GeomaticsWorld 2011€¦ · The next issue of GW will be that for March / April 2011. Copy dates...

GeomaticsWorld JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2011

Issue No 2 : Volume 19

Scanning andSurveying Milan

Cathedral.

Addressing problems solved,

for some.

How to get thebest students for

surveying.

Why is this womanimportant in thehistory of Iraq?

Cadastralheadache after

NZ’s big shift.

Surveying for geographical and spatial information in the 21st century

Registrations now open for the UK’s No 1 GEO Event 6 & 7 April @ WWW.PVPUBS.COM

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The next issue of GW will be that for March / April 2011.Copy dates are: Editorial: 07 February Advertising: 18 February

Next issue

p.5 Editorial

p.6 News

p.7 Calendar

p.10 Undercurrents

p.13 Chair

p.30 Overcurrents

p.32 Book review + OS’s new hq

p.33 Downunder Currents

p.34 Products & Services

p.35 Classified

Regulars

Geomatics World is published bi-monthly by PV Publications Ltd on behalf of the Royal Institutionof Chartered Surveyors Geomatics Professional Groupand is distributed to group members and othersubscribing professionals.

Editor: Stephen BoothTechnical Editor: Richard GroomNews Editor: Hayley TearAdvertising: Sharon RobsonSubscriptions: Barbara Molloy

Editorial BoardPat Collins, Professor Michael Cooper, Richard Groom,Alan Haugh, James Kavanagh, Professor Jon Mills,Dr Stuart Robson, Dr Martin Smith, David A Wallis

Overseas SourcesRoy Dale – New ZealandNick Day – USA

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Material to be PublishedWhile all material submitted for publication will behandled with care and every reasonable effort is madeto ensure the accuracy of content in Geomatics World,the publishers will have no responsibility for any errorsor omissions in the content. Furthermore, the viewsand opinions expressed in Geomatics World are notnecessarily those of the RICS.

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Printing: The Manson Group, St Albans, UK

January / February 2011 Geomatics World 03

Contentsp.06 News

– Geomatics committee for oil & gas

– GLONASS catastrophe

– NZ quake causes cadastral problems

– Predicting avalanches by laser scanner

p.12 GeoPlace: one address databaseThe Government has at last moved to sort out Britain’s addressingmuddle. Significant savings should result, reports GW’s team.

p.14 Surveying the spire of Milan CathedralAbout to undergo extensive restoration work, Prof Carlo Ponti and histeam have captured a 3D model of the duomo using various techniques.

p.17 SPAR EuropeThis inaugural event reflects how rapidly 3D scanning is catching onbut doubts remain about several aspects, says our reporter Pat Collins.

p.18 Inspiring event rewards UK RailBentley’s “Be Inspired” awards attracted delegates from around the globebut Richard Groom also found potential rewards for chartered surveyors.

p.20 Leica HDS conference and a new gameWith worldwide sales and conference attendance up, Adam Springalso found new games to play at this popular annual event.

p.23 Lidar Forum captures right noteA trip to the Hague for this first time event finds plenty to interestthe Editor from cliff monitoring to modern art.

p.24 Promoting the Surveying ProfessionAn aging profession has forced Australian surveyors to come up withnew ideas to attract youngsters. Craig Roberts and Ian Iredale explain.

p.27 Gertrude Bell: surveyor, mapper & kingmaker90 years ago an extraordinary English woman had a lasting impact onthe shape and politics of Iraq, explains Professor Michael Cooper.

COVER STORYOur main imageshows a plan of abelvedere on MilanCathedral as part ofa project to recordthe entire dome ofthe structure using arange of techniquesincluding scanning,photogrammetry,and total station.Full story beginspage 14.

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Editorial


for the "plateau of productivity". What I can tellyou is that the first issue of GW for 2011 againhas a strong 3D focus with articles reporting onevents in the closing weeks of last year (Leica'sHDS conference, Bentley's Be Inspired Awards,the European Lidar Forum and SPAR Europe)and a superb edited paper previously presentedat FIG Sydney last year on the problems anddifficulties in surveying and modelling theDuomo of Milan Cathedral.

In between we have another FIG paper onpromoting the profession and how to catchyoung people's attention. A very worthwhilereport that other institutions should studycarefully. There are no easy solutions or magicbullets; just sustained action as we competeagainst so many other career opportunities,some initially more attractive but lessrewarding than surveying.

The final article I commend to you isProfessor Michael Cooper's study of Gertrude Bell(not Gertrude Lawrence, an Edwardian actress,as I promised readers in the last editorial. Aspecial "thank you" to John Harries who alertedme to this possibly Freudian typo and apologiesto anyone hoping to read a racy account ofthespians). However, like the actress, GertrudeBell has probably much to answer for; for it wasshe who was responsible for surveying andmapping the then ill-defined territory ofMesopotamia and recommending the borders ofmodern Iraq, borders contested to this day.Cooper presents an engaging narrative of aremarkable and doughty English woman whoseskills and influence were extraordinary for the age.

It is not often you get a text message "Nolecture tonight. Full riot in progress", especiallyin connection with an RICS event. Such was

the scenario that attended last year's stalledChristmas Lecture for Geomatics members andthe Michael Barrett Award (now re-scheduledfor Monday 10 January). Once RICS personnelwere safely evacuated, I understand the riotingstudents who managed to get into the buildingdidn't stay long once they discovered the joiningfees! I digress, because this editorial is notmeant to take any sides in the UK's recent spateof protests over rising university fees, but ismeant to be about addressing. However, thelatter is a subject not entirely unrelated torioting. Both can be very confusing, involvelarge numbers of people who have no ideawhat's going on, are highly dynamic and willremain work in progress.

It is extremely good news, as we report onpage 12, that at last the British Governmenthas grasped the addressing nettle and forcedthe Ordnance Survey and NLPG addressdatasets into a merger. Geocoding ofaddresses, a bit like policing a riot, looks easyto control until you start to examine the issuesin detail. How do you cope with buildings inmultiple occupancy? What about placeswithout letterboxes - war memorials, electricitysubstations, public toilets - venues whenceemergency services may be summoned? ThePost Office Address file, developed over 40years ago, is not always suitable for locating anincident. Neither is it suitable for geocoding inthe sat-nav age. PAF is basically a massivespreadsheet with one row for every address inthe country. But even when linked tocoordinates, it may be too coarse a location forthe addressing envisaged by the NLPG for theemergency services. Hill Farm will have apostcode but the incident could be a mile ortwo away in one of the farm's fields. Read ourarticle and ponder on the problems our GIScolleagues involved in addressing face.

Tipping point?It is very striking just how quickly 3D surveyingand modelling has taken off, driven by rapidlyevolving software, miniaturisation of technologyand falling prices. We seem to be near a tippingpoint, rather like that identified in a Gartner'shype cycle (see Engineering Surveying Showcase2010 issue 2) where we are heading upwards

Rioting andaddressing mayseem unrelated butdig a little and thereare similarities.Meanwhile, therelentless rise of 3Dsurveying andmodelling continues.But has it reached acritical point yet?

Addressing the new age of 3D

The editor welcomes yourcomments and editorialcontributions by e-mail:[email protected] by post:Geomatics WorldPV Publications Ltd2B North RoadStevenageHerts SG1 4ATUnited Kingdom

TEN YEARS AGOAt the beginning of 2001, when we were still SurveyingWorld, several now mature technologies were attractingcoverage. Airborne technologies like lidar, IfSAR anddigital cameras were just emerging for commercial use.The market for 3g mobile phones was also predicted forrapid take-off; it didn’t until much more recently, heldback then by overpriced licence bids and marketreluctance. Also holding it back and many othertechnologies was the Internet. Still to reach puberty, thechild demanded ever more bandwidth. MeanwhileOrdnance Survey was acrimoniously letting go long-serving senior managers, judged as having “deficienciesof competence”. And Leica had just bought a littlecompany called Cyra Technologies.

Stephen Booth, Editor

6&7 April 2011 @ Holiday Inn, London-Elstree M25 Jct 23register @ www.pvpubs.com

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NEWS

06 Geomatics World January / February 2011

along a course beneath the riveror to follow a more direct, andcheaper, route to Beckton.

Why do we need it? Much ofLondon’s sewer system is acombined foul and surface waternetwork dating from Victoriantimes. It works well until it isoverwhelmed by excessive rainwhen the overflow from thesystem, including sewage,discharges into the river. TheThames Tunnel will intercept thisoverflow sewage and transport itto the treatment works insteadof the river.

The projected cost of theproject is £3.6 billion. Design andconsultation work will take placeover the next couple of years. In2012 the planning applicationwill be submitted andconstruction is due to start in2013, with completion in 2020.For more information visitwww.thameswater.co.uk

Geomatics Committeefor oil & gasThe International Association ofOil & Gas Producers (OGP)Surveying and PositioningCommittee has changed its nameto better reflect the activities of itsmembers. These cover acquisition,processing, managing, visualisingand analysing geo-information.With this change there alsocomes a logical restructure of thegroup. Detailed work will bedone in subcommittees, whichwill allow the GeomaticsCommittee to focus on strategyand to spread the workload moreevenly amongst individuals andmember companies. The newstructure will offer personaldevelopment opportunities formany of the less experiencedGeomatics colleagues in the oiland gas industry.

Looking back, 2010 has beenone of the busiest and mostproductive years in thecommittee’s history. Seven taskforces have been at work withup-coming publications:• Guidelines for GNSS

positioning in the offshore Oiland Gas Industry

• Guidelines for the conduct ofmarine drilling hazard sitesurveys for offshore drillinglocations

• GIS Model for the delivery and

exchange of seabed surveydata (beta)

• GIGS (Geospatial Integrity ofGeoscience Software)Guidelines, Checklist and TestDataset

• GN14 Guidance onCoordinate Reference Systemsto be used in ReservesUnitisation Agreements

The P-format task force isundertaking a comprehensiverevision of the heritage UKOOAP1/90 Post Plot Data Exchange,the UKOOA P2/P4 ExchangeFormat for Raw Positioning Dataand associated SEG P-formats. Thecurrent formats are becomingobsolete due to technologicaldevelopments with acquisition andprocessing and the existingformats suffer from a proliferationof variations, ‘add-ons’ andspecials. The task force is due todeliver the revised formats in2011. For more information visit:http://info.ogp.org.uk/geodesy

The GeoVation challenge“How can we improve transportin Britain?” is the challenge set byOrdnance Survey in their secondGeoVation initiative. The closingdate is 11th February 2011, sothere is still time to submit thosebright geospatial ideas andperhaps win a slice of the£150,000 fund on offer to turnideas into reality. In addition, OSis offering a £7,000 award to theinnovator who makes best use ofits OS OpenData service.

GeoVation is a four-stageprocess. Firstly, think of an idea,then post it on the GeoVationChallenge website. A panel ofjudges then select entries to goforward based upon theirpotential to create social andenvironmental value usinggeography. Stage three is theGeoVation Camp at which theideas are developed intoprototyped working models ofnew ventures. At the end of thecamp, finalists are selected to goforward to the GeoVationChallenge Awards Showcase inLondon in May 2011.

Here are some questions to askyourself when submitting an idea:What problem are you solving?Who are you solving it for?How painful is this problem forthem?

A 3D architectural computer model generated from laser-scannedmeasurements has been used to help design and build a “futuristic” libraryresource centre (LRC). Using software from Pointools, TMJ Interiors createda model of the two-storey structure from which over 7,000 differentcomponents were designed, manufactured and installed. The LRC pod atSuffolk One, a new college in Ipswich, has a complex curving structure thatrequired precision design and engineering of both the frame and externalcladding. ‘The need for accuracy in the model was essential to eliminate, toa large degree, hand fitting work,’ says Rob Form, design technician. ‘Rhinoand Pointools worked together seamlessly and allowed the construction ofa large model of a complex project resulting in minimal waste on finishedcomponents and very high levels of accuracy’.

RICS Geomatics lectures are CPD relevant and counts towardsyour CPD/LLL quota as specified within RICS regulations. Alllectures are free and open to all (especially students) unlessotherwise specified. All lectures take place at RICS GreatGeorge Street lecture hall and are timed at 17.30 for 1800unless otherwise stated.

Monday 10 JanuaryMichael Barrett Award 2010. Rescheduled lecture -Martin Pratt IBRU.

Thursday 27 JanuaryUK geo forum lecture - Geography in Schools and Educationfor Survival - Prof David Lambert

Thursday 3 MarchThe Future of Field Data Capture Neil Ackroyd OS.

Thursday 3 MarchProf Paul Cross' farewell lecture. More detials TBA.

Geomatics Evening Lectures 2011

A model resource

Tunnel to clean up ThamesThe engineering and constructionindustry in London has benefitedfrom several high profile projects inrecent years. The London Olympics,the extensive improvements tounderground and overground railnetworks and of course Crossrailare well known and have helped torelieve the effects of the recession.But another massive tunnelling

project, the Thames Tunnel, is inthe making.

If it follows the preferredroute, the 7.2m diameter tunnelwill be 22km long and run fromActon in West London to BecktonSewage Treatment Works in EastLondon. The route will runbeneath the River Thames as faras Limehouse at which pointthere are options to continue

NEWS


Shaky Isles quake causescadastral boundaries move

How is this problem currentlysolved?What ideas have already beensubmitted?To answer the last question andmost others, visitwww.geovation.org.uk

GLONASS disasterThe Moscow Times reported thata rocket carrying three GLONASS

satellites, that would havebrought the constellation up toits fully operational status of 24satellites, crashed shortly afterlaunch on December 5th.

As a result of the loss,President Medvedev has orderedthe Prosecutor General, YuryChaika, to carry out aninvestigation as to whether themoney used to develop GLONASS

Prior to 4:35 am on September 4th 2010 this road was straight. Anearthquake measuring at 7.1 on the Richter scale shifted it by threemetres and jolted Cantabrians awake, reports Roy Dale, GW's NewZealand correspondent. Damage to buildings and infrastructure inChristchurch and its surrounding areas was considerable. Aftershocks,some severe, continued for over a month.

Land surface displacement has occurred over a large area of bothrural and urban land, reports Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). Thereare parcels affected by:- Fault shear across the parcel.- Parcels distorted due to proximity to the fault line.- Parcels subject to distorted boundary evidence due to liquefaction (liquidising of

the subsoil -often sandy in the Christchurch area).- Wholesale displacement of parcels and cadastral survey network marks from

their pre-earthquake geographic positions.The first step in evaluating boundary movement is to resurvey 251control marks in the Canterbury region. This fieldwork started on 11thOctober, GNS Science having advised that seismic movement hadstabilised. The results obtained from this survey and its adjustment willindicate where further control is needed and to what extent lower ordermarks can be adjusted without resurvey, LINZ advises.

