TODAY geospatial Publications Director Vice President (Operations) Sr. Assistant Editor Assistant Editor Copy Editor Sr. Designers Designers Web Ramprasad Umamaheswar Rao P T P Venu Omer Ahmed Siddiqui G Srinivas Reddy Masa Vijay, Lakshmi D Srinivas P, Nagaraju N S Upender Reddy V CONTENTS Head - Business & Events Circulation & Subscription Manager - MarCom Marketing & Sales Mumbai Delhi Kolkata Chennai Wilson Rajan [email protected] - 099499 05432 Unnikrishna Pillai S [email protected] - 095059 19923 Padmapriya C [email protected] - 099890 59259 Dr Shibu John Head - Strategy & BD [email protected] - 098676 82002 K N Sudheer - Regional Manager [email protected] - 099101 66443 Nikhil Doshi - Region Head [email protected] - 098369 96293 W Sudhakar - Manager [email protected] - 097899 81869 Geospatial Today Printed at Editor: Please note: Copyright: is printed by P Chandrasekhar Reddy published by P Chandrasekhar Reddy on behalf of Spatial Networks Pvt. Ltd., Plot No.761, Road No.39, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad - 500 033 AP, India. and M/s. Kala Jyothi Process Pvt. Ltd. 1-1-60/5, RTC cross roads, Musheerabad, Hyderabad - 500 020. and Published at Spatial Networks Pvt. Ltd. Plot No.761, Road No.39, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad - 500 033 AP, India. P Chandrasekhar Reddy Views expressed in the articles are those of the writer(s) and may not be shared by the editor or members of the editorial board. Unsolicited material will not be returned. No material published here should be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publishers. STRONG TECHNOLOGY FOR STRONG BORDERS 44 18 Feed Back Subscriptions Phone : e-mail : write to : Readers are advised to send all feedback and comments to [email protected]040 233 000 61 / 0626 [email protected]Spatial Networks Pvt. Ltd. #407, Fifth Floor, Pavani Plaza Khairatabad, Hyderabad - 500 004 AP. India. Tel: +91 40 233 000 61, 233 006 26 Fax: +91 40 233 006 65 www.geospatialtoday.com CONTACT US VOLUME 9 ISSUE 4 Prof Ian Masser Jack Dangermond Dr Shailesh R Nayak Dr V Jayaraman Maj Gen (Dr) R Siva Kumar K R Sridhara Murthi M Moni Rajesh C Mathur Mukund K Rao Dr R Nagaraja Dr N L Sarada Visiting Professor, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analyses, University College, London, UK Founder and President, ESRI Secretary, Min of Earth Sciences Director, NRSC CEO-NSDI, Head - NRDMS Managing Director, ANTRIX Corporation Ltd. Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre, Government of India Vice Chairman, ESRI India GIS Activist Group Head, NDC, NRSC Prof. Computer Science & Engineering Department, IIT Bombay Editorial advisory board 12 President, ESRI Inc Jack Dangermond unlock! Interview 02 18 24 10 12 16 20 26 46 NEWS Jack Dangermond NAVIGATION GOES MOBILE COVER STORY INTERVIEWS Snehal Kumar Bokare ALL IS NOT WELL WITH SATNAV I’M NOT GETTING LOST ANYMORE! REMOTE SENSING FITS TO A “T” EVENTS Demand for spatial data has grown more than ever, but lack of access and delays in obtaining data is a cause of worry. Opening up of the data could help foster socio-economic development President, ESRI Inc Mobile navigation is catching up and people are demanding integrated navigation solutions that can be used on-foot and while driving Industry Sales Manager, Geospatial, Bentley Systems Hackers are causing havoc as satellite signals reaching the earth are being manipulated. With a solution to make the GPS and navigation devices immune yet to be devised, all is definitely not well for the moment Adventure tourism is gaining ground and along with it come innovative gear, be it clothing, tents or outdoor equipment. But there is another gadget that is becoming an inseparable part of adventure tourism – GPS devices Understanding crop health using multispectral sensors can improve yields in tea gardens Mark your calender GIS MARKET IN DRAGON COUNTRY 36
Demand for spatial data has grownmore than ever, but lack of access anddelays in obtaining data is a cause ofworry. Opening up of the data couldhelp foster socio-economicdevelopment
President, ESRI Inc
Mobile navigation is catching up andpeople are demanding integratednavigation solutions that can be usedon-foot and while driving
Industry Sales Manager, Geospatial,Bentley Systems
Hackers are causing havoc as satellitesignals reaching the earth are beingmanipulated. With a solution to makethe GPS and navigation devicesimmune yet to be devised, all isdefinitely not well for the moment
Adventure tourism is gaining groundand along with it come innovative gear,be it clothing, tents or outdoorequipment. But there is another gadgetthat is becoming an inseparable part ofadventure tourism – GPS devices
Understanding crop health usingmultispectral sensors can improveyields in tea gardens
Mark your calender
GIS MARKET INDRAGON COUNTRY
36
02 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
News
TerraGo
Technologies
releases TerraGo
Publisher
TerraGo Technologies has
released TerraGo Publisher for
GeoMedia version 5 software.
The Publisher solution enables
Intergraph GeoMedia customers
to publish complex maps and
images as highly portable and
interactive GeoPDF files for easy
dissemination and use by field
personnel.
TerraGo Publisher provides the
benefits of the latest generation
of TerraGo software, such as
automatic enabling for end
users to add GeoMarks to
GeoPDF files; seamless
interoperability with the latest
TerraGo Toolbar and Mobile
solutions; improved publishing
control over GeoPDF output;
and expanded coordinate
system support.
– to inspire people to care about the planet – by
turning inspiration into action.
The Atlas is an interactive map-based tool and is
easy to navigate. Projects are organised into
broad categories such as humanitarian, climate
change, exploration, cultures, education, energy
and conservation. Each one of these is further
separated into smaller categories to make finding
projects about specific topics very intuitive.
National Geographic has introduced the
Global Action Atlas that spotlights
hundreds of local, cause-related projects from
around the world to a large audience of
concerned citizens, giving individuals
opportunities to take action by donating,
volunteering, advocating, and sharing
information. The Atlas enhances and extends
the mission of the National Geographic Society
The Global Action Atlas
Amemorandum of
understanding (MOU)
has been entered between
the Survey of India (SOI) and
the Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MoEF) for
mapping and delineation of
hazard lines along the Indian
coast. This will help in
mitigating the risks of global
warming and in protecting
people residing along the
coastal areas from natural
hazards like tsunamis. The
programme is expected to
complete in four and a half
years. In the first two years,
SOI will conduct aerial
photography and develop
digital maps for the mainland
coasts.
Hazard line mapping for Indian coast
SOI will prepare digital terrain
models of India’s mainland
coasts. Flood levels for the
past 100 years will also be
determined using historical
tide gauge data. Maps and
satellite imagery since 1967
will be analysed to predict the
erosion line over the next 100
years. Composite maps
showing hazard line on digital
terrain model will be
prepared. After the hazard
line is delineated ground
markers will be constructed.
The total project cost is
estimated at Rs 125 crore and
is a part of the World Bank-
assisted Integrated Coastal
Zone Management (ICZM).
The project will initially focus
on three costal states including
Orissa, Gujarat and West
Bengal.
ANTRIX bags Globe Sustainability Research Award
use of space technology and
information technology
solutions to effectively reach
out to the grassroots.
According to the Chairman of
the jury, Prof. Mohan
Munasinghe, ANTRIX fully
deserved the award for its
exceptional contribution
through innovative use of
space technology for
watershed development in
India.
sustainable development in
society.
Through the Sujala watershed
development programme
implemented during 2002-09
in five districts in Karnataka,
Antrix has demonstrated the
ANTRIX Corporation, the
commercial arm of ISRO, has
been awarded the prestigious
Globe Sustainability Research
Award 2010 by the Globe
Forum, Stockholm. ANTRIX
was presented the award for
its outstanding contribution
to improve sustainable
livelihoods amongst rural
poor while reducing their
vulnerability to climate risks.
The award aims at fostering
Antrix received the Award
for its initiatives to
improve sustainable
livelihood in rural India.
june 2010 |geospatial TODAY 03
StudSat, the smallest
satellite developed in India
by students of seven
engineering colleges in
collaboration from Bangalore
and Hyderabad, was handed
over to ISRO by Karnataka
Governor HR Bharadwaj. The
satellite is all set to be
launched in May with other
OneGeology, a global
initiative to improve the
accessibility of geological map
data, will be increasing its
capabilities by expanding the
use of GIS technology from
ESRI. The 116 nations that
participate in the programme
will benefit from the latest
ArcGIS Server Geoportal
extension technology
(formerly GIS Portal Toolkit)
because more of their data will
satellites by ISRO. Commenting
on the students’ achievement,
TK Alex, director of ISRO space
centre said, “This is a good
example for other colleges.
