Inside The Google Earth Satellite Factory

Google Earth has given us a new way of looking at our cities and
neighborhoods - from space.

As reported by BBC: Behind a long rectangular window, in a high white room tended by ghostly figures in masks and hats, a new satellite is taking shape. Once in orbit later this year, WorldView-3 will be one of the most powerful Earth observation satellites ever sent into space by a private company. Spinning around the planet some 600 kilometers (370 miles) above us, it will cover every part of the Earth’s surface every couple of days.

Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado is building WorldView-3 for commercial satellite operator DigitalGlobe. It is the latest in a series of spacecraft designed to beam back high-resolution pictures of our planet, images that most of us will eventually see on Google Maps or Google Earth.

This month Google Maps celebrates its ninth anniversary, and in June so does the company’s 3-D mapping app, Google Earth. Together they have changed the way we view the world. “Everybody I’m sure has looked up their house, their downtown, their business on Google Earth, and seen images from these satellites,” says Jeff Dierks, Program Manager at Ball. “It gives me a lot of pride when I see a satellite image on a news program with the DigitalGlobe logo on them.”

This clean room is where satellites such as Worldview-3 and
Worldview-2 (pictured) are built (Ball Aerospace).

Rather than operate its own spacecraft, Google buys its images from a small number of commercial satellite operators, and Dierks has worked on most of the satellites used. What’s surprising is how basic the technology is. “At its simplest, it is a decent resolution digital camera in space,” he explains, as we peer through the window into the clean room where the spacecraft is being built.

With its long cylindrical shape, WorldView-3 looks more like a telescope than a camera and it works on the same principle. The light comes in through a barrel structure, pointed at the Earth, and is bounced around by a series of mirrors, before being focused onto a CCD sensor. The big difference – apart from the size – between this and a typical handheld digital camera, is that the spacecraft will not just take snapshots but continuous images along thin strips of land or sea. Behind it, a giant Stars and Stripes flag has been painted across the wall. “Seeing the flag makes our government customers unbelievably happy,” laughs Dierks.

The satellite will be able to point to particular areas of interest and is capable of seeing objects just 25cm (10 inches) across. However, DigitalGlobe can only sell these highest-resolution images to customers in the US government. For everyone else, the company is only licensed to release images with a resolution of 50cm (20 inches). The latest US spy satellites, in comparison, are reported to be able to pick out objects less than 10cm (4 inches) across. But, for obvious reasons, the US military does not make those images available for free on Google.

DigitalGlobe's satellites have captured a wealth of views, such
as this of Paris' Versailles Palace (DigitalGlobe)

Still, from more than 600km away, travelling at around eight kilometers per second, capturing an image half-a-meter across is an impressive technical achievement, and is less likely to raise concerns about privacy.

Images from WorldView-3 will be sold to thousands of businesses for everything from urban planning to forest monitoring, oil exploration to map making. But most of us will probably use them to look at our house from space. Unfortunately, unless you live in a major city, then you are unlikely to benefit in the short term from the improved images captured by this new satellite.

“Large metropolitan areas get imaged most often,” Dierks concedes. “Once a year they pick cities like Denver or London and re-scan them and they get it into their database – how often Google buys those images and updates its maps, is up to them.”

Google is also only likely to purchase images captured on a cloud-free day. For some of us, this makes the odds of getting a new space picture of our house increasingly thin. “People ask ‘why can’t I see my new shed’, and I tell them to check back in a year or so,” Dierks says. In fact there is a good chance that, within the next year, if you look at a satellite picture of a major city it will include images captured by WorldView-3.

Ball Aerospace now has competition, Urthecast built new cameras
recently fitted to the International Space Station (NASA).

But today you also have the option of using services such as Bing or Apple maps, which also use images from DigitalGlobe. And very soon a new player will enter the market. Rather than pictures taken five years ago (the one of my house, for instance, is at least eight years old), UrtheCast promises live images of the Earth that anyone can download for free. Cosmonauts recently installed the Canadian company’s two UK-built cameras on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and the system will shortly enter its beta-testing phase. For those of us obsessed with looking at ourselves from space, this can only be good news.

Back in the clean room at Ball Aerospace in Colorado, Dierks is also looking forward to seeing his latest satellite in orbit. “If you talk to most of us here we've been space geeks for all of our lives,” he says. “I keep track of the satellite tracking programs on the computer at home and if it’s coming by, I’ll step out into the backyard and see the satellite I've built flying over. And that’s pretty neat.”

Bluetooth Technology Expands Beyond Wireless Devices

As reported by NY1 News: If you thought Bluetooth was purely created as a wireless way to link your mobile device to a headset or speaker or your car, boy, were you off, and a $60 H2O-Pal water bottle is one example of just how far off you were.

