Usage of geospatial data during Hudhud cyclone

Cyclones are associated with high speed winds and heavy unlashing rain causing concerns to life and property.  Disaster preparedness during such event will reduce the impact of such severe natural calamity.  Geo spatial data play a key role in disaster preparedness.  The availability of geospatial data will enhance the administrations information and early warning mechanism.  As the cyclone form in the sea side and advance towards land, the planners could able to mark the area which going to effect in terms of districts, taluks and villages.  Digital surface models will give indications of safer places to re locate people, and extend of inundation major rivers and coastal areas.  An existing land use land cover map will give an assessment of the property to be loose during the event.  A digital infrastructure map will enable the planners to move the people to available social amenities, which are safer in all aspects.  Storage of relief materials in such areas will also possible by using geo spatial data.  In the recent Hudhud event also causalities were reduced to a great extent by adopting this kind of modern technologies.  

http://www.sblcorp.com/Geospatial-Services/GIS_Services.php

SBL offers new ‘data repair’ service.

At this year’s User Conference in July, ESRI staff will again be on hand to provide their popular data check up sessions:

http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2014/06/25/ready-to-get-your-data-check-up-at-esri-uc-2014/

However, in the unhappy even that errors are found, what do you do next? Do you have sufficient in-house resource to make the required corrections in a timely manner? Or will you have to pull key members of staff off projects, thereby putting deadlines in jeopardy? We can help.

At SBL we have large teams of multi-disciplinary engineers who are used to seeing and then resolving a wide range of data issues. We are able to turn around these repair exercises quickly and cost-effectively, thereby minimising the unplanned impact on your business.

For further information contact SBL’s UK Divisional Manager, Geoff Blissitt on 0117 317 8100, or by email at geoff.blissitt@sblcorp.com

http://www.sblcorp.com/Geospatial-Services/GIS_Services.php

SBL’s UK Division to attend the AGI’S Big Data event in London:

Part of the AGI’s Big 5 series of events, Big Data will address the opportunities for Geospatial Data within the broader context of Enterprise Data Management. This is right up our street:

At SBL we have already seen significant overlap between our divisions, in particular between our data management and GIS teams. Clients are increasingly looking for an integrated approach to data management, whereby the geospatial data lies at the heart of business processes rather than as a task-based offshoot. The geo-referencing of core datasets as part of the initial database architecture, rather than as a retrospective add-on exercise, is resulting in organisations viewing location-based information as central to strategic decision-making.

If you would like to arrange a meeting at the event to discuss these opportunities, or if you would simply like to receive further information, please contact Geoff Blissitt on 0117 317 8100 or via email at geoff.blissitt@sblcorp.com.

http://www.geobig5.com/events/big-data/

Computer-aided design (CAD)

Data collected on paper is difficult to maintain, retrieve, analyze and interpret. many valuable documents could be lost or they may take too long to analyze and find the specific section needed. Since technology is evolving day by day solutions are coming up for each and every problems in all sorts of fields and computer aided design is the solution for this dilemma. Computer-aided design(CAD) is used in many fields and GIS benefits a lot from this particular service. Using this method not only can these documents be better preserved they can be easily found, modified, analyzed and interpreted. Since GIS uses a large amount of map based data, digitalization of these maps can prove to be very useful. The fields in GIS where this is particularly helpful is Georeferencing, parcel mapping, utility mapping, feature extraction and route network analysis. These fields use maps the most to find accurate and precise geographical data. Georeferencing is where maps are associated with real time co-ordinates locating different landmarks, places of interest. In parcel mapping, it fetches information on land, property for city planning and used by people like estate developers. In Feature extraction images are processed, vectorized and interpreted by different companies for different reasons. In utility mapping it helps finding the networks of different assets like pipes, electrical wiring etc used by people from the electricity board, water authorities etc. All of these can be hard and time consuming if paper maps are used. Instead if the maps are digitalized and used by a computer the process is made much easier and can be done much faster using the tools such as ‘find’ and other services. Last of all this is of the utmost importance for route network analysis where ambulances, fire engines etc need to find the fastest and easiest route to their destination. Using paper maps will be particularly hard because it cannot calculate the traffic and other obstructions. Also there might not be sufficient time to find the right route so there is a definite need to digitalize the map and use different computer systems to find the right and fastest route with no obstructions.

