Geoinformatics 2009 Vol07

G ESRI and Smart Grids G Intergeo 2009 Trend Analysis
G Google and Geospatial G Geolocation and Time

Magaz i ne f or Sur veyi ng, Mappi ng & GI S Pr of es s i onal s
Oct./Nov. 2009
Volume 12
7
Separating Facts from Fiction
In the last issue Stig Enemark described changes in the surveying industry. These
developments were evident at the recent Intergeo fair: not only is the hardware in the form
of surveying instruments changing rapidly, but the whole chain connected to data
acquisition is now an inevitable part of the surveying profession. Surveying companies are
also discovering mobile mapping services and offering them as part of their product
portfolio. But what exactly do we mean by mobile mapping? In the absence of a proper
definition, everyone seems to be performing mobile mapping these days. Put a GPS on a
bicycle, and you have your own mobile mapping device. The next issue of GeoInformatics
will have more on this topic.
The same can be said about 3D GIS. In this issues Intergeo 2009 trend analysis, you will
read that 3D and 3D city models were hot topics. I have already seen articles on truly 3D
GIS in the press. Again, its wise to separate fact from fiction. I am skeptical about any story
on 3D GIS because there are still a number of issues to be resolved before it can become
reality. One of the things I am skeptical about is the combination of hardware and software
in GIS. I have never read in any of these articles about so-called 3D GIS exactly what such a
system needs in terms of hardware, and GIS analysis requires quite a lot from the hardware.
Could cloud computing be the solution to this problem? I hope to find out soon.
For me, Intergeo was a very enlightening experience. I got to know what topics should get
more attention in the future and how to go about it. It seems there may not be a perfect
way to do something: many roads lead to Rome (or any destination for that matter).
There are still different views on surveying and GIS, depending on whether youre a survey-
ing or a GIS pro, but combining the two can give interesting perspectives. Thats where we
can expect a convergence in the coming years. In this issue, you can read all about CAD
combined with GIS, and much more.
Enjoy your reading,
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
October/November 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
Columnists
John Trinder
Contributing Writers
Joc Triglav
Gordon Petrie
Ozgur Ertac
Antonio Cavinato
Mirco Pollet
Cristiano Bellio
Roberto Piol
Bill Meehan
Remco Takken
Account Manager
Wilfred Westerhof
wwesterhof@geoinformatics.com
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GIS Makes Smart Grid Smart
We have heard the smart grid buzz. Smart grid will modernize utilities
around the world by connecting communication and computer
technology to electric networks. With smart grid comes the promise of
energy that is cleaner, more reliable, more efficient, and more
affordable.
C o n t e n t
Articles
Geospatial Technology Is Emerging as the
Platform to Support Intelligent Electric Networks
GIS Makes Smart Grid Smart 6
The Re-emergence of Traditional Ideologies
Aon Terrorism Threat Map Shows Shift in
Sphere of Conflict 12
Bridging the great CAD/GIS Divide
Mind the Gap 14
Innovative Uses of GPS and GIS Technology
for Invasive Weed Management
Winning the War on Weeds 16
Geodans Map Portal Geoserver.nl/uk
Always the Most Up-to-date Data 20
A Report about the Sector Trends in Intergeo 2009
Intergeo 2009 Trend Analysis 22
A Feat of Engineering
Lifting the St Asaph Bridge 25
Streetmapper 360 for Acquiring Topography
Geomaat acquires 3D Data Without
Traffic Obstruction 34
Using RapidEye Data without Ground Control
Automated High-Speed High-Accuracy
Orthorectification and Mosaicking 36
Processing of Data Downloaded in the First
Year of Observation
Monumentation of Geodetic Permanent GPS stations 54
Topcon GMS-2
Survey of the Munster 42
An Evolution of the Millennial Pair (Pt.1)
Geolocation and Time 44
Combining GPS, Satellite Communications and GIS
Knowing The Exact Vessel Location 50
Routing by Landmarks
A New Direction 58
Page 6
A Report on the Sector Trends at Intergeo 2009
Intergeo, the world's most important congress trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land
management was hosted in Karlsruhe, Germany from September 22nd to the 24th this year,
and attracted more than 16,000 visitors together with 1,450 congress participants. Among the
visitors was a team of academic staff and students from the Technische Universitt Mnchen,
which was commissioned by the Runder Tisch GIS Initiative to perform a survey of the various
exhibitors at the show. This article presents the most interesting results of this survey.
4
Page 22
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
5
On the Cover:
Geospatial technology is emerging as the platform to support intelligent
electric networks, argues Bill Meehan. See article on page 6.
Bridging the great CAD/GIS Divide
There exists a real cultural divide between CAD and GIS. Not only that:
when Autodesk recently held a workshop for local government profession-
als, over 50% cited the gulf between CAD and GIS as one of the major
issues in their working lives. However, there are signs that this situation is
improving, leading to faster completion of projects and no more duplica-
tion of time, money and effort.
Geolocation and Time
This years 250-th anniversary of the invention of the famous watch H-4
that ultimately resolved the longitude problem and the 400-th anniversary
of the first use of an astronomical telescope is also an opportunity to look
at geodesy as a science of measuring the Earths shape as a function of
time. The paper gives an insight in some basic developments and describes
the historical development of geodesy by pointing out and demonstrating
the relations between the Earths shape, geolocation and time measure-
ments from the ancient times to the present time.
Page 44
Interviews
Google's Ed Parson pleads for 'INSPIRE Plus'
Getting Geospatial Data to the Community 26
An Interview with Bradley Doorn
Agricultural Monitoring Using Spaceborne Imagery 28
Column
Photogrammetric Week celebrates its
Centenary in Stuttgart, Germany 52
Calendar 62
Advertisers Index 62
Page 14
Page 6
Geospatial Technology Is Emerging as the Platform to
Support Intelligent Electric Networks
6
Ar t i cl e
We have heard the smart grid buzz. Smart grid will modernize utilities around the world by connecting communication
and computer technology to electric networks. With smart grid comes the promise of energy that is cleaner,
more reliable, more efficient, and more affordable.
By Bill Meehan
GIS
Makes Smart Grid Smart
We are, of course, excit-
ed for smart grid to arrive.
And when it gets here,
smart grid will need the
sturdy foundation of a
sound enterprise geograph-
ic information system (GIS)
that provides strong data
management, planning and
analysis, field collection,
and situational awareness.
Utility operators will need a
GIS-based view of their util-
ity in order to make the
best decisions about key
issues such as managing
meters and customers, and
incorporating renewable
energy. Field crews will
depend even more heavily
on GIS for implementing an
advanced metering infras-
tructure (AMI) and keeping current with data collection. In short, enter-
prise GIS will make it possible for utilities to build and operate a smart
grid.
Utilities already depend on
GIS to meet common oper-
ational needs including
asset and field force man-
agement. Enterprise GIS
allows everyone on staff to
view and share up-to-date
information on infrastruc-
ture, operations, and activ-
ities. Existing and addition-
al GIS capabilities will
prove crucial once smart
grid implantation becomes
widespread.
The Critical Role of
Enterprise GIS in
Smart Grid
An enterprise GIS exhibits
four strong patterns of
behavior: data manage-
ment of assets such as
sensors, poles, conduit, smart meters, trucks, and people; situational
awareness for visualizing the business spatially in cases such as a small
house with high electric consumption; field collection to provide timely
Ar t i cl e
7
The electric distribution network
Situational Awareness application showing the location of crews overlay with a risk model showing areas that are most susceptible to failure due to weather related events.
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and up to date information to determine the optimal placement of fault
indicators or locate places in the system most susceptible to lighting
strokes.
Data Management
For smart grid to work, utilities will need to know the health of their
systems. GIS is widely recognized for its strong role in managing tradi-
tional electric transmission and distribution, and telecommunications
networks. GIS provides the most comprehensive inventory of the electri-
cal distribution network components and their spatial locations. With
smart grids sophisticated communication network superimposed on the
electric network, data management with GIS becomes utterly critical.
Situational Awareness
When smart grid goes into effect, operators will rely on a real-time view
set up within their GIS. Utilities already use GIS to visualize the electric
and communications systems and the relationships that exist between
them. It goes well beyond the traditional stare and compare method
commonly used by utilities to a notion of seeing relationships. GIS pro-
vides a means to monitor and express the health of the system in an
obvious way with commands such as, show me all the sensors that
have failed to report results in the last hour. GIS can show the real-
time view of the grid and note where things are changing. In effect, GIS
(as compared with a SCADA system) shows the complete state of the
grid, represented by a realistic model in a way that people understand.
Field Collection
GIS helps manage data about the condition of utility assets. After parts
of the system go into service, utilities must maintain the system through
the collection and maintenance of asset condition data. Some condi-
tion data can come from automated systems and others from inspec-
tion systems. Utilities are rapidly adopting GIS-based mobile devices
for inspection and maintenance. Enterprise GIS, with its desktop, serv-
er, and mobile components, allows utilities to gather condition data.
Planning and Analysis
Smart grid will require GIS technology to control the state of the grid,
get the grid back to normal following an abnormal event, prevent out-
ages, and relieve loads.
The power of GIS helps utilities understand the relationship of its assets
to each other and to the surrounding environment. Since the smart grid
is composed of two networkselectric and communicationsutilities
must understand physical and spatial relationships among all network
components. These relationships will form the basis for some of the
advanced decision making the smart grid makes. Smart grid must have
a solid understanding of the connectivity of both networks. GIS
provides the tools and workflows for network modeling and advanced
tracing.
GIS is used to determine optimal locations for smart grid components.
During the rollout of smart grid, utilities will need significant analysis
to determine the right location for sensors, communication marshalling
cabinets, and a host of other devices such as fiber optics in conduit
and on poles. GIS provides the proper means to perform these design
services, since the optimal locations depend so heavily on the existing
infrastructure. Existing telecommunications technology is another impor-
tant piece of smart grid infrastructure. The industry itself already relies
heavily on GIS and will readily step up to the smart grid challenge. The
use of telecommunications will increase the reliability and efficiency of
smart grid; improve security; enable decentralized power generation;
and facilitate demand management.
GIS can provide a spatial context to the analytics and metrics of smart
grid. With GIS, utilities can track the metrics over time and provide a
convenient means of visualizing trends. Since smart grid is supposed
to be smart, it must be able to provide advanced grid performance ana-
lytics, track trends in equipment performance and customer behavior,
and record key performance metrics.
Smart Grid Comes Together with GIS
GIS will work with smart grid technologies such as advanced sensors,
smart meters, telecommunications, energy storage devices, and renew-
able energy systems. With the platform of GIS, the grid will move from
a largely passive and blind system to an interactive, intelligent, and
energy efficient system. For the smart grid initiatives to be successful,
utilities must make sure their GIS is enterprise ready, integrated with
all their back office systems, and kept meticulously up to date.
Bill Meehan, ESRI Director of Utility Solutions. Bill Meehan has more than
30 years of experience in the utility industry. He is currently the Director
of Utility Solutions for ESRI.
For more information, visit www.esri.com/smartgrid
or e-mail bmeehan@esri.com.
Ar t i cl e
9
Mobile application showing the location of field inspections along with the
optimize route to minimize drive time.
Geoprocessing model showing the inputs and results of the storm
vulnerability model.
The Re-emergence of Traditional Ideologies
A shift in Islamist terrorist activity from the Middle East to South Asia is the primary feature of the Aon 2009 Terrorism
Threat Map, launched by Aon Crisis Management. The map shows a trend towards fewer terrorist attacks in the
Middle East but increased activity in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, with Thailand and Nepal also showing
higher levels of activity.
By Remco Takken
Aon Corporation is a provider of risk management services, insurance
and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. The Aon 2009
Terrorism Threat Map, produced in coordination with security consultancy
firm Janusian, is derived from data recorded on a new Terrorism Tracker
database, which tracks global levels of terrorist activity, including attacks,
plots, communiques and government countermeasures. It represents a
snapshot of terrorist groups' intent and capability and provides an indica-
tion of the current threat of attack in each country. Terrorism threat is
defined as an assessment of the intent, capability and likelihood of ter-
rorists to stage attacks. The new collaboration (with Janusian) makes it
hard to make a comparison between earlier editions of the paper edition
map. The latest release is based only on empirical data, and doesnt
include interpretations by analysts like before. Released briefings were
allowed though, plus events in the real world, actual measures taken by
individual countries, and discovered plans for terrorist attacks.
Terrorism Tracker
The Terrorism Tracker is a risk management tool for security managers,
analysts and researchers. At its core is a global database of terrorist
attacks and plots. Each terrorist event is geo-tagged to allow its actual
location to be plotted and viewed using the Google Maps interface.
Janusians team of intelligence specialists monitor open and privileged
sources to ensure that the database is always up to date. Furthermore,
the database informs Janusian's ratings for the annual Aon Terrorism
Threat map and supports a monthly newsletter available to Aon's clients.
The Terrorism Tracker project is a collaboration between Aon and Janusian.
With it users are able to search or conduct simple and complex searches
monitor terrorist activity by location, target type and business sector,
date range, tactic, group, lethality and other variables.
Analysts can display results in map and list forms ready to be printed
out or inserted into reports and briefings. The Monitoring functionality
displays terrorist activity around the world, or in a specific country or
region, on a full screen electronic map. This solution is designed for an
operations room environment and updates every few minutes to ensure
that the latest incidents are always on screen.
These enhanced dynamics in the electronic version also protect the annu-
al map against the risk that it becomes obsolete at the moment a terror-
ist attack takes place. Ofcourse, the paper map is still fixed on a set date.
12
Ar t i cl e
figure 1a (left) A key trend from this year's analysis is the re-emergence of
terrorist groups with more traditional ideological leanings. Craig Preston
www.ambest.com/bestday/podcast/20080911.mp3, executive director at Aon,
explains: "Our analysis shows the re-emergence of groups like the communist
Shining Path in Peru and a revolutionary anarchist movement in Greece. In a
global recession it is not inconceivable that a new generation of terrorists will
emerge from disaffected communities in a re-emergence of class-based politics.
Figure 1b (up) The 2009 Terrorism Threat Map
[a] [b]
Aon Terrorism Threat Map Shows
Shift in Sphere of Conflict
Communists and Anarchists
A key trend from this year's analysis is the re-emergence of terrorist groups
with more traditional ideological leanings. Craig Preston, executive direc-
tor at Aon, explains: "Our analysis shows the re-emergence of groups like
the communist Shining Path in Peru and a revolutionary anarchist move-
ment in Greece. In a global recession it is not inconceivable that a new
generation of terrorists will emerge from disaffected communities in a re-
emergence of class-based politics. This raises the prospect of new terror-
ist groups forming in the developed world on the far right and far left of
the ideological spectrum. With the election of a more liberal President in
the U.S., it is possible we may see an uplift in activity from domestic far
right and militia groups."
The past year has highlighted the tenacity of leftist/Maoist activity in India
and Nepal. Outside India little attention is paid to the activities of the
rural conflict in the north east part of the country but Maoist terrorists
have become amongst the most prolific in the world. The recent Indian
elections led to a significant spike in attacks; in April 2009, 65 terrorist
incidents were recorded there.
More Settled Outlook
Aon's 2009 Terrorism Threat Map also shows a more settled outlook for
North America, Europe and Australia. Craig explains: "Although the
prospect of a major terrorist attack in a Western country is ever present,
and there are signs of more sophisticated plots, we have noted that in
recent years such attacks have not come to pass. While evidence of plots
emerges from time to time, there is often a protracted timeframe between
them, and we are unlikely to see the frequency of attacks in Western coun-
tries that we might have expected a few years ago. We attribute this to
better counter-terrorism capability and some shift of focus among terrorist
groups towards establishing new fronts in places like Pakistan and
Somalia. In general, operating conditions for terrorists have become more
difficult in Western countries as well as in some Middle Eastern countries,
such as Saudi Arabia."
Informing Businesses
Of course, the Risk Map was not made for its own purpose. Of course,
Aon uses it to inform their clients, and subsequently show them insur-
ance possibilities. "Businesses can mitigate a terrorism threat by imple-
menting a proportionate security risk management scheme to identify
and reduce the vulnerabilities to personnel and business assets based
on an expert risk assessment," Craig adds. "Firms also can transfer
their risk through an appropriate insurance policy to reduce the impact
of any such attack."
Remco Takken rtakken@geoinformatics.comis editor of GeoInformatics.
For more information, have a look at www.aon.com
Ar t i cl e
13
Threat Indicators
A panel of analysts from Janusian has assigned terrorism threat levels
by scoring each country according to the following threat indicators
for 2009: Evidence of known and active groups or networks operating
in a given country. Their aims and stated objectives. Their track record
of terrorist activity, including target selection and activity levels. Their
operational capabilities to stage attacks. The likely erosion of terrorist
capabilities through the current counter-terrorism regime in the given
country.
