6 July/August 2020 | GeoConnexion InternationalMagazine

NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

U.S. RUGGED DEVICE MANUFACTURERJUNIPER SYSTEMS SEES STRONG DEMAND ASGLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS ARE IMPACTED BYCOVID-19While rugged device manufacturing giants are experiencingmanufacturing shutdowns, supply shortage of parts, and extendedproduct lead times, U.S. rugged device manufacturers like JuniperSystems are seeing strong product demand. Sourcing partslocally within the U.S. and maintaining a robust product and partinventory have been two keys to fulfilling the increase in demand,according to Supply Chain Manager Greg Foulger. Juniper Systemsis known for being “all under one roof” with product design,engineering, manufacturing, and sales all operating within onebuilding in Logan, UT USA. Because of this unique setup, JuniperSystems is able to provide a rare level of support to its globalpartners and user base requiring ultra-rugged handhelds, tablets,and GPS receivers for mobile data collection applications.www.junipersys.com

PARSEC BUSINESS ACCELERATOR BOOSTS EOENTERPRISES100 SMEs in the EO field have been selected for financial andtechnical support by the PARSEC business accelerator, 10 ofthem will receive the “grand prize”. Part of the support is theenabling multi-Petabyte PARSEC datacube platform which hasbeen introduced to the SMEs. Harnessing the power of Big EOData requires efficient handling of the volume, velocity, variety,and veracity of multimodal EO data, such as the CopernicusSentinels. SMEs entering the EO market require expensiveexperts top-skilled in IT and remote sensing alike, which distractsprecious resources from the core business. These barriers makeit difficult for SMEs gaining ground in the market. This is wherePARSEC comes to help. This European funded project willeffectively support SMEs in addressing these challenges throughboth business development support, financial support, and amassively scalable EO datacube service.www.parsec-accelerator.eu

MICROSOFT UPDATES BING MAPSFEATURES TO SUPPORT FLEETS ASDELIVERY DEMAND SURGESMicrosoft is helping fleet and logistics companies respond tothe sudden increase in demand for delivery services due tothe COVID-19 pandemic, with its BingMapsMulti-ItineraryOptimization (MIO) API. To meet the greater need foreffective multi-stop route planning,Microsoft has expandedthe Bing Maps MIO API features to now support up to 50 agentsand 500 itinerary locations. The Bing Maps MIO API takes themanual work and complexity out of route planning and, poweredby AI, automates the process of building itineraries for multipleagents (drivers, field services etc.) and their multiple shifts, whileoptimising their routes to save travel time and distance. GreyMatter provides licensing expertise as the sole Microsoft BingMaps distributor for EMEA and APAC regions.www.greymatter.com

ESTONIAN RAILWAYS SELECTSHEXAGON TO AUTOMATEAND DIGITIZE OPERATIONSEstonian Railways, a state-owned company responsiblefor Estonia’s railway administration, has selected Hexagon’sGeospatial division to implement a transportation systemthat will automate and digitize the railway’s infrastructuremaintenance, construction and traffic managementprocesses. The combined asset management systemand GIS platformwill support the company’s morethan 700 employees to efficiently manage assets andworkflows. Powered by Hexagon’s GeoTrAMS, a web-basedsystem for tram and light-rail infrastructure, and GeoMedia,a flexible GIS management platform, Estonia Railway will beable to visualize assets on a map while integrating with othercompanies and external systems. Hexagon’s state-of-the-artregistry will serve multiple information systems and users at thesame time, centralizing the use of asset and spatial data whileavoiding data duplication and ensuring that users have accessto the most up-to-date information.www.hexagongeospatial.com

