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Blog: Chris Harlow on ITSearch The Harlow Report Archives
More businesses are using location-based services via Wi-Fi, RFID and Bluetooth beacons to track and interact with customers
here are lots of motivations driving organizations to install location-tracking technologies. The obvious driver is to find things, especially things on wheels, such as medical equipment in a hospital. It can also be smart to keep tabs on things in transit, such as a container. But the biggest reason to track things is simply because we can.
We can also use these technologies to track people. Some solutions such as facial recognition can literally track people, but usually we just track a device someone might be carrying. We can now literally track the customer’s journey (through a retail store).
There’s a popular misconception that global positioning satellites (GPS) are usable inside, but they range from worthless to unhelpful. GPS satellite signals require a direct line of sight to multiple satellites.
There are, however, several ways to track location indoors. The most popular are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth beacons, and RFID. And all three are increasing in popularity. Read full story at NETWORKWORLD…
first published week of: 07/24/2017
Maps are one of the most popular ways to visualize data and are an easy way to add context to geographically-based datasets. They can also be beautiful and offer a different view of our world.
So learning to make appealing and informative maps to support stories is a great skill to learn. Over the past few years I’ve experimented with dozens of mapping tools and libraries and the list below is a shortlist based on the tools I find myself using most often.
Some of these tools are easy to use: add some data, choose your preferred settings and you create your map. Some of them (mostly toward the end of the list) require some programming knowledge, but if you’re willing to invest the time you can create some excellent custom data visualizations with them. Read full story at Media Hack Magazine…
first published week of: 07/10/2017
NSPS and MAPPS support efforts to streamline federal geospatial data acquisition
Enterprise data and analytics company Acxiom and software giant Adobe have launched a solution called Connected Spaces, helping clients in retail, travel and leisure sectors to deliver real-time communications.
Christian Peck and Garrett IlgConnected Spaces combines Acxiom's people-based marketing services and Adobe's customer experience delivery platform to help locations such as airports, malls, sports stadia and resorts to understand and engage with their audiences. Consumers are spotted at the moment of interaction when they enter a geo-fenced environment, park a vehicle, connect to a WiFi service or make in-store purchases. Read full story at Daily Research News Online…
first published week of: 07/31/2017
Leica Geosystems releasedLi DAR data processing capability in the Leica RealCity solution package. Leica Geosystems partnered with international asset integrity and geo-intelligence solutions provider, Fugro, to begin acquiring and processing data over multiple cities and coastal regions across the US.
Using CityMapper, Fugro conducted aerial surveys over some of North America’s most densely populated urban centres, in support of their geospatial mapping services. As the world’s first hybrid airborne sensor combining oblique and nadir imaging as well as a LiDAR system into one instrument, the CityMapper enables significant time and cost savings by flying once to collect both imagery and LiDAR data. All collected LiDAR and imaging data can be processed in the one unified workflow solution, Leica HxMap.
“We have a long history working with Leica Geosystems sensors, because they are so reliable. CityMapper has proven no different,” said Mike Wernau, Fugro program manager. “The platform's superior design, coupled with Leica Geosystems’ newest version of HxMap, amplifies our ability to create highly accurate, feature-rich geospatial content.”
The results of the airborne surveys were post-processed using the latest version of Leica HxMap, the unified high-performance multi-sensor workflow. Within a single and familiar interface common to processing other Leica Geosystems airborne sensors, all typical data products, from orthophotos and oblique images to point clouds, 3D meshes and models, can be quickly and efficiently produced.
“The added enhancements enable users to work more efficiently while saving on training and IT costs,” said Belai Beshah, VP Software, Leica Geosystems, Geospatial Solutions Division.
The latest update of the common-sensor post-processing software sees the addition of LiDAR point cloud generation, calibration, strip matching and viewing to the current image processing capability. Leica HxMap version 2.2 also incorporates enhanced noise filtering for both CityMapper and Leica SPL100 single-photon LiDAR sensors.
first published week of: 10/23/2017
Airbus (stock exchange symbol: AIR) today launched its U.S. base and operations of a new commercial drone start-up, named Airbus Aerial, at the AUVSI Xponential tradeshow and conference in Dallas.
With bases both in the U.S. and in Europe, Airbus Aerial’s initial business will focus on developing new imagery services. These services will leverage the best software and aerospace technology from across the globe to offer actionable data and analysis of information provided by drones, satellites, high altitude aircraft and other sources.
"Through Airbus Aerial, we are uniquely positioned and fully committed to advancing the commercial Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) industry. It is bringing together partners from across the industry – ranging from vehicle manufacturers, data analytics companies, service providers and others – to enable data-focused services at large scale," said Dirk Hoke, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Defence and Space. "Using an integrated combination of assets, from UAS platforms to satellite imagery, Airbus Aerial is rolling out a wide range of new imagery services. In the future, additional pillars of the Airbus Aerial activities will be in the area of cargo drone services as well as providing connectivity via aerial assets."
The U.S.-based part of Airbus Aerial will be headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and is led by Jesse Kallman, a UAS industry expert with more than 12 years of experience including research at Georgia Tech, federal policy at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), commercial UAS at Airware, and advocacy with groups like AUVSI (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International). Kallman has served as a trusted adviser to executives at Fortune 500 companies, members of Congress, senior officials at the FAA and White House, and leading Silicon Valley Venture Capital groups.
first published week of: 05/15/2017
A database that made it quicker and easier for the Alabama Army National Guard to keep track of cultural resources across the nearly 24,000 acres of the McClellan Army National Guard Training Center is now being used for project planning for several departments.
We had no comprehensive or cohesive way to look at our documents or know where our sites are located Heather Puckett, the cultural resources manager for the Alabama National Guard
The training center sits on land whose cultural resources include gravesites, archeological artifacts and an assortment of historic documents associated with Native Americans, early settlers, Confederate troops during the Civil War and training for both the world wars.
“We had no comprehensive or cohesive way to look at our documents or know where our sites are located,” Heather Puckett, the cultural resources manager for the Alabama National Guard, told GCN. “We had multiple subcontractors who had performed work on our property, but there was really no database or mapping mechanism to tie everything together.”
The data was stored on multiple computers across the network, and some wasn’t even digitized and had to be scanned. Puckett and Rebecca Ridley, the Alabama National Guard's GIS manager, entered the information into Microsoft Access databases that connected to a SQL server and populated a map viewer. Read full story at GCN Magazine…
first published week of: 05/15/2017