geoinformatics 2008 vol04

8/12/2019 geoinformatics 2008 vol04

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www.geoinformatics.com

Remote Sensing Special GeoEye-1 Satellite

Microsoft Virtual Earth Vexcel Imaging

M a g a z i n e f o r S u r v e y i n g , M a p p i n g & G I S P r o f e s s i o n a l s

June 2008Volume 11

4
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So far away

In this issue of GeoInformatics the focus is on Remote Sensing. When looking up Remote

Sensing in Wikipedia I get the following definition: In the broadest sense, remote sensing

is the small or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by the

use of either recording or real-time sensing device(s) that is not in physical or intimate

contact with the object In practice, remote sensing is the stand-off collection through the

use of a variety of devices for gathering information on a given object or area.

Ive always understood that this definition is the correct (and only?) one. How can it then

be that when talking about remote sensing most professionals involved think about

satellites and aircraft? This issue is one of my personal geo-quests; trying to convince

remote sensing specialists that the above definition also includes ships (yes Im still much

of a hydrographic surveyor), cars and all sorts of other platforms and devices.

Without going into detail the source of my quest is this: specialists being so consumed

with their own profession that they lose sight of the broader definition of their

specialization.

As a result there is also a strong tendency for specialists to forget these other solutions.

So even though most articles in this issue deal with satellites and photogrammetry, do not

forget that there are other platforms available (as you have seen in our previous issue).

One example Ive seen of using another platform is the mounting of a Lidar system on a

flatbed truck. Bringing the Lidar system closer to the objects gave the opportunity to look

at the objects to be mapped from a different perspective.

It is in the use of innovative methodologies that our beautiful profession advances.

As such it never hurts to look over the fence into neighbouring professions (or re-read the

definition of our own profession every now and then).

Enjoy your reading,

Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

Editor-in-chief

June 20083

GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis andcommentary with respect to the international surveying,mapping and GIS industry.

PublisherRuud [email protected]

Editor-in-chief

Huibert-Jan [email protected]

Editorial ManagerEric van [email protected]

EditorsFrank [email protected] [email protected] van [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

ColumnistsJacek PietruczanisAchiel SturmJohn Trinder

Contributing WritersOrhan AtanSeppe CassettariJohn CroftFlorian FischerMichael GruberJob van Haaften

Account ManagerWilfred [email protected]

SubscriptionsGeoInformatics is available against a yearlysubscription rate (8 issues) of 85,00.To subscribe, fill in and return the electronic replycard on our website or contact Janneke Bijleveld [email protected]

Advertising/ReprintsAll enquiries should be submitted toRuud Groothuis [email protected]

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ISSN 13870858

Copyright 2008. GeoInformatics: no material maybe reproduced without written permission.

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Mike KitaifLambert-Jan KoopsHuibert-Jan LekkerkerkEric van ReesAlexander Wiechert
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GeoEyes Next-GenerationImaging SatelliteIn the coming months, insurance companies will have access to

commercial satellite images precise enough to determine whether an

insured homeowner living in a fire-prone area like southern California

should thin the brush in his backyard to prevent the spread of a forest

fire. These sort of uses are mere snapshots of what commercial imagery

provider GeoEye (Dulles, Va.) envisions for its next-generation GeoEye-1

Earth-imaging satellite, slated for launch later this year.

Photogrammetry in SpaceOver its history Cardinal Systems Vr Mapping Software has been used

primarily for traditional aerial mapping projects. Collecting, editing and

processing large amounts of vector data. It has also been used during

this time by NASA to map areas on the Space Shuttle and the Space

Shuttles External Tank during flight. Recently NASA started to use the

software to view and make measurements in 3D on Mars for analysis of

potential landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory Rover arrival in

2009.

C o n t e n t

4June 2008

ArticlesMicrosoft Virtual Earth 6Integrating Geospatial Technology in Everyday Life

GNSS Update 14Civilian Control

GeoEyes Next-Generation Imaging Satellite 18Prodigious Mapping Capabilities, Spatial

Resolution and Geo-location Ability

Vexcel Imagings Ultramap Platform 24A New Photogrametric Workflow

Spatial Developments in 3D, 4D and 5D 304Sight Combines Virtual Reality and Direction

of Spatial Development

The Digital Aerial Photography Revolution 36On the Development of Digital Aerial Photography

Photogrammetry in Space 42NASA Uses VR Mapping Software

Mapping of Ancient River Channels 48New Applications with Dutch Height Dataset

Geokosmos Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary 53Standing the Test of Time

Printing with Chewy Sweets 59

Ocs Revolutionary Technique

Making the Deadline 62The Necessity of GLONASS

ReviewsSustainable Development and Mobility 28Between Nature and Asphalt

Principles of Geospatial Surveying 61Theoretical Background to Land Survey Techniques

ColumnNew Challenges for the GIS Market 23By Jacek Pietruczanis

Page 18

Page 42


5/68Latest News? Visitwww.geoinformatics.com5

June 2008

4th Geo-Siberia International Exhibitionand Scientific Conference 22-24 April 2008 29By John Trinder

'Machine Control is Not Going Away' 49

By Achiel Sturm

ConferencesBehind the Scenes at HP 50Twenty Years of Large Format Printers in Barcelona

Preview of ISPRS 2008 in Beijing 55Record Number of Abstracts and Participants

1 Source of Truth 561Spatial Conference 2008

Success for Launch of GEO-8 64Conference Represented Forty-one Companies

InterviewArcadis at Work on Protection of New Orleans 10Two Large Contracts for Joint-venture

with Bioengineering

Calendar 66

Advertisers Index 66

On the Cover:

A rendering of GeoEye-1 in orbit. See article on page 18.

Vexcel ImagingsUltramap PlatformDigital large format aerial cameras are in operation for mapping purpose

since several years. One among a few others is the UltraCamX, developed

by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, Graz, Austria. UltraCamX was introduced into the

market in May 2006 and currently is the largest digital frame camera for

photogrammetric applications. Vexcel now introduces a new processing

software called UltraMap Platform which implements a complete

photogrammetric workflow including quality control and visualization.

Page 18

Microsoft Virtual EarthIn the style of Google Maps stated the popular German magazine Focus-

online back in July 2005. But Virtual Earth has by far emancipated itself

from its competitor since that time. For a better insight, Contributing

GIS-editor Florian Fischer spoke to Dr. Josef Kauer, who is Business

Development Manager for Virtual Earth and Michael Amrehn, Manager for

Virtual Earth and furthermore to Tobias Lrracher, a graduate from the

Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences.

Page 6

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Integrating Geospatial Technology in Everyday Life

Microsoft Virtual Earth

In the style of Google Maps proclaimed the popular German magazine, FOCUS Online, back in July 2005. But Virtual

Earth has definitely distinguished itself from its competitor since then. For better insight I spoke to Dr. Josef Kauer,

Business Development Manager for Virtual Earth, and Michael Amrehn, Manager, Virtual Earth and also to Tobias

Lrracher, a graduate student at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. All three belong to the Virtual Earth Business

Unit for Central & Eastern Europe based in Microsofts offices in Munich, Germany.

By Florian Fischer

handled only from the drivers perspective.

Now they can be assigned to the perspective

of the pedestrian and become permeable in

both directions. In addition, language supporthas been expanded and, of course, the API.

