aac037_globalsept07.pdf - Geospatial World

SEPTEMBER 2007 VOL 11 ISSUE 9

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SEPTEMBER 2007 VOL 11 ISSUE 9

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SURVEYINGSURVEYING

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ArcGIS® Image ServerIncrease the Value of Your Imagery

Copyright © 2007 ESRI. All rights reserved. The ESRI globe logo, ESRI, ArcGIS, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

For more information, visit www.esri.com/is.E-mail: info@

or visit www.esri.com/international

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5G I S D E V E L O P M E N T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 9

COLUMNS

Editorial 07

Reader's column 09

News 10

Blogs 56

Time Line 58

Events 62

ARTICLES

28survey.eduHarshavardhan Madiraju andDr. Satyaprakash

48SatRef - Hong KongSatellite Positioning Reference StationNetworkCHAN Kin-kwok

51Laser Scanners interrestrial surveyingDr. Satyaprakash

INTERVIEW

34Jurgen KliemGeneral Manager, Trimble Survey Division

38Soh Kheng PengChief Surveyor ofSingapore, Singapore LandAuthority

40Eng. Nazek AlSabbaghChief Civil Eng. Officer, Civil Eng.Deptartment, PCFC, Dubai

42Prof. Stig EnemarkPresidentInternational Federa-tion of Surveyors (FIG)

LEADER'S TALK

44Franz Laberl,Microsoft - Photogrammetry

CONFERENCE REPORT

54Map Asia 2007 : AReport

In this issue...

GIS Development is intended for those interestedand involved in GIS related activities. It is hoped thatit will serve to foster a growing network by keepingthe community up-to-date on many activities in thiswide and varied field. Your involvement in providingrelevant information is essential to the success ofthis endeavour.

GIS Development does not necessarily subscribe tothe views expressed in the publication. All viewsexpressed in this issue are those of the contributors.It is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to theinformation provided.

GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published bySanjay Kumar. Press Rajhans Enterprises No: 134, 4th Main Road, Industrial Town,Rajajinagar, Bangalore - 560044, India Publication Address P-82, Sector-11, GautambudhNagar, Noida, India Editor Ravi Gupta

ON THE COVER...

Surveying has evolved from establishingBenchmarks for future surveys, to thepresent use of Total Stations, GPS,'LiDAR on a stick', etc. These Bench-marks continue to hold their ground eventoday and finding one is a delight to thesurveyor. However, it is time now to main-tain these establishments and also createnewer benchmarks for the surveying pro-fession, to not only ensure the futureprospects of the surveyors but also bringback the pride in one of the oldest profes-sions of the world...

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President M P Narayanan Editor in Chief Ravi Gupta Managing Editor Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar

Editorial Team: Honorary Advisor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Associate Editor Dr. Satyaprakash Assistant Editor Saurabh Mishra Sr. Sub Editor Harsha Vardhan Sub Editor Neha Arora, Gaurav Sharma

Sales and Marketing: Regional Managers Middle East Swati Grover North America Annu Negi South East Asia Pacific Sunil Ahuja Regional Sales Managers Europe Niraj South Asia Prashant Joshi Dy. Managers Sales Middle East Sharmishtha SethSouth Asia Anupam Sah, Vivek Rawat South East Asia Pacific Kavitha Seras Marketing Co-ordinator Megha Datta Sales Co-ordinator Uma Shankar Pandey

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7G I S D E V E L O P M E N T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 9

FASTER than fairies, faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; These are the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, which we as school kids used to recite as a part of are

curriculum in class 4-5. The turnaround for Civil Engineering profession, which is closely associated withSurveying and Mapping in India, can be summarized through the above lines.

In 1991, as final year students of engineering, we were concerned with placement or higher studies. Civil Engineering students were in bad shape, with few offers and that too low on remuneration. Later, Iheard many of our Civil Engg batch mates went for higher studies in India and abroad. Some of them hadno options but to take up the job, with whatever remunerations industry had to offer. Things were toughin early 1990s and it became worse, when government froze the recruitment in most of the public sectors.

Pushkar, a batch mate and a Civil Engineering graduate started his career with an annual pay package ofINR 30,000, which was almost half of what was being offered in other engineering disciplines at thattime. Couple of years down the lane when IT started picking up, our effort to bail him out of this situationthrough coaxing, cajoling and argument to join IT sector, went in vain. He was a happy with his rough jeans, T-shirts and hot & sunny construction sites. Some of our fellow Civil Engineers moved to thegreener pastures of Information Technology sector.

Mid 90s, India's central government mandate focused on infrastructure: Roads, Highways, Power, Telecom etc. Large scale work started on National Highways which saw huge amount of money beingspent in these areas. New funding models like Public Private Partnership were being talked about.Pushkar, in the meantime had moved from construction of buildings to roads and highways. He was nowon the move, from Ranchi to Balasore to Cuttack to Hyderabad.

One day in early 2000, I received a call from Pushkar. He was visiting Delhi for an interview and his airfare was being reimbursed by the company which had called him. Till now he had only heard of thisspecial treatment being reserved for the IT professionals, who according to him were soft (working in anair conditioned environment) and special. On his way back from the interview he called up again, withexcitement in his voice. He was talking about gross annual salary in terms of Lakhs (Each Lakh is 100,000).He was being offered nearly 6 Lakhs per annum. This was a milestone for him!

Last month, he was on top of the world, as a leading business house in India had offered him a salary ofnearly 16 Lakhs per annum, along with stock options. Civil Engineers are now being paid! Civil Engineer-ing as a profession, I am sure would again be pursued by enthusiasm. Thanks to appropriate mandate, policy and implementation methods.

Perhaps, Surveying and Mapping would be better off with something more specific in terms of government mandate and policy initiatives. Last year at Map Middle East 2006, Norikazu Watanabe, Managing Director, Sokkia Singapore, in an interview with us said, "It is true that in many instances, theremuneration has been insufficient to attract and maintain a high quality workforce. While increasingsalaries can offset this problem, the key issue is whether customers will bear the increase in costs to coverthe additional expense for employers". A thought, which in a way is also shared by Prof Stig Enemark inhis interview being covered in this issue where he says, "We should work towards making surveyorsproud of their profession". Further, Prof Enemark feels, it has to be initiative directed towards educatingthe politicians about the benefits of this profession.

Last month during the keynote address at Map Asia 2007, Bhupinder Singh, Sr VP, Bentley, said thataccording to market reports the global infrastructure spend will be over US$ 41 Trillion. Out of this over40% spending in power and road sector would be in Asia. It is quite evident too, that infrastructure is quitehigh on agenda in the Asian region. Can the requirements of infrastructure development be looked into inisolation from 'Surveying and Mapping'?

Over the last few years there has been demand from private and public sector for the mapping and surveying professionals. In the days to come, the huge amount of work in the infrastructure sector willplay the detrimental role. If not willingly, the compulsion not to jeopardize economic activities, which isclosely associated with physical infrastructure, can see surveying, one of the oldest profession, actuallytake off.

From Editor’s Desk

“”

Advisory BoardDato’ Dr. Abdul Kadir bin Taib, DeputyDirector General of Survey and Map-ping, Malaysia | Aki A. Yamaura, Sr.Vice President, Asuka DBJ Partners,Japan | Amitabha Pande, Secretary,Inter-State Council, Government ofIndia | Bhupinder Singh, Sr. Vice Presi-

dent, Bentley Systems Inc., USA | Bob

Morris, President, Leica Geosystems

Geospatial Imaging,USA | BVR Mohan

Reddy, Chairman and Managing Direc-

tor, Infotech Enterprises Ltd., India| David Maguire, Director, Products,

Solutions and International, ESRI, USA| Frank Warmerdam, President, OSGeo,

USA | Prof. Ian Dowman, President,

ISPRS, UK | Prof. Josef Strobl, Director,

Centre for Geoinformatics, University of

Salzburg, Austria | Kamal K Singh,

Chairman and CEO, Rolta Group of Com-

panies, India | Prof. Karl Harmsen,

Director, UNU-INRA | Marc Tremblay,

Vice President, Commercial Business

Unit, DigitialGlobe, USA | Mark

Reichardt, President and Chief Operat-

ing Officer, OGC, USA | Prof. Martien

Molenaar, Rector, ITC, The Netherlands| Matthew O’Connell, CEO, GeoEye,

USA | Prof. Michael Blakemore, Emeri-

tus Professor of Geography, University of

Durham, UK | Dr. Milan Konecny, Pres-

ident, International Cartographic Asso-

ciation, Czech Republic | Er.

Mohammed Abdulla Al-Zaffin, Direc-

tor, GIS Centre, Dubai Municipality, UAE| Dr. Prithvish Nag, Director, NATMO,

India | Rajesh C. Mathur, President,

ESRI India | Robert M Samborski, Excu-

tive Director, GITA, USA | Prof. Stig Ene-

mark, President, FIG, Denmark | Prof. V.

S Ramamurthy, Chairman, IIT, Delhi,

India

Surveyor: Pride and Prospects

Maneesh Prasad

Managing Editor & Chief Operating Officer

[email protected]

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9G I S D E V E L O P M E N TS E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Public-PrivatePartnership: ThoughtLeadership &PrecedentsYour article in the July 2007 issue of GISDevelopment "Public-Private Partner-ship: Thought Leadership & Precedents"captures very well the intricate andimportant relationship between thecommercial remote sensing industryand governments.

In 2003, the White House released aCommercial Remote Sensing policy.According to this National SecurityPresidential Directive signed by thePresident, the "the fundamental goal ofthis policy is to advance and protectU.S. national security and foreign policyinterests by maintaining the nation'sleadership in remote sensing spaceactivities, and by sustaining andenhancing the U.S. remote sensingindustry".

In support of this goal the policy saidthe United States Government will"rely to the maximum practical extenton U.S. commercial remote sensingspace capabilities for filling imageryand geospatial needs for military, intel-ligence, foreign policy, homeland secu-rity, and civil users".

As a result of this important policyand to meet the pressing needs formap-accurate unclassified geospatialinformation, the Government's Nation-al Geospatial-Intelligence Agency(NGA) initiated a creative and robustpublic-private partnership with U.S

industry. Called the Nextview Program,the NGA is funding half the develop-ment costs of two next-generationcommercial imaging satellites. BothColorado-based DigitalGlobe and Vir-ginia-based GeoEye will be launchingtheir Nextview satellites in the nearfuture and the companies will be ableto provide customers with half-meterresolution imagery. For specified gov-ernment customers the companies willbe able to sell sub-half-meter imagery.

Since your column dealt with theimportance of public-private partner-ships and you did not mention thisimportant program, I wanted to bring itto your attention.

Matthew O'ConnellCEO, GeoEye

GIS Education in GCCRegionI read your article about GIS Educationin GCC Region, then I thought youmight be able to help me. I am lookingfor Middle East map of Mapinfo formatfor our WEBGIS server, but I couldn’tfind any good supplier with reasonableprice. If you have any informationabout the Map sales company, pleasekindly let me know.

Yufei Wang,[email protected]

This is Riyaz Ahmad Malik from India. Iam working here in Doha Qatar as aland surveyor with an Australian sur-vey company. I was looking forward to

do some training courses related someadvanced techniques in the field of sur-vey.

Please guide me or provide me someinformation what type of Survey or GIStraining I can get here in Qatar.

Riyaz AhmadSurtech Qatar WLL,

[email protected]

GIS Development - The Global GeospatialMagazineI have just for the first time receivedyour magazine” GIS development”,What a great asset to our world of spa-tial information services and products!I commend you for your work welldone!

Our company would be very interest-ed in placing an article on image salesmanagement, explaining our systemfunction and advantages.

Dewald LloydManaging Director,

e-LisoSAT (Pty) Ltd [email protected]

TECHWATCH: Location-based GamingI liked your article on location-basedgaming. Can I reprint it in LBS Globe(www.LBSglobe.com <http://www.LBSglobe.com>)? With full attribution andlinks to your site of course.

David WilliamsPublisher and Executive Editor

LBS Globe,[email protected]

Feedback

Reader’s Column

GIS helps regainforest coverKenya: GIS specialist PeterNdunda is currently run-ning a mapping pro-gramme with the help ofnon-governmental GreenBelt Movement in theMount Kenya and Aber-dares forests. The projecthas mapped the regions todetermine loss of forestcover over a period of time.

"Having identified forest-ed and non-forested areas,we have mapped out areas

that need urgent interven-tion. With support fromlocal communities, we haveplanted trees, which we aremonitoring using high-res-olution images to deter-mine their survival," Ndun-da said. He claimed that theproject had resulted inincreased forest cover,

improved soil quality andbetter management ofwater resources. Plantingtrees in higher ground,helps stabilise the local cli-mate and regulate waterflows. He added that byrehabilitating the forests,ecosystems had been pre-served.

MERIS data forwater concernsZambia: As part of theIWAREMA (IntegratedWater Resource manage-ment for Zambia) project,funded through ESA's DataUser Element, data fromESA's multispectral MERIS(MEdium Resolution Imag-

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

News: APPLICATIONS 1 2 3 4 5 6

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T10

Satellite images, GIS support wildlife conservation

Democratic Republic of Congo: To sup-port the ongoing GIS mapping projectsfor the assessment, management andmonitoring of the Mountain GorillaHabitat and the land changes in andaround the National Parks, 1m naturalcolour IKONOS satellite image mosaichas been produced by Satellite ImagingCorporation (SIC) in cooperation withGeoEye Foundation.

The areas covered were the VirungaNational Park in Congo, VolcanoesNational Park in Rwanda & RwenzoriMountains National Park in Uganda.

Population pressure often leads togreater influence on the environmentand sharper declines in species andecosystems. High-resolution satellitesimages can directly observe species andtheir habitat on the ground and in theirenvironment. These images used in tan-dem with GIS mapping allowsresearchers to predict the best remain-ing areas to protect and manage. Satel-lite data facilitates the production ofglobal land use and land cover maps,and GIS allows researchers to integratesatellite and population data.

ing Spectrometer) sensoraboard ENVISAT was usedto create maps depictingexisting water resources,suitable dam locations andland cover for water relatedissues.

The project is carried outby the Belgium CompanyGIM (Geographic Informa-tion Management) in part-nership with the Universityof Zambia and the Zambianwater authorities.

The project focused on theKafue River Basin, which isa sub-basin of the ZambeziRiver. The rate of urbanisa-tion in the basin has beenunprecedented and hastherefore exceeded the rateof infrastructure develop-

ment and service provision,such as water supply andsanitation.

Land cover and waterresource maps generatedfrom the data will allowauthorities to determinethe expansion of urbanareas and loss of forest andagricultural areas as well ascalculate the risk of erosion,change in water availabili-ty and percentage of sur-face water, which willallow for early flood warn-ings.

GIS model toreduce fuelconsumptionUSA: A project at AuburnUniversity is usingIntermap's GIS 3D roadgeometries to investigate

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USA: Researchers from New Mexico State Universityhave been funded by the National Geospatial-Intelli-gence Agency (NGA) to develop tools for rapid monitor-ing and prediction of water levels in the Rio GrandeBasin. The agency, a part of the Department of Defence,is providing $450,000 over 3 years for the projectthrough its University Research Initiative programme.The researchers will enhance existing and develop newtechniques for using remote-sensing data to monitorwater levels and predict events such as flash floods.

Using already collected meteorological and hydrolog-ical data, plus continuous updates from satelliteimagery and other remote-sensing techniques, theresearchers aim to develop tools to monitor and predictflows in real time .The project will create a hydrologicmodel of the Rio Grande Basin from El Paso North tothe river's headwaters in southern Colorado.

The tools, which will be adaptable to other riverbasins and reservoirs, will be made available to theNGA for use in disaster monitoring. The project will be

undertaken in threestages. The first stage is todevelop the software,along with collectingremote sensing data, ofthe Rio Grande Basin,using a sensor on anunmanned aerial vehiclethat can be put into thesoftware. The second willinvolve analysis of high-resolution commercialsatellite imagery of thesame region & the third,to work with SandiaNational Laboratories toget radar data in the mod-el for further analysis.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 11S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Researchers to develop flood predictionmodel

Max Bleiweiss, Director, Centre for Applied Remote Sensing in Agriculture,Meterology and Environment (NMSC) with student working on software

Water resources map of Zambia

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12 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

and evaluate ways to savefuel. The project's initialfocus is on achieving simu-lation results and designinga predictive cruise con-troller and automatic gearshifting algorithm to calcu-late optimal vehicle speedand gear selection thatimprove fuel economy andoperating costs.

