Mapping Server Research Articles

A framework for collaborative multi-robot mapping using spectral graph wavelets

The exploration of large-scale unknown environments can benefit from the deployment of multiple robots for collaborative mapping. Each robot explores a section of the environment and communicates onboard pose estimates and maps to a central server to build an optimized global multi-robot map. Naturally, inconsistencies can arise between onboard and server estimates due to onboard odometry drift, failures, or degeneracies. The mapping server can correct and overcome such failure cases using computationally expensive operations such as inter-robot loop closure detection and multi-modal mapping. However, the individual robots do not benefit from the collaborative map if the mapping server provides no feedback. Although server updates from the multi-robot map can greatly alleviate the robotic mission strategically, most existing work lacks them, due to their associated computational and bandwidth-related costs. Motivated by this challenge, this paper proposes a novel collaborative mapping framework that enables global mapping consistency among robots and the mapping server. In particular, we propose graph spectral analysis, at different spatial scales, to detect structural differences between robot and server graphs, and to generate necessary constraints for the individual robot pose graphs. Our approach specifically finds the nodes that correspond to the drift’s origin rather than the nodes where the error becomes too large. We thoroughly analyze and validate our proposed framework using several real-world multi-robot field deployments where we show improvements of the onboard system up to 90% and can recover the onboard estimation from localization failures and even from the degeneracies within its estimation.

Expanding FTMap for Fragment-Based Identification of Pharmacophore Regions in Ligand Binding Sites.

The knowledge of ligand binding hot spots and of the important interactions within such hot spots is crucial for the design of lead compounds in the early stages of structure-based drug discovery. The computational solvent mapping server FTMap can reliably identify binding hot spots as consensus clusters, free energy minima that bind a variety of organic probe molecules. However, in its current implementation, FTMap provides limited information on regions within the hot spots that tend to interact with specific pharmacophoric features of potential ligands. E-FTMap is a new server that expands on the original FTMap protocol. E-FTMap uses 119 organic probes, rather than the 16 in the original FTMap, to exhaustively map binding sites, and identifies pharmacophore features as atomic consensus sites where similar chemical groups bind. We validate E-FTMap against a set of 109 experimentally derived structures of fragment-lead pairs, finding that highly ranked pharmacophore features overlap with the corresponding atoms in both fragments and lead compounds. Additionally, comparisons of mapping results to ensembles of bound ligands reveal that pharmacophores generated with E-FTMap tend to sample highly conserved protein-ligand interactions. E-FTMap is available as a web server at https://eftmap.bu.edu.

Cloud-based system for monitoring loads generated on the quay wall by ship propeller jets

The paper presents a cloud-based system for monitoring loads generated on the quay wall by ship propeller jets during berthing and unberthing maneuvers. The system provides online measurements of the dynamic pressure generated loads by propellers and warns of exceeding the permissible jet velocities over the seabed protection along the berth. The system has a modular structure consisting of a network of pressure sensors, information mapping server, communication module and web server. The suitability of the system was confirmed during two years of operation in Port of Gdynia. The open architecture of the system allows for its further extension with additional berths and integration with the smart port system.

The ClusPro AbEMap web server for the prediction of antibody epitopes.

Antibodies play an important role in the immune system by binding to molecules called antigens at their respective epitopes. These interfaces or epitopes are structural entities determined by the interactions between an antibody and an antigen, making them ideal systems to analyze by using docking programs. Since the advent of high-throughput antibody sequencing, the ability to perform epitope mapping using only the sequence of the antibody has become a high priority. ClusPro, a leading protein-protein docking server, together with its template-based modeling version, ClusPro-TBM, have been re-purposed to map epitopes for specific antibody-antigen interactions by using the Antibody Epitope Mapping server (AbEMap). ClusPro-AbEMap offers three different modes for users depending on the information available on the antibody as follows: (i) X-ray structure, (ii) computational/predicted model of the structure or (iii) only the amino acid sequence. The AbEMap server presents a likelihood score for each antigen residue of being part of the epitope. We provide detailed information on the server's capabilities for the three options and discuss how to obtain the best results. In light of the recent introduction of AlphaFold2 (AF2), we also show how one of the modes allows users to use their AF2-generated antibody models as input. The protocol describes the relative advantages of the server compared to other epitope-mapping tools, its limitations and potential areas of improvement. The server may take 45-90 min depending on the size of the proteins.

