Geospatial World September 2013

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The BIG STORY: AGRIculTuReThe Geo-Green Revolution | P. 28

ReGIOnAl fOcuSLatAm Calling | P. 64

Trimble

SePtember 2013 VOL 04 ISSUe 2 | ISSN 22773134www.geospatialworld.net

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aleWORLDGEOSPATIALY o u R G e o s p A T i A L i n d u s T R Y M A G A z i n e

A GPS company until 1999, Trimble dared to re-define itself, pursued a much wider range of technologies to cater to chosen vertical markets and over a period of just 14 years became agnostic relative to technology, all the while being central to the change it wanted to see in global geospatial industry P. 22

Transforming the World

TM

6 Geospatial World | April 2013

Shaping the Future of the Geospatial Industry On the Go

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September 2013 Vol 4 Issue 2Inside...

DisclaimerGeospatial 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.

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Aida Opoku MensahSpecial Advisor, Post 2015Development Agenda, UNEconomic Commisssionfor Africa

Barbara RyanSecretariat Director, Group on Earth Observations

Bryn FosburghSector Vice-President, Executive Committee Member, Trimble Navigation

Derek ClarkeChief Director-Survey and Mapping & National Geospatial Information, Rural Development & Land Reform, South Africa

Kamal K SinghChairman and CEO,Rolta Group

Lisa CampbellVice President, Engineering & Infrastructure, Autodesk

Mark ReichardtPresident and CEO,Open Geospatial Consortium

Matthew OConnell CEO, Adhoc Holdings

Ramon Pastor Vice-President and General Manager, Large Format Printing Business, Hewlett-Packard

Stephen LawlerChief Technology Officer, Bing Maps, Microsoft

Dr Swarna Subba Rao Surveyor General of India

Vanessa Lawrence Director General and Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey, UK

Dawn J. Wright Chief Scientist, Esri

Adv

isor

y Bo

ard

Greg BentleyCEO, Bentley Systems

Prof. Ian DowmanFirst Vice President,ISPRS

Dr. Hiroshi MurakamiDirector-General of Planning Department, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan

Prof. Josef Strobl Chair, Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria

Juergen DoldPresident Hexagon Geosystems

Mohd Al RajhiAsst Deputy Minister for Land & Surveying,Ministry of Municipal & Rural Affairs, Saudi Arabia

Dorine BurmanjeChair-Executive Board, Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster), The Netherlands

5 Geospatial World | September 2013

CHAIRMAN M P Narayanan

Publisher Sanjay Kumar

Publications team

Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta

Editor Building & Energy Geoff Zeiss

Editor Agriculture Mark Noort

Editor Latin America (Honorary) Tania Maria Sausen

Editor Geospatial World Weekly Dr. Hrishikesh Samant

Executive Editor Bhanu Rekha

Deputy Executive Editor Anusuya Datta

Product Manager Harsha Vardhan Madiraju

Sub-Editor Ridhima Kumar

Graphic Designer Debjyoti Mukherjee

Circulation Manager Amit Shahi

07 Editorial

08 News

16 Product Watch

72 OGC Column

74 Events

Special Focous: Latin America

64 LatAm calling, Renata Dias Rodrigues

Corner Office

18 Bert Turner, Senior Vice President, Sales, DigitalGlobe

28 The Geo Green Revolution Mark Noort & Anand Kashyap

Articles

38 G-tech key for a Common Agriculture Policy, Philippe Loudjani

42 RS technology for crop insurance, Dr Joachim Herbold

48 UAS to monitor crop health status, Tamme Van Der Wal

50 Brazil: GIS for sustainable agriculture, Mateus Batistella

Case Studies

52 Smart ICT for weather information54 Geospatial tools for rainfed agriculture56 Profiling agricultural activities

through GIS

58 GIS field survey for agri planning 60 Monitoring agricultural lands via

remote sensing

62 Optimising sugarcane crops with precision agriculture

Interview

46 Dr Hanns-Christoph Eiden, President, BLE, Germany

The Big Story: Agriculture

Cover Story

22 Trimble: Transforming the world, Bhanu Rekha


Creating your own map from maps published by other users is just one of many ways to take advantage of the rich collection of data and resources ArcGISSM Online makes available to you.

Welcome to the new frontier in geographic information systems.

30-day free trial: esri.com/gswagol

Copyright 2012 Esri. All rights reserved.

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7Geospatial World | September 2013

India is going through an economic crisis; the Rupee is falling, the stock markets are down and gold prices are going through the roof. In the backdrop of all this, the Indian government decided to bring in a Food Security Bill to ensure minimum nutrition to the underprivileged and the poor. India Incs fear that scarce funds will be diverted from industry to agriculture is adding to the turmoil. However, food is something that is the very basis of our existence and the very underpinning of civilisation.

While tremendous developments have hap-pened in different sectors; those early agricultural crops have remained the same over the centuries. What has changed are the technique of agriculture and food processing and preservation. Today, we can observe another major change, this time in the use of geospatial technology to bring efficiency and higher yields. This has become an imperative as the world population grows, nutrition require-ments increase, while land the essential base for agriculture remains limited, and in fact, under pressure from conflicting demands from different sectors like infrastructure, urbanisation, commer-cial crops and forestry, to name a few. Land must be sustainably used; yields must be improved; wastage must be reduced; distribution should become efficient and ubiquitous.

In this situation, geospatial technologies can play a vital role in inventory of resources, planning, monitoring and efficient implementa-

tion of activities. These applications have moved beyond Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment, which used remote sensing data to assess crop acreage and production estimation. Today, remote sensing, GIS and GPS is being used in precision agriculture to optimise application of inputs to maximise yield. According to Trimble, these solutions aim to provide the farmer with the best possible outcome for himself, his family, his investors, and indirectly for the customers and the environment. The idea is to provide analysis, op-timise practices, increase productivity and make the best use of available resources.

The industry of agriculture also requires insur-ance against unexpected damage due to extreme weather events. Climate change poses many prob-lems and geo-technologies offers solutions.

In this issue we have endeavoured to cover all these aspects with stories of geospatial application as well as a review of the role of geospatial technol-ogies and their use by various institutions. Agricul-ture is now as complex as any other manufacturing industry, perhaps more so, because, if agriculture fails everything else will. Napoleon said an army marches on its stomach; a statement which can be extended to any human activity, I may add. It is, therefore, but natural that geospatial systems, like many other technologies, should play an important role in agriculture.

EditorSpeak

Farming the benefits of geospatial

Prof Arup DasguptaManaging [email protected]


Americas news

Intermap bags airborne mapping contract

Intermap Technologies has won a $3.5 million airborne mapping contract for hi-res 3D digital models of the earths

surface ag-gregated with customer-specific data. The Denver-based com-

pany said it was using its proprietary Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) mapping technology on the new project to collect orthorecti-fied radar imagery and hi-resolution elevation data to update the unnamed customers existing geospatial map da-tabase. Final deliveries of the projects dataset used for improved disaster planning, resource management, security interests, and infrastructure planning are slated to be completed by the first quarter 2014.

Google Maps is the worlds most used smartphone app

Google Maps is the most-used smartphone app in the world, according to newly released data recorded over the second quarter of 2013. The data, collected and correlated by digital media agency GlobalWebIndex, shows the most popular apps by usage among the worlds 969.49 million smartphone users over the second quarter of 2013. According to the findings, Google Maps was at the very head of the top 10 most actively used smartphone apps with 54% of smart-phone users having accessed it during the survey period. Coming in second was the Facebook app, which 44% of smartphone users accessed; 35% went on YouTube via the app; and, in fourth position was the Google+ mobile app, used by 30%.

BusIness

Trimble adds DigitalGlobe imagery to mobile apps

Trimble has entered into an agreement with DigitalGlobe to license its satel-lite imagery for offline use in Trimble Outdoor mobile apps. This will allow outdoor enthusiasts to view and store imagery on their smartphones and tablets. In addition, DigitalGlobe imagery will be available for high-resolution, large-format custom prints at MyTopo.com, a Trimble company. DigitalGlobe will provide imagery down to a 30-cm resolution for the continental US and 50-cm resolution globally, effective immediately.

