R.N.I No - UPENG/2010/34153 PUBLICATION 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 MARCH 2011 VOL 01 ISSUE 08 Price: INR 150 / US$ 15 Subscriber’s copy. Not for Sale

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Abbas Rajabifard President, GSDI Association

Aida Opoku Mensah Director - ICT Division UN Economic Commission for Africa

Bryn Fosburgh Vice President

Executive Committee Member, Trimble Inside...

Derek Clarke COVER STORY Chief Director-Survey and Mapping and Hyperspectral Imaging National Geospatial Information Beyond the niche Department of Land Affairs, South Africa 22 Prof Ian Dowman, GIS Development

Jack Dangermond President, Esri

34 Construction permits: Speeding up development Josef Strobl Mohammed Noor Al Shaikh & Venkatesh K. Natarajan, Director, Centre for Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria Ministry of Municipalities & Urban Planning, Kingdom of Bahrain

Juergen Dold 38 Crossrail: On the g-track CEO, Leica Geosystems Wayne Marsh, Crossrail

Kamal K Singh Chairman and CEO Food security: Crop monitoring from the sky Rolta Group 42 Carsten Haub, EFTAS Remote Sensing Technology Transfer GmbH

Mark Reichardt Sven Gilliams, Flemish Institute for Technological Research President and CEO Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. 46 Geoint: The complete picture Matthew M O'Connell John Olesak, Northrop Grumman President and CEO GeoEye INTERVIEW

Preetha Pulusani ‘Our data is a public good’ Chairman and CEO 30 DeepTarget Inc. Prashant Shukle, Director General, Mapping Information Branch, Earth Sciences Sector, Natural Resources Canada Shailesh Nayak Secretary Ministry of Earth Sciences CONFERENCE REPORT Government of India 51 GTUS 2011: Tech for all Vanessa Lawrence CB Director General and CEO, Ordnance Survey, UK 07 Editorial 8 News 52 Events 54 Picture This

CHAIRMAN M P Narayanan DISCLAIMER PUBLISHER Sanjay Kumar Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are PUBLICATIONS TEAM Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta those of the contributors. Geospatial World is not responsible for any Editor - Europe Prof. Ian Dowman loss to anyone due to the information provided. Editor - North America Chuck Killpack OWNER, PUBLISHER & PRINTER Sanjay Kumar PRINTING AT Editor - Latin America (Honorary) Tania Maria Sausen Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant M. P. Printers B - 220, Phase-II, Noida - 201 301, Gautam Budh Nagar Director Publications Niraj (UP) INDIA PUBLICATION ADDRESS A - 92, Sector - 52, Gautam Associate Editor Bhanu Rekha Budh Nagar, Noida, India EDITOR Sanjay Kumar Assistant Editors Deepali Roy, Aditi Bhan Sub-Editor Anand Kashyap Geospatial World DESIGN TEAM GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar A - 145, Sector - 63, Noida, India Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh Tel + 91-120-4612500 Fax +91-120-4612555 / 666 CIRCULATION TEAM Circulation Manager Priyanka Ujwal, Vijay Kumar Singh PRICE: INR 150/US$ 15

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Speak friend, teaching remote sensing and GIS in an r A engineering college, invited me to deliver a lec-

o ture on 'Remote Sensing Applications - Industry

t Perspective' to his students. His reasoning was that i being attached to industry, I could give a practical view as opposed to the bookish view. As I began preparing d for the talk, I realised that there was a fundamental E flaw in the title. It was not possible to isolate remote sensing from other technologies if I was to address applications of a practical nature. For example, if I tried to illustrate the use of high resolution data for land records, I could not ignore differential GPS which would give me the data to correctly register the plot boundaries to the imagery. Again, the use of imagery for precision farming and agri-business has to include GPS, GIS and data related to prices, inflation and oth- er economic factors. In fact remote sensing is only one of the data sources, an important one though not the only one. Prof. Arup Dasgupta Managing Editor Imagery becomes the starting point. To this we have to [email protected] add value by extracting information required for the end user. To enable more people to be able to use satellite imagery, satellite data providers are moving access. More importantly it will be available in a form from selling imagery to providing information and required by the user. Thus, a user needing the NDVI of insight to customers. This has tremendous impact in a particular area will be directly served the NDVI many ways. Data buyers are aware of the storage image and not the multiple band imagery. I believe issues. Back in the 80's, data used to come in tapes this will be a great boon to users who currently spend and it was a daunting task to ensure their longevity by a considerable amount of time, energy and money just storing them in climate controlled environments. CDs managing data, leaving little time for data analysis. and DVDs have brought great relief to this situation Such a change will also impact the data producers but have only changed the dimensions of the problem. who till now have been working on a product price With spatial resolutions likely to drop to 25 cm on one model as they will have to migrate to a value added hand and spectral resolutions and thereby spectral access price model. bands increasing with the advent of hyperspectral imagery on the other, the problem multiplies by Where does this leave our regulators? All current reg- orders of magnitude. As the lead article on hyperspec- ulations are based on data resolution and national tral remote sensing shows, the technology is ham- jurisdiction. The shift to an access based model will pered by cost of data and the complexity of data analy- upset all their rules. I may be denied terrain height as sis. data but what if I can order an image draped on a DEM? Undoubtedly the regulators will catch on and by This calls for a radical change in the way we perceive and by catch up; but by the time they do, technology data usage. Instead of buying and owning data we would have advanced to another level. have to shift to a model of using data. Data will exist somewhere, in a Cloud may be, and be available for

Geospatial World I March 2011 7 NEWS

GHANA Aquaculture gets boost ETHIOPIA With an aim to boost aquacul- Modernising land ture industry, Ghana is consid- registration system ering to use GIS consisting of an analytical mapping of fish Impressed with Rwanda's land regis- farming sites with high poten- tration system, Tigistu G. Abza, the tial. The United Nations (UN) Ethiopian Director of Rural Land Food and Agriculture Organi- Administration, announced that sation (FAO), under its Techni- Ethiopia would adapt the same. He cal Cooperation Programme said “Ethiopia is still using rope for (TCP), is supporting the Fisheries Commission with a grant worth USD measurements, a traditional method 85,130, which will go towards applying a strategic framework. Called the of registering land. World Bank rec- National Aquaculture Development Plan, the new framework corre- ommended us to learn Rwanda's sponds with the National Medium Term Development Plan, the National system. It is efficient and cheap as Medium Term Development Framwork and the Fisheries Act 625, 2002. well.” He added that surveying cost with the new system will be USD 7 per plot of the land. He noted that Toolkit for renewable energy national registration has cost EUR 3 Energy Commission (EC) in Ghana, in association with Renewable million so far. According to statistics Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), developed a toolkit from National Land Centre, to support renewable energy resources to analyse, plan and formulate a 45 percent of the country has been policy, according to Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Deputy Minister of Energy, demarcated. The authority aims to Ghana. The toolkit utilises GIS technology to complete the land registration evaluate potential locations for solar and wind operation by 2013. energy, transportation infrastructure and population centres. In addition, it would help to develop a KENYA GIS-based tool to support decision making and GIS to track policy initiatives designed economic growth to attract public and private investment in the Ministry of Finance, Kenya, launched country's renewable GIS to track implementation and energy sector. progress of projects under the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP). maps out all the projects being CONGO It aims to make the projects more carried out within a particular efficient, accountable and transpar- constituency. Forest management ent to the public, which officials say The system will also incorporate with interactive atlas is critical to accelerating economic projects at a county level. It will be growth and fostering public trust. The linked to social networking sites such World Resource Institute (WRI) and system makes use of geo-data, that as Twitter and Facebook. the Democratic Republic of Congo’s

8 Geospatial World I March 2011 tion of activities agreement with UK-based DMC occurring within International Imaging Ltd. to the DRC forest promote the business viability of the sector. The NigeriaSat-2. Atlas aims to Experts believe that images from meet the needs NigeriaSat-2, the second Nigeria of both the Con- earth observation satellite, would be golese adminis- of high quality, compared to those of tration and non- other satellites. governmental Seidu Mohammed, Director-Gener- actors by inte- al of the National Space Research (DRC) Ministry of Environment, grating forest sector information into and Development Agency (NASRDA), , Nature Conservation, and Tourism one, user-friendly, publicly available explained, “The NigeriaSat-2 sensor (MECN-T) launched the first-ever resource. will provide imagery with 3 resolu- DRC Interactive Forest Atlas. The tions - 2.5 m panchromatic, 5m mul- Atlas is a GIS-based mapping and tispectral (R, G, B, NIR) and also car- information system designed to shed NIGERIA ries the 32m multi-spectral payloads light on the country’s logging activi- of Nigeria Sat-1. More importantly, ties. Using a combination of GIS- Marketing pact for NigeriaSat-2 can image in stereo based interactive maps and data NigeriaSat-2 mode, while the NigeriaSat-X sensor sets, the Atlas and accompanying will provide 22m multi-spectral (RGB, report provide an accurate presenta- Nigeria signed an imagery sales NIR) imagery.”

ISRO, DRDO get US nod for trade The US has removed nine Indian space and defence-related companies from the Entity List to drive hi-tech trade and forge closer strategic ties INDIA with India. The companies removed from the list for sensitive items, which triggers export-licence requirements on goods that normally don’t require RICS extends a licence, include membership subsidiaries of Defence Research and Develop- Royal Institution of Chartered Sur- ment Organisation veyors (RICS) has introduced (DRDO) and Indian AssocRICS, an entry-level grade of Space Research membership in India. This entry-lev- Organisation el, non-chartered qualification is a (ISRO). The significant addition to RICS opera- restriction tions in India, as until now, only the was in chartered qualification (MRICS/ place since FRICS) was being offered to senior India tested professionals in the industry. With nuclear this, RICS aims to extend profession- weapons in alism and standards beyond the top 1998. tier of chartered professionals.

Geospatial World I March 2011 9 Currently, India is estimated to have approximately 20,000 evaluators PHILIPPINES of which only 1,000 have formal edu- cation in property valuation. New surveying standard To qualify as an RICS Associate (AssocRICS), property evaluators in mandatory India must successfully complete a common entrance examination Environment and Natural including an ethics test and submit a Resources Secretary Ramon J. P. portfolio of work-based evidence Paje issued a directive to adopt online for assessment against RICS Philippine Reference System of standards. 1992 (PRS92) as the standard reference for all surveying and GPS for potato mapping activities. It will be farming mandatory for all offices of Department of Environment and Impressed with the status of organic Natural Resources (DENR). Paje issued the directive in consonance with farming in Sohdih village in Nalanda Executive Order No. 321 issued in 2004 which set the year 2010 as the in Bihar State; Escorts – a tractor deadline for the integration of old surveys in the PRS92 system. “PRS92 is manufacturer, decided to put the based on the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84) which makes use of entire process of potato farming on the GPS,” Paje said. A key component of PRS 92 is the nationwide estab- the global map to make it available lishment of permanent reference points – referred to as “mojons” - to for everyone. serve as control points of all survey activities of both the government and The company will use GPS for private surveyors for the benefit of landowners. sowing potato over an area of 160 acres by using natural fertilisers only. MALAYSIA Now, the State government has decided to promote organic farming Controversy over forest report in at least one village of each of the remaining 36 districts. After analysing satellite images combined with existing data and RS imagery online field surveys, Wetlands Interna- tional and Dutch remote sensing Maharashtra Remote Sensing Appli- institute Sarvision observed that cations Centre (MRSAC)’s RS images Malaysia is destroying its forests captured over the last two decades three times faster than the rest will be available online. Satish Wate, of Asia. According to their report, Director of National Environmental almost 353,000 hectares Engineering Research Institute (883,000 acres) of species-rich, Deforestration during 2005-2010 (Neeri) Wate said, “We would change peatswamp forests were opened images into more reader-friendly up largely for palm oil production during 2005-2010. The report called maps. They would give users an for an immediate halt to peatland clearance and an end to incentives for insight into various aspects of the biofuels in the European Union. However, the report has been questioned State, like topography and availability by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Unggah of various resources.” “Everything Embas. Malaysian Nature Society president Prof Dr Maketab Mohamed is from the designing to uploading is also sceptical of the figures presented in the report and observed that data being done in-house," informed Vinod derived solely from satellite imagery or GIS may not be accurate. Bothale, Director, MRSAC.

