geoinformatics 2009 vol05

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11th GSDI Conference Spot Image International Conference 2009

Intergraph and Smart Grids MapInfo Professional v10.0

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 sJuly/Aug 2009

Volume 12

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For ESRI locations worldwide, visit www.esri.com/distributors.

Czech Republic

www.arcdata.czDenmarkwww.informi.dk

Estonia, Latvia,and Lithuaniawww.hnit-baltic.lt

Finlandwww.esri-nland.com

France

www.esrifrance.frF.Y.R.O.M.www.gisdata.hr

Germanywww.esri-germany.de

Georgiawww.geographic.ge

Greece and Cypruswww.marathondata.gr

Austria

www.synergis.co.atBelgium and Luxembourgwww.esribelux.com

Bosnia and Herzegovinawww.gisdata.hr

Bulgariawww.esribulgaria.com

Croatiawww.gisdata.hr

Hungary

www.esrihu.huIcelandwww.samsyn.is

Israelwww.systematics.co.il

Italywww.esriitalia.it

Maltawww.geosys.com.mt

Moldova

www.trimetrica.comThe Netherlandswww.esrinl.com

Norwaywww.geodata.no

Polandwww.esripolska.com.pl

Portugalwww.esri-portugal.pt

Romania

www.esriro.roRussiawww.dataplus.ru

Slovak Republicwww.arcgeo.sk

Sloveniawww.gisdata.hr

Spainwww.esri-es.com

Sweden

www.esri-sgroup.seSwitzerlandwww.esri-suisse.ch

Turkeywww.esriturkey.com.tr

Ukrainewww.ecomm.kiev.ua

UK/Irelandwww.esriuk.com
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Where is my SDI?

For a long time, an SDI appeared to me a phenomenon as, lets say, a 78 RPM record by

The Beatles: its something that everyone is talking about, but no one has ever actually seen,

or heard for that matter. Of course, this comparison is quite far-fetched, but my skepticism

was unyielding every time I heard people speak about the creation of nationwide SDIs or

huge programs like INSPIRE. To me, it seemed that such long-term projects always take more

time (and money) than one thinks. And because there is a political link between INSPIRE

and the EU, its easy to place INSPIRE under widespread EU skepticism.

So I was quite curious when I read that at the 11th Global Spatial Data Infrastructures (GSDI)

Conference ( held last June in Rotterdam, the Netherlands) the industry would meet withscientists and the public sector to discuss matters on SDIs, INSPIRE and so on. What were

the lessons to be learned from each other? Are people from different fields speaking the

same language or reinventing each others wheels without knowing it?

On the exposition floor I heard some grumbling comments from various captains of industry

that it was time to act and stop talking. I also heard of interesting new user platforms by

which government agencies can benefit greatly, if they are willing to listen to these user

communities. There are lessons to be learned from the user communities and companies

who make money out of the donation of volunteered geographical information. As is often

the case, governments are slow to respond in comparison to the market. But its actually a

good thing that politicians take notice of public initiatives and start to ask themselves how

can we jump on the bandwagon?

In the end, as in the title of one Beatles song, Here, There and Everywhere, the GSDIConference proved to be quite inspiring on this point.

Enjoy your reading,

Eric van Rees

[email protected]

July/August 20093

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

PublisherRuud [email protected]

Editor-in-chiefEric van Rees

[email protected]

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

ColumnistsJames FeeJohn Trinder

Contributing WritersGordon PetrieFlorian FischerTom ProbertMenno-Jan KraakJan SukupPatrik MeixnerKarel SukupHuibert-Jan LekkerkerkCarmela BurnsNelson de Jesus ParadaUlfh Walter PalmeJason San SouciPhilip ChengRemco Takken

Account Manager

Wilfred [email protected]

SubscriptionsGeoInformatics is available against a yearlysubscription rate (8 issues) of 89,00.To subscribe, fill in and return the electronic replycard on our website or contactJanneke Bijleveld [email protected]

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Pitney Bowes Business Insights MapInfoProfessional 10 v10.0This month, Pitney Bowes Business Insight launched MapInfo

Professional v10.0, the latest version of the companys flagship applica-

tion for business mapping and analysis. Designed in direct response to

valued feedback from the worldwide MapInfo Professional customer

base, this latest, landmark upgrade offers unprecedented new capabili-

ties and equips organisations to make better, faster and more insightful

business decisions.

C o n t e n t

July/August 2009

ArticlesRethinking the Geo-information

Economy with Neogeography

Donate your Geo Data! 12

Covering Large Areas in Short Time

A High Resolution Orthomosaic in Brazil 22

Retooling for the Digital Data Revolution

Geospatial and GIS Technologies 28

Using PixoView Technology

Testing Measurement Accuracy in ObliquePhotography 36

Under the Sea

Ocean Depths 48

Product Reviews

The Power of TenPitney Bowes Business Insights MapInfoProfessional 10 v10.0 16

Map Reading and Map Analysis

ESRI Book on Map Use 20

Useful Information for Everyday Geodetic Life

Datums and Map Projections Book 27

Forensics versus Research

Geoforensics 44

InterviewsAn Interview with Ken Spratlin

Trimbles New GeoSpatial Division 6

Achieving a More Reliable Delivery

for Growing Energy Needs

Smart Grids around the World 50

ColumnGeospatial Portals Keys to Success 34By James Fee

Machine Learning as a Tool for ImageAnalysis and Information Extraction 46By John Trinder

Page 16

ESRI Book on Map UseMenno-Jan Kraak reviews the sixth edition of the book Map use: readingand analysis, published by ESRI Press. The book is meant as a compre-

hensive, philosophical, and practical treatment of map appreciation.

4

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Latest News? Visitwww.geoinformatics.com5

July/August 2009

On the Cover:

Pleiades image of Cannes. Photo credit: Cnes/distribution Spot Image. See

article on the Spot Image International Conference 2009 on page 42.

Global Spatial Data InfrastructureConference 2009The eleventh edition of the annual Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI)conference was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from June 15 to 19. At

this conference the GSDI Association, an inclusive body of organizations,

agencies, firms, and individuals from around the world, promotes interna-

tional co-operation and collaboration in support of local, national and

international spatial data infrastructure developments.

Smart Grids around the WorldSmart grid is gaining traction throughout the world as a means to con-

serve resources, lessen pollution and increase the security and resiliency

of power grids states Tony DiMarco, Intergraph Director of Global Utilities

and Communications. For a number of years, Intergraph has been active in

the field of smart grids. But what exactly is it that smart grids do, and

what is their link with geospatial technology? Read all about it.

Page 50

EventsPublic Sector meets Science and Industry

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference 2009 32

New Partnerships, Satellites, Products and Strategies

Spot Image International Conference 2009 42

Calendar 54

Advertisers Index 54

Page 32

Page 42
http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/


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An Interview with Ken Spratlin

Since 2007, Trimble has acquired four companies INPHO, Geo-3D, Rollei

Metric and TopoSys which now form the companys GeoSpatial Division. Ken

Spratlin who is the general manager of this new division is asked about the

strategy that lay behind these recent acquisitions and the paths that he sees

this newly formed division following in the future.

By Gordon Petrie

IntroductionKen Spratlin received his education at two of the U.S.s most prestigious technological univer-

sities Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT), obtaining his Masters degree at the latter in 1987. He was employed first

as an engineer and then as a section chief at Draper Laboratory, which originally was part of

MIT and is famous for its research and developments in navigation, guidance and advanced

control systems, including integrated GPS/INS systems. After which, he joined Trimble, where

he has held a number of senior managerial positions. These include serving as general man-

ager of the companys Military & Advanced Systems Division where he patented several

new developments in GPS technology. He then served as Chief Operating Officer of Nikon-

Trimble, a joint venture of the two companies within the field of surveying instrumentation.

