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Mag/Giu 2018 anno XXII N°3
La prima rivista italiana di geomatica e geografia intelligente
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HIGH POSITIONING
ACCURACY IN GNSS
COPERNICUS FOR
AGRICULTURE
MANIFESTO OF
SOCIETY 5.0
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KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION FOR PLANET EARTH
This is the motto of this edition of INTERGEO 2018 and GEOmedia is proud to share this message!
The German Minister of the Interior, Building and Community is bringing an important message about inviting us to
focus on the fact that the “spatial reference is its uniting element. As a result, abstract values become maps, digital data
become comprehensible facts and complex information provides us with access to the world. Be it broad access, swift
processing or comprehensive interconnectedness – digital technology will make it easier for us to achieve all of this. At the
same time, questions about the future of geodesy arise. How will the work routines and tasks of geodesy specialists change?
How will we find our experts? How can we help them develop their expertise?”
GEOmedia since many years is pushing the Italian geomatics in an international frame and INTERGEO is one of
the focus event to meet international growth on the context of Geospatial 4.0, Smart City, Smart Villages, digital
construction, cloud computing and the Geo artificial intelligence.
The Director of the Fair remember to us “The key are always geo issues of digitalisation and the digital revolution.
Without digitalisation there can be no smart cities and villages, no BIM and no eGovernment. Our industry is currently
undergoing rapid change, as geoinformation is a vital element of the digital revolution. It helps make our environment
available digitally in three dimensions and opens up a wealth of applications when combined with specialist data. This
in turn gives rise to a whole range of new and innovative business models. In addition, the importance of artificial
intelligence processes, augmented reality and virtual reality is also on the rise. These will have a huge impact on our work
processes, transforming our jobs forever”.
GEOmedia and INTERGEO will continuously address these issues in their respective role.
Enjoy your reading,
Renzo Carlucci
Conoscenza e azione per il pianeta Terra
Questo è il motto di questa edizione di INTERGEO 2018 e GEOmedia è orgogliosa di condividere questo messaggio!
Il ministro dell'Interno tedesco, responsabile anche dell’edificato e della comunità, sta portando un messaggio importante
invitando a concentrarsi sul fatto che "Il riferimento spaziale è elemento di unione. Di conseguenza, i valori astratti
diventano mappe, i dati digitali diventano fatti comprensibili e le informazioni complesse forniscono l'accesso al mondo.
Sia che si tratti di un accesso ampio, di un'elaborazione rapida o di un'interconnessione completa, la tecnologia digitale ci
renderà più facile il raggiungimento di tutto questo. Allo stesso tempo, sorgono domande sul futuro della geodesia. Come
cambieranno routine di lavoro e mansioni degli specialisti di geodesia? Come troveremo i nostri esperti? Come possiamo
aiutarli a sviluppare la loro esperienza? "
GEOmedia da molti anni sta spingendo la geomatica italiana in una cornice internazionale e INTERGEO è uno dei
momenti chiave per la crescita internazionale nel contesto di Geospatial 4.0, Smart City, Smart Villages, costruzione
digitale, cloud computing e geo-artificial-intelligence.
E il direttore di INTERGEO ci ricorda che: "Le questioni geografiche della digitalizzazione e della rivoluzione digitale
sono sempre questioni chiave. Senza la digitalizzazione non ci possono essere città e villaggi intelligenti, nessun BIM e
nessun e-Government. Il nostro settore sta attualmente subendo rapidi cambiamenti, poiché la geoinformazione è un
elemento vitale della rivoluzione digitale. Aiuta a rendere disponibile digitalmente il nostro ambiente in tre dimensioni
e apre una vasta gamma di applicazioni combinate con dati specialistici. Ciò a sua volta dà origine a un'intera gamma di
modelli di business nuovi e innovativi. Inoltre, l'importanza dei processi di intelligenza artificiale, realtà aumentata e realtà
virtuale è in aumento. Questi avranno un enorme impatto sui nostri processi lavorativi, trasformando il nostro lavoro per
sempre ".
GEOmedia e INTERGEO affronteranno continuamente questi problemi nel loro rispettivo ruolo.
Buona lettura,
Renzo Carlucci
In this
issue...
FOCUS
REPORT
High positioning
accuracy in GNSS
systems
and receivers
by Marco Lisi
6
SECTIONS
24 ESA IMAGE
26 NEWS
40 Italy’s National
Archive of
Aerial Photography
48 EVENTS
12
seIsmIc
vulnerabIlIty oF
exIstIng buIldIngs:
non-InvasIve
approach For
dynamIc
behavIour
ASSESMENT
BY GIANLUCA ACUNZO,
MICHELE VICENTINO,
ANTONIO BOTTARO
On the cover a Copernicus
Sentinel-1B satellite image
over Semera in northeast
Ethiopia. The landscape of the
Afar region is characterised
by desert shrubland and
volcanoes, particularly in the
north. In this image we can
see differences in altitude
represented in the variations
in colour. The left part of
the image is dominated by
yellow, signifying changes in
vegetation found at higher
altitudes. Two lakes, Hayk
Lake and Hardibo Lake, are
shown in the bottom left.
Sentinel-1B was launched
in April 2016, carrying an
advanced radar instrument to
provide an all-weather, dayand-night
supply of imagery
of Earth’s surface. This image
was captured on 5 April 2018.
(Credits: ESA - Image of the
week: "Northeast Ethiopia")
22
THE
MANIFesto OF
THE SOCIETY
5.0
by Bruno Ratti
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
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32 Copernicus Sentinels
missions and
crowdsourcing as
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Epsilon 27
Esri Italia 31
Geogrà 10
Geomax 2
Geospatial World Forum 29
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Gter 22
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Studio SIT 35
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42
RUNNIng up
that HIll
Italian civic
addresses and
the quest for
accuracy
by Valerio Zunino
In the background of the summary
a Copernicus Sentinel-2A
satellite takes us over the largest
island of the Azores: São
Miguel. ESA, in collaboration
with the French Space Agency,
CNES, is organising a symposium
on 25 years of progress
in radar altimetry, which will
be held in Ponta Delgada from
24–29 September. With global
sea-level rise a global concern,
the symposium will focus on
the advances made in our understanding
of the open ocean,
the cryosphere, and coastal and
land processes. The annual meeting
of the Ocean Surface Topography
Science Team and the
International DORIS Service
Workshop will also be held in
the same week.
This image was captured on 8
September 2016.
(Credits: ESA - Image of the
week: "São Miguel, Azores")
Science & Technology Communication
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FOCUS
High positioning accuracy
in GNSS systems and receivers
by Marco Lisi
In the last few months we have been
witnessing a remarkable (and, to
some extent, surprising) increase
of interest for GNSS high accuracy
positioning, involving both systems
and receivers. In particular, this
growing demand for increased
positioning accuracy is evident
for mass-market applications,
in areas such as: IoT tracking
devices, wearable tracking devices,
automotive, UAV’s; Robotic vehicles.
Several GNSS augmentation methods
have been developed over the years,
aiming at improving the navigation
system performance not only in terms
of positioning accuracy, but also in
terms of reliability, availability and
sometime integrity.
Satellite Based Augmentation
Systems
One first family of augmentation
systems is based on
the principle of “Differential
GNSS”. This method consists
in using reference receivers, positioned
in fixed, well-located
positions, known as “base”
stations, to derive correction
errors that apply with a good
degree of approximation to all
user receivers located nearby.
Well known and already fully
operational are the so-called
Satellite-Based Augmentation
Systems (SBAS), such as the
American Wide Area Augmentation
System (WAAS) and the
European Geostationary Overlay
Service (EGNOS) (fig. 1).
These systems provide a widearea
or regional augmentation
of existing GNSS (e.g. GPS)
through the broadcasting of
additional satellite messages to
users.
The augmentation messages are
derived after processing information
collected by dedicated
stations and then sent to one
or more satellites (usually geostationary)
for broadcast to the
end users. The augmentation
messages can also be broadcasted
to users via Internet. This
is the case of the EGNOS Data
Access Service (EDAS), a terrestrial
commercial service
offering ground-based access
to EGNOS data through the
Internet on controlled access
basis. Geared to users requiring
Fig. 1 - Satellite Based Augmentation Systems around the world
6 GEOmedia n°3-2018
FOCUS
enhanced performance for professional
use, EDAS provides
users with the same data broadcast
by the EGNOS satellites
(EGNOS Message) in near realtime
(fig. 2).
Real –Time Kinematic (RTK)
and Precise Point Positioning
(PPP)
Presently, GNSS correction
services to achieve very high
positioning (centimetre-level)
accuracy are already offered to
professional users. They are based
on two main technologies:
Real-Time Kinematic (RTK)
and Precise Point Positioning
(PPP).
The RTK technology is a differential
GNSS technique based
on the use of code and carrier
phase measurements from the
satellites of the GNSS constellation
and on corrections provided
wirelessly to a user receiver
by a local reference ground station,
at a well-known location
(fig. 3).
Using carrier-phase measurements,
together with ionospheric
and tropospheric error
corrections, allows reaching
centimetre-level accuracies.
The drawback is that for carrier-phase
measurements, phase
ambiguity has to be solved, a
process requiring non-negligible
convergence times.
Atmospheric (ionospheric and
tropospheric) corrections require
a reference station (the
“base station”) not too far away
Fig. 2 - EGNOS System Architecture
from the user (the “rover’), with
baselines not longer than about
15 kilometers (usually between
10 and 20 km).
Besides atmospheric corrections,
the base station helps reducing
errors from such sources
as satellite clock and ephemeris.
With PPP, satellite clock and
orbit corrections (significantly
more precise than those available
in the broadcast navigation
message), generated from a
network of global reference
stations and calculated through
sophisticated algorithms by
a centralized processing facility,
are delivered to the end
users via satellite or over the
Internet (fig. 4).
It is worth noting that, as
compared to RTK, PPP does
not provide atmospheric effects
corrections. On the other
hand, PPP does not require a
local base station and offers a
worldwide service.
Combining the precise orbit
and clock corrections with a
dual-frequency GNSS receiver
(thus removing the first order
ionospheric errors), PPP is able
to provide position solutions
with accuracy at centimeter
level.
As compared to RTK, PPP
offers a worldwide service
and, being based on a global
network of reference stations,
guarantees a highly redundant
and robust infrastructure (while
RTK is totally dependent on
the availability of the local base
station). One drawback of PPP
Fig. 3 - Real-Time Kinematic Concept
Fig. 4 - Precise Point Positioning Concept.
GEOmedia n°3-2018 7
FOCUS
is that the processing algorithms
generating orbit and clock
corrections require rather long
convergence times to achieve
maximum performance, although
real-time or quasi realtime
PPP systems are being
developed.
Summarizing, both RTK and
PPP technologies are able to
provide positioning accuracies
in the order of few centimeters,
with reasonable convergence
times, while single-frequency
pseudorange-based positioning
using navigation message data
provides meter-level accuracy
at best.
System-Level High Accuracy
Services
As already mentioned, technologies
for very accurate positioning,
such as RTK and PPP,
have been adopted so far mostly
by professional users, not
targeting mass-market applications
such as, e.g., smartphones.
Something is changing, as far
as system-level solutions are
concerned.
In Japan, the GPS-based, regional
Quasi-Zenith Satellite
System (QZSS) is already planning
to provide centimetrelevel
positioning and navigation
services over the Japanese
territory. The system is based
on more than one thousand
reference stations to constantly
correct satellite errors. The corrected
data is then compressed
for real-time transmission back
to the constellation of three satellites
for broadcasting to user
receivers.
In Europe, a fairly radical and
strategic decision was taken in
March 2018, with the Implementing
Decision by the European
Commission redefining
the scope of the Galileo Commercial
Service.
The EC decision, recognizing
the increasing demand for higher
positioning accuracy by
fast expanding sectors, such as
autonomous vehicles, robotics
and drones, introduced a “freeaccess”
High Accuracy Commercial
Service (HA CS) on E6
signal, allowing users “to obtain
a positioning error of less than
two decimetres in nominal
conditions of use”. The convergence
time of this new service
should be , on the other hand,
in the order of about five minutes,
thus making it attractive
for mass-market applications,
including smartphones, but
not in direct competition with
“external” services such as RTK
and PPP.
The approach of offering the
High Accuracy Commercial
Service (HA CS) to all interested
users on a free of charge
basis, with content and format
of data publicly and openly
available on a global scale, was
deemed to increase the public
benefit delivered by Galileo. It
was also estimated that it will
contribute to position Galileo
in the market as the first GNSS
system offering high accuracy
services on a free of charge basis.
On the other hand, since
departing from the scheme originally
foreseen by Implementing
Decision (EU) 2017/2243
of 8 February 2017, the new
Implementing Decision was
taken after consultation with all
potential stakeholders.
The practical implementation
of the EC decision is being
studied jointly by the European
GNSS Agency and ESA, leading
to industrial developments
in 2019.
Multi-Constellation, Dual-Frequency
GNSS Receivers for
mass-Market Applications
A little revolution is also taking
place in the world of GNSS
receivers and chipsets manufacturers:
four major companies
(Broadcom, Intel, STMicroelectronics
and U-blox) decided
to make commercially available
for mass market applications
dual-frequency receivers, offering
position accuracies down
to 30 centimeters (fig. 5). Several
flagship smartphones are
planning to integrate them in
2018.
