GIS

Exploring England’s Hidden Archaeological Landscape

From Roman ruins to Cold War bunkers, England is home to countless hidden archaeological landscapes spanning thousands of years. An interactive map published by Historic England allows users to take “virtual flights” over these treasures of the past.

Researchers used more than 500,000 aerial photographs captured over the past 30 years, as well as 3-D laser scans, to piece together a digital mosaic described by Historic England as “a huge archaeological jigsaw puzzle.” The online map features heritage sites covering more than half of the country. This new aerial archaeology mapping tool lets people fly virtually over England and drink in its many layers of history,” says Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, in a statement. “It will allow everyone to explore the hidden heritage of their local places and what makes them special.”

Similar surveys conducted by Historic England have yielded extensive maps and images of ancient sites dotted across the country, including Hadrian’s Wall, a Roman fortification built in the second century C.E. to keep out marauding Gaelic warriors from what is now Scotland.

Recent light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys of Wallingford Estate, a sprawling preserve in Northumberland maintained by the National Trust, show historic farming systems, gardens and Iron Age settlements, as well as former areas of woodland. The scans were taken ahead of the replanting of 75,000 native trees at Wallingford. Each site included in the Historic England map includes a description with links to historic environment records, as well as reports about highlights and new discoveries. The government agency is continuing to map other regions and make more detailed analyses of known sites to see what new history might be uncovered. www.smithsonianmag.com

Improving safety and reliability of Metro Rail Services in Singapore

Bentley Systems, Incorporated and SMRT Trains, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) operator in Singapore, have successfully completed the implementation of a Predictive Decision Support System (PDSS) for Singapore’s North-South and East-West lines, the oldest MRT lines in the country. SMRT Trains’ PDSS, which is based on Bentley’s AssetWise Linear Analytics, contributes to improving the reliability of the two lines across 282 kilometers of track and has helped SMRT Trains achieve more than 1 million kilometers between failure (MKBF). MKBF is a measure of reliability used by train operators around the world, where a failure is defined as a service delay of more than five minutes. www.bentley.com

Lucknow, India to roll out GIS mapping system

The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) will soon roll out the GIS mapping system to check illegal constructions across the city. Recently, Pawan Gangwar, secretary, LDA, reviewed the ongoing process of superimposition of development authority’s master plan for Lucknow, ‘shajra map’ and satellite images.

The LDA secretary directed officials to go through the land audit carried out by the development authority in 2016 under the Uttar Pradesh Nagar Yojana and Vikas Adhinayam, the all development authorities are required to make their zonal development plans. In a bid to ensure uniformity in zonal development plans prepared by development authorities, the housing development board has made various changes in bylaws. Now, using GIS tool is also a part of these changes. www.hindustantimes.com

Call for governments to recognize value of location in climate change action

EuroGeographics pan-European datasets and their role in cross-border climate action are highlighted in a COP26 briefing paper calling on governments to recognise the value of official location data.

‘Applying Geospatial Information to Climate Challenges’ is published on behalf of delegates participating in the 2021 the Cambridge Conference organised by Ordnance Survey. As a member of the Conference International Advisory Group, the association for Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities (NMCAs) is a key contributor to the paper which sets out how official sources of geospatial data can support the United Nations four goals for COP26.

EuroGeographics has also signed the Cambridge Conference COP26 pledge, which commits to enabling nations to respond better to climate challenges by using trusted location data and to act now to become a sustainable organisation. https://eurogeographics.org

OceanProtect Data Protection Solution

Huawei has launched the OceanProtect Data Protection Solution, covering both Disaster Recovery (DR) and backup fields to offer comprehensive protection for diversified types of data throughout the lifecycle. It belongs to the Huawei All-Flash Data Center Solution to build the fast, green, reliable, and intelligent infrastructure for various industries. The solution is built on the concept of “full DR of hot data, and quick backup and restore of warm data”, which ensures zero service interruption, zero data loss, and long-term data retention.

The solution is firstly designed to offer full DR of hot data. This means it integrates DR for SAN and NAS, and provides worry-free device upgrade to maximize return on investment (ROI). The solution can also flexibly adopt the Huawei active-active DR design to reduce customers’ initial investment and meet their evolving DR requirements. This design also guarantees the non-disruptive upgrade from one system to active-active or active-passive dual-system deployment, and then to three-data-center (3DC) or even multi-DC four-copy solution. This allows equipment to be upgraded online as and when required. e.Huawei.com

ESA and NASA launch revolutionary open-source platform

ESA and NASA have publicly released the first globally-harmonized assessment of above ground biomass – information that is vital for managing global climate change. The Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP) provides seamless access to above ground biomass information from both NASA and ESA Earth observation data. The revolutionary open-science tool is now fully operational and accessible online.

MAAP is the culmination of a twoyear NASA and ESA effort and reflects the cooperation between the two agencies under the NASA and ESA JPPG (Joint Program and Planning Group) Joint Working Group (WG) on Ground Segment and Operations.

The MAAP platform enables international scientists and researchers to collaboratively develop algorithms and code as well as analyse and visualise large datasets acquired from sources including satellite instruments, the International Space Station, and airborne and ground campaigns. The large data and high-performance computing required for MAAP, along with a shared code repository and catalog, are stored and managed in the cloud. MAAP capabilities are supported and shared between NASA and ESA.

Very high-resolution imagery from Airbus Pléiades Neo Satellites

Very high-resolution optical imagery from the Airbus Pléiades Neo constellation on the UP42 geospatial marketplace and developer platform is now available. Pléiades Neo’s unique combination of 30cm native spatial resolution, daily revisit, and faster tasking/ data delivery will benefit end users in all sectors. https://up42.com