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Mind the Gap
There exists a real cultural divide between CAD and GIS. Not only that: when Autodesk recently held a workshop for local
government professionals, over 50% cited the gulf between CAD and GIS as one of the major issues in their working lives.
However, there are signs that this situation is improving, leading to faster completion of projects and no more duplication
of time, money and effort.
This article has been written under the authority of Wisse Communications and updated by Henny van der Pol
Driven by the ever-growing use of the internet and the greater need
for more precise and sophisticated information for better informed plan-
ning, everybody it seems, now wants to add a geographic element to
their data.
However, this need is complicated by two factors. First for geospatial
data to provide real value, it needs to be used alongside other infor-
mation in particular, CAD data. But unfortunately, these two disci-
plines have evolved separately and are, traditionally, very difficult to
blend.
Second is the withdrawal of Land-Line (which has been used by local
government and other organisations for over 10 years) by the Ordnance
Survey. Its replacement, OS MasterMap Topography Layer, offers many
enhanced features and benefits including themed information.
However, the change brings a number of challenges, especially the
accessibility of Topography Layer data from within AutoCAD, the indus-
try standard automated drafting tool.
Cultural Divide
When Autodesk recently held a workshop for local government profes-
sionals, over 50% cited the gulf between CAD and GIS as one of the
major issues in their working lives. The following two examples explain
the situation: when a CAD user wants to dispose GIS data, one has no
other choice than referring to a GIS specialist inside the organization
or network That GIS user has to create a shapefile. This takes an amount
of time, since one has to discuss which attributes this shapefile has to
contain, etc. The opposite is also true: if a GIS user wants access to
CAD files, a CAD user has to export CAD data in a DFX-file. In this way,
theres always an agent needed to convert the data for you. By saving
the data in a central database (for instance, AutoCAD Map), this agent
can be eliminated so that both parties have access to ESRI-data.
In todays harsh business environment, its too expensive to manage
multiple types of software, convert data, sychronise systems and keep
design and operations disconnected.
But theres also a real cultural divide beteen the two. When asked what
she would like to see to help her job improve, one GIS officer simply said:
Different departments talking to one another!
However, there are signs that this situation is improving. When pushed,
CAD and GIS departments both said they positively hoped for a solution
that was joined up and open to all. The need for a totally current even
real-time information was also high on the wish-list.
For several years now Autodesk has recognised that the key to solving
these dilemmas is to develop software that bridges CAD and GIS but which
doesnt entail either to give up the tools they have been using for years.
GIS and mapping functionality must be brought into the precision data
capture, creation and maintenance tools offered by a CAD environment.
And GIS must be able to access and work with object-based design infor-
mation stored in CAD drawing fields such as DGN and DWG without los-
ing precision.
AutoCAD Map 3D, for example, brings CAD and GIS together by providing
direct access to data, regardless of how it is stored. An extension to
AutoCAD and complementing existing GIS implementations, it enables
quick access, efficient editing and easy management of a broad variety of
large geospatial sets, far beyond what standard AutoCAD could handle.
14
Ar t i cl e
AutoCAD Map 3D screenshot
B r i d g i n g t h e G r e a t C A D / G I S D i v i d e
Ar t i cl e
15
Because AutoCAD Map 3D is based
on open data standards, users are
able to work with virtually any spa-
tial data available, an approach
which offers more flexibility than the
minimal options in AutoCAD.
Whether data is stored in DWG, DGN,
Shape file, or other standard geospa-
tial formats, the software can direct-
ly access and edit the data, remov-
ing the need for continual translation
of data between systems.
Also, as it works seamlessly with
Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server and ESRI
ArcSDE, users can manage and store
geospatial data as easily as they can
create and edit it. This approach
ensures data is far more accessible by CAD users wanting to access
geospatial data or GIS users needing a view of design data from the engi-
neers.
Benefits
Working this way also makes it easier to deal with large scale mapping
data. AutoCAD Map 3D enables users to access the data directly regard-
less of whether it is held in an Oracle database, a Shape file or ESRI
ArcSDE. When the software is connected to a central store of Topography
Layer data, accurate mapping is available across an entire enterprise,
whether its users are CAD or GIS-based or a mixture of the two.
So, what key benefits can be
achieved from CAD/GIS integration?
Arguably the most important is the
ability to support streamlined work-
flows. Rather than having to visit
multiple departments to obtain infor-
mation, CAD engineers can now inte-
grate geospatial technologies -
querying and some core analysis
functionality - into their standard
workflow. They can then carry out
core analysis functions before creat-
ing and designing an end product
using familiar CAD tools.
Projects can be completed more
quickly when an engineer can easily
pre-populate a new design with cur-
rent base map data such as property lines, curb information and other
associated data from a central GIS. GIS specialists can use the power-
ful precision editor tools from a CAD system to more easily edit and main-
tain GIS data. It seems this is a far better solution than two isolated dis-
ciplines working in tandem, duplicating work and wasting time, money
and effort. It seems the CAD and GIS department might end up speaking
to each other after all.
Henny van der Pol henny@vanderpol-consulting.nl,
senior consultant and geospecialist.
Many thanks to Serge Beckers.
Innovative Uses of GPS and GIS
Technology for Invasive Weed Management
The control of non-native invasive weeds is
of great concern in current ecosystem manage-
ment. These invaders are recognized by scien-
tists and land managers as one of the primary
causes of biodiversity loss as well as a critical
threat to local ecosystem processes and plant
community structure and composition.
Studies estimate invasive species cost the U.S.
economy $138 billion annually and $4 to $6
trillion globally. Invasive species are a principle
factor in the listing of about 42 percent of
species protected by the U.S. Endangered
Species Act and cause the loss of more biolog-
ical diversity than any factor other than habitat
loss. Increased global trade and travel are sig-
nificantly increasing the rate at which new
species are intentionally and unintentionally
introduced around the world.
As invasive weeds become established more
rapidly in new areas, economic and environ-
mental impacts will increase, and only through
the use of innovative techniques can organiza-
tions manage this problem. This case study
highlights two organizations that have success-
fully deployed GPS data collection and GIS
mapping techniques to identify the presence
and concentration of invasive weeds and to
develop plans to combat these thorny foes.
Bonner County, Idaho Public Works
Department
This northern Idaho County faces a severe
threat from the noxious aquatic weed Eurasian
Milfoil. Biologists believe that the weed was
introduced to the United States during World
War II when milfoil fragments were pumped into
the ballast systems of navy ships. Once the
ships returned to the U.S., the infected water
was inadvertently discharged to make room for
new supplies. Since that time, Eurasian Milfoil
has rapidly spread across the country from frag-
ments left on boat trailers, moving from infest-
ed lakes to other bodies of water. This weed is
thought to be particularly dangerous because
it rapidly replaces native aquatic vegetation,
harming local wildlife and fisheries. The dense
weeds can grow up to one foot (30 centime-
ters) per week on the lake bottom, creating a
high-risk environment for boaters and swim-
mers that impacts recreational usage and
tourism.
The effects of Eurasian Milfoil encroachment
was being severely felt at Lake Pend Oreille, a
lake and river system located in Bonner County.
This plant rapidly replaces native aquatic vege-
tation and the wildlife and fisheries causing
severe degradation of water quality and habi-
tat. The dense weed mats choke marinas and
swimming beaches keeping tourists away and
hurting the recreational economy of the area.
Faced with this growing problem, local citizens
called for the County to address the situation.
Bonner Countys Public Works Department hired
aquatic weed control expert Aquatechnex to
perform a combination of boat and aerial sur-
veys to get a better idea of the exact extent of
the infestations present and then develop a
comprehensive treatment plan.
Data Collection
For the initial mapping of Lake Pend Oreille,
Aquatechnex collected aerial photography, fly-
ing nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) of shore-
line to establish an accurate basemap. The air-
16
Ar t i cl e
Winning the
War on Weeds
In this article, two examples clearly demonstrate the benefits of high-accuracy
GPS mapping and navigation in the development of sustainable weed
management programs. A key component of both projects was the efficient
capture of weed infestation areas over very large areas, made possible through
the use of state-of-the-art Trimble GPS solutions as well as ESRI GIS software.
These organizations were able to save a significant amount of time and
resources, in the tens-of-thousands of dollars-range, by gathering highly-
accurate location-based information about weed infestations with Trimble
technology. Furthermore, detailed assessment and ultimately treatment of the
affected areas also benefited from GPS and GIS solutions for navigation to the
infested areas and high-accuracy delineation and classification.
By Rebecca Peck
craft was equipped with a Trimble GeoXT hand-
held computer with integrated Global
Positioning System (GPS) capabilities and a
Nikon D70 Camera. The combination of these
two systems turns the Nikon into a GPS cam-
era, collecting an aerial image and a GPS loca-
tion and linking the photograph to that GPS
location. Flight protocols were designed and
implemented to maximize water penetration
and Aquatechnex collected a seamless stream
of images with a 30 percent overlap that cov-
ered the entire area of interest. The
Aquatechnex team opted to use Trimble equip-
ment because of their familiarity with the GeoXT
handhelds, which they use for several client
weed management projects, as well as its
ruggedness and all-day battery life. The team
was able to capture the precise flight line of the
aircraft by automatically logging GPS data
points every five seconds using Trimble
TerraSync data collection software.
Geospatial Experts GPS-Photo Link software
issue and youre working on the water there are
no reference points, said Terry McNabb, an
aquatic biologist and owner of Aquatechnex.
Thats why we had to develop an aerial shore-
line analysis model using remote sensing, GPS,
and GIS mapping technologies from Trimble and
ESRI. Its really a highly accurate and cost-effec-
tive way to map a sizeable weed infestation like
this, said McNabb. With the GeoXT handhelds,
together with digital imagery, we were able to
complete a very accurate survey for approxi-
mately $6,000, in contrast to conventional aeri-
al mapping and field methods which would
have cost up to $60,000.
Through this extensive yet efficient mapping
process, Aquatechnex determined that approxi-
mately 4,000 acres (1,618 hectares) of the Lake
Pend Oreille system was infested with Eurasian
Milfoil, and was able to identify more than 100
specific locations of infestation from analyzing
the aerial photos.
The next step in the project was to validate
then linked these GPS data points with the
nearly 400 aerial photos collected during the
flyover and dropped them into the ArcGIS pro-
ject file exactly where they were collected along
the flight line. These images are then available
in ArcGIS as a hot link and can be viewed by
clicking on an image point of the planes flight
line. Aquatechnex also used Trimble GPS
Pathfinder Office software to process the differ-
ential GPS corrections and to export the data
to ESRI ArcPad GIS software for use of the
resulting basemap in the field. This data gave
the field team a more complete picture of the
lake area and a comprehensive understanding
of the location of the noxious weed. This inno-
vative aerial mapping approach allowed the
Aquatechnex team to survey, analyze, and
report on nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) of
shoreline in onlyfive days, saving the County
tens of thousands of dollars over conventional
mapping techniques.
Anytime youre faced with a weed management
Ar t i cl e
17
these findings by boat, using GPS to navigate
to each of the locations where aquatic plant
beds were observed and recorded. The boat
team accessed a data dictionary on the Trimble
GeoXT handhelds to record and map the pre-
cise location of Milfoil beds and to accurately
classify the presence of Milfoil at each location
as dense, moderate/mixed, or sparse. The
team established an ESRI ArcGIS project file for
the mission with a Geodatabase set up for
weed mapping. Using the mapping software,
they created polygons of probable Eurasian
Milfoil beds and all aquatic plant communities
that were visible in the county's photography
as a map layer. The team created 143 polygons
that gave an approximate dimension of each
aquatic weed bed observed. This project back-
ground aerial imagery was moved onto a lap-
top computer system.
With the detailed location information collect-
ed, the mapping teams returned to the
Aquatechnex offices where they downloaded
and processed the location data using the
Trimble GPS Analyst extension for ESRI ArcGIS
Desktop software. By interpreting the aerial
imagery with the field GPS data, the polygons
clearly delineated the location and density clas-
sification of the weeds.
Treatment Plan
With the detailed assessment of the extent of
the weed invasion completed, Bonner County
was able to submit a federal grant application
and received funding of $1.8 million to execute
a comprehensive and sustainable weed man-
agement effort. By working with the county, the
US Army Corps of Engineers and the Idaho
Department of Agriculture, Aquatechnex biolo-
gists were able to develop a treatment plan to
eradicate Eurasian Milfoil by focusing on four
different aquatic herbicides that met the require-
ments of the U.S. Endangered Species Act pro-
tecting designated critical habitat zones for
bull trout.
Using boats equipped with GeoXT handhelds,
the Aquatechnex team was able to navigate to
the exact location of each weed infestation
quickly. Biologists then treated up to 1,000
acres (404 hectares) of the Eurasian Milfoil
infestations per day, at a total cost of about
$430 per acre ($1,062 per hectare). To monitor
the effectiveness of the treatment plan, the
State of Idaho hired an independent expert
from Mississippi State University. A year after
the initial weed management plan went into
action the university confirmed that the 4,000
acres (1,618 hectares) of herbicide treatment
areas experienced Very Good to Excellent
Control.
While the Eurasian Milfoil treatment costs were
adequate for this scale of weed management
project, McNabb believes Trimbles technology
was instrumental in helping the county save
resources and reduce expenses in the initial
mapping stage of the project. By applying the
innovative mapping technique outlined above,
the team was able to survey, analyze, and
report on the nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers)
of shoreline in only five days, saving tens of
thousands of dollars over traditional mapping
techniques.
Alaska Association of Conservation
Districts
The Alaska Association of Conservation Districts
(AACD) is another organization that has imple-
mented a successful and cost-effective weed
management program with a combination of
Trimble GPS equipment and ESRI GIS software.
Located in Wasilla, Alaska, the AACD is an orga-
nization that supports twelve statewide Soil and
Water Conservation Districts. Funded by the
EPA, the AACD is currently in the midst of a
large-scale project aimed at mapping and con-
trolling invasive reed canarygrass along the
Kenai Peninsula. The Invasive Reed
Canarygrass (RCG) Management Project is par-
ticularly important because these weeds are
encroaching on river beds and wetlands,
impacting streamflows, and causing degrada-
tion of salmon spawning beds and habitats.
Data Collection
From the recommendation of team members
with the Alaska National Parks Service Exotic
Plant Management Team, the AACD opted to
use Trimble equipment for this weed survey and
management effort. An AACD weed scout used
a GPS unit along with GPS Pathfinder Office and
TerraSync software to collect highly-accurate
data. In all, over 260 incidences of reed canary-
grass locations, about 100 acres (40 hectares)
were identified and mapped. Working with a
very limited budget for this Reed Canarygrass
project, the team was ecstatic that over the
course of a summer, a single analyst was able
to use Trimble GPS equipment to map the
infected area. Once the data was collected the
analyst used Trimble GPS Pathfinder Office soft-
ware to process the differential GPS corrections
and to export the data to ESRI ArcGIS software.
Also the data collected was easily shared
as part of the Alaska Exotic Plant
Information Clearing House (AKEPIC) Mapping
Project, which was served using Excel
(http://akweeds.uaa.alaska.edu/). Gino Graziano,
Invasive Weeds and Agricultural Pest
Coordinator DNR, Division of Agriculture,
believes this type of field collection and geo-
graphic data sharing effort is an important step
in improving collaboration and treatment strate-
gies of invasive weeds across the state.
Other groups that we work with like the Alaska
National Parks Service enthusiastically recom-
mended that we use Trimble equipment for our
weed management projectit was a no brain-
er said Graziano. With Trimble GeoXT hand-
helds we were able to survey the area with an
extremely high-level of accuracy and weve pri-
oritized seven streams that are critical in this
effort. As management begins on infestations
threatening key habitats, the high accuracy of
Trimble GeoXT handhelds will allow for close
monitoring and geographic display of progress
in reduction of infestations size over time.
The groups long-term plan is to gather specific
location and attribute data across the Kenai
Peninsula such as habitat type, size of infesta-
tions to quantify risk of infestations with the
reed canarygrass.
With this data, well be able to load the infor-
mation into our GIS and monitor success as a
reduction in the number and size of infesta-
tions, using risk of infestation of key habitats
as a metric that allows us to monitor and quan-
tify the effectiveness of our treatment plan,
said Graziano.
Treatment Plan
Partners of the AACD including the Kenai
Watershed Forum have used the data to imple-
ment control practices in priority areas on the
Kenai Peninsula. The majority of management
is being completed using Typar fabric as a weed
barrier. The AACD has established plots to mon-
itor effectiveness and cost of various control
techniques including use of weed barrier and
herbicide application. Whenever control work is
performed careful notes are taken on handheld
GPS units, and shared amongst partners. With
high-accuracy data now recorded, the AACD is
working to garner funding for management. The
data collected demonstrates the unique oppor-
tunity to prevent impacts to key resources, over
an area the size of many states, from invasive
plant infestations.
Rebecca Peck, Trimble Mapping & GIS.