Colleges fill their libraries with
books with whatever funds they
have. But these colleges have
gone further by investing in
space technology.”
become available on the
OneGeology geospatial portal.
OneGeology is a distributed
Web service that uses national
geological data servers around
the world. The data is
interoperable, and clients can
StudSat is India’s smallest satellite
Tracing ancestors online
In April 2009, the City of
Valdosta was awarded a
Georgia Historic Preservation
Fund grant by the Historic
Preservation Division, Georgia
Department of Natural
Resources, to produce a
Geographic Information
Systems (GIS)-enabled
website to be used by family
members, historians,
genealogists, and anyone
interested in learning about
the generations of Valdostans
laid to rest at the city-owned
Sunset Hill Cemetery.
The cemetery was established
in 1861. Valdosta mayors are
buried here, so are coaches,
community leaders, and
service men. One can find
information on the 25,000
graves. Graves of ancestors
and loved ones across the
66-acre Sunset Hill Cemetery
can be pulled up through a
new website. “The website will
actually bring up that location
on a GIS-based map so you
The satellite’s ground station
– NASTRAC (Nitte Amateur
Satellite Tracking Centre) is
set up at the Nitte Meenakshi
Institute of Technology
(NMIT), Bangalore. The centre
can communicate with about
250 amateur satellites and the
ground team can get telemetry
data sent by other satellites.
could physically see where
that person should be
located,” said Emily Foster,
Historic Preservation Planner.
Each listing on the website,shows photos of the gravemarkers if they have them. Italso gives the exact place in thecemetery so you can find them.
easily access the data layers for
free and pull them into their
own projects. The programme
is a voluntary collaboration that
is absolutely dependent on
data and support from around
the world. ESRI is supporting
this collaborative endeavour by
providing GIS technology and
support grant to improve Web
mapping service capabilities of
the participating geological
survey organisations.
The Times of India
initiates Bangalore
Patrol
The Times of India has initiated
an initiative “Bangalore Patrol,”
conceived and managed by
Janaagraha. Under the initiative,
teams equipped with a GIS map,
list of categories and a key of
symbols will measure various
civic facilities including roads,
footpaths, count street lights
and inspect bus stops. The
surveying process will be
conducted at the ward level
with each ward divided into
15-16 grids and surveying
each grid requires 4-5 hours of
ground work.
Leica releases
PowerDigger 3D
Leica Geosystems released
PowerDigger 3D, its next-
generation, cutting-edge, 3D
guidance system for excavating
construction machines. The new
product expands on the unique
PowerSnap concept to offer total
flexibility and interchangeability
of machine control products for
machines such as excavators,
dozers, and graders. The unique
PowerSnap concept in
PowerDigger 3D makes it easy to
swap panels between laser,
slope, and 3D machine control
completely seamlessly as the job
demands. PowerSnap also
provides a cable-free system:
data communication via infrared
and induction for power supply
to offer high reliability and
system uptime.
PowerSnap also enables users to
manage their investment path as
they move into machine control.
It also offers complete
backwards compatibility and
affordable upgrade paths from
traditional laser/slope control –
all the way to 3D. Leica
PowerDigger 3D offers direct
support for popular 3D design
models (CAD), which helps in
tracking the operations of
excavators.
ArcGIS server improves access to geological data
OneGeology will provide
participants and users a
rich GIS experience for
publishing and using data.
News
HP Gloe can tag
locations with Web
content
HP Social Computing Lab
has developed HP Gloe, a
multi-use application and API
that uses augmented reality
(AR) to tag locations with
virtually any available Web
content. Still in its
experimental stage, the Gloe
service has been used to
develop several mobile apps. It
has been developed as a web
application, an Android
application and an application
programming interface (API).
HP has already developed a
large index of locations. The
API enables developers to build
applications based on Gloe,
using the database built by HP
instead of having to create their
own storage, indexing and
search functions.
The Uttar Pradesh Pollution
Control Board (UPPCB)
has planned to start
monitoring the pollution of
industries across the state by
using a GIS application being
designed by an IIT
organisation. The project shall
Monitoring industrial pollution
The latest version of
Intergraph’s plant design
solution for small projects,
Intergraph CADWorx 2010 is
now compatible with AutoCAD
2011 of Autodesk. The
compatibility enables users to
benefit from improved
capabilities of both software
editions. Performance-
CADWorx 2010 now compatible with AutoCAD 2011
enhancing features of
CADWorx 2010 include a
parametric pipe support
modeler for user-defined
intelligent pipe supports, an
ISOGEN version 9.3 update,
new steel shapes, import and
export capabilities for CIS/2
format files, and features that
allow structural steel models
to be created from project
databases.
Professional v10.5,
organisations can more fully
interact with the cloud,
including capabilities to
publish maps to the cloud
and access data from the
cloud. Users can publish
maps to the cloud using
MapInfo Professional v10.5
in conjunction with MapInfo
Stratus.
gaining deeper insights into
their customers, resources
and overall operations to
make better informed
decisions.
MapInfo Professional v10.5
provides organisations with
new and powerful methods
for sharing maps across the
enterprise. With MapInfo
Pitney Bowes Business
Insight has launched
Pitney Bowes MapInfo
Professional v10.5, the
latest version of the
company’s flagship
application for business and
mapping analysis. MapInfo
Professional enables
organisations to capitalise
on location-based data,
Pitney Bowes MapInfo Professional v10.5 released
The compatibility between
CADWorx and AutoCAD
underscores Intergraph's
commitment to support
and further develop its
recently acquired
CADWorx, CAESAR II.
commence in the next six
months and will be initially
implemented in Unnao district
on a pilot basis. Upon
successful completion of the
pilot phase, the project will be
extended to other districts as
well. The system will help in
checking the pollution
generated by various industries
and will also enable in tracking
the movement of officials
visiting the industries to assess
their environmental status.
The Unnao district has
approximately 50 tanning
industries and mapping of the
district will enable online
availability of various details
including their location,
names, ownership,
environmental status. The
maps will also provide details
on the network of sewer
pipelines in the area and the
number of trees in a particular
unit. The application will
provide details on each
industrial unit, such as
pollutants, effluent being
discharged from it and its
treatment facility. A link will
be provided on the website of
the pollution control board for
people to access the data.
Officials visiting industries for
inspection will also upload
relevant photos on the website
along with the environmental
status of the pollutants.
04 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
ERDAS released ERDAS
APOLLO Feature
Interoperability that extends
ERDAS APOLLO’s native
vector support by adding
support for additional CAD
and GIS formats and tools.
ERDAS APOLLO Feature
Interoperability provides
access to GIS data formats,
including a DGN Connector to
ERDAS APOLLO that enables
direct access to MicroStation’s
DGN v7 and v8 format files via
web services. The module is
powered by Safe Software’s
FME technology, which
provides direct read and write
support to a large and
expanding number of vector
feature formats.
According to Mladen Stojic,
Senior Vice President, Product
Management & Marketing
ERDAS, “ERDAS APOLLO
Feature Interoperability
makes it easier for users to
exchange data, easily
converting to and from various
ERDAS APOLLO Feature Interoperability offers extended
support for CAD and GIS data
Trimble launched Web-
based VisionLink, its next
generation fleet and asset
management solution. Mixed
fleet owners can use it to
monitor equipment health and
fleet utilisation with near
real-time speed. The user-
friendly management tools,
GPS-based positioning and
cellular technology in
VisionLink provide near real-
time information regarding
mixed fleet equipment
performance.
VisionLink provides a range of
information, including
machine fault codes, location,
hours, events and user defined
alerts for portable assets and
heavy machinery such as
dump trucks, fuel trucks,
graders, and loaders. It
provides an overview of
machine health, fuel
management and working
utilisation. The solution
extends the Trimble
Construction Manager
solution which offers
contractors a range of tools to
monitor machine utilisation
and site productivity.
formats. The ability to directly
read and write the DGN format
makes this format available in
ERDAS APOLLO for
visualisation, analysis and
mapping.”
AMC initiates the ‘Urban
resource centre’ project
Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC) is developing
an ‘Urban resource centre’ that
will be a single point of
information for people searching
for various services. The project
development will be assisted by
Gujarat urban development
mission of the state government.
Initially, the resource centre will
integrate information on
unorganised sector including
industries like housekeeping,
catering, construction, among
others. Later on, details about
professionals like doctors,
lawyers and teachers will also be
added. AMC plans to integrate
all the information into a GIS that
can be used to navigate on an
Ahmedabad map. The map can
be accessed through a special
website being developed for the
purpose.
ERDAS APOLLO
Feature Interoperability
enables easy
conversion of data to
and from various
format, promoting easy
data exchange.
Russian made lander for
Chandrayaan-2
Russia is manufacturing the
lander for Chandrayaan-2, under
a joint programme between ISRO
and the Russian space agency.
