As a pivotal facet of the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) process, it is imperative that the industry bestows advanced Space Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, thereby augmenting the potency of forces at pivotal junctures on the battlefield.
This can be attained through the utilization of cutting-edge technologies such as satellite imagery, radar, and signals intelligence to scrutinize the environment and detect potential threats.
In the contemporary era, where the magnitude and intricacy of INT data impede the expeditious identification and mitigation of security threats, analytics and AI are assuming an indispensable role in extracting national security intelligence from voluminous information to provide valuable insights for uncovering potential security intel.
Why intelligentization?
As IPB is a systematic, continuous process of analysing the threat and environment in a specific geographic area. It is designed to support staff estimates and military decision making. Applying the IPB in battle helps the commander selectively apply and maximise his combat.
Brigadier Anshuman Narang, Author and ISR domain expert talked about how space provides unmatched & restricted capabilities for IPB, most advanced COP; and Indian CNP’s backbone across DIME at DefSat, India’s first International Defence and Space conference and expo on Friday the 28th.
He talked about the Power of Data and how important and interconnected the Interoperability and Policy aspects are for the end user of the data.
There is shortage of skilled talent at every level and Data aggregation can ensure Machine Learning but not ensure human domain specialisation.
Adding onto the talk Tobby Simons, Founder and President of the Synergia Foundation talked about how the aspect of human intelligence should never be taken away from the battlefield, and that military should focus on the democratization of the decisions and moving onto the battlefield of the virtual cloud.
This harkens back to what Shri S. Somanath, Secretary Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO talked about in the inaugural session of the day. He talked about how Space Strategic Capability is essential for a nation like India and how necessary it is to scale up the process of launching satellites.
He also emphasized on how cost of access to the space sector has to be brought down and how there is extreme need of reusable systems.
“One who controls space, controls space battles and 21st century,” with this statement running through the first session of DefSat 2023 began its day 2. The discussions were held to identify the capability gaps that needs to be filled, the expectations of different industries and what needs to be done.
The global race to outer space has surpassed preceding strides. Nations like India can ill afford to procrastinate or relegate this domain to lower significance. The space sector must pursue timely prospects, through filling in gaps.
“Private space players can very quickly step-in and provide solutions with scales that governments cannot. The future wars and peaceful economic growth are both reliant of space capabilities. India must define its space philosophy, doctrine and strategy to enable building a tight roadmap for the industry,” said Lt. Gen. PJS Pannu, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd), Former Deputy Chief, Indian Integrated Defense Staff (Operations), Chair of the Aerospace and Defence Committee, SIA-India.
Dr. S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, says, “There is an urgent need to create demand, expansion of space launch capabilities, application capabilities and usability widely across the space sector. We need to connect artificial intelligence and drone technologies along with quantum communication capabilities with space to get the maximum benefit out of space sector.”
Addressing Need for Capabilities
Any country that is self-reliant today in whichever sector, has gone through years and decades of struggle to build itself. India will have to be ready to accommodate the future technology requirements as well as the resources to build and operate them.
Dr. G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri pointed out that with the rate at which technology developments are taking place, “we will soon have to be very clear what we need to develop within the country and what needs to be sourced from outside until we develop the technologically sound resources. That can be done by developing new institutes, collaborative efforts within existing institutes to develop future ready skilled and capable resources.”
“For R&D ecosystem, technological capabilities have to be enhanced at institutional level. There is a need for creation of action plans, Research and development platforms as well as observation capabilities for the entire nation,” added Dr. Somanath.
“India is ushering into the commercial space and satellite communication era where the opportunities are humongous, enhancing its global digital footprint. The emergence of the commercial space sector and startups throw up some attractive possibilities for the country’s Defence requirements,” stated Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri, President, SIA-India.
Air Vice Marshal DV Khot, AVSM, VM, Director General, Defence Space Agency, shared his thoughts that by combining space-based assets with ground-based assets, military capabilities can be significant improve, which will provide services a clear advantage in any conflict. “To achieve this, we need to work closely with industry partners to identify new technologies and capabilities that can be developed to meet the unique needs of our military. It is also important to collaborate with the international partners to leverage their expertise and knowledge in the area,” he added.
Cepton, a leader in high-performance lidar solutions for the automotive and smart infrastructure markets, announced that its lidar technology has been used in studies in Texas and Utah to help improve traffic safety for all road users, in alignment with the national Vision Zero and Complete Streets initiatives.
Cepton’s Helius® Smart Lidar System, which combines lidar sensors with edge computing and intelligent perception software, has been deployed by researchers from the University of Texas Arlington (UTA) through the USDOT-funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) at two busy intersections in two Texas cities: one in Arlington, Texas, which connects two UTA campuses; the other in the neighborhood of a high school in Irving, Texas.
The deployments enabled two studies funded by NITC, with additional support from the cities of Arlington and Irving, Texas, the Oregon Department of Transportation, UTA and the University of Utah.
The first study uses Helius to analyze pedestrian behaviors and revealed that pedestrian behaviors often do not align with recommendations in pedestrian facility design guides, such as the AASHTO “Green Book.”
The second study focuses on the separation of left-turning vehicles from concurrent pedestrians crossings, utilizing an innovative dynamic flashing yellow arrow (D-FYA) system that generates signal operations based on real-time pedestrian analytics enabled by 3D lidar perception.
With proven effectiveness, the lidar-enabled D-FYA solution will be deployed in Salt Lake City, Utah in a project funded by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). UDOT is already working on the implementation of this solution to further evaluate lidar’s potential capabilities of increasing the safety and efficiency of traffic operations.
According to UDOT, the system will enable operators to monitor pedestrians’ walking speeds and “look at things like red light running and near misses for pedestrians and vehicles,” enabling detailed traffic data collection that traditional detectors are unable to provide. The system could enable UDOT to “tailor traffic signals to travelers’ needs, potentially adjusting signal timing in real time,” and has the potential to “integrate with vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) connected vehicle technology” to warn vehicles of potential hazards.
“Previous research has shown that cars may not look for pedestrians sufficiently on a flashing yellow arrow (FYA), as they search for a gap in traffic to make a left turn, which can be dangerous,” explains Dr. Taylor Li, lead researcher on the project and Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UTA. “To remove this risk, a traffic signal system can be programmed to turn off the FYA when a pedestrian walk button is pressed. It is not always efficient, however, as pedestrians tend to press all walk buttons available when they want to cross on a diagonal or change their decisions, and cars still have to wait out the rest of the programmed red time, when a pedestrian isn’t really crossing or crosses very quickly.
Chia Network, and SpaceKnow announced a collaboration to unlock actionable intelligence and data from space for the benefit of sustainability efforts, beginning with the AgroTech industry. SpaceKnow and Chia will build and maintain a geospatial database to track land enrollment in sustainability programs, secured using Chia’s Virtual Private Blockchain™ approach to create a trusted database that can be queried spatially by permissioned market participants.
Reconciliation of Ecosystem Service Claims via Unified Entity (“RESCUE”), a project launched by a consortium of leading sustainable AgroTech companies including Indigo Ag, with the support of the International Emissions Trading Association (“IETA”), is working with Chia and SpaceKnow to create and maintain a database of geospatial data to track land enrollment in carbon credit sustainability programs and the status of environmental claims being made on activities on a specific area of land for a specified period.
“Blockchain technology must exist at the intersection of security and compliance,” said Vishal Kapoor, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at Chia Network. “We layer permissioning and identity on top of the immutability and transparency of our public blockchain to deliver the trust that customers at SpaceKnow and RESCUE need and expect.”
