EGNOS and Precision Applications Indoor/outdoor location information standards

FARO scanners Geological and Geotechnical Mapping

Magazi ne f or Sur veyi ng, Mappi ng & GI S Pr of essi onal s
June
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Volume 14
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We want your data
Sharing data with third parties can be a tacky subject. By making use of services of
companies such as Google or mobile phone companies, a consumer agrees to the
conditions that these companies have created. The same goes for software that
everybody is using, such as a PDF reader. When visiting the CAPIGI event (reviewed
in this issue), there arose a discussion amongst the participants on the sharing of
agricultural data with third parties. These third parties described the data as
valuable (whether quantitative or qualitative is not the question here) for them, but
they are not the owners of it and therefore have no rights to use it. User cases were
limited, so there was something interesting going on here. How can third parties
interest the producers of agricultural data to share their data with them, for instance
for academic research purposes? I found this discussion interesting and a little
peculiar. Interesting, because the subject of data sharing is more topical than ever,
especially when it comes to commercial companies who may use crowd-sourced
data from clients for commercial purposes. Also, because of the whole privacy issue
involved with this data. Peculiar, because this discussion was held right after a
presentation about the INSPIRE initiative, that is mainly about sharing data. Could
these data sharing concepts be applied to agricultural data as well? One might
very well ask.
Apparently, a strange vacuum exists between the interests of commercial business-
es, governmental initiatives and producers of data (commercial or non-commercial).
What interests me is not the quality of this type of data, but the interests of different
parties, and the intermediate role of governments in between. It seems to me that
quantity also plays a role here: the more data is gathered or produced, the harder
it is to sort and nd quality data. Despite initiatives such as INSPIRE, data owner-
ship will continue to be an important topic for all parties involved. Or better still:
because of INSPIRE, data ownership will continue to be a key issue. As for agricul-
tural businesses, I learned about some very interesting initiatives and different ways
of combining geospatial technologies and agriculture. Moreover, with this sector
just discovering the advantages of geospatial (at least in some parts of Europe),
I think they can learn from the mistakes other industries have made before them.
Enjoy your reading,
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics is the leading publication for Geospatial
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Contributing Writers:
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C o n t e n t
Ar t i c l e s
INSPIRing recipes for a Diverse Data Palette 6
EGNOS and Precision Applications 10
Scanning and Imaging Building Interiors 14
Navigating the Indoor/Outdoor Location Standards Maze 18
Geological and Geotechnical Mapping 22
High-performance Distributed Computing 26
Future Immersive Experiences 30
E v e n t s
Spatial Statistics Conference 28
The league of spatial superheroes 32
CAPIGI 2011 34
SPAR 2011 42
Report on the FTTH Conference 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:
Created using Safe Softwares FME, this artistic rendition of Harmonising
Data Across Borders shows GML data in the INSPIRE standard, political
boundaries and ortho photography overlayed on a DEM. Learn how the
Swedish Transportation Administration, Metria, and con terra have all used
FME to harmonise data for INSPIRE-related SDIs. See the article on
page 6
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 4
42
6
14
Data acquisition is undertaken
using advanced sensing tech-
nologies, and data processing
needs reliable and expensive
software: this way, 3D textu-
red reconstructions are
carried out.
22
With issues of spatial data
sharing, availability, accessibi-
lity and interoperability still
dogging public authorities ne-
arly everywhere, few dispute
the admirable intentions and
aspirations of the European
Communitys INSPIRE
directive.
Lidar tools such as Optechs IL-
RIS not only allow for remote
collection of geotechnical data,
but also provide more detailed
survey information than pre-
vious tools such as a compass-
clinometer.
Held March 21 through 24,
the event showed how much it
has grown beyond its plant
and process roots, with five
tracks of seminars, presenta-
tions and roundtables that in-
cluded the newest ideas and
technologies in 3D imaging.
26
Conducted experiments have de-
monstrated the efficiency of the up-
coming PHOTOMOD HPC Edition
when exploited within a computing
cluster, allowing a significant reduc-
tion in processing time proportional
to the number of cluster nodes invol-
ved in the calculations.
46
This years edition counted
more than 3000 participants
from 80 countries and offered
an overview of the current
state of the bre industry, as
well as the latest technological
developments.
18
Digital technology increasingly
mediates our relationship to
places, but popular location
based services have created
new demands including in-
door/outdoor location integra-
tion that industry simply
cant meet without a wider,
more concerted standards ef-
fort, writes OGCs Carl Reed.
10
EGNOS stands for European
Geostationary Overlay
Service. It is Europes first ventu-
re into the field of satellite navi-
gation and paves the way for
Galileo, Europes independent
global satellite navigation sys-
tem currently under develop-
ment.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 5
With issues of spatial data sharing, availability, accessibility and interoperability still dogging public
authorities nearly everywhere, few dispute the admirable intentions and aspirations of the European
Communitys INSPIRE directive. Indeed, many have welcomed this high-level recognition that spatial
data feeds the core of the majority of todays business applications and services, and therefore, it
should have a seat at the head table of Europeanwide IT innovation. And they have equally welcomed
the forced collaboration that INSPIRE demands.
O
ne of the best aspects about
INSPIRE is that it has forced all
of the administrations in
Sweden to work together, says Thomas
Norlin, a GIS specialist with the Swedish
Transportation Administration (STA). Now
we have Web access to a range of valuable
datasets such as orthophotos and maps from
the National Land Survey that we could not
afford to acquire ourselves. Thats been
excellent.
However, what has been arguable for GIS
professionals is how to successfully prepare
and deliver their national and municipal
datasets to meet INSPIREs data-harmonisa-
tion goals and its clearly dened principles
regarding data collection, management and
interoperability. Indeed, the very nature of
European diversity is at once at odds with
the overriding objective to establish a stan-
dardised, European-wide spatial data infras-
tructure (SDI). As such, even though the EC
views INSPIRE as a critical data-access solu-
tion, it also presents data providers with crit-
ical data-interoperability challenges.
For the majority of spatial data providers,
the most signicant interoperability chal-
lenge has been how to restructure and inte-
grate their existing spatial data formats and
models into INSPIRE-compliant deliverables.
The INSPIRE data models are very complex
and require you to develop a scalable and
efcient SDI to transform existing data and
deliver it into the specied GML format,
explains Anna Halvarsson, SDI project man-
ager at Metria AB, a spatial data consult-
ing company based in Gvle, Sweden. You
need to have an effective workow that can
simultaneously combine, integrate and trans-
form many spatial data formats and coordi-
nate systems into a unied format as well as
make the data easily searchable, viewable
and available for download. And in many
cases, you need to be able to provide on-
the-y transformations of requested data lay-
ers in less than 30 seconds. Not many soft-
ware tools can handle that entire data
transformation and delivery chain.
However, the STA and Metria, along with
German company con terra, are just a few
examples of how ingenuity mixed with inno-
vative technology can be the right recipe for
INSPIRE. Not only have these organisations
successfully met the INSPIRE interoperability
challenge, they have created proven, spa-
tial-data platforms to feed further innovation
internally as well as harvest new business
opportunities.
An inspirational drive
One year young, the STA (Trakverket) is an
amalgamation of Swedens formerly inde-
pendent rail and road administrations.
Headquartered in Borlnge, the STA and its
6500 employees manage the long-term
planning of the countrys entire transport sys-
tem, including road, rail, maritime and air
trafc sectors, as well as the construction,
operation and maintenance of public roads
and railways.
In a country where people travel an aver-
age of 40 km each day and road transport
accounts for 87 percent of passenger trav-
el, intimate knowledge of the road network
and its features has been paramount for the
road administration. Thanks to a compre-
hensive remodelling of its national road
database (NVDB) in 2008, the STAs road
and railroad department personnel have
easy access to nearly 560,000 km of state
and municipal roads and 16,000 bridges
and maintain more than 2.5 million road
links and 100 feature types.
The conversion of the NVDB, which used
6
June 2011
Ar t i c l e
Experiences from the Field
INSPIRing recipes for a Diver s
Established in 1909, Sarek National Park is the most dramatic mountain landscape in Sweden. Stretching over 197,000 hectares, the park
contains over 200 mountains and about 100 glaciers. Photo Credit: Rolf Lfgren.
By Mary Jo Wagner
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 6
Safe Softwares FME spatial data-transformation technology, proved
opportune for two reasons. Since the STA receives transport data
from municipalities and other public authorities, it provided person-
nel with the opportunity to use the same FME technology to build
critical quality-control workows to automatically assess the validity
and completeness of submitted data, as well as STAs own data, and
resolve any discrepancies. And second, when INSPIRE drove up to
its doors in late 2009, the revamped NVDB lent itself fairly well to
the data-preparation work needed to navigate the transport-theme
data specications.
One benet that we had was that our NVDB data model was not
that different from the INSPIRE data model, says Norlin. Once we
had read through the data specications, we were condent that
we could readily deliver the needed data layers and feature types
with FME.
Paving the first road
As part of a two-stage process, INSPIRE rst required a Web-based
view mapping service (VMS) that would provide a seamless, inte-
grated national transportation network and 20 related feature types
such as speed limit, bearing capacity, road surface, functional road
class, one-way streets, owner authority, road number and street
name. The second phase instructs transport authorities to extend their
road-network VMS to a download service, which will require the
STA to develop a system that allows users to acquire datasets in the
format of their choice.
In January 2010 a team began work on the INSPIRE-based trans-
port SDI. To prepare the sizable road data and its more than 2 mil-
lion road links, they had to rst identify which data layers and fea-
ture types needed to be included in the VMS. From there, they could
apply the same successful transformation approach that Norlin used
for creating the quality-control workows for the NVDB. Using FME,
the team created automated processing chains to integrate the
NVDB, GIS data and other road-related data sources, restructure
the data and feature types into GML and export them to an INSPIRE
geodatabase.
In just four weeks, the team successfully changed the STAs entire
road network and 20 related feature types into an INSPIRE-compli-
ant VMS well before the designated deadline of May 2010.
Given the staffs workload and the signicant task at hand, it would
not have been possible to meet the INSPIRE deadline without the
ability to quickly prepare our data, concludes Norlin. We were
able to handle large data volumes and produce our INSPIRE VMS
at 20 percent of the typical cost.
With the transport VMS operational, Norlin and colleagues are now
working on integrating the rail data into the NVDB and preparing
the data for downloading capabilities, both of which will offer chal-
lenges that Norlin is condent they can easily resolve.
Inspired to protect
Developing an INSPIRE-compliant data distribution service was also
on the radar of Metria a few years ago, when it was apparent that
some of its customers would be among the rst tier of data providers
tasked to become INSPIRE ready.
Formerly a division of the National Land Survey (NLS), Metria
became an independent state-owned company in May. With 300
employees and 35 ofces, Metria offers a range of spatial-data ser-
vices such as system development, SDI development, data ware-
housing and Web hosting. And it continues to serve many of the
same organisations such as the NLS, Swedish Armed Forces and
the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which imple-
ments nature conservation policy and develops strategies to protect
Swedens 29 national parks and approximately 4,000 protected
areas covering 10 percent of the country.
Headquartered in Stockholm, the EPA (Naturvrdsverket) has tasked
Metria with the majority of its GIS-development and data-hosting
needs, including building a metadata portal and a system to main-
tain the EPAs protected sites information. With such a close partner-
ship and in-depth knowledge of EPAs datasets and systems, it was
a natural t for both organisations to work together to create a pro-
totype download service for the protected sites information, an
INSPIRE data theme.
The Swedish EPA has been very active in the INSPIRE initiative and
had been developing implementation strategies very early on, says
Birgitta Olsson, manager of the EPAs environmental information por-
tal. However the technical challenges in creating a download ser-
vice were notable. As Metria developed the database systems we
would need for INSPIRE, we asked for their expertise.
Under the protected sites theme, the EPA needs to provide detailed
information on each of its 4,000 protected areas, including all rele-
vant metadata, and specic feature types such as boundaries of
each site, their classication, name, description and date of estab-
lishment. That would require Metria to move and convert more than
200 tables of spatial-related data into INSPIREs GML system.
7
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011
Ar t i c l e

