Geospatial World Sept- 2014

Country Focus: india

Special FEATURE

Policy & Business Environment | P.16

Geospatial Education | P. 40

G e o s p a t i a l

I n d u s t r y

M a g a z i n e

TM

SEPTEMBER 2014 » VOLume 05» ISSUE 02 | ISSN 2277–3134

www.geospatialworld.net

R.N.I No - UPENG/2010/34153; Registration no: UP/GBD-136/2014-16 Publication: 10th of every month I Posting: 15th / 20th of every month

GIS and remote sensing have been part of the mining industry for long now. With accurate positioning getting more and more vital, geospatial data and technology are becoming inherent in mine management using modelling software. P. 22

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

GEOSPATIAL W O R LD Y o u r

Building the Smart Mine Mining is a business in which there are often uncertainties. If a new situation arises, operators must be able to assess and resolve it quickly.

The complexities of the mining industry require innovation – innovation that helps customers optimise their mine value chain with solutions that address the entire life cycle including safety issues.

Connecting different areas of a mining business and providing a comprehensive flow of data throughout the operation make a significant impact that leads to an improved bottom line.

Hexagon Mining provides a full range of innovative products and tailor-made solutions for individual mine businesses, increasing their ability to achieve better results.

Š Copyright 2014 Hexagon. All rights reserved.

Four great companies under one great brand Hexagon Mining is the only company that has the know-how and global support infrastructure to help customers receive the most value and safety benefits from their mine design, planning and operation. Our mining solutions break down silos and allow customers to look at the entire life cycle. They manage data gathered across the entire chain to help miners maximise the knowledge at hand to generate better results.

Hexagon Mining unites world-leading brands to offer integrated life-of-mine solutions for planning, management, optimisation and safety.

For more information, visit; hexagonmining.com/gsw @HexagonMining contactus@hexagonmining.com

HX2100-AD-0416

September 2014 • Vol 5 • Issue 2 THEME: Mining

Inside Special Focus: Education

Homeland Security: Interview

40 Can Brainware Keep Up With Technology? Prof Josef Strobl our Reach, Anthony C. Robinson

52 David J. Alexander, Director, Geospatial Management Office, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Department of Homeland Security

48 Moving up the Learning Ladder

Articles

43 Distance, Scale and Expanding Cover Story 22 G-Innovate or Perish

Dr. Michael Gould

56 Choosing the right UAV Dave Kroetsch

Dr Hrishikesh Samant & Anusuya Datta

Interviews

Articles

46 Chakri Gavini, Sr Product Manager

for Infrastructure Collaboration Products, and Debra Pothier, Sr Industry Manager for Education, Autodesk

30 Towards the Future of

Automated Operations Jason Nitz

50 George Church, Senior Vice President,

36 The Rise of UAVs

Bentley Systems

Dr Hrishikesh Samant

Interviews Country Focus: India 16 Great Expectations

33 Guilherme Bastos, President,

Advisory Board

Hexagon Mining

38 The Mining Geospatialists

Prof Arup Dasgupta

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.

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 The edition contains 68 pages including cover

Aida Opoku Mensah

Bryn Fosburgh

Special Advisor: Post 2015 Development Agenda, UN Economic Commission for Africa

Sector Vice-President, Executive Committee Member, Trimble Navigation

Derek Clarke Chief Director-Survey and Mapping & National Geospatial Information, Rural Development & Land Reform, South Africa

Barbara Ryan Secretariat Director, Group on Earth Observations Chair-Executive Board, Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster), The Netherlands

Geospatial Technologist, Google

Prof. Ian Dowman First Vice President, ISPRS

Chair, Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria

Mark Reichardt

Chairman and CEO, Rolta Group

President and CEO, Open Geospatial Consortium

Mohd Al Rajhi

Ramon Pastor

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

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

Secretary General, Ordnance Survey International, UK

Space Eye Innovation Technology

07 Editorial 08 News 14 Product Watch 64 Job Listings

Geospatial World Geospatial Media and Communications Pvt. Ltd. (formerly GIS Development Pvt. Ltd.) A - 145, Sector - 63, Noida, India Tel + 91-120-4612500 Fax +91-120-4612555 / 666 Price: INR 150/US$ 15

Dawn J. Wright Chief Scientist, Esri

Greg Bentley CEO, Bentley Systems

Prof. Josef Strobl

Vice President, Engineering & Infrastructure, Autodesk

Vanessa Lawrence

Executive Space 62 Xiaoyang Cheng, CEO, Beijing

Ed Parsons

Lisa Campbell

Kamal K Singh

Wim Broer and Ed Fennema

Dorine Burmanje

Dr. Hiroshi Murakami Director-General of Planning Department, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan

60 Alternate Reality for a Safer Tomorrow

Stephen Lawler Chief Technology Officer, Bing Maps, Microsoft

Juergen Dold President Hexagon Geosystems

Matthew O’Connell CEO, Adhoc Holdings

Dr Swarna Subba Rao Surveyor General of India

CHAIRMAN M P Narayanan Publisher Sanjay Kumar

Publications Team Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Editor — Building & Energy Geoff Zeiss Editor — Agriculture Mark Noort Editor — Mining (Hon) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Executive Editor Bhanu Rekha Deputy Executive Editor Anusuya Datta Product Manager Harsha Vardhan Madiraju Assistant Editors Ridhima Kumar Supreeth Sudhakaran Senior Graphic Designer Debjyoti Mukherjee Circulation Manager Ashish Batra Executive - Posting Vijay Kumar Singh

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 5

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From the Editor’s Desk

Prof Arup Dasgupta Managing Editor arup@geospatialmedia.net

S

Technology Trumps Tradition

ometime in 2008, I had a chance to visit the INTERGEO exhibition in Bremen. On display were some very interesting geospatial technologies for data acquisition like mobile imaging, terrestrial and aerial LiDARs, quad-copters, and UAVs, to name a few. What intrigued me, however, was the presence of the huge earth-moving machinery. Closer inspection and discussions revealed that these were equipped with GPS receivers for precision operations.

Not only did the operator have a GPS to locate himself but there were GPS devices on the arms of the shovel which gave a precise position of the arm to enable it to dig just the right amount. At that time I thought it was an overkill but today, six years down the line I realise how wrong I was.

GPS, UAVs, quad-copters and all become tools of the trade in geology and mining. Geologists were first off the post when it came to remote sensing because the synoptic view from satellites revealed features which got lost among the clutter of details in the narrower views of high resolution aerial imagery and field surveys. However, as any well grounded geologist will tell you, his ultimate tools are his compass and hammer.

The move from the synoptic view to the exploitation of mineral resources encompasses many geospatial technologies. Today, from exploration to mine planning, from ore movement to waste dumping, from environmental protection to environmental regeneration, geospatial technologies play useful roles.

Looking at such amazing developments and the adaptation of technologies developed for other uses, the question arises that automatically comes to mind is: do we have

enough skilled manpower resources to take full advantage of such pathbreaking technologies; are our colleges turning out students who are aware of these advances?

The answer is a mixed bag. Technology is developing so fast that the knowledge imparted to the student becomes obsolete or at least obsolescent by the time he or she completes the course. How many institutions cover subjects like LiDAR? Massive Open Online Course is a solution for students to keep up-to-date in technology. Institutions should build links with industry and tailor their courses as per industry needs. In fact, getting industry professionals to take courses or special lectures can go a long way in sensitising students. It is also necessary that the teachers undergo refresher courses so that they may in turn design their material to reflect the new technologies and opportunities. What is more important is that students must be trained to be able to appreciate opportunities and adapt these to their work once they are out in the real world.

Another aspect to consider is the regulatory environment. Technologies like UAV and quad-copters are exciting but in many cases they challenge the regulatory environment which is usually based on decades old technological perceptions. Faced with such challenges regulatory bodies should not clamp down but study the benefits and adjust to these new technologies.

In the context of mining, these new technologies can give that edge to the regulators and the mining industry which enables environmentally benign exploitation of non-renewable natural resources.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 7

Americas News

BAE Systems wins contract from NGA The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has awarded BAE Systems a five-year contract worth a maximum of $335 million to support in developing the collection, maintenance and utilisation of geospatial intelligence data and products.

Expected to be completed by 2020, the project would eventually allow NGA’s partners and customers to visualise and access integrated intelligence information relative to geographic features of the planet.

The award supports NGA’s dynamic Map of the World project, which is giving US military leaders clearer on-the-ground intelligence pictures to enhance mission planning and contract situational to BAE awareness.

$335 mn

NOAA awards contracts for hydrographic surveying A mega contract worth $250 million has been awarded to eight companies to offer hydrographic surveying services to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The eight companies are Leidos, Fugro World Wide, David Evans and Associates, TerraSond, Williams & Associates, C&C Technologies Survey Services, Ocean Surveys and eTrac. As per the contract, the companies will provide Contract to hydrographic 8 companies data to update

$250 mn

8 / Geospatial World / September 2014

NOAA’s nautical charts used by mariners to navigate coastal waters in the United States.

Miscellaneous MDA partners with BlackBridge MDA Information Systems (MDA) has announced a strategic partnership with Blackbridge to develop a new change monitoring solution named RapidEye Persistent Change Monitoring (RapidEye PCM).

The new solution incorporates BlackBridge’s RapidEye imagery into MDA’s Persistent Change Monitoring (PCM) technology. The

integrated solution allows users to locate small-scale changes down to 5X5 metres and with the addition of higher-resolution imagery, update cartographic data sets up to 1:5,000 scale. RapidEye PCM applies MDA’s patented change detection technology that uses scale- and sensor-independent algorithms to compare a stack of images over time and quickly identify areas with lasting changes.

Obama mulls executive order on drone privacy President Obama plans to issue an executive order to formulate privacy guidelines for commercial drones operating in US airspace.

DigitalGlobe launches WorldView-3 DigitalGlobe has launched the WorldView-3 that offers the most advanced earth imagery currently available for commercial applications. It is the first multi-payload, super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite operating at an altitude of 617 km. It provides 31 cm panchromatic resolution, 1.24 m multispectral resolution, 3.7 m short wave infrared resolution and 30 m CAVIS resolution.

The satellite has an average revisit time of less than 1 day and is capable of collecting up to 680,000 sqkm of imagery per day. DigitalGlobe also renamed the GeoEye-2 satellite as WorldView-4 and decided to speed up its launch to mid-2016.

Courtesy: United Launch Alliance

Business

Americas News

USGS 3DEP data updated The US Geological Survey (USGS) is involved in updating inconsistent and outdated elevation data to help communities cope with natural hazards and disasters, support infrastructure, ensure agricultural success, strengthen environmental decision-making and bolster national security. Earlier this year, as part of the national climate assessment initiative, USGS along with other federal, state, local and private agencies had established a new 3D Elevation Programme (3DEP).

The 3DEP initiative is based on the results of the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment that documented more than 600 business and science uses across 34 Federal agencies, all 50 States, selected local government and tribal offices, and private and non-profit organisations.

The key objective of the 3DEP is to systematically collect 3D elevation data across US using LiDAR.

DOE line up $18 mn to map geothermal resources The US Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to invest $18 million in around 32 projects with a view to minimise the costs related to geothermal energy. The projects would

UN-GGIM endorses draft resolution on GGRF The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information ManageNewly elected bureau of UN-GGIM. ment (UN-GGIM) From L to R, Li Pengde, Eduardo Sojo, Vanessa Lawrence, Sultan backed a draft Mohamed Alya resolution on the Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF). During its recent meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York, the Committee recognised that there is a growing requirement for more accurate measuring of the changing planet, down to millimetres. It is also considering how to enhance intergovernmental cooperation that will lead to geospatial data interoperability as no single country can maintain the GGRF alone. The committee felt that more member states can work towards increased open sharing of geodetic data, standards and conventions. The UN member states also elected a new bureau. Dr Vanessa Lawrence from the United Kingdom, Dr Li Pengde from China and Dr Eduardo Sojo from Mexico have been announced as co-chairs. Sultan Mohamed Alya from Ethiopia has been announced as the Rapporteur.

focus on analysing and mapping geothermal resources and improving extraction of minerals in geothermal systems. DOE has split the funding into three kinds of projects: $10 million for research and development into methods to better measure and trace geothermal systems, $4 million to explore recovering valuable minerals found in geothermal brine and $4 million to test using an oil and gas mapping technique to find geothermal resources.

UrtheCast to install more cameras on ISS UrtheCast and NanoRacks plan to dramatically expand the earth

Courtesy: UN-GGIM Bureau

The order would put the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in charge of developing the guidelines. The Congress has set a September 2015 deadline for the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to safely integrate drones into the nation’s airspace.

NTIA has experience with privacy issues in the technology sector.

observation data stream by operating sensors on the NASA segment of the International Space Station (ISS). UrtheCast intends to develop two sensors, a high resolution dualmode optical/video camera and a high resolution dual-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which will complement its current sensors aboard the ISS. The company claims that the co-location of these sensors will allow for “new EO products that are not currently available to the market”. The sensors and their components are scheduled to launch to the ISS in 2016, and it is anticipated that the data will be available in 2017.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 9

Europe News Germany DLR, Telespazio cooperate for Galileo operations

Courtesy: Telespazio

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Telespazio have reconfirmed their cooperation for the operation of the European satellite navigation

A control centre for operating Galileo satellites.

programme Galileo. The European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency (GSA) will gradually take over the management of the operational phase of Galileo. DLR and Telespazio are prepared to act with Spaceopal as core partners for the GSA — not only for the operation of the Galileo system, but also with regard to the provision of navigation services for the global user community. The tasks of the Spaceopal team include the control of the Galileo satellites, the navigation data processing and monitoring of the worldwide receiving systems.

Geneva OGC announces Big Data Domain Working Group The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) announced the formation of Big Data Domain Working Group. The initial list of members includes John Herring of Oracle, Peter Baumann of Jacobs University, and Chuck Heazel

10 / Geospatial World / September 2014

of WISC as co-chairs and Ed Parsons of Google, Don Sullivan of NASA, Stan Tillman of Intergraph and 13 others as members. The group offers an open forum for standards recommendations and discussions for Big Data access, interoperability, and analytics related to geospatial information.

It will also encourage collaborative development among participants representing many organisations and communities and appropriate liaisons to other relevant working groups inside and outside OGC.

Belgium

determine whether the conditions are right for the industry to take off. The rise of civilian use of drones across the EU is staggering considering that in the UK alone the number of permissions granted for civil use of drones in congested areas went up 40 fold between 2006 and 2013. ‘How safe are drones?

Do they pose a privacy risk? What are the economic benefits to the UK and EU of drones? Is the European industry falling too far behind the rest of the world?’ These are a few key issues, which the Lords’ EU sub-committee on the internal market, infrastructure and employment will address.

Business Aviation signs MoU for use of EGNOS

Italy

European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) and European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) have signed an MoU to promote widespread use of EGNOS, a precisionbased navigation system at European airports. “The aviation community stands to benefit greatly from EGNOS because it means safe access to small and medium-sized airports without the need for expensive ground equipment,” felt Fabio Gamba, EBAA, CEO. Considering that most new business aircraft are already fitted with EGNOS, business operators do not have to make any upgrades. EGNOS increases accessibility and enables safer approaches to underserved airports also in poor weather conditions.

Agreement to continue Cosmo-Skymed programme

UK Upper House to examine civil use of drones The House of Lords is holding an enquiry into the civil use of drones, to

Thales Alenia Space has signed an agreement worth €66 million with the Italian Space Agency for the continuation of the second generation COSMOSkyMed (Constellation of Small ISA-Thales deal signed Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation) programme. The agreement will initiate Phase C3 of the programme that covers activities relating to the completion of the basic design and includes two performance satellites and all terrestrial infrastructure. COSMO-SkyMed is a 4-spacecraft constellation, conceived

by ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), and funded by the Italian Ministry of Research (MUR) and the Italian Ministry of Defence (MoD), Rome, Italy. The programme is managed in cooperation with ASI and MoD.

€66 mn

Asia Pacific News India

Google Maps launches Hindi version

MDA, India sign contract for RADARSAT-2 data

Google India has launched the Hindi version of its popular mapping and navigation app, Google Maps. The new maps will be available on the Google mapping service app for Android devices running on versions 4.3 and above. To see the Hindi labels on Google Maps, users will have to enable Hindi as the preferred language.

The labels that are visible on Google Maps were created by transliterating English names to Hindi, and ensuring the text resonates with local dialects.

GIS to monitor nationwide afforestation The Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to use a GIS platform to monitor actual afforestation done across the country in the wake of diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes to companies for infrastructure and other projects.

The ministry was alarmed over inaccurate data related to compensatory afforestation supplied by certain state forest departments. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has been asked to submit a plan soon to set up the GIS platform. With GIS mapping in place, senior officials will be able to digitally monitor the actual reality first-hand instead of asking FSI for status reports.

Bahrain SCE launches GIS for environmental monitoring The Supreme Council for the Environment (SCE) in collaboration with Central Informatics Organization (CIO) has launched GIS for Environmental Monitoring. The GIS system aims to achieve SCE’s vital objectives, such as supporting planning and decision-making in the national environmental projects, integrating the environmental, natural and marine resources database, harnessing space technology to improve administrative processes and develop institutional capacities in geospatial sector.

UAE New high-tech mapping system planned Dubai Municipality has said it is working on the final stage of a new high-tech mapping system which aims to locate buildings in the emirate to within one metre. The authorities will use a code number for each building in the emirate of Dubai and the system will be available for use through smartphones, tablets, computers and navigational devices in cars. Hussein Lootah, director general of the civic body said, “The Makani application will be far more accurate than other related applications, as it needs only a number code instead of names

Hussein Lootah, Director-General, Dubai Municipality

South Korea Angel investors for geo startups

Courtesy: Emirates247

MDA’s (MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) Information Systems group has signed a contract with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to continue providing RADARSAT-2 information until June 2015. India has been using RADARSAT information since August 13, 1998 when it signed the contract with RADARSAT International, Canada. RADARSAT-2’s near real-time information with access to multiple beam modes and coverage options provides timely and actionable information. The satellite has global high-resolution surveillance capabilities that include a large collection capacity, high accuracy, and wide-area coverage that is useful in imaging vast tracts of territory.

of places.” Makani’s development comes amid Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum’ plans to transform the emirate into a smart city.

The government of South Korea is planning to link up angel investors with entrepreneurs and startup ventures related to geospatial domain. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport organised the first “Spatial Information Angel Investment Inducement, Education & Mentoring” event on August 25 to assist future start-ups and spatial information ventures secure early stage funding. Most start-ups in the industry feel financially strapped due to the lack of strategies and networks. The event offered angel

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 11

Asia Pacific News investing related lectures, consulting and mentoring sessions and seeks to facilitate more start-ups to win investment.

China HD earth observation satellite launched

Courtesy: China Great Wall Industry Corporation

March 4-B rocket propels Gaofen-2

information industry. According to the proposed plan, China will focus on developing remote sensing services as well as manufacturing surveying and mapping equipment and navigation systems. China sees the geoinformation industry as a new source for economic growth and plans to establish a comprehensive system with independent intellectual property rights by 2020. The Beidou navigation satellite industry alone will have an output value of 400 billion yuan (about $65 billion) by 2020, according to a geospatial information expert.

