THE GLOBAL MAGAZINE FOR GEOMATICS WWW.GIM-INTERNATIONAL.COM
INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 5 • VOLUME 34 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
FAREWELL INTERVIEW WITH SENIOR EDITOR MATHIAS LEMMENS
DIGITAL TWINS FOR SPATIAL PLANNING
SATELLITE IMAGERY: AN AERIAL ALTERNATIVE
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DIRECTOR STRATEGY & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT P. 10 Farewell Interview with Senior Editor Mathias Lemmens Durk Haarsma After 23 years, senior editor and industry fi gurehead Mathias Lemmens is FINANCIAL DIRECTOR Meine van der Bijl SENIOR EDITOR Dr Ir. Mathias Lemmens stepping down from his position on the GIM International editorial board. He CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dr Rohan Bennett, Huibert-Jan has played such a signifi cant role in the evolution, quality and reputation of Lekkerkerk, Frédérique Coumans this publication that we cannot allow this moment to pass unnoticed. In this CONTENT MANAGER Wim van Wegen extensive farewell interview, Lemmens looks not only back but also forwards COPY-EDITORS Lynn Radford, Englishproof.nl as he takes us on a journey through his career in the fi eld of geomatics. A MARKETING ADVISOR Feline van Hettema ‘must read’ for everyone involved in the surveying profession! PRODUCTION MANAGER Myrthe van der Schuit CIRCULATION MANAGER Adrian Holland DESIGN ZeeDesign, Witmarsum, www.zeedesign.nl
GIM INTERNATIONAL GIM Inter na tion al, the global mag a zine for geo mat ics, is P. 15 Realistic Virtual Reality Environments from Point Clouds pub lished bimonthly by Geomares. The mag azine and related The advent of cost-effective head-mounted displays marked a new era e-newsletter pro vide top i cal over views and ac cu rate ly presents in immersive virtual reality and sparked widespread applications in the lat est news in geo mat ics, all around the world. engineering, science and education. An integral component of any virtual GIM Inter na tion al is or ien tat ed towards a pro fes sion al and reality application is the virtual environment. While some applications may man a ge ri al read er ship, those lead ing de ci sion mak ing, and has have a completely imaginary virtual environment, others require the realistic a world wide cir cu la tion. recreation of a site or building. Relevant examples can be found in gaming, heritage site preservation and building information modelling. This article SUBSCRIPTIONS GIM International is available bimonthly on a subscription discusses how point cloud technologies were used to create a realistic virtual basis. Geospatial professionals can subscribe at any time via environment for use as immersive and interactive surveying labs. https://www.gim-international.com/subscribe/print. Subscriptions will be automatically renewed upon expiry, unless Geomares receives written notification of cancellation at least 60 days before expiry date. P. 21 Developing an Online 3D Model of the City of Groningen AD VER TISE MENTS The Dutch city of Groningen wants to follow in the footsteps of other cities In for ma tion about ad ver tising and dead lines are avail able in such as Rotterdam, Hamburg, Singapore and Helsinki by developing a 3D the Me dia Plan ner. For more in for ma tion please con tact our marketing advisor: feline.van.hettema.nl. digital model. For the team working on the 3D Digital City of Groningen project, the aim is for the image on the computer screen to be an identical ED I TO RI AL CON TRI BU TIONS replica of the reality outside. All ma te ri al sub mit ted to Geomares and re lat ing to GIM Inter na tion al will be treat ed as un con di tion al ly as signed for pub li ca tion under copy right sub ject to the editor’s un re strict ed right to ed it and of fer ed i to ri al com ment. Geomares as sumes no re spon sibil ity for un so lic it ed ma te ri al or for the P. 28 Remotely Sensed Data to Increase the Effi ciency of Data ac cu ra cy of in for ma tion thus re ceived. Geomares as sumes, in Collection ad di tion, no ob li ga tion to return ma te ri al if not ex pli cit ly re quest ed. Con tri bu tions must be sent for the at ten tion of the Rigorous evaluation of the outcomes of international development content manager: [email protected]. programmes and interventions has been a perennial challenge across multiple sectors and disciplines. Because of their ability to determine intervention effectiveness (and cost effectiveness), the demand for and production of impact evaluations (IEs) has grown substantially in recent decades, and they have been evolving to fi ll a critical gap in evidence. Geomares Remotely sensed data allows IEs to be improved in multiple ways, increasing P.O. Box 112, 8530 AC Lem mer, The Neth er lands their timeliness, accuracy and relevance for decision-makers. This article T: +31 (0) 514-56 18 54 outlines how 3ie and New Light Technologies aim to enhance the generation, F: +31 (0) 514-56 38 98 use and transparency of geospatial analysis in IEs. [email protected] www. gim-international.com
No ma te ri al may be re pro duced in whole or in part with out writ ten per mis sion of Geomares. Copy right © 2020, Geomares, The Neth er lands All rights re served. ISSN 1566-9076 P. 3 Contents P. 24 FIG Commission 7: AGM 2020 Wrap-up P. 5 Editorial Notes P. 27 Satellite Imagery: An Aerial Alternative P. 7 Headlines P. 32 Organizations P. 19 Bright Perspectives of Mapping from Above ADVERTISERS THE GLOBAL MAGAZINE FOR GEOMATICS WWW.GIM-INTERNATIONAL.COM
To subscribe to GIM International go to www.gim-international.com/subscribe INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 5 • VOLUME 34 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
COVER STORY When it comes to impact evaluations, remotely sensed data can increase their timeliness, accuracy and relevance for decision-makers. 3ie and New Light Technologies are enhancing the use of geospatial FAREWELL INTERVIEW WITH SENIOR EDITOR MATHIAS LEMMENS analysis in IEs, as you can read in the article on this topic starting on page 28. The front cover of this DIGITAL TWINS FOR SPATIAL PLANNING SATELLITE IMAGERY: AN AERIAL ALTERNATIVE November/December 2020 issue shows the detection of rice fi elds in a satellite image. 01_cover.indd 1 18-11-20 08:26
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 | INTERNATIONAL | 3
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The rise of mapping Hope
People have been mapping the environment for centuries and even This issue of GIM International is tinged with sadness, but I will millennia. On the walls of the famous Lascaux caves in France, primitive try to let some hope shine through on this page too. It’s a sad paintings dating back to 14500 BC show a part of the night sky. The oldest occasion because we are saying farewell to our senior editor, surviving map, showing a river valley between two hills, is on a Babylonian Mathias Lemmens. Having stepped down from his geodesy clay tablet, found in 1930 near present-day Kirkuk, Iraq. According to some teaching role at the Technical University in Delft last year, he is estimates, the clay tablet is thought to have been produced in the 25th now leaving us too. We hope that he will fully enjoy his well- century BC. deserved retirement after 22 years of involvement with this publication. GIM International owes a lot to Mathias. He was the The roots of modern cartography can be traced back to ancient Greece. guardian of the quality and evolution of the magazine for so many Claudius Ptolemy’s famous map shows the world as it was known to years, contributing numerous articles and columns, always staying Hellenistic society in the 2nd century. A 2.7m-high wall painting of a town on top of the developments in the field, keeping his finger on map, found in 1963 in Anatolia, dates back to around 6100-6300 BC. the pulse of academia and research alike. He was a friendly and We also know about routes taken by the ancient Egyptians thanks to early constructively critical member of the team who was always keen representation of maps on papyrus. But there would be no maps without to ensure that the next edition of our magazine would be even surveying. Did you know that maps in ancient Babylonia were created using better than the one before. We will have to do that ourselves from accurate surveying techniques? On our website, you can find a well-read and now on, but – on a hopeful note – we have learned so much from much-shared article (‘The Surveyors of Our World’) by John F. Brock on the him over the years that I’m confident we will be able to continue importance of surveying through the ages. It’s well worth a read! his good work. Our content manager Wim van Wegen interviewed Mathias Lemmens on his illustrious career (see page 10 of this Fast forwarding to today’s advanced mapping methods, the use of aircraft issue), and in a future edition we will publish a review of the new and – more recently – the availability of satellite imagery has made it possible book by our soon-to-be former senior editor. Tjeu, many, many to document our planet from the sky. In this issue of GIM International, we thanks! zoom in on mapping from above: both aerial and satellite-based imaging. To put things in perspective, it’s good to remind ourselves that mapping Some sadness also stems from the fact that we are still from above is a relatively new phenomenon. Aerial photography was first caught up in the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in the Northern put into practice by the French photographer and balloonist Gaspard-Félix Hemisphere there is always a wave of colds and flu in the winter, Tournachon, back in 1858. Now, some 160 years later, aerial mapping but the situation is worsened this year by the potentially severe has grown into a highly sophisticated profession as a result of the amazing implications of coronavirus. This is our final issue of 2020… the evolution of aerial photography, inspection and mapping. Remote sensing first ever year in which an external factor of global proportions technology has transformed spatial data into practical knowledge applied for forced us to skip scheduled editions. Like me, you’re no doubt a wide range of purposes. hoping that we will soon be able to see light at the end of the tunnel. Encouragingly, there are already a few glimmers of hope In fact, this edition of our magazine contains a story titled ‘Remotely now that the first vaccines have been announced. I’m sure we’d Sensed Data for Efficient Data Collection’ (page 28), contributed by Francis all like things to get ‘back to normal’, and not just for personal Rathinam, Ran Goldblatt et al. It gives a comprehensive overview of how reasons, but for business reasons too. And while hope is not a Earth observation is crucial in impact evaluation, an assessment of how solid company strategy, it can certainly help people to get through the intervention being evaluated affects outcomes, and whether those the winter in a more positive frame of mind. So let’s hope for effects are intended or unintended. Remotely sensed data is converted into better times – but don’t forget to put a strategy in place so that meaningful information related to the characteristics of land cover and land you’ll be ready to seize new opportunities as they arise. use, availability of surface water, food security, land productivity, cropping intensity and more. This is a complex topic but, in view of all the challenges Bad things lead to good eventually, so I’m looking forward to 2021 planet Earth is facing, also a highly relevant one. The mapping profession bringing us better times. For now, have a good festive season and has come a long way and its impact has moved here’s to a healthy and prosperous new year! far beyond what our ancestors in Lascaux, Babylon or Greece ever could have imagined! Durk Haarsma, director strategy & business development Wim van Wegen, [email protected] Content manager [email protected]
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University of Colorado to Establish Trimble Technology Pix4D Launches New Lab Ground Image Capture App
The University of Colorado in for 3D Modelling Denver, USA, has received a signifi cant gift from Trimble to Pix4D has released a establish a state-of-the-art new app for ground Technology Lab for the College of imagery acquisition: Engineering, Design and Pix4Dcatch. The app has Computing. The gift will also been developed to support the departments or empower users to easily programmes in construction create ground-based 3D Trimble is supporting the University of engineering and construction models using an iOS Colorado in establishing a Trimble Technology management, geography & Pix4Dcatch iPhone mockup. mobile device. Users Lab. environmental sciences, physics, don’t need to be experts; and urban and regional planning. they can simply scan the area of interest with Pix4Dcatch. The app The lab will expand the university’s access and expertise in a customized suite records pictures along with GPS positions. Compatible with recent iOS of construction hardware and software products. The Trimble Technology Lab devices, but optimized for the newest iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro and Pro will provide students enrolled across relevant programmes hands-on experience Max with Lidar sensors, scanning is done with real-time 3D meshing for with a wide breadth of Trimble solutions. The lab will expand the university’s scene completion feedback. This process of giving live feedback enables a access and expertise in project management, architectural and structural workfl ow that secures optimal results. Images are then automatically analysis, design and engineering, mixed reality, 3D scanning, offi ce-to-fi eld uploaded to Pix4Dcloud for fast generation of scaled and georeferenced solutions, and GIS data collection and GNSS positioning. Partnering with Trimble 3D models and points clouds that can be measured, shared and exported. allows the University of Colorado to integrate the latest technology into its https://bit.ly/2KaQwTf curricula, empowering graduates to rapidly transform how buildings and living environments are designed and constructed. https://bit.ly/38Qrovm