r se Data Palette
The classic Cologne skyline, Germanys
largest city in North-Rhine Westphalia.
On the left is the tower of city hall
and piercing the night sky on the right
is Cologne Cathedral. Photo Credit:
Philipp Adorf.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 7
When you work with GML, you have to
convert all of your coordinates to text,
says Halvarsson. Converting one single
protective site object to GML can pro-
duce up to 200 hundred rows of text.
The EPA has data on 4,000 sites and
some site polygons have 10,000 ver-
tices. That is a huge amount of data to
generate, publish and distribute.
Preparing the prototype
Indeed, to successfully build the INSPIRE
protected areas download service, the
system would need to integrate existing
data from different native sources and
models, and convert the data both to
and from a complex GML structure,
enabling users to easily access, con-
tribute and retrieve data without impact-
ing their existing workows or data tools.
Having used FME technology for previ-
ous spatial data initiatives, coupled with
the softwares latest XML and GML sup-
port, Metria partnered with Safe
Software in the fall of 2009 to create the
EPAs scalable publishing and data dis-
tribution prototype. Based on the data
specications, they identied the data
layers they needed and sourced protected sites data from the EPA,
Natura2000 a protected areas database for Europe and Helcom,
a database of protected areas for the Baltics, all of which have dif-
ferent data models.
Of concern was how to restructure data on-the-y and deliver it in a
timely manner within the INSPIRE GML structure. To ease the data-
preparation burden, the team implemented a two-step process to
rst use FME to pre-process the data and store it in a PostGIS INSPIRE
staging database and then publish and distribute the GML-ready
datasets through an INSPIRE Web Feature Service (WFS). Using mas-
ter templates and customized tools, Halvarsson and her team devised
a comprehensive, automated workow to validate the in-coming spa-
tial data and related features, change them to the GML schema and
load them into the staging database. They then applied the same
approach to create the distribution workow that exports the data to
the INSPIRE protected sites node.
Data transformation to the GML model was the absolute key issue
in developing a scalable system that can readily harmonize differ-
ent data sources into the common GML structure, says Halvarsson.
We succeeded because we had complete control of our data and
how we wanted to use it.
In mid 2010 Metria delivered the publishing and distribution system
to the EPA, which together with the EPAs metadata portal and exist-
ing Web-mapping services, serve as the foundation for the agencys
INSPIRE platform. Together with Metria, they are now developing
the prototype system further to create their operational INSPIRE pro-
tected sites WFS by the 2012 deadline.
With this system, together with the download service prototype, we
have effective and efcient data management that enables us to max-
imize our data by offering users with easy ways to access and view
our large amount of data, says Olsson. It will also make it much
easier for us to add new data in the future.
Indeed, this prototype will not only serve as the EPAs platform to
build INSPIRE data services, it is provid-
ing Metria with a proof-of-concept SDI
model that it can offer to other organisa-
tions facing data-interoperability and dis-
tribution challenges.
Added ingredients
Easing the SDI burden for customers is
also one of con terras primary objec-
tives. Located in Mnster, con terra is a
consulting rm specializing in customised
business solutions, spatial data infras-
tructures and OGC/ISO/INSPIRE ser-
vices and applications. Having provided
consulting services to a broad range of
customers across Europe, it was clear to
the company that many of its clients
would be facing the INSPIRE test and
likely need assistance in meeting the
requirements, says Christian Heisig,
head of con terras European FME ser-
vice center.
One premise of INSPIRE is that organi-
sations be able to provide data using
their existing tools, formats and data
models he says. Very few will in fact
change their existing data structure to
comply, so they need to use their propri-
etary systems to integrate and harmo-
nize all the data to INSPIRE open-standard databases. So the big
challenge is both to transform and integrate the existing INSPIRE-rel-
evant data and deliver this through INSPIRE Web services.
The companys response to this problem is its FME INSPIRE Solution
Pack. The solution builds on the technology by adding customised
authoring and support tools and tutorial workspaces to simplify data
integration and transformation workows, as well as quality assur-
ance controls, to seamlessly shift existing data to an INSPIRE
database. For additional support, the package provides integrated
help texts and references to the ofcial INSPIRE specications.
The goal was to make the schema mapping process, which is nor-
mally not that simple, as simple as possible, says Heisig. FMEs
strength is data fusion and transformation so it was a great platform
on which to build additional, customised functionality for INSPIRE.
Available since March, a number of clients have already acquired
the solution, including the Turkish Ministry of Environment and
LANUV, Germanys North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) state agency for
nature, environment and consumer protection. LANUV used the soft-
ware to remodel and publish their entire protected sites data of the
region.
Though the STA, Metria and con terras clients are all diverse organ-
isations with unique spatial datasets and tools, they are all unied
in the same data challenges that INSPIRE seeks to resolve: the abili-
ty to maximize the use of their spatial data by improving data access,
quality, availability and distribution. Based on these examples, it
appears that their ingenuity and innovation, mixed with the right
software tools, are indeed proving to be an effective recipe both to
satisfy INSPIREs harmonised-data palette and to create new courses
of innovation.
For more information, have a look at www.safe.com
Ar t i c l e
8
June 2011
A popular starting point for hikes, Swedens Abisko National Park is surrounded on
three sides by lofty mountains and the Abiskojokka River pulsing through its valleys.
In addition to breeding some of the rarest plants of the mountain regions, Abisko is
home to the protected orchid Lapp Orchid and rare wildlife. Photo Credit: Rolf Lfgren.









1 5 2:56 PM
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 8
Copyright 2011 Esri. All rights reserved.
Connect to the
INSPIRE Network
With Esri

Technology, you can create a spatial data

infrastructure and services that fulfll European Union (EU)
Member State obligations. Esris ArcGIS

for INSPIRE
provides an open source portal that allows your
geospatial data to be shared across the EU.
Learn more at esri.com/geoinfoinspire

96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 9
Mapping as an emerging segment for EGNOS
EGNOS and Precision Applica t
EGNOS stands for European Geostationary Overlay Service. It is Europes first venture into the field of
satellite navigation and paves the way for Galileo, Europes independent global satellite navigation
system currently under development. This article explains how it can contribute in expanding the use
of GNSS in real time mapping solutions, what are the benefits and how the service works, as well as
EDAS, the EGNOS Data Access Service.
EGNOS and Mapping
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide an efcient
technology for Mapping and are widely used by organizations such
as utility companies as well as regional and local authorities.
The worldwide market for GNSS handset devices for Mapping appli-
cations is experiencing signicant growth mainly because of the
growth of applications fostered by the needs of new clients and the
general trend towards digitization.
Often, the use of GNSS in Mapping requires positioning services
with centimeter level accuracy, implying a substantial cost for the
end users, signicant investment in infrastructure for service providers
or regional authorities as well as complex and costly equipment and
software solutions for professionals.
Now EGNOS, the European Geostationary
Overlay Service, can contribute in expanding
the use of GNSS in real time mapping solu-
tions by providing free accuracy that is wide-
ly available.
Whereas in other surveying disciplines cen-
timetre accuracy is needed, metre accuracy
applications can play a role in Mapping. This
holds true for applications such as thematic
mapping for small and medium municipalities
(e.g. maps to outsource the maintenance of
green areas), forestry and park management
as well as surveying of utility infrastructures
(e.g. electrical power lines).
This is an area where EGNOS is particularly
useful and in which its accuracy is deemed
sufcient for the main users needs.
Furthermore, with EDAS, the EGNOS Data
Access Service, EGNOS corrections are also
available in areas of previously limited avail-
ability in difcult environments.
EDAS disseminates EGNOS data in real time
without relying on the signals from the three
EGNOS satellites. It supports the multi-modal
use of EGNOS (and later on Galileo) by dis-
seminating advanced EGNOS services in
real time and within reliable performance
boundaries. It can therefore be used in con-
strained environments such as when signals
are blocked or are disturbed by interference.
EGNOS is currently present in most mapping devices. However, it
is still not used to its full potential. In the near future, the situation is
expected to change and EGNOS is expected to play a central role
in the industry thanks to its ability to provide metre accuracy at low
cost and with enhanced availability afforded by EDAS.
Mapping: an emerging GNSS downstream market
for EGNOS
Mapping, as it is considered here, is the study and practice of making
geographical maps. There are two main maps categories, general
maps and thematic maps. General reference maps show where things
are located in space and thematic maps depict patterns about
space (e.g., population density, life expectancy, demographic trends).
10
June 2011
Ar t i c l e
By Reinhard Blasi
EGNOS can be used for agricultural applications.
Credits: ESA-P. Sebirot.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 10
The Mapping segment is comparable to
geodesy, cadastre and surveying. The tech-
nical criteria are mainly settled in terms of
accuracy required for these segments.
Whereas in general the latter areas require
sub-metre accuracy, metre accuracy appli-
cations can play a role.
The worldwide market for GPS and GNSS
handset devices employed in Mapping
applications is experiencing a signicant
growth due to more applications in more
industries, satisfying growing client needs.
Up until 2008 the market grew at 10% per
year: in the last two years, since the eco-
nomic downturn, the market of GNSS pro-
fessional devices addressed to Mapping
solutions has slowed down.
However, for the coming years through until
2013 the market for GNSS devices in
Mapping solutions is expected to grow at
around 6% (CAGR). It is expected to reach
around EUR 700 bn by 2013.
The market is expected to grow quicker after
the launch of additional GNSS systems such
as Galileo and GLONASS, which will
increase the availability and reliability of
satellite-positioning signals.
EGNOS advantages
Advantages for manufacturers using EGNOS:
Diversication
Leverage GNSS experience across adjacent
market segments: in an increasingly compet-
itive GNSS market, it is important to
increase the scale of the operations by enter-
ing adjacent segments using existing skills
and assets. EGNOS can support the diver-
sication of the offer, integrating a position-
ing technology to target new markets with
basic entry level products for less sophisti-
cated users offering a mass market afford-
able solution.
Ar t i c l e
11
June 2011

a tions
How EGNOS and EDAS work
EGNOS
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-3-+;91+)3 ,1:;<9*)5+-: 15 ;0- );46:70-9-, )9- +699-+;-,.
$01: ,);) 1: 15+69769);-, 15;6 EGNO# :1/5)3: )5, :-5; ;6 1;: ;09-- /-6:;);165)9@ :);-331;-:.
$0- :);-331;-: ;0-5 9-3)@ ;0- :1/5)3: *)+2 ;6 <:-9: 65 ;0- /96<5,, ;0<: 796=1,15/ .)9 /9-);-9
76:1;16515/ )++<9)+@ ;0)5 >6<3, *- )+01-=-, ;096</0 G# )365-.
Assuring signal availability by EDAS
I5 69,-9 ;6 9-+-1=- ;0- EGNO# :1/5)3 =1) ;0- #1/5)3 15 #7)+- (#1#) 65- 5--,: ;6 0)=- ,19-+;
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)7731+);165: )5, 9-:-)9+0 796/9)4:.
Why EDAS?
EDA# *<13,: 65 ;0- 8<)31;1-: 6. EGNO# ;6 796=1,- ) 9-31)*3- 01/0 3-=-3 6. :-9=1+- ;6 <:-9:.
EDA# 6..-9: ;0- .6336>15/ 2-@ ),=)5;)/-:.
A "-31)*131;@ )5, )::<9)5+-: EGNO# >133 *- ) +-9;1D-, #).-;@-6.-L1.- :@:;-4 9-8<1915/ )
01/03@ 9-31)*3- )5, 9-:131-5; 15.9):;9<+;<9-. $01: 15.9):;9<+;<9- 1: ;0- *):1: .69 EDA#.
A D);) ,-31=-9@: EGNO# ,);) 1: 796=1,-, 15 9-)3-;14- ;096</0 ) :;)5,)9, 15;-95-; +655-+-
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);15/ <518<- G36*)3 N)=1/);165 #);-331;- #@:;-4 (GN##) ,);):-;: .964 E<967- )5, N69;0
A.91+)
EDAS content and access
A 31:; 6. FA!: )5, ;0- EDA# H-37 D-:2 +)5 )3:6 *- )++-::-, );:
>>>./:).-<967).-<//6/-/56:/-,):.
M69- 65 >>>.-/56:-769;)3.-<
The EDAS system
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 11
Ease of use
It is very important to design simple and intu-
itive user interfaces, especially as the complex-
ity of the devices and solutions is constantly
increasing. EGNOS is a ready to use (with
no training needed) positioning technology.
Additional features
EGNOS not only provides higher accuracy
than GPS only but also integrity information,
i.e. information about the reliability of the sig-
nal. EGNOS offers integrity for free (no fee
for the Signal in Space service).
Enlargement
The industry is investing in reference station networks to provide the
signal with a regional coverage (evolving from post-processing ser-
vices to real-time solutions). EGNOS can be integrated by the ser-
vice providers in their reference network to increase coverage in
some European areas: instead of installing new reference stations
the service provider can use EGNOS to provide the signal in regions
with limited coverage in real time.
Conclusions
The affordable precision delivered by EGNOS is changing the acces-
sibility to Mapping solutions. EGNOS is expected to play an increas-
ing role. In order to foster market awareness
and adoption further analysis and awareness
efforts will be undertaken.
Finally, the new EGNOS webportal is now
available: www.egnos-portal.eu. It intends to
develop awareness of EGNOS for all com-
munities of users, and provide support to
application developers and to end users. The
EGNOS portal also contains user forums for
the different communities, intending to share
developers and users experience, concerns
and know-how. The results of market research
and of the EGNOS test campaigns will be
available on the portal.
NOTES
(1)EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay
Service,is Europes rst venture into the eld of satellite navigation
and paves the way for Galileo, Europes independent global satel-
lite navigation system currently under development. EGNOS Open
Service has been ofcially operational and available for use since
1st October 2009 and certied for Safety of Life applications since
March 2011.
Reinhard Blasi, market development officer at European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA).
For more information, have a look at www.egnos-portal.eu
Ar t i c l e
12
June 2011
EGNOS will help improve transport services and
trace vehicles (Credits: ESA)









96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 12
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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 13
Technology and Documentation
Scanning and Imaging Building I
Today, terrestrial surveys of decorated and complex interiors of ancient buildings are being requested
more and more for maintenance, management and monitoring uses and for creating multi-purpose
Building Information Models. Data acquisition is undertaken using advanced sensing technologies, and
data processing needs reliable and expensive software: this way, 3D textured reconstructions are
carried out. This paper outlines and analyzes the use of scanning technologies, with the support of
imaging, to document decorated interiors.
T
he terrestrial survey of decorated and complex interiors of
ancient buildings is being asked for more often these days, pri-
marily to assist with on-going maintenance, management and
monitoring aims and for creating multi-purpose Building Information
Models. Data acquisition is carried out using advanced sensing tech-
nologies, and data processing needs reliable and expensive soft-
ware: this way, 3D textured reconstructions are generated. Sensing
technologies consist of passive and active systems. Passive systems,
such as mono and stereo photogrammetry, produce raster plotting
from images (orthophotos, photo-rectications) or use images to
extract datasets of object coordinates. Good accuracy is achieved
when surfaces are covered with articial or natural textures and
have well-dened edges.
Active systems, for instance a panoramic scanner, use laser beams
to collect object point clouds. The accuracy is connected both to
beam properties and its attitude, as well as to data redundancy.
This paper outlines and analyzes the use of scanning technologies,
with the support of imaging, to document decorated interiors. The
role of photographic documentation, gathered while scanning, is
signicant in allowing model texturing and in providing raster sup-
plements for vector representation (for instance, orthophotos used as
a backdrop in cross-sections). Photographic data is also useful for
enhancing the random geometry of scanning, in order to improve
feature edge detection and thematic investigations.
Data Collection
In a more or less automated way, scanning and imaging collect point
clouds describing the indoor surface details of buildings.
A meaningful parameter connected to surveying is relative preci-
sion, which is expressed as the ratio between point precision and
acquisition range; for scanning and imaging it is usually equal to or
better than 10-4 (that is, few mm at 100m ).
In the scanning approach, pulse-based technology allows long-range
collection; alternatively, phase-based scanners, with a width-modu-
lated wave, provide fast and accurate measurement of medium
range (around 100m).
The high acquisition rating (up to 106 points per second) makes
phase-based scanners useful both in static and dynamic contexts
and with slow return energy (a few %): this last condition relates to
very dark or very reective objects (metal or marble, an aircraft fuse-
lage, a wooden-hulled ship, etc.).
June 2011
Ar t i c l e
By Luigi Colombo and Barbara Marana
Fig. 1 - The panoramic camera on its mechanical support
Fig. 2 - The St Martino church and its three Sacristies
14
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 14
It is possible to manage every operation via remote PC, thanks to a
Bluetooth wireless connection.
The time required for collecting a panoramic scan (eld of 360 -
horizontal- and 310320 -vertical-) is shortened to a few minutes,
despite the high-density sampling.
The sampling point density affects precision and the minimum dimen-
sion of recognizable object details. Because of the high scanning
speed, it is convenient to choose a small sampling interval, in order
to improve the feature edge description of richly decorated scenes.
The Role of Imaging
The acquisition of images to be mapped over the point model is a
very important phase in interior surveys, because of the strong envi-
ronmental effects (articial lighting, brightness, and shadows).
The operation is carried out with different photo sensors:
a built-in photo-camera to allow automa tic point cloud texturing
while scanning (coloured clouds)
a motorized photo-camera, mounted on the scanner and man-
aged via software
a mechanical support for a reex or panoramic photo-camera
(sheye) to manually collect images (with a suitable overlap) 360
around the scanning position. For a sheye camera (the eld of
view equals 180) the number of images requested is six or seven
(Figure 1).
The set of images referred to each station is then stitched with photo
tools, for instance PTGui Pro (from New House Internet Services,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands), in order to create a spherical panora-
ma: this will be projected over the corresponding point cloud.
However, it is always possible, but not advisable, to manually pro-
ject one image at a time over the cloud, through a suitable number
of tie points and Least Squares procedures.
Scanned cloud joining, to produce one nal model, is also performed
via Least Squares algorithms based on tie points xed upon adja-
cent clouds.
The tie points consist of:
paper targets, previously located over the object surfaces (less
used)
mobile, plane or spherical targets with revolving supports, placed
in the space to be scanned
geometric object features (easily recognizable)
It has to be said that plane targets are more suitable for automatic
recognition (their center) via management software; besides, the use
of mobile targets and mostly of selected features avoids sullying the
textures of the nal photo-model.
The software plays a central role in interior surveys through scan-
ning and imaging, both for the device control in acquisition (point
clouds and images) and for model reconstruction, editing and textur-
ing.
Details of an Example
The St Martino church in Alzano Lombardo, a city close to Bergamo
in Northern Italy, with its ne 15th century stone bell tower, is well
known for the three wonderful Sacristies created in the second half
of the 17th century, with rich wooden ornaments, inlays, frescoes
and bas-relieves: a signicant example of the Baroque in the
Lombardy region.
An article by Franco Marcoaldi (from the La Repubblica newspaper
of July 29, 2010) clearly describes the visual effect and the deep
emotion felt by a visitor: the rst Sacristy is like a call to order
and stability, while ferocious evil towards the church martyrs is the
most striking effect in the second one, with its marvellous carvings.
After, when the visitor walks from the second space to the third one,
Ar t i c l e
15
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011