In an effort to address thisproblem, Intermap hassponsored a research teamheaded by Dr. David Bevly,Assistant Professor inmechanical engineering atAuburn University'sSamuel Ginn College ofEngineering.

GPS technology is appliedto estimate the truck posi-tion, while Intermap's 3Droad geometry is used toidentify information on theroad slope that lies ahead.An optimal control systemis then designed to predictand achieve ideal truckvelocity and/or enginespeed, based on the roadgeometry, with the consid-eration of fuel consumptionand travel time.

LiDAR survey ofHawaiiUSA: The majority of thesouth shores of the Hawai-ian islands, including Oahu,Kauai, Maui, and the BigIsland have been mappedusing LiDAR data obtainedfrom the survey, for a Fed-eral Emergency Manage-ment Agency (FEMA) hurri-cane study by Airborne 1

Corporation. The data hasbeen provided to Dewberry,that provides the FEMAwith disaster response andrecovery assistance.

“To identify flood riskfrom hurricane drivenstorm surge in Hawaii withgreater precision, we inte-grated our hurricane andHAZUS modeling data withcoastal floodplain maps.These new generationmaps will help in savinglives and accurately identi-fy property risk” said RayLenaburg, Senior Engineerfor FEMA Region IX.

GIS to determine sizeof cash cropsPakistan: The Sindh Min-istry of Agriculture, Pak-istan has launched a GISproject to determine size ofcash crops. The systemlaunched in collaborationwith Suparco is based on

satellite data and is beingimplemented in a few dis-tricts on trial basis. Secre-tary of AgricultureMohkam Din Qadri saidthat the existing conven-tional method to determinesize of crop would continuealong with the satellite sur-

vey to ensure greater accu-racy of the crop data.

The manual system, eventhough consumes moretime and requires a lot ofmanpower, takes intoaccount the damaged orinfested portion of a stand-ing crop.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Mexico: ESA satellites trackedthe path of Hurricane Dean, asit ripped across the CaribbeanSea carrying winds as high as260 km/h. Dean was upgradedto a Category 5, the highest onthe Saffir-Simpson scale, beforepummelling the peninsula.

Instruments aboard ESA'sENVISAT and ERS-2 satellitesallow them to peer through hur-ricanes. ENVISAT carries bothoptical and radar instruments,enabling researchers to observehigh-atmosphere cloud struc-ture and pressure, in the visibleand infrared spectrum.

Dr Ad Stoffelen of the RoyalNetherlands MeteorologicalInstitute (KNMI), whichprocesses ESA’s scatterometerimages, said: "Observed windsfrom hurricane Dean by ESA'sERS-2 scatterometer are pro-vided to meteorologists withinthe hour. This C-band radarwavelength scatterometer

peeks right into the ‘eye’ of ahurricane like Dean, providingtimely and precise informationon its position and force.

"The wind field derived from theESA ERS-2 scatterometermeasurements are distributedvia a EUMETSAT (EuropeanOrganisation for the Exploitationof Meteorological Satellites)project to a registered database

of a few hundred users, origi-nating from all over the world,includng the Americas, Aus-tralia, Asia and Europe. Scat-terometer winds are useddirectly by shift meteorologistsin forecast rooms and to ini-tialise Numerical Weather Pre-diction models aiding the fore-casting of hurricanes 5 daysahead."

Hurricane Deantracked from space

News: APPLICATIONS

Satellite Image of Hurricane from ESA

A photograph of Hurrican Dean

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GIS to fightdengue epidemicin BangkokThailand: Authorities inBangkok are resorting to aGIS to fight the dengue epi-demic.

Bangkok governor ApirakKosayodhin said, a longerrainy season and changingtemperatures have favoredthe breeding of the mosqui-to that transmit the fataldisease.

Since Jan. 1, there were3,089 cases of dengue inBangkok, four of whichwere fatal.

The governor added theGeographic InformationSystems will help the city

officials to find critical epi-demic areas and allowthem to refine their focus infighting the infections.

Almost a decade ago, theAIT (Asian Institute of Tech-nology) along with theDepartment of Communi-cable Diseases Control,Ministry of Public Health,Thailand conducted an epi-demiological and ecologicalstudy integrating RS andGIS to study the relation-ship between vector bornedisease and vegetation cov-er with focus on Malaria.

The findings of this studywill be used as a bench-mark for developing strati-gies to combat Dengue.

Vietnam surveyedusing LiDARVietnam: A survey was car-ried out using LiDAR inVietnam by Geokosmos.

Geokosmos surveyed theMekong Delta using ALTM3100 (Optech Inc., Canada),LiDAR system, with theintegrated inertial meas-urement unit (IMU), manu-factured by SAGEM, France.The total territory of air-borne survey comprised

2100 sq. km. Airborne laserscanning was conducted atthe height of 1500 m withhigh density of laser points,2 points per 1 sq.m.

Based on the acquireddata Vietnamese specialistswill be able to create a digi-tal terrain model (DTM) ofthe Mekong Delta. Havingin mind the annual precipi-tation index and using DTMVietnamese scientists willbe able to model river flood

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 13S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

India: Google has been sending GPSkits to India to enable locals to makedetailed maps of their areas. Oncethe data is uploaded and then veri-fied against other participant's datait would become part of the map. Theprocess is very reminiscent of whatOpen Street Map, the communitymap-building project, has beendoing.

The biggest difference could be thatthe data is owned by Google and isnot freely available back to the com-munity like in case of OSM. MichaelT. Jones (CTO of Google Earth) at theCambridge Conference, said: "Now,everything you see here was createdby people in Hyderabad. We have a

pilot programrunning in India.We've doneabout 50 citiesnow, in theircompleteness,with driving directions andeverything - completelydone by having locals usesome software we haven'treleased publicly to drawtheir city on top of our pho-to imagery," he added.

It is interesting to see thecontinuing inclusion ofuser-generated content inmapping data through theprocess of 'crowdsourcing'.

Google uses Crowdsourcing to map cities

A similar project, on a pilot basis, waslaunched by the Department of Science andTechnology (DST) and GIS Development Pvt.Ltd., Noida in 20 schools in the Almora dis-trict of Uttaranchal state in the year 2003.Under the project, selected students fromeach of the 20 schools were given trainingon the use of GIS, GPS and mapping andwere facilitated in generating GIS basedmaps and attribute data of their neighbour-hood. The students used PDA-based GPSrunning mapping software to collect the mapdata, along with the basic surveying kit. Theattribute data was collected in a participatoryapproach and was further used to developseveral theme based maps of the region. Totake it further, the teachers of the schoolswere also trained and the necessary hard-ware and software was given to the partici-pating schools. More information on the proj-ect is available at http://www.gisdevelop-ment.net/sgis/


dynamics and thus, fore-cast flood consequences.

Seawaterintrusion raisesconcerns in theMediterranean Spain: Experts in Spainhave identified theMediterranean and SouthAtlantic coastlines as beingthe biggest victims of sea-water intrusion, the culpritin groundwater pollutionin the country.Professor Jose Benevente Herrera from the Water

Institute of the Universityof Granada, Spain that sea-water intrusion has con-taminated around 60% ofSpanish Coastal aquifers. In the EU-funded project onSustainable water manage-ment in Mediterraneancoastal acquifers (SWIMED),researchers aimed to devel-op an integrated approachcombining advanced computational tools andGIS for sustainable waterresources management incoastal aquifers of theMediterranean. Collecteddata sets are combinedwith GIS for thematic mapproduction. 3-D numericalmodels for groundwater

flow, seawater intrusionand optimisation proce-dures are developed andimplemented.

British policeputs crime onmapUK: South Yorkshire Policehas implemented crime-mapping technology, sav-ing the force over £50,000per month through effi-ciency improvements. Theintranet mapping service(IMS) is based on a GIS fromsupplier ESRI (UK) and givesall members of the forceaccess to crime and anti-social behaviour informa-tion.

Police analysts producethe latest neighbourhoodcrime trends and resourceallocation data using theCrime Analyst technology,and IMS will give policeofficers direct access to theresults up to 20 times fasterthan making a traditionalmanual request as the datais refreshed on the IMSevery two weeks, that is inline with National Intelli-gence Model taskingprocesses.

Over the next 12 months,the force plans to updatesoftware to further expandIMS's capabilities, so thatthe users can request, forexample, specific time peri-

News: APPLICATIONS

UK: De Beers is currently using thelaser mapping technology from 3DLaser Mapping Ltd.to improve safe-ty at the Kimberley diamond minein South Africa. The 'SiteMonitor'laser scanning system is designedto capture slope measurements andwill help identify potential failureswithin the pit wall. De Beers willalso use the system to measure thevolume of waste dumps and stock-piles around the mine.

The 3D Laser Mapping SiteMonitorsystem, including a high perform-ance Riegl LMS-Z420i laser scanner,will be used by De Beers to capturehighly accurate measurements ofthe Dolerites and Shales that makeup the upper portions of the pitwalls.

The laser scanning system willalso be used for other tasks aroundthe mine, maximising the return oninvestment in the equipment. Pre-viously the large and complexwaste dumps and stockpiles aroundthe mine were measured using air-borne laser scanning. By using theRiegl laser scanner the surveyorscan perform volume measurementswith zero lead-time whilst improv-ing the safety of personnel.

The De Beers Kimberley mine,known as the 'Big Hole', is thelargest man-made excavation inthe world, yielding 14.5 millioncarats (2,722 kg) of diamonds whilein operation. It is located next tothe N12 Johannesburg to CapeTown freeway.

3D Laser Mapping helps monitor diamond mine

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ods of crime information."The current version does

not support inspectorsinputting their own dateparameters and will onlyreveal the last two weeks ofdata...." said Paul ThompsonSouth Yorkshire Police's GISanalyst.

GIS solutionhelps managehousingprogrammeUK: A software has beendeveloped by ESRI (UK) thatwould enable the HousingCorporation, the govern-ment’s agency for investingin and regulating housingassociations, to compile

and analyse data on hous-ing stock levels and recorddetails of rent and lettingsacross England.

The software will alsohelp the Housing Corpora-tion manage its biggestever investment pro-gramme of £3.9bn whichwill fund 84,000 newhomes. The corporationwill use the new GIS analy-sis tool, based on ESRI(UK)’s desktop and internetmapping solutions, toextract information fromits database and display itin maps. The informationcovers property size andtype, number of rooms,benefit claimants and oth-er information affectingtenants or properties thatcome under the responsi-bility of social landlordsand the governance of theHousing Corporation.

Flood recoverygains supportfrom OrdnanceSurveyUK: Ordnance Survey’sMapping for Emergenciesteam has delivered a vari-ety of digital data, free ofcharge, to local authoritystaff, fire & rescue services,for emergency planning &managing the evacuationfrom homes at risk of flood-ing in South Yorkshire.

Help was needed so thatthe potential extent offlooding around the Ulleydam near Rotherham plan-ners could be gauged.

Ordnance Survey map-ping is also providing thebasis for overlays of aerialimages and road trafficdata as different agencies &incident-response teamsvisualise the extent of cur-rent and potential floodingand gauge optimal rescueroutes.

One of the key scenarioshas been evacuation plan-ning around the CastleMeads power station inGloucester.

The information fromOrdnance Survey includesstreet-level mapping, 1:50 000 Scale Colour Rastermapping, digital heightdata (Land-Form PROFILEPlus), Points of Interestdata, and the Topography

and Imagery Layers fromthe OS MasterMap productportfolio. Paper mappinghas also been supplied:around 150 OS LandrangerMaps and weatherproof OSExplorer Maps were dis-patched to staff at Glouces-tershire County Councilwithin an hour of theirrequest.

BlueSkyhelps battleclimate changeUK: BlueSky International Ltd. hasproduced a colour coded temper-ature map of every property inHastings in a bid to help theCouncil tackle fuel scarcity andclimate change. The map showsthe level of heat released fromevery building highlighting proper-ties with high levels of heat lossand therefore poor insulation orproperties with low levels of heatloss that may be 'under' heated oreven empty.

The Council is using the BlueSkydata to target remedial action onCouncil owned properties andidentify households that may beeligible for a range of grants andadditional support.

The property level thermal infraredsurvey data was captured usingan airborne thermal infrared sen-sor, a modified version of technol-ogy used by the military for nightvision. Captured during an earlywinter evening in order to capturethe widest variations in tempera-

ture the raw surveydata was thenprocessed byBlueSky to calculatebuilding heat lossscores for everybuilding polygon inthe Council's Ord-nance Survey basemapping.

The processed datawas delivered to theCouncil as a colourcoded map displayingbuilding scores, pro-viding an instantsnapshot of the bor-

ough and as a map accuratedataset for use in the Council'sGIS.

The thermal survey was initiallycommissioned by the PolicyDepartment to help target fuelpoverty. Correlation of the thermalvalues with other council records,including deprivation indicators,housing stock condition reportsand the Councils address data-base allows officers to quicklyidentify both council and privatelyowned properties with high levelsof heat loss and therefore poten-tially poor insulation.

15G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

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Colour coded temperature map of property

ISRO to launchmini-satellitesIndia: Indian SpaceResearch Organisation(ISRO) will be launching aseries of miniature satel-lites. The exercise will cre-ate a platform, which willcater to the needs of devel-oping countries and thedomestic scientific commu-nity in the year 2008.

“ISRO is developing a 100-kg "satellite bus" asdemand has picked up forlaunching nano-satellites,”Chairman G MadhavanNair said.

The platform will have animaging system that can beused by third world coun-tries. "With low-cost termi-nals, they can receive dataabout their region, whichwill serve the needs of vari-ous developing countries,"added Nair.

Thailand to launchTHEOS satelliteThailand: Country's envi-ronmental satellite for sur-veying natural resources,THEOS (Thailand EarthObservation Systems), isscheduled to be launched inNovember. The satellitedata from THEOS is expect-ed to aid the state officials

deal with natural disasters,control drug trafficking andpredict crop estimates.

Charnchai Peanvijarn-pong, Deputy Director ofGeo-Informatics and theSpace Technology Develop-ment Agency (GISTDA),said that agreements hadalready been signed withseveral state agencies touse the satellite's services.These include the Royal Irri-gation Department, theOffice of the Narcotics Con-trol Board (ONCB) and theDefence Ministry.

Mr Charnchai said thatthe ONCB would use the

information from the satel-lite to detect opium fieldsand the Defence Ministrycould use the informationto produce higher qualitymaps far cheaper thanusing information fromaerial mapping surveys.Costing 200 million USD,the THEOS project was initi-ated in 2004, in associationwith Eads Astrium.

Getmappingreleases MobileImagery APIUK: Getmapping hasreleased Imagery API formobile devices. The API is

expected to give developersaccess to Getmapping'scomplete archive of aerialphotography of Britain, at avariety of zoom levels up to12.5 cm per pixel. Because ofthe increased clarity pro-vided by the photography,mobile users will be able tosee minute details on theground anywhere in thecountry.

The API is a lightweightREST (RepresentationalState Transfer )-based inter-face that allows applicationdevelopers to integrateGetmapping's imagery intomobile services.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0716

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France: Scheduled forlaunch in the spring of2008, the Gravity fieldand steady-state OceanCirculation Explorer(GOCE) is dedicated tomeasure the Earth's gravi-ty field and modelling thegeoid with extremelyhigh accuracy and spatialresolution. It is the firstEarth Explorer Core mis-

sion to be developed aspart of ESA's Living PlanetProgramme.

The geoid, which isdefined by the Earth'sgravity field, is a surfaceof equal gravitationalpotential. It follows ahypothetical ocean sur-face at rest (in the absenceof tides and currents). Aprecise model of the

Earth's geoid is crucial forderiving accurate meas-urements of ocean circula-tion, sea-level change andterrestrial ice dynamics -all of which are affectedby climate change.

The geoid is also used asa reference surface fromwhich to map all topo-graphical features on theplanet. An improvedknowledge of gravityanomalies will contributeto a better understandingof the Earth's interior,such as the physics anddynamics associated withvolcanism and earth-quakes and also furtherour knowledge of landuplift due to post-glacialrebound.

Satellite to map gravity

News: PRODUCT

TeleAtlas Connectnow availableUSA: Tele Atlas hasannounced the availabilityof Tele Atlas Connect,which will provide digitalmap coverage for morethan 170 countries and ter-ritories. With Tele AtlasConnect complementingthe company's comprehen-sive MultiNet global digitalmap database, Tele Atlasmap data now covers morethan 200 countries and ter-ritories worldwide.

