Up/Gbd-136/201 1-13 Issn 2277

R.N.I No - UPENG/2010/34153 Registration no: UP/GBD-136/2011-13 thth thth thth Publication: 10 of every month I Posting: 15 / 20 of every month Y O U R G E O S P A T I A L I N D U S T R Y M A G A Z I N E www.geospatialworld.net JANUARY 2012 ISSN 2277-3134 VOL 02 ISSUE 06 Price: INR 150 / US$ 15 Subscriber’s copy. Not for Sale Ready for Take-off… with Hexagon Geosystems

Innovative and market-leading imaging technologies Customers looking for dedicated solutions to generate for all airborne mapping applications. professional geospatial data and maps, to extract features and information as well as to create highly Hexagon Geosystems will continue to offer complete and accurate 3D environments can now choose from one innovative end-to-end solutions, including vendor the sensor solution that best ﬁts their applica- New Leica ALS70 LiDAR family tion and best suits their business model. New Leica RCD30 Medium Format Camera (RGBN) New Leica ADS80 SH9x Airborne Digital Sensor New Z/I DMCII family with DMCII 140, 230 and 250 Complete and “Best in Class” Suite of Flight Planning, Flight Management and Postprocessing software

For further information please visit http://di.leica-geosystems.com www.ziimaging.com

110463_Takeoff_Ad_7_75x10_25inch.indd 1 21.07.11 11:13 TOGETHER AT LAST Image Processing and GIS

IN ONE PACKAGE TO RULE YOUR GEOSPATIAL WORKFLOW

Finally, you can have truly connected image processing and GIS products, not only simplifying purchasing and maintenance, but also providing a stronger, more streamlined geospatial workflow.

GeoMedia® delivers powerful GIS analysis and management, enabling you to realize the maximum value of your geospatial resources by integrating them to present clear, actionable information. ERDAS IMAGINE® incorporates industry-leading geospatial image processing and analysis and remote sensing capabilities. Brought to you by a SINGLE organization, you can easily leverage these two products in unison to construct a larger, clearer geospatial picture.

Spend less time trying to connect your data and focus on what you want to achieve with it. www.intergraph.com/geospatial

Intergraph and the Intergraph logo are registered trademarks of Intergraph Corporation. © 2012 Intergraph Corporation. 4 07 46 42 32 Sub-Editor Editors Assistant Product Manager Executive Editor Sr. AssociateEditor(Honorary) Editor -LatinAmerica(Honorary) Editor -Europe Managing Editor TEAM PUBLICATIONS PUBLISHER CHAIRMAN Circulation Manager Graphic Designer Sr. CreativeDesigner CIRCULATION TEAM CIRCULATION DESIGN TEAM DESIGN 8 Editorial Inside...Inside... INTERVIEW Dr. HrishikeshSamant,Sr. Associate Editor(Honorary) Here, there,everywhere Applications Prof. ArupDasgupta,ManagingEditor Keeping aneyeontheplanet Technology Trends Prof IanDowman,Editor-Europe Growth isthebestpolicy Geospatial ecosystem ARTICLES to business togetdown Time Commercial EOIndustry Satellite Based B Anand Kashyap M PNarayanan h Sanjay Kumar Sanjay a Prof. IanDowman Bhanu Rekha n Prof. ArupDasgupta Deepali Roy, AditiBhan,Vaibhav Arora Shivani Lal Manoj Kumar Singh u Vijay Kumar Singh Deepak Kumar R e 54 k h a “Extracting information from imagery isthefuture” fromimagery “Extracting information President andDirector,CEO, GeoEye Matt O'Connell News andNewsmakers 2011 Dr. HrishikeshSamant Tania MariaSausen 64 (formerly GIS Development Pvt. Ltd.) Pvt. A -145,Sector63,Noida,India Development GIS (formerly INDIA (UP) M. P. GautamBudh Nagar Noida-201301, Printers B-220,Phase-II, O loss toanyoneduetheinformationprovided. those ofthecontributors.GeospatialWorld isnotresponsibleforany expressed inthepublication.Allviewsexpressed inthisissueare Geospatial World doesnotnecessarilysubscribetotheviews D Budh Nagar, Noida,India G G T PRICE e e e l WNER ISCLAIMER o o + 91-120-4612500 + 91-120-4612500 s s p p Events a a t t : i i INR a a l l , P W M e o d 150 r l UBLISHER i P d a a UBLICATION /US$ n d C o F m a 15 x m +91-120-4612555 /666 +91-120-4612555 u n i & P c a t i o A n s DDRESS RINTER P v 20 t . L t d . Sanjay Kumar A -92,Sector52,Gautam Geospatial Advisory Board World P ITDAT RINTED rsdn,HexagonGeosystems President, Juergen Dold Austria University ofSalzburg, CentreforGeoinformatics, Director, Josef Strobl Esri President, Jack Dangermond South Africa Land Reform, Department ofRural Development& & NationalGeospatialInformation Chief Director-Survey andMapping Derek Clarke Trimble Vice President Bryn Fosburgh UN EconomicCommissionfor Africa Director -ICTDivision Aida OpokuMensah GSDI Association President, Abbas Rajabifard rnneSre,UK Ordnance Survey, Director General andCEO, Vanessa Lawrence CB Government ofIndia Ministry ofEarthSciences Secretary Shailesh Nayak DeepTarget Inc. Chairman andCEO Preetha Pulusani GeoEye President andCEO Matthew MO'Connell Inc. Open GeospatialConsortium, President andCEO Mark Reichardt Rolta Group Chairman andCEO Kamal KSingh I January 2012

1/9/2011/9/201 Earth Observation - A story of tech marvel and unkept promise Speak r

o n April 1, 1960 NASA launched TIROS 1, a 150 kilogram, experimental satellite with two

t vidicon cameras to image the earth at a resolution of 320 metre. On January 8, 2012

i O China launched Ziyuan 3, a 2650 kilogram satellite with three CCD cameras imaging the earth in stereo at 2.5 metre resolution. Between these two events is a story of a d technology that has taken the world by storm and yet has not quite achieved its promise. E

Today earth observation programmes are there in almost every country. A whole industry has sprung up for the manufacture and launching of satellites, data acquisition, data processing, distribution and value addition. The US pioneered the privatisation of earth observation systems and was closely followed by Canada, France and Germany. Other countries like India, China and Russia kept it under the government. The UN debated and evolved a policy on the principles of remote sensing. Every country with a space programme evolved their data policies. Google came out with its game-changing Google Earth which put earth observation data in the hands of the common person.

In the area of science, particularly meteorology, environment and oceanography, the success is very high. While funding for these programmes are fully governmental and they suffer from a lack of priority, yet the utilisation and benefits are enormous. Areas of public good such as disaster management are now critically dependent on earth observation systems.

In spite of such a vibrant scenario, there are troubling issues. The market remains largely with the government and the defence establishments. Earth observation data cannot stand alone. It has Prof. Arup Dasgupta to be part of a data ensemble for practical applications. Managing Editor [email protected] While some industries are specialising in creating such ensem- bles, by and large remotely sensed data seems to revel in its unique identity. The promise of commercial adoption for mapping has not been realised. Privatisation thus is restricted to large government contracts. Perhaps this has led to complacency among the players and not enough has been done to create more clients in the civilian industry.

The time has come for the earth observation industry to take a closer look at itself. In particular it has to find out why it remains the preserve of governments. Short term quick fixes are not the answer. It requires some out of the box thinking.

Geospatial World I January 2012 7 GEOSPATIAL ECOSYSTEM

Geospatial information and technology have great potential to be a public commodity and a panacea to the larger challenges facing global economic and social well-being. It therefore becomes imperative to have enabling, market –oriented policy frameworks in place to give impetus to the geospatial ecosystem. Here’s a look at some government policies across the world and their impact on the utility of geospatial technology

8 Geospatial World I January 2012 t is widely recognised that geospatial data the restriction on their use in certain countries. has a very important role to play in governmental With the introduction of computers and digitisation of Iand commercial activities today. But how does data, the picture changed rapidly. Not only did existing geospatial data fit into a commercial model? A great maps become available in digital form, data was collected deal of geospatial data has been collected by govern- digitally and the importance of location in information ments using taxpayers' money. Users therefore do analysis gained significance. Today, we have reached a sit- not think it fair that they should pay a second uation where location information is both easily available, time to buy data. Much of the high resolution satellite through GNSS in mobile communication devices, and is data has been collected with subsidies from govern- highly desirable for many services. But the restrictions, ments, through defence contracts or by government both historic and those created due to commercial and subsidies to the space industry designed to boost defence interests, and by the need to transfer data easily, development of high technology. Then there are gov- multiplied. ernment restrictions on data sales and regional directives that regulate the structure and use of geospatial data. All these factors lead to a complicated market for geospatial data. This article will try to unravel some of these complications and suggest ways forward.

HISTORY OF GEOSPATIAL DATA An appropriate starting point to understand these issues is to look at the history of geospatial data in Figure 1: Factors affecting the use of geospatial data in a country modern times. In 1950, geospatial data was synonymous with paper map. Maps A further aspect of this equation is that the production were compiled and updated using ground and aerial sur- of geospatial data tends to be technology led. One reason veying. Broadly speaking, maps at scales of 1:5000 and for the widespread public interest in location is because smaller were made and updated by national mapping of its ability to provide positional information. GNSS organisations (NMOs), while maps of larger scales were provides position. Microchip technology provides the created for specific purposes, often engineering projects, means to receive the data in a car or a mobile device, so by commercial companies. In addition, cadastral plans for the public wants to use this new resource. While this recording land ownership were collected by land registry augurs well for the sale of satellite navigation devices and offices, which in some cases would be the same organisa- mobile phones, if people do not find benefits of this tion responsible for topographic mapping. NMOs provided resource, they do not follow up and purchase updated their maps to the government, often for defence purposes information. The industry still has to find the 'killer app' and sold them to the public. The link between civilian for the public at large. mapping and military mapping led to some restrictions on Certain countries have adopted the technology more civilian use of maps. Even today, large scale maps and quickly than others. The legislative approach of govern- aerial photographs are not available to the public in many ments of these countries in bringing market-oriented countries. As the resolution of images increased, so did policies and enabling the users to capitalise on such a

Geospatial World I January 2012 9 Digital data and maps: Changing the scenario

versatile technology is the major reason for the growth. and value. In the case of, say, a LiDAR survey of an urban Geospatial technology and information has great potential area carried out by a commercial company, the price will to be a public commodity and a panacea to the larger chal- be the cost of the survey plus a profit for the company. The lenges facing global economic and social well-being. buyer decides whether this is good value. The profit to the However, this requires the right policy framework, such as company will be less if there is strong competition in bid- the promotion of other technologies including telecom- ding for the work. The price of a high resolution satellite munication, broadband and the internet, to unlock its image though is likely to be much less than the real cost of potential. It therefore becomes imperative to look at the producing it. This is because the cost of developing and government policies and how they aid or hamper the building the satellite may not be factored in as it has been growth of uptake of geospatial technology. Figure 1 sum- covered by the government and the government may have marises the current situation. a standing order for the data which effectively covers the cost, leaving the general public to only pay a marginal PRICE cost. A buyer would not be able to afford the image if the Let us first establish the difference between price, cost total cost was included. The market therefore is distorted. and value. The price of a commodity is the amount the This is because the high resolution satellite remote sens- buyer spends to purchase it, cost is the amount spent to ing industry is primarily driven by defence and intelligence produce it and value is what the buyer believes the product agencies. Most of these agencies have invested to support or service is worth to them. Clearly, price, cost and value the birth of commercial satellite companies. For instance, are not the same and it would be fair to say that the price private companies GeoEye and Astrium have been funded which a government puts on anything is unlikely to be by their respective governments. However, DigitalGlobe, related to its cost. A buyer is interested only in the price which started as a bonafide private company without any

10 Geospatial World I January 2012

Table 1: Constraints in establishing SDIs funding from the government, ended up with defence as Technical its prime market. These companies are controlled by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to an extent Semantic interoperability that it provides indirect leadership and direction. Exchange formats of geodata limit the exchange of data among different organisations There is a strong argument that data produced with Different software systems public money, i.e. by an NMO, should be free. The oppos- Transmitting large geospatial datasets and poor quality of electric power Sometimes government bodies on different levels produce similar reference Pricing wars data with different specifications according to their own needs, which influences the budget that is available in a country Data produced with Keeping data up-to-date, Financial public money adding value and intro- (by NMOs) should be VS ducing new technologies High cost of creating good quality spatial data VS costs money which free should be borne by the Cost of maintaining data types and ability to adapt to changing user customer requirements.due to technical and financial processes Ring-fenced funding which limits transfer across departments Institutional and cultural ing argument however is that keeping the data up-to-date Lack of knowledge of the power of spatial data and adding value comes at a certain cost which should be borne by the customer. The introduction of new technolo- No open knowledge of available geospatial datasets gies, such as open source or the cloud, too would involve Institutions continue to operate in silos with little or no cooperation or communication among key stakeholders additional cost. In many current NMO business models, the industry has a big role to play. Private companies suf- Institutional and individual protectiveness/jealousy fer if NMOs have a monopoly on sales of this data. Produc- Lack of knowledge of use of geospatial information ers of value-added products would be at a competitive dis- Lack of mandated authority to act and identification of champions advantage in absence of clear policies or uniform prac- Lack of long-term commitment to building a community of cooperation tices to guide them on access to and reuse of public sector and trust information. Some NMOs have sought to overcome this Lack of geospatial information that meets the requirements of users issue by establishing partnerships with the industry. Ord- Administrative nance Survey in UK, for example, has over 200 partner- Cost sharing issues and issues of legal responsibility and national security

ships. The businesses range from global giants to single Lack of clear policies and means to monitor compliance

entrepreneurs, but all use location data to create business Issues of privacy; security and intellectual property opportunities. Business models of NMOs vary enormous- ly: in Europe for example, cost recovery amongst NMOs varies from 0 to 100%. this implies a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) to facilitate In the United States, public private partnerships (PPP) the exchange and use of geospatial data. A major advan- are widely used and offer significant cost benefits. Kumar tage of a government-wide SDI is that it makes users Navulur, Director Next Gen Products, DigitalGlobe aware of the power of location and can therefore increase informs that the company has such a partnership. He fur- the need for geospatial data. Heads of NMOs in Europe ther adds that the private industry designs, builds and observe that a major benefit of INSPIRE is the increased launches the satellite and the government uses mecha- collaboration between government departments and nisms such as NextView and EnhancedView contracts to agencies and raised awareness amongst politicians in supplement and complement their imagery needs. general about the importance of geospatial data. Indone- sia has a National SDI Development project which links E-GOVERNANCE not only government departments but also the private Electronic governance (e-governance) refers to the use of sector and local governments, with participation from information technology and the internet to improve the more than 500 nodal agencies. The government depart- effectiveness of communication within government and ments include the national surveying agency BIG (former- between government and citizens. In the geospatial arena, ly BAKOSURTANAL), National Land Agency, National

