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The Department of Transportation announced plans for two pilot programs that will integrate its existing datasets with near-real-time data sources to improve highway safety.
The first will integrate existing data on known crashes and highway design with speed-related data culled from anonymous GPS-enabled devices to see how the speed and roadway characteristics determine crashes.
The second pilot project will integrate crash data from Waze, the app that crowdsources information on roadway conditions, with DOT's existing data to see if Waze can help estimate crash risk.
Waze data has been integrated into a number of state and local traffic applications
Read full story at GCN…
first published week of: 01/15/2018
Dawn Wright
( Esri)
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a commercial jetliner on its way from Malaysia to China with 239 people on board, strayed from its flight path and disappeared from air traffic control radar. Analysis of satellite data revealed that MH370 had flown for over six hours after contact was lost and likely crashed along a narrow arc of the southern Indian Ocean. The loss of MH370 remains one of the highest-profile catastrophes of modern commercial aviation, and four years later, despite one of the most expensive searches ever undertaken, MH370 still remains missing.
The difficulty in finding MH370 can be blamed in part on geology. The rugged topography of the Indian Ocean floor could potentially obscure the debris field, making undersea mapping an important part of the investigation. Despite the failed search effort, the monumental deep-sea mission produced the most detailed underwater map ever created.
A joint communique from the transport ministers of Malaysia, Australia, and China included the following statement upon the conclusion of the search:
“Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft. Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended. The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness.”
Read full story at Esri Blog…
first published week of: 04/02/2018
Dr. Curtis Edson, Assistant Professor of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems at MTech,hold the UAV used in the drone flights over the Hiawatha National Forest.
( US Forest Service)
The USDA Forest Service and Michigan Technological University (MTech) are using unmanned aerial systems, or drones, to advise the Hiawatha National Forest’s land management efforts.
Located in Michigan’s wild and scenic Upper Peninsula, the Hiawatha National Forest’s dramatic shorelines lie nestled up to Lake Superior, Huron, and Michigan – three of the five Great Lakes.
This past summer, the Federal Aviation Administration approved flights over Lake Michigan’s Stonington and Garden peninsulas to gather information that will help land managers assess the health and condition of the area’s coastal wetlands.
The data will be utilized to maintain habitat for near-shore fisheries and migrating birds; monitor water quality, quantity, and flow conditions; manage non-native invasive species that threaten the health of the lakes; and monitor the impacts of topographic features such as roads, bridges, and levies.
The Hiawatha is one of six national forests in the Great Lakes Basin. There is a strong connection between the health of the surrounding forests and that of the lakes, including the tributaries that drain into them. Aerial monitoring provides a critical big-picture perspective that helps inform land managers and their activities.
The logistics and process from this year’s flights will be reviewed and refined. In the future, researchers hope to expand aerial monitoring to study the all Hiawatha National Forest's Great Lakes coastlines.
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. Federal agencies and their partners use the Initiative’s resources to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes and accelerate progress toward long-term restoration goals for this important ecosystem.
first published week of: 01/01/2018
New Capabilities Provide Support for Unstructured Data in the ArcGIS Platform
Esri, announced that it has acquired technology from ClearTerra, a leader in geospatial and activity-based intelligence tools. This acquisition will provide ArcGIS platform users the ability to easily discover and extract geographic coordinates from unstructured textual data like emails, briefings, and reports, instantly generating intelligent map-based information.
This capability will make mapping this elusive information easier across many industries. Defense, intelligence, and public safety organizations tend to have massive volumes of unstructured data, as do other fields such as petroleum, utilities, and maritime, where locating information on the earth is not as easy as searching for a street address. Esri’s acquisition of ClearTerra technology brings workflow-enhancing software technologies into the ArcGIS platform.
“We have been close partners with Esri for a number of years,” said Jeff Wilson, former vice president of sales for ClearTerra, now an executive for defense and intelligence with Esri. “Esri has the platform and resources to provide a solid path going forward for our technology, allowing us to expand this capability to the global market.”