g Interiors
Fig. 3 - The second Sacristy: Z+F scanner, equipped with the M-Cam, while scanning
Fig. 4 - The Sacristies point model: reflectance values shown in
false color, with transparency effects (top); the corresponding
wireframe model (bottom)
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 15
this last seems to be empty, even if it is not so. In fact, its elegant
and light decorative Rococo style allows an appropriate pause for a
nal reection (Figure 2).
The interiors of these Sacristies were studied and surveyed by the
Geo-technology Lab at the University of Bergamo: a 3D model with
multiple levels of detail was realized (scales from 1:20 to 1:50).
A very reliable Zoller+Frhlich Imager 5600i scanner was used,
equipped with the industrial M-Cam (0.7 kg, 55 eld of view, focal
length of 4.8 mm, pixel class 5 MP). This camera is suitable for col-
lecting images and for point cloud texturing over interiors of small
dimensions (Figure 3). For each station, 28 images are automatical-
ly registered within three to ve minutes, depending on illumination.
This way, two panorama scans were produced inside the rst and
the third Sacristies, three in the second and two others at the doors
connecting the three spaces (Figure 2 - top).
The scanning density was selected at the highest level provided by
Imager (Table 1), which consists of a linear sampling of about 2 mm
over the room walls. Each scan is an 800 Mb panoramic cloud
(scanning time under seven minutes) and can detect details greater
than 6 mm, with a 60% level of condence.
It was decided to take images in daylight to avoid the negative
effects (shadows, spots of light) of using articial illumination in dark
interiors with complex morphology and decorated walls.
Starting from the scan set, one measurable point model was creat-
ed, through object features and with the support of Z+F software.
Figure 4 shows the 3D reconstructed model, in false color and with
transparency effects (top), together with the extracted 3D wireframe
model (bottom).
The color images collected with the M-Cam were used for texturing
the point model and to produce orthophotos for cross-section back-
drops. Figure 5 details some perspective views of the textured model
for the second Sacristy, the most attractive and impressive. Ultimately,
the 3D point model was managed via software to produce classic
2D plotting (Figure 6), nalized for the geometric support of investi-
gations and maintenance.
Final Remarks
Laser scanning techniques, despite recent improvements in automa-
tion, still underline the need for manual processing, particularly with
the existence of software problems that can arise as a result of the
large amount of data being processed. The same concept can be
extended to imaging procedures, especially when the interiors are
richly decorated and highly complex.
These constraints have a great inuence when extracting 2D geo-
metric plots from 3D models, such as vector elevations, proles and
sections. The images demonstrate their utility in model texturing, but
also as a support to vector plotting, surface documentation and the-
matic investigations. All this shows the great synergy among differ-
ent sensing technologies, both active and passive, and highlights,
once more, the central role of imaging in knowledge acquisition.
Luigi Colombo luigi.colombo@unibg.it, is professor of Geomatics and
Barbara Marana is assistant professor at the University of Bergamo -
Faculty of Engineering - DPT - Dalmine (Italy)
Thanks are due to the team and graduate students of the
Geo-technology Lab at the University of Bergamo and
to 3DTarget for Z+F technology support.
Ar t i c l e
16
June 2011
Fig. 5 - The second Sacristy: perspective views of point model, with photo-textures superimposed
Fig. 6 - Vertical and horizontal sections
Tab. 1 - Resolution levels for scanning





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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 16





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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 17
Overcoming Location Stovepipes
Navigating the Indoor/Outdoo
Digital technology increasingly mediates our relationship to places, but popular location based services
have created new demands including indoor/outdoor location integration that industry simply cant
meet without a wider, more concerted standards effort, writes OGCs Carl Reed.
L
ocation apps are one of the hottest areas in mobile computing, but
unassisted GPS is lost indoors. When a location enabled mobile
device enters a building, sometimes the mobile devices accelerom-
eters and compasses can provide what sailors call dead reckoning,
calculating distance and direction traveled after the last GPS coordi-
nates were collected. Sometimes indoor location is calculated by gur-
ing proximity to multiple nearby location-aware WiFi hotspots or by
means of in-building transponders such as RFID, or transponders that
communicate with mobile devices via Bluetooth or infrared. Many meth-
ods are possible, including some that involve manual data entry. But
again many of these technologies are proprietary and there are no
standard protocols or encodings that can be easily implemented across
various location determination and provision technologies or hardware
solutions.
For the purposes of this article, we do not care how location is deter-
mined and we are assuming that building information is available.
What matters is that location information and building information be
communicated digitally by means of open standard interfaces and
encodings. The effective use of open, international standards would
enable the seamless integration of location and building information
into a broad range of applications. Connecting indoor location with
outdoor location is becoming a critical requirement for emergency and
disaster response, augmented reality, security, facilities planning and
management, real estate nance, insurance, location-based marketing,
the smart grid, energy management, and management of air, water,
gas and sewage. Some applications directly involve users, while others
involve machine-to-machine communication.
Further, from a more general market perspective, the use of standards
enable plug-and-play components to be more easily integrated into
applications. They also enable re-use of legacy resources, greater ef-
ciencies and economies, bigger markets, emergent and unanticipated
applications and more rapid progress.
In many of these domains, stakeholders tend to focus their attention on
the communication medium: Will devices communicate via WiFi, cellu-
lar transmission, Bluetooth, IP over power lines or some other physical
channel? For the OGC, how the location is determined does not mat-
ter. Any method will serve (though a communication medium standard
would enable plug-and-play components, re-use of legacy resources,
greater efciencies and economies, bigger markets, emergent applica-
tions and more rapid progress). The OGC community does care about
how the location is communicated, the structure of related payloads,
the accuracy of the location, measures of uncertainty, and so forth. The
OGC seeks to facilitate the development of encoding standards, inter-
face standards and best practices that enable seamless connection of
indoor and outdoor location in applications of all kinds.
18
June 2011
Ar t i c l e
By Carl Reed
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 18
Where the OGC stands with other standard efforts
The OGC is increasingly recognized as the main global forum for
geospatial standards discussions and it also recognized as an organi-
zation that has an effective process for standards development and
promotion. The process includes maintaining industry alliances with the
major standards organizations that are working various aspects of the
indoor/outdoor location problem. The OGC has alliance partnerships
with the international Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate
(OSCRE), MISMO (US standards for residential and commercial real
estate nance), OASIS, the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), the Web3D
Consortium, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), IEEE, ISO and
many other standards organizations. Here are some results:
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Presence Information
Description Format Location Object extension (PIDF-LO). PIDF
denes the base presence format and extensibility as specied in
the Instant Messaging / Presence Protocol Requirements IETF RFC
[2779] and denes a minimal set of presence status values dened
by the IMPP Model document. The Location Object (LO) species a
devices location information. Many of the use cases used to dene
the LO object were dened based on 911 and emergency response
requirements in the wireless world. A lightweight prole of the OGC
Geography Markup Language (GML) is the mandatory encoding
for geodetic location (coordinates) for PIDF implementations support-
ing the GeoPRIV (privacy) element of PIDF-LO. A related draft
DHCP document describes how Internet devices would opt to encode
location and then provide a GML-encoded location during the DHCP
handshake that gives the device its IP address.
Through OGC/IEEE cooperation, the IEEE 1451 smart sensor stan-
dards have been made to work well with OGC Sensor Web
Enablement (SWE) standards. SWE standards are likely to become
signicant in in-building sensor applications such as energy man-
agement and smart grid that require standard ways of representing
indoor location.
The buildingSmart alliance (bSa) is working with the OGC on build-
ing information model (BIM) standards. Specically, bSa is creating
ifcXML standards, encoding earlier Industry Foundation Class le-
based data standards into XML encodings designed to provide an
indoor/outdoor connection through GML.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart
Grid framework list of required standards includes the OGC
Geography Markup Language (GML) Encoding Standard. Because
many smart grid devices will be indoors, the smart grid is another
driver for indoor/outdoor location integration.
Profiles and REST
Until recently, the OGCs main focus has been on general-purpose ser-
vice oriented geospatial architectures for enterprises, government spa-
tial data infrastructures and the Earth imaging industry. Now, OGC
members are increasingly engaged in developing proles of OGC stan-
dards for particular application domains such as aviation, hydrology,
meteorology and ocean observation. Proles are also being developed
for bare-bones location encodings that use lightweight proles of the
OGC Geography Markup Language (GML) in and Web content syndi-
cation, such as the GML prole of GeoRSS.
This mass market interest extends beyond lightweight encodings: In
response to the requirements of scenarios that may involve thousands
of geospatial Web developers and millions of app users, members are
exploring RESTful standards based approaches to location problems.
REST advocates nd simple links to URL-accessible location resources
preferable to service interfaces to databases, and they nd search
engine discovery preferable to catalogs. Existing OGC Web services
dont meet all their requirements, and so their requirements are the topic
of much discussion at OGC meetings, on OGC listservs and on geo
blogs and OGC-focused LinkedIn discussions.
One major concern in these discussions is that wireless carriers, portable
device makers, app developers, social network companies and others
in the location based services (LBS) value chain have not worked togeth-
er the way GIS and Earth imaging companies have in the OGC in
coopetition to make location information as available and open as
the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 is thus full of location stovepipes. Is
location interoperability for a mass market of individual users an inher-
ently different problem from geospatial interoperability for organiza-
tions? Did social networking and associated location services compa-
nies simply grow too fast and compete too furiously to be concerned
with standards at the outset?
Whatever the reasons, there is a clear need, at least from the perspec-
tives of users, developers and advertisers, for location information inter-
operability among mobile devices running apps that do things like nd
friends and navigate in urban environments. Indoor/outdoor location
information integration is part of this need.
Ar t i c l e
19
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011

oor Location Standards Maze
Smartphone with map on map
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:35 )/15) 19
The OGCs attention to indoor/outdoor
location integration is evident in the stan-
dards activities described below:
City Geography Markup Language
(CityGML), an OGC standard for 3D
urban modelling, facilitates indoor/out-
door navigation. CityGML is an open
information model and XML-based
encoding for the representation, storage,
and exchange of virtual 3D city models.
CityGML will certainly play a role in
indoor/outdoor location integration,
partly because of strong vendor support
(Autodesk, Bentley, Oracle, SAFE, Esri,
Interactive Instruments, Liquid, M.O.S.S.,
Pirireis, Snowake, and others), partly because of compatibility with
the widely used OGC standards framework, and partly because
CityGML provides a comprehensive and well thought-out way to
represent multiple levels of detail about structures, indoor and out-
door. Though CityGML is focused on 3D modeling, it also provides
a practical standard way to integrate indoor/outdoor location, that
is, a standard way to integrate building location in Earth coordi-
nates with building details in the Euclidean geometry of Computer
Aided Design (CAD) systems.
A candidate OGC standard, Open GeoSMS, offers a standard way
of tagging SMS messages with location. Theres amazing potential
in this, because more than 6.1 trillion SMS messages were sent in
2010, and opt-in SMS is the most effective form of mobile ads in
many countries. SMS, of course, works indoors, so stakeholders all
along the mobile services value chain will want indoor/outdoor
information integration. Open GeoSMS was brought into the OGC
by ITRI from Taiwan, where Open GeoSMS is already widely used.
The June 2011 Technical Committee meeting will be held in
Taichung, Taiwan.
To support the developing Augmented Reality (AR) community, the
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) will host the third International
AR Standards meeting in conjunction with the OGC meetings in
Taiwan.
A number of wireless infrastructure providers implement the OGC
Open Location Services (OpenLS) Interface Standard, which speci-
es interfaces and operations for a Directory Service, Gateway
Service, Geocoder Service, Presentation (Map Portrayal) Service,
Routing Service, and Navigation Service.
Last December the OGC issued a request for comments on an OGC
discussion paper, Requirements and Space-Event Modeling for
Indoor Navigation (http://portal.opengeospatial.org/les/?arti-
fact_id=41727). The paper presents a model for indoor navigation
that simultaneously addresses route planning, multiple localization
methods, navigation contexts, and different locomotion types. The
research was carried out within the Indoor Spatial Awareness (ISA)
project, a research and development project funded by the Korean
Ministry of Construction and Transportation. ISA includes partners
from academia and industry in South Korea, USA, Germany, and
Denmark. It includes concepts for deriving a network topology
model from a 3D CityGML building model based on a subdivision
of rooms into smaller cells. These concepts were introduced earlier
in an OGC Engineering Report (OGC Doc. No. 09-067r2). In a
related effort, the Netherlands is working
on an ambitious 3D model project for the
entire country, using CityGML.
The OGC is launching a 3D Portrayal
Interoperability Experiment (IE) on April
22, 2011 to advance best practice for
implementing standards for publishing
and streaming 3D geospatial assets relat-
ed to urban planning and landscape
visualization.
The OGC has organized a workshop,
Expanding GeoWeb to an Internet of
Things to be held at COM.geo 2011,
23-25 May 2011, in Washington, DC.
OGC standards are meant to be implemented as proles, often as very
light-weight instances, to meet specic needs. They are as complex as
necessary to meet a wide range of requirements, but proles can be
as simple as necessary to meet specic requirements. The OGC stan-
dards process is designed to enable stakeholders to modify and extend
existing standards, which is the main activity in a number of OGC
domain working groups.
Conclusions
The main obstacle to indoor/outdoor location information standards is
that different subdomains of interest within the larger domain of
indoor/outdoor location have different requirements and different per-
spectives. 3D urban modelers, game developers, BIM/CAD standards
experts, AR developers, emergency response experts, smart grid stake-
holders, energy managers, location advertisers, architects, social net-
work providers, insurers, appraisers and others all see the world differ-
ently. Though these stakeholders requirement sets are different, they
overlap, and therein lies the basis of the solution to their interoperabili-
ty problems.
The OGC doesnt profess to have all the answers, but the OGC does
have a proven consensus process in which technology stakeholders
can come to agreement on what needs to be done. The OGC
Interoperability Program runs rapid prototyping activities including
testbeds, interoperability experiments, plug-fests and pilot projects in
order to fast-track the introduction of specic industry requirements into
the formal standards development process. Sponsors set the goals
based on real-world use cases. Participants work to meet those goals.
The initiatives are followed closely by the OGC Technical Committee
working groups focused on topics such as 3D urban models, workow,
security, disaster management and semantics. The OGC also invites
developers of external standards to submit their standards for adoption
as ofcial OGC standards, so that they can be maintained, evolved
and harmonized in a fair and open process.
A new OGC initiative has begun formulating an initial concept archi-
tecture for a spatially enabled Mobile Internet, based on high priority
use cases, including use cases that involve indoor/outdoor location.
This activity is likely to result in the establishment of a testbed, for which
a Call for Sponsors will be issued. To express your interest or support
of this initiative, please contact:
Steven Ramage, sramage@opengeospatial.org, Executive Director
Marketing & Communications, Open Geospatial Consortium
Ar t i c l e
20
June 2011
3D floor plan
















