Rivista bimestrale - anno XXI - Numero 3/2017 - Sped. in abb. postale 70% - Filiale di Roma
LAND CARTOGRAPHY
GIS
CADASTRE
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
PHOTOGRAMMETRY
3D
SURVEY TOPOGRAPHY
CAD
BIM
EARTH OBSERVATION SPACE
WEBGIS
UAV
URBAN PLANNING
CONSTRUCTION
LBS
SMART CITY
GNSS
ENVIRONMENT
NETWORKS
LiDAR
CULTURAL HERITAGE
Mag/Giu 2017 anno XXI N°3
La prima rivista italiana di geomatica e geografia intelligente
Numero
dedicato a
INTERGEO 2017
completamente
in Inglese
Emerging
Technologies
the digital revolution around and above us
NEW TRENDS IN
GEOMATICS
IMPROVING RESILIENCE TO
EMERGENCIES
VGI AND MAPPING IN
EMERGENCY
(c) 2017, Trimble Inc. All rights reserved. GEO-140 (05/17)
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more accurate
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station or an uncompromising 3D laser
scanner, Trimble’s optical solutions have you
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Learn more at
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TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS
20 years of GEOmedia
I would like to remember to our readers that GEOmedia started in Italy more than twenty years
ago, while the revolution of Geomatics was approaching to the field of interest and development
of topography, remote sensing and photogrammetry. At the same time the University of Calgary in
Canada began the first course and experimental programs on innovation of geomatics engineering
in the world.
We are proud to announce in this publishing, completely in English to celebrate the INTERGEO
Fair in Berlin, the start of the first Italian MSc in Geoinformatics engineering at the “Politecnico di
Milano”, about what you’ll read inside our papers, among the others, specifically in the short article
by Ludovico Biagi.
During last years GEOmedia, the Italian magazine on Geomatics, occasionally accepted for
publication English insert or special issue, especially when the review has been regarding papers for
the annual trade INTERGEO, the global hub of geospatial Community.
GEOSPATIAL 4.0, BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING, BIG DATA, SMART
CITIES, OPEN DATA are among the INTERGEO’S important issues we all need to address.
At today the geo industry is claimed as one of the sectors with the biggest shortage of skilled labour,
moreover the request to recruit competent young professionals is growing mainly in the public
interest. In INTERGEO event the employers and the skilled professionals are together with many
geo-technology experts of the public services, to explain this changing world to young workers.
Europe needs not only good recruitment strategies, but also new ideas to overcome bottleneck
problems and meet the needs of an ageing workforce.
In the very next future we’ll need both spatial data analysts and geodesists. INTERGEO 2017 is an
inspirational experience and surely an initiative that will give us new insights.
For this GEOmedia, now as official media partner of the event, is in the distribution desk of the
Conference Hall, for dissemination of the Italian knowledge and experience in the geospatial field,
that we consider as one of the main cornerstone for land management, territory, environment and
development of our smart (historic) cities.
The Italian contribution to Geomatics has a long tradition for advancing purposes in the field of
topography, photogrammetry, remote sensing and mapping. Floods, marine coasts, hydrogeological
hazards, volcanic and earthquake risk monitoring and management are at the daily information
of the citizens and attention of all people involved in the organizations appointed. Across a fragile
territory to be protected, rich of Monuments, Sites and Archaeological remains, we extend a field
where the Geomatics methods and technologies are almost indispensable and so necessary.
For this aim too, some years ago we imagine Archeomatica, a magazine oriented to a wide
dissemination of changing technologies for Cultural Heritage throughout the times. The
internationalization of Archeomatica is one of our future goal for which we hope to excite all the
interest we can among our readers so as to get additional collaborations.
Enjoy your reading,
Renzo Carlucci
In this
issue...
FOCUS
REPORT
COLUMNS
36 NEWS
New Trends in
Geomatics, in the Era
of Lowcost Sensors,
Free and Open
Source Software and
HPC GeoBigData
infrastructures
by Roberta Ravanelli, Martina
Di Rita, Valeria Belloni,
Andrea Nascetti, Augusto
Mazzoni, Mattia Crespi
6
46 AGENDA
The image on the background is
a Sentinel-2A satellite taken over
the peninsulas and islands of the
Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar.
With a length of over 2200
km, the Irrawaddy River is the
country's largest, flowing northto-south
before fanning out into
the delta and emptying into the
Andaman Sea.
Evident by the brown colour of
the rivers and streams, sediments
carried by the water are deposited
in the delta. These deposits make
the area very fertile, and the accumulation
of deposits over time
causes the coastline to advance.
Owing to the rich soils, the region
is the country’s largest rice producer.
This image was captured in
March 2017 after the harvesting
season but before the planting, so
bare ground appears beige.
This image, also featured on the
ESA Earth from Space video programme,
combines two acquisitions
by the Copernicus Sentinel-
2A satellite in March 2017
On the cover image of Autonomous
Driving. Significant advancements
in satellite-based positioning are
contributing to the development of
better transport services and new
applications for safe transport and
smart mobility. With its flexibility, fast
growing capability, low infrastructure
costs and long-term sustainable use,
GNSS is an important asset in the
design of new Intelligent Transport
System (ITS) infrastructures.
Significant advancements in satellitebased
positioning are contributing to
the development of better transport
services and new applications for safe
transport and smart mobility. With
its flexibility, fast growing capability,
low infrastructure costs and longterm
sustainable use, GNSS is an
important asset in the design of new
Intelligent Transport System (ITS)
infrastructures.
12
18
Emerging
Technologies: the
digital revolution
around and above us
by Marco Lisi
Improving
Resilience to
Emergencies
through
Advanced Cyber
Technologies: the
I-REACT project
by Claudia Maltoni, Claudio
Rossi, Guzmán Sánchez
geomediaonline.it
GEOmedia, published bi-monthly, is the Italian magazine for
geomatics. Since 20 years is publishing to open a worldwide
window to the Italian market and viceversa. Themes are on
latest news, developments and applications in the complex
field of earth surface sciences. GEOmedia dial with all activities
relating to the acquisition, processing, querying, analysis,
presentation, dissemination, management and use of geo-data
and geo-information. The magazine covers subjects such as
surveying, environment, mapping, GNSS systems, GIS, Earth
Observation, Geospatial Data, BIM, UAV and 3D technologies.
ADVERTISERS
3D Target 45
AerRobotix 38
26
The new MSc in
Geoinformatics
Engineering at
Politecnico di
Milano
by Ludovico Biagi
Aeronike 23
Codevintec 34
E-geos 24
Epsilon Italia 37
Esri Italia 39
Geogrà 41
Geomax 29
INTERGEO 35
ME.S.A 17
Planetek Italia 48
Stonex 40
VGI and crisis 30
mapping in an
emergency situation
by Lucia Saganeiti, Federico
Amato, Gabriele Nolè,
Survey Lab 44
TECHNOLOGY for ALL 36
Teorema 46
Topcon 47
Trimble 2
Beniamino Murgante
42
Rheticus: Dynamic
and continuous
geoinformation
service for critical
infrastructure
and enviromental
monitoring
VERTISER
by Giuseppe Forenza
Chief Editor
RENZO CARLUCCI, direttore@rivistageomedia.it
Editorial Board
Vyron Antoniou, Fabrizio Bernardini, Mario Caporale,
Luigi Colombo, Mattia Crespi, Luigi Di Prinzio,
Michele Dussi, Michele Fasolo, Marco Lisi, Flavio Lupia,
Beniamino Murgante, Aldo Riggio, Mauro Salvemini,
Domenico Santarsiero, Attilio Selvini, Donato Tufillaro
Managing Director
FULVIO BERNARDINI, fbernardini@rivistageomedia.it
Editorial Staff
VALERIO CARLUCCI, GIANLUCA PITITTO,
redazione@rivistageomedia.it
Marketing Assistant
TATIANA IASILLO, diffusione@rivistageomedia.it
Account manager
ALFONSO QUAGLIONE, marketing@rivistageomedia.it
Design
DANIELE CARLUCCI, dcarlucci@rivistageomedia.it
MediaGEO soc. coop.
Via Palestro, 95 00185 Roma
Tel. 06.64871209 - Fax. 06.62209510
info@rivistageomedia.it
ISSN 1128-8132
Reg. Trib. di Roma N° 243/2003 del 14.05.03
Stampa: SPADAMEDIA srl
VIA DEL LAVORO 31, 00043 CIAMPINO (ROMA)
Publisher: mediaGEO società cooperativa
Science & Technology Communication
Paid Science subscriptions
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GEOmedia is available bi-monthly on a subscription basis.
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Magazine founded by: Domenico Santarsiero.
Issue closed on: 20/08/2017.
FOCUS
New Trends in Geomatics, in the Era of Lowcost
Sensors, Free and Open Source Software
and HPC GeoBigData infrastructures
by Roberta Ravanelli, Martina Di Rita, Valeria Belloni, Andrea Nascetti, Augusto Mazzoni, Mattia Crespi
This review briefly presents some
methodologies and applications developed at
the Geodesy and Geomatics Division (DICEA) of
University of Rome “La Sapienza”.
Directly related to the current and increasing
availability of new and innovative software and
hardware, they are already ready for industrial
applications and hopefully can broaden the
interaction between Geomatics and other
scientific and technological disciplines.
Fig. 1 - Real-time tracked movements with VADASE using GALILEO E1 observations acquired
by a low-cost single frequency receiver with a patch antenna
The present and continuously
increasing
availability of more
and more low-cost sensors (in
the frame of the Internet of
Things (IoT)), Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS) and
High Performance Computing
(HPC) infrastructures for
managing GeoBigData has
obviously a strong impact in
Geomatics. The availability of
these hardware and software
tools enables both to develop
new applications but also to
stimulate new challenging
investigations related to the
modeling of the observations
supplied by these sensors, in
the well known circular fashion
between science and technology
(Sansò and Crespi, 2015).
Exploiting GALILEO for realtime
displacements detection
with low-cost single frequency
receivers
In last years, mainly thanks to
their low cost, single frequency
GNSS receivers started to be
used in many applications.
Evaluation kits, based on this
kind of hardware, are nowadays
available at few hundreds of
Euros. Most of them are able
to collect code and phase single
frequency observations not
only from GPS systems but also
from other GNSS constellations
like GLONASS, GALILEO
and BEIDOU.
On a technical point of view,
these kits are quite easily usable
and it is possible to set them
up in order to broadcast both
real-time streams (for real time
precise positioning application)
and collected observations in
RINEX format (for post processing
analysis).
Our research group carried
out many experiments on this
topic. In particular, we investigated
also through low-cost
receivers the potentialities of
GALILEO system, starting
from the very first availability
of GALILEO signals. Thanks
to these research, the VADASE
team was awarded by ESA on
1st April 2014 as one of the
first 50 users worldwide able
to get a “fix” with GALILEO
system (Branzanti et al., 2014).
Through the application of
the VADASE variometric approach
(Benedetti et al., 2015),
we managed to reconstruct the
movement of a low-cost NVS
patch antenna, suitably fixed
to a bike wheel, processing E1
phase observations in a realtime
scenario, achieving 1 cm
accuracy; this experiment clearly
showed the relevant potential
of the low-cost single frequency
receivers for real-time movements
detection (Fig. 1).
Moreover, many tests were performed
in order to evaluate the
potentialities of low-cost single
frequency receivers also in
Network Real Time Kinematic
(NRTK) positioning. It was
demonstrated that, using u-
Blox receiver with GPS, it is
possible to achieve fixing times
6 GEOmedia n°3-2017
FOCUS
(less than a minute) and accuracies
(few centimetres) not so far
to double frequency approach,
provided good surveying conditions
(full sky visibility, stable
and reliable Virtual Reference
Station augmentation needed
to handle ionospheric delays
through double differentiation
with very short baselines)
are guaranteed and an external
topographic antenna is used.
The contribution of GALILEO
E1 observations in NRTK
positioning is currently under
investigation.
Finally, in the last months, a
focus on GPS and GALILEO
interoperability with VADASE
was undertaken. VADASE
routines have been extended to
make it possible to use GPS and
GALILEO phase observations in
a twin fashion mode: independent
solutions or staked observations
combined solutions. Some
tests have been carried out in
collaboration with the University
of Trento (Tesolin et al., 2017)
using u-Blox receivers.
Also in this application, results
are very promising, paving
the way to a wider use of single
frequency receivers also as
multi-constellation low-cost
permanent stations. For these
purposes a single frequency
low cost GNSS permanent
station, named LOW1 (Fig.
