news

9 November 2011
AOC Celebrates 80 Years

Above: Leon Kettles accepting the AOC award from AAM Managing Director Scott Ramage

On Thursday 20 October, AOC celebrated 80 years of successful operation with a customer function held at the South African Airforce museum just outside Johannesburg.

It was a great function attended by approximately 90 customers, business partners and senior staff. AOC have received many congratulatory messages from those that attended.

A plaque was presented on behalf of all staff to mark the occasion and Graham Slough was presented with an award for 44 years service to AOC ahead of his retirement this month.

Click here to read the article that was published in relevant South African journals about AOC.

05 August 2011
AOC Celebrates Madiba Day

On Monday the 18th of July, the world celebrated Nelson Mandela day as Madiba turned 93 yrs old. In honour of the 67 years he spent implementing various projects, and encouraging growth and development in South Africa and the rest of the world – South Africans were encouraged to devote 67 minutes of their Nelson Mandela day doing the same.

AOC Geomatics took great pride in jumping head first into this initiative, assisting Kings Hope Development Foundation in Centurion, Gauteng with some much needed donations and physical labour.

A donation of perishable and non perishable items was made to the foundation from both the company and individuals staff members, as well as all the AOC staff joining in to assist with some painting that was required.

Kings Hope provides food, shelter, and medical care to HIV positive members of the local community, and relies heavily on public and/or corporate donations to continue their phenomenal work.

The time spent at Kings Hope was brief, but all staff members left feeling more inspired than ever to assist in community projects, not only on Nelson Mandela day, but whenever possible.
 

 
Above: From left to right: Marcelle, Itumeleng, TK, Sonny (from Kings Hope), Renantha, Riaan, Rabelani, Godfrey.
Middle: Lueann, Leon, Antoinette (from Kings Hope).
Front: Roger

29 July 2011
AOC at Africa Downunder Conference 31 Aug - 2 Sep 2011

To update your awareness of the latest geospatial technologies for mining,  be sure to seek out  our AAM specialists and the AAM / AOC booth at Africa DownUnder.  This premier international event is the melting-pot for business conducted between the two continents.

AAM will be showcasing our new laser and imaging services in addition to satellite derived products. With laser technologies covering all modes - airborne, terrestrial and mobile - our services offer new efficiencies and benefits.

Africa DownUnder will be held from 31 August - 2 September 2011 at Pan Pacific Perth (formally Sheraton Hotel).

Apart from presenting companies, the event will be attended by African Mining Ministers, business leaders and executives from the mining industry.   The conference should attract more than 1500 delegates, 110 exhibitors and consist of a full three day program.

Who attends Africa DownUnder?  
 

• Mining Executives 
• Financiers/bankers/brokers/analysts 
• Government Officials and representatives 
• Investors 
• International and local media 
• Mining service industry 
• Suppliers 
• Mining Consultants

For detailed information, review the Africa DownUnder 2011 website. 

11 July 2011
800km Corridor Project: LiDAR & Imagery

LiDAR derived asset and built environment datasets will be generated by AAM over  transmission lines and easements for a client this season.    The object is to establish  accurate spatial relationships between the ground, vegetation, conductors and earth wires along these transmission lines.  Data gathered shall be used to produce accurate engineering design models of the transmission lines and its corridor for the assessment of transmission capacity.

This is one of many LiDAR projects underway in Australia utilising the powerful Optech LiDAR sensor.  

The colourised point cloud of LIDAR strikes in the image shown, clearly highlights the vegetation in green and  residential areas in shades of grey and white. The classified  conductors have been classified in yellow and blue to enhance their appearance on this image.

The benefits of LIDAR data are being embraced by many energy clients requiring: speed;  accuracy; minimal or no ground survey;  and a variety of derived products for the natural and built environments.

More information is available on our LiDAR webpage.
 

Above: Subset of LiDAR imagery from our current 800km corridor project 

30 June 2011
RapidEye imagery: 2 billion sq km in archive!

RapidEye, a leader in wide area, repetitive coverage of Earth through its constellation of satellites and advanced remote sensing-based services, announced today that it has imaged more than two billion square kilometers of satellite imagery now in its archive.

"This is a wonderful milestone in our history," commented Wolfgang Biedermann, RapidEye's CEO. "Two billion square kilometers of high resolution data is an extraordinary amount of imagery. To put this into perspective, the landmass of the entire world is approximately 150 million square kilometers; which means we have the equivalent of 13 full coverages of the Earth, and this increases daily. This is an excellent example of the imaging power of our system."

Last week, RapidEye released its new online archive tool, "EyeFind".  Once the relevant images are located, an inquiry can be sent through EyeFind for a quote and estimated delivery time.

RapidEye invites everyone to try EyeFind to search and browse the imagery collected in the last two years, including the newest collections from the last 48 hours.  You can search the EyeFind website now.

For further information on RapidEye, have a look at the RapidEye webpage.

RapidEye imagery: 2 billion sq km in archive!

1 March 2011
AAM Assists in Brisbane flood - flood simulation videos brooadcast globally

Videos of various flood simulations over Brisbane by AAM were suddenly in demand by international media and the Australian community to understand the potential extent and dramatic nature of this devastating event. 

Simplified simulations of flood models provided a powerful visual tool easily accessible to all.  These 7m and 5.5m flood video clips were shown throughout most Australian media channels and continue to be featured.

You can view the flood simulations in the video below, as well as other media exposure featuring AAM.

