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Doughlings: Arcade Review
October 8, 2018 October 8, 2018 Ollie Reynolds
More like 'doh-lings', amirite?
Doughlings: Arcade is a brick-breaking puzzle game starring Doctor Morpheus, a clever little ball of dough who just happens to be the only healthy inhabitant of his nation. You see, after a meteor crash lands on the planet, a poisonous gas leaks out, infecting the poor doughlings and sending them into a frenzy. As Doctor Morpheus, it's up to you to heal them and bring peace back to a world of chaos.
Sounds promising, right? Well, sadly Doughlings: Arcade cannot back up its interesting premise with engaging gameplay, but rather delivers an experience that is frustrating and repetitive in equal measure. Packed with 75 levels across its campaign, it certainly doesn't skimp on content, but when it becomes boring after the first few missions, what's the point?
Those yellow doughlings look how I feel.
Gameplay is pretty basic for the most part. You control Doctor Morpheus by moving him horizontally across the bottom of the screen. You initially aim your ball (I guess it's supposed to be medicine) either left or right and tap Y to chuck it in that direction. After that, you simply need to move into its path to keep the momentum going. The 'bricks' in the game are you fellow doughlings, and their colour represents how sick they are: yellow ones are positively sick to their stomachs, green are feeling a tad better, and blue would be the equivalent of a slight sniffle. So what this means is that if you hit a yellow doughling, it'll turn green. Hit it again and it'll turn blue. You get the drift.
Once the doughlings have been healed, they'll float up to the sky and the screen will gradually clear as you heal more and more. To mix up the gameplay slightly, you'll see a mini thumbs-up float down toward you every time you hit a blue doughling. Collecting these lights up some stage lights to the left and right of the screen. Collect enough of them and you'll activate 'show time', which allows you to unleash an effective ability. For example, the 'coloured ball' ability heals all doughlings of the same colour, so long as they're adjacent to one another. Or, you can use the 'thunderclap' ability, which heals every doughling on the screen – if you have a bunch of blue ones when you activate this ability, it's genuinely quite satisfying to watch them all float up in one go.
You can also edit your own levels, using the touch screen to place the doughlings on the screen.
This sounds great in theory, but the game is just so darn slow. It takes ages to clear the screen of doughlings, and to make matters even worse, it's next to impossible to accurately hit the ball in the desired direction, which means you could potentially spend an unnecessary amount of time hitting it back and forth without actually hitting anything.
On top of the boring, repetitive gameplay, Doughlings: Arcade features the most incessantly annoying music for quite some time. Again, it's repetitive, and it's been stuck in my head for all the wrong reasons. Visually though, I don't have too much to complain about: it's functional, and it's achieved what I assume it set out to do, in this regard. My only other main issue is that it just feels like a mobile game, which for the Switch, is not a good thing in my eyes.
Doughlings Arcade
Doughlings: Arcade is a functional brick-breaking game that means well, but its execution is poor and leads to repetitive gameplay.
Reviews Brick Breaker, Doughlings: Arcade, Eshop, Hero Concept, Puzzle
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The Optimist Oratorical Contest is conducted every year by Optimist International, with competitions taking place at each local chapter. A male and female participant is selected by school officials at each of the Redlands high schools, based on the merits of speeches they have written on the standard topic chosen by Optimist International in a given year. The selected students attend a luncheon at the Redlands Optimist club and present their speeches before the members and a judging panel. First, second, and third places are awarded to both male and female participants, with medals and cash prizes given by the club. The first place winners go on to compete at higher levels of the Optimist structure, and if successful reach the district level where they will compete for $2500 scholarships as well as plaques and certificates of achievement.


In this post, we will provide information about all renewals/cancellations and new shows in 2014-2015 season. We'll be updating this list as shows get Renewed/Cancelled and when Pilot shows are ordered to Series. If you find any errors or omissions or have any questions, please let us know in the comments below.
How about MTV's "Awkward" and "Faking It"?
When you will refresh the list with updates about all the TV Showes?
I continually update as new information.
Star-Crossed renewed? Really? In May they said CW cancelled it. Where did you find this info? I can't find any confirmation.
Any info about new series The Librarians?


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Oklahoma State to host National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair
Oklahoma State University's Wes Watkins Center in Stillwater. The National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair will be held there April 6.(Photo: @okstate_SGSP, OSU School of Global Studies and Partnerships Twitter)
byPress Pool
Feb 15, 2019 -edited
Onsite fair April 6 will add to participating students' experience and offer virtual participation for remote students
The National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair is getting a physical location at Oklahoma State University in April.
The fair will be April 6 at the Wes Watkins Center in Stillwater. The onsite fair will add to the participating students' experience while still offering virtual participation for students in remote locations. The OSU location will also offer space for students to engage with American Indian culture, interact with STEM professionals, mentors and peers, and tour STEM facilities on campus.
The onsite fair at Oklahoma State University is limited to only 200 participants. The deadline to register is February 23, with a deadline for abstract submissions on March 1. Learn more and register at fairs.aises.org/naivsef.
The event is a pre-college program of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, where American Indian students in fifth through 12th grades present science and engineering research. Senior division participants — ninth through 12th grades — could win free trips to the International Science and Engineering Fair in May in Phoenix, with travel and registration paid by the society. The fair supports American Indian students in discovering, pursuing and sustaining interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The need for fairs like this one is twofold, said Cara Cowan Watts, president of the Oklahoma Professional Chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, who earned her doctorate in biosystems engineering from Oklahoma State University in 2015.
"Science fairs in general are needed to inspire our students to learn technical skills earlier," she said. "But we need a place for science fairs in Indian country, focused on our Indian students. American Indian students still face discrimination, so they need a positive, encouraging environment that will challenge them to take on STEM careers."
"As a higher education institution, when we look at the number of STEM graduates across the nation, we note that there is a deficiency of students of color, including American Indian students, earning STEM degrees," said Dr. Jason Kirksey, director of Oklahoma State University's Department of Institutional Diversity. "This science fair presents an opportunity to deepen and sustain the interests of a community of students who are underrepresented and underserved in STEM disciplines."
In addition to expanding Oklahoma State University's commitment to diversity and inclusion, hosting the fair is an opportunity for OSU to fulfill principles of its land-grant mission, Kirksey said: "The lives of citizens in the state, the nation and the world are improved through STEM research and advancements."
Interaction is important for sustaining interest in STEM fields, said Dr. Jovette Dew, assistant vice president for Institutional Diversity and director of Diversity Academic Support and TRIO programs.
"When I send our college students to national conferences where they see other minority students who are studying science, engineering or technology, they come back empowered to complete their studies," she said. "I'm a firm believer in an on-campus science fair. It's an opportunity for students to be there and talk with judges one on one."
To support the National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair, visit osugiving.com or contact Jeromie Tucker at 405-385-0736.
2020 American Indian Science and Engineering Society Leadership Summit
EditorPress Pool
Eve's Fund president to speak about ThinkFirst Navajo at national injury prevention webinar
52nd Annual California Native American Day
Indigenous everything. A list of Indigenous Peoples Day events.
Reporter, ProducerJourdan Bennett-Begaye
'Warrior Women' documentary screening and reception February 20
Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum announces new timeline exhibit
30th anniversary screening of Powwow Highway to raise funds for Pueblo Film Fest
Norwegian Sami singer and activist Mari Boine returns to the States for a Fall tour
Métis Nation to host a conversation on minorities in Canada
'A View from the Ridge' features a Native American family's complex history