2), has been installed and activated
at the Faculty of Civil
and Industrial Engineering
- University of Rome “La
Sapienza”. Single frequency
observations are routinely collected
and archived at 1Hz observation
rate since doy 100 of
2017; all the data are available
to the scientific community.
3D Modelling of
Archaeological Small Finds by
Low-Cost Range Cameras
Nowadays 3D models may play
a key role in archaeology and
cultural heritage management
in general, since they can easily
provide answers to scientific
needs in the field of conservation,
monitoring, restoration
and mediation of architectural,
archaeological and cultural heritage.
It is thus essential to identify
new techniques, capable of
easily providing low-cost and
real-time 3D models of cultural
heritage objects, with the required
accuracy. Range cameras
can give a valuable contribute
to achieve this goal: they are active
imaging sensors, low-cost
and easy-to-use, able to natively
measure the distances of several
points at high frame rate
(30 - 60 Hz) and can be used
as 3D scanners to easily collect
dense point clouds practically
in real time. Furthermore,
Simultaneous Localization And
Mapping (SLAM) algorithms,
such as KinectFusion (Izadi et
al., 2011; Newcombe et al.,
2011) leverage the depth data
and the high frame rate that
range cameras offer, in order to
fuse the depth maps captured
from different view points as
soon as they are acquired. In
this way, through the use of
user-friendly scanning apps
(through Augmented Reality,
the 3D model appears in real
time on the tablet/smartphone
connected to the device, guiding
the user during the scanning),
range cameras can collect
Fig. 2 - Low-cost GPS permanent station LOW1
easily and practically in real
time the overall 3D model of
the scanned scene. In addition,
such sensors are continually
evolving and they will be soon
integrated in consumer grade
smart devices, enabling their
use together with other sensors.
Thanks to all these features,
nowadays this technology is sufficiently
ripe to play an important
role for modelling archaeological
objects. Indeed, range
cameras can be easily used for
documenting small finds, thus
representing a valid alternative
to the often time consuming
traditional techniques, and
preserving at the same time the
mental energy of archaeologists
for the study and interpretation
of the artefacts discovered during
excavations.
Therefore, our research group
has investigated the 3D modelling
capabilities of a promising
low-cost range camera,
the Structure Sensor TM by
Occipital TM for rapid modelling
Fig. 3 - Comparison
between the model of a
globular jug obtained
with the Structure
Sensor and with
photogram-metry: the
first can be easily
obtained in real-time by
a not ex-pert user
(archaeolo-gist, etc.), the
second required a high
level of competence for
processing the im-ages
with a dedicate software
(Cypro-Phoenician juglets
from Achzi b ( Inv.
M677 ; courtesy Museum
VOEM , Sapienza
University of Rome).
GEOmedia n°3-2017 7
FOCUS
Fig. 4 - Example of measurements that can be taken on models (in meters). Canaanite Jar from the
Necropolis of Bardhaa (BL1536, Al-Bad Giacaman Museum, Bethlehem - Palestine : Nigro et al.
2017, fig. 42)
archaeological objects, in order
to assess the metric quality of
their 3D geometry reconstruction
(research group of Prof.
Nigro, Ravanelli et al., 2016,
2017a, 2017c). In general, the
performed analysis shows that
Structure Sensor is capable to
acquire the 3D geometry of a
small object with an accuracy
comparable at millimeter level
to that obtainable with the
more traditional photogrammetric
method, even though
the finer details are not always
correctly modelled (Fig. 3). The
obtained results are therefore
very promising, showing that
the range camera used for this
work, due to its low-cost and
flexibility, is a suitable tool for
the rapid documentation of
archaeological small finds, especially
when not expert users are
involved.
Finally, it is worth underlining
that a “geomatic” 3D model,
showing therefore a geometry
with a real metric, provides
all the necessary information
to completely describe the
archaeological small finds.
Furthermore, it allows to take a
posteriori in depth measurements,
such as the volume
computation and section
visualization (Fig. 4).
Digital Image Correlation
Software for Displacement
Field Measurement in
Structural Monitoring
Applications
Recently, there has been a growing
interest in studying noncontact
techniques for strain
and displacement measurement
in structural monitoring applications.
For this reason, a free
and open source 2D Digital
Image Correlation (DIC)
software, named py2DIC and
completely written in Python,
was developed at the Geodesy
and Geomatics Division of
DICEA, University of Rome
"La Sapienza" (Ravanelli et al.,
2017b).
In particular, DIC is the term
used in structural engineering
applications to refer to the
well-known template matching
method, generally used in
photogrammetry and computer
vision to retrieve homologous
points. DIC is indeed an optical
technique able to measure
full field displacements and
to evaluate the corresponding
strain field, by comparing
digital images of the surface of
a material sample at different
stages of deformation.
The potentialities of py2DIC
were investigated by processing
the images captured during
a tensile test performed in the
Lab of Structural Engineering,
where three different Glass Fiber
Reinforced Polymer samples
were subjected to a controlled
tension by means of a universal
testing machine.
The results, compared with the
values independently measured
by several strain gauges fixed on
the samples, denote the possibility
to successfully characterize
the deformation mechanism of
the analyzed material (Fig.s 5
and 6). Py2DIC is indeed able
to compute displacements at
few microns level, in reasonable
agreement with the reference,
both in terms of displacements
(again, at few microns in the
average) and Poisson's module
(Fig. 7).
Fig. 5 - Comparison between the vertical displacements obtained by the py2DIC software and the strain gauges measurements
8 GEOmedia n°3-2017
FOCUS
Fig. 6 - Comparison between the horizontal displacements obtained by the py2DIC software and the strain gauges measurements
A New and Unified Approach
for Digital Surface Models
generation from optical and
SAR satellite imagery: DATE
FOSS4G
By now, satellites are overwhelmingly
present in our daily
life, for a big variety of different
services and applications
(weather report, navigation system,
Earth observation, ect.). In
particular, remote sensing data
obtained from space, complement
and complete Earth-based
measurements: they are essential
if a global view of our Earth is
required.
One of the most important
applications of remote sensing,
is the generation of Digital
Surface Models (DSMs), that
have a large relevance in many
engineering, environmental,
surveying, Earth sciences,
safety and security applications.
DSMs can be derived
with different approaches, the
stereoscopic approach, starting
from satellite images, is a wellestablished
one. Every day, a big
amount of images are acquired
by the thousands of satellites
orbiting around the Earth, creating
a multi-view and multitemporal
bunch of images,
that allow to obtain redundant
information for monitoring and
analysing our world.
The development of a Free and
Open Source Software (FOSS),
able to generate DSMs from
such satellite images, is therefore
a topic of great interest. In
the framework of 2014 Google
Summer of Code, our research
group developed DATE, a
Free and Open Source for
Geospatial (FOSS4G), having
as early purpose a fully automatic
DSMs generation from
high resolution optical satellite
imagery acquired by the most
common sensors (Di Rita et al.,
2017a, 2017b). Nowadays, it
is also able to exploit Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) images
Fig. 7 - Comparison between the Poisson’s ratio obtained by the py2DIC software and the
strain gauges measurements
for radargrammetric applications
(Di Rita et al., 2016). As
a matter of fact, SAR satellite
systems may give important
contribution in terms of Digital
Surface Models (DSMs) generation
considering their complete
independence from logistic
constraints on the ground and
weather conditions (Nascetti et
al., 2015). In recent years, the
new availability of very high
resolution SAR data (up to 20
cm Ground Sample Distance)
gave a new impulse to radargrammetry
and allowed new
applications and developments
(Capaldo et al., 2011).
The main idea behind DATE,
is to overcome the issues related
to epipolar resampling
for satellite images, for which
epipolar geometry achievement
is not straightforward (Di Rita,
2017): epipolarity is achieved
in the object space (Ground
quasi-Epipolar Imagery (GrEI))
(Fig. 8) thanks to the images
ground projection. Moreover,
DATE key features include also
the capability to handle a large
amount of data since it manages
to process different images in a
sequential and totally automatic
way; the use of computer vision
algorithms in order to improve
the processing efficiency and
make the DSMs generation
process fully automatic; the free
and open source aspect of the
developed code (https://github.
GEOmedia n°3-2017 9
FOCUS
com/martidi/opencv_dsm/tree/
imageStack). An innovative
approach based on a coarseto-fine
pyramidal scheme is
adopted to take advantage of
iterative solutions at gradually
increasing resolution in order
to refine the epipolarity constrain
between the image pair:
raw satellite images resolution
is initially reduced by a downsampling
factor, then these
sampled images are projected
in a ground geometry using an
a-priori (freely available and
even coarse) DSM, in order to
generate orthorectified images
with a transversal parallax error
below the initial reduced
resolution. These orthorectified
images can act as GrEI and can
undergo a dense image matching
procedure at the chosen
reduced resolution, obtaining
the initial DSM corresponding
to the first pyramidal level; this
DSM becomes the input for
the next pyramidal level.
The achievable results are good
in terms of statistical parameters,
and they are comparable
with those obtained through
different software (even commercial)
by other authors on
the same test sites, whereas in
terms of efficiency DATE outperforms
most of them.
Google Earth Engine potentials
and capabilities for
GeoBigData management and
analysis
Google Earth Engine (GEE)
is a computing platform recently
released by Google “for
petabyte-scale scientific analysis
and visualization of geospatial
datasets” (Google Earth Engine
Team, 2015). The GEE can be
used to run geospatial analysis
using a dedicated HPC infrastructure.
GEE enable users to
access geospatial information
and satellite imagery, for global
and large scale remote sensing
applications. The free and
public data archive includes
more than 30 years of historical
imagery and scientific datasets,
daily updated and expanded:
it contains over than two petabytes
of geospatial data instantly
available for analysis.
The main idea behind GEE
is that, also for the analysis of
satellite and geospatial data, we
are now moving towards the
Big Data paradigm and consequently
it is necessary to change
the processing way from the
standard procedure “bring data
to users” to the opposite “bring
users to data”: as a matter of
fact, users can directly upload
algorithms to the dedicated
infrastructure removing the
required time for data transfer
and allowing the development
of innovative applications. The
platform supports generation
of spatial and temporal mosaics,
satellite imagery composites
without clouds and gaps, as well
as a variety of spectral indices,
and can also be expanded and
modified by the user even for
customized applications (Pekel
et al., 2016; Donchyts et al.,
Fig. 8 - Comune di Fiumicino: confronto tra le sezioni di Censimento 1991 e quelle del 2001 e tra
le sezioni di Censimento 2001 e quelle del 2011 (Fonte : Istat, Portale Cartografico Nazionale).
2016). Indeed, GEE also includes
an application programming
framework that allows
scientists to access to computational
and data resources, to
scale their current algorithms or
develop new ones.
As a significant example of
GEE potentials, we analyzed
the possibility to implement
and deploy a tool for large-scale
DSMs comparison, with a focus
on two available free global
DSMs (SRTM and ASTER
GDEM) precision and accuracy,
with respect to a more
accurate reference DSM, that is
the National Elevation Dataset
(NED) for the American States,
and a LiDAR DSM for the
Italian region (Nascetti et al.,
2017). Over the years, several
studies have been conducted to
evaluate the accuracy of both
SRTM and ASTER DSMs,
but in most of the cases the accuracy
has been evaluated only
on limited areas (Colmano et
al., 2007; Koch et al., 2001).
The main goal of this analysis
was to perform a more global
assessment exploiting the potentialities
of GEE, and to demonstrate
its capability for a nearly-global
assessment of SRTM
and ASTER accuracy. Proper
routines to evaluate standard
statistical parameters to represent
DSM precision and accuracy
(i.e. mean, median, standard
deviation, NMAD, LE95)
were implemented inside the
GEE Code Editor. Moreover,
the routines were used to characterize
the accuracy of the
input DSM within different
slope classes. The evaluation has
been performed on five different
wide areas: four American
States (Colorado, Michigan,
Nevada, Utah) and one Italian
Region (Trentino Alto-Adige,
Northern Italy). The selected
areas provide different land use,
land covers and slopes, and are
10 GEOmedia n°3-2017
FOCUS
therefore suited for a comparison
aimed at accuracy and reliability
understanding.
Overall, all the results achieved
(Fig. 9 represents the results for
Colorado) are pretty consistent
showing a good accordance
in their behaviour: SRTM and
ASTER achieve almost the
same results when compared
both to NED and to LiDAR.