12 Geospatial World I January 2012 “Developing a successful SDI within a There are also other legislative constraints. Privacy is one jurisdictional level must be seen as a such constraint and the use of maps and images may be socio-technical, rather than a purely restricted in some countries, as Google has found. Both technical exercise.”\ the free availability of satellite images and Street View Abbas Rajabifard images on the internet have been contested in courts in President, GSDI Society several countries but Google has a policy of protecting individual’s privacy where people are concerned. These constraints do not seriously affect the use of the data however. There are also privacy issues in the use of cadastral Aeronautics and Aerospace Institute and the Ministries of data. In some countries, information on properties is Forestry, Public Works, Transport, Agriculture, Marine available on the internet while in others, the same infor- and Fisheries. mation is considered as a breach of privacy laws. Absence of an SDI would lead to lack of awareness about the importance of geospatial data, implying that INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SOCIETAL BENEFITS politicians are less likely to put resources into the acquisi- Governments often have a policy to support industry and tion and management of spatial data. private commerce in their country. Examples of this are The 12th GSDI Conference in Singapore in 2010 wit- high technology activities such as telecommunication and nessed discussions on SDIs and on the limitations to their energy generation and transmission. These technologies, development. Table 1 summarises some of the constraints once established, are available to society at large to in establishing SDIs. Many of these issues can be resolved with simple rules to control access to the information as required by local laws and policies. The cultural issues need to be dealt with through education. Users and politicians too need to be educated and be demonstrated that in a networked environment, everyone's data quality tends to improve if there are mutual internal feedbacks. According to Abbas Rajabifard, President, GSDI Society, developing a successful SDI depends as much upon issues such as political support, clarifying the business objectives of the SDI, sustaining a culture of sharing, maintaining reliable financial support and enlisting the cooperation of all members of the community, as upon technical issues relating to spatial data access, networking and standards. Therefore, developing a successful SDI within a jurisdictional level must be seen as a socio-technical, rather than a purely technical exercise. Clare Hadley, INSPIRE Delivery and UK Location Programme Alignment Manager, Ordnance Sur- c

o r vey acknowledges that having a legal requirement to d

M implement INSPIRE is a strong lever to achieving the data : y

e and service interoperability which the geospatial commu- t r

u nity has long wanted and which in the UK is encapsulated o C in the UK Location Strategy.

Governments have a responsibility to provide essential services to its LEGISLATIVE CONSTRAINTS citizens. For example, in-car vehicle navigation for emergency services NMOs are regulated by governments and as shown earli- enables ambulances to reach their destination as quickly as possible er, their operations are constrained by the government.

Geospatial World I January 2012 13 enable citizens and businesses to work efficiently. The Geospatial initiatives government has a responsibility to provide essential services to its citizens and governments want to do this as effi- Global > Global Geospatial Information Management: A United ciently as possible and at a minimum cost. For example, Nations initiative for development of global geospatial informa- in-car vehicle navigation for emergency services enables tion and to promote its use in addressing key global challenges ambulances and fire engines to get to where they are > Group on Earth Observations (GEO): Works to establish needed as quickly as possible. Greater accuracy in GNSS, international frameworks to make the use of geospatial data brought about by augmentation systems like European more efficient and benefitting the society Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), reduces errors and benefits society. Having recognised the National need for GNSS, governments look for means to recover > Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI): National level initiative by various countries to facilitate the exchange and use of some of the cost and road use taxation becomes one such geospatial data option. Similar technology can be used by insurance companies to tailor car insurance prices to vehicle usage. Gov- Regional (Europe) ernments also need to be prepared for disasters, implying > European Commission's Digital Agenda for Europe: requirement of high technology communications and Aimed to make the best use of ICT to speed up economic recovery access to satellite data for emergency response centres. and lay the foundations for a sustainable digital future The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services > Galileo: An initiative by the European Union (EU) to provide (INCOIS) is a national agency of the Government of India. It location data to government, businesses and individuals. > Global Monitoring for Environment & Security provides ocean information and advisory services to the (GMES): Another EU activity which produces geospatial data, society, industry, government and scientific community specifically as a service to society through sustained ocean observation and constant improvements through systematic and focussed research. It also houses the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre. REGIONAL AND GLOBAL INITIATIVES Co-location of these services not only provides an essen- The influences at the national level, discussed above, can tial service but also offers benefits including weather fore- be extrapolated to both regional and international levels. A casts, sea surface state and potential fishing zones which prime example of this is the European Union (EU). The benefit society in general as well as fishermen. European Commission has an action plan for growth in Thus we have a situation where the government sets Europe, known as Digital Agenda for Europe, to make the up an infrastructure to provide services to society, which best use of information and communication technology is available for commercial use, but what is the pricing (ICT) to speed up economic recovery and lay the founda- model? tions for a sustainable digital future. Although not specifically targeted at geospatial data, this is required for infrastructure development. This can benefit the geospatial arena as the INSPIRE directive, for instance, requires the establishment of an infrastructure for spatial information and the Directive on Public Access to Environmental Infor- mation obliges public authorities to provide timely access to environmental information. Galileo is another initiative by the EU which will provide location data to government, businesses and individuals. During the development of Galileo, it became very difficult to find a business model for it and in the end, the EU was left to fund the system. The benefits of Galileo will be considerable but the price of data will be set by the EU, not by commercial considera- tions. Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) is another EU activity which produces geospatial

14 Geospatial World I January 2012 data, specifically as a service to society. Future funding “Companies working in commercial and the policy for access to the data are uncertain at the markets do not see a lot of contacts present. EU policies also feed down to national and or activities from public sector regional levels. Germany and The Netherlands, for exam- committees.” ple, have a mandate for local authorities to provide infor- Geoff Sawyer mation online to citizens. Secretary General, European Association of There are other influences on government which are Remote Sensing Companies not mandatory. International organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) work to establish international frameworks which aware of the potential of the technique. On the other hand, will make the use of geospatial data more efficient and in Geoff Sawyer, Secretary General, European Association of particular, benefit the society. The UN Regional Carto- Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) observes that the graphic Conferences have brought together NMOs and role of GEO is to co-ordinate governmental interests and other agencies and societies to encourage exchange of that governments have a strong stake in earth observa- information and collaboration. Recently, the High Level tion. He also adds that companies working in commercial Forum on UN Global Geospatial Information Management markets do not see a lot of contacts or activities from pub- (GGIM) has been set up to coordinate use of geospatial lic sector committees and so do not play a strong role in information among various nations. GEO does the same GEO. for earth observation data. These bodies influence the government but action is only on a best effort basis. In THE POWER OF CITIZENS order to justify participation in these initiatives, govern- A recent development has been crowdsourcing, or volun- ments need to either demonstrate some returns to their teered geographic information (VGI). The best known citizens or these activities should contribute towards example is OpenStreetMap, where volunteers provide meeting policy objectives. José Achache, Director, GEO geospatial information which can be accessed by anybody, Secretariat says: 'I think there is only one way to create free of charge. It has its advantages and disadvantages, awareness and that is to demonstrate what you can do. So but what is certain is that it will affect the market by pro- we are really focussing on developing and demonstrating viding free data which will compete with NMO products. At capabilities rather than selling and over-selling space and present, there are no known instances of any legislation saying we can do this and we can do that.' He cites the related to the use of VGI but DJ Coleman and colleagues case of monitoring of forests which started with six partic- argue that legislation is necessary 'to recognise to account ipants but others quickly joined in when they became for and balance the rights of both the producing community and the mapping organisations.'

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES We have demonstrated that the geospatial market is complicated and not subject to the commercial imperative of supply and demand. In many areas, the role of the government is crucial both in promoting the use of geospatial data and in being the main buyer of the data. We have seen that INSPIRE in Europe has increased collaboration between government departments and agencies and raised awareness amongst politicians in general about the importance of geospatial data. In regions such as Africa, there is a crucial need to raise awareness amongst politicians so that more resources can be put into spatial data Crowdsourcing will provide free data which will compete with NMO infrastructure. A major challenge is how to develop the products market. 80% revenues of the main companies come from

Geospatial World I January 2012 15 Innovations, such as treating data as a service, is still essential in instances like climate studies and can reduce production costs and at the same forest monitoring. We have seen the long process in the time enhance sales because then the price can US to finance a follow up on Landsat, demonstrating be set to the volume of data used or some oth- that satellites for this type of data can only be financed er such measure by government. RapidEye and DMCii appear to be successful in this market, but it is still early days for these companies. defence, 15% from civil government and a mere 5% from commercial consumers. This ratio of income source does Way forward not encourage development of the commercial market It is clear that government is the key player in the market and there is also a great risk in being dependent on a sin- for geospatial data. It is only in customised surveys for gle source of income. specific projects that a free market operates and even The problem lies in treating data as a commodity and then, the government generated data may be used. not as a service. Innovations, such as treating data as a However, there is no comprehensive information on service, can reduce production costs and at the same which model is the most efficient and even if such time enhance sales because then the price can be set to information did exist, one model would not fit all, taking the volume of data used or some other such measure. into account historical influences and the current state Also it reduces the cost of holding data as far as the user of development. There is a need for more information is concerned. The problem in such a scenario is that the on the models used by NMOs and analysis on how these companies are dependent on government support and a can be transferred to other organisations. There is also a change in policy could mean the end of the company. need to expand the commercial market for satellite A further problem is the supply of lower resolution imagery. This can be achieved partly by educating politi- data because there is only a small market for such cians about developing infrastructure using geospatial data. The need for lower resolution satellites with better data, but also enhancing the role of commercial oper- re-visit is essential for applications such as agriculture. ating companies. Data for environmental monitoring is not commercial, but Prof Ian Dowman, Editor - Europe, [email protected]

ADVERTORIAL

Finally, consumers have access to truly and other value-added products from ERDAS connected imagery processing and GIS products IMAGINE to update GIS and CAD resources and TOGETHER AT LAST from a single provider. This revolutionary package refresh analyses in GeoMedia. simplifies purchasing and maintenance, provides a more robust, streamlined geospatial workflow, FLEXIBILITY AND FREEDOM TO GROW Image Processing and GIS and facilitates incorporation of location-based GeoMedia connects directly to the spatially information into business processes. enabled databases already in use by your organization – meaning you do not need to Intergraph® GeoMedia® delivers a comprehensive purchase and maintain additional software to set of GIS analysis and management capabilities. handle this. Additionally, GeoMedia can access all ERDAS IMAGINE® incorporates image common geospatial file formats, most computer- processing, analysis, and remote sensing aided design (CAD) formats, simple text files, and capabilities. Now connected, you can leverage even WMS and WFS web services. these two products in unison to construct a larger, more clear geospatial picture. Together, GeoMedia and ERDAS IMAGINE feature the widest range of native data STRONGER COMPATIBILITY FOR MORE format compatibility on the market with a EFFICIENT WORKFLOWS solid commitment to open standards from Accurately processed imagery and terrain data the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and provide a solid reference source for vector and International Standards Organization® (ISO). This attribute updates. Within ERDAS IMAGINE, users interoperability provides seamless integration with have access to a sophisticated set of assisted current and future business systems, enabling feature collection capabilities and quantitative customers to effectively incorporate location- image processing that supports change detection based information into their business processes. and the extraction of details about the earth, such Additionally, it offers consumers the flexibility to as land cover, vegetation health and impervious choose the data formats and additional tools surface information. they’d like to work with, remaining free from proprietary lock-in. GeoMedia provides simultaneous access to geospatial data in almost any form, leveraging LEADING GEOSPATIAL PRODUCTS, this information in a single map view for efficient ONE ORGANIZATION processing, analysis, presentation, and sharing. At last, there is an integrated approach to meet GeoMedia’s dynamic analysis functionality all of your geospatial needs, empowering you to Today’s business climate is like no other in history. Often viewing technological development enables concatenation of analysis processes so lead the technological charge and do more with Consumer voracity for faster, more efficient and fiscal containment as competing goals, the results of one operation feed directly into the less. See for yourself at www.intergraph.com/ means of accomplishing everyday tasks is fueling organizations may struggle to find and maintain next process, as well as automatically updating geospatial. the advancement of technology at breakneck the correct balance. The geospatial industry offers outcomes in response to data changes. speed. Organizations furiously compete to lead organizations a newer approach – integrating the technological charge while enduring the spatial information and technology with business With this product coupling, you can integrate constraints of a challenging economic landscape. systems and applications to simultaneously accurately processed imagery, terrain data, strengthen their responsiveness to customers, streamline workflows, and reduce costs. Satellite Based Commercial EO Industry

TTiimmee ttoo ggeett ddoowwnn ttoo bb

Born out of the sheer need for superior high resolution earth observation (EO) data at the turn of the millennium, satellite based commercial EO industry has gained significant ground supported by improved technology, increased global coverage and reduced government restrictions on data availability and sale. However a decade after its inception, the industry continues to be state controlled and lacks the vision to organise itself as a market-driven industry thereby limiting its potential and reach. Geospatial World explores the dynamics of commercial EO industry in the backdrop of unsettling economic scenario and the way forward...

20 Geospatial World I January 2012 high resolution satellite imagery with significant short and long term growth. Soon, DigitalGlobe launched QuickBird in October 2001. Space Imaging was acquired by ORBIMAGE in September 2005 and was later renamed

as GeoEye. It further launched GeoEye-1 in 2008 capable ation ation of providing sub-metre resolution imagery. After Quick- v v Bird, DigitalGlobe announced plans to build two next- generation, high-resolution imagery satellites, World- View-1 and WorldView-2, launched in September 2007 and October 2009 respectively. The companies grew internationally, driven by the need for high resolution EO data within the US and around the world. However, the industry had difficulty h Obser

proving its untested business models to non-defence civil h Obser t agencies, state and local governments and the private t sector. While the defence and intelligence community had a long heritage of using satellite imagery, the integration of a new technology into commercial markets Ear Ear took longer than anticipated. The US government backed the industry with 'buy commercial first' data policy allow- ing the two operators (DigitalGlobe and GeoEye) to emerge as market leaders for commercial EO data. Close on heels in Canada, Radarsat-2, a follow-on to Radarsat-1 by MDA, was launched in 2007 to serve the world with SAR imagery. The trend of commercial EO satellites started in Europe with Spot Image (now a sub- sidiary of EADS Astrium), which operates SPOT series of EO satellites. RapidEye started a new trend with a constellation of five EO satellites in 2008. Taking full advantage of the fully-integrated combined resources of its Spot Image and Infoterra subsidiaries, Astrium Services' GEO-Information division is providing EO products and services with exclusive access to SPOT, TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. The recently launched Pléiades 1A (first in the proposed constellation of four satellites along with Pléiades 1B, SPOT-6 &7) will put Astrium Services into the very high resolution club. Technology played an important role in the o business development of commercial EO satellites, in particular o business the advances in optical and radar sensors made the development of smaller, cheaper and more agile satellites possible. Increased global coverage and reduced GENESIS AND EVOLUTION government restrictions on data availability and sale Satellite based earth observation (EO), traditionally driv- are increasing the appeal of satellite imagery in the en by national governments, found its footing commer- private sector. Let us take a peek into how ingenious cially with the launch of IKONOS, world's first high reso- commercial EO satellite operators are getting in serving lution earth observation satellite, in September 1999 by their customers and the changing dynamics of the Space Imaging. This launch was preceded by US policy industry in the face of stiff competition and unstable shift and reports predicting rapid market adoption for economic scenario.

