The EUSPA-funded research project GAMMS for the automated geodata collection and production of HD maps is underway.

Castelldefels, 9 July 2021. Till the end of 2023, a European consortium, led by the French map service provider GEOSAT, will investigate how the combination of self-driving mapping cars —a.k.a. autonomous mobile mapping systems (AMMS)— and artificial intelligence-based mapping software can automate the production of high-definition (HD) maps. HD maps are the maps used by the driverless vehicles and shall be of provable/certifiable accuracy, completeness and up-to-dateness.

The challenge of the Galileo/GNSS-based AMMS (GAMMS) project is the fast, sustainable production of trustworthy maps. To face it, GAMMS brings together a wide spectrum of knowledge and experts: map making and machine learning (GEOSAT), multi-sensor fusion and accurate navigation (GeoNumerics), robotics and autonomous driving (Sensible4), GNSS and Galileo receiver development (DEIMOS Engenharia), sensor and vehicle dynamic modelling (EPFL) and multispectral laser scanning (Solid Potato). The consortium also includes regulatory (PILDO Labs) and communication (ENIDE) specialists. Galileo will be the main enabler of GAMMS given its precise, multi-path resistant measurements and its upcoming high-accuracy service (HAS). 

GeoNumerics widens its knowledge base by including one more senior GNSS expert into its R&D group in response to GNSS and PNT increasing complexity, new challenges and growing number of applications.

Castelldefels, 26 October 2020.  Dr. Germán Olivares begins today his career at GeoNumerics (GN) as a senior GNSS researcher and developer. With this move, GN significantly increases its GNSS research and development (R&D) capacity in a context of a growing demand for GNSS-related products and services that require in-depth knowledge and long experienced staff.

Germán Olivares holds BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees in Physics by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), and a PhD in Engineering by the Université du Luxembourg (UL). He has worked on GNSS algorithms, GNSS-based atmospheric sounding and GNSS physical modelling for more than seven years. In this recent period he leveraged his previous research background in astrophysics, geophysics, signal processing, physical modelling and parameter estimation methods to improve various GNSS algorithms. Dr. Olivares has an international record of junior and senior research positions in prestigious institutions as the UAB, the UL, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Cooperative Research Council for Spatial Information (CRCSI, Australia) and the company Spire Global (UK). In his past position he led the design, implementation and testing of mathematical techniques and algorithms for ionospheric models using GNSS-based data (on the ground and on-board LEO receivers).

Findings improve general fault detection and isolation in multi-sensor navigation systems by allowing access to all raw measurements' residuals.

Castelldefels, 15 January 2021.  On the 14th of January, Dr. Maria Eulàlia Parés defended her doctoral research in a "viva voce" examination before a committee of experts in geodesy, navigation and sensorics.  The granted doctoral degree belongs to the PhD Programme in Aerospace Science and Technology (DOCTA) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). The title of the doctorate thesis was "A geodetic approach to precise, accurate, available and reliable navigation."

Dr. Parés, a researcher of the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), presented the geodetic approach to navigation with emphasis on generic abstract modelling and general outlier detection for accurate and reliable navigation. Among other contributions, a highlight of her research was a non-linear simultaneous prediction and filtering (SiPF) method to be used in combination with predictive filters, e.g. the Kalman filter and its many variants. More specifically, she presented a method to estimate the residuals of the measurements that participate in predictions before they are spread into correlated errors affecting the predicted states. The thesis supervisor was GeoNumerics' Dr. Ismael Colomina.

GeoNumerics’ patented mapKITE technology will be the cornerstone of the project MAP4CAT, an application of mapKITE for robotic road mapping in Catalonia. The project is led by GeoNumerics in partnership with Octocam-maps, a drone operator for professional applications.

Castelldefels, 14 September 2020. GeoNumerics is one of the nineteen selected beneficiaries to join the Robotics for Inspection and Management Accelerator Programme (RIMA). Out of 385 initial applications, 114 submitted and eligible, and 51 shortlisted, 19 proposals were finally selected --13 of them for the Technology Demonstrators Programme and 6 for the Technology Transfer Experiments Programme, MAP4CAT being among the latter group.

In December 2019, GeoNumerics responded to the first RIMA open call with the MAP4CAT proposal. Today, MAP4CAT is a project, a six-month technology demonstrator of GeoNumerics' patented tandem aerial-terrestrial mobile mapping technology mapKITE. The demonstration exercises will take place in Catalan roads.