In particular, the accuracies
decrease with the increase of
the slopes, with better results
generated with SRTM for the
first classes and, instead, a better
behaviour shown by ASTER
for the higher classes. This is
due essentially to the different
nature of the two DSMs
(SRTM is SAR-based, ASTER
Fig. 9 - Colorado: SRTM and ASTER assessment results
is optical-based) and it could
lead to make some assumptions
about an optimum free nearlyglobal
DSM: starting from the
knowledge of the slope classes
where they present a better accuracy
with respect to the other,
a more accurate global DSM
can be generated as a result of
an integration of both
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State of the Art and New Developments of a Third Way to GNSS Seismology. In: Sneeuw
N., Novák P., Crespi M., Sansò F. (eds) VIII Hotine-Marussi Symposium on Mathematical
Geodesy. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 142. Springer
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monitoring of fast displacements with VADASE: new applications and challenges with
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SAR radargrammetry: a first application with COSMO-SkyMed SpotLight
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generation from high resolution optical satellite imagery: development and testing of
an OSSIM plug-in, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 38:7, 1788-1808, DOI:
10.1080/01431161.2017.128830
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plug-in: implementation of a new radargrammetric DSM generation capability, International
Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences.
41(B7): 821-825
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ABSTRACT
Nowadays, the increasing availability of low-cost sensors, Free and Open Source Software
and High Performance Computing infrastructures allows Geomatics to widen its
application scope, by stimulating new challenging investigations related to the modeling
of the observations provided by these new tools.
In this review, some methodologies and applications, developed at the Geodesy and
Geomatics Division (DICEA) of University of Rome “La Sapienza”, are shortly presented.
Directly related to the mentioned software and hardware new availability, they
are already ready for industrial applications and hopefully can broaden the interaction
between Geomatics and other scientific and technological disciplines.
KEYWORDS
Geomatics; Low-cost Sensors; Open Source Software; GeoBigData infrastructures
AUTHOR
Roberta Ravanelli, roberta.ravanelli@uniroma1.it
Martina Di Rita, martina.dirita@uniroma1.it
Valeria Belloni, belloni.1489430@studenti.uniroma1.it
Andrea Nascetti , Andrea.nascetti@uniroma1.it
Augusto Mazzoni, Augusto.mazzoni@uniroma1.it
Mattia Crespi, Mattia.crespi@uniroma1.it
Geodesy and Geomatics Division - DICEA - University of Rome “La Sapienza”
via Eudossiana, 18 - 00184 Rome, Italy
GEOmedia n°3-2017 11
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FOCUS
Emerging Technologies: the digital
revolution around and above us
by Marco Lisi
Fig. 1 - GNSS Multi-Constellation Scenario
The article describes the
main trends which are at the
basis of the digital revolution
affecting our society.
Internet of Things (IoT),
broadband and ubiquitous
wireless communications
(5G), ubiquitous Positioning,
Navigation and Timing (PNT):
they are different facets of the
“New Digital World” ahead of
us, characterized on one side by
the integration and fusion of
different technologies, aiming
at a new, enhanced representation
of our physical world; on
the other side by a progressive
dematerialization of products
and by their transformation in
services.
This epochal process will also
require a change in the way
we approach engineering: a
more systemic, concurrent and
through-life perspective.
We are at the dawn of the discovery
of a “New World”: not
a virtual one, but the digital
representation, in all its minute
details, of our physical world,
of planet Earth. But also the
world of manufacturing is going
to be radically transformed,
both in terms of organizational
paradigms (Industry 4.0) and in
terms of radically new technologies
(Additive Manufacturing).
This epochal transition is being
triggered by four main technological
trends:
1. Ubiquitous Localization and
Timing: Global Navigation
Satellite Systems and
other similar Positioning,
Navigation and Timing
(PNT) infrastructures make
possible a very accurate localization
in space and time
of both people and things;
2. Ubiquitous Sensing: from 1
to 10 trillion sensors will be
connected to Internet in the
next decade (a minimum of
140 sensors for every human
being on the planet;
3. Ubiquitous Connectivity:
2.3 billion mobile broadband
devices and 7 billion mobile
cellular device in 2014. In
the next years 5G will dramatically
increase both connectivity
and data rates;
4. Progressive and ever detailed
3D modeling of our surroundings.
Enormous amounts of data are
being collected daily and at an
exponentially increasing rate.
99% of them is digitized and
50% has an associated IP address.
We are practically going for a
detailed digital representation
of the world around us. It is an
entirely New World we are facing,
but we have not learnt yet
how to navigate and explore it.
Ubiquitous Localization and
Timing
Global Navigation Satellite
Systems, such as GPS,
GLONASS, Galileo and
Beidou, constitute together a
potentially interoperable and
coordinated infrastructure,
supporting in a vital way most
industrial and economic aspects
of our society (fig. 1).
GPS in particular is nowadays
considered a worldwide utility,
tightly interconnected with all
other critical infrastructures,
from electric power distribution
systems to air traffic management
systems, from railways to
water and oil piping networks.
In the mind of the average user
(but also in that of many engineers)
the main contribution
of GNSS’s, their true “raison
d’être”, is in providing one’s accurate
position and in allowing
a reliable navigation, be it by
Fig. 2 - the global PNT infrastructure.
12 GEOmedia n°3-2017
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car, by airplane, by train or by
boat.
Precise timing is understood,
at least by engineers, as an enabling
feature of GNSS’s and a
very useful by-product, after
positioning and navigation.
The reality, as shown by studies
performed e.g. by the US
Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), is that in fact
timing is the most strategic and
essential of the services offered
by GNSS’s, and the one most
affecting all critical infrastructures
of our society.
Non-GNSS PNT systems and
technologies are also being developed
worldwide.
In the not so far future, a PNT
system of systems, including
GNSS and non-GNSS infrastructures,
is likely to take
place, while, at user receiver level,
a fusion of data from GNSS
and other sensors (such as inertial
platforms, Wi-Fi, GSM,
signals of opportunity, etc.) will
become normal practice (fig. 2).
Data deriving from different
systems and platforms will
be seamlessly “fused” at user
receiver level, guaranteeing a
high degree of availability and
continuity.
Ubiquitous Sensing
(Internet of Things)
The Internet of Things (IoT)
envisions many billions of
Internet-connected objects
(ICOs) or "things" that can
sense, communicate, compute,
and potentially actuate, as well
as have intelligence, multimodal
interfaces, physical/virtual identities,
and attributes.
The IoT is likely to revolutionize
all aspects of our society and
daily life (fig. 3).
Its exponential growth will
actually imply the practical
feasibility of an Ubiquitous
Sensing: from 1 to 10 trillion
sensors will be connected
to Internet in the next decade
(a minimum of 140 sensors
for every human being on the
planet).
Ubiquitous sensing, or ubiquitous
“geo”-sensing to emphasize
the spatial dimension, as deriving
from IoT and from mobile
broadband communications,
will mean that we will be able
to probe, even in real time,
the phenomena around us, the
surrounding reality, with capabilities
far beyond those made
so far available by our senses.
Enormous amounts of data will
be available for our analyses, all
of them referenced in space and
time.
Fig. 3 - IoT impacts on business and society
Ubiquitous Connectivity (5G)
5G, the forth coming wave in
mobile communications, will
realize a quantum leap towards
the goal of ubiquitous connectivity
(fig. 4).
As a matter of fact, 5G will not
simply extend in a linear way
the capabilities of the previous
four generations of mobile
networks. Its dramatically enhanced
performance in terms
of flexibility and throughput
will make fully feasible those
“smart” applications and infrastructures
that require networking,
high data rates, real
time processing. It is evident
how 5G will become the natural
complement of the IoT, its
technological enabler (fig. 5).
Fig. 4 - 5G infrastructure architecture.
GEOmedia n°3-2017 13
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Fig. 5 - 5G and the Internet of Things.
Additive Manufacturing (3D
Printing)
Additive Manufacturing (AM,
also known as “3D Print)
enables the fabrication of objects
through the deposition
of material in order to obtain
fit-for-purpose hardware, as
opposed to traditional subtractive
processes, where material
is removed from larger, semifinished
products (fig. 6).
Like many new manufacturing
processes, 3D printing arose
from the merging of previously
existing technologies: the
coming together of Computer
Aided Design (CAD), inkjet
nozzles and automated machine
systems.
AM includes a large family
of processes and technologies
Fig. 6 - 3D printer at work
and can be applied to a wide
range of materials ranging from
metals, polymers and ceramics
but also food, living cells and
organs.
Today, AM is a standard manufacturing
process in a significant
number of industrial applications
and high potential is
anticipated (and in many cases
already demonstrated) in high
end technology sectors, including
aerospace, turbine industries
and medical applications.
The increasing availability, at
affordable prices, of 3D printers
for personal use, is likely
to revolutionize the world of
manufacturing as well as that of
retail commerce of goods: in a
not so far future (applications
are already available on the
Web) people, by clicking on a
specific product in a specialized
catalog online, will purchase
and download digital files allowing
the manufacturing of
chosen products at their own
premises, with their personal
3D printers.
In this way, the progressive
dematerialization of products,
that has already conquered the
music and books markets, will
further extend to many other
consumer goods, such as, e.g.,
housewares, toys and tools.
As a matter of fact, in the future
we will be exchanging and
trading not physical goods,
but rather their Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR’s).
Autonomous Driving
Significant advancements in
satellite-based positioning are
contributing to the development
of better transport services
and new applications for safe
transport and smart mobility.
With its flexibility, fast growing
capability, low infrastructure
costs and long-term sustainable
use, GNSS is an important
asset in the design of new
Intelligent Transport System
(ITS) infrastructures.
Smart mobility applications
improve the efficiency, effectiveness
and comfort of road
transport through:
• Navigation, the most widespread
application, provides
turn-by-turn information to
drivers via portable navigation
devices (PNDs) and invehicle
systems (IVS).
• Fleet management on-board
units (OBUs) transmit GNSS
positioning information
through telematics to support
transport operators in monitoring
the performance of
logistic activities.
• Road traffic monitoring
services collect floating car
location data from vehicles
through PNDs, IVS and mobile
devices to be processed
and distributed to users and
other interested parties.
Safety-critical applications leverage
precise, reliable and secure
positioning in situations posing
potential harm to humans or
damage to a system/environment:
• Advanced Driver Assistance
Systems (ADAS) support the
14 GEOmedia n°3-2017
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Fig. 7 - Autonomous Driving.
Fig. 8 - Technology adoption curves.
driver during the driving process
and act as a first stepping
stone towards Autonomous
Vehicles.
• In cooperative ITS and
connected vehicles, GNSS
positioning is a key element
for providing situational
awareness through vehicleto-vehicle
(V2V) and vehicleto-infrastructure
(V2I) communications,
enhancing the
safety and comfort of the
driver.
• Dangerous goods can be
tracked by transmitting
GNSS-based positioning data
on the vehicles carrying them,
along with other information
about the status of the cargo.
Liability- and payment-critical
applications can have significant
legal or economic consequences
depending on positioning data:
• In Road User Charging
(RUC), GNSS-based solutions
are designed to charge
motorists for the actual distance
travelled, without barriers
or gantries, and provide
interoperability between national
cross-border schemes.
• In Pay-As-You-Drive
(PAYD), insurance telematics
rely on GNSS data to increase
the fairness of motor insurance
for both insurers and
subscribers.
Regulated applications apply
the transport policies introduced
by national and international
legislation:
• GNSS-enabled IVS are used
in the pan-European eCall,
which accelerates emergency
assistance to drivers and passengers
by sending an emergency
call to 112 and also
providing positioning information
in the unlucky event
Fig. 9 - The Moon Village
of accident.
• Smart tachographs leverage
GNSS positioning to support
road enforcers, recording the
position of a given vehicle at
different points during the
working day.
The emerging technology that
is going to act more disruptively
in our everyday lives, showing
in a most evident way how the
fusion of other technologies can
make new services available, is
Autonomous Driving (fig. 7).
Autonomous vehicles can take
over activities traditionally performed
by the driver, thanks
to their ability to sense the environment,
navigate and com-
GEOmedia n°3-2017 15
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municate with other vehicles
and road infrastructure when
combined with connected vehicle
solutions. Widespread adoption
of autonomous driving can
reduce traffic accidents, reduce
fuel consumption and improve
traffic flow, as well as improve
driver comfort.
Autonomous vehicles are enabled
by the combination of different
technologies and sensors,
allowing the IVS to identify the
optimal path of action.
