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February 2013 » VOL 03 » ISSUE 07 | ISSN 2277–3134

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Smart

Utilities for a Smarter World More and more service providers are turning to geospatial technology for enhanced efficiencies p 28

Corner Office

Interview with Steven Berglund CEO, Trimble p 24

‘GIS is part of our overall ­execution methodology’ – In conversation with Sanjay Mashruwala, Reliance Industries

p 52

Price: INR 150 / US$ 15 Subscriber’s copy. Not for Sale

GEOSPATIAL WOR LD

the Force that drives smarter decisions Welcome to Intergraph Geospatial 2013 We are united. Whether it’s by desktop, server, web, or cloud – our integrated geospatial portfolio delivers what you need, where you need it. Less hassle. Complete workflow.

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We are dynamic. Leverage our single integrated, dynamic environment for spatial modeling. Our core geospatial tools enable you to exploit the wealth of information found in data from any source.

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Experience the force that’s driving smarter decisions at a road show near you.

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There are 149 Million km2 to map.

Go out and play!

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Leica ALS70 CM

Leica RCD30

Leica RCD30 Oblique

Total Geospatial Solutions for every Application.

To select the right sensor for your application go to http://di.leica-geosystems.com www.ziimaging.com

Swiss Drone UAV with Leica RCD30

Z/I DMC II 140

Z/I DMC II 230

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Inside February 2013 • Vol 3 • Issue 7 Interviews

Cover Story

‘Precision & data accuracy critical for utilities’ 44 L isa Campbell Vice President, Engineering & Infrastructure, Autodesk

‘GIS is part of our overall execution methodology’ 52 Sanjay Mashruwala President, Projects, Reliance Industries

Conference Report

Smart steps to out-smart challenges

58

28

66

Vaibhav Arora

India Geospatial Forum 2013 The Doha Declaration

Case Studies

Corner Office

41

India: Adding a spark with GIS

24

49

Malaysia: GIS for cost-effective decisions

Steven W. Berglund CEO, Trimble

‘This is the most exciting time in Trimble’s 34-yr history’

09 Editorial

22 Product Watch

62 Tenders

68 Picture This

10 News

56 TechKnow Buzz

67 Twitter moments

69 Events

Cover images courtesy: 3DGIS; ikeGPS

CHAIRMAN

M P Narayanan

PUBLISHER

Sanjay Kumar

PUBLICATIONS TEAM Managing Editor Editor — Building & Energy Editor — Latin America (Honorary) Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Executive Editor Deputy Executive Editor Product Manager Assistant Editors

Disclaimer Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication.

All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors.

Geospatial World is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided.

Sub-Editor

Prof. Arup Dasgupta Geoff Zeiss Tania Maria Sausen Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Bhanu Rekha Anusuya Datta Harsha Vardhan Madiraju Deepali Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Anand Kashyap Ridhima Kumar

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Amit Shahi

Price: INR 150/US$ 15

Magazine contains 72 pages including both covers.

Owner, Publisher & Printer Sanjay Kumar Printed at M. P. Printers B - 220, Phase-II, Noida - 201 301, Gautam Budh Nagar (UP) India Publication Address A - 92, Sector - 52, Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida, India

Geospatial World | February 2013

5

Geospatial W rld International Advisory Board 2013-14

6

Aida Opoku Mensah

Barbara Ryan

Bryn Fosburgh

Director – ICT Division, UN Economic Commission for Africa

Secretariat Director, Group on Earth Observations

Sector Vice-President, Executive Committee Member, Trimble Navigation

Prof. Josef Strobl

Juergen Dold

Kamal K Singh

Chair, Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria

President, Hexagon Geosystems

Chairman and CEO, Rolta Group

Mohd Al Rajhi

Ramon Pastor

Stephen Lawler

Asst Deputy Minister for Land & Surveying, Ministry of Municipal & Rural Affairs, Saudi Arabia

Vice-President and General Manager, Large Format Printing Business, Hewlett-Packard

Chief Technology Officer, Bing Maps, Microsoft

Geospatial World | February 2013

Geospatial World is pleased to present its International Advisory Board Members for 2013-14. These leaders have made valuable contribution in evolving the mandate, approach and coverage of the magazine through their vision and guidance.

Dorine Burmanje

Greg Bentley

Prof. Ian Dowman

Chair-Executive Board, Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster), The Netherlands

CEO, Bentley Systems

First Vice President, ISPRS

Lisa Campbell

Mark Reichardt

Matthew O’Connell

Vice President, Engineering & Infrastructure, Autodesk

President and CEO, Open Geospatial Consortium

CEO, Ad Hoc Holdings

Dr Swarna Subba Rao

Vanessa Lawrence

Surveyor General of India

Director General and Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey, UK

Geospatial World | February 2013

7

Letters to the Editor

ents

lim comp e h t And d in … of e r u o p n

itio a nual Ed The An al World was g i t tin Geospa us task – put f go humon perspectives o e r th e s togeth s from acros r e n as 38 lead l canvas. Eve -page 6 tia geospa closing the 12 e e we wer e were sure w nd. ha ,w edition at product in e e s r had a g ltimate respon y the u a But the whelming to s the r f e o v was o se are some e . h least. T s we received k c a feedb

Your cover art is at once beautiful and a parable representing the wisdom and richness of Geospatial World. One of the greatest pleasures I have experienced in growing OGC over the years has been our continuing and growing strategic alignment with the vision of Geospatial World.

David Schell, Founder & Chairman Emeritus and Chief Strategist, OGC

Wonderful! It looks terrific.

Carol Wallace, Director-External communications, Pitney Bowes

Awesome!

Wonderful focus!!! We are very happy to have a presence in your magazine through our article.

Davide Erba, CEO, Stonex Europe

Looks very nice.

Ruedi Wagner, Vice President – Imaging, Geospatial Solutions D ­ ivision, Leica Geosystems

You went above and beyond what I had expected.

Christopher Barlow, Director, Strategic Accounts & Marketing, Thomson Reuters

Jeff Jonas, IBM Fellow

Looks great.

Noah Cole, Senior Manager, Public Relations, Autodesk

This looks like a most interesting edition.

Fraser Taylor, Director, Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre, Carleton University, Canada

EditorSpeak

Prof Arup Dasgupta Managing Editor arup@geospatialmedia.net

Convergence for utilities management

L

ast month, my telephone and broadband went on the blink. The reason - a major storm water drainage work on the main road resulted in the telephone cable being ripped out by the excavator on the job. I found the local linesman hard at work. He assured me that the repair would take a little longer than necessary because he was laying a new cable as the old one had been cut up so many times that it was not worth repairing. This little anecdote highlights the problem faced by utilities in old towns as well as rapidly expanding towns and cities.

Barring the developed countries, most towns and cities lack spatial information on embedded utility assets. There are many horror stories of decaying water pipes and collapsed sewage lines leading to a lethal mix resulting in outbreaks of jaundice and gastroenteritis. Shades of the infamous Broad Street pump! The problems are multi-fold. The original drawings are little better than sketches. The additional information, like date of commissioning, repairs, re-routing are in separate unlinked paper files. In fact, more often than not, such works are rarely recorded at all.

Most municipalities, in their hurry to join the egovernance or g-governance bandwagon, leave the onerous task of updating or even creating records to the geospatial service provider who, in a hurry to win the contract, agrees to do just that without a proper evaluation of the costs involved.

Recreating a map of embedded assets is possible today using techniques like ground penetration

radar (GPR) but the GPR data needs interpretation and considerable amount of ground truthing.

On-ground assets require high resolution imagery.

Given the dense nature of cities, these may have to be collected through aerial imaging or ground surveys. Further, such assets may also form an integral part of structures and this requires access to building drawings. Therefore, e-governance and g-governance solutions are not just buying software and implementing GIS. In fact, they require convergence of many technologies and systems and development of new concepts like geodesign and BIM. Recreating data of existing towns and cities is one part of the job. It will take time and effort. It therefore makes sense to apply these technologies to the new developments and in the planning of future developments so that the benefits of geospatial technologies can be realised for the immediate projects and ensure better implementation of future projects.

As you go through this issue you might see some significant changes. We are working to make your magazine more informative, more interesting, more readable and more enjoyable. Do write in with your comments.

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Americas NEWS Business

‘Navigation tools boost economic engines’ Revenues from global geo services are estimated at $150 billion to $270 billion per year, according to a report by economic consulting firm Oxera.

For context, these findings suggest that this growing industry is already larger than estimates of the size of the video game industry, and generates around one-third of the annual revenue generated by the airline industry. This study is one of the first to consider geo services as an industry in itself,

encompassing all digital mapping and location-based services. Use of such services is increasing rapidly, with applications of the technology ranging from electronic maps that are accessible online and via smartphones, to satellite navigation and imaging, and location-based searching.

for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). This award is a task order under the NGA’s Total Application Services for Enterprise Requirements (TASER) programme, a five-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract.

MDA bags contract for radar satellites

Offering easy access to local emergency services through the iPhone when travelling, Apple has submitted an application to expand the scope of a patent concerning location-based emergency services on mobile devices, as revealed by a patent continuation published by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The patent, ‘Location-Based Emergency Information’, for a new location-based app would show the emergency numbers for the police, medical help and fire help while in an unfamiliar place.

The information could allow users to quickly contact emergency authorities in foreign countries, where users may not know the proper emergency number.

Bagging a coveted space deal, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Deal with Canadian Associates (MDA) Space Agency has signed a $706-million contract with the Canadian Space Agency to build, launch and provide initial operations for the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM). The contract is expected to extend over a period of seven years and brings MDA’s current backlog to approximately $2.9 billion. RCM is a constellation of three satellites providing round-the-clock coverage. Information obtained from RCM can include repeat imaging of the same area at different times of day, dramatically improving the frequency of monitoring coastal zones, northern territories, Arctic waterways and other areas of strategic and defence interest.

$706mn

BAE Systems bags $60-mn NGA contract BAE Systems has been awarded a multiyear $60-million contract to provide Activity-Based Intelligence (ABI) systems, tools and support for mission priorities

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Geospatial World | February 2013

Apple files patent for location-based app

Policy

US Act eases export rules on commercial satellites In a major step toward export control reform, the US Congress passed the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) that reforms the export control framework for satellites and related items. The satellite export control reform provision in the NDAA reverses a 1998 requirement to treat exports of satellites differently from those of

Americas NEWS Restrictions remain on the export of technology to: • China • North Korea • Iran • Cuba • Syria • Sudan other high-technology products. The legislation will provide a more evenplaying field for US satellite companies, spurring economic and job growth and bolstering the leadership of the US space community for many years.

Applications

Biosphere mapping capability unveiled Researchers from Carnegie Institution in Washington DC have developed a groundbreaking technology that can uncover a previously invisible ecological world. The new Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System (AToMS) uniquely combines laser and spectral imaging instrumentation onboard a twinengine aircraft to derive simultaneous

measurements of an ecosystem’s chemistry, structure, biomass, and biodiversity. “The real power of what we are doing is that every image from AToMS yields a discovery that feels like looking into the universe for the first time,” Greg Asner, researcher at Carnegie, said.

GPS can detect rogue nuclear tests In the search for rogue nukes, researchers have developed a new technique using GPS and large radio telescopes which can detect clandestine underground nuclear tests using waves that travel from the blast into the upper atmosphere, or ionosphere. Researchers at the Very Large Array Observatory placed a set of 27 iconic radio telescopes in the remote New Mexico desert. They pored over their historical records and found they could detect an underground nuclear test that the United States had conducted at Hunters Trophy, Utah, in 1992.

LED-based indoor navigation system Researchers from Boston University have invented a unique way of using LED lights to transmit location information to mobile devices within buildings.

Even Google, which relies on Wi-Fi for mapping the insides of buildings, has not been successful in mapping interior locations.

ByteLight can Image courtesy: Carnegie accurately map

the inside of buildings using only LED lighting to transmit location information.

So, with the trend toward LED lighting replacing fluorescents in many buildings throughout the world and the continued growth of mobile smart devices, LED lights that broadcast location data stands to revolutionise how we interact within shopping malls, office buildings, factories and even airports and airplanes.

Miscellaneous

Millions wasted in duplicate geospatial data Despite federal efforts and administration goals, the lack of coordination between departments has led to duplicated geospatial data and wasted millions of taxpayer dollars, according to a report by Government Accountability Office. The report found that many investments were not implemented effectively, and recommended that Federal Geographic Data Committee should develop a national strategy for coordinating geospatial investments.

Intelligence agencies for single cloud network The intelligence community is developing a single cloud computing network to allow all its analysts to access and rapidly sift through massive volumes of data. When fully complete, this effort will create a panagency cloud, with organisations sharing many of the same computing resources and information. More importantly, it is hoped the system will break down existing boundaries between agencies.

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Americas NEWS Landsat 5 to be decommissioned soon The longest operating earth observation satellite, Landsat 5, will be decommissioned over the coming months, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The USGS has brought the aging satellite back from the brink of failure on several occasions, but the recent failure of a gyroscope has left no option but to end the mission. Now in its 29th year of orbiting the planet, Landsat 5 has long outlived its original three-year design life.

Western States alliance to store GIS data To cut storage costs and improve efficiency, a consortium of Western states is poised to store GIS data in commercial cloud computing environments. The Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) and the National Association of State Procurement Officials, working in collaboration with the states of Colorado, Montana, Oregon and Utah, have awarded four contracts for GIS public cloud hosting services to Dell, Dewberry, Esri and Unisys.

Peru

Indigenous communities map oil spills Using GPS equipment, photographs and video recording, indigenous communities are mapping scars left by 40 years of oil drilling in the Peruvian Amazon region of Loreto. They are getting support from the Environmental

12

Geospatial World | February 2013

Studying permafrost soil, above and below ground A group of researchers from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new approach that combines several remote-sensing tools to study the Arctic landscape above and below ground in high resolution and over large spatial scales. They use ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistance tomography, electromagnetic data and LiDAR airborne measurements. Together, these tools allow the scientists to see the different layers of the terrestrial ecosystem, including the surface topography, the active layer that seasonally freezes and thaws and the deeper permafrost layer.

Image courtesy: DOE/ Berkeley Lab

Monitoring Program created by the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River (FECONACO).

Since FECONACO began implementing the programme in 2006, 120 leaks have been documented. So far, FECONACO has compiled 22,500 digital files.

planning and executing public and private investment.

Chile

The Coordination Centre for Natural Disaster Prevention in Central America in Guatemala has launched an online platform for information and communication for integrated risk management, www.info-gir.org. The website offers a range of information and applications that help strengthen mechanisms for coordination and institutional and sectoral communication between the Central American countries. The tool will also provide decision makers with critical information on how to minimise the vulnerability of the population at risk and provide relief in emergency situations.