Vietnam Satellite technology to be applied in agriculture

Gaofen-2, a high-definition earth observation satellite has been launched successfully. It is an optical satellite with 1 m resolution panchromatic camera and a 4 m resolution multispectral camera. It employs the CS-L3000A bus and is capable of producing images with a ground sampling distance of 80 cm in black and white, and 3.2 metres in colour.

The images have a swath width of 48 kilometres, and the satellite is capable of swivelling on its axis 35 degrees to either side.

In collaboration with Swiss Agency for Development, the agriculture ministry recently applied remote sensing technology to rice production in northern Nam Dinh and southern Soc Trang Province. Using satellite images to analyse rice production areas, researchers were able to forecast productivity with over 90% accuracy. The project will be expanded to other areas including water and forest resources and major crops like coffee and rubber in the Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta. A shortage of qualified staff and equipment is seen as a major challenge while applying remote sensing technology in agriculture.

Geoinformation industry plan released

Philippines

China’s National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASG) recently issued its first development plan for the geospatial

LiDAR mapping to assess flood risks

12 / Geospatial World / September 2014

The Department of Science and Technology of Philippines (DOST) has

completed the LiDAR mapping of the three major river basins of Jalaur River, Panay River and Ilog-Hilabangan River in Negros Island to assess the risk of flooding in these regions.

The exercise is undertaken as part of its Disaster Risk Assessment, Exposure and Mitigation (DREAM) project. Project DREAM-LiDAR, in collaboration with the University of the Philippines, attempts to generate updated, detailed 3D flood hazard maps for the flood-prone and major river systems in the country. As a starting point, the high resolution maps will be used in the finalisation of the flood forecasting models, which will eventually be included in a comprehensive portal giving real weather picture of the country.

Australia Airborne geophysical survey data released The latest index of airborne geophysical surveys from across Australia has been released including details of all available open-file surveys completed to date by the Australian, State and Territory governments, as well as the private sector.

The Index of airborne geophysical surveys includes details on surveys that have acquired more than 34.9 million line km of mainly magnetic intensity and gamma-ray spectrometric data. The data can be used to generate three dimensional models of the sub-surface geology, which can then be used to support decision-making related to the development of resources, management of the environment and the wellbeing of communities in the survey areas.

Africa News Western Africa

Tanzania

Rwanda

Volunteers to help map Ebola epidemic

Mining cadastre system updated

Online civil registration process initiated

To fight the Ebola outbreak, the American Red Cross, along with Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, is enlisting volunteers to create detailed maps of towns and villages using GIS. Maps can be vital to fight Ebola in rural areas where road signs, maps and GPS locations are scarce.

Considering the wellbeing of participants, the Africa Geospatial Forum, organised by Geospatial Media and Communications, which was due in August has also been rescheduled to December 9-10, 2014.

The Ministry of Energy and Minerals has launched a project to upgrade its Mining Cadastre Information Management System to support online transactions. Funded by World Bank’s International Development Association and executed by Spatial Dimension, it offers an integrated geoportal for all stakeholders to interact with the Ministry through online technologies. It will allow users to apply for mining rights and make online payments including mobile fund transfers.

The government of Rwanda recently decided to move the civil registration process online. The application will improve data collection quality and also help in gathering real-time statistics from hospitals. The data will then be divided into sectors, district and the national level to get a clearer picture of census and help in tracking events that are happening within the community such as births and deaths.

The pilot will run from July-September in Huye district before being expanded to rest of the country.

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Product Watch

MS AXII for precision intensive tasks Topcon Positioning Group has released the latest edition of the MS line of high-precision total stations for the North and South American markets. The MS AXII measuring station series is designed for precision-intensive tasks, such as monitoring, bridge construction, and other highly detailed engineering projects.

The series includes the MS1 AXII with 1inch angle accuracy, and the MS05 AXII with 0.5 inch angle accuracy. The fully robotic MS AXII models are vastly superior to conventional systems that simply lock on to the nearest targets. The MS AXII auto-collimation system allows the instruments to lock on to targets that are closest to the centre view of the telescope, providing long-range precision and accuracy even in low-light conditions.

Hyperspectral Imager for chlorophyll fluorescence emissions Headwall has released a new hyperspectral imager targeting very high resolution spectral measurements of 0.1 nm over specific spectral ranges which yield indicators of vegetative fluorescence to measure plant health. The ability of the new High Resolution instrument to analyse chlorophyll fluorescence emissions at extremely high resolution and high throughput gives remote sensing researchers and precision agriculturalists exceptionally valuable data from which to make environmental decisions. The new instrument is smaller, lighter, and more affordable than any other commercially available products and is optimised with robust packaging for airborne and satellite deployment.

The sensor is based on Headwallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all-reflective concentric optical design that uses very precise and high diffraction-efficiency gratings for simultaneous high spatial and spectral resolution of < 0.1nm across the spectral range of the instrument.

14 / Geospatial World / September 2014

TRIUMPH-F1

for user-friendly missions JAVAD GNSS has introduced its new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) TRIUMPH-F1, which is based on the JAVAD GNSS TRIUMPH-1. It features user-friendly mission programming. Equipped with landing and sonar sensor, the UAV has four lithium polymer batteries to power its eight propeller motors organised in a stacked quad formation, each having a test button to indicate the current charge level.

The unit has four detachable arms and four screw inserts at the bottom to affix mount pole attachment for field use, which means the TRIUMPH-F1 can also be utilised as TRIUMPH-1 for field work as a base or rover. It is also equipped with four-angled documentation cameras and a downward high-precision camera for photogrammetry (60 degree FOV).

Maptek I-Site Studio 5.0 boosts survey workflow

Maptek has introduced Maptek I-Site Studio 5.0 which delivers new features and improvements to existing software tools to further boost survey efficiency and productivity. Maptek I-Site laser scan technology features familiar workflow and integration with site survey practices.

I-Site Studio software brings out the real value in the scan data — accuracy and flexible reporting.

I-Site laser imaging systems capture incredible detail from scenes, with software that can handle large data without any hassle. I-Site Studio 5.0 applies a new Level of Detail tool to object data, allowing a manageable amount of data to be loaded and viewed at once.

Key features: • The new Workflow Manager saves a series of transactions which are then shared and adopted within the survey teams.

• Tolerance ellipsoids and smart sampling in I-Site Studio 5.0 deliver a streamlined global registration process.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 15

Country Focus/India

Great

Expectations Technology has the potential to connect each and every citizen of the country and that is why we want to realise the mantra of unity with the help of ‘digital’ India Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, delivering his first Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014

India is at the forefront with a vibrant space policy, strong cartographic base, evolving capacity development programmes in education and a private geospatial industry that is raring to go. The new government, with its mantra of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’, is all set to bring the best of technologies to support development in various spheres. Will all these positives result in big bang opportunities for the geospatial industry? Prof Arup Dasgupta does a reality check on the policy and business environment in the country

T

echnology causes disruption. Governments hate disruption. Herein lie the seeds of potential conflict.

However, such conflicts can be resolved if the government turns to technology, owns it and formulates its policies to harness the disruptive power to further its goals of good governance. Unfortunately, while embracing technology, governments tend to think in extant policy terms and instead of thinking out of the box, they try to tinker with the existing policies to suit the current situation. Another retrograde development is the use of policy for gate-keeping under the guise of security, rather than for enablement. Gatekeeping comes at a cost which is paid for by the government itself in terms of lost opportunities, additional policing and resentment among the stakeholders.

16 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Data: Where it all begins

 The Remote Sensing Data Policy allows unrestricted sale and usage of satellite imagery of up to and including 1m resolution data. Data of resolution better than 1m can be procured only through the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and is subject to vetting by the High Resolution Data Committee. In practice, such data is only available to government agencies and private organisations who are executing government contracts. The policy is unclear on the procurement of unrestricted data of resolution 1m or more from foreign satellites directly from foreign vendors. Such ‘low’ resolution data over India, from Indian remote sensing satellites has to be procured only through NRSC. The policy for the procurement by Indian entities of IRS data

Main focus areas • Smart Cities Building 100 smart cities requiring integrated city management supported by land information systems, automation, intelligent routing and transportation, and big data analytics.

• Transportation Constructing diamond quadrilateral for high speed trains by infusing FDI. The entire lifecycle of these projects require highly accurate survey and remote sensing data.

• Defence & internal security The defence sector requires state-of-the-art geospatial data and technologies.

• Power Improving the T&D and enhancing energy security through renewable sources — all of which need updated geospatial information.

Aerial technology, especially airborne LiDAR coupled with high resolution aerial imaging can help create accurate base maps for multiple application projects in the AEC segment. However, the cumbersome process of approval delays these projects for years, points out Kaushik Chakraborty, Vice President, Hexagon India. The alternative is to use other methods which create less accurate data impacting the long-term viability and maintenance of the infrastructure.

Chakraborty spells out a possible policy intervention which would enable industry to have a long term partnership with government, preferably with a long-term ‘fly as and when required’ contract, under which there is a continuous supply of cost-effective geospatial information from aerial sensors for mission mode projects of the government.  Topographic maps are produced by the Survey of India.

After a series of stopgap arrangements, Survey of India (SoI) decided to split the topographic maps into two series, Open Series Maps (OSM) for civilian use based on WGS84 and UTM projection while the existing Everest series continued as military maps. SoI also launched a massive effort to digitise the OSM. It also came out with a map policy.

As per the Map Policy 2005, civilian users can access the OSM. Conditions are that the coastline and international border maps are classified as ‘secret’ and the rest are ‘restricted’, thereby negating the very act of ‘opening’

70.60 bn

Building 100 smart cities

378 bn

Building highways

2.2 trn

Defence allocation

* Budget allocation for 2014-15 ($1= 60)

over foreign countries collected by foreign operators under licence from Antrix Corporation, is also not clear.

This government monopoly over the distribution of data poses the challenge of approval timelines. Moreover, if the data is of higher resolution, the challenge increases further, feels B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Executive Chairman, Cyient (formerly, Infotech Enterprises).

With the implementation of the revised Remote Sensing Data Policy in 2011, there has been a significant change in both the procurement process for imagery as well as the availability of satellite images up to 1 m resolution having become simpler. Today, however, with the announcement of priority areas, it is evident that the impetus of the government will largely impact the infrastructure development. “For this to be realised, geospatial technologies will play a pivotal role right from planning and design stage to building and operationalisation. There may, therefore, be a need for revisiting the existing policy to see how to facilitate and make available higher resolution data wherever required,” says Bharti Sinha, Executive Director, Association of Geospatial Industries (AGI).

This indicates a mistaken idea among the powers that current and high resolution data is not required simultaneously for running a mission critical application. Hence, applications like disaster recovery after an earthquake use low-resolution unrestricted data.

Coordinating demands from all the users is an uphill task for NRSC and there is a need for appointing more distributors who can aggregate the demands to speed up the process, points out Amit Somani, Joint Managing Director, ADCC Infocad.

Reddy would like policies to be more open, flexible and business-oriented through quick and hassle-free approvals under a single window with a fixed timeline. Srinibas Patnaik, Senior Director-Sales, DigitalGlobe, feels that the Remote Sensing Data Policy needs to be liberalised with immediate effect to enable government and defence customers buy high resolution imagery directly from vendors/suppliers. There is a need to encourage private players to use high resolution data.  Aerial imagery data is widely used in western countries due to less sanctions. However, in India to get aerial flying permissions, four federal ministries are * involved, and in each ministry it goes to four to five levels, resulting in a requisite permission taking at least two years time.

While a single window system, as proposed

by Reddy, will be really helpful, Somani is not sure how realistic it could be, given the involvement of different departments. UAV for aerial data acquisition is the way forward but in the absence of a guiding policy, it is not clear how this technology could be introduced.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 17

B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Executive Chairman, Cyient

While we are not advocating that we should compromise with national security, the system could be made more streamlined and responsive enough to encourage mapping activities at a faster pace. out these maps. These maps omit all sensitive information and also do not show any height information, thus making them useless for natural resources projects.

OSM digital maps are the copyright of SoI and their use and reuse is regulated through several licences. Users of the SoI digital OSM also question the quality of the digitisation.

Many organisations buy the maps but quietly digitise the paper OSM maps on their own to meet their quality standards. It may be noted that the entire Indian topographic map series is available for over-the-counter purchase in the UK. These are based on the old British one-inch-to-the-mile series suitably updated using Landsat data.

However, the adoption of geospatial technology in infrastructure projects will require higher scale maps, typically 1:2000 or better, for which high resolution imagery is a necessity, says Rajesh Mathur, Vice Chairman, Esri India.  GNSS a grey area: DGPS data is being freely collected for government projects like National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP) and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) by the industry.

Meanwhile, the industry, which maintains that a number of applications especially in the transport and navigation sectors need GNSS data, looks forward to see clear policy initiatives for capture and dissemination of data through UAVs, crowdsourcing, and other contemporary techniques.

Reddy feels it would be ideal to have an integrated policy incorporating all these technologies and methodologies, which clearly defines identification of sensitive data and the procedures to deal with it. An encouraging news is the steady progress on the IRNSS. It is expected to provide Indian users with accurate positional data, for which they are now dependent on American, Russian or European data.

Chakraborty avers that the GNSS industry would like to see the import restrictions on survey grade GPS devices made less cumbersome, besides a reduction in the import duties on GNSS equipment to assist in infrastructure projects.

The existing geospatial policy

In spite of the lacunae pointed out earlier, there are opinions that since we have a policy why not work with it. After all, there are projects which do not need data of resolution higher than 1 metre. That is true but then what about the Map Policy which transfers its restrictions on the OSM digital maps to any map prepared with the OSM as its base? Thus, the Coastal Erosion Maps prepared by the Department of Environment are now secret and therefore not available for open dissemination.

Patnaik outrightly disagrees that there are conducive policies for geospatial data in India. Unless there is an open licensing policy, the industry cannot be predicted to grow significantly. Somani is ambivalent: “In the new data policy, quite a bit of conducive guidelines are framed but at implementation level there is hardly any change.”

The industry looks forward to faster clearances from defence and other agencies for aerial mapping, use of UAVs, terrestrial LiDARs and cameras. Similarly, for high-resolution imagery, the government should allow multiple imagery providers to provision it directly under an appropriate legal framework.

“This entire exercise also needs getting rid of the data paranoia affecting many government agencies,” says Reddy, giving the example of projects for mapping of coastal areas or cadastral Kaushik Chakraborty, Vice President, Hexagon India

The GNSS industry would like to see the import restrictions on survey grade GPS devices made less cumbersome, besides a reduction in the import duties on GNSS equipment to assist in infrastructure projects.

Unified Geodata Policy - Need of the Hour It is necessary to revisit the several separate policies and evolve a unified geodata policy which will satisfy development and civilian applications while at the same time address the national security concerns. The following recommendations are made with this in mind.

Map Policy  Make the OSM series maps unrestricted.

They do not have heights or any VAs and VBs. Continue to register the map users as is being done now under the Map Policy.  OSM maps should not be used for legal purposes like boundary delineation. For this the restricted SoI maps are to be used.  Availability of products like slope maps

that are derived from height information but can’t be used to re-calculate height contours.  Charge royalty on map reuse through value addition but do not demand IP rights.  Create a new series derived from the OSM but which have positional accuracies matched to satellite remotely sensed data.

These will be useful for thematic mapping and can be made public and available freely or at nominal cost.  All maps should be as per ISO standards Remote Sensing Data Policy  Deregulate all high resolution satellite imagery older than two years and aerial

photographs more than five years old. Such data has no security value.  A policy for use of UAVs for remote sensing should be taken up at the earliest in consultation with industry  Data from non-photographic imaging sensors like synthetic aperture radar and LIDAR should be completely deregulated for Indian users.

Other Data  Mandatory sharing of data collected for public good and for state-funded projects.  Sharing of data from sensor networks.  All data should follow basic meta data standards derived from the Dublin Core.

Rajesh Mathur, Vice Chairman, Esri India

A lot of time is consumed in building base maps and other datasets while vides pointers to the way forward. Apart from the changes implementing GIS projects, which leads to increased project costs and needed in the policy, Mathur and Chakraborty have indicatdelays. The government needs to mandate all the agencies to disclose ed the need for a greater data sharing not just by the major the datasets available with them and share them with others parcels where there is an insistence to execute the projects within the premises of the contractee agencies to preserve the ‘secrecy’ of the data! Such secretive and over-cautious attitude leads to inefficiencies and higher costs due to lack of economies of scale, proper facilities, shared expertise and skills, which could be handled differently if the data was allowed to be taken to industry facilities within an appropriate legal framework. Interestingly, while developed nations like the United States or Europe do not see a problem sending its high-resolution data to India for outsourced work, in India the domestic industry is not allowed to take Indian data to their facilities in India!

Chakraborty agrees that at a national level, projects used for macro level planning of the nation result in large data creation.

But is this information accurate and up-to-date and is it being shared with all the agencies for better governance? “Accurate engineering grade geospatial information required for these projects is not easily available today as it is cumbersome for industry to create this in a timely and cost-effective manner in the restrictive environment,” he says. Since there is no insistence on the use of best data for the job, the industry often has to compromise with whatever data and information is available.

Mathur indicates a major lacuna in sharing of GIS assets available with different agencies. A lot of time is consumed in building base maps and other datasets while implementing GIS projects which leads to increased project costs and delays. The government needs to mandate all agencies to disclose the datasets available with them and share them with others.

Open data and open governance

The critique of the existing geospatial data policy also pro-

 There is a need to recognise crowdsourcing as a legitimate data source.

Data Delivery Mechanisms  All digital data must conform to global standards as specified by ISO or OGC or by independent standards developed in India.  Data ordering should be automated and include online browsing, order placement, payment and delivery to cut turnaround time.  All transactions should be recorded and archived. This should include the IP address track back.  The security approach should consider calibrated access. Large volume users should be handled differently from low

data generators but by all the geospatial stakeholders. In effect, the call is for open data and open governance.

Somani indicates that the industry has worked and created geospatial data for quite a few departments in the government, but it is doubtful whether even a quarter of the functionaries ever use them. “Sharing of relevant data and information is the key and can facilitate and maximise productivity, governance and transparency. To enable this, a common data model, platform for delivery of the services and adoption of standards will be the key,” says Sinha.

Both governance and accountability serve a great purpose in planning, building and maintaining the geospatial infrastructure in the country. Planning includes implementation of policies on data and other associated issues in right earnest that will facilitate usage and growth of the geospatial technologies including opening up of the data creation and dissemination activities. Creating an open environment will instill confidence among providers and users of geospatial data and technology to make investments and reap the benefits. Capacity planning and skill development in a more holistic manner, provisioning usage of geospatial technologies in the long-term planning process and allocation of the necessary funds also play an important part.

