654
November 2020
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
INDUSTRY
NEWS
To have your press release published in
PE&RS
, contact Rae Kelley,
.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
GeoCue Group Inc.,
a leading provider of aerial/mobile LIDAR
tools and the creator of the True View® family of drone 3D imaging
solutions has launched GeoCue Australia PTY. GeoCue Australia is
a partnership between GeoCue Group Inc. and two Australian inves-
tors with GeoCue Group Inc. taking a majority stake in the venture.
Mr. Mark Hickey, one of the investors and a company Director, will
serve in the role of General Manager. This joint venture company will
provide customers in Australasia with direct local sales and support
of the GeoCue product line.
Plans to develop operations in Australasia stem from the success of
GeoCue’s Loki direct geopositioning solution within the mining and con-
struction industries throughout Australia and New Zealand. This cus-
tomer base is now anxious to move to the new True View product line.
“The Australasia market is a very important core customer base
for us,” said Lewis Graham, President and CTO of GeoCue Group Inc.
“We have previously served this market through a very successful
reseller partnership with C. R. Kennedy. With the introduction of our
True View drone mapping ecosystem, we know that our customers
will expect direct support from GeoCue at a local level. I have had a
lot of enthusiastic conversations with Mark about the opportunities
in the region and we both felt the time was right for launching this
joint venture.”
General Manager, Mark Hickey states ‘’This collaboration with
GeoCue Group Inc. is really exciting and is something that is the
result of a heap of behind the scenes work and discussion with Lewis
and the team. The GeoCue Group has had a great last few years
with the success of the Loki photogrammetry system followed by the
tremendous True View® solution. In APAC region the name ‘GeoCue’
is synonymous with a reputation for customer support and service
and myself and the GeoCue Australia team certainly look forward to
continuing the great work”.
GeoCue Australia PTY will offer GeoCue’s LIDAR and drone
mapping solutions to end users and service providers throughout
the Australasia region. The company will also provide local support
to the large base of GeoCue product users in the region such as
Geoscience Australia, a long-time user of GeoCue’s LP360 LIDAR
processing tools. Perhaps the most innovative offering will be the
True View 410 drone LIDAR/Camera imaging system which, in
addition to a purchase option, will be available via a Hardware as a
Service subscription offering.
Please find more information on this endeavor at
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TECHNOLOGY/EQUIPMENT
Improving and verifying accuracy is a typical objective of any
survey... and this becomes more complex to achieve when undertak-
ing a UAV LiDAR survey. Deploying
Routescene’s
Ground Control
Targets on known and accurately co-ordinated Ground Control Points
prior to a UAV LiDAR survey provides the assurance that the survey
has been properly executed and you can demonstrate the specified
level of accuracy has been achieved.
UAV LiDAR surveys are typically undertaken in remote, rural
and sometimes hazardous locations where there are no fixed points
available, such as solid surfaces or concrete features, that could be
used as Ground Control Points. Routescene’s Ground Control Targets
solve this problem.
The Routescene UAV LiDAR Ground Control Targets are quick
and simple to deploy. Raised from the ground using a mini tripod,
a built-in bubble level enables accurate levelling and removes the
need for a tribrach. Robustly engineered, the targets stay in position
during adverse and windy conditions, reducing the risk of reposition-
ing during a survey.
Covered with highly retro-reflective material to provide high-in-
tensity returns, typically each target will be hit 200-300 times by the
lasers from the UAV LiDAR system. As a result the targets are easily
identifiable and can be automatically extracted from the geo-refer-
enced point cloud.
You can directly compare the known coordinate of the physical
target with that visible in the point cloud. The difference between the
two coordinates is the error: confirming the level of accuracy achieved
in the survey.
Routescene customer Vashaun Henderson from Rekon Solutions
in Canada commented,
“When working for engineering and survey
clients accuracy has be paramount for us. Utilizing the special laser
reflective ground control targets from Routescene we have been able
to clearly identify survey monuments in the field, survey them and
identify those targets in the scan. Having these targets enhances our
ability to evaluate the scan’s alignment and our ability to evaluate
and report on horizontal and vertical accuracy. It is something that
has separated us from the pack. Rekon has had great success with
deploying these targets.”
To read an in-depth article on improving UAV LiDAR survey
accuracy using Ground Control Points visit:
.
com/events/uav-lidar-accuracy-with-ground-control-points/
For more information please visit:
.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The
URISA Exemplary Systems in Government (ESIG) awards
were first presented in 1981 to recognize outstanding achievement by
government agencies in the use of geospatial information technology.
This exemplary achievement is defined as the effective application
of computer technologies and geospatial data that can be measured
in terms of improved government service delivery and increased
benefits to citizens. The award competition is international in nature
and open to all public agencies at the local, regional, state/provincial
and federal levels.
2020 ESIG Award winners are:
Single Process Systems
• Winner:
City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department –
Interactive Pavement Maintenance Dashboard
Submitted by:
Curtis Pulford, GIS Coordinator, City of Phoenix
– Street Transportation Department, Phoenix, Arizona
• Distinguished System:
Town of Flower Mound, Texas – Citizen
Camera Program
Submitted by:
Nicole Dogan, GISP, Senior GIS Analyst, Town of
Flower Mound, Texas
Enterprise Systems
• Winner:
Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department –
Enterprise GIS Portal Implementation
Submitted by:
Danny Thorpe, Systems Administrator III, Palm
Beach County Water Utilities Department, West Palm Beach,
Florida
• Distinguished System:
Maryland National Capital Park &
Planning Commission – PGAtlas
Submitted by:
Michael Shean, GISP, GIS Supervisor, Maryland
National Capital Park & Planning Commission, Upper Marlboro,
Maryland
To review the winning submissions for this year’s ESIG Awards,
visit
/.
For details about GIS-Pro 2020, visit