ClearTerra LocateXT technology allows analysts to rapidly scan through documents without having to spend hours reading, copying, pasting, and running spreadsheet formulas, placing the results instantly into geospatial features. Additionally, ClearTerra FindFZ technology provides enhanced search capabilities for the ArcGIS platform, incorporating the powerful techniques found in internet search engines, including a tolerance for misspelled words, as well as wildcard and Boolean logic searches.
“We are excited to bring ClearTerra technology into the Esri family,” said Jeff Peters, Esri director of national government. “The unstructured data tools are powerful not only for those who have made use of this technology for a number of years, such as in the military, but it also has useful applications for so many more Esri users.”
ClearTerra has been an active member of the Esri partner program, providing their software to ArcGIS users via desktop, server, and the cloud. Support and maintenance for the software will continue via Esri with no interruption of service and is readily available for licensing.
For more information on ClearTerra and how it’s technology can further enhance your ArcGIS workflow, visit www.clearterra.com
first published week of: 02/26/2018
Harness The Science of Where-Tell Your Story to Win Recognition and Prizes Including Esri ArcGIS Software
Esri announced the opening of its Storytelling with Maps Contest. Participants are invited to submit their top Esri Story Maps projects for a chance to win prizes and peer recognition at the Esri User Conference. Contest participants can submit up to three preexisting or new story maps between now and May 7, 2018.
"This contest is intended to celebrate the many diverse and creative uses of this exciting storytelling medium," said Allen Carroll, leader of the Esri Story Maps team. "Story maps use geography as a means of organizing and presenting information, and they tell the stories of places, events, issues, trends, and patterns within intuitive user experiences."
Submissions will be judged on design, user experience, impact, and overall creativity in telling an engaging story. All entries must make use of one of the Esri Story Maps apps.
Esri will award first-, second-, and third-place prizes in the following five categories:
Additionally, a grand prize will be awarded to the best overall story map entry. Prizes will include the following:
Submissions must be received by 5:00 p.m. (PDT) on May 7, 2018. Winners and their story map entries will be revealed at the 2018 Esri User Conference.
Enter the contest and get full details at go.esri.com/storytellingwithmaps.
first published week of: 04/09/2018
Real-Time Sensor Data
Mobileye Shield+ Offering Will Use Esri Analytics and Visualization to Improve Pedestrian Safety
Esri announced a collaboration with Mobileye, an Intel Company and a leading provider of advanced driver-assistance systems software, to integrate Esri mapping, analysis, and visualization with Mobileye’s Shield+™ product. This collaboration will provide cities with the ability to visualize and analyze real-time location data from Shield+, improving safety for all road users in urban environments.
Mobileye’s Shield+ will stream road safety data retrieved from city fleets into Esri’s ArcGIS platform, where information such as pedestrian and cyclist detection in blindspots can be viewed on the Mobileye Smart Mobility Dashboard. Shield+ alerts will be updated to the dashboard in real time, providing a city-wide view of pedestrian and cyclist safety. Amongst other things, this will allow users such as municipal bus drivers to then receive alerts about imminent hazards seconds before a potential collision, and to have a better, safer awareness of the roads they travel.
“Esri is excited to collaborate with Mobileye for an offering that brings us so much closer to creating safer communities,” said Jim Young, Esri head of business development. “Making spatial data available to governments to improve safety and overall quality of life is an important step.”
As a part of this new collaboration, Mobileye will give municipalities entering into new contracts with it the option to incorporate the analytics-based capability powered by Esri’s ArcGIS software.
“Through this collaboration with Esri, we are able to provide a game-changing product to cities and mobility providers,” says Nisso Moyal, director of business development and big data at Mobileye. “By enabling direct uploading of geospatial events from Shield+ fitted to municipal buses and the like to the Mobileye Smart Mobility Dashboard, cities will be able to anticipate and help prevent the next collision, while in general managing all of their assets much more efficiently.”
To read more about how Esri helps create Smart Communities, visit go.esri.com/smartcomm.
first published week of: 01/01/2018