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Volume XVI, Issue 8, August 2020 THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON POSITIONING, NAVIGATION AND BEYOND

A Map is a Living Structure with the Recurring Notion of far more Smalls than Larges

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To Learn More: Go2.LaserTech.com/Coordinates COLOPHON AND CONTENTS

In this issue Coordinates Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2020

Articles

Impact of COVID-19 on GNSS Chris Rizos 6 A Map Is a Living Structure with the Recurring Notion

of Far More Smalls than Larges Bin Jiang and Terry Slocum 7 Decision support system for engineering

structure supervision Aicha Derkaoui 20 COVID-19: Idled Sarasota Employees Contribute with

Fieldwork Sarah Alban 26

Columns

My Coordinates Editorial 5 Old Coordinates 19 News GIS 28 GNSS 29 Tracking Crovid 32 UAV 33 LBS 34 Imaging 35

Industry 36 Mark your calendar 38

This issue has been made possible by the support and good wishes of the following individuals and companies Aicha Derkaoui, Bin Jiang, Chris Rizos, Sarah Alban and Terry Slocum; Labsat, Laser Technology, SBG System, and many others.

Mailing Address Web www.mycoordinates.org [India] Rs.1,800 [Overseas] US$100 A 002, Mansara Apartments Coordinates is an initiative of CMPL that aims to broaden the C 9, Vasundhara Enclave scope of positioning, navigation and related technologies. Printed and published by Sanjay Malaviya on behalf of Delhi 110 096, India. CMPL does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed Coordinates Media Pvt Ltd Phones +91 11 42153861, 98102 33422, 98107 24567 by the authors in this magazine and may not be held liable for Published at A 002 Mansara Apartments, Vasundhara any losses caused directly or indirectly due to the information Enclave, Delhi 110096, India. Email provided herein. © CMPL, 2020. Reprinting with permission is [information] [email protected] encouraged; contact the editor for details. Editor Bal Krishna [editorial] [email protected] Owner Coordinates Media Pvt Ltd (CMPL) [advertising] [email protected] Annual subscription (12 issues) [subscriptions] [email protected]

4 | Coordinates August 2020 MYCOORDINATES

The rush

Several vaccines for Covid-19 are on the anvil.

A few are launched, and some in trial phase.

China, Russia, USA, UK, India and so on…

There is a need, a dire need.

And hence is the rush,

More so, when it is to be to be the first

To capture the market and the share.

There are issues,

Issues of credentials and credibility both.

Protocols cannot simply be compromised.

Though the rush is understandable,

It simply cannot be rushed through.

Bal Krishna, Editor [email protected]

ADVISORS Naser El-Sheimy PEng, CRC Professor, Department of Geomatics Engineering, The University of Calgary Canada, George Cho Professor in GIS and the Law, University of Canberra, Australia, Professor Abbas Rajabifard Director, Centre for SDI and Land Administration, University of Melbourne, Australia, Luiz Paulo Souto Fortes PhD Associate Professor, University of State of Rio Janeiro (UERJ), Brazil, John Hannah Professor, School of Surveying, University of Otago, New Zealand

Coordinates August 2020 | 5 GNSS Impact of COVID-19 on GNSS The impact of COVID-19 is most dramatic in the slow down of workforce training, education, and research at universities

Chris Rizos Definitely No. Less interest in addressing train (i.e. train to undertake research) Emeritus Professor vulnerabilities of GNSS due to jamming the highly qualified workforce that in the School of Civil or spoofing threats? No. Less investment GNSS industries need for product and Environmental in regional satellite-based augmentation development and service operations. Engineering and a systems? No. The list goes on…. (Of course, Chinese universities co-director of the are still producing large numbers of Satellite Navigation and The conclusions I drew were that there graduates, but there will be a lag of Positioning (SNAP) Lab at would be almost no negative impacts several years before these are recruited UNSW. Chris is president- of COVID-19 on the production to non-Chinese GNSS companies.) elect of the International or deployment of GNSS products Union of Geodesy & and services. That in fact the pre- Furthermore with the cancellation of Geophysics (IUGG) COVID-19 market predictions of many conferences, there are currently no double-digit growth in the value of opportunities for early career researchers GNSS equipment and applications and graduate students to present the over the coming decade are valid (of results of their research before their course assuming that their original peers and obtain valuable feedback. It is assumptions about the growth of GNSS- possible to run conferences in “virtual” supported applications were correct). mode, but there is no substitute for face- to-face meetings over coffee or social t first I was trying to determine Then I realised that the greatest impact events to engage in networking. This Ahow there many be (positive or of COVID-19 would be on the GNSS “networking” is the primary means by negative) impacts of COVID-19 on GNSS workforce. In particular universities are which academics and students discuss their applications. I went down a checklist. teaching using online methods. How does work, identify new research challenges, Would it impact science? No. Would there that impact on the numbers of students find employment, and generally ensure be less construction or surveying? No, being educated in GNSS principles and the education sector remains dynamic. perhaps an emphasis on infrastructure practices? No more “hands-on” labs. Our Even seasoned academics like myself spending to rebuild economies would research (PhD) students are not mixing feel cut off. We are not able to meet increase GNSS use. Would there be less with other students (and getting cross- colleagues to discuss wider issues precision agriculture or automated mining fertilisation of ideas). They are not meeting regarding GNSS, especially the many activities? No. Less personal/mobilephone as often with their thesis supervisors. Most issues related to multi-constellation GNSS, applications? I doubt it. Less R&D into seriously for many western countries, the alternative PNT technologies, national future driverless vehicles? No. Less use number of graduate students from China, and international policy development, in aviation (including drones)? Maybe, India and other countries, coming to latest industry trends, new GNSS/PNT but this is a tiny market. Less maritime their universities to do their PhD studies applications, defence vis-a-vis civilian users? No. Less interest in “smart has dried up! Western universities are GNSS issues, and new space-based PNT weapons” by defence or security agencies? (for the most part) the institutions that concepts (such as high performance clocks, possible use of LEO satellites, new signals and frequencies, and so on). There would be almost no negative impacts of COVID-19 It is impossible to quantify the impacts of such loss of intellectual interaction. on the production or deployment of GNSS products and In short, I believe the impact of COVID-19 services. That in fact the pre-COVID-19 market predictions is most dramatic in the slow down of workforce training, education, and of double-digit growth in the value of GNSS equipment research at universities. There may then be a knock-on impact on GNSS industries and applications over the coming decade are valid and user communities in general.

6 | Coordinates August 2020 MAPPING A Map Is a Living Structure with the Recurring Notion of Far More Smalls than Larges This paper is intended to establish living structure – a physical phenomenon and mathematical concept – as a formal concept or foundation for maps and mapping

Bin Jiang [Maps] are no longer merely considered space or geographic features that makes Professor, Faculty as aids…, but as products of scientific maps or mapping possible, i.e., larges to of Engineering research which, being complete in be retained, while smalls to be omitted in a and Sustainable themselves, convey their message by recursive manner (Note: larges and smalls Development, Division means of their own signs and symbols should be understood broadly, in terms of GIScience, University and through these furnish the basis for of not only sizes, but also topological of Gävle, Sweden further geographic deduction. … . [the connectivity and semantic meaning). subjectivity] must not predominate: the Thus, map making is largely an objective Terry Slocum dictates of science will prevent any erratic undertaking governed by the underlying Professor, Department flight of the imagination and impact to the living structure, and maps portray the of Geography and map a fundamentally objective character truth of the living structure. Based on Atmospheric Science, in spite of all subjective impulses. the notion of living structure, a map can University of Kansas, be considered to be an iterative system, Lawrence, USA Max Eckert (1908) which means that the map is the map of the map of the map, and so on endlessly. The word endlessly means continuous Abstract map scales between two discrete ones, just as there are endless real numbers The Earth’s surface or any territory is a between 1 and 2. The iterated map system coherent whole or subwhole, in which the implies that each of the subsequent notion of “far more small things than large small-scale maps is a subset of the single ones” recurs at different levels of scale large-scale map, not a simple subset ranging from the smallest of a couple of but with various constraints to make all meters to the largest of the Earth’s surface geographic features topologically correct. or that of the territory. The coherent whole has the underlying character called wholeness or living structure, which is a 1. Introduction physical phenomenon pervasively existing in our environment and can be defined The Polish mathematician Alfred mathematically under the new third view Korzybski (1933) first introduced the of space conceived and advocated by mantra “a map is not the territory” which Christopher Alexander: space is neither points out two important facts about maps: lifeless nor neutral, but a living structure (1) a map has a similar structure to the capable of being more alive or less alive. territory, and (2) a map is the map of the This paper argues that both the map and map of the map, and so on endlessly. This the territory are a living structure, and that similar structure is actually living structure it is the inherent hierarchy of “far more (Alexander 2002–2005) that possesses – smalls than larges” that constitutes the in a recursive manner – far more small foundation of maps and mapping. It is the things than large ones. For example, a underlying living structure of geographic green tree with leaves is a living structure,

Coordinates August 2020 | 7 because it has far more small branches 2002–2005). Under the new third view geographic representation is (mis-) than large ones, and importantly small of space conceived by Whitehead (1938) guided by focusing largely on the notion branches are embedded in large ones. The and further developed by Alexander of more or less similar things, although notion of “far more smalls than larges” (2002–2005), space is considered to be cartographers are guided – subconsciously differs fundamentally from that of “more neither lifeless nor neutral, but a living or unconsciously – by living structure smalls than larges”, as “far” indicates structure capable of being more alive or or its inherent hierarchy. For example, the distinct disproportionality between less alive. For example, a tree is more both raster and vector representations smalls and larges. This disproportionality alive than its branches, and large branches are not based on living centers; instead is what underlies the 80/20 Rule or Pareto are more alive than small branches. these representations are essentially Principle (Koch 1998). The second fact Importantly, the aliveness of a space is nonliving or “cold and dry”, a term is essentially derived from the first one, not determined by the space itself, but often used by Mandelbrot (1983) to refer i.e., a map – due to the living structure by those smaller spaces contained in it to Euclidean geometric shapes such as of the territory – is considered to be the and the larger space that contains the circles, rectangles and straight lines. In a map of the map of the map, and so on particular space. In other words, the vector representation, geometric primitives endlessly. This is a recursive perspective aliveness of space cannot be understood such as points, lines and polygons are through which all small-scale maps are as a property of the space itself, or merely fairly good for computing processes and subsets of the single large-scale map, in terms of its own structure or shape. storages, but they are mechanistically and they all retain the underlying living This is the essence of living structure. imposed and are treated as fragmented structure. Motivated by the mantra pieces rather than living centers that can “a map is not the territory” or more It should be noted that the aliveness of be well perceived as meaningful entities specifically by the two facts about maps, a space has an iterative or accumulative by human beings. Geographic features this paper argues that not only a territory property; this is essentially equivalent to such as mountain ranges, river basins, but also its associated maps are a living the aphorism: “the rich get richer and the settlements, street networks, and coastlines structure, and it is the living structure of poor get poorer”. This paper is intended to are actually meaningful entities, full of the Earth’s surface or of a territory that reach a wide audience of both academics far more smalls than larges, so maps makes maps and mapping possible. and laypersons, and thus we will not get should be considered to be an iterative into the iterative or accumulative nature system, in which all subsequent small- Living structure is essentially a recursive of life (as shown in Figure 2), but rather scale maps can be automatically derived and holistic view of looking at space focus on how a space is conceived as a from a single large-scale map or database. or things in our environment. A living coherent whole consisting of far more structure consists of only one type of smalls than larges. The Earth’s surface This paper is intended to establish living recursively defined entities called centers, as a living structure is composed of far structure – a physical phenomenon so centers are made of centers of centers more ocean than land or far more small and mathematical concept – as a and so on, with far more small centers countries than large ones; a country is formal concept or foundation for maps than large ones. For a street network, the composed of far more small settlements and mapping. More specifically, the individual junctions or street segments are than large ones (Zipf 1949, Christaller contributions of this paper can be not centers, but individual natural streets 1933, 1961); a settlement is composed of highlighted as follows: Firstly, it is argued are centers; for a cartographic curve, its far more short (or less-connected) streets that not only the territory but also the maps segments are not centers, but its bends than long (or well-connected) ones; and are a living structure with the recurring are centers (see Figure 1 for illustration). a street is composed of far more small notion of far more smalls than larges; Thus, the street network is a non-living bends than large ones. It is this recursively second, it is demonstrated that the map structure when seen from the perspective defined space and importantly its inherent is an iterative system, being the map of of street junctions and segments, but hierarchy of far more smalls than larges the map of the map, and so on endlessly; it is a living structure when seen from that makes maps and mapping possible. third, it is demonstrated how data the perspective of natural streets. In the classification and map generalization – or same vein, the cartographic curve is non- This paper is further motivated by some mapping in general – can be considered living when seen from the perspective fundamental questions on maps and to be a head/tail breaks process; finally, of individual line segments, but it is mapping: What is the nature of maps? it is argued that objectivity should be living when seen from the perspective How do maps work? What does the image favoured over subjectivity in maps of recursively defined bends. This living of the map look like? The third question and mapping, and maps are largely structure view of space is not typical of is inspired by Lynch (1965), and refers about truth of the underlying living either Newtonian absolute space (the to the kind of mental image after one is structure of the territory or the data. first view of space), Leibnizian relational exposed to a map rather than an actual space (the second view of space) or city. This paper argues that the current The remainder of this paper is organized quantum mechanical space (Alexander state of the art of mapping practice or as follows. Section 2 examines the state

