Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Tracking Security Remote
Firmware-Software Updates
300 m Communication
ES Series
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:17 Pagina 2
The Year of the Open Map
This is the year of the open map, said MapBox co-founder and CEO Eric
Gundersen, during the Where 2012 Conference held in San Francisco, April 2-4.
Youve probably heard this one before, but recent developments in mapping have
made this statement plausible. For instance, the recent announcement by Google
to raise money for large users of their Google Maps service has led to a change
in the landscape of map use over the web, causing websites with mapping ser-
vices to move away from Google Maps and seek other initiatives, such as MapBox
and/or OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMap has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, especially in
the US where initially the project wasnt taken very seriously. The problem with
community-based projects is that it takes time and effort to grow once a project
has been adopted. But a community has something very valuable that the big
guys dont have: local knowledge about whats being built and the changes that
have taken place in the built environment. This partly explains the popularity of
OpenStreetMap. The popularity of the project is reected in the growing number
of local OSM events, such as State of the Map.
It is somehow ironic that Google, which pioneered server technology combined
with free, and easily accessible maps over the internet, is now changing its rules
for large users of its services. In blogs and on Twitter, theres a lot of speculation
about Googles next step in mapping technology, also fueled by its recent
announcement that it has sold SketchUp to Trimble. Whether this software keeps
on being free or not is now a concern for many people.
Put it this way: is a formerly free product with a large global user base worth pay-
ing for, such as SketchUp or Google Maps? From a vendors perspective, I guess
the answer depends on what your target market is and what is the added value
you can offer in relation to freely available alternatives. The same discussion is
being held in the editorial industry, when the role of governments in the use of
open data/crowd sourced data is questioned: why should someone pay
tax money for geospatial data if you can create it yourself? Again,
the answer lies in added value. You can read for yourself a review
of the panel discussion I attended on the use of open data during
the Geospatial World Forum in Amsterdam.
During this event, it became clear that big data is the new chal-
lenge in geospatial, or, from a larger perspective, the IT busi-
ness. This leads back to the opening statement about the
Where 2012. The organizer is Tim OReilly, founder and
CEO of OReilly Media, and he stated in a YouTube
video about the event, why data is the new gold: Data
is a source of monopoly powerand the guy with the
most data wins. My view is that with more and big
data, adding value to all that data will become even
more important than it is now. Technology will keep con-
tinuing to be a large part of how to add that added
value, and you can read all about it in this issue.
Enjoy your reading,
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics is the leading publication for Geospatial
Professionals worldwide. Published in both hardcopy and
digital, GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis and
commentary with respect to the international surveying,
mapping and GIS industry.
GeoInformatics is published
8 times a year.
Editor-in-chief
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
Copy Editor
Frank Arts
fartes@geoinformatics.com
Editors
Florian Fischer
fscher@geoinformatics.com
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com
Remco Takken
rtakken@geoinformatics.com
Joc Triglav
jtriglav@geoinformatics.com
Contributing Writers:
Henk Key, Adam Spring, Penelope Richardson,
Simon Casey, Kevin Corbley, Pablo dAngelo,
Ansgar Kornhoff, Monica Pratt, Sonja van Poortvliet
Columnists
Marten Hogeweg, Steven Ramage, Wijnand van Riel,
Armin Gruen, Matt Sheehan
Finance
nance@cmedia.nl
Marketing & Sales
Ruud Groothuis
rgroothuis@geoinformatics.com
Subscriptions
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To subscribe, ll in and return the electronic reply
card on our website www.geoinformatics.com
Webstite
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Sander van der Kolk
svanderkolk@geoinformatics.com
ISSN 13870858
Copyright 2012. GeoInformatics: no material may
be reproduced without written permission.
P.O. Box 231
8300 AE
Emmeloord
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0) 527 619 000
Fax: +31 (0) 527 620 989
E-mail: services@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics has a collaboration with
the Council of European Geodetic
Surveyors (CLGE) whereby all individual
members of every national Geodetic
association in Europe will receive the
magazine.
3
June 2012
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Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:17 Pagina 3
C o n t e n t
Ar t i c l e s
Everyday Geomatics 10
Digital Photogrammetry and ADAM Technologies 18
St. Charles Parish and GNSS Signal Shadow Issues 24
Around, up, over and back again 28
Ne ws l e t t e r
CLGE newsletter 6
EuroGeographics Newsletter 32
C o l u mn s
Welcome to the Curated Internet 12
OGC Market Report Open Standards and INSPIRE 26
Mercator lives 36
Satellite versus Aerial Images not always a matter of choice! 44
Mobile Technology Review 49
I n t e r v i e w
The Rise of OpenStreetMap 14
FME 2012 42
E v e n t s
2012 Esri DevSummit 34
Geospatial World Forum 38
GIS in Aviation 46
C a l e n d a r / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x 50
At the cover:
London Olympic Site, 28 March 2012, 50 cm, true colour, imaged by
WorldView-2 satellite European Space Imaging, 2012.
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:17 Pagina 4
46
8
18
This article examines digital
photogrammetry. Particular
reference is given to both
cloud driven software like
Photosynth, Image Composite
Editor (ICE), Autodesk Labs
123D Catch and terminal
based software like ADAM
Technologies 3DM Analyst.
14
Bergen University College offers
students a course in inter -
national land administration.
This year 26 students and 3
teachers visited Austria from to
study the Austrian cadastre,
and surveying and mapping
institutions. A good practice
backed by CLGE.
OpenStreetMap is on the rise
and it seems that people outs-
ide the geospatial industry are
ready for the worldwide open
source project. Now that
Google has announced that it
will ask for compensation from
large users of Google Maps,
users of digital maps are
looking for alternatives.
On April 3 and 4 the 2nd
International Aviation GIS
Summit took place at Brussels
Airport, Belgium. More than
sixty participants shared expe-
rience and ideas on the use of
GIS and related technologies,
and discussed current challen-
ges.
34
Billed as the conference for de-
velopers, by developers, the
Esri Developer Summit brought
1,700 developers, partners,
and GIS professionals from all
over the world together with
more than 300 Esri develop-
ment staff members for four full
days in Palm Springs,
California.
38
The rst European version
of the Geospatial World
Forum brought together
all industry leaders and
provided an excellent
program of plenaries,
forums and presentations.
28
Very High-Resolution (VHR)
satellites, like all technologies,
have seen huge technical
improvements over the past
10 years and, with the ever
increasing number of satellites
in orbit, the important question
of - Which satellite should
I use? - is at the forefront of
users minds.
10
The 2012 Olympic Games,
summer edition, will take place
in London, England. For the
first time in the history of the
modern Olympic Games, a
city has been selected by the
IOC to host the Games for a
third time.
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:17 Pagina 5
CLGE gathers at INTERGEO
INTERGEO 2012 in Hanover, Germany
G
eoinformation is inside of all relevant societal
megatrends and changes says Prof.Dr. Karl-
Friedrich Thoene, President of the German
Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land
Management (DVW), the association responsible for host-
ing this year`s INTERGEO trade fair and conference which
will be held from 9th to 11th October 2012 in Hanover,
Germany. Smart geoinformation offers intelligent solutions
and holds enormous potential for all key socio-political
issues such as global change, climate policy, energy sup-
ply, disaster prevention, inner security, demographic
change, e-government or modernisation of the state as
well as data protection and data security. Under this ban-
ner some 15,000 trade visitors and 1,500 conference
participants from around the world are expected to attend the industry
event and discussion forum of the year which is performed in parallel with
the 60th German Cartographic Conference and integrates the scientic
Geodetic Week.