10 Geospatial World I March 2011

Coral bleaching in Andaman BANGLADESH and Nicobar USD 300 mn to save wetlands Rising sea surface temperatures due to global warming caused extensive coral bleaching in some of the Andaman & Nicobar in 2010, A report by parliamentary standing which, according to P. Krishnan from Marine Research laboratory, is the committee of the Environment and severest in over a decade. Scientists from Marine Research Laboratory, Forest Ministry estimated the need of Central Agriculture Research Institute in Port Blair and Regional USD 300 million in the next 10 years Remote Sensing Centre in Nagpur, conducted a study to assess the to save wetland and water bodies in extent of bleaching during 2010 at selected reef sites in the islands. Dhaka. The committee prepared the 'Reef surveys conducted there revealed that the corals have been report with assistance from the Unit- extensively bleached during April-May 2010, ranging from 37 percent to ed Nations Development Programme 70 percent in various sites.' (UNDP), analysing the satellite images of the Bangladesh capital. According to one of the reports, titled

Rolta bags FICCI enterprises and for e-governance ini- excellence award tiatives. Rolta was selected by a jury headed by Justice PN Bhagwati, for- Rolta won award for ‘Excellence in mer Chief Justice of India. Science, Technology and Technologi- cal Innovation’ for the year 2009-10 from the Federation of Indian Cham- IRAN bers of Commerce and Industry (FIC- CI). The award recognises relevance Centre for satellite of Rolta's products and solutions to images India’s inclusive-growth aspirations. FICCI sought nominations for this Iran opened its first centre to receive Identifying Sustainable Strategies to award based on stringent qualifying satellite images. According to Restore the Rivers and other Associ- criteria that were focused on develop- Defence Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, the ated Wetlands in and around Dhaka ment and deployment of technology equipment used in the centre has city, there are 61.31 square kilometre in a manner that makes a real contri- been manufactured indigenously. The water bodies in the capital. bution to the bottom lines of business country does not have an operational satellite of its own but announced in December, 2010, that it would launch JAPAN two satellites - Fajr (Dawn) and Rasad-1 (Observation-1) by the end of ‘World satellite the Iranian year in March 2011. IRNA market calling’ reported that Vahidi said a launch date for the two satellites, Fajr and Japan needs to join world satellite Rasad-1, was "not fixed". In addition, market, currently dominated by the Iranian media reported that the Safir US and Europe. Russia is also a play- 1-B rocket can carry a satellite er to reckon with. In addition, China weighing 50 kg into an elliptical orbit and India will become formidable Atul D. Tayal, Joint Managing Director, Rolta India receiving award from Pranab Mukharjee, Indian Finance Minister of 300 to 450 km. competitors in the future, according

12 Geospatial World I March 2011 to Hiroyuki Inahata, General Manag- positioning systems are estimated at Minister for Natural Resources and er, Space Systems Division, Mit- JPY 7 trillion. Environment, made this announce- subishi Electric Corp. Inahata said, ment. The minister said that the uni- “Satellites, especially communica- versity will provide sufficient human tions and earth observation satellites, VIETNAM resources of high quality for the are an important part of social infra- respective sector’s development. It structure.” He added the combined Environment ministry will focus on remote sensing, mete- annual sales of Japan's aerospace to set up univ orology, maritime and island man- industry stand at about JPY 250 bil- agement, geology and minerals, and lion (JPY: Japanese Yen). The overall A natural resources and environment cartography. In addition, on priority sales of derivative businesses using university will be set up in Hanoi, basis, it will train managers and fun- communication satellites and global Vietnam. Nguyen Manh Hien, Deputy damental surveying specialists.

CHINA

Esri sets up R&D Solar Polar Orbit Radio Telescope (SPORT) centre project is a good example of the changes in China’s leadership in space science coopera- Esri has established a research and develop- tion. Prof. Wu Ji, Chief Director of CSSAR, ment (R&D) centre in Beijing, China. "The Esri explained the SPORT project will launch a (Beijing) Software Research and Development satellite loaded with remote-sensing equipment Center allows Esri to bring its expertise in to observe solar winds from the polar orbit of advanced spatial technology, software devel- the sun. opment and information management to Chi- na and provide localised software and servic- Enhanced military es that meet the needs of GIS users," said Scott Morehouse, Esri's director of software surveying and mapping development. Esri has been supporting GIS users in China for 20 years. Furthermore, by China is taking bold steps to build more employing local software developers, Esri will accurate and efficient military surveying and help advance the spatial technology expertise mapping systems, all part of a plan to fully of the Chinese workforce and enable China's modernise the military, according to Yuan GIS community to extend its influence to Shuyou, Director of the People's Liberation Esri's global customer base. Army's (PLA) surveying and mapping depart- ment. Yuan's remarks came soon after China A new space leader in conducted a test flight of its first stealth jet as well as the country's official launch of its making? domestic mapping service, Map World. China has made enormous progress in space "Mapping Star," one of the most advanced science and is likely to take a leading role in navigation system developed by the some areas of space research in the future, PLA Information Engineering University, can observed Prof. Roger M. Bonnet, Executive increase the accuracy of targets to 70 percent Director of Switzerland-based International and higher, according to China News Service. Space Science Institute (ISSI). He said that

Geospatial World I March 2011 13 Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) earth observa- tion programme will be the anchor tenant. The US and Russia have had extensive data relay systems in place FRANCE for some time, and Japan and China have begun developing similar net- Contract for real-time works. EADS Astrium was downse- RS data transmission lected in December to negotiate development and operations con- European Space Agency (ESA) has tracts for EDRS. approved the launch and contracting of the European Data Relay Satellite Easy access to dataset to determine the impact cli- (EDRS) network. The laser relay ter- CryoSat ice data mate change is having on Earth's ice minals will have a capacity of 1.8 fields." Satellites have already Gbps, sufficient to permit near-real- European Space Agency’s CryoSat revealed that the extent of sea ice in time transmission of remote sensing Mission Manager Tommaso Parrinel- the Arctic is diminishing, but CryoSat data. The dedicated relay satellite will lo announced the free and open will complete the picture by providing be put into service in late 2014 or access to CryoSat satellite data. He detailed information on how the early 2015. said, "This will amount to a unique thickness of ice, both on land and floating in the polar oceans, is changing over time. Together, infor- mation on ice extent and ice thick- Report predicts decline in space budget ness will provide clear evidence of Public space programme financing will slow down dramatically across how the volume of ice is changing. the globe in the next five years, according to Euroconsult’s report, Government Space Markets, World Prospects to 2020. ESA eyes coastal According to Steve Bochinger, President, Euroconsult North America, waters government investments in many space applications are cyclical, partic- ularly when related to the procurement of operational systems. He also European Space Agency (ESA) rolled adds that, following stimulus funding allocated to space projects to out CoastColour project to address support national economies and innovation, most governments have the growing reliance on coastal returned to more stringent budget spending. This has already resulted waters for food, trade and tourism. in cutting non-priority budget items and, potentially, space pro- More than 40 user organisations, grammes. The report also observes that overall stressing the need for information to growth in civil programme expendi- help manage different ecosystems, tures will be sustained have already signed up the project. - albeit at The project will help scientists devel- more op techniques to take full advantage moderate of the Medium Resolution Imaging growth Spectrometer (MERIS) sensor on rates. ESA’s Envisat satellite to monitor these delicate ecosystems to guaran- tee their future sustainability. MERIS data are being used to monitor harm- ful algal booms along the west coast of South Africa in the Southern

14 Geospatial World I March 2011

Benguela upwelling system. Red tides and algal blooms with GERMANY extremely high phytoplankton con- centrations frequently occur in the region’s bays, threatening fisheries DLR develops traffic processor and tourism. DLR Microwaves and Radar Institute developed a special traf- RUSSIA fic processor for the TerraSAR- X/TanDEM-X satellite constella- Glonass-k tion which does not require a successfully launched road database or any other prior knowledge. The traffic processor Russia launched Glonass-K, one of combines the data recorded by the final satellites needed to com- TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X at plete a satellite-based navigation different times. If the same area system. After the loss of three satel- is imaged by TerraSAR-X and lites last year, two more satellites are then by TanDEM-X shortly after- expected to be launched in 2011. wards (or vice versa), the moving objects appear shifted from their true These are part of the USD 2 billion positions in both radar images. The difference between the images can be project that Russian Prime Minister measured with high precision and this means that the vehicle or ship's Vladimir Putin has said will give Rus- actual position, its speed, direction and even its acceleration can be calcu- sia "satellite navigation sovereignty." lated accurately. During the commissioning phase of TanDEM-X, ability of The nation is hoping Glonass will the processor was demonstrated, and the speed estimation error was less create a revolution on the domestic than one kilometre per hour and the average position estimation error consumer technology front, with was about 20 metres applications expected to be used in mobile telephones and automobiles. Without Glonass, Russia's military MALTA fears that it is at the mercy of the United States GIS for land management

AZERBAIJAN With an aim to improve management of government-owned property, Malta government has initiated the GIS-based Land Estate Management Negotiation for land Information System (LEMIS) project. The first module of the project, Rent cadastre development Management, is expected to be functional in the coming months. The project itself is projected to be fully implemented by 2012Through the The Azerbaijani State Committee for project, the government aims to gain efficiency in having a work flow busi- Land and Cartography is negotiating ness process, with scanned, digitised files, images and data available in with the Korean Foreign and Trade real time, when and where required. In parallel, the Government Property Ministry to obtain additional funding Department is working on a project to digitise and scan the existing files. to develop the land cadastre of Khaz- ar district of Baku, said Garib Mam- madov, Chief of the Committe. Zira, of the Khazar district of Baku in registration of volume and quality, The Chief informed that the state the territory of 1,000 hectares of land. cadastre of ecological land indicator, committee has already completed the The land cadastre includes five basic land valuation in economic terms, development of a pilot settlement elements - the state register, the and development of cadastral map.

16 Geospatial World I March 2011 AUSTRALIA tation of new ICT architecture to maintain pace with the changing Geospatial for environments. It received USD 24 financial intelligence million in additional funding from NEW ZEALAND last year's Federal Budget for the Australian Transaction Reports technology. and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) - Awareness drive on Map of soil moisture space benefits Australian government financial intelligence unit, will pilot a real-time Landgate, Western Australia’s pri- Representatives from the European financial transaction analysis tech- mary source of land information and Space Agency (ESA) and German nology in April. The trial will com- geographic data, prepared a map by Aerospace Centre (DLR) arrived using data from hundreds of satellite in Southland, New Zealand, to images to create yearly average soil create awareness about space and moisture content for each agricultur- how New Zealand can benefit from al area in Western Australia. data from satellite passing over Landgate satellite remote sensing its territory. services manager Matt Adams said Southland is close to hosting a multiple thermal imaging was used multimillion-dollar satellite imaging to gauge the soil moisture at levels station as European space agents never previously achieved. The map prepare to promote the benefits of prise implementation of new search revealed that soil in western part is satellite technology. and analysis tools for social net- on an average 20 per cent drier than Agency head of international rela- works, geospatial information with in 2009. The year 2009 was the driest tions Chris De Cooker said the possi- improved graphical analysis, data in more than a century for the south- bilities for using data were endless mining, monitoring and data match- ern half of the state and many areas and could save a lot of money, but ing capabilities. A five-year strategic received half or less than half their few people knew about imaging activ- vision was adopted for the re-engi- normal average rainfall. Maximum ities in New Zealand so the agency neering of AUSTRAC’s intelligence temperatures were also the second- wanted to educate people. operations, including the implemen- hottest on record..

Secret geointelligence deal leaked A US embassy cable obtained by WikiLeaks revealed that former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates signed a "statement of principles on geospatial intelligence co-operation" at a "closed session" of the February 2008 Australia- United States Ministerial Meeting (AUSMIN) in Can- berra, Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, the US will have access to imagery collected by the Australian-owned satellite. While Australia has specif- ic intelligence priorities in relation to south-east Asia boats, an Australian surveillance satellite will also and Australia's maritime approaches, including the potentially acquire imagery of intelligence significance early detection of illegal fishing and people-smuggling for the US and other US allies.