Following which, he became Trimbles director for new market development, during which

time Trimble acquired the four companies (INPHO, Geo-3D, RolleiMetric and TopoSys) that

form the basis of its new GeoSpatial Division. Now Ken Spratlin has been appointed as the

general manager of the GeoSpatial Division, charged with the responsibilities of ensuring that

it becomes a leader in the area of geospatial imaging and a commercial success.

GP Please could you outline the think-

ing that lay behind Trimbles acquisition

of the four companies and the formation

of the GeoSpatial Division? How does the

new GeoSpatial Division fit into Trimbles

overall (global) business strategy?

- Trimble focuses on four major market

segments: Engineering and Construction;

Precision Agriculture; Mobile Resource Mana -

gement (fleet management and mobile work-

ers); and Advanced Devices (GNSS chipsets,boards, and technology licensing). We see a sig-

nificant opportunity to apply geospatial imag-

ing to the first three of these markets, where

the use of imagery is largely under-penetrated

at the present time. The two most significant

hurdles to its adoption today are: (1) cost of

the systems or data, and (2) the age of the

information, since typically it can take months

from initiating data collection to the delivery of

the information. Trimble intends to address

both of these hurdles with purpose-built sys-

tems for these markets.

Trimble expects the convergence of the land

survey, mapping and GIS, and aerial mapping

segments to accelerate, and is one of the

drivers of this trend. Imaging, largely a tool for

the aerial mapping segment in the past, is

increasingly a part of land survey and GIS solu-

tions today. With this in mind, Trimbles

Connected Site solutions foster this conver-

gence now and offer a vision for the future.

The Connected Site creates seamless working

relationships among Trimble products, tech-

nologies, services and their end users. It

enables, for example, surveyors to choose froma broad range of options, including surveying

techniques, communications channels and facil-

itating services such as GNSS infrastructure,

within a single fully-integrated and interopera-

ble solution. Surveyors benefit from data com-

patibility and transfer with field and office soft-

ware; increased flexibility in using the best tools

and techniques for the job; the adaptation of

specialized technologies to fit the ideal survey

workflow; and localized solutions to address

specific market needs globally.

For example, the Trimble VX Spatial Station

combines optical, scanning and metric camera

capabilities to measure objects in 3D and pro-

duce 2D and 3D data sets for spatial imaging

and traditional surveying projects. With recent

6

Interview

July/August 2009

Fig. 1 Ken Spratlin, the general manager of Trimbles GeoSpatial Division, on the left,

and Eric McCuaig of 3D-Geo on the right at the Intergeo trade fair held in Bremen.

Trimbles New GeoSpatial Division


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advances in the geospatial information

industry, more opportunities for spatial imaging data are being identified

for transportation and civil engineering, utilities and communications, nat-ural resources management and government. Many applications use air-

borne information, but can also benefit from ground-based positioning

and imaging.

Trimble has participated in the aerial mapping segment since the mid-

1980s, providing GPS receivers to georeference aerial imagery. In 2003,

Trimble acquired Applanix, extending our georeferencing capability with

GPS/INS systems, and later the Applanix Digital Sensor System (DSS). The

acquisition of these four new companies represents a significant expan-

sion of Trimbles commitment to the mobile mapping segment, and a nat-

ural progression of our strategy, given our intent to continue driving the

convergence of the three segments that I mentioned previously.

GP Please explain to readers how the new GeoSpatial Division

is being organised and structured internally.

(i) Where is the head office of the Division located and who do

you report to as the general manager of the GeoSpatial

Division?

(ii) Who are the persons that are responsible for the day-to-day

running of the four formerly independent companies that now

make up the Division?

- Trimbles organizational philosophy is centered on the concept of the

division. The functions relating to business strategy, market planning,

product development, sales, and financial management are all functions

typically embedded within the division. This philosophy is applied as wellto the recently formed GeoSpatial Division.

Internally, the divisions are then organized into six sectors, with the sev-

enth sector being the companys corporate strategy and business develop-

ment function. These sectors are managed by vice presidents, and report

to the CEO. Multiple divisions and sectors address the four major markets.

Mark Harrington, Sector Vice President, manages the sector comprised of

the following divisions: Agriculture; Mapping and GIS; GeoSpatial; Mobile

Computing; Applanix; Infrastructure; Advanced Public Safety / Visual

Statement; Power, Process and Plant; and Trimble Outdoors. I am located

in the Trimble Rockies office located in Westminster, Colorado, near Denver,

and report directly to Mark.

The internal organization of the GeoSpatial Division actually changed in

mid-May to integrate and leverage our full capabilities. When we acquired

INPHO and then Geo-3D, we left these entities largely to operate as-is while

we focused on completing the other acquisitions. With the completion of

the RolleiMetric and TopoSys acquisitions in the fall of 2008, we began to

plan for the GeoSpatial Division to function as an integrated entity. As of

mid-May, GeoSpatial is now organized internally by function marketing,

engineering, operations, sales, and customer support. The transformation

is not yet complete, but the direction is clear.

GP INPHO was the first of the companies (acquired in February2007) that now make up the GeoSpatial Division. It is already

well known for its digital photogrammetric and terrain modelling

software products and is the only one of the four acquisitions

that does not develop and sell hardware systems and solutions.

(i) How do INPHOs software products fit into Trimbles spatial

imaging initiative and in which direction(s) can we expect them

to develop in the future?

(ii) Will INPHO continue to offer the Summit Evolution DPW

which it sources from DAT/EM in Alaska?

- INPHO has earned an excellent reputation internationally for devel-

oping highly accurate and precise aerial photogrammetry solutions, work-

ing closely with users to continually improve their solutions and provide

training and technical support. Early in their company history, they also

developed solutions for close range (terrestrial) photogrammetry. So INPHO

was the obvious foundation for the GeoSpatial Division. We plan to con-

tinue to develop the aerial photogrammetry and LIDAR software products

(Fig. 2), and will also leverage their capabilities into other applications for

geospatial imaging in our markets.

INPHO and DAT/EM have enjoyed an excellent, long-term and complemen-

tary relationship. Trimble and DAT/EM have continued that relationship,

and actually converted what was formerly a handshake into a formal

relationship. So, yes, we will continue to offer the Summit Evolution DPW

(Fig. 3).

GP In January 2008, Geo-3D was acquired by Trimble. The com-

pany is known as the developer and supplier of its series of Trident-

3D (road) and Atlas-3D (rail) mobile mapping systems and of its

complementary Cyclop-3D aerial mapping system. However, in the

past, Geo-3D has also acted as a service provider supplying

geospatial data to clients via mapping contracts.

(i) Will it continue to operate in this latter role when it is in dan-

ger of competing with its own customers who have bought one or

more of its systems?

(ii) Can we expect Geo-3D to expand its product offerings in the

mobile mapping sector for road asset inventories and 3D urban

mapping since these appear to be application areas with an

obvious future growth potential?

At the time of its acquisition, Geo-3D was predominantly supplying

products and solutions to its customers. The service portion of the busi-

Latest News? Visitwww.geoinformatics.com

Interview

7July/August 2009

Fig. 2 (a) Flow diagram show-

ing the steps in processing air-

borne lidar data using the

SCOP++ and DTMaster software

packages that have been devel-

oped by INPHO in partnership

with the Institute of Photo-

grammetry at the Technical

University of Vienna.