Amit Somani, Joint MD, ADCC Infocad

In the new data policy, quite a bit of conducive guidelines are framed but at implementation level there is hardly any change... Private industry will play a vital role in implementation as the Indian geospatial industry is moving away from being service-oriented and becoming more solution-centric.

volume occasional users. Large volume users should only use digital signatures.  Users should need to register only once and not for each transaction Digital Rights Management

 All data should be unobtrusively watermarked using advanced steganographic techniques to be approved by a suitable security agency  Legal liabilities associated with each data must be listed out including disclaimers for improper use.

Review  The policy should be reviewed every six

months by an empowered committee comprising representatives from all sectors.

Partnership models  Suggestions about partnership with industry to be studied and a set of models needs to be formulated, which should be followed for all small, medium and large projects.

Capacity building  This has been addressed by some of the industry experts. There is a need to standardise geospatial courses in different institutions and bring them up to industry expectations.

Country Focus/India Srinibas Patnaik, Sr Director-Sales, DigitalGlobe

Role of the private sector

Public Private Partnership (PPP) has been a catch-all phrase mouthed by the government and the private sector but its meaning has been as different as chalk and cheese. Till now the government looked at it as a glorified contractor-contractee relationship. Will the new government have a different view? Partners should equally share both success and failures, profits and losses. Is the industry ready for this?

Somani feels that the private industry will play a vital role as the Indian geospatial industry is moving away from being service-oriented and Bharti Sinha, Executive Director, AGI

Sharing of relevant data and information is the key and can facilitate and maximise productivity, governance and transparency. To enable this, a common data model, platform for delivery of the services and adoption of standards will be the key.

20 / Geospatial World / September 2014

The Remote Sensing Data Policy needs to be liberalised with immediate effect to ensure government and defence customers buy high resolution imagery directly from vendors/suppliers. There is a need to encourage private players to use high resolution data.

1bn 5 bn Digital India 1bn IT-based governance

becoming more solution-centric. * The geospatial industry is already contributing to some government programmes like smart cities, rail asset mapping, bullet trains, providing 24 hours electricity, health and sanitation for all, creation of national highways and initiatives like NLRMP, R-APDRP, JNNURM, NGIS, NSDI etc. These programmes and initiatives could be better served by industry with improvements in the policies. There could be various policy models — starting from simple outsourcing contracts, PPP models to other hybrid models. In the current Budget, the government seems to be quite optimistic about PPP models where the industry can participate with a right business model.

Patnaik sounds pessimistic as he says that the power of geospatial technology is not felt vis-à-vis IT as there is very limited or no knowledge among bureaucrats and decision makers regarding geospatial technology and applications.

However, the Indian geospatial industry’s global experience and exposure will enable the industry to support the government in the adoption of geospatial technology in mission critical projects, hopes Mathur.

Bullet train project

Epilogue

The industry can participate in building data assets, build systems and applications leading to creation of location-based platform. In fact, industry should be involved at the project conceptualisation stage itself. Services of professional bodies like AGI and FICCI can be utilised for this purpose. Private sector can also facilitate human resource capacity and capability building.

The new government has come to power on the slogan, ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. Will this slogan result in the rationalisation of the geospatial policy environment and the removal of those antiquated laws and regulations, which are the detritus of our enslaved past or the result of the bugbears of the overcautious bureaucrats and brass-hats? Will we see a new approach? Will we see thinking out of the box? Industry seems poised to take up the challenges if there is a conducive and enabling environment.

Prof Arup Dasgupta, Managing Editor arup@geospatialmedia.net For full article, visit http://goo.gl/atlNat

* Budget allocation for 2014-15 ($1= 60)

Building refers to the basic infrastructure for high resolution imageries, positioning data, spatial data infrastructure, and other associated products and equipment necessary for the growing demands for geospatial technologies through investments and initiatives taken by the government directly or by facilitating the industry to invest and create. There are a number of such laudable government initiatives like the IRS Satellite systems, Bhuvan, National GIS initiative, NSDI etc.

Geospatial data is dynamic as there are continuous changes in the real world but without regular maintenance, the whole exercise becomes futile after a period.

The industry feels that an open, transparent and accountable approach with good governance will certainly take geospatial to new heights. There already is an open data initiative by NIC, and DST is also an active part of this, points out Chakraborty. These open data repositories need to be populated to make this project a success. The NSDI initiative will provide support to governance if there is a policy mandate that all government agencies creating civilian data and information with public funds should share this data openly with other government agencies. The INSPIRE project in the European Union is a great example of how this can work and benefit the country and its citizens.

Patnaik holds that first, governance and transparency has to be achieved and maintained followed by open licensing and open data for the industry to grow. Adoption of geospatial technology will no doubt lead to increased transparency, enhanced operational efficiencies and strengthened citizen interface, thereby facilitating improved governance, says Mathur. There is also a need to invest in building service delivery platforms to host data and various business processes of the government.

Cover Story/Mining

G-innovate or GIS and remote sensing have been part of the mining industry for long now. But with accurate positioning getting more and more vital, geospatial data and technology are becoming inherent in mines management and modelling software to help the sector put in place a sustainable cost management culture. By Dr Hrishikesh Samant and Anusuya Datta Mining has grown bigger over the past 200 years – bigger plants, bigger trucks, bigger blasts. But the industry itself hasn’t evolved much. Now is the time to make fundamental and dramatic changes.

— Glenn Ives, Americas Mining Leader and Chair for Deloitte Canada

T

he slump in commodity prices is pinching the mining industry, today more than ever. As demand slumps and cost of mining shoots up, mining companies need to re-evaluate their operating models to ensure that they have the systems and processes leading to a sustainable cost management culture. The decision of starting or continuing a mining operation, addressing the issues of environmental regulations, human safety, government tax policies, local community demands cannot be answered by just looking at the projected commodity market. The other very serious concern for all multinational mining companies is the issue of ‘resource nationalism’ which limits and shackles foreign ownership of mining leases.

Among the top 10 issues listed by a Deloitte report on mining (Tracking the Trends 2014), geospatial technology lends a hand and an arm to address and navigate through more than a couple. For many who are attempting productivity enhancements, innovation appears to be the driving force. One such innovation is the smart use of geospatial

22 / Geospatial World / September 2014

data, what with depleting ore bodies and declining ore grades, and new locations in remote corners.

But then geospatial data has always been intrinsic to mining — where the resources are available, where to dig and how to take it out. Whether it is an open cast/pit mine or a deep underground excavation for search and extraction of mineral resources, the entire operation is essentially ‘geo-spatial’ in an operative sense. From staking the claim on a ore body to loading the excavated and extracted material into rail wagons or barges, the mining industry has been utilising geospatial technology, albeit most of the time under different names, which in today’s context is all ‘digital’.

“Today’s economic pressures and volatile markets have forced mining companies to find solutions to correct inefficiencies and reduce losses in every part of their operations, which spurs innovation by necessity,” says Nathan Pugh, Business Area Director, Mining, Trimble.

Among the innovations that the mining industry is beginning to use include the adoption of digital data, such as data-enabled equipment, operating/safety/environmental sensors, and laser scanning or point cloud data. Digital data is being increasingly used to support real-time tracking, surveillance, traffic management, environmental monitoring, various automated routines (e.g. driverless trucks), improved maintenance, and asset management, production monitoring and reporting.

Conventionally, mineral exploration was done with brute force field traversing, with topographic maps and a Brunton’s transit compass. Today, discovery of sub-surface and hidden ore bodies is achieved through holistic understanding of the genesis of the deposit. It is imperative to decide where not to dig — ever. The synergised use of data gathered from the geologist, geophysicist and geochemist harboured in a spatial ecosystem is the only approach that makes the exploration of new mineral deposits and more important, the location of extensions of working ore deposits, cost effective, efficient and possible.

However, geospatial in mining has moved beyond just basemaps and feature extraction. The availability of rugged mine observation, data collection, monitoring equipment and automation is today commonplace and the software that interfaces them with humans is what gets the most attention. The areas where geospatial has made a difference can be listed from the exploration, mine design, mine operations to support infrastructure like rail head, port design and subsequent monitoring. A very noteworthy sector where geospatial minetech has made the most visible contribution is personnel safety.

“Mining as an industry demands greater and greater accuracy, which has pushed the use of positioning technology into a whole new territory,” says Jason Nitz, Fleet Management Systems Superintendent, Newmont Boddington Gold, Australia. “If you can mine more ore and less waste, and you do this on large volumes, it is bound to have an effect on the bottom line.”

Naturally, as the mining industry begins to transition to a productivity-centric approach, geospatially located digital data is becoming pervasive and extremely influential throughout an entire enterprise. With geospatial data from various sources readily available to the broader enterprise, the mining industry is acknowledging the need to better leverage this digital data to target productivity challenges.

As Dave Body, Solution Executive, Mining, Bentley Systems, points out, “The term we use to describe the above is information mobility — across disciplines and across the entire asset lifecycle. Without information mobility, data languishes on islands, where it becomes stale and obsolete.”

To get the maximum value out of this geospatial information, the enterprise needs to unlock it and expose it to those who require this data to be mined for insights, and to which other algorithms and expert systems can be applied to produce predictive analytics that provide for the basis of increasing production and improving efficiencies. By linking, combining, and providing access to related geospatial datasets, consumers of spatial data can now exploit multiple, diverse datasets in a common geospatially referenced framework.

Today, from the preparation of maps which depict the ‘lay of the land’ or the topography to creating visualisations for stakeholder presentations, geospatial does it all. “For example, one of the mining firms Autodesk has been working with was using Autodesk Navisworks software to help design an entire infrastructure project for a mine. And the mining company took the Navisworks model and brought it to an investors meeting to show them exactly how the mine will look like. The presenter was able to click on any part of the mine and get information about all the infrastructure; and that sold the project,” points out Louis Morasse, Industry Solutions Manager, Autodesk.

The planning phase also involves the rather bureaucratic but essential aspect of obtaining permissions which are governed by regulations. More often than not, regulations are the most variable factor when considered in the global context. Every government has its own norms and “mine proposals when supported by truthful and realistic 3D visualisations have won many a leases,” says Abhijeet Banerjee, a freelance GIS consultant who uses Datamine. Mine modelling also plays a role in planning future exploitation activities and the role of mine modelling in a broad sense is critical.

“We have been working with many customers, and strategic partners like Geosoft, Spatial Dimension and aQuire, to help develop regional exploration plans, prospect inventories, lease positions, drilling programmes, etc. But ultimately, it is about Spend required to build new commodity capacity 200

Capacity spend to build a tonne of iron ore new capacity (US$/mt) 195

150 150

100 50 0

96

100

2007 Rest of World

20011-12 Australia

200 150

Capacity spend to build a tonne of thermal coal capacity (US$/t)

176

100 50 0

73

106

61

2011-12

2007 Rest of World

Source: AME, Brooke Hunt, Port Jackson Partners, JP Morgan

How geotechnology is transforming mining

Australia

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 23

A GPS-guided driverless truck from BHP Billiton

Cover Story/Mining

Full automation: The driver-less truck and train fleet control system of Rio Tinto is the biggest example in this regard. The system uses a wide array of geospatial technology to reduce costs. It is predicted that by 2016 Rio Tinto will be able to reduce costs by about $72 million, which reduces the cost by 30 cents per tonne of iron ore. Another example is BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, which is using an array of spatial technologies for quick flexible adjustments in its operations. Meanwhile, Brazil’s Vale, the third largest mining company in the word, is replacing its truck system with a long GPS-equipped conveyor belt in one of its Amazon mines. It also wants to monitor its piling using satellite positioning and 3D laser scanning. With the removal of the trucks, Vale sees fuel consumption costs to come down by 77% by 2016 when it achieves full automation.

Today’s economic pressures and volatile markets have forced mining companies to find solutions to correct inefficiencies and reduce losses in every part of their operations, which spurs innovation by necessity Nathan Pugh, Business Area Director, Mining, Trimble 24 / Geospatial World / September 2014

3D modelling of the ore body for exploitation,” comments Geoff Wade, Natural Resources Manager, Esri.

Complex 3D models provide a rich visual insight, but distribution and ease of access to these models is mostly restricted to the software power user, a static screenshot or a video file that cannot be queried, points out Dan Haigh, Natural Resources Industry Director, Pitney Bowes. Interactive and enriching 3D project updates provide deeper insight and intelligence within a simple Web browser, resulting in the ability for stakeholders to be able to challenge assumptions, confirm theories and feel at ease that they are making true data led decisions.

Various types of mine management systems survey, measure, monitor, report and analyse data for more effective management of processes and resources. This is the domain of remote sensing, remote imaging, processing and visualisation software that report data that is actionable by mine supervisors. Mine management systems are widely adopted by large-scale mining operations in the highest priority areas for safety and productivity — capital-intensive, mobile and hazardous haulage operations, adds Pugh. Fleet management systems, vehicle health monitoring systems, truck spotting systems, operator fatigue monitoring systems, and collision avoidance systems are all geared to reduce risk to operators and ground personnel, keep schedules to plan, reduce maintenance and repair costs, and enable miners to optimise the performance and investments. These systems are built on a technology infrastructure requiring positioning and wireless communications. Other types of mine management systems that employ spatial technologies include slope stability monitoring systems using various combinations of laser, radar, geotechnical, and GNSS technology and environmental monitoring systems for regulatory compliance with clean air and water standards.

The role of digital data

Data such as geological structure, geotechnical data about the rock type, spatial distribution of the ore grade and a lot more, will be highly sought by a mining enterprise. With the advent of aerial surveys using unmanned flying systems (UAS) and point-cloud creation technologies such as aerial laser scanners (ALS), terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and mobile laser scanners (MLS) capable of quickly producing accurate point clouds of the mine in-progress, stitching and spatially locating as well as updating the geological data is being done in almost real time.

Today, laser scanners are also used for automated volume measurement of stockpiles, providing up-to-date inventory that reflects current stock levels. Volume measurements require regular surveys of the same area followed by a comparison

3

Use analytics to uncover true cost drivers

2

Improve efficiencies through technology

1

Graphics: Debjyoti

Pursue operational excellence

4

Rationalise the supply chain

5

Go modular

6

Right-size capital projects

How to Shape Up Rather than one-off cost reductions, mining companies must embark on sustainable cost management programmes, says Tracking the trends 2014, by Deloitte.

to a reference plane or surface, which through conventional methods is resource intensive, and therefore, costly.

The handling, storing and analysing humongous volumes of spatially referenced geodata obtained from such scanners — in the truest sense Big Data — along with inputs from the mine survey teams is what is considered ‘raw material’, which can be ‘mined’ for insights and to which expert systems can be applied to produce predictive analytics. To understand the quantum of digital data generated today, a figure of 2.4 terabytes per minute from Rio Tinto’s Pilbara project is a statement in itself.

South Africa’s Anglo American embarked on an

ambitious ‘Geospatial Integration Project’ which provided a single management system for geospatial data, workflows and reports. Utilising the Bentley Map, ProjectWise Geospatial Server, and Bentley Geo Web Publisher, they achieved time improvements of 4,000%, says Body.

However, there remain teething issues. While mine management software and Big Data is taking big strides, a substantial number of mining companies do not have the manpower resources to use the data to the full potential. “The reporting is also very poor with these systems and they require custom reporting to make them valuable,” says Richard Musselman, Operations Support Engineer & Chief Mine Surveyor, Kinross Gold Corporation. This also requires somebody on the local staff to have a strong background in Microsoft SQL databases and reporting. The other avenue is to contract directly with manufacturer but this is costly and results are not always what you paid for.

Haigh feels even though satellites, drones and LiDAR are producing high-quality datasets for mining companies, the software performance has been frustratingly slow due to the sheer file size, resulting in the analyst having to clip the data to make it manageable.

What to look for when buying a software

The million dollar question that harangues any mining company is deciding on which software to procure. The unfortunate consideration and weight attributed to the actual monetary cost almost always leads to a failed implementation of ‘geospatial solutions’. Body from Bentley lists four important considerations before taking the geospatial plunge:  A review of respective organisational vision so as to determine whether current systems are capable of supporting and delivering towards this vision. Specifically, they should review the impact an exponential increase in digital data (i.e., Big Data) might have on their systems

Mine of the future: Rio Tinto launched the Mine of the Future programme to devise new ways of mining minerals from deep seated deposits while reducing environmental impact and not compromising on safety of the personnel involved. Rio has taken steps towards total automation within the mines and with minimum or at places no human intervention in the actual mining activities through the development of autonomous haulage systems and drilling systems. Offsite mine management has taken on a whole new meaning with the introduction of unmanned vehicles and ore transport systems. Its operations centre in Perth is a state-of-the-art facility that enables all its mines, ports and rail systems to be operated from a single location.

Rio Tinto’s operations centre remotely controls all its mines, ports and transport system

Cover Story/Mining

Without information mobility, data languishes on islands, where it becomes stale and obsolete.

Dave Body, Solution Executive, Mining, Bentley Systems and whether these systems can efficiently and effectively manage, maintain, and disseminate data, not just the quantum generated today, but also the projected increase.  Think of information mobility since data and information are key enablers in support of productivity and optimisation. Having access to the right information, in the right format, at the right time provides the fundamentals for informed decision making. Unlocking this data and information from silos is critical for today’s and tomorrow’s mining operations, and the selected solution should be capable of standing up to these demands.  Review of currently used survey solutions because an organisation’s survey solution needs to support today’s requirements; but additionally, the survey solution needs to prepare for tomorrow’s needs. As the mine surveyor transitions to digital data (and Big Data) the organisation will

Environmental Management Systems: The ZAR 1 million ($0.09 million) Kolomela Mine project in Postmasburg, South Africa, saves time by providing a one-stop shop for all environmental monitoring parametres, such as water, dust, noise, and biodiversity.

An innovative handheld unit allows field data to be captured and automatically downloaded to the central system, eliminating human error during data transfer and providing greater visibility of real-time data.

26 / Geospatial World / September 2014

need a survey solution that supports both traditional and future workflows from a wide variety of ‘survey sensors’ (and manufacturers). For a surveyor, the distinction between ‘field’ and ‘office’ is set to blur. As mobile computing processing power continues to improve and communications to and from the field also improve, the industry is set to see many more surveys completed at the ‘point of work’.  Consider spatial enablement though typically, spatially located digital data is considered a totally separate application to be handled exclusively by a GIS. However, spatially located digital data will be created by many and from various sources. The use of an industry standard database, such as Oracle Spatial and or SQL Server Spatial is recommended. This spatial ability is further enhanced by enabling data editing to be performed in any Open Geospatial Consortium standards-based GIS that supports viewing and editing directly in the Oracle Spatial or SQL Server Spatial database. Therefore, considering mining software solutions for mine design and survey which will operate on native database formats for Oracle and SQL to offer a truly open, spatially enabled capability that can be leveraged from any open GIS technology will hold good in the coming years.

How much customisation is required

It would be prudent to accept that most operations which benefit from geospatial analysis follow a common basis and logical workflow. Except for very specialised ‘machine automation’ requirements, standard issue geospatial suites would generally be good to go. So, though no mine is alike, Dinakar Devireddy, Head of Innovation Program at the India-headquartered Cyient (formerly Infotech), states that “it does not mean we should have a mining software customised for each mine and commodity”. Currently, COTS (commercially-off-the-shelf) mine planning software are capable of handling all the complex work and mining companies are increasingly seeking to integrate these software tools to their existing enterprise level software to achieve efficiencies in their workflow and cut costs. “For example, mining organisations increasingly want to integrate mine planning with mine scheduling, stock management, logistics, SAP etc. to be efficient,” he adds.

