Geoinformatics 2012 Vol05

Hexagon 2012 Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 3)
Google Maps Coordinate Terrestrial Laser Scanners

Magazi ne f or Sur veyi ng, Mappi ng & GI S Pr of essi onal s
July/August
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Volume 15
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Exciting times
These are exciting times for the geospatial industry. All eyes were on TomTom after
Apple announced a partnership for a mapping service for their iOS platform.
Since Apple didnt give away many details as to how these maps will appear or
what their content will be, theres lots of speculation going on in cyberspace on
what will be released. I think that all this coverage on Apples mapping app is a
bit premature, and there are plenty of other interesting things going on in geospa-
tial. And although Google saw its maps replaced by Apple in its backend, that
wont keep Google or its Maps off its smartphones or tablets since they announced
the release its own Maps app for iOS6.
Google has been very active lately in the geospatial area: not only did they
announce ofine mapping capabilities for Android, but also fancy 3D City mod-
els for Google Earth on mobile devices and backpacks that can be used for indoor
mapping; a feature Google has been working on since November last year. This
does not solve the problem of using a GPS inside a building, but its one step clos-
er to mapping indoors. Last but not least, they announced a new initiative called
Google Maps Coordinate, a new mobile service for companies and organiza-
tions with eld workers. And not only did they hire 300 visual data-specialists as
part of a one-year project to correct mistakes in Google Maps, they also
announced lower pricing and simplied limits with the Google Maps API clearly
a sign that Google is serious about its user base and, as competition is erce, is
in responser to the market demand for updated and more reliable maps.
Another area where there is tough competition is the car-navigation market.
TomTom noticed the competition with built-in car navigation systems, and is now
turning its attention to providing services rather than just maps to third parties. A
recently released geocoder helps TomTom to nd out where more mapping is need-
ed and helps businesses with the geocoding of addresses. But even built-in car
navigation can compete with mobile devices that offer turn-by-turn, with Apple
being the last manufacturer that hadnt offered these service yet. The TomTom part-
nership, turn-by-turn navigation will become a reality, but what is con-
fusing is that TomTom now seems to be in direct competition with
itself, since Apple sells a TomTom navigation app for iPhone but
will offer the same through the new mapping app for iOS6.
Last but not least is the recent announcement of Esris ArcGIS Online
organizational subscriptions. What they are offering is a sub-
scription model to use of Esris SaaS ArcGIS Online. Most
important is that Esri is shifting its focus to making geography
and geographic knowledge ubiquitous in institutions and
in society in general. This means that GIS is no longer
a back-ofce technology and an experts domain
these are the big statements made by Esri president Jack
Dangermond in a recent interview in an online publica-
tion called Computerworld. This new release will
undoubtedly be covered in detail in our future editions.
Enjoy your reading,
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics is the leading publication for Geospatial
Professionals worldwide. Published in both hardcopy and
digital, GeoInformatics provides coverage, analysis and
commentary with respect to the international surveying,
mapping and GIS industry.
GeoInformatics is published
8 times a year.
Editor-in-chief
Eric van Rees
evanrees@geoinformatics.com
Editors
Florian Fischer
fscher@geoinformatics.com
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com
Remco Takken
rtakken@geoinformatics.com
Joc Triglav
jtriglav@geoinformatics.com
Contributing Writers:
Martin Pfennigbauer, Peter Rieger, Mark Plews,
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk, Remco Takken, Adam Spring,
Gottfried Konecny
Columnists
Mark Reichardt, Matt Sheehan
Finance
nance@cmedia.nl
Marketing & Sales
Ruud Groothuis
rgroothuis@geoinformatics.com
Subscriptions
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To subscribe, ll in and return the electronic reply
card on our website www.geoinformatics.com
Webstite
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Graphic Design
Sander van der Kolk
svanderkolk@geoinformatics.com
ISSN 13870858
Copyright 2012. GeoInformatics: no material may
be reproduced without written permission.
P.O. Box 231
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Tel.: +31 (0) 527 619 000
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E-mail: services@geoinformatics.com
GeoInformatics has a collaboration with
the Council of European Geodetic
Surveyors (CLGE) whereby all individual
members of every national Geodetic
association in Europe will receive the
magazine.
3
July/August 2012

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Ar t i c l e s
Scanning the Seas in South Florida 10
Ordnance Survey Great Britain is mapping the now 14
Technology Developments in Terrestrial Laser Scanners 20
TomToms Global Geocoder 28
Bentley Maps V8i (SELECTseries 3) 32
GNSS Update 34
Google Maps Coordinate 48
Essays on Geography and GIS Vol. 4 51
I n t e r v i e w
Rolta: Evolving and Expanding 18
Ne ws l e t t e r
CLGE newsletter 6
C o l u mn s
Developing Apps on Mobile 30
What Could Speed Up the Reality of an Arctic SDI? 46
E v e n t s
Hexagon 2012 38
Faro European User Meeting 2012 42
FIG Working Week 2012 44
32nd Symposium EARSeL 53
C a l e n d a r / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x 54

At the cover:
Gladiator Fire, Mayer, Arizona-May 17, 2012: This is a false color satellite
image of the Gladiator Fire in Mayer, Arizona. In this image the burnt areas
are dark blue and red is healthy vegetation, smoke from the fire is mostly
white. Flames can be seen along an active fire line on the left portion of the
image. Image (c) 2012 DigitalGlobe, Inc.
10
32
6
Several years ago, CLGE has
started the First STEP
programme. First STEP is an
acronym for First Students and
Trainees Exchange
Programme. The name is also
a symbol for the First STEP in
professional life, facilitated by
experience gathered abroad.
18
The latest release of Bentley
Map V8i further streamlines ge-
ospatial workflows through ex-
tended support for spatial data-
bases, OGC Web Services,
point clouds, and scalable ter-
rain models (STMs).
Indian system-integrator Rolta
has substantially expanded
internationally over the years,
and has transformed itself into a
global spatial-system
integrator, providing information
in an integral way. The compa-
ny has many further plans for
Europe and recently announced
a partnership with GeoEye.
From March 12th through
March 16th, 2012, RIEGL
carried out an extended
bathymetric test with the
new VQ-820-G hydrograp-
hic airborne laser scanning
system in South Florida.
28
TomToms global geocoder will
benefit both businesses and the
company itself, says Dan
Adams, VP Location and Live
Services at TomTom. This new
service will not only enable
businesses to conduct location
analysis but also will help
TomTom streamline its internal
geocoding processes.
14
In response to changing
market demands and an
evolving economic environ-
ment, Ordnance Survey
wanted to adopt a new way
of operating; maintaining the
national database and
delivering both new and
updated product lines.
20
38
The development of terrestrial
laser scanner technology
continues apace with ever-
greater ranges (distances)
being measured at ever-higher
rates in all the different
categories of these scanners.
From June 4th until June 7th
2012, some 3,300 attendees
witnessed presentations of new
technologies coming out of ERD-
AS, Intergraph, Leica and
Metrology at Hexagon 2012
in Las Vegas.
Introduction
In the course of our surveying engineering curriculum at the cole
Suprieure des Gomtres et Topographes, we carried out a six-week-
traineeship at the Belgian Institut Gographique National (IGN) in Brussels.
The IGN premises are located in the old Abbey of La Cambre in the heart
of Brussels. The place is very beautiful, with all the buildings surrounded
by gardens la franaise. Working in the centre of Brussels, but yet
with this natural scenery was quite enjoyable to say the least. ()
Traineeship report
We had to organise ourselves in order to mark out the area of study,
gather information, carry out tests, prepare a report and make an oral
presentation.
The update of administrative boundaries by Pierrick:
Currently, at IGN Belgium there are multiple geographical data-sets con-
cerning administrative boundaries. (...) In addition to the data available at
IGN there are also other data providers such as the land registry ofce,
which is currently digitizing its data under the CADMAP-project. All of
these data-sets are different from each other, so we had to compare the
accuracy of the data and nd out which is the closest to reality?
All these factors create representational differences between the geograph-
ical databases, which is a problem for both the data producers and the
users when it comes to updating (for example extra cost, time loss, etc.).
I started off by creating a state-of-the-art review of Belgian administrative
boundaries. Then I examined the existing data sources both within the
IGN as well as outside. The core of my study consisted of comparing ITGIs
and land registry ofces data. I also tried to build updated scenarios for
this data.
The update of hydrographical data by Ophlie:
This issue needed to be tackled according to various aspects: tech-
nical, personnel, funding, and cooperation with the regions. To
achieve that, I rst evaluated the quality of the Topogeographical
inventory of IGN Belgium. Then, I examined the possible solutions
for achieving updates and brought forward four scenarios.
Making geographical information systems (GIS) available requires
the denition of metadata, where accurate data is a priority. At pre-
sent, it is difcult for the IGN to evaluate and above all improve the
gaps. At the rst stage, I tested the planimetrical and altimetrical
gaps between the reality on the eld measured by GPS and IGNs
data. Then I calculated the accuracy of test datasets coming from
external sources. In Belgium, the IGN is not the only institution pro-
ducing geographical data. The Walloon and Flemish regions work
independently and have their own hydrographical data: the PICC
(Projet Informatique de Cartographie Continue) and the VHA
(Vlaamse Hydrograsche Atlas). Yet, these representations are not
July/August 2012
6
Ne ws l e t t e r
FirstSTEP@clge.eu Report by
Pierrick and Ophlie
Several years ago, CLGE has started the First STEP programme. First STEP is an acronym for First
Students and Trainees Exchange Programme. The name is also a symbol for the First STEP in profes-
sional life, facilitated by experience gathered abroad.
We always have had sufficient candidates from the students and trainees side. However, on the com-
panies side, weve experienced a lack of commitment. We therefore renew our plea to those compa-
nies: join us in our effort to give students or young surveyors a first chance. Within this programme,
its up to both parties to define the conditions for this exchange. Since the hosting of a student brings
responsibilities, the payment of the trainees is not a must or at least, it shouldnt be regarded as an
insurmountable hurdle.
Hereafter we produce a report of two students who visited the Belgian NGI.
More information can be found on www.clge.eu, follow the First STEP banner or simply contact Michelle
Camilleri (Michelle.Camilleri@clge.eu).
First STEP Banner on the CLGE website www.clge.eu
Michelle Camilleri Reports about First STEP
seamless and the IGN is the only data provider covering the whole
territory. So the most recent and, whenever possible, the most accurate
data of the regions could be used to update IGNs data. I examined
the possibility of updating geodata rst by stereoplotting, then using
external sources and nally using thalwegs from the DTM. These var-
ied tasks allowed me to meet a lot of people and to have valuable dis-
cussions.()
Read the full report on www.clge.eu/trainee_program
7
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com July/August 2012
Ne ws l e t t e r
Pierrick Billon at his desk Neighbouring Ophlie Petit
Polska Geodezja Komercyjna
The 20th Anniversary of Polish
Commercial Geodesy
Geodesy has celebrated its 20th anniversary in Warsaw. CLGE President Jean-Yves Pirlot assisted to
the solemn part of this event and gave a presentation about CLGEs commitment for the profession.
It gave us the opportunity to interview Florian Romanowski, who answered our question with enthusi-
asm. At this very occasion he received the highest distinction for a geodesist from the hands of the
Director General of the Polish Mapping and Cadastral Agency.
Tell us more about the Anniversary that you have
celebrated on 13 April 2012?
In 1989 in Poland, not only the democratic system started but market
lead economy was implemented as well. A lot of new small, private com-
panies appeared in the market-place and additionally the big Regional
Land Surveying Companies (until then owned by government) started a
privatisation process.
In 1992 the association Polish Commercial Geodesy was established by
14 companies. Now there are 24 members with 2000 employees. One
of the conditions to become a member is to be a company having at
least 20 employees.
The main reason for establishing such an organization was to solve com-
mon problems in tandem with the General Surveyor of Poland and other
administrative bodies on central level. Our interest was particularly direct-
ed towards the legislative processes. We also took initiatives in facilitat-
ing our participation in big GI projects based on European funds.
This 20th anniversary is obviously an occasion for our organisation to
show to the whole Polish surveying society and to different administrative
bodies, what we have been doing during these years and what we plan
for the coming future.
What is the most crucial point to be solved in Polish
surveying?
There are a few of them, in my opinion:
how to be competitive not only in the Polish market-place, but at
European level also,
how to encourage our customers to use advanced technologies in pro-
jects: laser scanning (Aerial and terrestrial), photogrammetry,
Geographic Information Systems, etc..
how to update existing law and standards to modern technologies and
organisation forms,
how to convince our customers that not only the price, but competency
and advanced technology are important factors in the tendering pro-
cesses and should be taken into account,
how to keep a high level of education in Surveying and GIS
Departments of the Technical Universities with regard to the large num-
bers of students that enter these courses,
one of the crucial points is the organization of Polish surveying admin-
istration. For the time being it is slightly complicated. All assets the
cadastre, maps of all kind and data bases are owned by government,
but at the regional and local level the municipalities (on behalf of gov-
ernment) are responsible for operating them. This tends to create a lot
of local regulation, and in fact it can lead to a variation in local stan-
dards which does not help in managing them. This is particularly appar-
ent when some GIS systems are created. Much time is spent in efforts
to harmonize the data sourced from the many regional and local author-
ities. We, as a surveying society, have been discussing this issue for
many years and have strived to dene which organisation structure
would be the best one.
We have suggested various solutions, taking into consideration how this
is managed in different European countries, but the decision is obviously
not in our hands.
Is membership of CLGE an important issue for the
Polish Commercial Geodesy?
The organizations gathered in CLGE share a lot of common problems. It
is much more effective if we can solve them together. The exchange of
information among members of CLGE is worth mentioning. There are sev-
Ne ws l e t t e r
8
July/August 2012
eral new members of CLGE from so called previous socialist countries
where market lead economy is something new. We nd that CLGE is an
appropriate friendly place for such discussions. We should not forget the
interesting technical and organisational issues that we address during the
workshops, and the informal contacts.
As Polish Commercial Geodesy is the body representing 24 companies
on national level, we recognize CLGE as our representative on the
European level. The European Parliament is a place where essential ques-
tions for Europe are treated. We, surveyors and GIS specialists, have a
deep interest to have inuence on what is going on at European Level.
Our representatives, Parliament members, should be aware of what our
profession means and how we can help Europe to be more competitive
on the world arena. We are a relatively small interest group and that is
why we have to be better organised than other ones, representing huge
and powerful professions.
What are CLGEs most important initiatives in your
eyes?
The present CLGE Board is very active and well organized. Its work con-
tinues from the work of the previous Board and also takes on interesting
new initiatives.
The CLGE Code of Conduct is the basis for the future for all of the organ-
isations gathered in CLGE. In Poland (as in many other countries) we
already have a similar document-CODE. The General Assembly of
Polish Commercial Geodesy will have to revisit this issue once more and
decide on which level we will endorse this CLGE Code of Conduct (adop-
tion, ratifying, transposition, acknowledgement).
On several occasions we have discussed at the CLGE General Assembly,
the problem concerning the mapping of under-ground services and facili-
ties. In our opinion this is an essential issue in all European countries.
About 40 % of city assets are located underground. We believe that now
is a good time to start the compilation of a European Cadastre in this
eld. CLGE should promote the issuing of a Directive at the EU
Parliament or Commission level. If such a Directive is issued, then this
Cadastre would become Law throughout the EU.
Town municipalities and governments are deeply interested in such infor-
mation for many purposes but especially for utility management in crisis
situations (currently information is spread up in different utility companies
but not combined and not standardised). In Poland we started to collect
data concerning underground facilities in 1975. That means that we have
quite a detailed foundation to start with.
We believe that this work area could be a good solution for those sur-
veyors previously involved in development projects (building, motorways,
highways, etc.) where the economic crisis has had the greatest negative
effect.
The Day of the European Surveyor (Mercator Day) is a wise initiative of
CLGE. During this day we ran national conferences in which we present-
ed talks on topics of interest for surveyors in the present work environ-
ment. The main event will be held in a different location each year. This
is a good occasion to promote our profession.
What are your plans regarding CLGE in the coming
months?
In the coming months our President Mr. Waldemar Klocek will appoint a
special team for the Board of Polish Commercial Geodesy devoted for
CLGE activities. I will present a report about the last CLGE General
Assembly in Edinburgh and discuss various CLGE documents, which will
be reviewed for consideration by our organization.
On behalf of our President Mr.Waldemar Klocek, President of Polish
Commercial Geodesy, I would like to say a warm thank you to the CLGE
president for his presence and address during the 20th Anniversary of
our association. That was not only a great honour for us, but it simultane-
ously emphasised that Polish Commercial Geodesy is an important and
valuable member of CLGE.
16 January 1943 6 June 2012
In Memoriam Volkmar Teetzmann
In recent years, CLGE has lost too many delegates. After Marek Ziemak, Flix
Peckels and Ain Jgi, its with deep regret, that we have to announce that our
former Vice-president VolkmarTeetzmann has passed away on 6June 2012.
Our colleague and friend, Volkmar Teetzmann, from Germany,
died after a 6 years struggle against illness. He was one of the
leading European professional politicians in the last decennia.
Vokmar Teetzmann was former BDVI President (the German asso-
ciation for publicly appointed surveyors), CLGE Vice President,
Board member of Geometer Europas.
Amongst other things he was one of the architects of the integra-
tion of CLGE with Geometer Europas. He took an essential part
in the 10 last years of CLGEs history. In 2010 he was awarded
the CLGE Honorary Membership.
In a few months or even weeks, when the rst sadness is over,
we will remember Volkmar with a smile on our face. He was a
real leader, the kind of man you want as your boss. He was
extremely committed to his job, very goal driven or focussed on
results and always loyal to his people. In my mind, he did not
really left us, since, whenever were in difcult situations, we will
be able to ask ourselves what would Volkmar do?. In this way
he has educated us, he still leads us.
Jean-Yves Pirlot, CLGE President
If you want to know the latest news about CLGE on twitter, follow CLGEPresident.