(b) A perspective image of the

Olympus Mons volcano on

Mars based on Mars Orbiter

Laser Altimeter (MOLA) eleva-

tion data acquired by the NASA

Mars Global Surveyor mission

and HRSC image data from the

ESA Mars Express mission

using the SCOP++ package.

(Source: Institute of Photo-

grammetry, Technical

University of Vienna)

[a] [b]


8/56

ness was and remains a very small portion of the business, operated in

the province of Quebec, Canada. This service business has functioned as

a test track for the development of the products and solutions busi-

ness. Trimble predominately provides products, solutions, and services-

for-service-companies to its customers. We are committed to this role, and

will operate the GeoSpatial Division similarly.Of the four acquired companies, Geo-3D has progressed the furthest

toward addressing a specific vertical market that being the transporta-

tion segment with converged roadway asset management and pave-

ment management solutions (Fig. 4). Our focus is to see these converged

systems achieve high market penetration, and continue to automate the

detection and recognition of more types of assets.

GP Trimble acquired RolleiMetric from Rollei GmbH in September

2008. This appears to have resulted in a quite dif ferent situation

to that of the other acquisitions in that Rollei continues to oper-

ate as a separate brand in the consumer camera market and

remains quite independent from Trimble.

(i) Is this the reason for the change of title of the RolleiMetric

operation to be the Metric Imaging Department of Trimble

Holdings GmbH that now appears on its Web site?

(ii) Does this mean that the RolleiMetric name will now disappear?

Yes, that is correct for both questions. Trimble acquired the metric

imaging business (technology and product lines) of Rollei and employed

all the metric imaging staff. The metric imaging business operated under

the name RolleiMetric. The Rollei business for professional medium for-

mat and consumer cameras continues under the Rollei brand. Trimble

acquired the right to use the RolleiMetric brand name for a transition peri-

od, but immediately began re-branding the RolleiMetric products under

the Trimble brand (Fig. 5). We will refer to the RolleiMetric brand name insome of our communications during the transition period to highlight the

strong technical history of what is now the Metric Imaging Department

within the GeoSpatial Division.

GP The current RolleiMetric line of AIC modular digital map-

ping cameras which is available in single, dual, triple and

quadruple configurations would appear to be one of the

strongest assets of the new GeoSpatial Division with consider-

able potential for commercial sales. Can we expect to see fur-

ther development of this particular product line for example,

resulting in a really large-format digital aerial frame camera?

We will proceed in the opposite direction; toward the development of

smaller cameras that are purpose built for high-precision work on engi-

neering scale projects with rapid turnaround of information to allow rapid

decision making (Fig. 6). The large-format camera market exhibits smaller

growth, inhibited by the very high cost of these cameras. And there are

already three competitors chasing this slower growth, high-cost camera

segment. As you observe, the RolleiMetric product line, and the staff that

developed it, are a very strong asset to Trimble one that we pursued to

increase our depth in metric imaging to apply towards our strategy.

GP With regard to TopoSys, which was also acquired in

September 2008, it seems that a similar situation has arisen to

that of RolleiMetric in that the TopoSys companys main productis now being offered by Trimble as the Trimble Harrier Corridor

Mapping System.

(i) Does this mean that the TopoSys name will also disappear?

(ii) Will the TopoSys Falcon line of airborne laser systems

which were of great technical interest, but were not a commer-

cial success now be dropped from the Divisions product line?

Trimbles brand is recognized worldwide, especially in the markets

that the GeoSpatial Division will focus on, so we will operate under the

Trimble brand. Your observation regarding the Falcon II product is correct,

with the underlying LIDAR technology being well over 10 years old, and

the product itself being about 10 years old. The Falcon II product has beendiscontinued since several of its subsystems were no longer in production

due to their use of now obsolete components. But the technology, exper-

tise, and know-how developed with the Falcon II are now part of our DNA.

Going forward, we will focus on the Harrier systems (Fig. 7), which are

seeing increasing adoption in the market.

GP To most outside observers, it does seem quite remarkable

that the Applanix company, (which Trimble acquired in 2003),

does not form part of the new GeoSpatial Division. On the one

hand, the Applanix GPS/INS products have often formed integral

parts of the airborne and terrestrial mapping systems offered by

Geo-3D, Rollei Metric and TopoSys. On the other hand, Applanix

also offers products that compete directly with those being

offered by these three companies that form part of the GeoSpatial

Division. Examples of this competition are (a) the Applanix DSS

cameras that compete directly with the RolleiMetric AIC airborne

digital cameras; (b) the Applanix LandMark vehicle-based mobile

mapping system that competes with the similar Geo-3D Trident-3D

system; and (c) the Applanix airborne systems that couple the

DSS camera and the POS AV GPS/IMU unit with a Riegl laser

scanner (e.g. as supplied to Limitless LLC) and compete with the

Trimble/TopoSys Harrier system with similar components.

Please could you explain this situation of Applanix not forming

part of the GeoSpatial Division and outline how these actual and

potential overlaps and competitions between products are beingresolved and managed within Trimble.

Interview

July/August 2009

Fig. 3 The Summit Evolution Digital Photogrammetric Workstation (DPW) that

is used for feature data collection employing 3D stereo-viewing techniques.

Fig. 4 The Trimble Road Asset Inventory System is based on the Geo-3D Trident

mobile mapping system.

8


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Referring back to my earlier description of Trimbles organizational

philosophy, Applanix operates as one of our divisions within Trimble with

a defined focus on integrated GNSS/INS systems for mobile mapping, as

well as solutions for the rapid response market. We work together closely,

on a daily basis, to supply the underlying technology for both divisions

for use in our respective areas of focus, as well as to ensure that we make

the right solutions available to meet each customers needs.

With regard to perceived or actual overlap in products, I would offer sev-

eral observations. First remember that the motivation for these acquisi-

tions was to increase the depth of our technical and market capability for

what is a quite challenging and long-term commitment to solve complex

problems in geospatial imaging. So in that respect the people aspect

there is no overlap.

Second, with regard to the Trimble Aerial Camera (RolleiMetric AIC) and

the Applanix DSS, the overlap is largely perception but a perception that

does indeed exist in the marketplace. We investigated this exhaustively

during the RolleiMetric acquisition. What we found was initially surprising

but not unexpected upon further reflection. The Aerial Camera is a cam-

era, while the DSS is a camera system (comprised of camera, GNSS/INS,

flight management system, etc.). While we found that potential customers

contacted both Applanix and RolleiMetric when first considering the pur-

chase of an aerial digital camera, these customers rapidly self-selected

into two groups (1) those that wanted a camera to perhaps integrate

into an existing LIDAR system or to replace a film camera in an aircraft

that was already equipped with a flight management system, and (2) those

that needed a turn-key imaging or imaging/LIDAR system. So we found

that, in reality, perhaps only 10 percent of the time, were Applanix and

RolleiMetric still competing when the customer was ready to make a pur-chase decision. With both products now within Trimble, we can meet the

needs of both types of customers.

Today, we have a compelling airborne product portfolio from cameras

(Trimble Aerial Camera) to camera systems (Applanix DSS) to integrated

imaging/LIDAR systems (Trimble Harrier). In the future, we plan to expand

this portfolio with more configurations to provide customers with greater

choices and purpose-built systems to focus on their specific applications.

GP You mentioned earlier in the interview the convergence of

the land survey, mapping and GIS, and aerial mapping segments.

What is Trimbles perspective on these industries over the next

five to ten years?