Moreover, the Conference programme includes the rst national INSPIRE
Conference as a discussion platform for the realization of the EU directive
for creating a common geodata infrastructure and making geodata of
public bodies available for all action elds of European policy making.
The second Navigation Conference, as an additional side event, aims at
an interdisciplinary dialogue in order to explore synergies between navi-
gation, IT and geodata.
Alongside INTERGEO 2012 CLGE is inviting its members from 36 coun-
tries for the third CLGE Conference of the European Surveyor. On this
occasion DVW and CLGE are organizing the second European Students
Meeting (ESM) to offer an insight into state-of-the-art developments for
young blood. See you in Hanover! This ESM will take place
on 10 October and consists of a visit of the fair, the procla-
mation of the Students Contest and a party for the students.
INTERGEO will also host the Third
Conference of the European Surveyor.
The rst was organized in Strasbourg in 2008. It led to
some interesting conclusions that can be read on our web-
site in the section www.clge.eu/about_us/basics (look for
Strasbourg declaration).
We underline three recommendations in the technical, legal
and consumer protection eld, as well as an important
engagement: CLGE would organize such an event every
two years.
The second conference was held in Bucharest in 2010. Read the interest-
ing declaration on the same webpage. For the rst time, CLGE asked for
more harmonization of the European Cadasters. This request has even
increased since then.
CLGE is aware of the central role of GeoInformation in our society and it
is plain to us that theres an absolute and urgent need to coordinate our
efforts at European level. A European Agency for GI is a vital necessity.
Fortunately, Eurogeographics paves the way to this kind of cooperation
for the whole European continent.
The Third CLGE Conference of the European Surveyor will take place in
Hanover on 11 October 2012, on the fairground of INTERGEO.
The full program will be available soon. Please follow the developments
on www.clge.eu.
The conference will be followed by the CLGE General Assembly.
June 2012
6
Karl-Friedrich Thoene, DVW President
Ne ws l e t t e r
The Fair The Crowd
CLGE Students Contest:
As announced earlier, we remind you that students may submit a
paper in any of the three categories of the CLGE Students Contest
(until 15 July 2012).
The full description of the contest is available on www.clge.eu.
There are three great prizes to be awarded. Theres not only the
reward of 1000 euro per category but also the possibility to attend
a huge European (ESRI Mapping and GIS) or Mundial (TRIMBLE
Geodesy and Topography) conference. For the third category about
youth engagement and associations, the prize also consists of 1000
euro and a nomination to become the Vice President for Youth
Affairs within the Board of CLGE. The winner in this category may
also be asked to bring to fruition the project that he/she has
described.
If you are a teacher, a student or if you are a surveyor knowing
potential participants, do not hesitate to contact them and to moti-
vate them to take part in the contest by tabling a paper before 15
July 2012 (send it to Leiv.Bjarte.Mjos@hib.no).
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 6
During the General Assembly, a new member
from the Republic of Serbia was welcomed.
CLGE is now represented in 36 European states
and totals well over 60.000 individual survey-
ors (the exact number of members will be
reassessed).
The GA in Edinburgh also saw the signature of
the Accord Multilateral by Spain.
Moreover, a project aiming at the constitution
of a Dynamic Professional Knowledge based
was launched. The above mentioned reassess-
ment of the number of members will be a small
but important part of this DPKB.
On Saturday the Assembly split in sub-groups
to make the morning workshops more efcient.
The themes were oriented towards the Role of
Social Media, the Best Practices of different
kinds of Cadastral Systems in Europe and the
Relevance of CLGE within FIG. The talks were
fruitful and will lead to reports that will be pub-
lished on the CLGE website later on.
With the aim to integrate the social media in the
communications plan of CLGE, a special Vice
President for Communication and Social Media
was appointed: Pedro J. Ortiz Toro, also
Spanish delegate to CLGE.
The presentations of the General Assembly are
available on www.clge.eu. Workshop reports
will be published soon.
7
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2012
Ne ws l e t t e r
CLGE invests in Social Media
The Edinburgh CLGE General Assembly
From 30 March till 1 April, the CLGE General Assembly gathered in Edinburgh (UK). The whole event
was well prepared by the CLGE Bureau and the local Office of RICS.
A programme on Hydrography opens in Antwerp, Belgium
Hydrography
Nautical charts for mariners, tidal predictions,
changes in navigational areas: the data collect-
ed on the worlds oceans and seas have many
applications that are indispensable to merchant
marine, offshore, dredging and underwater pro-
jects. This large responsibility befalls hydrogra-
phers, experts in a eld that is highly important
to modern society. This underlines the impor-
tance of providing a decent education for this
eld.
The Institute for Hydrography
The Institute for Hydrography was inaugurated
and the new postgraduate programmes present-
ed on 3 March 2012. The collaboration
between the Antwerp Maritime Academy and
Ghent University results in an immediate con-
centration of bundled knowledge and experi-
ence, which enables it to become one of the
leading institutes of hydrography.
The programmes are based on the IHO
(International Hydrographic Organization) stan-
dards of competence which validates the certi-
cates internationally. The Institute for Hydro -
graphy offers both categories B and A conform
IHO regulations. With a cat. B certicate the
hydrographer can independently execute parts
of the process and specialize in a certain disci-
pline such as multi beam echo sounder or data
processing. The cat. A hydrographer leads a
team of hydrographers throughout the whole
process and manages the project. Students start
with the cat. B programme and may advance
to the A programme.
The programme
The category B consists of three major parts.
During the rst semester, from September to
December, only theoretical classes are lectured
divided between the participating institutes in
Antwerp and Ghent. The subjects range from
bathymetry to navigation, and examinations
take place in January. The courses are lectured
in English.
During the second semester this theory is taken
into practice during internships and workshops
at the partners of the industry.
The second year consists of eldwork in a com-
pany or institute chosen by the student. During
this year the student experiences real work as a
hydrographer and prepares thoroughly for their
future career. After completion the student
receives a cat. B certicate.
The programme cat. A has a similar structure. It
starts in September 2013.
Accessibility
The programmes allow exibility and accessibil-
ity for students and active hydrographers alike.
Through a selection committee exemptions can
be given to those that have already studied sim-
ilar courses or have relevant experience in the
sector. This system allows for a considerable
shortening of the two-year study.
Recent studies have shown that some 35 new
hydrographers are needed annually in Belgium;
internationally there are at least 800 job open-
ings. A job in hydrography provides among
other things with highly interesting job opportu-
nities.
Contact Information
Contact person: Micha Libert
Antwerp Maritime Academy - Institute for
Hydrography
Noordkasteel Oost 6, B-2030 Antwerp,
Belgium
www.hzs.be/hydrography
E-mail: hydrography@hzs.be
Tel +32 3 205 64 81
Fax +32 3 225 36 09
Sometimes it can be quite wet
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 7
Ne ws l e t t e r
8
June 2012
Norwegian students studying land
administration in Austria
T
he excursion started in Vienna where the
group rst visited the Technische -
Universitt (TU) Vienna. TU Vienna offers
its students a 3-year Bachelor in Surveying
and Geo information. This bachelors program
is not unlike the bachelor in Surveying and
Land administration in Bergen.
The University offers three masters programs
at the top of the bachelor program. Teaching
is research-based. Furthermore, BEV Vienna
(BundesamtfrEich- und Vermes sungsvesen)
was visited. BEV has 1200 employees, head-
quarters in Vienna and 41 regional ofces.