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RIEGL VQ-820-G Hydrographic Airborne Laser Scanning System Demo
Scanning the Seas in South Florida
From March 12th through March 16th, 2012, RIEGL carried out an extended bathymetric test with the
new VQ-820-G hydrographic airborne laser scanning system in South Florida. With assistance from
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a broad spectrum of interested parties
was invited to the demonstration to showcase the new scanner and to highlight its capabilities. The
event also allowed the attendees the opportunity to meet RIEGL experts and to examine the remark-
able aspects of the VQ-820-G.
Introduction
Repetitive surveying of coastal strips, sea beds, and grounds of rivers
and lakes is becoming more and more essential to evaluate reservoir
sedimentation, river or costal degradation, water ow and water level
dynamics, structure and zone variations of coastal areas, ood pre-
vention, measurement for aggradation zones, monitoring of hydraulics
laboratories, surveying for hydraulic engineering, and hydro-archaeo-
logical surveying. This can only be achieved in an effective way by
employing high-resolution airborne laser scanning.
RIEGLs new hydrographic airborne laser scanner VQ-820-G is dedi-
cated for this purpose. It enables the surveying of shallow water, ter-
rain, manmade structures, and vegetation at a new level of spatial res-
olution due to its high net measurement rate of up to 200 kHz and low
beam divergence of 1 mrad. The scan mechanism is based on a rotat-
ing multifacet mirror with the scan line tilted by about 20 degrees with
respect to the nominal nadir direction offering a wide eld of view of
10
Ar t i c l e
By Martin Pfennigbauer and Peter Rieger
up to 60 degrees and a scan rate of up to 200 lines per second.
With assistance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), RIEGL carried out an extended bathymetric
test with the VQ-820-G hydrographic airborne laser scanning system
in South Florida from March 12th through March 16th, 2012. The
bathymetric demonstration took place in various locations of South
Florida, including Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Key West. The basis of
the operation was located at the Westin Fort Lauderdale in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida.
Attendees of the demonstration included Aerometric, Airscan,
Applanix, Applied Imagery, Dewberry, Fugro Pelagos, NAVO, NAV-
OCEANO, NCALM, NGA, NOAA/NGS, NOAA/OCS,
NOAA/OMAO, Photoscience, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at
UCSD, Tuck Mapping, USACE/JALBTCX, USACE/ERDC, Woolpert,
and Watershed Sciences.
The instrument
The laser scanners range measurements for high resolution surveying
of underwater topography are carried out with a narrow, visible green
laser beam at 532 nm, emitted from a powerful laser source connect-
ed to the compact and lightweight scan head via an armored glass
ber cable. Depending on water turbidity this particular laser wave-
length allows measuring into water providing 1 Secchi depth water
penetration from eye safe altitude. The instrument performs echo digiti-
Fort Lauderdale Beach, as seen from the NOAA
Twin Otter, during the RIEGL VQ-820-G scan.
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
zation and online waveform processing to
handle target situations with complex multiple echo signals by giving
access to detailed target parameters.
The incoming echoes are digitized at a sampling rate matched to the
pulse width. In addition to online waveform processing echo wave-
form data can concurrently be stored for full waveform processing by
means of the optional waveform data output. For every target echo,
the position, amplitude, and pulse deviation are determined. If the
echo pulse is severely deteriorated by turbidity or multi-target returns,
this will be signaled through an increased value of the scanners pulse
deviation and the corresponding waveform can then be analyzed with
more sophisticated algorithms if requested.
Refraction is taken into account during post-processing of the data.
After georeferencing the acquired point clouds, the water surface is
determined and targets
below the water surface are
shifted to the correct posi-
tion according to refraction
(beam bending and wave-
form compression). Based
on the data gained during
the Florida tests, RIEGL now
has developed software
generating a detailed
model of the water surface
including waves to perform
a more efcient and accu-
rate treatment of refraction.
The compact and rugged system has low require-
ments with respect to space, power, and lifting
capacity of the aircraft. Its total weight is approx.
26 kg, power consumption is less than 200 W
and it can easily be installed into existing and
certied airborne scanning platforms and hatch-
es of standard size, used in any type of aircraft
platform, e.g., xed wing or helicopter.
RIEGL also provides the complete suite of software to cali-
brate, acquire, process, geo-reference, and export the data. The com-
bination of Lidar data with data acquired by topographic scanner sys-
tems, high resolution RGB aerial images, or hyperspectral images can
further extend the range of possibilities for subsequent research, moni-
toring, and management.
The test campaign
The new VQ-820-G hydrographic airborne scanner was mounted in
NOAAs Twin Otter together with an aerial camera system and ew
four test sites, not including the boresight calibration, at altitudes of
2000 feet and typical speeds of 100 knots. The boresight calibration
for the system was own over Tampa, FL. where a separate base sta-
tion was set up. It resulted in a standard deviation of 2.13 cm. Flight
planning and laser safety reports were also prepared. Throughout the
tests, 10 to 15 points per square meter were acquired and ocean pen-
etration was 5 to 10 meters under normal sea state circumstances
or in other words, not perfect conditions.
The test revealed excellent performance of the VQ820-G over shallow
water areas, canals, shallow water ways, shorelines, buildings and
land. Excellent coverage was achieved in areas very demanding for
conventional bathymetric technologies such as multibeam sonar sys-
11
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
RIEGL VQ-820-G hydrographic
airborne laser scanner: com-
pact and rugged scan head
with powerful laser unit
The RIEGL VQ-820-G hydrographic laser
scanner together with an Applanix DSS
set-up in the NOAA Twin Otter
Point cloud of Fort Lauderdale.
July/August 2012
tems, side scan sonar systems, and current bathymetric LiDAR systems.
The VQ-820-G achieved consistent results in less than perfect water
conditions. In some areas up to 10 m water penetration were achieved,
although the extended NOHD, i.e. the distance where observation is
safe even for the aided eye, was strictly observed. Especially in areas
with dense vegetation excellent results could be obtained. Due to the
scanners multiple target capability, it is possible to discern water sur-
face, bottom, and several returns coming from vegetation.
Attendees were impressed by the simplicity of the integration, the instal-
lation, and the operation of the VQ-820-G, as well as the ease and
speed of data processing:
The VQ-820-G topobathymetric LiDAR demonstration in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida was a great success! The preliminary results that
were presented immediately following the data acquisition showed the
ability of the system to obtain seamless topography and bathymetry
(up to 5 m water depth) in a single overight. The short laser pulse
enabled mapping of submerged topography in the 0 2 m depth zone;
which is typically very difcult to map with traditional bathymetric
LiDARs. The very high pulse repetition rate of the RIEGL VQ-820-G pro-
duced a very dense seamless topo-bathy dataset, ideal for mapping in
coastal and riverine environments. Amar Nayegandhi, Manager of
Elevation Technologies at Dewberry.
NOAA has great interest in topographic-bathymetric lidar mapping
technology, which can provide seamless, high-resolution data across
the land-water interface. These data can be used to simultaneously sup-
port a wide range of coastal mapping and science applications in
NOAA, ranging from nautical charting, to coastal zone management,
to coral reef habitat mapping. We are honored to partner with other
federal agencies, academia, and the private sector in testing and
advancing this important new technology. Mike Aslaksen, Chief of
NOOAs Remote Sensing Division.
Highlights of the event
One key thing to note is the data was processed in full view of all of
the attendees. There was a broad spectrum of attendees at the event
with representatives from government agencies, private industries, pub-
Ar t i c l e
12
July/August 2012
RIEGL VQ-820-G NEW
Highlights RIEGL VQ-820-G
RiACQUIRE: data acquisition & online visualization
RiWAVELib: optional waveform data output
RiMTA: automated resolution
of range ambiguities
RiPROCESS: data management & processing
RiWORLD: scan data transformation into
global coordinates
RIEGL ALS Software
Hydrographic Airborne Laser Scanner
with Online Waveform Processing
The new RIEGL VQ-820-G is specifically
designed to survey coastal strips, sea
beds and grounds of
rivers and lakes integrated
into a complete platform
for airborne scanning,
simply installed in any
type of aircraft plat-
form, e.g. fixed wing or
helicopter.
RIEGL LMS GmbH, Austria RIEGL USA Inc. RIEGL Japan Ltd.
www.riegl.com
excellently suited for combined land and hydrographic
airborne survey of coastlines and shallow waters
visible green laser beam
water penetration 1 Secchi depth
net measurement rate up to 195 kHz, Laser Class 3B
scanning speed up to 200 lines/sec
wide field of view 42
seamless integration with other RIEGL ALS Systems
and software packages
lic industries, and researchers who came together to assess the data from
this system.
With the scanners forward looking 20deg tilt, the angle of incidence of
the laser beam with respect to the water surface is nearly constant through-
out the scan line whereas perpendicular angle of incidence is avoided at
all. An added benet of this feature allowed for excellent data collection
of urban buildings and vegetation.
An unprecedented density of ~9-11 pts/m was available at the pulse rep-
etition rate of 138 kHz used throughout the tests. During the data review
and analysis, attendees saw that the reectance capability of the scanner
enhanced the viewing of features and objects were more discernable.
Clear penetration of vegetation, especially in the mangrove swamps, was
demonstrated. The system has the wonderful capability to discern between
the bottom of the swamp and where the mangroves begin. Exported LAS
les of the data acquired during the event were provided to the attendees
to assess in their own software.
Martin Pfennigbauer and Peter Rieger,
RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems GmbH, Horn, Austria.
Ar t i c l e
13
Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com
The waterways of Fort Lauderdale, as
seen from the NOAA Twin Otter during the
RIEGL VQ-820-G bathymetric demonstra-
tion, and the respective scan.
Point cloud of Sugarloaf Key near Key
West. The brightness of the points cor-
responds to the target reflectance. The
structure of the seabed is shown excel-
lently in this view.
July/August 2012
Delivering information on demand
Ordnance Survey Great Britain
In response to changing market demands and an evolving economic environment, Ordnance Survey
wanted to adopt a new way of operating; maintaining the national database and delivering both
new and updated product lines. Throughout this programme of change, and going forward, the sys-
tem needed to provide Ordnance Survey with continued confidence in their ability to maintain the
quality of their data. This, in turn, means that their customers can continue to deliver dependable and
innovative solutions.
G
reat Britains National Mapping
Agency, Ordnance Survey, produces
geographic data products and paper
maps for business, leisure, administrative and
educational use. Geographic data underpins
the growth of national economies. In the UK,
Ordnance Survey mapping is an essential ref-
erence data set, considered so vital that an
independent report put its value at more than
100 billion.
The organisation is relied upon by govern-
ment, businesses and individuals to provide
geographic data that is accurate and up-to-
date. They maintain the most detailed nation-
al database of its kind, containing over half a
billion features. The availability of consistent
and accurate detailed geographic information
is a key enabler for economic growth and
environmental sustainability within the worlds
leading economies. The recognition of this
strategic importance drives the operational
and delivery improvement programmes at
Ordnance Survey.
Like many other National Mapping Agencies,
the Ordnance Survey has evolved dramatical-
ly over the years and continues to do so in the
light of emerging technologies and changing
market needs. Many of us associate
Ordnance Survey with the paper maps that
we have on our shelves at home or in our cars.
However, paper maps now represent less than
8% of Ordnance Surveys annual revenues
and the demand for accurate, accessible, high
quality digital geographic information is con-
tinuing to increase. This huge emphasis on
digital mapping requires a powerful central
database at an operational level allowing
data to be stored, managed and maintained.
What makes the database so powerful is the
intelligent data that it stores. By intelligent
we mean data that accurately reects the real
world in terms of real world features and their
inter-relationships rather than through layers
of points, lines and polygons.
Maintenance of this database was at the core
of the Geospatial Data Management System
(GDMS) Project, which was designed and
implemented by a consortium of providers.
The overall solution is the result of close col-
laboration between the design and test teams
of both the consortium and Ordnance Survey.
It provides an integrated, enterprise-wide solu-
tion for the management, planning, coordina-
tion and control of Ordnance Surveys data
capture and production activities. State-of-the-
art software technologies from the three part-
ner companies were used.
1Spatial delivered the following components:
Radius Studio crucial data quality
assurance capabilities provided through
enterprise rules
Central data model to capture and
store real world features
Workow engine based on Oracle
technology to orchestrate the maintenance
and production process
Alongside the components and technology
provided by 1Spatial, a number of other ele-
ments were required.
Intergraph delivered the job planning and
scheduling capabilities, using its highly-cus-
tomisable GeoMedia product suite with inte-
gration of third-party technologies from ven-
dors such as Safe Software and PlexityHide
Snowake Software provided data extrac-
tion and loading via its GO Loader/GO
Publisher products
In addition to using Oracle technology for pro-
cess orchestration, the system also uses it for
data storage.
The project was delivered in phases, break-
ing down the broad scope and complexity of
the system according to risk. This enabled
effective management of the high risk areas
of the system. All of the development teams
14
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Mark Plews
Hydrology data before and after rules-
based model generalisation in Radius
Studio. In this particular process, adja-
cent polygons have been merged,
small holes have been removed and
some line simplification using the dou-
glas-peuker algorithm has been
applied. *Data courtesy of Ordnance
Survey Crown Copyright.
adopted Agile best practices, which were
unpinned by a rigorous test procedure. This
maintained an appropriate level of formality
during the process. Regular, disciplined gov-
ernance also ensured frequent customer inter-
action and the effective management of
dependencies, resources and infrastructure.
These are all vital in any lengthy and complex
development programme.
Mapping the now
The Ordnance Survey maintains the most
detailed national database of its kind, con-
taining over half a billion features. The organ-
isation has a number of goals in terms of data
collection and ensuring that information with-
in the database is accurate and up-to-date,
which include government set Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs). One KPI is
based on Ordnance Surveys continuous revi-
sion programme, ensuring that all signicant
change is recorded within six months of com-
pletion. Another internal programme, one of
cyclical revision, ensures that all other
changes, such as minor road alterations, new
parking schemes and agricultural barn devel-
opments are captured via a combination of
remote sensing and ground survey techniques
Ar t i c l e
15