The technical specifications
and technological solutions
adopted vary slightly among
the four manufacturers, but
they all start from recognizing
the same market requirements:
Fig. 5 - Broadcom and U-blox Multi-Constellation, Dual-frequency Receivers.
4Smartphones, IoT, wearable
and other mobile devices;
4Commercial unmanned
vehicle applications (drones,
heavy trucks, UAVs);
4Applications in “hostile” urban
environments;
4Assisted and autonomous
driving;
4Automotive safety compliance
(ISO 26262, ASIL);
8 GEOmedia n°3-2018
FOCUS
4Built-in integrity checking;
4Built-in jamming and spoofing
detection capabilities;
4Sensor data fusion.
In particular, the lane-level navigation
accuracy on highways
(to allow Lane-Departure Warning,
LDW) seems to be a very
important requirement for car
manufacturers.
All receivers of new generation,
apart from some technical differences,
are essentially based
on the same architecture: multi-constellation,
dual-frequency,
high power efficiency, low cost.
The dual-frequency capability
(L1/E1 and L5/E5) makes
them able to better cope with
reflections off buildings in
urban environments: multipath
correction, detection of
reflected signals, ionospheric
errors correction, resolution
of phase ambiguity (in case
carrier-phase measurements are
performed) are all made possible.
It is worth noting that dualfrequency
operation starts
being attractive because as from
2018 there are enough L5/E5
satellites in orbit (about 30,
including Galileo, GPS-3 and
QZSS).
Fig. 6 - Google Prototype Driverless Car
Advanced Processing Software
for Autonomous Driving
Autonomous and connected
vehicles are positioning
themselves among the most disruptive
mass-market technologies
of the future. Despite some
unfortunate accidents and a
rather different approach to
standardization and regulation,
the deployment of autonomous
vehicles will soon become a reality
on US and European road
networks.
Autonomous vehicles can take
over activities traditionally performed
by the driver, thanks to
their ability to sense the environment,
navigate and communicate
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.
The adoption of autonomous
driving is probably 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.
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
as a service”.
For some years now big corporations
such as Waymo
(Waymo is an autonomous car
development company and
subsidiary of Google's parent
company, Alphabet Inc.), Uber,
Tesla, GM and many others,
from Mazda to Maserati, have
been testing their driverless cars
(fig. 6).
While all of them consider
Fig. 7 - Uber Simplified Merging of Satellite SNRs and 3D Maps
GEOmedia n°3-2018 9
FOCUS
standard-precision GNSS as an
indispensable component of
their automated vehicle sensor
suite, they still view it as a secondary
sensor, not accurate or
reliable enough for positioning
the vehicle within the lane.
In order to achieve the level
of positioning required for the
safe operation of autonomous
vehicles, an intimate fusion of
on-board sensors, computer 3D
modelling and GNSS technologies
is needed.
One well known problem is
that ground vehicles often operate
under sky-obstructed areas,
where GNSS signals can be
altered or blocked by buildings
and trees. In these cases, GNSS
receivers
can become wildly inaccurate,
just when they would be most
needed, i.e. in densely populated
and highly built-up urban
areas (where incidentally most
of the users are located).
Multi-constellation and dualfrequency
are partially solving
the problem. To further overcome
this challenge, companies
like Google and Uber are developing
software applications
to substantially improves location
accuracy in urban environments
utilizing 3D maps together
with fairly sophisticated
ray-tracing, probabilistic computations
on GNSS raw data
available from the on-board
user receiver (fig. 7).
Conclusion
These recent developments in
the “race” for higher positioning
accuracy prove on one side
that there is no single technology
capable of providing a reliable
and continuous solution
in all environments, so the
need for integration and fusion;
on the other hand, that high
accuracy navigation is part of
a much larger technological revolution,
triggered by 5G, IoT,
unmanned vehicles, vehicle-toeverything
(V2X), augmented
reality.
ABSTRACT
In the last few months we have been witnessing
a remarkable (and, to some extent,
surprising) increase of interest for GNSS
high accuracy positioning, involving both
systems and receivers.
In particular, this growing demand for increased
positioning accuracy is evident for
mass-market applications, in areas such as:
IoT tracking devices, wearable tracking
devices, automotive, UAV’s; Robotic vehicles.
Several GNSS augmentation methods
have been developed over the years, aiming
at improving the navigation system
performance not only in terms of positioning
accuracy, but also in terms of reliability,
availability and sometime integrity.
KEYWORD
High positioning accuracy; GNSS; autonomous
driving; RTK; PPP; 5G; IoT; UAV
AUTHOR
Dr. ing. Marco Lisi
marco.lisi@esa.int
European Space Agency – ESTEC
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Via Indipendenza, 106
46028 Sermide - Mantova - Italy
Phone +39.0386.62628
info@geogra.it
www.geogra.it
10 GEOmedia n°3-2018
FOCUS
GEOmedia n°3-2018 11
REPORT
Seismic vulnerability of existing
buildings: non-invasive approach for
dynamic behaviour assessment
by Gianluca Acunzo, Michele
Vicentino, Antonio Bottaro
In recent years, the partnership
between the Department of
Mathematics and Physics of Roma Tre
University and GEOWEB S.p.A. has led
to the creation of an applied research
program named Metior. The main aim
of this program is the research and
development of a set of innovative
tools for the creation of easy-tomanipulate
virtual models, where
the concept of measurement and
geometric survey can be enhanced.
Such virtual reality environments
are built through
photogrammetric techniques
like stereoscopy, orthophotography,
Digital Terrain
Modeling (DTM), Digital
Surface Modeling (DSM)
and 3D Point Clouds joined
with advanced 3D modeling
and computational geometry
techniques developed by the
research groups of Roma Tre
University (Fig. 1).
Nowadays, it is well known
how 3D virtual reality, and augmented
virtual reality as well,
can support any kind of geometric,
topologic and numerical
ex-post analysis just by relying
on a certified instrumental data
acquisition campaign.
In the framework of this agreement,
also a research fellowship
Fig. 1 - Example of 3D point cloud created in the Metior platform.
has been set up with the purpose
of researching and developing
new techniques and tools
which may give a contribution
to the workflow aimed to the
reduction of the seismic risk for
civil buildings.
In the field of seismic vulnerability
assessment there is a
very useful, non-invasive and
not so well-known typology of
survey that can provide significant
added value to such a
kind of assessment. This measurement
is commonly known
as environmental vibration
measurement. In order to understand
the potential of the
environmental vibrations and
how they can be used, we will
give a brief overview of some
of the key concepts to keep in
mind when talking about “seismic
risk”.
Therefore, what do we mean
when we talk about seismic risk
for a civil building?
To answer this question, it is
appropriate to briefly introduce
the three main factors that are
involved and whose combination
defines the seismic risk:
12 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
seismic hazard (H), seismic
vulnerability (V) and exposure
(E). The seismic hazard is
related to the site where the
building is located: the hazard
of a certain area is determined
by the characteristics (in terms
of frequency and intensity) of
the earthquakes that may occur.
On the other hand, seismic vulnerability
is something related
to the building itself and to the
potential damage that could
occur during a seismic event
of a given intensity. Finally,
exposure is related to the number
of assets that are exposed
to risk and takes into account
the possible consequences of
an earthquake, such as loss of
human lives, damage to cultural
heritage and damage in economic
terms.
The so-called seismic risk is
given by the combination of
these three factors and can be
conceptually expressed as the
product of the previously introduced
terms:
R=HxVxE
In the first part of this article
we will synthetically discuss
some aspects related to hazard
and vulnerability, in order to
understand how the expected
seismic input at the base of the
building is determined for a
considered site and what is important
to consider when a seismic
vulnerability verification is
performed for a civil building.
The current Italian legislation
envisages that only architects
and engineers are the professional
figures who can deal
with the seismic vulnerability
assessment, in particular with
regard to the aspects related to
numerical modeling, structural
analysis and retrofitting design.
Moreover, GEOWEB strongly
believes that the role of the surveyor,
who is typically involved
in the due diligence processes
related to the certification of
the actual state of buildings,
can undoubtedly be actively
involved in the seismic vulnerability
analysis by designing,
executing and validating the
results of environmental vibration
measurements, supporting
the following structural analysis
delegated by the legislation to
architects and civil engineers.
So, after the overview about
the environmental vibrations
analysis approach, some of the
tools that are being developed
in the context of the cooperation
between GEOWEB S.p.A.
and Roma Tre University, will
be discussed.
Fig. 2 - Seismic hazard map for Italian peninsula (INGV).
Seismic hazard and expected
seismic input
As previously introduced, the
seismic hazard of an area is basically
given by its seismicity: it is
expressed in probabilistic terms
and it is defined, in a given
area and in a certain interval of
time, as the probability of an
earthquake occurring beyond a
certain intensity threshold.
Thinking about the seismic
hazard in the Italian peninsula,
the first image that comes
to mind is the Seismic
Hazard Map produced by the
Italian National Institute of
Geophysics and Volcanology
(INGV) (Fig. 2).
The colors show the value of
the Peak Ground Acceleration
(PGA) for each area of the
Italian soil, with colors ranging
from light gray (lowest value) to
purple (highest value).
How should this map be read?
We have just said that the
hazard is defined in probabilistic
terms as the probability
that in a certain time lapse an
earthquake with a certain intensity
occurs: in this map, as
described in its upper banner,
what we can read is the maximum
ground acceleration that
has a probability of 10% to be
exceeded in a time lapse of 50
years on stiff soils. Without
going into the details of formulas,
this means that the value of
acceleration we are reading is
the one that has a return period
of 475 years, that is the one
of the seismic action used to
design and verify ordinary buildings
according to the Italian
Building Code (NTC).
Table in Fig. 3 shows the relation
between the value of PGA
and the corresponding seismic
Fig. 3 - Seismic zone classification and PGA values.
GEOmedia n°3-2018 13
REPORT
Fig. 4 - Amplification of seismic waves (site effect).
Fig. 5 - Simple oscillator.
zone, from Zone 1 (highest
hazard) to Zone 4 (lowest hazard).
Furthermore, as specified in
the description of the map, the
value of PGA we can read is
the one expected on a hard soil,
corresponding to the bedrock.
This allows us to introduce
another fundamental aspect
that must be considered to
determine the value of acceleration
expected at the base of the
building: the soil effect.
The layers of soft soil act like
a filter and modify the seismic
waves that arrive from the bedrock,
emphasizing some of the
frequencies in the signal and
modifying the actual accelerations
that will reach the base of
the building (Fig. 4). Basically,
it is like an equalizer in a hi-fi
audio system: the original input
signal passes through the filter
that modifies its frequency
content, giving the equalized
signal as its output. In terms
of amplitude, when a seismic
wave passes from a stiffer layer
to a softer one, it decreases its
speed. As a consequence, in
order to conserve the energy, its
amplitude increases. In general,
we can say that the softer the
ground is, the more the accelerations
on the ground level will
be amplified. In light of the
above, the soil plays an important
role in the seismic hazard
of a given site: depending on
the situation, a building lying
on a soft soil in a seismic zone
3 could be actually subject to
a higher acceleration than the
one lying on a hard soil in a
seismic zone 2.
In conclusion, the seismic hazard
gives us the value of acceleration
we expect at the base
of a given building, depending
on the site location and the
characteristics of the soil.
Can we say that this acceleration
is the same that acts on the
building?
To answer this question, let’s
make a little mental experiment:
let’s consider a sphere
with a given mass m that lies
on top of a stick, with a given
stiffness k (Fig. 5). If we take
the base of this object and
start to move the base back
and forth, the sphere on the
top will start to move as well.
It is easy to imagine that the
sphere will not exactly follow
the movement of the base, but
will move in a different way,
depending on the stiffness k
of the stick and the mass m
of the sphere. This is exactly
what happens when a building
is subject to an earthquake:
the way in which the building
tends to behave depends on
the input excitation, obviously,
but also on its characteristics in
terms of stiffness and mass. In
particular, the way a structure
behaves when subject to vibration
is described by its mode of
vibration, that will be described
further into this article.
Seismic vulnerability of buildings:
the local mechanism of
collapse
When an earthquake occurs,
the ground starts moving horizontally
and vertically and
the building starts to sway and
deform. The way in which
buildings respond to a given
seismic action can be very different,
depending on factors like
structural typology, materials,
age, level of maintenance.
The seismic action at the base
results in an additional load
that induces a further stress
distribution in the structural
parts. When the building has a
box-like behaviour and acts as
a single body, the stresses are
distributed among the elements
according to their stiffness and
the whole structure gives a contribution
in terms of resistance.
This is the typical behaviour
of a Reinforced Concrete (RC)
building, where the frame composed
by beams and columns is
a continuous structure that internally
distributes the stresses
14 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
among the elements.
Unfortunately, although this
kind of behaviour is highly
desirable, this too often doesn’t
happen in masonry structures:
during the seismic event the
masonry building can experience
partial collapses due to
the loss of equilibrium of some
masonry portions. These kinds
of collapses are called local collapse
mechanisms and they are
one of the main issues in the
seismic analysis of masonry buildings.
