MapKITE presented at the 57th Photogrammetric Week in Stuttgart
Ismael Colomina, GeoNumerics’ CEO, presented “MapKITE: a tandem drone and terrestrial corridor mapping system and method” at the 57th Photogrammetric Week, held at the University of Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany) from 9 to 13 September 2019.
Castelldefels, 17 September 2019. On 10 September 2019, in Stuttgart, the mapKITE technology and method was presented by Ismael Colomina, GeoNumerics’ CEO, to the participants of the biennial “Photogrammetric Week” technical meeting –the PhoWo. The presentation, co-authored by Pere Molina and Marta Blázquez, followed an invitation of the PhoWo organisers.
The mobile tandem drone-aerial/terrestrial mapKITE geodata acquisition and data processing method was presented before an international audience of more than 250 participants. In the presentation, the mapKITE acquisition concept, the processing strategy and results from controlled tests in a Brazilian motorway and in the Atlantic French coast were discussed. Recent results on the use of mapKITE in urban and natural GNSS-unfriendly canyons obtained with the dynamic network adjustment technique were also presented.
Dr. Colomina started his presentation by telling that “It is always a pleasure and an honour being invited to the PhoWo.” Indeed, the PhoWo brings together the most important mapping companies and vendors from all over the world. Dr. Colomina further said that “presenting mapKITE before such a seasoned and knowledgeable audience is a unique opportunity to disseminate the concept and receive useful feedback.”
The PhoWo 2019 programme included 29 technical presentations and 8 continuously running demonstrations by the vendors that sponsored the event (Ldeica Geosystems, Trimble, IGI, Vexcel Imaging, nFrames, Riegl and Pix4D). It covered topic as: new sensing technology; positioning and navigation; autonomous driving; terrestrial mobile mapping; deep learning; geodata crowd sourcing; visualisation techniques and mapping.
GeoNumerics is a research and development (R&D) intensive small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) company specialised in geomatics and accurate navigation.
MapKITE is a patented invention of GN whose initial development was partially funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programme (project mapKITE, grant 641518, managed by the European GNSS Agency (GSA)).
The Institute of Photogrammetry (University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany) is one of the four institutes of the Department of Geodesy & Geoinformatics of the University of Stuttgart ̶ the Institute of Geodesy (GIS), the Institute of Photogrammetry (IfP), the Institute of Navigation (INS) and the Institute of Engineering Geodesy (IIGS). The Department is, in turn, part of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy. The IfP has been a leading, world-renowned centre for research and education for more than forty years. In this period, the IfP has, probably, influenced photogrammetry and its practice more than anyone other university or research group. The IfP organizes the international MSc GeoEngine and participates in the Bachelor and MSc “Geodesy and Geoinformatics.” The IfP is the organizer of the “Photogrammetric Week.”
The Photogrammetric Week series of events was initiated in Jena, in 1909 by Carl Pulfrich as a “vacation course in stereo-photogrammetry.” In June of the same year Pulfrich sent out the call for participation in the German Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen (ZfV) for the course, which took place from 4 to 9 October. Since 1973 the PhoWo has been organised biennially by the Institute of Photogrammetry, at the University of Stuttgart; from 1973 to 1991 under Professor Fritz Ackermann, from 1993 to 2015 under Professor Dieter Fritsch and since 2017 under Professor Uwe Sörgel. Today, the PhoWo enjoys international recognition as an upgrading seminar and a platform for the exchange of experience among academicians, technologists and practitioners. The PhoWo 2019 counted with the participation of about 300 professionals of 50 countries.