Augmented Reality Requires Powerful 3D Camera

Posted on February 1, 2019 by lidar

A report from Bloomberg indicates that Apple is planning to launch iPhones in 2020 with a more powerful 3-D camera to support the company’s push into augmented reality, according to people familiar with the plans.

Augmented Reality Overlay Photo by Anthony Kwan

Augmented Reality Overlay Photo by Anthony Kwan

The rear-facing, longer-range 3-D camera is designed to scan the environment to create three-dimensional reconstructions of the real world. It will work up to about 15 feet from the device, the people said. That’s in contrast with the current iPhone 3-D camera system, which points toward users and operates at distances of 25 to 50 centimeters to power Apple’s Face ID facial-recognition feature.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, AI, artifical perception, artificial intelligence, Augmented reality, Business Development, computer vision, Consumer, Hardware, Indoor Mapping, Laser Scanning, Mapping, Sensors, virtual reality | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Lidar for Drone Conference Hosted by YellowScan

Posted on February 16, 2019 by lidar

If you are interested in learning about the use of drones and lidar from some of the top experts in the industry then attending the Lidar for Drone Conference in the south of France March 20 and 21 should be on your agenda. These small, highly focused events are often the best learning and networking experiences.

image of sensor Lidar for Drone 2019 Conference

Lidar for Drone 2019 Conference

The YellowScan team would like to invite you to this year’s LiDAR for Drone Conference on March 20th & 21st in Montpellier, France.

This event is an excellent opportunity to discuss the latest developments of UAV LiDAR technologies, share experiences and meet your peers. Attendees will gain insight into the LiDAR industry, hear from interesting and innovative users of LiDAR and be part of this important ecosystem.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, Agriculture, airborne LiDAR, Business Development, Cloud, Conferences, Data, Entertainment, Environmental, Feature Extraction, Forestry, Inspection, Lidar, Mapping, Photogrammetry, point clouds, remote sensing, Software, UAS, UAVs | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

NGS 2019 Geospatial Summit – Registration is Required

Posted on February 15, 2019 by lidar

The NGS 2019 Geospatial Summit will be held in Silver Spring, MD May 6 – 7, 2019. The ongoing modernization of the National Spatial Reference System will be the main focus of the event.

Logo of NGS 2019 Geospatial Summit May 6-7, 2019

NGS 2019 Geospatial Summit May 6-7, 2019

The NGS plans to replace the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) in 2022 as part of modernizing the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). This is your opportunity to learn first hand what is being planned for 2022 and how this will impact your geodetic operations.

By attending the NGS 2019 Geospatial Summit you will:

  • learn about NGS’ progress in modernizing the NSRS;
  • hear how NGS has been engaging NSRS users across sectors;
  • ask questions of NGS experts; and
  • share your feedback about the planned changes

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Posted in 3D Modeling, Admin, Education, geodetic, Geomatics, GNSS, Government, Mapping, Research, Standards, Surveying, Surveying Engineering, training | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award for 2019

Posted on February 13, 2019 by lidar

As promised, there is important news for the Younger Geospatial Professional community. Lidar News and SPAR 3D are excited to announce and host the inaugural Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award for 2019. This is a unique opportunity for the YGP to participate in this industry leading 3D geospatial event and to showcase your talent.

logo for Younger Geospatial Professional

Younger Geospatial Professional Award 2019

New this year, the Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award (YGP of the Year Award) will be publicly announced at SPAR 3D Expo & Conference 2019. Brought to you by SPAR 3D and Lidar News, this is a unique opportunity to recognize a YGP for his/her achievements in the 3D geospatial technology space.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, Conferences, Education, The Industry, Young Geospatial Professional | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Studying Drought Using Lidar in the Amazon Rain Forest

Posted on February 9, 2019 by lidar

Most people would not expect the Amazon rain forest to be associated with studying drought, yet prolonged dry spells are projected to become more prevalent and severe because of climate change. The question at hand is how these droughts are going to affect the rain forest, as it has a large influence on global climate and future warming.

Photo of Studying Droughts Credit: Gleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre / Wikipedia

Studying Droughts Credit: Gleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre / Wikipedia

From an article in phys.org.

A study led by Marielle Smith, a research associate in Michigan State University’s forestry department, and Scott Stark, assistant professor of forestry, examines the Amazon’s response to droughts in order to better predict how forest growth and physiology will affect tree diversity and, ultimately, the planet’s climate.

Due to its combination of wet forest structure and a strong dry season, the Tapajós National Forest in Brazil may be a good indicator for climate change responses, which is what led researchers to the location.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, Agriculture, airborne LiDAR, Environmental, Forestry, GIS, Government, Laser Scanning, Lidar, Mapping, point clouds, remote sensing, Research, Sensors, topography, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Never Lost Again – Must Read for 3D Digital Mappers

Posted on February 8, 2019 by lidar

When you are building your list of books to read in 2019, Never Lost Again by Bill Kilday deserves to be near the top of that list. It’s the inside story of Keyhole, Google Earth and now Niantic. An incredible set of accomplishments for a relatively small team of digital mapping visionaries that earned every inch of their success.

