High-level Political Support Needed

GSDI and Land Administration within Europe

Administrative reform within Europe has had a tremendous impact on land administration all over the continent. Geo-Spatial Data Infrastructures (GSDI) may bring further improvements. The authors review land policy, land administration and the role of land information within society, and call for high-level political moves towards information sharing. Examples of administrative reforms within Europe are restoration of the primacy of politics, reduction in ministerial tasking to core business, and improving the output of public institutions by distance steering, decentralisation and de-concentration of institutions. Other methods of improving output include quality assurance programmes, special service projects, restoring democracy and reestablishment of... (read more)

2005-07-14 12:00:00

Sentinel-2A in Orbit: An Overview of the Features of the European Sentinel Family

The launch of Sentinel-2A in June 2015 signalled the start of the era of the Sentinel-2 twin constellation. The satellite has been constructed by Airbus Defence and Space for the European Space Agency (ESA). The Sentinels are a new family of missions in progress and a major asset within the European Copernicus programme, which is dedicated to providing a comprehensive picture of the ‘health’ of the Earth. To mark the occasion of the launch, the author provides an overview of the mission, the features of the sensors on board and applications of the images. Although rarely used in common speech,... (read more)

2016-05-02 09:36:51

Towards All-in-one Photogrammetry

A Case Study of Dense Image Matching Using Oblique Imagery

Modern photogrammetric camera architectures provide high-resolution imagery in nadir and oblique views. This case study sets out to prove the potential of oblique imagery to deliver dense point clouds to be used for DEM, 3D city model and true orthophoto generation – an important step towards ‘all-in-one’ photogrammetry. 3D point clouds for DEM or orthophoto production are typically collected using airborne Lidar systems. The recent development of dense image matching methods provides an efficient alternative by deriving point clouds from imagery. Within this fully automated image processing pipeline, corresponding pixels between multiple images are determined. Each pixel represents a sight... (read more)

2012-04-26 11:32:21

TIGER Tale

Uncertainty of US Core Geo-demographic Data

Core geo-demographic data in a GIS-compatible format derived from decennial US censuses has greatly benefited marketers, social scientists and governments. It has also inspired development of similar datasets in other countries. However, the US Census Bureau’s Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) data has many limitations, including missing or erroneous data, inaccurate or deliberately misleading responses, misinterpretation by casual users, and reinterpretation by various groups bent on teasing out information. There is also potential for criminal misuse of derived information. One of the biggest sources of uncertainty concerns undercounting of various groups, many but not all socially marginalised. So-called... (read more)

2007-01-02 09:23:23

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

Lidar’s Next Geospatial Frontier

The State of Lidar for UAS Applications

Over the past two decades, airborne Lidar has evolved from a developmental technology into a well-established mapping solution, and in the process has revolutionised the surveying and mapping industry. Today, unmanned aerial systems (UASs) represent the next geospatial frontier. With recent advancements in sensor technology, the adoption of Lidar for UASs is rapidly expanding, leading to new industry horizons. Read on for insights into the current state of UAS-based Lidar technology and emerging trends. (By Michael Starek and Jinha Jung, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, USA) Integration of traditional airborne Lidar mapping technology with UASs has been challenging due to the... (read more)

2015-04-07 03:55:32

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

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

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