where next with congestion charging after Manchester no vote?

13.12.08
Professor Phil Blythe of the transport operations research group at Newcastle University is disappointed at the no-vote to Manchester's congestion charge.

How bad must traffic congestion get before we act?
Chronicle Live article

first geonet pillar installed at cockle park

11.12.08
On 25 November the first Ordnance Survey "Geonet" station was installed at the University farm at Cockle Park. Geonet is a new network of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) receivers, designed to form the future backbone of Great Britain's geodetic positioning capability. Each Geonet station will be monumented to the highest standards, so that sites will remain stable over the coming decades, and is equipped with a receiver and antenna capable of recording not only the signals from GPS and GLONASS (the former USSR's equivalent of GPS), but also the signals from the new European "Galileo" and Chinese "Compass" satellite navigation systems which will become available in the next few years.

Geonet sites also supply data to the Ordnance Survey's "OS Net" national GPS network, currently being upgraded to full GNSS capability. This network of over 100 sites supplies real-time GNSS positioning at the 1-2 cm level for the mapping of England, Wales and Scotland by our national mapping agency. The data are also used for commercial network RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) correction services provided on a subscription basis by Leica Geosystems and Trimble to users in the survey industry.

The picture shows the latest station MORO (nearest, with the white radome), and the existing IGS (International GNSS Service) GPS station MORP operated by the School (middle). The far antenna is MORG, part of Leica Geosystems' SmartNet GNSS verification network. The existence of three securely-monumented geodetic quality GNSS receivers operating permanently within such a small area provides a unique facility for the investigation of error sources in GNSS.

All three antennae sit on sandstone blocks, resting directly on the bedrock two meters below ground level. The receivers are securely located in the nearby sheep station building with power and broadband Internet connection, feeding a live stream of data to users. The sheep station also houses a weather station, allowing accurate corrections for atmospheric effects to be made to the GNSS signals.

IHT north eastern branch regional dinner

1.12.08
The IHT North Eastern Branch Regional Dinner took place in the luxurious surroundings of Ramside Hall, County Durham, on 27 November.

TORG took a party of 25 that included lecturers, research staff, PhD and MSc students, which turned out to be the largest table of the evening! The students were introduced to the IHT President and members from large transport organisations such as Jacobs and Colas who kindly sponsored the attendance of our MSc students, and served to strengthen our continuing strong links with the transport industry.

One highlight of the evening was the guest speaker for the night, Sally Boazman who is probably better known as BBC Radio 2’s “Sally Traffic”. Her speech covered her role in broadcasting, how she came to be the only traffic and travel presenter at a national level and the wider importance of traffic and travel information in minimising the impacts of congestion and accidents. Sally thoroughly enjoyed meeting TORG staff and students to discuss their various research interests and promised us all a mention on national radio!

An enjoyable night was had by all!
Photographs from the evening

AHRC/EPSRC science and heritage research cluster award

David Graham

1.12.08
National and regional research agendas have determined that there is an urgent need for greater integration between the applied and social sciences; however, until very recently, few cross-cutting support opportunities existed. To fill this gap, the AHRC and EPSRC have recently joined forces to create a new Science and Heritage Research Programme to stimulate such multi-disciplinary activity.

The first component of the programme plan is to award Research Cluster grants to research teams that will establish scientific data and management issues needed to better define future research activity. Newcastle University, specifically the International Centre for Culture (ICCHS) and Heritage Studies and the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CeG), were just awarded (pending negotiation) an AHRC/EPSRC Cluster grant to study underlying processes that promote the accelerated decay of ancient stone monuments within the landscape (ASMs; e.g., standing stones, rock art). The project is lead by Dr Aron Mazel in ICCHS and Prof David Graham in CeG, and is mandated to develop research teams to set the future agenda in ASM preservation and develop scientifically-informed management approaches. This Cluster has already committed individuals from academic, governmental, and non-profit agencies, and will use an ecological perspective to identify ASM research priorities. Disciplines will include ecology, molecular biology, chemistry, geology, hydrology, archaeology, and anthropology, but will be expanded based identified research questions. The ultimate aim is to help guide Science and Heritage Research on scientific issues of greatest significance to heritage resource management, and then champion new projects stemming from the Cluster.

The ASM Cluster Research work should commence early in 2009 and will include two workshops, one including public involvement, and the development of a much expanded Science and Heritage web presence at Newcastle University.

MESSAGE media day

Gareth Evans

19.11.08
Members of the MESSAGE team presented a demonstration of the project to the local media in Gateshead Civic Centre.

The demonstration day was divided into three parts, illustrating the overall flow line of the project. The first part of the day demonstrated how data was remotely collected in real-time, explaining the technology behind the ‘Motes’ (specialised traffic and environmental sensors) and the advantages they have over existing technologies. As well as illustrating the static array of Motes, the ability to collect and process data from mobile Motes (located on- and in-vehicle) was also shown.