Tele Atlas maps will nowfeature data for more than

30 million kms (more than20 million miles) of roadcoverage globally, with theadditional map coveragefeaturing data for countriesin Latin America andregions of Central and East-ern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Tele Atlas Connect isintended to provide part-ners with a single, seamlessglobal coverage solution fordigital map and location-based applications. It fea-tures basic mapping androuting functionality andallows cross-border routingthat links the Tele AtlasConnect road network tothe MultiNet database.

Topconintroduces PI-3000 ImageModeler softwareUSA: The new Topcon PI-3000 Image Modeler Soft-

ware from Topcon is nowavailable. Using digitalcamera images, the PI-3000software produces pho-togrammetry models withaccuracies up to 0.4 mm.The software producesthree-dimensional coordi-nate points and surfaces bymeasurements made intwo or more digital photo-graphic images taken fromdifferent positions.

The advanced features ofsoftware includes: Calcula-tion and display of modelcross sections; Calculation& display of contour lines;Area and volume calcula-

tions; Distance measure-ments; TIN model genera-tion; 3D model rendering;Ortho image support; and avariety of export forms,including DXF, ASCII, VRML.

PB MapInfo, ExclusiveAnalysis to provideTerrorRiskUSA: PB MapInfo hasannounced an alliance withExclusive Analysis, a strate-gic intelligence companythat forecasts violent andpolitical risk, to provideinsurers with TerrorRisk, aterrorism risk assessmentmodel and data set. Terror-Risk uses fact-based, loca-tion-specific metrics devel-oped by Exclusive Analysisto score the propensity andexpected severity of violentand political risks on morethan 3,700 global points ofinterest. Armed with this

These images, the one on the rightfrom TerraSAR (courtesy DLR) and thecolourful one from Google Earthdepict an exotic structure in Mauritaniawhich has for decades served as a

placemark for orbiting astronauts. Thecircular ridges are hardly a few metershigh and hence in the VIS and NIRdata apart from spectacular colours,do not give any idea about the struc-ture while the TerraSAR image shownhere brings out the attitude of theradially dipping limestones, dolomitesand breccias. The TerraSAR image isin ScanSAR mode and it would be ageologist's delight to get a glimpse ofthe Spotlight data or even theStripMap mode data. The subtle varia-tion in relief brought out in the radardata will aid geo-exploration and solvesome of the complex issues in struc-tural geology.

www.gisdevelopment.net/ezine/weekly/aug2707.htm

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eQuote...

Germany: German DLR space agency dis-tributed a series of new images fromcommercial TerraSAR-X satellite with ameter resolution, demonstrating poten-tial areas of applications. GermanInfoterra GmbH, offering radar imagesof the new TerraSAR-X satellite world-wide, informed a new series of VHRimages acquired from the new Ter-raSAR-X satellite on their official web-site and other partner companies web-site like ScanEx. TerraSAR-X satellitewas launched from the Baikonur siteonboard Dnepr-1 launch vehicle onJune 15, 2007. The new series present 15

images of different parts of the Earth,acquired in July 2007 using combina-tions of different imaging, spatial resolu-tion and polarization modes.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

New set of TerraSAR-X images now available

Satellite Image from TerraSAR

Aerial Photogrammetryusing Topcon PI-3000

Image from Google Earth

Larsen Ice Shel, Antartica, Courtesy: DLR

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USA: Ball Aerospace & TechnologiesCorp., ITT Corporation, and Digital-Globe have announced delivery oftheir remote sensing satelliteWorldView-1 from Vandenberg AirForce Base in California for itsscheduled launch on September 18,2007. WorldView-1 is the first oftwo new next-generation satellitesDigitalGlobe has planned to launch.

After launch on September 18,WorldView-1 will undergo a cali-bration and check out period andwill deliver imagery soon after.First imagery from WorldView-1 isexpected to be available prior toOctober 18, the 6th anniversary ofthe launch of QuickBird, Digital-Globe's current satellite. World-View-1 will have an average revisittime of 1.7 days and will be capableof collecting up to 750,000 squarekilometers (290,000 square miles)per day of half-meterimagery. The satellite willalso be equipped withstate-of-the-art geo-loca-tion accuracy capabilitiesand will exhibit stunningagility with rapid target-ing and efficient in-trackstereo collection.

WorldView-1 is part ofthe National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency(NGA)'s NextView pro-

gramme. The programme isdesigned to ensure that the NGAhas access to commercial imageryin support of its mission to providetimely, relevant and accurategeospatial intelligence in supportof national security.

The majority of the imagery cap-tured by WorldView-1 for the NGAwill also be available for salethrough DigitalGlobe's archive.

WorldView-1 scheduled for September


WV-1 Satellite unbagged in PPF

Vertical during testing

Satellite arrives at SLC-2W

Nadir pointing view

Satellite fueling

Final rotation prior to fulling

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insight & the location intel-ligent capabilities deliveredby PB MapInfo technology,insurers and risk managerswould be able to makemore insightful underwrit-ing, rating and coverageand risk selection decisions.

Intermap to develop WindstormAnalysis ToolUSA: Intermap Technolo-gies Corp. has signed an

agreement with the SlovakHydro-Meteorological Insti-tute (SHMU) in Bratislavafor the cooperative devel-opment of a windstormevaluation and risk man-agement tool that will com-plement its existing riskmanagement platform.

Intermap's insurance riskmanagement platformincludes a detailed floodrisk map of the SlovakRepublic. The partnership

with SHMU will create anew product for the insur-ance industry that evalu-ates and performs riskassessment of windstorms.The windstorm risk layerwill seamlessly integrateinto the existing risk man-agement platform for theSlovak Republic.

The entire project is beingconducted in cooperationwith the Slovak InsuranceAssociation.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

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Googleintroduces wayto embed mapUSA: Google Maps userscan now add a map to theirwebsite or blog just bycopying & pasting a snip-pet of HTML. This newfunctionality enablesGoogle Maps users to shareand disseminate geograph-ic information in the sameway that YouTube usersshare videos. Bloggersand webmasters nolonger need an API keyor knowledge of JavaScript to put a GoogleMap on their websiteor blog.

To embed a GoogleMap, users pull up themap they want toembed - it can be alocation, a business,driving directions, or aMy Map they have cre-ated - and then click"Link to this page" andcopy and paste theHTML into their web-site or blog. Users candrag and click or zoomin on a location, andview it in map, satel-lite, and hybrid modes.

The ability to embedmaps is available forGoogle Maps users inthe US, the UK, Cana-da, Australia, Japan,France, Italy, Germany,Spain, Netherlands,Belgium, Denmark,Finland, Norway, Swe-den and Russia.

News: PRODUCT

USA: Google has announcedthe launch of Sky, a new fea-ture that enables users ofGoogle Earth to view the skyas seen from planet Earth.

With Sky, users can nowfloat through the skies viaGoogle Earth. This easy-to-use tool enables all Earthusers to view and navigatethrough 100 million individ-ual stars and 200 milliongalaxies. High-resolutionimagery and informativeoverlays create a uniqueplayground for visualizingand learning about space.

As part of the new feature,Google is introducing follow-ing seven informative layersthat illustrate various celes-tial bodies and events:

Constellations: From Cas-siopeia to Andromeda, theConstellations layer con-nects the points of constella-tions through space, labelingeach with its given name.Users can learn about the

stars that make up theirfavorite constellations.

Backyard Astronomy: TheBackyard Astronomy layerlets users click through avariety of placemarks andinformation on stars, galax-ies, and nebulae visible tothe eye,binocularsand small tel-escopes.

Hubble

Space Tele-

scope Imagery:

The HST layerprovidesusers withover 120 high-resolutionimages pro-vided by the Hubble SpaceTelescope, NASA/ESA'srenowned orbiting telescope.

Moon: The Moon layer dis-plays animations of twomonths of both lunar posi-tions and moon phases.

Planets: The Planets layer

illustrates the seven officialplanets and their positionsin the sky two months intothe future.

Users Guide to Galaxies: TheUsers Guide to Galaxies layerenables users to go on virtu-al tours through different

types of galaxies, from UrsaMinor Dwarf to the MilkyWay.

Life of a Star: The Life of aStar layer takes the user on atour through the differentstages of a star's life cycle.

Google Earth introduces planetarium

IKONOS | collected 22 July 20072008 Olympic Games Venues | Qinhuangdao, China

www.geoeye.com | +1.703.480.5670

Progress as Seen by GeoEyeToday and Tomorrow

Everyday, GeoEye captures noteworthy events taking place around the world, such as the construction of the Beijing 2008 Olympics venues. With IKONOS’s frequent revisit times, our aerial imaging capabilities, and a robust image archive—over 278 million square kilometers—GeoEye provides imagery that is ideal for planning, analyzing, and detecting changes.

GeoEye will continue its legacy of bringing you the world’s most advanced imagery with GeoEye-1. Our next-generation commercial imaging satellite will have unparalled positional accuracy as well as the highest resolution, color imagery in the world—.41-meter panchromatic and 1.65-meter multispectral.

Today

Tomorrow

© Copyright 2007 GeoEye. All rights reserved. DMC® is a registered trademark of Z/I Imaging.

Aerial[DMC®]

GeoEye Imagery Sources

IKONOS GeoEye-1[2008]

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GISdevelopment_ad.ai 9/5/2007 7:48:44 AMGISdevelopment_ad.ai 9/5/2007 7:48:44 AM

eSpatial partnerswith GeomaticTechnologiesAustralia: eSpatial, anenterprise geospatial soft-ware and technology com-pany and Geomatic Tech-nologies (GT), a provider oflocation-based businessintelligence solutions,information products andservices, announced at the2007 GITA Conference thesigning of a strategicpartnership agreement.Under the agreement, GTwill deliver enterprise GISand value add solutionsbuilt on iSMART, eSpatial'sGeoSpatial software suite

for development of inte-grated, enterprise gradespatially enabled applica-tions.

eSpatial's iSMART sup-ports a number of deploy-ment models which includePure Web and CustomizedClient within a scalable,role-based and secure envi-ronment. The architecturalfeatures delivered withiSMART address standard ITrequirements for thedeployment of enterprisebusiness applications.

Geosoft acquiresNGA's intellectualproperty assets

Canada: GeosoftInc., softwareand solutionsfor earth explo-ration company,announced thatit has completed

acquisition of the softwareand all associated intellec-tual property assets ofNorthwest GeophysicalAssociates Inc. (NGA).

Geosoft helps to make theexperience of finding, usingand sharing data more nat-ural and powerful forexploration professionals,accelerating knowledgedevelopment and empow-ering mission-critical deci-sions within the mineraland petroleum explorationindustries and Earth Sci-ences markets.

The acquisition strength-ens Geosoft leadershipposition, and breadth ofdata visualization andmodeling capabilities forpetroleum explorers identi-fying new locations ofpotential reservoirs.

Geosoft assumes all sales,marketing and develop-

ment for GM-SYS, GM-SYS3D and associated softwareproducts. NGA developers,Tom Popowski, Jim Roy,and Vivek Narendra, joinGeosoft's Research andDevelopment group andGerry Connard, formerprincipal of NGA, will con-tinue working with Geosoftin a consulting role.

GeoVirtual signsdistributioncontract in ChileSpain: GeoVirtual , a devel-oper of 3D cartographicsoftware technology, andGeaintec Ltd., a Chileanconsultant company spe-cialised in GIS solutions,have signed an exclusivedistribution contract forGeoShow 3D in the Chileanmarket.

Geaintec offers consultan-cy services in the field ofGIS. By adding the 3D carto-graphic solutions of GeoVir-tual to their product portfo-lio, they will be able to offertheir clients an additionalconsultancy service by cre-ating 3D virtualisation ofany terrain based on indi-vidual project require-ments.

ESRI (UK)'scorporate visionfor brandingUK: ESRI (UK) has launchedits new corporate brandingand the Visionary Thinkingpositioning solutions,which encapsulates theorganisation's ability to

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

News: Business 1 2 3


Chile: The Canadian Minister of NaturalResources, Gary Lunn and Romy Schmidt,Chilean Minister of National Property,have signed an MoU to develop geospa-tial knowledge in both countries. TheMoU will facilitate the use of tools, suchas remote sensing and satellite imagery,for urban development planning andenvironmental projects.

This mapping agreement will enhancethe level of sustainable development ofnatural resources in both Canada andChile. "Over the next few years, we will

use the innovative technologies and spe-cialized expertise of Canadian companiesto assist Chile in developing its landinformation system," Gary Lunn said.

The partnership is the result of NRCan'sexpertise in land information manage-ment and geomatics, and it highlightsCanada's New Government's continuedefforts to develop knowledge, innovationand productivity in the natural resourcessector. The agreement will facilitateChile's use of Canadian expertise andmodels for Canada's SDI to develop itsown national LIS and SDI.

Canada, Chile signs MoU Romy Schmidt (left) with Gary Lunn (Right)

provide innovative, cus-tomer-focused servicesthrough the power of GISand supports its Purpose,Vision and Mission state-ments.

"ESRI (UK)'s corporateVision is based on geo-graphic information sys-tems, which would beindispensable part of corpo-rate daily life," company'sManaging Director RichardWaite said and added thatthey truly believed in GIS'ability to make a real differ-ence to many organisa-tions.

CH2M HILLawarded SpatialConsultingcontract by VirginMediaUK: CH2M HILL EnterpriseManagement Solutions,information technologymanagement consultingand solution developmentbusiness company,announced it was awardeda contract by Virgin Mediato provide consulting serv-ices related to the long-term spatial platformrequirements of the UnitedKingdom-based telecom-

munications company. Vir-gin Media was formed as aresult of a merger betweenTelewest and Virgin Mobileearlier this year.

The spatial consultingservices establish a baselinefrom which Virgin Mediacan develop its physicalnetwork inventory data tosupport user functionalityand needs. It also establish-es a common framework tomanage the capture offuture data.

Under this contract, CH2MHILL is supporting the plan-ning, scoping and risk man-agement of a major datamigration project requiredto consolidate a number ofGIS platforms that supportVirgin Media's physical

inventory management.CH2M HILL will also recom-mend strategies that effec-tively transforms the GISland base from OrdnanceSurvey LandLine to Mas-terMap and re-align net-work to address the associ-ated challenges of position-al accuracy improvement.

Intergraph fornew OSGeospatial DDMSUK: Intergraph has beenselected as the preferredsupplier by Ordnance Sur-vey of Great Britain to pro-vide its new GeospatialDatabase and Data Man-agement System (DDMS),following a tender process,conducted under the Public

1 2 3

Contracts Regulations2006, Competitive Dia-logue Procedure.

Ordnance Survey's deci-sion marks an importantstage in the selectionprocess, although it doesnot yet constitute a con-tract award. The systemwill provide centralisedplanning and managementof Ordnance Survey's pro-duction activities in addi-tion to managing the large-scale data holdings that are

used to generate productssuch as OS MasterMap. TheIntergraph team includes1Spatial and SnowflakeSoftware and also includesOracle's database and appli-cation server technologies.

GeoEye appointsretired NGA executiveas DirectorUSA: GeoEye, producer ofsatellite, aerial and geospa-tial information, hasappointed Ms. Roberta E.

Lenczowski to its BOD. Ms. Lenczowski's career asan executive of the Nation-al Geospatial-IntelligenceAgency (NGA) includedmost recently as NGA'sTechnical Executive.

Ms. Lenczowski has morethan 30 years of experience.She currently serves as aBoard Director for Techni-Graphics and the LeonardWood Institute and as anExternal Director of Earth-Data International, Inc.

Intermap winsMAPPS awardUSA: Intermap Technolo-gies has been awarded theMAPPS Geospatial Productsand Services ExcellenceAwards under the Pho-togrammetry / ElevationData Generation category.

Intermap's "Torino 2006IFSAR Mapping Project"was conducted on behalf ofthe Italian mapping agencyIstituto Geografico Militare(IGM) using the Company'sproprietary InterferometricSynthetic Aperture Radar(IFSAR) digital mappingtechnology.

The project covered 5,600square kilometers of north-western Italy's varied ter-rain, including the threemost challenging environ-ments to model: highalpine, lowland floodplain,and urban.

According to panel Chair-man, Don Evick, "Thejudges were very impressedwith the high quality anddiversity of the submis-sions, and the breath anddepth of the expertise of thefirms. All of the projectsexhibited very effective andinnovative use of the moststate-of-the-art mappingtechnologies to solveimportant real-world prob-lems.

The projects not only pro-vided reliable and detailedengineering data, but hadsubstantial economic,social, environmental, orpolitical benefits....”

24 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

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USA: A new definition of a member firmin MAPPS, the national association of pri-vate geospatial firms, was unanimouslyapproved by the association at its annualbusiness meeting.