The technology solution seeks to solve industry challenges by creating auditable processes that will ensure accuracy and build trust in the market. This geospatial database will help leverage data to encourage program participation and engagement, monitor field activity among participants, and report this information to project developers and standards. Applying distributed ledger technology to these industry-wide challenges can reduce manual-intensive and inefficient centralized data infrastructures and cross-check for double enrollment, while increasing the industry’s ability to use new data inputs for current challenges and novel use cases.
The collaboration deploys Chia’s DataLayer™ and Verifiable Credentials™ capabilities to bring unprecedented data security and auditability to the geospatial data collected and synthesized from SpaceKnow’s 80 machine learning algorithms built on 10+ satellite constellations, creating a geospatial database with verifiable and tamper-resistant data access and transparency. Critical data will be stored on the public Chia blockchain increasing auditability, security, and accessibility by storing and tracking metadata, audit trails, and other data elements.
Cambium, a defense and aerospace innovator, successfully completed its contract with the US Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) in China Lake, Calif. to advance and field-test a next-gen bio-manufactured thermal protection system (TPS) to enhance mission performance and survivability of drones.
The project, which was funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), involved the production of an advanced biomaterial and demonstration of its efficacy in fire-in-flight tests designed to simulate the impact of countermeasures on the drone. The wing skin of a cost-effective Group 2 UAV, used by US defense and commercial customers, was replaced down to the structural supports with a prototype wing skin fabricated from biosynthetic composite materials.
Using the remote-controlled ignition of an incendiary material, the wing skin was subjected to rapid-onset heat and fire events. Over the course of more than two dozen flights the flame impacts across the length of the wing skin did not lead to vertical or lateral flame spread, a failure in the structural integrity of the wing skin, or any other performance degradations.
Cambium’s novel TPS is designed and fabricated to better protect hardware against heat, fire, the rapid-heating impacts from countermeasures — and from severe aerodynamic heating and pressure loads experienced during flight. Existing TPSs are slow to manufacture and severely supply constrained.
Cambium is developing alternative TPSs that exhibit similar high thermal stability and mechanical strength characteristics, coupled with easier manufacturing processes and a stable domestic supply chain. Cambium has an active cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with NAWCWD focused on the development of next-generation TPS that can be industry certified and integrated into a broad set of high-value defense and aerospace performance systems.
EagleView, a provider of aerial imagery, software and analytics, signals a new era of innovation in aerial imagery for government tax assessors, GIS professionals, public safety professionals, public works leaders and more at its user conference, FutureView, during its 25th anniversary year of business.
In 1998, EagleView launched into the marketplace with innovative new tools that could be utilized with the company’s ortho and oblique imagery. The company has continued to focus on improving the capacity to use aerial images since then. Now, following a stream of recent releases, EagleView is driving the future by delivering remote, high resolution, cloud-based and artificial intelligence-empowered offerings.
“Our company is focused on delivering the imagery and data our government customers need to make the best decisions.” said CEO of EagleView, Chris Jurasek. “Delivering transformative solutions is not new to Eagleview. As many of our long-term customers know, our company has a rich 25-year history of research and development. Each year we keep innovating to ensure our customers have the best accuracy, clarity and usability for their needs.”
EagleView’s newest and biggest recent innovation is EagleView Cloud, which launched in September of last year. EagleView Cloud includes access to a library of images spanning multiple decades and over twenty million square miles, all captured using EagleView’s proprietary technology. EagleView Cloud has the clearest imagery, plus the tools and applications for local governments to use that imagery to make the most informed decisions. As a cloud-based solution, EagleView Cloud will frequently advance with new applications, new data and new ways to improve outcomes for your constituents.
Customers using EagleView Cloud will have access to:
Image options ranging from 1-inch to 6-inch, oblique and orthogonal, providing governments the flexibility to choose imagery that meets their needs and budget.
The ability to automate the process of data collection and change analysis, reducing the time and resources required for manual inspections.
The ability to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies over time.
“By combining our expertise in high-resolution oblique aerial imagery with machine learning, we know we can make a significant impact on how government stakeholders ingest and understand information. Combined with our new cameras, rigs, sensors, and more, we have the best geospatial imagery and data in the industry,” said Robert Locke, EagleView’s Government Business Unit President. “This has been and continues to be our focus as we push towards the next 25 years.”
Digital cities represent a connected community that combines broadband communications infrastructure; a flexible, service-oriented computing infrastructure based on open industry standards; and innovative services to meet the needs of governments and their employees, citizens’, and businesses.
By 2031, five billion people are projected to live in cities. This figure is likely to go up to 70 percent of the world’s population by 2050.
India’s urban population is projected to increase to 600 million by 2031, and the urban sector would contribute around 70 percent to the country’s GDP by that time. Urban sector will also contribute 85 percent to all tax income of the country, and 70 percent to all new employment generated in the country.
The digital transformation of the cities happen in various phases. The first phase is digitization, where conversion of information from analogue to digital happens. This can result into changes in existing business models to provide value to stakeholders.
Digitalisation helps cities apply technologies to optimise existing urban processes by achieving a more resourceful coordination between smart services by creating additional citizen value through improved services.
Digital transformation impacts citizens, stakeholders, as well as city operations, going beyond digitalisation by changing simple urban processes and tasks.
Benefits of Digital Transformation in Cities
Now, the question arises as to why digital transformation is needed? What are the advantages of these transformation? The first advantage is the more effective, data-driven decision- making. A well-designed data analytics strategy gives city officials the ability to access and analyze a massive amount of information from where they can easily glean meaningful and actionable insights.
Second advantage is the enhanced citizen and government engagement. Expanding digital services in communities make smart cities a more attractive place for residents to live and promote a connected citizen experience.
Digital transformation in cities result in reduced environmental footprint. Energy-efficient buildings, air quality, sensors, and renewable energy sources are providing cities with new tools to shrink their ecological impact.
It also leads to improved transportation. Connected transportation systems have some of the greatest potential to drastically enhance efficiencies throughout a city with reduced pollution.
Digital transformation leads to efficient public utilities. With a limited supply of natural resources available to meet human demand, smart technologies are giving cities the tools needed to effectively conserve and reduce the inadvertent wastage of water and electricity.
Another advantage of digital cities is improved infrastructure. Smart technology can provide cities with predictive analytics to identify areas that need to be fixed before there is an infrastructure failure.
Geospatial and 4IR Driving Digital Transformation
Smart cities world over are becoming webs of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), integrating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies like Location information, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, sensors, etc.
The most important part of this ICT structure is an intelligent grid of connected devices that transmit data through the cloud. This cloudbased network of devices receives, manage, and analyze real time data which is extremely useful for municipalities and urban authorities in decision making.
Geospatial technology provides the underlying foundation and the fabric upon which solutions designed to cater the need of citizens is built upon. Geospatial technology allows decision makers to pinpoint exactly on the location of their assets, source of the problem, availability of resources, inter-linkages between different factors that enhance problem solving, as well as a platform to predict and apply possible solutions and precautionary measures in times of need.
Augmented reality is driving the digital transformation. Augmented reality has been defined as visual or audio “overlay” on the physical world using a smart display to provide contextualised digital information that augments a user’s real-world view.
Integrated GIS and BIM Solutions
Integrated geographic information system (GIS) and building information modeling (BIM) solutions facilitate a data-driven approach to project life cycle management, which is crucial for sustainable project outcomes.
Work-hour are spent managing rework and handling conflicts. Integrated GIS and BIM help in planning and designing of the building, where site analysis and structural design evaluation are done with the help of this technology.
It also helps in city asset management where sustainable asset operation and infrastructure asset upgrading are heavily dependent on this technology. GIS and BIM are particularly useful in construction & engineering industry, where it helps in on site coordination and clash detection.