8 July/August 2020 | GeoConnexion InternationalMagazine

NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

HERE CONTINUES TOLEAD AS COUNTERPOINTRESEARCH’S TOP LOCATION& MAPPING PLATFORMFor the third time in a row, HERETechnologies was named byCounterpoint Research as the world’snumber one location platform. The2020 Counterpoint Research LocationPlatforms Evaluation and Analysiscompared the 25 leading locationplatform vendors, including Google,TomTom andMapbox, in capabilitiesand execution. Counterpoint has greatlyexpanded its evaluation criteria sincepublishing its last benchmark in July2018. The new report evaluates theleading 25 maps and location platformplayers, across six categories, on morethan 60 capabilities and ecosystemsuccess parameters. HERE leads the packin all categories and across more than40 of the criteria, including: DeveloperEcosystem, Indoor Maps, ADAS/HDMaps, Geo-Coding, Traffic, Tracking &Positioning, Openness, Marketplace andmore.www.here.com

ESRI PARTNERS WITH MCH STRATEGIC DATA TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON US EDUCATIONAFFECTED BY COVID-19Esri announced that it will be making datalayers on US school closures during theCOVID-19 pandemic available through a newpartnership with MCH Strategic Data. To helpeducational organizations as well as familiesacross the nation better understand thesituation in their communities, Esri and MCHhave made school closure data accessiblefrom a public dashboard. Information onK through 12 public and private schoolsinclude whether they are closed, plans forre-opening school buildings, and the type ofinstruction they are offering during closuresdue to the epidemic. As the COVID-19outbreak has escalated rapidly across theglobe, and with municipalities strugglingto respond, MCH and Esri have built outadditional resources like theMCH School

Status Updates to help organizationsquickly visualize and understand the currentsituation, as well as identify potential

community risk areas when schools beginto open back up, and estimate the capacityneeded to respond.www.esri.com

NAVVIS RELEASES INDOORVIEWER 2.6NavVis, a provider of indoor spatial intelligence technology and enterprise solutions,announces the release of NavVis IndoorViewer 2.6. This major software release includesa newmeasurement tool that lets users take highly accurate measurements basedon point clouds in realistic browser-based digital buildings. This release also makesadditional features available to structured e57 point cloud files, including automaticallygenerating highly detailed floorplans and routing. NavVis IndoorViewer is a populardeliverable among building stakeholders without the technical expertise to work withpoint clouds and modeling software, thanks to the realistic digital buildings and intuitiveinterface. One of the features that has proven to be useful among users across multipleindustries is the measurement tool. It enables users to take measurements remotely onany device, saving time otherwise spent traveling to the site.www.navvis.com

SEPTENTRIO ADDS SAPCORDA SAPA SERVICE TOGNSS RECEIVER PORTFOLIOSeptentrio, a provider of in high-precision GNSS positioning solutions, announces thatit has entered into a commercial agreement with Sapcorda, a global provider of sub-decimetre GNSS corrections. For over two decades Septentrio has been designingreliable and robust GPS/GNSS receivers for demanding applications. These receivers relyon external corrections to reach high accuracy in the sub-decimetre range. Through thecollaboration with Sapcorda, Septentrio will pioneer an innovative no-hassle correctionsintegration into a new line of products for the high-accuracy industrial market. Thesenew products will consist of Sapcorda’s SAPA Premium corrections integrated directlyinto Septentrio’s latest GNSS receiver technology. The result is sub-decimetreaccuracy, which is available to users right out of the box. This significantly simplifies theuser’s GNSS receiver set-up process and eliminates completely the hassle of correctionsservice subscription and maintenance. Such GNSS receivers acquire corrections viainternet as well as via satellite broadcast and deliver reliable, broadly available sub-decimetre positioning to high-volume industrial applications. www.septentrio.com

