Tech Talks/Demo Talks

 

Tech Talk/Demo Talk Session I    Monday, June 21  1:15 PM - 2:15 PM

Session Chair: Dr. Kevin Montgomery, Stanford University

Tech Talks:

High Performance Mobile 3D GIS- IVJ/WorldWind-Java on Android

Kevin Montgomery, Stanford University  Carsten Mundt, Intelesense Technologies

ABSTRACT: This presentation demonstrates an early prototype of a novel technical approach to the display of real-time 3D interactive GIS visualization on mobile devices. The system provides a fully functional version of InteleView (which is built on the NASA WorldWind-Java platform), including access to all 315,000 layers of satellite and aerial imagery, GIS data, live sensor data, and other information from an Android mobile device, running over 3G cellular or WiFi networks with fully interactive, highperformance 3-D graphical response. This will be the first presentation of the research prototype system at a conference and will demonstrate that 3-D, interactive GIS visualization is real, practical, attainable, and soon available.

Computer Vision for Geo-Location, Awareness & Detail

John Zelek, Ehsan Fazl, Daniel Asmar, Adel Fakih, University of Waterloo

ABSTRACT: Computer vision (i.e., image understanding) involves under- standing the 3D scene creating the image. Computer vision is challenging because it is the computer that decides how to act based on an understanding of the image. Key image understanding tasks include depth computation, as well as object detection, localization, recognition and tracking. Techniques up to now have not been able to perform any of these tasks robustly with the precision and accuracy demanded by many real-world applications. Additional complications include operational and environmental factors. For humans, visual recognition is fast and accurate, yet robust against occlusion, clutter, viewpoint variations, and changes in lighting conditions....

Access Control Systems for Spatial Data Infrastructures and their Administration

Jan Herrmann, Technische Universität München

ABSTRACT: Today sophisticated concepts, languages and frameworks exist, that allow implementing powerful fine grained access control systems for protecting Web Services and spatial data in SDIs. Especially rule based access control systems provide the capabilities to define and enforce expressive, fine grained access rights or restrictions respectively. Having powerful and complex access control policies in place introduces a new challenge. It is essential that the policy defining the semantics of an access control system can be easily and securely administrated. In this paper a very general and powerful administrative model, the Layered Administration Model (LAM), will be introduced. The LAM intends to support an easy, secure and tractable administration of complex spatial access control policies as found in SDIs..

Demo Talks:

Open, Distributed, Geostreaming Using Wave Federation Protocol

Tish Shute, ARWave

ABSTRACT: The talk will include a demo and introduction to an open framework for realtime permission based, geostreaming using Wave Federation Protocol - ARWave. The first part of the talk will introduce the audience to an end to end open federated approach to geostreaming, and real time collaboration on geolocated data, that aims to make location based mobile, social interaction, and augmenting reality, as easy as contributing to a wiki or a wave. This open framework, built on Wave Federation Protocol, allows anyone to create content, a browser, or a server and define the data handshakes they want to make with others on a federated network. ...

ESRI – ArcGIS.COM – A New Web-Based Gateway into the ArcGIS System

Jon Nystrom and Bonnie Stayer, ESRI

ABSTRACT: ArcGIS.com is a new web site for experiencing ESRI’s ArcGIS System online. Visit the site to create maps; find and use maps, applications, and tools; and share your maps and applications with others. Within the site, you will find applications for building and sharing maps. You will also find a wide variety of basemaps, specialty layers, applications, and tools that you can view and use. You can also find, form, and join Community Groups within which to collaborate and share Geographic Information. From ArcGIS.COM, you can launch the new ArcGIS Explorer Online - a rich Microsoft Silverlight based internet application for using, creating, and sharing information. Attend this Demo Talk to find out how you can change the way you use GIS – with ArcGIS.COM, use Geographic Information everywhere!