Geospatial World I January 2012 21 PRODUCTS OVER PIXELS change detection, land use/land With awareness and utility of EO cover etc. For the end users the data touching sophisticated idea would be to figure out levels, satellite operators what they are doing and are inching to go beyond we try to give them the simply gathering pix- answers rather than els. Operators are just throwing pixels. adding value to the If you use a stan- imagery, fusing dard GIS software, data from differ- you can actually ent sensors, pro- ingest data auto- cessing imagery matically." on the fly, decreasing turn- DATA DISTRI- around times, edu- BUTION/ cating the users DELIVERY and providing a host MODELS of other services. Matt One significant factor O'Connell, CEO, Presi- supporting the distribu- dent and Director, GeoEye tion and delivery of data is says, "We blend imagery from speed of processing. Thanks different sensors and different to 3D gaming, graphic process- sources to create complex value ing technology is catching up well. added products. We call this multi-source "We are gaining between 400x - 800x speeds imagery fusion. In December 2010, we bought a company by using graphic cards. The idea is one can either pre- which is now called GeoEye Analytics. With this acquisi- process the data or process it on the fly. With the new tion, we equipped ourselves with predictive geospatial technology, one can do both," informs Kumar. analytics capabilities. Users want on-demand delivery of Another important model evolving is delivering data geospatial information, when they need it, where they without the need for users to invest in expensive IT infra- need it and we have been doing this with our EyeQ plat- structure. Cloud computing is proving to be a wonderful form." and cost-effective solution and companies are working on With increasing number of sensors in space, there is technologies for hosting and disseminating data to the a glut of EO data. With this, the onus is now shifting on to end user very quickly using the cloud. However, Matt the commercial industry to educate the user on the utility points out that for the government user, the added confi- of the data while simultaneously ensuring to keep the dentiality and security of direct uplink and downlink is costs of storage low. Dr Kumar Navulur, Director-Next often very important. "While cloud offers so many advan- Gen Products, DigitalGlobe says, "We launched tages in terms of speed, economy and agility, one chal- 8-band imagery. To make the user find value in using this lenge of increasing importance in Web delivery is security imagery, we are developing products for bathymetry, and we are working together to figure out secure ways for effective data distribution through cloud," he adds. Earlier, it used to be weeks before a user could see GeoEye blends imagery from different the data from the time a satellite collected it. But now, sensors and different sources to create satellite operators like DigitalGlobe are targeting to deliv- complex value added products. We call this multi-source imagery fusion er data within minutes after collection. "We developed - Matt O’Connell applications that can bring imagery on to an iphone or an CEO, President and Director, GeoEye ipad so that mobile users can get data within minutes or an hour after collection," apprises Kumar.

22 Geospatial World I January 2012 DATA CONTINUITY EO data is a valuable resource for global change research and applications like agriculture, forestry, regional planning and environmental monitoring. Several UN and World Bank funded projects seek the continuous provi- sion of EO data for long-term projects. The US' Landsat has the longest record of continuously monitoring the changes in earth's surface at medium resolution for close to 40 years now. The Landsat Data Continuity Mis- sion (LDCM) will provide continuity to Landsat dataset with moderate resolution (15m-100m) data and is scheduled to be operational in 2013. The European GMES (Global Monitoring for Environ- ment and Security) is another ambitious initiative scheduled to be operational from 2014 promising information Figure 1: Value chain in satellite based commercial EO continuity. However, all such long-term initiatives in EO (estimates in billions of USD for 2010). Courtesy: Euroconsult space are government driven. Commercial players are unable to make such long term plans feels Geoff Sawyer. data continuity, Matt says, "There ought to be a shared "The lack of confidence in long term availability of data is mission where USA, Europe, India and any other nation one of the barriers to growth in the sector," he opines. build a satellite each and that mission should circle the But differing with this argument Kumar underscores that globe. Each satellite might last for 6-7 years and then it commercial EO industry is in the business for long term, goes from Americas over to Europe, Middle East, Africa "We are a commercial business. We can't just say that we and Asia and then America would come around again. In would be around for 4-5 years. You are buying an elec- the backdrop of difficult financial situation, collaboration tronic product and if you don't know whether the compa- is the way forward." ny would be around for the next five years, why would you The last decade of 20th century has seen a number of buy it?" satellite failures. However, in the last 8-10 years, EO The commercial EO industry vouches that it is invest- satellite technology has proven itself beyond doubt by ing billions of dollars so that customers have assured removing all technological hitches and the launch data over the long term. GeoEye2 is on track for launch in success since 1999/2000 is as high as 99 percent. With March 2013 and Matt informs that once it is operational, advanced technology, mature market and improved deliv- the company will start working on GeoEye3. DigitalGlobe ery, companies are lining up next-generation satellites. too has its plans afoot. WorldView 3 is planned for 2014 and the company is already thinking about WorldView4 GOVERNMENT VS PRIVATE USE while also opening up to options other than electro-opti- In the 10th year of commercialisation, there are less than cal sensors. "WorldView 3 will serve for about 10 years 10 companies primarily marketing high resolution EO and so we are ensured of continuity till about 2024 data directly to end-users and/or through data resellers already," assures Kumar. or value-added services (VAS) providers. A dominant Bringing in the concept of 'shared mission' to ensure majority of data produced by commercial EO companies is consumed by defence agencies and there is a visible wedge between government and commercial applica- DigitalGlobe developed applications that tions. 2010 marked a peak in EO spending and number of can bring imagery on to an iphone or an launches with civil EO spending prominent for leading ipad so that mobile users can get data governments. within minutes or an hour after collection Euroconsult estimated the size of the commercial EO - Dr Kumar Navulur data market to be USD 1.3 billion in 2010 (Figurer 1) Director-Next Gen Products, DigitalGlobe which is expected to approach USD 4 billion by 2020. This

Geospatial World I January 2012 23 is the result of more capable satellites, better ground systems and networks (data interpretation, dissemination and fusion) and more users' education and incentive. Of this, Euroconsult attributes 65% of sales to defence customers. The expected number of satellite launches in the next decade also indicates the continuity in this trend (Figure 2 & Table 1) where the government and military satellites will dominate the commercial EO satellites. Discussing the European situation, Stephen Coulson,

Head of Industry Section, Science and Applications Figure 3: Government Vs commercial (including non-US government and Department, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) private) revenues in 2010. Courtesy: Euroconsult of European Space Agency (ESA) indicates that the trend is similar in European market as well. A study (2008) ing non-US government and private industry) customers commissioned by ESA on 'The State and Health of the climb to 38% and 22%, respectively (Figure 3), Adam European and Canadian EO Service Industry' points out informs. Supporting the argument, Kumar informs, that the largest customer group for EO services is public "DigitalGlobe is actively working with Google, Microsoft sector operational entities. According to the report, and other LBS partners. Government is a growth "strong constraints are still reported in accessing new segment but LBS has grown significantly and are customers and this is confirmed by lack of growth in pri- engaged with most of the players in the LBS." vate sector customers (during 2003-2008)." Differing with Adam also senses an opportunity for commercial this argument, Adam Keith, Director-Earth Observation, players in this trend of dominant government spending Euroconsult apprises that leading commercial EO opera- (for defence and civil government). "There is still high tors have had some success in diversifying client bases potential for sales to international governments to sup- over the years. For instance, both DigitalGlobe and Geo- port defence applications. Numerous governments have Eye saw their revenues pertaining to commercial (includ- image intelligence requirements but high resolution imaging capacity remains the domain of just a few countries. More short-term revenue gains are likely to come from sales to such governments," he opines.

REGULATORY REGIME Despite significant progress, commercial EO data is still not exploited to its fullest potential owing to policy-related challenges faced by commercial operators. Each satellite operator has its own national regulatory regime and is subject to commercial policies that are often not harmonised with other operators. Achieving common Figure 2: Spending (in million USD) at satellite launch date licensing and distribution terms that can apply to multiple providers has proven complex. The processes and No. of satellites 2001-2010 2011-2020 mechanisms required to order data from different satel- Commercial* 15 40 lites are not standardised, making it difficult for users to Government* 85 195 create and submit requests that meet their needs. Military 50 70 Paulo Bezerra, Managing Director, MDA Geospatial Total 150 305 Services Inc., recommends the establishment of a com- (*) including multiple satellite constellations. mon framework to address these challenges. Speaking at Table 1: Expected number of satellite launches in the next decade. the High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Courtesy: Euroconsult Management (GGIM) under the aegis of United Nations,

24 Geospatial World I January 2012

he suggests that the common framework should aim to Numerous govts have image intelligence requirements but high resolution imaging harmonise the national satellite remote sensing regula- capacity is the domain of a few countries. tory regimes; harmonise commercial data policies; stan- More short-term revenue gains are likely to dardise data ordering protocols; standardise product for- come from sales to such governments mats and product delivery protocols. - Adam Keith However to be successful, Paulo opines that the Director-EO, Euroconsult framework requires appropriate representation from governments, industry and large users to be successful and ers is working with local partners in all markets, who should be based on the experience accumulated in have the edge over them in local language, culture and efforts such as the Committee on Earth Observation have the local market intelligence. GeoEye is working Satellites (CEOS), Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and through local partners and has a strong set of partner- the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security ships in Europe, Asia and Middle East. Over the years, it (GMES) programme. has nurtured strong partnerships and leveraged on individual strengths. "For instance, we work with a group STRATEGIES FOR EMERGING MARKETS called East-Dawn in China, a distribution and production Commercial players are actively pursuing local markets, company. In Russia, we work with ScanEx, which has especially the emerging markets like Russia, China, ground stations and is also into production and distribu- India, Brazil, Africa, Middle East. In fact, BRIC is of pri- tion," briefs Matt. Another route companies are taking is mary interest to most of the commercial earth observa- by finding promising verticals and customers based on tion industry. A variety of strategies are being employed to development parameters and estimating the market size capture the market. One smarter way for the global play- before venturing into a particular country. "We will look

EO satellite manufacturers Scaling new heights with tech innovation

he requisite infrastructure for cost-effective solutions and innovative ture for those who wish to have the earth observation sector is built/ business models. They are expanding capacity but not necessarily own the Tlaunched by about 30 companies but with caution to stay robust. One of whole satellite/constellation. We are worldwide. This excludes the govern- the interesting activities in this direc- pleased to sign the first customer who ment funded and built satellites. tion in EO sector is the evolution of has leased 100% capacity of the first Major players in this segment include business models so far followed by three satellites on the constellation. EADS Astrium, Ball Aerospace, Thales geostationary communications satel- We look to add more satellites to the Alenia Space, Lockheed Martin Space lites, where most operators lease constellation of even sub-metre reso- Systems and Surrey Satellite Technol- their transponders on hourly, daily, lution in the due course." ogy Ltd (SSTL). Owing to technology monthly basis to suit the customers' Cary W Ludtke, Vice President and innovations in bus and instruments, needs. SSTL has proposed a constel- General Manager, Ball Aerospace satellite systems are getting increas- lation, initially of three EO satellites of says the company is exploring several ingly capable with reduced cost 1m resolution, and offered that as cost-effective solutions to meet the trends. National security, technology leased service to make best use of the demand and one of them is employing transfer and economic concerns are geographic distribution offered by the distributed architectures, especially increasingly prompting countries to orbiting satellite. Speaking at the 3rd with constellation of earth observation have their own satellite systems driv- Symposium on Earth Observation satellites. This involves a number of ing business for the manufacturers. Business, Sir Martin Sweeting, Chair- advantages including the substitution In the backdrop of slowing eco- man, SSTL, informs, "This arrange- of complex satellite systems with dis- nomic growth, companies are devising ment minimises the capital expendi- tributed (different) instruments of

26 Geospatial World I January 2012 for the market size to be attractive enough to go after and fying and working on the challenges and ably devising not try to change. For example, people have chased agri- ways by collaborating appropriately with global/domestic culture, but at least to me, it appears that there is hardly companies, technology partners and governments." JSI is any money in agriculture," argues Kumar. actively seeing public-private partnerships (PPP) as an The trend in relaxation in policy environment dealing effective mode for working towards success. with EO data in these countries is also contributing posi- On the basis of distribution and partner agreements tively to data uptake from commercial players. India has with global operators, Russian company ScanEx has been recently revised its policy governing remote sensing data distributing high and very-high resolution images and according to Kumar, "Policies like these will help acquired by IKONOS, GeyEye-1, QuickBird, WorldView- more commercial businesses to come to India. Previously 1/2, KOMPSAT-2, FORMOSAT-2, RADARSAT-2, ALOS and there were many restrictions, but now it is easy to do TerraSAR-X satellites. It entered into definitive distribu- business in India for data over 1 m resolution." tion agreements in 2011 with MDA for RADARSAT imagery and with GeoEye for IKONOS imagery. The scope Distributors' take of these new agreements underscore the international Regional distributors and resellers too are showing keen commercial market's increasing demand for high-resolu- interest in working with global companies. For instance, tion satellite imagery and services. Japanese Space Imaging Corporation (JSI) is pursuing PASCO became the first distribution partner of the 3C strategy - Change , Challenge and Collaboration. Infoterra GmbH for the TerraSAR-X radar data products Describing its strategy, Yoichi Kamiyama, CEO and Presi- in 2005. "PASCO has not only secured the exclusive distri- dent says, "Understanding the changes in the technology bution rights for the Japanese market as well as a sub- evolution, local market needs and policies, we are identi- stantial data contingent, but also the opportunity to

small satellite platforms mak- nies' operations. Says Ed ing use of data fusion and Irvin, Vice President Inter- increases time resolution and national of Lockheed Martin daily coverage depending on Space Systems, "We are the number of satellites working closely with our within a constellation. This global supply chain to also enables easy replace- maximise the affordability ment of a satellite within a and ensure mission suc- constellation or formation cess. To ensure business due to the relative low costs in the long run, we are of a single satellite. working with universities. As budgets pinch, it is Our customers are looking imperative for companies to for evolutionary role under look for affordability while these technology improvements. a constrained financial consolidating on performance. This is These trends are visible in optical environment. So, we are taking a dis- leading to innovation in technology. space borne systems as well as ciplined approach in leveraging part- Companies are investing in improve- microwave systems like SAR, redefin- nerships and concentrating on being ments in diverse fields of technology ing the economics of space and relevant through innovation and per- including optics, mechanics and increasing the tempo of space formance." Collaboration is another materials, electronics and data pro- exploitation. Manufacturers are also buzzword in the satellite manufactur- cessing, simultaneously bringing busi- eying low earth orbits as a cheaper ing industry. Experts opine that in the ness innovation. Companies like Astri- option to launch EO satellites. next 5-10 years the industry would um (Spot 6 and Spot 7) and Lockheed Europe's Vega and India's workhorse witness lot more international collab- Martin are taking pioneering strides in PSLV are excellent examples in this orations as a means to cut costs and this direction. The trend to move to category. At the component level, optimise data utilisation by standardi- smaller satellites is well supported by global supply chain is key to compa- sation of data obtained.

