2 Dec 2019
Current knowledge of the environment and its effect on Australian Defence operations is crucial in today’s modern world – geospatial information can now be directly harvested using algorithms that ‘see’ features in satellite imagery.

We are excited to announce Urbis’ successful partnership with the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) 2020 AGO Labs Program, coordinated through FrontierSI.

Urbis, together with the Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML), have been engaged to focus on machine learning techniques to assess automated imagery analysis, including automated object classification. What this means is using computer vision techniques to identify real world ‘features’ or ‘objects’ in images.

This presents an exciting opportunity for Urbis to develop innovative ways to support information sharing that may improve Federal-level Government processes. In turn, offering a faster and more efficient way of translating satellite image data to effectively aid national management and security efforts.

One of the AGO’s selected novel capability challenges is the provision of low-cost automated object identification models. Urbis’ engagement will explore the use of automated object identification capabilities to complement existing imagery exploitation processes. Specifically, defining algorithms to ‘see’ objects such as planes and cranes in satellite images and ensuring that these algorithms can correctly identify these features.

Urbis’ National Spatial Manager Alistair Towers, said, “this is a fantastic opportunity to take innovation in computer vision techniques and share that knowledge across business, academia and government. Our clients will benefit from these advances in PropTech / algorithms through access to richer data, to ensure they are truly informed in the shortest possible time”.

Learn more on AGO Labs HERE

Our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and services keeps the wheels of the property market turning – get in touch with our specialist #cityshaper team to find out the latest insights.

Alistair Towers View Profile