Geospatial World I March 2011 17 Industry growth to continue

According to a study by Daratech, sales of GIS/Geospatial software, Business...... services and data grew a robust 10.3 percent in 2010 to USD 4.4 billion. Overall, the geospatial industry depends very much on its base markets USGS budget 2012 in North America and Europe however, strong growth in Asia/Pacific, addresses future particularly in China, India and other emerging economies of the world generations should help ensure that the industry's growth continues strong into the foreseeable future. US President Barack Obama’s For 2012 through 2015, Daratech administration has proposed USD 1.1 is forecasting double- billion for the US Geological Survey digit (USGS) in 2012. The budget empha- geospatial sises cost-containment and pro- industry revenue gramme savings while investing in gains as the factors research and development pro- fuelling growth gain more grammes to restore and protect the traction. "Another segment to nation’s lands and waters for future watch is the geo-enabled engi- generations. The budget also sees neering segment," said Charles proposal for a new account for Land- Foundyller, CEO, Daratech. sat missions. This will include fund- ing for current satellites (Landsats 5 and 7); the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (Landsat 8), which is sched- Navteq to get Bing platform to form a unique local uled for launch in December 2012 power search and advertising experience. and the development of Landsat 9 Nokia is already gathering that data and 10. Nokia and Microsoft announced from its own phones. plans to form a broad strategic part- According to an article published Intergraph, Bentley nership that would use their comple- on ZDNet UK, the partnership might settle lawsuit mentary strengths and expertise to end up with Bing saving some money create a new global mobile ecosys- on the data it buys from Navteq, but An eight-year lawsuit between the tem. because of its architecture, Bing former Intergraph Corp. and Bentley Under this partnership, Maps can take better advantage of Systems has been settled for nearly Navteq/Nokia Maps would be inte- the traffic information, the map data, USD 200 million, according to court grated with Microsoft’s Bing search the streetside photos, the 3D LiDAR- documents. engine and adCenter advertising generated models and the building As part of the settlement, Cobalt details than Google. BSI Holding, which bought Intergraph in 2006, will sell back to Bentley its ‘Google, Facebook 15.6 million shares of Bentley stock, top LBS brands’ at a purchase price of just over USD 12 per share, totalling about USD 198 According to a new study sponsored million. In July 2010, Sweden-based by Microsoft, the most important Hexagon AB bought Intergraph from brands identified with location-based Cobalt for USD 2.1 billion. services (LBS) are Google and Face- book.

18 Geospatial World I March 2011

According to the survey, 82 percent of the people surveyed reported not Policy ______using LBS to disclose their location or to find out more about the location UN call for global spatial info mechanism of others. However, this is somewhat “There is general agreement of an urgent need for an inter-government not completely accurate since 33 per consultative mecha- cent of these same people reported nism that can play a using Facebook Places. leadership role in set- The study shed light over con- ting the agenda for sumer usage of LBS in five countries: the development of US, Canada, UK, Germany and Japan. global geospatial Awareness is highest in the UK and information, and to US. Familiarity is highest in Japan promote its use to which has had widespread LBS address key global longer than other countries studied. challenges; to liaise The top five usages are GPS navi- and coordinate among gation (70 per cent), weather alerts member states, and between member states and international organisa- (46 per cent), traffic updates (38 per tions,” according to a statement by the United Nations (UN). The purpose cent), restaurant info/reviews (38 per of the Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) would be to cent) and local search (36 per cent) address the growing number of global issues such as: climate change; for convenient services (gas, coffee natural disasters; disease pandemics; population and displacement; shops, etc). and, other cross-border problems that no single nation or region can self-sufficiently deal with. Application ______Measuring pollutant New space strategy for greater resilience from space With an aim to make the US "more resilient" and capable of protecting Boundary-layer concentrations of its holdings in an increasingly trafficked and at times antagonistic set- carbon monoxide (CO), a vital ting, the US Defense Department rolled out National Security Space Strategy (NSSS). According to NSSS unclassified summary, the current and future strategic environment is driven by three trends – space is becoming increasingly congested, contested and competitive. According to the press statement from the US Department of Defence (DOD), Presi- dent Barack Obama administration's fiscal 2012 defence funding request would take into account the first activities for putting the strategy into effect and DOD would prepare over the next year to make additional updates in future budget cycles.

Troposphere), according to an long-term global datasets which are article published in SPIE. Authors unavailable using ground-based or claim that a wide array of atmos- aircraft-based instruments. For mon- pollutant, can now be measured pheric parameters is now routinely itoring air quality, satellite remote from space by exploiting the measured from polar-orbiting sensing provides a means for study- multispectral capabilities of MOPITT satellites using remote sensing (RS) ing both the sources of pollution and (Measurements of Pollution in the methods. These techniques yield its movement in the atmosphere.

20 Geospatial World I March 2011 FCC increases access share a commitment to making pub- to public data lic data sets more usable and valu- able for all citizens. The Open Gov- Federal Communications Commis- ernment Directive of 2009 brought sion (FCC) and FortiusOne launched about the release of massive IssueMap (http://issuemap.org), an amounts of tabular government data. online mapping site that enables citi- Without a simple way to visualise and zens to quickly map data they care add context to this data, it has about and easily share it through remained largely untapped by the social networks. FortiusOne and FCC public. IssueMap’s intuitive mapping interface enables citizens and deci- sion-makers alike to engage with this data for better understanding of the issues impacting their communities. Miscellaneous______NASA aid for New director for AGC firefighters

Dr. Joseph F. Fontanella has been Cities in the developing world must appointed as the Director of the US prepare for explosive growth with Army Geospatial Center (AGC). In realistic projections of urban land his new role, Fontanella will be needs, generous metropolitan limits, responsible for supporting opera- selective protection of open space, tions, intelligence, acquisition, and well-planned street grids, research and development as well according to a new report published as modelling and simulation com- by the Lincoln Institute of Land Poli- munities with geospatial informa- cy. The report is based on a five-year tion. He is also chartered as the statistical analysis of GIS-based Army's Geospatial Information maps from four different data sets. Officer (GIO), with responsibility for The key findings show that on aver- collecting and validating geospatial requirements, formulating geospa- tial policy, setting priorities and securing resources supporting the Army Geospatial Enterprise, as well as synchronising geospatial solutions at both Headquarters, Department of the Army and Secretariat levels of Army governance. Linux solution for classified data

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), US, is compiling informa- tion on the capabilities of vendors who can assist it with its Linux-based age, population densities in the information system. "The Linux Operating System (OS) is used for a wide urban built up areas of developing variety of programmes within the NGA. The agency's mission is to provide countries are double those in Europe geospatial intelligence data and products in support of national security and Japan, and densities in Europe Enterprise Payment Security 2.0 Whitepaper from CyberSource," Julia and Japan are double those of the Collins, public affairs officer for NGA, explained. United States, Canada, and Australia.

Geospatial World I March 2011 21 HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING I Prof. Ian Dowman Beyond the niche

HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING HAS OCCUPIED AN IMPORTANT NICHE IN THE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING FOR SOME TIME. HAS IT NOW REACHED A TIPPING POINT WHERE IT CAN BECOME A VIABLE COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY ACROSS THE BOARD OF APPLICATIONS OF EARTH OBSERVATION AND IMAGING SCIENCE? READ ON TO KNOW..

22 Geospatial World I March 2011 COVER STORY

yperspectral remote sensing involves the acquisi- Table 1. The HyMap specification Bandwidth across Average spectral Module Spectral Range tion of image data in many narrow, contiguous module sampling interval Hspectral bands which generate detailed spectral VIS 0.45 - 0.89 um 15 - 16 nm 15 nm signatures of the objects imaged. This data can be NIR 0.89 - 1.35 um 15 - 16 nm 15 nm analysed to determine the nature of an object which can be identified by comparing the signature obtained with a SWIR1 1.40 - 1.80 um 15 - 16 nm 13 nm signature in a library. Hyperspectral imagery differs from SWIR2 1.95 - 2.48 um 18 - 20 nm 17 nm multispectral imagery in that multispectral bands give information in a few discrete bands, while hyperspectral gives continuous information over many bands which are cal of most sensors, as shown in Table 2. contiguous. Figure 1 illustrates the processes involved in Figure 2 shows signatures acquired from HyMap of generating spectral signatures from hyperspectral data. various minerals. The composite images show the delin- A comparable diagram for multispectral imagery would eation of minerals superimposed on the images. show far fewer images in the spectral dimension and only There are also a number of other airborne sensors a few discrete points in the signature. and spaceborne systems available. Hyperspectral remote sensing is synonymous with imaging spectroscopy. Spectroscopy is defined as the Airborne sensors study of the interaction between matter and radiated Airborne hyperspectral data has been collected since the energy. Initially, the main application of hyperspectral early 1980s. Since then, sensors have been developed to remote sensing was the identification of minerals, but provide high spectral resolution, normally with a range of applications are now much broader and include agricul- 10-20nm. High spatial resolution is possible, although it ture, forestry and water and air quality. Data is acquired is dependent on the operational altitude of the platform. from airborne and spaceborne platforms. K. Staenz (Ter- Table 2 lists some of the current systems. restrial Imaging Spectroscopy – Some Future Perspec- Table 2 indicates the range of sensors available and tives; 2009) has given a review of the development of shows that the core spectral range is from the visible hyperspectral remote sensing and of the issues facing (VIS) to the near infrared (NIR) part of the electro-mag- the subject today. The techniques can be illustrated by netic spectrum. Some instruments extend to the thermal the sensor HyMap, produced by HyVista Corp. Table 1 infrared (TIR) while some companies produce separate gives the spectral configuration of the HyMap sensor for TIR sensors. The sampling distance is typically 10 - each of the 4 spectral modules containing 32 bands each, 16nm. For example, DAIS, developed by DLR in Germany, totalling 128 spectral bands. The sampling interval of covers the spectral range from the visible to the thermal each channel is in the range of 13 - 17nm, which is typi- infrared wavelengths at spatial resolution varying from 3 to 20 m, depending on the aircraft altitude. The DAIS is used for remote sensing applications such as environ- mental monitoring of land and marine ecosystems, vege- tation status and stress investigations, agriculture and forestry resource mapping, geological mapping, mineral exploration as well as for the supply of data for geograph- ic information systems. Six spectral channels in the 8000 - 12000 nm region could be used for the retrieval of tem- perature and emissivity of land surface objects. These and 72 narrow band channels in the atmospheric win- dows between 450 and 2450 nm allow investigation of land surface processes with special emphasis on vegeta- tion / soil interactions. PROBE-1 can be flown over a range of altitudes to Figure 1. Hyperspectral imaging concept provide pixel sizes ranging from 1 to 10 metres and swath (Courtesy: HyperMed Imaging,) widths ranging from <1 km to 6 km. At 2500 metres,

Geospatial World I March 2011 23 Spaceborne sensors Since 2000, hyperspectral sensors have been used on spaceborne plat- forms. These sensors are listed in Table 3. The first satellite-based hyper- spectral sensor was Hyperion on the NASA EO-1 platform; this was a test bed instrument designed to demon- strate hyperspectral imaging from space. This was followed by CHRIS on the ESA PROBA platform, a hyperspectral instrument whose objective is to collect bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) data for a better under- standing of spectral reflectances. The technology objective is to explore the capabilities of imaging spectrometers on agile small satel- lite platforms. The use of the HySI hyperspec- tral sensor on the Indian Moon mis- sion Chandrayan-1, launched in 2008, was considered essential in determining the mineral composi- tion of the lunar surface. It was flown with the terrain mapping cam- era (TMC) which used stereoscopic imagery to determine a digital ter- Figure 2. An analysis of hyperspectral images (Courtesy HyVista) rain model. This enabled scientists to see the variation of mineral con- PROBE-1 has a swath width of 3 kilometres, with a tent with elevation. This will help plan landing sites for ground sampling distance (GSD) of 5 metres. From 5000 future lunar missions. Pan sharpening of the HySI and metres, the swath width is 6 kilometres with a GSD of 10 TMC data was an invaluable aid in extraction of additional metres. information. A hyperspectral sensor was also used on the NASA-developed AVIRIS (Airborne Visible InfraRed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flown by NASA. Imaging Spectrometer) is an important instrument in the The goal of the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging realm of Earth remote sensing because of its extensive Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is to find the spectral sig- use in the early days of hyperspectral imaging. It is a natures of minerals that formed in liquid water, which unique optical sensor that delivers calibrated images of could have provided environments suitable for life. The the upwelling spectral radiance in 224 contiguous spec- goal is also to measure the changing amounts of water tral channels (also called bands) with wavelengths rang- and other volatiles in the atmosphere and as polar ice. It ing from 400 to 2500 nanometres (nm). AVIRIS has been also maps the geology, composition and layering of sur- flown on four aircraft platforms at altitudes between 4 km face features. above sea level and 20 km. HyMap and CASI are two of the Future space systems include EnMAP (Environmental most popular commercial systems. Mapping and Analysis Program) as part of the Earth

