8 1 e m u l o v – 5 1 0 2 t s u g u A / y l u J Magazine for Surveying, Mapping & GIS Professionals 5 m o c . s HxGNLive 2015 c i t a m GSA supports CLGE’s Students’ Contest r o f n i Agriculture and Aerial Mapping o e g . Trimble Geospatial Portfolio w w w NEW RIEGL VMQ®-450 World Premiere at Compact Single Scanner RIEGL LIDAR 2015 Mobile Mapping System 360° vertical field of view in a single pass 0° 15° 330°0° 45° multiple swivel positions various camera options available Compact single-scanner mobile mapping system, ideally suited for a variety of applications. The system comprises of the measuring head including one RIEGL VQ-450 laser scanner with integrated IMU/GNSS unit, a compact control unit for system operation and data storage. The optional integration of up to four cameras allows simultaneous acquisition of image data to complement LiDAR data. RIEGL VMQ-450 Key Features: compact and rugged design, flexible and rapid installation | 360° vertical field of view | effective measurement rate up to 550 kHz, 200 lines/sec | online waveform processing, echo digitization | multi-target capability | optional integration of various cameras | multiple swivel positions of the measuring head | seamless workflow from MLS data acquisition, through processing and adjustment Stay connected with RIEGL Scan this QR code to watch the new VMQ-450 video. www.riegl.com RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems GmbH, Austria R I E G L U S A I n c . R I E G L J a p a n L t d . R I E G L C h i n a L t d . l a i r o t i d Mapbox and the New Age of Mapping E When startup company Mapbox recently announced that it had secured 52+ million euros in new venture capital backing for expanding its mapping stack, the geospatial community took notice. On June 18, Fortune published an article that quoted CEO Eric Gunderson, discussing the reasons for investing in a mapping company such as Mapbox: “Our backers are taking the long term approach. They understand how location is fundamental to every app and enterprise and are watching the entire mapping space turn upside down. They realise the future will include connected sensors and real-time data streams. This is about investing in the core infra- structure to power the future of location data.” In other words, Mapbox investors are looking at the company as something more than just a map - ping company – they realise that the future of mapping includes connected sensors and real-time data. Here we enter Internet of Things (IoT) territory, where in a distant future hardware and soft - ware will merge into one. The goal of Mapbox is not just to make good maps, but to infuse cor - porate data with geospatial and location-based context. Mapbox clients are described by Fortune as ´any business seeking to show patterns on a map’. What they’ll do, in other words, is big data analytics and mapping is only one piece of the puzzle. Gunderson put it this way: “We build great maps, but that’s just the canvas for anyone who wants to integrate real-time data and visualizations into their applications”. For some people, this large capital investment in Mapbox doesn´t come as a big surprise, but follows a trend. Mike Barlow describes in a recent O’Reilly publication called “The Last Mile of Analytics” that investors are gravitating towards enterprise software start-ups that cater to industry verticals (such as mapping). He differentiates between ´above-the-line´ technol - ogy and below-the-line’ technology in the big data market: the first refers to data-as- a-product, data tools and data software, the second to data infrastructure and platforms. The fastest growth is expected in the ´above-the-line´ segment. Mapbox announced their intention to invest in expertise, as well as strategic data sets. Earlier this month, they revealed a strategic relationship with online web mapping service MapQuest. The platform they´re building will transcend what is known as traditional GIS. Again, this is in line with a trend in IT where companies are “making the leap from platforms to tools (this is the subtitle of Barlow´s publication). It will be interesting to see how the company will evolve in the future – as well as reactions from competitors in the market. Enjoy your reading, Eric van Rees Photography: www.bestpictures.nl Contributing Writers: Graphic Design: Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk, Remco Takken, Lucy Hamilton, Rhian French, Sander van der Kolk Giles Rhys Jones, Gina Velde, Friederike Nielsen. [email protected] GeoInformatics is the leading publication for Geospatial Professionals world - wide. Published in both hardcopy and digital, GeoInformatics provides cover - Columnist: ISSN 13870858 age, analysis and commentary with respect to the international surveying, Matt Sheehan mapping and GIS industry. GeoInformatics is published 8 times a year. © Copyright 