As a large part of the ‘non-specialist’ GIS training available today has a significant quantum of familiarisation with COTS like ArcGIS, many mining customers today use Esri software as it is straight out of the box. “Indeed that is how most customers begin their first GIS projects — maybe it is to map out a new prospect area, a drilling programme, or a lease position,” says Wade.

Courtesy: Bentley Systems

LiDAR scan data of a mine tunnel

Over time, such projects can become more complex, information and workflows need integrating, and hopefully the mining project becomes successful, long-standing, and requires more formal information management practices applied. A GIS platform today needs to be flexible enough to provide a simple starting point for some, and a rigorous corporate (global) platform for others. No customisation is required, but plenty is possible. To be successful, the software provider will have to find ways to easily and smoothly infuse the rapidly changing technologies and demands from the mining sector, as the very idea of ‘a change’ taxes the end user in a mining organisation to his limits, says D.U. Vyas, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, India.

The role of in-house development of geospatial software is surprisingly limited, more so considering the substan-

Today, from the preparation of maps which depict the ‘lay of the land’, or the topography, to creating visualisations for stakeholder presentations, geospatial does it all.

Louis Morasse, Industry Solutions Manager, Autodesk

tial investment and training that is required. The aspect of in-house development is viewed by generic GIS software developers in a very different way. Wade feels that they both (in-house and COTS) have a role to play. “We hear from many corporations that they need easy-to-deploy, configurable ‘template-style’ solutions, specifically focused on their common business functions. That is a challenge, of course, because not everyone has exactly the same business challenges — but there are some core workflow functions that are common across many departments and companies.”

Esri therefore has been working with its user community to deliver a core (COTS) spatial platform capability, and more recently a set of configurable/extendable workflow oriented templates, in order to give users a jump-start on specific workflow applications they may require. “It is our joint intention that users can then much more simply ‘configure’ from a template, rather than start from scratch to build a desired application. I believe today’s approach is COTS first, configure second, in-house development only if absolutely required,” says Wade.

Pitney Bowes, which has software tailor-made and customised for the industry, also offers an easy MapBasic programming language which has seen companies effortlessly develop a number of custom applications.

When implementing technology it is important to be cautious of “vendor lock in”, says Haigh. Pit-

Cover Story/Mining ney Bowes offers an open approach that allows consistency and control, but not at the expense of integration and collaboration. The methodology allows scalability and agility, and far greater freedom to select add on products from the best providers, rather than being forced to purchase a costly, heavy, ‘corporate GIS’ from one provider.

Devireddy feels that ‘mine planning software’ are different class of software tools with distinct features and tools, and GIS engines are part of these software. “In-house development is tricky and complex, it’s not advisable unless there is strong justification to do so, because the product development lifecycle is higher and requires high level domain expertise. This is the reason one finds huge entry barriers for any in-house development.”

RoI or getting back the moolah

The blunt question that the bean counter often asks is “So when do we start getting back the moolah?” Though software is prohibitively costly — upwards of $10,000 and again additional modules cost more — RoI is assured within few months, depending on the mine and operations size, believes Devireddy.

“Private companies typically go faster than governments because companies are motivated by a need to have RoI as quickly as possible, especially in these difficult and challenging times,” says Morrase. Naturally, mining companies today are very tech savvy. If they can implement something for a million dollar investment to save $100 million in operating costs, they will do it aggressively.

The quantum of investment required depends on the size of the mine as well as its goals, says Stefan Naumann, GNSS Business Manager, Topcon Europe Positioning. The goal will be influenced by the market as well as competitive situations within the mine industry. For single mines to get quick results that help their decision making process, the investment could be anything between $80,000 up to several $100,000. “If you take the question of quantum of investment to the entire industry, it requires to having people on the ground with a good un-

Many corporations need easy-to-deploy, configurable ‘template-style’ solutions, specifically focused on their common business functions.

That is a big challenge.

Geoff Wade, Natural Resources Manager, Esri

28 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Vale’s geovisualisation room

Geovisualisation: As part of an interesting project, Vale has built a specially equipped state-of-the-art geoinformation room, from where its visions for the future are formed. The choice of equipment that make up the room is based on the experiences and developments made by the British Geological Survey in terms of so-called 3D Geology, with the adoption of the GeoVisionary solution that includes software developed by the company Virtalis in association with the BGS. derstanding of geographic-based decision-making processes as well as geospatial knowledge. This requires well-educated people in the GIS/geospatial sector to cater to the increasing demands of this industry,” he adds.

Data is the currency of exploration. Huge amount of funds, resources and effort go into effectively analysing, interpreting and modelling data for a project. “So it is important that you make your data work as hard as possible for you. By presenting 2D and 3D spatial information via the web to key stakeholders (communities, investors and internal decision makers) it maximises the value and RoI of that data,” underlines Haigh, adding an organisation not using GIS often runs the risk of making some very poor, ill-informed decisions.

The common practice in developed markets is doing an aerial survey even before setting foot into a mining area.

Safety aspects apart, this means huge cost savings. Each drill costs around $80,000, so if you can eliminate that risk completely through technology, that’s a straight RoI which could run into millions. “Larger the size [of the project], quicker the RoI,” adds Devireddy.

This is also the reason for the rather disappointing level of adoption of geospatial technologies by small players or ‘juniors’ as referred to in the Deloitte report. Because of the high cost of these tools, the rollout to the mining sector has been slow. Also, since many of these systems require a higher level of training and maintenance, to use them to their full potential

has caused some resistance in the mining sector.

The high cost of warehousing or even maintaining critical spare parts makes these systems unattractive to the smaller mining companies, says Musselman, who also believes that safety and reduction in rework is definitely one of the major paybacks. “The surveyor is not required to visit dangerous slopes often and can safely perform the job from a safe distance using reflector less technology ... which saves time and fuel,” he adds.

The main benefit is increased production, improved recovery and reduced cost, but these can also contribute to other secondary areas, feels Nitz, who is also quick to add that there has been no reduction in the manpower associated with using geospatial technology as ultimately a person is still required as part of the process. “In the past they may have the need to know how to do the job manually, now they need to know how to enable the technology to do the job.

Whilst that is quite a simplistic explanation, it shows how the evolution is occurring and the mindset of parochial miners is changing.” However, Musselman believes many of these systems require a higher level of training and maintenance to use them to their full potential, which has impeded its adoption in the mining sector.

The way ahead

Technology used today is evolving very fast and is being used in areas that nobody thought it would be used for.

“Who, a few years ago, would have thought we would have trucks without drivers operating in a mine?” asks Morrase, who, however, underlines the need for very skilled people with the knowhow of mining and geospatial.

Agrees Musselman: “You might lose a surveyor from the field duties but need to add manpower to hardware or office to keep system running and handle all

of the data and create files for the field.”

The big problem is very few of such skilled people would want to work in remote, hostile areas where typically mines are located.

Another big challenge is the willingness of mining companies to change.

While the technology can change quickly, mining companies are generally not that good at adapting to change at the same rate. “Justifying this change is often a challenge the average user cannot communicate; so being able to quantify this in meaningful terms is vital and requires a good understanding of the business,” says Nitz. The mining industry is still living by the old saying of ‘We always did it this way’ and geospatial companies generally do not understand their customer base very well,” points out Muesselman.

When mining industry adopts a productivity-centric approach, geospatially located digital data will become pervasive and extremely influential throughout the entire enterprise. As the sources which generate spatial data proliferate, the applications which consume this data and convert it to usable knowledge to target specific productivity challenges in the mining domain will be highly sought after. Technology trends and proliferation of geospatial data require knowledge and experience for accurate analysis and interpretation. In hands of an expert, geospatial data becomes geospatial intelligence.

As Pugh sums it up, “In view of the success stories and ongoing economic realities, investment in these technologies is high on the planning and budgetary outlooks for most large-scale operations.” And this is only expected to continue and increase with time.

Dr Hrishikesh Samant, Editor - Mining (Honorary), hrishikesh@geospatialmedia.net Anusuya Datta, Dy Executive Editor anusuya@geospatialmedia.net

What Lies Ahead Environmental concerns: As governments across the globe are looking to reduce emissions, mining companies need to actively consider climate policy. In addition, citizens and their government representatives are more aware of potential environmental impacts related to mining activities and related infrastructure development.

Remote facilities & operational challenges: With new ore bodies increasingly being discovered in very remote areas, the cost of creating supporting infrastructure (roads, rail, pipelines, and utility networks) and living facilities/cities for workers create a host of challenges for mining companies.

Fluctuation of commodity prices: Commodity prices have a major influence in determining economic viability of a project, which is why mining companies need to make technology investments to boost: • Rising costs/efficiency: Diesel, and other related costs for operating mining facilities, are going up.

• Geo-political stability and regulations: This is a really big concern, especially if a mining company is going into an area where there are concerns about the political situation.

• Resource nationalism is another big trend shaping the industry. It retains the number one risk ranking with many governments around the world. This could lead to imposition/increasing of royalties or mining taxes, mandated beneficiation/export levies or retaining state or national ownership of resources.

Mining/Automation

M

Autonomous operations are looking to be the future of the mining industry. But is the industry really ready for an autonomous environment? By Jason Nitz

uch like the boom in autonomous agricultural equipment during the 1980s and 1990s, autonomous equipment has well and truly made its entrance in the mining sector. Over the past decade or so, various OEM and miners have been working together to test and trial various autonomous mining equipment, including haul trucks, drills and shovels. Autonomous equipment is not a relatively new development. Apart from the real genesis in farming 30 years ago, autonomy has been found in other industries for just as long. So why has the uptake in mining taken so long? For other industries like oil and gas, and farming for that matter, the ability to use human operators has been restricted for several reasons and this has seen the development and uptake exceed that of mining. For oil and gas, using operators for high-risk tasks is simply not an option, so the need for autonomous equipment like submersibles for offshore rigs has driven this necessity. For farming, the need for precision ploughing and cultivating, in other words producing more with less, drove the need for equipment that could navigate itself.

But before we get in-depth into any discussion on autonomous equipment in mining, let’s talk about what ‘autonomy’ is. In general terms, there are two stages of autonomy with regards to mining equipment: semi-autonomous and fully autonomous, often referred to as just autonomous. With semi-autonomous, the equipment is still operated by a human for some tasks, but for others, the equipment performs all the tasks by itself. In autonomous equipment, no human operators are involved in the operation of the equipment. In the case of autonomous haul trucks, no operator is present in the cab nor is there an operator sitting in a control room driving the truck at various points of its hauling route — the

30 / Geospatial World / September 2014

complete cycle is performed without operator intervention.

The trucks are monitored in a control room, either on site or remotely, but this monitoring is purely to ensure the trucks are running efficiently in terms of production.

And to add to the confusion around autonomy is remote-controlled equipment. This machinery can be operated by close-range remote control such as dozers working in dangerous or unstable ground. An operator standing on the ground but out of harm’s way operates the equipment using a set of controls similar to that in the cab. This equipment is not autonomous as it does not do any work on its own so

Rio Tinto’s autonomous haul trucks

therefore we usually exclude this from discussions on autonomy (though it does get included on some occasions).

Locating the assets

So how does autonomous equipment — the size of a small house — navigate itself around a mine while there are numerous other pieces of equipment all doing the same? The answer lies in geospatial awareness through the use of high-precision GPS positioning. When boiled down to its basics, the fundamental process of mining is all about knowing where key important ‘assets’ are. As the location of the ore is the primary focus for the actual mining process, knowing the location of this makes positioning the associated mining equipment easy. Or does it? For surface mining, the key to geospatial awareness is good positioning. For non-autonomous haul trucks, low precision GPS is enough to serve the purpose. By low precision we mean within 5-10 metre accuracy. But, for autonomous haul trucks driving themselves in close proximity to other operating equipment, low precision just doesn’t work. You need high-precision GPS for these types of tasks where centimetre accuracy can allow the positioning of trucks next to shovels for loading as well as other close proximity tasks.

And herein lies the problem for open pit mines. In order to have high precision GPS positioning, you need visibility of many satellites to provide a high dilution of precision, or spread, in order to give the best fix. But with open pit mines, this visibility is often restricted by the high pit walls.

The deeper you go, the more these high walls block satel-

If an average truck operator’s salary is $111,066 per year and it takes four operators to keep a truck running 24 hrs a day, moving one truck to autonomous operations can save nearly $462,775 alone lite visibility with the result being your autonomous haul truck no longer has the accuracy it needs for close proximity tasks like shovel loading. Other technologies like radar and lasers can and do allow these close proximity tasks to occur, however the fundamental geospatial awareness of an autonomous system is based on high-precision positioning through GPS. This is why we currently see the largest uptake of autonomous equipment in mining is at mines where their operating environment is able to exploit high precision positioning like the flat, open iron ore mine of the Pilbara in the NW of Western Australia. Here most pits are long, relatively flat, or have been purposely designed to allow the use of autonomous mining equipment.

Profit mining & job loss

So what are the benefits of autonomous mining equipment?

The usual image associated with an autonomous mine is one of large job cuts due to the reduction in the number of people. Whilst job cuts will ultimately occur, job transition is a better way to describe the evolution of jobs in an autonomous environment. Where there used to be operator-driving the equipment, they will now move into monitoring and overseeing positions at remote operations centres located thousands of kilometres away. This will see the up-skilling of operators into more technology focused roles, which is where the future of mining is heading and firmly lies. At Rio Tinto’s West Angelas mine in the Pilbara, driverless trucks have been trialled since 2008 with over 58 million tonnes of ore moved. And it’s here one of the tangible benefits of driverless trucks, or any driverless equipment for that matter, is realised — without human operators, mine planning and scheduling can be achieved with greater certainty which amounts to lower costs and greater production. This is because many people-related issues like sick and annual leave are removed allowing for greater consistency and utilisation of equipment. The cost savings of this are clear for all to see — given the average truck operator’s salary is

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 31

Mining/Automation

How Automation Works GPS satellite

Central control room Fleet control

Dumping site

Safety (Automatically stops when detects obstacle)

Hauling road

Loading site

What’s the future

Courtesy: Komatsu

A$120,000 ($111,066) per year and it takes four operators to keep a truck running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, moving one truck to autonomous operations can save nearly A$500,000 ($462,775) alone, not to mention the other costs associated with a fly-in, fly-out workforce.

Putting the human resource aspect aside, the real key advantages associated with autonomous equipment are from a safety and productivity perspective. Mining operations can be a dangerous environment, and whilst there are many procedures and engineering process in place to reduce associated risks, removing people from high-risk tasks is the ultimate rung in the hierarchy of controls ladder. Autonomous equipment allows this to occur by removing the risk to operators as it leaves the high-risk tasks to the equipment. Another human-centric issue is fatigue — wherever you have people working according to shift-based rosters, which are not always sleep friendly, fatigue is bound to occur to some degree. Autonomous equipment isn’t impacted by this for obvious reasons and hence fatigue no longer becomes an issue — it’s been eliminated accordingly to the hierarchy of controls.

In terms of production, autonomous equipment provides increases that are just not possible using human operators.

For example, twice per day shift change at mines around the world occurs as regular as clockwork. During this time, most mining equipment is stopped so operators can be changed out. This change out time can range from 30 minutes to over an hour depending on how it is performed. For a mine with a fleet of 20 trucks, an hour of down time each shift change equates to 40 equipment hours per 24 hours. If the average truck tonnes moved per hour is 450 tonnes, this equals to 18,000 tonnes per day lost through equipment unavailability.

Over a year this is a staggering amount at 6.4 million tonnes.

And one hour lost per day is on the conservative side with

32 / Geospatial World / September 2014

real-world figures more like 2-3 hours. So as you can see, the figures add up both in terms of lost production and increased costs. Likewise with drill rigs — during times of blasting nearby, most drill rigs have to be moved for the duration of the blast. This requires the drill to stop operating most times and is simply to remove the operator out of the danger zone should fly-rock happen to hit the rig. In both these previous examples, if autonomous equipment was being used, it would continue operating and no time would be lost which means more production and lower costs.

So what the future for autonomous mining equipment? Given the big miners’ interest in autonomy, it’s clear the trend is here to stay and will feature heavily in the decade to come.

Apart from autonomous equipment being taken up by more miners, making it the norm rather than the exception, there are clearly improvements that need to be made in order to make it all that more robust. And one of these areas is in the geospatial arena in terms of positioning reliability and accuracy. Currently, high-precision GPS is the primary method of guiding large pieces of equipment around a mine autonomously. But what happens when we get issues with GPS signals like we did earlier this year with the GLONASS outage? Granted, the reason there are several independent constellations is to avoid complete outages, but the loss of one undoubtedly had an effect on overall positioning capability which was felt worldwide. It’s obvious we need something other than GPS to provide positioning; something that can work independently of GPS. And for the past decade or so, this type of technology has been in development and more recently trialled and deployed at a mine site in Western Australia. The technology, which is made up of ground-based stations that provide a local positioning network, also has applications in other industries, which for now are commercially sensitive.

In its current form, the technology from Locata Corporation, a Canberra-based company, requires a GPS signal for initialisation. However, in the not too distant future, this need for GPS will be removed, making it a truly independent system, says Nunzio Gambale, CEO of Locata. This independence is what makes the technology exciting as it removes the reliance on GNSS. Automation in mining, and the requirement for geospatial solutions, is now at an epoch, one which we will see mature over the next decade into the future of mining.

Jason Nitz, Fleet Management Systems Superintendent, Newmont Boddington Gold, Australia jason.nitz@gmail.com

Mining / Interview

‘Hexagon Mining

is an option for those who want a

solid future plan’

Hexagon Mining, has a very clear strategic plan — to be the preferred solution provider in mining, with a complete in-house portfolio of products for the core business. Guilherme Bastos, President, Hexagon Mining, charts out the course for the newly established division.

G

eospatial technology has been part of the mining industry for some time. What made Hexagon focus on this niche market now?

Geospatial technology is gaining more importance in our society. In a mobile world, where everybody has a GPS, smartphone or tablet, you expect to know where things are — whether it is a place or a person. The services that will transform all available GIS data are just beginning and will really transform our lives. Ten years ago, seeing a new restaurant while walking or driving prompted your decision on whether to try it. Today, it simply depends how well that restaurant appears in the GIS you are using.

In mining, geographically speaking, information has no meaning if you do not know precisely where it is. Assay results are used to mark out areas of ore and waste rock, which are mined separately. Any position error can affect the mine plan or even the feasibility study for that reserve. The Hexagon focus is all about accurate and precise information. Mining is a market in which we think Hexagon can really offer a unique portfolio of products and solutions.

Hexagon recently has made a few quick, but important, acquisitions in the mining area. How would you describe that as a larger corporate strategy?