Geospatial World I January 2012 27 PASCO has secured the exclusive ing for value out of data and information analysis and the distribution rights for Japan and also the ecosystem the industry needs to create with partners is opportunity to receive TerraSAR-X data directly from the satellite since late 2006 one that can create value to the customers. as a Direct Access Partner Reposing faith in the dynamism of the sector, Geoff - Youichi Sugimoto Sawyer underscores that this dynamism is the strength of CEO & COO, PASCO Corporation the sector - encouraging and making it possible for new companies to find finance to develop their own business- receive TerraSAR-X data directly from the satellite since es, to find their own business models rather than pre- late 2006 as a Direct Access Partner (DAP). PASCO also scribing themselves to any one business model to move has nonexclusive data distribution rights globally case forward. There are large companies that are ready to wise," informs Youichi Sugimoto, CEO & COO of PASCO support, to work with, or to buy out, smaller companies, Corporation. Today, PASCO distributes imagery of 14 and to give an exit to a business plan. commercial EO satellites. IMPACT OF ECONOMIC SCENARIO MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Today, commercial satellite EO industry is primarily As countries are moving to knowledge-based economies, driven by government defence and intelligence agencies. a rapidly growing market for satellite imagery and related Most of these agencies have put in money to support the information analyses and value added products is emerg- birth of commercial satellite companies. For instance ing worldwide. However, there is a clear gap in exchange companies like Geoeye and Astrium were funded by gov- between space agencies, NMOs and commercial players. ernments. DigitalGlobe started as a true private company This evidently is putting a limitation on the usability of without any funding from the US government, but ended high resolution imagery and its reach and affordability. up looking at defence as its prime market. GeoEye and UN-GGIM is a recent initiative to bridge this DigitalGlobe are very much controlled by US DOD and gap. One might also want to ponder over the the same has been providing indirect leadership and limited success of commercial EO operators direction. The arrangement served very well for both to make satellite imagery a part of day- sides until the going was good. 2010 saw NGA to-day life despite brilliant 'virtual awarding contracts worth USD 7.3 billion to earth' initiatives by companies like GeoEye and DigitalGlobe under its Google and Microsoft. Enhanced View programme, promising With new and innovative imagery a great future to the commercial EO products, the onus is now shifting to industry. commercial operators to educate However, the unsettling economic the customers on the utility of their environment in 2011 brought in several imagery beyond traditional applica- changes in the outlook of the patron tions. Companies are nurtur- government organisations and consequently ing prospec- the commercial players. NGA tive verticals announced budget cuts to the proposed like LBS but Enhanced View programme raising beyond that, doubts and concerns over the sustain- efforts in creat- ability of the involved commercial players. ing awareness These issues relate primarily to the US oper- and developing the market are far ators; operators elsewhere are perhaps less influenced and few. This can be viewed as a challenge associated by one single customer, in this case the NGA. Touching with a fledgling industry. on this issue, Adam Keith says, "If theoretically the US Indicating the way forward, DigitalGlobe says that the government changed its policy to support the commercial ability of satellite operators to connect allows them to industry, and procurement from the NGA was significant- move the industry to the next phase. Customers are look- ly reduced, then yes this would clearly impact the US

28 Geospatial World I January 2012 Publisher’s view... operators and the sizing of the commercial data market as a whole. Act to be a viable market force However, the commercial sector existed before this support and it would still do so if it stopped. The here are several issues of EO data. Poor prospects for com- market for commercial data would concern with regard to satel- mercial market may lead to entry surely be reduced, but it should be Tlite-based commercial earth barriers and denial of competition and alternative solutions for users, recalled that the main global growth observation industry today. Some commercial EO data companies reducing further investments and drivers last year, and moving forward have traditionally been conservative innovation in the industry. are high-resolution commercial data and have always looked at defence Second situation could be sale to international governments and civil governments as the major wherein geospatial majors like and the emerging LBS market. markets to cater to. At the same Trimble, Hexagon and probably Esri Therefore long-term prospects would time, few enterprising EO compa- may like to invest in these compa- still remain positive." nies have made efforts to stimulate nies. This could augur well for the Cognizant of the implications of commercial applications, but their geospatial ecosystem as these companies are market driven, economic volatility, commercial EO efforts may at best be termed half- hearted. understand the value of imagery operators are devising ways to stay The slowing economic situation and can make significant contribu- buoyant. Matt O'Connell feels the and the consequent budget cuts tion to drive EO industry and lever- environment will augur more and have drastically reduced the prom- age on individual strengths to more sharing of imagery and sharing ised EO spending in defence sector. explore the commercial utility. The of revenue a la cellphone roaming This has put a question mark over satellite based commercial EO charges. The industry is seeing a the financial viability of commercial industry may like to explore several other alternatives like entering into period of economic uncertainty that EO companies which have banked strategic partnerships with major might slow it down for a year but on defence contracts for long. Their stock prices have plummeted, rob- companies catering to mainstream Matt feels it is but inevitable that the bing investors' confidence and economic industries including industry will continue to grow leaving the future of the industry in energy, exploration, insurance, because use of imagery makes every jeopardy. This doesn't make good real estate, architecture and decision maker more efficient. business sense nor in any way construction, telecommunications secures the business needs of pro- and navigation to develop into a CONCLUSION fessionals who rely on earth obser- robust, viable and market-driven industry. By design satellite remote sensing vation data. It also leaves the future of many existing long-term projects Having said this, it is appropri- has been more a national pride than in a limbo and reduces the confi- ate to acknowledge that the com- a business and commercial players dence of commercial users. mercial EO data has tremendous are unable to get out of the govern- Not being exposed to hostile prospect in the long run and its ment mindset yet. The sector contin- economic environment and market true value as a tool to manage ues to largely remain state controlled driven realities so far, commercial global resources remains to be and suffers from lack of commitment EO companies may find it challeng- harnessed. The commercial EO from governments to support it with ing to explore new avenues and industry could be appropriately positioned to contribute in manag- enabling policies. However, the opportunities. One way out could be that defence agencies that have ing the same more effectively and industry is quite optimistic over its significant control over these com- appropriately. The commercial EO prospects as it starts reaching out to panies can motivate security giants industry may be going through a new markets with latest imagery like Lockheed Martin to purchase challenging time at the moment, products, gets innovative in trying these companies and continue to but it has adequate stake holding financial times and starts educating provide them satellite imagery. But and potential in evolving into a and training the customers. such acquisitions may make the EO self-stimulating, market-driven companies captive who may stop business story. Bhanu Rekha Executive Editor, [email protected] nurturing the commercial utility of - Sanjay Kumar

Geospatial World I January 2012 29

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Keeping an eye on t h

32 Geospatial World I January 2012 he technology of earth observation has seen many changes over the past few years with four Tmajor trends emerging. The first is the government-funded missions for earth observation, using a variety of sensors on large satellites which address mapping as well as scientific studies. The news, however, is dominated by the second trend consisting of commercial imaging satellites with sub-metre spatial resolution for land applications. The third is a shift away from big multi-sensor satellites towards small single-function satellites. The fourth trend is to use small satellites in constellations and swarms. Fur- thermore, these trends tend to overlap with each other. RapidEye is a commercial constellation of small satellites while Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is government owned but operated by DMCii.

SATELLITE TRENDS Large earth observation satellites are being supported by government agencies. India has its IRS series and is perhaps the only country to have such a large commitment to continuing government-funded earth observation satellites and application programmes. Apart from its workhorses, INSAT, RESOURCESAT and CARTOSAT, the Indian programme also involves the piggyback launching of small satellites from different countries and more recently nanosatellites like SRMSat and Jugnu from educational institutions. Joint programmes include Megha-Tropiques and SARAL, in collaboration with With technology advancements CNES, France. The recently launched Pleiades 1A is the first of a in sensors, payload weights and new generation satellites operated by Astrium Services. data processing, earth observation Pleiades 1A will be followed between 2012 and 2014 by as a domain is transforming rapidly. SPOT 6, its twin Pleiades 1B and finally SPOT 7. Built around similar architecture and phased in the same And with its application expanding orbit, the constellation of four satellites will ensure bet- across the domains, the future ter responsiveness and availability of 50 cm to 2 m prod- looks replete with opportunities. ucts through to 2023. Pleiades is a component of the ORFEO programme in which Italy is a partner with its Here’s an exhaustive analysis COSMO-Skymed series of satellites. of the technology trends... The US Landsat programme has ended with Landsat 7. NASA has launched the new millennium programme

Image: GeoEye 2 Courtesy: Lockheed Martin for next generation spacecraft. The first was EO-1, which, among other mission goals, was flown in constellation mode with Landsat 7. EO-1 mission has ended and the NMP has no other satellites planned. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM is expected to be launched in late 2012 and will carry two sensors, the t he planet operational land imager, OLI and the thermal infrared sensor, TIRS. NASA is also concentrating on their follow-

Geospatial World I January 2012 33 R

kadaster

GEOSPATIAL WORLD www.geospatialworldforum.org well because it provides a revisit time which is of the other minutes that gives an entirely different perspective on a number of highly viable processes". Matthew O'Connell feels that multiple satellite launches is also a good cost- cutting idea and points out that RapidEye constellation was launched this way. While the large satellites will continue to be launched, there is a trend towards smaller single mission satellites. At the 8th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation held in April 2011 in Berlin, Germany, some of the key findings were summarised by Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman SSTL. In the next 5 to 10 years there will be more constellations of earth observation satellites like RapidEye. Satellites will get fractionated, i.e. each satellite will form a functional part of a total system. There may be separate satellites for different functions like imaging, processing, transmission, etc. These could be SanFrancisco as seen by Pleiades 1A Courtesy: http://smsc.cnes.fr through sparse aperture arrays, reconfigurable systems, in orbit assembly of large structures and free-flying on to the EOS missions, the earth systematic missions swarms. Such satellites create a greater opportunity for (ESM) programme which will continue to advance under- participation in space activities by smaller countries as standing of the climate system and climate change. The the examples of NigeriaSat and SumbandilaSat have ESM is a three-tiered programme. Apart from this, there shown. The disaster management constellation is an are joint missions with NOAA for weather and climate example of multi-nation cooperation. The challenges are studies. regular, timely and economical launches and a method of Europe has two major programmes, GMES and the removal of space debris that pose a serious risk to small Living Planet. The satellites are one off specific mission satellites. Matthew O'Connell, on the other hand, feels oriented satellites which form parts of the total pro- that small, single-sensor satellite constellations like gramme. The Living Planet contains science and research RapidEye may be a great idea for coverage and such satel- elements which include the earth explorer missions and lite/sensor combinations will grow but high resolution an earth watch element, which is designed to facilitate the precision sensors will always be needed by users. delivery of earth observation data for use in operational The satellites are also shrinking in size. Small satel- services. Global monitoring for environment and security, lites or minisatellites fall in the range of 100 to 500 kg in GMES includes five sentinel satellites, each unique in its weight. Satellites in the range of 10-100 kg are called mission. Meteosat third generation satellites, in collabo- microsatellites; one to 10 kg satellites are called ration with EUMETSAT, will provide continuity of the nanosatellites and 100 gm to one kg are called picosatel- Meteosat series of meteorological satellites. lites. While mini and micro satellites are now operational, José Achache, Director, Group on Earth Observations nano and pico satellites are research areas. Mini and (GEO) Secretariat points out that "host payloads are a fantastic opportunity. It may be very difficult to handle because space agencies do not like that. They want to Host payloads are a fantastic opportunity. build their own satellites and they want to go for cutting It may be difficult to handle as space edge technology and new developments. But this is an agencies do not like that. They want to build their own satellites and go for opportunity; it is going to be a new trend". Megha- cutting edge technology. But this is an Tropiques is in fact an Indian bus with hosted payloads opportunity; it is going to be a new trend from India and France. Another interesting view of José - Jose Achache, Director GEO Secretariat Achache is that "Imagery from GEO will be interesting as

36 Geospatial World I January 2012 micro satellites operate in constellations. They are con- feels that more bands may only be of academic interest. trolled from the ground. Nano and pico satellites will form Talking of radiometric resolution, Kumar Navulur says parts of satellite swarms which are autonomous in their that 11 to 12 bit resolution is essential and will increase to control and may communicate through a 'master' satellite about 16 bits but not beyond. Such resolution will compare which could be a mini or micro satellite. to aerial sensors but satellite sensors will never replace aerial sensors. SENSORS Another area is stereo coverage, which is achieved by There are a plethora of sensors but considering the imag- fore and aft looking cameras or by using very agile satel- ing sensors alone there are three major ones. The first are lites that can be repositioned to image areas at different the tried and tested CCD multispectral and panchromatic angles to create stereo pairs. Agile satellites can also imaging sensors. Operational sensors have already image small areas and also sweep large areas. Extreme reached 40 cm spatial resolution and this could be near oblique views, up to 40 to 50 degrees off nadir, are also the limit from space borne optical sensors, according to gaining ground in some applications. Martin Sweeting. Matthew O'Connell of GeoEye has the Hypespectral sensors form the second group of sen- same view. The next generation GeoEye-2 will have a res- sors. Some are already available on several satellites like olution of 0.33m. This could be stretched to 0.25m but EO1 and Aster and will be available on most of the future beyond this it would call for significant design change. imaging satellites. The third group of sensors are the syn- Kumar Navulur, Director, Next Gen Products, DigitalGlobe thetic aperture radar, SAR. All major government backed feels that design and orbit height, which has a significant programmes have the SAR as a major component. effect on satellite life, will decide the resolution limit. There are several synthetic aperture radar satellites in According to him, 0.25m is realisable with the current orbit and more on the way. Two of these are ISRO's RISAT- technology. He also sees the number of bands increasing 1 and ESA's Sentinel-1. RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite)-1 from four to 20 and beyond, which falls in the definition of is one of a series of Indian radar imaging reconnaissance hyperspectral sensors. The commercial WorldView 2 satellites being built by ISRO to provide all-weather sur- satellite of DigitalGlobe has an eight- band sensor. Sen- veillance using synthetic aperture radars. The synthetic tinel 2 has a MSI sensor with 13 bands. NASA's OLI and aperture radar onboard RISAT will have the ability to TIRS data on board LDCM will provide 15m panchromatic acquire data at C-band in different modes of polarisation, and ten-band multispectral data, five 30m resolution incidence angle and resolution. The Sentinel-1 mission in the optical range, three 30m resolution in has a C-band SAR instrument which provides three radar the near IR and two 100m resolution imaging modes with dual polarisation capability (HH-HV, in the thermal IR ranges. VV-VH). Matthew O'Connell, on the other Other Sensors hand, Weather, environmental and other scientific satellites have a wide range of sensors. They include thermal scanners, optical and microwave radiometers, scatterome- ters and altimeters. Typical satellites are Sen- tinel 4 and 5 from ESA and NPOESS from NASA. While at the outset these might look like scientific missions of

