Africa Surveyors May-June issue 2021

May - June issue 2021 Volume 3 issue no. 15 

Africa Surveyors 

MEP Engineering 

Maintaining Appropriate Air 

Conditioning and Heating Conditions 

Marine Survey - Find Out If You Have a Boat That Needs Inspecting 

Concept3D Introduces New 360° Map 

Hydrographic Survey - Offshore Energy Exploration 

In this issue...... 

Official geospatial data 

proves value during global 

pandemic....pg 12 

Fueling the expansion of 

engineering insurance in 

Africa....pg 14 

UP42 Teams with GIZ GmbH 

to Support Agricultural 

Start-Ups in Africa....pg 18 

www.africasurveyorsonline.com 

May-June issue l 2021 1

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2 May-June issue l 2021 www.africasurveyorsonline.com

Contents 

CONTENTS 

Current Issue 

The Best Guidelines to 

Maintain Appropriate Air 

Conditioning and Heating 

Conditions & many more 

25 

16 

REGULARS 

News Briefs 4 

Events 8 

Innovation 10 

Opinion 14 

32 

Project review 36 

Managing Editor 

Francis David 

Editor-in-Chief 

Augustine Rang’ondi 

COVER STORY 

MEP: Maintaining Appropriate Air Conditioning and 

Heating Conditions 

14 

Editor 

Dorcas Kang’ereha 

Writer 

Violet Ambale 

Harriet Mkhaye 

Irene Joseph 

Innocent Momanyi 

Sales Executives 

East Africa 

Jimmy Mudasia 

Lydia Kamonya 

Caiser Momanyi 

Vincent Murono 

Sheila Ing’ayitsa 

South Africa 

Paul Nyakeri 

Sean Masangwanyi 

Lisa Brown 

Thembisa Ndlovu 

Nigeria 

Emelda Njomboro 

Uche Maxwel 

Published by: 

Nailex Africa Publishing 

Nairobi, Kenya. 

Features 

Marine Survey: Find Out If You Have a Boat That 

Needs Inspecting 

Hydrography: Offshore energy exploration 

Agricultural: UP42 Teams with GIZ GmbH to Support 

Agricultural Start-Ups in Africa 

Construction: GeoSLAM Launches New Solution to 

Optimize Construction Progress Tracking 

Drones: Parrot unveils ANAFI Ai: The first 4G connected 

robotic UAV 

Project: Casablanca Finance City Tower 

ADVERTISER'S INDEX 

C.R.Kennedy Survey Solutions............................................IFC 

Bauder.......................................................................................IBC 

Position Partners....................................................................OBC 

Amaza Survey Services........................................................pg 17 

MacArtney...............................................................................pg 13 

Evologics..................................................................................pg 24 

Stannah.....................................................................................pg 22 

Caroni........................................................................................pg 38 

Saab...........................................................................................pg 19 

Mirtk..........................................................................................pg 30 

20 

36 

The Editor accepts letter and manuscripts for publication from readers all over the world. Include your name and address as a sign of good faith although you may request your name to 

be withheld from publication. We can reserve the right to edit any material submitted. Send your letters to: info@africasurveyorsonline.com 

Disclaimer: 

Nailex Africa Publishing makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the contents of its publications, but no warranty is made to such accuracy and no responsibility 

will be borne by the publisher for the consequences of actions based on information so published. Further, opinions expressed on interviews are not necessarily shared 

by Nailex Africa Publisher. 



NEWS BRIEFS 

Paragon Risk Engineering Opens Southern Africa Office 

Paragon Risk Engineering, a leading provider 

of risk consulting services for the global 

commercial insurance sector, announces the 

launch of their new operation Paragon Southern 

Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

The operation will be led by Mr. Riyaad Bagus, who 

comes with experience in the fire protection and 

international insurance fields. 

“Paragon’s investment in South Africa represents 

another step in expanding our extensive global 

footprint, which now includes companies in USA, 

Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Greece, UAE, 

Singapore, Australia and servicing offices in more 

than thirty countries.” Stated Jon Woodman, CEO 

Paragon Risk Engineering. 

The opening of the company in South Africa follows 

Paragon’s recent announcement of their acquisition of 

Optirisk in France. 

East Africa Metals targets 

resource expansion as it 

prepares to renew exploration 

activity in Ethiopia with a 

$2.7M drill program 

EIB approves $95 million for geothermal power in East Africa 

The European Investment Bank (EIB) 

has approved $4.9 billion financing for 

renewable energy, clean transport, COVID-19 

recovery, social housing and education. Of this 

amount, $95 million will be allocated to the East 

Africa Rift Geothermal Project. 

The operation is an envelope for financing 

individual private sector investments into 

geothermal power generation projects in different 

countries in the East African Rift region. Suboperations 

under the envelope will undergo 

individual project appraisals and be separately 

approved for bank financing. 

Funding is available for the countries of: 

Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, 

Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, 

Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, 

South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. 

The proposed envelope will allow the EIB to provide 

financing to several projects implemented by 

promoters active in the geothermal power sector 

in the region (individual private sector investments 

into geothermal power generation). 

SMEC South Africa has 

once again received top 

honors at the 2021 PMR. 

africa Excellence Awards, having 

placed 1st overall in both the 

Civil Consulting Engineers and 

Structural Consulting Engineers 

categories for companies with 

more than 400 employees. 

SMEC South Africa receives top industry rankings 

in consulting engineering 

Convened by market research house, 

PMR.africa, the Excellence Awards are industrydriven, 

based on in-depth market research from 

within the construction industry and are a reflection 

of how clients and industry insiders rate companies. 

SMEC South Africa CEO, Logashri Sewnarain, and 

Strategic Business Development Executive, Bongani 

Mthombeni-Möller, accepted the PMR.africa Diamond 

Eligible projects will typically include greenfield 

development and brownfield expansions, with 

proven geothermal resources. 

Investments in geothermal energy will help 

diversify base load renewable electricity supply 

in the region and contribute to the reduction in 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to 

fossil-fuel based alternatives, thereby supporting 

the sustainable economic development of the East 

African Rift countries. 

Werner Hoyer, President of the European 

Investment Bank, said: “The projects approved 

highlight the EIB’s engagement across Europe 

and around the world to unlock private and public 

investment that addresses local priorities and 

global challenges. Tomorrow I will update the EIB’s 

Governors, EU finance and economy ministers, on 

the EU Bank’s rapid response to challenges caused 

by the COVID-19 pandemic and our strong and 

growing support for green transition and climate 

action across the world.” 

Arrow Awards in both the Civil and Structural 

Consulting Engineers categories on behalf of the 

company. 

This is the fourth year in which SMEC South Africa 

has been recognised by PMR.africa, having previously 

received awards in the Civil, Structural and Combined 

Civil and Structural Categories in 2016, 2017 and 

2018. 

East Africa Metals Inc. would like to provide an 

update on the ongoing exploration of its gold 

and gold/copper/zinc projects in the Federal 

Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (“Ethiopia”). 

After productive meetings with government officials 

in Addis Ababa last week, the Company is looking 

to building on the success achieved over the past 

ten years through the Company’s investment of 

approximately $30,000,000 in exploration with 

the support of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum 

(“MoMP”). 

East Africa is preparing to initiate a fully funded 

$2,700,000 exploration program announced in 

early 2021 (see new release February 1, 2021). The 

six-month state of emergency declared in the Tigray 

region was lifted on May 4th, 2021. It is anticipated 

that commercial activity in the Tigray region will 

normalize in the near future, as it recovers from the 

impacts of the COVID pandemic and the political 

unrest. 

EAM has completed the planning and received 

government approval for the $2,700,000 Phase 

1 exploration program that will include 8,000 

meters of diamond drilling, 115 line kilometers of 

geophysical surveys, environmental, metallurgical 

studies and resource calculations/updates. The 

initiation of the Phase 1 diamond drilling program is 

expected to begin immediately after the Government 

declares the region ready for field operations. 

EAM’s management has confidence in the potential 

of the Company’s exploration assets in the Tigray 

region and looks forward continued participation 

in what has become an active and emerging 

exploration sector. 

The Company has equal confidence in progressive 

policy initiatives of the Ethiopian government under 

the administration of the recently appointed Minister 

of Mines, His Excellency Takale Uma. Ethiopia’s 

MoMP has undertaken a program of major reforms 

to improve the Ethiopian Mining Proclamation 

designed to align government policy with the needs 

of international and domestic resource investors. 

These policy revisions should result in significant 

growth in Ethiopia’s mining sector, promoting the 

interests of both artisanal miners and exploration 

and mining companies by improving the ease of 

access to licenses and finance for Small to Medium 

Enterprises (SME) and large-scale miners. 


NEWS BRIEFS 

Nigeria’s Federal School of 

Surveying to get upgrade 

The Federal Government plans to upgrade one 

of its oldest institutions, the Federal School of 

Surveying (FSS) in Oyo state into a university, 

To boost teaching of surveying and geo-informatics. 

Nigeria’s inland waterways 

operations granted boost 

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) 

and the Nigeria Export-Import Bank 

(NEXIM) have green-lit a joint $750,000 

grant that will bridge the gap in maritime transport 

infrastructure and improve trade in the region 

in line with the African Continental Free Trade 

Agreement. 

The grant will support the charting of the main 

channel of the Niger-Benue river in Nigeria, as part 

of the Regional Sealink Project, which aims to bridge 

the gap in maritime transport infrastructure and 

improve trade connectivity in West Africa. 

Necessary arrangements are in place for the 

institution to benefit from the Tertiary Education 

Trust Fund as part of its efforts to upgrade the school 

to meet the standards of higher colleges in the 

country. 

Samuel Taiwo, the Surveyor General of the 

Federation, who stated this after a meeting in Abuja, 

said the school would remain a source of pride to 

Nigeria, adding that FSS is globally recognised as 

a centre of excellence for training of surveyors and 

related professionals. 

According to Taiwo, the Gambian Government 

has requested for the training of its nationals on 

surveying and geo-informatics at FSS because of its 

academic landmark since it was established in 1908. 

He stressed that the management and staff were 

already working towards collaborating with the 

Federal University of Technology, Akure, and Ajayi 

Crowther University, Abeokuta to offer courses on 

geology, geo-physics, hydrology and post-graduate 

disciplines. 

The surveyor general said the administrative 

complex, 1000-seat capacity lecture hall, the 

Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) 

capable of streaming data for users in Lagos, Ibadan 

and Osogbo will be completed in earnest. 

He, therefore, enjoined the management to use the 

station to generate revenue, saying, the focus is to 

install more CORS across the country for streaming of 

data online, surveying and mapping to correct some 

errors in the system. 

Afreximbank provided a grant of $350,000 to 

supplement the $400,000 made available by NEXIM, 

thus completing the financing of the barthymetric 

survey and hydrograhic and hydrological studies 

of the lower Niger-Benue river. The studies 

will be undertaken under a joint collaboration 

framework between the Nigerian Navy Hydrography 

Department, Nigeria’s National Inland Waterways 

Authority (NIWA) and Sealink Consortium Partners. 

Delta Drone International’s ParaZero expands into South 

Africa 

The completion of the studies will support the 

early commencement of the inland waterways 

operations planned under the Regional Sealink 

Project, by enabling the development of the inland 

waterways navigation chart as well as river ports 

and anchorage plans that will facilitate both bulk 

commodities and general cargo shipping, thereby 

boosting Nigeria’s bulk commodities trade and 

exports. 