Gvitech Development Strategy

Kandy Hsu, Deputy GM & CFO, Gvitech

Tech Talk/Demo Talk Session II    Tuesday, June 22  1:15 PM - 2:15 PM

Session Chair: Dr. Barry L. Roberts, Sandia National Laboratories

Tech Talks:

Spatio-temporal Labor Market Analytics: Building a National Web-based System

Robert K. Pitts, New Light Technologies Inc.

ABSTRACT: As the U.S. economy undergoes rapid and significant change, at micro and macro levels, developing an understanding of the specific forces at work, and their causes, is a challenge. Interest in understanding the dynamics of the labor market, at the local level, specifically has increased. To meet this growing need, The U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program produces OnTheMap, a unique web-based mapping and reporting application that provides tools for quantifying and visualizing spatio-temporal labor market dynamics with specificity previously unavailable. This paper discusses the development of OnTheMap including its analytical capabilities and data and computing infrastructures.

Defining Circular Arcs on a Round Earth

Michael Kallay, Microsoft Corporation

ABSTRACT: Circular arcs are commonly used for modeling geospatial data in planar map projections. This paper proposes a definition of circular arcs in geodetic coordinates on ellipsoid earth models.

Merging Web 2.0 Technologies with Cloud-Based Web Services to Address Ocean and Coastal Geospatial Applications

Eoin Howlett, David Stuebe, Kyle Wilcox and Charlton Galvarino, Applied Science Associates, Inc.

ABSTRACT: A number of rapidly evolving ocean observing initiatives including NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and NSF’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) are focused on the integration of disparate time-varying geospatial data collected by satellites, in-situ measuring devices, radar, with data generated by numerical models. This paper studies the use of a wide variety of open source tools used in the metocean community and how these tools can be integrated with Web 2.0 technologies such as Google Search to allow users to publish and discover metocean science data. Once discovered, the real challenge is true interoperability of different data, even though the data is delivered with open standards, in most cases OGC standards....

Mobile Geospatial Applications for Android to aid in GeoCollaboration

Zohra Hemani, David Culverhouse, Ray Renner, Harold Scott Pio, Northrop Grumman

ABSTRACT: Northrop Grumman is developing Mobile Geospatial Applications for the Android platform. With the increasing need for communication with in-the-field personnel, Northrop Grumman is developing the capability to collaborate and communicate among multiple mobile devices and also between workstations, servers, and mobile devices. Initially, we are using the Android platform as the prototype mobile device. The GeoCollaboration capability allows users to share live geospatial information simultaneously with other connected users whether they be on a mobile device or on a computer. ...

Munitions Related Feature Extraction from LIDAR Data

Barry L. Roberts, Sandia National Laboratories

ABSTRACT: The characterization of former military munitions ranges is critical in the identification of areas likely to contain residual unexploded ordnance (UXO). Although these ranges are large, often covering tens-of-thousands of acres, the actual target areas represent only a small fraction of the sites. The challenge is that many of these sites do not have records indicating locations of former target areas. The identification of target areas is critical in the characterization and remediation of these sites. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) of the DoD have been developing and implementing techniques for the efficient characterization of large munitions ranges. ...

Building Augmented Reality Environments

Martin Lechner CTO, Mobilizy GmbH

ABSTRACT:  In this Tech Talk, Martin Lechner, CTO of Mobilizy, the company behind the leading Augmented Reality platform Wikitude, will explain how one can build an Augmented Reality platform using the example of the Wikitude platform. He will focus on what components are necessary for a successful AR ecosystem, how these components can interact and work together and what needs to be particularly considered when creating a great AR experience for all kinds of users.

Tech Talk/Demo Talk Session III    Wednesday, June 23 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM

Session Chair: Helenmary Hotz, University of Massachusetts Boston

Tech Talks:

Watershed Modeling for Education

Eric Russell, National Geographic Society  Colleen Buzby, Uri Wilensky, Northwestern University

ABSTRACT: We present two models of water runoff processes designed to teach grade 6-12 students what a watershed is and some aspects of how it behaves. The first model animates the process of watershed delineation, and demonstrates the significance of watershed boundaries by simulating rainfall and runoff interactively. The model uses the same delineation algorithm as the Hydrologic Engineering Center Preprocessor (HEC-PrePro). The second model examines the effect of land cover change on storm hydrograph response, ...