Image of Never Lost Again - Must Read

Never Lost Again – Must Read

Peter Batty recommended this book during his keynote at ILMF last week. Having been involved with GIS and digital mapping since the early 1980’s, reading this book is like reading my career diary.

In the mid – to – late 1990’s a partner and I were trying to launch a consumer digital mapping product that used the USGS DRG’s as the base maps and included support for a NMEA signal from a handheld GPS so that you could see your location in real time on the DRG. Amazing, but it still required a laptop computer – a huge limitation for an outdoor recreation product, but not for the Keyhole team, who were not concerned with real time navigation, in the beginning.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, AI, artificial intelligence, Augmented reality, Consumer, Data, Digital Transformation, GIS, Mapping, satellites, Technology, The Industry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cover Letter is Key to Landing Your Dream Job

Posted on February 6, 2019 by lidar

GoGeomatics Founder and geospatial career coach, Jon Murphy provides a valuable set of recommendations for writing an effective cover letter. Some of these ideas also apply to report cover letters.

From Jon’s article in GoGeomatics.

photo of Jon Murphy on the Importance of a Cover Letter

Jon Murphy on the Importance of a Cover Letter

When applying for a geospatial position, your cover letter provides the perfect opportunity to really make sense of your skills and experience, and to relate them to the job you are applying for.

Keep your cover letter concise and to about a page in length. You should submit a cover letter every time you hand in a résumé, unless there is no chance to.

A cover letter is your opportunity to really sell yourself to the employer. Consider the cover letter and the resume as your first assignment with the prospective employer. That means it needs to be flawless.

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Posted in Admin, Business Development, Geomatics, GIS, The Industry, Young Geospatial Professional | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

World Magnetic Model Recently Updated Ahead of Time

Posted on February 5, 2019 by lidar

Magnetic North is not a static position. The World Magnetic Model was recently updated to reflect the fact that the movement of magnetic north has been rapidly progressing northward towards Siberia.

From an article by Maya Wei-Haas in National Geographic

map of World Magnetic Model Updated

World Magnetic Model Updated

I have to admit that I did not recall that there are 3 North poles. The first is over the axis of rotation of the earth. This is True North. The second is magnetic north – the location where you compass points. And perhaps less well known, there is geomagnetic north which is a point off the northwest coast of Greenland.

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Posted in geodetic, Geomatics, GIS, GNSS, Government, Mapping, military, Orgs, Research, satellites, Surveying Engineering | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Emesent is Data61 Spin-Out – Can Fly Autonomous Without GPS

Posted on February 4, 2019 by lidar

Emesent, a drone autonomy spin-out from CSIRO’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, has raised $3.5 million in venture capital to commercialise its first product, Hovermap.

picture of The Emesent Team

The Emesent Team

Main Sequence Ventures, which manages the CSIRO Innovation Fund, led the funding round along with long-time Bechtel mining executive Andy Greig.

Developed by former researchers from CSIRO’s Data61, Emesent’s world-leading Hovermap technology automates the collection of valuable data in underground areas too dangerous or difficult for people to survey or navigate, such as stopes or ore passes in mines.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, airborne LiDAR, artificial intelligence, Business Development, Environmental, Government, Laser Scanning, Lidar, Mapping, Mining, remote sensing, Research, Sensors, SLAM, Software, UAS, UAVs | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Automotive Lidar – The Details Behind 10 Leading Companies

Posted on February 3, 2019 by lidar

Over the past year the automotive lidar manufacturers have been providing more details on their proprietary technology.

Timothy B. Lee provides an in-depth look at 10 of the leading companies for Ars Technica.

image of point cloud from Automotive Lidar

Automotive Lidar

Today, there are three big ways that automotive lidar products differ from one another. And after laying these approaches out, it’s easier to grasp the technology of nine leading automotive lidar companies.

To keep this survey of the automotive lidar landscape manageable, I’m sticking to independent companies that focus primarily on the lidar business. That means I won’t cover Waymo’s homebrew lidar technology, the lidar startups GM and Ford acquired in 2017, or the lidar efforts of bigger companies like Valeo (maker of the lidar in Audi’s 2018 and 2019 versions of the A7 and A8), Pioneer, or Continental. It’s hard to get these larger companies to give us details about their lidar technology—and there’s plenty of ground to cover without them.

The three big factors that distinguish lidar sensors

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Posted in 3D Modeling, AI, artifical perception, artificial intelligence, Augmented reality, Autonomous vehicles, computer vision, Consumer, Flash LiDAR, Hardware, Laser Scanning, Lidar, machine learning, Mapping, point clouds, Research, Sensors, Software, solid state, solid state lidar, The Industry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

NavVis M6 is Streamlining Scan-to-BIM Workflows

Posted on February 2, 2019 by lidar

The M6 mobile mapping platform from NavVis provides a highly efficient means of collecting the as-found conditions for the interior of a building.

From a NavVis blog post by Stephen Cousins

Image of NavVis M6 Mobile Scanner

NavVis M6 Mobile Scanner

Scanning technology is becoming a critical function of integrated Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflows and the process of capturing existing buildings and converting the data for use in intelligent design software is often referred to as Scan-to-BIM.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, artificial intelligence, BIM, Data, Indoor Mapping, Laser Scanning, Lidar, Mapping, Sensors, SLAM | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment