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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 » VOLUME 11 » ISSUE 10 | ISSN 2277–3134

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE AEC SECTOR IS TAKING PLACE DUE TO DIGITALIZATION, WHICH IS ENABLING THE USE OF CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS.

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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME: 11, ISSUE: 10

CONTENTS

Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Kumar Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Executive Editor Vivek Mukherji

COVER STORY / 08

BUILDING DIFFERENTLY

Contributing Editor Geospatial Infrastructure John Kedar Contributing Editor Global Defense and Security Keith J. Masback Consulting Editor Spatial Analytics and Location Intelligence Nicholas Duggan

A number of factors, such as cost and time overruns, wastage, workforce shortage, and project delays have led to the emergence of industrialized construction in the AEC industry

TECH TRENDS

18 / L aser Sharp

Consulting Editor Nishi Malhotra

SPECIAL FEATURES

Associate Editor Policy & Public Affairs Avneep Dhingra

36 / SCIFing for Growth

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Sr. Assistant Editor Defense & Intelligence Meenal Dhande

24 / T he Rise of Next-Gen Geospatial Platforms

POLICY MATTERS

28 / L ong-term Infra Strategy INTERVIEW

16 / I gor Starkov

Co-founder & CEO, EcoDomus

Chief Sub Editor Nibedita Mohanta

42 / G NSS Jamming:

An Omnipresent Threat

IN PERSPECTIVE

49 / E conomic Impact of Geospatial

Technologies: An Indian Context

Sr. Sub Editor Snehil Manohar Singh Chief Designer Subhash Kumar Visualizer Pradeep Chauhan

REGIONAL FOCUS Disclaimer

34 / D heeraj Mehra CEO, Micronet Solutions

52 / G eospatial Powering India’s Development

PHOTO FEATURE

55 / G WF 2021: Meeting of Minds CASE STUDIES

22 / M odular Construction for Better and Faster Building 32 / R ight on Track

REGULAR FEATURES

04 / Editorial 06 / Product Watch

Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. Geospatial World is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided. Owner, Publisher & Printer: Sanjay Kumar Printed at Virtika Offset Printers, G-14 Sector 3, Noida - 201 301, G.B. Nagar (UP) India Publication Address A - 92, Sector - 52, Noida - 201 301 India. Geospatial World: The edition contains 60 pages including cover. Geospatial Media and Communications Pvt. Ltd. A - 145, Sector - 63, Noida, India Tel + 91-120-4612500, Fax +91-120-4612555/666 Price: INR 150/US$15

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 3

EDITORIAL

Tech Must be Used to Eliminate Silos

he other day someone observed that WhatsApp now included a payment option and wondered why. The reason is simple. If one can use it to order online, it makes sense for the app to also have an online payment option. The name of the game is ‘convergence’, though few use this term nowadays. The principle behind convergence of technologies is “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”. In other words, convergence of technologies enables a better solution to a problem than if each technology was applied separately to address the problem.

relational databases have added means to include graphical elements giving rise to object-oriented databases. However, applications continue to address each technology separately.

In a scenario of increasingly limited resources, such an approach is inefficient both in time and resource utilization. What is more, unforeseen problems arise, which require expensive workarounds that leave the end user dissatisfied. The field of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is a case in point. These three fields address Prof. Arup Dasgupta a common task, but each has arup@geospatialworld.net In those early days, integrating its own practitioners who use GIS with CAD and IT was considdifferent applications, each with ered to be convergence of technologies. It avoided its own set of rules which may conflict with having to shift from application to application with other application requirements, resulting in a attendant data transformations and other hassles. sub-optimal solution. But why would one want to integrate such data in the first place? We need to look at the history of The answer is to take a holistic approach to spatial information creation. Databases were the architectural and engineering design with a first attempts at digitizing data, but they lacked view to optimize the solution and not maximize spatial referencing. CAD was the way to digitize individual parts. Thus, integration of GIS with BIM allows for a design that satisfies both the graphics, and soon maps were being turned into CAD drawings. But CAD lacked the ability to geographical requirements and architecture. A common data environment is essential for such include spatial attributes, which had to be placed an integration. Digital twinning enables a better in a separate database, making linking an issue. understanding of the design in relation to the environment as construction progresses. Many GIS solved this problem by bringing together other elements like automation of construction graphics and databases and adding a crucial through robotics, the inclusion of AI for predictive element of spatial analytics. Veterans may analytics and IoT for optimization of services also remember ArcInfo, ArcCAD and many such need to be integrated into the system. hybrids, which were essential in those early days to be able to work together with GIS, CAD As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and Databases. Today, technology has moved technology must be used in a way that silos disapfar ahead but applications still tend to remain in pear and solutions become all-inclusive, so that silos. CAD has advanced to 3D and BIM. GIS has they provide a sustainable world for the people to moved to advanced graphical models and closer live in, now and in the future. integration with relational databases. Meanwhile, 4 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

ArcGIS

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PRODUCT WATCH

A Receiver for Tough Conditions The SL800 RTK Receiver by SatLab Geosolutions is a handy high-precision tool to simplify surveying work. It is a classic three frequency Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) instrument that fits in the palm of a hand and is a miniaturized equivalent of the SatLab SL600. The SL800 is capable of receiving a full range of signals from GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, and SBAS navigation satellites. Featuring the latest NovAtel receiver board running on 555 channels, as well as replaceable batteries that allow about 12 hours of operation (which can also be recharged by a power bank), it weighs only 700 grams with battery and measures only 12 cm in diameter. IP68 dust and waterproofing standard compliant, the large screens and built-in gyroscopes and magnetometers allow for better use of the potential of the receiver and field software.

Comprehensive Device for Civil Design Qmini A10(CM) GIS Handheld with Survey Software by Hi-Target is a new type of rugged centimeter-level precision intelligent terminal product that is small, but has a high level of protection and boasts of complete functions. A combination of high-precision BeiDou positioning, 4G smartphone, with background multi-network interconnection, and other functions marks the capabilities of the Qmini A10(CM). It can also provide data collection and processing. This device can be widely used in different industries, such as land and water resources inspection, land survey and electricity power inspection, etc. It’s especially vital in the key areas of economy, such as planning, construction, forestry, agriculture, etc.

Talking Points

• Multi-network interconnection • BeiDou high-precision positioning • 4G smartphone

6 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

Handy Package

• Small size and low weight • NFC technology with long-range Bluetooth 4.0 • IP68 dustproof and waterproof

Advanced Autonomous Solution for Construction Sites The Trimble X7 3D laser scanner and Trimble FieldLink software are capable of full integration with Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot. The solution facilitates autonomous operation on construction sites and takes advantage of the robot’s unique capabilities to navigate challenging, dynamic, and potentially unsafe environments. Trimble’s 3D data capture technology, integrated with Spot, enables a continuous flow of information between the field and the office for consistent, on-going documentation of jobsite progress. Laser scans collected using the X7 scanner and the Spot robot can be tied to a jobsite project coordinate system, as well as individual scan stations. The data is collected, and then made into a composite point cloud in real-time on the Trimble tablet controller before leaving the site.

Key Features

• Automatic calibration • Self-leveling • Georeferencing

Future-ready Non-contact Laser Line Scanner The new HP-L-10.10 by Hexagon is a non-contact laser line scanner for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) that provide manufacturers with future-ready options for busy shop floors. The HP-L-10.10 is seven times faster than its Major Takeaways predecessor, capturing • Visual guide up to 6,00,000 points • High-speed blue laser line per second, and • Accurate, high-density delivers high precision laser data acquisition scanning currently not comparable in the CMM marketplace. Moreover, with a probing form error of 8 µm, the scanner offers comparable repeatability and performance to tactile measurements executed on the same CMM. This cross-platform technology deploys the same ultra-high-speed, high-precision 3D scanning capability found in the latest portable Absolute Arm and Absolute Tracker solutions. All in all, it is a market-leading scanning solution for CMMs.

Do it All Infrared Camera Suitable for a wide range of defense, security, and commercial applications, Teledyne FLIR’s six continuous zoom (CZ) lenses for use with MWIR (midwave infrared) and LWIR (longwave infrared) sensors are now commercially available. The optics maximize the performance of the infrared camera by optimizing the optical prescription to today’s Highlights small pixel focal plane arrays. • Easy to use All lens options are customiz• Built-in-test able for the specific camera • High-speed data and application for which the transfer system will be used. With the Object Range Compensation feature, these optics will not lose focus through zoom, not only when viewing objects at a long distance, but also when viewing an object at close range. The lens assemblies include algorithms for temperature compensation based on several embedded temperature sensors; one sensor cannot provide the needed performance. Many other available features allow for ease of use, builtin-test (BIT), and high-speed data transfer.

Post-processing Software for GNSS/INS Receivers Land or aerial mapping applications, which do not have access to real-time GNSS corrections, benefit from post-processing software for higher positioning and orientation (heading, pitch, and roll) accuracy. To seamlessly cover the full mapping workflow right from mission data logging (GNSS and Inertial Measurement Unit or IMU) to post-processing, Septentrio is offering a solution called Qinertia for its GNSS/INS (Inertial Navigation System) receivers like AsteRx-i3 S Pro+. By post-processing GNSS and IMU data, trajectory and orientation accuracy is improved and sensor data such as images can be geotagged. This makes high-accuracy mapping possible even in places where real-time GNSS corrections are not available.

Intuitive Workflow

• Motion profiles selection • Advanced multipath and rejection filters • Virtual Base Station (VBS)

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 7

COVER STORY

BUILDING DIFFERENTLY A number of factors, such as cost and time overruns, wastage, workforce shortage, and project delays have led to the emergence of industrialized construction in the AEC industry. By Kasirajan Mahalingam & Avneep Dhingra

8 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

he COVID-19 outbreak severely affected the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Even before the pandemic, the trillion dollar industry was struggling with a compound annual productivity growth of merely 1%. Slow technology adoption across project lifecycle coupled with the late arrival of digitalization are cited as the primary reasons for such low growth. With Covid came problems like closing of construction sites, shortage of materials due to supply chain disruption, and scarcity of labor, which led to project delays, cost and time overruns, and wastage.

The crisis forced the industry leaders to give up their years old service-based approach and look for technology-driven solutions, resulting in the emergence of industrialized construction. According to a study conducted by Autodesk and RICS, industrialized construction is the process of using MMCs (modern methods of construction) like DFMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly), prefabrication, and offsite construction, along with cutting-edge technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and predictive analysis.

The changing trend In the aftermath of the pandemic, contractors across the globe have begun using DFMA in offsite prefabrication of all sorts of construction components ranging from concrete slabs to structural columns and

beams. The under construction Marriott Hotel in New York, said to be the tallest modular hotel in the world, is a testimony to the potential of DMFA. With disruption in the global supply chain, contractors are being forced to explore alternatives for material sourcing, and ensure health and safety for site operators. “There is a change in behavior in terms of construction procurement and the sheer pace at which projects are completed with new kinds of materials like CLT (cross laminated timber),” says Nick Milestone, Director, Sigmat. Today, countries around the world are investing in modern methods of construction. For instance, the U.K. construction market currently has $145 billion worth of offsite construction projects. This includes investments worth $38 million in offsite housing construction and $13 million dedicated to R&D. Similarly, in Australia, an investment of $100 billion has been planned towards prefabrication technology. The Australian government is expecting that 15% of all construction and infrastructure projects in the country will use prefabrication by 2025. In southeast Asia, Singapore had set a target of using MMCs in 40% of projects by 2020, with investments worth $30 billion in DFMA. As of today, nearly 60 projects using MMCs are underway in the country.

The benefits It’s no secret that the AEC industry is facing a skilled workforce shortage owing to

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 9

COVER STORY

Courtesy: McKinsey & Company

Six Fundamental Changes Underpin a New Approach to Capital Project Delivery

the ever increasing demand for construction, primarily due to rapid population growth. With the need to construct 13,000 buildings each day between now and 2050 (Statista-Autodesk study), the gap between the demand and supply of skilled workers will only widen in the future. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, there will be up to 200 million construction jobs worldwide by 2030. Estimates suggest that 41% of the current workforce will retire by 2031, leading to the crisis getting deeper. Industrialized construction using DFMA can be the solution to this problem as it offers multiple benefits, including: • Health & safety: Offsite construction has been found to be 80% safer for the labor. • Cost: Onsite labor is about 2.2

times more expensive than factory labor. • Sustainability: Just 2-3% waste has been recorded in offsite assembly, most of which can be recycled. “The world is suffering from housing shortages and productivity is a huge issue in the construction sector — because it has been slow to take onboard new technologies. Also, we have shortage of workers and investment. Offsite construction offers some solutions as it increases productivity, yields benefits in costs, leads to waste reduction (over 50%) and also reduces time,” says Paul Williamson, an Offsite Buildings Consultant. DFMA offers benefits right from the inception of a project through its completion. For instance, in the planning and design (P&D) phase, DFMA

10 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

processes ensure ease of prefabrication. During the construction phase, these processes rely on design for ease of assembly through a plug and play approach for MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) components, volumetric modules for easy installations, etc. DFMA processes address factors that add to cost and time overruns, such as lack of materials or equipment, project sequencing, and reworking.