Internet: www.trimble.com/mgis
18
Ar t i cl e
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Geodans Map Portal Geoserver.nl/uk
Geodans map portal Geoserver.nl/uk is an example of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). With one subscription,
Desktop and WebGIS users receive various map backgrounds, a geocoding service and a routing service. Among the users
there are web developers, brokers, real estate agencies, consultancy firms, housing corporations and banks.
By Monique Husslage
20
Ar t i cl e
Vital Dents area of coverage (Source: Vital Dent)
Specialization is efficiency: providing better
products or services at a lower cost. By stor-
ing and managing the geographical informa-
tion of different providers on a sole central
location, users no longer have to worry about
management, data currency and reliability.
This is the principle of Service Oriented
Architectures (SOAs), which are becoming
more and more common in the GIS world.
In reply, the Open Geospatial Consortium
(OGC) has developed standards for GIS
webmapping servers. Using this uniform
requesting mode, users can easily combine
different types of data from different providers
within their application.
Street Maps, Geocoding and Routing
Geoserver.uk, the international sister of the
popular Geoserver.nl/uk, offers a streetmap
service based on Tele Atlas Multinet. Almost
all Western European countries are available
now, and this service will extend in the near
future. Also a European geocoding and a rout-
ing service are both available for the entire
world. These services are based on Microsofts
MapPoint. It is also possible to have user-spe-
cific map layers or services developed and/or
hosted at Geoserver.uk.
Pay Per View
Geoserver.nl/uk is an online service based on
a pay-per-view model. Users choose the type
of subscription that best fits their expected
use. The larger the subscription (the number
of purchased credits), the cheaper it gets.
Credits that have not been used during the
year are rolled over to the next year and the
amount of credits adjusted once a year. This
means that the subscription is extremely flex-
ible. This comes in particularly handy for set-
ting up new web applications, as it is difficult
to predict the numbers of visitors beforehand.
One Subscription for the Entire
Organisation
Once you have subscribed to Geoserver.nl/uk,
you get unlimited access to all services for
one or several IP addresses. This way, the
entire organisation can take advantage of the
subscription, as logging in is required only for
viewing statistics. These statistics can be
requested by year, month and day. Besides,
through authorisations, services can be partly
screened off.
Since the introduction of Geoserver.nl in 2005,
more than 1,000 organisations have registered
for Geoserver.nl and Geoserver.nl/uk, and
almost one hundred subscriptions have been
taken out. The choice of services is constant-
ly being expanded. Thus, the supply of
detailed map backgrounds for Europe is con-
stantly increasing. Geodan is also working on
additional functionality for Desktop GIS users,
such as a geocoding tool for Europe.
Project-based
Consulting firms often work on area-driven
projects. This means they have to purchase
data for a small area. This is not only a time-
consuming activity; the costs for purchasing
datasets of several small areas are relatively
high. With one and the same subscription for
Always the Most Up-to-date Data
Geoserver.uk, all available geographical ser-
vices can be used limitlessly, regardless of
whether this is a detailed street map of Berlin,
an aerial photo of Amsterdam or the geocod-
ing of a list of customers in Greece.
Desktop and WebGIS users
Geoserver.nl/uk is used by two types of GIS
users: Desktop GIS users (ArcGIS/MapInfo
Professional) and WebGIS users (web builders
and system integrators). Both user groups can
use the European geocoding service and
streetmaps. WebGIS users can also use a rout-
ing service which provides travelling times
and distances between address locations or
coordinates. They are also able to verify
addresses for free. The result of the URL
request is an XML file, which follows the GML
standards as defined by the OGC.
Mapping Dentist Clients
The user group is diverse. Subscribers vary
from consulting firms, brokers, banks, distrib-
utors and housing corporations to real estate
agencies, web developers and system inte-
grators. Geoserver.nl/uk customers use the
services for a variety of applications. For
example, Vital Dent uses it to map the loca-
supporting Open GIS technology can be used
in this regard. A free demo is available at
www.geoserver.nl/uk/eurostreets.
Open Layers
It is also possible to use an Open Layers client
organised by Geodan. Among other things,
this contains a map menu and an integrated
address finder. The organisation of an Open
Layers map application could be contracted
out to Geodan, just like management of the
map layers.
Geodan & European Datasets
In addition to the online services of
Geoserver.nl/uk, Geodan provides a wide
range of offline European datasets. For exam-
ple, postcode maps of all European countries,
drive time matrices and road maps. Thanks
to the strong contacts with European data
partners, Geodan is the main Dutch supplier
for European GIS data.
Monique Husslage monique.husslage@geodan.nl
is a GIS Consultant at Geodan IT.
Internet: www.Geoserver.nl/uk
tion of their clinics and customers. Each clin-
ic has its own exclusivity area within which
only they may practise marketing actions.
Iberpubli, a Spanish direct publicity distribu-
tor uses Geoserver.nl/uk in combination with
a postcode map and census-track map to
make distribution plans and reports for their
customers. And the Branch Advice division of
Ahold Real Estate uses the geocoding service
and the background maps to map (new)
branches.
Google Maps Look & Feel
The Geoserver.nl/uk maps are in contrast
with WMS - also available as TileMaps. In the
case of the WMS map service, a new map
image is built with every request. TileMaps on
the other hand, have the look and feel of
Google Maps: a seamless map image which
you can easily and quickly move. This has a
major impact on performance. In a TileMap,
the maps are predefined, which means that
all tiles can be pre-cached, so showing them
is about 100 times faster. Users can organise
their TileMaps application as they wish. It is
therefore possible to combine ones own
branches, and all corresponding information,
with a TileMaps street map. Every browser
Ar t i cl e
21
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Find out why the UNIGIS postgraduate courses are so successful:
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plus credit for prior learning or experience
Networking with an international community
of GIS professionals
Intergeo, the world's most important congress trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation
and land management was hosted in Karlsruhe, Germany from September 22nd to
the 24th this year, and attracted more than 16,000 visitors together with 1,450
congress participants. So Intergeo 2009 was once again this years largest meeting
point for the industry in Europe. Among the visitors was a team of academic staff and
students from the Technische Universitt Mnchen, which was commissioned by the
Runder Tisch GIS Initiative to perform a survey of the various exhibitors at the show.
This article presents the most interesting results of this survey.
By zgr Ertac and Tatjana Kutzner
The Trend Analysis from Runder
Tisch GIS Initiative
Once again a team of academic staff and stu-
dents from the Technische Universitt Mnchen
was commissioned by the Runder Tisch GIS
Initiative to perform a survey of the representa-
tives of various exhibitors at Intergeo. The trend
analysis team prepared a questionnaire cover-
ing the leading themes of the sector to investi-
gate new developments, and highlight differ-
ences and improvements compared to last year,
and of course the impact of new technologies
in the GI market.
3D City Models
Wherever you looked, this years visitors were
totally immersed in the theme of 3D, and 3D
city models in particular. Photo-realistic models
appeared to be more realistic and impressive
than ever before. However, a clear thematic dis-
tinction must be made in the field of 3D,
between the purely graphical models and
semantic models. The purely graphical model is
mainly intended for presentation purposes,
whereas the semantic model scores points with
its analysis functionality. So far graphical mod-
els are primarily used in tourism, urban plan-
ning and real estate. Actually semantic models
have more application areas, but they are not
yet totally utilized by most companies and users.
So far, semantic model applications include 3D
city models for the analysis of noise propaga-
tion, and solar energy implementations in which
solar energy capacity is computed from the roof
forms of 3D city models. Today, 3D city models
are not only used by themselves but are also
combined with other data and applications. In
the coupling of 3D city models and environ-
mental modeling for example, 3D city models
provide the main input data for simulations used
to produce cold air movement calculations. A
large amount of geospatial information can also
be obtained from 3D city models. For instance
pedestrian traffic flow, and vehicle traffic densi-
ties and road segments, all of which can be pre-
sented in combination with 3D city models to
determine spatial distribution patterns.
As was widely observed, there are also new
developments regarding 3D-viewers in the sec-
tor. The market attracted some companies from
the video-gaming industry, which provides pio-
neering possibilities for visualization of 3D city
models. It was fascinating to see these exam-
ples modeled to the smallest detail and able
to run on low-standard PCs. With this gaming
experience, it is now much easier to navigate
through the inside and around the outside of
buildings using 3D city models.
CityGML, the interchange format for 3D city
models has gained huge acceptance as an OGC
standard and is now supported in all observed
programs. According to the opinion of those
responding to the questionnaire, up to now
CityGML is mainly used in Europe, and Germany
in particular but is gradually gaining a foothold
in the USA as well. Most respondents agreed
that CityGML is the most promising standard or
model for the description of 3D city models so
far developed.
Laser Scanning
Laser scanning and in particular mobile map-
ping systems, also appeared to be a central
theme at Intergeo 2009, which was presented
by a large number of service providers.
Numerous kinematic measurement vehicles for
capturing the urban environment (infrastructure
acquisition, 3D city modeling, and so on) were
on display in the exhibition halls. The IMU (iner-
tial measurement unit) is state-of-the-art tech-
nology in such vehicles and is supported by
every manufacturer to increase data accuracy.
Thus the scanning operation never stops even
when the vehicle is being drive through a tun-
nel.
Actual laser scanner releases are characterized
by total station functionalities. A fusion of tech-
nologies seems feasible in the medium term.
Especially since suppliers have more and more
total station improvements for laser scanning
in their repertoire. Another objective of the
providers is shortening the recording time in
the field by capturing more points in less time
within a higher accuracy. However, the utiliza-
tion of laser scanning data is a bit unclear, since
there are still no universal software solutions.
There is a growing demand in the industry for
new software applications designed to gener-
ate new implementation areas (e.g. clearance
gauge acquisition in railway construction). One
implementation area affecting 3D city model
production can be seen with aerial data cap-
ture in which digital photogrammetry and air-
borne laser scanning are in competition (espe-
22
Ar t i cl e
Intergeo 2009
Trend Analysis
A R e p o r t o n t h e S e c t o r T r e n d s
cially when carrying out building height estima-
tion). For the question of which method is
more promising? there is no clear opinion
among those who were interviewed.
Satellite Navigation
In satellite positioning and satellite navigation,
Intergeo was the crossing point for the brand
new satellite receivers which are now able to
access GLONASS and the future Galileo signals
in addition to GPS. The positioning accuracy
will increase with Galileo (Europe) and Compass
(China). These high-tech receivers are able to
receive signals from the different navigation sys-
tems at the same time, and the requirement for
a minimum of four satellites for successful posi-
tioning will no doubt improve functionality even
in places with high levels of sky obstruction.
GMES
Another important theme this year in Intergeo
was Global Monitoring for Environment and
Security (GMES), an initiative for monitoring
Europes environment and security concerns.
The development of GMES was decided some
10 years ago by the European Union as part of
the GEOSS program, the global counterpart of
GMES. The objective of GMES is to use satel-
lite observations, together with in-situ observa-
tions, to allow a validation of the complemen-
tary data. The data of the core services are
freely available on the Internet. This core ser-
vice includes the fields of marine, emergency
and land which are developed separately.
The Financial Crisis and the Sector
This hot topic was part of the survey in which
our team investigated the effects the current
financial conditions have had on the exhibitors.
We formulated our questionnaire with the key-
words Financial Crisis. Referring to the cur-
rent crisis, our survey showed that the GIS mar-
ket has remained largely unaffected. While the
construction industry (mainly civil engineering)
had a significant drop in business capacity,
some GIS companies seemed to benefit even
more during the crisis. Compared to last year
at Intergeo, it was easy to see that some firms
had smaller booths. Some companies which
had been represented with a stand-alone dis-
play in 2008, this year shared the same booth
as joint exhibits. It was noticeable that many
companies also had fewer visitors from munici-
palities because of budget constraints in mar-
keting. It is difficult to predict to what extent
the financial losses in the public sector will be
in the coming years.
Valuable Reflection
As usual Intergeo was again a valuable reflec-
tion of the current state of the industry. The
success of the event and the record numbers
of exhibitors and visitors (a 22% increase in the
proportion of international visitors) prompted
Dr. Hartmut Rosengarten, Chairman of the
Intergeo Exhibitor Advisory Board, to make the
following statement. "Here in Karlsruhe,
Intergeo has once again demonstrated very
impressively that it is the industry's most impor-
tant international meeting point, even in diffi-
cult times".
Even though there were not too many eye-
catchers, trend analysis of the Runder Tisch GIS
shows that 3D was the hottest theme of
Intergeo this year, sharing the spotlight with
laser scanning and Web-based applications. We
are looking forward to seeing the impact of this
outstanding event in industry this year.
Meanwhile 95% of exhibiting companies, gov-
ernment authorities and associations have
already announced their intention to take part
in this leading world trade fair in 2010.
Intergeo 2010 will be held in Cologne, in
Germany from the 5th to the 7th of October.
Links:
Intergeo: www.intergeo.de
Runder Tisch GIS Initiative: www.rtg.bv.tum.de
The Chair of GIS, Technische Universitt Mnchen:
www.gis.bv.tum.de
Team Members of the Trend Analysis
Daniel Banfi, Alexander Brschmann,
Rosina Bleifu, Anton Gro, Martin Kunert,
Daniel Moraru, Paul Sigloch, Stefan Wanasky,
Andreas Wagner
Contact:
zgr Ertac oezguer.ertac@bv.tum.de and
Tatjana Kutzner tatjana.kutzner@bv.tum.de are
research assistants at the Chair of GIS in
Technische Universitt Mnchen, in Germany.
Ar t i cl e
23
WWW.c|||a.eu 2009 SOKKlA TOPCON CO.,LTD
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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
Japanese engineering team is to develop more precise and
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As a result, Sokkia's instrument line-up provides reliable
and accurate measuring solutions, with the lowest cost of
ownership, in the feld of surveying, tunnelling, monitoring,
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Sokkia: outstanding endurance and performance
with 8okkia's Positioning 8olutions
A Feat of Engineering
In St Asaph in the county of Denbighshire in North-Wales recently, a 42 meter long
steel bridge was lifted into place. For this accurate job Topcons GPT-9000A Robotic
Total Station was used to assure, with millimeter accuracy, that everything fitted.
Rhys Thomas of Bangor based Dawnus Construction talks us through this delicate
operation. The tender for the new bridge was awarded in January. Originally the
design of the bridge was completely different, but we came up with a steel alterna-
tive that ended up being cheaper than the original design. It did however require
a 1000 ton crane, with 360 ton ballast, to lift it all into place. A feat of engineering.
By Topcon Europe Positioning BV
In January 2007 we won the tender for this
bridge. The county of Denbighshire, like other
counties in Wales, is broadening and upgrad-
ing the many foot and cycle paths to accom-
modate the tourists visiting the countryside.
This bridge is part of the many cycle paths
along the North Wales coastline.
We started on the site in March 2007. The
whole bridge was designed and built off site
by a specialist company named Nu-Steel. They
manufactured the four sections of the entire
41.9 meter long bridge in their factory.
Assembly of the Structure
First we had to lay down an area for the
assembly of the four sections of the bridge
when they arrived on site, we also had pre-
pared an area next to this to accommodate the
crane that would lift it on to the abutments. To
give the 1000 ton crane a good foundation we
had to dig away approximately two meters of
soil in this area until we came to the sand and
gravel layers that we could build upon. So there
was a lot of temporary works involved, just to
get the project to go ahead. There is a large
amount of pressure on the ground from the
cranes four outriggers, 16 tons per square
meter. That is a lot of weight that needs to be
distributed evenly.
Many of the designs however had been based
on old drawings. A quick survey of the area with
Topcons HiPer GPS+ RTK system showed that
the lay of the land had changed from the origi-
nal. First of all we surveyed the area to update
our clients records and then established our pri-
mary control for the bridge.
1000 Ton Crane
The date of completion for this project was at
the end of September. A deadline Dawnus had
no problem making. The actual bridge came
up in four pieces and had to be assembled on
site. We also had to do small things like paint-
ing and touching up the bridge after assembly.
Then it was time for the actual lift. The crane
arrived here during the night of Wednesday the
19th of September. Actually it was a bit delayed
because it was still being used at a site in
London for the coming Olympics. But it got here
on Wednesday evening. The base sector was
driven into place and then a smaller crane of
only 200 ton was used to help in the assem-
bly of the much larger crane. The larger crane
was delivered on eight lorries. Eventually the
1000 ton crane was ready at 10.00am on
Thursday the 20th of September.
The crane was ready, but we still had to wait
for all the official representatives of the county
to show up. However we eventually decided to
start the lift because the weather was starting
to change. The wind was picking up and if we
had to wait much longer for the county repre-
sentatives we would miss our slot for the lift.
So we attached four straps to the designated
places on the bridge and started lifting.
A lot of checks were done before the actual lift.
Many checks and re-checks, first with the Hi-
Per and then with the GPT-9000 Total Station
had taken place before the bridge was even off
the ground. The bridge had to be put on four
abutments. So we also did as built surveys on
the structure work. The GPT-9000 Total Station
re-checked all the survey work which was origi-
nally done with the HiPer.
