Geoinformatics 2012 Vol04

OpenStreetMap Geospatial World Forum
Digital Photogrammetry Software WorldView-1 & 2 satellites

Magazi ne f or Sur veyi ng, Mappi ng & GI S Pr of essi onal s
June
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PROTECTION WITH POWER
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OS Series www.topcon.eu
Tracking Security Remote
Firmware-Software Updates
300 m Communication
ES Series

The Year of the Open Map
This is the year of the open map, said MapBox co-founder and CEO Eric
Gundersen, during the Where 2012 Conference held in San Francisco, April 2-4.
Youve probably heard this one before, but recent developments in mapping have
made this statement plausible. For instance, the recent announcement by Google
to raise money for large users of their Google Maps service has led to a change
in the landscape of map use over the web, causing websites with mapping ser-
vices to move away from Google Maps and seek other initiatives, such as MapBox
and/or OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMap has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, especially in
the US where initially the project wasnt taken very seriously. The problem with
community-based projects is that it takes time and effort to grow once a project
has been adopted. But a community has something very valuable that the big
guys dont have: local knowledge about whats being built and the changes that
have taken place in the built environment. This partly explains the popularity of
OpenStreetMap. The popularity of the project is reected in the growing number
of local OSM events, such as State of the Map.
It is somehow ironic that Google, which pioneered server technology combined
with free, and easily accessible maps over the internet, is now changing its rules
for large users of its services. In blogs and on Twitter, theres a lot of speculation
about Googles next step in mapping technology, also fueled by its recent
announcement that it has sold SketchUp to Trimble. Whether this software keeps
on being free or not is now a concern for many people.
Put it this way: is a formerly free product with a large global user base worth pay-
ing for, such as SketchUp or Google Maps? From a vendors perspective, I guess
the answer depends on what your target market is and what is the added value
you can offer in relation to freely available alternatives. The same discussion is
being held in the editorial industry, when the role of governments in the use of
open data/crowd sourced data is questioned: why should someone pay
tax money for geospatial data if you can create it yourself? Again,
the answer lies in added value. You can read for yourself a review
of the panel discussion I attended on the use of open data during
the Geospatial World Forum in Amsterdam.
During this event, it became clear that big data is the new chal-
lenge in geospatial, or, from a larger perspective, the IT busi-
ness. This leads back to the opening statement about the
Where 2012. The organizer is Tim OReilly, founder and
CEO of OReilly Media, and he stated in a YouTube
video about the event, why data is the new gold: Data
is a source of monopoly powerand the guy with the
most data wins. My view is that with more and big
data, adding value to all that data will become even
more important than it is now. Technology will keep con-
tinuing to be a large part of how to add that added
value, and you can read all about it in this issue.
Enjoy your reading,
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics is the leading publication for Geospatial
Professionals worldwide. Published in both hardcopy and
digital, GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis and
commentary with respect to the international surveying,
mapping and GIS industry.
GeoInformatics is published
8 times a year.
Editor-in-chief
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
Copy Editor
Frank Arts
fartes@geoinformatics.com
Editors
Florian Fischer
fscher@geoinformatics.com
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com
Remco Takken
rtakken@geoinformatics.com
Joc Triglav
jtriglav@geoinformatics.com
Contributing Writers:
Henk Key, Adam Spring, Penelope Richardson,
Simon Casey, Kevin Corbley, Pablo dAngelo,
Ansgar Kornhoff, Monica Pratt, Sonja van Poortvliet
Columnists
Marten Hogeweg, Steven Ramage, Wijnand van Riel,
Armin Gruen, Matt Sheehan
Finance
nance@cmedia.nl
Marketing & Sales
Ruud Groothuis
rgroothuis@geoinformatics.com
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Sander van der Kolk
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ISSN 13870858
Copyright 2012. GeoInformatics: no material may
be reproduced without written permission.
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GeoInformatics has a collaboration with
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members of every national Geodetic
association in Europe will receive the
magazine.
3
June 2012

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Ar t i c l e s
Everyday Geomatics 10
Digital Photogrammetry and ADAM Technologies 18
St. Charles Parish and GNSS Signal Shadow Issues 24
Around, up, over and back again 28
Ne ws l e t t e r
CLGE newsletter 6
EuroGeographics Newsletter 32
C o l u mn s
Welcome to the Curated Internet 12
OGC Market Report Open Standards and INSPIRE 26
Mercator lives 36
Satellite versus Aerial Images not always a matter of choice! 44
Mobile Technology Review 49
I n t e r v i e w
The Rise of OpenStreetMap 14
FME 2012 42
E v e n t s
2012 Esri DevSummit 34
Geospatial World Forum 38
GIS in Aviation 46
C a l e n d a r / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x 50

At the cover:
London Olympic Site, 28 March 2012, 50 cm, true colour, imaged by
WorldView-2 satellite European Space Imaging, 2012.
46
8
18
This article examines digital
photogrammetry. Particular
reference is given to both
cloud driven software like
Photosynth, Image Composite
Editor (ICE), Autodesk Labs
123D Catch and terminal
based software like ADAM
Technologies 3DM Analyst.
14
Bergen University College offers
students a course in inter -
national land administration.
This year 26 students and 3
teachers visited Austria from to
study the Austrian cadastre,
and surveying and mapping
institutions. A good practice
backed by CLGE.
OpenStreetMap is on the rise
and it seems that people outs-
ide the geospatial industry are
ready for the worldwide open
source project. Now that
Google has announced that it
will ask for compensation from
large users of Google Maps,
users of digital maps are
looking for alternatives.
On April 3 and 4 the 2nd
International Aviation GIS
Summit took place at Brussels
Airport, Belgium. More than
sixty participants shared expe-
rience and ideas on the use of
GIS and related technologies,
and discussed current challen-
ges.
34
Billed as the conference for de-
velopers, by developers, the
Esri Developer Summit brought
1,700 developers, partners,
and GIS professionals from all
over the world together with
more than 300 Esri develop-
ment staff members for four full
days in Palm Springs,
California.
38
The rst European version
of the Geospatial World
Forum brought together
all industry leaders and
provided an excellent
program of plenaries,
forums and presentations.
28
Very High-Resolution (VHR)
satellites, like all technologies,
have seen huge technical
improvements over the past
10 years and, with the ever
increasing number of satellites
in orbit, the important question
of - Which satellite should
I use? - is at the forefront of
users minds.
10
The 2012 Olympic Games,
summer edition, will take place
in London, England. For the
first time in the history of the
modern Olympic Games, a
city has been selected by the
IOC to host the Games for a
third time.
CLGE gathers at INTERGEO
INTERGEO 2012 in Hanover, Germany
G
eoinformation is inside of all relevant societal
megatrends and changes says Prof.Dr. Karl-
Friedrich Thoene, President of the German
Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land
Management (DVW), the association responsible for host-
ing this year`s INTERGEO trade fair and conference which
will be held from 9th to 11th October 2012 in Hanover,
Germany. Smart geoinformation offers intelligent solutions
and holds enormous potential for all key socio-political
issues such as global change, climate policy, energy sup-
ply, disaster prevention, inner security, demographic
change, e-government or modernisation of the state as
well as data protection and data security. Under this ban-
ner some 15,000 trade visitors and 1,500 conference
participants from around the world are expected to attend the industry
event and discussion forum of the year which is performed in parallel with
the 60th German Cartographic Conference and integrates the scientic
Geodetic Week.
Moreover, the Conference programme includes the rst national INSPIRE
Conference as a discussion platform for the realization of the EU directive
for creating a common geodata infrastructure and making geodata of
public bodies available for all action elds of European policy making.
The second Navigation Conference, as an additional side event, aims at
an interdisciplinary dialogue in order to explore synergies between navi-
gation, IT and geodata.
Alongside INTERGEO 2012 CLGE is inviting its members from 36 coun-
tries for the third CLGE Conference of the European Surveyor. On this
occasion DVW and CLGE are organizing the second European Students
Meeting (ESM) to offer an insight into state-of-the-art developments for
young blood. See you in Hanover! This ESM will take place
on 10 October and consists of a visit of the fair, the procla-
mation of the Students Contest and a party for the students.
INTERGEO will also host the Third
Conference of the European Surveyor.
The rst was organized in Strasbourg in 2008. It led to
some interesting conclusions that can be read on our web-
site in the section www.clge.eu/about_us/basics (look for
Strasbourg declaration).
We underline three recommendations in the technical, legal
and consumer protection eld, as well as an important
engagement: CLGE would organize such an event every
two years.
The second conference was held in Bucharest in 2010. Read the interest-
ing declaration on the same webpage. For the rst time, CLGE asked for
more harmonization of the European Cadasters. This request has even
increased since then.
CLGE is aware of the central role of GeoInformation in our society and it
is plain to us that theres an absolute and urgent need to coordinate our
efforts at European level. A European Agency for GI is a vital necessity.
Fortunately, Eurogeographics paves the way to this kind of cooperation
for the whole European continent.
The Third CLGE Conference of the European Surveyor will take place in
Hanover on 11 October 2012, on the fairground of INTERGEO.
The full program will be available soon. Please follow the developments
on www.clge.eu.
The conference will be followed by the CLGE General Assembly.
June 2012
6
Karl-Friedrich Thoene, DVW President
Ne ws l e t t e r
The Fair The Crowd
CLGE Students Contest:
As announced earlier, we remind you that students may submit a
paper in any of the three categories of the CLGE Students Contest
(until 15 July 2012).
The full description of the contest is available on www.clge.eu.
There are three great prizes to be awarded. Theres not only the
reward of 1000 euro per category but also the possibility to attend
a huge European (ESRI Mapping and GIS) or Mundial (TRIMBLE
Geodesy and Topography) conference. For the third category about
youth engagement and associations, the prize also consists of 1000
euro and a nomination to become the Vice President for Youth
Affairs within the Board of CLGE. The winner in this category may
also be asked to bring to fruition the project that he/she has
described.
If you are a teacher, a student or if you are a surveyor knowing
potential participants, do not hesitate to contact them and to moti-
vate them to take part in the contest by tabling a paper before 15
July 2012 (send it to Leiv.Bjarte.Mjos@hib.no).
During the General Assembly, a new member
from the Republic of Serbia was welcomed.
CLGE is now represented in 36 European states
and totals well over 60.000 individual survey-
ors (the exact number of members will be
reassessed).
The GA in Edinburgh also saw the signature of
the Accord Multilateral by Spain.
Moreover, a project aiming at the constitution
of a Dynamic Professional Knowledge based
was launched. The above mentioned reassess-
ment of the number of members will be a small
but important part of this DPKB.
On Saturday the Assembly split in sub-groups
to make the morning workshops more efcient.
The themes were oriented towards the Role of
Social Media, the Best Practices of different
kinds of Cadastral Systems in Europe and the
Relevance of CLGE within FIG. The talks were
fruitful and will lead to reports that will be pub-
lished on the CLGE website later on.
With the aim to integrate the social media in the
communications plan of CLGE, a special Vice
President for Communication and Social Media
was appointed: Pedro J. Ortiz Toro, also
Spanish delegate to CLGE.
The presentations of the General Assembly are
available on www.clge.eu. Workshop reports
will be published soon.
7
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com June 2012
Ne ws l e t t e r
CLGE invests in Social Media
The Edinburgh CLGE General Assembly
From 30 March till 1 April, the CLGE General Assembly gathered in Edinburgh (UK). The whole event
was well prepared by the CLGE Bureau and the local Office of RICS.
A programme on Hydrography opens in Antwerp, Belgium
Hydrography
Nautical charts for mariners, tidal predictions,
changes in navigational areas: the data collect-
ed on the worlds oceans and seas have many
applications that are indispensable to merchant
marine, offshore, dredging and underwater pro-
jects. This large responsibility befalls hydrogra-
phers, experts in a eld that is highly important
to modern society. This underlines the impor-
tance of providing a decent education for this
eld.
The Institute for Hydrography
The Institute for Hydrography was inaugurated
and the new postgraduate programmes present-
ed on 3 March 2012. The collaboration
between the Antwerp Maritime Academy and
Ghent University results in an immediate con-
centration of bundled knowledge and experi-
ence, which enables it to become one of the
leading institutes of hydrography.
The programmes are based on the IHO
(International Hydrographic Organization) stan-
dards of competence which validates the certi-
cates internationally. The Institute for Hydro -
graphy offers both categories B and A conform
IHO regulations. With a cat. B certicate the
hydrographer can independently execute parts
of the process and specialize in a certain disci-
pline such as multi beam echo sounder or data
processing. The cat. A hydrographer leads a
team of hydrographers throughout the whole
process and manages the project. Students start
with the cat. B programme and may advance
to the A programme.
The programme
The category B consists of three major parts.
During the rst semester, from September to
December, only theoretical classes are lectured
divided between the participating institutes in
Antwerp and Ghent. The subjects range from
bathymetry to navigation, and examinations
take place in January. The courses are lectured
in English.
During the second semester this theory is taken
into practice during internships and workshops
at the partners of the industry.
The second year consists of eldwork in a com-
pany or institute chosen by the student. During
this year the student experiences real work as a
hydrographer and prepares thoroughly for their
future career. After completion the student
receives a cat. B certicate.
The programme cat. A has a similar structure. It
starts in September 2013.
Accessibility
The programmes allow exibility and accessibil-
ity for students and active hydrographers alike.
Through a selection committee exemptions can
be given to those that have already studied sim-
ilar courses or have relevant experience in the
sector. This system allows for a considerable
shortening of the two-year study.
Recent studies have shown that some 35 new
hydrographers are needed annually in Belgium;
internationally there are at least 800 job open-
ings. A job in hydrography provides among
other things with highly interesting job opportu-
nities.
Contact Information
Contact person: Micha Libert
Antwerp Maritime Academy - Institute for
Hydrography
Noordkasteel Oost 6, B-2030 Antwerp,
Belgium
www.hzs.be/hydrography
E-mail: hydrography@hzs.be
Tel +32 3 205 64 81
Fax +32 3 225 36 09
Sometimes it can be quite wet
Ne ws l e t t e r
8
June 2012
Norwegian students studying land
administration in Austria
T
he excursion started in Vienna where the
group rst visited the Technische -
Universitt (TU) Vienna. TU Vienna offers
its students a 3-year Bachelor in Surveying
and Geo information. This bachelors program
is not unlike the bachelor in Surveying and
Land administration in Bergen.
The University offers three masters programs
at the top of the bachelor program. Teaching
is research-based. Furthermore, BEV Vienna
(BundesamtfrEich- und Vermes sungsvesen)
was visited. BEV has 1200 employees, head-
quarters in Vienna and 41 regional ofces.
BEV is responsible for coordination, geodesy
and topographic mapping, development and
maintenance of the cadastre, and marketing
and sales of geoinformation. BEV has respon-
sibilities in metrology as well. We also
received a presentation of OVG The
Austrian Society for Surveying and
Geoinformation. After 2 days in Vienna, the
group travelled by train on to Linz in Upper
Austria. Here, the activities started with a visit
of the regional ofce of BEV, which is respon-
sible for the updating of the cadastre, in addi-
tion to tasks in the maintenance of the geodet-
ic network. Land registration lies with the local
courts. Land subdivisions and cadastral sur-
veys are carried out by private surveyors. After
the visit at BEV Linz the group visited survey-
ing company Kolbe-Grnzweil in Schwert -
berg, with a visit to new road construction site
S10 to be informed about surveying work.