Maps to aid development projects, planning The National Geographic Institute (IGN) has unveiled official maps of Tacna and Moquegua on a scale of 1:25,000. Details regarding the topography, vegetation, roads, natural reserves, mining and oil areas, urban buildings etc are presented in 208 sheets. All this information will be useful for the authorities of the central, regional and local government for

Guatemala

Portal for disaster risk management

Europe NEWS France

Improving earth’s gravity map After delivering an accurate gravity map of earth, the orbit of European Space Agency’s (ESA) GOCE gravity satellite is being lowered to obtain even better results. Lowering the orbit increases the accuracy and resolution of GOCE’s measurements, improving our view of smaller ocean dynamics such as eddy currents. The ESA recommended lowering the orbit to 235 km in August. After coming down by 8.6 km, the satellite’s performance and new environment were assessed.

Now, GOCE is again being lowered while continuing its gravity mapping.

Finally, it is expected to reach 235 km in February.

EO programme renamed Copernicus Paying homage to a great European scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, the European Commission (EC) has renamed its earth observation programme direct jobs in Europe by 2030 with Copernicus. The Copernicus Copernicus programme, previously known as GMES, uses satellites and terrestrial sensors to collect data. The EC has even forecasted that Copernicus would create up to 83,000 jobs by 2030. indirect jobs by 2030 This is the

20k

63k

result of a study presented by Antonio Tajani , Vice-President, EC.

ESA’s ice mission hits land

Monitoring Mediterranean water resources

ESA’s ice mission is now giving scientists a closer look at oceans, coastal areas, inland water bodies and even land, reaching above and beyond its original objectives. The polar-orbiting CryoSat was developed to measure the changes in the thickness of polar sea ice. Taking CryoSat a step further, scientists have now discovered that the altimetry readings have the potential to map sea level closer to the coast, and even greater capabilities to profile land surfaces and inland water targets such as small lakes, rivers and their intricate tributaries.

ESA to use space chip in upcoming missions Rice Mapping

The effects of climate change, population growth and economic development in the Mediterranean are posing a threat to water supply in the region. As part of ESA’s TIGER initiative, satellite data is supporting water management by identifying water resources. The 10-year initiative exploits earth observation technologies in order to respond to the urgent need for reliable water information in Africa. “Earth observation can not only increase knowledge on the water cycle and irrigation efficiency at river basin level, but also provides comparable, independent and objective information across the boundaries,” said Eric Mino, manager of EMWIS Technical Unit.

Just like home computers, the sophisticated capabilities of today’s space missions are made possible by the power of their processor chips. ESA’s coming Alphasat telecom satellite, the Proba-V microsatellite, the earth-monitoring Sentinel family and the BepiColombo mission to Mercury are among the first missions to use an advanced 32-bit microprocessor, engineered and built in Europe. All of them incorporate the new LEON2-FT chip, commercially known as

Image courtesy: ESA

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Europe NEWS the AT697. Engineered to operate within spacecraft computers, this microprocessor is manufactured by Atmel in France but originally designed by ESA.

UK

Smartphones can detect air pollution The fight against air pollution is using novel means. The European Union’s biggest till-date investment into environmental health research is now looking into how environmental sensorequipped GPS-enabled smartphones can detect possible adverse effects of chemicals exposure to the human body. Researchers from 12 partner institutions, led by Imperial College London, are developing a personal exposure monitoring kit which could give a more detailed assessment of the study participants’ environment. The kit comes with a smartphone application, which records user activity and location, and measures air pollution via a plug-in sensor.

Radar-based new surveying technology A new surveying technique developed at the University of Nottingham is giving geologists their first detailed picture of how ground movement associated with historical mining is changing the face of our landscape. A team of researchers at the University developed the technique called the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) method.

The new development builds on existing technology that allows engineers

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Geospatial World | February 2013

3D geological map of Great Britain The geological map of Great Britain has been extended into the third dimension with the release of GB3D by the British Geological Survey. This model of the geology beneath our feet is made up of a network of cross-sections through the earth’s crust of Great Britain. This new way of visualising national-scale geology will benefit all seeking to understand its relationship to landscape and resources (such as water, oil, minerals, coal and gas), as well as for educators and the public.

National 3D geological model of Great Britain

to use satellite radar technology to measure points on the landscape over a length of time to assess whether they are moving up (uplifting) or sinking down (subsiding).

After 136 years, planet’s biodiversity map updated A biodiversity map drawn up by British naturalist Russel Wallace in 1876 depicting how life evolved on our continents has been updated after 136 years. Technological advances and data on more than 20,000 species have allowed a team of 15 international researchers 20 years to map biodiversity in greater detail. The map shows the division of nature into 11 large biogeographic realms and how they relate to each other.

Citizens to collect scientific data via smartphones A new collaborative European project seeks to empower citizens to collect and contribute data for use in policy formation and governance. The EUR

8.5-million, four-year, COBWEB (Citizen OBservatory WEB) project will develop an “observatory framework” that will make it easier for citizens to collect environmental data suitable for use in research, decision making and policy formation. The project is built around Unesco’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves, with test areas in biosphere reserves within the UK, Germany and Greece.

Germany

Astrium to develop satellites for NASA Astrium has been commissioned to build two new research satellites for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). For a minimum of five years from August 2017, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (Grace FO) mission will continue the extremely accurate measurement data collection of the first twin Grace satellites, which have been in orbit since March 17, 2002.

Asia NEWS India

Indian Railways strikes 6-figure deal with GeoEye The Government of India has awarded a six-figure contract to GeoEye for stereo imagery from the high resolution GeoEye-1 satellite to support development of India’s freight railway corridor. This agreement is seen as an important milestone for GeoEye, as the Railways Ministry is the first Indian government agency to purchase GeoEye stereo imagery. RITES, a Government of India Enterprise, made the purchase through the Na-

tional Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), GeoEye’s Master Reseller for India.

Stereo imagery provides 3D viewing and feature recognition for a number of engineering applications.

National GIS by Oct 2013 The Planning Commission of India has allocated Rs 30 crore ($5.58 mn) under the XII Plan for the National GIS (NGIS) initiative. The Survey of India (SoI) has been given the responsibility for setting up NGIS, which aims to launch Version 0.1 by October 2013.

“With National GIS, we are opening up India for the citizens of India,” said

Surveyor General Dr S. Subba Rao. The NGIS will be a seamless, nationwide, GIS-ready database to serve as a platform for governance activities and state-of-the-art data posting of various government departments.

MoU on GLONASS After months of deliberations, Russia and India have finally agreed to collaborate on GLONASS navigation services. JSC Navigation Information Systems and Indian telecom companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd have signed an MoU to this effect.

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Asia NEWS The MoU provides for the use of solutions of NIS GLONASS and the infrastructure of BSNL and MTNL for providing services in India through geopositioning and telematics using GLONASS and GPS technologies.

The state-run Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) would initially provide positioning, navigation, timing and short-message services in the Asia Pacific region aiming to capture 20% of global market share by 2015. The system provides positioning accuracy of 10 metres, velocity accuracy of 0.2 metres per second and one-way timing accuracy of 50 nanoseconds.

HP to strengthen large ­format printing ­business Hewlett Packard has developed its strategy for large format printing business in India, with a focus on innovations that effectively address the challenges faced by the AEC industry. HP is looking to spearhead the growth of printing solutions for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) students and professionals, making in-house, largeformat printing accessible to more users. HP also has a second generation of its free Web service for AEC professionals, which makes it easy to access and print large-format documents using an iOS or Android tablet or smartphone, a laptop or ePrinter touchscreen. HP’s strategy towards the digital printing industry is hinged on three key pillars: adding value to printed page, ensuring profitable printing for print service providers and graphic arts businesses; and enabling environment-friendly and sustainable printing.

China

Satellite image imports not needed anymore With the launch of its stereo mapping satellite Ziyuan III, the country

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Geospatial World | February 2013

UAE

Digital navigation system unveiled by local body

Image courtesy: orbiter-forum.com

is no longer reliant on satellite image imports. The high resolution satellite imagery meets international standards and has enhanced China’s capability to capture space remote-sensing images, bolstered state security and boosted the geo-information industry.

China used to import over 90% of its remote-sensing data. Ziyuan III can produce three-dimensional imagery and has a lifespan of five years.

Beidou services launched across Asia Pacific Giving tough competition to US GPS, China has kicked off commercial and public services of its Beidou navigation system across the Asia-Pacific region.

Escalating the GNSS wars further, the Dubai Municipality has launched a new comprehensive digital navigation system. The Emirates National Coordinates Grid system will be fully functional by mid-2013. The digital maps on the system will give directions to any place or any building in Dubai with just a click on a smartphone, tablet PC, notebook or navigation device. Live traffic data will be available, enabling users to know on-the-spot traffic situations on their route and divert their journey to roads with less traffic.

First electronic statistical atlas launched The National Bureau of Statistics has launched its first copy of UAE’s electronic statistical atlas. It comes within the framework of the strategic initiatives of the NBS to meet requirements of data users. The electronic statistical atlas is the latest sophisticated data device linked to the GIS technologies and their applications. The atlas focuses on the se-

Asia NEWS lection of a group of the most important statistical indicators such as demographic, social and economic indicators.

Turkey

Bahrain

Astrium Services and the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) are collaborating to develop high-resolution and large-area coverage services in Turkey, notably for agriculture. The agreement covers a SPOT New Generation receiving station and reception of data from SPOT 6 and SPOT 7, as well as an extension for SPOT 5 data. Through this agreement, ITU is seeking to step up its high-resolution activities while leveraging the increased acquisition capacity, daily revisits and quickresponse tasking capability of SPOT 6 and SPOT 7.

Leading country in GIS Represented by the Central Informatics and Communications Organisation (CICO) Bahrain has been chosen as one of two leading countries in the world in the field of GIS. Baharain and Venezuela were ranked atop. CICOGIS Director Dr. Khalid Abdulrahman Al Hidan said they managed to receive this recognition as they implemented GIS at the local, regional, continental and international level. “We have smart geographic data bases which contributed in upgrading work in public and private sectors,” he added.

Israel

Mapping initiative to track environmental hazard IT firm Taldor has launched a computerised GIS system to map treatment of environmental hazards, as part of Friends of the Earth Middle East’s “Protecting Groundwater” project. The mapping system will initially be used in nine local and regional authorities.

Taldor created the GIS management system for mapping and computing the geographical features of the areas involved, employing cloud technology in order to give all of the regional authorities the possibility of receiving support from one and other.

Collaboration stepped up with Astrium

stop that the bus is approaching in order for them to alight safely.

Japan

LiDAR helps detect dissolved gases in water In order to tap vast amount minerals and gases dissolved in its maritime territories, Japanese researchers are developing a novel Raman LiDAR technique which can provide efficient 3D monitoring for environmental surveys prior to seafloor exploration. LiDAR offers advantages over commonly used point sensors and is considered to be one of the best candidates for monitoring gases dissolved in water.

Singapore

Russia

GPS-based app for the blind

Space spending boosted after setbacks

Offering a ray of hope for the blind, an app has been developed which will help them to navigate their way around much of the country on disabled-friendly routes. Students and lecturers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic have developed the smartphone application that uses GPS technology to map out the shortest path that is safe for them. The app, which guides the user via audio instructions and alarm beeps, also factors in the weather, taking a sheltered route to the destination, if it is raining. The group is now in talks with bus companies to include bus routes into the system so that the blind will be alerted to the next bus

After corruption scandals and numerous technical failures, there is finally some hope for the GLONASS programme. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved a plan to spend RUB 2.1 trillion (around $70 billion) for the development of the for space industry national space development industry in 2013-2020. The programme is designed to ensure the country retains its position as a leading global space power, while also supporting its defence capability and boosting economic and social development.

$ 70 bn

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Africa NEWS Ethiopia

South Sudan

Private satellite navigation system launched

GIS mapping to identify community problems

Stepping up the race for cheaper navigation satellite, an Ethiopian company, SAN Metropolitan PLC, unveiled satellite-based geographical navigation system in Addis Ababa. General Manager Seife-Selassie Ayalew said the company had been working for the last three years to develop the mapping and data encoding practices for the navigation device. The World Bank is supporting this project. The company’s Meri-Ethiopian satellite navigation system will soon be available for sale.

Countries across the world are increasingly adopting GIS technology for various e-governance initiatives.

Following suit, South Sudan is also laying emphasis on establishing GIS to help map the communities and identify problems affecting them.

Judith Omondi from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that the system would help identify issues affecting the community. As a result, proper government action would be initiated to rectify those errors. GIS mapping will be adopted in sectors like health, education, water and food.

Nigeria

Nod for cadastral mapping, GIS in land administration

Satellite imagery for refugee protection

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is using satellite Waking up to the realities arising from imagery, interactive mapping and growing urbanisation, commissiondigital fingerprinting to strengthen ers responsible for lands, housing refugee protection and reach out to the and urban development matters from refugees in urban areas. The UNHCR, 33 states and other senior officials of relevant federal and state ministries, departments and agencies have approved a comprehensive cadastral mapping of Nigeria. The commissioners also approved adoption of GIS technology in land administration and advocated establishment and development of a framework for a ‘onestop-shop’ on land titling Image Courtesy: UNHCR and registration system.

Biometric registration of refugees

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in collaboration with its NGO partner ACTED, is also mapping addresses of the refugees. Maps and addresses are then linked to UNHCR’s database, providing information through interactive technology. The maps enable humanitarian workers to find out much more about the refugees than the location of each shelter as the data base links up geographic and demographic data down to household level.

Kenya

Forest mapping via remote sensing technology The Kenya Forest Services has launched a new national forest cover mapping system which uses remote sensing technology to map various activities in the forest. The information collected is displayed on a website where it can be accessed by the public and international community. “We lack scientifically proven data on our forest and tree cover.

And that explains why we appear not confident with the data that we use. The completion of the mapping exercise will enable us to make policies based on sound decisions for sustainable management and conservation of forest resources,” said Lawrence Mwadime of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife.

South Africa

RS technology for disaster management In a bid to improve international disaster risk management, the South

Africa NEWS African National Space Agency and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre have collaborated in use of remote sensing technologies.

The agreement aims to better exploit remote sensing technologies for monitoring atmospheric, terrestrial and marine environments. The scope of this agreement is to work together on a better understanding of dynamics and evolution of our natural environment through optimal exploitation of earth observation data and to develop technologies and services which support not only national policies but also international issues and policies for disaster risk reduction and emergency management.

Ghana

GIS to increase food security To boost food security among its citizens, Ghana has undertaken initiatives to control environmental hazards that negate good agriculture practices as well as water resources management for agriculture and animal husbandry. Information derived from satellites on vegetation pattern will be used for this purpose. The initiative, which falls under the African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development project, aims to strengthen operational use of the earth observation technologies for African countries at extreme food security environmental risk, says GFSI monitoring.

75%

Mozambique

Cameroon

WB urges mapping of natural resources

Interactive forest atlas reveals illegal logging

The World Bank has urged African countries to undertake detailed mapping of their natural reserves.

Mapping would give an upper hand to them while negotiating contracts with companies wishing to exploit their resources, said Otaviano Canuto, Deputy President for poverty reduction and economic management, World Bank. “Countries can make enormous gains, but more detailed maps have to be drawn up about the riches in the subsoil, and these have to be in the public domain,” he added.

