To mark the 40th anniversary of the Netherlands' youngest province, GIM International interviewed two geoinformation specialists who between them span the full arc of Flevoland's existence: Alex Lucassen and Christiaan de Waal. Having started their careers at the national service that managed the polders before provincial status was formalized, they currently work on behalf of the Province of Flevoland, in today's era of digital twins and AI-assisted analysis. Their reflections offer a rare inside view of how geodata collection, processing and application have evolved in parallel with the province itself.
What began an experimental concept in the 1990s has evolved into a defining feature of urban development: the smart city. Across the globe, cities are embedding digital technologies into their infrastructure to improve efficiency, sustainability and the quality of urban life. This article explores how advances in aerial mapping have played a central role in enabling this transformation, and examines-through a series of case studies-how these technologies continue to shape smart cities today.
Providing that drones, data and AI are used both sustainably and responsibly, they can hold the key to solving many global challenges. This is the firm belief at WeRobotics, the steward of an international network of independent, locally led knowledge hubs called Flying Labs. Combining local expertise with cutting-edge technology, the labs work with civil society, government, academia, research institutes and local communities for the common social good. By stimulating knowledge sharing and collaboration between the labs, which are already in more than 40 countries across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific, WeRobotics supports the network's growth and helps to co-create and connect the wider ecosystem of global partners that enables the network to thrive.
City digital twins are emerging as essential tools for urban management worldwide, including in Indonesia. In collaboration with the country's Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning, the Department of Geodetic Engineering at Universitas Gadjah Mada has developed a plan, design and prototype of a city digital twin for Surabaya, a major port city in Indonesia. This article explores the process, from 3D modelling to the integration of land parcel data using advanced modelling software and dynamic datasets. The prototype serves as a blueprint for creating 100 city digital twins across Indonesia by 2027, providing a transformative framework for urban planning and spatial data management.
The Registers of Scotland (RoS), the nation's land registration and cadastral agency, is responsible for the registration of land rights in Scotland. Since 1981, the agency has been incrementally replacing the Sasines deeds-based register with a new, title-based Land Register. However, as of January 2025, only 55.9% of Scotland's land mass had been registered in it. Although the RoS intends to eventually complete full coverage of the Land Register, the current objective has been reduced to functional completion, which means that mostly land and property that regularly transacts in Scotland will be registered. This has left the majority of rural Scotland, predominantly covered by large estates, unregistered. This article describes a private-sector initiative to fill this gap by providing access to land ownership information in rural Scotland through a land information service called Who Owns Scotland.
While we can have a positive impact in tackling the climate change crisis as individuals, collectively our voice becomes even more powerful. Policymakers, decision-takers, activists and champions all have roles to play. A new report highlights the critical importance of geospatial information in building longterm resilience by preventing disasters and better managing risk. Besides collaborating within the industry, engaging with stakeholders outside the traditional geospatial ecosystem will be key in tackling the challenges as we move towards the 2030s and beyond.
Although recent innovations have taken on a more visible profile, with buzzwords like AI making headlines, advances in the geospatial sector have historically progressed rapidly yet quietly, as a technological continuum. This article looks at how today's breakthroughs are delivering practical, impactful applications-without the glitz.
The integration of machine learning into geospatial analysis, including satellite and drone data, has been revolutionized by geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) platforms. These advancements have simplified the adoption and deployment process, making it more accessible for organizations. As a result, machine learning is transitioning from an experimental phase to a practical, operational tool. As the complexities and high costs associated with machine learning deployment become demystified, a pathway is emerging for organizations to harness this technology for enhanced geospatial imagery analysis. So how can its application be streamlined in daily tasks?
Many companies in the aerial and satellite imaging sector probably dream of being an AI innovator "par excellence'. They would love to leverage artificial to rapidly convert high-resolution multi-view imagery into high-definition vector maps. With advanced AI technology, they could even map an entire continent in a matter of months, or keep a digital twin continuously up to date with the real world. This could be a possible scenario in the future, but the industry is not quite there yet. It takes a dedicated strategy to achieve future-ready critical success factors, according to Ecopia AI.