GPs companies sued for $1.9 bn by Harbinger

Harbinger Capital has sued agri-cultural equipment maker Deere & Co and Global Positioning System companies for damages of $1.9 billion as it looks to recoup its investment in the bankrupt wireless company LightSquared. The lawsuits defend-ants, which include GPS companies Garmin International and Trimble Navigation, had opposed LightS-quareds plans to build a wireless network because of concerns that this would interfere with GPS sys-tems, which are used in everything from farming to airline navigation. Harbinger, which has spent billions of dollars on LightSquared, said in a complaint that it never would have made the investments if the GPS industry had disclosed potential interference problems between the LightSquared spectrum and GPS equipment between 2002 and 2009.

$3.5 mn for 3D digital model of

earths surface

Apple looks for ground truth experts to improve its maps

The Maps Team at Apple is looking for a small army of Maps Ground Truth Local Experts to help beef up its data quality for its iOS Maps app. The launch of Apples Maps in September of 2012 was met with heavy criticism over the quality and accuracy of the geographic data. Currently listed are 39 jobs calling for Ground Truth Local Experts and Maps Ground Truth Regional Managers on Apples site. Ground Truth Experts are being sought for many major cities around the world with locations such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, and Dublin. The job requirements call for successful applicants to have resided in the city of interest for at least five years, have some experience evaluat-ing map quality, and strong English language skills.

Courtesy: Mashable


Americas news

MIscellAneous

Far out knows where youll be on a precise date in future

Researchers from Microsoft and Google have developed new track-ing software that can predict future location of a person. The programme called Far Out tracks people using a GPS device and learns their routine. It then makes predictions about where that person will be in future years. It is capable of reacting to changes in jobs, relationships and moving house. Far Out software uses an algorithm to predict where a person will be in the future, based on where they have been in the past. It does this by accurately learning a persons routine. .

Report calls for sustained landsat programme

Despite being essential to the US national security, the future of Landsat satellites is in jeopardy, warns a new report from the National Research Council. The committee that pre-pared the report warned that while the US pioneered frequent-repeat global imaging, other nations are now

A screenshot from the Far Outmapping software

developing systems whose capabil-ity rivals or exceeds US systems. The committees primary recommenda-tion is that the federal government establishes a sustained and enhanced land imaging programme with an overarching national strategy and long-term commitment, including clearly defined programme requirements, management responsibilities, and continued funding.

skybox Imaging to launch 24 satellites by 2018

Skybox Imaging plans to launch 24 sat-ellites into orbit by 2018. Most of these satellites will focus on earth observa-tion. With $91 million in venture-capi-tal funding, Skybox Imaging is focusing on low-cost satellites. The company says their satellites cost under $50 mil-lion a piece. Skybox focuses on the use of less expensive cameras and using its software to stitch together strings of lower resolution images intone visu-

alisation. At roughly the dimensions of a mini-fridge, Skyboxs 200-pound satellites are also far smaller than conventional models.

BRAzIl

Mobile mapping to create road map

In view of the upcoming major sport-ing events in Brazil, TomTom has de-ployed its advanced Mobile Mapping (MoMa) technology in the country. The phased MoMa programme aims to provide road users with the most ac-curate maps of over 85,000 kilometres of the countrys road network by early 2014. It is the first time the advanced Mobile Mapping vehicle units have been used in Brazil and as a result, combined with input from road-users via TomToms MapShare programme, the company is able to provide the as-surance of a more secure, precise trip for drivers across the country.

students fake GPs signals to hijack $80-million yacht

A team of GPS experts at the University of Texas used a laptop, a small antenna and an electronic GPS spoofer built for $3,000 to take control of the sophisticated navigation system aboard an $80 million, 210-foot super-yacht in the Mediterra-nean Sea. By feeding counter-feit radio signals to the yacht, GPS expert Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas were able to drive the ship far off course, steer it left and right, potentially take it into treacherous waters, even put it on a collision course with another ship. All the time, the ships GPS system reported the vessel was calmly moving in a straight line, along its intended course. The experiment highlighted how vulnerable the worlds GPS system is to hackers.

The 213-foot White Rose whose GPS navigational system was spoofed

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Europe news

FRAnce

Astrium, Thales Alenia bag uAe spy satellite contract

After a decade-long negotiation, the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces finally contracted with Astrium Satel-lites and Thales Alenia Space of France to provide the two-satellite Falcon Eye high-resolution optical reconnaissance system. The contract is valued at 800 million, (approximately $1.1 billion). The contract includes the construc-tion of two satellites weighing less than

1,500 kg each; their separate launches in late 2017 and early 2018 likely aboard

European Vega rockets; two ground facilities for satellite control and image reception; and training of UAE person-nel in France.

cryosat maps largest-ever ood beneath Antarctica

ESAs CryoSat satellite has found a vast crater in Antarcticas icy surface. Scien- tists believe the crater was left behind when a lake lying under about 3 km of ice suddenly drained off. By combin- ing new measurements acquired by CryoSat with older data from NASAs ICESat satellite, the team has mapped the large crater left behind by a lake, and even determined the scale of the flood that formed it.

ec permits free access to earth observation data

The European Commission has agreed to permit free access to data from its

$1.1 bncontract from UAE

armed forces

uK

un-GGIM endorses future trends in geo-information

The third session of the UN Commit-tee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) took place in Cambridge, UK. The ses-sion was convened back-to-back with the Cambridge Conference, and made considerable progress in fulfilling the GGIMs mandate to enhance collabo-ration and support the use of geospa-tial information to promote sustainable development globally. The Co-Chair of the Committee, Vanessa Lawrence (United Kingdom), opened the session. It was attended by 238 participants, among them 173 representatives from

66 Member States and 1 Non-Member State. The Committee of Experts endorsed the first edition of the report Future trends in geospatial informa-tion management: the five to ten year vision and noted that this report was meant to be a living document and will be revised from time to time to reflect changes in the technology and environment. The Committee also con-sidered the trends in national insti-tutional arrangements in geospatial information management; developing a global map for sustainable develop-ment; legal and policy frameworks, including critical issues related to authoritative data; establishing and

implementing standards for the global geospatial information com-munity. Recognis-ing the growing demand for more precise positioning services and the economic impor-tance of a global geodetic reference frame, the Com-mittee welcomed

the report prepared by the Geodetic Reference Framework for Sustainable Development Working Group of UN-GGIM Asia-Pacific, in collaboration with the International Association of Geodesy (IAG).

one-reference geoinfo service for europe

Ordnance Survey, which reports to theDepartment for Business Innovation& Skills (BIS), UK, has signed the consortium agreement and grant agreement to participate in the European

Sentinel series of earth observation satellites, concluding that any harm to private-sector satellite operators will be outweighed by the expected growth in value-added services derived from the data. After a long process of evalu-ation that included input from the Eu-ropean Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), the commission has agreed to align itself with a policy already adopted by the 20-nation Euro-pean Space Agency (ESA).


Europe news

and other dangerous materials. The new explosives detector was created by Damien Weidmann and his team at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The researchers believe that the flexibility and range of the Active Coherent Laser Spectrometer (ACLaS) makes it ideal for all kinds of hazardous or undercover gaseous-phase sampling, including detecting toxic leaks, chemical-warfare agents, illegal drugs manufacture or highly localised industrial air pollution.

Radar gun spots illegal GPs jammers in vehicles

The battle against truckers and motor-ists who jam GPS signals has moved up a gear. UK-based Chronos Technology has developed new handheld radar to identify which vehicles are illegally using the GPS signal jammers. This new device can identify where a jammer-using ve-hicle is in a multi-storey car park and can pinpoint portable devices in drivers pockets when they have left their cars. Chronos has not revealed how the device

Location Framework (ELF) project. The EU-funded project will provide the platform for a global standard of geographic information to enhance business without barriers across Eu-rope. The three-year project, consisting of three phases, is supported bya consortium of 30 partners across Europe, whose work is co-funded by the European Commission.

Tool locates any spot on earth using three-word code

A new mapping service could spell the end of the modern-day postcode. The what3words app has divided the globe into 57 trillion 3X3 metre squares and labelled each area with just a three-word address to help make finding locations more accurate and memorable. The w3w pin can be moved around the Google Map and it will show the code for the precise point where the pin has been placed. Alternatively, users can search the site for landmarks or addresses to find that locations code. Or three random words can be entered, each separated by a full stop, to find surprise location. Once a location has been identified it can be shared by email, Facebook, Twitter or GPS systems. What3words is available on Web browsers as well as through Android and iOS apps.

earth observation sensor to hunt for explosives

Satellite technology intended for earth observation has been adapted to create an instrument that can recognise explosives remotely. Developed bya team of scientists in the UK, the system uses an infrared laser to detect volatile compounds in explosives

ACLaS was adapted from satellite sensing technology

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works, but it is likely that it triangulates signal strength to work out exactly where the 1.5 gigahertz signal that a GPS jam-mer emits is coming from.

