Position 72

August/September 2014 – No. 72

The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

GEOSPATIAL HARVEST Why farmers are embracing GIS

Official publication of

inside The new World View Using satellites to find pathfinder minerals

Koalas and GIS Drawing up the Koala Habitat Atlas

Where’s MH370?

The search goes under water

contents

August/September 2014 No.72

22

page

18

page

features 16 Cover Story: Australian farmers harvest GIS rewards Today’s Australian farmer is just as comfortable driving a geo-enabled smart device as he is on a 10-tonne harvester.

Far from its traditional image as the publisher of leisure maps, Ordnance Survey UK was set up in preparation for World War One.

36 Take to the sky FLIR cameras embedded with special software have found use in applications including urban heat island mapping, bushfire management, geothermal ‘hot spot’ mapping, and more.

38 Koalas and GIS A lot has changed since we published an article on koala habitats in 1997, so we look back to see what differences GIS mapping has made.

22 Mine surveyors are working smarter With the mining boom over, commodity prices volatile and demand unpredictable, mine surveyors now have to work smarter.

26 Assessing mine rehabilitation performance Quantitative assessment of rehabilitation performance is one of the most critical aspects in mine closure.

28 Creating an authoritative virtual world A new legal framework will lay the foundations for one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in the coming century.

32 A base for WA to build upon The Western Australian Government has made significant savings by switching to a cloud-based provider to host and stream its satellite imagery base maps.

34

34 From military intelligence to business intelligence

18 The new World View DigitalGlobe’s new WordView-3 satellite looks to fill the hole in the global remote sensing catalogue left by ASTER’s SWIR failure in 2008.

page

40 The search goes on Paul Grad continues his coverage on the recovery efforts for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH370.

regulars 4 7 8 10 12 14 45 46

Upfront, calendar Editorial News Company news Comment Book review New products SSSI www.spatialsource.com.au 3

Upcoming Events 13-15 August 2014: AIMS National Conference: Sydney, NSW. www.aimsbrighton2014.com.

upfront

18-20 August 2014: NZ Esri User Conference: Auckland, NZ. www.eagle.co.nz/nzeuc.

22 August 2014: SSSI ACT Regional Conference 2014: Braddon, ACT. www.sssiactconference.org.au.

25 August 2014: GITA 19th Annual Geospatial Solutions Conference: Sydney, NSW. http://www.gita.org.au/ gitaconference_2014.html.

29 August 2014: Spatial Information Day: Adelaide, SA. www. spatialinformationday.org.au.

August 2014: MapInfo Forum: across Australia. www.mapinfo.com/mapinfo-forum.

8-13 September 2014: FOSS4G: Portland, OR, USA. http://2014.foss4g.org.

15-16 September 2014: Digital Built Environment Conference: Sydney, NSW. http://abcevents.net.au/vanzi.

A modern mappa mundi

“A

mappa mundi [...] is any medieval European map of the world. [...] To modern eyes, mappae mundi can look superficially primitive and inaccurate. However, mappae mundi were never meant to be used as navigational charts and they make no pretence of showing the relative areas of land and water. Rather, mappae mundi were schematic and were meant to illustrate different principles.” (Cited from Wikipedia) For those who were lucky enough to make the journey to Canberra during the first quarter of this year for the Mapping Our World exhibition, the concept of mappae mundi would have been driven home by seeing the two-metre tall Fra Mauro Map of the World (see Position #68), painted between 1448 & 1453 by the eponymous Italian monk. One of its most noticeable features – along with its incredible detail and impressive size – is that it is both grossly distorted and ‘upside down.’

As noted by Wikipedia, above, the ancient mappae mundi look alien to contemporary humans, as our concept of what a map should look like has been shaped by geography, rather than utility.

This then begs the question: what would a mappa mundi of our times look like?

Benjamin D. Hennig from the School of Geography and the Environment at University of Oxford had just such a thought: “A modern equivalent of such a map would have to focus on those spaces of our planet that we have a less vivid imagination of, [rather] than the physical

4 position August/September 2014

shape of the world,” he said on his website, viewsoftheworld.net. “[This] gridded population cartogram […] could be such a contemporary depiction of the world. It divides the world into equal spaces of population, realigning the map view to show the human planet in a similar way as mappae mundi showed the world centuries ago.

“Despite being an unusual form of a gridded cartogram, it gives insights into the human geography of the world’s population. The four traditional physical hemispheres […] become almost irrelevant and are replaced here by a new division. The population centre of the world is situated on top of a mountain next to Tiger Lake (Badai Talai) near the city of Udaipur. That point, displayed in the map’s centre, stands symbolic for the effects of recent demographic changes in the world population.

“The global population centre is gradually shifting from the currently most populated region in Asia towards a most rapidly growing African continent, which pushes the significance of Europe and the Americas literally towards the edges of the planet.”

More details about this graphic are described in a contribution to the journal Environment and Planning A (Hennig, B.D. (2013). The human planet.

Environment and Planning A 45 (3): 489-491.). The map is licensed under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license by Benjamin D. Hennig, and is available at www.viewsoftheworld. net/?p=3488. ■

19 September 2014: WA Surveying and Spatial Sciences Conference: Bentley, WA. walis@walis.wa.gov.au.

1-3 October 2014: Ozri: Adelaide, SA. http://esriaustralia.com.au/ozri.

6-10 October 2014: 9th Symposium of the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE): Nova Scotia, Canada. http:// isde2015halifax.ca.

7-10 October 2014: QCON14: Cairns, Qld. www.cvent.com/d/c4qz75.

21 October 2014: Australian FARO 3D User Conference: Sydney, NSW. www.3duserconference.com.

28-30 October 2014: Commercial UAVs: Brisbane, Qld. www.commercialuavs.com.au.

3-5 November 2014: Trimble Dimensions 2014: Las Vegas, NV, USA. www.trimbledimensions.com.

4-6 November 2014: Bentley Year in Infrastructure 2014 conference: London, UK. www.bentley.com/YIIconference.

9-11 November 2014: FIG 3D Cadastre Workshop: Dubai, UAE. www.gdmc. nl/3DCadastres/workshop2014.

11-13 November 2014: 3D GeoInfo Conference: Dubai, UAE. http://3dgeoinfo2014.org.

14-15 November 2014: NSW Regional Surveying & Spatial Conference: Bowral, NSW. http://bit.ly/1hTBTcX. 25-27 November 2014: Pacific Islands GIS\RS Conference 2014: Suva, Fiji Islands. http://picgisrs.appspot.com.

27 November 2014: NZ Spatial Excellence Awards: Wellington, NZ. http:// bit.ly/UCnUTE. 28 November 2014: 2014 National ITS Awards: Brisbane, Qld. http://bit.ly/1rJSntW. 8-10 December 2014: European LiDAR Mapping Forum: Amsterdam, The Netherlands. www.sparpointgroup.com/ Europe.

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The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

Publisher Simon Cooper Editor Charles Pauka charles@intermedia.com.au Journalist Simon Chester Graphic Designer Alyssa Coundouris National Advertising Manager Troy Hale thale@intermedia.com.au Circulation/Subscriptions Chris Blacklock Production Jacqui Cooper www.spatialsource.com.au Position is published six times a year, in February, April, June, August, October and December by Interpoint Events Pty Ltd. ABN: 9810 451 2469 Address: 41 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: +61 2 9660 2113 Fax: +61 2 9660 4419 Editorial inquiries should be sent to: charles@intermedia.com.au Advertising inquiries should be sent to: thale@intermedia.com.au Ph: +61 2 8586 6103

from the editor O

ur article from Papua New Guinea in the last issue, describing mapping efforts in progress to help prevent the extinction of one of the world’s most adorable animals, Matschie’s tree kangaroo, has been one of the most delightful and popular articles in many years.

It has also highlighted how surveying and spatial information technology, apart from driving the expansion of the mining industry and urban sprawl, can also play a fantastic role in conservation and help out in circumstances where a species or a cause seems destined to be doomed.

In this current issue, in addition to the usual collection of highly interesting and technical articles, you will find more description of how the spatial sector is helping conservation efforts, in the Koalas and GIS article.

Australian Koala Foundation spatial analyst Dave Mitchell describes how things have changed in the last 15 or so years in terms of information technology, research into how koalas use their habitats, and the combination of these developments (making maps), whether these changes have actually made a difference to the koala, and what else needs to be done.

The ongoing search for Malaysian Airlines MH370 has now moved under water, and contributor Paul Grad follows up his excellent article from the last issue with a detailed description of the undersea search for the remnants of the missing plane.

I do hope you will enjoy reading through this issue of Position magazine, and feel free to contact me with your opinion at the email address below.

ERRATUM: In the ‘Mapping for conservation’ article (Position 71, June/July 2014, pp 28-29) we incorrectly noted the author as Alistair Hart. The piece was actually written by Carl Schedlich, GIS officer at Atherton Tablelands Geographic Information Services, part of Tablelands Regional Council.

Designed and produced by The Intermedia Group, 41 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037 Position is available via subscription only. To subscribe visit www.intermedia. com.au, phone 1 800 651 422 or email: subscriptions@intermedia.com.au.

Subscription rates and information can be found on page 51.

Charles Pauka Editor charles@intermedia.com.au

Reprints from Position are permitted only with the permission of the publisher. In all cases, reprints must be acknowledged as follows: ‘Reprinted with permission from Position Magazine’, and must include the author’s byline.

August/September 2014 – No. 72

The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

Supported by

GEOSPATIAL HARVEST Why farmers are embracing GIS

Official publication of

inside The new World View Using satellites to find pathfinder minerals

Koalas and GIS Drawing up the Koala Habitat Atlas

Where’s MH370?

The search goes under water

Coming soon October/November 2014 GIS in the mainstream – GIS and governments – Open data.

December 2014 / January 2015 Special Annual Directory Edition – GNSS – Precision agriculture – Indoor positioning.

On the cover Australian farmers harvest GIS rewards Precision agriculture technologies have been an enduring – and growing – feature of the Australian farming sector for more than two decades. www.spatialsource.com.au 7

news Sydney, as captured

by SPOT 7. © Airbus DS/Spot Image 2014

SPOT 7 successfully launched, imagery available The SPOT 7 Earth-observation satellite, designed and developed by Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Astrium), was launched on 30 June at 6:22 am (Paris time) by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India. The first images obtained from the SPOT

7 satellite were published just three days after its launch.

Over only a few hours, the entire chain – from satellite programming and image acquisition to telemetry reception and processing – was successfully put into operation to deliver the new Earth observation satellite’s first images.

The SPOT 6/7 constellation is now in place, and considerably improves the capabilities and performance offered by its predecessor, SPOT 5, which has been in operation since 2002 and is scheduled to be decommissioned from commercial service during the

first quarter of 2015. SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 are agile satellites that can be quickly aimed at a point on the Earth within up to 1,500 km of their position.

They are designed to remain in service for at least 10 years.

The first SPOT 7 images can be downloaded via FTP from ftp.astrium-geo.com/SPOT7.

MapInfo Forum 2014 travels Australia The MapInfo Forum is back for 2014, and will be kicking off in Adelaide on August 12, before making its way through the rest of the states.

The focal point of the fora will be the unveiling of the new 64-bit version of MapInfo Professional, due for release in October.

The 64-bit release promises a fully redesigned user interface with ribbon toolbar, multiple monitor support, performance improvements, multi-threading, and much more.

“I’m very impressed with the look and feel of the new MapInfo Professional 12.5 64-bit” said Joel Cranston, from Lockyer Valley Regional Council.

The new MapInfo interface, redesigned for the 64 bit edition.

The fora will also include numerous case study presentations from MapInfo users across a range of industries, including Domino’s Pizza, Goodlife Health

Clubs, Jaguar Land Rover, Queensland Department of Main Roads, GHD and more. Also, the ever popular ‘Tips’n’Tricks’ session is back with more handy

hints on how to get the most out of MapInfo products.

The highlight is a keynote presentation from the Queensland Police Service about their award-winning QLite project, which equips frontline police officers with mobile technology for capturing incident addresses on the fly.

SSSI Members who attend a MapInfo Forum 2014 event during August earn 3 CPD points.

To see all the details, including when it’s coming to your city, head to the MapInfo Forum 2014 info page at www. mapinfo.com/mapinfo-forum.

33rd AIMS annual national conference The Australian Institute of Mine Surveyors (AIMS) will hold its 33rd Annual National Conference on 13-15 August, 2014, at the Novotel BrightonLe-Sands in Sydney.

The AIMS Annual National Conference brings together

various stakeholders across the industry by providing professional representation to government, industry, and educational organisations on mine surveying issues throughout Australia, New Zealand, and internationally.

The 2012 AIMS national conference, held in Cairns.

8 position August/September 2014

This conference provides the right platform for qualified mine surveyors to maintain their competency through Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Participants will have the opportunity to join in various surveying industry training sessions, workshops, technical paper presentations, and more, including a presentation from Darren Flanagan, explosives expert and one of the heroes of the Beaconsfield mine rescue.

AIMS works closely with BOSSI (Board of Surveying

& Spatial Information) of New South Wales, the WA Mine Survey Board and the Surveyors Board of Queensland. An AIMS representative from each of these boards will present a separate report on the current activities and ongoing policy developments at the AGM, which will be held on the second day of the conference.

For more information, including confirmed speakers and how to register, visit the AIMS conference website at www.aimsbrighton2014.com.

National Map Open Data initiative launched The Australian Government launched in July its ‘National Map Open Data’ initiative, which aims to give users access to a single platform for government geospatial datasets, including those from the Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Bureau of Statistics, and data.gov.au.

The geospatial data is presented in-browser as a map – based on Cesium, and using Bing imagery as the base

map – that enables users to see the available data before they extract it. Currently available datasets cover information on land, water, infrastructure, broadband access, boundaries and population, with more to come.

The map was developed by the Department of Communications in collaboration with NICTA and Geoscience Australia.

It is available online at nationalmap.nicta.com.au.

Brisbane GIS Day 2014 For the second year running, GIS People is organising what it claims to be the world’s largest International GIS Day event, to be hosted at QUT, Gardens Point Campus in Brisbane on 19 November.

An annual event, International GIS Day showcases the increasingly relevant world of GIS technology to a wide audience. Brisbane GIS Day is unique because of its size, scope, and all-inclusive informal atmosphere.

Technologies on show will include Google Glass, the WorldView-3 satellite, and 3D printing, along with talks from expert speakers and free competitions to win hightech gadgets. With attendees including spatial professionals, students, local dignitaries, and mining, energy, financial, government and educational giants, it will be a great opportunity to network and expand knowledge of the latest advances in the industry.

For more information, to register, or to secure a sponsorship or exhibition spot, visit www.gisday.com.au.

Nominations for NZ Spatial Excellence Awards The New Zealand Spatial Excellence Awards (NZSEA) recognise excellence in New Zealand’s spatial sector. The awards are a joint venture between the spatial profession, business, and government, to hold annual awards for all sectors, disciplines, and communities that make up the

spatial industry. Each partner will contribute its resources and expertise to ensure the awards reach the highest standards of excellence and independence.