BEV is responsible for coordination, geodesy
and topographic mapping, development and
maintenance of the cadastre, and marketing
and sales of geoinformation. BEV has respon-
sibilities in metrology as well. We also
received a presentation of OVG The
Austrian Society for Surveying and
Geoinformation. After 2 days in Vienna, the
group travelled by train on to Linz in Upper
Austria. Here, the activities started with a visit
of the regional ofce of BEV, which is respon-
sible for the updating of the cadastre, in addi-
tion to tasks in the maintenance of the geodet-
ic network. Land registration lies with the local
courts. Land subdivisions and cadastral sur-
veys are carried out by private surveyors. After
the visit at BEV Linz the group visited survey-
ing company Kolbe-Grnzweil in Schwert -
berg, with a visit to new road construction site
S10 to be informed about surveying work.
Rudolf Kolbe is partner in the company and
holds the certicate for cadastral work. It is
the engineering and architectural organiza-
tion Arch + Ing that issues certicates for
cadastre. This is a chamber in which the
authorized surveyor must be a member.
Arc+Ing was visited and we were given a pre-
sentation of the authorization system. The last
visit, during our stay in Austria was the GIS
department of Land Obersterreich, with the
presentation of tasks and GIS system Doris.
What did we learn? The group learned that
the systems for land administration and map-
ping in Austria are based on the Franziskaner
cadastre which was established in the period
1817 to 1861. All changes after 1883 are
documented in the cadastral archives. Land
subdivisions and boundary surveys are per-
formed by authorized surveyors in private
practice, and authorization to do cadastral
surveys requires 5 years of university educa-
tion and 3 years of relevant experience. A
smaller number of surveys (3%) are carried
out by BEV. Boundaries surveyed after 1969
cannot be changed by private agreement or
by adverse possession. Easements are includ-
ed in the survey, and deeds are written pri-
vately or by a notary, and registered in the
Land Register. The Land Register is kept by the
courts. Boundary disputes are normally
resolved by a land surveyor and only excep-
tionally brought to court. There is a much
stronger focus on quality assurance and dis-
pute prevention in Austria than in Norway,
resulting in better quality of maps and records,
and fewer disputes.
Students and teachers at the Bergen University
College wish to give special thanks to all pre-
senters who made our excursion to Austria suc-
cessful and to a great experience: Georg
Gartner and Gerhard Navratil at TU Vienna,
Julius Ernst, Bernhard Jptner and Gert -
Steinkellner at BEV Vienna, Anton Hollaus and
ReinhardKraml at BEV Linz, Cora Stger at
Arch + Ing, Rudolf Kolbe and Rudolf Matzeder
at surveying rm Kolbe-Grnzweil, Kurt
Peger, Erwin Krauss and Christian Grei -
feneder at Land Obersterreich. Furthermore,
thank you to all others who contributed with
arranging the visit. A special thanks to Rudolf
Kolbe, who had coordinated an outstanding
program for this stay.
Author: Leif BjarteMjs, assistant professor Bergen University College
Rudolf Kolbe and LeivBjarteMjs are Vice-presidents in CLGE.
If you want to know the
latest news about CLGE on
twitter, follow CLGEPresident.
Bergen University College offers students a course in international land administration. This is an
elective course that provides 5 credits and an international excursion is included in the course.
This year 26 students and 3 teachers visited Austria from March 5 to March 9 2012, to study the
Austrian cadastre, and surveying and mapping institutions. A good practice backed by CLGE.
T
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11:46:31
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 8
ENVI 5
The next generation of image
analysis
ENVI is the premier software solution for processing and analysing geospatial imagery.
The newest ENVI release makes your image analysis workfow more effcient than ever
and allows you to get the information you need more quickly. With a streamlined user
interface, a modern high-speed display, new and advanced processing tools, and a
fexible API for easy customisation, ENVI 5 makes it easier for you to solve problems using
Earth observation images. And, since all ENVI tools are conveniently accessible from the
ArcGIS toolbox, GIS users can easily add information to their GIS workfow for enhanced
mapping applications.
You can meet our experts and experience ENVI 5 at these forthcoming conferences in June:
Toulouse Space Show, 2nd SFTH scientifc seminar, Toulouse | EUREGEO, ENEA/AIT 6th Workshop, Bologna |
ENVI User Conferences, Rome and Paris
www.exelisvis.com
All rights reserved. E3De, ENVI, IAS and IDL are trademarks of Exelis, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective
owners. 2012, Exelis Visual Information Solutions, Inc.
IMAGERY BECOMES
KNOWLEDGE
ENVI is the
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Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 9
The Olympic Games
Everyday Geomatics
The 2012 Olympic Games, summer edition, will take place in London, England. For the first time in the
history of the modern Olympic Games, a city has been selected by the IOC (International Olympic
Committee) to host the Games for a third time. After 1908 and 1948, the Olympic community will
gather again in London.
10
Ar t i c l e
By Henk Key
A
pproximately 11,000 athletes from
over 200 countries will compete in
26 different sports to obtain one of
over 300 gold medals.
The opening ceremony, traditionally a spec-
tacular show, will be held on July 27th with
the closing ceremony scheduled for August
12th.
Many events are decided by jury, by goals
or points, and some by the rst athlete who
crosses the nish line. Others are decided
by the longest distance.
And thats were Geomatics
comes in
Sports such as the long jump, shot put, ham-
mer throw and the like are decided by dis-
tance, where the competitor who throws the
farthest or jumps over the longest distance
wins the gold medal.
For years, ofcials have used a measuring
tape to determine the distance. It is obvious
that this method is inaccurate, time-consum-
ing and sometimes even dangerous for
example in the case of the javelin.
Nowadays total stations can be spotted
along the playing elds and ofcials are
equipped with a reector to mark the impact
spot. These total stations are connected to
huge scoreboards and computer systems in
order to present the results in real-time to
spectators and television viewers.
June 2012
Photo: Erik van Leeuwen, www.erki.nl
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 10
Ar t i c l e
11
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
More information on electronic measuring and recording, certica-
tion and training of ofcials can be read, among others, on the web-
site of the USA track and eld organisation: www.usatfne.org/of-
cials/electronic/
Another athletics event requiring a lot of geomatics activities is the
marathon, run over a distance of 42.195 km on public roads. A
very interesting paper on this subject was presented during the FIG
Working Week 2004, Athens, Greece. It can be found at:
www.g.net/pub/athens/papers/ts29/ts29_1_tsakiri_et_al.pdf
June 2012
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 11
C
O
L
U
M
N
From music stations to social media sites, more and more online places
provide you a filtered view of the world, based on your interests and
behaviors. How long will it take before this trend finds its way into the
geospatial world? And should we be happy about this development?
F
or the past 10 years my work has focused on
discovery and access of geospatial resources
as part of spatial data infrastructures. During
this time the Geospatial One-Stop portal was invent-
ed, built, operated, and retired to merge with the
Obama administrations site for open government
data, Data.gov. This site and many others that fol-
lowed during this period focused on user directed
searching of smaller or larger catalogs of content
(Geo.data.gov currently hosts close to 1 million
geospatial resources). Mostly references to other
sites where one could access data, services, or
applications. A lot of effort has been put into mak-
ing the search experience sophisticated with things
like spatial ranking or faceted searching, all based
on the descriptions in standards-based metadata.
Some of the sites (like Geospatial One-Stop,
Data.gov) included a concept of channels. Ahead
of their time these channels provided access to curat-
ed content about a specic topic, area of interest,
or related to the response to a signicant event such
as natural disasters like hurricane Katrina or the
Indian Ocean Tsunami. Especially in the events, the
channels provided quick access to key resources
without having to search for those resources; two
click to content as it was called.