Swing it into Place
Finally it was time to swing the bridge into
place. It had to be lifted up in the first place
and then rotated. Before it could rotate howev-
er it still needed to pick up some more ballast.
The structure weighs 54 tons, so you need
some counter weight on the other side. After
this it was all a matter of letting it down gently
between the two banks and placing it on the
holding down bolts. It all fell into position with-
out any problems. There was plenty of toler-
ance on the bolts but we did not need it at all.
The bridge went in straight on.
Rhys Thomas closes: That is also the advan-
tage of using precision equipment. You can be
confident in the accuracy of the instrument and
the data you work with. In the end the setting
down on all the abutments only took 45 min-
utes. And so months of preparation assured a
snug fit of the new St. Asaph bridge.
Internet: www.topcon-positioning.eu.
Ar t i cl e
25
Lifting the St Asaph Bridge
Google's Ed Parson pleads for 'INSPIRE Plus'
Ed Parsons is the Geospatial Technologist of Google. At the GSDI (Global Spatial Data Infrastructures) conference in
Rotterdam last June he shared his opinions on INSPIRE, open source GIS and the role that Google can play in
getting geospatial data out into the community. 'If you want to get investments into GIS data in the future, you have
to prove its value by the citizens seeing that value, because it's the citizens that have the real political voice'.
Question: where does Google stand
between the consumer and the GIS
professional?
Answer: Our focus is and will always be with
the mass market and the consumer. And that's
where we think we can have the biggest
impact. Our mission is about making informa-
tion more accessible, more useful, and to try
to impact as many people as we possibly can
by making information available to them. Of
course, some of the things we develop hap-
pen within the enterprise, for instance Google
Earth Enterprise, which is in fact Google Earth
(the system), but working on your own
intranet. That's a byproduct, but we see that
there is value in the enterprise. We also see
an increasing role for national mapping agen-
cies and large public sector lobbies to pub-
lish their information using Google's infras-
tructure as a channel. So, there is a huge
benefit for governments to make their infor-
mation as open as possible, and that has
been demonstrated in a number of European
countries, and really clearly in the US. If we
can help by providing an infrastructure that
makes it easy for government organizations
to publish their raw data then that's a great
thing we can help to do.
Q: How do you value North American
data sets and SDI's as opposed to
European ones, like INSPIRE?
A: Although I don't think the quality is any
higher in the US, I think that there's a differ-
ent attitude and culture to sharing informa-
tion: the culture is much more open in the
US and more information is shared. I argue
that the quality of data in Europe is much
higher because the European countries are
smaller and there has been more investment
on a more centralized level. But certainly the
problem in most cases in Europe is that it's
much harder to get access to that informa-
tion.
Q: How do you value the message
of INSPIRE, if at all?
A: We're supportive of INSPIRE and supportive
of building SDI's, because in some ways, it
makes our life easier: it's easier to get access
to that information. It's also a great opportuni-
ty to talk to national mapping agencies and the
public sector organizations in Europe and to try
and get the message across that sharing infor-
mation is good. Sharing information by INSPIRE
and national geoportals is a great way to share
information within the public sector, but dont
forget that actually there's a huge benefit to
getting this information out to the community.
That's something that INSPIRE not necessarily
addresses itself. So, I think it's important for
us to say it needs to be INSPIRE Plus: recog-
nizing the fact the information needs go out to
the community.
I'm genuinely impressed by what's going on in
the Netherlands actually: I think what
Geonovum do, in terms of their outreach and
trying to make geospatial information visible to
the community, is really significant, and certain-
ly here people seem to have really grabbed
INSPIRE as an important thing to work towards.
They are almost running ahead of where they
actually need to be at this point, which is good.
If you compare that to where I come from, I'm
embarrassed by how much perhaps the UK has
dragged its feet in European matters, particu-
larly in sharing information.
I still largely think there could be much more
focus on doing things rather than talking about
them. In general terms, SDI's are usually creat-
ed by producers of information, and the termi-
nology used and the direction followed comes
from producers. There isn't really the focus on
the user: what's the end user going to get from
it? It's not very difficult to change your empha-
sis and to get into that user perspective. But
it's really important and needed in this com-
munity. Otherwise, you've built a really com-
plex, very expensive infrastructure and nobody
will use it. And that's always a concern.
Q: And how do you think this information
can best reach the community?
A: There's a range of solutions. One way to do
it is by putting a public interface to a national
SDI, but it's still relatively difficult and technical
to use. Another way of doing it is by making
information available to organizations like
Google or Microsoft, or Yahoo, and for us to
publish it parallel to our infrastructure. We're
very happy to do that, and that takes the cost
of hosting and distribution away from the pub-
lic sector organizations. Or, just build a website
and you put the raw datasets there for people
to download. Our key message is that INSPIRE
on its own is not enough. You really have to
get the information out to the citizens because
ultimately, it's the citizens that have the real
political voice. If you want to get investments
into GIS data in the future, you have to prove
26
I nt er vi ew
Ed Parsons, Googles Geospatial Technologist
Getting Geospatial Data to
the Community
I nt er vi ew
27
the value of GIS data and let the citizens see
the value. Building a geoportal that is only used
by public sector organizations or true geo-rock-
et scientists is never really going to get that
impact.
Q: Lets discuss open source: is there a
relationship between the upcoming con-
sumer-type GIS and open source as
opposed to Desktop GIS? How do you
value open source in general?
A: I think there is a relationship, if you look at
what we talk about today as Web 2.0, which is
largely an open source stack: the number of
services out there that sit on top of a Linux
operating system, connecting to a MySQL
database, an Apache webserver and
OpenServer or GeoServer. There's a huge
amount of open source technology that we use
in our day-to-day lives. It's playing a really
important role and that role will certainly
increase in the geospatial community.
next municipality. If you can make that avail-
able as open source then it could potentially
save the tax payer huge amounts of money.
I think in the geospatial realm, we're missing
organizations that can help from the technical
point of view, to manage the open source stack.
I think that from a business model there's no
real difference, but because the speed by which
changes can be made is different, that differ-
ence does exist. The fact that the community
can contribute to change is quite important in
the geospatial realm, where, because of the
complexity of a lot of things that we do, the
software just isn't right and it needs some mod-
ification. If you can put that modification back
in quickly, then I think there is huge potential
here.
Ed Parsons is the Geospatial Technologist
of Google.
Visit his blog at www.edparsons.com
Despite all the openness in terms of data and
interfaces, there are still a lot of proprietary sys-
tems out there that have not, to a large extent,
been impacted by open source. But I think
that's going to change. When you are a big
enterprise customer, you recognize that a lot of
your investment in your GIS system goes into
customizing and modifying commercial off the
shelve software just to meet what you need to
do. So, you buy big expensive toolkits and
spend a lot of time building additional func-
tionalities, and tailoring them to meet your own
needs. But actually, if you're a utility company
or if you're a public sector municipality, a lot of
the tools that you end up developing are very
similar to the tools which the municipality or
utility company next door also needs to devel-
op, or will need to develop in the near future.
But at the moment that additional work isn't
shared, it's done on a job by job basis by a
system integrator, who will then sell that same
skill and development to the next utility or the
Manaa/ af Geagraph/c
Infarmat/an Systems
Marguerite Madden, PhD, editor
Foreword by:
Jack Dangermond, ESRI
ISBN: 1-57083-086-X
Hardcover
1352 pages + DVD
July 2009
List Price: $135.00
ASPRS Member Price: $110.00
Student Price: $80.00
See our website at
www.asprs.org/gis_manual/
for more information, including the
Table of Contents and Author List.
To order, go onIine at
www.asprs.org and cIick on
the ASPRS Bookstore tab,
caII 301-206-9789 or emaiI
asprspubs@brightkey.net
The Manual of Geographic Information
Systems is the latest addition to the rich
collection of ASPRS manuals. Until
now, however, there has never been a
manual devoted to geographic information
systems (GIS). This volume is designed
to be a comprehensive resource on GIS
for students, researchers and practioners
who are interested in asking spatial
questions, assessing landscapes, building
geodatabases and envisioning a world of
integrated geospatial technologies.
The DVD that accompanies this book
contains more than 300 color fgures plus
digital content contributed by leading
GIS companies, agencies and institutions
including, ESRI; ERDAS; SAIC; IVS
3D; NOAA; USGS; San Diego State
University; University of California, Santa
Barbara; University of Plymouth; Florida
State University; University of Georgia;
and, State University of New York College
of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Instructors may request an examination
copy for this title.
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Sharing information by INSPIRE and national geoportals is a great way to share information
within the public sector, but dont forget that actually there's a huge benefit to getting
this information out to the community."
An Interview with Bradley Doorn
With an ever increasing world population and changing patterns of weather and
climate, global food security is now a matter of major importance, presenting a
real challenge to national governments as well as international agencies.
Bradley Doorn is asked about USDA and NASA activities in the monitoring and
assessment of global agricultural production in response to this challenge,
including the matter of the future availability of U.S. spaceborne imagery that
can be used for this purpose.
By Gordon Petrie
GP Touching first on the position that
you occupied for such a long period at
USDA, please explain to readers why
and how the monitoring and assessment
of global agricultural production was and
is being undertaken by FAS/OGA using
spaceborne imagery.
BD Spaceborne imagery has been used by
FAS for nearly three decades. FAS uses space-
borne imagery to establish or verify the nation-
al crop production reporting of major world
commodities that are critical to global food
security and world economies. Spaceborne
imagery provides a key piece of evidence
(among others) that is provided to those USDA
decision makers who establish U.S. agricultural
policies and publish agriculture economic indi-
cators. Within this specific context, spaceborne
imagery provides indicators such as vegetation
28
I nt er vi ew
Dr. Bradley Doorn is the Program Manager
for Agriculture and Water Applications in the
Applied Science Program within NASAs
Earth Science Division and he is also the
current President of the American Society
of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing
(ASPRS). His academic qualifications
include a B.Sc. degree in Geological
Engineering and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
in Digital Photogrammetry. He served as a
Topographic Officer with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and spent some years
as a manager in the commercial mapping
industry. However most of his career has
been spent in U.S. government agencies.
For 12 years, he acted as a division direc-
tor within the Office of Global Analysis
(OGA) of the Foreign Agriculture Service
(FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA). His responsibilities included the
management of (i) the programme of glob-
al monitoring of agriculture that is carried
out by FAS using spaceborne remote sens-
ing imagery; and (ii) the U.S. Satellite
Imagery Archive, which provides centralised
contracting and distribution of spaceborne
imagery for multiple USDA agencies in order
to reduce its cost and expand its use. In
the course of these various activities, Brad
Doorn has cooperated extensively with
NASA and, this summer, he has transferred
and started a new career with its Applied
Science Program which, as noted above,
forms part of NASAs Earth Science Division.
Examples of the different agricultural landscapes that may be encountered world-wide. These show the dif-
ferences in field geometry and size that occur in different parts of the world, as recorded on ASTER images.
At top left is the grid field pattern found in Minnesota; at upper middle are the circular fields in Kansas
resulting from the use of center-pivot irrigation; while, at top right, the image shows the small size and
random pattern of fields found in a part of north-western Germany. On the image at bottom left, are the
radial patterns of the fields that have been produced through a planned settlement scheme in the tropical
forest area of Bolivia; the lower middle image shows the long thin rice paddy fields fed by canals near
Bangkok in Thailand; while the image at lower right shows the large fields and huge farms occurring in
parts of southern Brazil.
Agricultural Monitoring Using
Spaceborne Imagery
health, vegetation type, soil moisture, precipi-
tation and temperature. Spaceborne imagery is
often the only primary observation integrated
into the decision making process that provides
objective, transparent and timely assessments
of global food supply. Understanding the glob-
al food supply is clearly more important today
than ever.
GP Regarding the analyses of the
imagery that are being conducted continu-
ously by FAS/OGA, how are the results
communicated to organisations such as
the Famine Early Warning System Network
(FEWSNET) for Africa and the MesoAmerica
Famine Early Warning System (MFEWS) for
Latin America? Can this information be
supplied in time to have an impact on the
availability of food in those countries
affected by widespread drought (that
develops over a long time period) or
through disasters such as large-scale river
or coastal flooding (that occur over a
much shorter time-scale)?
BD - FEWSNET and FAS work closely together
to share both data and analysis. FAS publish-
es its analysis in collaboration with the World
Agriculture Outlook Board (WAOB) and the
FAS attachs who are located in U.S.
embassies around the world. FAS focuses on
global food supply and the factors that drive
global supply and demand. FEWSNET (which
is funded by USAID) is a key partner that
focuses on food deficit countries and has a
network of analysts and spaceborne derived
products that target these nations and their
specific needs. FEWSNET has been a key
resource for supporting emergency relief and
providing early warning of disasters.
Timeliness is always a key issue in disaster
further support its mission, both to compen-
sate for Landsat limitations and to enhance
the frequency of coverage in key agriculture
regions. While the global systematic coverage
and the long-term archive that the Landsat
program provides could not be replaced, key
agriculture regions were covered in this way.
GP Obviously the successful launch of
the LDCM (as Landsat-8) and its entry
into service in 2012 will be a great step
forward in ensuring the continuity of the
Landsat archive and in conducting global
agricultural monitoring. However looking
to the longer term, what about the further
continuity of the Landsat program me?
Have the decisions been made to ensure
this continuity, given the considerable
time that will be required to construct,
test and launch the required satellites.
BD LDCM and the Landsat program are rec-
ognized as a great asset to the U.S. space
program by NASA. Discussions are on-going
as to how the moderate resolution imagery
that Landsat has provided over the years can
be provided in the long-term.
GP In many countries, extensive use is
being made of the lower-resolution MODIS
imagery for monitoring purposes. This
imagery is available from NASAs Terra
and Aqua satellites. However these satel-
lites were launched a long time ago
Terra in December 1999 and Aqua in May
2002. So again there is the question
among the global remote sensing commu-
nity about the continuity of this very valu-
able and widely-used resource. Are these
satellites going to be replaced when they
come to the end of their operational lives?
response and FEWSNET is working with NASA
to continually get better access to observa-
tions and models to help improve their
response, both in timeliness and accuracy.
GP Given the current and well-docu-
mented limitations in the availability and
quality of Landsat imagery, presumably
considerable use has had to be made by
FAS/OGA of non-U.S. medium-resolution
space imagery for monitoring purposes. If
so, then how has this worked out in prac-
tice? Has this imagery been readily avail-
able for use on a global scale or has it
only been used for those areas that are of
concern?
BD Landsat has been a key tool for FAS for
the past three decades. For many of those
years, FAS has used SPOT-HRV satellite data
to provide observations in support of the
Landsat observations. In recent years, FAS has
used IRS-P6 (Resourcesat-1) AWiFS imagery to
I nt er vi ew
29
(a) This map shows the route of the crop assessment being carried out on the ground in Ethiopia to assist in the interpretation and analysis that is being c
onducted by USDA/FAS using spaceborne imagery.
(b) The Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI) is a water-balance model developed by the UN Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) which,
in this case, indicates the potential performance of the maize crop for the imaged area in Ethiopia.
[a] [b]
An artists impression of the NPP (NPOESS
Preparatory Project) satellite which will test out
three of the imaging instruments that will be used
later in the fully operational NPOESS satellites.
The test instruments will include the
VisibleInfrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)
which will cover the wavelength spectrum from
0.4 to 13 micrometres in 22 spectral bands at GSD
values ranging from 600 to 1,200 metres.
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BD NASA is committed to ensuring that
MODIS imagery is available for as long as pos-
sible. In fact, NASA continues to make
improvements to the MODIS data products
and to the public access of those products.
The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP)
which is scheduled for launch in January 2011
and the operational NPOESS program are
in the queue to ensure that these daily, lower
resolution observations are available in the
long-term.
GP Turning next to your new position as
a program manager within NASAs Applied
Sciences Program, your published respon -
sibilities will once again include agricul-
ture. Presumably this will again involve
you in the monitoring and forecasting of
both global and domestic agricultural pro-
duction, but not directly as is being done
in USDA/FAS. So which specific aspects of
agriculture will you be focussing on in
your new role at NASA?
decade? Will the work on water resources
be carried out in-house within NASA or
will this be contracted out to be executed
by universities, by other federal agencies
or by private consultancies?
BD Global water resources are a key issue
for our program. We understand that the
water cycle is global in scope, but it clearly
has regional impacts and responses that vary
across landscapes. NASA has numerous
assets both in-orbit and scheduled for the
future that focus on the water cycle issues.