It is expected that, where land has moved, boundaries will have movedby a corresponding amount. In a few cases, parcels have been bisectedby the fault trace and more careful consideration will need to be given.Fences and walls that were on the boundary before the quake can bereasonably assumed to be still on the boundary now; wholesaleredefinition of boundaries should not be necessary, LINZ believes. Thepositions of boundaries are based on physical evidence - mainly surveymarks, including boundary pegs. A Regulatory Impact Statement FromLINZ published on 16 December last year provides an analysis of optionsto allow the Surveyor-General to issue a new rule for cadastral survey toaddress problems caused by the quake. Key assumptions include a newrule to address the problem of lateral shear.Sources: GNS Science Ltd, a Crown Research Institute www.gns.cri.nzLand Information New Zealand www.linz.govt.nz

We welcome advance details of events likely to be ofinterest to the Geomatics community. Please send details to:

e d i t o r @ p v p u b s . d e m o n . c o . u k

Events Calendar 2011• SEMINARS • CONFERENCES • EXHIBITIONS • COURSES

For more events, visit our online calendar atw w w. p v p u b s . c o m

GIS in Mining & Exploration 201118-19 January, Grand HotelStockholm, Sweden.Contact: http://gisinmining.com

Defence GeospatialIntelligence (DGI) 201124-27 January, QEII Centre,London, UK.Contact: www.wbresearch.com/dgieurope/home.aspx

6th EARSeL (EuropeanAssociation of Remote SensingLaboratories) Workshop RemoteSensing of Snow and Glaciers:Cryosphere, Hydrology andClimate Interactions7-9 February, University of Bern,Switzerland.Contact: www.earsel.org/SIG/Snow-Ice/workshops.php

International Lidar MappingForum (ILMF) 20117-9 February, New Orleans, USA.Contact:www.lidarmap.org/ILMF.aspx

SPAR International 201121-24 March, The WoodlandsWaterway Marriott Hotel andConference Center, Houston,Texas, USA.Contact: www.sparconference.com

GEO-11: World of Geomaticsand GIS Innovations6-7 April, Holiday Inn, Elstree, UK.Contact: Email Sharon Robson,[email protected] orTel, +44 (0)1438 352617 orwww.pvpubs.com/events.php

GITA's 2011 GeospatialSolutions Conference:Intelligent Infrastructure for aSustainable Future10-14 April, Grapevine (Dallas),Texas, USA.Contact: www.gitaservices.org/websites/gita2011

Esri UK Annual Conference 201116-17 May, London HiltonMetropole, London, UK.Contact: http://eukac.esriuk.com/

FIG Working Week: Bridging theGap Between Cultures18-22 May, Marrakech, Morocco.Contact: www.fig.net/fig2011/

Second Innovative LidarSolutions Conference (ILSC)31 May - 3 June, Toronto, Canada.Contact: www.optech.ca/ilsc2011/

The British Cartographic SocietyAnnual Symposium:The Power of the Image8-10 June, Shrigley Hall, Nr.Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK.Contact: www.cartography.org.uk/

11th South East Asian SurveyCongress (SEASC 2011) andthe 13th InternationalSurveyors’ Congress (ISC 2011)22-24 June, Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.Contact: www.seasc2011.org/

Esri International UserConference 201111-15 July, San DiegoConvention Center, CA, USA.Contact: www.esri.com/events/user-conference/index.html

11th International Conferenceon GeoComputation20-22 July, University CollegeLondon, UK. Contact: http://standard.cege.ucl.ac.uk/workshops/Geocomputation/index.html

The Remote Sensing andPhotogrammetry SocietyAnnual Conference 201113-15 September,Bournemouth, UK.Contact: Email, Dr Ross Hill,[email protected] orwww.rspsoc.org

NEWS


has been used “effectively”.Ominously, the investigation willlook for individuals who havebeen “complicit with what isgoing on”. $2 billion has beenspent on the GLONASS systemover the past ten years.

New UK Sokkia dealershipCG Surveying Ltd are now officialdealers for instrumentmanufacturers, Sokkia. CG, as wellas Irish partners CGSR SurveyingLtd, were rewarded with thedealership in November 2010 byPrecision Geomatics Ltd, sole UKimporters of the brand. CGS aresurveying equipment and laserspecialists and offer theircustomers hire, sales and repairservices. For a full range of Sokkiaproducts and more information,visit www.cgsurveying.co.uk orcontact CGS on 020 8953 1333or email [email protected]

Improving opiummonitoringRemote sensing techniques haveproved critical in providingaccurate information on opiumpoppy production in Afghanistan.In 2003, the quantitativeinformation gathered annually bythe UN Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) and the US governmentwere identified as different andoften contradictory. Cranfield

University was tasked by the UKgovernment with undertaking anindependent review of the surveytechniques employed at the timeand so conducted cultivationsurveys from 2005 to 2009. Afteron-going security issues madeemploying aerial remote sensingtechniques difficult, Cranfieldevolved alternative methods usinghigh-resolution satellite imageryintegrated with medium resolutionimagery from the DisasterMonitoring Constellation (DMC)satellites and streamlined theirmethods based on the timing ofpoppy flowering to optimiseimagery acquisition. Resultingreports were available earlier thanin previous years and were moredetailed at district level.

Closing date for awardsThe closing date for the nextBritish Cartographic Society (BCS)award entries is 25 February2011. The commercial awardceremony forms part of thesociety’s annual symposium,which will be held at ShrigleyHall, Macclesfield, UK on 9 June2011. The four commercial awardcategories comprise: Stanfordsaward for printed mapping;Avenza award for electronicmapping; John C. Bartholomewaward for small scale mapping;and Ordnance Survey MasterMap

award for better mapping.Further information, includingentry details, is available atwww.cartography.org.uk/awards

CONTRACTS & PROJECTS

Underwater with GNSSAshtech’s ProFlex 500 receiver hasbeen selected to provide GNSSposition data to the FieldSensunderwater utility mapping systemfrom Optimal Ranging Inc. Usedfor locating underwater utilities,the FieldSens towed unit onlyneeds to be in the general vicinityof a utility line to provide accurate3D mapping of it.

SmartNet in BulgariaIn November, Leica SmartNetBulgaria was launched inpartnership with IPOS (owners ofBulipos), who will operate thecontrol centre, and Leicadistributor, Metrisys, who will takecharge of the full commercialservice, including user support andsubscriptions.

Resolving property claimsForty-nine MobileMapper 6GPS/GIS field terminals havebeen purchased by two Republicof Kosovo agencies, the KosovoProperty Agency (KPA) and theKosovo Cadastre Agency (KCA),to map property boundaries tohelp resolve private propertyclaims.

Mapping urban treesA computer-generated 3D map ofManchester’s urban trees hasbeen created to help authoritiesunderstand the impact on theenvironment, public health andthe aesthetic qualities of theregion. A consortium oforganisations commissionedBluesky after learning about thecompany’s ProximiTREE product.

Leica Geosystems AB and Swepos,the national GNSS networkprovider in Sweden, have signed anagreement for the data exchangeof GNSS raw data. With theagreement, Leica can build up a fullnetwork-RTK coverage for thecountry in combination with theSwepos reference sites. The testphase started immediately withplans to go live with full coverageby the beginning of April 2011.

Applanix Corporation and ITRESResearch Ltd, a company in theairborne remote sensing industry,have entered into an OEM supplyagreement. Under the agreement,the former will supply the POS AVand POSTrack products forintegration with ITRES opticalimaging systems.

BRIEFS

Eric Pickles MP, UK secretary ofstate for Communities and LocalGovernment, has announced thataddressing information from localauthorities and Ordnance Surveywill be brought together to createa “National Address GazetteerDatabase” to provide onedefinitive source of accuratespatial address data. Turn to page12 for a full article reporting andcommenting on this news.

Survey Instrument Services Ltdhas been appointed as anauthorised service partner forLeica Geosystems. Theaccreditation was issued after acomprehensive audit of SIS’service facility at its Dublin office.

Intergraph Government Solutions(IGS), a wholly owned subsidiaryof Intergraph, has beenestablished to serve thecompany’s US federal customerbase. The company will embraceall of Intergraph’s federal agencyand intelligence communityclassified businesses: defence andintelligence; federal solutions andIntergraph services corp.

Since January, satellite imageryand geo-information company,Spot Image, and Infoterra, AstriumServices subsidiaries, havecombined to form a new geo-information business division.

The first call for papers has beenissued for the Remote Sensingand Photogrammetry SocietyAnnual Conference: EarthObservation in a Changing World,taking place on 13-15 September2011 at Bournemouth University,UK. Abstract submission opens on31 January and the deadline forsubmission is 31 March. For moreinformation, email Dr Ross Hill [email protected] visit www.rspsoc2011.org

Laser mapping technology is being employed to predict avalanches in theHimalayas. The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) is usingSiteMonitor technology to monitor the snow cover build up, as well asaccess its displacement with passage of time, and provide inputs forimproving the accuracy of avalanche prediction. Using the laser monitoringsystem, it is quicker and safer to capture accurate, reliable and repeatablemeasurements for the calculation of snow mass, displacement etc. TheSiteMonitor system, developed by 3D Laser Mapping, is being distributedby M/s Elcome Technologies, Gurgaon in India.

Predictingavalanches

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Undercurrents


astronaut who has flown in the space shuttlethree times. He is a brilliant bloke with a reallyengaging style. He showed us a very vivid filmof his training, launch and time aboard theInternational Space Station, which seems to bethe venue for much fun and jolly japes amongstthe mixed crew, if you count avoiding a floating(and fortunately sealed) bag of your fellowtravellers’ urine.

Helping the Police?There seems to have been a spate of surveyorshelping the police in one way or another. ShaneJones has been busy working outside ScotlandYard with his Topcon instrument and Ben Darlow,once with Thames Water and now helping theMetropolitan Police with their surveying, has sentthis excellent photo of one of the canons thatdemarcate William Roy’s baseline measured onHounslow Heath in 1784 and now mostlyabsorbed into Heathrow Airport.

Roy is regarded by many as the father if notthe founder of the Ordnance Survey. His work inmapping Scotland after the ’45 Rebellion anddevelopment of geodetic measuring techniquesled to his being charged with trying to get a

The final lectures of 2010 at the RGS havebeen exceptional. “Scott of the Antarctic –from hero to villain?” by Max Jones looked

at how the explorer’s death was rapidlyexploited by the media into a great nationaltragedy with remembrance services in St Paul’sand around the country. Scott was held up as ashining example of a great British hero,especially for young men. More recentlyhistorians have cast doubts on Scott’sleadership. He was strongly advised againstusing motor vehicles (primitive as they were in1911) and relying too much on ponies. His firstexpedition, with Ernest Shackleton in the party,had more limited aims than reaching the poleand was successful. Following this Shackletonset out on his own expedition and whilst notsuccessful in reaching the pole, it did not end indeath and disaster. History is increasingly findingShackleton the better leader.

On a lighter note, Jones’ lecture included anexcerpt from the Monty Python sketch “Scott ofthe Desert”. Filmed very obviously on Paigntonbeach, it included the scene where Scott (playedby Michael Palin) wrestles with a stuffed lionlooking about as fierce as a soppy Labrador (bethe never dreamt then he’d be president of theRGS one day!).

That vehicle againStaying with the Antarctic, more on that oddvehicle we featured back in the July/Augustissue. This propeller-driven device sitting onthree skiis runs on bio-fuel and was part ofthe Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition,designed to test whether man’s environmentalimpact on the otherwise pristine continentcould be reduced. The vehicle was inspiredand funded by Professor Winston Wong, aTaiwanese business leader and a physicsalumnus of Imperial College.

Then there was Palestinian writer and keenwalker Raja Shehadeh talking to the Presidentabout his latest book. For those who don’t

know much about the history of thispart of the world and how its peoplehave past under the control of theRomans, Ottomans, British and nowIsraelis, Shehadeh’s matter-of-fact andnon-partisan account of current lifeas well as recent history was a realeye-opener.

But probably the finest lecture Ihave ever heard at the RGS was givenby Piers Sellers, a British born

In a particularlywide and freeranging column MrRentalengthreflects on abrilliant series ofautumn lectures atthe RGS, providesmore recollectionsof Eric Radcliffeand finds morethan one surveyorhelping the Police.

Scott, Roy, Che Guavara, theMet and moreBy Malcolm Draper

Right: working atthe Met.

Below: armedofficers guarding

Roy’s canon.

Below: all is now revealed.

Undercurrents


Are you a Jasbeen?We’re trying to arrange a reunion of formeremployees of JA Story & Partners. The landsurvey firm was for many years one of thelargest survey companies in the UK. We lastgathered in Brighton at the FIG Congress heldthere in 1998. Before memories fadealtogether and time takes its toll, we’replanning another reunion. If you’re interestedor know of former colleagues you’re still incontact with who worked for Storys, pleaseemail me at [email protected] and we’ll seewhat we can set up.

Winter PuzzleReaders tell us they enjoy our little puzzlesand teasers and we haven’t had one for awhile, so here goes. What do the followingnumbers have in common?

3, 7, 10, 17, 11, 12, 73, 77?

. . . and no, they don’t all come with rice!Answers please to [email protected] first correct answers from both overseasand the UK will receive a small literary prize.

MiscellanyI had never thought the Russians excelled atunderstatement until recently. The Russiansatellite disaster when three Glonassnavigation satellites were lost and jettisonednear Hawaii had one pundit explaining it as an“unplanned situation” making it sound morelike a burst water main than a multi-milliondollar catastrophe.

Thoughts on mapping: A road map tells youeverything except how to re-fold it!

Ray Adams, an old friend from Storys, hassent me a list of predictions stretching backover 300 years from the great and the goodabout the future. They pay close study andreflection for those of an unimaginative andconservative bent.

1868: “Well informed people know that it isimpossible to transmit the human voice overwires” – A New York Newspaper

1876: “It’s a great invention but who wouldwant to use it anyway?” US PresidentRutherford Hayes on being shown Bell’stelephone.

1927: “Who the hell wants to hear actorstalk?” HM Warner, co-founder of WarnerBrothers and presumably a tad less imaginativethan his brother.

1957 and two weeks before the launch ofSputnik: “Space travel is utter bilge” SirHarold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal.

1977: “There is no reason anyone would wanta computer in their home” Ken Olsenpresident, chairman and founder of DigitalEquipment Corporation.

better connection with French surveyors andscientists between the Greenwich and Parisobservatories. The Hounslow base, which wasmeasured at first with wooden rods then withglass ones, enabled the triangulation all the wayto Dover. Interestingly, back in the 18th centuryHounslow Heath was infested with highwayrobbers and other undesirables (bit likeHeathrow today then). For more on Roy’s legacyturn to our book review of Map of a Nation onpage 32 and also the excellent TwickenhamMuseum website (http://www. twickenham-museum.org.uk - search for “William Roy”).

Refraction and Che GuavaraSince the last issue of GW and Eric Radcliffe’sobituary we’ve received some morerecollections of this great engineering surveyor.Ron Craven writes: “I first met him when I was16, when I joined the OS at Wakefield, hemust have been 23, an old hand by that time. Ihave vivid memories of him always upsettingour ‘superintendent’, who was always readingthe Daily Telegraph with his morning cuppaand opposite was Eric, dressed like CheGuavara with beret, combat boots (up ondesk) reading The Daily Worker!”