The API of Virtual Earth is constantly in flux

anyway, says Michael Amrehn. He is also

quite proud that they get very positive feed-

back from the developer community, as sites

like www.viawindowslive.com illustrate. It is a

vibrant Australia-based community for Virtual

Earth that offers comprehensive information

for developers and users. The interactive SDK

in particular is a really positive experience. It

eases the development of mash-ups for

Virtual Earth by linking code examples direct-

ly to their visualization and giving very well-

organized explanations. Confronted with my

curiosity about the next release of Virtual

Earth, Dr. Kauer smiles: Thats a surprise, of

course!

6

Art ic le

June 2008

A Realistic 3D WorldOut of the corner of my eye I can still catch

the bluish gleam. But slowly I continue my

journey, approaching the landmass of NorthAmerica and heading towards a tiny spot

named Las Vegas. After a brief side trip

through the gorges of the Grand Canyon I go

back to Las Vegas for a short stroll around

the city. While floating towards the Bellagio

Hotel I clearly recognize the faades of

Caesars Palace and the Mirage Hotel.

Microsoft promised a realistic 3D world and

here I can have a small foretaste of it. But

the combination of 3D buildings with the

birds-eye perspective is only one of the many

improvements that came with the latest

release of Microsofts Virtual Earth platform.

Virtual Earth now comes with enhanced rou-

ting options. Walking directions and multi-

point routing are prominent enhancements.

Before, for example, one-way streets were

Geospatial Technology finds its way into everyday life.
http://www.viawindowslive.com/http://www.viawindowslive.com/


7/68

Keeping an Eye on Media EventsRelease 6.1 offers more cities in 3D and the

functionality to draft 3D tours for the media pro-ducer. Dr. Kauer explained that one 3D city is

added on average every day, while Microsoft

normally publishes new material every month.

At the moment approximately 40 planes are

flying on behalf of Microsoft to take aerial

photos sometimes more, sometimes less

Kauer adds. In March 2008 Microsoft released

an impressive amount, 42 terabytes, of image

data including all the Austrian and Swiss sites

for Euro 2008. The soccer public can thus

explore these cities of interest in great detail

during halftime. Moreover, the whole of Viennawill soon be available in 3D. Focusing data

preparation on the locales of important media

events proved its value during the 2006 World

Cup in Germany. It is an important strategy for

marketing the digital globes and meeting the

demands of supporters worldwide who visit the

host countries or follow the games on TV.

Developing MarketsThe Euro 2008 is indeed a big issue for Virtual

Earth. Media companies need graphical materi-

al about the stadiums and their surroundings

for reports and broadcasts. But Virtual Earth

also provides the platform to locate news from

broadcasting companies and thus allow for a

geo-enabled overview of newscasts. The

market is very dynamic at the moment, states

of data quality becomes increasingly difficult to

handle. Therefore Microsoft cooperates with

partners who build mash-ups, contribute data

and create applications to ensure quality. Real

estate and tourism are currently the most active

arenas for market preparation. It seems that

high quality geographic visualization is very

important for these particular sectors. For finan-cial and insurance services as well as chain

stores, familiar branch-finder services have been

installed by Virtual Earth partners. Starbucks

even runs such a service on mobile phones.

The big advantage in using Virtual Earth is that

all the rendering is done by the companys web-

site. A company can easily update the page dis-

play to match graphics and content elsewhere

on the site. Virtual Earth provides the visualiza-

tion service and everything else happens on the

companys website. The user therefore never

leaves the site. That is what companies want --

to keep clicks and users on their sites. Some

examples can be found on Microsofts Virtual

Earth gallery (see links below).

Business ModelsConcerning business models, Microsoft does

not differ that much from its competitor. For

consumers the application is free to use and it

can be integrated into personal websites with-

out any cost. If Virtual Earth is used in a pro-

fessional context Microsoft offers three rate

scales. First there is a transaction-based model

that includes a basic fee and charges the userper click. Secondly, power users can get a flat

rate for unlimited clicks, and thirdly, the busi-

ness license enables flat rate access on multi-

ple machines. Next, Microsoft offers a broad-

cast license that is free unless the attribution

and copyright are abused. With regard to online

products, the situation is different and usually

handled individually by Microsoft and the

respective agency. Eventually Microsoft still con-

siders floating billboards in the free consumer

applications to get some revenues by adver-

tisements. Everything else will definitely be freeof advertising.

OGC Welcomes Microsoft AgainIn October 2007 Microsoft re-joined the Open

Geospatial Consortium (OGC) after a multi-year

hiatus. The memberships of Google and

Microsoft mark a big step in the history of the

OGC. In its early years, OGC was supported

primarily by developers of geospatial tools for

vertical markets, such as ESRI and Autodesk.

The recent addition of Google and Microsoft

represents a sea change, said David Schell,

OGC Chairman and CEO, according to the

October 29, 2007 release of Government

Computer News (GCN). That will provide the

very stabilizing and constructive influence with-

in the consortium, and the consortiums allies

Dr. Kauer. Microsoft follows a quite different

approach from Google. They do not rely solely

on the innovative power of the consumers but

actively prepare markets through strategic part-

ners. Dr. Kauer explains that Microsoft delivers

the platform with basic data and their partners

do the mash-ups: That is important to assure

data quality, and data quality is still very impor-

tant. They contend that consumers can con-

tribute data and applications, but then the issue

Latest News? Visitwww.geoinformatics.com

Art i c le

7June 2008

Birds Eye integrated 3D view on Las Vegas by Microsoft Vir tual Earth.

Dr. Josef Kauer, Business Development Manager for

Virtual Earth.


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9/68

are going to be much more confident that a

responsible policy and set of best practices will

result from the process. Thats terribly important

for government [clients] as well as for major

corporations. he added. David Schells

prospects put Microsofts membership in a hold-

ing role to promote standards for geospatial and

location-based services on a horizontal marketlevel and produce stability for OGC ideas.

Although Microsoft and Google co-jointly passed

the OpenGIS KML 2.2 Encoding Standard (OGC

KML) on April 14, 2008, Microsoft will not put

much effort into pushing the standardization

processes within the OGC in general. Thats not

our business, stated Dr. Kauer, but he explained

that Microsoft wants to keep close contact with

the field of SDI in the context of its government

clients.

Microsoft SpatialOGC membership is thus essential to maintain

awareness of the requirements that are made

of digital earth platforms by governments and

major corporations. Hence Microsoft aims to

match its products to OGC requirements. The

Virtual Earth platform will be integrated into

government SDI as seamlessly as possible, as

is Microsofts SQL Server 2008. The 2008 ver-

sion has full spatial support and offers two

spatial models. On the one hand is a Flat Earth

planar data type that supports the OGC Simple

Features for SQL Specification with approxi-

mately 70 spatial operations. It also offers aRound Earth geodetic data type with spatial

indexes for both planar and geodetic data

types. Thus SQL Server becomes the data

engine and Virtual Earth is the presentation

layer for Spatial Business Intelligence explains

Tobias Lrracher, a graduate student who is

working on his diploma thesis at the Virtual

Earth Business Unit for Central & Eastern Europe

for a short period of time. In his work he aims

to highlight the potential of mash-ups based

on Virtual Earth for business-related decision

making. In that regard he focuses on enterprisemash-ups which are a combination of web-

based mapping services such as Microsoft

Virtual Earth, spatially enabled databases and

external data like GeoRSS or KML.