8 | Coordinates August 2020 of the art of maps and mapping in the the current GIS representations focus on (Figure 1a). And a curvilinear feature on field of geographic information science geometric details while miss the overall a map is considered to be composed of a (GIScience) and how it is misguided by character. However, the figurative or set of more or less similar line segments focusing largely on the notion of more or holistic way is the right way to see the (Figure 1c). Instead, a street network less similar things. Section 3 introduces underlying character or living structure, should be considered as a set of far more the notion of living structure via four which will be further discussed below. less-connected streets than well-connected simple examples and its two fundamental ones from the topological view of streets laws. Section 4 demonstrates how maps Given their major concern with the (Figure 1b). Equally, a curvilinear feature – through data classification and map location, size, and direction of geographic should be considered as a set of far more generalization – can be considered to be an features, current geographic information small bends than large ones (Figure 1d), iterative system. In Section 5, we further systems (GIS) represent these features by recursively defined at different levels of discuss the implications of living structure geometric primitives such as points, lines, scale. It should be noted that the non- on maps and art. Finally, Section 6 draws and polygons (e.g., Clarke 1995, Kraak living structure view (i.e., street segments a conclusion and points to future work. and Ormeling 1996, Chrisman 2001, Bian and line segments), and the living structure 2007, Longley et al. 2015). Focusing on view (i.e., streets and bends) are not geometric primitives or geometric details contradictory but rather complementary 2. The state of the art tends to overlook the underlying living to each other, with the former providing of maps and mapping structure: the inherent hierarchy of “far the geometric details, while the latter more smalls than larges”. In current providing the overall character. As briefly Over a long history of mapping practices, GIS, a street network is considered to mentioned above, the former view is cartographers have been guided by living be a collection of more or less similar under Newtonian and Leibnizian views structure, not explicitly or consciously junctions or a set of more or less similar of space (the first two views of space) but implicitly or subconsciously. That street segments between the junctions being mechanistic (Descartes 1637, 1954), is why geographic features represented at different scales of the map look very similar not only to each other but also to the territory. This similarity is obvious across a wide range of map scales even when geographic features are represented by abstract symbols. For example, as map scale is reduced, city boundaries are represented in some gradually simplified manner, so the boundaries in small-scale maps are simplified versions of those in a large-scale map. As map scale is further reduced, all cities are collapsed into single dots, and only largest cities are retained in the smallest-scale maps. Despite the cartographers’ instinct, living structure has not been well established as a formal concept in cartography and GIScience. Instead, in the current state of the art of maps and mapping or under the current mode of thinking, map making is constrained by a desire to portray Figure 1: (color online) Geometric primitives versus geometrically meaningful entities geometric details of locations, sizes, and (Note: A street network is represented as a set of junctions or street segments (geometric directions rather than the overall character primitives, which are not centers) (a), whereas it is more correctly perceived as a of the territory being mapped. It was collection of named streets (geometrically meaningful entities, which are centers) (b), found that 85% people tend to see things each of which is colored as one of four hierarchical levels: blue for the least connected sequentially or analytically by focusing streets, red for the most connected street (only one), and yellow and turquoise for those on these details, while only 15% people between the most and the least connected. A curvilinear feature is usually represented see things figuratively or holistically as a set of line segments (geometric primitives, which are not centers) (c), but it is more (Alexander 2002–2005, Alexander and correctly perceived as a collection of far more small bends than large ones (geometrically Carey 1968, Alexander and Huggins meaningful entities, which are centers) (d), because the notion of far more small bends

1964). Thus, there is little wonder that than large ones occurs twice: (1) x1 + x2 + x3 > x4 + x5 + x6 + x7, and (2) x1 > x2 + x3.)

Coordinates August 2020 | 9 while the latter view is under the third assumption of more or less similar things, refers to the structural property of far view of space – being organic (Whitehead we have paid little attention to the notion more small centers than large ones. Here 1938) – advocated by Alexander (2002– of far more smalls than larges in maps center refers to only one type of entity 2005): space is neither lifeless nor and mapping. This situation is clearly within a living structure, so centers are neutral, but a living structure capable reflected in data classification methods. made of other centers recursively. There of being more living or less living. are far more small centers than large Natural breaks is commonly used to ones in any living structure in general. The perspective on geometric primitives classify data for maps and mapping, and According to the definition of wholeness is essentially a Euclidean geometric it is based on the principle that variation and centers, not only organic or alive view, because it focuses on elements within classes should be minimized, while things but also biologically dead things individually rather than on “far more the variation between classes should be can have a living structure, as long as there smalls than larges” holistically, and on maximized (Jenks 1967). This principle is is the recurring notion of far more small scales individually rather than on scaling essentially based on the assumption that centers than large ones. For example, not collectively. The Euclidean geometric all classes have characteristic means. This only an alive tree, but also a dead tree is view enables us to see more or less similar is the same for the k-means clustering a living structure as long as the recurring things, e.g., more or less similar junctions algorithm (Steinhaus 1956) commonly notion of far more small branches than (or equivalently more or less similar referred to in computer science. This large ones remains. In one of his earlier street segments) of a street network, or assumption does not hold for many works, Alexander (1979, p. ix) referred more or less similar line segments of a real-world data, because they are heavy to life (or wholeness) as a quality without curvilinear feature (Figure 1a, 1c). This tailed or long tailed, like city sizes that a name, being “the root criterion of life notion of more or less similar implies follow a so-called rank-size distribution and spirit in a man, a town, a building, that there exists a characteristic mean (Zipf 1949). For such data that have far or a wilderness”. Living structure for these things. More or less similar more smalls than larges, it is wise to ask pervasively exists in our environment, things are what underlies not only how many times the notion of far more but the degree of living structure may Gaussian statistics, but also the first law smalls than larges recurs based on the not be so obvious. Let’s look at some of geography: “everything is related to data’s inherent hierarchy. This is what typical examples of living structure: everything else, but near things are more motivated the head/tail breaks (Jiang related than distant things” (Tobler 1970). 2013) classification method for data with Example 1: A green tree with leaves The first law of geography or Tobler’s a heavy-tailed distribution, which has law was formulated out of the notion of deep implications for living structure, A tree is made of far more small branches spatial dependency or autocorrelation. as we will see in the next sections. than large ones, out of which are made For example, your housing price is far more small branches than large ones, more or less similar to those of your ..., and so on. Thus, the tree is a living neighbors, and today’s weather is more 3. Living structure of centers structure with the recurring notion of or less similar to that of yesterday. and its two fundamental laws far more small branches than large Spatial dependency indicates a local ones. This is an alive tree, but its living fact, i.e., spatial events are not random, All space and matter (either organic structure remains even after it becomes but autocorrelated. Tobler’s law is what or inorganic) have some degree of life dead, for the recurrent notion of far more underlies many mapping activities, e.g., in it – “every brick, every stone, every smalls than larges remains unchanged. spatial interpolation for creating a smooth person, every physical structure of any surface, and the kernel density estimation kind at all” (Alexander 2002–2005) – Example 2: The English country to create hotspot maps. Many geographic according to its underlying structure garden corner where a peach tree grows phenomena are indeed dependent on each and arrangement. The phenomenon that against a wall (Alexander 1979) other, so there are more or less similar all space has some degree of life has things nearby or locally, but globally been extensively studied in computer The wall runs east to west; the peach tree there are far more smalls than larges. science, architecture and urban science grows flat against its southern side. The For example, there are far more low- (e.g., Gabriel 1998, Salingaros 2014, sun shines on the tree and as it warms the housing prices than high-housing prices. Jiang 2016, Mehaffy 2017, Gabriel and bricks behind the tree, the warm bricks And there are far more ordinary weather Quillien 2019). If the degree of life is themselves warm the peaches on the tree. conditions than extraordinary weather too low, the structure is called a dead It has a slightly dozy quality. The tree conditions. This notion of far more smalls or nonliving structure; otherwise, it is carefully tied to grow flat against the wall; than larges has been formulated as the called a living structure. Beyond the warming the bricks; the peaches growing scaling law (Jiang 2015a, see Section conventional notion of biological life as in the sun; the wild grass growing around 3 for more details). However, under being self-producing (Schrödinger 1944), the roots of the tree, in the angles where the current mode of thinking on the the term life – also called wholeness – the earth and roots and wall all meet.

10 | Coordinates August 2020 Example 3: The Berkeley street the garden), which is a center of an even (Figure 2e); note that the relationship at corner at the intersection of Hearst larger center (e.g., the neighborhood) of an the same level is undirected, while the and Euclid (Alexander 1965) even larger center (e.g., the city), and so relationship between different levels on endlessly towards the entire universe. is directed. The degree of life can be In Berkeley at the corner of Hearst computed relying on Google’s PageRank and Euclid, there is a drugstore, and The notion of far more smalls than larges (Page and Brin 1998, Jiang 2015b), outside the drugstore a traffic light. In can be rephrased in some situations as leading to far more low-life centers than the entrance to the drugstore there is that of far more less-used locations than high-life ones (Figure 2f). The PageRank a newsrack where the day’s papers are well-used ones, or far more meaningless way of computing the degree of life of displayed. When the light is red, people locations than meaningful ones. The a center can be compared to assessing who are waiting to cross the street stand street corner scene consists of a few well- how important a person is, for which we idly by the light; and since they have used locations (the newsrack, the traffic should ask how important not only his/ nothing to do, they look at the papers light and the pavement between them) her friends are, but also the friends of the displayed on the newsrack which they and many remaining less-used locations friends of the friends, and so on virtually can see from where they stand. Some that hold together as a coherent living for all people on the planet. In this sense, of them just read the headlines, others structure. The well-used locations occupy note that the small northcentral city has actually buy a paper while they wait. a small amount of space but receive far a higher degree of life than other small This effect makes the newsrack and the more attention than the less-used locations; cities because of the more links it receives traffic light interactive; the newsrack, thus, there are far more smalls than larges and the few links it gives out. In the same the newspapers on it, the money going in terms of how much space is used, vein, the right green city has a higher from people’s pockets to the dime slot, or how meaningful semantically space degree of life than that of the left one. the people who stop at the light and is perceived. In other words, the small read papers, the traffic light, the electric amount of space is well-used or more In considering these examples (in impulses which make the lights change, meaningful, whereas the large amount particular examples 2 and 3), the reader and the sidewalk which the people stand of space is less-used or less meaningful: may be thinking that the living structure on form a system - they all work together. this is truly a living structure. These well- approach is subjective, as people may have used locations can be compared to the different thoughts about these situations, Among the above three examples, the first eyes, nose and mouth of a human face, but Alexander (1979, 2002–2005) argued one is the most obvious, while the other which is surely a living structure; the that the approach is largely objective and two may seem a bit obscure. In the first eyes, the nose and the mouth occupy a is not just a matter of personal opinion example, the tree is considered to be the small amount of space, but they receive and taste. This situation may be compared living center, consisting of far more small a large amount of attention, whereas the to the situation when asking a group of centers (actually branches) than large remaining parts of the face occupy a large people about the temperature of a piece ones, which further consist of far more amount of space, but receive a small of ice and a glass of hot water; there small centers than large ones, and so on. amount of attention as shown by eye- is little doubt that the hot water has a The tree can be considered the center of tracking experiments (Yarbus 1967). In higher degree of temperature than the the center of the center, and so on. The any living structure, there is a recurring ice, although people may disagree on country garden corner is the first place notion of far more low-intensity centers the exact temperature of the hot water. where Alexander (1979) was pondering than large ones. To make this point clear, on the phenomenon of life and struggling let’s now look at a fourth example. Living structure is not only objective with its naming as the quality without a and precise, but also reflected in the name, the precursor of living structure. Example 4: A ten-city cluster as human mind and heart. It was found The garden corner as a living center a living structure (Figure 2a) through the mirror-of-the-self experiment consists of many centers, among which (Alexander 2002–2005, Wu 2015) that the most salient include the peach tree, A ten-city cluster within a square space living structure correlates with very the wall that is composed of many bricks, in which there is one largest city (red, personal questions such as whether I the wild grasses, the earth and the sun. All Figure 2b), two middle-sized cities (green, feel myself whole, or whether my spirit these living centers, which are certainly Figure 2c), and seven smallest cities (blue, is lifted up in the presence of living living structures, constitute mutual Figure 2d). There are three hierarchical structure. Although there is indeed supporting relationships, e.g., the light levels among the ten cities indicated by some personal opinion and human taste shines on the wall, warming the bricks the three different colors. In other words, involved in interpreting living structure, and dead leaves, and grasses nourish the the notion of far more smalls than larges the mirror-of-the-self experiment showed earth and the tree, forming a coherent recurs twice, so it is a living structure. The that living structure is a shared notion whole or ecological system. The corner is nested and mutual relationship among the among a majority of people regardless a living center of the larger center (e.g., ten cities constitutes a complex network of their faiths, cultures, and ethics.