Flyer for UAV Keeping pace with the technological advancement, SBL have a solution for your 3D data requirement

SBL has initiated its Geo Spatial Services wing during 2007 viewing the growing industrial requirements in this sector. Since its inception, SBL has served a wide range of services across multiple industries. Now SBL Geo Spatial Services has its client base across Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, and Asia-Pacific regions. Customer satisfaction is one of SBL Geo Spatial Services key goal and is keen to give cost effective solutions to varied needs of customers. SBL Geospatial Services is a multi domain team ready to accept any kind of technological challenges. UAV data processing is one such initiative taken by the SBL Geo Spatial Services. Viewing the technological advancement in this arena, SBL has developed full data processing capabilities and now it is one of the first organizations in India to achieve this capability.

Our service domains

· GIS Services

· Photogrammetric services

· Lidar data processing services

· UAV data processing services

· CAD services

· WEB Applications



Standard UAV Process we perform



· Aerial Triangulation

· Stereo compilation

· High precision DSM and DTM creation

· Ortho photo creation

· Mosacking, color balancing, tiling

· 2D and 3D feature extraction



Derived products



· Smooth contour lines

· Slope map

· Aspect map

· X-sections and L-sections

· Fly through videos

· Base map

· Land use land cover map



Industries we served



· Mining

· Solar farms

· Agriculture

· Urban planning

· Railway and other Utilities

· Water resources



Benefits our customers receives by engaging us



· Rational pricing compared to other international firms

· Associations with many UAV data acquiring firms

· Most experienced providers of data processing services

· Quick and cost effective solution provider for maintaining overall low cost of UAV techniques

· Availability of multiple global processing software

· Mutli domain expertise to handle varied needs

· Ability to process data from any kind of platforms/drones

· Centimeter level accuracy

· Provides output in global formats which suites customers requirement

· Provides videos and 3D pdf of the output

· Local contact office over UK, USA, Australia and India



Our UAV Clientele and Associates



· Air Project

· DM & S

· Pro works

· RSK Orbital

· FA-i (Future Aerial Innovation)

· Comminco resources

· Hammingbird

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) known widely as drones or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are vehicles which do not have a pilot inside to control it manually. These are controlled by onboard computers or by using a remote control. These can be used for multiple purposes especially in geographic information systems (GIS). Since they can easily collect better and more accurate, higher resolution pictures than a manned aircraft, UAVs are ideal for use in GIS. Digitalizing maps and viewing them in different layers in order to further study the elements on it in more detail is one of the most important things in the processing of the data collected using UAVs. This data can be interpreted and extracted by vectorizing to get precise information easily. Data collecting services include finding the height changes using (DEM) and (DTM), analyzing the measures, distances, positions, exact ground co-ordinates and removing the distortions. This data can be used for finding where certain objects or items on a map are such as a building or a place of interest, finding solar farms for use in solar panels, forecasting geographical data etc. These services are particularly used by military defense systems, finding energy sources for energy companies, town planning, for geological Investigations, finding mineral deposits in rocks, sources of ground water and so on.

Unmanned aerial vehicles are used by thousands of companies for different purposes throughout the world. SBL is one among the companies who provide the this UAV services with its many partners across the globe. SBL has a team of experts who interprets the inputs given by UAVs, perfects them and provide the information to you according to your needs.

Structural Mapping in geological distributions

The detailed analysis of the three-dimensional distribution of rock expressions with regard to their history of formation can be generally termed as structural geology. Estimation on the history of the formation/ deformation or in other words the strain which is seen in the rocks during the course of time through the measurements of present day rock geometries is the ultimate aim of structural geology. The information thus evolved can be linked to the events of the past. The geologic past of a region can be made from the information on the structural development of a particular region with regard to area wise distribution of the rock pattern distribution like that of mountain formation/rifting due to the effect of plate tectonics.

