Bluesky Maps Solar Potential of 100,000 Properties

Working with resource efficiency company Sustain, Bluesky has mapped around 100,000 Housing Association properties across the UK, measuring their potential for energy generation from solar panels.

Using a combination of high resolution aerial photography and detailed 3D models, Bluesky can accurately predict the potential for solar energy generation for individual houses based on a number of factors, including roof size and aspect as well as possible interference from neighbouring properties or trees. Sustain uses this information to prepare detailed reports for its Housing Association clients containing cost benefit analysis and, more recently, highlighting potential impact on fuel poverty avoidance.

“By using Bluesky’s solar potential maps, we can assess more properties across wider areas than would otherwise be possible,” commented Matthew Landick, Associate at Sustain. “We can then use this information to identify potential PV installation programmes based on geography, cost, and benefit to the Housing Association or even the resident. In recent projects we have also used this data to assess the impact of a solar installation on fuel poverty avoidance.

“The geographical outputs from Bluesky allow us to create far more interactive and user friendly deliverables for our clients than simply providing figures and spreadsheets, and enable us to analyse and aggregate the results in a more useful way, supporting decision making when taking works forward.”

Bluesky has a unique method of generating solar potential maps, using photogrammetric techniques to accurately measure and record factors that may contribute to the suitability of a property for photovoltaic (a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation) systems. Bluesky calculates the energy potential using high resolution aerial photography combined with 3D models of the earth’s surface to determine the size, aspect and gradient of each roof in the study area. The suitability of each roof is also considered, taking into account sharp angles and other impediments, such as sky lights or dormer windows. Potential obstructions, such as nearby buildings or trees, can also be identified and mapped. This data is combined with a given panel size to determine the number of potential panels and an estimate of solar irradiation.

Using the Bluesky generated measurements, Sustain calculate the potential yield of each property based on the number of panels, provided by Bluesky, and the recorded roof aspect and slope. The algorithms used by Sustain also take into account the location of the property to normalise the calculation from optimum or maximum to a realistic ‘expected’ or average yield.

Contacts:
Reader enquiries to Bluesky on tel +44 (0)1530 518 518

www.bluesky-world.com

Source

Solution Frequency-Based Procedure for Automated Registration of Terrestrial Laser Scans Using Linear Features

Authors: Kaleel Al-Durgham, Ayman Habib, Mehdi Mazaheri

Abstract

Over the last decade, terrestrial laser scanner systems have been proven to be an effective tool for the acquisition of 3D spatial information over physical surfaces. Many factors such as the low cost and the ability of rapidly collecting dense and accurate spatial data led to the utilization of laser scanners in different applications such as industrial sites modeling, 3D documentation of buildings, and many civilian and military needs. Usually, a complete 3D model for a given site cannot be derived from a single scan. Therefore, several scans with significant overlap are needed to cover the entire site and also to attain better information about the site than what could be obtained from a single scan. However, the collected scans will be referenced to different local frames that are associated with the individual scanner locations. Hence, a registration process, which aims at estimating the 3D-Helmert transformation parameters, should be established to realign the different scans to a common reference frame. This paper introduces a new methodology for the automatic registration of terrestrial laser scans using linear features. Linear, cylindrical, and pole-like features are directly extracted from the scans through a region-growing procedure. Hypothesized conjugates of linear features are identified using invariant separation characteristics such as spatial separation and angular deviation between two linear features. All the hypothesized conjugate pairs – taken one at a time – are used to estimate the 3D-Helmert transformation parameters that are required to realign one scan to the reference coordinate system of another scan. Logically, only the right conjugate pairs among the hypothesized matches will lead to similar solutions of the transformation parameters. Therefore, we developed a strategy to detect the most frequent set of estimated parameters. A linear mathematical model that utilizes quaternions to represent rotation angles is used to simplify the estimation of the transformation parameters. Experiments will assess the performance of the proposed methodology over multiple scans of a power plant.

For full text and source, click here.

CloudCities released - A 3D YouTube For Your Smart City

“CloudCities puts your city at your fingertips, making complex decisions easier, smarter and a lot more magical. It’s an ever-growing family of innovative cloud apps that lets you design, monitor and manage your city right from your web browser. CloudCities evolves to become an integral part of your work, adapting to your processes and supporting you in making your city a better place.” says Antje Kunze, CEO of SmarterBetterCities.

CloudCities is an intuitive 3D city service with features for community engagement, easy city data sharing and analytics. Think of it as a YouTube for your 3D city models. Stakeholders can easily explore new city developments and observe existing places they live, work and visit. Dashboards provide detailed information about space allocation, energy consumption and costs. Stakeholders can contribute valuable feedback instantly, start discussions and suggest new proposals even during public hearings or from home. All they need to do is access CloudCities using a regular web browser on tablets, smartphones or regular desktop computers. No additional software installation is required. CloudCities’ content can be completely self-operated and published directly by the planning/development authorities or private contractors. Users can upload their planning content (geospatial and building information) and even link live sensor data from smart devices. Design scenarios can be shared for public engagement and as-built content can be easily utilized for typical tasks in facility management or for real estate brokerage. To sign up please visit https://cloudciti.es.

SmarterBetterCities is a fast growing 3D web startup with eight full time positions based in Zurich, Switzerland and Redlands, California next to the Esri headquarters, the leading provider of GIS software in the world. SmarterBetterCities participates in the Esri Startup Program and develops its products on Esri’s ArcGIS technology. SmarterBetterCities has a high-profile customer base using CloudCities on a daily basis. Prominent customers include the State of Oregon, Harvard University, City of Zurich, AECOM, Sika, Foster+Partners, among others. SmarterBetterCities continuous to actively extend its technology to serve new market segments, such as real estate and facility planning.

Over the last two-and-a-half years, SmarterBetterCities received more than $2.25 million in seed funding and from commercial activities for the development of CloudCities. CloudCities has been previously available as a beta product since December 2014. So far it has generated over 12’000 views and attracted more than 200 publishers that create and manage 3D cities on a daily basis.



More information:

SmarterBetterCities:

http://www.smarterbettercities.ch

https://cloudciti.es



Esri Startup Program:

https://developers.arcgis.com/en/startups/

http://www.esri.com/

Contact:

Antje Kunze, CEO
SmarterBetterCities
301 9th Street, Redlands, CA 92374
Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zürich
Email Contact
http://www.smarterbettercities.ch

Source