GAF and BKG Intensify Multi-source Remote Sensing Data
GAF AG has won an inter- national tendering process issued by the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) for the provision of remote sensing data. The framework agreement includes consulting services and the Delineation and grading map for the fi re granting of exclusive access for in the refugee camp at Moria, Lesbos, the BKG and its users to high- Greece. (Courtesy: BKG) resolution and very high- resolution optical satellite images and radar images. GAF is one of the largest European providers of geographic information services with a focus on Earth observation. With its satellite-based crisis and situation service, the BKG makes an indispen- sable contribution to providing straightforward and rapidly-prepared infor- mation products derived from geodata and remote sensing to all the federal institutions. This enables a rapid response in the case of security- relevant and critical challenges. https://bit.ly/36i6JXF
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07-08-09_headlines.indd 7 19-11-20 13:04 Headlines
New Land Subsidence Map Reveals the Netherlands’ Bentley Systems Commits (In)Stability US$100 Million of Venture
Lopsided houses, subsiding Funding to Accelerate streets, shifting dikes and nature reserves stricken by Infrastructure Digital Twins drought... all of this is revealed in the updated interactive Land Bentley Systems, an infrastructure Subsidence Map of the engineering software company, has Netherlands, which was announced the establishment of Bentley published recently. In the years iTwin Ventures. The new organization will Land Subsidence Map of the Netherlands ahead, there will need to be invest in promising technology companies (northern part of the province of Friesland). some serious investment in Bentley Systems iTwin addressing the emerging opportunity for Courtesy: NCG/SKY GEO, TU Delft. maintenance by citizens, Platform. infrastructure digital twin solutions for businesses and government. roadways, railways, waterways, bridges, Published jointly by the Netherlands Center for Geodesy and Geo-informatics utilities, industrial facilities and other infrastructure assets. Bentley iTwin (NCG), SkyGeo and TU Delft, the map shows the movement of billions of Ventures is a US$100 million corporate venture capital fund which fosters measurement points across the entire country. Whereas data of this kind previously innovation by co-investing in startups and emerging companies that are needed to be collected manually, radio satellites have now been used, enabling new strategically relevant to Bentley Systems’ objective of advancing infra- readings to be taken from each measurement point every few days. This provides a structure through going digital. The fund will target investments in transfor- much more granular picture than the previous version of the map. In the first mational digital twin solutions supporting the design, simulation, version, the satellite data was averaged out to boxes of four square kilometres. The construction and/or operation of physical infrastructure. new version shows each individual measuring point: more than 40 billion in total. https://bit.ly/3nwCfi7 https://bit.ly/32SxebN
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07-08-09_headlines.indd 9 19-11-20 13:04 By Wim van Wegen, GIM International
Farewell Interview with Senior Editor Mathias Lemmens Shedding Valuable Light on the Geomatics Industry
After 23 years, senior editor and industry figurehead Mathias Lemmens is stepping down from his position on the GIM International editorial board. He has played such a significant role in the evolution, quality and reputation of this publication that we cannot allow this moment to pass unnoticed. In this extensive farewell interview, Lemmens looks not only back but also forwards as he takes us on a journey through his career in the field of geomatics. A ‘must read’ for everyone involved in the surveying profession!
You started your career at GIM International teaching and consultancy. I’d been a voluntary new technologies to a worldwide audience. with a clear focus: to publish high-quality editor of a national geomatics journal since Having guaranteed my independence, I articles on cutting-edge technological 1990. When I was approached to become agreed. Since then I have written hundreds of developments, new application areas and editor of GIM International in 1997, I hesitated columns, articles and interviews with leading societal developments that could influence at first. Just as today, the magazine was scientists and industry decision-makers. the surveying profession’s future. Looking sponsored by the industry. How would that Often provocative and thought-provoking, my back on the past couple of decades, did you balance with my academic independence? writings have covered not only technology and succeed? Would it lead to a conflict of interests and technological trends in geomatics, but also It was not so much a career, but rather a infringe my ethical standards? But I also and above all the fate of our planet and the sideline to my main activities: research, recognized its potential for disseminating people living on it – societal issues, education, Earth’s vulnerability (climate change, natural disasters, etc.) and the relationship between poverty and our monetary system and the organization of aid. My major ethical principle was to refrain from promoting individual interests from the realms of industry or science. The eagerness of practitioners and scientists alike to be published in GIM International and the use of articles from it in academic education prove how well the magazine has been appreciated. So my answer is definitely yes, I have succeeded!
Your clear and understandable interpretations of the impact of wider developments on the geomatics profession have consistently provided a foundation for learning and debate. What drove you to always take such a broad view? My broad view stems from my concern about the inequality of wealth in the world. Why are some countries rich and others poor? Why is
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10-11-12-13_interviewlemmens.indd 10 19-11-20 14:23 By Wim van Wegen, GIM International interview
there such an extreme divide between rich In January 2000, you wrote in a column that households and poor ones within a particular “…beyond 2000, the geomatics industry will country? And how can geomatics help to be primarily focused upon consumer- lessen those extreme? I collected many orientated services, end-to-end solutions and ideas in Part 1 of my book Points on the fast adaptation to user needs”. Is this Landscape under the heading ‘Wealth and statement still applicable today? the Art of Map Maintenance’. The first chapter The geomatics industry consists of three covers land, debt and poverty. Poverty layers. The bedrock is made up of the expresses itself through a lack of food, proper manufacturers of GNSS receivers, total sanitation or potable water, but finds its roots stations, photogrammetric cameras, laser in power imbalance and thus money. Land scanners, image processing software, GIS administration systems, a major branch of software and so on. These are the primary geomatics, cannot be established without sponsors of GIM International and their recognizing that our monetary system leads messages are directed towards the second to corruption. The only way to fight corruption layer, which consists of geodata acquisition is to change the way money is created and firms that use instruments and software to implemented in society. It is a misconception serve a wide variety of customers – who form that reducing poverty is just a matter of giving the third layer – such as national cadastres, money; you can’t fight fire with fire. Improving mapping agencies, municipalities and water the fate of the billion or so poor people on boards. In my column, I foresaw that the this planet should be a supported bottom-up first layer would take a shortcut to provide process, not a top-down one. end-to-end services to the third layer through dedicated solutions for applications such Tell us about your passion for writing. as construction, firefighting, agriculture and object recognition. In today’s academic As a youngster I discovered that I was not that city planning. Today, they are known as papers, researchers complain that the stupid as they thought. I discovered that I had ‘verticals’. This shortcut has been enabled by complexity of Earth-related scenes, such as some talent for it, but not enough to make a cheaper, more intelligent and more productive the presence of shadows and occlusions, living out of it, so for my career I decided to technologies combined with an understanding cause ‘challenges’. These are the same focus on my second passion: the Earth and of the relevant workflows so that customers in problems we faced three decades ago, so I how it is mapped. My editorships enabled me the third layer can perform specialized tasks am sceptical about the potential of machine to combine those two passions. themselves. The growth of this customer base learning and deep learning, notwithstanding is ongoing, and I still firmly stand by the words the huge increase in computer power, storage You have always regarded GIM International I wrote in another early column: “The future of capacities, and speed of data transport. As as a platform for the exchange of ideas. How geomatics is bright”. for business hypes, one around the turn of did you encourage knowledge sharing in the the millennium was location-based services magazine? The geospatial industry has seen its fair (LBS). It didn’t actually vanish, but did One way I encouraged the exchange of share of hypes over the years. Some turned become invisible, hidden as it is in navigation ideas was in the Invited Reply series, in out to be real game changers, some have apps and affected by privacy regulations. which I approached experts to comment on added a useful solution to the surveyor’s And a hype which turned out to be a great ideas presented by one or more authors in toolbox and some have simply vanished. In success is of course unmanned airborne previous features. I also organized several your view, which of them have made an systems (UASs). Equipped with cameras and/ series of articles – such as on geomatics essential contribution to the industry and or Lidar and supported by dedicated software, education, land administration and other what was just a soap bubble? such as dense image matching (DIM), they topics – and summarized the findings in There are business hypes and research have become a mainstream surveying tool concluding articles. As disasters became hypes. One research hype back in the and have contributed to a huge extension of an increasingly relevant application area for 1980s/90s was the use of artificial application domains. By the way, DIM has geomatics, I introduced a monthly column intelligence (AI) for object recognition. Many made a big contribution to the revitalization called GIMasters and Disasters in 2007, which researchers working on it – including me of photogrammetry as a major source of point ran for several years. And to help our readers – believed that it would soon be possible clouds after Lidar initially caused its relevance keep pace with the rapid implementation of to feed images captured from the air or to fade around 2010. technological advancements in geomatics space into a computer to produce maps instruments, my former colleague, Henk Key, without any human intervention at all, but In 2005 you became a self-employed and I introduced a long-running monthly we were disappointed. The basic flaw in geomatics consultant. Why did you decide to column called Technology in Focus. Such thinking was that computers can mimic the move in that direction after two decades in initiatives take lots of time and require a deep human brain. But now, due to the gigantic academia? understanding of the potential of geomatics volumes of geodata produced today, AI has Actually, it was not the first time. In my and its role in society, of course. resurfaced as the Holy Grail for automatic graduation year I co-founded an engineering