Trimbles focus is to provide robust and ubiquitous information solu-

tions that meet the needs of our defined market segments. As I mentioned

before, over the next 5-10 years, we see traditional industry boundaries

blurring between land survey, mapping and GIS, and aerial mapping. The

field and the office are overlapping as data processing and engineering

expertise move closer to projects. Surveyors are adding data management

abilities to their skills portfolio. Engineering and spatial data are being

tracked with project timeline and accounting data. Survey instruments are

combining GNSS, optical and imaging capabilities. And construction machin-

ery is utilizing GNSS and lasers to enable 3D machine control that puts

design surfaces, grades and alignments in the cab, allowing automatic,

accurate real-time positioning for earth-moving operations. Put simply,

everything is convergingconnecting. Trimbles Connected Site solutions

foster this convergence now and offer a vision for the future, to ultimately

improve productivity and transform the way in which work is done.

Gordon Petrie is Emeritus Professor of Topographic Science in the Dept. of

Geographical & Earth Sciences of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. E-

mail - [email protected]


Interview

July/August 2009

Fig. 5 The Trimble Aerial

Camera, formerly sold as the

RolleiMetric AIC

(Aerial Industrial Camera).

Fig. 6 A Nikon D3 small-format

digital frame camera that has been

calibrated for photogrammetric

applications by Trimbles Metric

Imaging Department. The camera

can be connected via a suitable

adapter to an appropriate GPS

receiver to allow it to acquire geo-coded images.

Fig. 7 (a) The Trimble Harrier Corridor Mapping System which comprises a

full waveform airborne laser scanning system; an Applanix POS-AV position and

orientation system; and an optional imaging system.

(b) A pseudo-coloured image of an open-cast mine located near Havelsee, in

Brandenburg, Germany, produced from data acquired by a Trimble Harrier

Corridor Mapping System.

[a]

[b]

9
mailto:[email protected]://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/mailto:[email protected]


10/56


11/56


12/56

Rethinking the Geo-information Economy with Neogeography

All of Austria on OpenStreetMap. This was breaking news in January 2009

when it became public knowledge that the Viennese publishing house

Compass.at would provide geo data from its portal Plan.at to OpenStreetMap

(OSM), which covers all of Austria. Florian Fischer met with Hermann Futter, the

CEO of Compass.at, in Vienna to get the whole story.

By Florian Fischer

The publishing house Compass.at is provid-ing data from its website Plan.at for importa-

tion to OpenStreetMap. The announcement in

January 2009 was brief and did not get the

broad media attention that was expected,

even though this step by Compass.at might

be the first sign of a change in the Austrian

geo-information market. Since then the com-

munity has been working on the integration

of the geo data.

Geo-data Provider OvernightCompass has been publishing business infor-mation for more than 140 years. They were

among the first 500 companies worldwide that

ran their own web servers to publish their data.

In 1997 they started a service called Plan.at

which, as Futter says, became the new econo-

my hangout. All business data from Compass

was mapped on Plan.at using geographic data

from one of the numerous private sector geo

data providers of the time. Before the duopoly

of Navteq and TeleAtlas emerged, there were

some other geo data companies as well,

explains Futter. To shorten the story a bit,

Plan.at reached the break-even point just before

the crash of the new economy, their geo data

provider went bankrupt, and Compass bought

all the data and became a geo data provider

overnight. It was mainly basic geo data, Futter

says, and we continued to work on the data

to maintain and extend it.

Becoming a private sector mapping agency

overnight, they were somewhat free from the

mental constraints of those who were deep in

the business of private and public mapping

agencies, and they had a vision. At that timewe had the idea to launch a geo data commu-

nity together with other surveying companies

to collaboratively stream our data to a common

pool. Our aim then was to be independent from

the big players, at least concerning the cover-

age of Austria. Compass encountered problems

similar to those of the predecessor of

Wikipedia. Their requirements for the validity of

the data were simply too high and too strong.

"The idea of OSM has been much more elabo-

rated than ours," Futter admits, "but when we

saw what OSM is, it was clear for us to con-

tribute our geo data". Compass.at will sooner

or later make a total change from using their

own geo-data to the usage of OSM data for

their product Plan.at.

12

Art ic le

July/August 2009

Hermann Futter, CEO of the publishing house Compass.at in Vienna

Donate your Geo-data!


13/56

OSM might become a StrongCompetitorFutter believes that as a small entrepreneur

I dont have a chance against the OSM com-

munity. Thus Compass is joining the commu-

nity rather than becoming its opponent. And

OSM could become a big competitor of

Navteq and TeleAtlas. They are in competition

especially for tourist, city and business infor-

mation systems because OSM is reliable

enough for these domains. However in other

domains the requirements are higher and

OSM cannot give a legal guarantee for the

validity of its data, e.g. the automotive sec-

tor where data is tied to vehicle safety. The

public mapping agencies are still skeptical

about OSM. They claim that crowd-sourced

data or volunteered geographic information

(VGI) does not have the same quality as their

products, but they are overlooking an impor-

tant fact. While public mapping agencies need

highly accurate geo data for their administra-tive tasks, no one needs such accurate data

to build a branch finder or a tourist informa-

tion system. Furthermore it is not their task

to create products but only to create a basis

for economic activities. Thats why we are in

competition with the city administration of

Vienna (Magistrat Wien) soonest. The City of

Vienna offers a public viewer for geo data sim-

ilar to Plan.at. The database for this applica-

tion is derived from the public mapping agen-

cy. Thus it is highly detailed and accurate.

Hermann Futter thinks the City of Vienna

hence competes with private companies. This

is not good for the economy and is not their

task. Additionally, their data is practically inac-

cessible because of the high price.

Compass will still have a mapping team to be

effective with regard to corrections. Some

Compass customers need to have corrections

done immediately or have special require-

ments for detail information. These require-

ments can clearly not be put to the OSM com-

munity but have to be done by the Compass

mapping team. With OSM I can get more

accurate data. Data which may not cover

everything but which is flexible. He consid-

ers the possibility of using individual carto-

graphic representations for the OSM data.

This is an advantage not to be underestimat-

ed as cartographic representation on OSM's

front-end differs widely from Austrian stan-

dards, e.g. highways in OSM are blue while

they are yellow in Austria. As it is data and

not just images from a map service like

Google Maps or Bing Maps, various carto-

graphic representations for arbitrary purposes

can be adopted by Compass.

Hence this seems like a win-win situation.Compass takes some traffic from the OSM

servers and thus might become a popular

entry point for OSM in Austria. This might

bring Compass an increasing number of clicks

to gain some profits.

How to create Value with Plan.atAccording to Futter, Plan.at has approximate-

ly 40,000 unique users at the moment. With

an ever increasing number, new ways of

adding value are possible as selling the data

is kicked out of the value-added chain when

using OSM data. The big difference between

OSM and other commercial data providers like

Google Maps is that OSM data and the carto-

graphic representations can be used under

OSM Data Import Not withoutHassleCompass donated all its geo data, worth an

estimated half million Euro, to the

OpenStreetMap Community. The data was given

with the obligation that the community mem-

bers would incorporate it into the OSM

database. But thats fairly easy and has been

a fast process because there is a coordinate

system and you can just take the different lay-

ers into the database, remarks Futter. However

fast the integration was, the OSM community

encountered some early problems with posi-

tional accuracy. It seemed that data from

Compass was less accurate than was thought

and partly outdated in comparison to current

OSM data. Some community members even

refused to input data in their area. They

believe that their GPS mapping is of better qual-

ity than the data from Compass.

A Win-win Situation for Compass andOSMAs well, OSM has some pitfalls that have to

be covered by Compass. In the view of

Hermann Futter, OSM has some performance

problems with their servers at the moment.

