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Blog: Chris Harlow on ITSearch The Harlow Report Archives
Planet’s high-resolution satellite constellations image the entire world every single day. If you rely on imagery from Planet, managing this wealth of available data can be a challenge. That’s why Esri has added tools for managing PlanetScope and RapidEye imagery to its array of free, open-source tools that simplify image management in ArcGIS.
With the Python toolbox for managing Planet imagery, users can create mosaic datasets to manage Planet imagery within the familiar ArcGIS environment. With these scripts, data managers can streamline or automate the creation of scalable mosaic datasets, which can then be shared as image services with internal users or users outside your organization.
Imagery from Planet’s PlanetScope and RapidEye satellite constellations supports numerous applications—including mapping, deep learning, disaster response, precision agriculture, or simple temporal image analytics—which generate rich information products. Once managed with mosaic datasets, it’s straightforward for GIS or image analysts to exploit the temporal aspects of Planet imagery via an image service, to analyze the spectral data to draw actionable conclusions, to use the imagery to provide context within a GIS, and more.
The Python tools work by drawing on the Planet API to query, activate, and download PlanetScope or RapidEye Basic scenes over a given timeframe and area of interest. The imagery is then made accessible to users via the Planet Explorer app or the Planet API. The Planet toolbox is supported in ArcMap 10.5, and can also be used in ArcGIS Pro. Read full story atblogs.esri.com…
first published week of: 05/22/2017
Drones seem to have the potential to revolutionize numerous areas of our lives, but today their biggest disruption is in the field of mapping. These small flying machines have made mapping any area or an object a matter of few minutes or hours, instead of the typical days or weeks it used to take before. In addition, this mapping equipment is accessible to even ‘non-experts’ because using a simple hobby drone like the DJI Phantom or DJI Mavic Pro will let you achieve survey-grade accuracy in a photogrammetric map or 3D model.
But what exactly is this ‘accuracy’? How do you define it, measure it, and verify it? And finally, what is the accuracy you actually need and how do you achieve it using UAVs? All these questions are really important if an aerial mapping business is your aim. In this industry, accuracy is the name of the game. And if you cannot define it and deliver it, you would end up offering your clients nothing more than a pretty picture from above.
One of the most important parameters of your survey is the spatial resolution, which in photogrammetry terms is described as GSD (Ground Sampling Distance). In literature, it is defined as the distance between two consecutive pixel centers measured on the ground. In practice, it is simply the size of the pixel in the field. Read full story at Linkedin…
first published week of: 07/24/2017
Drones seem to have the potential to revolutionize numerous areas of our lives, but today their biggest disruption is in the field of mapping. These small flying machines have made mapping any area or an object a matter of few minutes or hours, instead of the typical days or weeks it used to take before. In addition, this mapping equipment is accessible to even ‘non-experts’ because using a simple hobby drone like the DJI Phantom or DJI Mavic Pro will let you achieve survey-grade accuracy in a photogrammetric map or 3D model.
But what exactly is this ‘accuracy’? How do you define it, measure it, and verify it? And finally, what is the accuracy you actually need and how do you achieve it using UAVs? All these questions are really important if an aerial mapping business is your aim. In this industry, accuracy is the name of the game. And if you cannot define it and deliver it, you would end up offering your clients nothing more than a pretty picture from above. Read full story at Linkedin…
first published week of: 08/07/2017
http://www.businessinsider.com
Facebook built on its existing location-based ad tools and Canvas ad offerings, by introducing two ad tools that should help marketers reach their intended audience and drive e-commerce sales.
The first tool is a location-based ad tool that allows advertisers to target users based on their offline activities including visits to brick-and-mortar stores, in-store purchases, and calls to businesses. These build on Facebook tools that let advertisers measure offline conversion — that's vital data, given that e-commerce represented just 8.5% of retail sales in Q1 2017.
Read full story at Business Insider…
first published week of: 10/02/2017
Updated 2016 US Topo map section within Great Smoky Mountains National Park showing Park boundary and enhanced water data compared to the same 2013 US Topo map. (1:24,000 scale).
Updated USGS digital topographic maps feature more trails and other recreation points of interest
It’s officially summer, and USGS maps can help you to get outside and explore. Updated US Topo maps and other mapping products now make the planning, plotting and navigation of that next outing easier. Recent partnerships with other Federal, State and non-governmental and commercial organizations have allowed the USGS digital topographic maps to feature additional trails and major recreation points of interest.
Collecting Trail Data From Partners
The USGS has become an aggregator of national level trails and recreational features. The mapping division of the USGS, the National Geospatial Program (NGP) has been seeking and leveraging partnerships with other agencies and organizations by making their data available through USGS mapping products and services. These contributions and collaborative efforts have resulted in the addition of more than 127,455 miles of diverse governmental maintained trails to the Nation’s topographic base maps. The Federal and State input includes:
As the collection, formatting and distribution of this data continues, more cooperation with Federal, state and local agencies is expected to increase – and greatly add to a national database. Read full story at USGS…
first published week of: 07/24/2017
A trip to Zootopia was one of the unusual events at Esri’s 2017 User Conference, where the Redlands company made the case that its vision is vital to the tech world.
The vision is “the science of where,” a phrase coined by Esri founder Jack Dangermond earlier this year as a concept easier to grasp than the common term, geographic information systems, and one that defines how Esri’s platform, ArcGIS, integrates vast amounts of data with maps.
The User Conference is Esri’s biggest event. It ran Monday through Friday at the San Diego Convention Center and attracted nearly 18,000 people this year, most of the developers from throughout the world.
Here is what they experienced.
first published week of: 07/17/2017