The lander will ferry the rover
being developed by ISRO. The
orbiter in Chandrayaan-2 will
carry the lander and rover to the
moon. According to M Annadurai,
project director of the
Chandrayaan-1 and 2 missions,
more details of the research
mission would be announced
after the scientific advisory
council makes its
recommendations. The rover will
pick up samples of rocks and soil
while moving on the moon
surface, and will conduct
chemical analysis with them. This
data will be sent to the space
craft. The operational life of the
rover is expected to be
approximately two weeks. During
this period it will collect enough
material for conducting studies.
New fleet / asset management solution from Trimble
june 2010 |geospatial TODAY 05
News
While discussing the
progress in
implementation of projects
under JNNRUM for improving
urban and rural infrastructure,
Dr M Ramchandran, Secretary,
Ministry of Urban Development
in New Delhi said the Indian
government is emphasising on
implementation of urban
reforms for better governance
at the state level. This will
make Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) more financially viable,
enhancing their capability to
access market capital for
undertaking new programmes
and expansion of services. The
reforms include introduction of
e-governance using IT
applications like GIS, MIS for
various services provided by
ULBs. Dr Ramchandran said
that states including Andhra
Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra and
West Bengal have shown better
performance in the
implementation of urban
reforms.
Trimble’s new
GNSS receivers for
construction
Trimble has released a new
portfolio of GNSS receivers
for use in construction site
positioning and machine
control applications. Site
positioning receivers include
Trimble SPS852 GNSS Modular
Receiver and SPS882 GNSS
Smart Receiver, while Trimble
MS992 GNSS Smart Antenna is
for machine control
applications. These receivers
connect with GPS, GLONASS
and Galileo satellite
constellations for positioning
signal information. In
combination with Trimble
Connected Site construction
solutions these receivers offer
unmatched flexibility,
performance, and productivity,
even in challenging conditions.
The product launch highlights
Trimble’s commitment to offer
Galileo-compatible products to
customers before Galileo
system becomes available.
Indian government emphasises on urban reforms
Promoting geospatial education at the grassroot level
the act does not make any
mention of the geographic
education.
COGO is a coalition of
12 national professional
societies, trade associations
and membership
organisations in the
geospatial field
representing more than
35 thousand individual
producers & users.
proposed by the
Association of American
Geographers.
The COGO endorsement is
just in time as the US
congress is scheduled to
reauthorise the Elementary
and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA), commonly
known as “No Child Left
Behind,” for the first time in
almost a decade. However,
In an attempt to foster
geospatial education at
the K-12 level, the coalition
of Geospatial Organisations
(COGO) has endorsed a
resolution to urge the US
administration to promote
development of geography
and geospatial skills of
students at the K-12 level.
The COGO resolution is
similar to a resolution
Aspace-based information
support for decentralised
planning (SIS-DP project) is
being developed for
Uttarakhand to promote
development without
disturbing the ecological
balance.
This will be a Web-enabled
database of resources that will
enable disaster-free scientific
development across the
Central Himalayan region. The
SIS-DP project is expected to
be more effective than the
Space-based information for decentralised planning in Uttarakhand
existing Natural Resource
Data Management System,
and will be using high-
resolution satellite imageries
of the entire resources
available in the Uttarakhand
Himalaya including land
use/cover, drainage system
(rivers originating from the
region as well as all such water
channels that have now dried
up), surface water (lakes,
barrages etc.), road network
up to the villages, settlements
with building footprints etc.
Soci
ety
06 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
Ordnance Survey has
released OS VectorMap
District that enables viewing
public data such as health
statistics, crime rates and
transport data in geographic
context. The VectorMap
District can be downloaded
and viewed via Ordnance
Survey’s free mapping portal,
and has been designed to
meet the aims of Data.gov.uk.
The Delhi government is on
a mission to make the city
air cleaner before the
Commonwealth Games. Using
remote-sensing technology,
the government has launched
a special drive against
polluting commercial and
private vehicles. The state
transport department’s
enforcement wing will use the
Commenting on the product,
Rob Gower, Ordnance
Survey Technical Product
Manager, said, “If you look
at the range of public data
that has been made available,
a huge amount of it is
based around location.
From health statistics to
crime rates and transport
data, it all makes most sense
when viewed in a geographical
technology to check traffic
pollution without stopping
vehicles. Remote-sensing
technology uses ultra-violet
and ultra-sonic rays to measure
pollution in petrol, diesel,
compressed natural gas and
liquefied petroleum gas-run
vehicles. On this special task a
total of 30 mobile teams of the
enforcement wing have been
Leica enhances ScanStation c10
Curbing traffic pollution in Delhi
Leica has enhanced the
Leica ScanStation C10
laser scanner to offer enhanced
versatility and productivity for
as-built and topographic
surveys. The enhancement has
resulted from the addition of
new version of scanner
firmware (v1.2) and Cyclone
software (v7.0.3) – part of a
continuous upgrade program
for ScanStation C10 platform
users who are on maintenance.
New features offered in the all-
in-one Leica ScanStation C10
System include wireless LAN
connectivity for remote
scanner operation, new
imaging options for the
embedded, parallax-free
digital/ video camera
expanded data management
options for scan data and non-
scan data, new support for a
wide range of local languages
onboard, user interface for
new software tool for fast and
convenient data transfer to
any connected computer.
A new, wireless LAN feature
connects ScanStation C10
wirelessly to a laptop with
Cyclone software for more
comprehensive scanner
control and real-time quality
assurance.
context. That is why we
have created and released
OS VectorMap District to
provide that context.”
Offered in both raster and
vector format, OS VectorMap
District can be best viewed in
scales from 1:15,000 to
1:35,000. It also enables
developers to design their
own unique styles for specific
needs.
deputed. While checking
traffic pollution, the mobile
pollution control vehicles will
also examine compressed
natural gas (CNG) kits and
related documents.
China frames new rules
for online maps
China is introducing new rules
for online maps to prevent
disclosure of sensitive
information such as military
bases. Violation of the
regulations will be punished
with imprisonment that extends
for 7 to 10 years. According to
Song Chaozhi, deputy director
of SBSM, investigations would be
conducted to detect problematic
Internet map sites. According to
the new rules, a qualified online
map server should not have any
record of information leakage in
any form at least for the past
three years. The government
officials will also crack down on
unregistered or illegal Internet
map servers and release a
blacklist to the public. In the last
year, out of 41,670 websites
providing map services, 3,686
websites were found
problematic, out of which 200
were closed.
MODON launches online
maps
Saudi Industrial Property
Authority (MODON) has
launched a maps website
(MODON maps) which is the
largest GIS-based data reference
for factories in the Kingdom.
The first phase of the project for
developing a GIS system for
industrial cities to be displayed
on MODON maps has been
completed, and a special version
has been activated for MODON
clients including industrialists
and investors enthusiastic to
invest in the industrial cities.
MODON’s maps system offers a
single point access for surveying
layout of all industrial cities,
controlling and identifying
vacant and leased lands in the
industrial cities, to be linked to
the public network of roads,
cities and others.
Using remote-sensing
technology 30 mobile
teams will check traffic
pollution.
OS VectorMap District – Viewing public data in geographic context
june 2010 |geospatial TODAY 07
News
for publishing and supporting
Web mapping applications
immediately. As a green
computing option, ArcGIS
Server Cloud Bundle allows
organisations to reduce their
overall energy consumption.
Cloud-based subscription to ArcGIS Server
Pocket Life makes
Facebook location-
enabled
Pocketweb Ltd. has
integrated its award-
winning social networking
application – Pocket Life with
Facebook to enable users to
check real-time location of their
friends, places and messages.
In addition to knowing location
of people, Facebook users can
also check interesting places
surrounding them.
According to Pocketweb CEO
Hanno Blankenstein, "This way
Facebook itself could use our
leading Pocket Life platform to
allow its users to share their
real-time locations, geo-tagged
photos and geo-messages with
their connected friends or to
check-in to places." A granular
sharing control concept enables
users to control their privacy.
Pocket Life enables businesses
to bring their location-based
assets onto Facebook, such as
customers' real-time locations
and their geo-tagged places,
photos and messages. The
integration of Pocket Life
platform with Facebook APIs
has opened up numerous ways
for Facebook users to connect
with mobile applications and
benefit from a variety of useful
features.
option for deploying ArcGIS
server.