is mapping the now

every ve years. The system has the capacity
to handle up to 313,000 feature updates a
day. Through the current maintenance pro-
grammes, the actual number is in excess of
30,000 features, equating to almost 21 real
world changes being updated every minute.
Ultimately, each revision programme con-
tributes to an overall corporate objective of
delivering accurate, up-to-date geographic
data via existing product lines.
Quality assured data for
complete confidence
With an acknowledged world-wide rep-
utation for the quality of their products,
Ordnance Survey is committed to ensur-
ing that the quality of their data is con-
sistently maintained at a high level. By
doing so, they can preserve that repu-
tation and ensure continued customer
condence.
With such complex data holdings, they
recognised that an automated ap -
proach to data validation was the only
way to ensure continuation of quality.
Building this process into their produc-
tion workow was highlighted as a pri-
ority.
1Spatial was able to provide a solution
to maintain those high quality expecta-
tions. It employs a best of breed, inter-
operable approach, leveraging their
expertise in mainstream enterprise tech-
nologies, such as Oracle and Java, and
applying it alongside their own Radius
Studio technology. Adopting such an
approach not only solved some of
Ordnance Surveys challenges but has helped
them future proof the system. As a result,
Ordnance Survey has a database that will
help deliver a new business horizon. GDMS
provides a platform from which to efciently
design and launch new, derived products and
services, which can rely on high quality data
to ensure they are successful.
Delivering information on
demand through the
Generalisation Framework
As part of their continuing evolution, National
Mapping and Charting Agencies around the
world are striving to redene their roles as
crowd sourced communities develop their own
t-for-purpose solutions. With emphasis on ex-
ible and rapid deployment of highly accurate
data, Ordnance Survey and 1Spatial are
working together under the Multi-Resolution
Data Programme (MRDP). This will drive the
development of automated generalisation with-
in an orchestrated enterprise production work-
ow process. This will not only deliver new
geographic information data products, but also
help drive internal efciencies, achieved
through more effective management of data
content from which products can be created.
The key to achieving effective, automated gen-
eralisation processes begins with assembling
and maintaining high quality source data,
conformance checked using business rules.
This high quality source data is in place thanks
to the groundwork done during the GDMS
project.
MRDP is focussing on delivering the
Generalisation Framework, involving model
and cartographic generalisation, text place-
ment and product nishing processes. Model
generalisation seeks to reduce and simplify
the data to the required scale. The objective
is akin to reducing the resolution of the data,
often expressed as a reduction in the number
of features stored within the database, rather
than improving legibility at smaller scales. This
reduction in resolution is achieved through
selective removal and grouping of features.
The resulting data is typically considered to
be geographically correct (undistorted), with
accuracy suitable for the target scale. It can
be used in its generalised form to deliver
appropriately scaled digital data products, or
be presented for further cartographic general-
isation for preparation of electronic and/or
paper maps. Ordnance Survey and 1Spatial
have adopted a rules-based environment for
automated model generalisation using the
Radius Studio technology since it is very exi-
ble and scalable and allows for domain
experts to author and tailor rules.
Artificial Intelligence techniques
Cartographic generalisation seeks to create
readable presentation for the data and is nec-
essary to ensure that the nal map is legible
and clearly displays the particular aspects of
the data for which the map was intended. As
the scale of the nal map decreases, the
amount of legible data that can be presented
decreases. The symbols for features, such as
roads, occupy a greater fraction of the space
available giving rise to increasing spa-
tial conict. These conicts are resolved
by further simplication, altering or
emphasising various aspects of the
data.
Cartographic generalisation within the
1Spatial Generalisation Framework
uses technology based on work in the
Automated Generalisation, Next Gene -
ration (AGENT) ESPRIT funded project.
The methodology developed by this
project allows generalisation to take
place under agent control.
A map feature, such as a building, a
road or a river network, becomes an
agent at the beginning of the generali-
sation process. The agent technology
introduces articial intelligence tech-
niques into the map production process,
with an agent being a feature that con-
trols itself in order to improve its carto-
graphic appearance. It has a goal and
is capable of acting autonomously to
achieve it by selecting the most appro-
priate algorithms and parameters. These
algorithms and parameters govern the
agents conformance to a set of rules and, con-
sequently, its appearance.
The text placement and product nishing pro-
cesses occur post-generalisation and just
before the data is turned into a cartographic
end product. Text placement involves placing
labels on the map where the text must match
up with the location and geometry of the map
features, such as rivers and roads. At the same
time, text must be placed in such a way it
doesnt itself cause conicts. The text place-
ment activities are being executed using
Maplex. Product nishing includes tasks such
as any required manual edits, allocation of
identiers and any required pre-press activi-
ties. This process uses ArcMap, part of Esris
ArcGIS product suite.
Mark Plews, General Manager, UK and European Sales.
To find out more about the GDMS project, MRDP and
the Generalisation Framework, visit www.1spatial.com or
contact us at info@1spatial.com.
16
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
1Spatials Generalisation Framework.
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I
Providing Information in an Integral Way
Rolta: Evolving and Expanding
Indian system-integrator Rolta has substantially expanded internationally over the years, and has
transformed itself into a global spatial-system integrator, providing information in an integral way.
The company has many further plans for Europe and recently announced a partnership with GeoEye.
S
ystem integrator Rolta has been active in Europe for more than
10 years and has had success in the Utility, Telecom and
Government sector. Initially, Rolta focused on providing large
scale engineering/data entry services, but during recent years the
company has transformed into a global spatial-system integrator with
impressive projects in various regions of the world. In this interview,
Ravi Pandey (President Europe at Rolta ) and Preetha Pulusani (Roltas
chief strategy ofcer) discuss this transformation, the expectations of
the Rolta management for the coming years, and a recent partner-
ship with GeoEye.
Transformation
Traditionally, Rolta were providers of software solutions within India,
but outside of India they were primarily doing offshore data produc-
tion services. But that has become a commodity, where people are
basically competing on price explained Ravi Pandey. He went on
to comment on the new path Rolta is treading. So it was decided
that we needed to build more intellectual property and add value to
the solutions that we provide globally.
As a result of that, the company undertook several acquisitions, both
system integration companies internationally, and technology com-
panies from US and Canada where the technology was repurposed
into higher value added solutions, such as Geospatial Fusion. An
example of this is Orion GIS in Canada, whose technology is used
to provide higher value-added services and IP for asset manage-
ment, complaints management, election and nancial planning to
governments around the world.
Whereas a lot of the development of the software happens now in
India, Rolta provides system integration services around the world,
focusing on high-end Oracle services says Pandey. Today, data ser-
vices is a small portion of the entire solution that Rolta provides to
its customers: 80% is software system integration services and maybe
20% are data services. Pandey: we not only build a database for
our client, but in addition to that well understand what their busi-
ness problem is. Well connect their assets geospatially and no mat-
ter what GIS software they use, pull from whatever data we have.
But at the end of the day we are providing for their operational ef-
ciency and assets.
Pandey notes that the combination of strong consulting skills in the
US and Canada and bringing down costs by using local workforce,
18
July/August 2012
I n t e r v i e w
By Eric van Rees
enables Rolta to compete on costs: local companies with very strong
consulting skills struggle when it comes to the cost by providing a
solution only around high-end consulting. And, if you look at the
Indian system integrator which is the next competing force that is
just coming in, you see that their entire focus has been to take low-
end value-added jobs and trying to do most of it in India to bring
down the cost base. Now Rolta has got the best of both, so the blend-
ed cost comes down, and the ability to consult for business prob-
lems goes up compared to Indian system integrators.
Rolta in Europe
Rolta has lots of plans for their European market, says Pandey.
Basically, it comes down to three verticals: utilities, oil/gas, and
banking/nancial services/insurances. Pandey: the rst thing we
chose is utilities, which is water, electricity transmission, distribution
and generation, gas distribution and telecom. Here we want to cre-
ate some specialized Rolta solutions based around Geospatial Fusion
and OneView. OneViews focus is on achieving operational intelli-
gence using business intelligence, building on world class BI plat-
forms such Oracle OBIEE or SAP Business Objects.
The second vertical Rolta will pursue is oil and gas (the Shells and
the BPs), by means of the Oracle solution set. A few years ago,
Rolta acquired a US-based company called TUSC to offer very high-
end Oracle consulting services: we were very clear that we want-
ed to sell solutions around the Oracle solu-
tions set, so right from managed services
and the database, to e-business suite,
Enterprise Performance Management,
Oracle spatial, and business intelligence.
The third vertical is banking, nancial ser-
vices and insurances, who are large IT
spenders. Pandey explains the roadmap:
were building enough credibility inside
Europe to support our sales ambition, so
its not just sales followed by delivery. With
each sales person there is now an indus-
trial vertical expert who can work on
industry-specic solutions and partnerships clear to creating the strat-
egy for solving a business problem.
GeoEye
Geospatial is an area which has been a strong and deep founda-
tion for Rolta and one that the company continues to focus on. A
recent partnership with GeoEye shows that Rolta sees the high value
of imagery for their customers. Preetha Pulusani explains why: one
of the legacies and assets that we have is our domain expertise in
geospatial. We just signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)
with GeoEye where we are evaluating the use of their content and
technology as part of comprehensive solutions that we can deliver
to our customers. With our strong data services background, we can
leverage that knowledge and resources to create value-added prod-
ucts for our customers from GeoEyes satellite imagery.
With the use of photogrammetry, imaging and other proprietary
tools, Rolta can create many such value-added data products, such
as 3D city models, digital elevation models, surface models, hydrog-
raphy, transportation networks and more. We are looking at offer-
ing complete, turnkey solutions for many verticals where we have
customized applications combined with databases so the users are
productive on day one. We can thus offer our customers the com-
plete package. We will begin by identifying Rolta solutions that we
can deploy in developing and emerging markets, where we see an
intense need and demand for such com-
prehensive solutions.
In addition Rolta is also be evaluating vari-
ous technology integration opportunities
between Rolta and GeoEye products that
can lead to innovative geospatial solutions
for use by its global customers.
Internet: www.rolta.com
19
I n t e r v i e w
Rolta facilities
Rolta facilities
With Specific Reference to the Leica Geosystems HDS & ScanStation Product Ranges
Technology Developments in T
The development of terrestrial laser scanner technology continues apace with ever-greater ranges
(distances) being measured at ever-higher rates in all the different categories of these scanners.
The article reviews these developments in the specific context of the HDS and ScanStation series of
instruments from Leica Geosystems.
I - Introduction
Leica Geosystems is one of the major sup-
pliers of terrestrial (or ground-based) laser
scanners world-wide. Indeed there have
been unofcial reports posted on the Internet
that assert that currently the company sup-
plies between 50 to 60% of the terrestrial
laser scanners that are sold on the world
market. At the same time, one observes that,
over the last decade, there have been enor-
mous developments and advances in the
design, construction and performance of ter-
restrial laser scanners that have led to their
widespread introduction and application by
the surveying profession. So it appears
instructive to review these advances in the
technology of terrestrial laser scanners in the
specic context of the HDS and ScanStation
product ranges that have been and are
being offered by the Leica Geosystems com-
pany. By doing so, one can get a feel for
the overall technical development that has
indeed taken place during this period.
I.1 Distance & Angular
Measurements
Just to set the scene and to dene both the
subject area that will be covered and the
terms that will be used in this article, a ter-
restrial laser scanner measures the topo-
graphic features that are visible in the area
around the xed (static) position that has
been occupied by the instrument. Making
use of its systematic scanning action, the
instrument achieves its coverage in a rapid
and highly automated manner. It carries out
this task through the simultaneous measure-
ment of (i) slant range and (ii) the asso-
ciated horizontal and vertical angles
to each measured point. The slant range is
measured by a laser rangender, while
the angles are measured by angular
encoders that are measuring in the hori-
zontal and vertical planes that pass through
the centre of the instrument [Fig. 1]. The
intensity of the returning signal that has
been reected from each point that has been
illuminated by the laser rangender will also
be measured and recorded. If the position
and height of the scanner instrument are
already known, then the measured distance
and angular data allow the 3D coordi-
nates of each measured point in the local
or national reference system to be generat-
ed by computation. Essentially a terrestrial
laser scanner provides a systematic and
highly automated method of collecting
dense 3D data of the terrain objects in the
area surrounding the instrument in the form
of a point cloud containing millions of
very accurately measured points, without the
use of reectors.
I.2 Classification
(a) As is well known,
terrestrial or ground-
based laser scanners
are differentiated pri-
marily on the basis of
the measuring prin-
ciple that is employed
in their laser rangend-
ers between those
instruments that (i) uti-
lize the pulse rang-
ing or time-of-ight
(TOF) measuring principle; and (ii) those
that employ the phase measuring tech-
nique. The latter technique is used almost
exclusively with short-range scanners;
whereas the TOF technique is that applied
in medium- or long-range scanners. Both
techniques are being used extensively, albeit
in quite different models, within Leica
Geosystems terrestrial laser scanner pro duct
range.
(b) A secondary classication takes account
of both the scanning mechanism of the
scanner and the coverage that this pro-
duces over the ground. A commonly used
classication differentiates between three
types of static terrestrial or ground-based
laser scanners (i) panoramic-type
scanners; (iii) hybrid scanners; and
(iii) camera-type scanners [Fig. 2]. All
three types of coverage are employed,
albeit in different models, within the overall
Leica terrestrial laser scanner range.
(c) The third criterion that can be used to
classify terrestrial or ground-based laser
scanners is the range or distance over
which the static terrestrial laser scanners can
measure. (i) The rst group that can be dis-
tinguished comprises those laser scanners
that are limited to short ranges, typically
20
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
By the editors
Fig. 1 - The range (distance) and the horizontal and vertical angular
rotations that are measured toward the surrounding objects in the ter-
rain using a terrestrial laser scanner. (Drawn by M. Shand.)
Fig. 2 Diagram illustrating the classification of terrestrial laser scanners based on their respective
scanning mechanisms and coverages. (Drawn by M. Shand.)
up to 100 or 150 m maximum ambiguity
interval, and generally much shorter practi-
cal ranges. They mostly comprise instru-
ments that employ the phase measuring prin-
ciple. Usually the limitations in range of
these instruments are offset by the very high
accuracies that they achieve in distance
measurement often to a few millimetres.
(ii) A second group, based on pulse rang-
ing using TOF measurements of distance,
can measure over medium ranges with
maximum values from 150 to 450 m at a
slightly reduced accuracy at these longer
ranges. (iii) While a third long-range
group can measure still longer distances
up to 1 or 2 km again using the pulse
ranging (TOF) technique. However, the gain
in range is normally accompanied by a
reduction in the accuracy of the measured
distances and in the pulse repetition rate
though this is still quite appropriate to the
applications, such as open-cast mining, on
which they are deployed and is very accept-
able to the users of these instruments. Once
again, the terrestrial scanner product range
from Leica Geosystems covers all three of
these distance-based classes.
II - Short-Range Scanners
As already discussed above, those laser scan-
ners that fall within this category utilize the
phase-based measuring technique. In fact,
the short-range terrestrial laser scanning sys-
tems that have been marketed and sold by
Leica Geosystems have all been manufactured
and supplied on an OEM basis by Zoller +
Frhlich (Z+F). The Z+F manufacturing plant
is located in the town of Wangen-im-Allgu in
south-west Germany, which is located just over
the border with Switzerland and not far from
the Leica Geosystems headquarters in
Heerbrugg. The manufactured instruments are
rst calibrated by Z+F, after which, they are
then shipped from the Z+F factory to
Heerbrugg for further check-out and verica-
tion. After this operation has been completed,
the instruments are then sent out to the world-
wide network of Leica Geosystems sales
ofces and agencies that sell them to their cus-
tomers. There appears to be little competition
between the two companies who appear to
address quite different markets, with each hav-
ing a quite different customer base. Thus Z+F
mainly focuses on relatively nearby metrology
and dimensional control markets, while Leica
Geosystems mainly directs its global attention
towards surveying, civil engineering, architec-
tural, industrial plant, forensics, and cultural
heritage users. Any required servicing or
repairs are in fact carried out by the Z+F
ofces in those countries such as the U.K.,
U.S.A. and Germany where both
companies are already
well established.
The initial scanner instru-
ment that resulted from
this cooperation between
the two companies was
the Leica HDS4500
[Fig. 3] which essential-
ly was a re-badged
version of the Z+F
Imager 5003 laser scanner that
rst appeared in 2002/3. Its
rangender employed a Class
3R continuous wave (CW) diode laser that
operated in the near infrared (NIR) part of the
spectrum at = 780 nm. The rangender was
available in two alternative versions giving
ambiguity ranges of 25.2 and 53.5 m respec-
tively. The maximum measuring rate was
500,000 points per second. With regard to
the instruments angular movements and mea-
surements, the HDS4500 scanner utilized a
servo motor and angular encoder to imple-
ment the angular scan movement in the hori-
zontal plane (in azimuth) around the instru-
ments vertical axis through a rotation of the
upper part of the instrument against its xed
base which is normally mounted on a tri-
pod. The scanning movement in the vertical
direction was implemented using a fast-rotat-
ing, lightweight mirror placed on the horizon-
tal trunnion axis of the instrument which was
supported on two vertical standards or pillars.
The horizontal rotation in azimuth covered the
full circle of 360, while the rotational move-
ment of the mirror in these HDS4500 scan-
ners allowed a scan angle of 310 within the
vertical plane, placing it rmly in the group of
panoramic scanners. The manufacturers
claimed accuracy in both horizontal and ver-
tical angular measurement was 0.007
which is equivalent to 6 mm accuracy at the
measured points in both directions in the plane
that is perpendicular to the laser direction at
50 m object distance.
In 2006, the HDS4500 scanner
was replaced by the HDS6000
model [Fig. 4], which essential-
ly was the Z+F Imager 5006
instrument. While most of the
optical features and the overall
mechanical construction were
little changed from the previous
HDS4500 model, the ambi-
guity range was increased
Ar t i c l e

