Open Data Reveals Roman Roads

David Rateledge, former head of Lancashire County Council’s GIS unit, has been spending his retirement looking for evidence of roman roads in the county and has recently discovered the road which connected Ribchester and Catterall. He started his investigations several years ago, using Environment Agency LiDAR in the form of JPG picture files, but then progressed to using grid data. He imports the bare earth and surface LiDAR data into Open GIS software package QGIS and experiments to find the best hill-shading angle. An illumination angle perpendicular to the road alignment casts visible shadows from the road embankment (known as... (read more)

2017-01-13 03:26:09

Drawing the Right Conclusions from Open Source and Open Data

The recent Geo Forum lecture shone the spotlight on open source software and data. Is there an opportunity here for Geomatics, wonders Chris Preston, chair of the Geomatics Professional Group Board. As Spring beckons in the UK, I hope that your businesses and homes have not been affected by the almost biblical flooding proportions here in the UK. A recent Geo Forum Evening lecture at RICS GGS looked at Open Source innovation. It raises many questions about the software and data that we use. How many of us use open source software for business purposes? The mere fact it is... (read more)

2018-02-14 12:16:34

EuroGeographics Enhances Open Data for 2017

Users of EuroGeographics pan-European open data will benefit from a series of enhancements to the latest release of EuroGlobalMap. 45 members of the Association for the European National Mapping, Cadastre and Land Registry Authorities have contributed to the 1:1 million scale dataset which includes an administrative theme providing boundary information. It also features a settlement theme with the addition of populated places and populated place ID for built-up area feature classes. Angela Baker, EuroGeographics, explained EuroGlobalMap is produced using official data supplied by their members which is harmonised to standard specifications. Following these latest updates, three themes are now generalised from our... (read more)

2017-02-23 10:45:20

Velodyne Lidar Open Huge Factory

Since releasing the $8k VLP-16 puck lidar, Velodyne Lidar has adapted the sensor for autonomous vehicles, UAVs, and hi-res jobs. It has also gone big on SLAM, landed $150 million in funding from Ford and Baidu, and announced a $50 solid-state lidar chip that could bring down the cost of every lidar sensor in the portfolio. Moves like these require changes behind the scenes. Why? Solid-state lidar, which is integrated onto a microchip, requires specialized facilities to produce. On top of that, auto manufacturers buy sensors at a much larger scale than geospatial customers—in the millions rather than the low thousands. This means Velodyne had to make a big manufacturing... (read more)

2017-01-19 05:03:35

3D Laser Mapping Launches Campaign to Release Open Source LiDAR Data

3D Laser Mapping, leading geospatial technology specialist, is launching a campaign to give free access to LiDAR data in order to showcase the capabilities of mobile mapping systems. They will be offering open access to point cloud data which can be viewed and manipulated using GIS software. This information can be extracted for use by businesses, academic research and for in-house training opportunities. The company will be releasing data collected using its flexible ROBIN mobile mapping system, which can be used on foot, in a vehicle and mounted to aircraft and UAVs. The move comes as UK Chancellor Philip Hammond... (read more)

2017-11-29 05:54:59

Myriota to Open AU$2.7 Million IoT Lab

Satellite communications startup Myriota will open a ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) laboratory in Adelaide after winning a Future Funds Grant from South Australia. Under the terms of the grant, the government will match Myriota’s $1.36 million investment to open the Adelaide facility, which they claim will create 50 new jobs in the state for software and hardware developers, and data networking and satellite communications professionals. The announcement follows space startup Fleet’s Future Jobs Fund award and shores up an increasing concentration of investment in ‘new space’ satellite and space communications infrastructure in the South Australian capital. Myriota is a startup... (read more)

2018-03-01 02:16:32

RIEGL VZ-400i Laser Scanner Unveiled at Open Day

UK delegates are given the chance to explore the features of the RIEGL VZ-400i laser scanner, at an open day held by 3D Laser Mapping. After hosting the official UK launch of the RIEGL VZ-400i last November, 3D Laser Mapping is now offering customers the chance to discover further the capabilities of this technology at an open day on 14 April 2016. When considering the purchase of any new technology, it is important to understand the workflow and outcomes thoroughly to ensure business goals will be met. The aim of the open day is to encourage those in attendance to... (read more)

2017-01-14 02:34:14

RIEGL LiDAR 2015 International User Conference Registration Now Open

RIEGL LiDAR 2015 will be held Tuesday 5 May to Thursday 7 May in Hong Kong, and Thursday 7 May and Friday 8th May in Guangzhou (Canton), China. RIEGL is putting together a diverse and exciting agenda for RIEGL LiDAR 2015, proving the broad usage of RIEGL LiDAR equipment in applications such as airborne scanning, bathymetry, UAV scanning, terrestrial scanning, mining, forensics, mobile scanning, railway scanning, and more. We are inviting users to submit abstracts now. If you are interested in presenting at the Hong Kong and/or Guangzhou conferences, please visit www.riegllidar.com for more information. The deadline for abstract submission... (read more)

2017-01-06 01:26:18

Direct Referencing Multibeam Data

Applanix’s POSPac MMS GNSS Inertial software, in particular the Applanix SmartBase (ASB) post-processed virtual reference station technique, has been widely adopted as a robust and reliable method of direct georeferencing multibeam data. POSPac MMS 8.0 is a PP-RTX GNSS aided-inertial module that provides centimetre-level post-processed positioning accuracies without the use of local reference stations. This method integrates Trimble CenterPoint RTX technology into POSPac MMS. RTX is Trimble’s approach to PPP (Precise Point Positioning) with advanced ambiguity resolution, providing its own ephemeris correction service, leading to integer-level ambiguities for accuracy approaching that of RTK. A global network of approximately 100 stations... (read more)

2019-03-06 04:31:45

UN World Data Forum Started

The inaugural United Nations World Data Forum has kicked off on 15 January in Cape Town, South Africa, with an ambitious agenda aiming to build broad consensus on how to harness the power of data for sustainable development, and boost the collaboration and resources needed to carry the work forward. It will also serve as a launching pad where diverse data producers and users can get behind a new Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data. Over 1,500 data experts from more than 100 countries are gathering at the Forum from 15-18 January, including from national statistical offices, the private... (read more)

2017-01-16 11:03:16