GEOCART at the Canada-Italy Business Forum on artificial intelligence

October 20, 2021

After the opening of the new North American headquarters in Montreal, Geocart will be present at the next Italy-Canada Business Forum to talk about the new research and development activities based on artificial intelligence in the fields of earth observation as well as environmental and infrastructure monitoring.

In Canada and Quebec, the green economy is the most important axis of the economic recovery strategy. Environmental impact is therefore a key topic and a development priority shared by Western countries, which is being addressed by examining the potential environmental damages caused by the raw materials' processing cycle, starting from extraction, through transport and transformation into energy and finished products, up to the potential environmental damage generated by final elimination or disposal.

The effective management of power grids' maintenance is strictly related to environmental protection and can contribute to contain environmental impacts through the predictive analysis of the damage caused by the electrical infrastructure's interference on vegetation and, more generally, on local plants and animals.

One of the main causes of forest fires, which are our planet's green lungs, is related both to the poor infrastructure maintenance and the tree interference with power lines. In 2018, in the United States, the wildfires that ravaged some states and caused more than 100 victims and $12 billion in damage, were provoked by obsolete power grids and poor control over the vegetation growth near cables.
Effective networks monitoring and control can prevent natural disasters, which cost human and animal lives, as well as money, and impoverish the landscape, due to the deforestation of lands that will take decades to recover. Moreover, it allows to optimize energy saving in electricity transmission and offers an efficient service that minimizes the occurrence of prolonged interruptions in electricity distribution to citizens and enterprises, which is essential for any business and economy.

Artificial Intelligence is both an accelerator and facilitator in improving these activities. Geocart is investing in the research and development project "Geo A.I.", which involves a qualified team of experts working on different fields of application that aim to link Artificial Intelligence to Earth Observation. The development of a software platform will enable us to carry out automated analyses of environmental and infrastructures monitoring and control operations. Machine learning and automatic recognition of data and images will make it easier for operators to quickly identify geometries, network elements (such as cables and supports) and criticalities, in order to draw up detailed maintenance, emergency plans and rapid responses.
The automatic detection of anomalies through the development of machine learning algorithms is crucial to enhance network security and environmental protection, granting customers a further improvement in service delivery times and cost benefits. The software will allow to completely automate some processing methods, such as the classification of the point clouds coming from laser scanner surveys.

The analysis of lidar data, orthophotos and satellite images through the A.I. software platform will also provide regular and accurate information on the state of vegetation in the vicinity of the infrastructures. In addition to the automatic detection of high-risk points, the tool will include several features that will allow to perform a detailed predictive analysis. The software will automatically calculate growth rates for each classified tree species, and assign priorities and associated cost estimates, to ensure more aware management of infrastructure monitoring activities and activate timely and constant control, even remotely.

In addition, application of Satellite Technologies combined with Artificial Intelligence, and in particular the automated optical and radar image processing, will provide an innovative system for protection of citizens and the planet. The software platform will allow to monitor the stability of strategic infrastructures (roads, bridges, dams, railways) and territorial transformations (drainage basin variations, deforestation, landslide, subsidence and soil deformation phenomena) in relation to climate change, extreme phenomena and anthropization.

The rationale behind the project, therefore, is offering customers a valid tool supporting decision-making processes, to reach a perfect balance between effectiveness and efficiency: maximum service reliability combined with resource savings, environmental impact mitigation and protection of individuals as well as the environment.

Geocart partner of the project "BARI MATERA 5G"

May 25, 2018

Today, in Matera and Bari, the experimentation about Digital Tourism & Virtual Reality has started, set up for the Bari Matera 5G Project, where Geocart and Digital Lighthouse companies took part as partners.

Bari Matera 5G is the project with which TIM, Fastweb and Huawei won the tender of the MISE for testing the new 5G technology in two cities with the collaboration of partners of excellence, including, precisely, the two companies from Basilicata.