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Nikolas Katsigiannis (Werne, 17 de septiembre de 1982) es un jugador de balonmano alemán, de origen griego, que juega de portero en el TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke. Es internacional con la selección de balonmano de Alemania.

Palmarés

HSG Nordhorn-Lingen

 Copa EHF (1): 2008

Clubes

  Ahlener SG (2002-2005)
  Eintracht Hildesheim (2005-2007)
  HSG Nordhorn-Lingen (2007-2009)
  GWD Minden (2009-2010)
  TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (2010-2012)
  HBW Balingen-Weilstetten (2012-2014)
  HC Erlangen (2014-2015)
  THW Kiel (2015-2016)
  HC Erlangen (2016-2020)
  Rhein-Neckar Löwen (2020-2022)
  TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke (2022- )

Referencias

Balonmanistas de Alemania

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


ATypI 2003 conference, Vancouver, Canada, September 25-28. "Between Text and Reader": meet, listen to lectures, view presentations and participate in workshops — all about type.
ATypI's conferences, held annually in cities throughout the world, give typographers and type lovers a chance to meet, listen to lectures, view presentations and participate in workshops — all about type. The 2003 ATypI conference was held on September 25–28 in the wonderfully located city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The conference program was put together by John Hudson and Ross Mills — two Canadian type designers who run their company Tiro Typeworks in Vancouver where they are, in the words of poet-typophile Robert Bringhurst, "living out Frederic Goudy's dream". The keynote speech and four plenary sessions were addressed to all 260 participants and took place in the Westin Bayshore hotel. Three remaining days of the conference, divided into three parallel lecture tracks, were hosted at Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. The conference organizers were certainly lucky with the weather — they could not remember such a warm September.
The main theme of the conference was "Between Text and Reader", and that theme was a very well-chosen one. It was no less than the same Robert Bringhurst, who held the keynote speech on Thursday evening. He drove the audience to a state of contemplation with his strong sonorous voice, when he talked of "tangibility of meaning", his lyrical, metaphorical definition of the "book", and how we all lose by declaring as illiterate those forms of discourse which are not literally books.
Two design giants started Friday morning's plenary sessions: Erik Spiekermann and Roger Black enjoy a rock star-like status. Both do large projects — Black designs newspapers, magazines and websites while Spiekermann excels in corporate identities and complex signage systems. So it was no surprise when both stars gave spirited and fascinating talks about what they do best: Black about newspaper typography and Spiekemann about "information design". Scheduling Spiekermann after Black had a practical advantage — in the event of Roger running overtime, the organizers could count on Erik's unique ability to deliver the same speech in half the time by simply doubling the speed (without losing any content).
The last plenary session was delivered by the most elegant among type designers, Dutch typographer Gerard Unger. He attempted to discover the essence of the national character of individual typefaces. He analyzed the style of typefaces in already established typographic tradition (in France, Germany, the Netherlands, USA/California) and drew particular attention to the new trends (in Denmark, Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic).
Friday evening could not come without an entertaining annual tradition: the ATypI auction, charmingly run by ATypI president Mark Batty, where conference participants bid for books, posters and other typographic paraphernalia donated by ATypI members. The income from the event supports ATypI's budget.
On Saturday morning, Shelley Gruendler's speech about Beatrice Warde, one of the most prominent women of the 20th century typographic world, attracted great interest. But Saturday's hit was Kevin Larson of Microsoft Corp., who presented the scientific analysis of the way the brain and eye transforms information when reading text. The speech stirred up enormous interest among participants and led to a subsequent stormy discussion that continued after the conference on the members' e-mail discussion list.
The problem of typographic conferences is the need to make painful choices between which lectures to attend: all the time, I had to decide which of three simultaneous tracks to attend. On Saturday afternoon I chose a series of lectures on Arabic typography, during which Yasmine Nashabe Taan, Nadine Chahine and Thomas Milo introduced the audience to the historical, cultural, graphical and technical aspects of this field. This series ended with a very lively discussion about Arabic typeface design.
Wrong is he who thinks that ATypI members attend conferences only because they want to listen to the lectures. Equally important is the opportunity to meet friends, chat, laugh and enjoy time together. An annual ATypI tradition is the gala dinner, which this year was held at the Bridges restaurant on Granville Island. Conference visitors enjoyed the excellent light food, and wine. Some engaged in discussions, others danced on the parquet floor. Later, the gala evening slowly moved to other parts of the city, to pubs, bars. The Westin security guards were rather unhappy to find as many as thirty people in one hotel room — I only had a short sleep that night, from five to eight in the morning.
On Sunday morning, new software applications were presented: Adobe's all-new Illustrator CS, loaded with Unicode and OpenType, and new font applications by FontLab Ltd: TransType Pro, FontFlasher and Photofonts. Later, I enjoyed some lectures on international typography. Victor Gaultney of SIL International took me on "a journey through the world of accents", when he compactly and convincingly showed the results of his research into diacritic characters. Gerry Leonidas of the University of Reading explained the problems in polytonic Greek design. Finally, John Hudson and Martin Mendelsberg allowed the audience to enter the mystery of Hebrew typography.
At the end, I felt that the Vancouver conference was an exceptional event — but in fact, I have the same feeling after every ATypI conference. Each time, it broadens my horizons, injects me with fresh knowledge and energy, but above all, helps me to make new friends as well as meet old ones. And, there's always a "goody bag", too! It includes a lof of printed material and special keepsakes, which made the loss of my luggage on the flight back all the more galling! This year's hit was the conference mascot Shamus, a wild-looking guy inspired by early Canadian art, cast by Jim Rimmer on a block of 48 pt metal type.
I think time has come for ATypI to come to Central Europe (my own region of origin). In September 2004, ATypI invites you to Prague — the exciting capital of the Czech Republic!
Founded in 1957, Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) is a worldwide organisation dedicated to type and typography. ATypI provides the structure for communication, information and action within the international type community. More details can be found at http://www.atypi.org.
Adam Twardoch is typographic consultant at MyFonts.com. He specializes in international typography and OpenType font technology. He is ATypI coutry delegate for Poland and member of the ATypI Board.
* An extended version of this article was published in print in the Czech TYPO bi-monthly magazine issue 05/2003.