FInlAnD

HeRe brings real-time trafc to esri

HERE, a Nokia business, has an-nounced that it is bringing its real- time traffic information to Esri. With HERE Traffic, Esri will enhance its Web and Cloud location platform with more pre-cise location data for intelligent routing. Fleet operators will be able to better manage problems as they occur in real time, re-routing fleets when traffic unexpectedly hits, and providing alerts when pickup or delivery delays occur. With congestion in the top 100 highway bottlenecks getting worse real-time traf-fic information helps fleets avoid traffic hotspots so that they get can get to their destinations faster and more safely.

noRwAy

norway says no to Apples 3D mapping of oslo

Norway is barring Apple from taking 3D images of Oslo buildings out of fear for national security. The countrys National Security Authority told the Cupertino company that it is not allowed to fly over Oslo to take 3D images, a feature now available in Apples Maps App. Na-tional Security Authority director Oyvind Mandt said he was concerned Apple would inadvertently reveal sensitive security features associated with critical buildings in the city. A 3D representation could also show different weaknesses in the countrys safety measures.


Asia news

PHIlIPPInes

Massive regional literacy mapping to boost education

The Department of Education, Cordillera Administrative Region (DepEd-CAR), will conduct a massive regional literacy mapping to survey all indigenous peoples (IP) and non-IP learners, out-of-school youths and adults in all the Barangays of the region. A Memorandum issued by DepEd-CAR Regional Director Ellen B. Donato stated that the RLM was a locally initiated project that aimed to support the attainment of the univer-salisation of the basic education and the objectives of the education for all (EFA) and would involve participation of all Barangay officials to assist in the conduct of the mapping.

InDonesIA

GIs to assist economic growth in Indonesia

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Indonesia is currently look-ing for establishing a GIS capacity in its offices for collecting, managing, analysing and presenting geographic information in support of the Green Prosperity Project. This is part of the large cooperation where the MCC and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia have entered into an agreement of Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) assistance to help facilitate poverty reduction through economic growth in Indonesia. The MCC funding is in the range of $600 million. MCA-Indonesia intends to use a portion of the funds towards implementation of GIS. The larger

chinas new 10-dash line map irks Philippines

Sinomap, the Chinese state mapping author-ity, recently published a new 10-dash line map that shows the Philip-pines offshore territo-ries within Chinese na-tional boundaries. The Philippines, along with several other countries, have protested against this development. The map was published in January and it features a line with 10 dashes instead of nine to mark a huge strip of the South China Sea in encirclement as Chinese territory. Nine dashes in the new Chinese map are in the South China Sea and a 10th dash has been placed near Taiwan, to signify that territorys status as a Chinese province. The Philippines Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs (DFA) handed over a confidential note to the Chinese Embassy in Manila in the month of June. The note said it protests the reference to those dash lines as Chinas national boundaries.

Chinas 10-dash line map

aim of the current project is to help in participatory village boundary setting and mapping, creation of sub-district level land-use inventories and integration of land and other natural resource information, capacity build-ing for spatial planning and resource management at the provincial and district government level enhance-ment of district spatial plans.

InDIA

GPs nds Indo-nepal border is 117 km longer

Precise measurement using GPS has revealed that the Indo-Nepal border is 117 km longer than previ-ously believed. The latest survey has

estimated the Indo-Nepal border was closer to 1,868 km, 117 km more than the official length of 1,751 km. An official emphasised it was technol-ogy and not a change in the location of border pillars that stretched the Indo-Nepal borders. When you use modern technology, precision cer-tainly improves. There is no change in the borders, Major General Ramesh Chandra Padhi, Additional Surveyor General of India said.

sInGAPoRe

Tapping billion-dollar space industry with small satellites

Singapore is planning to foray into the $300 billion-a-year space industry.


Asia news

The push announced earlier this year, will initially focus on small satellites to meet growing demand for top-speed Internet connections as well as high-resolution images commonly used in surveillance, forestry and energy exploration. Singapore Technologies Electronics, a unit of defence con-glomerate Singapore Technologies Engineering, has already set up a unit to build and operate observation satel-lites with help from two local state-funded universities.

Government introduces geospatial scholarship

The Singapore government has introduced the Singapore Geospatial Scholarship, the first of its kind in the island nation. The scholarship will be jointly conferred by several public agencies, and is expected to encourage geospatial professionals. The move aims to meet the increasing demand for geospatial professionals in the industry.

MAlAysIA

Transforming knowledge into sustainable practice

The 8th International Symposium on Digital Earth held recently in Sarawak, Malaysia saw participation from the members of International Society of Digital Earth and various institu-tions of higher learning in Asia. John Richards, President of International Society of Digital Earth, appealed for interaction between crowdsourcing and digital data for knowledge devel-opment. Since social media and the Internet provide immediate access of data and information, he stressed that the involvement of masses in the Digi-tal Earth movement is very significant. Renowned speakers like Alessandro Annoni from Joint Research Centre, Italy; Barbara Ryan of Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Switzerland; Guo Huadong from Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; and many others were also present at four-day conference

cum exhibition. The conference was held for the first time in South East Asia.

uAe

Bayanat to develop water quality monitoring tool

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, in collaboration with Bayanat, will develop high-tech water quality monitoring tools to support desalination plants and utilities in the Gulf. The Ocean Color Research Group at the Earth Observation and Hydro-Climatology Lab at Masdar Institute is leading this project with Bayanat.The project also covers water turbidity mapping, red-tide detection monitoring and forecasting, oil spills detection and monitoring, in-house atmospheric correction algorithm adapted to the regional climate, impact assessment of the discharge of desalination plants on the coastal ecosystem of the UAE.


Africa news

uGAnDA

GPs to monitor rail cargo movement

Rift Valley Railways (RVR), the opera-tor of the Kenya-Uganda railway, has launched a KSh 800 million (over $9.3 million) technology upgrade that includes a GPS-based software that centrally controls the movement of trains and cargo along the railway line. The automated train warrant software allows online visualisation from an operations control centre in Nairobi of the precise location of trains along the railway. The introduction of satel-lite navigation technology to this core component of our operations means we will eliminate a lot of waiting time at stations by giving priority track ac-

Value proposition of g-tech highlighted at Africa Geospatial Forum 2013

Geospatial professionals from across the African continent congregated at Cape Town for the two-day Africa Geospatial Forum 2013. Based on the theme, Transforming geospatial knowledge into action, the event saw experts discussing and deliberating upon the usage of geospatial technologies in various verticals across Africa. Addressing the gathering, Aida Opoku Mensah, Special Adviser, Post 2015 Development Agenda, UN Economic Commission for Africa, described the mission and goals of the Agenda and also highlighted the tremendous role that geospatial technologies are playing in ensuring the effective implementation of these goals. Jim Steiner, Vice President, Product Management, Oracle Server Technologies, pointed out that the difference between geospatial and information technologies is fast diminishing. He also explained how geospatial technologies can play a key role in the integration of various big data sources using geocoding, geographic hierarchies and geospatial analysis for query and aggregation. Giving the industry address, Juergen Dold, President, Hexagon Geosystems, said the world needed knowledge and not just data and hence there was a need to move from traditional GIS to dynamic GIS.

souTH AFRIcA

cess to trains carrying cargo and also allow us to handle larger fleets, said Darlan De David, RVR group CEO.

FAo mapping techniques to ll gaps in forest data

The Food and Agriculture Organi-zation (FAO) has introduced new mapping technologies in Uganda to help generate better forestry statistics and land cover maps. Forests and forest products are important to the livelihoods of many communities in Uganda. The new tools and informa-tion will help the government monitor national forest resources and make informed decisions regarding long-term forestry and investment policies, as well as avoid unintended forest conversion and degradation.

