Visualization

Vehicle detection and tracking is a common use for manned and unmanned airborne video systems particularly the new class of wide area persistent surveillance systems. This presentation discusses a technique for near real-time vehicle detection and tracking using open source tools such as Opticks and OpenCV. A combination of existing techniques was adapted for use with high spatial resolution and low temporal resolution data.

The Embrapa Agricultural Informatics, decentralized unit of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), is developing a system for environmental regulation and licensing, called SISLA - Interactive System Support for Environmental Licensing. At first, the system is being used by the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and the peculiarities of the system to specifically meet this state are being developed in partnership with the Environment Institute of Mato Grosso do Sul (Imasul).

The SISLA was conceived with the use of free or open source tools, such as PostgreSQL and its spatial extension PostGIS, MapServer and i3Geo. Among its main features, stand out the analysis of georeferenced surrounding farms applicants for environmental licensing for projects; queries georeferenced of licensing procedures; and technical analysis of the licensing process. The first allows enterprising to check, quickly and simply by the Internet, the proximity or intersection of​ your property in relation to protected areas by the state government. The second allows managers to monitor the evolution of state licensing processes in the various municipalities that comprise the state. Finally, the third allows a visual analysis of the areas of licensing applicants for technical expertise as well as its comparison with other themes, including satellite imagery, in order to find irregularities that might impede the continuity of the process.

This paper discusses advances in the development of a software environment with capabilities for accessing, utilising and incorporating geospatial data and processes into the scientific workflows of researchers interested in incorporating earth observation and geospatial analysis into their work. In previous work [McFerren et. al. 2010], we introduced the concept of geospatially-enabled scientific workflows; this paper shares progress made, insights gained and future research avenues exposed in the process of implementing EO4Vistrails (http://code.google.com/p/eo4vistrails/), a geospatial extension to the open-source VisTrails scientific workflow, provenance management, data exploration and visualization system (http://www.vistrails.org). FOSS4G software and toolsets are heavily used in EO4Vistrails to provide spatial database, OGC Web Service, geospatial analysis, data transformation and visualization capabilites. We identify the reasons for the suitability and usefulness of spatial databases in scientific workflows, in the context of wildfire research, noting, for example, that (spatial) SQL provides a clear provenance mechanism and a means to distribute processing tasks. Regarding OGC Web Services, we report that certain services are readily implemented into scientific workflows, notably the WFS and WCS, since the kinds of data they work with are well supported by many tools and applications. Other services are more difficult to incorporate: the SOS outputs data that are difficult to translate into formats acceptable to most scientific software; the WPS is very generic, increasing the challenge of developing workflow modules that can handle dynamically the variability of inputs and outputs that can be expected for a WPS.