Dave Davies has fond recollections of Eric’swork on the Channel Tunnel and the problemshe had in dealing with lateral refraction. “. . .I remember several of us having a long chatwith Eric one lunchtime when we were at theICE . . . Eric said that his major problem wasthat due to the project being behind for mostof the construction period, the managementhad decided to run the Boring Machines for20+ hours a day instead of the tunnellingnorm of 2 × 8 hour working shifts and a third8 hour shift for maintenance, survey, etc. Thisleft very little time for anyone who had workto do whilst the TBMs weren’t running andthey were all trying to work at the same timeso with the interruptions from traffic and thecontinual stirring-up of the atmosphere the airnever had a chance to stabilise enough to getdecent results. Eric suspected at about thequarter [way] point under the Channel thatthey could be up to 10m off line because ofthe problems he was having.

He borrowed. . . the grand-daddy of allgyroscope/inertial navigation systems that hadsome incredible degree of accuracy – I recall hesaid it was about the size of a small car withits power supply and other accessories. Theyset this beast up near the portal for about 24hours to let it stabilise, then very carefully tookit down the tunnel recording as they went andestablished that Eric’s suspected 10m wasactually nearer 15m. He presented the resultsto the construction management and toldthem that if they continued working in thesame way they’d be getting two tunnelsinstead of one because they would miss theFrench machine quite comfortably in mid-channel. Shortly after that he got exclusivetime slots for his surveyors. . .”

Got a tale to tell?Please send letters forpublication by e-mailto the Editor: [email protected] contactUndercurrents, instrictest confidence ifyou wish (we promiseto change names,places, etc toprotect the guilty!),via e-mail:[email protected]


Addressing

Geographic Information (AGI) believes themove is “providing one definitive source ofaccurate publicly-owned spatial address data,for the whole of the public sector.” TimMaxwell, managing director of GGP Systems,which supplies GIS software to the public sectorand utilities, adds, “This is a really positivemove for all connected to the GIS industry.”

Michael Nicholson, MD of IntelligentAddressing, says: “Commercial competition overthe nation’s addressing has been quite a featureof the UK’s geographic information scene forabout ten years. The JV approach is somethingwe first proposed in 2000 to resolve the muddleand again in 2001 but perhaps conditions werenot right then. Now, the changes at OrdnanceSurvey, the success of the NLPG and the newfocus on efficiency in government have createdconditions where resolution is both moreachievable and more urgent.”

Subject to approval from the Office of FairTrading, the JV will combine localgovernment’s address and streets gazetteers,the NLPG and NSG with Ordnance Survey’s OSMasterMap Address Layer 2, although theNSG will continue to be managed separately,as it is at present. The initiative supports theUK Location Strategy’s concept of a “CoreReference Geography” and the key principlesof the INSPIRE* directive, including that datashould only be collected once and kept whereit can be maintained most effectively.

While existing customers will continue to besupported for awhile, new products will bringtogether the currency and consistency of existingaddress products and allow organisations toreadily exchange address information with eachother, streamlining government services,reducing duplication and facilitating partnershipworking. This should deliver significant efficiencysavings and improvements for both the publicand commercial sectors.

The new national address gazetteerdatabase will be developed by April 2011,allowing customer engagement prior toproduct release between July and September2011. It will be free at the point of use for allgovernment bodies via the Public SectorMapping Agreement. Commercial customerswill be able to license it in the same way asthey currently license OS and NLPG products. Itis envisaged that over time all customers willmigrate to the products created from thenational address gazetteer database but initiallythe existing address products will continue tobe made available as they are today.

For surveyors, an address has usually been nomore than what it is for the rest of thepopulation; somewhere to live, work or

perhaps shop. Somewhere with a letterbox. Wehave always concerned ourselves with position;and the more precise the better! But with therise of GIS and GPS controlled delivery andemergency services, the lines between addressand position have become fuzzier. Location hasbecome the critical word, usually a point, whichyou will recognise when you get there.

In the UK, whilst many find the postcodesystem reliable enough it is not accurate orsuitable for locating those features that will beon large-scale mapping like OS MasterMap. Todeal with this Ordnance Survey developed theirAddresspoint and Address Layer 2 products,which assign accurate coordinates to addresses.These objects also have a TOID - a topographicidentifier. This geo-coding of addresses is thefuel that drives GIS. Meanwhile, the LocalGovernment Group (LGG) invested in theNational Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG),primarily for local authority and emergencyservice use – also with geocodes. Repeatedattempts to bring these two competing datasetstogether have foundered due to a lack ofgovernment will. Sorting out this very Britishmuddle has at last stepped closer.

On 3rd December the Department ofCommunities and Local Government (DCLG)announced the formation of a joint venture (JV),“GeoPlace™”, between Ordnance Survey andLGG. The JV will develop a single definitive setof address data for England and Wales. Thisfollows years of pressure to resolve thedifficulties arising from non-interoperability ofBritain’s two national address datasets.

The joint ventureincludes the acquisitionof Intelligent Addressing,the company currentlycompiling NLPG andrunning the NationalStreet Gazetteer hubs(primarily used by theutilities). IntelligentAddressing’smanagement team willtransfer to the newcompany although, it isunderstood, not itsdirectors MichaelNicholson and Tony Black.

The move has beenwidely welcomed.Describing it as “animportant step forward”,the Association for

The UK has longstruggled withhaving threeaddress databases,causing problemsand friction betweenpublic sector bodiesas well ascommercialoperators that relyon location. Thenew CoalitionGovernment hasnow moved to sortout the muddle,report RichardGroom, RobinWaters andStephen Booth.

GeoPlace: one address database

*INSPIRE stands for Infrastructure for Spatial Informationin Europe and is a directive from the EU that requiresmember states to harmonise their geospatial infrastructure.

What is an address?It sounds like a simple question but that perhaps is why weended up with what Michael Nicholson calls ‘a muddle’.Ask people what an address is and they will say that it’s aplace where letters are delivered. But what aboutchurches? What about electricity substations? What aboutPost Boxes? What about buildings in multiple occupancy?

Perhaps it is better to think of an address as theaccepted name for a parcel of land, a building or self-contained unit in a building, a reasonably permanenttopographical feature – in other words an attribute. Thenit is simply a case of assigning coordinates – sometimes in3D - to the object and it becomes usable for GIS.

The first OS product, Addresspoint, was little more thanthe Post Office Address File with coordinates for everyaddress. The NLPG address product was developedindependently to cater for local government and theemergency services. Importantly, they have no commonkey, which makes it impossible to relate them directly.

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International Boundaries Research Unit, DurhamUniversity, to rearrange this lecture for early 2011.

Significant outputs last yearAt the close out of the year it is always useful toreflect on achievements and plan for the future.Last year saw some significant outputs from thePG Board and its associated panels, e.g., theMapping and Positioning Practice Panel (MAPPP)and the Boundaries and Party Walls Panel.Highlight deliverables include: a full revision ofour A5 client guides; the publication of the 2ndedition of the GNSS guidelines, the 5th editionof the Vertical aerial photography and digitalimagery guidance note, 1st edition of the Rightsof Light GN and related events, developmentand finalisation of two new GeomaticsAssocRICS routes to membership, includingcompetencies, for Marine and Land/EngineeringSurveying and the launch of GW online.Amongst such excellent successes it wasdisappointing to note that the official launch ofthese membership routes by RICS has beenfurther delayed until spring 2011. The RICSBusiness Plan 2010-13 places ‘increasingmembership’ at its cornerstone and suchslippages in delivery are simply embarrassing.

Restructuring aheadThe year 2011 will see the restructuring of thePG Board and there is still time for you submityour application to join the Board (closing dateof 18th February 2011). The MAPPP will tacklea full revision of the now ageing clientspecification guidelines for Surveys of Land,Buildings and Utility Services at Scales of 1:500and Larger, whilst the PG Board will, amongstother business, ensure a full programme ofevening lectures, contribute to a full review ofthe RICS APC process and investigate theviability of a NEW generic ‘Land’ related AssocRICSroute that should prove more suitable forcolleagues whose work encompasses some keyelements of geomatics but is not dominated bythe discipline. Looking further into the future,continued PG Board representation on theComité de Liaison des Géomètres Européens(CLGE) has produced a proposal to host the CLGEGeneral Assembly in Edinburgh during 2012.

From the foregoing I hope you get a senseof the work the PG Board has undertaken overthe past 12 months and I’m sure you will joinwith me in thanking the tireless efforts, givenfreely, of Board and Panel members alike.

In closing I leave you with the bombshellnews of the dissolution of universityaccreditation by RICS Americas. This movemust surely put RICS accreditation ofuniversity courses globally firmly in thespotlight! As ever I welcome your commentsand thoughts so please email on the followingaddress ([email protected]).

Iwelcome you to the first Chair’s column of2011 with a small apology. In my lastcolumn I completely overlooked wishing you

all a Happy Christmas and prosperous NewYear. I do hope that you were able to relaxand enjoy the festivities with your family andfriends and now feel recharged and ready toface the year ahead.

December 9th 2010 was a memorable datefor me for two reasons: it was my first chairingof the Geomatics PG Board and, coincidently,the date chosen by parliament for the final voteon future student fee levels in Higher Education.The December meeting has traditionally beenattended by both National and World Regionrepresentatives and this year was no exceptionwith members in attendance from Hong Kong,the Middle East, the Americas and Germany.This mix always makes for a meeting with asomewhat different dynamic and I knew I wouldneed to be on good form to control theenergetic discussions and debate.

However, what I hadn’t factored in was theexcellent view of the student protests againstthe fee increases afforded by our meeting roomin Great George Street which at times made mytask more difficult than anticipated especially asthe day drew on and the mood of the crowdchanged from relaxed to tense and finally toaggressive! This final stage led to the closure ofour meeting prematurely as the RICS buildingwas evacuated and locked down by order ofthe police. I’m happy to report though that wewere able to finish our meeting after a shortwalk to our nearby hotel. The closure of thebuilding did however mean the latecancellation of the scheduled RICS eveninglecture. To those of you who made every effortto reach Great George Street in time to attendthis lecture (battling through crowds and policelines) I can only apologise for anyinconvenience caused. We are working hardwith the speaker, Martin Pratt, Director of the

The challenge of theDecemberGeomatics PG Boardbrings members toLondon from aroundthe world. Alas,protests brought atemporary halt toproceedings whilstan alternative venuewas found, reportsStuart Edwards,Chair, GeomaticsGlobal ProfessionalGroup Board.

Join in and get involved!

Chair

Members of the GeomaticsPG board on the roof ofRICS headquarters.

Heritage 3D Modelling


part is measured and modelled separately, allelements were georeferenced together in atopographic network anchored to the four roofs.

Trigonometrical surveyTo survey the whole building using total stationtechnology would be truly arduous.Nonetheless, measurements were essential tocontrol and georeference the photogrammetricand scanned data and to survey parts thatcould not be surveyed in other ways and tocheck and test the final results.

A relatively complex control network wasestablished using four closed traverses: one atthe apex of the cathedral roofs, one on thedome cladding, one on the first belvedere andone on the last belvedere. All thesemeasurements were computed and adjustedto high precision measurements previouslytaken inside the central dome for the staticcontrol of the whole structure.

The cathedral is constructed from Candogliamarble. This presented some difficulties for thesurvey. Distance measurements made using atotal station laser and by laser scanner on to themarble surface gave inaccurate results. For thecontrol survey, this problem was overcome byfixing temporary targets to the marble.

Laser scanningA complete laser-scan is the obvious way ofobtaining a 3D point cloud of the object fromwhich to extract the desired information. Theinstrument at our disposal was the LeicaHDS6000, a phase shift scanner with a very fastacquisition rate (500,000 points/sec). Theacquisition speed and the extremely highresolution made it ideal for this survey but, asmentioned, the marble does not lend itselfeasily to scanning due to its crystallinestructure. Penetration of the laser beam intothe heterogeneous material causes grooves inthe data and systematic errors in distancemeasurements, particularly for short ranges. Insome cases, as for example on the high part ofthe marble staircase, there were errors of 3-4centimetres. The problem can be mitigated, butonly partially, by reducing the power of thelaser. We also tested a time-of-flight scanner,but with the same results.

Modelling the data was not always a simpleoperation. For example, a perfect registrationof the several point clouds was impossibleusing surface-matching algorithms. It couldonly be done trigonometrically, usingmeasured targets.

Despite the problems, it was decided tocomplete the scanning, using the scanneddata as a macro-reference and cross-check forthe model that was built in other ways and asa base to georeference together all the single

The aim of this project is to know the stateof health and geometry of the spire inorder to prepare and support restoration

operations. In addition to classical plans andelevations, an accurate 3D model is required forfuture visualisation, for reference and insupport of restoration work, including structuralanalysis. For our research activities, the jobprovides an interesting test bed for comparisonof different kinds of survey methodologies. Itwill be the pretext to identify an “operatingtemplate” to model such huge and complexstructures using different measurement sensorsand to elaborate the result integrating togetherall the different data.

The main spire was built in 1765 and is theunitary block that overtops the main vault ofthe Cathedral. It is divided into four mainparts: the structure of the octagonal lanterncontaining the dome, the architecturalcomplex apparatus, composed of fourGugliotti and sixteen small spires, eight flyingbuttresses and the large central spire. Thetotal height of the spire, including the statue,is about 43 metres and is composed of a 9mhigh octagonal base, which rests on thelantern and is connected to the side wallsthrough the flying buttresses. On theoctagonal base there is an octagonal prismaticpipe, 19.4m high and surrounded by eightcolumns, inside which is a spiral staircase thatleads to the last landing, or belvedere. Abovethis, there is a finely decorated terminalpyramid and then the statue of the Madonna.

The surveyThe survey process relies on the integration ofglobal and local techniques that can ensure360° coverage of the complex. A medium scaleof 1:20 is used, reserving a scale of 1:50 for theless accessible portions that do not affect thegeneral purpose of the task. Trigonometricalsurvey using total station measurements, laserscanner and close range photogrammetry areused to produce an accurate 3D model of the

whole object and, inparticular, torecursively check theresults and overcomethe limitations,difficulties and errorsassociated with eachsurvey method.

To help managedata acquisition, theproject was dividedinto seven differentareas, which weresurveyed andmodelled separately.Even though every

The main spire ofMilan Cathedral isabout to undergoan extensiverestoration project:work that is to becompleted in timefor the InternationalExpo in 2015. Underthe direction of ProfCarlo Monti,researchersFrancesco Fassi,Cristiana Achilleand Luigi Fregonesefrom Politecnico diMilano have beencommissioned tosurvey and modelthe cathedral’s mainspire.

Surveying the Spire of Milan Cathedral

Figure 1: the base of thespire taken by a UAVhelicopter.



source approach in order to concentrateefforts on the construction of an accurate 3Dmodel and then to extract the necessary 2Dinformation. This has three benefits:i) efforts during the survey phase are

minimized ii) it is possible to extract all future 2D

information from the 3D model (whilst it isimpossible to generate 3D from 2D data)

iii) it can suggest to the customer a new wayto work and design, moving from atraditional two-dimensional to a innovativethree-dimensional logic, which is still notyet rooted in professional daily activities.

Data processing workflowTo achieve this result, it is evident that the 3Dmodel should be really precise and that agood data-processing workflow is required inorder to check the accuracy during the variousmodelling steps.

