As our U.S. Census nears its next collection in 2020, Hexagon Geospatial takes on the globe with its latest Census launch that takes into account the UN sustainable development goals.
GISCafe Voice
Archive for the ‘location intelligence’ Category
CoreLogic’s New Analysis on Flood and Wind Losses from Hurricane Florence
Thursday, October 4th, 2018David Smith, Senior Director of Model Development at CoreLogic, spoke with GISCafe Voice about the recent analysis of loss from flooding from Hurricane Florence released by CoreLogic.
CoreLogic analysis shows Hurricane Florence is estimated to have caused between $20 billion and $30 billion in flood and wind losses.
According to this new data analysis, flood loss for residential and commercial properties in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia is estimated to be between $19 billion and $28.5 billion which includes both storm surge and inland flooding. Specifically, uninsured flood loss for the same area is estimated to be between $13 billion and $18.5 billion. Wind losses are estimated to be an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion.
- What percentage of loss from flooding is characteristically covered by insurance?
- The percentage of flood losses covered by insurance, whether through the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) or through private insurance, is typically low in major flood events, especially on the residential side. Our modeling indicates that about 85 percent of the residential flood losses in Florence will be uninsured. This is even greater than the estimated 70 percent of uninsured residential flood losses as a result of Hurricane Harvey last year.
- Will new areas be considerate for designated Special Flood Hazard Areas after this hurricane? How does that work?
- It’s possible that new areas could be considered for designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) after Hurricane Florence. FEMA is continually updating its flood maps and flood elevations, and major flood events in the past have raised the priority of such updates in the affected areas.
It’s important to recognize that the SFHAs are designed to identify areas that are subject to flooding with an annual probability of 1 percent or greater – sometimes described as a 100-year return period. Areas outside the SFHAs often flood in major events, in which we often see rainfall return periods well beyond 100 years.
Complete and Accurate U.S. Census is the Goal for 2020
Thursday, September 20th, 2018While it’s still early for most of us to be thinking about the 2020 Census, it is not too early for the U.S. Census and most technology providers of Census software to be considering how to prepare.
Michael Ratcliffe, Asst. Division Chief, Geographic Standards, Criteria, Research, and Quality, Geography Division, US Census Bureau, spoke with GISCafe Voice about what the 2020 Census requires, and the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA).
With regard to the 2020 Census, an accurate address file for each state is essential, otherwise each state could lose millions of dollars in federal funding. It can also affect state budget obviously, and number of seats in Congress (determined by count).
What are ways the Census can ensure everyone gets counted in 2020?
- Our goal is a complete and accurate census.
- An accurate count helps determine how the nation allocates tax dollars to pay for services used by the entire local population — citizens and noncitizens alike and accurate data are crucial for determining how many congressional seats each state gets.
- We need communities to help us spread the word that all census responses are confidential and we will continue working with trusted voices in local communities to encourage people to participate.
What are any new requirements for the 2020 LUCA program for identifying individuals and how do they contrast with past requirements?
Will townships, tribes, cities and counties submit their Census figures to the state or submit them independently?
- The Census is self-response only. Census numbers are not compiled by any organization other than the Census Bureau. Residents should provide their 2020 Census responses to the Census Bureau only.
Will citizenship status be included in this collection?
- Please see the S. Department of Commerce statementand the Census Bureau’s report on the planned questions for the 2020 Census and American Community Survey. If you have any additional questions, please contact the Commerce Department’s Office of Public Affairs: publicaffairs@doc.gov. (202) 482-4883
GISCafe Voice Newsmix
Thursday, September 6th, 2018News this week takes a look at satellite imagery and machine learning for agricultural intelligence products, Dronecode platform-based products, traffic management using intelligent analytic rerouting, artificial intelligence and analytics, and AI and machine learning.
Google Driverless Car
The first two partnerships feature insights from the sky to earth. Herndon, Virginia-based Radiant Solutions, a Maxar Technologies company (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.), and TellusLabs, a satellite imagery and machine learning company, announced a partnership to offer agricultural intelligence products to provide insight on the world’s food supply, for the remainder of the Northern Hemisphere’s 2018 agricultural growing season and into the start of the Southern Hemisphere’s growing season. Those stakeholders such as food companies, government agencies and commodity traders who need a better understanding of the world’s current crop conditions and end of season expectations will benefit from this alliance.
Radiant Solutions’ Weather Desk™, an information platform enabled by advanced analytics applied to weather data, provides daily agricultural insights into how weather conditions are impacting agricultural markets. TellusLabs’ Kernel, enabled by machine learning applied to satellite imagery, provides insights into crop yields and agricultural forecasting. The offerings combine to deliver users an information to help them leverage the power of advanced analytics applied to persistent and pervasive weather and imagery data to derive insights into the agricultural supply chain dynamically and at a global scale.
