frame for a selected year YY is a part
of a wider ITRF-YY, comprised of the European reference points of the ITRF
frame. ETRS89 is used in Europe as a horizontal reference system, while
the height reference system is the European Vertical Reference System
(EVRS). Systems ETRS89 and EVRS together form the European Spatial
Reference System (ESRS), which is a stable system of homogeneous prop-
erties for all geodetic, geophysical, geodynamical and other purposes.
The rules of terrestrial reference systems are transferred by numerical-
graphical representation from the real into the virtual world. Using the
advanced development of computer graphic technologies and digital
mobile telecommunications it is possible to present the data and infor-
mation about the real world or from the real world in the virtual world of
three-dimensional digital graphics varying with time. Combining of geolo-
cated data and information of airborne or satellite image remote sens-
ing, digital elevation model, GNSS, LiDAR, InSAR and other sensors, it is
possible to represent such a virtual world as an approximation of the
real world. The quality of this approximation depends mostly from the
quality and precision of the used sensor data and the quality of algo-
rithms, i.e. geodetic methodology for their combined use. It is character-
istical that all these measurements are based on emitting and/or receiv-
ing various characteristic electromagnetic signals and determining either
their time of travel, signal intensity or spectral characteristics. One of the
basic goals of such a virtual world representation is a Digital Earth model
capable of showing the timelined geolocated knowledge of our planet as
it is at present, as it was in the past and as it is modelled to be in the
future.
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December 2009
Figure 12. Two periodic motions of the Earth are important in reference
systems its diurnal rotation around the axis of rotation and its annual
revolution around the Sun in the ecliptic plane.
3.3 Time Systems and Scales
Throughout history the concept of time has been refined. New discoveries
and technological development allow new understanding and gradually
leads to the introduction of a new time scale. A very precise definition of
the unit of time and the rules of time measurement are indispensable for
science and technology. This is especially true for geodesy where most of
the measurement methods apply electromagnetic waves and their signal
travel time in order to calculate geolocations and a uniform time scale is
needed for modelling artificial satellites' motion. Measure ment of time is
based on a specific periodic natural phenomenon, which defines a time
system with a description of the phenomenon, its origin and its advance-
ment interval rate. Time systems are divided in two basic different groups,
based either on the SI system second (see definition in Table 2) or on the
rotation of the Earth. For the purpose of this paper only a very short infor-
mative description of both types of systems follows.
In the history all time definitions were based on the rotation of the Earth,
because it provided a natural measure of time. However, the rotation of
the Earth as a basis of time is variable with long and short periodic varia-
tions and containing irregularities. Therefore the rotation of the Earth is
continuously monitored, in the last decades primarily by VLBI measure-
ments. To establish relations between Earth-based and inertial space based
systems the adjacent time systems had to be introduced the sidereal
and solar (universal) time. In everyday life solar time is used for practical
reasons. The second as the unit of time is considered to be the fraction
1/86 400 (1 day =24 x 60 x 60 seconds) of the mean solar day, which is
based on the diurnal rotation of the Earth and defined by the interval
between two apparent transits of the sun through the meridian. Mean
solar time is termed Universal Time (UT), if referred to the Greenwich mean
astronomical meridian. UT now almost always refers to the specific time
scale UT1, which is by the IAU definition strictly proportional to the Earth
Rotation Angle (ERA) around the moving rotation axis.
The SI second is independent of Earth rotation and provides a constant
and precise measure of time and came into use for time definitions and
measurements in the second half of the 20th century, following the intro-
duction of the first atomic clocks in the 1950s. In 1972 based on SI sec-
ond International Atomic Time TAI (Temps Atomique International) was
officially introduced by BIPM as a uniform commonly used time scale of
high accuracy for practical applications. TAI is realized by a large number
of atomic clocks and has always been a statistical combination of the
atomic time TA(k) data provided by a large number of operating atomic
clocks available from the participating labs around the globe. TAI as a uni-
form time scale does not keep in step with the irregular rotation of the
Earth.
For practical purposes in the worldwide system of civil time, another uni-
form scale has been defined (UTC - Coordinated Universal Time), which is
a hybrid time scale using the SI second on the geoid as its fundamental
unit and differing from TAI by an integer number of seconds. This means
that TAI and UTC have the same unit, the SI second. To avoid the uniform
scale diverging indefinitely from that of the Earth's rotation, a positive
leap second is introduced every few years in UTC whenever necessary by
international agreement, so that it is kept tightly synchronised within 0.9
secons of UT1. The choice of the dates and the announcement of the leap
seconds is under the responsibility of the IERS.
Also, relations of UTC and TAI time with GPS and GLONASS time are report-
ed monthly by BIPM, shown in Table 3. In the table, the C0 values pro-
vide a realization of GPS time as provided by the Paris Observatory and
C1 values provide a realization of GLONASS time as provided by the
Astrogeodynamical Obser vatory Borowiec.
3.4 GNSS Global Navigation Satellite Systems
In the last two decades, intensive preparations and procedures are taking
place in the national geodetic organizations of the developed countries
for a gradual transition from their national reference systems to the global
terrestrial reference system. This development was possible with satellite
geodesy and its constant improvements. Simultaneous measurement of
the coherent microwave signals (Figure 16) emitted by several satellites
and recorded by receivers on the Earths surface quickly evolved into the
most used and best known space geodetic technique, providing instanta-
neous positioning and revolutionizing geodesy, surveying, navigation and
timing.