It is used in Building Energy Management, where it helps in tracking energy consumption at different scales of the city.
The integrated geographic information system and building information modeling solutions also facilities management by building management system and helps in operations and maintenance by doing utility management system and efficient resource planning. It also helps in operations and maintenance by doing virtual inspection and predictive maintenance.
Last but not the least, it helps in developing control and regulations by ensuring compliance with development regulations.
Digital Twins for Cities
Digital twins are the virtual representation of the entire city, which integrates geospatial technology with interactive 3D models. It is the digital counter part of the city with each and all assets and processes. Digital Twins have Intelligent Network Systems consisting of cloud computing, big data, sensors and microchips. It also has Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) consisting of geospatial infrastructure, AI & machine learning, XR technologies.
The Digital Twin solution was used to capture nationwide 3D data and cloud-based visualization in Netherlands where collaboration platform for geospatial data and services were used.
Technologies like digital twin, LiDAR, and cloud were used for transforming Netherlands into a digital city. The advantages of this process were the visualisation of projects for public review, allowing the virtual collaboration and improved work processes and planning.
Another city in point is Hong Kong, where the digital design was used for the establishment of the Kwu Tung North, New Development Area. 3D modelling, real-time visualization, BIM, geospatial and digital twins were some of the technologies that were used in the digitization process.
It resulted in save in time of the project, reduced cost and labor, direct implementation of changes in the mod However, this exercise of digital transformation is not devoid of challenges. Lack of technological awareness, unscalable and complex IT infrastructure, lack of collaboration, financial constraints and data security and privacy are some of the major challenges facing this transformation.
As nations increasingly depend on space-based resources, the significance of space in potential global conflicts is expected to rise.
Space Diplomacy is becoming more crucial as nations endeavour to create principles and rules that regulate the military usage of space-based resources.
Cooperation initiatives, such as commercial trade, combined research and development, and shared use of space-based resources, can aid in the establishment of mutual trust, advancement of transparency, and reduction of misunderstandings.
This was all discussed in the very first panel discussion of India’s first International Defence and Space conference and expo on 27th of April at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi.
Why is Space Diplomacy Important?
Space diplomacy is a natural follow through to exploring space as it entails major issues like monopoly of space travel and environmental fears of space pollution. Space diplomacy addresses this with tackling these issues as officials, environmental activists, private companies and scientists come together for both private and national space exploration to prosper.
Dr P.K Jain, Director PMAD, IN-SPACe talked about how space diplomacy provides access to global tech & global fund and how in the current scenario ISRO has been doing all the heavy lifting with handling all the space activities till a certain period and how the space industry was like a vendor to ISRO.
He also talked about how ISRO has more than 275 MoU’s with 60 plus countries and had several joint satellite projects, NISAR being a good example which is an earth observing mission between NASA and ISRO.
He emphasised in taking the work done by ISRO to the next level, for that participation of Industry is very necessary whose enabling mechanism is already in place.
Dr Chaitanya Giri, Associate Professor, Flame University talked about how the entire Indian Space program has been civilian oriented first and defence later and while other country space programs had it the other way around.
Coexistence of Space & Defence
A lot of patch up has to be done if Indian Defence is anticipating the emergence of any hot conflict zones and protracted wars like the situation in Ukraine. He raised an important question on fidelity of the current systems.
The Space program needs partners that can be relied upon at times of crisis. It has to be two way, where we can rely upon them and vice versa. Our industry ecosystem has to have the wherewith all to provide what they need in their times of crisis.
Air Commodore Terry Van Haren DSM, Managing Director, LeoLabs Australia communicated about how diplomacy, cooperation and collaboration are very important and how important it is for the commercial and military aspect of the space industry needs to coexist and work together.
He talked about how the defence practitioners and industry stakeholders need to work together to assess the requisite industrialised solutions in space and counter space capabilities.
International cooperation is the key to successful space operations and a key to maintaining safety in space.
The City of Chicago has committed $42m to Chicago Electric, a new initiative to transition 100 percent of the City’s municipal fleet to electric vehicles or zero-emission alternatives by 2035.
The move follows the announcement by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Biden-Harris Administration of the proposed federal vehicle emissions standards for cars and trucks that will minimize pollution and bolster electric vehicle production in the US.
City Services
The City of Chicago maintains a fleet of 11,246 light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that City employees use in the provision of City services, including waste management and recycling, emergency services, and both external and internal operational services. Implementation of Chicago Electric is already underway, as the City plans to install more than 190 charging stations citywide at municipal facilities.
Additionally, the City reports it will reach a significant milestone in the first year of the program by procuring 182 electric vehicles that will make up approximately 25 percent of the non-emergency light-duty fleet. To date, a total of 176 electric vehicles have been leased or purchased with the bulk of those to be delivered in the coming months.
“During my tenure as mayor of Chicago, I have taken swift action to lower the City’s emissions and support new economic opportunities to bolster the green economy in Chicago and beyond,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “I am proud to align our goals with President Biden, the US EPA, and our partners in the public and private sectors and to make environmentally responsible choices that serve our city and our planet.”
The City of Chicago has committed to a historic investment of more than $42m for Chicago Electric over the next five years sourced through funding from the Chicago Recovery Plan and the City’s Chicago Works capital budget. City leaders also plan to maximize federal incentives and other funding opportunities for clean vehicles including EVs and EV charging infrastructure.
“It is incumbent upon the City to lead by example in ensuring we reduce our environmental footprint while taking advantage of unprecedented and lucrative federal tax incentives to do so,” said Commissioner Sandra Blakemore.
“Through Chicago Electric, AIS will cycle out gas vehicles at time of replacement, prioritising light-duty vehicles for this first cycle.”
Chicago Electric’s goal to transition 100 percent of the City’s fleet to zero emissions was first set out in the 2022 Climate Action Plan (CAP), with an overall goal of a 62 percent reduction in Chicago’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, while driving equitable co-benefits for residents.
The Department of Assets, Information, and Services (AIS) is working to realize the equitable vision of the CAP by ensuring that charging stations and the fleet transition are prioritized first for municipal facilities located in neighborhoods most vulnerable to air pollution.
“With the transportation sector accounting for 24 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Chicago, we must make intentional efforts to drive zero-emissions solutions and alleviate the burden of air pollution for our residents,” said Angela Tovar, chief sustainability officer, the City of Chicago.
“The Office of Climate and Environmental Equity is tasked with implementing the City’s Climate Action Plan. My team is committed to working closely with AIS, the Mayor’s Office, and CDOT to ensure the long-term success of Chicago Electric, and to supporting an equitable transition to a clean energy future in all decisions big or small.”
In addition to the City’s commitment to electrify its entire fleet by 2035, the CAP acknowledges the need for a multi-pronged community-scale approach that prioritizes cleaner fuels in both personal and commercial vehicles, increased access to public transit, and more options for other modes of transportation including biking and pedestrian improvements.
A software-as-a-service (SaaS) reporting and tracking tool has been developed by sustainability activator Anthesis to help UK local authorities accelerate the progress of their climate action plans.
The Anthesis Impact Tracker will help users track progress on implementing their climate action plans and collaborate, monitor, and report transparently to sta
Climate emergency
The tool is part of the Anthesis Digital portfolio of SaaS solutions and its development has been led by the experts behind the Scatter greenhouse gas reporting tool used by 80 percent of UK local authorities, and Area Based Insetting, which provides an alternative to traditional offsetting for UK local authorities.
More than 300 local authorities have declared a climate emergency and three-quarters have a climate action plan or strategy in place. Tracking and coordinating climate action progress and reporting to stakeholders can be a challenge though.