Hexagon Mining has a very clear strategic plan — to be the preferred solution provider in mining, with a complete in-house portfolio of products for the mining core business. These acquisitions brought to Hexagon Mining the missing pieces in our portfolio for underground, safety and planning. In addition, we strongly believe it will greatly improve our capacity to support our customers. Today, we have more than 740 employees around the globe working exclusively in mining. It is by far the largest skilled team in a technology company available in the market today.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 33

Mining / Interview

From UAVs, hardware like total stations and scanners for data gathering, software for data processing to total automation, Hexagon has a complete array of

How do you, as the President of Hexagon Mining, intend to synergise the skills and resources the company has acquired through these acquisitions?

We acquired successful companies with talented people running each business. The most important asset of any tech company is people, and we are working to preserve the culture and productive environment of these new companies and bring them together with our tried-and-true offerings to form a united group that will explore new possibilities in mining. United, we can provide better support, integrating our products to offer better solutions to our customers and drive excitement about the great and unique opportunity we have in Hexagon Mining.

Hexagon Mining is an independent division, envisioned

by Hexagon President and CEO Ola RollĂŠn to maximise proximity with our mining customers. However, we will also work very closely with other Hexagon businesses like Hexagon Solutions, Leica Geosystems, Intergraph and others, putting together products and solutions from other divisions according minersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs.

Mining is a business with a lot of uncertainties. Our mining solutions are crucial as they are about revealing the right information to the right person 34 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Before Hexagon Mining, Hexagonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offerings in mining were through Intergraph PP&M. How do you plan to synergise with other such divisions in the larger Hexagon group?

We have great mining products from different divisions including Intergraph PP&M, Intergraph SG&I, Hexagon Solutions and Leica Geosystems. However, as Ola has said, Hexagon continues to move from a product-centric organisation toward a solution-centric provider of business-oriented applications. That is exactly the DNA of Hexagon Mining, putting all these products together to offer complete solutions to our customers. Other divisions will continue to keep their own channel to the mining market.

Hexagon Mining exists to leverage the benefits of connecting products and solutions to address specific needs.

How does Hexagon intend to proceed, keeping the latest technology trends in the mining domain and how is geospatial playing an enabling role?

We see the latest geospatial technologies as an opportunity to address old problems in a better way, improving results for our customers. We have many opportunities in the mining field for technologies such as wireless, cloud, LiDAR and many others. Through a strong R&D team and acquisitions, we plan to select appropriated technology for our customers.

What would you say a mining company is missing if it is not using geospatial and, specifically, Hexagon Mining solutions to the maximum extent possible?

f mining products in its stable. Hexagon Mining is putting all these products together to offer complete solutions to customers

Mining is a business with a lot of uncertainties. It means managers should be ready to receive new information all the time to make better decisions. Our mining solutions are crucial because they are all about revealing the right information, including geospatial information, to the right person. It can be geospatial information, a managerial KPI or process variables. Without this knowledge, mining company is missing out on cost savings.

What are the latest technology trends in the mining domain and how is geospatial playing an enabling role?

We can say that the ‘Internet of Things’ is already a trend. In the near future, we are going to have IP and instrumentation in all mobile and remote assets in the pit, as well as on all people. The solution is more complex compared to ‘Internet of Things’ technology used by end consumers, but the concept is the same — interacting remotely at any time with all assets and people in the mine.

The GIS space for mining is becoming more dynamic.

Objects in the geospatial database are always in transformation. The surrounding world changes all the time — the GIS objective is to make interaction with this world possible and easier.

What are the typical benefits of using geospatial data solutions — better ROI, reduced expenses and manpower, recovery and safety improvements?

It varies a lot depending on the commodity, tonnes per year and more; but in general, by applying our technologies, mining companies can measure savings higher than 10%.

Costs are very high in mining and there is still much space for optimisations, so the potential for savings is great.

How are new trends such as off-site mine management and working from remote locations catching up in the mining sector and how is geospatial enabling this?

The challenge for remote mines is the economy of scale.

The technology is available, but the challenges lie in the necessary maintenance, support, evolution and scalability.

Remote mines can be operated in real time from offices in the company headquarters. However, it will happen gradually when these technologies start to be part of the lives of all mines. We will see ‘remote’ operation or autonomous operations at the same time for very remote mines in Africa, as well as for mines 20 km away from Johannesburg, South Africa, or Belo Horizonte in Brazil. These realities are in the near future.

Where do you see your success stories coming from?

I do not think there is a specific point, but I do believe in putting all solutions together, eliminating gaps and duplicated information and offering reliable information and better results. Hexagon Mining is the best provider for companies that understand the value of having a strong supplier with a great portfolio. Large companies cannot succeed trying to integrate different solutions from small suppliers, each one with a different and independent roadmap for their products.

This ad hoc use of technology consumes a lot of money and time. Hexagon Mining is an alternative option for those who want to have a solid plan for the future.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 35

Mining / Unmanned Systems

Courtesy: ISIS Geomatics

The Rise of the UAVs

As offsite mine management relies on timely and accurate information from the mine site, unmanned vehicles and robotics are becoming a faster and safer way of data collection for the mining industry. By Dr Hrishikesh Samant

T

he use of UAVs, or drones as they are more popularly known, is mostly associated with surveillance and war. As safety and environment regulations get stricter, UAVs as a platform for collecting imagery data is gaining popularity in the mining sector today. Drop in the cost of the hardware required to fabricate and maintain them and the advances in sensor and camera technologies along with the availability of light and long lasting power packs has made the mass production of UAVs possible.

Offsite mine management relies on timely and accurate information from the mine site. Operating a mine without an accurate and current picture of the mine is operating blind.

UAVs provide a highly detailed and up-to-the-minute picture of the mine that operators need for effective planning and management, says Kareem Shehata, Lead Engineer (Autonomous Systems), Clearpath Robotics. Robotic ground units, self driving trucks, aerial surveys, aerial volumetric calculations, and aerial geospatial mapping would not be possible without geo-

36 / Geospatial World / September 2014

spatial interface, adds Stephen Myshak, CEO, Isis Geomatics.

A number of different types of surveys and reconciliations traditionally carried out by workers are now being done by unmanned vehicles. They offer the ability to automatically fly certain pre-determined routes and provide information in a fraction of the time a worker would take. This even includes working out the volume of certain water storage facilities ‑— an unmanned boat can now survey the bottom and contribute to the overall volume measurements. “I think the latest technology, apart from general advances in most areas of traditional positioning technology, is in the use of drones or unmanned vehicles for various tasks,” says Jason Nitz, of Newmont Boddington Gold, Australia.

The very fact that these flying data collection platforms can be managed by a single person and carried in the field has drastically reduced the mining industry’s dependence on high resolution satellite imagery, though the data collected by the imaging sensors on board the UAVs has boosted the remote sensing industry — especially the software required for the processing

An aerial view of the mining operations captured using a flying data capturing system. High resolution imagery from different vantage points offers improved offsite management of mining operations.

and extraction of information from the digital data acquired by the sensors and cameras onboard the UAVs. “Remote sensing integrated within GIS as core technology and a respective core driver continuously takes a more important role,” says Stefan Naumann GNSS Business Manager, Topcon Europe Positioning.

The typical benefits are quite obvious. The health and safety of the employees on the site is a critical component of every mine, and the downtime of a part of a mine while survey work has to be carried out is enormous. “Just think about the amount of time a survey crew could save when utilising stateof-the-art remote sensing technology such as UAS. This free capacity could be utilised in managing the mine better, as well as being more productive taking all environmental and economic aspects into account,” he adds.

New technologies, including robotics and UAVs, follow the trend of ‘faster, cheaper, better’. In this case, geospatial data is produced faster, with more detail, and lower costs instead of waiting for weeks for a new survey of a mine site, says Shehata. Clearpath’s UAV solutions produce accurate data in a matter of hours and at a fraction of the cost.

The redundancy of ground control points and yet achieving 2-5 cm accuracy is today possible from digital imagery acquired by the SIRUS UAS from MAVinci which is in strategic partnership with Topcon. “Having an airplane flying with RTK accuracy combined with highly sensitive and detailed cameras, and having incredibly intelligent software at the front-end, shows and demonstrates the possibilities of UAS usage as a highly professional survey tool,” says Naumann. He also adds that since the quantum of investment is very reasonable, even small operators of mines have evinced interest. Apart from the big mine companies, the success stories also come from small mines that were able plan their work with more cost efficiency when compared to carrying out traditional survey methods — up to the situation where mining companies that were already using remote sensing technology, but in a manner that kept them from being even more productive. Another story is about Slovakia’s largest mining company recently adopting a UAV-based survey to determine the effects of land subsidence due to its underground coal operations at Bane Novaky. Over a 12-month period, a number of surveys were conducted over the 300 hectares area (a 1500-meterby-2000-meter area).

The major hurdle in for the UAV industry is the lack of policy and guidelines by the regional aviation authorities. Very few countries have a proper policy, and Shehata feels that Clearpath is fortunate to be operating in Canada. The SFOC (special flight operating certificate) process is consistent across the country, and allows operators to make a case for the safe use of their vehicles to get their missions done. With Canada leading the way in these types of policies, there are now other jurisdictions that are starting to open up their rules to allow the commercial use of UAVs.

UAV data collection platforms can be managed by a single person and can be carried in the field. This has drastically reduced the dependence on high-resolution satellite imagery

Dr Hrishikesh Samant, Editor - Mining (Honorary), hrishikesh@geospatialmedia.net

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 37

Geospatial Education/ Lead Story

The Mining Geospatialists A geospatialist today undertakes tasks ranging from data collection, data analysis to data management. Qualifications to sit on the ‘Geospatialist’s’ chair, too range from just a graduate in geospatial sciences and technologies, to a doctoral degree. There are hardly any geospatialists who are ‘pure’, as most are domain specialists from geology, geophysics, mining, construction engineering, surveying and even chemistry and the life sciences, who have extensively used geospatial S&T for their problem solving. So what does it take to be the be the one who shoulders the responsibility for telling the miners what to expect where? Richard Musselman, Jason Nitz, and Narendra Kavdia share their experience and thoughts.

What are your role and responsibilities?

Richard Musselman: I am working as an operations support engineer/chief mine surveyor. I oversee the surveyors, dispatch system (hardware, training, wireless canopy, and data), hardware and systems for machine control. I also keep an eye on the hardware and data flow for slope monitoring (robotic, GNSS, and three radars).

Jason Nitz: My role is to evaluate, implement and support operational technologies that affect the mining fleet. It encompasses those technologies which are not normally looked after by the IT and are now generally known as Operations Technologies (OT). This includes geospatial technologies as it is a large part of what we do, specifically high-precision positioning.

Narendra Kavdia: I oversee exploration, enhancing the life of mine plans and finding new mines.

As a geospatial professional, how and why did you start working in the mining industry?

RM: My family has a long background in mining. In fact three of my four children are miners. I couldn’t think of doing anything else. Mining is a very stable job and the benefits are very good.

JN: I started working in the mining industry as an IT professional but soon realised that the technology used

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in operations was much more fun. I made the change by taking on positions that slowly lead to where I wanted to be. I also enrolled for two postgraduate degrees in mining engineering. This enabled me to understand how current mining practices work and where\how technology has a role to play.

NK: Basically, I am a geologist and started working with the rubber, pencil and generation of hard-copy maps.

What would be your advice to others who seek career in this domain?

RM: The mining industry is always looking for skilled workers. The hardest challenge is that mining is a small sector and sometimes you need to know somebody to get through the door. I often see construction surveyors generally come from the project groups that have worked on an expansion project at a mine.

JN: They should choose a career path which is enjoyable and successful for them. Technology is the key to the future of mining and it will undoubtedly play a large role.

Rather than choosing a degree in mining engineering, for instance, youngsters should think of backing this up with something in the technology space.

NK: The youngsters should keep in mind that technology is continuously changing in every sphere of life and with new versions replacing the earlier ones, great

Narendra Kavedia, GM, Exploration, Hindustan Zinc India Richard Musselman, Operations Support Engineer and Chief Mine Surveyor, Kinross Gold Corp, South Africa

Jason Nitz, Fleet Mgmt Systems Superintendent, Newmont Boddington Gold, Australia

What are the present day challenges faced by geospatial professionals in the mining sector?

RM: One thing that is hard for many geospatial professionals is learning to switch from being all about precision to production mode. Many mines are located in remote parts of the world and rotations can be very long such as eight weeks on and two weeks off.

JN: The rate of change and adoption in technology are the biggest challenge in the mining industry. While technology can change quickly, mining companies are generally not that good in adapting this change at the same rate. For many, the cost of change outweighs the benefit derived from the change. Justifying this change is often a challenge which an average user cannot communicate.

NK: Today’s GIS specialists must possess the knowledge of other sectors, as mining sector is dependent on the allied applications.

Are academic courses for GIS professionals in mining aligned with the industry needs?

RM: Academic courses for the mining sector are pretty much non-existent. College-level courses teach outdated material and use old instruments. It has only been in the last few years that Trimble Dimensions and the World Spatial Forum started hosting courses for the mining industry.

JN: You would like to hope they are, but being ‘academic’ they rarely keep up with the latest technology

and trends. Like most courses they are only valuable for a limited time or until too much change makes them obsolete. There’s nothing like gaining hands-on experience to supplement what is learnt in the classroom and that would be my advice to new professionals do not forget what you learnt in the classroom but be prepared to learn a lot more once you are on the field.

What lies ahead for the mining industry, in terms of opportunities or otherwise?

RM: The growth seems to be for more reliable remote sensing and autonomous machine control systems. The miner will be slowly removed from the mine and, I believe, only machine retrieval and hardware technicians will go into the mine. There will be definite growth in fleet management, hardware, and slope monitoring.

JN: The past few years have been tough for the mining industry, however, some light is appearing at the end of the tunnel now. But mining as we know over the past 10 years is about ‘change’, gone are the ‘good ole days’.

Now there is a continuous improvement towards cost reduction exercises while increasing production at the same time — which is quite a challenge. This is where technology can play a major role with its ability to help ‘mine smarter’ which will drive down the costs. But the implementation cost of technology needs to make for a compelling case first.

NK: In one word — significant; however, the mining sector is influenced by commodity price cycle and the safety will always be a big concern.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 39

Credit: www.blog.kpmgafrica.com

enhancement capability in data manipulations has to be meaningfully interpreted.

Special Focus / Geospatial Education

Can Brainware Keep Up With

Technology?

Smart and sharp minds are required to analyse the real world problems and to create solutions through competent use of geospatial technologies. However, the numbers of such people have not yet grown enough.

By Prof Josef Strobl

H

igher education in technology-related fields faces continually changing challenges. Geoinformatics as the methodology behind ‘GIS’ is no exception, as it is confronted with rapid progress in the areas of sensors for data acquisition, data management, real time analytics and visual interaction paradigms, and an increasing prevalence of cloud computing covering all of this.

Ever-changing technologies influence the required problem-solving competences in application domains, but they also impact learning processes and environments. Online Learning Management Systems (LMS) have greatly facilitated distance learning and the role of massive open online courses (MOOCs) is in the process of being established (Page 43). Prevalent high bandwidth access has all but removed the distinction between local desktop and remote cloud-based resources, and communication paradigms shift from one-to-many ‘broadcast’ and bilateral exchanges to participative discourse conducted across social media.

Not only technologies impact our teaching and learning ecotopes, but also policies and societal developments. Open data, open source software and open content publishing jointly lead to the emergence of open educational resources (OER) easing access to higher education, but also require a modification of education’s business models. The sometimes posited divide between open and proprietary approaches in practice often is much less critical: both schools of thought

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thrive as long as an open mind is in control, and education will always need to look and work across any such borders.

GIS framework

Traditional textbooks suggest a combination of hardware, software, data, orgware and qualified people (brainware) as the components required for successful GIS frameworks.

Right now, the distinction between the first three is rapidly going away, as cloud-based transparent infrastructures provide high-level services integrated across machinery, code and geospatial data.

This leaves the tightly inter-connected organisational and people aspects, traditionally addressed through educational programmes. This ‘brainware’ component is widely perceived as the key bottleneck limiting broader dissemination and pervasive successful implementation of geospatial approaches. Initiatives like the ‘Body of Knowledge’ (http://www.aag.org/bok) and the GeoTechCenter (http://www.geotechcenter.org) have been and still are addressing the challenges for educators in a rapidly advancing and seriously interdisciplinary domain, but with limited success: a shortage of geospatial experts qualified beyond mere button-pressing skills is still frequently highlighted by industry representatives.

First, it might be helpful to agree on conceptual views like understanding geographic information systems (GIS) as a technology implementing the methods of geoinformatics, and geographic information science, or more traditionally geography together with some computer science and planning as the ‘sciences behind GIS‘.

Looking at these quite diverse academic ‘worlds’, it used to be close to impossible not to decide on concentrating on one or another focus for the delivery of study programmes.

These can have a strong computing component — explore the background and processing of sensor data streams in depth — starting from a ‘spatial view’ conceptual geographic foundation or targeting one or another application domain.

Within all of these sectors, again the future role of a learner needs to be defined, as needs of engineering / technology specialists will differ from conceptually oriented designers, communicators and operational managers.

It is advisable not to promote a distinct separation of ty to tightly connect the real and virtual worlds. Spatial institutionalised learning pathways according to these or thinking, analyses and management will shuttle across the other roles, as experience shows that many people thrive interface between the physical and social environment and from challenges along individual strengths and preferenc- its digital representation, enabling quantitative methodoles: some geographers turn out to be excellent software de- ogies to digitally process sensor data for better decisions velopers, some coders thrive as ‘natural managers’, and an in our world.

This conceptual framework now has taken hold in nuapplication domain expert will evolve as a great ‘spatial thinker’ with an impressive conceptual mind for geographic merous disciplines and industries, which before were only analyses. Still, roles like the ones mentioned above are help- marginally working with explicitly spatial information. The ful for structuring and differentiating educational pathways. term ‘geospatial revolution’ has been coined to represent the As requirements in geospatial industries and applica- universal introduction of a spatial paradigm, an explicitly tion domains evolve due to the impact of new technologies spatial perspective into the professional practice of a wide and progress in involved disciplines, learning frameworks array of disciplines.

The value added through this spatialisation is increasingly need to keep an eye on the needs in professions and the job market. Thus demand analyses like performed in the recognised in academic and thus educational institutions.

GI-Need2Know initiative (http://www.gi-n2k.eu) serve as Many traditional university environments are organised, e.g. important instruments not only in re-defining the scope and as faculties, along the lines of science, arts, engineering, law priorities in geospatial curricula and syllabi, but also support etc. A spatial perspective, though, is either required or needs decisions about learning methods, building of ‘soft’ skills to be supported by many if not all disciplines. Any ‘spatial and the different levels of technology competences.

Any given higher education programme will not be able to pursue a catch-all approach, but either aim at offering a clear emphasis among these alternatives, or provide substantial leeway for differentiated development of individual students. How target groups and professional roles are addressed through programme design clearly is a fundamental decision to be taken up front: a clearly defined focus (e.g. geospatial software design and development) does not mix well with the support of alternative tracks and pathways within one programme, or with ‘open space’ in the curriculum for individualised development of preferences, competences and skills.