The awards are open to all NZ spatial professionals and organisations. They are divided into two types,

individual and organisational, and comprise eleven separate awards, as well as an overall ‘Supreme Excellence Award’ selected from one of the category winners.

Submissions for the awards are now open and will close on Friday 29th August 2014. More information on

the individual awards as well as entry and judging criteria is available at http://bit.ly/ UCnUTE. Finalists’ presentations will be held during the day on Thursday 27 November 2014, with the awards dinner and winner announcements held in the evening.

US lifts restrictions on more detailed satellite images Satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe has received notice from the US Department of Commerce on its application to allow the company to sell its highest quality commercial satellite imagery. This notice will affect all satellite imagery providers globally.

Previous to this, the US Government placed a limit of 0.5-metre resolution on satellite imagery, for reasons

of privacy and security.

SpatialSource.com.au previously reported, back in August 2013, that DigitalGlobe had asked NOAA to grant it permission to sell imagery at 0.25 metre resolution, and that request has now been granted.

Effective immediately, DigitalGlobe will be permitted to offer the highest resolution imagery available from its current constellation.

Additionally, the updated approvals will permit DigitalGlobe to sell imagery to all of its customers at up to 0.25m panchromatic and 1.0m multispectral ground sample distance (GSD), beginning six months after its next satellite WorldView-3 is operational.

WorldView-3 is scheduled to launch on 13 or 14 August, 2014, from Vandenberg Air Force base.

DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 satellite, to be launched in August.

Image courtesy of Ball Aerospace.

www.spatialsource.com.au 9

company news

Position Partners offers UAS training, opens NZ branch Position Partners has formed an alliance with the Australian Unmanned Systems Academy (AUSA), the training division of the V-TOL Group, to provide training for Position Partners’ UAS customers. In addition, the company has expanded into New Zealand, with a new branch in Christchurch.

AUSA is a CASA-approved training organisation for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) training, and one of the first regulator-approved train-

ing organisations in the world.

Under the agreement with Position Partners, AUSA will provide tailored training courses to Position Partners’ customers, enabling them to complete an Unrestricted RPAS training course and become CASA-certified in as little as one week.

The Australian-owned company has stated that the move to New Zealand comes from an increase in international demand for its services.

Managing the new branch is New Zealand sales manager Jamie Nelson. Having worked for Position Partners for two and a half years as a machine systems specialist in Australia, Mr Nelson, who is a New Zealand national, is excited about the opportunities to grow business in his home country.

Position Partners New Zealand offers sales, hire, services and training across a range of products including mobile mapping and scanning solu-

1Spatial wins international award 1Spatial, a Gold-level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), has been awarded the 2014 Oracle Spatial and Graph Excellence Award in the Partnership category, at a ceremony in Washington, DC at the Oracle Spatial Summit event held in May. 1Spatial was selected from a worldwide group of candidates by the Oracle Database Spatial and Graph product

organisation for its innovative solutions based on Oracle technologies. 1Spatial has recently developed a transactional database environment that is built on Oracle Spatial and Graph, along with other components, and leverages Oracle Engineered Systems.

Jim Steiner, vice president of product management, Oracle Server Technologies, said: “With this award, we recognise

members of the Oracle Spatial and Graph community who have led the way in developing and expanding the growth of Oracle’s spatial technologies over the past year. We chose 1Spatial for their comprehensive expertise with Oracle products, their knowledge of vertical industries, and their introduction of these skills into new global markets.”

Hexagon Geospatial partners with Geoimage Hexagon Geospatial has partnered with Geoimage to distribute ERDAS IMAGINE and ERDAS IMAGINE Photogrammetry products in Australia.

Headquartered in Australia, Geoimage is an independent specialist in satellite imagery and geospatial solutions that has been working with the mining, engineering, oil and gas, agricultural, government, and environmental industries for decades.

“With a heavy focus on image processing, analysis and product development, we have used and tested all available imagery processing software,” said Wayne Middleton, CEO at

Geoimage. “During this time, production tools, such as ER Mapper and IMAGINE, have remained at the forefront of the industry. Today, with these software tools all bundled into

10 position August/September 2014

the Hexagon Geospatial portfolio, we are absolutely delighted to be able to offer these products to our clients and provide the great service and support that we are known for.”

tions, US Radar ground penetrating radar (GPR), MAVinci and AscTec Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Carlson machine guidance.

The office is located at 9/31 Stevens Street, Waltham, Christchurch. For more information call 03 366 1726 or visit www.positionpartners. co.nz. For more information about Position Partners RPAS courses in Australia, call 1300 867 266 or visit www. positionpartners.com.au.

PSMA to collaborate with international organisations At the 8th INSPIRE Conference in Aalborg, Denmark, held this June, EuroGeographics, the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the Pan-American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH), and PSMA Australia Limited, signed a letter of intent mapping out steps for closer cooperation.

The collaboration will lead to an intercontinental agreement between the organisations with a key objective of contributing to the development of a practical global spatial data infrastructure. The aim is to share knowledge and support worldwide demand for consistent, authoritative geospatial information while also enhancing the individual capabilities and organisational capacities of each signatory.

MapInfo Forum 2014

Connecting the MapInfo community Maps are redefining how we do business in the public and commercial sector. Join peers, experts and the Pitney Bowes team for this annual event to share knowledge and experiences, learn and grow your skills and discover what’s new from Pitney Bowes.

During the Forum, you will see, hear and experience: •

Exclusive previews and demos of MapInfo Professional 12.5 – the first true 64-bit version

•

Updates on our Location Intelligence roadmap and strategy

•

Great customer stories from your peers

•

Tips and tricks from the experts

•

And of course exclusive event-only special offers including MapInfo Training vouchers, Upgrade offers – and more!

To view the Agenda, Speaker line-up and read more about what’s coming in the world of MapInfo, please visit the website at: www.mapinfo.com/mapinfo-forum.

All attendees will be eligible to receive 3 SSSI CPD points for attending (per event).

CITIES AND DATES Back again by popular demand and coming to your city soon!

• Sydney: 19th August 2014 (Afternoon) • Melbourne: 20th August 2014 (Afternoon) • Brisbane: 21st August 2014 (Afternoon) For the full listing of dates and cities visit the website.

Interested in hosting a Forum in your city? Contact us: pbsoftware.australia@pb.com FEEDBACK FROM THE 2013 EVENT: “It was a great opportunity to be able to share our story and hear from others, as well as seeing the future of MapInfo.”

Barlow Jess, GIS & Data Officer at Coles.

“Fantastic networking for the MapInfo community. It was great to see the vision of MapInfo Professional.”

Laszlo Tamas, Senior GIS Analyst at Queensland Translink.

To find out more, please visit www.mapinfo.com/mapinfo-forum.

Join the conversation online @mapinfo #MapInfoForum.

comment

Changes to the Office of Spatial Policy

HELEN OWENS

I

n the past few months, I have fielded many questions about the decision to transfer the functions and people of the Office of Spatial Policy (OSP) into the Department of Communications (Communications).

The change was first heralded by the National Commission of Audit and then confirmed in the government’s May budget. Both announcements called for the abolition of OSP, but while the title of ‘Office of Spatial Policy’ will no longer exist, the staff and the functions of OSP will continue as part of a broader Data Policy Branch to be formed on 1 September 2014, within the Digital Productivity Division of Communications.

Effectively, the move is a very closely considered decision to integrate spatial policy with the broader digital productivity agenda. As the former general manager of OSP, it is my job to

lead the transition to the new Data Policy Branch arrangements that will now include open data and big data policy as well as spatial policy.

In my view, the transfer of the spatial policy function to Communications is very timely. Through the election commitments that were made in the Coalition’s e-government and digital economy policy, Minister Turnbull is leading the Australian Government’s digital transformation.

There is a strong emphasis on how open government data contributes to Australia’s productivity, economic activity and innovation. Policies relating to spatial information – like the work that we have been doing with ANZLIC (the Spatial Information Council on the Foundation Spatial Data Framework) – are of course integral and critical parts of this policy agenda.

Even the smallest things matter with big data We shorten the life cycle between sensing change and taking action. Geospatial 2014 solves your big data problem using analytics through the cloud, delivered to mobile.

Helen Owens

Learn more at www.hexagongeospatial.com

Need help? Contact us at au-sales@hexagongeospatial.com

© 2014 Intergraph Corporation. All rights reserved.

Intergraph is part of Hexagon. Intergraph and the Intergraph logo are registered trademarks of Intergraph Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.

12 position August/September 2014

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6/2/2014 4:26:04 PM

The transfer of the team to Communications means that the close links between spatial policy, big data, open data and the broader government digital productivity agenda can be fully realised.

It will mean that we have an integrated approach to implementing the government’s election commitments, and ensure that spatial information is highlighted as a key enabler of a national information architecture, which is needed to support a truly digital economy.

It has only been a few short months since the transfer, and already the benefits are being realised, with the first elements of a cross-jurisdictional open data machineto-machine network that was launched by Minister Turnbull on Wednesday 9 July.

Developed in conjunction with the Department of Finance, NICTA and Geoscience Australia (GA), the NationalMap (BETA) provides easy access to authoritative and other spatial data for government, business and public use. The NationalMap displays, and allows access to, hundreds of datasets from the Commonwealth, state and local governments, with services automatically ingested from data.gov.au and other resources. The NationalMap is a key component of the government’s future policy visualisation plans to more effectively disseminate important information on government policy and how it affects citizens.

The Open Data Network also integrates data.gov.au with FIND, GA’s new geospatial search catalogue, and the NationalMap visualisation platform. This automatically provides data.gov.au users with seamless access to 30,000 additional records (from the Commonwealth, jurisdictions and local governments) currently held in FIND. Over the course of GovHack 2014, developers tested the cesium-based NationalMap platform and web services to help the development team increase functionality and robustness of this key piece of the seamless search and delivery architecture for open data.

My branch will continue to work with NICTA and other Australian Government agencies to continue to build additional links in the network to bring more datasets and functionality online.

I am excited about the opportunities that this creates for the field of spatial information and services. I believe that the integration of spatial policy and digital productivity issues will provide the best means of achieving positive outcomes for the Australian spatial sector and across other multiple sectors.

Helen Owens is the assistant secretary, spatial policy, at the Department of Communications. ■

Š DLR e.V. 2014 and Š Airbus DS/ Infoterra GmbH 2014

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book review

ON THE MAP Simon Garfield’s new book, published by Profile Books, is reviewed by Tony Proust.

M

ost people love maps, especially surveyors and other spatialists.

Maps fascinate people. They help us understand the world around us and can tell fascinating stories, if you know where to look.

Simon Garfield’s book On The Map provides a great insight into maps from the earliest maps through to the latest and the greatest maps of today.

The book examines how various maps fit into world history from ancient times up to the present day and possibly beyond.

The compelling narratives in the book range from the quest to create the perfect globe to the challenges of mapping Africa and Antarctica, and the naming of America.

Mappa Mundi, which dates from around 1290, is currently held in Hereford Cathedral in the UK and may be considered a murky rendition of a map, to say the least.

It is essentially a painting very different from the more precise and scientific maps of the time of Ptolemy and the ancient Greeks, with their coordinates and gridlines. At the base of the map, on the left, is a scene depicting Emperor Augustus instructing his surveyors: “Go into the whole world and report to the Senate on each continent.” We surveyors get not dissimilar instructions from our clients every day!

It was Gerardus Mercator, well known to surveyors, who introduced the word ‘atlas’ into the language. The production of Mercator’s Atlas was a lifelong passion completed by his son, after the father died due to a stroke in 1590. We learn that the original atlas was dedicated to England’s Queen Elizabeth and was lavish in its

description of the British Isles. It did not sell well at first but took off later and went through twenty-nine popular editions, years after Mercator had passed on.

Garfield describes the British Ordnance Survey, which began in 1791 with a trigonometrical survey, eventually covering the whole of the British Isles.

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Britain had become obsessed with mapping. From the 1750s on, a great many people were out at all hours with their Gunter’s chains and their eyepieces, creating maps for commercial or land interests, or assessing tax liabilities.

That has a ring of truth even to modern surveyors of today. Of course, as is common throughout history, some mapping was driven by the needs of national defence. The Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland in 1745 identified the need for better mapping of the Highlands, and consequently a new survey of Scotland was undertaken from 1747 to 1755 at a scale of 1,000 yards to an inch.

The British Ordnance Survey was to rely on triangulation for all its work, until GPS took over almost two hundred years later. Surveying and map-making is very much a story of technology and we modern surveyors and cartographers, like those of times past, are masters at utilising the latest technology.

The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India commenced in 1802 and was a close cousin of the Ordnance Survey. As Garfield writes the whole project, which lasted

some sixty years, may be considered particularly British, a ripping yarn worthy of a Pythonesque parody, in which surveyors were ravaged by heatstroke, malaria and tigers, as they struggled to cartographically tame the extremes of climate and jungle.

In 1853, a Dr John Snow made an extraordinary map. At that time, cholera was killing Londoners by the thousand and despite valiant efforts, the epidemics continued. Most people thought it was an airborne infection, but Snow noticed the relationship between the location of the communal water pumps and the addresses of those who died.

Snow plotted the location of the deaths and the water pumps and proved the disease was linked to the water supply. Snow’s famous map of Soho in London, proving the link between cholera and the water supply, has gone down in history as the map that illustrated the solution to cholera.

Many readers will have visited London, perhaps one of the most exciting cities in the world. But did you know that Phyllis Pearsall reputedly walked 3,000 miles to map 23,000 streets of London, and in 1939 published the first street directory – the London A to Z? The heyday of the

London street directory was about 2004 when map sales were highest. Since then, they have declined thanks to GPS and sat nav – who would have predicted that?

In the last decade or so, GPS has become such a significant part of our lives, it is difficult to imagine how we managed without it – but we did. And if it is suddenly not available, imagine the consequences. As Garfield writes, malfunctioning (of the GPS) would be a blow not just to the digital cartographer and the iPhone user, it would be as if the entire world’s harvest of electricity, oil and gad has run out at the same time. The loss of GPS would affect everything from emergency systems to flight navigation and all communications: it would be a catastrophe.

Not only that, but we would all need to relearn our map reading skills, too!

Garfield writes that when people with a mobile phone get lost, without a map, anywhere in the world, they can be located with the help of GPS. This was eerie to read in the wake of the lost flight MH370, where the majority of those on board probably had mobile phones. Fortunately we are not perfect and do not always get it right. ■

www.spatialsource.com.au 15

cover story

Australian farmers harvest GIS rewards Take a look at Australia’s agricultural landscape and you’ll be surprised to see what’s growing.

D

ismiss all pre-conceived ideas you may have about the man on the land. Today’s Australian farmer is just as comfortable driving a geo-enabled smart device as he is a 10 tonne harvester.

Precision agriculture (PA) technologies – such as GIS, GPS, satellite and remote sensing software – have been an enduring feature of the Australian farming sector for more than two decades.

Today, PA practices are in place across approximately 20 per cent of the sector.

Over the past 20 years, the uptake of PA technology has largely been hindered due to infrastructure and internet service limitations.