The causes of this behaviour
generally lie in the lack
of construction (e.g. poor masonry
quality, poor connection
between orthogonal walls, no
connection between slabs and
walls) or lack of maintenance
during the building’s lifecycle.
One of the most common and
dangerous mechanisms of local
collapse is the overturning of
the perimeter walls (Fig. 6):
due to poor connection with
the transversal walls, a portion
of the building subject to the
earthquake comes loose from
the rest and overturns on its
base, involving one or more
floors depending on the connections
between the elements.
When the condition of the building
makes this local mechanism
possible, this is generally
the one that activates first, for
relatively low levels of acceleration.
Another local mechanism
that is pretty common in masonry
building is the vertical
bending (Fig. 7): during the
seismic event, the slab pushes
against the facade and the wall
bends out of its plane.
This kind of mechanism is
generally caused by a poor masonry
quality and no connection
between slabs and vertical
walls and the level of acceleration
required for its activation
is pretty higher than the previously
described overturning.
For this reason, it can take
place when the first mechanism
is prevented by an effective
connection at the top of the
perimeter wall.
Seismic vulnerability of buildings:
the global response
From a seismic point of view,
a well-designed building must
not be damaged by a low intensity
earthquake, not structurally
damaged by a medium intensity
earthquake and must not collapse
when a strong earthquake
occurs, despite severe damages.
The concept of low, medium
and strong intensity is closely
related to the previously described
seismic hazard of the site.
This is the basic philosophy of
today’s seismic codes.
A building in its operating
conditions is mainly subject
to the static loads induced by
the permanent and variable
loads, where the former are
the weights of its structural
and non-structural parts and
the latter are those that are not
constant over the time (e.g., the
presence of people, furniture in
the rooms and the action of the
wind).
The analysis of the previously
described local mechanisms is
a fundamental part in the seismic
vulnerability assessment of
masonry buildings, as their prevention
shall ensure the desired
box-like behaviour in which
the structure responds to the
seismic action as a single body
involving all of its structural
parts.
In order to check how this single
body will behave under a
given seismic event, we have to
introduce the concept of mode
of vibration.
Each building, and more in
general each physical object, is
characterized by a series of vibration
modes that describe the
way in which the system tends
to oscillate naturally, i.e. with
Fig. 6 – Example of overturning of perimeter wall.
no excitation force. The frequency
value at which it oscillates
is called natural frequency
and the shape it assumes during
the oscillation is called mode
shape.
When the frequency of the
exciting vibration is equal,
or very close, to the natural
frequency of a given mode of
vibration, we have the phenomenon
of the resonance and
the system starts to oscillate
according to the mode shape.
A simple example of this
phenomenon is given by the
diapason: when you hit the
diapason, it starts to vibrate ac-
Fig. 7 - Example of vertical bending.
GEOmedia n°3-2018 15
REPORT
Fig. 8 - Apartment complex collapsed after the 1985 Mexico
City earthquake.
cording to its natural frequency
at 440 Hz (corresponding to
the musical note A4) and if we
put a vibrating diapason near a
still one, after a few seconds the
latter will start to oscillate in
the same way.
The same happens for buildings:
the seismic waves of an
earthquake contain a number
of frequencies and if the frequency
content is very close to
the natural frequencies of the
building the resonance phenomenon
induces an amplification
of the strong motion. An
even worse case is the double
resonance phenomenon: this
happens when the soil and the
building have similar frequencies
and they are both strongly
excited by the earthquake, so
that they both acts as amplifiers
of the seismic motion. One of
the most famous cases of double
resonance is the earthquake
which struck Mexico City in
1985 (Fig. 8).
In general, the damages produced
by an earthquake tend to
decrease as the distance from
the epicenter increases, because
the seismic waves are subject to
an attenuation but in the case
of Mexico City the most of the
damage occurred at about 400
Km from the epicenter: the
softness of the soil where the
city lies caused an amplification
of the seismic waves and
the very similar frequencies of
buildings and soil has led to a
double resonance phenomenon
(Fig. 9).
In the light of above, the correct
estimation of the structural
modes of vibration plays a
fundamental role in the seismic
vulnerability assessment. In
general, they are determined
through a modal analysis using
a numerical model like a Finite
Element (FE) model, built on
the basis of data like the structural
geometry, the mechanical
features of the materials, the
masses and their disposition
(Fig. 10).
Once a suitable seismic input is
defined, the stress acting on the
structural elements due to the
seismic action are determined
on the basis of the vibrational
characteristics obtained with
the modal analysis. Finally,
the structural elements of the
buildings are verified according
to their material strength,
considering the state of stress
induced by both the static and
dynamic loads, in order to
assess the vulnerability of the
considered building.
The accuracy of the results
clearly relies on the accuracy of
the numerical model and one
of the key aspects is a proper assessment
of the mode of vibration
of the structure. Upstream
of a numerical model, a number
of inspections and surveys
are carried out in order to get
the information about geometrical
and mechanical features
of the structural elements
which will be included in the
FE model.
Of course, the more comprehensive
these local surveys
are the more accurate the global
model will be in terms of
modes of vibration estimation
and, consequently, assessment
of dynamic response of the
structure. Which begs the question:
is it possible to identify
the real modes of vibration of
an existing building, in order
to compare them with the ones
calculated numerically?
Yes, it is. Through the dynamic
identification.
Dynamic identification of existing
buildings
Basically, a building subject to a
vibration tends to act as a filter
which modifies the original signal
on the basis of its physical
characteristics. Once again, the
Fig. 9 - Soil effect during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.
Fig. 10 - Example of FE model.
16 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
Fig. 11 – A vibrodyne used to apply an input
to a building.
example of the equalizer in a
hi-fi audio system that we used
when talking about the soil has
a good match with our specific
case. The way in which the original
signal is modified when
passing through the building is
highly dependent on its dynamic
characteristics and a suitable
analysis of these signals allow
us to extract the vibrational
characteristics of the building,
i.e. its modes of vibration.
The dynamic identification
of an existing building can be
carried out using two main
techniques, which differ in
terms of required equipment
and implementation rules: the
Experimental Modal Analysis
(EMA) and the Operational
Modal Analysis (OMA).
Both of the techniques require
the positioning of sensors in
different points of the building
under examination (typically
accelerometers or velocimeters)
in order to acquire the structural
response, but the main difference
between the former and
the latter is due to the exciting
force.
In EMA, the structure is
artificially excited by using
equipment which applies an
external known excitation (Fig.
11). As these machines must
be able to induce forces that
involve the entire building, it
is easy to imagine that they are
massive equipment that have to
be fixed to the structural parts,
generally at the top level of the
building, making their transportation
and assembly very
onerous. As a consequence, this
kind of measurements are quite
invasive and lead to the interruption
of the serviceability in
the examined building until all
the equipment has been removed.
On the contrary, in the case of
OMA no external excitation
force is required: the sensors
placed in the structure acquire
the very small vibrations induced
by external factors like
the people moving inside, the
wind, the traffic in neighboring
streets and so on. This feature
implies an important advantage
over the previously described
EMA: such measures do not
require the building to become
off-limits location, as the target
of the measurements are the
vibrations of the building in
its operational condition when
subject to the so-called environmental
noise. Furthermore,
due to the low level of vibrations,
the sensors can be often
just placed on the floor with no
need to drill holes in the walls.
Of course, there is also some
drawback: as the amplitude of
the environmental vibrations
can be orders of magnitude
lower than the ones induced
by the heavy machines used in
EMA, the accelerometers to be
used must have a very high sensitivity,
which leads to a higher
equipment cost.
Despite this, it’s quite clear that
in the application to the civil
engineering field a non-invasive
approach like the Operational
Modal Analysis is much more
suitable than the Experimental
Modal Analysis, which remains
a profitable technique widely
used in fields like mechanics
and aerospace engineering.
Regardless of whether EMA
or OMA is performed for the
identification, the knowledge
of the experimentally identified
modes of vibration provides
a significant added value to
the seismic vulnerability assessment
of buildings. When
performing a typical seismic
vulnerability analysis, the theoretical
frequencies and mode
shapes computed through the
numerical model can be compared
with the experimental
ones in order to improve the
accuracy of the calculation model,
making it closer to the real
behaviour of the considered
structure.
For example, the model can be
calibrated by fine-tuning some
of the parameters characterized
by a greater uncertainty,
e.g. the stiffness of the infill
walls in a Reinforced Concrete
building. When modeling
complex buildings, the comparison
between the numerical
and experimental mode shapes
can also highlight the need to
include other structural blocks
whose influence on the dynamic
global response cannot be
neglected.
Furthermore, experimental
modes of vibration can also
be used to check and valida-
Fig. 12 - Tool for the analysis of the local mechanisms
of collapse (top) and example of two
custom mechanisms (bottom).
GEOmedia n°3-2018 17
REPORT
te the efficiency of a seismic
retrofitting, by verifying the
actual match between the real
dynamic behaviour and the designed
one.
Another application is in the
structural health monitoring:
the natural frequencies of a building
depends on its mechanical
features. The occurrence of
a damage produces a reduction
of the structural stiffness and
a decrease in the natural frequencies.
As a consequence, the
comparison between the modes
of vibration identified before
and after a seismic event may
point out a non-visible damage,
which can be also located and
quantified by using appropriate
techniques.
Fig. 13 - 3D model created from 2D floor plan in Planner.
Tools and instruments: work
in progress
As part of the collaboration
between Roma Tre University
and GEOWEB S.p.A., some
tools are being developed relating
to the topic of seismic risk.
In particular, two of them are
related to the topics briefly described
in this article.
The first one is designed for
masonry buildings and allows
the practitioner to verify the
potential occurrence of local
mechanisms of collapse (Fig.
12 - top), in accordance with
the provisions of the Italian
building code. This tool will
be integrated in the Planner,
the 2D/3D graphical editor
developed by GEOWEB in its
Metior Platform, which easily
allows the user to create 3D
models of buildings from the
2D floor plans (Fig. 13), to
be used for several purposes:
in the context of the Selective
Deconstruction, for instance,
they allow to schedule, quantify
and support either the demolition
or the refurbishment activities
aiming to maximize the
amount of materials recycled
or even reused, and minimizing
the amount of materials
dumped to landfill; an ad-hoc
version of the Planner, named
BaM (Building and Modeling),
has been adopted in an education
program which is currently
being carried out at the first
level of Italian secondary school
to promote the adoption of
recycling best practices and to
raise awareness about energy
saving issues.
Thanks to the implementation
of the previously described tool,
its integration in the Planner
will enable the user to choose
the portion of the building –
i.e. its modeled geometry - to
analyze and to calculate the
acceleration required for the
activation of a local mechanism
of collapse, comparing it with
the provisions of the building
code.
In addition to the more common
mechanisms like the
previously described ones, the
user is also able to define and
analyze custom mechanisms,
which may be required for the
structural situation under examination
(Fig. 12 - bottom).
The second tool is focused on
the dynamic identification of
existing buildings and allows
the practitioner to analyze the
environmental vibration signals
acquired by the accelerometers,
supporting all the steps that
lead from the model definition
to the identification of the experimental
modes of vibration.
The software implements some
robust and reliable algorithms
from scientific literature for the
modal parameters extraction
and offers several advanced
tools for signal preprocessing
and the validation of the final
results (Fig. 14).
The software is specifically designed
for application in the field
of civil engineering, and thanks
to its building-oriented nature,
specific control indices have
18 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
been implemented given their
relevance in the identification
of buildings dynamics.
The geometric information
input is very flexible: geometry
data import can be carried
out from several widespread
formats, like spreadsheets and
CAD files; it is also possible to
directly import geometry data
from a model created in the
Planner (Fig. 15).
The equipment used for the
acquisition is generally quite
expensive, due to the high level
of sensitivity required to detect
small amplitude vibrations like
environmental ones, and when
a significant number of measuring
points is required this set
of instruments can cost several
thousand Euros. Given the importance
that this kind of measurements
has in the seismic
behaviour assessment of buildings,
efforts are being made to
develop a measurement system
with a suitable trade-off between
the required performance
and the cost.
A significant cost reduction,
both in terms of hardware and
software, together with the development
of tools able to assist
the user during the design and
the execution of the measurement
phase, would certainly
help to increase the usage of
the dynamic identification in
the seismic vulnerability assessment.
The implementation of a lowcost
hardware will also lead
to the development of an affordable
monitoring system,
designed to be permanently
installed on the building, in
order to periodically acquire
environmental vibrations and
perform a check of its vibrational
characteristics over time.
Nowadays, the Building
Information Modeling (BIM)
process is becoming increasingly
important and widespread
in the building sector,
playing a key role in
all stages of the building’s
lifecycle - from
its design to its maintenance.
The tools developed
in the framework of
the Metior research
project allow the user
to create a virtual reality
in which the 3D
representation of the
real-world objects is
combined with their
semantics, i.e. their
features and the role they play
in the building system, in full
accordance to the BIM philosophy
whose aim is to create a digital
representation of physical
and functional features of the
building.