In response and calling on its public sector experience and network, Anthesis convened a working group of 15 local authorities across the UK to design a digital solution to tackle these challenges and support the implementation of climate action plans.
The tool enables a local plan or strategy to be automatically visualised across key impact areas or themes, such as renewable generation, the built environment, transportation, or biodiversity. Further metrics, such as deadlines and stakeholder responsibility, can be added against actions to support coordination. The tool is designed to adapt to a range of strategic approaches to action planning and use cases.
Anthesis Impact Tracker also provides immediate access to a range of data through which the impact of local climate initiatives can be reviewed. More than 40 preloaded key performance indicators from multiple sources are included, ranging from building stock performance, renewable generation, and land management to macro-scale emissions data. The library will expand over time, including adding local data unique to users’ areas.
“Working with local authorities on their climate action planning, we have observed that no strategy is ever static,” said Sara Telahoun, co-lead of Anthesis’ climate and regions team. “Successfully managing progress and communicating internally and externally with stakeholders enables robust action. We are delighted to launch Anthesis Impact Tracker to meet this growing need.”
The tool is designed for a non-technical audience with the support of Anthesis’ in-house digital user experience and user interface experts. It has a fully customizable dashboard, allowing the data manager to control the data sets shared by the audience.
“Anthesis Impact Tracker is extremely user-friendly,” said Georgia James, environmental data officer, Camden Borough Council, which was one of many local authorities that participated in a testing phase of Anthesis Impact Tracker. “Having all our data sourced in one place helps to provide insights into the progress of our Climate Action Plan. The dashboard is a great step forward for reporting and data transparency.”
Anthesis Impact Tracker will be available from May 2023 through Anthesis Digital, Anthesis’ hub for climate-related technology and digital learning capabilities. Further enhancements will be rolled out throughout the year, including enhanced reporting capabilities and new modeling functionality to better track the impact of actions against net zero commitments.
Anthesis brings together 1,100 experts operating in 40 countries around the world and has offices in Andorra, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Middle East, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US.
May Mobility launches Arizona’s first on-demand autonomous public transit service for 55+ community, Valley wAVe, with Via.
May Mobility announced the launch of the first on-demand public transit service using AVs in Arizona with its launch in the retirement community of Sun City. The service will be powered by Via, the global leader in TransitTech.
The goal of the deployment is to use AVs to expand access to safe, reliable, and equitable on-demand transportation to Sun City, a community designed for adults 55 and older. The company also aims to understand how its technology is adopted and addresses mobility challenges faced by aging adults.
This launch marks May Mobility’s first deployment in the Western U.S. and underscores Arizona’s reputation as a testing ground and pioneer for AV technologies. May Mobility has a history of seeking out diverse deployment environments to test and improve its proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology.
Previous deployments span from the Northeast to the Midwest to the South, in climates ranging from the humid, subtropical climate in Arlington, Texas to the frigid winters in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
“We’re fundamentally changing public transit, making it easier and more desirable than having a personal car,” said Edwin Olson, CEO, May Mobility. “People are living longer, and we believe that aging populations stand to gain greater access to mobility with autonomous vehicle technology. We’re committed to providing safe, reliable transportation for people who don’t want to or can’t drive themselves.”
May Mobility and Via believe aging populations stand to gain increased freedom and mobility from AVs, and are dedicated to engaging, serving, and educating these communities to drive the adoption of innovative technologies.
“Via is proud to partner with May Mobility to introduce dynamically-routed, shared AVs to Arizona for the first time,” said Meghan Grela, Autonomous Lead at Via. “Our organizations are united by the vision that advanced technology is key to expanding access to efficient mobility for riders of all ages and needs, and we believe Sun City is a model for innovative, inclusive public transportation for other communities around the world.”
May Mobility and Via’s expertise operating in a mix of urban, suburban, and rural areas prepared them to optimize service for Sun City. The service will operate Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through resident complexes, recreation centers, grocery stores, pharmacies, and medical centers. Looking ahead, May Mobility believes the deployment will provide insights into how technology is adopted and can address mobility challenges faced by aging adults.
“There has been renewed interest in Australia’s space capability based around very strong technical and research capabilities coming out of our research sector, universities, and various other institutions,” says Glenn Cockerton, Acting Chair of the 2030 Space+Spatial Steering Committee in an exclusive interview with Geospatial World.
Please tell us about the 2030 Space + Spatial Industry Growth Roadmap report.
My core responsibility lies in developing our spatial roadmap, as well as the steering group that, takes in a broader range of stakeholders. The report itself is designed to center on both government and the industry to achieve the potential that space and spatial can deliver for Australia. This report has been developed based on very extensive industry consultation over a two-year period.
A lot of input has been received as to the content and relative priorities and what is really going to be important for Australia to achieve the potential of the space and spatial industries. The working group is made up of a series of individuals representing various organizations that are industry-based and not directly associated with the government. Essentially, this is very much an industry-led program.
How crucial is space for Australia’s economic development?
Australia has had a long history in the space sector and has been involved in various space initiatives from the very beginning. In the earlier centuries, it has played an important role as a launch app for various space activities, as well as, providing receiving stations for very significant space events including landing on the moon. Over recent years, however, a lot has changed. There has been renewed interest in Australia’s space capability based on very strong technical and research capabilities coming out of our research sector, universities, and various other institutions.
The other crucial driver for us has been the need for mapping during the COVID period, leading to a greater understanding of the criticality of space-based technology and infrastructure. Especially for what we consider normal day-to-day operations in terms of how society and industry work and the fact that we are dependent on a large number of overseas players for that infrastructure.
There is also a desire to increase the amount of self-reliance that Australia has in the space sector. On top of that, there is recognition that space-based technology drives fundamentally environmental monitoring, emergency response, and a whole raft of essential services in Australia, as well as a huge number of industries, transport, logistics, and health education.
There is a strong push to maximize the contribution, meaning by space and spatial to improve and uplift those industries generally across the economy. There are productivity and efficiency gains, and those all help increase Australia’s GDP, fundamentally improving the economy.
What role does this report envision for the private sector in Australia’s space sector growth?
The report is very much government oriented. There are a number of key recommendations contained in the roadmap for the government to take action, the first and foremost of those rises to the missions that are being considered for Australia.
The previous national or federal government made a number of statements about their intention to pursue a series of national space missions. The new Australian government managed to reiterate the importance of those national space missions as a way of uplifting Australian capability and extending the Australian space and spatial industries.
There is also a range of other recommendations that are aimed at either government or sections of the industry. And in each of the objectives, we’ve established a range of specific actions that we call ‘action champions’ organizations who are able to take the lead in turning these objectives into reality. Action champions have all been identified and the first majority have accepted their role in taking those actions forward.
What are the major barriers that hindered the growth of the Australian Space Sector up till now?
The primary barrier has been the insufficient priority being given by the federal government to the potential of the space and spatial industries to contribute to the Australian economy. It’s very important to recognize that the space provides a very big opportunity worldwide and to a degree, spatial industries are not just focused on the Australian domestic market. This is a very significant opportunity not only for our own capabilities but to sell to the world.
So, a lot of countries are developing their capabilities. If Australia does not match that investment and policy focus, we will be at risk of being left behind and being undertaken by other countries. This will also result in an increased level of reliance on international partners and routine capabilities within the country, which is exactly what we are trying to minimize rather than expand aimlessly.
That is the real opportunity to contribute to the growth of the economy. These are the key opportunities within Australia, but within the spatial industry, it would be beneficial to generally uplift a whole raft of other industries as well in terms of productivity and governance efficiency.
Space Sector needs more international collaboration instead of a more inclusive approach, yet, this report mentions very less about that and instead mainly focuses on the domestic market. What are your views on that?
