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MGISS, a UK geospatial specialist, has released a new version of its web app TopoGrafi that allows for the display of 3D data in real-world models. With enhanced 3D data processing capabilities, TopoGrafi is an end-to-end platform for capturing buried asset data and processing it for augmented reality visualizations.

Aimed at the utility and infrastructure sectors, TopoGrafi is helping organizations in water and highway sectors enhance asset location data, improve on-site safety and reduce construction and maintenance costs.

Designed to be used alongside apps such as Esri Collector for ArcGIS, the TopoGrafi platform uses GNSS data.

It applies near-real-time conversions, transforming the recorded positions to local reference systems and aligning it with high-accuracy mapping including Ordnance Survey MasterMap.

The TopoGrafi toolkit also includes functionality to “snap” 3D features to each other and to other spatially referenced data, in order to create a true 3D model that can then be used to create Augmented Reality visualizations accessible from the desktop or in the field.

A European megaproject is relying on GNSS to guide supportive earthworks during construction. The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link is a planned underwater tunnel that would allow travelers to go by car or train between Germany and Denmark in only seven to 10 minutes. Once completed, the 18-kilometer-long tunnel will be the world’s largest of its kind and is expected to employ up to 3,000 people.

The 7 billion Euro project is expected to be completed in nine years. Danish construction company Holbøll A/S is building earthworks for 56 bridges on the main route crossing Denmark to where the tunnel would start. Holbøll’s undertakings include ramps and drainage work for the new bridges.

Holbøll has 130 employees and a machine park of 22 machines equipped with machine control from Leica Geosystems, enabling it to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions on time and at the agreed price.

At one of the bridges in Vordingborg, operator Flemming Ove Nielsen uses a Leica iCON GD4 3D system on the 61PX Komatsu dozer to perform the first rough work for building the slopes. Using the the iCON GPS 80 receiver, the iCON grade iGG4 system ensures fast and reliable grading with GNSS. Nielsen uses machine control to create the slope, and then the excavator takes over for the final grading work.

“The dozer is very efficient for this sort of work because it can move so much dirt and, with machine control, hold the correct angle of the blade,” explained Carl-Ole Holbøll, co-owner and managing director of Holbøll. The dual GNSS solution for the dozer is an advantage because the slope is so steep, and to achieve an accurate cross-slope, dual GNSS is required.

On another bridge, an excavator is using the Leica iCON iXE3 3D system for the finishing layer of the ramp slope. The operator can document the height of the different dirt layers simply by placing the bucket and letting the iXE3 register the height. This saves time — the operator doesn’t have to wait for a surveyor to conduct as-built documentation for each layer.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link prime contractor, Femern A/S, has taken the next steps to develop the area where the factory for the tunnel elements will be built. Continued archaeological surveys, preparatory supply infrastructure and drainage has been financed at 55 million Euros.

Geared with Leica Geosystems, Holbøll A/S has prequalified for several of the derived projects, including the draining and moving of eight hectares in Strandholm Lake in Denmark.

Based in Vandalia, Ohio, R.B. Jergens has long been an early adopter of technology. The company purchased its first GPS-based surveying equipment, a Trimble base station and rover, in 1999 and has never looked back.

The company has relied heavily on the Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System with automatic blade control for years, and recently put the new Trimble Earthworks Grade Control Platform to the test on several of its excavators.

“While the user interface is completely different, moving from a soft key control box to a touchscreen control box, the transition from the GCS9000 has not been difficult,” said David Reynolds, surveying manager with R.B. Jergens.

The new Earthworks platform includes intuitive, easy-to-learn software, is extremely customizable, and allows each operator to personalize the interface to maximize productivity, regardless of his or her experience or skill level. When the excavator is placed in “autos” or automatics mode, the operator controls the stick, and Trimble Earthworks controls the boom and attachment to stay on grade for a more consistent grade and higher accuracy in less time.

One of the first jobs that the R.B. Jergens team used the Earthworks Grade Control Platform on was to construct a 1,000-foot-long ditch with a very flat profile of about 0.2%.

“For this type of task, the automatics functionality is invaluable, because an operator would have a very difficult time maintaining fall,” said Reynolds. “It averages out to less than 3 inches over 100 feet, which is almost impossible to eyeball.”