Structured knowledge creation for Urdu language: A DBpedia approach

AbstractWikipedia information is extracted by DBpedia and linked to other web resources as Linked Open Data, which is an important contribution to the field of semantics. As part of its internationalisation endeavour, DBpedia now has 20 language chapters that have been mapped to it; nonetheless, there have been very few attempts from Urdu. This article outlines the procedures and highlights the efforts put forward as the first contribution to the manual creation of Urdu mappings with DBpedia Ontology classes. Our approach led to an increase in the number of mapped infoboxes, thus enhancing the DBpedia. The mapping procedure is broken down into two parts. The infobox template is first mapped to the DBpedia ontology's relevant class, and then the attributes of the infobox are mapped to the properties of that class. In addition, alongside other mapped languages, Urdu labels are included to the description of Ontology classes. We have covered around a thousand properties and attributes of Urdu with English DBpedia Ontology on DBpedia mapping server.

Mapping Server Collaboration Architecture Design with OpenVSLAM for Mobile Devices

SLAM technology, which is used for spatial recognition in autonomous driving and robotics, has recently emerged as an important technology to provide high-quality AR contents on mobile devices due to the spread of XR and metaverse technologies. In this paper, we designed, implemented, and verified the SLAM system that can be used on mobile devices. Mobile SLAM is composed of a stand-alone type that directly performs SLAM operation on a mobile device and a mapping server type that additionally configures a mapping server based on FastAPI to perform SLAM operation on the server and transmits data for map visualization to a mobile device. The mobile SLAM system proposed in this paper mixes the two types in order to make SLAM operation and map generation more efficient. The stand-alone type of SLAM system was configured as an Android app by porting the OpenVSLAM library to the Unity engine, and the map generation and performance were evaluated on desktop PCs and mobile devices. The mobile SLAM system in this paper is an open-source project, so it is expected to help develop AR contents based on SLAM in a mobile environment.

Dragonflies of Dragon\u2019s Blood Island: Atlas of the Odonata of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)

Dragonflies are important bioindicators of aquatic ecosystem health. We discuss the distribution and richness of the 22 dragon- and damselfly species known from the Socotra Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site (Yemen) in the western Indian Ocean. We compiled 841 records from literature, field data and museum collections, covering a surveying period of 123 years (1896–2019). Distribution of the only endemic, the Socotra Bluet Azuragrion granti (McLachlan, 1903), an indicator of pristine lotic waters, is updated. Relatively higher dragonfly species richness occurs in eastern Socotra where suitable aquatic habitats are present all year. We observed a significant drop of the number of taxa over several decades in areas in the Hadiboh Plain where human development impacts are strongest. We discuss the indigenous people’s perception of dragonflies to assess the potential of these invertebrates as local flagships for aquatic biodiversity conservation. Our knowledge of the Socotran Odonata remains incomplete, yet they are now among the best studied animal groups in the archipelago. A new record of an Oriental Anax indicates that the island’s dragonfly fauna may yet harbour surprises. Our compilation of odonate records is the first for Socotra and serves as a baseline for future monitoring of the archipelago’s vital aquatic habitats. We converted all records into a geodatabase which we uploaded to an online, freely available web mapping server and mobile application to facilitate research and conservation of the Socotran dragonflies (www.dragonfliesofsocotra.com).Graphic abstract