24 Geospatial World I March 2011 Table 2. A selection of current airborne hyperspectral scanners Table 3. Hyprerspectral sensors on space platforms. Those highlighted in bold are funded but not launched. Operator Spectral Range Spatial resolution Manufacturer or Spectral range Sensor Channels Sensor Number of bands (launch date) (resolution) (GSD) developer (sampling distance) NASA EO-1 400 - 2500nm Hyperion 242 30m (2000) (10nm) 79 bands in 400 - 12600nm DAIS 7915 DLR, Germany 4 modules (1-45nm) 18m with 19 ESA on PROBA 415-1050 nm spectral bands 36 m CHRIS 19-63 (2001) (1.3-12nm) with 63 spectral Earth Search 400 -2500nm PROBE-1 128 in 4 modules bands. Sciences Inc., USA (12-16nm) NASA VNIR: 362-1053 nm IR: MARS CRISM selectable HyVista Corp., 450-2500nm (2005) 1002-3920 nm (6.55 nm) HyMap 132 in 4 modules. Australia (15-20nm) Chandrayan-1 Indian HySI 64 400-950nm (15nm) 80m Moon Mission (2008) CASI-1500 ITRES, Canada 288 365 - 1050nm (3.5nm) HJ-1A China CAST 128 450-950nm (5nm) 100m

DLR and 420-2450nm AVIRIS Nasa JPL, US 224 400 -2500nm (10nm) EnMAP 200 30m OHB-System (2013) (5-10nm)

Spectral Imaging Ltd, Fin- 970-2500nm PRISMA ASI, Italy (2012) >200 400-2500 (~10nm) 30m AisaHAWK 256 land (6.3nm) MSMI[1] S Africa SunSpace 200 440-2350 (10nm) ~15m 400-1000nm VNIR-640 HySpex, UK 128 (5nm) ARTEMIS[1] US Air Force ~400 400-2500 (5) 5m observation programme conducted by the German Space variety of functionalities and a spectral library. IDL can be Agency (DLR). Using the five successful SAR-Lupe integrated with ENVI, providing additional functionality. In satellites as a basis, the platform is being modified to many cases, software is also provided by sensor manu- accommodate a new kind of hyperspectral instrument. It facturers and operators. can be seen that the spectral and spatial resolution of Nowadays, there is a general interest in making the spaceborne systems is increasing with time. Other optimum use of different types of data. Aircraft frequently systems under development are CHRIS-2 from Surrey carry and operate several sensors. The widespread use of Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and a sensor from Korea laser scanning has encouraged operators to use this with (Staenz 2009). hyperspectral data to combine topographic data to gain additional information on the spatial distribution of land Processing cover and man made features. This has been demonstrat- Because of the large volume of data collected from a ed by Chandrayan-1. hyperspectral sensor, data processing is not straightfor- ward. The raw data has to be georeferenced and radio- Development metric correction has to be applied. Radiometric correc- tion must take account of lighting effects due to sun angle Research and topography, atmospheric transmission and sensor Hyperspectral data has been a fertile area for research gain. These corrections are important if spectral signa- since data first became available. Much of the scientific tures libraries are to be used. The USGS spectral library research is based on data from AVIRIS, Hyperion and contains over 1300 spectra in the wavelength range of 0.2 CHRIS provided by NASA and ESA. More recently, the to 3.0µm. WHISPERS (The Workshop on Hyperspectral Image and It has many more minerals, organic and volatile com- Signal Proccesing - Evolution in Remote Sensing) work- pounds, vegetation and man-made materials. Another shop series run by IEEE-GRSS and attended by existing spectral library is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers and practitioners, has been a major event for (JPL) which includes 160 spectra of minerals in the wave- those involved in hyperspectral remote sensing. Figure 3 length range of 0.4 to 2.5µm. The ASTER spectral library shows the range of topics discussed in 2010. based at NASA JPL is a compilation of over 2400 spectra Recent research has looked at such topics as the of natural and manmade materials and is based on the removal of shadow effect from hyperspectral imagery and other spectral libraries at USGS and John Hopkins Uni- classification of roofs and road extraction using hyper- versity. spectral data. This recognises that spectral signatures Commercial software exists to process hyperspectral which are the distinctive elements of image pixels cover a data. ENVI is a popular software and comes with wide variety of materials ranging from man-made materials

Geospatial World I March 2011 25 Figure 3. Sessions from Whispers 2010 panies which operate airborne hyperspectral sensors and Hyperspectral data processing for defense and security the application areas which they promote. The use of Coastal and littoral areas, oceanic monitoring hyperspectral images for mining exploration is a long Spatial-spectral hyperspectral image analysis standing application and an example is given in Figure 2. Next steps in environmental monitoring The government of Queensland, Australia sees hyper- Classification spectral surveys as a way to 'enable rapid, no impact data Astrophysics and planetary exploration collection, and complement satellite imagery, aerial pho- Feature mining from a HS data cube for information mapping: 3D and beyond tography, magnetics, radiometrics and gravity surveys.' Machine learning for analysis of hyperspectral data They commissioned a survey covering 25,000 km2 of data Applications in biomedical imagery, chemistry and mineralogy from north Queensland using HyMap with a spatial reso- Monitoring of the vegetation and spectral invariants lution of 4.5 m. The outcomes of the project were released Models, calibration and compression in 2009 and comprise a report and a series of over 500 Forward modelling of hyperspectral data GIS-compatible image maps showing surface mineralogy, Statistical vs. geometric unmixing algorithms for hyperspectral data chemistry, vegetation and landscape textures. The result- Monitoring of the vegetation ing mineral, chemistry, vegetation and surface texture Hyperspectral applications for forestry maps are of great assistance to mineral explorers by Data and decision fusion

Endmembers and unmixing identifying areas of alteration and enabling mineral

Monitoring vegetation at multiple scales: Canopy structure & spectr. invar. parameters emplacement models to be tested.

Feature extraction, dimension reduction Another example from Australia comes from the

Exploitation & evaluation of synthetic hyperspectral data Western Australia Minerals and Energy Research News. 'Following on from recent award-winning research into the use of airborne hyperspectral imaging to assess iron- like asphalt, roof materials like aluminium as well as nat- ore dust loadings in the Port Hedland area, this project ural ones like vegetation types. This type of information is evaluates the technology's further use in environmental designed to be used with 3D city models and other land- monitoring. A team led by CSIRO researcher Cindy Ong scape information systems. and Mark Piggott, BHP Billiton Iron Ore, is applying There is also an interest in using close range hyper- hyperspectral technology to monitor several objectives, spectral sensors for geological applications. The images including: can be combined with 3D models from terrestrial laser • Developing case histories of mine site and related opera- scanning to improve interpretation through better visuali- tions in monitoring iron ore, bauxite and nickellaterite mining; sation. This is another example of data fusion. Table 4. Companies offering hyperspectral imaging services and applications they promote

Commercial applications Company Applications The mining industry was the initial stimulus for using Agriculture, environment, water quality, LiDAR, ITRES hyperspectral data as it had been known for many years Ifsar, forestry, defence Agriculture, forestry (fused with LiDAR), geology, that the presence of minerals could be detected from the Spectral Imaging Ltd. water, environmental monitoring chemical composition of the soil along with associated Geology, oil and gas, coastal, defence, agriculture, HyVista Corp. land cover. Multispectral data such as Landsat was used forestry

as soon as it became available. As hyperspectral sensors Earth Search Sciences Inc. Minerals and hydrocarbons were developed, the data quickly became a tool for miner- al exploration. Now, data is used in many areas including SpecTIR Geology, vegetation, water, emergency response agriculture, forestry and land cover. Hyperspectral data is Integrated Spectronics Pty. Ltd.

used to identify individual plant and tree species, noxious Vegetation mapping, precision agriculture, gases and aerosols, minerals and soil types. They are Invasive species, forestry, wetland delineation, land use/ land cover, Impervious surface mapping, also used in analysing air quality. Merrick & Co. environmental mapping, soils and geologic mapping, water resource mapping, advanced Several companies which manufacture hyperspectral research & development studies, defense intelligence. sensors also operate them. Table 4 lists some of the com-

26 Geospatial World I March 2011 Figure 4. Perspective view of LiDAR data and hyperspectral data vegetation classification (Courtesy Merrick and Co.)

• Establishing standards for hyperspectral technology such as reproducibility and accuracy; • Developing an operational monitoring system for iron- derived dust in Port Hedland • Promoting the writing of guidelines for hyperspectral tech- nology as best practise procedures. This is in concert with legislative bodies such as Envi- ronment Protection Authority and Department of Industry and Resources. Anticipated benefits to industry from this Figure 5. Eelgrass (green) and macroalgae (yellow) distribution overlaid 18-month project are more efficient assessment and on the survey project mosaic. management of mining environment activities. There also will be significant benefits for people in dangerous work- LiDAR data will be used to determine the height and den- ing conditions and for environmentally sensitive zones sity of the vegetation. since the need for ground access may be alleviated.' Environmental monitoring is another important appli- An application of growing importance is vegetation cation. The New Hampshire Department of Environmen- and forestry, often combining hyperspectral data with tal Services (DES), in collaboration with the New Hamp- LiDAR. Merrick, for example, was awarded a contract to shire Estuaries Project (NHEP) in the US commissioned a provide high-resolution hyperspectral, LiDAR, and natural hyperspectral survey to investigate the increase in nitro- colour imagery along the Missouri River in Nebraska and gen concentration and declining eelgrass beds in Great Missouri. The Kansas City Corps of Engineers used the Bay Estuary which have been observed in the last few simultaneously collected datasets for habitat modelling in decades. One of the hypotheses put forward regarding and along the Missouri River. This was a pilot project eelgrass decline was that a possible eutrophication undertaken by the Corps of Engineers to determine the response to nutrient increases in the Great Bay Estuary feasibility of using the three remote sensing datasets in has been the proliferation of nuisance macroalgae, which combination with model habitat adequately versus tradi- has reduced eelgrass area in Great Bay Estuary. This tional methods. The identification of cottonwood trees hypothesis was tested by mapping eelgrass and nuisance habitable for eagles is the primary focus. Merrick macroalgae beds using hyperspectral imagery. The result acquired hyperspectral data, LiDAR, and true colour of the survey and analysis is shown in figure 4. imagery during the peak growing season (July 2007) to improve accuracy in species classification and health. The Commercial drivers hyperspectral data was collected at 1 meter resolution Scientists have demonstrated that hyperspectral data can with 128 spectral bands. Merrick analysed the hyperspec- be very useful in a number of applications. Government tral data and classified it into vegetation classes and veg- research organisations and government geological map- etation species. The hyperspectral data will be used to ping agencies sponsor research and surveys and often classify and determine the health of the vegetation; the there is strong collaboration between these agencies and