Highlighting illegal logging which challenges the rain forest’s integrity, the World Resources Institute along with the Government of Cameroon has developed an interactive map of the country’s forests. The atlas reveals a mix of protected land, commercial logging operations, mining concessions, community-owned forests and agricultural terrain. The map includes new land-use layers, among them one for mining and another for agriculture. The hope is that with the forest facing so many distinct pressures, the map will help improve the management of the massive green resource.

Zambia

Gemstone, small-scale mining map The Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has called for full mapping and regulation of the gemstone and small-scale mining to curb tax evasion in the sector. CTPD Executive Director Saviour Mwambwa says the only way tax evasion could be lessened was by carrying out full mapping of minerals in the country. He stressed that this would help the government to have full information on where specific minerals were located. Zambia was getting 70% revenue from within the country while 30% was coming from cooperating partners and loans from other countries. “If the government sealed off all the loopholes, the budget could be financed 100%,” he added.

The interactive forest atlas map

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Australia/Oceania NEWS New earthquake hazard map unveiled

Australia

$23-mn boost to GIS project The government of Western Australia is fast-tracking investments in GIS to make state-wide land and resources information more readily available for end-users, businesses and agencies. A sum of $23 million has been allocated for upgrading the Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP), which will help fast-track investments in GIS to make state-wide land and resources information more readily available for end-users, businesses and agencies. This upgrade will make location-based knowledge easier to access, share and use across the state.

The SLIP initiative is administered

by Landgate, a statutory authority that maintains land ownership allocated to and survey upgrade SLIP ­information.

$23 mn

Flood risk information portal goes live To help communities better prepare for flood disasters, Australia has launched the National Flood Risk Information Portal in collaboration with Geoscience Australia. “Easy access to flood risk information will give communities and planners a better understanding of their exposure to floods, as well as assist insurers in developing fair and reasonable policies,” said Nicola Roxon, Minister for Emergency

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Some relief is here in coping with earthquakes. Australia has unveiled a series of maps depicting areas which are susceptible to earthquakes to provide information to help planners mitigate the possible impacts of future earthquakes. The hazard map depicts the amount of bedrock ground shaking that has a specified probability of being exceeded in a given time period. The contours on this earthquake hazard map are of acceleration in units of gravity with around 10% chance of being exceeded in a 50-year period, corresponding to a 500-year average recurrence interval, or return period, for this intensity of ground shaking.

Image Courtesy: Geoscience Australia

Management. The portal will use satellite imagery to map floods and will be supported by national guidelines to assist holders of flood risk information to make their flood studies and maps available through the portal.

OGC, CRCSI to make data widely available In order to increase the awareness on role of open standards in location-based research, the CRC for Spatial Information (CRCSI) has collaborated with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). “We will be using OGC and other open standards in our research to help direct development of the next generation of spatial infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand,” said Dr Geoff West, Science

Director of the CRCSI’s Spatial Infrastructures research programme.

EO coordination group formed Earth observation (EO) is now used more widely than traditional spatial sciences. Recognising this, Prof Stuart Phinn from the University of Queensland, Dr Adam Lewis, Geosciences Australia, and Prof John Trinder, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Commission, are in the process of establishing a new national discussion and coordinating group for collecting and using EO data. The ‘Australian Earth Observation Coordination Group’ will provide advice to national and state agencies, the private sector, research institutions and academic institutions for coordinating and funding.

Australia/Oceania NEWS Joint research centre for BIM established A new international research centre aimed at improving the productivity of energy, minerals, infrastructure and construction projects has been established. The Australasian Joint Research Centre for Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a collaboration between Curtin University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.

The Centre will conduct high-end research and integrate it with advanced technologies such as virtual reality, wearable computing, mobile and ubiquitous computing, tracking and sensing, social networking tools, user interaction, cloud computing, augmented reality, semantics and more. “The Centre was established to help increase Australia’s competitiveness, creating new critical knowledge and developing approaches and solutions through research to reduce cost schedule overruns, especially for mega-projects, and to help minimise risk and safety issues,” said Xiangyu Wang, Professor at Curtin.

New Zealand

and channels that slice through the continental margin, allowing sediment from the land to flow into the deep ocean, both west and east of New Zealand.

3D map reveals underwater realm

Fiji

nesses and help people across the state,” said Premier Campbell Newman.

Giving a fresh insight into the shape of the country’s diverse marine realm, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research has released a high resolution map of the undersea. The 3D map shows the shape of the seafloor within the world’s one of the most extensive deepwater jurisdictions, detailing the submarine trenches, underwater volcanoes and active submarine canyons. The map shows the abundance of sinuous canyons

Curb water loss via g-tech To preserve the most valuable natural resource, the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) has launch its first ever GIS system to improve operational activities which includes detecting water leaks and identifying customer complaints. WAF chief executive Opetia Ravai said the authority would also install a computerised system which allowed it to monitor water behaviour in its piping systems.

Undersea New Zealand map

Open data portal for Queensland Taking forward its commitment to an ‘open data revolution’, the state government of Queensland, has launched an open data portal. The portal, Queensland Government Data, gives the public free access to 73 datasets under categories such as government, public safety, education, transportation and health. “We fully expect to see this information used in the development of new applications that will create opportunities for busi-

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Product Watch Intergraph Geospatial 2013 integrates all ­geospatial genres Intergraph Geospatial 2013, the latest from Intergraph SG&I, is a new complete portfolio of products that connects all geospatial genres integrating photogrammetry, remote sensing and GIS into a streamlined system from the desktop to the server. It enables users to exploit wealth of information contained in multi-source content, share it rapidly and deliver it on-demand as reliable and actionable information.

“As ‘big data’ will continue to be a hot trend in 2013 and beyond, it is clear that geospatial data will continue to be a relevant topic. Solutions to manage this data effectively enable organisations to easily access the right information for enhanced effectiveness,” says Mladen Stojic, Vice President, Geospatial at Intergraph SG& I. “Wheth-

er it is for forestry management or defence and intelligence, geospatial data is almost always classified as ‘big’. The government IT and corporate enterprise world is keen to grasp the opportunities and challenges with ‘big data’ .”

Intergraph Geospatial 2013 product portfolio includes ERDAS IMAGINE, GeoMedia, LPS, ImageStation, GeoMedia WebMap, GeoMedia Smart Client, ERDAS APOLLO, Geospatial SDI and Geospatial Portal.

Major changes to the Intergraph Geospatial Portfolio for the 2013 release include point cloud visualisation, analysis and management; geospatial desktop and server integration and interoperability; greater raster and vector integration; nextgeneration spatial modelling technology et al.

Mappls SafeWorld Computer-Aided D

MapmyIndia launches Mappls product portfolio Indian digital map maker MapmyIndia has released two new products, Mappls SafeWorld Computer-aided Dispatch (CAD) Solution for Emergency Response and Mappls VibrantWorld suite of integrated GIS & GPS solutions through its newly created Mappls division.

Mappls SafeWorld CAD Solution for Emergency Response aims to empower authorities to rapidly and effectively respond to incidents of crime, emergency and terrorism in India.

It combines five major ingredients: MapmyIndia’s map data, computeraided dispatch software, GPS tracking hardware, GPS navigation devices,

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Geospatial World | February 2013

and seamless and intelligent systems Integration.

On the other hand, Mappls ­VibrantWorld suite of integrated GIS & GPS solutions aims to increase efficiency and performance by empowering different industry verticals like FMCG, retail, infrastructure, transportation and utilities. It is also designed to meet needs of different government departments such as telecom, urban and rural development, travel and tourism etc.

Mappls is an integrated GIS & GPS enterprise solutions division of MapmyIndia, exclusively formed to meet needs of Indian government bodies

powered by MapmyIndia

Accurate 3D, House & Building-level Street Maps Accurate 3D, House & Building-level

and corporate. The new division was formally announced in January at the India Geospatial Forum in Hyderabad, India.

Street

Leica’s Virtual Vista to enhance farmers’ efficiency With an aim to offer flexible data management solution to farmers, Leica Geosystems has introduced Virtual Vista, a new web-based platform. Virtual Vista directly connects to the Leica mojo3D and enables users to monitor their fleet by combining real time and historical information with the use of Google Maps. Features such as geo fencing and curfews allow a new level of fleet management and can be easily activated with just a mouse click.

Simplicity of Virtual Vista keeps it apart from other online farm services.

Users do not need to manage a complex menu structure to use the service.

The intuitive design of the platform ensures an easy understanding for a best possible user experience. “We see Virtual Vista as the next logical step, delivering additional user benefits

from the built in connectivity of the Leica mojo3D,” says Robert Johnson, Product Manager at Leica Geosystems Agriculture. The company believes that providing customers with online

access to their devices will bring new efficiencies to guidance systems. It will influence farmers on the same scale like mobile phones, leaving us wondering how we ever did without them.

Ordnance Survey launches first map app OS MapFinder, the first official map from Ordnance Survey (OS) is a big hit on the iTunes, with nearly 40,000 downloads in the first two weeks.

Lifetime mapping update for this app, from the OS, is proving one of the finest gifts for all its users.

The app includes free overview mapping with the option of purchasing more detailed 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 mapping in small easily accessible 100 sq km tiles. Since its launch, 100 sq km tiles got downloaded almost 12,000 times with the most popular tiles being of London, the Peak District and Lake District. Tiles of OS Explorer mapping at 1:25,000

proved more popular with 6 out of the top 10 maps downloaded buying the scale, which is ideal for walking and exploring as it shows pathways, bridleways and other public rights of way.

About the new app, Alastair Tinker, Commercial Manager, OS MapFinder, says, “Downloading this app should give customers the comfort that they will have the most up to date mapping available both at the time of purchase and for the life of OS MapFinder.” The other benefit of OS MapFinder is that the mapping is cached on the device meaning there is no need to rely on signals or WiFi connection.

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Corner Office | Steven W. Berglund

‘This is the most exciting time in Trimble’s 34-year history’ Trimble CEO Steven W. Berglund is not perturbed by the ongoing global slowdown because, in his words, he is in the business of selling capability not capacity. It is during difficult times that the true value proposition of an enabling technology like geospatial comes out, feels Berglund Given the slowdown in the last three-four years, as a business leader what are your views about the economic environment?

The global economy can remain very uncertain for the next five years or longer; Europe is not going to instantly improve and the European crisis may continue to drag for some time. So it’s not just a one- or two-year cycle [of slowdown] but much longer. However, from Trimble’s perspective, I think this is the most technologically dynamic period in the company’s 34-year history. There are more opportunities in different areas of the geospatial market. The ingredients are there to have a relatively profound effect in the next 5 to 10 years.

It is a difficult period for goods manufacturers because people are not adding capacity. But we can walk into scenarios where there is an existing fleet of machines or instruments, and we can sell productivity — additional capabilities and in a difficult market. I believe there is an inherent excitement about the possibilities of growing as a company and the subsequent impacts we can have. We should be able to do well as a company in a more truncated economic environment because we are selling supportive technology; we are selling capability and not capacity.

Why is this technologically the most dynamic time for Trimble? Trimble has anyways been a very strong technology company.

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Geospatial World | February 2013

It is the broad and fundamental nature of the changes that make today’s times technologically the most dynamic times. If we look at Trimble’s history, real-time kinematic became available in the mid-1990s. It was exciting and a time for challenge because we used the technology to change the nature of play. Sensors in real-time were there 15 to 20 years ago, robotics came about 20 years ago, laser scanning 10-15 years ago and advancements in reflector technology around 15 years ago.

There have been inventions along the way but it has been stable from the sensor standpoint. Now we are seeing sensor integration — integrated sensory vehicles with GLONASS, GPS, Beidou and Galileo potentially all will have their constellations pretty soon. Even space-based capabilities are getting interesting.

Augmentation signals are evolving, so we are constructing better and more robust solutions.

Look at big data, data storage and its effect — no market has that kind of awareness. So customers are putting in physical infrastructure in order to come up with large and complex solutions to store data. You can think of applications that you couldn’t even contemplate 5 or 10 years ago. That’s the potential for storing a large mass of data and its connectivity and accessibility. We can also look at visualisation and modelling aspects. We acquired Google’s SketchUp not simply because we wanted to help the architects to doodle; the idea is that SketchUp is central to the 3D modelling concept.

“The excitement comes from the standpoint that we are not necessarily tied to the economic cycle because we are bringing value to our users, we give substance to our world and we define our world continuously.”

For Trimble, there are more things going on than in the last 34 years.

Google has never sold a technology to anyone. So what made you go for it?

We had been in touch with Google for some time, to see if we could collaborate in building up data, and they were interested to see if they could commercialise the demand. So there were discussions and along the way, Google made the decision that they wanted to narrow their focus and SketchUp was not part of that focus moving forward. It was part of a natural progression for our companies to sit down and talk. Trimble has been a preferred partner of SketchUp and that led to the acquisition.

What role and position you foresee for Trimble in the larger geospatial ecosystem?

There are a couple of dimensions to our role and focus in the geospatial ecosystem. In terms of a base technology provider, we see ourselves going forward as a leader in GNSS. In laser and inertial navigation systems, Trimble is again a leader. From capability and base technology standpoint, we see ourselves as a leader in this

industry and we want to see that continuing. In another dimension, we see ourselves as a solutions provider — we add value beyond the base technology and three-dimensional positioning. And on a slighter basis, we see ourselves giving the fundamental position data an added value to provide context. We envision becoming a provider of ERP systems or systems for the executives and field workers.

In addition, we see ourselves as not only continuing as a leader in terms of base technologies, but also in another way, on an industry by industry basis — taking and collecting a more comprehensive view of the work process — empowering field workers and providing for solutions which conversely involve more geospatial reference beyond the XYZ in an axis.

By adding an information context to the XYZ, we can enable industries.

There should not be a barrier between the field and office. So, it’s more about enabling and integrating the field worker with the enterprise.

You talk about democratising GIS. What are your views on crowd sourcing data?

Trimble had one encounter with what you call crowd sourcing. In Mexico, we invited people to use their cellphones and take pictures, log the positions and upload into a database. So in some sense, you are creating democratic GIS. Of course, there wasn’t really any data integrity.

When it’s about enterprises, I think enhancing thousands of field workers, giving them a

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Corner Office | Steven W. Berglund

list of 10 things and asking them to document it if they notice any of those and send it to the database is not crowd sourcing.

The days of sourcing data only from a designated few are passé. But quality data coming from a large number of sources also needs to be sorted and validated. It’s a very complex and difficult subject. If I was in a city planning office and I wanted to know where all my potholes were, or non-functional traffic signals were or where my broken traffic signs were, crowd-sourcing could help by taking a picture and sending it back to the office. There will be a lot of pressure on both — democratisation of data collection and providing more access. It’s a confusing environment and many organisations will need time to figure it out.

How do you differentiate between qualitative democratisation of data and crowd sourcing?

If I were an enterprise, I would want qualified datasets for my mission-critical activities where I need absolute integrity of data. But there is no reason why there cannot be more qualitative data augments. So the answer has to be given by the enterprise. I think for certain applications where I need absolute integrity of data, I need to know from where it comes, I need to understand various aspects of data from the original source.