Operating ArcGIS Server in
cloud simplifies GIS server
deployment and reduces the
complexity of server
management. It enables
organisations to take up
greater workload by scaling
up or down the number of
ArcGIS Server instances
without investing in new on-
premises hardware. Users can
directly access ArcGIS Server
ESRI software users can
now purchase cloud-
based subscription to ArcGIS
Server. With an annual
subscription, users can access
a preconfigured ArcGIS Server
on Amazon’s Elastic Compute
Cloud (EC2) infrastructure
with 12 months of ESRI
technical support and
maintenance. ArcGIS Server
Cloud Bundle extends ESRI’s
growing cloud offerings to
offer customers another
Global Positioning System is being
upgraded to offer better accuracy and will
be able to pinpoint targets within an arm's
length, as compared to the current marginal
error of 20 feet in its tracking. The total
upgradation cost is estimated at US$ 8 billion
and the upgradation process will be carried out
at Los Angeles Air Base at El Segundo. The
upgrade will make the GPS more reliable,
widespread and accurate. As a part of the
upgradation process, 24 GPS satellites will be
replaced. The first replacement will be initiated
from Cape Canaveral.
The upgradation will increase the number of
signals beamed to Earth from GPS which will
rule out accidental jamming of the satellite
causing power outages, disruption of mobile
Upgrading GPS
NAVTEQ extends agreement with NGA
emergency response
planning to federal and state
homeland security entities. A
common foundation enables
government officials to
efficiently coordinate various
operations and requirements.
Commenting on the
development, Roy Kolstad,
HSIP applications using
NAVTEQ map data.
The agreement enables state
and local governments, and
emergency response
communities to “view
access,” providing common
foundation for situation
awareness, operations and
NAVTEQ has extended the
agreement with the
National Geospatial-
Intelligence Agency (NGA)
Homeland Security
Infrastructure Program
(HSIP) to provide state and
local homeland security
responders access to NGA
vice president, Enterprise
Americas, NAVTEQ said, “The
exceptionally high level of
accuracy of the NAVTEQ map
as well as NAVTEQ’s proven
ability to keep the data fresh
and up-to-date makes it a
critical core component of the
HSIP Gold program.”
services and disruption of emergency services.
The signals beamed out for commercial use
from new satellites will be three times more
than the earlier satellites. The satellites will
have atomic clocks that are more precise,
keeping time to a fraction of a billionth of a
second.
ArcGIS Server Cloud
Bundle enables
organisations to scale up
or down the number of
servers depending on the
work load.
08 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
Ashtech released the
ProFlex 500 CORS, a
multifunctional Continuously
Operating Reference Station
(CORS) that collects, stores
and transmits high-quality
GNSS data for various
applications. It includes CORS
and a field campaign receiver
for post-processed or real-time
Yahoo and Nokia have
formed an alliance
according to which Nokia will
provide Navteq map services
to Yahoo customers on both
PC and mobile devices. Nokia
customers worldwide will be
able to use Yahoo mail and
chat services. The deal will
help both organisations to
benefit from mutual
competencies. Commenting
on the deal, Yahoo CEO Carol
kinematic (RTK) applications.
Based on BLADE signal-
processing technology, ProFlex
500 CORS provides raw GNSS
data using measurements from
GPS, GLONASS and SBAS.
Other features include a web-
server interface, instant real-
time multi-data streaming,
meteorological and tilt sensors
Bartz said, “By using Nokia's
map and Navteq services, it
will be a much richer
experience for our users.”
Bartz expects the alliance to
enable Yahoo build its
customer base in developing
countries such as India,
Indonesia and Thailand where
many people use cell phones
as the primary source for
accessing the Internet. The
Ashtech releases ProFlex 500
MPCB tracks biomedical waste movement
Yahoo and Nokia form alliance
support and integrated
communications, including
Ethernet, GSM /GPRS, UHF
radio, and Bluetooth. Through
programming sessions, users
can retrieve stored GNSS,
meteorological, and tilt sensor
data. The ring file memory
enables access to recently
acquired data.
deal makes Nokia exclusive
provider of maps and
navigation services to Yahoo
customers worldwide under
the brand “powered by Ovi.”
LDA layout plans
available online
In an attempt to enable public to
check the location and
development status of any area
before applying for allotment of
property with the Lucknow
Development Authority’s (LDA)
housing schemes, layout plans for
LDA housing schemes and
properties are being made
available online through an
Integrated Computerisation
Technology (ICT). Two major
ingredients of ICT include GIS and
Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Using GIS-based applications,
satellite pictures of different
housing schemes, roads, drains
and parks will be put online.
The Maharashtra Pollution
Control Board (MPCB) is
using GPS technology to track
vehicles transporting
biomedical waste. The Tata
Group-promoted Tata
Autocomp Mobility Telematics
Limited (TMT) has designed
and implemented the vehicle
tracking system. The system
will help in ensuring
cleanliness and transparency
in garbage/waste disposal.
Earlier, TMT had deployed its
GPS-based vehicle tracking
system on waste pickup trucks
in Pune, Aurangabad, Delhi,
Amritsar, Guwahati, and
Guntur.
The tracking system has
enabled MPCB to monitor
truck movements on a GIS
map in a real-time basis. The
system helps in calculating the
number of trips a truck makes
from pickup to dump
locations. The system has
been installed in more than
140 waste carrier trucks.
Smartphones to replace
satnavs
Smartphones with their larger
display screens and longer battery
life are emerging as effective
alternatives to satnavs.
Advancements in smartphones to
offer navigation and tracking
services means people will have
one less gadget to carry.
Moreover, social networking sites
are becoming geo-enabled and
can be best viewed in
smartphones. Thus, satnav
devices are very likely to be
overcome by smartphones.
The alliance enables
Nokia customers to use
Yahoo mail and chat
services, while yahoo will
be able to expand
customer base in
developing countries.
Dedicated military
satellite for India soon
ISRO has expressed plans to
launch a dedicated military
satellite for naval communication
and surveillance. The satellite will
have around 1,000 nautical mile
footprint over Indian Ocean and
costs Rs 950 crore. Dedicated
satellites for army and air force are
also expected to follow soon.
The satellite launch is just in line
with the Indian defence strategy
for developing “navy-wide
network-centric operations” and
“maritime domain awareness,”
both of which require dedicated
satellite capabilities.
june 2010 |geospatial TODAY 09
Mobile navigation is catching up and people are
demanding integrated navigation solutions that can be
used while walking and driving
Navigation goes mobile
Desire for mapping service that provides options for bothcar and walking directions
Understanding crop health using multispectral sensors can
improve yields in tea gardens
Information from remotely
sensed data can be fed in
Geographic Information System
(GIS) which when combined
with ancillary data can provide
insights into the cultural practice
being implied in the cropping
system. Stress associated with,
for example, moisture
deficiencies, insects, fungal and
weed infestations, must be
detected early enough to provide
an opportunity for the planters
to mitigate. There are also
instances where the tea growth
varies from one spot to another.
These growth differences may be
due to soil nutrient deficiencies
and other stress conditions
Case Study
Rishiraj Dutta
INDIA IS ONE OF THE LARGEST
tea producers in the world and
consumes more tea than any
other country except China but
the production could be much
more if modern technologies are
used. This research work carried
out in collaboration with the
Indian Institute of Remote
Sensing, Indian Space Research
Organisation and International
Institute for Geoinformation
Science & Earth Observation,
ITC, The Netherlands with field
support provided by Tea
Research Association, Jorhat,
Assam is a step in that direction.
Crop monitoring is a dynamic
phenomenon with the important
,
changes taking place on a day-
to-day basis. In order to monitor
the tea plantations from pests
and disease infestations, the use
of remote sensing has become a
pressing need.
Remote sensing offers an
efficient and reliable means of
collecting the information
required and to map tea type
and acreage. Remote sensing
provides information on the
health of the vegetation. The
spectral reflectance of a tea field
always varies with respect to the
phenology, stage type and crop
health and these could be well
monitored and measured using
the multispectral sensors.
One advantage
of optical
sensing is that it
can see beyond
the visible
wavelengths
into the infrared,
where
wavelengths are
highly sensitive
to crop vigour
as well as crop
stress and crop
damage.
Remote Sensing
fits to a ‘T’
26 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
through signature variations.
Remote sensing will help the
planters to identify areas within
a field which are experiencing
difficulties, so that he can apply,
for instance, the correct type and
amount of fertiliser, pesticide or
herbicide. Using this approach,
the planter will not only improve
the productivity from his land,
but will also reduce his farm
input costs and minimises
environmental impacts. Remote
sensing has a number of
attributes that lend themselves
to monitoring the health of tea
plants. One advantage of optical
sensing is that it can see beyond
the visible wavelengths into the
infrared, where wavelengths are
highly sensitive to crop vigour as
well as crop stress and crop
damage.
Remote sensing can aid in
identifying the tea crops affected
by conditions that are too dry or
wet, affected by insect, weed or
fungal infestations or weather
related damage. Images can be
obtained throughout the growing
season to not only detect
problems, but also to monitor
the success of the treatment.
Healthy plants have a high
Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI) value
because of their high reflectance
of infrared light, and relatively
low reflectance of red light.
Phenology and vigour are the
main factors in affecting NDVI.