Now – with the Federal Government’s roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) – the proverbial gate has been thrown open.

The NBN will give 93 per cent of Australia access to high-speed fibre, with the remaining seven per cent given internet access through fixed wireless and a new satellite network.

Ask those from within PA technology circles, and they will tell you the introduction of the NBN will bring Australia’s agricultural sector into bloom.

Esri Australia managing director Brett Bundock said as the NBN rolls out across the country, the ability for rural Australia to more widely utilise cloud-based geospatial technologies will flourish.

“As the number of agricultural enterprises using PA technologies grows, so too will the applications of the technology,” said Mr Bundock. “Already,

16 position August/September 2014

use of the technology has gone beyond basic farm management.

“We’re now seeing GIS technology embedded into farm operations, supporting everything from disease monitoring and yield forecasting, to stock route mapping and supply chain management.

“As we see it, the applications are endless.”

Generating predictive farming insights Researchers and farmers in Queensland’s Kingaroy are already collaborating to leverage GIS technology, with a new approach to peanut farming delivering industry-wide benefits.

The project has created interactive maps incorporating satellite imagery and other real-time data relating to soil, irrigation, pest and nutrient conditions.

From these maps, growers are analysing the health and maturity of their peanut crops, developing and shifting farming strategies, and submitting detailed reports to industry stakeholders from anywhere on the farm.

Dr Andrew Robson, who developed the project in partnership with the Peanut Company of Australia (PCA), said the GIS platform provided a strong framework for storing, displaying, and analysing yearly crop variations.

“We create maps that display yield variability layers derived from satellite imagery using specific algorithms; along with additional spatial information, which enables accurate yield predictions at the regional,

farm and crop level,” Dr Robson said.

“Knowing halfway through a season what to expect at harvest time is a powerful advantage.

“Peanut farmers and industry stakeholders can budget, plan their storage and handling requirements, and develop appropriate marketing strategies depending on the expected crop size.”

PCA breeding and innovation manager Dr Graeme Wright said the user-friendly nature of the technology meant farmers didn’t need to be technical experts to reap benefits.

“This is a technology that will make Australian farmers more competitive, and I believe we’ve only just scratched the surface of its potential applications,” Dr Wright said.

“As the use of this technology grows, it is going to revolutionise the paddock-toplate concept, by allowing us to trace produce right back to an individual supplier.

“That is a big deal – particularly in the high-end markets, like Japan and Korea.”

Mr Bundock said a similar approach could be applied across a range of Australia’s agricultural industries, from avocados to cotton.

“For example, avocado growers can map each tree to monitor quality and yield capability and from this generate data that shows disease ratings for trees across an entire plantation,” Mr Bundock said.

“These layered images effectively become ‘harvest maps’, enabling the grower to form a management regime that maximises yield and quality, while minimising prolonged disease exposure.”

Additionally, growers have fitted their harvesting equipment with onboard computers, electronic logbooks, base-cutter height sensor kits, and yield monitors – with all data collated in HRIC’s GIS platform.

Recently returning from a conference in Geneva where he delivered a keynote address on the use of GIS in agriculture, HRIC manager Raymond De Lai said GIS technology is changing the Australian farming landscape.

“Sugarcane production is a complicated process that includes a number of well-coordinated steps, from planting to harvesting,” Mr De Lai said.

“By using GIS technology, users can now see data that specifically relates to their role in the production chain, which previously may have taken hours or days to locate.

“For example, a grower can analyse yield

“Aussie farmers have cultivated a breeding ground for new innovations in geospatial technology use.”

Enabling the supply chain Another organisation realising significant benefits from the technology is the Far North Queensland-based Herbert Resource Information Centre (HRIC).

HRIC’s GIS solution supports all critical business processes in the region’s sugar industry supply chain, from improving harvesting and transport management to optimising milling operations.

The technology has enabled sugar production to be increased through improving the management of harvest scheduling, and through decisionmaking based on regional variations in soil, irrigation and climatic conditions.

variation within a field to see how they can reduce costs by varying farm inputs.

“By closely managing irrigation and monitoring climatic conditions, optimal harvest times can be determined to maximise sucrose content in the sugarcane, which increases the profitability of the harvest.

“Ultimately, GIS technology has saved our stakeholders thousands of man-hours through reduced manual and double handling of data – making a significant difference to their business and long-term survival in this tough economic climate.”

This smart approach to sugarcane farming has captured the attention of the broader sector, with one of Australia’s largest wine producers – Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) – adapting the solution for the viticulture industry.

TWE’s program uses GIS technology to create a digital real-time map of the entire grape intake supply chain, including information on harvesting, transport and crushing at the winery.

TWE regional manager for sustainability Gioia Small said the technology had optimised efficiencies throughout the process.

“The multitude of grape varieties and qualities provide challenges for winemakers because they must be kept separate to ensure the integrity of the wine,” Ms Small said.

“Developing an intake schedule for the day’s deliveries requires a high degree of coordination between harvesters, carriers and the wineries.

“Traditionally this is done by phone – a method providing no clear way to visualise in real time the progress of each link in the supply chain, – which can lead to inefficiencies and delays affecting grape quality.

“Having accurate and timely information at our fingertips enables us to make informed business decisions and ensure the optimal efficiency of each link in the supply chain, which is integral to the efficiency of the intake as a whole.”

Looking to the future A closer look at Australia’s agricultural landscape reveals there’s more than crops and cattle growing in the fields.

Australian farmers have cultivated a breeding ground for new innovations in geospatial technology use.

From his vantage point as head of the Asia Pacific region’s largest group of geospatial companies – and drawing on his own country upbringing – Mr Bundock said PA practices in Australia are edging towards a real tipping point.

“The value of PA technologies has long been understood throughout the sector – with the slow adoption of its capabilities merely an issue of access,” Mr Bundock said.

“So while the Australia of yesteryear may have been built off the sheep’s back, it seems the Australia of tomorrow will be built on smart technologies that are riding off the back of the NBN.” For more information visit www. esriaustralia.com.au. www.spatialsource.com.au 17

feature

The new World View SIMON CHESTER

R

emote sensing is a well-established medium for mineral prospecting, but it’s not like the satellites are seeing through the ground to the valuable ore beneath – what the satellites and aerial photography show are ‘pathfinder’ minerals – that is, minerals that are representative of a certain geological process also related to the deposition of a valuable mineral ore.

Being able to identify pathfinder minerals lying on the surface requires the sensors to be able to pick up the radiance of the mineral as it appears through certain bands of light. One such collection of bands, collectively known as shortwave infrared (SWIR), is particularly good at highlighting certain pathfinder minerals, such as alunite and jarosite, which correspond with geological processes associated with metal sulphide deposits.

So, in 1999, a Japanese sensor, ASTER, was launched on board NASA’s Terra satellite that contained the ability to capture the SWIR band.

“ASTER’s SWIR bands were originally designed for geological applications through mapping specific mineral groups associated with different styles of mineral deposits,” said Matilda Thomas, senior research scientist at Geoscience Australia.

“The SWIR bands in particular were designed to target minerals important to identifying alteration halos and ore deposit ‘footprints’ to assist identification of prospective areas for mineral exploration.

“The version 1 ASTER Geoscience Maps of Australia included a suite of 17 continent-wide mineral map products aimed to provide new opportunities to assess large-scale mineral potential for the resources sector. These pioneering ASTER maps were developed by CSIRO in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and other state and territory government geological surveys, along with AuScope, the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), and key international partners: Japan Space Systems, NASA-JPL, and the US Geological Survey.

ASTER’s SWIR bands were used for more than just mineral prospecting, however.

“ASTER SWIR bands have also been used for soil chemistry and agricultural assessment, as well as monitoring volcano temperatures,” said Matilda.

Unfortunately for the geo-community, in 2007 the ASTER SWIR detector began

18 position August/September 2014

to malfunction and ultimately had to be turned off. This means that, despite ASTER’s visible, near infrared, and long-wave infrared bands continuing to function well, there have been no SWIRband detections made from space since April 2008.

To remedy this loss, DigitalGlobe’s new WorldView-3 satellite, scheduled to launch this August, is designed to provide observations across 16 bands spanning visible, near infrared (NIR), and SWIR. “Not only is the SWIR range better for exploration, it also hasn’t been available since ASTER,” said Bill Baugh, senior staff scientist at DigitalGlobe. “SWIR is really the sweet spot for looking at rocks.”

Australian scientists from CSIRO were part of the technical advisory team for WorldView-3, and were keen to build on the ASTER SWIR configuration to help ensure longer-term continuity of multispectral SWIR data.

“The mineral mapping success of ASTER helped inspire DigitalGlobe to consider incorporating extra ‘mineraltuned’ SWIR bands into the WorldView-3 design,” said Dr Thomas Cudahy, principal research scientist at CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering.

“CSIRO also championed extra SWIR bands that span dry vegetation (cellulose) absorption, centred at 2.08 microns

A simulation of the WorldView-3 SWIR Mineral Index generated from AVIRIS’ sensor 3.7m over Cuprite, Nevada USA.

to help better un-mix this from other scene components (minerals and green vegetation). However, compromises were required, such that any dry vegetation bands as well as one of the equivalent ASTER SWIR bands, band 9, had to be discarded, mainly because of its relatively low signal-to-noise.”

This means that the data from WorldView-3 won’t be quite the same as ASTER in some respects, particularly as it won’t have the five thermal infrared bands that ASTER did. But, given that over a decade has passed since the design and launch of the ASTER sensor, technological advancements mean that the sensors onboard WorldView-3 will offer significantly higher spatial resolution.

“WorldView-3 will collect panchromatic imagery with 31cm native resolution, which we will soon be able to provide to all of our customers as a result of a recent modification to our US Government licence,” said Bill. “The eight multispectral VNIR bands [red, red edge, coastal, blue, green, yellow, near-IR1 and near-IR2] will be 1.24 m compared to ASTER’s 15 m, and the eight SWIR bands will be 3.7 m compared to 30 m on ASTER.” It’s not just the return of SWIR bands that will be useful to mineral exploration, the finer spatial resolution will be a boon, too.

The WorldView-3 satellite. Image courtesy fo Ball Aerospace.

Simulated WorldView-3 RGB (bands S3, S6, S7) offers 3.7m resolution.

“A lot of times there are small geological structures that contain deposits, sometimes only a few metres in size,” said Bill. “For example, a rare earth mine in California has ‘stringers’ that are only 3-4 metres wide, yet contain valuable deposits.”

Unique in a satellite is the inclusion of a sensor used for atmospheric compensation. Known as Clouds Aerosols Vapour Ice and Snow (CAVIS), the sensor will work across 12 bands (desert clouds, aerosol-1, aerosol-2, aerosol-3, green, water-1, water- 2, water-3, NDVI-SWIR, cirrus, snow) spanning from 405 nm to 2,245 nm. The sensor is designed to retrieve atmospheric values that are used in models that better calibrate the image.

“The atmosphere changes light as it travels through it,” said Bill. “The atmosphere is very dynamic, so models used to com-

pensate for these changes are effectively guessing the local atmospheric conditions.

“The CAVIS sensor is designed to retrieve atmospheric values – the varying levels of aerosols and water vapour – so that there is no longer a need to guess. We will use actual retrievals (data) to improve atmospheric compensation. This has been done with hyper-spectral data from aircraft, but never before on satellite data.”

An Australian view Of course, as one of the great mining nations, the prospecting applications here are immediately obvious, but WorldView-3 will find good use across many other purposes, too.

“There are some great possibilities for use at Geoscience Australia,” said Matilda, “including superior spatial and spectral resolution mineral maps, with

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feature

ASTER RGB (bands 5, 6, 8) at 30m resolution.

Simulated WorldView-3 RGB (bands S5, S6, S8) at 3.7m resolution.

the potential to produce time-series mineral abundance and composition maps that track changes in the surface of the continent, but also other environmental applications, including capturing soil/wind erosion information, fire scars, and more.

“Separate to Geoscience Australia’s role, there is also a new opportunity in the observation and temporal tracking of sensitive areas, such as environmental monitoring of mine sites and infrastructure such as ports and roads etc.

“Possible environmentally diagnostic minerals (including jarosite, alunite, and kaolinite) could be used as proxies for pH. While WorldView-3 – like ASTER – is not specifically able to identify these individual minerals (that requires hyperspectral systems), they can identify the presence of the broader mineral group.”

Indeed, the data collected from WorldView 3, along with various other sensors, will play a valuable role in the ongoing mapping and exploration of Australia.

“WorldView-3 is a potentially valuable new data type for the resources sector in Australia, and is an addition to bigger opportunities that are emerging from a

new generation of operational mineral mapping sensors, including field, drill core, airborne, and space-borne systems,” said Thomas. “These new sensors will ultimately deliver national, seamless, 3D mineral maps of Australia from ‘fresh rock to space,’ which is the 2020vision of CSIRO.” Geoscience Australia will also be developing new maps with data collected by the new satellite.

“The WorldView-3 sensor, through its increased spatial and spectral resolution, presents the opportunity for Geoscience Australia to develop an increasingly detailed picture of the surface geology of Australia, and supplement the existing suite of mineralogical products we offer,” said Matilda. “Certainly, the SWIR function will be a tremendous new tool for all geological mapping applications, from soil chemistry, to mineral province and alteration systems mapping.

“It is great to see such a geosciencecapable instrument with serious ability to build and extend on other Geoscience Australia data and legacy archives and the award-winning work for the resources sector, such as the ASTER Maps.” ■

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feature

Mine surveyors are working smarter

According to company director Nick Davies, because every job is different, there are always decisions to make on the best hardware and software combination for collecting, managing, processing and modelling the data.

“It depends on whether you’re surveying a pit or a stockpile, what type of ore it is, and how it is stockpiled or stored,” Mr Davies said. “A mine’s requirements are quite diverse, and that’s why they’ll often call on outside expertise such as ours.”

He said that in this high-end role, Lester Franks is always under pressure to perform, and must be able to collect good quality data efficiently – so accurate, reliable equipment is essential. The company has been using Riegl equipment for years and currently runs Riegl Z and VZ model scanners for most of the above work. This work is spread all over the country, so the scanners are on and off planes frequently, and are always working in dusty conditions. Mr Davies said the ruggedness of the Riegl equipment is one of the reasons they stick with that brand.

“Most brands can’t cope with what we put the Riegl gear through,” he said.

Underground survey

W

ith the mining boom over, commodity prices volatile and demand unpredictable, Australian mines and their surveyors are having to work smarter. Many surveyors are reviewing their work practices and equipment selection, and are relying more heavily than ever on CR Kennedy’s expertise, products and support.

Open pit survey Frank Robinson is Downer Mining’s senior surveyor for a mining services contract in the Roy Hill Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara. Downer’s surveyors are currently using a Leica MS50 Multi Station and Leica Viva GS15 GNSS receivers for most of their work related to mine infrastructure and for the site clearing, topography, pit layout and drill pattern surveys. On a hill nearby, Downer also has a Leica GS10 base station with solar tracking.

Asked whether he thought Downer was working smarter since the boom, Robinson said: “That’s for sure. The mine’s preliminary work is quite diverse, and we need gear that gives us flexibility, so that’s the main reason we chose the MS50,” he said.