The adoption of Autonomous
Driving is going to happen
much faster than everyone
thinks, following adoption
curves closer to those typical for
digital technologies, rather than
to those typical for transportation
systems (fig. 8).
In other words, while cars took
decades to be widely adopted,
Autonomous Driving will have
a worldwide spread in just a few
years.
Many believe that Autonomous
Driving will probably be the
single largest societal change
after the Internet. One thing is
for sure: Autonomous Driving
will destroy the traditional
concept of the car as a personal
good to be owned, moving to
the paradigm of transportation
Fig. 10 - Moon Communications and PNT infrastructure.
as a service and hence confirming
the transition from products
to services mentioned in
the introduction.
Emerging Technologies in
Space
The Director General of ESA,
prof. Woerner, set forth the
idea of a “Moon Village”, a village
on the moon built by huge
3D printers and inhabited for
months at a time by teams of
astronauts. The plan outlined
by the ESA is that, starting
from the early 2020s, robots
will be sent to the Moon to begin
constructing various facilities,
followed a few years later
by the first inhabitants (fig. 9).
Back in 2013, ESA teamed up
with building companies to
start testing out various Moon
base-building technologies, and
determined that local materials
would be the best for constructing
buildings and other
structures, which means no
need for transporting resources
from Earth at an astronomical
cost. But the problems to
be solved for the realization
of such stable manned infrastructure
on the Moon (a true
follow-on of the International
Space Station) involve much
more than just building technologies.
The Moon Village will
be a large and complex system
where requirements related to
operations and safety of life will
be of paramount importance.
Moreover, from an architectural
viewpoint the “village” will have
to be expandable and “open”
to the integration with other
systems, hence integrability
and expandability will be two
key issues. But first and above
all, the Moon Village will have
to be affordable and sustainable,
i.e., its cost will need to
be assessed over its life-cycle.
As a “Wild West” town in the
old times, “Moon Village” will
have to provide a number of
essential infrastructures. In particular,
the exploration of the
Moon with human and robotic
missions and its colonization,
through the establishment of
permanent bases, will require
planetary communications and
navigation infrastructures.
Even in space, emerging communications
(5G) and PNT
technologies will provide reliable
and affordable solutions
for a communications and navigation
infrastructure (fig. 10).
Conclusion
Ubiquitous Localization and
Timing, Ubiquitous Sensing,
Ubiquitous Connectivity, 3D
Digital Modeling: these four
main technological trends are
triggering an epochal transition
in the history of mankind,
characterized by an increasing
predominance of services in our
economy.
We are practically going for a
detailed digital mapping of the
world around us, for an evolution
of reality as we can sense
it today towards an enriched,
augmented reality.
It is an entirely New World we
are facing, but we have not yet
learnt how to navigate and explore
it.
16 GEOmedia n°3-2017
FOCUS
Moreover, the emerging technologies
will cause radical transformations
of our society, such
as those related to Autonomous
Driving.
Our space exploration activities
are also going to be affected, a
good example being ESA’s vision
of a Moon Village, a stable
base on our natural satellite
from which to start the commercialization
of Space.
ABSTRACT
Ubiquitous Localization and Timing, Ubiquitous
Sensing, Ubiquitous Connectivity, 3D Digital Modeling:
these four main technological trends are
triggering an epochal transition in the history of
mankind, characterized by an increasing predominance
of services in our economy.
These emerging technologies will cause radical
transformations of our society: it is an entirely New
World we are facing
KEYWORDS
Digital era; technological trend; GNSS; PNT;
5G; autonomous driving; 3D modeling; Galileo;
Additive Manufacturing; IoT
AUTHOR
Dr. ing. Marco Lisi
marco.lisi@esa.int
European Space Agency
Keplerlaan 1, 2200AG Noordwijk,
The Netherlands
GEOmedia n°3-2017 17
REPORT
Improving Resilience to Emergencies
through Advanced Cyber
Technologies: the I-REACT project
by Claudia Maltoni, Claudio Rossi,
Guzmán Sánchez
Society as a whole is increasingly
exposed and vulnerable to natural
disasters because extreme
weather events, exacerbated by
climate change, are becoming
more frequent and longer. In
this context, the access to an
integrated system providing the
main emergency management
Fig. 1 - The I-REACT project integrates a large number of data sources to fight disasters.
information and data coming from
multiple sources is even more
critical to successful disaster risk
management.
In the last ten years, natural
hazards 1 have caused 2 billion
causalities and costed
up to $1.4 trillion worldwide,
as registered in the Emergency
Events Database (EM-DAT,
2017). In Europe, disasters
caused around 7 million causalities
and up to €113 billion of
overall economic losses in the
decade 2007-2017. In this period,
flood is the biggest hazard
in terms of occurrence, affected
people and economic damage
in Europe, while the deadliest
hazard remains extreme temperature,
followed by flood and
earthquake. Wildfires are less
impacting; however, it ranks
second in affected people.
Worryingly, extreme weather
events will be even more frequent
and last longer in the
future, mainly due to climate
change. Greater evaporation
will lead to increased water
vapour in the atmosphere,
producing more intense precipitation.
This, together with
rapid snow melting, intensifies
the likelihood of floods.
Also, higher temperatures
will increase the frequency of
wildfires as well as other natural
disasters. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC, 2013),
the surface temperature is projected
to rise over the 21st century
under all assessed emission
scenarios.
The European Commission's
Humanitarian Aid and
Civil Protection department
(ECHO) and the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) of the United
States agree upon the need to
invest in disaster prevention.
One of the key message in the
2017 ECHO Factsheet stats
that “for every €1 invested in
disaster prevention, €4 to €7
are saved in disaster response”
(ECHO, 2017). According to
the “Nature Climate Change”
journal, improving flood defences
across the EU to prevent
100-year flood would save €7
billion a year by 2050 but cost
only €1.75 billion to implement
(Jongman, 2014).
Despite that, current systems
for risk management are still
limited in their effectiveness.
Even if technological progresses
are registered and large amounts
of data are available, there is
no platform that integrates and
analyses in real time all the useful
data to improve prediction
and management of natural
disasters. On the other hand,
the need for systematic data for
disaster mitigation and prevention
is an increasing concern for
both development and response
agencies. In the past, data needs
18 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
Fig. 2: The I-REACT partners, advisors and end-users at the International User Requirements Workshop (IURW)
were addressed on an ad hoc
basis, which included collecting
the information at the time of
the emergency. However, there
is a growing understanding that
data collection, analysis, and
management can help both
short and long-term development
goals and support to
identify and address disaster
risks. The I-REACT project has
been conceived in this context,
considering that “you cannot
manage what you cannot measure”,
as stated by Margareta
Wahlström, the United Nations
Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Disaster
Risk Reduction.
The project: I-REACT in brief
I-REACT (Improving
Resilience to Emergencies
through Advanced Cyber
Technologies) is a Horizon
2020 3-year project (2016-
2019) funded by the European
Commission under the Secure
Society Work Programme
(DRS-1-2015).
I-REACT integrates existing
services, both local and
European, into a platform that
supports the entire emergency
management cycle. In particular,
I-REACT will implement a
multi-hazard system with a focus
on floods, fires and extreme
weather events, as they are the
most impacting natural hazards
driven by climate change.
To reach this objective,
I-REACT brings together a
multidisciplinary team of 20
European partners. From researchers
and technologists to
industry leaders, UN officials,
consultants or communicators,
these partners are working
collaboratively on the
different tasks of the project
providing their experience
and expertise to generate the
best solution against disasters.
The project is coordinated by
the Istituto Superiore Mario
Boella of Turin. Consortium
partners include: Geoville,
Eoxplore, Terranea, Alpha
Consult, UNESCO (Regional
Bureau for Science and
Culture in Europe, Venice),
Politecnico di Torino, Celi,
JoinPad, Fondazione Bruno
Kessler, Finnish Meteorological
Institute, Meteosim, Bitgear,
Ansur Technologies, Technical
University of Vienna,
Scienseed, CSI Piemonte,
Aquobex, Answaretech, and
Joint Research Centre (JRC) of
the European Commission.
The project will broaden the
scope of its predecessor, a
FP7-funded initiative named
“Integrating GMES Emergency
Services with satellite navigation
and communication for
establishing a flood information
service” (FLOODIS 2 ),
which already involved some of
I-REACT partners. Ended in
2015, FLOODIS focused on
implementing a crowd-sourcing
approach to support the emergency
response in case of floods
with dedicated demonstrations
carried out in Italy and
Fig. 3 - The project empowers different stakeholders with several new technologies and essential information
to improve the fight against disasters.
GEOmedia n°3-2017 19
REPORT
in Albania. FLOODIS implemented
a smartphone application
to collect real-time reports
from both citizens and civil
protection agents, and to provide
short and long-term projections
of the flood extent for
supporting in-field emergency
rescue units. I-REACT extends
this approach, multiplying the
opportunities and serving as a
tool during all the three emergency
management phases, i.e.
prevention, preparedness and
response phases.
The first one mainly deals with
the preparation of a community
to eliminate or reduce the impact
of future disasters. For this,
the I-REACT platform will
integrate historical data, realtime
reports, weather data and
satellites observations to derive
detailed statistics and accurate
risk maps. These maps, coupled
with a decision support system,
will allow decision makers to effectively
plan prevention measures
aimed at increasing the
resilience to future disasters.
The second is the preparedness
phase. During this phase, the
coordination between governments,
civil organizations and
citizens will be promoted to be
prepared in case of an emergency.
To reach this objective,
I-REACT will analyse weather
Fig. 4 - The I-REACT workflow infographics.
forecasts, data from both local
and European early warning
systems, such as the European
Flood Awareness System
(EFAS) and the European
Forest Fire Information
(EFFIS), and warnings extracted
from social media or
received through crowdsourced
reports from authorities and
citizens, as well as using the
I-REACT mobile application.
The third one is the emergency
response phase, in which an
effective reaction, first aid and
evacuation are crucial. To help
on-site operators, I-REACT
will allow to get a quick and
complete operational picture
thanks to the ingestion of realtime
reporting (from mobile
phones or wearable devices)
and its integration in nowcast
and forecast models. To improve
self-protection behaviour
and reduce exposure, I-REACT
will support public authorities
to immediately warn citizens
with real-time information and
instructions.
Where we are: I-REACT at its
second year
The project officially started at
the beginning of June 2016 and
it is now entering its second
year.
The innovation design phase,
based on a user-centred design
and including the requirement
definition, is concluded.
Within this activity, the international
workshop “Increasing
Resilience to Natural hazards
through Information and
Communication Technology”
was organised on 14-15
September 2016 at UNESCO
Headquarters in Paris. It
brought together policy-makers,
emergency service providers and
science and technology experts
from different European countries.
The workshop aimed at
gathering their needs, assess the
implementation gaps in their
operational procedures, and
co-design some key features of
the I-REACT system, e.g. the
data collection and visualization
process. Also, a survey to gain
knowledge on citizen’s perception
of risks was launched. The
results have been used to design
tips and quizzes that will be
inserted in the mobile application
to improve citizen’s risk
awareness in all phases of the
emergency.
The three main technical work
packages, based on a “Plan-
Do-Test” agile approach, are
still on-going. More in detail,
they foresee the integration of
external services and data, such
as the Copernicus Emergency
Management Service (EMS),
open data, Sentinel satellites,
EGNSS and historical information.
At the same time,
up to March 2018, the team
will deliver all main models
of I-REACT (modelling and
engines), including weather
and climate forecasts, extreme
weather event detection, flood
and fire nowcast and forecast,
risk forecasts, and a social media
data engine. Last, but not
least, the service oriented architecture
stage has started, which
is aimed at the implementation
of the centralized system archi-
20 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
tecture and of all in-filed technologies
for data collection.
Since June 2017, the team is
approaching other two main
activities. First of all, to achieve
a full system integration and
consolidate the performance of
the I-REACT solution, simulations
and direct involvement
of end-users and emergency
responders are foreseen during
the validation and demonstration
phase. At the moment,
five demonstrations (in Italy,
Spain, Finland, UK, Malta)
have been planned. After each
demonstration, a user workshop
will be organized to gather
feedback that will be used to
improve (tune) the system.
Second, the business assessment
and exploitation phase recently
kicked-off, including a costsbenefits
analysis, business plan,
implementation roadmap and
exploitation activities aimed
at assessing I-REACT socioeconomic
impact and preparing
its roll-out.
The project workflow is completed
by the overall project
management and the dissemination,
communication and
engagement phase, both lasting
for the overall project duration.