Using weight sensors and an accelerometer, the water bottle helps make sure you're getting the proper amount of hydration each day.

"You can attach it to the base of your favorite water bottle. It tracks your movement, and it knows when the water bottle moved, so it waits for the water bottle to be put back on a surface, and it then takes a weight measurement," says Igor Marjanovic of Out of Galaxy.

The app it connects to then tells you when to drink and even adjusts so that you're drinking more the hotter it is outside.

There's also a new wave of products that seem like Bluetooth no-brainers - app-enabled hearing aids.

The bluetooth enabled Resound Linx, which will sell for a little more than $3,000, allows users to control the volume, send phone calls or music straight to the hearing aid, and even set up one-touch customization.

"So if you like certain settings for your home, certain settings for when you're at the ballpark, the app can automatically ensure that those are set for you depending on where you move around," says Morten Hansen from ReSound.

And finally, just in case the socks you're wearing right now aren't quite high-tech enough for you, here you go - Bluetooth-enabled socks.

Called Sensoria Fitness socks, you will also have to wear a Bluetooth anklet in order to pull the data from the socks and send it to your phone. The setup will cost around $200.

"Real fabric has been treated to detect pressure for getting real cadence, real step counts, how the foot lands on the ground while you're running, and this is important to hopefully avoid injuries and have a better running technique," says Maurizio Macagno from Heapsylon.

Sensoria Fitness is also getting set to offer, through similar technology, heart rate-sensing t-shirts and sports bras.

Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule now projected for Feb. 27

As reported by CCJ Digital: In its monthly update on significant rulemakings, the Department of Transportation has again revised the projected date of publication for a rule mandating Electronic Logging Devices (also known as Electronic Onboard Recorders) for all drivers subject to keeping records of duty status, backing it up this time to Feb. 27.

This is the third month in a row the DOT’s report has projected a date later in the same month, but in both December and January, no rule came, and the rule still has yet to clear the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. The current DOT report predicts that the rule will clear OMB Friday, Feb. 14.

Upon publication, the proposed rule would have a 60-day comment period ending April 30.

Also updated in the DOT report is the status of the drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule,which cleared the OMB Jan. 27 and is now projected to be published Friday, Feb. 14. The rule would establish a database of drivers who have failed or refused to take a drug or alcohol test, and carriers would be required to upload test refusals or failures to the database. Carriers could also query the database when screening drivers.

It too will have a 60-day comment period, ending April 14.

The Carrier Safety Fitness Determination rule is still projected to be published in early August, per the report. The rule would allow the agency to change the methodology with which it calculates carriers’ Safety Fitness Determination scores, allowing it to use data from roadside inspections, crashes, investigations and violation history — a very similar data set as used in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s Safety Measurement Score.

The DOT report also still projects its driver coercion to be published April 23. The rule would create a requirement that the agency “consider whether coercion of drivers” by shippers, receivers, carriers or brokers “is a concern when developing a rule.”

Portland Uses Wireless Alert System For First Time

As reported by KGW: The City of Portland used the Federal Wireless Emergency Alert system for the first time Sunday morning to warn residents after freezing rain blanketed the metro area with ice.

On Saturday evening, the freezing rain paralyzed the city that has already been reeling from three days of snow.

The system sent a special alert to all WEA-enabled cell phones in Multnomah County. The message read: "Portland strongly urges all residents to stay indoors today & not travel due to ice."

"The icy condition of sidewalks, in addition to the already slick roads, were key deciding factors in sending out the alert," Transportation Director Leah Treat said.

Sunday’s alert was the first time WEA was used by the City of Portland. The system was previously used by the National Weather Service and for Amber Alerts.

Five Ways GPS Helps Cut Costs and Improve Service

Farmers rely on GPS systems to program tractors to automatically
plow, fertilize, and harvest their fields.

As reported by Government Technology: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is made up of 24 operational satellites orbiting the earth at speeds around 7,000 mph. At this speed, you could travel across the entire United States in about 30 minutes. Did you know that GPS is used on golf courses to measure the distance between golfers and the pin? Farmers also rely on GPS systems to program tractors to automatically plow, fertilize, and harvest their fields.

Here are five ways GPS technology can help you cut costs within your government agency and provide better public service.

1.       Reduce downtime

With GPS, you can automatically collect location data and transmit the information to any computer or device with a browser. Managers can see where field employees are and produce reports showing where a worker has stopped, for how long, at what time, and on which date. Reducing idle time equates to improved efficiency and often less overtime – a cost savings no agency can ignore.