Terrestrial Laser Scanners
Fig. 3 The Leica HDS4500 phase-based laser scanner.
(Source: Leica Geosystems AG, Switzerland)
Fig. 4 Leicas HDS6200 phase-based laser scanner.
21
considerably to 79 m. Moreover the electron-
ics side and the scanners portability was con-
siderably improved, the instrument featuring
an integrated control panel, a powerful built-
in PC, a hard disk and an internal battery.
Further developments and improvements
resulted in the HDS6100 model (from 2008)
and the HDS6200 model (from 2010), by
which time, the maximum measuring rate of
the instrument had doubled to over
1,000,000 points per second. The HDS6200
model is still listed as being available for sale
on the Leica Geosystems Web site.
In this context, it is interesting to observe that
these HDS4500 and HDS6000 phase-
based scanners have also been used as the
integral ranging components in mobile
mapping systems that are being used for
the kinematic surveying of road & railway
networks. The usual context is that the HDS
scanners have been bought initially for stan-
dard static terrestrial laser scanning opera-
tions. After which, the instruments have then
been adapted for use in mobile mapping.
For this type of operation, the instruments
are mounted on a van or rail vehicle with
their horizontal (azimuth) angular move-
ments locked which effectively makes them
into 2D laser scanners. Examples of compa-
nies that are carrying out such operations
include 3D Mapping Solutions GmbH in
Germany and ABA Surveying based in
Woking in the U.K. In the case of the ABA
company, it began its mobile mapping oper-
ations with two of its HDS6000 scanners,
each mounted separately on a Leica GRP
rail trolley, one on each rail track [Fig. 5(a)],
with the position of each scanner being
determined continuously by Leica GPS1200
receivers. Later three of the ABA Surveying
companys Leica HDS6000 scanners were
mounted on a van, together with a RTK
(Real-Time Kinematic) DGPS receiver from
AD Navigation and an LANDINS inertial
navigation system from IXSEA [Fig. 5(b)], to
carry out a variety of highway, civil engi-
neering and urban architectural applications
using this mobile platform and system.
The most recent development in the Leica
short-range HDS series is the HDS7000,
scanner which was introduced to the mar-
ket in March 2011. Again, it is based on
the latest Z+F Imager 5010 instrument [Fig.
6]. However this is a completely new
panoramic-type scanner that is very substan-
tially different in its technology, construction
and overall performance to the previous
HDS6000 series of instruments. In particu-
lar, the laser rangender of the HDS7000
scanner utilizes a Class 1 (eye-safe) erbium-
based laser that emits its CW radiation at
= 1550 nm in the short-wave infra-red
(SWIR) part of the spectrum. Besides which,
the ambiguity measuring distance has been
increased greatly to 187.3 m. The vertical
scan is carried out using a mirror equipped
with a special protective glass cover that
rotates at speeds up to 50 revs/ sec (i.e.
3,000 rpm). This allows the maximum mea-
suring rate of the instrument to remain at
over 1,000,000 points per second. At the
same time, the vertical scan angle coverage
has been extended a little to 320. The
HDS7000 also features a colour touch
screen display panel; two 32Mbyte ash
drives with integrated USB ports; and an
Ethernet/W-LAN (wireless) interface that
can be used to control the scanner using
commands from an external laptop comput-
er.
In summary, the development of phase-
based terrestrial laser scanners over the last
ten years especially in terms of their vast-
ly improved measuring rates and markedly
increased distance performance, but also in
terms of their improved functionality, porta-
bility, and ease-of-use is fully demonstrat-
ed when one inspects and analyzes the
development of this particular series of Leica
Geosystems HDS short-range scanners.
III - Medium-Range Scanners
Within this category, Leica Geosystems has
followed an entirely different strategy. The
various medium-range laser scanner instru-
ments that it has produced and sold are all
based on pulse ranging and have all
been manufactured in-house. Leica
Geosystems entered this eld in 2001
through its purchase of the pioneering Cyra
Technologies Inc. company based in
California. The original Cyrax 2400 model
used a proprietary diode-pumped solid-state
microchip laser operating at = 532 nm in
the visible (green) part of the spectrum. This
allowed a maximum speed of measurement
of 800 points per second with a maximum
range of 100 m. The Cyrax 2400 was a
camera-type laser scanner that could scan a
40 40 window using a twin mirror opti-
cal scanning system and could achieve a
positional accuracy of 6mm for scan data
50m from the scanner. The main-body of the
instrument sat in a simple non-motorized
pan-and-tilt mount that allowed it to be point-
Ar t i c l e
22
July/August 2012
Fig. 5 (a) Two HDS6000 laser scanners, each mounted on a Leica GRP trolley, being used by ABA Surveying to undertake the surveys of two parallel rail tracks for Irish Rail.
(b) The van equipped with a mobile mapping system comprising three Leica HDS6000 phase-based laser scanners and a DGPS/IMU sub-system that is being used for road surveys by ABA Surveying.
(Source: ABA Surveying)
Fig. 6 The HDS7000 phase-based laser scanner.
[a] [b]


ed manually in steps over an angular range
of 360 in azimuth and 195 in the vertical
plane. It was followed by the improved
Cyrax 2500 model [Fig. 7], which was later
re-named as the Leica HDS2500 scanner.
In 2004, the Cyrax models were replaced
by the Leica HDS3000 scanner, which
had a very different design and specica-
tion. In particular, the camera-type layout of
the previous Cyrax instruments was replaced
by a dual-window design that, in total, gave
a fully panoramic coverage of 360 in
azimuth and 270 in the vertical plane [Fig.
8(a)] The HDS3000 scanner [Fig. 8(b)] used
servo motors both to rotate the scan mirror
in the vertical plane and for the azimuth
drive, resulting in a much higher scan rate
than its Cyrax predecessors. The rangend-
er used in the HDS3000 was based on a
Class 3R microchip laser, again operating
in the green part of the spectrum (at = 532
nm), providing a scan rate of up to 1,800
points per second and a maximum specied
operating range of 100 m.
In 2006, the HDS3000 instrument was
superseded by the ScanStation [Fig. 9(a)].
This retained the overall design and con-
struction of the HDS3000 panoramic-type
instrument. However it had a much greater
specied maximum operational range of
300 m and a maximum measuring rate of
4,000 points per second. It also incorporat-
ed a number of additional features such as
a dual-axis compensator to allow conven-
tional surveying operations such as resec-
tion and traversing to be carried out using
the instrument. It was the addition of this key
surveying instrument feature that contributed
to the Leica ScanStation name, as a laser
scanner that also had key total station fea-
tures.
In July 2007, the next model in the series,
called the ScanStation 2, [Fig. 9(b)] was
introduced. Supercially this had the same
overall design and appearance of the
HDS3000 instrument and the original
ScanStation. However the ScanStation 2
instrument featured a completely new laser
rangender utilizing a Class 3R passive Q-
switched microchip laser, again operating
at = 532 nm in the green part of the spec-
trum. However its pulse repetition frequency
(PRF) was 50 kHz 12 times faster than
the speed that could be achieved in the pre-
vious ScanStation model. This was com-
bined with more advanced timing electron-
ics, comprising a new time-to-digital
converter (TDC) and a high sensitivity receiv-
er. All of which allowed the instrument to
carry out its range measurements at a very
much higher speed with a maximum rate
of 50,000 points per second while still
retaining the same high positional scan data
accuracy and a maximum range of 300 m
with a reectivity of 90% that had been
achieved in the previous ScanStation model.
With a ten fold improvement in its measur-
ing rate, the ScanStation 2 really marked a
huge advance in performance as compared
with its predecessors. The user interface and
instrument controller was a laptop or tablet
PC. With the introduction of this instrument,
the in-house production of Leica Geo -
systems ScanStation instruments was moved
from the factory in San Ramon, California
to the main Leica Geosystems manufactur-
ing plant in Heerbrugg in Switzerland [Fig.
10].
In September 2009, Leica Geosystems intro-
duced its ScanStation C10 laser scanner
[Fig. 11(a)]. Although this retained the
ScanStation name, it had in fact undergone
a very substantial re-design and upgrade as
compared with the ScanStation 2. In partic-
ular, it featured a built-in touch screen colour
graphical display with an on-board comput-
er/controller, an integrated 80 GByte data
storage and an internal battery, all of which
eliminated the need for a separate laptop
Ar t i c l e
24
July/August 2012
Fig. 7 The Cyrax 2500 camera-type laser scanner sitting in its
manually operated (non-motorized) pan-and-tilt mount.
(Source: Leica Geosystems)
Fig. 8 (a) The dual-window design of the Leica HDS3000 laser scan-
ner gave a fully panoramic coverage of 360 in azimuth and 270
in the vertical plane. The two windows were not in use simultaneous-
ly; thus two separate horizontal scans were needed for the complete
coverage. Or they could be used separately as required.
(b) The actual HDS 3000 instrument.
Fig. 9 (a) The Leica ScanStation; and (b) the ScanStation
2 medium-range panoramic-type laser scanners.
Fig. 10 A view of the calibration floor for terrestrial laser scanners,
which is located in the Leica Geosystems test facility in Widnau, a
short distance from the main factory in Heerbrugg, Switzerland. The
main scanner calibration chambers are in the background. In the fore-
ground is the camera calibration stand. Two sets of targets are placed
in front of the scanner and are both imaged and scanned. (Source:
Leica Geosystems AG, Switzerland)
Fig. 11 (a) The ScanStation C10 laser scanner, showing its
major components.
(b) The panoramic cover-
age of the ScanStation
C10 laser scanner. (Source:
Leica Geosystems)
[a]
[b]
[a] [b]
[a] [b]
PC to act as the instruments control device.
Data transfer to an external computer can
be carried out using built-in USB and
Ethernet WLAN (wireless) ports. The laser
rangender is, once again, based on a
Class 3R microchip laser emitting its pulses
at = 532 nm. The dual-window design of
the prior scanners in this class was replaced
by a spinning mirror capability which no
longer required two scans to capture a full-
dome eld-of-view. The ScanStation C10
instrument can be operated to scan in full
panoramic mode [Fig. 11(b)] with its spin-
ning mirror or in a restricted camera mode
using an oscillating scan motion over a spec-
ied eld-of-view with selectable angular
coverage. The instrument is also tted with
a video camera that has a zoom capability
and implements real-time video streaming of
scanned targets. This same video camera
also serves as an internal small-format (4
Megapixel) digital frame camera that can
acquire high-quality colour images of the
objects that are being scanned and precise-
ly align the captured images to the scan
points.
Since the Leica ScanStation C10s introduc-
tion, advances have also been made to its
onboard rmware (its onboard panel inter-
face can also be displayed on an iPAD for
remote handheld control). A key area of
rmware advancement has been enabling
surveyors to more fully and easily utilize sur-
vey workows, such as traverse, with a laser
scanner. In addition to site logistical advan-
tages that survey workows like traverse pro-
vide, this can also eliminate ofce registra-
tion of scans, as scans can instead be
automatically registered to each other and
geo-referenced on-the-y as eld scanning
progresses.
Finally, within the medium-range Scan Sta -
tion series, in June 2011, Leica Geosystems
introduced its new ScanStation C5 instru-
ment. This is a substantially lower-cost instru-
ment with a correspondingly lower per -
formance. Compared with its C10
big-brother, it still retains the same basic
construction, measuring principle and scan
movements, together with the integrated on-
board controller, colour display, storage and
battery. However the C5 model has a more
restricted measuring range (distance) of 35
m (v. 300 m for the C10) and maximum
measurement rate of 25,000 pts/sec (v.
50,000 pts/sec for the C10). It also lacks
the dual-axis level compensator and the
high-resolution digital frame camera of the
C10 model. However all of these restrictions
and missing features are available as
optional extras and can be added later to
the basic C5 instrument to bring it up to the
C10 standard.
Once again, this account of the develop-
ment of the Leica ScanStation series shows
that they are fully representative of the enor-
mous advances in performance, especially
in the speed of measurement from less than
1,000 pts/sec to 50,000 pts/sec that
have been made within the category of
medium-range terrestrial laser scanners over
the last decade.
IV - Long-Range Scanners
In 2006, I conducted and published an inter-
view with Ken Mooyman, who is now the
President of Leica Geosystems Inc. covering
North America [ see the issue of Geo -
Informatics for April/May 2006]. At that
time, he was the head of Leica Geosystems
terrestrial laser scanner business and, as he
made plain in the published interview, he was
not enthusiastic about the company moving
into the market for long-range scanners.
However he did say that Open pit mining is
one market where the very long range sys-
tems have a good t, as accuracy require-
ments are low, line-of-sight may not be a prob-
lem, and, if you are scanning vertical walls
in an open pit, you dont have an angle-of-
incidence problem. However, it was not until
February 2009 that Leica Geosystems did
nally move into this eld, when it introduced
its HDS4400 laser scanner. In this case, it
sourced the instrument on an OEM basis from
the Australian manufacturer, Maptek, based
in Adelaide, South Australia, which had
already introduced the same instrument onto
the market in 2004 as its I-Site 4400 scan-
ner.
The HDS4400 [Fig.12(a)] is a hybrid-type
laser scanner employing the pulse-based
range measurement technique and having a
motorized rotation of 360 in azimuth and
80 angular coverage in the vertical plane.
The stated angular accuracy is 0.04. The
instruments rangender is based on a Class
3R semi-conductor diode laser which emits its
pulses at = 905 nm in the near infra-red
(NIR) part of the spectrum with a power of
10 mW. The HDS4400 instrument measures
its ranges at a maximum rate of 4,400 points
per second. The maximum range with highly
reective surfaces is 700 m. Furthermore, the
I-Site 4400 (and the Leica HDS4400) instru-
ment also incorporates a digital panoramic
line scanner equipped with a Nikon f = 20
mm lens that produces a 37 Megapixel lines-
can image that is acquired concurrently dur-
ing the laser scanning/ranging operation.
The measured data is transferred via an
Ethernet interface to be recorded on an exter-
nal PC tablet computer.
In 2010, Maptek introduced its then new I-
Site 8800 scanner and Leica followed with
its HDS8800 version of the instrument [Fig.
12(b)]. This follows much the same basic
design layout and construction as the previ-
ous HDS4400 instrument. However its per-
formance has been very substantially
upgraded using a rangender employing an
Class 1 (eye-safe) erbium laser that emits its
pulses at = 1545 nm in the short-wave
infra-red (SWIR) part of the spectrum. In par-
ticular, the maximum range of the HDS8800
has been extended to 2,000 m with highly
reective surfaces, while, at the same time,
its maximum scan rate has been doubled to
8,800 points per second. Furthermore the
format size of the built-in panoramic line
scanner has also been doubled to produce
a 70 Megapixel image. As was the case
with the previous HDS4400 scanner, the
HDS8800 instrument is controlled via an
external ruggedized PC.
In March 2012, Leica Geosystems intro-
duced a lower-cost version of the HDS8800
Ar t i c l e
25
Fig. 12 The Leica Geosystems long-range terrestrial laser scanners
showing (a) the HDS 4400 scanner; and (b) the HDS 8800
scanner. Both are hybrid-type scanners in terms of their ground cover-
age, which is optimized for surveys of open-cast pits or mines.
(Source: Leica Geosystems)
[a]
[b]