Nonetheless, geospatial education would not deserve Software Hardware a distinct category and name if it was not for an agreed common core of largely conOrgware ceptual foundations. These today are widely debated across the above mentioned initiatives, but many aspects of such a common core are generally Traditionally a combination of hardware, software, data, orgware agreed — like spatial representations, analytical methodand qualified people (brainware) are ology, geovisualisation or the transitioning between scales.

Brainware

Techware in the Cloud

Data

Connecting real and virtual worlds

More generally, geospatial minds have the abili-

GIS

People

required for GIS framework. However, today the distinction between the first three is fading away, as cloud-based transparent infrastructures provide high-level services integration.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 41

Special Focus / Geospatial Education

As the requirements in geospatial industries evolve due to the impact of new technologies and progress in involved disciplines, learning frameworks need to keep an eye on the needs in the job market thinking and competence’ perspective therefore will likely suffer from being dominated by natural, social or technical science environments.

A transversal, cross-disciplinary approach reaching across these boundaries of paradigms and departments thus is a promising step taken by universities worldwide. The University of Southern California’s Spatial Sciences Institute, Harvard’s Center for Geographic Analysis, University of Salzburg’s Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics and others share the common trait of having established themselves as transdisciplinary institutes not hemmed in by the either — or of legacy frameworks.

This might ultimately be the true ‘geospatial revolution’: not only bringing geospatial competences to a huge array of application domains, but also to create and leverage spatial thinking within its own academic and organisational domain. Built upon and around geographic theory, including

Sensors

Data

Abstraction

REAL WORLD

simple but powerful foundations like Waldo Tobler’s first law or approaches to location theory. Why the discipline of geography in most places has not managed to establish a generic spatial perspective would be a different conversation; but today spatial sciences or geographic information science make promising headway.

Returning to today’s brainware needs: academic, just like professional programmes, need to be set up outside and beyond established tracks: access to graduate studies shall be transparent and open from virtually all backgrounds. Minors or academic certificates are important complements enhancing a variety of major subjects. Geospatial problems are only successfully tackled with skills mixed or combined from different disciplines. And, tech skills are indispensable, but the understanding what we do with them, and why, is the more critical qualification.

Summing up

Summarising, three major challenges in academic ‘geospatial brainware development’ are identified as major issues to be addressed by educational initiatives and programmes: • Emancipation of spatial sciences and geospatial education from and beyond the constrained natural, social, technical or engineering backgrounds.

• Growing competences with a long half-life and generic transferability, geospatial tool sets are a requirement just as reading and writing, but not ends in themselves.

• Interfacing the real world with its virtual representations as the conceptual and technical challenge geospatial graduates have to be prepared to meet.

On a more practical level, educators face additional challenges, like: keeping up with technologies and their backgrounds; eject established course content from curricula to make space for new developments; and develop the body of competences based upon a body of knowledge.

Technology has progressed by leaps and bounds, and from today’s perspective does not leave so much to be desired. Geospatial data used to take a huge chunk from each project’s efforts, now spatial data infrastructures offer many ready-to-use representations. Analysing real world problems, though, and creating solutions through competent use of geospatial technologies requires smart minds, and their numbers have not yet grown enough.

Model Representation (SDI) Verification

Geospatial data used to take a huge chunk from each project’s efforts; now spatial data infrastructures offer many ready-to-use representations

42 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Simulation

Design

Prof Josef Strobl, Chair, UNIGIS International Distance Learning Programmes – www.unigis.net’ josef.strobl@sbg.ac.at

Physical proximity to geospatial education opportunities at schools and universities has traditionally been an impediment.

But engagement through new online methods like Massive Open Online Courses is changing that.

By Anthony C. Robinson

T

he potential audience for geospatial education includes traditional groups such as elementary and secondary school students, as well as traditional higher education cohorts in colleges and universities.

A more expansive view of the potential learner population would include working professionals seeking advancement, and lifelong learners who may be less motivated by professional needs but highly motivated to achieve personal growth and development goals.

Physical proximity to geospatial education opportunities at schools and universities has traditionally been an impediment to the further reach of our domain, among many other factors. Geography teachers are few and far between in most countries, and many universities go without any dedicated department at all. Yet no matter how much capacity we might add in physical locations for spatial learning, students all over the world will be left behind if we only focus on improving access to faceto-face learning experiences.

The good news is that distance is less of a barrier than ever when it comes to geospatial education. We have overcome distance through the development of online teaching methods and educational technology. A 2009 meta-analysis commissioned by the US Department of Education synthesised results from 99 comparative studies and concluded that appropriately designed online courses are at least as good as

their face-to-face counterparts, and in many cases offer advantages to students in terms of flexibility. A wide range of online options are now available for geospatial education from educational institutions of all kinds, including programmes offered by universities like The Pennsylvania State University. While distance has become less of an impediment to geospatial learning, the scale of the class sizes we can teach has remained relatively stable.

Student engagement on a massive scale

The past two years have seen the rapid rise of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). MOOCs are designed to provide online learning experiences for extremely large class cohorts, routinely supporting tens of thousands of learners around the world. They are open in that they are free for anyone to take. What makes MOOCs distinct from traditional online courses is the combination of free access, scalable content delivery, and scalable assessment methods. And their size comes at the expense of the ability for an instructor to engage with every student on an individual basis. In that sense, scale is overcome in many dimensions, but not all of them.

In 2013, Penn State joined Coursera, one of the largest current MOOC provider platforms, with over 8 million learners today. Through this relationship, I taught one of Penn Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first MOOCs: Maps and the Geospatial Revolu-

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 43

Geospatial Education/MOOCs tion, which opened for enrollment in February, 2013 and was launched for the first time in July, 2013. In its initial run, the class attracted over 48,000 students from 199 countries.

The Maps MOOC is designed to teach the fundamentals of mapping and geospatial science in a format akin to an introductory short course that we would ordinarily teach to incoming freshman at Penn State. Over a period of five weeks, students learn the essentials of map design and interpretation, experiment with basic spatial analysis methods, and discover the myriad ways in which the geographic perspective connects us all. Along the way they engage with contemporary Web GIS platforms and explore data in problem domains such as crisis management and location analysis for business.

Students engage with written and graphical content in the course, including links to additional reading and resources in the form of what amounts to a kind of digital textbook. They are also provided with short lecture videos and prompts for weekly discussion topics. Finally, each of the five lessons includes a lab assignment where hands-on work in ArcGIS Online provides direct experience with geospatial technology and analysis. Web GIS tools today make it completely possible for novices to create and share thematic maps with very little technical expertise and no need for desktop software.

Evaluating student success in a MOOC requires the use of scalable methods of assessment, including quizzes, exams, and peer review activities. This poses limitations on the design of a massive online course compared to a traditional online class where scaling assessment is not often a major consideration. However, methods like peer review can be leveraged in a greater way with a cohort of thousands than it can in a class of fifteen. For example, the final project in the Maps

Critics of MOOCs have pointed out that a small percentage of students complete these courses. It is common that less than 10% of students earn a passing grade in most MOOCs MOOC requires students to create a thematic map designed to tell a story. As part of a peer review activity, students grade five peer submissions for this project, and have the chance then to see a sizable swath of examples to help place their contribution into context with their classmates.

It is clear from the response to this class that there is broad interest among non-experts. Combined, the 2013 and 2014 offerings of the Maps MOOC have drawn more than 70,000 enrollments from every corner of the planet. Students in the course have watched over 240,000 lecture video streams and generated more than 100,000 discussion forum posts about geography, mapping, and related topics. The scale of this interaction is staggering to witness. Activity in the course happens every hour of every day, and at such a fast pace that it is impossible as the instructor to see everything. While MOOCs seem to have expanded what is possible in terms of scaling the delivery of content and some types of assessments, there is much work to be done in order to scale the interaction possible from one instructor to so many students.

A hexbin choropleth map showing the self-reported home locations of more than 22,000 students from the first session of the Maps MOOC taught in July, 2013.

44 / Geospatial World / September 2014

A hexbin choropleth map showing the locations mentioned by students in over 90,000 discussion forum posts from the first session of the Maps MOOC taught in July, 2013.

Expanding reach

MOOCs provide an opportunity to take major strides toward expanding awareness of spatial sciences and their impact.

The teaching and learning affordances of MOOCs translate well to introductory experiences that can be assessed through relatively simply means that scale to thousands of students at once. Advanced topics and learning objectives (the iterative refinement of a map design, for example) remain difficult to tackle at scale.

Critics of MOOCs have pointed out that a small percentage of students complete these courses. It is common that less than 10% of students earn a passing grade in most MOOCs. In the Maps MOOC, there is a completion rate of around 8% of the total number of active students. After two sessions, over 4,400 students have earned a passing grade. And although the percentage of people earn a passing grade is low, it is observed larger groups of people (20-30% of the overall total) who stay engaged with the course until the end but do not participate in graded assessments. It is clear that not all learners engage with a topic solely to earn a grade, and a key part of expanding the reach of geospatial education will require us to adapt to a more diverse range of learner motivations and commitment types.

A key part of expanding the reach of geospatial education requires to adapt to a more diverse range of learner motivations and commitment types

New learning experiences like MOOCs help reduce barriers associated with distance and scale in geospatial education, but they do not reduce the importance or relevance of location. In fact, it has been observed that location is absolutely central to the discussions that students have in a class like the Maps MOOC. Students look for opportunities to ground their learning in the context of places they know, and places they wish to know in the future. The immense global cohort in a MOOC immediately begins to spawn a large set of study groups, most of which are identified by a specific location.

The course itself may operate at a global scale, but engagement with geospatial concepts and skills often narrows down to the local level for students.

Since the Maps MOOC was first developed, many additional geospatial topics can be found on MOOC platforms like Coursera, EdX, and Udacity. The Maps MOOC will be offered again in March, 2015 (www.coursera.org/course/ maps), and consistent demand gives rises to hopes that we have just scratched the surface in terms of global demand for basic education in spatial sciences. Learner engagement through new online methods like MOOCs is expected to ensure the sustainability of face-to-face and traditional online education efforts. Reaching new audiences means we have the chance to convince people to choose our discipline for further study. Now is an excellent time to aggressively pursue expanded awareness of what we do, as so many around the world now leverage geospatial technology and analysis in their daily lives through mobile devices and web mapping services.

Anthony C. Robinson, PhD Assistant Professor and Director of Online Geospatial Education, Department of Geography, John A. Dutton e-Education Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, acr181@psu.edu

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 45

Education/Interview

‘We Want to Transform the Education Initiatives like online courses, common and free access to tools, open software, specialised training and workshops are set to change the face of geospatial education globally. Debra Pothier, and Chakri Gavini, talk about how Autodesk aims to prepare an industry-ready workforce that has 21st century skills

D

Business Model’ Chakri Gavini, Senior Product Manager for Infrastructure Collaboration Products, Autodesk

o you interact with educational institutions to upgrade their curricula? What other assistance do you provide to such institutions — in terms of collaboration etc?

Autodesk has a long history of working with the education community (educators, schools, government, students) around the world, and we have been on a journey to transform our education business model to deliver on the needs of schools and the next generation workforce globally.

For example, in 2006 we started offering free access to individual licenses of our software to students and educators for their personal use via our Autodesk Education Community to enable them to build on what they are learning inside the classroom and explore the limitless possibilities of their creativity with the help of our 3D design software.

Today, schools can gain access to the academic licences of our software for installation in labs and classrooms via the Autodesk Academic Resource Center. This is a response to both the need and opportunity we need in education today, and it brings significant benefits to schools. Common and free access to tools opens up new possibilities for inter-departmental collaboration,

46 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Debra Pothier, Senior Industry Manager for Education, Autodesk

and educators can truly facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach to education that reflects today’s business realities.

All of these in turn contribute to our goal of preparing an industry-ready workforce that has the 21st century skills and knowledge to take advantage of opportunities in a new global environment.

Globally, we also have an Educator Council and Educator Experts which are comprised of passionate teachers who share their expertise and opinions with us, and who play a valuable role in helping to shape the learning content that we make freely available to people around the world.

Do you provide training/workshops to students?

Yes, we have partnered with several early adopter universities from around the world for pilot projects. These pilots provide students and faculty with hands-on experience with professional 3D design tools, and see us providing faculty members and teacher assistants with in-depth training in the software as well as hands-on workshops for students which cover a wide range of topics including urban planning, GIS and Civil Engineering students. Key faculty members in-

volved in these pilots also in turn contribute important feedback on the product and training to Autodesk, which help us to continually improve upon our offering.

In addition, we provide a wealth of free, online learning resources and project based curricula for students and educators to leverage in, and outside of, the classroom. We also work with partners, such as CADLearning, to offer specialised training materials specific to the geospatial industry.

Student participants have access to video lessons that teach them how to plan and manage model-based infrastructure and access CAD and GIS data, attribute data, coordinate systems, importing and exporting GIS data, surveys, topologies, coordinate systems, queries, source drawings and much more. Thousands of university students and faculty members have accessed the training and realised significant benefits.

including in remote sensing. However, the existing training material is typically built around resource and infrastructure modelling. Autodesk’s suite of products therefore arm students with the knowledge they need to do advanced workflows and remove the nuances of CAD and GIS tasks. This enables them to focus on the workflows of planning, analysis and design — and hence makes them true infrastructure professionals.

There is also the feeling that GIS graduates do not get the deserved respect or value when they go to work in vertical industries. That is because they don’t have the domain knowledge of that industry — say construction or banking — and are often sidelined in a GIS division where their job is reduced to do data entry. How can this issue be addressed?

One reason why a curriculum may fail is because it apDo you also conduct any kind of recruitment drive for proaches things in a silo. In the context of GIS, infrastrucstudents specialising in core geospatial areas?

We have a student portal called the Education Expert Net- ture design and development is never tackled solely from work which is a global organisation of students who are stud- a single aspect or stage within its lifecycle. This is why by ying in design related fields and learning to use spatial and the time students come into their late junior year or early design tools. The Network provides students with opportu- senior year, they need to be exposed to an ‘industry view’ nities to connect with and ask questions from other students of the topic.

By providing students, educators and schools with free in their field; access job postings by companies looking for students who are knowledgeable in Autodesk products; and access to the real world design tools that GIS professionearn points that give them more opportunities such as at- als around the world use daily, we’re able to better prepare tending our events and being featured as a spotlight student. student with the domain knowledge that they need to excel.

In addition, it is worth highlighting that Autodesk’s3D infrastructure design solutions incorporate features important to How would a core GIS professional be trained on CAD multiple disciplines such as urban, highways, rail, air/sea ports be industry ready?

Users working on infrastructure projects usually share data water resources, water/storm/waste water networks, mining, during the lifecycle of a project. Autodesk provides a suite energy, telecom and civil structural and much more. These of products that bridge the gap between GIS and CAD, and workflows span the entire lifecycle from planning to design to these products enable users to flow data from one solution construction to operation/management. Therefore professionals to another much easily, through their shared procedures and who are trained on these products have broader skillsets that are suited for the above mentioned industry segments similar interface across products. A user’s workOne (most of which are also common “required flow can thus flow from one tool to another reason why a skills” for a high percentage of jobs in depending on their previous knowledge these industries). base of CAD or GIS. curriculum may fail

is because it approaches Do you think that university There is a general belief that courses should become geospatial graduates often conthings in a silo. In the sider themselves to be scientists context of GIS, infrastructure multidisciplinary?

Absolutely. Courses that introor are reluctant when it comes design and development duce the students to all stages of to diversification of skillset. the infrastructure lifecycle from Your comments? is never tackled solely conception to asset management Autodesk’s 3D design solutions, from a single aspect or and retirement would equip and particularly AutoCAD Map 3D and empower them with a broader view of InfraWorks, are general tools for GIS stage within its the industry. professionals, planners and designers lifecycle.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 47

Education/GIS Programmes

Moving up the Learning Ladder Commercial and government organisations today seek well trained GIS skilled professionals to spur economic and social development. But is our education system evolving in tandem with this need? By Dr Michael Gould

E

ducation in geographical information systems (GIS) is evolving around the world. Despite many obvious differences among countries, universities, and educational styles, a few patterns and extreme cases are easily identified in this area. On one hand, we could signal many exemplars — such as Harvard University, University College London, University of Salzburg, Wuhan University, and the University of Minnesota — which have healthy budgets and serve the needs of faculty and students. On the other hand, we find many universities in countries like South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Haiti where basic infrastructure such as reliable electricity, let alone GIS labs, is not guaranteed, and therefore, GIS is taught to a small section of students often using outdated textbooks. Between these two extremes is where improvement can happen. An important pattern, and good news, is that GIS is being taught in almost every country.

The opportunity to unite two critical elements of economic development,

From top: Training exercises for science and mathematics teachers on GPS field data collection are organised by the Abu Dhabi Education Council; Kenyatta University is moving to GIS across campus, starting from the Department of Environmental Planning and Management.

48 / Geospatial World / September 2014

land management and new technology does not go unnoticed, and the value of GIS is generally accepted.

Climbing high

One of the goals of GIS education should be to move students progressively up the learning ladder from just memorisation of facts (what GIS is and how others have used it) to learning to use the technology to applying GIS to realistic problems and finally, to conceiving novel ideas that might become methods, algorithms, and software solutions for the next generation of GIS. Another strong pattern that has been witnessed around the world is that many GIS education programmes have either become stable or have been stalled at the second rung of the ladder. Students are just learning the basic functionality of GIS software, running basic analyses and printing a results map. This is necessary but not sufficient to meet the needs of the three main communities now seeking GIS ‘knowledge workers’: science, government, and business. All these are looking to hire problem solvers, and this requires the ability of a graduate to move beyond ‘cookbook’ GIS lessons and to creatively synthesise data and methodology from multiple sources. These skills are taught through group exercises and projects. A good example of such project-based learning is My Community Our Earth (MyCOE) project, which has trained hundreds of secondary-school students using this methodology. The Geospatial Semester programme at James Madison University in Virginia, United States familiarises secondary-school students with university curricula.

New forms of education

Educational changes have been slow to arrive in many parts of the world, partly due to the slow arrival of underlying technology. Internet access on university campuses is an important game-changer for many students, yet society is not doing enough to demand that this access become universal. Most universities claim to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to all, yet this

claim is far from reality. Increasingly, many students are coming to class with their personal laptops. This means that soon the concept of maintaining a traditional, hardwired, university GIS laboratory will pass from necessity to a costly overhead.

Once connectivity becomes a reality, the doors to online education will be open. The number of participants for many massive open online courses (MOOCs) prevalent in North America shows that significant percentages of students connect and follow classes from other continents. In addition, thousands of universities have access to over 120 online Esri Virtual Campus courses, but to benefit from these courses, connectivity must be widespread and stable. Many professors around the world are now able to offload basic topics (how to use the GIS platform) by sending their students online and thus are able to focus their time and energy on teaching more specific topics such as network analysis or landscape modelling.