We took the view that international collaboration is not unimportant, but these other items were a high priority for us as of now. We could have had a very long list of recommendations, but we wanted to create an effective roadmap that will pick the key areas of both opportunity and constraint that are needed to be overcome. International cooperation is important indeed but we don’t see that as an impediment to Australia’s growth.
There are well-established international relations already as well as a branch of initiatives in place to expand more into the future. And so the roadmap really needed to focus on these insider critical issues that we addressed, and also what were deemed to be of the highest priority. So we don’t believe international relations collaboration is unimportant, just that it wasn’t seen as a short-term problem. It’s something that Australia values and is very active in participating already. And we saw the industries were quite capable of being able to take that forward into the future.
RoboSense, a provider of Smart LiDAR Sensor Systems, said that it expects strong business growth in 2023 as more than 50% of the new cars that were equipped with LiDAR sensors showcasing at Auto Shanghai 2023 were powered with its technology. A total of 18 brand-new car models were fitted with RoboSense. Amongst the 11 car makers are manufacturers including Lotus Cars, Geely, XPeng, BYD, and Chery. To date, RoboSense has won partnerships for mass production of LiDAR sensors for more than 18 automakers on over 50 vehicle models.
All these automakers are set to equip their latest EV models with mid-range RoboSense M-series sensors. The M-series sensors were the first LiDAR in the world to achieve automotive-grade production. It uses a patented revolutionary chip-based 2D scanning solution that boasts supreme performance and reliability. The M-series accounts for the rush of orders in the first quarter of this year.
“Our objective is to empower our customers with accurate perception capabilities, to help ensure driving safety, and highlight the series production and large-scale application of LiDAR in North American and global auto sectors,” said Mark Qiu，Co-founder and Executive President of RoboSense. “We are the first automotive LiDAR company in the United States to have achieved large-scale production with our customer Lucid Motors. Our latest partnership with Toyota and SAIC Rising Auto, along with the official launches of these exciting new cars, are recognition of the advanced technology we provide.”
Worldwide, the automotive LiDAR market is projected to grow from USD 555 million in 2022 to USD 8.6 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 41%. LiDAR sensors are increasingly accepted in the automotive industry as a critical means to obtain precise spatial information about the shape and surface characteristics of the vehicle’s nearby environment and, perform a critical function in the development of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems) features and ultimately autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. This acceptance is helped by the advancement in LiDAR technology and falling component costs, which make it more and more viable for auto manufacturers.
To support the increased demand, RoboSense has invested heavily in building world-class product development and testing capabilities, while expanding its global footprint with new operational headquarters in both Europe and the US. Its capabilities include three new smart manufacturing centers in Southern China, along with the world’s first and only certified accreditation LiDAR laboratory, its China National Accreditation Service (CNAS) certified LiDAR lab, with more than 200 advanced pieces of testing equipment.
By the end of 2022, RoboSense owned more than 1,000 patents globally. Its highly automated factories enable the most advanced manufacturing process and world-class quality management systems, both essential for adapting to their customers’ stringent requirements.
“RoboSense has scaled to be the only LiDAR company with its regional HQ in the Motor City of Detroit, where we are demonstrating our commitment to promoting mass adoption of the technology in road vehicles. Our North American team represents an average of 15 years’ experience from leading automotive makers and tier-1 suppliers, and we are confident that RoboSense will continue to play a leading role in the innovation and advancement of future mobility,” said Peipei Zhao, Vice President, North America of RoboSense. “With its commitment to manufacturing automotive-grade products in North America, RoboSense is proud to be the first truly global LiDAR manufacturer.”
In 2019, RoboSense established its first overseas office and European headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Then, in October 2022, its North American headquarters was established in Plymouth, Michigan, a very important milestone in the company’s global growth plan. The company has received industry recognition on numerous occasions, including the Automotive News PACE Award in 2021 and the CES 2020 Innovation Awards. RoboSense now employs more than 1,600 staff worldwide, making it the largest LiDAR manufacturer in the world.
The upcoming age of industrial revolution would be characterized by more than just confluence of technologies and processes. It will redefine everything thoroughly, with geospatial at the core.
Introduced in 2015, the phrase “Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)”, coined by Prof Klaus Schwab caught the attention of world by storm. Eight years later, while the big picture is yet to emerge, sketchy contours visible so far seem to be asserting “a lot can happen”. Touted as an opportunity to create a human centered future, 4IR looks beyond convergence of technologies to find ways for creating a positive impact that is inclusive and sustainable.
In the times challenged by global uncertainties, geopolitics and climate change concerns, governments, business, and communities have already started embracing agendas that are inclusive and sustainable.
Uniquely characterized by the fusion of physical, digital, and biological worlds, the size, speed, and scope influence of 4IR driven by the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Technologies is expected to be profound and fuel unprecedented shifts in the economy, business, and society. As sustainability takes centerstage in hyper-connected world, it is not only changing the “what” and the “how”, but also ”who” we are.
Everything that happens, happens somewhere and sometime.
4IR can become transformative only when they are able to solve economic, social, and environmental problems contextually, sustainably and inclusively. Consumers and citizens are increasingly vying for better experiences, that are personalized to their individual preferences and environs.
Under pressure to meet expectations, improve efficiencies and reduce costs, governments and businesses are fast realizing that “one size does not fit all“ and hyper-localization of the approaches is need of the hour.
As the innovations in connectivity, data, and computational power; analytics and intelligence; human-machine interaction; and advanced engineering drive the 4IR agenda, need for understanding the geographic context of the problem, its relationships, and dependencies within and outside the ecosystems becomes paramount. Contextualizing and personalizing approaches spatially and temporally is the only way forward.
Organizations are fast acknowledging that geospatial technologies aka GIS are not just maps but can offer much more to unlock “somewhere” in the context of “sometime”. By contextualizing and personalizing operations and deliverables to their target segments and markets, they can be better empowered to address stakeholder expectations, operational contingencies, efficiencies, and costs while avoiding data traps.
As we navigate our way from “intelligence age” to “imagination age”, increasingly spatial talent, intellect and knowledge comes to fore and will define the future course.
Infinite Geospatial Possibilities
4IR is giving shape to new imagination in forms that were never heard before. Governments and businesses in India are increasingly embracing digital agenda that revolves around agility, sustainability, and resilience. With 5G rollout revolutionizing geo-data exchange, faster connectivity, ultra-low latency, and reliability has markedly changed the way geospatial data is handled.
Digital Transformation (DT) initiatives in recent times have started focusing on establishing linkages to exploit data and insights by demystifying interconnections and interdependencies on a “common geospatial frame”.
Setting stage for a radical change in the behavior, spatial thinking and contextualization is redefining problem solving across the ecosystems. Harnessing location intelligence in real-time to improve business processes horizontally and vertically has become much easier than before. CXOs are keen to exploit the untapped location potential to contextualize and personalize their subjects.
Ease of geospatial integration with enterprise IT and new-age technologies like big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning/deep learning, complemented by faster geo-computing, on-demand geo-processing and cloud-based geo-content management, are fostering rapid hyper-localization of exponentially increasing data volumes.
Opportunities Ahead
Not spoken often, geospatial is one of those few technologies that has “something for
everyone”.
Be it assisting a common person on the street to reach a point, or solving complex problems governments and businesses face today, geospatial has an authoritative and irreplaceable role to play in 4IR. Geo-enabled 4IR promises a wide range of contextualized benefits centered around automation, optimization, and cost reduction.
Arrival of intelligent “digital twins” are bringing about a new way of people interacting with their environment has the potential to transform every aspect of governance and business.