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GOLDEN SOFTWARESIMPLIFIES SURFERWORKFLOWS FOR FASTERGRIDDINGGolden Software, a developer ofaffordable 2D and 3D scientificmodeling packages, has streamlinedmany workflows in the latest versionof its Surfer gridding, contouring,and 3D surfacemapping product.These enhancements will save timefor end users in oil & gas exploration,environmental consulting, mining,engineering, and geospatial projects.Used by 100,000 clients worldwide,Surfer has been relied upon for morethan 30 years by scientists in numerousdisciplines to easily visualize andinterpret complex data sets. Knownfor its fast and powerful contouringalgorithms that regularly outperformmore expensive packages, Surferenables users to model data sets, applyan array of advanced analytics tools, andgraphically communicate the results inways anyone can understand.www.goldensoftware.com

Elbit Systems announced that it wasawarded two contracts valued at atotal of approximately $20 million fromLatin American customers to upgradethe capabilities of their Hermes 900Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).Both contracts will be performed withina 12-month period. Under the contracts,the Company will integrate satellitecommunication systems and automatictake-off and landing systems into theHermes 900 UAS that the customersare already operating. This upgrade willadvance theseMediumAltitude Long

Endurance (MALE) UAS to the latestconfiguration, enabling extension of theoperational range to more than 1000kmand performing the take-off and landingautonomously and independent ofGPS reception. Since its debut 10 yearsago, the Hermes 900 UAS was selectedby numerous customers across fourcontinents, performing a wide rangeof missions in the fields of IntelligenceSurveillance Target Acquisition andReconnaissance (ISTAR), homeland securityand maritime search and rescue.www.elbitsystems.com

ELBIT SYSTEMS AWARDED $20 MILLION INCONTRACTS TO UPGRADE HERMES 900 UAS OFLATIN AMERICAN CUSTOMERS

HANLEY WOOD | MEYERSRESEARCH ANNOUNCEACQUISITION OF SATELLITEIMAGERY COMPANY BIRD.IHanleyWood | Meyers Research, thehousing industry’s foremost advisorsand provider of rich data, announcedit acquired Bird.i, a Scotland-basedcompany that combines the latestsatellite imagery and artificialintelligence (AI) technology toprovide valuable land and buildinginsights. Bird.i’s imagery processingtechnology shows how things arechanging on the ground, allowing formore timely, better informed decision-making throughout the buildingprocess, providing a competitiveadvantage for users. The Bird.i dataplatform will be available for HanleyWood | Meyers Research customers, soits current clients can take advantageof real-time imagery. Additionally, Bird.iwill be integrated in Metrostudy andZonda – the respective data productsof HanleyWood and Meyers Research –later this year.www.hibirdi.com

THURAYA MARINESTAR BECOMES A MAJOR SUCCESS STORYThuraya, the mobile satellite services subsidiary of the UAE-based global satellite company, Yahsat,announced that Thuraya MarineStar, its best in class maritime voice solution with advanced two-way tracking andmonitoring capabilities is a bestseller, especially in the Asian maritimemarkets. This versatile solution was sold out within a month after its launch and first installationshave been made successfully. Due to robust demand from fisheries, Thuraya’s Service Partnersare now placing new bulk orders for the hardware units. As an entry-level solution, ThurayaMarineStar is built on the same successful voice platform that has sold more than onemillionThuraya satellite voice devices. Since it enables tracking and monitoring, in addition to voicecommunications, vessel operators do not have to invest more in their tracking systems or a brandnew tracking application.www.thuraya.com

10 July/August 2020 | GeoConnexion InternationalMagazine

NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

SIMACTIVE INVOLVED INTHE MAPPING OF A UNESCOARCHEOLOGICAL SITESimActive, a developer of photogrammetry software, announcesthat his Correlator3D product is used to map the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site of Halin in Myanmar. The archaeologicalproject involved the deployment of drones to gather datanecessary to prepare orthophotomaps and digital elevationmodels. The goal is to find new features as well as to assessthe state of the known ones. These include monumental walls,dams and digging canals many of which are still visible in thelandscape. The resulting geospatial data also allow to check ifmodern constructions or farming are not causing any damage.www.simactive.com