The by-laws changes came in existencewith immediate effect. It redefines thetypes of firms that are eligible for fullMAPPS membership, as well as associateand emeritus members.

The membership levels are defined as:Active Member: Any firm whose home

office is located in the USA and isengaged in the geospatial profession."Engaged in the geospatial profession"means any private, for-profit organiza-tion where one of its purposes is the cre-ation, collection, dissemination andapplication of geo-referenced graphical ordigital data.

Associate member: Any firm engaged in

the manufacturing and/or supplying ofgeospatial equipment, services, supplies,hardware or software, that supports butis not engaged in the geospatial profes-sion, any firm not engaged in but with aninterest in the geospatial field, and anyfirm meeting the definition of "Engagedin the geospatial profession" whose homeoffice is located outside of the UnitedStates of America may become an associ-ate member.

Emeritus Member: Any individual who has been an officer of a firm whichhas been an active, associate or sustain-ing member firm for at least the preced-ing five consecutive years, who hasreached the age of 60 years, who hasretired from such firm and is no longerengaged in a full time practice in thegeospatial profession may become anEmeritus Member.

MAPPS amends membership criteria

News: Business


Training on GISStandards &InteroperabilityIndia: A three day trainingon GIS Standards and Inter-operability was organisedby GIS Development from 5to 7 August 2007 in DubaiUAE and from 8 to 10August in India.

Explaining the utility ofsuch an event, the partici-pants applauded the effortsof the organisers.

The Course Instructors forthe training were: Mr. RonLake (CEO and Chairman,

Galdos Systems Inc); Mr.Sam Bacharach (OGC Repre-sentative); and Prof. A. R.Dasgupta (Honory Advisor,GIS Development).

The programme concen-trated on understandingthe elements which arerequired to enable geospa-tial interoperability withinthe organizations andworking analysis forgeospatial interoperabilityvocabulary, standards andtechnologies, for rapidimplementation of spatialcomponents in applica-

tions. A participant fromDubai Electricity and WaterAuthority sais that thetraining was "a steptowards building an excel-lent geospatial world."

Rolta India tosets up academyIndia: Rolta India, a Mum-bai-based IT company, issetting up an academy totrain people in engineeringand GIS. The company willset up the academy with aninitial cost of Rs 40-50 crore.

The academy will havefour batches in a year com-prising 250 students each.The course will be of threemonths and will also givejob guarantee.

Students will have to pay

a sum of Rs 2.5 lakh for thecourse. To facilitate thefunding, Rolta has alreadytied up with a few banks,which will give 100 per centeducation loan.

OGC announcesSLD, SymbolEncoding & TMLSpecificationsUSA: The members of OGChave approved the OpenGISStyled Layer Descriptor(SLD) Implementation Spec-ification (a profile of theWeb Map Service), the relat-ed OpenGIS SymbologyEncoding ImplementationSpecification and Version1.0 of the TransducerMarkup Language Imple-mentation Specification

News: Miscellaneous 1 2

Afghanistan: The report on Afghanistan Opium Survey2007 has been released by United Nations, Office onDrugs and Crime.

The executive summary said that "in 2007, Afghanistancultivated 193,000 hectares of opium poppies, an increaseof 17% over last year. The amount of Afghan land used foropium is now larger than the corresponding total for cocacultivation in Latin America (Colombia, Peru and Boliviacombined). Favourable weather conditions produced opi-um yields (42.5 kg per hectare) higher than last year (37.0kg/ha). As a result, in 2007 Afghanistan produced anex-traordinary 8,200 tons of opium (34% more than in 2006),becoming practically the exclusive supplier of the world'sdeadliest drug (93% of the global opiates market). Leaving

aside 19th century China, that had a population at thattime 15 times larger than today's Afghanistan, no othercountry in the world has ever produced narcotics on sucha deadly scale."

The amount of Afghan land used for opium is now larg-er than the corresponding total for coca cultivation inLatin America (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia combined).Afghanistan's share of global cultivation remains 82%.

Afghan Eradication Force (AEF) reported a final figurefor total eradication of 3,149 hectares, including 3,000 hain Hilmand province, 83.44 ha in Uruzgan province and65.22 ha in Takhar province.

The Rapid Assessment Survey conducted in January2007 indicated that the eradication campaign of 2006 hadhad no significant impact on cultivation at the nationallevel in 2007. Sixty-three per cent of villages opted onceagain to cultivate poppy in 2007, despite having facederadication in 2006.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007 Report

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, 2007 at provence level


("TML" or "TransducerML").The OpenGIS Styled Layer

Descriptor (SLD) profile ofthe Web Map Service Imple-mentation Specificationdefines an encoding thatextends the Web Map Ser-vice specification to allowuser-defined symbolizationof feature & coverage data.

The OpenGIS SymbologyEncoding ImplementationSpecification defines Sym-bology Encoding, an XMLlanguage for styling infor-mation that can be appliedto digital Feature and Cov-erage data.

The OpenGIS Styled LayerDescriptor (SLD) profile ofthe Web Map Service is,together with the OpenGISSymbology EncodingImplementation Specifica-tion, the direct follow-up ofStyled Layer DescriptorImplementation Specifica-tion 1.0.0.

Symbology Encoding isindependent of any servicedescriptions and couldtherefore also be used todescribe styling informa-tion of systems not con-nected to any kind of serv-ice (e.g. desktop geographicinformation systems),while the SLD profile ofWMS describes how Sym-bology Encoding can beapplied to WMS layers.

TML defines the conceptu-al model and XML Schemafor describing transducersand supporting real-timestreaming of data to andfrom sensor systems.

PE&RS journalranks No. 1USA: PhotogrammetricEngineering & RemoteSensing (PE&RS) an ASPRSmonthly publication, hasbeen ranked number one interms of cost effectivenessand citation influence inthe field of Imaging Sci-ences & Photographic Tech-nology.

It excelled among 12 relat-ed journals and held first

place in the field as it racedpast IEEE Transactions onMedical Imaging, andRemote Sensing of Environ-ment. It ranked secondamong 10 competing publi-cations in Remote Sensing,behind only the IEEE Trans-action on Geoscience andRemote Sensing.

ASPRS & MAPPSapplaud National LandImaging ProgramUSA: MAPPS and ASPRSappreciated the Bushadministration for its com-mitment to land remotesensing with the release ofthe National Land Imaging

Program (NLIP) strategy bythe Office of Science andTechnology Policy (OSTP).

This programme isdesigned to meet the UScivilian moderate resolu-tion land imaging needs tomonitor the changes inland surface, Polar Regions,and coastal zones due to thechanges in populationgrowth, development andclimate changes. It estab-lishes a programme officein the Department of theInterior, reporting to theSecretary and Assistant Sec-retary level, to providefocused leadership andmanagement for nation'sland imaging efforts.

NLIP will focus on main-taining a core, operationalgovernment commitmentand capability to collectmoderate-resolution landimagery through procure-ment and launch of a seriesof US owned satellites.

The programme is a prod-uct of several months ofintense research and analy-sis conducted by the Futureof Land Imaging (FLI) Inter-agency Working Group,which was composed ofindividuals from fifteenfederal agencies including,among others, NASA,NOAA, USDA, and theDepartment of Defense.Both MAPPS and ASPRScontributed significantly tothe effort, providing testi-mony to commercial usesand public value of moder-ate resolution images.

Charles Roswell bagsOGC's LifetimeAchievement Award

USA. At theJuly meet-ing of theOGC in Paris,France,CharlesRoswell

received an OGC LifetimeAchievement Award, thefirst ever granted by OGC.Clemens Portele receivedthe OGC's ninth annualKenneth D. Gardels Award.

Charles Roswell has beenan active participant in theOGC from the Consortium'sbeginning. While repre-senting the NGA in the Fed-eral Geographic Data Com-mittee (FGDC), working onthe NSDI Framework,Roswell became involvedwith the OGC in the Consor-tium's first year and he pro-moted FGDC involvement.

Clemens Portele of inter-active instruments GmbH,Germany, has been anactive participant in theOGC since October 2000and has contributed to thesuccess of the OGC's cooper-ative endeavors with twoother standards organiza-tions, ISO and the InternetEngineering Task Force(IETF). He is also the chair ofthe INSPIRE (Infrastructurefor Spatial InfoRmation inEurope) Data SpecificationsDrafting Team in Europeand he has been a majorproponent of geospatialstandards in Germany.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

1 2

Charles Roswell

Apassion that prevailed throughout

the 19th century to determine

accurately the dimensions of the

earth and the important geographical features-

helped us in answering the Where, What, Who

like questions Now, the profession has relegated

to the background by loosing emphasis, particu-

larly in the field of education.

Surveying has diminished or gotmixed up with the more popular choic-es like Civil Engineering, ConstructionEngineering and Geomatics education.

The present effort is aimed at bring-ing out the challenges/issues of the cur-rent education programmes in survey-ing across different countries like India,Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Australia and USA.

INDIA In India, the professional surveyingbegan more than 200 years ago (Survey

of India wasestablished in1767). The GreatTrigonometricalSurvey (GTS) isgenerally con-sidered to be thefoundation of allthe topographi-cal surveys. Thisled to setting upof basic survey-ing infrastruc-ture in the coun-try.

In the post-independentera, India is see-ing a tremen-

dous growth in Infrastructure at a largescale (like the Golden Quadrilateral Pro-ject etc.) and the professionals, at large,are out of pace with the technology dueto the gaps prevailing in the education-al programs.

It has been observed that Surveying,as a profession, is mostly taken up byDiploma holders, who come throughfour years of Polytechnic programmes(from Industrial Training Institutes)after 10 years of basic education andfew Engineers who come through aBachelor Degree in Civil Engineering.The education lacks proper infrastruc-ture, in terms of the instruments avail-able and the jaded course curriculum.Leaving the premier institutes like theSurvey Training Institute (STI), the Indi-an Institute of Technologies (IITs) andthe Regional Engineering Colleges(RECs), self sustaining private institutes

still lack the proper approach ANDthere is scarcity of skilled humanresources to train.

The loss of interest in this field canalso be attributed to the remunerationthey gain. A candidate can receive asalary in the range of INR 1,00,000(USD 2500) per annum for a fresher toINR 200,000 (US 5000) per annum with2-3 years experience.

Besides these, there is no institute orprofessional organisation offering spe-cialised courses in surveying, exceptthat surveying is one of the topicstaught in the Bachelors/ Diploma edu-cation.

On account of deficiencies in the sys-tem of survey education and practices,many of the newly introduced tech-nologies are yet to acquire the status ofenabling technology in India.

NIGERIA AND ZIMBABWESeveral authors, Fajemirokun (2002)Rüther (2003) Nwilo (2004), Paradzayi(2006) have outlined the difficultiesthat departments of Surveying andGeomatics face the African continent intheir pursuit of delivering good qualityGeomatics education.

Although there are 23 Universitiesoffering surveying programs in Sub-Sahara countries and Nigeria, where upto 11 universities offer Surveying andGeoinformatics at degree level, it is notas popular as other professions.

The intense African heat adds to thefact that the remunerations does notmatch to the amount of time andefforts put into the work.

Another issue is the high costinvolved in the purchase of modernsurveying equipments and software.

There have been some experiments tobring out modifications in the curriculain surveying for polytechnics and uni-versities in Nigeria which has led to the


Education

survey.edu

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

The Present Status of Surveying Education: Time to rethink...


improved students' interest in the field.This was done through addition ofcourses in spatial information and datamanagement, environmental & coastalmanagement and digital technology.

The Department of Surveying &Geoinformatics, University of Lagostogether with a number of otherdepartments are offering surveyingcourse and have also modified the pro-grammes. This has led to a substantialincrease in the number of studentsseeking admission into the undergrad-uate and postgraduate programmes.On an average 75 - 100 students areadmitted annually into the undergrad-uate programme of surveying andgeoinformatics.

In Zimbabwe, the University of Zim-babwe and Midlands State Universityoffer surveying education. Midlandshas a four-year BSc honours degree inSurveying and Geomatics.

The programme is structured in sucha way that students undertake intern-ships, during vacations, with estab-lished private and public surveyingorganisations involved in CadastralSurveying, Engineering Surveying, GISand Mining Surveying among others.There are plans to introduce a postgrad-uate diploma and a Master degree inGIS once both the human and technicalresources allow (Paradzayi, 2006).

The disputed land reform programmeand unstable political environmenttriggered an economic downturn thatmade it difficult for the students toacquire the requisite industrial expo-sure during vacations. The degree struc-ture was then revised in line with theuniversity work-related learning (WRL)policy of placing students in industryfor a full year during their fourth yearof study. On successful completion ofthe WRL period, the students thenreturn to university for their fifth and

final year. As of June 2006, 60 gradu-ates have passed through the depart-ment of which 13% of the graduates arefemale. Most of these have beenabsorbed by the local industry while afew are now employed in the Diaspora(European and African countries).

The South African land surveyingbody, PLATO (South African Profession-al and Technical Surveyors), is in theprocess of assessing the degree pro-gramme so that MSU graduates canundertake articles to become Profes-sional Land Surveyors in South Africa(Paradzayi and Nijke, 2006).

One of the pressing challenges is thelegislative impediment pertaining torecognition of students for cadastralsurveying practice. However, the pres-sure to issue 99-year leases to newlandowners under the fast track landreform programme has forced theauthorities to expedite the legislativechanges so that graduates can becomeregistered Land Surveyors. The Councilof Land Surveyors has assessed thedepartmental curriculum and hasmade recommendations to effect thenecessary changes to the legislation.

AUSTRALIAThe Australian scenario seems some-what better, looking at the inputs, wehave received.

The educational programmes hererange from graduate to post-graduatedegrees in the fields of surveying andGIS. All these programmes are taughteither full time or through distanceeducation mode. These are verticallyarticulated so that student can exit (andre-enter) at any qualification level.

Looking at the profile of the surveyingeducation here, 70% students seem toprefer the surveying programmes (Min-ing/ Cadastral/ Geodetic) compared toother competitive programs like GIS/

Geoinformatics with an increasingtrend due to high demand for survey-ors. These courses have been developedin such a way that more emphasis isgiven to practical work & professional& management aspects.

Cadastral surveyors here need a 4 yeardegree for registering themselves forworking as professionals. All other sur-veyors, engineers can be registeredwith a 3 year degree. The programmeslack of an industry training programmeduring the course. Placement of the stu-dents is not generally taken care of, butwhen any special requirements come,the university refers the students.Another interesting figure is that 70%of students at Queensland University

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Though there is a training institute forsurvey education and training (TheSurvey Training Institute - a wing ofthe Survey of India), the intake andfrequency of professional training pro-grammes in Surveying depends onthe demand and availability of suffi-cient number of participants. On anaverage, the institute has a capacity toenrol about 100 students in a year.The courses are structured under

• Basic

- Surveying Engineering

- Surveying Supervisor

- Surveying Technician

• Advanced,

• Refresher and

• Faculty Courses.

Through the enrolment programme itcan be observed that through theBasic and Advanced courses, therecan be an intake of 94 students inone batch, which generally stretchover a period of 1 year to 2 years.

STI: The technologyknow-how


are already employed, while they areperusing studies through distance edu-cation. Though the government offersvery good working conditions, they payless than private organisations and themining/ engineering industry. Thisleads to the majority of students join-ing the private sector with lucrativesalaries in the range of A$55,000 toA$80,000, for a fresher.

There is an increase in demand forqualified surveyors especially with theexpanding mining activities, and everincreasing importance to Infrastructurein the 10 year plan. But with the agingpopulation of qualified surveyors, thereis a clear shortage of young and techno-logically sound surveyors and thistrend is expected to remain for manyyears to come. According to Dr. FrankYoung, who is the Head of the Survey-ing and Land Information programmeat Queensland University, more quali-fied graduates are to be brought out tofulfil the lag, that may widen in futuredue to the aging surveying population.The same thought has been echoed byPeter Fowler, Director of the DownesSurvey Group in one of his emails to us.

AMERICAAccording to a recent article by RobertSchultz in the Professional SurveyorMagazine, the Surveying/ Geomaticseducation in US is also facing problemsmainly in getting enrolments and lowon teaching staff and resources.

In America, the expected entry levelof education is a 4 year degree pro-gramme. Most of these programmesare found in public institutions whichuse tuition and public support to run.These programmes are facing a lowerside on enrolments; at most of thetimes the programme for a particularsemester/year being called-off or thestudents being transferred to other

schools to increase the enrolments.Adding to this problem is the number

of students graduating from a pro-gramme. An astonishing study broughtout in this article is that in the currentscenario "the yearly number of gradu-ates available for hire in each of thefifty states would be 5" (approx.), whichdoes not cover the attrition rate in thefield.