3DR and Yuneec, two founding members of the Dronecode Software Consortium, announced a U.S.-headquartered joint venture to bring Dronecode platform-based products to market. The joint venture, which will operate as 3DR Government Services, will focus on serving the security and open platform needs of U.S. government customers and their vendors in the construction and engineering industries.
3DR Government Services will combine Yuneec’s hardware expertise and manufacturing scale with 3DR’s software. The first product from 3DR Government Services is the Yuneec 3DR H520-G, which is being unveiled at the InterDrone Conference in Las Vegas this week.
From traffic in the sky to traffic on earth, the following research study and enterprise data platform provider focus on AI and analytics and in the last case, takes into account blockchain technology.
Septentrio Adds Benefit to GNSS Systems with AsteRx-i S Integrated Positioning
Wednesday, August 29th, 2018From Leuven, Belgium, GNSS receiver manufacturer Septentrio recently announced the addition of the AsteRx-i S to its GNSS/INS product portfolio.
According to company materials, the AsteRx-i S combines Septentrio’s compact, multi-frequency multi-constellation GNSS engine with ultralight external industrial grade MEMS based IMU. Calibrated for wide temperature ranges, the AsteRx-i S delivers accurate and reliable GNSS/IMU integrated positioning to the cm-level as well as full attitude at high update rates and low latency.
Key benefits for users:
• GNSS/INS positioning with 3D attitude: heading pitch and roll
• Multi-constellation, multifrequency, all-in-view RTK receiver
• AIM+ interference monitoring and mitigation system
• High-update rate, low-latency positioning and attitude
• Small & ultralight IMU (10 grams)
• Robust calibration for wide temperature ranges
Septentrio product manager Gustavo Lopez answered some questions for GISCafe Voice about the addition of AsteRx-I S to the open interface of Septentrio’s core technology.
1. What problems are you attempting to solve with the AsteRx-i S?
One important aspect in high-end positioning technology is relying on advanced systems which combine the benefits of GNSS with the benefits of industrial grade IMUs. A GNSS/INS solution gives extra possibilities to applications working in difficult environments or where 3D reliable orientation is needed.
2. Is the technology for AsteRx-i S something you created in house or was it as a result of an acquisition?
The AsteRx-i S (same as the AsteRx-i V) uses an external quality industrial grade IMU however all the GNSS algorithmic engine is Septentrio’s proprietary bringing the stamp of quality and performance for what we are normally well known for. This means that the product also inherits all the intuitive and open interface of Septentrio thus making it easy-to-integrate in multiple applications.
New Resource Center Hazard HQ from CoreLogic Offers Public Access to Analysis and Data Insights
Wednesday, August 15th, 2018CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, recently announced the launch of its new publicly-accessible risk information resource center, Hazard HQ(tm). This new information hub will offer individuals, media and companies high-level analyses and up-to-date data insights on the immediate risks natural catastrophes pose to properties across the country.
The latest risk summary for Hazard HQ focuses on the ongoing California wildfires. As comprehensive risk assessment needs increase alongside growing economic losses from natural catastrophes, Hazard HQ offers a high-level risk perspective for individuals and companies who wish to understand how hazards like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, severe convective storms, wildfires, wind and volcanic activity can impact their regions.
Senior leader of content and strategy for CoreLogic, Maiclaire Bolton Smith, spoke with GISCafe Voice about the new resource center and how it is dedicated to offering catastrophe insights about events while they are happening.
Does Hazard HQ take in citizen information?
No, it focuses on information from CoreLogic. Corelogic can provide insight and information, whether wildfire, hurricane, earthquake or flooding, and offers insights on number of properties that could be at risk, or on an area that could be impacted and the home value that could be lost. No information is pulled from citizens. It’s our opportunity to share information with others to help them protect themselves and be able to restore from financial catastrophe.
It really evolved as a way for us to share information easily.
We’ve had all these devastating wildfires this summer already. We always try to learn from the events that have happened. We’ll always be providing more information on research. For example, with regard to the wildfire that happened in Sonoma County, California last year that impacted Santa Rosa, over the past six months we’ve done a lot of research looking at the reconstruction from that wildfire and the state of the homes being rebuilt and looking at some of the insurance impacts and implications from that event happening. An event doesn’t end when an event ends, it’s a long process afterwards to really recover from it, so we will continue to share more information on an ongoing basis as we continue to research events.
How do you expect risk analysis you’ve done last year is going to impact or help in the assessment of the damage of the Mendocino fire, as an example, right now?
The biggest factor is that it brings awareness to the impact that these devastating events do have. We hear about the hundreds of thousands of acres burned, but a lot of times the fires are burning in remote areas and there are not a lot of properties at risk. It’s devastating to see the area burned, but what we want to focus on is bringing awareness to insurers and other people about where there are homes and properties at risk, and focus on the human aspects of it. What people can take away from our previous research, is
- Being prepared for hazards that could happen, whether it be a flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc. We’re prone to disasters all the time in various parts of the country.