A recurring training need
However, there were a couple shortcomings with
this approach to curated content. One is that some-
one had to do the curating. Experts were expected
to pick and choose the most relevant, most signi-
cant, or most valuable content related to the chan-
nel and then feature those in the channel. The orga-
nizations contributing to Geospatial One-Stop (over
200 agencies from federal, state, and local govern-
ment, academia and others) were not setup to do
this curating. This led to slow responses to content
requests, or the content in the channels becoming
stale quickly. Content for topic-related channels
never changed. The National Hydrography Dataset
is simply one of the most signicant datasets for
inland water management. Thats just not going to
change. Having to train the curators in the specic
tools used to populate the channels was another
challenge with this approach. With changing cura-
tor contributors, the tools introduced a recurring
training need. Lastly, over time we saw the number
of channels growing steadily as the concept was
being used to follow more events such as the Lewis
and Clark bicentennial, wildres in the west, and
programs such as the National Map started using
these channels for their purposes. This meant that
end users started to get lost in the site trying to nd
the channel that would have their specic content
pre-selected. Yahoo! Directory and the Open
Directory Project (as of writing this column it had 1
million categories (aka channels) and almost
100,000 editors (aka curators)) tried that already
Back to square one!
What is different about the curating thats now nd-
ing its way into the Internet is that its behavior- and
data-driven. No maze of categories (every user has
a few personal channels), no reliance on individu-
als who already have a day job (algorithms do the
selection), and last but not least, automatic inclusion
of new content as it becomes available (based on
the metadata for that new content). This may thus
provide new opportunities to include channels, cur-
rents, or streams of geospatial content that are more
likely to match what users are after.
Vocabularies
However, there is work to be done before spatial
data infrastructures can benet from the advances
made in associative browsing (as the eld has
become known). If youre interested in content from
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini -
stration (NOAA), there are currently close to 100
names you might need to include in a search. The
geospatial community needs to agree on certain
vocabularies used when describing their resources.
There is hope. Apart from the upcoming of linked
data, the use of vocabularies across the ISO meta-
data specications, and the long-awaited transition
from FGDC to ISO, there is a start of publishing the
common vocabularies at accessible locations like
vocab.data.gov.
Lets expand on these vocabularies and use them,
so that our geospatial community can enjoy a
stream of relevant content that adjusts to our prefer-
ences, as opposed to sticking to the needle/hay
stack approach of the past 10 years.
Marten Hogeweg, Product Manager
Geoportal Server, Esri Inc.
Internet: www.esri.com/geoportal
Welcome to the Curated Internet
C o l u mn
12
June 2012
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 12
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 13
Ready for the masses?
The Rise of OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap is on the rise and it seems that people outside the geospatial industry are ready for
the worldwide open source project. Now that Google has announced that it will ask for compensation
from large users of Google Maps, users of digital maps are looking for alternatives. And although
users are still somewhat reticent on their use of OpenStreetMap data, big companies such as Apple,
Microsoft and Esri have embraced the project a shift that has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the
world.
O
penStreetMap (OSM) is a project tar-
geted at producing freely available
and freely editable maps.
Information about streets, rivers and borders
are saved in a freely accessible database.
Edits are made available every minute, and
an entire new export of the database is made
every week. OSM data is freely accessible
and the organization, which consists of volun-
teers, has a budget of less than 120,000
Euros. The project is known all over the world:
at the end of the rst quarter of 2012, there
were 600,000 mappers out in the wild able
to acquire GPS data for OSM. The map data
is used for more and more applications, such
as a map showing the maximum speeds on
all highways, or information about various
walking trails. Also, there are more and more
companies offering services for OSM-based
implementations, such as consultancy services
based on OSM data.
Switchting to OpenStreetMap
The New York Times recently devoted an
article to open source alternatives to Google
Maps (Facing Fees, Some Sites are
Bypassing Google Maps, March 19). The
motivation for writing this article is that
Google has announced that it will ask large
users of their services to pay for those ser-
vices. This measure threatens to upset the
business models of many commercial web
services that make use of Google Maps and
generate a lot of trafc. No worries: there
are enough alternatives, such as the free
map data of OpenStreetMap, that are
acquired by volunteers all over the world
and made available through the web. A
number of users have already switched from
Google Maps to the maps of OSM through
map APIs of Open MapQuest and
Cloudmade, such as the real estate search
engine Nestoria.
14
June 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Eric van Rees
Henk Hoff
Accessibility of airports in Ireland, measured in minutes (source: wiki.openstreetmap.org)
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 14
Aimed at recent switchers, OSM has cre-
ated a website to provide information about
how to switch to an OSM-based solution.
We hope that now more people will start
to discover OSM as a full alternative for the
map information that they want to show on
their websites, states Henk Hoff, Board
Member of the OSM foundation.
The interest in OpenStreetMap just happens
to occur at the same moment an often-
announced license change is put into prac-
tice. In short, what is changing is that new
user conditions are initiated, that now more
than ever, refer to the map data of Open -
StreetMap, so that the data of OSM collab-
orators can be made available through an
Open Database License (ODbL). All this
has cost us a lot of time, because we need-
ed the permission of all the people who con-
tributed map data. The good news is that
99% of all data will be retained, says Hoff.
We hope to release the database under this
new license as of May 1st.
Data as a commodity
The growing popularity of OSM has
induced a growing need for freely available
mapping data, and that has put mapping
agencies in a redened role in society, says
Hoff. Governments are now offering free
spatial datasets to citizens who already paid
for this data in the form of taxes: We
already saw this happening in the US, with
the Tiger database, which is basically the
street map created by the federal govern-
ment. Geobase is a similar initiative, but for
Canada. In Europe, we see the same trend
with Ordnance Survey in the UK and
Kadaster in the Netherlands. The challenge
now is how to turn the data into information,
as in providing services as a company to
add value to the data, for example by offer-
ing premium models where clients pay for
higher quality data. It will be interesting to
see what Google is going to do in this
area, says Hoff.
OSM does not see a role for itself other than
providing data with as much detail as pos-
sible. This means that, as yet, no hi-usage
API will be provided through the servers of
OSM. This is because of the structure of
OSM. We do offer an API, but that is for
making queries or modications to our
database. On our wiki we offer a step-by-
step manual to create ones own map serv-
er fed by OSM data. Theres also the option
for other parties to offer this as a service,
and there are now parties emerging that
want to offer custom maps with different
color settings or details displayed. An
example of this is MapQuest, an open data
initiative that offers a map that is based on
OSM. They offer an API that is similar to
Google Maps API, and shows a growing
user base.
Keeping the community
informed
Since OSM is a community-based project,
communication is important. It wont be a
surprise that the community uses all forms of
social media to keep everyone up-to-date,
such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
There are also wikis, mailing lists and blogs
to inform the community, and yearly confer-
ences such as State of the Map, organized
by the foundation itself. This years confer-
ence is scheduled for September 6-8 and
will be held in Tokyo, following a successful
event in Denver last year. The success of this
conference has led to regional versions of
the event to serve local communities, says
Hoff: This year a State of the Map event
will be organized in the US, and probably
there will be a European version as well.
WhereCamp is another outing where you
can nd a number of people active within
OSM, but this is a more technical confer-
ence concerned with geospatial data.