Mainly due to ever-increasing traffic, the OSM

foundation cannot comply with the upgrade

of their server performance. Thus Compass

will become a kind of mirror of the OSM data

and import OSM data at regular frequencies

for three reasons. First, to release the OSM

servers and fetch some traffic. Second, to

extend the OSM data with commercial data

that can be sold to customers. And third, to

provide a front-end for OSM appropriated to

Austrian standards and users.


Art i c le

13July/August 2009

The frontend of Plan.at


14/56

the Creative Commons License cc-by-sa. That

is, private persons and companies can use

OSMs data free of license fees as long as

there is a reference to the source. As a mat-

ter of course the data cannot be sold because

everyone can get it for free. Thus added-value

has to be created in another way. Web por-

tals must distinguish themselves, is Hermann

Futters answer. Plan.at for example offers

tools for measuring areas and distances which

are not offered by other portals. Compass

adds value in two ways. They produce appli-

cations and services for companies and they

try out some advertising business models. For

example, a layer for certain branded location

stations might be implemented if a company

becomes an advertising partner.

Signs for a Change of Face forMapping Agencies?In addition to Compass.at, other private and

even public mapping agencies have donated

their geo data to the OSM community. Thecompany Automotive Navigation Data (AND),

a leading provider of location, routing, map-

ping and address management donated its

street level data of the entire Netherlands and

the major road networks of China and India

to the OpenStreetMap community. The

Bavarian state mapping agency provided aeri-

al photos with a resolution of 2 m to the OSM

community. Unlike AND and Compass.at, the

images were not integrated into the OSM

database. The communitys active mappers

could use them to digitize and derive geo

data for the OSM database. The project has

ended and is considered a full success. Now

the Bavarian state mapping agency wants to

convince mapping agencies from the other

German Bundeslnder to also provide aerial

photos to the OSM community. Hence it

seems that a change of face is slowly coming

even to the public mapping agencies.

The Advent of a Change in theGeoinformation EconomyThe deployment of open and crowd-sourced

geo data in the geo-information economy

means a radical change in the value-added

chains. The sale of geo data has dropped out

of the chain. Geo data on a cost-free basis

will boost the creation of applications, the

refining of data and services based on geo-

communication. These are where the biggest

profits can be gained in the whole value-

added chain. The collection, maintenance and

publishing of basic geo data then is the task

of a network of private mapping agencies and

an active community of mappers, such as

those you can find in the OpenStreetMap pro-

ject. Actually this work belongs to the public

mapping agencies originally, so they shouldbe aware not to stand out in this process. The

value-added chain will probably focus on

areas similar to the OpenSource community.

Profits are made with the distribution of soft-

ware packages, the creation of applications

based on open-source software. The distribu-

tion of customized geo information products

and applications might be an option, or appli-

ance offers, such as different front-ends for

OSM. Last but not least, a very interesting

domain will be the mediators who will keep

the communities active and offer consultant

services on using and communicating with

geo information. This means a radical chance

in the geo information economy and in

Hermann Futters view it could even sweep

away other map applications and geo data

providers like Google Maps, Bing Maps,

Navteq and TeleAtlas.

But amid all this enthusiasm for volunteered

geographic information and crowd-sourcing,

the issue of stability is not often mentioned.

Finally, you never know what the community

will do. Certainly there will always be some-

one to do the mapping and the refining of

data. That is the way of life in the digital gen-

eration. But you never know what direction

the community will take. Actually this is one

more reason for todays mapping agencies to

get into neogeography and actively take part

in the future of the geo-information economy.

Compass.at shows the way to go.

Florian [email protected] is

contributing editor of GeoInformatics.

14

Art ic le

July/August 2009

The frontend of OpenStreetMap
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


15/56

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16/56

The Power of Ten

Pitney Bowes Business InsightsMapInfo Professional 10 v10.0

This month, Pitney Bowes Business Insight launched MapInfo Professional v10.0, the latest version of the companys

flagship application for business mapping and analysis. Designed in direct response to valued feedback from the

worldwide MapInfo Professional customer base, this latest, landmark upgrade offers unprecedented new

capabilities and equips organisations to make better, faster and more insightful business decisions.

By Tom Probert

Over half a million users across public andcommercial sector organisations use MapInfo

Professional to help them easily visualise and

harness the critical relationship between data

and geography to make better business deci-

sions.MapInfo Professional v10.0 is the latest

release of this popular product and Pitney

Bowes Business Insight has worked in close

consultation with over 400 customers to

ensure that this upgrade reflects the evolving

needs of users. The end result delivers sub-

stantial improvements at all levels, but in par-

ticular in three key areas: usability, data

access and cartographic output. These devel-

opments combine to deliver a marked

increase in productivity for existing users and

a faster learning time for new users.

With an eye firmly on improved ergonomics,

MapInfo Professional v10.0 has been devel-

oped to deliver increased productivity and sig-

nificant cost savings for local authorities, con-

sultancies and related agencies across virtu-

ally all operational and project areas. The

redesigned interface means that users will get

more done in less time; time savings can be

measured in speed of fulfilment or simply in

mouse clicks.Sharing output and access to data feature

heavily in the list of productivity benefits.

The new Layered PDF output provides an

instantly accessible and very flexible way of

sharing output with all the members of an

extended project team, including (and espe-

cially) those who are not users of a mapping

or GIS system.

Support for PostGIS, a freely available Open

Source database system, is a new cost-effec-

tive option for central data storage in MapInfo

Professional v10.0. This ability to access data

where it lives, without the requirement for

translation and maintenance of multiple ver-

sions of data, is an important factor in the

productivity of all large scale projects. In

addition to the newly added support for

PostGIS, Version 10 builds on MapInfo

Professionals already impressive data accesscapabilities with native support for SQL Server

2008 spatial data and others.

Since this is version 10.0, Pitney Bowes

Business Insight has drawn up a Top Ten list

of the new capabilities and enhancements to

help quickly identify the added advantages

and business benefits which MapInfo

Professional v10.0 brings into play:

1. An Improved Layer Control systemMapInfo Professional v10.0s redesigned Layer

Control system makes users far more produc-

tive compared to previous releases of the

software. Common operations take fewer

clicks and the instant feedback it provides

helps new users to learn more quickly.

A major benefit of the new system is that the

Layer Control operates as a floating, docked

or slide out window, meaning the user can

interact with it and see updates to the map

immediately. This makes it more intuitive.

For example, a new user in a local authority

experimenting with the zoom layering capa-

bilities will see the impact on the map imme-

diately.A town planner or engineer viewing three dif-

ferent map windows of the same area can

also work more easily in MapInfo Professional

v10.0. For example, the user has one map

window containing aerial photography, a sec-

ond containing the government supplied main

mapping source and a third containing the

local authority parcel boundaries. Copying a

layer from one of the map windows to anoth-

er is as easy as dragging and dropping.

Changing the same layer in all three windows

can also be done in one operation instead of

three separate efforts.

In addition, the new preview button intro-

duced in the Layer Settings dialog boxes

allows for multiple previews to be viewed

16

Review

July/August 2009

UK Post Codes by Population Density- MapInfo Professional v10.0 makes it even easier for organisations to

harness the relationship between data and geography to make better business decisions


17/56

without the need for moving into and out of

the Layer Control option.

Thus, a site location analyst preparing a

report to be presented at a public hearing can

easily experiment with different colours and

styles in order to create the best looking map

possible.