Rudolf Kolbe is partner in the company and
holds the certicate for cadastral work. It is
the engineering and architectural organiza-
tion Arch + Ing that issues certicates for
cadastre. This is a chamber in which the
authorized surveyor must be a member.
Arc+Ing was visited and we were given a pre-
sentation of the authorization system. The last
visit, during our stay in Austria was the GIS
department of Land Obersterreich, with the
presentation of tasks and GIS system Doris.
What did we learn? The group learned that
the systems for land administration and map-
ping in Austria are based on the Franziskaner
cadastre which was established in the period
1817 to 1861. All changes after 1883 are
documented in the cadastral archives. Land
subdivisions and boundary surveys are per-
formed by authorized surveyors in private
practice, and authorization to do cadastral
surveys requires 5 years of university educa-
tion and 3 years of relevant experience. A
smaller number of surveys (3%) are carried
out by BEV. Boundaries surveyed after 1969
cannot be changed by private agreement or
by adverse possession. Easements are includ-
ed in the survey, and deeds are written pri-
vately or by a notary, and registered in the
Land Register. The Land Register is kept by the
courts. Boundary disputes are normally
resolved by a land surveyor and only excep-
tionally brought to court. There is a much
stronger focus on quality assurance and dis-
pute prevention in Austria than in Norway,
resulting in better quality of maps and records,
and fewer disputes.
Students and teachers at the Bergen University
College wish to give special thanks to all pre-
senters who made our excursion to Austria suc-
cessful and to a great experience: Georg
Gartner and Gerhard Navratil at TU Vienna,
Julius Ernst, Bernhard Jptner and Gert -
Steinkellner at BEV Vienna, Anton Hollaus and
ReinhardKraml at BEV Linz, Cora Stger at
Arch + Ing, Rudolf Kolbe and Rudolf Matzeder
at surveying rm Kolbe-Grnzweil, Kurt
Peger, Erwin Krauss and Christian Grei -
feneder at Land Obersterreich. Furthermore,
thank you to all others who contributed with
arranging the visit. A special thanks to Rudolf
Kolbe, who had coordinated an outstanding
program for this stay.
Author: Leif BjarteMjs, assistant professor Bergen University College
Rudolf Kolbe and LeivBjarteMjs are Vice-presidents in CLGE.
If you want to know the
latest news about CLGE on
twitter, follow CLGEPresident.
Bergen University College offers students a course in international land administration. This is an
elective course that provides 5 credits and an international excursion is included in the course.
This year 26 students and 3 teachers visited Austria from March 5 to March 9 2012, to study the
Austrian cadastre, and surveying and mapping institutions. A good practice backed by CLGE.

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11:46:31

ENVI 5
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Earth observation images. And, since all ENVI tools are conveniently accessible from the
ArcGIS toolbox, GIS users can easily add information to their GIS workfow for enhanced
mapping applications.
You can meet our experts and experience ENVI 5 at these forthcoming conferences in June:
Toulouse Space Show, 2nd SFTH scientifc seminar, Toulouse | EUREGEO, ENEA/AIT 6th Workshop, Bologna |
ENVI User Conferences, Rome and Paris
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All rights reserved. E3De, ENVI, IAS and IDL are trademarks of Exelis, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective
owners. 2012, Exelis Visual Information Solutions, Inc.
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The Olympic Games
Everyday Geomatics
The 2012 Olympic Games, summer edition, will take place in London, England. For the first time in the
history of the modern Olympic Games, a city has been selected by the IOC (International Olympic
Committee) to host the Games for a third time. After 1908 and 1948, the Olympic community will
gather again in London.
10
Ar t i c l e
By Henk Key
A
pproximately 11,000 athletes from
over 200 countries will compete in
26 different sports to obtain one of
over 300 gold medals.
The opening ceremony, traditionally a spec-
tacular show, will be held on July 27th with
the closing ceremony scheduled for August
12th.
Many events are decided by jury, by goals
or points, and some by the rst athlete who
crosses the nish line. Others are decided
by the longest distance.
And thats were Geomatics
comes in
Sports such as the long jump, shot put, ham-
mer throw and the like are decided by dis-
tance, where the competitor who throws the
farthest or jumps over the longest distance
wins the gold medal.
For years, ofcials have used a measuring
tape to determine the distance. It is obvious
that this method is inaccurate, time-consum-
ing and sometimes even dangerous for
example in the case of the javelin.
Nowadays total stations can be spotted
along the playing elds and ofcials are
equipped with a reector to mark the impact
spot. These total stations are connected to
huge scoreboards and computer systems in
order to present the results in real-time to
spectators and television viewers.
June 2012
Photo: Erik van Leeuwen, www.erki.nl
Ar t i c l e
11
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
More information on electronic measuring and recording, certica-
tion and training of ofcials can be read, among others, on the web-
site of the USA track and eld organisation: www.usatfne.org/of-
cials/electronic/
Another athletics event requiring a lot of geomatics activities is the
marathon, run over a distance of 42.195 km on public roads. A
very interesting paper on this subject was presented during the FIG
Working Week 2004, Athens, Greece. It can be found at:
www.g.net/pub/athens/papers/ts29/ts29_1_tsakiri_et_al.pdf
June 2012
C
O
L
U
M
N
From music stations to social media sites, more and more online places
provide you a filtered view of the world, based on your interests and
behaviors. How long will it take before this trend finds its way into the
geospatial world? And should we be happy about this development?
F
or the past 10 years my work has focused on
discovery and access of geospatial resources
as part of spatial data infrastructures. During
this time the Geospatial One-Stop portal was invent-
ed, built, operated, and retired to merge with the
Obama administrations site for open government
data, Data.gov. This site and many others that fol-
lowed during this period focused on user directed
searching of smaller or larger catalogs of content
(Geo.data.gov currently hosts close to 1 million
geospatial resources). Mostly references to other
sites where one could access data, services, or
applications. A lot of effort has been put into mak-
ing the search experience sophisticated with things
like spatial ranking or faceted searching, all based
on the descriptions in standards-based metadata.
Some of the sites (like Geospatial One-Stop,
Data.gov) included a concept of channels. Ahead
of their time these channels provided access to curat-
ed content about a specic topic, area of interest,
or related to the response to a signicant event such
as natural disasters like hurricane Katrina or the
Indian Ocean Tsunami. Especially in the events, the
channels provided quick access to key resources
without having to search for those resources; two
click to content as it was called.
A recurring training need
However, there were a couple shortcomings with
this approach to curated content. One is that some-
one had to do the curating. Experts were expected
to pick and choose the most relevant, most signi-
cant, or most valuable content related to the chan-
nel and then feature those in the channel. The orga-
nizations contributing to Geospatial One-Stop (over
200 agencies from federal, state, and local govern-
ment, academia and others) were not setup to do
this curating. This led to slow responses to content
requests, or the content in the channels becoming
stale quickly. Content for topic-related channels
never changed. The National Hydrography Dataset
is simply one of the most signicant datasets for
inland water management. Thats just not going to
change. Having to train the curators in the specic
tools used to populate the channels was another
challenge with this approach. With changing cura-
tor contributors, the tools introduced a recurring
training need. Lastly, over time we saw the number
of channels growing steadily as the concept was
being used to follow more events such as the Lewis
and Clark bicentennial, wildres in the west, and
programs such as the National Map started using
these channels for their purposes. This meant that
end users started to get lost in the site trying to nd
the channel that would have their specic content
pre-selected. Yahoo! Directory and the Open
Directory Project (as of writing this column it had 1
million categories (aka channels) and almost
100,000 editors (aka curators)) tried that already
Back to square one!
What is different about the curating thats now nd-
ing its way into the Internet is that its behavior- and
data-driven. No maze of categories (every user has
a few personal channels), no reliance on individu-
als who already have a day job (algorithms do the
selection), and last but not least, automatic inclusion
of new content as it becomes available (based on
the metadata for that new content). This may thus
provide new opportunities to include channels, cur-
rents, or streams of geospatial content that are more
likely to match what users are after.
Vocabularies
However, there is work to be done before spatial
data infrastructures can benet from the advances
made in associative browsing (as the eld has
become known). If youre interested in content from
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini -
stration (NOAA), there are currently close to 100
names you might need to include in a search. The
geospatial community needs to agree on certain
vocabularies used when describing their resources.
There is hope. Apart from the upcoming of linked
data, the use of vocabularies across the ISO meta-
data specications, and the long-awaited transition
from FGDC to ISO, there is a start of publishing the
common vocabularies at accessible locations like
vocab.data.gov.
Lets expand on these vocabularies and use them,
so that our geospatial community can enjoy a
stream of relevant content that adjusts to our prefer-
ences, as opposed to sticking to the needle/hay
stack approach of the past 10 years.
Marten Hogeweg, Product Manager
Geoportal Server, Esri Inc.
Internet: www.esri.com/geoportal
Welcome to the Curated Internet
C o l u mn
12
June 2012
Ready for the masses?
The Rise of OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap is on the rise and it seems that people outside the geospatial industry are ready for
the worldwide open source project. Now that Google has announced that it will ask for compensation
from large users of Google Maps, users of digital maps are looking for alternatives. And although
users are still somewhat reticent on their use of OpenStreetMap data, big companies such as Apple,
Microsoft and Esri have embraced the project a shift that has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the
world.
O
penStreetMap (OSM) is a project tar-
geted at producing freely available
and freely editable maps.
Information about streets, rivers and borders
are saved in a freely accessible database.
Edits are made available every minute, and
an entire new export of the database is made
every week. OSM data is freely accessible
and the organization, which consists of volun-
teers, has a budget of less than 120,000
Euros. The project is known all over the world:
at the end of the rst quarter of 2012, there
were 600,000 mappers out in the wild able
to acquire GPS data for OSM. The map data
is used for more and more applications, such
as a map showing the maximum speeds on
all highways, or information about various
walking trails. Also, there are more and more
companies offering services for OSM-based
implementations, such as consultancy services
based on OSM data.
Switchting to OpenStreetMap
The New York Times recently devoted an
article to open source alternatives to Google
Maps (Facing Fees, Some Sites are
Bypassing Google Maps, March 19). The
motivation for writing this article is that
Google has announced that it will ask large
users of their services to pay for those ser-
vices. This measure threatens to upset the
business models of many commercial web
services that make use of Google Maps and
generate a lot of trafc. No worries: there
are enough alternatives, such as the free
map data of OpenStreetMap, that are
acquired by volunteers all over the world
and made available through the web. A
number of users have already switched from
Google Maps to the maps of OSM through
map APIs of Open MapQuest and
Cloudmade, such as the real estate search
engine Nestoria.
14
June 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Eric van Rees
Henk Hoff
Accessibility of airports in Ireland, measured in minutes (source: wiki.openstreetmap.org)
Aimed at recent switchers, OSM has cre-
ated a website to provide information about
how to switch to an OSM-based solution.
We hope that now more people will start
to discover OSM as a full alternative for the
map information that they want to show on
their websites, states Henk Hoff, Board
Member of the OSM foundation.
The interest in OpenStreetMap just happens
to occur at the same moment an often-
announced license change is put into prac-
tice. In short, what is changing is that new
user conditions are initiated, that now more
than ever, refer to the map data of Open -
StreetMap, so that the data of OSM collab-
orators can be made available through an
Open Database License (ODbL). All this
has cost us a lot of time, because we need-
ed the permission of all the people who con-
tributed map data. The good news is that
99% of all data will be retained, says Hoff.
We hope to release the database under this
new license as of May 1st.
Data as a commodity
The growing popularity of OSM has
induced a growing need for freely available
mapping data, and that has put mapping
agencies in a redened role in society, says
Hoff. Governments are now offering free
spatial datasets to citizens who already paid
for this data in the form of taxes: We
already saw this happening in the US, with
the Tiger database, which is basically the
street map created by the federal govern-
ment. Geobase is a similar initiative, but for
Canada. In Europe, we see the same trend
with Ordnance Survey in the UK and
Kadaster in the Netherlands. The challenge
now is how to turn the data into information,
as in providing services as a company to
add value to the data, for example by offer-
ing premium models where clients pay for
higher quality data. It will be interesting to
see what Google is going to do in this
area, says Hoff.
OSM does not see a role for itself other than
providing data with as much detail as pos-
sible. This means that, as yet, no hi-usage
API will be provided through the servers of
OSM. This is because of the structure of
OSM. We do offer an API, but that is for
making queries or modications to our
database. On our wiki we offer a step-by-
step manual to create ones own map serv-
er fed by OSM data. Theres also the option
for other parties to offer this as a service,
and there are now parties emerging that
want to offer custom maps with different
color settings or details displayed. An
example of this is MapQuest, an open data
initiative that offers a map that is based on
OSM. They offer an API that is similar to
Google Maps API, and shows a growing
user base.
Keeping the community
informed
Since OSM is a community-based project,
communication is important. It wont be a
surprise that the community uses all forms of
social media to keep everyone up-to-date,
such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
There are also wikis, mailing lists and blogs
to inform the community, and yearly confer-
ences such as State of the Map, organized
by the foundation itself. This years confer-
ence is scheduled for September 6-8 and
will be held in Tokyo, following a successful
event in Denver last year. The success of this
conference has led to regional versions of
the event to serve local communities, says
Hoff: This year a State of the Map event
will be organized in the US, and probably
there will be a European version as well.
WhereCamp is another outing where you
can nd a number of people active within
OSM, but this is a more technical confer-
ence concerned with geospatial data.
Working with Apple, Esri and
Microsoft
Within the geospatial industry, Esri supports
OSM through a freely available open source
ArcGIS editor for OSM. ArcGIS users can
use it to work with data from the OSM
database in a GIS environment. Esri also
supports OSM nancially and uses OSM
data for their world base map in ArcGIS
Online, Esris cloud environment. It shows
I n t e r v i e w
15
The forbidden city in Peking, China
(source: wiki.openstreetmap.org)
that Esri sees the power of community map-
ping. The fact that Esri has embraced
OSM, shows that they also see that OSM is
a very interesting provider in getting to
know parties that historically work a lot with
Esri, such as the public sector. So a munici-
pality or province that works with Esri soft-
ware has no excuse not to work with OSM.
However, the public sector is not very recep-
tive when it comes to using OSM data. The
criticism that is heard most often is that the
data is not accurate or reliable enough. But
this has never been the starting point of
OSM, says Hoff: If you want to have data
with millimeter accuracy, you should look
around at other data sources.
This doesnt mean that the OSM map isnt
good: Research of diverse universities
shows that our data is qualitatively competi-
tive if not better than those of commercial
data providers. What we have is mostly a
combination of things: the biggest three
sources that we are still using are GPS data,
aerial imagery from Bing and freely and
open data sources, which we use to improve
the map and add things.
Within Bing theres also interest in OSM,
which is logical due to the move by OSM
founder Steve Coast to Bing Mobile in
2010: Besides their aerial imagery that we
are allowed to use theres an application
made that makes it very easy to draw streets
with a start and end point, so that the appli-
cation itself draws the street. Bing is work-
ing on small applications that will make edit-
ing in OSM a whole lot easier. Bing is now
looking at the possibilities of making data
sources partly available to OSM so that our
data will be of better quality. So theres a
strong bond between OSM and Bing.