To make a definition, structural mapping can be termed as an identification or characterization of a structure. Structures comprise of faults, rock folds, synclines, anticlines and lineaments of rock formations. Thorough understanding of the rock structures is the key to understand the crustal movements of rocks that is responsible for the present terrain. Detailed examination of structure can be obtained by geophysical techniques such as seismic surveying.

The structural mapping gains much importance in the economic geology especially in petroleum geology and mining geology. The creeks and folds of rock strata can be a natural storage space for the fluids such as petroleum and natural gas. Thus the future of structural mapping becomes a prospective one in geospatial realm. Generally deposits of metals like gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc are located in structurally complex areas. Through accurate structural mapping solutions and services, we can identify the possible areas for mining such metals.

Mapping of structures forms a vital part of engineering geology, which generally deals with the physical and mechanical features of natural rock expressions. Structural formations like faults, foliations, joints and folds are internal defects of rocks which may seriously affect the stability of man-made structures such as dams, road networks, tunnels, open pit mines and underground mines. Another prospective area where structural mapping takes a major role is in mineral and hydrocarbon exploration along with potential hazard identification and its monitoring.

Other than being potential storages of oil and gas reserves by marking the underlying under-surface geometry of rock units and the effect of crustal deformation and stress experienced in a certain region, through structural mapping we get the clues to crustal movement and potential natural hazards, such as landslides, volcanic activity earthquakes etc.

SBL Geomatics, the Geomatics wing of SBL, an ISO accredited global ITES Company based in Cochin, India, weaves out its structural mapping solutions with accuracy and quality which no one else offers. The team is a pack of expert technocrats who make use of Remote Sensed data on the information on the surficial relief and spatial distribution of the structural elements to map the terrain accurately.

Photogrammetric Processes

Photogrammetry by definition means measurement from photographs. Here photographs being taken from an aerial platform like an air craft. These photos taken as stereo images need lots of processing before putting into actual usage. These processes are collectively known as photogrammetric processes. Stereo aerial photographs, ground control points (GCP), GNSS/IMU data and camera calibration certificates are the main input for a photogrammetric project. Photogrammetric services include processing these inputs to derive ready to use geometrically correct images. All these processing will be done in a suitable photogrammetric software platform. Aerial triangulation, bundle block adjustments, and stereo compiling are the preliminary steps of a photogrammtric process. During this process the photographs will be corrected for external as well as internal distortions. External orientation correction can be done using GCPs and tie points. Internal orientation corrections can be done using GNSS/IMU values and camera calibration certificates. Stereo viewing is possible after this stage of the processing. Now the terrain can be visualized in a 3D environment in suitable software platforms. Once the stereo compilation has done, digital surface models (DSM) can be generation from stereo models. Digital surfaces are nothing but visualization of the terrain not only on an x,y place but also with the z dimension in the form of elevation. Digital surfaces derived from the software platforms are with failed areas in many locations. These failures are due to cloud cover in images, shadows, or due to poor automatic compilation. These areas need to be corrected by editing the digital surface models. Corrected digital surface models are devoid of any collapsed areas. Ortho photos and Digital Terrain Model (DTM) can be generated using the digital surface models and stereo models. DTMs are bare earth models depicting the surface of the earth if there is not vegetation and artifacts over it. It is the true representation of the primitive earth surface. Many of the geological and other developmental projects require this sort of 3D models to know the exact and accurate height of the terrain with respect to the mean sea level. Other form of topographical maps such as contour lines, slope map, aspect map etc can be derived using these kind of 3D models. Ortho photos are another product which can be derived from these processes. Ortho rectified photos are geometrically corrected photos. Relief displacement and related distortions will also be corrected during ortho rectification process. These photos were later corrected for collapsed areas and then mosacicked to get a complete view of the area. Seam lines are commonly used for mosaicking of the images. The images thus derived can be color balanced to remove viewing of the seam lines and remove the difference to color saturation from image to image. Later images can be cut into tiles of desired dimension for easy usage. Once these kind of pre and post processing of the images are over, these will be put into use to derive information in the form of 2D and 3D feature mapping. Base mapping, land use land cover mapping and other kind of thematic mapping can be then be possible from these images.