Geodesy in the beginning of 21st century is thus defined essentially by
the development of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). We
are witnessing the present renewal of the American Global Positioning
System (GPS), accelerated employment in the last few years of the Russian
Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and the successful intro-
duction of the European system for satellite navigation GALILEO.
Additionally, China is joining this club with the development of its own
Compass-BeiDou2 satellite navigation system, while Japan and India are
developing their augmented satellite systems MSAS and GAGAN, function-
ing as the regional equivalents of the European EGNOS system. The cur-
rent high pace development allows the realization and usage of terrestrial
reference system through GNSS implementation, which has a great impact
on a wide range of other sciences and on global society as a whole.
Scientific mission of geodesy in the beginning of 21st century is its contri-
bution to the establishment (realization) of GNSS as the means for real-
ization of a unified terrestrial reference system for geolocating data and
information, taking into account the time component. Societal mission of
modern geodesy is to establish conditions to achieve the widest possible
use of global navigation satellite systems in the geospatial components
of all areas of our daily lives, so that the global terrestrial coordinate sys-
tem becomes a unified universal basis for geolocating. Geodesy will
achieve both missions by establishing conditions for usage of GNSS in
combination with other geodetic application technologies, geoinformation
tools and digital mobile communication technologies.
GNSS as a system is not intended only for geodetic use. On the contrary,
geodesists are developing and establishing it in cooperation with other
geosciences and technologically advanced industries with a much broader
goal, i.e. to provide data about static and dynamical geolocation and to
ensure a wide geoinformation basis to the widest field of users in the
private, business and public sector.
Of special interest are the interdisciplinary aspects of geodesy and its data
in order to exploit the advantages of using the advanced geodetic knowl-
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December 2009
Figure 13. Sky distribution of the 1500 extragalactic radio sources whose VLBI
positions are available for the International Celestial Reference Frame ICRF.
The circled dots are the sources that are considered stable on the basis of
the ICRS Center studies (Credits: IERS).
edge in the field of geolocating to support scientific, environmental, eco-
nomical and social activities of humankind. Rapid development of elec-
tronics, computers and space technologies in the last half of the century
provided geodesy new efficient tools with a great impact to the meaning,
precision, reliability, amount and renewal cycle of spatial data. Global
geodetic community seized the opportunity to establish a global terrestri-
al reference system. To provide quality, precise and reliable use of the
rapidly growing amount of global spatial data from various sources,
geodesy has to use a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach now to
empower it as a basis of precise spatial geoinformation infrastructure.
3.5 Combined Geodetic Methodology
For determination, monitoring and registration of geolocation changes the
geodetic methodology is applied. Individual fields of geolocation applica-
tions are characterized by different levels of change dynamics, which
demand from geodesy an adapted quality approach for every field in order
to define geolocation as a function of time.
Geodetic methodology is defined with the necessary quality of individual
demands of the application. For example, the range of necessary position
precision is 0.1 mm in deformation monitoring of built environment or a
few centimetres in registering land property borders to several metres or
more in navigation and location based services (LBS). On the other hand,
geolocation of objects or states as a function of
time changes with different rates in individual rel-
evant application fields. For example, in monitor-
ing geodynamic phenomena the geolocation
change rate is measured in mm/year, geolocation
change rates in built environments can reach
cm/month, while in LBS the geolocation change
rate can reach several tens of metres/second.
To the entire variety of relevant application fields
geodesy has to provide appropriate geodetic
space-time framework that is fulfilling the require-
ments of the standard quality model for spatial
data regarding the overall quality elements of pur-
pose, usage and source and quantitative quality
elements of completeness, logical consistency,
positional accuracy, temporal accuracy and the-
matic accuracy. In order to succeed in this enor-
mous task, one of the most important issues for
geodesy is a widespread adoption of International
Standards inside the geodetic/surveying profession and bussines as well
as in the relations with the wide user community of the relevant applica-
tion fields. It is important to understand, that the adoption of geodata
standards is closely connected with the software standards.
Location-aware technologies (LAT), including the GNSS and radiolocation
methods, backed up by telecommunication systems of mobile networks,
enable measurements of the basic entities and their relations in spatial
and temporal resolutions, which were almost unimaginable some decades
ago. The procedure of geolocation change registration in space requires a
synthesis of usage of GNSS in combination with other geodetic applica-
tion technologies. Among them are technologies like INS - Inertial
Navigation Systems, terrestrial geodesy, aerial and satellite photogramme-
try, remote sensing imaging techniques like LiDAR - Light Detection And
Ranging, InSAR - Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. Lately, new tech-
nologies like Wi-Fi Wireless LAN Positioning, UWB Ultra Wide Band
Indoor Positioning, RFID Radio-Frequency Identification and other tech-
nologies are used in combination with geodetic application technologies.
All these and other technologies supply data to a variety of geoinforma-
tion management, analysis and presentation systems, using digital and
mobile communication techniques, like GSM - Global System for Mobile
communication, GPRS - General Packet Radio Service, UMTS - Universal
Mobile Tele communications System, TCP/IP - Trans mission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol, etc.. A concept of sensor web, measuring dynam-
ic geospatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics using a new intelli-
gent data collection system paradigm, is already evolving, especially in
remote sensing applications supported by underlying communications fab-
ric facilitating the exchange of sensor measurement data and results.