As a consequence, with a view
to enhancing this 3D virtual
reality model, relevant information
which would be helpful in
safeguarding and maintaining
Fig. 14 - Software for dynamic identification: signal acquisition and preprocessing
panel.
of existing buildings can be added.
One of the next targets in
the Metior platform is the integration
of the semantic model
with the data related to the experimental
modes of vibration
of the building.
And this is something that, as
we have seen throughout this
article, can offer a huge added
value in understanding the real
dynamic behaviour of the existing
building stock.
Fig. 15 - Import of geometry from Planner 3D model.
GEOmedia n°3-2018 19
REPORT
REFERENCES
Acunzo, G., Fiorini, N., Mori, F., Spina, D., (2018), Modal mass estimation from ambient vibrations measurement: A method for civil buildings,
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 98C, 580-593
Acunzo, G., Gabriele, S., Spina, D., Valente, C., (2014), MuDI: a multilevel damage identification platform, Proceedings of the 12th International
Conference on Computational Structures Technology (CST2014), Naples, Italy, paper 123.
Di Carlo A., Shapiro V., and Paoluzzi A., Linear Algebraic Representation for Topological Structures, Computer-Aided Design, Volume 46,
Issue 1, January 2014, Pages 269-274
Marino, E., Spini, F., Paoluzzi, A., Salvati, D., Vadalà, C., Bottaro, A., Vicentino, M. (2017), Modeling Semantics for Building Deconstruction,
Proceedings of the 12th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications
(VISIGRAPP 2017), Porto, Portugal, 274 - 281
Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni - Approvate con Decreto Ministeriale 17 gennaio 2018
Ranieri, G., Fabbrocino, Operational Modal Analysis of Civil Engineering Structures: An Introduction and Guide for Applications, Springer,
Berlin (2014)
KEYWORDS
Structural engineering; seismic risk; environmental vibration; operational modal analysis; BIM; 3D modeling
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a brief overview of the concept of seismic risk, with particular regard to existing civil buildings. Given that the seismic risk can be
expressed as a combination involving seismic hazard and seismic vulnerability, these aspects are both discussed, describing the factors that lead to the
expected seismic input at the base of a building as well as the ones determining its vulnerability.
The way a building tends to react when it is subject to an external vibration is closely connected to its geometrical and mechanical features, which
determine what in structural engineering are commonly called “vibrational modes”. As a consequence, an accurate estimation of these modes is a
fundamental condition in order to assess the structural response under seismic action. Several experimental techniques aimed at the identification
of the vibrational modes for existing buildings and the way in which such parameters can be used in the vulnerability assessment field are described
in the present work.
AUTHOR
Gianluca Acunzo , gacunzo@os.uniroma3.it
Michele Vicentino, mvicentino@geoweb.it
Antonio Bottaro, abottaro@geoweb.it
Geoweb
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THE MANIFESTO OF THE SOCIETY 5.0
Ground movements are common
phenomena across Europe and
worldwide. It is known that
sometimes they can be quite
severe, causing displ There is a
tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads
on to fortune; Omitted, all the
voyage of their life Is bound in
shallows and in miseries. dal
“Giulius Caesar” di Shakespeare
acement of upto one meter over
few years. Actually, movements of
only few centimetres can cause
damage around buried pipes and
infrastructures.
This Manifesto is addressed
to all the participants of the
Digital Revolution (scientists,
technologists, administrators, entrepreneurs)
who, in the context
of social transformations induced
by new technologies, want to contribute
to creating the future of
our children according to ideals
of positive and sustainable values.
Today, we are at the beginning of
the Digital Revolution and like all
revolutions, at this stage, it is not
possible to predict with certainty
what the social outcomes will be.
Premise
Social development has always
been featured by epic transitions
enabled by technological innovation.
Nowadays technology is
not just more powerful than it
used to be in the past, it is different
too: it generated a Digital
Revolution that is creating a new
knowledge ecosystem that includes
all the topics.
The Manifesto of Society 5.0
is a call to action. Through the
Manifesto I wanted to state, in
this early stage of Digital revolution,
the importance of a
model of society called ‘Society
5.0’ which, setting Man and his
needs in the focus point, is able
to answer the challenges of his
own time balancing economic
progress and social issues solutions.
With the ‘Society 5.0’ the
look on Industry 4.0 becomes
wider: from the optimisation of
production processes to the actual
treatment of social subjects,
with the aim of reaching a
complete cooperation between
Technology, Artificial intelligence
and Mankind.
In order to realize the Vision
of Society 5.0 is necessary a paradigma
that starts from needs
& solutions mapping to C2B
(citizen to business) concrete
resolutions. In other words starting
from citizens’ needs. The
enabling element of this paradigma
is the ‘Science of Where’,
because everything starts from
Humanity’s necessities.
I think we can operate to determine
our future to produce positive
outcomes for Man, working
not just at technologies but at
their destination.
The ‘Society 5.0’ development
will happen in different geographical
areas and at different
times because it is a result of the
meeting - on land – between government
actions and Research
and Industry’s initiatives.
For the objective of establishing
this model of society and
sharing the Manifesto, I make
Geoknowledge Foundation
(www.geoknowledgefoundation.
com) available, as founded by
me, with the aim of promoting
the use of geographic knowledge
for ethical-social purposes.
Bruno Ratti - Founder of
Geoknowledge Foundation
We can instead provide innovative
products and services generating
technologies that vertebrate this
revolution.
So we can, using the Shumpeter's
model, predict the possible impacts
on society, but we have no answer
to the question: Will the progress
of technologies lead to a society
that is oblivious to human needs
or will it generate a society that
is polarized only on productive
efficiency with a labor force humiliated
by the competition with
Artificial Intelligence? We can only
22 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
say that everything will depend
on how the process of change will
be governed. So, it is essential to
operate in order to affirm the paradigm
of a society that, by leveraging
new technologies, is better
able to respond to the challenges
of its time such as:
• the protection of Creation,
• safety from natural and manmade
disasters,
• preservation of natural and cultural
heritage,
• socio-economic development,
• the education of the new generations,
that is, "a society, with man at
the center, that balances economic
progress with the solution
of social problems through a
system that strongly integrates
cyber space with physical space",
defined as Society 5.0 in the 5th
Science and Technology Basic
Plan document published by the
Japanese Government in April
2016. With the Society 5.0 the
Vision of the Industry 4.0 is
extended, going from the optimization
of production processes
to the treatment of social problems,
with the aim of achieving
a complete collaboration between
Technology, Artificial Intelligence
and Man. In order to implement
the Vision of the Society 5.0, a
paradigm is needed which starts
from the mapping of needs and
solutions in terms of C2B (citizen
to business), so that starts from
the needs of citizens. The enabling
element of this paradigm
is the Science of Where, because
everything starts from where
human needs are. The Science
of Where brings benefits in all
the processes of knowledge because
it combines the dimension
of Where with the traditional
dimensions of How, When and
Why and allows to direct the focus
of the social development on
the individual needs.
The methods and enabling
technologies of the Science of
Where derive from the progress
of Digital Geography generated
by the research and development
carried out in the laboratories of
the Esri (Environment Systems
Research Institute). Through the
Esri WebGIS platform technologies
and the systemic analysis
of Big Data, coming from the
Internet of Things and aerospace
sensors, the Science of Where is
defining new ways of designing
and living the environment and
the city. By predicting the social
consequences of the Digital
Revolution, we are faced with a
dilemma: will the innovation process
be governed only to increase
the production capacity of the
machines, or will the innovation
process be governed to respond to
the vital needs of man?
It does not seem opportune to
me to leave to historians the task
of diagnosing, once things are
done, how social development
will have been determined as a
result of the Digital Revolution.
I call for action in order to
contribute to the realization
of the Vision of our future according
to a humanistic ideal.
It is essential to act, because as
Jack Dangermond says: Vision
without Action is only a dream,
Action without Vision is a hobby,
Vision and Action together
can change the world. To implement
this action I propose to
apply the Futurecraft method,
"the art of building the future:
hypothesizing future scenarios
examining the consequences and
needs and sharing the results, to
allow an exchange of ideas and
open a public debate", as Carlo
Ratti writes in his book "The
City of Tomorrow". The target
is therefore to create a society
vision, where a higher value is
recognized for human interaction
with technology and the Society's
ethical, social and economic values
are rooted throughout the
Society 5.0. The development of
a Society 5.0 will take place in
different countries with different
methods and timing, because it
will depend on the meeting that
will take place between the actions
of governments and the initiatives
of Industry and Research.
In order to do this, I propose that
all those who wish to contribute
to the realization of this Vision
constitute in their countries a
Community which, operating
according to the sharing and reuse
paradigms of the Knowledge
Society, guarantee:
• the verbalization of a common
epistemology 5.0;
• coordination of public or private
initiatives;
• sharing and reuse of the results
of the experiments;
• assessment of the social impact
of initiatives;
• conducting a public debate on
the results achieved.
As a community aggregation
point, I make available the
Academy of the Geoknowledge
Foundation founded by me to
promote the use of Geographical
Knowledge for ethical and social
purposes www.geoknowledgefoundation.it.
The action of the Communities
will realize our ideal of contributing
to the creation of a future
with a human face.
Bruno Ratti
GEOmedia n°3-2018 23
Cabo Verde
For World Oceans Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite
takes us over the Atlantic Ocean and the Republic of Cabo
Verde.
Several of the small islands that make up the archipelago of Cabo Verde can
be seen peeking out from beneath the clouds. These volcanic islands lie in the
Atlantic Ocean about 570 km off the west coast of Senegal and Mauritania, which
frame the image on the right.
The most striking thing about this image, however, is the dust and sand being carried
by the wind towards Cabo Verde from Africa. The sand comes mainly from the Sahara and
Sahel region. Owing to Cabo Verde's position and the trade winds, these storms are not uncommon
and can disrupt air traffic.
However, this sand also fertilises the ocean with nutrients and promotes the growth of phytoplankton,
which are microscopic plants that sustain the marine food web.
The iron in the dust is particularly important. Without iron mammals cannot make haemoglobin
to transport oxygen around the bloodstream and plants cannot make chlorophyll to photosynthesise.
Research has shown that around 80% of iron in samples of water taken across the North Atlantic
originates from the Sahara. It can be assumed, therefore, that life in the deep ocean
depends on this delivery of fertiliser from one of the worldís most parched regions.
World Oceans Day takes place on 8 June each year and celebrates the ocean, its importance
in all our lives, and how we can protect it.
This image was captured on 30 May 2018.
(Credits: ESA - Image of the week: "Capo Verde".
MERCATO
PIX4D’S FIRST FULLY DEDICATED PRODUCT
FOR AGRICULTURE – PIX4DFIELDS: CREATED
WITH THE INPUT OF FARMERS, AGRONOMISTS
AND BREEDERS IS NOW LIVE.
We worked with farmers, agronomists and breeders to shape
Pix4Dfields. Over the past two months, a select group of beta testers
has used the product all over the world. Their feedback not
only demonstrates that Pix4Dfields values real-world situations,
but has also set the pace for new features you can expect to see in
the coming months.
Today, we are happy to announce that Pix4Dfields is now commercially
available and open for everyone on both macOS and
Windows.
Why you should consider Pix4Dfields for your agriculture
workflow:
• This product is developed with input from farmers, agronomists
and breeders, meaning Pix4Dfields focuses on what matters
when it comes to agriculture fields of application.
• Pix4Dfields is equipped with our instant results processing engine
that provides accurate results faster than before.
• The software has an easy-to-use interface with tools tailored to
agricultural workflows.
• Pix4Dfields allows you to produce results efficiently and rapidly
in the field, while performing more detailed analysis in
the office.
• The built-in analysis tools allow you to produce accurate and
repeatable measurements of crop health.
‘The processing speed of Pix4Dfields is excellent. You can have
your data in real time‘, Federico Alva, Consultant, ATYGES
Ingeniería.
‘Pix4Dfields has solved the processing bottleneck and without
compromising in image resolution’, Greg Crutsinger, Drone ecologist,
Scholar Farms
This product will continue to grow and evolve rapidly.
Pix4Dfields was designed with input from the agricultural industry,
and so will continue to evolve with the feedback from
our users.
Pix4Dfields is now available for both macOS and Windows
and supports RGB, Parrot Sequoia and MicaSense RedEdge
cameras(awaiting latest firmware update)
To learn more about Pix4Dfields, visit the Pix4Dfields product
page and test it out one month for free.
www.pix4d.com/
VIDALASER AND FOIF INVITE AT
INTERGEO 2018
vidaLaser, leading company in the production of laser for tunnel
excavation since 1975 with instruments designed for this specific
use. vidaLaser is able to customize its products following the
user's requirements and is able to produce instruments starting
from the specific requirements of the user following design, construction
and certification.
vidaLaser is the official importer of the FOIF Company, it follows
the commercialization and the official technical assistance.
FOIF has been producing topographic instruments since 1958
and is the world's leading company in this sector with official
offices all over the world.
vidaLaser has a laboratory equipped with primary instruments
certified by ACCREDIA for the calibration / calibration of topographic
instruments.
vidaLaser uses only original and official FOIF spare parts.