Thanks to this second activity,
I-REACT is now present
in different on-line channels
(e.g. website, Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube) and promoted
through several materials (e.g.
videos, infographics).
Where we want to be:
I-REACT final goal
“By 2018, I-REACT will implement
a European-wide platform
that integrates emergency
management data coming
from multiple sources. In this
way, we will be able to produce
information faster and allow
citizens, civil protection services
and policymakers to effectively
react to natural disasters and
Fig. 5 - 3D model of the fisrt responder's wearable for improved positioning and environmental sensing.
mitigate their impact on the
society”, says Claudio Rossi,
Project Manager at ISMB,
who is in charge of the project
management and the technical
coordination. How?
Leveraging on innovative cyber
technologies and ICT systems,
the I-REACT platform will be
designed as an articulated and
modular system based on different
components. As mentioned
before, it will integrate many
different information sources,
including Copernicus EMS
maps, early warnings from the
EFAS and EFFIS, satellite data
(Sentinel), social media streams
and crowdsourced information
from emergency responders
and citizens. All this information
will be merged to provide
added-value products, such as
a decision-support system for
authorities and an app for citizens.
Also, wearable devices and
smart glasses will be provided
to first-responders, who will
benefit from high-precision
positioning thanks to Galileo
and EGNOS and Augmented
Reality to make hands-free reports.
Thanks to this architecture,
I-REACT will be able to provide
greater emergency anticipation
through accurate weather
forecasts that, coupled with
historical knowledge, satellite
and risk maps, crowdsourced
reports, and social media information
will allow to better anticipate
extreme weather events,
floods, and fire. The modularity
of the system, and its interoperability
with existing systems,
will allow a strong flexibility of
the platform in terms of future
exploitation, making it able
to answer to different market
needs.
Our target: I-REACT as a
multi-user platform
“At I-REACT we want to
gather all the participants involved
in the different phases
of the emergency management,
to translate their needs and
ideas into effective solutions
with a real social impact. We
collaborate with groups of end
users that will benefit from the
I-REACT technology and can
provide first-hand experience.
We also have a strong advisory
board that provides valuable
counselling and support” explains
Claudia Maltoni, Project
Manager at Alpha Consult, the
SME in charge of project business
assessment and exploitation.
Even if mainly addressing
GEOmedia n°3-2017 21
REPORT
emergency management, the
proposed system has been conceived
as a multi-user platform
as well. It mainly targets public
administration authorities, but
also private companies, as well
as citizens in order to provide
increased resilience to natural
disasters.
A Costs-Benefits Analysis
(CBA) conducted by ALPHA
Consult during the FLOODIS
project and based on tests undertaken
together with Civil
Protections, namely in Veneto
Region and Albania, provides
some interesting preliminary
inputs. Key impacts 3 has been
described and quantified with
respect to the functionalities of
the system for both emergency
managers and the society as a
whole. Specifically, in the two
case studies 4 , a final saving of
c. €15,8 million for Albania
and €1,9 million for Treviso
could have been achieved, in
case of having FLOODIS in
place. These benefits are mainly
driven by decreasing costs for
emergency management operations,
less damages to productive
sectors, assets, properties
and infrastructures, together
with a reduction of affected
people. It is worth noting that
these estimations are not negligible.
As a consequence of
the overall project results and
impact assessment, FLOODIS
has been finally integrated with
DEWETRA, a real-time system
for hydro-meteorological and
wildfire risk forecasting, monitoring
and prevention in use in
Albania. At the same time, these
impacts are clearly conservative
with respect to the much higher
potential of I-REACT.
Besides the benefits brought
by the proposed solution to organisations
in charge of disaster
management, governments and
society as a whole, I-REACT
could foster market growth and
produce impacts for other private
stakeholders, such as current
system providers, insurance
companies and third parties
with an interest on information
produced by I-REACT. For this
reason, “a set of interviews are
being carried out with different
types of private actors, from
insurance companies to firms
specialised on business continuity
and disaster recovery, in
different countries in Europe
to assess their requirements and
interest in I-REACT. A dedicated
CBA could be undertaken
to quantify potential benefits
also in some relevant private
sectors”, concludes Maltoni.
NOTES
1 Drought, earthquake, extreme temperature, flood,
landslide, storm, volcanic activity, mass movement
and wildfire are considered
2 www.floodis.eu
3 Reduction of costs for emergency management operations,
human losses, affected people, infrastructure
damages and damages to private sector activities, environment,
housing and education buildings and cultural
heritage have been all assessed.
4 The 2015 flood in Albania and water bomb in Treviso.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Emergency Events Database, EM-DAT, 2017
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013),
Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution
of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC
report.
European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil
Protection department (2017), European Disaster Risk
Management, ECHO Factsheet
Brenden Jongman (2014), Increasing stress on disasterrisk
finance due to large floods, Nature Climate Change
journal.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster
Statistics, UNISDR website.
KEYWORDS
I-REACT; natural hazards; climate change; disaster
management; Copernicus
ABSTRACT
Due to climate change, floods, wildfires and other extreme
weather events are becoming more frequent and
intense. This scenario poses a challenge for current risk
management systems. I-REACT project aims to develop
a solution through the integration and modelling
of data coming multiple sources. Information from European
monitoring systems, earth observations, historical
information and weather forecasts will be combined
with data gathered by new technological developments
created by I-REACT. These include a mobile app and
a social media analysis tool to account for real-time
crowdsourced information, wearables to improve
positioning, as well as augmented reality glasses to facilitate
reporting and information visualisation by first
responders. With this approach, I-REACT will be able
to empower stakeholders in the prevention and management
of disasters. Citizens will be involved in reporting
first-hand information, policymakers will be supported
in the decision-making process, and first responders will
be equipped with essential tools for early warning and
response. At the same time, private companies could
leverage specific set of I-REACT components to improve
their business, when linked to disaster management.
Overall, I-REACT aims to be a European-wide
contribution to build more secure and resilient societies
to disasters.
AUTHOR
Claudia Maltoni
cm@alphacons.eu
Alpha Consult
Claudio Rossi
rossi@ismb.it
Istituto Superiore Mario Boella
Guzmán Sánchez
guzman.sanchez@scienseed.com
Scienseed
22 GEOmedia n°3-2017
Aeronike introduces City Explorer 3D:
know how e innovation
REPORT
Aeronike, is operating in the aero photogrammetry
market since 1966.
During its 40 years of operations a complete
portfolio of aero surveys activities
and services have been developed, from a
high detailed digital cartography to the
core competence of the 3D restitution of
aerial images.
City Explorer 3D is a technological
platform which integrates a 3D virtual
model with data and aero photogrammetric
surveys from different sources (plane,
drone, terrestrial) to give a tool to public
administration, associations, consortiums
to satisfy their respective specific needs.
With City Explorer 3D the user can experience
an immersive 3D visit to his city or
territory, of a site or monument of
interest. Specific touristic itineraries can
be designed with additional contents as
Multilanguage narrator voice to enter
within the context at 360° with a fly through
approach. (Virtual Tours).
This platform represents a very useful tool
to boost promotional activities and can
be integrated with more standard tools as
paper guides, web site, etc...
The user can access the 3D immersive
virtual tour via WEB, mobile APPs with
devices as Google Cardboard or via
Totem/Monitor Touch Screen which
could be available along different Point of
Information with Virtual and Augmented
Reality integrated contents.
BERLIN
26/28 Sept.
Hall 4.1 | B4033
VISIT US AT INTERGEO 2017
Additional application fields of the 3D Territory Model
Analysis & Planning
Support to Design
4D Analysis
3D environment to build the final design
GIS 3D
Cartography integration
Dimensional checks
CAD BIM models integration
Spatial relation analysis
(void/full report)
Export
to
CAD
format
Cartography obtained from the 3D model
Mock up
Support for environmental impact assessment
Simulations (Hydrogeological, acoustic, CFD)
Street Profiles
www.aeronike.com
Aeronike GEOmedia n°3-2017 City Explorer 23D
NEWS
IN THIS PICTURE THERE IS A
MULTITEMPORAL COMBINATION
BETWEEN 2 SCANSAR WIDE
ACQUISITIONS OF THE LARSEN- SEA BY
THE SAME COSMO-SKYMED SATELLITE
WITH ONLY 1 ORBIT DISTANCE (ABOUT 96
MINUTES)
N
24 COSMO-SkyMed GEOmedia composite n°3-2017 image. ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana - processed and distributed by e-GEOS
NEWS
e-GEOS, an ASI (20%) / Telespazio (80%) company, is a
leading international player in the Earth Observation and
Geo-Spatial Information business.
e-GEOS is the global distributor for the COSMO-SkyMed
data, the largest and most advanced Radar Satellite
onstellation available today.
e-GEOS offers a unique portfolio of application services,
specially thanks to the superior monitoring capabilities of
COSMO-SkyMed constellation, and has acquired a leading
position within European Copernicus Program.
Covering the whole value chain, from data acquisition to
the generation of analytics reports, e-GEOS is working in
the field of big data analytics based on the integration of
different sources. This approach is one of the key assets
for the new services and products offered by the company.
DEFENCE AND INTELLIGENCE
RISK AND ASSET MANAGEMENT
10+
SATELLITE MISSIONS
DATA ACQUIRED.
750+
MARITIME REPORTS/ YEAR
9+
COMMERCIAL USER TERMINALS
AROUND THE GLOBE
206+
ACTIVATIONS OF THE e-GEOS
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SERVICE
MARITIME SOURVELLIANCE
AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONIOTORING
2500+
MAPS PRODUCED
IN 4 YEARS
70Millions
AGRICULTURAL PARCELS
FORESTRY AND CLIMATE
LAND MANAGEMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURES
GEOmedia n°3-2017 25
REPORT
The new MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering at Politecnico di Milano
by Ludovico Biagi
This paper describes the first
italian MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering started in 2016 at
Politecnico di Milano.
Fig. 1 - Four examples of Geoinformatics expertizes.
Upper, left. Positioning by GNSS (a GPS III satellite, United States Government).
Upper, right. Analysis of remote sensed images (LandSat multispectral image of Como
lake, GeoLab of Politecnico di Milano). Lower, left. Creation and analysis of digital
elevation models (example of high resolution DEM from LiDAR, GeoLab of Politecnico
di Milano). Lower, right. Advanced environmental analysis (4D modelling of temperatures
in the Mediterranean sea, GeoLab of Politecnico di Milano).
The vision of Digital
Earth was proposed by
Al Gore in 1998 as a
multi-dimensional and multiresolution
model of the planet
to contextualize the huge
amount of spatial information
relating to the physical and
socio-economic environment.
Every day humans generate
more than 2.5 trillion (10 18 )
bytes of data: 80% of them are
spatial data. In the ‘80 of the
last century, first digital spatial
data were acquired by scanning
hardcopy archives; now they are
endlessly acquired in massive
quantities from fixed and mobile
in-situ sensors, from sensors
on satellites, on aircrafts, on
UAVs or on land vehicles, from
digital documents and social
media. Such a massive flow (Big
geodata) generates new challenges
since stored data have to be
analyzed and processed, often
in real-time, to extract information.
Therefore, a new scientific
and technical figure who combines
expertizes in Computer
Science, Environmental
Engineering and Geomatics is
needed.
Geoinformatics engineers are
high level experts in technologies
for measuring, georeferencing,
managing, analyzing,
visualizing and publishing
spatial and time varying information,
with a particular
concern to environmental data.
Geoinformatics engineers will
thus be involved in the design,
implementation and management
of geodata projects to
support the new paradigms
of Participative Digital Earth,
Smart City and Smart Society
as well as a variety of decisions
at regional, country and global
level. Urban and agricultural
land planning, monitoring and
management, infrastructure design
and building information
management, transport and
traffic monitoring and management,
environmental modeling,
geography, Earth sciences are
the main application fields of
Geoinformatics Engineering.
All those fields attain to the general
context of sustainable management
of environment and
land. In Figure 1, few examples
of Geoinformatics expertizes are
shown.
As the academic teaching is
concerned, some universities
in Europe propose courses in
Geoinformatics. In Italy, in
2016 Politecnico di Milano
planned and started the first
Italian MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering.
