The main technologies covered by the license will enable the rapid processing, classification, analysis and extraction of geographic content from satellite and aerial images.

The capability could facilitate the efficient production of new types of mapping content of the natural and man-made environments.

Generating geospatial content

Paul Cruddace, OS Technical Change and Innovation Manager said: “We are always looking for opportunities to improve and increase our data capture and processing capabilities – creating new approaches to generating geospatial content. In accessing and applying technology of this nature, the hope is that it will allow us to further optimise our current operations as well as provide new capabilities and geospatial content to current and future customers.

“It is a great opportunity to partner Dstl. For over two centuries, OS has continuously invested and innovated in new ways to map the environment. We are looking forward to exploring, trialing and hopefully adopting the latest innovations from Dstl and I am excited to see how they can enhance our processes and geospatial content to provide our customers with premier mapping services.”

This licensing agreement will enable Ordnance Survey to assess the technologies initially, in order to determine the potential efficiency benefits and enhancements they offer to gathering mapping data, prior to taking a full license.

Edited from press release by Ella Donaldson

The post Ordnance Survey enhances its aerial mapping technologies appeared first on DevOps Online North America.

The new programme members

Flock: a deep-tech AI company performing Big Data-driven risk analysis for drone flights to create intelligently priced insurance premiums. Flock’s wider vision is to become a drone guidance system, calculating the safest possible flight-paths for drones to fly through congested urban environments. Flock’s path-optimisation platform allows commercial operators (from individual aerial photographers to large-scale autonomous fleets such as Amazon Prime Air) to dynamically route flights around (rather than directly over) congested spaces, busy intersections, poor weather, etc.

Signalbox: radical new smartphone technology that uses map data to intelligently anticipate a user’s needs as they navigate urban spaces. This allows apps to offer relevant information to users based on their changing needs, bringing them highly valuable support at every moment of their journey. Our product will benefit numerous different kinds of apps, including map apps, such as Google and Apple maps, and navigation apps for people with sight loss.

Go Jauntly: nature-loving city dwellers whose free, community-based app, invites you into a world of outdoor adventure. Find local walks created by the people who love and know them, and create and share your own with friends.

What does membership mean?

The three businesses will receive:

• 6 months of financial support from day one.
• 1:1s, workshops, master classes and events.
• Bespoke developer and business support.
• Access to software, technology and geospatial data.
• Expert support from industry leaders.
• Resident member status at the Geovation Hub, London

During the first six months of the programme, participants develop their ideas to prototype stage. They benefit from £10,000 of funding and commit to spending twenty hours per week on their project. At this point the prototype is assessed for its commercial viability. If the Geovation team decide it has, the following six months are spent creating a product and launching it, assisted with a further £10,000 funding.

Alex Wrottesley, Head of Geovation, says: “We’re very pleased with the businesses we have selected for the next Programme. They’re an interesting mix and we look forward to giving them our full support.”

The products

Flock founder Antton Peña, started his career designing concept cars for Audi. He says: “We got to know Geovation through one of OS’s partners who introduced us to Alex. We came for an initial visit, loved it, and we’ve been working in the Hub ever since. Since we joined Geovation our progress has accelerated and we’ve managed to get two big drone insurance providers aboard.”

Signalbox founder Toby Webb, has been a consultant for the European Space Agency, conducting feasibility tests for manned and robotic missions to both Mars and the Moon in the timeframe 2020 to 2040. He says: “Our product is underpinned by map data. Geovation’s specialist expertise will help us optimise our algorithms and rapidly bring the product to market. The product is capitalising on the increasing demand for contextual app behaviour, seen as key to the new generation of urban apps, which includes games, such as Pokémon Go; and map apps. Currently over 500 million people worldwide regularly use apps in urban spaces and we see them, along with the numerous transport and urban centric app producing firms, as our total addressable market.

Steve Johnson, co-founder of Go Jauntly and OS printed map enthusiast said: “There’s nothing that rivals Ordnance Survey when it comes to mapping, so we’re really excited to have won a place on the Geovation Programme. Our app, Go Jauntly, is all about enabling people to discover local walks as a way to enjoy where they live and get some exercise easily and for free. Ultimately we want to create a community where people share their walks with friends and other locals. With that as our aim, it’s easy to see why we fit in nicely with the overall Geovation and Ordnance Survey vision and mission.”