instrument called the HDS8400 scanner [Fig.
13(a)] with a reduced performance most
notably, the omission of the digital panoram-
ic line scanner and a reduction in the maxi-
mum range to 700 m with highly reecting
objects. However the HDS8400 instrument
still retains the maximum measuring rate of
8,800 pts/sec of the HDS8800 model. The
instrument can also be mounted on a vehicle
to implement the stop-and-go 3D laser
scanning technique using a specially
designed rack mount in combination with a
GPS/GNSS receiver to provide the appro-
priate positioning information [Fig. 13(b)].
When one starts to measure over distances
of 1 or 2 km with a terrestrial laser scanner,
then one begins to encounter some of the
problems that arise with airborne laser scan-
ners that operate over similar distances (y-
ing heights). In particular, after the laser
rangender has red a pulse, then, depend-
ing on the range, a certain time period has
to elapse before the reected pulse returns
and the next pulse can be red towards the
ground. With airborne laser scanners, this
problem has been solved through the adop-
tion of the multiple pulse technique as
used for example in the Leica ALS50, ALS60
and ALS70 airborne topographic laser scan-
ners. In fact, another manufacturer has just
adopted this technique for its long-range ter-
restrial laser scanner, allowing it to extend
both its range (to a maximum distance of 4
km) and its maximum measuring rate (to
over 200,000 points per second). One pre-
sumes that a similar development will be
seen with the Maptek and Leica Geosystems
long-range laser scanner instruments in due
course.
V - Summary
The account presented above shows clearly
the enormous progress that has been made
in developing the technology of terrestrial
laser scanners over the last decade in the
particular context of Leica Geosystems HDS
and ScanStation product range. This devel-
opment has seen measuring rates improve
by over 50 times in some cases, while the
maximum distances that can be measured
have increased greatly in all three range
classes. The instruments have also been t-
ted with advanced electronics, considerable
computing power and rmware that make
their operational use much easier, yet much
more sophisticated than before.
It will also be seen that, on the one hand,
Leica Geosystems has developed its medi-
um-range ScanStation series in-house; while,
on the other hand, it has sourced its HDS
short-range and long-range laser scanner
products from much smaller OEM suppliers.
The latter cannot match Leica Geosystems
world-wide commercial network and cover-
age, but they do gain a lot from this
arrangement by which the company sells
their laser scanner products in many mar-
kets that they might not otherwise reach. At
the same time, Leica Geosystems has been
saved the time, cost and effort of develop-
ing instruments to complete its comprehen-
sive coverage of the terrestrial laser scanner
market.
Fig. 13 (a) The recently introduced Leica Geosystems HDS8400 long-range laser scanner designed for mining applications.
(b) An HDS8400 scanner mounted on a survey vehicle for stop-and-go scanning operations. (Source: Leica Geosystems)
[a]
[b]
Ar t i c l e
26
July/August 2012
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es and, subsequently, allow them to save
costs. While geocoding has been a standard
function within GIS for over fteen years in in
North America and in Europe, it has been a
challenge on a gobal basis.
Dan Adams, Vice President, Location and Live
Services at TomTom, explains the idea behind
this web service: the intent is to have a glob-
al geocoder that is very easy to use and offer
a one-stop shop to upload and geocode an
address le. That le is geocoded in TomToms
cloud and TomTom returns the information
needed for our customer to import GIS and
utilize. A major aspect of making this service
easy to use is that there are no limits to the
number of records that you can geocode in a
time period, which is intended to give more
exibility than some of the other options in the
market place. Users do not need to split their
les by size or geography restrictions. Any
address provided by the user can be submit-
ted and will be returned with latitude and lon-
gitude co-ordinates for each match found.
Customers will only be charged for successful
matches. The geocoding web service already
provides this information for more than 100
countries globally, with 52 containing both
house number and point address matches.
Unlike a portable navigation device, the
geocoder is not a consumer product. It is a
business-to-business product for companies
that have long lists of addresses which can be
converted, at the click of a button, into geo-
graphic coordinates to allow location analy-
sis. According to Adams, geocoding today is
a complex process: depending on the coun-
tries covered within their address le, GIS
users may have to go to many different
geocoders and submit many different les. By
launching the TomTom Global Geocoder, we
aim to remove that complexity and offer a one-
stop solution where all addresses can be
geocoded and latitudes and longitudes can
be returned.
Geocoding and updating the
map
There are a number of advantages to TomTom
offering this web service. Not only to enable
companies to perform location analysis, but
to also optimize TomToms internal geocoding
operations. The geocoding index is built from
the same database as the MultiNet map prod-
ucts so they overlay seamlessly. We are
reducing the cycle time of and will continue
to push ourselves to improve the freshness of
our on-line content going forward. We aim to
always have the freshest and highest quality
content at a tomtom.com URL. Additionally,
the new service meets market demand for
allowing other companies to do simple GIS
operations on line and at the same time pro-
viding TomTom with GIS market intelligence:
one of the best ways for us to identify which
data is the most important or is in need of
improvement, is to see where people are try-
ing to geocode. There are many geocoding
operations that TomTom needs to do internally
as large processes in our production chain.
Having this online geocoder allows us to
address these requirements and then take the
technology were developing to serve these
needs and make it accessible to other compa-
nies. Many businesses have requested that
TomTom offer this type of service, as they
already have the map and are very familiar
with it. Streamlining this process also ts into
the companys plans to offer more updates
than are currently available: as TomTom
moves to incremental updates, we are updat-
ing the underlining geocoding index in a cen-
tral location and revealing that via the cloud.
Were taking on the integration, compilation,
and deploying of the map database, so that
countless companies can benet from it with-
out requiring every user of the geocoder to
complete a deployment process with every
update to the geocoding index. As we move
to monthly, weekly, and even daily updates to
the underlying map data, a cloud hosted solu-
tion is most efcient way to distribute the fresh-
est data to all users.
What also motivated TomTom to initiate this
service was the fact that expectations of how
maps are utilised are changing. Because of
companies like Google, Bing and others, the
idea of any users in any business being able
to geocode an address has resulted in a
greater awareness of the value generated
form of GIS. Adams remarks: the expecta-
tion is that its easier to do simple GIS opera-
28
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Eric van Rees
Ar t i c l e
29
tions via the web. So, really, if TomTom isnt
doing that, were not meeting some very clear
market demands.
Furthermore, the geocoder offers TomTom an
opportunity to monitor possible map prob-
lems: if somebody submits a thousand
records to our geocoder and theres a 97%
hit rate and theres 3% that falls out, we can
see where this 3% are occurring. If many peo-
ple are trying to geocode in the same postal
codes or the same area and we cannot return
a match, we have a map problemand we
dont get paid for non-matches. In order for
us to prioritize our next updates of the map, it
makes sense for us to do the work where peo-
ple are trying to geocode on a business-to-
business basis.
The future of geocoding
The future holds many challenges, such as the
geocoding of addresses of businesses in
skyscrapers, which will be mapped in
3Dreverse geocoding, enhancement of the
aforementioned address standardization for
different countries and blending search and
geocoding, so that people can nd a location
based on a name and not an address. Adams
comments: were doing a number of things
to enhance our matching with the geocoder;
specically to have a higher return rate of lat-
itude/longitude, because we are only paid
when we match things. After that well be
expanding into additional geographies, so
that we can match the 109 countries that we
have in MultiNet. Map maintenance and map
updates are our bread and butter, so we take
that very seriously.
For more information go to: https://geocoder.tomtom.com/app/view/index
C
O
L
U
M
N
Mobile brings a slew of new potential solutions beyond the still narrow
geospatial sector, says Matt Sheehan.
L
ets start this months column with a step back
in time. The mid 90s was a time of desktop
based computing. If you worked with GIS then
Esris ArcView and ArcInfo were essential tools. In
academia we were marveling over this new shiny
toy called the Internet; a simple way to communi-
cate, and publish information without boundaries.
Little did we realize what it would soon become.
At the base of the Internet was a language called
HTML. Simple tags allowed non-programmers to cre-
ate web pages containing text and imagery. As the
Internet boom began, clever folk began to wonder
how they could add intelligence to web pages writ-
ten in HTML. Along came Javascript, a scripting lan-
guage which ran in the browser, and enabled the
manipulation of web content. Those of us working
with Esris ArcIMS in the early 2000s remember
well the HTML Viewer, a Javascript library allowing
easy development of Web GIS applications. In
2005 Google shook the geospatial world up with
the launch of Google maps. This was a huge
change since Google made geospatial data easily
available, and launched sophisticated tools, or
APIs, which enabled developers to build geospa-
tial web applications. Another new development at
this time was a move to make web pages appear
more like desktop applications. We had entered the
time of Rich Internet Applications.
Adobe Flash was the rst of the Rich Internet
Application or RIA tools to be launched. It was fol-
lowed soon after by Adobe Flex and Microsoft
Silverlight. Javascript also continued moving for-
ward with AJAX becoming popular. Animation,
improved user interaction and more sophisticated
look and feel were the trademarks of RIAs. Users
became used to the need to install plug-ins to their
browsers to run these applications. Silverlight was
Microsofts competitive reaction to the launch of
Adobe Flex. There were mixed feelings in the devel-
opment community about Silverlight. Many felt it
was following, in many ways playing catch up ,
with Flex rather than being an alternative. But with
the likes of Esri providing APIs for building GIS
Silverlight applications, it had to be taken seriously.
Apple vs. Adobe
Weve mentioned it before in this column. Today
resembles those early days of the Internet. The new
shiny toy is now mobile. And once again the land-
scape is changing. Apple have re-emerged as a
force, they helped spearhead the new mobile revo-
lution with their launch of the iPhone and iPad. Their
far sited, innovative product launches ran parallel
with their restrictive, controlling business practices.
One key restriction they put in place on their mobile
products was to prevent the installation of browser
plug-ins. This meant the mobile browsers on the
iPhone and IPad would not allow Flash, Flex or
Silverlight apps to run. A war of words ensued
between Apple and Adobe. The end result was a
new business direction for Adobe, and maybe the
end of Flex and Flash, at least in the mobile brows-
er world. There is a twist here which we will discuss
in a moment. Silverlight also looks doomed. Not
only was it limping along on the PC Web, but this
new restriction meant the mobile Web is a non-
starter. The writing would appear to be on the wall
for Silverlight.
Adobes Flex mobile
Developing applications for mobile is much dis-
cussed. HTML5, a Javascript solution, has become
very popular. It provides developers with a new set
of tools, once only available using Flash, Flex or
Silverlight. Not only can HTML5 run on all mobile
browsers, it can also be converted to an installable,
so called, hybrid app. One which can be distribut-
ed in the various mobile app stores. So; a single
mobile app, which runs in the browser or as an
installed app, and works on all platforms. Adobe
also forced a concession from Apple. Adobes Flex
mobile is a mobile version of Flex. No plugin is
needed, and it runs as a hybrid installed app on
Apples iOS, Android and Blackberry platforms. The
long term future of the product remains unclear, but
it is at present a robust cross-platform solution, com-
petitive with HTML5.
I use the phrase too often; but we do live in excit-
ing times. Mobile brings a slew of new potential
solutions beyond the still narrow geospatial sector.
Visualization, data collection, feature editing and
querying, search and discovery, collaboration,
organization and coordination focused on location
will be a key part of many mobile applications. It
never felt so good to be a geographer!
Matt Sheehan is Principal and Senior
Developer at WebmapSolutions. The com-
pany build location focused mobile appli-
cations for GIS, mapping and location
based services (LBS). Matt can be
reached at matt@webmapsolutions.com.
Developing Apps on Mobile
C o l u mn
30
July/August 2012

PROTECTION WITH POWER
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OS Series www.topcon.eu
Tracking Security Remote
Firmware-Software Updates
300 m Communication
ES Series

GIS for Infrastructure
Bentley Maps V8i (SELECTseries 3)
The latest release of Bentley Map V8i further streamlines geospatial workflows through extended sup-
port for spatial databases, OGC Web Services, point clouds, and scalable terrain models (STMs).
B
entley Systems recently
released a new version of
Bentley Map V8i (SELECT -
series 3), the software product for
the creation of reliable and realistic
3D GIS models in support of infras-
tructure engineering workows.
Richard Zambuni, global marketing
director at Bentley, explained some
of the new capabilities of this
release and related recent Bentley
software product releases, Bentley
Descartes V8i (SELECT series 3) and
Bentley Geo Web Publisher V8i
(SELECTSeries 4).
Bentley Map is both a standalone
product and one thats also
embedded in a lot of Bentleys industry applications e.g. for commu-
nications, civil engineering, water, and so on. Says Zambuni: basi-
cally, it works as a standalone product or as the foundation for
geospatial workows within a project concerned with a specic class
of infrastructure such as roads, water networks, electricity networks,
or communications networks in the utility applications for exam-
ple, you can design and execute your engineering routines with all
the power of Bentley Map working in the background.
Spatial Databases and OGC support
Overall, Bentley Map focuses strongly on 3D model creation, editing,
and spatial analysis, says Zambuni. This is because the technology is
there now to create and manage 3D geospatial models both on the
desktop and at the server level. The latest version of Bentley Map
also offers support for advanced
point cloud processing and the
manipulation of large scalable ter-
rain models (STMs). But additional
3D repower is not all, theres new
support for Microsoft SQL Server
Spatial and the OGCs Web
Feature Service (WFS) and indeed
CityGML through a CityGML appli-
cation template.
In this release, Bentley will support
Microsoft SQL Server Spatial as
well as Oracle Spatial. For
Microsoft SQL Server users, this
means more interoperability and
enterprise integration. Zambuni:
we have been very good support-
ers of Oracle Spatial in the past
and won an award last year for our
groundbreaking technical support
of Oracle Spatial over a long peri-
od of time. Weve had a lot of
requests to support Microsoft SQL
Server Spatial from smaller organi-
zations and from people who dont
have access to Oracle Spatial in
their organization.
Direct data access to large
databases is also a new capabili-
ty. Zambuni: here the issue is
being able to query the richly
attributed spatial information in a
very time-effective way. You can
imagine that, particularly in our environment with infrastructure, man-
aging and querying those attributes is critical. Now we have vastly
improved the performance aspects of these large-scale data queries.
Bentley has been very strongly and deeply engaged with the OGC,
says Zambuni: weve implemented a lot of OGC standards in both
our desktop and server geospatial products. With Bentley Maps WFS
client support, users can access spatial data that is published in the
WFS standard and the obvious advantage there is that it increases
the interoperability capabilities of Bentley Map. Its something for
which weve had quite a lot of demand.
CityGML
Another OGC-linked topic and about 3D is a new CityGML applica-
tion template which is a pre-con-
gured Bentley Map XFM model
based on the OGCs CityGML
data model. This new application
template supports all the CityGML
features and includes placement
and promote tools. With Bentley
Map, users can now import,
export and produce data that con-
form to the CityGML standard.
Zambuni: we have a number of
application templates that we
have developed using the XFM
feature modeling technology, to
give people a start point for deal-
ing with airport models and now
city models. We expect to deliver
32
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Eric van Rees
Point cloud line-draping in Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 3)
Spatial data streaming in Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 3)
an application template for roads in due course too.
Although the technology is there now, Zambuni is surprised that the
adoption of 3D city models is gradual rather than aggressive: 3D
city models are real and CityGML is important in that. I think people
have concerns about the potential cost of 3D city models, but Bentley
products are already used in local government geospatial workows
to support these 3D projects, whether on the desktop or on the serv-
er. I think the greater issue is modifying workows to not only create
the 3D model but to ensure that it stays current.
Advanced point-cloud processing
For an infrastructure company, point clouds are utterly critical, in
both engineering design and geospatial workows. We believe
point clouds have become a fundamen-
tal engineering data type much like sur-
faces and solids. We really want to have
a strong and progressive strategy for
delivering new functionality to make
them more usable states Zambuni: we
acquired the Pointools products, for stan-
dalone workows for viewing, editing,
and animation. For advanced point-
cloud processing in MicroStation work-
ows we have Bentley Descartes and
Bentley Map , and now we also have
ProjectWise Point-cloud Services for
managing point clouds on the server.
The latest version of Bentley Map takes
greater advantage of point-cloud data engineering workows with
a number of advanced point cloud tools, such as classication edit-
ing, line draping, geometry extraction, smart snapping and more.
These tools are brought into the product from Bentley Descartes.
Bentley Descartes is an extension for MicroStation that now allows
the combination point clouds, raster image processing, and geome-
try for 3D modeling. We have now included all the new Bentley
Descartes capabilities into Bentley Map Enterprise says Zambuni.
In order to support the consumption of 3D spatial information over
the web, Bentley Geo Web Publisher is now capable of handling
3D publishing, says Zambuni: weve had lots of requests from all
sorts of infrastructure owner-operators to make sure that we can pub-
lish 3D models that can be navigated and queried as easily as 2D
models. Crossrail is a very good example of this requirement, where
all their engineering data is modeled in 3D and they want to make
sure they can publish that 3D information to more casual users.
Scalable Terrain models (STM)
For those who want to go big data all the way, manipulation of
very large terrain models is now possible with Bentleys scalable ter-
rain model (STM) technology: users can maintain a single terrain
model for an entire region or even a country, keep the model up-to-
date and navigate it intuitively. These scalable terrain models will
be used by national mapping agencies, municipalities, and govern-
ment agencies at the state/provincial and national level.
Zambuni: Canada currently serves as
a test case, so its billions of points were
dealing with. The model is extremely
accurate and we have the ability to
drape the model with high-resolution
orthoimagery at impressive speed.
STMs can be built from the terrain mod-
els provided by Bentleys civil packages,
LiDAR, and a number of other sources.
The STM keeps track of which les were
used as input to the model. If any of
those les change, then the user is
advised and can they can rebuild the
STM as required. Users can merge
design data from a very large area or
from many projects into one model for visualization. In addition to
high resolution orthoimagery display, users can also show contours
at selected intervals, hill shading and aspect, as well as elevation
displays. The scalable terrain model always displays at interactive
speeds. Zambuni: Our customers work with some of the largest pro-
jects in the world. Our software needs to work with the types of data
required to support those projects.
For more information, have a look at:
www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Map
33
Web Feature Service (WFS) in Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 3)
Scalable Terrain Model (STM) of Canada in Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 3)
Ar t i c l e
Jammed and jumped
GNSS Update
LightSquared. For the regular readers of this series this will have become a familiar word by now.
There has been a lot of fuss in the US about signal disruption and possible fraud. For the time being
the issue has been solved; LightSquared is bankrupt as a result of losing the law suit against it from
the GPS industry. So all is well?
W
ell, not exactly. The issue with the fre-
quency spectrum remains and we
are just waiting for a new (potential)
provider to step up to the plate. Mobile telecom
providers are already complaining about the
lack of spectrum and the data hunger of their
users which could be solved by using addition-
al frequencies in the same bands as those for
GNSS.
Additional issues with jamming are a number
of massive jamming attacks from North Korea
where late April / early May GPS navigation
was affected around the South Korean border.
A total of 337 commercial ights, 122 ships
34
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
New GNSS wiki hosted by ESA (source: navipedia.net)
By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk
Over 300 aircraft were affected by North Korean GPS jamming
(source: blogspot.com)
Ar t i c l e
35
and many cars were affected by the jam-
ming. Similar attacks occurred in August and
December of 2010 as well as in March
2011. In the meantime South Korea is devel-
oping anti-jam programs against the jam-
ming devices which mainly come from
China.
Commercial receivers are more affected by
these jamming efforts than military grade
receivers. There was evidence of this when
a US test proved a Garmin receiver was shown to lose satellites at
greater distances from the jammer as well as losing lock at closer dis-
tances.
A completely different source of signal disruption, namely solar storms,
is on the increase as mentioned in the last issue of this update. The
European Space Agency announced in March that it will start strength-
ening Egnos against the effects of solar storms.
Navipedia
Ever wondered where your taxes go? Some of it is now evident in the
form of Navipedia, published by the European Space Agency. This
technical wiki, which can be found at www.navipedia.net, has more
than 400 articles on just about any GNSS or augmentation system.
Navipedia addresses the issue of fragmented information. As a true
wiki, everybody is free to contribute although any input will be reviewed
by an ESA technical editorial board.
Galileo launches jumped
At the Munich satellite navigation summit in March, Javier Benedicto,
head of the Galileo project ofce, announced that full Galileo service
was now planned for 2015. This means that the schedule for the Galileo
launch has been accelerated so that initial services will be operational
in 2014. Three launches are foreseen in 2013 (6 satellites) and anoth-
er three in 2014 (8 satellites).
By the end of 2014, a total of 16 satellites would then be operational.
In 2015 another eight satellites should be launched, including the two
In Orbit Validation satellites to be launched this year. T his would bring
the total to 16 in 2014 and 24 in 2015. The launch for the second set
of In Orbit Validation satellites is planned for September 28th 2012.
In May the EU launched a public consultation on the Galileo
Commercial Service. This service, which should potentially give the
paying user higher precision than the Open Service, has been heavily
criticized in the past, even leading to the discontinuity of the Public-
Private Partnership that Galileo was supposed to be. Participants in the
consultation are asked to give input and propose new ideas and
approaches to the commercial service as well as discuss pricing, liabili-
ty and performance levels. More information can be found at:
www.gsa.europa.eu.
Compass/Beidou
Meanwhile in China development continues. Two satellites were suc-
cessfully launched on April 29 and became active on May 6. These
two Medium Earth Orbit satellites joined the rst one launched earlier.
This year another three satellites are to be launched, two additional
oneswere planned for June at the time of writing with another one in
October. The China Satellite Navigation Ofce expects adoption of
Compass by countries such as Pakistan and Mongolia over the next
year or two.
Soyuz launcher for Galileo In Orbit Validation
Satellites in Kourou, French Guyana
(source: gpsworld.com)
SDCM
The Russian version of the WAAS
(US)/Egnos (EU)/MTSAT (Japan)
augmentation system, the System of
Differential Corrections and
Monitoring (SDCM) is one step clos-
er to becoming operational. To make
the system compatible with GPS
receivers it needs to have a Pseudo
Random Noise (PRN) identication
code. This has now been assigned,
which is a rst for a Russian
Navigation satellite, as Glonass uses
a different method (Frequency cod-
ing) than GPS.
The C/A codes assigned to the
SDCM transponders are: PRN 125
(58.5E), PRN 140 (95E) and PRN
141 (167E). So far only PRN 125
(Luch 5A) has been launched, but to
date no signals have been detected
by the monitoring stations of the
International GNSS Service.
Indoor Positioning
What do you do when your GPS is not working due to jamming or
more likely, due to the receiver being shielded? One idea would be to
place it indoors where, until now there has been little success. Things
may be about to change in this area,as some major companies are
taking an interest in progressing this eld.
There is evidence of advancement over the last few months. For exam-
ple, Google has started to add indoor walking directions to its Maps
applications for Android: only for the US and Japan so far, but once
Google does take an interest it takes a serious interest.
So how does Maps propose to locate
the smartphone indoors? A number of
solutions are currently being eld test-
ed for adoption in the next genera-
tion smartphones. From a hardware
perspective, Broadcom, a semi-con-
ductor manufacturer, recently intro-
duced their latest generation of GNSS
chipset (BCM4752) which support all
the major GNSS systems as well as
inertial sensors, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Devices with the new chipset are
expected in Q4 of 2012.
When using Wi-Fi these chipsets
make use of an internal hot-spot loca-
tion database. One of the major com-
panies providing such a database is
Skyhook. In Japan this database will
be integrated with mobile communi-
cations Cell-ID, as well as other tech-
niques, to improve positioning in
urban areas.
Other systems, that may be slightly
further away from mass-market adoption are the multi sensor fusion
techniques from Locatronix, which promise accuracies of up to 1.25 m
using both Doppler shifts as well as inertial navigation, and sole use of
inertial sensors by Ainsi.
Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com is a
freelance writer and trainer in the fields of positioning and hydrography.
Ar t i c l e
36
July/August 2012
Graphic showing the first three Compass / Beidou satellites in orbit (source: gpsworld.com)
Indoor navigation experiment with the use of GSM and fused sensors (source: locatronix.com)