In the mobile space, the use of OSM maps
in favor of Google Maps, is rapidly grow-
ing. Foursquare, a mobile and desktop
application that shares the location of users
through the web, announced recently to
have switched to OSM concerning their
desktop application. Apple did the same
with their iPhoto app for iPad and desktop,
probably to be less dependent on their com-
petitor Google and compete with their
mobile platform. A remarkable choice
according to Hoff, referring to Apples high
standards regarding user interfaces and
design. In short, OSM is denitely on the
rise. Is it ready for the masses?
OpenGeoData blog: www.opengeodata.org
OSM Foundation blog: www.osmfoundation.org
Website for switchiing to OSM: http://switch2osm.org/
ArcGIS Editor for Open Street Map:
http://esriosmeditor.codeplex.com
State of the Map: www.stateofthemap.org
16
June 2012
I n t e r v i e w

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Four Software Options and a Case Study
Digital Photogrammetry and A
This article examines digital photogrammetry. Particular reference is given to both cloud driven soft-
ware like Photosynth, Image Composite Editor (ICE), Autodesk Labs 123D Catch and terminal based
software like ADAM Technologies 3DM Analyst. The latter is discussed through the first UK University
to obtain a license - the Archaeology Department of the University of Plymouth. Ultimately, all four of
these software options are then put to the test through a case study of the eastern facade of St Gluvias
Church, Penryn, Cornwall, UK.
A Brief History of Photogrammetry
The development of photogrammetry is closely associated with perspective
and projective (albeit inward projection to the eye) geometry. In other words,
photogrammetry uses stereo pairs of an object, in the same way the human
eye does, in order to perceive depth and dimension of space. In 1985,
Gottfried Konecny outlined four cycles of photogrammetry that have devel-
oped alongside inventions and technological advancements. These consist
of plane table (1850 - 1900), analogue (1900 -1960), analytical ( 1960 -
1990s) and digital photogrammetry (1990s to present).
The Four Epochs
A plane table (rst used in the 1500s) is an instrument used in survey
practices. It is designed to provide a precise horizontal level that is then
used with a telescopic lens to focus on objects of interest, such as topogra-
phy. Analogue photogrammetry derives from the traditional use of an ana-
logue camera, one that still relied on chemical processes to develop lm.
Analytical photogrammetry came around after the invention of the stereo-
plotter, which allowed individuals to view stereo photographs (pairs) to
determine elevations. Digital photogrammetry evolved with the advent of
computers and is addressed in more detail below.
Digital Photogrammetry
Digitizing once mechanical processes has greatly affected the develop-
ment and application of photogrammetry. Computer vision continues to
play a fundamental role on such processes. Since 2006, free-to-access,
structured-for-motion, and multi-view stereo solutions, like Photosynth and
Autodesks 123D Catch (formerly Photoy), have done much to bring pho-
togrammetry in line with other technologies since the decline of analytical
techniques in the late 1990s. The development of simple digital cameras,
including those in mobile devices, has led to easy-to-capture image collec-
tion alongside a point and click generation. This, combined with cloud
based computing has created a culture where people are novice pho-
togrammetrists without being aware of the fact. However, as with any dig-
ital survey technique, it is the understanding of a process that is key to
obtaining good results - not the ease of use alone.
Photosynth, ICE and 123D Catch
Photosynth, Image Composite Editor (ICE) and 123D Catch are all freely
downloadable programs, each with their benets and disadvantages.
Photosynth was based on a photo-tourism project by Noah Snavely and
Seadragon developed by Blaise Aguera. Since 2010 it has developed into
the online viewer for Microsofts panorama stitching software ICE.
123D Catch is currently positioned as a modeling tool. The software is an
amalgamation of internal developments and acquired ideas - as seen through
Autodesks license agreement with French company Acute3D for the use of
its meshing solution and the acquisition of other companies for their camera
calibration technologies, such as Realviz. Initially a desktop based software
launched in May 2011, it is now branching out to other devices - as seen
through the smartphone and tablet app for 123D Catch, scheduled for
release in mid-2012.
18
June 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Adam P. Spring
Discontinuity analysis stereonet in 3DM Analyst
Determining which software, Photosynth, ICE, or 123D Catch, is the best
t for a given application is determined by the intended use and the ideas
driving development. With 123D Catch, a user can automatically export
a mesh in a variety of le formats, while with Photosynth an additional
toolkit is needed for point cloud extraction. The watertight meshes gener-
ated by 123D Catch, for instance, make it better-suited for generating
interpretative surfaces than Photosynth- hence its repackaging as part of
a rapid prototyping suite of tools. That said, access to synth generated
point clouds has never been available within the Photosynth viewer and
it is a byproduct of its user community. The stitching capability of
Photosynth is better suited to gigapixel panoramas generated through
ICE which, like synths, can be incorporated into Bing Maps. Ultimately,
it is the type and quality of information required that separate software
packages apart from one another.
ADAM Technologies and 3DM Analyst
ADAM Technologies was formed in 1986. The wholly owned Australian
photogrammetry company began work on what would become 3DM
Analyst Mine Mapping Suite in 1995. The Dynamic Measurement soft-
ware developed was based on previous experience with analytical stereo-
plotters - in particular a portable system (MPS - 2) designed for use with
35mm or 70mm format photography. For ADAM Techs Managing
Director, Jason Birch, 3DM Analyst was a labour of love: Its an awful lot
harder to design a photogrammetric system that can be used for non-tradi-
tional applications but the benets in exibility are enormous, as is the
range of potential applications.
Indeed the range of applications extend beyond the mining environments
in which the software has gained a notable reputation. To date 3DM
Analyst is widely used in underwater environments, the medical industry,
and in government agencies like the Bureau of Land Management.
ADAM Technologies and the University Sector
Since its development 3DM Analyst continued popularity in educational
institutions has been greatly aided by its educational license packages. In
October 2011, Dr. Caradoc Peters - Head of Archaeology for the
University of Plymouth - became Adam Technologys rst university based
user in the UK. This was all thanks to a parent, Marion Moody, who donat-
ed a license of 3DM Analyst to his course.
As a result of Marions gift many developments have followed. The course
continues to forge strong links with industry - not just within the heritage
sector, but also with tourism, media, and design. Thus far applications
have included surface detection analysis on inscribed stones and in situ
recording of museum environments. In response to the new teaching tool
Dr. Peters was quick to point out why it pays to be open to new ideas and
exible.
Running a young and upcoming course, with good growth in spite of the
economic climate, our success has been in our close connections with and
knowledge of digital industries. After using free software and testing other
packages like Photoscan and Photomodeler 3DM Analyst is in a different
league in terms of camera calibration, exibility of application, meshing
capabilities and provenancing of work ow. It a joy to use and exciting to
be able to say we are the rst university and department in the UK to have
it. We continue to use this very power software package to full extent.
Ar t i c l e
19

ADAM Technologies
Simultaneous point cloud and mesh generation of a Neolithic Burial conserved in situ and now
on display in the State Museum of Prehistory,Halle, Germany
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA. Geological and geological analysis is incorporated into 3DM Analyst also.
At a processing phase free software like Meshlab can prove useful.
A Different Perspective
Unlike other solutions available 3DM Analyst retains the best of both
worlds. Ease of use - created by the digitisation of once mechanical pro-
cesses - is combined with an intuitive photogrammetric workow. The three
components of CalibCam, 3DM Analyst and DTM Generator offer a cam-
era-based solution where all aspects of the six degrees of freedom (seven
if scale is included) is considered without a loss in accuracy or restriction
in terms of application. Such features of the package are relevant to any
sector where collection of high-precision surface information is required.
This includes markets where real world coordinates (for instance the soft-
ware supports the import of coordinate systems as well as target recogni-
tion) are essential to a workow.
Case Study - St. Gluvias Church
The east facing facade of St. Gluvias Church, Penryn, Cornwall, UK, was
used as the case study for this article. Site work was conducted April 2012,
using a Nokia E63 camera phone, a Canon 60D digital SLR with 50mm
lens, four 1-meter ranging rods and a 50-meter measuring tape for setting
up image station distances. Subsequent processing took place in Microsoft
ICE, Photosynth, 123D Catch and Adam Technologies 3DM Analyst.
Nokia E63
Eighty-nine photos were taken using the 2008 Nokia mobile phone. The
2 megapixel camera on the Nokia E63 has a 5-mm focal length, an f stop
of 3.2 and pixel dimensions of 1600x1200 for each image taken. All
images were processed in Microsoft ICE, Photosynth and 123D Catch.
File sizes ranged from 300 kb to 500 kb.
Canon 60D Images in Autodesks 123D Catch
In total 55 images were used to create a complete scene using the Canon
60D photographs. The number was determined by the focal length of the
lens used. Out of the 55 photographs taken 27 required manual stitching
and 2 were removed from the scene completely. The manual registration
process was easy and semi-automated once common points could be rec-
ognized by the software. Scaling the scene was easy also, as was export-
ing data as .las and object les. These formats were chosen to explore the
point clouds and meshes further with the aid of free software like Meshlab.
Comparing Datasets
Microsoft ICE and Photosynth were used in conjunction with one another
to create a panorama and synths. From 54 photographs taken with the
Nokia E63, a panorama of the facade and surrounding area was con-
structed. The motion type, horizontal and vertical projections of the panora-
ma were determined by ICE and the resulting 44.32 mega pixel image
was uploaded to photosynth. Two synths were generated also - one cata-
loguing events associated with eld work and another from the 54 images
used to create the panorama. The synths and panorama were then geo-
tagged and made accessible through Microsofts own Bing Map platform.
Autodesks 123D Catch was used as the transitional solution between
Photosynth and Adam Technologies 3DM Analyst. Seventeen images taken
with the Nokia E63 of the facade processed through Photosynth were run
through 123D Catch also. They were taken at 1-meter intervals. 123D
Catch reduces all photographs to a maximum resolution of 3 megapixels -
a direct result of managing information processed and stored in the cloud.
Images taken with the mobile phone, which began as smaller le sizes,
processed quicker and with less complication than images taken with the
Canon 60D. Though both examples generated watertight meshes, the
solution of the Canon camera produced scene was noticeably better, but
still awed.
In practice all of these elements were seen in the exercise comparing 123D
Catch and 3DM Analyst generated scenes. Using 16 images taken with
the Canon 60D and 50-mm lens a comparison between the point clouds
and meshes generated were explored. Overall the point cloud generated
through Adam Technologies 3DM Analyst was not only rich in texture (con-
sisting of 3,979,162 points in total) but calibrated to the interior orienta-
tion of the camera and the external orientations of the scene also. Given
the size of the mesh generated from the point cloud - and restrictions to le
sizes of around 300 mb in Meshlab at this time - a further reduced, small
section of the east facing door showing intricate details, such as handles
and ttings, was used as a comparison to the Catch equivalent. Differences
between 3DM Analyst and 123D Catch data sets were clearly noticeable.
The reduction and regularizing of information in the Catch point cloud
and loss of subtle detail in the associated watertight mesh were clearly dis-
tinguishable.
Overview of Results
Incorporating Microsoft ICE, Photosynth and 123D Catch into the case
study highlighted the value of such solutions as free, easy-to-access and
interpretative tools. The ability to geotag Photosynth information into Bing
Maps enhanced the qualitative value of the synths and panoramas pro-
duced - tying them into a coordinate system and giving a global context.
In a similar vein the export functionality in 123D Catch - along with
Autodesks recognition of its current place within 3D markets (demonstrat-
ed through the rapid prototyping workow promoted currently) - made it
20
June 2012
Ar t i c l e
Internet of Things in Action. A Photosynth/Image Composite Editor gigapixel panorama, 123D Catch and
Adamtech results from a 2 mega pixel Nokia E63 Smartphone of Penryn Town, Cornwall, UK.
possible to work with the data in other environments. This, in turn, enabled
an assessment as to where it sits within a workow. Overall there is a clear
educational value to software like 123D Catch, ICE and Photosynth, as they
can be used to teach anyone the principles of 3D scene capture. As with any
tool, however, the more known about the processes involved the better the
results produced. YouTube videos of the case study outlined in this article were
incorporated into Google Earth as well.
Conclusion
Free software like Photosynth, ICE and 123D Catch complement more
robust solutions like 3DM Analyst. The beauty of Adam Technologies solu-
tion not only lies in the design of the software, which demonstrates a clear
understanding when it comes to ease of use and digitizing photogrammet-
ric workows, but greater involvement and input from the user at a process-
ing phase. Use of cloud based software in the St. Gluvias workow was
enhanced by an understanding of how the software produced the results -
something that, in turn, came from using 3DM Analyst. For educators like
Dr. Peters who introduced students to software like Photosynth and 123D
Catch at the beginning of his course is making the job easier. By the time
they start using 3DM Analyst they are already closet photogrammetrists.
For more information contact: adamspring@gmail.com or visit www.adamtech.com.au
Case Study Visuals:
Microsoft ICE Panorama:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=d089fb47-aae7-4c20-8b0a-de445317230d
Photosynth:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=310aead2-dec5-4931-986a-b4563f37d965
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=d6c2e028-bc11-4684-a2a2-23bd19b905cf
Videos:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdfnhItv3sM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tKlxeR0d08
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8dnMcP_kLY
Ar t i c l e
21
Stereo Pair calibration in 3DM CalibCam of Rammelsburg Mining Museum and World Heritage Site, Goslar,
Germany. Images taken using a Canon 60D SLR
Lattice shading of 3DM Analyst generated point cloud in Meshlab reveals previously unknown M on the Tristan
Stone, Fowey, Cornwall, UK
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T
he last straw for St. Charles Parish, La., came when an under-
ground water pipeline burst beneath a busy street. Trafc had
to be diverted as the water continued to spill out onto the pave-
ment. A half hour passed, and then another, before personnel from
the Waterworks Department found the shutoff valve and stopped the
deluge. The delay was caused by a faulty map that incorrectly
showed the valves location on the other side of the street.
As is true for many local government departments, the St. Charles
Waterworks relied on as-built drawings and sketches supplied by
developers and engineering rms to keep the network of under-
ground water pipes updated in its GIS. At the time, the parish had
no other option because it lacked internal mapping capabilities.
In 2008, St. Charles created a GIS Ofce to support mapping needs
of all other parish departments and hired Luis Martinez to manage
it. Fortunately, Martinez had been trained to use GNSS technology
for GIS data collection in his previous position. He convinced the
parish it would be cost-effective to invest in mapping- and survey-
grade GNSS equipment and train personnel to use it as part of their
daily operations.
The rst personnel we trained were the Waterworks and Public
Works crews, said Martinez. He explained that Waterworks is
responsible for maintaining, repairing and upgrading the parishs
network of above- and below-ground water pipelines. Public Works
manages the storm protection and drainage infrastructure, such as
catch basins, ditches, and levees.
Boosting Productivity
The GIS Ofce maintains a parish-wide, Internet-accessible GIS com-
prised of layers for nearly all departments. Aside from Public Works,
the Waterworks Department has the most rapidly evolving geospa-
tial data layers in the parish. With new water pipes being installed
or old ones being replaced, the Waterworks infrastructure map is
constantly in ux. Handheld GNSS-based GIS data collection units
were seen as the ideal solution keeping layers accurate and up to
date.
Waterworks crews experienced problems with accuracy when work-
ing beneath the stately oak trees that line many parish residential
streets. The oak canopies deect and partially block GNSS signals
from reaching the receivers, impairing productivity through a phe-
nomenon called satellite shadow. This same signal deection prob-
lem often faces mapping crews working among tall buildings in many
cities.