The Regional Sealink Project is a trade facilitation 

initiative designed to address the critical logistics 

infrastructure gap towards facilitating and 

deepening inland and intra-coastal waterways 

operations. It was adopted by the Economic 

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 

Commission as one of its seven priority projects 

under the ECOWAS Community Development 

Programmes. 

Its implementation is expected to mitigate some 

of the main barriers to regional integration and the 

growth of cross-border trade, especially trade in 

large volumes of bulk commodities. 

Inland waterways are a key transport mode that 

plays a vital role in facilitating the efficient and 

cost-effective movement of goods and providing a 

competitive alternative to rail and road transport, 

while ensuring integration into the country’s 

international logistics chain. 

Global drones-as-a-service provider, Delta 

Drone International‘s (ASX:DLT) safety 

specialist brand, ParaZero, has signed its first 

customer contract in South Africa with a leading 

enterprise mining company for its patented SafeAir 

drone parachute technology. 

The company, which cannot be named for 

commercial and security reasons, will deploy 

ParaZero’s SafeAir at scale to enhance its drone 

safety practises, with the technology comprising 

independent sensors to constantly monitor and 

analyse a drone’s flight patterns, so in the unlikely 

event of a drone failure, a parachute is automatically 

activated to land safely – including over people and 

moving vehicles. 

This sales contract is reflective of the synergy 

benefits of the combined Delta Drone and ParaZero 

businesses and represents significant potential 

for additional sales of ParaZero’ market leading 

technology through the industry networks of its 

parent entity, Delta Drone SA (France), and the 

combined Delta Drone International sales channels 

as the company increases the international footprint 

of its specialist business units covering safety, 

compliance, training and drone service operations 

in all commercial sectors and environments. 

Commenting on the agreement, Delta International 

CEO, Christopher Clark said: 

“Leveraging the contacts of our largest shareholder, 

Delta Drone in France to sign ParaZero’s first 

customer contract in South Africa moves us a step 

closer to achieving our goal of becoming a truly 

international drones-as-a-service provider.” 

“Ensuring our customers’ in-house drone systems 

not only comply but exceed the most stringent 

safety standards set by the world’s civil aviation 

regulators is of the utmost importance to our 

business and is a testament to our research and 

development team who consistently work to create 

the newest innovations in drone safety technology.” 

“As the world continues to further embrace drone 

technology, we will continue to play a leading role 

in helping the drone industry ensure safety and 

compliance through our patented safety solutions.” 



INTERNATIONAL 

RIT graduates its first doctoral 

student in new electrical and 

computer engineering program 

Dewberry Acquires MEP Design Firm Edmonds Engineering 

Dimitris Chachlakis became the first student 

to be awarded the new Ph.D. in electrical 

and computer engineering this May from 

Rochester Institute of Technology. 

The new degree, recently approved by the New York 

State Department of Education, builds upon the 

Ph.D. in engineering, a multi-disciplinary degree 

established several years ago, and since then refined 

into three distinct programs. Chachlakis transitioned 

into the new degree program and focused studies 

on the trending area of multi-modal tensor data 

analytics and machine learning. 

“The Ph.D. in engineering was recommended to me 

by my adviser,” said Chachlakis, who came to RIT from 

the Technical University of Crete, Greece. “Getting into 

the program, I was exposed to diverse disciplines 

and learned how to collaborate. History has shown 

that when people come together from the different 

disciplines, you can see that they all can accomplish 

so much more.” 

Dewberry has purchased Edmonds 

Engineering, a mechanical, electrical and 

plumbing engineering design firm based in 

Birmingham, Alabama, for an undisclosed sum. 

According to Dewberry firm Edmonds Engineering 

will join Dewberry’s existing MEP service team of 

over 200 employees to form Dewberry | Edmonds, 

the Fairfax, Virginia-based professional services. 

Established in 1987, Edmonds Engineering has 

over 75 employees with five offices in Alabama, 

Mississippi and Tennessee. As a result of the 

transaction, the existing leadership team will 

continue to oversee those locations in three states 

to continue to support clients. 

Dewberry CEO Donald Stone said Edmonds 

Engineering brings to the company its presence in 

the southeast and reputation in federal, health care, 

education, municipal, industrial, laboratories and 

commercial market segments. 

“As we welcome Edmonds Engineering, we are able 

to provide our clients across the federal, commercial, 

and state/local markets with added capacity and 

deeper subject matter expertise from an expanded 

geographic platform,” said Dan Pleasant, chief 

operating officer at Dewberry. 

Founded in 1956, Dewberry is a family-owned 

professional services firm with more than 50 

locations in the U.S. and over 2,000 employees 

supporting customers in public and private sectors. 

That collaboration included responsibilities as a 

research assistant in the MILOS Lab in the Kate 

Gleason College of Engineering, and as co-author of 

multiple papers for peer-reviewed journals in the 

area of signal processing and machine learning. In his 

doctoral dissertation he proposed new theory for the 

joint analysis of data from multiple sources, based on 

L1 Norm formulations. 

“We are trying to develop new fundamental theory, 

applicable in anything in science and engineering 

that rely on data processing,” said Chachlakis. “The 

L1 norm is basically a new formulation for taking the 

multi-dimensional array, also known as a tensor, and 

analyzing it into main components while suppressing 

data corruption and noise. And tensors are ideal data 

structures for capturing inter-dependencies across 

the dimensions.” 

Air Liquide and Samsung Engineering to build Malaysia methanol plant 

technology required, as well as 

providing an Air Separation Unit 

(ASU) with a production capacity of 

2,200 tonnes of oxygen per day. 

Speaking about the joint venture, 

David Maloney, Group Vice President 

and Chairman of Air Liquide 

Engineering & Construction, said, “We 

are proud to continue our partnership 

with Samsung Engineering which 

further enhances our position as 

the leading technology provider for 

methanol plants.” 

Tensors can be used for data assessment and analysis, 

specifically to refine how big data sets from multiple 

sources can be best assessed and ensure that the 

information is reliable. That reliability is essential for 

applications using computer vision, or improving MRI 

technology in health care, for example. 

The three new doctoral programs are an evolution 

and replacement of the Ph.D. in engineering, a degree 

program established by RIT’s engineering college 

in 2014. The foundations of the program were its 

multidisciplinary look at problem solving and its 

emphasis in meeting demands based on national 

initiatives from the U.S. Departments of Labor, Energy, 

Transportation and Health and Human Services. The 

program had eight students enrolled in its first year 

and had expanded to 90 by 2020. 

The industrial gas giant, Air Liquide, will continue 

its partnership with South Korean engineering 

firm, Samsung Engineering, to build a methanol 

production plant in Bintulu, Sarawak State, Eastern 

Malaysia. 

The methanol plant will utilise Air Liquide 

Engineering & Construction’s proprietary process 

technology, Lurgu MegaMethanol, to convert natural 

gas into methanol. This process is expected to 

produce 5,000 tonnes of methanol per day for the 

Malaysian state-owned oil and gas firm, Sarawak 

Petchem. 

As an experienced methanol licensor, Air Liquide 

Engineering & Construction will license the 

He went on to praise Samsung 

Engineering’s strong track-record in 

South-East Asia, which, along with excellent FEED 

(Front End Engineering Design) execution, has been 

key to securing this new contract. 

Cheonhong Park, Vice President of Samsung 

Engineering, stated, “Through this collaboration, we 

will successfully deliver the world-scale methanol 

plant in Sarawak and hope to collaborate with Air 

Liquide for future joint projects.” 

With over 50 years of experience in plant design, 

engineering, procurement, and construction, Air 

Liquide Engineering & Construction see this as an 

ideal opportunity to continue offering its customers 

safe and reliable technology solutions. 


INTERNATIONAL 

Worldsensing supports the expansion of Trimble’s 

geotechnical automated monitoring portfolio 

Trimble has announced the addition of a 

geotechnical portfolio to its geospatial 

automated monitoring portfolio through 

a collaboration with Worldsensing, a wireless 

connectivity technology provider and an industryleading 

manufacturer of geotechnical IoT monitoring 

systems. The collaboration enables survey, 

geotechnical and structural engineers to seamlessly 

expand their monitoring business opportunities with 

a comprehensive system that incorporates geospatial 

and geotechnical data. 

The Trimble-branded geotechnical product line, 

powered by Worldsensing, provides a fully automated 

wireless monitoring solution that helps minimize 

field visits and increase on-site safety to obtain 

manual readouts. The automated measurements 

generate real-time notifications and automated 

reporting through the new Trimble® 4D Control 

software (T4D) Geotechnical Edition software. 

The Trimble geotechnical portfolio includes: 

Wireless geotechnical sensors: Tiltmeter and laser-tilt 

sensors, providing tilt and distance measurement 

readings directly to the gateway Wireless data 

loggers: Vibrating wire, and digital and analog 

data loggers, supporting connections with a wide 

range of geotechnical digital and analog sensors 

communicating information to the gateway 

Gateway: Rugged Long Range (LoRA) radio and 4G 

gateway, enabling communication with the wireless 

geotechnical sensors and data loggers to connect the 

project site with the office through a cellular or local 

network. 

Configuration software: A mobile application for data 

logger configuration and a web user interface for 

network and device management connected to the 

office via T4D software 

Accessories: Installation accessories for a variety of 

mounting and configuration environments 

By expanding Trimble’s geospatial portfolio to include 

geotechnical IoT solutions, monitoring professionals 

can have access to both product lines from a single 

provider. This provides the flexibility to choose 

the optimal system to comprehensively monitor 

construction projects, mines, dam sites and other 

critical assets with the T4D software platform. 

“Our monitoring customers work with geotechnical 

sensors to automate movement detection for mission 

critical infrastructure and mining projects on a daily 

basis,” said Boris Skopljak, marketing director of 

Monitoring and Tunneling for Trimble Geospatial. 

“Through our collaboration with Worldsensing, we are 

making it easier for them to access the full range of 

geospatial and geotechnical solutions from a single 

source, resulting in faster and easier deployment and 

the opportunity to address a wider range of projects.” 

ExxonMobil Hires PGS for 4D Survey Offshore Guyana 

Canadian Navy Commissions 

its First Arctic and Offshore 

Patrol Ship 

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) has 

formally commissioned its first Arctic and 

Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), HMCS Harry 

DeWolf, the first vessel delivered under Canada's 

National Shipbuilding Strategy. 

The Harry DeWolf-class is intended to bolster 

the RCN’s presence in the Arctic and increase its 

ability to operate globally. Specifically designed 

to patrol Canada’s northernmost regions and 

offshore waters, the class is at the core of 

Canada's plans for an enhanced Canadian Armed 

Forces (CAF) Arctic presence. 

HMCS Harry DeWolf was launched in 2018 and 

delivered to the RCN in July 2020. The vessel 

is named in honor of Canadian naval hero 

Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf, commander of the 

HMCS Haida, which sank 14 enemy vessels in 

a single year during the Second World War. It 

is the first time in its 111-year history that the 

RCN is naming a vessel class after a prominent 

Canadian Navy figure. 

Norwegian offshore seismic surveyor PGS 

has been awarded a 4D seismic acquisition 

contract by ExxonMobil for work offshore 

Guyana. 

PGS will deploy a Titan class seismic acquisition 

vessel in the fourth quarter of 2021 with the 

acquisition slated for completion in the first quarter 

of 2022. 

President & CEO in PGS, Rune Olav Pedersen 

said: "We acquired the 4D baseline of this area 

and consider it strategically important for us to 

be awarded a repeat survey for parts of the initial 

program. We are very pleased with the recognition 

of our Ramform acquisition platform and superior 

multi-sensor GeoStreamer technology, which are well 

suited for high-quality 4D acquisition programs. 