26 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
The new Master of Sciences
in Geoinformatics Engineering
at Politecnico di Milano
The MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering at Politecnico
di Milano aims at preparing
technicians who possess deep
preparation and strong attitude
to solve problems relevant to
geospatial information. The following
skills are needed on the
methodological and the practical
points of view:
1. spatial information managing:
a. acquisition and georeferencing,
b. analysis, classification and
processing,
c. archiving, representation,
publication and distribution;
2. computer infrastructures:
design and implementation of
infrastructures to
a. acquire, model and analyze
spatial data and phenomena,
b. manage, publish and share
the spatial information;
3. methodologies and instruments
to model and analyze
environmental phenomena;
4. advanced technologies for
Big Geodata and internet of
Places.
The acquisition of these capabilities
requires the knowledge
of all the methodological and
practical topics that allow to
identify, model, and solve the
relevant problems. In particular,
at the end of their Master’s
degree, students must have a
wide knowledge of methods representing
the state of the art of
the discipline. Moreover, they
not only gain the knowledge
but also the habit to autonomously
and creatively face and
solve Geoinformatics problems,
which are often unusual and
new at a level that is both
methodological and practical.
Indeed, a main aim of the
Master is to make students able
to autonomously face cutting
edge and original subjects,
with a pro-active attitude to
problem solution. Accordingly
to this mission, the Master at
Politecnico di Milano has been
designed as follows.
The study programme
The MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering is a two years
international master course
taught in English for Italian
and foreign students. The
study program satisfies both
the Italian Ministerial classes
LM-32 (Computer Science
Engineering) and LM-35
(Environmental and Land management
Engineering). At the
enrollment the student must
choose his Ministerial class: the
choice can be modified during
the first year of study.
Students having mainly a
background in Environmental
Engineering find an introductory
course in Computer
Science, while those with a
computer oriented first level
degree follow a basic course on
Geomatics and Environmental
issues. In the geomatic / environmental
field, the mandatory
courses cover topics such
as Geospatial data analysis,
Geographical Information
Systems (GIS), Positioning and
Location Based Services; in the
Computer Science field, mandatory
courses cover topics like
Databases, Software engineering,
Computer Infrastructures.
In the first year, the plan of
mandatory courses allow the
students to modify the choice
of the Ministerial class. In the
second year, mandatory courses
alternate with elective courses,
that allow students to deepen
their expertise.
Elective courses are specifically
proposed for Geoinformatics
Engineering students. They are
either in computer programming
and computer systems
design, dealing for instance
with multidimensional and
mobile applications; or in environmental
management and
sustainability issues dealing for
instance with Earth observation
techniques and geophysical data
processing.
The ability to autonomously
face problems and implement
solutions is achieved through
laboratories and projects that
are paired to traditional courses
lectures; the final thesis on an
original scientific topic further
stimulates it.
More details are given in the
official study rules that are published
at www.geoinformatics.
polimi.it.
Access requirements
The access to the MSc in
Geoinformatics Engineering
implies prior acquisition of a
Bachelor of Science, obtained
from the Politecnico di Milano
School of Engineering or other
Italian or international universities.
Admissions are evaluated
by a commission, accordingly
to the previous career, the adequacy
of personal preparation
and the knowledge of English.
Access requirements are differentiated
according to the acquired
Bachelor of Science.
Fig. 2 - The logo of the MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.
GEOmedia n°3-2017 27
REPORT
Graduates in Environmental
and Land planning
Engineering, Computer
Science Engineering and other
Engineering courses at the
Politecnico di Milano, must
pass a selection that is based
on results (marks and time
taken) of their Bachelors.
Graduates from other Italian
or international universities
must pass a selection that is
based on the final marks of
the Bachelor of Science degree
together with an analytical
evaluation of their prior curriculum.
A limited enrollment is
planned for the MSc in
Geoinformatics Engineering
at Politecnico di Milano, with
a maximum number of 50
students. In particular, 30
places are reserved for non-EU
students, the remaining 20 are
available for Italian students,
EU students and non-EU students
resident in Italy.
Career perspectives
According to the selected
study track, the graduated
Geoinformatics engineers
can participate to the Italian
state certification exam to
enter either the Civil and
Environmental Engineers’
register (LM-32) or the
Computer science Engineers’
one (LM-35).
Accordingly to the cultural
and technical organization
of our MSc, Geoinformatics
engineers from Politecnico di
Milano find a job where an
Environmental engineer with
strong expertize in Computer
Science is needed, for example,
a technician for the management
and analysis of a network
of environmental sensors. On
the opposite, they find a job
in the branches of Information
Technology finalized to the design
and implementation of
tools for the Environmental
and Land management.
Consequently,
Geoinformatics engineers
find a placement in all the
branches that directly manage
and develop environmental
and spatial information.
Furthermore, nowadays spatial
information is everywhere:
therefore, Geoinformatics
engineers find job also in
big companies or agencies
that need and use spatial
information. In summary,
Geoinformatics engineers
find employment in:
• small and medium-sized
companies working in the
field of GIS development
and management, of
Computer Science applied
to spatial data-base management,
to logistics and
land planning,
• public and private, national
and local companies working
on territorial mapping,
on cadaster, on spatial data
infrastructure, on territorial
data collection, on environmental
data management
and analysis,
• big industry (e.g., for telecommunications)
and big
companies which needs
experts for spatial information,
• companies developing systems
for the analysis and
management of networks of
environmental sensors,
• companies developing
hardware and software for
environmental applications,
• advanced research institutes
or companies working
on the Internet of Places,
Big Geodata, Sensor
Enablement, Urban Data
City Analytics, Earth
Observations.
REFERENCES
Webpages of international MSc in
Geoinformatics
Aalto, http://www.aalto.fi/en/studies/
education/programme/geoinformatics_
master/
ETH, https://www.ethz.ch/en/studies/
prospective-masters-degree-students/
masters-degree-programmes/mastersdegree-programmes-architecture-and-civilengineering/master-geomatics.html
KTH, https://www.kth.se/en/studies/master/
transport-and-geoinformation-technology/
description-1.198559
TU Delft, http://www.tudelft.nl/en/study/
master-of-science/master-programmes/
geomatics/
TU Twente, https://www.utwente.nl/
en/education/master/programmes/
geo-information-science-earthobservation/#masters-programme
TUM,https://portal.mytum.de/
studium/studiengaenge_en/geodaesie_
und_geoinformation_master?ignore_
redirection=yes
Twente, https://www.utwente.nl/
en/education/master/programmes/
geographical-information-managementapplications/#masters-programme
UCL, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospectivestudents/graduate/taught/degrees/spatiotemporal-analytics-big-data-mining-msc
UCL, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospectivestudents/graduate/taught/degrees/
geoinformatics-building-informationmodelling-msc
UCL, http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/study/
graduate-taught/msc-geospatial-analysis
Webpage of Politecnico di Milano
www.polimi.it
Webpage of the MSc in Geoinformatics
Engineering of Politecnico di Milano: www.
geoinformatics.polimi.it
Webpage with information for international
students at Politecnico di Milano
http://www.polinternational.polimi.it/howto-apply/
KEYWORDS
Geoinformatics; Digital Earth; Big
Geodata;
Master of Science
ABSTRACT
In the new digital scenario, new professional
figures are needed to manage the spatial and
environmental information: geoinformatics
engineers are high level experts in technologies
for measuring, georeferencing, managing,
analyzing, visualizing and publishing spatial
and time varying information, with a particular
concern to environmental data. As the academic
teaching is concerned, some universities
in Europe propose courses in Geoinformatics.
In Italy, Politecnico di Milano started in 2016
the first national MSc in Geoinformatics Engineering:
this paper describes it.
AUTHOR
Ludovico Biagi
ludovico.biagi@polimi.it
Politecnico di Milano, DICA,
P.zza Leonardo Da Vinci 32, 20133
Milano
28 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
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GEOmedia n°3-2017 29
REPORT
VGI and crisis mapping in an
emergency situation
Comparison of four case studies: Haiti, Kibera, Kathmandu, Centre Italy
di Lucia Saganeiti, Federico Amato, Gabriele Nolè, Beniamino Murgante
Fig.1 - Sequentially mapping
OSMs to Port-Au-Prince:
the first concerns the pre
earthquake situation, the
second situation as of January
29, 2010 and the latest
situation in December 2016.
Source: http: www.openstreetmap.org;
www.hotosm.org
Over the last decade
new voluntary
mapping patterns are
commonly known as
VGI – Volunteered
Geographic Information
– that is, geo-localized
information created
voluntarily and
consciously by web
users. These are
supported by platforms
such as OpenStreetMap
that have been shown
in many emergency
cases and not, a valid
source of data, such
detailed to be used for
rescue operations.
In recent crisis contexts,
the use of geo-spatial data
analysis has been a precious
resource in coordinating of
rescue operations (Boccardo
& Pasquali, 2012). As a
consequence, numerous Open
Source platform born to
answer to the growing demand
for geo-information. Crisis
Mapping (CM) consists of
the spontaneous process of
gathering and geo-locating
data from different sources,
including closed/open-data, or
crowdsourcing databases. These
data are verified, catalogued and
finally made visible in ad hoc
platforms (Poser & Dransch,
2010).
With the overwhelming of
technology, the spread of
smartphones and mobile
or fixed connections,
humanitarian aid management
during the post-emergency
phases has radically changed.
Today, even in less developed
countries, most people have
a mobile phone and they are
able to send at least a simple
SMS. Therefore, the term
Crisis Mapping is often used
to identify mapping activities
during humanitarian crises. The
activity of CM is targeted at
collecting, displaying, updating
and analysing real-time data
in emergencies due to natural
disasters such as earthquakes,
floods, tsunamis, hurricanes,
or anthropic disaster such as
landslides, terrorist attacks or
serious industrial accidents.
When a disastrous event occurs,
local or remote people (Crisis
Mappers via web) mobilize
themselves to update maps,
report emergencies and spread
news. This participation also
helps to increase awareness of
the event. Crisis Mappers are
generally (unpaid) voluntary
with or without specific skills.
Indeed, a group of mappers is
generally composed by simple
resident of the area affected
by the disaster who want
to contribute to the rescue
activities, computer science
experts, web programmer
who want to provide their
30 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
scientific contribution to
the coordination operations.
To this purposes, a number
of online groups have been
created. Among them, one
of the most important is
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
Team (HOT), which supported
OpenStreetMap (OSM)
mapper activity in the first
use of the application for an
humanitarian goal: he Haiti
earthquake in 2010 (Soden &
Palen, 2014). Another example
of Crisis Mapping is Ushahaidi,
a web platform that uses OSM
maps and is updated through
the geo localization of messages
from SMS, tweets and emails
that contain certain keywords,
called alert.
Other experiences adopted
during the Hurricanes Sandy
and Irene classified tweets on
maps based on hashtags (http://
faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/
TtT_Hurricane_Map_byEvent.
html).
The availability of free satellite
data and the experimentation
of ever-new remote sensing
techniques played a primary
role in the spread of these
approaches. CM activities
can be considered as open
participatory policies. Indeed,
anyone join these communities,
update their country map or a
distant country one that they
do not know, report discomfort
launching a crisis map or report
the quality values of a region
through a map showing all the
parks in the area, the paths
without architectural barriers,
or anything else.
This article proposes an
analysis of several case in
which volunteering activities
were carried out in some postemergency
phases to contribute
to the rescue operations and to
build a previously non-existent
cognitive framework.
The analysed web platforms are
OpenStreetMap e Ushahidi.
Four case studies are considered:
the Haiti earthquake of 2010,
the post election crisis of Kibera
in 2007/2008, the Kathmandu
experience with the Nepal
earthquake of 2012 and the
central Italy earthquake of
2016. These four cases show
substantial differences:
Haiti
With the disastrous earthquake,
affecting Haiti in 2010, begins
the spread of OSM in a natural
emergency situation. Here
the OSM community has
had to endure a hard work to
gain credibility before being
recognized as an association.
This is the first striking case in
which is the population with
SMS, Tweet e App, direct the
rescue. The rescuers, with the
support of platforms such as
OSM and Ushahidi, receive
updates without any third party
intermediation (Neis, Singler,
& Zipf, 2014) (Fig.1).
Chart 1a - utilization crowd mapping
platforms Haiti
Chart 1c - utilization crowd mapping
platforms Kibera
Kibera
Ushahidi is born in a contest
of electoral violence. In Kibera,
following the presidential
elections in 2007, there was a
climate of civil violence and a
part of the population felt the
need to make the whole world
aware of the situation that was
affecting their country. This
led to the birth of Ushaihdi,
which in swahilli means
“witness” (Goldstein & Rotich,
2008). This case highlights
how technology can be used
not only as an evidence of the
violence suffered but also to
spread messages of hatred and
violence.