Traditionally, on a job with that flat of a profile, the surveyor would have had to set frequent grade stakes.

“We used the automatics feature to construct the ditch and ensure that it held a consistent profile per the design specifications, even though the profile is extremely flat,” Reynolds said.

A particularly challenging automatics-enabled project was the excavation near a transmission tower for construction of a soil nail retaining wall. Crews needed to excavate around the tower without undermining the integrity of its foundation.

The soil nail retaining wall is 25 feet tall and about 150 feet long. To complete the job, the R.B. Jergens crew would excavate and expose up to five vertical feet of the bank face. Then the retaining wall contractor would drill holes in the soil, install and grout the steel rod, attach plates, and cover the face with a cementitious shotcrete. “We used the autos on the excavator to perform all of the excavations,” Reynolds said. “Without machine-controlled guidance and the automatics capability to pull those slopes in so tightly, I’m not sure how we’d have done this job.”

Reynolds estimates that the surveyor and field crews saved three days of time each on the job — at least 40 hours total — with the use of automatics.

“We’ve been able to reallocate resources more effectively and increase our productivity anywhere from 50 to 100%, so we’re leaner and more profitable.”

Ubihere has introduced a new 2D and 3D tracking technology for indoor and outdoor positioning.

Ubihere’s patented technology provides real-time asset location and information without GPS, making it an alternative for GPS-denied environments.

From Space Walks to Retail Stores

The inventor of the technology is geoinformatics professor Alper Yilmaz of The Ohio State University (OSU), who researched how to geolocate undercover officers based on motion video information, as well as astronauts on space walks.

OSU urged Yilmaz to commercialize his technology, and Rev1 Ventures served as the incubator. Ubihere launched under Rev1’s portfolio in 2016 in Columbus, Ohio.

Ubihere’s system is based on anonymous video analysis positioning technology, which is patented from OSU, coupled with tag technology and advanced machine learning analytics. The system’s tags, cameras, and software track assets to the centimeter. The assets are monitored through an anonymous video feed or the tags themselves, which are about the size of a credit card, and non-RFID.

The map for indoor environments can be generated from a building information model (BIM). Based on the building’s architecture, movement is tracked. In milliseconds it can hone in on an exact location within a centimeter, explained Alice Hilliard, Ubihere’s vice president of business development.

The location data is transmitted to a server or the cloud, depending on the customer’s preference. It is then loaded into dashboards that can be accessed from any device the client requests.

If a tagged object leaves a building, it will continue to be tracked with or without GPS. If the object stays within the building, it will never use GPS. Using GPS shortens the battery life, which ranges from 18 to 24 months. Battery life is also affected by the number of floors, temperature and usage.

Launching in Hospitals and Retail Stores

The tag offers a way to calibrate location in places such as hospitals, where tracking food carts or devices through lead-lined walls enables hospitals to maximize their efficiency.

“Imagine how many times a nurse or other caregivers go back and forth,” Hilliard said. “By tracking how people and objects move around, we can help departments figure out opportunities to lay out the floor better to allow the staff to save time and steps.

“With a blueprint loaded into the software,” Hilliard said, “the system knows whether a (tagged) IV pump went down the hall, turned left or right, entered an elevator, or was left in a patient’s room.”

The cameras can be installed in locations such as retail stores, enabling Ubihere to anonymously track a customer’s journey. Used together, the tag and camera can help stores determine whether a display is working, showing how many customers came in to shop, or how many looked at or touched items in a particular display.

For ecommerce, customer behavior can be tracked automatically in real time with Google Analytics and other SEO tools.

Other possible uses include factories and emergency-response teams. “If you were in a factory or even a nuclear power plant, OSHA guidelines establish that you have to have two people in the control room at all times,” explained Hilliard.

“Periodically, OSHA is required to monitor if the power plant is following that protocol. Instead of having someone sit there and oversee the situation, we can use our camera technology to anonymously collect workers’ whereabouts, which can then be easily pulled from the cloud. For response teams, an equipment failure that makes it difficult to locate a team member could be overcome with the tag technology. “

Ubihere’s machine-based algorithms can learn locations based on various types of sensors, Yilmaz said, adding that detecting odors isn’t out of the question.

The startup is now exploring potential applications of its GPS-free tracking technology. While initially focusing on beta tests in hospital and retail environments, Ubihere also has three projects with the U.S. Department of Defense.