GEOBIM in industrialized construction Industrialized construction with DFMA at its core requires geometric and non-geometric data for successful undertaking of construction activities through the project lifecycle. For instance, key DFMA processes in construction include project brief, concept design, detailed design, pre-construction, construction, and post-comple-

tion. These processes require synergy between 2D and 3D data to represent the topological features, existing infrastructure, accessibility, etc. of the construction site in the initial stages. GEOBIM technology solutions facilitate seamless transfer of construction activity between the 2D and 3D data ecosystem, thereby preventing design errors, improving design quality, ensuring better planning and design of assembly, estimating cost, and supporting manufacturing assessment, which is crucial for smooth functioning of manufacturing and assembly line based on validation of onsite conditions. GEOBIM integration in DFMA: Manufacture The P&D phase of DFMA involves project brief development based on build massing studies (site orientation, area, volume, etc.), and rules of DFMA adoption (modular floor height, grid dimension, etc.). This is followed by design conceptualization and detailed design development.

1. Design + procure in an hour

Industrialized construction with DFMA at its core requires geometric and non-geometric data for successful undertaking of construction activities through the project lifecycle GEOBIM technologies provide the following solutions in this stage: • Site studies of the project site are processed through importing BIM models into the GIS environment, which enables the designers to evaluate site suitability for optimal design through: – 3D reality capture/ laser scanning – Very high-resolution satellite imagery – Spatial analytics (hydrological modeling) • Structural design evaluation includes importing spatial location data to a (Cloud-based) BIM platform, which is distributed to different tools of structural analysis. This allows designers and engineers to reiterate the design model based on project challenges, and conduct post-construction analysis.

Digital configurators will ensure a seamless flow of data and speed-up the entire process

2. Manufacture + assemble in days

3. Benchmark portfolio performance over years

GEOBIM integration in DFMA: Assembly Advanced geospatial technologies (Earth Observation and 3D laser scanning) have supported the application of GEOBIM solutions in building assembly and sequencing. This can be seen in various applications, such as supply chain management and schedule management. GEOBIM solutions play a key role through the construction lifecycle as early as the procurement phase. In this stage geospatial analytics help in mapping delivery routes, and tracking supply chain status of raw materials. GEOBIM solutions are crucial in tracking construction activities and resources based on planned programs and planned assembly sequence which are some of the key components of DFMA construction.

Platform approach for design and construction Towards the end of 2020, the U.K. government released The Construction Playbook, which was indicative of the significant shift in the government’s approach towards contracting public works projects, with a clear focus on platforms. The playbook showcases the many ways in which the government and industry can collaborate to deliver public infrastructure projects through modern methods of November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 11

COVER STORY

Courtesy: McKinsey & Company

Construction Technology Map for Industrialized Construction

12 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

construction. Government-funded programs like the Construction Innovation Hub (CIH) have stated that the playbook has created a path for platform-based future for the construction industry. The construction playbook lays emphasis on the role of a platform-based approach to develop standards for products and components in the construction value-chain. The government and CIH have identified £35 billion ($39.28 billion) worth of projects that are suitable for delivery using the platform-based approach. “The U.K. government has proposed a platform for DFMA.

They will use digitally designed components across multiple types of assets and apply those components wherever possible, minimizing the need to bespoke components,” says Jaimie Johnston, Director, Global Systems, Bryden Wood. Trudi Sully, Impact Director for Manufacturing in the Construction Innovation Hub, told a news website earlier this year that with a clear policy direction set out in the playbook and a strong evidence base provided by the Hub, the time has never been better for a fundamental shift towards platform solutions.

Bryden Wood has been one of the leading organizations advocating the transformation of the construction industry by using a platform-based approach. It has showcased the technologies and initiatives which can help standardize and create repeatable components that are key to the success of DFMA. The firm strongly believes that convergence of components and processes unlocks the true power of digital, data, and manufacturing. “Over the next 30-40 years, the demand for buildings and infrastructure is going to rise. We don’t have any choice now except to adopt something that is more productive, and

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COVER STORY

GEOBIM technology facilitates seamless transfer of construction activity between the 2D and 3D data ecosystem, thereby preventing design errors, and improving design quality DFMA is the best solution we have got,” adds Johnston.

Data configuration for platform approach Bryden Wood, in its recent publication titled Delivery Platforms for Government Assets, highlights the critical role of data configuration for industrialized construction techniques. The publication suggests that in order to standardize design through platforms, data has to be digitized in the form of a library which takes it beyond BIM. So, by optimizing the use of existing government BIM libraries, enhanced with components specific to the early platform developments, a huge amount of cross-program data can be accessed through

site-specific models that can be uploaded to a digital library in the Common Data Environment (CDE). Such a library would bring multiple sites to a single platform, project-wide view, dramatically increase the level of transparency and control, inform strategic planning and decision-making, and provide a level of insight that is otherwise not available to clients. However, to optimally utilize data, it has to be properly visualized. While certain visualization techniques allow a whole-project analysis, others allow the optimization of individual components or assembly processes. Data visualization can be used for: • Color filtering of models to

Industrialized construction increases labor productivity, reduces time and cost, and minimizes wastage in building projects

create heat maps depicting the intensity of trade overlap, cost of installation, etc. • Multiple stakeholder views that can be combined, addressed and prioritized • Developing interdependency between a range of factors that impact productivity • Providing a single point of entry to a wide range of digital content

The future Industrialized construction promotes the advancement of construction processes by focusing on systems and processes. This method of construction increases labor productivity, reduces time and cost, and minimizes wastage. For the AEC industry, industrialized construction is a long-term solution for current and future problems. “We need to shift from the thinking about individual construction projects to thinking about systems, processes, and products, and invest in our building system design (and then create these individual one-off buildings using this system). This change can impact all areas of construction value chain. We can have systems and processes in place to efficiently and safely manufacture all the components required. And the system will be independently tested and approved for being used,” concludes Williamson.

Kasirajan Mahalingam AEC Industry Manager kasirajan@geospatialworld.net

Avneep Dhingra Associate Editor Policy & Public Affairs avneep@geospatialworld.net 14 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

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INTERVIEW

More Technology Means More Opportunities To make new technology popular in an industry, you have to run pilot projects, show its benefits, get key industry players to approve of that technology, and have them say that the hardware or software solution in question saved a lot of money and time for them, says Igor Starkov, Co-founder and CEO, EcoDomus. By Snehil Manohar Singh The Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry has traditionally been slow to adopt modern technology. Has

the pandemic changed that, and what kind of new technologies are currently being used in the industry? The AEC industry has been conservative in terms of

technology adoption. That’s because several big projects take years, if not decades to build. So, it’s not like something where somebody says, ‘let’s do this thing’ and immediately everybody starts doing it. Technology does penetrate, but things cannot be rushed, and people cannot be forced into an unfamiliar territory. If they see others using something that is successful, they will start using it themselves. To make new technology popular, you need to do what others are doing: run pilot projects, show their benefits, get key industry players to approve of the technology, and have them say that the hardware or software solution in question saved a lot of money and time, or reduced risk. When that happens, people will slowly start adopting new technology. There is no magic bullet. But first, pilot projects must be run — sometimes for free, at other times for money — primarily to get early adopters, or the so-called ‘leading-edge users’, who can then start evangelizing the technology. Once this process begins, case studies are published, articles are written, and the company offering the technology becomes better known. Soon, money is invested or raised from venture capital, and the technology is developed further. That’s generally how it works. The Covid pandemic definitely changed the pace of technology implementation as many clients realized they needed to work remotely, digitally. So, the concepts of Digital Twin and

Building Information Modeling (BIM) came to be considered as the norm as opposed to a ‘nice to have’ option. Today, there are many different use cases for new technology being implemented: we see a lot of interest in mobile/ field technology for construction quality control, 3D visualization, sensors, etc. On the backend, the success of Procore’s initial public offer (IPO) shows the large penetration of project management technology.

Why is a common data environment important for modern-day construction? In the AEC space, models are created by several consultants and specialists. Now, an electrician may not be able to model mechanical systems and a plumber may not be able to model electrical systems. There are dozens of specialists, and if all of them work in silos, there can be a lot of problems. Things might clash or there might be incompatibilities. That’s why common environments are needed to put all of this information together and validate its accuracy, both on the geometry and data sides. If an important parameter is missing, then reports cannot be run. That’s why a common data environment is useful. It aggregates all kinds of information into one place and ensures that there are no functional clashes. What benefits does the integration of BIM with Geographic Information System (GIS) offer? GIS and BIM primarily target different virtuals and different

The Covid pandemic definitely changed the pace of technology implementation as many clients realized they needed to work remotely, digitally. So, the concepts of Digital Twin and Building Information Modeling came to be considered as the norm as opposed to a ‘nice to have’ option types of data. If one type of analysis is mixed with another type of analysis, it results in more opportunities for the overall analyses. There are plenty of things that can be analyzed within a single domain — BIM or GIS — but when brought together, the range of opportunities become wider. Further, with the use of technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), there is an increase in these opportunities. All digital things in the AEC industry are done for analysis and decision-making — that’s what software is for. One either analyzes how something is supposed to work or whether or not it worked the way it was supposed to work. So, mixing BIM, GIS and other technologies increases the number of potential opportunities.

How have mobile devices changed the approach towards building management systems? If you sit in the office all day and do not go outside, you might not be able to notice what you could have if you were on the site. To make a correct decision on-the-go, accuracy of information is critical. That’s why tablets and smartphones provide useful access to the things that would

otherwise go unnoticed even with video cameras. Like I said, the more technologies are added, the more opportunities there are for analysis.

How is the Digital Twin technology helping in making infrastructure and construction projects more sustainable? In the AEC industry, decisions are generally made using software. The more the penetration of the software, the more use cases can be applied. Sustainability is one of the use cases. There is always a bunch of constraints, one of which is cost. If cost is the number one concern, there will be an attempt to ignore all the other constraints. If sustainability is the number one concern, it might result in the cost going up. There is always a need to balance these factors. Hiring more expensive specialists may lead to better quality results, but it could also mean higher cost. So, if sustainability is more important for someone, its importance will have to go up in the Key Performance Indicators (KPI). If digital twins are employed to help with sustainability, they can provide more use cases to help achieve it.

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 17

TECH TRENDS

For prefabrication to be successful, accurate information about the destination of the final installation is a must. 3D laser scanning makes that possible. By Titas Roy, Samyukta Varikoti & Meenal Dhande

18 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

igitalization has had a profound impact on the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Today, traditional processes that were redundant or less efficient are making way for modern tools that support quicker, safer, and cost-efficient construction. One such tool is 3D laser scanning, which enables engineers and contractors to cut costs and speed up designing and building of a project. A report by Global Market Insights suggests that the 3D scanning market was worth $4 billion in 2020 and is likely to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of over 10% from 2021 to 2027. The increasing need for capturing a high volume 3D data for analysis and modeling in the AEC industry will be driving this trend.

3D laser scanning in construction 3D laser scanning is used in the field to capture detailed data about the construction site. This data is known as point clouds, which basically are connected database points in a 3D coordinate system. 3D laser scanning allows construction professionals to perform as-built surveys, identifying mistakes early in the design phase to prevent expensive rework. It also helps in improving the building plan, design, construction, management, and renovation. Further, 3D laser scanning also helps in making the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process more efficient. When

3D scanning systems are used in place of traditional hand measuring methods, there is great enhancement in speed, efficiency, and accuracy. “Geospatial data captured using laser scans, drones, and combined with BIM technologies are increasingly instrumental in mitigating risk, and ensuring certainty of outcome in construction projects,” says Amr Raafat, Vice President of VDC & Technology, Windover Construction.

Emergence of prefabrication Prefabrication means creating a building’s components offsite, generally in a factory, and then assembling the building on site. It is claimed that the world’s oldest known engineered trackway, the Sweet Track, constructed in England around 3800 BC, employed prefabricated timber sections. In the 19th century in Australia, many prefabricated houses were imported from the United Kingdom. In the 20th century, the method was widely used to build temporary housing for thousands of urban families in the United Kingdom that were bombed out during World War II. Even though prefabrication in itself is ancient, recent advances in technology have boosted adoption, and have made it possible to prefabricate an entire multi-storey building in very little time. A modular or prefabricated structure produces about 70-90% less waste than a traditional building. Also, offsite construction ensures quality and

We have been implementing geospatial data into our prefabrication workflows to ensure that offsite construction elements built in the factory miles away from the actual site fit perfectly in the installation space. As laser scans allow us to communicate in real time and with excellent accuracy, managing factory made prefabricated elements on site becomes easy AMR RAAFAT Vice President of VDC & Technology Windover Construction

safety, and the building materials are protected from weather and natural calamities during the construction process.

Better together For prefabrication to be successful, accurate information about the destination of the final installation is a must. This is where 3D laser scanning comes in handy as it allows engineers to access 3D scanned data before the fabrication stage to make initial assessments and fundamental calculations of a site’s build-out. Gaining exact measurements for offsite preparations and manufacturing can result in massive savings in time

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TECH TRENDS

Laser scanning in prefabricated construction is essential in ensuring proper fitment and placement of prefabricated elements in any space. LiDAR can provide current, accurate data up to 1/16, depending on the hardware used to capture data CHRISTOPHER ALLEN BIM/VDC Technologies Manager Reis Contracting

and labor. “We have been implementing geospatial data into our prefabrication workflows to ensure that offsite construction elements built in the factory miles away from the actual site fit perfectly in the installation space. As laser scans allow us to communicate in real time and with excellent accuracy, managing factory made prefabricated elements on site becomes easy,” explains Raafat.

