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Blog: Chris Harlow on ITSearch The Harlow Report Archives
For state agencies working with geographic information systems, data storage and transfer can present quite the challenge — GIS files are frequently massive.
For instance, the aerial imagery that Michigan plans to place on dozens of new websites and applications over the next few years takes up roughly 25 terabytes of space.
The biggest thing that the move to the cloud does for the state is increase the types of data we can handle and give us more use of what we already have Mark Holmes, geospatial services manager at the Center for Shared Solutions and Technology Partnerships within Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management & Budget
And yet during hunting season this fall, the residents of Michigan won’t have to worry that the aerial data expansion will detract from their online experience using Mi-HUNT, an online mapping application. The state this spring embarked on a cloud-based GIS program that will bring more depth and analytic power to many of its constituent websites without impacting the performance of those already accessing it.
“The biggest thing that the move to the cloud does for the state is increase the types of data we can handle and give us more use of what we already have,” explains Mark Holmes, geospatial services manager at the Center for Shared Solutions and Technology Partnerships within Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management & Budget.
Besides preventing performance degradation, the move to the cloud will free up resources within the department.
“The cloud service will result in a 30 percent cost savings,” Homes says. “Plus, having the cloud provider manage the imagery and load it for us gives us a savings in manpower hours as well.” continued…
first published week of: 10/10/2016
Humanitarian workers delivering aid to regions hit by natural disasters might find it a little easier to reach people most in need of help following new advances in crowd-sourced mapping technology, researchers said on Wednesday.
Online volunteers provide up-to-date geographic information that can help disaster response teams on the ground make more informed decisions Yingjie Hu, University of Tennessee geography professor
Traditional maps often do not give rescue workers the information they need when disasters strike, such as which buildings and bridges have been destroyed.
Crowd-mapping, where volunteers on the ground send real-time information about which roads are open and where people could be trapped following earthquakes or hurricanes, has become increasingly popular with aid groups, U.S. researchers said.
To make the mapping process more efficient, researchers at the University of California and the University of Tennessee created a new algorithm that indicates which areas need detailed mapping first after a disaster.
"Online volunteers provide up-to-date geographic information that can help disaster response teams on the ground make more informed decisions," said University of Tennessee geography professor Yingjie Hu. continued…
first published week of: 12/05/2016
By acquiring Radiant, DigitalGlobe builds its relationship with the National Reconnaissance Office, said Jeff Tarr, DigitalGlobe president and chief executive. SpaceNews file photo
In a move designed to expand its geospatial services business and U.S. government customer base, DigitalGlobe Inc. announced plans Oct. 11 to pay $140 million to acquire The Radiant Group, a geospatial information company based in Chantilly, Virginia.
“We are on the cusp of a number of shifts occurring both in the government market and in the commercial market, with moves toward cloud computing, increasing utilization of machine learning, crowd sourcing and open source software,” said Walter Scott, founder, chief technical officer and executive vice president of Westminster, Colorado-based DigitalGlobe.
We are on the cusp of a number of shifts occurring both in the government market and in the commercial market, with moves toward cloud computing, increasing utilization of machine learning, crowd sourcing and open source software, Walter Scott, founder, chief technical officer and executive vice president of DigitalGlobe
By purchasing Radiant, DigitalGlobe adds “hundreds of innovative software developers and analysts with experience in those areas to solve complex geospatial intelligence challenges,” he added.
Increasingly, intelligence agencies faced with a flood of imagery from satellites, drones and other sources are asking contractors to answer their most pressing questions rather than providing raw imagery or data. Radiant’s expertise will help DigitalGlobe “squeeze the most capability out of what they are collecting with their systems on orbit,” said Keith Masback, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation chief executive and former director of NGA’s Source Operations Group.