Hyper resolution image mosaics with unbounded vertical field of view

This paper presents the framework for the creation of hyper resolution image mosaics (HRIM) with a full horizontal and unbounded vertical field of view. Additionally, the hyper-resolution images are mapped to a format compatible with a geo referencing frame. In this manner the images can be viewed using standard mapping services. The measurement device consists of eight cameras covering the full 360 degree horizontal field. The unlimited vertical field of view is obtained by moving the device, e.g., by sinking it down a mine shaft. The cameras are synchronized so that with each frame the full horizontal field of view is captured. The camera sensors are calibrated to an onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) which allows the reconstruction of the position of each sensor in a world coordinate frame for each captured image using rigid transformations. Perspective projection onto an open manifold (cylinder) allows for the integration of all images into an HRIM. Constrained tensor-polynomial approximations are used to obtain geometric maps, i.e., a distortion lattice, from the image coordinate system onto an open cylindrical manifold. From this lattice binary masks are derived for each projected image. A multi band blending algorithm is implemented for the final composition. The HRIM are then tiled and stored on a GIS mapping server from where the HRIM can be viewed on any device running an HTML browser. It should be noted that this approach provides a significant advantage since viewing the large HRIM is not computationally intensive and can even be done on tablets. The framework has been applied to the remote inspection of deep vertical shafts.

E-CAD: WEB-BASED INFORMATION SERVICE FOR LAND MANAGEMENT

Abstract. The status quo of the land management and information system in Nepal is a far cry from where the developed world stands. Paper-based system is still the spine of this system which is tedious, less accurate and difficult to store and update. So, there is a need for a digitized system providing country’s land authorities with a powerful tool that creates a unified platform for the creation of an accurate spatial database, timely maintenance and updating of the database in a dynamic web platform. The database including spatial data of land features can be utilized to create a web-based thin-client mapping application which meets the needs of all the stakeholders (government authorities from Survey Offices, Land Revenue Offices, Land Reform Offices, etc.). This paper shows the use of open-source software for the creation of a web mapping system including QGIS, PostGIS extension of PostgreSQL for spatial database, HTML for markup, CSS for styling, JavaScript, Leaflet, Open-Layers for client-side scripting and Geo-Django for backend designing. The developed methodology can be utilised for the preparation of an interactive thin-client web mapping server that enables general users to dynamically view data, zoom, pan and search from the database and obtain land information. The login system enables administrators with various access to upload, verify and edit data along with performing various spatial operations while the super admin is entitled to access to the PostgreSQL database. The major finding is that the use of a thin client application for a land information system is beneficial for all stakeholders. It is also a measure of the performance of land authorities allowing better planning, preparedness, and allocation of resources.

AID Shuffling Mechanism Based on Group-Buying Auction for Identifier Network Security

Identifier network is one of promising network architectures to solve IP dual-property issues by separating network into access network and core network. The key design is the identifier/location separation mechanism which introduces user accessing address space and network routing address space to represent the identifier and location of terminal, respectively. The core network can prevent the cyber attacks by controlling the mapping relationship between Accessing IDentifier (AID) and Routing IDentifier (RID) via the mapping system. While the access network is facing serious security problems which makes it easily to be attacked. Therefore, this work focuses on access network security and studies AID shuffling mechanism by randomizing identifier through virtual AID. However, how the mapping servers allocate virtual AID to terminals in a reasonable way is quite difficult. To solve this problem, we propose an AID shuffling mechanism based on Group-buying Auction for Identifier Network (GAIN) among mapping servers, accessing switching routers and terminals. First, GAIN decides a group bid for each group leader and the winning virtual AID range for each group. Second, the mapping servers allocate the identifier for each terminal. Third, GAIN determines how much each winning group leaders should pay for virtual AID range to each mapping server in the winning group. We evaluate the identifier assignment of GAIN in terms of rationality, budget balance, computational tractability and truthfulness. The large-scale simulations are performed to evaluate GAIN, and the results are presented to verify the effectiveness and efficiency by comparing with other state-of-the-art approaches.