A prefabrication factory is generally located far from the assembly site, sometimes in another country. Any deviation in a prefabricated component while manufacturing may cause an assembly failure, leading to rework or reconstruction that can increase project duration, cost, and even risk. Therefore, conducting physical trial assembly (PTA) is necessary before transporting prefabricated components to large-scale assembly projects. PTA ensures a precise, flexible and fast display of cut-outs, formwork parts, and mounting elements — accurate calibration, referencing, positioning, and inspection of precast components. 3D laser scanning can quickly and accurately capture the 3D shape of physical objects. Using laser scanning in PTA makes quality check methods faster and more efficient. “Laser scanning in prefabricated construction is essential in ensuring proper fitment and placement of prefabricated elements in any space. LiDAR can provide current, accurate data up to 1/16, depending on

the hardware used to capture data. There may be a little more overhead involved in this process. Still, better the overhead you can budget for than the change orders you can't if, for some reason, existing or proposed drawings, reports, hand measurements, or assumptions are incorrect. Be right the first time and always scan first,” says Christopher Allen, BIM/VDC Technologies Manager, Reis Contracting.

Likely future Even when a project design is perfect, human errors are quite possible. 3D scanning proves its value throughout new construction projects using prefabrication techniques by finding human errors before building on one another. By verifying the site with a 3D laser scanner, stakeholders can spot and correct these mistakes. Going forward, 3D laser scanning will also become part of the estimating process — one of the most critical components of the prefabrication method. Scanning would provide valuable details to estimators trying to project timelines, understand the site’s context, and evaluate labor and material costs.

Samyukta Varikoti Research Analyst Reference: Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 1383. www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing

samyukta@geospatialworld.net

Titas Roy Research Analyst titas@geospatialworld.net

Meenal Dhande Sr. Assistant Editor Defense & Intelligence 3D laser scanning of multiple prefabricated concrete elements 20 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

meenal@geospatialworld.net

National Remote Sensing Centre Indian Space Research Organisation Government of India Only Organisation in the Country to Acquire & Supply Satellite Data to Users

Region Speciﬁc Solutions through RRSCs Development of Techniques for Remote Sensing Applications

A Smart Destination for Geospatial Solutions Open Data & Thematic Products Dissemination Through Bhuvan Turnkey solutions for National Projects Aerial Acquisition for Speciﬁc User Demands & Disaster Management Support

Capacity Building in Remote Sensing Applications through Training & Outreach Facility

CASE STUDY

Modular Construction for Better and Faster Building Marriott International is using prefabrication technique to build the world’s tallest modular hotel in Manhattan. By Geospatial World

quicker than one using traditional construction techniques, resulting in faster returns on investment. Modular construction, or prefabrication, also reduces waste and site disturbance.

of modular construction, while educating lenders about financing such projects. Under the initiative, Marriott has used modular construction in more than 70 hotels in North America.

On the other hand, a modular building can be constructed 50%

Marriott’s modular initiative Marriott International began exploring modular construction in 2014 by identifying companies that could manufacture hotel spaces. After a rigorous selection process, Marriott launched its pilot modular initiative at its 2015 CONNECT conference. Since then, the company has spent time working with select players who were early adopters

World’s tallest modular hotel In 2019, Marriott went on with the construction of a 26-storey, 168-room hotel in Manhattan that will have prefabricated guest rooms, assembled and furnished offsite, with bedding, flooring, and even toiletries. When the currently stalled AC Hotel NoMad finally opens, it will be the tallest modular hotel in the world.

ith the increase in global population and cities becoming more crowded, the demand for faster and cost-effective infrastructure development is also increasing. While traditional construction techniques can help in achieving uniqueness, they cannot meet the growing needs of modern cities because they are highly time consuming. Further, the requirement for skilled workforce adds to the overall construction cost.

Skystone relied on Autodesk products throughout the building process of the AC Hotel NoMad in Manhattan Courtesy: Autodesk

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Marriott partnered with architecture firm Danny Forster & Architecture to employ the efficiencies of modular construction. For the construction of the hotel structure, it partnered with Skystone, a New York-based contractor that specializes in modular projects.

Tech behind the record Skystone used Autodesk solutions for end-to-end project delivery. AutoCAD, a popular Autodesk solution, provides the muchneeded insight to a company as it engages with different stakeholders, from subcontractors, engineers to peer reviewers. AutoCAD files from consultants go into the fabrication drawings on the shop floor. Skystone brought subcontractors’ DWGs into Revit as 2D underlays to ensure that they stayed

Courtesy: Autodesk

The modular rooms are being constructed in a factory in Poland (assisted by STP Elbud and DMD Modular as their key subcontractors), being brought to New York by cargo ship, being loaded in flatbed trucks, hauled across the Brooklyn Bridge, and finally being lifted one by one into their place with the help of a crane.

Autodesk’s BIM 360 platform was used for construction management of the AC Marriott hotel

connected to the BIM 360 on the front-end during the design phase. On the back-end of the factory side, Skystone took 2D drawings and exported them from Revit as CAD files, enabling them to fabricate the components for the module. At this point, subs can start to lay out sheet metal, fabricate components for the module, etc.

Construction Management: Skystone sought a fully connected single platform to keep all its project data and its teams connected throughout — from design conception to completion. It used Autodesk’s BIM 360 platform, which reduces risks, automates tasks and limits rework, so that the cost and schedule are in control.

Pre-construction: Skystone used AutoCAD and Revit for design to assemble for pre-construction. It helps in conditioning and connecting BIM data to design reviews, estimating, change management, scheduling, workin-place tracking, and so on.

Benefits and value proposition Modular buildings are gaining popularity in the AEC industry. More and more people are looking to build modular for fast, cost-effective and efficient construction. Once installed, a modular structure produces about 70-90% less waste than a traditional structure. Offsite construction ensures quality and safety, and the building materials are protected from weather and natural calamities during the construction process. Modular structure components are manufactured indoors under strict and controlled conditions, safe from the rain, wind, and other natural elements.

Benefits of Prefabrication  Reduces the construction time (nearly 25% faster)  Reduces site waste and noise  Leads to a high quality product with factory-level precision  Eliminates change orders and jobsite wastes  Saves time through two crucial functions simultaneously – building the public spaces on site while manufacturing the guestrooms offsite

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Image Credit: www.esri.com

INDUSTRY TRENDS

THE RISE OF NEXT-GENERATION GEOSPATIAL PLATFORMS Armed with a robust geospatial platform, the AEC industry can devise feasible, and affordable solutions to address complex problems. By Meenal Dhande

he Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, which is often viewed as a slow adopter of data and digitalization, has been quick to embrace digital technologies in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. Along with several cutting-edge technologies, the industry is increasing using geospatial content platforms to boost productivity. “Traditionally,

architects, engineers, contractors, and geospatial professionals have been seen as separate silos with non-cooperative workflows and technologies. But the truth is they are complementary and interconnected. Across the entire lifecycle of a construction asset, all stakeholders can plan better, improve decisions, and coordinate more efficiently when accurate and relevant design and documentation information,

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enriched with the location context, flows more seamlessly to those who need it when they need it,” says Brey Tucker, Senior Industry Manager, Project Delivery at Autodesk. A robust geospatial content platform can help the AEC industry in capacity planning and assessment, cost-benefit analysis, planning and design of land parcels, environmental

impact study, and analysis of the neighborhood impact for natural resources. “Such a platform is essential not only for our projects in infrastructure, but also in construction, to have up-to-date information about the work location in the field of newly-built or renovation,” says Menno de Jonge, Director Digital Construction, Royal BAM Group. Chris Tucker, Cesium Advisory Board Member, feels that the industry has long aspired to achieve a full digital geospatial content platform that captures the entire lifecycle of the built environment. “If only we could adapt our 3D design data to capture the ‘as built’ geospatial representations and evolve these over the entire lifecycle of a given building or piece of infrastructure. A geospatial content platform that could enable all stakeholders (developers, building managers, owners/tenants, public officials, community members, etc.) to continuously update such data would help us construct much smarter cities and infrastructure. The enormous efficiencies we would gain would only be outweighed by the wide range of new opportunities that this functional Digital Twin would provide.”

Next-generation platforms Geospatial technologies have proven to be helpful in the AEC industry due to their varied benefits ranging from enhanced visualization, reduction in building waste, increased productivity, sustainable performance,

Next-generation geospatial platforms can map, combine and store data from various sources and process them to help devise practical solutions to city problems etc. However, the next-generation geospatial content platforms, majorly based on the Cloud Application Platform (CAP), would do more than that. “The next-gen geospatial platforms would be interconnected 3D platforms, which would be able to effectively integrate geospatial data from disparate sources, formats, sensors, and companies in an organized and usable form. These platforms would empower developers across industries to maximize the potential of their 3D data, both for the consumer and enterprise markets. For example, Digital Twin platforms, both LOD and Mesh Models for asset planning, design, analysis, operations, and maintenance; emergence of open formats such as CityGML, IMDF (Indoor Mapping Data Format), GeoJSON for hosted and lightweight applications; convergence of reality models, OSM (OpenStreetMap) data with AR/VR technologies to create new user experiences in the metaverse; platforms serving real-time data for connected EVs, ADAS, autonomy and green grids,” explains Bobbie H Kalra, CEO, Magnasoft. Tucker feels that the next generation will easily aggregate information from BIM and GIS while maintaining high confidence in their coordinates. “Today, this is a tough problem as these coordinate systems are

fundamentally different. We are already beginning to see many customers and organizations solving this problem in unique ways — but we are getting closer to a uniform solution that the next generation will take for granted,” he says. The next-gen geospatial content platforms would have an engineering-led approach to application delivery transformation, enhanced user experiences, consumption of lesser system resources such as small memory footprint, and an open source-centric PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service). “We have been pushing the boundaries to redefine what is possible to advance the AEC industry by utilizing geospatial data combined with prefabrication technologies and information-rich models to substantially increase efficiencies through construction automation,” says Amr Raafat, Vice President of VDC & Technology, Windover Construction.

Platforms for digital and smart cities Population explosion is propelling the world towards a new phase in urban evolution. From health, transportation, housing, security, education, waste management to culture and tourism, today’s urban planners are facing unique challenges. These challenges can be addressed by next-gen geospatial

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INDUSTRY TRENDS

Geospatial data acquisition Site images

Site point clouds

AI-based BIM model generation

2D/3D drawing

As-built BIM model

As-planned BIM model

AR-based visualization

Progress management

Safety management

Quality management

Contract management

Geospatial construction management Next-generation geospatial platform for AEC industry

platforms, which can serve as the supporting pillars for many digital city applications. They can map, combine, and store data from various sources and process them to help devise practical solutions to city problems. Hence, these platforms are an essential part of any digital/smart city ecosystem, as they take data from government sources, private enterprises, and others to help provide effective solutions. “The next-gen geospatial content platforms, by allowing the

analysis of real-time sensor data and 3D imagery in the real-world geospatial context, can help cities become more sustainable, transparent,and efficient. These platforms would facilitate the creation of updated digital twins by easily combining earth and synthetic data, sensor feeds, and other 3D content to help smart urban development,” explains Kalra.

Role of 4IR technologies The AEC industry, like all other sectors, has had to keep up with technological innovations intro-

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duced during various industrial revolutions. “In the construction industry, we are now talking about ‘Construction 4.0’, in which we focus particularly on the digital transformation of our sector by implementing 4IR technologies,” says Jonge. A next-generation geospatial content platform would integrate all 4IR technologies. The automated generation of 3D as-planned and as-built models would significantly reduce the time and cost required for drawings and producing models.

An invisible revolution While digital transformation in the AEC industry is quite evident, some changes, especially those concerning new and transformed business models, are invisible. To run own and customer businesses, several companies are today using next-gen geospatial platforms to add new services to their existing portfolio and build new partnerships. “We will soon see greater Cloud-to-Cloud connectivity of design and documentation information and Location Intelligence. In this context, other users can take advantage of the convergence of project and asset data. Capital asset owners, project managers, operations managers, and others will be able to visualize asset information in formats that are most relevant

Image Credit: Royal BAM Group nv

“The future of the built environment will demand the use of modern, smart technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine communication (M2M) to enable the kind of automation, improved communication and self-monitoring required for automated processes to analyze and diagnose issues at speed and scale without human intervention,” says Chris Tucker. However, to be effective, each of these smart devices must know their location and orientation (e.g., X, Y, Z, T, pitch, yaw, roll, and AOV) as they move through the smart city. “And to observe or to maneuver through the built environment with precision and accuracy, these smart devices will rely upon very precise and accurate 3D representations of the city and its infrastructure,” he adds.