Coordinates August 2020 | 11 Instead, the scaling law requires only that far more smalls than larges recurs at least twice with the ht-index being at least three. From a dynamic point of view, the ht-index of a living structure usually will increase as time goes by, and when it reaches to 6 or 7, the data distribution may demonstrate a power law. While the scaling law applies to all scales, Tobler’s law applies to each scale, i.e., centers tend to be more or less similar on each scale. These two laws characterize living structure from both global and local perspectives. However, the scaling law is primary and global, while Tobler’s law is secondary and local. Any structure with more or less similar centers globally tends to be uninteresting or less- living. As we have shown in Figure 1, a street network if seen from the perspective of individual street segments – the geometric view – tends to be uninteresting or less-living, but it is a living structure if seen from the topological perspective of connected streets, and Figure 2: (Color online) The ten fictitious cities and their a curvilinear feature when seen from the perspective of segments interrelationship constitute a living structure tends to be uninteresting or less-living, but it is a living structure (Note: As a structural invariant of the central place theory when seen from the perspective of the recursively defined bends. model (Christaller 1933, 1966), the cluster of the ten cities (a) is composed of the largest city (b) bounded by the red It should be noted that the scaling law or scaling hierarchy is square, surrounded by two second largest cities (c) separated what underlies many natural and societal phenomena such as by the green line and bounded by the green box, and further coastlines, terrain ranges, earth quakes, and financial markets. surrounded by seven third largest cities (d) separated by They are also called complex systems which demonstrate non- blue lines and bounded by the blue box, thus with three equilibrium character (e.g., Simon 1962, Zipf 1949, Mandelbrot hierarchical levels, indicated by dot sizes and colors. Because 1983, Bak 1996). Complex systems appear complex and non- of mutual relationship among the ten cities (e), each city has equilibrium at the global scale, but they may demonstrate simple different degree of life, as indicated by the dot sizes (f).) and equilibrium character at a local scale. Climate is essentially a complex system, so it is unpredictable essentially; there are Table 1: Two fundamental laws of living structure far more ordinary weather conditions than extraordinary ones (Note: These two laws – scaling law and Tobler’s globally, but locally, today’s weather is more or less similar to law – complement each other and recur at that of yesterday. It should be also noted that the notion of far different levels of scale of living structure.) more smalls than larges relies on its recurring nature. In other words, the notion must recur at least twice rather than just Scaling law Tobler’s law once. There are three different perspectives to assess whether There are far more small centers There are more or less similar centers there are far more smalls than larges: topological, geometrical, than large ones and semantic. Among the three perspectives, the topological across all scales, and available at each scale, and is primary because it specifies the spatial configuration or the the ratio of smalls to larges is the ratio of smalls to larges is closer to underlying structure that determines the degree of life. For disproportional (80/20). proportional (50/50). Globally, there is no characteristic Locally, there is a characteristic scale, example, a tiny city in the middle of a set of cities may look scale, so exhibiting so exhibiting a extremely small, but it tends to have a high degree of life because Pareto distribution, or a heavy- Gauss-like distribution, of its many connections. Herewith it is not geometric size, but tailed distribution, the topological connection that essentially determines the degree due to spatial heterogeneity or due to spatial homogeneity or of life, as we can see for the small northcentral city in Figure 2. interdependence, indicating dependence, indicating complex and non-equilibrium simple and equilibrium phenomena. phenomena. 4. Mapping as the head/tail breaks process: data classification and map generalization Underlying any living structure there are two governing laws: the scaling law across all scales (Jiang 2015a) and Tobler’s law at each We contend in this paper that both maps of different scales and scale (Tobler 1970) (Table 1). According to the scaling law, there the territory are living structures with the inherent hierarchy of are far more low-life centers than high-life ones across all scales far more smalls than larges. Map making essentially depicts the ranging from the lowest to the highest. It is important to note that inherent hierarchy or the recurrent notion of far more smalls the scaling law is a relaxed version of other long-standing laws or than larges. Let us now illustrate how data classification and rules such as Zipf’s law (1949) and the universal rule (Salingaros map generalization – or mapping in general – can be conducted and West 1999), which all require a power law distribution. as a head/tail breaks process relying on two simple examples.

12 | Coordinates August 2020 Let’s first look at a set of 39 data values: (1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, …, 1/39), which follow exactly a rank-size distribution (Zipf 1949), which means the first largest city is twice as big as the second largest city, three times as big as the third largest city, and so on. This dataset has four inherent hierarchical levels, for the notion of far more smalls than larges recurs three times as shown in Table 2. More specifically, the average of the 39 values is ~0.11, which partitions these values into two groups: those greater than the average is called the head: (1, 1/2, 1/3, …, 1/9), and those less than the average is called the tail: (1/10, …, 1/39). In this case, we can see in Table 2 that the head has nine large values Figure 3: Illustration of the head/tail breaks as an iterative function and the tail has far more small values (thirty). Among the nine (Note: The data as a whole is recursively divided into the head in the head, their average is ~0.31, which further partitions these (for those greater than the average) and the tail (for those less nine into two groups: three large in the head: (1, 1/2, and 1/3), than the average). The whole or data is seen as an iterated system, and six small in the tail (1/4, 1/5, …, 1/9). For the three in the i.e., the head of the head of the head and so on. For the sake head, their average is ~0.61, which further partitions the three of simplicity, we illustrate three iterations or four classes.) into two groups: one large (1) for the head, and two small (1/2, 1/3) for the tail. This iterated head/tail breaks process relies on Table 2: Statistics of the head/tail breaks process of the 39 numbers the data itself to partition the data; thus, the resulting classes or Number Mean # head # tail % head % tail hierarchical levels are determined from the bottom up rather than imposed from the top down or by cartographers. In other words, 39 0.11 9 30 23% 77% head/tail breaks lets the data determine classes, in terms of not 9 0.31 3 6 33% 67% only how many classes, but also how to set class intervals. Real 3 0.61 1 2 33% 67% world datasets are often much larger or more complex than this simple dataset, but the underlying data classification approach remains the same in order to uncover the inherent hierarchy of data for mapping. Figure 3 illustrates the head/tail breaks classification for the dataset with four inherent hierarchies.

The reader may wonder at what time or under what condition, the iteration process should stop. This is a valid question. Roughly put, head/tail breaks has to ensure – at each iteration – that the head percentage is far smaller than that of the tail, to reflect the desire for “far more smalls than larges”. One reasonable solution based on the first author’s experience is that the number in the head should be less than 40%. However, Figure 4: Generation (a) and generalization (b) of the Koch curve with with many real-world data, the first iterations may end up with the first four iterations more than 40% for the head, but for all subsequent iterations (Note: Beginning with a segment of scale 1 (n = 0), it is the head percentages are all around 20%. Therefore, there are divided into thirds, and the middle third is replaced by two two different ending conditions for head/tail breaks: 1) the equilaterals of a triangle, leading to four segments of scale 1/3 head percentage must be less than 40% for every iteration, and (n = 1). This division and replacement process continues for 2) the average head percentage for all iterations must be less scales 1/9, and 1/27, leading respectively to 16 segments, and than 40%. Given the complexity of the real-world data, the 64 segments (n = 2, and 3). This is the generation of the Koch second is more preferred, for it is less restrictive than the first. curve, as shown in panel (a). On the other hand, the Koch curve (Level 0) can be generalized in a step-by-step fashion, Slocum et al. (2008) discuss numerous criteria for determining as shown in Table 3, resulting in the outcome in panel (b).) an appropriate method of classification. From the above computations, we can see that head/tail breaks does an excellent Table 3: The four iterations of the Koch curve as shown in Figure 4a job of meeting two key criteria. First, by iteratively assigning Iteration Scale #Segment “far more smalls” at each step of the classification, head/tail breaks pays careful attention to the graphical distribution of the 0 1 1 data along the number line (e.g. expressed as either a dot plot 1 1/3 4 or a rank-size plot). Second, the method provides an objective 2 1/9 16 approach for stopping the classification process. The latter 3 1/27 64 is in contrast to the natural breaks method, which generally

Coordinates August 2020 | 13 determines the number of classes through ~0.04). It is a wrong way of thinking based simplification of the line can be carried a visual examination of a graph of the on Euclidean geometry. The right way of out in a similar manner as that of the number of classes plotted against a thinking – or being recursive or the way of Koch curve. However, there is one goodness-of-variance fit measure. living structure – is that it is a collection of potential problem in the course of line 64 segments of size 1/27 (or ~0.04), plus simplification or generalization: The Having discussed data classification, let 16 segments of size 1/9 (or ~0.11), plus simplified curve may create intersections us showcase how map generalization can 4 segments of size 1/3 (or ~0.33), plus 1 either with the curve itself or with other be conducted through head/tail breaks. segment of size 1, i.e., 64 + 16 + 4 + 1 = geographic features, the so-called “self- We will use the Koch curve (Figure 4a, 85 segments. In other words, all large sizes intersection” or “intersection with others”, Koch 1904) as a working example. Let’s (1, 1/3, and 1/9) are embedded in the small which produces topologically incorrect first consider how the Koch curve can one (1/27) in a recursive manner. Now geographic features. The solution to be generated as an iterative function. A let’s calculate the average length of these this problem is simple (Jiang 2017 and segment of unit 1 is divided equally into 85 segments, which is ~0.08. Clearly, there related references therein); whenever thirds, with the middle third replaced by are 16 + 4 + 1 = 21 long segments (longer intersections occur with a simplified two sides of an equilateral triangle. This than the average) and 64 short segments curve, that part of the curve has to go process can be repeated until the scale is (shorter than the average), implying far back to the previous iteration, or a few infinitely small. To illustrate, we show more short segments than long ones. For trivial points have to be added to avoid the first four iterations in Figure 4a and the purpose of generalization, we retain the intersection, but all other parts Table 3. This is one of the first classic the long ones, and we have a result of without conflicts remain unchanged. fractals based on a rigorous definition. level 1 in Figure 4b. For level 1, there are The reader may argue that cartographic 21 segments, and their average length is Seen from these two examples, data objects do not exhibit the regularity of ~0.20. There are five segments greater classification and map generalization can the Koch curve, as cartographic objects than this average ~0.20, and thus we have be accomplished objectively, by applying have a much more random character. a level 2 generalization (Figure 4b). For head/tail breaks to the underling living However, the notion of far more smalls level 2, there are 5 segments, and their structure. Since the resulting maps are than larges remains for both the classic and average length is ~0.47. There is only one automatically determined by head/tail randomized Koch curve. For this reason, segment greater than this average ~0.47, breaks, we can say that the “data speak and for the sake of simplicity, we use the and the result is level 3 (Figure 4b). From for itself”. Under the current mapping classic Koch curve for illustration of our this generalization process, we can remark paradigm, there are many parameters to ideas in this paper. The Koch curve is a that the curve is the bump of the bump, be set carefully to fulfill automatic map deterministic process of creating fractals: the bump of the bump, and the bump of generalization between two particular as the scale drops by 1/3, the number of the bump (actually the last iteration is map scales (e.g. from 1:10K to 1:50K) segments increases by 4 times, and the no longer a bump, but a straight line). (e.g., Stoter et al. 2014, Buttenfield et direction of the little bump is always in the al. 2011). In contrast, under the living same direction. When this deterministic Seen from the working example of the structure view, and relying on the head/ process changes to a non-deterministic Koch curve, map generalization is no tail breaks, there are few parameters to one, the Koch curves would look like more than retaining large things, while be set; if any parameters are set, the ideal coastlines, clouds, or city skylines. eliminating small things in a recursive is to let the data determine a meaningful However, the notion of far more smalls manner to get different levels of detail. cutoff rather than have cartographers make than larges would remain unchanged. Geographic features like coastlines may this decision. This opens up the possibility look much more complicated than the of automatic map generalization from Let’s take the Koch curve at the fourth Koch curve, but the head/tail breaks a single large-scale database to create iteration (n=3 in Figure 4a or Level 0 in principle remains the same. A cartographic a large variety of small-scale maps. Figure 4b) to see how it can be generalized curve may be represented as a set of or simplified at the different levels of bends, recursively defined by three points detail. It is very important to realize that as illustrated in Figure 1d. The largest 5. Further discussions on living

the Koch curve is not just a collection bend x1 is followed by the second largest structure for maps and art

of 64 segments with the size of 1/27 (or bends x2 and x3, and third largest bends x4,

x5, x6 and x7. From Maps are essentially about the truth Table 4: Statistics of the head/tail breaks process for the Koch curve the point of view of the territory or that of the Earth’s of the recursively surface, or more specifically the truth of # Segment Mean # head # tail % head % tail defined bends, there the underlying living structure. There 85 0.08 21 64 25% 75% are three inherent is little doubt that there are subjective 21 0.20 5 16 24% 76% hierarchical factors involved in maps and mapping 5 0.47 1 4 20% 80% levels. Thus, the (Monmonier 1991, Wright 1942), but

14 | Coordinates August 2020 maps are largely about truth, and an of far more less-connected streets than The living structure view of maps and important component of this truth is the well-connected ones. Note that the the territory or the Earth’s surface in inherent hierarchy of far more smalls graph in Figure 5b is not georeferenced general is a powerful concept that has than larges. Objectivity is more important at all, neither the nodes nor the links important implications for maps and than subjectivity in the mapping process have any georeferenced information. mapping. The implications touch such rather than the other way around. It is for Instead, the node sizes indicate the degree issues as automatic mapping, the nature sure that certain aspects are sometimes of connectivity of the corresponding of maps, the mental image of maps, and distorted or exaggerated. For example, streets in Figure 5a. With the graph, the how maps work. Although a large body for the purpose of navigation, the London underlying living structure of the street of research has attempted to address Underground Map puts linkages and network becomes very striking. It helps these profound issues in the past century stops in the first and foremost priority to answer such a question as: how many (e.g., Eckert 1908, Robinson 1952, of representation, while drastically intermediate streets does one have to MacEachren 1995, Wuppuluri and Doria simplifying locations, routes, and even pass through in order to go from location 2018, Tversky 2019), such research has orientations. The Underground Map, A to location B? Unfortunately, this not considered the underlying living although drastically simplified, becomes question is virtually impossible to address structure. It can be argued that the nature far more informative for the purpose of with any conventional representation of maps depends to a considerable extent navigation. As another example, Figure (e.g., Figure 1a). In this case Figure 5b on the underlying living structure or the 5 shows the topology of underlying provides a good example about the true inherent hierarchy of far more smalls streets, indicating the living structure living structure of the Earth’s surface. than larges; it is through the living structure or the inherent hierarchy that maps often convey useful information, and those largest and most connected and most meaningful things constitute the mental image of the map in the human mind. In this sense maps, in particular terrain maps or topographic maps, are not very different from products of art (like landscape paintings), because both tend to reflect the underlying living structure.