22 position August/September 2014

“It gives us 3D scanning, total station capability, digital imagery and GNSS connectivity in one instrument. As the mine develops, we’ll be using it for monitoring too,” Mr Robinson said.

He said the GS15 receivers were chosen because they can run all day without a battery recharge and because, with a design loaded on board, much more can be done in the field, without having to return to the office.

“Those two features alone save us a lot of time,” he said. “And all this gear is tough. We can’t afford to have gear going back for repair.

“So yes,” Mr Robinson said, “we are working smarter. And I can’t fault the technical backup from the CR Kennedy guys in Perth.”

Laser scanning On the other side of the country, consulting surveyors Lester Franks undertake work not routinely performed by mines’ own surveyors.

That includes survey for mines’ monthly reconciliation of material movement and stock value.

Also on the east coast, Brisbane-based Seam Surveys provides mines with both statutory and production mine surveyors on a contract basis throughout the Queensland and New South Wales coal fields. They also undertake mine audits, geodetic surveys for control networks, and mentoring of mine surveyors for registration. Leica products are used exclusively, and the inventory at Seam Surveys includes laser scanners, total stations, digital levels, and GNSS base stations and receivers. All data is processed with Leica’s LGO, Cyclone and 3D Reshaper software.

While servicing all types of mining operations, 70% of Seam Surveys’ work is underground, where they use Leica Viva Total Stations and C10 laser scanners for everything from set out of mine development and conveyors to 3D scans of underground infrastructure, drifts and shafts. Specialising in underground laser scanning, they have used the C10 for developing 3D models to check asbuilt against design, clash-detection with infrastructure, reverse engineering, as well as calculating excavation and shotcrete volumes. Above ground, the C10 was used recently on a Central Queensland site to provide 3D modelling for the expansion of an already complex coal wash plant.

Seam Surveys director Mick Harris said they’ve been busier than ever post the mining boom: “In the past, because the mines could afford it, they had large teams of highly experienced surveyors to manage the expanding operations,” he said. “But those times have changed. Mine survey

teams have been scaled down, so there’s a lot of overflow and leave coverage work for us that wasn’t there before.

“Mines could also afford all the latest survey gear,” Mr Harris said. “Today, most surface mines still have long-range laser scanners such as Riegl models for their daily work, but often these aren’t ideal for precise engineering jobs and geotechnical monitoring, so we’re filling that niche too,” Harris said According to Mr Harris, Seam Surveys has steered towards Leica products because of their high accuracy and reliability, which he says are even more important underground than on the surface.

“Automatic Target Recognition underground with the TS15 Viva Total Station is second to none,” said Mr

Harris. “And the gear is tough and dependable, which is essential in the wet, corrosive and dusty mine environment.

In our line of work, you just can’t have equipment breaking down when it takes days for a replacement to arrive.” he said.

“Due to explosive methane gas in coal mines, you can’t change batteries underground, so the long battery life of Leica products is very important to us too,” Harris said.

Stability monitoring Seam Surveys also uses the C10 laser scanner for geotechnical monitoring, where drifts are regularly scanned with sub-centimetre repeatability to detect any movement. Leica’s 3DReshaper software is used for the deviation analysis, volumes and sections of the tunnels.

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feature Perth-based company Softrock Solutions uses a Leica MS50 MultiStation for its monitoring work.

The company specialises in developing automated robotic surveying systems to detect movement in locations such as pit walls and land slide areas. Softrock’s clients include BHP’s Area C and Jimblebar open pit iron ore mines in the Pilbara. Due to the unique nature of each monitoring project, Softrock develops many of its own software and wireless systems, but for data collection does rely heavily on its Leica MS50 MultiStation, Leica TM30 and TM50 Monitoring Total Stations and TS15 Robotic Total Station. Softrock currently has about 80 monitoring systems installed and operating worldwide, many of which are fully automated and use Leica’s GeoMos software, which can integrate data from geodetic, geotechnical and meteorological sensors.

The company’s general manager Clint Van Der Loon said that, because the depth of many pits increased substantially during the mining boom, the monitoring of slope stability has increased in

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“UAV and scanners are relatively expensive, but they provide huge amounts of data and reduce the need for manpower, so there’s some big cost-benefit decisions to be made there,” he said.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

importance, and there’s some growth in that area of their work, despite reduced production from mines.

Commenting on surveyors reviewing their work practices, Mr Van Der Loon said: “Mines themselves are probably spending less on their survey work now, but are buying higher-end equipment because it means fewer man-hours for data collection and analysis.

Dubbo-based consulting surveyors Langford & Rowe regularly use a Riegl laser scanner to map mine faces and tunnels, and they use a Leica C10 laser scanner for higher precision work where point cloud acquisition and 3D modelling is required. Their work with the C10 has included surveys for mine process plant and substation renovations.

To survey large areas more efficiently, however, Langford & Rowe approached CR Kennedy for a solution. The solution is a UAVER Avian fixed wing UAV equipped with a Sony NEX7 24 megapixel camera. By September a GLONASS GPS unit should also be onboard, which will allow images to be orthorectified at an accuracy that’s fine for most mine applications. Fewer targets will need to be placed on the ground, and costs will be reduced accordingly.

Domenic Panetta, a director of Langford & Rowe, said they’re finding the UAV hugely beneficial in mining applications. He said a lot of mines have their own UAV for their regular pit work, but call on Langford & Rowe for the less routine work, like stockpile volume surveys and surveys for mine planning.

“For small areas on the mine, using the UAV is much quicker, of a higher quality

and more economical than purchasing satellite images,” he said. “And data from the UAV is current, as opposed to satellite images, and that helps greatly with mine planning,” he said.

Looking to work even smarter, Langford & Rowe have been trialling an Aibotix multicopter that CR Kennedy distributes. The multicopter can hover over a point and allow high detail to be captured quickly, so it has plenty of applications. Panetta sees great potential for the multicopter in small pit and stockpile volume surveys, checking stress cracks in a dragline’s workface, and for civil purposes such as inspecting bridges, dam walls and transmission towers.

The future CR Kennedy’s national business development manager Bernard Edmonds has been monitoring this trend for mining surveyors to work increasingly smarter.

He said he expects the trend will continue for the foreseeable future, and as a result of the trend, CR Kennedy is putting even more resources into supporting surveyors in the mining industry. That support is reflected in the company’s platinum sponsorship of the Australian Institute of Mining Surveyors (AIMS) conference in August. On the opening day of the conference, CR Kennedy will run technical workshops on the use of high-definition scanning and UAV in mine applications.

For more information contact CR Kennedy Survey Solutions on +61 3 9823 1533 or visit www.crkennedy.com.au/ survey. ■

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feature

Assessing mine rehabilitation performance

M

iners have long needed a solution for monitoring landforms and vegetation that meets the acceptance from authorities signing off on mine closure plans.

Quantitative assessment of rehabilitation performance is one of the most critical aspects in mine closure and obtaining sign-off and relinquishment from regulatory authorities.

To gain final approvals, post-mine landforms must be safe, stable and sustainable. Current rehabilitation techniques do not provide quantitative monitoring data for stability and landform evolution, making it difficult for regulators to approve mine closure plans.

The Soilwater Group, based in Perth, Western Australia, has implemented a new rehabilitation monitoring approach using the I-Site 8800 laser scanner and I-Site Studio software. Rapidity and ease of use were the major considerations in implementing I-Site technology.

The new approach involves detailed landform surveys that can be used for auditing post-built landforms, identifying problematic and unstable rehabilitation, quantifying erosional features, determining fill rates of surface water management features, and measuring and monitoring floristic parameters over time.

Traditional techniques have involved onerous and costly data capture at isolated points or transects across the post-mine surface. In comparison, laser scanning with I-Site allows users to rapidly visualise, measure and process data over larger areas than was previously physically possible.

Through I-Site technology, Soilwater is able to pinpoint the erosional and rehabilitation processes occurring within a mine site over time.

This improved understanding enables the regulators to more rapidly evaluate rehabilitation performance and function, so that critical decisions regarding the longevity and closure of a site can be made.

Soil matters Australia’s arid climate means that stability is the most critical aspect influencing rehabilitation success and overall closure of a mine site, as rainfall runoff is exacerbated by dry soils and low vegetation cover.

In the early years of rehabilitation, accurate, quantitative measurement and monitoring is therefore critical. Surface erosion carries away seed of revegetation species (limiting revegetation potential); fills surface drainage features (decreasing overall structural stability of post-mine landforms); and results in unwanted sediment loss.

I-Site technology makes measuring and monitoring of these surface processes easy and routine, which is ideal for rehabilitation and closure.

I-Site allows slope shape, angle, length and setback to be compared to the rehabilitation design. Surface soil parameters such as the percentile of rock and exposed soil can be quantified, and surface erosion and deposition monitored.

Overlaying photographic imagery on the point cloud proved invaluable for differentiating between ground and vegetation in complex areas.

When filtering unwanted parameters, tiling different windows in I-Site Studio

makes it easy to distinguish between soil, rocks and vegetation. High-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEM) can be constructed showing all landform features.

The volume of any or all rills and gullies can be precisely determined to quantify erosion and filling rates of water management structures.

Comparing surfaces year-on-year using the Colour By Distance option in I-Site Studio allows the rate of erosion and deposition to be measured to millimetre accuracy.

Measuring erosion depth and volume of soil lost without having to walk the surface is a huge advantage. Scans can be taken year after year without interfering with natural processes. Generating volumes for comparing the current landform to the as-built removes guesswork, and is easy to replicate over a large area.

Plant cover I-Site point cloud data allows Soilwater to estimate plant height and growth rates, foliage cover and plant density. These parameters are critical for successful rehabilitation of post-mine landforms, particularly in stabilising surface soils, and are often used as completion criteria to assess performance.

Floristic parameters are generally measured and monitored using a quadrant or point/line transect approach, and are expressed per unit area. Given that a high resolution I-Site scan acquires more than 1,000 points per square metre, the resulting point cloud can be used to identify the majority of emerging and establishing species.

Accurate data Large amounts of quantitative data allow Soilwater to more accurately plan rehabilitation and closure activities.

This data can also be used to audit all rehabilitation and mine closure earthworks to ensure conformance to design. Scans of general mine site areas can determine volumes of soil materials that can be directly input into cost estimation software to accurately determine mine closure costs. â–

26 position August/September 2014

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feature

Creating an authoritative virtual world SIMON CHESTER

T

he world is going digital. Not just in the sense that most objects we use contain a digital component, but almost every aspect of our real world now contains a digitally modelled counterpart; from the chair you sit on, to the building you’re surrounded by, somewhere out there, there is a digital version of almost everything.

Already, you can use a smart phone to take a video of your house, upload it to the cloud, and get back a free, 3D, photorealistic model. In time, you will be able to test paint colours, furnish it with models from the internet, plan landscaping, and watch the garden grow.

More practically, you’ll be able to use it for financing, leasing, and insurance, or for renovation and sale.

Now, imagine if we could link all of these models together: we could create a fully interactive, representative model of the real world, bringing with it benefits such as ease of measurement, scenario modelling, contextual design visualisation, and more, all on a city- or country-wide scale.

At the moment, however, the built environment of houses, buildings and roads etc. is being digitised independently by

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government agencies, utilities and corporations, without a view to integration.

With only one version of the real world, it seems terribly inefficient to create and maintain multiple, independent versions of its contents.

If we are able to create an authoritative, certified model of the real world, then companies are saved the costs of capturing, creating, and maintaining models of other people’s property, whilst updates from official sources and the public alike will propagate across their many value-added maps and 3D spatial products.

More so, by creating certified models of the built and natural environments, we open up whole new levels of efficiency and value for the vast property industry.

Funding it all A vision as grand as this requires a solid funding model, and an organisation known as VANZI has offered a solution that will not only prevent a ‘multiple rail gauges’ problem, but will also create valuable, tradable digital property rights that will provide the revenue to cover the capture, storage, and maintenance costs.

“The solution is to create property

rights in the digital environment that can be traded,” said Michael Haines, CEO of VANZI. “This will enable us to capture some of the trillions of dollars globally that flow through the property supply chain, which can then pay for the infrastructure needed to support the development of the Digital Built Environment and the other services that will sit on top of it.

“By creating a new legal framework that mirrors our real-world rights, every actor in the supply chain can trade their rights, while protecting their privacy and limiting their liability – just as long as the framework is based on the simple principle: rights in the virtual = rights in the real.”

VANZI (Virtual Australia and New Zealand Initiative) was established in 2011 by Michael Haines with founding members including the CRC for Spatial Information, NICTA and the Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing, as a not-for-profit entity to broker the creation of what may be the 21st century’s most important piece of infrastructure: the Digital Built Environment (DBE).

Since then, VANZI has formed a new alliance with stakeholders in the commercial sector, including buildingSMART Australasia, the Spatial Industries Business Association Qld, as well as Melbourne University and Queensland University of Technology.

“The DBE is a federated, fully integrated, photorealistic, secure 3D dataset that represents the physical attributes, legal entitlements and spatial co-ordinates of the natural and built environment across Australia and New Zealand,” said Michael.

“The federated model can only be built bit-by-bit, by securely integrating the millions of separate models created by various owners, utilities, authorities, and cities for their own purposes, in their own time-frame, using their own software and hardware,” said Michael.

“Ultimately, all buildings and structures will have their own Building Information Model (BIM), created when they are built or refurbished, but this will take 30-50 years. To start, simple 3D photographic models of many smaller buildings will be created from, say, smartphones [like Google’s Project Tango].

The data from the DBE will be able to be used in any 3D software product.

“On greater scales, LiDAR, photogrammetry, and ground penetrating radar will be used to capture the ‘as-built’ form of buildings and cities, including interiors, plant and equipment, and below-ground services.

“It is expected that, within 20 years, almost every property, utility, and city will be modelled to some degree. The quest here is to securely integrate those models into a single DBE.” The DBE would become the single authorised dataset for all propertyrelated activities – enabling scenarios, plans, and designs to be modelled in any 3D software, to show historical, current, and future states. It will find use in design, consultation, construction management, scenario modelling, emergency services and disaster recovery, and much more, thus making it a critical piece of future infrastructure.

VANZI is currently focused on creating a solid legal framework that will maximise compatibility, efficiency and profitability while minimising risk, cost and complexity.

“The DBE is essentially a new piece of national infrastructure that, like the property it models, cuts across council, state, and federal boundaries,” said Michael.

“The legislative frameworks for older infrastructure were created piecemeal by different councils, states and the Federal Government, and we’re still paying for the lost productivity that has resulted.

“There is only a small window of opportunity before we are faced with increasing regulation developed by individual jurisdictions. The more this happens, the harder it will be to achieve a national framework.”

3D data will soon be able to be captured by phones and tablets, like Google’s Project Tango.

Linking the models It isn’t necessary – or indeed logical – to have models of each and every building, cadastre and piece of infrastructure across Australia and New Zealand stored in a single place. The DBE can only be successful if it takes the form of a federated, but unified, model spread across many custodians. In doing this, however, there needs to be a means to identify the authorised models to which the new legal rights are attached, as well as to create links between them.