Mobile WorldsMobile applications have recently become more

and more popular. In particular, Location Based

Services are in the forefront of the consumer

sector as a venue for mobile social networking

and mobile collaborative mapping. Microsoft

offers a consumer release to build mobile

clients for Virtual Earth and a rich client appli-

cation for Windows Mobile that works on J2ME

(Java) phones as well and is called Mobile

Search. It offers maps, directions and business

searches and a host of advanced features not

society that can access, share and integrate a

vast amount of geo-information in everyday life

with a simple click. Previously specialist mar-

kets for GIS software and geo-information are

now expanding into the mass market, and

hence GIS is becoming integrated into mass

media. It has been a game-change Dr. Kauer

concludes, and the GIS industry is torn. They

enjoy a vast amount of enhanced awareness

from the rise of digital globes, but at the same

time they have to fear a shrinking market shareas Microsoft and Google are indeed poaching

in their patch. In any case, the race for the best

representation of the world is still undecided,

and the competition between Microsoft and

Google promises ever-increasing integration of

geospatial technology into everyday life.

Florian [email protected] is

contributing editor GIS for Geoinformatics.

Links:

Chris Pendletons Virtual Earth,An Evangelist's Blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archive/

2008/05.aspx

N.N. (2005): Microsofts virtuelle Erde. Available

Online: www.focus.de/digital/diverses/

im-google-maps-stil_aid_97236.html

Marshall P., (2007): Microsoft Joins OGC. Available

Online: www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45310-1.html

Microsofts Virtual Earth gallery:

www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/platform/

gallery.aspx

possible in the browser-based application.

However, Microsoft focuses mainly on the busi-

ness-to-business (B2B) sector. Again, partners

are developing the mash-ups and Microsoft pro-

vides its professional Virtual Earth platform.

Sometimes its more a B2B2C approach, Dr.

Kauer admits. But most applications are not

available on mobile phones solely. A combina-

tion of web client and mobile client is more

common, remarks Michael Amrehn. He

explains that the market still has to get usedto mobile applications. Therefore applications

that integrate a collaborative mapping approach

are considered seriously by Microsoft but their

time is yet to come.

A nice example of collaborative mapping is the

Harley-Davidson Great Roads Explorer for the

Harley-Davidson community. This Virtual Earth-

based application is firstly an information tool

that presents great biking roads, gas stations

and hotels and thus helps members of the

Harley-Davidson community organize individual

activities. Secondly, members can create theirown tours, add points of interest and share

them with others. It is a great way to mobilize

the community and create identification with

the Harley-Davidson product.

Do You Believe the Sun revolvesaround the Earth?Me neither! But the classic GIS industry is still

somehow captured in a geo-centric approach,

assiduously ignoring the demands of the broad

mass. In the 16th century Nikolaus Kopernikus

and Johannes Kepler dislodged the geo-centric

world view and today Microsoft and Google

are dislodging the geo-centric world view of the

GIS industry with geospatial integration every-

where and in various aspects of life. They are

precursors of a geo-enabled information


Art i c le

9June 2008

Michael Amrehn, Manager for Virtual Earth.Tobias Lrracher, graduate from the KarlsruheUniversity of Applied Sciences.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archivehttp://www.focus.de/digital/diverseshttp://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45310-1.htmlhttp://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/platformhttp://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/platformhttp://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45310-1.htmlhttp://www.focus.de/digital/diverseshttp://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archivemailto:[email protected]


10/68

Two Large Contracts for Joint-venture with Bioengineering

Arcadis at Work on Protection of NewIn October 2007 it was announced that Arcadis had acquired its second contract

in New Orleans, this one worth $50 million. The first, worth around $150 mil-

lion, was between Arcadis and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. With these two

contracts, Arcadis becomes one of the few foreign companies that have made

headway in New Orleans.

By Lambert-Jan Koops

The damage in the New Orleans area causedby Hurricane Katrina was twofold in nature.

There was, of course, the financial damagethat companies, individuals and government

agencies suffered when houses, factories and

offices were destroyed by the storm. In addi-

tion there was damage to the citys water

management system, which could cause a lot

of trouble in the event of a new hurricane.

Immediately after the disaster, the U.S. Army

Corps carried out $1.5 million dollars worth

of recovery activities. The Corps had only a

limited amount of time since New Orleans has

a hurricane season every year. Over a one-

and-a-half year period, the old dikes under-

went maintenance and strengthening treat-

ment, the locks were repaired and the

drainage systems were restored to their for-

mer state. With these activities, water defen-

ses were brought back to pre-Katrina levels.

Hurricane Protection OfficeAfter finishing these recovery activities, it was

time to improve the safety of New Orleans.The Hurricane Protection Office (HPO) was

established for this purpose. The HPO divi-

ded the necessary activities into various pro-

jects, one of which, costing $150 million, was

put out to tender to a joint venture of Arcadis

and Bioengineering. The joint venture also got

a parallel assignment, a $50 million contract

with the US Army Corps of Engineers New

Orleans District.

Piet Dircke is program director for water at

Arcadis and responsible for all water-related

activities outside of the US. He says its not

an easy job for foreign companies to acquire

contracts in the US. Theres a lot of com-

plaining about Americans being protectionist

when it comes to calling for tenders for large

projects. Im not saying the commissioners

dont possess any nationalistic sentiment, butI think its an exaggeration to say that foreign

companies are obstructed. The problem lies

more in the fact that theres a jungle of rules

and regulations that a commissioner has to

adhere to. Its almost impossible for an out-

sider to meet these requirements. For

instance, as a commissioner you get bonus

points in the tender project when you have

ex-workers in service. For this, they simply

add up the Army Corps years of experience

that your company can offer . Also, there are

guidelines for using local workers and there

is a policy to promote minorities. And this is

only the tender. After the contract has been

awarded, there are also complex rules and

requirements regarding risk and liability. A

contractor needs to work through all of this

with lawyers and insurers, and this, too,

requires specific knowledge that an outsider

simply doesnt have. We owe a lot to our

American colleagues and partners in acqui

ring the contracts. They knew American proce-

dures, they knew the customer, and therefore

they knew how best to prepare the tender.

Optimal LinkageBecause of the cooperation between the

Dutch and American people, there has to be

a good distribution of tasks between the par-

ties. Dircke: What we try to achieve is an

optimal linkage of Dutch water expertise and

the American market. But we also try to have

10

Interview

June 2008

Piet Dircke, program directeur Water at Arcadis: What were e trying to encomplish is an optimal coupling

between the Dutch water knowledge and the American market.

Piet Dircke informs secretary of state Tineke Huizinga

about the activities in New Orleans.


11/68

the Dutch and American workers interact in

an optimal fashion. At this moment fifty

Americans are working for us in New Orleansas well as a few Dutch people. We only deploy

Dutch people if they can offer added value

with their knowledge and experience, for

example in the field of innovation or risk

management. For example, all dike inspectors

are Americans, but the supervisor is Dutch.

A Remarkable InspectionThe first assignment that Arcadis carried out

for the US Army Corps of Engineers was to

inspect damage to buildings and infrastruc-

ture. This was part of a smaller blanket orderbefore the big contracts were signed. It wasnt

the first time that Arcadis had carried out such

an assignment: the company had been

deployed for such work after the 9/11 attacks.

This time, however, the inspection included a

rather remarkable component: the first buil-

ding to be inspected for damage was the

office of the US Army Corps of Engineers itself.