TDI-BROOKS COMPLETES MULTIBEAM PHASEFOR TGS OFFSHORE NIGERIATDI-BrooksInternational, Inc(under contract toTGS), has completedthe offshoremultibeam phaseoffshore the NigerDelta. This surveytook place in waterdepths of 750 to3,500meters and isNigeria’s first regionalmulti-clientMultibeamand Seafloor Sampling (MB&SS)Study. TDI-Brooks’ R/V Gyre acquired 82,000 square kilometresof high-resolution hull-mounted multibeam echo sounderdata. During the multibeam data collection a total of 1,223active hydrocarbon seepswere detected in the multibeamwater column data. Onboard hydrocarbon seep analysis wasconducted in near real-time onboard the vessel to expedite theprocess of core selection. The Gyre is fitted with an EM302MBES(EM304 upgrade pending). The R/V Proteus is scheduled to beginacquisition of the follow-up Surface Geochemical Exploration(SGE) coring campaign in July 2020, where approximately245 piston core samples targeting suspected seep featuresselected from the MBES dataset will be collected, along with anadditional 45 additional piston core samples for geotechnical andbiostratigraphic studies.www.tdi-bi.com

BEPICOLOMBO TAKES LAST SNAPS OF EARTHEN ROUTE TO MERCURYThe ESA/JAXA BepiColombomission completed its first flyby on 10April, as the spacecraft came less than 12 700 km from Earth’s surfaceat 06:25 CEST, steering its trajectory towards the final destination,Mercury. Images gathered just before closest approach portray ourplanet shining through darkness, during one of humankind’s mostchallenging times in recent history. Launched in 2018, BepiColombois on a seven-year journey to the smallest and innermost planetorbiting the Sun, which holds important clues about the formationand evolution of the entire Solar System. The operation is thefirst of nine flybys which, together with the onboard solar propulsionsystem, will help the spacecraft reach its target orbit around Mercury.The next two flybys will take place at Venus and further six at Mercuryitself. While the manoeuvre took advantage of Earth’s gravity to adjustthe path of the spacecraft and did not require any active operations,such as firing thrusters, it included 34 critical minutes shortly afterBepiColombo’s closest approach to our planet, when the spacecraftflew across the shadow of Earth.www.esa.int

PARROT, DRONESENSE PARTNER TO BETTEREQUIP PUBLIC SAFETY UAS PROGRAMSParrot, the European drone group, announced it is partneringwith DroneSense— a software company whose comprehensivedrone management platform enables public safety organizationsto build, manage, and scale their unmanned aircraft programs.Through this partnership, public safety UAS teams are able touse the full suite of DroneSense capabilities tailor-made forthe needs of first responders with their ANAFI aircraft. Parrot’sANAFI and ANAFI Thermal drones offer an ultra-compact toolfor professionals, helping them gain new vantage points on asituation using the drone’s aerial insights. In addition to its built-in4KHDR camera, ANAFI Thermal also integrates a FLIR thermalsensor— allowing users to easily capture thermal and visualreadings for faster response times, along with higher precisionand efficiency. This functionality coupled with the scenemanagement tools in the DroneSense Platform will providepublic safety operators with an unparalleled level of situationalawareness that will ultimately help save more lives.www.parrot.com

12 July/August 2020 | GeoConnexion InternationalMagazine

NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

DE BOER MARINE TO DELIVER MANAGED DATA SERVICESTHROUGH SES NETWORKS’ SKALA GLOBAL PLATFORMDe Boer Marine, a Dutch company specialised in maritime navigation and communicationequipment, is now offering seamless, reliablemanaged data services to its internationalmaritime clients by leveraging SES Networks’ exceptional connectivity and its SkalaGlobal Platform, the two companies announced. De Boer Marine’s customers will benefitfrom a superior customer experience with a cost-effective communications solution thatreduces operational risk and cost. Crew and operators will stay connected to their friendsand family anytime, anywhere, while De Boer Marine and fleet operators will benefitfrom flexible bandwidthmanagement, advanced automatic beam switching, and asophisticated network management system to maximise their profitability and efficiency.The Skala Global Platform offers a combination of next-generation ground systemtechnology, advanced satellite capabilities and service lifecycle expertise thatenables scalable, flexible and high-quality managed data services for commercial shippingcompanies across the world.www.ses.com