In addition to revealing the living structure of far more smalls than larges, Figure 5: (Color online) A living structure with four hierarchical levels of natural streets another advantage of Alexander’s (Note: The natural streets that are represented – on the surface – by approach is that the resulting maps geometrical details of locations, sizes, and directions (a) are transformed should provide a sense of good feelings into the topology of the streets or living structure – in the deep sense – such as belonging, healing and well- with far more less-connected streets than well-connected ones (b).) being. This concept may seem foreign to cartographers, but it is integral to the concept of living structure. For example, Alexander (2002–2005) describes the good feelings that come from viewing architecture that is based on living structure principles. We conjecture that it is the underlying living structure of natural scenes that has the healing effect Figure 6: Composition II by Piet Mondrian (a) and its evolution from the empty square on patients’ recovery from surgery (Ulrich (Note: It meets the minimum condition of being a living structure, and it is simple 1984). In this sense, it also can be argued enough to illustrate how it is differentiated in a step-by-step fashion in panels (b) to (e), that there is little difference between thus with a gradually increasing degree of life or beauty; there are far more smalls (4) when people are exposed to good maps than larges (1) from (b) to (c), and again far more smalls (6) than larges (4) from (c) to and when people are exposed to good (d), so the ht-index is 3, which meets the condition of being a living structure. Thus both scenes (either landscapes or indigenous (b) and (c) are non-living structure, for their ht-index is less than 3. In addition, there is buildings). In other words, maps can be a violation of far more smalls (7) than larges (6) from (d) to (e), for 6 and 7 are more or viewed as no different from landscapes less similar. If we consider the evolution in the opposite direction (from (e) to (b)) then and buildings, because they are all living it can be viewed as a generalization process, very much like that of map generalization.) structure. Also, in this connection, there

Coordinates August 2020 | 15 is little difference between maps and fine far more small cities than large ones in the current ways of mapping often products of art, because both capture the a country, far more short streets than involving many parameters imposed by underlying living structure. Actually, not long ones in a city, and far more small techniques (e.g., natural breaks, Kernel only fine products of art, but also abstract bends than large ones over a coastline. density function) or by cartographers. paintings reflect the underlying living Although cartographers have long been – structure. For example, Jackson Pollock’s subconsciously or unconsciously – guided epic painting Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952 by living structure for map making or Acknowledgement presents nothing more than the recurring map reading, this paper is intended to notion of far more smalls than larges, explicitly establish living structure as a This paper is a reprint of the recent which is the very essence of nature or of formal concept of maps and mapping. paper (Jiang and Slocum 2020), and the Earth’s surface in particular. The fractal We have argued and demonstrated it grows out of collaboration between or living nature of Jackson Pollock’s drip that it is the inherent hierarchy or the the two authors on an AutoCarto 2020 paintings was verified by the physicist recurring notion of far more smalls than Workshop on Living Structure as a Taylor (2006), who discovered that larges that makes maps and mapping Scientific Foundation of Maps and those paintings with a fractal dimension possible, and data classification and Mapping. The workshop has been around 1.3–1.5 tend to have the highest map generalization within map making delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. aesthetic appeal or the highest degree can be accomplished through the During the preparation of the workshop, of beauty in the human mind or heart. head/tail breaks process. Viewed in the two authors have exchanged the reverse sense, it is essentially the numerous emails discussing the two As another example of the relevance of conventional mode of thinking based tools Axwoman and head/tail breaks. art, Piet Mondrian’s compositions of red, on Euclidean geometry and Gaussian One of the fruits of the collaboration yellow and blue are living structures, statistics that makes automatic map is this paper, arguing for establishing although they are less living than those generalization virtually impossible. living structure as a formal concept or of Pollock’s drip paintings. Mondrian’s foundation of maps and mapping. The compositions present nothing more than Maps can, should and must be treated paper was partially supported by the the recurring notion of far more smalls as a scientific product, and their quality Swedish Research Council FORMAS than larges. Figure 6 presents one of can be judged to a considerable extent through the ALEXANDER project Mondrian’s compositions, consisting by the underlying living structure. It with grant number FR-2017/0009. of only seven simple pieces. It does not can be argued that the more that maps exhibit extensive living structure, but reflect the underlying living structure, we see clearly twice the recurring notion the better the quality of the maps. The References: of far more smalls than larges. The iterative head/tail breaks method provides composition painting can be viewed as the an objective method of determining an Alexander C. (1965), A city is not a tree, product of the differentiation process in a appropriate data classification or level of Architectural Forum, 122(1+2), 58–62. step-by-step fashion, i.e. the square space generalization, and can avoid some of the is continuously differentiated leading to subjective issues associated with more Alexander C. 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16 | Coordinates August 2020 In this new way of mapping, there is a distinct attempt to design from the bottom up, i.e., let the geospatial data map or speak for itself. This new way of mapping departs radically from the current ways of mapping often involving many parameters imposed by techniques (e.g., natural breaks, Kernel density function) or by cartographers

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Astronauts to fly on SpaceX Crew-2 mission

NASA and its international partners Crew-2 is targeted to launch in spring six – will allow NASA to effectively have assigned crew members for Crew- 2021, following the successful completion double the amount of science that 2, which will be the second operational of both NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test can be conducted in space. SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the flight mission, which is expected to International Space Station as part of return to Earth Aug. 2, and the launch NASA’s Commercial Crew Program NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission, is working with the American which is targeted for late September. aerospace industry as companies NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough develop and operate a new generation and Megan McArthur will serve as The Crew-2 astronauts will remain of spacecraft and launch systems spacecraft commander and pilot, aboard the space station for capable of carrying crews to low- respectively, for the mission. JAXA approximately six months as expedition Earth orbit and the space station. (Japan Aerospace Exploration crew members, along with three Commercial transportation to and Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide crewmates who will launch via a Russian from the station will provide expanded and ESA (European Space Agency) Soyuz spacecraft. The increase of the utility, additional research time, and astronaut Thomas Pesquet will full space station crew complement broader opportunities for discovery on join as mission specialists. to seven members – over the previous the orbital outpost. www.nasa.gov

18 | Coordinates August 2020 OLD COORDINATES In Coordinates 10 years before…

Phase centre determination on the basis of far-field measurements

Nikola Basta, Andriy Konovaltsev and Lukasz A Greda DLR, German Aerospace Center, Germany

The phase front curves obtained in the simulations are much less distorted than the measured ones, thus introducing less error in the least square estimation. Therewith calculated PC positions are stable with respect to the zenith angle (Fig. 4). The proposed method allows for estimation of the phase centre variations.

mycoordinates.org/vol-6-issue-8-August -2010 GPR data georeferencing using photogrammetry and digital maps “Eventually all Barzaghi Riccardo, Carrion Daniela, Cazzaniga Noemi Emanuela receivers will be and Forlani Gianfranco DIIAR, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy multi-GNSS” The results obtained from this three simulations suggest that the objective Says John Pottle Marketing can be achieved, provided that GCP can be recognized on images at Director, Spirent Communications, intervals not much larger than 200- 250 m, with precisions below 10 cm. Positioning Group Preliminary tests with real image sequences show that automatic image orientation can deal with sequences of 30-40 images without problems. Solutions that combine multi-GNSS, low cost inertial sensors and wi-fi positioning are becoming a very strong solution for consumers. More generally, inertial GEO-spatial data accuracy navigation is an excellent compliment to GNSS, in that inertial continues to and its legal implications work well where GNSS is not available. I think the frontrunners will combine Adibah Awang and Shahidah Mohd Ariff symbiotic technologies like GPS and Geo Law Research Group Faculty of Geoinformation Science inertial to provide the best performance and Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for customers, whatever the application. Ahmad Fauzi Bin Nordin Deputy Director General of Survey and Mapping Department of Survey and Mapping, Malaysia

The paper reflects on the law and standards pertaining to data accuracy and its legal implication due to the lack of accuracy by tracing the source or basis of data inaccuracy i.e. primary data source, processing of the data and the human factor.

Coordinates August 2020 | 19 GIS Decision support system for engineering structure supervision The work presented in this article is through the integration of multidimensional and spatial analysis in the management of a network of auscultation for monitoring structures

Aicha Derkaoui he safety of engineering structures is needed for this, the basic geodetic Teacher-researcher Trequires periodic inspection. measurements that are the determination Abou Bekr Belkaid Assessing the condition of the structure on a given date, the position of points in University in and its behavior cannot be done without a network established on the study site is Tlemcen, Algeria a regular and frequent monitoring by applied. Thus, their relative displacements establishing a network of geometric are used to define the deformations of the auscultation. The contribution of an ground. The framework put in place for analytical tool in the management of this periodic monitoring of tanks, is presented network is the purpose of this work. as a tool for monitoring and prevention of risks that might arise while determining The idea is to propose an interactive the positions of the targets to quantify decision support system by integrating their movements compared to a known GIS and OLAP technology to take initial position to reach a decision. advantage of each to ensure better multidimensional and space analysis The effectiveness of decision-making to facilitate decision making. It will depends on the provision of relevant therefore be to combine the technology information and appropriate tools. of geographic information systems for Management systems of traditional the treatment of geographic data and map data will be inappropriate for the viewing with exploration and analysis activity of decision making. To tools OLAP, this achievement involves overcome this drawback, systems many concepts and techniques. The decision supports have been developed practical application of our work is in the and whose main objective is to allow field of engineering structure supervision. a user to access data simply and The data used to illustrate our contribution enhance the information retrieved. concerns the geometric auscultation network of the GL4Z storage tank. The objective of this work is to propose a decision-making approach to surveillance (geometric auscultation) Introduction work of art based on the concept SOLAP (Spatial On Line Analytical Processing), Engineering structures such as storage which opens up new possibilities tanks are constantly prone to deformations for managing and exploring data. and displacements under the constraints of internal and external loads acting on The work presented in this article structures. To ensure safety, prevent costly is through the integration of damage, check the criteria of construction multidimensional and spatial analysis and follow their behavior in general, an in the management of a network of accurate assessment of their travel time auscultation for monitoring structures.

20 | Coordinates August 2020 Auscultation Operational phase of the model The OLAP tool used for navigation in the data warehouse. In the Auscultation includes all devices for The data are presented as a OLAP tool, data is imported measuring physical quantities may multidimensional view before from transactional systems and change in time, so as to highlight presenting them to the client module restructured into a cube, through its behavior and the evolutionary with different display modes: dimensions. The imported data significant aging. To do this, we • Graph: tabular, histograms or pie; stores must be organized in a proceed to measure displacements, • Cartography by a geographic model facilitating the decision strains, stresses, pressures, flow rates information system. and suitable for analysis tools. ... etc. Among these methods, we find the geometric auscultation.

Measures auscultation structures are of great importance. They have in fact two main goals: • Check the stability of the structure and prevent major risks trained by his break. • Track the behavior of the structure in time, i.e. quantify the displacements and deformations of parts or all of the item.

Based on the geometric elements of auscultation as place on the ground, we proposed decision model shown in Figure (1). This model follows the steps of the decision-making approach of Pictet. Figure (2) summarizes the Figure 1: Auscultation Méthodology different steps of the structuring phase, operation and implementation.

Structuring phase model

In this phase, the surveillance data from different observing campaigns undergo a series of treatments in a process data warehouse ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) and then integrated into a single data warehouse.

The relational database is structured according to a particular model called star model which takes its name from the configuration object containing a central fact table named connected to a number of objects radially called dimension tables that contain attributes defining each dimension members. The data store is a Data Mart or localized implantation of a data warehouse for single use. Its dimensions are chosen according to the needs of our application and the desired measurements and included in the client application. Figure 2: Decision Support Model for geometric auscultation

Coordinates August 2020 | 21 The multivariate analysis allows Case study The origins of these problems are knowing, measure and forecast mainly related to the nature of the (decision) through the manipulation Our model monitoring work of art soil, the proximity of the sea and of data store. We can consider oriented solution SOLAP belongs to the progression of freezing front. several handling operations: the whole vast field of applications • Consultation of table data of decision support, particularly from Methodology of the and generate graphs; the field of Business Intelligence. tank auscultation • Requestgraph on a database; • Application of multidimensional Indeed, the architecture of our system This type of tank is well suited operators. Spatial analysis is an decision support is that of a purely to auscultation GPS where all the essential activity for mapping and OLAP architecture while integrating precision of this technique standard decision making. GIS used for spatially referenced data at different (SD = 5mm ± 1 ppm) can be exploited. spatial analysis. It remains a tool in levels of application components. Auscultation methodology for the decision making process and it this type of tray is as follows: becomes a tool integrator providing The decision model proposed allows clear and accurate information to the exploitation of the data cube for Implementation of basic network choice decision makers to make a more just spatio-temporal analysis based on points near the work sites and stable and enlightened. GIS is currently the different dimensions temporal, materialization terminals concrete. The the best tool for digital geographic geographical and thematic. altitude of the base stations was chosen information and definition, almost identical to that of the tank to especially as this analysis tools. Presentation of the tank minimize the influence of the troposphere. frozen ground • Optimal targets: Phase of implementation ▪▪ Number and homogeneous of the results The tank frozen ground LNG terminal distribution of target points: complex SONATRACH GL/4Z Arzew was according to the shape and This phase focuses on the interpretation built in 1964 and has a capacity of about type of structure by a suitable of results of analysis and knowledge 38,000 m3. It accounted for the complex more mesh (structural mechanics). discovery in order to facilitate than 50% of its storage capacity. The tank has ▪▪ Sustainable Materialization points. the taking of the decision. a diameter of 37.20 meters and a depth of 36 • Monitoring the evolution or meters and is situated 100 meters from the sea. stability of the structure: Figure (2) presents an overview of the The main characteristic of this type of storage ▪▪ Operation 0: observation in static proposed decision-making process is the lack of insulation and moisture barrier or rapid static and determining the for inspecting geometric aims to on the vertical walls and the bottom. Only the coordinates of the target points. facilitate decision making. System gel of the water contained in the soil ensures The positions of these points from of Interactive Decision Support impermeability. This type of storage can be the backbone are the reference (DSS) adopted this approach based heated without destroying itself. Problems pattern. - Operation i: determining on OLAP engine which is the center encountered in the operation of this type of the positions of target points from of the model and gives back the storage are of different types: natural a new campaign GPS observation tables and charts, as well as results • Problems (deformations of the to quantify the displacements from mapping the spatial analysis. tank and its immediate vicinity). of the structure relative to the • Structural problems (disorders reference configuration. The new The suggested approach to decision at the structure supporting configuration thus determined making is structured according the roof of the tank). (step i) serve as a reference to the three stages of Pictet, namely the step of structuring, operating and implementation.