“Following several years of engagement, it has become apparent that the best way to solve the problem of secure integration is via a network of commercial, utility, and government ‘property data banks,’ each holding some part of the DBE,” said Michael.

These ‘property data banks’ are analogous with the financial banking system – it’s secure, regulated, and integrated across disparate systems. The only difference is that, instead of holding your digital money, it holds your digital property.

By allowing commercial ‘property data banks’ to operate in an open market,

small councils, utilities, and property owners will receive a high level of security, expertise, and service for a small transaction fee, while leaving the option open for larger property owners, utilities, and councils to run their own banks.

“Every person accessing the DBE will have their own ‘property data bank account’ that certifies their identity,” said Michael. “Rights of access to a digital model would be based upon your rights of access to its corresponding physical property. Access would be managed by individual owners and others with rights of access – just like we manage access to our traditional bank accounts.

“This helps to certify the data and authenticate people, as well as securely integrate the different property models that comprise the DBE. In time, when we buy and sell property, we will hand over the digital key to our virtual property alongside the physical key to our real property.”

Just as we pay bank fees for the convenience of digital money, professional users will pay ‘property data bank’ fees for the security, ease-of-use, and the certainty that it provides. www.spatialsource.com.au 29

feature “Owners would have unrestricted access to view the model and use it for testing ideas for re-decorating, furnishing, landscaping etc.,” said Michael. “Fees would be paid only for professional users, such as surveyors and designers. These fees would be passed along to the owner, who will happily pay, because the costs and time involved will be much less than incurred using old methods, such as trawling through different data providers, or taking the measurements yourself.”

To ensure that copies of the official model are not changed without authority, and are used only within their agreed terms, each party who contributes or modifies a component of the model would ‘sign’ it via a digital certificate, complete with metadata that includes its genesis and terms of use. It would then serve as an agreed-upon ‘snapshot’ of the property for a stated purpose.

The DBE will allow architects to view their creations in situ.

– without liability, and ideally without cost – to third parties. This will enable them to deliver unique value-add services with greater reliability at a lower cost. At present, each is required to invest heavily in gathering its own data, which is costly, inefficient and, as capabilities converge, adds little competitive advantage.

“Importantly, with all users accessing the same public data across all providers, crowdsourcing can be used to continually improve it, making the DBE even more valuable over time,” said Michael.

We need a framework now

The data held in the DBE will be able to be used for photorealistic models and simulations.

“For example, an insurer may have a certified locked ‘as-built’ copy for their purposes, and a different ‘as-designed’ copy would be held by the architect, and so on,” said Michael. “The only place where all the different models relating to the property would be held is in the property data bank of the owner. They would be held ‘in perpetuity’ on behalf of the community, and would transfer with the property title.”

Just as we cannot change signed 2D plans once they have been lodged, these models cannot be changed or deleted once lodged in the bank – amendments will take the form of additional signed models, so that a complete history is maintained.

Public data These examples have so far concerned private aspects of the models, but what about the public-facing aspects – the surfaces – that companies have been digitising for the last few decades?

It is expected that, as the DBE becomes the standard, its public data will be shared

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Again, all of this can only happen efficiently if we can build the required uniform legal framework soon. Indeed, there are several possible dangers if we fail to act now.

“One danger is that we lose control as a nation over what will be an essential piece of infrastructure,” said Michael. “We do not leave the ownership and management of any other piece of key infrastructure to the market alone, and we cannot afford to do so in the case of the DBE. We do not have to keep operational control, but we do need to retain regulatory control.

“Another danger is that we lose integration as the commercial digital world splits into separate ‘countries,’ such as Apple, Google, HERE, and Bing. Without integration, continuous improvement becomes very difficult, as a fix in one model does not fix it in all.

“Finally, in the absence of regulation, there will be consumer backlash when things inevitably go wrong. Without a uniform framework to guide them, each city and state will begin to regulate the digital world differently – the ‘multiple rail gauges’ problem. Even after more than 100 years, we have still not integrated our rail regulators, let alone the gauges themselves, at a huge cost to productivity.

Imagine the productivity losses if we fail to create a uniform regulatory framework for the DBE.” ■

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feature One of the identical SPOT 6 & 7 satellites.

Source: Airbus D&S.

A base for WA to build upon SIMON CHESTER

W

ith multiple government agencies in Western Australia each charged with different mapping tasks, often over the same geographical areas, there is often a need for separate agencies to use the same geospatial datasets. It doesn’t make sense, then, to have individual agencies each go out and purchase the datasets they require, when they could just be shared between governmental agencies.

Landgate is the WA Government’s agency responsible for land and property information, and is tasked with minimising this duplication of resources by collecting location data once, then sharing that data across Western Australia’s many government departments and agencies.

To aid in this task, the Western Australian Government developed the State Land Information Capture Program (SLICP), which reduces acquisition costs and avoids

The updated imagery for Shark Bay on the west coast. Source: Landgate & Airbus.

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duplication in spatial data capture by annually planning, recording, and acquiring the information through a single channel.

SLICP is managed through the WALIS (Western Australian Land Information System) partnership, coordinated by Landgate.

“SLICP allows multiple government agencies to share resources and save significant costs when capturing locationbased information for environmental mapping, infrastructure planning and development, engineering, agricultural and emergency services,” said Dr Matthew Adams, Landgate’s imagery products and services manager.

SLICP provides Western Australian government departments and agencies with a single point to access and purchase high quality location information and spatial data. Through the program, limited funds are made available for the capture of critical location information assets where common needs across agencies are identified as a priority.

Data captured through SLICP can range from aerial photography, topographic data, satellite imagery, bathymetry, LiDAR, infrastructure, to 3D surveys, soils, ortho-imagery, and any other type of spatial data required. The data requested through the SLICP drives decision making on important issues such as climate change, planning, mining, and health.

In order to better support land use planning across the state, a high-resolution satellite imagery capture program was initiated as part of WA’s Location Information Strategy, so that a consistent, detailed base layer could be provided across the entire area of the state.

After working with Geospatial Intelligence, Landgate chose to use Airbus Defence and Space’s 2.5m resolution SPOTMaps mosaic product, as it provided complete and seamless coverage of Western Australia’s 2.6 million square kilometres.

“SPOTMaps was chosen because Western Australia was looking for a consistent and accurate image for the whole of Western Australia at the highest resolution possible,” said Dr Adams.

“SPOT fulfilled these criteria. The options for later updates at 2.5m, 1.5m, and 0.5m were also attractive.”

The use of SPOTMaps 2.5m mosaic means that WA now has a base map that is not only consistent and seamless, but also significantly clearer than before.

Importantly, the data is being delivered via a streaming service, which makes the task of delivering it to WA’s many government departments and agencies a much simpler task, as users have instant access via their GIS software or web browser.

“The contract comprises three components: a streaming service, the SPOTMaps Tiles (to support uses were connectivity is a problem), and the [unprocessed] Level 1A data underlying the tiles, to support science-based uses,” said Dr Adams.

“The streaming service is being delivered by a number of endpoints: KML, WMS, WMTS, and two designed specifically for ESRI software. WA Government agencies can pick whichever type of service best suits their systems.”

Additionally, the use of an externally provided streaming service not only

makes the data much more available, it significantly reduces maintenance costs.

“This is the first time [in WA] that a base level service of this type has been sourced and delivered externally,” said Dr Adams. “WA is not maintaining any infrastructure, data, etc. to provide the service to the WA Government. The staff and IT savings are significant with this approach.

“The streaming service is delivered via an Airbus subsidiary called i-cubed.

They are based in Colorado in the US and have very high, 99.5% uptime guarantees and very robust services. Landgate has been very pleased with both the service and level of support we have had with icubed. It is saving the state a considerable amount in IT costs.”

The coverage provided

by SPOTMaps. Source: Landgate & Airbus.

The most common use of the imagery is to provide a base image of the state in areas where Landgate hasn’t published any recent aerial photography, but the many different users and departments across the state are putting it to use in other ways, too.

“SPOTMaps tiles are being used by the emergency management agencies in emergency data packs to provide backdrop imagery in regional and remote areas, where no other higher resolution imagery exists and internet connectivity doesn’t exist,” said Dr Adams. “Also, agencies like the Department of Parks and Wildlife are using the data for baseline studies of vegetation in the Kimberley or for estimating impacts on the Ningaloo Reef from recent cyclones.”

While the vast majority of SPOTMaps tiles are no older than 2009/2010, the data is being updated at the request of WA Government Agencies through the State Capture Advice Register (SCAR).

In the 2013/14 financial year, a number of areas in WA were updated at a higher resolution of either 1.5 or 0.5 metres, including the Kimberley Coast, Shark Bay, and Abrolhos Islands, and there are plans to do further updates in FY14/15.

By investing in a high-resolution, cloud-based satellite imagery service, Landgate has provided a solid base layer upon which land-use planning, infrastructure development, environmental monitoring and mapping, emergency operations, and more can take place. Further, by accessing it as a cloud service, not only is it more convenient and reliable, but it’s ultimately cheaper. ■

www.spatialsource.com.au 33

feature

From military intelligence to business intelligence How Ordnance Survey (UK) came into being.

F

ar from its traditional image as the publisher of leisure maps for ramblers and cyclists exploring idyllic countryside, where the only disturbance is the rustle of a cagoule or the whirr of a freewheel, Ordnance Survey was set up in preparation for war and had a major role to play in the mapping of World War One. Today, many people still know Ordnance Survey for its iconic range of paper maps; however, cutting-edge digital products for business now make up around 93% of the organisation’s revenue.

Ordnance Survey has a surprising history, because as Britain’s national mapping authority, today’s suppliers of business intelligence were originally charged with gathering military intelligence.

Georgian Britain – to survey and map the Channel coast of Southern England in preparation for invasion.

Although the Survey has its roots firmly in the military, perhaps its biggest wartime challenge occurred as the business it is known for, now started to emerge. Set against the backdrop of new civilian responsibilities – producing maps for land valuation and tax purposes – and the Edwardian love of exploration that fuelled a growth in sales of its leisure maps, the First World War saw the Survey embark upon an urgent military task of heroic proportions: with existing maps of France found inaccurate and unreliable, it re-mapped around 6,000 square miles of the Western Front.

Preparing for war

The ‘astrologer’ and some innovative techniques

In 1791, when it looked as though the chaos of revolution might travel across the water from France, the Government of William Pitt the Younger asked the Board of Ordnance – the Ministry of Defence of

WW1 printing room.

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Like most Herculean exercises of its kind, the survey of the Western Front didn’t always go to plan. In late January 1915, somewhere on the front lines between

Béthune and Ypres, the first surveyor sent out into the field was arrested as a spy on the grounds that no-one except a German would be likely to use an instrument such as a theodolite in the area. He was quickly released and allowed to continue, but the story – as told by Captain Winterbotham of the 1st Ranging Section of the Royal Engineers – underlines what must have seemed a curious sight to the average soldier at the time.

Winterbotham himself was no stranger to attracting attention and became something of a celebrity, by being able to direct artillery fire accurately onto unseen German positions – a feat that earned him the nickname of ‘the astrologer’.

The urgency of the task followed a change in the very nature of the war itself.

From Britain’s declaration of war on 4 August, 1914, it took little more than a month for trench warfare to emerge as the dominant form of conflict. It was a war that Britain’s generals and military tacticians, familiar with colonial conflict

Above: WO153-234 (2) Messines, IX Corps, Wytschaete, 1917.

Left: WW1 surveying.

and cavalry charges, were at a loss to fight. This was a war that was industrial in scale, featured advanced defence systems and horrifying firepower; their only tactic against the organised trenches of the German Army, the traditional massed infantry advance, proved to be nothing more than a suicide mission.

By spring 1915, both sides were installed in 200-mile long networks of trenches strung between the Belgian coast and Switzerland. The stalemate was made worse by the terrifying power of machine gun fire, long-range artillery attack and chemical weapons; static warfare demanded new tactics and, where advances were counted in yards, largescale, highly-detailed mapping.

Ready for action Ordnance Survey was already prepared for war at its outbreak. Three survey sections were ready for action, but the War Office stood them down, possibly because the prevailing attitude was that the war would be quick – all over

by Christmas, in fact – much to the disappointment of thousands of eager volunteers queuing up at recruiting offices up and down the land. A fast campaign that overcame resistance quickly could use existing, less detailed mapping, such as the small-scale 1:80,000 maps produced by Ordnance Survey’s French counterparts. The government’s optimism was short-lived, but the early successes of Winterbotham, in particular, encouraged the Army to form surveying sections, then companies and, finally, field survey battalions.

Mapping the front line Working near the front lines, the Ordnance Survey men routinely exposed themselves to danger – enemy (and occasionally ‘friendly’) fire, were common.

As if the prospect of being shot wasn’t enough, the act of surveying itself was demanding and difficult, and required the utmost care in an environment that changed so rapidly. A prominent building, like a church tower, that could be used as a landmark to anchor the map to a fixed point in the landscape, would often end up demolished by artillery. Worse still, a church tower might be re-erected fifty yards away from its original position, potentially throwing the accuracy of the map out enough to make a real difference to an operation or manoeuvre.

The start of aerial photography and modern techniques Another difficulty – of obtaining information about German trench and artillery positions – was solved early on with the rapid development of aerial reconnaissance. These days, Ordnance Survey operates two aircraft solely devoted to aerial survey (they notch up around 80,000 km a year as part of the Survey’s ongoing work to update its digital master map of Britain), but in 1914, the technique was very much in its infancy, and the photographs taken had to be corrected to match the projection of the map.

Along with rapidly developing aerial reconnaissance techniques – radio signals were used as beacons for the first time to synchronise sightings of

observation planes over enemy positions – sophisticated ranging by both the sound and flash of enemy guns allowed German artillery to be plotted with high accuracy.

A survey of captured ground after 1917’s Battle of Messines – an offensive that set the stage for the 3rd Battle of Ypres – found that 90% of German artillery positions had been accurately targeted.

As time wore on, Ordnance Survey staff recruited into the survey battalions of the Royal Engineers – and the maps they produced, each the result of a detailed and painstaking topographic survey – overcame enough of the difficulties to contribute invaluable information for the war effort.

Printing on the battlefield The military maps, around 33 million of which were printed, became more and more vital as the war wore on. Worries that ships carrying maps from Southampton might be sunk in the Channel, led in 1917 to the formation of the Overseas Branch of the Ordnance Survey (OBOS), a unit of 103 men and 46 women based in an old factory near the Aire Canal at Wardreques in France. In one period of two weeks, while Field Survey Companies were forced into retreat during the German offensive on the Somme in 1918, OBOS printed 300,000 maps.

Sixty seven Ordnance Survey staff were killed during the war, and they are commemorated at a memorial in a peaceful garden besides Ordnance Survey’s head office in Southampton. Without their sacrifice or the sacrifices of more fortunate colleagues, many more of their countrymen would have been killed or injured.