96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 20
Long-range High-density Lidar Surveying Equipment
Geological and Geotechnical M
Together with the hardware, specialised geotechnical analysis software allows quarry operators to
gather and interpret rock-mass data from a safe distance, sometimes as far away as the periphery of
the quarry. Lidar tools such as Optechs ILRIS not only allow for remote collection of geotechnical data,
but also provide more detailed survey information than previous tools such as a compass-clinometer.
Changing the Rules
In 1999 new regulations were passed that
govern mining operations in quarries
throughout the UK. The Quarry Regulations
state that all excavations and tips must be
designed and appraised in conformance
with specific protocols. If an appraisal
identifies any significant hazards, then a
geotechnical assessment is required. The
regulations detail the manner in which
geotechnical assessments be carried out,
and ensure that required actions are com-
pleted in a certain sequence, such as: Site
Survey; Site Investigation; Findings of
Analysis; Requirements during and after
construction.
Historically, geological and geotechnical
data in a quarry has often been difficult to
obtain safely. Consequently, in situations
where complete and accurate geotechnical
information was unavailable, analysis and
design criteria could be flawed. More
recently, however, lidar (Light Detection
and Ranging) has enabled geotechnical
engineers to acquire detailed geological
and geotechnical data by scanning quarry
surfaces from a distance, out of harms
way, using long-range laser imaging tech-
nology.
Together with the hardware, specialised
geotechnical analysis software allows quar-
ry operators to gather and interpret rock-
mass data from a safe distance, sometimes
as far away as the periphery of the quar-
ry. Lidar tools such as Optechs ILRIS not
only allow for remote collection of geotech-
nical data, but also provide more detailed
survey information than previous tools such
as a compass-clinometer. Furthermore, a
lidar survey also provides a permanent
record of the condition of the quarry faces
on the day of the assessment; such a
database can serve as the baseline for
future change-detection studies.
Past and Present
In the past, quarry surveys were typically
carried out using a Real Time Kinematic
(RTK) GPS or a tripod-mounted Total Station.
Such surveys usually produced a series of
break-line data such as: top-of-face; bottom-
of-face; spot levels from which ground con-
tours could be derived. These techniques are
usually sufcient for producing a topograph-
ical survey for plan production, setting-out,
or producing a reserve calculation. If more
detail is required, such as changes in geol-
ogy fault planes, backscars from rock-fall,
or simply more data points, surveyors could
use direct reective (DR) techniques to obtain
a series of spot-levels on the quarry face.
The drawback to this approach is that it is
time-consuming as each spot level has to be
aimed from the Total Station.
This is where todays lidar scanners are
especially advantageous. With ever-increas-
ing data acquisition rates (e.g., 10,000
postings per second) and expanding range
(up to 3,000 m), operators using the ILRIS
can now scan quarry faces well outside the
potentially hazardous zone of the working
area from the relative safety of an observa-
tion platform.
22
June 2011
Ar t i c l e
By Adrian Wilkinson
Figure 2: Intensity image derived from an ILRIS scan of the Stancombe Quarry processing plant.
The slope in the background is covered with heavy vegetation.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 22
Lidar scanning produces a data point cloud:
a series of very closely spaced points that
are geo-referenced in 3 dimensions (X, Y,
Z). Lidar point clouds can also be endowed
with RGB colour values derived from the
scanners on-board digital camera system.
When the RGB values from the cameras
image pixels are aligned with the point
clouds XYZ points, a high-resolution photo-
drape is attained. This is an image where
the colours and topical details of a 2D pho-
tograph are overlaid onto corresponding 3D
points from the same location; the resulting
graphical output is similar to a 3D photo-
graph.
Data point clouds derived from
lidar scanners can be processed
relative to a local co-ordinate
system or geo-referenced to the
national co-ordinate system as is
done with conventional surveys.
A data point cloud can also be
converted to a triangulated mesh
or wireframe digital surface
model (DSM) that may include
vegetation and buildings, or a
digital terrain model (DTM)
where points above an interpo-
lated ground surface are
removed.
From the DSMs or DTMs, rele-
vant data such as break-lines,
cross-sections, meshes or XYZ
points can be exported into
other suites of software to produce plans, or
for further geological and geotechnical
investigations or analyses.
Site Investigation
It is possible to extract both geological and
geotechnical information regarding the rock-
mass from these point clouds, and this capa-
bility contributes greatly to the site investi-
gation element of Regulation 33,
Geo technical Assessment. When a quarry
face is scanned with a lidar sensor, the qual-
ity of light reected back into the sensors
receiver will vary depending upon the com-
position of the target material. The relative
strength of the reected light signal is
referred to as intensity. After processing
the data, one can output an intensity image,
which resembles a black and white photo-
graph (see gure 2).
In intensity images, targets with low intensi-
ty values appear as dark grey points and
targets with high intensity values appear as
pale grey or white points. In terms of
Geological Mapping, clays, shales and veg-
etation tend to exhibit low intensity (mean-
ing that a greater proportion of the lasers
transmitted light is absorbed and therefore
not reected back to the lidar sensors opti-
cal receiver). In contrast, gran-
ites exhibit high intensity values
because they reect more light
than they absorb. Thus, intensi-
ty images can be used to
remotely map the geology of a
quarry face.
Similarly, different grades of
weathering in the same geolog-
ical material can also exhibit dif-
ferent intensity values; more
weathered material typically
exhibits lower intensity values
than less weathered material.
Zones in the material that exhib-
it similar intensity values can be
segregated and assigned
colours, thus aiding visual and
categorical analysis (see gure
3). The number of points within
Ar t i c l e
23
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011

l Mapping
Figure 3: Image derived from ILRIS scanner. The colours among the points are based on similarities
in their intensity values.
Figure 1 : ILRIS set up to scan quarry face.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 23
each group of similar coloured bands can
also be summed and expressed as a rela-
tive percentage of the total number of points
(in effect, producing a point sampling
method based upon the exposed surface of
each grade of weathered material).
In addition to geological strata mapping,
geotechnical information can also be
obtained from lidar scans in the form of dis-
continuity data: dip, dip direction, spacing,
persistence and roughness. Using a lidar
instrument to obtain such data can be a sub-
stitute for traditional methods of discontinu-
ity data collection such as using a compass-
clinometer. Using lidar for this purpose offers
a safety benet because it allows the opera-
tor to take readings from a safe distance,
unlike using a hand-held compass-clinome-
ter, which requires the operator to move
about in very close proximity to potentially
unstable quarry faces.
Findings of Analysis
After it has been collected, geological and
geotechnical data can be used to determine
potential modes of failure (kinematical anal-
ysis), and to calculate critical factors
required by the Quarry Regulations, such
as Factors of Safety and Probabilities of
Failure for a given failure mechanism. For
example, circular failures in weak rock-
masses, soil slopes, embankments and
lagoons; and planar, wedge, and toppling
failures in rock-masses.
The enhanced survey detail obtained by
lidar surveying greatly enhances the engi-
neers ability to analyse the potential trajec-
tories of rock-fall. Recent software develop-
ments have used long-range high-denition
lidar surveys to assess potential locations
and hazards associated with landslides,
railways and other infrastructure.
QuarryDesign is working with a US-based
company to provide 3D simulations of the
potential trajectories of rock-fall from quar-
ry faces.
One of the exciting potentials of this new
software is that it can account for the break-
ing-up of larger blocks into smaller frag-
ments and project their potential trajecto-
ries as well as for the whole block. In Figure
4, the trajectory path is clearly oblique to
the quarry face and would not have been
predicted an a 2D analysis. In the 3D anal-
ysis enabled by the lidar data, sloping
ledges are accounted for, and can be
shown to cause rock-fall to bounce tangen-
tially across as well as down a quarry face.
Requirements During and After Construction
Using lidar surveying techniques, it is pos-
sible to monitor the status of slopes, tips and
lagoon walls, and to calculate the rates of
any developing circular failures and wind
erosion of sand faces.
QuarryDesign is currently testing seasonal
monitoring of several natural and quarried
faces to ascertain if small changes between
successive surveys might enable the mea-
surement of potential rockmass displacement
caused either by repeated freeze/thaw
cycles or a reduction in normal stress due to
unloading. It is hoped that such displace-
ment measurements might be used to pre-
dict the location of future rock-fall events
before they occur.
When the average spacing of fractures is
obtained from a lidar point cloud analysis,
then the correct rock-fall seeding location
and block size can be determined and used
in 3D rock-fall analysis software.
Conclusion
Long-range, high-denition lidar surveying
techniques can be used as part of an inte-
grated approach to geological and geotech-
nical mapping and to enable more accurate
data to be collected in signicantly faster
and safer ways. Advances in both comput-
er processing power and software engineer-
ing are enabling more complex and realis-
tic simulations to aid in quarry management.
Along with reducing risks to workers, using
lidar surveying techniques in quarry assess-
ment provides engineers with up-to-date,
accurate and reliable data on which to base
design or remediation plans.
Adrian Wilkinson, adrian@quarrydesign.com
www.quarrydesign.com
Ar t i c l e
24
June 2011
Figure 4 : 3D rock-fall analysis of lidar survey data.