Inside this logic, the integration of differentdatasets and the employment of a number ofdifferent sensors provides many advantages:• Redundant information: when multiplesensors perceive the same feature of theenvironment, the redundant information canbe exploited to reduce the uncertainty aboutfeature status and increase the reliability incase of a sensor failure or in a situation wherea sensor cannot work in optimal conditions, ashappened with the laser scanner.• Complementary information: multiple sensorsmay perceive different features of theenvironment at different scales; thisconsequently allows us to measure and virtuallyre-build even complex features (which could notbe sensed by each sensor independently).• Increased robustness: the final elaboration of asingle sensor can be used to control theproduct of another one or it can be integratedin another process to increase the final accuracy.• Speeding up data acquisition and processing:the complexity and the size of the spire and inparticular the site’s intrinsic difficulties inrelation to the placement and positioning ofthe object, make it beneficial to simplify thefield survey by collecting multiple datasets

modelled pieces. Apart from the marblescanning problem, the single georeferencedscans provide a useful aid to understandingthe complex geometry of the place and helpedto resolve misunderstandings during thedifficult modelling phase.

The scanned survey will be used in thefuture for visualisation and demonstrationpurposes as well as “museum entertainment”for which purposes, the scans’ low accuracy isnot critical.

Close Range PhotogrammetryClose range photography can be used:

i) for precise texture mapping,

ii) to produce rectified images for thedescription of the restoration operation andthe classification of the materialdeteriorations and in particular

iii) to create the 3D base model of the objects.

The difficulties with this technique are theorientation of a huge number of photos andmanagement of all the orientated blocks.Choosing the right images to be orientated andgetting accurate results, both in the adjustmentand in the image modelling phase, is a difficult,manual time-consuming task. The maindifficulty, in the narrow and cramped conditions,is to acquire strong stereo coverage for allobjects with an optimal relative orientation andbase-height ratio. This can result in seriousuncertainty in the XZ placement of the extracted3D points. To mitigate the problem, manycontrol points were observed, using a totalstation, to perform a better orientation, to makestronger blocks and to have sufficient checkpoints available to evaluate the accuracy of thefinal 3D restitution.

For the photogrammetric survey we used aCanon 5D Mark II 21Mp camera with a 35mmlens. The camera is calibrated on sitesimultaneously with the ongoingphotogrammetric survey.

The project involves acquiring hundreds ofphotographs, observing thousands of tie pointsand fixing dozens of control and check points.From our experience, it is better to orient theentire block of images for each survey area. Thisis a more complicated and difficult blockadjustment computation but the results arebetter, in terms of mean accuracy. Sub-dividingthe survey areas into mini-blocks makes the taskeasier, but requires more photos, more controlpoints, and duplicate effort in orientating somephotos several times. The mini-blocks approachalso gives rise to topological and connectionproblems, which are difficult to evaluate andcorrect in post-processing.

Modelling with data from multiple sourcesTaking into account what has been previouslydiscussed, it is clear that the photogrammetricand laser-scanning techniques have their prosand cons. Our aim is to conduct a multi data-

The plan view of thephotogrammetric

free block with theraw model of the

first belvedere. Thesymbols indicate

camera positions.

The cathedral isconstructed fromCandogliaMarble. Thispresented somedifficulties for thesurvey.


By creating acomplete, accurate3D model it ispossible to extractfrom the datasetall the desired 2Dinformationrequested...


Rhino is very close to CAD in terms of logicand operation. It represents position in double-precision floating-point numbers andconsequently is as accurate as, for example,AutoCAD.

We use Pointools for Rhino which lets usvisualise a huge number of points with colouror intensity information, using a series ofshading options. By importing thephotogrammetric raw model into Rhino it ispossible to check its precision directly in the3D space using the laser scanner point cloudas a reference and model parts which couldnot be extracted due to the limited modellingcapabilities of the photogrammetric softwareor due to the hidden and narrow areas thatcould not be reached photogrammetrically.

After the check phase, it is possible toconstruct the real model by generating thesurfaces. In order to create a 3D degradationmap, the whole 3D model is then cropped inthe various blocks that compose the object. Soevery stone or marble block can be analysed,catalogued and labelled separately.

Third step: extraction of the 2D drawings.With Rhino it is possible to extract 2D viewsautomatically from 3D models, materializingevery time the desired projection plan.

By creating a complete, accurate 3D model itis possible to extract from the dataset all thedesired 2D information requested beforefieldwork starts as well as additional require-ments that can arise as the work progresses.Using traditional survey processes it may benecessary to return to site to collect additionaldata but frequently this is extremely difficult oreven impossible. During this operation it is veryimportant to control accuracy and test thatevery measurement respects the representationscale. Sample total station data is useful toevaluate and validate the data.

Fourth step: 3D model completionThe model is integrated with the textureinformation using classical texture mappingprocedures, or photogrammetric image re-projection for the areas where it was possible toconduct a photogrammetric survey. Modelleddecorations, such as statues and ornaments, canalso be surveyed using high-resolutioninstrumentation and then added into the model.

AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by Veneranda Fabbrica of Milan’scathedral and in particular by the director Eng. Benigno MoerlinVisconti Castiglione.

The authors would like to thank all colleagues and studentswho are contributing to this project: Cesare Cogni, FiorellaGaudio, Chiara Monti, Stefano Parri, Federico Prandi, FrancescoBrusegan, Laura Galbusera, Susanna Pacchetti, FrancescoStillittano, Angelo Lagostina and Ilaria Girardi.This article is an abridged version of: Fassi, F., Achille, C.,Fregonese, L., & Monti, C. (2010). Multiple data source for surveyand modelling of very complex architecture. InternationalArchives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and SpatialInformation Sciences. Commission V Symposium, (p. Vol. XXXVIII,Part 5). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Readers are referred to theoriginal paper for full references.

quickly and integrating them during theprocessing phase.

First step: photogrammetric modellingThe modelling phase begins with anapproximate, but relatively complete, modelbased on the images. In particular, only thoseparts that can be called “linear based objects”are modelled photogrammetrically using thePhotomodeler scanner.

This model is checked and corrected usingsample total station measurements (checkpoints and profile points). The laser scannerdata are also used to find gross errors, tocheck the global georeferencing and completethe model in a real 3D modelling space. At theend, the model is integrated with manualgeometric survey measurements for thesmaller details or for the hidden zones thatcannot be reached by any other instruments.

Decorations and more complex “surfacetype objects” are scanned and acquired withsmall and dedicated sensors; for exampletriangulation scanners or structured lightscanners, and are then integrated into theglobal model. An additional difficulty is thatthe 3D virtual object is built considering all thesingle parts that compose its complexity: everyconstructive element is modelled individuallyand only then inserted in the global totality ofthe object and topologically integrated withthe other parts.

The image modelling approach provides anoptimal level of “visualinterpretation”, becauseit allows the extractionof information that canbe only acquired fromimages. On the otherhand, the modellingcapabilities of thephotogrammetricsoftware do not offeroptimal 3D modellingand visualisation tools.Thus the modelobtained from this firststep is called a “rawmodel”, because itneeds to be completedand built following thestandards of three-dimensional modelling.

Second step: scannercheck and modellingThe preliminary 3Dmodel is extracted byimage restitution thenimported into Rhinomodelling software,which can create, edit,analyse, document,render, animate, andtranslate curves, NURBSsurfaces and solids.

Below: Summary schemaof the projected modelling

workflow

Right: 3D model of theCathedral’s domecladding and the firstBelvedere.


Laser Scanning

traditionally taken 8 nights. 3D Laser MappingInternational showcased a project where theyhad been commissioned by a group ofconstruction companies on a highwayresurfacing project. Normally survey would becarried out to support the design process buthere it was used as evidence to support avariation order showing discrepancies betweenactual road surface and the original designs,resulting in variations in excess of £4million.Even in these sectors innovation continues withexamples of automatic asset recognition (roadsigns etc.) by using reflectance values from thepoint cloud and improved pipe recognitionsoftware shown by ClearEdge 3D.

In my own area of interest there were severalfascinating sessions, particularly the Scan-to-BIMcase study of the Bozar Brussels Fine Arts Centreand also work done by the DIAPReM Centre atFerrara University. The Brussels project was arelatively modest building survey where theywere required to provide 3D and 2D models anddrawings. DIAPReM showed a whole array ofhistorical building projects in Italy withamazingly detailed drawings. Both sessionsshowed survey drawings that were beyondreproach in terms of detail and accuracy and theDIAPReM drawings were some of the finestmeasured survey drawings I have seen.However, when both presenters showed theirmetrics on the projects one realised they hadbeen done at a cost that is probably notsustainable in the commercial marketplace. TheBrussels project had taken only 8 days on siteand a further 8 days to process the data buthad then taken 300 days to model, all done forunder 60,000 euros. A project in Milan byDIAPReM had taken 3 months of topographiccontrol and 1920 hours of laser scanningequating to over 300 site days. With drawingand modelling, this project could well cost£500,000 – something which could only beconsidered an academic exercise.

Individuals are producing impressive resultsthrough extraordinary efforts. The developmentof a lower price entry point coupled with pointcloud integration in the major CAD programs,will all improve market adoption. Innovationssuch as Pointools’ recent integration of pointclouds into SketchUp and Alice Labsdevelopment of point cloud rendering withoutthe need for modelling will diversify the demandfor point cloud data. Development will continueto improve processes and we will eventually seea shift from basic point cloud collection to smartclouds using feature recognition, photo-grammetry and knowledge-based rules. But asthe technology evolves there are still enoughquestions being asked about scan quality, dataexchange, fragmented software processes anddelivery standards to raise doubts about universalacceptance. SPAR Europe was excellent in that itshowed both sides of what can only beconsidered the complete re-engineering ofsurvey processes and methodologies.

SPAR, the specialised laser scanning andrelated technology conference has beenrunning in the USA for the past seven years

and in Japan for the past five years with an everincreasing annual attendance, now up to 750people. On the back of this demand SPARteamed up with Plant-Tech to hold the inauguralSPAR Europe in early December last year at theRAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam, wheremore than 325 people attended from 35countries. A little more than 40 minutes fromLondon, it is certainly a lot closer to home thanTexas and this was reflected in the large numberof attendees from the UK.

As with its American cousin, the conferencewas arranged around a number of concurrent“streams” covering Process Industry, Geo-Technical, Historic Preservation, Mobile Survey,Security & Forensics, Construction and NewTechnologies; although the last topic could beconsidered to cover almost all of the others. It ishard to believe that some of these technologiescan now be considered “old” but the rate ofchange is now so rapid that significant shifts areoccurring every two to three years. Indeedseveral presenters commented on rapid changesmaking it difficult to develop and adoptstandards and they needed to move from aninnovative to a proven technological base.

The sessions are a mix of service providers,end-users and academics sharing experiencesin scanning projects. Subjects are as diverse asForestry to Forensics through BIM andMorphometric Survey, and these aresupplemented by technical seminars with aparallel exhibition. It’s impossible to attend allthe sessions but the ones I went to rangedfrom the sublime to the downright quirky.

One of the most significant hardware shiftsof the year has been the introduction of theFaro Focus 3D scanner, offering both a largereduction in size and cost of the instrument. TheFaro technical seminar was one of the busiest atthe conference and the demonstration alsoshowed their Scene software upgrade to includecloud-to-cloud registration using featurerecognition and an extended web-sharecapability. Both these developments will expandthe use of scanning technology and having seenFaro’s recent adverts in non-surveying

professional journals they are certainlykeen to widen the market beyond thesurveying profession. Given thecomplexity of the underlyingprocesses this may not be a simple oreasy path.

The industrial plant and mobilesurveying markets can be consideredsome of the more mature applicationsin laser scanning and there werediverse and impressive projectsillustrated and discussed. Dutchcompany M3DM showed a 3½km ofrunway survey completed in 8 hoursof scanning which would have

An inaugural eventin Amsterdamshowed how rapidthe growth hasbeen in 3Dscanning but thereremain doubtsabout universalacceptance saysour reporter PatCollins of MichaelGallie & Partners.

Diverse andimpressiveprojectsshowcased.But are theysustainable?

3D Design


that was during the global banking collapse!The largest infrastructure owner is the USgovernment with $282,700,000,000 followedin second place, and at some distance, byElectricité de France with $186,466,000,000.

With reinvestment of 20% of revenues inR&D, 3D cities symbolises the way forward forBentley because they encompass all problemson a global scale. They can only be solvedholistically by having all disciplines in oneintegrated environment. V8i was released inNovember 2008, a few months after a majorrelease by Autodesk. It is continually beingadded-to and now includes 148 softwarepackages. V8i, the website says, “helpsengineers, architects, GIS professionals,constructors, and owner-operators bypromoting collaborative, streamlined workflowsamong multiple disciplines and across projectteams”. The aim is intuitive design.

They have also noticed that customers do notfavour frequent releases with low innovativecontent where the aggravation outweighs theadvantages afforded by the upgrade.

Fusing 2D and 3DPoint clouds are a native format forMicroStation and there are plans to detectclashes between design and point cloud soon.They also use the 3D model as an index for 2Ddeliverables thus fusing 2D and 3D. Indeed oneway to produce 2D drawings is to take slicesfrom the 3D model, and some of the presentersdemonstrated this. Management is asimportant as design and Bentley use thediagram (Figure 1) to illustrate how theircollaborative software – AssetWise andProjectWise fit into the infrastructure lifecycle.

Many speakers praised the performance ofProjectWise as a means of a integrating and co-ordinating work by multiple disciplines workingin distributed teams. Information modellingincludes not just the geometrical andengineering properties and behaviour of theobjects in the model but also their businessproperties, such as cost and delivery. ProjectWisehelps manage the trade-offs between thephysical and the business properties.

A primary purpose behind models is todetect clashes between different aspects ofthe design and Bentley aim to enable this tohappen dynamically as early as possible in thedesign process. By correctly modelling thebehaviour of elements it becomes possible tosimulate and optimise. ProjectWise enablesdistributed teams at different offices withinone consultancy or between differentconsultancies, to work together on largeprojects. Arup were awarded the maincontract for Marina Bay Sands Integrated

The event kicked off with presentationsfrom CEO Greg Bentley and senior vicepresident, Bhupinder Singh. Bentley

Systems has been around for many years buthas a lower profile than its louder but notmuch bigger competitor. They argued that,following the investments in physicalinfrastructure during the last century andmore recent investment in digitalinfrastructure, the focus is now returning tophysical infrastructure. In Bentley’s world“infrastructure” seems to encompass anythingbuilt, so the word found its way into almostevery sentence. A Bentley vice president evencomposed and sang a song on the subjectduring the awards dinner.

In the western world physical infrastructurenow needs to be renewed; but this time in amore intelligent way. Intelligent infrastructureencompasses not just geometry and design butfactors, like economics. For example, designwould be able to simulate the economic effectof an earthquake, not just its physical impact.“Everything happens somewhere” is a well-wornslogan, but whereas the spatial component of apiece of information used to be considered auseful add-on, one gets the impression that themainstream is beginning to see location as coreinformation and everything else as attributes.This must be good news for us.