So, if a large multinational construction company wants to use data, it has to be pure, with integrity and quality.

But then I may also encourage my employees to look for other elements of the process and log them. If they have an accuracy of within 5 metres, it is probably good enough. If they

“I do not think that it is likely anytime soon that geospatial technology will be featured in a paragraph by CEOs around the world. But there is a growing appreciation that this technology is the key point of differentiations.”

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Geospatial World | February 2013

can characterise it to perfection that might be okay as long as I have something that trips me into taking a remedial action. So I don’t think there is a clean answer. But I don’t think it will turn out to be enterprises lowering their quality standards.

If you had to pick up one most promising industry where Trimble is going to make a difference, what would that be?

Construction, real estate, energy, utility and environment are our core areas. We create full-length solutions for the industry, not just in the construction phase but also in the maintenance phase.

Agriculture is another industry we are focusing on. It is a vital element in every society and it’s not becoming an easier problem.

But much of that can be solved with precision measurement and control. For fertilising or bordering the field, you need to focus on precision because it is no longer about planting in a box. Your care revolves around that knowledge of where the seed is planted and where the plant is going to grow, why water the ground outside the system, whether fertiliser is falling onto the ground and polluting the nearby river. In 1999 when I came to Trimble, agriculture was less than a $10-million business. Now, it is more than hundreds of millions of dollars.

A few months ago, we introduced a handheld device that could help determine if a plant was healthy and how much fertiliser it needed. We are selling this device in the developed markets and also thinking about Africa and India in terms of small-scale farms. A handheld device can connect to big data — the ability to take a picture to determine the colour of the plant and send it back to the central location, from where it goes into the database. Soon, a real-time answer comes back to the farmer, advising him about how much fertiliser or insecticide he should put on that plant. So there is huge potential in agriculture but the real estate industry is our favourite.

Every technology goes through this process, where, from being an enabling technology, it becomes a part of productivity. How do you see geospatial industry faring on that ground?

Geospatial technology applies to a number of different industries. At Trimble, we have attempted to define the universe as a construction and agriculture universe, and I think that’s where geospatial capability can have a relatively profound effect.

I think it is still early days for most. Even in the construction industry, where we have been a participant for more than 15-20 years, it’s still a very early stage. More and more contractors are saying they need to use technology to stay competitive. Our roles change from industry to

industry in terms of what a geospatial professional’s role would be in that industry.

As the CEO of a large geospatial company providing end-to-end solutions, what according to you is the value proposition of this industry?

Value is not price. The lowest price is not necessarily the highest value proposition. So what do we sell beyond price? It starts with quality and reliability. It also relates to the view that we see ourselves as a solutions company. A product company is always focused on something that is in a box, shipping and hoping that the phone never rings. But for us, if the customer has an issue, we need to look into it. We have a 10-year relationship with a company, not one-off transactions.

The value proposition lies in not treating the XYZ position as a plain commodity. Putting that XYZ knowledge into your organisation, making it relevant for your use in terms of what other source of value it can create for the customer is the real task.

I believe it’s a matter of looking at the user’s needs, establishing a contact and then deciding how we take this capability in trying to solve his problems.

As the leader of a $2-billion company, what do you think is the awareness about geospatial technology among other industries?

The easy answer would be ‘not much’. At the CEO level, there is limited understanding. However, there is probably a lot of appreciation for the impact the technology has had on their organisation.

When contractors are asked to design a new building or a bridge, the fundamental process of design is to reach back to the prior start point with closest approximation. Would a contractor or a farmer talk about geospatially enabled technology? Probably not. The vocabulary may not be there but I think there is a growing appreciation for the technology — of the accuracy and positions.

I do not think it is likely anytime soon that geospatial technology will be featured in a paragraph

by CEOs around the world. But they understand that there is something called geospatial-centric solution. There is a growing appreciation that technology is the key point of differentiations.

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Utilities | Cover Story

Smart steps

to out-smart challenges

With the ever-increasing demand for energy, water and communication services across the world, more and more utilities are investing in geospatial technology to optimise services and make processes more efficient

I 28

Image courtesy: istockphoto

n mid-2012, India, the seventh largest country and second fastest growing economy in the world, was crippled by a massive electricity outage, leaving 670 million people across half the country without power for several hours.

The worst electrical blackout in the history of the planet was accompanied by chaotic scenes of motionless trains on the track, huge traffic jams on roads, paralysed subway lines, hospitals running on backup generators and helpless miners trapped beneath the ground.

Geospatial World | February 2013

Besides, it also had huge impact on the world’s 10th largest economy as businesses came to a standstill in many parts of the country. The incident was a grim reminder of our massive dependence on utilities and underlined the need for smarter services to prevent such incidents in future.

The tremendous significance of water for human sustenance and health is a well established fact. On the other hand, affordable and reliable power is considered the lifeline of an

economy. Besides, rapid urbanisation has caused utilities such as gas and telecommunication to become a prerequisite for a large portion of the population. However, there are huge gaps in the demand and supply of these essential services, especially in the developing countries.

According to a UN report, over 1.2 billion people across the world lack access to clean water, while a report by the International Energy Agency puts the number of people without access to electricity at over 1.6 billion.

Bridging this massive deficit will require the creation of new utility networks and increase in efficiency of the existing infrastructure.

At the same time, all this has to be done in a sustainable way given that the shadow of global warming is getting bigger with each passing day.

With the ever-increasing challenge to produce more from less, and maximum benefit with minimum wastage, service providers around the globe are turning towards modern technologies to optimise services and make processes more efficient. Geospatial data and technology plays a critical role in the utilities industry.

Apart from being an integral component for the engineering and operations departments, the technology has become extremely vital for a number of other processes, up to the extent that it can literally transform a utility. An Esri study of electric utility professionals in 2012 found that almost 50% of the respondents reported a more than 10% increase in productivity in terms of return on investment due to the use of GIS (geographic information system) technology.

Utilities and geospatial technology Geospatial technology has wide applications in all utility verticals, including electricity, water supply, gas and telecommunications. For an electricity company, the cost of maintaining its most important assets – transmission and distribution facilities – represents a huge chunk of its

annual operating budgets. Geospatial technology simplifies records management for these key assets of a utility company, thus leading to a decrease in operational costs. Gas distribution companies deploy the technology for physical pipeline management and keeping track of every tiny detail such as stations and pipe pressures, valves and pipe diameter, emergency response, sales, outage management, planning and research etc.

On the telecommunications front, geospatial technology offers various advantages such as analysing service areas, geocoding antennas and clients, studying the relationship among signal coverage and customer service etc. For water supply companies, the technology can detail the location of its underground pipelines, reservoirs, watersheds etc.

“We use geospatial technology for editing, viewing and modification of all our networks, including the electricity, water, gas and fibre optic network,” says Eng. Atif Ahmed Karrani, Managing Director, General Directorate of IT, Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority.

“Besides, during an emergency, the response time is of utmost importance and geospatial technology helps the field engineers in getting access to specific information in a timely manner.”

G-tech for electricity Good data holds tremendous value for electricity companies. Linking the customer and asset data to a geographic location on a map allows the service providers to look at the bigger picture and thus makes for a powerful decision-making tool. Geospatial technology offers a well-organised platform for planning and analysis, mobile workforce management, data management and better customer service. Besides, the ability of GIS to integrate with other software like ERP or SCADA in an organisation makes it an easy to use tool for every utility organisation.

GIS plays a significant role in power generation, transmission and distribution. To over-

“

For a utility organisation, more data means business enhancement.

With the help of geospatial technology, emergency situations can be dealt with without even going to the substation

Eng. Atif Karrani, Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Utilities | Cover Story

“

With proper GIS in place, one can do energy auditing as well as identify and filter theft-prone areas. Besides, it can also be used to do load flow analysis.

Dipak Kumar Banerjee, CESC, ­Kolkata

come the commonly seen challenges in the world are touting smart grid as the answer to distribution sector, such as a complex network, all our electricity supply woes. Simply put, a huge geographical coverage as well as other smart grid is a computerised electric utility operational and maintenance challenges, a grid, which entails adding two-way digital number of electricity distribution companies communication technology to various devices are switching to geospatial technology-based in a grid. Each individual device in the grid distribution management to improve their effiis fitted with sensors to gather various types ciency and manage their networks effectively. of data such as power consumption, voltage, Some of the key issues facing electricity boards fault detection etc. Another feature is the two and distribution companies include mountway communication that takes place between ing distribution losses and ever-increasing the field device and the utility’s operations demand, leading to frequent load-shedding centre. Effective implementation of the smart and tripping. GIS is an effective tool that can grid technology entails the foundation of an bind together the various pieces of an elecenterprise GIS that can help in data managetricity distribution system and thus ensure ment, mobile workforce management, planbetter asset management, improved customer ning and analysis etc. service, improved outage Integration of GIS with management and more other available software World Utility Facts accurate data. can also enhance the ef“With proper GIS in ficiency of the distribution place, one can do energy system. Integration with People lack access to auditing as well as identify SCADA (Supervisory Conclean water globally and filter the theft-prone trol and Data Acquisition), areas. Besides, it can also ERP (Enterprise Resource be used to do load flow Planning) and SAP (Sysanalysis with the help tem Application & ProdPeople lack access to of a load-flow analysis ucts) can provide real-time electricity globally software plugged with the data from these systems on GIS,” says Dipak Kumar a geographical view of the Banerjee, head of GIS cell electrical network, thus at Kolkata-based power adding value to the entire Urban population do distribution company system. Both SCADA and not have piped water CESC. The DMS system GIS are key operational from SCADA gives the tools in electricity distriinformation on which bution, and integration Miles of natural gas transformer is off in case between the two results in pipeline in US of a tripping, he says. increased efficiency.

Another major advantage For Delhi-based BSES is asset management, Yamuna Power, successwhich can give a reality ful software integration Global demand of check of things at ground has resulted in improved gas in 2010 level. “If your GIS is well operational efficiency. “To maintained and updated, know our network and asall such information can sets, we plotted our comTotal mobile phone be kept at fingertips.” plete electrical network on subscriptions in 2011 Authorities across the GIS,” says Vice-President

1.2bn

1.6bn 27%

300k

3.3trn 6bn

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Geospatial World | February 2013

Harsh Sharma. “Subsequently, we integrated the GIS with other software like SCADA and SAP and thus made GIS the dashboard for entry into all our operations including asset management, maintenance and addition of new consumers. Besides, we also have an outage management system that is integrated with GIS and SCADA,” he adds.

Agrees Arup Ghosh, Chief Technology officer, North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL).

“All our assets, including the distribution and transmission networks, are on GIS. Further, the GIS is integrated with our ERP and SCADA, which means that the entire asset management cycle, from planning for and implementing the assets at site to maintaining and finally retiring the assets, is supported by our GIS.”

G-tech for water Over the years, the use of geospatial technology by utility companies has moved much beyond engineering and has encompassed several other activities. “While most water utility organisations still use the technology solely for engineering purposes, it has much broader use, such as by the finance group for water consumption forecasting, by the water lab for managing water quality and exploring better ways to communicate with your ­customers,” explains Susan Ancel, Director Water Distribution and Transmission, EPCOR Water Services.

Water and wastewater distribution, like most other utilities, is an asset-driven business, where most of these assets are represented by complex and expensive pipelines and distribution systems. A majority of the organisation’s workforce is involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of these assets. Water and wastewater management companies across the world rely on accurate databases and spatial information to manage their operations, which includes everything from fresh water supply to identifying pipeline network and sewers. A spatially enabled supply network is critical throughout the supply

chain – be it the management of an existing project, planning of a new network or identifying a leak or any other kind of disruption.

Accurate mapping of the assets also ensures their proper maintenance besides providing an integrated view of the existing network in relation to the customers’ location.

“Geospatial technology is an extremely effective tool for the water/waste water management companies,” says Nader Bin Taher, Strategic Planning and Communication Department Manager, Asset Performance Department Manager, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC). He says his company extensively uses GIS for capturing, monitoring and maintaining the asset register.

While GIS offers a platform for accessing various types of business data, integrating work orders, updating network information and finding customer information, a GIS driven analysis can also help identify future demand trends and thus help the utility provider in planning ahead of time. “A sewerage project can last for 2-3 years, during which time a lot of changes take place. Geospatial technology helps keep track of these changes and thus ensures error-free functioning,” explains Nader Bin Taher.

G-tech for gas Compared to some of the other utilities, natural gas distribution is a more complex and riskier proposition as even a slight error in terms of a leakage can result in a major catastrophe. Large gas distribution networks consist of numerous pipelines containing thousands of interconnected pieces that are spread across a huge geographical area.

Gas utilities around the world have started using geospatial technology for mapping, maintaining and reporting on their infrastructure.

Besides, the mobile capabilities of GIS allow field employees to move data freely between the site and office, and help keep the information up to date. GIS-based planning and analysis allow gas distribution compa-

“

The integration of GIS with ERP and SCADA helps manage the entire asset management cycle, right from planning for and implementing the assets at site to maintaining and finally retiring the assets

Arup Ghosh, North Delhi Power Ltd

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Utilities | Cover Story

“

A challenge with expanding the use of GIS is that GIS was always looked as a mapping system. It sometimes becomes difficult to make others understand that it is more than a map and can be used for things like analytics to highlight business benefits and risks Phil Mannell, Enbridge Gas Distribution

nies to plan better, ensure safety, understand customer needs and requirements, assess construction and maintenance activities and ensure regulatory compliance. Besides, GIS also facilitates the linkage between asset data and other key information, thus providing situational awareness to keep track of work orders and monitor emergency shutdowns.

“For a gas distribution company, geospatial technology offers several benefits like integrating information from disparate systems and representing that in a spatial context or equipping field personnel with critical information wherever required,” says Phil Mannell, Director, Customer Connections and Construction, Enbridge Gas Distribution, Canada’s largest gas distribution utility. The technology also helps companies find sales leads in relation to existing and planned networks, and anticipate and mitigate issues by reviewing pressure variations of upstream and downstream assets in distribution system, he adds.

Some of the unique challenges faced the natural gas distribution companies are meeting the ever increasing demand, placing new infrastructure in line with environmental issues, increasing the efficiency of existing network while meeting consumer expectations, rising costs of raw material, carrying

out safe operations while strictly abiding by regulations, operating critical infrastructure and having to be always ready to deal with emergencies. Geospatial technology can help meet all these challenges and ensure safety, service reliability and cost efficient operations.

“It is critical to have a high-tech system in the gas network organisation, which makes it easier to collect information of all the equipment and thus offer better quality services for people and also to improve safety. All this can be conveniently achieved with the help of geospatial technology,” says Ahmet Fatih Hames, Infrastructure Information Systems Manager at the Istanbul-based IGDAS.

G-tech for telecom Telecom is an extremely dynamic industry where the service providers are required to innovate and evolve constantly in order to fulfil the ever increasing demands of the consumer.