Examining variations in tea crop
growth within one field is
possible. If the data is
georeferenced, and if the planter
has a GPS (Global Positioning
System) unit, he can find the
exact area of the problem very
quickly, by matching the
coordinates of his location to
that on the image. As traditional
yield estimating processes are
elaborate and time-consuming,
remote sensing can play a vital
role in effectively estimating the
yield of crops. To achieve timely
and accurate information on the
status of crops, there is need to
have an up-to-date crop
monitoring system that provides
accurate information. The
benefits from using Remote
Sensing and GIS technology
depend on the level of success of
its application for solving a
concrete task.
Soil fertility status can be
generated with the help of
satellite images in conjunction
with the field data. Other limiting
factors like pest and disease
attack can be timely monitored
and assessed with the satellite
data. Drainage congested areas
can also be easily discerned from
the image which can form the
basis of drainage improvement
schemes.
A case study was carried out
using remote sensing technology
in the Sonitpur district of Assam,
which has 73 tea gardens. The
study involved monitoring of
affected and non-affected tea
patches using multitemporal
satellite data. For this study,
LANDSAT (30 m), LISS III (23.5
m) and ASTER (15 m) images
were used.
In this study we tried to assess
the tea bush health using texture
and tonal variations from
remotely sensed images. The
Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix
(GLCM) technique was applied
to the different images to
categorise the patches into
healthy, moderately healthy and
Area of study
Delineation of affected
and non-affected tea
areas
unhealthy tea plants (Figure 1).
The patches were delineated
using both texture and the
classified images. The
percentages of healthy,
moderately healthy and
unhealthy tea patches were
delineated. It was observed that
LANDSAT image of December,
2001 showed 60.4 per cent area
under healthy tea, 23.6 per cent
area under moderately affected
tea and 16.2 per cent area under
unhealthy tea plantations. For
the LISS III image of February,
2004, it was found that 43.9 per
cent of the area under healthy
tea, 36.8 per cent under
moderately affected tea and 19.3
per cent under unhealthy tea
plantations. Similarly for ASTER
image showed 24.9 per cent area
to be healthy, 50.1 per cent
under moderately healthy and
25.1 per cent of the area under
unhealthy tea plantations. The
results were finally compared
with the ground Leaf Area Index
(LAI) and the yield which
confirms that there is a
considerable decline in yield over
the years, thereby stating that
the texture analysis and tonal
variations attempted here could
play an important role in
monitoring affected and non-
affected patches in tea
Delineation of affected and non-affected tea patches using
multi-temporal images
LAND SATEM+
LANDSAT Images showing the ClassifiedMean Image of Monabarrie Tea Estate
LANDSAT Mean Classified ImageAt 30m Resolution
Healthy Affected Barren Land
ASTER Image
Affected Barren LandHealthy
Moderately Affected
ASTER Mean Classified ImageAt 15m Resolution
LISS III Mean Classified ImageAt 23.5m Resolution
Healthy
Affected
Barren Land
Soil fertility
status can be
generated with
the help of
satellite images
in conjunction
with the field
data.
june 2010 |geospatial TODAY 27
plantations. A qualitative
analysis was also carried out
which further showed the area
under affected and non-affected
tea plantations (Table 1).
MODIS NDVI image was
generated and the tea garden
patches were masked out. Using
the masked NDVI image, the
NDVI values were extracted from
the tea masked area using 3 x 3
kernel for extracting the pixels.
The average of the actual LAI
and NDVI values were calculated
and the linear regression analysis
was carried out using the LAI and
NDVI values. It was observed
that there exists a linear
relationship between LAI and
MODIS based NDVI. It could be
inferred that MODIS derived
NDVI can approximately provide
information on leaf area index
for tea.
Correlation analysis was carried
out between area weighed
averaged NDVI of tea for
selected tea estate with their tea
leaf yield for different years
(2000-2004). The correlation
coefficient ‘r’ values between
yield and NDVI at critical time
periods are shown in Table 2.
Results showed that correlation
is positive and significant
LAI and NDVI
relationship
Relation between tea
leaf yield and MODIS
NDVI
irrespective of the month of the
NDVI over the years. During
2000 and 2001, tea leaf yield
was found significantly related to
NDVI at 95 per cent level of
significance while during 2003,
correlation is positive at 1 per
cent level of significance.
Variations could be well
observed from Table 2 may be
due to factors like outbreak of
pests infestation and frequent
weather changes. The ground
LAI collected from field also
showed variations due to
continuous plucking, different
cultivars used also due to un-
plucked areas. Even then a
significant correlation could be
observed between tea leaf yield
and MODIS NDVI of tea estates
during the different months.
From the study it was concluded
that high-resolution images
serves better for effective
monitoring of tea plantations.
The study showed that decline in
yield is mainly due to old age of
the plantations, closer spacing,
planting on marginal and
un-rehabilitated or poorly
rehabilitated soils which
restricts root growth and
development. Other factors
which contribute to yield decline
are higher applications of
manures and fertilisers,
continuous use of pesticides and
absence of proper drainage
within the plantations.
The study showed that MODIS
based NDVI during April, June
and August was significantly
correlated to tea leaf yield at
estate level. However, it was
found that NDVI observation
at different time period alone
could not explain the variance in
tea leaf yield. The performance
of the current statistical model
for tea yield does not seem to
be encouraging and it would
have been much better if the
weather parameters for the
entire state would have been
taken into consideration.
So, an improved statistical
model for tea yield needs to be
developed.
Based on the above study Tea
Research Association, Assam,
India in collaboration with
International Institute for
Geoinformation Science and
Earth Observation, ITC, The
Netherlands and Indian Institute
of Remote Sensing, Indian Space
Research Organisation is carrying
out a study on monitoring tea
replantation and assessing
environmental factors
influencing tea quality by using
image mining techniques and
GIS-based approaches.
Rishiraj Dutta
Doctoral ResearcherDepartment of Earth Observation ScienceInternational Institute for GeoinformationScience and Earth Observation (ITC), TheNetherlands
Year April June August
2000 0.503* 0.475* 0.440*
2001 0.489* 0.492* 0.469*
2002 0.561** 0.629** 0.520*
2003 0.643** 0.670** 0.680**
2004 0.530* 0.559** 0.553*
Case Study
ClassesLANDSAT Image LISS III Image ASTER Image
Area (Ha) Area (%) Area (Ha) Area (%) Area (Ha) Area (%)
As the virtual worlds in video gamesbecome increasingly complex to design
and manage, it only seems logical to usegeospatial technologies to manage, model,
and design the virtual geography.
34 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
Column
digitally networked objects
and people, continuously
casting ‘data shadows’ with
enough resolution and
fidelity to constitute a virtual
representation of the
tangible world,” said Paul M
Torrens, Arizona State
University. “These virtual
worlds are already being
built, and many people and
companies choose to
immerse themselves in
online virtual worlds and
massively multiplayer online
role-playing gaming
(MMORPG) environments
for socialising, conducting
business, organising
remotely, collaborating on
research projects, travelling
vicariously, and so on.”
“Virtual worlds are seen by
many as terra novae for new
forms of retailing, marketing,
research, and online
collaboration in which avatar
representations of real
people mix with process
models that study them,
mimic missing components
of their synthetic physical or
social environments, mine
data, perform calculations,
and reason about their
actions and interactions,”
said Torrens.
Geospatial professionals are
frequently tasked with
simulating or modelling of
different alternatives,
options, or futures. A
convergence of geospatial
technologies and massively
multiplayer online role-
playing games would
leverage the ever-growing
online gaming community as
a resource for real-world
modelling. Testing
alternative designs in the
virtual world of a video
game, people simply
“playing games” could
actually be playing a
valuable role in designing
future buildings, roads,
cities, and parks.
Leveraging video game
environments to accomplish
real-world tasks represents
an entirely new business
model, not just for video
game companies, but for
geospatial professionals as
well. Today’s young gamers
are the next generation of
geospatial technology
professionals. Merging
elements of their “work”
and “play” involves finding
the delicate balance
between science and
entertainment, creating an
environment where virtual
world results are applicable
to real world
implementation. But this
needs to be done without
disrupting the gaming
experience. Because once
you remove the
entertainment from a
game, it’s just work.
A convergence of geospatial technologiesand massively multiplayer online
role-playing games would leverage theever-growing online gaming communityas a resource for real-world modelling.
firmly established in the
entertainment world and is
slowly finding its way into
education and training
environments,” said Ola
Ahlqvist, Ohio State
University. “These games
embed parallels to many
societal processes that we
regard as complex and
‘wicked’ problems.” So how
can we use these virtual
words as testing or prototype
environments for the real
world?
“Many advocates of the
semantic Web envision a
massive dynamic system of
world,” said Anders
Tychsen, IT University of
Copenhagen. “Imagine a
world modelling guidance
system that combines not
only the physical
appearance of the world,
but also climate systems...
and even civilizations into
one big, coherent system
where the interdependencies
of each sub-system can be
modeled and visualised.”
