ArcGIS Field Maps Beta Supports EOS Arrow GNSS Receivers

The beta version of ArcGIS Field Maps, which is available now, combines the functionalities of five existing Esri mobile apps: ArcGIS Collector, ArcGIS Explorer, ArcGIS Tracker, ArcGIS Workforce and ArcGIS Navigator. In the first beta version, users can perform markups, work with read-only maps and work with MMPKs in a single app, including the use of high-accuracy GPS locations and metadata from Arrow GNSS receivers from EOS Positioning. Customers who have been wanting to take advantage of high-accuracy GNSS data in apps such as Explorer and Tracker will now be able to do so thanks to this beta release. Furthermore,... (read more)

2020-07-01 11:04:21

Cesium Adds Global Layer of 3D Buildings

Cesium has announced that its users now have access to Cesium OSM Buildings, a global base layer of more than 350 million 3D buildings. Cesium OSM Buildings expands the suite of Cesium Global Base Layers that includes the worldwide terrain, aerial imagery and street maps already available on Cesium ion. "As digital twins and urban mapping gain momentum in 3D geospatial, we are excited to offer a global layer of 3D buildings that can be easily visualized, styled and analysed in an efficient and interoperable manner using 3D Tiles," said Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi. “Cesium OSM Buildings will help geospatial... (read more)

2020-06-03 11:26:10

State of the Art in 3D City Modelling

Six Challenges Facing 3D Data as a Platform

Semantically enriched 3D city models have the potential to be powerful hubs of integrated information for computer-based urban spatial analysis. This article presents the state of the art in 3D city modelling in the context of broader developments such as smart cities and digital twins, and outlines six challenges that must be overcome before 3D data as a platform becomes a reality. (This article is a co-production of seven authors, all of whom are mentioned at the end of the text.) 3D city models, as digital representations of urban areas, can be used to facilitate many applications, such as urban... (read more)

2020-04-09 10:46:22

Streamlining a High-resolution 3D Model of the Space Shuttle 'Discovery'

Cesium, a market leader in streaming 3D geospatial technology, has announced it will collaborate with the acclaimed Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, education and research complex, on its Open Access Initiative. To celebrate the initiative, Cesium will support the Smithsonian’s ability to stream 3D models of massive objects in its collection, such as the Space Shuttle 'Discovery', over the web in high resolution for the first time. Through the Open Access Initiative, the Smithsonian will release about 2.8 million 2D and 3D images, public collections metadata and institutional research datasets as CC0 for any purpose: educational and research and... (read more)

2020-03-10 10:57:03

Bridging the Gap between Geospatial and Construction

There is certainly a gap in information exchange between the geospatial and construction domains. This is a serious issue, mainly because geospatial systems and engineering surveys are not yet aligned and integrated with building information modelling (BIM). The BIM method is expected to move construction activities from plan-based individual work to model-based collaboration. Such a paradigm shift will bring huge opportunities regarding planning, building and management of the built environment in a more productive, open and sustainable way. Although it is still difficult to entirely close the gap between these two fields, this article shows how that gap can at... (read more)

2020-02-14 09:44:12

Downtown Dublin as a Lidar Point Cloud

A Highly Accurate, Diverse and Dense Annotated Laser Scanning Dataset of a City Centre

The advance of Lidar data acquisition technologies is substantially increasing the amount of spatial data obtained and it is becoming cost-prohibitive to process it manually. Artificial intelligence (AI) has now started to offer cost-effective solutions to analyse and utilize those big datasets. AI can be employed for scene understanding, accurately detecting objects and classifying 3D assets. These are the significant fundamentals of several applications including autonomous navigation, intelligent robotics, urban planning, emergency management and even forest monitoring. The most popular types of 3D spatial information for such applications are Lidar and imagery data. This article describes the dense annotated ground-truth... (read more)

2019-11-27 10:05:38

Sensors, Satellites and Science: the Power of Geoinformation

Review of ISPRS Geospatial Week 2019

Every two years, the photogrammetry and remote sensing community gathers at the ISPRS Geospatial Week. The event comprises a combination of workshops organized by various ISPRS Working Groups and other stakeholders involved in the geospatial profession. The 2019 edition, which was held from 10-14 June in Enschede, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, proved to be a true geospatial hub bringing together a wide range of geomatics-related activities and applications. Creating a better, safer world – that broadly sums up the objective of the ISPRS Geospatial Week participants. With projects covering innovations for land tenure, an efficient method... (read more)

2019-08-29 08:25:35

Infrastructure Group Benefits from Drone Technology in Smart Motorways Project

The international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty is reaping the rewards of using drones on major construction projects, including work on a multi-million-pound 'Smart Motorway' upgrade in the Midlands region of the UK with support from UAV specialist Heliguy. The group is utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or 'drones'), including the recently released DJI Phantom 4 RTK, to enhance safety, increase efficiency, gather data faster, improve asset productivity and gain high-accuracy results. The UAVs are being used for quicker stockpile measurements, informative aerial progress reports and accessing hard-to-reach areas. Balfour Beatty has turned to drone expert Heliguy as its preferred supplier,... (read more)

2019-04-09 10:39:43

Bringing BIM Down to Earth

‘BIM’ is a hot topic in the industry, receiving regular coverage at many conferences, seminars and webinars. A lot of companies predict that it is one of the ‘next big things’ for the future, and a not inconsiderable number of companies are already working with BIM today. And that’s a good thing! But it is perhaps wise to look past the hype and keep our feet firmly on the ground. Tomas Sandström from Adtollo brings some nuance into the BIM discussion in this column. BIM stands for ‘building information modelling’, or perhaps ‘building information management’. The best thing about BIM... (read more)

2019-01-24 02:20:34

GAF Wins Framework Contract for the Validation of Innovative Geospatial Tools

GAF AG, together with e-GEOS, has been awarded a framework contract by the European Union Satellite Centre for the provision of satellite-based digital elevation models to support the validation of innovative geospatial tools for SatCen’s exploitation activities. These digital elevation models have a resolution of between 0.5m and 10m and are generated using a highly automated multi-source production line. Additionally, the products are delivered with different quality layers and traceability layers, and the corresponding metadata is adapted to the user’s requirements. For nearly 20 years, GAF has been providing different institutional and private customers worldwide with various types of high-quality... (read more)

2019-01-09 01:36:55