The Geospatial Collective Facilitating Data Convergence

Whether a government agency or utility service provider, an engineering firm or earthworks operator, geospatial solutions sit at the heart of most every action and reaction. By Scott Crozier

GNSS, GIS, Lidar technologies and the associated applications like mapping, scanning and monitoring, are firmly embedded into the construction of roads, bridges, dams, tunnels, the mining of critical resources, and even the structures in which we live and work.

While transformative geospatial solutions facilitate earth surface mapping, help interpret spatial patterns and document environmental accountability, they are also foundational to the emergence of smart city digital twins and our collective ability to enhance the quality and performance of services while reducing resource consumption.

As we look ahead to 2023, three areas of focus will be essential to the advancement of technology: sustainability, connectivity and autonomy.

Sustainable opportunities Like many other leading businesses, Trimble has placed sustainability front and center, increasing operational and product sustainability with Science-Based Targets. We are committed to ensuring that our mission, solutions, and initiatives align with and support the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) — which serve as a globally adopted sustainability roadmap.

One specific focus for us and our customers is the Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure SDG target. Through technology, we can help our customers drive sustainability by increasing productivity, quality, safety and transparency. The widespread application of technology contributes to performance and efficiency gains while solving complex real-world sustainability problems.

Case-in-point, construction firm Ecovie sees itself as a sustainable company, one that is compelled to deliver quality solutions with optimized materials and lower carbon emissions. Meeting its operational mandates requires the right tools. The project team used a mobile mapping system that combines precise LiDAR data and immersive panoramic imagery to map the

Norway’s Randselva Bridge is the longest bridge in the world to be built entirely from 3D design files. A 3D-first approach allows users to leverage full data traceability throughout a project's lifecycle, leading to safer, more efficient, and more sustainable results.

Photo courtesy of Øystein Ulvestad, Sweco

demolished road’s conditions and map that model to design intent. The point cloud was then used to create a 3D map of the roadway that was sent to earthwork machines, allowing the grader operators to deliver a well-compacted, stable and smooth pavement to to a centimeter or better accuracy.

The US Federal Highway Administration program is also using digital as-builts, built from geospatial data from a variety of sources, to identify and rapidly deploy innovations to make transportation systems adaptable, equitable, safer for all… and sustainable.

Accelerating Connections Fostering greater connectivity, smarter workflows, and more efficient use of resources is an essential piece of increasingly technology-enabled workflows. The idea of a “connected workflow” is to minimize data conversions, particularly when sharing data with surveyors and contractors in the field.

Whether mapping roadways for inspection and maintenance or creating modern smart city digital databases, the challenge moving forward will be to securely store, manage and use the data gathered in a timely way. Success will certainly require some planning and considerable connectivity between various solutions.

Expect to see considerably more discussion around cloud-based common data environments (CDE) and collaboration platforms. These are ideal resources for managing a wide variety of data between multiple people or groups. A CDE solution brings designs together from multiple sources to assess clashes and manage design changes, and perhaps more importantly, facilitates the transfer of that data across the construction continuum and into operations and maintenance.

A great example of the value of connectivity was demonstrated on the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Highway 169 Redefine project. For this project, WSB, a national engineering and consulting firm, and Ames Construction, the general contractor on the project, teamed up with Trimble and Bentley to develop a 3D model-based collaboration platform. The idea was to assure the smooth transfer of digital data using an integrated data model collaboration platform.

Through this connection, Ames has the ability to perform quantity takeoffs in the design phase, and, ultimately, send models to machine control solutions. In one case, the engineering team sought to raise one of the bridges by six feet. WSB and Ames used that same design file to balance earthwork quantities at the different stages, reduce the number of retaining walls and even minimize noise.

Some transportation agencies, including the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), now require all rightof-way utility work be sent to the agency as a digital as-built. They use the data to improve worker safety by identifying the exact locations of potentially dangerous underground utilities. Further, according to the FHWA, Iowa, Minnesota, and Utah DOTs are recording as-built information on assets during construction. Michigan DOT is developing a digital as-built approach for utilities during permitting. Several states, including Oregon, Indiana, Montana, and California, are working to incorporate digital data into more effective construction delivery and management workflows. DOTs in New York, Iowa, and Utah are providing contractors with enhanced contract documents using the 3D model as they consider more integrated and streamlined approaches to project delivery.

A cloud-based 3D-first approach allows users to adapt to any format, from drone-based imagery or ground-based mobile mapping data, create 3D deliverables and leverage full data traceability throughout a project’s lifecycle – and, of course, lifecycle data inform decisions leading to safer, more efficient, and more sustainable results.

Automated Actions From agriculture, mining and construction machines to the emergence of smart cities, autonomy continues to be a hot topic in the industry — and that trend will continue in the coming year with position, navigation and timing systems paving the path forward.