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China's role in Africa elicits debate
By AGGREY MUTAMBO
The dust on the Focus on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac) Summit held in Beijing earlier this month may have died down.
But the impact of decisions made there have elicited a rigorous debate on China's role on the continent.
Gathered at a hall in Nairobi last week, experts in international trade, development policy and foreign aid and relations pored over the debate on whether financial aid from Beijing is trapping Africa or providing the much-needed keys out of the jails of poverty.
At the Focac Summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his African colleagues that his country would be pumping another Sh6 trillion into the continent.
It was in addition to a similar amount announced at a previous summit in 2015, doubling Beijing's financial commitment to Sh12 trillion in just 36 months.
This amount is twice what Japan, through a similar programme called the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad), has sent to Africa since 2012.
The money from China would have "no political strings attached", Xi said, and that there will be no interference in African countries' internal affairs; no imposition "of our will on African countries" and "no seeking of selfish political gains" in investment and financing cooperation with Africa.
But that pledge created both support and criticism.
Supporters view the pledge as China's continued move to fill a vacuum – supporting the continent where Western development partners were either reducing or tightening conditions for help.
Opponents on the other hand saw this as a bid to tie down the continent into massive debt, trapping its inhabitants to be slaves for Beijing.
For example, the US National Defence Strategy for 2018 accuses Beijing of "predatory economic practices" targeting neighbours and other vulnerable countries.
Critics in Kenya amplified their view after it emerged that Nairobi had not yet secured financing to build the standard gauge railway to Kisumu and that the Chinese were now assessing actual feasibility first before committing their money.
It also came amid stringent tax proposals like the VAT on petroleum products, tax on airtime and mobile money transfers as well as cutting down on spending.
So what is the true picture?
Africa is the biggest recipient of China's foreign aid, taking nearly 52 percent of it between 2000 and 2012, according to the China-Africa Research Initiative. It would have loaned Africa Sh12 trillion by 2021, according to FOCAC.
At Sh534 billion, Beijing is one of the major creditors to Kenya but not the biggest.
Yet in Nairobi, the discussants at the forum organised by the Africa Policy Institute (Api) debated whether China should be blamed for loaning Kenya or Africa.
Development economist Anzetse Were told the audience that Africa's debt debate should first relook at governance issues.
"China is already playing its role (in providing financial aid); it is time for African governments to seize their decision-making power," argued the Business Daily columnist who charged that as long as ordinary folks in Africa are kept in the dark about the nature of financing deals their leaders enter into, it is Africa to blame, not China, when debt mounts.
In an earlier paper published by the South African Institute of International Affairs, Ms Were had argued that implying China plies clueless African governments with debt fails to acknowledge that African nations are aware of these debt obligations.
"Indeed, arguing that China is manipulating African governments into debt confers a childlike innocence on African governments," she said.
Chinese officials say their foreign aid to Africa has seen the construction of 6,200km of railroad and 5,000km of highways.
Between 2000 and 2017, a study by the Africa Policy Institute found China extended $136 billion (Sh13.6 trillion) to African governments and their enterprises in the form of official development aid, export credit, suppliers' credit and commercial credit. The China Africa Research Initiative shows these loans were non-concessional.
API CEO, Prof Peter Kagwanja, who moderated the forum, argued that Africa should see Chinese loans as some form of Marshall Plan, and use it in a way similar to the US post-World War II financial assistance to Europe, to ensure infrastructure it builds is supported by policies to break trade barriers and ensure it borrows as much technology as possible from China.
Yet that mounting debt has caused problems in Africa.
Angola, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan account for over half of Chinese lending in Africa with Angola and Congo-Brazzaville having reviewed their debt plans with China after it became difficult to repay routinely.
Zambia and Ethiopia are in discussions for the same but China is taking over Zambia's power utility firm, Zesco, after Lusaka defaulted on $8.7billion (Sh870 billion) worth of Chinese loans.
Djibouti is facing similar predicament.
But Chinese Charge de Affairs Li Xuhang argued Africa to see a "bigger picture", not just in terms of debt.
"The debt itself is not guilty. What matters is whether the debt is used for the country's building, or for corruption or abused," he argued.
"Second, the debt burden of African countries is not the fault of China. The debts of Kenyan and other African countries were accumulated into a big burden for historic and complicated reasons," he added.
Africa's economy used to rely on the West, he said.
The loans from Europe, he argued, are seldom used in infrastructure but for short-term programmes like health or education or governance.
Beijing, is therefore plugging a hole by providing "first bucket of gold" in the beginning.
"Some countries seized their "gold" by wars or colonisation in the past. China and African countries are all victims of colonisation, and we will never follow their ways of collecting money," he said
According to latest figures from the Treasury, the World Bank is now the biggest creditor to Kenya at Sh581 billion and other countries like France, Japan, Belgium, UK, Netherlands, Finland and German all have fractions of bilateral debt with Kenya.
Mr David Owiro, a trade policy consultant in the Ministry of Trade, argued that the source of debt should be the least of worries, it should be how policies are developed to use the money.
"Regional policies need to be coherent so we can translate it into an African agenda. China is coming to Africa more a complimentary than the traditional support so we need to develop a path to sustainability."
But China's critics cite the low trade volumes for Africans as a contributor to the situation of indebtedness. For example, Kenya imported Sh390 billion worth of goods, mainly machinery and material for construction, and sold only Sh10 billion to Beijing in 2017.
The Chinese official responded that the situation is affected by the global market fluctuations which have increased the cost of financing Africa and the fact that Africa exports mainly raw materials whose international prices never change or are mostly controlled by middlemen.
"China's financing to Kenya and Africa is not a trap. African countries including Kenya, now in a period of rising development, are making efforts to realise industrialisation, economic diversification and modernisation."
"At the request of Africa, China and Africa have agreed to identify cooperation projects to help Africa overcome development bottlenecks," the Chinese charge de affairs said.
But China, he added, will conduct thorough feasibility studies for selection of projects, and take into full consideration the supporting development of the projects after their completion.
Glad tidings as Raila hosts Unaitas Sacco board for breakfast in Bondo
I have no problem with Zari Hassan – Entertainment – Pulselive.co.ke


