Galileo: Commercial Hopes Unrealistic

GIM Interviews Owen M. Goodman, Chief Operating Officer, Fugro N.V.

It is likely to be 2012 before the Galileo system itself is fully operational on a stand-alone basis, says this month’s interviewee Owen Goodman, and Galileo will never be a commercially viable service as long as GPS and Glonass are free. Given current plans, Galileo is heading inevitably towards a funding crisis. National security and defence agencies could make a substantial financial contribution, but this at the expense of Galileo’s status as a civilian system. The EU should leave the fulfilment of specialist civilian needs to commercial GNSS augmentation service providers and the makers of ‘RTK-type’ GNSS equipment, so that... (read more)

2006-02-23 12:00:00

Bringing Geography into Everything

GIM International Interviews Ed Parsons

As Google’s geospatial technologist, Ed Parsons is responsible for evangelising Google’s mission to organise the world’s information using geography. GIM International caught up with this ‘man with a mission’ in Barcelona during one of his countless foreign trips. (By Wim van Wegen, GIM International) You’re the geospatial technologist at Google, responsible for evangelising Google’s mission to organise the world’s information using geography. Can you describe that mission? In many ways it’s quite a unique role since the number of people within Google that are really focused on outside the organisation is quite limited. A key aspect of the role is... (read more)

2015-08-20 11:21:42

Linking Space Technology and User Needs

GIM International interviews Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director, GSA

Space technology has a big influence on the transformation of the way we live, work and play. The core mission of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) is to ensure that European Union citizens get the most out of Europe’s satellite navigation programmes. In this in-depth interview GSA’s executive director, Mr Carlo des Dorides, talks about Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, UAVs, location-based services and much more. The developments in the GNSS industry are continuing at a steady pace. Where do we stand now? As our GNSS Market Report shows, the global GNSS market remains dynamic. GNSS is used around... (read more)

2017-02-06 10:32:07

Galileo: Commercial Hopes Unrealistic

GIM Interviews Owen M. Goodman, Chief Operating Officer, Fugro N.V.

It is likely to be 2012 before the Galileo system itself is fully operational on a stand-alone basis, says this month’s interviewee Owen Goodman, and Galileo will never be a commercially viable service as long as GPS and Glonass are free. Given current plans, Galileo is heading inevitably towards a funding crisis. National security and defence agencies could make a substantial financial contribution, but this at the expense of Galileo’s status as a civilian system. The EU should leave the fulfilment of specialist civilian needs to commercial GNSS augmentation service providers and the makers of ‘RTK-type’ GNSS equipment, so that... (read more)

2006-02-23 12:00:00

Need for New Players and Leaders to Enter the Land Sector

GIM International Interviews Dr Robin McLaren

Dr Robin McLaren is a widely known and recognised authority with more than 30 years of experience in the profession. Having developed GIS technology for a number of years, Robin set up his independent consulting company, Know Edge Ltd, in Edinburgh in 1986, providing GIS solutions for governmental and utilities clients across the United Kingdom. Following an introduction to international land administration and management during a UN-FAO mission to North Yemen in 1989, this became a major market for the company. 'GIM International' interviewed Robin to learn more about his involvement in many innovations and to hear his insightful opinions. Read... (read more)

2017-06-01 09:20:26

Lidar, Imagery and InSAR for Digital Forestry

GIM International interviews Benoît St-Onge

Benoît St-Onge is a professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada. He works at the Department of Geography with a major research interest in 3D remote sensing for forest analysis. 'GIM International' recently interviewed Professor St-Onge to gain a better understanding of the challenges and innovations in this field. (By Martin Kodde, contributing editor, GIM International) In your research work, you have a clear focus on the use of Lidar and photogrammetry for analysis of vegetation, forests, etc. How did your interest in vegetation develop? When I chose to specialise in remote sensing at master level in the 1980s,... (read more)

2016-10-24 09:49:55

China Leaps Ahead with Geospatial Research

GIM International Interviews Professor Dr ZHANG Jixian

Prof. Dr John van Genderen, himself a leading western expert on geospatial developments in China, interviews Professor Dr ZHANG Jixian, acting president of the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping on the rapid evolution of geospatial ideas in China. Could you provide a brief overview of China’s earth observation missions, from their start up until now? China initiated a plan to develop a self-owned, proprietary (in terms of intellectual property rights) earth observation system after DFH-1, the first Chinese satellite, in 1970. Since then, many earth observation missions have been launched. As of today, we have developed five series of... (read more)

2005-03-24 12:00:00

GeoEye-1 Scheduled Launch in 2007

GIM Interviews Matthew O’Connell, President and CEO, GeoEye

On January 12th 2006 came the announcement that Orbimage had acquired Space Imaging. The newly formed company, GeoEye, flies the high-resolution Ikonos, Orbview-3 satellites and Orbview-2. In 2007 it will launch the very high-resolution GeoEye-1. Our interviewee Matthew O’Connell has 25 years experience in Mergers and Acquisitions. Some years ago he left Wall Street to work full-time for Orbimage, exploring the exploitation opportunities of acquiring Space Imaging. After the acquisition the brand name changed into GeoEye: why? We are in the business of providing GeoInformation and Geo-Intelligence. In a way, GeoEye is short for that. And our three satellites can... (read more)

2006-03-27 12:00:00

Integrating GIS and Earth Viewers

GIM International Interviews Johannes Kebeck, Technology Specialist, Microsoft Virtual Earth Business Unit

Microsoft's MapPoint Business Unit was formed in 1995. The Virtual Earth platform was launched in 2005 as an integrated set of services combining imagery with mapping, location and search functionality. In May 2006 the company acquired photogrammetric firm Vexcel. This month's interviewee, Johannes Kebeck, talks about Microsoft's aims and ambitions in the field of geomatics. â€œThere will still be a need for traditional GIS [â€¦] we will likely see tight integration between the traditional GIS and so-called Earth Viewers. How big is the geospatial division of Microsoft in terms of number of employees and share in turnover? What sort of... (read more)

2007-09-19 12:00:00

Geospatial Data in Support of 3D Cadastre

Zooming in on Recent Technical Developments

The urbanization trend is leading to an increasing number of people living in cities, thus also placing new demands on cadastral registration. To be able to register the complex infrastructures and built-up areas properly, the cadastre will need to consider the third spatial dimension. The 3D cadastre is based on 3D parcels (spatial units) which are single volumes (or multiple volumes) of space. Although the technology offers numerous possibilities for implementation of the 3D cadastre, there are still some open issues, as this article explains. We live in a three-dimensional world. Over the past decades, there have been an increasing... (read more)

2019-05-22 08:21:03