Geo Tactical Solutions (GTS) is in the final stages of development for its new photo mapping and management software— PhotoGIS. PhotoGIS, planned to be released in early first quarter 2012, will allow users to easily map, organize, export and manage images taken with GPS-enabled digital cameras while also providing unique capabilities designed to enhance and streamline the photo-capture workflow for various military, federal and commercial organizations.
“By offering a simple to use, yet powerful software solution along with our GPS-enabled cameras and modules, we are able to deliver a complete end-to-end photo-capture, mapping and reporting solution to our customers that greatly improves workflow efficiencies,” explained Todd Lushinsky, Sales and Support Manager at Geo Tactical Solutions.
One interesting feature of PhotoGIS is its QR code generator for pre-field data collection. The user enters project or mission related information saved as ‘memos’ and the software generates a QR code for the camera to scan. This ‘memo’ information, once in the camera’s memory, will then be attached to each recorded photograph. The ‘memos’ attached to each digital image file are later used by the program to organize, display and populate standardized reports according to operation ID, photographer’s name, operation type, and so on.
When photos are taken with a GPS-enabled camera, PhotoGIS will automatically plot the images in a map viewer based on their GPS coordinates. For images that do not contain spatial information, the user can manually drag an image to an approximate location on a map using satellite imagery as a reference. If images contain spatial information about objects within the photograph, the PhotoGIS map viewer will automatically plot the object and photographer (i.e. the camera) locations on the map.
An arrow connects photographer location with object location showing the distance and direction from the photographer to the object. Object location can be obtained using one of GTS’ G700SE-M or G700SE-f GPS-enabled digital cameras coupled with a laser range finder. For further geographic analysis, users can export image files into a variety of formats suitable for commonly used mapping applications such as Google Earth, ArcGIS and FalconView.
PhotoGIS also offers image markup and automated reporting capabilities. The user can drag and drop attribute information onto each image in addition to adding notes and simple vector graphics. After images have been imported and edited, the program can automatically populate report templates with the images, GPS location, Zulu date and time, ‘memos’, and any additional notes about the photographs. Reports may be exported to Word, Power Point, PDF and other common document formats. All images and reports are stored in a relational database for maintaining data integrity and allowing for centralized sharing and collaboration.
“ PhotoGIS was developed as a workflow solution focused on simplifying the preparation, collection, analysis and dissemination of photographic intelligence for organizations to easily manage and share that information for internal and external use,” stated Mr. Lushinsky. “Some real world applications that can surely benefit from using PhotoGIS, along with our GPS cameras and modules, include disaster and emergency response, utility asset management, natural resource management, land use planning, law enforcement, border surveillance and security, disaster insurance claims, and a wide range of military ISR applications.” Mr. Lushinsky concluded.