The proposed decision model will serve as a monitoring system for the interpretation of geodetic results following trends deformations and displacements using geo- technologies more advanced decision (Datawarehouse, Data mart, GIS OLAP cube and SOLAP). Figure 3: data Integration & data cube.

22 | Coordinates August 2020 configuration for the next Navigation is a term used to describe A data warehouse should allow locate operation auscultation (i +1). The the process used to explore a cube and retrieve information, to store and frequency response varies the interactively, usually by using a query, analyze and enrich, and provide amplitude of the deformations, graphical OLAP client connected to visualization tools and reporting. This the speed of movement of the tray an OLAP server. The process for user tool is based on a multidimensional and in response to events (such interactive multidimensional query is interaction enables fast and intuitive as earthquakes, landslides ...). called "slicing" and "dicing". The result to navigate through the information. • Interpreting results: of a query is either a multidimensional ▪▪ Geodetic Interpretations: cell, a "slice" two-dimensional or Figures 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the following trends deformations multi-dimensional subcube. variations of the basic network and displacements. • Determining the displacements in X, Y and altitude: ▪▪ Structural Interpretations: of the network integrate other data (permeability, Spatial analysis soil consolidation pressure, The MDX language, developed in isotherms, internal inspection of the laboratories Microsoft is a query Spatial analysis is an essential activity the tank by endoscopy, etc.)... language for multidimensional databases for mapping and decision making. more suitable than conventional Structuring phase SQL query processing OLAP type. In a geographic database (GDB) MDX stands for "Multi-Dimensional many information is not explicitly This first phase goes into the process of Expressions". To calculate the various represented. Typically, this information data warehousing (datawarhousing). We movements during the observation may be reconstructed by the human adopt in the following decision-making periods, we execute some MDX queries: eye when reading a map, as the approach to monitoring by auscultation • Restitution analysis results relationship between objects "is near." geometric proposed in the case of storage tank excavation of LNG. Informational part of our study is represented by data from 04 observational campaigns.

Microsoft Integration Services is a platform that allows you to create high-performance solutions for data integration, including extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) packages for data Figure 4: X abscissa Variation of the basic network. warehousing (Data Warehousing).

Through a process of data warehouse ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), data will undergo a series of treatments before stored in a single data warehouse: Data will first be extracted from each data source to be cleaned and homogenized. These data will become, therefore, the same target format Figure 5: Latitude variation of the basic network. to be finally loaded into the ED.

Operational phase

Multidimensional analysis • Browsing the Cube

Once the cube is deployed, it is possible to display the data cube tab Browser (Browser) Designer cube and dimension data browser tab of Dimension Designer. Figure 6: Altitude variation of the basic network

Coordinates August 2020 | 23 This work is a contribution to the monitoring work of art on possible technological responses to better control and understanding of risk exposure, this study is within the framework of systems decision support. This approach adopts dimensional modeling data organized in a manner appropriate to analysis to an analytical study of advanced data, providing an effective decision support.

The reconstruction of these relationships variable, the relationship between To arrive at a more convenient comparison, must meet various levels of analysis the spatial distribution of the a superposition of the contour isolines corresponding to different scales variables and the association of the two periods and a surface map meaningful objects and phenomena thereof to a geographical area. subtracted from the differences between that are the arguments. Spatial analysis the two digital surfaces were performed. aims to clarify these relationships. Spatial analysis refers to the analysis of a distributed phenomenon in space Figures represents the change in The spatial analyses determine which also has the physical dimensions altitude and therefore the significance the spatial distribution of a (the location, proximity, etc. ...) of the deformations of the study area

Figure 7: Network auscultation frozen ground (GL4 / Z - Arzew).

Figure 8: Representation of terrain surrounding the storage tank in 2000 (a) and 2006 (b).

24 | Coordinates August 2020 in terms of compaction and swelling, it is important at the Figure (11) shows that the majority of the network points of white surface, and reaches 252 mm. These numerical models auscultation of the tank in frozen soil are subject to a phenomenon constructed from our data are close to a three-dimensional reality of horizontal displacement in the direction north-east. The on the ground to identify the most significant characteristics maximum value of the displacement is of the order of 163 mm. of the landforms of the area surrounding the tank. Comparison of the results obtained during four campaigns of GPS observations helped highlight the movements of the order of 163 mm in plan and 252 mm altimetry.

Conclusion

This work is a contribution to the monitoring work of art on possible technological responses to better control and understanding of risk exposure, this study is within the framework of systems decision support. This approach adopts dimensional modeling data organized in a manner appropriate to analysis to an analytical study of advanced data, providing an effective decision support. Figure 9: Contours representing the contour Another category of tools derived from the first, is also booming. It plot of the first and fourth operation is SOLAP tools that combine the analytical power of OLAP tools with visualization capabilities maps. At first it was necessary to develop a decision model dedicated to the monitoring work of art by auscultation geometry. The suggested approach to decision making is structured according to three steps of pictet. Our application focused on auscultation network storage bin GL4Z established for the surveillance of this very particular structure. Information from the 04 observation periods emerge as a decision-making element of the first order, and the ability to manage and use it wisely is a substantial contribution of new information technologies to help achieve the objectives the decision. This application allowed us good management of the time dimension, the addition of calculated measures, filtering on dimension members, exploration operations and flexible management of cartographic, tabular and graphical displays. Figure 10: Surface subtracted: representing the variation in altitude between the two digital surfaces References

1. Bedard, 2002. Advanced GIS database concepts. Part 1: Basics of GIS. Centre for Research in Geomatics. Laval University, Quebec. 10-11 June 2002.

2. Derkaoui Aicha, Ghezali Boualem, 2009. Integration of multivariate analysis in the management of a network of auscultation. Review XYZ No. 118

3. Chakher Salem, 2006. multicriteria decision mapping: formalization and computer implementation. PhD in computer science. University of Paris Dauphine.

4. Taibi & al, 2008. Auscultation of the storage tank in excavation liquefied natural gas GPS. Review XYZ No. 117.

5. zemri, 2011. Towards Interactive System Decision Figure 11: Planimetric displacement network points Support for the Epidemiological Monitoring. Magister between the periods 2000 and 2006. memory, computer expertise. University of Oran.

Coordinates August 2020 | 25 GIS COVID-19: Idled Sarasota employees contribute with fieldwork As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) struck Florida, Sarasota began locking down its municipal buildings, and the daily workload of many city employees waned

Sarah Alban parking enforcement officer and Rockwell worked out a proposal with Director of Marketing at A city clerk are part of an innovative city IT director Herminio Rodriguez. Eos Positioning Systems. project in Sarasota, Florida. Municipal staff whose traditional daily work “The financial commitment was small has decreased due to the pandemic from the city, but the return could are spending time on the city's streets be huge,” Rodriguez said. “The city adding crucial data to the map. could start capturing this massive amount of data that it really needs.” As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) struck Florida, Sarasota began locking down its municipal buildings, and Quick workforce transition the daily workload of many city employees waned. City manager Rodriguez joined Sarasota five years Tom Barwin sent out a notice to all ago to rebuild an IT department from departments looking for creative ways scratch, complete with an enterprise to productively occupy these workers. geographic information system (GIS).

William Rockwell, a GIS coordinator Last year, Rodriguez hired Rockwell to for the city, proposed idle staff be put to rebuild the city’s GIS and update its data. work collecting much-needed accurate In the past, Sarasota had outsourced its location and attribute data on city assets. GIS data collection, but the data was never reliable and was now outdated.

“We want to be able to make data- driven decisions, and GIS is a big component of that,” Rodriguez said.

To meet their goals of building a GIS, Rodriguez and Rockwell determined they would need to either update or re- create all the city’s information assets. They had estimated the costs to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in outsourced labor over the course of at least five years. But the newly available city staff would be able to perform the work for no additional charge.

Because the city had an enterprise GIS, there were also no extra software costs. The city also had a box of extra iPhones left over from a service provider City workers train in a parking lot near City Hall, observing safe social distancing migration, which could be converted into

26 | Coordinates August 2020 offline data collection devices. The only map consisted of 28 full or cost would be for professional-grade GPS partial grids of the city. This receivers to enhance the iPhones’ accuracy. allowed members of the newly improvised data collection crew, most of them not very Taking to the streets familiar with GIS, to easily mark off where they had Rockwell met with city subject matter collected data each day. experts to decide which asset types to focus on. They prioritized data collection “Once they’re done, they text on city streetlights because of the or call me, and I can give numerous requests for information from them a new quarter section outside organizations, such as Florida to take on,” Rockwell said. Power & Light Company and the Florida Department of Transportation. The team also determined that road signs Boost for employees would be easy to map concurrently. and constituents in a tough time Working from home, Rockwell set up 14 data collection kits. Each kit consisted At the end of each day, after of an iPhone loaded with Collector for the workers have synced their ArcGIS, the city’s mobile device manager data, Rockwell assesses the software for security, a range pole, and team’s progress. In the first On the rare occasion, employees collect data for both a street the Eos Arrow 100 Global Navigation few days, this allowed him light and a sign at the same time Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. to quickly spot any errors, such as photos not collected with the a project that gets me out and walking The next day, Rockwell met five city assets, and take corrective action. around, especially now that I’m working employees at the city hall parking from home and socializing less.” lot for the first group training. The Planning technician Billy Cooney employees took care to follow social had used GIS in the past, but he The extra hands are helping Sarasota distancing guidelines while Rockwell usually spent his time assisting senior accelerate its planned GIS database explained the basic concepts of data planners, such as by measuring improvements while keeping city staff collection. Employees practiced rights-of-way. Now Cooney is productive during the pandemic. collecting sample data so Rockwell committed to spending two days per could address any initial concerns. week doing field data collection. To date, seven fieldworkers have collected data on 4,135 of the city’s Rockwell handed out reflective vests, “I try to help out wherever I can,” 6,000 streetlights and 7,950 of the city’s printed maps, and markers. The printed Cooney said. “It’s nice that I have 16,000 road signs. Then, they will collect data on the city’s 35,000 trees.

The Components of Accurate Field Data Collection Overall, response to the project has been overwhelmingly positive. Sarasota’s GIS coordinator William Rockwell configured the asset inventory application using Collector for ArcGIS. The app comes as part of the city’s GIS “I’m thrilled the city is supporting license and offers a variety of helpful data collection features, including the ability to this initiative,” Rodriguez said. “To work in disconnected environments. be able to take employees doing very, very different jobs and put them in Rockwell set a three-feet accuracy threshold in the app to ensure correct asset the field—this wouldn’t have been locations. Fieldworkers could take pictures of assets and see and update existing possible in a normal environment.” data rather than collect it from scratch.