t







96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 24
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.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 25
Digital Photogrammetric System PHOTOMOD
High-performance Distributed C
The architecture of modern computing systems creates prerequisites for the fast growth in productivity
of photogrammetric remote sensing data processing via the use of distributed calculations. Conducted
experiments have demonstrated the efficiency of the upcoming PHOTOMOD HPC Edition when exploited
within a computing cluster, allowing a significant reduction in processing time proportional to the
number of cluster nodes involved in the calculations.
Distributed computing in photogrammetric processing
Productivity, along with the quality of output data, plays a determinant
role in photogrammetric data processing. On the one hand, the pro-
ductivity of sensors is constantly increasing, as is the input data ow.
On the other hand, the quality of this input data enables a large part
of processing to be done completely as a hands-off operation. These
trends attempt to increase productivity by scaling up employed comput-
ing facilities.
Increased productivity can be attained by utilizing remote sensing data
processing products (DTMs, orthomosaics) for on-line monitoring, for
instance, in emergency management, with availability within hours of
image capture, independent of the site area and data volumes.
The integration of manual and scalable automatic tools also increases
the efciency of standard photogrammetric production, by reducing
the time lost by operators waiting for the machine calculations.
Multiple workows can be performed fully automatically (tie point cal-
culation, DTM creation, orthorectication) manual intervention is only
required for controlling the results and correcting errors in unavoidable
cases, such as when the quality of the input data is insufcient for reli-
able processing by automatic algorithms.
In other operations, manual processing is still inevitable (for example,
the identication of ground control points). However, these types of
operations are steadily decreasing. In the former case, overall produc-
tivity grows in proportion to the increase in processing power without
the involvement of additional human resources.
There are two main approaches to the organization of parallel calcula-
tions: calculations on multiprocessor computers with common memory
(any modern PC with multicore CPU), and calculations in the array of
separate computers united in a network (cluster).
The latter option is more attractive because of the price outlook (the
cluster system is usually cheaper than a single multiprocessor machine
with comparable computing power), and the use of similar software
technologies in desktop and supercomputer systems.
For these reasons, parallel calculations in photogrammetric software
are generally oriented to the cluster model.
Workows of remote sensing data processing are well suited to paral-
lelization. Most operations are local in nature (i.e. output data consists
of a set of elements, each of which is calculated independently from
the others, from a subset of input data). For example, for a primary
search of tie points in the overlap of some images, only those images
are needed as input; for image orthorectication a source image and
a terrain model are required; for creating DTM in a given area, only
original images covering this area are usually required, etc.
Sure enough, some tasks demand a simultaneous operation on the com-
plete image block (e.g. bundle adjustment when performing aerial tri-
angulation, or automatic calculation of cutlines for orthomosaicking).
However, the share of such operations for real projects is relatively
small within total processing time.
26
Ar t i c l e
By Zhaksybek D. Baygurin, Valery A. Khan, Izim N. Dyussembayev, Murat S. Omirserikov and Mikhail A. Drakin
Computing cluster of KazNTU
Block layout
June 2011
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 26
Distributed calculations in PHOTOMOD
The strategy of distributed calculation, as implemented in the PHOTO-
MOD digital photogrammetric system, implies splitting the full comput-
ing task into multiple subtasks, each of which is executed in the single-
thread mode independently from the others.
Using this approach the same engine can be used for the efcient use
of both separate multicore or multiprocessor computers, and common-
place local networks or cluster systems.
The job scheduler, included in the system, controls the successful com-
pletion of all tasks and provides a restart of the tasks which have failed
as a result of network connectivity errors.
Distributed execution of the key compute-intensive tasks is supported
by:
Tie point calculation for aerial triangulation and satellite project
adjustment
DTM creation
Image orthorectication
Orthomosaic creation (including calculation of cutlines)
According to the Top500 supercomputers rating (www.top500.org), in
the top ten supercomputers as of November 2010, seven systems have
reached and exceeded the level of maximum productivity of 1 petaops
(A quadrillion [thousand trillion] oating point operations per second).
According to the same rating, in the list of 500 of the worlds most
powerful computers in terms of quantity, the rst place belongs to the
USA (274), second to China (41). Japan shares the third place with
Great Britain and France (26). Russia ranks number 7 among 28 pre-
sented countries.
It is noteworthy that this March a supercomputer with 1 petaops rat-
ing was launched at the Sarov nuclear center in Russia. This Russian
supercomputer will correspond to the 12th place in the Top500 most
powerful computers rating, and to rst place in the Top 50 list in Russia
and CIS.
Usage of even a small part of such computing power allows, for exam-
ple, the ability to perform fully automatic creation of a 1:10,000 ortho-
mosaic from a block of satellite images for several hundred thousand
square kilometers in just a few hours.
Performing distributed calculations in networks (or computing clusters)
consisting of a large number of nodes, sets additional requirements to
the software used.
In particular, automatic deployment and a centralized system setup are
a must. Furthermore, network resources overhead for task management
should not comprise any noticeable part within the total computational
resources consumption.
With these requirements in mind, a special version of PHOTOMOD
digital photogrammetric system, optimized for large-scale network pro-
cessing, is currently being developed - PHOTOMOD HPC Edition.
Performance testing results
A joint team from Racurs and specialists from the Kazakh National
Technical University, named after K.I. Satpaev, on the computing cluster
installed in KazNTU, with peak productivity of 10.9 teraops, under-
took pre-release testing of the version.
The experiment consisted of creating a 1:2000 scale orthomosaic from
aerial imagery with high-resolution DTM (DEM, rened by break lines)
for an area of 1289 square kilometers (3558 original images, taken
by UltraCam XP, average GSD 15 cm).
For analysis of reliability and efciency of parallelized calculations, the
same task was executed in three congurations with distribution to
10, 20 and 40 computing nodes (every node is equipped with two
quad-core Intel Xeon 5500 processors). All the processes were com-
pleted without any errors. Processing for 10 nodes (80 parallel threads)
took about eight hours, for 20 nodes (160 threads) ve hours and
for 40 nodes (320 threads) three hours. Some decrease of unit per-
formance, with the increase in number of nodes involved, is determined
as the bottleneck of this experiment access to original images, stored
in the disk subsystem of the cluster. (see table on top of this page)
Conclusion
The architecture of modern computing systems creates prerequisites for
fast growth of productivity of photogrammetric remote sensing data
processing via the use of distributed calculations. Conducted experi-
ments have demonstrated the efciency of the upcoming PHOTOMOD
HPC Edition when used within a computing cluster, allowing for a sig-
nicant reduction in processing time proportional to the number of clus-
ter nodes involved in the calculations. Further system development
roadmap includes support for distributed calculations on multiple GPUs
(NVIDIA CUDA technology), and a more sophisticated job scheduler
distributing tasks among nodes based on available CPUs and GPUs as
well as efcient usage of network and storage systems throughput.
Internet: www.racurs.ru
Ar t i c l e
27
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com

d Computing
Terrain model
June 2011
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 27
Statistics, Geoinformatics and Applied Science
Spatial Statistics Conference
The First Spatial Statistics Conference took place on the University of Twente campus in Enschede, The
Netherlands from the 23 to 25 March 2011. This conference was unusual in that it brought together
those whose primary field was statistics, geoinformatics and applied science (e.g., ecology, atmo-
spheric science). This mixture delivered a varied and stimulating program. Some sessions dealt with
core statistical subject matter, such as regression, geostatistics and sampling whereas others dealt with
applications such as ecology, climate science and ecology.
T
he First Spatial Statistics Conference
took place on the University of Twente
campus in Enschede, The Netherlands
from 23 to 25 March 2011. The scientic
organization was led by the conference
chairs, Alfred Stein (Faculty of Geo-
Information Science and Earth Observation
(ITC), University of Twente), Edzer Pebesma
(Universitt Mnster) and Gerard Heuvelink
(Wageningen University) whilst the admin-
istration was handled by Elsevier. The con-
ference was sponsored by Elsevier, Esri,
ITC and the CT de Wit Graduate School
for Production Ecology and Resource
Conservation.
You may ask if this was really the FIRST spa-
tial statistics conference. There have cer-
tainly been many conferences that have
addressed the subject of spatial statistics;
however, these have tended to take a pri-
marily statistical (e.g., METMA, TIES) or
application-driven orientation (e.g.,
GeoENV, Accuracy). This conference was
unusual in that it brought together those
whose primary eld was statistics, geoin-
formatics and applied science (e.g., ecolo-
gy, atmospheric science). This mixture
delivered a varied and stimulating pro-
gram. Some sessions dealt with core sta-
tistical subject matter, such as regression, geostatistics and sampling
whereas others dealt with applications such as ecology, climate sci-
ence and ecology. There were also three rich and varied poster ses-
sions.
Statistics for spatial extremes
The conference kicked off with a keynote speech by Martin Schlather
from the Universitt Gttingen. He began with a talk that presented the
theory of statistics for spatial extremes in an accessible, but rigorous,
way. When one considers the natural disasters that have occurred in
the past few years, it becomes clear that the modeling and identica-
tion of spatial extremes has clear and important societal applications.
Professor Schlather was directly followed by Roger Bivand from the
Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He
called for openness and interdisciplinarity
in the development of research projects,
and the peer review of research output. He
proposed that open, re-useable code could
be a bridge between disciplines. You may
like or loath this idea. The rst day con-
cluded with a welcome drinks reception,
sponsored by the CT de Wit school.
The second day of the conference includ-
ed three inspirational keynote talks at the
beginning, middle and end of the day. This
began with Noel Cressie, from the Ohio
State University, who showed how spatial
random effects models and xed-rank krig-
ing could be applied to combining the out-
puts from an ensemble of regional climate
models. The value of these techniques
comes from their exibility for modeling
complex variables, whilst being able to
cope with the processing of large datasets
with limited computing resources. An
application of this technique was also pre-
sented by H. Nguyen the previous day.
Professor Cressie continued his contribution
to the conference with lively questions fol-
lowing Harvard Rues (Norwegian
University of Science and Technology)
keynote on the integration of Gaussian
Markov random elds with Gaussian elds
(geostatistics). These are two topics that have, traditionally, developed
separately. Professor Rue showed how they could be integrated using
partial differential equations. This is supported by software made avail-
able at www.r-inla.org. The second days academic program conclud-
ed with a keynote from Gilberto Cmara from the National Institute for
Space Research, Brazil (INPE). This continued with the theme of han-
dling large datasets of satellite imagery for the identication of change
in land cover (what is there?) and land use (what is it used for?). This
remains a challenging topic from both a conceptual and technological
perspective. It is particularly important in developing countries, owing
to a lack of ofcial statistics. This means that more emphasis is attached
to the use of satellite imagery. Dr Cmara showed how this is being
applied in Brazil using a suite of open-source software based on
Terralib. Dr Cmara closed with a call to go beyond spatial. Spatial-
28
June 2011
E v e n t
By Nicholas Hamm
G. Mariethoz receives her prize for the best oral presentation.
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 28
temporal analysis tools and methodologies are required to answer the
big questions of today and tomorrow.
Downscaling in remote sensing
The nal day of the conference kicked off with a keynote lecture by
Tomislav Hengl from ISRIC, Wageningen, who is also an ITC MSc and
PhD graduate. He built on the theme of open research presented by
Professor Bivand on the rst day. He presented an impressive array of
datasets and proposed global modeling for local prediction. The day
proceeded with sessions on geostatistics, uncertainty and social sci-
ence applications. Of particular interest was the talk and poster of
Chris Small on mapping anthropogenic change in night light. The day
concluded with the nal keynote by Peter Atkinson from the University
of Southampton. His talk was on downscaling in remote sensing and
discussed previous and on-going research in this eld addressing
both categorical variables (land cover classes) and continuous vari-
ables (temperature, reectance etc).
The conference concluded with the presentation of prizes for the best
oral and poster presentations. The prize for the best oral presentation
was awarded to G. Mariethoz from the University of New South Wales,
Australia for a talk on Parameterizing training images used for multi-
ple-point simulations. The prize for the best poster was awarded to
S.V. Vantini and co-authors for a poster on A clustering algorithm for
spatially dependent functional data. There was a general agreement
that the conference had been a success and there is a wish to proceed
with another conference. This will probably take place in approxi-
mately two years at a different location. Elsevier will also release a
new Journal of Spatial Statistics, which would seem to reect the broad
conference theme. There was a suggestion that the conference and
journal should be renamed Spatio-Temporal Statistics. Lets wait and
see.
Dr Nicholas Hamm, Department of Earth Observation Science,
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands.
29
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011


E v e n t
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 29
New Dimensions of Augmented Reality
Future Immersive Experiences
FARO Scanners are at the heart of a paradigm shift as European scientists start adding an immersive
dimension to sports broadcasting and photo-sharing.
I
mmersive experiences is a buzzword used
by event technology companies who
enhance the quality of an event with excel-
lent sound systems and lighting to create a mem-
orable atmosphere. But now projects are under-
way that will add a new dimension to the
meaning of immersive experiences, by merg-
ing the worlds of user-generated content, mobile
smart phone interactivity and 3D modelling.
At the same time, we are witnessing a
paradigm-shift in terms of consumer involve-
ment: broadcasters will put viewers in the TV
directors chair at football matches or concerts
and tourists will experience augmented reality
by simply pointing their camera at an object
of interest.
One could argue that the projects covered in
this Special Report are simply the next step in
the evolution of interactivity and user-generat-
ed content. After all, DVD fans have long been
able to select an alternative camera angle,
and tourists routinely upload their geo-tagged
photos to Google Earth. However, the
FascinatE and the VISITO projects demand a
technological leap because the consumer
interactions and databases are based on 3D
models. With institutional funding, entirely
new concepts, methods, scripts and tools are
being developed by research groups from uni-
versities and specialist companies, that will
create the foundation for the new era of
immersive interactive experiences.
Given the complexity of the tasks in hand, the
FascinatE and VISITO teams were keen to start
with the best possible tools and data for their
research. FARO Laser Scanners were the 3D
scanning tools of choice for both projects.
VISITO
VISITO Tuscany is a project co-nanced by
Regione Toscana and the European Regional
Development Fund, carried out by a consor-
tium of research and industrial partners includ-
ing the Italian National Research Council
(CNR ISTI), Alinari, Hyperborea and 3Logic.
The aim of VISITO Tuscany is to enhance the
tourist experience before, during and after
travel by allowing interaction with a 3D-model
based database of historic photos and infor-
mation. The ground-breaking feature is that
the VISITO system will be able to work out
30
June 2011
By Faro
The FascinatE project will put the viewer in the directors chair and
allow immersive exploration of the available camera angles during a
live concert or match.
Ar t i c l e Ar t i c l e
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 30
where the user is pointing the camera of their
smartphone in order to augment their reality
during the visit. Thus for example, if you take
a photo of Hercules and Cacus, in Florence
using the VISITO App, then it will tell you the
statue was completed by Bandinelli in 1534
etc. This feature will be realised using GPS
positional information from the smartphone
and by comparing a compressed upload of
the users photo with the existing image
database.
When you return home, after uploading your
full resolution photos to your favorite photo
site, you will be able to enter the 3D model
of the VISITO location. As you spatially
browse your photo collection, the system will
render your pictures onto the 3D model in the
appropriate position in real time.
Dr Marco Callieri, member of CNR ISTIs
Visual Computing Laboratory (VC) explains:
Our group is responsible for getting the 3D
dimensional data, aligning the photos and cre-
ating the software of the spatial browsing user
interface.
Scanning the Piazza della Signoria in
Florence, one of the three VISITO sites, took 2
days using a FARO Laser Scanner. It is a very
complex environment with rows of huge stat-
ues, so data processing took about 3 weeks.
We scanned our rst site with a TOF ight
camera, but we were much happier once we
purchased the Faro scanner.
Once the 3D model was created, the next step
was to manually prime the system with a selec-
tion of photos from the Alinari photo library.
Thereafter, the system takes over and can auto-
matically recognise other photos and add
them in the correct position.
FascinatE
FascinatE, standing for Format-Agnostic
SCript-based INterAcTive Experience, is an
EU-funded research project that aims to allow
end-users to interactively view and navigate
around an ultra-high resolution panorama of
a live event. The output will be intelligently
adapted to suit anything from a mobile hand-
set to an immersive panoramic display and
the audio will intelligently match the chosen
shots.
On the production side, this requires the devel-
opment of new capture, scripting and format
transformation systems. New methods and
hardware will also be needed to allow view-
ers to control and display the content. Eleven
partners, all leaders in their respective tech-
nologies teamed up to advance this vision.
Work on FascinatE began in Feb 2010. As a
test scenario for the software development, the
project members decided to capture a Premier
League football game with a novel array of
cameras and microphones. One of the part-
ners in the FascinatE project is the legendary
Munich-based Arnold & Richter Cine Technik
GmbH (ARRI). Having gained experience of
combining camera footage with 3D scanning
data for CGI purposes, ARRI recommended a
FARO Laser Scanner Focus3D laser scanner
for the geometrical calibration of the camera
and microphone positions and the scan of the
whole stadium. This will serve as the basis for
creating virtual camera movements.
Dr. Johannes Steurer, Principal Engineer at
ARRI, explained: After the stadium was
cleared, we scanned the whole stadium and
captured the positions of the microphones and
cameras using reference cards and spheres.
Thanks to a short rain shower before we
began, the air was clear, giving excellent
results. After 2.5 hours we had all 17 3D
scans on the SD card.
An immersive future
The FascinatE system will take the experience
of watching or attending a sports match or
concert to a whole new level. For example,
thanks to the accurate positional information
gathered with the FARO Scanner, the system
will be able to accurately and automatically
blend the audio from different microphones in
order to suit the viewers chosen camera shot.
FascinatE represents a paradigm shift where
directors surrender control to the end-viewer.
However, the use of precise 3D positional
information to create a sense of actually being
there will play a big part in the quality of expe-
rience. says James Needham of Faro
Technologies UK, one of the projects enthusi-
astic supporters.
Meanwhile, the VISITO project is focussed on
the users curiosity, bringing to life archive
material and personal memories through 3
dimensional browsing. The combination of
these two approaches promises some truly
exciting and revolutionary new 3D immersive
experiences.
Internet: www.fascinate-project.com
www.visitotuscany.it
31
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011
New Dimensions of Augmented Reality
Future Immersive Experiences
ARRI recommended a FARO Laser Scanner Focus3D laser scanner for
the geometrical calibration of the camera and microphone positions
and the scan of the whole stadium.
Ar t i c l e Ar t i c l e
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 31
FME 2011 World Tour
The league of spatial superheroes
Antwerp Zoo: place to be to watch animals and superheroes on April 6th. The last group willingly
locked itself up on this sunny spring day in order to learn about FME product updates and various
customer stories.
Extracting, transforming
and loading data
How to become a superhero?
More specic: a spatial super-
hero? According to Safe
Software FME is one way to go.
This Feature Manipulation Engine
enables you to view, edit and
convert all kinds of spatial data
models and formats. In 1996
Safe Software launched FME on
to the market, resulting in not a
commonly-used piece of software
yet, but with lots of potential.
Large dataset conver-
sion
How does it work? Well, it
depends on your needs, but FME
is most helpful when it comes to
large datasets conversion. Shell for exam-
ple is a company facing spatial data man-
agement challenges. Forty people on dif-
ferent locations worldwide are daily users
of spatial data that are used throughout the
entire oil life cycle. Our spatially enabled
databases contain CAD and GIS data,
raster data and LiDAR data, explains Shell
GIS consultant Marc van Nes. These
databases are steadily growing and need
to be consulted by a large vari-
ety of software packages.
FME Advantages for
Shell
Here is when FME came to the
rescue. Van Nes: FME contains
a Reader and a Writer making
the old MicroStation les usable
again. FME is able to read them,
while MicroStation isnt any
longer.
Van Nes illustrates the advan-
tages of FME in daily use: Notes
are clipped to maps to report
conicts for example. We can
also create differences maps when upload-
ing maps from third party vendors. This
gives the users insight in changes.
The concept of data delivery
For Shell FME is of help in transforming and
sharing spatial data, but according to Van
Nes one aspect should never be forgotten:
ensuring the right results. The concept of
data delivery will change. What needs to
be done in the backend to con-
jure data in different ways. And:
what do people need? Will a
picture do, or is analysis of more
use?
Meeting (inter)national
standards
When it comes to workow opti-
mization and adequate data
management FME can give you
super power. This might be a
good thing to consider when
having to meet (inter)national
standards. The European
INSPIRE legislation is one of
these examples where these stan-
dards need to be met.
Managing director of GIM,
Caroline Heylen and GIMs cer-
tied FME professional Bruno De Lat illus-
trate how. To refresh your memory: the oper-
ational INSPIRE discovery/view services
should be operational Nov 2011, down-
load services Dec 2012.
Data specications are the most difcult
part of INSPIRE and FME can help, Heylen
states. GIM colleague Mr De Lat points out
that there are two approaches: a one-step
approach in which different data sources,
formats and such are prepared
and delivered on-the-y
according to INSPIRE standards,
and a two-step approach using
a staging spatial database. We
prefer the last one since it over-
comes limitations of logic, per-
formance and scalability, he
says.
Saving Time
De Lat continues his demo by
showing where FME can help in
data remodeling. Part of the
challenge is to perform Schema
Mapping, which is in fact
32
June 2011
E v e n t
By Sonja van Poortvliet
Visualizing LAS LiDAR data.
A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy
MobileMapper 100 will develop your taste for precision GIS. Discover its full
features, performance and specs at www.ashtech.com.
Features


