CIMON-2 MAKES ITSSUCCESSFUL DEBUT ON THE ISSCIMON-2, the updated version of theCIMON astronaut assistant, developedand built by Airbus for the GermanAerospace Center Space Administration(DLR), has now demonstrated itscapabilities during initial tests on theInternational Space Station (ISS).The free-flying, spherical technologydemonstrator with artificialintelligence (AI) showed off a numberof its features during interactions withESA astronaut Luca Parmitano.CIMON-2 started its journey to theISS on 05 December 2019, launchingwith the CRS-19 supply mission fromthe Kennedy Space Center in CapeCanaveral, Florida. It is scheduled to stayon the ISS for up to three years. Justshy of two months after the successfulfirst use of CIMON-2, the project teamhas now received the analysis. With thenew improved hardware and complexsoftware working so well, the CIMONteam from DLR, Airbus, IBM, LudwigMaximilian University in Munich(LMU) and the ESA User SupportCentre Biotesc in Lucerne (Switzerland)are extremely satisfied with CIMON-2’sperformance. This continued successof the CIMON project is yet anotherpioneering achievement in the use of AIin human space flight.www.airbus.com

XENOMATIX LAUNCHES 6D ROAD SCANNINGXenomatiX, Tier II provider of true solid state lidars, launches a new business unit, 6D RoadScanning services to strengthen its position as innovator and facilitator of road safetyand comfort. Since roads wear with loads and seasons, 6D road scanning allow roadmanagers to effectively analyse the road surface for cracks, waviness, rutting, potholesor other damages and to determine if and when maintenance or repair is needed. Usingits true solid state lidar systems, XenomatiX acquires and analyses high-precision andreliable pavement condition data for any road network. The Road Scanning sensor ismounted on top of a regular vehicle and digitizes the road surface, collecting followingtypes of data: 3D point clouds, surface reflectivity data, camera images and detailed GPSdata. These measurements can be delivered as raw data or can be analysed by XenomatiX’road engineering experts using generic or customized algorithms.www.xenomatix.com

DETECTION SERVICES PROVIDESREZATEC’S GEOSPATIALINTELLIGENCE SOLUTIONS FORHUNTER WATERDetection Services in association withpartner Rezatec, global provider ofsatellite data analytics, is proud tobe using its state-of-the-art satellitetechnology to monitor any potentialstructural and environmental changesat HunterWater’s GrahamstownDam, near Newcastle, Australia.Grahamstown Dam is the Hunter’s largestdrinking water storage, holding up to182,000 million litres of water. It providesaround half of the drinking water usedby Hunter Water’s customers on anongoing basis. Hunter Water has engagedDetection Services to provide an assetmonitoring program featuring a highlytargeted approach to identify hotspotsof terrain movement, soils saturations,vegetation growth, moisture levels andstructural movement.www.rezatec.com

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NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

FUGRO WINS CONTRACT FOR A9 MOTORWAYWIDENING IN THE NETHERLANDSFugro has been awarded a 3-year contract for an extensivegeotechnical campaign and subsequent design work as partof the A9motorway upgrade and expansion projectin the Netherlands. In addition to the geotechnical groundinvestigation, Fugro will provide geotechnical design of allcivil structures, including ground-retaining walls and earthworksfor widening the motorway. The scope of work also coverspreparation of a 3D groundmodel, which will facilitate moreefficient scenario analysis and integration with the project’sbuilding informationmodel (BIM). The A9 project involvesthe widening of 10 km of existing motorway between theHolendrecht and Badhoevedorp junctions, including a deepcut (open tunnel) nearly 2 km long. This section of the A9passes through a densely populated area between Schipholand Amsterdam, which presents additional challenges for theacquisition of Geo-data along this busy stretch of road.www.fugro.com

