uav for high res aerial images - urban monitoring

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My name is Ismail Ibrahim, I am a struggling Johorian entrepreneur who is working out on a bootstrapping venture that provides location information services (geographical data) by Geo Sense Sdn. Bhd. an MSC Status company locates in Cyberjaya and Johor Bahru.

Prior to Geo Sense, I have had extensive experiences in planning and implementing ICT infrastructure, software and entrepreneurship developments. Among my previous working experience were from 1995 to 1998 when I have had an opportunity managing various projects under Johor eGovernment initiative, known as Johor Information Infrastructure. JII gave first hand experience in dealing with Government process, which later help me a lot in understanding what works and not in public offices. Late 1998, I worked with Yayasan Pelajaran Johor and Perbadanan Usahwan Johor in formulating the strategic plan for local entrepreneur development. I co-founded among Malaysia first business and technology incubation centers, Johor Incubation Center (JIC), which at that time were regularly highlighted in various Internet and technology news. JIC exposed me to local and oversea entrepreneurship development especially in the area of managing innovation, people with ideas, venture capital and navigating irrational exuberance. It was until mid. 2002, I left a salaried position to become full time entrepreneur.

My first entrepreneurial venture was M-Apps Solutions Sdn. Bhd., which was among the first few Johor based MSC Status company. M-Apps is specializing in mobile and wireless solutions. M-Apps solved and enhanced eGovernment applications by linking Government information with comprehensive content management platform and channel the data to user mobile devices such as PDA and Mobile Phone. Empowering users to access critical information via mobile devices. In 2005, M-Apps was acquired by The Media Shoppe Berhad (TMS) and co-listed in MESDAQ market. Since 2006. I sits as board member of TMS.

Upon listing, I relinquished my management position and move on to area of my great interest, which is Geography in the form of location information, technically known as GIS. Since 2006, I have been a frequent participant to Where 2.0 annual conference in San Francisco, where innovative Web people meets GIS conscious people. I learned how information can be geographically classified, stratified and the fact that the vast critical data are geographically based (geo data). This is true to Government data as they are very much territorial in nature. The tools to manage strata data is know as Geographical Information System (GIS), every geographically large and complex organization such as Government needs GIS but not every office can effort to have one. This is mainly due to the complexity of GIS itself, the cost of putting up the infrastructure, acquiring the data and lack of expertise. Often time there are duplicated investments in GIS initiatives, issues in data ownership and communication breakdown between GIS and IT. These have somehow played down the potential of location information to help organization in visualizing their existing and future positions and making better strategy decision.

Realizing all this issues and with a new game plan, in May 2007, I formed a company known as Geo Sense Sdn. Bhd. our mission is to provide simple web based platform for untrained GIS users so that the majority of managers will be able to make sense out of their existing proprietary location information data. Geo Sense is inspired by Google Maps and Google grands plan in indexing world information geographically. Geo Sense platform was recognized by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) with Pre-Seed grant and followed as finalist to 2008 MSC APICTA award under eGovernment category.

Along the ways, Geo Sense saw the opportunity to provide much premium data which is in the form of imagery. People understand and interprets images faster than anything else. Users, being GIS expert and non-GIS start using earth visualization media such as Google Earth to share location information. Aerial photo provides better visualization for decision making and becoming useful tool for planning and strategy support system. Unfortunately Google aerial imagery comes from Satellite and for Malaysia; most of the imagery are out dated with low resolution. Tropical cloud further hindered the usage for critical planning and monitoring. Thus the only alternative is small aircraft or helicopter. Unfortunately due to it cost and service limitation, not all organization has the access to this facility .

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been known in defense industry, in 2008, more than a million UAV flight hours were logged in Iraq and Afghanistan. UAV able to be pre-programmed to discreetly fly lower to the ground taking optical high resolution aerial photo and feeding live video footage to the ground control. UAV is also being studied in many universities worldwide for various military and civilian applications. One of Geo Sense ideas is to deploy UAV for high resolution aerial photo services. Since early 2008, Geo Sense has been working with various organizations locally and internationally on civilian UAV technology development for applications such as land management, mapping, town planning, environmental changes etc. Geo Sense has unveiled a project called AirSense, a showcase of high resolution aerial imagery on demand, UAV is deployed in updating more than 200 sq km involving more than 50 urban areas. AirSense is a showcase of how Government especially local and community can share geo data using contents aerial imagery. It is also twofold objective to develop professional team in managing services of civilian UAV development and applications.