4 Conclusion
Geolocation and timing are basic information. Acquiring, maintaining, ser-
vicing and representing spatial data on geolocation as a function of time
and with the different levels of quality, is the working field of geodetic
science and profession with a vast area and variety of possibilities for
modernization and improvement. Every scientific effort to increase system-
atic development in this field is an important contribution to science. It
will lead to a more optimal usage of the data, provided by geodetic sci-
ence, profession and service in all those segments of society, where geolo-
cation and timing information is relevant. With the analysis of geolocation
significance as a function of time in describing the real and virtual world,
geodesy and the geodetic methods of geolocating have to provide the
bases for the the entire range of individual geospatial and timing applica-
40
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December 2009
Figure 14. International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) consists of a set of
instantaneous coordinates (and velocities) of reference points - mainly space
geodetic stations and related markers - distributed on the topographic surface
of the Earth (Credits: IERS).
Figure 15. The WGS 84 Coordinate System Definition (Credits: NIMA).
tion fields. Geodesy is constantly
advancing the methods and tech-
niques of geolocating with new sci-
entific knowledge and technologi-
cal achievements. Using them,
geodesy is upgrading the existent
and introducing new algorithms,
which are increasingly sophisticat-
ed on the inside, so that on the out-
side they can be more and more
simple and reliable to the users,
while their results are of required
quality and instantly accessible
using the means of the most mod-
ern information communication
technologies. In a very simplified
manner, it could be said that
geodesy intentionally has to compli-
cate its life on the inside with the
principle goal to ease it to the great-
est possible extent to the rest of the
world and thus provide the best possible service to the global community.
Today, at the beginning of 21st century, geodesy is the science, which knows how to incorporate its
achievements into most advanced technologies in order to allow their widest availability and usage.
This way geodesy enters into various daily life fields of work and living of an individual and of the
society as a whole. Geodesy makes these steps modestly, almost imperceptible to the wider public,
but on the other side with growing reliability and efficiency.
The relevant geolocation and timing application fields are among the key segments of a functioning
society, economy and individual. Therefore, it is necessary that they are lead safely, reliably, effi-
ciently, with accuracy and great care for the environment. Safety, security and protection of people,
environment and property have a constantly rising significance in the modern world. For this rea-
son, the applicability of the GNSS and geodetic application technologies in these fields has to be
constantly developing. In this context there is an especially large and to a great extent still unex-
ploited potential of multi-sensor applications, like in the application fields of transport, engineering
and construction, car navigation, personal navigation, navigation inside the buildings spaces, logi-
cal and geometrical topology in the building information space, etc. To exploit this potential better
for a mutual benefit, the international geodetic community needs to perform a systematic analysis
of the requirements of individual relevant application fields with regard to applying GNSS and geode-
tic application technologies as well as the analysis of advantages of their usage in individual rele-
vant application fields for the society, economy and the individual. The international geodetic com-
munity can reach this goal only in tight cooperation with all the interested parties. The space and
time for this cooperation is now!
W x
/ / - - / - -
w w
ex !
Joc Triglav jtriglav@geoinformatics.comis a professional surveyor and editor of GeoInformatics.
In the last 20 years, he published more than 300 articles in various professional and technical
magazines, mostly in the fields of geoinformatics and geodesy. Geoinformation science and
applications determine the entire authors professional life, while geodesy, cartography and
geography since the early childhood never ceased to fuel his enthusiasm and imagination.
41
December 2009
Figure 16. A GPS receiver receives at least 4 signals from
4 satellites. The receiver can then resolve its position as well as
its time from the time of arrival of the 4 signals.
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European User Experiences
ESRI European User Conference
Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania was this years host of the ESRI European User Conference. For three days, visitors were
able to hear all about ESRIs current and future software releases, as well as European user experiences with the
companys products. It was not all about technology though: special attention was given to ESRIs vision to give GIS
a more prominent place in the design and planning process, namely the GeoDesign concept. European presentations
showed a growth in the use of web mapping services and initiatives between civilians and government agencies in
contributing data and taking action towards a better environment.
By Eric van Rees
This years capital city of culture was chosen as the location for the ESRI
2009 European User Conference: Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. The city, with
its baroque architecture, was a perfect location for sharing European user
experiences with GIS. During the three days, participants enjoyed keynote
presentations on the latest trends in GIS, software releases and local user
experiences in a variety of sectors.
The official part of the conference started on Wednesday October 14th. In
the Vilnius Congress Concert Hall, a series of keynote speakers gave an
overview of the latest developments in GIS and a look at the future. In
software terms, ESRIs current status of product development (ArcGIS 9.3.1.)
was explained, as were plans for the future (ArcGIS 9.4., scheduled for
next year). Although very interesting, the most enlightening talk of the
day was Jack Dangermonds keynote on Geographic Awareness, a result
of his clear vision on how to proceed with GIS technology in the future,
not only focusing on technique but also on how to make use of it in the
broader context of the design and planning process.
GeoDesign
Dangermond sees how people are interconnected with each other by solv-
ing problems with GIS. By way of technology for instance, people are more
connected through online communities, arranging their daily work around
it. He proposed a more science-based approach for acting and managing
the environment, a more holistic approach that takes into account how
different steps in a chain of actions can fit together and lead to environ-
mental change, through measuring, analyzing, visualizing and designing.
Its not surprising that ESRI sees huge potential in web GIS, focusing on
server-based GIS for establishing a platform on the web. Future releases
will take much more advantage of the possibilities the web offers, such
as serving data, creating communities of users, resources for online user
application downloads, and map editing in ArcGIS.