Digital construction lifecycle

to them. These federated data environments would eventually enable the industry to leverage AI and ML throughout and drive even better outcomes in the future,” adds Brey Tucker. The most significant transformation has been the miniaturization, commoditization and proliferation of sensing technologies that allow the industry to capture dynamic change within the built environment. “This will provide endless fuel for the next- generation geospatial platform for smart cities, and to develop and manage smart infrastructure. A 3D data processing pipeline capable of ingesting all these different kinds of 3D data will be required to keep up with the ever-growing density of observations about our built environment — keeping citizens, developers, and decision-makers up to date,” highlights Chris Tucker. However, in the people, process, and technology triangle,

technology is the least problematic aspect. Jonge says, “The biggest issue is in the area of change management — the people side of things. We are all able to buy hardware/software from our suppliers. Digitalizing processes is getting more difficult. For delivering real change in organizations, we need to focus on the people and hire change managers to guide change in organizations.” Armed with the next-gen geospatial platform, the AEC industry can formulate advanced, feasible, and affordable solutions to address complex problems. “What is important is how we utilize today’s geospatial content with tomorrow’s vision to make it as practical as possible for our designers, field teams, and project managers to use which executing projects,” concludes Raafat. Meenal Dhande Sr. Assistant Editor Defense & Intelligence meenal@geospatialworld.net

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POLICY MATTERS

Pre-fabrication and modular construction

Augmented reality and virtualisation

Wireless monitoring and connected equipment

Cloud and real-time collaboration

Advanced building materials

6 3

3D printing and additive manufacturing

Autonomous construction

Big data and predictive analysis

3D scanning and photogrammetry

Building Information Modeling

LONG-TERM

INFRA STRATEGY

The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan lays special emphasis on harnessing transformative technologies and digitalization to build infrastructure for tomorrow. By Avneep Dhingra

he true test of a nation’s infrastructure takes place in times of crisis. This holds particularly true in the case of Australia, which has been facing multiple crises in the form of bushfires, drought, floods, cyberattacks, and of course, the Covid pandemic, over the past couple of years. These events have tested Australians’ individual

and collective resilience, pushing the decision-makers to think outside the box, and leading to the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan. Setting a vision for 2036, the plan is a practical and actionable roadmap for infrastructure reform in the country. “Rather than simply projecting forward the status quo, infrastructure

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planning must set an ambitious vision for the country. It should anticipate and adapt to change, manage risk and deliver infrastructure that works towards — rather than against — the current and future needs of the community,” writes Julieanne Alroe, Chair of Infrastructure Australia, in her foreword. Infrastructure Australia is an independent statutory body that

is the leading source of research and advice for governments, industry, and the community on nationally significant infrastructure needs. The 2021 plan has been jointly prepared by Infrastructure Australia and the Australian government.

Challenges and focus Drawing a long-term infrastructure strategy can be tricky. Factors, such as the pace of technological change, shifting geopolitical relationships, new consumer expectations, a trend towards localization, and climate change can render the strategy ineffective in a few years. Perhaps that is why the plan clearly lays out its focus areas which include population growth, adaptation to climate risk, building resilience, stimulating employment, driving economic productivity, embracing a diversity of places, and social equity. Further, it identifies Infrastructure Australia, governments, industry, individuals and the communities as the four key stakeholders. Digital as default Among other things, the 2021 plan stresses on harnessing transformative technologies and digitalization to build infrastructure for tomorrow. Digital and data tools and practices are key to unlocking substantial productivity gains and efficiencies across infrastructure planning, delivery, and operations. However, like in many other countries, the infrastructure and construction sector has one of the slowest adoption rates of technology, innovation and digitally supported ways of working in

Australia. Perhaps that’s why, over the past 30 years, the sector has become 25% less productive compared to industries like mining, manufacturing, retail, and transport (2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan).

The plan recommends federating data from public and private works, creating and maintaining relevant standards, incorporating open data collection and provision as a standard requirement in tenders, establishing more seamless cross-stakeholder data sharing, storage and access arrangements, and maintaining accurate and valuable spatial information. It also recommends kick-starting “digital by default” in infrastructure by ensuring that all federally-funded projects adopt innovative approaches across their lifecycle, including Building Information Modeling (BIM), digital engineering, embedded sensors and digital asset management.

“Australia’s technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, with innovation occurring in many areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), robotics and autonomous vehicles. Innovative technologies are transforming everything from traffic management, environmental monitoring, waste collection and resource recovery to how we build, monitor and interact with infrastructure. Data and digitalization are particularly significant in areas like transport, where it is now common to use apps to provide real-time data on when the next train or bus is arriving,” says Cristina Savian, Founder, BE-WISE Australia. Savian mentions the example of an ABAB Asset Management Technical Working Group project called “Digital Road Map Generator”, under which new ways are being explored to enable digital data-driven methodologies to shift to digital asset management practices for all built assets.

Bridging the Skill Gap  Australia’s infrastructure sector is facing a massive skill shortage.  The peak of demand for skills is 48% higher than the current supply.  Meeting this demand would require annual growth of 25% over the next two years, which is more than eight times higher than the projected annual growth rate of 3.3%.  34 of the 50 public infrastructure occupations identified in the 2021 Australia Infrastructure Plan (AIP) are potentially in shortage.  To create new business and employment opportunities, AIP recently announced a record investment for major public infrastructure, doubling over the next three years, peaking at $52 billion in 2023. 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 29

POLICY MATTERS

Why this Plan Population growth; change in working patterns  Australia’s population is expected to reach 28 million during 2028-2029.  One in 10 workers will likely increase his/her pattern of working from home to two‑three days per week, thereby increase the attractiveness of smaller cities, regional centers and outer suburbs.

Climate change and natural disasters  The average annual cost of natural disasters is projected to rise from $18.2 billion to $39.3 billion in 2050.  Since 2017, no infrastructure project assessed by Infrastructure Australia has applied guidance on climate risk.  The infrastructure sector accounts for about 70% of Australia’s emissions and must be a leading adopter of low carbon technology.

Resource management  Nearly 82% of Australia’s urban water supply is from surface water, which is highly dependent on rainfall. With shifts in rainfall patterns, a move beyond climate-dependent water sources is needed.  The demand for existing water and wastewater infrastructure will grow, and so will the pressure on the waterways that receive treated effluent.

Connectivity  Over 30% of remote or very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households have no Internet access and the majority are still without basic telephony services.  In 2020, people in the bottom quintile for household income had a digital inclusion score of 44, some 30 points lower than those in top quintile high-income households. 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan

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The infrastructure plan suggests developing and implementing productivity roadmaps supported by modern methods of construction, including design reuse, standardized design elements, digitalization, modularization, prefabrication, offsite construction, frame agreements and bulk procurement.

Models for development The 2021 infrastructure plan also calls for developing jurisdiction-wide digital twins of the built environment by creating or strengthening related capabilities and cross-departmental functions. It suggests that the owners of state and territory digital twins should be tasked with identifying, collecting, collating, or providing data from the infrastructure sector for third-party use, which can help in areas like e-planning and modernizing cadastral systems. It’s noteworthy that governments in Australia are now beginning to recognize the power of these digital replicas. Some of the prominent projects include New South Wales’ Spatial Digital Twin, Queensland’s SEQ Digital Twin and Victoria with its Fishermans Bend Digital Twin pilot and the Digital Twin Victoria. “Every single country that I have been to wants digital twins. They are all investing in digital technologies at different levels. Some countries provide grants for the implementation of new technologies, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, where costs can be offset for using and buying new technologies. In other

countries, they might not offer such grants, but they do issue country-level standards that help to implement new technologies,” says Igor Starkov, Co-founder and CEO, EcoDomus. Savian informs that the government in the state of Victoria will be investing $30 million in digital twins. “This is the century of digital technologies, so everybody is trying to invest in them while supporting local companies as opposed to overseas companies,” explains Starkov.

Spatial acknowledgment The ambitious infrastructure plan acknowledges that in a complex and interconnected environment, spatially constraining analysis to a defined place can support effective decision-making and allow a systemic consideration of risk. Placebased planning is cross-sectoral

The infrastructure plan suggests developing productivity roadmaps supported by modern methods of construction, including design reuse, modularization, prefabrication, offsite construction, and bulk procurement and involves community collaboration. Hence, it can consider the way society, the economy and environment come together to shape a distinct physical location. Focusing on the interconnections between infrastructure assets and networks in a specific place and analyzing the associated risks can support more effective decision-making and allow these risks to be systemically considered.

Geospatial data and technologies merge natural and built environments and uniquely and seamlessly integrate many digital models. From digital twins, apps providing real-time data about various transport modes to advanced IoT devices used on construction sites, geospatial data play a crucial role in ensuring Australia’s sustainable and prosperous future,” says Savian.

Australia has a long history and world-leading approach to geospatial capabilities — positioning, Earth Observation, infrastructure, and analytics.

Future oriented The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan provides not only a massive opportunity for growth but also sets a 15-year roadmap for infrastructure reform, prioritizing more collaborative models of delivery to support productivity and innovation, harnessing transformative technologies and digitization, delivering public value, embracing diverse geography, empowering customers, and leveraging data. “With this manifesto, I can confidently say that the future for Australia looks bright over the next decade, especially for all of us, driving the adoption of technology across the most important industry of our society, our built environment,” concludes Savian. Avneep Dhingra

Setting a vision for 2036, the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan is a practical and actionable roadmap for infrastructure reform in the country

Associate Editor Policy & Public Affairs avneep@geospatialworld.net

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CASE STUDY

Right on Track

With the help of Trimble track survey and scanning solutions, Monarch Surveyors and Engineering Consultants Pvt. Ltd. was able to complete work on multiple railways projects. By Trimble

re and post tamping surveys of railway tracks are crucial for their maintenance. A railway track settles with the passage of traffic, but not always evenly, leading to an uneven track formation that can result in rough riding or even train derailment. For India-based Monarch Surveyors and Engineering Consultants Pvt. Ltd., pre and post tamping surveys posed multiple challenges concerning data collection and processing, until they started using Trimble track survey and scanning solutions.

From manual to automated Set up in 1992, Monarch Surveyors provides professional comprehensive services in the field of civil engineering infrastructure projects. “Over the years, we have worked closely with the Indian Railways on several projects across regions and have been responsible for surveying and scanning of tracks,” says

Sunil Kokre, Director, Monarch Surveyors. Moving away from the manual process, the company began using Trimble GEDO for railway projects in 2020. The Trimble GEDO Scan System is a modern, efficient tool to collect detailed information about track and surrounding features. It allows the user to quickly gather precise, high-resolution data for use in track clearance assessments and facilities management. “Trimble GEDO has a particular application in track geometry or track improvisation. Railway tracks deteriorate periodically, and there is a provision in the railway guidelines that calls for tamping, or bringing the track back to the original level, every two years. Earlier, we mostly relied on manual techniques of measurements to ascertain a shift or lift in the track on each sleeper. However, since we started using the GEDO trolley, the process has become automated. One of the key benefits has been higher data quality,” adds Kokre.

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Experiencing a complete solution Trimble GEDO Scan System consists of a track survey trolley (Trimble GEDO CE 2.0) and a highly precise IMU (inertial measurement unit) that is the key for running an efficient track survey and asset data collection. To enable usage of further applications and to guarantee best performance, additional components and sensors can be added to it as well. One of them is the Trimble R8s, an integrated GNSS system that lets building a system tailored to a specific job. As job requirements change, the Trimble R8s adapts accordingly. It is available in post-processing, base only, rover only, or base and rover configurations and features advanced satellite tracking with Trimble 360 receiver technology. On the other hand, the Trimble Business Center fieldto-finish survey CAD software helps surveyors deliver high-accuracy GNSS data, create CAD

Trimble GEDO Scan System consists of a track survey trolley (Trimble GEDO CE 2.0) and a highly precise IMU (inertial measurement unit) that is the key for running an efficient track survey and asset data collection. Additional components and sensors can be added to it as well to enable usage of further applications and to guarantee best performance

deliverables, and leverage full data traceability throughout a project’s lifecycle. “In conjunction with each other, Trimble’s GEDO, R8s system, and Business Center software work seamlessly to provide a smooth and complete track and periphery surveying experience to the user. From feasibility studies through construction and operation, efficient alignment planning and accurate mapping of fixed assets to precise track measurement and construction, Trimble positioning solutions help rail managers meet the demands of today and expectations of the future,” says Amit Saxena, Regional Sales Manager, Geospatial, SAARC Region, Trimble.

Availing multiple benefits While using Trimble GEDO in the pre and post tamping surveys of the newly laid tracks between Lohna Road and Nirmali stations and Bridge number 4 to Bridge number 133 Nirmali End in the Samastipur Division of the Eastern Central Railways, Monarch Surveyors realized that the data collected can be uploaded to the tamping machine without any manual interference. All errors were eliminated, data capturing was fast and accurate, and block time decreased considerably, leading ultimately to increased track utilization. Since 2020, the company has completed nine to ten projects

using Trimble GEDO. “As far as response and feedback from users, particularly section engineers and railway engineers, is concerned, we have received appreciation. After using GEDO for tamping, track geometry has improved considerably. We have even received repeat orders and our client is happy with the track geometry produced using the combination of GEDO trolley and tamping,” says Kokre. “Trimble solutions enable advanced process and workflow integration for a more streamlined operation. They offer multiple benefits to keep rail operation running smoothly and safely,” concludes Saxena.