MAlAwI

Airborne survey to explore mining potential

The Malawi Ministry of Mining will conduct an airborne geophysical survey with the aim of highlighting the mineral potential that sev-eral areas in the country possess as a part of the Mining Growth and Governance Support Project. Min-ister of mining John Bande said, In addition to the airborne geospatial exploration, geological mapping and geochemical exploration covering the whole country have been lined up. After all these activities, the whole country will be mapped and we will know the full mineral potential of the country.

From left: Juergen Dold, President, Hexagon Geosystems; Pali Cahola, Statistician General, Statistics South Africa; Dr Derek Clarke, Chief Director, NGI DRDLR, South Africa at the inaugural of the Forum


Australia/Oceania news

AusTRAlIA

IGARss focus on building sustainable earth through Rs

Scientists, engineers and educators from all over the world gathered at the 33rd International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) in Melbourne. Based on the theme, Building a sustainable Earth through remote sensing, the event drew more than 1,300 delegates from across 66 countries to identify research trends and share updates on applied pro-grammes. Mike Goodchild, Professor of Geography at the University of Cali-fornia, talked about actively involving and trusting citizen-science. Crowd-sourcing can add significant value to remote sensing products, he said. An

example of this is GeoWiki, a crowd-sourced mapping tool for validating remote sensing data. The researchers behind the tool found non-experts were as good as experts when identify-ing human impact.

Personal banking back on the map in Australia

A new mapping tool is set to revive and reshape personalised banking by giving financial institutions the foresight to accurately anticipate their customers needs. The new innovation, launched by leading digital mapping specialist MapData Services (MDS), al-lows banks to create a mega customer profile which contains standard client data, as well as insight into the type of home best suited to them; the time

it takes them to commute to work or even how likely they are to be affected by flood or fire.

new zeAlAnD

open mapping information for developers

Mapping information showing the locations of publicly accessible land across the country has been released by the New Zealand Walking Access Commission to enable researchers, government agencies and app devel-opers embark on their own mapping projects. The mapping information released includes locations of public reserves, conservation land, crown land, legal roads, marginal strips and esplanade strips.

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Main sponsor Hosts Lead collaborators Collaborators Endorser

AfricaGIS 2013 / GSDI World Conference (GSDI14)4-8 November 2013 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

AfricaGIS is the largest regularly occurring GIS conference in Africa with participants from the entirety of the continent. The GSDI World Conference has built a reputation for excellence in content and moves across the globe to offer geospatial specialists in all parts of the world opportunities to better exchange ideas and learn from global peers in building spatial data infrastructure. The joint AfricaGIS 2013 and GSDI World Conference (GSDI 14) theme is Spatial Enablement in Support of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction.More information at: http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiconf/gsdi14


Product Watch

Trimble Tablet PC for surveyingTrimble has unveiled its next generation Trimble Tablet PC for surveying. The Trimble Tablet is a lightweight, rugged and highly mobile field computer that can operate with Trimbles suite of receivers and total stations to provide a complete surveying solution. With Trimble Access field software onboard, it streamlines the flow of information between the field and office while also allowing surveyors to run the applications they need to perform office work directly from the field.

Key features 7-inchcapacitivetouchdualtechnologydisplaysystemdelivers

enhanced, sunlight readability Windows7Operatingsystembringstheofficetothefield Built-in5MPcameraforunprecedentedimagedocumentation Integratedcommunicationtechnologyprovidesincreased

connectivity OptimisedforTrimbleAccessfieldsoftwareworkflowsupport IntegratedGPSprovidesgeo-tagphotographfunctionality

iOne n-Oblique sensor for 3D marketVisualIntelligencehasreleasedanewgeoimagingsolutionfortherapidlygrowingobliqueand3Dsensingmarket.TheiOnen-Obliqueisamultipurpose,high-performancesensorthatallowscompaniesofallsizesto take advantage of new business opportunities related to oblique and 3D imagery.

Key features MultipurposereconfigurabletoaniOneStereolargeareacollection

system with industrys only engineering accuracy of .6 b/h Canbeflownwithorwithoutagyrostabilisingmountandisdesigned

tointegratewithFlightManagementprocess Enablesfullyautomatedworkflowforvirtualframegenerationreadily

ingestiblebyphotogrammetricsuitessuchasDat/EM Captures3Dcitieswith100%obliquecoverage Abletocapture2.0inchresolutionatnadirand2.5inchresolutionon

theobliquecamerasatanaltitudeof2,500feet


Product Watch

3D OView for 3D GIS platform

PilotGaeaTechnologieshasreleased3DOViewplatformwhich provides quick landscape display with virtual reality scenes, shows virtual world in line with some analysis.

Key features DisplayMegaGeoData:Thecomputerprocessof3D

OViewcanreachTBlevelofimagesandelevationdataorevenmore.Besides,italsocanreadhuge3Dlaserscanningdigitalarchiveofhigh-densitypointclouds

RealisticeffectforNaturalLandscapes:Itusesanumber of advanced virtual reality technologies in order to provide better visual experiences such as lighting changes, diverse clouds and fogs, reflection and refraction on water surface, etc

DisplayUndergroundGeoData:ItcansneakintothesubsurfacetodisplayGeoDatasuchaswaterpipelines,power lines, gas pipelines etc.

VIC100 Series antenna for timing and synchronisationTheVIC100SeriesantennabyPanasonicisanactiveL1GPSantennadesignedfortiming and synchronisation. Itoffersimmunitytonoiseand interference, and secure performance by attenuating noise and interference neartheGPSL1frequencythroughtriple-filteringdesign.

TheVIC100Seriesishousedin a waterproof enclosure designed for excellent performance under severe environmental conditions. Itsshapepreventsaccumulation of snow and ice, eliminating problems with bird perching and enhanced immunity to lightning surge.

Phoenix AL-2 for cost-effective micro-mappingPhoenixAerialSystemshasdemonstratedtheworldssmallestandlightestUAVLiDAR(LightDetectionandRanging)platform.Weighinglessthan10kg,thenewLiDARplatform,calledthePhoenixAL-2,combinesthelatestUAV,LiDARandGNSStechnologyintoacost-effective,accurateandsafemicro-mappingsolution.

Key features IthasVelodyneHDL-32Esensor,whichfeaturesupto32lasersand

generates700,000distancepointspersecond TheHDL-32Erotates360degreeupto20timespersecondandprovides

measurementandintensityinformationoverarangeof1metreto100metres

Itdeliversareal-time,highdefinition3Dpointcloudforspeedymappingof difficult to reach areas without the expense of hiring a commercial plane

Corner Office | Bert Turner


It has been almost seven months since the combination with GeoEye closed. How is the combined entity placed in terms of capabilities it has to serve the US market?We are incredibly pleased with our progress in the last seven months and are actually ahead of our planned schedule. The integration is complex and involves enormous amount of human capital and investment to make the combination successful. What is particularly exciting about the combi-nation is the fact that many of our legacy capabilities are complementary rather than overlapping.

We think about our business in three ways. One is data or imagery. Second is information adding value to the core imagery layer. And the third is insight, where we take the data and information and add some form of human intelli-gence on top of it to conduct analysis and derive an answer. The capabilities of the combined company have significantly enhanced all the three areas of our business.

DigitalGlobe has registered impressive growth in terms of Internet-based geospatial services. Could you elaborate?We deal with big data, which is often difficult to manage and make available to the end users. When we talk about Inter-net-based services, it is often centred on cloud platforms, which allows easier access of big data. We have partnerships with most of the major global location-based service provid-ers, which enable us to deliver our imagery and capabilities to the end users and consumers in a scalable fashion.

For the past seven months, DigitalGlobe has been pro-

We want to be partners, not vendors to our customersSpeaking for the first time after the DigitalGlobe-GeoEye merger, Bert Turner, Senior Vice President, Sales, DigitalGlobe, explains how the combined company has benefitted in terms of upgrading its processes, expertise and technology


actively interacting with a broad set of end users. We have started to better understand end-user workflows by discovering what users do a minute before and a minute after they analyse our imagery. We also understand workflows of various personas within our targeted industries.

In the days of increasing accura-cies, reducing turnaround times and increasing bandwidths, what can a user expect from DigitalGlobe?The integration of GeoEye has been intense over the last seven months. During this time, we have significantly upgraded our expertise, processes and technology. This investment will allow us to deliver incremental value to our customers.