The big $50 million and $150 million contracts

are blanket orders that comprise various

separate queries and commissions. Every

commission is good for a specific sum that

can be as much as a few million dollars and

is followed by a new commission until the

maximum amount has been reached. Another

maximum pertains to the time factor: the

contracts are meant to run for five years. This

No WaterNow that the first year has been completed,

Arcadis is working full tilt in New Orleans.

Dircke is satisfied with the activities in the

city, but also sees opportunities for improve-

ment. In addition to my job at Arcadis, I lec-

ture on cities and water at Rotterdam

University. There I often deal with delta urba-

nization, or residential areas near river

broads. What struck me about New Orleans

was that theres hardly any water to be seen

in the city, a result of the high flood defences.

Admittedly, the Mississippi bars the city, but

besides that theres hardly any current to be

found. In my opinion this doesnt suit a city

like New Orleans. I have discussed this with

different people, who share the opinion that

more needs to be on view in New Orleans, as

it is, for example, in Rotterdam. It is proposed

that cross pollination will occur between

Rotterdam and New Orleans in the area of

water planning. That way, the water wont be

so much a threat as a valued part of the city.

Lambert-Jan Koops [email protected] is

contributing editor of GeoInformatics.

Surf to www.arcadis-global.nl

for more information on Arcadis.

is a minimum, according to Dircke. Five years

is not much when we look at large water pro-

jects that were carried out in the Netherlands.For example, look at the Dutch Delta Works

that were started in 1953 and completed in

1998. In five years we can do a lot of plan-

ning and designing, but execution is another

story. I think the absolute minimum for the

activities is ten years, and only if all goes

well.

In Full FlightThe first year has passed and approx-

imately 10% of the contract has been

spent. The process seems to be onschedule, but Dircke thinks things are

just getting going. It has taken quite

a while to really get started. There

were various reasons for this. Of

course the plans had to be approved

by officials, but we also had to deal

with changes within the US Army

Corps of Engineers. They gave priori-

ty to disaster recovery, but also had

to cope with internal changes. As a

result of the disaster, the staff profile

changed substantially: a lot of wor-

kers left, and there was a complete

turnover at the management level. In

short, our commissioner had to deal

with their own reorganization before

they could instruct us effectively.


Interview

11June 2008

Orleans

Image of Katrina.

New Orleans Flooded.
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12/68

I believe in innovation.

SmartStation the worlds first total station with integrated GPS

is a fine example of our uncompromising dedication to your needs.

Innovation: yet another reason to trust Leica Geosystems.


13/68

Leica Geosystems AGSwitzerland

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Innovation is intelligence tap it and let your work flow.

You want the tools of your trade to be state-of-the-art. Thats why Leica Geosystems is continuously innovating to better

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answers to your questions. When it matters most. When you are in the field. When it has to be right.

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14/68

On February 22nd 1978 the first Block I satellite; Navstar I, was launched which

means that February 22nd of this year marked the 30th anniversary of GPS.

Navstar, now called GPS has been a military project from the start although

there seems to be a gradual shift in government policy, giving the civilian sectoran increasing voice in GPS.

By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

Problems at Hand

In early October 2007 six satellites have tem-

porarily broadcasted anomalous L1 C/A code

signals due to an error during upload of the

navigation message, causing outages an a

single satellite ranging from 2 to up to over

12 hours. The error affected different receivers

in a different way with some receivers con-

tinuing to track the satellite whilst others

stopped tracking the satellite altogether.

New Satellites

The satellite launched in December 2007 has

been set active in January 2008. On March 17

another block IIR-M satellite was launched from

Cape Canaveral. It was set active in record time,

by the 24th of March, only eight days after

launch.

Furthermore, the launch of the satellite carrying

the demonstration payload with the L5 signal

is scheduled for June 30 this year.

Finally, the US government has decided who

will manufacture the GPS IIIA next generation

satellites. The name of the manufacturer has

not been released yet however.

Beidou / CompassThere is more information available on ChinasGNSS system Beidou / Compass. During an

international congress in Munich (Germany) Dr.

Jing Guifei of the National Remote Sensing

Center of China and the Ministry of Science and

Technology presented details about the system.

Although the information was not new it could

signal a willingness to engage in communica-

tion on their GNSS.

According to Dr. Guifei there are now two geo-

stationary Beidou satellites broadcasting sig-

nals in the Beidou Test System. Currently the

system is a local system, but there are plans to

expand the system towards a global system,

Compass. Compass will provide an Open

Service and Authorized Service. China envisions

the Open Service to have position accuracy of

14

Art ic le

June 2008

Civilian Control

GNSS update


15/68

20 meters. The systems first step is the

Compass regional navigation system, working

today with the four satellites mentioned. The

second step will be the Compass navigation sat

system, covering the Asia area (China andneighboring countries) by 2008. Then it will go

global. We have also tested a new satellite,

the Compass-m1, stated Guifei. The first MEO

satellite, launched April 2007, is for system in-

orbit validation and to secure the frequency

filings.

Beidou Compatible SystemsCommercial GNSS manufacturers have present-

ed the first products compatible with Beidou.

Javad introduced its new Triuph GNSS chip

sporting 215 channels with the ability to receive

all types of GNSS signal, according to the com-

pany. These include GPS, GLONASS, Galileo,

QZSS, WAAS, EGNOS, and Compass/Beidou sig-

nals. Products based on the new chip will be

able to receive Galileo signals for free during a

will be no further money allocated to the pro-

ject and the EP will tightly control the budget.

As a result the EP has voted to disband the cur-

rent GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) and

replaced it with the EP controlled GNSS Oversight

Committee. Meanwhile the GSA has published a

new version of the Galileo Open Service Signal-

In-Space Interface Control Document requestingcomments from the public.

GlonassAll three GLONASS satellites launched

December 25 last year have been set to healthy.

There are now 16 operational GLONASS satel-

lites in orbit. Six more GLONASS-M satellites

are scheduled for launch in 2008 three in

September and three more in December. The

first two improved GLONASS-K satellites which

have a longer life-span are scheduled for launch

the following year as well as an additional 6Glonass-M satellites

Budget

Russia's Federal Space Agency is asking the

government to double the financing for

GLONASS in the federal budget for 2009-2011.

In 2007 the government allocated approximate-

ly EURO 266 million for GLONASS; this year the

budget will allocate EURO 280 million and in

2009, EURO 291 million, according to Itar-Tass.

In a March 11 story Itar-Tass quoted Russian First

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying

that GLONASS will be completed within two

years. "Despite criticism of GLONASS, the pro-

blem is not with the spacecraft. We shall surely

[have] 24 satellites in a year and a half," he

said, according to Itar-Tass.

full year. Another product capable of receiving

Beidou (and Galileo) signals is the Leica

Geosystems AR25 high performance choke ring

antenna. Choke ring antennas are omni-direc-

tional antennas typically used for high-frequen-

cy applications; they are particularly suited to

GPS and radar applications. The antenna can

also receive satellite-based augmentation sig-nals (SBAS), the Canadian differential GPS

(CDGPS), and OmniStar signals, according to

Leica.