Working with Apple, Esri and
Microsoft
Within the geospatial industry, Esri supports
OSM through a freely available open source
ArcGIS editor for OSM. ArcGIS users can
use it to work with data from the OSM
database in a GIS environment. Esri also
supports OSM nancially and uses OSM
data for their world base map in ArcGIS
Online, Esris cloud environment. It shows
I n t e r v i e w
15
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2012
The forbidden city in Peking, China
(source: wiki.openstreetmap.org)
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 15
that Esri sees the power of community map-
ping. The fact that Esri has embraced
OSM, shows that they also see that OSM is
a very interesting provider in getting to
know parties that historically work a lot with
Esri, such as the public sector. So a munici-
pality or province that works with Esri soft-
ware has no excuse not to work with OSM.
However, the public sector is not very recep-
tive when it comes to using OSM data. The
criticism that is heard most often is that the
data is not accurate or reliable enough. But
this has never been the starting point of
OSM, says Hoff: If you want to have data
with millimeter accuracy, you should look
around at other data sources.
This doesnt mean that the OSM map isnt
good: Research of diverse universities
shows that our data is qualitatively competi-
tive if not better than those of commercial
data providers. What we have is mostly a
combination of things: the biggest three
sources that we are still using are GPS data,
aerial imagery from Bing and freely and
open data sources, which we use to improve
the map and add things.
Within Bing theres also interest in OSM,
which is logical due to the move by OSM
founder Steve Coast to Bing Mobile in
2010: Besides their aerial imagery that we
are allowed to use theres an application
made that makes it very easy to draw streets
with a start and end point, so that the appli-
cation itself draws the street. Bing is work-
ing on small applications that will make edit-
ing in OSM a whole lot easier. Bing is now
looking at the possibilities of making data
sources partly available to OSM so that our
data will be of better quality. So theres a
strong bond between OSM and Bing.
In the mobile space, the use of OSM maps
in favor of Google Maps, is rapidly grow-
ing. Foursquare, a mobile and desktop
application that shares the location of users
through the web, announced recently to
have switched to OSM concerning their
desktop application. Apple did the same
with their iPhoto app for iPad and desktop,
probably to be less dependent on their com-
petitor Google and compete with their
mobile platform. A remarkable choice
according to Hoff, referring to Apples high
standards regarding user interfaces and
design. In short, OSM is denitely on the
rise. Is it ready for the masses?
OpenGeoData blog: www.opengeodata.org
OSM Foundation blog: www.osmfoundation.org
Website for switchiing to OSM: http://switch2osm.org/
ArcGIS Editor for Open Street Map:
http://esriosmeditor.codeplex.com
State of the Map: www.stateofthemap.org
16
June 2012
I n t e r v i e w
m
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Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:18 Pagina 16
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T
he last straw for St. Charles Parish, La., came when an under-
ground water pipeline burst beneath a busy street. Trafc had
to be diverted as the water continued to spill out onto the pave-
ment. A half hour passed, and then another, before personnel from
the Waterworks Department found the shutoff valve and stopped the
deluge. The delay was caused by a faulty map that incorrectly
showed the valves location on the other side of the street.
As is true for many local government departments, the St. Charles
Waterworks relied on as-built drawings and sketches supplied by
developers and engineering rms to keep the network of under-
ground water pipes updated in its GIS. At the time, the parish had
no other option because it lacked internal mapping capabilities.
In 2008, St. Charles created a GIS Ofce to support mapping needs
of all other parish departments and hired Luis Martinez to manage
it. Fortunately, Martinez had been trained to use GNSS technology
for GIS data collection in his previous position. He convinced the
parish it would be cost-effective to invest in mapping- and survey-
grade GNSS equipment and train personnel to use it as part of their
daily operations.
The rst personnel we trained were the Waterworks and Public
Works crews, said Martinez. He explained that Waterworks is
responsible for maintaining, repairing and upgrading the parishs
network of above- and below-ground water pipelines. Public Works
manages the storm protection and drainage infrastructure, such as
catch basins, ditches, and levees.
Boosting Productivity
The GIS Ofce maintains a parish-wide, Internet-accessible GIS com-
prised of layers for nearly all departments. Aside from Public Works,
the Waterworks Department has the most rapidly evolving geospa-
tial data layers in the parish. With new water pipes being installed
or old ones being replaced, the Waterworks infrastructure map is
constantly in ux. Handheld GNSS-based GIS data collection units
were seen as the ideal solution keeping layers accurate and up to
date.
Waterworks crews experienced problems with accuracy when work-
ing beneath the stately oak trees that line many parish residential
streets. The oak canopies deect and partially block GNSS signals
from reaching the receivers, impairing productivity through a phe-
nomenon called satellite shadow. This same signal deection prob-
lem often faces mapping crews working among tall buildings in many
cities.
Satellite Shadow Reduction Technology
St. Charles Parish and GNSS Signal Shadow Issues
In an effort to improve the accuracy of its GIS maps, St. Charles Parish, La., purchased its own GNSS
equipment. The parish Waterworks Department experienced outstanding results when mapping water
infrastructure featuresexcept when working beneath the parishs towering oak trees, which
deflected or blocked GNSS satellite signals. After upgrading mapping GNSS handhelds, they saw an
immediate improvement in productivity and accuracy.
24
June 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Kevin Corbley
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 24
Martinez quickly identied the satellite shad-
ow problem and upgraded the parish GNSS
equipment to the Trimble GeoExplorer 6000
series. These handheld GIS mapping
devices come equipped with the unique
Trimble Floodlight capability that overcomes
the productivity-reducing effects of satellite
shadow without sacricing accuracy.
The technology accomplishes this through a
combination of multi-constellation (GPS and
GLONASS) positioning, advanced tracking
algorithms, and altitude-constrained posi-
tioning.
Waterworks personnel onsite at every exca-
vation project began using Trimble
GeoExplorer 6000 GeoXH handhelds run-
ning Esri ArcPad data collection software.
As new pipe is laid in the ground, the hand-
held devices are used to map the location
and depth with submeter accuracy before it
is buried. Crews use pull-down Esri ArcPad
menus on the touch screen to collect key
descriptive data relating to each asset, such
as the size and composition of the conduit.
Additionally, locations of other important
items such as shut-off valves are mapped
onto the GIS layer with the same precision.
Before Floodlight, we could only get a
strong signal from about six satellites,
depending on the canopy, said Martinez.
[Even with differential correction,] only 60
percent of our points achieved the desired
15 cm / 6 inch accuracy, while the majori-
ty of the rest were off by as much as three
feet or more.
Today, Waterworks crews routinely lock
onto 1213 satellites and achieve 15cm
/ 6 inch accuracy for 85 to 90 percent of
all points in feature mapping projects with
the Trimble GeoExplorer 6000 handheld.
In the field, they use a Bluetooth connec-
tion and cell phone to access differential
correction points published on the Internet
by a local continuously operating reference
station (CORS). Points are corrected in real
time with Trimble GPScorrect extension for
Esri ArcPad software running on the hand-
held.
Floodlight allows us to maintain mapping
accuracy, explained Martinez, and it pays
for itself by saving time for eld crews.
Without the technology, crews had to mea-
sure offset positions to get out from under
the trees.
This wasnt necessary once they obtained
the Trimble GeoExplorer 6000 handhelds.
Martinez said that measuring an offset could
take two to ve extra minutes to collect a sin-
gle position, compared to just 15 seconds
when occupying the feature itself. In addi-
tion, Floodlight technology allows the receiv-
er to maintain satellite lock when it is put
back in the vehicle for the drive to the next
collection point. This also shaves several
more minutes off each point collection.
The St. Charles GIS has never been more
up-to-date and information rich than it is
now. But Martinez sees room to grow and
is considering expanding the use of Trimble
GIS mapping equipment to other depart-
ments, including Planning and Zoning.
Inspectors from this department will soon
carry integrated GIS mapping devices that
enable them to document code violations in
writing with time- and location-stamped pho-
tographs.