2.       Integrate and dispatch jobs to the field
Customer service representatives handle thousands of non-emergency 311 calls related to city streets; sidewalk curbs; signs and pavement markings; bicycle and pedestrian programs; and more. Being able to generate jobs information from the field allows for faster response to 311 requests. A prompt reply may even reduce the number of repeat calls – a win-win for everyone.

3.       Send help where it's needed – quickly
When storms or disasters hit, using mobile forms means departments can note what types of crews and equipment are needed and where, depending on the nature and location of the disaster area. This data can be transmitted back to headquarters where a detailed analysis can be done to set tasks for the next shift and adequately schedule work crews. In the event of a disaster, a prompt reply is expected of any city or state government. GPS and forms can ease the stress of an emergency by helping place the required help in the hardest hit areas.

4.       Automate timekeeping and payroll processing
Many city workers and contractors have to clock in and clock out for work. This often requires extra time to simply submit essential paperwork. GPS technology can automate timesheets and payroll processing, shaving minutes from hundreds of workers. The best part is that the timesheets can sync with your accounting program to make this truly a seamless process for both workers and administration.

5.       Use geofencing to ensure safety of employees and reduce fuel costs
A geofence is a virtual barrier for a specified geographic area. Programs that use geofencing allow managers to set up triggers when a vehicle enters or exits the defined boundaries. There are two common uses of this technology.

a.       Employee safety: Managers are alerted if an employee enters or leaves a specified area. With many city workers working in the field, it is critical to ensure their safety, but not knowing where everyone is located makes this nearly impossible. GPS technology can alert dispatchers if a code enforcer has not made contact and send backup if necessary.

b.      Reducing fuel costs: Studies have found that with GPS tracking installed on fleets, employees are less likely to make personal stops, therefore reducing fuel costs.

Satellite Hotspot Promises To Bring Wi-Fi Everywhere

As reported by PCWorld: There will soon be nowhere to hide from Facebook selfies, Justin Bieber news and emails from your boss.

Satellite communications company Iridium has developed a Wi-Fi hotspot that can bring Internet connectivity to almost every corner of the planet.

The pocket-size device, set to be released in the second quarter, connects to the company’s satellite voice network to provide service similar to the analog modems that were commonly used for landline Internet access until about a decade ago.

Speeds will be low—about 20 kilobits per second, according to the company—but a slow connection might be better than none at all, depending on the location.

To tackle the slow data rate, Iridium will offer its own email application that utilizes compression to increase data transmission efficiency. That should enable about 20 text-based emails per minute, the company said.

"We’re working with app developers to create apps that are maximized to run on our network," said Ashley Eames, a spokeswoman for Iridium.

The hotspot will cost about US$800 and data rates will vary depending on the Iridium airtime plan. They will be sold as regional or seasonal packages with prices of around $1 per minute on prepaid plans.

Data speeds are expected to get faster in the coming years after Iridium launches a new fleet of satellites.

The low data transmission speed on the current network is a result of the satellites having been designed when data and Internet access weren’t large priorities. The Iridium Next satellites that will launch from 2015 should provide 1.5M bps data service, according to the company.

Iridium offers a separate satellite broadband service, although it requires a large antenna and is targeted at maritime and aviation use.

At Sochi Olympics, Crowdsourced OpenStreetMap Trounces Google Maps

The Olympic ski area is virtually a blank on Google's map (right)
compared to Open Street Map.

As reported by Wired: If you’re looking for detailed maps of the Olympic sites around Sochi, Google maps may not be your best bet. OpenStreetMap, the crowdsourced Wikipedia of cartography, looks to have much better coverage of the Olympic sites, as the images in this gallery show.

The region outside Sochi where the Olympic ski and snowboard events will be held is virtually a pale green blank on Google maps, for example. The maps here come from the fun and fabulously time-sucking Map Compare tool on the website of Geofabrik, a German company developing commercial uses for OSM data. The Olympic park along the coast, and even downtown Sochi are also covered in more detail in OSM (although with some features that appear on one map but not the other, it’s not clear which is more accurate — at least not without being there).

Google still has a huge advantage in navigation — typing an address into your phone and getting step-by-step directions to your destination. That’s the next step in OSM’s evolution, OSM founder Steve Coast wrote in a recent blog post announcing that Telenav, the personal navigation company he joined last year, had acquired skobbler, a German company that developed a popular OSM-based GPS navigation app.

But the real power of OSM is its users — more than 1.5 million people have registered to edit its maps, mapping some parts of the world down to the level of shrubbery. OSM maps can be as detailed as people care to make them. You can see this in the final map in this gallery, which shows OSM edits to the area around the Sochi Olympic park in the past 90 days. People have been busy mapping.

And with all the visitors to the area, the maps are only likely to get more detailed over the next few weeks — assuming some of the spectators can find time between events to plot a few footpaths and buildings.