Following its recent dissemination impulse, GeoNumerics has been invited to present the mapKITE terrestrial and aerial tandem geodata acquisition concept and project at the Geospatial World Forum 2016, held in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). On its fifth edition, the congress and fair aimed at the theme: Where's the Money? [DISRUPTIVE BUSINESS MODELS]. This theme allows the conference to take on the business perspective of geospatial industry today and its direction for the coming years. Future technology trends and the next big opportunities will be part of the servings. It aimed at being an excellent platform to discuss the role of policymakers, decision-makers, technical users, multilateral agencies and academia in commercialization of the technology.

The mapKITE presentation was framed within the workshop entitled "Benefits and key-features of the European Global Navigation Satellite System (E-GNSS) for the Geospatial World", organized by the European GNSS Agecy (GSA). The purpose of the workshop was to establish the dialogue on the benefits of Galileo in Geospatial applications, including the bottlenecks the industry is facing to adopt E-GNSS smoothly, concerns and needs to be met while implementing Galileo, discussion on potential usage of Authentication service within Location Intelligence/high accuracy application.

Corridor mapping ̶ i.e., mapping of roadways, railways and waterways̶  without traditional ground control points (GCPs) was presented and analysed by GeoNumerics at the recent EuroCOW 2016 conference organized by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Écublens, Lausanne, Switzerland.

GeoNumerics researchers invented the mapKITE surveying concept, a 3D corridor mapping technique based on tandem geodata acquisition missions. In a mapKITE mission, a terrestrial mobile mapping system (TMMS) and an unmanned aerial mapping system (UAMS), simultaneously collect data, from ground and from above., where the unmanned aircraft (UA) follows from above the terrestrial mapping vehicle (TV). The latter, carries an INS/GNSS-based motion sensing acquisition system, mapping sensors and, on its roof, an optical target of known size, shape and painting. Each time that an image is taken from the UA, the optical target is imaged so that, later on, a photogrammetric observation of the target (point-and-scale measurement) can be made. Thus, every image contains a Kinematic Ground Control Point (KGCP) materialized by the centre of the optical target.

GeoNumerics' mapKITE terrestrial and aerial tandem geodata acquisition concept and project were presented on May 10th in the sixth edition of “MundoGEO#Connect Latin America 2016” and in the second “DRONEShow Latin America 2016” joint events, in São Paulo, Brazil. The joint events gathered more than three thousand participants between May 10th and 12th.

The group ENGEMAP, a GeoNumerics partner, organized a session in the aforementioned events where ENGEMAP's Business Executive Antonio de Lira and GeoNumerics' Chief Executive and Scientist Dr. Ismael Colomina presented the applications and concept of mapKITE respectively. With some fifty participants, the session was well attended and ended with small group discussions.

MapKITE is a novel geodata acquisition and georeferencing paradigm for 3D corridor mapping. MapKITE combines Terrestrial Mobile Mapping (TMM) with unmanned airborne Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (APRS) and enhances the combination with new and innovative concepts: Kinematic Ground Control Points (KGCPs); point-and-scale photogrammetric measurements of artificial targets; way point-based, land vehicle-to-unmanned aircraft virtual tethers; mobile ground control stations for unmanned aircraft (“drones”); and the use of the new Galileo ranging signals.

GeoNumerics is proud to announce that, as of December 17th 2015, it has been awarded the “Innovative SME” seal valid until December 31st 2018.

The “Innovative SME” seals acknowledge a small-and-medium enterprise (SME) outstanding achievement(s) in product, service and project innovation. It is awarded by the “Dirección General de Innovación y Competitividad” (Directorate General of Innovation and Competitiveness) of the Spanish “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness).

"I am proud that GeoNumerics becomes one of the Spanish certified innovative small-and-medium-enterprise (SME)" said Dr. Ismael Colomina, Chief Executive Officer of GeoNumerics. "This award is not only an acknowledgement of our past continued investment and effort in research and development, but also a source of motivation and encouragement for the future. GeoNumerics is a small team with a long experience dedicated to geomatics and navigation. Credit for this distinction goes, above all, to the company's people who make it what it is.”