Moving into operationsThe economic return during the infrastructureasset lifecycle is the ultimate benchmark.Bentley are already strong in planning anddesign and are now extending their reach intooperations, maintenance and renewal.ProjectWise is the collaboration platform thatsees projects through the design and planningphases. Their new AssetWise platform takesthe completed infrastructure through to itsoperational phase and is therefore aimed atowner operators.

Bentley and Autodesk have entered into anagreement to co-operate by advising each otherabout their data models at code level. Theobjective is that .dwg files can be readcompletely by Bentley and likewise .dgn files byAutodesk, enabling customers to choose whichdesign programs they want to use.

Bentley top 500During the conference, Bentley published theirlist of the top 500 global infrastructureowners. The total value of this infrastructure is$13 trillion. The last time I saw a figure like

The authors ofMicroStation hold anannual conferenceat which finalistspresent papers tocompete for “BeInspired Awards”.This year’s eventbrought UK rail tothe fore and ourreporter RichardGroom found clearevidence of thevalue of anembedded charteredsurveyor from dayone of the project.

Intelligent Infrastructure Information Modelling Integrated Projects

AssetWise ProjectWise

UK rail wins Bentley Awardsby Richard Groom

Below: Figure 1.

. . . the focus isnow returning tophysicalinfrastructure.

3D Design


they digitised what they hadand added it to the model.

The Victoria Stationproject is a ten-yearprogramme and the BIMmodel will continue to beused for operations andmaintenance. This is fine,but seldom is the questionof as-built records discussed,even though they havetended to be treated withdisrespect in the past. OneLUL project, the upgrade of Neasden Depot, didnot run so smoothly. The presenter, Chris Abdeefrom AECOM, said it had been plagued bynumerous changes to design. When I askedwhy, he claimed that a substantial number werecaused by defects in the preliminary survey. Thedepot is the largest on the Underground. Tosurvey it by contact methods seems to invitedisaster and yet we were told that laserscanning was not employed.

City model chatThe subject of Crossrail re-emerged at adiscussion group on 3D cities. There seemed tobe plenty of enthusiasm for them from the GIScommunity but also a large measure of muddledthinking. They did not seem to appreciate thatthe Crossrail models were produced for specificengineering purposes or that an isolated buildingdoes not constitute a city model. It was howeversuggested that as-built building informationmodels could go into city models along with allthe information about surrounding buildingscollected in order to obtain planning consent.“Fine” said one delegate, “but why should myclients pay for this?”

There seems to be little appreciation of thecost or benefits of collecting data at high orlow precision and applications still seem to becouched in vague terms that would not lookgood in a business case. It is clear that, judgingfrom the participants, we have a long way togo before reaching a consensus over why weneed city models, what level of detail will give areturn on investment or how they should bemaintained. This is a rapidly developing areathat requires a strong understanding of thestandard for building information modelling.

The conference ended with an awardsdinner. It was perhaps no surprise thatCrossrail won the award for “ConnectingProject Teams” and Mott MacDonald won the“Rail and Transit” award.

Resort in Singapore with the expectation ofcompleting the project in an “impossible”timeframe. They completed the job bycombining resources from ten of their officesand third parties using ProjectWise.

Generative componentsGenerative components are powerfulcompound objects. The Autodesk equivalent isthe parametric block. Imagine a roadcentreline. Attached to this will be width oflanes, depth of surface courses, width ofpavements etc. These are the relationshipsthat can be modelled using generativecomponents along with constraints such as,for example, crossfall, sight lines and so on.They enable the designer to move thecentreline to accommodate a change andbring all the related features with it.Generative components can be used to modelarchitectural features and Arup used them inSingapore to establish dependency andconstraints between component objects in thedesign of complex roofs. It takes longer todefine the objects but it means that whenchanges were made to the design constraints,and this happened eight times, the designcould be revised in minutes. Impressive.Bentley has realised that the same principlescan be applied to project management.

To produce an engineering model is one thing,but to convert it into something that can be builtis quite another. So Bentley is working onconstruction modelling that will include, forexample, shuttering, bar bending schedules andexcavation requirements. This should smooththe interface between engineering andconstruction and eliminate the need forremodelling, which is current practice.

Survey KeynoteAlthough many of the papers from thefinalists were excellent there were a few thatreally did not cut the mustard. I had thefeeling that these finalists had been invited asreward for using Bentley software rather thanfor outstanding use of it. Of the excellentpapers there were several from the UK railsector including Crossrail and LondonUnderground. Indeed Malcolm Taylor, Head ofTechnical Support Services at Crossrail evenpresented a keynote. Better still, he displayeda slide showing the Crossrail survey controlnetwork. Hopefully the audience was suitablyeducated. This could not be a clearerdemonstration of the value of having achartered surveyor embedded, from itsinception, at the heart of a major project.

Meanwhile, on the UndergroundAndy Smith, CAD manager from MottMacDonald presented an award winning paperon the redevelopment of Victoria UndergroundStation. It appears that even LondonUnderground Ltd (LUL) does not have accuraterecords of underground services on its sites, but

Christopher Pynn from ArupSingapore Pte Ltd, speakingon the Marina Bay SandsIntegrated Resort.

Fine, said onedelegate, but whyshould my clientspay for this?

Right:Neasden

UndergroundDepot –

CourtesyAECOM.

Laser Scanning


presentation by Professor Giovanni Pancani andGraziella Del Duca of the University of Florence,was also one of the strongest, taking previousworkflows and knowledge obtained fromphotogrammetric solutions and applying themto scanning. The bravery demonstrated bynon-native English speaking presenters alsohighlighted the increasing multilingualdimension that HDS is taking; a factor JuergenDold was keen to point out, which had alsobeen incorporated into the technologies.

Parallel Forensic trackA parallel session on HDS’s increased applicationto forensic and crime scene analysis took placeon the Tuesday afternoon. Here fact dispelledfiction, painting a drastically different picture tothe general perceptions of 3D crime solutionsinfluenced by what Sergeant Mike Miller labelled“the CSI effect”. The reality is a lot morepolitical and bureaucratic, with more than onedepartment within a civic structure having avested interest in using visually appealingtechnologies like scanning. In Mike's case,friction within the Mayor's department wasused as an example that, at times, clashed witha "mass demand for scanning – a demandoutweighing manpower".

At the end of day one, Geoff as master ofceremonies organised a surprise dinnerdesigned to work up a thirst but not a sweat.

The name of the game is Bocce!Livermore Valley Wine Country is one ofCalifornia’s oldest wine regions with overforty-five boutique wineries. After an excitingand insightful first day it was also the placewhere great company was intermingled withflavoursome, locally produced wines. Boccewas also the name of the game!

Like Bowls and Petanque, Bocce has acommon ancestry in the games played in theRoman Empire. This Italian take on the“beautiful game” is played on a natural soil orasphalt court 27 metres in length and 2.5 to 4metres wide. The balls can be made of metal orplastic but, unlike lawn bowls, are completelyspherical in shape. When it came to Leica’sBocce, bottles of wine for the best team andindividual technique were at stake. Needless tosay this made competition fierce – to the extentthat everyone had to ease their nerves by takingadvantage of the open bar. The only thing moreapparent than the merriment and laughter atthe end of the evening was a room full of wine-red cheeks! Geoff outdid himself in terms ofconference organisation in 2010, and also led

The fruits of Cyra Technologies’ labours inthe mid 1990s had clearly ripened by LeicaGeosystem’s Worldwide High Definition

Survey User Conference 2010. Though SanRamon, California (the heartland of Leica’s HDSbrand) was uncharacteristically wet for the timeof year, the Marriott based pilgrimage wasnoticeably well attended. There would be nograveyard shifts at this event.

The 300 plus strong attendance figures wereup 15% from last year, reflecting increased andrecovering sales of HDS solutions. A successfuldevelopment, which CEO of Leica Geosystems,Juergen Dold, described as “a direct result ofinnovations made in both software andhardware, where versatility of application is keyto market success”.

Running parallel to technological innovationswas an impressive, sophisticated and rapidlymaturing user community. One that, at least in2010, was not afraid to discuss alternativesolutions like Adam Technologies 3DM Analystphotogrammetry package, or disruptivecompetitors like the freshly launched FaroFocus3D scanner. These underlying threads ofconversation – occurring inside and outside theconference theatre – were true testament toLeica’s dedication to understanding bothmarket and consumer needs.

State of the Nation addressThe relationship between user and solutionsprovider was engrained within Dold’s openingpresentation. Themed around MountRushmore and scan data produced to helpmanage the National Park as a whole, he drewinspiration and business ethics from thewisdom of a major figure from America’s past,Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to predict

the future is to create it”. Fortunatelyfor attendees, diligent master ofceremonies Geoff Jacobs was ready toput this advice into practice and telleveryone how the week would unfold.

Similar to previous years, the themesrunning through the main stream ofpresentations included Plant, Civil,Survey, Architecture and Heritage. Thisyear’s heritage based keynote, focusingon the scanning of Mount Rushmore,was given by Elizabeth Lee of CyArk andDoug Pritchard of the Glasgow School ofArt. In fact, heritage was a theme thatwas noticeably stronger this year than atprevious user conferences, with fiveheritage specific presentations out of theforty plus programme. A Wednesday

With increasedattendance andgrowing salesworldwide, Leica’sannual HDSconference notchedup new highs, asour correspondentAdam P. Springdiscovered.

Cyrax inventor Ben Kacyra(left) chats with ErwinChristofori.

HDS User Conference 2010:confessions of a laser scanning Bocce player!

Laser Scanning


using his 30 years’ experience in the timbertrade to create a market for the preservationand management of forests using scan data.The analogy he gave for using scanners toaccurately measure, fell and manage trees was“like moving from the horse and cart to thejumbo jet”. For the first time laser scanningoffers a solution for tree management, withyounger trees planted absorbing more CO2than older ones removed. McCaughey’spresentation had people following him out ofthe building to get more information.

Another man of vision was Kevin Akin ofCalifornia’s Transport Agency. This evangelist ofmulti-sensory data usage was putting thefuture into practice by using a series ofdatasets, including bathymetric andgeophysical, to help manage bridges spanningwaterways in California, a region prone toearthquakes. This helped form part of his workon Transport Information Models for thehighways and byways of the golden state’stransport network. The future he painted, andis paving the way for, is one where “rich, multi-sensory datasets are the way forward”. Indeed,with the impressive amount of mobile scanningwork he has been doing, it was hard to not toagree with him or other presenters like AlanBarrow of Alan Barrow Associates, whoseextensive mobile scanning work in the UK hasturned the science behind it into an art form.

Intergraph, business model and displays Hexagon Metrology’s purchase of LeicaGeosystems in 2005 was part of a long-termbusiness model dedicated to providing the bestmetric solutions either through developing orbuying into a potential market. This modelagain made itself apparent through theacquisition of engineering and geospatialsoftware giant Intergraph for $2.125 billion – adecision reflected on at the user conference asa serious commitment and long-term strategy;a strategy committed to the provision of thehighest quality software solutions available.

At ground level, Hexagon’s businessstrategies were made tangible through thepresence of already acquired companies likeTechnodigit (provider of meshing package3DReshaper) and strategic partners like BlueView (Sonar Specialists using Cyclone as theoperating software for their sonar-based

by example when it came to wine tasting.

Rapidly developing user communityThis year’s set of speakers were a clear indicatorof how far HDS has come since 1998 – not onlyin terms of variety of applications but alsothrough the backgrounds, insights and skillsetseach user brought to laser scanning. It was clearthat in the short space of 12 years HDS had faroutgrown its original use for Plant applications.Thousands of points per second captured havebeen replaced by millions per second, withdatasets easily going into the gigabytes. Usersunknowingly referred to fieldwork with olderscanners as ‘slow’ – scanners that still far exceedconventional survey in terms of time saved onsite. What once took hours with older models,such as the HDS3000 or Scanstation 2, hasbeen turned into minutes using the ScanstationC10. There was also a buzz about the new Leica(rebadged Z+F 5010) phase shift scanner.

PresentationsIn true San Ramon fashion the presentationssegment of the event got off to an explosivestart. Dr John Dehaan, Fire-EX Forensics,California, talked about the use of scanning asa tool for analysing fire and explosionpatterns, along with his reasons for choosinga Leica scanner. Running alongsidetechnological requirements, such as surfacereflectance information and rapid datacapture, was the human touch of Craig Fries.The latter was something of a bonus forDehaan and very much included in hispurchase-making processes. The support andprofessionalism offered through Leica’s team –not just US based but worldwide – was a clearselling point for many of the users inattendance. This included ones who hadcrossed over from provider to user, such asGabriel Callari, A.B.I. Group, Belgium.

Commercial and research applications wereevenly balanced throughout the conference.Callari’s presentation on starting up your ownbusiness around HDS was woven and flowedinto research-driven ones like RobertWashington Allen, Texas A and M University –and inspirational forefathers in terms of HDSusers like Dietrich Evans. Evans, baseball playerturned 3D wizard, discussed fond yet back-breaking memories of carrying around a CyraxHDS2400 on an early cultural heritage job, aswell as an intuitive approach to workflows,which only time and a clear understanding ofthe tools you are working with can bring.Then there was Gerry McCaughey, GeoffJacob’s Wednesday afternoon surprise.

There was a certain irony to McCaughey, aformer timber merchant from Ireland, financingTreemetrics – a company using laser scanningas a way to manage the world’s forests. Muchin the same way as visionaries like Ben Kacyraand Johannes Riegl had seen a gap in thegeomatics market for rapid, high precisionsurvey on a commercially viable scale, Gerry is

All scanning and no playmakes for a dull day!Delegates enjoy an eveningof wine and Bocce.

McCaughey’spresentation hadpeople followinghim out of thebuilding. . .

Laser Scanning


underwater scanning solutions), ZebraImaging (a Texas based firm bringing 3Ddatasets to life using holograms) andTriGeo (an India based service provideroffering data processing services at a costof $12.5 - $25 per hour, whose clientsinclude National Geographic).

Getting access to Technodigit’smanaging director, Pascal Lefebvre-Albaret,was difficult due to the attention his stallwas getting. Acquired by HexagonMetrology in 2009, Pascal’sentrepreneurial and technological journeywas one that mirrored the personalitiesbehind the rise of Leica’s HDS brand.Since then Technodigit’s intuitive meshingpackage – 3DReshaper – has quickly beenintegrated into the Leica workflow, aswell as being offered as a standalone

solution. In a presentation given on hisbirthday, Leica’s Guy Cutting (seniorapplications engineer) demonstrated thisintegration in Cyclone TOPO 2, showingmeshing features taken directly from3DReshaper. Both he and Pascal were also athand for the 3DReshaper training sessionsoffered on the Thursday.

BlueView is a strategic partner takingadvantage of Leica software packages likeCyclone. Born from US navy research, thisWashington based company, captained by Lee

There was plenty of time inthe programme fordelegates to get their handson the kit.

Thompson, uses sonar to collect data, takingLeica solutions below water. With over fourhundred systems worldwide, Blueview use 2Dand 3D sonar based tools for civil, lawenforcement and oil and gas applications, aswell as to help defend the seas as a commercialcontractor for NATO member navies.