Setting stage for a radical change in behavior, spatial thinking, and contextualization is redefining problem solving across the ecosystems
Foreshocks of geo-enablement of 4IR technologies can already be felt. Early adoption of drones, cloud, edge, Internet of Things (IoT) and spatial analytics, though scattered have started demonstrating their value and impact. Newer opportunities to capitalize on geo-information leveraging on convergence of 4IR technologies are rapidly emerging along with emergence of new markets and growth opportunities.
Road Ahead
By highlighting unmatched capabilities of the geospatial technologies to a) facilitate convergence of ecosystems for contextualized and personalized experiences, b) provide intelligence for informed decisions, c) provide tools for operational improvement and cost reduction and d) facilitate platforms for collaboration, sharing and dissemination, this is a great opportunity for the Indian geospatial industry to Evangelize, Empower and Enable 4IR.
Recent government notification relaxing erstwhile restrictions on geospatial data and National Geospatial Policy 2022 (NGP-2022) outlining a roadmap for enhanced commercialization with ease of doing business has made harnessing power of geospatial easier than ever.
With interest and adoptions gaining traction there is an urgent need to position geospatial affirmatively in the 4IR architectures.
Poor Awareness: While we have come long way, the perception of geospatial being restricted to map creation and visualization still dominates. There is an urgent need for evangelizing the “real” potential of geospatial technologies across the spectrum to enable people to think spatially while they contextualize and personalize their subjects.
Ease of geospatial integration with enterprise IT and new age technologies like big data, AI, and ML/deep learning, complemented by faster geo-computing, on-demand geo-processing and cloud based geo-content management, are fostering rapid hyper-localization of exponentially increasing data volumes
Policy: While NGP 2022 outlines a grand scheme of things covering various aspects for the geospatial industry, the pace of implementation and institutionalization of these guidelines will define the ability of the industry to translate them into value. With PNT technologies serving as backbone, there is an urgent need for a robust PNT policy framework.
Geospatial Infrastructure: While some may call strengthening of nation’s geospatial infrastructure a work in progress which takes time, the pace at which 4IR is moving ahead, if we don’t act in time, geospatial industry is bound to be left behind.
Education: The geospatial education in the country continues to be medieval and needs to be brought in sync with the current times. University curriculum and infrastructure need an urgent revamp to reflect the emerging priorities that can foster advanced learning and high-end innovation.
Technology: Exploding data volumes and complex multisystem integrations call for better data management capabilities for value extraction. Current processes of data acquisition to data consumption are time consuming and geospatial industry should realize that in the age of 4IR customers cannot afford to wait.
Research and Innovation: 4IR calls for players in the industry to move up the value chain to support the geo-enabled automation in the context of large enterprises which warrant dedicated research and innovation. As the 4IR matures, the need for geo-innovation too will exponentially increase.
Partnerships and Collaborations: Given the sheer size and complexity, no single entity will be able to deploy 4IR on their own. It must be a collaborative and collective effort and for that value-based partnerships will be inevitable.
Startup & Entrepreneurship: It is rather unfortunate that most of the geospatial start-up’s continue to mushroom in the low and middle end of the value chain. With entry barriers being low, startups should look at the higher end of the value chain and spearhead geo-innovation.
Funding – Lastly but importantly innovation and advancing technology calls for investments and funding. In the absence of which geospatial industry will not be able to make any headway.
Conclusion
Heralded by 4IR, the future is undoubtedly about excelling in contextualizing and managing information in a hyper connected world – for deriving intelligence that is actionable, relevant and timely.
There is no doubt that spatial intellect has a critical role to play in demystifying “somewhere” and “sometime” of the complex problems governments and businesses are trying to address. And this hyper-localization would be next to impossible without geospatial technologies. No doubt that “Geo-Possibilities are unlimited”.
Having said that the road ahead is fraught with challenges for the geospatial industry which need to be addressed on war-footing. Notwithstanding delivery of geospatial to solve complex problems in an impactful way, success of geo-enabled 4IR hugely rests on its evangelism and acceptance. Dogged with myopic approach of addressing siloes in a reactive manner is only going to push players to the brink.
While “a lot can happen”, it is high time that all the thought leaders come together and chart a way forward to “make it happen”. We cannot afford to miss the bus this time.
(Aswani Akella is a GIS & Remote Sensing consultant with over three decades of experience. The views expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author.)
NV5 Global, a provider of technology, conformity assessment, and consulting solutions, announced that it has been awarded $16 million in utility gas pipeline design and support services contracts by two prominent California gas utilities. NV5 will provide engineering design, plan review, permitting support, and municipal consulting services for asset integrity management and pipeline improvements to support the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas as follows.
A large California gas utility selected NV5 for $9 million in contracts to provide gas transmission design and pipeline support services for system integrity management and capital replacement projects. Under the scope of these agreements, NV5 will deliver engineering design, project management, construction management, traffic control, and permitting services to support the utility’s safety enhancement programs.
NV5 was also awarded $7 million in design, municipal consulting, and emergency services contracts by a major California gas and electrical utility. NV5 will review proposed municipal and state government infrastructure designs to identify potential conflicts with utility assets and support negotiations to mitigate risks to existing and proposed infrastructure. NV5 will also provide support services for emergency gas repairs to comply with municipal excavation permit requirements.
Dickerson Wright, PE, Chairman and CEO of NV5 said, “NV5’s expertise supporting all facets of infrastructure for utilities, state governments, and municipal clients mitigates costly delays in infrastructure improvements and maintenance while delivering a distinct competitive advantage for NV5’s pursuit of infrastructure projects.”
Red Cat Holdings, a military technology company integrating robotic hardware and software to protect and support the warfighter, officially launches its new military-grade sUAS, the Teal 2.
Previously available only to early-adopter customers, the Teal 2 is now available for military, government and commercial purposes. The U.S.-made system is manufactured at Red Cat’s purpose-built factory in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Red Cat CEO Jeff Thompson said, “Teal 2 is designed to ‘Dominate the Night™’ and arrives as the world’s leading small unmanned aircraft system for nighttime operations. The system also offers the latest intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) technology, delivering time-critical information and enabling operators to make faster, smarter decisions.”
The Teal 2 is equipped with Teledyne FLIR’s new Hadron 640R sensor. This provides end users with the highest resolution thermal imaging in a small (Group 1) form factor, optimized for nighttime operations. Red Cat’s other technology partners for the Teal 2 include Athena AI, Reveal Technology and Tomahawk Robotics.
The system’s compact size and rugged design enable it to be rucksack portable and deployed in the most challenging environments. Multi-vehicle command and control allows for a 360-degree view of a target, or for ISR on multiple targets.
Early-adopter customers have included U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which ordered 54 units of the Teal 2. These systems are being used to provide supplemental airborne reconnaissance, surveillance and tracking capability, enhancing situational awareness for U.S. field commanders and agents.
Teledyne FLIR, part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, announced continued momentum within its Thermal by FLIR program for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), highlighted by the integration of its Hadron™ 640R dual visible-thermal payload within the recently announced Teal 2 drone and the Lepton® 3.5 thermal micro camera within the BRINC LEMUR 2.
“Teledyne FLIR brings decades of thermal camera development experience to the sUAS
market, with a strict focus on reducing the size, weight, and power while expanding the technical capabilities today’s emergency personnel, law enforcement, and warfighters require,” said Mike Walters, vice president, product management, Teledyne FLIR.
Made in the USA, Hadron 640R pairs a 640×512 resolution radiometric Boson® thermal camera with a 64MP visible camera in a single easy-to-integrate module. With a size, weight, and power (SWaP) optimized design, it is an ideal dual-sensor payload for integration into sUAS, unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), robotic platforms, and AI-ready applications where battery life and run-time are mission-critical.