Modern day The effects of the work of today’s Ordnance Survey, a self-funding civilian government department, may not be as obviously urgent, but as a contributor to wider society, business and, yes, leisure, its contribution to the Britain of today, is as vital to the UK’s peacetime interests as it was on the Western Front. ■ www.spatialsource.com.au 35

feature The Aviatrix airborne camera control system is compatible with a range of FLIR thermal imaging cameras.

Take to the sky DR SHARON MASCALL-DARE

Spatial Scientific has integrated FLIR cameras with software to deliver what it says are costeffective airborne thermal imaging solutions.

D

eveloped by a team that has been working with FLIR thermal imaging cameras for more than ten years, the modular system can be fully customised or delivered off-the-shelf.

Spatial Scientific claims to be an internationally recognised developer of software and systems integration for FLIR thermal imaging systems. In partnership with FLIR, it has developed technology to support a range of applications including urban heat island mapping, bushfire mapping, monitoring and management, geothermal ‘hot spot’ mapping, and even feral animal detection.

Spatial Scientific has been working with FLIR cameras – notably theSC7600, A615, and A65 – for over ten years, developing both airborne and ground-based applications. In 2010, the company became an authorised reseller and integrator of FLIR thermal imaging cameras.

In 2013, the company commercialised its software through the sister company AeroScientific, and launched a new generation of aerial mapping systems that are fully compatible with FLIR thermal imaging cameras.

Today, the systems are available to aerial photographers, surveyors and remote sensing specialists gathering thermal imaging data from airborne platforms. This article looks at three applications in detail: urban heat island mapping, bushfire management, and geothermal ‘hot spot’ detection. These applications use the SC7600, A615, and A65 thermal imaging cameras.

The system includes Aviatrix, AeroScientific’s software that takes care of flight management and camera control from the cockpit. Other components of the system include a GPS, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a pilot’s display, and flightplanning software. Depending on the FLIR camera and application required by the user, the system can be bought off-theshelf or be fully customised.

The FLIR A615 thermal imaging camera was used to map urban heat islands.

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Urban heat island mapping with the A615 camera For local councils and national governments throughout the world, energy conservation has become a priority. In 2012, Spatial Scientific began working with local governments in Australia to map urban heat islands, providing valuable data for conservation and energy management.

Airborne thermal imagery is the ideal tool for urban heat island mapping. It is possible to identify regions that are hotter or cooler than expected mean temperatures. You can see where heat is being retained or lost, and you can better understand temperature change between daytime and night time.

This information is essential for local authorities and government agencies who are planning new infrastructure and urban vegetation programs.

Spatial Scientific’s Remote Sensing Division has successfully developed its own unique method of acquiring and processing airborne thermal image data using FLIR’s A615 camera.

Image data from the A615 can be acquired over large areas, and mosaic-ed into continuous, seamless orthoimages.

Throughout the processing, the radiometric integrity of the data is maintained, ensuring that pixels in the imagery can be correlated to ground temperatures.

As more and more cities around the world begin to use airborne thermal imagery regularly for their environmental monitoring programmes, we’re developing this technology to make it available as part of the AeroScientific Airborne Thermal Imaging System.

Bushfire mapping, monitoring and management with the SC7600 camera For the past decade, the team has been developing bespoke bushfire mapping and monitoring systems that deliver data in real time, using FLIR’s SC7600 camera.

Today, the company has the capacity to incorporate that technology into one aerial thermal imaging package – delivering data in real time for bushfire mapping, monitoring and management.

The company is currently working with clients in Australia and South East Asia to develop bushfire mapping systems to meet specific, local requirements. Its aerial mapping systems have the ability to identify the location of fires in real time, and transmit that information to users on the ground. This means that information about fires can be interpreted, shared, and used straightaway.

The systems can also be customised to accommodate other sensors and data requirements. In 2009, Spatial Scientific

Above left: Rotorua geothermal field in NZ. Above right: Images from the FLIR A615 camera used to detect spontaneous combustion in coal stock piles.

delivered a customised bushfire and environmental mapping system to the Department of Environment and Conservation in Western Australia. The system included a FLIR SC7600 thermal imaging camera and a hyperspectral camera – drawing on the company’s experience in systems integration using a range of cameras.

Geothermal mapping with the A615 camera In 2013, Spatial Scientific introduced aerial mapping systems using a FLIR A615 camera to transform understanding of the geothermal landscape.

The company was contacted by a government agency seeking the best technology to create thermal maps of geothermally active areas.

First, they used the Remote Sensing Division to fly and process the data using the airborne thermal imaging platform, including an FLIR sensor. Then, once they saw the quality of the imagery, they decided to buy their own system.

The system incorporated fight planning software to trigger the camera at specific locations. It was also customised to work efficiently, and reliably, in a small aircraft: the system was adapted to meet limitations on space and power.

The result was the creation of maps they had never had before – from the first

flight, they discovered new geothermal hotspots they didn’t know were there. It changed their understanding of the geothermal landscape, with repercussions for energy and environmental management.

From UAV to fast jets with the A65 Camera, among others Spatial Scientific’s aerial imaging systems can put FLIR sensors into action from any platform – from UAV, requiring very lightweight gear, to light aircraft and helicopters, and even fast jets. The A65 thermal imaging camera is particularly suited to UAV. The airborne thermal imaging systems can be adapted to meet the requirements of a range of applications and platforms.

In Australia, they have been used for diverse purposes including feral animal detection and spontaneous combustion monitoring. The latter is of particular relevance to Australia’s mining industry.

The company can support users to use FLIR Systems thermal imaging sensors in a range of settings, and for many applications.

Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare is the communications director at Spatial Scientific. Readers can find more information at http://www. spatialscientific.com.au/AeroScientific. ■ www.spatialsource.com.au 37

feature

Koalas and GIS

This article provides a perspective on how things have changed since my 1997 article in terms of information technology, research into how koalas use their habitats, and the combination of these developments (making maps), whether these changes have actually made a difference to the koala, and what else needs to be done.

DAVE MITCHELL

Computing power The Australian Koala Foundation’s (AKF) first workstation was donated by Tweed Shire Council in 1996. It was a Hewlett Packard HP 9000 Series 700 machine with 64 Mb of hard disk (256 Kb RAM), with Unix OS at 33 MHz running Genamap command-line software; vegetation maps were digitised by hand. At the time, this was a very powerful machine that required a degree of technical skill, which I rapidly developed on an ‘as-needed’ basis.

Genamap was used by many Local Governments for their GIS, so it was a natural fit with AKF’s vision for ‘a Koala Habitat Atlas (KHA) in every LGA’.

In 1999, MapInfo software was donated thanks to Wal Mayer, and three Windows NT desktops allowed AKF to do on-screen digitising for vegetation mapping of the Greater Taree LGA. The graphical user interface (GUI) made MapInfo accessible to non-specialised GIS operators.

38 position August/September 2014

Currently, AKF uses an entry-level workstation (Windows 7) with MapInfo, ArcMap, QGIS and a number of image-processing software packages. The workstation has 16 Gb of RAM and runs at 3.4 GHz, roughly 100 times faster than the 1996 machine with 64,000 times as much RAM.

Research AKF has funded an immense amount of research, with a particular focus on landscape ecology: the study of ecological processes and spatial patterns at a variety of scales or, as I like to say, ‘the study of why things are where they are’.

Key processes include habitat loss and fragmentation, and the primary goal of our research is modelling habitat augmentation to reduce or even reverse these effects. Collaboration with the University of Queensland culminated in the publication of Planning Guidelines for Koala Conservation and Recovery – A guide

to best planning practice, a free publication distilling the results of over 10 peerreviewed journal articles. The guidelines have been downloaded over 1,750 times, and are available at http://bit.ly/WXGY0u.

AKF currently holds data from over 80,000 trees surveyed at more than 2,000 spot assessment technique (SAT) sites.

This data has been utilised to rank tree species within each study area in terms of their relative importance as food resources for koalas. This knowledge has been distilled into the National Koala Tree Protection List, which describes the soil and moisture requirements of over 90 koala food trees in 272 local government areas in NSW, Qld, SA and Vic.

Vegetation mapping When the Koala Habitat Atlas project started, AKF had to commission its own base vegetation maps, a very expensive process leading to immense delays in producing KHA. Ideally, these maps are very detailed, with percentages of each tree species known, and AKF staff have now mapped over 4,000 hectares at this level of detail.

The game-changer, though, has been the development of state-wide mapping systems in Qld and Vic, and crucially, the supply of this data with a Creative Commons licence.

This data, supplied free, has meant the AKF has now mapped and ranked 675,000 square kilometres - almost half (46%) of the koala’s geographic range - and will have Qld and Vic completed this year. NSW is certainly behind on this front: although we have completed 12 LGA in NSW, mapping is patchy and some datasets are not suitable for the KHA. The wide availability of vegetation data, allied with the AKF’s huge tree database, has meant that the AKF can confidently derive Koala habitat atlases for any area covered by a reasonably detailed vegetation map (see breakout). AKF is now working in partnership with OMNILINK

Koala Planning Map for Part of Port Stephens LGA. Preferred Habitat (red) with 100 metre buffer (pink cross-hatch) and links (white cross-hatch) over Supplementary Habitat (dark green), Marginal Habitat (light green), Other vegetation (orange) and Cleared land (grey).

What is the Koala Habitat Atlas?

The KHA methodology has been in development since 1994 and provides a simple and concise representation of koala habitat. Vegetation maps are often complicated, representing all the vegetation communities within a given area. Mapped vegetation communities are ranked according to the percentage of koala food trees within each community as follows:

The Koala Habitat Atlas thus provides a readily interpretable picture that can be used by planners, developers and community groups alike – a transparent ‘level playing field’. The KHA enables ecologists and other researchers to measure fragmentation, connectivity, patch size and other landscape variables, and to accurately identify areas which can be revegetated to reduce the effects of fragmentation on habitats.

Habitat Class

Habitat Definition

Primary Habitat

> 50% primary food trees

Secondary Habitat (Class A) OR

> 30% Prim. Food trees but <50% primary food trees >50% secondary food trees

Secondary Habitat (Class B) OR

<30% primary food trees >30% secondary food trees but <50% secondary food trees

Other vegetation

<30% secondary food trees (no primary food trees) no eucalypts

Unknown Habitat quality

not enough info. to assign a class

Mainly cleared

scattered trees may be present

Secondary Habitat (Class C)

Pty Ltd to distribute the Koala Habitat Atlas on a commercial basis to local, state and federal governments.

Imagery In lock-step with the increase in computing power has been the vast increase in the types and amount of aerial imagery.

In 1996, hard-copy aerial photos were used for vegetation mapping, and in 1999, AKF staff and a few colleagues at UQ and CSIRO were experimenting with the idea of mapping koala habitat using satellite and hyperspectral imagery. Alas, we were ahead of our time, and woefully under-resourced.

There is currently a much larger scale project under way with many of the same researchers, but with 1.5 million square kilometres to map, I think the Koala Habitat Atlas will be finished first. We are also

Colour

confident it will be the largest area covered by a habitat map in the world. AKF currently uses many different types of imagery including satellite, high-resolution aerial photography and LiDAR, in conjunction with the ever-growing SAT site database.

KoalaMap One 1997 idea that has finally come to fruition is KoalaMap (https://www.savethekoala.com/koala-map), which allows any user to enter and view koala sightings and, most importantly, generate pdf maps of koala habitat in specific areas.

Previously, a great deal of AKF staff time was taken up assisting individuals and communities in making submissions about development that affected a koala habitat. Now, KoalaMap has empowered communities and individuals to do this

themselves, as well as just finding out about koalas in their local area. In the future, KoalaMap users will be able to click on a polygon, and a list of suitable koala food trees for replanting will appear. KoalaMap was initially developed in partnership with Esri and is hosted ‘in the cloud’ by Amazon.

OMNILINK, our data partner, continues to develop upon this platform, and also provides support and maintenance.

This enables the AKF to just get on with producing more KHA for a twice-yearly update to KoalaMap.

Has all this helped conserve Koalas? What else needs to be done?

There is no doubt that the Koala Habitat Atlas has done much for the benefit of koala conservation, from incorporation into planning schemes through to community awareness and as a framework for scientific research. However, these benefits have been patchy – some communities and councils embrace the idea of koala conservation and actively support it, while in other areas of society the koala is seen merely as an inconvenience or even a hindrance to development.

Maps become out of date, usually as soon as they are published. There will also always be inaccuracies, no matter how minor, and there will always be criticisms of maps by so-called ‘experts’. There is one way to avoid these problems, and that is to have every individual tree mapped and its size and species recorded. We can be confident that this technology will be available at some time in the future.

But when it comes down to it, the best mapping is only as good as our politicians’ will to act for the koala by protecting its habitat.

The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) was established in 1986 to raise funds for Koala research. The AKF receives no government money, and is entirely funded through donations, merchandising and sponsorships – a situation that enables AKF to be "fearlessly independent of government".

Dave Mitchell has been the AKF’s spatial analyst since 1996. Dave wrote an article for the October 1997 edition of GIS User (Position magazine’s predecessor) entitled “The Koala’s Digital Revolution”.

In that article, he described the AKF’s vision to map and rank Koala habitats across the koala’s entire geographic range in NSW, Qld, Vic and SA. The ‘Koala Habitat Atlas’ was to allow planners and decision makers to identify and protect critical areas of koala habitat. At that time, about 5,000 square kilometres in six local government areas had been mapped using the KHA methodology. ■ www.spatialsource.com.au 39

feature

The search goes on

PAUL GRAD

R

ecovery teams face a daunting task trying to find the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 on Flight MH370, which is believed to be at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, 1,800km southwest of Perth, at a depth of 4,500m.

The aircraft, with 239 people on board, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March. Inexplicably, the aircraft veered completely off course, turning sharply towards a direction nearly opposite to that of the intended route.

Data from various sources, including the Inmarsat satellites, indicated the probable location of what’s left of the aircraft and the people on board.

In spite of the sophisticated technology now available for probing and mapping the seabed, much of it developed during the past few decades, the task of finding the aircraft is immensely difficult. In a recent briefing, the New York-based Soufan Group – a strategic security intelligence consultancy – said: “The expression ‘like finding a needle in a haystack’ should not be used to describe a recovery at sea. A more accurate expression would be ‘like finding a drifting needle in a chaotic, colourchanging, perception-shifting, motionsickness-inducing haystack’.”

Among the hazards that can hinder the search is a huge line of underwater volcanoes, whose magma is constantly reshaping the seafloor at 3km depth. The area is rugged, and covered in faults, gullies and ridges.

40 position August/September 2014

International cooperation Many countries have participated in the search, in a major cooperative effort unparalleled in aviation history. More than 34 aircraft and 40 ships have been sent to the area where the aircraft is believed to have gone down.

The original ocean floor search was carried out from the Australian HMAS Ocean Shield, which launched the autonomous submarine Bluefin 21, from the Bluefin Robotics Corporation, of Quincy, Massachusetts, under a contract with Phoenix International Holdings, Inc, of Largo, Maryland.