Another aspect of moving from the second to the third rung of the learning ladder towards project-based learning is moving beyond desktop and utilising Web and mobile GIS. Web GIS opens an important door in the learning process: the idea of sharing data and information. Another pattern observed in many parts of the world is that students are merely considered as data consumers who are at the mercy of a few central government data providers. Learning how to analyse geodata, produce information products including, but not limited to, maps, and then publishing their results to the Web, will help the students take yet another leap forward. By leaving the classroom and getting out into the field with inexpensive GPS receivers (often their own smartphones), they can become data produc-

Progress in Abu Dhabi The government of Abu Dhabi have signed an agreement with Esri to implement GIS technology to all parts of the government, including schools and universities. As part of a coordinated effort to create a geoliterate society, the Abu Dhabi Education Council, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC), initiated a secondary-school curriculum reform.

In this new curriculum, web GIS is being used to teach science and mathematics to sixth-grade (approximately 12-year-old) students. Teachers were trained to use GPS receivers and web GIS software to start teaching the full cycle of field data collection (for example, in the mangroves of Abu Dhabi), analysis, and publication. Results so far are very positive, especially among female students.

From top: The ratio of females to males in GIS education is improving around the world; GIS students in Nairobi are using their personal laptops instead of university laboratory machines.

ers and analysts. Learning GIS today should include the entire workflow cycle â&#x20AC;&#x201D; go into the field as a team to collect first hand data, contribute the data to a multiuser database, analyse the data, produce information products, and publish them to an internal portal or to the wider web. By combining these multiple modes of GIS, students can prepare themselves for the future. The educational methodology needs to evolve in this direction as industry and government GIS users seek to hire such young graduates.

GIS across campus

Another pattern worth noticing is that more universities are treating GIS as an enterprise technology and are spreading it outside the traditional GIS teaching lab to affect all parts of the campus. A good example is Kenyatta University, Nairobi, which is leveraging its campus software licence to provide GIS training to IT staff, faculty, and students. By doing so they are providing skills to young people and administrators who otherwise might not have ever heard of GIS. Esri has been facilitating campus licences to those universities which show management commitment to making GIS across the campus a reality.

The future of GIS education envisions more universities around the world gaining access to full enterprise GIS platform via campus licenses, teaching GIS in a wider variety of disciplines, programming more open and available extensions, and progressively moving up the learning ladder by providing project-based learning opportunities. These are positive moves for the education community and for the commercial and governmental communities that depend on fresh graduates to spur economic and social development.

Dr. Michael Gould, Global Education Manager, Esri mgould@esri.com

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 49

Geospatial Education/Interview

‘Curricula Must Become More Since infrastructure professions are fundamentally multidisciplinary in nature, educational curricula that include interdisciplinary study and projects will help better prepare students for industry workflows and integrated projects, says George Church, Senior Vice President, Bentley Systems

D

o you think GIS courses in universities are in sync with the industry’s requirements?

I suspect that they are not generally in sync.

Educators often focus on the theoretical concepts and principles of their infrastructure disciplines — and not as much on the development of technology skills. As a result, students tend to graduate without the full skill-set employers look for in those joining the workforce, such as real-world experience using industry-leading software. Many employers believe that software training should be more integrated into the GIS curricula in order to better prepare the next-generation workforce. Giving college students more training on the software they will need to be successful in their careers will certainly add to their job-readiness upon graduation. It will also help the hiring firms, as the team members they recruit right out of school will be able to become productive faster.

Many employers believe that software training should be more integrated into the GIS curricula in order to better prepare the next-generation workforce 50 / Geospatial World / September 2014

What are the key capabilities you look for in potential candidates? How do you train them to fit into your line of work?

As you would expect, Bentley’s university recruitment programme puts special emphasis on the hiring of new software developers. But candidates are not only evaluated in terms of their software skills; we also look for training in and knowledge of specific industries that can complement a candidate’s software acumen. For example, a software developer with a GIS-related degree often will be more valuable to our geospatial product development team than one with solely a computer science degree.

But looking at your question from a broader industry perspective, the architectural, engineering, construction, and owner-operator organisations — large and small — that use our software to help them sustain infrastructure around the world tell us that they seek new recruits with not only the right disciplinary knowledge, but also experience in applying software technology to optimise projects. Since it can be difficult to find recruits with the latter, they often must provide new hires with extensive software training — just to get them up to a basic level of proficiency with the tools they will need for their work. As a result, these organisations are always looking to decrease the learning ramp-up time so that new hires can be more effective right out of the starting gate.

Do you interact with educational institutions to upgrade their curricula?

We regularly engage with educational institutions and are always glad to help them upgrade their curricula by integrating our software to help students become job-ready.

User-friendly access to our technology is offered via Bentley’s Academic SELECT Subscription, which provides academic institutions with a comprehensive software portfolio, including access to free software and on-demand training on students’ and educators’ personal computers. These benefits, along with training transcripts (to showcase technical expertise to potential employers) support educators’ efforts to provide students with hands-on experience with the same software used by infrastructure professionals worldwide.

To further facilitate collaboration and optimise the integration of our software into curricula, Bentley has implemented its Adopt-a-School Program. This innovative initiative is designed to forge partnerships among industry leaders, academic institutions, and Bentley to help ensure that there is a constant supply of job-ready graduates for hire. In the Adopt-a-School Program, all partners play critical roles.

• Industry members contribute their real-world project expertise and curriculum assessments.

• Academic institutions provide teaching resources and connections with their students.

• Bentley matches the resource investments from the industry and schools, and provides academic programmes that include software, technical training, and curriculum development support.

Alliances under the Adopt-a-School Program provide students and educators with first-hand experience interacting in infrastructure industries, while industry leaders gain a steady stream of young graduates who are better prepared to join the workforce. In addition, educators are encouraged to participate in Bentley’s online communities and attend Bentley LEARNing conferences, enabling interactions with users and industry leaders.

Bentley does not recruit GIS students per se, but students attending schools that participate in Bentley’s Academic SELECT Subscription have access to Bentley software and a broad range of on-demand training via Bentley’s STUDENTserver. STUDENTserver offers students free access to more than 50 software applications across infrastructure disciplines, personal subscriptions that include 24/7 access to on-demand training, and access to training transcripts to send to educators and prospective employers.

In addition, via the Adopt-a-School Program, industry leaders advise academic institutions about the specific technical knowledge and skills needed to perform job tasks.

Bentley also engages with the schools to effectively integrate

The STUDENTserver portal offers students free and open access to more than 50 software applications.

technology into their curricula. Infrastructure professionals join Bentley in lending expertise to student chapters of professional associations to support the students’ participation in competitions and other national-level activities. Industry members connect with schools to organise career days and invite local students to learn more about companies in the field and career options.

There is a feeling that GIS graduates do not get the respect or value they deserve when working in vertical industries. That is because they don’t have the domain knowledge of that industry — say construction or banking – and are often sidelined in a GIS division where their job is reduced to doing data entry. How can this issue be addressed?

As the industry embraces the concepts of BIM and focuses more on the lifecycle of engineered assets, professionals in the business of GIS will become more integrated into other business processes. The best thing a GIS professional can do is to keep abreast of trends in BIM and get as much of an education as possible in the disciplines that make up this new, fast-evolving arena.

Do you think that university courses should become more multidisciplinary? What would be an ideal course content for disciplines like geography, computer engineering, IT, and business administration specific to the geospatial industry?

Curricula must become more multidisciplinary in order to better serve students in their pursuit of careers upon graduation. The infrastructure professions are, fundamentally, multidisciplinary in nature. Therefore, educational curricula that include interdisciplinary study and projects will help better prepare students for industry workflows and integrated projects. From my perspective, given the pervasiveness and stature of software in today’s world, the ideal content for courses of any type — whether geography, computer engineering, IT, or business administration, and whether geospatial-focussed or otherwise – would always include the study of the software relevant to those domains.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 51

Homeland Security/Interview

‘Geospatial Community Needs to Adapt the First Responder Mindset’

H

ow does geospatial information play an important role in homeland security?

Nearly all homeland security missions from back office functions such as facilities management, benefits administration and human capital planning to front line operations in disaster response, border protection, customs enforcement, critical infrastructure and threat reduction rely on geospatial capabilities to conduct their operations.

There is a geospatial component to nearly everything that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does — whether it is a discreet latitude/longitude or address or an indiscreet geographic area such as a debris line, disaster zone, incident location, etc. DHS uses geographic data and imagery to assess risk, monitor infrastructure, secure the border, to expedite assistance to disaster survivors and to accelerate community recovery, and rebuilt after a catastrophic event.

Our human existence is a very visual experience. We understand our environment and our relationships in spatial terms.

52 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Geospatial technology has moved beyond its niche towards a level of ubiquity. David J. Alexander, Director, Geospatial Management Office, Office of the Chief Information Officer, US Department of Homeland Security, explains how this technology is enmeshed in the fabric of the organisation.

We react to our changing landscape based on our ability to comprehend and interpret what we understand is happening around us. Geospatial capabilities enable us to link disparate information coming in from multiple channels and stitch it together to reveal the necessary context and understanding required to generate the actionable information that decision makers need and facilitate unity of effort across the whole community.

What is the scope and mandate of the Geospatial Management Office (GMO)?

The GMO resides within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, a division of the DHS Management Directorate. In addition to directing the GMO, the GIO serves as the chief representative for geospatial information and technology for the Homeland Security Enterprise and coordinates the strategic roadmap for the Department’s geospatial architecture.

The primary objective of the GMO is to establish clear and concise policy direction for geospatial information and

technology efforts. The desire is that all department have interoperable geospatial system(s) to facilitate coordinated support for DHS’ missions. Further, the scope of the DHS GMO also includes standardising geospatial information technology policies across the department to ensure geospatial IT functional excellence.

In a nutshell, the GMO focuses on areas that cover the core elements of the geospatial information, technology, policy and practice. This structure helps the GIO with shared GIT governance and helps the GMO to manage the geospatial investment portfolio of the department.

Part of the overall homeland security geospatial strategy is to deliver geospatial capabilities based on mission requirements.

The Geospatial Concept of Operations (GeoCONOPS) is a seminal piece of this strategy. It provides a mission blueprint to help DHS understand who, what, when, and how key activities across all echelons (federal, state, local, private sector, non-governmental, and citizens) support different missions for our nation’s homeland security including natural disasters, law enforcement, infrastructure protection, and other security events. Homeland security is a very fluid enterprise and the GeoCONOPS is moving from a static document to an online resource that can adapt and respond to its evolving landscape.

The most important benefit which the GeoCONOPS provides is a catalogue of support missions, best practices, technical resources, and geospatial data sources available to the geospatial community. As it matures, the GeoCONOPS will be able to provide a point of entry for geospatial practitioners and programmers to assess their capabilities and readiness as well as drive collaboration across programmes.

The GMO has been partnering with the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS on the Capabilities and Readiness Assessment Tool (CARAT) and National States Geographic Information Council to advance geospatial preparedness and practice with standard operating guidelines. A future expectation of the GMO is that by making the GeoCONOPS and other online resources, innovators will further take the advantage of the open catalogue to develop applications and services for the community which will be similar to the apps available on Google PlayStore and Apple iTunes for disaster readiness.

The GMO is also involved in advancing geospatial interoperability through the Open Geospatial standards and leadership with the ODNI PM-ISE on the geospatial interoperability reference architecture.

In an emergency, responders must quickly and easily access relevant, reliable, and up-to-date information from multiple partners. Virtual USA (vUSA) and Geospatial Location Accountability and Navigation System for Emergency Responders (GLANSER) are two such pro-

jects that aim to speed up the process. Can you elaborate how GMO has been helping in these initiatives?

The GMO has been a huge proponent of geospatial preparedness mentality. Geospatial needs to be fast, reliable, interoperable, easy to use, and integrated with the mission and must focus on delivering the right technology at the right time to the right people. Geospatial community needs to adapt the first responder mindset. This can be accomplished by conducting regular exercises to assess our geospatial capabilities and readiness in partnership with the DHS \ FEMA National Exercise Program.

The geospatial community must also recognise that geospatial has moved beyond a niche technology to a level of ubiquity. Everyone expects to have mapping capabilities at their finger tips — in their car, in their smartphone, and so forth. The GMO has supported this trend by fostering initiatives that integrate across and among partners (federal, state, local, tribal, private, and citizen sectors). The GMO has a strong partnership with DHS Science and Technology and its First Responder Group. This partnership includes support for public safety broad band and GLANSER that are enabled by location aware technology which leverages the lessons learned and successes of legacy E911 and data sharing pilots such as vUSA that demonstrate the feasibility of sharing near real-time critical information.

What led to the development of Geospatial Information Infrastructure and can you elaborate how GII has strengthened the existing system?

The homeland security geographic information infrastructure (GII) was created based on the recommendations from several internal studies and assessments on geospatial information and technology capabilities of the Department which were completed between 2004-2008. These studies identified data dissonance, access, dissemination, and duplication of products and systems as key issues plaguing

Geospatial needs to be fast, reliable, interoperable, easy to use, and integrated with the mission and must focus on delivering the right technology at the right time to right people Geospatial World / September 2014 / 53

Homeland Security/Interview

The Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model is run by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). SLOSH estimates storm surge heights and winds resulting from historical, hypothetical, or predicted hurricanes.

the homeland security geospatial community. Users were creating maps based on different, multiple sources of the same data. They were not able to distribute these products in a GIS-ready consumable format, and therefore, many map products were duplicated. The GII was engineered to be agile to the evolving requirements of the homeland security enterprise by offering core services for hosting common geospatial data services in a secure, virtual computing environment. It also provided collaboration tools which helped GIS analysts to upload, manage, publish, and share their products directly with mission operators and systems. The GII is providing a common operating platform for numerous DHS internal and external partners.

What are the major challenges that you faced in creating a common architecture for various agencies to share the geospatial information that you provide?

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ technical architecture or solution.

Competition in the market place is an important driver of innovation. The major issues faced in achieving a national geospatial information technology ecosystem were: ensuring open standards that enable competition and innovation while ensuring the whole community is accessing the most authoritative and trusted information and; providing identity and access management (ICAM) that ensures access to the right data at the right time.

On May 23, 2012 President Obama issued Presidential Memorandum, Building a 21st Century Digital

54 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Government. The CIO also released the strategy entitled “Digital Government Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People”, which provides agencies with a 12-month roadmap that focuses on priority areas enabling a more efficient and coordinated digital service delivery. This was recently updated on July 14, 2014. What are the geospatial aspects of this updated digital strategy?

The President’s Management Agenda has been very supportive of place-based initiatives. This includes the geospatial platform that provides support to the opendata.gov initiative which is a key facet of the digital government strategy. Geospatial is inherent in the digital government strategy as it will help the government better target its services, aid citizens in discovering services, and provide government data in a more consumable and efficient manner. For example, the national public alerts, warnings, and notification and the AMBER alert systems leverage geospatial capabilities to disseminate important messages to subscribers and the community on disaster and law enforcement. Climate scientists and risk managers are using government data to better assess the risks and costs associated with changes in sea level or local geomorphology. These are the types of innovations and advancements that I expect to grow exponentially as geospatial information and technology rapidly expands into our government data systems and across the fabric of our lives.

works when you do

Homeland Security/UAV

Choosing the right UAV

T

hroughout the world, policing organisations are challenged with balancing the collection of thorough and lasting evidence, creating accurate 3D scene reconstructions for crime and traffic departments, rapidly clearing roads and highways, performing high-risk ERT scenarios, or conducting search and rescue operations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; while keeping costs within budget.

As more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) become available, choosing the right solution can be daunting. Making the right decision is essential for policing organisations, especially since the budget for equipment purchases is typically between 5 and 15% of total budget and each department is accountable to several (internal and external) stakeholders.

Many systems require more than one operator which can add to the cost of each mission/project. Since typically law enforcement agencies are always understaffed or overworked, a system that requires a single operator can enable first responders to start flying and capturing data without waiting for the additional person to be onsite. By choosing a UAV that manages the flight and safety requirements, it also enables a single operator to focus on collecting the required images and data rather than flying the system.

It is important for UAV packaging to be portable and easy to set up. Choose a UAV that can be carried in the trunk of any vehicle, managed by a single operator, and includes a case that contains everything needed to complete the operation.

While a single UAV streaming images to the ground works well for standalone missions, the ability to distribute the information to a command centre or other decision mak-

56 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Small UAVs are opening up a plethora of opportunities for security personnel across the globe. However, choosing the right kind of UAV could be a daunting task for many.

By Dave Kroetsch ers allows an organisation to get the most from their investment. UAVs with network and streaming capabilities can be a benefit in surveillance and search and rescue applications when other investigators or stakeholders may be offsite.

The requirements of an operation can change quickly and the equipment being used must be able to adapt accordingly.

Most UAV systems offer multiple payload options â&#x20AC;&#x201D; cameras and sensors. Changing from one payload to another needs to be seamless for the operator. Choose a system that provides the ability to swap payloads in all weather conditions, and includes electronics and software that recognises the different payloads automatically. Without the ability to quickly adapt to the needs of the operation, valuable time can be lost reconfiguring/ calibrating the system after each change.

There are two basic UAV-payload designs on the market today, which provide either: a commercial camera attached on an aerial platform; or integrated custom cameras or sensors.

While the first type of system may allow for a greater choice of cameras, the only information provided is imagery — photos and video. A system with an integrated camera enables more flexibility in the type of information collected but also the images can be tagged with metadata.

Geographical metadata allows images to be stitched together into larger images of the area while ensuring that the accuracy and quality of the information is maintained.

More advanced systems can also use this information for the navigation of the system, by providing current maps and repeatable flight paths of the area.

Operational environment

Accidents, emergencies and crimes can occur at any time, not just on calm, sunny days. Police and security officers, as well as emergency response teams must be ready to plan for, or react to an incident whenever it happens. Therefore, the equipment they choose must operate in a variety of weather conditions — from sunny warm days, to rain and snow, extreme temperatures and high wind.

Choosing the right solution for the applicable conditions is crucial to maximise the capabilities of the system and RoI. For example, in Vancouver, Canada, it rains approximately 165 days per year, whereas in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA gets rainfall for approx 40 days per year.

The capabilities of a UAV to operate in a range of environmental temperatures should be considered while selecting a system. To be able to maximise the RoI by operating in all seasons and across geographies can be a benefit to any organisation with multiple departments and locations.

With any UAV, the ability to operate safely in windy conditions is a requirement. In Paris, France there are, on an average, 44 days each year where the wind exceeds 34mph (55kph). If an aerial vehicle cannot operate in this type of condition, there would be a significant loss to operations.

Even in New York City winds average more than 12mph (19kph) — a UAV that cannot operate in moderate winds could have a negative impact on how often it can be used reliably in the field.

Adjusting for wind speed at flying altitude is another requirement for a UAV — not just the average wind speed, but also the strength and severity of gusts. Buildings, trees and land formations can block or reduce the effect of wind near the ground, while much higher winds are typically experienced by a UAV while it is flying — even at ‘low’ altitudes.