Watch for advancements in task automation, like the horizontal steering control functionality in the Trimble Earthworks Grade Control Platform for Soil Compactors, which help make heavy equipment operators’ jobs easier and more enjoyable.

In this image from a dataset captured in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, using the Trimble MX9 Dual Head system and processed in Trimble Business Center software, the first run shows a standard highway environment (surface details, road marking, lamp poles and more). A second run shows an urban area with city lamp poles, buildings, trees, and more.

Autonomous solutions, together with precise positioning technology with centimeter-level positioning accuracy for cars, tractors, heavy construction equipment and more, are helping push entire industries toward a fully autonomous future. At the heart of Trimble’s autonomous solutions lie core technologies that include object recognition, satellite positioning, path planning and machine control. Mobile mapping systems are being used to create the base maps that autonomous cars use to navigate. In practice, these solutions mean users — from farmers to heavy equipment operators to regular drivers — can guarantee their machine or vehicle operates in a precise, defined area.

Trimble has a legacy in automotive and agriculture activities. For instance, in 2021 the company announced a partnership with HORSCH extending a collaboration for autonomous machines and workflows in agriculture. Other collaborations are ongoing with General Motors, Dynapac, Qualcomm, Roborace and others to put Trimble positioning and autonomy technology to work automating vehicles, equipment and tasks of all kinds.

The ability to automatically control blades and buckets through 3D models and GPS is expected to become the norm in the construction industry, as manufacturers incorporate the functionality directly into the machines and technology providers develop necessary connections to add machine control capabilities in the aftermarket. Manufacturers are working more closely with technology providers like Trimble to advance the technology on their machines from the factory.

But autonomy and automated data are also a foundation for the smart city — that ideal environment where sensors and IoT technologies manage the energy consumption and mobility of a community — and enable ‘living’ digital twins. Digital twins incorporate aerial data, LiDAR scanning and mobile mapping systems. When supported by connected sensors, digital twins can become intelligent reflections of physical things in motion, duplicating physical orientation, shape, position, gesture or motion.

Spatial digital twins can be the foundation for smart city planning and measuring national and global carbon emissions. By generating feedback loops of human-infrastructure interactions, these digital twins enable city governments and planners to make hyperlocal data-driven decisions, incorporate community and stakeholder priorities and evaluate policies and initiatives through “what if” scenario analysis and prediction. The digital twin is ideal for studying population growth or climate change.

A smart city digital twin is already in evidence in Singapore. Virtual Singapore is a 3D digital replica of the city with real-time dynamic data developed by the National Research Foundation, the Singapore Land Authority and the Government Technology Agency. This whole-of-nation approach collectively maximizes the use of geospatial information and technology and makes authoritative geospatial data available for decision-making, public security and cost-effective businesses.

The full digital workflow transition will place more burden on geospatial professionals to have the right tools — these individuals will be the essential data managers, moving and managing data with ease and accuracy to digitally connect people, products and places with purpose.

Scott Crozier

Vice President, Survey & Mapping, Trimble

scott_crozier@trimble.com

T-REX: ONE START UP AT A TIME

Geospatial Innovation Center provides strong entrepreneurial complement and addition of NGA Moonshot Labs to The Globe Building and Square in St. Louis Downtown North Innovation District. By Dick Fleming

While the early focus of St. Louis’ Downtown North Insight District has been on the dramatic adaptive reuses of both the 226,000 square foot former HQ of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch becoming the new home for 1,400 employees of Square and CashApp, and of the 720,000 square foot Art Deco Globe Building becoming the St. Louis “location of choice” for major Geospatial Intelligence and other tech firms — a third founding partner in the creation of this new Urban Insight District at the Heart of America is T-REX.

T-REX, located virtually around the corner from The Globe Building, was founded in 2011 as nonprofit technology innovation and entrepreneurial development facility with a mission to support inclusive economic development in these areas. The organization provides programming to support entrepreneurs, researchers and workforce providers, and affordable flex space for some 200 entrepreneurial firms and innovation support organizations.

In addition to T-REX’s working partnership with fellow District Founders Jim McKelvey and John Berglund, redevelopers of the former Post-Dispatch HQ Building and Steve Stone, developer of The Globe Building — T-REX President and Executive Director Dr Patty Hagen has added a broad spectrum of enhancements to the early-stage tech ecosystem in the District, focusing on the development of early-stage Geospatial Intelligence firms.

Hagen notes, “With public sector and philanthropic support as a physical base, T-REX developed The Geospatial-Innovation Center, powered by Bayer — in T-Rex 16,000 square foot creative workspace dedicated to “connecting and growing our geospatial community — where startups, researchers, government partners and supportive GEOINT sector leaders can collaborate and share resources in an atmosphere of active learning classrooms, cutting- edge interactive and remote technology, and spacious state of the art office space.”