Geospatial World I March 2011 27 industry, as shown earlier. This occurs at the CSIRO in specifically designed to perform hyperspectral analysis.' Australia, the Geological Survey in Canada, and Geologi- The number of airborne sensors which are available sug- cal Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). Hyper- gests a growing market and certainly many potential spectral imaging and analysis is used commercially in the applications. There is user resistance, brought about by exploration part of the mining industry but only by the very the cost of hyperspectral data and the steep learning big, major companies who own their own instrument and curve required to use the data. Spaceborne systems, with aircraft, like HyMAP. The example from Western Austalia global coverage and rapid repeat cycles, together with indicates the interest of BHP Bilton in the use of hyper- user-friendly software would help overcome this resist- spectral data. It is still too expensive for most major and ance. The HyspIRI mission, under study by NASA for pos- all minor companies. The costs are equivalent to other sible launch in the 2013-2016 timeframe, includes two airborne surveys and so there will always be financial instruments mounted on a satellite in low earth orbit. competition with them. Traditional airborne geophysical There is an imaging spectrometer measuring from the surveys can be argued to be generally useful in a visible to short wave infrared (VSWIR) and a multispectral wider variety of mineral deposit environments than thermal infrared (TIR) imager. The VSWIR and TIR instru- hyperspectral. ments will both have a spatial resolution of 60 m at nadir. The VSWIR will have a temporal revisit of approximately 3 Barriers to development weeks and the TIR will have a temporal revisit of approxi- Staenz (2009) notes that issues that have slowed accept- mately 1 week. This is a step in the right direction for ance and use of hyperspectral data include: inadequate encouraging greater use of hyperspectral data. correction for sensor and atmospheric effects, availability Another development which has considerable poten- and suitability of specific analysis software, data availabil- tial is the of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms for ity and the relative paucity of well-trained scientists to hyperspectral imaging. These could include fixed wing or analyse the data. There are also issues of calibration, helicopters. UAVs are already being used for geophysical banding and low signal-to-noise quality. Spaceborne surveys. The ready mobilisation and low operational costs hyperspectral sensors tend to have a narrow field of view make them a much more viable source of data. Lighter which makes it impossible to achieve global coverage and and more compact sensors are also being developed so it a rapid revisit. Airborne sensors are expensive to operate, will only be a short while before UAV hyperspectral sur- especially in remote areas where mineral exploration is veys become commercially available. required. The spaceborne systems operating at present Another important requirement is rapid processing. were designed as technology demonstrators and lack Work is on to develop real time processing systems that high resolution and revisit capabilities. Operational prod- can be brought about by on-board processing. Staenz ucts are not available and many end users, or potential argues for a fully commercial mission, but this seems a end users, find using the data and the software challeng- long way off at the moment. It is possible that the demon- ing. They also find it expensive and labour intensive. strated success of RapidEye would spur the development of a hyperspectral mission. The mining industry could The future contribute, should they see future potential in rapid It has been mentioned earlier that the field of hyperspec- access at an economical cost. The development of the tral remote sensing is developing: commercial sensors, operation and processing of hyperspectral data with other operators and software exist and satellite systems with data such as LiDAR is also an important development better resolution are in the pipeline. Staenz (2009) states: which is seeing practical application. 'The good news is that the area of hyperspectral remote sensing is quickly reaching critical mass. Operational atmospheric correction algorithms are now available and PROF. IAN DOWMAN many others are under development. Most modern image Editor - Europe processing systems can at least handle the high number Geospatial World of spectral bands and new algorithms are under develop- [email protected] ment. Several software systems are available that are

28 Geospatial World I March 2011 Monsieur Gheorghe Munceanu, Société Topographie Informatique

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8OWUD&DP6\VWHPV:LQ,QGXVWU\$ZDUGV · Microsoft UltraCamXp WA (wide angle) wins the GIS Development Technology Innovation Award for Photogrammetry at Geospatial World Forum 2011 · Microsoft UltraCamLp wins the MAPPS Technology Innovation Award at the Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards 2010 9LVLWZZZLÁ\XOWUDFDPFRPWROHDUQPRUH

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‹0LFURVRIW&RUSRUDWLRQ$OOULJKWVUHVHUYHG0LFURVRIW8OWUD&DP8OWUD&DP;S8OWUD0DSDQG9H[FHO,PDJLQJ*PE+DUHHLWKHUUHJLVWHUHGWUDGHPDUNVRUWUDGHPDUNVRI0LFURVRIW&RUSRUDWLRQLQWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVDQGRURWKHUFRXQWULHV INTERVIEW I Prashant Shukle 'Our data is a public good'

"OUR DATA IS USED BY VARIOUS GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS TO BUILD ANALYTICAL MODELS THAT HELP CANADIANS MAKE BETTER DECISIONS"

What is the mandate of Natural territories on joint mapping initia- Resources Canada's Mapping tives. We also provide open geo- Information Branch? What kind data and information through our of data and value added services GeoConnections programme, does it provide? which is significantly involved in The Mapping Information Branch the development of the Canadian of Natural Resources Canada Geospatial Data Infrastructure. (NRCan) was created in 2008 by bringing together two organisa- Demand for high accuracy geo- tions that were previously graphic data, and in real time, is quite distinct. The first was the increasing manifold. What Data Management and Dissemina- NRCan's initiatives provide this tion Branch, whose role was to col- kind of data? lect, manage and disseminate data Yes, it is true that the demand for and information of Earth Sciences high accuracy data is increasing. Sector of NRCan. The second was This is mostly from dedicated the Mapping Services Branch users of geospatial data and which started out as an outcrop of information as well as the mass the Geological Survey of Canada. market which is becoming In the late 1800s, Canada's first PRASHANT SHUKLE increasingly aware of the impor- director of the Geological Survey, Director General, Mapping Information Branch, tance and relevance of location- Earth Sciences Sector Sir William Logan, argued before Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) based information. Canada is the the Parliament over the need for second largest country in the topographic maps. Over the years, world in terms of area, but has a the responsibility of topographic mapping moved from the population of only about 34 million. We are working on a Geological Survey to eventually become part of the Mapping strategy to develop a national mapping approach that Services Branch, which provides topographic mapping to brings together the provinces, territories, private sector, the country in both digital and paper formats. municipal governments and voluntary sector to respond to As a combined branch, we produce not just topographic the increasing demand for digital maps and other forms of maps but also thematic maps like the Atlas of Canada. We geodata. manage the data of NRCan's Earth Sciences Sector. We develop procedures and national approaches to geographic We are witnessing varying degrees of restrictions on naming in Canada. We collaborate with the provinces and data in different countries, with Canada and the U.S. on

30 Geospatial World I March 2011 Geospatial new. NRCanhasbeenmaking location-based information digits anddata associated witha reference pointonEarth. best seenona maporonthedigital rendering ofamap,in about 'opengeodata' or'openlocation-based data'. Thisis We needto bemore precise abouttheterm. We are talking term 'opendata' very broadly inthegeospatialindustry. I wouldlike to start byputtingthisincontext. We usethe t p h e e r In myview,our commitment to opengeodata isnot

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a addressing issues of licensing andcopyright andbysign- policy, where onecould access and useNRCandata by public interest. In2007, weimplemented ano-fee access model. We decidedthatmoving towards opengeodata isin the Internet, werealised theneed to review ourbusiness sold digital datasets. Withtheadvent andincreased useof other data products. Intheearly days ofdigital data, we ated inafee-based environment, where wesoldmapsand ence isthatinthefirst 80years ofourexistence, weoper- publicly available for wellover 100years. Theonly differ-

31 Topographic map of Ontario and Quebec ing an agreement. Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). The first phase of “ This led to a sudden GeoConnections, from 1999 to 2004, focussed on establish- A rapidly evolving increase in demand ing the foundation of CGDI. The second phase, from 2005 to geocommunity presents a unique set of challenges. for information. In fis- 2010, helped build capacity within communities to populate We need to think about cal year 2007-08, we the geospatial data infrastructure. We are now in the third emerging citizen-based had approximately phase and are focussing on the policy and legal framework issues such as privacy. one million geodata of our GDI. We would like to bring together a variety of dif- We also need to think downloads. In 2010-11, ferent players in a national geospatial context to distribute about liability in a web- the downloads have and disseminate our geospatial data in a no-fee access based economy, because the number of people already reached 12 environment through some sort of federated architecture using location information million. We are fairly mechanism. We are now contemplating SDI in a web envi- is growing exponentially confident that this ronment. Our engineers are already working on it and it is trend will grow and our biggest challenge because of how we try to integrate ’’ that the decision we our business with new ideas like cloud computing and dis- made many years ago, tributed infrastructure. in a studious way, was the right one. A rapidly evolving geocommunity presents a unique set of challenges. We need to draw our attention to emerging One view is that data is a public good and should be citizen-based issues such as privacy. While our data is available for free. How do you perceive this? generalised and we are able to address privacy concerns, It is true that we distribute free data. However, our depart- we know that once other forms of data are integrated, the ment receives appropriations from the Parliament to Government of Canada will need to address citizen con- administer programmes. We have a responsibility towards cerns effectively. We also need to think about liability in a Canadian citizens to utilise these monies in a responsible, web-based economy, because the number of people using transparent and accountable manner. From this perspec- location information is growing exponentially. The poten- tive, data is not exactly free because parliamentary appro- tial issues around liability are steeped in the more tradi- priations come from citizens in the form of tax dollars. tional relationship between producers and consumers of The data we produce is fundamental to the under- information. The web is changing what is accepted as fact standing of the country. It is used by various government and what is not and where we draw lines of responsibility. departments to build analytical models that help Canadi- ans make better decisions. The fact that we build this data NRCan has extended help to other countries in devel- and multiple users add value to it, implies that our data is oping their own SDIs. What are your recent initiatives in a public good. One of the things we need to enhance is this direction? measuring the value of open data to the national economy. We have done a fair bit of work with other countries who Health care organisations use our data to map flu out- have been interested in our model and who have adapted breaks and the private sector uses our data to create val- and improved on it. I would argue that India and Brazil ue-added products and services in the market. There is an have taken the GeoConnections model, improved on it and economic value associated with the use of the data. We are done an exceptional job. We have worked in partnership working towards this end through the new GeoConnec- with other countries in understanding best practices in the tions programme. mapping world. However, our way of doing things is also changing. We would like to focus on developing new poli- Canada is one of the few early countries to recognise cies and approaches to ensure that our tools, technology the relevance and significance of spatial data infra- and data are interoperable. We are eager to ensure that structure (SDI) in an information society. How is Cana- Canadian expertise remains at the forefront of our global dian SDI evolving? What are the challenges and issues partners' minds and make sure our expertise enables the pertaining to sharing of data at this point in time? international community. We are working with countries Canada's SDI journey has been positive. The creation of like India, Brazil and Chile to advance what I think are SDI in Canada was visionary for its time and place. The shared approaches and interests in the geospatial industry GeoConnections programme seeks to build the Canadian and domain.

32 Geospatial World I March 2011 Available for the Web and iPad

2011 Geospatial Solutions Conference Grapevine (Dallas) TX, April 10-13, 2011 Visit us at booth #505

FIG Working Week 2011 Marrakech Morocco, 18-22 May 2011 Visit us at booth #5 CONSTRUCTION PERMITS I Mohammed Noor Al Shaikh & Venkatesh K. Natarajan

THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN AIMS TO FACILITATE entities including municipalities. These include water distribution directorate, electricity distribution direc- THE BOOMING CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS BY torate, telecommunication, sewerage, roads directorate SPEEDING UP THE BUILDING PERMIT and civil defence. PROCESS THROUGH GIS In some cases, no objection certificate (NOC) from Ministry of Health and Ministry of Commerce was also required. The number of entities involved in issuing he Middle East region has been witnessing many building permits made the process lengthy and time development projects in recent times. Construction consuming. Tbusiness has been on an upswing, especially in the The municipal affairs initiated the one stop shop GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. To cope with (OSS) concept which made available representatives from the increasing demand of development, the Kingdom of the five municipalities and all the other entities involved Bahrain has introduced many reforms and changes in the in building permits, under one roof. This helped cus- regulations. These steps aim to ease the processes and tomers avoid visiting different organisations and be able encourage the emergence of new businesses. to complete the process at a single point. However, OSS did not solve the purpose since the business procedure MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS was not modified and issuing building permits took Bahrain municipalities are responsible for issuing build- almost the same time as before. The Information Sys- ing permits and coordinating with other entities involved tems Directorate (ISD) of municipal affairs has re-engi- in building permits. In Bahrain, customers applying for neered the process and developed the application using new construction projects had to deal with more than 10 GIS technology.