"The contract adds further visibility to our order book 

for the coming winter season." 

In Guyana's giant Stabroek offshore block, 

ExxonMobil produces oil through the Liza Unity, 

an FPSO with a nameplate capacity of 120,000 

gross barrels of oil per day. It started production in 

December 2020. 

ExxonMobil has in the past few years discovered 

some 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the block, 

for which it will need several new FPSOs to develop. 

"HMCS Harry DeWolf and the Arctic and Offshore 

Patrol ships that will follow it into service will 

enable the Royal Canadian Navy to maintain an 

enhanced presence in Canada’s North, to patrol 

and protect our Arctic sovereignty, and to keep 

Canada safe and strong at home," said Harjit S. 

Sajjan, Canada's Minister of National Defence. 

"We are witnessing a moment in history, and I 

wish HMCS Harry DeWolf and its crew the very 

best as they prepare to embark on their first 

operational deployment." 

In the fall, the new vessel will transit the 

Northwest Passage and circumnavigate North 

America, with side missions in the Eastern Pacific 

and the Caribbean (where the RCN contributes to 

counter-smuggling operations). 

The second AOPS vessel, the future HMCS 

Margaret Brooke, was launched in 2019. 

Construction of AOPS hulls three, four and five is 

ongoing, and the construction of the sixth ship is 

expected to begin in 2022. 



EVENTS 

Commercial UAV Expo Americas Announces 

Massive Early Support for 2021 Event 

Organizers of the annual Commercial UAV Expo 

Americas, the leading commercial drone trade 

show and conference in North America, have 

announced an impressive list of more than 225 

supporters from six continents for the 2021 event, 

which will take place September 7-9, 2021 at The 

Mirage Las Vegas, Las Vegas NV. 

Hundreds of associations and media companies have 

already signed on as supporters of Commercial UAV 

Expo Americas 2021. “Industry leaders have clearly 

cast their votes for Commercial UAV Expo Americas in 

2021,” said Lee Corkhill, Group Director at Diversified 

Communications, organizer of the event. “225+ 

media and association supporters have signed on as 

Supporting Partners for this year’s 

event, as Commercial UAV Expo Americas has firmly 

established itself as the leading event to bring the 

industry safely back together and serve professionals 

integrating and operating commercial UAS.” 

The 2019 edition of Commercial UAV Expo Americas 

drew in 3,100 attendees, 200+ exhibitors, and 200+ 

presenters from over 50 countries. The full list of 

supporters and attendees who took part in the event 

can be found here. Special features of the 2021 event 

include live outdoor drone demonstrations and the 

DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Summit with 

The Joburg Indaba 

two full days of programming for drone operators 

and program managers across law enforcement, fire, 

search & rescue, and other emergency services for 

strategic discussions and workshops surrounding 

the evolving use of unmanned aircraft systems. New 

this year, the UAM Summit, organized by Amsterdam 

Drone Week, will be a platform for knowledge-sharing 

and where key players co-create and cooperate to 

create urban air mobility solutions together. 

Full event information, including workshops, 

conference programming, networking events and 

more will be available soon. Registration for the 2021 

event will open in June – stay in the know. 

Joburg Indaba is a highly regarded and influential 

industry platform which attracts an unparalleled 

line-up of CEOs, Government, investors and 

industry experts who come together to debate the 

critical issues facing the mining sector in South 

Africa. Speakers discuss the current challenges 

and opportunities in the industry including 

macroeconomic and political factors, how different 

commodities and sectors are performing, current 

energy challenges, the investment landscape, ESG, 

modernisation and much more. 


LEAD SPONSOR 

6 – 7 October 2021 

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issues affecting all stakeholders in the mining industry. 

The Joburg Indaba brings together CEOs and senior representatives from all major 

mining houses, international investors, Government, parastatals, experts from legal and 

advisory firms and representatives from communities and organised labour. 

Follow us on the website for latest speakers and programme developments 

www.joburgindaba.com 

Joburg Indaba 2021 is proudly sponsored by: 

Lead Sponsor 

Mining Industry Partners 

Premium Sponsors 

Networking Sponsors 

For sponsorship opportunities please contact us on: sponsorship@resources4africa.com 

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INNOVATION 

Concept3D Introduces New 360° Map 

Concept3D, a leader in creating immersive 

online experiences with 3D modeling, 

interactive maps and virtual tour software, 

today announces the launch of its latest product, 

360° Map, which takes interactive mapping to the 

next level by creating true 3D models for significantly 

enhanced wayfinding, appearance and functionality. 

A major advancement from traditional 3D rendered 

maps which only allow the user to view a building 

or location from a single, fixed perspective, the 

structures, grounds, and even the trees in Concept3D’s 

new 360° Map can be viewed from North, South, East 

and West, providing a realistic experience unlike any 

mapping system available. 

Because of the precision used in developing the 

3D models, 360° Map is extremely accurate, with 

pinpoint visuals creating a visually precise point-topoint 

wayfinding experience that now easily guides 

users around the 3D models to their destination. The 

new system is compatible with many of Concept3D’s 

other advanced features, including directions, sharing, 

wayfinding, rendered interiors, virtual map tours, and 

pop-ups. 

Concept3D launches 360° Map in collaboration 

with Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hawaii 

Convention Center, and Baldwin Wallace University, 

demonstrating the potential of the new software for 

sporting arenas, major event and conference centers, 

higher education, and tourism. 

Since 2006, Concept3D has been an innovator in 

developing interactive mapping and virtual tour 

software, and powers the interactive maps and tours 

of major theme parks, conference and event locations, 

hotels and hospitality, higher education institutions, 

and businesses. 360° Map is the latest innovation 

from the company, giving its clients a whole new tool 

to help their audiences explore, wayfind, and get the 

information they need. 

“360° Map was years in development and is a major 

advancement in online mapping with unmatched 

accuracy, stunning 3D models that can be viewed 

from any angle, and the ability to spin, tilt and rotate,” 

said Gordon Boyes, CEO, Concept3D. “People light 

up when they experience the ability to fly around 

meticulously modeled 3D buildings and grounds, 

and it creates a lasting impression that we know 

will help our clients market their locations, as well 

as significantly improving wayfinding because now 

you can see all sides of a structure or location. We’ve 

seen the early potential in working closely with 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hawaii Convention 

Center and Baldwin Wallace University, each with 

different goals and needs that 360° Map addresses.” 

1Spatial unveils new synchronisation functionality 

1Spatial, the global geospatial software and solutions leader, is making 

collaboration and automation even easier with the latest version of its 

data validation and enhancement engine, 1Integrate. 

1Integrate is now packaged with a Repository Synchronisation Tool to be used 

alongside version control systems, making it simpler for teams to collaborate; 

and faster to build, test and deploy rules. This release helps customers take 

another step closer towards automation, demonstrate compliance and keep 

track of changes. 

Michael Martin, Director of Consultancy at 1Spatial Inc. says: “What’s not to be 

excited about? My team has already used this Synchronisation Tool internally 

to allow multiple users to author rules on different environments, and then pull 

together the deliverable via a version control system. Releasing this to customers 

removes barriers to sharing rules, and allows for a level of automation making 

deployments and test more efficient. It also opens up the possibility of creating a 

rule repository marketplace where customers can share rules or 1Spatial can provide 

updates to published rules.” 

1Integrate is part of the 1Spatial Platform and ensures compliance of data for use 

across the enterprise by following a Location Master Data Management approach. It 

provides automated data validation, cleaning, transformation and enhancement. It 

enables users to assess the quality of data to ensure it meets defined specifications 

and is fit for purpose. 


OGA launches GIS virtual gallery of apps to make 

data more accessible 

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) 

has launched a virtual map 

gallery showcasing six of 

OGA’s most popular and recent apps 

allowing users to explore our huge 

range of data in an easily-accessible 

way. 

The six featured apps – UKCS Lease 

Agreements, Daily Production Data, 

Exploration and Appraisal Wells, 

Offshore Activity, Relinquishment 

Requests and Production Dashboard 

– provide a huge amount of data 

and each one also features an expert 

view on the information and some of 

its possible uses and a demo video 

which offers pointers on getting the 

most out of each app. 

The gallery is the latest example of 

the growing range of information 

and services available from the OGA’s 

Data Centre, which supports users’ 

work in areas including exploration, 

production and locating potential 

sites for carbon storage. 

INNOVATION 

Nic Granger, OGA Director of Corporate 

and Chief Financial Officer, said: 

“We are taking data and digital to the next level this 

year. This map gallery takes its place alongside the 

imminent launch of the latest version of the National 

Data Repository and a range of other services as 

important parts of the OGA Digital Energy Platform, 

which are dedicated to providing digital tools 

that enable industry to use OGA data for business 

decisions.” 

NV5 Geospatial Expands Breadth of Deep-Water and Near-Shore Survey 

With the recent acquisition of Geodynamics 

LLC, NV5 Geospatial has built one of 

the most comprehensive suites of 

solutions for geospatial surveys of deep water and 

near-shore environments. The combination brings 

together complementary, advanced technologies 

– Geodynamics’ full-ocean depth sonar-based 

hydrographic and geophysical surveying with 

NV5 Geospatial’s topographic and bathymetric 

capabilities – to deliver detailed insights for a variety 

of applications, including coastal management, flood 

monitoring, ecosystem protection, research and more. 

“This acquisition was a natural evolution toward 

our common goal of delivering valuable geospatial 

insights to our clients,” said Kurt Allen, vice president, 

Federal Vertical for NV5 Geospatial, powered by 

Quantum Spatial, North America’s largest geospatial 

data firm. “Our decades' of combined experience and 

expertise using the most sophisticated technology 

for data acquisition and analysis will enable us to 

meet the most demanding client requirements.” 

Geodynamics is a pioneer in collecting and 

processing multibeam, single beam, sidescan, 

geophysical and acoustic backscatter hydrographic 

data in some of the most challenging coastal 

environments, including dynamic tidal inlets, high 

energy surf zones, and rapidly changing shoal 

systems that challenge navigation. Geodynamics has 

completed large-scale hydrographic survey projects 

in the coastal and adjacent ocean areas of the entire 


United States, including detailed hydrographic 

surveys to support federal nautical chart updates in 

the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Great Lakes region 

for NOAA Office of Coast Survey. 

With a research focus on coastal geology, 

Geodynamics’ offshore geophysical surveys have 

supported mapping of marine minerals, benthic 

habitat and identification of potential submerged 

archaeological resources. To combine our capabilities 

in ocean science and geospatial data services, NV5 

Geospatial and Geodynamics created a joint venture 

in 2019. Working collaboratively as MarineGeoSpatial 

LLC, the partnership provided aerial and ship-based 

remote sensing for offshore/marine survey and data 

collection, mapping and data analysis, and marine 

enterprise GIS services. 

“We are excited to embark on this new chapter 

with NV5. It is the perfect strategic alignment of 

aerial, subsea survey and geospatial services,” said 

Geodynamics CEO Sloan Freeman, PLS. “Together, 

we have the technology, tools and experience to 

provide the best solutions to our clients and continue 

to advance scientific knowledge about coastal 

environments.” 

Geodynamics will operate as a wholly owned 

subsidiary of NV5 Global as part of the NV5 

Geospatial group. 


GEOGRAPHICS 

Photorealistic 3D models from aerial mapping 

specialist Bluesky are being used to create realworld 

interactive visualisations to transform 

how unbuilt commercial and residential property is 

presented for sale. Created by 3D rendering company 

Lunas, the real estate presentations can be run on 

interactive touch displays including tables and giant 

video walls, as well as on mobile phones, tablets and 

websites. 