DigitalGlobe captures between 50 to 60 terabytes of imagery daily and has an 80-petabyte image library. continued…
first published week of: 10/17/2016
A Free Marketplace Connecting Businesses with Experienced Drone Mapping Pilots
On August 29th, the FAA released its long-awaited Part 107 regulation governing commercial drone operations. A mere 3 weeks later, over 12,000 remote pilots had already passed the certification test, giving shape to the commercial drone boom that analysts and venture capitalists had be talking about for years.
Despite this growth, the nascent market is still very inefficient. Over 20 drone service marketplaces have been created aimed at connecting drone pilots to clients, but each marketplace acts as a middleman charging transactional or subscription fees without providing a steady flow of work to pilots. How do we know this? Because drone service providers frequently ask us where they can find more mapping work, and businesses frequently ask us for drone pilot references.Today we are excited to launch the Drone Mapping Directory, an entirely free service to connect businesses with drones service providers. Where other drone service marketplaces have focused primarily on photo and video services, this new directory focuses exclusively on drone mapping and enables pilots to showcase examples of their previous mapping projects. continued…
first published week of: 10/24/2016
The same technology that powers unmanned airstrikes in in the world's worst war zones is also is also behind a quiet revolution that's transforming agriculture from the skies above Ontario's heartland. (The Associated Press)
The same technology used in military aviation "drones" is flying over farmland in southwestern Ontario, and it is quietly changing the face of agriculture.
Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have become part of a farmer's strategy for crop and livestock management, helping drive an era of "data-driven" agriculture, which could reduce food costs and help the environment.
Smaller, more powerful, inexpensive UAVs are devices about the size of a bread box in the shape of anything from miniature fixed-wing aircraft to rotor-bladed "quad-copters" loaded with high resolution point-and- shoot cameras, thermal imagery, geographic information systems, flight pattern software and GPS.
Dr. Mary Ruth McDonald of the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph has been researching the power of UAVs and their imagery at the Holland Marsh, an hour or so north of Toronto.
She says the units are getting smaller, cheaper and more powerful, making them an attractive crop management technology for farmers in the last 10 years. continued…
first published week of: 08/22/2016
A New World of Analytics Available to Power BI and Azure Users
Esri is collaborating with Microsoft Corp. on two new offerings leveraging Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Azure. This collaboration makes the power of geospatial analytics available to a much broader audience than ever before.
Esri's GIS platform, ArcGIS, will be integrated into Power BI (Business Intelligence), a set of business analytics tools, which enables its enterprise users to create dashboards, reports, and data visualizations through a cloud-based service. Power BI, which has more than five million subscribers, will be able to leverage integrated data and geospatial analytics capabilities from ArcGIS, including interactive basemaps, US demographics, and secure access to organizational data.
"ArcGIS geoenables Power BI with some of the world's leading spatial analytics," said Dirk Gorter, Esri director of product management. "We're excited to give Power BI users access to data and enhanced map visualizations so that they can tell compelling stories using spatial and nonspatial data. More and more, this location-based insight is becoming an important source of intelligence for the business."
In addition, Esri's premier professional desktop application, ArcGIS Pro, can take advantage of Microsoft's Azure cloud platform in a desktop as a service (DaaS) configuration, part of a growing collection of integrated cloud services.
Joint users of Esri and Microsoft's Azure cloud platform will now also enjoy all the capabilities of ArcGIS Pro on Azure's virtual desktop. ArcGIS Pro as a service on Azure enables GIS users to visualize, edit, and analyze geographic data in both 2D and 3D, as well as share their work with others. This development is especially important to ArcGIS Desktop implementations with extremely intensive graphics performance requirements.
"Microsoft Power BI is committed to developing high-touch business relationships that result in value for Power BI users," said John Doyle, director, Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Corp. "The ArcGIS Maps for Power BI solution will provide Esri's vast experience with geospatial analytics to all Power BI users for their analysis and data visualization needs. When armed with a strong geographic understanding, Power BI users can make informed location-based business insights for everything from allocating resources to the best places to start a new business."
first published week of: 10/03/2016