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May 2016 | 4 Comments
The paper presents the results of scaling up the use of UAV technology for registration of property rights in the Republic of Kosovo, while showing practical challenges faced and lessons learned
Prof Dr Murat MEHA
CEO, Kosovo Cadastral Agency, a University Professor and Head of the state Border Demarcation Commission, Kosovo
Kathrine Kelm
Senior Land Administration Specialist, World Bank
Muzafer Çaka
Kosovo Cadastral Agency, Republic of Kosovo
Qazim Sinani
Korab Ahmetaj
Activities for land administration, cadastral mapping and registration of real property rights in the Republic of Kosovo are priority components for the country's economic development strategy. In this context, the development of the national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI) is also an integral approach because cadastral data are a core spatial data set. The purpose is to update cadastral data, using new technology and highlight transparency.
With the support of the World Bank-financed Real Estate Cadastre and Registration Project (RECAP) progress on systematic updating of cadastral data is underway through cadastre reconstruction which has updated thousands of properties in more than 100 cadastral zones of 16 municipalities. Even though much progress has been made, many properties remain at a legal standstill due to issues such as inheritance. The legal and technical issues have been analysed and lessons learned discussed, with the conclusion that it is appropriate to test a new mapping and property rights registration toolkit for faster, cheaper, citizen-centric cadastral mapping and recording of land rights.
In 2013 and 2014 the World Bank team successfully piloted the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or "drones") as a way to produce faster, fit-for-purpose spatial data (aerial photographs, orthophoto maps, and 3-D models). Typically, project costs for aerial surveys are hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars and can use up to 25% of the project budget. The maps using the conventional method take months to be produced, by which time the situation has already changed. The team's tests in 2014 demonstrated how UAVs allow local map production with very high accuracy (4-8 cm) in a matter of days. In addition to maps, the technology can produce 3-D models that can be used for multiple purposes.
In 2015 the World Bank's Innovation Labs purchased a fixed-wing UAV to support operations and in December the team, together with the Kosovo Cadastral Agency (KCA), mobilized the UAV to support the national cadastral reconstruction program. This work is the first phase of a broader task to combine UAV technology with the use of free, customizable open source registration software (OSS) that is easily deployable in the field on tablets for data collection. Combining the UAV and OSS will put the Kosovo Cadastre Agency at the forefront of developing and testing an innovative mapping/registration tool kit and methodology in a national-level government project. It is believed that the combination of new technology can revolutionize the way the Bank and its clients design, implement, and monitor projects by making these processes more accurate and more cost effective. It also allows improvements to the way governments and/or local communities map and record property rights. Ultimately the combination will be assessed for suitability in diverse scenarios: Post-conflict/Post-Disaster response (quickly mobilizing fast and cheap technology to record the facts on the ground and collect information from survivors), community based mapping and recording rights (indigenous and vulnerable communities), and mainstream registration.
This paper will present the results of scaling up the use of UAV technology to the production level as well as some of the practical challenges faced and lessons learned.
Using UAV technology for cadastre reconstruction
The UAV was used in three diverse settings:
• Rural Setting: In 1999, a lot of men and boys of the Krusha e Madhe village in southern Kosovo were massacred in the Balkan conflicts. The women of Krusha have been slowly rebuilding their community and have organized several agricultural cooperatives. However, the ownership of their land/houses remains unregistered or registered in the names of the deceased men thereby increasing tenure insecurity and preventing the land from being used as an effective economic asset. The time, cost and complexity of conventional cadastral surveying and registration is one of the key constraints for the women. Thus, about 1200 hectare (ha.) village was selected for the UAV work. The work is ongoing to update the cadastral information and this zone will be the first area where the new OSS will be used for field data collection of ownership information as part of the Phase II activity, which started in April 2016.
• Urban Setting: Over the past two decades many cities in Kosovo have experienced rapid, unplanned urban expansion resulting in informal settlements, illegal constructions and chaotic development. The Government of Kosovo has introduced a program for land owners to legalize their property rights and municipalities are working to integrate the new developments and provide services to citizens. In order to facilitate decision making, improve planning and prioritize investments, the team chose part of the city of Ferizaj for the UAV work. Work is ongoing to update and complete the cadastral and ownership data according to the actual situation on the ground. The information will also be used to assess its relevance and suitability for the legalization program, and the 3D models will be assessed for suitability for urban planning, infrastructure development, taxation etc. as part of the Kosovo Cadastral Agency's role in developing and promoting the NSDI.
• Road Corridor: Although the initial focus of the work was to integrate UAVs into the cadastral mapping process, the team responded to a spontaneous request for assistance on construction of the R6 national highway. While flying in the urban zone near the new highway, a municipal representative noted that the road crew had recently found an archaeological site. The available aerial imagery and maps provided no evidence of the site. With the UAV the team was able to plan, fly and process a very high resolution 3D map at and around the area in less than 24 hours. This provides fresh and accurate information for rerouting the road, cultural heritage preservation and other important decision making.
Process of implementation and processing of the data
The objective of the pilot project in the selected areas, Krusha e Madhe, Ferizaj and highway Prishtina- Skopje, which is under construction, is to test whether we can use the UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in future cadastre reconstruction projects to be implemented by the Kosovo Cadastral Agency. Therefore the project's aim is to test the required level of accuracy for cadastral surveying according to the standards in Kosovo. Overall the advantage of UAV systems lies in their high flexibility and efficiency in capturing the surface of an area from a low flight altitude. In addition, further information such as ortho images, elevation models and 3D objects can easily be gained from UAV images. Altogether, this project endorses the benefit of using UAVs in cadastral applications as well as new opportunities they provide for future cadastre reconstruction projects in Kosovo.
The preparation phase started in November 2015, when the flight approvals were obtained from the Civil Aviation Authority of Kosovo and KFOR/NATO. Additionally, the officials of Municipal Cadastral Offices in Rahovec (for cadastral zone Krusha e Madhe) and Ferizaj were informed with the details of the pilot project. In the beginning of December 2015 the World Bank team together with the Kosovo Cadastral Agency (KCA) (The World Bank team includes Kathrine Kelm, Dr. Bruno Sanchez-Andrade Nuno, Eric Sundheim, geodetic surveyor from Geomatikk Norway; Ana Jesenicnik cadastral engineer from Sensefly Switzerland; and Qazim Sinani and Korab Ahmetaj, cadastral surveyors from the Kosovo Cadastral Agency), mobilized the UAV to test the use of this technology for cadastre reconstruction projects in the abovementioned locations.