The technical staff, with a thirty-year experience in the service of
topographic instruments, a professional training matured with
refresher courses and daily experience, guarantees assistance and
professionalism in the official technical assistance of all FOIF
products in all its aspects.
FOIF products, famous all over the world for their precision and
reliability, include a wide range of topographic instruments, all
characterized by a constructive excellence and a care for details
that distinguish them on the world market.
26 GEOmedia n°3-2018
MERCATO
GNSS:
- multi-constellation systems for creating CORS networks.
- Multi-constellation receivers with connection to CORS
networks in RTK and connection in the local BASE-
ROVER system via uhf radio or via 3G telephone network
- Static multi-constellation receivers for the PPK
- GIS dedicated receivers
Total stations:
- Instruments for topographic and cadastral use.
- High-precision engineering and construction tools.
- Structural monitoring tools.
- Tools for tunnelling with gyroscope integrated in the total
station system - gyroscope, specific topographic programs
and resistance to the specific work environment.
Theodolites:
- Mechanical instruments of very fine construction and precision
in the best tradition.
- Electronic instruments also with high brightness laser
pointer integrated in the optical unit.
Mechanical optical levels:
- Self-levelling instruments for constructions.
- Self-levelling instruments for high precision levelling with
micrometer and reading at the invar rod.
Electronic optical levels:
- Instruments for levelling in the construction sector with
reading of the horizontal distance, calculation of the difference
in height and storage of the detected data.
- High precision levelling instruments with reading at the
bar code rod.
vidaLaser and FOIF invite you to discover all the 2018 news
at:
INTERGEO 2018 16-18 October 2018 Francoforte stand
No: 12.0C.071
info@vidalaser.com
www.vidalaser.com
GEOmedia n°3-2018 27
MERCATO
SATELLITES AND BIG DATA ANALYTICS
PROVIDE NEW EYES TO PROTECT THE SEA:
LEONARDO’S SEONSE PLATFORM
SEonSE (Smart Eyes on the SEas), Leonardo’s geospatial maritime
security platform is now available online. Thanks to the use
of cloud computing and of advanced big data analysis models,
SEonSE makes it possible to access in real-time, even from tablets
or smartphones, customised information on what happens at sea.
The announcement was made at the “Farnborough International
Airshow” exhibition being held in theUnited Kingdom, where
the solution implemented by e-GEOS (a joint venture between
Telespazio 80%and ASI 20%) was presented. This platform integrates
data coming from multiple sources and provide smultiple
services for maritime security and surveillance, monitoring of illegal
traffic, environment protection as well as fight against piracy.
“With SEonSE, maritime security can fully leverage on the advantages
offered by digital technology. A huge amount of data is automatically
processed in real-time for the protection of people and
the maritime environment” declared Luigi Pasquali, Leonardo’s
Coordinator of Space activities and Telespazio’s CEO. “This revolutionary
platform is based on the knowledge of an industrial
Group, Leonardo, a leader in the development and supply of integrated
systems and technologies for maritime domain awareness,
and on 25-years of experience in the Earth observation domain,
with e-GEOS as an international leader.”
SEonSE processes information acquired from satellites and coastline
radars and merges them on an automatic and continuous basis,
thanks to proprietary algorithms, with positioning data sent by
vessels (AIS, VMS, LRIT), registries of ships and various databases
along with meteorological and oceanographic information. This
data is then compared with historical information and customary
behaviors, making it possible to identify anomalous activities and
potential threats to security. The result is timely and easily accessible
information, crucial to identifying possible risks which are
signaled by automatically generated alerts to intercept the vessel
in question, to plan the actions of the relevant authorities and to
trace secure routes in hostile environments.
Crucial in terms of security and monitoring is the contribution
of satellite images, which allow the observation on a global scale
of cooperating or non-cooperating vessels – therefore even the
ones that do not comply with identification requirements at sea
– in any weather conditions, in remote areas, by day and night.
SEonSE, in particular, combines the high resolution and the flexibility
of the Italian COSMO-SkyMed radar satellite constellation
with the frequency of programmed acquisitions of the Sentinels of
the Copernicus European programme. In addition, the platform
already allows the integration of data generated by the constellations
of mini-satellites, like Planet and BlackSky, granting a nonstop
and complete updating of the situation at sea.
SEonSE also leverages on, in real-time, over 7 million AIS signals
sent every day by about 165,000 vessels which are managed by
exactEarth, the worldwide leader in Satellite AIS data services,for
global tracking of commercial ships. e-GEOS and exactEarth have
signed a partnership agreement at the Farnborough show.
SEonSE is based on an e-GEOS’ patent for the processing of satellite
data, already used in many activities for maritime security
and in international projects, like OCEAN2020, the European
Defence Fund strategic research programme for naval surveillance
technology and maritime safety, that is led by Leonardo.
RHETICUS®: THE NEW ERA OF
SATELLITE MONITORING
The European Copernicus Sentinel open
data together with the power of cloud infrastructures
provide players in the EO sector
with the unprecedented opportunity to
design operational Earth monitoring services,
shifting from the provision of data
to the provision of continuous monitoring
services.
At the forefront of this new innovative
model there is Rheticus®, a cloud-based
hub that processes satellite imagery and
geospatial data automatically, and delivers
geo-information services ready-to-use by
end-users. Actionable information are provided by means of thematic
maps, geo-analytics, pre-set reports, and alerts. Contents are
dynamically displayed through an intuitive and user-friendly web
dashboard, available 24/7 on any device.
By integrating contents generated by Rheticus® Platform with
Hexagon Geospatial’s Smart M.App technology, Planetek Italia
succeeded in creating several monitoring services that provide timely
solutions to address users’ needs in various industries. The
result is a series of Smart M.Apps, which are able to present users
with analytical views and help organizations
in easily detect varied patterns
and trends in data.
Rheticus® Network Alert is the first
successful Smart M.App developed.
It helps utility companies in the complex
and expensive task of the management
of inspections and maintenance
activities over their integrated water
and sewerage networks. Among our
Rheticus® active users, there are some
of the largest European utility companies,
as Hera Group, MM SpA, Acea.
Other industry-focused Smart
M.Apps are: Rheticus® Bridge Alert,
Rheticus® Road Alert, Rheticus® Railways Alert and Rheticus®
Infrastructure Alert, all designed around Rheticus® Displacement
fueled by radar data. These vertical services transform data into
actionable knowledge thanks to our business intelligence tools,
overcoming the concept of static maps.
By visiting https://www.rheticus.eu, it is possible to read further
information and case histories, or to start using a Free Trial
DEMO.
28 GEOmedia n°3-2018
2-4 APRIL 2019
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GEOmedia n°3-2018 29
MERCATO
calibration help you refine raw data for further analysis: you
can correct images for atmospheric effects and obtain the real
ground radiance or reflectance values.
NEW EOS PLATFORM LETS YOU RUN IMAGE
PROCESSING TASKS IN BROWSER
Most of your image analysis tasks that required ENVI or Erdas
Imagine software are now available online thanks to EOS
Platform. This new game-changing cloud service launched by
EOS Data Analytics provides GIS professionals with a one-stop
solution for search, analysis, storing, and visualization of large
amounts of geospatial data.
With EOS Platform you get access to an ecosystem of four
mutually integrated EOS products, which together provide a
powerful toolset for geospatial analysts. Image data is stored in
cloud-based EOS Storage and is available for image processing
or remote sensing analysis at any time; this can be a raw user file,
an imagery obtained from LandViewer or an output file from
EOS Processing.
There are at least two reasons why image processing is the platform’s
major asset: the processing of large data amounts runs
online and offers as many as 16 workflows with even more coming
soon. On top of that, users can get the best cartographic
features of EOS Vision for vector data visualization and, as announced
for the future, its analysis.
Data agnostic platform
When it comes to raster data, you can work with a variety of
satellite and airborne datasets in LandViewer, EOS Processing,
and EOS Storage. Users can also upload their own GeoTiff,
JPEG, JPEG 2000 files and apply GIS data processing algorithms
via API or from the web interface. EOS Vision is your tool
for vector data operations with multiple formats support (ESRI
Shapefile, GeoJSON, KML, KMZ).
The whole package for image processing
EOS Processing offers a great experience with its sixteen processing
workflows, including the popular raster tools (merge,
reprojection, pansharpening), remote sensing analytics, photogrammetry,
and proprietary feature extraction algorithms
that can’t be found anywhere else. Get your data ready for the
upcoming LiDAR analysis and 3D modeling as they’ll become
available soon.
Such pre-processing tasks as cloud detection or radiometric
Object detection, change detection, and classification
The convolutional neural networks, pre-trained by EOS Data
Analytics to extract features from imagery, let you apply stateof-art
methods to detect objects and track changes from space.
4Having only a set of multi-temporal images and change detection
workflow, you can track how illegal deforestation progresses
over time.
4Edge detection can show the exact boundaries of your agricultural
lands down to the last pixel.
4It is possible to estimate the parking lot traffic of largest shopping
centers with car detection algorithm.
The best of spectral analysis
Products within EOS Platform support almost all remote sensor
types and the user can choose from a long list of spectral indices
to calculate on the fly. Aside from the complete set of vegetation
indices (NDVI, ReCI, ARVI, SAVI, AVI, etc.), there are
also indices to outline landscape features (water, snow and ice
– NDWI, NDSI) and burned areas (NBR). The greatest thing
is that here you get the freedom of experimenting with spectral
bands and can create custom band combinations that best fit
your purposes.
Customize and analyze
The user-friendly interface of EOS Processing makes it easy to
manage processing workflows depending on the user’s business
needs. You can set the parameters for processing and repeatedly
use such customized workflow to automate high-frequency
analytical tasks. The coming updates will add an ability to create
custom algorithms from the available data processing operations.
Agriculture, forestry, oil and gas, and more industries
A tandem of EOS products offers a much-needed solution for
individuals, businesses, and organizations across numerous industries.
With vegetation indices and crop classification feature, agronomists
can continuously monitor crop conditions to detect plant
diseases, pests, droughts. Forestry specialists can assess fire damages,
monitor forest health, track and enforce logging restrictions.
EOS Platform is a great choice for regional and urban planning,
helping users identify land cover classes to generate a vegetation
map. It can also make a complete list of urban features like buildings,
roads, and other major features in the region.
The platform can tackle disaster management by measuring flood
extent and finding fire boundaries. When it comes to oil
and gas, it is capable of identifying oil rigs and assessing the
environmental impact.
EOS Data Analytics uses cloud-based services to address different
verticals with a single platform, scientifically proven
analytics, scale-ups and it builds products that could add value
to remote sensed data to deliver expert-level results for your business.
Unlock the full potential of Earth observation data with EOS
Platform, directly in your browser: https://eos.com/platform
30 GEOmedia n°3-2018
www.esriitalia.it
Soluzioni e Tecnologie
Geografiche per
la Trasformazione
Digitale
REPORT
Copernicus Sentinels missions and
crowdsourcing as game changers for
geospatial information in agriculture
by Flavio Lupia, Vyron Antoniou
Fig. 1 - Yearly occurrences of papers indexed by Google Scholars containing the
keywords: "Sentinel-1" AND "agriculture"; "Sentinel-2" AND "agriculture"; "Sentinel-3"
AND "agriculture".
Today, new advances in science and technology and,
above all, the open flow of rich datasets play a pivotal
role when it comes to better manage territory and its
resources. Agriculture is one of the relevant domains
where data from Earth Observation and their integration
with data from different sources (i.e. proximal and
ground sensors and even in-situ data from human
sensors) will provide many benefits. Such data-driven
opportunities are the backdrop of the transition toward
an innovative agriculture (see the concepts of smart
farming, farming 2.0, precision farming/agriculture,
digital agriculture, etc.). The following paragraphs
describes briefly two new opportunities for the
generation of data usable for agricultural application:
remotely sensed data from the Copernicus programme
and user generated data through crowdsourcing.
New options for mapping and
monitoring agriculture remotely
Agricultural sector is getting ever
more attention due to its role in
feeding a growing world population
by maximizing productivity
and optimizing natural resources
usage. At European level, agriculture
has great economic
relevance. According to 2013
Eurostat figures, 42.5 % of the
area of EU-28 was occupied by
agriculture and globally the EU-
28’s share was above the world
average (37.9 %).
More accessible data and information
can benefit the agricultural
sector and the effective implementation
of policies such as
the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP). Though the current CAP
(2014-2020) has contributed
to agricultural sustainability,
the future CAP (beyond 2020)
will strive further to facilitate
smart and resilient farming and
actions to meet environmental
EU targets and to improve the
socio-economic tissue of rural
areas. Achieving these goals requires
a step up in research and
innovation.
Copernicus, the programme for
the establishment of a European
capacity for Earth Observation
(EO), is the chief example with
its geospatial big data delivered
with open data policy enacting a
big leap in agricultural mapping
and monitoring.
Copernicus is satellite-borne
EO, in-situ data and services
32 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
such as the Copernicus Land
Monitoring Service (https://
land.copernicus.eu/) providing
information on land cover/land
use and variables for vegetation
and water cycle monitoring for
applications in several domains
such as agriculture.