The most often cited reason for a company’s reluctance to move toward a GNSS-based capital equipment purchase is cost. Not so for the Redland Company, which embraced GNSS long ago and employs it in almost every facet of its operation.

On a unique 475-acre Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) project, Redland used millimeter-grade GNSS on a Gomaco 9500 trimmer to final grade a 2.25-mile oval track, saving months over traditional string line grading. For Redland, the solution has gone from a necessary expense to an entirely new profit center.

The FDOT SunTrax project includes construction of a proving ground for autonomous vehicles. When complete, the 200+-acre center will offer a test chamber to simulate weather, an area where pick-ups and drop-offs can be replicated, and a precision-graded 2.25-mile oval test track.

The oval is designed to replicate turnpike travel at 70 mph. “Because FDOT had some very strict tolerances on the track surface itself, the grade had to be extremely precise,” said Walt Thomas, Redland’s division superintendent for grading/trimming operations. “So when we got out here, all the rough grading had been completed and we were brought in to prepare it for the asphalt course.”

Neatly trimmed

For ultra-fine grading, Redland uses a trimmer/placer that offers advantages over a motor grader, including an ability to resist “floating” over higher density material or cutting into lower density material. To maintain grade, trimmers typically are used in conjunction with a string line which, while effective and accurate, is also labor-intensive, time-consuming and challenging.

Because of the project’s size, Redland has used Millimeter GPS from Topcon Positioning Systems on its Gomaco 9500 for more than two years. “We have gotten tremendous results with it,” Thomas said. “We knew that, for here, it was the only viable trimming approach.”

Redland’s Millimeter GPS uses a series of tripod-mounted Topcon LZ-T5 laser transmitters placed at an established reference point to generate a 33-foot-high Laser Zone signal. That signal is accessed by the receiver on the trimmer and used to determine elevation, set the necessary depth of the trimmerhead, and maintain the required tolerances.

While most of the project only needed two lasers, four were used for the curved sections of the oval track, including a turnaround loop for testing larger autonomous vehicles like semi-trailers. “Trimming anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of material, we were averaging rates of about 800 square yards per day — and the accuracies have consistently been dead on,” Thomas said.
The machine running the millimeter-grade system is in steady demand by many of the area’s premier grading contractors in Florida and North Carolina. “For us, it has paid nice dividends,” Thomas said.

Comfort in 3D

Topcon equipment that Redland Company used for the SunTrax construction included the 3D millimeter system, the Topcon HiPerV base and rover, laser units and FC-5000 controllers, purchased through Lengemann Corporation in Altoona.

For Redland, Topcon GNSS solutions “have been great for our own operation and a powerful solution to offer as a subcontractor,” Thomas said. “We are getting to a point here in Florida where having a 3D capability is almost a prerequisite for bidding many jobs. No problem, we are already there.”

The SunTrax facility is being jointly developed by Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise (FTE), Florida Polytechnic University and industry partners. The cutting-edge facility, which will offer unique opportunities for testing emerging transportation technologies in safe and controlled environments, is being touted as the only high-speed autonomous vehicle testing facility in the southeastern U.S.

SunTrax is slated to open this year.

We’ve come a long way since the inception of GPS. Today, location often is taken for granted, but that’s true of every mainstream technology.

It’s absolutely remarkable how far the technology has evolved. From receivers that were as big as backpacks to tiny chipsets supporting multi-constellation dual-band GNSS receivers in smartphones with antennas that are etched into the body of cell phones, it’s really an amazing technology.

I’ve had the privilege to work on GPS in phones since before “smart” appeared in front of them. And it’s truly amazing to see how “GPS has revolutionized our day-to-day lives.” But this is not my quote.

In January at the Google campus in Mountain View, California, we hosted Dr. Brad Parkinson (widely known as the Father of GPS) who gave a talk on this subject. He was the one who called this a revolutionary technology, and that had been a stealthy revolution. Frank van Diggelen secured Brad to come to Google to give this talk.

His talk was titled “GPS for Humanity.” In the talk, available on YouTube (see below), Brad goes over first hand how, over the past 30 years, this new utility came into being. It came into the fabric of our worldwide society, creating dependencies that did not exist before.