Of course, technology developments change the way people work , but
peoples work habits also influence technological progress. Since the arrival
of initiatives such as Inspire or the American government initiatives such
as Data.Gov, there has been a tendency to focus on data sharing and cre-
ating services to facilitate this. Dangermond mentioned citizens them-
selves as a source for creating geodata, and he predicted the enormous
potential of the web enabling geospatial applications for the masses,
encouraging a new collaboration between citizens, governments and these
groups themselves.
The GIS professional of tomorrow will have a very distinct role, that can
be seen in combination with the aforementioned spatial planning process:
mapping the future with a purposeful design of the world, encapsulating
GIS knowledge. With this, GIS will be given a more active role in geo-
graphic planning and decision making than it has at the moment. A lot of
attention was given to the future release of ArcGIS, 9.4. and its ability to
make this GeoDesign (as it is called) happen.
Overall, 9.4. promises to dramatically improve usability, performance and
functionality. Concerning GeoDesign, ArcGIS 9.4 improves the editing expe-
rience by making it more simple and intuitive. Easy data entry, symbol-
based editing and pre-attributed features that are supported by desktop
42
Event
December 2009
Zymantas Morkvenas, Managing director of
Baltic Environment
pupils present their first experience with GIS
Event
43
December 2009
and server enables sketching for GeoDesign. To
help users sharing a common vision on things,
ESRI enables web editing functionalities allow-
ing many participants to edit and share a com-
mon map.
After the corporate view on ESRIs develop-
ments, two keynotes discussed European user
experiences with GIS. These can be seen as an
example on how Dangermond sees new
geospatial applications and initiatives emerg-
ing between government and non-government
organizations. Environmental challenges meet
practical solutions was the title of a presenta-
tion by Baltic Environmental Director Zymantas
Morkvenas, in which he explained how civil
society, NGOs, business and state authorities
cooperate and manage environmental prob-
lems, such as water pollution, through a map
service. The initiative is a success and awaits
expansion to Latvia and Estonia.
Paper Sessions
The remaining two days were reserved for papers sessions, with no less
than ten different thematic categories. Since it is impossible to mention
all of these themes in detail, only one theme is described here, namely
the education track.
Dr. Michael Gold, director of education industry solutions at ESRI discussed
the challenges for the future of GIS in education. The company is very
committed to education, which was also visible during the keynotes earli-
er that week where a Lithuanian educational project on GIS and preserv-
ing natural and cultural heritage was discussed. Gould explained the dif-
ferent levels in GIS education. For instance how GIS is being used in
universities for scientific research, and also how children as young as eight
years old use it. ESRIs involvement includes providing software and teach-
ing methods, an education team, an education user conference, and much
more. Gould described some of the challenges for GIS in education.
Promoting spatial or geographic thinking is important, as well as making
a connection between GIS and real world problems so that students can
see how it is used in everyday
life and what might be expected
when the work field asks for GIS
experience . On the technologi-
cal side, there are challenges as
well since GIS technology is con-
stantly changing. The web offers
many opportunities for GIS edu-
cation, not only for resources
but also in creating virtual com-
munities and offering GIS
through a web browser. New
technology and all parts of the
ESRI platform (Server, desktop,
mobile and online) should be
used for teaching GIS nowadays
and in the future.
Remote Sensing
During the last conference day
there was a presentation on
Teaching Teacher in Remote
Sensing. With more and more
possibilities for integrating
imagery in GIS workflows and partnerships in
the satellite imagery industry, theres a point
where GIS and remote sensing seem to meet,
even though the industries are quite different
from each other. The Institute for Geography
and Regional Science at the University of Graz
(Austria) offers remote sensing workshops and
teacher education on the topic. Wolfgang
Sulzer explained how remote sensing is being
used in classroom and how the topic has been
integrated in teacher education since the early
90s. One may ask how GIS technology and
remote sensing techniques are linked in edu-
cation, and Sulzer explained how the two are
taught in combination with each other through
an integrated interdisciplinary approach.
Remote sensing is taught in combination with
GIS and cartography, since these fields are
interrelated in terms of technology and skills.
Not only did Sulzer explain the demands on a
remote sensing experts knowledge, but also
the demands on hardware, software and espe-
cially data. Image data as teaching materials must fulfill certain require-
ments for meaningful use in the classroom. For example, remote sensing
data in a preprocessed, geocoded and well known data format (such as
.tiff or .jpg). To make projects more interesting for students, local data
sets should be made available for schools, but this is not yet the case. In
the remainder of his presentation, Sulzer explained how ESAs EDUSPACE
initiative is used in teacher education, for instance the use of LEOWorks,
image processing software for educational use that has been developed
by the EDUSPACE team.
The closing sessions showed a video of an impression of the different
aspects of the conference: the keynotes, exhibition floor, paper sessions
and also a social event in the surroundings of Vilnius. All in all this was
an excellent conference that will hopefully be as good next year in Rome
as it was this year in Vilnius.
Eric van Rees is editor in chief of GeoInformatics.
Jack Dangermond at the plenary stage
Printing and Communication
The new additions to the HP large-format portfolio are printers especially for CAD and
GIS users. The printers are the Designjet T1200, T770 and T620. HP announced this to the
Press at a meeting on October 15th and 16th in Barcelona, Spain.
By Job van Haaften
Technical professionals need to innovate the
way they serve their customers. They want to
move from a cumbersome, hard copy-based
project workflow to a digital one, where print-
ing is more efficient, easily integrated and fully
accessible. And they want more focus on com-
munication. HP therefore has a new service on
its web site where you can find a print service
in your own country for specific printing like
books, banners and other presentation media.