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10-11-12-13_interviewlemmens.indd 11 19-11-20 14:23 firm – Geodelta – together with fellow student airborne or satellite-based data collection is years, although not in such huge numbers Robert Kroon. It was my Plan B, because even more ‘invisible’. Is that a problem? I don’t as today. In line with Darwin’s ‘survival of the economic crisis in the early 1980s had think so. There are many other professions the fittest’ theory, we should accept that life caused high unemployment and because the people are unaware of. When talking about evolves over time and that we cannot fully PhD research proposal I planned to work on geomatics, I explain that it’s a combination of control nature. didn’t secure funding. After some time I got the words geography and informatics in which a second chance to do PhD research and the data are GPS coordinates, digital maps, You worked in academia for many years. How sold my shares. Today, the firm is owned by images and laser measurements. I emphasize has the way of educating students evolved a fellow former editor, Martin Kodde. I really that geomatics forms the basis for Google Maps, over the decades? enjoyed working in education right from the Street View, satellite navigation and other well- Not that much. A lecturer still stands in front of start. The aim of a university should not be known services. High schools can contribute to a class of students. The ubiquitous spread of to make a profit, but to fulfil its societal tasks greater awareness by teaching about maps in the internet sparked predictions of a distance (see box). geography lessons, doing geomatics exercises in learning revolution some 25 years ago. The mathematics, and – in history – discussing the message was that lecturing is just like giving role of surveyors in food supply in ancient Egypt a presentation, resulting in the delusion that Societal Tasks of Universities or the role of maps in exploring the world in the academics should follow a drama course to 1. creation of new knowledge through 15th and 16th centuries. For example, how many improve their skills. Blackboards were deemed research to help society to maintain people know that Mount Everest is named after old-fashioned and removed from lecture wealth, welfare and civilization and to a surveyor? Geomatics societies could play a rooms. Guess what – they are back again, and prevent poverty and starvation stimulating role to grow awarness among pupils. many students still make notes using pencil 2. transfer of knowledge to youngsters, and paper! There have been some benefits practitioners and society as a whole What are the career prospects for young of digitalization, of course, such as computer through lectures and publications in people in geomatics? projections replacing overhead sheets and the professional journals There is a shortage of geomatics ability to post lecture notes or messages in 3. Structuring of knowledge through professionals to meet the ever-growing need digital learning environments. But the way young textbooks for geoinformation. In 2018, I conducted brains absorb knowledge and adopt skills hasn’t 4. conservation of knowledge through a survey among Dutch employers which changed much throughout history. Learning is libraries and – increasingly today – revealed that geomatics graduates are in also a social activity. Students empower each open-access repositories. high demand due to their extensive geodata other. The transfer of knowledge is based on knowledge combined with ICT skills. talent and motivation; technology is just an aid. Therefore, geomatics graduates can expect If distance learning were a real alternative, it I am primarily committed to the second and their career to get off to a flying start. Where would have been in place already. After all, the third tasks. As my career unfolded, research they stand ten or 20 years later depends on invention of the printing press and introduction got hoisted into the zenith and university their intelligence, commitment to continuous of regular postal services could have enabled it managers gained ever-more power. Rather learning, zeal and also a bit of luck. centuries ago. In that context, today’s massive than being respected as proud professionals open online courses (MOOCs) are just another committed to high standards, teaching staff Climate change – and the associated carbon tool. became part of the ‘production machine’. After crisis – is one of the biggest challenges the a burnout, I decided to become self-employed world is facing today. How can the geomatics Coming back to your farewell as senior editor but I continued supporting geomatics students profession help society to address this? Are of GIM International, how can the publication through a small teaching appointment. It you optimistic or pessimistic? continue to address readers’ needs? turned out to be one of my best decisions ever. Satellites record multispectral images with The internet inundates us with an abundance Around three years before I retired, I was asked one or more near-infrared (NIR) bands. of articles, images and videos. But as to become Director of the MSc in Geomatics – Topographic airborne Lidar also exploits more information becomes available, the recognition of my dedication to education at the NIR band. Both technologies are used trustworthiness of the source becomes last, albeit a little late! for determining biomass, monitoring its increasingly important. Independent content fluctuation over time, and mapping vegetation is essential and high quality standards are The surveying profession is a supplier of parcels. Climate change causes sea-level rewarded in the long run. The fact that GIM geospatial data to many users in many rise and heavy rainfall, increasing the risk International has been flourishing for over disciplines for many purposes, yet there of flooding and destruction by mudslides. three decades is proof of this! There is a seems to be a lack of awareness of this. How Geomatics technologies are used on a regular continued need for articles that illustrate can education contribute? basis to monitor the condition of dikes and the potential of promising technological Geomatics combines various technologies dunes. Water boards in the Netherlands were developments not based on claims, but to produce geodata and convert it into among the first to recognize the potential of through use cases in which the technologies geoinformation, often as 2D or 3D maps. The airborne Lidar. The country’s dense DEM have been applied successfully. Don’t talk, applications are virtually infinite. At the end of originates from its centuries-long battle show! Regular articles on state-of-the-art a project, the surveyor heads back to the office against water. I am optimistic about the future geomatics technologies will provide valuable armed with data, leaving barely a physical trace and believe that humans will continue to ongoing support to professionals, especially of all the hard work that has taken place, and dominate the planet for another million when combined with product surveys from
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the high-end segment. New technologies campus, which was published at the end of they are currently being thwarted by the are rapidly implemented in instruments and October. As a long-distance cyclist I also have coronavirus measures. I hope to be able to set it remains important to help practitioners plenty of exciting travel plans, but unfortunately out on new adventures very soon! understand how they work so that they can judge the suitability of such instruments for their existing or planned workflows. Biography Mathias Lemmens (1953) started his career as a draughtsman and reckoner at How are you spending your well-earned free Kadaster (the Dutch cadastre). He received his MSc in Geodesy from Delft University of time now that you have retired from your Technology (TU Delft) in 1983 and was appointed as assistant professor there in 1987, decades-long career at TU Delft and also specialized in geodata acquisition technologies and geodata quality. He completed his from GIM International? PhD thesis on photogrammetry and computer vision in 1996. In 2005 he started as a I recently finished a monograph which I had self-employed geomatics consultant while retaining a small teaching appointment at TU been working on for four years. The book, Delft, where he recently retired from the position of Director MSc Geomatics. Lemmens is author of over 500 entitled An Introduction to Pointcloudmetry – publications, including scientific and professional papers, books, chapters and lecture notes, and has Point clouds from laser scanning and supervised over 50 MSc and four PhD students. As team leader and GIS advisor he has led major EU and photogrammetry, will be issued by Whittles World Bank projects in Estonia, Nigeria and Kenya. His popular book Geoinformation – Technologies, Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-84995-479-2) next Applications and The Environment, published by Springer in 2011, provides a unique and in-depth survey of year. I regard it as my legacy and hope it geomatics. In November 2019, to mark his retirement from TU Delft, he published Points on the Landscape inspires students and practitioners. I have also – Twenty Years of Geomatics Developments in a Globalizing Society, a compilation of 150 selected columns written a chapter – on airborne and ground- published since 2000. He is also author of the monograph An introduction to Pointcloudmetry – Point clouds based laser scanning – for the forthcoming from laser scanning and photogrammetry, to be issued by Whittles Publishing in 2021. Lemmens is married publication called The Routledge Handbook with three children and one grandson. In his spare time, his biggest passion is travelling through Europe of Geospatial Technologies and Society. Now, and Asia on a bicycle loaded with survival kit. He has written two books about his long-distance cycling I am switching to other pursuits. I have written adventures (in Dutch). a novel, in Dutch, that is set on a university
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Immersive and Interactive Surveying Labs Realistic Virtual Reality Environments from Point Clouds
The advent of cost-effective head-mounted displays marked a new era in immersive virtual reality and sparked widespread applications in engineering, science and education. An integral component of any virtual reality application is the virtual environment. While some applications may have a completely imaginary virtual environment, others require the realistic recreation of a site or building. Relevant examples can be found in gaming, heritage site preservation and building information modelling. This article discusses how point cloud technologies were used to create a realistic virtual environment for use in immersive and interactive surveying labs.
Creating a virtual environment that is based conducted UAS flights with nadir imaging and Modelling the terrain and structures on a physical site necessitates geometric collected TLS scans from various locations, The terrain and any man-made structures information to a high level of detail. mostly around the building, and merged can be modelled based on the merged Technologies such as unmanned aerial the point clouds through a custom merging point cloud. Using existing segmentation systems (UASs) and terrestrial laser scanning algorithm. Figure 1 shows an example of the algorithms, it is relatively easy to separate the (TLS) generate dense and accurate 3D point data gaps in the UAS and TLS datasets. For point cloud into ground and non-ground and clouds. Each method offers advantages and example, in this case the UAS point cloud create a terrain mesh from the ground points. disadvantages that complement each other. has gaps around tree areas and captured the While detail meshes of several million faces For example, a UAS maps at an altitude with a top of the building but not its vertical walls. In can be created, this introduces challenges to downward-looking view angle, while scanners contrast, the TLS dataset could not capture game engines (such as Unity and Unreal) that are set at vantage locations limited by line- the top of the building but did capture the are often used to create virtual environments. of-sight obstructions. Identifying data gaps building’s vertical walls. The TLS dataset was For a pleasant virtual experience, it is and merging their point clouds can create used as the reference and consisted of 180 important to always maintain a minimum of datasets that are more complete. For research million points. The UAS point cloud had 70 60 frames per second (FPS), while other purposes, a recent study recreated part of the million points, and 25 million points were kept virtual-reality hardware manufacturers often Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus. The authors to fill gaps in the TLS dataset. recommend at least 90 FPS. This means that
Figure 1: Point clouds from the UAS (left) and TLS (right).
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15-16-17_featurebolkas.indd 15 19-11-20 13:05 Figure 2: Modeling of Terrain (left) and man-made objects (right).