He detailed how GPS was created, what technologies were essential to its success, all the various ways that GPS keeps crucial processes intact, and how it supports a $1.4 trillion economic impact that this system brings us today.

It was a privilege and honor to have Brad give a candid and timely talk, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

To watch his talk, search for “Brad Parkinson Talks at Google” on Google or YouTube. Or follow the link

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Steve Malkos is the lead technical program manager in the Android Context Group at Google.

Australia and New Zealand are partnering to roll out satellite technology that will be able to pinpoint a location on Earth to within 10 centimeters, unlocking more than $7.5 billion in benefits for industries in both countries.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern committed jointly to implement a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), to operate across Australia and New Zealand, at the Australia-New Zealand leaders’ meeting held Feb. 28.

The system will improve the accuracy of GPS and other positioning services from the current five to 10 meters to as little as 10 centimeters across Australia and New Zealand without the need for mobile or internet coverage.

The new project follows 18 months of successful trials that tested 27 projects across a range of industries. It will be delivered by Geoscience Australia and Land Information New Zealand under the joint science research and innovation treaty.

Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt said the project, to be operating by 2023, will have significant benefits to a range of industry sectors including mining, agriculture and transport.

“We welcome New Zealand’s commitment to join Australia in rolling out this exciting new technology, which will deliver substantial economic benefits for both countries,” Minister Pitt said.

“An independent analysis by Ernst and Young (EY) has found improved positioning technology will deliver more than $6.2 billion in benefits for Australia, and more than $1.4 billion in benefits for New Zealand, over the next 30 years.

“Trial projects have also found the system can make our roads and rail systems much safer, and can improve the way farmers manage their land, crops and livestock. For the resources sector, the technology can track vehicles and improve site surveys to enable precise extraction of deposits.”

Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews said the project will complement Australia’s other investments in space to drive economic growth and create new jobs.

“The Morrison Government is backing these types of technologies because of the positive impact they have on the lives of everyday Australians — from the discoveries that make life easier through to growing industries that create high-value jobs,” Minister Andrews said.

“Many industries stand to benefit from this technology. It could help improve safety and efficiency in aviation and shipping and will be crucial to the development of autonomous vehicles.

“This work also supports our government’s broader commitment to triple the size of the space sector to $12 billion and an extra 20,000 new jobs by 2030.”

More information about accurate satellite positioning is available on the Geoscience Australia website.

As we close the book on 2019 and head into the next decade, much has changed during the 2010s and the 21st century. This article will focus on the technological changes that made a significant impact on the surveying world, with the biggest advances being specifically GNSS-based improvements.

No, we will not debate the true beginning of a century (Jan. 1, 2000, versus Jan. 1, 2001), but instead look at the predicted issues with computers and the Y2K hysteria leading up to the end of 1999 as part of our nostalgic tour.

For the millennials and Gen-Z readers, bear with us old-timers for a few paragraphs while we take a trip down memory lane.

The tale of two centuries…

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

In 1859, Charles Dickens wrote this opening paragraph for his well-known novel, “Tale of Two Cities,” to describe two environments (in this case being London versus Paris) at a significant transitional time. Such was the case for surveying and technology in the late 1990s with the rapid utilization of GNSS technology, expanded capability of robotic equipment and data collection. Some practitioners were excited about the new century while others yearned for bygone eras of less complicated procedures.

“Gonna party like it’s 1999…”

With apologies to the late singer Prince and his 1982 hit song, the news surrounding the year 2000 was bleak when it came to computers and technology. For many of our readers, the technology available in 1999 might seem like the Stone Age. Most homes still used telephone land lines, “state of the art” cellphones were being produced by Nokia, personal computers (manufactured by Dell, Gateway, HP and IBM) were utilizing Pentium III processors (at a whopping 450 MHz!) with 5-10 GB storage. Internet Explorer was the web browser of choice, and Napster was gaining users exponentially sharing music downloads. Google was only one year old but rapidly replacing AltaVista and WebCrawler for our internet search engines. Life seemed good, but a storm was brewing…

The Y2K bug was front and center in all media outlets as many computerized systems were not programmed with the year 2000 in mind. This issue was unique in that it was a software and hardware problem to address. Replacement or patching of software, while taking a significant amount of time and money, can be much easier than computers and hardware loaded with chipsets that cannot be reprogrammed.