There are four new software solutions available
and some new media like bond paper, recycled
bond paper and cockle-free coated paper
(paper that can handle big quantities of ink
without cockling).
One of the improvements in communication
concerning printing is to simplify the use of
printing software for the user and make print-
ing easier so the printer can be operated not
only by one person at a company but by virtu-
ally everyone.
Guayente Sanmartin, Worldwide Marketing
Director Graphic Solutions, tells about the
changes in the market: The market changes
not only because of the recession but also as
a result of new procedures and technologies.
Architecture changes, there is a lot more co-
operation and therefore more digital communi-
cation via internet. In that co-operation are
more fields and professionals involved, not just
construction, installation and contractors, also
anthropologists, ecologists en sociologists and
more. The architect is no longer a solo operat-
ing genius, he is part of a team now.
More of the design process is digital though
paper continues to play a role of importance
especially in presentations and discussions
where participants want to mark possible errors
or questionable areas. Paper remains the medi-
um for the first sketch, the idea that can be
scanned to digitally start to build up a design.
Even now PDAs and laptops get more robust
and you can view a design on your mobile
Phone, to share a design with others and dis-
cuss it a hard copy needs to be printed. There
will always be a need for a hard copy of a
design to assign responsibilities. Apart from
printing on paper HP focuses on co-operation
on a distance with the new Skyroom applica-
tion and the digital work process with their
workstations. The strategy of HP has moved
from printing alone to printing and communi-
cation.
The output from research done for HP shows
that for choosing a printer not only the techni-
cal specifications matter. It is not the minimum
line width or print speed that is on top of the
wish list of a customer but the ease of use. Not
just one person in a company that can operate
the large format printer but preferably every
employee which means easy to use software
and touch screens are the trends HP focuses
on.
Three New Printers
The Three new Designjet Printers are designed
specifically for GIS and architecture, engineer-
ing, construction (AEC) workgroups. Ramon
Pastor, R&D Director at HP: In the develop-
ment of these large-format printers we spend a
lot of time on reducing the level of noise. An
important part of the noise comes from the
printer heads which move back and forth over
the paper. The noise level was 11 decibel that
is as much as a television in the living room
normally produces. It has been reduced to the
level of a modern refrigerator. The lifetime of
the printer heads is increased so they can print
over a distance of at least 8,000 km. The impact
on the network by print assignments is reduced
and the user can influence the cue for a rush
order. Reducing the use of energy was also a
focus, all new printers meet the demands of
Blue Angel. Every new roll has a bar code so
the printer recognizes the type of medium and
length of the roll.
Designjet T1200
The Designjet T1200 series are 44inch printing
systems (111,8 cm) that can produce line draw-
ings with a speed of 28sec per page on A1 and
41 square meters/hour in full color. New is the
possibility of a 300 ml cartridge for matte black,
all other colors are available in 130ml and 69
ml. This printer has a built-in network card and
a reduced acoustic noise in operation mode of
46 decibel that is extreme silent and highly val-
ued by users according to Ramon Pastor of HP.
Furthermore it has two automatic online rolls,
automatic roll-switching and automatic cut-
ter.The minimum line width is 0.02mm which
makes it possible to print text in a small font
44
Ar t i cl e
December 2009
According to Guayente
Sanmartin HPs strategy has
moved from printing alone to
printing and communication.
The HP Designjet T620 is for
smaller teams but profits
from the newest technologies.
T h r e e N e w P r i n t e r s f r o m H P
en use shading with a lot of detail. Details that have a positive effect
on readability and communication as a whole. An external hard disk
can be applied for printing that can be removed as the office closes to
prevent sensitive information to be stolen by removing the hard disk
from the printer.
Designjet T770
The Designjet T770 is also a 44 inch printer (111,8 cm) and prints as
fast as the T1200, lacks the built-in network card but is as low in acous-
tic noise. The system is very suitable for smaller teams and can be
upgraded if the business grows. System and memory upgrades, a front-
loading top roll, a built-in network card and more upgrade options are
feasible.
Designjet T620
The Designjet T620-series print a maximum width of 24 inch or 61 cm
and these printers are designed to help small CAD/GIS workgroups
achieve professional results. A Designjet T620 can produce line draw-
ings with a speed of 35sec per page on A1 and 34 square meters/hour
in full color. The minimum line width is 0.02mm with a line accuracy of
+/- 0.1 percent. The system can print on a great variety of media with a
thickness up to 0.8mm and a weight from 60 to 328g/square meter.
HP Software
In addition, four software solutions have been enhanced to support
the new HP Designjet series to increase productivity. The solutions
include Serif Poster Designer Pro, Instant Printing Utility 3.0, SCP
Reprocontrol and Accounting Excel Tool 3.0. Serif Poster Designer Pro
allows users to create professional large-format posters and banners
in-house. It has several templates and a wide range of tools and effects
to easily create posters and banners. Instant Printing Utility 3.0 allows
users to design documents easily in large-format. This utility lets the
user conveniently print and preview files, whether they are office docu-
ments (PDF, PPT), architectural or mechanical designs (HPGL2/PT, DWF,
PDF), images (TIFF, JPEG), or Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Excel,
Powerpoint). SCP Reprocontrol is now supporting the Designjet T1200
series. This solution empowers production operators to standardize
and manage color consistently within the production workflow. The
increased control helps reduce ink use an print costs. The Accounting
Excel Tool 3.0 now supports the T1200 and T770 series, enabling users
to remotely view and create a report of the advanced usage tracking
information of the printer, including supplies, media, user information,
account information and the type of print job. It makes it easy for
administrators to invoice or cross-charge departments or projects.