Zebra Imaging, much like TriGeo, was acompany greatly aided by the growth of 3Dmapping. Callie Bailey, Zebra’s commercialaccounts manager, was keen to point out that“the growth of 3D mapping in 2004/2005actually created a market for them”. This hasbecome a market where they are now using PTSfiles to produce 3D hologram representationsfor 3D plans or presentations on aphotopolymer film, the largest being A1 in size.

ConclusionNot even the weather could rain on Leica'sparade in 2010. Advances in technologiesand, as a direct result, increased sales weremaintained alongside a vibrant and hungryuser community – a community always lookingfor new applications that not only havecommercial value but drive the developmentof HDS in all its forms. Hexagon-ownedcompanies like Technodigit and strategicpartners exhibiting at the event, gave crystal-ball insight into the direction Leica is currentlyexploring for HDS and its many offshoots.

Lidar Forum


Warren landslide on the English south coast forNetwork Rail. The cliff base site has rail tracksrunning along it and is repeatedly threatened byadjacent chalk and Gault clay cliffs. Using a“stop-and-go” technique from vehicle-mountedRiegl lidar and integrating the data with staticterrestrial scanning, they have been able toprovide the client with comprehensive datasetsfour times a year. The vehicle-mounted systemhas saved time on site by reducing visits to oneday from four or five previously.

Improving the absolute accuracy of lidarcan be helped by using longer GNSS baselines,according to Halcrow’s Simon Canning. He hasbeen using lidar from a survey vessel (withApplanix inertial positioning) and found thatextending baselines up to 84 kms or more hasgiven accuracies down to 26mm in plan and36mm height from OS National Grid. Archivedata from Big F at the University ofNottingham has improved the height datafrom OS base stations.

Airborne lidar has been around as atechnology since the 1980s and the USNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) has led the way in itsuse for applications such as shoreline mapping– essential for climate change modelling andenvironmental studies. Dr Christopher Parrishbrought us up to date on their latest work inprocessing full wave-form lidar, which uses allthe signals returned rather than discretepoints. Although this means processing tentimes the data volume, techniques such asGaussian Decompression can help detectvegetation from the ground surface.

An alternative to wave-form lidar is to use ahigh pulse rate system and analyse the datausing MRI – multiple return with intensity. RonRoth of Leica Geosystems, which manufactures

lidars for both airborne and terrestrialapplications, showed that, by capturing moredata, slope surfaces can be determined aswell as improved classification of vegetation.

Around the exhibition stands I wasstruck by how quickly lidar has become amature technology, with a broad mix ofservice and equipment suppliers. However,one as yet untapped source of lidar imagerycould be the art world. I was impressed byhow vivid and colourful some captured

imagery can be. The images on display byDutch company TerraImaging were particularlyattractive. They would sit comfortably in theTate Modern or any corporate reception.

This two-day event run by IntelligentExhibitions at the elegant World Forum inThe Hague attracted 50 exhibitors,

around 600 visitors and 300 conferencedelegates for some 42 presentations spreadthrough two tracks plus a series of “Basics”workshops for novices and newcomers.

While GW was able to visit on one day only,what we saw and heard was impressive hittingjust the right note of technical sessions,exhibitors and networking. Sessions coveredcoastal zone and bathymetric applications,mobile mapping, data fusion, processing andmodelling plus technology developments, whichfocused mainly around improvements inextracting more detail from wave-form lidar.

In the mobile mapping session, AlastairDuncan of the UK Environment Agency said thatsome five million people in the UK are at riskfrom flooding. The Agency’s job is to predictwhere that may happen based on 10, 100 and1000 year floods. They use a variety ofplatforms for lidar data capture includingairborne, which they have deployed since 1996.The latest acquisition is a terrestrial Optech Lynxmobile mapping system, which has enabled thecreation of ultra high resolution DTMs by fusionwith data from the airborne system. They arealso getting rather good, explained Duncan, atdetecting linear features like kerb lines from thedata. Impressive are 3D moving street views,from which colour draping shows propertieslikely to flood as well as vandals likely to. . .well vandalise!

Such is the accuracy of lidar, backed up withGNSS control points, that it can now be used insome deformation monitoring applications. DrGraham Hunter of 3D Laser Mapping and IanAnderson of consulting engineers Halcrow,reported on their work at the Folkestone

The applications forairborne andterrestrial laserscanning continueto grow, whetheras accurate basemapping,deformationmonitoring, close-range heritage 3Ddata capture oreven noisemapping, reportseditor StephenBooth.

The Forum provided the rightblend of technical presentation,exhibition stands andnetworking opportunities.

LLiiddaarr Forum captures right note


. . .the DVD wasthe second mostpopular reasonstudents gave forchoosing to studysurveying. . .

Promoting Surveying

for predominantly year 10 and 11 students toconsider the many career options available tothem. These careers markets may attract up to7000 students over (up to) two days and areheld at locations all over Sydney and NSW.ISNSW have been attending these marketssince 2004 and in 2009 ISNSW attendedfourteen events across the state.

Careers advisors also hold annualconferences and members of the ISNSW CareersCommittee recently attended as exhibitors. Thisseemed a very effective means of promoting theprofession to the careers advisors who can thenpass on this advice to suitable students.

Publicity DVDA very successful DVD was funded in apartnership arrangement between ISNSW andthe Association of Consulting Surveyors NSW in2005. For five years, this DVD has been a corepart of the advertising materials used topromote the profession. It features a shortthree-minute overview with upbeat music, fastchanging images and no words. This isfollowed by eight categories of specialty areasin surveying such as Land, Engineering, GPS,GIS etc and some three-minute grabs of thebest parts of surveying. Limited tracking of newstudents at UNSW has indicated that the DVDwas the second most popular reason studentsgave for choosing to study surveying, behindword-of-mouth advice about the career.

Putting the Maths into SurveyThe idea of the Surveying Spectaculars (alsocalled the Mathematics in Surveying Day)evolved from Careers Committee member IanIredale and some of his colleagues who arepracticing or retired mathematics teachers.There is an increasing concern that youngpeople are not choosing to study mathematicsas it is perceived as difficult, irrelevant or boring.To address this issue Ian formed his owncommittee who set about developing a series ofsurveying activities for year 10 AdvancedMathematics students: the students are about15 years old. The first Surveying Spectaculartook place in August 2008. 180 school studentsand 45 surveyors engaged themselves in a dayof surveying activities, including mapping,remote heighting, calculating the circumferenceof the Earth and setting out a pattern. This hasbeen followed up with two further Spectacularsper year in 2009 and 2010.

The committee currently consists of threesurveyors and four teachers. Five of these arefemales and three are retired. The balance ofthe committee is important. The teachershave a good understanding of the most

The state of New South Wales has about1500 registered surveyors of whom around900 are active. The average age is in the

mid-50s. Faced with this imbalance, theInstitution of Surveyors NSW Inc (ISNSW) isactively encouraging young people to studysurveying to reinvigorate an ageing profession,and have established a Careers sub-committeeto do just this. The committee tries to use theISNSW member base to help promote theprofession by engaging in a number of activitiesranging from offering work experience andattending careers markets to supporting a recentinitiative called the Maths in Surveying days.

Work experienceOne of the best forms of promotion for theprofession is work experience. Not only does thesurveyor have something real to offer a youngperson, it is also a more amenable form ofpromotion for the surveyor who may not feelcomfortable speaking to a room full of year 10students. Most high school careers advisors tryto arrange work experience for one week foryear 10 students. Surveying, being a practicalprofession, is particularly attractive especiallywith the opportunity for travel. However inrecent years the regulations surroundingoccupational health and safety, child protection,privacy, equal opportunity and discriminationhave become so cumbersome that manysurveyors have stopped offering workexperience. The Careers Committee has tried toaddress this problem by providing informationand help on its website.

The committee encourages surveyors todevelop a relationship with their local schoolcareers advisor and, as well as offering shortperiods of work experience whilst students arein year 10, also to offer extended workexperience during the year after students leaveschool. Hopefully they will then considerfurther formal study.

Work experience can be counter productive ifa company offers a work placement but isunprepared for the commitment to the studentand instead gives a bad experience. This can behugely destructive as the student will return toschool and speak poorly of the surveyingprofession as well as potentially damaging therelationship between the careers advisor and thesurveyor. Work experience must be takenseriously and conducted professionally.

Careers MarketsIn NSW, local Rotary clubs and clusters ofcareers advisor organisations in commongeographical regions organise careers markets.These are designed to be “one stop shops”

Faced with anageing surveyingprofession,surveyors in NewSouth Wales havecome up with someimaginative ideasto engage andinspire teenagersas Craig Robertsand Ian Iredaleexplain.

This paper was presentedat FIG Sydney earlier thisyear.

Promoting the Surveying ProfessionBy Craig Roberts and Ian Iredale

Promoting Surveying


surveying institutions also benefit from thepromotion of the profession and there are fewbetter PR exercises available.

The role of the surveyor is oftenmisunderstood. Students commonly mistake atotal station for a movie camera, but by theend of the Surveying Spectacular, every one ofthem will have looked through a telescope,booked a horizontal and zenith angle andmeasured a slope distance. At the very leaststudents will better appreciate the role ofsurveyors in the wider community.

Media coverageIn the past, the Careers Committee has allocatedsome of its budget to media professionals, on apart-time basis, to seek out opportunities in theprint media to promote the profession to thewider community. This has had limited successwith an often fickle media cycle and no way ofmeasuring the impact of a well written storywith a bright picture. However, as with allmarketing efforts, doing nothing is worse.

Often, articles specific to the careerssection of a newspaper are the mostsuccessful and usually feature a young studentor recent graduate and an outdoor picture

appropriate students to target, the best timeof the year to run the Spectaculars, havecontacts with the professional MathematicsAssociation who support and promote ourSpectaculars, are best able to prepare thestudents’ worksheets and invite studentteachers to volunteer in running the day. Thesurveyors’ role is to book the venue, organisethe volunteer surveyors required, organisethe activities and the survey equipmentrequired, provide meals to the volunteers andarrange publicity.

Improving the SpectacularsThe Surveying Spectaculars have beenreported in Azimuth, the ISNSW monthlynewsletter. Those articles have attractedinterest from surveyors and teachers inVictoria, South Australia and WesternAustralia, who also are likely to runSpectaculars in the future. The HunterManning group of surveyors (a sub group ofISNSW) invited the committee to present atone of their dinner meetings and theysuccessfully ran their first Spectacular in 2009.One of the benefits of many groups runningSpectaculars is that the best features of onegroup’s event can be adopted by other groupsto continually improve all the Spectaculars.

ISNSW obtains a list of attendees and theirschools. This list is cross-matched againstthose entering further education to monitorthe effectiveness of these events. For twoyears after the students have attended aSpectacular, they have to think about theirchoice of career and make decisions aboutwhich tertiary course to apply for. During thisperiod their schools are targeted with the aimof having a surveyor attend their careers days.This should improve the chance of thestudents choosing surveying as a career.

The Spectaculars are also a very goodpublic relations exercise. PR people haveindicated that the story is of most interest tothe education and careers sections of themajor Sydney newspapers. They do not believethat it will attract the TV news sections. Theschools’ area local newspaper is also targeted.

The Spectaculars provide a win for everyone– teachers, students, surveyors, educationfaculties and surveying institutions. Manymathematics teachers mention that it is thefirst excursion they have been on in theircareer. Mathematics students are eitherclassroom bound or at best allowed into acomputer laboratory. Students struggle toappreciate the relevance of mathematics andthe Spectaculars provide them with a practicalapplication for what they have learnt.

Surveyors really enjoy demonstrating thetools of their profession to the students and atthe end of the day they are happy to havebeen able to assist the students to learn.There are obvious benefits for the educationfaculties, although it is too early to measurehow successful the Spectaculars are. The

Students at theSurveying

Spectaculars areinvolved in field

mapping followed byCAD drawing in theoffice. Encouraging

and helpfulsupervision at all

times ensuresstudents come away

with a positiveexperience.

Students at theSurveying

Spectacular usemodern instruments

and receiveenthusiastic and

engaging instructionfrom presenters. Inthis case, Technical

Programme Directorof FIG2010 Associate

Professor BillKearsley reaching for

the Sun.

Manymathematicsteachers mentionthat it is the firstexcursion theyhave been on intheir career.

Often it is easierto get a story intoa regional paper . . .

Promoting Surveying


what surveying and spatial information is andhow it should be most effectively promoted. Theresult was the “A Life without Limits” campaignand website: www.alifewithoutlimits.com.auThe campaign will use this site as a home baseto offer advice on what surveying is, where tostudy, job opportunities and links. The frontpage features a video which is a “day in thelife” of a surveyor.

Concurrently, a new website has beendeveloped in Queensland which seems to targetmore the Spatial Information specialist. It iscalled “Destination Spatial”www.destinationspatial.org The newly formedSurveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI)will adopt this website as their promotionalwebsite. Links are provided to the ALWL websitebut again this highlights the problem inAustralia, with several organisations promotingthe same outcome with different messageswhich potentially confuses the market anddiscourages uptake of new members. Further,for the potential new student the twoorganisations of the ISNSW and SSSI which bothcontain the word “surveying” send a veryconfusing message and portray our professionas divided. This situation needs to be addressedfor our own promotions as much as for theefficacy of such a small niche profession.

. . .and now for the Best. . .The annual “Excellence in Surveying and SpatialInformation Awards” organised jointly by ISNSWand the Association of Consulting SurveyorsNSW (the business association for professionalsurveyors) have specific categories for “BestUniversity Student Project” and “Best TAFEStudent” to raise the profile of younger peoplein the profession. The university applicants forthese awards are also invited to present theirwork at conferences organised by theprofession. This is an intimidating assignmentfor a young graduate but also recognition bythe profession that the work of young surveyorsis valuable and important.

Promotion can never stopThe surveying profession is a small, nicheprofession and its role is not well understoodin the wider community. Therefore promotioncan never stop. In NSW, the careers sub-committee of the Institution of Surveyors NSWhas been very active in trying to reach out to awider audience and encourage a greateruptake of students to study surveying at atechnician or professional level. Feedback fromthe four Spectaculars already conducted hasbeen overwhelmingly positive but it is still tooearly to gauge if this success translates into anincreased number of new students.

• This is an abridged version of a paper given atFIG 2010 Congress in April 2010. For the fullpaper and references visit:http://www.fig.net/pub/fig2010/papers/ts01g/ts01g_iredale_roberts_3852.pdf

with a surveying instrument.Sometimes a short media article has been

placed in a regional paper shortly before acareers market to help generate some interest.Often it is easier to get a story into a regionalpaper and it may also be without cost. Thestories are often pitched at the parents orgrandparents, as younger people rarely readthe local paper.

Increasingly the committee is realising theimportance of the internet and making concisematerial available to potential new students andmembers of the profession online.

Scouting for surveyorsThe Careers Committee recognises that the typeof young people attracted to scouting are morelikely to be interested in a career in surveying.Scouting attracts young people with a love forthe outdoors, map reading, navigation andproblem solving – all requisite skills for a careerin surveying. At present, only limited approachesto the Scout Association have been made. Themain obstacle is having the resources (i.e.surveyors able to volunteer some time) andregulations with regard to occupational healthand safety and child protection legislation.