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Aerial photos could track home projects County mulls deal with high-tech firm THE FLINT JOURNAL| March 20, 2005 By Marjory Raymer To learn more

	Aerial photos could track home projects County mulls deal with high-tech firm THE FLINT JOURNAL| March 20, 2005 By Marjory Raymer To learn more about Pictometry Visual Intelligence, check out the company's Web page at www.pictometry.com. Registered users also can see examples of detailed pictures and limits on photo resolution under the Frequently Asked Questions link. New technology soon could let government officials look right into your back yard to see your new deck - and then check whether you filed the proper permits. Genesee County officials are considering using Pictometry Visual Intelligence, a new, ultra-detailed data and aerial photograph system that can show a picture from up to 12 different angles and lets users combine the pictures with all sorts of material - even a tool to measure how big that deck is. "What we tell our customers is, with this system you can see everywhere, measure anything and plan everything that you want to plan," said Dante Pennacchia, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Pictometry International Corp. The program would allow firefighters to see how tall buildings are, SWAT teams to plan escape routes and 911 operators to see exactly where people in need are, Pennacchia said. The Pictometry system would cost an estimated $250,000, with Genesee County and local municipalities picking up the tab. But some taxpayers may not be thrilled by the Big Brother aspects of the system and the prospect of government peering too closely into their space. Pat McDougall, 53, of Flint, whose taxes keep going up because assessors find improvements to his property, said he doesn't like the idea. "I just personally think it's very intrusive," McDougall said. "What if your daughter is laying out in the back yard sunning herself?" Gregory Gibbs, chairman of the Greater Flint chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said courts have ruled that aerial photographs are not an invasion of privacy, but he worries how far government will push the technology. "The back yard - that is a special place. It's an extension of the home for a lot of people," Gibbs said. "From (the ACLU's) standpoint, we are very concerned about the use of technology that invades the privacy of the average citizen. We watch it very closely." Company and local officials said protecting personal privacy should not be a concern for residents. Only government entities are supposed to have access to the photos, and the pictures are taken only every two years, so it's not like the government can look and see what's happening in your back yard at any given moment, said Robert Carra, director of geographic information systems for the county, who is heading a committee considering the project. And, Pennacchia said, it's important to realize that the system's zoom capabilities are limited because the pictures become blurry squares called pixels under high magnification. Faces and license plates are never distinguishable using the software, Pennacchia said. "We've chosen just the right balance between privacy and being able to see things on buildings," he said. As for that deck scenario, though, it's real life. Craig Witmer, district manager for Pictometry out of Indianapolis, last week showed a group of township officials how the detailed images could show line striping on roads, home plate on baseball fields and backyard decks. As a first-time homeowner, Witmer said, he didn't realize he needed a permit for a deck on his house and got caught by county officials using his own software. Aerial photography including pictures of back yards across the county is nothing new. Genesee County, like most counties, has long used aerial photographs in planning offices. Traditionally, though, the photographs are taken looking straight down, which show outlines of buildings. Taken from a higher altitude, the photos also have less detail. Pictometry takes pictures at an angle from multiple cameras mounted on the bottoms of planes, and at two altitudes to give perspective. It also combines the pictures with other data so users can pick out addresses or coordinates, see property lines, calculate distances and areas and even measure the slope of hills. "This is something brand new for us and fairly new in the industry," said Bob Slattery, director of information systems and planning for the Genesee County Road Commission. "It's not just the newness that's cool about it. It's the uses." The federal government, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and 125 counties nationwide already use Pictometry, a 4-year-old system. Genesee County could be the first in Michigan to employ the system, although Jackson County also is considering it. Genesee County officials are still in the early stages of considering Pictometry. The earliest the system could go into effect is probably this fall, Carra said.

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