Spatial Data for Africa

GIM International Interviews Chukwodozie Ezigbalike

A love of mathematics set one of Africa's foremost geo-information specialists on a mission to drive the development of spatial-data infrastructure across the continent Partnership and communication lie at the heart of spatial-data infrastructure advancements. As civil servants, local communities, universities, NGOs and companies on the African continent adopt geographic information systems as a tool, they are increasingly able to exert pressure on governments for improved functionality, products, and services - all of which are essential for driving development and progress. Dr Chukwudozie (Dozie) Ezigbalike, head of the Geo-information Systems Section (GiSS) in the ICT Science and Technology Division (ISTD)... (read more)

2009-09-07 10:00:01

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

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

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