One example of how NASA is addressing
water cycle science is the Soil Moisture Active
& Passive (SMAP) mission. SMAP is utilizing
passive and active sensors together to mea-
sure soil moisture and it has an applications
working group that is defining how to use the
science data from this mission for applications
before the instrument is launched. As with
all other NASA applied sciences, help from
NASA centers, universities, federal agencies
BD My new role will allow me to work with
NASA earth scientists and other researchers
to identify, develop and demonstrate how
NASA missions and science can be utilized by
agriculture decision makers. There are numer-
ous policy issues surrounding agriculture
today such as water resources, climate change
and international trade. The challenge is to
work with those agencies and programs that
need to make critical agriculture decisions and
determine how (and if ) NASA missions and
science can be used to help them. One key
issue is how do we use global agriculture
monitoring data and technology to address
applications that are often very local or
regional in scope.
GP Your responsibilities within the
Applied Science Program also include
water resources. Again does this involve
the monitoring of these resources on a
global scale using NASAs satellites? How
will this be carried out during the coming
I nt er vi ew
31
An artists impression of the NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System) which will form the basis of the next generation of low
earth orbiting environmental satellites and will act as a replacement for both the U.S. Department of Defense DMSP satellites and the NOAA Polar Operational
Environmental Satellites (POES) satellite series.
and the private sector is being
sought to provide the best
applications possible.
GP As the current presi-
dent of the ASPRS in the
year when the Society cele-
brates its 75th anniversary,
how do you see it develop-
ing in the future, given the
ever changing and rapidly
developing digital imaging
and scanning technologies
that are being used for data
acquisition in both
photogrammetry and
remote sensing?
BD In our 75th year, ASPRS
members and the science and
technology that they represent
are more important than ever.
My message when I took over
as President of ASPRS was that
monitoring and measuring
change is of highest value
when uncertainty in general is
also high. For example, as
demands on our Earths
resources continue to grow and the impact of
climate change becomes more visible, while
remaining uncertain as to cause or effect,
ASPRS members are extremely critical in
ensuring that we are accurately and reliably
measuring this change. ASPRS members are
also key to understanding how and why this
change is occurring. Furthermore our collec-
tive resultant findings are vital in identifying
alternative solutions and in supporting effec-
tive monitoring regimes to respond to this
critical global challenge.
GP While the photogrammetric side of
ASPRS includes a large number of com-
mercial air survey and mapping compa-
nies who are sustaining members of the
Society and who supply a substantial part
of the membership, it is noticeable that
the number of universities in the U.S. that
offer higher-level photogrammetry pro-
grammes has declined markedly over the
last 10 to 15 years. Is the Society plan-
ning to try and redress this situation so
that the professionals (e.g. technologists
and managers) that will be required by
the industry in the future will be available
when the present generation of experi-
enced staff retire?
32
I nt er vi ew
(a) The SMAP (Soil Moisture Active-Passive) satellite will use a combined microwave radiometer and high-resolution radar in conjunction with a shared mesh
antenna to measurethe soil moisture and freeze-thaw state of the ground. This information will enable improvements to be made in weather, flood and drought
forecasts and in predictions of agricultural productivity.. (b) This diagram shows the measurement geometry and ground coverage of the radiometer and radar
imaging combination that will be mounted on the SMAP satellite.
[a]
[b]
33
BD There are many factors affecting the current situation related to pho-
togrammetry education, and we probably cant address all of them here.
However, ASPRS is most definitely concerned with the decline in the number
of large photogrammetry programs in the U.S. Indeed ASPRS staff members
have worked with our colleagues at the American Congress on Surveying and
Mapping (ACSM) and through the Accreditation Board on Engineering and
Technology (ABET) [ACSM is the ABET member society for these curriculum
areas] to ensure the continued viability of photogrammetric education in the
U.S. We are especially concerned that the U.S. programs awarding advanced
degrees in this area are suffering, which leaves the nation with a potentially
critical strategic shortage of native-born talent a situation which has recent-
ly caught the attention of some of the largest government agencies involved
with this discipline. In addition, we have been called upon to provide advice
and consultation to several institutions hosting four-year photogrammetry
programs as they work to address related issues.
More generally, our highest priorities at ASPRS include our student members,
along with the development of a highly trained workforce to meet the global
challenges we have just discussed. The growth in the number of student
chapters in recent years, our robust awards and scholarships program (fund-
ed through the ASPRS Foundation), and the many related student outreach
activities have been notable successes due to the efforts of my predecessors
and the ASPRS staff. We continue to adapt our certification program to be
sure that we are meeting the needs of the industry, and the photogrammetry
certifications are by far the largest group. We are also working with 2-year
post-secondary programs as well as developing material for the growing num-
ber of interdisciplinary programs that integrate photogrammetry and remote
sensing into solutions-oriented curricula (e.g. GIS). This will be a big chal-
lenge for us as the current generation retires, but I am convinced that ASPRS
is ready and accessible, and will continue to meet the needs of our nations
image-based workforce.
For more information regarding the activities
of NASA and USDA in global agricultural monitoring,
please see the following Web sites:-
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/
NasaNews/Agriculture2009
www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer
http://jointmission.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov
www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/glam.cfm
www.fews.net
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
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
Geomaat is an independent surveying company founded in 2002. From its head office in
Groningen, the Netherlands, the company performs a variety of different projects, from mea-
surements on the ground, road and water construction, and profile measurements for water
boards to GPS volume definitions and topographic measurements for communities and devel-
opers.
Geomaat was the first company in the world to buy the Streetmapper 360 system. This is a
surveying system that can perform 360-degree laser scans from a moving car. Complete
motorways and urban areas can be surveyed at speeds of more than 100 kilometers per
hour.
Director Jolle Jelle de Vries explains why the company bought this system: Right from
the start Geomaat has been engaged in innovative solutions, and every year we look for
new methods and equipment that can sustain our work. Three years ago we started with
surveying 3D data using GPS stations that were mounted on quads, so we already had
experience with mobile surveying systems. In 2008 we first came into contact with the
supplier of Streetmapper 360, the English company 3D Laser Mapping, and after going
through trial trajects in May and June we bought the system in November. Where the former
Streetmapper solution made use of four stationary scanners, our system uses two rotating laser
scanners. Also, our system offers more options because the resolution is higher than the
previous version.
34
Ar t i cl e
The acquisition of survey data is a time-consuming thing in itself, but it can be even more difficult
when the data has to be acquired in a place that has a lot of traffic. Dutch company Geomaat found
a solution that not only reduces surveying time, but also is suitable for heavily trafficked areas.
By Lambert-Jan Koops
Streetmapper 360 for Acquiring Topography
Geomaat Acquires 3D Data
without Traffic Obstruction
Scanners
Streetmapper 360 contains not only
two rotating laser scanners, but also
a GPS module so that the position
of the system can be defined. In
addition, the entire system is provid-
ed with a delay navigation system.
De Vries explains why this is need-
ed: The scanners are mounted on
top of the car and scan the sur-
rounding environment. If the car is
on a hill or if the road surface is not
bumpy, this can cause large devia-
tions in the surveying data. The scan-
ners can survey objects within a
radius of 300 meters, so if the laser
beams are wired underneath a small,
distorted angle, this causes a discrepancy of a few meters at the fringe
of the surveying circle. The delaying navigation system is able to keep
track of these deviations so that scan data can be corrected.
Streetmapper 360 can survey 600,000 points per second. The resolu-
tion of the surveyed trajects depends, of course, on the speed of the
car and varies from 5 millimeters to 5 centimeters. For projects on pub-
lic roads it is desirable to have another car drive along in the normal
traffic flow to avoid causing a nuisance. Surveying can be performed at
a speed between 80 and 100 kilometers per hour and with an average
point density of around 400 per square meter.
A32
One of the projects that Geomaat has already carried out with the
Streetmapper 360 system is surveying an 11 kilometer course on the
A32 between Steenwijk and Wolvega. The motorway has bumps on the
full width of the track, particularly in the northern direc-
tion, with severe rutting. This is caused by a bro-
ken foundation that is not supporting
the road. The only right solution
to this problem is to remove the road
surface and foundation completely
and reconstruct this part of the
motorway. The Dutch water board will
be starting these activities based on
a design supplied by Geomaat. De
Vries explains what the company did
here: First we surveyed the traject
with Streetmapper. This yielded a file
of 50 million points in different cate-
gories that we post-processed and
categorized in MicroStation. The data
was classified into different cate-
gories such as soil, art works and
high and low vegetation. Also, the
captured data was checked because
we surveyed the height with the aid
of leveling. This yielded a standard deviation of 8 millimeters.
When the models were created, they were loaded into AutoCAD Civil
3D where length profiles and cross sections were created. Also, a new
road design was created by Geomaat employees. This fits in with
Geomaat activities, De Vries explains: We are not an engineering com-
pany that creates a completely new design, but its easy for us to con-
vey improvements. This means that we not only removed bumps in the
course, but we also had a look at the super-elevation of the entries
and exits. Also, we looked for a solution that requires a minimum
amount of earth moving, so the activities can be carried out optimally.
Video Imagery
The 3D model created by Geomaat will be used later for driving build-
ing machinery. When the work has been finished the Streetmapper 360
will survey the course again, and after that the surveyors will check if
the activities have been carried out correctly based on the data.
To make the digital activities easier Geomaat has provided video
imagery data captured with digital video cameras that are also part of
the Streetmapper system. The video images are directly linked to the
digital model so every view from the surveying vehicle can be verified
on the screen when post-processing. This, however, is only meant as a
visual support for the data. De Vries: It may be clear that the camera
images are never meant to be used as a foundation for measure-
ments. The data are more reliably available in the 3D model
we provide on the basis of surveying data.
Internet: www.geomaat.nl
Ar t i cl e
35
Using RapidEye Data without Ground Control
A fully automated high-speed system to produce
high-accuracy multispectral orthos and mosaics for optical
data from all over the world is now possible with the
availability of RapidEye satellite data and graphic
processing unit processor. Time-sensitive applications,
such as agricultural or disaster management, can now
access high-accuracy orthos as soon as the data
is available.
By Philip Cheng and Jiri Sustera
RapidEye Satellites
RapidEye is a constellation of five satellites launched simultaneously
on August 29, 2008. Each satellite measures less than one cubic meter
and weighs 150 kg (bus + payload). On board digital recorders store
image data until the satellite passes within range of the ground receiv-
ing station located in Svalbard, Norway. The satellites have a global
revisit time in 1 day and it can image more than 4 million km2 every
day.
Each satellite carries a pushbroom multi-spectral sensor, capable of col-
lecting image data in five distinct bands of electromagnetic spectrum
at GSD 6.5 meters: Blue, Green, Red, Red-Edge, and Near-Infrared.
RapidEye's satellites are the first commercial satellites to include the
Red-Edge band, which is sensitive to changes in chlorophyll content.
Additional research will be necessary to realize the full potential of the
Red-Edge band, however, preliminary studies show that this band can
assist in monitoring vegetation health, improve species separation and
help in measuring protein and nitrogen content in biomass.
RapidEye Applications
There are many potential applications for RapidEye satellites: (1)
Agriculture Field boundary extraction, crop identification, acreage
determination, yield forecasting, management and harvest zone map-
ping, damage assessment and risk management for agricultural insur-
ances, etc. (2) Forestry Tree species separation, stem volume estima-
tion, infestation detection, volume estimation, harvest mapping, etc.
(3) Security and emergency Disaster management after tornadoes,
hurricanes, drought, floods, landslides, hail, fires, earthquakes, etc. (4)
Environment Change detection for any environmental purpose. (5)
Spatial Solutions Background imagery services, updating road net-
work databases, ortho-image maps, etc. (6) Energy and infrastructure
Pipeline monitoring, land cover classification, clutter mapping, etc.
Further information on RapidEye applications can be found at
http://www.rapideye.de.
When comparing with other optical satellites, the biggest advantage of
RapidEye is the speed to provide high-resolution multispectral satellite
imagery within 12-48 hours because of the constellation of five satel-
lites. The second advantage, which will be described in this article, is
the ability to generate high accuracy orthos and mosaics using no
ground control information.
36
Ar t i cl e
Figure 1: Overview image of RapidEye Irvine data
Automated High-Speed High-Accuracy
Orthorectification of
RapidEye Data
For most applications, the
data must be corrected to a
map projection before it
becomes useful; this correc-
tion process is called
orthorectification or geomet-
ric correction. The process
requires the use of a rigor-
ous geometric model,
ground control points
(GCPs), and a digital eleva-
tion model (DEM). The col-
lection of GCPs presents a
significant problem for
orthorectification. An existing
source of GCPs may not be
available. It is often too
expensive to collect new
points, especially for areas
inaccessible by road. In
some cases, the collection of
GCPs is made almost impos-
sible by local conditions
such as floods or earth-
quake.
The RapidEye satellite plat-
forms have been constructed
by Surrey Satellite
Technology Ltd (SSTL). Each
satellite uses a star tracker
known as the Altair HB. It
was developed as an alter-
native low cost, high accura-
cy, spacecraft attitude deter-
mination and control sensor.
The accurate attitude infor-
mation could potentially help
to orthorectify the RapidEye
data accurately to any map
projection without the need
Ar t i cl e
37
Figure 3: Full resolution orthorectified RapidEye image of Irvine corrected without GCPs
overlaid with Google Earth
Figure 2: Full resolution orthorectified RapidEye image of Irvine corrected without GCPs
overlaid with USGS 1:24000 vectors
Orthorectification and Mosaicking
for GCPs. This would be an immense benefit to numerous applications
where accurately-corrected orthos are needed as soon as possible. In
this article, we will use different RapidEye data to test and explore
orthorectification accuracy without the use of GCPs.
RapidEye Test Data
RapidEye Standard Image Products can be purchased in two product
levels, depending on the task at hand. (1) RapidEye Basic Product
(level 1B): This data has had radiometric and sensor corrections applied
to it, as well as on-board spacecraft attitude and ephemeris. (2)
RapidEye Ortho Product (level
3A): Offers the highest level pro-
cessing available. Radiometric,
sensor and geometric correc-
tions have been applied to the
data. These have been rectified
using a DTED level 1 SRTM DEM
or better, and with appropriate
GCPs can meet an accuracy of
6m 1-sigma (12.7 CE90). The
highest accuracy that can be
achieved by these products
meets 1:25,000 NMAS stan-
dards.
Most users would prefer to use
Level 1B data because they can
use their own GCPs and DEMs
to generate orthos. In this arti-
cle we will test the correction
accuracy of 1B data with and
without GCPs. Level 1B data were obtained for the following areas: (1)
Irvine, California, USA. (2) Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and (3) Zlin and
Koprivnice regions, Czech Republic.
Geometric Correction Method and Software
Each RapidEye 1B data is supplied with 5 bands in NITF format. In addi-
tion, rational polynomial coefficients (RPC) are provided with the data,
which enables the use of RPC model to orthorectify the data. More
details about the RPC model can be found in the paper written by
Grodecki and Dial (Block Adjustment of High-Resolution Satellite Images
Described by Rational Functions
- PE &RS January, 2003). Since
biases or errors still exist in the
RPCs, the results can be post-
processed with a polynomial
adjustment and several accurate
GCPs.
The latest version of PCI
Geomatics OrthoEngine soft-
ware was used for this testing.
This software supports reading
of the data, manual or automat-
ic GCP/tie point (TP) collection,
geometric modeling of different
satellites using Toutins rigorous
model or the RPC model, auto-
matic DEM generation and edit-
ing, orthorectification, and
either manual or automatic
mosaicking.
38
Ar t i cl e
Figure 5: Full resolution orthorectified RapidEye Phoenix data corrected without GCPs
overlaid with Google Earth
Figure 4: Full resolution orthorectified RapidEye Phoenix data corrected without GCPs overlaid with USGS 1:24000 vectors
Irvine, California
The data has a coverage of approximately 76 km by 230 km. Figure 1
shows an overview of the image. 14 GCPs were collected from USGS
1:24000 scale maps and 0 order RPC adjustment was used. The root
means square (RMS) GCP residuals were about 3.6m in X and 7.0m in Y
with a maximum residual of 6.5m in X and 11.5m in Y. The results were
similar when using 1st order RPC adjustment. When all the GCPs were
changed to independent check points (ICPs), the RMS ICP errors were
about 5.7m in X and 7.5m in Y with
a maximum error of 11.7m in X and
13.6m in Y. Although the errors are
slightly higher when no GCPs were
used, the RMS errors are still close
to the resolution of the sensor, i.e.,
6.5m. The accuracy of the GCPs
using 1:24000 scale maps could also
contribute the errors in the result.
Figure 2 and 3 show examples of the
orthorectified image corrected with-
out GCPs overlaid with 1:24000
USGS vectors and Google Earth,
respectively.
Phoenix, Arizona
A block of three 1B RapidEye data
set with overlaps was tested in this
case. Each image has a coverage
of approximately 76 km by 162 km. 14 DGPS GCPs with sub-meter
accuracy were collected from the data set. The RMS GCP residuals were
about 2.3m in X and 2.1m in Y with a maximum residual of 3.3m in X
and 4.7m in Y. When all the GCPs were changed as ICPs, the RMS ICP
errors were 3.5m in X and 4.2m in Y with a maximum error of 6.3m in
X and 6.5m in Y. Hence, RMS errors when no GCPs were used are with-
in the resolution (6.5m) of the sensor in this case. Figure 4 and 5 show
examples of the orthorectified image corrected without GCPs overlaid
with 1:24000 USGS vectors and
Google Earth, respectively.
