New Light Technologies and General Assembly Showcase Data Science Applications for Disaster Management

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2019 — (PRNewswire) — New Light Technologies Inc. (NLT), in partnership with General Assembly (GA), will be hosting an event "Data for Disasters: Leveraging Data Science for Disaster Response & Management." Selected GA students from across all of the school's campuses will showcase innovative applications they developed during the most recent Data Science Immersive class offered by the school. These applications utilize technology, AI and Big Data to address some of the most fundamental problems of today's world, with a focus on improving the way agencies such as FEMA, the World Bank, and developing countries prepare for and respond to major disasters. The event will take place on Thursday, October 24, 2019, at WeWork White House 1440 G St NW, from 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM.

Since its launch last year, this partnership between NLT and GA has resulted in more than 40 innovative student projects that bring together state-of-the-art theories in data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, open-source data and crowd-sourcing to improve decision-making during disasters.

The students will present open-source applications they developed to support disaster management. Some examples of this cohort's work include an application that utilizes live social media feeds to identify road...

MOBILE, Ala., Oct. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE^[1]), Mobile District, has signed the WMR-532, a Woolpert-Optimal GEO joint venture, to a single-award task order contract (SATOC) to provide operations, maintenance and technical support services for the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX). The five-year, firm-fixed-price contract has a value of $49.9 million.

WMR-532 will collect and process bathymetric and topographic lidar utilizing the government's Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL) systems, gathering high-resolution imagery and 3D data of the beach and shallow water seafloor. This includes coastal topography, benthic classification and water column characterization. The USACE will assign performance locations in the contiguous United States (CONUS) and outside the mainland U.S. (OCONUS) and allocate funds per each order.

This contract is a continuation of services provided under a WMR-532 contract signed in 2017, which was completed two years ahead of schedule. Like the previous contract, the data collected from these aerial survey operations will support the National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) for the USACE and the Airborne Coastal Survey (ACS) for the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO).

Task orders completed...

Since its inception in 1951, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has been a global leader in working with public and private partners to protect the lands and waters on which all life depends. Over the years, TNC’s mission has evolved to tackle the ever-more complex problems associated with climate change, all of which require more diverse actions. Yet protection of place remains key for the organization, as exemplified by its recent acquisition of the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve at Point Conception, California, where nearly 25,000 acres of unspoiled coastal habitat will be preserved. (Read more^[1] about this in ArcNews.)

To carry out its mission, TNC needs to know where to create protected areas that will sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services well into the future. Science-based conservation plans need to pinpoint the places where specific protection actions—such as land acquisitions or easements, encouraging indigenous land tenure, or creating no-trawl zones—need to be implemented to deliver the greatest return on investment for both people and nature. Thus, TNC is revolutionizing its approach to conservation, incorporating new principles, tools, and spatial data to inform its strategies.

The Recipe for Successful Conservation

Figuring out how to prioritize areas for conservation is like being a master chef. In the same way that chefs have to have...

Big changes are coming to ArcGIS Online this year as the cloud-based platform deepens its use of Esri’s next generation JavaScript API, taking advantage of its rich capabilities and improved performance. Version 4.x of ArcGIS API for JavaScript enables fast and dynamic visualization; offers a collection of newly designed tools to build an elegant user experience; and has improved accessibility and 3D visualization. Although Scene Viewer has always used the 4.x API, newer configurable apps are built with the updated JavaScript API, and Map Viewer and Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS will also be rearchitected with version 4.x.

Improved Pop-Ups

The 4.x API provides additional visualization options for pop-ups. For instance, viewers can choose to dock pop-ups in the corner of the map. Every time a pop-up is clicked, it will appear in the same spot. This can help viewers get pop-ups out of the way when they’d like to interact with the map. This is available in all configurable apps built with the 4.x API.

Pop-ups, like this one in the Map Styler configurable app, can be docked in the corner of the map.

It is also now possible for users to display pop-ups by simply pointing to a feature. Data can be explored faster, and it simplifies the viewer’s experience...

• EPS of $0.95, up 56% from adjusted EPS a year ago
• Operating margin of 9.1%, up from 7.7% a year ago
• $109 million returned to shareholders through share repurchases
• Full-year EPS guidance narrowed to a range of $3.70 to $3.80
• Full-year cash flow guidance revised to a range of $600 to $700 million

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 17, 2019 — Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT^[1]) today reported third quarter 2019 net income of $0.95 per share, compared to $0.61 per share last year of adjusted net income, a non-GAAP measure that is defined and reconciled to GAAP in an attachment to this release, or net income of $2.26 per share in the third quarter of 2018, which included the gain on the sale of the Tools & Test product line of $1.65 per share.