Courtesy: NOAA

NPOESS satellite

m I

Geospatial World I January 2012 37 Satellite constellations: Covering serious ground

Prior to 2009, no commercially available » Automated image processing for rap- station contact per 90-minute orbit. In daily satellite system was able to provide very id delivery and quick turnaround within contacts with the control centre in Bran- high temporal resolution with consistent 24 to 48 hours. denburg, Germany, the satellites exchange radiometry at a competitive price. To technical status information, which is regis- address this issue, the RapidEye optical The biggest challenge for any optical satel- tered and analysed automatically. Every 30 satellite system, which consisted of five lite system is the desired minimal cloud to 90 days, each satellite must be adjusted identical satellites, was developed and coverage over an area of interest at any back to its initial altitude by firing the launched. In the system's design phase, the given time and the best way to overcome onboard rocket engines. While the original agricultural industry was identified to have this principal problem is to increase revisit design for the constellation was seven the highest market potential for improved times, which in turn increase the opportuni- years, the onboard fuel tanks actually have earth observation (EO) imagery and related ty to capture favourable weather conditions. enough capacity to maintain the 630 km services. Consequently, the system was The system, with five identical satellites and altitude until 2017 or even longer. designed to meet the following parameters: a wide swath width of 77 km, has five times Imaging the earth with a fleet of five satellites requires additional effort in relation to sensor calibration. For the end user, the quality of an image from one satellite must be equal in quality to imagery from any of the other four. In order to maintain and guarantee identical imaging parameters, the system uses a number of calibration sites located in different parts of the world. These are imaged by all satellites regularly and the collected data is used for the calculation of calibration parameters. Such procedures ensure that the satellites are calibrated relatively to each other, while the spectral information itself is not distorted.

The RapidEye constellation of satellites In comparison to single satellites, there are some advantages for constellations of multiple identical satellites like better imaging » Inclusion of a special red-edge-band more opportunity than a single satellite of performance, resulting in fast coverage of for vegetation analysis in addition to 4 the same specification. The satellites can large areas, especially important for cloudy more radiometric bands for blue, also be pointed up to 20 degrees off-nadir. areas and the system redundancy. The sys- green, red and near-infrared. However, with more opportunities for nadir tem is designed to counter emergencies » A high radiometric resolution of 12 imaging, this lessens any terrain-induced and the programme can be fulfilled even if bit for improved classification results. geometric distortions in mountainous areas. a satellite ceases to function. » A native ground sampling distance of 6.5m, orthorectified to 5m pixel size for However, the operation of a constellation of Dr. Rene Griesbach, RapidEye Germany all five spectral bands. five identical satellites does not differ much from the operation of a single satellite, as Stefan Oeldenberger » A very large imaging capacity of up to these satellites too require just one ground German GeoConsultants Group, Tunisia & Libya 4.2 million sq km per day.

little use to practical resources management there are DATA PROCESSING also surprises. José Achache points to the outcomes of Earth observation has become an important source of the GRACE mission as an example. GRACE or gravity data but it requires processing like geo-referencing and recovery and climate experiment was intended to primari- ortho-rectification before they can be integrated into a GIS ly measure the earth's gravity field and its time variability database. Such pre-processing is largely done automati- with unprecedented accuracy, but it could also be used for cally today, the only exception being the generation of true looking at changing of the water table at small scale. ortho-imagery. GIS-ready ortho-imagery is available Researchers using GRACE data found that there is an which typically provides a ninety percent circle of error alarming depletion of groundwater in north-west India, (CE90%) of 4.8m. It does not come cheap and may cost largely comprising of Punjab and Haryana - a fact anywhere up to USD 90 per sq km. GIS-ready imagery is well known but not its extent, measure and potential for available from many sources like TerraLook, a joint project damage. of the USGS and the NASA jet propulsion laboratory (JPL).

38 Geospatial World I January 2012 COLLECT SHARE DELIVER

1/9/2011/9/201 There are many private companies that can Japan, can get the imagery through the produce customised datasets as per client Web and they have to be able to select only High resolution data is needs including integration with aerial data the imagery that they need. One thing that also high volume data. and other sources. GeoEye focussed on in the design of their Most data users are It would make sense to have critical aware of the hassles of service was letting people chip out just the features pre-extracted like transportation storing petabytes of data. image they needed. So if they want to see and drainage since it is only based on such Even though modern data the Fukushima nuclear plant, they need features that one can query a GIS. At the storage media have not have to download too much of data moment image classification, change extremely high capacities because then the imagery is very large and detection and feature recognition are pos- but the data deluge can it is hard to transmit. sible through image processing tools. The still overpower such DigitalGlobe solves the problem of technology is looking at issues like 2D and capacities data volume in three ways. First, scaling is 3D object extraction, including building used to reduce data volume by nearly 98 reconstruction and 3D city modelling. percent. Secondly, very fast processors Techniques being addressed are surface modelling and are used to do the pre-processing on the fly and thirdly, reconstruction, surveillance and change detection, learn- data is stored on the Cloud. This enables users to get data ing and statistical methods for object extraction, automat- within hours of acquisition on any device. There is also a ed sensor orientation and data fusion including informa- move to extract layers like bathymetry, land cover, change tion from GIS, BIM or CAD. detection and providing the same as GIS-ready imagery. While these are great initiatives, it needs to be pointed SERVICES out that satellite data as a service for real-time data or High resolution data is also high volume data. Most data near-real time data is yet to be established. Real-time or users are aware of the hassles of storing petabytes of near real-time high or medium data, which is needed to data. Even though modern data storage media have address disasters, requires the setting up of an opera- extremely high capacities but the data deluge can still tional system. The DMC constellation is one approach to overpower such capacities. Further, data once used address this need. Ultimately, a system which directly becomes a dead investment. Data as a service is a model downloads imagery to the end user will be required. This that is being explored to overcome such a situation. While exists for meteorologist and oceanographers but is not yet Google showed the way initially, there are a number of developed for land based applications. such data providers like Bing and also very comprehensive sources which enable multiple dataset collection and CONCLUSION analysis like Eye on Earth by European Environment The world of earth observation is dynamic and fast chang- AGency (EEA) and World Wind by NASA. India has its Bhu- ing. Technology requires funds and end users. The utility van, which is touted as India's reply to Google. China too of space- based earth observation has been proved has its own Google type service. beyond doubt but without proper downstream use of the Matthew O'Connell wants to make it easy for non- information, the technology will remain underutilised. technical people to access imagery, to manage imagery Private players have cutting edge technologies at their and share imagery and for this GeoEye has developed a command which they have used to address niche markets platform called EyeQ. That then ties into another aspect of but have had problems in this market. The benefits of Web distribution which is the Cloud. In fact, GeoEye is earth observation often cannot always be valued in mone- using the Cloud for an NGA initiated programme called the tary terms. Take for example the study on groundwater rapid dissemination of online geospatial information. depletion quoted earlier using data from a government Every major military effort and every major disaster relief sponsored satellite. It will be impossible to monetise this is a coalition effort and imagery has to be shared rapidly. information but it will be foolhardy to ignore it because it That requires two things, the imagery has to be unclassi- cannot be monetised. fied and there must be effective and efficient Web distribu- Prof. Arup Dasgupta tion so that disaster relief, whether it is in Haiti or in Managing Editor, [email protected]

40 Geospatial World I January 2012

INTERVIEW ExtractingExtracting informationinformation fromfrom imageryimagery isis thethe futurefuture

What are the offerings of GeoEye at what US does in this regard will be dictive geospatial analytics has a lot present and what else is in the guided by what is going on in the for- of utility as it can help predict a pipeline? eign market. For instance, if other future scenario by looking at certain We have GeoEye 1 that was nations are pushing for higher reso- characteristics of a present situation. launched in 2008 and GeoEye 2, lutions then the US will also do that. Thus, it can help various agencies which is on track for launch in March allocate their scarce resources in an 2013. We are spending over a billion Tell us about the changing user efficient way. The ability to extract dollars between GeoEye 1 and 2 so needs and GeoEye's strategy to more information from the pixel will that our customers can see an cater to those needs? always be useful to your clients. The assured source of data over the long We have said for years that the director of NGA said that she wanted term. GeoEye 2 will start selling industry has to evolve beyond simply on demand delivery of geospatial imagery in the fall of 2013 and once it gathering pixels. Our biggest invest- information to people and we have is up and operating, we will start ments are gathering more pixels and been doing this with our EyeQ plat- working on GeoEye 3. GeoEye 1 cap- having higher resolution and higher form. She also said that we need to tures imagery at 0.41 metre resolu- accuracy. GeoEye has been doing val- get information out of the pixel, and tion, which is delivered to the US gov- ue added production for the US gov- that is exactly what we are doing with ernment. Imagery for the public is ernment in St. Louis since 1987 and the analytics effort. The industry is available at 0.5 metres because in is one of the few satellite operators going to evolve this way and there the US, we cannot sell imagery that who blend imagery from different will be many more sensors soon. has resolution higher than 0.5 sensors and different sources to cre- While that may increase the competi- metres to anyone other than the gov- ate complex, value added products. tion, it will also increase the supply of ernment. While the policy might be The ability to create imagery from imagery and thus help produce more changed going forward, it may not various sources will gain importance value added products. necessarily be a near as you get additional term change. It is a We are spending satellites as it is more Is the change in user needs bringing a change in the distribution and relevant point of dis- over a billion important to focus on cussion because the what the imagery tells delivery of imagery? dollars between next satellite we are you than simply look- The first thing that comes to our building for the US GeoEye 1 and 2 so ing at the picture for mind when we see the increased government, the Geo- that our customers what you see. We call amount of satellite data is how to Eye 2, will have the can see an assured that multi-source pro- make it easily accessible for all. A ability to capture source of data over duction or imagery major revolution in the music indus- imagery at 0.33 the long term fusion. In December try is the iPod and one of the reasons meters. 2010, we bought a it became a revolution is its ease of However, the issue company called use. Likewise, we want to make it is whether we would be able to sell SPADAC, which was a leader in pre- easier for non-technical people to imagery to others or at what point dictive geospatial analytics, and access, manage and share imagery will the US revisits the limits. I think renamed it to GeoEye Analytics. Pre- and that is what we have been doing

42 Geospatial World I January 2012 with our EyeQ platform. That then we will have to work together to fig- policy change. In Russia, we work ties into another aspect of web distri- ure out security for effective data dis- with ScanEx, which has ground sta- bution, which is the cloud. We often tribution through the cloud. tions, production and distribution use business applications where facilities. Russian market has been companies do not store information GeoEye has been working with expanding and so is ScanEx. If you themselves but there is another com- regional partners for distributing pany that hosts and manages that imagery. What is new on this front? information. We are doing that for the We have always thought that US government under a very suc- it is smarter to work cessful programme called the Rapid through local partners in Dissemination of Online Geospatial all markets. We have Information. Every major military strong partners in activity and every major disaster Europe, Asia and relief is a coalition effort where Middle East. We imagery needs to be shared rapidly. do not try to go In order to do that, the imagery has into the market to be unclassified and one should and compete with have effective and efficient web dis- them because tribution so that disaster relief, they speak the whether it is in Haiti or in Japan, can local language, get the imagery through the web. know the local Another thing that we focussed on culture and have while designing this service was giv- market intelli- ing people the ability to chip out just gence. We are fol- the image that they needed. For lowing the same example, if they want to see the route in emerging Fukushima nuclear plant, we have markets and have to make sure that they are not developed GeoEye's seeing too much of Japan because market over the past imagery is very dense and it is hard few years in China. In to transmit. China, we work with a One of the challenges in web group called East-Dawn, delivery, whether it is for a govern- which is a distribution and ment or commercial entity, is to production company. We ensure adequate security. People, for see signs in India that it is commercial or governmental rea- beginning to sons, do not want other people to think about know what tasking they are request- brin- ing or what pictures they want taken. ing They do not want others to see the imagery that comes down. Working through the cloud has a lot of advantages in terms of speed, economy and agility. However, the one dis- advantage that it brings is that one really needs to work on Matt O'Connell the security aspect. Thus, CEO, President and Director, GeoEye

Geospatial World I January 2012 43 look at the global as they would about economic situation, information that could the most promising be used for defence or areas for growth are intelligence purposes. the developing countries because the Given that every- more developed body is watching countries in Europe their budgets, what and America are are the kinds of business models challenged by the that are evolving in financial situation. satellite-based com- We do a lot of pro- mercial EO industry? duction in India. One of our most success- People have tradi- ful products, the air- tionally depended on port 3D model, is governments for what being increasingly we call anchor ten- produced in India. ants, where the gov- e y

Now, we do less and E ernment puts in a big o e G

less of that work in : order that helps y s e

Denver, Colorado. t somebody build a big r u

While the Indian mar- o satellite and then they C ket is opening up, the sell the excess time. I GeoEye image showing extensive flooding in Wat Tum village, Thailand Latin American mar- think there will be ket too shows a lot of more and more sharing promise. It is a big market and it is but it is awfully hard because each of imagery and sharing of revenue. somewhat fragmented, but I think nation has its own budget. The analogy I have often used is cell that should develop with time. In each phone roaming charges where a case, we prefer working through a Do you think such groups should be number of companies are involved in local reseller because the reseller formed that the regional level gets sharing the revenue. I think that pric- knows the culture, knows the buyer involved? ing will become more complicated and thus it is not worth us investing in I do not know what the most effec- but it will also become more reward- setting up an office there. tive route would be, especially given ing because if we expand the market the fact that everybody is watching and make our imagery available to We have groups like GEOSS, who their budgets carefully these days. I the users at large then the market are trying to act as linkages between think it has to be more on a global will continue to grow. We are seeing a users and providers. What should than regional level. Every nation has period of economic uncertainty that be the role of such organisations? to step back and think about what it might slow us down for a year but it is We should try to design an effec- can afford and what does it really inevitable that this industry will con- tive financial model so that there need. We will have to plan for the long tinue to grow, because it makes every would be sharing of the benefits of term and not just do it for one mis- decision maker more efficient. Every job creation, sharing of information sion. For example, we can set a target decision maker using geospatial and at the same time sharing of the for land coverage imagery for the information can make more informed economic burden because these next 20 years and so on. These two decisions. For the next year or two it things are expensive. I know that types of information are of such gen- maybe a little cloudy but then the GEOSS and other groups have worked eral application that nations would clouds will clear and the growth will at trying to get people to cooperate not feel such proprietary about them continue.