Access to reliable spatial information is the cornerstone for informed decision-making in such a highly competitive market. Network management is a crucial aspect of telecommunications operations where providing error-free services can ensure customer retention. No wonder then telecom companies across the world are switching to geospatial

Top application areas of geospatial technology Electricity

Trouble call/outage analysis, data maintenance, engineering work order design, engineering analysis, asset management, work management, workforce automation, mobile mapping, CIS integration, conversion/data capture

GIS database maintenance, core GIS migration, data management, data conversion, field computing and collection, Water/Waste water system integration, asset management, work management, engineering design, replacement forecast planning

Gas

Regulatory compliance, process automation, network analysis/simulation, routing/location-based applications, CIS integration with AM/FM/GIS, replacement maintenance monitoring/management, construction design, leak detection/management, mobile data collection/viewing/access, facility maintenance – monitoring and management

Engineering design tie with data conversion, work management, system integration, GIS database management tie with asset management, field computing and collection, facility maintenance tie with data management, core GIS Telecommunications migration, facilities modelling, investigation/litigation support

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Geospatial World | February 2013

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Utilities | Cover Story Mobile workforce management

Improved outage management

Enhanced customer service Implementation of geospatial technology

Network planning & management

Better infrastructure management

Major benefits of using geospatial technology in utilities

“

While most water utility organisations use the technology solely for engineering purposes, it has much broader use, such as by the finance group for water consumption forecasting and by the water lab for managing water quality Susan Ancel, EPCOR Water Services

34

technology in order to ensure optimum network management.

Reliable spatial data can be used for network requirement assessment and to carry out a detailed analysis before setting up new networks and infrastructure. For example, network assessment can be made to check if it is possible to provide certain services in an area or not. The technology can thus enable the service provider to take a leap ahead of the competition and capture a fare share of the market. Spatial technology is extremely vital for telecom companies that are looking to minimise operational costs, improve business processes, offer enhanced services, plan ahead of time and react promptly to any emergency situation.

GIS technology has helped Etisalat in automating the business process and speed up the planning process by providing information to decision makers to help them take effective decisions for network development based on customer information, says Ibrahim Seif, Senior Manager/Inventory-T&I/Information at Dubai-based telecom major Etisalat. “While planning a project, GIS gives you the bigger

Geospatial World | February 2013

picture so you would be able to see the existing network and thus avoid duplication,” he says, adding the company’s customer service department is using GIS to locate the customers and provide better care.

Benefits of geospatial technology Network planning and management: Constructing an electricity transmission line is one of the toughest engineering challenges and involves more complexity than routing any other public infrastructure. Effective network planning can go a long way in achieve optimum utilisation of the available resources while providing enhanced services to the customers. With its ability to perform an analysis of the available assets, target customers and the web of existing network, geospatial technology can simplify the process of new network planning. Besides, the network can also be made available for the public, which leads to transparency.

Highlighting the technology’s tremendous efficacy in network planning, Harsh Sharma of BSES says, “Geospatial technology helps us in network planning, such as where to add a transformer or where to build a new network. It has been used to an extent that our whole network has now been made public. We publish it on our portal, which not only helps improve the efficiency but also brings transparency.”

Eng. Karrani is also upbeat about the numerous benefits of deploying the technology in utility organisations. “SEWA’s prime objective is to deliver quality services to its citizens and GIS helps to ensure that the services are delivered in an uninterrupted and timely manner. The projects department uses geospatial technology in all its phases, from planning the project to development and execution phase.

Besides, it has also helped in improving customer service.”

Outage management: One of the prime challenges for any utility company is to ensure earliest restoration of services, following a natural disaster or any other type of outage.

“

more than 60% of the total employees in a typical utility company are field based. Thus, management and automation of a utility company’s mobile workforce becomes extremely critical for cost reduction and improvement in productivity. GIS-based workforce management systems allow a utility company to better organise the schedule and dispatch of its field personnel. Geospatial technology helps locate employees on the field and also gives information about the status of their work. Besides, the location of service vans can be traced through an automated vehicle location system while a routing system can enable the handling of more service calls, thus resulting in reduced fleet costs.

Customer service: A utility company Progress Report serves the common Outage duration man and ensuring Time to RESTORE After... prompt customer service is the key to growth Time to LOCATE (11%) in such a scenario.

Geospatial technology Time to TRAVEL (23%) offers innovative solutions to most fundamental issues faced by the utility companies.

Time to ASSIGN (66%) For example, mapping customer satisfacTime to DIAGNOSE tion levels enables the service providers to find out the location Time to REPORT of their most dissatisfied customers. This Florida-based Progress Energy has significantly improved its outage data, when combined management process – the time it spends on dispatching field crews, travel, and with other data such as location – with the implementation of geospatial technology. historic records of outages, can pinpoint the exact cause of consumer thus meet customer requirements. dissatisfaction. The findings can help the utility “For a utility organisation, more data means companies to devise solutions such as targeted more business enhancement. With the help of consumer educational programmes, instead of geospatial technology, emergency response or simply relying on the trial and error method. internal problems can be solved without going Infrastructure management: Setting up to the substation,” says Eng. Karrani. the utility infrastructure such as installing fibre, Mobile workforce management: Studies copper and wireless networks has become very conducted over the years have concluded that

Geospatial technology helps to plan our network well. It has been used to an extent that our whole network has now been made public. This not only helps improve the efficiency but also brings transparency Harsh Sharma, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd

CUST

OUT

DISPATCH

FIELD RESTORATION

Prompt response to an outage is perhaps the most essential aspect for electricity distribution companies, where a prolonged outage can result in huge losses, not only for the distributor but also for the consumers.

Electricity distribution companies across the world have started to deploy GIS-based outage management systems in order to ensure quick response to a crisis. A GIS-powered outage management system assimilates various types of data from the electric network, customer information, work orders and SCADA systems.

The up-to-date records stored in a GIS system and its ability to present the complete utility data on top of geographic information helps the emergency teams to act accurately and

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Utilities | Cover Story

costly off late. For telecom companies, especially, the rapidly growing competition has forced them to look for opportunities to cut costs and make maximum use of their existing networks. Utility companies across the world are using geospatial technology to map the location of their assets, both overhead and underground. Moreover, a GIS system can also link the asset information with the customer information, thus allowing the agency to better monitor work orders, outages etc.

Challenges

“

Geospatial technology is an extremely effective tool for the water/waste water management companies.

It helps keep track of changes occurring through a project and thus ensures error-free functioning

Nader Taher, Abu Dhabi ­S ewerage Services Company

36

Although geospatial technology has been implemented by a large number of utility companies across the globe, there are a number of challenges that hinder the further growth and usage of this technology.

Explaining how the lack of awareness about the benefits of geospatial technology has hampered the usage and growth of this technology in Enbridge Gas Distribution, Mannell says, “The challenge with expanding GIS is the fact that GIS was always looked as a mapping system; it is difficult to make others understand that it is more than a map and can be used for things like analytics to highlight business benefits and risks.” While the early use of GIS at EGD was restricted to limited users, with the introduction of an updated GIS infrastructure, the company now plans to expand it to other groups too.

Nader Taher cites the lack of integration between different software as the one of the biggest hurdles. “A major challenge within the organisation is the expansion of GIS. Different departments are using different software to make use of our data. Thus, our challenge here is to take all this data and put it together so that it communicates effectively and meets the requirements of different departments,” he says.

Mapping the assets and keeping the asset register up to date is another hurdle that needs urgent attention. “Mapping the assets was a major challenge. Our first challenge was to get suitable land based maps and to turn them into vector maps. Another challenge was to fully map all the assets, which

Geospatial World | February 2013

required us to find those assets, correlate those with paper records and then mapping that effectively in GIS,” says NDPL’s Ghosh.

The next challenge for the company is to keep the asset register updated. “People tend to replace assets on site or take those out for repairs. Keeping track of all of that on a real time basis is a big challenge,” he adds.

User training and capacity building is another challenge, according to BSES’s Sharma.

“The users were initially reluctant in adopting GIS technology. Another major challenge is the availability of trained manpower.”

Conclusion The use of geospatial technology by various public utilities has grown significantly over the past few years. Service providers these days are not only expected to respond to their customers’ needs but are also obligated to fulfil their social responsibility. For instance, while the customers are looking for reliability and affordability, the regulators demand minimal impact on the environment.

Utility providers, both in the government as well as private sectors worldwide have realised its benefits and have made huge investments towards this. The need of the hour is to spread awareness about the tremendous benefits in terms of increased safety and efficiency that the technology can bring to utility organisations.

“The utility sector is making extensive use of geospatial technology to know where they need to put new supply infrastructure, and to ascertain demand for their produce, so that we know exactly where we are and where do we need to increase capacity,” says Astrid Vokso, GIS coordinator, Norwegian Water Resource and Energy Department. “In all parts of the society where spatial is a relevant factor, the technology can be used, is being used and should be used.”

Vaibhav Arora Assistant Editor vaibhav@geospatialmedia.net

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Geospatial World | February 2013

Utilities  |  Case Study

Adding a spark with GIS Kolkata-based CESC, the first power utility in India to implement GIS way back in 1992, is looking at completion of the entire project by this year and gearing up to reap the subsequent financial benefits

C

ESC Ltd is a private electricity utility company that generates, transmits and distributes power to the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah, and its environs in the state of West Bengal in India. The company has been in business since 1897 and has grown from a licensed area of mere 14.61 sq km to a command area of 567 sq km.

The first electricity utility in the country to implement GIS in 1992, CESC started with converting the important graphical data such as maps, single line diagrams, sketchbooks and route cards to computer files with the help of AutoCAD way back in 1987 as it faced problems in manual maintenance of records. Beside huge physical volume and poor condition of documents, the problem areas were high maintenance costs, transcription error and wastage of manpower and time.

Difficulty in data update and validation, and lack of easy access to operational staff were other major issues.

The company has four generating stations, over 100 sub-stations with an installed capacity of 1,225 MW and 2.65 million consumer base. It has about 6,000 circuit km of extra high tension/high tension (EHT/HT) transmission lines and over 10,350 circuit km in AC low tension (LT) distribution.

was launched since the records (both graphical and non-graphical) for HT were more or less updated with a fair degree of precision.

Each of the 32-inch maps were first scanned and converted to raster files. The raster files were then digitised and converted into vector files. A grid system was designed (with XY coordinates) so that after digitisation each map would automatically align itself to its correct position vis-a-vis the other maps.

Electronic edge matching was carried to produce a

Embarking on the GIS path The utility first started looking at GIS solutions in 1990 while converting to AutoCAD files some Survey of India (SOI) maps dating back to 1940s. The need to merge the graphical record of an installation with its non-graphical data was felt to build a comprehensive system on a single platform to make monitoring and updation of data easier.

The company embarked on the GIS project in October 1990 and by May 1992, the system for HT

The final HT GIS map

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Utilities | Case Study

seamless map covering the entire licensed area. The non-graphic data was then co-related to the electrical feature on the map through unique codes and default values were given wherever there was no data.

This was then converted into the GIS environment through a migration tool. Finally, a thorough quality analysis was done to ensure maximum accuracy of the converted data. The process didn’t require physical survey work.

However, there were two major disadvantages.

The map was not geo-referenced and so no latitudelongitude data was available. Secondly, the land base contained only those roads that existed in 1940s and were mapped by the SoI. There were no other land base features such as buildings, water bodies, open spaces, parks, footpath, railway and tram tracks etc.

But when the system went live in 1992, the advantages far outweighed the above deficiencies.

The immediate benefits were easy access to data for the operational staff, easier data updation, layered depiction leading to clarity, merging of graphical and non-graphical databases on one platform, online validation during editing and updation before acceptance in the database.

Original manually maintained 32-inch: 1 mile SoI topo sheet of HT section

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Geospatial World | February 2013

But the real problems arose at the LT network and consumer indexing phase. The requirements were far more stringent. The requirement was for a proper geo-referenced land base having latitudelongitude and accurate incorporation of all land base features, especially buildings, since the ‘last mile’ electrical network stopped there. There was also the need for accurate and up-to-date LT network with all elements in place and connected to each other in the proper sequence ‘electrically’.

The GIS software was also expected to provide network tracing facility since that formed a vital part of the system.

Putting the system in place For the consumer indexing project, CESC either did not have adequate data or what it had was sketchy at best. To ensure that the work was carried out smoothly, a GIS review committee and a GIS technical cell were constituted. Vendors were short-listed for preparing the land base and electrical network through detailed site surveying.

A GIS network updation centre was formed with AutoCAD operators trained by the cell members

The map scanned and digitised

Map placed in its position on the GIS grid

Final output of the GIS map

in the GIS environment to update the LT network directly into the ‘live’ database.

The greatest obstacle was the preparation of the land base since there were no records available with the local authorities. Finally, the company decided to prepare the land base from Google Earth Pro Maps that had sub-metre accuracy and were updated every six months. The relevant portions of the map were downloaded, digitised and then rubber-sheeted to ensure correct coordinates by taking DGPS reading of a certain overground electrical installations having sufficient height.

This method was found to be quicker and slightly cheaper.

The LT network was handed over to the survey vendor so that not only was the land base features surveyed, but the electrical features were also plotted on the map at the same time. The end product was a fairly accurate GIS environment containing the land base and electrical features. To update the network, the NUC was provided with six groups to survey and update the electrical network of their corresponding areas. The finished product was to be handed over for upkeep to the department concerned.

End result A customised web-enabled browser was put in place for viewing the GIS data and its company wide use was commissioned in August 2011.

As for consumer indexing, six years after the project was kicked off, GIS-based services were launched

by January 2013 in three of CESC’s 10 LT network operational districts. The remaining seven are being made ready to go live within this year.

The result is there for all to see. In addition to immediate and better services to customers, the GIS system is helping the power utility identify and filter theft-prone areas. It is also helping in load flow analytics — which transformer is off and where there is more load. As a result, CESC has witnessed a drastic reduction in time to respond to consumer complaints. Another major advantage for the company is asset management.

Now, other departments within the company are also interested in accessing the data for efficient operations in their own areas. CESC feels this is especially true for CRM data, and if interfaced properly with DMS data, will open another vista of operational efficiency in attending to consumer complaint calls.

Geospatial World | February 2013

43

Utilities | Interview

‘Precision and data ­accuracy critical for utilities’ Design is a critical part of delivering safe and sustainable utility services while significantly improving their reliability, maintains Lisa Campbell, Vice President, Engineering & Infrastructure, Autodesk Design technology has evolved over the years and today analysis is part of the design process. Would you say BIM for infrastructure is broadening that concept?

The whole infrastructure ecosystem is moving towards BIM, which is intelligent 3D modelling, and the seamless flow of information from planning stages to designing, building and finally managing the infrastructure. One trend driving this in the infrastructure sector is the scale. There are infrastructure projects coming up that are huge — spread out over 100 to 200 km. The bigger these projects, the more complex they get. People are looking at technology to handle them and cloud plays a very important role here.

Another big trend is that geospatial data is becoming ubiquitous. It is not an afterthought anymore but an integrated part of the process.

Every infrastructure project requires geospatial information because people want to understand what’s happening to the environment. If I want to build an asset, I need to know what its impact will be on the environment and how to build it more sustainably.

A third trend is increasing expectations.

Government agencies and the public are demanding clearer communication about infrastructure projects during the planning phases.