Satellite Shadow Reduction Technology
St. Charles Parish and GNSS Signal Shadow Issues
In an effort to improve the accuracy of its GIS maps, St. Charles Parish, La., purchased its own GNSS
equipment. The parish Waterworks Department experienced outstanding results when mapping water
infrastructure featuresexcept when working beneath the parishs towering oak trees, which
deflected or blocked GNSS satellite signals. After upgrading mapping GNSS handhelds, they saw an
immediate improvement in productivity and accuracy.
24
June 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Kevin Corbley
Martinez quickly identied the satellite shad-
ow problem and upgraded the parish GNSS
equipment to the Trimble GeoExplorer 6000
series. These handheld GIS mapping
devices come equipped with the unique
Trimble Floodlight capability that overcomes
the productivity-reducing effects of satellite
shadow without sacricing accuracy.
The technology accomplishes this through a
combination of multi-constellation (GPS and
GLONASS) positioning, advanced tracking
algorithms, and altitude-constrained posi-
tioning.
Waterworks personnel onsite at every exca-
vation project began using Trimble
GeoExplorer 6000 GeoXH handhelds run-
ning Esri ArcPad data collection software.
As new pipe is laid in the ground, the hand-
held devices are used to map the location
and depth with submeter accuracy before it
is buried. Crews use pull-down Esri ArcPad
menus on the touch screen to collect key
descriptive data relating to each asset, such
as the size and composition of the conduit.
Additionally, locations of other important
items such as shut-off valves are mapped
onto the GIS layer with the same precision.
Before Floodlight, we could only get a
strong signal from about six satellites,
depending on the canopy, said Martinez.
[Even with differential correction,] only 60
percent of our points achieved the desired
15 cm / 6 inch accuracy, while the majori-
ty of the rest were off by as much as three
feet or more.
Today, Waterworks crews routinely lock
onto 1213 satellites and achieve 15cm
/ 6 inch accuracy for 85 to 90 percent of
all points in feature mapping projects with
the Trimble GeoExplorer 6000 handheld.
In the field, they use a Bluetooth connec-
tion and cell phone to access differential
correction points published on the Internet
by a local continuously operating reference
station (CORS). Points are corrected in real
time with Trimble GPScorrect extension for
Esri ArcPad software running on the hand-
held.
Floodlight allows us to maintain mapping
accuracy, explained Martinez, and it pays
for itself by saving time for eld crews.
Without the technology, crews had to mea-
sure offset positions to get out from under
the trees.
This wasnt necessary once they obtained
the Trimble GeoExplorer 6000 handhelds.
Martinez said that measuring an offset could
take two to ve extra minutes to collect a sin-
gle position, compared to just 15 seconds
when occupying the feature itself. In addi-
tion, Floodlight technology allows the receiv-
er to maintain satellite lock when it is put
back in the vehicle for the drive to the next
collection point. This also shaves several
more minutes off each point collection.
The St. Charles GIS has never been more
up-to-date and information rich than it is
now. But Martinez sees room to grow and
is considering expanding the use of Trimble
GIS mapping equipment to other depart-
ments, including Planning and Zoning.
Inspectors from this department will soon
carry integrated GIS mapping devices that
enable them to document code violations in
writing with time- and location-stamped pho-
tographs.
For more information, have a look at
www.trimble.com/mgis
Ar t i c l e
25
Satellite Shadow Reduction Technology
St. Charles Parish and GNSS Signal Shadow Issues
Ar t i c l e
C
O
L
U
M
N
Over the last 12 months a number of OGC members have collaborated to
produce the OGCs first Market Report, on Open Standards and INSPIRE. This
was written and reviewed mainly by European members of the Open
Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to provide a simple guide to the EU INSPIRE
Directive and the role of geospatial standards.
T
he report describes the role that OGC, CEN
and ISO standards play in helping public sec-
tor bodies across Europe meet their obligations
to implement the INSPIRE Directive. It aims to set out
the differences, with respect to standards, between
the legal requirements and the technical guidance.
The audience consists of all persons with geospatial
policy responsibilities in European stakeholder orga-
nizations.
While standards are often seen as highly technical,
this report has been written to provide a less techni-
cal overview of standards in INSPIRE. It also aims to
highlight the fundamental business benets arising
from INSPIRE and the use of international standards.
The benets are closely aligned with the European
Commissions Digital Agenda for Europe. The report
is therefore aimed at a non-technical reader but pro-
vides the necessary links and references for a more
technically minded reader.
The goal is to provide one document outlining where
and how OGC standards play a role in INSPIRE and
to supplement and support existing EC INSPIRE docu-
mentation.
The European Commissions INSPIRE Directive, which
went into force in May 2007, introduces general
rules to establish an infrastructure for spatial infor-
mation in Europe. These rules are related to com-
munity environmental policies and policies or activi-
ties which impact the environment. The Directive is
taken up and followed by Legally Mandated
Organisations (LMOs) operated by the Member
States and Spatial Data Interest Communities
(SDICs) across Europe. The Directive does not
require the collection of new spatial data, but aims
to improve access to and sharing of spatial data
held by or on behalf of a public authority in Europe.
The INSPIRE Implementing Rules relate to a number of
technical and policy areas, including metadata,
interoperability of spatial data sets and services,
network services (discovery, view, download,
invoke), data and service sharing (policy) and coor-
dination and measures for monitoring and report-
ing. Once adopted, the Implementing Rules become
European legislative acts and national law in 27
Member States and also in some EFTA countries,
such as Switzerland and Norway.
The Implementing Rules are legally binding, but do
not make any explicit reference to any standards or
technologies. Technical Guidance documents
accompanying the Implementing Rules provide the
necessary implementation details, but they are not
legally binding documents. These documents refer-
ence OGC, ISO and other standards.
The business benets arising from INSPIRE, which are
aligned with the ECs Digital Agenda for Europe as
mentioned above, deserve serious consideration by
INSPIRE implementers. Geospatial data, technology
and services are an essential component of the
online services that will enable Europe to boost job
creation, promote economic prosperity and improve
the daily lives of EU citizens and businesses. OGC
standards are interwoven with other IT and net-
working standards that support these business ben-
ets.
Feedback will be taken into account over the next
6 months and revisions will be made to the market
report at the end of 2012.
Some commentators believe that the analysis of huge
volumes of location enabled data has the potential to
drive value-add for business for the next 30-50 years.
One thing we can say with certainty is that we are at
a very exciting stage in the development of both the
Location and Telematics industries.
Steven Ramage is Executive Director,
Marketing and Communications at the
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The
OGC is a standards developing organiza-
tion working globally on location and
geospatial technologies to enable data
sharing. Steven is responsible for the man-
agement of a broad range of marketing,
communications and education program
activities worldwide. He also works closely
with the OGC Global Advisory Council and
the OGC Board of Directors. He spent 15
years working in industry prior to joining
the OGC, with organizations such as
Fugro, Navteq (Nokia) and 1Spatial.
Steven is also Chair of the OGC Business
Value Sub-committee and the GSDI
Association Outreach and Membership
Committee.
OGC Market Report Open
Standards and INSPIRE
C o l u mn
26
June 2012
I believe in precision.
Leica Geosystems AG
Switzerland
www.leica-geosystems.com
Precision is more than an asset when your
reputation is at stake, its an absolute necessity.
Zero tolerance is the best mindset when others need to rely on
your data. Thats why precision comes rst at Leica Geosystems.
Our comprehensive spectrum of solutions covers all your meas-
urement needs for surveying, engineering, construction, and
geospatial appli cations. And they are all backed with world-class
service and support that delivers answers to your questions.
When it matters most. When you are in the eld. When it has
to be right.
You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly precise
solution for every facet of your job.
The new Leica ScanStation C10: this high-denition
3D laser scanner for civil engineering and plant
surveying is a ne example of our uncompromising
dedication to your needs. Precision: yet another
reason to trust Leica Geosystems.
HDS_C10_210x297_110686.indd 1 04.01.12 16:17
C o l u mn
I believe in precision.
Leica Geosystems AG
Switzerland
www.leica-geosystems.com
Precision is more than an asset when your
reputation is at stake, its an absolute necessity.
Zero tolerance is the best mindset when others need to rely on
your data. Thats why precision comes rst at Leica Geosystems.
Our comprehensive spectrum of solutions covers all your meas-
urement needs for surveying, engineering, construction, and
geospatial appli cations. And they are all backed with world-class
service and support that delivers answers to your questions.
When it matters most. When you are in the eld. When it has
to be right.
You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly precise
solution for every facet of your job.
The new Leica ScanStation C10: this high-denition
3D laser scanner for civil engineering and plant
surveying is a ne example of our uncompromising
dedication to your needs. Precision: yet another
reason to trust Leica Geosystems.
HDS_C10_210x297_110686.indd 1 04.01.12 16:17
Ar t i c l e
WorldView agility completes the picture
Around, up, over and back again
Very High-Resolution (VHR) satellites, like all technologies, have seen huge technical improvements
over the past 10 years and, with the ever increasing number of satellites in orbit, the important ques-
tion of - Which satellite should I use? - is at the forefront of users minds.
S
peed is an important factor that plays
a major role in answering the above
question. The speed a satellite can
move from target-to-target, otherwise termed
the slew time, inuences the total area that
can be imaged in a single orbital pass. This
determines the capacity of a satellite and
therefore the amount of data added to the
archive every day.
DigitalGlobe, owners and operators of the
WorldView constellation, have long seen
agility as a primary differentiator within the
VHR marketplace, and with the launch of
WorldView-1 in 2009 introduced Control
Moment Gyro technology (CMG). This has
been one of the most signicant innovations
in satellite technology in recent years and
due to its proven reliability has been used
in the WorldView-2 (launched 2009) and
WorldView-3 (due to launch 2014) satellite
designs.
The WorldView Satellites
The satellite imaging sensors of WorldView-
1 & 2 are mounted on identical platforms
which use CMG technology to move and
stabilize the instruments during imaging
maneuvers. There is a direct relationship
between the stability of a satellite platform
during image scanning and the resulting
geometric accuracy of the collected
imagery. WorldView-1 and WorldView-2
collect imagery at a geo-location accuracy
of 5 meters (CE90) without Ground Control
Points (GCPs) and 2 meters with GCPs.
Collections of stereo images are also
improved when using CMG technology. The
capability of the sensor means the collection
of in-track stereo images (i.e. a forward and
a backward looking image of the same tar-
get area) are easily acquired on a single
pass. It is even possible for more than two
stereo legs to be acquired resulting in a
triplet (a forward, directly downward, and
backward looking collection), or a multiple
acquisition (more than three images in one
pass), known as a multi-look.
In addition to their agility and accuracy, the
WorldView satellites collect data in both
panchromatic and multi-spectral channels.
Both WorldView satellites collect imagery at
50 cm resolution (Native nadir resolution of
WorldView-2 is 46cm and re-sampled to
50cm for commercial use) with WorldView-1
collecting using solely a pan-chromatic sensor
and WorldView-2 across an unprecedented 8
spectral bands (Fig 1.).
The soon to be launched WorldView-3, in
addition to the panchromatic and 8-band mul-
28
June 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Penelope Richardson, Simon Casey, Pablo dAngelo and Ansgar Kornhoff
Figure 1: Both WorldView satellites collect imagery at 50 cm* resolution with WorldView-1 collecting using solely a pan-chromatic sensor and WorldView-2 across an unprecedented 8 spectral bands.
Figure 2: Scan Options with WorldView Satellites.
tispectral sensors will include a short wave
infrared sensor collecting at 3.7m resolution
across 8 wave bands.
Local Tasking
Because of the slew time of the WorldView sen-
sors and their collection capacity, increasingly
complex projects are now more feasible.
To take full advantage of the satellites over
Europe and North Africa, the tasking opera-
tions team at European Space Imaging (EUSI)
use every second of satellite maneuvering time
to capture as much usable data as possible.
EUSIs dedicated WorldView ground station
located within the German Aerospace Center
(DLR) at Oberpfaffenhofen outside Munich,
maintains an uninterrupted up and down-link
to the WorldView eet during their daily pass-
es.
Planning Process
Collections from the European ground station
are not automated but a hands-on activity car-
ried out between collection planners and col-
lection managers.
The collection planning process starts up to
24 hours before images are captured. EUSIs
experienced collection planning team evalu-
ates a variety of weather models and cloud
forecasts to build up a preliminary collection
plan. This plan becomes the basis of the
rened schedule editing with manual interac-
tion starting 2-3 hours before the satellite con-
tact. With a hands-on approach, manually
inputting orders into the system, the rate of
unsatisfactory collections is limited, and
avoids the delivery of under-par imagery, a
common scenario when orders are fed into
automated systems.
Up to minutes before satellite contact, the col-
lection team carefully considers customer pri-
orities, collection deadlines and the weather
situation. Updated every 15 minutes, weather
images from Meteosat are integrated into the
imaging plan to visualize cloud-free areas and
the development of weather fronts. With this
information, EUSIs collection planners can
play with the agility strengths of the World -
View satellites to shoot between and around
the clouds to get the best results.
Each target in the collection plan takes at least
10 minutes to schedule in around seven steps
to ensure that most of an area is covered in
one pass. Through manual schedule editing
the operator can tweak the collected Area of
Interest (AOI), minimizing overlap to almost
double the collection capacity in one pass, for
one target.
The exibility of locally tasking the satellites
gives operators the option to move away from
traditional north-south scanning of image tar-
gets. Rotating the sensor across a wider imag-
ing range - forwards, backwards and side-
ways, allows greater exibility when imaging
linear corridors or wider east-west areas of
interest (Fig 2.).
This manual approach benets the WorldView
data user through increasing the effective col-
lection capacity each pass, reacting quicker
to customer requirements and yielding optimal
cloud-free imagery. EUSI statistics show that
95% of all their data is acquired cloud-free.
Recent Project Examples of
WorldView Agility over Europe
European Urban Atlas
An initiative which highly demonstrates the
agility and capability of WorldView-2 is an
in-house initiative at European Space Imaging,
to cover all European urban areas dened as
Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) by Eurostat, the sta-
tistical ofce of the European Union. The total
area to be collected is more than 580,000
km distributed all over Europe.
The challenge of this project is to complete all
LUZs within 3 years. All LUZs must be imaged
cloud, haze and snow free, with a sun eleva-
tion angle of better than 30 degrees, and a
Ar t i c l e
29
WorldView agility completes the picture
Around, up, over and back again
Ar t i c l e
Figure 3: Aberdeen, Scotland: cloud-free collection made with two passes.
steep looking geometry with an instrument
incidence angle of less than 20 degrees. In
addition, EUSI is aiming to complete each LUZ
within the shortest possible time between
image collections to get consistent results
across each LUZ.
All these pre-conditions have to be calculated
and coordinated by the EUSI staff alongside
all other imaging projects.
This is where planning exibility and manual
interaction come into the play. The satellite can
be tasked to its maximum capacity over cloud-
free areas and the fast slew speed of
WorldView-2, together with exible direction-
al scanning allows for completion of larger
mapping areas.
The project continues in 2012. One of the rst
LUZ coverages of the collection season was
the Scottish city Aberdeen (Fig. 3). The feasi-
bility of being able to image the city, which sits
in far north Europe, cloud-free, in two passes
over ve days, was only possible due to the
expert tasking on the ground together with the
agility and speed of the WorldView-2 satellite.
Elevation Data Extraction
The German Aerospace Centers (DLR) tech-
nology partner of EUSI, uses WorldView data
in the creation of highly detailed digital sur-
face models (DSM) from satellite imagery. The
agility of the WorldView satellites allows for
the acquisition of stereo or multi-look imagery
for highly detailed 3D reconstruction.