As stated in our annual report, we experienced incredible growth in 2012. In reference to our partnership with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) we are laser focused on fulfilling our commitments as part of EnhancedView. There is no doubt that we see opportunities to improve how we deliver on the contract as well as how we expand our relationship with the NGA. Going beyond the US markets, which are the regions where you see business potential?

Over the past few years, we have seen growth in the broader geospatial market. Countries and regions such as Russia, Latin America, Africa and India are where we are seeing the greatest potential. We are especially excited about India and believe the timing is right for exponential growth in this country.

In many of these markets, Digital-Globe is going through partners or distributors. What kind of business models will you follow in nurturing such markets?We are very comfortable with how we are going into these markets now and we are leveraging our global ecosys-tem, which involves partners and resellers. We are going to partner with companies that understand the vision of being an information company ver-sus a data or imagery provider. Part of this approach, is to invest more aggres-sively with certain partners that can help propel us into being the indis-

The integration of GeoEye has been intense over the last six months. During this time, we have

significantly upgraded our expertise, processes and technology. This investment will allow us to

deliver incremental value to our customers

DigitalGlobe satellite image of an outpost with fortification and towed artillery near Kharassana, South Kordofan, Sudan in 2011. The image was part of the Satellite Sentinel Project report Evidence of SAF Deployment in South Kordofan, produced by the DigitalGlobe-Harvard Humanitarian Initiative collaboration

Courtesy: Enough Project (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Corner Office | Bert Turner


pensible source of information about our changing planet.

We are a company that believes in focus. This year we are focusing heav-ily on the integration and realisation of synergies. We also have a focus on select markets and applications that will allow us to execute on our vision of the indis-pensable source of information about our changing planet.

As a leader in the commercial remote sensing industry, what kind of responsi-bilities is DigitalGlobe taking to nurture the industry?We take great pride in being a pioneer in this industry as well as a thought leader. Our purpose, vision and values are taken very seriously by our entire DigitalGlobe team and we will continue to fulfill our purpose to save lives, resources and time.

One of the surprise acquisitions in the recent past by DigitalGlobe is Tomnod.

What was the rationale behind the Tom-nod acquisition?Tomnod was an important acquisition for us. Tomnod facilitates the crowd to do rapid, large-scale analysis of satellite imagery, particularly in cases of natural and man-made disasters. As an example, using the Tomnod capabilities, Digital-Globe was able to help quickly assess the detailed damage of the recent tornado in Oklahoma and turn that information into actionable insight.

DigitalGlobes forthcoming launch is WorldView-3. What can we expect from this satellite in terms of the product? WorldView-3 will be a game changer in the industry with a panchromatic resolution of 31-cm, short-wave infrared capabilities. The unique capabilities of WorldView-3 will create new applica-tions across a variety of industries, giving our customers new insight to complex problems.

WorldView-3 will be a game changer with 31 cm resolution, shortwave infrared capabilities and the most spectral diversity available in the world. This will create new applications across industries, giving us new insights to complex problems

A DigitalGlobe imagery of Hurricane Sandy damage in Seaside Heights in 2012


Transforming The World

Cover Story

...The biggest concern doubts about whether the De-fense Department would allow the industry regular access to the positioning system signals vanished in early April, when the Clinton Administration committed the Govern-ment to free public access... How can one invest in this mar-ket? The possibilities are as simple as the Global Position-ing System is complex. Only one publicly traded company focuses solely on producing the equipment: Trimble Navi-gation Ltd... From many angles, Trimble looks like a good investment. It is the industrys worldwide leader, with 20 percent of the market. With sales in more than 60 countries, the company gets about half its revenues from overseas...Trimble also controls about 60 percent of the most profita-ble part of the market, surveying and mapping equipment.

New York Times, April 28, 1996

TRIMBLE

Steven W. Berglund,President and Chief Executive Officer


The possibilities of investing in a trusted technology company are as simple today as they were in 1996 as Trimble continues to be the leader in not just GPS but in the entire positioning market, with sales in 141 countries and over 1,000 patents. With an advanced and broadest positioning solutions portfolio in the industry, Trimble has revolutionised multiple industries construction and engineering, agricul-ture, surveying, fleet and field service management to name a few by providing products and solutions that significantly decrease costs and enhance the quality, accuracy and efficien-cy of projects, leading the industry by its own example.

The rise of a GPS companyIn 1978, when Charlie Trimble, and two of his associates from Hewlett-Packard, founded Trimble the same year the US government launched the first NAVSTAR GPS satellite little did he envision that the company would one day transform the way the world works! A practical visionary that he was, Charlie Trimble recognised early on the potential of space-based GPS technology in revolutionising a wide range of commercial

and business applications even as GPS was being developed exclusively for military purposes at that time. From that point, he set himself to fully develop the immature GPS technology purchased from Hewlett-Packard.

In 1984, Trimble launched the first GPS-based geodectic-survey product. The next two years were explosive growth years, with Trimble significantly increasing its product base and continuing to lead the development of military, com-mercial, and consumer applications using GPS. During this period Trimble received several patents for developments in GPS technology and soon there was a point when it held more patents that the US government. The company soon added the capabilities of differential GPS (DGPS) technolo-gies, survey and mapping software to its product line through acquisitions. By 1992, Trimble had developed RTK technology to enable continual GPS updating while on the move. This enabled surveyors to perform topographic mapping, stakeout, GIS data acquisition, and as-built surveys in real-time.

Earlier in 1990, in a $30-million offering, Trimble became the first GPS company to go public. The Operation Desert

Transforming The World

Trimble Rockies campus in Westminster, Colorado, USA


Cover Story | Trimble

Storm (August 1990-February 1991) brought the company into limelight as it received admirable reviews from the US military for the portable standard positioning service receivers it provid-ed to the troops. This prompted several mainstream companies like Motorola and Honeywell to enter the GPS market.

However, the direction, focus and business philosophy of the company started changing after Steve Berglund, previ-ously of Spectra Precision Group, took over as President and CEO in 1999. Trimble, which defined itself as a GPS company thus far, started realising the definition was actually acting as a constraint. Internally, the transformation has been to move away from defining ourselves in terms of the technology and re-defining ourselves in terms of our customer/market. We started focusing on horizontal construction, vertical buildings, agriculture, and transportation & logistics, pursued a much wider range of technologies to cater to these markets and over a period of time, we have become agnostic relative to the technology, recollects Steve Berglund.

Trimble, thy name is transformationWith a mission to support the chosen markets, Trimble, since 1999, has started building its solutions portfolio, either by de-veloping in-house or by acquiring the necessary technologies. The next big move came with the $280 million-acquisition of Berglunds previous employer, Spectra Precision Group in 2000, adding laser and other optical devices complementary to Trim-bles GPS solutions for the construction, surveying and agricul-tural markets. This was soon followed by Tripod Data Systems (TDS), a developer of data collection software and hardware. Both these acquisitions were part of Trimbles strategic mission to define and transform the way position-centric information is used. A series of joint ventures followed, first with Caterpillar to develop machine control products and then with Nikon to broaden its survey and construction portfolio and provide ac-cess to emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, Trimble continued to augment its business by acquiring companies that established entry points to emerging markets, filled product line gaps, or added new applications to its solutions portfolio. The acquisitions of Ap-planix, INPHO, Callidus, Definiens Earth Sciences Business, ThingMagic, OMNISTAR, Gatewing, SketchUp etc expanded Trimbles core technology portfolio tremendously even as it simultaneously built its capacities to provide end-to-end solu-tions in the vertical markets.

Considering the number of acquisitions Trimble has done (85 and counting) in just over a decade, one may fleetingly conclude that the companys strategy is driven by inorganic growth. Berglund is quick to deny that as he insists that Trim-bles growth has been definitely and overwhelmingly organic.

Building on the construction boom

In the construction segment, the mainstay of its business, Trimbles solutions are used across the entire project lifecycle to improve productivity, re-duce waste and re-work, and enable decision making through better situational awareness, data flow and project collaboration. Trimbles suite of integrated products and technologies in this area includes software for optimised route selection and design, systems to automatically guide and control construc-tion equipment, systems to monitor, track and man-age assets, equipment and workers, and software to facilitate the sharing and communication of data in real time. Together, these solutions can transform how work is done within the civil engineering indus-try. Trimble has complete software and hardware tools, which are sold as solutions or as a complete service that goes through the entire workflow. Our solutions also have a worldwide view, they can build a road, be it from Delhi to Chennai, Frankfurt to Mu-nich, Washington DC to Pittsburgh or Paris to Nice, emphasises Bryn Fosburgh, Vice President.