Using the Bluesky MetroVista mesh models as a base, 

new developments are shown in-situ and potential 

purchasers can interact with the surrounding 

environment, explore the neighbourhood and even 

experience different weather conditions. 

Bluesky Models Transform Real Estate 

Marketing with Lunas 3D Visualisations 

“In order to create these presentations, we need upto-date 

base maps of the highest visual quality and 

geographic accuracy,” commented Slava Oganesian, 

CEO and Co-founder of Montreal-based Lunas 

Inc. “Which is why we worked with Bluesky. The 

MetroVista data captures a city as it actually is, with 

highly accurate LiDAR measurements of the terrain 

and existing developments and unparalleled visual 

records achieved through the simultaneous capture of 

both vertical and oblique aerial images. 

“Building on our work to date with Bluesky we hope 

to create 3D twins for all major cities,” Oganesian 

continued, “showcasing our urban centres as they 

are today and revealing how they will look for future 

generations.” 

Called L-Touch, the visualisation application is 

designed to help developers communicate future 

development plans to secure permission to proceed 

with a proposal and market the development for 

investment and sales. Suitable for use on a variety of 

platforms, L-Touch presentations provide a bird’s eye 

view of a project once built; affording a 360-degree 

view which can be rotated and viewed from different 

perspectives and different scales. Office buildings, 

apartment blocks and even hotels can be marketed 

with additional detail such as price and floor plans. 

The visualisations can then be manipulated to 

show how they are positioned in relation to the sun, 

experience the view from the balcony and understand 

proximity to local services such as public transport, 

Official geospatial data proves 

value during global pandemic 

Contributing to national Covid-19 responses 

has significantly raised awareness of official 

geospatial data, say Europe’s National Mapping, 

Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities. 

More than 75% of members participating in 

EuroGeographics 2021 General Assembly said 

that helping to manage and monitor the global 

pandemic had raised the profile of their data. Around 

60% believe that it will make it easier to explain 

its importance to policymakers, whilst 43% think 

the public have a better understanding of what 

authoritative data is. 

At the annual conference of their membership 

association, European National Mapping, Cadastral 

and Land Registration Authorities reported four main 

contributions to national Covid-19 responses: 

• Provision of authoritative data 

• Working with other government departments 

• Implementation of new technologies or systems 

• Provision of expertise 

Colin Bray, President, EuroGeographics said: “Whether 

you’ve downloaded a track and trace app or used 

your phone to avoid busy times on public transport, 

geographic data is helping us all to stop the spread 

of Covid-19.” 

“EuroGeographics members are playing their part 

by delivering accurate, official land information 

and geospatial data and services. They have quickly 

adapted their datasets to meet the needs of a fastmoving 

situation to ensure those making difficult 

decisions can count on them for the most up to 

date information available. This has proved vital 

green space and leisure facilities. L-Touch can also be 

used to showcase different conditions and scenarios 

such as weather events, rush-hour traffic and even 

future developments nearby. 

L-Touch uses the latest gaming technology to 

optimise and manipulate the Bluesky MetroVista data. 

Captured using the world’s first large format imagery 

and LiDAR hybrid airborne sensor, the Bluesky data 

includes simultaneously captured oblique and 

vertical aerial photography. The MetroVista datasets 

also include geographically accurate, phototextured, 

mesh models ready for use in 3D GIS, CAD and other 

modelling software as well as visualisation, gaming 

and Virtual Reality workflows. 

for responding to the global pandemic, keeping us 

connected and playing a central role in all our lives.” 

Léa Bodossian, Secretary General and Executive 

Director, EuroGeographics added: “The global 

pandemic has redefined business as usual – from 

accelerating the adoption of new technologies 

to refocusing resources. As a community used 

to constant and far-reaching change, we have a 

proven ability to respond strategically, as well as 

operationally, to these new ways of working. Together, 

we must ensure this agility, as well as our data, is 

widely recognised, understood and used for maximum 

impact and benefit.” 

“More than ever before, the world needs accurate 

data that it can trust is up to date, definitive and 

detailed. We know we cannot expect users to 

always come to us, so we continue to find new ways 

of achieving its widespread use across both the 

European and international systems.” 

EuroGeographics annual review, which is published 

today (24 June 2021), contains many examples of 

how members are supporting pandemic response, 

as well as integrating information to provide 

insights for realising national climate targets and 

biodiversity plans, using satellite positioning for 

smarter, precision farming and the development of 

autonomous vehicles; and incorporating artificial 

intelligence technology into production processes to 

improve data quality. 


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OPINION 

Fueling the expansion of 

engineering insurance in Africa 

Mirabilis is ready and equipped to respond to 

the insurance needs of Africa’s construction 

and engineering sector. 

Innumerable reports inform us that two-thirds of 

Africa’s cities are yet to be built; that some US$100- 

billion of private and public funds are to be invested 

in new African city projects; and that rising urban 

growth rates translate into the need for homes for 

an additional 950-million people by 2050. Also 

forthcoming is public infrastructure development 

that supports inter-continental trade and facilitates 

improvements to socio-economic conditions. 

This bodes well for the construction and engineering 

industry, particularly in South Africa, which is one 

of the sectors hardest hit by the country’s economic 

decline and the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the 

years the sector has also faced toughening market 

conditions and declining political and investment 

sentiment; and natural disasters that impact heavily 

on projects because of the unpredictability of, for 

example, weather and ground conditions. 

The vulnerability of a project is, therefore, crucially 

dependent on how, and the depth to which, risks are 

insured. This responsibility falls to construction and 

engineering insurance underwriters, who not only 

need to be skilled in the underwriting of complicated 

insurance solutions but also have expertise in aspects 

of process, mechanical, electrical, building, civil, and 

structural engineering projects. 

Author: Curt Meyer, CEO Mirabilis Engineering Underwriting Managers 

The vulnerability of a project is, therefore, crucially 

dependent on how, and the depth to which, risks 

are insured. This responsibility falls to construction 

and engineering insurance underwriters, who 

not only need to be skilled in the underwriting 

of complicated insurance solutions but also have 

expertise in aspects of process, mechanical, electrical, 

building, civil, and structural engineering projects. 

“ 

” 

This is one of the reasons why Mirabilis, Santam’s 

construction and engineering underwriting business 

(which has a vast footprint spanning Africa, the 

Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia, and the 

Indian sub-continent) demands the adoption of 

professional global best practice standards. 

Risks in this sector are difficult to quantify because 

construction and engineering insurance is highly 

specialised. No two risks are the same and similarly 

no two underwriters will underwrite in the same 

manner. But what is assured at Mirabilis, is that a 

minimum standard is applied. This is vital because 

there is pressure on an insurance broker to produce 

a policy timeously, sometimes within hours of the 

awarding of a project, and which must meet the 

contractual requirements of the project. 

To underwrite complex risks involves the collection 

of vast amounts of information: including a proposal 

form, detailed scope of the project, summary of 

the Bill of Quantities, details of ground conditions, 

site drawings, and engineering method statements. 

Further considerations are the unique aspects of the 

project, which is when Mirabilis underwriters engage 

their industry skillsets, knowledge, and experience to 


OPINION 

ensure that additional information is sourced. 

This information takes cognisance of the insured’s 

requirements, from whom full disclosure is required. 

If such disclosure is not provided at underwriting 

stage, it could lead to disputes at claim stage. 

This is also not a simple under-writing effort. 

Construction and engineering processes are 

ever-changing, meaning that there is always new 

knowledge to be acquired, which is why Mirabilis 

regularly trains its underwriters and exposes them to 

new advances and challenges faced by contractors. 

As such, Mirabilis has, in the past 15 years of 

its existence, built a network of localised and 


international credible affiliations, including Santam’s 

extensive network of partnerships such as Sanlam 

Pan Africa and Saham Finances, and has aligned with 

New Reinsurance Company Limited (NewRe), a Zurichbased 

reinsurer that has authorised Mirabilis to act as 

an agent to underwrite and accept, on NewRe’s paper, 

engineering classes of reinsurance business. 

Mirabilis is optimistic for the near future for at least 

three reasons: the number of requests for quotations 

is increasing; the SA government intends to award 

R791-billion to infrastructure projects; and the 

private sector is stimulating new development. In 

readiness, Mirabilis has introduced an online quoting 

platform in SA to provide insurance brokers, at their 

convenience, with real-time underwriting feedback, 

quotations, and policy documents, and cater for the 

smaller Contractors’ All Risks insurance policies. 

Caring for brokers is integral to Mirabilis’ success 

over the years. We have walked a long path with our 

brokers, helping and supporting them to grow. We 

keep them visible at all times, such as currently in the 

wake of the pandemic, where we are engaging them 

on a one-to-one basis. 

Never before have the insurance needs of the African 

construction and engineering sector required more 

care, and our brokers can take comfort in knowing 

that Mirabilis is a brand that can be depended on 

with confidence. 


FEATURE 

Hydrographic Survey 

Offshore energy exploration 

Hydrographic Survey is the scientific 

discipline of surveying and measurement 

of physical features that impact aquatic 

structures, marine biology, structural design, coastal 

construction, offshore oil research/exploration and 

other related activities. Hydrographic Survey is an 

important aspect of offshore energy exploration as 

it assists the exploration for oil. It also assists in 

mineral survey. This specialized knowledge enhances 

the productivity, safety and profitability of oil 

exploration. It also provides data for hydrographic 

and structural engineering planning. 

“To meet the growing global demand for offshore 

energy, through traditional oil & gas and more 

increasingly with renewables such as wind, wave and 

solar energy, hydrographic surveys are essential to 

map out new locations, conduct exploratory drilling 

and sampling, and provide spatial information 

essential in the design, installation and operations 

of the accompanying infrastructure,” affirms Gaynor 

Deacon of Amaza Survey Services. She adds that, 

Hydrographic surveyors map the seafloor and 

coastlines to determine possible obstructions and 

physical features to mitigate risk to equipment, 

vessels, cables and pipelines by using technology 

such as multibeam bathymetry, seismic systems, 

magnetometers and side-scan sonar. “Increasingly we 

are seeing LiDAR bathymetry being used in shallower 

coastal zones. In my opinion, there is no other way 

but to install hydrographic systems to surface survey 

vessels, underwater vehicles or unmanned platforms 

in the offshore marine environment to get accurate 

reliable spatial information of an inaccessible 

surface,” she emphasizes. 

Hydrographic Survey involves the use of specialized 

surveyors, survey equipment, surveys, charting 

instruments, computer databases, computers and 

software programs. Hydrographic survey operations 

and software are usually performed using computers 

in order to create comprehensive, accurate 

topographic maps. These maps show different aspects 

of the earth's surface like land surfaces, coastline, 

water surfaces and insides. The accuracy and details 

required makes this field very demanding in terms of 

time investment. 

Nonetheless, according to Gaynor Deacon of Amaza 


HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY 

Survey Services, Hydrographic surveying is broken 

down into different component parts - e.g. the 

planning, preparation, mobilisation, installation, 

execution and finally processing, interpretation and 

reporting. Each stage requires a lot of focus and 

attention to details, and at each stage there are 

quality control and assurance steps which need to 

be considered to ensure a professional, accurate and 

relevant final product. “Improvements in technology 

have streamlined many processes and enhanced the 

survey equipment, but in turn this has exponentially 

increased the need for better computing power, 

satellite communications and storage space,” says 

Gaynor. “With experience, each stage gets quicker 

and more efficient - but it is always a full time 

operation - often performed by a team of specialists 

on a 24/7 basis. By employing the right team 

of people and equipment, with experience and 

expertise, surveys can be completed effectively and 

efficiently, and meet project deliverables on time and 

within budget,” she elaborates. 

