The Geospatial Engineering Panel are currently involved in the following activities for 2011/2012:
Open Data
Coordinating and leading the ICE/ICES response to government’s consultation on Open Data and the creation of a Public Data Corporation (PDC). The response to these consultations in PDF format can be found here:
The government has recently opened an Open Data Institute. Endorsed by the cabinet office and funded to the tune of £10M over five years with match funding from industry and academia. The details are available on the Autumn Statement 2011
Building Information Modelling.
With the government’s chief construction adviser Paul Morell indicating that Building Information Modelling (BIM) will become a key part of the procurement of public buildings in the very near future there is a substantial amount of work and a number of high-profile initiatives in this area.
The Cabinet Office, ERG (efficiency and Reform Group) has taken on board the BIM Implementation strategy and put in place the BIM steering group under which a number of work packages are to be defined as part of the first tranche of Government’s mobilisation and implementation programme.
The BIM strategy has a full time Programme Manager and lead reporting into Government Construction Strategy Steering Committee. The ICE and ICES are keen to play their role in the BIM initiative and as such the IS and GE Panels have joined forces to provide the appropriate input into the BIM strategy. Their first joint output has been an ICE BIM Policy Statement and it is expected that further collaboration and effort will be around data life-cycles, formats and standards and the link/integration between CAD and GIS. Our emphasis is on the “I” in BIM as well as ensuring understanding that the “B” relates to infrastructure as well as buildings. As part of this approach we would propose that first stage delivery for the panels is a revision to the ICE policy document to reflect this approach. At the same time we are setting up an initial meeting between ICE and AGI to discuss the different strands of work as the AGI has a significant interest in this work. The BIM strategy has also been agreed by BSI B/555 committee.
Further information can be found here
Buried Services
Historically the GEP has been influential in bringing stakeholders together with regard to the Traffic Management Act and the location, management and work carried out on buried services. We continue to provide support and encouragement to industry organisations such as NUAG, UMA, UAG and TSA and research projects such as VISTA and Mapping the Underworld. Our concern is around ensuring communication and collaboration between all interested parties and specifically in providing input to data standards and exchange, and competencies and training for those involved with the detection and surveying of buried services.
Please also view the Buried Services Briefing Note affiliated to this page. The Note will be continually updated - last update 25 April 2012.
Mapping The Underworld (MTU)
The MTU project is now over 1/2 way through and held a dissemination seminar at the OS offices in Southampton in September 2011. This was attended by around 100 people, a mix of academics, specialist contractors, civil engineering contractors, consultants and manufacturers. Trials of the various new technologies have been successful and initial efforts to combine them have also been successful. Leeds University is pursuing the data merging.
JK Guest are building a new test/training centre which can be used for the project free of charge. The consortium did try hard to find a suitable centre but although they have found some locations which combine some services, there is nothing with all the different services in one place.
A steering group meeting was held after the seminar and attended by reps from manufacturers Pipehawk, UTSI, Laing O'Rourke and UU and UKWIR (also members of this panel). Generally the steering group are happy with progress and outputs.
The consortium is preparing a further submission to extend the project to look at condition assessment as well as location. It has also been given some funding for dissemination. They have used this to produce a cartoon film explaining the problem of locating buried assets which is available via YouTube. This link plus others which describe the project are below:
MTU animation video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yXgjl4MoPs
MTU politician's workshop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0mqng_dIwA
MTU podcast: http://www.ideaslab.bham.ac.uk/ideaslab_podcast.htm Episode 26
LightSquared
For some time now ICE GEP have been following the exploits of the state-of-the-art open wireless broadband network known as LightSquared.
LightSquared is a company that seeks to develop a wholesale 4G LTE wireless broadband communications network integrated with satellite coverage across the United States using a block of frequencies located near the band used by the Global Positioning System (GPS). However, the issue of interference (using high-powered ground transmitters in spectrum intended for low-powered signals from satellites) has caused problems.
On February 14, 2012, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to bar LightSquared's planned national broadband network after being informed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), "the federal agency that coordinates spectrum uses for the military and other federal government entities," that "there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time." LightSquared is challenging the FCC's action.
As of April 2012, LightSquared was in negotiations with creditors to avoid bankruptcy. On May 14, 2012, LightSquared filed for bankruptcy. For more information please refer to www.insidegnss.com/node/2984.