I believe in reliability.
Reliability means peace of mind knowing that
your equipment will never let you down.
Regardless of the situation, you want to be able to rely on your
equipment and the results you get. Thats why Leica Geosystems
places great emphasis on dependability. Our comprehensive
spectrum of solutions covers all your measurement needs for
surveying, engineering and geospatial applications. And they are
all backed with world-class service and support that delivers
answers to your questions. When it matters most. When you
are in the field. When it has to be right.
You can count on Leica Geosystems to provide a highly reliable
solution for every facet of your job.
Leica Geosystems AG
Switzerland
www.leica-geosystems.com
The Leica Viva GNSS this exceptionally rugged,
easy-to-use instrument with a self-explanatory
interface is a fine example of our uncompromising
dedication to your needs. Reliability: yet another
reason to trust Leica Geosystems.

Synchronization, simplification and integration
Hexagon 2012
From June 4th until June 7th 2012, some 3,300 attendees witnessed presentations of new technolo-
gies coming out of ERDAS, Intergraph, Leica and Metrology at Hexagon 2012 in Las Vegas.
F
rom 2011 on, users of ERDAS, Intergraph, Leica and Hexagons
Metrology division are seen as members of the family the Swedish
multinational has created. A family that continues to grow through
a corporate strategy based on the acquisition of myriad technology
rms over the last ten years. One of the latest moves is the acquisition
of a minority stake (of 25 per cent) in Norwegian geospatial service
provider Blom.
myVR Software
Also hot from the press was the announcement of the acquisition of
Norwegian company myVR, who provides software that offers a solu-
tion for 2D, 3D and 360-degree viewing for desktop and mobile. The
company has developed a patented technology platform that enables
high-resolution real-time viewing of interactive maps over networks with
limited bandwidth. The platform makes it possible to view large-scale
models on any 3D hardware-supported client platform, including mobile
phones and tablets. Upon the acquisition, Hexagon CEO Ola Rolln
stated: In the past, the problem with displaying 3D data on a mobile
device such as a tablet has been size limitations of data transfers, and
also the ability to handle the transfer in a real-time environment. myVR
has a unique solution to this problem, and Hexagon will make use of
its technology in all of our divisions.
A typical workflow
Hexagon is expanding in the geospatial realm, creating product suites
which intertwine with as little overlap as possible. A typical workow,
at least in Hexagons 2012 view, would be a medium resolution
imagery capture with Leica cameras, the orthorectication and data
38
July/August 2012
E v e n t
By Remco Takken
Hexagon 2012 opening act ( Hexagon, 2012)
Hexagon CEO Ola Rolln ( Hexagon, 2012)
capture being done in the LPS Photogrammetry Suite. Data analysis
and preparation will be achieved using ERDAS IMAGINE, and data man-
agement in ERDAS APOLLO. This data management includes description,
cataloguing and serving of all imagery and web services meant for
GIS/CAD systems, preferably Intergraph GeoMedia, OGC Web
Clients or data manager clients like Eclipse RCP or ERDAS IMAGINE.
In the real world, all of the components mentioned above could be
interchanged with products of other manufacturers and vendors, thanks
to the use of open standards which ERDAS, Intergraph and Leica warm-
heartedly embrace. This also means that many attendees at Hexagon
are either clients of Metrology, Leica, ERDAS or Intergraph, sometimes
using two of those brands, and in some rare cases three. In this article,
synergies with Intergraph products are emphasized. It has not been
physically possible to attend Leica HDS and Metrology presentations
going on at the same time. Also, innovations within the GeoMedia
Smart client portfolio will nd its place in the columns of GeoInformatics
on a later date.
Promises rang true
Many of the promises made in 2010 and 2011, when Intergraph was
being incorporated within the Hexagon portfolio, rang true in many
user and product presentations in 2012. For instance, one could see
GeoMedia desktop GIS running on the Leica CS25 ruggedized tablet
PC, a small machine for outdoors use supporting (Windows 7 Ultimate).
During Hexagon 2012, users of Intergraph, ERDAS and Leica were able
to see each others workows and the different levels of product inte-
gration. For many newcomers, entry level introductions to GeoMedia
or APOLLO were welcome additions to an overwhelming array of spe-
cialist presentations. And even for some of the more seasoned atten-
dees, it was good to get those four GeoMedia types GeoMedia,
Professional, Viewer and Objects, in perspective again.
Synchronized ERDAS and Intergraph releases
One of the most obvious news facts concerned the on-going integration
between Intergraphs vector solutions and ERDAS raster type portals and
tools. A slide that recurred during different presentations showed how the
Geospatial Portal and Geospatial SDI functioned as virtual umbrellas over
both GeoMedia WebMap Essentials and Apollo Essentials. During last
years conference, the rst stories on integration existed mainly in
PowerPoint slides, but in 2012, technical enthusiasts at ERDAS and
Intergraph made it real.
Great news for Intergraph users was the announcement that the fairly tight
release schedules of ERDAS now also apply for GeoMedia, beginning with
versions 2012 and 2013. GeoMedias schedule data are to be consistent
with the other product offerings. Lately, partial updates and small xes
tended to obscure the fact that no big GeoMedia release was imminent,
while the workload for system and application managers stayed on a fair-
ly high level, due to the numerous new versions and updates. At this
moment, the last of the old GeoMedia releases is version 6.1.11 (!). It
supports the ERDAS .img raster/image format, illustrating the start of better
E v e n t
39
Geospatial Panel Lunch ( Hexagon, 2012)
integration and synergy between
GeoMedia and the IMAGINE products.
Simplification
The start of the simplication of the
GeoMedia product portfolio is also
an effort which is warmly welcomed.
However, the 2012 edition still
seems fairly complicated. The addi-
tions of Database Manager,
Transportation Manager, Mapping
Manager (= Map Publisher and
Feature Cartographer) and
GeoMedia 3D still look daunting to
newcomers, especially when none of
those extras apply to GeoMedia Advantage and GeoMedia
Essentials, except for GeoMedia 3D. The big version, capable of
hooking up with above additions is called GeoMedia Professional. This
entity encloses IMAGINE Essentials and Advantage, Grid & Terrain, plus
GeoMedia Pro, Fusion, GI Toolkit, Feature Topographer, Parcel
Manager, Public Works and Transaction Manager. Right
GeoMedia 2012
A noteworthy development was the live link between remote sensing
data of ERDAS Imagine and #D GIS in GeoMedia desktop. The dual
screens of both applications showed their own data ows from the
exact same location on earth, each revealing different aspects of the
environment.
As for GeoMedia 2012, apart from more integration with the ERDAS
products, no real surprises were revealed. However one can easily
overlook the great advantages of the new ribbonized interface.
Especially people who dont work with GeoMedia on an everyday
basis will nd the new Microsoft-like look and feel easy to adjust to.
Another interesting improvement relevant to users is the display perfor-
mance speed. The client side cache of warehouse connections signi-
cantly improves data access performance and ultimately the rendering
and display of feature data in the map window, from 1 - 5 minutes
down to a matter of seconds, for instance in the case of 500K feature
records. This cache le location is user denable, and is updated auto-
matically as edits are performed or when the warehouse is re-opened.
MapText
The integration of Maptext tools within GeoMedia is a direct result of an
OEM agreement which was published during the conference. MapTexts
GeoLabel Pro is a label-placement solution. It places text automatically
for virtually any kind of map or chart, to high cartographic standards
and at high speed. The software is meant for making city street maps,
highway maps, cadastral maps, soil maps, utility maps and nautical and
aeronautical charts. Through the
agreement, MapText's GeoLabel Pro
will be fully embedded into
GeoMedia Desktop, enhancing the
overall labelling capabilities within
the product suite. As such, users can
dene rules for the placement, includ-
ing label conict resolution strategies.
Also, content and style of feature-
based generated labels can be
reviewed and edited to improve their
nal appearance. One can choose
between both dynamic labelling,
where labels are quickly repositioned
as the user pans and zooms, but there
is an option for static labelling as well.
GeoMedia and APOLLO
Integration
Queries on spatial extent, keywords,
time and date are managed in an inte-
grated solution of GeoMedia 2012
and ERDAS APOLLO. The APOLLO server
product and its metadata catalogue
deliver unstructured raster and image
les to the GeoMedia Desktop. It is pos-
sible to view results, including metada-
ta, in a grid, detailed view or thumb-
nail view before selecting les to be
retrieved. The look and feel is similar to other APOLLO clients and the
GeoMedia Metadata Catalog Explorer.
Synergies in Edmonton
Many of the smaller customer presentations dealt with the on-going
product integration of the Hexagon family. Canadian City of Edmonton
surprised its listeners by a double presentation concerning their pilot
program of the Leica CS25 ultra rugged tablet and the GG02+ GNSS
Smart Antenna for asset management data collection, and GeoMedia
GIS in the ofce. This integrated solution provides a means to easily
track and better perform maintenance and condition assessments for
all of Edmontons park properties. The City of Edmonton has more than
460 parks and hosts the largest expanse of urban parkland in North
America with its North Saskatchewan River Valley parks.
The Parks Branch is currently using devices to download the existing
asset data from its GIS database. The new mobile data will be updat-
ed when eld workers perform condition inspections, as well as add
on new data regarding new assets streamlining the entire workow.
The speakers enthused upon the extremely accurate external GPS,
Leicas large screen and the fact that Windows 7 could be deployed to
access the non-GPS-data. As cons were reported the shaky internal
GPS, the complexities of multitasking and the cost of the apparatus.
Among future plans are: sharing the experience with other departments,
and a continuation of Leica/ Intergraph eld software solutions.
One and the same workflow
By simply dividing their new tools into hardware (Leica) and soft-
ware (GeoMedia), the Edmonton folks perfectly matched Hexagons
ideal that all those brand names are actually going to support one
and the same workow.
With all of the juridical and practical obstacles out of the way,
Hexagon proves to be more than some semi-anonymous hedge fund
buying and selling technology rms. Now that the rst combined
software release of Intergraph and
ERDAS 2012 is under way, more
exciting workows will emerge out
of the combination of raster data,
vector data and data capture from
all sorts of sensors, be it out of the
Hexagon stable, or elsewhere.
http://2012.hexagonconference.com
E v e n t
40
July/August 2012
Remco Takken, editor for GeoInformatics Magazine, gave a short presentation during
the Geospatial Panel Lunch ( Hexagon, 2012)
Leica Geosystems Juergen Dold ( Hexagon, 2012)