A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy


A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy


A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy


A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy
































o M
w Po


r e pp Ma e l i b o

10
e h nd a h S S A N O L G + S P G l u f r e w


0
m e l i b o m n o i is ec pr - h g i h r o f d l


ng i pp a m




Features

Handheld sub-meter


, decimeter
e h W
b o M
h g i h
t f o s
e s s a
e A h t
any c
b o M Handheld sub-meter


n a e f e f f e a co r u o t y o r n r o e h t e
e p p a M e l i b o . M 0 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b
n a o i t c e l l a co t a S d I n G o i s i c e r p - h
n o i t a c i l p p y a t r a p - d r i h r t e o r a w
e t e m - b u h s t e wi m i t - l a e n r s i t e
, t y g o l o n h c e E t D A L s B h c e t h s e A
i p o an c e s n e d r e d n u d an s n o any
, co d e g g u s a r 0 i 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b


r d u o g y n i t r a t y s o j n l e l u wi o , y n
S h S N e G t a m i t l e u h s t 0 i 0 r 1 e
t d wi e n i b m o . C g n i p p a d m n n a
c i u 0 q 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b o e M h , t n
c c l a e v e r l e t e m i t n o ce wn t o r d
s h n i a t n i a o m s l r a e v i ce e e r h , t
. s e i
n G i - t l i u h b t d wi l e h d n a t h c a p m , co


e h h t t g wi n i k r o y w a r d
r o d f e n g i s e d d l e h d n a S h
d l e i r F e p p a M e l i b o h M
s n o i t i s o d p n s a p a y m l k c
y d b e r e w o . P y c a r u c
n a b r n u y i c a r u c c h a g i
d n S a R P G / M S n G




or centimeter accuracy modes

ery lightweight and compact V

Extended built-in communications

indows Mobile Flexible W
platform

Ruggedized for professional use
For more information:


or centimeter accuracy modes
e u l B
m e d
0 i 0 1
d G n a
b o M
t a e f
ery lightweight and compact
Extended built-in communications
indows Mobile

6.5
Ruggedized for professional use
For more information:


p m o . C s n o i t a c i n u m m h co t o o t e
y l r e . V s b o S j I e G l i b o g m n i d n a m
o n f o i t u l o d s l e h d n a e h u r s a t 0 i
l d a m i t p r o o y f t i l i b a i l e S r S N d G
p y o l e v e l d l i 0 w 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b
s a ec p d s n e a c n a m r o f r e , p s e r u t


s t t s i k r o w t e K n T h R t e wi l b i t a p
m m co u m i x a r m o t f h g i e w t h g i y l
d i v o r t p . I ce r o f k r o d w l e e h r t o
m i t y n y a l l a u t r i , v n o i t c e l l a co t a
. D S I n G o i s i ec r r p o e f st a r t u o p y
. m o c . h ec t h s .a w w t w s a


r o r f e w s n t a c e f r e e p h s t
r e p p a M e l i b o e M h , t t r o f m
y t i l i b i x m e u m i x a s m e d
. e r e wh y r e v d e n e a
l l u s f t r i e v o c s i . D




EMEA (HQ) +33 2 28 09 38 00
China +86 10 5802 5174
USA, NA +1 408 572 1103
professionalsales@ashtech.com


EMEA (HQ) +33 2 28 09 38 00
2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.
All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders.
China +86 10 5802 5174
USA, NA +1 408 572 1103
professionalsales@ashtech.com


2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.
All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders.


2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.
All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders.


2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.


96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 32
FME 2011 World Tour
The league of spatial superheroes
E v e n t
A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy
MobileMapper 100 will develop your taste for precision GIS. Discover its full
features, performance and specs at www.ashtech.com.
Features


















A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy


A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy


A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy


A Breakthrough in
Handheld Accuracy
































o M
w Po


r e pp Ma e l i b o

10
e h nd a h S S A N O L G + S P G l u f r e w


0
m e l i b o m n o i is ec pr - h g i h r o f d l


ng i pp a m




Features

Handheld sub-meter


, decimeter
e h W
b o M
h g i h
t f o s
e s s a
e A h t
any c
b o M Handheld sub-meter


n a e f e f f e a co r u o t y o r n r o e h t e
e p p a M e l i b o . M 0 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b
n a o i t c e l l a co t a S d I n G o i s i c e r p - h
n o i t a c i l p p y a t r a p - d r i h r t e o r a w
e t e m - b u h s t e wi m i t - l a e n r s i t e
, t y g o l o n h c e E t D A L s B h c e t h s e A
i p o an c e s n e d r e d n u d an s n o any
, co d e g g u s a r 0 i 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b


r d u o g y n i t r a t y s o j n l e l u wi o , y n
S h S N e G t a m i t l e u h s t 0 i 0 r 1 e
t d wi e n i b m o . C g n i p p a d m n n a
c i u 0 q 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b o e M h , t n
c c l a e v e r l e t e m i t n o ce wn t o r d
s h n i a t n i a o m s l r a e v i ce e e r h , t
. s e i
n G i - t l i u h b t d wi l e h d n a t h c a p m , co


e h h t t g wi n i k r o y w a r d
r o d f e n g i s e d d l e h d n a S h
d l e i r F e p p a M e l i b o h M
s n o i t i s o d p n s a p a y m l k c
y d b e r e w o . P y c a r u c
n a b r n u y i c a r u c c h a g i
d n S a R P G / M S n G




or centimeter accuracy modes

ery lightweight and compact V

Extended built-in communications

indows Mobile Flexible W
platform

Ruggedized for professional use
For more information:


or centimeter accuracy modes
e u l B
m e d
0 i 0 1
d G n a
b o M
t a e f
ery lightweight and compact
Extended built-in communications
indows Mobile

6.5
Ruggedized for professional use
For more information:


p m o . C s n o i t a c i n u m m h co t o o t e
y l r e . V s b o S j I e G l i b o g m n i d n a m
o n f o i t u l o d s l e h d n a e h u r s a t 0 i
l d a m i t p r o o y f t i l i b a i l e S r S N d G
p y o l e v e l d l i 0 w 0 r 1 e p p a M e l i b
s a ec p d s n e a c n a m r o f r e , p s e r u t


s t t s i k r o w t e K n T h R t e wi l b i t a p
m m co u m i x a r m o t f h g i e w t h g i y l
d i v o r t p . I ce r o f k r o d w l e e h r t o
m i t y n y a l l a u t r i , v n o i t c e l l a co t a
. D S I n G o i s i ec r r p o e f st a r t u o p y
. m o c . h ec t h s .a w w t w s a


r o r f e w s n t a c e f r e e p h s t
r e p p a M e l i b o e M h , t t r o f m
y t i l i b i x m e u m i x a s m e d
. e r e wh y r e v d e n e a
l l u s f t r i e v o c s i . D




EMEA (HQ) +33 2 28 09 38 00
China +86 10 5802 5174
USA, NA +1 408 572 1103
professionalsales@ashtech.com


EMEA (HQ) +33 2 28 09 38 00
2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.
All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders.
China +86 10 5802 5174
USA, NA +1 408 572 1103
professionalsales@ashtech.com


2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.
All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders.


2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.
All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders.


2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC.


