NORTH KINGSTOWN – Hexagon AB, headquartered in Sweden but which has its Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence division commercial operation headquarters in North Kingstown’s Quonset Business Park, has announced a contract for its Geosystems division.
The contract with the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, or BKG, is to provide a homogeneous, comprehensive digital surface model for Germany. The data is provided via a licensed, geospatial data service from Hexagon called the HxGN Content Program, according to a company statement.
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The digital surface model can be used not only by government agencies but also by telecommunication providers, utilities, transportation networks and insurance companies, Hexagon said. The data is also used in the digital industry to extract features as a base map for the self-driving automobile industry, for example. As it generates from the same data source, Hexagon also provides aerial imagery to correlate with the digital surface model.
The BKG has data sets with general height information of the Earth’s surface across its entire federal territory. But as they are generated from different source data, they can vary from state to state. According to Hexagon, an up-to-date, homogeneous and high-resolution digital surface model is needed by organizations operating across state borders, such as the Federal Agency for Technical Relief and the German Air Traffic Control, for example.
The data must also be high quality in terms of positional and vertical accuracy, resolution, currency and flexible licensing options for the federal government, the states, European and international organizations, Hexagon said.
John Welter, president of geospatial content solutions at Hexagon, calls this the first digital surface model of its kind to support sovereign federal tasks. “With the HxGN Content Program’s extensive coverage across Europe and North America, we can offer these and additional aerial data products to other countries as well,” he said in a statement.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