An Adaptive Data Mapping Storage Selection Algorithm in Mobile Cloud Computing

Mobile cloud computing (MCC) is a new computing paradigm which tends to transfer the data storage and the data processing from a mobile device to a cloud server on the Internet. The cloud server may be a block sever or a file server. In MCC, due to the limited resources of a mobile device as processing power, battery power, and memory, the main challenge is how to map data items into a cloud server and select the best mapping server among block and file servers. In this paper, the difficulties in mapping data items are addressed and a new adaptive data mapping storage scheme is proposed. The proposed scheme can select a block or file mapping for mobile data items based on a defined cost model which takes into account the energy consumption and the total time delay for sending and retrieving of data to/from the cloud server. In addition, the proposed scheme can select the optimal number of blocks and files of data items that adaptively changes with their cost models. The simulated results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a better mapping performance with minimum cost compared to the mapping data items without any selection mechanism.

Qualitative analysis of mapping systems in the Internet architectures based on identifier/locator separation

The current Internet has several known challenges, such as routing scalability, mobility, multihoming, traffic engineering, etc. due to the overloaded semantics of IP address, i.e. it is used as a node identifier (ID) and a node locator (LOC). Thus, the research community has redesigned the Internet architecture based on ID/LOC separation to overcome the limitations of the current Internet. In all Internet architectures based on ID/LOC separation, ID to LOC mapping system is necessarily required to bind ID and its LOC, since ID is no longer dependent to its LOC logically or physically. Thus, how to design the mapping system is a key challenge in ID/LOC separation architecture. In this paper, we analyse qualitatively the mapping systems proposed in ID/LOC separation architectures to provide insights into designing a new mapping system. The main contribution in this paper is that we categorise ID to LOC mapping systems according to the mapping server structure and provide the pros and cons of the mapping systems belonging to each category. Based on our qualitative analysis, we also examine intuitively if the mapping systems in each category satisfy their requirements.

The FTMap family of web servers for determining and characterizing ligand-binding hot spots of proteins

FTMap is a computational mapping server that identifies binding hot spots of macromolecules-i.e., regions of the surface with major contributions to the ligand-binding free energy. To use FTMap, users submit a protein, DNA or RNA structure in PDB (Protein Data Bank) format. FTMap samples billions of positions of small organic molecules used as probes, and it scores the probe poses using a detailed energy expression. Regions that bind clusters of multiple probe types identify the binding hot spots in good agreement with experimental data. FTMap serves as the basis for other servers, namely FTSite, which is used to predict ligand-binding sites, FTFlex, which is used to account for side chain flexibility, FTMap/param, used to parameterize additional probes and FTDyn, for mapping ensembles of protein structures. Applications include determining the druggability of proteins, identifying ligand moieties that are most important for binding, finding the most bound-like conformation in ensembles of unliganded protein structures and providing input for fragment-based drug design. FTMap is more accurate than classical mapping methods such as GRID and MCSS, and it is much faster than the more-recent approaches to protein mapping based on mixed molecular dynamics. By using 16 probe molecules, the FTMap server finds the hot spots of an average-size protein in <1 h. As FTFlex performs mapping for all low-energy conformers of side chains in the binding site, its completion time is proportionately longer.

An Autonomous Emergency Warning System Based on Cloud Servers and SNS

Abstract There are no warning systems for earthquake, fire and gas disasters in Almaty (Kazakhstan). We propose an autonomous emergency warning system that provides useful awareness against unpredictable disasters. The system mainly consists of sensor network, disaster information mapping server, SNS module, and web server. When the system detects a disaster it distributes real-time warnings with levels of danger and signs of severe damages by the sensor data and GPS position to residents by both SNS (twitter) and the Website with Google maps including real-time safety places. We built a prototype system and could confirm the effectiveness of the warning system.