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INTERVIEW

FUTURE WILL SEE UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND FOR SATELLITE IMAGERY Owing to the easy availability of mid-resolution multispectral data on a daily basis, sectors like banking and insurance are today benefiting from satellite-based Remote Sensing, says Dheeraj Mehra, CEO, Micronet Solutions. By Geospatial World Can you tell us a little about your company’s vision, its key areas of focus, and future plans? As a company, our top focus is to provide content to every user in the industry at affordable cost. The procurement of satellite imagery has been traditionally dominated by defense customers. However, with our vast experience in the industry, we are trying to change that. We have a vision to cater to all users in the industry by providing them high-resolution data, both in optical and radar imagery space. We are aggressively working on finding solutions to enable ease of buying satellite images for small and consumer-centric buyers without them getting worried on the technical issues related to purchasing satellite images. The recent delivery of images at 30cm native resolution from the Pléiades Neo 3&4 satellites hasn’t gone unnoticed in the industry. Are we at a point from where the need for better accuracy and clarity will lead to greater

demand for high resolution imagery? The need for better accuracy and clarity will certainly lead to more demand for high-resolution imagery. Very high-resolution imagery is still under restriction, but we are hoping that soon private customers in the industry will also be allowed to procure such imagery. This will enable a vast range of new applications, and different business models will emerge in the industry. Currently, all such ideas are strangulated by regulations. There is huge demand for high-resolution data even today. This can be seen by the exponential growth in drone imagery. As is well known, drone imagery has its limitations, but the demand has been created, and the 30cm very high resolution is poised to succeed in fulfilling customer expectations. How have Remote Sensing services evolved in the last few years? In my opinion, there is still a lot to be done in terms of building applications. We have been focused on the need to create content. Now, with so many

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players like Airbus, Maxar, Planet, MDA, etc. in the industry, userfriendly applications need to be built to ingest the huge amount of data being delivered by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). That’s where our Indian startup ecosystem can play a major role in bridging the gap between technology and its use.

Can you share with us some of the new and emerging application areas for satellite-based Remote Sensing? Over the years, several new application areas have emerged. For example, satellite-based Remote Sensing is today being used for carbon credits, banking, insurance, plantations, etc. Owing to the easy availability of mid-

Very highresolution imagery is still under restriction, but we are hoping that soon private customers will also be allowed to procure such imagery

resolution multispectral data on a daily basis, these sectors are benefiting from Remote Sensing and scripting success stories.

How have technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) helped the geospatial industry? If the industry has to consume large amounts of data that is being made available, we have to heavily depend on AI and ML. I personally think that so far we have not succeeded in building algorithms for agriculture specific to the Indian context. Owing to small farm holdings and multiple cropping patterns in India, it becomes almost impossible to separate the weeds from actual

crops in a small parcel of an agricultural field. However, I am hopeful that AI and ML techniques will improve in coming years. The current deployment of AI and ML tools has been restricted on account of high costs, which need to come down for large scale deployment. Most of the AI and ML providers are working on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. The industry is not able to fund such a service and is looking for readymade tools to do this in-house.

How have the revised geospatial guidelines announced by the Government of India impacted the industry? The important thing is the

mindset of the government, which is to liberalize the geospatial industry. The revised guidelines will have a huge impact on the startup ecosystem within the country and enable job creation. The industry is pleased with the National Remote Sensing Centre's (NRSC) decision to liberalize the satellite data procurement process, wherein data can be directly procured by any entity/individual from registered vendors. This has pushed the demand for data in a huge manner, and we are thankful to NRSC for breaking the shackles of the data procurement process. I feel that we are going to see an unprecedented demand for satellite imagery in future.

SCIFing for Growth The Westway Services Group is a pioneer in the field of developing commercial Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF-as-a-Service, which has changed the way small companies conduct business with the Department of Defense, government agencies, and the U.S. military. By Sanjay Kumar

ioneers often take a leap of faith that defies conventional wisdom to carve out a legacy that stands the test of time. They see the contours of emerging business trends before anyone else and create markets where none existed before. Mark Webber, Founder of the Westway Services Group, belongs to this category of pioneers for developing Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF)-as-a-Service since 2007. “Mark Webber, our chairman, used to be in commercial real estate a number of years ago.

Then he took a break and had a race car team (Porsche team) and racing for several years. When he started getting older, he began thinking ‘what am I going to do for the rest of my life?’ (At that time), he ran into an individual who said, ‘you know there is an opportunity in commercial real estate to build SCIFs. Since there would be need for more SCIFs as the industry grows, there would be more sub-contractors who would need a place to go’. So, Webber said, ‘that is interesting’, and ‘I would like to do that’. That’s how we got our first building. The model is still the same, though it started as an

opportunity for a small business,” says Jack Pryor, President, Westway Services Group.

Turning challenge into opportunity SCIF, in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) parlance, is a secure room, building, or data center that is protected against all forms of electronic surveillance and data leakages of sensitive security and military information, and is manned by staff with security clearance. It’s imperative for businesses bidding for the U.S. defense or military contracts to operate out of an SCIF-accredited building. SCIF was a big

hindrance for small businesses until the Westway Group came along. To access any defense-related request for proposal (RFP) or write a proposal, and work on the project after winning the contract required a secured facility. In essence, it was a Catch-22 situation for small businesses that wanted to get into the U.S. defense sector. The Westway Services Group turned this challenge into a unique business opportunity by providing SCIF-as-a-Service for small businesses. The current generation of SCIFs must meet the parameters laid out in the Technical Specifications for Construction and Management of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities document. It’s a living document that is updated regularly based on inputs from the intelligence community and technical experts. “We started with a small business approach that we call the singleseat program. We still have it to this day. It was $1,200 a month, so more small businesses could afford it. That’s how we started

SCIF is a secure room, building, or data center that is protected against all forms of electronic surveillance and data leakages of sensitive security and military information growing,” tells Pryor. “Our building in Herndon, (VA) from where we started is about 94,000 sq. ft. and is now full. We have 132 companies and agencies in that building right now and 127 of them are small businesses.” With no existing business model that could be used as a reference, Westway had to rely on ingenuity to break down the walls of skepticism and cut through government red tape. “Actually, we linked up with a guy named Jim Arnold. He worked for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) in the government. He was a guy who kind of painted outside the lines. He was a visionary; he really saw things. He helped us get business and get sponsorship from that agency. That’s how it all started,” recalls Pryor. “One of the challenges we faced was

to change the culture. A lot of people said that it’s not the way the government did business — outsource to a contractor to build their SCIFs and handle the communications, packages, network, and all the things that go into it. There were a lot of people who were working against us because we were introducing a change. But we hung in there and battled through it. We gained credibility with the government to the point where they were writing new policies to allow what we were doing. The government is actually pushing us now; they are pushing people to us.” As government agencies started talking of engaging with small businesses in the defense sector, Arnold realized that SCIFs would “happen in a big way.” He had the vision and the courage to follow his instincts. “We never

Westway Services Group has leased 75,000 square feet in The Globe Building to construct a multi-tenant SCIF and secret collateral office space November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 37

SPECIAL FEATURE

The SCIF at The Globe Building is the first of its kind outside the national capital region and underscores the importance of the emergence of St. Louis as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Hub thought we would get big clients, but now we have big companies and big agencies come to us. One of the things that I think helps make the model work is that we take all the risk on the investment upfront. We don’t get one dime from the government. With time, they saw that it worked,” explains Pryor.

Building SCIF It’s not cheap to build a SCIF. “We make a $30 million investment upfront; we do not compete with our tenants; we don’t compete for any contracts. In fact, we help our tenants win contracts, because that’s good for us,” points out Pryor. “It takes pioneers to step out and be able to take risks. To me that’s the definition of leadership — somebody was willing to risk his investments, risk his career to create this opportunity. Metaphorically, everybody was watching to see if anything would happen, if this was going to be OK, and then it did. The security part of this is non-negotiable,” says Keith Masback, Principal Consultant, Plum Run LLC and former CEO, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF). Implementing the security protocols was one of the biggest challenges. There are no gray areas in the security business — either a facility is secure or it's

not. According to Pryor, hiring quality people with impeccable reputation and credentials is the key in the security business. “If you are going to be a pioneer or a leader, you have to get used to taking a lot of arrows in your back. Fortunately, in my career, I have worked with leading edge technologies and new approaches to things. So, there was nothing that was fearful. We hired people out of agencies who knew the rules, knew security, and had credibility,” he says. “In some cases, they wrote the rules,” adds Masback. Hiring the right people to build a web of connections paid rich dividends as it helped in spurring organic growth for the company. “We looked at people, their experience, their knowledge, their Rolodex, and their credibility. So, if I don’t know you and this guy knows you, we went to him, and he bridges us to you. We just kept building bridges to create a network,” explains Pryor. People like Masback, and the former Director of Defense Intelligence Agency, Ronald Burgess, who at present is with the Auburn University, helped the Westway Group to establish vital links between small businesses and government agencies. “When I was the CEO of USGIF, I became aware of Westway. They

38 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

were operating fairly quietly, and we had a meeting. They said, ‘our building is filled with companies of all sizes, and we are very focused on small businesses.’ We at USGIF wanted to do a lot to support small businesses. So, we created an agreement — we said that USGIF members would have the opportunity to receive preferential treatment and opportunity within Westway and they were very supportive of us. It was just another way as an educational foundation, as a foundation that was created to raise the entire industry of geospatial-intelligence. Having a partner like Westway was a natural step for USGIF,” recalls Masback.

Unique business strategy As the concept of SCIF-as-aService gained traction, big businesses started approaching Westway with big dollars. However, the company remained loyal to their core customer base of small businesses. “For example, we signed a lease with AT&T, but they were not in our building. They put five of their sub-contractors doing classified work in our building. We have a lot of that sort of things and that sustains us. We stayed true to our focus, and myself, having been a small businessperson through the years, had an affinity for helping those people because I understand some of the struggle,” says Pryor. But big companies don’t tie up with small businesses out of any altruistic motivation. They do so purely out of the necessity of either fulfilling some specific

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scale this and if you do that here is your contract’. I can give you an example with one company called (L-3) Mustang Technologies. They do radar type stuff (software-defined radars and RF sensors). They were a small business starting up in Dallas. We brought them and they are now almost a billion-dollar company. They started with just five guys and an idea,” says Pryor. When any business starts growing and big investors start approaching privately held companies, the temptation to sell and exit appears to be an attractive option. But the leadership team of the Westway Services Group don’t want to go down that road, yet. It is on the verge of becoming a $100 million company. Pryor makes it clear that the company is focused on charting this next phase of growth. Each of the seven floors have 75,000 square foot floor plates that provide tenants the opportunity to readily and reliably scale-up their occupancies

requirement in the contract or technology that might have been developed by small operators. “They need you to win a bid or IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity) or whatever they are looking for. They bring you in and sign you up so they can check the blocks to win the proposal. After it’s all over, they really don’t want you in that space. So, a lot of those companies that are sub-contractors to the big guys want our space and we get those guys,” says Pryor, explaining Westway’s unique business model. When the need arises, the company is called upon to act

as a bridge between the government and startups working on cutting-edge technologies. “When the Iraq and Afghanistan (wars) started, one of the things that the Army asked me to do was go out and find what they called ‘garage technologists’ — people working in their garages, doing bright things, working with smart technologies, but not being able to finish the product or scale it up. So, we found those, and I would go to large companies like Lockheed Martin or Raytheon and say that ‘look, we want this technology … figure out how to make this guy rich, give him a contract, bring him in,

40 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

“That’s always a possibility down the road. Mark is 65 years old, and I am 77. But I don’t have any plans to retire. My hobby has been my work. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t working. I am not a guy who is going to play golf every day. So, at some point in time, we could make an arrangement to sell, but right now, we are having fun, are enjoying, and are still building credibility. Currently, we have no competition, but that will come anytime. People know that if they can make money doing something, they are going to try to do it. We are in a big growth period,” says Pryor.