GIS Mapping services

The modern era witnessed a change from paper maps to digital maps. As geo spatial technology evolved to the present day status, more and more paper maps have turned into digital maps. The availability of cartographic symbology, in major global GIS software has made it possible to prepare digital maps. There are different kinds of GIS digital mapping. Most common ones are conversion of paper maps to digital form and digitization from satellite images and other images using image interpretation techniques. In case of paper maps to digital map conversion, scanning of the paper maps is a necessary prerequisite. Scanning can be done to a 300 dpi level to get clarity of the features to be mapped. Then the images will be geo referenced. Geo referencing can be done using ground control points taken either from other reference maps, coordinate values printed on the maps, or though DGPS survey. During geo referencing, the map is projected to user defined coordinate systems and projection. All GIS software is having almost all of the world’s coordinate systems, projections and datum in the form library files. Once the maps are in real world coordinates, the digitization can be done using on screen heads up digitization or using a digitization table.

There are three entities in which any GIS mapping services accept the features. These are points, lines and polygons. Features like land marks, bus terminus, tube wells etc can be depicted in the form of points. Lines are loci of points with and start point and an end point. Road network, railway lines etc are usually depicted in the form of lines. Polygons are lines with start point and end points are same. Water bodies, settlements, parcel boundaries etc are usually depicted in the form of polygons. Once the features are extracted digitally in the form of points, lines, and polygons, various cartographic symbology and colors can be assigned to these features. Size and styles of features can also be incorporated at this stage to the maps. Another important advantage of digital mapping is incorporation of the attributes. Descriptions and information regarding the points, lines and polygons can be in the form of any number of attributes. In a GIS mapping, these attributes will be defined through a data base structure. Main kinds of mapping services are for geological mapping, base mapping, land use land cover mapping etc. Land parcels in the form of cadastral maps can also be prepared in this way. Administrative boundary maps, forests boundary map are also digital maps prepared in this way. Remote sensing data products such as satellite images of varying resolutions and aerial photographs are major input for preparation of digital maps. These images can be interpreted using interpretation keys such as tone, texture, association, size, shape and pattern. Useful feature extraction thus derived will be filled with attributes and then cartographic layout can be prepared to get a ready to print maps. During this process, required scale, north arrow and legend will be prepared. Overall layout map will be placed in a spatial frame work of coordinates on suitable paper size to get a ready to print lay out maps which can be exported desired formats such as jpgs and pdfs.

Challenges in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Data processing

The most modern development in aerial photography is the spurt of using unmanned aerial vehicles for image capturing. This has reduced the image acquiring cost to a great extent that too in extremely small time spans. The added advantages of UAV image capturing are its ability to take very high resolution images and it’s on board storage. It has revolutionized the application of UAV data usage in disaster management, precision farming, and topographical data collection of mining areas, solar farms, and border security, fishing surveillance, traffic management and many more. Though it has many advantages, this type of photography has brought its own challenges in the processing of the UAV acquired images. The major challenges posed by this technology in data processing are briefed below.
Inconsistent over lapping: This is a major challenge in UAV data processing. This will leads to non generation of stereo models and if generated collapsing of features. The author’s technical experience shows that a minimum of 80% overlap is required along flight line and 70% overlap is required between flight lines.

Distribution of Ground Control Points: Accuracy and distribution of ground control points are another challenge in UAV data processing. When comparing with conventional aerial photography, UAV require more number of Ground Control Points (GCP). As UAV data collection will be generally for small areas a dense distribution of GCPs are required for high accuracy. These GCPs should be evenly distributed and cover all the borders adequately. Accuracy of the GCPs is a defining factor in accuracy of digital terrain models and derived products.

Requirement of hardware and software: UAV data processing requires additional software to process the data. There are quite few software available in the market for processing UAV data. Each software has its own merit and demerits. Most of the software requires high end hardware to work on. This is a major challenge in data processing. As UAV swath is very small, number of images will be very high. In such instances one should require a high end hardware system with high level of RAM and very good quality graphic card, high storage space and other peripherals. 

