WESTMINSTER, Colo. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 22, 2019 — Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR^[1]) (TSX: MAXR^[2]), a trusted partner and innovator in Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure, today announced it has signed a joint statement of strategic intent and cooperation with the Australian Space Agency.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191022006034/en/^[3]

Under the statement, Maxar and Australian Space Agency will investigate collaboration in areas of mutual strategic interest related to Earth intelligence and space infrastructure capabilities, and space-related Australian education and training initiatives. These projects may include development of next-generation space robotics, ground stations focused on optimized servicing of large satellite constellations, optical and communications satellites, space-based maritime surveillance and artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that extract insights from Earth observation data at scale.

“Maxar is honored to support the Australian Space Agency as it seeks to expand the nation’s role in the international civil space community, and we look forward to contributing technology and expertise from our 65-year heritage in space to projects and programs that enable them to achieve this...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2019 — (PRNewswire) —  Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTN^[1]) Ground Based Detect and Avoid team received the Air Traffic Control Association's annual Team Award for outstanding achievement for its collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory, academic partners, and federal, state, and local government agencies to integrate drones safely into the National Airspace System.  

Contracted by the U.S. Air Force through the Department of Transportation's Volpe Center^[2], GBDAA SkyVision, the only mobile beyond visual line-of-sight system certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide drone operators with real-time aircraft display data, satisfying a key "see and avoid" requirement.

"The GBDAA SkyVision team overcame numerous technical challenges in establishing the Unmanned Aircraft Systems test site in Ohio earlier this year," said Matt Gilligan, vice president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "Our National Airspace System can now support the safe integration of drones as a result of their exemplary collaboration."

The system is now operational in Ohio at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport and will be used to test the safety and efficiency of small drone operations in the 200-square-mile drone test range....

New Moving Features Extension provides a JSON encoding as an alternative to XML or Simple CSV

22 October 2019: The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is seeking public comment on the new OGC Moving Features Encoding Extension - JSON candidate standard. Comments are due 21 November, 2019.

This candidate standard defines how to encode and share the various movements of geographic features by using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Such a ‘moving feature’ is one whose location changes over time. For example, a car, a pedestrian, an airplane, a ship, etc.

OGC Moving Features Encoding Extension - JSON provides an IETF GeoJSON^[1] encoding for OGC Moving Features as an alternative to XML Core^[2] or Simple CSV^[3]. A moving feature contains a temporal geometry, whose location continuously changes over time, as well as dynamic non-spatial attributes whose values vary with time. The JSON Encoding Extension supports, 0- (point trajectories), 1- (lines), 2- (polygons), and 3-dimensional (polyhedrons) objects with locations and/or properties that vary over time.

The ability to attribute time-varying properties to an object (rather than just varying its location or trajectory), has utility and value in many current application areas, including:...

SINGAPORE, Oct. 21, 2019 — (PRNewswire) — The Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference -- Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twin cloud services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced new additions and updates to its open modeling applications and open simulation applications to advance engineering digital twins throughout asset lifecycles. Bentley's open applications enable collaborative, iterative, and automated digital workflows spanning infrastructure professional disciplines. Now, with new digital twin cloud services, they extend business value and actionable insights throughout the construction and operations phases of an infrastructure asset.

"The broad acceptance of BIM has substantially benefited AEC professionals and projects over the last fifteen years, but now—with cloud services, reality modeling, and advanced analytics—we can advance BIM through digital twins," said Santanu Das, Bentley's senior vice president, design integration. "Until now, the use of BIM has been limited to static deliverables, which, after handing off to construction, quickly go out-of-date, losing the potential further value of the engineering data locked in BIM models. Now, with digital twins, we can open up the engineering data in a BIM model with its constituent digital components as...

Edmonton, AB, Oct. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  – A different kind of aircraft landed at Edmonton International Airport this past weekend as a highly specialized drone was used to conduct runway safety inspections as the airport continues to be a leader in the growing technology.

On Sunday, AERIUM Analytics, on behalf of EIA, flew a Microdrones mdLiDAR1000 to collect Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) and imagery data of EIA’s runways. The data collected will be used to more accurately predict when to conduct preventative maintenance on runways, taxiways and aircraft handling aprons, enhancing safety. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS or drone) operation was approved by Edmonton Airports in collaboration with Nav Canada and is part of the ongoing AERIUM RPAS operations at EIA, which is one of the only airports in Canada using this technology.

Microdrones has developed an end-to-end LiDAR solution combining a drone, a LiDAR payload, a fully integrated software workflow, and world class support to consistently provide quality deliverables.The mdLiDAR1000 is a fully integrated system for producing 3D point clouds optimized for land surveying, construction, oil & gas, and mining applications.