Krusha e Madhe was selected among the rural zones, whereas a part of the cadastral zone of the municipality of Ferizaj was selected among the urban zones. Part of the new highway Prishtina-Skopje that is under construction was also selected, along with archaeological sites which were discovered during the excavation of the new highway.
Before being able to fully employ the UAV technology, the team was initially required to mark in the field Ground Control Points (GCP). The importance of these points is for the post processing phase of the images in order to geo reference the blocks. For good coverage, of one block of size 0.5 km by 0.5 km at least 5 GCP were planned.
The blocks of flight were planned to last approximately 30 minutes per flight. Flight planning is made according to the division of the zone: the urban constructed part, the rural zone with agricultural parcels, and the zones with height differences for the photographing effects with various resolutions depending on the flight altitude.
The cadastral zone Krusha e Madhe was divided into 14 flight blocks with 41 GCPs marked in the field. In this case the border points between blocks were also used for the neighbouring block. The urban part of cadastral zone Ferizaj, was divided only in one block, with 16 GCPs marked in the field.
Field work activities
The field work started after the preparatory phase, which included planning of the blocks of flight as well as the planning of the marking the of GCP in the selected zones for this project. The selection criteria for finding a suitable location for marking the GCP in the planned zones were: having an accessible point, no obstacles in front, proper visibility, and a sustainable ground. The cemented parts, such as sidewalks, the edge of roads in the asphalt, were preferred, provided that they were not located in the space where the traffic transited, because the color could be damaged due to the circulation of the vehicles, as well as due to the risk that the marking could be covered at the time of flight. In order to mark the GCP with color, a template in the form of a cross, with wing dimensions of 25 cm by 10 cm was designed.
The points in the field were numbered with ordinal number for easier identification in the picture. Hereafter, these points were measured with GNSS rover by using KOPOS-Kosovo Positioning System. Each point was measured three times aiming to calculate the average for the accuracy of measurements such as standard deviation.
After marking the GCP for a block, preparations were made to survey the block with the eBee drone. This is done through the software eMotion2, where initially the planned block was inserted, and then the space was defined through eMotion2 software. Beside this, other parameters were set as well, such as: altitude, resolution, coverage between the images, wind speed, the launching point of the drone, and the landing point, at which point this plan was stored with a new name.
After making all the preparations, the drone was prepared for the flight with the camera in place. The Cannon 4.2 and Sony 3.2 cameras were used. Before launching the drone for the flight, the flight plan that was created earlier was inserted and the list of all parameters about the state of the drone, state of camera, the battery as well as the wing direction were checked.
When all conditions were fulfilled according to the control check list, the drone was ready for flight.
After successful launching, the drone flew in a spiral form until it reached the altitude that was previously determined. Once it reached the certain height the photographing started in accordance with the flight plan. Upon completion of the block the drone returned and landed to the previously determined point.
Image processing was done automatically through the Post flight Terra 3D version 4.0.89 software. After the processing, along with the products, the software generated a quality report with some examples as explained in figure 6.
Ground Control Points
Localisation accuracy per GCP and mean errors in the three coordinates directions. The last column in Table 1 counts the number of calibrated images where the GCP has been automatically verified vs. manually marked.
Absolute Geo location Variance
Min Error and Max Error represent geolocation error intervals between -1.5 and 1.5 times, the maximum accuracy of all the images. Columns X, Y, Z in table 2 show the percentage of images with geolocation errors within the predefined error intervals. The geolocation error is the difference between the initial and computed image positions. Note that the image geolocation errors do not correspond to the accuracy of the observed 3D points.
Results of the project
The field recording with UAV technology was a new and special experience for experts and management of the Kosovo Cadastral Agency. This was done with concrete support from the World Bank to the Kosovo Cadastral Agency in order to test the innovative approaches for the cadastre development in the Republic of Kosovo and beyond.
During the first phase in December 2015, after finalizing the processing of data, orthophotos were created with a resolution of 3 to 6 cm and with an accuracy of up to 1 cm. Whereas during the second phase, in April 2016 in Cadastral Zone of Krusha e Madhe where created new orthophoto by using the Drone without GPS/RTK and for same area was used Drone with GPS/RTK. Also it was used the thermal camera to create orthophotos for agricultural needs. The produced orthophotos from 2016 will be used in the second phase of the pilot project which consists in the reconstruction of the cadastral information on the part of cadastral zone Krusha e Madhe and Ferizaj. This process will continue with the digitization of cadastral units based on these orthophotos as well as their decoding, door to door along with the owners and members' of the community input. A pilot for a block of parcels using both decoding and OSS-an application produced by Cadasta (Cadasta Foundation is dedicated to the support, continued development and growth of the Cadasta Platform – an innovative, open source suite of tools for the collection and management of ownership, occupancy, and spatial data that meets the unique challenges of this process in much of the world.) which is for data collection based on the filed form that is being used during Cadastre reconstruction, shall be implemented.
Another result is the DSM (Digital Surface Model). This product enables the creation of the 3D orthophotos. The UAV method allows for the derivation of much more information. Based on the image orientation, a digital elevation model of different grid and area sizes can be calculated. In addition, 3D models of objects such as buildings can be generated based on the captured UAV data.
The final textured model can be exported as VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) for general 3D viewers or as a KMZ file for display in Google Earth.
As part of this pilot project 1,581 ha were recorded in four different zones including: urban, rural and archaeological zone as well as in a part of a highway that is under construction.
Sixty-nine GCPs were previously marked in all these zones, whereby the largest part is in Krusha e Madhe, which also includes the largest surface for which surface images were taken.
The resolution of the images was determined depending on the part where the drone flight took place, starting from 1.9 cm for the archaeological part and up to 4 to 6 cm for the rural part in the cadastral zone Krusha e Madhe. The total number of images taken after completion of all flights of all planned zones is 11,315 images.
The analysis of the produced data to be used for the cadaster purposes
The use of the UAV technology and Open Source Software in this pilot project was initiated in order to analyse whether these products (orthophotos) offer accuracy according to the tolerances determined by the Law and Administrative Instruction for use in the cadastre in Kosovo.