To derive the elevation data from the stereo
(or multi-look) data, DLR initially performs a
block adjustment of the input images. The rel-
ative accuracy of the data after block adjust-
ment is typically in the half pixel range, this
allows the reconstruction of high quality mod-
els. Even without GCPs, WorldView-2 offers a
good absolute accuracy, which is sufcient for
many applications. With high quality ground
control points, sub-meter absolute accuracy
can be reached.
After block adjustment, DLRs Semi Global
Matching algorithm is used to nd the sub-
pixel accurate correspondence for every pixel
in the images allowing the creation of DSMs
with 0.5 m ground sampling distance (GSD),
showing ne surface details, especially if
triplets (i.e. three multi-look images) are avail-
able. The whole processing chain is fully auto-
matic and no manual input is required, except
for optional GCP measurements.
For mountainous or dense city areas, occlu-
sions (e.g. areas visible only in a single image
due to being obscured by high rise buildings
etc.) prevent detailed reconstruction, if stereo
pairs with large stereo convergence angles are
used. For these areas, the stereo convergence
angle should be between 10 and 20 degrees.
More than two images allow redundant match-
ing and automatic outlier detection and
removal. They also lead to better accuracy and
fewer occluded regions, and are thus a
requirement for highly detailed reconstruction.
Typically, triples with a relative angle of 15
degrees between successive image acquisi-
tions are recommended for city areas.
Using multi-look stereo acquisitions from
WorldView-2 the DLR has derived some of the
most accurate elevation data sets from satellite
data of the K2 mountain and central London.
K2
K2, in the Karakoram mountain range, is dif-
cult terrain for both mountaineers and the
DLR researchers. In autumn 2010, DLR
ordered a special WorldView-2 triplet acqui-
sition from EUSI. From the collected data, the
DLR created an elevation model and views
from novel viewpoints of K2 with a resolu-
tion of 0.5 meter. This is the rst time that
images of this quality have been published
(cf. gure, maybe link to video at
www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/ta
bid-10212/332_read-921/) (Fig. 4.).
Ar t i c l e Ar t i c l e
30
June 2012
Figure 4: K2 climbing route used by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits developed from the 3D digital model.
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits
used this data for planning their K2 ascent via
the previously little travelled and technically
challenging north route. There are very few
at spots for the bivouac tents on the otherwise
continuously steep rock and ice buttresses, and
there are narrow ice channels running lateral-
ly across the rocks that offer slightly easier
ascent options. All of these details would oth-
erwise have had to be investigated on site
through arduous climbing, said Dujmovits.
For alpine areas, such as the K2 example, spe-
cial attention needs to be given to the acquisi-
tion settings as the default exposure parame-
ters result in overexposed images that lack
detail in bright, snowy areas. After DLR pro-
vided EUSI with suitable time-delayed integra-
tion (TDI) settings, a re-collection with very
good image quality was performed.
Central London
EUSI also provided DLR with a sequence of
25 multi-look images of London, captured in
a single pass. Acquiring multi-look sequences
requires individual collection scheduling to
take advantage of the agility of the satellite
and to fulll the collection parameters of a
given project. This multi-look acquisition was
entered as 25 separate orders that were taken
consecutively at 9 second intervals (total 3.9
minutes) during the pass.
Five images from that sequence provided
enough details and redundancy to allow a
detailed reconstruction of the inner city with
its narrow streets and high rise buildings. The
remaining images can be used for texturing
the building facades (Fig. 5a and 5b).
Potential for Multi-look
Collections
Although satellite images have been used as
the basis of 3D modeling for a long time it is
only recently that the possibilities of Very High-
Resolution imagery, in conjunction with the
agility of the satellite, are being explored in
more depth with multi-look images over the
same target being taken in one pass, on one
day. Research is always being furthered into
the applications of multi-look imaging which
could support search and rescue teams,
defense and security planning or people ow
logistics at big events which are all expand-
ing areas of development.
Apart from creating surface models, and ren-
dering views from novel perspectives, eleva-
tion models from satellite imagery are starting
to reach the quality of airborne data, and can
be used as a basic product for automatic mod-
eling and measurement of buildings and their
roof structures, detailed site monitoring, 3D
change detection and many other applications
where 3D data is of prime importance. The
German Bundeswehr Geoinformation Ofce
(BGIO), another EUSI WorldView customer, is
at the forefront of explorations into the poten-
tial of this multi-look data.
Concluding Comments
By combining speed, optimisation of local
tasking, capacity of the sensors and variety of
data products available the WorldView satel-
lites offer some of the most diverse and accu-
rate satellite data and potential for derived
information in the market.
The DigitalGlobe constellation images 2/3 of
the earths landmass every 90 days, and has
an unprecedented collection capacity of 700
million km per year. It is most likely that
WorldView has got you covered.
Agility, exibility and capability are the words
that best describe the WorldView constellation
of satellites due to their increased capacity to
collect high quality data in weather critical
areas. Customers in Europe benet even more
than most by choosing to use the WorldView
eet, because of the individual tasking avail-
able through the European Space Imaging
Ground Station.
Penelope Richardson, Simon Casey and Ansgar Kornhoff
European Space Imaging GmbH, Arnulfstrasse 197, D-80634 Munich
Contact: info@euspaceimaging.com
Links: www.euspaceimaging.com
Pablo dAngelo
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Remote Sensing Technology Institute,
D-82234 Wessling, Germany
Contact: Pablo.Angelo@dlr.de
Links: www.dlr.de
Ar t i c l e
31
Ar t i c l e
Figure 5a/b: London Digital Surface Model using WorldView multi-look images collected during one satellite pass.
Towards the European Location Framework
EuroGeographics Newsletter
Ingrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator, National Geographic Institute, Belgium is President of
EuroGeographics, an international not-for-profit organisation under Belgian Law (AISBL). The
Associations members, the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities, are
currently working to develop the European Location Framework (E.L.F).
O
n 5 March, many of our members joined
one of our strategic partners, the
Council of European Geodetic Surve -
yors (CLGE) for its initiative the rst ever Day of
the European Surveyor and Geoinfor mation,
which marked 500 years since the birth of this
famous Belgian cartographer. Whilst Euro Geo -
graphics may not be able to boast a ve-century
anniversary, we do have a long track record of
successfully completing key projects such as the
European Spatial Data Infrastructure Network
(ESDIN). Co-funded by European Commissions
eContentplus programme and co-ordinated by
EuroGeographics, the 30-month collaboration
between mapping and cadastral agencies, aca-
demic institutions and technology providers,
helped prepare data for the INSPIRE Directive. It
was our most ambitious project to date so we
were delighted when it won a Geospatial
Excellence award for Policy Implementation SDI
at the Geospatial World Forum in Amsterdam.
Towards the European Location Framework (E.L.F)
ESDINs ndings extend beyond simply assisting the EU member states
to meet INSPIRE obligations, they also provide the rst steps towards the
European Location Framework or E.L.F, a new approach to pan-
European geospatial reference data with information from national
mapping, cadastral and land registry authorities at its heart. This will
deliver a host of benets and support a wide range of initiatives and
policy, including the European Digital Agenda; the Europe 2020 strat-
egy for smart, sustainable growth; and the Directive on the reuse of
Public Sector Information. The E.L.Fs reach will also extend beyond the
borders of the 27 Member States with many EuroGeographics mem-
bers outside the EU adopting its specications so that their national
geospatial reference data can be harmonised immediately with pan-
European location information from other national mapping, cadastral
and land registry authorities.
What is the E.L.F?
The E.L.F is a technical infrastructure which delivers authoritative, inter-
operable, cross-border geospatial reference data for analysing and
understanding information connected to places and features. It is the
means by which data complying with the INSPIRE Directive will be deliv-
ered to the European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) which is being
created using EuroGeographics members national reference informa-
tion. This uses location as the basis for searching, cross- referencing,
analysing and understanding Europe-wide social, economic and envi-
ronmental data. The E.L.F specications, based on
ISO/EN 19100 standards, enable information to
be connected to individual places and features.
Services will be implemented using web service
standards developed by the Open Geospatial
Consortium (OGC) and ofcially adopted by
ISO/CEN and, whilst the data content and ser-
vices will be INSPIRE compliant, the E.L.F will also
consider requirements from international commu-
nities and the needs of users.
Benets of the E.L.F for users:
Consistency between a number of INSPIRE data
themes, including administrative units; hydrogra-
phy; and transport networks, so that themes can
be used together in various resolutions; Better up-
to-dateness and consistency between resolutions;
Quality conformance levels and metadata
enabling users to ensure that their requirements
are met; Maintenance of reference information in
user databases; unique identiers enable change
only updates; Reference data provision for European users including
the European Commission.
Benets of the E.L.F For producers:
Cost savings in the national production and maintenance processes of
European data; Common feature type dictionary between resolutions
enables use of generalization process in maintenance processes of
medium/small scale resolutions which means better up-to-dateness and
consistency between resolutions; Help implementing the INSPIRE Directive;
Implementation of interoperability processes including edge-matching
between countries to achieve cross-border consistency, quality evalua-
tion and conformance testing, generalization and transformation ser-
vices; Increased use of national data in services, European and global
use.
How to get involved
For more information about the E.L.F, please read our White Paper
which is available at www.eurogeographics.org/about. To learn
more about ESDINs achievements and results, please visit
www.esdin.eu/project/summary-esdin-project-public-deliverables and
to join the discussion about the E.L.F, why not register with www.euro-
geoforum.eu, a place for sharing information about developments in
geographical information? Alternatively, you can contact me by email-
ing president@eurogeographics.org.
32
June 2012
Ne ws l e t t e r
By Ingrid Vanden Berghe
Ingrid Vanden Berghe, General Administrator, National
Geographic Institute, Belgium was elected President of
EuroGeographics (AISBL) at the Associations 2011 General
Assembly.
Esri
CityEngine
Create High-Quality 3D Content

Design urban layouts in 3D for analysis and review.
Model 3D environments for entertainment and simulation.
Quickly create 3D models using real-world 2D GIS data.
Download your free 30-day trial at
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Copyright 2012 Esri. All rights reserved.
For Esri locations worldwide, visit esri.com/distributors.
Finland
esri-finland.com
France
esrifrance.fr
F.Y.R.O.M.
gisdata.hr
Germany
esri-germany.de
Georgia
geographic.ge
Greece and Cyprus
marathondata.gr
Hungary
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Iceland
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Israel
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Italy
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Malta
geosys.com.mt
Moldova
trimetrica.com
The Netherlands
esrinl.com
Norway
geodata.no
Poland
esripolska.com.pl
Portugal
esri-portugal.pt
Romania
esriro.ro
Russia
dataplus.ru
Austria
synergis.co.at
Belgium and
Luxembourg
esribelux.com
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
gisdata.hr
Bulgaria
esribulgaria.com
Croatia
gisdata.hr
Czech Republic
arcdata.cz
Denmark
informi.dk
Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania
hnit-baltic.lt
Slovak Republic
arcgeo.sk
Slovenia
gisdata.hr
Spain
esri-es.com
Sweden
esri-sgroup.se
Switzerland
esri-suisse.ch
Turkey
esriturkey.com.tr
Ukraine
ecomm.kiev.ua
UK/Ireland
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G52620_GeoInform_Apr12.indd 1 3/15/12 8:12 AM
Ne ws l e t t e r
Esri
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Design urban layouts in 3D for analysis and review.
Model 3D environments for entertainment and simulation.
Quickly create 3D models using real-world 2D GIS data.
Download your free 30-day trial at
esri.com/geoinfoce
Copyright 2012 Esri. All rights reserved.
For Esri locations worldwide, visit esri.com/distributors.
Finland
esri-finland.com
France
esrifrance.fr
F.Y.R.O.M.
gisdata.hr
Germany
esri-germany.de
Georgia
geographic.ge
Greece and Cyprus
marathondata.gr
Hungary
esrihu.hu
Iceland
samsyn.is
Israel
systematics.co.il
Italy
esriitalia.it
Malta
geosys.com.mt
Moldova
trimetrica.com
The Netherlands
esrinl.com
Norway
geodata.no
Poland
esripolska.com.pl
Portugal
esri-portugal.pt
Romania
esriro.ro
Russia
dataplus.ru
Austria
synergis.co.at
Belgium and
Luxembourg
esribelux.com
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
gisdata.hr
Bulgaria
esribulgaria.com
Croatia
gisdata.hr
Czech Republic
arcdata.cz
Denmark
informi.dk
Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania
hnit-baltic.lt
Slovak Republic
arcgeo.sk
Slovenia
gisdata.hr
Spain
esri-es.com
Sweden
esri-sgroup.se
Switzerland
esri-suisse.ch
Turkey
esriturkey.com.tr
Ukraine
ecomm.kiev.ua
UK/Ireland
esriuk.com
G52620_GeoInform_Apr12.indd 1 3/15/12 8:12 AM
Shaping the Development of GIS Together
2012 Esri DevSummit
Billed as the conference for developers, by developers, the Esri Developer Summit (DevSummit)
brought 1,700 developers, partners, and GIS professionals from all over the world together with more
than 300 Esri development staff members for four full days in Palm Springs, California.
T
he goals for this years event, held at the
Palm Springs Convention Center March
2629, remained the same as in previ-
ous years: align development efforts, share
best practices, and develop working relation-
ships.
In his brief opening remarks during the
Plenary Session, Esri president Jack Dan -
germond observed, You are important to
making GIS work. Jim McKinney, ArcGIS
program manager and plenary master of cer-
emonies, underscored that message: We are
here for you entirely this week. He noted that
members from 30 Esri software development
teams had migrated to Palm Springs for the
week to spend one-on-one time with develop-
ers, building community and making good
things happen.
In terms of attendance, this was the largest
DevSummit ever, but the scope of the event
had also increased. In response to develop-
ers requests, a day was added, the number
of technical sessions was more than doubled,
the number of preconference sessions was
quadrupled, and the showcase and demo the-
aters were signicantly expanded.
Of the developers assembled, 30 percent
came from outside the United States. The
majority (60 percent) work for businesses.
They are coding in .NET, Python, and Java
and working on web, mobile, and desktop
applications.
To kick off the plenaryfor the rst time ever
a member of the developer community took
the stage. Gady Pitaru, an IT programmer and
analyst for the City of Phoenix, Arizona, found
a way to capture detailed parking data that
was previously jotted down on slips of paper
and tossed away and turn it into an arsenal
of data. That data now feeds a Flex web app
and a mobile app that help travelers nd
where, among Sky Harbor Airports eight lots
and 21,000 parking spots, there are current-
ly open spaces.
All about ArcGIS 10.1
Although building relationships with peers and
Esri staff and learning how to become more
productive were important reasons to come to
DevSummit, the overriding motivation for most
developers was learning not only what Esri is
doing now but also how its development strat-
egy is evolving.
The imminent release of ArcGIS 10.1 domi-
nated both the plenary and technical sessions.
ArcGIS for Server, now a native 64-bit appli-
cation and the centerpiece of this release, has
a completely new architecture. It is a pure web
services GIS server, and everything is done
through HTTP. However, applications written
using the existing APIs are forward compati-
ble with this new server. ArcGIS for Server is
also simpler to install and congure, and its
services are faster. The new Manager appli-
cation comprehensively administers sites, ser-
vices, and security, but server administration
can also be scripted using any scripting lan-
guage that understands HTTP.