It’s not good enough to walk into a town planning meeting with a set of 2D blueprints anymore — people want to learn about design plans in a more intuitive way.

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Geospatial World | February 2013

I think the ubiquity of geospatial data, the scale and complexity of projects and increasing expectations are the three biggest trends that are going to shape the infrastructure space.

What are the major verticals within the infrastructure sector that you are focusing on?

The way we look at the infrastructure sector, the four big areas are transportation, water, power and land. Within these, Autodesk currently has a particular focus on transportation segments like roads and highways, railways and ports. We have seen significant momentum for BIM in transportation projects around the world. For example, by 2016, UK will be mandating BIM for all ports and infrastructure projects. And we are also starting to see this trend in Japan and Brazil, where the ministries of infrastructure and transportation are looking at making BIM mandatory.

Utilities today have to seek smarter and more efficient ways for distribution. How critical is design for utilities management?

We see design as a critical part of delivering safe and sustainable utility services. Of course design decisions can significantly improve cost and reliability of services. Examples include optimal sizing of equipment (such as pumps, pipelines, transformers, poles, and cables) based on material costs, engineering rules, and local standards. Considering optimal placement of facilities (such as water treatment plants,

substations, power lines and pipelines) based on environmental constraints, cost and land use is another example.

How do design tools help construct and manage utilities?

Autodesk BIM for Infrastructure tools incorporate industry standards and project-specific rules into the design tool, enabling designers to make better design decisions earlier in the process. The tools enable designers to incorporate a base map and existing condition data into the design process, reducing clashes, rework and design errors. They also help facilitate collaboration across the various agencies involved in a utility project by providing standardised data access or the desktop or in the cloud.

Precision and data accuracy are critical for utilities. We are seeing many utilities currently investing in reality capture of their existing networks and facilities — using LiDAR and imagery — and using that along with our BIM for Infrastructure tools to build more accurate and complete models of existing assets [so that there is no need for relocation of any existing utility].

With that model in place, they can leverage the

precision inherent in our CAD-based design tools to locate new infrastructure.

How do BIM design tools enhance a projects workflow through rapid and accurate 3D modelling even at the earliest stages and help in informative decision making?

Think about utility projects — a water treatment plant, an electric substation or new lines — they are very visible and high profile.

BIM solutions provide the ability to create a conceptual model early in the design process that can be shared with stakeholders to get input early and make adjustments prior to the detailed design. The BIM workflow allows the designer to evaluate more alterna-

“More and more utilities are capturing data of their existing networks and facilities – using LiDAR and imagery – and using that along with BIM for infrastructure tools to build more accurate and complete models of existing assets”

Geospatial World | February 2013

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Utilities  |  Interview

tives through rapid simulation, analysis and visualisation.

Further, engineers and designers can now spend more time on what-if analyses to determine optimal designs and less time on routine plan production. Additional benefits from this include enhanced stakeholder buy-in earlier in the process, cost savings from reduced errors and rework and better long-term operations and maintenance.

GIS had entered the utility enterprise simply as a system for automating map production, but has now evolved into a core-enabling technology. Why is CAD-GIS integration important in a utilities project?

Screen image of Columbia University Manhattanville project, courtesy of Stantec Consulting

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Geospatial World | February 2013

CAD-GIS integration is important in both planning for new projects and operations and management of existing projects. For upfront planning, it is critical for the designer to work in the CAD environment using the most upto-date base map information from the GIS and other sources. Integration then allows the relevant design data to be posted back to GIS at various stages, including the final as-built stage, so that this accurate engineering data can be used to support operations. In the past, utilities often manually re-digitised data for the GIS, introducing a new source of errors and delays in getting up-to-date data. With the tools available today, utilities can automate this process and improve accuracy and efficiency.

Utilities today struggle with the fact that key institutional knowledge is lost as utility workers retire, so it is critical to integrate design and operational data in a model that can be shared throughout the organisation. One example is that the engineering design data can provide very accurate and precise data on the location and specs of underground utility assets, enabling operations personnel to visualise that data on a tablet device in the field — improving coordination and ultimately safety.

What kind of investments do you foresee in the emerging technology trends you mentioned?

I think there is going to be a lot of investment in technology to address the trends I mentioned and to make up for the funding gap between what is needed for infrastructure improvement projects and what is available. Analysis, simulation and visualisation are the technologies people will invest in. BIM will help with this because it enables engineers to do all these things with the intelligent 3D models in a very efficient way.

We are also expecting big investments in cloud services. The cloud will help teams to collaborate more effectively, make it easier to share information with the public and also enable engineers to perform analysis and simulations such as road optimisation that require the

Creating your own map from maps published by other users is just one of many ways to take advantage of the rich collection of data and resources ArcGIS Online makes available to you.

SM

Welcome to the new frontier in geographic information systems.

30-day free trial: esri.com/gswagol Copyright Š 2012 Esri. All rights reserved.

Utilities | Interview

“About 46% of firms surveyed as part of a McGraw Hill study in 2012 to understand the value of BIM for infrastructure said they were using BIM in their projects. 67% of these firms reported a positive ROI on their BIM investments.”

power of cloud computing.

There is so much happening in the infrastructure sector all over the world — new infrastructure is being created and existing ones being refurbished. And natural disasters occuring all over the world means there will be many rebuilds too. We see our customers investing in solutions that address their need for an integrated workflow, and enable them to get more work done with greater clarity, continuity and agility.

What has been the response of end-users associated with this industry? Do they find value proposition in geospatial and design technologies?

Yes, absolutely. As they are adopting BIM, people understand the value of geospatial data because the first thing they want is a view of the built-in environment. I talk to a lot of users and they say it makes their job easier when there is a seamless flow of information. They can then start planning from as-built information that is accurate.

I see big value in that. It’s also great for utilities to be able to understand and handle service interruptions quicker because they know where the distribution network has broken down. Our customers like the fact that if they have a model, they know the status of their asset, they know information about it, and they can understand what condition it is in. This is a big deal.

So as we talk to designers, they have a great appreciation for geospatial data. And they just

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expect a BIM environment where geospatial data will be integrated.

Has Autodesk worked on any kind of study internally on assessing the value proposition or ROI of geospatial information?

We have a research study that was done by McGraw Hill in 2012 to understand the value of BIM for infrastructure. About 46% of firms surveyed reported they are using BIM in their projects, and see the business value. In fact, 67% of these firms reported a positive return on investment on their BIM investments.

Two of the key reasons for this ROI were reduced conflicts and changes, and improved project quality.

What is the position of Autodesk vis-a-vis its competitors in infrastructure business like Trimble and Hexagon?

We have been in this space for 30 years now and we have market-leading technologies.

Most customers are using AutoCAD, so we are in nearly every infrastructure account.

Our customers see value in that. Then a lot of people moved to our civil engineering solutions — Civil 3D is built on AutoCAD. So you get all the value of maps, the geospatial value and the CAD value. Finally, our Infrastructure Modeller product is a whole new revolutionary environment where you can easily pull in different geospatial and as-built data and design in 3D from the start.

Another differentiator for Autodesk is our broad solutions that span the infrastructure project lifecycle. As I mentioned earlier, infrastructure projects are getting more complex, and they involve many different disciplines. A railway project is not just train tracks — there are also roads, bridges, train station buildings, electrical utilities, mechanical components and more.

Only Autodesk has the BIM solutions that customers can use to address all aspects of an infrastructure project and carry information in the intelligent 3D model from one phase of the project to the next.

Utilities | Case Study

GIS for cost-effective decisions Malaysian electric utility incorporates GIS to streamline its business processes, improve efficiency and reduce operational costs

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ing business functions. Spread over a period of 10 enaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is the largest years from its inception in 2009, the GIS project is electricity utility company in Malaysia with being implemented in two phases — the four-year assets worth almost $23.62 billion (MYR73 foundation phase where the TNB team will build billion). The company serves an estimated 8.08 the basic foundations of GIS and the second phase million customers in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah of full deployment of CGIS. CGIS is currently in its and Labuan. TNB’s core businesses are generafinal year of the foundation phase. tion, transmission and distribution of electricity.

In Peninsular Malaysia, TNB is a major contributor to the total industry capacity through six thermal Requirement gathering methodology stations and three major hydroelectric schemes. It A critical success factor in the development of also manages and operates the National Grid which system functionalities is a comprehensive requirelinks TNB power stations and IPPs to the distribution ment gathering programme. CGIS’s requirement network in the peninsula. As part of TNB’s drive to gathering programme comprises of two phases: improve efficiency and reduce operational costs, it business requirement gathering and functional has been looking into utilising information and comrequirement gathering. munication technology (ICT) to support its business processes. One of the initiatives is to incorporate GIS to geo-reference all of TNB’s assets and networks.

Corporate Geospatial Information System or CGIS is a project that has been undertaken to fulfill these initiatives.

It is being implemented throughout the various divisions namely generation, transmission, distribution, planning, ICT and corporate services. As many as 50 functions have been identified to be incorporated from the existCGIS modules to support asset lifecycle

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Utilities | Case Study

To further enhance the current system, TNB is working on an initiative to provide data updates on mobile devices

Business requirement gathering: During this phase, all the current processes, process gaps and pain points are being identified. These will be addressed in the proposed processes in the To-Be Processed Blueprint. This document will be the source point for the system developer to propose the functional requirement specification.

Functional requirement gathering: The next step will be to produce the Functional Requirement Report, which will be used by the system developer to design and develop functionalities. To ensure that the optimum functional requirements are met during this phase, a standard approach for sessions/workshops with users has been put in place which consists of: • Process reviewing — to ensure that the processes developed are current and reliable • Demonstration on the current system — to familiarise users with GIS technology • Visualisation on functions to be developed.

With this approach, users get a clear understanding of the system and its capabilities and are able to better articulate their requirements as well as their expectations.

Service-oriented architecture In conjunction with the CGIS implementation, TNB identified that service-oriented architecture (SOA) approach should also be adopted to integrate existing applications or systems available in the organisation to develop a comprehensive system. One major advantage of SOA is that it

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allows multiple systems to connect in a way that minimises dependency, which encourages the services offered by a system to be used repeatedly by other systems or other business functions within TNB. Another key benefit from SOA implementation is that since the data is wrapped and exposed as Web service, any changes to the architecture or platform of the existing systems will not affect the service provided as long as the service is available and is within the SOA governance structure. Another benefit of implementing SOA in TNB, as part of CGIS implementation, is that the SOA can also be extended to other business units in TNB.

Data update device To further enhance the current system, TNB is also working on an initiative to provide data updates on mobile devices. These devices will allow construction supervisors and maintenance personnel to update data at site on-the-go.

Conclusion During the course of developing functionalities for the CGIS project, TNB observed that comprehensive requirement gathering programme has contributed significantly in ensuring successful development of system functionalities. The functional requirement approach described above was formulated based on the challenges faced and lessons learnt in the project. This gathering approach will avoid the incompleteness of the requirement and produce functions that fulfill users’ business needs and expectations.

Utilities | In Conversation

‘GIS is part of our overall ­execution methodology’ Though it wouldn’t want to gloat about it, Reliance Industries has travelled a long way on the geospatial map. India’s biggest corporate entity is reaping the benefits of making GIS a part of its work plan at an opportune stage, says Sanjay Mashruwala, President, Projects, RIL

When did Reliance Industries get into GIS? How is the group leveraging the strengths of geospatial technology in its operations?

We started looking at GIS as a non-engineering tool for rolling out the optical fibre communication (OFC) network or infrastructure for our telecom foray in 2002. We looked at GIS as an enabler to roll out the telecom network and started creating our database. Over a period, those were populated and enhanced with more data – not only just telecom data but also for gas pipelines and later the retail exercise. We also started looking at the essential capabilities of GIS to do a variety of things related to our businesses – whether it was related to just mapping or capturing various data related to maps and geographies.

Around 2002-03, complex GIS-based services such as mapping, routing and other things that are now available to the public were not around. Neither was telecom technology in terms of Internet and bandwidth to that extent. In the early 2000s, the idea was not to look at any retail customerbased services. Today, the situation is different because a lot of these services are available and lot of information can be put in – the way Google does the Street View and the 3D, which is called internal GIS or indoor GIS. We still use those to support our project and network rollout. If it is indoors, it is more towards looking at how we would

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use the indoor details to wire up a home or office or penetration of radio/WiFi waves etc.

The same thing is required for outdoors, say LiDAR to get an accurate detail about the streets, the width and obstacles and so on. You need 3D maps to do radio frequency (RF) studies and RF propagation on designing - where it is appropriate to put a mast since there are radiation issues that need to be looked into. We need geospatial data from coverage point of view to give a good service and also do it in a safe way from radiation point of view and other radio-related things like interference and path etc. We are collecting data from independent sources where we are confident of accuracy. If some data is not available, we may have to use services like LiDAR to generate it. Depending on what we need and what is available, we are enhancing our database so that we can use our engineering processes and project rollout easily and conveniently.

When you started 10-11 years ago, awareness about this technology was very limited. What motivated you to invest in such a technology?

The use and awareness of this technology was there in the US and Europe. Even in 2002, the maps of the US and the developed countries were more detailed. Their civil records and municipal records were much better than in India. When

information was useful for operational maintenance too. The aim was that in case of a national long-distance problem or fibre damage situation, restoration of services should not take more than six hours. Our network is in the form of rings and in case of even one disconnection we have to ensure there is at least one alternate path for the signal.

GIS was one platform that required a lot of method and processes. And we developed these things to quickly identify the fault location and inform the maintenance crew exactly where to go. Whatever capabilities were required in GIS related to routing, accurate pointing using GPS and such, we developed or put together so that the there was continuity in terms of service.

companies there rolled out their networks, they had access to good and accurate maps. We looked at some of the techniques being used in the US and Europe, not just in mapping but in totality of rollout, such as tools and machines used in construction. Those days, we used manual labour to dig trenches in India, whereas the West was using hydraulic trenching machines.

We were not looking at GIS in isolation; it was part of our overall execution methodology. We realised that a good accurate map and accurate information about wherever we are going to execute the work would be very useful. So we started looking at data that was available locally, and obviously that was quite inadequate. That is where we decided that we will have to build on this and create more data. Most of the available maps were not updated and accurate. We realised that the road as recorded and the one that actually existed when you do a GPS tracking was completely different. So we started work on accuracy of the maps, the details on it and the current status.

All that data was needed to do the fibre route layout. There were hundreds of details that had to be collected accurately to make sure of fast and accurate execution. Subsequently, we obtained very good built information on location, condition and size of the fibre or the location of the splices. This

Basically the technology helped you to deliver your services better?

Yes. To ensure that the network was in good shape, the rollout was executed fast, constructed fast, and maintained accurately. [For the new telecom venture] we are using GIS or information that can be captured using the GIS and georeferenced databases to support network planning, engineering, operations and maintenance.

The technology helps us to know where our assets are and helps us to reach them fast. Plus, it also helps in feasibility. If one day a customer says ‘I want the service at this location’, we can see the place on the map and figure out how we can go to that place for a quick feasibility study.