Also, most small UAV manufacturers publish flight times of similar duration. However, it is important to understand how the measurement was calculated. To promote longer flight times, some companies publish flight times for the aerial vehicle without a payload (camera) and under ideal

conditions (e.g. no wind, at 68°F/20°C). Typically, when a payload is attached to the system, the operational the flight time can be reduced by over 50%.

Often, flight time expectations are based on the time it takes to collect the information through traditional methods.

While the length of flight for small UAV is still shorter than most organisations feel they need, in real-life scenarios, many operators are surprised by the amount of information that can be gathered in as little as 20 minutes. Requesting a demonstration of a UAV operating according to your specific application is recommended in order to see the first-hand information that can be collected and the actual time that it takes.

Another flight time consideration is how quickly your data can be viewed. With many UAVs, data is stored onboard and cannot be accessed until the vehicle lands.

Regional wind plots in Canada

Depending on your application, this can negate the value of long flight times, since the longer a vehicle flies; the longer it takes to gain access to the imagery.

If longer mission times or continuous surveillance of a situation is required, the option to use multiple vehicles can be a solution. Some advanced UAV platforms are designed to enable a single operator to control multiple vehicles. This capability provides continuous surveillance by having the second UAV in place while the first vehicle returns ‘home’ to replace the battery.

Safety

The safety of officers and civilians, as well as property must be considered for all equipment that is used in the field. It is important to choose a UAV platform that is designed with built-in safety features and best practice guidelines for safe operations and trouble-shooting procedures. These built-in features also enable the operator to focus on the collection of images and data with confidence that should a problem arise, he/she will be alerted by the system.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 57

Homeland Security/UAV

Current maps can be used when determining the flight path.

Inset: Tablet controller with touch screen showing Aeryon MCS user interface.

Features that support safe operation include:  A warning system that alerts the operator that the power source is running low, and the capability for the system to automatically fly home or land, if necessary.  A feedback system that determines when wind speed is excessive and if the vehicle should land at its current location or fly home.  The ability for the operator to set the maximum distance that the vehicle can fly. This ensures that neighbouring properties and/or civilians are not harmed and privacy is maintained, as well as maximising battery life for the application.  Built-in intelligent response mechanism (i.e. land immediately/return home) if communication is lost between the aerial vehicle and the operator.

Cost

The price of the UAV is only a part of the expense for an organisation; other services to include in the overall purchase include operator training, skills practice, maintenance, spare parts, repairs and system upgrades.

A touchscreen interface typically requires less training than an RC controller. If the system is not used on a regular basis, a touchscreen interface can be more intuitive and easier to remember how to control, and therefore, reduces the need for re-training and testing.

When evaluating maintenance costs, a modular system can

58 / Geospatial World / September 2014

reduce the downtime of the system since only the piece requiring repair or updates is affected, especially if spare parts or equipment loans are available. With a single-body design, the whole unit is returned when repair work needs to be performed.

Predicting the future of any product is difficult, but new features and payload integration should also be considered when choosing a UAV. It is important to ensure that a system purchased today will work with new features and/or payloads as they become available. Choosing a system design that enables users to interchange and add payloads without returning the unit to the factory will also reduce shipping costs and system downtime.

Summing up

While a UAV platform must meet a number of functional and business requirements to be suitable for law enforcement and emergency response applications, there are few systems on the market that meet all the requirements mentioned above. When choosing a UAV in order to maximise RoI, ensure results and lasting evidence, the system should be lightweight, portable and easy-to-use, and offer immediate deployment, specialised imaging payloads, intuitive controls and seamless integration with industry-standard software applications.

Dave Kroetsch, President & CEO, Aeryon Labs Inc

Homeland Security/Alternate Reality

Alternate Reality for a

Safer Tomorrow

The Dutch police is trying for a paradigm shift in training its personnel by adopting geo design as a precondition as part of its Backbone Professional Gaming initiative. By Wim Broer and Ed Fennema

W

orking with sophisticated information tool is a key condition for police professionals; especially, those working in dynamic urban societies. Police educational environments should be based upon principles which are both contextually relevant and dualistic in nature. This means that professional courses should fit within the conditions and requirements of the working environment by alternating theoretical phases with practical periods.

The ubiquity of mobile devices has resulted in creating an improved support system for police professionals in the frontline of their duty. However, as a next step, the combination of mobility and serious gaming can be used to develop an alternate reality that would deliver very realistic and dynamic levels in learning environments. The combination of these two levels can help develop an alternate reality, sans boundaries of time and space. This alternative reality, which can be entered into when there is an acceptable occasion between the daily duties, creates a powerful environment for action learning.

At the same time the idea of space cannot be side-stepped or neglected. The performance of policing hinges on the availability of optimal position information that support decision-making processes at operational, tactical and

60 / Geospatial World / September 2014

strategic levels. In brevity, the aim of the alternate reality or simulations is to offer situational awareness and a common operational picture using spatial visualisation details under a given circumstance.

Risk of the knowledge paradox

In multi-agency coordinated operations, the biggest challenge is to combine different approaches and cultures.

Classical training methods are not suitable anymore for developing sophisticated information skills. A better approach could be to make use of ‘action learning’ concepts, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Further, the concept of action learning achieves a breakthrough if serious gaming is used as a driving force.

In the context of the Dutch police, the term ‘professional gaming’ has been introduced in order to emphasise the need to develop high-quality game designs. The games are based upon specific game mechanics on the one hand and realistic cases, introduced by convincing storylines, on the other hand.

The existence of such an environment can only be successful if police are willing to adopt the concept of ‘trans-reality’. When dimensions such as ‘space’, ‘time’, ‘context’ and ‘meaning’ are manipulated with changing scenarios, this trans-reality offers a powerful experience for professionals.

Within the police, this alternate reality is referred to as 25/7 policing; suggesting that the 24/7 presence of the police can be extended to another hour by creating a 25th hour. This 25th hour can be used by professionals for going virtual and participating in a challenging game environment. This alternate reality, however, can only be convincing when the geo dimension is powerful, offering different intelligent layers supporting trans-reality and imagination.

In the 25/7 environment a number of game formats — as a result of a combination of several game mechanics — will be available for game developers and police trainers. Each of those formats represents patterns and provides insights to the participants for understanding human behaviour.

The symbolic cross-over to the alternate reality of the game environment

A game oriented at youth gangs

To get a deeper insight in the possibilities of professional gaming in the perspective of 25/7, a network game has been developed for operational police team managers of the Dutch Police. Youth gangs being a wide-spread phenomenon in urban areas, the aim of the initiative was to detect and control them. The idea behind the game play was based upon a storyline of a youth problem, manifesting itself in steadily growing problems. The storyline was divided in 10 scenes and operated in phases over a period of 10 days. During every scene, several messages appear on the mobile device of the player, filling in a mental picture of a deteriorating situation. The messages vary from external and internal pieces of information (reports, letters, complaints, Facebook messages, tweets, articles in local papers and video messages).

The idea of this ‘drip feed’ principle has been that this streaming input merges with earlier memories and experiences, resulting in a meaningful image of the situation. By nature this image has a strong socio-geographic dimension.

However, in this pilot project, we could not manage to integrate an operational GIS system. An important reason for this was the constraint of dealing with the appearance of non-real events in social media. Of course, we could have arranged a pilot environment with a number of information layers, but the mixture with played characters and their played behaviour would then had to be elaborated in more detail.

Apart from this restriction the gameplay had a number of components and variables meant to stimulate an immersive experience. The events appeared between 07:00 and 16:00 hours; from 16:00 – 17:00 hour a player had time to prepare a reaction consisting of informative, preventive or repressive actions.

During daytime the players had to develop their external network by involving safety partners, which is necessary to

enlarge their ‘portfolio’ of measures and actions making use of their network and advices of team members. The actions were part of the game intelligence, but the players were stimulated to bring in specific measures, called ‘jokers’, in order to support the idea of collective intelligence.

After every playing phase a judgment was delivered by a game coach (called CEE: Coach Experience Enhancer), consisting of two more experienced police officers. They had to evaluate the measures taken during the evening hours, in order to let the game start again the next morning. The evaluation of the actions or measures (a maximum of three during every playing round) resulted in a score on the scoreboard of the player. If necessary, the CEE could intervene in the gameplay by bringing in extra events or incidents in the storyline, suggesting that the youth game was reacting on the measures taken by the players. In the next version the game, the dynamics will be enlarged by an automated game play based upon a causal model of the safety situation.

Summing up

A game environment could act as a catalyst for the use of the overwhelming possibilities of GIS systems, not to speak about the upcoming geospatial developments.

Both worlds could benefit from a merger of potential effects to stimulate the retention of learning on the individual level and the quality of managerial practices in times of mental pressure.

Wim Broer, Former Police Chief Superintendant and Programme Director, Professional Gaming Dutch National Police, wim.broer@gmail.com Ed Fennema, Game Architect, Director of Sightes edfennema@sightes.com

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 61

Executive Space

Beijing Space Eye Innovation Technology has been working on its diversification strategy more seriously than ever before. CEO Xiaoyang Cheng explains how BSEI intends to expand its distribution network and become a one-stop solution provider at a global level What are the main focus areas of Beijing Space Eye Innovation Technology?

BSEI intends to not only provide high resolution imagery in China but also encourage the use of these imageries for various applications and government projects. In the last 10 years, we have successfully provided the market with imagery spanning over 10 million km. We serve more than 1,000 customers, among which the main focus has been on government agencies and institutions. We offer our products to all 31 provincial governments in China and many industries related to land-use, mining, telecommunications and transportation.

We believe that raw data alone cannot solve problems of the customer. In order to be a one-stop service and remote sensing data acquisition source for our customers, in addition to its own data sources, Space Eye aligned with several data collators from America, Asia, Europe, etc. For instance, in addition to DigitalGlobe, we are also working with Korean Satellite (KOMPSAT) and are in fact its official distributor in China.

Similarly, we are also working with some software providers such as PCI Geomatics from Canada to develop bespoke solutions for customers who need to process large volume of imagery within a short span of time. Recently, we

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also launched our online platform mapenjoy.com to put these data online for users to explore and order.

How would this affect your position in the Chinese imagery market?

We have the vision to become a one-stop service provider.

At the same time, when we look at the Chinese market, we realise that we cannot serve all the industries and provide applications for them, since it would require a huge organisational strength. We prefer to stay professional and focus on the areas in which we have a stronghold.

Talking about diversification, are you thinking of collaborating and tying-up with different players?

BSEI has a stronghold in few industries such as mapping, land-use, etc. We very well understand our customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; need, and therefore, call ourselves as one-stop solution provider.

Our customers are not just in China but in other regions as well. To cater to these customers, we are further diversifying with a view on the future needs of the market, and we are trying to find out the best possible solution to meet their needs. In line with this philosophy, we have transitioned from providing data to software, and from software to solution and services.

Since last year, we have started distributing Chinese satellite imagery abroad as we found it is gaining traction in the global market. In fact, experts agree that the utilisation and market for the Chinese government-owned resources and satellite imageries would grow in the coming years. As far as collaboration with other industry leaders is concerned, we are open to the idea. We are open to collaborate with other industry leaders to procure resources, software or solutions. As I mentioned before, we are already collaborating with some global players. In turn, we help them to reach out to a new customer base.

So BSEI is acting like a window to bring foreign imagery to China, and also taking Chinese imagery to the international markets?

This is our plan. When we say that we distribute images from foreign satellites of Korea, America, etc., it means that we procure imagery from these imagery providers and supply it directly to the customer or government organisation.

For example, BSEI buys 50cm imagery from DigitalGlobe and distributes it in China. Ten years ago, when we started distributing DigitalGlobe images in China, Chinese imageries were not available for commercial use. But lately, the Chinese government has invested in satellite technology.

Contrary to the impression outside, the Chinese market is quiet open. The government is very supportive of the

free distribution and commercial use of both domestic and international satellite imagery.

There are, of course, regulations regarding the distribution of topographic maps etc. Also, the government has few other satellites which are not used for commercial purposes, and hence, we have no access to them. But imagery from government resource satellites like ZY-1 and TH-1 bear no restriction. We can freely provide raw imagery from a Chinese satellite to any other Chinese end user.

How is the Chinese EO market evolving?

The government in China is very supportive of developing the earth observation industry. We are happy to see private companies entering the EO market. Many of these companies are developing their own commercial satellites such as the Beijing-1 satellite. There are also companies which are working on building constellation of three commercial satellites capable of providing imagery at 1metre spectral resolution.

The challenges, as well as, the opportunities depend on how we process the imagery and make it a value-added product. For example, with the huge amount of data provided by the Chinese satellites, only 5% of the total imagery collected are being processed and used. The reasons for this include lack of a good solution for image processing, and bad product definition or service model.

What is the level of awareness in China among sectors like transport, construction etc about geospatial technology and its benefits?

Industries like transportation, animal protection, etc. are really interested in learning how EO data can be utilised to grow their business. In this way, they are closely monitoring the EO industry and trying to develop different solutions that suit their requirements. Different industries and companies are doing this in different ways. While some may partner with a commercial solution partner to develop a service model, others might be more interested in acquiring a company which holds an expertise in developing such a solution. A case in point is the latest acquisition by Alibaba of AutoNavi.

However, it will take a long time for geospatial solutions to find their due place in the industry solutions. It will have to go through the process of convergence. But as a geospatial or EO player, one has to find their own niche and remain patient. A real operational model will take a longer time than what we usually expect. It is another topic of discussion as to why geospatial is not even considered as an industry. That is why we think that we should not be too big, but instead be more professional and attain expertise at some points.

[For full interview, visit: http://tinyurl.com/lpdxgyu]

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 63

GEOSPATIAL

JOBS Position: Technology Lead LiDAR & Photogrammetry Magnasoft Consulting India JD/Qualification: Looking for a GIS professional having 7 - 10 years of experience in Photogrammetry and LiDAR. Photogrammetry Software’s — LPS, DT Master, Planimetric Features. LiDAR Software’s: Microstation, Terra Scan, Terra Photo, Terra Model Contact: Prasad Email: prasad.p@magnasoft.com Phone: +919845318452 Mailing Address: Magnasoft Consulting India Pvt Ltd, 1st Floor, Texas Building, Global Village, SEZ, Mylasandra, Pattanagere Village, Bangalore 560059, India Position: Sr. GIS Analyst Motir Services Minimum Qualifications: Degree in Computer Science or Engineering (or related engineering field) from an accredited college or university and ten (10) years of GIS experience in a water/sewer systems environment or related industry.

Job Location: Washington United States Contact: gericaphillips@gmail.com Phone: 2026810879 Mailing Address: Motir Services 1508 E. Capitol St. Washington, DC

64 / Geospatial World / September 2014

Position: IBM GIS/Sterling Integrator/B2B Mapper/Developer Remedi Electronic Commerce Group JD/Qualification: Primary responsibilities will be supporting, development of all EDI application SI/B2B Integration. Will be working with customer service to resolve issues, and with developers and business analysts to design map specifications.

Will be responsible for the architecture, development and implementation of IBM SI/B2B applications. Communication connectivity both internal and external to the firewall including protocols of SFTP, HTTPS, GPG, AS2 as well as VANs. Develop/ update, test and implement UNIX shell scripts for EDI environment functions.

Contact: staffing@remedi.com Job Location: Cleveland United States Position: Senior Applications Analyst/Applications Analyst (GIS) Snohomish County Public Utility District JD/Qualification: Seeking an experienced applications analyst to perform development, maintenance and support of an enterprise geographical information system. The successful candidate will also contribute to a multi-year organisation-wide program delivering enhanced integrations between SnoPud’s GIS and a new ERP system, and implement new capabilities involving both spatial and mobile technologies. The successful candidate must have the ability to partner well with a cross-functional team of architects, application analysts, operations staff, and business users and possess excellent communication skills.

Location: Washington DC, United States Contact website: http://www.snopud.com

Position: Geospatial Analyst , ArdentMC JD/Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in geography/cartography, computer science or related field; 3-5 years’ experience ;Experience with incident management experience with Esri technology ; Experience in producing cartographic map documents with Esri’s ArcMap, using Internet WMS and ArcGIS services as data sources, and publishing map services to ArcGIS Server. Experience in data processing based on GIS. Contact: http://tinyurl.com/lqrnfxq Location: Baltimore, MD, United States

Position: GIS Technician III P2 Energy Solutions

Position: Municipal GIS Project Manager/Consultant PeopleGIS

JD/Qualification: Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree (B.A or B.S) from four-year college or university in geographic information system (GIS) related field such as Geography or Computer Science; or 3 or more years work experience utilising Esri ArcGIS Desktop or other industry standard GIS software; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Basic understanding of GIS scripting language, drafting, geography, topography, and computer/CAD Systems. Demonstrated understanding of the key GIS concepts and explain them in laymanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terms. Understand underlying data models for the most prevalent GIS software packages and data delivery formats. Introductory knowledge on relational database concepts.

JD/Qualification: 7 years of documented professional experience; 3 years of documented project management experience (Budgeting, scheduling, business development experience); Bachelors degree in Planning, GIS, Engineering, or related field SQL/RDBMS experience and Software-as-a-Service experience would be a plus US Citizenship required.

Location: San Antonio, United States Please note: Assessment Testing is required for this position.

Contact: http://tinyurl.com/kxcn2vz

Contact: Jobs@peoplegis.com Location: Woburn, MA, United States Position: Senior Systems Engineer ArdentMC JD/Qualification: Work with client decision makers on particular systems designs within the confines of client-mandated policies and governance interaction with clients to elicit functional and system requirements; Defend particular design decisions, and make meaningful arguments regarding selected technology directions research best practices supporting system architecture and design; Provide hands-on support in first level implementation activities to validate previous designs. Provide guidance and leadership in the area of Systems Architecture to other ArdentMC staff, and client Information Technology Staff .

Provide support to client site change control activities, supporting change control requests and review boards with respect to system implementation. Identification of mechanisms to resolve problems encountered in the client space.

Location: Kihei, HI, United States Visit: http://tinyurl.com/nxf6mcs

Position: Geospatial Data Architect/Analyst, Strathcona County JD/Qualification: University Degree in GIS or Geography along with 7 years related experience in GIS or a related two-year diploma in GIS along with 10 years related experience; experience in GIS must include at least 2 years of development and management of either an ArcSDE Enterprise Geodatabase or an ArcGIS for Server installation; extensive knowledge of the principles and practices of GIS, data architecture, spatial analysis and cartography; expert level knowledge of: ESRI Geodatabases, ArcGIS for Server, ArcGIS data models, & FME; proficient user of ESRI GIS Suite of tools including: ArcMap, ArcSDE, & ArcGIS for Server; Business Analysis and/or Project Management training and experience as well as GISP Certification or ESRI Certification would be considered an asset; Experience working in a Municipal/Government setting is preferred.

Contact: jobs@strathcona.ca Location: Sherwood Park, Canada

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Disclaimer: Geospatial Media and Communications does not give any warranty or other assurance as to the jobs and its accuracy, completeness, timelessness or fitness for any particular purpose. Readers are advised to verify the same from the company. Geospatial Media and Communications disclaims all responsibility and liability (including for negligence) in relation to information.

Geospatial World / September 2014 / 65

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