Hydrographic Survey is carried out to study various 

phenomena associated with tides, currents, weather 

conditions, mountain ranges, volcanoes, and faults 

and the movement of tectonic plates. These studies 

are used by structural engineers for building 

marine structures, seaports, dams, pipelines, and 

hydroelectric power stations. In addition, coastal 

surveys are carried out to study various features like 

estuaries, bays, coasts and channels. Coastal surveys 

provide information about the land boundaries, 

lagoons, coves and bays of coastal areas. Coastal 

surveys help in the construction of canals, dikes, 

locks, fences, septic tanks, and even electrical wiring. 

Hydrographic Survey is conducted to study present 

land topography, land elevations, coastal areas, water 

depths, and the distribution of topography features 

like cliffs, ridges, plains, oceans, lakes and ponds. This 

survey is also known as ocean survey. This specialized 

field includes an analysis, identification, recording, 

and interpretation of physical properties of terrestrial 

materials underlying the earth surface within 

navigable waters. Hydrographic surveying is one of 

the three basic specialized fields of cartography. All 

other forms of cartography use different types of 

surveying instruments. 

Surveys have been undertaken to study natural 

phenomena such as currents, incline, volcanoes, 

earthquakes, continental drift, and ice-cap changes. 

Hydrographic surveys have been successful in 

obtaining reliable and accurate data regarding 

terrestrial and ocean floor dynamics. These studies 

have provided valuable information for building 

navigation and transportation systems. Nautical 

charts are prepared after the surveys have been 

completed to serve as a guide for boating and marine 

vessels. 

“Reliability and accuracy of a survey system is directly 

related to the standard of the survey equipment 

being used, the experience and knowledge of the 

operator, the application of control and corrections 

(for example RTK or satellite-based), the quality and 

configuration of the installation, correctly measured 

offsets and lever arms, and finally undertaking 

calibrations, patch tests and other quality assurance 

and quality control procedures,” says Gaynor. She 

further points out other factors such as local 

environmental factors and weather conditions 

can be considered and their impact mitigated by 

applying basic seamanship knowledge and boat 

“ 

handling skills. Once the surveyor is satisfied he 

has the best setup and is running lines in the most 

optimal manner, its then a matter of keeping the 

systems running on clean uninterrupted power whilst 

acquiring the data on a computer with sufficient 

computing power, graphics and storage space. 

“Your survey will only ever be as accurate or as 

reliable as the weakest link in the chain,” she 

concludes. 

Hydrographic surveys have been used since the 

early days of exploration to map the sea floors. This 

method was adopted by the French, British, and 

American Navy. During the early years, navigational 

charts were created based on sound measurements 

of water depths. With the advancement in technology, 

more sophisticated tools and equipment are 

now using to collect data. These modern survey 

instruments to gather data points by using a variety 

of techniques such as sound waves, reflectors, and 

electronically triggered sound detectors. 

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AGRICULTURAL 

UP42 Teams with GIZ GmbH to Support 

Agricultural Start-Ups in Africa 

UP42 has teamed with the Deutsche 

Gesellschaft für Internationale 

Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to promote 

technical entrepreneurship in Africa’s agricultural 

sector by making geospatial technology available to 

local farming-related start-up businesses under the 

GIZ Make-IT in Africa project. 

Smallholder farms across Africa lack the Information 

Technology (IT) infrastructure that can deliver digital 

agricultural services related to weather forecasts, 

cultivation techniques, and market conditions. 

Through this program, UP42 is providing technical 

consulting along with access to its developer 

platform for Earth observation data and analytics. 

“Make-IT in Africa’s objectives align perfectly with 

UP42’s goal of democratizing access to the valuable 

information derived from Earth observation data,” 

said UP42 CEO Sean Wiid. “In partnership with GIZ, 

we are putting crop insights into the hands of small 

African farmers and the organizations that support 

them.” 

An initiative of the GIZ, Make-IT in Africa seeks to 

bridge this gap by providing business training and 

technical support to local start-ups that in turn can 

offer commercial agriculture services to growers 

in their areas. GIZ is implementing the initiative as 

part of the Make-IT in Africa project on behalf of the 

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation 

and Development (BMZ). 

“We support start-ups to gain more users and 

explore new business opportunities. To this end, 

we build capacities in the area of data analytics, 

interoperability and business modelling”, said Marc 

Hümmer, advisor at Make-IT in Africa. “We want to 

facilitate the cooperation between start-ups and 

platform operators, such as UP42, to fully leverage 

the potential of digital products and service delivery.” 

UP42 democratizes geospatial technologies by giving 

users direct access to extensive Earth observation 

datasets and advanced processing algorithms – along 

with cloud computing power – to create their own 

geospatial solutions easily and inexpensively. Rather 

than buy large satellite image data sets or invest 

in expensive processing software and computing 

infrastructure, UP42 users purchase just the imagery 

and analytical resources required by their project, 

regardless of its size. 

In mid-2020, UP42 technical personnel provided 

hands-on training to program start-ups on the 

selection of satellite images and application of 

processing analytics. This instruction emphasized 

building custom agriculture solutions on the 

UP42 Application Programming Interface (API) for 

development of commercial services. 

Three start-ups utilized the UP42 platform in 

building their businesses, which they will continue to 

focus on in 2021: 

Crop2Cash in Nigeria is developing a credit scoring 

model based on historical times-series data of farm 

performance derived from archived satellite imagery 

to make it easier for financial institutions to finance 

smallholder farms. For many small farm fields, the 

only verifiable source of historical yield data is 

archived satellite imagery. Visit www.crop2cash.com. 

ng. 

HeHe in Rwanda is digitizing Africa’s trade 

ecosystem by creating new supply chain and logistics 

technologies that match supply and demand. This 

enables growers to expand markets and reach 

customers more efficiently. UP42 is supporting HeHe 

in the development of yield prediction algorithms so 

that delivering crops to consumers can be anticipated 

and planned in advance. Visit https://about.hehe.rw/. 

GrowForMe of Ghana is building a sponsorship 

agriculture model where investors can fund specific 

smallholder farms in Africa. The farmer uses the 

funding to expand their existing operations, and the 

investor receives a share of the profit after harvest. 

UP42 is helping to enhance the GrowForMe online 

platform with integrated weather data and other 

information so that both farmer and investor can 

monitor growing conditions throughout the season. 

Visit www.growforme.com/en/. 

“In our quest to match demand and supply, there was 

a clear gap in our solution when it came to predicting 

supply. Remote sensing offered us the opportunity to 

bridge this gap and create more robust agriculture 

supply chains,” said Clarisse Iribagiza, Founder & 

CEO of HeHe. “We are grateful for the opportunity to 

partner with GIZ and UP42 to enhance our solution 

and address issues such as post-harvest losses and 

food insecurity on the continent. We look forward 

to making geospatial data accessible and usable for 

farmers in Africa while building sustainable business 

models around this data.” 

Make-IT in Africa participants – and all UP42 

customers – have a variety of Earth observation 

information to choose from on the UP42 marketplace, 

including Pleiades 1A/B, SPOT 6/7, Landsat-8, 

KOMPSAT, TerraSar-X, Sentinel-2 and MODIS satellite 

imagery, HxGN and Getmapping aerial data, Intermap 

DEMs, exactEarth AIS data, and Meteomatics weather 

and ocean data. 

Leveraging these datasets, users may apply more than 

70 geospatial analytics processes, including machine 

learning algorithms, to automatically find features, 

count objects, detect change, uncover patterns, 

classify land use, and derive vegetative indices. 


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COVER STORY 

MEP Engineering 

Best Guidelines to Maintain 

Appropriate Air Conditioning and 

Heating Conditions 


MEP ENGINEERING 

Engineers, more often than not, follow 

what their client wants. If a client has a 

certain kind of a place or need a certain 

kind of installation, the client will usually say 

so. As such, it is quite common that the clients 

are also the ones who will be deciding what 

kind of installation they would like to have. 

When this happens, the engineer follows the 

client. 

MEP Engineering is all about understanding 

the needs of the client and designing 

products to meet those needs. Maintaining 

a customer's requirements is the essence of 

MEP Engineering. This is why most of the 

engineers around the world to follow some 

sort of format of meetings with the client to 

discuss their ideas, needs and issues. Here, 

all the engineers will present their findings 

and give an opinion on how to improve the 

product based on the ideas presented. 

MEP engineering is basically the application of 

scientific principles to build and design Electrical, 

Mechanical and Plumbing Systems of a structure. 

Generally, all the engineers will be working together 

in a team environment to come up with the best 

solution for a given client's needs. This is why most 

of the engineers will seek-out to work for different 

clients, as they develop a good working relationship. 

They will be using the same source material, for 

example, when designing electrical heating and 

cooling systems. All the same, there will be an 

individual responsible for coming up with the 

final spec, which is called a 'blue print' for the 

particular project. 

An example of the use of this technique can be 

witnessed in the way the engineer designs a 

ventilation system inside a space that needs to 

be conditioned. When designing this ventilation 

system, the engineer first evaluates the amount 

of natural ventilation available, the temperature 

outside, the size of the area to be conditioned, as 

well as the size of the ventilation opening. From the 

data obtained, the mechanical engineer then comes 

up with the right set of specifications to satisfy the 

client's needs. 

There are many other uses of MEP engineering, and 

all these examples serve to illustrate the principle 

of its application. However, it should also be kept 

in mind that the process is used by many other 

professionals apart from engineers and construction 

experts. These include water conservation engineers, 

structural engineers, water managers, environmental 

consultants, and fire protection engineers. When it 

comes to water conservation, this MEP engineering 

concept proves extremely useful as it helps in 

determining how much of an area has to be 

conditioned so as to keep the water levels within the 

designated limit. 

For fire protection, the engineer determines the 

maximum allowable temperatures to establish 

a set of standards, which need to be followed in 

order to have safe and effective space heating and 

air conditioning systems. All the mentioned MEP 

concepts are made possible by use of the latest 

space heating and air conditioning technology. With 

all these benefits, it is not surprising why MEPs are 

gaining more popularity day by day among various 

construction professionals. Hence, it would certainly 

be in your best interests to hire the services of a 

qualified M EP Engineering firm for the betterment of 

your building. You can check their website for more 

information on them. 



INFRASTRUCTURE 

Hexagon introduces HxGN 

Mass Transit to improve public 

transportation operations 

management at VGF Frankfurt’s infrastructure 

division. “The mobile application provides easy 

monitoring and the ability to update information 

of our timetable displays located at all stations, 

platforms and stops.” 

Typically, transportation agencies must rely on 

different data sources spread across multiple systems, 

departments and formats. This prohibits the ability 

to view data in real-time, making it difficult to gain 

a holistic view of asset conditions and coordinate 

maintenance. 

Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial 

division introduced HxGN Mass Transit, a 

geospatial transportation infrastructure 

management system with 3D and AI capabilities for 

visualizing and analyzing transit and rail assets and 

operations. HxGN Mass Transit serves as a single 

source of truth for infrastructure data, enabling railbound 

and transit operators to easily inspect, validate 

and share information on the fly. 

HxGN Mass Transit combines asset and spatial data 

from various business systems into an integrated 

system, allowing operators to visualize and analyze 

their entire network and services. Additionally, it 

reduces data duplication, provides access to accurate 

and up-to-date information and delivers greater 

efficiency for managing data, workflows and transit 

networks and operations. 

HxGN Mass Transit is already delivering benefits to 

public transportation organizations. 