The Programme with its global
coverage, powerful sensors, continuity
of acquisition and open
data policy is opening up new
options to manage and control
actions needed by CAP objectives
for European agriculture.
Agricultural analysis can benefit
from products delivered by the
first three Copernicus Sentinels
missions operating with twin
satellites (A and B).
Sentinel-1 (S1), launched on 3
April 2014 (1A) and 25 April
2016 (1B), provides all-weather
and day/night microwave acquisition
(C-band Synthetic
Aperture Radar) in four exclusive
imaging modes with spatial resolutions
down to 5 m and a swath
width from 20 to 400 km.
Sentinel-2 (S2), launched on
23 June 2015 (2A) and on 7
March 2017 (2B), has a spatial
resolution (10, 20 and 60 m) suitable
for average size of parcels
in Europe, a low revisit time (5
days at Equator), a multispectral
sensor (visible, near-infrared
and red-edge channels) and 290
km swath width. These features
enable applications related to
seasonal and within-season crop
status analysis, yield prediction
and determination of nutrient
and irrigation needs. The integration
of S1 and S2 allows to
create very dense time series for
agricultural studies. Moreover,
S1 complements the multispectral
information of S2 by
acquiring under the clouds and
trough vegetation canopy.
Sentinel-3 (S3), launched on
16 February 2016 (3A) and 25
April 2018 (3B), has near-daily
acquisition at low resolution
(300 m), two swath widths of
1270 and 1420 km, a sensor
with high spectral quality with
three high accuracy thermal
bands usable for vegetation stress
monitoring. Co-location of bands
between S2 and S3 and the
existence of bands devoted to atmospheric
corrections ensure the
full integration of the products
generated.
As a whole, Sentinels will generate
long term time series
boosting several applications,
including change detection of
agricultural land, yield forecast
and definition and calibration of
agricultural models. Analytical
possibilities will be much more
powerful if integration with
others EO open data is considered
(e.g. Landsat missions).
The interests about Sentinels
missions and their potential application
in agriculture started
well in advance their operational
deployment, this is well depicted
by the growing trend of the
occurrences of the two terms
“Sentinel-x” and “agriculture”
within papers indexed by Google
Scholar (Figure 1).
Among the relevant projects
exploiting Sentinels data for
agriculture, Sen4CAP (http://
esa-sen4cap.org/) and Sen2-Agri
(http://www.esa-sen2agri.org/)
are two examples worth mentioning.
Aimed at developing
EO products and services with
open source code, Sen4CAP is
developed to increase efficiency,
traceability and to reduce costs
of the system managing the
payments for farmers under the
CAP. Sen2-Agri is designed to
demonstrate, through a useroriented
approach, the usability
of S2 time series for agricultural
monitoring for a wide range of
crops and farming practices. The
main output is a free and open
source processing system which
delivers several near real time
products (e.g. vegetation status
map, monthly cropland masks,
crop type maps).
Big geospatial data that is being
generated by Sentinel’s missions
call for a shift in data management
and analysis in order to
effectively extract powerful information
to support agricultural
management. New technological
solutions such as cloud-based
platforms and multi-core processing
systems are needed to effectively
manage these huge datasets.
The Thematic Exploitation
Platform (https://tep.eo.esa.
int/) and the Copernicus Data
and Information Access Services
(http://copernicus.eu/news/
upcoming-copernicus-data-andinformation-access-services-dias)
are two interesting solutions.
Crowdsourcing: the option for
bottom up data generation
In parallel with the authoritative
initiatives for systematic EO and
the collection of big geospatial
data for further analysis, there
are equally interesting developments
at the other end of
the spectrum: the citizens. The
evolution of crowdsourcing,
i.e. tapping the power of the
crowd to achieve specific goals,
usually through open and inclusive
processes, has evolved
into Volunteered Geographic
Information (VGI) for the
Geomatics domain. VGI, defined
as the harnessing of tools to
create, assemble, and disseminate
geographic data provided voluntarily
by individuals (Goodchild,
2007), has transformed the way
that geographic information can
be collected and maintained and
today intertwines with Citizen
Science (CS) which promotes
the volunteer from the position
of simple data provider to designer
and practitioner of scientific
work. These developments and
efforts have not been left without
support by the authorities.
In EU, a number of projects has
GEOmedia n°3-2018 33
REPORT
been funded that aim to promote
the engagement of citizens
to scientific endeavours (see for
example Horizon 2020 DITOS
project - http://www.togetherscience.eu/
- or the funding of
multiple projects through the
COST Action Scheme).
In this context, and given the
individual advantages of the
authoritative data acquisition on
the one hand and the bottomup
process of data collection on
the other, a new challenge has
appeared: how to combine the
best of the two worlds in a way
that will add value to the final
products and services that reach
the users. For example, effective
exploitation of EO for terrestrial
monitoring, and specifically
for agriculture, cannot avoid
the use of in-situ data necessary
for calibration/validation of
any derived product. Beyond
the classical tools for collecting
ground data, nowadays new
opportunities derive from CS
and VGI, where laypersons
or interested stakeholders can
actively or passively generate
georeferenced information that
can be merged with EO data.
For example, both volunteers
and farmers can provide relevant
in-situ data on bio-geophysical
properties of soils and crops. A
recent study (Dehnen-Schmutz
et. al., 2016) carried out in UK
and France showed that farmers
are confident in the use of apps
and expressed interest to participate
in CS projects especially
for data collection and real-time
monitoring. All these data can
be collected and analysed with
dedicated platforms so to deploy
advisory services for farmers that
will help them to improve crop
management and production.
Other examples can be found
at the Spece4Agri (http://space4agri.irea.cnr.it/it),
and the
FOODIE (http://www.foodieproject.eu/index.php)
projects
which use VGI for agriculture
or the LandSense (https://landsense.eu/)
project that uses
VGI for collecting Land Use
and Land Cover (LULC) data.
Space4Agri, developed a system
for integrating remotely sensed,
multi-source and heterogeneous
data, authoritative datasets
and in-situ data on crop development
and agro-practices created
by volunteer (agronomists,
farmers and citizens) to support
sustainable and precision agriculture
(Bordogna et al. 2016).
FOODIE is building a platform
hub on the cloud where spatial
and non-spatial data related to
agricultural sector are available
for agri-food stakeholders and
can be integrated for supporting
decision making process.
Data are collected from different
sources and made openly
available (e.g. OpenStreetMap,
voluntary collected data about
market situation, crops yield,
etc.). Finally, LandSense Citizen
Observatory aggregates innovative
EO technologies, mobile
devices, community-based environmental
monitoring, data
collection, interpretation and
information delivery systems in
order to empower communities
to monitor and report on their
environment.
While there are enormous potentials
from the synergy of
authoritative and crowdsourced
EO efforts, there are equally
some important caveats that
need to be addressed. Perhaps,
the most important one is data
quality. Quality issues can be
analysed from different perspective
and can affect heavily
the results when are used for
validating remotely sensed data
or used for modelling applications
in agriculture. Therefore,
knowing these issues is relevant
as quality can affect decisions
making process from the farming
level (i.e. precise management
of the agricultural production
process) to the policy
level (good implementation and
monitoring of economic and environmental
measures). Quality
evaluation of crowdsourced data
owes to cover multiple facets
of data at hand, facets that are
usually not considered when
dealing with authoritative data.
Thus, apart from the welldefined
spatial quality elements
(ISO 2013) of completeness,
logical consistency, positional
accuracy, temporal accuracy, thematic
accuracy and usability that
need to be thoroughly evaluated,
crowdsourced geographic information
should be also examined
against inherent biases. It is not
uncommon for volunteered
datasets to suffer from temporal
biases, as volunteers might be
able to contribute data only on
weekends or after-work hours;
positional biases, as it is easier
for volunteers to reach and
collect data from areas in their
vicinity or wherever the access is
not obstructed; or participation
biases, as there are social imbalances
regarding the people that
volunteer (i.e. it usually requires
for people to have enough free
time and the means to acquire
the needed equipment for data
collection). All these factors
need to be carefully considered
and evaluated (e.g. by defining
protocols for data collection
(Minghini et al., 2017) before
using crowdsourced geographic
information with authoritative
EO data.
34 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
REFERENCES
Bordogna, G.; Kliment, K.; Frigerio, L.; Stroppiana, D.; Brivio, P.A.; Crema, A.; Boschetti, M.; Sterlacchini, S. Spatial Data
Infrastructure integrating multisource heterogeneous geospatial data and time series: A study case in agriculture. ISPRS Int.
J. Geo-Inf. 2016, 5, 73.
Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Foster, G.L., Owen, L. et al. Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2016) 36: 25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-
016-0359-9
Goodchild, M.F. (2007). "Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography".
GeoJournal. 69 (4): 211–221. doi:10.1007/s10708-007-9111-y.
International Organisation for Standardisation, 2013. ISO19157:2013 Geographic information - Data quality, Geneva:
ISO.
Joint Research Centre, (2016). Concept Note - Towards Future Copernicus Service Components in support to Agriculture?
Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/jrcsh/files/Copernicus_concept_note_agriculture.pdf
Minghini, M, Antoniou, V, Fonte, C C, Estima, J, Olteanu-Raimond, A-M, See, L, Laakso, M, Skopeliti, A, Mooney, P,
Arsanjani, J J, Lupia, F. 2017. The Relevance of Protocols for VGI Collection. In: Foody, G, See, L, Fritz, S, Mooney, P,
Olteanu-Raimond, A-M, Fonte, C C and Antoniou, V. (eds.) Mapping and the Citizen Sensor. Pp. 223–247. London:
Ubiquity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bbf.j.
KEYWORDS
Crowdsourcing; geospatial; remote sensing; monitoring; mapping; agriculture; Copernicus sentinels
ABSTRACT
A big leap in the agricultural sector is expected thanks to the operational deployment of Copernicus data and services, the new Earth Observation
program of the European Commission. The huge quantity of data delivered freely along with the good level of resolution (spatial, temporal and
spectral) will open up new opportunities for achieving the well-known sustainability of agriculture. At the same time, the new trends of crowdsourcing
and citizen science are delivering a great deal of geographical data collected by ordinary users with a bottom-up process. The two type of data
and their integration will be the base for the future application in the agricultural sector, albeit management of big geospatial dataset and quality of
user generated data are issues to be addressed.
AUTHOR
Flavio Lupia
flavio.lupia@crea.gov.it
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA)
Via Po, 14 00198 Roma, Italy
Vyron Antoniou
Multinational Geospatial Support Group
Frauenberger Str. 250, 53879, Euskirchen, Germany
v.antoniou@ucl.ac.uk
L’eccellenza dei dati geografici
Toponomastica e numerazione civica
A beneficio degli ambiti di utilizzo più maturi ed esigenti, per la gestione e per la pianificazione geografica e quotidiana
delle reti e delle utenze, della grande e media distribuzione, della raccolta RSU, dei sistemi navigazionali e del car-sharing,
per l’attività politica e per quella amministrativa. www.studiosit.it • info@studiosit.it
GEOmedia n°3-2018 35
REPORT
Rheticus: Satellite-based
Information Services for Utilities
by Vincenzo Massimi
Ground movements are
common phenomena across
Europe and worldwide. It
is known that sometimes
they can be quite severe,
causing displacement of
up to one meter over few
years. Actually, movements
of only few centimetres
can cause damage
around buried pipes and
Fig. 1 - Satellite monitoring to prevent risks over water and sewer networks
infrastructures.
Traditional campaigns for
the regular monitoring
of large and remote
areas, however, employ considerable
financial resources and
time, and are often complex to
implement. This is the case of
utility companies, which need
to manage large and distributed
networks buried under the
ground.
Even if pipes and underground
networks are made with longlasting
materials, they are stressed
and damaged by ground
movements. This leads utility
companies to face continually
the complex and expensive task
of the maintenance of underground
pipelines, in order to
avoid possible heavy stress conditions
and, eventually, leaks in
the pipes.
These leaks can then accelerate
the erosion around the problem
area, disrupting services
and possibly creating larger
problems, damage to surface facilities,
properties and/or infrastructures,
or exposing people
to risks.
Utilities spend a lot of money
maintaining their networks
and fighting against leakages
and structural problems. Right
now, companies' maintenance
policies are strictly oriented to
recovery their assets in case of
disrupting service due to major
problems. A great number of
utility companies put in place
activities for pipe replacement
only in areas where severe subsidence
phenomena reveals leaks
in the pipes. Identifying ground
movements before they become
critical is a challenge.
The use of satellite data allows
overcoming these limitations
and obtaining frequent, accurate
and accessible information
thanks to the wide availability
of spatial information,
even in open data mode (e.g.
Copernicus Sentinels data,
INSPIRE data, etc.).
Satellite radar technology can
give a good predictive indicator
for where this may be occurring
by measuring where the
ground is subsiding around the
pipelines. Radar data, when
pushed through Interferometric
Synthetic Aperture Radar
(InSAR) analysis, can provide
changes in the ground level
with millimetre accuracy. The
European Space Agency’s
Copernicus programme includes
SAR data from the
Sentinel-1 constellation. Thus,
Sentinel-1 data can be exploited
to identify with high precision
where the ground starts subsiding,
allowing maintenance
36 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
Fig. 2 - List of applications by industry of the satellite-based Rheticus services.
strategies focused on those areas
under high risk, and before
structural problems occur.