 “RPAS technology is advancing quickly and is more and more useful to EIA,” says Steve Maybee, EIA VP of Operations and Infrastructure.  “Thanks to the hard work of our Operations team...

New report from IDTechEx Research forecasts the global market for lidar in autonomous vehicles growing to $5.4 billion by 2030. Analysis of 100+ 3D lidar companies; automotive focus. Mechanical, MEMS, OPA, flash, liquid crystal and other solid-state lidar for ADAS, autonomous vehicles, industrial, smart cities, security and mapping.

BOSTON, Oct. 22, 2019 — (PRNewswire) — 3D lidar is an optical perception technology that enables machines to see the world, make decisions and navigate. At present, machines using lidar range from small service robots to large autonomous vehicles. Lidar technologies and markets are rapidly evolving, and IDTechEx is tracking 106 3D lidar players worldwide. Each player claims to offer a unique, next-generation product that is superior to competing technologies. The technology landscape is cluttered with numerous options for every component in a lidar system. IDTechEx identified four important technology choices that every lidar player and lidar user must make: measurement process, laser, beam steering mechanism, and photodetector. The beam steering mechanism is the most complicated and critical choice. For more information, please see the IDTechEx report " Lidar 2020-2030: Technologies, Players, Markets & Forecasts^[1]" ( www.IDTechEx.com/Lidar^[2]).

The technology choices made today will have immense...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- International Lidar Mapping Forum^[1] and LIDAR Magazine^[2] now accepting nominations for the prestigious Lidar Leader Awards.

The 2020 Lidar Leader Awards will recognize excellence in and contribution to the field of lidar in the following distinct categories:

• Outstanding Personal Achievement in Lidar
• Outstanding Team Achievement in Lidar (2-99 members)
• Outstanding Enterprise Achievement in Lidar (Groups of 100+)
• Outstanding Innovation in Lidar
• Outstanding University Achievement in Lidar

"As organizers of ILMF, we're constantly amazed by the brilliance and dedication of professionals and academics in the lidar community, and we look forward to recognizing some of the stand-outs each year," says Lisa Murray, Group Director at Diversified Communications. "Members of the lidar community are very supportive of each other and it shows through the excitement for and participation in these annual awards."

Geospatial professionals are encouraged to nominate their colleagues...

Latest release improves collaboration, insights and results for geospatial professionals

21 October 2019 - Hexagon’s Geospatial division, a world leader in location intelligence solutions, has launched Power Portfolio 2020, the latest version of its leading photogrammetry, remote sensing, GIS and cartography products.

Building on machine learning capabilities from previous releases, Power Portfolio 2020 leverages new GPU-acceleration technology to help users more quickly address big data management issues. It offers users more data sharing options for better collaboration and data management workflows. The release also includes enhacements to Hexagon’s industry-leading image compression technology and an improved user experience across products.

“With Power Portfolio 2020, we’re delivering better collaboration, deeper insights and faster results, ensuring our customers have the latest capabilities to create their own geospatial workflows with products that positively impact their organizations,” said Mladen Stojic, president of Hexagon’s Geospatial division. “In fact, this release has been driven by extensive input from our users.  Fifty new features and enhancements in Power Portfolio 2020^[1] were submitted by users through an  ideation board in our user community portal.^[2]”

Power Portfolio 2020 brings important upgrades to Hexagon’s ERDAS IMAGINE, the industry’s leading geospatial data authoring system; GeoMedia, a powerful and flexible GIS management platform that allows users to aggregate and analyze data from a variety of sources;...

Seequent was awarded the grand prize at the  New Zealand Aerospace Challenge 2019 on Friday after demonstrating how its globally scalable SLIMS solution could effectively and economically monitor the health of all New Zealand’s 3,820 lakes. With currently only 2% of lakes currently monitored via established methods of lake water sampling and analysis, SLIMS enables organisations to monitor changes in lake conditions with the ability to use historical satellite data to identify seasonal trends. This allows users to identify lakes exhibiting any unexpected change for closer monitoring and management.^[1]

The Challenge, powered by global aerospace giant Airbus, and delivered by ChristchurchNZ and SpaceBase, sought solutions to identify, monitor or measure water or soil pollution using satellite data and unmanned aircraft technology.

Daniel Wallace, Seequent General Manager for Civil and Environmental, said the company jumped at the opportunity to participate in the Challenge to apply their innovative technology above ground in an exciting new space with huge potential to positively impact sustainability.

“Water quality and the health of our lakes sustains our way of life.  It’s not economical to visit all lakes to monitor adverse environmental impacts, but with satellite remote sensing every lake can be monitored virtually.  Algal blooms, sediment events and other adverse changes in lake health, which could otherwise be unseen and unknown suddenly emerge...