Trimbles portfolio of products for the commercial, industrial and residential building industry spans the entire Design-Build-Operate life cycle. The suite of technologies and solutions used in the building industry include software for 3D conceptual design and modelling, BIM software, advanced integrated site layout and measurement systems, applications for sub-contractors and traders such as MEP and HVAC, together with a suite of software applica-tions for construction project management, project coordination/collaboration, project cost estimation and for capital programme and facility manage-ment. These improve productivity, data sharing and collaboration across teams and help keep projects within cost targets and time schedules.

The demands of the AEC industry is encouraging the integration of BIM and geospatial. However, traditionally BIM has been model-centric and not GIS-centric. To cater to this need of integration, Trimble acquired SketchUp to merge the modelling aspects with GIS attributes. One of the key ideas behind the SketchUp acquisition was to help the merger of geo-metric model with GIS. It gives a more real-time view of what the assets look like, says Fosburgh.


The acquisitions have generally been small in size with the inten-tion of bringing technology or product into the company. There have been only a couple of acquisitions that brought $50 million revenue, such as Tekla in 2011, and @Road in 2007. Over the last 14 years (1999 as a reference point), 80% growth has been organic and 20% through acquisitions, Berglund says and adds that acquisitions have actually supported Trimbles strategy.

We ask ourselves what technology would benefit the users, and if we do not have that, we invent it, buy it or co-develop it. But essential-ly, our goal is to provide customers with technology that adds value to their businesses, he emphasises. In that sense, there has been trans-formation within the company in terms of fundamental orientation and also in terms of our ambition to provide solutions for the entire work processes, potentially at the enterprise level, he adds.

Surprisingly, Trimbles experience with about 85 acquisitions has been quite positive. There have been no disasters, we did not have any intermittent write-offs. So, in general against the standards that exist, we have done very well, assures Berglund. In categories such as the model-oriented world, the acquisitions Trimble made, includ-ing Tekla, Plancal, SketchUp and Vico Software, have come together very well and users have already started seeing the benefits. However, it might take another two years to fully realise the synergistic pos-sibilities of these companies. In transportation and logistics as well, Trimble created a unique set of capabilities that no one else has with the technologies it has developed internally and the ones it acquired.

This radical transformation is visible in Trimbles financials as well. Since 1999, when Berglund took over the reins, Trimbles revenues have grown from approximately $270 million to touch a whopping $2.04 billion in 2012. During this time, the companys mix of busi-nesses has progressively moved away from a box product mental-ity towards a portfolio of products and solutions that contribute significantly to the ROI of specific vertical industry users by increasing productivity, lowering operational costs, improving quality, enhanc-

Reaping with farm solutions

A griculture, which started as an extension of mapping and GIS business 15 years ago, is a full-fledged franchise for Trimble today. What looked like a start-up within the company to map farm sites, the division added machine guid-ance, precise planting and precise fertilising capa-bilities, yield monitoring, water management, infor-mation management through the Connected Farm concept and integrating it with financial information from Farmworks. Its precision agriculture solutions can assist farmers through every step of their farm-ing process beginning with land preparation and throughout the planting, nutrient and pest manage-ment, and harvesting phases of a crop cycle. We aim to provide the farmer with the best possible outcome for himself, his family, his investors, and indirectly for the customers and the environment. The idea is to provide analysis, optimise farming practices, increase productivity and make the best use of available resources, says Mark Harrington, Vice President.

However, the adoption of these technol-ogies is saturating in traditional markets such as North America, Australia, Brazil and parts of Western Europe requiring rein-vention of solutions, says Harrington. In non-traditional and new markets, Trimble is confident of its unique position in terms of its technol-ogy offerings and is figuring out ways to deploy the technologies in a manner that is better suited for the local conditions.

Total revenue in 2012: $2.040 billionBillion Dollar Pie

Revenue by region (in %)Revenue break-up (in %) Revenue by segment (in %)

USAProduct Engineering & Construction

EuropeSubscription

Field Solutions

Asia Pacific

Other regionsServices

Advanced DevicesMobile Solutions

15

16 47

22

17

24

53

6

77

13

10


Cover Story | Trimble

The Intel of surveying

Trimble offers a slew of solutions for surveyors. So its not a surprise when lesser cousins often push their brands saying they have Trimble Inside!There are many functions of Trimble solutions to streamline workflow, replacing less productive conventional methods of surveying, mapping, 2D or 3D modelling, measurement, reporting and analysis. Trimbles suite of solutions include field-based data collection systems and field software, real-time communications systems and back-office software for data processing, modelling, reporting and analysis. Field-based technologies are used in handheld, land, mobile and airborne applications and incorporate technologies such as mobile application software, high precision GNSS, robotic

measurement systems, inertial positioning, 3D laser scanning, digital imaging, optical or laser measurement, and UAVs.

Office-based products include software for planning, data processing and editing, quality control, 3D modelling, data analysis, project reporting and data export. We position Trimble as a company that can provide complete solutions to customers, tighter integration with other sensor technologies around total stations, scanning, photogrammetry using our soft-ware capabilities, says Chris Gibson, Vice President.

ing safety and compliance and reducing environmental impact.

Geospatial the underpinning enabler The ability to collect position/location in-formation has been at the core of Trimbles capabilities for many years. Today, in terms of geospatial, Trimble provides the capability to collect data around the world in 3D mode, going beyond the traditional methods of using optical instruments, migrating to RTK to GNSS instruments etc. It also focuses on scanning, photogrammetry, data analysis etc. Again, Trimble keeps the users needs in the forefront while innovating. Citing an example, Chris Gibson, Vice President says, Geospatial is migrating from data acquisition and data processing into modelling and analytics. Once data is collected and processed, for example, SketchUp can be used to generate 3D models for customers. We are also looking at other capabilities, analytics that can be layered over the data based on the customers needs.

Also, from a corporate perspective, Trim-ble sees geospatial more as a supporting tech-nology used across the verticals. Geospatial is not necessary an industry but an enabling capability applicable to most industries. Organisations use geospatial data to help im-prove their businesses and workflows. There are multiple industries where geospatial data is becoming more core to business enterprise

to make informed decisions, reasons Gibson. In fact, geospatial is adding lot of value to

Trimbles core franchise verticals construc-tion and building, agriculture, transportation and logistics. We are trying to provide solu-tions to help the verticals become more profit-able and at the same time help them integrate into the industry workflow they are focussing on, explains Gibson. Berglund adds: We are focussing on the applications and not pursu-ing geospatial technology as an end in itself. In the last 5-6 years, we have used geospatial as a supporting tool for vertical market develop-ment but not as a market in itself.

Apart from the major franchise verticals which are the growth engines for the com-pany, Trimble is also focusing on some of the emerging businesses like water utilities, electrical utilities, forestry, mining, rail, envi-ronmental and land administration. Gibson believes there are additional market opportu-nities in all these industries and sees Trimble expanding into these areas.

Business strategy Trimble designs, develops and markets its own products. A true multinational, the California-headquartered Trimble has a vast global opera-tion, including major development, manufac-turing or logistics centres in the United States, Sweden, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands,

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

2008

2009

2010

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Growing & How!

Revenue in billion $


Riding on smart transportation

To help the commercial vehicle industry achieve greater overall fleet performance and to smartly manage the logistics, Trimble provides innovative and integrated solutions, stitching together the different aspects of transportation and logistics workflow enterprise, mobile and analytics. The transportation and logistics industry is struggling to find the connection between these three aspects. We are fundamentally acquiring solutions to support each of these aspects and con-necting all the pieces together to make a seamless solution for smart transporta-tion and logistics management, says Jim Veneziano, Vice President.

On the enterprise side, Trimbles trans-portation software platform serves as a hub from which the core operations like routing, mileage and mapping are man-aged, data is stored and analysed, and mission-critical business processes are automated. In addition, its service can be directly integrated into the customers IT infrastructure, giving them improved control of their information. On the mobile side, Trimble provides fleets with software and hardware solutions that help manage regulatory compliance, fuel costs, driver safety, and customer visibility. On the ana-lytics side, Trimbles software helps fleets

make better, more predictive decisions, leading to overall profitability.