Stepping up The period of growth that the president of the Westway

As the concept of SCIF-as-a- Service gained traction, big businesses started approaching Westway with big dollars. However, the company remained loyal to their core customer base of small businesses Services Group is referring to includes developing a 75,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art SCIF at The Globe Building in St. Louis, MO. “We determined in St. Louis over the next five years, assuming everything materializes, there is going to be a requirement of 300,000 sq. ft. of space. So, there was an immediate demand, and if you got to build a building that’s a two-year project. We found The Globe Building and were able to lease space from Steven Stone that allowed us to accelerate the timeline and get people in. So, The Globe is the first building

that’s going in this town. And that building is right now 170% subscribed,” explains Pryor. The SCIF at The Globe Building is the first of its kind outside the national capital region and underscores the importance of the emergence of St. Louis as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Hub. It’s also a reflection of a bigger trend of the growing demand for a secure workspace. “There are a couple of other potential sites (in St. Louis) that we are looking at. We know as soon as we put the shovel in

ground… I already have people lined up for...,” says Pryor. “But there are going to be a number of hubs outside the national capital region. St. Louis is one of those hubs, Austin, Texas, is going to be another hub; Denver, Colorado is going to be another hub; Huntsville, Alabama is another hub; Miami, Tampa… and all that area is another hub. So on and so forth.” He sees the demand for SCIFs going up in the international market too, but much will depend on support from the various agencies in the U.S. He has helped setting up four SCIFs and one SCIFied hanger in Poland. He also anticipates a growing demand for portable SCIFs from the DOD, besides the private sector asking for secure facilities for activities like R&D to protect their patents and other intellectual property from industrial espionage and banks looking for more secure technologies to work with for the next 50 years. Pryor says that when the market for SCIFlike facilities starts emerging outside the government sector, the Westway Services Group will be in a position to deliver because of their expertise and experience in this area. Sanjay Kumar

The recently refurbished vintage industrial space now offers a new futuristic aesthetic and electric atmosphere to help attract, retain and inspire a highly-skilled geospatial workforce

Editor-in-Chief Geospatial World

sanjay@geospatialworld.net November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 41

SPECIAL FEATURE

GNSS JAMMING: AN OMNIPRESENT THREAT

The deployment of jammers that are easily available on e-commerce websites, military conflicts, faulty wireless equipment, or poorly designed radio frequency transmitters can disrupt or jam GNSS/GPS signals. Whatever be the cause, the consequences of jammed GNSS signals can be far-reaching. By Vivek Mukherji & Lt. Gen. (Dr.) A.K.S. Chandele

he use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) has become ubiquitous in our lives. Today, there is hardly any human or economic activity in which one of the satellite systems, such as, the GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (Europe), and BeiDou (China) is not used. Besides, countries like India are also launching their own systems

like the Indian Region Navigation Satellite System (NaVIC). With ever-increasing reliance on GNSS in every walk of life for position, navigation, and timing (PNT), within the framework of location the need for bulletproofing these systems from intentional and unintentional disruptions ( jamming and spoofing) is even greater than

42 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

before. Of all the satellite navigation systems, GPS (Global Positioning System) is most widely used around the world. Since GNSS signals travel a long way from geostationary satellite constellations, orbiting at approximately 22,000 miles (35,000 km) above the Earth’s equator, they become weak by the time they reach the earth stations/receivers

and are susceptible to interference. Typically, GPS signals operate in three radio frequency (RF) bands: L1 (1575.42 MHz), L2 (1227.6 MHz), and L5 (1176.45 MHz). Due to the weak nature of the signals, any form of RF interference can cause severe disruptions to position, velocity, timing, and navigation, which are critical in virtually every industry and sector. Any disruption can lead to partial or full jamming of GNSS/GPS receivers and potentially cause serious harm and economic losses. Further, GPS signal jammers, costing as little as $40, are easily available on e-commerce websites, and are capable of crippling or jamming GNSS/ GPS receivers, intentionally or unintentionally. “You don’t have to be the target to be the victim,” said Logan Scott, Co-founder of Lonestar Aerospace and GNSS/ GPS expert, at a recent webinar on jamming. “Encountering interference, you are pretty much on your own. By the time the cavalry shows up, the battle is over.” All forms of GNSS/GPS disruptions are on the rise. In 2019, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, (Eurocontrol) received “3,500 reports of outages”. In January 2020, the Mexican government passed a federal law outlawing the use of jammers after investigations revealed that out of the 3,400 reported cargo thefts in 2019, commercially available jammers were used in 85% of the cases. In September 2020, the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued an advisory to the shipping

Cheap, plug-and-play jammers like these can easily cause GNSS/GPS outages

industry, warning of global GNSS disruptions. In the case of military conflicts, the civilian sector bears the brunt of GNSS disruptions as collateral damage, as seen in 2011 during the “frequency war” between the U.S. and North Korea. Pyongyang was accused of repeatedly carrying out large-scale jamming using military grade mobile jammers, which affected mobile phones, timing clocks, and other wireless services as far inland as Seoul. The jamming signals originated from the North Korean border towns of Kaesong and Haeju.

Economic benefits of GNSS/GPS Application of GNSS/GPS technology can be found in virtually everything that we do today — from ordering pizza online to air travel, from synchronizing electricity grids to global stock trading that depends on precise timestamps, and much more. Therefore, the economic implications of GNSS/GPS outages can be crippling, besides being a potential danger to life — especially in cases like a drone crash in a

crowded area. According to a June 2019 report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. private sector economy alone benefited to the tune of $1.3 trillion between 1987 and 2017 by using GNSS/GPS technology. It is noteworthy that while the economic benefits of the technology might be significant, losses would be astronomical in case of an extended GNSS/GPS outage. For example, in the marine sector, the immediate economic benefit of GNSS/GPS might be negligible, but in case of wide-scale disruption affecting the shipping industry, losses can be as high as $85 million per day, according to an analysis prepared by the Rand Corporation for the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC).

What Is GNSS/GPS jamming? In simple terms, jamming occurs due to transmission of high-decibel radio frequencies close to the L1, L2, and L5 frequency bands at which GNSS/GPS receivers operate. The interfering frequencies tend to overload the receivers to such an extent, that they lose the Coarse Acquisition

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 43

SPECIAL FEATURE Estimated Daily Cost of Losing GPS Services in the US

Industry

Low

High

Agriculture

Aviation

Commercial road transport

123

Construction

Consumer location-based services

254

Maritime

Rail

0.1

0.2

Surveying

Timing

Mining

Oil & Gas

Source: “Analyzing a More Resilient National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Capability”, Rand Corporation. All figures in million dollars

or Code Access (C/A) lock on the satellites. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, “signal received at ground level from the GNSS satellites is weak — it may be as low as -160dBW (1 x 10-16W) — jamming over a small area is easily achieved.” Jammers

or transmitters that produce these interfering frequencies lead to the disruption of GNSS/GPS services. As a simpler analogy, try imagining the voices of people in a pub or a nightclub getting drowned out when the volume of the music is pumped up. Intentional or unintentional jamming can happen if an adversary is either trying to deny GNSS service in a particular region, or because of existing RF transmitters with poor filter designs and harmonic suppression. Incidents of unintentional jamming have also been observed around high-power transmitters like cellular base stations and FM stations due to insufficient suppression of out-ofband interference in the receivers. From the situational awareness point of view, it would be helpful to remember that intentional jamming is a means to an end and not the end itself. Therefore, placing

jamming in the larger context of the PNT threat matrix helps develop a better understanding.

Vulnerability of GPS to interference and detection The large-scale adoption of GPS also means it is the common target for those who want to cause intentional disruptions. A small, 10-watt jammer can disrupt unprotected GNSS/GPS receivers. The high vulnerability is not only because of the lower power at the GPS receiver end (approximately -160dbW), but also because the Standard Positioning Service (SPS) code document for civilian GPS signals, which lays down the standards and specifications, is available in the public domain. Hence intentional disruptions can be carried out easily. Due to the frequencies at which the various GPS signals work, unintentional interferences can happen for any number of

PNT Threat Matrix

Intentionally Seeking to Significantly Affect PNT Functioning?

Large

Yes

Catastrophes:

Acts of war:

Large natural events affecting space or terrestrial PNT systems

State military targeting of PNT systems or broad use of jamming or spoofing tools

Potential scale of effect on PNT?

Small

Negligence:

PNT Terrorism:

Individuals using jammers to achieve individual goals, spilling over to affect local PNT signal availability

Non-state groups staging jamming or spoofing operations on signal-based PNT sources

Source: Analyzing a More Resilient National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Capability | Rand Corporation (2021) 44 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

Narrowband

Wideband

Potential Sources of Interference Class-Type

Potential Source

Band-limited Gaussian

Intentional matched bandwidth noise jammers

Phase/frequency modulation

Signals from TV transmitters or near-band microwave link transmitters

Matched spectrum

Intentional matched-spectrum jammers and spoofers

Pulse

Burst transmitters or ultrawide frequency transmitters

Phase/frequency modulation

Intentional chirp jammers, AM radio stations, citizen-band radio stations

Swept continuous wave

Intentional CW jammers, FM radio stations

Continuous wave

Intentional CW jammers

reasons — medical equipment, cellular communication, radio transmission, and even domestic Wi-Fi, to name a few. The first line of defense against GPS interference (jamming and spoofing) is detection. There are several ways in which jamming or spoofing can be detected, such as, by determining the signal strength, jump in values, time stamp jumps, and measuring Doppler shifts. Signal strength: Legitimate signals from GNSS satellites are well below the surrounding background noise level. If any energy is detected in these bands, it means there is interference. Also, the signal strength from satellites does not vary much at the receiver end since the satellites are always relatively far away, whereas signals originating from a jammer (or a spoofer) can be very strong when transmitted from nearby areas. Therefore, a sudden change in signal strength (towards

stronger) indicates the presence of a jammer in the vicinity. Jump in values: To recognize fake (or spoofed signals), various measures can be taken. For example, receivers will receive both fake and real signals simultaneously. When the navigation processing gets fooled by the fake signals, range measurements will jump substantially to the new erroneous values. Step changes in the values are not possible in real physical systems, so this is an indication of interference. Time stamp jumps: The data streams from each satellite may also indicate discontinuities as the receiver switches from tracking the real signal to the fake; the same goes for time indication. This will be especially detectable with a meaconing or playback attack because time will jump backwards when the replay starts. Doppler shifts: Radio waves experience Doppler shifts the

same way as sound waves, based on how the objects (transmitters/ receivers) move. The Doppler shifts for the real satellites will all be different as the object moves either towards or away from them, depending on their position in the sky. However, the Doppler shift caused by the object’s motion is the same for all the satellite signals because they are all arriving from the same direction. This uniformity of Doppler shifts is another indication of spoofing. But to account for Doppler shifts as the object moves around requires a fair degree of sophistication (to adjust for each individual satellite) and requires tracking the object’s course.

Anti-jamming techniques Considering the necessity and importance of having a functional GNSS/GPS, numerous anti-jamming techniques have been developed and the technology is rapidly evolving. Mitigating jamming by changing frequency allocation is difficult, since GNSS/GPS frequencies are in proximity to Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) equipment. However, for some critical sectors like civil aviation, multi-GNSS (GPS + Galileo) and multi-frequency (L1+L2) systems are used. Such combinations are able to provide accurate PNT data despite interference. Null steering is the most commonly used anti-jamming technique, using Controlled Reception Pattern Antennae (CRPA). Since the desired satellite signals and the unwanted jamming or spoofing signals normally arrive at the receiver antenna from different directions, the unwanted signals can be prevented from reaching

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 45

SPECIAL FEATURE

Comparison Between Isotropic and High-Gain Antenna

the receiver by designing an antenna that spatially blocks them. The antenna direction should be so adjusted that maximum ‘gain’ is in the direction of the desired signals and minimum or ‘null’ gain is in the direction of the noise/unwanted signal. In a receiving antenna, ‘gain’ describes the antenna’s ability to convert radio waves coming in from a particular direction into electrical power. Beam steering is another effective GPS anti-jamming technique that is independent of the source of the jamming signal. It receives selected signals from at least four different GPS satellites and correspondingly produces four different anti-jamming solutions in the form of four separate anti-jamming algorithms. These algorithms are decoded by GPS receivers to determine the best possible solution to counter the jamming threat. The entire process is automated. The anti-jamming performance of GPS significantly improves when used in conjunction with Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). First, data obtained from INS is used to eliminate abnormal GPS

measurements caused by interference (jamming or spoofing). Next, INS can help recapture the signals when a GPS receiver loses them because of jamming, movement, or shielding. Finally, with INS the bandwidth of the receiver tracking the loop can be relatively narrow and the dynamic and anti-jamming performance can be balanced properly. Advanced Digital Signal Processing techniques like Amplitude Domain Procession (ADP) and ADP in Frequency Domain (FADP) filtering can be deployed at the RF front end to mitigate jamming threats.

Geolocation of jammers GNSS receivers are susceptible to both narrowband (Continuous Wave) and wideband jammers. Wideband interference — intentional or accidental — is most effective in jamming nearby GNSS users, as it is frequency agnostic. Wideband jammers use modulation such as FM chirp (swept Continuous Wave) and Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). In comparison, narrowband jammers operate in selected frequencies, making mitigation measures relatively simpler

46 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

to implement. Therefore, it is important to have the ability to identify the presence of wideband GNSS jammers and geolocate them as they pose a greater threat to GNSS users. In this respect, Phased Arrays Antennae can help determine the Angle of Arrival (AOA) of an RF signal source. A network of phased arrays is used to infer two or more AOA. The AOA algorithms partition the signal into multiple narrowband channels for processing. The AOA measurements from two or more stations can be used to triangulate the location of the interference source. To exploit the wideband characteristics of the source signal, a cross-correlation method needs to be employed. The cross correlation of received signals between two distant stations will produce a distinct peak at a cross-correlation delay with the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) of the corresponding source. Hence, TDOA is another sensor station’s observation that relates to the geographical location of the wideband source signal. If three or more stations are used as reference points, the combination of two or more detected TDOA measurements can be used to precisely geolocate the jammer’s position.

Anti-jamming: Need for specialists Jamming (intentional or unintentional) can happen much more easily compared to the application of mitigating solutions, which is a specialized domain.

Case Study 1

 GPS-enabled devices and services in Finnmark in northern Norway, close to the Russian border, have been repeatedly experiencing outages since 2017.

Type: Intentional Jamming | Hybrid Description: Military jamming affecting civilian services Location: Finnmark, Norway Date: November 19, 2020

 In September 2018, the National Security Authority of Norway concluded that the jamming originated from the east, indicating Russian involvement.  The jamming lasts from a few hours to a few days, but there is no pattern.  Finnmark police chief Ellen Katrine Hætta expressed helplessness in preventing regular occurrences of jamming.  Local businesses that depend on GPS expressed frustration due to extra work and cost during the outages.

Source: High North News.

 “We must be prepared that GPS may not necessarily give us the right marking of positions. We then need other tools that we can apply, such as a manual maps and compass,” says Hætta.  This serves as a reminder that civilian GNSS/GPS receivers need to be protected against military-grade RF interferences.