Most system programming utilized a two-digit year designation instead of a four-digit version (99 versus 1999) and thus a date entry for January 1, 2000, normally composed as 1/1/00 in older systems would be recognized as January 1, 1900, instead. Because of this situation, many experts were predicting a global meltdown with government, utility company and banking disruptions that would render most computer systems unusable.

In the United States alone, over $100 billion was spent on computer upgrades and troubleshooting of the potential crisis. Thankfully, most of these systems had already been taken offline and replaced, but a few still lingered in critical systems. Because of pre-Y2K upgrade planning, many systems were tested and proven to be immune from the potential crash.

Specific Y2K issues that took place within the U.S. satellite system were isolated mostly to the units dedicated to surveillance, and not the navigation section used by surveyors. There was a small issue with the U.S. Naval Observatory, in which the date was deemed to be “Jan. 1, 19100” but that was rectified quickly.

The U.S. spy satellites, however, were knocked out by a faulty software patch rather than the original programming. These units were producing unusable information for three days before programmers were able to fix the problem. Imagine if that situation had happened to the navigational satellites and was impacting surveyors; we can only hope the GNSS system would have simply provided obvious bogus information.

Embracing RTK

By 1999, surveying had begun to embrace RTK systems for everyday measurement needs. Because of the constant focus of GPS technology moving forward, the operating systems for RTK were ahead of the curve for the Y2K issue. Fortunately, the navigational satellites as mentioned above did not fail with the date and time issues that were being predicted.

The Y2K bug did, however, affect a few users of older technology and software. Older data collectors, including ones based upon handheld calculators, were susceptible to date issues. Systems that were designed in the 1970s and ’80s should have been replaced with newer technology before 2000, but old surveyors stick to the adage: “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!”

For many, it wasn’t simply an upgrade in technology, but more of a radical change in known processes and procedures. New instruments and data collectors required new computers, which required new software, which required learning a completely new system.

Handheld GPS technology, introduced in the mid-1990s, was beginning to grow as the general public was embracing the new ability to determine geographical positions. While their use is quite simplified by today’s standards, nonetheless these devices captured the tech lover’s need for more accurate location determination.

In the end, Y2K wasn’t nearly the technological apocalypse many educated minds feared. While there were a few isolated incidents worldwide, everyday life went on without much of a blip on the radar. Planes didn’t fall out of the sky; financial systems didn’t come crashing down and life went on. Thankfully, surveyors everywhere went about their business on Monday, Jan. 3, 2000 as if nothing happened.

Then 20 years go by…

The new millennium has brought the surveying community many new exciting technologies and vast enhancements to age-old procedures. Field book notes has been mostly replaced with electronic data collectors, cellphone cameras and point clouds. Data is efficiently transferred between field and office with a remote connection and a blink of an eye. These past 20 years has seen a landslide of technological improvements, yet the future looks incredibly bright with more to come.

With the new year and decade, let’s look at where we are today and what advances we are anticipating:

GNSS CAPABILITY

• GPS (Global Positioning System)  began working in the U.S. in 1978 and as a true global system in 1994. This system was originally designed to work strictly for the United State military, but was discovered to have consumer applications shortly after implementation. There are currently 30 operational satellites in the GPS constellation with two (2) Block III versions being evaluated at press time. A total of ten (10) Block III satellites are planned to be operational by late 2023 or early 2024. These Block III versions will have an enhanced signal capability (L5 band) and will provide more accuracy and increased protection from jamming and spoofing.
• GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) is the navigation system designed and implemented by Russia. This system was deemed operational in 1993 and currently has 28 operational satellites. Most surveying equipment in the United States has GLONASS tracking capability to greatly increase the accuracy and precision of most GNSS receivers.
  

  China launched two more BeiDou satellites on Aug. 25, 2018. (Photo: CCTV)

• Galileo is the satellite constellation system created by the European Union. It reached limited capability in 2016 with full expanded reach targeted for 2020. However, the reliability of the system is now in question as a total system outage occurred for seven days in July 2019. The satellites themselves were operational; it was the main control center that experienced the shutdown during a system maintenance upgrade. The overall integrity of the system has been restored and the planned rollout of full operational capability is still scheduled for 2020.
• BeiDou, the national navigation system of China, has achieved 35 operational satellites with 13 additional vehicles currently being evaluated for implementation. With the increased number of satellites, many GNSS receiver manufacturers are including BeiDou as standard channel reception to greatly increase accuracy and precision for navigational purposes.
• Two additional regional systems, QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System) from Japan and IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) from India are currently working to install more satellites and provide navigation signals soon. Because these are regional systems, access to these signals for U.S.-based surveyors will not be available.