Figure 3: Top view of the virtual environment.
Figure 4: Examples of texture and environment. View of the Bell Technology Center (top left); Friedman Observatory (top right); Faculty and staff car park (bottom left); kerb, grass and asphalt textures (bottom right).
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detailed meshes of a few million faces need the pixels from the aerial imagery. Built-in Pennsylvania State University, and Chancellor to be simplified to a few thousand without materials in game development software Endowments from Penn State Wilkes-Barre. compromising the accuracy of the terrain. can be used if they are similar enough to Students John Chapman, Vincent F. Pavill For example, in this implementation the initial their physical counterparts, which can be IV, Eric Williams, Joe Fioti, Donovan Gaffney, terrain mesh had 4 million faces; however, an easy solution. This is the case for asphalt Brandon Fino, Seth St. Clair, Malcolm when approaching complex areas (such as and grass textures. However, some physical Sciandra, Courtney Snow and adjunct Brandi around the building), the FPS dropped to less objects – such as exterior building walls – Brace are acknowledged for their involvement than 60. The authors simplified the terrain have unique and complicated patterns, so in this research. and used 50,000 faces with a difference textures need to be developed from scratch. of 5cm in root mean square error (RMSE). To create such textures, the authors used Figure 2 (left) shows this simplified terrain. close-up photography and created patterns Further reading The terrain mesh was then converted to a that resemble the physical ones in Adobe - Bolkas, D., Chiampi, J., Chapman, J., & Pavill, V. F. Unity Terrain to take advantage of Unity’s Photoshop. (2020). Creating a virtual reality environment with a occlusion-culling rendering process. This only fusion of sUAS and TLS point clouds. International renders objects that are visible in the user’s It is important that these textures are Journal of Image and Data Fusion, 1-26. field of view, thus ensuring that 90 FPS is accompanied by normal maps that give an - Bolkas, D., Chiampi, J., Chapman, J., Fioti, J., & Pavill consistently maintained. illusion of depth in virtual reality. The textures IV, V. F. (2020). Creating Immersive And Interactive were used to create materials that were then Surveying Laboratories In Virtual Reality: A Differential It was time-consuming to geometrically model applied to the 3D objects. Figure 3 shows a Leveling Example. ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, man-made structures such as buildings and top view of the virtual environment created, Remote Sensing & Spatial Information Sciences, 5(5). curbs. While some automatic shape detection while Figure 4 shows close-up examples algorithms exist, they detect primitive shapes of the textures. Of note are the custom such as boxes, spheres, cylinders and so on. textures in the buildings and the surrounding While these are sufficient for applications that environment. For instance, in Figure 4 (top About the Authors do not require a high level of modelling detail, left), the windows were made reflective and Dr Dimitrios Bolkas is an assistant this is not acceptable for immersive virtual in Figure 4 (bottom left), the car-park sign professor of surveying engineering at environments. Consider that a building has was faithfully recreated. In addition, ambient the Pennsylvania State University, complex windows and door structures, arched sounds were added such as birds and the Wilkes-Barre Campus. He holds a walkways, handrails, car-park stripes, letter movement of tree branches and rustling PhD in geological sciences and markings on asphalt (e.g. ‘STOP’) and so on. leaves in the wind. These add realism, which engineering from Queen’s University, In this case, man-made objects were modelled is important to create a sense of immersion. Kingston, Canada. He has wide-ranging geomatics manually from the point cloud, which was experience that includes unmanned aerial systems and laborious. Figure 2 (right) shows an example Research results terrestrial, mobile and airborne laser scanning. His of these 3D models in Autodesk 3DS Max. The This article has presented a workflow for recent research endeavours focus on creating virtual accuracy of the modelled 3D structures was utilizing point cloud technologies to create environments from point cloud data and using virtual compared with 93 checkpoints on building realistic virtual environments. The authors reality to enhance engineering education. Dr Bolkas is a corners and car-park stripes, which showed an plan to use such realistic environments in director on the executive board of the Surveying and agreement within 10-20cm. Improved shape surveying labs in immersive and interactive Geomatics Educator’s Society (SaGES). detection algorithms in the future will enhance virtual reality. Merging point clouds generated [email protected] the automation of structure extraction from from different acquisition methods can be point clouds, making it an easier process. used to obtain complete and high-detail Jeffrey Chiampi is an assistant For trees, a different approach was followed. geometric information. 3D modelling and teaching professor of engineering at A tree random generator (from Unity’s Asset texturing are important steps to make the the Pennsylvania State University, store) was used and they were placed on the environment realistic, but these processes Wilkes-Barre campus. He holds corresponding locations, identified from the take time and effort. Virtual reality technology master’s degrees in business merged point cloud. is rapidly advancing and is quickly finding administration and software its way into surveying and engineering, engineering. At Penn State, he teaches courses in Textures increasing the demand for replicating physical computer science, game development and information Textures are an essential component of virtual environments into virtual ones, and opening sciences and technology, sits on several university environments. Creating and applying textures the door for new professional endeavours. committees and conducts research. His primary research that look like their physical counterparts interest is the application of virtual reality to creates a sense of realism. While point Acknowledgements engineering education. He regularly involves clouds give important geometric information, This project has been supported via grants undergraduate students in his research and often images captured using UASs and TLS do not from the following sources: Schreyer Institute collaborates with faculty from other locations and have sufficient resolution to create textures. for Teaching Excellence of the Pennsylvania disciplines. As users can get very close to 3D objects State University, the Engineering Technology [email protected] in virtual reality, they will be able to see and Commonwealth Engineering of the
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By Victoria Jadot, Eurosense perspectives
Bright Perspectives of Mapping from Above
Recent technological developments have The combination of recent technological different workflows and accuracies to deal made aerial surveying more exciting than developments and workflow improvements with, and the automatic vectorization of Lidar ever. For imagery, ground resolutions of 2cm has led to better, faster and more accurate 3D point clouds. A right balance between XYZ can now be reached, whereas for Lidar, models, pushing the limits towards (textured) accuracy, and time as well as cost, will have pulse frequencies of 4GHz and point clouds LOD 3.3 and making an array of applications to be found. of 30-40 points/m2 are no longer unusual. accessible to more customers every day. Simultaneous acquisition of imagery and Lidar Such applications of 3D city models in GIS Recently our industry has witnessed an is becoming increasingly popular. environments include automatic approval improvement in the ‘look and feel’ of 3D of building permits and complex analysis models. An aesthetically attractive, interactive To optimize the production chain and improve such as green-roof potential, water storage and immersive model reaches a wider the workflow, many survey companies are capacity and air pollution simulations. In public as it increases engagement, improves looking to artificial intelligence (AI) and deep these challenging times due to COVID-19, we understanding and optimizes the experience. Rich 3D models lead to strong visual communication, superior insights and better AI is not magic, so it would be wise to exercise a decisions.
certain level of caution in its application Sharing the 3D model with a broad audience is also an important part of a successful 3D model. Esri software offers an integrated learning (DL) as the holy grail. Given the are all encouraged to work from home and platform for 3D visualization and analysis, and impressive amount of training data available, substantially limit the number of site visits. also makes the link with building information the continuously better performing CPUs and With a precise and recent 3D model, we can modelling (BIM) and indoor mapping. To add GPUs and the many hours of research invested visualize and analyse a virtual clone of the an extra dimension, Internet of Things (IoT) in this subject, there is no doubt that AI and DL reality, dubbed a ‘digital twin’, from behind our sensors can easily be integrated in the 3D will play a bigger role in our industry in the near desks instead. model and dashboards to provide real-time future. For example, the automatic extraction information. of trees remains a challenge many would like to To build the ultimate 3D model, aerial 3D tackle, and Eurosense is obtaining good results models (based on Lidar and imagery captured In conclusion, Eurosense sees a bright future in that regard. However, AI is not magic, so from the sky) could be completed with for ‘mapping from above’, especially with it would be wise to exercise a certain level of thermography and in situ data. The main regards to 3D products and applications. caution in its application. challenges encountered in this regard are the Demand is continuously increasing for better 3D products, and technological evolutions make a larger offering available at a more attractive price. These are exciting times indeed for our sector, and… the sky is the limit!
About the author Victoria Jadot is project manager at Eurosense. She holds a degree in business engineering (from Solvay Business School) and in applied geomatics (from UC Louvain). Prior to joining Eurosense, she was a business development and market intelligence manager at Umicore, in Shanghai (China) and Brussels (Belgium). [email protected]
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PEN-ADV-R-2500-19-GIM-V2.indd 1 21/08/2019 12:35 By Rick Klooster, Gerben Gort, Paul van Alphen and Marcel Klaveringa, The Netherlands feature
Digital Twins for Spatial Planning Developing an Online 3D Model of the City of Groningen
The Dutch city of Groningen wants to follow in the footsteps of other cities such as Rotterdam, Hamburg, Singapore and Helsinki by developing a 3D digital model. For the team working on the 3D Digital City of Groningen project, the aim is for the image on the computer screen to be an identical replica of the reality outside.
Aerial imagery of the impressive Groninger Forum building.
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21-22-23_featureklooster.indd 21 19-11-20 14:24 The company Avineon creates a state-of-the-art 3D city model with a level of detail LOD2.3, with a z-accuracy of 10cm and flawless alignment with the 2D large-scale base map.
The City of Groningen in the Netherlands cooperation between spatial departments digital twin of the village of Ten Post, which is committed to working in 3D whenever in the spatial planning and development is a few miles outside the city of Groningen, possible; in fact, its motto is ‘We work in 3D process also became clearly apparent during that the municipality could use for citizen unless...’. The municipality’s City Engineers, the construction of the Groninger Forum participation, communication, planning and City Design and Geo & Data departments are and other projects to renew the city centre. policymaking. Thanks to the success of currently working together to develop a digital The municipality embraced the principles these two pilot projects, the tender process 3D model of Groningen, both above and of Building Information Management (BIM) for executing the 3D Digital City project as below ground. Stakeholders regard this ‘3D used in several construction processes and intended in the vision document was given the Digital City’ project as a next step to optimize prepared a vision document on 3D. This vision green light. the entire construction chain, since the 3D corresponded completely with the coalition model will enable spatial projects to be carried agreement document of the municipality. One company that got on board with the out faster, more cost effectively and more project at that point was Future Insight, transparently. Pilot projects which has been focused on 3D digital cities In 2019, Groningen successfully conducted since 2014, for the City of Rotterdam. It is The importance of collaboration two pilot projects. The first was a pilot project currently involved in numerous 3D digital twin In November 2019, the impressive of the 3D underground of the former sugar projects worldwide based on the combination Groninger Forum building opened in the factory complex called ‘Suikerunieterrein’. of 3D city models with, for example, sensor city centre, serving as a meeting place and The largely vacant site is to be redesigned, information, simulations and BIM designs. hub for inhabitants, students, government, but there are objects in the subsoil that must This makes a digital twin widely applicable for business and cultural organizations. This be taken into account during the design. authorities to use in the different phases of a building embodies the municipality’s These were visualized in a 3D web map. project, from planning and communication to focus on collaboration. The importance of The second pilot project was to build a 3D completion.