2015. GeoInformatics: no material may be Advertising: reproduced without written permission. Publishing Company: Yvonne Groenhof CMedia BV [email protected] P.O. Box 231 Editor-in-chief: Finance: 8300 AE Eric van Rees [email protected] Emmeloord [email protected] The Netherlands Subscriptions: Tel.: +31 (0) 527 619 000 Copy Editor: GeoInformatics is available against a yearly subscription rate (8 issues) of E-mail: [email protected] Elaine Eisma € 89,00. To subscribe, fill in and return the electronic reply card on our website www.geoinformatics.com GeoInformatics has a collaboration with the Editor: Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) Remco Takken Website: whereby all individual members of every [email protected] www.geoinformatics.com national Geodetic association in Europe will receive the magazine. t n e t n o On the cover: C EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) is Europe’s SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System) and it represents Europe’s first tangible venture into satellite navigation. EGNOS uses geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations to receive, analyse and augment, and then re-transmit GPS, Glonass and in due course Galileo signals. See article on page 38 Articles Scan Data and Aerial Imagery 6 Human Friendly Coordinates 10 The Hexagon Imagery Program 14 Building a Pan-European Open Data Portal 18 Agriculture and Aerial Mapping 20 Trimble Geospatial Portfolio 22 4 Excavating an Ancient City 24 2020 and Beyond 28 Book review GIS Research Methods 34 Abstract Machine: Humanities GIS 41 Column Geospatial Evolution 16 Event preview “From Imagery to Map: Digital Photogrammetric Technologies” 26 Event HxGN LIVE 2015 30 Newsletters EuroGeographics Newsletter 36 CLGE 38 Calendar / Advertisers Index 42 July/August 2015 Thanks to recent technological developments within e l our industry, geospatial professionals can be more c i t flexible in their approach to capturing, analysing r and delivering s6urvey data than ever before. A How a radical new user friendly system based e l c on three simple words makes geographical i t r information accessible to a wider global A 1audie0 nce. Tasmanian survey firm Cohen & Associates pushes e l the boundaries of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) c i t technology for crop monitoring in precision r 2farmi0ng. A w e The “From imagery to map: digital photogrammetric i v technologies” Conference has been held for more e r p than 10 years, and every year its geography covers t new countries. The organizing committee chose n e Mexico as the venue this year. v E 26 An extravaganza of new technology, future visions, opinions, synergetic collaborations and a great deal more was presented during HxGN LIVE in Las t Vegas, which ran from June 1st until June 4th 2015. n e The event has attracted thousands of users from a v E variety of industries and organisations, many of whom work in surveying, GIS, building, metrology, securityX, mining, cadXastre or government. Combining Datasets in Northern Ireland Scan Data and Aerial Imagery Thanks to recent technological developments within our industry, geospatial professionals can be more flexible in their approach to capturing, analysing and delivering survey data By Lucy Hamilton than ever before. e l c i t r A 6 RGB Point cloud from eBee and greyscale intensity from TX8 Scanner combined data set hilst the idiosyncrasies of a particular job ─ Site assessment geography of the site, accuracy requirements, Coleraine is a large town in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland time constraints etcetera ─ all contribute to the and home to a former quarry that up until the 1990’s produced a practicalities of how a survey is undertaken, we range of crushed aggregate, concrete and asphalt for the local con - are now in a better position to offer our clients struction industry. In 2009 the owners decided to redevelop the site Wa range of deliverables depending on how they intend to use the for mixed commercial and residential use, a decision which saw the data. The choice of GNSS, laser scanners, UAS, and total stations quarry excavation void turned into a feature lake and the establish - whether they be owned, hired or commissioned as a service, allows ment of a tiered and restored quarry floor, designed to provide a sta - us to take a more flexible approach, even to the extent that we can ble platform for the development. use multiple sensors to create a combined dataset. In particular, as However, as the site development progressed, two issues arose: first - more survey practices invest in laser scanners and UAS, we are ly the site property boundary was poorly established and required seeing a growth in combined point cloud and aerial imagery data comparison with Land Registry mapping to ensure that there had sets.