Czech, Republic
RapidEye 1B data set of Zlin and
Koprivnice regions were acquired
on June 14, 2009. The size of each
scene was around 76 km by 60 km.
The GCPs were collected from 0.5m
aerial orthophotos and elevations
of GCPs were extracted from DEM
that was generated using 2m con-
tours originated from 1:10 000 topo-
graphic maps. For testing purposes
more than 30 GCPs were prepared
for each scene. The 1st order of RPC
adjustment was used for all scenes.
In the case of scene acquired over
Zlin region 34 GCPs were collected.
Ar t i cl e
39
Figure 6: Full resolution orthorectified RapidEye Zlin data corrected without GCPs overlaid with Google Earth
Figure 7: Full resolution orthorectified RapidEye Koprivnice data corrected
without GCPs overlaid with Google Earth
The RMS GCP residuals
were about 2.0m in X
and 1.9m in Y with a
maximum residual of
5.4m in X and 4.4m in
Y. When all the GCPs
were changed to ICPs,
the RMS ICP errors
were about 3.7m in X
and 4.6 m in Y with a
maximum error of 6.6m
in X and 9.5m in Y.
In the case of scene
acquired over Kopriv -
nice region 30 GCPs
were collected. The
RMS GCP residuals
were about 2.6m in X and 2.3m in Y with a maximum residual of 5.8m
in X and 5.4m in Y. When all the GCPs were changed to ICPs, the RMS
ICP errors were about 5.1m in X and 3.9m in Y with a maximum error
of 10.5m in X and 8.6m in Y.
Hence, both data have RMS error within the resolution of the sensor
when no GCPs were used. Figure 6 and 7 show the orthorectified images
using no GCPs overlaid with Google Earth.
Automatic Mosaicking
The successful generation of high accuracy RapidEye orthos means that
it is possible to create seamless mosaics of RapidEye data without
GCPs. However, mosaicking and color balancing are usually extremely
time consuming processes. The PCI automatic cutline searching,
mosaicking and color balance tools could be used to perform the entire
process automatically. No human intervention would be required dur-
ing the process. To test the automatic mosaicking of RapidEye data,
the block of three Phoenix data were used. The mosaic file has a size
of approximately 5.6 Gigabytes. Figure 8 shows the overview of the
mosaic image and figure 9 shows a full resolution of the mosaic image
overlaid with the cutline in red color. It can be seen from figure 9 that
the roads are aligned to each other perfectly at the cutline between
the two images.
Automated Batch Processing using GPU
Since high accuracy RapidEye orthos and mosaics can be generated
automatically without GCPs, it is possible to integrate all the processes
in a fully automated batch system.
The batch programs required to per-
form all the steps are available
inside PCI software. It can be run
through python or PCI EASI scripts.
The advantages of automated pro-
cessing are that it will: (1) maximize
production, (2) automate repetitive
time-consuming tasks to produce
consistent results, (3) improve oper-
ating efficiencies, (4) reduce labor
costs, and (5) shorten throughput
time for the delivery cycle. The gen-
eration of a large quantity of high
accuracy orthos or mosaics, such as
a mosaic of an entire country, can
be generated easily with the auto-
mated system. Multi -
ple computers can also
be used to speed up
the processes. The
fully automated pro-
cess means that it is
easy to generate Ra -
pid Eye orthos/mosaics
for many critical appli-
cations for quick
turnaround.
Modern computer hard-
ware such as multi-core
processors and graphi-
cal processing units
(GPU) have been found
to improve the speed
of computation-bound
processes. The model for GPU computing is to use a CPU and GPU
together in a heterogeneous computing model. The sequential part of
the application runs on the CPU and the computationally-intensive part
runs on the GPU. From the users perspective, the application simply
runs faster because it is using the high-performance of the GPU to boost
performance. PCI GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL) has taken advantage
of this modern computer hardware by integrating the use of GPU com-
puting to perform intense computation tasks such as pansharpening,
orthorectification and automatic mosaicking. It provides speed im -
prove ments of approximately 6 times for pansharpening, 10 times for
orthorectification and 5 times for automatic mosaicking. These improve-
ments in processing speed will help the user to obtain results much
faster without any change in accuracy.
Conclusions
It is possible to generate high accuracy orthos and mosaics of Rapideye
data without ground control points for quick turnaround. The test results
show RMS errors consistently around one resolution of the data. The
fact the GCPs are not required for RapidEye geometric correction
translates to very significant cost and time savings for the user. In
addition, automated batch processing to generate a large quantity of
RapidEye orthos/mosaics is now possible using single or multiple
computers. The use of GPU computing can improve the speed of
orthorectification to 10 times faster and automatic mosaicking up to
5 times faster.
Dr. Philip Cheng cheng@pcigeomatics.com
is a senior scientist at PCI Geomatics.
Mr. Jiri Sustera jiri.sustera@gisat.gz is
remote sensing expert at GISAT.
The authors would like to acknowl-
edge RapidEye Company and JRC
European Commission for
providing the test data.
40
Ar t i cl e
Figure 8: Automatic mosaicked RapidEye image of Phoenix
Figure 9: Full resolution automatic mosaicked RapidEye image of Phoenix over-
laid with cutlines
WWW.c|||a.eu 2009 SOKKlA TOPCON CO.,LTD
FeeI the freedom to move
Sokkia's SRX offers you the ultimate freedom to move in the feld of robotic measuring. Whatever the application,
the SRX delivers reliable and high precision results without losing target. Moreover the SRX total station range
offers an economic entry model which makes it accessible for everyone. All hard- and software components can
be confgured to your individual needs.
The SRX is equipped with the RED-tech EX EDM, the latest in Sokkia's innovative refectorless measurement
technology, which makes it possible to perform highly accurate refectorless measurements from 30cm up to
500m.
Experience 8okkia's 8RX total stations
Topcon GMS-2
The Office for Surveying and Registration in Mnster is responsible for the municipal mapping of the 302.9 square
kilometer city. In order to include detailed features within an accuracy range of less than one meter on the maps, the office
decided to use Topcons handheld GMS-2 receiver. Using the GMS-2 means that graduate engineer Erich Taube is able to
collect precise position information for areas that cannot be covered by existing aerial photography. In the future, this
information will be uploaded to the internet.
During a walk through the survey area, Mr
Taube described his work to us. The basic
1:5000 mapping and aerial photography of
Mnster form the basis for our work. This
existing information is completed by carrying
out measurements with the GMS-2, and thus
creates the basis of the municipal cartogra-
phy. We can compare a map on the spot with
the real world and record details. This, of
course, is only possible outdoors!
Updating the Mapping
An Important Task
Extending 21 kilometers from east to west
and 22 kilometers from south to north,
Mnster is the second largest city of
Northrhine-Westphalia in terms of area.
Currently, the Office for Surveying and
Registration employs around 100 people. One
of our tasks is the creation of all forms
of topographic mapping as well as con-
tinuous updating. All services derived
from this data, like the production of
prints etc., are also within our field of activi-
ty. During this process, quick and reliable
access to this data is essential. Therefore, we
use our own file server on which all geo-
graphic information is stored. Citizens are able
to chose from different thematic maps such
as Points of Interest and others.
Geographical Information
Current mapping of the city is needed not only
by the many civic offices and institutions but
also by companies and private individuals.
The Police Department and Emergency
Medical Services have a permanent need for
current maps and use our mapping products.
These maps are house-number accurate.
A key reason for purchasing the GMS-2 is its
ability to connect to the Panasonic CF-19
ToughBook running the HHK GEOgraf software
which makes use of SAPOS real-time correc-
tion data.
The GMS-2 is the most compact single-fre-
quency receiver that is able to process SAPOS
correction data and export corrected coordi-
nates as NMEA strings. The option of moni-
toring real-time measuring accuracy via HDOP,
VDOP and PDOP on the display is a great
advantage.
The use of the GMS-2 in connection with the
Panasonic CF-19 has stood the test of time.
Additionally, due to the great color display
and the software extension eTopPlus for
ArcPAD7 (developed by Topcon) it is possible
to use the GMS-2 without CF-19 in difficult
environments.
Internet: www.topcon-positioning.eu
42
Ar t i cl e
Survey of the Munster
By one of the Editors
An Evolution of the Millennial Pair (Pt.1)
By Joc Triglav
From Anniversaries into the Future
This years 250-th anniversary of the inven-
tion of the famous watch H-4 that ultimately
resolved the longitude problem and the 400-
th anniversary of the first use of an astro-
nomical telescope is also an opportunity to
look at geodesy as a science of measuring
the Earths shape as a function of time. The
paper gives an insight in some basic devel-
opments and describes the historical devel-
opment of geodesy by pointing out and
demonstrating the relations between the
Earths shape, geolocation and time measure-
ments from the ancient times to the present
time. Since the ancient times the flow of time
was a natural measure of mans movements
in the physical space and of movements of
the Sun, the Moon, the planets and all the
other celestial bodies in the vastness of
space. Providing the scientific means of how
to reference the where and when through
millennia, geodesy enables to put the who
or what in the spatio-temporal space and to
present the answers to why and how ques-
tions. Astronomy, geodesy, surveying and
geography along with cartography, are the sci-
ences that naturally combine the knowledge
about space and time providing the natural
and social sciences a framework for the devel-
opment of the constantly growing knowledge
of humankind. One of the crucial tasks of
geodetic science in the modern era is to pro-
vide its unified spatial and temporal reference
to geoinformation science and its wide area
of application fields. Geodesy in the begin-
ning of 21st century is defined essentially by
the development of the Global Navigation
Satellite System (GNSS), which enables the
national geodetic organizations a gradual
transition from their specific national terres-
trial reference systems to the global terrestri-
al reference system. This way standardised
information on geolocation is becoming a
ubiquitous global utility, opening new win-
dows of opportunities for geoinformation sci-
ence and the humankind.
1 Introduction
This year we remember 250-th anniversary of
the John Harrisons H-4 (Figure 1, Figure 1(a),
1(b)), the famous watch that ultimately
resolved the longitude problem, one of the
toughest and most intriguing scientific prob-
lems of the larger part of human history. The
watch, the perfect Timekeeper for the
Longitude as the inventor called it, was fin-
ished in 1759 and provided with an excellent
timekeeping mechanism a purely mechanical
solution to the longitude problem.
On the other hand, the most brilliant scientif-
ic minds from all over Europe were searching
for centuries to provide an accurate and use-
ful solution for measuring the longitude, pur-
suing their astronomic measurements and
mapping the movements of the chosen known
celestial bodies in the sky. The year 2009 has
yet another important anniversary to remem-
ber. As a global celebration of astronomy and
its contributions to society and culture and
as a promotion of a greater appreciation of
the inspirational aspects of astronomy that
embody an invaluable shared resource for all
nations this year is declared as The
International Year of Astronomy 2009 and
marks the 400th anniversary of the first use
of an astronomical telescope (Figure 2(b)) by
Galileo Galilei (Figure 2(a)) and the resulting
journey of discovery for humanity.
Though the invention of the accurate watch
overran astronomers scientific efforts and
reached the ultimate longitude determinan-
tion goal first 250 years ago, we can see from
historic records and from todays perspective
that we need the best of both time mea-
surements and astronomic measurements
in order to define accurately a global founda-
tion for measuring objects in space and time.
In present times, the technology of accurate
time measurements has moved from mechan-
ical watches to cesium and rubidium atomic
clocks, while in the technology of astronomic
measurements the observations of natural
celestial bodies retain their fundamental value
44
Ar t i cl e
Figure 1. Portrait of John Harrison (16931776)
painted in 1766. He invented the first practical
marine chronometer, which enabled navigators to
compute accurately their longitude at sea. (Image
source: https://history-wiki.wikispaces.com)
Figure 1(a). John Harrisons marine timekeeper H4,
obverse, diameter 132 mm.
(Repro ID: D0789_1, National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, London).
Figure 1(b). Marine timekeeper H4 with open
upper plate and visible signature John Harrison &
Son A.D. 1759. (Repro ID: D789-B, National
Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London).
Geolocation and Time
in providing a unified reference of a modern
global terrestrial reference system.
However, since the middle of the 20th centu-
ry the natural celestial bodies are not the
only objects of observation for astronomers
and geodesists any more. With the Russian
Sputnik I in the year 1957, we entered into
the era of artificial satellites, which has
evolved in a few decades to such a level, that
the satellite techniques have gained an
essential and actually indispensable role in
global positioning, navigation and timing.
The US Global Positioning System (GPS) and
the Russian Global Navigation Satellite
System (GLONASS) system were established
as Global Satellite Navigation Systems
(GNSS), while the European Galileo and the
Chinese BeiDou2-Compass systems are
already in their initial operating phases. All
these systems are actually based on the
same concepts, i.e. on a constellation of
Earth orbiting spacecraft emitting signals with
precise orbital and time data. Suitable receiv-
er equipment combines the signals from at
least four spacecraft yielding the time and
the three spatial coordinates.
In a certain way, the humanity is in a similar
position nowadays as it was two and a half
centuries ago, when H-4 was made. Then the
long sought solution of the longitude prob-
lem was finally found and put into a mechan-
ical pocket watch to serve the sailors and the
public. Today, after a long and winding road
filled with innumerable new technological
inventions, we have reached a point of devel-
opment, when we are able to put not only
longitude, but also latitude, heighth and time
solution all together in a small electronic
2 A Short History of Relations
between Geolocation and Time
Common sense tells us that spatial aspects
of all existence are fundamental. Before an
awareness of time, there is an awareness of
relations in space. Space seems to be that
aspect of existence to which most other
things can be analogized or with which they
can be equated. The concept of spatial relat-
edness is a quality without which it is diffi-
cult or impossible for the human mind to
apprehend anything. For this reason, a man
in the earliest era of development developed
a sense of relations between here and there
and wanted to communicate these relations
to the others. At the same time, a man want-
ed to acquire them from these others. The
easiest way to do it was through maps. Maps
constitute a common language used by men
of different races and tongues to express the
relationship of their society to a geographic
environment.
Maps have changed and developed through
history as much as human mind and knowl-
edge did. The ways used to represent and
organize these spatial relationships in a form
of map changed and developed as well, from
the simplest forms up to present sophisticat-
ed digital products. Astronomy, geodesy, sur-
veying and geography along with cartography,
are the sciences that enabled this develop-
ment.
2.1 The Shape and the Size of Earth
Through the ancient times, several ideas and
opinions regarding the shape of the Earth
were prevailing among scholars, from a slab
to a drum- or pillar-shaped world and through
device to serve positioning, navigation and
timing professionals as well as the widest
public across the globe. The article outlines
in a few glimpses how the geodetic, survey-
ing, positioning and navigation science have
come this far and what steps can and should
be done in order to allow the humanity to
get the best use of knowing the combined
geolocation and time data as accurately as
possible. Due to the limited space of the
paper, the presented contents are obviously
selective and without a presumption or
attempt of historical completeness.
Ar t i cl e
45
Figure 2(a). Portrait of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642),
painted in 1636 by J. Sustermans. Galileo has been
referred to as the "father of modern astronomy", as
the "father of modern physics", and as the "father
of science". (Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org).
Figure 2(b). Two of Galileos first telescopes; in the
Institute and Museum of the History of Science,
Florence.
Figure 3. Eratosthenes has used the same specific moment in time the summer solstice on both ends of
the arc to measure the central angle and calculate the circumference of the Earth.
an idea of a circular form eventually to a
spherical form. This spherical concept as a
fundamental idea for later progress apparent-
ly had its beginnings among the ancient Greek
Pythagorean philosophers in the 6th century
BC and elaborated through the works of the
philosopher Plato and his followers, includ-
ing Aristotle. By the time of Aristotle (384-322
BC), the spherical form of earth was general-
ly accepted. The ancient Greeks also applied
a system of dividing the circle into 360 equal
parts, which they inherited from the
Babylonian sexagesimal system (base-60) and
their astronomers. Temple records from the
city of Uruk in the late fourth millennium BC
already include evidence of dividing a year
into 12 months of 30 days each, i.e. in 360
days. Through observations of the Sun, Moon,
stars and the visible planets, they noticed the
circular track of the Sun's apparent annual
path across the sky and knew that it took
about 360 days to complete one year's cir-
cuit. Remember, in those times geocentric sys-
tem was adopted. We have confirmed much
later, that actually the Earth is revolving
around the Sun and not vice-versa. In order
to track each day's passage of the Sun's
whole journey they therefore divided the cir-
cular path into 360 degrees. Egyptians made
a step further around 1500 BC, dividing the
day into 24 hours. Originally, the hours var-
ied with the seasons, but Greek astronomers
with their systematic approach made later the
hours equal. About 300 to 100 BC, the
Babylonians subdivided the hour into base-
60 fractions: 60 minutes in an hour and 60
seconds in a minute. Based on actually the
same roots of the Baylonian base-60 number
system we have got a natural connection
between measuring time, angles, and geo-
graphic coordinates which with slight modifi-
cations lives up to present times. The shape
of Earth is thus logically inter-connecting the
measurement of geolocation and time for
thousands of years.