The selection of the cases was conducted for analyses from orthophotos from two locations: Ferizaj and Krusha e Madhe. In these cases the elements such as: the boundaries of the parcels, fences, walls, pavements, white lines on the road, houses etc., were manually digitized in orthophotos. Furthermore the selected cases and the digitized ones were measured in the field with GPS/GNNS, whereas the houses were measured with Total Station.
On location 1 (Ferizaj) are measured 176 points as shown above. As can be seen from the sketches there are measured houses, walls, fences, sidewalks, electrical poles, pits.
The measurements in the field are compared to the similar points digitized in orthophotos.
On the walls, fences, sidewalks, poles the difference is between 1cm and 5cm, on the buildings the difference is 7cm.
On location 2 (Krusha e Madhe) there are measured 181 points. As seen in the sketches above there are houses, walls, train rails, white lines on the road and stadiums. The measurements in the field are compared to the similar points digitized in orthophotos.
On the walls, fences, white lines the difference is between 2cm and 10cm. On the buildings the minimum difference is 20cm.
Based on the "Framework No. KCA 2013/02 on the Standardisation of Measurements and Cadastral Surveys "article 6, "Standard deviation of measurements and cadastral surveys"
Standard deviation (s) is the unit for assigning the accuracy of the geodetic measurements which is also applied in the measurements as well as in the cadastral surveys. The coordinate accuracy for the first order point and for the permanent station of KOPOS reference has been specified in the standard deviation (s) on the field categories as mentioned in table 4.
The preliminary results do not fully comply with the Framework No. KCA 2013/02, therefore, at the beginning of April, a new flight took place with another model of drone equipped with GPS/RTK. The products/orthophotos gained with this new methodology, are used for the second phase of the project which is: Reconstruction of Cadastral Information with UAV and Open Source Software technology that is aiming to identify properties based on the orthophoto-products gained through this technology.
There were several lessons learned at various stages of the implementation of this project:
Preparation stages:
a. Acquiring permission for flights: it was important to determine the authorities from whom the team needed permission for the flights to take place. Additionally, it was helpful to know the timelines by which such permissions were given in order to begin communication with the local population as well as necessary officials in the zones before and during flying for permission to use land such as airports, etc.
b. Work Flow: it is necessary to set up Ground Control Points (GCPs) 1 to 2 days before flying. It is also important to have flight planning considerations (such as climate, etc.) as well as the ideal team members participating.
c. Data Processing: there must minimum "Big Data" processing and storage requirements that need to be planned for and met. For example, in the team's case the initial KCA computer that was set up was too small and slow. There need to be considerations for processing times as well as setting up the workflow by thinking about what is done automatically by the program and what needs manual input.
In order to use an UAV in the Cadastre, it is important to select the period of the year when the vegetation is at a minimum. The most suitable time is in the early spring or autumn. On the other hand, in these periods of time the atmospheric conditions may not be stable, as was the case with the pilot Project in Krushe e Madhe. In that case due to the fog, the team had some daily delays and was not able to perform the flight on the given days.
"Marking the boundary of parcels"
To have the best benefits from UAV for Cadastre it is better to have an Awareness Campaign for several weeks, with owners/users of parcels. The Awareness Campaign would be used as a tool to inform and request from owners/users to mark and color the boundary points of parcels. After marking the boundaries, the flight could take place and from the orthophoto gained the boundaries will be easily identify by the owners/users.
Findings and conclusions
Time and cost savings – The advantage of UAV systems is the ability to quickly observe the surface of areas at low flying altitude while still meeting the accuracy requirements and standards of the Cadastre in Kosovo. For example the ortho image with high accuracy was produced for a part of the cadastral zone of Ferizaj within 24 hours. About 293 hectare are surveyed and processed up to the final product. Usually when surveying with the conventional methods using GNSS technology for the same size area, would have taken up to 10 working days, assuming the atmospheric conditions permitted.
Additionally even though the team's initial work was focused on integrating UAVs into the cadastral mapping process, they received a spontaneous request for assistance by the highway authorities. A municipal representative informed them that a road crew had recently found an archaeological site near a highway under construction. The available aerial imagery at the time provided no evidence of the site. The team quickly mobilized the drone to produce a high resolution 3D map of the area in less than 24 hours. This provided fresh and accurate information for rerouting the road, additional land acquisition needs, cultural heritage preservation and other important decision making issues.
UAVs are rapidly becoming an effective tool for mapping in many diverse scenarios and the work in Kosovo demonstrates only a few examples of their potential. Therefore, by using the UAV technology these projects will be accomplished by spending less time and with more quality within the tolerances set by the law on cadaster and administrative instructions for the Reconstruction of the Cadastral Information.
Local Capacity and Production: Moreover, the Kosovo Cadastral experts have been introduced for the first time to a new technology for the needs of cadaster. They are also trained to use this new technology starting from planning, surveying and processing of data offered by this technology.
"Fit for Purpose mapping"- A new way to envision national mapping and systematic registration programs: The UAV technology is an easy procedure which is easily transferable to local experts and the processing and production of final orthophotos can be handled locally as well. The beneficiary organizations can, in a straightforward manner, update the information for smaller areas with local capacities, instead of using big international contracts, which are used mainly for national level aerial photography.
"On demand" services for multiple sectors: UAV technology is flexible and has the potential for multiple uses across diverse sectors. This can be seen in an example in this very project where the team was able to mobilize quickly to account for the archeological site discovered during the high infrastructure project. Additionally, UAVs produce richer data: DEM and 3D models, which will help build up KCA's NSDI for both public and private sector benefit.
Beyond the Kosovo Cadastral Agency's use of this technology, the UAV measurements can present a great benefit to other users of cadastral data, such as private licensed surveyors, real estate agencies, insurance companies etc. In areas where access can be difficult, UAVs can offer a valuable alternative to conventional measurement equipment such as the total stations and Kosovo Positioning System (KOPOS). In the future, UAVs will be used where a need for high accuracy is required and fast data capturing is needed. Therefore, the use of UAVs is an opportunity for cadastral surveying in the future.
1. Aide Memoire. Real estate cadastre and registration project (RECAP) implementation support mission November 30 to December 11, 2015;
2. Barnes, G. Volkmann, W. Sherko, R. Kelm K. 2014. Drones for Peace: Part 1 of 2 Design and Testing of a UAV-based Cadastral Surveying and Mapping Methodology in Albania. Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty. The World Bank – Washington DC, March 24-27, 2014;
