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.
The theme of Esri User Conference 2019 was “See What Others Can’t.” The idea is that with GIS, people have the power to see differently. This was the 39th Annual Users Meeting, and while the meeting attracts close to 12,000 attendees per year, Esri CEO and president Jack Dangermond said that the purpose remains the same as it was when they began meeting with users at a Montessori school many years ago.
This week, GISCafe Voice spoke with Este Geraghty, MD, MS, MPH, GISP, Chief Medical Officer & Health Solutions Director, Esri. Formerly the Deputy Director of the Center for Health Statistics and Informatics with the California Department of Public Health, Dr. Geraghty led the state vital records and public health informatics programs. There she engaged in statewide initiatives in meaningful use, health information exchange, open data and interoperability.
These maps show areas of low vaccination rates (and increased risks of measles outbreaks). Maps of the situation in both New York and Washington show the reality of outbreaks.
Ole Rollen, president and CEO of Hexagon, spoke on the topic of “Can Data Save the World?” at the ninth consecutive HxGN LIVE held in Las Vegas this week.
In an interview with Arnaud de Saint Vincent, Analytics Strategy – Digital Services Intelligence Communications, Intelligence, Security of the Defence and Space intelligence branch of Airbus, he spoke about one of their digital services, Earth Monitor, under the umbrella of their OneAtlas platform. Airbus Defence and Space and Orbital Insight have expanded upon their partnership agreement to create Earth Monitor, a powerful change analysis and insights service which provides situational awareness over archived or newly tasked areas of interest.
Bentley Systems hosted its Spring Update Conference Call this week about the progress of the company, with a focus on Digital Twin technology. In addition were two product announcements and the acquisition of Keynetix, a UK-headquartered provider of cloud-based software for capturing, visualizing, modeling, and sharing of geotechnical data.
With OpenSite Designer, users can create intelligent 3D models for civil site projects complete with site information, terrain data, parking lots, building pads, driveways, sidewalk, parcel layout and related site features.
The Notre Dame Cathedral has been well-documented both before and after a devastating fire destroyed its spire and roof on Monday, April 15, 2019. What we have going forward is extensive documentation in the forms of satellite imagery, aerial imagery, as well as 3D laser scans to help in the reconstruction of the Gothic cathedral.
Satellite photos show Notre-Dame Cathedral before and after Monday's devastating fire. Facebook/Digital Globe
DT Research, designer and manufacturer of purpose-built computing solutions for vertical markets, recently announced the DT380CR and DT380Q rugged lightweight tablets, weighing two pounds and light enough for field workers to carry all day, yet with an 8-inch display that is large enough to facilitate a large number of indoor/outdoor computing assignments as well as provide high brightness with capacitive touch. These new tablets have IP65 and MIL-STD-810G ratings for military-grade durability, seamless information capture-transmission capabilities and hot-swappable batteries result in no work interruptions– increasing productivity while simultaneously offering organizations an affordable rugged solution.
Digital Twins – are they taking the technology world by storm? IDC recently noted that by 2020, 30% of global 2000 companies will be using data from Digital Twins to improve organizational productivity by as much as 25%. While it is not quite there, Gartner predicts the Digital Twin will reach the “Plateau of Productivity” within 5 to 10 years.
According to the 2018 Gartner Hype Cycle, Digital Twin is a trend that is now approaching the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” and is estimated to hit the “Plateau of Productivity” within 5 to 10 years. Image courtesy of Gartner, Inc.