In addition, the first experimental defining of
the size of Earth in the third century BC is
closely connected with time by an ingenious
measurement method of Eratosthenes (276-
195 BC), the founder of geodesy. In his mea-
surement (Figure 3), Eratosthenes used a
known phenomenon at the well in Syene on
the river Nile, present Aswan.
There the Sun shone directly into its deep
46
Ar t i cl e
Figure 4. World map from Claudius Ptolemy's ''Geographia'' published in Ulm, 1482 by Lienhart Holle, engraved by author Johannes Schnitzer (Credits: BPL).
Figure 5. Portrait of Johannes Kepler (1571 1630)
painted in 1610. He is the founder of celestial
mechanics and was a key figure in the 17th centu-
ry scientific revolution. 2009 is also the 400th
anniversary of his publication of Astronomia
Nova with his discovery of elliptical moving of the
planets around the sun and description of the first
two laws of planetary motion. (Image courtesy of
Sternwarte Kremsmnster)
waters at high noon on the longest day of the
year, the summer solstice on June 21, while
in Alexandria which lied approximately north
of Syene, no such event had ever been seen.
Instead, in Alexandria the Suns rays on the
same day formed an angle with the direction
of the plumb line. From the length of the
shadow of a vertical staff produced in a hemi-
spherical shell, Eratosthenes determined the
angle as approximately 1/50 of a complete cir-
cle. This angle is equal to the central angle
between these two places, as if measured
from the centre of a spherical Earth.
Eratosthenes applied the then estimated dis-
tance of 5000 stadia between Alexandria and
Syene to provide the circumference of the
Earth as 252000 stadia. Eratosthenes used
the stade III = 158.73 m as the unit of length.
Calculating in metric units the measurements
of Eratosthenes give a result of 40000km for
the circumference of the Earth and conse-
quently the result of 6365 km for the radius
of the Earth ( = 252000/2 = 40100 stadia =
6365 km). This value is differing minimally
from the radius 6371 km of the mean spheri-
cal Earth as derived with WGS 84 Ellipsoid,
which represents the best global geodetic ref-
erence system for the Earth available at this
time for practical applications of mapping,
charting, geopositioning and navigation. The
principle that Eratosthenes has used is the
measurement of the meridian arc in which he
used the same specific moment in time on
natural phenomena to fix it down to the body
of Earth. Ptolemy in his time has decided to
put its origin at the western edge of the
known world through the Fortunate (present
Canary) islands in the Atlantic Ocean north-
west of Africa. Through the centuries, the lon-
gitude line origin has been moved back and
forth across the maps almost at the free will
of later cartographers, until it finally settled
in Greenwich, UK by an international political
agreement. Namely, only in 1884 a conference
in Washington of 25 world nations agreed that
Greenwich would be the world's Prime
Meridian of longitude, world time and time
zones.
2.3 From the Spherical to the
Ellipsoidal Earth
With latitude and longitude the principles of
mapping the world were organized using a
both ends of the arc to measure the cen-
tral angle. The principle of meridian arc
measurements was used with modifica-
tions in geodetic observations up to
modern times.
2.2 Latitude, Longitude and
Time
Being known at least three centuries BC,
the lines of latitude and longitude were
by A.D. 150 drawn also in the first world
atlas by Ptolemy, the ancient scholar
with many scientific interests whos mil-
lennial fame and influence are mostly
the result of his two books, one on
astronomy and other on geography. In
astronomy, he introduced among other
things a simple but invaluable concept
of subdividing an arc degree in 60 min-
utes (lat. partes minutae primae) and
then further every minute in 60 seconds
(lat. partes minutae secundae). Thus, we
have minutes and seconds of time and
minutes and seconds of arc degrees. In
his book Geography Ptolemy defined
geography as a presentation in pictures
of the whole known world together with
the phenomena which are contained
therein, combining data on geolocation
and time. He also defined the task of
cartographer, which is to survey the
whole in just proportions that is, to
draw maps to scale. In his maps (Figure
4), Ptolemy used a grid system of lati-
tude and longitude lines as a reference
to geolocate the known items such as
lands, coasts, islands and towns on a
map. Longitude was expressed in frac-
tions of hours while latitudes were des-
ignated by the number of hours in the
longest day of the year. Once again, we
come across relating a grid of geoloca-
tions on a map to the measures of time.
The Equator as the zero-degree parallel of lat-
itude was already known then and fixed from
the laws of nature, i.e. from the observations
of the apparent movements of the Sun and
other celestial bodies. The astronomers knew
from astronomic observations, that during the
year the Sun is crossing the celestial equator
twice a year on its way between the two
extreme lines, where it turned around again
on its yearly path. The celestial equator is an
imaginary line, dividing the celestial sphere
in half, and the Suns path intersects this
equator on the beginning of spring and
autumn, marking the vernal and autumnal
equinox. Two imaginary extreme lines are
known as tropics, positioned at the latitudes
approximately 23.5 degrees north and south
of the equator. On the other hand, the zero-
degree longitude meridian line has no such
Ar t i cl e
47
Figure 6. Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
painted in 1689. He was a mathematician and
physicist, one of the foremost scientific intellects
of all time. Newton identified gravitation as the
fundamental force controlling the motions of the
celestial bodies. In his work Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy, known as the
Principia, he developed the mathematics of orbital
motion round centres of force.
Figure 7.The Triangulation of France, 1792-1799. The meridi-
an arc stretching from Dunkerque in the north to Barcelona
in the south was measured along the Paris meridian
between 1792 and 1799 by French geodesists Delambre and
Mchain. Based on these measurements the metric system
was defined and introduced first in France and then gradu-
ally around the globe. (Image courtesy of Ken Alder, The
Measure of All Things)
simple geometric proposition, that the inter-
section of two lines is a point, i.e. to geolo-
cate a point on the Earth, we need to know
the lines of its latitude and longitude.
However simple this task may seem in princi-
ple at the first thought, its realisation in order
to make an accurate map of any terrain pre-
sents an enormous effort and demands going
into the field and actually measure and sur-
vey it. One of the crucial and fundamental
goals in this process is to define those refer-
ence lines, to establish them physically in the
field as a series of base lines from which later
surveys can be made.
Since the Ptolemys times, during the dark
middle ages up to the middle of the second
millennium the question of the figure of the
Earth has stood still. Then the arc measure-
ments, based still on a spherical model of the
Earth but benefiting from the advances in
instrumentation technology and methodolo-
gy, were pursued further in several European
countries, mainly in France, Holland, Denmark,
England and Italy. In that period of scientific
renaissance new ideas from astronomy and
physics have influenced the development of
geodesy and fundamentally changed the view
on the Earth and its position in space.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) formulated a
scientifically based heliocentric cosmology
that displaced the Earth from the center of
the universe. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
(Figure 5) introduced the eponymous laws of
planetary motion, while Galileo Galilei (1564-
1642) opened a new era of astronomic obser-
vations with his improvements of the tele-
scope and established the fundamental laws
of falling bodies and of pendulum motion.
In the second half of 17th century, astronom-
ic observations revealed the flattening of the
poles of Jupiter and pendulum time measure-
ments confirmed the effect of increase of grav-
ity from the Earth equator towards the poles.
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) (Figure 6) com-
bined these observations and his theoretical
work on gravitation and hydrostatics in his
famous book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia
Mathematica, published in 1687. In the book,
Newton proposed as a model of the Earth a
rotational ellipsoid, flattened at its poles by
1/230 because of the Earths rotation. Several
geodetic arc measurements at various lati-
tudes were performed in the next century to
verify and possibly confirm Newtons theory.
The results of geodetic measurements
financed by the French Academy of Sciences
finally confirmed that the flattening of the
Earth exists and is large enough to be mea-
sured.
Related to these arc measurements, there is
a particularly significant year 1799 to remem-
ber. Namely, 210 years ago the French National
Assembly specified, constructed and deposit-
ed the platinum metre bar, on 22 June 1799,
in the Archives de la Rpublique in Paris, as
the final standard of length defined as 1 /
10,000,000 of the meridional distance from
the North Pole to the Equator. In order to
establish the length of the meridian as the
universally accepted foundation for the defi-
nition of the metre as the natural unit of
length, the Bureau des Longitudes commis-
sioned an expedition led by two astronomers
and geodesists, Jean Baptiste Joseph
Delambre and Pierre Mchain. Between the
years 1792 and 1799, they measured the
length of the meridian arc through Paris
between Dunkerque and Barcelona as the
basis for calculating the length of the half
meridian, connecting the North Pole with the
Equator (Figure 7). With this new definition of
the unit of length, France introduced the met-
ric system. The creation of the decimal metric
system at the time of the French Revolution
and the subsequent deposition of two plat-
inum standards in 1799 representing the
metre and the kilogram was the first step in
the development of the present International
System of Units. Almost one century later,
after agreeing upon a definition for the meter
at the diplomatic Conference of the Metre and
signing the Metre Convention in Paris in 1875,
a more stable international prototype of plat-
inum-iridium was realized and sanctioned in
1889 by the 1st General Conference on
Weights and Measures. This original interna-
tional prototype is still kept at the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures
(BIPM - Bureau International des Poids et
Mesures) under conditions specified in 1889.
2.4 Transition to the Geoid and the
Third Dimension in Geodesy
With the development of geodetic instrumen-
tation and methodology in the early 19th cen-
tury it was soon realized that in pursuing the
measurements of high accuracy level the
nature of the Earth is complicated more than
an ellipsoidal model of the Earth can handle,
therefore scientists attempted to define the
figure of the Earth more precisely. In 1832,
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) (Figure 8)
strongly promoted the application of the met-
ric system, together with the second defined
in astronomy, as a coherent system of units
for the physical sciences. Gauss was the first
to make absolute measurements of the Earths
magnetic field in terms of a decimal system
based on the three mechanical units millime-
tre, gram, and second for, respectively, the
quantities length, mass, and time. Gauss
developed his theory of surfaces and intro-
duced the geoid as the mathematical figure
of the Earth, defined as a level surface of the
gravity field. The geoid deviates from a well-
fitting ellipsoid by less than 100 meters. The
efforts of geodesists in the 19th and in the
early 20th century have concentrated on the
measurements of large triangulation chains in
order to provide the parameters of ellipsoids,
fitting best to the geoid in the areas of mea-
surements. Based on such geodetic measure-
ments, which have often demanded enormous
human and scientific efforts of geodesists and
their crews, several referential ellipsoids were
introduced to support the triangulation of the
national geodetic surveys, which provide con-
trol points for national geodetic reference sys-
tems, mapping, positioning, etc. up to pre-
sent time (Figure 9).
Within these national geodetic surveys, the
geodesists observed and evaluated horizon-
tal and vertical control networks separately,
because heights were calculated regarding to
the mean sea level as a surface close to the
geoid, defined by long-term observations at
a tide gauge.
Further development of the geodetic method-
ology demanded a common mathematical
model for calculations of horizontal and verti-
cal networks. After the first ideas on such
three-dimensional concept of geodesy in the
48
Ar t i cl e
Figure 8. Portrait of Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss
(17771855) at the age of 63. He was one of histo-
ry's most influential mathematicians and a scien-
tist who contributed significantly to many fields,
including geodesy. Gauss developed his theory of
surfaces and introduced the geoid as the mathe-
matical figure of the Earth, defined as a level sur-
face of the gravity field. 2009 is also the 200th
anniversary of the method of least squares, a proce-
dure used in all sciences to this day to minimize
the impact of measurement error, and which
Gauss was able to prove in 1809.
49
second half of the 19th century, the concept
revived after the Second World War, especial-
ly with the invention of the electromagnetic
distance measurements in the 1950s and with
the first artificial satellite Sputnik I in 1957.
Geodetic observations to orbiting satellites
started providing data for determination of
control point geolocation in three-dimension-
al system and led to the development of
satellite geodesy.
Also in the second half of the 20th century, a
new essential space geodetic method and
technique of Very Long Baseline Inter -
ferometry (VLBI) was developed for measur-
ing a large selection of quasars, which has
lead to the present definition of the celestial
reference frame as a realization of a highly
accurate and stable inertial reference system.
Space geodesy developed its techniques in
the last decades of 20th century through sev-
eral characteristic periods based on measure-
ment method or technique. The periods over-
lap and begin with the optical period,
followed by Doppler, Satellite and Lunar Laser
Ranging (SLR, LLR), VLBI, Doppler Orbito -
graphy and Radiopositioning Integrated by
Satellite (DORIS), altimetry, SAR, InSAR, gravi-
ty and present GNSS period.
In the 1980s, the USA started to establish the
NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS)
and since the 1990s this system became fun-
damental in the geodetic measurement tech-
niques worldwide. This way, using GPS and
other satellite techniques, the geometry of the
Earth can be determined to a great level inde-
pendently of the gravitational field and glob-
al reference system is established. This devel-
opment allows geodesy to concentrate on
solving practical problems of transformation
of the existent horizontal and vertical net-
works of control points to the global refer-
ence system and of establishing high quality
relations between the geoid and the global
reference ellipsoid (end of Part 1, to be con-
tinued in the next issue of GeoInformatics).
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.
Figure 9. Exaggerated differences between common reference ellipsoids and WGS84
(Credits: Wolfram Research, Inc.).
Jena-Optronik GmbH
jas@jena-optronik.de
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Combining GPS, Satellite Communications and GIS
Knowing The Exact Vessel Location
Established March 2004 in Singapore, 3i
Technologies Pte is a provider of Electronics
Security and asset monitoring solutions. It
also operates a 24x7 command centre that
seagoing vessels with a Ship Security Alert
System can alert in the event of a security
incident.
The companys suite of asset monitoring solu-
tions, which make up about half of its total
business, consists of an automated vehicle
tracking system and a vessel monitoring sys-
tem. Called 3iVMS, the latter system is the
mainstay of 3i Technologies asset monitoring
business. Combining GPS, satellite communi-
cations and geographical information sys-
tems, it allows vessel owners to pinpoint the
location(s) of their sea craft at user-definable
time intervals and view their routes on a map.
Owners can also set up geo-fencing zones and
receive notifications as their vessels leave or
enter these zones.
Besides piracy, pilferage of cargo and fuel is
a problem for vessel owners. With geo-fenc-
ing, they can be alerted when their assets are
sent off their intended routes, whether by
hijackers or by a less than honest crew, said
Kenneth Tan, CEO of 3i Technologies.
When a vessel leaves a pre-defined geo-
fenced zone and does not enter another one
shortly after, he explained, an alert is sent via
email to the vessel owner, who can then turn
to 3i Technologies, port authorities or mar-
itime policing agencies for help in recovering
Ar t i cl e
figure a, b, c, d and e: 3i Vessel Monitoring System (3iVMS) Powered by MapXtreme: Combining GPS, satellite communications and geographical information sys-
tems, 3iVMS allows vessel owners to pinpoint the location(s) of their seacraft at user-definable time intervals and view their routes on a map.
[a]
[b] [c]
50
it. In piracy incidents, crew members can trig-
ger alerts by pressing covert panic buttons
located on-board.
MapXtreme
The first application to be launched by 3i
Technologies, 3iVMS was developed using
Pitney Bowes Business Insights MapXtreme,
the software development kit (SDK) for inte-
grating location intelligence into both desk-
top and Web-based systems.
We did look at one other SDK but found
MapXtreme to be superior. MapXtreme also
came highly recommended by our hardware
partners so the choice was an easy one to
make, said Mr. Tan. MapInfo consultants,
whom he described as very responsive,
were involved in the development of 3iVMS
at the initial stage, helping to map the appli-
cation core with Inmarsat and telco gateways
as well as GUI integration.
3i Technologies delivers the 3iVMS applica-
tion to its customers as a service, with access
via the companys website. Users range from
individual tugboat owners to fleet operators
whose vessels ply routes connecting
Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Full Steam Ahead
Going forward, 3i Technologies is working on
a low-power portable tracking unit that does
not have to be hard-installed on vessels or
other assets, and on a satellite broadband
link that will deliver vessel owners live video
of their vessels journeys. The company also
plans to introduce new applications that can
be accessed either via its website or as down-
loadable applications.
Were also looking at setting up offices or
partnerships in Malaysia, Indonesia and
Vietnam. Whichever local business model we
eventually choose, the MapXtreme-based
application core is already in place and
deployment should be a quick affair, said Mr.
Tan.
Kenneth Tan, CEO, 3i Technologies.
www.pbinsight.com
Implementation is a breeze, Mr. Tan said, with
just a few hours needed to install the neces-
sary hardware and make the system opera-
tional.