Please note that this simulation is based on accurate data produced by AAM but is for demonstration purposes only.  AAM accepts no liability to any users of this visualisation example due to the complex nature of flood modelling and the inability to accurately incorporate the number of event specific factors which combined to create this unfortunate event.

A range of satellite imagery capturing this event will be posted in the coming days.
 

Above: Video montage of AAM's media exposure including the flood simulation videos
 

   
Above: stills of the AAM video, which were broadcast Globally and Australia-wide
 

Latest RapidEye Coverage Over Africa Just Released
The latest RapidEye coverage over Africa has just been released, as per the below image.  For more information, visit our RapidEye webpage.
 

Above: RapidEye Africa Coverage Overview, Sep - Dec 2010

AOC Attends Map Africa 2010
AOC recently attended Map Africa 2010, a conference which aims to look into many aspects of technology in building the continent and highlight the significant role that geospatial technologies hold in serving the various building blocks of a nation/continent. 

This important conference provides a unique forum for like-minded people to discuss on the latest offerings of geospatial technologies and how it contributes for social, economic and political development of Africa. It acts as a consolidated platform for industry, government and academia to expand geospatial horizons and add a new dimension to the African geospatial industry. This year, GIS Development, the organiser of Map Africa has joined hands with the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs, South Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA), Ethiopia and Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), Kenya to co-organise this conference.

For more information, visit the Map Africa 2010 website. 
 

NEW GeoEye Satellite Products brochure.

AAM has released a new brochure on our GeoEye satellite products. 

Download the GeoEye Satellite Products brochure (PDF 0.3MB) or visit our GeoEye webpage, where you can learn much more about our GeoEye product, as well as access an interactive GeoEye-1  image of Cape Town.

AAM Releases new RapidEye Video with images from Lesotho, Africa
AAM has just released the first of several short videos which showcase the unique features of RapidEye Satellite Imagery.  Given the status and capabilities of other satellites, the RapidEye constellation is attracting a lot of attention..

Our new video presents a variety of images from the location of Lesotho, Africa.  Watch the YouTubeYouTube™  video below then visit our web pages on RapidEye for the latest product brochure or sign up to receive future RapidEye Case Studies.

AOC Attends the International Society for Mine Surveying - International Congress September 2010
The International congress served to share knowledge to advance the science and practice of mine surveying, mining and geotechnical engineering, geology, mineral evaluation and allied disciplines. With a current membership of 42 countries, the ISM had participation from many countries, making this an excellent opportunity to share knowledge with international colleagues. The scope of activities addressed by the commissions of the ISM, which guide the themes of this congress, served to attract papers and presentations from a diversity of mining professionals.

This also the first time that an ISM congress was hosted in Africa and only the second time that a congress has been held in the southern hemisphere.

For more details, check the International Society for Mine Surveying website.

Vast amounts of 50cm GeoEye-1 satellite imagery are now available over the African continent. This recently captured imagery, which is either low cloud or cloud-free, is available at a 50% discount, once it is older than three months.

The GeoEye-1 archive imagery available at 50% discount will prove popular. In addition to the high spatial resolution, clients can enjoy the delivery of products usually within two weeks from order placement.

View more.

AOC Releases First Newsletter
AOC has released their first edition of the newsletter 'Scanning the Horizons' to coincide with the increased interest in  imagery, 3D models and 360 datasets.

This 6 page newsletter covers many technical issues and case studies, including:
 - Introducing SiteSee to Africa
 - Pictometry Imagery for 2010 Soccer World Cup Sites
 - Contouring a Kingdom
 - Social Responsibility
 - GeoEye-1 Product Accuracy
 - Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality adopts Pictometry

Read the articles, or download the full PDF on our Scanning the Horizons webpage.
 

GeoEye-1 Product Accuracy - New Case Study
AOC has released a new case study on the product accuracy of GeoEye-1. An area of ~270km² was captured in stereo by the GeoEye-1 satellite for engineering design purposes.

The GeoEye-1 satellite was used to generate accurate 50cm ortho imagery and 2m contours over the site. The purpose of the imagery was for use during preliminary engineering design for an energy client.

View all the project details and client feedback. 

Airborne InSAR and LiDAR Compared
In the last decade, applications of Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) and Digital Surface Models (DSMs) have rapidly increased. DTMs are routinely used in engineering applications and environmental studies, risk analysis and disaster monitoring. Growing demand and technological advances have accelerated the development of new techniques capable of delivering rapid, high resolution and accurate terrain definitions.

This paper compares Airborne InSAR with a more widely known technology: LiDAR. Advantages and disadvantages of each technology are addressed. This furnishes potential users with salient information to make informed decisions on which technology and products are more appropriate for specific applications.

Download the full technical paper.
 

360 Degree Video - Check Out Our New Awesome Interactive Viewer
SiteSee^TM is a powerful visualisation tool introduced to Africa by AOC. The 360 degree views offered by SiteSee enable users to visualise any feature as if they were actually there. It has proven a safe method of visualising hazardous sites and an efficient way of 'walking through' a remote site.

Teams viewing SiteSee can be based anywhere in the world. Various viewing platforms, including web-enabled viewers, increase the flexibility and accessibility of these visualisation datasets. SiteSee enables virtual walkthroughs of the plant by hyper-linking each spherical photograph within the SiteSee system. Powerful zoom functionality is another feature of the high resolution imagery featured in SiteSee.

Take a virtual tour of SiteSee on our SiteSee webpage.