Modelling floods is one of the many applications of a 3d city model.
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Future Insight’s most important principle textures to the buildings, using its innovative, of Groningen to be met efficiently, and the regarding a 3D digital twin is the use of open and largely automated, 3D modelling process municipality is taking an important and high- standards and technologies like CityGML and which chains multiple tools together in a quality step closer to meeting its 3D digital IFC as the basis for the solutions. This ensures smart way. Avineon has developed this semi- ambitions. Groningen values cooperation that the solutions are flexible and scalable automatic 3D modelling process based on highly, and this partnership between experts and can easily be reproduced by other many years of experience acquired working and the city is another example of how customers or countries, while also offering the with customers such as Rotterdam, Brussels, Groningen wants to work together to meet its opportunity to connect with the newest open Geneva, Bern and Neuchâtel. innovative goals. technologies that are available worldwide. Besides the buildings, Avineon will also model The development of the 3D Digital City will For the 3D Digital City project in Groningen, other attributes from the 2D base map, such help Groningen to become a smart city, Future Insight’s role is the storage of 3D city as bridges, walls, steps and trees, to make not only by optimizing communication data and making it easily available online. But the 3D Digital City representation even more with the inhabitants of the city and other first, accurate 3D data is needed. Kavel 10 – a true to life. stakeholders, but also by supporting faster company with a lot of international experience and better decision-making. Above all, a in collecting high-quality aerial imagery and CONVENIENT AND APPEALING better understanding of the design stage of Lidar point cloud data on a large scale – Lastly, all of this 3D information will be made the construction process will help to prevent handled the 3D data collection aspect. The available to the users, and it is important that failure costs in the realization phase. The 3D city of Groningen was flown with a 2.5cm GSD this is done in a convenient and appealing way. model that is now being developed will provide for the images and approximately 400 points First, the data will be stored in an open 3D the foundation for ensuring that spatial per square metre with an overlap of 80/80%. CityGML database and the different layers will projects can be carried out faster, more cost The biggest advantage of this approach is the be published into open 3D Tiles services. This effectively and more transparently. possibility for multiple use of the data that is will make it easy to use the 3D data in multiple acquired in one flight. online tools without it having to be converted or distributed. As a result, all tools will automatically 3D CITY MODEL have up-to-date 3D data available directly from Based on the resulting high-quality datasets, the source at the municipality of Groningen. About the Authors the company Avineon is creating a state-of- Additionally, a download service will be made Rick Klooster is CCO of Future Insight and project the-art 3D city model with a level of detail available, enabling everyone to download parts manager of the 3D Groningen project with years of LOD2.3 (realistic roof modelling, taking of the model to use in their own modelling tools experience in similar projects. He was one of the into account dormers and roof overhangs, such as SketchUp or Autocad. initiators of the Dutch 3D pilot that resulted in a for buildings), with a z-accuracy of 10cm national 3D standard based on CityGML. He is the and flawless alignment with the 2D large- The collaboration between the 3D specialists initiator of Nederlandin3D.nl, where the collaboration scale base map. Moreover, Avineon will add is enabling the requirements set by the City with Kavel 10 and Avineon originated. [email protected]
Gerben Gort is a technical specialist at Kavel 10 and the data collection specialist for the 3D Groningen project. He has been involved in a large number of domestic and international data collection projects, including collecting a full 3D model of London (UK). [email protected]
Paul van Alphen is a technical specialist at Avineon and the specialist in the 3D Groningen project responsible for processing the data into 3D models. He has worked on numerous projects, including the 3D project at the municipality of Rotterdam. [email protected]
Marcel Klaveringa is head of the department for Spatial Design & Operations, Urban Development at the municipality Groningen and contractor for the 3D Groningen project. He has years of experience as team lead within the field of urban development for the municipality and for different engineering companies. [email protected] Kavel 10 handled the 3D data collection aspect.
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21-22-23_featureklooster.indd 23 19-11-20 14:24 YOUR gim-international.com REPORT FIG Commission 7: AGM 2020 Wrap-up
The 2020 FIG Commission 7 Annual General Meeting (AGM) has wrapped up! Over the course of three days, which were based around the joint themes of ‘Building community resilience through urban-rural land linkages’ and ‘Strategies to deal with COVID-19’, 200 registered participants attended 11 parallel sessions, with upwards of 50 expert presenters, across three major time zones. The initial positive feedback shows that the Commission is continuing to deliver on its 2018-2022 workplan despite the disruption during the COVID-19 period.
The 2020 AGM was certainly different to Consensus-building activities – such as the and Uchendu Eugene Chigbu discuss previous years. Fully online, it enabled recently endorsed UN-GGIM ‘Framework for directly on both themes of the AGM. The participants to join from anywhere, at any Effective Land Administration’ (FELA) and key to urban and rural linkage is better time, at much-reduced financial and carbon the mindset for integrated community-led policy, legal, technical and professional costs. This resulted in a larger than usual development – provide pathways forward. integration. Meanwhile, an introspective study attendance, meaning even more engagement of the impacts of COVID-19 on the surveyor with the Commission’s key activities. The Education at Distance profession showed, contrary to standard event was multi-lingual, including dedicated Session 2, moderated by Commission 2 thinking, that over 30% of the community had French, Spanish and Mandarin sessions, Chair David Mitchell, saw Chetna Ben, Dimo actually experienced an increase in business enabling a more inclusive discourse. In Todorovski and Kelly Lickley discuss the and work – whether due to government addition, all profits from the event have been challenges and opportunities for surveying stimulus or that fact that many land agencies donated to the FIG Foundation. and spatial education brought about by the are already fully digitally transformed. pandemic. The rapid transition to ‘fully online’ Concerns, Consensus, Community enabled continuity of training programmes Progress, Performance, PRIndex The meeting kicked off with the Asia-Pacific and even increased engagement. However, Sessions 4, 5, and 6 were conducted Opening (Session 1), with Keith Bell, Kees challenges around delivering practical classes fully in French, Spanish and Mandarin, de Zeeuw, Eva-Maria Unger, Michael Barry and matching face-to-face student experience respectively. The French session, led by and Kate Rickersey giving their views on the were acknowledged. former Commission 7 Chair Daniel Roberge, current state of play and future directions saw Claire Galpin, Rafic Khouri and Jean- for the global land administration sector. Integration, Impacts and Introspection Philippe Lestang detail the growing support Concerns were raised about future land Session 3, the European Opening, saw FIG and expansion of land administration administration initiatives; donor restructures President Rudolf Staiger, Commission 7 implementations in both Francophone and and that redirected funds will have an impact. Chair Daniel Paez, Danilo Antonio (GLTN) non-Francophone countries. The Spanish session saw Ivonne Moreno, Juan Daniel Oveido, Mika Mora, Malcolm Childress and Stephane Palicot outline the really significant land sector progress happening in contexts like Colombia, and also the scaling up of the increasingly focused upon PRIndex land tenure security index. The Mandarin session, with inputs from Dong Jiang, Changgen Zhan, Liang Huang, Huanle He and UngYong Park, touched upon themes of cadastral data unification, codification and combinations of data sources.
Disruption, Improvement, Value Session 7 included a keynote from Rafael Tuts (UN-Habitat), alongside a presentation from Vladimire Evtimov (FAO), both focused on
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24-25_reportbennett.indd 24 19-11-20 13:06 BY ROHAN BENNETT AND DANIEL PAEZ report
the importance of cross-agency collaboration Meridia, have reached new levels of maturity delivered. The meeting concluded that the when it comes to urban-rural linkages, and are scaling in terms of county-level COVID-19 period has already changed the especially in these disrupted times. Kim uptake. Here, Christiaan Lemmen, Eftychia global land administration sector and is likely Taikjin and Simon Jeon (LX) provided the Kalogianna, Frank Pichel, Amy Coughenour, to increase tenure insecurity, rather than innovations from South Korea, whilst James Paula Dijkstra and Simon Ulvund shared improve it. However, the situation also creates Kavanagh and former FIG President Chryssy stories. opportunities, and so it’s more important Potsiou updated attendees on initiatives than ever to continue to come together, around unregistered land valuation and work Convergent innovation inspires share the local lessons at the global level and from UN-ECE. Session 10 looked at more leading-edge keep strength within the FIG Commission 7 technology developments relating to 3D community. neCessity Before ideology cadastre, digital twins and artifi cial intelligence In Session 8, Kirsikka Riekkinen led a debate (AI). Peter van Oosterom, Mila Koeva, Big tHanKs! discussion on the roles of PPPs in the land Brent Jones and Abbas Rajabifard delivered A big thanks to all the session moderators and sector, with inputs and examples from Peter insights into the latest trends, also showing rapporteurs, including Kwabena Asiama (YSN Creuzer and Della R. Abdullah. Opportunities how many of the new developments are Chair), David Mitchell (Commission 2 Chair), and cautionary examples were explored, with converging on different platforms and Chethna Ben, Jean Pierre Habiyaremye, a key message being that PPPs should be encouraging more engagement with other Daniel Roberge (Former Commission 7 Chair), driven by necessity in terms of fi nance and sectors. Michel Morneau, Ivonne Moreno (The World skills, not by ideology. Bank), Huayi Wu, Yue Ying, Mohsen Kalantari, Country reports and Close-out Sylion Muramira, Kirsikka Riekkinen, Mila ready to sCale! The fi nal session was opened up to all Koeva, Charles Atakora, Christiaan Lemmen, Session 9 illustrated how many land participants, enabling freer interaction and the Rohan Bennett and Daniel Paez, and of administration innovations developed over use of breakout groups. Country updates from course the FIG Offi ce – in particular Louise the last decades, including LADM II, FFPLA Australia, the Netherlands, Russia, Indonesia, Friis-Hansen and Claudia Stormoen Pedersen – and the participatory toolsets of Cadasta and Croatia, Japan, Turkey and Portugal were for making the online event possible.
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By Skye Boag, European Space Imaging, Germany perspectives
Satellite Imagery: An Aerial Alternative
Remote sensing projects often begin with manned or unmanned aircraft. These savings a question: Should I use aerial imagery or are significantly important in budget/time- satellite imagery? This question may reoccur sensitive government mapping projects. throughout long-term projects, particularly when unforeseen circumstances change Tasking and processing the ability to collect data, the reliability of The planning of satellite tasking is fully the data or the scope of the work. Budgets, customizable. This allows users to prioritize technology and government restrictions are their areas for collection, define the resolution under constant transformation, making it and spectral bands as well as specify critical to choose the right data inputs. There collection angles. There is added flexibility for are a number of key parameters that must complex projects to adjust these requirements Figure 2: European Space Imaging’s ground station located at the be taken into account when beginning any shortly before the acquisition takes place. German Aerospace Center (DLR). remote sensing project. These include the size Real-time weather updates ensure that the and accessibility of the area of interest, the data acquisition will be as cloud-free as timeliness of the data, whether the data can possible, further narrowing the competitive means that it is possible to identify objects such be sourced from existing imagery or if a new gap between aerial data and satellite imagery. as above-ground utility lines in a residential collection is required, and – perhaps the most After collection, satellite Imagery is directly neighbourhood, impervious surfaces, crop important aspect – the project budget. downloaded through a ground station where species and their boundaries, vehicle types, it can be delivered to the user within hours manhole covers and much more. Efficiency and scale of collection. Users may choose from several Satellites can complete remote sensing processing options and delivery methods. Permanent Focus projects more efficiently than aircraft, resulting Satellites can reach areas of interest that in enormous impacts on cost-benefit analysis. Collection Capabilities are difficult or inaccessible by other means The key difference is the speed and ease Satellite imagery providers can collect data in and offer predictable and frequent refresh with which satellites can collect thousands various multispectral band combinations as well schedules. With high-frequency refresh of square kilometres in minutes without as stereo imagery in a single pass, eliminating rates, users can confidently request the the complicated logistics of aircraft flight the need for multiple flights by multiple exact same area of interest to be collected planning. Aircraft face greater restrictions; specialized aircraft. Stereo imagery offers at specific intervals. This is a crucial feature they must obtain airspace permits, plan for reliable data for the creation of digital elevation for automated analysis. As with aerial data, suitable take-off and landing points and models (DEMs) and virtual 3D reconstructions. satellite imagery can also be integrated into adhere to ever-changing border and travel The suitability of 30cm satellite imagery for programmes using artificial intelligence to restrictions. Aircraft are also vulnerable to aerial imaging applications is confirmed by automatically extract and classify features weather conditions such as heavy winds. the National Imagery Interpretability Rating and thereby streamline workflows. The Satellites simply don’t have any of these Scale (NIIRS), which is used by the imaging amount of imagery collected over time by issues. They can collect isolated, conflicted community to define and measure the quality of satellites compared to aerial solutions offers or cross-border locations with ease. This images and performance of imaging systems. increased training data for machine learning applies particularly for large-scale mapping Imagery captured in 30cm from Maxar’s applications. Additionally, users can take projects that may require multiple flights for WorldView-3 has a rating of NIIRS 5.7. This advantage of this historical data to model predictive analytics that are incredibly useful for trend analysis, anomaly detection at a mass scale and profitability estimates.
About the author Skye Boag is the marketing manager at European Space Imaging. Holding a degree in marketing and public relations from Deakin University Australia, she has almost ten years’ experience within marketing and events across a wide range of industries. At European Space Imaging she directs the brand, events and communication strategies across the business. Figure 1: Frankfurt Airport captured with WorldView-3 while borders were closed during the [email protected] coronavirus pandemic.
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27_perspectiveseuropeanspace.indd 27 19-11-20 13:07 By Francis Rathinam, Ran Goldblatt, Douglas Glandon and Ghermay Araya
A Closer Look at Impact from High above the Earth Remotely Sensed Data to Increase the Efficiency of Data Collection
Rigorous evaluation of the outcomes of international development programmes and interventions has been a perennial challenge across multiple sectors and disciplines. Because of their ability to determine intervention effectiveness (and cost effectiveness), the demand for and production of impact evaluations (IEs) has grown substantially in recent decades, and they have been evolving to fill a critical gap in evidence. Remotely sensed data allows IEs to be improved in multiple ways, increasing their timeliness, accuracy and relevance for decision-makers. This article outlines how 3ie and New Light Technologies aim to enhance the generation, use and transparency of geospatial analysis in IEs.
Given the importance of international are actually achieving the targeted outcomes what would have otherwise happened for development to promote social, health, for the beneficiary population. Making this the same population in the absence of the economic and environmental well-being and determination is often far from straightforward, intervention. equity around the world, combined with the in part because it requires isolating and magnitude of investments in such efforts, it is estimating the effect attributable to the The critical role of impact evaluations essential to know whether or not such efforts programme or intervention, as compared to The field of impact evaluation has emerged and evolved over the past several decades to address this challenge and the associated gap in rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of development interventions. Study designs used to quantify attributable effects are typically experimental (which use random assignment to establish control groups) or quasi-experimental (which use statistical procedures to identify comparison groups to construct a valid counterfactual), often incorporating qualitative evidence as part of a mixed-methods approach.
Because of their ability to determine intervention effectiveness (and cost- effectiveness), the demand for and production of IEs has grown substantially in recent decades. Policymakers and programme implementers increasingly seek evidence from rigorous IEs to guide investments toward interventions that are most likely to work, to produce the largest benefits, to reach the most people, and to do so at the lowest Satellite images are fundamental for flood detection. cost. At the same time, the limitations of IEs
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have also come under increasing scrutiny in the development community, including for example their often substantial time and resource costs and the challenges of accounting for important but unobserved variables and phenomena that may influence the outcomes of interest in the study population.
Challenges and limitations Impact evaluations often rely on primary data collection or existing large-scale representative survey data to construct key outcome variables and other covariates. However, when programmes are implemented at larger geographical scales than the individual or the household scale (e.g. in villages, counties, forests or for agricultural plots), conventional data collection methods Detection of rice fields in a satellite image. may be inadequate. For example, many key outcome variables cannot be measured using conventional data collection methods 2) the outcome of interest is spatially of 30m. Since 2014, the European Space (e.g. small-area economic activity) or are measurable (directly or indirectly), and; Agency (ESA) Sentinel mission has been riddled with measurement errors (e.g. plot 3) information on programme placement providing a wide range of publicly available productivity). and timing is available and can be clearly Earth observation data, including synthetic demarcated retrospectively. aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical (EO) Conventional data collection methods are recordings. Sentinel-2, for example, provides also limited in their ability to measure a vast AVAILABILITY OF AIRBORNE GEOSPATIAL DATA observations of every location on Earth at a array of potentially critical control variables, Until recently, the cost and availability of satellite temporal frequency of up to every five days in such as the physical properties of areas imagery, together with the computational cost a spatial resolution of 10m. This is compared where a programme is implemented (e.g. associated with data storage and analysis, have to NASA’s MODIS instrument, which provides topography, land productivity, accessibility, hindered the accessibility to high-quality and almost daily images of Earth, but in a coarser proximity to services, etc.), which could timely satellite data for IEs. Today, there is an spatial resolution (down to 1km). significantly affect the impact of the exponential increase in the availability of sources programme. Furthermore, collecting several that provide freely accessible and reusable With terabytes of data collected by multiple years of pre-programme baseline information satellite data. Remotely sensed observations sources every day, it is essential to rethink or conducting follow-up surveys several years (e.g. observations collected by satellites or the way all this data is managed, stored and after programme implementation to measure airborne instruments such as unmanned aerial analysed. Personal computers are no longer long-term impacts is either prohibitively costly vehicles) offer unique possibilities for IEs, able to process this vast amount of data. On and/or not feasible. The high spatial and especially when high-quality and reliable data is the other hand, cloud-based computational temporal resolution of satellite data allows the in short supply. platforms (such as Google Earth Engine, construction of multiple comparison groups AWS, Azure and more) now allow researchers to account for spillover effects and spatial With the increasing availability, quality, to scale up the analysis across space and heterogeneity. granularity and frequency of satellite data, it is time. Parallel computing and cloud storage now possible to collect data from almost every optimize the way the data is stored, managed In other cases, conventional survey data location on Earth. According to the USA’s and processed. With the decreasing cost of collection methods, such as face-to-face Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), more such cloud-based platforms (some of which interviews, prove to be challenging, such than 2,600 satellites currently orbit Earth, are free for non-commercial use), it is now as when it is necessary to reach migrant with close to 40% of them collecting data feasible to perform impact evaluation on populations or populations residing in specifically for Earth and space observations scales that were until recently impossible. inaccessible regions. Overall, the logistical and for scientific applications. For example, These recent technological advancements feasibility and the cost associated with the NASA’s/USGS’s Landsat programme has been enable rapid and scalable conversion of the collection of conventional survey data often collecting data since the 1970s, making these vast amount of remotely sensed data into limits the sample size and statistical power observations the longest continuous space- meaningful information related to economic of the analysis. When location matters for based record of Earth. Between them, the two activity, distribution of the population groups, programme effect, remote sensing can add current operating Landsat satellites (Landsat the characteristics of land cover and land enormous value to impact measurement, 7 and 8, which were launched in 1999 and use, availability of surface water, food especially when: 1) the programme placement 2013, respectively) capture every location on security, land productivity, cropping intensity has a spatial element (location/area/plots); Earth every eight days in a spatial resolution and more.