GalileoThe second Galileo satellite, GIOVE-B was

launched on April 27 at 04:16 local time from

Baikonur in Kazaksthan and successfully

reached its design orbit. GIOVE-B will test

novel, key technologies for the Galileo system,

such as the high-precision passive maser clock

and the triple-channel transmission of naviga-tion signals. The satellites signal generator is

modified to broadcast the multiplex binary-off-

set carrier (MBOC) signal on the Open Service,

enacting a July 2007 agreement between the

EU and the United States on a common inter-

operable signal.Following on from GIOVE-B, the

first four satellites of the operational constella-

tion are reportedly under development by

European Satellite Navigation Industries (ESNI).

They are scheduled for launch in 2010 and will

enable a system-level verification of the Galileo

design, according to the ESA.

Whos in Control?

The European Parliament (EP) intends to keep

control on Galileo now that it has found the 3.4

billion Euro needed to complete Galileo. There

Latest News? Visitwww.geoinformatics.com15

June 2008

GIOVE-B satellite ready for shipment at Estec

(Netherlands) (source: www.esa.eu)

Art i c le

Current worldwide Glonass coverage.
http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.esa.eu/http://www.esa.eu/http://www.geoinformatics.com/


16/68

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17/68

Mergers and TakeoversTopcon Corporation and Sokkia Co. Ltd are

combined effective 5 February 2008. The

Japanese Fair Trade Commission recently

approved the combination.

Regarding the planned takeover of Navteq by

Nokia there is the news that the European

Commission will expand the investigation. TheEC is worried about the diminishing competi-

tion on the market for navigation devices. The

deadline for either approval or a further inves-

tigation is March 28.

Concerning the takeover of TeleAtlas by

TomTom the EC has informed TomTom that it

has similar concerns. The EC still has until May

5th to make a decision. Insiders mention that

the merger could still take place but that there

may be restrictions applied to the new compa-

ny such as TomTom-TeleAtlas still having to sup-

ply maps to its competitors at competitive

prices. A similar restriction could also apply to

the Nokia-Navteq combination that is now

under scrutiny from the EC as well.

EADS Astrium, one of Europes biggest

aerospace contractors, is to buy Surrey Satellite

Technology. EADS Astrium, which is one of the

builders of GIOVE-B has entered into an agree-

ment to acquire U.K-based University of Surrey

new 11-year cycle, called solar cycle 24, is

expected to build gradually, with the number

of sunspots and solar storms reaching a maxi-

mum by 2011 or 2012, though devastating

storms can occur at any time, according to

NOAA.

LoranLORAN has been given $34.5 million in the

presidents proposed federal budget for fiscal

2009, and made part of the provenance of the

Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Funding for eLORAN going forward is still an

open question; $34.5 million hardly covers the

annual operating costs of the system as it exists

today. Completing the upgrade could cost as

much as $400 million.The General Lighthouse

Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland

(GLA) has lauded the U.S. decision and is deve-

loping a similar system for Europe.

Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

([email protected])is

project manager at IDsW and freelance

writer and trainer. This article reflects his

personal opinion.

spinoff company Surrey Satellite Technology

Ltd., maker of Galileo's first satellite, GIOVE-A.

Meanwhile GIOVE-A has surpassed its design

life of 27 months but will remain active.

Sunspot CycleA new 11-year cycle of heightened solar activity,

bringing with it increased risks for military and

civilian communications, including GPS signals,

showed signs it was on it its way with the

appearance of the cycle's first sunspot, NOAA

scientists said. A sunspot is an area of highly

organized magnetic activity on the surface of

the sun which affects GPS performance. The


Art i c le

17June 2008

Leica Geosystems new AR25 antenna capable of receiv-

ing Galileo and Beidou signals.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/mailto:[email protected]


18/68

Prodigious Mapping Capabilities, Spatial Resolution and Geo-

GeoEyes Next-Generation Imaging S

In the coming months, insurance companies will have access to commercial satellite images precise enough to determine

whether an insured homeowner living in a fire-prone area like southern California should thin the brush in his backyard to

prevent the spread of a forest fire. Defense and intelligence communities will have access to imagery that is an ideal tool

for broad area mapping. Oil and gas companies will have access to color imagery to help them manage and map facilities

and infrastructure on the ground. These sorts of uses are mere snapshots of what commercial

imagery provider GeoEye (Dulles, Va.) envisions for its next-generation GeoEye-1

Earth-imaging satellite, slated for launch later this year.

By John Croft

backyard to prevent the spread of a forest fire.

Defense and intelligence communities will have

access to imagery that is an ideal tool for broad

area mapping. Oil and gas companies will have

access to color imagery to help them manage

and map facilities and infrastructure on the

ground. These sorts of uses are mere snapshots

of what commercial imagery provider GeoEye

(Dulles, Va.) envisions for its next-generation

GeoEye-1 Earth-imaging satellite, slated for

launch later this year.

AccuracyFunded 50 percent by GeoEye and about 50

percent by the U.S. Department of Defense,

the satellite will set new and unprecedented

standards for the performance and capabili-

ties of commercial remote sensing systems.

The 684 kilometer, sun-synchronous, polar

orbiting satellite with its ITT Corporation

(White Plains, NY) sensor will be able to dis-

cern objects on the ground 0.41 meter in size

and, just as important, map an object that

18

Art ic le

June 2008

In 1900, in the magazine Ladies Home Journal,an article making predictions for the next cen-

tury said, Flying machines will carry powerful

telescopes that beam back to Earth pho-

tographs as distinct and large as if taken from

across the street.

In the coming months, insurance companies will

have access to commercial satellite images pre-

cise enough to determine whether an insured

homeowner living in a fire-prone area like

southern California should thin the brush in his


19/68

size to within three meters of its true location

on the surface of the Earth. This level of accu-

racy has never been possible before with civi-

lian space-based imagery and will be done

without the use of ground control points from

outside sources.

In practice, GeoEye-1 imagery will be able to

see an object the size of home plate on a

baseball diamond in both color and black and

white. Maximum spatial resolution for color

images will be 1.65 meters, a factor of two

ITT provided similar previous generationequipment for IKONOS and built the imaging

sensor for another satellite, DigitalGlobes

WorldView-1 panchromatic sensor, which was

launched in September 2007.

Though it stands two stories high and weighs

more than two tons, GeoEye-1 is designed to

deftly train the ITT camera on multiple targets

during a single orbital pass, able to rotate or

swivel forward, backward or side-to-side with

robotic precision. These capabilities allow the

satellite to image easily east to west even as

it moves from north to south around the Earth

at a speed of 7 km per second. GeoEye-1 will

be able to collect several images of the same

area taken at different orbital positions,

resulting in the ability to create stereo

imagery which can be processed into

advanced geospatial products.

General Dynamics provides the satellites pre-

cision pointing and attitude knowledge --

essential ingredients for GeoEyes spatial res-

olution and geo-location performance -- using

GPS, gyros and star-tracking sensors. The GPS

system and the star trackers are the most

sophisticated on the commercial market,having previously been used only for U.S.

Government missions. The star trackers were

built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

headquartered in Boulder, Co.

TelescopeAt the heart of ITTs camera is a five-element

modified Cassegrain telescope with a 1.1-

meter primary mirror, which is a larger diame-

ter than the primary mirror used in current

systems. ITT uses two fold mirrors in the

optical path to compress the system focal

better than existing commercial satellites withfour-band multispectral imaging capabilities,

including GeoEyes IKONOS Earth-imaging

satellite. Launched in 1999, IKONOS has a

maximum resolution of 0.82 meters (black

and white).

