Why Geospatial Needs to Listen to GDPR

When it comes to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, a suitable analogy to think about is a courtroom-based TV show. Every few episodes, the judge will ‘throw out’ a case because a lawyer did not collect evidence using legal means. The key thing to remember for geospatialists who watch these types of shows is that under GDPR, the incorrect collection and use of information will soon be considered as a punishable offense in itself. The GDPR regulation, which comes into force from May 2018, is an effort to uphold privacy and anonymity rights of all European Union citizens... (read more)

2018-01-08 12:54:10

Australia - A Nation Embracing its Geospatial Future

Despite having a population which is relatively small to its geographic side, Australia is a country which punches well above its weight on the global geospatial stage. In this article, Niall Conway provides an overview of the Australian geospatial industry, its active community, as well as the many geospatial initiatives which are taking place in the land Down Under. Although Australia’s first map by Western definition can be traced to the relatively recent date of 1810, it is actually a land with a long, rich history of maps. The second largest continent in the world contains a complex web of Aborigine... (read more)

2017-08-07 11:04:52

The Breadth and Depth of Smart Geospatial

With the summer now well past us, I’m sure many of you (like me) are reminiscing of peaceful days in amazing and beautiful places, escaping from the desktop. I really did opt for remote this year, with an escape to Shetland – time in the most northerly settlement in the UK and never 3 miles from the coast, it made for spectacular views and a feeling of being incredibly close to nature. Over recent weeks, I’m reminded that our planet is breathtakingly beautiful the world over – but also incredibly fragile. It’s impossible to avoid the news of environmental devastation... (read more)

2017-10-11 01:59:31

Geospatial Gender Balance - My Two Cents

The gender imbalance in the STEM world is, according to Niall Conway, no secret; we only need to look at the industry’s past to try understand why this is the case. The geospatial industry, is to a certain degree, tied to its traditional male-dominated roots. From the early exploration and conquering days, to the resources, utilities, and military industries, maps were created and used for the purposes of acquiring and maintaining power. This perhaps explains why the technical subject which is map-making appears to have, before now at least, neither appealed to, nor been as accessible to women as it... (read more)

2018-08-13 12:08:52

Maximising Geospatial Information After UN-GGIM

What does a modern national spatial data infrastructure look like? As I covered in my last column, to see geographic information supporting a growth in UK productivity, we need both the underlying foundations (tools) and investment in innovation. An infrastructure is often thought of as being just the technical elements of that foundation, a set of servers and a geoportal (!) for example. But we know that it’s more than this. It’s about the broader environment to enable maximum productivity gains from the use of geospatial. Our UK delegation to the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information... (read more)

2018-10-21 05:56:10

Hexagon’s Geospatial Division Releases Luciad V2018.1

Hexagon’s Geospatial division, a global provider of high-performance geospatial solutions, has announced the V2018.1 release of the Luciad Portfolio. The new version focuses on further expanding 3D capabilities and includes additional data formats and standards for users in military and maritime domains. To accommodate organizations’ expanding geospatial data, LuciadFusion introduces a RESTful API to automate the entire process of data crawling. Both the server and desktop solution, LuciadFusion and LuciadLightspeed, have added support for the E57 point cloud format and automate point cloud data optimization through the Tiling Engine API. LuciadLightspeed now includes Inland Electronic Navigational Charts and updated support... (read more)

2019-01-16 09:20:55

BlackSky Signs Agreement with HawkEye 360 for Geospatial Platform

BlackSky, a provider of geospatial intelligence, satellite imaging, and global monitoring services, has announced it has signed an agreement with HawkEye 360, the first commercial company to use formation-flying satellites to create a new class of radio frequency (RF) data analytics. As part of the agreement, HawkEye 360 will provide API access to selected RF data for customers interested in global spectrum monitoring. BlackSky intends to integrate data from HawkEye 360’s RF satellites into the BlackSky geospatial platform and resell it to its customers as part of its analytical services. “This is a very unique offering that provides key markets such... (read more)

2019-06-06 09:55:39

Ursa and HawkEye 360 to Develop Geospatial Information Solutions

Ursa, a provider of geospatial intelligence solutions, has announced a strategic partnership with HawkEye 360, the first commercial company to use formation flying satellites to create a new class of radio frequency (RF) data analytics. The companies will work together to develop geospatial information solutions that combine synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with radio frequency (RF) identification and geolocation to monitor activity across air, land and sea. "Partnering with HawkEye 360 is a natural complement to Ursa's technology and aligns with our mission to help customers make more informed decisions based on geospatial data," said Ursa co-founder and CEO, Adam Maher. "We... (read more)

2019-06-13 11:03:45

How to Increase Retail Sales Bridging IoT, Geospatial and AI

In the modern world, brick-and-mortar retail stores have to focus on new technologies to improve user experience (UX) and compete with the e-commerce stores. Geospatial analytics of location characteristics, demographic data, and trade areas helps retailers understand the impact this data has on store sales so that they can moderate success rates and improve performance. Internet of Things (IoT) also provides businesses with the ability to analyze the in-store impact light and temperature level has on consumer buying behaviour. However, defining true buying behaviour patterns can only be accomplished by using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that combine IoT data with... (read more)

2019-07-19 05:28:34

Bringing Geomatics and Geospatial Professionals Closer - GEO Business 2017

Event chair, Steven Eglinton, director of GeoEnable and vice-chair of AGI, urges geospatial professionals to come together for two days of conferences, workshops and exhibitions to learn, network, share and collaborate. While GEO Business’ roots are in survey and geomatics, the event has broadened into ‘geospatial’. It covers not only data capture, but data processing, management, use, re-use, maintenance and how to add value to business. It looks at the whole spectrum of what ‘geospatial’ can mean. Organisations represented include: Association for Geographic Information (AGI) Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Royal Institution of... (read more)

2017-04-04 04:14:58