34 Geospatial World I March 2011 GIS IMPLEMENTATION The Bahrain munici- pality has been using GIS for the last ten years to carry out its day-to-day business- es. ISD is responsible for preparing the spa- tial data and imple- menting GIS solu- tions. ISD uses ArcGIS to create and manage 6the spatial data and has developed cen- tralised municipal spatial database using ArcSDE with Oracle database. The spatial data is collected from different sources and in different formats. These are regularly updated by municipal staff through cus- tomised GIS applica- tions. ISD implement- ed address manage- ment system to issue and manage the addresses; adver- • Help the municipality to track the applications and building constructions tisement management system to manage the advertise- • Help the municipality to track the building violations. ment locations and map browsing system to browse the municipal spatial data. A land and property management Building permit applications require many docu- system was developed to maintain records of the lands ments to be attached and verified manually. The impor- used by municipal affairs and the projects on these lands. tant documents are: MapObjects and Visual Basic were used to develop all the • Owner CPR (investor ID) applications. Municipal staff was trained to use the appli- • Title deed of the land cation. Currently, more than 500 users in municipality • Survey certificate and other ministries are using these applications across • Zoning certificate of the land the government data network. • Consultant office letter The enterprise building permit system was developed • Client letter to attract more investors to the region as part of the eco- • Building sketch nomic development programme of the Kingdom. This • Electricity building form project aims to achieve the following objectives: • Re-engineer the existing process of issuing building per- • Loading certificate. mits All the applications for building permits are received • Issue the building permit in a short time in OSS and reviewed by the OSS reception staff. Several • Help the investors by having less attachments factors can cause delay in the process of issuing building • Provide facility to track the application round the clock permits. The applications forwarded to the concerned (24x7)

Geospatial World I March 2011 35 understood that up-to-date and accurate parcel and building regulation data are key elements which can change the process dramatically. Survey and Land registration Bureau (SLRB) is responsible for all the land records in Bahrain. It stores the land boundaries in the Microstation DGN file. The building regulations are prepared by Urban Planning Affairs (UPA) which has details as Microstation file in different maps. A memorandum of understanding has been signed between municipality and SLRB to share the data online. The GIS team has developed a utility to convert the parcels in DGN format to ArcSDE format with parcel number and type as attrib- utes. Also, the zoning regulation maps have been updated and prepared as single thematic layer for entire Bahrain and stored municipal spatial database. Using these data, ISD has developed Web-based application to collect the building permit requests and also desktop module for municipal staff to track and manage the building Desktop building permit system permits. Currently, OSS receives the building permit municipal staff are handled manually. Many times, the applications only online and provides the facility of attach- customers are provided wrong number for the parcel, ing the necessary documents. While applying, the cus- causing delay in the process. Also, the parcel number tomer can choose the parcel from the map which pow- may have changed due to sub-division of the land, or the ered by ArcIMS or can enter the parcel number directly. zoning regulations may have changed since the applica- The system defines the zoning regulation from zone layer tion with old title deed. Therefore OSS, after all the verifi- and also forwards the application to the concerned cation, would request the customers to provide the survey municipal staff based on the location certificate and zoning certificate again. The municipal of the parcel from the map. staff would also spend time locating the parcels in the Because of this, the hard copy maps and checking the zoning regulations for application reaches the parcels in multiple sheets of zoning map. After the the concerned staff municipal verification, the documents would be passed on immediately after to each entity for their remarks and suggestions. Every submission of the time, the changes would have to be communicated to application and each entity to get their approval. Finally, it was always dif- also with exact ficult to track the violations since the field inspectors building regulation couldn't carry all the issued permit details with them to type details. the field. Investors can also visit the municipal WEB SOLUTION website and view

ISD has developed a Web solution using Esri GIS technol- the zoning regula- Mobile device ogy and Oracle RDBMS to address all the customers and tion of the parcels with captured municipal staff problems and to improve the service. The by entering their image of a building GIS team in municipality studied the requirements and parcel number. This

36 Geospatial World I March 2011 enables them to save time and design the building appro- priately. It also provides accurate data for municipal staff Implementing GIS has helped and makes it easy to follow up and link with other applica- municipal service avoid tions in municipal services. With municipal verification, the successful application is simultaneously shared with collecting wrong spatial data other entities for their verification. If any changes are and scrutinise the online required, customers are informed through SMS and email applications by validating the with the requisite modification and comments. Cus- zoning details with application tomers can make the modifications online which will alert details all the concerned entities. All the building permit parcels are stored in separate layers in the municipal database. With these, building permit details such as permit number, permit type, con- struction company and status of the construction are attached. ISD has also developed a mobile application using ArcPAD which helps the municipal inspectors follow up enables users to create interpretative reports based on the building construction and help the inspectors reach municipalities and building construction stages. Resident their location using in-built GPS. ISD found it difficult to engineers in municipalities can also view the remarks find the suitable mobile device since many options are made by field inspectors and details through the desktop available at varied costs. ISD made its final selection con- module and take further necessary steps. Violation engi- sidering GPS accuracy, facility to take photographs and to neers can also track the violations entered by field support the ArcPad application. inspectors through mobile device and can make better However, interaction with the inspectors revealed that decisions. the ruggedness of the device also needed to be consid- ered as an essential factor. Field inspectors can update CONCLUSION their mobile device by connecting to their personal com- The Kingdom of Bahrain has successfully implemented puter which will automatically update the device with cen- GIS to improve its municipal service. This system helps tralised municipal spatial database with active building avoid collecting wrong spatial data. It also helps scruti- permits. Inspectors can view the building permit details nise the online applications by validating the zoning on-site to check the construction stages and issue the details with application details. A recent survey conducted building completion certificate in case the building has by the World Bank has ranked Bahrain as number one in been constructed as per regulations. In case of a norm dealing with construction permits in the Middle East violation, they can also issue violation notice on the field region. The centralised building permit spatial data helps itself using their mobile device and enter the details of the planning department plan for the future needs and violation in the device. The details of the location like estimate the future infrastructure requirements. It parcel number, address and road details are updated improves the OSS efficiency and reduces the processing automatically. They can also attach photographs to the period for building permit from six months to a week. violation record. All the details entered in the field are updated to the spatial database by connecting the device Mohammed Noor Al Shaikh to their PC. Asst. Undersecretary for Municipal common services ISD has developed desktop application using MapOb- Ministry of Municipalities and Urban Planning, Kingdom of Bahrain [email protected] jects to allow the municipal engineers to view the issued building permits spatially and be able to track the con- Venkatesa Kumar Natarajan struction of any building. This application provides all the Head of GIS basic functions to navigate the spatial data and also make Information Systems Directorate Ministry of Municipalities and Urban Planning, Kingdom of Bahrain queries based on the parcels and building permits. It [email protected]

Geospatial World I March 2011 37 CROSSRAIL I Wayne Marsh On the g-track

Here's a look at how the largest design, construction and mainte- nance. Currently, there are over 500 civil engineering project in Europe is layers of information including map- ping, environmental and the latest incorporating geospatial technologies project design. in its processes These vary in size from a few objects to large datasets such as the Ordnance Survey Mastermap, rossrail is the largest civil in the east, via 23 km of new twin currently at over 90 million records. engineering project in tunnels under central London and The Crossrail GIS department decid- CEurope and the largest sin- 90 km of upgraded surface rail- ed not to use the British National gle addition to the London trans- ways. It will link major employ- Grid as its standard coordinate sys- port network in over 50 years. It ment centres of Heathrow Airport, tem. Instead, it is adopting a more has been designed to provide a the West End, the City of London accurate survey grid (London Survey new railway network for London and Canary Wharf. Grid), creating issues of data trans- and the South East and carry 200 formation. All this information had million passengers a year. From THE GIS CHALLENGES to be made available seamlessly to 2018, Crossrail will travel from Crossrail is extensively using (and the CAD departments in 3D format Maidenhead and Heathrow in the plans to use) GIS within the entire to help create a unique 3D asset west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood lifecycle of the project, including model.

38 Geospatial World I March 2011 • Simple development environment OVERCOMING CURRENT tool which required little or no train- • Integration with CAD CHALLENGES ing, was intuitive to use and which To overcome these challenges, • Integration with Oracle Spatial delivered information in a timely Crossrail has adopted Oracle 11g As the project has grown, so has fashion. It was also important that spatial database to help manage and the data to be accessed, including the tool provides data security, process the vast amounts of data utility data, survey data, environ- allowing the viewing of data based utilised within the project. mental studies and parliamentary on user access rights. The solution This is the singular master information. This wealth of informa- was Bentley Geo Web Publisher, repository for all geospatial data. It tion was, and is, required to be dis- known as Crossrail Maps. It is a sin- has recently been extended to 300 tributed to the entire project on gle mapping portal providing both GB to allow for addition of further demand. Crossrail decided to have a mapping and metadata on the users' project information. This is made possible due to the scalability of the solution. Specialised PL/SQL stored procedures have been developed to re-project data into London Survey Grid without the need for user inter- vention. With Oracle Spatial’s neutral data format, the project got freedom in its choice of GIS. This facilitated the use of right tools for the right jobs. For example, the bored tunnels team selected Esri's ArcMap as it served as a powerful tool to fit the following requirements: • Ground behaviour Route map • Settlement and assessment of potential damage • Geotechnical services • Instrumentation and monitoring • Noise and vibration analysis • Flood protection and drainage • Interface management • Alignment design • Planning and environment • Provision of the ITT scope document packages for potential contractors

However, the planning depart- ment preferred Bentley Map due to the following capabilities: • Topology tools • 3D capabilities • Data capture tools Sub-surface CAD view

GeospatialWorld I March 2011 39 Crossrail Maps

desktop, filtering the information ments. Two other dis- delivered by active directory group tinct data servers are membership. being utilised to help This implies that only one map- distribute geospatial ping interface has been created, information - Bentley reducing maintenance tasks and Systems ProjectWise simplifying the training require- and eB. ProjectWise, is ments. However, Oracle 11g Spatial an engineering docu- database is only one part of the ment management overall Crossrail GIS data require- solution and is prima- rily used to manage CAD-based engineer- ing drawings. eB is the As the project has grown, so management and has the data to be accessed. Crossrail decided to have a asset register applica- Asset structure tool which required little or no tion. training, was intuitive to use These solutions and delivered the information deliver information either through applications together, allowing data in a timely fashion standard desktop clients or intranet. to be transferred between each However, they also communicate server. This allows GIS data held with each other through connectors. within the Oracle Spatial database to These connectors link different be communicated to the engineers

40 Geospatial World I March 2011 correct Z value associated to it. Thus a wealth of 3D intelligent data is being collated. In the future, Crossrail is planning to use auto- mated extraction techniques to link CAD and GIS data with asset reg- istry held with eB. In the process, asset information will be made available at differing levels of detail, similar to that described within the CityGML data structure. This information will then be used for asset maintenance tasks based on either positional information or linear referencing techniques built within the GIS. Ultimately, Crossrail envisages a system where, through a simple singular interface, users can move from GIS data into BIM data to asset information. This single system will also be linked to asset maintenance systems for tasks such as on-site inspection, providing not only asset information but spatial location within the Crossrail infrastructure. The Crossrail GIS approach involves collaboration and coopera- tion across multiple disciplines and Architecture companies. It demonstrates how GIS and related procedures have been implemented on a substantial using ProjectWise. Subsequently, aspects within these stages will also and complex civil engineering proj- this information can be passed to change from data gathering and ect, providing useful evidence of the asset management team using data provision to asset capturing and cost and time saving, as well as eB. The technology removes dupli- asset maintenance. Thus the spatial demonstrating risk mitigation by cations, retains the live data in its data models of Crossrail project had ensuring appropriate use of data original location and eliminates the to incorporate the future require- and information. Crossrail hopes potential of out-of-date information ments of asset capture and mainte- that the qualitative and the quantita- being delivered to any of its users. nance. From the beginning, the proj- tive benefits of implementing GIS ect management decided that all will increase as the project pro- FUTURE GIS DEVELOPMENTS data will be captured in 3D, from gresses.

The Crossrail project is still evolving both CAD and GIS perspectives. Wayne Marsh through the design and construction Within CAD, all data is being cap- GIS Manager stages and into operation and main- tured using BIM techniques. In GIS, Crossrail [email protected] tenance. The geospatial data where applicable, the data has its

GeospatialWorld I March 2011 41 FOOD SECURITY I Carsten Haub & Sven Gilliams Crop monitoring

The Global Monitoring for Food Security project of European generate the required geo information at appropriate Space Agency aims to provide earth observation-based services scales • Lack of long term avail- for, and to encourage partnerships in, monitoring food security ability and continuity of and related environmental processes earth observation and satellite data.