Development of Spatial Database for Regional Development in Romania

Geographical Information Systems are used in solving many regional development related problems, around the world. Starting from some national programs to famous international ones, such as INSPIRE program, each such initiative uses geospatial data as well in the process of building regional development strategies. This paper presents the main technical components of a geographical information system, meaning the spatial database, the web mapping server and the APIs used to embed the maps into web applications. The development steps for a pre-alpha version of a web GIS application dedicated to the regional development in Romania are also shown. The software tools which were integrated in order to develop the online application were Oracle Spatial, geospatial data was stored, GeoServer, an open source web mapping server used to generate the map out of the data from Oracle Spatial's tables and ASP.NET as a web framework for building the website.Keywords: Regional Development, GIS, Spatial Database, Web Mapping Server(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionI n the new knowledge based economy, the information systems for data handling, and for knowledge discovery became a must for making decisions and elaborate development strategies in both public and private sectors.Among the classical data types, the geospatial data became very interesting for the governmental decision factors, especially after the launch of the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community) directive of the European Parliament in 2007. This kind of data shows where certain objects are placed on the surface of the Earth, from the pipes of a city to the best possible location to open a new business.The Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have the technical capacity of storing, manipulating and visualizing the geospatial data, together with the descriptive/economic data. GIS is used for example in urban and regional development by creating different planning maps [1], in utilities management (electricity, gas, water) [2], when choosing the best locations for a certain investment ([3], [4]), in the environment studies [5], in assuring national health programs ([6], [7], [8]). The essential role of geospatial information in pressing issues such as: land cover, access to water, food production and distribution, biodiversity, is the main topic in many conferences in this field such as AGIT symposium Geoinformation for Development (gi4dev) held in 2006 in Austria.This paper discusses the use of GIS tools in regional development and details the GIS architecture by analyzing its main software components: spatial databases, web mapping servers and the application programming interfaces (APIs) used to embed maps in web applications. In the last chapter we propose system architecture for building an online GIS for regional development in Romania. The application will offer the possibility of maintaining both spatial data and economical/statistical data regarding different variables of interest in different counties and to visualize statistical thematic maps which could be the basis of the decision making process.2 Regional Development and GISRegional development's aim is to offer assistance and to modernize regions which are less economically developed than others, at international or domestic level. In order to comply with EU regional policy, in Romania there were identified eight regions which are administrated by the nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations called Regional Development Agencies (ADR) which are functioning in compliance to the Law no. 315/2004 on the regional development of Romania. The purposes of the Regional Development Agencies are detailed in paper [9] but all the tasks could be included into the main one and that is the creation of regional development plans.A regional development plan starts with an analysis of the existing situation in a certain region by investigating the natural resources, infrastructure, physical capital, human capital, knowledge capital and the productive capital of the region. …

Mobility Support Architecture in Locator-ID Separation based Future Internet using Proxy Mobile IPv6

Of several approaches for future Internet, separating two properties of IP address into locator and identifier, is being considered as a highly likely solution. IETF's LISP (Locator ID Separation Protocol) is proposed for this architecture. In particular, the LISP model easily allows for device mobility through simple update of information at MS (Mapping Server) without a separate protocol. In recent years, some of the models supporting device mobility using such LISP attributes have emerged; however, most of them have the limitation for seamless mobility support due to the frequent MS information updates and the time required for the updates. In this paper, PMIPv6 (Proxy Mobile IPv6) model is applied for mobility support in LISP model. PMIPv6 is a method that can support mobility based on network without the help of device; thus, this we define anew the behavior of functional modules (LMA, MAG and MS) to fit this model to the LISP environment and present specifically procedures of device registration, data transfer, route optimization and handover. In addition, our approach improves the communication performance using three tunnels identified with locators between mobile node and corresponding node and using a route optimized tunnel between MN's MAG and CN's MAG. Finally, it allows for seamless mobility by designing a sophisticated handover procedure.