In just over a year Geovation has:

• 700 members regularly attending the Hub to use its spaces and resources
• 40 SMEs basing themselves at the Hub
• 11 start-ups through the Geovation Programme
• Strategic partners include Intel, IBM, DSTL, Nominet, Springwise, OGC, KPMG, and Dorsey.
• GeoSpock – one of the first members of Geovation, using the Hub to build their business and validate what they are doing – secured £3.5M in investment
• FATMAP – Came to the Hub in the summer of 2015 needing somewhere to establish themselves and take their 3D ski maps to market. They went live with their product in December and went out to a web summit in Ireland. The team worked closely with FATMAP on their pitch and presentation, which resulted in raising £1M of bridge finance and growing from 3 to 8 employees
• 3 Crowd Cube successes – Stay Safe raised £400,000, OpenPlay raised £150,000 and Store Mates is closing in on raising £150,000

Edited from press release by Jordan Platt

The post Geovation: next generation of programme members appeared first on DevOps Online North America.

Start-up support for developers

The Programme is aimed at developers, entrepreneurs and innovators to take their ideas and build them into real businesses.

The Geovation team work closely with the teams and invest funding, resources and developer time to help them build their businesses ready for market.

The Hub itself provides a range of resources geared towards helping them develop their businesses. This includes desk space, coaching and mentoring, access to OS and partner data, developer support, access to software, legal and professional support and other services that can be hard to secure when you’re first starting out.

The Programme is divided into four phases: Phases one to three are over a period of six months, where Programme members receive a total of £10,000 in funding. If a prototype is successfully delivered at the end of this, phase four kicks in, which is a further six months on the Programme with an additional £10,000 in funding.

Establishing GeoTech

Head of Geovation, Alex Wrottesley, says: “There are a lot of places for start-ups to get support in London, but it’s vital to find a Programme that offers the focused support a business needs. By focusing on our area of expertise we’re able to offer deep industry and technical knowledge which is unique.

“Providing dedicated development resource is something very few places offer and it means the businesses we select can get things started faster and they can move further than they otherwise would have been able to. To the start-up community in general, the Geovation Hub adds a new dimension.”

Alex continues: “Our goal is to establish GeoTech as a concept the same way people think of FinTech. So if you’re doing something where geospatial data is important to your location, or place, or you want to look at analysis of how things are presented well, you go to Geovation.”

Applications for the Geovation Programme can be submitted online and must be submitted by 17 August 2016.

Edited from press release by Cecilia Rehn.

The post The Ordnance Survey looks to mentor the next PokémonGo-style start-ups appeared first on DevOps Online North America.

Getting ready for DevOps

Keith Watson, Agile Delivery Manager at Ordnance Survey, will be a speaker at this year’s National DevOps Conference. He will be presenting on: ‘Chance Favours The Prepared Mind – Getting Ready For DevOps.’

When discussing his upcoming talk, Watson says, “I’ll be mentioning some hints and tips on implementing DevOps based on our experience at Ordnance Survey. In particular, how to make the first steps on the DevOps journey, how to present a compelling business case to convince stakeholders to invest in ideas and how to work with the politics of an organisation.”

He continues, “I’ll be using specific real world examples from what we’ve achieved at Ordnance Survey over the past three years.”

Keith Watson, Agile Delivery Manager, Ordnance Survey, will be presenting on: ‘Chance Favours The Prepared Mind – Getting Ready For DevOps’ at The National DevOps Conference.

Key takeaways from the presentation

“Get to know your stakeholders, in particular, the people who will use the service that you’re providing and those who approve project funding,” said Watson when asked about what he would like attendees to take away from his talk. In terms of incorporating DevOps into your organisation, Watson said, “often people think they need approval for a big project, but my advice is to just get started because you will learn as you go.”

The presentation will also take attendees through the type of people you need on your team; how to grow the capability of your team and how important it is to demonstrate regular progress to create positive stories to overcome objections.

Why is DevOps important to incorporate within organisations?

The culture and methods of DevOps is being adopted by many organisations because they are demonstrating real business value by saving time, increasing productivity and improving speed to market of new ideas.

Discussing why DevOps should be integral to an organisation, Watson said “because of the need to have specialist skills in an IT organisation to deliver software, barriers between development and operations can build up very easily. The way to develop modern software is by having these teams work together. You can achieve this using a combination of culture change, business transformation and DevOps automation philosophy.”

Why attend The National DevOps Conference?

The National DevOps Conference provides an ideal environment for learning, networking and developing skills.

Watson spoke on why people should attend industry conferences surrounding niche topics, such as DevOps, and said: “If you’ve started DevOps and stalled a bit or are struggling to start, then you should attend.”

He went on to finally say, “some of my stories might resonate and [you] might come away with ideas on how to move DevOps forward in your organisation.”

Written by Jordan Platt

The post Learning DevOps success from the Ordnance Survey at The National DevOps Conference appeared first on DevOps Online North America.