Putting the Survey into MathsThe Careers Committee has worked with theNSW Department of Education to try toinclude surveying examples in the high schoolmathematics curriculum.

The Careers Committee has also workedwith the author of a widely used mathematicstextbook. Some surveying exercises dealingwith geometry and demonstrating GPS and anumber of images to illustrate the book wereprovided to the author, however since themove to the new national mathematicscurriculum, it is unclear whether this book willneed to be rewritten to comply with aproposed new curriculum.

A life without limitsSince submitting this abstract for the FIGconference, the “A Life without Limitscampaign” (ALWL) has gained someprominence in NSW. The ALWL campaign wasan initiative of the Victorian Surveying IndustryTask Force that combined members from theSurveyors Registration Board of Victoria, theConsulting Surveyors Victoria, the Institutionof Surveyors Victoria (ISVIC), Spatial SciencesInstitute (now the Surveying & Spatial SciencesInstitute), the tertiary education sector, andvarious members from the government andprivate sector in surveying and spatialinformation, who recognised the need topromote surveying in the state.

The Task Force raised significant funding andengaged marketing consultants to conduct aprofessional marketing campaign. This is thefirst time in Australia that in-depth marketresearch with target groups, questionnaires andpsychological modelling was used to examine

Craig Roberts is a Senior Lecturer inSurveying/ GPS/ Geodesy at theUniversity of New South Wales,Sydney, Australia. His current researchinterests involve leveraging CORSinfrastructure for practical applicationto surveying and spatial information.Email: [email protected]

Ian Iredale is a director of Iredaleand Associates, a land surveyingbusiness and Mapsoft, whichdevelops miniCAD survey softwarefor the PC and PDA’s.Email: [email protected]

About the Authors

Surveying and Mapping Iraq


Washington Hall, County Durham in 1868.Her family’s wealth came from the Clevelandiron and steel industry. A gifted child,Gertrude eagerly took on challenges, whetherphysical or mental. Her restlessness andindependent mind did not fit easily witheducation by a governess at home. Faced withoutright rebellion from a wilful daughter herprogressive parents sent her to Queen’sCollege, a girls’ school in London, where herhard work and eagerness to learn made heran outstanding pupil. At the age of 18 shewent to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. After onlyfive terms of intense study she graduated fromOxford University with a First in ModernHistory – the first woman to do so.

Gertrude Bell’s vibrant personality, wittyconversation and striking appearance – anabundance of curly auburn hair and adisconcertingly direct gaze from green eyes –attracted attention wherever she went. Afterpresentation at Court, she attended Londonsociety balls and developed a life-longobsession for fashionable clothes and smokingcigarettes. During two world tours and familyholidays in Europe she widened her circle ofacquaintances to include diplomats andpoliticians, and added Arabic, Hebrew andPersian to her several European languages.She became the most famous femalemountaineer of her time, climbing in theRockies and the Swiss Alps where she reachedthe summit of the Matterhorn.

A daughter of the desertDuring a stay in Tehran, Bell translated andpublished in English a book of poems by thesensual Persian poet Hafiz in 1897. This wasthe first of her many writings on the culturesand lands of the near east. A series of deserttravels gave her an active interest inarchaeology. She filled her notebooks withvery detailed measurements and sketches ofchurches, and published the first chronologyof Byzantine churches in Anatolia. On hervisits home she was prominent in speaking outin favour of imperialism and in support of theanti-suffrage cause – she seems to have takenpleasure in the bewilderment caused by someof her idiosyncratic views. Between 1905 and1915 she travelled by horse and camel acrossthousands of miles of desert, the onlyEuropean among Arab guides and drivers. Shetook a great interest in tribal customs and

The sun casts a shadow of a Merlinmilitary helicopter across the excavatedfoundations of an ancient building in

Iraq. The scene resonates with land surveyingactivities and events in the life of GertrudeBell. Although a bluestocking and nearcontemporary of the Bloomsbury Set, she hadgreat physical courage and was fascinated bythe lives of the Bedouin and their deserthabitat. She can be said to have been pivotalin the making of the modern state of Iraq.

The first resonance in the illustration comesfrom the ancient building, which was in theworld’s first city of Uruk in present-day Iraq:Gertrude Bell set up the first national museumin Baghdad in 1926. The ancient foundationsand the helicopter are at the extremes of 5000years of land surveying practice: the earliestrecords of the measurement of land forvaluation were found in the vicinity of Uruk;the helicopter carries instrumentation fornavigating using earth satellites and onboardpositioning systems; and Gertrude Bell’sastronomical observations, altimeter heightingand land surveying were used for makingmaps of Mesopotamia in the 1920s. Militaryhelicopters were deployed during the recentwars in Iraq, a state carved out of thedefeated Ottoman empire in the aftermath ofthe first world war: Gertrude Bell had animportant role in creating the state of Iraq,recommending the appointment of its firstruler and defining its boundaries.

An educated woman of private meansGertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell was born at

Inspired by anillustration in theNovember 2009edition of the RICSpublication, TheArts Surveyor,Michael Coopertraces the career ofa remarkablewoman whosurveyed, mappedand was pivotal inthe making of themodern state ofIraq.

Image above, courtesy ofthe National Portrait Galleryand the Russell Trustees.

Gertrude Bell:surveyor, mapper and kingmakerby Professor Michael Cooper

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measurements improved the accuracy ofmaps of the former Ottoman Empire made bythe Survey of India.

Lady of the CourtIn the early days of the first world war,Gertrude Bell worked in France as an officerof the Red Cross, but in 1916 she wasrecruited by the Arab Bureau in Cairo. Shewas the first female officer to serve inmilitary intelligence. Her knowledge ofMesopotamian terrain and familiarity withthe local sheikhs and tribes in the area wereinvaluable to the British government in itsplan to form alliances with the Arabs, first toremove the Ottoman Turks and then tosecure a British presence in the region. Bellwas equally at ease sitting cross-legged on acarpet in a sheikh’s desert tent as she was onan upright chair at an ambassador’s dinner-table. On both occasions she would wearlong diaphanous muslin gowns from HarveyNicholls, talk as freely in Arabic as in English,and smoke cigarettes in a silver holder. Fewwere better qualified to bring the British andthe Arabs together. In Baghdad she wasknown among the Arabs as ‘Khatun’,meaning ‘Lady of the Court’.

T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia),another member of the Arab Bureau, sharedwith Bell a vision of Arab independence afterthe war. Bell had believed that Arab self-government was unlikely to succeed, butchanged her mind at the 1919 peaceconference in Paris. Lawrence led Arab tribesinto unofficial battles against the Turkishforces, capturing Aqaba in the south andDamascus in the north. Meanwhile, Bellcontinued her role as ‘Khatun’ and wasawarded the CBE. She even found time inBaghdad, after it was captured from the Turksin 1917, to introduce methods of makingmaps from aerial photographs, which she hadseen being used in Cairo.

British authority in Mesopotamia after thedefeat of Turkey fell into disarray when theLeague of Nations declared Mesopotamia tobe a ‘mandate’ under British trusteeship. Thenews caused riots in which a Shia/Sunnialliance lasted long enough to inflictthousands of casualties on the Britishoccupying forces. The prospect of Arabindependence receded. The following year aconference was held in Cairo when thecolonial secretary Winston Churchill favoureda British withdrawal from Mesopotamia tosave money. Bell had by now publishedmemoranda arguing for the idea of Arabself-determination and was the author of agovernment white paper describing the socialconditions in Mesopotamia – still a usefulaccount. She convinced Churchill that theway forward would be to set up an Arabregime with British advisors until anindependent state could replace themandate. Such an arrangement would reduce

dialects of the Bedouin. A lifelong atheist, shefound the desert spiritually and aestheticallybeguiling. She recorded with pride that shewas known as ‘Mashallah! bint arab’ – ‘AsGod has willed, a daughter of the desert’.

Gertrude Bell went to the RoyalGeographical Society to learn how to usesurveying instruments for field astronomy. Onher later desert journeys she madeastronomical observations with a verniertheodolite. She used tables of six-figurelogarithms and formulae from sphericaltrigonometry to calculate latitudes,longitudes and azimuths of the places shevisited. The azimuths enabled her to find themagnetic variation so that she could correcther tape and compass traverses. Using ananeroid barometer calibrated at the NationalPhysical Laboratory, she took atmosphericpressure readings to calculate the heights ofthe ground along her routes. Her

Above: Gertrude Bell and Arabs measuring wallsat Ukheidir, Iraq, 1909.

Left: Gertrude Bell outside her tent, Babylon,Iraq, 1909

Below: Three before the Pyramids. Bell can befound just below the Sphinx’s chin. On her rightis Churchill and her left, T. E. Lawrence. The photowas taken during the 1921 Cairo conference.

• All images courtesy of Gertrude Bell Archive at the University ofNewcastle Upon Tyne.





Nobody knewmore about thecomplexity of thecontinuousinteractionsbetween nomadictribes and terrain...

A woman aloneOn her visit to Persia in 1892, Bell fell in love withHenry Cadogan, a junior diplomat. She acceptedhis proposal of marriage, but her parents forbadit after their enquiries revealed that Henry was indebt and a gambler. Gertrude was distraught.Her hopes that one day she would marryCadogan ended with his death from pneumoniathe following year. In 1907 she met a marriedarmy officer Charles (‘Dick’) Doughty-Wylie. Theyexchanged love letters and intimacies, but theirrelationship was probably unconsummated. Thelast man she loved was Kinahan (“Ken”)Cornwallis, a married man with whom sheworked on the 1923 protocol. She wasdevastated when, after his divorce, Cornwallisremained indifferent to her affection for him.

Bell’s health declined. Cornwallis’s rejectionand the end of her active engagement in Iraqipolitics left her isolated. The economic depressionat home had eroded her family’s wealth.Returning to Iraq after taking sick leave, shetook an overdose of sleeping tablets and diedon the night of 11/12 July 1926. Friendsbelieved that she had taken her own life. Shewas buried on 12 July 1926 in the Britishcemetery in Baghdad.

Further readingGeorgina Howell’s Daughter of the Desert(2006) is the latest and best biography.Gertrude Bell’s accounts of her travels,especially The Desert and the Sown (1907)and Amurath to Amurath (1911) are greattravel writing.

The Gertrude Bell archive at the Universityof Newcastle-Upon-Tyne has made availableher letters, diaries and photographs atwww.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/. The Royal GeographicalSociety has her notebooks and theodolite. Thearticle by Liora Lukitz in Oxford Dictionary ofNational Biography gives other sources.

the cost to the British government, but itwould be a heavy burden on the finances ofa new independent state.

A woman who made a stateBell had long thought that the HashemitePrince Feisal was the man most likely toreceive the loyalty of enough different tribalgroups to maintain a stable and independentIraqi government. She now engineered hiselection by referendum, which showed amajority of 96% in favour – a likely precedent.Feisal was crowned king in August 1921. Bellwas behind the negotiations, which led to thereplacement of the mandate by an Anglo-Iraqitreaty in 1922. She was heavily involved inorganizing elections to a constitutionalassembly and in preparing a law to allow KingFeisal and the British high commissioner toadminister the country.

One major step remained: although Iraqhad a constitutional monarch, assembly andadministration, it had no constitutionalfrontiers. Nobody knew more about thecomplexity of the continuous interactionsbetween nomadic tribes and terrain thanGertrude Bell. In a protocol of 1923 she madeimportant contributions to defining thefrontiers with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,areas in which she had travelled on horsebackonly a few years earlier. The former Ottomanadministrative area of Mosul, with its non-Arab Kurdish population, was notincorporated into the frontiers of Iraq until aLeague of Nations commission settled thematter in 1925.

Bell was determined to modernise society inthe new Iraq. She pressed for more education,particularly in the rural areas, the adoption ofArabic as the official language and tea-partiesfor women in Baghdad who could listen tolectures on health given by female doctors.

Overcurrents


Included were: Brixton Windmill (who’d havethought you’d find an early 19th centwindmill there?); tours of Parliament andMansion House; The Gherkin; London OlympicPark; and Lloyd’s of London.

For my Open House outing, I hopped on ared double-decker bus and found myself atThe Fox in Hanwell. A nice pub lunch in adelightful garden, washed down with asuitable beverage, put me in good stead for aguided tour of the Hanwell Flight of Six Locks– a scheduled ancient monument – on theGrand Union Canal.

The canal and locks are testament to theingenuity of British engineering in the late18th century. William Jessop was the canal’schief engineer, and his masterpiece cut 60miles off the journey to the Midlands,revolutionising trade, industry, and people’slives. So busy did canals become thatinevitable bottlenecks ensued. However,Jessop had the foresight to make the lockswide enough – 14 feet – to take two narrowboats at the same time or a 70-tonne barge.It’s actually possible to walk all the way alongthe canal between London and Birmingham.The first stretch that passes through theHanwell Locks (originally called the GrandJunction Canal) was opened in 1794, and ranfrom the River Thames, at Brentford, toUxbridge. It takes about 1½ hours to passthrough the six locks. The very pleasant walkalong the old towpath starts near the junctionwith the un-navigable River Brent. There ismuch to see, including some of the old lock-keeper’s cottages, many now in private hands,and which our Waterways Trust guide told ussold for the staggering sum of £950,000 each.

Our small group was lucky enough to see abrightly coloured barge, with a typical salt-of-the-earth type bargee, manoeuvre a couple of locks.Half way along the flight, adjacent to the canal,is the high-walled enclosure of St Bernard’s

Hospital, originally the CountyLunatic Asylum. Four holes near thebottom of the walls allow firemento put hoses through and suckwater from the canal. The hospitalgrew all its own fruit, vegetablesand animal produce; any surplusbeing transported by boat to besold. Boats also delivered coal forthe hospital boilers. How’s that forsustainability? They seemed to thinkof everything in those days. Can welearn something here?

The walk ended at Windmill

Please don’t tell me it’s already 2011!Whatever happened to 2010? Was Isleeping through much of it? Jack London

opens his book The Sea Wolf with “I scarcelyknow where to begin…” I know just how hefelt. I had little intention of travelling overseaslast year, content to have spent 12 days on theroad visiting the southern deserts of Californiatrying out my fancy new camera on spring wildflowers, cacti, and strange land forms; and aweek in the Sierras. Then, early September,after waiting patiently for summer to arrive inthe San Francisco Bay Area (it never did, coldestfor 40 years), and realising that I might berunning out of material for Overcurrents, Idecided to head to the UK and other pointseast. Ten days later I was in London, and byearly October, mysteriously found myselfwandering the deserts and ancient monumentsof Egypt and Jordan (more of this next issue,when I’ll cover the Nilometer).

It never ceases to amaze me how muchthere is to see and do in Britain. As Americanauthor and Anglophile, Bill Bryson put it, “Andthis isn’t even famous, it’s just another magicalcorner of Britain” and “Suddenly in the spaceof a moment, I realized what it is that I lovedabout Britain – which is to say, all of it.” I wasabout to immerse myself once again.

