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 01_cover.indd 1 18-11-20 08:26 NIKON SURVEY INSTRUMENTS. EVERYTHING YOU EXPECT. AND MORE. Nikon Survey instruments are built to last and packed with Whether your survey projects demand the high precision industry-leading technology. The newest generation of Nikon Nikon XF HP total station or the versatile Nikon N/K series, all are Survey total stations features a range of instruments and options designed and built to make your work easier, faster, and more for powerful location-tracking technology, full dual-face displays, precise. Nikon instruments are proudly sold and supported by your and the legendary Nikon auto-focus and optics features you’ve local Spectra Geospatial/Nikon partner. Visit spectrageospatial.com come to expect. to choose the solution that’s right for your survey workflows. Learn more at spectrageospatial.com © 2020, Trimble Inc. All rights reserved. Spectra Geospatial and the Spectra Geospatial logo are trademarks of Trimble Inc. or its subsidiaries. Nikon is a registered trademark of Nikon Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTENTS 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 03_contents.indd 3 19-11-20 13:03 DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR COMPLETE CAPTURE OF CORRIDORS AND CONTEXT One Swath for All Features The New Galaxy CM2000 Corridor Mapper Introducing the new Galaxy CM2000, the only sensor that can achieve hundreds of points per square meter on traditional airborne platforms, including fi xed wing aircrafts, through a unique programmable fi eld of view and a true pulse rate of two million points per second. See the example above of a highway survey delivering 130 points per square meter in a single fl ight pass! For electric utilities, the CM2000’s tight laser footprint provides accurate and detailed modeling of complex and partial targets such as electrical towers, wires and encroaching vegetation. BRING THE NOISE! BEFORE AFTER with NEW AI-based noise fi ltering • Quickly and automatically classifi es atmospheric noise in Galaxy sensor data with >95% accuracy • Reduce your manual point-cloud cleaning time by 50-90% • Process data in the cloud or on premise VISIT teledyneoptech.com for more details Teledyne OPTECH / Galaxy CM2000 GIM International / November Issue 210 mm x 297 mm deep (+ bleed) / Color Wednesday, October 28, 2020 Teledyne DALSA, 605 McMurray Road, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2V 2E9 T: 519-886-6000 | [email protected] EDITORIAL NOTES 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.