MapInfo Professional users tend to have a

large number of layers in their map window,and now they can work with these multiple

map layers at the same time. In some cases,

there may be multiple layers stored as differ-

ent sets of data, but that should appear on

the map as the same style. For example, a

crime analyst might have a number of differ-

ent layers of crime information. The layers

might represent sets of data from different

time periods or different types of incidents.

If a user needs to turn labels off or on for all

of the layers at once or change the label font

for all of them at once, this can be done in asingle operation in MapInfo Professional

v10.0. The layers could even be in different

map windows.

Grouped layer support is a further addition to

MapInfo Professional v10.0s improved Layer

Control system. A Grouped Layer is simply a

number of individual map layers that are com-

bined and represented as a single virtual layer

in the Layer Control system. This allows for

a cleaner, easier to read list of layers and

allows a whole group to be operated on at

once when turning the layer display on and

off.

The display styles of the individual layers in

the group can also still be independently con-

trolled.

As an example, this can be useful for a retail

site location analyst who might have a num-

ber of different levels of geography or tables

of different demographic variables available

for geodemographic analysis. These can all

be organised into one or a number of grouped

layers to make the whole list of layers easier

to use and manage.

2. New Toolbar SystemMapInfo Professional v10.0 offers a new tool-

bar system. The icons have been redesigned

to make them easy to distinguish and have a

more modern look. The changes are more

than just superficial; the tool bars can now

be docked anywhere on the screen and the

icons are easier to learn as they appear next

to their associated menu command.

3. New Live Scale BarsMapInfo Professional v10.0 offers a new live,

automatically updating scale bar facility. This

improves map presentation and readability.

The new scale bar adapts its values as the

view of the map changes.

PostGIS. The support has been implemented

in a manner consistent with how earlier ver-

sions of MapInfo Professional already interact

with other database systems.

6. Full (native) Support for MicrosoftSQL Server 2008 Spatial DataMapInfo Professional v10.0 offers direct con-

nectivity with the ability to read, write and

edit spatial data from an SQL 2008 database

system. MapInfo Professional version 9.5

offered read only support to SQL Server 2008

spatial data last year. However, this year the

support has been extended to uploading and

editing data as well. As with PostGIS, MapInfo

Professional v10.0 works directly with the

database and no costly middleware is

required.

7. Support for the latest MicrosoftExcel and Access Data FormatsMapInfo Professional v10.0 offers direct access

to the latest Excel (.XLSX) and Access(.ACCDB) data formats. This makes the shar-

ing and gathering of geospatial data much

simpler and can save organisations significant

amounts of time through no longer needing

to convert data from one format to another.

8. Handy Tool for making SpatialArea CalculationsMapInfo Professional has long had the ability

to allow a user to calculate values across dif-

ferent sets of spatial data. For example, to

determine what the percentage is of wetlands

area across a set of boundaries such as coun-

ties. Version 10.0 offers a tool that simplifies

this process by offering a focused user inter-

face.

This is a comprehensive capability offering

multiple styles of scale bars and user control

over the style and display.

4. Create Layered PDF OutputMapInfo Professional v10.0 ships with a high

quality Layered PDF driver. Layered PDFs offer

flexibility in viewing the resulting map, as the

map reader can control the level of detail that

is offered. The capability works with both

plain map windows and with MapInfo

Professionals Layout window. This new func-

tionality places control of the viewing of com-

plex, multi-layered maps directly into the

hands of the user and delivers enhanced lev-

els of viewing customisation and flexibility.

For map development, this delivers significant

time and cost-savings as it eliminates the

need for additional maps to be produced

when all that is required is a change in lay-

ers.

5. Support for PostgreSQL andPostGIS Database SystemsFor those unfamiliar with PostgreSQL, it is an

open source database system. PostGIS is a

spatial add-on developed for PostgreSQL.

MapInfo Professional v10.0 directly supports

PostGIS databases with no middleware

required. Pitney Bowes Business Insights

support for PostGIS benefits from more than

twenty years of experience in working with

spatial database systems. MapInfo Profes-

sional users that are familiar with how the

software works with other spatial databases

such as Oracle Spatial or with Pitney Bowes

Business Insights own SpatialWare technolo-

gy will be very familiar and comfortable with

MapInfo Professional v10.0s support for


Review

17July/August 2009

UK Crime Data- MapInfo Professional v10.0 enables crime analysts to manipulate data related to different

types of incidents in a single operation. This makes the process of identifying important patterns and trends

even easier and can help the police in locating criminals before they go on to reoffend.


18/56

9. UTF-8 support in DBF FilesMapInfo Professional v10.0 offers support for

dbf files making use of UTF-8 encoding.

10. Improvements to Installationand DocumentationIn MapInfo Professional v10.0, all of the con-

figuration and installation information has

been consolidated into a single document.The installation of the MapCAD TOOLS (the

comprehensive CAD-like editing capabilities

introduced last year) has been integrated.

Previously, there had been separate manuals

for the license server, workgroup installation

and others. In addition, EasyLoader v10.0 is

shipping with MapInfo Professional v10.0 this

year, avoiding a separate download and

install process.

Conclusion

MapInfo Professional owes much of its ongo-ing success to the valuable feedback it

receives from its worldwide customer base.

Pitney Bowes Business Insights Product

Management and Development teams under-

stand it would be impossible to redesign the

product on their own as there are simply too

many different types of users, data sources,

options, possibilities and use cases.

Therefore, through the companys annual user

conference, beta testing programmes and

ongoing contact with the customers that actu-

ally use the product on a day-to-day basis,

Pitney Bowes Business Insight is constantly

looking to improve MapInfo Professional by

gathering, evaluating and implementing this

information from existing users. MapInfo

Professional v10.0 is the end result of thisintensive ongoing process and reflects the

evolving needs of users who can now achieve

significant time and cost-savings by harness-

ing the critical relationship between data and

geography to make even better, faster and

more insightful business decisions.

Tom Probert is Desktop Product Manager, EMEA at

Pitney Bowes Business Insight. For more informa-

tion, please visit www.pbbusinessinsight.com or

www.pb.com

18

Review

July/August 2009

New Layer Control System

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19/56


20/56

Map Reading and Map Analysis

ESRI Book on Map Use

The sixth edition of the book Map Use: Reading and Analysis is meant as a

comprehensive, philosophical, and practical treatment of map appreciation.

Menno-Jan Kraak discusses its contents and compares this new publication with

the classic first edition from 1978.

By Menno-Jan Kraak

It is common knowledge among cartographers

that when you put four of them in a car it willnever reach its destination. Using maps is quite

different from making maps. A lot has been writ-

ten about map design and production and far

less on the actual use of maps. The book Map

use: reading and analysis is one of those that

treats use and it is a classic. As a student I used

the first edition from 1978, then authored by

Philip Muehrcke. Opening the current 6th edi-

tion is a pleasant surprise. A full color book with

well designed illustrations. The earlier editions

were issued by a small private publisher, the

6th edition has been published by ESRI Press.

It is obvious this publisher loves books and

maps. It is also a guarantee for the authors that

the book gets exposure in the right environ-

ment. Another reason for the quality of the illus-

trations is related to the fact that Kimberling

and Buckley (now an ESRI employee) have longexperience at Oregon State University and have

been involved with the Atlas of Oregon. Many

map samples are devoted to Oregon. A disad-

vantage of this, despite the quality, is the bias

towards North American cartography.

The authors position their book as a bridge

between academic indoor map use and military

way finding. As they state: this book offers its

readers a comprehensive, philosophical, and

practical treatment of map appreciation. They

intend to reach that objective by what they

define as a fluid definition of a map: a graphi-

cal representation of the environment that

shows relations between geographic features,

a definition that originated in Robinson and

Petcheniks The Nature of Maps from 1976. In

addition they make a distinction between the

tangible map and a users mental or cognitivemap, and when appropriate discuss commer-

cial products.