This brings to conclusion that "moreundergraduates are not only needed bythe professionals but also by the gradu-ate programs, to stop administratorsfrom closing down the programmes onthe reasons of low-enrolments".Another problem that has beenbrought out was the lack of teachingfaculty for the bachelor's programmes.In US, apart from Purdue Universitythat enrols approximately 30 studentsin a programme, the rest have enrol-ments in single digits. The graduatesare sent for advanced degree work bythe sponsoring party, which they ulti-mately return to. Also this field doesnot have enough financial support forresearch that does not allow a scenarioin which graduates can move intoresearch and eventually mix-up withthe main stream academia.

TO CONCLUDEIt has been found that the countries,where the education has kept pacewith the changing times, the studentsfind the courses lucrative and areenrolled for different courses beingoffered. Also, the surveying professionneeds to be supportive enough for thecandidates in terms of good pay andfacilities, as the working environmentsfor a surveyor are tough and hazardous.

There is also a scarcity of teaching fac-ulty all throughout and even in coun-tries like USA. By taking clues from apaper by Prof Stig Enenmark (Interna-

tional Trends in Surveying Education,presented at FIG XXII InternationalCongress, DC USA, on April 19-21, 2002),we can conclude the above discussionwith following enumerations:

• Technology development is one of thefactors which the educational institutionwill have to undergo, if they want toattract the students to this, one of theoldest professions.

• "Virtual academy vs Classroom teach-ing" alternatives have to be explored.Although there is no substitute of class-room teaching, but in the present sce-nario when people want to learn more,while on the job, the educational institu-tion will have to innovate and mightstart virtual academy to train as manypeople as they can.

• Project Management skill is one of theother traits which the candidate willhave to learn, in addition to the techni-cal skill sets, because the time hascome that a surveyor will have to thinkfrom a holistic point of view of the proj-ect, as a whole.

• Learning by doing is another method,which the organisation will have to thinkof. They may like to "catch them young"and then train as per their need and thetraining will be project based and nottechnology based.

• Lifelong learning vs vocational train-ing. The education has to be in such amode that it encompasses lifelonglearning rather than training on one ofthe aspects of surveying.

• Professionals along with the industryneed to support the programs and workon grounds of raising awareness in theschool/ college level to bring out morestudents perusing the surveying educa-tion.

We all hope that the education in thefield of surveying will innovate withtimes and students will find this anattractive career option and could bepassionate about this field, in the timesto come.

We would like to acknowledge all those whoparticipated in the survey and the completereference of the papers/ articles referredare listed on the website.

Harshavardhan Madiraju, [email protected]. Satyaprakash, [email protected]

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Land surveying has emerged from

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How has Trimble adjusted to the con-

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real-time kine-matic (RTK) GPS,servo and robot-ic total stations,and VRS (GNSSnetwork infra-structure).While satelliteand aerial imag-ing provideexceptionaloverhead viewsand long-rangedetails, the onlyway to capturecomprehensiveeye-level viewsis from theground. Aground-basedsensor such asthe Trimble®VX

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as 3D. The advantages for our cus-tomers obtaining timely, complete andcompatible data sets with differenttechnologies, such as total stations,GNSS, scanning, picture and videoinformation, are tremendous.

Our integrated surveying portfoliofocuses on the land surveying productssuch as the Trimble R8 GNSS Systemwith the capability to track all today'savailable signals for better availabilityand accuracy, Trimble S6 Total Stationwith modern technology componentsin angle and distance measurementand many others including the work-flow hardware and software solutions.Trimble's new Spatial Imaging portfo-lio is focused on enhanced 3D solutionsand their increased needs in data com-munication

Out of all the different product lines of

Trimble, please elaborate on two of

your product lines viz., GIS & Mapping

and Surveying and Infrastructure.

Trimble's Mapping & GIS product linefeatures a range of GPS/GIS data collec-tion and data maintenance systemswith accuracies from subfoot (30cm) toseveral meters. These systems featurebuilt-in wireless capabilities in a rangeof rugged models.

Trimble also offers complete solu-tions for Mobile GIS - the use of geo-


Interview

“We strive to stay the challenges of

Jurgen KliemGeneral Manager, Trimble Survey Division, Colorado, USA

graphic data in the field on mobiledevices. Integrating GPS, rugged hand-held computers and GIS field softwaremakes the enterprise database directlyaccessible to field-based personnel.

Under Surveying and Infrastructure,Trimble's Connected Survey Site model creates seamless working relationships among Trimble products,technologies and services through support, infrastructure and partner-ships. Taking Integrated Surveying tothe next level, the Connected SurveySite enables surveyors to choose from abroad range of options, including surveying techniques, communica-tions channels and facilitating servicessuch as GNSS infrastructure in one fully-integrated and interoperable surveying solution. Surveyors benefitfrom complete data compatibility withTrimble field and office software;increased flexibility in employing the best tools and techniques for thejob at hand; the adaptation of special-ized technologies to fit the ideal work-

flow of surveyors; and the localizationof surveying solutions to address specific market needs throughout theworld.

The infrastructure business todayoffers solutions that are essential tothe backbone for geodetic networkswith the well-known Trimble VRS™offerings.

What is the phi-

losophy behind

establishing

VRS system

around the

world and how

the data is

made available

to the users and

who maintains

the system?

Trimble's philos-ophy is to pro-vide a unified geospatial frameworkover large areas that provide highaccuracy, high precision positioning toexisting and emerging markets. Attheir best, these systems are "multi-modal," meaning they benefit manyuser communities simultaneouslyincluding: scientific/academic, geo-matics, utilities, construction, resourcemanagement, and many others.

Establishing a VRS world-wide network enables con-venient centimetre level posi-tioning for our customerswithout the need of a basestation. The data is broadcastin an international standardformat via cellular or radiotechnology. System mainte-nance is provided by privatenetwork operators, publicmunicipal agencies.

In addition to the CORS hardware andsoftware components, the Trimble VRSNow™ Service has evolved into com-plete turn-key system and also a serv-ices business.

The benefits include lower cost entryinto a RTK solution (no need to pur-chase a base station; only a rover isneeded), homogenous results, and

reduced cost for network control main-tenance. There are different businessmodels, how the data will be madeavailable to the users. In the casewhere the data is made available forfree, there is no guarantee of the dataavailability 24x7, however, where thisis a paid service, data is made available24x7. Trimble has entered into anagreement with regional companieswho in turn will make the data avail-able to the users. In the case of theTrimble VRS Now Service, Trimblemaintains the network.

Which are the different countries

where VRS has been established?

Which Asian countries already have

this system in place and which other

countries are in the offing?

More than 100 Trimble infrastructurenetwork installations have been estab-lished throughout the world For a par-tial reference list of Trimble VRS instal-lations visit: http://www.trimble.com/vrsinstallations.shtml.

Japan was the first Asian countrywhere VRS was established. Othercountries include China, South Korea,Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.


"While satellite and aerialimaging provide exceptionaloverhead views and long-range details, the only wayto capture comprehensiveeye-level views is from theground"

“

”

ay in front of s of surveyors”


What is the philosophy behind acqui-

sitions of different companies in the

recent past? What technological

advancements, Trimble has gained on

account of the acquisitions?

Over the past several years, acquisi-tions have played a role in our strategy,principally as mechanisms to establishbeachheads in new market spaces, fill in product line gaps, or add newtechnologies to our solutions portfolio. In some cases, this has led to partnering with or acquiringcompanies that bring technologies,products or distribution capabilitiesthat will allow Trimble to establish apresence in a market, penetrate a market more effectively, or developsolutions more quickly than if they had done so solely through internaldevelopment.

Since 1999, this has led Trimble toform two joint ventures, with Caterpil-lar and Nikon, and acquire twenty onecompanies.

More importantly, continued innova-tion and industry domain experienceare the primary drivers which allowTrimble to focus on organic growth as

our principal strategy in our core mar-ket segments-Engineering and Con-struction, Agriculture, the Mobile andField Workforce, and AdvancedDevices.

How are the two product lines GIS &

Mapping and Surveying & Infrastruc-

ture spread over different regions?

Trimble has a distinctly global footprint with around half of our salesoutside North America and R&D centres in 9 countries ranging fromJapan to New Zealand to Germany.

Around half of Trimble's total 2006sales were in North America, 25 percent in Europe, 12 percent in Asia-Pacific and the remainder from the restof the world.

These percentages reflect all Trimblebusiness segments including Engineer-ing and Construction, Field Solutions(Mapping and GIS and agriculture),Mobile Solutions, and AdvancedDevices. We do not break out individ-ual product lines; we only report overall regional sales by business segments. In regard to our presence inAsia, we have opened new offices inIndia and Thailand and we have

received very positive feedback fromour customers.

What are the focus areas of the R&D

activities of the company?

Across Trimble, R&D efforts are focusedon ways to transform the way work isdone, making our customers more productive. This includes R&D researchin optics, lasers, 3D scanning and imag-ing, communications, information anddatabase management, GNSS, soft-ware, ruggedized field computers, net-work infrastructure, web services,machine guidance and automation,precision timing, and much more.

What lies ahead for the surveying

community in terms of the technology

and the market?

Our fundamental goal is to transformthe way survey work is done throughthe innovative application of technolo-gy. For example, growth opportunitiesin the geospatial information industryand technology convergence providedthe catalyst for the development of theTrimble VX Spatial Station. It combinesoptical positioning, 3D scanning andvideo capabilities to offer surveyorsand geospatial professionals a dynamicsolution that answers their real-worldpositioning needs today while alsoequipping them for tomorrow’s chal-lenges…

Taking Integrated Surveying to thenext level, the Connected Survey Siteenables surveyors to choose from abroad range of options, including sur-veying techniques, communicationschannels and facilitating services suchas GNSS infrastructure in one fully-integrated and interoperable surveyingsolution.

The complete text of the interview is available in the interview section at www.GISdevelopment.net/interview

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Engineering and ConstructionRevenue Contribution

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

U.S

.Dol

lars

inM

illio

ns

Field Solutions Revenue Contribution

Total Trimble Revenue

2004

2005

2006

Q: What is the organisation structure

of SLA?

SLA, is the mapping authority of Singa-pore just like other national mappingorganizations. This role is played syn-ergistically by three functional units inSLA namely, Land Information Centre,Survey Services Department and LandData Division.

Survey Services (SS) is the regulatoryarm of SLA for cadastral survey in Sin-gapore. It focuses on ensuring a highstandard of cadastral survey to meetthe needs of our customers in propertyregistration and land matters. On map-ping function, SS provides the platformfor geospatial activities in Singaporethrough the establishment and main-tenance of a reliable and mappinginfrastructure that can be used by thepublic and private sectors for varioussurvey and mapping activities.

An example is the Singapore SatellitePositioning Reference Network(SiReNT), a differential GPS system thatSLA put in place in 2006. The primaryobjective of SiReNT is to offer morevariety of applications, data reliability,efficiency and productivity of surveywork for land surveyors with the aid ofGPS technology. SiReNT provides awide range of GPS data products andservices with various accuracy levelsranging from metres to centimetres to

suit different applications that willtranslate to benefits for the public. Itprovides many new opportunities tousers for various geospatial applica-tions and is poised to improve position-ing data in areas of homeland security,transportation and emergency serviceson land and sea. SS constantly seeksbetter ways to reach out to our cus-tomers and ensure that we provideservices and products which not onlymeet, but exceed their expectations.

Q: What is data deivery model being

adopted?

The Land Information Centre (LIC) is theSLA's arm that generates map dataproducts for sale and use by the generalpublic and companies. The sales ofmap products are through either pri-vate licensing or INLIS (Integrated LandInformation Service) run by the LIC.

It also runs free online street map andland ownership query services. The lat-ter is called LandQuery which was syn-ergistically built using data from Sur-vey Services and Land Data Division.Both these services can be found atwww.map.gov.sg/streetmap andwww.map.gov.sg/landquery orthrough www.inlis.gov.sg.

Q: How does SLA (Survey Services)

reach out to the public?

SS constantly reaches out to our stake-

holders through various formal andinformal dialogue and feedback ses-sions. SS conducted its first public con-sultation exercise on a five-year masterplan (2007 - 2011) which maps out astrategic plan that covers an integratedsurvey network, SiReNT, a precise level-ing benchmark network and the GeoidModel.

Q: What is the objective behind the

introduction of Survey and Mapping

Infrastructure Strategy?

"Singapore's Survey and MappingInfrastructure Strategy 2007-2011" isformulated to provide a robust, reliableand integrated surveying system forthe geospatial industry. The reportfocuses on Singapore's survey andmapping infrastructure system, which

consists of all methods, process-es and infrastructures asso-ciated with Singa-pore's survey andmapping infra-structure. The


Interview

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

SiReNT provides a wide range ofGPS data products and serviceswith various accuracy levels

“”

“Survey and mapping infrastructuresystem would benefit all”Mr Soh Kheng Peng, the Chief Surveyor of Singapore, Singapore Land Authority (SLA), is the firstAsian recipient of Thornton Smith Medal for 2007. The award is conferred on by Department ofGeomatics, University of Melbourne for the outstanding contribution in the field of Geomatics.He shares his views on the scenario of Surveying & Mapping in Singapore.

strategy, which was drawn after a pub-lic consultation, covers the IntegratedSurvey Network, Singapore SatellitePositioning Reference Network, Singa-pore Precise Levelling Benchmark Net-work and the Geoid Model. Ultimately,everyone who has a stake in position-ing in Singapore would be able to reapthe benefits of Singapore's survey andmapping infrastructure system for var-ious economic and social activities.

In terms of technology, SLA intends tomove into SiReNT and use new technol-

ogy such as SMSfor the dis-

semina-tion of

infor-

mation on control markers and 3Gwireless technology for the collectionand dissemination of information ongeospatial information. There will alsobe more training, collaborations andknowledge-sharing with the privatesector.

Q: What are the new technological ini-

tiatives being taken?

SS is constantly improving existingprocedures or creating new procedures,of which technology plays an impor-tant part. However, we are more of theview that though technology could attimes change an entire geospatial land-scape, it is just one of the means of sat-isfying our customers.

If we look at the entire flow of databeing translated into information, SShas implemented:

• electronic submission of cadastralplans for the Chief Surveyor's approval;

• internal systems for processingcadastral plans;

• electronic approval of plans;

• database systems to store cadastralinformation, and;

• usage of GIS to manage, plan andanalyse land matters.

Q: How is Surveying as

education and career

in Singapore?

The Singapore Insti-tute of Surveyors andValuers (SISV) con-

ducts regular basicland surveying andcadastral survey-ing courses to pro-vide those from thesurveying and con-struction industrywith the founda-tions for executingsound surveying

practices in Singapore. The Land Sur-veyors Board (LSB) has recently contact-ed the polytechnics to take a proactivereview to revive the diploma courses.From the academic aspect, the scope ofthe diploma in land surveying courses,if successfully resumed, must be broad-ened to encompass modern measure-ment science, land information science,and spatial data management to reflectthe multi-facets of the discipline.

As land surveying is a key backboneto the construction industry, thedemand for land surveyors will certain-ly increase parallel to the constructionvolume. Land surveyors can look for-ward to very satisfying careers becauseeveryday presents itself with new chal-lenges. With the constant rate of tech-nology and industry change withinSingapore, the amount that one canlearn is unlimited.

Q: How do you perceive the situation of

Surveying in Asia Pacific vis-a-vis that

in Western nations?

In the current global climate, surveyingin the Asia Pacific is not so differentfrom Western countries. Rather, map-ping agencies worldwide are striving tofind ways to improve the quality andvariety of services due to higher cus-tomer expectations.


ge ofces

”Soh Kheng PengChief Surveyor of Singapore, Singapore Land Authority

As land surveying is a key backbone to the constructionindustry, thedemand for land surveyors will certainly increase

“

”

PCFC is wholly owned by the Dubaigovernment. There are various busi-ness units operating under the PCFCumbrella. The businesses, run by PCFCcompanies include port operation indifferent parts of the world, Free Zoneadministrations in many countries,real estate development, etc. In aninterview with GIS Development Eng. Nazek Al Sabbagh talks about theimportance of standards, e-administra-tion and automation of Surveying andMapping.

Q: What are the driving factors, which

led to extensive automation and com-

puterisation in your organisation?

The amount of construction activitiesthat take place in the region currently

has surpassed all expectations. CivilEngineering Department plays a keyrole in this development.