Simplicity was also the theme of the ArcGIS
for Desktop demonstration showing how easi-
ly a map service can be published to the serv-
er from the desktop. Data stored anywhere
can be pushed up to the server and shared
using wizard-based systems that perform sev-
eral hundred analyses on a service to ag any
issues before it is published.
David Cardella, the network tech lead for iOS,
and Will Crick, a product engineer working
in Android development, demonstrated new
functionality for these platforms that lets users
stay productive ofine and discussed Esris
strategies in the rapidly expanding area of
mobile GIS.
The announcement of a printing service that
generates high-quality PDF maps was one of
the high points for many developers. Tweeted
reactions like those of Doug @dropstones, a
Kentucky geologist who says he is doing lots
of GIS development, attest to the level of
enthusiasm: freaking awesomeat 10.1 will
be able to publish an ArcMap template as a
printing servicecan print to that via JS API.
Its Clear the Future Is Cloudy
Also of great interest were updates on the sta-
tus of ArcGIS Online, Esris cloud-based sys-
tem that provides GIS as a service. Recently,
Esri added 15 million square kilometers of
new imagery to the service, and it has been
localized to support 15 languages.
The use of this collaborative cloud-based con-
tent management system for maps, apps,
data, and other geographic information has
increased sharply since July 2011. On an
average workday, it receives ve million hits
(exclusive of requests for basemaps).
Using ArcGIS Online, developers can build
custom apps that use hosted services and
dont require installing hardware or software.
Services published to ArcGIS Online are man-
aged for the developer and can be exposed
for use in mobile and tablet apps. Alter -
natively, ArcGIS Online is also available as a
software product, Portal for ArcGIS, for use
on premises with ArcGIS for Server.
34
E v e n t
By Monica Pratt
Keynote speaker Steve Riley exhorted developers to embrace the
cloud and rethink their assumptions about security
(Source: Kris Krug/Esri).
E v e n t
June 2012
In the area of developer tools, both existing
and new with ArcGIS 10.1, Esris approach
focuses on improving developer productivity.
The mantra, as annunciated by McKinney, is
You dont have to write tons of code to make
a great app. Pre conference seminars and
technical presentations during the conference
emphasized how to get more done using these
tools.
Developers have many choices when devel-
oping for the web: the ArcGIS web APIs for
browsers, congurable application templates
for JavaScript, and application builders for
Silverlight and Flex. We have taken a lot of
the hard work out of developing web apps,
so all you have to do is abide by some cod-
ing rules, said Andy Gup, technology lead
at Esri.
Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong
Summit keynote speaker Steve Riley chal-
lenged developers assumptions about the
nature of their work. He warned that the cloud
has changed everything. Change happens.
You have to adapt or die, he said.
During his 23 years in IT, Riley has special-
ized in information security. He worked for
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft before
joining Riverbed, where he is the chief tech-
nology ofcer.
Rileys denition of the cloud is very simple.
If you are still paying for it when it isnt
switched on, it isnt a cloud. Scalability is the
key to understanding this new landscape.
Servers are disposable horsepower. If you
need more performance, you throw more
servers at it. You could never do that before.
In the cloud, troubleshooting changes from
hours and days spent tracking down the prob-
lem to a few minutes killing off a problem ser-
vice and spinning up another.
Change is constant and failure is inevitable,
so developers need to assume failure and
build backward to account for it. New issues
have joined familiar ones. Moving data could
become a bigger issue than security. This
observation struck a chord with an audience
that knows that GIS is all about managing
large data sets.
But security issues have not gone away. There
are bad guys out there, and developers should
account for them in system design. The real
challenge with security is adopting a new style
of thinking in a cloud era. When a server is
just one line in a shell script, its physical loca-
tion is not what determines its security, said
Riley. Instead, new security models should be
based on service-level agreements with guts,
auditable security standards, and procedures
that encrypt and sign everything.
To survive and thrive, developers need to
make sure they remain relevant. The cloud is
the way to make Esri data more available to
users, and it will become essential to the way
services are delivered. Developers need to
embrace it.
Time for Fun
A new event, Speed Geeking, helped atten-
dees decide which topics among the confer-
ences 72 sessions would prove most useful to
them. Esri staff gave presentations that lasted
just ve minutes and covered aspects of Esri
technology on all platforms.
Though the conference schedule was full of
sessions and presentations, the atmosphere
was relaxed and collegial. Meet the Teams,
an informal event held poolside at the hotel
on the second day, introduced Esri software
teams to conference attendees. The third
evening featured games and lots of food. The
dodgeball game, a staple of the conference,
drew erce competitors determined to win free
tickets to next years summit and a lively crowd
of spectators.
A Symbiotic Relationship
By the summits end, it was clear that devel-
opers in attendance and developers at Esri
need each other. With so many projects
being released each month, Esri needs feed-
back to guide its development efforts.
Developers need tools and support to be
productive and successful. DevSummit pro-
vides a place and time to reconnect and
reinforce that relationship. Pitaru summed it
up by saying, That is really why I come to
the DevSummit: to take what Ive already
done, make it better, and also get ideas for
some new things we can do.
Monica Pratt is the founding and current editor of Esris ArcUser
magazine and oversees Esris two other major publications, ArcNews
and ArcWatch. She can be contacted at mpratt@esri.com.
Twitter: @arcuser
35
E v e n t
Gady Pitaru, member of the developer community, told the
plenary audience how he amassed an arsenal of data that
feeds apps that help travelers find open parking spaces at
Phoenixs Sky Harbor Airport (Source: Kris Krug/Esri).
E v e n t
Figure 3: Meet the Teams, held
poolside, introduced Esri software
teams to conference attendees
Figure 4: Though the conference schedule was full of sessions and
presentations, the atmosphere was relaxed and collegial
Figure 5: A DevSummit tradition, the dodgeball game, drew fierce
competitors determined to win free tickets to next years summit
C
O
L
U
M
N
The column below is a small tribute to Gerardus Mercator who was born 500
years ago this year. Inventor of the Projection, the concept of Atlas, and many
others for instance the used italics for placenames to simplify the printing process.
I
s there a relationship between your favorite map-
projection and your personality? Does it say some-
thing how you look at the world? How you pro-
ject your ideas on reality. A colleague told me:
Cartography is a communication science, not an
exact one. Lets assume this is true. Effectivecom-
munication starts from the premise that the
mapisnot the territory. How we look at the world
is essentially based on our perception or, if in a
way, projection of it. No serious business and far
from scientic, just an amusing topic to puzzle with.
What is more important for you: form or content, or
projected on a map: shape or area. Then you have
the choice between the conformal Lambert Conic
projection or the equal area projection of Hobo
Dyer. When your rst goal is getting things done as
efcient as possible, you would probably like the
gnomonic-projection, the shortest route between two
point on a map corresponds to the locations of those
point in reality - straight from A to B.
Personally I like the maps and projections of
worldmapper.org, for their uency, exibility, clarity
and quite often their sharp message. Of course this
preference tells something about me?
Lately I have a special interest in the life and time
of Mercator more specically in his works about pro-
jecting the world.
There are some obvious reasons for this interest; rst-
ly we recently celebrated, on March 5th, the 500th
anniversary of his birth. Secondly there is this car-
toon on XKCD (XKCD.com/977) about map projec-
tions. A cartoon with the remarkable and strange
message: those who like Mercators projection, are
not really into maps
This is not a place for a reply on a cartoon. Its more
a place to honour one of the most visionary cartog-
raphers ever. In his life and work he wanted to
understand the whole creation from beginning of
time, by describing it and drawing it in maps. For
this he developed his own projection. His method
was very straightforward, simple and based on a
clear concept.
There is a reason why he chose this method. If you
have neither a GPS nor navigation system, still sim-
ply a compass with a map, you likely want to get
the shortest route where your bearing is a straight
line. When you cross a meridian on the map it is at
a same angle. Hence the name equal angular. In
other words, when you want to sail the seas, you
draw a straight line on a map and tell your mate:
hold this course. Its very efcient and, for his time,
it was not only very innovative but a major break-
through in nautical cartography. In fact with this
innovative projection he was so far ahead of his
time, he wouldnt even t on Carvers Hype Cycle.
At that time there were no nautical instruments accu-
rate enough to use his maps. But in the following
centuries, the great seafaring-centuries, his method
of projection gained relevancy. Until today we prot
from his work.
So you can tell what you want, like or dislike his
maps, you even can nd his projection method evil
like J. Paul Goode did when he developed as a
counteraction his Goode Homolosine Projection. In
fact Mercator lived in a rapidly expanding world
where new frontiers were constantly being discov-
ered. Its hard for us today to imagine with all those
online satellites images and digital maps at the tip
of a mouse click. But he had for sure a clear, open
and exploring worldview. He was convinced in his
view and he developed a concept to communicate
the latter in an intelligible way with the rest of the
world. He used straightforward techniques and he
was driven by pragmatism. All merits we value high
today. What does it say about your view on the
world when your favorite map projection is that of
Mercator?
Wijnand van Riel, Business manager
Geo-ICT / Senior Geo-ICT Consultant.
Mercator lives
C o l u mn
36
June 2012

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E v e n t
Geospatial Industry and World Economy
Geospatial World Forum
The first European version of the Geospatial World Forum brought together all the industry leaders
and provided an excellent program of plenaries, forums and presentations. CEOs from Bentley, Esri
and Hexagon discussed open data issues and geospatial data in the public sector as a form of social
capital, while others discussed SDIs and maintaining infrastructure in times of lack of funding.
D
uring 23-27 April, the RAI exhibition and convention center
in Amsterdam was the stage for the rst European version of
the Geospatial World Forum, an international business event
for the geospatial industry. After successful past editions in South
America, South Africa and Asia, the organizers chose Amsterdam
as a new area where stakeholders of the global geospatial commu-
nity, policy makers and end users could gather for plenary sessions,
seminars, workshops, technology tracks, panel discussions and take
advantage of an impressive exhibition space.
The theme of Geospatial World Forum 2012 was Geospatial
Industry & World Economy, which was reected in a range of par-
allel sessions where different industries showed how geospatial
information and technology is integrated in mainstream technolo-
gies and how it improves the productivity and efciency within those
sectors. Even two weeks after the event, it can be said that this years
Geospatial World Forum took place at an interesting time with
announcements that have shifted the geospatial landscape. To begin
with, two recent Trimble acquisitions (Gatewing and SketchUp), fol-
lowed by the news that Google Maps will be a pay-service for large
users, and nally sometime after the event, the offer from GeoEye to
purchase DigitalGlobe.
The event itself was much of a Whos Who in geospatial, with all
the CEOs of the largest corporations present and participating in
panel discussions and plenary sessions. I wasnt sure what to expect
beforehand, since Id gured the big announcements were saved
for ones own user conferences, but with some good pre-selection
there was certainly a lot of value to be obtained, and even a num-
ber of product releases. The organizers did a great job in creating
a program that served as an overview of the current state of the
industry and where its heading. Also, there was a lot of local Dutch
input in the program, with presentations by Dutch politicians as well
as scientists, government institutions and companies. Equally visible,
if not more so, was the presence of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th
President of the Republic of India, one of the originators of the event.
There was also some criticism, like the lack of young people, both
as visitors and speakers, which is a general characteristic of the
geospatial industry as a whole. Another criticism heard was that
panel discussions were introduced by presentations that more often
than not were product pitches, which produced misleading expecta-
tions for many of the visitors, myself included. Some seasoned speak-
ers avoided this trap, fortunately. Finally, I did miss the presence of
NGOs such as FIG and ISPRS during presentations (although ISPRS
was a strategic institutional partner of the event), which form a criti-
June 2012
E v e n t
By Eric van Rees
38
Greg Bentley, CEO Bentley Systems
(source: Geospatial media and communications)
cal end-user community, and are therefore of great value to an event
such as this. The same goes for OpenStreetMap, the open source
map data project that should have been part of the very well put
together open source seminar (OSM held their own unconference
WhereCampEU 2012 in Amsterdam after this particular event).
From the presentations I saw during the event, a number of trends
where visible, most notably the big data trend that is happening in
the IT world. In the near future, the data will grow exponentially,
and how to deal with these data will be an exciting eld of work. In
the immediate future, the rise of mobile will outgrow desktop use or
even put an end to desktop altogether. All present IT, GIS and sur-
veying companies seem to recognize this fact and are taking action
by embracing the cloud and innovating their products, services and
workows.
Crowd-sourced data and what to do with it?
The rst plenary panel session under the title Geospatial Industry:
Empowering Billion+ People focused on how people use geospatial
technology in their daily lives. The scene was set by three presenta-
tions from the CEOs of Esri, Bentley and Hexagon, followed by a
presentation that focused on the role of private companies in rela-
tion to the role of governments in fullling their responsibilities as
keepers and managers of geospatial information. Presenter Paul
Cheung from the UN pleaded for more collabora-
tion between private companies and governments
since governments cannot do all the work by them-
selves for a number of reasons. This has resulted in
a global initiative called GGIM a United Nations
initiative on Global Information Management. The
initiative is more focused on creating a vision on
data policies and collaboration between govern-
mental and non-governmental entities than on tech-
nology itself such as INSPIRE
Rather than discussing the different interests that pri-
vate companies and governments have in produc-
ing, maintaining and managing spatial data, the
discussion focused on the explosion of crowd sourced data which
has led to a revaluation of the role of governments worldwide in
geospatial data acquisition and management.
This led moderator Ingrid Vanden Berghe (EuroGeographics) to ask
how to distinguish good data from bad data. Esri President and CEO
Jack Dangermond answered that although the rhetoric of open data
is good, apps can take advantage of the data as a service by serv-
ing map data as a mashup to citizens, for example. For govern-
ments, the availability of crowd sourced data and the cloud will
mean two things: rst, their role as an authoritative source (thus main-
taining intellectual property rights, unlike Google) and performing
transactional data management will not change. He calls geospatial
data in the public sector a form of social capital. Second, the future
for sustaining these agencies is to add additional value and deliver
data with specic users in mind, like services for farmers or disaster
and response, something beyond just simple consumer mapping.
This doesnt mean Dangermond dismisses this type of mapping, but
he prefers to make a distinction between professional and amateur
mapping, where discoveries occur in both elds.
Privacy issues of open data
The remainder of the discussion was about the limits of data use and
privacy issues both are linked to cultural differences between
Europe and the US, like openness when discussing
how much money agencies make by selling
geospatial data. Jack Dangermond responded by
saying that although the nancial model for open
source software and proprietary software differs,
Esri is experimenting with parts of their software
by making it open so that people can exchange
and build on top of an open application layer. They
do this to get more collaboration with their user
group and a more rapidly evolving technology.
In terms of open data, Dangermond sees four
issues coming up: the rst is cost recovery, as in
how do traditional mapping agencies continue to
support themselves, while they have to give away
E v e n t
39
E v e n t
Jack Dangermond, Founder and President Esri
Ola Rolln, President and CEO Hexagon (source:
Geospatial media and communications)
their data. The second and third issues
are privacy and security. Privacy in terms
of location tracking that invades ones pri-
vacy with apps such as Girls Around
Me, which combines location tracking
with Facebook prole information of peo-
ple in the area. Security refers to laws in
some countries that keep back or restrict
the sharing of information. The fourth
issue is public right to know, which comes
from the US constitution: it means that cit-
izens have the right to know and have
access to government records.
Regarding cost recovery, Dangermond
pleaded for a policy change since many
organizations struggle with this.