44 Geospatial World I January 2012 Enabling Lifetime Customer Relationships “AT PITNEY BOWES SOFTWARE, WE HELP OUR CUSTOMERS TO OBTAIN THE MAXIMUM COST SAVINGS, REVENUE AND EFFICIENCY FROM ALL OF THE LOCATION INFORMATION IN THEIR DATA. THIS REQUIRES GOING BEYOND THE CAPABILITIES OF SPECIALIST GIS SYSTEMS TO PROVIDING MAPS AND SPATIAL CAPABILITIES TO ALL DEPARTMENTS AND EMPLOYEES IN A MANNER THAT IS EASY TO USE AND EMBEDDED WITHIN THEIR SYSTEMS AND WORKFLOWS. WHEN AN ENTIRE ENTERPRISE IS BENEFITING FROM THESE CAPABILITIES WE CALL THIS LOCATION INTELLIGENCE.”

Our Capabilities Our offerings

Local Government MapInfo® Professional Pitney Bowes Software solutions for Local Government MapInfo Professional is a powerful Microsoft help integrate and share information between Windows-based mapping application that allows departments and ensure that services for residents are business analysts and GIS professionals to easily efficient, effective, convenient and secure. visualise the relationships between data and geography.

MapInfo Crime Profiler Natural Resources MapInfo Crime Profiler enables you to quickly analyse PBS provides solutions and services for the discovery, crime data and improve your efficiency. Key capabilities evaluation, development and management of natural such as hotspot analysis, interactive analytical resources. The PBS Natural Resources team has the investigation and temporal analysis are key features of industry experience and products to cover exploration, this solution. site investigations, resource development and information management. Encom™ Discover™ 3D With Encom Discover 3D you can rapidly visualise, Geocoding for Location Intelligence model and analyse your drillhole and related datasets in Geocoding puts location data in context, join maps and true 3D. customer data with Pitney Bowes Software streamlined MapInfo® Professional geocoding solutions to improve customer services. MapInfo Crime Profiler Network Planning Plan and optimise network coverage to increase revenue using Pitney Bowes Software network planning solutions.

Contact Encom™ Discover™ 3D [email protected] +91 0120 4026000 Every connection is a new opportunity www.pb.com/software APPLICATIONS Here,Here, there,there, everyevery ww ation ation v v

n n

o o i i t t

a a r r

o o

p p r r

o o

C C

e e t t i i l l e e l l b b e e t t o o l l a a

e e G G S m m S l l y y u u a a i h i E E h t t r r t t i i o o t t r r g h Obser g

h Obser e i s s e a a i

A A G G E E D D

: : : : : : : : t

t y y y y y y y y

s s s s s s s s

e e e e e e e e t t t t t t t t r r r r r r r r

u u u u u u u u

o o o o o o o o

C C C C C C C C Ear Ear

s spin-off of the surveillance technology used by over in numerous debate circles. So what do the technol- defence establishments around the world, ogy providers have to say? Kumar Navulur, Director, Next Asatellite-based earth observation (EO) has come Gen Products, DigitalGlobe says, "For the last 30 years, it a long way. Among the very first 'civilian' efforts man- was technology feeding the application but the trend is dated exclusively for EO was LandSat 1, formerly the reversing. Technology is still leading by a fraction but now Earth Resources Technology Satellite 1 (ERTS 1). Since we are seeing a lot more applications asking for specific the early 1970s, data from this satellite and its spectral bands." younger and better siblings is regarded as having The availability of EO data in hard copy as well as digi- served the longest span of consistently acquired visual tal formats has (according to some) resulted in a plethora records of our planetary surface. Efforts of a similar of applications. Given the easy and free availability of kind have also been successfully carried out by the IRS temporal data, a whole lot of activities like analysing the (Indian remote sensing satellites) series, albeit since process of change detection and monitoring of earth's the late 1980. surface have become 'doable' by anyone with a laptop. The question of whether technology is driving the The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and its Global applications or is it the other way round, has been mulled Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) pro-

46 Geospatial World I January 2012 global level, there is a very good understanding of EO technology and yy wherewhere also good policy frameworks. Coun- tries too are committed. What is needed is that the information derived from the analysis of EO systems reaches the actual workers on the ground." Today, EO data is sup- plemented by direct linkages to live data including global earthquake monitoring, ocean wave height monitoring, volcanic eruption, precipita- tion and snow and wind speed monitoring - leading to effective early warning systems.

Energy The exploration of oil and gas, their extraction and production; electricity generation, transport and distribution, form only a part of the activities of the energy sector. The sector encompasses not only non-renewable resources, but also renewable

A resources such as solar, wind, bio- A

S S

A A

N N GeoEye GeoEye mass, and hydropower. The energy

: : : :

y y y y

s s s s

e e e e industry is heavily dependent on EO t t t t r r r r

u u u u o o o o data. For example, weather data can C C C C form useful estimates for electricity supply and demand. EO data is important in the exploration, extraction and transport of the world's oil gramme, with their mandate on EO, have caused a para- and gas reserves, several of which are located in remote digm change in the way a common man understands and and hostile territories. The data can also be used to build appreciates the benefits of EO. This article examines global resource maps for planning renewable energy some of the key applications of EO data. projects. Renewable energy systems have benefitted from EO CONVENTIONAL APPLICATIONS data in not only their optimisation, but also in their integration with traditional energy supply systems. While Disaster management and mitigation renewable energy sources are environmentally a safer As natural disasters know no bounds, the need for global option than fossil fuels, they are highly susceptible to coordination of information systems to address the entire environmental changes, with their availability depending cycle of disaster management and mitigation (DMM) is largely on the prevailing local weather conditions. Data necessary. EO data, conventionally supplying the post dis- on cloud cover and solar irradiance, along with wind aster visuals, have been used very effectively in disaster speeds and directions, combined with environmental assessment. Anil Kumar Sinha, Vice Chairman, Bihar parameters such as land elevation and land cover, are State Disaster Management Authority, India, says, "At a vital elements in planning for the location and operation

Geospatial World I January 2012 47 of renewable energy installations. tices which depend on terrain conditions, apart from the climatic Climate zones. While the traditional means For example, the Asian of data collection on land Water Cycle Initiative may give an indication of (AWCI), apart from utilis- climate change at a ing meteorological local scale, it is only datasets, also utilises the amalgamation of EO data for watershed such data from a characterisation and large number of prioritisation. areas over a large Crispino Lobo, Execu- time span, or the tive Director, Water- use of EO data on a shed Organisation global scale, that can Trust (WOTR), India truly give an indication says, "Today, it is a of how the world's cli- common practice to mate is responding to incorporate EO data in a human expansion. For GIS and the utility will fur- example, EO data makes it ther improve if sub-metre spa- possible to track global vegeta- tial resolution is made available. tion trends over several years, This is because water resource man- examining its response to changing cli- agement is a people and community-cen- mate and also the impact that the increasing or tric activity where EO data becomes just one data decreasing vegetation cover has on climate. input. But it needs effective integration with GPS along Newer applications of EO data include studying sea- with inputs from the local community. Any application surface temperatures in an attempt to correlate rising developed for water management also needs to have a global temperatures and hurricane occurrences. The 'people’ component." European Space Agency (ESA), through its satellite Envisat, is obtaining high accuracy data on sea surface Weather temperatures, helping in prediction of not only the occur- The national meteorological departments around the rence of a hurricane, but also its magnitude and intensity. world function more or less as standalone units, issuing Another important EO application is the tracking of forest short, medium and long term weather forecasts. The util- fires, either natural, or man made through slash and isation of EO data from meteorological satellites is proba- burn agriculture or negligence. Of immediate interest in bly the earliest usage of such form of data. Today, EO viewing the effects of global climate change is the meas- data is being utilised to "close critical gaps in meteoro- urement of the rate of loss of ice sheets. ESA's CryoSat logical and related ocean observations and enhance mission is providing researchers with precise data on ice observational and information capabilities for the protec- sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. tion of life and property, especially with regard to high- impact events and more so in the developing world," Water states the mandate of GEO. That the world's fresh water reserves are slowly but surely depleting, has been proven by ground observations Ecosystem as well as EO data for gravity measurements. At regional Application of EO to ecosystem monitoring is invaluable, and local levels, watershed and rainwater conservation since through conventional means it is often impossible practices have been drawing heavily on observations from to monitor ecosystems on the large scales they demand. EO satellites for fine tuning the water conservation prac- For example, EO data allows for easy monitoring of the

48 Geospatial World I January 2012

harsh environs of the Arctic and the forest resource records and their Continued economic vast expanse of the Amazon rain- status over large areas and time growth and development forests. spans allow an understanding of are placing increasing Human impact, not only in the parameters such as total area, rate stress on biodiversity the form of habitat destruction, but also of loss of forested land, and indirect- world over. EO data is a in the form of invasive species intro- ly, estimation of the magnitude of powerful tool for duction and over-harvesting, is the available forest resources. EO satel- conservationists to most common threat to several lites provide a convenient and eco- monitor wildlife in areas ecosystems. Conservation goals are nomic means of procuring such that are remote or often faced with the lack of quantita- information, even over areas that difficult to access, or tive data. One of the most important are remote and inaccessible. simply too large for land- applications of EO data in this regard In 2009, Japan Aerospace Explo- based reconnaissance is ecosystem classification. EO data, ration Agency (JAXA)’s satellite which can give immense knowledge Daichi imaged, in entirety, the of an area's vegetation, together world's forests at a resolution of 10 with ecological data, can help differentiate between dif- m, the first ever global forest imaging project at such a ferent ecosystems housing different species. resolution. The aim of this project was to estimate the Since the 1970s, infrared EO studies have been con- ability of the forest cover to absorb and store carbon diox- ducted on Arctic ice sheets to track the loss in ice sheet ide, which has important implications towards global volume. In 2007, data indicated that the volume of the warming. On the other side of the globe, the Government Arctic ice sheets had fallen to less than half the average of Brazil has, in partnership with the National Institute of volume determined since the inception of the study. This Space Studies, monitored deforestation rates in the Ama- is not an encouraging piece of information on the only zon with the help of the CBERS satellites. They have esti- ecosystem that houses species such as the polar bear. mated that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has dropped to its lowest level in over two decades. Forests and agriculture The immediate need for EO data in agriculture is Forests, with their immense importance to mankind, apparent when one considers the rapid increase in global their susceptibility to climatic fluctuations and their con- population and the consequent rise in demand for agri- stant threat from the ever-increasing demand for land, cultural produce. Proper management and development are in need of continual monitoring. The maintenance of of the world's agricultural resources require extensive information on agricultural set-ups, with respect to their types, location, kind of produce, quantity of produce and challenges faced. Applications of EO data in this field include crop assessment, crop-type classification, crop health assessment, agricultural landscape mapping, crop yield estimation and soil analysis.

Biodiversity Continued economic growth and development are placing increasing stress on biodiversity the world over. EO data is a powerful tool for conservationists to monitor wildlife in areas that are remote or difficult to access, or simply too large for land-based reconnaissance. One of the most recent and perhaps one of the most GeoEye GeoEye

: :

y y s s illustrative examples of the application of EO data in e e t t r r

u u o o wildlife conservation is the discovery of rainforests on

C C Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique. Later exploration

50 Geospatial World I January 2012

Essential EO variables Ramesh Dhiman, Deputy Director, National Institute of Malaria Research, Indian Council of Medical Research observes that 'the application of EO for ecological risk mapping at national and international level, along with development of early warning tools using climate and EO data which is integrated with pollution data, is necessary for effective usage of EO data in the health sector."

Cadastral mapping It is verifiably documented that land and property disputes cause more cases of homicide and violence annually in a populated country like India than the deaths due to war, strife and terrorism. To manage this, efforts have been initiated for cadastral mapping of the entire country. The backdrop of this exercise is EO data from high resolution satellites like Cartosat and WorldView. Courtesy : GEOSS Workshop XXXI- Using Earth Observation for Health Kumar Navulur of DigitalGlobe says, "With QuickBird, the positional accuracy was 17 m off. That means one could of the virgin rainforests uncovered no fewer than three make maps of 1:50,000 scale. WorldView 1 and 2 are just new species of butterflies, a previously undiscovered 3 m off, meaning one can make maps of 1:5000 or 1:8000 species of snake, seven threatened bird species and a scale and we believe that that will come down to 1 m." rare orchid. According to Kew, UK-based Royal Botanic He adds that EO data has the potential to be a significant Gardens (RBG) botanist and expedition leader Jonathan source of base layer for mapping, which will allow for Timberlake, "Even today we cannot say we know all of the things like infrastructure development. world's key areas for biodiversity - there are still new ones to discover." EO and location-based services The impact of convergence between GPS and EO is best EMERGING APPLICATIONS showcased by commercial vehicular navigation devices and the supporting vertical sectors of location-based Health services (LBS) that are proliferating from the marriage of The relationship between weather change and start of an these two technologies. Hervé Clauss, Direc- epidemic is ancient wisdom based on centuries of obser- tor, Database Operations, TomTom vation. EO's ability to forecast weather has been used to informs that the company attempt the possibility of predicting disease outbreak. uses imagery as a ref- The attempts at applying EO to improve health-related erence for map decision making need systems to model, collect and dis- creation/nor- tribute coordinated epidemiological and environmental malisa- information. These have to be tagged with land use/land tion, cover, population density, sanitation systems, water supply network and ancillary data that decide the vector, for predicting, monitoring and constructing risk maps and targeting interventions. Prof. Andy Morse, School of Envi- ronmental Science University of Liverpool, UK feels that the lack of ground truth in environmental observations, apart from the availability of meteorological, vegetation, soil, pollution and food availability data, is the cause of slow progress in applications of EO in the health sector.