The application of Turismo Digitale & Virtual Reality realized involves the virtual visit of some cave churches of Matera in a multiplayer context that, thanks to 5G network, allows you to "live" some of the main tourist attractions of the city through an immersive solution where participants of the two cities are united in a single virtual visit.

The solution offers the possibility to move freely in the foreseen areas, get close to the walls or objects available and manipulate them, thanks to the use of Virtual Reality viewers. The experience has been activated simultaneously in the two cities of Matera and Bari, through interactive ways that allow the visitor to meet and interact with other visitors physically located in places physically distant from the one in which it is located, as well as listen and follow the directions given by a real tour guide of the city.

With this experimentation, In which the two companies of Geocart Group participated, providing technologies and know-how in the sectors of remote sensing, computer graphics and augmented virtual reality, a further step is taken in the context of activities aimed at enhancement of cultural heritage and experimentation with an innovative tourism concept.

Specifically, It's possible to take a digital tour of some cave churches in Matera, in particular the Church of S. Nicola dei Greci, the site "Cripta del Peccato Originale", the Church of "S. Maria degli Angeli" and the Church of "Madonna delle Virtù".

IN MEMORY OF MAURIZIO LEGGERI

April 16, 2018

We wish to remember a great professional and, above all, a friend with whom we have developed many ambitious projects for over 15 years. It was exciting to work under the guide of one of the greatest Italian seismologists and engineers.

On April 13, 2018, we have lost a great man who, with his semplicity, his desire to share experiences and skills, his joy of living the job as a continuous challenge to be faced in a group, has taught many technicians and professionals the sense of responsibility and the importance of the role that belong to the figure of the engineer.

When in 2000s, Maurizio Leggeri assumed the role of technical director of Geocart, he was already one of the leading experts in earthquake engineering at an international level and co-founder of the National Department of Civil Protection.

Among the founders of CGIAM, Center of Integrated Geomorphology for the Mediterranean Area, he held the role of President from 1988 to 2012 and, subsequently, that of Honorary President.

After graduating in Civil Engineering in 1957, he specialized in Steel Construction, Geotechnics and Foundations, Seismic Analysis and Dynamics of Structures. The high level of his technical and scientific expertise led him to teach in several Italian and international universities including the University of California in Berkeley and the University of Missouri.

Maurizio Leggeri has designed, in collaboration with the INGV National Institute of Geophysics, the first seismometric network of the Basilicata region, covering between 1994 and 1995 the role of President of the Provincial Committee of Civil Protection and the position of external Assessor of the Province of Potenza, with responsibility for Urban Planning, Regional Planning, Soil Protection and Civil Protection.

The engineer has taught all those who have met him, as a person and as a professional, the love of knowledge and the courage to overcome obstacles. He has transmitted a principle that many people have made their own: we must study the environment in all its components to improve people's lives.

Maurizio Leggeri leaves an extraordinary legacy and his disappearance creates a void in who has had the opportunity to appreciate in him the intellectual strength, the scientific value, the love for freedom and moral tension.

Goodbye Maurizio.

New collaboration with the CTBTO

Jun 27, 2017

The collaboration between Geocart and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) continues with a new contract. The aim of the current contract is to design and develop a customized, flexible and modular software interface to facilitate the processing of airborne multispectral data. These data are acquired to survey for surface features that may indicate the detonation of an underground nuclear device.

Timely delivery of data products derived from airborne multispectral acquisition is fundamental to operations, hence the need for a well-defined workflow that ensures that all necessary steps have been completed and that data quality can be assured. Geocart has been tasked with developing this system in the form a user friendly software interface. The software has been designed by Geocart engineers to meet two major requirements: to facilitate workflow management of airborne data and to monitor the progress and implementation of data processing.

Geocart participated in the first CTBTO airborne multispectral field test in 2011 and since then has contributed to various events including experts meetings as well as designing and integrating the first operational CTBTO multispectral system.