A distributed mobility management scheme in networks with the locator/identifier separation

SUMMARYIn traditional Internet architectures, current centralized mobility management schemes face scalability issues because of the creation of network bottlenecks and a single mobility agent of failures. To address these issues, we propose a distributed mobility management scheme in locator/identifier separation networks (DMMLIS). We divide the network into many domains according to the area of autonomous systems. Each domain consists of a mapping server and several tunnel routers (xTRs). The mapping server stores global mappings between endpoint identifier (EID) prefixes and autonomous system numbers (ASNs) to lookup the mobile nodes' (MNs') home domain. Meanwhile, the mapping server also contains ASN‐to‐xTR mappings so that it can forward Map‐Register and Map‐Request messages to any xTR of the MN's home domain, thus enhancing reliability. In addition, the xTRs in each domain constitute one‐hop distributed hash table ring. Moreover, any xTR in the MN's home domain may be the home agent of MNs, and the MNs' EID‐to‐RLOC (routing locator) mapping is stored in two xTRs using two hash functions. In this way, it not only supports quick lookup but also improves scalability and survivability. To evaluate the survivability and the efficiency of DMMLIS, we analyze the service blocking probability, the system response time, and the total protocol cost. We also present numerical results to demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

IMapper: a web application for the automated analysis and mapping of insertional mutagenesis sequence data against Ensembl genomes

Summary: Insertional mutagenesis is a powerful method for gene discovery. To identify the location of insertion sites in the genome linker based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods (such as splinkerette-PCR) may be employed. We have developed a web application called iMapper (Insertional Mutagenesis Mapping and Analysis Tool) for the efficient analysis of insertion site sequence reads against vertebrate and invertebrate Ensembl genomes. Taking linker based sequences as input, iMapper scans and trims the sequence to remove the linker and sequences derived from the insertional mutagen. The software then identifies and removes contaminating sequences derived from chimeric genomic fragments, vector or the transposon concatamer and then presents the clipped sequence reads to a sequence mapping server which aligns them to an Ensembl genome. Insertion sites can then be navigated in Ensembl in the context of genomic features such as gene structures. iMapper also generates test-based format for nucleic acid or protein sequences (FASTA) and generic file format (GFF) files of the clipped sequence reads and provides a graphical overview of the mapped insertion sites against a karyotype. iMapper is designed for high-throughput applications and can efficiently process thousands of DNA sequence reads.Availability: iMapper is web based and can be accessed at http://www.sanger.ac.uk/cgi-bin/teams/team113/imapper.cgi.Contact: da1@sanger.ac.uk; iMapper@sanger.ac.ukSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE MANAGEMENT APPLICATION

ABSTRACT The Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC), a partnership between the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and NOAA'S Office of Response and Restoration (ORR), is leading an effort to develop a data platform capable of intefacing both static and real-time data sets accessible simultaneously to a command post and assets in the field with an open source internet mapping server. The Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA™) is designed to give responders and decision makers ready access to geographically specific data useful during spill planning/drills, incident response, damage assessment and site restoration. In addition to oil spill and chemical release response, this website can be relevant to other environmental incidents and natural disasters, responses and regional planning efforts. The platform is easy to operate, without the assistance of Information Technology or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists. It allows users to access individual data layer values, overlay relevant data sets, and zoom into segments of interest. The platform prototype is being developed specifically for Portsmouth Harbor and the Great Bay Estuary, NH. The prototype demonstrates the capabilities of an integrated data management platform and serves as the pilot for web-based GIS platforms in other regions.

Conversion of fuel moisture content values to ignition potential for integrated fire danger assessment

Fuel moisture content (FMC) estimation is a critical part of any fire danger rating system, since fuel water status is determinant in fire ignition and fire propagation. However, FMC alone does not provide a comprehensive assessment of fire danger, since other factors related to fire ignition (lightning, human factors) or propagation (wind, slope) also need to be taken into account. The problem in integrating all these factors is finding a common scale of danger rating that will make it possible to derive synthetic indices. This paper reviews the importance of FMC in fire ignition and fire propagation, as well as the most common methods of estimating FMC values. A simple method to convert FMC values to danger ratings is proposed, based on computing ignition potential from thresholds of moisture of extinction adapted to each fuel. The method has been tested for the Madrid region (central Spain), where a fire danger assessment system has been built. All the variables related to fire danger were integrated into a dedicated geographic information system and information provided to fire managers through a web mapping server.