Copernicus Sentinels + Cloud
infrastructures: the shift to
Information as-a-Service
The Sentinel open data together
with the power of cloud infrastructures
provide players in the
EO sector with the unprecedented
opportunity to design operational
Earth monitoring services.
Shifting from the provision
of data to the provision of
continuous monitoring services
(i.e., continuous access to information)
is the key point upon
which addressing real users’
needs in the new Era of Big
Data. Moreover, shifting from
monitoring services on request
to long time information services
available under subscription
is the real disruptive innovation
in the field of EO: end-users
pay for the information not for
the processing.
At the forefront of this new
innovative model there is
Rheticus, a cloud-based hub
that processes satellite imagery
and geospatial data automatically,
and delivers geo-information
services ready-to-use by endusers.
Designed and developed
by Planetek Italia, Rheticus
moves beyond mapping visualisation,
thanks to a broad range
of advanced geo-analytics. It
allows end-users to gain insight
into patterns not easily
identified through traditional
approaches to better understand
the whole story that lives within
data related to their assets (e.g.
roads, railways, buildings,
dams, mines, water supply networks
and utilities), combining
historical and daily/weekly
satellite imagery acquisitions.
Actionable information are
provided by means of thematic
maps, geo-analytics, pre-set reports,
and alerts. Contents are
dynamically displayed through
an intuitive and user-friendly
web dashboard, available 24/7
on any device or in Machineto-Machine
(M2M) mode directly
within users’ systems.
By integrating contents generated
by Rheticus Platform with
Hexagon Geospatial’s Smart
M.App technology, Planetek
Italia succeeded in creating several
monitoring services that
provide timely solutions to
address users’ needs in various
industries and vertical markets.
Planetek released four Smart
M.Apps: Rheticus Network
Alert, Rheticus Bridge Alert,
Rheticus Railways Alert and
Rheticus Infrastructure Alert,
all designed around Rheticus
Displacement fuelled by radar
data. These vertical services
transform data into actionable
knowledge thanks to our business
intelligence tools, overcoming
the concept of static
maps.
Rheticus Network Alert: using
satellite Radar data to identify
ground instabilities.
Rheticus Network Alert is a
turnkey web service that helps
utility companies in the management
of inspections and
Fig. 3 - Screenshot of the Rheticus platform showing displacement monitoring over the city of Milan, Italy.
GEOmedia n°3-2018 37
REPORT
maintenance activities over their
integrated water and sewerage
networks. By using satellite
radar data to identify ground
instabilities, Rheticus Network
Alert provides operators with an
always updated log of hot spots
within their network that can
reveal leaking pipes.
Thus, network's operators can
act on the information they
have. The service provides all the
information by means of geoanalytics,
maps and reports, released
on a monthly basis. Instead
of replacing pipes and connectors
after major leakage evidence,
Rheticus Network Alert allows
an 'a priori' approach, replacing
those pipes classified as possibly
at risk and before larger problems
occur. As a matter of fact,
companies better manage their
financial resources and reduce
service disruptions and/or threats
for people.
Among our Rheticus active
users, there are some of the largest
European utility companies,
which generally face costs per repair
ranging between 2.500,00-
5.000,00 €/km. Benefits of
subscribing our Rheticus services
ensure a high return on investment
thanks to the chance of
prevent severe damages, perform
focused maintenances, and avoid
costs for major repairs. Those
impacts on companies’ financial
statements were remarked
also by EARSC in “Copernicus
Sentinels’ Products Economic
Value: A Case Study”. Benefits
are even larger in areas exposed
to landslides, subsidence
and earthquakes.
Hera Group: exploiting satellite
data to enable the preventive
maintenance of pipelines
Hera, the second largest operator
in Italy by volumes of water supplied
(300 million cubic meters
per year), has always looked with
enthusiasm towards innovation,
the development of new technologies
and their testing. For
this reason, in 2016 it was the
first company in Italy to adopt
a system to search of water via
satellite to address the problem
of hidden leaks from water networks.
Subsequently, HERA decided
to start a test using Rheticus system,
with the aim of providing
an automatic system to exploit
satellite data in order to perform
complex analyses, and simplify
inspection planning.
In 2017, HERA first subscribed
to our Rheticus Displacement
service, activated over the
Province of Modena. In 2018,
HERA has adopted Rheticus
Network Alert and extended the
area of interest, now including
also the Province of Bologna,
reaching more than 6,200 km of
pipelines monitored from Space
over an area of about 3,500
square kilometres.
Furthermore, HERA Group
incorporates sophisticated
equipment (e.g., smart meters,
traffic-monitoring systems) together
with information from
citizens (e.g., distribution of
relevant emergency calls) into
its management processes, collecting
a great amount of data
related to its assets. It is not
feasible to exploit all those data
through traditional approaches.
Artificial Intelligence is the only
reasonable way to exploit them.
Machine learning algorithms
integrated in Rheticus Network
Alert will enable to better exploit
historical and real-time data,
thus supporting decision-making
about all relevant aspects of
HERA assets, from demand forecasting
to workforce capacity
management, emergency planning,
predictive maintenance,
optimized scheduling, more
accurate travel times, seasonal
service patterns, and so forth.
Since HERA is in charge of a
wide network covering a broad
area that requires great management
effort, following a proposal
from HERA, Rheticus Network
Alert will be increased with a
specific add-on functionality: the
ingestion of various information
layers to achieve a predictive
operational level alongside the
current support on daily inspection
planning and mid-term
network management.
In 2017, Planetek won the
“EARSC European Earth
Observation Company of the
Year Award”, and recently received
the “2018 Best Go-to
Market Strategy 2018 Award”
from Hexagon Geospatial,
announced at the HxGN Live
2018 Conference in Las Vegas –
Nevada.
Rheticus will be showcased
at INTERGEO 2018 (stand:
D.051 Hall: 12.1) in cooperation
with the global network of
Hexagon’s partners. By visiting
https://www.rheticus.eu, it is
possible to read further information
and case histories, or to start
using a Free Trial DEMO.
KEYWORDS
Rheticus; network alert; satellite data; radar;
copernicus sentinels; cloud infrastructures;
ground instabilities
ABSTRACT
Ground movements can cause damage around buried
pipes and infrastructures. Satellite radar technology
can give a good predictive indicator for where
this may be occurring, helping utility companies face
the complex and expensive task of the maintenance
of underground pipelines. Rheticus Network Alert is
a turnkey cloud-based service that processes satellite
imagery and geospatial data automatically to deliver
geo-information services, helping utility companies
in the management of inspections and maintenance
activities over their integrated water and sewerage
networks. Hera Group decided to start using Rheticus
system over the Provinces of Modena and Bologna,
Italy, with the aim of providing an automatic
system to exploit satellite data in order to perform
complex analyses, and simplify inspection planning.
AUTHOR
Vincenzo Massimi
massimi@planetek.it
Pre-Sales Technical Assistant Rheticus
Planetek Italia – https://www.planetek.it
38 GEOmedia n°3-2018
AEROFOTOTECA
L'AEROFOTOTECA
NAZIONALE RACCONTA…
[Italy’s National Archive of
Aerial Photography]
by Elizabeth J. Shepherd
Fig. 1 – © AFN archives. August 10, 1943. Sicily, Siracusa. German Luftwaffe photo over the Great
Harbour, taken one month after the Allied landing, with analysis of the enemy’s naval forces.
Italian archives of aerial photographs have
rich and varied holdings, which are a valuable
source for the study of the landscape
and of cultural heritage, especially in the
vast parts of the country that have been
affected by significant transformation in
the second half of the 20th century.
These archives are mostly military
(Istituto Geografico Militare www.igmi.
org and the Air Force historical archives
http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/storia/ufficiostorico/)
with a single exception:
the Aerofototeca Nazionale (AFN)
http://www.iccd.beniculturali.it/index.
php?it/98/aerofototeca-nazionale, the
Italian national archive of aerial photography,
today part of the Ministero
dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del
Turismo (Ministry of Cultural Heritage
and Tourism http://www.beniculturali.it).
AFN holds 20th century photographs
over the whole of Italy. It was established
in 1958 as a branch of the Gabinetto
Fotografico Nazionale (National
Photographic Lab & Archive) and, since
1975, has been part of the Istituto Centrale
per il Catalogo e la Documentazione
(ICCD– Central Institute for Catalogue
and Documentation), based in Rome.
AFN houses many collections produced
by public and private organizations. Some
of these have been purchased or donated,
while others are on loan to AFN from
military or civil institutions which retain
ownership. Aerial photographs were
produced by military bodies (Italian Air
Force, Istituto Geografico Militare, Allied
Forces during World War II), public organizations
(research institutes, regional
authorities) and private companies, most
of which are no longer in existence. A few
companies which are still operating have
deposited their historical collections with
the AFN, together with copies of recent
flights, of which they hold the copyright.
AFN also holds unique imagery from
World War II, that are not duplicated
elsewhere, despite the large numbers of
photographs of Italy in UK and USA
archives. These include ‘post-strike’ photographs
taken to help assess the success
of bombing raids. They highlight the potential
importance of this imagery in helping
to write history, recording as they do
events, alongside ongoing processes and
landscapes now
changed in many
ways.
AFN also houses
a large number of
maps drawn from
aerial photographs,
most of them accessed
through the
purchase of the
EIRA collection
(= Ente Italiano
Riprese Aeree)
http://www.iccd.
beniculturali.it/
index.php?it/553/
fondi-cartografici
and also https://
www.flickr.com/
people/aerofototecanazionale-iccd/
. There are also
a number of aerial
cameras, acquired with the Fotocielo
collection, and an exceptional array of
aerial photography-based map-making
equipment, part of the Aerofoto Consult
collection. They all illustrate the history
of aerial-photogrammetry in Italy since
World War II.
The large collection of aerial photographs
of Italy taken for military reconnaissance
purposes by the Allies during
the Italian campaign of 1943–1945 are
of course of extraordinary historical interest.
They were produced by strategic
photo-reconnaissance units of the Royal
Air Force (RAF) and the United States
Army Air Forces (USAAF), part of the
Mediterranean Allied Photographic
Reconnaissance Wing (MAPRW). The
sheer quantity of these photographs (roughly
1 million) and their historical significance
make this the most important collection
of aerial photographs in Italy. This
material includes unique imagery that is
not duplicated in the large holdings of
photographs of Italy held by NARA and
TARA.
Just as large is the historical collection
of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana
(Italian Air Force) deposited in AFN since
its foundation. The initiative of Gen.
Domenico Ludovico was crucial in this
regard, since he arranged for the transfer
to the archive of a large number of military
photographs which included areas
of archaeological interest; the collection
was subsequently enlarged with other
photographs, taken up to the 1970s. As
well as Gen. Ludovico, an important contribution
to the birth of AFN was made
by archaeologist Dinu Adamesteanu, who
was its first director, and Gen. Giulio
Schmiedt of the Istituto Geografico
Militare in Florence.
A photographic analyst of international
Fig. 2 – © AFN archives. Villafranca di Verona, Base Camp of the 3rd
Storm AM, May 1967. Activities of the photographers of an RF84F.
Courtesy Aeronautica Militare, Historical Photo Library.
standing, Gen. Schmiedt spent the whole
of 1960 organizing the AFN photographic
collections into an accessible archive. In
establishing a system that functions to
this day (www.iccd.beniculturali.it/aerofototeca/),
Schmiedt sought to put into
practice the aims of the founders, which
were, in the words of Adamesteanu, to
“gather, coordinate and make available to
the archaeological authorities all the aerial
photographs in our possession that may be
useful in streamlining surveys of the terrain”.
In the sixty years since its creation, the
fundamental task of AFN has been to gather
aerial photographs from all available
sources, provide for their conservation,
cataloguing and study, thus making them
available for a wide range of research and
survey purposes. Over time this has become
an irreplaceable resource for both historical
research in various disciplines and
regional planning, providing fundamental
documentation for many of the activities
of regional organizations in Italy.
WWII aerial photos in AFN
During World War II reconnaissance
flights by RAF and USAAF proved decisive
to the advance and victory of the Allied
Forces; however in southern Italy, immediately
after the Allied landing in Sicily in
July 1943, there were flights by the Regia
Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) and
the German Luftwaffe. These flights are
today a powerful historical record of the
appearance of the country before the great
infrastructural works and urbanization
that, from the early 1950s, have often deeply
altered the Italian agrarian landscape.
Regia Aeronautica
(Italian Royal Air Force)
Since 1923 every Italian army corps had
a group for aerial observation, assigned
aircraft already in use during WW I. In
1943 Guidonia (a military airport near
Rome) was chosen as the base for the
310th Photographic Recognition squadron,
equipped with panoramic cameras
mounted on the Macchi MC 205 aircraft.