Job van Haaften is editor of GeoInformatics.
Internet: www.hp.com
45
December 2009
The HP Designjet T1200 makes
less noise and uses less energy.
Laser Scanners for , mobile,
terrestrial & industrial applications
airborne
LASER MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
RIEGL
RIEGL USA Inc.,
Orlando, Florida,
info@rieglusa.com
RIEGL Japan Ltd.,
Tokyo, Japan,
info@riegl-japan.co.jp
RIEGL LMS GmbH,
A-3580 Horn, Austria,
office@riegl.co.at
www.riegl.com
Innovation in
3D
RIEGL
An interview with Nick Land (ESRI)
GIS, Cadastre and
Land Registration
Nick Land is Business Development Manager Cadastre and National Mapping Agencies at ESRI Europe. Before he joined
ESRI, he worked for EuroGeographics, the association for national mapping and cadastral agencies in Europe, formed in
2001. In this interview mr. Land explains how ESRI is currently involved in INSPIRE. Also, the companys role in cadastral
issues in Europe is explained. Where is Europe, cadastre-wise? And how does Europe hold up cadastre-wise compared to
the US? How are new European countries doing cadastre-wise, and is there an ESRI vision on cadastre?
By Eric van Rees
ESRI recently announced it would be
taking a more active role in INSPIRE.
Can you tell me about ESRIs current
involvement in INSPIRE? And what is
the role for a software vendor in
INSPIRE?
ESRI is very actively involved in
INSPIRE. We have registered as a Spatial Data
Interest Community (SDIC) and this enables us
to support the development and testing of the
implementing rules, such as the development
of specifications for network services and for
data specifications. Thats our direct involve-
ment in the formal process of INSPIRE. As a
GIS software provider, what were doing is
making sure that the existing products and
future releases comply with the constantly
evolving INSPIRE requirements and thus ease
compliance for our users.
The other way in which were involved in
INSPIRE is directly through project implemen-
tations. We have a project running at the
moment called INSPIRE@EC, which essentially
is a project to help the European Commission
build its own internal spatial data infrastruc-
ture, compliant with the requirements of
INSPIRE.
Then weve got several implementations in dif-
ferent countries around Europe, mainly
focused on but not limited to the development
of national geoportals. Weve had successful
projects recently in Lithuania, in Croatia, and
weve just upgraded the geoportal in Portugal.
So, in summary, were involved with national
and sub-national INSPIRE compliant SDI
implementations, supporting the European
Commission with their SDI, and supporting the
development of the INSPIRE implementing
rules. I think those are the three different ways
were involved in INSPIRE at the moment.
Do you see any role for you as a soft-
ware company in helping certain coun-
tries who may be behind schedule?
They are all at different stages of devel-
opment. I think a lot of member states are
already behind schedule in terms of transpos-
ing the INSPIRE Directive into national Law
which was supposed to have been complet-
ed by May 2009, but many countries are not
there yet. As a GIS software company we can-
not really change or speed up the legal pro-
cesses. However, we can and are helping
countries with the development and imple-
mentation of their SDIs, and ensuring, to the
extent this is possible as the implementing
rules evolve, that they are compliant with
INSPIRE.
If you look across Europe countries are at dif-
ferent levels of development. I wouldnt real-
ly like to say one country is way ahead of the
other, but different countries take different
approaches, some more or less tied to the
legal process. I think that any country that
has had a programme, strategy and funding
for its national SDI is moving quite quickly.
You see that in a number of Western European
countries for example. In Central and Eastern
Europe some countries are applying for struc-
tural funds and using these to get a budget
and implement projects. Lithuania is a good
example of where theyve got structural fund-
ing and used it successfully to build their SDI.
On a related note, but looking beyond
Europe, ESRI with its business partners is
directly supporting several projects in the
developing nations to build their cadastre and
SDI and in some cases using more innovative
sources of funding such as microfinance, for
example in Ghana for their land registration
system.
What do you think of GI market
players complaining about how
much time it takes to build a nation-
al SDI?
I think theres no question that one of the
challenges is aligning INSPIRE as a legal pro-
cess with market forces and technology devel-
opments which move much quicker. But we
also have to recognize that building SDIs is
complex. Our focus depends on our definition
here, since its a lot more than just building
a geoportal where people can go and find
data. Theres a lot happening behind that in
terms of data being produced and main-
tained, adoption of standards, and data shar-
ing policies. Its a kind of step by step pro-
cess, I would say.
46
I nt er vi ew
December 2009
Nick Land
Along with other colleagues in ESRI such as
Guenther Pichler and Michael Gould I was very
much involved in the development of INSPIRE
right from the very start so I understand why
it takes time. Thats one reason Im involved
in INSPIRE on behalf of ESRI, but my main
responsibility is my work with the national
mapping and cadastre agencies who obvious-
ly are very important players because they
provide the underpinning base data for the
SDI.
Is there a common vision on cadas-
tre and land registration in Europe?
Well, if we take INSPIRE first, within INSPIRE
youve got the three annexes for the different
spatial data themes, and cadastral parcels are
part of annex 1 as its called: higher priority
data. The goal of INSPIRE is not so much to
create a vision for cadastre and land registra-
tion, rather to create the conditions that will
support greater sharing and interoperability of
cadastral parcels across Europe. INSPIRE only
deals with the cadastral parcels their spatial
extent not any of the related ownership and
other legal information. Its quite limited in
scope therefore.