Phoenix recovered both flight recorders from Air France Flight 447, the Airbus that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on 1 June 2009. Using a Bluefin 21, Phoenix recovered the flight recorders from a depth of about 4km.The flight recorders allowed investigators to determine exactly what had happened: in that case, an inexplicable pilot error by both pilots on the flight deck at the time caused the aircraft to stall and crash horizontally into the sea. All people in the aircraft died on impact.

It took two years to find the Air France jet, in conditions that were far more favourable than those where the Malaysia Airlines aircraft is expected to be found.

The Bluefin from Ocean Shield searched a wide area for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, until a communications problem involving the transponders on both the ship and Bluefin

forced the search to be interrupted. The ship arrived at the port of Geraldton for the installation of spare transponder parts to the ship and Bluefin.

An international effort led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is now mapping and will soon start searching a new, high-priority underwater area of 60,000km2, located about 1,800km west of Perth. The work has already begun. The Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen and the Dutch ship MV Fugro Equator have been conducting a bathymetric survey of the area. The Zhu Kezhen has in the meantime abandoned the search due to a technical problem.

The government of Malaysia has announced it will supply another vessel, the KD Mutiara, to join in the search. They are mapping the sea floor in preparation for the next phase of the search, when the area will be surveyed in detail. This intensive search – to start in August – is expected to take 12 months to complete.

Mapping the seafloor A rough seafloor map has already been drawn for a few areas of the world’s oceans with satellite altimeter data. This data is based on the fact that the surface of the ocean bulges outward and inward, mimicking the topography of the ocean floor. The bulges are caused by minute variations in the Earth’s gravitational field due to structures on the seafloor.

For example, the additional gravitational attraction due to a mountain on the

A Malaysia Airlines B777 similar to one that operated flight MH370.

ocean floor attracts the water, causing a local bump on the ocean surface. A high-precision radar altimeter aboard a satellite measures those bulges.

Information about the topographic structures of the ocean floor in some parts of the world have been thus obtained by a radar altimeter aboard the Seasat (NASA), Geosat (US Navy), and ERS-1 (European Space Agency) spacecraft.

This satellite data would not be sufficient to find the missing aircraft, but it could help searchers choose the appropriate underwater robot to look for it. The search is made more difficult because little is known about the seafloor in this part of the Indian Ocean. In the southern Indian Ocean, only about 5% of the ocean floor has been mapped by ships with echo soundings. Knowledge of the rest of the area comes from satellite altimetry, which provides relatively lowresolution mapping compared with shipborne methods.

As part of the intensive search, the ATSB will contract experts to localise, positively identify and map the debris field of MH370, using specialist equipment.

The principal technologies employed will include multi-beam echo-sounders, side-scan sonars, sub-bottom profilers, and satellite altimetry.

The originally used single-beam depth sounder, while simple and cheap to build, and easy to use and understand, entails several limitations, making it unsuitable for large-scale bathymetric survey. A sonar must be able to produce accurate depth measurements that correspond to well-defined locations on the sea floor, and it must be able to make large numbers of those measurements in a relatively short time.

A single-beam echo sounder fails short on both counts. A multi-beam sonar can map many locations on the ocean floor with a single ping, and with high resolution.

It is equivalent to several narrow singlebeam echo sounders acting at several different locations on the sea bottom at the same time. These locations are arranged so as to map a contiguous area of the sea bottom, usually a strip (swath) of points in a direction perpendicular to the path of the survey vessel. Multi-beam sonars can map swaths of the sea bottom in the time it takes for the echo to return from the

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Above: The MV Fugro Equator from Fugro N V of Leidschendam, the Netherlands.

Below: The underwater search for the Malaysia Airlines MH370 has become focused on the Zenith Plateau in the south eastern Indian Ocean. Photo courtesy of Dr Robin Beaman (www.deepreef.org) of James Cook University, in Cairns.

The Edgetech 4200 side-scan sonar.

42 position August/September 2014

farthest angle. For a 120°-swath, this time is twice the ping cycle time for a single-beam sounder, but providing some 100 soundings instead of only one.

The Fugro Equator uses multi-beam echo-sounders Kongsberg EM302 and EM2040, from Kongsberg Maritime AS, from Kongsberg, Norway.

The Bluefin uses a SeaBat 7125 ultra high resolution multi-beam echo-sounder from Teledyne Reson A/S, of Slangerup, Denmark. The echo-sounder is available in three configurations, one designed specifically for installation on survey vessels, and 6,000m depth rated systems for either remotely operated vehicles (ROV) or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).

The side-scan sonar emits conical or fan-shaped pulses toward the seafloor across a wide angle perpendicular to the path of the sensor through the water. It can be towed from a surface vessel or submarine, or mounted on a ship’s hull.

The pulses’ reflections from the seafloor are recorded in a series of slices. When joined along the direction of motion, these slices form an image of the seafloor.

Modern side-scan sonars produce fanshaped beams on both sides of a ship.

The frequencies used range usually from 100kHz to 500kHz. The MV Fugro Equator uses two Kongsberg GeoAcoustic 159D, and two Edgetech 4200 side-scan sonars – from Edgetech Corporation, of West Wareham, Massachusetts. The Kongsberg model 159D side-scan sonar employs a

lightweight tow-fish. The tow-fish houses a multiplexer, allowing data transmission over long cables, and two dual frequency (114/410kHz) transducers. The multiplexer is the sub-sea processing unit.

The Edgetech 4200 series side-scan sonars feature the multi-pulse technology, which places two sound pulses in the water rather than one pulse like conventional side-scan sonar systems. It uses the company’s full spectrum chirp technology to provide high resolution imagery at ranges up to 50% greater than non-chirp systems, allowing the user to cover larger areas.

Another major device to probe the seabed is the sub-bottom profiler, designed to look below the seafloor to identify and characterise layers of sediment or rock.

Sub-bottom profilers can be either towed behind a vessel, or they can be hull or pole mounted, providing a straight line look through the seafloor.

The Fugro vessel also includes a Kongsberg SBP 300-6 sub-bottom profiler, whose primary applications is to produce images of sediment layers and buried objects.

The Bluefin also includes an Edgetech 2200M 120/410kHz side-scan sonar, and an EdgetechDW-216 sub-bottom profiler.

At the time of writing, nothing has yet been found. Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said regardless of how difficult the search may be, we will not rest until the airliner is found, no matter what it takes.

Paul Grad is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to Position magazine. ■

USING UAVS AT TERRITORY RESOURCES – MINING INNOVATION IN ACTION With more companies using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in their operations, I wanted to find out more about how the technology is integrated and what processes are used for data management. Ahead of Commercial UAVs 2014, Darryn Dow, Chief Mine Surveyor/Chief UAV Controller at Territory Resources, gave me exclusive insights into how UAV technology is improving efficiency in their operations.

Jared Haube for Mining IQ

At Territory Iron’s Frances Creek Mine in the Northern Territory, we’re using a Sensefly Ebee to support surveying operations, particularly for stockpile volume calculations, capturing mine planning data and site rehabilitation records.

The amount of data we can collect from a one man operation far exceeds what was possible with traditional methods.

WORK FLOW The workflow from a UAV operation begins with flight planning. A request to capture data over a waste dump will come in, for example.

I would need to look at the flight planning software and determine what would be the best way of flying it, as well as set all the parameters for the plane to conduct the mission.

These parameters will comprise the flying height, the pixel size of the images, the overlap between the photos, the flying pattern, and

weather condition impacts.

Once all that has been finalised, I’ll upload the mission into the plane, go out to the field and conduct the flight. After it’s completed, there are two sets of information with which I’m presented – somewhere between 100 and 200 photos, and the flight log containing the GPS position and flight attitude of the plane when each photo was taken.

These are downloaded into photogrammetry software which

creates usable data for a digital surface model – or DSM. This is an accurate representation of the surface we can use in our mine planning software. It also creates aerial imagery.

All of the photos are combined into a geo-referenced orthomosaic to enable more effective mine planning.

A 15-minute flight would take a person on the ground almost a week in order to collect the same amount of information.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

Register your place to Commercial UAVs 2014, taking place in October in Brisbane. The cross-industry event will discuss the following: Fully leveraging UAVs through effective integration Complying with current training and certification frameworks Effective collection, collation and use of data Hear from Darryn and 14 expert speakers, visit www.commercialuavs.com.au for more information.

SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE! Call +61 2 9229 1000 to enquire.

www.commercialuavs.com.au

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new products

UAV without ground control MAVinci’s Sirius Pro UAV offers 5cm accuracy without the need for ground control points (GCP), allowing aerial surveys to be conducted in areas that are difficult to access, hazardous or very large.

The Sirius Pro features high-precision GNSS technology, with an on-board Topcon 100Hz dual frequency geodetic GNSS receiver to deliver RTK accuracy.

The MAVinci Connector then works as an RTK base station, which transmits corrections to the GNSS receiver onboard, enabling high-precision surveying in real time.

For more information about the Sirius Pro contact Position Partners: Australia 1300 867 266 www.positionpartners. com.au. New Zealand 03 366 1726 www. positionpartners.co.nz.

Web-based slopemonitoring application

Laser scanner data processing software Maptek I-Site Studio 5.0 delivers new features and improvements to existing software tools, including a new ‘Level of Detail’ tool that allows a manageable amount of data to be loaded and viewed at once, rather than dealing with the full detail of the dataset, a new Workflow Manager that allows standard work processes to be shared and implemented across an organisation, and more.

Tolerance ellipsoids and smart sampling in v5.0 aid the registration process. Multiple scans from the same location can be moved together as a group – it is now possible to register two scans unlevelled, but constrained to a GPS point.

The Combination surface tool allows

a new surface to be outside the original surface, even without completely closed intersections between surfaces.

The release also includes additions to the Geotechnical Module to allow easier analysis of different failure modes, Stereonet display improvements including type, grid style and scalable pole size, a new wizard-style interface for filtering vegetation, and many usability enhancements.

A 360-degree panoramic image captured with any digital device can now be draped over an I-Site point cloud and up to seven images can be rendered to a single surface.

For more information visit www.maptek.com.

Imagery for ArcGIS

Leica Geosystems ‘Leica GeoMoS Now!’ web-based application enables on-the-go visualisation and analysis of structural and ground movement monitoring data.

The web-based application enables users to view and analyse monitoring data from any smart device, such as a computer, tablet or mobile phone, either off-site or on.

It forms part of a monitoring solution, which includes a web-based user interface, that can send automatic reports with data analysis and customised formatting, and that creates and combines multiple graphical representations of monitoring data.

Leica GeoMoS Now! is available now from CR Kennedy at www.crkennedy. com.au or www.crkennedy.co.nz.

ArcGIS Online users can now access Pléiades and SPOT thematic imagery, the customised monitoring service, and – for the first time on the ArcGIS Marketplace – the ability to directly task Airbus Defense and Space’s optical satellites to capture the imagery they require.

Thematic imagery layers consist of 50cm natural colour, orthorectified imagery in pre-packaged, themed datasets.

The ‘Satellite Tasking and Archive’ app will allow users to order Pléiades and SPOT 6&7 archive imagery for a selectable area of interest.

Once acquired, imagery is automatically produced and delivered through the users’ ArcGIS Online account.

Lastly, Airbus Defense and Space’s Site Monitoring service offers a detailed analysis of change detection over preselected or user-specified sites.

For more information visit marketplace.arcgis.com. www.spatialsource.com.au 45

sssi news

Presidents Address - John Trinder SSSI Board of Directors 2013-2014

Petronas Towers KL at night.

President – John Trinder Treasurer – Jonathan Saxon Director – Bernard O’Sullivan Director – Gypsy Bhalla Director – Chis McAlister Director – Danielle Beaudreau Director – Gaby Van Wyk Company Secretary – James Curnow Company Secretary/CEO – Roger Buckley Consultative Council for 2013-2014 President – John Trinder Treasurer – Jonathan Saxon NT Rep – Renee Bartolo QLD Rep – Chris McAlister WA Rep – Kerry Smyth NSW Rep – Gaby Van Wyk NZ Rep – Chris Weir VIC Rep – Zaffar Mohamed-Ghouse SA Rep – Gary Maguire TAS Rep – Alex Leith ACT Rep – Greg Ledwidge RS&P Rep – Craig Smith HC Rep – Simon Ironside SIC Rep – Penny Baldock LS Rep – Phil Pozzi EMS Rep – Bernard O’Sullivan YP Reps – Danielle Beaudreau and Matthew Fry Company Secretary – James Curnow CEO/Company Secretary – Roger Buckley

46 position August/September 2014

The 25th FIG Congress was successfully held in Malaysia from 16-21 June 2014.

As the official delegate from SSSI, I attended the 25th FIG Congress and the 37th FIG General Assembly, held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Malaysia from 15 to 21 June 2014, in view of the Petronas Twin Towers. The opening session was an impressive event, being attended by the Prime Minister of Malaysia the Honourable Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak. In his speech he stressed the importance of spatial information for sustainable development for Malaysia. Prior to his presentation, the president of FIG CheeHai Teo, spoke well of the significance of the work being undertaken by FIG for sustainable development and the overall importance of the work of the profession of surveying and its contribution to society.

The General Assembly is the decision making body of FIG and it met for two days

during the congress. The following decisions were made at the General Assembly: the new president from 1 January 2015, will be Chryssy Potsiou (Greece), the first female president of FIG Rudolf Staiger (Germany) and Diane Dumashie (UK) were elected as the two vice presidents. The next congress will be held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018, and the FIG Working Week in 2017 will be held in Helsinki, Finland. All changes to the statutes were approved. The discussion on finances revealed that FIG is in a strong financial position, although the world financial situation has put pressure on members to continue to pay their contributions. Reports were also presented on the activities being undertaken by various bodies within FIG. Subsequent meetings of FIG will be in Sofia, Bulgaria from 17-21 May 2015, and Christchurch, New Zealand 2-6 May 2016.

With 15 parallel technical and special sessions, it is impossible to summarise the technical content of the whole congress. I have divided the major topics covered by the congress into the following somewhat

SSSI sustaining partners

SSSI Commission Chairs for 2013-2014 Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Commission Chair Craig Smith chair.rspc@sssi.org.au Land Surveying Commission Chair Phil Pozzi chair.lsc@sssi.org.au

arbitrary major categories: cadastral systems and land administration 22% of sessions, geodesy and GNSS 12%, surveying and mapping including hydrographic surveying 16%, GIS 10%, professional matters 8%, valuation and real estate 8%, planning 7%, others 17%. This division of session topics demonstrates the concentration of subject matters at the congress.

The Young Surveyors Network sessions were held for the first time at a FIG Congress, in a separate location and hence not fully integrated into the overall congress. The plenary sessions covered details of challenges to the profession brought about by undernourishment, climate change and economic progress, the key roles that the profession can play in the betterment of society, the environment, and actions that need to be taken to achieve in the post-2015 Development Agenda to ‘Realising the Future We Want for All’. Speakers were from leading international organisations such as the World Bank, UN-GGIM, FAO and UN-ESCAP. The FIG publication ‘Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration’ gained considerable recognition. Discussion sessions were held on approaches taken by various countries

to develop their land administration systems to satisfy the needs of their people, yet so that it is financially viable. Land administration systems developed by western nations, which took hundreds of years to achieve into their current form, are not necessarily transferable into developing countries such as in Africa or central Asia.