QINERTIA, SBG SYSTEMS’ PPK SOFTWARENOW SUPPORTS THIRD-PARTY IMUSSBG Systems’popular INS/GNSS PPK software called Qinertianow covers all surveyors’projects by offering a license dedicatedto GNSS post-processing. Open to the world, Qinertia supportsall major GNSS receivers and is now open to third-partyIMUs. Qinertia, the new standard for Post-processing, is nowopen to all IMUs and GNSS Qinertia has been designed to offera comprehensive suite of post-processing software to thegeospatial world. It accepts all major GNSS manufacturers, andsupports proprietary protocols from Novatel, Septentrio,Trimble, and Ublox for a straight-forward workflow. It is the firstfull-featured post-processing software to offer a native supportfor Ublox F9 RTK receivers reducing the workflow as a simple“drag and drop” to guarantee data integrity and accuracy. Qinertiahas been designed to help surveyors get the most of their surveyvery easily with a simple workflow, powerful quality control toolsand leading edge tightly coupled algorithms.www.sbg-systems.com

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14 July/August 2020 | GeoConnexion InternationalMagazine

NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

BENTLEY SYSTEMS OPENS UP FULL ACCESS TOPROJECTWISE 365Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a global provider ofcomprehensive software and digital twins services for advancingthe design, construction, and operations of infrastructure,announced it has opened up its ProjectWise 365 cloudservice, including waiving subscription fees through September30, 2020, to virtually connect infrastructure project participantsforced to work from home. ProjectWise 365, leveragingMicrosoft 365 technology and office productivity tools,extends the reach and accessibility of BIM and infrastructureengineering data to facilitate collaboration and design reviewacross the ecosystem of project stakeholders. As an “instant-on”cloud service accessed through a web browser to simplifydesign review, transmittals, RFIs, information sharing, and issuesresolution, ProjectWise 365 is perfectly suited for quick adoptionwhile working from home, eliminating the need for error-pronecombinations of generic technologies such as “drop boxes”andPDF.www.bentley.com

G-CORE LABS OPENS POINT OF PRESENCE INCHILEG-Core Labs, the international provider of cloud and edgesolutions, is expanding its presence in South America byopening a new point of presence of its content deliverynetwork in Santiago, Chile’s capital. The location shows anaverage response time of 24ms (according to Citrix, theindependent analytical system), successfully competing withlocal and American CDN service providers. The point of presenceis located in a certified Tier III class data center. G-Core Labs CDNsupports all necessary protocols, including HTTP/2 (by default),SSL and IPv6, and also provides flexible system configurationoptions: access through the API, opportunities to pre-load heavyfiles, to clear cache completely or selectively, to set and managecache storing time, cache return, inheriting caching parameters,to ignore request parameters and cookies etc. The globalarchitecture of G-Core Labs content delivery network, locatedon 5 continents, was created by experts on high-load systems.www.gcorelabs.com

OGC AND BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONALPUBLISH DISCUSSION PAPER ON INTEGRATINGBIM AND GISThe Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and buildingSMARTInternational (bSI) have released an industry-defining paper aspart of their Integrated Digital Built Environment (IDBE) jointworking group. This paper aims to coordinate the developmentof the relevant data standards that are produced at eachorganisation. The Discussion Paper, entitled Built environmentdata standards and their integration: an analysis of IFC, CityGMLand LandInfra, is free to download from OGC’s DiscussionPapers webpage. This report looks at a variety of challengesand addresses the need to develop better integration at a highlevel between BIM and GIS standards. The paper focuses onfour key topics: predominant disparities that hinder integration;fundamental operations that underpin use cases; methodsof integration in usage and proposed action points. The IDBEworking group will continue to work on the points highlightedand aims to overcome integration challenges, to articulate themain use cases, devise a system of common unique identifiersand agree on a collaborative harmonisation approach.www.ogc.org