In terms of a vision for cadastre and land reg-
istration in Europe, most cadastral agencies are
closely aligning themselves with the FIG
Cadastre 2014 statement, other guidance from
WPLA the Working Party on Land
Administration - but also with EuroGeographics
(the European association for national mapping
and cadastral agencies) which has also pro-
duced a vision for a national cadastral and land
registration agency. These all share a common
vision which is to move the cadastral agencies
more towards land information providers
engaged in all aspects of land administration
in support of the land and property market, bet-
ter land and environmental management, and
e-governance. In addition, the vision for cadas-
tral agencies is that they should be one of the
key players in their national SDI. So, there are
some documents and guidelines around that
set a vision for what a cadastre and land regis-
tration agency should be doing.
What about the new European border
countries in Eastern and Central
Europe?
Well, going back to your previous question
about which EU countries are slightly behind, I
think its fair to say Bulgaria and Romania have
some catching up to do. Its partly because they
only recently joined the EU, and also because
what they dont have to the same extent as
other countries is all the data available.
Romania and Bulgaria have done a lot of work
to improve their cadastral systems, but when it
comes to topographic mapping they still have
is that most European countries have a com-
plete or nearly complete national cadastre,
whilst in the US there is a lot of cadastral infor-
mation, much of it available through private
companies, but no national cadastre. Thats a
big difference.
But is there an ESRI vision of cadastre?
Yes, and its in line with what we discussed
before. Our vision and strong conviction is that
a well functioning cadastre and land registra-
tion system is fundamental to sustainable
development. It provides security of tenure and
a range of related land information that sup-
ports economic prosperity, better land and envi-
ronmental management, and more transparent
government and social justice in both the devel-
oped and developing world. Our goal is firstly
to ensure a cadastral organization is able to
manage its cadastral processes and wider land
administration responsibilities efficiently and
effectively. Thats our primary concern. The sec-
ond thing is to view these organizations as
being more in the land information business.
What I mean by that is they have a lot of valu-
able information from which they can produce
products and services, which can then help a
whole range of different needs and issues
beyond just the land and property market such
as better land and environmental management
and e-government, all that kind of thing.
Related to this, we believe the cadastre should
be at the heart of a national spatial data infras-
tructure. ESRI is focused therefore on giving
cadastral agencies the GIS technology platform
in ArcGIS, and related services and support, to
help them achieve these goals.
Nick Land, Business Development Manager
Cadastre and National Mapping Agencies.
www.esri.com
a lot to do just to collect the data, whereas in
other countries the problem is not necessarily
collecting the data but transforming it into
European specifications. Its a different set of
problems. The other big issue at the moment,
of course, because of the recession, is getting
funding. Across Europe were all suffering from
the recession to a greater or lesser extent, but
I think its fair to say that countries in Eastern
and Central Europe are, in general, suffering
more. Property markets in particular have taken
a battering. So for them, finding the money and
the budget to do the work for INSPIRE is quite
a challenge.
Can you compare European cadastre
to American cadastre, or are these
two completely different approach-
es? Which one is in the lead when it
comes to a comparison between
countries?
The funny thing about cadastre is that its
really very difficult to compare because there is
considerable variation across Europe and the
world. Both FIG and WPLA have produced some
really useful information on different cadastral
and land registration systems, but without
going as far as saying one country is better than
another. I think that if youre looking for any-
thing objective about this, one of the best
things to look at is the World Bank Doing
Business reports, which compares countries in
terms of a number of different aspects that
influence the ease of doing business, one of
which is registering property. Thats quite inter-
esting because it compares how long it takes,
how many steps are involved, and the costs
involved registering a property in the different
countries. Based on this, several European
countries Sweden, Norway, Slovak Republic,
and Lithuania for example come out better
by comparison with the US, whilst others dont.
What we can also say by way of comparison,
I nt er vi ew
47
December 2009
An example of
Lithuanias
cadastre GIS and
SDI (Lithuanian
Geographic
Information
Infrastructure).
ITC develops and transfers
knowl edge on geo-information
science and earth observation
ITC is the largest institute for international
higher education in the Netherlands, providing
interna tional education, research and project
services. The aim of ITC's activities is the inter-
national exchange of knowledge, focusing on
capacity building and institutional development
in developing countries and countries in
transition.
