Geospatial Astronauts

Wim Van Wegen在他的最新专栏中写道，为了反映我们行业的不断变化并吸引了急需的未来人才，也许是时候重新品牌的测量师作为“地理空间宇航员”。

众所周知，摄影测量法是一种依赖于照片作为数据源的3D坐标测量技术。摄影测量法中使用的基本原理是三角剖分，几乎与摄影本身一样古老（这是100年前发明的）。就像摄影一样，它已经从模拟技术发展为数字技术，如今是基于数字图像和计算机视觉的。在一个最近的贡献, John Welter, president of geospatial content solutions at Hexagon, provides an interesting recap of airborne photogrammetry’s past, present and future.

从旧的模拟日到我们现代数字化时代的旅程改变了我们周围世界的各个方面。就我个人而言，太空探索的进步是技术进步的一个很好的例证。只要看看自1960年代初以来，我们走了多远，苏联宇航员尤里·加加林（Yuri Gagarin）成为第一个进入外太空之旅的人！他的冒险引发了世界各地无数年轻人的想象力，他们长大后都梦想着成为一名宇航员。然而60年后，在今年年初，实际上只有569人在太空中 - 因此这并不是一个现实的职业选择。

作为地理空间领域,我们可以提供好奇youngsters a more viable alternative. After all, many budding astronauts are attracted by the mystery of exploring new frontiers, combined with pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved using state-of-the-art technology. Photogrammetry is just one example of a technique that has been catapulted by digitization: revived and reinvigorated by the major leaps in computing power, the dazzling performance of today’s imaging sensors and advanced Structure-from-Motion (SfM) techniques, not to mention the growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) to capture the spatial environment over the past decade. And let’s face it, now that drones are becoming a standard part of the surveying toolbox, it’s perfectly feasible that kids of today could end up earning a living as a drone pilot! Technological advancements such as these are rapidly changing the face of our whole industry – and there is still no end in sight. The profession is becoming more vibrant and dynamic than ever thanks to digitization, automation and even robotization – with the robot dog ‘Spot’ just one example of an exciting and attention-grabbing innovation with real-life applications.

And there is no doubt that skilled and qualified personnel will be vital for the geospatial industry in the years ahead. What once was a surveying engineer is now a spatial data manager or a geodata manager, according to Ulrich Hermanski, executive vice president of geopositioning at Topcon, in arecent interview在188金宝搏特邀。无论是在摄影测量法还是其他领域，数字技术都意味着我们现在需要具有正确技能和兴趣的技术意识专业人员来使用所得数据。也许是时候开始将他们称为“地理空间宇航员”了？