Crowdmapping – kollaborative Erfassung und Visualisierung räumlicher Daten anhand der Plattform OpenCrowdMaps

„Crowdmapping“ bezeichnet ganz nach dem Slogan „PLAN TOGETHER – RIGHT NOW – OVERALL“ der diesjährigen CORP eine Form des Echtzeit-Crowdsourcings räumlicher Daten anhand von Webmaps und den damit verbundenen Erhebungs-,Visualisierungs- und Auswertungsmöglichkeiten. Es handelt sich um eine subversive Methode, die das vernetzte, kollaborative Arbeiten einer großen, nicht weiter definierten Menschenmenge - der Crowd -, an einer gemeinsamen Thematik ermöglicht. Es existieren bereits Webanwendungen, die sich den „Wisdom of the Crowds“ zunutze machen, um eine im Optimalfall stets aktuelle und lückenlose Datenerhebung zu gewährleisten. Es zeigt sich jedoch bei genauerer Betrachtung, dass die Crowd oftmals durch unzureichende Methodiken in ihrer Kompetenz beschnitten wird. Die Gründe dafür erweisen sich als vielschichtig. Jeder Anwender sollte bei einer solchen Plattform die gleichen Rechte besitzen und keine Hierarchie innerhalb des Nutzerkreises bestehen, sodass ein jeder im selben Umfang Kontrolle über die Inhalte ausüben kann. Obwohl einige Crowdmapping-Plattformen einem hohen technischen Standard gerecht werden, fehlen stets grundlegende Funktionalitäten, um der Crowd die vollständige Kompetenz über die Inhalte zu gewähren. So erfolgt bei keiner relevanten Anwendung eine Versionierung der Einträge, um mögliche Datenmanipulationen widerrufen zu können. Eine Berücksichtigung des Wiki-Prinzips mit den entsprechenden Funktionalitäten würde demnach einen erheblichen Mehrwert für Crowdmaps bedeuten. Die Limitationen der bestehenden Anwendungen waren der Anlass für die eigenständige Realisierung der Plattform OpenCrowdMaps. Diese erfährt keine Begrenzung durch ein vorgegebenes Thema mit starrer Kategorisierung. Vielmehr steht es dem Nutzer frei eigene Themenkarten zu generieren und mit der Crowd zu teilen oder an bestehenden Karten mitzuwirken. Die Vision dahinter ist eine sich selbst regulierende Kartendatenbank mit einer Vielzahl umfangreicher Informationen. Erscheint ein Thema für die Crowd unbedeutend, so findet keine umfassende Datenerhebung statt. Die allgemeine Relevanz der Daten regelt sich demnach selbstständig. Die Plattform liefert im aktuellen Entwicklungsstand, neben der Integration des Wiki-Prinzips mit all seinen Ausprägungen, diverse Visualisierungsmöglichkeiten. So können unter anderem die zeitliche Datenentwicklung abgelesen, Heatmaps erzeugt oder die Kartengrundlage gewechselt werden. Es bieten sich demnach im Planungskontext eine Vielzahl von Anwendungsmöglichkeiten

Cross-Border WebGIS Database CURe MODERN

As part of the INTERREG IVa-research project CURe MODERN, a WebGIS-platform was developed, which enables a visual comprehension of studies done within the project. This project was realized in cooperation with the university of Kaiserslautern (TU Kaiserslautern), the Department of Computer Aided Design (CAD) & planning methods in urban planning and architecture, the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing (IZFP), the State Office for road construction in Saarland (LFS), the french associate CEREMA (Centre d’études et d’expertise sur les risques, l’environnement, la mobilité et l’aménagement) as well as the Eurodistrict SaarMoselle and the company of Rogmann engineers from 2012 – 2014. Aim of the project was to use non-destructive testing methods for infrastructural and cultural buildings and to make these results available for stakeholders of the german and french side. As a kind of an infrastructural and cultural database, this platform aims to communicate results and experiences within the project as well as between the members of the project and also to politicians and citizens. It can offer policymakers a tool to quantify problems and to clarify where possible weak spots could be present for various buildings. With the integration of three dimensional models inside the platform, details such as the need to repair certain parts of the buildings can easily be shown to any interested citizen. This easy understandable platform was developed without the use of special expensive GIS-software. It was created as a browser based system and so it works with any common computer and helps with the communication between different disciplines

Laser-induced ablation of a steel sample in different ambient gases by use of collinear multiple laser pulses

The sensitivity of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of solid samples depends on the number of ablated and excited analytes. Laser ablation of solid samples can be enhanced by using collinear multiple laser pulses, for example double or triple pulses, rather than single laser pulses with the same total laser pulse energy. The ablation rates and the plasma conditions are affected by the ambient gas. In this study laser ablation was examined by varying the interpulse separation of the multiple pulses, within double and triple-pulse bursts, and the gas mass density at constant gas pressure. Different ambient gases and gas mixtures consisting of argon, oxygen, and nitrogen were used to study their effect on ablation rates. In a pure argon atmosphere (99.999% v/v Ar) the ablation burst number required to penetrate a steel plate of thickness 100 µm is reduced by a factor of approximately six by use of triple-pulse bursts with a symmetric interpulse separation of 15 µs rather than single pulses with the same total burst energy of 105 mJ. For double and single pulses the factors are 1.6 for Ar and 2.8 for synthetic air. Analyte lines are 4 to 8 times more intense if an argon atmosphere, rather than air, is used

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for 24/7 automatic liquid slag analysis at a steel works

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is applied for the inline analysis of liquid slag at a steel works. The slag in the ladle of a slag transporter is measured at a distance of several meters during a short stop of the transporter. The slag surface with temperatures from ≈600 to ≈1400 °C consists of liquid slag and solidified slag parts. Automatic measurements at varying filling levels of the ladle are realized, and the duration amounts to 2 min including data transmission to the host computer. Analytical results of the major components such as CaO, Fe, SiO2, MgO, Mn, and Al2O3 are compared with reference values from the steel works laboratory for solid pressed slag samples as well as for samples from the liquid slag. Stable 24/7 operation during the first three-month test run was achieved

Analysis of small droplets with a new detector for liquid chromatography based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

The miniaturization of analytical techniques is a general trend in speciation analytics. We have developed a new analytical technique combining high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). This enables a molecule-specific separation followed by an element-specific analysis of smallest amounts of complex samples. The liquid flow coming from a HPLC pump is transformed into a continuous stream of small droplets (diameter 50-100 µm, volume 65-500 pl) using a piezoelectric pulsed nozzle. After the detection of single droplets with a droplet detector, a Q-switched Nd:YAG Laser is triggered to emit a synchronized laser pulse that irradiates a single droplet. The droplets are evaporated and transformed to the plasma state. The spectrum emitted from the plasma is collected by a spherical mirror and directed through the entrance slit of a Paschen-Runge spectrometer equipped with channel photomultipliers. The spectrometer detects 31 elements simultaneously covering a spectral range from 120 to 589 nm. Purging the measurement chamber with argon enables the detection of vacuum-UV lines. Since the sample is transferred to the plasma state without dilution, very low flow rates in the sub-µl/min range can be realised