Regarding privacy, he expects stronger
legislation to avoid misuse of private infor-
mation to protect young people who may
not know they are being tracked. Looking at these issues in terms of
ownership, Dangermond thinks this shouldnt be one dominant web
player, but this is the domain of the government and therefore agrees
with the UN initiative discussed by Paul Cheung earlier, calling it a
kind of a government policy template that people can actually adopt
and agree on.
Google and Autodesk
Geoff Zeiss (Autodesk) held an interesting talk before the fourth ple-
nary panel of the event on Thursday, April 26. The panel was enti-
tled Connecting Communities for Enhancement of Geospatial Utility
in World Economy. His presentation focused not only on the tech-
nology for designing and maintaining infrastructure, but linked this
theme to the current lack of funding governments face due to the
nancial crisis, in order to maintain infrastructure. A solution to this
problem is private funding, but in order to get this funding, investors
want a return on investment. Zeiss claimed that increasing produc-
tivity is a way to do this, but national gures show a decrease of
productivity in some instances over time, such as in the US. The chal-
lenge is to change this decrease in productivity. The remainder of
his talk was about converging technologies, such as BIM, a hot topic
that hasnt received the amount of attention it deserves in the geospa-
tial world. Again, this might change after the Trimble acquisition of
SketchUp but well have to wait and
see. Zeiss acknowledged that the
current aging workforce of engineers
needs to pass on their knowledge in
the eld to young engineers who can
benet from it. This knowledge is
very valuable and should not be lost.
Its denitely not all about technolo-
gy.
Ed Parsons (Google) shed a light on
the future of SDIs in a short presen-
tation entitled Recognizing the
Importance of the I in SDI. The talk
was part of a session about emerg-
ing models of public/private part-
nerships. Parsons talk didnt differ
very much from what he has been
saying at geospatial conferences in
the last few years: SDIs should be
built for using data rather than for the sake of building them, and
the data should be open and accessible for the users. The irony is
that INSPIRE data is still not available for users, and wont be until
December 2012. In other words, users still havent had a chance to
download or use INSPIRE data. What is new though is that the future
will be mobile: users of SDIs wont be using desktop so they should
be accessible and designed for mobile use. The statement geospa-
tial isnt that special may be considered controversial, but Google
has always considered geography as one of many ways in which
information can be shaped. Geospatial data is therefore just one
sort of data that Google gathers.
Its a pity that Parsons, who is a very gifted speaker with no lack of
opinions, didnt participate with the CEOs of geospatial companies
in a panel discussion or talk more about Googles future plans. A
panel discussion about freedom of the internet and open data issues
with Google participating, would make an interesting one, hopeful-
ly during the next edition of the Geospatial World Forum.
For more information, have a look at:
www.geospatialworldforum.org.
40
June 2012
E v e n t
Plenary panel with from left to right: Jack Dangermond, Ola
Rolln, Greg Bentley and Paul Cheung (source: Geospatial media
and communications)
Jack Dangermond, Founder and President Esri
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Spatial Data Translation
FME 2012
FME 2012, released in January of this year, has some new interesting features. They are discussed
below by Dale Lutz, Vice-president of Development at Safe Software. Not only new geospatial data
formats such as LiDAR/point cloud data are supported, but the company integrates use social media
and cloud platforms in their products, keeping up with todays technology trends.
S
afe Software recently released a new version of FME, the data
translation software popular amongst users of geospatial data.
Dale Lutz, Vice-President of Development at Safe Software
explained some of the new features of the new software version. Topics
of interest are support for point cloud and LiDAR data, Google Fusion
tables, the Complex Event Processing (CEP) platform this is FME Server
and the FME store where the user community can share their work.
Support for Point cloud/LiDAR data
FME 2012 supports 16 new le formats, such as point cloud/LiDAR
data, as a result of the spread of its use in the geospatial industry over
the last year. The data is out there, but its not being used, says Lutz:
what weve noticed is that many of our long-time GIS clients have quite
a large treasure chest full of LiDAR data that they have collected over
the years, but nonetheless they have not used it very much. What FME
can do is let them take them take that big LiDAR pile and chop it up to
smaller pieces or otherwise let them do interesting things with it.
Users can be found in the government at different levels, but also utility
companies are using FME, for instance to do 3D clipping and thus
being able to extract portions of the LiDAR stream that theyre interest-
ed in, for example, extracting the center lines of roads by ltering only
the white or yellow lines out of the scene by doing color ltering of the
point cloud.
In terms of point clouds le formats, FME tends to work mostly with LAS
les, the traditional le format for point clouds: weve added support
for a customized compression for LAS called LASzip, a free library cre-
ated in Germany by LiDAR expert Martin Isenburg (see
http://laszip.org for details). In terms of the data model its identical to
LAS data, and its a compression that makes use of the characteristics
of the LiDAR records in clever ways to reduce the size dramatically.
There has been some discussion recently about the LAS 1.4 format.
According to Lutz, the result is that LAS 1.4 les will be able to be read
by FME 2012, but he recognizes that Safe Software has work to do to
produce proper LAS 1.4 les with FME 2013. But talking about perfor-
42
June 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Eric van Rees
I n t e r v i e w
Screenshot of the FME 2012s graphical authoring environment which is used for data transformation.
mance, how does FME 2012 handle large point
cloud data sets? Lutz: weve put a lot of efforts
and learned about what large data sets cus-
tomers want to use with FME. Across the board,
FME 2012 does much better than FME 2011
did on handling large data volumes of LiDAR:
tiling is 2,5 times faster now as it was, clipping
is ten times faster with a reasonably complicat-
ed clipping polygon. Just even reading it for the
purpose of translating it has four times improved.
Weve also introduced parallel processing into
FME these number Im giving you dont take
into account someone that would pull that lever,
with parallel processing youd get even more
throughput than this. Also in FME 2012 is
Oracle point cloud writing, which enables to do
very large volumes and preparing the spatial
index outside of Oracle, improving the speed
when using FME to load Oracle point clouds
over traditional techniques.
Google Fusion Tables
Another new thing that is supported is Google Fusion Tables, a spatial
database system in the cloud. Lutz: I like to describe it this way: imag-
ine that you have ArcView from 1997 and MS Access put together,
free and on the web and collaborative. This Google tool is very simple
and able to be shared with many people. You can instantly publish
data without any local infrastructure and anyone, anywhere can see
the map and see the data.
Location is one of the four data types that you can make your columns
be in Google Fusion tables. Lutz: now the tie-in for geospatial people
is that the location column allows you to instantly visualize on top of
Google Maps whatever data you put up there. You can also do more
advanced querys, for example use a SQL syntax to do proximity
queries or cross-tables within Google Fusion tables. It has also a geo -
coder: if you just have addresses, you can load those in as a column
and if you tell it that that column is location, it will geocode those and
put those on a map. From this, you can take things very quickly. It is
used for example by a data vendor that instantly provides his customers
new maps if theres new data available on a specic topic: in a way
its a kind of advertising where theres new information, says Lutz.
FME Server: A Complex Event Processing (CEP)
Platform
Talking about FME Server, its inventors relate to this product as a com-
plex event processing platform. This is a term used for software that
aggregates information from distributed systems in real time and
applies rules to discern patterns and trends that
would otherwise go unnoticed as one descrip-
tion on the internet puts it. Lutz explains how
this works with FME Server: CEP allows
changes in the environment to come in and then
various workows can be triggered as a result
which in turn can trigger even more results. For
example, if a le arrives somewhere, that is the
stimulus and the server can take that, and per-
haps process the le and delete it.
Safe Software have extended FME Server so
that if a customer want, it can receive email and
have a take action from the email, allowing
more rich datasets to be collected. Lutz: munic-
ipalities for example can make an address like
grafti@vancouver.com and tell their citizens to
take a photo with their phone if they see graf-
ti. The phone will geotag everything and now
users can get instantly a crowd-sourced
database of location-aware photos. These can
then use be used for some of the more compli-
cated things in FME, to see if any trends are happening. This shows
that Safe Software understands the power of social media and con-
nects with the world out there, sharing important data among its users.
FME Store
A last enhancement worth noting that comes with FME 2012 is the FME
Store, which makes third party components such as Custom
Transformers, Custom Formats, and workspaces available for down-
load directly within the product. Lutz mentions already getting feed-
back from customers nding useful things, but that a lot has been avail-
able for years on FME PDF without people nding it.
The next step after that is to include some capabilities that actually
require a transaction of some kind says Lutz. We created FME Store
because FME has a huge ecosystem out there and we have never had
an easy way to nd everything that the massive user community has
created. Right now were hoping that FME store is a way to gather that
together.
Internet: www.safe.com
43
I n t e r v i e w I n t e r v i e w
Dale Lutz
C
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When selecting raw data for value adding we do have today many more options
than ever before. Images are very much appreciated and preferred because of
their high information content. When it comes to non-terrestrial platforms we do
have the choice between satellite, regular aerial and UAV imagery. The choice
option cannot always be realized, because very often the circumstances, as pro-
ject parameters, image availability, costs, etc. will dictate the selection and use.
H
igh-resolution satellite images are on the mar-
ket for a number of years, most of them pro-
viding stereo-processing capabilities. Imagery
with 50 cm footprint is readily available, with the
prospect that GeoEye-2 with 30 cm footprint will be
launched in 2013.
This puts satellite images in competition with aerial
imagery at medium resolution. In this context we have
to understand that both data sources do have distinct
advantages and disadvantages, which are briey list-
ed here.
Pro satellite images:
The satellite platform is operational 365 days
of the year
Frequent re-visit times (e.g. every 4 days
or even more)
The satellite can easily access remote or
restricted areas
There are no Air Trafc Control restrictions
Contra satellite images:
The image acquisition geometry is not very exible
The imaging time is xed. It cannot be optimized
with respect to weather conditions and cloud cover-
age
The image resolution is xed for a particular sensor
and low compared to most aerial imagery. Aerial
images can be collected with the same resolution
(in high altitude mode), if necessary
The radiometric resolution is often too low (problems
in shadows and saturation areas)
When selecting images, a major parameter is their
spatial resolution, expressed in ground pixel size (foot-
print), which again is tightly correlated to the resolu-
tion and accuracy of the derived products (3D mod-
els, DTMs, maps, ortho-images, etc.). The selection of
any one of the data sources depends on many fac-
tors. The decision can only be made efciently and
economically when all the project parameters are
available.
It is a common practice to compare satellite and aeri-
al images solely on the basis of the sizes of their foot-
prints. This is insufcient and may lead to wrong con-
clusions. We have observed many problems with satel-
lite imagery, which have led to low image quality.
Among those are radiometric calibration problems,
weather inuences, atmospheric effects, specular
reections leading to spilling/blooming, saturated
areas, clouds, etc. Usually, when down-sampling aeri-
al imagery to the same nominal pixel size as the cor-
responding satellite images, the aerials will even then
be of better image quality and show much more image
details. Therefore it is highly advisable, if not manda-
tory, to use MTF (Modular Transfer Function)-measures
for comparison. Then, under equal geometrical, image
quality and resolution conditions we can expect from
satellite imagery the same accuracy performance as
from aerials. After all, the data processing is not so
much different.
In this context 3D Mapping from Space (by using
satellite images) has become an issue of discussions.
In the literature we nd many predictions and recom-
mendations, but mostly without substantial empirical
evidence. 3D mapping is very often reduced either to
the generation of ortho-images or/and to the geo-ref-
erencing accuracy and DTM generation accuracy. But
mapping is much more, as we all know. 3D mapping
from satellite imagery is still a topic which causes
many misconceptions.
Mapping has grown way beyond the traditional
domain of topo-mapping and thematic mapping.
Markets for geospatial technologies include nowadays
applications in insurance and risk management, miti-
gation of natural and man-made hazards, real estate,
Location-based Services, environmental monitoring,
car navigation, homeland security and many more.
The data contained in modern forms of topo-maps, so-
called landscape models, can in the future serve as
the backbone of these diverse applications.
Now the key question boils down to: should these 3D
landscape models be generated from aerials or satel-
lite images? For reasons mentioned above, aerials are
still the data source of choice for me, but satellite
images are a much welcomed and often a necessary
substitute. We should appreciate these options and
alternatives, understand their shortcomings and con-
sider them in our data processing routines.
Prof. em. Dr. Armin Gruen,
agruen@geod.baug.ethz.ch
Institute of Conservation and Building
Research, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Currently Principal Investigator at the
Singapore-ETH Centre FCL (Future Cities
Laboratory), CREATE Tower, University
Town, NUS, Singapore
Satellite versus aerial images
not always a matter of choice!
C o l u mn
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June 2012
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E v e n t
A Platform to address a Complexity of Issues
GIS in Aviation
On April 3 and 4 the 2nd International Aviation GIS Summit took place at Brussels Airport, Belgium. It
provided an excellent forum for exchange of knowledge on the use of GIS technology for a wide
range of aviation organizations. More than sixty participants shared experience and ideas on the use
of GIS and related technologies, and discussed current challenges.
The world of aviation
The management of aviation information systems is diverse and com-
plex. Airport facilities are huge with thousands of square meters of
buildings, pavement area and the surrounding environment to be man-
aged and maintained. Day and night there are numerous activities and
movements on the ground, in terminals and in the air. All this constant-
ly needs proper handling of logistics, good maintenance and adequate
actions in case of unexpected situations. Since the airspace is getting
more crowded and there is no room to expand, the pressure on air-
ports is mounting.
Combining air, ground and terminal data
So what does this imply for airports? According to Transportation
Industry Manager USA Terry Bills airport data are commonly divided
into air, ground and terminal and these need to be combined in order
to become more effective and efcient. Bills: There is a need for com-
mon data to be used and shared by a large number of systems. Think
of all kinds of management: facility, maintenance, utility and security,
to mention just a few. All these different types of information and sys-
tems need to be linked. For example: oor plans or surrounding areas
can be linked to a maintenance management system in order to con-
stantly be informed about the conditions, to make work orders and to
understand current conditions. Floor plans and maintenance manage-
ment systems can also be linked for utility and asset management
means. There are huge efciencies to be gained when different groups
dont have to gather the same information.
Current situation
What is the current situation of GIS in aviation? Bills: GIS is used by a
great number of major airports whereas most regional airports are get-
ting familiar with it or are just starting to recognize and understanding
the power of GIS within their organization. Avinor of Norway, Brussels
Airport, Aena of Spain and Schiphol, Amsterdam, are using the Esri
ArcGIS platform.
He continues: The advantage of our system is that it is open and
designed to link to other technologies such as IBM Maximo, SAP, and
many other IT solutions. It can provide core information about all aspects
regarding an airport. GIS enables airports and aviation administra-
tions to manage, analyze and combine all kinds of data and putting it
in the hands of end users quickly. But it can also be used to generate a
3D model of airport buildings for example, accompanied by all the
information attached to that model.
Esri & airports
How can Esri facilitate airports? Ian Koeppel, Transportation Business
Devel op ment Manager, Europe: Esris ArcGIS software is used by
many airports, typically behind the scenes. The need for common data
for enterprise systems and real time decision systems put more empha-
sis on GIS as a solution for the ofce and the in the eld. The objective
of this meeting was to connect airports to technology providers and
geospatial integrators such as Critigen, establishing a forum for
exchanging experience and expertise. The success of last years avia-
tion summit at Orly Airport in Paris, France, convinced us that there is
a great need for airports, aviation administrations and technology
providers to help leverage GIS for meeting todays and tomorrows
challenges.