Digital Visions of the Future
Faro European User Meeting 2012
In 2005, Floridian company Faro joined the mid-range laser scanning market by acquiring iQvolution
AG. For iQvolutions founders - brothers Bernd and Reinhard Becker of Stuttgart, Germany - a time of
great change, technological development, and system evolution was about to occur. The phase based
technology contained within the iQsun system was immediately repackaged as the LS 880 which soon
got succeeded by the Faro Photon series of scanners. It was in 2010, however, the full effect of the
merger was felt with the release of the Focus3D at SPAR Europe.
L
abelled as disruptive technology, this
cheaper, smaller mid-range laser scanning
solution exceeded Faros expectations.
Within twenty months the Focus3D achieved
what the brothers of disruption intended to
accomplish. The product increased the num-
ber of users within the mid-range laser scan-
ning market and surpassed all previous Faro
scanner sales. This includes record gures
eclipsing all previous system sales combined.
For the more than 220 attendees at Faros
European User Meeting in Zurich,
Switzerland, May 22nd - 23rd, 2012, open-
ing up the scanning sector through cheaper
but higher quality equipment resulted in a
diverse and refreshing set of presentations.
Recently promoted Chief Technologies
Strategist Dr. Bernd Becker was quick to point
out it was 3D documentation that brought
everyone together. This philosophy set the tone
and resonated throughout the two day event.
Technological Developments
Putting his brothers ideas into practice, Reinhard
- Director of Laser Scanning Research and
Development - gave a presentation in which he
was subject to 3D documentation himself.
Building on twelve years of commercial experi-
ence with phase shift systems, Faro has started
to explore related processes like photogramme-
try and structured light. This exploration on the
hardware side was mirrored by a greater desire
to enter the software market - supported through
the latest version of Scene and the announce-
ment of the Faro App Store. Included for the app
store launch was a structured light plugin for
Scene using the Xbox Kinect. Both were used to
digitise Reinhard as he outlined Faros digital
strategies for the future.
Faro App Store
In part a reaction to current consumer trends
encouraged by Apple, the app store acts as a
42
July/August 2012
E v e n t
By Adam P. Spring
Faro European User Meeting audience
means through which product development can
be crowdsourced. The Kinect plugin, for
instance, gives users the opportunity to help
shape a product through application and test-
ing of latest updates. As Marshall Mcluhan once
suggested the medium is the message and, in
this case, the app store is the means through
which users gain a voice. For Faro their digital
future includes a progressive, consumer driven
model - one in which the manufacturer not only
listens, but literally learns from the customer.
Only time will tell whether the seller or consumer
is proven right.
Schloss Sihlberg and Networking Activities
Held at the Schloss Sihlberg (formerly the Villa
Sihlberg) the conference was located at the high-
est point of the narrow quarters of Zurich. Built
in 1896, the late-Gothic and early-Renaissance
inuenced castle once catered to the tastes of
the Hurlimanns - a family who made their
money from brewing beer and owned the prop-
erty up to 1950. After this time the building lay
dormant for 20 years until its reuse as a part of
the Rudolf Steiner School from 1970 to 1981.
The Schloss Sihlberg was then restored by its
current owner - architect Edgar Schwyn.
On May 21st, 2012, the Sihlberg courtyard
was the stage for a series of team building
activities. This German spin on American net-
working exercises was geared toward bring-
ing out the best in people. With ten exercises
in total, including tightrope walking, and a
3D computer mouse as the prize for everyone
in the top three winning teams, competition
was friendly but jokingly erce. The games
certainly worked up a hunger for the gala din-
ner set on a luxury cruiser - the Panta Rhei.
Vistas during the meal were provided by the
scenery around the shores of Lake Zurich.
Presentations and Partners
Presentations were split between product
demonstrations, technical training sessions,
and user case studies. For the latter this includ-
ed the themed sessions of civil engineering,
mobile mapping, heritage, architecture and a
special session outlining different aspects of
3D documentation in practice. One of the spe-
cial people, Bernard Frischer, kicked off that
particular session by outlining Seymour3D - a
new web service for the publication of large
interactive 3D models. The use of the Focus3D
for mobile mapping was a prominent feature
of the conference as well.
Also at hand for advice and product demon-
strations were the twelve companies support-
ing the event. This included Geomagic, MDL,
Gexcel, duwe 3D, Rapidform, 3D Connexion,
Siteco, Amberg Technologies, Laser Scanning
Europe, Lehmann Partner, Kubit and Lupus3D.
Gerd Schwaderer of Geomagic was quick,
not only to highlight the power of the mesh-
ing software offered by the North Carolina
based company, but to stress the importance
of the conference. For partners like
Geomagic, Faros European User Meeting
presents another emerging laser scanning user
group and a fresh set of opportunities. If Faros
2012 gathering is a measure of the future it
will no doubt have grown by its European
Meeting in Strasbourg, June 6th - 7th, 2013.
Cultural Heritage and
Architectural Applications
Cultural heritage and architectural applica-
tions had a strong presence at the 2012 meet-
ing. Presentations included the rst cultural her-
itage application of the Focus3D on the
inscribed Tristan Stone, Cornwall, UK, by
Adam P. Spring of SurveyHD (see Geomatics
World Showcase September 2011); an out-
line of several projects that included 186
scans at the World Heritage Site of Ironbridge,
UK, by Pointools co-creator and APR Services
Managing Director Tony Rogers, as well as a
lesson in photo calibration for drape over and
texture mapping by the University of Ennas
Antonella Versaci. The ICA of Mexico had a
strong presence at the event through Mario
Vidali Castillo - who gave two presentations
on archaeological site and architectural appli-
cations over both days.
Conclusion
Faros European User Meeting 2012 marked
a move away from the concept of high deni-
tion survey and a move toward 3D documen-
tation. At present, the varied applications of
the Focus3D, along with experimentation in
developing structured light and photogram-
metric solutions, supported ideas of a multi-
sensory future. The focus of the conference
was driven further by a continuing desire to
create ubiquitous technologies at a user level.
In striving for ubiquity with such methodolo-
gies, however, it is important to highlight the
responsibility that comes with teaching univer-
sality. In a laser scanning context this includes
understanding why as well as how the pro-
cesses work - especially as a generation of
users familiar with what were once analogue
processes continue to lessen in number. For
Bernd and Reinhard Becker such challenges
were all part of a bigger picture and were
incorporated into their digital vision for the
future.
More User Meeting Coverage:
http://blog.faro-europe.com/faro-laser-scanner
E v e n t
43
E v e n t
44
July/August 2012
Rome, Italy
FIG Working Week 2012
Each year FIG organizes a Working Week. This year it was held in Rome, Italy in the splendid
surroundings of the Cavalieri Hotel on Monte Mario. Altogether 1500 participants came from 96
countries.
T
he International Federation of
Surveyors FIG (Federation Inter -
natio nale des Geo metres) was
founded in 1878. It is now a recog-
nized NGO of the United Nations,
representing the surveying disci-
plines in 120 countries. Congresses
are held every 4 years (the last was
held in 2010 in Sydney, Australia,
and the next is scheduled for Kuala
Lumpur in 2014. Each year FIG
organizes a Working Week. This
year it was held in Rome, Italy in the
splendid surroundings of the
Cavalieri Hotel on Monte Mario. Altogether
1500 participants came from 96 countries.
At the Opening Ceremony on Monday, May
7 FIG President CheeHai Teo expressed, that
FIGs aim now is directed beyond securing
land tenure rights toward land development
and the land market.
It is difcult to review the many papers pre-
sented in simultaneous sessions, except for
some of the plenary meetings with novel
ideas:
Norbert Lautschner, past director of Klima
Haus, Italy stressed, that based on demo-
graphic and climate changes new goals have
evolved for sustainable development, the
search for new energy production.
Karl-Friedrich Thne, DVW President,
Germany expanded on this issue pointing out
the need for better planning competence for
the surveyor at a time, when land consump-
tion per person changes demographically.
Alexander Mller, Assistant General
Director of FAO reported on the completion
and the passing of new Voluntary Guidelines
for Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context
of National Food Security. The 34 page doc-
ument can be downloaded from the FAO web-
site: www.fao.org
Another interesting session was on the Glo -
bal Land Tool Network Agenda (GLTNA). It
was chaired by FIG President CheeHau Teo:
Clarissa Augustinus of UN Habitat,
Nairobi spoke on the GLTNA strategies:
In Subsaharan Africa 62% of the cities con-
sist of slums, in South East Asia 43%.
Only 30% have cadastral coverage. Only
2 to 3% of owners are female. A pro-poor
strategy on a systematic large scale
approach is needed, requiring governance,
equity, subsidiarity and affordability. A con-
version of the effort from land right to social
tenure is required.
Stig Enemark, Past FIG President,
Denmark stressed the role of professionals to
advance the GLTN Agenda. While Malawi
has 20 valuers, 26 planners, but only 12 sur-
veyors, 100 professionals and 150techni-
cials are needed for the government and per-
haps double that for the private sector. There
is informal development even in Europe
(Greece).
Danilo Antonio, Uganda, has reported on
a pilot project, where Google Earth has been
used for data capture, combined with digital
house and document images.
Keith Hofgartner of Trimble showed
examples of rapid mapping using UAVs
Paul van der Molen, Netherlands, in his
paper what is left of the ideas of Hernando
de Soto started with critical remarks and his
statement, that after 10 years implementation
of de Sotos ideas we still have 3 billon peo-
ple living on less than 2.4$ per day, while 2.3
trillion $ went to Africa from ODA funds for
this purpose.
Dambisa Moyos plea was to cut aid and
leave it to the markets, while Clinton, Reagan,
Thatcher and Albright endorsed De Sotos sug-
gestions. Others expressed criticism in litera-
ture by suggesting simple solutions for com-
plex problems.. Even in Peru, De Sotos home
land, titling does not work. The biggest prob-
lem is the institutional infrastructure. This paper
deserves more discussion.
Ong See Lian, Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors discussed Building Information
Modelling. Computer graphics use in con-
struction started with CAD in 2D. Now 3D is
in use. This has led to Building Information
Models (BIM). Their integration for use in
entire cities (e.g. Singapore) is a challenge to
the survey profession.
Gottfried Konicny, is Professor at the Institute for Photogrammetry and
GeoInformation, Hannover University, Germany.
By Gottfried Konecny

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MAPPING
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At the Global Geospatial Conference 2012 (14-17 May) Spatially Enabling
Government, Industry and Citizens I participated in a panel session on
Canadas Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (Arctic SDI) Initiative. This panel,
led by GeoConnections of Natural Resources Canada, convened to discuss
Canadas effort to build an Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure that would serve
all Arctic Ocean stakeholders and provide a greater global understanding of
Arctic issues and challenges.
I
was asked about what value the OGC could bring
to the Arctic SDI. I believe the OGC process can be
of help in organizing OGCs international member-
ship around specic Arctic SDI standards and techni-
cal issues (there are some that need attention). More
importantly, I envision the OGC process as a neutral
and international forum where the broader Arctic SDI
community can come together with the broader OGC
international membership to develop agreed upon
standards, a common architecture, service level agree-
ments and an overall roadmap to move forward. More
and more, the OGC is being called upon to work with
communities of interest to help establish agreed upon
best practice of this nature.
The OGCs Arctic Activities
The OGC Is fortunate to have several of the organiza-
tions involved in the Arctic SDI as members of the
Consortium, and OGC has been involved in advanc-
ing ASDI concepts. As a participating organization in
the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), OGC is
working to help advance the Global Earth Observing
System of Systems. On behalf of GEO, the OGC
administers a multi-year series of Architecture
Implementation Pilot (AIP) initiatives to identify, devel-
op and demonstrate the ability of GEOSS Common
Infrastructure components to support a range of use
cases based on the nine GEOSS Societal Benet
Areas.
Additional efforts within the OGC are advancing stan-
dards based solutions and best practice for emergen-
cy and disaster management, environmental monitor-
ing, aviation information management, ocean
observation, and a range of other domains that have
relevance to the Arctic.
Though the essential technology infrastructure for an
Arctic SDI is in place, there are a few technical prob-
lems that industry standards can help address: polar
projections exist, but they could be improved; there
needs to be continued emphasis on agility in model-
ing and forecasting capability; there are fusion issues
still to tackle such as the ability to track uncertainty
and provenance; cooperative data maintenance as
mentioned above applies in the arctic among cooper-
ating nations.
Geosynchronization (as demonstrated in the CGDI
Pilot noted above) refers to standards and software
that provide access to the most current and authorita-
tive data while maintaining currency, avoiding ver-
sioning and minimizing duplication of the data. This
is essential when data is being collected and main-
tained by multiple groups in a limited connectivity envi-
ronment.
A key requirement, in my opinion, is to unite the com-
munity in a committed process to dene a common
technical and institutional architecture and move for-
ward in a deliberate way to implement that architec-
ture. The diversity and complexity of arctic programs
requires that there be an underlying structure for one-
to-many and many-to-one as well as one-to-one inter-
operability among technical systems and institutions.
As my fellow panelists explained, thought must be
given not only to the creation but also the maintenance
and sustainability of an SDI. Panelists talked about
their signicant work in establishing surveys and dia-
log with local populations in the Arctic to focus on
essential data requirements as well as cooperative
data collection, validation and maintenance for the
Arctic SDI. In such forums, discussion of decision mak-
ers shared priorities would maximize the opportunity
to expand and grow capabilities uidly and economi-
cally. Discussion could focus on priority areas that
could be piloted, in pilot projects, that is, to drive sup-
port from higher-level decision makers.
I look forward to continuing the discussion with mem-
bers of the panel and audience who participated in
the Global Geospatial Conference, and also members
of the OGC, to nd ways that the OGC might join the
international community of OGC members to help
accelerate the Arctic SDI vision to reality.
Mark Reichardt mreichardt@myogc.org,
President & CEO Open Geospatial
Consortium (OGC)
What Could Speed Up the
Reality of an Arctic SDI?
C o l u mn
46
July/August 2012
Google Maps enters the Professional Mobile Market Space
Google Maps Coordinate
Going by the name Google Maps Coordinate, Google presents a new mobile service for companies
and organizations with field workers.
T
he idea is simple. A light smartphone
app connects through web services to
the systems of work managers and dis-
patchers at the ofce. This allows the loca-
tion of the eld workers to be shared with
the whole organization. With this app,
Google wants to improve the communica-
tion between companies and their eld
workers. Daniel Chu, Senior Product
Manager at Google, explains:
imagine you are a call centre operator at
an electric utility company. A call comes in
reporting a downed power line in one of
the northern suburbs of your city, and an
entire neighbourhood is without power. You
need to quickly dispatch one of your line
repairers to the site, which is almost an hour
away. To save time and get the power back
up quickly, you want to know which line
repairers are already in the area and send
them the relevant information about the job.
What is Google Maps
Coordinate?
Google Maps Coordinate is a web app and
mobile app in one. In ve steps Daniel Chu
explains how the app works: this tool is
designed to improve communication
between the ofce and employees in the
eld. The app will send an accurate loca-
tion. One can easily create jobs, precisely
locate the job, assign the job to the nearest
team member and notify them instantly.
While viewing past jobs and locations with
the hard data you need to make strong busi-
ness decisions, businesses can visualize the
locations of all their jobs and teams, includ-
ing current and past jobs. Businesses can
assess where they should be assigning or
hiring more workers and how to optimally
place their teams.
Google Maps API
This move towards the business-to-business
world is a logical step. More than 600,000
websites and domains apply the API of
Google Maps. The Google brand is strong
as a free consumer service and advertising
48
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Remco Takken
Google Maps Coordinate is a web app and mobile app in one.
medium. However, theres still a lot to gain
in the area of the professional and business
user. Under the name Google Enterprise
Google is looking for expansion in the busi-
ness industry. Clients are paying for the
Google Earth service and Google vows that
they wont touch data trafc on the con-
nected internet and intranet sites. At the
moment, about 25,000 people worldwide
work with such a Google Enterprise license
on geospatial data. A number of govern-
ment services are already using it.
As the number of mobile employees contin-
ues to grow, so does the need for a location
sharing solution that works in real-time. In a
press release, Google quotes research rm
IDC which estimates that by 2015 roughly
37 per cent of the total workforce will con-
sist of mobile workers. This is a potential
client group of roughly 1,3 billion workers.
Traditional geospatial companies
However, the trust in the company that has
based its business model on collecting and
analyzing the information of users isnt com-
monly shared. Yet. Especially not by large
companies with critical assets, like semi-gov-
ernmental organizations and utilities.
However, a lot of these organizations are
watching Google Maps/Earth with great
interest. And some of those big enterprises,
like BBVA, one of the biggest nancial busi-
nesses in the world, deploy Google Apps.
Traditional geospatial companies such as
Esri (ArcGIS), GE Energy (Smallworld),
Bentley (Microstation/MX/Map) and
Autodesk (AutoCAD Map/Civil 3d) still have
their feet rmly in the door when it comes to
geospatial ICT solutions. Heavy applica-
tions, for example for the monitoring of
pipes and cables, guarantee a continuous
contact between managing departments,
system integrators and suppliers. The latter
have been aware of the ease of use and low
threshold of Googles products since 2005,
the year when Google Earth went live. They
now implement Google-like web applica-
tions based on traditional GIS systems that
were installed towards the end of the 90s.
Maps and smartphones
Google Maps Coordinate now want to com-
bine the power of Google Maps mapping
technology with modern smartphones, so
that organizations can allocate their assign-
ments and deploy their workers more ef-
ciently. Field workers can download the app
and share the actual location. A choice
between visible and invisible can be set
by the person concerned. Daniel Chu states
that from nine to ve' will probably be a
prevalent setting. An interim turning off can
be handy to save battery power, avoid
unnecessary data trafc during moving from
one assignment to the other and alleviate
the feeling of being followed all the time.
Possibilities
Google Maps Coordinate is built on
Googles map and geolocation infrastruc-
ture, so the app transduces the locations in
a familiar way. The product cooperates
seamlessly with Google Enterprise
Maps/Earth and according to Google, the
API is capable of integrating in all possible
existing systems that are in use. Daniel Chu
adds: Relatively few companies work with
tracking systems. Lots of them have experi-
enced earlier how hard the integration is of
a lot of those expensive track and trace sys-
tems. They have tried and stopped using
them. You hear this through the whole
Google organization: simplicity is very
important. We make it light-weight, and
easy to link through a whole suite of web
services that we support.
Indoors the app continues to function, thanks
to its integration with Google Indoor Maps.
With Google Maps Coordinate it is also
possible to record data directly in the appli-
cation, from from measurements to client
contact details. Meanwhile, a dispatcher
back in the ofce canadd team members to
a Google Maps Coordinate team and see
their locations in the Google Maps
Coordinate web and mobile app. For exam-
ple, an electric utility company might create
a special team for home electricians and
another for line repairers.
Google in context
IIts interesting to learn that on the same day
that Google announced Google Maps
Coordinate, they also announced plans to
hire three hundred visual data-specialists as
part of a one-year project to correct mistakes
in Google Maps, as well as a lower pricing
policy and simplied limits with the Google
Maps API. After renaming its cloud-based
data hosting service Google Earth Builder
last May (its now called Google Maps
Engine), Google shows that it takes notice
of market demands and is moving closer to
being considered a serious competitor to
commercial GIS vendors.
For more information, have a look at:
www.google.com/enterprise/mapsearth/products/coordinate.html
Ar t i c l e
49
GeoDesign and Education
Essays on Geography and GIS Vol. 4
A free download of best practices and articles places the spotlight on significant matters in the field of
GIS and geography. Education and GeoDesign are the most notable topics covered here.
R
eleased as a free download last
May, Essays on Geography and
GIS vol. 4 provides an overview of
best practices and articles that have sur-
faced in various Esri publications. They
are accessible to a broad audience, since
they are non-technical and examine cur-
rent spatial problems, its implications for
applying GIS and the academic chal-
lenges faced by geography as a science.
This particular issue consists of 18 short
contributions over 74 pages.
As always, this collection contains some
thought-provoking content, which gener-
ates some interesting commentary from
the readers. The shorter columns are espe-
cially interesting to read. The core of this
collection focuses on two topics: educa-
tion and GeoDesign. The articles about
education centre on geographical science
and geography in higher education. Of
particular concern is the lack of geo-liter-
acy, a declining number of geography
departments in American universities and
a lack of funding for GIS departments in
municipalities. These deciencies show
that geography and GIS constantly have to
prove their use and place in the world.
Unfortunately this is not a new occurrence,
but is one which has been happening for
decades.
A Bright Future for Spatial
Thinkers
A positive outlook is forecast in two very
well-written contributions by Jack Danger -
mond: he promises a bright future for spa-
tial thinkers, observing that spatial thinking
is a valuable skill for solving problems in
many professions. The main reason for this
is that the private sector is nally catching
up with the government sector. In fact, what
he foresees is a changing professional work
eld for GIS professionals and the geospa-
tial industry as whole Esri included. The
changing focus from Esri to both the natural
and man-made environment (GeoDesign as
well as modeling through CityEngine) is an
example of this. Dangermond writes about
integrating BIM with GIS in a contribution
called Managing our man-made ecosys-
tems, but in practice I havent seen a lot of
evidence to support this: CAD-GIS integra-
tion is something not actively marketed by
Esri.
This volume also touches on new applica-
tion elds where GIS is gaining ground,
such as health research and gaming, both
of which are covered in this collection. Also,
the boom of sensors that enable real-time
earth monitoring poses interesting chal-
lenges for GIS professionals, although this
topic is only mentioned once and very
briey at that, in this collection. (A contribu-
tion on Big Data would have been appro-
priate here).
GeoDesign
Lastly, there is the focus on GeoDesign, a
term that still puzzles me. This collection
holds a number of case studies on integrat-
ed spatial planning, mostly for natural
areas, but also for regional planning
where both man-made and natural envi-
ronment are being considered as a
whole. But if GeoDesign is integrated spa-
tial planning and modeling through GIS,
than why not call it such? Im afraid
GeoDesign is an overused term with dif-
ferent meanings to different people. And
in what sense does GeoDesign differ from
what spatial planners have being doing
for ages? The term does imply something
new, but what exactly this is, isnt clear
to me. From the contributions in this e-
book, the term is mentioned indirectly
never directly, but Id like to read about
who performs GeoDesign in practice and
how this works (or is it just an academic
way of holistic thinking and planning?).
A missed opportunity.
The Future of GIS
Michael Goodchild touches on an impor-
tant matter in his contribution Looking
Forward: Five Thoughts on the Future of
GIS. He states that the average American
spends only 13 percent of their time out-
doors, while GIS started out with its focus
on the outside world. He pleads for rapid,
cheap and accurate capture of 3D geome-
tries and attributes, as well as effective meth-
ods for determining indoor position. In the
last months, there have been some acquisi-
tions in the industry that undoubtedly will
lead to some breakthroughs on these mat-
ters over time.
The only contribution that misses the point is
GIS and Geography: Interactions with the
Humanities.This is a short paper that is not
only out of date, since it refers to past
events, but also fails to give examples as to
what these interactions are. This topic is
much better tackled in other contributions
here and doesnt add anything new.
Essays on Geography and GIS vol. 4 can be downloaded here:
www.esri.com/library/bestpractices/essays-on-geography-gis-vol4.pdf
51
July/August 2012
Ar t i c l e
By Eric van Rees
Cover image, source: Esri