Kathmandu
In Nepal, a country with a high
seismic and tsunami risk, the
OSM community started to
take shape since 2012, helping
to update the cartography
of the country and to create
information and interest toward
the topic of disaster risk,
Chart 1b - utilization crowd mapping
platforms Kathmadu
Chart 1d - utilization crowd mapping
platforms Centro Italia
GEOmedia n°3-2017 31
REPORT
especially in schools (Soden,
Budhathoki, & Palen, 2014).
In 2015, when the earthquake
occurred, the country was not
taken unprepared by the fact
that the OSM community
had long been consolidated
and could therefore act more
easily (Poiani, dos Santos
Rocha, Castro Degrossi, & de
Albuquerque, 2016).
Central Italy
Following the earthquake
swarm hitting the territory of
Central Italy since 24 August
2016, the OSM community
has been working hard to
update local maps and make
them available to everyone.
This promptness with which
the community developed a
huge quantity of useful geoinformation
has aroused the
interest of the Copernicus
project, that has acquired OSM
data and redistributed them
to the rescuers, i.e. the italian
civil protection. Therefore,
there was not a direct passage
between OSM and rescuers,
as Copernicus mediation was
needed.
To correctly evaluate and
compare these experiences,
an evaluation of the temporal
continuity of the projects would
be necessary. Indeed, they
sometimes produce the highest
results right after the disasters
to face an emergency, except
Chart 2 - Comparison chart between the four
case studies analyzed.
Character of the
event
then die with the same speed
when the emergency ends.
The different cases were first
evaluated individually, each
from the OSM platform’s
birth year (2004) up to the
end of 2016 (Chart 1a-d).
Subsequently, they were
compared through a qualitative
graph based on the period
before the emergency event, the
period of the emergency event
and the next one.
Therefore, analyzing the preemergency,
emergency and
post-emergency were given the
following scores:
Haiti (Chart 1a): as far as
the pre-emergency period
is concerned, a score of 0
is assigned. This is because
there was not an active
technological community in
the area before the seismic
event. For the emergency
period, the maximum score
of 10 was assigned. In fact
the OSM community is
formed during the emergency
period (seismic event) and the
emergency responders directly
use the datasets created by it.
For post-emergence a score
ranges from 9 to 5. Numerous
initiatives and coordination
Haiti Kathmandu Kibera Centro Italia
Natural Natural Anthropic Natural
Type of event Earthquake Earthquake, Tsunami
Main open source
platforms used
Main closed source
platforms used
Web and social
Developed projects
and
non-profit
organizations
Direct relationship
between rescuers
and the technology
community
OSM, HOT,
Ushahidi, Sahana,
Crisis Commons
Google
Mapmaker,
DigitalGlobe
GeoEye
Facebook, Twitter
HOT
OSM, Ushahidi,
HOT
Post-elettoral
violence
Ushahidi, OSM
Seismic swarm
OSM, HOT
Google Maps Google Maps Copernicus, DigitalGlobe
Facebook, Twitter,
Skype
Open Cities
Kathmandu,
Kathmandu Living
Labs (KLL), MapGive
Facebook,
Twitter
Map Kibera,
Voice of Kibera
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr
terremotocentroitalia.info
YES YES YES NO
Tab. 1 - A comparison table between the various case studies reveals the platforms used
and the relationships between the data produced and the rescuers.
operations with humanitarian
organizations took place in the
years after the event; today the
OSM community continues to
work on Haiti territory and is
very active.
Kibera (Chart 1b): as far as
the pre-emergency period
is concerned, a score of 0 is
assigned. This is because there
were not an active technological
community in the area before
the emergency event (electoral
violence). For the emergency
period a score ranges from 5
to 7. The score is increasing
in this period since during
the emergency phase, several
crowd mapping groups started
to spread in the area; Ushahidi
is born in this period and
news are spread through crisis
maps. For post-emergence
a score ranges from 9 to 6,
since immediately after the
emergency, all site maps are
updated to allow humanitarian
organizations to be in direct
contact with local events.
Kathmandu (Chart 1c): as far
as the pre-emergency period is
concerned a score ranges from
0 to 8. In a period of peace,
in fact, Kathmandu (Nepal)
becomes an active community.
32 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
Tab. 2 – Assign score from 0 to 10 to
four case studies with relative legend.
The OSM community starts
to update maps and spreading
knowledge about seismic
risk, especially in schools. For
the emergency period, the
maximum score of 10 was
assigned. Thanks to the work
done by the OSM community
during the pre-emergence
period, the emergency period
becomes an opportunity to
test the efficiency of crowd
mapping. In fact, it is the
time of maximum efficiency
of the platforms thanks to a
well-established community,
ready to face the event. For
post-emergence a score of 5
is assigned. Today the OSM
community continues to
persist.
Central Italy (Chart 1d):
as far as the pre-emergency
period is concerned a score
ranges from 0 to 4 with a
peak of 5 in 2009. The OSM
community starts working
already before the events. In
2009, the score increases to 5
as after the earthquake striking
Abruzzo, the OSM community
worked to update the maps
of L’Aquila. Nevertheless,
they only worked on the
maps after the earthquake (to
support the reconstruction).
For the emergency period a
score of 7 is assigned. In fact,
during the emergency, the
OSM community appears
to be efficient in updating
the maps. Despite that,
the use of the data by the
rescuers was only possible
through the intermediation
of other entities. For the post
emergency period a score of
6 or 5 is assigned. This score
is indicative, it is only an
estimate of what could happen
considering that Central
Italy is still in the state of
emergency (January 2017).
The qualitative chart represents
the four case studies
compared. The yellow zone
represents the period before
the event, the red zone the
event and the green zone the
following period. It showed
that: In cases where prior to
the event (seismic or other)
there was a already stable and
already active crisis mapper
community, the use of the
platforms and datasets made
available was immediate. It
is also evident, under some
circumstances, that these
platforms are being used
most in the emergency period
by reaching high peaks,
and are left out in pre and postemergence
periods.
REFERENCES
1. Boccardo, P. & Pasquali, P. (2012), Web mapping services in
a crowdsource environment for disaster management: state of
the art and further development, International Archives of the
Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information
Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B4, 2012 XXII ISPRS Congress, 25
August – 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 543-548
2. Goldstein, J. & Rotich, J. (2008), Digitally Networked Technology
in Kenya’s 2007–2008 Post-Election Crisis. Berkman Centre
Research Publication No. 2008-09. The Berkman Centre for
internet & society at Harvard University. http://cyber.harvard.
edu/sites/cyber.harvard.edu/files/Goldstein&Rotich_Digitally_
Networked_Technology_Kenyas_Crisis.pdf.pdf last access
20/05/2017
3. Neis, P., Singler, P. & Zipf, A. (2010), Collaborative mapping and
Emergency Routing for Disaster Logistics - Case studies from the Haiti
earthquake and the UN portal for Afrika. In Proceedings of the
Geospatial Crossroads@ GI_Forum, Salzburg, Austria, 6–9 July
2010; Volume 10
4. Poiani, T.H., Rocha, R.d.S., Degrossi, L.C. & de Albuquerque,
J.P (2016) Potential of Collaborative Mapping for Disaster Relief:
A Case Study of OpenStreetMap in the Nepal Earthquake 2015, In
Proceedings of the 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference
on System Sciences (HICSS), Washington, DC, USA, 5
January 2016; pp. 188–197.Poser, K., & Dransch, D. (2010).
Volunteered Geographic Information for Disaster Management
with Application to Rapid Flood Damage Estimation. Geomatica,
Vol.64. n.1.
5. Soden, R. & Palen, L. (2014), From Crowdsourced Mapping to
Community Mapping:The Post-Earthquark work of OpenStreetMap
Haiti, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on the
Design of Cooperative Systems COOP 2014, 27-30 May 2014,
Nice (France) , Springer International Publishing Switzerland
2014, pp 311-326, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-06498-7_19
6. Soden, R., Budhathoki, N. & Palen, L. (2014), Resilience-Building
and the Crisis Informatics Agenda: Lessons Learned from Open Cities
Kathmandu, Proceedings of the 11th International ISCRAM
Conference – University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, May 2014
KEYWORDS
Crowdsourcing; OSM; Ushahidi;
Crisismapping; VGI
ABSTRACT
Over the last decade new voluntary mapping patterns are commonly
known as VGI – Volunteered Geographic Information –
that is, geo-localized information created voluntarily and consciously
by web users. These are supported by platforms such as
OpenStreetMap that have been shown in many emergency cases
and not, a valid source of data, such detailed to be used for rescue
operations. Another completely open source platform that has
revolutionized the world of geographic information and how to
make reports is Ushaidi that through interactive maps represents
testimonies, reports, diaries, and citizen reports.
Tab. 3 - utilization crowd mapping platforms since birth of OSM in 2004.
AUTHOR
Lucia Saganeiti, lucia.saganeiti@gmail.com
Federico Amato, federico.amato@unibas.it
Beniamino Murgante,
beniamino.murgante@unibas.it
School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Viale
dellAteneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Gabriele Nolè, gabriele.nole@imaa.cnr.it
Italian National Research GEOmedia Council, n°3-2017 IMAA C.da Santa 33
Loja, Tito Scalo, Potenza 85050, Italy
NEWS
SCANFLY: integrated camera, point-cloud live streaming,
RTK correction, backpack with SLAM and a universal
mounting plate for Mobile Mapping applications.
SCANFLY is the turnkey solution for 3D lidar mapping: ultra-compact and
lightweight, it is the best cost-effective solution available on the market. The
installation is possible on any vehicle (aerial, terrestrial, marine).
Here the list of the options we will release in the next months:
RGB Camera
a 5 Megapixel Global Shutter camera would be available to add the RGB
value to the pointcloud.
SmartSurvey SCANFLY - new features
• The remote control through a dedicated pc software;
• The real-time point-cloud streaming on the pc;
• The RTK correction of the position/trajectory in real-time.
Backpack
this solution will allow the indoor use of SCANFLY. Our R&D team developed a hybrid solution to allow an INS
mode (with Inertial System and GNSS) and a SLAM mode for automatic indoor localization and mapping. A further
option is an high resolution 360° panoramic camera.
Universal Mounting Plate
we would increase our mounting plate portfolio so we studied a universal solution to let the customer switch from
backpack option to vehicle mounted mode, allowing also the use of the new high-resolution panoramic camera.
Eppur… si muove?
Ground based
Interferometric SAR
Real time monitoring of
deformation and infrastructure
Sub-millimeter deformation
accuracy
> landslides, open-pit mines
> deformation and vibration
> buildings, dams, towers, bridges
FastGBSAR: RAR and SAR
One system, dual-operation mode
34 GEOmedia n°3-2017
CODEVINTEC
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Milan | Rome
ph. +39 02 4830.2175 | www.codevintec.it
NEWS
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GEOmedia n°3-2017 35
NEWS
36 GEOmedia n°3-2017
NEWS
I.MODI - Structural Monitoring
through an advanced use of the
satellite remote sensing
I.MODI (Implemented MOnitoring system
for structural DIsplacement) is a value added
service, co-funded by European programme
H2020, that integrates Earth Observation
technologies, ground based data and ICT to
develop services for monitoring the stability
of buildings in large urban areas and for controlling
critical civil infrastructures.
Monitoring urban areas and critical infrastructure
networks is a dominant socio-economical
issue for the safety of the population.
Structural deterioration with aging and effects
of natural and man-made ground settlement
processes pose a threat to structures and
building strength.
To guarantee a systematic and comprehensive
control over large areas, satellite remote sensing
can be effectively adopted. Differential
Interferometry SAR (DInSAR) technology
exploited by I.MODI represents an adequate
alternative solution can be fully assimilated
within the ground-based monitoring.
Through multiple levels of services, I.MODI
examines structural displacements and performs
assessments on the level of damage and
of its possible evolution. Reports are provided
using WebGIS viewer or by user-friendly
technical reports, allowing non-experts to utilize
outcomes of a DInSAR analysis.
The I.MODI monitoring system has a primary
role in setting up mitigation and prevention
actions based on the capability to
perform back analysis using data archived
since early 1990s and to be customizable for
different monitoring end-user needs.
GEOmedia n°3-2017 37
NEWS
City Explorer 3D
Aeronike will participate to this year's InterGeo edition to be held in Berlin from the
26th to the 28th of September within the booth acquired by EuroMed Mapping, a
Consortium established in 2015 grouping Aeronike as leading partner and Helica,
another Italian company operating in the sector of photogrammetry and remote sensing.