Hanwell Flight of Six LocksOpen House London occurs every thirdweekend in September, and has done so since1992. The French started the idea in 1983 asJournées Portes ouvertes des monumentshistoriques. In 2010, over 700 buildings,neighbourhood walks, architects’ talks, cycletours, and more were featured. Viewingprivate residences, historic governmentbuildings, modern offices, art spaces, Citybanks and schools, gives the public a chanceto explore their history in a unique andinteractive way. What’s more, it’s free!

Looking back on abusy year, ourCaliforniancorrespondentseems to havespent most of it inBritain!

Locks, lunatics and engineersBy Nick Day

Below left: the newlyrestored roof of Chiswick

House Conservatory (aGrade I listed hothouse), an

Open House destination.Right: locks and lock-

keeper’s cottage. Yours for£900,000!

Overcurrents


panoramic views from thehigh-level walkways andthe original Victorian steammachinery. The first thingone notices, both outsideand inside, is the beautifulornate ironwork, even thestaircases and roof trusses.The current exhibit in thewalkways contain largecolour photos of some ofthe world’s renownedbridges along with theirfascinating history, plusdiagrams and photos of the design andconstruction of Tower Bridge. Down below Iwas treated to the sight of two (originally eight)magnificent steam-driven pumping engines thatraised and lowered the bascules, and two of sixaccumulators that stored water under pressure.It took only a minute for the bascules to beraised to their full 86° (today they are activatedelectronically). One can also see two of the fourcoal-fired boilers, and an old skip that broughtcoal in by rail from river barges.

After a late lunch at the delightful“Bubble”café on the South Bank side of thebridge, the day was completed by a short walkto the Guildhall to see the Roman amphitheatreremains, discovered only in 1988 whileexcavating the basement. A truly exhilaratingday, perhaps the highlight of my entire trip.

Lane, where we saw the pièce de résistance –Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Three Bridges.Designed in 1859, the structure is actually twobridges, with road, canal, and railwayintersecting at different angles and on threelevels. A bridge already carried Windmill Laneover the canal before Brunel planned to takethe Great Western Railway line through acutting under both the canal and the road. Hislast major project, Brunel designed massivebrick arches at the lower level and a “trough”supported by huge metal beams to carry theroad above the canal. Quite remarkable!

More Bridges and Strange Old BuildingsI have not visited the West Country since myearly 20s, when I carried out many miles of400kV transmission line surveys. Driving someof the country lanes today, I’d forgotten howvery narrow they were. My farthest point westwas Plymouth, where I met Drake for a quickgame of bowls on the Hoe, but left before theArmada turned up. Visiting the lovely town ofTotnes, Devon, and picturesque village ofDunster, Somerset, plus criss-crossingDartmoor and Exmoor, turned up a veryinteresting bevy of medieval Clapper and Postbridges, and Tithe and Yarn barns – all still ingreat shape, albeit with some remedialrenovation, after about 800 years.

Tower Bridge tourWhen travelling extensively one should havesome vague plan of where and when you’regoing, yet remain flexible. Scheduling tootightly rarely allows serendipity. During my lastweek in London, after returning from ablisteringly hot Egypt and Jordan, I planned tovisit the Tower Bridge exhibit. This was abruptlymoved forward a day by the sun’s suddenemergence in an almost cloudless sky. Mymotto Carpe Diem (seize the day) worked well,as the next day was miserable rain.

And so it was that the Tower Bridge tourturned into a series of tangential happenings.On leaving Tower Hill tube station, one’s eye ismet by the fascinating 12 feet high sundial ona mound overlooking the Tower of London.Unveiled in 1992, it is circumscribed by abronze band with low relief sculpturesbeautifully illustrating 2000 years of London’shistory, from the Roman conquest in 43 AD to1982. Included in the relief are: Great Fire of1666, River Thames frozen over in 1739, andfirst street gas lighting in 1807.

A few minutes later, I’m beside the best-preserved section of the Roman Wall, builtaround 200-220 AD, with a replica statue ofthe Emperor Trajan in front. Walking past theTower of London, I was soon on Tower Bridge.How many times had I driven over it back inthe 70s, with barely a second look or thoughtfor its history? This was soon to be rectified.

An exhibition was opened in 1982, and forthe first time since 1910, visitors have beenallowed inside to admire the magnificent

Above: Watch your step!One of Dartmoor’s Clapperand Post bridges.

The Romans first arrived in Britainin 55 BC. There was no Londonthen, nor crossing of the RiverThames. Many bridges were built,mostly of timber, but all failed overthe centuries for one reason oranother. Finally, a stone bridge wasbuilt around the end of the twelfthcentury, and remained the city’sonly crossing for six hundred years. Even after successive London Bridges, including JohnRennie’s, opened in 1831, no bridge existed east of the Pool of London – the busiest andwealthiest port in the world during the Industrial Revolution. Even before the middle ofthe 19th century, as many as 168,000 people and over 20,000 vehicles were crossingLondon Bridge every day. A later foot tunnel and ferries, still couldn’t cope with aburgeoning population trying to get from one side to the other. So, after several fits andstarts, and inviting a new bridge design to the public, an Act of Parliament decreed thatTower Bridge be built with certain criteria:

Central opening span of 200 feet clear width, with a height of 135 feet above Trinityhigh water when open, and 29 feet when closed against vessels with high masts.Size of piers to be 185 feet in length and 70 feet in width.Length of each of the two side spans to be 270 feet in the clear.

The rest was up to City Architect, Sir Horace Jones, who brought in famous engineerJohn Wolfe Barry to help. Work finally began in 1886 on the bascule-operated bridge –a triumph of Victorian Gothic architecture, with cast iron parapets, decorative panelling forthe walkways, and gas lamps. It is not dissimilar in appearance to a medieval Scottishcastle. But the end result was truly a masterpiece of innovative technologies for its day.

London’siconic bridge

Nick Day, FRICS, FRGS, PLS,is retired from the CaliforniaDepartment ofTransportation (Caltrans).He can be reached [email protected]

About the author

BOOK REVIEW


This highly readable andinformative account of the earlyyears of the Ordnance Surveydeals mainly with the events thattriggered its foundation in themid 18th century and the earlysurveys in Britain and Ireland.Amongst many things you willlearn of the lack of clarity overexactly when the OS came intobeing (1791, 1801, 1810 oreven, for pedants, 1855), theinfluence of the FrenchRevolution, the early politicalbattles and the state of mappingthen and in the preceding years.

Unusually, the book is theauthor’s doctoral thesis and couldhave done with some editing andreduction of the bibliographicalnotes, cited works and credits. Itcannot be necessary for this toaccount for over 25% of theprinted pages.

That criticism apart, readerswill find the early chaptersespecially rewarding if like meyour history is a bit shaky on theevents surrounding the ’45Rebellion (the last battle onBritish soil). The pivotal but fatalrole of Lord Lovatt in supportingthe Pretender Charles EdwardStuart is especially well drawn.Hewitt also focuses on the manycharacters who played key roles inthe emerging mapping agency,drawing widely on her sources togive them virisimilitude. Watson,Roy, Watson, Mudge, Dalby, Colby,Ramsden even the landscapeartist and expert hachurist Sandby(recently celebrated with anexhibition at the Royal Academy)are all given fair study.

The narrative gives aninteresting account of how thesecharacters had contact with andwere influenced by contemporarysociety figures like the painterJoshua Reynolds, the novelistMatthew Arnold, the poetWordsworth, the mathematician

and inventor Charles Babbage(revered for his mechanicalcomputer) and the controversialAstronomer Royal, NevilMaskelyne,

The author captures well thetrials and challenges those earlysurveyors had to surmount increating the primary triangulation,especially in linking Ireland to themainland but also in Colby’s ill-faited venture with the French tomeasure a meridian arc as far asthe Shetlands, which he hadhoped to build on Roy’s work withCassini two decades earlier.

A striking aspect of the historyof the OS is that it has too often inthe past been distracted from itsprimary task. With much of Englandand Scotland still to completeresources were switched to Ireland,which Colby enthusiasticallyembraced. Meanwhile, themainland was enjoying aburgeoning economy with factories,new estates and railways changingthe landscape forever; and leftunrecorded for decades. Yet anotherdistraction occurred in 1864 whenit was decided to map Palestineand Sinai (1870). Useful work forboth sides in the 1914-18 war butagain there was still plenty to do athome.

For surveyors who have longcomplained of the OS’s lack of

clear and loud warnings over thedangers of scaling up digitalmapping, the problem is not new.Upon completion of the six-inchsurvey of Ireland manylandowners enlarged the maps fortheir estates, highlighting errors.One wonders if any builder reliedon them for site plans.

The author has written ascholarly but very approachablestudy of the early years of the OSalthough perhaps does not drawenough critical conclusions. There isalso little on the so-called “InteriorSurvey” – the secondary andtertiary triangulation and detailedmapping. This must have requiredenormous resources. Hardnosedsurveyors and technofans may alsowant to skip the odd paragraph ortwo of poetry (the author is clearlya lover of Wordsworth whoseworks mentioned the progress ofthe OS and its surveyors Mudgeand Colby). Her description of earlyinstruments and their use seemsound enough but she is onshakier ground when it comes tothe modern age with mention ofmapping by “laser-driventheodolites”.

I commend this book for yourholiday reading list but we awaita similar lively account of theOS’s emergence into theEdwardian era and beyond.

By Rachel HewittPublished by Granta, h/back £25,ISBN978 1 84708 098 1

Map of a Nation– a biography of theOrdnance Survey

the trials and challenges of those early surveyors are well captured

centre, a particularly successful aspect of theold building, is 'landside' of the security gates,with the offices 'airside'. Rather than having asingle security station, there are gates in severallocations, which would seem to make securitycomplicated. However, everything will bemonitored using CCTV including, high-techsensors in the grounds that will reveal intruders.

The move is a response to technologicalchange and the falling OS headcount. AdanacPark is designed to accommodate 1000employees but OS has considered thepossibility that their numbers may reducefurther by building flexibility into their design.The main office area of the building is housedin three open plan 'fingers' off a communalatrium area where the canteen is located.Should less space be needed, they will rentout one of the 'fingers'.

The move from Maybush will take placegradually to the end of February 2011 and thebusiness centre will host its first major event,the 'Cambridge Conference', in the summer.

TOWARDS the end of last year Ordnance SurveyGB took GW on tour of Adanac Park, their newhq. The building is close to Junction 1 of theM271 on the outskirts of Southampton.

Built by Kier Construction under a designand build contract involving Kier taking overand redeveloping the old site, it is constructedto BREEAM 2006 standards and will generate74% of its energy needs from ground sourceheat pumps. With energy efficiency in mind,there are few windows facing south and largeexpanses of glass facing north. Planning for thebuilding started in 2001. OS has had plenty oftime to research the needs of the organisation

and of their staff and have come upwith a spacious, bright and airybuilding with a science parkatmosphere. IT has a dedicatedroom for 630 servers in addition to aGloucestershire site shared withLand Registry.

It feels rather like an airport, inthe sense that the new business

Welcome toSU373155, thenew home ofOrdnance Survey

Down undercurrents


A Flinders feastAttended by our fantastic Governor ProfessorMarie Bashir, the Australian National MaritimeMuseum half-day seminar on our legendarymariner Matthew Flinders was a full house. Thethree eminent speakers were Prof. Robert Clancyon the many chart-making explorations ofFlinders; Mitchell Library curator Paul Bruntonelaborating on the vast collection of Flinders’private letters, upon which he has published abook; followed by author Miriam Estensen,providing a closer insight into Flinders’ familyactivities after his return to England from theseven-year house arrest on Mauritius. Only aweek later I was in attendance at StateParliament House to hear a presentation onhow Flinders was the principal protagonist ofthe naming of our country as Australia. I have aslide show that casts a spurious shadow on“Who Really Named Australia?” but I do admitthat Matthew had more than just a passingcontribution to this act of nomenclature.

Star surveyors of the futureAt the University of NSW final year thesispresentations for the School of Surveying andSpatial Information there was a most impressivearray of future surveyors providing thosepresent with great optimism for theadvancement of the profession over many areasincluding cadastral court cases, 3D laserscanning, water conservation and supply andother areas of concern for the future ofsurveying. One author, Neil McDaid, spoke onthe Sydney Harbour Bridge survey, using mostlyinformation supplied to him by me, as well asre-measuring the distance between the hingebolts, which correlated to within a couple ofmillimeters from the distance determined bythe original surveyor, E.A. Amphlett!

The Irish surveyor finally unveiledAt the invitation only event outside the OldLands Department Building in Sydney, a strongwind was in the air on the Saturday afternoonwhen we would finally see the sandstonesculpture of the emancipated Irish politicalprisoner mounted in a niche of distinctionfronting the Loftus Street corner of this historicconstruction. Once again our proud GovernorMarie Bashir was on hand to unveil the statueof Deputy Surveyor-General James Meehan(1774-1826) in the presence of the early colonysurveyor’s great great great grandson, PhillipBradley, and his son Robert along with theirfamilies. Our Minister for Lands, the HonourableTony Kelly and our eminent Surveyor-GeneralWarwick Watkins presided over the dedicationceremony, which was overseen by the twoaccomplished sculptors Ruben Varfi and PaulThurloe from NSW Heritage Stone Masonry.

Back to the “normality” of DUC after thereflections of the 50th special edition lastissue. Topp Tours took us on a Seven

Islands cruise of the Hawkesbury River: five daysin the northern NSW country towns of Armidaleand Tamworth, “Richlands” homestead atTaralga and The Hills area near Parramatta. On30 October my eldest daughter got married toMichael McFadden at Mater Dei Chapel inCamden with photos taken on the adjacenthouse “Wivenhoe” built in 1837 for NSWPremier Sir Charles Cowper on the land grantedby Governor Lachlan Macquarie to his father theReverend William in 1812.

Retracing the 1813-14 route of surveyorGeorge Evans over the Blue Mountains tookour Topp Tour to each of the survey pillars thatwere placed in close proximity to 14 of thesurveyor’s field stations along his traverse.Each marker has plaques on the four faceshighlighting the history of the surveyortogether with excerpts from his travel journalentered on the night of the occupation of thatpoint. The “Footsteps In Time” project wasthe creation of council engineer John Yeomanas a commemoration to the unsungachievement of George Evans in opening upthe western pasture lands for future extensionof the Colony of New South Wales. After abrilliant steak lunch at the Jemby Rinjah EcoLodge plus hand-feeding the Crimson RosellaParakeets, we were treated to a viewing of theextensive collection of historic surveyingequipment and charts at the Bathurst CentralMapping Authority through the generousinput of Lands Surveyor George Baitch.

A foot in the pastand one in thefuture as ourcorrespondent tracksAustralia’s pioneersurveyors andattends the finalyear presentationsat the University ofNew South WalesSchool of Surveyingand SpatialInformation.

In the steps and statues of the pioneers

Left: at the unveiling fromleft to right, surveyorgeneral Warwick Watkins,Meehan’s great greatgrandson Phillip Bradley,governor Marie Bashir,Meehan’s great great greatgrandson Robert Bradley,lands minister Tony Kelly.

• John Brock is aRegistered Surveyor inAustralia and is a stalwartof FIG and its PermanentInstitution for the Art andHistory of Surveying.

Right: the statue of Irish convictJames Meehan who became deputy

surveyor general.

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