Mykonos, Greece
32nd Symposium EARSeL
The 32nd EARSeL Symposium was held in Mykonos, Greece. The local organizer was the University of
Thessaly in Volos.
T
he European Association of Remote Sen -
sing Laboratories EARSeL is composed of
about 250 member laboratories in 39
mostly European countries. It is a regional
member of the 102 year old International
Society for Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing. EARSeL was founded in 1976 at the
Danish Technical University in Lyngby with the
support of the European Space Agency ESA
and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg,
where the rst General Assembly was held in
1977. Since then General Assemblies were
organized every year in different European
locations. Starting with the 1981 meeting in
Voss in Norway the General Assembly was
combined with a scientic and technical sym-
posium.
EARSeL Chairman 2009-2012 Rainer Reuter
from the University of Oldenburg outlined in
his introductory speech, that remote sensing,
with the upcoming global energy demand,
faces new challenges. These are in nding opti-
mal locations for the generation of photovolta-
ic solar energy, but also for the optimal utiliza-
tion of wind energy.
Orhan Altan, the President of ISPRS described
the context into which remote sensing is imbed-
ded within the International Council of
Scientic Unions ICSU. He called for joint
action between geospatially oriented interna-
tional societies.
Maurice Brigeaud, representing ESA, outlined
the European Space Agencys earth observa-
tion program and its perspective: ESA continues
to operate meteorological satellites (Meteosat 1
to 7, MSG 1 to 3 and MTG) in cooperation with
Eumetsat.
The Earth Watch Missions, after the recent ter-
mination in the operation of Envisat will be con-
tinued by the Sentinels 1 to 3, 4/5 and 5PC to
provide GMES data in cooperation with the
European Commission. The scientic objectives
are to be met by the currently operating 3 Earth
Explorers (SMOS, GOCE and Cryosat). Further
5 earth explorers are scheduled or planned.
Among the many other paper presentations
some of the highlight were:
Barbara Kosztra from FMI, Budapest and
George Bttner from the European Environ -
mental Agency, Copenhagen on the documen-
tation of land cover changes in Europe by the
CORINE program, in which land cover data
were derived for 5.8 million km2 in 39 coun-
tries in 3 epochs from satellite images (1988-
1989, 2001-2005, 2007-2011). A fourth
epoch (2013-2014) is in preparation.
In contrast to the homogenized European effort
Ursula Gessner of the German Space Agency
DLR compared global land cover maps pro-
duces from different sources for West Africa. In
the WASCAL Project data of the Global Land
Cover 2000, the data of the University of
Maryland 1992/93, Glbecover 2005 for
Africa and Modis satellite images of 2001 were
compared; this showed many discrepancies,
indicating, that for land cover a regional, not a
global approach is necessary.
Chen Jun of the National Geomatics Center of
China (NGCC) presented global land cover
mapping efforts made in China for ICSUs
Future Earth Program. NGCC uses archived
USGS Landsat 1 to 8 data. 10,200 scenes are
available for 2000 and 9900 scenes for 2012
covering 70% of the global land area (The
University of Maryland used 8700 scenes). In
China the datasets are supplemented by
Chinese HJ satellite data with 30m GSD.
Automatic classication is performed on super
computers. The classication accuracy for 10
types at level I and for 40 types at level II was
65 to 70% for Asia, 84% for Europe and 90%
for Canada. The aim is to generate a web
based information system for global land cover
by 2015.
Aurelia Sand of CNES, France showed the rst
Pleiades high resolution images with 0.7m GSD
in pan and 2.8m GSD in multispectral resolution.
A very interesting presentation was made by
Steven Achal, ITRES, Canada. The company
developed the thermal imager TABI-1800 and
put it to operational use to combat forest wild
res in Northern Alberta. When own at a
height of 1000m with a swath of 720m imaged
at 1800 pixels a thermal resolution of 0.0080
up to 27 0000C may be reached. In Northern
Alberta up to 40 000 ha may be own during
one night with data delivery in the morning.
During the Council Meeting of EARSeL a new
Bureau was elected for the next 2 years with
Joannis Manakos, Aristoteles University of
Thessaloniki as Chairman and Lena Halounova,
Technical University of Praue as Vice Chair.
The next EARSeL Symposium will take place
from May 13 to 18, 2013 in Matera, Italy.
Gottfried Konecny, is Professor at the Institute for Photogrammetry and
GeoInformation, Hannover University, Germany.
53
July/August 2012
E v e n t
By Gottfried Konecny
Chen Jun, Orhan Altan, mr. Jacibson, Gottfried Konecny, mr. Hernandez and Chenglin Wang (l-r).
July
17-18 July MapInfo Professional Foundation Level
Training Course
CDR Group, Hope, Derbyshire, U.K.
E-mail: sales@cdrgroup.co.uk
Internet: www.cdrgroup.co.uk/train_mi2info.htm
23-27 July Esri International User Conference
San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.esri.com/events/user-conference
August
06-09 August Unmanned Systems North America
2012
Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.
Internet: www.auvsishow.org/auvsi12/public/enter.aspx
12-16 August SPIE Optics + Photonics 2012
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: http://spie.org/optics-photonics.xml?WT.mc_id=
RCal-OPW
14-15 August MapInfo Professional Foundation
Level Training Course
25 August-01 September XXII Congress of the ISPRS
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne,
Australia
E-mail: isprs2012@icms.com.au
Internet: www.isprs2012-melbourne.com
September
03-11 September GEOSTAT 2012 Mnster
University of Mnster,Mnster, Germany
Internet: www.geostat-course.org/Muenster_2012
04-05 September MapInfo Professional Advanced
06-08 September State of the Map 2012
Tokyo, Japan
Internet: http://blog.osmfoundation.org
06-09 September 8th European conference EUGISES
GIS-education, where are the boundaries?
Leuven, Belgium
Internet: http://ees.kuleuven.be/eugises12/index.html
10-12 September 5th International Urban Design
Conference
Hilton on the Park, Melbourne, Australia
E-mail: conference@urbandesignaustralia.com.au
Internet: http://urbandesignaustralia.com.au
18-19 September MapInfo Professional Foundation
10-15 September FOSS4G 2012 Conference
Beijing Conference Center, Beijing, China
Internet: http://2012.foss4g.org
19-20 September Big Data World
ETC Venue St Pauls, London, U.K.
Internet: www.terrapinn.com/2012/big-data-world-europe
24-27 September 12th International Scientic and
Technical Conference From imagery to map:
digital photogrammetric technologies
Algarve, Portugal
E-mail: conference@racurs.ru
Internet: www.racurs.ru/Portugal2012
30 September-04 October GIS-Pro 2012: URISAs
50th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals
Portland, OR, U.S.A.
E-mail: wnelson@urisa.org
Internet: www.urisa.org/conferences/aboutgis-pro
October
02-04 October GISSA Ukubuzana 2012
Emperors Palace, Jones Road, Kempton Park, Gauteng,
South Africa
Internet: www.eepublishers.co.za/article/gissa-ukubuzana-
2012.html
09-11 October INTERGEO
Hannover, Germany
Internet: www.intergeo.de
15-17 October Esri European User Conference
Oslo, Norway
Internet: www.esri.com/events/euc/index.html
16-17 October MapInfo MapBasic Essentials
Training Course
16-19 October TOPCART I Congreso Iberoamericano
de Geomtica y Ciencias de la Tierra
Madrid, Spain
Internet: www.top-cart.com/indexEng.php
17-19 October Geospace Europe 2012 Summit
Brussels, Belgium
Internet: www.emingeurope.com
23-24 October MapInfo Professional Foundation
29 October-01 November MAPPS/ASPRS 2012
Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel, Tampa, FL, U.S.A.
Internet: www.asprs.org/Conferences/Tampa-2012
November
05-07 November Trimble Dimensions International
User Conference
The Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.
Internet: www.trimbledimensions.com
06-07 November MapInfo Professional Advanced
08-10 November CAMUSS, the International
Symposium on Cellular Automata Modeling for
Urban and Spatial Systems
Oporto, Portugal
Internet: www.camuss.dec.uc.pt
12-16 November 6th URISA Caribbean GIS
Conference
Montego Bay, Jamaica
E-mail: wnelson@urisa.org
Internet: www.urisa.org/conferences/caribbean/info
13-14 November Be Inspired - Thought Leadership
in Infrastructure Event
Hotel Krasnapolsky, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Internet: www.bentley.com/nl-NL/Community/BE+Awards
20-21 November MapInfo Professional Foundation
22-23 November ICA symposium Service-Oriented
Mapping (SOMAP) 2012
Vienna, Austria
Internet: http://somap.cartography.at
December
04-05 December European LiDAR Mapping Forum
2012
Salzburg, Austria
Internet: www.lidarmap.org/ELMF
11-12 December MapInfo Professional Foundation
13-16 December Gi4DM 2012
UT, Enschede, The Netherlands
E-mail: info@gi4dm.net
Internet: www.gi4dm.net/2012
2013
2013 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Geomatics
(UAV-g)
Rostock, Germany
Internet: www.uav-g.org
24-25 January GeoDesign Summit
Esri, Redlands, CA, U.S.A.
Internet: www.geodesignsummit.com
11-13 February International LiDAR Mapping
Forum 2013
Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Internet: www.lidarmap.org/ILMF.aspx
Please feel free to e-mail your calendar notices to:calendar@geoinformatics.com
C a l e n d a r 2 0 1 2 / Ad v e r t i s e r s I n d e x
AAG www.aag.org/annualmeeting 50
DATEM www.datem.com 15
ERDAS www.erdas.com 27
European Space Imaging www.euspaceimaging.com 17
Esri www.esri.com 9
FOIF www.foif.com.cn 55
Intergeo www.intergeo.de 52
Leica Geosystems www.leica-geosystems.com 37
Microdrones www.microdrones.com 2
Microsoft UltraCam www.iFlyUltraCam.com 41
Optech www.optech.com 45
Pacic Crest www.paciccrest.com/adl 23
Racurs www.racurs.ru 29
Riegl www.riegl.com 13
SuperMap www.supermap.com 47
TerraGo Technologies www.terragotech.com 56
Topcon www.topcon.eu 31
Advertisers Index
54
July/August 2012

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