ITT, developer of GeoEye-1s camera and tele-

scope assembly, says the satellite will be

capable of collecting on a daily basis up to

700,000 square kilometers of panchromatic

data, an area about the size of Texas, or

350,000 square kilometers of pan-sharpened

multispectral imagery, the equivalent of pho-tographing and mapping the entire state of

New Mexico. Given its altitude, sun-syn-

chronous orbit, field of view and superior

resolution, GeoEye-1 can revisit any point

on the globe every three days or sooner,

depending upon the required orbital angle.

ProdigiousThe satellites prodigious mapping capabili-

ties, spatial resolution and geo-location abili-

ty are the result of a technological symbiosis

between the satellite bus, built by General

Dynamics Advanced Information Systems

(Gilbert, Ariz.) and ITTs optical telescope,

detectors, focal plane assemblies and high-

speed digital processing electronics capable

of processing millions of pixels per second.


Art i c le

19June 2008

ocation Ability

atellite

1-meter simulated resolution from aerial imagery of Colorado Capital and Downtown Denver.

0.5 meter simulated resolution from aerial

imagery of Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado.


20/68

length allowing it to fit within the available

envelope. The telescope is the subassembly

that collects photons, says ITTs Cliff Olds,

project manager for the GeoEye-1 camera. Its

like a light bucket.

Compared to current technology, its quite the

bucket. GeoEye-1s quantum efficiency, the

measure of how well a telescope collects light

photons is nearly double that of other sys-

tems. That makes the instrument more

affordable, lower in cost and able to collectmore data, faster, says Chris Young, presi-

dent of ITT Space Systems Division.

After passing through the telescope, the light

passes through two parallel slits at the focal

plane. Beneath one are the panchromatic

charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors; below

the other are four rows of multispectral sen-

sors, each filtered to gather light in the cor-

rect spectrum blue, green, red and near

infrared. The miniscule size of the individual

pixels in each panchromatic sensor CCD are a

key reason GeoEye-1s images will have

greater sharpness and ground resolution than

existing commercial imaging satellites, says

Olds. As a whole, Young says, GeoEye-1's

camera and electronics offer five times the

power efficiency, 10 times the weight efficiency,

20

Art ic le

June 2008

1-meter simulated resolution from aerial imagery

of Charles B. Wheeler, Downtown Airport, Kansas

City, Missouri.

1-meter simulated resolution from aerial imagery of Coors Field, Denver, Colorado.


21/68

and three times the cost efficiency that cur-

rent high-resolution systems offer.

Once operational, GeoEye-1 will become a key

asset in GeoEyes satellite constellation, which

includes IKONOS and the 1,100-meter ground

resolution OrbView-2 satellite, launched in

1997. GeoEye-1 will launch on a Boeing Delta

II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in

California. Because of its sun-synchronous

orbit, the satellite will pass over the sunlit

portions of the Earth at approximately 10:30a.m., providing an optimal mix of lighting and

shadow for imaging. The satellite is designed

to operate for a minimum of seven years and

carries enough re-boost fuel to maintain its

orbital altitude for more than 10 years.

GeoEye will control the satellite from its nor-

thern Virginia headquarters and will receive

downlink information at its Dulles and Barrow,

Alaska, ground stations. The company is also

leasing ground stations in Tromso, Norway,

and Troll, Antarctica, through Kongsberg

Satellite Services. GeoEyes Denver operations

facility has been upgraded as a back-up

ground station for GeoEye-1. These geogra-

phically dispersed ground station architecture,

will enable the satellite to clear the imagery

in its memory at least every orbit so that the


Art i c le

21June 2008

0.5-meter simulated resolution from aerial imagery of Coors Field, Denver, Colorado.


22/68

PHOTOMOD R software offers high-tech and high-

performance solutionsfor professional photogrammetricprocessing of the remote sensing data allowing you to extractgeometrically accurate spatial information. It covers all yourneeds for high-precision digital terrain models creation, 3D

image features collection, images orthorectification, mosaick-ing and digital maps making.

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23/68

imagery gets back to the processing facility in Dulles, Virginia more

quickly and then into the hands of customers.

CustomersOnce data from Geo-Eye-1 begins to flow, after a 45-60 day on-orbit

checkout phase, the U.S. Government and other customers will receive

access to imagery from the satellite. Panchromatic and multi-spectral

data will be downlinked separately and recombined at GeoEye, with

multispectral data used to colorize the higher resolution panchroma-

tic images.For commercial sales, GeoEye will resample the images to decrease

the maximum spatial resolution to 0.5 meters, a requirement levied

by the U.S. government. Mark Brender, vice president of corporate

communications and marketing for GeoEye, expects that half-meter

resolution imagery will enable the company to provide customers and

resellers in the U.S. and overseas with new geospatial products with

a superb metric accuracy. For the government customer, GeoEye-1, will

provide more eyes in the sky and high-quality unclassified imagery to

support intelligence and broad area mapping missionsall on a cost-

effective basis.

Since the start of the GeoEye-1 program, the satellite is being deli-

vered on budget without any change orders that often drive up thecost of such complex systems.

AweImagination appears to be the only limit as to what users may create

with GeoEye-1s unparalleled views of Earth. Potential markets that

would likely increase their use of geospatial technologies to involve

satellite imagery include oil and gas, insurance and risk management,

real estate, location-based services, and agencies designed to better

understand the impact of climate change on the Earths surface.

Whatever the use, ITTs Young predicts customers far and wide will

have the same impression of GeoEye-1s imagery: Awe.

That one-hundred-year-old prediction from Ladies Home Journal has

come true, almost right on time.

John Croft is an aerospace journalist.

For more information, have a look at www.geoeye.com and www.ssd.itt.com.

Thanks to Mark Brender and Adam Konowe.

Latest News? Visitwww.geoinformatics.com23

June 2008

GIS is one of the fastest growing markets, with annual growth

projected as high as 20% through the coming years. As GIS

applications expand, asset management with GIS/GPS devices

is one of the most active areas of growth. The number of users

is increasing, and new markets such as China, Brazil, India and

Russia are emerging. This expansion is similar to that of the cell

phone market a few years ago. Its not just the number of pro-

fessional users thats growing; were also seeing new applica-

tions and more use by non-professionals.

In the coming years, GIS users will be demanding that their GPS

devices are not only GPS, but also GLONASS-, and in a few

years Galileo-capable. Wireless technology will become common

and every GIS/GPS receiver will have to be a connected device,

able to communicate with Wi-Fi/Wi-Max or 3G/4G cell phone net-

works. Data exchange, e-mail, Internet and DGPS over IP

(NTRIP) will be as common as they are today with smartphones,

or PDAs. This connectivity aspect will result in large develop-

ment of enterprise solutions, where the GIS/GPS devices are

interconnected, sharing centralized application servers, common

GIS databases and services. Photometry and photo mapping

will become more and more common, requiring high-quality,

integrated digital cameras in GPS products.

As the GIS/GPS devices have to be handheld, they have to

be small, compact and lightweight. Thus, their new capabilities

will require hardware modularity providing users with those

capabilities and features they really need, e.g., either bar code

reader or laser rangefinder, but not necessarily both. At the same

time, the increased product complexity has to be balanced by

their ease of use, since most GIS users are not GIS/GPS experts.

Finally, the end users will become more and more price-con-

scious and unwilling to spend too much money to get the right

device.