For more information, have a look at
www.trimble.com/mgis
Ar t i c l e
25
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2012
Satellite Shadow Reduction Technology
St. Charles Parish and GNSS Signal Shadow Issues
Ar t i c l e
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 25
C
O
L
U
M
N
Over the last 12 months a number of OGC members have collaborated to
produce the OGCs first Market Report, on Open Standards and INSPIRE. This
was written and reviewed mainly by European members of the Open
Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to provide a simple guide to the EU INSPIRE
Directive and the role of geospatial standards.
T
he report describes the role that OGC, CEN
and ISO standards play in helping public sec-
tor bodies across Europe meet their obligations
to implement the INSPIRE Directive. It aims to set out
the differences, with respect to standards, between
the legal requirements and the technical guidance.
The audience consists of all persons with geospatial
policy responsibilities in European stakeholder orga-
nizations.
While standards are often seen as highly technical,
this report has been written to provide a less techni-
cal overview of standards in INSPIRE. It also aims to
highlight the fundamental business benets arising
from INSPIRE and the use of international standards.
The benets are closely aligned with the European
Commissions Digital Agenda for Europe. The report
is therefore aimed at a non-technical reader but pro-
vides the necessary links and references for a more
technically minded reader.
The goal is to provide one document outlining where
and how OGC standards play a role in INSPIRE and
to supplement and support existing EC INSPIRE docu-
mentation.
The European Commissions INSPIRE Directive, which
went into force in May 2007, introduces general
rules to establish an infrastructure for spatial infor-
mation in Europe. These rules are related to com-
munity environmental policies and policies or activi-
ties which impact the environment. The Directive is
taken up and followed by Legally Mandated
Organisations (LMOs) operated by the Member
States and Spatial Data Interest Communities
(SDICs) across Europe. The Directive does not
require the collection of new spatial data, but aims
to improve access to and sharing of spatial data
held by or on behalf of a public authority in Europe.
The INSPIRE Implementing Rules relate to a number of
technical and policy areas, including metadata,
interoperability of spatial data sets and services,
network services (discovery, view, download,
invoke), data and service sharing (policy) and coor-
dination and measures for monitoring and report-
ing. Once adopted, the Implementing Rules become
European legislative acts and national law in 27
Member States and also in some EFTA countries,
such as Switzerland and Norway.
The Implementing Rules are legally binding, but do
not make any explicit reference to any standards or
technologies. Technical Guidance documents
accompanying the Implementing Rules provide the
necessary implementation details, but they are not
legally binding documents. These documents refer-
ence OGC, ISO and other standards.
The business benets arising from INSPIRE, which are
aligned with the ECs Digital Agenda for Europe as
mentioned above, deserve serious consideration by
INSPIRE implementers. Geospatial data, technology
and services are an essential component of the
online services that will enable Europe to boost job
creation, promote economic prosperity and improve
the daily lives of EU citizens and businesses. OGC
standards are interwoven with other IT and net-
working standards that support these business ben-
ets.
Feedback will be taken into account over the next
6 months and revisions will be made to the market
report at the end of 2012.
Some commentators believe that the analysis of huge
volumes of location enabled data has the potential to
drive value-add for business for the next 30-50 years.
One thing we can say with certainty is that we are at
a very exciting stage in the development of both the
Location and Telematics industries.
Steven Ramage is Executive Director,
Marketing and Communications at the
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The
OGC is a standards developing organiza-
tion working globally on location and
geospatial technologies to enable data
sharing. Steven is responsible for the man-
agement of a broad range of marketing,
communications and education program
activities worldwide. He also works closely
with the OGC Global Advisory Council and
the OGC Board of Directors. He spent 15
years working in industry prior to joining
the OGC, with organizations such as
Fugro, Navteq (Nokia) and 1Spatial.
Steven is also Chair of the OGC Business
Value Sub-committee and the GSDI
Association Outreach and Membership
Committee.
OGC Market Report Open
Standards and INSPIRE
C o l u mn
26
June 2012
I believe in precision.
Leica Geosystems AG
Switzerland
www.leica-geosystems.com
Precision is more than an asset when your
reputation is at stake, its an absolute necessity.
Zero tolerance is the best mindset when others need to rely on
your data. Thats why precision comes rst at Leica Geosystems.
Our comprehensive spectrum of solutions covers all your meas-
urement needs for surveying, engineering, construction, and
geospatial appli cations. And they are all backed with world-class
service and support that delivers answers to your questions.
When it matters most. When you are in the eld. When it has
to be right.
You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly precise
solution for every facet of your job.
The new Leica ScanStation C10: this high-denition
3D laser scanner for civil engineering and plant
surveying is a ne example of our uncompromising
dedication to your needs. Precision: yet another
reason to trust Leica Geosystems.
HDS_C10_210x297_110686.indd 1 04.01.12 16:17
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 26
C o l u mn
I believe in precision.
Leica Geosystems AG
Switzerland
www.leica-geosystems.com
Precision is more than an asset when your
reputation is at stake, its an absolute necessity.
Zero tolerance is the best mindset when others need to rely on
your data. Thats why precision comes rst at Leica Geosystems.
Our comprehensive spectrum of solutions covers all your meas-
urement needs for surveying, engineering, construction, and
geospatial appli cations. And they are all backed with world-class
service and support that delivers answers to your questions.
When it matters most. When you are in the eld. When it has
to be right.
You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly precise
solution for every facet of your job.
The new Leica ScanStation C10: this high-denition
3D laser scanner for civil engineering and plant
surveying is a ne example of our uncompromising
dedication to your needs. Precision: yet another
reason to trust Leica Geosystems.
HDS_C10_210x297_110686.indd 1 04.01.12 16:17
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 27
Ar t i c l e
WorldView agility completes the picture
Around, up, over and back again
Very High-Resolution (VHR) satellites, like all technologies, have seen huge technical improvements
over the past 10 years and, with the ever increasing number of satellites in orbit, the important ques-
tion of - Which satellite should I use? - is at the forefront of users minds.
S
peed is an important factor that plays
a major role in answering the above
question. The speed a satellite can
move from target-to-target, otherwise termed
the slew time, inuences the total area that
can be imaged in a single orbital pass. This
determines the capacity of a satellite and
therefore the amount of data added to the
archive every day.
DigitalGlobe, owners and operators of the
WorldView constellation, have long seen
agility as a primary differentiator within the
VHR marketplace, and with the launch of
WorldView-1 in 2009 introduced Control
Moment Gyro technology (CMG). This has
been one of the most signicant innovations
in satellite technology in recent years and
due to its proven reliability has been used
in the WorldView-2 (launched 2009) and
WorldView-3 (due to launch 2014) satellite
designs.
The WorldView Satellites
The satellite imaging sensors of WorldView-
1 & 2 are mounted on identical platforms
which use CMG technology to move and
stabilize the instruments during imaging
maneuvers. There is a direct relationship
between the stability of a satellite platform
during image scanning and the resulting
geometric accuracy of the collected
imagery. WorldView-1 and WorldView-2
collect imagery at a geo-location accuracy
of 5 meters (CE90) without Ground Control
Points (GCPs) and 2 meters with GCPs.
Collections of stereo images are also
improved when using CMG technology. The
capability of the sensor means the collection
of in-track stereo images (i.e. a forward and
a backward looking image of the same tar-
get area) are easily acquired on a single
pass. It is even possible for more than two
stereo legs to be acquired resulting in a
triplet (a forward, directly downward, and
backward looking collection), or a multiple
acquisition (more than three images in one
pass), known as a multi-look.