In 20 short years, we went from having two good systems to four very robust systems and two regional organizations.

While it is still unclear how political relationships will affect the ability to use a system from another country, the simple fact is that more vehicles in space will only increase the coverage, reliability and effectiveness of GNSS navigational data. Increased signal type and strength will also provide many benefits, so surveyors should look forward to even better GNSS days ahead.

ADDITIONAL CELLPHONE CAPABILITY

Several increases in cellphone technology will greatly enhance not only the consumer’s use of GNSS but the surveyor’s. This involves a two-step increase in value with the rollout of 5G signal technology and dual-frequency GNSS receiver hardware within the cellphone.

5G is being introduced in various markets around the country, but won’t see full potential until 2021 and beyond. Those who can use it in the short term will see greater bandwidth for data connectivity, but surveyors will start utilizing navigational enhancements because of the signal and transmitter technology.

Add to this mix the future implementation of dual-frequency GNSS chipsets to provide much more accurate location, and the surveyor will have more data-collection power in their pocket. Dual frequency was a gamechanger for GPS receivers in their infancy, so one can only imagine how much it will enhance the navigation accuracy when included in the cellphone.

REAL-TIME NETWORKS (GNSS)

Most urban and suburban surveyors already enjoy the benefit of a real-time network, either from a private or public system. With 5G and expanded use of more satellites and L5 signal, the RTN will become a better tool for surveyors everywhere. A reduction of setting up a base station increased productivity, less theft and less equipment costs. The RTN will become a standard operational tool just like having a total station in your survey rig.

DATA COLLECTORS

The technology hasn’t stopped with the unveiling of new data collectors and platforms. Small handheld devices used to rule the field surveyor’s world; now those devices have become bigger and more advanced than ever.

While most collectors already had touchscreens, the actual screen is increasing in size and functionality. Some are adopting the tablet-style format (8- and 10-inch screens), others are incorporating larger screens (7 inches) within the body of the traditional collector. All of them are including better cameras and enhanced connection capability through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular methods.

Also catching on is the use of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) with specialized apps for connecting to newer GNSS receivers. This allows surveyors to keep down costs of equipment by not having to purchase a dedicated data collector. As mentioned previously, once the cellphone becomes equipped with 5G and/or dual-frequency GNSS, it will become an excellent system for surveying that will produce extraordinary value for the surveyor.

SPATIAL DATA

The biggest revolution for surveyors in the coming years will be the ability to collect spatial data through a variety of equipment and sensors. Besides the obvious explosion of UAV capability, the small-format laser scanner is becoming user- and drafter-friendly as well as much more affordable. Now a surveyor can perform dozens (if not more) of small area scans with simplified orientation and scan formatting to create a great looking point cloud for data extraction and/or Building Information Modeling (BIM). Surveyors are beginning to understand how to utilize this technology and data to reach inaccessible areas and densified regions quickly. In addition to scanning technology, SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) will also become more mainstream as more surveyors are adopting the method for data collection.

What we’ve learned

“The days are long, but the years are short.” – Gretchen Rubin, author

Gretchen hit the nail on the head, as these past two decades have rolled on. When the end of 1999 was upon us, it seemed to be a big deal because of the potential of Y2K issues. There we were, surveyors with exciting technology in our hands, and now the forefathers of computers were going to erase it all due to not looking ahead to the next century.

We easily got past it, yet the memories of Y2K still linger on for some of us. The jump to 2010 didn’t foreshadow any drama (other than climbing out of a recession) and I personally didn’t think any different while moving the calendar to January 2020. But somehow in the last few months of 2019, there were many stories about the Y2K predicament, and it rekindled old memories of those weeks leading up to January 1, 2000.

Long story short, we survived and lived to survey many more days. Having time to look back and compare where we were 20 years ago to where we are now, I find it simply amazing. No, Rick Deckard isn’t flying by in his car catching bad guys (Blade Runner was set in 2019!), but surveying continues to amaze me with continued technological changes.