For GPS receivers, Rockwell chose Arrow 100 Global Navigation Satellite System The article was first published at Esri. (GNSS) receivers, manufactured by Esri business partner Eos Positioning Systems. com and can be accessed at https:// www.esri.com/about/newsroom/ The Arrow 100 connects seamlessly with Collector for ArcGIS to provide submeter blog/covid-19-idled-sarasota- accuracy. employees-contribute-fieldwork/

Coordinates August 2020 | 27 NEWS - GIS

Bentley Systems’ The through video conferencing, he said Cadcorp SIS 9 service release Cohesive Companies India will identify land for setting up industries through GIS-based tool. GIS software, Cadcorp SIS, is continuing Bentley Systems, Incorporated has He said that the GIS system will have support for Ordnance Survey (OS) data announced that its Acceleration Fund Google earth view where a person products. In its latest service release, has launched The Cohesive Companies, sitting in Iceland can locate land in Cadcorp SIS Desktop now connects a wholly owned subsidiary, anchored by India and can buy it. The minister also directly to the newly released Ordnance the acquisition of Atlanta-based Cohesive pushed for an ‘early harvest’ agreement Survey Data Hub. It has dedicated Solutions. The new business venture will with the US. www.businessworld.in wizards for connecting to the OS Features include the services team from Bentley’s API, the OS Maps API and the OS AssetWise business and the offerings of Google’s $2.1 billion Fitbit deal Vector Tile API. www.cadcorp.com Bentley, Cohesive, and IBM’s Maximo faces EU antitrust probe to support the digital transformation 1Spatial announces the of infrastructure owner-operators. Google’s $2.1 billion bid for fitness release of 1Integrate v2.7 tracker maker Fitbit will face a full- The Cohesive Companies will act as a scale EU antitrust investigation, It ensures compliance of data for use digital integrator to help infrastructure people familiar with the matter said. across the enterprise and provides asset owners upgrade their enterprise automated data validation, cleaning, environments to leverage digital twins- Alphabet unit Google this month offered transformation and enhancement. It digital representations and simulations not to use Fitbit’s health data to help it enables users to assess the quality of a physical asset, synchronizing digital target ads in an attempt to address EU of data to ensure it meets defined context (current existing conditions), antitrust concerns. The opening of a full- specifications and is fit for purpose. digital components (engineering content), scale investigation suggests that this and digital chronology (lifecycle change is not sufficient. The deal, announced This release adds support for Esri management). Infrastructure digital last November, would see Google feature services, enhanced security twins can empower asset operators with compete with market leader Apple and features and the ability to define custom immersive visualization and analytics Samsung in the fitness-tracking and task labels. https://1spatial.com visibility to predict and optimize smart-watch market, alongside others performance. www.bentley.com including Huawei and Xiaomi. AHO to undertake hydrographic survey in Beagle LG BIM Library The European Commission, which will launch the probe following the Precision Hydrographic Services LG Electronics is to provide a robust BIM end of its preliminary review on Aug. (PHS) has recently been contracted by library for building professionals to be 4, is expected to make use of the four- the Australian Hydrographic Office able to quickly integrate Revit families month long investigation to explore in (AHO) to undertake a hydrographic for LG commercial displays into BIM depth the use of data in healthcare, one survey in Beagle Gulf, located in projects. As the leading manufacturer of the people said. The Commission the Northern Territory of Australia, of innovative commercial display declined to comment. Google reiterated to determine the local bathymetry products, LG Commercial Displays previous comments, saying the deal for navigational purposes. deliver premium-viewing experiences to is about devices and not data. audiences all around the world. The hydrographic survey is taking LG has partnered with BIMsmith “The wearables space is crowded, place between the beginning of July so that one can research, compare, and we believe the combination of 2020 and the end of August 2020, with and download LG Revit families Google and Fitbit’s hardware efforts two survey vessels, the Limitless and and product documentation quickly will increase competition in the sector, PHS Zephyr, both displaying flags and easily. www.lg.com benefiting consumers and making the (India over Romeo – conducting survey next generation of devices better and operations) while undertaking survey. India will start GIS-based more affordable,” a spokeswoman said. land buying system The survey will be measuring Google’s data pledge has drawn criticism oceanographic parameters including India will start GIS based land buying from healthcare providers, wearables rivals currents, tides and wave height service on a pilot basis to attract foreign and privacy advocates for not addressing in the immediate area, with companies, Commerce and Industry their concerns that the deal would boost oceanographic measurements recorded Minister Piyush Goyal. its dominance in the online search market by utilizing surface and seabed Addressing USIBC’s India Ideas Summit and its trove of data. www.cnbc.com mounted instrumentation.

28 | Coordinates August 2020 NEWS - GNSS

SpaceX launches third Because of the satellite’s deployment satellite. They also offer a new L1C GPS Block III satellite orbit and relatively high mass – 3.9 civil signal, which is compatible with metric tons – the first stage will other international global navigation SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket perform a ballistic landing. This will satellite systems, like Europe’s Galileo, with the third Block III GPS satellite, take place approximately 634km to improve civilian user connectivity. named SV03. Block III is the next downrange, on SpaceX’s droneship. generation of GPS satellites, replacing www.nasaspaceflight.com GPS III also continues the Space Force’s the aging Block II series. This will be plan to field M-Code, a more-secure, SpaceX’s second GPS launch, out of the Third Lockheed Martin-Built GPS harder-to-jam and spoof GPS signal five they have been awarded so far. III Satellite now climbing to orbit for our military forces. GPS III SV03 brings the number of M-Code enabled SpaceX previously launched the maiden After a successful launch, the third satellites to 22 in the 31-satellite GPS GPS Block III satellite, SV01, on a Lockheed Martin built GPS III satellite constellation. www.lockheedmartin.com Falcon 9 in December 2018. SV01 was is now headed to orbit under its own the first launch contract that SpaceX propulsion. GPS III Space Vehicle European Commission won in the Evolved Expendable 03 (GPS III SV03) is responding to cuts space budget Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. commands from U.S. Space Force and Lockheed Martin engineers in The European Commission (EU) proposed In March 2017, SpaceX beat United the Launch & Checkout Center at the to allocate €16 billion to enhance Launch Alliance (ULA) to secure the company’s Denver facility. There, they EU’s leadership in space. However, the launch contract for the third Block III declared rocket booster separation and budget gas been slashed for science and satellite, SV03. At that time, the launch satellite control about 90 minutes after technology, including space. The budget of SV03 was expected in early 2019. the satellite’s launch aboard a SpaceX for the European Space Programme has Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral now been set at €13.2 billion, of which Although SV01 and SV03 have flown Air Force Station, Florida. After on-orbit €8 billion will be invested in the satellite or will fly on a Falcon 9 Block 5, their testing, GPS III SV03 is expected to join navigation system Galileo and €.4.81 mission profiles will be slightly different. the GPS constellation – including GPS billion for Copernicus, Europe’s earth III SV01 and SV02, which were declared observation programme. In the earlier For SV01’s launch, the Air Force operational in January and April – in budget, €9.7 billion was allocated for requested that the Falcon 9 fly in an providing positioning, navigation and Galileo and €5.8 billion for Copernicus. expendable configuration to dedicate more timing signals for more than four billion performance to the satellite. This meant military, civil and commercial users. The remaining 392 million euros is that the first stage – the new core B1054 going to be split between European – had to be expended on its first flight. Lockheed Martin designed GPS III to space situational awareness (SSA) help the Space Force modernize the GPS investments and GovSatCom, an initiative For SV03, however, the Space Force constellation with new technology and aimed at providing secure satellite – who now run the GPS program capabilities. The new GPS IIIs provide communications for EC members. – gave SpaceX the go-ahead to set three times better accuracy and up to Horizon Europe, the EU’s next research aside some vehicle performance eight times improved anti-jamming and innovation program will receive a to enable first stage recovery. capabilities over any previous GPS budget of €80.9 billion. The figure is quite less as compared to the proposed €94.4 billion put forward by the European Commission in May. The budget for R&D have also got significantly cut.

European GNSS Agency launches MyGalileoDrone contest

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has launched its MyGalileoDrone competition on July 17. Design and development of drone-based applications or services, using a Galileo-enabled receiver, are the main targets of this competition. They should address the EU’s key priorities

Coordinates August 2020 | 29 such as the Green Deal, and support of reduced size weight and power The measuring station of the SM-Glonass the EU Recovery Plan for Europe.The technologies, including Landshield and system is designed to continuously deadline for submission is August 31. Landshield Plus, to enable the fitment of monitor the signals of the Glonass, GPS, GNSS A-J to a wider range of platforms. Galileo, Compass and QZSS navigation The competition aims to tap into the It will help mitigate the increasing systems. The station is also required for EU’s innovative spirit. They seek to threat of satellite signal interference controlling the reliability parameters of deliver services and applications which and provide a future solution that will navigation signals of global navigation can contribute and boost Europe’s protect our Front-Line Commands satellite systems. https://tass.com competitiveness, resilience and and Critical National Infrastructure. sustainability. The solution based on drone Delivery of innovative z-axis operations should also seek to add value Landshield houses a multi-element capabilities for public safety by increasing accuracy, availability and antenna and the anti-jam processing in robustness of position as well as integrity. a single small, affordable, ‘one-box’ NextNav, the leader in z-axis and solution that interfaces at RF level 3D geolocation services, and Sonim The contestants should focus on not only to the GPS receiver, with minimal Technologies a leading U.S. provider design and development, but also prepare system modification required. The of ultra-rugged mobility solutions, their drone based application or service device is intended to replace existing have announced a new partnership to for a commercial launch. The solution unprotected GPS antennas, as well as make NextNav groundbreaking z-axis should leverage Galileo to provide a enhance original installations where technology available to first responders position fix. The use of EGNSS should be protection against jamming and and 911 emergency services. understood in the broad sense, and kept interference is required. It interfaces in mind that Galileo can be integrated in with standalone GPS receivers or those Drawing on NextNav’s carrier-grade the flying platform, the ground control integrated within communication, network and innovative software, Sonim station, or in other devices supporting inertial navigation, sighting, and will be the first to offer NextNav-enabled the operation, such as a smartphone or vehicle or weapon-aiming systems. devices capable of delivering z-axis even in the frame of U-Space services. (altitude) measurements for Public Safety KVH receives $10 million order and 911 emergency services. Using EUR 100,000 will be rewarded as NextNav’s software, first responder the first prize in the MyGalileoDrone KVH Industries has received a new order applications on Sonim devices will competition, with EUR 60,000 for second, with a net value of more than $10 million provide more accurate altitude data – EUR 40,000 for third, and a fourth prize for its TACNAV® tactical navigation capable of floor level (± 3m) accuracy of EUR 30,000. www.gsa.europa.eu systems for use by an international military mandated by the FCC – 95% of the time customer. KVH’s fiber optic gyro (FOG)- for locating 911 callers and minimizing Advanced GNSS Anti- based TACNAV systems are designed to response times. NextNav.com jam by Raytheon provide unjammable inertial navigation data that fills in the gaps when GNSS Ramjack Technology Solutions The UK Ministry of Defence Equipment is lost or unavailable, helping to keep and Syntony GNSS partnership and Support office tasked Raytheon to soldiers and missions on track. kvh.com develop a prototype system to exploit Ramjack Technology Solutions has assured and resilient position navigation Russia to place 6th ground announced a partnership with Syntony and timing information derived from station of Glonass satellite GNSS. Syntony innovations extend GPS GNSS, according to a statement. Under navigation system in Brazil coverage into previously inaccessible the contract, Raytheon UK’s Assured spaces, giving mining operations Positioning Navigation and Timing The Precision Instrument-Making Systems relentlessly reliable connectivity. business will deliver a Technology research and production corporation Built on software-based navigation, Demonstrator Programme, with advanced (part of the State Space Corporation mining operations can fully customise multi-element anti-jam technology, to Roscosmos) will place a non-request and upgrade their system to continue prove the integration of the A-J with a measuring station of the SM-Glonass maximising their investment through the next-generation multi-GNSS receiver satellite navigation system in the city life of the product. The productivity gains to both accelerate and de-risk the of Belem (the state of Para in Brazil), and increased safety capabilities will be availability of such systems to end users. Roscosmos reported. The Russian a game-changer in the mining industry, company signed the corresponding and this partnership will allow Ramjack The Programme will take advantage of contract with the Federal University of to further introduce enhanced connectivity Raytheon UK’s extensive A-J heritage and Para and the Research Development into even the most rugged of global mining established capability in the development and Support Foundation (FADESP). operations. www.ramjacktech.com

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Host: DVW e.V. Conference organiser: DVW GmbH Expo organiser: HINTE GmbH Coordinates August 2020 | 31 NEWS - UAV

VSR700 prototype performs Tracking C VID first autonomous free flight The prototype of Airbus Helicopters’ VSR700 unmanned ESA’s COVID-19 space health workers, policy makers, and the aerial system (UAS) has hunting platform general public with access to useful performed its first free flight. It information on populations vulnerable to performed a ten-minute flight The European Space Agency (ESA) has coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at a drone test centre near recently launched an internal initiative in order to target preparedness and Aix-en-Provence in the south to cull ideas for supporting its member response and to help save lives. of France. It derived from states in the study and analysis of the Hélicoptères Guimbal’s Cabri COVID-19 pandemic. Under this initiative The dashboard highlights population G2, is an unmanned aerial system ESAC’s Galileo Navigation Science vulnerabilities at the national and subnational in the 500-1000 kg maximum Office has managed to get one of its levels, using data from the latest Integrated take-off weight range. ideas taken up under the name of the Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) “COVID-19 Space Hunting Platform”. census samples for 94 countries. It identifies This is a significant step in the populations at older ages, including those programme following the first The platform’s remit is to facilitate access living alone, and includes risk factors for flight in November 2019 when the to and processing of some of the existing COVID-19 transmission such as residential prototype was tethered to comply COVID-19 databases for epidemiological density (household size and persons per with regulatory requirements. studies, topping them up with data room) and access to piped water and other To enable this free flight, Airbus from ESA’s earth observation satellites. amenities. Daily updates on COVID-19 Helicopters implemented The aim is then to tap into artificial cases and deaths are embedded in the geofencing, a virtual perimeter, intelligence procedures to look for any dashboard, as is global data on health sector which enabled and justified a correlations between COVID-19 spread and readiness. This includes the density of flight clearance from airworthiness environmental parameters, such as humidity, available health care workers, hospital beds, authorities for free flight. The temperature, etc. The hope is thereby to and intensive care units (ICUs). esri.com flight test programme will now help researchers generate products and evolve to progressively open the stats that might be useful for decision- Jacobs develops new flight envelope.www.airbus.com making purposes in terms of protection model to help clients measures and lockdown, while also vetting Drone technology transforms the efficiency of the measures taken. Jacobs has developed a new COVID-19 ABP’s asset management modeling software program that is based on Development of the COVID-19 Space accepted probabilistic modeling techniques, Associated British Ports Hunting Platform is to be primed by the and fuses publicly available datasets for (ABP), the UK’s leading and technology multinational GMV. The COVID-19 infection statistics, sources best-connected port owner Universidad Politécnica de Valencia will such as the Centers for Disease Control and operator, announced it also be weighing in with support for and Prevention isolation guidelines, other has successfully embedded processing, data analysis and interaction publicly available data, and client or drone technology into its with diverse epidemiological research organizational-level data, and explores the asset management practices groups. This university has defined a differences between virus propagation based and policies, following an 18 mathematical COVID-19 transmission on various non-pharmaceutical interventions. month program. It utilised model and has been publishing PwC’s specialist drone digital periodical updates and forecasts of This model can be manipulated to create and transformation team to support its trend in Spain. www.gmv.com assess various scenarios which clients may drone adoption and transformation access – in combination with guidance from in asset management, while COVID-19 population vulnerability governments and health organizations, expert Aerodyne Group, a DT3 (Drone dashboard created advice from medical professionals, and Tech, Data Tech and Digital internal mitigation strategies and protocols. Transformation) solutions Esri has collaborated with the United This may help inform the decision-making provider, was selected as ABP’s Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to process with respect to restarting public drone service provider, bringing create the UNFPA COVID-19 Population transportation operations, like rail, road and its extensive experience and Vulnerability Dashboard. This new aviation, or in planning and executing major world-class technology to interactive tool will provide public capital programs. www.jacobs.com bear. www.abports.co.uk