Geo Week has clearly established itself as the main industry event in the USA. The latest edition, from 11-13 February 2024, attracted around 3,000 geospatial professionals to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, the 'Mile High City'. The exhibition area featured more than 200 companies showcasing solutions for the built environment, including advanced airborne/ terrestrial technology and commercial 3D applications. Besides that, there was a conference programme with more than 50 sessions, demos and workshops. Together with partners such as ASPRS, ISPRS and MAPPS, the conference and exhibition are expected to continue to grow.
Informed and inspired by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), members of the global surveying community are contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article showcases several practical applications and case studies to demonstrate how various FIG Commissions are actively serving society for the benefit of both people and the planet.
The revision of the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) is significantly changing the scope of the ISO 19152 standard. The focus is shifting from the architectural requirements of the agency, to the architectural requirements of the ecosystem. At the same time, the LADM is recognized as being pivotal to the next phase of digital transformation, where policymakers expect increased operational and process alignment between agencies in the ecosystem. This article summarizes how the LADM can support the digital transformation of the land administration ecosystem.
In the quest to unravel the mysteries beneath our planet's water bodies, topobathymetric technologies emerge as a beacon of innovation. Among them, Lidar and sonar sensors mounted on uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Offering unprecedented precision in mapping underwater landscapes, these technologies are revolutionizing hydrography, environmental monitoring and coastal management. This article delves into the latest advancements in topobathymetric Lidar and sonar, highlighting their critical role in understanding and protecting our aquatic environments. From its origins to its future potential, we explore how Lidar technology illuminates the depths like never before.
GIM International was recently invited to attend the fifth edition of the two-day YellowScan LiDAR Convention. It took place on 18 and 19 April 2024 in the Mediterranean spring sunshine at the beautiful Domaine des Moures venue located near Montpellier, France. As in previous years, the event was aimed at discussing the latest developments in the geospatial industry, connecting with industry peers and gaining insight into customer needs, all in the context of UAV and mobile Lidar mapping.
Flood risk evaluation models require knowledge of the local conditions. Lidar and imagery data can be considered as complementary in providing topographic and radiometric measurements necessary for creating digital elevation models (DEMs) essential for identifying flood-prone areas and supporting hydraulic and hydrologic modelling of flood scenarios. Going beyond that classic use case, this article introduces several innovative uses of Lidar and imagery data to enhance the resilience and emergency preparedness of urban centres and their communities against flooding threats. Additionally, the article explores the integration of crowdsourced geospatial data, a rapidly growing resource that augments traditional geospatial sources collected by professionals.
For a long time, it had been an outstanding research problem, but 3DBAG has turned the large-scale automatic reconstruction of detailed 3D building models into reality. Developed within the 3D Geoinformation research group at TU Delft, 3DBAG is an open and freely accessible data ecosystem - not just a geospatial dataset, but also a web viewer and dissemination platform offering various data formats and web services to maximize accessibility and usability - containing periodically updated models of the buildings in the whole of the Netherlands (approximately 10 million in total) at multiple levels of detail. As a valuable cornerstone for urban planning and engineering, 3DBAG is already widely used by government organizations, businesses and academia for multiple applications. Therefore, it is also being explored how to embed the 3DBAG in the national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI).
Ghent University in Belgium has launched an international research centre with the aim to address geospatial problems by improving spatial reasoning and analysing capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) models. The GeoAI Research Center - part of the Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography - is an interdisciplinary community with a sharp eye on balancing the benefits with the need for ethical considerations and security measures.
It is one of the most appealing and prestigious renovation projects in Europe: that of the historic government centre of the Netherlands, the 'Binnenhof', in The Hague. Fides Expertise is responsible for monitoring the impact of the demolition, construction and renovation work, and is measuring noise, vibrations, deformations and groundwater levels using traditional surveying technology, including total stations. Fred Pannekoek, director of Fides Expertise, took GIM International on a crawl-through, sneak-through tour of this immense project.