“Revenues were higher in the quarter primarily driven by Textron Aviation and Industrial, and we continued to have good execution with solid margin performance across our businesses,” said Textron Chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly.

Cash Flow

Net cash provided by operating activities of the manufacturing group for the third quarter totaled $238 million, compared to $319 million in last year’s third quarter. Manufacturing...

Technology Alerts Stadium Security of Drone and Controller for Quick Response, Threat Mitigation, and Guest Safety

HOLMDEL, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 17, 2019 — AeroDefense^[1], the leading provider of domestically legal drone detection systems, today announced that MetLife Stadium selected the AeroDefense Drone Detection System, AirWarden™, to provide an early warning system for drones.

MetLife Stadium is home to the New York Jets and New York Football Giants and hosts many large-scale events including concerts, international soccer, and college football games.

No one should fly a drone in proximity to a large gathering of people for a variety of security and safety-related reasons. In addition, MetLife Stadium is in close proximity to Teterboro Airport where there are significant FAA regulations that govern flying a drone.

MetLife Stadium is constantly striving to ensure the safety and security of its guests and in 2017 began to evaluate many different types of drone detection systems, including radar, radio frequency (RF), acoustic, and camera systems.

“RF is currently the best solution to identify where the drone and operator are, and the only one that we found that can detect the drone and controller when the RF connection is first established,” said Daniel DeLorenzi, Vice President Security & Safety Services at MetLife...

While in Nanjing, China for the Surveying, Mapping, and Geoinformation Technology Equipment Expo, Blue Marble conducted a one-day LiDAR workshop in partnership with E-Carto Technologies.

 

 

For more than twenty-five years, Blue Marble's affordable, user-friendly GIS software has been meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers throughout the world. Users come from all industries including software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying, and technology companies, as well as government departments and academic institutions. 

 

Since its inception in 1996, the China Surveying, Mapping, and Geoinformation Technology Equipment Expo has sought to promote growth in the geospatial sector within the...

2019 Wildfire Risk Report from CoreLogic Analyzes Western U.S. Damage and Risk

In September, CoreLogic released their 2019 Wildfire Risk Report that analyzes the top regions, states and metro areas at risk for wildfire damage, including number of at-risk homes and their estimated reconstruction costs. The report also includes a breakdown of 2017 and 2018’s major wildfires, which were quite extensive through the western United States. The report focuses on homes in the western states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Some important facts from the report include (from company materials):...

• The report found nearly 776,000 homes with an associated reconstruction cost value of more than $221 billion are at extreme risk of wildfire damage.
• The Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego metro areas ranked as the top three high-risk areas, respectively with more than 42% of residences at high-to-extreme wildfire risk.

These regions make up more than 51% of the total RCV of the top 15 metro areas analyzed.

• In 2018, the highest number of acreage burn occurred in California (1,823,153 acres burned), Nevada (1,001,966 acres burned) and Oregon (897,262 acres burned).
• 2018 was a record-breaking wildfire year with 8,767,492 acres burned—roughly equivalent to 74 of the

Gases, flammable liquids and solids, explosives, oxidizing agents, poisonous substances, radioactive materials, and corrosives are dangerous materials that are essential to industries such as manufacturing and agriculture, but their transport poses risks.

In Canada, approximately 30 million shipments of dangerous goods are transported across the country each year. Transport Canada, a federal institution responsible for all transportation policies and programs, oversees these shipments.

About 25 percent of those shipments are transported by rail. To analyze the movement of dangerous goods along 78,000 kilometers (48,500 miles) of railway track, Transport Canada creates commodity flow maps that identify the types and amounts of dangerous goods transported through specified geographic areas. These maps allow safety risks and trends to be evaluated and help forecast demand for the future movement of these goods. The maps can contribute to the identification of spots where there may be a greater risk in moving dangerous goods and provide the locations of emergency services along those routes.

Flow maps were originally developed by Charles Joseph Minard, a French civil engineer, who is recognized for his contribution to the field of information graphics. His first flow map, created in 1845, depicted the routing of a railway line between Dijon and Mulhouse, two cities located in eastern France. Most commonly, flow maps indicate the route...