If it involves a whole lot of additional capital expense, we can also go back to the customer and say it will cost this much to provide service in that location. This way, responding to such customer needs becomes faster.

“We were not looking at GIS in isolation; it was part of our overall execution methodology. We realised that a good accurate map and accurate information about wherever we are going to execute the work would be very useful.”

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Utilities | In Conversation

Also the technology enables us to look at other data in terms of density, income level, type of population in a certain area so that we know where to direct our marketing resources, identify potential high-density areas, look at other competitors in that area, look at our mobile and RF coverage etc.

We can also locate where call drops are frequent and address such issues.

Did you do any assessment study to evaluate how much money you saved in terms of cost?

Not really. But if we had not used the technology, we would have not known what it would cost us. I am sure the network rollout would have taken much more time. But that can’t really be translated into cost. In 2000 when we started, we had nothing; we were not even a telecom company. We got into this thinking process in 1999 and started physical work in 2000. Within two years we had the whole country fibred and towered up, and rolled out the telecom services. By 2003, we were there almost everywhere.

Saving the project time was a huge benefit in this case. That rollout speed would not have been possible had we not used new techniques and tools. GIS is one of them.

It started with telecom but later RIL used this technology setup for several other applications.

Yes, that worked for the group because Reliance has interest in a wide variety of activities. We had a way of working with other group companies explaining how this technology could benefit them. The GIS team interacted with all other group companies. That was the management mandate too.

“If we had not used the technology, we would have not known what it would cost us. I am sure the network rollout would have taken much more time. But that can’t really be translated into cost.”

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You are coming back to RIL’s telecom business and you will also be running other businesses of the group. What kind of visions or directions you have for development of geospatial strategies?

Newer technologies are available which allow us to capture the information or data faster and more accurately, in a way not possible earlier.

Street View, indoor GIS, LiDAR, 3D mapping are some of the examples. As we go forward, more technologies will be available and the devices will become more powerful, both in terms of software and hardware. Using all these facilities, one can continuously enhance the data. And it is not just the question of adding to the data that is there. Non-linear update with new information incorporated into GIS is one direction while the other direction is to integrate this information automatically to any other activities in the business.

This means you don’t have to actually work on the GIS. The GIS data becomes the background.

For instance, in terms of maintenance, when the technician gets a call that services are interrupted somewhere, GIS enables automatic collection of data from the network electronics to detect the fault. The system figures out the type and location of the problem, decides the corrective action based on a pre-determined plan and tells the technician where to go and what to do.

Even as the telecom business is now with ADAG, RIL plans to use the GIS system it had developed earlier for its fresh telecom venture

What other businesses are you looking at for using this technology?

We used it for distribution of petroleum products – you can do the routing, planning of logistics, storing and so on. We have so many retail stores; so again, the logistics distribution, stock-taking, monitoring of inventory, adjusting the inventory amount in various locations, kind of sales, optimising distribution points etc. There are a whole lot of things that can be done in retail. Right now with the help of these technologies, the market is becoming more and more competitive and expectation of customers is going up. So, we plan to use this technology extensively to improve our services and customer experiences. It will always help if you are able to intelligently utilise more information and co-relate it with other information.

Do you also use it for oil exploration and other purposes too or leave it to distribution only?

Exploration requires a different kind of GIS technique which we are not using. Our GIS system is land-based and is of no use in sub-sea or undersea explorations. But this information is useful for the gas and petrol in areas like route planning. We manufacture so many products like polyester, plastics, petrochemicals etc distribution, logistics and routes. For these a proper GIS is always useful.

What are the major challenges in your experience from technology point of view?

We are probably the first one in the country to be doing this on such a scale. There are players who are ready to give us readymade solutions so that the system becomes more exploratory.

But it is not as if we can walk up to somebody and say this is what we want and we get that service readily. We ourselves have to explore, learn and figure out how to do it. So obviously, there is a significant amount of learning and understanding that we need to do on our own, which, ideally speaking, may not be necessary in a developed technology.

Same thing is related to information too.

Right now, there is not a single map in the country in any municipal area which shows all

RIL uses GIS for distribution of petroleum products – routing, planning of logistics and storing etc

the underground services accurately marked in a single database. When you want to dig a road to put in the fibre, you have to talk to fivesix different organisations/agencies, collect the data and compile all of that. Eventually, we find that most of the data is wrong. People have the [original] drawings of various networks [such as drainage and water pipelines].

But [during the layout stage], the contractors put the networks somewhere else and that was never recorded back. The actual situation below the ground is very different from what it is in the drawings and maps, and unfortunately there is no way to see that unless you dig and do some tests.

Situation above the road is no different. We are trying to overcome this challenge by collecting the data, putting it together, then going into the field and trying to co-relate it. If we have LiDAR available, we use it. For things like a light pole, there will be a cable below it, so even if it is not shown in the map, we can see it by LiDAR. Any specific message to geospatial industry?

There is so much potential in the country. This information will be useful to everybody and not just to us. In India, we do not have addressing schemes, clear road names or accurate maps. Developing a complete set of security data will be useful for everyone – whether it is for law enforcement or any civic authorities.

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TechKnow Buzz

Offload GPS data on cloud, get better battery life!

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Location technology is ubiquitous.

Social media, navigation maps, games or snapping, all require location information. In addition, getting indoor location is also proving to be a tech puzzle. Cloudbased solution and radio map could address these issues.

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owadays, we are so tightly integrated with smartphones that it is frustrating to run out of battery in the middle of the day. A major battery guzzler is the GPS receiver equipped with the smartphone. There have been several technical mumbo jumbos about optimising battery power, but none of them is effective.

Microsoft researchers have observed that in many location-sensing scenarios, the location information can be post-processed when the data is uploaded to a server. They designed a cloud-offloaded GPS (CO-GPS) solution that allows location-sensing devices to aggressively duty-cycle its GPS receiver and log just enough raw GPS signal for postprocessing. Through experiments, researchers demonstrated that leveraging publicly available information such as GNSS satellite ephemeris and an earth elevation database, a

Locating indoors using radio map!

T

he two most important questions, to be answered by a digital map maker, are ‘where I am and what’s around me’. Using GNSS technology, these map makers answer such questions but they remain silent indoors because GNSS does not work indoors.

To address this inability of the GNSS, researchers have been using convergence of positioning technologies like WiFi, Bluetooth, Near field communication (NFC), and sensorbased location technologies. But so far their efforts could not yield the desired result.

For example, the WiFi Positioning System (WPS) collects both GPS and WiFi signals and many companies including Google and Apple utilise this technology to provide locationbased services (LBS). The WPS is helpful, but up to certain extent, because the technology needs GPS signals to tag the location of WiFi fingerprints collected from mobile devices.

Geospatial World | February 2013

To address this issue, researchers from the Department of Computer Science, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), developed a new method to build a WiFi radio map that does not require GPS signals. The WiFi radio map shows the RSSs of WiFi access points (APs) at different locations in a given environment. Therefore, each WiFi fingerprint on the radio map is connected to location information. The KAIST research team collected fingerprints from users’ smartphones every 30 minutes through the modules embedded in mobile platforms, utilities, or applications and analysed the characteristics of the collected fingerprints. As a result, they discovered that mobile devices such as cell phones are not necessarily on the move all the time, meaning that they have locations where they stay for a certain period of time on a regular ba-

cloud service can derive good quality GPS locations from a few milliseconds of raw data. They designed a portable sensing device platform, CLEO, to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of the solution. Compared to more than 30 seconds of heavy signal processing on standalone GPS receivers, they could achieve three orders of magnitude lower energy consumption per location tagging. In other words, with a pair of AA batteries (2Ah), CLEO can theoretically sustain continuous GPS sensing (at 1s/sample granularity) for 1.5 years.

sent from the satellites at a data rate as low as 50bps. A standalone GPS receiver has to be turned on for up to 30 seconds to receive the full data packets from the satellites for computing its location.

Second, the amount of signal processing required to acquire and track satellites is substantial due to weak signal strengths and Doppler frequency shifts.

As a result, a GPS chip cannot easily be duty-cycled for energy saving. In addition, it requires a powerful CPU for postprocessing and least-square calculation.

CO-GPS solution Battery-consuming factors There are two reasons behind the high energy consumption of GPS receivers.

First, the time and satellite trajectory information (called ephemeris) are

Researchers addressed the problem by splitting the GPS data into a device part and a cloud part. Due to the split between local and cloud processing, the device only needed to run for a

sis. If users have a full-time job, then their phones, at least, have a fixed location of home and office.

By using smartphone users’ home and office addresses as location references, researchers segregated fingerprints collected from the phones into two groups: home and office. They then converted each home and office address into geographic coordinates (with the help of Google’s geocoding) to obtain the location of the collected fingerprints. The WiFi radio map includes both the fingerprints and co-

ordinates whereby the location of the phones can be identified or tracked.

For evaluation, the research team selected four areas in Korea (a mix of commercial and residential locations), collected 7,000 WiFi fingerprints at 400 access points in each area, and created a WiFi radio map. The tests, conducted in each area, showed that location accuracy becomes hinged on the volume of data collected, and once the data collection rate rises above 50%, the average error distance is within less than 10 metre.

few milliseconds at a time to collect enough GPS baseband signals and tag them with a rough time stamp. A cloud service can then process the signals offline, leveraging its much greater available processing power, online ephemeris and geographical information to disambiguate the signals and to determine the location of the receiver.

They called this approach CO-GPS. The CO-GPS uses a combination of NGA and NGS data. First of all, they use NGA Precise as much as possible for historical dates. When NGA Precise is not available, they use NGS Rapids to the most recent date. After that, they use NGS Ultra-Rapids for real-time and near real-time location queries. Putting everything together, the CO-GPS backend web service performs the steps, as shown in the adjacent figure.

According to lead researcher Professor Dong-Soo Han, “Although there seem to be many issues like privacy protection that have to be cleared up before commercialising this technology, there is no doubt that we will face a greater demand for indoor positioning system in the near future. People will eventually have just as much desire to know their locations in indoor environments as in outdoor environments.”

Once the address-based radio map is fully developed for commercial use, home- and office-level location identification will be possible, thereby opening the door for further applications such as emergency rescue or indoor location-based services that pinpoint the location of lost cell phones, missing persons, and kidnapped children, or that find stores and restaurants offering promotional sales.

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Conference Report | India Geospatial Forum 2013

Empowering a

billion-plus nation

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ndia Geospatial Forum 2013, organised by Geospatial Media & Communications in Hyderabad, India during January 22-24, witnessed a confluence of eminent stakeholders of the geospatial community to deliberate, collaborate and evolve a course of action plan for enhancing the utility of geospatial tools in national economy and empowering the billion-plus population of India. Drawing more than 1,500 participants, the forum stayed true to its theme ‘Towards Geo-enabled Economy’, providing food for thought to all participants, including policy makers, technology providers, users, academia and government agencies on the role of geospatial technology in various components of the national economy, as also their own role in this process.

A number of interactive sessions, and an exhibition displaying cutting-edge technologies, ensured that users in the country stay abreast of the latest trends.

Inaugural session Danam Nagender, Minister of Labour, Employment, Training & Factories, Industrial Training Institutes, Government of Andhra Pradesh, stressed that the need

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of the hour was making geospatial technology useful for common man and its applications in segments that are of most relevance to common man such as civic amenities and public safety. As a spate of development projects are announced by governments, a critical requirement is human skills development to successfully carry out these projects. Observing that the Andhra Pradesh government was at the forefront of the use of geospatial information in areas like coastal and land information management, the minister offered the state government’s support towards developments of necessary skills in this field.

Dr Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Department of Earth Sciences, observed that even as economic growth was based on use of natural resources, the growth and environment management did not have to be conflicting. Right knowledge is a key tool in maintaining this balance and geospatial information and geo-enabled services play a role in this. Dr Nayak informed the audience about the agro-meteorological services that have been set up and built around GIS, whose success and effectiveness can be gauged by the fact over 3.5 million farmers have subscribed to this service.

Dorine Burmanje, Chair- Executive Board, Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency, The Netherlands (Kadastre) discussed the changing role of geospatial information with the evolution of technology where geospatial information is not just about data collection.

With technology such as smartphones becoming available to more people, the role and importance of geo-information is undergoing a sea change. In the wake of the global crisis facing Europe and other parts of the world, citizens are asking for more transparency in information and there is a greater requirement for public private cooperation.

Surveyor General Dr Swarna Subba Rao observed how utilisation of geospatial data has grown manifold and the contribution of Survey of India in terms of providing geospatial data. Technology advancements like tablet are changing the dynamics of geospatial information, so are offerings like Google Earth which are contributing to making geospatial information a consumable commodity.

National mapping agencies too were constantly making efforts to move up the value chain, he said. National Remote Sensing Centre Director Dr V.K. Dhadwal stressed that the need of the hour was convergence, utility and pervasiveness of data. He urged for greater interactivity between different stakeholders of the geospatial community to facilitate this.

Dr Dhadwal also informed the audience about the near-real time global data initiative by the national data agency.

Rolta Chairman & Managing Director K.K. Singh observed that geospatial information was radically changing business and how we do business. Noting that more than half of the world remained unmapped and two-thirds of the world population was deprived of geospatial

information, he underlined the huge opportunity for the geospatial industry. Singh, who is also the President of Association of Geospatial Industries, India, said increased use of geospatial information was the key thrust area.

Plenary session ‘Geography-as-a-service’ can guide India towards becoming a geoenabled economy. C. Kandasamy, Director General (Road Development), Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, informed that the department was developing a GIS-based National Highways Information System, which was currently being tested by the Central Road Research Institute. He observed that geospatial-powered intelligence machine will be a reality.

NIIT Technologies CEO Arvind Thakur pointed out that most government programmes were functioning in silos, which could be integrated by GIS technology and help governments. For example, by integrating national land record programme with urban planning, we can have better planning for urban areas and more transparent property tax collection. Thakur, who spoke extensively on ‘g-governance’, also informed that NIIT Technologies was working with the Ministry of Home Affairs to develop a data-

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Conference Report | India Geospatial Forum 2013

base for geo-coded FIR. Y.S. Rajan, distinguished professor and ISRO scientist spoke on the importance of growth for development. “In our country, people speak of growth as if it is something bad; they choose to substitute it with something like development. Growth is very important and that alone can create surplus, and that surplus has to be used for various other development work.” He talked of the value proposition of remote sensing technology for growth.

Coal India Chairman Narsing Rao said coal and railways were two entities that had the largest contribution to India’s GDP as single entities. Under the XII Plan, Coal India plans to increase its production to 615 million tonne which calls for a CAGR of 8% and it has set an ambitious target of 1 billion by XIII Plan. To achieve such ambitious targets, Coal India is looking at modern applications like geospatial technologies in all the phases of its mining operations.

Stating that geospatial data had grown exponentially and would continue to grow, Trimble India MD Rajan Aiyer said we have progressed from 2D maps on paper to 3D apps, and now we want a virtual 3D world! Best things happened when technology, economic incentives and policy were aligned, which was what was needed by all in this industry, he observed. MapmyIndia Managing Director Rakesh Verma came down heavily on enterprises for failing to democratise GIS. “If we ask the enterprise segment what they know of GIS, other than people handling the projects, no one knows. Access to benefits of geospatial information is limited to a handful

of large government organisations,” he said.