An important development for the profession is the proposed resolution to be presented to the UN General Assembly later this year on the development of an operational global geodetic reference frame and infrastructure that will support the increasing demand for positioning and monitoring applications, and that will have significant societal and economic benefits. Australian researchers have played an important role in developing this proposed resolution.

Overall, the congress was very well organised and proved to be very successful, and it is gratifying to witness the roles played by many Australians in various aspects of the congress. The Malaysians are a very friendly people, and it was a pleasure to spend the week in Kuala Lumpur.

John Trinder President

Renewing your ESP-AP certification

Although it may not feel like it, it has been over two years since the establishment of the Engineering Surveying Professional – Australasia Pacific (ESP-AP) Certification with the SSSI. With any professional certification, there needs to be a renewal process to ensure that those certified continue to meet the endorsement requirements and maintain a commitment to Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which is outlined in the SSSI CPD Policy.

The ESP-AP Renewal Procedures Manual (PDF) and the ESP-AP Certification Renewal Form, will be able to

provide you with more information on the renewal process and these documents can be found on the SSSI website: http://www. sssi.org.au/details/commission/2/cat/137/ sub/377.html For those professionals who are already ESP-AP certified, you should have received an email with the above link to the renewal forms.

All professionals with ESP-AP Certifications are required to renew their certification every two years. Otherwise, failure could result in cancelation of an individual’s certification and removal of their name from the list of Certified Engineering and Surveying Professionals.

If you have any additional questions regarding the renewal process, or information regarding the ESP-AP Certification, please contact Bernard O’Sullivan – EMSC chair at chair.emsc@sssi.org.au or via phone on 0407 770 900.

Hydrography Commission Chair Simon Ironside chair.hc@sssi.org.au Spatial Information & Cartography Commission Chair Jessica Davies chair.sicc@sssi.org.au Engineering & Mining Surveying Commission Chair Bernard O’Sullivan Chair.emsc@sssi.org.au

SSSI Regional Chairs 2013-4 New South Wales Regional Chair Gaby Van Wyk chair.nsw@sssi.org.au ACT Regional Chair Greg Ledwidge chair.act@sssi.org.au Northern Territory Regional Chair Vacant chair.nt@sssi.org.au New Zealand Regional Chair Chris Weir chair.nz@sssi.org.au Victoria Regional Chair Zaffar Mohamed-Ghouse chair.vic@sssi.org.au Queensland Regional Chair Chris McAlister chair.qld@sssi.org.au South Australia Regional Chair Gary Maguire chair.sa@sssi.org.au Western Australia Regional Chair Kerry Smyth reo.wa@sssi.org.au Tasmania: Regional Chair Alex Leith chair.tas@sssi.org.au SSSI National Office 27-29 Napier Cl, Deakin, ACT 2600 (PO Box 307) Phone: +61 2 6282 2282 Email: support@sssi.org.au

www.spatialsource.com.au 47

sssi news Young Professionals Event Updates

As we move out of the depths of winter and into spring, the SSSI Young Professionals are gearing up to bring you the very best in events and across the country. Starting in Western Australia, the YP will be assisting the School of Spatial Science at Curtin University with their open day, focusing on both geographic and survey courses offered at Curtin University in 2015.

The open day will be held on the Curtin University campus on Sunday 4 August – check out http://openday.curtin.edu.au/ for more information. Also, stay tuned for the WA YP and Women in Geographical and Information Technology or WINGIT co-hosted event, currently scheduled for later this year.

Moving onto South Australia, and the YP are gearing up for the annual SA Spatial Information Day. This event is a must for all YP in SA with presentations, prizes, a wine tasting tour, and the SA Spatial Excellence Awards. The Spatial Information Day will be held on 29 August at the Adelaide Convention Centre - for more

information, please log in to the website at www.spatialinformationday.org.au.

Across now to the ACT, where the YP are busy preparing for the ACT Annual Conference, to be held on 22 August with the theme of ‘Does your Data Work with Others’. To register, or to find out more info, please visit www.sssiactconference.org.au.

Finally, the Tasmanian YP committee, in conjunction with the University of Tasmania student society, are planning a BBQ and presentation event for later this year.

For this and all event details from across the country, please remember to check the SSSI events calendar on a regular basis.

In the modern, always-connected society in which we live today, data management and use forms a critical part of the underlying information infrastructure, no more so than in the surveying and spatial science industries. At the forefront of this trend towards greater connectedness are young professionals, who through the use of mobile devices and social networks are continually transforming our society into something that more closely aligns with a 1950’s sci-fi novel than the traditionalist ways of the past. Within the context of our industries, we have seen the rise of crowd-sourced data projects such as www.openstreetmap.org, commercialised but freely available satellite imagery repositories such as Google Earth

and Microsoft Bing, and a trend by social media networks such as Facebook and Foursquare to pinpoint your every location.

Driven by the younger generation’s addiction to mobile computing and hunger for more data, governments of all levels and jurisdictions have recognised the economic potential in releasing public data in a free, open and accessible way.

Through online portals, such as http:// data.gov.au/, and assisted by online communities such as the Open Knowledge Foundation, state governments within Australia and indeed around the world have embarked on a quest to release as much data as possible to the wider community. In addition, government initiatives such as GovJam (www.govjam. org) and GovHack (www.govhack.org) are also aimed at spawning innovation of public sector data. As experts in mobile technologies, online social networks and in the fields of location-based data capture and analysis, it is the role of Young Professionals to not only drive the use and acceptance of open data within the surveying and spatial sciences arena, but to also teach others in what is possible with these emerging resources.

Matthew Fry Communications Officer, National YP Committee

Spatial Information and Cartography Commission Update

Over the past few months, the Spatial Information and Cartography Commission (SI&C) has been working on the preparation of the 2014/2015 financial year budget. This budget has proposed some exciting projects for the commission that aim to maintain our relationships with similar organisations, position the commission as a recognised authority for the industry, improve processes and improve services offered to members.

We are currently licensing a third URISA workshop on business intelligence and data integration to add to the existing workshops of GIS program management, and cartography and map design. It is planned that the SI&C will be sending a representative to the Pacific Islands GIS RS User Conference in Fiji this November to present one of these workshops and support those seeking to

48 position August/September 2014

achieve GISP-AP certification. The GIS RS Conference will discuss diverse topics such as ‘forest function maps to identify areas for protection’ and ‘identifying and developing flood zone areas’.

I would like to congratulate the following newly accredited GISP-AP: Seyedhossien Pourali, Anthony O’Flaherty, Michael Walsh, and Alan Wong. As well, congratulations are offered to the members who have renewed their GIS-AP certification: Martin Russell, Alex Crothers, Frank Blanchfield, and Kerry Smyth.

Over the last few months, there where a few events of interest that included the Open Source Workshop in Queensland that was presented by Shaun Kolomeitz, which covered the pros and cons of open source data, free data, getting data, exploring data and creating maps; in Victoria, there was an Emerging Technologies Workshop that focused on practical skills of how to use emerging technologies within the spatial industry.

Over the coming months, there will be AURIN Master classes held in NSW (June), SA (August), TAS (August) and WA (September). AURIN is an initiative funded by the Australia Government

Super Science Scheme that will provide built environments and urban researchers, designers, and planners with infrastructure to facilitate access to a distributed network of aggregated datasets and information services.

These master classes will give attendees the skills to access information in the AURIN portal through a series of interactive guided exercises using their own laptops. The AURIN experts will provide hands-on tuition and an array of training materials. There will also be an opportunity for participants to workshop their own urban methods and projects and understand how AURIN can assist through the provision of data.

For those heading to New Zealand in September, I’d encourage you to attend the seventh National Cartographic Conference CeoCart ‘2014, and the 3rd ICA Regional symposium on Cartography for Australasia and Oceania, which will be running together this year in Auckland from 3-5 September.

For more information on this conference please visit http://www.gisuser. com/content/view/32834/2/#sthash. h0ZnDPz5.dpuf

SSSI sustaining partners

Hydrography Commission Update touch with industry, technology and new practices. This assists in the profession continuing to advance and surveyors continuing to be competent professionals. It’s all about the pride you take in doing what you do and doing it to best practice.

What can you do to help us produce this video? You as a member can provide images/content covering certification, images of ships, infrastructure shots, and people working within the field. If possible, underwater wrecks and 3D imaging as well as fly throughs. If you are able to assist, please send any images or video content to Steve Kern at skern@riaus.org.au.

Over the course of the last year, the Hydrography Commission has run a number of successful projects, which included the commission finalising the ‘Hydrography as a career’ video that was developed with a focus on providing information about the career of hydrography to schoolchildren. The video

H.M.S Investigator

Matthew Flinders, ca. 1800 Watercolour Miniature Portrait

Matthew Flinders 200th Anniversary 1814 – 2014

172 Nth W Coast new Holland Cicado zonalis

Sword said to have belonged to Matthew Flinders

Naval coat or sash badge belonging to Matthew Flinders

To the memory of Trim

The best and most illustrious of his race The most affectionate of friends faithful of servants,and best of creatures He made the tour of the globe, and a voyage to Australia which he circumnavigated, and was ever the delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers (Written by Matthew Flingers in memory of his cat)

Top – A Dolphin – 6 feet long Bottom – A Pilot fish – the size of life Entrance of Endeavor River, from the Hill at the North end of Long Sandy Beach

Sextant made by Watkins circa 1800

Seashells. Four views/Watercolour

169 Nth Coast New Holland Euprepia Crokeni

Wooding Place, in Adenture Bay Vam Diemans Land 1792 Twofold Bay NSW

A Suckling fish – 9 inches long

Natives of New South Wales Biddy Salamander by Charles Rodius

[Seashells] Rottnest Is., 1822 Watercolour

Fish – two third the size of life GT. 1792

A large Paroquet of Van Diemans Land

Top – Portuguese man of war (so called by seamen) Bottom – Rather more than half the size of life GJ. 1891

167 Nth W Coast new Holland Macroglossum Kingii

A flying fish – 10 inches long

Supported by:

View of Sydney Cover 1794 – 1796

Poster produced by: The Hydrography Commisson of the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute

The Australasian Hydrographic Society

was distributed to as many educational institutions as possible, and can be located at the Hydrography Commission’s home page and at RiAus (http://riaus.org. au/articles/what-is-hydrography/ ).

With the success of the “Hydrography as a career” video, the commission is now embarking on a new video that will focus on the importance of AHSCP certification.

We will be working with RiAUS again to produce the video and are currently seeking content from surveyors and employers of SSSI-certified surveyors.

SSSI is the delegate for confirming skill qualifications for the Department of Immigration. Being certified provides a significant lead in this assessment. Industry has for the past three years been writing in the requirement to have AHSCP-certified hydrographic surveyors on hydrographic projects. Being certified requires a surveyor to maintain CPD, which in turn means the surveyor must stay in

A division of the Department of Finance & Services

Land and Property Information

Images used with permission from the State Library NSW

Sydney Harbour, Watercolour

To honour Matthew Flinders, and the Bicentennial of his creation of Australia’s first map in 1814, the SSSI Hydrography Commission, as well as sponsors AHS and the NSW LPI, have printed numerous copies of his original charts to be sent to schools, libraries and universities Australia-wide. The maps have been welcomed by all educational and historical institutions. There is a limited number of copies available through the Hydrography Commission free of charge. Please note that there may be postage costs.

I would like to announce the inaugural annual Health and Safety Representative (HSR) Award that recognises individuals or team members within the Hydrographic Commission who have been outstanding in their contribution to the health and safety of the public or their co-workers.

The HSR Award is to be presented annually at the SSSI / AHS presentation gala night and enables membership from

across Australasia and overseas to meet and share work related experiences. The award is judged jointly by members of the HC and AHS awards committees Please get your nominations in, trophies and prizes to be won. Please see link http://www.sssi.org.au/details/ commission/4/cat/546.html There has been a significant increase in people wishing to join the Hydrographic Commission’s LinkedIn page, many from outside of Australia and New Zealand.

Much of this increase may be attributed to the growing visibility of the commission and certification due to the committee and AHSCP’s continued pursuance of professional advancement of individuals and providing industry the knowledge of why certification makes a difference to them.

Our goal for the LinkedIn page is to use it as an open forum for discussions. Potential certification candidates can use the forum for guidance and mentoring from fellow Hydrography Commission members.

Emily Tidey is working hard on restoring the Category A Hydrographic course at Otago University in Dunedin New Zealand. The Hydrography Commission will be fully supporting her efforts to re-establish a hydrographic training venue. Emily recently attended the FIG Conference in Kuala Lumpur where following a hydrography presentation touching on her work at Otago University, delegates from various attending countries expressed a great deal of interest in these developments.

A quick reminder, CPD is due for all Certified Hydrographic Surveyors at the end of the financial year in accordance with the certification guidelines and CPD policy.

As well, the SSSI Hydrography Commission welcomes its sustaining partners for the 2014/15 financial year, these being the Royal Australian Navy, Swathe Services, and Fugro Survey Pty Ltd. In closing, I would like to personally welcome the Hydrographic Commission two newest committee members Paul Kennedy and Celine Roux.

Andrew Ternes Hydrographic Surveyor www.spatialsource.com.au 49

QCON14

Incorporating the 17th Australasian Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Conference (ARSPC), the 6th Queensland Surveying & Spatial Conference (QSSC) and the LiDAR Technologies 2014 Conference.

The Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute proudly invites you to participate in QCON14, from the 7th-10th October 2014.

QCON14 is a unique platform for members of the Surveying and Spatial Community to network, share ideas and learn about innovations and industry advancements.

The theme for this year is: 'Repositioning for a Sustainable Future' QCON14 will look at how the Surveying and Spatial Sciences can help provide a balance of economic prosperity and environmental sustainability, while also examining the changing roles of our profession to ensure our own longevity. › To register visit: www.cvent.com/d/c4qz75 › For information on how to submit an abstract go to: www.cvent.com/events/qcon14/custom-17-a60598c636e241b2962670f745fcec2e.aspx › For Sponsorship & Exhibition opportunities go to: www. cvent.com/events/qcon14/custom-18-a60598c636e241b2962670f745fcec2e.aspx If you have any questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to contact the SSSI Queensland Office on 07 3217 2566.

The Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute is the not-for-profit national peak body representing and supporting the largest membership of spatial science and surveying professionals in Australia and New Zealand.

SSSI represents professionals in: Land Surveying, Spatial Information & Cartography, Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry, Hydrographic Surveying, Engineering & Mining Surveying and special interest groups including Women in Spatial and Young Professionals.

JOIN

SSSI TODAY...

Being a member of SSSI will provide you with the platform and support to maximise your skills, knowledge and experience including: • Professional recognition as a member of the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute; • Over 200+ regular regional and national workshops, seminars and webinars; • Free membership for students, concession rates available for graduates and retired professionals; • Enhance your CPD via access to the internationally recognized certification and SSSI CPD program; • Professional partnership opportunities available.

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sssi.org.au | +61 2 6282 2282

50 position August/September 2014

The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

August/September 2014 – No. 72

The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

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