“Every day, we transport more than 900,000 

passengers around Zurich on our 510-kilometer 

network with 75 tram and bus lines,” said Daniel 

Steger, head of electrical infrastructure, Zurich Public 

Transport. “Maintaining our infrastructure is vital. 

HxGN Mass Transit will allow us to monitor rail tracks, 

overhead cables and the condition of bus stops to 

ensure we keep the citizens and visitors of Zurich 

moving.” 

“HxGN Mass Transit is an essential tool for managing 

our assets,” said Dominik Rabenau, head of data 

Built on top of Hexagon’s M.App Enterprise, HxGN 

Mass Transit overcomes these challenges. It goes 

beyond a simple map, providing an advanced digital 

twin of a city’s entire public transportation network 

– from track, stops and switches to construction sites, 

ticket machines, benches and garbage cans. It offers 

capabilities and workflows for supervisors, analysts, 

asset and operations teams and others. 

“Urban population growth, increasing demand for 

mobility options and a greater focus on sustainability 

have driven interest and investment in public 

transportation,” said Steven Cost, president, Hexagon’s 

Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division. “By 

improving the ability to visualize and understand 

networks in real-time, HxGN Mass Transit provides a 

solution to the global demand for more efficient and 

effective public transportation.” 



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Marine Surveys - Find Out If You Have a Boat That Needs Inspecting 

A 

Marine Surveyor is an individual who 

conducts surveys, checks or examinations 

of marine vessels for any of the following 

purposes: to inspect, test and report on the condition 

of the vessels and cargo, and inspects the damage 

already caused to either vessels or cargo on them. 

For assessing these needs, the Marine Surveyor will 

use various instruments that may include sonar, radar, 

GPS, and electronic scanning equipment. They also 

conduct tests on the boats using special software 

programs. All these instruments and tools to help 

the Marine Surveyor understands what is going on 

and what should be done next in order to achieve 

maximum efficiency and effectiveness in their work. 

Below are some of the most common tasks that a 

marine surveyor may do. 

The most important task of a Marine Surveyor is to 

inspect and report on the condition of a vessel. They 

normally complete this inspection period in one day 

and report back to the owner with their findings. 

Some also allow for extension of the inspection 

period if special circumstances arise that are beyond 

their scope of work. This would require additional 

time and costs for the inspection. 

Vessel inspections are performed to identify any 

defects in the condition of the vessel and to find out 

if any damage exists to the integrity of the vessel. 

An inspector will examine the navigation and power 

plant of the vessels he is inspecting in order to 

determine any issues that could have affected the 

proper operation of the vessel, while in commission. 

He will also check the condition of the ports, hatches, 

trim, steering, sails, engines, electrical system, 

nacelles, painting, flooring, insulation, plumbing, 

drainage, decks, keel, outboard motor and all fittings, 

valves, machinery and appliances in the keel. He 

looks for any physical defect that impairs the safe 

operation of the boat. He also checks the condition of 

the main gear in running condition. 

A physical examination of a keel shows evidence of 

wear and tear, where repairs are needed and whether 

the keel can support heavy load. The inspectors 

report on these findings to the licensing authority 

and to the owner or legal owner of the vessel. They 

prepare a register of defects that may be found 

on the vessel and transmit them to the licensing 

authority when the vessel is inspected. The register is 


used to keep a record of each vessel’s condition. 

There are two types of marine surveys in existence 

today. The first type is for surface vessels such as 

boats and fishing vessels; the second type is for 

submerged vessels such as cruise ships and power 

vessels. It is important to know which type of 

survey you require before you start the inspection 

process. The inspector performs his inspection and 

submits his findings for examination to the licensing 

authority. Once the inspector determines the required 

repairs and maintenance, he submits his report to 

the licensing authority who makes the corrections 

and updates the condition reports on these necessary 

repairs. 

If you have been investigating the possibility of 

owning a ship or vessel of your own but aren’t sure 

if you should purchase one, a marine survey is the 

best way to find out. These reports will tell you many 

important things about the condition of your boat 

and whether or not it will be able to withstand the 

harsh conditions and dangers that are present in 

the marine trade. The information in your marine 

survey will help you make the right decision when 

buying your vessel. For example, did you know that 

boats that have a long history of good maintenance 

can be sold for much cheaper than those with a 

short history? And what about new boats - are they 

properly inspected? The answers to these and many 

other questions that you may have will be provided 

by your marine survey. 


FEATURE 

Esri ArcGIS Pro certified for 3D stereo 

visualization 

with 3D PluraView monitors 

ArcGIS Pro from Esri is the most modern and 

advanced desktop GIS product and is used 

worldwide for the capture, processing and 

analysis of high-resolution 3D data. The constant 

further development of ArcGIS Pro is increasingly 

blurring the boundaries between Geographical 

Information Systems (GIS) and classic digital 

photogrammetry. 

Important functionalities from photogrammetry, such 

as importing aerial images, aero-triangulation, and 

extraction of terrain models, orthorectification and 

stereoscopic data capture, are now also integrated in 

ArcGIS Pro. This ensures a continuous GIS workflow, 

including photogrammetric data capture, directly 

in the Esri environment, resulting in substantial 

efficiency gains. The central element here is the 

complete integration of all existing and newly 

captured three-dimensional geometries with ArcGIS 

Pro, and the integrated ability to represent them 

with full three-dimensionality on stereoscopic output 

devices. 

The Software ArcGIS Pro from Esri meets all 

requirements for the efficient display and processing 

of GIS, BIM, LiDAR and photogrammetric geodata in 

a fully integrated 3D-stereo work environment with 

an outstanding range of functions. The compatibility 

of ArcGIS Pro with the entire 3D PluraView monitor 

product family has now been officially certified by the 

manufacturer Schneider Digital. 

Be it professional thematic maps, complex GIS 

analyses, geodata management or GIS data capture - 

with the 3D-capable software application ArcGIS Pro 

from Esri, professional users enjoy the benefits of the 

world’s leading GIS environment. For optimal geodata 

querying and processing, the capture and analysis 

of spatially connected and topologically correct 

features, GIS professionals have a whole range of 

interactive and automated tools at their fingertips 

with the Pro version. Locally saved geo-information 

in 2D and 3D format can for example be compared to 

or synchronized with Cloud servers and online data 

services. Topographic terrain features and building 

models at different levels of detail (LOD) can likewise 

be extracted and saved to file geodatabases (GDB). 

ArcGIS Pro also offers a range of powerful tools 

for the management, editing and analysis of large 

amounts of data, e.g. large-format aerial images, UAS 

and satellite images, and LiDAR point-cloud data. 

Real façade textures can be mapped to 3D building 

geometries from oblique aerial images and vehiclebased 

mobile camera systems. Likewise, hybrid 3D 

terrain models can be generated from orthoimages, 

combined with synthetic 3D models for vegetation 

and building objects. 

Large data volumes - superhigh 

resolution in 3D-stereo 

on the 3D PluraView monitors 

The prerequisite for the stereoscopic display of 3D 

geodata is a monitor system with high-resolution, 

bright and contrast-rich 3D stereo visualization, 

to best support ArcGIS Pro users. This perfect 

visualization solution is provided by the 3D 

PluraView family of monitors by Schneider Digital, 

which are latency-free and work ‘plug-and-play’ 

with professional NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards. 

As there is no requirement for proprietary graphic 

drivers, the 3D PluraView displays are a future-proof 

solution to display geospatial data also with future 

versions of LINUX and Microsoft operating systems. 

The extremely large data volumes, which ArcGIS Pro 

can process, require not only a professional graphics 

card and a professional workstation, but also a 

monitor, which can display topographical information 

and GIS content in top 3-D stereo quality. Only a 

bright and high-contrast stereoscopic representation 

of 3D content can ensure a professional analysis 

and reliable interpretation of data. For this, the 

United States software supplier Esri relies on the 

outstanding performance of the 3D PluraView - the 

passive, 3D-stereo beam-splitter monitors from 

Schneider Digital. 

These dual-screen systems are the de-facto industry 

standard for all stereoscopic software applications 

for the past 16 years and are certified for all 

common 3D-stereo capable photogrammetry and GIS 

applications. The fold-up beam-splitter mirror allows 

the flexible use of the 3D PluraView monitors also as 

a standard monitor for monoscopic tasks. With screen 

diagonals up to 28”, 3D PluraView monitors provide 

completely flicker-free stereoscopic 3D visualizations. 

Thanks to one screen per stereo channel, they offer 

the full stereo resolution up to 4K (UHD) and 10-bit 

color depth with brilliant brightness. Their passive 

polarization filter technology provides a fatiguefree 

ergonomic working environment, even in office 

daylight conditions, viewing stereo together with 

several colleagues. 

Visualize, capture and edit GIS 

and BIM models in stereo 

ArcGIS Pro users value the accurate, pixel-precise, 

stereoscopic image display on Schneider Digital’s 

3D-stereo monitors. The high level of viewing 

comfort on the flicker-free displays and the intuitive 

operation facilitate the handling of complex 

data visualizations, thereby improving overall 

productivity and accelerating working procedures. 

In combination with ArcGIS Pro, the technology 

of 3D PluraView monitors offers the possibility of 

uploading aerial image stereo pairs to capture 3D 

points, lines or polygons directly as topologically 

defined GIS elements. 3D mesh-based geometries, 

smart BIM models and even 3D CAD models can 

be edited intuitively in a fully integrated 3D-stereo 

environment. 

ArcGIS Pro users benefit from compatibility with a 


PHOTOGRAMMETRY 

The Software ArcGIS Pro from Esri meets all requirements for the efficient display and processing of GIS, BIM, LiDAR and 

photogrammetric geodata in a fully integrated 3D-stereo work environment with an outstanding range of functions. The compatibility of 

ArcGIS Pro with the entire 3D PluraView monitor product family has now been officially certified by the manufacturer Schneider Digital 

wide variety of data formats when importing and 

integrating smart 3D models into existing GIS data 

sets. For subsequent visualization, the 3DConnexion 

SpaceMouse is a well-proven device, allowing 

simple and intuitive 3D navigation within ArcGIS 

Pro. The additional use of a Stealth 3D mouse is 

recommended where the focus is on the precise 

measurement and capture of objects, elevations and 

distances. 

One of the biggest challenges for GIS applications 

is the loading of large amounts of data (e.g. detailed 

urban models) as digital twins, and then displaying 

them seamlessly in stereo. This requires reliable 

photogrammetry and GIS solutions, which are 

innovative, ergonomic, fast and reliable. The stereocapable 

software application ArcGIS Pro and the 3D 

PluraView monitors by Schneider Digital provide 

this reliability through the synergy of two high-end 

products. In combination, they ensure a perfect 

3D-stereo experience with excellent display quality. 

The Software ArcGIS Pro from Esri meets all 

requirements for efficient stereoscopic working 

with geospatial 3D datasets and has now been 

certified officially for compatibility with the entire 

3D PluraView monitor product family by the 

manufacturer Schneider Digital. This ‘duo’ turns into 

the perfect workplace solution with the right 3D 

input tools and a high-performance Schneider Digital 

workstation, customized for use with ArcGIS Pro. 



CONSTRUCTION 

GeoSLAM Launches New Solution 

to Optimize Construction Progress 

Tracking 

Asolution to quickly and easily measure the 

progress of a construction project has been 

launched by leading SLAM (simultaneous 

localisation and mapping) technology company, 

GeoSLAM. 

After working closely with the construction industry 

for almost a decade, and running an extensive pilot 

with UK construction and property service company, 

Willmott Dixon, GeoSLAM has launched Construction 

Progress to streamline the monitoring of projects 

through generated point cloud data. 