We are responsible for issuing Build-ing Permits, Building Completion Cer-tificates etc for some of the develop-ments in Dubai. We make sure that,anything that is built within our juris-diction follow the highest internation-al standards.

For each project, clients used to sub-mit full set of paper drawings in tripli-cate to CED for verifying the engineer-ing, architectural, structural standards,which would also be sent to the Envi-ronment, Health and Safety depart-ments for their approval. You canimagine the volume of paper we han-dle for each project. Approximately1500 papers per building are submittedfor our engineers to review.

We have to also make sure that ourfield personnel reach sites on timewith all required information. Frankly,we had no choice other than to auto-mate. There was no other way wecould cope with this workload.

In our automated systems, we main-tain maps, drawings, graphics, reportsand other documents which are acces-sible to authorised staff members.Comments entered by one staff mem-ber are available to others in real timeand any modifications made on thedata are immediately reflected.

Q: Was there any kind of resistance or

'inhibition' in adapting 'automation'?

Yes, it is human nature to resist

changes. But one has to initiate andthen strive to meet the goal and makea difference. We started implementingour paperless policy three years backand step by step we reached ourdesired destination. At first, we startedusing CAD software to do regulardrafting work.

Then we converted maps and engi-neering records and made constructionservices online. Then we created aseries of online applications. SiteInspectors don't have to come to theoffice to take the request for siteinspection.

They have the necessary automatedtool. It is so exciting; the employeeswake up and they know what jobstheir seniors have scheduled for themfor on that day. The supervisor sched-ules jobs in such a way that all jobs inthe same geographic area are assignedto the same inspector. The GIS intelli-gence used here is transparent to allusers involved. You can imagine theamount of time saved. We have savedconsiderable amount of storage spaceas well considering the fact that we domany thousands projects and eachproject has six hundred to thousanddrawings. .

Q: Since this 'automation' is a big

change that you have introduced suc-

cessfully; can you summarise your

experience in brief and the ways to

implement it ?

The concept is that we should move

We would like to see the GIS technology spreading around

Eng. Nazek Al SabbaghChief Civil Engineering OfficerCivil Engineering DeptartmentPorts, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC),Dubai, UAE

Interview

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 740

ahead of times. Change can not bebrought in one day. It needs time withproper planning strategies. Beforeimplementing the plan you also haveto make sure that your clients andemployees buy it.

The proposition have to be sold toother organisations whom you dealwith; keeping in mind their require-ments and needs.

There will be some opposition fromthe system but one has to deal with it.We always have to look at our out-comes and strive for the best. I alwayswant to be ahead of demand. It's abeautiful system and a very good chal-lenge and this is not about becomingphilosophical but practically we haveto go further.

Q: What motivated you to introduce

GIS seven years ago?

We were reaching a stage where there was too much of information,especially drawings. There were papermaps, CAD files, excel sheets, paperreports. And more data was beingadded with each new project that wasinitiated. There was a clear need tohave an organised system to store geo-graphic data.

We studied other organisationsaround, who had similar needs. It soonbecame obvious that GIS was the onlyway to go. With the help of the topmanagement, we soon had a GIS inplace and there was no looking backever since.

Q: Could you tell us something about

the e-map which you have initiated

and how it is helpful for the clients?

e-Map has two versions. The first ver-sion, e-Map internal is an intranetapplication designed keeping in viewthe regular information requirementsof our staff and is used as a compre-

hensive tool for supporting their Deci-sion Making. This is an integration ofGIS and other MIS applications. This iscurrently used by many of our stafffor their day-to-day information needsin an easy to use manner.

This application has changed the cul-ture of our users to a great extent,who started looking at the informa-tion from an entirely different per-spective. All of a sudden, staff startedlooking at the leasing data from a dif-ferent perspective.

Till the time, GIS data was madeavailable to the FZ staff, a facility wasjust a number. But, today, when a FZstaff talks to a client, he or she speakswith a different picture in his or hermind. Previously a list of vacant landplots was just a list, but today, whenthey talk about vacant plots, it is abeautiful map that shows a lot of infor-mation that are all linked to its loca-tion on the ground.

e-Map external, an internet applica-tion is a GIS based interactive querysystem designed for the Free Zone and Port visitors who would like toview the information on free zonecompanies searching companies byname, activities or country of origin,locating facilities, landmarks and Cor-porate departments etc. on map, gen-erating map based on point to pointrouting.

Q: What are the standards that you

adopt?

The data standards are in place as perthe published guidelines of Dubai GIScenter. We did not reinvent the wheel.We maintain various type of datastarting from data representing FreeZone leasable facilities, topographicdata and ortho images covering all ourproject areas, utility network data. Inaddition to the map data we maintain

lots of attribute information such asengineering specifications for variousconstructions. Our engineering stan-dards match with the best internation-al standards and are customised to theregional requirements. We have pub-lished engineering guidelines and reg-ulations and have also launchedcolour-coded accreditation programmeto accredit PCFC Business Units staff,consultants and contractors

Q: Could you please share with us your

future plans? How will the integration

of GIS and MIS applications can be

further taken?

We would certainly like to see the GIStechnology spreading around in theorganisation. CED has benefited fromthis technology and we would like tosee similar benefits enjoyed by thewhole corporation.

One particular area where we like tosee GIS technology being used in thenear future is in Emergency ResponsePlanning. We will be ready to sharedata and resources in addition to ourexpertise in this field with other Busi-ness Units of the corporation to getmutual benefits.

41G I S D E V E L O P M E N TS E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7

Previously a list ofvacant land plots was just a list, buttoday, when they talk about vacantplots, it is a beautifulmap that shows a lotof information thatare all linked to itslocation on theground.

“

”

Q: What goals have been set by FIG

under your Presidentship?A: You need to have a work plantoachieve your goals. In May this yearin Hong Kong, during the FIG WorkingWeek, we prepared all the policies, thework plans and got ready for the nextfour years period. As an internationalorganisation, we aim to enhance theglobal standing of the surveying pro-fession, and help eradicate poverty,

promote democratization, and facili-tate economic, social and environmen-tal sustainability. We aim to explain to the world, howsurveyors contribute in achieving thesegoals. I am saying this because survey-ors provide the foundation to achievethe Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) in eradicating poverty. We con-stantly interact with the UnitedNations (UN) agencies and the World

Bank to achieve this. Our goal of flyinghigh also includes cooperation with UNHabitat in Nairobi and with FAO. Wealso cooperate with our sister organisa-tions such as ISPRS and ICA. For developing countries, capacitybuilding is a prerequisite to meet thechallenges arising out of poverty andalso for developing the basis for a sus-tainable future. This will also be neededfor developed countries to meet thechallenges in institutional and organi-zational evolution in the areas of sur-veying and land administration.

Q: How does a nation get benefitted on

being a FIG member?

A: The FIG is structured in such a waythat each member country can appointdelegates to our ten professional com-missions that cover areas such as pro-fessional practice, education, spatialdate infrastructures, cadastre and landmanagement, spatial planning, prop-erty economics, and the whole rangeof engineering surveys, and cartog-raphy including the marine envi-ronment. These commissionshave a work plan, and estab-lish working groups so thatthepro-fessionalissues canbe developed &enhanced. Asmentioned,each mem-ber country


Interview

Prof. Stig EnemarkPresident of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), Denmark

We aim to enhance thestanding of the Survey

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

can appoint delegates to these commis-sions and then be part of this profes-sional development.

Q: What kind of support does FIG pro-

vide to its member nation ?

A: Based on the demand, we can pro-vide what can be called ‘institutionalsupport’. We will try to address anyissue one may have. In case you didn'thave a university education in a specif-ic field of surveying, we, as the interna-tional surveying community, couldaddress that by explaining and con-vincing the government about the ben-efits of addressing the issue. We alsoprovide advice in terms of standardssuch as code of ethics, mutual recogni-tion, capacity building etc. And we pro-vide a whole range of publications rele-vant for national surveying organsa-tions.

Q: What broad proposals does FIG

want to put before the governments?

A: Addressing the land issues isquite often turned into matter of

technology. I would advise tolook at institutional issues

and develop sustainableinstitu-

tions.This is

becauseregistrations

will not work ifthe institutions

are not wellin place

and trusted by the citizens. When I talk about capacity building, I

mean both institutional developmentand education and training. But educa-tion and training doesn't take you any-where if the institutions are not well inplace. Hence, my advice would be todevelop a more holistic approach toland administration and understandthe role of land policies and the need forsound institutions while dealing withland rights, land value, land use andland development.

Q: At times, it is difficult to have con-

sensus between federal and local gov-

ernment. How do we then address

issues related to land administration?

A: Laying out some overall policies,which can be applied to various regionsthat may be diverse in terms of cultureor geography are important. Soundland policies may deal with a range ofissues such as who can own land? Canwomen own land? In which ways canfarmers own and use their land? Whatis the difference between private andstate owned land and how can stateowned land be used? What is the splitof responsibility between federal stateand local government? These kinds ofissues must be addressed in order tobuild sustainable land administrationsystems.

Q: How does FIG influence policy mak-

ing?

A: Sri Lanka did not have a Bachelor'sdegree in the area of surveying. Theywanted us to convince the governmentfor having that. We then talked to themand explained the benefits of havingsuch an education.

One issue in Latin America, that mayarise in Asia as well, is the issue of get-ting better interaction between the

cadastre and the topographic mappingarea. In Latin America there is a big gaphere because despite of the fact that thetopographic data is magnificent, cadas-tre is mainly focused upon taxation.

So, we set up a conference in Mexicoin cooperation with the UN to addressthese issues and came out with a policystatement on these issues which hasbeen taken on by national govern-ments. So this way FIG helps in policymaking at national level. By havingsuch international conferences, similarissues could be addressed in Asia.

Q: How can we take surveying and

mapping to grassroots level?

A: We should work towards makingsurveyors proud of their profession.They have progressed on finding tech-nical solutions but they should alsounderstand the necessity to make thepoliticians aware of the benefits oftheir work to society, so that the areacan be better supported. They should beencouraged to address political level tooptimize recommendations for survey-ing and mapping in the country.


the globalveying profession

Capacity building is a prerequisite to meet the chal-lenges arising outof poverty and alsofor developing thebasis for a sustain-able future. Thiswill also be neededfor developedcountries.

“

”

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

The below are excerpts from

the talk of Franz Leberl at the

Map Asia 2007 conference,

held at KL, Malaysia during 14-16th

August, 2007.

THEN… AND NOW…Last year we presentedhttp://maps.live.com. It introduced tothe world interactive maps, points ofinterests and even the aerial view ofthe area but all this was in 2D. Thisyear, I am here again with an addeddimension, a sense of elevation, as Ipresent to you the world in 3D. Thoughour initial focus has been the US andthe North American cities, followed bythe cities in Europe, we are making ourpresence here in Asia with Japan andprobably Malaysia in the times tocome!

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?This means that our website hasevolved from being 2D to 3D. It meansthat now more than 100 cities likeAtlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc.,(Figure-1a & b) are present on the inter-net with its buildings and other fea-tures. It also means that that the userinterface has improved and hardlytakes any time to load and allow usersto navigate the 3D world.

WHERE DOES THIS COMEFROM?It comes from a vision that was formu-lated by Bill Gates on his 50th birthday,celebrated in London. The vision as hestated was that, "You'll be walkingaround in downtown London and beable to see the shops, the stores, seewhat the traffic is like. Walk in a shopand navigate the merchandise. Not inthe flat, 2D interface that we have on

the web today, but in a virtual realitywalkthrough." The vision targeted 3Dmodels to be created without even aminute of manual labour, completelyautomated using aerial photographswith a resolution of 10-15cm per pixel.

It also means that tomorrow if wemap the entire world at a 15 cm perpixel, the land masses only, and citiesand buildings for 6 billion people, wewould create a dataset of 22 peta bytes(1 peta bytes = 1024^5 bytes). Imagine

this for at least 200-300 cities! This isnot all. If we add the street data at 2cmper pixel and the indoor spaces forshopping malls, monuments, churchesand temples etc., at 0.5 cm per pixel,imagine the kind of datasets createdand all this becomes the real challenge.The vision of Bill Gates is now thevision of Microsoft - Photogrammetryand we are committed to it! However,what Microsoft - Photogrammetry willbe doing will be driven by Virtual


Leader’s Talk

Franz LeberlMicrosoft - Photogrammetry, CO, USA

Geo-informaticsis going through anexciting era

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Earth (VE) requirements. This willrequire sensing through aerial pho-togrammetry and automating theextraction of 3D data.

THE HARDWARESome of the hardware used in thisprocess are shown in Figure-2 and theone that is most important is the digi-tal aerial camera, Ultra CamX (Figure3). This camera, produces images withdimensions of almost 10k to 15k pixelsevery time you push the trigger andthe resolution in this case is around 6cm and we can get upto 2 cm/pixel. Wecan or must try to get to the resolutionthat people want from street side digi-tal sensors. The DEM is produced auto-matically from the dataset.

Expressing curiosity about the hard-ware, Bill Gates once (Jan 2006) askedme , "What's so hard about large for-mat digital aerial cameras?" And I said,"You need to create 3 GB per sec andyou have to do it in terms of 432 MBper trigger. You have to trigger thecamera at an interval of 1 second or soin order to get high overlap as you fly.You have to store the data at the rateof 2 TB in a single instrument andyou'd like to swap the instrumentwhile you are in the air, so that youhave an unlimited number of imagesin one aerial flight, without ever goingback to the airport. You have to do thiswith a geometric accuracy of 2 mmacross the 15 k pixels. Then you've to

create each image with 7000 gray val-ues at almost 13 bit per pixel. And youhave to do all this while it's cold, whileit is shaking, while the wind is blow-ing, while it is moist or bone dry". BillGates exclaimed, “Now I understand,Thank you!”

ACCURACYAccuracy is very important when onehas to focus not only on the quality ofthe image but also the dervied prod-ucts associated with it. So for the accuracies, we flew the cam-era in a block (marked by blue in Fig-ure-4) and we flew 9 flight lines in N-Sdirection and 5 flight lines in E-Wdirection for 80% forward and 60%sideways overlap. For the accuracies inthe elevation we took 79 images in theN-S direction and 90 images in the E-Wdirection. After processing, we got anaccuracy that is on the right hand sidethat is the elevation accuracy (Table-1)and you've to relate them to the GSD (9


Fig. 2a Hardware requirement

You'll be able to see the shops, thestores, not in theflat, 2D interfacebut in 3D...

“

”

Fig. 1a 3D map of Atlanta city

Fig. 1b Coca Cola Building

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

cm, 13cm, etc). So what it really meansis that its aerial triangulation is accu-rate to half a pixel, which is fantastic!

FUTURE TRENDSLet me speculate, what will happen,when we convene next year for MapAsia 2008! To start with, there's a lot ofsoftware work going on. An interestingsoftware work that could be expectedwill recognize the moving objects andwill remove them automatically in thefinal digital terrain model. To illustrate

this, look at the image (Figure-5). In the left hand side of the image, someof the cars in the image appear to bemoving and will be gone in 5 seconds.Others are parked, which will probablybe gone by tomorrow.

The main principle governing thissoftware is the redundancy in the digi-tal cameras. So the software workongoing is to automate this recogni-tion of the cars and remove it by usingan infill algorithm to replace the areasurrounding texture in an intelligent

way (right hand side of the image).Note that it would even consider therecognition of pedestrians crossingpath and that is the kind of software

being developed here at Microsoft Pho-togrammetry. By next year, Microsoft will have more

than 500 cities in 3D. At present therate of production of 3D is more than 1city per day and by the second half ofnext year, this will be accelerated to 2-3cities per day. This will lead to 5000cities in the next five years!Other interesting software that isdeveloping at our labs is "Photosynth"(http://labs.live.com/photosynth). This software takes a large collection ofphotos of a place or an object, analysesthem for similarities, and displaysthem in a reconstructed 3-D space. Asshown (in Figure-6), these are severalphotographs of the Piazza San Marco inVenice, Italy. It loads them and does anautomated orientation to create a 3-Dmodel from numerous images num-bering in hundreds and thousands thatcan be managed and presented back tous. This is the management of images


Fig. 3 Ultra CamX

Fig. 4 Test flights for geometric and vertical accuracies

GEOMETRIC ACCURACY ULTRACAM - X

UC-XSensor

GSD(cm)

FlyingHeight (m)

Oo

± µ mImagesin Block

Points inBlock

Points/Image

RMSE-Z(± cm)

A Flight 1 9 1,250 1.50 127 3,134 184 5.3

A Flight 2 13 1,800 1.45 92 2,310 198 7.0

B 8 1,150 1.39 76 2,822 238 4.9

C1 Flight 1 10 1,400 1.17 404 3,575 104 4.4

C1 Flight 2 25 3,400 1.65 115 3,949 453 11.0

D 10 1,400 0.73 199 13,099 323 4.1

Summary Height Accuracy at - Half PixelTABLE 1

which are not very large though. Butthe software "Sea Dragon", which canmanage thousands of digital aerialimages each upto 3GB at 16 bit/pixel insize. By next year, Microsoft plans tomake Photosynth as an integral part ofthe VE as well. Other initiative is the Street Side Imag-ing at Microsoft. This technology hasbeen developed to stitch imagery (Fig-ure-7, the image strip present at the

bottom of page 46-48).This huge collection isfrom the images thatare collected while thecars are driven aroundan area and laterstitched together andthis capability in ayear from now willalso be available in VE. I hope toupdate you all soon on this and other

more new and exciting news from ourMicrosoft Labs. Thank you.