German Luftwaffe (LW)
Some of the German photographic reconnaissance
flights were carried out before
the beginning of World War II, and
LW supplied Italy with various kinds of
aircraft, so that after four years the Italian
Air Force stood at 700 aircraft. War time
reconnaissance was carried out over Italy
by both German and Italian crews. AFN
holds in its archives about 100 images in
a 30 × 30cm format, generally taken after
the landing in Sicily and covering various
strategic areas in Southern Italy, such as
Fig. 3 - © AFN archives. May 4, 1944. Pontedera, near Pisa: the Allied bombing of the Piaggio
factory. MAPRW-RAF 683 Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron aerial photo.
harbours and airports. Aerial coverage in
the same format carried out by the Regia
Aeronautica with the same equipment has
also been acquired by AFN.
British Royal Air Force (RAF)
Photographic reconnaissance by the
RAF over Italian territory began as early
as September 1940, covering southern
Italy and Sicily from Malta and went on
until the end of hostilities. This included
the aerial reconnaissance by Adrian
Warburton on 10th November 1940 in
advance of the large-scale attack on the
Italian Fleet the following day – the Night
of Taranto.
The MAPRW-RAF collection was transported
from Puglia to Rome at the end
of World War II and deposited nearly entirely
in the British School at Rome, from
where it was loaned to AFN in 1974.
MAPRW-RAF aerial photographs in the
AFN holdings cover the years 1943–44.
These missions generally maintained
high altitudes (c.27,000 feet) in order to
avoid flak and used a 24-inch focal length
camera (c.1:10,000) and a 6-inch focal
length camera (c.1:50,000), generally
carried by Spitfires and Mosquitoes. The
MAPRW-RAF photographs are identifiable
by the squadron numbers (e.g. 680,
683 and 684) and are mostly of a 7 × 8
inch format. The makeshift airports of
the Tavoliere delle Puglie were used in order
to photograph the effects of the earlier
attacks, and these images focus on those
areas where the British military missions
were directed. They are a unique and irreplaceable
document for the study of a
historical situation of the Italian territory
in a particular moment of its evolution,
before the great urban and agrarian transformations.
The majority of the images taken of southern
Italy and the larger islands from
North Africa appear to have been taken
to Britain after the war, though some of
the 1943 imagery in the AFN will have
been taken by Allied units based in North
Africa.
United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
USAAF started its strategic reconnaissance
in Italy during the spring of 1943
when the Allies began preparing for the
invasion of Sicily, following the Trident
Conference in Washington. This imagery
mostly covers north-east Italy, complementing
MAPRW-RAF coverage which
is concentrated in the south. The USAAF
produced square prints at 9 × 9 inches
with prefi xes in the style of 23PS, 32S,
15SG, 5PRS and 12PRS indicating squadrons.
MAPRW-USAAF photos were donated
by the American Academy in Rome to
the AFN in March 1964, and are arguably
the most important part of the collection
as they fill large gaps in the holdings
of NARA and TARA of photographs taken
after air raids. However, they are not
as accessible as might be desired, as they
are stored in their original boxes making
consultation difficult and conservation an
absolute priority (please note that AFN is
asking for financial contributions in this
regard: http://artbonus.gov.it/1070-fondo-aerofotografico-storico-united-statesarmy-air-force-(usaaf,-1945)-dell’aerofototeca-nazionale-iccd.html).
More on the subject in http://www.
iccd.beniculturali.it/index.php?it/98/
aerofototeca-nazionale and (also in
English) https://beniculturali.academia.
edu/ElizabethJaneShepherd/Aerial-
Photography
KEYWORDS
AFN; Italian archives; aerial photographs; historical
collections; cultural heritage;
AUTORE
Elizabeth J. Shepherd,
elizabethjane.shepherd@beniculturali.it
AFN director
GEOmedia n°3-2018 41
REPORT
RUNNING UP THAT HILL
Italian civic addresses and
the quest for accuracy
By Valerio Zunino
The quality of toponymy data
has come increasingly under the
microscope in recent years in direct
correlation to the surge in the number
and functional versatility of new
products available to the geographical
information market.
These augmentations infiltrating the
sector require extremely precise
and comprehensive databases, most
crucially in respect of, for example:
the automatic driving project, 118
emergency services, applications
inherent in civil protection, and other
civil service sectors responsible for
urban and environmental intervention.
STUDIO SIT Srl was
conceived of in 1991, the
dim and distant past for
many, when the few precious
and elusive resources available
were employed to ask the most
talented hackers to find us the
formidable MapInfo, the former,
and in all likelihood best
desktop GIS software ever. At
the time a version had just been
released for MS Windows.
Ever since then the company
has co-operated with pertinent
networks and participated in
the development of flagship
products released by the different
market players; initially
concentrating on the world of
Autodesk and then expanding
its focus to include the production
of applications for the
benefit of local authorities and
others dedicated to the territorial
survey activities on civic
addresses (from 1998).
In 2007/8 two aircraft were
acquired in the service of aerial
mapping, both endowed with
autonymous equipment and restitution
software. In 2010 one
of the first small-to-mediumsized
drones available to civilians
was purchased and subsequently
developed - this having
been produced in Germany and
adapted to the photogrammetric
instrumentation already
available.
The same year saw the resumption
of the surveying and
mapping of civic numbers, so as
not to be aban-doned. At that
time the company’s software development
activity concentrated
first on the Environment Map
Server, then QGIS, and finally
the world of ESRI - a culmination
of nearly thirty years of
development and experience.
For suppliers such as HERE
Global Content B.V. and
42 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
TOMTOM Global content
B.V. involved with the surveying
and mapping of Italian
civic numbering, the Ligurian
company has been able meet
current requirements for very
high-level accuracy, for the positioning
of points and for the
entirety of national built territory.
These needs derive fundamentally
from two causal factors,
manifested gradually over
the last two decades – the catalyst
being predominantly the
evolution of the toponymy data
market and mobile communications
sector, which has seen
its scope of application expand
from the initial world of car
navigation, fleet management
and market research, into the
Multiutilities (the planning and
management of utilities) i.e.
emergency services, politics and
the electorate. These latter areas
of interest demand the availability
of a complete and precise
geo-referenced civic numbering
database, as well as an enhanced
sense of responsibility towards
its users, who have over the past
few years become much more
sophisticated, finally reaching a
necessary qualitative standard,
inexistent until a few years ago
and therefore not applied to either
supply or demand.
It’s fair to say that the causal
factors that have mobilized the
market in question initially
were the evolution of a product
which is today able to reach
more and more people comprising
a wide range of end-users,
along with the ensuing awareness
of the need to finally have
geographic data that is much
more reliable and complete
than in the past.
In order to maintain a high
level of satisfaction among its
customers, STUDIO SIT has
remained true to the initial
specialities of its own surveying
activities – fieldwork that covers
the entirety of our national
territory - through a network of
professionals that now numbers
almost 50, assembled through
programs of education and
experience pertaining to rigid
selection criteria. A network
consistently looking to cooperate
on integrative interventions
with reference to the dynamic
regulatory framework, in-depth
cartographic data and software
applications used in the context
of digitalizing, editing and autovalidating
operations and data
pretesting.
The resulting qualitative system
exceeds a 95% degree of accuracy,
completeness and high-level
updating, a unique case in our
country.
These three elements already
mentioned combine to apply
the same values to the sphere
of geographical toponymy. The
issue of quality, until a few decades
ago passively suffered by
the end-users that characterized
the demand, cannot be disregarded
and has today assumed
crucial importance, even for the
very survival of some areas of
operation.
Stemming from the three qualitative
factors above, a comprehensive
survey of the whole
municipal territory, accuracy in
the positioning of the numbers
and the degree of updating,
where located and verified,
generates a greater interest on
the part of a wide nucleus of
users, who in the past did not
deem certain geographical information
sufficiently detailed
for their own purposes. Among
those looking to exploit the
mapping of addresses are the
management of multiutilities
(in the context of the maintenance
operations of networks
and utilities, as well as those
involved in administrative management),
professional services
firms, car sharing companies,
large commercial distribution
activities and, furthermore,
some departments responsible
to the Ministries of the
Republic.
Also relevant is the fact that in
Italy there is an increasingly
sharp contrast between the
perceived quality of geographical
toponymy data at central
government level, compared to
that experienced by most sectors
of industry, including multinationals
and the SME world.
This first example, central government,
does not anticipate
a need for geographical data
pertaining to addresses that is
comprehensive and geometrically
precise. While the second
category, industrial players
(including their end-users) of
car navigators and other mobile
mapping application, up to the
most cutting-edge apps employed
by those in creative fields,
insist on yet higher quality in
the form of accuracy, completeness
and maximum updating of
information.
GEOmedia n°3-2018 43
REPORT
At the forefront are the major
players involved in car navigation
who, along with Google,
currently have a stranglehold
on the market due to a competitive
advantage accumulated in
now well over two decades of
data collecting and acquisition;
these majors being involved
in perpetual competition to
adapt the quality of their data,
augmenting its reliability and
completeness, often to the
point of rebuilding their geographic
databases from scratch.
All this is driven by the demand
from the multiutilities, which
have identified the need to
maintain management services
using GIS, which are based on
the civic addresses in their territories
of interest. At the same
time, some smaller companies
have specialized in the field of
geographical toponymy data,
making their services widely
available through distribution
to a clientele that ranges from
transport and logistics, modern
geomarketing, civil protection
and emergency services. In all
these areas of demand, there
is now a need to have all civic
numbers geo-referenced in the
correct position, given that this
information plays a fundamental
and decisive role, for example,
even the saving of human
lives.
The market's drive towards improving
the quality of the data
is fuelled by two imperatives:
one coming from a product
where each frequent new version
renders the previous version
obsolete, and one from the
demand by increasingly more
discerning users - an awareness
that requires a higher and higher
quality level, composed of
accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive
data to ensure the
development and maintenance
of modern, toponymy-based,
mobility applications.
As regards the availability of
open data, some Italian regions
and large cities offer a good
quality open data service, which
also includes civic numbering.
However, these are rare
exceptions since the process of
surveying and mapping civic
numbering is hampered by the
fact that it has often been based
within some regional procure-
44 GEOmedia n°3-2018
REPORT
ment procedures awarding these
contracts to construct topographic
databases, which were
containing a preponderance of
cartographic details and a paucity
of requirements for qualitative
mapping components, such
as civic addresses.
These same contracting companies
are traditionally tied to
pure aerial photogrammetry,
with no other corresponding
competencies and therefore
consider/have considered the
logical level of civic numbering
as an accessory, an appendix of
the photogrammetric activity
of restitution and cartographic
dressing.
This situation allows companies
to interpret this meagre
specification to their advantage,
detailing just the position of the
existing:
- without the insertion of the
corresponding toponym;
- without the inclusion of buildings
which were displaying no
number.
Unfortunately it is also necessary
to take into account the fact
that often the contracting companies
produce georeferenced
house numbers according to
mere mathematical algorithms
(or Google Street View...), in
which numbers are distributed
in an unreal, uniform way,
adhering to the vagaries of the
road network which is in itself
already inaccurate in terms of
length and route.
All this inevitably leads to an
average quality reduction of
around 65% of the value of the
geographical civic toponymy
data. As a consequence, italian
toponymy open data, is largely
unusable on many of today's
most widespread applications,
whose procedures require data
capable of withstanding a level
of use almost unimaginable until
a few years ago.
As of today (30/06/2018), considering
a total of 19.5 million
civic numbers, STUDIO SIT
srl has comprehensively mapped
territory equal to 12 million of
them (whose place names are
taken from official municipal
routes). This coverage comprises
5000 municipalities with
their approximately 42 million
inhabitants. The average update
of data refers to the year 2016.
Among provincial capitals the
coverage is 98%, that of the
130 most populous cities is close
to 96%, and that of municipalities
with more than 40,000
inhabitants is now 89%. By
2020 we predict that we will
reach 16 million civic numbers
contained within 6900 municipalities.
We're still running up
that hill !
KEYWORDS
GIS; map; localization; civic address; italian
toponymy data; georeferenced; multiutilities
ABSTRACT
The quality of toponymy data has come increasingly
under the microscope in recent years. These
augmentations infiltrating the sector now require
extremely accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive
data, most crucially in respect of, for example,
the automatic driving project, emergency services,
and applications inherent in civil protection.
STUDIO SIT Srl was conceived of in 1991, the
dim and distant past for many. For suppliers such
as HERE and TOMTOM involved with the surveying
and mapping of Italian civic numbering,
the Ligurian company has been able to exceed a
95% degree of accuracy, completeness and updating,
unique in this country, which traditionally
lacks the availability of good quality toponymy
opendata.
AUTHOR
Valerio Zunino
Valerio.zunino@studiosit.it
STUDIOSIT srl
Droni Idrografici polivalenti
• Rilievi batimetrici automatizzati
• Acquisizione dati e immagini
• Mappatura parametri ambientali
• Ispezione fondali
Dighe, laghi, cave in falda, bacini, fiumi e
canali fino a 15 4 m/s. Km/h. Insensibili ai bassi ai bassi
fondali e alla presenza di alghe e detriti
Vendita - Noleggio - Servizi chiavi in mano,
anche con strumentazione cliente
GEOmedia n°3-2018 45
AGENDA
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