The solution will help construction companies 

understand their progress by speeding up an 

inherently manual process. Utilising an easy-touse 

handheld scanner, information collection and 

progress results (expressed as a percentage complete, 

with coloured digital images showing the latest 

project updates) are available both on-site and at 

head office within minutes. 

The data collected is automatically processed, 

generating a point cloud that is compared to a CAD 

model displaying easy-to-understand changes on site 

by date and time. 

Being able to see the progress of a project gives site 

teams and head office clear and objective visibility of 

progress, helping to avoid missed milestones in the 

build or costly delays. 

Explaining the launch of the software, GeoSLAM CEO, 

Graham Hunter, said: 

“We have always advocated for the importance of 

technology to any business, but even more so today, 

automated tools like Construction Progress are 

vital to the longevity of construction companies in 

particular. 

“This is something completely new for the sector, 

and we’re delighted that one of the country’s leading 

construction and property service companies, 

Willmott Dixon, is successfully using GeoSLAM 

Construction Progress.” 

With the global population predicted to hit 9 billion 

by 2050 the demand for construction has never been 

greater. Facing increased pressure to help ‘level-up’ 

the economy, automated tracking of progress will 

support the industry to build in a quicker, more 

sustainable way. 

Innovation however, is needed to meet the challenge. 

Graham adds: 

“The outlook for the sector, with such exponential 

growth forecast even into 2022, is an exciting 

prospect, but one that needs the right tools to face 

head on. I am confident that Construction Progress 

will help alleviate some of the pressure construction 

firms may face in the coming months, with a solution 

that doesn’t require outsourcing or technical 

expertise.” 

GeoSLAM recently launched its very own payment 

plan to lower the upfront cost of ownership by 

allowing customers to spread the cost of a device 

with Connect and Construction Progress over 24 

months. 


MOBILE MAPPING 

Seabed Selects Velodyne Lidar 

Sensors for Mobile Mapping System 

Velodyne Lidar, Inc. has announced Seabed B.V., 

which specializes in high quality equipment 

for offshore surveying and dredging, has 

selected Puck sensors for its lidar mobile mapping 

system. The Seabed system is a turnkey mobile lidar 

solution for hydrographic surveys that can support 

sustainable planning which aims to protect sensitive 

historic and marine environments. 

The Seabed lidar system, equipped with a Puck 

sensor, provides complete above water point cloud 

data and can operate in harsh maritime conditions. 

The system conducts 3D data capture of intricate 

measurements of inshore, nearshore and inland 

waterways from up to 100 meters away. It is designed 

to be simple to mobilize and easy to use without 

the need for specialized training or qualifications, 

delivering rapid results that can save time and money. 

The Seabed lidar system can be combined with a 

bathymetric multi-beam echo-sounder to provide 

a complete 3D, georeferenced image above and 

below water. The data can be used to rapidly inspect 

structural integrity of bridges, dams and piers, and 

be a resource for preservation and sustainability 

planning. Regular inspections of bridges and 

waterways are also important to improve navigation 

safety, especially in high traffic areas where the depth 

is shallow. 

“We selected Velodyne’s Puck because it produces 

the high quality, consistent data our customers 

need,” said Elice Collewijn, General Manager, Seabed, 

which is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. “The 

Puck has demonstrated outstanding reliability and 

power efficiency while operating in severe offshore 

situations. The sensor allows us to capture vital, highresolution 

data to accurately measure and analyze 

marine environments.” 

“Seabed is helping companies transform their 

businesses with offshore 3D mapping solutions which 

can deliver highly accurate, detailed data collection 

to support safe navigation and protection of marine 

environments,” said Erich Smidt, Executive Director 

Europe, Velodyne Lidar. “Their solutions demonstrate 

how Velodyne’s sensors provide the performance, 

range and compact form factor needed for versatile 

mobile mapping systems that can enable a 

sustainable future.” 

Velodyne Puck compact, versatile sensors deliver 

a high-resolution image to measure and analyze a 

variety of environments. They provide high quality 

resolution and performance along with a full 

360-degree environmental view to deliver real-time 

3D data. The Puck has best-in-class power efficiency, 

which advances the travel range and sustainability of 

applications. 



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HYDROGRAPHY 

iXblue demonstrates future 

hydrographic capabilities with DriX 

Unmanned Surface Vessel during 

IHO 

Invited by the International Hydrographic 

Organization (IHO) to demonstrate the most 

modern hydro-oceanographic technologies 

during the celebrations marking the 100 years of 

existence of the international organization, iXblue 

demonstrated its DriX Unmanned Surface Vessel, in 

the presence of Prince Albert II of Monaco, Dr. Mathias 

Jonas, IHO Secretary-General, Mr. Laurent Kerléguer, 

Director General of the French Hydrographic and 

Oceanographic Service (Shom), and Amb. Peter 

Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for 

the Ocean. 

Identified by the IHO as a pioneer in the transition 

of the hydrographic industry towards more efficient 

and environmental-friendly unmanned maritime 

operations, iXblue presented the new methods and 

strategies deployed for seabed mapping, as well as 

how autonomous vehicles can collect data in support 

of the hydro-oceanographic industry. 

“We are proud to be recognized by the IHO as a key 

player of the hydrographic industry and to be able to 

represent, with our DriX Unmanned Surface Vehicle, 

the future of hydrography.” States David Vincentelli, 

director of the Sea Operations division at iXblue. “It 

was an honor to be a part of this event celebrating 

100 years of IHO’s missions to serve our oceans 

and to be able to contribute, alongside them, to the 

transformation and promotion of our industry.” 

DriX is an 8m unmanned surface vehicle (USV) 

developed and built in France by iXblue. The USV 

conducts hydrographic surveys in order to map 

the oceans, 85% of which remain unknown to this 

day. Equipped with advanced sensors (radar, lidar, 

cameras…) and its own artificial intelligence, DriX 

analyzes its environment, avoids obstacles and 

carries out its missions autonomously. The USV can 

autonomously map large areas in a reduced amount 

of time, contributing to the rapid improvement of the 

understanding of our planet’s oceans. Lighter than 

traditional vessels, and particularly hydrodynamic, 

DriX helps reduce of hydrographic surveys’ 

environmental footprint. Compared to traditional 

survey vessels, DriX decreases fuel consumption 

and greenhouse gas emissions by a factor of 50 and 

reduces radiated noise for greater respect of marine 

wildlife. 

Since its launch in 2017, DriX has been met with 

numerous successes around the world, including 

being selected by the U.S. National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create 

the next generation ocean exploration system. In 

France, DriX has been tested by the French Navy’s 

Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM) 

via the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) as 

part of an armament program aimed at renewing its 

capabilities in 2025. 



DRONES 

Parrot unveils ANAFI Ai: The first 4G 

connected robotic UAV 

Parrot, a leading European drone group, is 

pleased to announce ANAFI Ai: a drone 

that sets new standards and capabilities for 

professionals. ANAFI Ai is the first drone to use 4G 

as the main data link between the drone and the 

operator, which is a game changer for the drone 

industry. Users will no longer experience transmission 

limitations thanks to ANAFI Ai’s 4G connectivity, 

which enables precise control at any distance. For 

Beyond Visual Line of Sight flights, it stays connected 

even behind obstacles. 

For the first time, ANAFI Ai embeds a Secure Element 

in the drone and in its Skycontroller 4. The 4G link 

between the drone and the user’s phone is encrypted. 

The Secure Element protects both the integrity of the 

software and the privacy of data transferred. 

Parrot’s large partner ecosystem delivers a wealth of 

specialized applications and services for a variety of 

professional uses. Parrot is the first in the industry 

to make its piloting application open-source. Parrot 

offers developers a Software Development Kit (SDK) 

to execute custom code in the ANAFI Ai drone during 

the flight. The SDK gives access to all flight sensors, 

including obstacle avoidance sensors, occupancy grid 

and internet access. 

ANAFI Ai’s uniquely designed obstacle-avoidance 

(OA) system detects obstacles in all directions, using 

stereo cameras to sense objects and automatically 

avoid them. 

ANAFI Ai incorporates a 48 MP main camera and 

boasts a powerfully-stabilized 4K 60fps / HDR10 

camera to capture finely-detailed aerial images and 

smooth video footage. 

Originally the pioneer of consumer drones a decade 

ago, Parrot now seeks to set new standards for drones 

at work. Advanced artificial intelligence, autonomous 

flights, best-in- class imaging, photogrammetry 

accuracy and reliable 4G connectivity, put powerful 

new tools in the hands of professionals like never 

before. 

4G connectivity 

4G is profoundly changing the use cases for drones. 

With 4G, the data link between the drone and the 

pilot becomes robust in all circumstances. Already 

widely and reliably deployed around the world, 4G 

offers long range transmission at low frequency 

bands at 700MHz – 900MHz. 

Additionally, the 4G connection means professionals 

can operate the drone at any distance. Many 4G 

operators offer quality-of-service guarantees for first 

responders, such as firefighters and police. 

At Parrot, we have worked hard to develop a powerful 

streaming software adapted to any 4G situation. Our 

software quickly optimizes the definition and frame 

rate to the network quality. Our software is also 

robust to packet and frame losses. 

ANAFI Ai itself does not require a subscription; users 

can utilize any SIM card capable of sending data. 

Parrot provides its users a secured infrastructure that 

works with all smartphones. 

48 MP imaging accuracy 

ANAFI Ai’s Quad Bayer sensor offers 14 EV of dynamic 

range in HDR10 mode. It catches all the details both 

in highlights and shadows. Inspection professionals 

can use the 6x digital zoom to observe 1 cm details 

at a distance of 75 m. The controllable gimbal tilt 

range (from -90° to +90°) gives professionals access 

to complex points of view such as the underside of 

a bridge structure. The hybrid image stabilization on 

6 axis (3-axis mechanical, 3-axis electronic) ensures 

sharp photos even in crosswinds of up to 12.7 m/s. 

P-Log format allows professionals to retain more 

information with raw files. 

Autonomous Photogrammetry 

ANAFI Ai’s biomimetic form factor mimics nature’s 

fitness. Its swivel head has an omni- directional 

camera, ensuring precise obstacle avoidance in every 

flight direction. When obstacles are detected, ANAFI 

Ai automatically determines the best trajectory to 

pursue its mission. 

Embedded Artificial Intelligence allows for 

photogrammetry-specific flight plans to be performed 

automatically, optimizing productivity, and saving 

time. Professionals can generate optimized missions 

based on the land registry of the building selected in 

just one click. 

ANAFI Ai’s Quad Bayer 48 MP sensor delivers 

survey-grade accurate 2D and 3D models. It offers 

the same precision as drones with a 1" 20MP sensor, 

while flying 1.8 times higher. A GSD of 0.46 cm/px 

is obtained at an altitude of 30 m. Pictures can be 

captured at 1fps, 2x faster than any other drone in 

the market. 

ANAFI Ai images are compatible with all 

photogrammetry software suites. With Pix4D, the 

market leader in photogrammetry software, Parrot 

has pushed the integration one step further. During 

the flight, ANAFI Ai sends the pictures to Pix4Dcloud 

directly. Computation starts when the drone lands 

so that professionals gain productivity by avoiding 

manual time- consuming data transfer. 

A unique robotic platform 

Since the first Parrot A.R. Drone in 2010, open-source 

is at the heart of Parrot platforms. Parrot continually 

contributes to the open-source community. 

