PositionIT e-News

GIS, GPS, surveying and spatial applications in Southern Africa

Issue 56, June 2014

Data as infrastructure: who should carry the costs?

by Nicolene Fourie, Department of Environmental Affairs

Essential datasets that are critical to support sustainable development of a nation or region include meteorological, geological, agricultural and land cover data, but also extend to data used for the management of ecosystems, biodiversity and water. These data sets are drawn from public sector earth observations and geospatial information repositories... (more)

Augmented reality as a workplace tool

by Tuong Huy Nguyen, Gartner

Tuong Huy Nguyen Although the adoption of augmented reality (AR) in the enterprise is still in its infancy, AR technology has matured to a point where organisations can use it as an internal tool to complement and enhance business processes, workflows and employee training. According to research and advisory company Gartner, AR facilitates business innovation... (more)

The waiting continues: UAS interim regulations expected in 2015

by Clare van Zwieten, EE Publishers

Clare van Zwieten The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has undertaken to have its unmanned aerial systems (UAS) interim guidance document ready before the end of March 2015. The interim guidance document is intended to be a provisional solution enabling restricted operational approval of UAS on a case-by-case basis, until maturity is attained by both the industry and the SACAA... (more)

What's hot @ AfricaGEO 2014

Cape Town Convention Centre from 1 to 3 July 2014

Forty-one exhibitors will be displaying their wares and services at AfricaGEO 2014, which is scheduled to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 1 to 3 July 2014. For a glimpse at which companies will be exhibiting... (more)

RPAS case study: Dun Laoghaire Harbour topographic survey

by P Barry and R Coakley, Baseline Surveys

In January 2014, Baseline was awarded a contract to survey approximately 1 square km of Ireland's Dun Laoghaire town centre and harbour area for the purpose of providing a topographic survey for a detailed engineering redesign of the existing port... (more)

Digital mapping system review

by Dr. Yuri Raizman, VisionMap

The A3 Edge camera provides a complete solution together with the A3 LightSpeed Processing System. The latter automatically performs aerial triangulation and produces orthophotos, stereo pairs and DSM from all A3 cameras. This article reviews the applicability of data captured by A3 Edge for nationwide coverage orthophoto generation, mapping and 3D modelling... (more)

Quantifying service delivery demand in South African cities

by Stuart Martin, GeoTerraImage

South Africa is a relatively young country where significant development is still happening and where dramatic growth and changes in land use have happened over the last 60 years. This has resulted in service delivery challenges and opportunities... (more)

Geo-database compilation for seismo-tectonic investigations

by Mayshree Singh and Mulemwa Akombelwa, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Rodney Maud, Drennan Maud and Partners

Seismo-tectonic modelling used for seismic hazard and risk assessments requires a complete comprehension of the geology, tectonics, palaeo-seismology, regional geophysical anomalies, historical and instrumental seismicity, and other neo-tectonic phenomena like relative plate motions and current tectonic plate stresses... (more)

Modelling the world's deepest mine

by Rekha Voralia, Leica Geosystems and James Jobling Purser, 3D MSI

Owned by Anglo Gold Ashanti, Mponeng Mine is part of the old Western Deep Levels Complex, near Johannesburg. As of last year, it is officially classified by The Guinness Book of Records as the world's deepest mine... (more)

3D modelling - seeing the full picture

Information from Intergraph

With the general public being exposed to 3D imagery on an ever increasing scale, it is not surprising that this has now become the standard for representing engineering data. With the imagery, simply being a representation of data stored within a formal database, extended use of this data has dramatically increased... (more)

Geospatial solutions for renewable energy

Information from AAM

AAM provides advanced geospatial solutions for the rapidly growing renewable energy sector. To meet the needs of developers, consultants and contractors, the company has established a renewable energy focus group and has to date undertaken numerous projects in the field of wind, solar PV, solar CSP and hydro in Southern Africa and Australia... (more)

Enhancing asset management at eThekwini Electricity

by Jayshree Pershad, eThekwini Electricity; Coert Scherman, Attie Senekal, and Jonathan Hunsley, Aurecon

eThekwini Municipality's integrated development plan includes a quality living environment programme. Asset management is included in this programme. The integrated asset management plan includes the management of electricity, water and sanitation, roads, transport, parks and leisure, stormwater, solid waste, and property and buildings assets... (more)