All posts by Jonathan Barnes

Rapidly Mapping Infrastructure

Could a Pittsburgh-based start-up help improve (and save) America’s bridges? Early in the morning of January 28, 2022, a Pittsburgh Regional Transit Authority bus crossing the Fern Hollow Bridge began bouncing and shaking for no apparent reason. Moments later it plummeted into a ravine along with several other vehicles as the bridge collapsed beneath them....

Safety Underground

Prostar and KCI Technologies look beneath the surface to save time and money The devil is in the details of any construction project, but those involving work close to underground utilities can be the most dangerous. Nearly missing or even sometimes striking utility lines is a common occurrence across the nation and was a regular...

Farming From Space

Airbus and Sentinel Fertigation use satellite imagery to improve sustainable crop production With help from Airbus’ detailed high-resolution 30cm satellite imagery provided by Pléiades Neo, a Midwest crop management software platform is offering a streamlined process for farmers fertilizing crops via irrigation (known as fertigation). Using multispectral imagery of field conditions, Lincoln, Nebraska-based Sentinel Fertigation...

Hard Hat anniversary

A century later, the company that invented the hard hat is still saving lives through innovation, from the top down. It’s been a century since the hard hat’s invention, and the cumulative effect of the lifesaving creation is incalculable. The hard hat was born from an American soldier’s experience in World War I. While serving...

Plastic Islands No More

4Ocean uses geospatial technology to clean oceans, helping to reduce and reimagine plastic waste. The mess is big enough that it can be seen from outer space. These days, satellite imagery reveals massive islands of plastic in oceans, and the waste is so vast that various groups and inventors are trying to combat the problem...