aWHEREness:lab

Application details

Our competence:
IoT – Assistive Geoinformatics

Client:

“Where” are my Insights – supporting digital transformation with geoinformation

From 2019 till 2021

Together with the University of Salzburg and the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, the RSA FG Research Studio iSPACE, as a funding applicant and initiator, is conducting research for two years to support the digital transformation of industry and economy with geoinformation. Together with the four company partners PALFINGER, Liebherr, COPA-DATA and Mayr-Melnhof-Saurau, GIS solutions are developed that can be used across the board.

Digital images (replicas) of the physical environment

Social existence determines consciousness, as it was still called in dialectical materialism. The title “aWHEREness:lab” could be roughly translated as: The place co-determines (consciousness) being. – The research project tries to use state-of-the-art geoinformatics tools and applications such as…

Creation of digital images of the physical environment for Augmented/Virtual Reality
4D maps to show spatio-temporal changes
Localization of assets from logistics and production
High-resolution 3D modeling of buildings, assets and plants
Support of the comprehensive use of machine data through the application of international standards and norms of the different application areas

… to fulfil very different and yet comparable wishes of the participating companies.

Challenges and demands for the next two years:

How can mobile objects (assets) be located consistently in indoor spaces such as warehouses and outdoor spaces (on the factory premises)?
How can the transition for IoT devices be made seamlessly when switching between different positioning and localization technologies such as DGPS, RTK or LoRa/5G?
How to extend Big Data to Spatial Big Data to gain new insights from aggregated analysis of industrial positioning data?
How can (e.g. crane/wheel loader) sensor data be extended by harmonized/standardized metadata and what is improved in terms of quality?
How can communication in 3D and 4D improve warehouse and transport logistics (e.g. forestry)?

The overarching scientific objective is “… innovative (cross-organizational) linking of corporate data with data and data streams of the physical world and subsequently their context-specific preparation, analysis and communication in digital platforms”, explains the head of the Research Studio iSPACE – 4D Environments and initiator of the project, Manfred Mittlböck, the approach of the “aWHEREness:lab”.

This “lab” is to be supplemented by so-called “aWHEREness:fields”: These will be test areas at the company partners in Salzburg, Bischofshofen and Frohnleiten (Styria). A further goal is to improve the networking of business and industry with science and research in Salzburg. To this end, workshops and specialist contributions will be directed at other interested players in the regional economy, who will thus also benefit from the project results. aWHEREness:lab is a fascinating project, which is mainly funded by the Science and Innovation Strategy 2025 – WISS 2025 – of the State of Salzburg.

Contact:

Dr. Manfred Mittlböck
manfred.mittlboeck@researchstudio.at