Susan Smith Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ newsletters and blogs. She writes on a number of topics, including but not limited to geospatial, architecture, engineering and construction. As many technologies evolve and occasionally merge, Susan finds herself uniquely situated to be able to cover diverse topics with facility. « Less
Susan Smith Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More »
Keith Clarke, CBE, FREng, FICE, RIBA, Chairman, speaking on “Forum for the Future,” at the Bentley Year In Infrastructure 2019 thought leadership conference in Singapore in October, pointed out that recycling bins throughout the convention center have a sign above them stating, “the greatest threat to the planet is that we think somebody else will save it.”
Nearmap’s high-resolution aerial imagery and Cityworks announced a partnership last week that joins lifelike, 2D and 3D, HD-quality visuals with a GIS-centric asset management system that helps organizations oversee assets, maintenance, permits and licenses for public asset management.
Avalanches can be extremely dangerous especially for off-piste skiers as well as for small towns situated below the slopes. As ski season comes upon us, it’s a good idea to check the avalanche conditions of the ski slopes you plan on frequenting. There are over 1000 avalanches occurring every year in the Swiss Alps alone. Local communities put up steel fence barriers along the slopes to prevent avalanches from encroaching near their town. To build such snow barriers, steep rock faces and cliffs need to be surveyed with utmost precision.
Belgian company Orbit Geospatial Technologies (Orbit GT), specialists in 3D and mobile mapping, was recently acquired by Bentley Systems at the Bentley Year In Infrastructure 2019 thought leadership conference in Singapore.
Each year at the Bentley Year In Infrastructure thought leadership conference brings a new dimension to digital workflows. Digital Twins were definitely the order of the day this year, and mobile mapping and some other technologies taking front and center stage in the form of acquisitions.
In September, CoreLogic released their 2019 Wildfire Risk Report that analyzes the top regions, states and metro areas at risk for wildfire damage, including number of at-risk homes and their estimated reconstruction costs. The report also includes a breakdown of 2017 and 2018’s major wildfires, which were quite extensive through the western United States. The report focuses on homes in the western states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Some important facts from the report include (from company materials):
The report found nearly 776,000 homes with an associated reconstruction cost value of more than $221 billion are at extreme risk of wildfire damage.
The Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego metro areas ranked as the top three high-risk areas, respectively with more than 42% of residences at high-to-extreme wildfire risk.
These regions make up more than 51% of the total RCV of the top 15 metro areas analyzed.
In 2018, the highest number of acreage burn occurred in California (1,823,153 acres burned), Nevada (1,001,966 acres burned) and Oregon (897,262 acres burned).
2018 was a record-breaking wildfire year with 8,767,492 acres burned—roughly equivalent to 74 of the 75 largest cities in the United States combined.
This marked the 6th highest total since modern historical records began in the mid-1900s.
From defense to ISR and tethered drones to highly intelligent vehicle sensors, geospatial developments are critical in the realm of communication of many kinds.
While much defense research and development involves the development of weaponry, this particular effort by Airbus Defence and Space focuses on communication rather than physical intervention.
A portable and autonomous dialogue device from Airbus
What do you do if you don’t have an actual physical street address and you want to vote? You are definitely eligible to vote, except for that one small detail that has become critical in North Dakota under a new statewide voter identification law.
Stewart Berry, vice president of Product Management, Mapping Software for Caliper spoke with GISCafe Voice about the release of free updated healthcare map layers that provide over 5 million medical and healthcare provider points-of-interest.
Among numerous announcements made this week at Intergeo in Stuttgart, Germany, by Trimble, the new Trimble X7 3D Laser Scanning System was introduced, a scanning system that enables professionals with little or no scanning expertise to capture precise 3D scanning data to produce high-quality deliverables.