Each of these solutions give a return. When we can connect all the three, we get even higher value. Today very few enterprises (just about 30%) are actu-ally connecting these sectors together, and so there is a huge opportunity, says Veneziano.

China, and India. The company sells products through distribution partners, representatives, joint ventures, and other channels throughout the world, in more than 100 countries. These channels are supported by its own offices in 34 countries around the world. The channels are supplemented by relationships that create additional channel breadth including the JVs with Caterpillar, Nikon and Hilti, partnerships with companies like Bentley, direct strategic account relation-ships, as well as private branding arrangements with other companies.

These arrangements have facilitated a much larger influence of the com-pany than its revenues support. Acknowledging this Berglund says, Trimbles significant advantage in the market place is the quality of its distribution. Trimble distributors/ dealers, or third party channels, are the first to make the concept sale. When market conditions got difficult, like in 2009 and early 2010, these channels used creative mechanisms that got us through difficult days very successfully. He goes on to add that the competency of its distribution channels will be the real determinant of Trimbles success in the next 10 years, apart from its technology and products.

Another key business strategy Trimble has adopted is its focus on under-served markets that offer a potential for revenue growth, profitability and mar-ket leadership. Trimble promises to continue focus on expansion initiatives in Africa, China, India, the Middle-East, Russia, South America and South East Asia. Also, Trimble maintains its competitive edge in technology and products through investing heavily into research and development. It aims to invest about 12% of its turnover into developing new product technology.

Trimble has posted double-digit growth year after year, generating sus-tained results on both top and bottom lines. In fiscal 2012, the total revenue increased 24%, of which 15% was organic and 9% inorganic. Trimble attributes its sustained performance to the dynamic technology environment and its ability to integrate its technology capabilities to extend solutions that provide significant value to both traditional and emerging users. In effect, Trimble has grown by embracing the dual beliefs that technology has the potential to trans-form entire industries and that it can be central to the change.

A thousand small steps At the core of Trimbles philosophy are two aspects that appear to be inconsist-ent with each other. While on the one hand, the company has been thinking big and has been intellectually ambitious, on the other, the execution has been quite humble. As a company, we have pursued an approach to think big, not necessarily talk much, and execute through a thousand small steps. It has been persistent, patient and has always been focussed on continued improvement. Big and small represent the core philosophy of the company, says Berglund.

The market definition Trimble is pursuing at this time offers it a signifi-cantly larger addressable market than it has historically engaged with. Going further, Trimble is eying several markets that it is confident would soon be in its existing market definition or adjacent to it. The continual focus on trends, and the ability to transform itself to adapt to the changing market dynamics much ahead of its competitors, has ensured that it remains a market leader, leading the change it wants to see in the industry.

Bhanu Rekha, Executive Editor, [email protected]


Big Story | Agriculture

The Geo-Greenrevolution

Arobotic device on the ground, UAVs in action, remotely controlled high-tech machines, and a room full of high-ly trained people to keep an eye on all the activities...Its not a war-room scene or a post-disaster situation in any

part of the world. This could very well be the future of agricul-ture. As the threats of climate change, erosion of land and water resources, and an emerging food crisis loom large, traditional practices of farming are fast changing as scientists are rigor-ously experimenting with new ideas to revolutionise mankinds age-old vocation even in developing/underdeveloped nations in a view to feed the ever-increasing global population.

If the idea of experimentation with traditional farming methods strives to improve socio-economic condition, it is also needed to meet the demand of 70% more food by 2050 (a FAO projection in 2005-06). World population is expected to grow by over a third, or 2.3 billion, between 2005 and 2050. Moreover,

a revised version of the FAO report in 2012 observed that the world has made significant progress in raising per capita food consumption, which increased from an average of 2,370 kcal per person per day to 2,770 kcal per person per day in the last three and a half decades. Simply put, this means more food intake per head. However, our already overburdened planet has apparent-ly no more arable land or fresh water to spare. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2013 warns that growth rate in agricultural production is likely to slow in the medium term with limited slower area expansion and slower productivity growth.

In such a situation, even as scientists look to experimenting with farming in the sub-zero environs of Antarctica or explor-ing the depths of the oceans, boosting crop yields on existing farmlands by embracing modern technologies like GIS, remote sensing and GNSS to meet the rising demands is but a natural and simpler solution. The reason is not difficult to guess. Ac-

From determining land-use and crop patterns to optimising resources, automated farming to use of UAVs, technological advances could change the face of agriculture, which is under tremendous pressure given the growing population, urbanisation and climate change


cording to a report by the Institute of Electrical and Electron-ics Engineers, modern technology enabled farmers in North America to get the highest outputs in the world. There, a farm worker produces about $90,000 of crops and livestock per year, compared to the global average of about $2,000. A recent sur-vey of soybean growers conducted by US-based PrecisionAg In-stitute in cooperation with the American Soybean Association (ASA) reported an average savings of about 15% with precision farming on crop inputs such as seed, fertiliser and chemicals.

It is not without a reason that Raymond OConnor, Presi-dent, Topcon Positioning Systems, counts agriculture as the one of two largest manufacturing industries in the world, representing between $8 to 10 trillion a year, but as the least automated and having the biggest potential for embracing geospatial technologies. In 2000, the agriculture industrys use of precision measurement equipment was probably less than $100 million; in 2012, it was more than $1 billion. Trimble, the no. 1 player in this area, has carved out a separate vertical for agriculture as its agri business crossed a hundred million dollars from less than $10-million in 1999. Realising the utility and potential of spatial information, John Deere, the US-based agriculture machinery giant, has set up a complete geospatial division as also an automated crop reporting service.

Driving factors of agricultureThe food crises of 2008, 2010, and 2012 as well as the continu-ous volatility in commodity prices underscore the vulnerability of the global food system. Now, more than ever, the world needs to increase investment in agriculture, which is two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the very poor compared to other sectors, according to the World Bank. The FAO estimates that private sector investment in agriculture alone must rise nearly 50% (from $142 billion a year to $209 billion a year) to meet the current requirements. Like in other businesses, population growth and urbanisation are the prima-ry driving factors for agriculture too. Add climate change and degrading soil quality, and we have a lethal cocktail in hand.Population growth: According to a FAO projection, feeding the global population of 9.1 billion in 2050 would require raising food production by around 70% between 2005-07 and 2050. Annual cereal production, for instance, would have to grow by almost 1 billion tonne while meat production has to rise by over 200 million tonne to a total of 470 million tonne in 2050. This leads to the need for improved resource management, which

would increase crop yields, preventing land degradation and providing sustainable livelihoods for millions of rural poor. Urbanisation: The world population is expected to be 69% urban by 2050, according to a UN estimate. Negative impacts of urbanisation on food and nutrition security without plan-ning for both urban and rural food and agriculture systems include reduced land for agriculture, changing of food con-sumption habits with increased demand for processed foods, high literacy rate and subsequent lack of farm labour.

Urbanisation is also leading to problems of agricultural land management. In 1960, when the world population numbered only 3 billion, approximately 0.5 hectare of crop-land was available per capita, the minimum area considered essential for the production of a diverse, healthy, nutritious diet of plant and animal products. With more than 7 billion population to feed, the per capita available cropland today has come down to 0.23 hectare. Food losses: Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year, or approximately 1.3 billion tonne, gets lost or wasted, amounting to roughly $680 billion in industrialised countries and $310 billion in de-veloping nations, says a FAO report. In medium- and high-in-come countries, food is wasted and lost mainly at later stages in the supply chain, which is the result of lack of coordination between actors in the supply chain. Climatic conditions: Agriculture and climate change are interrelated. Increases in temperature and CO2 can be benefi-cial for some crops in some places. To realise these benefits, nutrient levels, soil moisture, water availability, and other conditions must also be met. Changes in the frequency and severity of droughts and floods too pose great challenges. Climate change: Optimisation of resources is essential to pursue sustainable production in agriculture and livestock to preserve the environment and, consequently, forests and biodiversity. High-yield agriculture with optimisation processes will help slow the pace of global warming by cutting the amount of biomass burned when forests or grasslands are cleared for farming, says Claudio Simo, President, Hexagon, South America & Asia Pacific.