These future trends are starting today, and Magellan Professional

is following them very closely. The recent release of

MobileMapper 6 is our first step in responding to the above

challenges, providing GIS users with the GPS product they

demand.

Jacek Pietruczanis is Product

Marketing Manager GIS Solutions

at Magellan Professional.

Column

Providing GIS Userswith the GPS Product

They Demand

GeoEye-1 At Lift-off, Vandenberg AFB, California
http://www.geoeye.com/http://www.geoeye.com/http://www.ssd.itt.com/http://www.ssd.itt.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.ssd.itt.com/http://www.geoeye.com/


24/68

A New Photogrametric Workflow

Vexcel Imagings Ultramap Platform

Digital large format aerial cameras have been used for aerial survey and mapping operations for several years.

One example is the UltraCamX, developed by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, Graz, Austria. UltraCamX was introduced into the

market in May 2006 and is currently the largest digital frame camera for photogrammetric applications. Since May 2006,

Vexcel has been operating under the ownership of Microsoft Corp. and as such contributes to the Microsoft Virtual Earth

Initiative. This huge project is based on high quality aerial images for fully automated, three dimensional, digital

re-construction of urban areas. Vexcel now introduces a new processing software called UltraMap Platform which

implements a complete photogrammetric workflow including quality control and visualization.

By Alexander Wiechert and Michael Gruber

Vexcel Imaging GmbH is headquartered inGraz, Austria and known for its manufacture of

photogrammetric devices. The companys first

product was the precision film scanner

UltraScan5000. In May 2003, the digital large

format camera system UltraCamD was presen-

ted at the ASPRS conference and exhibition in

Anchorage, Alaska, and three years later the new

large format digital aerial camera system, the

UltraCamX was introduced to the internationalmapping market at ASPRS 06 in Reno, Nevada.

Both, UltraCamD and UltraCamX were success-

fully introduced into the global mapping mar-

ket and almost 100 Units have been sold up to

May of this year. Since Microsoft has acquired

Vexcel this camera is used as the sole airborne

optical mapping sensor for the Virtual Earth

Initiative. With the success of its imaging sys-

tems, Vexcel has now introduced a new pro-

cessing software called UltraMap Platform,

which implements a complete photogramme-

tric workflow.

UltraCamX, the Largest Digital FrameCameraUltraCamX is a digital large format frame ca-

mera and at the moment offers the largest

image format among mapping sensors. Even if

the size of each frame is 136 Megapixels the

camera will allow a short frame interval of 1.35

seconds and therefore is able to produce stereo

overlaps for large scale applications. This fea-

ture is very much appreciated when undertak-

ing large scale mapping projects in urban areas.

The most considerable advantages of

UltraCam X are:

large image format of 14430 pixels crosstrack and 9420 pixels along track

excellent optical system with 100 mm focal

length for the panchromatic camera heads

and 33 mm for the multi spectral camera

heads

best in class geometric accuracy

>12 bit radiometric performance

1.35 sec. frame interval

The cam image storage capacity of 4700

frames for one single data storage unit

almost unlimited image harvest due to

exchangeable data storage units

instant data download from the airplane

by removable data storage units

fast data transfer to the post processing

system by the new docking station

The camera consists of the sensor unit, the

onboard storage and data capture system, theoperator interface panel and two removable

data storage units. Software to operate the

camera and process the image data after the

flight mission completes the system (figure 1).

The UltraCam X Sensor HeadThe basic design of the UltraCamX sensor is

unique (figure 2). It consists of eight indepen-

24

Art ic le

June 2008

Figure 1: UltraCam X digital aerial camera system with

the Sensor Unit (right) and the airborne Computing

Unit including two removable Data Units (left).

Technical Data UCX Sensor Unit

Panchromatic Channel

Multi cone multi sensor concept 4 camera heads

Image size in pixel (cross track/along track) 14430 * 9420 pixelPhysical pixel size 7.2 micron

Physical image format (cross track/along track) 103.9 mm * 67.8 mm

Focal length 100 mm

Lens aperture f = 1/5.6

Angle of view (cross track/along track) 55 / 37

Multispectral Channel

Four channels (Red, Green, Blue, Near Infrared) 4 camera heads

Image size in pixel (cross track/along track) 4992 * 3328 pixel

Physical pixel size 7.2 micron

Physical image format (cross track/along track) 34.7 mm * 23.9 mm

Focal length 33 mm

Lens aperture f = 1/ 4

General

Shutter speed options 1/500 sec 1/32 sec

Forward motion compensation TDI controlled, 50 pixels

Frame rate per second 1 frame in 1.35 sec

A/DC bandwidth 14 bit (16384 levles)

Radiometric resolution > 12 bit /channel

Tab. 1: Technical Data and Specifications of the UltraCamX Senor Unit


25/68

dent camera cones, four contributing to the

large format panchromatic image, and four con-

tributing to the multi spectral image. The sen-

sor head of the UltraCamX is equipped with 13

FTF5033 high performance CCD sensor units,

each producing 16 mega pixels of image infor-

mation at a radiometric bandwidth of more than

12 bit.

The transition to 7.2 m CCD sensors caused a

redesign of the optical system which is able to

resolve the 70 lp/mm of the CCD pixel grid. In

cooperation with LINOS/Rodenstock, a high per-

formance optical system was developed with a

focal length of 100 mm for the panchromatic

cones and a focal length of 33 mm for the multi

spectral cones. This set of two lenses supports

the pan sharpening ratio of 1:3.The image format of 14430 pixels cross track

and 9420 pixels in flight direction contributes

to productivity in the air. With a 25 % side over-

lap between strips the UltraCamX covers more

than one mile, or 1650 m, at 6 inch pixel size.

The UltraCamX on Board StorageSystemThe new data storage system of the UltraCamX

improves the end-to-end workflow of the aerial

mission and vastly improves the operational

activities of the aerial crew. The system con-tains two independent data units for redundant

potential of the sensor and its responsiveness.

Only 6 DN @ 16 bit (= 0.4 DN @ 12 bit) of

noise could be detected in shadows.

Geometric Accuracy at the 1Micrometer LevelAfter the geometric laboratory calibration the

performance of every UltraCamX is verified by

a flight mission over a well known test area. A

flight pattern with high overlap (80% endlap,

60% sidelap) and cross strips offers a redun-

dant dataset which allows detailed investiga-

tion of the interior geometry of the camera.

The automatic tie point matching is done using

INPHOs aerial triangulation software package,

Match AT. The sigma_o value reflects the quali-

ty level of image coordinate measurements of

an aerial triangulation project. Such values have

been computed for several UltraCamX image

datasets. The sigma_o values of the flight mis-sions shown in figure 4 are close to, or smaller

than, 1 m at that huge redundancy of high

overlaps and additional cross strips. In addi-

tion, cross check and additional self calibration

options were applied using BINGO.