The next part of the day looked at how data was processed and disseminated. A live demonstration of the interactive Google Map interface was followed by an example of how individual static Motes could be queried over different time periods. This illustrated the ‘richness’ of the data that was being gathered for the project, allowing for temporal variations in the environmental and traffic indicators to be displayed in graphical form. In addition to the PC-based Google Map interface, the potential for viewing data outdoors, away from the desk, via a PDA was also presented.

Finally, the potential for using the data in microsimulation modelling was explained. One of the key outcomes of the microsimulation modelling was to identify new traffic management strategies and a model of the Gateshead network was used to illustrate how this can be implemented.

The final TV broadcasts can currently be found online:
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7728419.stm
ITV: http://www.itvlocal.com/tynetees/news/?player=TYN_News_15&void=258264

CeG students visit haymarket construction site and metro control rooms

Roger Bird

18.11.08
The Stage 3 Integrated Design Project this year is looking at the "reinvigoration" of the Tyne and Wear Metro system. Nexus, which operates the system, has recently received a substantial government grant for exactly this purpose, making the project a relevant and timely reminder of the challenges of operating and enhancing a sustainable public transport system.

Nexus is actively involved in the project, supplying the students with data, design criteria and other insights to challenge and assist them as they devise a ten-year spending plan balancing various conflicting demands for maintenance, customer satisfaction, extensions to the system, rolling stock renovation etc.

Having recently completed feasibility studies to outline their possible solutions, the 52 students taking the module went on site visits last week as guests of Nexus and Tolent Construction. They visited the Haymarket Metro station construction site, touring the site from the new roof top to underground. Students saw how solutions have been devised to the problems of working over a live station, on a constrained city centre site.
 
The site visits also visited the new transport interchange and Park & Ride facility at Northumberland Park, to see how infrastructure work can be coordinated with commercial and community regeneration projects. Finally, students visited the South Gosforth control room, the nerve centre of the Metro system. Here they saw the three major control systems for the Metro; one controls the movement and safety of the trains, another maintains the power systems and electrical equipment, while the third provides the public interface through CCTV, passenger information and public announcements. In visiting the equipment rooms, students became aware of the problems of renewing the electrical systems, many of which pre-date computerisation.

CeG students return to the RVI site

Tom Bramald

11.11.08
Over the last three years, CeG students have visited the Royal Victoria Infirmary site in Newcastle upon Tyne to see a major civil, structural and construction project being undertaken. The visits have been part of a variety of study modules and have sat alongside visits to many other projects around the North East.

On Thursday 6 November, approximately 30 students returned to the RVI site. The concrete frame works have been transformed as the fitting out process gets underway. The students were struck by the progress of the project and enjoyed the opportunity to hear from Laing O'Rourke about the project's past, present and future.

Site visits are an essential part of the degree programmes at Newcastle. From core structural and mathematical skills to issues such as sustainability and environmental impact, site visits relate to all elements of the degree programmes. Past visits have included road and bridge engineering, marine environment construction, steel frame erection and contaminated land remediation.

If you can offer a site visit to CeG students, please contact t.m.bramald@ncl.ac.uk

geomatics @ newcastle-led project underpins network RTK GPS national guidelines

Stuart Edwards

11.11.08
On 6 November 2008, a significant event in the history of surveying in Great Britain took place at Manchester United football ground, Old Trafford. Over 200 surveying professionals gathered to hear the results of a project commissioned by The Survey Association (TSA) (the commercial trade body for survey companies in the UK), and undertaken by the School’s geodesy research group. Earlier this year, TSA together with Great Britain’s national mapping agency Ordnance Survey, and the two current providers of commercial network real-time positioning (network RTK) services within Great Britain, Leica Geosystems and Trimble, joined together to fund a project to assess the accuracies obtainable from this Global Positioning System (GPS) based technology. The geodesy group was commissioned to undertake the project and to produce a set of best practice guidelines. An extensive set of field trials was designed to provide the researchers, led by Dr Stuart Edwards, with sufficient data to examine key performance indicators of both the Leica and Trimble systems. The project’s goal was the production of a concise set of evidence-based best practice guidelines, advising users of currently available network RTK services in Great Britain on how to obtain the best possible results, which would also serve to inform professionals in related disciplines e.g. civil engineers and architects about achievable performance. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors joined the key stakeholders in publishing the final best practice guidance document. Both the best practice guidelines and a more extensive scientific report on the project are available for free download at: http://www.tsa-uk.org.uk/

Further information about Geomatics @ Newcastle can be found at: http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/research/geomatics/ The completed work is not only significant in its scientific findings, but also for the fact that it is possibly the first time that the surveying/geomatics industry has come together in such a manner. together in such a manner.