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28-29-30-31_featuregoldblatt.indd 29 19-11-20 13:07 Improving impact evaluation interest-based online searches, social media collection. For example, the average cost Remote sensing enables researchers to better data, etc.). of a 3ie-funded multi-year, multi-round meet the needs of policymakers by measuring • Long-term impact: Collecting several years survey impact evaluation is approximately outcomes and constructing comparison of pre- and post-programme data through a US$400,000, whereby the survey alone costs groups in ways that until recently were not face-to-face survey is expensive and, in many US$175,000. In comparison, the cost of a possible. It strengthens the analysis, for cases, not feasible. The possibility to collect desk-based impact evaluation with free remotely example, through controlling for confounders pre- and post-programme data, and especially sensed data would be around US$150,000. and pre-programme trends, and makes the the follow-up data, without the need for going • Retrospective, desk-based evaluation: evaluations more feasible, for example, due to the field enables measurement of the For certain types of programmes, historical to the reduction of data collection costs and long-term programme impact, and can help time series satellite data allows retrospective more cost-effective retrospective and remote analyse how the impacts evolve over time and assessment of interventions already analysis. how long they last. implemented, and in most cases the evaluation can be implemented remotely. 1. Measuring the unmeasurable 2. Overcoming analytical challenges • Measuring outcomes: Outcomes such as • Assessing pre-programme trends: Quasi- Key limitations of remotely sensed data economic growth, GDP, poverty or wealth at experimental designs require pre-programme For some applications, such as counting the sub-national level, infrastructure quality, similarity between the treatment and the the number of trees or detecting building population distribution, etc., are difficult to control group, both in levels and distribution, footprints, there is a need for the highest measure accurately and/or at a required potentially for several years before the possible spatial resolution; for other temporal and spatial scale using conventional programme. Historical time series of satellite applications, the temporal or spectral data collection methods. Remotely sensed data make it possible to evaluate parallel trend resolution may prove to be more important nighttime light data may serve as a proxy assumptions. (for example, a high spectral resolution will for these outcomes. For example, human- • Controlling for covariates: Failing to control be necessary to automatically detect types generated light at night is used as a proxy for for confounding factors will lead to omitted of crop fields, and a high temporal resolution local area economic activity. variable bias. Remote sensing can help will be essential to monitor daily changes in • Constructing the comparison group: control for local-area, time-varying factors agricultural land productivity). In general, Remotely sensed data enables the matching through fixed effects at the level of individual there is an inherent trade-off between each of comparison units based on relevant cells or pixels in aerial or satellite imagery, and of these characteristics. For example, high pre-programme characteristics at the for time-invariant factors, such as physical spatial resolution imagery will often have a appropriate unit level or based on spatial attributes, through directly measuring them. lower spectral resolution, while high spatial discontinuity. A common method for • Heterogeneous effects: IEs often measure resolution imagery will often be associated identifying comparison groups is to perform the average treatment effect for an entire with a lower temporal resolution, a smaller pipeline or sequential allocation, where treatment group rather than heterogeneous area covered and costlier imagery. untreated segments function as a comparison effects for sub-groups, largely due to group until they are treated; a regression the unavailability of data and statistical Nonetheless, the number and types of discontinuity design includes units within a power limitations. Remote sensing allows commercial imaging satellites are continuing specified cut-off (e.g. within a given radius researchers to estimate heterogeneous effects to increase while small and micro satellites around the programme), thus creating a based on observable baseline conditions such become significantly cheaper to build and comparison group from a pre-specified as population density at the cell level with launch. Simultaneously, the cost associated contiguous space. The fact that satellite sufficient power for sub-group analysis. with data storage, management and analysis data covers all areas and is always ‘on’ (both • Robustness analysis: Remotely sensed is continuing to decrease. Despite the temporally and spatially) also means that it is data can help conduct robustness analysis increasing availability and use of satellite data, not susceptible to self-selection bias like other by allowing for the identification of multiple there are some important considerations that sources of big data (e.g. call detail records, comparison groups that would have been must be taken into account, including cloud expensive or infeasible using traditional coverage (which may limit the collection of data collection methods. Similarly, placebo remotely sensed data), the revisit period tests can be conducted by testing the of the satellites (which tends to be lower treatment effect on the treated for an arbitrary as the spatial resolution increases), sensor pre-programme date. limitations (e.g. the failure of the Landsat-7 • External validity and generalizability: Scan Line Corrector (SLC) in 2003, which Remotely sensed data is available not only for resulted in significant data gaps in the the programme area, but also for the country/ acquired scenes), and the need for robust regional context. However, one needs to be and scientifically sound data cleaning and mindful of the challenges in generalizing it post-processing. Importantly, it is essential beyond the country from which the training to take the necessary steps in order to be data comes. able to make assumptions and generalize the interpretations. For example, machine learning 3. Overcoming logistical challenges and artificial intelligence-based approaches Band combination techniques can be used to • Cost of data collection: A fundamental are often used to convert remotely sensed highlight green vegetation in a satellite image. challenge of IEs is the cost of survey data data into meaningful information about the
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Earth. Some of these approaches rely on to ensure that an impact evaluation is responsive About the Authors supervised machine learning techniques, to local needs and policy questions. Despite the Dr Francis Rathinam is the associate which require reference data for training growing use of virtual meeting platforms, this is director and practice lead for monitoring, and validation. It is important to ensure the still difficult (and sometimes impossible) to do learning and evaluation (MLE) at Athena generalization of the reference data; for effectively from afar. An increasing emphasis on Infonomics. He has about 13 years of example, reference data for any supervised process evaluation and mixed-method impact experience working with multilateral and image classification must be collected from evaluations similarly highlights the limitations bilateral institutions, supporting country diverse geographical regions and a wide range of remote sensing, as satellites and airborne governments and think tanks on various aspects of monitoring of examples. images do not provide qualitative information and evaluation on issues related to governance, livelihoods and about the political, social and operational context data for evaluation. His work experience includes technical From an ethical perspective, it is important in which an intervention is conducted or how it advisory on rigorous impact evaluations, M&E system to consider risks of re-identification of is understood and experienced by implementers strengthening, and evaluation capacity building. Previously, as a study subjects and infringement of privacy, and beneficiaries. senior evaluation specialist with the International Initiative for particularly if/when using ultra-high-resolution Impact Evaluation (3ie), he led on 3ie’s systematic map of studies images (e.g. less than 1m). In practice, Conclusion that used big data to innovatively evaluate development these risks can be mitigated by using areas Rigorous evaluation of development outcomes. Dr Rathinam holds a PhD from the University of or regions as the unit of analysis or using interventions and their outcomes has been a Hyderabad, India. geomasking methods to protect privacy while perennial challenge across multiple sectors [email protected] maintaining spatial resolution. and disciplines. This is due, in part, to the fact that conventional evaluation methods, Dr Ran Goldblatt is a chief scientist at New Remote sensing as a complement such as household surveys, are typically Light Technologies (NLT) in Washington DC. As implied by the above considerations, costly, time-consuming and often unable to He has a background in remote sensing and remote sensing should be approached as capture important spatial aspects of these geospatial analysis, at scale, and the a way to complement rather than replace programmes. Remotely sensed data, such development of methodologies and tools for conventional forms of data collection, with as satellite and aerial imagery, can contribute monitoring natural hazards, LCLU changes an emphasis on those aspects of IEs where significantly to increasing the efficiency of and economic development. Dr Goldblatt leads multiple projects it is most likely to add value. One initial and data collection for some variables and open conducted with the World Bank, including monitoring economic perhaps obvious consideration is the type of up the possibility of accounting for others activity with night-time lights, tracking urbanization processes in intervention and research question, as remote that were previously so onerous to collect developing cities and evaluating deforestation processes. He also sensing will be much more relevant for some or meaningfully synthesize that they were supports FEMA’s disaster remote sensing team leading than others. For instance, satellite or airborne effectively ‘unmeasurable’. However, a naïve modernization initiatives underway to automate collection, imagery of agricultural fields is likely to be use and interpretation of this data in IEs may processing and dissemination of imagery for the national more accurate, unbiased, affordable and faster result in misleading conclusions. As shown in disasters community. Dr Goldblatt received his bachelor’s, for measuring crop yields than self-reports or this article, a number of technical challenges master’s and PhD in Geography and the Human Environment direct observation (e.g. crop cuts). In contrast, – such as cloud coverage, time of data from Tel-Aviv University (Israel) and has worked as a researcher images from above will not tell us much about capture, data gaps due to technical glitches and lecturer at the University of California, San Diego. interventions to improve employee productivity and data comparability – must be accounted [email protected] and satisfaction within a workplace, nor in the for carefully. Furthermore, the need to validate context of agricultural productivity will they help the predictions and interpretation (e.g. by Dr Douglas Glandon provides technical us understand why crop yields are changing means of machine learning techniques), guidance and quality assurance at 3ie to and the underlying causal mechanisms. the continued importance of meaningful impact evaluations, systematic reviews, stakeholder engagement and the growing evidence gap maps and replication studies A second important consideration is that there emphasis on process evaluations and mixed and supports members in strengthening are multiple critical aspects of development methods to understand implementation and organizational research capacity and research that are more difficult to do remotely. context point to the complementarity between evidence-informed decision-making. Glandon has a PhD in Health For example, meaningful and ongoing conventional surveys and remotely sensed Systems from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, engagement with policymakers, implementers, data, rather than the latter replacing the a Master’s in Public Health from the Tufts University School of beneficiaries, and other stakeholders is essential former. Medicine, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Community Health from Tufts University.
About 3ie and NLT Ghermay Araya, GISP, founded New Light The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) and New Light Technologies Inc. Technologies in 2001, building the company (NLT) have partnered up to enhance the generation, use and transparency of geospatial into the GIS and IT powerhouse it is today analysis in impact evaluation, with an emphasis on informing development decision- with a mix of business development strategy making and strengthening research capacity globally, and in particular for stakeholders in and information technology expertise. He low-income and middle-income countries. This comes in light of the increasing demand for graduated from the University of Maryland geospatial analysis in impact evaluation, the rapid recent advancements in access to College Park Geography Department with a focus on geographic geospatial and remotely sensed data and the development of new methods to convert this information systems in the mid-1990s and is currently back at data into information that is fundamental of IE. his alma mater working his way through a master’s degree in GIS.