52 which is the 'traditional' usage of combinations of EO data with in-situ such data for geometry, lanes, 3D The days of very high and modeled data to assist in fore- and 2D city models, address verifi- resolution imageries in cast of key parameters - winds, cation, point of interest (POI) verifi- real colour are passé, waves, currents, water levels and cation, new highway construction but the information, sea ice, is being developed." while it also uses 'fresh' imagery in intelligence and High resolution stereo imagery, 'reality check for change detection.' knowledge extracted from radar, data and them and made available products like digital elevation mod- in multitude of themetic els (DEMs) are being adopted as layers, along with value EO is playing a decisive role in baseline data by insurance compa- additions and guaranteed resources development and man- nies for calculation of vulnerability information updates, is agement, which is today strongly ratings. Procedures and algorithms the present and future. guided by ideologies of sustainabili- for extracting bathymetry in near ty. Mineral exploration, including oil shore environments have been suc- and gas, offers the prospect of cessfully demonstrated. The days of 'missed opportunity - revisited' due to quantum jumps in standalone imagery use are over. The proof lies in the the technology. V. Subramanyan, Professor in Earth Sci- increasing demand and supply of thematic layers being ences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, developed over popular virtual earths. Today, even the lay speaking in the context said, “EO in the context of mineral user of these applications demands exploration offers a chance to rapidly, and if necessary, value addition. repeatedly survey large areas, in seeking the characteris- tic surface expressions or 'gossans' from more deeply THE WRITING ON THE WALL hidden ore deposits. Apart from the discovery of new Answering 'where is it' is getting easier by the day as mineral deposits, EO data is also being effectively used in ground resolution improves. Answering 'what is it' every mapping and registering property, infrastructure moni- time is not possible. Automated change detection is still a toring, emergency monitoring and accident implications technology which, if and when implemented successfully, assessment along with environmental monitoring at min- will cause a boom and revival of applications which have ing and exploitation sites, says N. Sevastiyanov, General been shelved for the lack of reliable and repetitive tech- Designer, Gazprom Space Systems. Colin Grant, GSSC niques. The raw product from the EO satellites and sen- Core Member, Metocean Technical Authority, BP Explo- sors was, is and will continue to be the base data for all ration says, "As the oil and gas industry is mov- earth surface, atmosphere, and, to some extent, sub-sur- ing to deeper waters and arctic face, monitoring, investigation and analysis. areas, sea ice and iceberg Mathieu Benoit, Director, Earth Observation Group, monitoring and fore- VIASAT GeoTechnologies Inc. concludes, "The future casting, oil spill belongs to high resolution (<50 cm) and cost is not much monitoring of an issue. Stereo capacity and access on demand along, and sur- with the capacity to produce information regardless of veillance sensor type, will be the deciding factors." The days of very along high resolution imageries in real colour are passé, but with the information, intelligence and knowledge extracted from them and made available in multitude of themetic layers, along with value additions and guaranteed information updates, is the present and future. The ubiquity of EO is unfortunately not as easy to depict or state as that of geospatial technology. Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary), [email protected]

53 Year 2011 witnessed how geospatial technology evolved and innovated itself as per expanding market demand. In early 2011, it helped experts measure and minimise the devastating impact of an 8.9 magnitude quake, followed by the 'double tsunami' in Japan. Later on, scientists explored the latent potential of LiDAR, which could make possible driverless cars. The business domain saw increased competition with the entry of Glonass and Beidou while on the policy front India went liberal and embraced a new remote sensing data policy. Here is a quick recap of the news and news makers of the year that was.

Technology Spain's dual EO system on the anvil

GLONASS, Beidou fully operational

In December 2011, China and Russia announced that their global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) Beidou and GLONASS, respectively, were fully operational. While Paz sat in Astrium’s lab sat in Astrium’s Paz there are ten navigation satellites in Beidou's network at present, the GLONASS system is a constellation of 24 satellites. Six more satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2012 to extend the reach of Bediou to most parts of Asia. In total, Beidou will be a constellation of 35 navigation satellites, offering global coverage by 2020. Spain is set to become the first European country to have Following the launch of GLONASS, Russia announced a a dual earth observation (EO) system, radar and optical, new deal with for both civilian and military use. Spanish Defence Minis- India under which ter Carme Chacon informed that radar technology Indian defence installed on the Paz satellite will enable up to 100 images will use of the earth's surface to be taken per day at a resolution GLONASS service of up to 1 yard. In three years' time, this capacity will be to receive preci- joined by that of the Ingenio satellite and its optical tech- sion signals that nology. It is the first time that the Spanish space industry will allow mis- has undertaken the challenge to build a satellite of this siles, including size and complexity to be assembled and manufactured those fired from entirely in Spain. Chacon added that the Paz satellite, nuclear subma- which will be in orbit in 2013, will be able to detect the rine Chakra, to strike within half a metre of distant tar- position of any ship in the world that could possibly gets. As per another clause in the deal, India will help become the victim of hijacking, through an automatic AIS Russia produce GLONASS equipment. identification system.

54 Geospatial World I January 2012 Satellites unravel Japan tsunami mystery The tsunami that devastated the north-east coast of Japan on March 11 was Driverless car created by at least two wave fronts that merged to form a far more destruc- powered by LiDAR tive 'double tsunami', according to NASA and researchers at Ohio State Uni- versity. Using GPS measurements, scientists determined that the 8.9 magni- Year 2011 saw Google introduce tude quake, which result- its miraculous driverless car, ed in the tsunami, moved which is guided by LiDAR tech- the main island of Japan nology. The car, worth USD by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and 75000, provides drivers with a shifted the earth on its 360 degree and 3D view of the axis. Dr. Y Tony Song, a surroundings. LiDAR tech will research scientist at guide the car at every road and NASA's jet propulsion traffic signal and also detects laboratory in California, other cars and pedestrians. It said ''It was a one in 10 will work in all weather condi- million chance that we Japan's northeast coast tions and is specially designed were able to observe this for those with mobility issues. double wave with satellites.'' He added that the same phenomenon could By the end of 2011, a US patent have caused the Chilean tsunami in 1960, in which 200 people in Japan and Hawaii were killed. At another front, a team of US and Japanese scientists claimed that for the first time ever a tsunami was observed by radars, which raised the possibility of new early warning systems. The scientists revealed this finding in their paper titled, Japan Tsunami Current Flows Observed by HF Radars on Two Continents.

Coming soon: Robot-powered maps Fleets of robots could assist Google with collecting information, replacing the humans that photograph streets for Google Maps. A recent media report, cit- ing the Google X lab based on the company's Mountain View campus, for self-driving cars was award- stressed that at Google, some of the outlandish projects may not be as much ed to Google. The car's func- of a stretch as they first appear, even though they defy the bounds of the tioning is based on two sets of company's main web sensors. While the first identi- search business. For fies a "landing strip" when the example, space eleva- vehicle stops, the second set tors, a long-time fan- receives data informing the tasy of Google's machine where it is positioned founders and other and where it should go. The Silicon Valley entrepre- landing strip allows a human neurs, could haul driving the vehicle to know things into space (In acceptable parking places for theory, they involve the vehicle. Additionally, the Robots at Google I/O 2011 Robots at Google rocketless space travel landing strip may indicate to the along a cable anchored to Earth). "Google is collecting the world's data, so vehicle that it is parked in a now it could be collecting the solar system's data," said Rodney Brooks, a region where it may transition professor emeritus at M.I.T.'s computer science and artificial intelligence lab into autonomous mode. and founder of Heartland Robotics.

Geospatial World I January 2012 55 Applications

G-tech leads 'year of discoveries'

Geospatial technology, with its power to gaze beneath the earth's surface, helped scientists unravel several myster- ies around the world during the past year. A team from the University of Leicester in the UK used satellites and aerial photographs to identify the remains of a lost civili- sation of the Sahara in Libya's south-western desert. The

team discovered more than 100 fortified farms and vil- Dense distribution of fortified villages and oasis gardens in southwestern Libya lages with castle-like structures dating between AD 1-500. Similarly, Chinese archaeologists found evidence indicating that the mysterious ancient city of Loulan (Kroraina) once had highly-developed agricultural systems. Scientists from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted remote sensing procedures in the area and found that there were once large tracts of farmlands in Loulan. On the other hand, Egyptian government initiated work on experimental wells in the desert after satellite images lead the discovery of new access points to a huge underground water oasis, known as the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS), spanning Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan.

NASA finds liquid water on Mars GPS-powered system to save fuel

An image combining the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Geospatial tech took a step ahead towards resolving the (MRO) imagery with 3D modelling showed flows that problem of fast depleting global oil resources. Scania, an appear on a slope inside Mars' Newton crater. The source automobile com- observation was made by the high resolution imaging sci- pany, developed ence experiment camera on the MRO. Some aspects of 'Scania Active the observations still puzzle researchers, but flows of liq- Prediction'. The uid brine fit the features' characteristics better than cruise control alternate hypotheses. Sites with active flows get warm, system uses GPS even in the shallow to determine subsurface, to sus- vehicles' position tain liquid water and to predict the that is about as topography of the salty as earth's road ahead. Sub- oceans, while pure sequently, the water would freeze speed is adjusted before entering an ascent or descent, at the observed helping drivers make the most of every drop of fuel. The temperatures. The system can deliver a fuel saving of up to 3 percent when featured image is driving on undulating stretches of road. Based on a 40- only about 0.5 to 5 tonne truck combination (tractor unit and semitrailer) yards or metres running 180,000 km/year, a fuel saving of 3 percent would wide, with lengths reduce fuel consumption by about 1,700 litres per year. Flows of liquid brine Flows up to hundreds of This is equivalent to an annual reduction in fuel costs of yards. The width is much narrower than previously almost EUR 2,200 and a reduction in carbon dioxide reported gullies on Martian slopes. However, some of emissions of over 4 tonnes! The company will start to those locations display more than 1,000 individual flows. deliver trucks with the system soon.

56 Geospatial World I January 2012

Policy India adopts RS data policy 2011 The Government of India (GoI) released its much-awaited Federal bodies to lower data Remote Sensing Data Policy (RSDP – 2011) on July 4, 2011, bringing much needed relief to the industry. As per storage cost the new policy, all satellite remote sensing data of reso- The General Services Administration (GSA), US, is work- lutions up to 1 metre will be distributed on a non-dis- ing with several federal agencies to provide a common, criminatory basis and ‘on request’. The 2001 policy cloud-based infrastructure where agencies can access required data of up to 5.8 meter resolution to be protect- geospatial data, in an effort to lower storage costs and ed. To get data better than 1 metre resolution, private reduce duplication. The GSA recently entered into an agencies will need clearance from an interagency high agreement with the US Agriculture and Interior Depart- resolution image clearance committee (HRC). However, ment as well as the government bodies can obtain such data without any fur- Environmental Protec- ther clearance. tion Agency (EPA) Some of the highlights of the policy include: to move geospatial - Department of Space (DOS) will be the nodal agency for all data from the geoda- actions under this policy. ta.gov portal onto - The government, through DOS, will be the sole and exclusive owner of all data collected/received from IRS. data.gov, informed - Any organisation interested in operating a remote sensing David McClure, associ- satellite from India, will need license and/or permission of the ate administrator with government. GSA's Office of Citizen - While the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Services and Innova- ISRO/DOS is vested with the authority to acquire and dissemi- tive Technologies. nate all satellite remote sensing data in India, both from Indi- an and foreign satellites, Antrix Corporation Ltd. (of DOS) will Geodata.gov was be responsible for grant of license for acquisition/distribution designed to provide of IRS data outside India. one-stop web access to geospatial information under the Geospatial One-Stop In addition, the GoI announced a project to standardise project, an e-government initiative managed by the US GIS in the country. An interim core group of geospatial Geological Service. However, since data.gov has been experts, formed by Planning Commission of India, migrated to a cloud computing platform, there is suffi- prepared a draft for India's National GIS, a state-of-the cient capacity to provide provisioning services and flexi- art online information bank. It is expected to be fully bility to expand the platform, if needed. operational in 3 years.

Governments offer data access to common users Unrestricted access to data has always been considered as the first step towards optimum utilisation of spatial technology. As a step ahead in this direction, Bhuvan, Indian geoportal, will now provide satellite data to the general public. The Dutch government too announced two major data releases. The first initiative pertains to the Ministry for Economic Affairs, which announced the creation of a national database for satellite images that will be available to the public and entrepreneurs. Another initiative is from the Ministry for Infrastructure and Environment, which offered full access of the 'base registry' of topographic data, maintained by the Kadaster. Towards the end of the year 2011, Brazil also joined the race of open data as it announced that images from its first indigenous satellite, Amazon-1 (to be launched in 2013), will be offered free of charge to neighbouring countries.

58 Geospatial World I January 2012 Market Reports 'Sat data sales to touch 4 bn' 3D laser scanning market to double by 2015 The year gone by brought plenty The 3D laser scanning market including hardware, software and services will of good news for the satellite grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent, according imagery industry. Highlighting to a report by ARC advisory group. In addition, the report forecasted that the the ever expanding demand for market will double in size by 2015. 3D laser scanning equipment senses the satellite data, Adam Keith, Direc- shape of an object and collects data for the location of the outer surface. This tor, Earth Observation (EO) - distinct technology has found applications in many industries including dis- Euroconsult revealed that global crete and process manufacturing, utilities, construction, archaeology, law satellite data sales are expected enforcement, government and entertainment. In the past year, to rise at a compound annual department of transportation in the UK awarded GBP 2.7 mil- growth rate (CAGR) of 12 percent lion (USD 4.2 million) contract to UK-based 3D Laser Map- over the decade, reaching nearly ping for 3D laser scanners. The contract came USD 4 billion by 2020. According after realisation that 3D laser scanners to Euroconsult, EO commercial could drive down the GBP 1 billion data sales reached USD 1.3 bil- annual cost of congestion caused lion in 2010. Optical data repre- by collisions on motorways. sented 83 percent of overall It is pertinent to mention sales, with the remaining 17 per- that in early 2011, the cent from SAR. The majority (60 DOT had already procured percent) of data revenues in 2010 scanners worth GBP 3 were from very high resolution million. optical systems to support a pre- dominantly government defence customer base. The number of APAC geospatial market set to grow high-resolution imaging satel- The Asia Pacific (APAC) earth observation (EO) market earned over USD 70.1 lites in operation offering com- million in 2010 and will reach USD 220.5 million in 2018, according to a mar- mercial data is expected to near- ket report by Frost & Sullivan. Similarly, TechNavio's market report revealed ly double over 2010-2015. Over that the GIS market in the APAC region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14 40 countries are projected to percent. Frost & Sullivan's report stressed that the enormous quantity of launch EO satellite capacity by high-resolution, multi-spectral and hyper-spectral data available 2020. in a short span has improved decision-making processes for several commercial and government users. Policy makers in this region are ramping up government spending for space and satellite imagery endeavours. In addition, the report observed that by 2018, satellite imagery is expected to become a commodity. About the GIS market, TechNavio's report observed that in spite of the demand for GIS solutions in the APAC region, integration issues with cloud technologies are hin- dering the growth of this market.