I wonder what the next 20 years will bring.

New BOLT platform enables equipment manufacturers to automate outdoor jobs, adding autonomous navigation, connected sensors and real-time operations to machines.

Left Hand Robotics, pioneer and manufacturer of self-driving smart robots for commercial turf and snow, has launched BOLT, a technology platform that transforms outdoor machinery and power equipment into smarter, more efficient, ready-to-work robots.

BOLT brings autonomous navigation, connected sensors, and real-time robot operations to outdoor power equipment and machines doing repetitive jobs across the globe. Building on Left Hand Robotics’ field-proven experience with its own robot tractors, BOLT allows OEMs to launch faster, reduce R&D costs, and tap into a unified platform with navigation, sensors, controls, software and apps.

BOLT focuses on several key areas to help with machine automation, including:

• autonomous navigation and telemetry
• smart sensors and cameras
• connected power equipment and controls
• cloud-based robot operations center and apps
• job planning, reporting and analysis

Because each OEM is likely to have different requirements or product needs, BOLT partners go through multiple deployment phases, including evaluation, development and deployment.

Partnering with OEMs. Left Hand Robotics soft-launched BOLT earlier this year and interest has been high from manufacturers needing more automation capabilities. The company is now collaborating with power equipment and machine manufacturers to incorporate BOLT features into their future product lines.

“Our team has learned a lot, building, testing, proving how autonomous tractors can work on tedious, dirty jobs in the real world. These are tough problems to solve and we have already invested more than 80 engineering years into the technology behind BOLT,” said Terry Olkin, CEO for Left Hand Robotics. “We’ll continue to build our own robots while offering BOLT to a limited number of OEMs in the first year.”

California-based Swift Navigation is partnering with Deutsche Telekom, an integrated telecommunications company based in Bonn, Germany. The partnership brings the precise positioning of Swift’s Skylark Cloud Corrections Services to Telekom’s comprehensive communications infrastructure via its new Precise Positioning product offering.

The Precise Positioning service is available across the United States and Germany, with expansion across Europe underway.

Autonomous applications. Autonomous applications, which rely on positioning accuracy, include self-driving cars, rail, autonomous robotic machine navigation, autonomous flight for unmanned aerial vehicles, last-mile delivery logistics, construction safety, and shared mobile positioning.

Swift and Telekom’s lane-level accurate Precise Positioning is specifically designed for level 2 and 3 automotive applications including advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), such as lane assist, highway autopilot, cellular vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) communications and lane level directions.

Standard GNSS positioning is accurate to three to five meters — unsuitable for autonomous systems. For higher levels of autonomous capability, high-precision localization is required to deliver accuracy down to the centimeter. This partnership brings the <10-centimeter accuracy of Swift’s precise positioning solution to Telekom customers.

Precise Positioning is a wide area, cloud-based GNSS corrections service that delivers real-time high-precision positioning to autonomous vehicles. Built from the ground up for autonomy at scale, the Precise Positioning service enables lane-level positioning, fast convergence times and high integrity and availability required by mass market automotive and autonomous applications.

Hardware-Independent. The service is hardware-independent, allowing customers to choose their GNSS sensor ecosystem. It delivers a continuous stream of multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS corrections for a high-availability service that combines lane-level accuracy and world-class integrity at a continental scale.

“Swift Navigation is excited to continue our work with Telekom to bring Swift’s precise positioning GNSS expertise to Telekom’s broad customer base,” said Timothy Harris, co-founder and CEO at Swift Navigation. “This partnership is just the beginning of our joint service offering for autonomous vehicles across the EU.”

“Precise Positioning opens the doors to true autonomous mobility. Precise, safe and in the future also cross-national,” said Hagen Rickmann, responsible for business customers at Deutsche Telekom. “We are thus offering our customers an easy entry into the autonomous future. And we’re not just thinking of self-driving vehicles: The flexible offer is also suitable for use with drones and is even of interest to crane operators on construction sites.”

For ease in testing and integration, Swift and Telekom have created a Precise Positioning Evaluation Kit. The kit includes two workshops (onboarding and result review), testing hardware and software to connect to the Precise Positioning network for a three-month evaluation period and is available to purchase.