Technological intervention in crop cycleThe Farmers Almanac has been replaced with geospatial analysis and predictive modelling and got a new name, Precision Agriculture. It is a farming concept that utilises the


whole gamut of geospatial technologies and information to determine field variability for ensuring optimal use of inputs and maximising outputs from a farm. Modern technologies like UAVs (embedded with innovative sensors), GIS, GNSS, remote sensing and associated technologies enable farmers to visualise their land, crops and management practices in unprecedented ways while empowering community plan-ners, economists and agronomists to research and devise practices towards sustainable food production. These tools are increasing productivity and return on investment and also driving the demand for tailored applications. Farm site evaluation: To evaluate the farm in its whole, it is necessary to draw a map indicating the farms topography, boundaries as well as soil and water resources. Site evaluation is important to ensure minimum cost and correct drainage and for this agricultural bodies use soil and terrain data, climate data for the given land type and climate zone, land type inven-tory and description of soil, depth and the presence or absence of structures that effect the infiltration of water. A typical example here is the Web Soil Survey, launched by the USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service in August 2005. Laser levelling: The field is levelled with a certain degree of slope using a guided laser beam. Unevenness of the soil sur-face has a significant impact on the germination, stand and yield of crops. On laser-levelled land, farmers save up to 30% of water, reduce weed problems, improve uniformity of crop maturity, reduce the irrigation time and effort required to manage crop, improve crop establishment and improve yield. The laser levelling technology is promoted in developing regions through a number of ADB-funded projects. Although the adoption of such smart technologies is still in its infancy amongst small private farms in Asia, they have seen a great demand among the growing number of custom applicators and contractors that serve these small farms, with the result that these technologies are finding their way into some of the smallest farms in the world, says Martinez.

Precision seeding: It involves placing of the exact number of seeds at precise depth and spacing. Some of the advantages of precision seeding include reduced seed costs, greater crop uniformity leading to uniform and high-quality produce, fewer harvests, and 20-50% increased yield. Crop monitoring: Geospatial technology facilitates real-time crop vegetation index monitoring via spectral analysis of high resolution satellite images for different fields and crops. The difference in vegetation index informs about single crop development disproportions that speak for the necessity of additional agriculture works on particular field zones. While satellite imagery has for years been used by various national governments for monitoring crops, the growing demand for such services has seen the proliferation of private service providers like Astrium-Geo, Cropio, eLeaf, GMV, Precision Agriculture, Skybox Imaging and Vega. Precision harvesting: GNSS-based harvesting technology can be used on vehicle guidance, which is a hands-free device attached with grain carts, and supports the entire operational hours of harvesting. In integration with modern communica-tion tools, GNSS enabled vehicle-to-vehicle information shar-ing of yield and moisture layers, wireless transfer of guidance lines and coverage maps between multiple, spotting vehicle locations throughout the field for efficient route management for harvesters and grain carts, and calculating how much field area has been harvested. Precision weather forecasting: According to the US De-partment of Agriculture (USDA), weather-related incidents cause 90% of all crop losses. To deal with weather issues and get the best price from the market, weather-modelling ser-vices use Big Data analytics technology. For instance, IBMs Deep Thunder gathers data from sensors placed throughout fields that measure temperature and moisture levels in soil and surrounding air. That information is combined with multispectral satellite or aerial images of fields. The system then combines the field data with a diversity of public data

Expansion of agricultural production is likely to slow in the

medium term with limited slower area

expansion and slower productivity growth

OECD-FAO Average annual growth rate in agriculture (%)

Thought for Food


2013-2022


from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration and the US Geological Survey, and private data from companies like Earth Networks. A supercomputer processes the combined data and generates a 4D mathematical model. Deep Thunder can deliver hyperlocalised weather conditions up to three days in advance.

From applications as simple as improved water manage-ment through the use of laser technology for land levelling or GNSS-powered auto steering to improve productivity of the equipment or variable rate application of seeds or fertilisers to improve crop health and yield, precision agriculture is realis-ing adoption across a wide range of farm sizes and economies of scale, observes Albert Zahalka, President, Topcon Precision Agriculture.

Geospatial technology can provide up to 30% RoI, de-pending on seasons and solutions, says Michael Martinez, Market Manager, Trimble Agriculture, as he points out Trim-bles GreenSeeker system enabled the University of Kentucky to calculate an RoI of $15 to $95 per acre on its plantation. Agrees Zahalka: Today equipment efficiency drives signifi-cant adoption of technologies such as auto steering, Variable Rate Application and automatic on/off for sprayer or planters. On the other hand, in developing countries like India, where farm sizes are typically small, precision agriculture is yet to take off since the machinery are not affordable. However,Michael Martinez, Market Manager, Trimble Agriculture, insists that it is a big misconception that precision farming cannot be used in small farms. Precision farming is being used across many small Asian rice fields, including India, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia.

Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes, gets lost or wasted.

OECD-FAO

G-powered initiatives in agricultureHistorically the application of geospatial information was reserved to concrete application areas, such as disaster reduc-tion. Specialised agencies like FAO made use of geospatial information, particularly earth observation (EO), for general surveys. The global land cover and forest resources assess-ments are some examples. However, for most initiatives, the broader context of the integration of geoinformation used for and generated by the project was left to countries.

More recently, multilateral agencies have adopted a more strategic approach towards geoinformation for mapping of their own activities and advice to partner countries. The map-ping for results initiative of the World Bank and the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure initiative are examples. Geoinformation also plays a role in developing agriculture insurance schemes supported by multilateral agencies. This also applies to monitoring of food security. The UN Office for Drugs and Crime has made use of EO for a long time to detect coca and poppy plantations.

Although not technically a multilateral agency, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has invested substantially in the GEONETCast programme, where free satellite imagery ob-tained through low-cost receiving stations is used for detection of agricultural pests, among others. Its GEO Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEO GLAM) initiative, part of the G20 Action Plan on Food Price Volatility, uses EO satellite data and validates this using in situ measurements. The aim is to deliver reliable, ac-curate, timely and sustained crop monitoring information, and yield and weather forecasts.World Bank: The Water Partnership Programme (WPP) of

Precision seeding

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the World Bank in its planning document for the next few years has identified remote sensing as a technology to be explored further. The World Bank is also experimenting with community participa-tory mapping. As part of its new policy, Access to Information, and building on the success of the Open Data Initiative, the World Bank developed the interactive Mapping for Results platform in October 2010 to visualise the locations of Bank-fi-nanced projects and international aid programmes (including food security and hunger eradication) at the sub-national level. In addition, with the entire Bank portfolio now geo-coded, the World Bank and other donors established an Open Aid Partner-ship to improve coordination and effectiveness of aid worldwide.FAO: FAO, of course, embraced e-agriculture long ago to bridge the rural digital divide. It has a successful programme on early detection and eradication of locust plagues that can devastate crops, based on low-cost satellite imagery. FAO has collaborated with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and SAGE to form a con-sortium called Agri-MAPS, which aims to provide a global spatial database based-on selected sub-national agricultural statistics.

FAO is establishing GIS guidelines and spatial standards and norms for internal use in order to rationalise, harmonise and advance its GIS and

cartographic activities and to support GeoNetwork, which has interactive maps, satellite imagery and related spatial databases to provide a GIS gateway to farmers.

Established in the wake of the world food crisis of the early 1970s, FAOs Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) remains the lead-ing source of information on food production and food security for every country in the world. In the past 25 years, the system has become a worldwide network which includes 115 governments, 61 NGOs and numerous trade, research and media organisations. WFP: The World Food Programme (WFP) uses geoinformation for vulnerability assessments, making use of local expertise and relatively low-cost handheld GPS-devices. Similarly, geoinforma-tion plays a key role in the national comprehensive food security vulnerability assessments that WFP carries out regularly. Asian Development Bank: ADB prominently uses geospatial technology for collecting food security information. Food security information includes estimating cultivated area, crop production of paddy, precipitation data, soil moisture, drought index, vegetation index and land cover/land use map. ADB sees remote sensing technology as a cost-effective and efficient tool as it enables periodic observation of a wide area with the ease of integration with maps,

By 1990, less than 40% of the population lived in cities, but as of 2010, more than half of all people live in

urban areas. By 2030, 6 out of

every 10 people will live in cites

and by 2050, this proportion

will increase to 7 out of 10

people. WHO


Remote sensing images showing agriculture p

Geospatial World September 2013

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