A new method in volcano-morphology to investigate the tectonic constraints on the volcanism, case study of Harrat Al Sham volcanic field, Arabia plate: the interest of GIS and Relational Database.

Mohamad Amer AL Kwatli, Pierre Yves Gillot, Université Paris Sud XI

ABSTRACT: The volcanic activity of Arabian plate offers an attractive example of intraplate volcanism constrained by a complex tectonic setting. Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic field (HASV) is a basaltic province, extends widely at Arabian plate (over 50 000 km2), covers south of Syria, northeast of Jordan, north of Saudi Arabia, and contains hundreds of well- preserved monogenic volcanic cones. Our method aims to identify those cones volcanic, calculate its morphological parameters (heights, slopes, surfaces, volumes…etc.), and study their correlation. The farther intention of this study is to investigate the consequence of the tectonic events on the volcanic activity by testing the relations between the volcano-morphological parameters and the structure of the lithosphere (basement and moho surfaces).

Is the GEO Perspective Really General? A Unifying View

Jorge Xavier da Silva, Tiago Badre Marino, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT: Concerns about the best insertion of “Geo” concepts, methods and techniques into the scientific mainstream are made in this talk. No claims of precedence about opinions and suggestions are made. Analogies among different fields of research, pointing out procedural and structural similarities, intend to call attention to needs and uses of a unified view in research fields directly associated to digital data processing. Conclusions are provocative.

The Use of Geospatial Information in Securing Modern Mobile Architectures

Jason H Christensen, Intelligence In Motion.com

ABSTRACT: Modern mobile architectures are utilized to address needs and intrinsic of this new “modern” era of mobile computing. We have transcended the phone/text/email paradigm into a new era where we can execute applications and business functions anywhere. While this is convenient, the problem is we can execute applications, view proprietary documents, and perform business functions anywhere. We will present a set integrations between geospatial information, location-based context awareness and cryptology and key management that can address current pain points in modern mobile architectures.

Constructing a GIS Geodatabase to Assess and Analyze the Factors Enabling Proliferation of a Noxious Seaweed along the South-facing Coast of Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Helenmary Hotz, University of Massachusetts Boston

ABSTRACT: Presently, there is a paucity of knowledge about Pilayella littoralis and the factors influencing its proliferation on the southern facing coast of Cape Cod, MA. Over the past 20 years, the seaweed has moved along the coast from Falmouth to Chatham, and there is concern for the effects on onshore and nearshore habitats. The goal of this research project is to provide a science-based mapping methodology for analyzing spatially referenced coastal phenomena, specifically, coastal distributions of Pilayella littoralis and associated seaweed assemblages, to identify areas of proliferation and accumulation of these seaweeds, and to obtain a detailed timeline of anthropogenic construction along the coast necessary for the analysis of possible causes of the phenomena. This project uses Geographic Information System (GIS) to produce a temporal and spatial framework for quantifying the accumulation and proliferation of distributions of Pilayella littoralis and associated seaweeds along the coast, with respect to natural and human constructed rocky features. The GIS database framework consists of: 1) Bathymetry (accomplished from raster application); and 2) Data layers, including aerial photos, maps, charts, and other existing GIS data layers. GIS database construction and data integration are accomplished using ESRI ArcGIS 9.3.1. ArcSDE and SQL. The database implements data layers based on: 1) historical aerial photographs; 2) bathymetry; 3) and digital maps documenting the construction and timeline of human constructed defenses along the study site. GIS modeling and analysis is performed using the geodatabase to construct models of compartments formed by natural and human rocky structures along the coast where the algae flourish. In addition, GPS data collection and remote sensing field survey (via Hyper-spectroradiometry) is applied to obtain spatial event information and to estimate biomass and to estimate biomass and productivity in aquatic vegetation.

Defining the World's Cities Through Neighborhoods

Bernt Wahl, University of California, Santa Cruz

ABSTRACT: This presentation will outline a process used for breaking down cities and towns into alternative regions structured on name recognition: neighborhoods, districts or other local areas. Based on the demographic data gathered using these techniques - collected from the 350 largest U.S. cities' neighborhoods - evidence will be given to support the potential benefits to quantifying city data based on neighborhood names and their accompanying structures rather than traditionally used U.S. Census regions. The process defines neighborhood boundaries based on commonly recognized characteristics such as widespread reference by community, as well as natural and human demarcations. Through defined neighborhood datasets and boundaries, the study will attempt to show that locally correlated attributes with recognizable names can provide cohesive information for a given region. The analysis hopes to convince the reader that neighborhoods, with their flexibility to form organically, prove in many cases to be a better solution to collecting demographic data than census measurements, which are often confined to a fixed quantity amalgamation of census tracts, units that are generally restricted to a set population for a given region.

Demo Talks:

Spatial Data Mining

Vadeerat Rinsurongkawong, Chun Sheng Chen, and Christoph F. Eick, University of Houston

ABSTRACT: Due to the advances in technologies, such as sensor networks and satellite systems, large amounts of spatial data are created every day. Therefore, tools and techniques to automatically extracting meaningful information from spatial data have gained importance. Analyzing spatial data is more difficult than analyzing the traditional data due to the complexity of spatial data types, the high frequency of spatial patterns, the continuous nature of space, and spatial autocorrelation. The Data Mining and Machine Learning (DMML) group at the University of Houston aims at the development of data analysis, data mining, and machine-learning techniques and to apply those techniques to challenging problems in geology, astronomy, environmental sciences, social sciences and medicine. In general, our research group has a strong background in the areas of clustering and spatial data mining. Areas of our current research include: repository and correspondence clustering, density-based clustering and clustering with plug-in fitness functions, association analysis, geo-regression techniques, change analysis, and trajectory and polygon mining. We designed and implemented several unique spatial clustering algorithms and an open source development framework called Cougar^2 to facilitate the analysis of spatial datasets.

The Potential of Open-Source Internet GIS as a Communication Interface in Regional Environmental Management: Exemplification from Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia

Jim Peterson, Monash university, Sultana Nasrin Baby, Bass Coast Shire Council, Australia

ABSTRACT: It is shown that the potential for implementation of open-source internet GIS to advance the rate of diffusion and adoption of GIS can be realized in regional environmental management if the in-house spatial database is made coherent. After imposing such coherence on the spatial data sets used by environmental managers on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia it is shown that all stakeholders can share data that can be imported into open-source software possessed of the requisite functionality, it is shown that: a) Adoption of open-source internet GIS overcomes the constraints imposed by proliferating software costs in the hope of increasing GIS adoption, and b) The visualization functionality of the most suitable open-source software attracts staff members, hitherto reluctant to engage in digital spatial query, to become "naive users", thereby more than doubling the in-house GIS users and greatly increasing in-house communication of information and setting the scene for communication among stakeholders. This is very advantageous because, in most of the agencies using GIS, there is, otherwise, a lack of critical mass among GIS users. The exemplification offered here refers to datasets and challenges common to all Victorian regions. Accordingly, it can be argued that if the approach developed in this study is widely adopted in Victoria the community of naive GIS users will increase in ways that enhanced the rate of diffusion and adoption of GIS to rates originally envisaged by public polices first announced during the analogue-to digital conversion of mapping activity two decades ago. To advance the stalled adoption of digital spatial data handling in regional GIS Labs by making the power of GIS available, not only to those who should maintain and process the data, but also to the much larger body of "naive users", many of whom work in the public sector and need more access to data, and most of whom represent stakeholder interests and recognize the potential offered by spatial data access and visualization for advancing transparency in government. The assumptions underlying the idea that adoption of GIS can be promoted to a new stage of utility are: a) Constraints in diffusion and adoption by regional spatial data can be identified and overcome b) The achievement will support visualization.