3. Kelm, K. Tonchovska, R. Volkmann, W. 2014. Drones for Peace: Part II Fast and Inexpensive Spatial Data Capture for Multi-Purpose Use. Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty. The World Bank – Washington DC, March 24-27, 2014;
4. Manyoky, M. Theiler, P. Steudler, D. Eisenbeiss H. 2011. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Cadastral Applications. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol. XXXVIII-1/C22 UAV-g 2011, Conference on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Geomatics, Zurich, Switzerland;
5. Meha, M. Çaka, M. 2013. The effect of law on cadastre and address system for sustainable land governance in Kosovo. Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty. The World Bank – Washington DC, April 8-11, 2013;
6. Meha, M. Steiwer, F. Bublaku, H. 2011. Procedures for registration of property and services on Cadastre. Publisher Kosovo Cadastral Agency. 2011. Rome, Italy;
7. Law on Cadastre No. 04/-L-013. Official Gazette of Republic of Kosovo / no. 13 / 1 September 2011, Prishtina;
8. World Bank website news (January 07, 2016). Drones Offer Innovative Solution for Local Mapping. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/01/07/drones-offer-innovative-solution-for-local-mapping
Paper prepared for presentation at the "2016 World Bank Conference on Land And Poverty" The World Bank – Washington DC, March 14-18, 2016
Copyright 2016, by Murat Meha, Kathrine Kelm, Muzafer Çaka, Qazim Sinani and Korab Ahmetaj. All rights reserved.
Alex J said:
An interesting article that takes the glass being half-full approach.
It is perhaps more sobering to reflect on a recent article by Anthony Wallace on the pitfalls of UAV imagery acquisition and application – the glass being half-empty!
http://www.spatialsource.com.au/20-things-they-dont-tell-you-about-uavs/
In this link, Wallace sets out 20 things they don't tell you about UAVs. In brief:
#1. A UAV is just a platform for a sensor
#2. A small UAV carries a small payload which means small format sensors
#3. A $1,000 sensor is not as good as a $1.5m sensor
#4. A UAV is not unmanned
#5. Labor costs make small UAVs uncompetitive
#6. UAVs are justifiably limited by airspace regulations
#7. Line of sight is no more than 500m
#8. You will need formal training to operate a UAV legally
#9. A UAV is capable of killing you.
#10. UAVs suffer from local environment effects (especially wind)
#11. The logistics of UAV operation are problematic
#12. Blurry images cannot be used to generate accurate results
#13. Eagles hate UAVs
#14. The capital cost of a UAV is significant
#15. UAV crashes are common
#16. UAV insurance is hard to get
#17. You will need Professional Indemnity Insurance if you offer an aerial surveying service
#18. If you're not skilled in photogrammetry, you're not an aerial surveyor
#19. Airborne GPS and IMU for UAV are not accurate enough for direct geo-referencing
#20. While we've all been watching UAV developments, other things are happening.
The details under each point are very profound. Please visit the link. All very sobering!
Now the current article by Meha, et al, reports that work over a project area of 293 ha could be completed in 24 hours opposed to 10 days with conventional technology. But this doesn't allow for the very large number of GCPs – that don't get created instantly! So that is just one of the issues that is ignored in Meha's article.
Overall Meha's article is really reporting on an ideal scenario, intended to bolster an emerging work program.
Also it seems that there are many laws surrounding the use of drones in Kosovo. Meha's article provides almost no attention to these, other than approvals were sought.
In many countries, with systematic registration significant work must be done to understand the complex legal, social and historic issues. That can only be done by boots on the ground and it takes time to resolve conflicts and other land disputes. With such histories land occupants want to see monumentation on the ground as proof positive of boundary determination and not just digits created by imagery. This article gives insufficient attention to these issues.
Drawing on Wallace's pragmatic observations, he sagely concludes:
"The UAV industry is what it is – there is no doubt that UAVs have many intriguing applications in many fields, although we have seen the existing service providers back-pedalling from things like pizza delivery or parcel delivery. At the current rate of development and with the concentration of resources being applied to the industry there is no doubt that further advances will be rapidly made.
But beware of the hype, and remember, in our industry it's not about the platform, it's about the sensor."
Nonetheless let me congratulate Meha, et al, for this thought provoking article in Coordinates. Be wary of spin!
# 29 June 2016 at 3:07 pm
#14. The capital cost of a UAV is significant #15. UAV crashes are common
#20. While we've all been watching UAV developments, other things are happening
All very sobering!
Now the current article by Meha et al, reports that work over a project area of 293 ha could be completed in 24 hours opposed to 10 days with conventional technology. But this doesn't allow for the very large number of GCPs – that don't get created instantly! So that is just one of the issues that is ignored in Meha's article. Overall Meha's article is really reporting on an ideal scenario, no doubt to encourage further World Bank funding.
It seems that there are many laws surrounding the use of drones in Kosovo. Meha's article provides no attention to these!
In many countries, with systematic registration significant work must be done to understand the complex legal, social and historic issues. That can only be done by boots on the ground and it takes time. With such histories land occupants want to see monumention as proof positive boundary determination and not just digits created by imagery. This article gives insufficient attention to these issues.
QED. Be wary of spin!
# 1 July 2016 at 5:41 am
Mau Khin said:
Thanks for the link to Wallace article Mr Alex. It is very useful.
If one pursues the fit-for-purpose line, there are indeed lots of potential applications for deploying UAV platform sensors. But clearly not all. I think this is where the Meha, Kelm …etc etc article only tells the story for one side.
More and more we are reading articles comparing UAV sensors with aerial and satellite imagery, but it is only for relatively small areas villages, communities, suburbs – or a road, or mine site etc., that you would consider deploying the UAV. But there is most definitely a marketing push for UAV sensors that simply fails to put this useful technology in its correct context for fit-for-purpose applications.
Meha, Kelm….etc etc article is interesting and informative, but just falls short of conveying a broader, objective perspective. In that regard, the article misleads in that it starts off discussing NSDI. No-one in their right mind would prepare the cadastre base data for NSDI – for an entire country or a province or even a large city – using UAV. It would not be cost effective and would take forever. Most definitely, good for capturing small areas or updating small coverages, but going beyond that requires alternatives. So for that I can only rate this incomplete article as 2 out of 5.
# 30 October 2016 at 9:43 am
Owen Moss said:
Fully agree Alex. I saw the note from Anthony Wallace some time back. Very sobering. It should boil down to what is fit-for-purpose. The UAV platform is sometimes suitable but not always.
It would be good to see more on comparative costs – satellite versus aircraft versus UAV (high and low altitude). Also a comparative analysis of environmental conditions such as cross wind, rain, cloud, smoke etc. And of course good examples of what situations are optimal for which platform.
The challenge in the UAV debate is that all too often presenters are comparing toys with sophisticated platforms and that should not be the case. So more often than not, we hear more of the spin- exactly as you forewarn.
# 19 November 2016 at 4:57 pm