Geospatial World I January 2012 59 Acquisitions 'Global LBS market to touch EUR 300 mn' With acquisition Bentley enhances modelling

Global revenues for mobile capabilities location platforms will grow to Bentley Systems used its annual Be Inspired event to project its futuristic EUR 300 million in 2016, approach towards the solutions market for infrastructure design, construction according to a new market and operation. The company announced two important acquisitions and report by Berg Insight. launched a new software. The company acquired Pointools Ltd, hardware- Annual revenues for mobile neutral provider of point cloud software technology, to integrate point cloud location platforms, including A- processing in innovative ways throughout its product portfolio. The move will GPS servers and middleware expand Bentley's 2D and 3D modelling capabilities into cloud computing. The platforms, are projected to grow company also announced the acquisition of FormSys, a software development from about EUR 150 million in company with a proven track record in 3D design, analysis 2010 to EUR 300 million in 2016. and construction software for structural Ericsson remains the leading engineering, offshore engineering vendor in terms of number of and naval architecture. The contracts for location platforms, acquisition will expand Bentley's SACS (Structural Analysis Computer System) offerings for the design and analysis of floating structures, further extending its reach in offshore energy market. In addition, the company announced the immediate commercial availability of its new AECOsim Energy Simulator software and the commercial availability of its new AECOsim Building Designer software in early 2012.

ahead of Nokia Siemens Trimble on acquisition spree Networks and TeleCommunica- In the year 2011, Trimble made two major acquisitions. It acquired Dynamic tion Systems. Survey Solutions and MyTopo. According to the company's press statement, Governments and telecom the acquisition of Dynamic Survey is expected to expand Trimble's presence in regulators in many parts of the seismic survey industry. The business will be reported as part of the world are introducing Trimble's engineering and construction stricter emergency call and segment. The acquisition of MyTopo will lawful intercept mandates expand Trimble's ability to offer unique that require network operators map content and new outdoor-centric to invest in location platforms. products. It will also enhance its mobile Moreover, the Strategy apps-Trimble Outdoors, AllSport GPS, Geo- Analytics Wireless Media cache Navigator, Cabela's Recon Hunt and Strategies (WMS) observed Backpacker GPS Trails. In addition, the that the privacy concerns will company also informed that it entered into barely be a speed bump in the a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Ashtech S.A.S. The acquisition evolution of location-based is expected to expand Trimble's spectra precision portfolio of survey solutions services (LBS). and allow the company to better address emerging markets worldwide.

60 Geospatial World I January 2012

Business Projects

Recession blues Digitisation in full swing in Rwanda haunt industry In a bid to promote apt management of land records across Rwanda, the Budget cuts and scrapped deals Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) digitised over 3.3 million plots continued to make headlines as of land, announced Didier Sagashya, Deputy Director General in charge of the geospatial industry faced lands and mapping. "The promotion of GIS will enable Rwanda to get the plenty of stern challenges during optimal information concerning infrastructure and business planning and 2011. GeoEye announced that it this will be the best position will not meet its previously for the country to deal with announced revenue target for land issues," he observed. In 2011, mainly because its biggest addition, he announced that customer, the US government, is RNRA will carry out training slowing its contract award programmes across the process in the face of budget country to ensure that people pressures. It was also learnt that clearly understand an unnamed European customer the importance of GIS in that had been expected to make a development. In most coun- large order has decided to scrap tries including India, digitisa- the idea. On the other hand, the tion of records largely US Air Force is considering ter- remains confined to making available scanned copies of title deeds online. minating a multibillion-dollar Without fresh surveys of properties, digitisation fails to reflect errors in prop- weather satellite being developed erty titles. At a time when land disputes continue to clog courts, fresh sur- by Northrop Grumman Corp. The veys are a prerequisite for proper digitisation and land reforms. move came as the air force hunts for ways to trim its budget and help the Pentagon achieve about US launches NEON project USD 489 billion in cuts over the The US government commissioned development of the national ecological next 10 years. In addition, during observatory network (NEON) with the National Science Foundation awarding GEOINT 2011 conference, US a USD 434 million ten-year grant. The network will consist of 20 core obser- Congressmen Mike Rogers (R- vatories representing distinct eco-regions throughout the US. These will be Mich.) and C.A. Dutch Ruppers- bolstered by temporary stations that can be relocated wherever berger (D-Md.) hinted at the pos- data needs to be collected. The sites sibility of more budget cuts, given will house equipment and host visit- the reality of budget austerity in ing researchers while gathering a the years to come. range of environmental data over at least three decades. Once the entire network is up and running, some 15,000 sensors will work in concert with scientists on the ground to supply roughly 500 distinct cate- gories of data ranging from basic weather readings to concentrations of ozone in the air and nitrogen in the soils, leaves and streams. Scientists will collect tens of thousands of samples, including soil, water, plants and small mammals. Officials expect the network to be operational by 2016.

62 Geospatial World I January 2012 Miscellaneous Iran controls 'lost' US drones

Space agencies face cyber attacks Using GPS spoofing Computer hackers interfered with two US government technique, satellites four times in 2007 and 2008 through a ground Iran guided station in Norway, according to a congressional commis- the "lost" sion. The intrusions on the satellites, used for earth cli- stealth US mate and terrain observation, underscore the potential drone (RQ- danger posed by hackers, according to excerpts from the 170 Sen- final draft of the 2011 annual report by the US-China Eco- tinel) to an nomic and Security Review Commission. The report intact land- explained that Landsat-7 earth observation satellite sys- ing inside tem experienced 12 or more minutes of interference in hostile terri-

October 2007 and July 2008. Hackers also interfered with tory, accord- Infographic: Iran controls drone a Terra AM-1 earth ing to an Iran- observation satellite ian engineer now working on the captured drone's twice, for two min- systems inside Iran. The engineer explained that Iran utes in June 2008 used the knowledge gleaned from previous downed and nine minutes in US drones and a reverse-engineering technique October that year. proudly claimed by Iranian commanders in September, Hackers attacked the Iranian specialists then reconfigured the drone's Geospatial Informa- GPS coordinates to make it land in Iran at what the tion Authority of drone thought was its actual home base in Japan (GSI) and Afghanistan. analysed computer IDs and passwords, enabling a party "The spoofing technique that the Iranians used to gain access to the server. To deal with such problems, made the drone land on its own where we wanted it to, Japan is developing a virus that could track down the without having to crack the remote-control signals and source of a cyber attack and neutralise its programme. communications from the US control centre," stated the The weapon is the culmination of a USD 2.3 million engineer. The US military has reportedly been aware of three-year project entrusted by the government to tech- vulnerabilities with pirating unencrypted drone data nology maker Fujitsu Ltd. streams since the Bosnia campaign in the mid-1990s.

Uncontrolled re-entry of satellites

The year 2011 witnessed uncontrolled re-entry of Upper Atmosphere Research satellite (UARS) and Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT). The UARS, a NASA satellite, was dead in space plunged back to earth, but till the end of the show, it remained a mystery that when and where the satellite will fall. And, the incident was repeated by ROSAT, a German satellite. Just as for NASA's UARS satellite, which plunged into the atmosphere in September, there was high uncertainty about the final moments of ROSAT. Experts had calculated that perhaps as much as 1.6 tonnes of wreckage - more than half the spacecraft's launch mass - could have ridden out the destructive forces of re-entry and hit the planet. In the case of UARS, the probable mass of surviving material was put at only half a tonne (out of a launch mass of more than six tonnes).

Geospatial World I January 2012 63 Investing in attending an event can often prove to be the best thing that one could do to take the business to new heights. Imagine being able to learn firsthand from experts and market leaders who have a plethora of experience in the geospatial domain. These leaders can get sharp minds to shape the way ahead for their businesses. One can meet and discuss business strategies by shaking hands in person, be it in the bar, walking down the hallways, or in the breakout sessions. So, here is a list of events that will remain in spotlight in 2012.

FEBRUARY 29 - 31 May Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 07 - 09 February MundoGEO Connect 2012 http://lagf.org Sao Paulo, Brazil India Geospatial Forum 25 Aug - 1 Sept. 2012 http://mundogeoconnect.com/2012 Gurgaon, India ISPRS 2012 http://www.indiageospatialfo- JUNE Melbourne, Australia rum.org http://www.isprs2012.org 4 - 7 June 29 February Hexagon 2012 SEPTEMBER Las Vegas, Nevada, USA GeoNext Conference 2012 http://www.hexagonconference.com 06 - 08 September Sydney, Australia State of the Map 2012 http://www.geonext.com.au 21 - 23 June Tokyo, Japan http://stateofthemap.org APRIL Geospatial EXPO 2012 Japan 02 - 04 April http://www.g-expo.jp/en/ 10 - 15 September Where Conference 2012 index.html FOSS4G 2012 San Francisco, CA Beijing, China http://whereconf.com/where2012 JULY http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4 G_2012 3 - 6 July 03 - 04 April GI_Forum 2012 OCTOBER Middle East Geospatial Salzburg, Austria Forum 2012 http://www.gi-forum.org 9 - 11 October Doha, State of Qatar INTERGEO 2012 http://megf.org July Hanover, Germany GeoIntelligence Asia 2012 http://www.intergeo.de/en/englis 23 - 27 April ch/intergeo/naechste_termine.ph New Delhi, India p?navid=17 Geospatial World http://www.gisdevelopment.net/g Forum 2012 eointelligenceasia Amsterdam NOVEMBER he Netherlands 23 - 27 July 5 - 7 November http://www.geospatialworldforum.org ESRI User Conference Trimble Dimensions 2012 Sandiego, C.A, USA Las Vegas, US http://www.esri.com/events/user http://www.trimble.com/ MAY -conference/index.html trimbleevents.shtml 14 - 17 May Global Geospatial AUGUST Conference 2012 05 - 10 August (GSDI 13) International Geological Quebec, Canada Congress http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiconf/gsdi13 Brisbane, Australia http://www.34igc.org 15 - 17 May Be Together: The Bentley 14 - 17 August User Conference Latin America Philadelphia, USA Geospatial http://www.bentley.com/en- Forum 2012 US/Community/BE+Conference

64 Geospatial World I January 2012 PRECISION AERIAL

DigitalGlobe delivers the industry’s first high-quality, wall-to-wall collection of 30 cm natural color (RGB) and 60 cm color infrared (CIR) aerial orthomosaics covering the contiguous United States and Western Europe.

Check your coverage area: www.digitalglobe.com/qualityaerial

BEST-IN-CLASS ACCURACY

COMPREHENSIVE AERIAL COVERAGE WITH SCHEDULED REFRESH

FASTER DELIVERY AT A LOWER COST

Email [email protected] for more information.

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM | 30 CM AERIAL www.digitalglobe.com/qualityaerial Xiang Yu, Peace Map Co., Ltd.

Visit iFlyUltraCam.com to see the PMC video. Or scan tag and watch on your mobile phone.

Download the free tag reader app at http://gettag.mobi.

:LWKSODQVWRHVWDEOLVKDKLJKUHVROXWLRQDHULDOLPDJHOLEUDU\RI&KLQDDQGFXVWRPHUV DFURVVGLIIHUHQWJRYHUQPHQWGHSDUWPHQWV3HDFH0DS&R/WG 30& QHHGVD TXDOLW\GLJLWDOSKRWRJUDPPHWULFV\VWHPWRHIIHFWLYHO\VHUYHWKHLUODUJHPDUNHW7KDW·V ZK\30&FKRRVHV0LFURVRIW8OWUD&DPIRUWKHLUGLJLWDOLPDJHDFTXLVLWLRQ 0U;LDQJNQRZVWKDWWKHFRVWWRÁ\PLVVLRQVLVKLVJUHDWHVWRSHUDWLRQDOH[SHQVH 7KDQNVWRWKHODUJHLPDJHIRRWSULQWDQGVWDEOHSHUIRUPDQFHRIWKH8OWUD&DPKH KDVVHHQDVLJQLÀFDQWLQFUHDVHLQHIÀFLHQF\FRPSDUHGWRRWKHUGLJLWDODHULDOFDPHUDV 7KHFRQWLQXDOLQQRYDWLRQRIWKH8OWUD&DPKHOSV30&GHOLYHUEUHDWKWDNLQJLPDJHVWR FXVWRPHUVUHGXFHFRVWVDQGSODQIRUVWHDG\JURZWKLQWRWKHIXWXUH 7KH8OWUD&DP(DJOHLVWKHODWHVWWHFKQRORJLFDODGYDQFHIHDWXULQJDQXOWUDODUJHLPDJH IRRWSULQWDQGUHYROXWLRQDU\HQKDQFHPHQWVIRUKLJKTXDOLW\LPDJHU\DWXQSUHFHGHQWHG HIÀFLHQFLHV)RUGHWDLOVYLVLWwww.UltraCamEagle.com

APAC Sales: Singapore: Beijing: LQIR#LPDJHPDSVFRP ZZZLPDJHPDSVFRP

0LFURVRIW&RUSRUDWLRQ$OOULJKWVUHVHUYHG0LFURVRIW8OWUD&DP8OWUD&DP;S8OWUD0DSDQG9H[FHO,PDJLQJ*PE+DUHHLWKHUUHJLVWHUHGWUDGHPDUNVRUWUDGHPDUNVRI0LFURVRIW&RUSRUDWLRQLQWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVDQGRURWKHUFRXQWULHV

GIS´,Á\8OWUD&DPµFDPSDLJQ;LDQJ

Data courtesy City of Quebec

THE 3D GIS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE – EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF BENTLEY MAP

GIS is going 3D and the beneﬁts are enormous. With Bentley Map, you’ll gain the additional CHECK OUT THE NEW advantage of a GIS that’s both intrinsically 3D and optimized for the rigorous demands of sustaining BENTLEY MAP EDITIONS infrastructure. Bentley Map supports 3D objects in Oracle Spatial natively, has smart 3D object editing tools, and executes advanced 3D spatial analyses as well as standard 2D routines.

Bentley Map is the choice of infrastructure professionals around the globe. It has all the power of MicroStation to make workflows efficient, and includes innovative and comprehensive map finish- ing functions as well as advanced parcel management functionality.

Featuring an extended API, the latest version of Bentley Map is optimized for developers and enterprise deployments alike. It comes in three editions to meet a range of user needs – from light editing and review, to 2D and 3D spatial information creation and analysis, to advanced raster image management and long transactions using Oracle Spatial.

To ﬁnd out how Bentley Map is advancing GIS for infrastructure, visit www.bentley.com/GT. For inquiries contact Malaysia: +60 3 2054 7000, Singapore: +65 6225 6158.

ADVANCING GIS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

© 2011 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, Bentley Map, and MicroStation are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

80007_07_ 2222