About the summit
The aviation summit comprised two days that were fully packed with
presentations and time for networking between a diversity of partici-
pants. Representatives from major airports such as Brussels, Schiphol,
Madrid and Manchester and civil aviation organizations from Belgium,
Norway, and Slovakia discussed GIS for safety management, sustain-
ability, carbon management and growing the business. On the second
day more technical topics like GIS Standard for SESAR SWIM
(Eurocontrol), the PANDA Project (Avinor) and Building AIM Solutions
using GIS (CGx AERO) were discussed. The sponsoring companies
for both days were NICE, Idom, CGX Aero and Critigen.
Brussels Airport: an advanced user of GIS
With 15 years of GIS experience, Brussels airport is without doubt an
advanced user. Their GIS system named AirportView, based on Esri
ArcGIS, provides an interface to maps, plans and other data used by
the whole user community. Users entrust their data to Geomatics for
management in ArcGIS and the FMIS database ensuring the quality,
accuracy and reliability of available asset information. In 2010 Brussels
airport faced a problem of snow/ice removal. AirportView in combi-
nation with Sharepoint proved to be a great support in providing an
operational status management and communication tool for winter oper-
46
June 2012
E v e n t
By Sonja van Poortvliet
ations. Other usage such as more operational status, airside works and
apron management is currently under investigation.
Single European Sky - ADQ
Margaret Giffen held a very interesting presentation about Aeronautical
Data and Information Quality (ADQ) and its consequences for airports.
The reason for ADQ is that by 2030 there will be between 1.7 and
2.2 times as many ights in Europe as there were in 2007, while ight
safety has to be ensured. According to the Eurocontrol website there is
room for improvement in the quality of aeronautical data because of
the complexity of the data processes, and reliance on paper-based sys-
tems and human input.
Giffen is Head of Data Management Technical and aeronautical infor-
mation for Avinor AS, a state-owned company that operates 46 civil
airports in Norway. She explained the ADQ requirements address the
quality of aeronautical data and aeronautical information for the single
European sky. As data originators and owners of the aerodrome map-
ping database airports face signicant challenges.
Giffen made clear that some of the requirements set by ADQ cannot
be easily met. There are lots of shalls in the compliance examples I
am showing you right now. For example: it is stated that where formal
arrangements cannot be established with data suppliers, the designer
shall validate the data. But how can we validate the data? Terrain
data is another headache to Giffen: There is a huge area of terrain
around each of the 46 airports that we own. All this is well mapped
but we dont have metadata of those areas. However this is one of the
requirements for ADQ. So whats the option? Mapping the areas again?
That is too pricy. She ended her presentation by concluding that it is
necessary for all major airports to engage with Aeronautical Information
Management (AIM) providers, other aerodrome operators and data
originators as soon as possible.
SGIS: the Geographical Information System of
Schiphol
Nico Wasserman, Schiphol Airports, manager of Asset Information
Management and Geographic Information talked about Facilities
Unveiled in a Spatial Environment (FUSE) GIS. He explained that cur-
rently functional management is decentralized at Schiphol, that there is
separate functionality development as well as lots of applications so
that the user is like a disc jockey. He pointed out the preferred situa-
tion: that of a central source (Esri) with all unied information and cen-
tral functional maintenance and one viewer for all assets both inside
and outside of buildings, on and above the ground. GIS is used as a
starting portal and can be applied for tracking airplane movements in
the air and vehicles on the ground, internal mobile employees and his-
torical trends, said Wasserman. It can also be applied for tracing
utilities (gas, water, electricity) to get the complete picture and to know
where the rst valve is.
Not only one viewer for all assets was desired but also one system to
maintain the information so it will be accurate, complete and actual,
with the editing process taking place directly on the source.
Data conversion and the love for 3D
Data conversion is necessary to enable FUSE and Schiphol is undertak-
ing several steps to make this happen. This varies from harmonization
of objects (meaning, attri butes) to transforming AutoCAD plus Oracle
to ArcFM UT and SDE. While working on this Schiphol encounters dif-
ferent challenges such as lines in AutoCAD that are not connected,
polygons that are not closed and different layers. We rather rework
with the topological rules of SGIS than do conversions, explained
Wasserman.
Schiphol embraces Building Information Modeling (BIM), according to
Wasserman because Schiphol has more than 1,000 edits per year,
data has to be and remain up-to-date, and since it means no lifecycle
management. This BIM is transforming into a Geographical Information
Model Schiphol (GIMS).
Wasserman emphasizes the importance of 3D to Schiphol. We are
doing pilots in collecting 3D data and visualization in 3D. An example
of this is way nding: are all the signs visible? We also incorporate
oblique photos. We use 3D for security purposes; it is a means to edu-
cate new security personnel, but also for camera positioning to deter-
mine lines of sight.
Mobile SGIS
Future plans of Schiphol Airport involve mobile SGIS (viewing and edit-
ing) on laptops and possibly tablets, and intelligent maps that enable
camera viewing area status (based on asset status) and queuing infor-
mation. Furthermore Schiphol anticipates ArcGIS version 10.1 will open
up possibilities in the eld of 3D, Lidar data, workowmanager and
ArcGIS for AutoCAD versus standard export/import. The webviewer
will mean authorizations on roles, the integration of Cyclomedia data
and Lidar data.
Conclusion
There seems to be quite a gap between the use and awareness of GIS
among smaller and major airports in Europe. However for both there
is a need to improve the quality of aeronautical data. This summit con-
tained great examples of airports and civil aviation administations work-
ing towards integration of data and services in order to be fully pre-
pared for the future. They proved that a proper GIS platform can be
the answer to all round management, making real-time decisions and
a single European sky.
For more information, have a look at: www.eurocontrol.int
E v e n t
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Mobile Hardware
A survey of corporate users in the USA by Good
Technology found that Apples iPhone 4S is the most
popular smartphone with 37 percent of all mobile
activations for the rst quarter of 2012 (four times
that of any other device). The iPad 2 claimed the sec-
ond spot overall, with 17.7 percent of activations for
the quarter, with the newly released iPad claiming
4.3 percent of all activations for the quarter, and an
impressive 12.1 percent of activations in March
alone. Android smartphones represented 26.1 per-
cent of all activations for the quarter, while Android
tablets came in at 2.7 percent.
Apple mobile products continue to be the most popu-
lar mobile choice within corporations. Yet, Android is
now challenging iOS in the consumer market. And
with Windows increasing popularity, competition in
the mobile hardware space will continue to grow.
Mobile Apps
Today most mobile apps are targeted at the Apple
iOS and Android platforms. Weve mentioned in pre-
vious columns, there are two possible approaches to
mobile software; web or installed apps, lets explain
that in practical terms. Thinking about the gas pipeline
business, much activity is conducted on site.
Operations is a key department. Many of those work-
ing in operations carry mobile devices, though they
are not all tech savvy, the use of mobile apps provid-
ing them with simplied workows could dramatical-
ly improve how they complete their daily tasks.
Increases in efciency, thus reduces company costs.
Lets imagine a potential scenario. An operations
manager needs to record safety inspections data on
site. Location, time, text and image data needs col-
lecting. His smartphone has all the tools needed to
do this work; a camera, mobile app designed to pro-
vide a workow targeted at the task in hand, local
and network storage of the data. So will a web based
mobile app or installed mobile app best serve his pur-
pose? In this case an installed app. There are two
reasons why this is the case. First, working with
imagery and local storage is not possible through a
browser based app. As is the case on PCs, largely
for security reasons, browsers have limited access to
local resources. Second, it is quite possible that the
operations manager will be in areas without wi-
access. No wi- access eliminates the possibility of
using web based apps. In this case, any operations
data required, needs storing and accessing locally.
So interactive maps, base maps and pipeline rele-
vant layers, will need to be stored as tile packages
on the device.
Locational Accuracy
Mention need be made of accuracy. At present most
mobile devices have GPS accuracy to around 5m.
Conversations we have recently had with the US
Forest Service and Chevron, have raised major con-
cerns over this level of accuracy. They need sub metre
accuracy. Efforts are now underway to improve these
ground readings. The US based Gas Technology
Institute recently announced a new high accuracy
GPS integration with tablet devices used to document
new as-built pipeline installations.
Mobile Location Solutions
The geoinformatics sector is gradually undergoing
change. The niche that was GIS is beginning to coa-
lesce with a plethora of other location focused ser-
vices. A number of traditional GIS companies have
widened their focus and mission to location technolo-
gists. The advance of the mobile revolution is expos-
ing a wider audience to spatial tools and solutions.
Attend any Esri presentation and you will hear
increasing reference to satisfying non-GIS users.
Google have started moving into areas traditionally
served by GIS. Attending a recent oil and gas work-
shop, we listened to Google directly encouraging
ArcGIS application developers to start looking at their
solutions. Consumer focused location based service
providers such as Foursquare are using location tech-
nology for marketing and advertising purposes.
Indoor Positioning System (IPS) is a navigation sys-
tem which works indoors. Though still in the develop-
ment stages, this system will allow for indoor geoin-
formatics.
The geospatial world is changing, those focused on
geoinformatics are being presented with a huge
opportunity to move from the periphery to the centre
of the information technology stage.
Mobile Technology Review
The mobile market is in a very fluid state. New hardware releases, differing
approaches to app development and new tools to help improve locational accu-
racy are just a few of these areas of change. The lack of maturity is one of the
reasons why the market remains consumer driven. Business fear any invest-
ment today will need replacing tomorrow. But enterprise adoption of mobile is
beginning to ramp up.
Matt Sheehan is Principal and Senior
Developer at WebmapSolutions. The
company build location focused
mobile applications for GIS, mapping
and location based services (LBS).
Matt can be reached at
matt@webmapsolutions.com.
C o l u mn
48
C o l u mn
June
01 June Spatial Analysis
Newcastle University, Newcastle, U.K.
E-mail: ceg.cpd@ncl.ac.uk
Internet: www.ncl.ac.uk/cegs.cpd/cpd/giscourses.php
03-09 June 10th Annual Summer Institute on
Geographic Information Science:Interoperability
360
Florence, Italy
E-mail: info@vespucci.org
Internet: www.vespucci.org
04 June FME World Tour
Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: fme@conterra.de
Internet: www.conterra.de/fme/worldtour/index_es.shtm
Madrid, Spain
Internet: www.conterra.de/fme/worldtour/index_es.shtm
04-07 June HEXAGON 2012
Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.
Internet: www.hexagonconference.com
Dsseldorf, Germany
Internet: www.fme-wt.de
10-16 June ASPRS SAC - 1st Annual Summer
Conference Multi-Source Geospatial Data Fusion
George Mason University Campus, Fairfax, VA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.asprs.org/Conferences/SAC-2012
Berlin, Germany
11 June Mobile GIS
Newcastle University, Newcastle, U.K.
E-mail: ceg.cpd@ncl.ac.uk
Internet: www.ncl.ac.uk/cegs.cpd/cpd/mobilegis.php
12-13 June MapInfo Professional Advanced Level
Training Course
CDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.
E-mail: sales@cdrgroup.co.uk
Internet: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi3info.htm
13-14 June Geo Maritime
London, U.K.
E-mail: geomaritime@wbr.co.uk
Internet: www.geo-maritime.com
17-23 June 12th International GeoConference
SGEM 2012
Congress Centre Flamingo Grand, Albena, Bulgaria
E-mail: sgem@sgem.org
Internet: www.sgem.org
18-22 June 4th International Conference on
Cartography and GIS
Black Sea Summer Resort, Albena, Bulgaria
Internet: www.cartography-
gis.com/4thConference/Index.html
19-20 June MapInfo Professional Foundation Level
Training Course
19-21 June GeoSummit
Bern, Switzerland
Internet: www.geosummit.ch/de/index.html
Munich, Germany
21-23 June G-spatial EXPO 2012
Pacico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan
Internet: www.g-expo.jp/en/index.html
25-28 June 3rd International MapWindow Open-
Source GIS Conference
Van Hall-Larenstein University, Velp
Internet: www.mapwindow.org/conference/2012/
xchange.php
25-28 June 14th International CARIS User
Conference
Vancouver, Canada
Internet: www.caris.com/caris2012
25-30 June The World GIS Summit
Istanbul, Turkey
E-mail: info@gissummit.org
Internet: www.gissummit.org
26-27 June 6th International Terrestrial Laser
Scanning User Meeting
Nice, France
Internet: www.optech.com/i3dugm
July
01-03 July COM.Geo 2012: The 3rd
International Conference on Computing for
Geospatial Research and Application
Washington, DC, U.S.A.
E-mail: eddy@com-geo.org
Internet: www.com-geo.org/conferences/2012/index.htm
01-07 July 10th Annual Summer Institute on
Geographic Information Science: Spatial
Information in Science and Society (10th
Anniversary Conference)
Florence, Italy
E-mail: info@vespucci.org
Internet: www.vespucci.org
02-04 July DCH2012 International and
Interdisciplinary Conference on Digital Cultural
Heritage
St. Di des Vosges, France
Internet: http://dch2012.net
03-06 July GI_Forum 2012 Symposium and
Exhibit
Salzburg, Austria
E-mail: ofce@gi-forum.org
Internet: www.gi-forum.org
10-11 July MapInfo MapBasic Essentials Training
Course
10-13 July 10th International Symposium on
Spatial Accuracy Assessment in Natural
Resources and Environmental Sciences (Accuracy
2012)
Florianpolis, SC, Brazil
E-mail: carlos.vieira@ufsc.br
Internet: www.accuracy2012.ufsc.br
14-22 July 39th COSPAR Scientic Assembly
Global Education Centre, Mysore, India
E-mail: cospar@cosparhq.cnes.fr
Internet: www.cospar-assembly.org
16-20 July AGSE 2012 - Applied Geoinformatics
for Society and Environment
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
E-mail: agse@hft-stuttgart.de
Internet: http://applied-geoinformatics.org
17-18 July MapInfo Professional Foundation Level
Training Course
23-27 July Esri International User Conference
San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.esri.com/events/user-conference
August
12-16 August SPIE Optics + Photonics 2012
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: http://spie.org/optics-
photonics.xml?WT.mc_id=RCal-OPW
14-15 August MapInfo Professional Foundation
Level Training Course
25 August-01 September XXII Congress of the ISPRS
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne,
Australia
E-mail: isprs2012@icms.com.au
Internet: www.isprs2012-melbourne.com
September
03-11 September GEOSTAT 2012 Mnster
University of Mnster,Mnster, Germany
Internet: www.geostat-course.org/Muenster_2012
04-05 September MapInfo Professional
Advanced Level Training Course
06-08 September State of the Map 2012
Tokyo, Japan
Internet: http://blog.osmfoundation.org
Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to:calendar@geoinformatics.com
C a l e n d a r 2 0 1 2 / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x
CHC www.chcnav.com 37
DATEM www.datem.com 16
ERDAS www.erdas.com 13
European Space Imaging www.euspaceimaging.com 52
Esri www.esri.com 33
Exelis www.exelisvis.com 9
FOIF www.foif.com.cn 45
Intergeo www.intergeo.de 22
Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 27
Microsoft UltraCam www.iFlyUltraCam.com 41
Optech www.optech.com 51
Pacic Crest www.paciccrest.com/adl 23
Riegl www.riegl.com 21
Spectra Precision www.spectraprecision.com 17
SuperMap www.supermap.com 49
Topcon www.topcon.eu 2
Advertisers Index
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