In addition to their agility and accuracy, the
WorldView satellites collect data in both
panchromatic and multi-spectral channels.
Both WorldView satellites collect imagery at
50 cm resolution (Native nadir resolution of
WorldView-2 is 46cm and re-sampled to
50cm for commercial use) with WorldView-1
collecting using solely a pan-chromatic sensor
and WorldView-2 across an unprecedented 8
spectral bands (Fig 1.).
The soon to be launched WorldView-3, in
addition to the panchromatic and 8-band mul-
28
June 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Penelope Richardson, Simon Casey, Pablo dAngelo and Ansgar Kornhoff
Figure 1: Both WorldView satellites collect imagery at 50 cm* resolution with WorldView-1 collecting using solely a pan-chromatic sensor and WorldView-2 across an unprecedented 8 spectral bands.
Figure 2: Scan Options with WorldView Satellites.
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 28
tispectral sensors will include a short wave
infrared sensor collecting at 3.7m resolution
across 8 wave bands.
Local Tasking
Because of the slew time of the WorldView sen-
sors and their collection capacity, increasingly
complex projects are now more feasible.
To take full advantage of the satellites over
Europe and North Africa, the tasking opera-
tions team at European Space Imaging (EUSI)
use every second of satellite maneuvering time
to capture as much usable data as possible.
EUSIs dedicated WorldView ground station
located within the German Aerospace Center
(DLR) at Oberpfaffenhofen outside Munich,
maintains an uninterrupted up and down-link
to the WorldView eet during their daily pass-
es.
Planning Process
Collections from the European ground station
are not automated but a hands-on activity car-
ried out between collection planners and col-
lection managers.
The collection planning process starts up to
24 hours before images are captured. EUSIs
experienced collection planning team evalu-
ates a variety of weather models and cloud
forecasts to build up a preliminary collection
plan. This plan becomes the basis of the
rened schedule editing with manual interac-
tion starting 2-3 hours before the satellite con-
tact. With a hands-on approach, manually
inputting orders into the system, the rate of
unsatisfactory collections is limited, and
avoids the delivery of under-par imagery, a
common scenario when orders are fed into
automated systems.
Up to minutes before satellite contact, the col-
lection team carefully considers customer pri-
orities, collection deadlines and the weather
situation. Updated every 15 minutes, weather
images from Meteosat are integrated into the
imaging plan to visualize cloud-free areas and
the development of weather fronts. With this
information, EUSIs collection planners can
play with the agility strengths of the World -
View satellites to shoot between and around
the clouds to get the best results.
Each target in the collection plan takes at least
10 minutes to schedule in around seven steps
to ensure that most of an area is covered in
one pass. Through manual schedule editing
the operator can tweak the collected Area of
Interest (AOI), minimizing overlap to almost
double the collection capacity in one pass, for
one target.
The exibility of locally tasking the satellites
gives operators the option to move away from
traditional north-south scanning of image tar-
gets. Rotating the sensor across a wider imag-
ing range - forwards, backwards and side-
ways, allows greater exibility when imaging
linear corridors or wider east-west areas of
interest (Fig 2.).
This manual approach benets the WorldView
data user through increasing the effective col-
lection capacity each pass, reacting quicker
to customer requirements and yielding optimal
cloud-free imagery. EUSI statistics show that
95% of all their data is acquired cloud-free.
Recent Project Examples of
WorldView Agility over Europe
European Urban Atlas
An initiative which highly demonstrates the
agility and capability of WorldView-2 is an
in-house initiative at European Space Imaging,
to cover all European urban areas dened as
Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) by Eurostat, the sta-
tistical ofce of the European Union. The total
area to be collected is more than 580,000
km distributed all over Europe.
The challenge of this project is to complete all
LUZs within 3 years. All LUZs must be imaged
cloud, haze and snow free, with a sun eleva-
tion angle of better than 30 degrees, and a
Ar t i c l e
29
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2012
WorldView agility completes the picture
Around, up, over and back again
Ar t i c l e
Figure 3: Aberdeen, Scotland: cloud-free collection made with two passes.
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 29
steep looking geometry with an instrument
incidence angle of less than 20 degrees. In
addition, EUSI is aiming to complete each LUZ
within the shortest possible time between
image collections to get consistent results
across each LUZ.
All these pre-conditions have to be calculated
and coordinated by the EUSI staff alongside
all other imaging projects.
This is where planning exibility and manual
interaction come into the play. The satellite can
be tasked to its maximum capacity over cloud-
free areas and the fast slew speed of
WorldView-2, together with exible direction-
al scanning allows for completion of larger
mapping areas.
The project continues in 2012. One of the rst
LUZ coverages of the collection season was
the Scottish city Aberdeen (Fig. 3). The feasi-
bility of being able to image the city, which sits
in far north Europe, cloud-free, in two passes
over ve days, was only possible due to the
expert tasking on the ground together with the
agility and speed of the WorldView-2 satellite.
Elevation Data Extraction
The German Aerospace Centers (DLR) tech-
nology partner of EUSI, uses WorldView data
in the creation of highly detailed digital sur-
face models (DSM) from satellite imagery. The
agility of the WorldView satellites allows for
the acquisition of stereo or multi-look imagery
for highly detailed 3D reconstruction.
To derive the elevation data from the stereo
(or multi-look) data, DLR initially performs a
block adjustment of the input images. The rel-
ative accuracy of the data after block adjust-
ment is typically in the half pixel range, this
allows the reconstruction of high quality mod-
els. Even without GCPs, WorldView-2 offers a
good absolute accuracy, which is sufcient for
many applications. With high quality ground
control points, sub-meter absolute accuracy
can be reached.
After block adjustment, DLRs Semi Global
Matching algorithm is used to nd the sub-
pixel accurate correspondence for every pixel
in the images allowing the creation of DSMs
with 0.5 m ground sampling distance (GSD),
showing ne surface details, especially if
triplets (i.e. three multi-look images) are avail-
able. The whole processing chain is fully auto-
matic and no manual input is required, except
for optional GCP measurements.
For mountainous or dense city areas, occlu-
sions (e.g. areas visible only in a single image
due to being obscured by high rise buildings
etc.) prevent detailed reconstruction, if stereo
pairs with large stereo convergence angles are
used. For these areas, the stereo convergence
angle should be between 10 and 20 degrees.
More than two images allow redundant match-
ing and automatic outlier detection and
removal. They also lead to better accuracy and
fewer occluded regions, and are thus a
requirement for highly detailed reconstruction.
Typically, triples with a relative angle of 15
degrees between successive image acquisi-
tions are recommended for city areas.
Using multi-look stereo acquisitions from
WorldView-2 the DLR has derived some of the
most accurate elevation data sets from satellite
data of the K2 mountain and central London.
K2
K2, in the Karakoram mountain range, is dif-
cult terrain for both mountaineers and the
DLR researchers. In autumn 2010, DLR
ordered a special WorldView-2 triplet acqui-
sition from EUSI. From the collected data, the
DLR created an elevation model and views
from novel viewpoints of K2 with a resolu-
tion of 0.5 meter. This is the rst time that
images of this quality have been published
(cf. gure, maybe link to video at
www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/ta
bid-10212/332_read-921/) (Fig. 4.).
Ar t i c l e Ar t i c l e
30
June 2012
Figure 4: K2 climbing route used by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits developed from the 3D digital model.
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 30
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits
used this data for planning their K2 ascent via
the previously little travelled and technically
challenging north route. There are very few
at spots for the bivouac tents on the otherwise
continuously steep rock and ice buttresses, and
there are narrow ice channels running lateral-
ly across the rocks that offer slightly easier
ascent options. All of these details would oth-
erwise have had to be investigated on site
through arduous climbing, said Dujmovits.