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FIG Working Week 2021 Now Transformed into FIG e-Working Week 2021
Everyone is affected by the impact of the the overall theme: ‘Smart surveyors for land User-generated geospatial content, to name COVID-19 pandemic. Back in May, we had and water management – challenges in a new but a few. to do some creative thinking when it became reality’. This different approach naturally gives no longer possible to meet up in Amsterdam rise to questions such as: Why should I attend To ensure a holistic approach and experience, for the FIG Working Week 2020. Instead, a conference online? Do I get anything out of the Dutch local organizers and FIG have 25 articles highlighting the content of the it? Is it just an online webinar? Our aim is to formulated the following core principles for conference were published in cooperation create a Working Week that combines face-to- this new and innovative virtual event: with this magazine, GIM International. This face elements such as networking and lively FIG e-Working Week 2021 will: supported one element of a conference – to debates with sessions that – in line with the • inspire and connect learn. However, a conference is about much strengths of FIG – blends the different areas • be a global event more than gaining knowledge. A conference of surveying and geospatial science. Meeting • provide an attractive virtual programme should also provide inspiration and offer the with your peers and active engagement and • bring qualitatively good sessions opportunity to connect with people. At FIG interaction will be core principles for the • provide an opportunity to exchange Working Weeks, other crucial elements are e-Working Week. The ten FIG commissions knowledge networking and gaining a sense of community. are already working on designing these • provide an opportunity to network and It has now become clear that the possibility interactive sessions with topics such as: What socialize for people from all continents to travel to does the Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence • bring different professional groups together. the Netherlands to meet up in person next that was accepted by UN-GGIM mean for a summer will remain limited and is therefore surveyor?; Blended learning in a COVID-19 Therefore, after attending FIG e-Working unrealistic. The alternative is to go virtual, reality; where the water meets the land; The Week 2021, you will be inspired, to create an e-Working Week – and this will future of BIM in construction; Geohazards (re)connected, energized, armed with new take place in June 2021. The Dutch local detection and monitoring; GIS and planning knowledge, and feel part of a community – in organizers have thankfully agreed to stay on (strategic to applied); Point cloud-based other words, it will be much more than ‘just board and there will be a Dutch touch to this monitoring in engineering surveying – another webinar’… e-Working Week. This is already reflected in urban/rural linkages; Climate change; and A call for abstracts has been published. It is possible to submit abstracts for peer review and regular papers. All papers will be included in the proceedings and as material for the technical sessions. Submit now to be a part of this unique and different experience. The deadline is 4 January 2021.
More information www.fig.net/fig2021
IAG Commission 2: Gravity Field
Commission 2: Gravity Field of the applications in positioning and navigation, (IHRS), support of the realization of a Global International Association of Geodesy (IAG) civil and aerospace engineering, metrology, Geodetic Reference System (GGRS), analysis was originally established within the new geophysics, geodynamics, oceanography, of current and future satellite data and release structure of IAG in 2003 (IUGG XXXIII General hydrology, cryospheric sciences and other of improved global gravity field models Assembly, Sapporo), with the mission to disciplines related to the Earth’s climate and (satellite-only models and combined models address, coordinate and promote the study environment. including terrestrial data), promotion of future of scientific problems related to the accurate gravity mission constellations for assuring determination of the Earth’s gravity field and SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES the continued monitoring of the global its temporal variations. The Earth’s gravity Commission 2’s activities and objectives deal gravity field and mass transport processes field is one of the three fundamental pillars with the establishment of an International in the Earth system, foster regional gravity of modern geodesy (besides geometry/ Gravity Reference System and Frame and geoid determination and integration kinematics and Earth rotation) and (IGRS/IGRF), support of the realization of of regional models into a global reference, accurate knowledge of it is essential for an International Height Reference System understand the physics and dynamics of the
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sub-systems and mass transport processes 12 different Working Groups and 10 Study in the Earth system, and investigate modern Groups that have been established under the relativistic methods and geodetic metrology auspices of Commission 2 for the four-year with a special focus on gravity and height period of 2019-2023. determination. Commission 2 closely interacts with the other STRUCTURE AND LIAISONS IAG Commissions and Services, the Inter- In order to streamline and appraise Commission Committee on Theory (ICCT), the research efforts towards the above the newly established Inter-Commission objectives, Commission 2 is organized into Committees on Geodesy for Climate Research six Sub-Commissions (see Figure 1) with (ICCC) and Marine Geodesy (ICCM), and the an advisory Steering Committee consisting components of the Global Geodetic Observing of the Commission President and Vice- System (GGOS). Figure 1: The basic structure of IAG Commission 2. President, the Chairs of Sub-Commissions, representatives of IAG Services and other members-at-large from the international More information geodetic community and the immediate Past https://www.iag-aig.org/iag-commissions Commission President. About 170 scientists https://com2.iag-aig.org from 55 countries are currently affiliated with
ICA – A Professional Organization with a Special Focus towards Young People
The International Cartographic Association (ICA) to entice younger generations, including young can be used to participate in official is a professional organization that was founded children, to the world of maps. ICA events (International Cartographic 61 years ago, but is still young at heart. The Conferences, Regional Cartographic ICA has a multi-purpose focus that includes During the last online Executive Meeting of Conferences, or events organized by ICA topics ranging from ancient history to scientific ICA (17 October 2020), two ICA activities Commissions). The goal of these grants is to development to professional practice within the connected to young people were approved: stimulate young scientists or professionals discipline. One of the most important tasks for 1. ICA Scholarships Guidelines and Criteria to direct their careers toward fundamental cartographers is delivering geospatial information 2. Call for entries for the Barbara Petchenik studies in the fields of cartography and to different kinds of users. The best way to do Children’s Map Competition 2021. GISciences. The opportunity for future this is to have very close contact between the applicants to apply is available. A list of map maker and the user. This engagement not ICA scholarships for young scientists or previous awardees can be found at online. only includes experienced people, but also seeks professionals in cartography and GIScience The announcement of the official call for the Barbara Petchenik Children’s Map Competition 2021 was made in October, 2020. This year there are no significant changes for the participants in the competition. The new theme of the competition ‘A map of my future world’ was selected with 31% of the votes given by many colleagues who contributed their suggestions from 17 countries.
The Barbara Petchenik Competition is a biennial map-drawing competition for children. It was created by the ICA in 1993 as a memorial to Barbara Petchenik, a past vice president of the ICA and a cartographer who had a lifelong interest in maps for children. The aim of the contest is to promote the creative representation of the world in graphic Figure 1: Winner of the creativity award. Title: It Is All In Our Hands. By artist Ugne Rimkute, age 15, form by children. We encourage all ICA from Lithuania. national members to participate.
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Cartographers, GI specialists, young scientists with the National Geographic Institute of Spain Fraser, retired professor of RMIT University and business-oriented colleagues are invited (IGN), Madrid (Spain) Melbourne, Australia. to attend our upcoming events: - 14-19 Jun 2021: 8th International - 25-26 Nov 2020: Geomatics Atlantic Conference on Cartography and GIS, 2020 – Visualizing a Resilient Future Virtual Nessebar (Bulgaria) More information Conference by the Canadian Institute of - 13-17 Dec 2021: 30th International https://icaci.org/scholarship/ Geomatics – Newfoundland and Labrador Cartographic Conference, Florence (Italy) https://icaci.org/petchenik/ Branch (Canada) geoweb.ugent.be/silkgis2020 - 16-17 Dec 2020: SilkGIS2020, Ghent More information about all ICA activities map-service.de/madrid2020/ (Belgium) and events can be found in our journal, iccgis2020.cartography-gis.com/ - 21-24 Apr 2021: Atlases in Time – National ICA News, edited by Igor Drecki, New https://www.icc2021.net/ and Regional Issues. Symposium organized Zealand. Rich information about cartography, https://icaci.org/ica-news/ by the ICA Commission on Atlases and the news and maps can also be found in our https://icaci.org/ecarto-news-archive/ ICA/IGU Commission on Toponomy together monthly eCARTO newsletter edited by David
ICEYE Imagery: A Key Resource for Global Near Real-time 3D Change Detection
Satellite-based change detection has been Stripmap High, 0.5-1.5×2.5-3 metres for experiments with dedicated scientific widely investigated in the last decades and Stripmap, in range×azimuth respectively) with radargrammetric software assessed the 3D has been recognized to be of high interest in an ever-improving revisit time. The system geometric capability of an ICEYE imagery several contexts, including urban (building/ that can acquire 24h ground track repeat on dataset acquired in northern America. The infrastructure/urban canopy change), a global scale will be further developed by results show that the 3D information can be environment (forest/biomass dynamics, ICEYE in 2021 and beyond. This will enable extracted with an accuracy of a few metres landslides estimation, glacier mass change, the acquisition of images with different with respect to Lidar ground truth data using coastal line monitoring, volcanic eruption), incidence angles multiple times a day for a single stereo pair. Ongoing investigations disaster assessment (earthquake-destroyed specified areas of interest, benefiting from highlight the possibility of improving the buildings, flood water height/volume) and SAR independence from cloudy weather and accuracy and completeness of the 3D civil/industrial (construction/mining progress, sunlight illumination. reconstruction, exploiting the multi-view SAR stockpiles). Due to the complexity of the geometries provided by several ascending and processing task and the limitations in spatial These are outstanding features, not only descending orbits. and temporal resolutions of available satellite for daily interferometry and coherent 2D data, the morphological changes at a large/ change detection but also for near real-time By Andrea Nascetti, who is from Politecnico global scale have been mainly detected in two 3D change detection based on multi-view di Bari, Italy, and KTH Stockholm, Sweden, dimensions; 3D change detection has been stereo-SAR data. The different image as well as Valeria Belloni, Roberta Ravanelli traditionally limited at local/regional scale, geometries allow mitigation/elimination and Mattia Crespi, all from Sapienza University using airborne Lidar and photogrammetry, and of occlusions over urban and complex of Rome, Italy, ISPRS WG III/3 – SAR-based more rarely using stereo satellite imagery. morphology areas overcoming the limitation Surface Generation and Deformation of single stereo pairs. Therefore, with the Monitoring Nowadays, innovative satellite constellations almost continuous availability of ICEYE SAR such as the one developed by the company imagery, 3D change detection is now entering ICEYE represent a groundbreaking approach a new era. It is also receiving a substantial for near real-time 3D change detection at the boost from the recent developments of the More information global scale. ICEYE X-band SAR satellites stereo-SAR approach, which has attracted www.gsw2019.org form a constantly growing constellation, renewed attention in recent years thanks to www.isprs-ann-photogramm-remote-sens- providing very high spatial resolution imagery the already available last-generation satellite spatial-inf-sci.net/IV-5/53/2018/ (0.25×0.5 metres for Spotlight High, 0.5×0.5 SAR sensors at high spatial resolution https://bit.ly/2SQ4ARy metres for Spotlight, 0.5×2.5-3 metres for (TerraSAR-X, Cosmo-SkyMed). The first
34 | international | november/december 2020
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