32 | Coordinates August 2020 Industrial drone-in-a-box NUAIR validates AVSS drone parachute recovery system Percepto has announced that it’s on- site autonomous drone has passed Following vigorous testing, completed level 5 hurricane testing at the Florida in collaboration with NUAIR, the drone International University Wall of parachute recovery system by Aerial operate Wind. The box can withstand winds Vehicle Safety Solutions (AVSS) for in GNSS- of up to 150mph making it one of the the DJI M200 series has been validated denied environments (less than 30 m/min most rugged AI drone-in-a-box on as compliant with industry standards. drift) and also to execute highly dynamic the market for all weather conditions. maneuvers. www.uavnavigation.com The drone platform is already able The parachute recovery system to land in high winds and in snow. (PRS-M200) is a safety product US Air Force awards DroneShield for unmanned aircraft systems contract for base defense The innovation allows customers like (UAS), commonly referred to Florida Power and Light (FPL) to has drones, which automatically DroneShield Ltd has announced that the react immediately in the aftermath of deploys a parachute if the drone United States Air Force (the “USAF”) a hurricane, assessing and fixing any malfunctions in the air. has awarded DroneShield a contract to damage without endangering their deploy multiple units of DroneShield’s staff, when the weather is still very This is the third parachute standard DroneSentryTM, an integrated detect- challenging in the state where the most validation performed by NUAIR and and-defeat counterdrone (C-UAS) residents per year experiencing outages. the first for the DJI M200 series, system, at the Grand Forks Air Force advancing the potential for commercial Base, protected by the 319th Security FPL’s goal is to eventually put a drone- drone package delivery and routine Forces Squadron of the USAF (the “319th in-a-box at every substation, transmission flights over people. www.nuair.org SFS”). As part of the contract, the USAF yard, plant and solar facility, according acquired an option to acquire additional to Eric Schwartz, manager of FPL’s VECTOR-400 - a new systems following the initial deployment. aerial intelligence response. compact autopilot DroneSentryTM utilizes Percepto’s system is approved by the UAV Navigation has launched a new DroneShieldCompleteTM, an intuitive and FAA for flights two miles Beyond Visual product known as the VECTOR-400, feature-rich user interface for alerting, Line of Sight (BVLoS) and FPL’s waiver a compact autopilot which has been tracking and reporting drone activity from the FAA enables the solution to designed specifically for Aerial Targets within the coverage area. The system cover the entire facility with regular, pre- (Unmanned Aerial Targets, UAT). will receive regular firmware updates, programmed autonomous flights over the including the Company’s upcoming plant’s 11,000 acres. https://percepto.co It features a robust enclosure and a military- cutting edge Artificial Intelligence- grade connector designed to withstand the based firmware rollout, planned for Safe integration of drones harshest environments, in accordance with late 2020. www.droneshield.com from ground to sky MIL-STD 810 and MIL-STD 461. It is able to continue a mission in case of individual First commercial BVLOS permit EVA and Unifly have announced that sensor failure and even when subject to by Terra Drone Indonesia they are joining forces. Together, the jamming, maintaining accurate estimations two partners provide an end-to-end of attitude and position. It features Terra Drone Indonesia has obtained solution for the drone services market by advanced algorithms for stall prevention a license to operate a long-distance combining EVA’s drone infrastructure and the ability to carry out an efficient mission or better known as Beyond (portable Vertical Stations) and Unifly’s gliding maneuver in case of engine failure. Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), issued cutting-edge UTM technology. by the Directorate of Airworthiness & The VECTOR-400 uses an Air Data Aircraft Operations (DAAO), Director Through this partnership, EVA Attitude and Heading Reference System General of Civil Aviation, Ministry and Unifly help streamline the (ADAHRS) and Inertial Navigation of Transportation of the Republic of safe integration of drones into the System (INS) developed by UAV Indonesia. By obtaining this permit, airspace and offer operators – private Navigation, which provides high precision Terra Drone Indonesia will be able to organizations and government attitude information and which allows fully utilize the maximum potential agencies alike – an easy-to- reliable navigation even under the most use of drones, especially for missions deploy solution to support their demanding circumstances. The AHRS such as surveys, surveillance, and operational needs. www.unifly.aero gives the VECTOR-400 the capability to patrols. www.terra-drone.co

Coordinates August 2020 | 33 NEWS - LBS

Hyundai Robotics and Hyundai E&C space as part of the world’s largest work with point clouds and modeling to develop construction robots satellite herd-tracking program. software can move through and interact with the building remotely, as if they Hyundai Robotics, Korea’s No. 1 More than 1000 animals will be tracked were on site. www.navvis.com industrial robot producer, has joined over the next 3.5 years in a bid to turn hands with Hyundai E&C to develop the destructive pests into economic, Economy vector signal generator construction robots. environmental and cultural opportunities. by Rohde & Schwarz Through this MoU, both companies will jointly carry out The $4 million project uses The R&S SMCV100B is the first • The development of robots technology developed at James Cook economy signal generator that covers working at construction sites University and aims to create a new the 5G NR extended FR1 frequency • Mobile service robot business best practice for managing large range up to 7.125 GHz, making it • Development of core technologies herds using space technology. ideal for mobile communications for autonomous driving in applications. It also uses the R&S construction sites and buildings JCU eResearch Centre director WinIQSIM2 simulation software. This • Promotion of mid-to-long-term Professor Ian Atkinson said satellite software supports all common cellular business. Additionally, both GPS tracking tags will be attached and wireless connectivity standards, companies will establish an R&D to the animals’ ears and deliver real- including standards for IoT and Wi- cooperation system that is available time, geographically-accurate insights Fi (802.11xx) and many more. In total, at all times to continuously into herd behaviour, density and more than 30 standards are available, demonstrate and commercialize movements across the landscape. along with an arbitrary waveform the developed technology. generator to output user-defined signals. www.hyundai-robotics.com The animals will be tracked across a combined area of 22,314 square In the automotive industry, the R&S Self-Driving Mobility Solutions kilometres, taking in the Arafura SMCV100B can be used for end-of-line for Japan, Southeast Asia by swamp catchment in Arnhem Land testing of car radios or GNSS navigation Mobileye and WILLER in the Northern Territory, and Upper equipment. Broadcast standards can be Normanby and Archer rivers on Cape combined with mobile communications, Mobileye, an Intel Company, and York Peninsula in Queensland. wireless and navigation standards. WILLER, one of the largest transportation For Go/NoGo tests, the generator can operators in Japan, Taiwan and the The CSIRO and Charles Darwin output GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Southeast Asian region, have announced University will develop data BeiDou signals of a single navigation a strategic collaboration to launch management tools, satellite company satellite. Predefined, time-limited I/Q an autonomous robotaxi service in Kineis will provide access to their sequences can be output for functional Japan and markets across Southeast satellite fleet and technical expertise tests with fixed satellite positions. Asia, including Taiwan. Beginning in and the North Australian Indigenous Japan, the companies will collaborate Land and Sea Management Alliance FPGA based real-time coders for broadcast on the testing and deployment of (NAILSMA) are also involved. www. standards used worldwide are available. autonomous transportation solutions northqueenslandregister.com The R&S SMCV100B supports analog and based on Mobileye’s automated digital radio standards as well as second vehicle (AV) technology. NavVis IndoorViewer 2.7 and third generation digital terrestrial and satellite based television standards. The two companies aim to begin testing NavVis has announced the release This is the first economy platform that robotaxis on public roads in Japan in 2021, of NavVis IndoorViewer 2.7. It is an supports ATSC 3.0 in addition to the with plans to launch fully self-driving ride- innovative web-based deliverable that, in DVB-T2 and DVB-S2X standards. hailing and ride-sharing mobility services just a few clicks, turns laser scan data into in 2023, while exploring opportunities basic building models displayed as 360° The R&S SMCV100B uses an advanced for similar services in Taiwan and other realistic digital buildings, point clouds and direct RF concept to generate output Southeast Asian markets. intel.com customizable floorplans. It is also available signals for frequencies up to 2.5 GHz. as a cloud-based SaaS solution – NavVis This allows I/Q modulation and RF Tracking Cattle and buffalo Cloud – can be set up on-demand without signal generation to be performed in the the need for added IT infrastructure and digital domain, virtually eliminating the FERAL buffalo and unmanaged maintenance. Additionally, the intuitive I/Q imbalance errors and LO leakage cattle in northern Australia will user-friendly interface means that commonly seen with conventional analog be tagged and monitored from users without the technical expertise to I/Q modulators. rohde-schwarz.com

34 | Coordinates August 2020 NEWS - IMAGING

China launches high-resolution support the SpaceNet7 Multi-Temporal DaViLuS stands for data visualization remote-sensing satellite Urban Development Challenge, of airspace structure and is a map that which was just recently announced. visualizes the lower airspace in 3D. This China has successfully sent a high- The challenge focuses on developing means that hills and mountains, as well resolution multi-mode imaging satellite better methods to track building as individual buildings, are represented into the planned orbit from the Taiyuan construction over time using Planet in 3D. As in Map2Fly, the regulations Satellite Launch Center in north China’s imagery mosaics. Rapid and accurate and zones are drawn in, so that the Shanxi Province recently. The satellite is remote-sensing of infrastructure change requirements for unmanned flights can be a civil-use optical remote-sensing satellite can aid in a variety of efforts, from viewed. In total, over 21 million objects with a resolution up to the sub-meter level. infrastructure development to disaster have been classified and displayed. It will operate in Sun-synchronous orbit. preparedness to epidemic prevention. The visualization of the lower airspace It can provide high-precision remote- Established in 2016 by In-Q-Tel’s structure allows autonomous movements. sensing image data for several CosmiQ Works, and DigitalGlobe Due to current applications and legal industries including surveying and (now part of Maxar Technologies), requirements, drone flights are directly mapping, natural resources, emergency SpaceNet is dedicated to accelerating dependent on the earth’s surface management, etc. www.xinhuanet.com the research and application of open conditions. To automate flights, not source AI technology for geospatial only hills, mountains, and heights Global radio signal monitoring applications. It offers free, precision- but also buildings and risk areas have service by HawkEye 360 labeled, electro-optical and synthetic to be considered in the planning. aperture radar satellite imagery data HawkEye 360 Inc., the first commercial sets and runs challenges with prizes to This is because the surface conditions company to use satellites to create a foster emerging analytical frameworks. on the ground, in conjunction with legal new class of radio frequency (RF) data requirements, create new airspaces, which and data analytics, has announced that it Planet images the entire landmass are explicitly associated with requirements is offering a daily Regional Awareness of the Earth on a daily basis at 3-5 for the use of drones. In the future, the Subscription (RAS) service. It delivers meter resolution. The high temporal drone itself must be able to orient itself in mission-critical insights by allowing cadence and planetary coverage of space and recognize spaces, constraints, organizations to identify, monitor, their Dove constellation enables an and obstacles. This can be done either and analyze signal behavior over entirely new class of remote-sensing actively or passively. www.flynex.io time. Large-scale RF signal mapping applications, including detecting provides deeper situational awareness rapid urbanization, updating maps in UP42 partnership with Vultus in these regions, with the data sets. a diverse set of geographical areas (not just dense urban areas), detecting UP42 has announced a new partnership HawkEye 360 will work with unplanned infrastructure development, with Vultus, a leader in precision customers to define a Regional finding illegal activities in protected farming technologies. UP42 customers Awareness Subscription that can span areas and uncovering precursors to can now use Vultus Fertilization millions of square kilometers. Current deforestation. www.planet.com Zoning Maps algorithms to fine- RAS collection areas include the tune crop management—with more Mediterranean, South China Sea, and DAVILUS – the first 3d agricultural technologies coming soon. the Korean Peninsula. HawkEye 360 map of Germany curates a collection plan that routinely Fertilization Zoning Maps—the first in gathers a combination of high-demand The DaViLuS project was funded a series of proprietary algorithms Vultus signals. The company delivers the by the Federal Ministry of Transport brings to UP42 as a partner—shows data in an open standard GeoJSON and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) farmers which parts of their fields need format that seamlessly integrates with and is part of the German “Action more or less fertilizer. Conventional most applications. www.he360.com Plan for UAVs and Flight Taxis”. methods of fertilizer application treat all areas of a field uniformly, despite Planet and SpaceNet partnership FlyNex and HERE Technologies, together specific areas requiring a tailored for Multi-Temporal Urban with the Northern Business School, approach. Integrating AI, historical data, Development Challenge visualized Germany’s airspace for drones and three years of extensive research, in 3D for DaViLuS. The result: a complete Fertilization Zoning Maps divide Planet partners with SpaceNet LLC, a 3D map, including air areas, topography fields into five zones that are classified nonprofit focused on machine learning and important buildings, is now available according to the variable fertilization techniques for geospatial applications, to to every user free of charge and in full. rate the soil requires. up42.com