GMFS A significant initiative to address these issues is the European Space Agency's (ESA) Global Monitoring for Food Secu- rity (GMFS) that is part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) framework. GMFS aims to establish opera- tional services for crop monitoring in support of food security monitoring to serve policy makers and operational users by ensuring sustainable inte- gration and application of those solutions into a well nodded stakeholders net- work in Africa. The GMFS framework focuses on those aspects urrently, more While advanced earth grated into decision of food security monitoring than one billion observation technologies making processes. This where satellite derived Cpeople on Earth have the potential to con- is because of the follow- technology brings added are affected by hunger tribute to more effective ing reasons: value. These include moni- and more than 30 coun- mechanisms for identify- • Limited capacities and toring parameters reflect- tries are experiencing ing food crises and defin- experts networks at the ing crop condition, agricul- stakeholders level food emergencies. Most ing early reactions, they tural production and over- • Lack of integrated of these are in Africa. have been rarely inte- processes to operationally all vegetation health. The

42 Geospatial World I March 2011 from the sky

GMFS framework aims at the day-to-day frame- data dissemination System the consortium with its establishing multi-scale works and being fully (DDS). user liaison and imple- crop monitoring services involved into the institu- At a national level, mentation of GMFS servic- by providing spatial infor- tional networks is a vital GMFS introduced and inte- es. The key services mation on variables in dif- step to really bring the grated the agricultural provided in the first two ferent spatial, temporal solutions to the user insti- mapping services (AM) into stages included: and thematic resolutions tutions. the common work flows. • For early warning servic- affecting food security. GMFS delivered demon- Policy makers and opera- RECENT GMFS OUTCOMES stration cases and identi- tional users at various The first two stages of the fied bottlenecks and weak- administrative levels need project ran from 2003 until nesses of RS for agricul- GMFS focuses reliable and continuous 2009. These two stages tural applications. GMFS “ information sources. demonstrated the value of also provided advanced on those aspects Advanced crop information remote sensing (RS) infor- training for ground of food security derived from earth obser- mation from continental to truthing field work, GMFS monitoring where vation data can contribute local scale for crop moni- and satellite data handling satellite derived to their need to achieve toring and food security. and the integration of technology transparency about the These two stages also saw those products into the brings added extent and distribution of establishment of good daily work of various gov- value. These agricultural production as working relations among ernment experts. include monitor- an essential information to the stakeholder network in GMFS forged good ing parameters assess food availability. Africa. These services pro- relations at regional level The ultimate goal to vided the regional centres with the AGRHYMET cen- reflecting crop identify food insecure the necessary reliable tre in Niamey, RCMRD in condition, areas and populations and access to early warning Nairobi and the SADC- agricultural to quantify their level of data sets and capacity RRSU in Gaborone. The production vulnerability with particu- building to support their relations established at and overall lar emphasis on food decision makers and the the national level included vegetation health security needs more than national early warning close working relations only innovative and robust units. As an addition to the with ministries and public processing chains. continuously production authorities in Senegal, Assessing the information and provision of the early Ethiopia, Mozambique, needs, being able to devel- warning services (EWS), Malawi, Sudan and Zim- es, about 30 million km²’ were covered with indica- op a technological solution GMFS established an babwe. These relations tors on a 10 daily basis, and providing services is extensive data cataloguing were strengthened by the serving 8 regions of interest the first step. Ensuring and dissemination infra- fact that the GMFS part- and 11 user organisations know- how transfer, fol- structure by means of nership opted to have local • Agricultural mapping lowing up the actual inte- GeoNetwork, Internet, FTP experts as national GMFS products were provided to five countries: Senegal, gration of the services into transmission and the ESA representatives to support Ethiopia, Sudan, Malawi

Geospatial World I March 2011 43 and Zimbabwe, addressing aiming at establishing and the needs of respective training session have been TRANSITION TO GMFS3 strengthening data accessi- ministries of agriculture. provided to about 200 For the recently launched bility and dissemination by Throughout the six years of national, regional and third stage of GMFS means of up to date tech- GMFS operations, Malawi nologies. and Senegal were mapped international experts. (GMFS3), the service inte- 5 times and Ethiopia and These sessions covered all gration and know how The particular empha- Sudan were mapped twice. aspects of GMFS, namely: transfer will be employed sis of GMFS Stage 3 is on • Validation of these prod- • Field data collection on: the following measures: ucts based upon fieldwork. • Validation procedures • Organisational level to Transfer services to In collaboration with local transfer the services to • Early warning indicators operational structures: experts, nine fieldwork operational structures campaigns were executed. • High resolution SAR data through the actual involve- The GMFS partnership has Agro-meteorological and medium resolution ment of the users into the initiated the organisational departments in Senegal optical data for agricultural service network, process of growing and Malawi were supported mapping with yield estimates. These • Technological level involvement in the African • GMFS support to CFSAM through an ongoing evolu- yield estimates were pro- stakeholders' frameworks. vided twice per year and methodology tion of the services and Involvement of user covered the most important • Agro-meteorological yield customisation dedicated to regions in the country. forecasting the different user needs organisations: By design, and In the last six years, 30 • ESA DDS. users are involved in GMFS • With a logistical focus stage 3. The proposed activities build upon the partnerships established with key users during Stage 2 (Sudan, Malawi, Senegal, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia). This is to ensure continuity in supporting those users and further paving the way for sustain- ability. Users are the driving force behind the imple- mentation of proposed GMFS activities. Those will Services be the institutions to exe- cute and use the GMFS DDS Service services beyond stage 3. The regional centres will Yield Estimate Service be the key actors of the Early Warming Service service sustainability Corp Mapping/Survey Service ensuring a multiplier CFSAM Service effect.

RCMRD PLANNED SERVICES AGRHYMET The planned information services are: • Early warning service

GMFS activities by region and service • Know-how transfer for SAR agricultural applica- tions

44 Geospatial World I March 2011 • Sudan agricultural cultural monitoring of mapping selected agro ecological • Sudan: Support to agricultural surveys systems and will be per- • Support to crop and food formed in close collabora- supply assessment tion with local expert (agri- missions for Zimbabwe cultural and remotes sens- • Malawi: Support to ing) and the GMFS science agricultural surveys team. • FAST services (support to CFSAM and delivery of early SERVICE SUSTAINABILITY warning indicators) The design of the project is SERVICE EVOLUTION such that all activities are In the third stage, services geared towards the inte- will be continuously gration of these type of improved through dedicat- services into operational Overall schema of the GMFS project organisation by service, region, user and the concerned GMFS partner ed R&D actions and monitoring mechanisms. through parallel R&D proj- In particular, the ects. The focus will be on planned activities and and dissemination systems ness of the output informa- service transfer to the actions are: by means of up-to-date tion and the correct appli- users. However, there are • Secure access to the technologies. During GMFS cation of the outcomes. two dedicated service lines users to earth observation- Stage 2, ESA DDS network, The following aspects based products, through planned for R&D within setting up operational mul- EUMETCAST (VGT4AFRCIA) will indicate the success of GMFS3. The dedicated ti-sensor processing chains and the UN GeoNetwork GMFS service integration R&D activities are foreseen and facilitating the distribu- nodes, in addition to stan- and technology transfer: tion and usage through ded- • The range of implementa- for Malawi to ensure evolu- icated tools and dissemina- dard means such as FTP, tion into users' operational tion of the services: tion mechanisms. web sites or e-mails were structures • Experimental crop • Capacity building and used as data provision • Sufficient capacity and acreage assessment training in order to better structures and access to training aimed at under- understand and facilitate • Experimental crop specific GMFS products and satel- standing the services pro- usage of the GMFS data and and crop changes maps vided to facilitate the correct products. lite data archives such as application of services; These two work pack- the GMES framework as ages will tackle important Set-up access and data well as recent and future • Adequate participative customisation of technolo- outstanding issue of agri- dissemination mecha- ESA missions. gies to facilitate data pro- nisms. A cessing logistical OUTLOOK • Easy access and focus of For a successful continua- operational availability of Users are the satellite data and driving force behind the GMFS3 is tion of the GMFS service geoinformation underlying implementation of emphasising chains beyond the third the services. proposed GMFS activities. the estab- stage, a basic operational Those will be the lishment and requirement will be the Carsten Haub institutions to execute and strengthen- insurance of financial con- EFTAS Remote Sensing Technology use the GMFS services ing of opera- tinuity which will depend Transfer GmbH, Germany [email protected] beyond stage 3 tional, reli- on the robustness of the able and processing technology, Sven Gilliams easy to han- the reliability of data acqui- Flemish Institute for Technological dle data sitions, the accurateness of Research, Belgium [email protected] accessibility the products, the timeli-

Geospatial World I March 2011 45 GEOINT I John Olesak The complete intelligence picture

decade ago, when tions took up valuable from; some appear to first responders because someone pur- drive space, slowed do exactly the same warfighters can lose Achased a new down processing speed thing tied to enormous precious moments computer desktop, man- and burdened the end amounts of data, uncom- deciphering all the data. ufacturers loaded it with user. The same could be mon architectural The 'information software applications said of today's geospatial frameworks and varying overload' is common for that appealed to the intelligence (GEOINT) standards by disparate today's GEOINT analysts. masses rather than applications. Today's organisations. This is a There are layers of being tailored for the GEOINT users are bom- challenge faced by US information or data which, needs of individual barded with multiple and foreign government when used in synchroni- users. These applica- applications to choose agencies, analysts and sation with our lives, can

46 Geospatial World I March 2011 be beneficial. However, cessing software and spa- to their destination. It is nation should be when supplied in over- tial services. These organ- not incumbent upon the transparent to them. The whelming abundance, this isations partner with the driver to know the differ- emphasis should be on information/data loses its government, private sec- ence between regional getting actionable intelli- power to help us. tor and academic organi- imagery and street level gence to analysts and ulti- The challenge facing sations to define, develop, vector maps - that is the mately, the tactical user. the world of GEOINT test, document, validate job of the GPS. Good Combining on-the-fly with acquisition, analysis and and approve interface and applications with appro- common standards and processing is to peel away encoding standards. When priate data lead to mission partners can help share the layers of unnecessary deploying a standards- accomplishment. The data and disseminate the based development same is true for users right information to the approach, data and appli- who require GIS to accom- right analysts who need it, cations from multiple plish their missions. If a in the format they require sources and providers can user is examining an area “Today's geospatial and in the necessary be tightly integrated to to determine adequate intelligence timeframe. achieve a more robust set helicopter landing zones, (GEOINT) users are of tools. They also require he will require accurate bombarded with Common standards and significantly less pre-work and detailed terrain infor- information. interoperability on the part of the user in mation rather than being Since GEOINT data Common standards and order to accomplish their bogged down by global is expansive, implementation methods tasks. information maps or providing user the are critical to ensure that Using commercial, off regional imagery data that ability to focus on the multitudes of systems -the-shelf (COTS) soft- is 10 years old. His mis- available to the user are ware promotes system sion success and reducing what they want capable of performing the interoperability, better errors depends on provid- without the arduous intended mission without scalability and a reduction ing him with the right task of sifting interruption or error. in user training required tools combined with the through layers Developing systems from to 'spin up' on multiple right data in the format he upon layers of the ground up using a systems. This also helps requires. information that standards-based create an efficient and GEOINT data is expan- does not apply in approach ensures that the cost-effective method to sive so providing user with their situation, is various tools needed by deploy sophisticated geo- the ability to focus on crucial the user are interoperable graphic analysis, visuali- what they want, without and collaborate seamless- sation and dissemination the arduous task of sifting ly behind the scenes with- capabilities at the enter- through layers upon lay- out any direct user inter- prise level. ers of information that vention. Organisations like does not apply in their sit- Open Geospatial Consor- Applications and data uation, is crucial. Transla- data in times of crisis,’ on tium (OGC), National Spa- The best applications are tors supported by service- the battlefield or at the tial Data Infrastructure useless without the right oriented architecture and command centres, there- (NSDI) and the Global data. Similarly, the most provided to myriad appli- by enhancing interoper- Spatial Data Infrastruc- accurate data holds no cations can help achieve ability. Applications are ture Association (GSDI) value without the right the goal of tightly coupling designed for basic users, are working towards tools to exploit it. For applications and data. The but can be layered for developing standards that example, if motorists user's end goal is to get advanced users as well. enable interoperability and using GPS have the right the right kinds of informa- seamless integration of tool and the correct data tion, so the process of the Collaboration spatial information, pro- loaded on it, they will get exploitation and dissemi- Alliance partners, intelli-

Geospatial World I March 2011 47 together can be made 'aware' of the data and capabilities available across the enterprise. This results in more timely intelligence analy- sis and allows the user to stay focused on the mis- sion rather than create or collect new data from scratch.

