[Back]

G. Retscher, G. Mentes, A. Reiterer:
"Earth on the Edge - Applications of Geodesy in Engineering";
Talk: IUGG 2011 Conference Earth on the Edge - Science for a Sustainable Planet, Melbourne; 2011-06-28 - 2011-07-07.

Rapid developments in engineering, microelectronics and computer sciences have greatly changed both instrumentation and methodology in engineering geodesy. Highly developed techniques are needed to meet the challenges of today. In dynamic monitoring, for instance, there is an urgent need for continuous geodetic measurements to determine complex movements. To develop an early warning system is only possible if exact knowledge of the moving process of the object (e.g. of a landslide area) and all of other physical parameters is available. Special emphasis is required on the following research areas: detection of potential movements on a large scale, an efficient and continuous observation of critical areas and a knowledge-based derivation of real time information about actual risks in order to support an alert system. The used tools range from conventional terrestrial measurements and alignment technology, GNSS, InSAR, geotechnical instrumentation, to software systems such as GIS, Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), etc. For the development of alert systems, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques in engineering geodesy is studied. AI, in general, is the study and design of intelligent agents. An intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. Methods used for uncertain reasoning are probabilistic in nature, such as Bayesian networks, which represent a general tool that can be used for a large number of problems. The achievements of the work in these fields in the past four years will be presented and discussed in this paper.

Dynamic Monitoring, Kinematic and Dynamic Behaviour of Objects, Monitoring and System Analysis, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Engineering Geodesy, Alert Systems