Coordinates August 2020 | 35 NEWS - INDUSTRY

Eos Positioning Systems high- defense markets focused on quantum- for mission critical Department of accuracy GNSS receivers enhanced precision navigation and Defense (DoD) applications in hostile timing (PNT). https://q-ctrl.com environments. Microchip’s SyncServer Eos Positioning Systems (Eos), the S650 M-Code equipped time and frequency manufacturer of the popular high- F100 GNSS receiver by Geneq Inc. server provides a secure, accurate, accuracy Arrow Series GNSS flexible platform for synchronizing receivers for the GIS market, has Geneq Inc. has announced its new F100, mission-critical electronic systems and announced several new releases. a multi-constellation GNSS receiver instrumentation. For DoD programs with very high level of technology requiring jam-resistant, encrypted time These announcements include the integration. It is an evolution of the and frequency signals from the GPS expansion of the availability of the well-known F90 with new features that military M-Code Precise Positioning popular Eos Locate™ underground will fulfill the surveyor’s demands in Service (PPS), the SyncServer S650 mapping solution, compatibility with the terms of field performance, flexibility M-Code is a secure time and frequency new ArcGIS Field Maps, the inaugural and cost-effectiveness. It tracks multi- instrument with a fully integrated M-code release of Eos Tools Pro for Windows. It constellations (GPS, GLONASS, GPS receiver. www.microchip.com allows organizations to accurately map Galileo, Beidou…) and can maximize already-buried assets straight to ArcGIS the acquisition and tracking process Mosaic-T GNSS timing Online via either ArcGIS Collector or with all-in-view GNSS frequencies. module by Septentrio ArcGIS Field Maps. www.eos-gnss.com Honeywell expands Septentrio has announced an addition to BAE Systems Completes Acquisition navigation offerings its GNSS timing portfolio: mosaic-TTM is of Military GPS Business a high-end GPS/GNSS* receiver module Honeywell has introduced the HGuide built specifically for resilient and precise BAE Systems has completed its acquisition n380, a new inertial navigation system time and frequency synchronization under of the Collins Aerospace Military GPS that communicates position, orientation challenging conditions. Its multi-frequency business from Raytheon Technologies and velocity of an object — such as multi-constellation GNSS technology Corporation, bringing decades of experience, an autonomous vehicle or unmanned together with AIM+ Advanced Interference innovative technology, and an extensive aerial vehicle (UAV) — even when Mitigation algorithms allows mosaic-TTM installed base of products to the company. global navigation satellite signals are to achieve maximal availability even in the unavailable. It is built using Honeywell’s presence of GNSS jamming or spoofing**. As announced in January, this asset rigorous design standards to withstand This compact surface-mount module is purchase is a unique opportunity to harsh environments in the air, on land designed for automated assembly and acquire a high-quality, technology-based or at sea. This new inertial navigation high-volume production. septentrio.com business that augments the existing BAE system is composed of Honeywell’s Systems Electronic Systems portfolio HGuide i300 inertial measurement unit CHC Navigation introduces through the addition of world-class (IMU), a GNSS receiver and Honeywell’s CGI-610 GNSS/INS Sensor GPS anti-jamming and anti-spoofing proprietary sensor fusion software, technology that enables reliable navigation which is based on the algorithms used CHC Navigation (CHCNAV) has and guidance for a range of defense for navigation on millions of aircraft announced the release of the new CGI- missions. www.baesystems.com every day. www.honeywell.com 610 GNSS/INS sensor, a high-precision dual-antenna receiver offering reliable Q-CTRL and Advanced Time and Frequency and accurate navigation and positioning Navigation Partnership instrument by Microchip solutions for demanding land, marine, and aerial applications. The tight fusion Q-CTRL, a startup that applies the Microchip Technology Inc. has announced of the latest GNSS technology with principles of control engineering to that its SyncServer S650 M-Code time an industrial-grade MEMS IMU is accelerate the development of quantum server has received approval from the powered by CHCNAV’s algorithms technology, announced a global research U.S. Air Force GPS Directorate of the to deliver accurate hybrid position, and technology development partnership Los Angeles Air Force Base for use attitude and velocity data, even in with Advanced Navigation, a provider in support of military communication complex and obstructed environments of AI-based navigational hardware. systems, radars and networks. where GNSS outages can occur.

The two organizations will now be M-Code, an encrypted military signal The CGI-610 is a powerful GNSS/INS conducting joint technical development broadcasted in GPS frequency bands, system supporting data output up to 100 in support of both the civilian and is required by congressional mandate Hz to meet the requirements of highly

36 | Coordinates August 2020 dynamic applications (airplane, train, IFEN’s NCS NOVA GNSS BeiDou and QZSS) at any given time, car etc.). The optional external odometer Simulator is now available which maximizes the availability of sub- sensor for ground vehicles can provide an meter level accuracy. www.quectel.com additional independent measurement of IFEN GmbH has announced that its displacement and speed, which is fused NCS NOVA GNSS Simulator now Tersus introduces BX40C RTK Board with the GNSS/INS navigation solution. supports dual-RF outputs. The NCS NOVA GNSS Simulator is a high- Tersus GNSS Inc. has announced the Trimble 4D Control end, powerful and easy to use satellite release of the BX40C RTK Board to software version 6.0 navigation testing and R&D device. It support its series of GNSS boards and is fully capable of multi- constellation provide high accuracy, fast positioning Trimble Monitoring has introduced the latest and multi-frequency simulations for a services. Powered by new Tersus version of its software platform for real- wide range of GNSS applications. The ExtremeRTK™ GNSS Technology, time displacement monitoring—Trimble® simulator is one of the leading solutions the BX40C Board can support multi- 4D Control™ software (T4D). It introduces on the market providing multiple GNSS constellation and multi-frequency all- three and 12-month subscriptions, and frequencies in one box. www.ifen.com in-view satellite tracking. It can be three-tiered edition options. These new integrated with autopilots and inertial subscription options give providers of Carlson Announces Next- navigation units to meet various monitoring services the flexibility to Generation BRx7 GNSS Receiver developing requirements. It is ideal for choose the appropriate subscription high-precision positioning, navigation, model based on the project duration. Carlson Software has announced its next- and mapping. www.tersus-gnss.com generation multi-frequency, multi-GNSS T4D 6.0 introduces three installation BRx7 smart antenna. It is a full redesign Hemisphere Phantom™ OEM module options, tailored to the various of Carlson’s flagship GNSS receiver, in Bad Elf Flex™ GNSS Receiver project requirements of specialized delivering class-leading specifications, monitoring consultants, land surveyors, performance, and value for surveyors, Bad Elf, LLC has announced the complete construction companies, dam and contractors, engineers, GIS professionals transition of all Bad Elf Flex receivers to mining operators: www.trimble.com etc. The smart antenna comes with a dual- the Hemisphere GNSS Phantom OEM band radio module that is capable of both module. As one of the first partners to Trimble Inpho version 400 MHz and 900 MHz operation. This incorporate the Phantom, Bad Elf Flex 10.1 now available allows for the long range capability of offers significantly enhanced capabilities the UHF 400 MHz signal plus the ability and further exemplifies their commitment Trimble announces version 10.1 for to switch to the 900 MHz frequency- to future-ready GNSS designs. all Inpho software products including hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) signal UASMaster. The software suite is a for better performance in noisy radio Bad Elf Flex offers the first scalable- comprehensive workflow solution environments. www.carlsonsw.com accuracy GNSS receiver with a daily enabling photogrammetrists to rapidly option to choose between L-Band and produce highly accurate and quality Dual-band sub-meter level GNSS RTK. In standard configuration, it deliverables for their clients. The positioning module for eMobility achieves 30-60 cm accuracy in real- modular offering provides the ultimate time for GIS use. www.bad-elf.com flexibility depending on whether large Quectel Wireless Solutions have released frame aerial imagery, LiDAR or Satellite its LC29D module. It is a sub-meter NovAtel releases ROS driver data is being used. www.trimble.com level GNSS module that integrates dead reckoning (DR) and multi-band (L1/L5) NovAtel has released its first purpose- ProStar joins Trimble’s GIS real-time kinematic (RTK) algorithm built driver, powered by Robot Business Partner Program technologies with fast convergence Operating System (ROS), to support its times and reliable performance. The OEM7 family of GNSS receivers. The Trimble has announced that ProStar has module supports dual-band GNSS driver provides an optimized interface joined Trimble’s GIS Business Partner raw data output and integrates 6-axis enabling users to accelerate autonomous Program. As part of the program, ProStar IMU sensor to deliver high-accuracy development projects by quickly has implemented the Trimble® Precision positioning performance in seconds. incorporating NovAtel OEM7 receivers SDK (Software Developer Kit) to integrate into custom applications. The driver high-accuracy positioning capability in its Based on the Broadcom BCM47758 GNSS is available for immediate download PointMan® mobile application running chip, the LC29D can concurrently receive through the new NovAtel GitHub on smartphones and tablets using Trimble signals from up to six constellations repository or as a ROS Binary Package GNSS receivers. geospatial.trimble.com (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, IRNSS, for direct installation. novatel.com

Coordinates August 2020 | 37 MARK YOUR CALENDAR

GNSS RTK rover with will be performed over the course September 2020 Visual Positioning of the following months to collect GNSS Advancements for AEC Virtual as much data as possible to make Conference Experience (VCX) Event Leica GS18 I GNSS RTK rover with routine UAV deployment on a large September 9-10, 2020 www.assetmapping.events/gnss Visual Positioning allows users to scale possible in the future. capture points of interest from a Commercial UAV Expo Americas distance and measure points from the The Indian government provides - Virtual Event images in the field or the office. multiple locations for 100 hours’ 15 -17 September, 2020 https://www.expouav.com worth of BVLOS scenarios to Visual Positioning technology (sensor several consortia. This consortium Amsterdam Drone Week & fusion combining GNSS, IMU and a will focus on conducting drone- UAM Hybrid Summits camera) allows users to reach previously spraying operations for agricultural 17 September 2020. www.amsterdamdroneweek.com inaccessible or obstructed points safely purposes, windmill surveillance and efficiently. Visual Positioning is operations, and medicine delivery, ION GNSS+ VIRTUAL based on photogrammetric technology the last in a semi-urban environment 21-25, September 2020 with near real-time data processing, . These trials are to exploring the vast https://www.ion.org/gnss/ allowing surveyors to check the agricultural and healthcare purposes October 2020 quality of their data while on site. of drones, identified by the Indian Intergeo Digital 2020 government as some of the biggest 13-15 October The GS18 I continues the success priorities concerning BVLOS flights. https://www.intergeo.de from the tilt-compensated Leica 10th IGRSM International Conference GS18 T rover. In addition to visual The tests will be performed in remote and Exhibition on Geospatial & Remote point positioning, it inherits all areas, beyond the normal ground control Sensing (IGRSM 2020) - Virtual 20-21 October 2020 the functionalities of a GS18 T, coverage. Unifly’s BLIP will enable http://igrsm.org/igrsm2020/index.html including the ability to map and safe BVLOS drone flights thanks to its stake out points with either tilted real-time tracking and in combination International Symposium on Satellite or levelled pole. hexagon.com with the Unifly Data Collector. Navigation (ISSN 2020) 21-24 October Nanjing University of Information Science and Spectra Geospatial and The BLIP is an autonomous Technology, Nanjing, China Aplitop Collaboration weather-proof tracker that http://issn2020.csp.escience.cn/dct/page/1 functions independently from Spectra Geospatial has announced a the drone itself as a stand-alone November 2020 collaboration with Aplitop, a supplier digital blackbox. unifly.aero Autodesk University (Digital) of specialized surveying and civil North and South America engineering software, to provide a Integration of camera and November 17-20 Europe, Middle East, Africa, comprehensive tunnel survey solution drone technologies and Asia Pacific to increase productivity for survey November 18-20 service providers. This collaboration Phase One Industrial has signed an https://www.autodesk.com/ provides surveyors and geospatial agreement with Acecore Technologies. autodesk-university/ professionals with a complete hardware Together, these companies’ high-end December 2020 and software solution for performing products are opening new opportunities Amsterdam Drone Week & efficient tunnel construction surveys. in drone-based high-accuracy UAM Hybrid Summits www.spectrageospatial.com mapping and inspection markets. 1 - 3 December 2020. www.amsterdamdroneweek.com

BVLOS trials supported Under the new agreement, Acecore by the DGCA in India will support Phase One Industrial’s Download your copy from iXM range of cameras in the UAV Unifly shares its expertise during the market for high-accuracy mapping and www.mycoordinates.org future BVLOS trials supported by the inspection. Acecore will be using the Directorate General of Civil Aviation iXM camera in three drone models: (DGCA) in India. The goal is to help ZOE, NEO and NOA. The Acecore define India’s regulatory framework NOA flagship model can fly up to A Map is a Living Structure with for UAVs. Led by AutoMicroUAS, a 45 minutes with any PhaseOne iXM the Recurring Notion of far more leading Indian drone manufacturer, / iXM-RS camera and lens option. Smalls than Larges a number of BVLOS test flights www.acecoretechnologies.com

38 | Coordinates August 2020 LAND ADMINISTRATION AND CLIMATE RESILIENCY RAC1198_LS-Coordinates-fp-jul20-p.indd 1 31/07/2020 13:09