For alpine areas, such as the K2 example, spe-
cial attention needs to be given to the acquisi-
tion settings as the default exposure parame-
ters result in overexposed images that lack
detail in bright, snowy areas. After DLR pro-
vided EUSI with suitable time-delayed integra-
tion (TDI) settings, a re-collection with very
good image quality was performed.
Central London
EUSI also provided DLR with a sequence of
25 multi-look images of London, captured in
a single pass. Acquiring multi-look sequences
requires individual collection scheduling to
take advantage of the agility of the satellite
and to fulll the collection parameters of a
given project. This multi-look acquisition was
entered as 25 separate orders that were taken
consecutively at 9 second intervals (total 3.9
minutes) during the pass.
Five images from that sequence provided
enough details and redundancy to allow a
detailed reconstruction of the inner city with
its narrow streets and high rise buildings. The
remaining images can be used for texturing
the building facades (Fig. 5a and 5b).
Potential for Multi-look
Collections
Although satellite images have been used as
the basis of 3D modeling for a long time it is
only recently that the possibilities of Very High-
Resolution imagery, in conjunction with the
agility of the satellite, are being explored in
more depth with multi-look images over the
same target being taken in one pass, on one
day. Research is always being furthered into
the applications of multi-look imaging which
could support search and rescue teams,
defense and security planning or people ow
logistics at big events which are all expand-
ing areas of development.
Apart from creating surface models, and ren-
dering views from novel perspectives, eleva-
tion models from satellite imagery are starting
to reach the quality of airborne data, and can
be used as a basic product for automatic mod-
eling and measurement of buildings and their
roof structures, detailed site monitoring, 3D
change detection and many other applications
where 3D data is of prime importance. The
German Bundeswehr Geoinformation Ofce
(BGIO), another EUSI WorldView customer, is
at the forefront of explorations into the poten-
tial of this multi-look data.
Concluding Comments
By combining speed, optimisation of local
tasking, capacity of the sensors and variety of
data products available the WorldView satel-
lites offer some of the most diverse and accu-
rate satellite data and potential for derived
information in the market.
The DigitalGlobe constellation images 2/3 of
the earths landmass every 90 days, and has
an unprecedented collection capacity of 700
million km per year. It is most likely that
WorldView has got you covered.
Agility, exibility and capability are the words
that best describe the WorldView constellation
of satellites due to their increased capacity to
collect high quality data in weather critical
areas. Customers in Europe benet even more
than most by choosing to use the WorldView
eet, because of the individual tasking avail-
able through the European Space Imaging
Ground Station.
Penelope Richardson, Simon Casey and Ansgar Kornhoff
European Space Imaging GmbH, Arnulfstrasse 197, D-80634 Munich
Contact: info@euspaceimaging.com
Links: www.euspaceimaging.com
Pablo dAngelo
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Remote Sensing Technology Institute,
D-82234 Wessling, Germany
Contact: Pablo.Angelo@dlr.de
Links: www.dlr.de
Ar t i c l e
31
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2012
Ar t i c l e
Figure 5a/b: London Digital Surface Model using WorldView multi-look images collected during one satellite pass.
Prod_GEO412_Prod GEO66 16-05-12 10:19 Pagina 31
Towards the European Location Framework
EuroGeographics Newsletter
Ingrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator, National Geographic Institute, Belgium is President of
EuroGeographics, an international not-for-profit organisation under Belgian Law (AISBL). The
Associations members, the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities, are
currently working to develop the European Location Framework (E.L.F).
O
n 5 March, many of our members joined
one of our strategic partners, the
Council of European Geodetic Surve -
yors (CLGE) for its initiative the rst ever Day of
the European Surveyor and Geoinfor mation,
which marked 500 years since the birth of this
famous Belgian cartographer. Whilst Euro Geo -
graphics may not be able to boast a ve-century
anniversary, we do have a long track record of
successfully completing key projects such as the
European Spatial Data Infrastructure Network
(ESDIN). Co-funded by European Commissions
eContentplus programme and co-ordinated by
EuroGeographics, the 30-month collaboration
between mapping and cadastral agencies, aca-
demic institutions and technology providers,
helped prepare data for the INSPIRE Directive. It
was our most ambitious project to date so we
were delighted when it won a Geospatial
Excellence award for Policy Implementation SDI
at the Geospatial World Forum in Amsterdam.
Towards the European Location Framework (E.L.F)
ESDINs ndings extend beyond simply assisting the EU member states
to meet INSPIRE obligations, they also provide the rst steps towards the
European Location Framework or E.L.F, a new approach to pan-
European geospatial reference data with information from national
mapping, cadastral and land registry authorities at its heart. This will
deliver a host of benets and support a wide range of initiatives and
policy, including the European Digital Agenda; the Europe 2020 strat-
egy for smart, sustainable growth; and the Directive on the reuse of
Public Sector Information. The E.L.Fs reach will also extend beyond the
borders of the 27 Member States with many EuroGeographics mem-
bers outside the EU adopting its specications so that their national
geospatial reference data can be harmonised immediately with pan-
European location information from other national mapping, cadastral
and land registry authorities.
What is the E.L.F?
The E.L.F is a technical infrastructure which delivers authoritative, inter-
operable, cross-border geospatial reference data for analysing and
understanding information connected to places and features. It is the
means by which data complying with the INSPIRE Directive will be deliv-
ered to the European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) which is being
created using EuroGeographics members national reference informa-
tion. This uses location as the basis for searching, cross- referencing,
analysing and understanding Europe-wide social, economic and envi-
ronmental data. The E.L.F specications, based on
ISO/EN 19100 standards, enable information to
be connected to individual places and features.
Services will be implemented using web service
standards developed by the Open Geospatial
Consortium (OGC) and ofcially adopted by
ISO/CEN and, whilst the data content and ser-
vices will be INSPIRE compliant, the E.L.F will also
consider requirements from international commu-
nities and the needs of users.
Benets of the E.L.F for users:
Consistency between a number of INSPIRE data
themes, including administrative units; hydrogra-
phy; and transport networks, so that themes can
be used together in various resolutions; Better up-
to-dateness and consistency between resolutions;
Quality conformance levels and metadata
enabling users to ensure that their requirements
are met; Maintenance of reference information in
user databases; unique identiers enable change
only updates; Reference data provision for European users including
the European Commission.
Benets of the E.L.F For producers:
Cost savings in the national production and maintenance processes of
European data; Common feature type dictionary between resolutions
enables use of generalization process in maintenance processes of
medium/small scale resolutions which means better up-to-dateness and
consistency between resolutions; Help implementing the INSPIRE Directive;
Implementation of interoperability processes including edge-matching
between countries to achieve cross-border consistency, quality evalua-
tion and conformance testing, generalization and transformation ser-
vices; Increased use of national data in services, European and global
use.
How to get involved
For more information about the E.L.F, please read our White Paper
which is available at www.eurogeographics.org/about. To learn
more about ESDINs achievements and results, please visit
www.esdin.eu/project/summary-esdin-project-public-deliverables and
to join the discussion about the E.L.F, why not register with www.euro-
geoforum.eu, a place for sharing information about developments in
geographical information? Alternatively, you can contact me by email-
ing president@eurogeographics.org.
32
June 2012
Ne ws l e t t e r
By Ingrid Vanden Berghe
Ingrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator, National
Geographic Institute, Belgium was elected President of
EuroGeographics (AISBL) at the Associations 2011 General
Assembly.
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