Every week here at Geo Week News, we have been highlighting some of our favorite stories from around the internet that cover the geospatial, 3D, and AEC industries. Whether it’s a fascinating case study, insights from an industry thought leader, or deep dives into new tools, there is never any shortage of great writing and storytelling in this industry. So, below you can find links to three stories that we loved this week.
Historical layers adding value to digital cadastres
Durk Haarsma, Paula Dijkstra, Claudia Lindner | GIM International
Across the Global South, historical cadastral maps and deeds sitting in colonial-era archives could fill gaps in new digital land records, but much of it is on paper and at risk of being lost to heat and humidity. Researchers at Kadaster International propose a four-phase framework that pairs land registries with digital humanities experts to digitize this material, while cautioning that colonial-era records must be critically assessed before they underpin anyone’s land rights.
Innovative GPR to help map Martian surface
Peter Fitzgibbon | Geoconnexion
NASA’s planned SkyFall trio of Mars helicopters will use ground-penetrating radar to hunt for shallow water ice that satellites can’t detect, flying just 15 centimeters above the surface. To make that work, engineers at JPL built a flexible, fabric-based antenna that bends out of the way during landings and springs back for flight, and it recently survived twice the number of required landings in testing ahead of a late 2028 launch.
Uni of Queensland’s VisLab tests robot dog for mapping
jnally | Spatial Source
The University of Queensland’s VisLab sent a Unitree Go2 robot dog, nicknamed QiuQiu, along a 788-meter campus route to test how robotic and handheld lidar scanning can capture accessibility data like slope, path width, and ground roughness. The trial, which ended with real dog Milo carrying out his own survey, could eventually feed into a digital twin of UQ’s St Lucia campus to support universal access planning.
