The world of GIS is more than just photos, maps of the world, and the atmosphere up above. Geospatial techniques can be applied to even some of the most unheard-of market applications here on the ground, as well.
One company that is making a breakthrough in unusual geospatial techniques is Arithmetica. This business entity is based out of Shepperton, in the United Kingdom. Arithmetica develops complex software applications for any client needing these types of services in order to address problems as they happen in a dynamic, real-time basis. Some examples of this include:
- Image analysis and computer vision for mapping various land features and rough terrain;
- Parallel computation for analyzing complex geospatial datasets;
- Data compression of large file 3-Dimensional maps;
- Data mining and machine learning of all types and kinds of GIS-based data;
- Creation of software apps using the most complex of mathematical algorithms such as that of Monte-Carlo Methods;
- Mathematical optimization used in creating and manufacturing UAV vehicles;
- The use of computational fluid dynamics to help streamline aerofoil optimization, which maps and takes pictures of the earth, in UAV vehicles.
Now, Arithmetica has created and launched a brand new video recording system, which can be used to help analyze the flow of luggage at major international airports. The first test of this was done at Schiphol Airport, located in Amsterdam, which handles up to 50 million pieces of luggage on a daily basis.
After the first test was accomplished, the reception toward a permanent deployment was quite strong. According to Joel van den Hoogen, one of the key people involved in this project, “We are amazed at how quickly this video has taken off . . . The original feedback from the airport and personnel involved in the refurbishment was very positive and then the video went viral.”
The benefits of this type of system are quite obvious. First, major international airports around the world will now be able to analyze, in real-time, where the bottlenecks are occurring in luggage handling, and can then streamline the process so that passengers can receive their baggage more efficiently. Secondly, misplaced luggage can now be tracked in real-time. Thus, a passenger can now retrieve it in a matter of minutes rather than having to wait days or weeks.
GeoTel is a telecommunications research and GIS mapping firm that researches and provides telecom datasets for more than 7,600 cities in the United States and worldwide. GeoTel’s expertise includes specialists in economic geography, geospatial engineering, web GIS, and telecommunications GIS Data infrastructure.