According to the Norwegian intelligence services, Russia jammed civilian GPS services in the northern part of Norway during the Trident Juncture NATO exercise in 2018

Case Study 2 Type: Unintentional Jamming | Civilian Description: Weather antenna causing GNSS interference Location: India Date: 2018  One of NovAtel’s customers in India — a university — felt that there was a problem, but they could not determine the source of interference.  NovAtel’s India office sent its engineers to the site to take measurements at multiple places and record the transmitted power.

 The engineers analyzed the data to calculate the best Root Mean Square (RMS) fit.  They inferred that the interference was originating from a certain building and from a specific direction.  Analysis of transmitted power measurements helped NovAtel’s engineers to pinpoint the source

of interference, which was a weather antenna transmitting at 1,580 MHz.  The engineers recommended relocating the antenna.  They also applied NovAtel’s Interference Toolkit (ITK) digital filters to further mitigate the problem.

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 47

SPECIAL FEATURE

GRIT combines NovAtel's successful Interference Toolkit (ITK) with the power of spoofing detection. Also available in GRIT is an optional functionality enabling time-tagged snapshots of analog to digital

GRIT is capable of dealing with both jamming & spoofing

20,200 km altitude fixed for GPS orbit

SAT 3

SAT 2

SAT 4

Satellites moving with known velocity vector and also transmitting at a known frequency

SAT 1 REAL PNT SIGNAL

REAL PNT SIGNAL

Spoofer Fixed Location

SAT 5 REAL PNT SIGNAL

RECEIVER Real Position Relative position fixed so frequency change and Doppler shift are nearly constant

Own position calculated accurately by triangulation using the TDOA principle. Doppler corrections also catered for in the receiver.

Spoofed Location

• Distance from satellite to receiver is something which can be calculated and accounts for Doppler shift depending on movement TOWARDS or AWAY from satellite. • This implies that it is DYNAMIC and is continuously changing or variable. This is accounted for in receivers. • In the case of spoofers, the shift will be CONSTANT as the spoofer will be at a constant location with respect to the GPS receiver. • ‘Dynamic spoofing’, as it is called, will require multiple locations for spoofers which is generally not possible. • Signal strength also plays up as a factor. Compared to the -130 to 153 dbm signal received, the spoofer will emit strong signal which can there after be negated at the RF front-end of the receiver. • Also, satellite signals will come from many elevation angles, while spoofer signal will appear to be coming from a fixed location only.

Illustration: Vivek Gopal

Companies like NovAtel provide a suite of anti-jamming solutions like GNSS Resilience and Integrity Technology (GRIT) to deal with the threat of jamming and spoofing, which is increasingly getting sophisticated. GRIT is a suite of firmware features enabling trusted situational awareness and interference mitigation tools across applications and environments. GRIT can be deployed on land, sea, and air, including on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). As threats to assured positioning adapt, NovAtel has evolved its solutions to continue providing the most reliable, trustworthy and resilient PNT measurements possible.

Real PNT signals from satellites arrive from multiple directions, but in case of a jamming or spoofing device being used, the signal will be unidirectional.

samples. The time-tagged digitized RF data allows users to characterize the RF environment and develop their own interference location algorithms. Through situational awareness techniques like spoofing detection, time-tagged data, and interference mitigation such as anti-jam technology and digital filters, GRIT builds GNSS resilience and integrity to better protect PNT measurements. With these robust tools, GRIT joins NovAtel's industry-leading, anti-jam technology on the hardware side like GAJT (GPS Anti-Jam Antenna Technology — GAJT-710ML, GAJT-710MS, GAJT-410ML, GAJT-410MS, and

48 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

GAJT-AE-N), in providing resilient, robust, and trustworthy PNT protection. It is worth noting that there is no single solution to mitigate GNSS/GPS interference. A combination of techniques and solutions like those offered by NovAtel’s GRIT suite need to be deployed for neutralizing jamming threats and ensuring resilient PNT.

Vivek Mukherji Executive Editor vivek@geospatialworld.net

Lt Gen (Dr) AKS Chandele President, Defence Internal Security & Public Safety ajay@geospatialworld.net

IN PERSPECTIVE

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES: AN INDIAN CONTEXT

s economies and organizations script success stories, one of the unsung factors is the context of location and its impact in defining these successes. Contextualization of location is inherent to the way humans think and do things. Historically, governments, organizations, and citizens have relied on data and insights for actionable intelligence. Geospatial applications are improving the efficiency and productivity through spatial data and insights for planning, monitoring and analysis, stakeholder collaboration, operational readiness, asset management, improved customer services and so on.

Learning (ML), Augmented Reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), etc. are transforming the core of business practices through contextualized visualization of data, analytics and meaningful insights.

Be it the personal or business front, by putting geography in the backdrop, a new wave of geo-enabled digital transformation has brought unprecedented opportunities through data-driven insights, changing the way we look at things and the way we work on delivering a positive economic impact. Harnessing the context of geographic Big Data, technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine

Geospatial as an industry in India creates employment in different sub-segments covering geo-data acquisition, processing, hardware and software sales and support, software development, and maintenance. As per Strategies and Recommendations for National Geospatial and Earth Observation Industrial Development Policy, published by Non-Executive Think Tank on Geospatial Strategy for New

While the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the economy is now well documented, the value contribution of geospatial technologies is not talked about much. Despite the growing use of geospatial technology around the globe, its true economic value remains hidden, since the traditional measuring concepts have failed to keep up with the rapid evolution of the industry.

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 49

IN PERSPECTIVE

India, the geospatial workforce demand in India is expected to touch 10 lakh (1 million) by 2025. Geospatial technologies impact the economies of almost every industry segment.

Infrastructure Modern life without infrastructure is unimaginable. While infrastructure makes a significant contribution to the economy, it also plays a vital role in social stability and environmental sustainability. With rapidly growing urban population, the need for infrastructure is constantly increasing for housing, commercial spaces, transport, utility and other civic amenities. Increasing competitiveness drives the need for geo-enabled digital transformation across the value chain in the sector. Agriculture Even without climate change, world food prices are expected to increase due to growing populations and rising incomes, as well as greater demand for biofuels. The changing climate will have a significant impact on the world’s food supply. Food producers and agriculturists need Geographic Information System (GIS) to understand the dynamics of agro-climatic features, evaluate risks and work towards adopting sustainable agricultural practices to make the sector more resilient. Using data-centric agriculture to improve productivity, safety, nutrition and sustainability can protect land and ensure sustenance for future generations. Water Water is undoubtedly one of the vital elements for existence of life on earth. Today, this very lifeline is under serious threat due to human activities of the past. Physical, biological, economic, and social processes too have a strong bearing on the water ecosystem which, unless addressed in totality, will not help in resolving the problem holistically. By harnessing the geographic context, GIS technologies provide unmatched capabilities to discover insights from data and transform how governments and communities see, think, and act towards integrated water resource management. 50 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

Geospatial as an industry in India creates employment in different sub-segments covering geo-data acquisition, processing, hardware and software sales and support, software development, and maintenance. The geospatial workforce demand in India is expected to touch 10 lakh (1million) by 2025 Transportation GIS assists in presenting data from multiple sources for planning and monitoring, building and maintaining digital network models for transportation systems, including roads, signage, signals, pavement, markings, transit and traffic control, providing public access to traffic and road conditions, weather and other traffic data for accurate and timely information. Digital transformation in the transportation industry has led to the deployment of information and communication technologies, navigation systems, data sensors and other devices for data collection and transmission systems blended with spatial analytics and positioning technologies that collectively enhance real-time mapping and smart travel. This is making commuting hassle free through better traffic management, faster response to emergencies, automated vehicle tracking, toll collections and fleet management. Utilities: Power and gas Every aspect of modern life, economic growth and prosperity is underpinned by energy and its networks. Geospatial and smart grid technologies have an important role to play in developing and managing renewable energy resources. By providing timely and detailed information on energy consumption, smart grids allow utilities and consumers alike to be more efficient in their energy use. Increasing demand, ageing infrastructure, environmental concerns and regulations, and fast depleting energy sources

Geospatial Value Impact OPERATIONAL BENEFITS

CONSUMER BENEFITS

SOCIAL BENEFITS

EMPLOYMENT

Improved planning, efficiency and productivity, enhanced decision support, reduced labor, cost savings and cost avoidance (In Cr./Annum)

Improved transparency, enhanced convenience, time savings and better quality of life and mobility (In Cr./Annum)

Employment generation, sustainable natural resource management, environmental conservation/restoration, better response to disasters and community development (In Cr./Annum)

Number of jobs

INR 10,34,000

INR 10,26,900

INR 56,250

($139.0 bn.)

($138.0 bn.)

($7.5 bn.)

necessitate that stakeholders and companies look at ‘intelligent’ and ‘smart’ processes and leverage appropriate technologies to tap energy alternatives

Land management With high population density, land resources in India are already under tremendous pressure. This pressure is expected to further increase in coming years. Since land is a finite resource, managing it judiciously is the only thing we can do. One of the unique challenges land resource poses is diversity in its characteristics, while being a single physical unit. Not all geographies are equally suitable for different purposes and hence assessment for suitability for purpose becomes the key. Rural,

urban, industrial, mining, ecological and environment subjects have their unique characteristics for fitness and demand customized approaches. Addressing this challenge, a GIS platform with image processing capabilities plays a central role in bringing together imagery, cadastral maps, revenue records, master plans, economic and livelihood opportunities, disaster vulnerabilities and ecologically sensitive subjects with spatial and temporal perspectives, providing comprehensive land intelligence on the local conditions, along with a bird’s eye view of the region.

Geospatial Value Impact Tangible and direct Geospatial Value Impact (GVI) includes employ-

8,65,000

ment generation, increased operational efficiencies, improved transparency, improved resource efficiency, better decision-making, and cost savings. Intangible and/or indirect GVI varies from industry to industry. For example, while the use of GIS for better infrastructure, efficient urban finance management, enhanced citizen services, informed planning and inclusive growth, and effective program monitoring contributes to the overall economic growth, in agriculture, this technology supports natural resource management, better adaptability to climate change, risk mitigation, etc. Its impact can also be seen in land management, ecology and biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, and so on.

Image Credit: www.esri.com

Over the next several weeks, we will be publishing a series of articles on Geospatial World website to bring out the sectoral value of geospatial technologies for select industry segments which are national priorities. Agendra Kumar

A GIS platform with image processing capabilities provides comprehensive land intelligence

Managing Director Esri India

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 51

REGIONAL FOCUS

GEOSPATIAL POWERING INDIA’S DEVELOPMENT The Government of India has been using geospatial technologies to implement its flagship development schemes and missions that have the potential to support economic growth and sustainable development. By Nibedita Mohanta & Snehil Manohar Singh

slew of development projects announced by the Government of India over the past few years have demonstrated the growing value of geospatial technology in the country’s thrust towards sustainable development. Several schemes, such as SVAMITVA, Namami Gange Programme, and PM Gati Shakti Master Plan, along with missions, such as Har Ghar Jal, Bharatmala, Smart Cities, among others, are a testimony to the fact.

Comprehensive land records The SVAMITVA (Survey of Village Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme is a reformative step towards establishing clear ownership of property in rural areas by mapping land parcels. The scheme will facilitate monetization of properties, reduce property-related disputes, and ensure comprehensive villagelevel planning. It is being implemented with the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), State Revenue Departments, State Panchayati Raj Departments, and the Survey of India (SOI). “The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is acting as program manager for SVAMITVA scheme. NIC is supporting MoPR in developing SVAMITVA dashboard for monitoring various key performance indicators and integrating processed drone data into Gram Manchitra Application and creating GIS-based tools which helps in Gram Panchayat development planning,” says Dr. Udaya Kumar, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre, and SVAMITVA Project In-charge. SOI, which is the technology partner in the scheme, uses drones to carry out surveys and prepare high-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) by making use of Geographic Information System (GIS) maps. Drones capture data of an area through sensors, affixing each image with coordinates. This data is then verified with the data

52 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

collected on the ground, and on this basis, high-resolution maps are developed. Once the surveying is over, the data is processed by SOI, and a spatial database is created. Attributes are linked with their features and SOI takes the responsibility for the affirmation of data, its quality, and ground truthing. Every property is allotted a specific identifier. The pilot project of the scheme has a budgetary outlay of ₹79 crore ($10.7 million). It was started in 2020, and as of today, work is underway in 14 states and four Union Territories, with drone surveying complete in more than 77,200 villages and close to 56,000 completed village maps handed over to states. “The use of geospatial data and technology brings in the much-needed transparency in project planning and governance by creating a single source of truth for all stakeholders. Integrated use of technologies like GIS, Remote Sensing, Building Information Modeling, drones, etc. in project management enables near real-time monitoring and control of project progress, resource management and proactive intervention for mitigating risk,” says Deven Laheru, President, Scanpoint Geomatics Ltd.

Streamlined infrastructure development Infrastructure building in India has been marred by poor planning and execution for decades. To address this concern, earlier this year, the government launched the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan, which aims to create an integrated framework for infrastructure development in the

Under the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan, a comprehensive geospatial digital platform will be built through which the entire network of infrastructure will be laid out for the near future

country. “Earlier, the fragmented nature of decision-making, with each department working in silos, meant that a disjointed industrial network was created. While several pieces of the puzzle were in place, many remained unconnected as well,” said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, at the launch of the Master Plan. The ₹100 lakh crore ($1.33 trillion) project will see the development of a comprehensive geospatial digital platform through which the entire network of infrastructure projects ranging from telecom networks, gas pipelines to road and railways will be laid out for the near future. It will be accessed by government departments and ministries and will provide over 200 geospatial data layers and satellite imagery to support government projects in the critical areas of rural and urban infrastructure, utilities, logistics, among others. The project is structured to prioritize all mega infrastructure and connectivity targets by 2024-2025. In economic terms, this would translate to reduced expenditure for the government. India’s focus on infrastructure is in line with the global trend. On November 15 this year, U.S.

President Joe Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law, a move that is being viewed as a bipartisan victory that will pour billions into the country’s roads, ports, and power lines.

Rejuvenation of rivers An integrated conservation mission, the Namami Gange Programme under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), focuses on the abatement of pollution and conservation, and rejuvenation of River Ganga. With a budget outlay of ₹20,000 crore ($2.67 billion), the program has been recognized as one of the flagship government schemes using geospatial technologies. The adoption of geospatial technologies began with the preparation of a basemap, a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) and a GIS-ready database of wetlands, springs, and floodplain with 10 km buffer on both sides of River Ganga using LiDAR. “NMCG is also using geospatial technologies in several other areas, such as the citizen-centric Bhuvan Ganga mobile app to get information from ground zero, GIS-based dashboard to monitor NMCG interventions and water quality, river corridor mapping

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 53

REGIONAL FOCUS

NMCG is making extensive use of geospatial technologies to clean Ganga

by LiDAR technology, biodiversity mapping, fisheries resource mapping, wetland mapping, water bodies mapping by UAVs, microbial diversity mapping, cultural mapping, rivulet mapping, urban river mapping, aquifer mapping, high-resolution climate scenarios for basin scale, and spring rejuvenation mapping,” says Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, NMCG. NMCG has tasked Geokno with creating a DEM, with a vertical accuracy better than 50 cm, processed orthophotos (25 cm Ground Sample Distance), contours of 0.5/1.0 m, and topographic maps (1:10,000 scale) using aerial LiDAR to aid Ganga River basin management planning and implementation at the national/state/local levels by providing map data. “In this project, Geokno has delivered fine-resolution topographic maps using LiDAR technology, which allows surveys to be completed on time, while maintaining horizontal/vertical accuracy of 10-15 cm. In essence, our technology provides highly accurate survey data for mapping in a shorter time frame (9-10 weeks) than a ground-based survey (6-8 months),” says Dinesh Babu, Vice President, Technical & Presales, Geokno.

On the fast track With the objective to develop a seamless and efficient transportation system, especially for freight, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) was instituted under the Ministry of Railways in 2016 to develop and manage the high-speed rail corridor in India. NHSRCL uses a combination of laser data, GPS data, flight parameters, and actual photographs to give accurate survey data. Based on the findings of the survey, designing of the vertical and horizontal alignment, structures, location of the stations and depots, land requirement for the corridor, identification of project affected plots/structures, etc. are decided. NHSRCL has decided to conduct FLS (final location survey) surveys of all six upcoming corridors using LiDAR services provided by Geokno. “Geokno provided aerial LiDAR services to NHSRCL for FLS of its first project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. They will be using our services again as they are pleased with the results and the overall project execution,” adds Babu.

The larger impact Geospatial technologies are making an important contribution to India’s

54 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

development projects. The process has only accelerated after the government announced liberalized geospatial guidelines earlier this year. These technologies not only save time and accelerate processes, but also allow for unprecedented levels of precision. They also help in breaking silos and integrating the various stages of planning and execution of a project. Dr. Kumar sums up, “The new geospatial policy has enabled SOI to conduct survey without prior approvals. It has also facilitated exchange of spatial data between various stakeholders SOI, State Governments, and MoPR easy. The final published maps sharing has become hassle free.” The deployment of geospatial technologies has also given a boost to public-private-partnerships, with both the government and private organization sharing resources and working towards the country’s social and economic development. “The new geospatial guidelines have opened up a sea of opportunities for Indian companies and given them the power to acquire, curate, disseminate and monetize geospatial data, benefiting diverse sectors of the economy and providing the opportunity to compete in the global mapping ecosystem,” says Brahmam Gorugantu, Head of Operations, South India, NeoGeoinfo Technologies Pvt. Ltd Nibedita Mohanta Chief Sub Editor

nibedita@geospatialworld.net

Snehil Manohar Singh Sr. Sub Editor

snehil@geospatialworld.net

PHOTO FEATURE

20-22 October 2021 | Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Meeting of Minds Geospatial professionals from more than 60

countries came together for the 2021 Geospatial World Forum, which was held in Amsterdam,

The Netherlands from Oct. 20 to Oct. 22. With the theme of “Geospatial Infrastructure and Digital

Twin: Empowering Circular Economy”, the event

saw a diverse range of professionals from national geospatial agencies, private sector enterprises, scientific and academic institutions, and user



multilateral and development organizations,

industries sharing the stage to discuss ways in

Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Geospatial World, opening the Geospatial World Forum 2021, the first in-person conference in two years 

which geospatial and allied technologies can help in ensuring a sustainable future. Special sessions featuring industry leaders and experts were

Annette Baerveldt, Deputy Mayor of Zaanstad, The Netherlands, delivers the welcome address

organized on Space, AEC & Digital Cities, SDG &

Circular Economy, Location & Business Intelligence, and Defense & Internal Security. While over 400

people physically attended the event, the count of online attendees far exceeded that number.



L to R: Frank Tierolff, CEO, Kadaster, The Netherlands; Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Geospatial World; Stefan Schweinfest, Director of the Statistics Division, United Nations; Olivier Casabianca, Vice President, GeoInstruments, Trimble, France; and Dean Angelides, Corporate Director, International, Esri, at a plenary on Geospatial Infrastructure & Digital Twin: Empowering Circular Economy

Robert Cardillo, Chairman, U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), giving the guest address on Geointelligence and Evolving World Order

November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 55

PHOTO FEATURE



L to R: Aaron Addison, Vice President - Americas, Geospatial World; Tyler Dahlberg, Senior Data Scientist Insights, Booking. com; Bjoern Bremer, CEO & Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Group; and David Henderson, Chief Geospatial Officer, Ordnance Survey, U.K., at a plenary on Location Services for Next-Gen Business Intelligence



Meet our exhibitor: Merkator

Meet our exhibitor: Tensing 



A token of appreciation to our past GWF awardees and dignitaries



Lea Bodossian, Secretary General & Executive Director, EuroGeographics, Belgium giving a presentation on Open Maps for Europe Launch

Panel discussion on Evolving National Geospatial Strategy for The Netherlands. L to R: Dorine Burmanje, Mayor, Municipality of Ermelo; Hanneke van der Klis, Director Digital Transformation, Deltares; Rob Agelink, Chief Data Officer, Kadaster; Tirza van Daalen, Director, Geological Survey of the Netherlands, TNO; Rob van de Velde, Director, Geonovum; Robert Hoddenbach, Global Business Line, Director Land Asset Integrity, Fugro; Frank Pauli, CEO, Cyclomedia; Noud Hooyman, Chief Geo-information Officer, Directorate for Spatial Planning, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations; and Douwe Blanksma, Geospatial Serial Entrepreneur and Opiniator, Ruimteschepper, The Netherlands

Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, Google, giving a talk on Ethics & Privacy Issues: Way Forward for Location Data Providers

56 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021



Delegates and participants from the Middle East



Jim van Rens, Strategic Advisor, Government & Industry Relations, RIEGL, U.S. and Dean Angelides, Corporate Director, International, Esri, at the RIEGL booth

Greg Scott, Inter-Regional Advisor, Global Geospatial Information Management, United Nations, giving a keynote address on Future Agenda for the Geospatial & Statistical Communities in SDGs

During discussions on public-private partnership for Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure



Panel on Digitizing Utility Assets: Towards an Underground Digital Twin Strategy. L to R: Ananyaa Narain, Director, GW Consulting, Geospatial World; Yvonne Hidding, Business Information Analyst, Waternet, The Netherlands; Alexander Worp, Asset Information Manager, Waternet, The Netherlands; Frederik Boersma, Business Consultant, GeoBIMexperts, The Netherlands; and Heath Pritchard, Head of Major Projects Geospatial Commission, Cabinet Office, U.K.



The GWF 2021 awards were adjudged by an esteemed jury comprising Alessandro Annoni, President, International Society for Digital Earth; Josef Strobl, Profesor, Head of Geoinformatics Department, University of Salzburg; Serena Coetzee, Professor,  Director of Centre for Geoinformation Science, University of Pretoria; and Geoff Zeiss, Principal, Between the Poles. Awards During a were given by Olivia (Burtchaell) Powell, International Lead, technical Geospatial Commission and Co- founder and Director at session on LiDAR System & Women+ in Geospatial (L), and Stefan Schweinfest, Director of the Statistics Division, United Nations (R) Application November-December 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 57

PHOTO FEATURE



Women geospatial professionals from across geographies at GWF 2021 

Panel discussion on Enhancing Real-time Situational Awareness with EO & Geospatial Data. L to R: John Kedar, Strategic Advisor Geospatial Infrastructure, Geospatial World; Keith Barber, Chief Operating Officer, Tanzle, USA; Leendert Bal, Head of Department Safety, Security & Surveillance, European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA); Kammy Brun, Managing Director, HEAD Aerospace Technology, France; and Adriano Baptista, Former Head of Operations, EU SatCen, Senior Advisor, European Space Imaging, Germany



Meet our exhibitors: Barjeel Aerial Photography Services & Schneider Digital

Panel on Space & Geospatial Value Chain - Co-Creating Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure. L to R: Pacome Revillon, CEO, Euroconsult, France; Reinhard Blasi, Acting Head of Communications, EUSPA; Yana Gevorgyan, Director, GEO Secretariat; and Christian Heipke, President, ISPRS



Meet our exhibitor: Cyclomedia

 The closing panel of GWF 2021 was on “Innovation to Impact: What is the way forward?” L to R: Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Geospatial World; Greg Scott, Inter-Regional Advisor Global Geospatial Information Management, United Nations; Barbara Ryan, Executive Director, World Geospatial Industry Council, USA; Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, Google; Cristina Savian Founder BE-WISE; Brig. Ali Al Shehhi, Former Director, Space Reconnaissance Centre, Board Member, Federal GIS Center, UAE; and Frank Tierolff, CEO, Kadaster, The Netherlands 58 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | November-December 2021

SURVEY OF INDIA Every step we take, Every move we make, Every inch we measure, Every map we prepare is a treasure.

DELHI KOLKATA MUMBAI CHENNAI

MANDATE: • To provide, maintain and allow access and make available the National Topographic Database (NTDB) conforming to national standards. • To promote the use of geospatial knowledge and intelligence through partnerships and other mechanisms by all sections of the society and work towards a knowledge-based society. A. National Spatial Reference Frame

CORS NETWORK 405 Stations Established 40% Country Covered

• National Ground Control Points (GCPs) Library: across the country. • CORS network: Network RTK services to give realtime coordinates accurate upto 3 to 5 cm. • Precision Bench Marks (BMs): At 35-40 km across the country. • Geodetic Surveys for precision control (Horizontal & Vertical). • Tidal observation at Indian ports. Publication of Annual Tide tables giving prediction of tides one year in advance for 44 ports (30 Indian ports and 14 foreign ports). • Geo-physical or Gravity surveys across country. • Geo-magnetic surveys across the country.

B. National Digital Elevation Model • National DEM at various resolutions.

C. National Topographic Template • Preparation of foundation dataset. • Special purpose surveys for Airports/Airfields. • Spacial maps for Indian Air Force.

D. Administrative Boundaries

MAJOR PROJECTS UNDER PROGRESS:

• International Boundary (IB) Survey/Demarcation/Relocation, Preparation of IB Strip Maps, depiction of correct external boundaries of India on maps, advice on IB matters to MEA. • Preparation of Administrative boundaries data up to village level. • Inter-state boundary (ISB) Survey/Demarcation/Relocation, Preparation of IB Strip Maps, advice on ISB matters to MHA/ Hon’ble Supreme Court/High Court/Other Courts. • Demarcation of Hazard line along Indian coasts as per (Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ) dated 2nd July 2018, MoEF & CC).

1. SVAMITVA

E. Toponomy (place names)

2. National Hydrology Project

• To provide Standardized Geographical names duly verified in the field to MHA, in matters pertaining to New/Change of place names and Railway station names across the country.

3. NMCG project 4. LSM Projects: Haryana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh , Andaman & Nicobar etc.

F. Capacity Building • Capacity Building in Geospatial field. Training to officers and staff of SoI, Central/State Govt, various institutions, private individuals and also trainees from foreign countries.

onlinemapsportal: https://onlinemaps.surveyofindia.gov.in/ Office of the Surveyor General of India, Hathibarkala Estate, DEHRADUN, PIN - 248 001 +91-135-2747051-58, Ext 4360, +91-135-2744064, 2743331

11-12 January 2022 Monterey Bay, California

A GEOSPATIAL BUSINESS LEADERS’ SUMMIT Platinum Sponsors MISSOURI

Corporate Sponsor

Strategic Partners

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