GPS and Land PartitioningThe book is split into two major parts, one on

map reading and one on map analysis. Each

chapter is introduced by a short text that puts

the content of the chapter into perspective. A

reference list ends each chapter. The content of

the chapters is well illustrated and explained in

detail. It makes the book useful for college stu-

dents, but its depth also makes it useful forthose seriously interested in a practical topic

such as the use of GPS and maps. Both sec-

tions are preceded by an introduction that

explains the basics of the map. Here, next to

mental maps they use the term cartographic

maps, a term which I find a bit strange, since I

would argue that any map is cartographic. In

this section I found one of the cartoons that

characterized the earlier editions. It shows how

a childs mental map might work (see image

page 21). The introduction is also an advertise-

ment for maps giving four major arguments why

maps are popular: they are convenient to use,

they simplify our surroundings, they are credi-

ble, and they have a strong visual impact. These

seem to be good arguments, but happily the

authors also discuss the other side of the coin.

For instance, the credibility argument is not

always right, and the map reader should be on

the alert for distortions, errors and omissions,

which might happen by accident or even on

purpose.

The map reading section is split into 10 chap-

ters, each discussing an aspect of the map as

a whole. Here the book has the most overlapwith common cartographic textbooks. Chapter

1 describes the earth and geographic coordi-

nates. The notions of ellipsoid, geoid and

graticule are well explained and illustrated.

Chapter 2 deals with the notion of scale. In

chapter 3 the need for and effects of map pro-

jections are treated by dealing with their prop-

erties. Several common projections are dis-

cussed in more detail. Examples of planar

projections are the orthographic projection (the

Google Earth view) and the gnomonic projec-

tion. Examples of cylindrical projections are

Mercator and the Transverse Mercator, and as

an example of the conic projection the Lambert

conformal projection is given. This one is often

applied on North American maps. The

20

Review

July/August 2009

Title: Map Use: Reading and Analysis

Authors: Kimberling, A.J., Buckley, A.R.

Muehrcke, P.C. & Muehrcke, J.O.

Publisher: ESRI Press Academic

Price: 75,

ISBN: 9781589481909


21/56

Mollweide and Robinson projections are sam-

ples of global projections.

Chapter 4 elaborates on the many possible

coordinate systems one might find on a map.

This chapter is very much North American ori-

ented, with lots of attention to the state coor-

dinate systems. But also the UTM system is

explained and some European systems are

treated briefly. After reading this chapter onecan really use the maps as such. Land parti-

tioning is the subject of chapter 5. It deals with

the shape of land parcels in North America and

explains the history behind the different shapes,

often due to the habits of former colonial pow-

ers. In chapter 6 the visualization of the earths

terrain is discussed. All aspects of relief portray-

al are treated including relative and absolute

heights and depths, relief shading, raised relief

models, block diagrams etc. Aspects of digital

terrain models and fly-throughs are not forgot-

ten. Thematic maps are dealt with in chapter 7(qualitative maps) and chapter 8 (quantitative

maps). Both chapters are, again, lavishly illus-

trated with many map examples and both fol-

low a similar structure, dealing the principles

of single themes, multivariate themes, change

maps, and dynamic change maps. Any map

type one can think of is described. Image maps

are the topic of chapter 9. The basics of pho-

togrammetry and remote sensing are explained

and many samples are shown. The image maps

themselves, for example imagery plus carto-

graphic symbology, is limited to the last pages

of the chapter. Google Earth / Virtual Earth, the

environment that many readers will be familiar

with, gets only one paragraph. Map accuracy

and uncertainty are treated in chapter 10.

Generalization takes up a major part of the

chapter. Other topics are the sources of errors

and options for how to communicate these.

A Cautionary TaleThe map analysis section focuses on the prac-

tical use of maps. As the authors inform the

reader: here our goal is to analyze and describe

the spatial structure of - and relationshipsamong - features on the map. The analysis can

be visual and quantitative. The first approach

might result in different answers depending on

the map reader. The second approach is objec-

tive, and should always lead to the same

answer. However, errors might still occur. The

authors claim rightfully that the beauty of map

analysis is that you can get more out of the

map then was put into it. This is obvious when

looking at a simple contour map where a

climber might see barriers in his/her path, and

a geologist might see fault lines, while the car-

tography has just expressed heights. The map

analysis part has eight chapters. Chapter 11

describes how to determine distances and

chapter 12 does the same for direction. Both

neighbor for points, several connectivity mea-

sures for lines and diversity measures for area

features are discussed, and, I have to repeat

again, are well illustrated. Chapter 18 compares

different patterns determining the degree of

spatial association. Both visual and qualitative

methods are described for point, line and area

features. Movement and diffusion patterns are

discussed separately. The chapter ends with

what the authors call a cautionary tale. Snows

1855 cholera map of London is demystified. The

map was not the starting point of Snows anal-

ysis, but his knowledge about health was. The

message the author wants to give the reader

is that maps might show patterns that should

only get a meaning if it can be supported by a

solid theory or hypothesis. Spatial patterns

might not seem to be what they look like.

The book ends with an appendix on digital car-

tographic data, a list of abbreviations and

acronyms related to navigation and GPS and

some conversion tables. A 40 page glossary and

an index conclude the book.

VerdictThe book does live up to its promises. It is

practical and supported by the necessary theo-

ry. For me the analysis part was most exciting

and the book can be recommended to every-

one who would like to start using a map. I look

forward to the authors next book, since they

promised something related to the third word

in the subtitle of the earlier edition which they

deliberately dropped with this edition: interpre-

tation.

Menno-Jan [email protected] is head of ITCs

Geo-Information Processing Department.

He is a member of the editorial board of several

international journals in the field of

Cartography and GIS.

physical and functional distances (like travel

time) are discussed based on several measure-

ment techniques using different instruments.

Directions exist in many flavors. Here geograph-

ic direction (towards the geographic north pole)

and magnetic directions (towards the magnetic

north pole) are described. For the last type of

measurements examples of both digital and tra-

ditional compasses are given. Practical exam-

ples for large and small scale maps are elabo-

rated.

Position finding and routing are the topics of

chapter 13. The where am I? question is illus-

trated by several examples with the map and

compass. Navigation for land, sea and air using

more advanced technology is also part of the

chapter. GPS is dealt with in chapter 14. After a

brief description of the technology behind GPS,

its operation and use is explained. GPS accura-

cy get special attention. This is needed because

people will often be surprised that GPS data is

not necessarily the most accurate data. The

operation of handheld systems also gets spe-

cial attention, and the authors do not forget to

tell about their limitations as well. They stressyou will still need a compass and map, and not

only for when your batteries die. In chapter 15

methods to measure shapes, areas and vol-

umes are discussed. Many methods are illus-

trated with maps and examples of calculations.

Surface analysis is found in chapter 16.

Questions about how to derive information on

slope, gradient, aspect illumination, curves, pro-

files and cross sections as well as visibility anal-

ysis are answered. The more complex analysis

of spatial patterns follows in chapter 17, while

18 concentrates on spatial associations among

patterns. Chapter 17 deals with feature count-

ing and spatial arrangements for point, line and

area objects. Several methods used, like

Morans I autocorrelation, and the k-nearest


Review

21July/August 2009

A childs mental map
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/http://www.geoinformatics.com/mailto:[email protected]


22/56

Covering Large Areas in Short Time

A high resolution orthomosaic was generated for the 800 km2 area of the County of Campinas, Brazil, derived from Ikonos

satellite imagery, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) generated from WorldView-1 satellite imagery, and an implemented

geodetic network of 19 points. The final orthomosaic was generated both in normal color and in false color infrared in

order to broaden the possible applications to environmental issues. This result represents a very interesting solution to

cover large areas in short time and with a lower cost than traditional aerophotogrammetric methods, thus with basically

the same quality, allowing for a better assertive planning and sustainable development of the territory.