While competing vessel monitoring systems
are available in Singapore, these have only
generic functions. Thanks to the open archi-
tecture of MapXtreme, our 3iVMS application
is extremely customizable. This allows us to
custom-fit the application to each customer
such that all their unique needs are met.
The ease of integrating new technologies into
the 3iVMS core has also enabled 3i
Technologies to make two major enhance-
ments to the application. The first incorpo-
rates flow-meter sensors and allows vessel
owners to remotely and accurately check the
amount of fuel being used by their vessels.
Besides preventing pilferage of fuel, this
enables owners to do a better job of provi-
sioning voyages. The second enhancement,
draught sensing, makes it possible for gov-
ernment bodies responsible for natural
resources to ensure that dredging contractors
or concessionaires do not remove from the
seabed more material than they are allowed,
or dredge outside authorized areas.
Ar t i cl e
[d] [e]
51
The Photogrammetric Week celebrated its centenary in Stuttgart from
7-11 September 2009. This was the 52rd Photogrammetric Week,
organised by Professor Dieter Fritsch, head of the Institute of
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing at Stuttgart University. On this
occasion nearly 500 participants attended from 62 countries.
Photogrammetric Week is a weeklong event which features details of
many of the latest developments in photogrammetry, remote sensing
and GIS, but it concentrates on photogrammetry as its name suggests.
The format is based on invited lectures each morning on academic
research and the latest developments of hardware and software from
manufacturers, followed by demonstrations of equipment during the
afternoons from Monday to Thursday. Evenings involve typical German
hospitality.
This years topics included a keynote presentation on Cloud Computing,
a review of the products available from the various photogrammetric
software and hardware providers and then papers on; image based
data acquisition; aerial, terrestrial and mobile lidar; and value-added
photogrammetry. Most papers covered the very latest developments
in these topics, so the event was an excellent conference to bring atten-
dees up-to-date with the status of developments in photogrammetry.
The presentations revealed that the number of medium format cam-
eras now available on the market with between 40 and 60Mpixels is
growing rapidly. They include Leica RC105, Intergraph RMK D, Vexcel
UltraCamL, DiMAC, Applanix DSS, Rollei AIC, and IGI DigiCam. Tests
on the new Intergraph RMK D medium format camera with 42Mpixels
demonstrate accuracies approaching those achievable by the large for-
mat cameras. The applications of the medium format cameras in the
future will be interesting to watch. There was a plea by several aca-
demics for photogrammetrists to embrace computer vision community
to develop more advanced techniques for processing images and to
ensure that the photogrammetric community is included in new possi-
bilities of image acquisition and processing, such as crowd sourcing of
images. Examples of crowd sourcing of images for later processing
were given.
There was a spirited debate on the application of airborne lidar com-
pared with multiple overlapping images for precise elevation determi-
nation. Some believe that lidar is an unnecessary technology, while
the others recognise the advantages of lidar with its high density point
sampling where no texture exists in images and its ability to penetrate
the canopy of forest vegetation. Accuracies of current lidars are now
better than 5cm on hard surfaces.
3D city models are increasingly being acquired for many cities in
Europe; for example, the company Blom will have 200 cities in Europe
covered with 3D models by end of 2009 using Pictometry technology.
A 3D city model of Berlin encompassing 500,000 buildings is now avail-
able. Bing, formerly Microsoft Virtual Earth, aims to collect 3D infor-
mation on 3000 cities around the world in 5 years and present the
information in 3D. The overall cost of acquiring the 3D city models is
planned to be reduced by 90%. There were some impressive demon-
strations of the completely automatic procedures being used to extract
buildings and display them in 3D. In order to facilitate the develop-
ment of 3D city models a new graphics standard has been developed
CityGML.
The conference was also an excellent opportunity to view develop-
ments in photogrammetry in Europe, which one could say is the birth
place of photogrammetry. Along with the centenary of Photogrammetric
Week, the Austrian societys involvement in the field of photogramme-
try turned 100 in 2008, the German Society for Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing celebrated its centenary in March 2009 while The
International Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) will cele-
brate its centenary on 4 July 2010 in
Vienna.
Column
52 52
Participants of the Photogrammetric Week in 2009
Photogrammetric Week celebrates its
Centenary in Stuttgart, Germany
John Trinder, Visiting Emeritus Professor at
the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems
at The University of NSW, Sydney, Australia.
www.topcon.eu
Handheld with GPS & GLONASS
from meter to cm RTK
One 4 all
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Processing of Data Downloaded in the
First Year of Observation
The study of deformations and crustal dynamics has found in GPS technology a very valuable and flexible tool that can
support and, in many cases, replace the traditional and complex geodetic measurements processed in long and expensive
survey campaigns. The European Project Interreg III B ALPS GPS QuakeNet - Alpine Integrated GPS Network has aimed to
be at the forefront in using this technology, distributing a network of permanent GPS stations on the Alps targeted at
monitoring this highly-active seismic area. The study and processing of the data will permit crustal deformation models
of the Alpine area to be confirmed or modified, with particular attention to seismogenetic areas for the prevention
of seismic hazards.
By Antonio Cavinato, Mirco Pollet, Cristiano Bellio and Roberto Piol
54
Ar t i cl e
Monumentation of Geodetic
Permanent GPS stations
ARPA VENETO, a partner in the project coordinated by the University of
Triestes Department of Earth Sciences, installed three GPS stations: two
of them along the well-known geophysical profile TRANSALP, among areas
characterized by high deformations (the Feltre area and the Montebelluna-
Montello area), and a third in the Lessini Mountains.
These GPS stations provide the database for three processing centers:
Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, University Joseph Fourier of
Grenoble, Regione Lombardia.
The study and processing of the data will permit crustal deformation mod-
els of the Alpine area to be confirmed or modified, with particular atten-
tion to seismogenetic areas for the prevention of seismic hazards.
Selection Criteria for the Installation of Three ARPAV
Stations
The site choices were made in accordance with project objectives. The
requirements were to place two of the stations in the southern alpine
zone (between the Valsugana fault and the Southern Alpine front if
possible along the geophysical profile TRANSALP), to locate a station
in the Verona area, to have an obstruction-free sky, to be located in a
public site, to have geological stability, to have a power supply avail-
able, to have good GSM / GPRS network coverage and last but not
least, to have good accessibility. With these selection criteria, the fol-
lowing sites were identified in an early phase:
Monte Avena in Pedavena (BL), within the meteorological ARPAV sta-
tion (acronym MAVE coordinates GBO 1718811, 5101525)
City of Montebelluna (TV), within a water supply reservoir (acronym
MBEL - coordinates GBO 1737062, 5074465)
Bosco Chiesanuova (VR), within a Primary School (acronym BOSC -
coordinates GBO 1658670, 5051589)
Preliminary Investigations and Plan of the Three Sites
The identification of the three sites in the preliminary screening involved
the analysis of each sites geological stability and rock substrate position.
This screening was carried out for the Monte Avena (BL) and Bosco
Chiesanuova (VR) stations by surface analysis and verification of plans of
existing buildings in the areas. The screening for the station located in
Montebelluna (TV) involved a geognostic excavation that confirmed the
presence of the Montello Conglomerate at 1.50 m from the surface. From
Ar t i cl e
55
Figure 1 The GPS network stations already existing (red), stations realized with the project (yellow).
Figure 2 on the left a planning solution with a surface foundation in the pres-
ence of hard substrate in outcrop.
Figure 3 on the right a planning solution with a drilled deep foundation with
micro-pillar in the lack of an outcropping substrate.
the geological and geomorphological points of view, these sites appeared
suitable for the planned GPS stations.
This preliminary investigation showed the suitability of the sites and led
to the definitive planning of the stations. After careful verification of the
available literature and technical instructions from UNAVCO
(www.unavco.org), the basic planning choices were:
a pillar in reinforced concrete, equipped with a surface foundation only
in the presence of hard substrate in outcrop
a deep drilled foundation with micro pillar in the absence of an out-
cropping substrate
an Electric UPS able to guarantee at least 48-72 hours of work with-
out power supply
With these considerations, two planning solutions with different founda-
tional typologies were developed as reported below.
Monumentation
The executive phase began with the installation of deep foundations.
The micro pillars were drilled 8.0 m deep; a steel pile 60.3 mm in diame-
ter and 4.0 mm thick was immediately inserted into the borehole. After
the installation of the framework, the hole was immediately saturated with
a gravity injection of liquid concrete to reinforce the concrete pillar.
At the Monte Avena site, the presence of a hard and outcropping sub-
strate on the surface allowed the framework to be built directly into the
rock. Some holes were made in the substrate in which the framework was
inserted and sealed with a special mortar.
The framework was welded to the micro pillar and to the support of the
GPS antenna to ensure optimal ground connection. After the welding of
the antenna base to the framework, the pipe for the antenna wires was
prepared and then the concrete for the monument was laid.
The construction of the concrete monument was followed by the electrical
and antenna connections. The completion of the monumentation and the
electrical connection allowed the installation and calibration of the GPS
receivers. The installed GPS and related accessories were a GPS Leica
GRX1200, a Leica AT504 antenna-type choke ring, a Siemens MC75 GSM /
GPRS modem, plus UPS and Leica Spider V.1.5 management and data
transmission software. The GPS installation and calibration, and the instal-
lation of software at the data centre in the ARPAV- Belluno Department
were conducted by technical staff of the GPS provider firm. Any malfunc-
tion was verified and connection and receiving data from the time of acti-
vation were regularly sent to the data centre in Belluno and archived.
Acquisition and Processing of Data
The acquired data includes a complete record of the three stations run-
ning from March 2006 until the present, and its availability made it possi-
ble to compile a one-year record of the three stations in order to verify
behavior, stability and accuracy.
The analysis was carried out using Topcon Pinnacle software version 1.0.
In addition, RINEX files from May 2006 to October 2007, together with
associated navigation files and IGS Final Orbit data, were also used.
Three lines and their relative level differences were analyzed:
Bosco Chiesanuova - Monte Avena, Montebelluna-Bosco Chiesanuova and
Monte Avena-Montebelluna: this first report was to evaluate the function-
ality and the quality of the installation. The results are reported below:
Base Bosco Chiesanuova - Monte Avena (BOSC-MAVE) average distance:
78155.96 m. Average height GPS station Monte Avena: 1466.2421 m.
Average height GPS station Bosco Chiesanuova: 910.4202 m.
Base Chiesanuova Bosco - Montebelluna (BOSC-MBEL) average distance:
81634.12 m. Average height GPS station Bosco Chiesanuova: 910.4202 m.
Average height GPS station Montebelluna: 214.7411 m.
Base Monte Avena - Montebelluna (MAVE-MBEL) average distance:
32645.07 m. Average height GPS station Monte Avena: 1466.2421 m.
Average height GPS station Montebelluna: 214.7411 m.
Final Considerations
The distribution of values recorded at these three stations shows a cyclic-
ity with distances lower in winter and increasing in summer. These fluctu-
ations are larger than the instrumental medium error rating, that is 2.0
mm, and sometimes exceeds 4.0 mm. This shows that factors such as
thermal expansion and crustal deformation may affect measurements.
While the already detected trends indicate clearly a phenomenon of expan-
sion / shortening with thermal seasonal cycling, the crustal deformation
related to the dynamics of the study area will be verified only during a
longer period (at least 10 years) contributing to the GPS-QuakeNet project
goals for the Alpine area.
Dr. Antonio Cavinato, acavinato@arpa.veneto.it,
Arch. Mirco Pollet, mpollet@arpa.veneto.it,
Dr. Cristiano Bellio cbellio@arpa.veneto.it,
Dr. Roberto Piol, rpiol@arpa.veneto.it.
ARPAV (Environmental Agency of Veneto Region) - Belluno Department - via
Tomea 5, 32100, Belluno (Italy).
Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Karim Aoudia - Department of Earth Sciences University of
Trieste, Dr. Rodolfo Bassan - Manager of ARPAV Environmental Systems
Department of Belluno and all the Partners involved in the Alps-GPS QuakeNet.
Ar t i cl e
Figure 4 Welding of the framework to the micro pillar.
Figure 5 Detail of a
choke-ring GPS antenna
56
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R o u t i n g B y L a n d ma r k s
A novel landmark identification and selection process enables now to incorporate landmarks in driving directions.
This process was implemented in Whereis.com, an Australian webmapping and routing service owned by Sensis.
According to Whereis.com commercial manager Fred Curtis, current trends in technology all point to increased
functionality alongside ease of use, so that's the direction we're heading.
By Stephan Winter, Matt Duckham and Michelle Robinson
Why is it easier to follow directions if they
are explained through a series of landmarks
instead of street names? Street names are fine
when you know the area or if it is adequately
signed, but how often do you tell someone to
turn left after the park or turn right at the 7
Eleven? In fact, research has shown that peo-
ple nearly always refer to landmark.
Sensis, the Telstra subsidiary that operates the
Whereis.com maps and directions service, now
incorporates landmarks in the driving direc-
tions it generates.
Landmarks are outstanding features in an envi-
ronment. Landmarks play a central role in
human spatial cognition. They are fundamen-
tal to the way humans learn an environment
and construct mental representations of it.
Landmark knowledge is the first level of spa-
tial knowledge a person develops in a new
environment: the tourist in Paris will quickly
learn about the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre,
but it will take her some time to learn a route
from the first to the latter or to use this and
other routes for combining a route not trav-
eled before. She will remember the caf close
to the Eiffel tower rather than the exact route
to the caf. To find the caf again, she might
first try to reach the Eiffel tower, which now
serves as a cognitive anchor point. And so on.
Because of their dominance in human mental
representations of space, landmarks are wide-
ly used in human communication about routes.
A reference left of Montmartre, not far away
is far more likely than a reference on Rue du
Cardinal Dubois, head West for 231m.
By contrast, today's web routing services and
car navigation services rarely make reference
to landmarks. Why is that? The main reason for
this omission is the lack of understanding what
a landmark is, and then, of course, a lack of
available data about landmarks. We do not
have data sets of the landmarks in an environ-
ment (which are different from Points of
Interest, see the following discussion). Recent
research on identifying landmarks in spatial
data sets typically relies on information about
the detailed visual or geometric characteristics
of the environment, such as 3D city models,
cadastral data sets, and/or imagery of building
facades. While data about these characteristics
is becoming more commonplace (at least in
urban areas), all too often such highly detailed
information about the spatial environment
does not exist, is proprietary, is infrequently
updated, or is otherwise unavailable except in
restricted spatial locations. Also, the proposed
landmark identification procedures are not yet
tested in practice, and hence, not readily avail-
able.
The Solution
So, how can we address this dilemma? First it
is important to acknowledge the difference
58
Ar t i cl e
Figure 1: A local landmark, prominently
characterizing a street intersection
A
New
Direction
Ar t i cl e
between landmarks and points of interest. The
prior must be selected based on perceptive and
cognitive principles. The latter is rather a list of
a recommender service.
Deciding which landmarks are most useful is
really based on the uniqueness of the land-
mark, and this can be determined by three main
things; the landmark's meaning, its visual
salience and where the landmark is located, rel-
ative to the decision point on the route, said
Matt Duckham, senior lecturer in geographic
information science at the University of
Melbourne.
While computers can work out how far it is to
the next interaction, humans find it much easi-
er to use instructions that refer to places with
meaning and that we can easily identify.
Matt Duckham and Stephan Winter from the
Department of Geomatics at the University of
ture of the route, such that landmarks are cho-
sen at locations where the traveler has to turn,
or along long segments for confirmation. While
more and more categories are added, and rules
are tuned, routing by Whereis.com has already
access to 170,000 landmarks nationwide.
Let us study an example. Figure 2 shows the
ranked landmarks along one street segment
that are currently available in Whereis.com to
produce routing directions. Figure 3 shows
route directions along this street segment. Only
two landmark candidates were selected and
included in the directions, and both at strategi-
cally important locations along the route.
Stephan Winter and Matt Duckham, Department
of Geomatics, The University of
Melbourne, Australia.
Michelle Robinson, Sensis Pty Ltd, Australia
Melbourne developed for Sensis a model for
incorporating landmarks into routing instruc-
tions that does not depend on the visual or
geometric characteristics of individual buildings
and streetscapes. Instead the model relies sole-
ly on information about the types of landmarks
present in the environment, in addition to the
road network and route geometry. The motiva-
tion for this approach is primarily practical:
these information sources are much more com-
monly available and easily accessible, for exam-
ple in the form of a geocoded directory service.
This model was applied on Sensis Yellow Pages
business directory and directories of points of
interests from city maps. A set of cognitively
motivated rules ranks categories for their typi-
cal landmarkness, and then helps to pick up
the most salient landmarks along a particular
route. The second step considers also the struc-
Figure 2: Landmarks along
Spring Street in Melbourne.
Figure 3: Route directions with
selected landmarks along
Spring Street.
59

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