The Future - GEOINT and beyond Natural disasters, domes- tic emergency, acts of ter- rorism or increasing security threats create a orthrop Grumman need for a better under- standing of our surround-

Images courtesy N ings and to have the ability to collaborate with other gence and defence agen- ways to quickly identify logistics, execution moni- agencies, systems and cies, military commands, evacuation routes or toring, physical asset data sets to respond and law enforcement urgent need areas. Like- tracking, exploration of quickly. Continued agencies, all stand to ben- wise, the multinational what-if scenarios, data advances in GEOINT data efit from standards-based, environment can benefit exploitation and analysis, acquisition, processing interoperable GEOINT by being able to analyse highly integrated databas- and dissemination can data and applications. geospatial data to es and sensor networks provide first responders, Defence agencies can enhance military capabili- and secure command and mission planners and benefit from common ties. By promoting a com- control systems helps warfighters detailed infor- standards, interoperability mon architecture frame- ensure collaborative mation about their and on-demand applica- work, one can achieve success, mitigate risk and environment, keeping tions to determine the consistent collaborative reduce costs. them safe and prepared position of fellow soldiers analytical results. This can Collaboration can also for action. With GEOINT as on the battlefield or dis- guarantee full interoper- reduce the need to collect the foundation, all other seminate information to ability of systems. Offering new data, develop new types of intelligence serve commanders. additional support func- systems or even perform as the building blocks First responders can tions such as intelligence detailed analysis on which enable the com- coordinate with local offi- gathering and mission specific regions of the plete intelligence picture. cials to determine best planning, routing and world. Systems that work Bringing data together to

48 Geospatial World I March 2011 Accuracy and productivity. Anywhere the job takes you.

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© 2011, Trimble Navigation Limited. All rights reserved. Background image © Mario Beauregard / PhotoExpress.com. leverages the multiple the complete intelligence picture at components of intelli- their fingertips. Continued advances in GEOINT gence to create a cohe- With the advent of more data acquisition, processing and sive, multi-disciplined advanced handheld technology, dissemination can provide first common operating much of the processing and com- picture. Tying in the putation for which we used to rely responders, mission planners and multiple intelligence on server farms can now be accom- warfighters detailed information components such as plished in the field. In the time of about their environment, keeping signals intelligence limited bandwidth and no capability them safe and prepared for action (SIGINT), human intelli- for 'reachback' this is crucial to gence (HUMINT) and mission support. measurement and sig- GEOINT in the field is not nals intelligence a new concept, but up-to-date (MASINT), GEOINT information on-the-fly is still a forms the base for a goal instead of reality. Industry layered intelligence and government alike are model that is critical in spending significant amounts of form the most accurate and understanding the complete intelli- money on research and develop- detailed picture possible is gence picture. ment layered models so that we becoming the standard in providing Deploying layered intelligence are able to provide the tactical user multi-intelligence models into the field is rapidly information when they need it, (Multi-INT) overlays, along with becoming a mission requirement where they need it and in the collaboration and cooperation - rather than an augmentation to format they need. across domains, enterprise and current operations. The days of borders. As the foundation for working with a paper map tied to John Olesak multi-INT, GEOINT provides the digital intelligence are coming to an Vice President Integrated Intelligence Systems 'where and when' foundation that end. First responders now require Northrop Grumman GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY UPDATE SEMINAR 2011 G-tech for all

ence how DigitalGlobe's advanced product platforms can aid users in location business intelligence across defense, government and enterprise. The advanced Ortho Series provides orthorectified, application-ready imagery and works through a combination of constellation, image library and world- class processing and expertise. He also detailed the merits of the addition of new spectral bands to WorldView-2.

Kilian Ulm of COWI outlined the applica- tions and benefits of the wide range of mapping and multidisciplinary solutions offered by the company. He informed that aerial photography provides high-resolution orthophotos using an integrated digital workflow, airborne laser scanning offers

GIS Development organised another informed the audience how HP range can successful series of Geospatial Technology help achieve this. The design drivers in Update Seminar (GTUS) in Southeast Asian helping HP Designjet address GIS chal- countries, during February 10-22, 2011. lenges are mobility (with the facility of access and print on the go), collaboration GTUS aims to provide exclusive and com- (allowing users to instantly share and man- prehensive updates on geospatial technolo- age print-ready designs across teams) and gies. The four-nation, 2011 edition of the simplicity (intuitive printing). event was held in Brunei, Thailand, Indone- sia and Vietnam. Each country received Discussing the changes taking place in GIS about 160 delegates from government, mapping systems and basemaps in terms of users and private sectors representing vari- map creation and data accessibility, Mark ous geospatial segments. Cygan, Esri observed that many forces are converging to enable a pervasive geospatial Leading stakeholders of the geospatial infrastructure. Mark informed the audience community across all host countries about the benefits of ArcGIS Online in the expressed their keenness towards the evolving geospatial ecosystem including event by partnering in it. The industry too cloud-based geospatial platform for sharing, continued to offer its strength behind the discovery and use of resources. He also event and had a lot on its platter for the informed that ArcGIS provides basemaps audiences. COWI and DigitalGlobe joined and map templates, ready-to-use browser the event this year while Esri and Hewlett- and mobile applications and geoprocessing accurate digital elevation models of large Packard continued their association from services. Users can make their own maps areas and oblique aerial images provide air- 2010. and search for shared items and groups. He borne high-resolution images of building also shared Esri's initiatives in community fronts for GIS applications, web-based solu- Prof. Andre K. Economou of HP elaborated basemaps. The benefits of participating in tions and 3D city models. 3D City Models on how the company's product range can community basemaps include no hosting for Visualization & GIS are beneficial for a help address GIS challenges in large format costs and users keeping all data rights. sustainable planning and professional use, printing. He informed that the HP benefits while mobile mapping is a fast, mobile and include sharing GIS files easily and quickly, Craig Lim, DigitalGlobe observed the trans- safe terrestrial data acquisition of 3D laser managing and processing large, complex formations taking place in geospatial intelli- point data and panoramic images for 3D files seamlessly from the cloud and short- gence including an unprecedented prolifer- road feature extraction. He also informed ening the time it takes to print out results of ation of the number of sensors, availability about the thermal mapping services which GIS analysis. Prof Andre asserted that res- of imagery and variety of tools. According to offers thermal images for the identification cue efforts during a disaster depend highly him, the key success factor in geospatial of energy loss in buildings/distribution on the accuracy of printed maps and intelligence is agility. He informed the audi- networks.

Geospatial World I March 2011 51 MARK YOUR CALENDER

MARCH 2011 Chicago, US April 11 - 13 May 12 http://www.thewherebusiness. JURSE 2011 Geoweb Summit March 10 - 11 com/locationintelligenceusa/? Munich, Germany New York, US GeoViz Hamburg 2011 utm_source http://www.pf.bv.tum.de/jurse2011 http://geowebsummit.com/ Hamburg, Germany March 31 - April 1 April 12 - 14 May 12 http://www.geomatik- hamburg.de/geoviz/ MAPublisher Training Ghana Oil & Gas Conference & GeoDATA Dublin 2011 New York City area, US Exhibition Dublin Co. Fingal, Republic March 15 -16 http://www.avenza.com Accra, Ghana of Ireland http://www.cwcghana.com http://www.geoinformationgroup.co. MAPPS Federal Programs Conference APRIL 2011 Washington D.C., US uk/training/geodata April 19 - 21 http://www.mapps.org/events/2011fe April 18 -21 May 19 - 20 deralprogramschedule.cfm Where 2.0 The 14th AGILE International Santa Clara, US MAPublisher Training March 16 Conference on Geographic http://where2conf.com/where2011 Chicago, US April 24 - 26 GeoRabble Information Science http://www.avenza.com/training/ Sydney, Australia Utrecht, Netherlands The Sixth National outline http://georabble.eventbrite.com/? http://www.uu.nl/faculty/ GIS Symposium in May 19 ref=ebtn geosciences/en/agile2011/ Saudi Arabia agile2011welcome/Pages/default.aspx Khobar, Saudi Arabia Oracle Spatial User Conference March 18 - 19 http://saudigis.org 2011 April 4 - 6 Geo Horizon11 Washington DC, US April 18 - 21 Chennai, India Kuwait Oil and Gas Summit & http://www.gita.org/events/ http://www.geoinformaticsonline. Exhibition The 14th AGILE oracle2011/ com Kuwait City, Kuwait International Conference http://www.cwckuwait.com on Geographic Information May 23 - 25 March 21 - 24 Science COM.Geo 2011 SPAR International Conference on 3D FOSSGIS 2011 Konferenz Utrecht, Netherlands Washington DC, US April 5 Imaging & Positioning for Engineering, http://www.uu.nl/faculty/ http://www.com-geo.org Construction, Manufacturing, Security Heidelberg, Germany geosciences/en/agile2011/agile2011wel May 23 - 26 The Woodlands, US http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/wiki come/Pages/default.aspx http://www.SPARConference.com /Main_Page Bentley Systems User Conference May 2011 Philadelphia, US March 23 - 25 April 6 - 7 http://www.bentley.com/betogether 1st Conference on Spatial GEO-11 a World of Geomatics May 3-8 Statistics 2011 with GIS Innovations GeoInformation for Disaster May 24 - 25 Enschede, The Netherlands London, UK Management (GI4DM) 2011 The Location Business Summit http://www.spatialstatisticsconfer- http://www.pvpubs.com/events.php Antalya, Turkey Amsterdam, The Netherlands ence.com http://www.gi4dm2011.org/ http://http://www.thewherebusi- April 7 ness.com/locationsummit/index.shtml March 28 - 30 GeoDATA 2011 May 9 - 11 GIS-T Symposium Leeds, UK 2011 Washington GIS Conference May 31 - June 2 Hershey, US http://www.geoinformationgroup. Lynnwood, US AfricaGEO2011 http://www.gis-t.org co.uk http://waurisa.org/conferences/2011_ Cape Town, South Africa Conference_Index.html http://www.africageo.org March 28 - 31 April 10 - 14 CalGIS Geospatial Solutions May 10 - 13 Fresno, US Conference - GITA 2011 The National Map Users Confer- http://www.urisa.org/calgis/info Texas, US ence and USGS Geographic Infor- https://www.gitaservices.org/ mation Science (GIS) Workshop March 28 - 30 websites/gita2011/index.php?p=1 Colorado, US Geospatial Information Systems http://nationalmap.gov/uc/ April 10 - 15 for Transportation Symposium Hershey, US 34th International http://www.gis-t.org Symposium on Remote Sensing of March 30 - 31 Environment Enterprise Strategies for Location Sydney, Australia Intelligence http://isrse34.org

52 Geospatial World I March 2011

Hope floats Egyptians, fresh from a successful bid for democracy, are looking forward to economic development. In this direction, the country's interim government has adopted the "Desert Development Corridor" project as its flagship programme. The project was created using satellite imagery. It will include installation of new transportation routes to an undeveloped area of desert running parallel to the Nile River Valley and Delta.

The project would open up new land for urban development, commerce, agriculture, tourism and related jobs. It is seen as a source of hope for the young revolution generation who is already expressing keen interest in it. Text & image courtesy: Newswise

54 GeospatialWorld I March 2011 Leica Geosystems Rapid response mapping

When time is of the essence Leica Geosystems airborne sensors are known to be “best in class” in accuracy, efficiency and data quality. Now, the Leica ADS80 airborne imaging sensor and the Leica XPro workflow are once again setting standards in fastest delivery of processed data for near-realtime geospatial analysis. Combine this with the complete range of image processing, data hosting and data sharing tools available from Leica Geosystems Geospatial Solutions Division, and you get real information real fast.

For further information contact Kenneth Smillie on +41 71 727 3131

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