Symposia and seminars The conference hosted a number of interactive, informative and thought-provoking symposia and seminars. The themes for the symposia were Building National Data Repository, Geospatial for Business Enterprises, Land Administration, National Development Programmes and State SDIs. The seminars witnessed discussions on exploration and mining, natural resources data management system (NRDMS), emerging technologies and trends and urban planning and management.

In addition, there were sessions on Web applications and open source, local governance, applications of the geoportal Bhuvan, mobile mapping, agriculture, enterprise geospatial solutions and remote sensing and

Success stories of ­geospatial practices £1 in g-tech provided £ 25 as return.

• In Australia, g-tech contributed in doubling of GDP to $ 12 bn.

• In Western Australia, agri dept contained 70% of high density locust swarms • In Texas, Oncor Energy saved 20% outage • In Sao Paulo, response time for ambulance services came down from 35 min to 10 min • In the UK, investment of

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John Graham, President, Intergraph SG & I

Geospatial World Awards 2013 Leadership Awards – Winners Category Winner

image processing. In addition were a panel on capacity building, a forum exploring the role of SMEs (small & medium enterprises) in the geospatial ecosystem, and a student forum. Technology provider Rolta showcased its offerings in a technology session. A first-time session, B2B Match Making, brought together geospatial companies from India and Alberta, Canada to explore future prospects on collaborations.

While speakers across sectors – government and private, users and solution providers – agreed that geospatial technology helped in planning for mega projects and areas like disaster management and risk reduction, urban planning, rural development and even planning and building infrastructure, some fundamental issues like lack of clear and coherent policies and guidelines, capacity building among the line department officials were marked as problem. Easy availability of good, detailed maps was also part of most speakers’ agenda.

The event highlighted how leading verticals in India were in sync with the benefits of geospatial technology.

It was revealed that Indian Railways have embarked on creating a complete GIS-based base map for its entire network and assets. Under the Rs 30-crore ($5.58 million) plan, the Railways also plan to integrate the work of all its departments and divisions and track trains real-time with use of GPS. Also, the Department of Land Records plans to cover all 600-plus districts under National Land Records Management Programme, which means full digitisation of land records, including GIS maps, by the end of the XII Five Year Plan. An example of geospatial technology in infrastructure, the e-pathai project of the Tamil Nadu Highways Department, a Webenabled road information and pavement management system spread over 60,000 km road network in the state, was established within just eight months.

As a number of Indian states establish their own SDIs, the way forward is to ensure that it moves beyond governments to reach out to citizens. Setting up technologically fantastic GIS portals is only half the purpose met. Visitors to the state portals should find a reason for repeat and regular visits, and data on the portal should

Most progressive geospatial state

State of Kerala

Geospatial Leader of the Year

Sajid Malik, Chairman & MD, Genesys International Co

Most Popular Geospatial Data Portal in India

Bhuvan, National Remote Sensing Centre

Excellence in Capacity Building

Indian Institute of Technology, Rourkee

Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Rohan Verma, MapMyIndia

System Integrator of the Year

Tata Consultancy Services

Lifetime Achievement Award

Prof Y.S. Rajan, Honorary Distinguished Professor, Indian Space Research Organisation

Excellence Awards – Winners Category Winner Land Administration

Revenue Department, Government of Gujarat

Disaster Management

National Disaster Management Authority

Infrastructure

Tamil Nadu State Highway Department

Insurance

ICICI Lombard

Best GIS Utility portal

Orissa Space Application Centre (for Odisha Samada)

Health

Thane Municipal Corporation

Forest Management

Madhya Pradesh Forest Department

Geospatial Application in an enterprise

Coal India limited

Rural development

Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department , Govt of Karnataka

be supplemented by services that could engage the beneficiaries of state SDIs.

Conclusion The need of the hour is to provide applications based on geospatial information rather than maps. While playing a critical role in the success of national development programmes, g-tech should also be an enabler for the common man, finding applications in areas that are of concern to him.

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Tender Alert

Europe Provision of GI Systems & Services Category: GIS Location: Ireland Closing date: March 8, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/gIUvK

Development of GIS Applications Category: GIS Location: Belgium Closing date: April 2, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/3UjWv

Supply Topographic Details of Objects Database Category: Misc Location: Poland Closing date: March 19, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/zNkIi

Cadastre and Registration of Properties Category: Cadastre Location: Romania Closing date: March 19, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/9TD41

Digitisation of Cadastral Archives Category: Cadastre Location: Slovenia Closing date: March 14, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/mKrT6

Preparation of Spatial Plan Category: Misc Location: Italy Closing date: March 5, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/rvCd1

Surveying & Mapping Category: Surveying/Mapping Location: Poland

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Closing date: Feb 25, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/j88Zv

Asia Pacific

Land Survey Project Category: Surveying Location: Philippines Closing date: Feb 26, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/7Lhgy

Acquisition of GIS Category: GIS Location: Philippines Closing date: Feb 13, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/qJM0s

Land Surveying Services Category: Surveying Location: Australia Closing date: March 6, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/2tts0

GIS Surveying Projects Category: GIS Location: Korea Closing date: Feb 20, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/egCxK

Supply GPS Tracking Devices Category: GPS Location: Malaysia Closing date: Feb 27, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/WC23y

Remote Sensing Data Processing Category: Remote Sensing Location: Australia Closing date: March 8, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/vKyli

Estate Management System Category: Misc Location: Singapore Closing date: Feb 22, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/JSdHi

Africa Forest Information System Category: Misc Location: Benin Closing date: Feb 26, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/tdOda

Installation of GIS Category: GIS Location: Kenya Closing date: Feb 27, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/cclyi

Land Survey Category: Surveying Location: Kenya Closing date: Feb 20, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/2oO5y

Develop Spatial Development Plan Category: Misc Location: South Africa Closing date: March 11, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/yZx24

South Asia Supply Global Positioning System Category: GPS Location: India Closing date: Feb 26, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/QKamB

Tender Alert

GIS Mapping of Hazardous Waste Units Category: GIS Location: India Closing date: Oct 1, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/rh0yE

Purchase of GPS Category: GPS Location: Pakistan Closing date: March 7, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/6z0fo

Procurement of GPS Category: GPS Location: India Closing date: March 2, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/yKOQA

Americas Acquisition of GIS Category: GIS Location: Peru Closing date: Feb 19, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/EPSv9

Provision of Land Surveying Services Category: Surveying Location: United States Closing date: March 13, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/fQXna

GIS-based Software Category: GIS Location: United States

Closing date: March 4, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/I2yDr

Aerial Mapping Category: Mapping Location: United States Closing date: Feb 15, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/Du2lo

Maintenance of ArcGIS Licenses Category: GIS Location: Chile Closing date: Feb 25, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/SkXtr

Establishment of GPS Tie Points Category: GPS Location: Canada Closing date: Feb 21, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/ON1qx

Mobile Mapping Category: Mapping Location: United States Closing date: Feb 28, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/04mwD

Purchase of geophysical data Category: Misc Location: Canada Closing date: March 8, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/hwU3D

Location: Saudi Arabia Closing date: March 3, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/HhYKk

Provide Mapping Services Category: Mapping Location: Israel Closing date: Feb 28, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/Qhp7F

Provision of GIS Category: GIS Location: Saudi Arabia Closing date: March 16, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/xAHCB

Construction of GIS Centre Category: GIS Location: Saudi Arabia Closing date: March 2, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/TYsj4

Supply GPS

Middle East Aerial Surveys Category: Surveying

Category: GPS Location: Syria Closing date: March 6, 2013 Web link: http://goo.gl/nhch8

For the latest geospatial tenders from across the globe, logon to: http://geospatialworld.net/Tender/view.aspx

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Images to InformatIon Master geospatial data fusion and analysis For more information and free demo software www.ecognition.com

Š

2013, Trimble Navigation Limited. All rights reserved. Trimble, the Globe & Triangle Logo, and eCognition are trademarks of Trimble Navigation Limited, registered in the United States and in other countries

UN GGIM

Doha Declaration on

global geospatial information management

T

66

he Second High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) held in Doha, Qatar on February 4-6, 2013, issued the Doha Declaration for Advancing Global Geospatial Information Management. The Forum, which brought together government representatives from UN member states as well as stakeholders from non-governmental organisations, academia and the private sector, sought to discuss critical issues on global geospatial information management.

The Forum recalled Resolution 2011/24 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, which recognised the need to promote international cooperation in the field of global geospatial information management. The Members also recalled the Decision of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (Decision 2/102) in which the Committee urged to raise awareness of the critical role of geospatial information in development planning and to strengthen the capacity to deliver such information to meet global challenges.

The Seoul Declaration on Global Geospatial Information Management of 26 October 2011, which called for a cohesive global community of practice, the promotion of common frameworks and standards at all levels was also recalled by the Members.

Lastly, recognising the Rio+20 outcome document that laid emphasis on the importance and value of reliable and authoritative geospatial information for sustainable development, the members resolved to: • Commit to working together as an international community, under the coordination of the United Nations, to work with all stakeholders to improve a sustained operational global geodetic reference frame and infrastructure, to support the

Geospatial World | February 2013

increasing demand for positioning and monitoring applications with associated societal and economic benefits; • Affirm the importance of having a stable, credible and reliable national geospatial information infrastructure in each country built on internationally recognised standards that will integrate, manage, and deliver geospatial information for timely, evidence based and authoritative decision making and policy formulation on location-based development issues, including disasters and humanitarian needs; • Promote the greater use of geospatial information in sustainable development by supporting the activities under the programme of the Global Map for Sustainable Development (GM4SD) with an initial focus on managing risks of natural disasters to urban populations and developing effective mitigation strategies; • Affirm the importance of an agreed set of authoritative core global reference datasets that are needed to support global sustainable development activities and to work jointly towards the preparation, improvement and maintenance of these core global reference datasets; • Work collaboratively to enhance the availability of training programmes at all levels, and to contribute to a global knowledge base that promotes knowledge transfer including the sharing of experiences, best practices, technological trends, supporting legislations, funding strategies, and other technical resources to facilitate and promote capacity development; • Encourage regional collaboration in the promotion and development of geospatial information management and the establishment of appropriate regional coordinating mechanisms, as exemplified by UN-GGIM Asia Pacific, and implementation strategies.

UN-GGIM |

Twitter Moments!

United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management

Tag Cloud

H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs , Addresses #UNGGIM http://pic.twitter.com/iIHi6wwq

TAKE AWAYS Ministerial panel highlight value of geospatial technologies in governance Members states collecting case studies to illustrate benefits of GIS Need to have data provided in space and time Need to motivate industry associations to play an active role at UNGGIM European Chapter of UN-GGIM announced China providing significant sponsorship funding for UNGGIM UNGGIM AP Executive Board Meeting to be hosted by China on 24-26 April

MOST DISCUSSED eGov + gGov = iGov (intelligent government) The #UNGGIM Future Trends document is now available China wishes to be a leading geospatial country Mapping needs to be de-licensed

TWITTERATI

@edparsons @sanjaykumar1970 @UNGGIM @SpatialRed

http://goo.gl/WL24m http://goo.gl/VbPGw http://goo.gl/LJCgI http://goo.gl/zunI1

@AidaOpokuMensah @Reichardtme @jimmyaus @Mark_Cygan

www.geospatialworld.net

@ogc_denise @geotellus

@Steven_Ramage @OrdnanceSurvey

Picture | This

Desert snow This is not the Swiss Alps or the white peak of Mt Everest, but a hot sandy desert covered by snow. Unbelievable but true. NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured this white landscape as it passed over the Taklimakan Desert in western China. Snow has covered much of the desert since a storm blew through the area. The mountains that enclose the sea of sand—the Tien Shan in the north and the Kunlun Shan in the south—were also covered with what appeared to be a significantly thicker layer of snow in January 2013.

Courtesy: NASA

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Geospatial World | February 2013

March

Mark your Calender 2013 March 5-7

March 9

March 11-12

March 13-14

Mekong Environmental Symposium 2013

Land Surveyors Conference

European Smart Grid Cyber

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam http://goo.gl/JRemK

Marysville, US

Middle East Geospatial Forum 2013

http://lsaw.org/calendar_details. php?eventid=101

London, UK http://goo.gl/gY2Nf

March 13-15

March 14-16

March 24-28

GEOINFORMATIK 2013

IGU Conference on Geoinformatics for Biodiversity

ASPRS 2013 Annual 足Conference

Haryana, India http://goo.gl/ch81M

Baltimore, US http://goo.gl/jXxEy

April 16-19

April 22-26

April 25-26

AquaConSoil

Symposium on remote sensing of environment

FARO 3D documentation conference

Beijing, China http://www.isrse35.org/

Singapore http://www.3d-documentationconference-2013.com/

May 21-24

May 29-31

The National Map Users Conference

Urban Data Management Symposium

Denver, US http://nationalmap.gov/uc/

London, UK http://www.udms.net/

Heidelberg, Germany http://geoinformatik2013.de/ index.php/en/

May

April

April 15-18

SPAR International 足Conference on 3D Colorado, US http://www.sparpointgroup. com/International/

Barcelona, Spain http://goo.gl/G2C4e

May 13-16

May 13-17

Geospatial World Forum 2013

URISA Leadership 足Academy

Rotterdam, The Netherlands http://www.geospatialworldforum.org/

Doha, Qatar http://www.megf.org/

Texas, US http://www.urisa.org/ula

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69

STALW GEOSPATIAL Meet the

13-16 MAY, 2013

BEURS-WORLD TRADE CENTER Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Putting Technology into Action The Flagbearers of Geospatial Community-Technology Developers, Users and Policy Makers bringing forth unique perspectives

Get to know more about the Global Participation at www.geospatialworldforum.org

WARTS COMMUNITY of the

Agency9 / ARCADIS / Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) Astrium / Bentley / Brabant Water / Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) / BRGM, France / Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency / Capgemini / 4C-Grid / Delft University of Technology / Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, South Africa / DigitalGlobe e-Leaf / Environment Agency Abu Dhabi / Esri / EuroGeographics / European Association of Remote Sensing Companies / European Commission / European Environmental Agency / Exelis GeoBusiness Nederland / Geo-Information Nederland / Geonovum / Google / Group on Earth Observations / Heathrow Airport / Hexagon / iCEO/iEEE / Instituto Pereira Passos (IPP) Brazil / International Cartographic Association / ISPRS / King County Municipality / Leibniz Universität Hannover / Leica Geosystems / MDA Geospatial Services / Microsoft Bing Maps / Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana / Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia / Munich Airport / NASA / Open Geospatial Consortium / Oracle / Ordnance Survey of Great Britain OSGeo / Pitney Bowes Software / Progis / Riegl / Scanex / Spectra Energy / Swisstopo / Terrago Technologies / The Joint Research Centre / Topcon / Trimble / UNIGIS, University of Salzburg / University of Wageningen / VALE / World Bank…

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| ORGANISER |