Weekly GEOINT Community News

Government of Canada to Invest in exactEarth; DigitalGlobe Expands NASA Partnership with Data Contract; NOAA Selects Thales to Develop Ground Station; DHS and NASA JPL Partner on AI for First Response; More

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Government of Canada to Invest in exactEarth

The Government of Canada (GoC) will make an investment of $7.2 million over three years to support the development and expansion of exactView RT, exactView’s real-time satellite-AIS service. exactView RT consists of a system of more than 60 maritime satellite payloads hosted onboard the Iridium NEXT constellation. The investment is being made through the GoC’s Strategic Innovation Fund program to support Canadian innovation and drive economic growth. The funding will be repaid by exactEarth in annual installments over a 15-year period beginning in 2023.

DigitalGlobe Expands NASA Partnership with Data Contract

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded DigitalGlobe a $7 million contract for high-resolution commercial electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery. Under the contract, NASA is able to purchase DigitalGlobe data and services including DigitalGlobe’s 18-year, 100-petabyte imagery library, new infrared and other imagery collected by its WorldView constellation, analytics on the company’s Geospatial Big Data (GBDX) platform and RADARSAT-2 SAR imagery from MDA. The contract is a one-year blanket purchase agreement with four option years.

NOAA Selects Thales to Develop Ground Station

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected Thales Alenia Space to develop and build an operational ground station at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. This ground station will be designated the NOAA Southwest USA Medium-Earth Orbit Local User Terminal (SUSA MEOLUT). It will be an operational part of the NOAA Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system on a daily basis, using satellite signals to track distress beacons, then providing distress alert and location data for SAR authorities in near real-time.

DHS and NASA JPL Partner on AI for First Response

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Next Generation First Responder Apex program partnered with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop an artificial intelligence system to assist first responders in processing information while at the scene of an emergency. Their concept is the Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction, and Synthesis (AUDREY), a software pilot similar to the voice-activated device on a smartphone. It will test operations at the Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services in Ontario, Canada in early 2019, aiding in data gathering and synthesizing caller information from text-to-911.

DoD To Hold AI Industry Day

The Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT or Project Maven), and the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) are hosting the second annual Department of Defense AI Industry Day on November 28, 2018 to discuss AI software prototyping activities and future industry participation. The Industry Day will consist of presentations in the morning followed by an opportunity for networking and one-on-one sessions in the afternoon. The DoD is interested in receiving market research on focus areas including training data, algorithms, integration, infrastructure, and testing for any data types, techniques, and use cases.

IBM Introduces AI OpenScale Platform

IBM has introduced AI OpenScale, a new platform to address key challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, such as concerns over the global shortage of AI skills and the complexities of working with disparate AI tools from multiple vendors. The platform helps companies understand how AI makes decisions, address biases in AI applications, ensure AI is auditable, and more. As part of AI OpenScale, IBM will also debut NeuNetS, a technology in which AI builds AI, making it possible to create complex, deep-neural networks from scratch.

Boeing Opens Disruptive Computing and Networks Organization

Boeing announced a new Disruptive Computing and Networks (DC&N) organization to develop computing, artificial intelligence, and communications solutions for advanced commercial and government applications. DC&N will also work closely with Boeing HorizonX to identify external partners for collaboration. The organization will be based in Southern California and operate as a part of Boeing Engineering, Test & Technology. Charles Toups, formerly the vice president and general manager of Boeing Research & Technology, will lead the organization in those same roles.

Boundless and UN Partner on Open GIS

Boundless last week announced its support of the United Nations’ (UN) Open GIS Initiative, which aides UN operations around the world through open source geospatial software and services. The UN will leverage Boundless’ hybrid architecture approach to share with its partners and maintain interoperability with existing software systems. To meet UN-specific requirements, Boundless added customized functionality to Boundless Exchange and Boundless Anywhere, its content management and mobile GIS offerings.

Hexagon Launches Census Management System, M.App Enterprise

Hexagon’s Geospatial division has launched its Population and Housing Census (PHC) management and workflow solution, HxGN Smart Census, developed in consultation with GeoSpace International. The solution integrates traditional GIS with a powerful workflow to help make each phase of the census process smarter and more manageable, from pre-enumeration mapping to digital enumeration to post-enumeration dynamic mapping.

Hexagon Geospatial also released the latest iteration of its M.App Enterprise software, version 16.5. This solution allows organizations to deploy Hexagon Smart M.Apps that dynamically address their location-based business problems. M.App Enterprise’s new geoprocessing capabilities make it possible to make calculations with any type of geospatial data.

Peer Intel

Vectrus, Inc. has appointed Kevin Boyle to be senior vice president, chief legal officer and general counsel for the company. He will continue working to deliver innovative solutions to complex legal, business, and regulatory issues.

Photo Credit: DigitalGlobe

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