Programmes in Geo-information Science
and Earth Observation
Master of Science (MSc) degree (18 months)
Master degree (12 months)
Postgraduate diploma (9 months)
Diploma (9 months)
Certificate course (3 weeks-3 months)
Distance course (6 weeks)
Courses in the degree programmes
Applied Earth Sciences
Geoinformatics
Governance and Spatial Information Management
Land Administration
Natural Resources Management
Urban Planning and Management
Water Resources and Environmental Management
I NTERNATI ONAL I NS TI TUTE F OR GEO- I NF ORMATI ON S CI ENCE AND EARTH OBS ERVATI ON
www.itc.nl
For more information:
ITC Student Registration office
P.O. Box 6, 7500 AA Enschede
The Netherlands
E: education@itc.nl
I: www.itc.nl
Calendar 2010
Advertiser Page
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ITC www.itc.nl 49
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Internet: www.sig-la-lettre.com
25-29 May 4th International Scientific
Conference BALWOIS 2010
Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia
E-mail: secretariat@balwois.com
Internet: www.balwois.com
04-06 May Rencontres SIG La Lettre
Marne-la-Valle, ENSG, France
E-mail: deblomac@sig-la-lettre.com
Internet: www.rencontres-sig-la-lettre.fr
06-07 May INTERGEO East
Istanbul, Istanbul Convention & Exhibition
Centre, Turkey
Internet: www.intergeo-east.com
18-20 May POSITIONALE
Stuttgart, Germany
Internet: www.positionale.de
25-29 May BALWOIS Conference
Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia
E-mail: secretariat@balwois.com
Internet: www.balwois.com/2010
June
02-04 June ISPRS Commission VI Mid-Term
Symposium: "Cross-Border Education for
Global Geo-information"
Enschede, ITC, The Netherlands
E-mail: isprscom6@itc.nl
Internet: www.itc.nl/isprscom6/
symposium2010
08-10 June 58th German Cartographers
Day 2010
Berlin and Potsdam, Germany
E-mail: office@horst-kremers.de
Internet: http://dkt2010.dgfk.net
20-25 June 10th International
Multidisciplinary Scientific Geo-Conference
and Expo SGEM 2010 (Surveying
Geology & mining Ecology Management)
Albena sea-side and SPA resort, Congress
Centre Flamingo Grand, Bulgaria
E-mail: sgem@sgem.org
Internet: www.sgem.org
21-22 June 2nd Open Source GIS UK
Conference
Nottingham, University of Nottingham, U.K.
Internet: www.opensourcegis.org.uk
22-24 June Mid-Term Symposium of ISPRS
Commission V: Close range image mea-
surement techniques
Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle University,
U.K.
E-mail: j.p.mills@newcastle.ac.uk
Internet: www.isprs-newcastle2010.org
July
06-09 July GI_Forum 2010
Salzburg, Austria
E-mail: office@gi-forum.org
Internet: www.gi-forum.org
10-13 July 2010 ESRI Education User
Conference
San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 3743
E-mail: educ@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/educ
10-13 July 2010 ESRI Survey & Engineering
GIS Summit
San Diego, CA U.S.A.
Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 4347
E-mail: segsummit@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/segsummit
10-13 July 2010 ESRI Homeland Security
GIS Summit
Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 2421
E-mail: hssumit@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/hssummit
12-16 July 2010 ESRI International User
Conference
Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 2894
E-mail: uc@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/uc
Januari 2010
06-08 January GeoDesign Summit
Redlands, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.geodesignsummit.com
18-19 January GIS in Oil & Gas 2010
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Internet: www.gisinoilandgas.com/
Event.aspx?id=207824
25-28 January DGI Europe 2010 6th
Annual European Geospatial Intelligence
Conference & Exhibition
London, QEII Conference Centre, U.K.
E-mail: dgi@wbr.co.uk
Internet: www.dgieurope.com
26 January Civil Contingencies Conference
London, QEII Conference Centre, U.K.
Internet: www.govnet.co.uk/civil
February
02-04 February Gi4DM 2010 Conference
Geomatics for Crisis Management
Torino, Centro Congressi Torino Incontra,
Italy
E-mail: info@gi4dm-2010.org
Internet: www.gi4dm-2010.org
08-10 February SPAR 2010 - 3D Imaging &
Positioning for Engineering, Construction,
Manufacturing
The Woodlands , TX, Woodlands Waterway
Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, U.S.A.
Internet: www.sparllc.com/spar2010.php
17-19 February 2010 ESRI Federal User
Conference
Washington D.C., U.S.A.
Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 2421
E-mail: feduc@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/feduc
21-24 February GIS World 2010
Dubai, JW Marriott, UAE
E-mail: suzie.yo@iirme.com
Internet: www.iirme.com
22-24 February 2010 ESRI Petroleum User
Group Conference
Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Tel: +1 909-793-2853, ext. 2894
E-mail: pug@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/pug
March
03-05 March 2010 Smallworld EMEAI
Conference
Noordwijk, Hotels van Oranje, The
Netherlands
E-mail: dlenergy.emeaisoftwareconference
2010@ge.com
Internet: http://registrationassistant.com/
emeai10/default.asp
03-05 March 10th International LiDAR
Mapping Forum 2010
Denver, CO, Hyatt Regency, U.S.A.
Internet: www.lidarmap.org
08-11 March 15th GIS Advanced Training
Seminar in Munich
Munich, Audimax in Technische Universitt
Mnchen, Germany
E-mail: angelika.schwarz@bv.tum.de
Internet: www.runder-tisch-gis.de
08-12 March FMEdays 2010
Mnster, Factory Hotel, Germany
E-mail: info@fmedays.de
Internet: www.fme-days.com
09-11 March Oi10 - Oceanology
International
London Excel, U.K.
Internet: www.oceanologyinternational.com
Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to:calendar@geoinformatics.com
50
December 2009
Web Mapping APIs
Use Fast, Intuitive Web Maps to Share Your Geographic Knowledge
You can easily access and leverage your GIS with clients built on
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With ArcGIS
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WWW.c|||a.eu 2009 SOKKlA TOPCON CO.,LTD
A GAWT LEAM W MMECECW
Sokkia understands that today's surveyors, more than ever,
need to rely on their equipment no matter how rough the
conditions are. That is why the ultimate challenge for our
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Sokkia: a giant leap in precision
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OPCON C T 09 SOKKlA 20
Sokkia: a giant
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G Flood Hazard Mapping G Cloud Computing and SDIs

G BE Inspired Awards G ESRI and Cadastre

Long Range Reectorless

eld software onboard

External data collectors: Ranger, Nomad, Recon

Rugged and waterproof

2-megapixel digital camera

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