Block to Block changes in altitudes: As UAVs are very small in size and flying at a lower altitude comparing with conventional aerial photography, causes flight line changes in altitude. This will leads to more manual editing along the block boundaries.

Failure areas: UAV data contain many numbers of images even for a small area. So, almost all software output will show failure areas much greater in amount than conventional photogrammetric methods. So a sizable amount of manual interference is required for correcting the Digital Surface Models (DSM). Data processing involves tedious manual editing of the failed and collapsed areas.

Absence of Auto Digital Terrain Models (DTM): None of the existing well established software are not providing with direct DTM. So manual editing with break lines is essential for getting very high accuracy Digital Terrain Models (DTM).

Issues in ortho photos: Another challenge in UAV data processing is the collapsed areas in ortho mosaics. Some of the software claims that they have this auto correction facility, but in practical manual interference is required. Ortho photo mosaic editing is required using Photoshop which is a manual tedious process.

SBL Geomatics provides complete solutions for all standard tasks in digital photogrammetry services such as aerial triangulation, DEM / DTM generation, photogrametry services, stereo compilation, topographic and planimetric feature extraction, orthophoto production, color balancing, mosaicking and tile generation, pan sharpening, contour generation, 3D terrain visualization, orthophotography services and LiDAR services

http://www.sblcorp.com/Geospatial-Services/GIS_Services.php

SBL Case Study : Ground water contamination monitoring through time series 3d modeling

Abstract:  The work under discussion was awarded to SBL by an environmental management organization based in USA.  The client requirement was to make a 3D model of the contamination of ethane as identified in the monthly ground water samples from 1998 to 2012.   Client:  The client is a leading environmental management consulting firm in USA.     Geography: USA   Industry: Environment   Challenges: · Client was facing shortage of technically skilled man power in high end 3D GIS model creation. · Client was in urgent need of these services so that expecting a quick turnaround time. Approach: SBL’s 3D modeling team has plotted the well locations from the input data base, initially in 2D and later converted to 3D.  During this conversion the team has used the well screen height with respect to MSL as the z-element.  In the next phase of the project the ethane concentration in µgm/liter was plotted on a 3D surface.  Later 3D contours with various intervals, based on the concentrations of the ethane were created.  This analysis was repeated month wise to get the time series analysis of the ethane concentration.   Benefits: Client benefits included: · The work was done well within the schedule and budget of the client. · Client could able to demonstrate that ethane concentrations has reduced spatially and depth wise. · Time series analysis on a 3D environment was possible with the generated data. · Client could able to demonstrate that ethane concentrations was reduced and contained by 2012 http://www.sblcorp.com/GIS_Case_Studies.php

Critical point detection along power transmission lines using LIDAR data

The LIDAR data turns to be the most accurate terrain depicter in the recent past for the utility corridor mapping. Power transmission lines are the most difficult utility to monitor due to 

its aerial existence and thin wires.Critical point detection along the immediate corridor is a necessary pre requisite for the maintenance of the power transmission lines. Height information about the objects in the immediate vicinity, especially vegetation is key factor for a maintenance team. The LIDARdata in .las file format can be classified for ground and non ground clouds using automatic macros. Quality checks will refine quality of ground points. Among the non ground points power lines strings can be captured using top views and need to ensure that it connects all the towers. This classification is the result of analysis by an automated filter developed which detects all LIDAR hits returns from the power lines and can be classed as wires. Towers were also can be detected in a similar way.Critical points can be detected along the transmission lines and exact height needs to be assigned to each object. 50m either side of the transmission lines can be considered for object search and exact height of the objects can be derived.The objects encountered will be houses and vegetation in general. A vegetation clearance report will help to details location of the critical points and its complete information. 

SBL Geo spatial services, the Geo Spatial wing of SBL, an ISO accredited global ITES Company based in Cochin, India, weaves out its feature mapping solutions with accuracy and quality which no one else offers. The team is a pack of expert technocrats who make use of Remotly Sensed data on the information on the surficial relief and spatial distribution of the features to map the terrain accurately.

http://www.sblcorp.com/Geospatial-Services.php