One of seven advanced sensors integrated into the LEMUR 2, the Lepton micro thermal camera is small enough to rest on the tip of a finger, providing 160×120 thermal resolution for capturing accurate, calibrated, and noncontact temperature data within a lightweight and low-power package. It helps provide law enforcement and emergency services with greater situational awareness in total darkness or smoke without placing personnel in danger.
UP42, a leading developer platform to build and scale geospatial solutions, will participate in Geospatial World Forum (GWF) 2023 as the Co-sponsor and Exhibitor (Booth No 13). GWF will be held in person from 2-5 May 2023 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
With the theme “Geospatial Caravan: Embracing One & All,” GWF 2023 will bring together the global geospatial community, allied industries, and the user community. The goal is to know how we can simplify the technological, institutional, and workflow complexity and augment the impact for the greater good of society.
“As a growing company, we are thrilled to be an active part of the international geospatial community,” said Sean Wiid, CEO of UP42. “Joining forces with Geospatial World Forum is a critical step to raise awareness on our mission to make geospatial data more easily accessible for everyone: we need to come together as an industry to make that happen.”
On May 3, 2023, at 10:00 AM CET, Sean Wiid will take part in the plenary panel discussion “Advancing Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure in World Economy & Society” along with other key speakers.
“We are humbled by the continuous trust UP42 places in our team and are privileged to join hands again in our common goal to transform the geospatial industry. With support from the leading industry players like UP42, we are excited and very much looking forward to bringing Geospatial World Forum to another new height,” says Annu Negi, Senior Vice President of GW Events.
For all media enquiries or to schedule an interview with UP42’s CEO Sean Wiid at GWF, please contact:
Viviana Laperchia
Senior PR and Communications Manager, UP42 [email protected]
About UP42 We founded UP42 in 2019 with a clear purpose: to provide quick and easy access to geospatial data and analytics. You’ll get the world’s leading providers of optical, radar, elevation, and aerial data, all in one place. Our developer-first platform offers flexible APIs and a Python SDK to help you build and scale your solutions. Search the catalog for existing imagery, or task a satellite to capture your desired area. Whatever your use case, UP42 is the one-stop-shop for all your geospatial data needs. Visit us at www.up42.com.
About Geospatial World Forum
For over a decade, Geospatial World Forum (GWF) has been the annual premium geospatial industry platform that connects 1500+ professionals and leaders representing the entire spectrum of the IT and geospatial community globally, including industry, public policy, civil society, end-user communities, and multilateral organizations. Its collaborative and interactive nature has made GWF a ‘conference of conferences,’ offering a unique, unmissable experience to geospatial professionals worldwide. Learn more about the conference at www.geospatialworldforum.org
The Geospatial World Forum (GWF) is gearing up for its 14th edition, and it promises to be a must-attend event for professionals in the geospatial industry. With expected participation of 800+ attendees from more than 75 countries, the GWF is set to be a global gathering of industry leaders, innovators, and experts.
More than 300 influential speakers from National Geospatial Agencies, major brands, and organizations across industries will be present at the event. High-level plenary panels on 2-3 May will feature C-level executives from top geospatial and end-user organizations, including Esri, Trimble, Kadaster, BKG, ESA, Mastercard, Gallagher Re, Meta, Booking.com and many more.
Additionally, there are dedicated user programs throughout 4-5 May focusing on Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure, Land & Property, Mining & Geology, Hydrography & Maritime, Engineering & Construction, Digital Cities, Sustainable Development Goals, Environment, Climate and Disaster, Retail and BFSI, featuring National Mapping and Geospatial Agencies from 30+ countries, and over 60% end-user speakers.
In addition to the informative sessions, attendees can visit the exhibition area to explore cutting-edge industry products and solutions from more than 40 exhibitors.
If you’re looking to expand your knowledge, connect with industry leaders, and stay abreast of the latest trends and technologies in the geospatial industry, the Geospatial World Forum is an event you won’t want to miss. Register now at https://geospatialworldforum.org.
Last week 14 people in Mumbai died from an apparent heatstroke while attending an open-air event. This is possibly the biggest ever death toll related to heatwaves in a single instance. It brings back the spotlight on the potential risk of heatwaves whose frequency and intensity are expected to increase because of climate change.
According to the annual report, published on April 2023 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), climate change has contributed to its advance in 2022. Droughts, floods, and heatwaves have affected every continent. European glaciers are melting and Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record.
Global warming is leading to large-scale climate change. A large part of Asia has been hit hard by heat waves over the past two weeks. Scientists have already warned that 2023 could set new heat records as climatic patterns change and global warming accelerates.
According to the report from Axios, heat records have gone up throughout China, India, Bangladesh, and Thailand, as areas have surpassed 40 degrees Celsius. More than a dozen Chinese provinces broke new heat records. Six cities, in north and east India, recorded temperatures above 44°C while the capital Delhi recorded 40.4°C. Bangladesh endured power cuts as electricity demand surged in unusual conditions.
In recent years, India has become vulnerable to extreme heat. Experts said that it could be worse. The April heat waves have struck over some Indian states. The meteorological department of India issued an orange warning of the severe heatwave in some states of India such as Bihar Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh.
Last year, Pakistan and India experienced a shocking rise in temperature. India’s Meteorological Department said that globally, the years 2015-2022 were the eighth warmest on record, with extreme weather events, including heatwaves, despite the cooling impact of a La Niña event (the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific) for the past three years. Melting of glaciers and sea level rise, which reached record levels in 2022, are likely to reach new records in 2023 and the years after that.
Climate change has important consequences on the ecosystems and environment. For example, a recent assessment focusing on the unique high-elevation area around the Tibetan Plateau, the largest storehouse of snow and ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic, found that global warming is causing the temperate zone to expand.
According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service annual report, a large part of Europe and China have been gripped with heatwaves and droughts in 2022. Europe is experiencing its second warmest year on record and hottest ever summer.
The European Alps suffered a record loss of ice from glaciers due to a combination of little winter snow, an intrusion of Sahara Dust in March 2022, and heatwaves between May and early September.
In 2022, China experienced the hottest period since national records began, which extended from mid-June to the end of August, resulting in the hottest recorded temperature of more than 0.5°C. It was also the second driest summer on record.
There is a worldwide need to address the impact of heatwaves immediately. It could slow the process of achieving sustainable development goals.
Open source mapping refers to creating free and open geographical data, which promotes broad community participation in a collaborative manner, thus creating critical data resource. So what is the status of open source mapping in India and how much work is left to be done?
Geospatial data is a critical component in policy making, resource planning, surveying and and water bodies, disaster mitigation, and monitoring infrastructure. It is also crucial in defense security, and agriculture operations among other things.
In India, many big ticket government projects such as SVAMITVA, GatiShakti, Smart Cities Mission etc. rely on accurate location and mapping data.
The journey to enable the economic progress of rural households through the flagship SVAMITVA scheme, under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, is also possible only due to accurate location and mapping data.
With the help of drones, all the lands are being surveyed and mapped to digitally empower rural India. The land data is then processed by Survey of India to generate and update GIS ready Land Parcel Maps, where all information related to the land owner is linked to and made available online.
To make a nation sustainable, its infrastructure plays a significant role, which is why the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) came into existence. Recently,Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid,“GatiShakti National Master Plan is going to change the face of India’s infrastructure and its multimodal logistics.”
Under this plan, 1900 GIS data layers of infrastructure mapping from different Ministries and State Governments have been incorporated and made available through the PM GatiShakti NMP platform.