UltraMap PlatformDigital aerial frame cameras are able to produce

enormous volumes of image data. One can

imagine that handling large amounts of images

can be a problem in the office. After each pro-

cessing step, the operator requires a QC (quali-ty control) check to ensure that all processed

data fulfil the required quality expectations. At

best, this is done not on an image-by-image

manner, but should be done within the whole

block. Since aerial cameras are now producing

imagery with increased numbers of pixels (~130

Mpix, UltraCamX), handling aerial imagery is

becoming a problem for the operator. The situ-

ation gets worse if the QC requires the visua-

lization of geo-located high resolution images,

in order to validate whole projects (usually

>2,000 images, about 253 Gpix). In most cases,

quick views (down sampled to 1/100 of the ori-

ginal size) are used to carry out a quick quality

check. The downside of this approach is obvi-

ous. Neighbouring information cannot be taken

into account if a block of images should be

image capture. The data

units are able to capture

up to 4700 images of 136

mega pixels each and most valuable for large

scale missions can be replaced by spare units

within a few minutes. Thus one can increase

the entire number of images for one single mis-

sion by a factor of two or three, and enjoy prac-

tically unlimited onboard image storage capaci-

ty. Disconnecting the data units from the camera

system after the completion of a flight mission

and shipping the raw data to the office

becomes a very simple task.

The downloading of the image data is suppor-

ted by a docking station, which allows com-

plete data transfer of 4000 images within 8

hours, through four parallel data transfer chan-

nels. Therefore, a 24 hour cycle of flying, copy-

ing and QC can be achieved.

Radiometric Quality and MultiSpectral CapabilityUltraCamX exploits the radiometric quality of

the high performance CCD sensor FTF5033 man-

ufactured by DALSA. Not much less then 13 bit

of radiometric information can be extracted via

the 14 bit analog/digital converter. Such broad

bandwidth will resolve the dark and bright

areas in the same scene, such as those found

in a city area on a bright sunny day, with dark

shadows in the streets and almost white roofs.

Similarly, images of mountainous areas withbright snow and dark rocks and shadows

(figure 3), can be easily resolved. The perfor-

mance in dark image regions shows the full


Art i c le

25June 2008

Figure 2: The UltraCamX sensor head (left) consists of 8 camera heads, 4 of them

contributing to the large format panchromatic image. These 4 heads are

equipped with 9 CCD sensors in their 4 focal planes. The focal plane of the so

called Master Cone (M) carries 4 CCDs (right).

Figure 3: Aerial image of very high intra scene

contrast (snow and ice vs. shadows and dark rocks).

The vertical profile shows more than 7000 intensity

levels (12.9 bit). The lower image series show digitally

enhanced image portion and demonstrates show the

high contrast scene at different gamma setting.

Bright areas are displayed best on the left, structure

in the dark shadows are better visible on the right.

Figure 4: Results of the Automatic Aerotriangulation from several UltraCamX

testflights at 10 cm GSD (1380 m AGL).Sigma_o values are in the range of 0.7 m

to 1.6 m. The average value of sigma_o is less than 1 m.


26/68Copyright 2008 ESRI. All rights reserved. The ESRI globe logo, ESRI, and www.esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

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27/68

evaluated. In addition, the quick views may not

reflect the actual image content since they are

also radiometrically reduced (8 bits instead of

the original radiometric resolution).

The UltraMap Platform (UMP) has been

designed to provide a complete photogram-

metric workflow to the UltraCam user, whichincludes interactive visualization and QC tools:

Complete and integrated photogrammetric

workflow

Data download and ship packs

Level 0-2 and level 2-3 processing

Complete aero triangulation

Photogrammetric bundle adjustment

Automated tie point collection

Guided ground control point measurements

Camera auto calibration

Quality control

o Interactive visualization

o Overlap

o GPS/IMU accuracy

o Crab angle

o Radiometry

UMP eases the handling of large amounts of

data by using cutting-edge technologies

based on Microsofts .NET and Seadragon

technology. It provides:

Complete 16 bit image pipeline

Supports distributed processing

o Level 0-2 and level 2-3

o Central system managemento Load balancing

And fully integrates UltraCam specific

hardware such as the DX and DKS docking

station

To handle the huge quantity of images UMP

utilises a new technical-based approach called

Image Pyramids. This allows fast access to

multi-resolution image data. During visualiza-

tion, the required information is retrieved from

the various images and used for fast display.

With this approach, the visualization perfor-

mance only depends on the screen resolution

and not on the resolution of the images or the

number of images. Another advantage of this

approach is that it will maintain the high

dynamic range of images (>12 bit) within thepyramid data. The 8 bit conversion is done

directly on the graphics card and can therefore

easily be changed interactively for the whole

block.

Consistent Model

All images are bundled to one consistent

model. The model allows fast access to image-

related information such as position, orienta-

tion, camera parameters, and so forth. The

application uses this information to apply the

required parameters to the visualization mo-

dule. The model also has the capability to

recover missing GPS positions, automatically

detect strips, and check for consistency.

Visualization Modes

UMP supports multiple visualization modes.

During runtime of the application, the user can

switch between different modes on-line. The

supported modes are as follows:

Footprint view This shows the image out-line projected down to the ground level

using the available GPS and/or IMU data. Indexmap The indexmap shows a block of

images using the position and orientation of

each image. By using a slider the scale of

the footprints can be changed interactively.

Heatmap The heatmap is a visualizationtype for showing the degree of overlap of

the image block. The color-coded regions

allow immediate visual recognition of flight

patterns.

ThumbnailThe thumbnail mode allows a more seman-

tic image clustering. For instance, imagesmay be grouped by their strip number or

histogram statistics.

Overlays The overlay concept is designedfor visualizing additional meta information

on top of image data. This may include

image IDs as text, footprints, projection cen-

ters, ground control points, tie points, and

so forth.

Interaction

Besides the visualization, the interaction capa-

bility is also a very important aspect. Easy pan

and zoom functionality is done by using the

mouse. Image selection is important for group-

ing or removing individual images. High level

interaction is required when it comes to mea-

suring (ground) control points. Especially for

the last task, the multi-image block visualiza-

tion eases tremendously the amount of time

for interaction (figure 5).

We tested our method with block sizes of 2,000

high resolution UltraCamX images, with given

GPS information, and track over ground angle.

Our approach allows for seamless browsing

through the whole image collection, beginning

with an overview of the image, to a close-up

view (100%) of individual images. Radiometric

inconsistency, missing images, and high crab

angles can be seen in one view (left image of

figure 5). The right image of figure 5 shows a

heatmap. A heatmap gives the information

about the degree of overlap. Green regions

show high overlap, whereas red regions lower

overlap.The user can then browse seamlessly from the

overall block overview to the individual image

as shown in figure 6. Every single detail of the

original image can be explored. In addition,

heavy crab angles are made obvious at once.

ConclusionVexcel Imaging GmbH has announced its new

UltraMap Platform, a new photogrammetric

workflow for distributed processing, quality con-

trol and visualization of large amounts of

UltraCam images. UltraMap is based on thelatest Microsoft technologies, namely .NET and

Seadragon. It provides an unparalleled set of

functionality to support the end user with effi-

cient image processing, quality control and

image handling. UltraMap Platform leverages

the productivity of the UltraCam and defines a

new industry standard for the processing and

handling of large projects. UMP clearly demon-

strates the synergy achieved by Vexcel as a

Microsoft company and also shows the strong

innovation momentum of Microsoft Vexcel.

Alexander Weichert is General Manager of Vexcel

Imaging GmbH. Michael Gruber is Chief Scientist

Photogrammetry at Vexcel. For more information,

have a look at www.ultracamx.com

www.microsoft.com/ultracam

Figure 5: Block overview of 2,000 images. The left

image shows at one sight that there are missing

images. The right image shows a heatmap for the

block.

Figure 6: Close-up view of individual high resolution

images. Left images shows

geoinformatics 2008 vol04

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