96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 33
restructuring data from a source model into
destination model. Normally this is intense
and time-consuming and needs a (domain)
expert with knowledge of INSPIRE. This is
where FME comes into the picture. With
SchemaMapper Transformer you can group
multiple rules or values into one transformer
which is applicable to several datasets. This
is more sustainable than renaming attributes,
types et cetera one by one.
Heylen summarizes the properties of FME.
Besides schema mapping there is data val-
idation and there are facilities to publish
the data in several ways. Consider using
FME not only for INSPIRE but also as a ben-
et for data management and optimizing
publication in general.
Performance and complexity
Our ultimate goal is bringing FME to a
wider audience, says Dean Hintz, Senior
Analyst with the Professional Services team
at Safe Software. Performance and com-
plexity need constant attention. Automation
is one of our challenges and that is why we
keep up with the evolution of current formats,
brand new formats and new data types.
Besides talking about bug xes, to be found
on www.fmeusercentral.com, Hintz also
answers one of the enhancement requests
from the audience: how do I know which
transformers are updated? We might do
this by showing these updates in a different
color, is Hintz answer.
Data overload
In a presentation later that day Hintz focuses
on workow. When you are involved in or
responsible for the GIS segment within your
organization you are often overloaded with
all kinds of data. This is when FME can meet
your needs. FME contains a data download
service that runs a process and writes the
result to a zip le, with a url link in a mail or
a browser. Live data streams is all about the
data itself instead of a link to a zip-le. And
then there is data upload service, for pub-
lishing source data. This is also a data stream
and it reports the result of an upload.
Also quite useful might be the so-called
Network Validator. It checks the network
integrity by running and testing it. If there
are bad les indications like invalid
attribute are reported. The Network
Validator makes clear if and where there are
loose ends. All meant to reduce resource
contagion and to diminish the workload of
a GIS analyst.
FME 2011
Whats new in FME 2011? Hintz mentions
some highlights: New parameter types and
a choice with an alias, private parameters ,
point cloud support and improved XML-trans-
formers.
Hintz also introduces the superhero raster
man. Since the rst FME version with
raster support in 2006 a lot has improved.
There are more than 50 formats to choose
from and we are able to reproject data, do
mosaicing and tiling and draping.
Challenges are speed of these operations
and the automation of the memory manage-
ment system.
For more information, have a look at www.safe.com
http://blog.safe.com: informative and sometimes even funny blog by
the supermen behind Safe Software.
Online encyclopedia of FME technical information and examples
contributed by Safe staff and FME users: www.fmepedia.com
34
June 2011
Inspection lets you examine your data as it passes from one transformer to another, interactively stepping through the transformation.
E v e n t
FMEs new style.
Complete Solutions for
Terrestrial Laser Scanning
GEOLOGICAL
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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 34
E v e n t
Geomatics and Agriculture
CAPIGI 2011
Geospatial and agriculture could be close friends, in fact the two seem to be growing closer together
all the time. The CAPIGI event offered three days of sessions, which demonstrated how these two fields
when combined, result in an overview of European products and services for organizing the agricultur-
al workload in a much smarter way.
C
APIGI is an abbreviation of
Community on Agricultural Policy
Implementation and Geo
Information. The community started in
2005 by Wageningen University and
Research Centre, the ministry of Agriculture
and Esri Europe, to share and discuss the
advances of geo-information applications in
the implementation of agricultural policies
in Europe, resulting in the rst CAPIGI con-
ference in that same year. The 2011 edition
was the fourth conference held by the com-
munity and organized by the Dutch consult-
ing company Aerovision. The event was
held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from
4-6 April, and focused on the use of (geo-
)information (GI) to support agriculture and
the related value added chain of production.
The geographical scope was the whole of
Europe, with a lot of attention paid to
European legislation for collecting and shar-
ing geographical data (such as the INSPIRE
program), satellite navigation systems and
agricultural policy instruments, as well as
solutions and services to agribusiness.
Basically, the core focus of the event illus-
trated how to reduce the cost of raising
crops with geospatial technology. This
means organizing the workload in a smarter
way. Since farmers have to deal with xed
prices on the market when selling their
crops, there are very few options available
to them to cut operating costs in order to
raise their total price.
Mapping, guiding and remote sensing were
the solutions discussed most during the vari-
ous presentations throughout the event.
With one hundred participants from thirteen
European countries, a total of forty presen-
tations were held over a number of parallel
sessions during the three days, so there was
a lot going on. What follows is an overview
of several of these presentations during the
rst two days of the event.
Opening Session Spatial Data
Quality in Amsterdam
The event started with some general presen-
tations not specically linked to the topic of
agriculture. The presentation by Ad van der
Meer (Head of the unit Geo-Information in
Amsterdam) was an interesting case on how
to collect and manage geoinformation in a
large organization such as the city munici-
pality, and keep everybody happy. His con-
clusion that the benets of geoinformation
are hard to measure as compared to other
36
June 2011
E v e n t
By Eric van Rees
Tamme van der Wal from Aerovision
(source: Roosmarijn Haring)
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 36
costs that municipalities incur, was some-
what sad: it showed that it is still hard to
persuade people to invest more in the eld
of geoinformation (in other words: every-
body wants it, but nobody wants to pay for
it). It must have something to do with the fact
that people take the existence of geographi-
cal data for granted, although the opposite
is true.
European Space Dimensions -
EGNOS
Tuesday, day two, offered a full program
with European Space Dimensions and
Machine Guidance in the morning, followed
in the afternoon by parallel sessions of,
respectively, Information Exchange, GI
Community Sourcing and two sessions on
Sensing.
The presentation on EGNOS, a satellite-
based augmentation service, opened the
second day of the event. EGNOS is the
European Geostationary Overlay Service,
which improves the accuracy of position
measurements by sending out signals that
correct GPS data and provide information
on its reliability. The signal is free and
already widely used in agriculture, accord-
ing to the presenter. As for the geographi-
cal range, the service covers most of the EU,
with further expansion to Africa, the Middle
East and Eastern Europe planned for this
year. For an explanation on how the service
works, see the article on page 10 in this
issue. EGNOS can be used as an afford-
able, entry-level technology for a wide
range of applications in precision agricul-
ture. The term precision agriculture refers to
the use of satellite navigation, sensors, aeri-
al imagery and other tools to determine opti-
mal sowing density, fertilizer coverage and
other inputs. Precision agriculture provides
an answer to the challenges that face
agribusinesses, such as the rise in the
demand for crops due to population
increase and bio-fuel demand. In addition,
there is a limited increase in cultivable land,
farmers face water shortages and energy
prices rise. To meet these challenges, preci-
sion agriculture provides an increase in
yield production and better management of
resources. It helps to reduce chemical pollu-
tion, energy consumption and time. As for
applications, EGNOS can be widely used:
arable, dairy, agro-logistic and legisla-
tion/management are categories for which
the service is ideally suited. The application
domain of EGNOS lies in the required accu-
racy level between 1meter and 2.5 meters,
such as for low-value crop cultivation (such
as cereals) and low-accuracy operations
such as fertilizing and reaping. The added
value of the service is that it can offer an
affordable precision solution by enhancing
the benets of precision agriculture, such as
optimizing crop yields and increasing prot
margins, and above all, saving time and
money. In order to enhance market aware-
ness and therefore create a bigger market
for EGNOS, a strategy was outlined on how
to penetrate the agricultural market in the
coming years, for instance partnering with
industry partners. These can be categorized
into farmers, service providers, device man-
ufacturers and vehicle manufacturers, the
last two being the key decision makers in
the value chain of GNSS in agriculture.
Machine Guidance Claas
Agrosystems
Claas Agrosystems is an international com-
pany that started in Germany. Their presen-
tation on mobile data collection and data
management in modern agriculture seemed
to be targeted at large agricultural business-
es who want to optimize their workows.
Their brand called 'Easy' bundles all the
company's electronic expertise, whether it's
on board, in the eld, on track or on the
farm. For precision farming and monitoring,
the company offers two systems, Claas
Telematics and Agro Scout. The rst is for
performance-data of machines online, the
second for improving productive time in key
transport and logistics areas. The term
'telematics' was used for combining infor-
mation, control and support: with informa-
E v e n t
37
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011
E v e n t
Short presentations during the Pechakucha session
(source: Roosmarijn Haring)
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 37
tion meaning the remote viewing of operat-
ing data, performance data, and machine-
related data in near-real time. Control
relates to performance, location and
machine use, and support to service infor-
mation, diagnosis and solutions.
The remainder of the presentation offered
impressive examples of experiences in the
eld with the systems, such as performance
analysis and comparison of different
machines in a given time period, geofenc-
ing (an alarm going off if a machine leaves
or enters a preselected sector), yield maps
in Google Earth, and much more.
GI Community Sourcing -
Volunteered Geographical
Information
Crowdsourcing can be an effective instru-
ment for bottom-up initiatives that can cause
governments to act. Global and local initia-
tives, discussed in two presentations on vol-
unteered geographical information, offered
inspiring thoughts that can also be applied
to the agricultural community. The rst pre-
sentation was delivered by Grega Milcinski
from Sinergise, a Slovenian company that
provides specialized development of high-
quality geographic information systems for
complex applications and demanding cus-
tomers. The company is active in agriculture
and also real estate management.
Milcenski showed that after a slow rise in
popularity, crowd sourced initiatives such as
Wikipedia, are here to stay, but there a num-
ber of critical conditions that have to be met
for such a project to succeed. The goal of a
project should be clear from the beginning,
as well as its users and the data that is to
be collected and shared. Equally important
is the technology behind the project, and
how often and where the data is to be
updated and maintained. Two examples in
real-life exemplied these statements. Of
course, everyone will be familiar with Open
Street Map, but less so with Geopedia, a
Slovenian project that is in fact a VGI infras-
tructure for the collection of all spatial data
in Slovenia. Its basic content consists of gov-
ernment data like topographic maps and
aerial imagery. Plus it has a community of
20,000 people, of which 5% are contribut-
ing the majority of the data. The user base
is quite diverse, from cyclists to energy com-
panies. An illegal dump registry caused the
government to take action and clean the
sites, since there were many illegal dumps
in the country and the governmental data
was inaccurate. Milcenski concluded his
presentation by saying that VGI may not
produce perfect results, but neither do pro-
fessional systems. I personally think this
statement is too general, since data quality
varies from country to country. However, I
agree with his statements that it can be good
enough for practical purposes, and that tech-
nological improvements can make for better
data in the future.
E v e n t
38
June 2011
Conference break
(source: Roosmarijn Haring)
Conference break
(source: Roosmarijn Haring)
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 38
E v e n t
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 39
The second presentation on crowd sourcing
mentioned a global project on land cover-
age, named the Geo-Wiki project. Its a
global network of volunteers who wish to
help improve the quality of global land
cover maps. According to the project web-
site, current ecosystem and land use science
lacks crucial accurate data, for example for
determining potential land use for agricul-
ture. Behind all this lies the concept that as
time progresses, land will be scarce and
therefore more and more important for the
production of food, in the light of climate
change and a larger world population.
Volunteers contribute to the project by
reviewing hotspot maps of global land cover
disagreement and determine if the land
cover maps are correct or incorrect. They
do this by comparing Google Earth data
and their own local knowledge. The results
are recorded in a database intended for a
new and improved future global land cover
map. As for agriculture, the same concept
could be applied to a 'farmers geo-wiki'.
This remark touches on a topic referred to
during a number of presentations during the
rst two days, namely data sharing. Second
parties such as research institutes are inter-
ested in crop data, but they do not own the
data. What kind of data can be shared by
whom and under what conditions, is a topic
to be explored in the future.
For more information, have a look at www.capigi.eu
EGNOS: www.egnos-portal.eu
Geopedia: www.geopedia.si
Geo-Wiki project: www.geo-wiki.org
E v e n t
40
June 2011
Conference participants
(source: Roosmarijn Haring)
All presenters from the Pechakucha session
(source: Roosmarijn Haring)
For more information on Spectra Precision solutions please visit
www.spectraprecision.com/info
FOCUS

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Compact and lightweight

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Improve your eld efciency
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2011 Spectra Precision. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
F
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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:36 )/15) 40
E v e n t
For more information on Spectra Precision solutions please visit
www.spectraprecision.com/info
FOCUS