By Nelson de Jesus Parada, Ulfh Walter Palme, Jason San Souci and Philip Cheng

1. IntroductionIn Brazil, outdated territorial and cartographic

data are unfortunately still very common and

the planning activities in a fast-paced urban

expansion environment represent a rough

challenge to urban planners and managers,

especially in day-to-day activities. This is also

the case for the County of Campinas, where

in recent years the population growth has sur-

passed 1 million inhabitants and is still grow-

ing. Also, the Metropolitan Area of Campinas,

including 19 other counties, is under great

pressure. These boundary conditions make

updated cartography and territorial monitor-

ing a constant necessity, because of aggres-

sive planning and management schedules.

In order to deliver to SANASA the Water

Supply and Sanitation Company of the County

of Campinas - and to the GIS County of

Campinas Administration Project, an updated

Cartography and Technical Cooperation

Agreement was signed between SANASA and

FUNCATE to generate a new orthomosaic of

the County of Campinas derived from high res-

22

Art ic le

July/August 2009

Figure 1 VRT-29 on Ikonos imagery.

A High Resolution

Orthomosaic in Brazil


23/56

olution satellite imagery. The decision of using

high resolution satellite imagery instead of

conventional aerophotogrammetry was due to

the short time of approximately 1 year to gen-

erate the new cartography and budget limita-

tions.

In partnership with FUNCATE and UWPE, NCDC

Imaging was awarded the contract to acquire

and process high-resolution satellite imagery

to a final scale of 1:2000 NMAS. NCDC is a

Native American-owned small business in

Colorado Springs that specializes in remote

sensing and GIS applications using high res-

olution imagery, such as mapping and imag-

Brazilian Geodesy standards. The first step

in order to ensure the possibility of deliver-

ing a final orthomosaic compatible with the

scale of 1:2.000 in Brazilian error and accu-

racy standards was the implementation of a

network of geodetic points ground truth -

using well known GPS procedures in accor-

dance to the Brazilian specifications set by

the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia eEstatstica (IBGE). A total set of 35 geodetic

points were provided by MDATA Engenharia

S/S Ltda. From this set, 19 inside the

County of Campinas - were used for the gen-

eration of the orthomosaic. The survey deliv-

ered the geodetic points in SIRGAS 2000, as

this is the new official system that Brazil has

adopted in recent years.

A high resolu-

tion Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derived

from World View-1 stereo imagery - collect-

ed in two strips during mid 2008 over the800 km2 of the County of Campinas. The

DTM was derived using the well known

and validated Rational Polynomial

Coefficients (RPC) method.

High resolution color imagery from the

Ikonos satellite collected in mid 2008 over

the 800 km2 of the County of Campinas,

both in normal color and false color

infrared.

PCI Geomatics software was

used for the project to generate the DTM

and orthomosaic imagery.

3. ResultsFigure 1 presents the location for VRT-29.

Figure 2 a fragment of the DTM over the

Viracopos International Airport and correspon-

ing services, land cover classification, natural

resource management, sustainability planning

and economic development. NCDC has deliv-

ered projects to clients including USGS, US

Army Corps of Engineers, US Forest Service,

Pacific Gas & Electric, Cities of Denver, Seattle,

Providence, Sacramento, Albuquerque, and

Dallas to name a few.

2. MethodThe generation of the Orthomosaic was

accomplished using:

A specific geodetic network with

19 well distributed points in accordance to

Art i c le

23

July/August 2009

Figure 2 Fragment of the DTM over the Viracopos International Airport (left)

and correspondent WV-1 image (right).

Figure 3 3D fragment of the DTM with contour lines.


24/56

dent WV-1 image, and Figure 3 a 3D fragment of the DTM with con-

tour lines.

General results obtained for the DTM with no ground control at all

and verified with 37 independent geodetic points resulted in a root

means square (rms) error of 1.0m and final vertical accuracy of 1.7m.

A well distributed subset of 23 points resulted in a rms error of 0.6m

and final vertical accuracy of 1.0m. Contour lines were derived with a

resolution of 1.6m.

A WV-1 orthomosaic was generated as an intermediate product to thefinal orthomosaic. The final orthomosaic, with the imagery already

pansharpened, was then generated using AutoSync, an ERDAS prod-

uct, collecting hundreds of tie points.

Figure 4 presents the general overview of the final orthomosaic in nor-

mal color and Figure 5 in false color infrared. Since the final archive

size is of the order of 15 GB the final delivery was also in tiles accord-

ing to Brazilian Cartography standards. The tiling grid is presented in

Figure 6. The final orthomosaic for the County of Campinas presents a

high image quality with excellent contrast, as in Figure 7 normal

color and Figure 8 False color infrared.

In order to perform the error and accuracy check a set of 80 indepen-

dent geodetic points was used. The points are from the official Countyof Campinas Geodetic Network (PMC) and were implemented by well

known specialized companies.

Figure 10 presents the distribution of the geodetic points in the County.

The points are mostly concentrated in and around the urban areas.

This fact does not interfere in the objectives and results since the

desired accuracy must be high in the urban areas and is not required

in the rural parts of the county where the required result should be

close to the scale of 1:5.000.

Final analysis for the rms errors and accuracy was performed compar-

ing the coordinates of the 80 points set and the generated Ikonos

orthomosaic in WGS 84 and using the Remote View software environ-

ment. Remote View is well known to have an excellent Graphic User

Interface (GUI) and not blur the image; and in this work, since the

error and accuracy checks are very close to the resolution of the

imagery ( 1 pixel), this was a key issue. Although the Brazilian regula-

tions state that in practical means WGS 84 is to be equal to SIR-

GAS 2000, it was observed that at this very high resolution level, con-

versions to and from different software platforms can introduce bias

of the order of 0.5 to 1.0m. Therefore, the analysis was performed

exploring the Remote View tools at a maximum and allowed for a

grouping of the 80 points in 2 categories, i.e. 0.6m rms or lower (Figure

14), and between 0.6m and 1m.

4. Conclusions

The County of Campinas now has an updated high quality ortho-mosaic and also a very precise DTM. The final product compati-

ble with the 1:2,000 NMAS scale has proven to be perfectly ade-

quate to the objectives and necessities of the GIS Campinas Project.

This GIS is responsible for integrating the new generated cartogra-

phy to the technical territorial & environmental cadastre of the

County and to the databases and applications of all the organiza-

tions and secretaries of the County administration.

Besides generating a new territorial reference, the future yearly

updating process and monitoring operations will be strongly facili-

tated and fostered, and possibly at an even faster pace. It is very

important to clarify that the urban expansion process in the area is

very fast and most times the velocity of the urban expansion is

higher than the pace the county managers can see the territory

and interfere; in other words: the urban expansion process has

more velocity than control, and this is extremely undesirable since

it does not allow, among others, to allow for assertive planning

24

Art ic le

July/August 2009

Figure 4 General overview of the Campinas County Orthomosaic in

normal color.

Figure 5 General overview of the Campinas County Orthomosaic in

false color infrared.

Figure 6 Tiling of the Camp

geoinformatics 2009 vol05

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