Home News EARTH-i, what3words keep an eye on Farnborough International Airshow from above

EARTH-i, what3words keep an eye on Farnborough International Airshow from above

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Earth-i CEO, Richard Blain (right) and Farnborough International Head of Operational Development & Health and Safety, Jonathan Smith (middle) use the mapping tool created for Farnborough 2016
Earth-i CEO, Richard Blain (right) and Farnborough International Head of Operational Development & Health and Safety, Jonathan Smith (middle) use the mapping tool created for Farnborough 2016

UK: The UK-based Earth Observation and information services distributor, EARTH-i has joined hands with what3words to provide the organisers with an up-to-date map of the entire Farnborough International Airshow area.

The service supported by what3words will allow organisers to manage logistics, visitor direction and emergency response efforts, with a simple three-word address of every 3m x 3m square of the airfield and exhibition site.

Selecting from various imagery sources, Earth-i acquired a large amount of data from a manned aerial platform taking images from multiple angles of the Farnborough International site, to build a highly accurate 3D model.

The data was then processed at Earth-i to produce a single, 9cm resolution plan-form image using the 3D model to correct the different image view angles. These images were then divided up into tiles ideal for internet delivery and on receipt of the finished image what3words overlaid their 3m x 3m grid system to integrate it with the optical data from Earth-i.

The what3words app provides an accurate overview of the show site for those on the go
The what3words app provides an accurate overview of the show site for those on the go.

This means the Farnborough operations team can react efficiently to situations that arise, knowing exactly where everything and everyone is. So a team member in the field can simply say “I need backup at friday.visit.look” and others can navigate there easily, while the team in HQ can see exactly where this location is, using the image of the site overlaid with what3words.

Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, commented: โ€œWe are delighted to working closely with what3words to deliver geospatial and information solutions that tackle practical problems faced by governments, business, organisations and agencies. As one of the preeminent Air and Space events in the world, it is particularly exciting that we were able to deliver a useful tool to the organisers of Farnborough International, as we attend the show for the first time.โ€