T-REX recently received a federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to build out an Extended Reality and Simulation Lab with the latest equipment and technologies that can support early-stage entrepreneurial development as well as university researchers and students.

Additionally, T-REX has established “Proving Grounds,” another new resource that is providing datasets and data science expertise in partnership with Riverside Research to advance testing and development by startup companies and university partners.

NGA’s Moonshot Labs at T-REX In addition to this new Geospatial Innovation Center, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) partnered with T-REX to open a new geospatial technology lab of its own.

Moonshot Labs is advancing efforts between NGA, industry, and academic players in the region. Moonshot Labs is “NGA’s first ever unclassified innovation space where NGA professionals can work directly with colleagues in the geospatial intelligence community”.

The presence of Moonshot Labs and the T-REX Geospatial Innovation Center has also attracted the presence of individual mentors to startups, such as Planet, Esri, Teknoluxion, Freedom Consulting, Riverside Research, Peraton, UNCOMN, 1904 Labs, and OmniFederal.

Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) and Other Partnerships Dr Hagen also noted the recent successful creation of a five-year Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with NGA, in which

General Dynamics is the latest GEOINT firm to locate at The Globe Building in St. Louis’ Downtown North District.

St. Louis Downtown North District civic partners Patty Hagen, CEO, T-Rex; Steve Stone, Owner/Managing Partner, The Globe Building; John Berglund, Managing Partner, The StarWood Group; meeting with U.S. Senator Roy Blunt at The Globe Building

T-REX is serving as the NGA’s outreach and implementation partner for the region in the areas of workforce, education, technology transfer and innovation. In this partnership role, T-REX brings together national and local partners to accomplish NGA objectives.

Some of the national partnerships T-REX has established in its programmatic plans include the Wright Brothers Institute, Open Geospatial Consortium, US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, and Riverside Research. Local partners include Gateway Global, Small Business Empowerment Center, Small Business Development Center, the Minority Business Development Center, and multiple universities.

Continuing progress at Square and The Globe Meanwhile, progress continues in other portions of the Downtown North District at both Square/CashApp and The Globe Building — and, of course, at the USD 1.75-billion, 3,100-job NGA/ West 100-acre campus, just five blocks north of the new District.

The 3,100-job NGA/West HQ is scheduled to open in early 2026, along with adjacent developments in the 1,500-acre NorthSide Regeneration Mixed-Use Development surrounding the 100-acre NGA HQ Campus.

Jim McKelvey and John Berglund of The Starwood Group continue to onboard employees from Square and CashApp in the renovated former HQ of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which will ultimately accommodate 1,400 employees — even as Starwood considers future development opportunities in and around the new District.

With firms such as Maxar, Sweden-based T-Kartor’s US headquarters, Ball Aerospace, and Geospatial Magazine’s US HQ ---The Globe Building has recently added General Dynamics as a key Geospatial tenant.

Further, the build-out of a one-ofits-kind Midwestern multi-tenant national security infrastructure in the District adds a vital GEOINT asset.

Magnitude of the opportunity The recently published Global Industry Outlook Report documented that “the Geospatial Intelligence sector is projected to grow to USD 1.44-trillion by 2030.”

Speaking to the emerging geospatial ecosystem in the Downtown North Insight District, Senator Blunt recently observed, “St. Louis now has the opportunity to become more competitive from an economic and entrepreneurial development standpoint in attracting and expanding geospatial intelligence firms of all types.”

The magnitude of growth of both the defense and commercial Geospatial-Intelligence sector underscores the immense potential for St. Louis and the Downtown North Insight District to become a centerpiece of St. Louis’ emergence as a Global GEOINT Hub.

Apropos of St. Louis’ focus on Geospatial Intelligence and proximity to the new NGA/West HQ, the Global Institute on Innovation Districts are “actively advancing strategies that support geographies uniquely positioned to drive new waves of innovative, inclusive, and sustainable growth, namely, Innovation Districts.”

The Global Institute describes these Innovation Districts as: “the ultimate mash up of anchor institutions — [such as Square, The Globe and T-REX] — companies, start-ups, and ecosystem intermediaries in hyper-local geographies that leverage density, proximity, and accessibility — actively advancing a ‘collaborate to compete agenda’ to some of the world’s most complex challenges.”

These elements and values are at the heart of this new Downtown North Insight District in St. Louis, in response to the potential represented by the geographic proximity to the new NGA/West HQ Campus, just several blocks away.

A “collaboration to compete” environment is quite evident in the civic partnership between The Globe Building developer Steve Stone; Starwood Development Partners Jim McKelvey and John Berglund; and T-REX’s Patty Hagen.

With completion of the NGA/West HQ slated for early 2026, the parallel development of the Downtown North Insight District can be a unique asset in St. Louis’ quest to become a Global Geospatial Intelligence Hub.

Richard C.D. Fleming

CEO, Community Development Ventures, Inc., St. Louis

regionalstrategy@me.com