30

Robotic, StepDrive

, and LockNGo

models

Powerful total station at only 5.0 kgs

EPOCH

50

GNSS, with 220 channels

Compact and lightweight

RANGER

Large, sunlight-viewable touchscreen

Spectra Precision Survey Pro

onboard
Improve your eld efciency
with Spectra Precision.
2011 Spectra Precision. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
F
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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 41
Showcasing new 3D technologies
SPAR 2011
In its eighth year, the annual SPAR International conference continued to grow and evolve, attracting
record attendance of nearly 800 for the first time and more than 60 companies and associations to the
exhibition hall. Held March 21 through 24, the event showed how much it has grown beyond its plant
and process roots, with five tracks of seminars, presentations and roundtables that included the newest
ideas and technologies in 3D imaging.
I
t would be hard to imagine a better kickoff than the one provided
by Brian Mathews, VP of Autodesk Labs, and David Lafferty, part of
the Chief Technology Ofce at BP, during their morning keynote
addresses on day one.
Mathews opened many eyes in the crowd with his predictions for the
future of technology and how it would disrupt industry and mainstream
society alike. His thoughts on the democratization of reality capture,
cloud computing, 3D printing, and how these technologies might con-
verge in the near future had the room buzzing.
Lafferty then followed with how he has practically applied 3D imaging
to create a game changing experience at BP that has resulted in more
than $50 million in efciency savings although not without challenges.
In fact, it was those challenges faced by many 3D professionals in elds
as diverse as traditional surveying, facility management, and entertain-
ment and gaming that the many new product releases at SPAR sought
to address.
Automated feature-extraction
Probably most common among the new software innovations was a
movement toward automated feature extraction. Kubits new PointSense
software is the rst product from the company to address specic verti-
cal applications, rather than simply be a catch-all point cloud engine
like previous kubit releases. First in the PointSense family is PointSense
Plant, for industrial and process facility design, which allows users to
work with point clouds in an AutoCAD environment and more rapidly
perform modeling and feature-extraction tasks.
Kubit USA owner Scott Diaz said programmers have focused on a
semi-automatic approach to feature extraction, so that automatic soft-
ware actions dont add more time in errors than they save in automa-
tion.
Similarly, ClearEdge3D launched at the SPAR conference its new
Edgewise Plant, which also attacks this problem of time-consuming mod-
eling. ClearEdge head of business development Tim Lowry said the
software solves a problem, taking a lot of the time consuming manual
effort to go from point cloud to 3D model were saving anywhere
from 35 to 70 percent of the modeling time.
Not to be outdone, AVEVA also launched a competing product in this
space at SPAR, its AVEVA Laser Modeller, which EVP Mat Truche-
Gordon described as totally changing the landscape for operators by
allowing cost-effective creation of an accurate digital asset from the
operating facility.
Certainty3Ds product similarly is pegged at making point cloud data
more useful, post-collection, but is aimed directly at the transportation
and mobile mapping marketplace. The companys TopoDOT software
made waves not only for its ease of use, but also for its new pricing
structure, both of which open up the value of point cloud data to a
much wider audience within an engineering operation.
All four of these software releases have as their goal making point cloud
data more useful, getting closer to two basic ideals in the 3D imaging
space: 1. A completely, or nearly so, automated process of creating
geometry from point clouds, and 2. An elimination of the need to extract
geometry at all, with intelligence able to be added to the point clouds,
as is, effectively making the point cloud, itself, the model.
Revit and mobile track
These goals are at the heart of the burgeoning scan-to-BIM market, and,
indeed, the scan-to-BIM track drew great attention at SPAR, as Autodesk
announced its new Revit release would be able to incorporate point
cloud data.
Perhaps the only technology getting more attention than this new soft-
ware and scan-to-BIM was the mobile mapping technology on display
in the parking lot of the Woodlands Marriott, where the SPAR
International conference was held. Nine separate vehicles were offering
demonstrations, and there was great interest in the different capabilities.
Further, the Mobile Surveying track was very well attended, with pre-
sentations kicked off by Tom Yarbrough, of the Texas DOT, and Ray
June 2011
By Sam Pfeifle
E v e n t
Brian Mathews, VP Autodesk Labs, keynote presenter
E v e n t
42
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 42
Mandli, head of Mandli Communications. Mandli took part of his time
to announce a new Geospatial Transportation Mapping Association,
which will focus on creating standards for collecting infrastructure and
roadway data via laser scanning, as well as advocating for the prac-
tice being used in government programs like the Highway Safety Data
Improvement Program recently proposed by the Obama Administration.
A new 3D Imaging Data Exchange Standard
In other association news, John Russo of ARC announced the creation
of the US Institute of Building Documentation, a new non-prot group
aiming to promote building documentation as its own distinct industry
and, yes, create standards for building documentation. Further, Ken
Smerz of 3D Precision Scanning, announced the creation of the 3D
Professional Association, a group looking to bring together service
providers and others in the business of collecting and disseminating 3D
data to create best practices and share information.
This intense new interest in industry associations and standards points
to the fact that 3D imaging is still an industry in its infancy. Though it
contains within in it any number of well-established industries like sur-
veying, facility management, forensics, and the like, the best practices
for collecting and using 3D data in those elds are still being devel-
oped.
Thats why there was some great interest in yet another standards-ori-
ented announcement at SPAR International that of the ASTM e57 stan-
dards committees rst release, the ASTM e2807 Specication for 3D
Imaging Data Exchange, V1.0. In a manufacturers roundtable discus-
sion on the impact of this new standard, headed by e57 committee
chairman Kamel Saidi and membership secretary Tom Greaves (also
managing director of SPAR Point Group), there was intense discussion
of how to make this standard useful for everyone in the technology
channel without it limiting innovation. However, the general consensus
seemed to be that this is a good start toward making 3D data collect-
ed via laser scanning much more interoperable and portable between
software platforms.
Augmented Reality
Of course, not all of the presentations at SPAR were focused on such
nuts-and-bolts matters. One of the more popular tracks focused on the
newest of the new. Third generation surveyor Sam Billingsley, of
Geophysical Data Management, gave an excellent presentation on
how surveyors could get involved in the rapidly growing eld of aug-
mented reality applications. Amadeus Burger of CSA Inc., demonstrat-
ed the ability to call up 3D scan data on a mobile device and have it
automatically orient with the scene being captured by the mobile
devices camera. Elmer Bol, head of Alice Labs, demonstrated software
that can visualize literally billions of points at once. The amount of
data you can visualize now has virtually no limit, Bol told a wowed
audience.
Answers to your questions
There was the sense, too, at SPAR International that we have yet to
come close to seeing the limits of what 3D imaging technology can
accomplish. Applications are still being developed every day.
Business models are rapidly forming and changing. Old ways of
doing things are being merged with new technologies to form more
efcient workows and rapidly deliver actionable data.
As with any great conference, SPAR attendees mostly left with more
questions bouncing around their heads than answers. Perhaps theyll
nd some of those answers at SPAR Japan next month in Kawasaki
or at SPAR Europe in the Hague in November.
Sam Pfeifle, Editor, SPAR Point Group.
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011
E v e n t
A shot of the crowd at the keynote presentation
Lynx mobile mapping system, produced by Optech
E v e n t
43
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 43
Host
DVW e.V. German Society for Geodesy,
Geoinformation and Land Management
www.dvw.de
Conference organiser
DVW GmbH
Egbertstrae 46, 40489 Dsseldorf
DGfK e.V. Deutsche Gesellschaft fr
Kartographie | www.dgfk.net
Trade fair organiser
HINTE Messe- und Ausstellungs-GmbH
Bannwaldallee 60, 76185 Karlsruhe
Fon: +49 721 93133-0
info@hinte-messe.de
www.intergeo.de
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Fon: +49 721 93133-0
Bannwaldallee 60, 76185 Karlsruhe
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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 45
E v e n t
The State of Fibre Technology
Report on the FTTH Conference
As in the past three years, the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Council Europe organized its yearly conference
in another European city, this time Milano. This years edition counted more than 3000 participants
from 80 countries and offered an overview of the current state of the fibre industry, as well as the lat-
est technological developments.
A
s in the past three years, the Fibre to
the Home (FTTH) Council Europe
organized its yearly conference in
another European city, this time Milano. The
FTTH Council Europe is an organization
formed by some 150 plus companies that
produce, sell and advise in the area of FTTH
networks. Given the state of the industry,
much of the focus is on technology innova-
tion as it pertains to the physical part of net-
work construction. Another focus is on the
business and regulatory aspects that are
needed to justify all the investment required.
Clearly, FTTH is an important renewal of the
communications infrastructure that suppos-
edly will bring economic advantages to the
regions that deploy it. To be honest, for most
consumers, more bandwidth for interactive
video and a lower price for triple play ser-
vices should come rst. The difculty for
bre is bringing up compelling arguments,
which is difcult in the short term. It is the
opinion of the authors that the killer apps
will take some time, and a certain partici-
pation level will be necessary, before FTTH
is successful, much like the 4th generation
smart-phone.
Participants
Nevertheless, the future for FTTH looks
bright, certainly in terms of European politi-
cal support. Every year the number of visi-
tors to the Conference grows, and in
February 2011, there were more than
3000 participants from 80 countries. Apart
from the obvious vendor participants, a
large part of the real visitors come from
various companies and institutions that
invest in, or construct bre infrastructure.
Given the fact that current investment per
FTTH subscriber averages approximately
500, and on a European scale, even with
60% participation, this is a massive amount
of money. From the theoretical 500, about
46
June 2011
E v e n t
By Freek Boersma and Will van Doorn
Dr. Letizia Moratti, mayor of Milan
(source: www.ftthcouncil.eu)
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 46
340 is for civil works and 160 is for
equipment (electronics, bres). From the
500, maybe 20 is reserved for engineer-
ing design and surveying, the areas where
GIS-related technology is crucial.
Sponsors
Therefore, the largest part of the conference
is about non-GIS technology, the Gold
and Silver sponsors of this conference are
all vendors of cables and active equipment.
Only at the Bronze level will we nd com-
panies like Bentley Systems and Esri that
deliver telecom GIS solutions, or NetAdmin
for network management and inventory
(OSS); Infotech for GIS data entry or migra-
tions.
Although everybody understands that GIS
matters, on the exhibition oor there is an
impressive collection of tubes, electronics,
drilling machines, oscilloscopes and the
like? Surveying, which of course is an impor-
tant aspect of creating the new infrastruc-
ture, has a minor presence, registering is
seen as a commodity; the GPS-based data
collection is just part of the contractors work
and deliverable.
Presentations
Regarding the presentations, Dr. Letizia
Moratti, mayor of Milano, opened the sym-
posium and stressed the importance of bre
for Milanos health care and education sys-
tems. Professor Carlota Perez brought up a
number of parallels between investment,
construction of infrastructure and economic
development. Obviously, 19th century
steam, rail, and 20th century electricity are
good examples. FTTH should be the 21st
century example, also enabling a sustain-
able and green society.
The most important speaker in 2011though,
was Neelie Kroes, vice president of the
European Commission and responsible for
the Digital Agenda. Some citations from her
speech:
At the heart of the Digital Agenda is ensur-
ing that Europeans can get all the advan-
tages and benets that come from access to
superfast broadband. Succeeding in this
ambition is central to our economic future.
While the EU broadband market is moving
towards higher speeds because of bre and
cable, time is against us. The current rate of
new connections now down to 25,000 a
day is simply not enough to meet our
2020 targets. So we have to intensify our
efforts and get higher investments on the
ground.
Coverage and Technology
In terms of FTTH coverage, for many years
Scandinavia and the Netherlands were on
the top of the list. However, in recent years
countries like Slovenia and Portugal are
increasing, but also Russia, Germany and
France have started important bre initia-
tives. In the Netherlands, the predominant
E v e n t
47
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2011
The State of Fibre Technology
Report on the FTTH Conference
E v e n t
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 47
E v e n t
company Reggeber (40% owned by KPN)
has indicated it wants to intensify its invest-
ment. Also Rabobouwfonds CIF, which is a
new party, apparently sees the benets of
bre to the home investment.
Fibre technology in the meantime is develop-
ing in terms of electronics, the active equip-
ment. In many cases, bre subscribers get
an up- and downstream bandwidth of
100Mbit/s. However, current technology
easily delivers 1Gbit/s. As the usability of
the tiny bre cables becomes better, they
could be used for installation in apartments
and homes.
Engineering
Lastly, the GIS software seen at the exhibition
obviously focuses on the engineering side of
the networks. Where the operational man-
agement of telecom networks is a well estab-
lished one of software architecture and func-
tionality, designing mass deployment in new
homes is a new area. The traditional
AutoCAD and Excel-based engineering pro-
cesses that are popular in engineering com-
panies greatly lack data quality assurance.
The Belgian company Comsof showed its
results in automatic bre design with their
product FiberPlanIT, developed in conjunction
with the University of Ghent (Universiteit
Gent). Comsof was present at the Bentley
Systems booth, and with Comsof cooperation
the company has expanded its Bentley Fiber
telecom GIS with this advanced technology.
The main advantage is being able to quickly
design and calculate the cost of a network.
Comsof illustrated this with a calculation for
2500 homes, with full network design at bre
level. In just one minute, it displayed the
results in Bentley Fiber with a complete cost
overview in Excel now used as a calculation
and reporting tool.
The next FTTH Conference will be held in
Mnchen, 14-16 February 2012.
Frederik Boersma Frederik.Boersma@bentley.com, Business Consultant
EMEA Utilities & Communications, Bentley Systems
Will van Doorn, ccw.van.doorn@vandofi.nl.
At the heart of the Digital Agenda
is ensuring that Europeans can get
all the advantages and benets
that come from access to superfast
broadband. Succeeding in this
ambition is central to our economic
future, said Mrs. Neelie Kroes,
vice president of the European
Commission.
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E v e n t
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 49
June
01-03 June 4th EARSeL Workshop on Remote
Sensing for Land Use & Land Cover
Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic
Internet: www.earsel.org/SIG/LULC/index.php
01-03 June 5th EARSeL Workshop on Remote
Sensing of the Coastal Zone
Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic
Internet: www.earsel.org/SIG/CZ/5th-
workshop/index.php
02-03 June 1st EARSeL SIG Forestry workshop:
Operational remote sensing in forest manage-
ment
Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic
Internet: www.earsel.org/SIG/Forestry/call.php
05-11 June Summer Institute on Volunteered
Geographic Information
Florence (Firenze), Italy
E-mail: info@vespucci.org
Internet: www.vespucci.org
06-09 June HEXAGON 2011, Building a Smarter
World (Leica, ERDAS, Intergraph & Hexagon
Metrology)
Orlando, FL, U.S.A.
Internet: www.hexagonconference.com
08-10 June The Power of The Image The British
Cartographic Society Annual Symposium
Shrigley Hall, Nr Macclesgield, Cheshire, U.K.
Internet: www.cartography.org.uk
13-17 June URISA Leadership Academy
St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
E-mail: wnelson@urisa.org
Internet: www.urisa.org
14-17 June WG IV/2 Workshop High Resolution
Earth Imaging for Geospatial Information
Hannover, Germany
E-mail: heipke@ipi.uni-hannover.de
Internet: www.commission4.isprs.org/wg2
15-16 June Navigation Strategies Europe 2011
andels Hotel, Berlin, Germany
Internet: www.thewherebusiness.com/navigationstrate-
gieseurope
19-25 June 11th International Multidisciplinary
Scientic Geo-Conference and Expo - SGEM 2011
Albena sea-side and SPA resort, Bulgaria
Internet: www.sgem.org
22-23 June The Geodetic Infrastructure in Europe
Umea, Sweden
E-mail: svanteao@algonet.se
Internet: www.aspect.se/ASPECT-seminarier-clge-juni-
2011.html
22-24 June 11th SEASC 2011 and 13th ISC 2011
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Internet: www.seasc2011.org
27-30 June GIS in Public Health Conference
Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
E-mail: wnelson@urisa.org
Internet: www.urisa.org
27 June-08 July GISLERS - Summer School 2011 on
Bridging GIS, Landscape Ecology and Remote
Sensing for Landscape Planning
Salzburg, Austria
E-mail: Gislers2011@edu-zgis.net
Internet: www.edu-zgis.net/ss/gislers2011
27 June-08 July Summer School on Spatial Data
Infrastructure for environmental datasets
Salzburg, Austria
E-mail: Envisdi2011@edu-zgis.net
Internet: www.edu-zgis.net/ss/envisdi2011
28-29 June ISEPP: International Symposium on
Environmental Protection and Planning:
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and
Remote Sensing (RS) Applications
Gediz University, Izmir, Turkey
Internet: www.cevkorconferences.com
29 June-01 July ICSDM 2011 and BJ-IWGIS 2011
Fuzhou, China
E-mail: Info@icsdm2011.org
Internet: www.icsdm2011.org
July
03-08 July ICC 2011 - 25th International
Cartographic Conference
Palais des Congrs, Paris, France
E-mail: regist-icc2011@europa-organisation.com
Internet: www.icc2011.fr
05-08 July GI_Forum 2011
Salzburg, Austria
E-mail: ofce@gi-forum.org
Internet: www.gi-forum.org
09-12 July Esri Education User Conference
San Diego, California, U.S.A
Internet: www.esri.com/educ
09-12 July Survey Summit
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.esri.com
11-15 July Esri UC
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.esri.com/events/user-conference/index.html
August
09-11 August International Symposium on Image
and Data Fusion
Tengchong, Yunnan, China
Internet: http://isidf2011.casm.ac.cn
15-18 August URISA/NENA Addressing Conference
New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.
E-mail: wnelson@urisa.org
Internet: www.urisa.org
15-19 August AGSE 2011 Geoinformation for a
better world
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,
Nairobi, Kenya
E-mail: agse@hft-stuttgart.de, secretary@applied-geoinfor-
matics.org
Internet: http://applied-geoinformatics.org
21-25 August SPIE Optics + Photonics 2011
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: http://spie.org
29-31 August ISPRS Laser Scanning 2011
Workshop
Calgary, Canada
Internet: www.ucalgary.ca/laserscanning2011
September
05-07 September SoC2011: Society of
Cartographers 47th Annual Summer School
University of Plymouth, Plymouth, U.K.
E-mail: SoC2011@soc.org.uk
Internet: http://soc2011.soc.org.uk
05-09 September IAMG 2011 Mathematical Geo -
sciences at the Crossroads of Theory and Practice
Salzburg, Austria
Internet: www.iamg2011.at
06-08 September CoastGIS 2011 International
Conference and Exhibition
Oostende, Belgium
E-mail: coastgis@geomaris.nl
Internet: www.coastgis.info
12-14 September GIS in Public Transportation
Conference
St. Petersburg, FL, U.S.A.
E-mail: wnelson@urisa.org
Internet: www.urisa.org
12-16 September FOSS4G 2011
Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Internet: http://2011.foss4g.org
13-15 September Remote Sensing and
Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference
Earth Observation in a Changing World
Bournemouth University, Bournemouth , U.K.
Internet: www.rspsoc2011.org
27-29 September Intergeo 2011
Nuremberg, Germany
Internet: www.intergeo.de
19-22 September 11th International Scientic and
Technical Conference From imagery to map:
digital photogrammetric technologies
Tossa de Mar, Spain
Internet: www.racurs.ru/Spain2011/en
28-30 September UDMS 2011 28th Urban Data
Management Symposium
Delft, The Netherlands
E-mail: e.fendel@tudelft.nl
Internet: www.udms.net
October
05-07 October Geomatics Atlantic 2011
St. Johns, Sheraton Newfoundland Hotel,Canada
Internet: www.GeomaticsAtlantic.com
Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to:calendar@geoinformatics.com
C a l e n d a r 2 0 1 1 / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x
Ashtech www.ashtech.com 33
ERDAS www.erdas.com 21
Esri www.esri.com 9
Foif www.foif.com.cn 39
GeoInformatics www.geoinformatics.com 48
Intergeo www.intergeo.de 45
ITC www.itc.nl 44
Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 25
NovAtel www.novatel.com 17
Optech www.optech.ca 35
Racurs www.racurs.ru 29
Safe www.safe.com 52
Sokkia www.sokkia.eu 51
Spectra Precision www.spectraprecision.com 41
Stonex www.stonexeurope.com 2
SuperMap www.supermap.com 49
Topcon Europe www.topcon.eu 13
Advertisers Index
50
June 2011
GNSS Recei ver
The entirely new Sokkia GNSS system provides
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96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 50
C a l e n d a r 2 0 1 1 / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x
GNSS Recei ver
The entirely new Sokkia GNSS system provides
unsurpassed versatility and usability for
RTK,network RTK and static survey, enhancing
efciency in all types of eld work.
www.sokkia.eu
Scalable - Affordable - Triple Wireless Technologies
ULTIMATE
VERSATILITY
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 51
96,(GEO411(96, GEO66 13-05-2011 13:37 )/15) 52