- Awareness of the events that can happen, and our main goal is to work with insurance companies and help them understand what properties are valued at to be able to insure properties properly.
- The general public needs to know they need insurance for a lot of these hazards. Insurance can really help them recover from events when they do happen. Hopefully they won’t be impacted but if they are, to know their risk and to be able to accelerate their recovery is a huge bonus.
Say a customer is obtaining insurance for things they expect but what about these events that happen way beyond anyone’s expectations?
Unfortunately, those rare events are the wild card that are really beyond planning scenarios. I’m actually a seismologist by training and I spend a lot of time training people to know their earthquake risk. I always say the number one thing people can do to prepare for an earthquake, is believe that it can happen, and that’s the same with all disasters. The possibility is there that it may occur. These are hard for people to conceptualize and plan for.
At CoreLogic we do risk modeling where we look at the range of events that can happen – the more common events to the very extreme events. That’s the information we provide to insurance companies, including what could the worst-case scenario even look like.
I have spoken to CoreLogic many times. In the past the company has said with the fires we’re expecting an increase in losses to homes because people have built closer to forests, and forests are not cleared as often, we run the higher risk.
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Flying 2018 World Cup Stadiums
Friday, July 6th, 2018Robby Deming, Media Strategy Manager for Esri, created a Story Map of the stadiums played in during the 2018 World Cup. Also, DigitalGlobe, who provided the high-resolution satellite imagery for the story map, offered valuable background on the collection of the imagery and how it would serve other industries besides the World Cup itself.
Trimble Catalyst Adds Support for GLONASS
Thursday, June 28th, 2018Recently, Trimble announced that its Trimble® Catalyst™ software-defined Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver for Android phones and tablets has been updated to support GLONASS.
DATAMARK Debuts DATAMARK VEP SaaS for GIS Data
Thursday, June 21st, 2018Sandi Stroud, associate vice president, Public Safety GIS DATAMARK, spoke with GISCafe Voice about DATAMARK, the public safety GIS division of Michael Baker International, and the recent launch of DATAMARK DATAMARK VEP (Validate-Edit-Provision), its new software-as-a-service GIS solution that validates, edits and provisions GIS data. To solve incomplete or poor-quality GIS data challenges, DATAMARK developed DATAMARK VEP to provide highest levels of public safety GIS data completeness and accuracy in the nation’s nearly 5,000 public safety answering points. The new solution is for both current 9-1-1 systems and the transition to next generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) systems and is augmented with GIS technical services and an expanded DATAMARK team that includes public safety and GIS professionals. NG9-1-1 is an initiative to update the 9-1-1 service infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada to improve public emergency response in a mobile society.
“This year Michael Baker formalized the public safety GIS division, grown into our own line of purposeful business within the company. And our staff has grown. But under DATAMARK we really are a suite of solutions and services. We have really built our team over the last six months to not just address GIS professionals but a lot of folks who have spent their entire careers in public safety and 9-1-1. And part of the reason for that is that we understand there’s a bit of translation that has to happen, depending upon whether we are working with a public safety or GIS client. Our staff is really involved in NG9-1-1 standards and participation in groups. Several of my staff including myself have helped author NG9-1-1 workshops for URISA. We launched that about three years ago at the GIS Pro conference in Washington, taught the workshop about twelve times since, and in fact we’re teaching the workshop at the Esri conference this year, so it’ll be free to conference goers.
We’re very focused on being able to be the GIS experts for NG9-1-1. In addition, we do offer comprehensive technical services, and then we also have solutions that are SaaS solutions. The approach we’ve taken is how can we take a product that helps a GIS stakeholder or data provider support the next gen 9-1-1 requirements, which is maybe a heavier lift than the normal business process they currently support. In addition to the solutions, we’ve also developed a service deliverable that we call a DATAMARK VEP. It allows us to help a 9-1-1 jurisdiction take a step back and look at a solution and really assess what it is they need to address in order to address their public safety or 9-1-1 solution.
What is the difference between traditional 9-1-1 and NG9-1-1?
The current 9-1-1 system – the process of getting the 9-1-1 caller to the right 9-1-1 center. You’ve dialed the 9-1-1 center and are waiting to talk to the dispatcher who sends you help. There is the process of identifying which center based on where you’re at. There is tabular location data that is used to take the location and do a database lookup, it’s not a geocoding exercise. Based on an attribute in that file, it determines where to send your call. In the 9-1-1 center you have your CAD dispatch center, you have a call taking system, and vehicle routing system. All these can use GIS, but we’ve found it’s very inconsistently applied. Some do not use GIS in those systems, they maintain a separate spatial file within those systems. There are a lot of silos that currently exist between how GIS is used in the 9-1-1 center and the tabular data that is currently being used to decide what center a call goes to.
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