EuroMed Mapping's booth will be located in Hall 4.1 with number B4033 where
demos and some of the most innovative, recently developed tools and instruments
concerning 3D modelling, virtual tours and environmental mapping will be shown
and made available for being tested.
Aeronike looks forward welcoming you in the above-mentioned occasion to introduce
its proprietary platform “City Explorer 3D” and for letting you experience some exciting
3D virtual tours within some of the most beautiful villages and towns of Italy!!!
www.aeronike.com
www.euromed-mapping.com
Leica BLK360 Imaging Laser Scanner: the smallest and
lightest imaging laser scanner available
The Leica BLK360 captures the world around you with full-colour panoramic
images overlaid on a high-accuracy point cloud. Simple to use
with just the single push of one button, the BLK360 is the smallest and
lightest of its kind. Anyone who can operate an iPad can now capture the
world around them with high resolution 3D panoramic images. Using the
ReCap Pro mobile app, the BLK360 streams image and point cloud data
to iPad. The app filters and registers scan data in real time. After capture,
ReCap Pro enables point cloud data transfer to a number of CAD, BIM,
VR and AR applications. The integration of BLK360 and Autodesk software
dramatically streamlines the reality capture process thereby opening
this technology to non-surveying individuals. BLK360 Imaging Laser
Scanner Allows you to scan in high, standard and fast resolutions, Weighs
1kg / Size 165 mm tall x 100 mm diameter, Less than 3 minutes for full-dome scan (in standard resolution) and 150
MP spherical image generation, 360,000 laser scan pts/sec
Teorema Milano can offer you a solution “all-inclusive” that includes: BLK360° with Software ReCap Pro, Ipad Pro
12,9” and training courses with specialist.
www.geomatica.it
38 GEOmedia n°3-2017
NEWS
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GEOmedia n°3-2017 39
NEWS
40 GEOmedia n°3-2017
NEWS
GIS for regional analysis.
The Local Innovation Map
The Local Innovation Map in the
Sicani Area is the result of a didactic
experimentation conducted in the field
of GIS applied to Regional and Urban
Planning, held by the writer in the context
of the degree course in Regional,
Urban and Environmental Planning at
the Polytechnic University of Palermo.
Inner areas are the focus of the
National Strategy for Internal Areas
(SNAI), which provides for significant
investments both for the enhancement
of services and infrastructures and for
local development projects aimed at
promoting entrepreneurial ideas in the
sector of agriculture, sustainable tourism,
handicraft, landscape and cultural
values.
The research arises from the belief that
in inner areas, which can be defined as
territorial suburbs but also as great reserves
of local identity resources, there
are marks of change that can produce
new life cycles in rural and urban areas
through investment in environmental
and cultural heritage and local food.
In spite of the critical features of a marginal
area, some isolated experiences
can be identified in the Sicani Area as
evidence of the presence of creative talent
in this "depopulated" inner territory.
Some examples are: a innovative
ICT start-up, a co-working space, some
cultural associations, companies in the
industry of renewable energies, manufacturing
specialization and innovative
food and wine production.
By means of QGIS, the research work
has been conducted in order to detect
territorial distribution of innovative
activities in the Sicani Area and recognize
the connections or the absence of
relationships between concentration/
fragmentation/lack of innovation activities
with demographic dynamics,
infrastructure, cultural resources and
local productivity.
The Local Innovation Map, implemented
on the basis of updating the
innovative activities progressively settled
in this area, could be a useful tool
for local administrations to understand
progressive localization reasons and to
direct future development policy aimed
at the promotion of cultural/productive
activities in the inner areas.
By Marilena Orlando
Phd Regional and Urban Planning,
Professor in Charge of “GIS applied to
Urban and Regional Planning” at the
Polytechnic - University of Palermo.
Via Indipendenza, 106
46028 Sermide - Mantova - Italy
Phone +39.0386.62628
info@geogra.it
www.geogra.it
GEOmedia n°3-2017 41
REPORT
Rheticus: Dynamic and continuous
geoinformation service for critical
infrastructure and enviromental monitoring
by Giuseppe Forenza
Fig. 1 - Screenshot of the Rheticus platform.
The article describes some activities
of the Rheticus geoinformation
service for both critical
infrastructure and environmental
monitoring. Two particular
applications of the cloud based
platform are shown below.
Land and infrastructure
monitoring is a key activity
to ensure people’s safety,
environmental protection
and the safeguarding of assets at
all stages of the life cycle of infrastructure
design, production
and management.
Traditional campaigns for the
regular monitoring of large and
remote areas, however, employ
considerable financial resources
and time and are often complex
to implement. The use of
satellite technology allows overcoming
these limitations and
obtaining frequent,
accurate and accessible
information
thanks to the wide
availability of spatial
information, even in
open data mode.
Among the different satellite
technologies available, GPS
and satellite images are widely
used. In this context, Europe
has decided to launch two constellations
of satellites: Galileo
and Sentinel. Galileo, currently
under construction, which will
have 30 GNSS satellites (Global
Navigation Satellite System,
the European GPS). The Sentinel
satellites, of which four are
already operational, are dedicated
to Earth observation in the
context of the Copernicus program
and the data they collect
are made available as open data.
Rheticus platform
and Displacement
Images captured by the Sentinel
satellites are at the basis of the
monitoring services provided
by the cloud platform Rheticus
(www.rheticus.eu). Main
application of these services are
dedicated to the monitoring of:
the stability of infrastructures
(dams, roads, pipelines, etc.);
slope stability and subsidence;
the quality of coastal marine
waters; forest fires; anthropic
changes of the territory.
The Rheticus cloud-based platform
provides continuous monitoring
services of the Earth’s
surface. Shifting from data provision
to geospatial knowledge
and geo-analytics, its services
are delivered by subscription
and worldwide.
Rheticus Displacement is one
of the services provided through
the www.rheticus.eu cloud
platform.
The Rheticus Displacement
geoinformation service offers
monthly monitoring of
millimetric displacements of
the ground surface, landslide
areas, the stability of infrastructures,
and subsidence due
to groundwater withdrawal/
entry or from the excavation of
mines and tunnels. The service
also provides information on
anthropic changes and infrastructural
dynamics over the
area where the infrastructure is
established.
Rheticus Displacement provides
a yearly historical analysis with
monthly updates.
The mapping activity is made
through the monitoring of
points on the ground with
high stability called Persistent
Scatterers (PS). The PS is produced
through the processing
of the European Copernicus
42 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
Sentinel-1 satellite images or
COSMO-SkyMed satellite data.
Already used by main European
infrastructures and transportation
engineering companies, the
service is targeted to: Infrastructures
and works managers and
builders; Public Administration;
Planners & professionals in the
territory.
This service was adopted by
numerous customers in various
application areas after only its
first months of operation.
Two success stories:
• ANAS S.p.A. (National
Autonomous Roads Corporation):
analysis of slope
stability to support the planning,
design and monitoring
of roads.
• MM S.p.A. (former Metropolitana
Milanese): analysis
of the instability of roads
overlying pipelines for the
detection of leaks in the
water and sewage supply network.
Monitoring displacements of
the sewer network in Milan
(Italy)
The public sewerage network
of Milan runs for approximately
1500 km. MM SpA (former
Metropolitana Milanese
SpA), the managing company
of Integrated Water and
Wastewater Services of the City
of Milan, had been searching
for a method to quickly detect
ground surface movements caused
by the structural defect of
its collector that could affect the
area above the primary network
and adjacent areas.
Satellite radar interferometry
was considered the most accurate
and affordable survey method
to prevent and identify possible
failures of the sewage system,
even in relation to the high
traffic volume of metropolitan
cities like Milan.
Thanks to the Rheticus platform
(www.rheticus.eu) and its
geoinformation service Rheticus
Displacement, which processes
the interferometric data of
Sentinel satellites, 50 points
with sensitive sub-vertical movements
on 24 roads with heavy
traffic were identified and will
be investigated in a detailed
field survey.
Rheticus Network Alert -
A new user experience for water
& sewer networks
Powered by Hexagon Geospatial’s
Smart M.App technology,
Rheticus Network Alert has
been lauched at HxGN Live
Conference – June 2017- Las
Vegas.
The objective of Rheticus Network
Alert is to assist integrated
water and sewer networks
managing companies in their
maintenance and inspection
activities.
Rheticus Network Alert simplifies
the analysis of the Persistent
Scatterers processed by Rheticus
Displacement, providing information,
filtered and applied
directly to the network. Maintenance
activity and inspection
Fig. 2 – Displacements over the sewer Network in Milan, Italy.
priority, are simplified and the
Network Alert Smart M.App
provides the level of warning on
each pipelines.
A growing network
of Authorized Resellers.
The distribution of Rheticus
services is global. To guarantee
assistance to organizations, professionals
and decision makers
in any part of the globe, Planetek
Italia is building a network
of valued Authorized Distributors.
Several companies in
Europe, Central America, Africa
and Asia have already joined its
innovative business model and
started offering Rheticus services
to their markets. To be part
of this network write at info@
planetek.it
Rheticus awards
Developed by Planetek Italia,
Rheticus has been already awarded
in several competitions and
prizes at Italian and international
level, for the idea of shifting
from the provision of data to
the provision of services, intended
as continuous access to
information from the users.
A few months after its official
launch in April 2016, Rheticus
GEOmedia n°3-2017 43
REPORT
was awarded:
4As “Application of the Year
2016” by OpenGeoData
Association
4the “TIM Telecom Best
Practices for Innovation
2016” during the Premio
Best Practices for Innovation
ceremony organized by
Confindustria Salerno, Italy.
4It was also listed among finalists
of the European EO
product of the Year 2016
by the EARSC Association,
and finalist of Hexagon
Geospatial’s 2016 IGNITE
Competition.
Rheticus was recently presented at
ENGAGE 2017, the DigitalGlobe’s
forum, in London, UK, and
at HxGN Live Conference 2017,
Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rheticus information and DEMO
on http://www.rheticus.eu
Fig. 3 - Dynamic geoinformation about displacements over the sewer Network in Milan, Italy.
KEYWORDS
geoinformation service; critical infrastructure;
environment monitoring; rheticus network alert
ABSTRACT
Using free & open images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel satellites, the Rheticus cloudbased
platform delivers industry-focused geoinformation services, in form of dynamic maps,
reports, geo-analytics and alerts for professionals, private companies and Public Authorities,
involved in engineering, utilities, energy, mining, land planning, environment and land monitoring.
Subscribed users can receive contiuous information and analytics on the stability of infrastructures
(dams, roads, railways, pipelines, etc.), slope stability and subsidence, the quality of
coastal marine waters, forest fires and anthropic changes of the territory.
AUTHOR
Giuseppe Forenza
forenza@planetek.it
Planetek Italia
44 GEOmedia n°3-2017
REPORT
GEOmedia n°3-2017 45
AGENDA
4 - 7 September 2017
UAV-g 2017 International
Conference on Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles in Geomatics
Bonn (Germany)
www.geoforall.it/k9cwq
5 - 8 September 2017
RSPSoc2017 - Annual
Conference Earth and Planets:
Making the most of our
observations
Londron (United Kingdom)
www.geoforall.it/kw3ua
6 - 8 September 2017
Strasbuorg (France)
INSPIRE 2017 Conference
www.geoforall.it/kwaky
11 - 15 September 2017
56th Photogrammetric Week
2017
Stuttgart (Germany)
www.geoforall.it/k9cwr
26 - 28 September 2017
INTERGEO 2017
Berlin (Germany)
http://www.intergeo.de/
27 - 29 September
Digital,Design and
Development Fair 2017
Hamburg (Germany)
www.geoforall.it/kwawr
9-10 October 2017
EuroSDR / ISPRS Workshop
on "Oblique Aerial Cameras -
Sensors and Data Processing"
Barcelona (Spain)
www.geoforall.it/kwafq
17 - 19 October 2017
TECHNOLOGY for ALL
2017
Rome (Italy)
www.technologyforall.it
23 - 25 November 2017
12th International
Conference on Non-
Destructive Investigations
and Microanalysis for the
Diagnostics and Conservation
of Cultural and Environmental
Heritage (AIPnD)
Turin (Italy)
www.aipnd.it
16-19 January 2018
Geospatial World Forum
Hyderabad (India)
www.geoforall.it/kwacw
6 – 11 May 2018
FIG Congress
Istanbul (Turkey)
www.geoforall.it/k9cwx
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