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. Now, we’re expanding this section a bit. We will still be highlighting three stories from around the internet every week, but in addition, we will also be adding some information about some of the news that came through the industry over the last week.
So, below you will first see links to three stories that we loved this week, and then under that, check out some of the biggest news that came across the wire over the last seven days.
Stories of the Week
Last month, we wrote a piece highlighting the value of the National Geodetic Survey, a public organization here in the U.S. that provides a ton of hidden value. Part of NOAA, it is also dealing with staff and budget cuts at a time when they need more of both, not less, as outlined in this more recent piece from WIRED.
Right now all around the globe, demand for projects that revamp and improve transportation infrastructure is increasing, and geospatial technologies as well as surveying professionals are at the center of this work. We often focus on the technology that improves that work, but as this piece from GIM International outlines, many technologies also exist to keep those surveyors safe on the jobsite.
OpenAI is among the most famous companies in the world today thanks to their ChatGPT product that got the ball rolling on the ongoing boom around generative AI. Now, they are tackling geospatial data, having recently demoed a new reasoning model that can work with geospatial data.
News of the Week
It was a bit of a slow news week this past week, at least partially thanks to the holiday weekend in the U.S. That being said, it wasn’t completely newsless, including a new announcement from the Digital Twin Consortium. Here, DTC announced the first testbeds of their Digital Twin Testbed Program, including testbeds around smart factories, property and asset risk management, digital twins for operational management, and more.
Just this week, we got new releases from RIEGL, with their latest releases of RiSCAN PRO and RiPROCESSES. Both of these releases come of the software side, enhancing workflows around processing lidar data.
Finally, last week, Topcon Positioning Systems announced a new “close collaboration” with Amberg Technologies. As part of the new collaboration, the two companies will integrate their solutions for rail and tunnel applications, bringing a connected workflow for that specific industry. As technology continues to improve and solve more precise problems, look for more of these targeted but powerful integrations to serve specific use cases and/or industries.