UAVOS COMPLETES TESTS FOR UAV DELIVERYSERVICE HUMANITARIAN RELIEFUAVOS has successfully tested its cargo delivery UVH-170unmanned helicopter. The trial aimed to validate a highlyautomated delivery flight from a vendor to a destination andback, across precisely pre-selected pathways. The flight took1.7 hours and covered a standoff distance of 62miles (100km). Critical humanitarian aid, whose weight was 17,6 lbs (8kg), was delivered with neither the need to land nor the needfor a ground control station on the receiving side. UAVOS’s UASis equipped with line of sight data link (LOS) and satellitecommunication data link, which supports Beyond Visual Lineof Sight (BVLOS) flights. UVH-170 unmanned helicopter isdesigned for commercial operations and immediate air response,emergency relief under demanding conditions and tighttimescales. The aircraft’s high standoff distance makes it well-suited to humanitarian and disaster relief applications.www.uavos.com

ROAD-SIT WEB: THE ROADS GLOBAL SERVICEIN ITALYSITECO Infomatica SRL provides the Road-SIT Web application forthe Roads Global Service of the Campania Region. Followingthe tender of the Municipality of Giugliano in Campania,G.L.M. Appalti SRL entrusted SITECO with the survey of themunicipal roads (150km) for the supply of a “front end - backoffice” software system for updating pavement deteriorationand post-road monitoring. The software application providedby SITECO, Road-SITWEB, fully meets the requirements byproviding all the necessary functions in a single online workingenvironment. The “mobile” version, expressly developed tooperate on mobile devices (smartphones with a 5 “to 7”displayor iPad), has a very friendly and flexible interface. The roadinspection operators identify the distresses and register them, inreal-time, in a form available on a mobile device, also attaching afew photos. The data are recorded directly on the platform set upfor this purpose.www.sitecoinf.it

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NEWS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

NGA AND MAXAR WORK TOGETHER TO EXPAND GOVERNMENTADOPTION OF NOMEThe NGA Open Mapping Enclave (NOME) has gained popularity as a telework-friendly option toadvance the production of Foundation GEOINT to support missions across the U.S. government. Maxarcontributes imagery used by the NOME community of screened users within the National Systemfor Geospatial Intelligence and Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence access to foundationalGEOINT data in a dynamic, collaborative,mapping environment. Using NOME, trusted users witha browser and internet service are able to leverage a combination of automation tools and humanexpertise to improve the volume and quality of foundational maps throughout the world.NOME leverages current, accurate and unclassified data delivered through the NGA’s GlobalEnhanced GEOINT Delivery (Global EGD) program. As a contributor to Global EGD, Maxar enablesNGA to serve more than a quarter-million U.S. government users with online and offline, on-demandaccess to the world’s highest-resolution commercial imagery.www.maxar.com

NASA/ESA HUBBLE CELEBRATES ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARYWITH A TAPESTRY OF BLAZING STARBIRTHOn 24 April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched on the SpaceShuttle Discovery, along with a five-astronaut crew. Deployed into low Earthorbit a day later, the telescope has since opened our eyes to the cosmosand transformed our collective knowledge of the Universe. Hubble hasrevolutionisedmodern astronomy not only for astronomers, but also for thepublic, taking them on a journey of exploration and discovery. This year, Hubbleis celebrating this new milestone with a portrait of two colourful nebulaethat reveals how energetic, massive stars sculpt their homes of gas and dust.Although NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 appear to be separate in this visible-lightimage, they are actually part of one giant star formation complex. The star-forming regions seen here are dominated by the glow of stars at least 10timesmoremassive than our Sun. These stars have short lives of only a fewmillion years, compared to the 10-billion-year lifetime of our Sun.www.esa.int