Towards Smaller and Smarter Solutions

Intergeo是领先的年度行业展示柜，地理空间专业人员对最新创新的印象很好。在新十年的边缘，Intergeo 2019使我们瞥见了未来。总的来说，我们可以得出结论，解决方案越来越小，更聪明，并且有一些新的孩子。但是，围绕机器学习和人工智能的所有嗡嗡声，我们如何削减炒作以充分利用快速前进的技术？

One thing was crystal clear at this year’s Intergeo: the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or ‘drone’) has well and truly moved beyond the hype. The unmanned aerial system (UAS) has now become a standard survey method which has proven its practical value for a multitude of applications. The annual geospatial gathering in Stuttgart revealed an increase in the number of hybrid UASs. Examples included theMarlynautonomous vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) drone – developed by Atmos UAV – that combines the flexibility of a multirotor with the efficiency and speed of a fixed-wing, and asimilar solution来自位于瑞士的Wingtra，这是一家来自Eth Zurich的自治系统实验室的衍生公司。

Drones with laser scanners

扫描仪的微型化以及无人机的有效载荷能力的提高正在导致基于无人机的激光扫描仪快速增加以捕获点云，例如新的UAV scannerfrom RIEGL and the small Velodyne HDL-32E scanner. Determining the position and attitude of the scanner during the flight requires the inclusion of high-quality GNSS and IMU equipment. One such solution on display at Intergeo 2019 was from French companyYellowScan，展示了其Turnkey 3D UAV-LIDAR系统。总体而言，总部位于无人机的LiDar显然对许多专业的专家产生了严重的影响。

Smaller mobile mapping systems

大约十年前，移动映射系统（MMS）是Intergeo庞大的展览馆中的最新创新，其中包括许多大型系统，包括激光扫描仪，相机和导航设备安装在大型车辆顶部。如今，供应商的数量拒绝了几家公司。188asia备用网址移动映射系统也很难发现，因为这些年来它们已经变得小得多。新的，微型的传感器技术使传感器可以安装在各种类型的移动平台上，并为更具通用性和更便宜的MMS提供了新的可能性。现在，大多数系统都可以轻松抬起，可以进行无忧的安装和卸下，许多系统甚至可以便携。

Invasion of automotive sensors

Alongside traditional suppliers of land survey equipment, there was a notably higher number of suppliers with origins in automotive sensors. Thanks to the economies of scale resulting from their existing production activities, these suppliers are capable of delivering lower-cost sensors. Although they are not especially built for surveying, those sensors are suitable for use in situations where quality is not essential, such as visualization. Integration with centimetre-level GNSS and MEMS IMUs can turn laser scanners from the automotive industry into a mapping payload for UAVs.

Indoor mapping expands

Staying on the topic of sensors, there were also many new sensors for indoor mapping applications. The solutions, which included backpacks and a newhandheld scanner从徕卡混沌之间,通常在一起工作taneous localization and mapping (SLAM) principle. The development of SLAM algorithms has enabled the advancement of mobile laser scanning (MLS) to provide 3D data from GNSS-denied environments, such as indoor locations and industrial sites. Recent further improvements in SLAM technology and software tools mean that surveyors can use mobile devices for an ever-expanding range of applications. Moreover, the data can be automatically processed and visualized as intuitive HD maps or realistic, interactive digital twins, thus making it accessible for a broader customer base.

Photogrammetry revival

The continued rise, advancements and applications of Lidar as a prevalent geodata acquisition technology were visible at this year’s event, but visitors could still find plenty of photogrammetry on the exhibition floor. Thanks to significant improvements in both hardware and algorithms, dense image matching (DIM) – a computer vision-driven technology that allows for the generation of detailed and reliable point clouds from images – has led to a real revival of this field. At188金宝搏特邀, we spotted the key role of DIM in many geoinformation-related innovations almost a decade ago, and the technology is now clearly allowing photogrammetry to step out of Lidar’s shadow.

Artificial intelligence – hype or hope?

On the topic of algorithms, artificial intelligence was hard to ignore at this year’s Intergeo. But are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) worth the hype, and should you be taking action now? Or is it better to wait and see how things pan out? In our view at188金宝搏特邀，您应该考虑目前AI和ML实际上可以添加什么。合并机器学习的解决方案并不比没有自动的解决方案更好。话虽如此，机器学习已经在我们日常生活的许多方面发挥了作用。例如，AI已经在LiDAR或摄影测量图像中应用了，但是它需要高质量和准确的数据……算法的准确性可能是一个挑战。但是，基于ML和基于AI的方法在将来改善点云中的自动检测方面肯定具有很大的希望。AI和机器学习如何为映射和测量解决方案增加价值的一个很好的例子是Harris GeoSpatial的envi地理空间分析软件。它的深度学习模块提供了图像驱动的见解，还有助于使深度学习更广泛地为行业提供。

A glimpse of the future

This year,188金宝搏特邀在活动的最后一天，作为Intergeo会议的一部分，组织了一整天的曲目。早晨的会议标题为“未来十年的地理学”，对地理空间的未来有了现实而令人着迷的瞥见。当Esri庆祝其50^thanniversary in 2019,Lawrie Jordan, the company’s director of imagery and remote sensing, took the audience on a journey into the future of GIS, saying that a new view and a new vision is now emerging of GIS as the “Intelligent Nervous System” for our planet. During his keynote, Jordan provided insights into some of the latest software technology trends intersecting with this nervous system, including practical examples employing AI, ML, deep learning, real-time and predictive analytics, multi-temporal image cubes, etc. The future-oriented and often mind-boggling technology offers the potential for a wide range of concrete applications.

下午的会议标题为“移动映射的许多面孔”，涵盖了移动和空中映射的进步。Gottfried Mandlburger（维也纳技术大学）对最新发展的最新进展非常最新airborne Lidar, putting emphasis on hybrid multipurpose 3D data acquisition. Pere Molina (GeoNumerics,) pointed out how GNSS technology – as a central ingredient in the positioning mix – struggles to fuse the numerous available frequencies and constellations and still deliver error-free trajectories. In his presentation, Molina elaborated on the problem and potential approaches to its mitigation. GeoNumerics’mapKITEsolution works with an analogy to the conventional ground control points (GCPs) by simply taking advantage of its operation; as the UAS follows the terrestrial vehicle, the target is observed in all the images providing ready-to-use kinematic ground control points (KGCPs) for every image. This results in a high-accuracy, high-resolution surveying method.

Conclusion

经过三个繁忙的杂物，我们可以得出结论，传感器变得越来越小，而且越来越复杂。混合映射方法are becoming increasingly mature and, as a consequence, mainstream. Although Lidar technology is omnipresent, the market seems to have rediscovered the benefits of photogrammetry thanks to the many possibilities of DIM. A significant number of the exhibitors in Stuttgart were new entrants to the geospatial industry from other sectors. Many companies that were eye-catching start-ups and innovators (or ‘disruptors’) five years ago have since been acquired by major players such as Trimble and Bentley. Last but not least, after 25 years of Intergeo, the geospatial industry now has a bright future ahead as it increasingly interacts with other industries and its solutions become ever-more mainstream.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Mathias Lemmens, senior editor of188金宝搏特邀, and Martin Kodde, consultant and director at Geodelta, for sharing their experiences after attending Intergeo 2019.