“Massive multiplayer online
gaming (MMOG) is now
Modelling the real
world
June 2010 |geospatial TODAY 35
GIS market in
software market, the China of the old
is fast fading and morphing into a
vibrant market. And in the process,
the dependence on foreign software as
well as equipment is growing. The
government too is encouraging
geospatial technology and has given
great importance which is reflected in
the agenda of the Eleventh Five-year
Plan. It has placed GIS technology as
one of the four important issues under
Earth Observation and Navigation
sector and this is being seen as a major
development that will propel the
industry.
The 2008 Olympic Games gave a lot of
fillip to the geospatial industry in China.
Traffic information, audience
management, games village
management etc. facilitated growth and
the government is allocating funds for
various sectors such as management of
railway systems, land and real estate,
water resources, urban planning and
emergency relief. With urbanisation
taking off at alarming rate in the huge
country, the opportunity for business is
enormous and the country is on the
cusp of taking off. Take for instance a
local player, China Information Security
Technology, a leading company into
specialised software, hardware, systems
integration, GIS and in public security,
recently announced its first quarter
results it has increased the total value of
signed contracts by 65 per cent from
the first quarter of 2009. China is also
developing an independent satellite
navigation system, Beidou which is in
its second stage and plans to build 35
satellites to cover China and the entire
Asia-Pacific region by 2012 and cover
the whole world by 2020.
The dragon is all set to make its mark as
an economic giant and with the
projection that annual revenues of
global GIS market expected to grow
from an estimated US$ 4 billion to
US$ 150 billion in the next ten years,
it would be interesting to see how China
integrates itself with the global market.
The turnaround
dragon country
Focus: China
concerned and the recent issue with
Google testifies the stand, but the
domestic GIS market is upbeat. China
plans to complete digital surveying and
mapping of its cities to facilitate
planning and management by the end
of 2015. It launched pilot projects for
digital surveying and mapping in 30
cities in 2006, which was extended to
a further 60 cities this year. The idea is
to make all databases to be nationally
networked so governments at
national, provincial and municipal
levels can share information. By 2015,
286 cities will have geographical
information databases.
With rapid infrastructural
development, a vibrant telecom
market and favourable government
policies that support the domestic GIS
DURING OUR UNIVERSITY DAYS, THE
mere mention of China immediately
brought to mind a closed system
where the state loomed large and free
enterprise took a back seat. That was
during the Soviet Union break-up and
when Francis Fukuyama’s famous
essay ‘End of history?’ was doing the
rounds. Even today China hasn’t
changed much but is slowly opening
up. In a globalised world it is looking to
integrate slowly but cautiously. What is
evident is that the once closely
guarded country is looking forward;
the dragon is spreading its tentacles
and the GIS market is in an interesting
phase with players within the country
looking to make the most with growing
demand in infrastructure and mapping
projects. China still is circumspect
though as far as foreign players are
China has always been circumspect to let foreign players
into the country, but with the domestic market looking up,
GIS seems to be taking off, writes T P Venu
36 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
over who must have thought like
this. Now their dream has indeed
come true at least in one
country, China. Businessmen
today want to know the
locations of warehouses to
optimise their business and it is
Know your
A new interactive map is making waves in China and people involved with
supply chain management are a happy lot
warehouses in a jiffy!
Trends
HOW EASY IT WOULD BE IF ONE
could know the locations of all
the warehouses of a country at
one place? There must be
umpteen number of businessmen
and people involved with supply
chain management the world
Warehouses at different locations
always a difficult task to gather
information.
The Global Supply Chain Council
in China has recently launched a
new interactive map featuring
the latest modern warehouses
and distribution centres in China.
The new map helps one find a
suitable warehouse for sourcing,
storage and logistics needs across
China. What is more, the map
also provides detailed
information, photos of the
facilities and comments. It
provides opportunities for
companies, organisations, and
supply chain professionals to
access up-to-date information
and resources regarding supply
chain management, best-in-class
business practices,
benchmarking, market
intelligence, current news and
new technologies that are so
rapidly changing in the China
market.
Delivering the right product at
the right time to the right
customer is a challenge. But
when you have all the
information of the store houses
with their locations, benefits and
testimonials, it becomes that
much easier to take decisions.
The map is a one-point source
for decision makers.
The Global
Supply Chain
Council in China
has recently
launched a new
interactive map
featuring the
latest modern
warehouses and
distribution
centres in China.
June 2010 |geospatial TODAY 37
Application
THE EVOLUTION OF GIS FROM A
departmental tool to a key
component of an enterprise IT
platform that pervades entire
organisations has been well
documented. Today, it is
becoming more and more
common to implement
geospatial technology
throughout an organisation as an
“Enterprise GIS”, that is, an
architecture that integrates
geospatial data and services with
a company’s IT infrastructure
and shares them across the
organisation. Successful
enterprise GIS implementations
have resulted in a significant
return on investment, allowing
employees from top-level
executives to call center staff
across a broad range of
industries including utilities,
government, retail, and
manufacturing throughout
organisations to view and
analyse geospatial data.
There are a number of
technologies being deployed to
support the enterprise
integration of GIS, typically
revolving around a service
oriented architecture (SOA)
implemented with web services
GIS and IT integration
With mobile workforce expected to grow in the coming years, companies arelooking for an enterprise GIS that interoperates with mobile devices
Robert Ludati
A mobile perspective
38 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
architectures and Web services
are both important to geospatially
enabling business systems, as
they decrease the cost of
deployment and ultimately
increase an organisation's return
on investment in geospatial
technology.
Technologies are facilitating the
success of enterprise integration
of GIS, but a new trend is
creating a growing challenge for
IT departments – deploying that
enterprise GIS to the mobile
workforce. The mobile worker
population worldwide is
projected to grow beyond one
billion in 2011, which represents
just over 30 per cent of the
global workforce, and along with
the surge in wireless
connectivity, the growth of
geospatial data use in these
environments is inevitable.
Delivering enterprise geospatial
data to the mobile worker adds
complexity typically not found in
the office. While standard,
extensible architectures are
important in the field, the ability
to deploy them is made more
difficult by a wide array of mobile
New challenge
The mobile GIS
perspective
and/or an enterprise service bus
(ESB). Web services use standard
communication protocols such
as XML, SOAP, and WSDL
between business applications
and thus maximise flexibility and
modularity in supporting the
enterprise integration. Enterprise
service buses are used to
asynchronously exchange data
using “messages” between a
disparate set of IT systems, and
can be a convenient technology
to integrate legacy systems.
Enterprise service bus
devices typically in use.
Furthermore, businesses must
also manage different wireless
technologies such as cellular
networks with CDMA and GSM
standards, WiFi, WiMax, and
plan for future next-generation
4G networks. These
heterogeneous sets of
technology lead to additional
challenges such as data currency
and quality for connected and
disconnected users who work
with different types of GPS
accuracy and wireless connectivity.
As a result, the IT integration
challenges mobile deployment of
geospatial technology. In
addition to disparate hardware,
the implementation of a
software architecture that can
manage a large mobile workforce
accessing corporate geospatial
information is critical.
Most mobile devices today
incorporate GPS and already
"know where they are", and the
ability for these devices to
determine their location within a
few metres is almost always cost-
effective. GPS-enabled devices
come in a variety of platforms,
including smart phones, PDAs,
handheld computers, tablets,
notebooks, and laptops.
However, the existence of many
different hardware platforms
across the enterprise represents
an implementation challenge –
the GPS receiver, operating
system, wireless connectivity,
applications, synchronisation
methods, screen size and type,
ruggedness, and even power
consumption are all factors that
must be managed carefully.
One of the major issues around
enterprise GIS integration in the
Heterogeneous devices
Standards-based and
extensible platforms
A new trend is
creating a
growing
challenge for IT
departments –
deploying that
enterprise GIS to
the mobile
workforce.
June 2010 |geospatial TODAY 39
mobile environment is the ability
to build solutions based on
standards that provide a flexible
architecture for developing
focussed end-user applications.
As wireless solutions continue to
be deployed for more and more
users, it will be critical to include
platforms based on standards
such as .NET, Java, and XML,
with an open API, along with
support for multiple hardware
platforms. From an IT
perspective, this is a challenge
due to the wide array of
operating systems in use in the
field, including Windows Mobile,
Vista, Windows 7, and Linux,
along with smart phone
platforms such as Symbian,
Android, Blackberry OS, and
Apple Iphone OS. The support
for common software
development kits (SDK) allows
organisations to leverage existing
resources and familiar
development environments and
use tools to build compelling
applications for their mobile
workforce as it grows.
Geospatial data currency is
another key issue for the mobile
worker. Successful enterprise
deployments include data
management schemes that
handle the connected user, the
synchronised user, and the
completely disconnected user.
While loosely coupled web
services can easily support the
GIS user in the office connected
via a dedicated LAN, simply
relying on a persistent
connection in the field is short
sighted. There will likely be
situations when the user is
outside the range of wireless
connectivity. If the user is
Geospatial data
currency
disconnected, even for short
periods, strategies must be in
place to allow decision-making
in the face of old information,
both for the worker himself
as well as colleagues who may
rely on updates, which could
include caching maps on the
device.
Related to the data currency
issue is GPS data quality,
particularly for those mobile
workers using their location in
the decision-making process.
With the reality of
heterogeneous mobile hardware
platforms in the enterprise
comes the challenge of
maintaining data integrity. GPS
accuracy and “yield”, the ability
to record a position, depends on
the GPS receiver in the mobile
device, and one size does not fit
all. Location data collected on a
smart phone will be vastly
different than an RTK device,
and the IT department must
have strategies in place to
reconcile this data, either
through real-time Virtual
Reference Station (VRS)
corrections on the mobile device,
services that the mobile device
can call to perform corrections,
or batch post-processing back in
the office. In a large
heterogeneous mobile workforce,
there is not a single solution.
Ironically, one of the most critical
issues that arise with enterprise
GIS integration in the mobile
workforce is the need for simple
solutions that do not require a
significant amount of training.
We are constantly reminded that
the traditional GIS paradigm is
typically not effective in a mobile
GPS data quality
Training/ease of use
environment. As the use of
geospatial technology expands
to a larger workforce, the ability
to have trained GIS experts is
becoming unacceptably
expensive, particularly for
industries with high turnover.
Some organisations are even
turning to software-training
programmes that can provide the
basic orientation on the device
while the worker is in the field in
an effort to avoid large training
costs.
Enterprise customers today are
deploying mobile applications in
greater numbers than ever
before. A recent VDC survey
suggested that over 50 per cent
of the respondents placed
mobile and wireless solutions on
their “Top 5” investment initiative
list. As a component of these
deployments, IT departments
are being tasked with integrating
GIS technology to geo-enable the
mobile workforce and recognise
the return on investment that
comes from putting the most up-
to-date data into the hands of
the field worker. The mobile
aspects of enterprise GIS
integration generate additional
layers of implementation
complexity, primarily the
management of heterogeneous
hardware, a variety of connected
and disconnected users, data
currency and quality issues, and
the need to streamline training.
The continuing efforts to
standardise platforms will allow
organisations to more easily
integrate geospatial technology
into the mobile environment,
following the success that we
see from enterprise GIS in the
office.
Growing mobile
applications
Location data
collected on a
smart phone will
be vastly
different than an
RTK device.
Application
40 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is spelling doom to the region
but NASA is providing satellite imagery that is helping the
government take measures to quell the spill
Monitoring the oil spill
damage and the spread of
the spill. An advanced
optical sensor built by the
Jet Propulsion Lab is flying
aboard a NASA research
aircraft to help monitor
the spread and impact of
the Deepwater Horizon
BP oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico via remote
sensing.
The images will help
researchers measure
changes in vegetation
along the coastline and
assess where and how oil
may be affecting marshes,
swamps, bayous, and
beaches that are difficult
to survey on the ground.
The combination of
satellite and airborne
imagery will assist
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) in
forecasting the trajectory
of the oil and in
documenting changes in the
ecosystem. NASA satellite and
airborne instruments are collecting
observations of the spill to advance
basic research and to explore future
remote-sensing capabilities. From
space, the Multi-angle Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MISR) on Terra
and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
(AIRS) on Aqua as well as the Cloud-
Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal
Polarization (CALIOP) on the joint
NASA-France CALIPSO satellite are
collecting data.
The Earth Resources-2 (ER-2) is
outfitted with JPL's Airborne Visible/
Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)
and the Cirrus Digital Camera System
and can collect detailed images of the
Gulf of Mexico and its threatened
coastal wetlands. NASA is also making
extra satellite observations and
conducting additional data processing
to assist in monitoring the spill.
If NASA has been providing satellite
imagery, there have been efforts to
know the liability of the oil spill as well.
ESRI has developed an up-to-date map
of the Gulf coast using its GIS software,
along with overlays showing the current
size and location of the oil plume and
the exact economic value for tourism,
fishing and boating business for every
county potentially in harm's way.
Economic activity is already being
negatively affected in some counties.
The effect of oil spill in the various
counties can be gauged and
appropriate actions can be taken. The
economic damage is expected to run
into billions of dollars.
Even as we lament on the economic
repercussions of the spill, NASA is
deploying its instrumented research
aircraft the Earth Resources-2 (ER-2) to
the Gulf in order to make extra satellite
observations and conduct additional
data processing to assist the (NOAA),
the US Geological Survey (USGS), and
the Department of Homeland Security
in monitoring the spill.
APRIL 22, 2010 WAS LIKE ANY OTHER
day until the BP’s oil rig off the coast of
Louisiana exploded, spewing about
136.4 tonnes of oil a day into the Gulf
of Mexico. The slick is big enough to
be seen from space and the mitigation
measures too have are emanating from
up above with satellite images taken
from NASA’s Aqua satellite helping a
great deal in understanding the
Image credit : NASA
Update
June 2010 |geospatial TODAY 41
Product showcase
Transforming the
way you use GISRegardless of whether you are using ArcGIS in a desktop, mobile, or serverenvironment, the new version of the software will improve how geographic
information is leveraged throughout your enterprise
ESRI’S ARCGIS 10 WILL
transform the way people use
and apply GIS. It promises to be
helpful to users with more
powerful spatial analysis
capabilities while significantly
improving performance. Users
will also be able to leverage GIS
everywhere via Web-extended
desktops, Web-hosted
applications, and cloud GIS.
ArcGIS 10 dramatically improves
the user experience and
integrates productivity tools to
support the workflows of GIS
professionals. This release makes
map creation and production
much easier and provides best
practices templates to help users
get started quickly. At ArcGIS 10,
users can search by keywords or
data types to find data and maps.
They can also use the search
function to quickly and easily
find symbols to use in their maps
and tools for analysis.
Editing in ArcGIS 10 is
streamlined; this release
introduces sketch-based desktop
Increased productivity
(2D/3D) and Web editing, which
means that users can choose
from a customisable on-screen
palette of features in desktop
and Web clients. In addition to
making users more efficient, this
new editing experience allows
the expansion of volunteered
geographic information or user-
generated content on the Web.
Faster performance at ArcGIS 10
is the result of averaging local
graphics cards on desktops and
improved cache generation and
management, as well as
optimised Web graphics. These
caching and Web graphic
improvements translate into
more responsive drawing
performance, including smooth,
continuous panning of data.
ArcGIS has always been the
premier software for spatial
analysis, and with this release,
ESRI continues to advance
geographic science with new
tools. ArcGIS 10 includes Python
scripting for automating common
tasks and analyses. Using Python,
Powerful spatial analysis
ArcGIS 10
the capabilities of ArcGIS can be
combined with other scientific
programming to create powerful
solutions. Among the new
analyses offered in ArcGIS 10 is
location-allocation, which helps
users to understand how their
facilities placements in a given
network impact their ability to
serve their customers. Users can
also take advantage of new
analysis tools such as fuzzy
overlay and location/allocation.
The upcoming release also
introduces the notion of time in
both visualisation and analysis.
ArcGIS 10 lets users create,
manage, and visualise time-
aware data. Users can display
and animate temporal datasets,
Use and manage imagery more efficiently
Image Analysis
Sharpen FilterImage Collection
Display
12
-6
0
0.79
DRA
Background
Strench:
Resample:
500
Percent Clip
Bilinear
Processing
Blend
Sharpen more
TopUp
42 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
ArcGIS 10
includes new 3D
editing,
visualisation,
and analysis
capabilities to
help model and
understand the
third dimension
of your data.
as well as publish and query
temporal map services. The
ability to see data over time
opens opportunities for more in-
depth analysis.
ArcGIS 10 includes new 3D
editing, visualisation, and analysis
capabilities to help model and
understand the third dimension
of your data.
With ArcGIS 10, it is much easier
and faster to perform 3D
visualisation. In fact, with this
release, ArcGIS becomes a full
3D GIS, offering 3D data models,
editing, analysis, and
visualisation. As a result, users
can do virtually everything they
do in a 2D environment in a 3D
environment.
ArcGIS 10 enables more efficient
use and management of imagery
on the desktop and also on the
server. This release supports
massive dynamic mosaics,
resulting in fast performance.
On-the-fly processing that was
previously supported on ArcGIS
Server is now also supported in
ArcGIS Desktop. Moreover, the
imagery management tools have
been collected into one place to
facilitate access to commonly
used tools.
Improved access to
imagery
Users will save time by using the
image analysis window for image
interpretation and processing.
ArcGIS 10 lets users easily manage
massive image collections with
dynamic mosaicking and on-the-
fly processing, and efficiently
serve dynamic image mosaics to
many applications.
ArcGIS 10 offers tight integration
with ArcGIS Online search and
share capabilities and makes it
easy to create and distribute
projects that may include data,
layers, maps, tools, scenes,
globes, diagrams, and add-ins. It
is also easy to discover and
organise geographic data
throughout the enterprise via the
new Search service in ArcGIS
Server. ArcGIS 10 also supports
feature-level editing via Web
applications.
In ArcGIS 10, ArcGIS Mobile has a
customisable, out-of-the-box
application that allows users to
extend mobile projects to in-
vehicle and tablet-based PCs.
ESRI is extending this concept to
the iPhone platform. Customers
will be able to access a mapping
application directly from the
Apple iTunes App Store. ESRI is
New ways to share
GIS in the field
also providing a software
development kit so that
organisations can build their own
focussed iPhone applications.
ArcGIS 10 makes it easy to install
and manage ArcGIS Desktop
licenses. Users can borrow
ArcGIS Desktop 10 licenses for
temporary use away from the
office (e.g. field units, work from
home and business travel),
leverage GIS everywhere (via
Web-extended desktops, Web-
hosted applications, and cloud
GIS), and extend ArcGIS use
through flexible Amazon Machine
Image (AMI) hosting capabilities.
Developers can use ‘simple to
share and deploy’ add-ins or
Python to extend ArcGIS 10
desktop applications. ArcGIS 10
lets developers easily build
applications with additional Web
APIs and streamlined software
developer kits (SDKs).
Developers will enjoy a simplified
experience through a single
ArcObjects .NET SDK as well as a
single ArcObjects Java SDK for
ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine,
and ArcGIS Server.
More flexible
deployment
Better for developers
Saves users time through faster display Simplifies the developer experience
Patterns of Taxation Exemption
$ 1000 Land Exemption
$ 1000 Building Exemption
>>> # Find areas of "low" elevation in the disputed border region... # First extract a DEM of the area from the Asian SRTM data... apElev = arcpy.sa.ExtractByMask("asiaElev","tibetCounties")... # Get the mean and standard deviation elevations... apMean = apElev.mean... apStdDev = apElev.standardDeviation... # Calculate a "low" elevation two standard deviations below the mean... thresHold = int(apMean - (2 * apStdDev))... print "Low elevations in Arunachal Pradesh are below " + str(int(thresHold)) +"m"... apLow = arcpy.sa.ExtractByAttributes("apElev","Value" < ' + str(int(thresHold)))....Low elevations in Arunachal Pradesh are below 3025m>>>
Python
June 2010 |geospatial TODAY 43
Application
TODAY MORE THAN EVER,
defence agencies require the
ability to work with vast amounts
of digital imagery and full motion
video to monitor and protect
broad expanses of land and
related assets. They require
solutions that help them to
better collect, manage and
analyse large volumes of
complex, dynamic and
sometimes disorganised data in
an integrated environment. This
directly accelerates the ability to
formulate higher quality
decisions with greater
confidence. Technology allows
agencies to dynamically combine
data from different sources into
a single, seamless environment –
facilitating a common operating
picture – for improved decision
making and analysis. It helps
meet operational goals and share
data across the enterprise and
around the world. Organisations
such as the National Geospatial-
Intelligence Agency (NGA) and
international military mapping
organisations rely on Intergraph
technology for critical functions,
such as map production and
image exploitation. Additionally,
Intergraph provides incident
management and emergency
response technology that plays a
crucial role in protecting citizens
around the world, including
those in large, high-profile cities
such as Washington, DC, Berlin
and Mumbai.
The NGA has been working with
Intergraph for more than 25
years, and is using Intergraph’s
Image Scout technology for
advanced image exploitation and
geospatial fusion. NGA has
incorporated the technology into
its broad area search activities
and digital image exploitation
workflows. The technology
enables NGA analysts to work in
a completely digital environment
Security threats are increasing by the day and
technology alone can combat the menace.
writes how military mapping organisations
the world over are using the technology
Robert
Mott
strong borders
Strong technology for
with vast amounts of imagery
and other complex data, and
quickly assemble all of that
content into a meaningful visual
representation, then easily use it
to perform analysis and make
high-confidence decisions.
Similarly, many international
military mapping organisations
work with Intergraph’s
Geospatial Intelligence
Production System (GIPS) for
efficient and accurate map
production activities as part of
broad participation with NGA in
the Multinational Geospatial Co-
Production Program (MGCP).
The MGCP is a collaborative
effort to remap the world at a
greater level of resolution and
quality than in the past. GIPS is
an enterprise-scale high-end
military map production suite
that allows for streamlined data
capture, so that data collectors
can spend less time performing
mundane tasks. GIPS includes
built-in validity checks and error
checking throughout the
process, to ensure that the
NGA has been
working with
Intergraph for
more than 25
years, and is
using
Intergraph’s
Image Scout
technology for
advanced image
exploitation and
geospatial
fusion.
44 | june 2010geospatial TODAY
output at the end of the cycle is
of the highest quality possible.
In addition to high-quality
imagery and strong image
exploitation features, defence,
intelligence and public safety
organisations require technology
that adheres to open standards
for data storage and exchange.
This is a critical requirement for
military organisations involved in
coalition activities, and in
partnerships with other parts of
the federal government, such as
the Departments of Homeland
Security and Justice, for various
activities. Open standards allow
them to easily share information
across organisations, as well as
up and down various levels of
government. This open-
standards approach also allows
applications from multiple
vendors to share information
seamlessly. Therefore, the
Intergraph tools can very easily
fit into existing enterprise
systems to perform critical
functions without the need for
data conversion or other costly
integration activities.
Intergraph is pioneering a new
technology that integrates full
motion video with its geospatial
and imagery exploitation
platform to provide its customers
with improved analytical and
decision-making abilities.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), for example, have
traditionally been used very
successfully for surveillance and
other military operations. This
new technology enables video
streams from UAVs to reach a
wider number of users and
support a much broader range of
missions. Intergraph’s Motion
Video Analyst product performs
real-time stabilisation and other
quality improvements of multiple
simultaneous video streams, and
then overlays them with satellite
imagery, aerial photos and other
intelligence data feeds.
This integration provides the
advantage of instantly orienting
the analyst or operator so they
can better assess objects or
actions captured by the video.
The video can be instantly used to
create a static geo-referenced
image that can be used for
automated change detection and
other complex analyses. Details
on objects can quickly be
determined as the resulting image
is combined with other types of
data to help perform a better
assessment of the area covered
by a UAV. For example, UAVs can
be used to search for improvised
explosive devices (IEDs), and this
approach can be used to perform
the comparison between video
collected from two successive
passes over the area of interest.
The industry is also currently
seeing a strong trend in military
and intelligence organisations
playing a more critical supporting
role in domestic security
activities, such as border
security, which is presenting a
new set of challenges to our
military. As the US intelligence
community evolves to play an
increasingly greater role in
domestic security operations
through collaborations with
other federal and state/local
organisations, they will have an
even greater need for
streamlined collaboration and
more efficient joint operations.
In addition to the new motion
video capabilities, there is a new
suite of security products that
help organisations more
effectively face this emerging
challenge and participate in
collaborative operations. This
new type of geospatially-enabled
security solution is based on
Intergraph’s strong heritage and
competency in the areas of
military and intelligence, public
safety and emergency dispatch,
such as the 9-1-1 system in use in
large metropolitan regions like
Washington, DC, and critical
infrastructure systems, such as
utilities, communication and
transportation.
As deeper connections continue
to form within government
agencies, between government
and public safety agencies and
between various countries around
the globe, the need for strong,
geospatially-powered defence,
intelligence and security solutions
will continue to rise. Intergraph is
well poised to help our customers
meet these needs and to continue
innovating to meet the defence
and security requirements of
future generations.
The industry is
also currently
seeing a strong
trend in military
and intelligence
organisations
playing a more
critical
supporting role
in domestic
security
activities.
Robert Mott
Executive Director of Military & IntelligenceSolutions, Intergraph
June 2010 |geospatial TODAY 45
EVENTS
Bengaluru Space Expo 2010
International Exhibition Centre, Bangalore
www.bsxindia.com
August 2010
The main focus of the Bengaluru Space Expo 2010 is to
showcase the latest technological advancements, related
products and technical services in space industry. It will
provide a platform for space agencies, specialists,
entrepreneurs and space industry heavyweights to display
their visions to the decision makers.
The Expo will facilitate joint ventures, technology transfer,
marketing arrangements and will also provide opportunities
to network with the who’s who of Space Industry from all
over the world. The Exhibition will also showcase Asia’s