Fig. 5 Moving objects identified and filled with the texture

Fig. 6 Test flights for geometric and vertical accuracies

IIn our daily life, no matter you are

hiking in the countryside, driving

on the street or riding a boat, you

may wish to know where you are and

where you go. With the handheld GPS

receivers and the GPS correction data

from SatRef, your real time position in

sub-meter accuracy can be easily found

out in tens of seconds.

Real-time GPS correction data such asDGPS data and RTK data from SatRefcan be used for a wide range of applica-tions in hiking, logistics, fleet manage-ment, mobile GIS, childcare, lost carfinding, position tracking, livestocktracking, vehicle tracking, search andrescue operations, and other generalpositioning related applications.

For tracking and navigation, usersmay use the low cost handheld GPSreceivers or handheld devices, such asPDA, tablet PC, mobile phone embed-ded with GPS chipset to obtain theirreal time position from sub-meter accu-

racy or evendown to cen-timeter levelaccuracy withthe GPS correc-tion data fromSatRef. The accu-rate position canbe displayed ona map base ofthe device for avariety of appli-

cations as far asyou think appropriate without limita-tion.

On the other hand, with land survey-ing grade GPS receiver and correctiondata such as Network-RTK data fromSatRef, real-time precise positioning incentimeter level accuracy is easilyachievable. Surveyors, engineers, archi-tects and scientists can use these pre-cise positioning techniques in geodeticsurveying, mapping, structure moni-toring, scientific research of atmos-pheric activity and other high precisionpositioning applications.

CHANGES IN POSITIONINGAND NAVIGATION DUE TO GPSIn the past, surveyors require sophisti-cated survey equipment in fixing theposition of new points by making obser-vations and measurements from wellestablished geodetic control points. Alarge number of Continuously Operat-ing Reference Stations (CORS) havebeen established in different places ofthe world to provide round-the-clock

GPS data services in support of all kindsof positioning activities for mapping,geodetic surveying, fleet management,logistics, etc. SatRef is the first CORSsystem in Hong Kong to provide fullcoverage of the territory for differentGPS positioning activities. The collectedGPS data and correctional informationof the CORS improve accuracy and effi-ciency of those positioning operations.

SYSTEM REALISATION OF SatRefThe SatRef Phase I was implementedin 2001-02 with six GPS PermanentReference Stations constructed in thenorthwest and northern part of theHong Kong territory. To extend thenetwork coverage, SatRef Phase II forthe establishment of another six GPS

Permanent Reference Stations in theLantau Island, Hong Kong Island andeastern part of the territory was com-menced in early 2004. At present, thereare a total number of twelve continu-ously operating GPS reference stationsin the SatRef System. These stations arescattered in different places of the terri-tory with a separation of about 10 kmto 15 km between one and other (Fig 1). A system enhancement of SatRef wasimplemented in June 2007 to providethe real-time GPS correction data serv-ice on internet via NTRIP (NetworkTransport of RTCM via Internet Proto-col). In principle, the SatRef can deliverthe correctional data to almost unlimit-ed number of users by means of NTRIPto meet the demand of users in posi-tioning and navigation.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION OF SatRefThe SatRef System consists of threemajor parts, namely, GPS PermanentReference Stations (GPSRSs), ControlCentre (CC) and Data Centre (DC). The

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T48

SatRef - Hong Kong SatellitePositioning Reference Station Network

GPSRSs are connected to theDC with 64K leased linewhilst the DC is connectedwith CC with a 512K leasedline.

GPS Permanent Refer-ence StationsAs mentioned above, 9 ofthe GPS reference stationsare hilltop stations and 3stations are rooftop sta-tions. These 9 hilltop sta-tions are built at elevationranging from about 30meter to 360 meter abovemean sea level. The hilltopGPS reference station is con-structed with a 5m highconcrete antenna pillarerected on a concrete plat-form. The area is fenced toprevent trespassing of peo-ple and animals. Each sta-tion is installed with a dualfrequencies geodetic gradeGPS receiver, choke ringantenna, meteorologicalsensor, tilt sensor, GSMmodem, power supply, UPS,64K leased line, lightningand power surge protectiondevice and etc. The stationcollects GPS data, meteoro-logical data and tilt data atevery 5 seconds and thensends the data back to DataCentre for processing atevery 10 minutes interval.

The rooftop station has thesame functions and equip-ment (except tilt sensor) asthe hilltop station and it isconstructed with either a0.5m high concrete pillar[Stonecutters Island andPeng Chau or a 1.7m high

stainless steel antennastand (Fanling).

Data CentreThe Data Centre is located atTaikoo Place of the HongKong Island. Altogether,there are nine servers, oneload-balancer and one fire-wall installed in the DataCentre. These servers aregrouped into four pairs anda dial-up Modem Pool.These four pairs of serversare Reference Station Man-agement Servers (Manage-ment Servers), Database &Positioning Servers (Posi-tioning Servers), NTRIPServers and Web Servers(Fig 2).

To ensure system high-availability and improve itsperformance, the load-bal-ancer evenly distributesjobs to the two sets of NTRIPServer and Web Server. Inaddition, each of the serversets of the ManagementServers and PositioningServers has a redundantunit running parallel as abackup system to achievehigh-availability function.

Software are running con-tinuously in these servers tomonitor the performance ofthe whole System and todeliver data to Control Cen-tre and users.

Control Centre The Control Centre isaccommodated inside theGeodetic Survey Section ofSurvey & Mapping Office(SMO) for monitoring the

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7


performance of the whole SatRef Sys-tem. If there is any system fault, failureor intrusion attack, real-time alarm willbe displayed on the plasmas and emailwill be forwarded to the system admin-istrator in minutes.

The SatRef is responsible to deliverpositioning data round the clock tousers. To secure the data quality, thereis an independent Integrity Monitoring(IM) Stations System for monitoringpurpose. These three IM stations inte-grated to form a plane such that theperformance of SatRef covered by thisplane can be effectively monitored. TheIM stations will carry out RTK surveyevery second by using the network RTK

correction datacollected fromSatRef. Bymeans of realtime compari-son of the RTKsurvey resultswith the knownstation co-ordi-nates, the SatRefsystem operatoris able to keeptrack on the per-formance of theSystem.

SERVICESOF THESatRefSYSTEMSatRef Systemprovides differ-ent GPS data andmeteorologicaldata to users fordifferent appli-cations.

GPS DataDownloading

User can download the GPS RINEX andmeteorological data from the web siteof SatRef for post-processing of highaccuracy position fixing or other earthscience application purposes.

The SatRef System also provides real-time GPS correction data, such as Net-work RTK, Single RTK and DGPS data tousers via modem pool or Internet forreal-time position fixing or navigationin centimeter level to sub-meter accu-racy. User can access these real-timeRTK/DGPS correctional data by eitherone of the following two options:-

• by using GSM dial-up + GPS equip-ment that would be able to processNetwork-RTK;

• by using GPRS/3G and get access toNTRIP

In principle, the SatRef can deliver thecorrectional data to almost unlimitednumber of users by means of NTRIP.

Automatic GPS Data Computation The SatRef also provides automatic GPSdata computation service to user onInternet. Users can upload their GPSdata in RINEX format to the Systemthrough Internet. The service will com-pute the position of the unknown pointin the uploaded file and the computedresult in terms of WGS84 GeodeticCoordinates and Hong Kong 1980 GridCoordinates will be forwarded back tothe user within a few minutes.

CONCLUSIONFrom the traditional geodetic survey tothe establishment of a continuoussatellite positioning station network,not only the surveying techniques havebeen changed (from two receivers ofthe traditional GPS to one receiver), butalso, the passive mode of operation ofshriving to maintain the astronomicalgeodetic networks and control stationsin good conditions for ready use hasalso been changed to taking the initia-tive to provide the users with real-timepositioning information service. There-fore CORS are also called active stations.

Along with the advent of high-speedbroadband WiFi/WiMAX wireless tech-nology and the improvement of net-work RTK technology, CORS networkwill have more room for development.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe author is grateful to the management of LandsDepartment, The Govt. of Hong Kong SAR, for theirpermission to publish this paper. Moreover, the authorthanks the management of Lands Department fortheir valuable advice on writing this paper.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

CHAN Kin-kwokGeodetic Survey Section, Survey and Mapping Office, Lands Department, The Government of Hong Kong [email protected]

Fig. 1 Layout Plan of Hong Kong SatRef Stations

Fig. 2 System Network Diagram of SatRef

Light Amplification by Stimulat-

ed Emission of Radiation

(LASER) is a device that creates

a uniform and coherent light (www.pcmag.

com) or that emit highly amplified and

coherent radiation of one or more discrete

frequencies (www.Answers.com).

Lasers have become a common place,

be it the pointers we use during pre-sentations, the home DVD players or itis the reflector-less total station, a sur-veyor uses. This technique has beenused in the surveying industry to per-form laser scanning by aiming millionsof beams at an object by which onecan calculate the distance and direc-tion of an infinite number of pointsand discern and

maps the surface of nearly any kind ofobject (Professional Surveyor).

This technique was first introducedinto LiDAR and then it was stripped ofsome components and terrestrialLiDAR mapping was created. Presentlyit is known by different names such as,3D laser scanning, High Definition Sur-veying (a Leica GeoSystems trademark)or LiDAR on a stick. This is a powerfultechnology that uses advanced lasertechnology to obtain measurements atmany thousands of points per second.The measurements captured through3D Laser scanning can be used to gen-erate high-quality visual deliverables.3D Laser scanning has many applica-tions in surveying where precise threedimensional relationships are required.However, there are four criteria for

gauging where its practicali-

Primer

Leica HDSLeica Geosystem has two productsto its family of laser scanners (HighDefinition Surveying) viz., LeicaScanStation 2 - a time-of-flightranging systems and LeicaHDS6000 - ultra-high-speed,phased-based ranging systems.

Apart fromthe hard-ware,Leica alsoprovidesLeicaCycloneand LeicaCloud-Worx soft-warewhich canprovidegeo-refer-encing,surveying,and CADintegratedengineer-ing toolsfor creat-ing andmanaginglarge scandata sets.

HardwareLeica ScanStation 2

This has a 360deg horizontal and270deg vertical field of view whichcan be used to capture overhead,vertical, horizontal, and sub-levelgeometry. This has survey-gradedual-axis (Tilt) compensation anddelivers survey grade accuracy witha detection range of 300m @ 90%reflectivity with a maximum scanrate of 50,000 points per second,which gives small beam and ultrafine scanning.

Leica HDS 6000This is a full integration of a scanner, controller, data storage andpower backup, all in one. This haslonger ambiguity interval (laserreturns upto 79m away can beanalysed), scan rate of 500,000points per second, scan density of1.6mm x 1.6mm @10m and 7.9mmx 7.9mm @ 50m for 32x zoom, posi-tional accuracy of 6mm between 1-25m range and 10mm in 25-50mrange within a 360deg x 310 degfield of view.

BenefitsHigh-Definition Surveying (HDS) notonly offers many benefits to themeasurement professional, but tothe recipients and users of accuratespatial datasets.

HDS systems can provide significantcost savings in many ways:

• Lower cost as-built & topo-graphic surveys

• Reduction or elimination ofcostly "return visits" to the site

• More accurate, complete as-builts for retrofit design projects

translate into better retrofitdesigns. These translate, in turn,into (1) less construction reworkdue to interferences and fit-upproblems and (2) the ability tofactory-fabricate instead of field-fabricate.

• Reduced facility downtime dueto (1) fast, unobtrusive scenecapture and/or (2) minimal fieldfit-up, field fabrication, and fieldrework thanks to accurate as-builts

HDS SoftwareSoftware plays a critical role in han-dling the high-definition point cloudseffectively and aids in the speedyextraction of engineering information.

Leica Cyclone is HDS software suitewhich is used to capture, visualize,extract, analyze, and represent pointcloud data in the form of traditionalor enhanced deliverables. With LeicaCloudWorx, HDS data can directlybe used in the CAD environmentand Leica COE data transfer is autility which helps in two way datatransfer.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 51

Laser Scanners in terrestrial surveying

Leica Hardware

Leica Scan Station 2

Leica HDS 6000

Dr. [email protected]


ty and efficiency can be best appliedand exploited. They are: required levelof detail, accessibility, safety and traf-fic/ business disruptions.

With the technology becoming moreaccessible, the benefits of such fastdata acquisition have been realizedand surveyors have started lookingtowards 3D scanning and Spatial Imag-ing as a new tool to widen businessopportunities. There has been manycases world over, where this techniquehas been used successfully in conjunc-tion with the conventional surveyingmethods. Some of the case studieswere published in the Professional Sur-veyor Magazine (February 2007).

TypesThe two types of 3D scanners are con-

tact and non-contact. Contact 3D scan-ners probe the subject through physi-cal touch. It is used mostly in manufac-turing and can be very precise,although they have not found muchuse in Surveying. As the name sug-gests, non-contact scanners does themeasurements without coming in con-tact with the objects.

These scanners can be further dividedinto 2 categories, active scanners andpassive scanners. The active scannersemit some kind of radiation or light anddetect its reflection in order to probe anobject or environment. Possible typesof emissions used include light, ultra-sound or x-ray. Different techniques ofmeasurement used in active scannersare Time-of-flight, Triangulation, Cono-

scopic Holography, Structured light andModulated light.

In the case of passive scanners, theydo not emit any kind of radiationthemselves, but instead rely on detect-ing reflected ambient radiation. Mostscanners of this type detect visiblelight because it is a readily availableambient radiation. Other types of radi-ation, such as infrared could also beused. Passive methods can be verycheap, because in most cases they donot need particular hardware. The dif-ferent techniques employed are,Stereoscopic, Silhouette and, ImageBased Modeling.

HOW DOES IT WORKThree most popular techniques used in

Trimble's Spatial Imaging solutionenables users to capture, extract,and analyze accurate positioningdata from the ground level. To cap-ture the data in the field, Trimble hastwo hardware products, viz., TrimbleGX 3D Scanners and Trimble VXSpatial Station and supporting soft-ware.

HardwareTrimble GX 3D Scanneris equipped with laser technologythat provides accurate focusedmeasurements and enhanced long-range operation and can be used fora variety of survey applications andenvironments. It captures andrecords sub-centimeter, photo-real-istic details to produce enhanced deliverables. The Trimble GX is idealfor users in surveying, and in thegeospatial industry, and for applica-tions such as: monitoring the evolu-tion of a work site , as-built diagnos-tics, historic restorations, crimescene forensics, etc.

Trimble VX Spatial Stationis a positioning system that usesleading optical and scanning tech-nologies to measure in 3D for theproduction of 2D and 3D deliver-ables. The Trimble VX scanning function is useful formeasuring large surfaces; andscanned data can be combined withsingle point data. This brings terrestrial accuracy to geospatialinformation, offers Trimble VISION™technology for digital image stream-ing and capture and produces rich

data for enhanced 2Dand 3D deliverables.Combined with cameraimages, detailed scansenable surveyors in theoffice to clearly see andcomprehend featuresmeasured in the field.

3DScanningSoftwareIn the fieldTo be able to efficientlyrelate measurementsbetween stations andknown ground points,the Trimble GX scanneris offered withPointScape and PocketScape fieldsoftware.