With the launch of ANAFI Ai, Parrot expands its 

Software Development Kit (SDK) by open- sourcing 

the 7th version of its FreeFlight ground control 

station application: 

Air SDK: provides a breakthrough technological 

architecture to run code directly on ANAFI Ai. 

Developers can program custom-designed 

autonomous flight missions by accessing all drone 

sensors, connectivity interfaces, and autopilot 

features. 


DRONES 

Ground SDK: allows developers to create iOS and 

Android mobile applications for Parrot drones. All 

the features of the drone (control, video, settings) are 

accessible. 

OpenFlight: the open-source core of FreeFlight 7 

application. Developers can focus on adding their 

own features and immediately get a professionallooking 

App ready to be published on the application 

stores. 

Sphinx: enables developers to test their algorithm 

and flight strategy in a photorealistic 3D simulation 

environment running through Unreal Engine, with 

accurate physical interaction. 

Parrot’s industry-leading SDK facilitates the 

implementation of tailored end-to-end solutions for 

professionals from public safety, search & rescue to 

defense and inspection fields. 

Parrot platforms are built on industry standards (WIFI, 

RTP/RTSP, MAVLINK), making interoperability much 

easier. 

Parrot keeps on expanding its mature software 

ecosystem: from enterprise drone platforms (Skyward, 

a Verizon Company, Measure, an AgEagle Company), 

flight logs services (DroneLogbook, Airdata), public 

safety programs (DroneSense) and advanced mission 

planning (QGroundControl, UgCS), to media and 

data cloud platforms (Survae), real time geospatial 

situational awareness (Rapid Imaging, Textron 

Systems), surveying and mapping (Pix4D). 

Today, Parrot has the largest partner ecosystem for 

professional drones. 

Cybersecurity by design 

Pioneering flight, Parrot is also pioneering security. 

ANAFI Ai embeds a WISeKey Secure Element 

which is NIST FIPS140-2 Level 3 compliant 

and Common Criteria EAL5+ certified. The Secure 

Element: 

• performs cryptographic operations. 

• stores and protects sensitive information. 

• protects the integrity of the embedded 

software. 

• provides a unique identity to the drone for 4G 

pairing and strong authentication. 

• features a unique digital signing of the pictures 

taken by the drone. 

Users have full control over their data. No data is 

shared by default without the user’s express consent. 

ANAFI Ai is compliant with the European Union 

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in 

some cases goes even further. For example, users 

can delete all data with 1- Click, easily maintaining 

control over what is stored. 

A bug bounty program is currently running in 

partnership with YesWeHack, the first European 

crowdsourced security platform. Parrot benefits from 

their vast community of cybersecurity researchers 

to identify potential vulnerabilities in its drones, 

mobile applications and WebServices. 

A cool drone 

By its design, Parrot’s new Skycontroller 4 is a 

milestone for the industry. Cumbersome cables are 

no longer required, and it enables the use of an iPad 

mini and all large smartphones. The controller also 

features an HDMI output, which allows streaming 

videos from ANAFI Ai. 

With ANAFI Ai, Parrot believes “pleasure in the job 

puts perfection in the work” – Aristotle. ANAFI Ai is 

Parrot’s new cool drone: it looks nice, it is intriguing, 

foldable, operational in 1 minute and resistant to rain. 



MAPPING 

University of Oxford improves estate 

management with indoor mapping 

Information System) software from 

Esri UK. Interactive maps now 

give an overview of the estate, 

showing buildings in context 

of their surroundings down to 

individual floors, rooms and spaces, 

while interactive dashboards show 

floorplans, usage and cost details. 

“The challenge was to create an 

indoor mapping system which 

would provide 24hr access to 

floorplan and budget information 

for academic departments and other 

tenants and keep pace with the 

dynamic nature of our estate, which 

has several thousand changes 

every year, from repurposing an 

office into a laboratory to minor 

modifications such as moving 

internal walls,” explained Lomin 

Saayman, Information Records 

Manager, University of Oxford 

Estates Services. 

The University of Oxford has upgraded its 

estates management processes with a new 

indoor mapping system to provide more 

efficient methods of maintaining asset data and how 

it charges university departments and other tenants 

for the space they use. Offering easy access to 

property and interiors data across 300+ buildings and 

35,000 spaces using interactive maps, the University 

chose GIS mapping technology from Esri UK to build 

the new system, which went live in May 2021. 

Replacing manual processes, static CAD floorplan 

drawings and Excel spreadsheets, the new solution 

combines over 2,000 floorplans into a single 

interactive map, enabling the university to more 

easily share data online with building managers 

and department administrators. A two-way 

communication tool has also been introduced, so any 

modifications to lecture theatres, accommodation or 

classrooms can be easily fed back to the estates team 

online, replacing a labour-intensive and paper-based 

annual audit and improving how the university 

calculates charges for tenants. 

Consisting of a broad portfolio, the University 

of Oxford’s estate includes academic buildings, 

laboratories, student and staff accommodation, 

commercial buildings for investment and leasing 

purposes, farms, plus space embedded in a number 

of hospitals around Oxford. The university charges 

academic departments and colleges for the space 

they use and also leases buildings to commercial 

entities. The University is the oldest in the Englishspeaking 

world and has more than 24,000 students. 

The new indoor mapping system was created by 

migrating static CAD floorplans and associated 

building data into the online GIS (Geographic 

“The Esri UK solution gives us a 

geographical visualisation of our 

estate and allows tenants to report 

any changes so our central asset 

record is always up-to-date. The old 

process of confirming what space 

they occupied used to take around 

five months and wasted time 

chasing data, so now the estates 

team is free to work on other tasks. 

Overall, the increased visibility and 

accuracy is helping improve how we 

inform departments what they will 

be charged for the year and in how 

we plan for the future expansion 

of the estate. Purchasing the software via a Chest 

agreement also meant it was well within our budget,” 

concluded Saayman. 

The new system is already contributing to the spatial 

planning of a large new laboratory facility being 

built, by revealing how the old 1960s building was 

previously used. Plans for the future include adding 

large or significant assets to the indoor mapping 

solution, such as an MRI scanner, by scanning items 

with a 3D scanner and making them visible on the 

map. 

“Indoor mapping has made previously difficult to 

share static floorplan data rapidly accessible and easy 

to navigate by all stakeholders,” said Rob Nichols, 

Sales Lead at Esri UK. “Bringing CAD data into a 

GIS mapping environment has given the university 

complete situational awareness of its whole estate, 

allowing it to improve operational efficiency and 

make accurate decisions.” 


Concept3D Mapping Platform 

Brings Oklahoma State University 

Campus to Life Online 

MAPPING 

Concept3D, a leader in creating immersive 

online experiences with 3D modeling, 

interactive maps and virtual tour software, has 

announces that Oklahoma State University (OSU) is 

the latest higher education institution to launch on 

the company’s robust interactive map and virtual tour 

platform. 

With Concept3D, OSU’s nearly 1,500-acre campus 

comes to life online in 3D, with detailed categories 

and locations, call-to-action pop-ups, and wayfinding 

directions, along with eight integrated residential 

tours and a campus-wide tour. 

Additionally, the new map features live transit feeds 

which offer map users the ability to easily see the 

location and direction of buses and shuttles, the 

timing of upcoming stops, as well as find the nearest 

bus stop. The wayfinding system - with either a dragand-drop 

start and finish or the ability to add specific 

addresses - provides the shortest, most efficient route 

to a destination, simplifying campus navigation. A 

unique Concept3D feature gives map users the ability 

to generate custom print maps with their selected 

campus area and categories, from athletics to dining, 

parking and residential. 

“We’re honored to collaborate with OSU on the new 

campus map, and their team has done a fantastic 

job of using the features of the Concept3D platform 

to support the needs of current and prospective 

students as well as parents and visitors,” said Gordon 

Boyes, CEO, Concept3D. 

“We’re excited to have the new interactive map as 

a unique tool for wayfinding, transit and to explore 

the campus,” said Kaitlin Little, Web Designer, 

Oklahoma State University. “The features included 

will be incredibly helpful to our campus community 

as well as prospective students and employees. 

The Concept3D team is great to work with, and the 

software is intuitive and easy to use” 

Oklahoma State University is one of America’s 

premier land-grant universities and serves over 

25,000 students. Concept3D has been supporting the 

needs of higher education institutions for decades, 

and its 3D interactive map and virtual tour software 

are the choice of thousands of different universities, 

colleges and schools in North America and across 

the globe tosupport marketing, wayfinding, parking 

and transportation, and helping people navigate and 

explore campuses. 



PROJECT REVIEW 

Casablanca Finance City Tower 

Text and images courtesy – Morphosis Architects 


Casablanca Finance City Tower is the 

first project to be realized in the newlyestablished 

Casablanca Finance City (CFC)—a 

transformative new business district currently being 

developed in the Anfa District southwest of the 

historic city center. The completion of the 25-story 

tower in April 2019 marked a significant milestone 

for Casablanca as it expands on its historical role as 

the gateway to Africa. 

CFC, a government-endorsed initiative, invites 

global firms to establish their regional headquarters 

in Morocco within this special economic zone. 

Developed in close partnership with CFC leadership, 

the Tower marks Morphosis’ first project in Africa. The 

Casablanca Finance City Tower plays a critical role in 

the ongoing development of the CFC, located in the 

Anfa District, which was home to the Anfa Airport 

until it closed in 2007. 

CFC symbolizes Morocco’s vision for the future and 

sets precedents in building performance, scale, and 

technology for a part of the city that is yet to be fully 

realized. Working in harmony with the site’s climate 

and designed to minimize ecological impact, the 

tower sets a new standard for future projects in the 

region and beyond. “The Casablanca Finance City 

Tower and its innovative design was conceived to 

have long-lasting impact and to signal a new era of 

economic prosperity for Morocco,” said Pritzker Prizewinning 

architect and Morphosis Founding Partner 

Thom Mayne. 

“This tower brings together a range of global 

industries in the heart of the country, galvanizing 

international investment in North Africa, while also 

providing a template for the future development 

of the district as it continues to grow.” Morphosis 

Partner and Project Principal Ung-Joo Scott Lee 

added: “We are immensely grateful to have had the 

opportunity to contribute to this historic turning 

point for Morocco, through our collaboration with 

the visionary leaders at Casablanca Finance City. 

Working closely together, we were able to push 

the boundaries of design and construction, 

transforming a blank satellite site into a dynamic 

development that sustainably engages with its 

surrounding environment.” 

The design for the Casablanca Finance City Tower 

draws on the unique openness of the surrounding 

area, which afforded the designers the unusual 

opportunity in an otherwise dense city to highlight 

the relationship between the building and the 

natural environment. A brise-soleil system wraps 

the building, protecting against the sun while still 

allowing the building to harness external elements 

to regulate natural light, air, and temperatures 

internally, in addition to offering unprecedented 

views of the city, ocean, and the iconic Hassan II 

Mosque. 

This faç ade draws inspiration from traditional 

geometric patterned mosaics and intricate 

wooden latticework screens characteristic of 

Moroccan architecture. As a result of this energy 

CASABLANCA FINANCE CITY TOWER 

efficient system, the building meets all LEED Gold 

requirements of the World Green Building Council. 

A tapered crown capping the 400-foot (122-meter) 

structure realizes the tower’s function as a new icon 

for the city. Mirrored at street level, the building 

engages the lower urban landscape with exterior 

public programming that invites the community into 

adjacent public spaces. This double crown allows the 

building to simultaneously serve as a symbol of the 

city’s development and as a social hub that nurtures 

an active street life in the district. 




When the project matters 

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Africa Surveyors May-June issue 2021

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