The NMP is a digital platform which contains all the data including mapping details of infrastructure and logistic facilities. The data also includes land records, forest, wildlife, water resources, soil type seismicity, flood map, power transmission and distribution, mining areas, roads, pipelines, sewer lines, eco sensitive zones, Coastal Regulation Zone, etc.
“Geospatial technology is critical to the Digital India Mission as it enables the collection, analysis, and visualization of geographic data, which can help in taking informed decisions and improve the delivery of government services. This directly ties in with the government’s vision of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” statesSajid Malik, Chairman and Managing Director, Genesys International Corporation.
Apart from that, many businesses, NGOs, researchers, academia and the people’s daily life also rely heavily on geospatial data. There is a growing need for interoperable open map data to strengthen mapping services across the country.
But many questions arise here related to the scope, accuracy and distribution of data.
Is mapping data available for free? How can it be made available for all? How can it be better utilized? Who are the primary users of the available free data? Is the data updated regularly? What is the quality of the available data? How accurate are these free data? Is it easy to use?
Power of Open Source Data
The usage of open map data varies from routing, navigation, and GIS analysis, to planning and delivery of utilities — from sending rescue efforts to a disaster hit area to mitigation efforts. Be it redevelopment, finding natural resources to protecting endangered animal species, mapping is ingrained in the people’s daily lives.
Dr. Manoj Khare, Senior Director, HoD – Emerging Solutions and e-Governance (ES&EG) Group, C-DAC |Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India states, “GIS maps are very important for infrastructure planning and decision making. Open source maps, which are available easily and free of cost, can play a significant role in various applications which are very important for a nation’s development.”
Dr. Khare points out that India can harness the power of open source mapping to drive its development agenda through Collaboration, Data sharing, Standardization and Community engagement.
Constraints
Rapid urbanization has pushed the cities to expand and encroach on the neighboring village areas, thus the boundaries between cities and villages have blurred. Besides, Indian villages have their boundaries marked as per revenue record and the census data was updated last in 2011, which is still being followed.
In many areas, boundaries are so blurry that issues such as crime reporting, employment opportunities, ration distribution etc. arise for people living on the outer border of the village or taluk. Itinerant communities often get neglected their basic amenities in life.
Collecting map data is easy but not enough, it needs to be accurate, updated timely, and rich in quality. This is because the physical form of land areas is prone to changes – the rivers change their course, terrains undergo environmental and sometimes man-made shifts and new infrastructures often replace natural habitats and old structures.
The government of India has a dedicated GIS portal for all the states and UTs but there is no confirmation on how accurate or updated the information is.
Many states and UTs such as Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jammu, and Kashmir also have their geoportal sites, run by the respective state governments.
I. Prabhu, Joint Director, C-DAC | Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India states, “India has made significant progress in developing open source maps over the past few years. However, there are several challenges that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of open source maps for the country’s development.”
Some of the existing challenges include data availability, quality, lack of resources, standardization, and intellectual property rights.
Development Data Lab(DDL), a non-profit that produces freely accessible big data resources for policy-makers, researchers and civil society has developed a platform called SHRUG, the Socioeconomic High resolution Rural-Urban Geographic Platform for India.
The maps available in India have limitations. According to DDL, “The maps are stitched together from multiple open source maps, all of which were incomplete and quite confusing. We linked the sources through common location codes, georeferenced when necessary, and geometrically harmonized them.”
The goal of open-sourced map data is to ensure interoperability so that the stakeholders as well as the public can utilize the data for common good
DDL found out that every village map (open or proprietary) that they came across had at least 0-1 Km of measurement error in the representation of their boundary. Besides they found out that a number of locations in India appear to be represented in official data only as points, not as polygons like in the case of forest areas and the northeast region. They validated some boundaries using external sources like satellite imagery.
Way forward
Even though government programs carry out surveys and conduct periodic censuses, it is crowdsourced geospatial data that help fill data gaps at the micro level to provide insights into the progress of any government projection on a near real time basis.
It is also crucial monitor the lives and livelihood of the local communities, whether they are reaping the benefits of the government schemes meant for them, like the healthcare related schemes, pension schemes, land mapping projects and those meant for their economic benefit, employment generation.
In order to analyze how far the work has penetrated into their lives, the local community has to be empowered to use geospatial so that they can geolocate key community assets, vulnerabilities and help decision makers to gauge coverage, gaps and risks at the hyper local level.
“The challenges facing open source maps in India can be overcome by investing in technologies for data collection, providing funding and support to organizations involved in open source mapping, establishing guidelines for data standardization, and establishing a framework for licensing geospatial data,” states Prabhu.
Open map data enables user to access data of their village/city from anywhere in India. Source: SVAMITVA
Dr. Khare points out that the way forward for open source maps in India includes key actions like strengthening data infrastructure, ensuring the quality of data, promoting standardization, encouraging private sector participation and developing user friendly applications.
He further emphasizes that the Government of India should focus on collaboration with other countries and international organizations, where best practices can be shared, and adopted. Countries could learn from each other, develop common standards, and promote open source mapping for sustainable development.
One such organization is the UNGGIM, which provides guidelines for generating frameworks to produce and share open source map data. The Government of India and many other countries are adhering to these UNGGIM guidelines to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The goal of open sourced map data is to ensure interoperability so that the stakeholders as well as the public can utilize the data for common good.
This will encourage innovations, services, and meet user needs as well as make the system demand driven rather than supply driven. The availability of open map data will empower developers and map creators to build new compelling applications.
Community Empowerment
The goal of open sourced map data is to ensure interoperability, so that the stakeholders as well as the public can to utilize the data for common good.
Open mapping refers to creating free and open geographical data, which promotes broad community participation collaboratively, thus creating critical data resources. The National Geospatial Policy is expected to give a boost to the dissemination of open source data in the country, driving innovation across verticals and enhancing the utility of spatial data.
Open mapping refers to creating free and open geographical data, which promotes broad community participation collaboratively, thus creating critical data resources
Digital India aims to create a Digital Twin of major cities and towns of the country by 2035, which will only depend on the accurate and real-time updated mapping data. The data will be gathered using the technologies such as sensors, LiDARs, drones, satellites and mobile devices, collected from various sources like buildings, infrastructures, people and automobiles.
Many governmental, private and commercial enterprises depend on software solutions, which are built solely on open sourced map data. These enterprises will ultimately benefit and facilitate the ongoing, self sustainable, Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, which is why making quality data open for all is the only solution at hand.
A common platform where the map data of the entire country is available as well as where users can freely share their issues and grievances, for immediate action may have seemed utopian just a few years ago, is possible today because of actionable geospatial data.
In India, one-in-four people directly rely on forests for sustenance. However, more than 40% of forests in the country are facing degradation and depletion of resources such as quality of air, soil and water. The flow of forest products and services for equitable economic growth is very important.
In response to this, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have partnered for a five-year initiative – the Forest PLUS 2.0 Programme. The program focuses on developing the tools and techniques to encourage sustainable forest landscape management.
The vision of the program is to develop and implement a tool to track timber movement and activity, with the aim of preventing illegal timber logging and encouraging sustainable forestry practices.
Stakeholders involved
The Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department, Government of Kerala, State IT Dept, Government of Kerala, USAID, Timber Owners, Sawmills, and other Buyers in the supply chain.
Geo-Tagging Timber Supply
A geospatial tool called “TiGRAM” was developed by USAID to geotag the timber (assets). This allowed authorities to track timber movements while in transit and trace and monitor them through the logging process. The tool also provides online approval at different administrative levels and a Dashboard for viewing by stakeholders.
The timber (assets) was geotagged at the origin points and QR codes were generated for unique identification and easy tracking. The assets were then smoothly traced at various checkpoints to ensure compliance and lawful transit of timber from source to immediate destination.