In the officeTrimble RealWorks Survey is a 3Dscanning application which allowssurveyors to register, visualize,explore and manipulate as-built orscene point cloud data collectedwith the Trimble GX or the TrimbleVX. It provides comprehensive soft-

ware tools to the surveyors to simplify,

• User-definable profiles forinspection and monitoring

• Fast connection and conversionto industry-standard CAD

• Advanced inspection tools tocompare design versus build

• Pre-defined calculation tools forvolume and surface calculations

Trimble Spatial Imaging

Trimble VX Spatial Station

Trimble GX 3D Scanner

surveying are - laser triangulation,time of flight and phase shift. Theselaser scanning techniques are typicallyused independently but can also beused in combination to create a moreversatile scanning system.

• Laser triangulation (Fig. 1) is accom-plished by projecting a laser line orpoint onto an object and then capturingits reflection with a sensor located at aknown distance from laser's source.The resulting reflection angle can beinterpreted to yield 3D measurementsof the part.

• Time of flight (Fig. 2) laser scannersemit a pulse of laser light that is reflect-ed off of the object to be scanned. Theresulting reflection is detected with asensor and the time that elapsesbetween emission and detection yields

the distance to theobject since the speedof the laser light is pre-cisely known.

• Phase shift (Fig. 3)laser scanners work bycomparing the phaseshift in the reflectedlaser light to a standardphase, which is alsocaptured for compari-son. This is similar to

time of flight detection except that thephase of reflected laser light furtherrefines the distance detection, similar tothe vernier scale on a caliper.

Among the different techniquesavailable, "Time of Flight" is the mostused technique for the terrestrial sur-veying which is based on the principleof sending out laser pulse & observingthe time taken to reflect from an objectand return to the instrument.Advanced electronics are used to com-pute the range to the target. The dis-tance range is combined with angleencoder measurements to provide the3-D location of a point. This is similar tothe Direct-Reflex (DR) technique usedin Total Station, however, the differ-

ence is the speed of measurement.The ability to position objects at over

1000 times the speed of a total stationallows a 3D scanner to quickly producelarge amounts of survey data. Thisdata, referred to as a "point cloud", canprovide a 3-D shape, or visualization, ofthe feature being measured.

For surveyors who are more familiarwith measuring discrete points to iden-tify a feature, the sheer amount of datathat can be produced from 3D scanningmay seem overwhelming. However, a3D scanner is still providing 3D posi-tional information in a similar way to atotal station. The main difference isthat the speed of measurement allowsa 3D scanner to provide more measure-ments in a shorter amount of time.This ability allows to either significant-ly reduce field time or to collect adenser amount of points, which resultsin accurate detail of the survey site.

Among the different laser scannersavailable for terrestrial surveying,products from two companies, viz.,Leica and Trimble have been listed.

Fig. 1 Laser Triangulation

Fig. 2 Time of flight Fig. 3 Phase Shift

Laser

Lens

Object

CCD/PSD - Sensor

Transmitted PulseT= 0

T= t Reflected Pulse

Transmitted Signal

Reflected Signal

∆t

Conference Report

Map Asia 2007The sixth annual Map Asia conference-and Exhibition was held at KualaLumpur Convention Centre, Malaysiafrom August 14-16, 2007. The conferencewas organised by GIS Development inpartnership with Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment, Govern-ment of Malaysia. JUPEM and MacGDIwere co-partners for the event.

At the inaugural ceremony, Y. Bhg.Datuk Suboh B. Mohd. Yassin, SecretaryGeneral, Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment, Government ofMalaysia delivered the welcome address.The keynote address was given by Dr. KKasturirangan, Member of Parliament,Republic of India. Y B Dato' Seri AzmiKhalid, Minister, Ministry ofNatural Resources and Envi-ronment, Government ofMalaysia graced the occasionby delivering the inauguraladdress.

Conference'Maponomics' was the theme of Map Asia 2007 keeping in view the vital role beingplayed by geospatial technologies in shaping the modern businesses and economies.The conference comprised four keynote sessions viz., Asian Economic: The SpatialPerspective; Infrastructure Development & Engineering; TechnologyTrends and ROI in Geospatial Technology Applications.

Workshops on LiDAR (organised by AAMHatch, Malaysia) and SpatialData Infrastructure (organised by MaCGDI) added value to the presti-gious event. The conference also hosted 13 technical sessions.

ETaktowaG

54

YMEinNm

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Y. B Dato' S. Sothinathan presenting the best exhibitor award toDavid Maguire of ESRI

Y B Dato' Seri Azmi Khalid inagurating the conference

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

ExhibitionThe Map Asia 2007 Exhibition was spread over anarea of more than 1500 square metre and hostedkey vendors of the geospatial industry. It received atotal of about 550 visitors, besides 1200 delegates,with a total of 46 exhibitors. The Best Exhibitoraward was shared by Bentley, ESRI and Digital-Globe.

Panel Discussion at the conference

Y B Dato' Seri Azmi Khalid,Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment, Government of Malaysiainaugrating the exhibition. Dr M PNaranayan, President, GIS Develop-ment is alongside him.

Performance byMalaysian artists duringGala Dinner

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 55

to

Alot is going on in this world of internet, the bigWWW, critics and analysts say we are transitioningfrom what they call Web 1.0 to Web2.0, where we

are no longer split in two categories of data publishers anddata users. We've now evolved as a Data Community, whereall its members are the contributors as well as the users ofthat data. Along with this transition we have also become acommunity that is geo-enabled and associates itself with themaps and locations. There are applications to tell you whereyour friends and family have been or at present are, sharetheir experiences with photos and videos, and even knowwhat is the best thing to do and places to see when you getthere…There is information everywhere and we are punching itdown our keyboards through these community sites andblogs. The compilation that follows focuses on the Survey-ing industry, one of the oldest professions in the world, andhighlights its contributions to this ever expanding DataCommunity. Until next time, Ponder and Evolve.

GeoCarta: A Mapping and Navigation blog

Roger Hart whodescribes himself asa second genera-

tion Texas Land Surveyor, punches down his thoughts withspecial interest in GPS product reviews, mapping and sur-

veying related topics. This blog has existed for over two yearsnow and gives an insightful opinion on the geospatial indus-try in general. Don't forget to read this rather interestingpost, "The Self-Taught Scientist Who Surveyed a Capitol" dat-ed Feb 17, 2007.

http://www.geocarta.blogspot.com

Palmetto Equipment & Supply Blog

"My businessonline" seems to bethe motto of this

company. The blog lists various surveying equipments withtheir product descriptions, technical specifications, photosand deals that are available on them. The blog though busi-ness oriented does provide information and on deeper read-ing one can notice that it provides product information fromdifferent vendors at one place. It is a great blog for compar-isons among different equipments in terms of cost and func-tionality.

http://palmettoequipment.blogspot.com

Surveying, Mapping and GIS

This blog by DavidSmith is a thoughtpot of various


Blogs

geospatial sectors including surveying,mapping, GIS and more...

It revolves around acquisition, main-tenance and development of survey-ing, mapping, and GIS data and applica-tions. Some areas of current interestinvolve publishing mapping data andservices on the web- to include ArcIMS,XML Web Services and interoperability,details Smith.

The recent posts don't really suggestthe surveying nature of the blog but onlooking up the surveying tag in theblog shows posts in the sectors varyingfrom illustration of an ancient theodo-lite to the description of the latest sur-veying scan station.

http://surveying-mapping-gis.blogspot.com

surveying... the oldest profession

accuracy and precision is our objec-tive...

Researcher Karolzams (author namementioned in the blog) from Malaysiaseems to be a man on a mission."…accuracy and precision is our objec-tive" as a tag line to his blog, it actually

holds true when you start reading theposts. The blog is relatively new interms of its existence but I must say it isfull of information that ranges fromnew techniques to the ancient ones,concerns regarding precision and accu-racy in surveying and also a notablesection of external links.

http://everythingaboutsurveying.blogspot.com

Land Surveyor's Notebook

...articles and links of interest to the

professional land surveyor

A retired Land Surveyor from Indiana,USA, Larry VanOsdol shares his experi-ences and views on the past, presentand the future of the surveying indus-try. The blog also hosts in his SurveyorReference Page, an extensive list of use-ful links for both student and profes-sional community.

http://surveyorsnotebook.com

The Map Room

...a weblog about mapsA fact before you read this blog, the

author, Jonathan Crowe, is not a mapexpert nor is involved with the indus-try in any aspect, except for anotherfact that he is interested in the subject.The Map Room is a blog that discussesmaps in its every form, from creation topublishing, old and new techniques,map collections, map-related resources,and material about maps on the web. Itaims to be a fun and informative readfor both enthusiasts and professionals.And for those wondering how does sur-veying come into the picture, well nowwe can't have maps without surveying,can we? Don't forget to check out thesurveying section!

http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/

Southern Photo

This is a fairly new blog and is onceagain by a company selling equip-ments for surveying and other map-ping needs. Well there must be some-thing different, as it is being mentionedhere, not exactly! Though it does con-tain few posts that are interesting toread, like, the one on Surveying Swampsand Mouse Ears or on the First WomanSurveyor? Interesting read. And whenyou click on the Home link it will directyou to their website where all thedetails of products and equipments(well categorised!) are mentioned indetails… and again, all in one place.

http://www.southernphoto.com/blog

Gaurav [email protected]

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 57

Surveying is one of the oldest pro-

fession in the world. The history

dates back to the link chain,

which for surveyors symbolises a rugged era.

The chain was a precision part of a sur-veyor's equipment for years. Then theRennaisance period brought growth ineducation and scientific knowledgeprovided the necessary intellectualfoundation for the development ofmodern surveying equipments.

A brief chronology of surveyinginstruments provided here, traces thehistory of surveying:

Around 1400 B.C., the ancient Egypt-ian survey crew used measuring ropes,plumb bobs, sighting instruments, andleveling instruments to accuratelydivide land into plots for the purposeof taxation & to engineer many feats,from canals to pyramids. The ancientEgyptian measuring rope wasstretched taut between stakes andthen rubbed with a mixture of beeswax and resin. Some of the ropes weregraduated by knots tied at intervals.

DIOPTERAround 120 B.C., Greeks developed thescience of geometry and were using itfor precise land division. Greeks devel-oped the first piece of surveying equip-ment calledDiopter. In awork entitledDiopter, Heroof Alexandria,describes it asa portableinstrument, anapplication of the cogwheel, screw,and water level, for taking terrestrialand astronomical measurements.Because of some similarities, Hero'sdiopter is usually recognized as theancestor of the modern theodolite.

MAGNETIC COMPASSThe magnetic compass is an old inven-tion, probably first made in China dur-

ing the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.)

Lodestones (a mineral composed of aniron oxide which aligns itself in anorth-south direction) turned out tobe better at pointing out real direc-tions, leading to the first compasses.They designed the compass on asquare slab, which had markings for

the cardinal points and the constella-tions. The pointing needle was a lode-stone spoon-shaped device, with ahandle that would always point south.Magnetized needles used as directionpointers instead of the spoon-shapedlodestones appeared in the 8th centuryAD, again in China, &between 850 and1050 they seem to have become com-mon as navigational devices on ships.

SEXTANTTwo menindepend-entlyrediscov-ered thesextantaround1730: JohnHadley(1682-1744), anEnglishmathe-matician,andThomas Godfrey (1704-1749), an Ameri-can inventor. A sextant is a navigationinstrument used for measuring angles,primarily altitudes of celestial bodies.Originally, the sextant had an arc of60°, or 1/6 of a circle. Because of thedouble-reflecting principle the instru-ment could measure angles as large as120°.

THEODOLITEThe Jesse Ramsden theodolite is a largetheodolite which was specially con-structed for the use in the first Ord-

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T58

Timeline

Survey Instruments

Ancient Egyptian leveling instruments

Diopter

Earlier form of magnetic compass

Sextant by John Bird (1759)

nance Survey of Southern Britain in1787. In 1791 Ramsden's theodolitewith a 3 ft. circle reading to 1" builtwas used for the angle observationsand despite its weight of about 300lbs. good progress was obtained inthe triangulation. It is certainlyamong the 4 or 5 greatest technologicaladvances ever in geodetic surveying. Inthe field of general surveying however,

the invention by the French of therepeating theodolite around 1790 isof equal importance for it is thebasis for the instrument most sur-veyors have employed.

ALIDADEThe term alidade can refer to thesighting mechanism of any instru-ment used for surveying or naviga-tion. In this catalog the term refersto the sighting mechanism usedwith a plane table for topographicalwork-that is, for mapping the sur-face features of the earth. Early ali-dades were simple bars with opensights at either end. Telescopic ali-dades came into use in Europe in theearly 19th Century, and were soonintroduced to American practice. In1865 the United States Coast Survey

stated that the plane table with tele-scopic alidade was the "principalinstrument for mapping the topo-graphical features of the country," andnoted that it was "universally recog-nized as the most efficient and accu-rate means for that purpose."

DUMPY LEVELWilliam Gravatt introduced the dumpylevel in 1830. The Dumpy level was asimple device that was nothing morethen a small telescope with a bubblelevel attached to it. Its telescope isshort and fat (hence the name), andfixed in its supports. The level was con-sidered the standard, uptil around the1830's when the transit level wasinvented.

TRANSITThe transit was the most importantsurveying instrument in the UnitedStates in the 19th century. But WilliamJ. Young, who invented the form in1831, did not see it as something new,but simply a modification of his newrailroad compass. In an advertisementin the American Railroad Journal forMarch 23, 1833, Young described thetransit as "an Improved Compass, witha Telescope attached, by which anglescan be taken with or without the use

of the needle, with perfectaccuracy." By 1837, the newinstrument was known as atransit.

SOLAR COMPASSIn 1835 The solar compasswas invented by WilliamAustin Burt of Michigan. Thesolar compass is a compasswith a specific purpose ofdetermining "Latitude" and"True North". By making

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07 59

Theodolite

Alidade

Transit by William J. Young

Soilar Compass

Surveyors at workG I S D E V E L O P M E N T


observations on the sun or other stars,the latitude of the location can first bedetermined and then "True North" canbe determined. The solar compass alsohas the ability to measure horizontalangles much like a transit.

GUNTER’S CHAIN1839 onwards land surveyors in thecolony of Queensland used theGunter's Chain to measure the bound-aries of town allotments and countryselections (farms). Originally manufac-tured in England. One hundred LINKSin length (approximately 20 metres.)

used for measurement of land bound-aries up to 1880's.

STEEL MEASURING BANDSteel measuring band was developed

in Australia to suit localconditions in late 19thcentury. Commonlengths were 300 feet,500 links and 100metres. Usually graduat-ed with a brass tag ateach unit of 10 and acopper tag at each 100.The last 10 at each end

was graduated in smaller units.

GEODIMETERIn 1953, the Geodimeter, the first EDM

using laser beams or radio frequenciesto measure distances, was produced inSweden by Erik Bergstrand. This instru-ment, named the Geodimeter, wouldreduce the time required to measurebase lines from weeks to hours, with-out any reduction in the accuracy ofthe line. Furthermore, it permitted themeasurement of regular length trian-gulation lines, doing away with costly& accuracy lessening expansion nets.

TOTAL STATIONBeginning 1970's, a virtual plethora ofshort range EDMI, modern transits andtheodolites and eventually the mar-riage of the two, the Total Station, wereavailable. By the late 1980's, most sur-veyors were equipped with at least one

of the new instruments. There was oneproblem, EDMI require periodic accura-cy evaluations and verification of theinstrument constant.

GPSThe GPS (officially named as NAVSTARGPS) is the only fully functional GlobalNavigation Satellite System (GNSS).Using a constellation of 24 mediumEarth orbit satellites that transmit pre-

cise microwavesignals, the systemenables a GPSreceiver to deter-mine location, speed/direction & time.The most recent launch was in Novem-ber 2006. The oldest GPS satellite stillin operation was launched in August1991.

3-D LASER SCANNERThe 3-D laser scanner is an active scan-ner that uses laser light to probe thesubject. At the heart of this type ofscanner is a laser range finder. Thelaser range finder finds the distance ofa surface by timing the round-trip timeof a pulse of light.

A laser is used to emit a pulse of lightand the amount of time before thereflected light is seen by a detector istimed. The National Research Councilof Canada was among the first insti-tutes to develop the triangulation

based laser scanning technolo-gy in 1978.

The laser range finder onlydetects the distance of onepoint in its direction of view.Thus, the scanner scans itsentire field of view one point ata time by changing the range

finder'sdirectionof view toscan dif-ferentpoints.Leicageosys-temsintro-duced thefirst hand-held laser

distance meter in 1993

Neha Arora, [email protected]

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 07

Gumter’s Chain

GeodimeterArtist Impression of GPS

Total Station. Courtesy: Sokkia

3-D Laser Scanner

Steel Band

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