text:
package org.ehcache.impl.internal.store.heap.holders;

import org.ehcache.impl.copy.ReadWriteCopier;
import org.junit.Test;

import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;

/**
 * Created by alsu on 20/08/15.
 */
public class CopiedOnHeapKeyTest {

  @Test
  public void testGetActualKeyObject() throws Exception {

    Person person = new Person("foo", 24);
    PersonCopier copier = new PersonCopier();
    CopiedOnHeapKey<Person> key = new CopiedOnHeapKey<Person>(person, copier);

    assertThat(key.getActualKeyObject().hashCode(), is(person.hashCode()));

    person.age = 25;
    assertThat(key.getActualKeyObject().age, is(24));
  }

  private static class Person {
    String name;
    int age;

    Person(Person other) {
      this.name = other.name;
      this.age = other.age;
    }

    Person(String name, int age) {
      this.name = name;
      this.age = age;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(final Object other) {
      if(this == other) return true;
      if(other == null || this.getClass() != other.getClass()) return false;

      Person that = (Person)other;
      if(name != that.name || age != that.age) return false;

      return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
      int result = 1;
      result = 31 * result + age;
      result = 31 * result + name.hashCode();
      return result;
    }
  }

  public static class PersonCopier extends ReadWriteCopier<Person> {

    @Override
    public Person copy(final Person obj) {
      return new Person(obj);
    }
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub