INSIDE TRACK

PRODUCTS

Blue Marble GeoCalc 5.2 Now Available
Blue Marble Geographics has released GeoCalc 5.2, a dynamic link library (DLL) for Windows programmers used for embedding real-time coordinate conversion in Windows application. GeoCalc users now have the ability to match their custom coordinate systems to a known geodetic coordinate system for on-the-fly conversion. This new function essentially allows a user to create an affine transformation and move data from a previously unknown coordinate system to a useable pre-defined coordinate system. GeoCalc is the GIS industry standard and contains well over 130 pre-defined ellipsoids, 630 datum transformations and more than 30 projections. New features include the implementation of Australian NTv2 (National Transformation version 2) that supports the presence of internal sub-grids within a master grid file. Blue Marble has also added a WGS72 ellipsoid definition for use in MGRS grid conversion. In this process, a memory leak with the conversion process was discovered and resolved. This update is available to all those enrolled in GeoCalc update and annual subscription. GeoCalc deployment is not restricted with a software license control, you can embed the DLL into your application for “on-the-fly” conversion, transparent to the end user. A flexible license model allows for unlimited distribution.

TerraColor World 2.0 Include NASA’s Blue Marble
Earthstar Geographics announced the release of TerraColor World 2.0 with special introductory pricing. In addition to beautiful color shaded terrain and bathymetry images of the earth, version 2.0 also includes a version of NASA/GSFC’s Blue Marble world satellite mosaic image created from MODIS data. Both images are provided with full georeferencing at 1Km (1,000 meter) resolution in both Geographic (Lat Long) and Robinson projections. The images are suitable for creating colorful world or regional maps at 1:3,500,000 scale and larger. For ease of use, over 14 gigabytes of imagery are provided in ECW-compressed format on a single CD-ROM. Uncompressed images at full resolution are up to 2.6GB in size. Free ECW viewing and export software and plug-ins let you easily work with the images in your favorite GIS, remote sensing, and graphics applications. For details, visit www.terracolor.net.

ArcPad StreetMap Now Available
ESRI announces the availability of ArcPad StreetMap, a new field-based routing and mapping solution for mobile technology users. As an extension to ArcPad, ESRI’s mobile mapping and GIS software, ArcPad StreetMap provides an interactive layer of street data that integrates with existing spatial data, aerial photographs, and data entry forms. It can greatly increase the productivity of field-workers in utility, environmental, public safety, transportation, code enforcement, and other industries. Key features: high-quality street-level data that is optimized for routing from Geographic Data Technology (GDT) for the entire United States; geocoding and reverse-geocoding allows users in the field to easily find a location either by entering a street address, city, or by using latitude and longitude coordinates; field users can quickly find the most optimized route and view turn-by-turn directions, and interactively create barriers to calculate routes around construction zones, accident sites, and other undesirable locations. ArcPad StreetMap requires ArcPad 6.0.1 or higher and is supported on Pocket PC and Pocket PC 2002. For more information visit www.esri.com/arcpad.

DigitalGlobe Products for Civil Government
DigitalGlobe announced the availability of the 1”= 400’-scale digital orthorectified imagery product and a Civil Government License. The new orthomosaics are created using QuickBird two-foot resolution black and white images of the Earth. The product specifications, pricing and licensing are all tailored to U.S. local government requirements and standard operational procedures to better meet the needs of this sector’s existing operational flow. Several government applications will benefit by this product, including GIS map updating, city planning, property appraisal, emergency management, infrastructure mapping, economic development and public works management, among others. Customers may supply their existing Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Ground Control Point (GCP) data to receive further discounts on mosaicked orthoimagery. Product specifications will vary according to the quality of this customer-provided data. For more information, visit www.digital globe.com.

Leica Geosystems GS20 Professional
Data Mapper
Leica Geosystems has introduced the GS20 Professional Data Mapper (PDM), combining the accuracy of a sub-meter GIS mapping system, the ease of a handheld GPS receiver and the convenience of wireless connectivity. The GS20 is a GPS receiver, antenna and data collector, all in an ergonomic handheld package. The menu-driven interface and graphical map display make the GS20 remarkably easy to learn. The unit is field-ready with very little setup required. Inexperienced users can take a unit to the field and start collecting data right away. The innovative Power Page functionality provides multi-tasking capability, permitting the user to switch rapidly between selected application menus. The GS20 provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity to computers and Leica Geosystems’ Wireless Real-Time Corrections Systems (WoRCS). The WoRCS package includes a belt-mounted Bluetooth communications hub, smart power supply and differential correction receiver, providing everything needed for real-time sub-meter DGPS data collection.

Lizardtech Express Server 4.5 Now Shipping
Lizardtech Software released Express Server 4.5, designed to enable fast, high-quality Internet viewing of images and documents of any size. Express Server 4.5 includes support for streaming MrSID Generation 3 lossless and lossy image types and provides additional geospatial viewing tools. Express Server 4.5 allows organizations to efficiently serve high-quality MrSID images, DjVu documents and other popular image formats over a network to any client device. Lizardtech’s GeoExpress with MrSID is a wavelet-based lossless and high-quality lossy imaging technology that dramatically increases the value of geospatial data by making it more accessible and useful while maintaining the highest level of quality and accuracy. Document Express with DjVu is Lizardtech’s document solution that reduces the file size of digital documents up to 1000 times compared with the original TIFF files and as low as two percent of the size of corresponding PDF files. Key enhancements with Express Server 4.5 include the ability to deliver streaming MrSID Generation 3 images over the Internet, dramatically improving end user experience and providing faster image recognition of massive image mosaics. In addition, the Express Server 4.5 plug-in viewer adds support for mapping functionality, including measuring, overview, metadata viewing, and smart caching.

Optech ALTM 70 Khz Model
Optech Incorporated is pleased to announce the launch of its most advanced Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper, the 30/70. The ALTM 30/70 offers coverage rates as high as 70 kHz at 1,500 m. Due to its single-chassis design, the new ALTM 30/70 is smaller, lighter, and easier to install in a variety of different aircraft than previous systems. Optech’s ALTM is a complete terrain survey solution that includes: ALTM-NAV Flight Management Software, which orchestrates all three major aspects of airborne survey operations—GPS/POS, lidar, and flight management—into one program; REALM Survey Suite, Optech’s fully integrated data processing software designed to process both GPS and ALTM laser point data. Using REALM’s batch processing feature, huge data sets can be processed overnight and ready for manipulation the next morning; Full technical support, anywhere in the world. Additional options include a 4k x 4k integrated metric frame digital camera for geo-referenced (X,Y,Z) color or color-IR images with sub-pixel accuracy. For further information, visit www.optech.on.ca.

Safe Software Releases FME Suite 2003 X2
Safe Software Inc. announced the immediate availability of FME Suite 2003 X2, a Spatial ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool that makes it easy for organizations to translate, transform, share, and enhance their data between more than 100 GIS, CAD, and database formats. Key new enhancements in FME 2003 X2 include powerful additions to the Workbench graphical transformation editor for handling large data models and data volumes, expanded format support, and batch deploy capabilities. Format support has been expanded to include MicroStation Design File Version 8 reading, GeoMedia SQL Server Warehouse reading/writing, PostGIS/PostgreSQL reading/writing, ArcGIS Binary Grid reading, ESRI ASCII Grid reading/writing, and CDED DEM writing.

Safe Software Releases Plugin for MapServer
Safe Software Inc., announces it has added MapServer support to its web-based data delivery product SpatialDirect. This solution enables users to download data viewed with MapServer directly to their desktops in any format and projection. SpatialDirect has been integrated with: Autodesk MapGuide, ESRI ArcIMS, Intergraph GeoMedia WebMap, MapInfo MapXtreme, and now MapServer. It can also be easily integrated with other custom viewers or web-mapping applications.

DM Solutions Chameleon Technology
DM Solutions Group Inc. has announced Chameleon, a technology that allows an organization’s IT Web infrastructure to seamlessly integrate mapping content with standard Web development tools. Chameleon technology will be released under an open source license, maximizing its availability to a broader community. Chameleon was developed in PHP with the University of Minnesota’s MapServer as the backend technology. Chameleon was developed in part for GeoConnections—a national partnership initiative led by Natural Resources Canada that is building the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). GeoConnections commissioned DM Solutions Group to develop the CGDI WMS Client Component (CWC2). CWC2 is a version of Chameleon that implements Open GIS Consortium (OGC) standards for easy discovery and integration of remote data sources accessible through OGC protocols. CWC2 will also be available as a Web service for CGDI stakeholders to easily integrate mapping content from CGDI sources into their Web applications. For more information about Chameleon, visit www.dmsolutions.ca/techserv/chameleon.html.

Infoterra Inc. Utilizes Feature Analyst
England-based Infoterra is leveraging Feature Analyst technology to perform land cover and land use classification from Landsat and Ikonos imagery, to aid in its mapping efforts. Complicated, multiple-class extractions, such as those being performed by Infoterra, have historically been time consuming and quite expensive. Feature Analyst, developed by Visual Learning Systems Inc., provides Infoterra with a powerful tool that can cut project times significantly, and increase the quality and accuracy of their maps. For additional information and an evaluation copy of Feature Analyst, visit www.featureanalyst.com. To learn more about Infoterra, visit www.infoterra-global.com.

Easy-to-Access Nautical Information
Since their inception, downloads of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) from the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have exceeded 500,000 with daily downloads reaching an all time high on May 3, 2003, with over 7,200 downloads. The ENC program is part of the Administration’s E-Government initiative to make information easily accessible to the public. Managed by NOAA National Ocean Service’s Office of Coast Survey, ENCs provide up-to-date charting data supporting safe navigation of the U.S. marine transportation system. NOAA placed provisional ENCs on the Internet in July of 2001 for testing and evaluation by the public. Since then, the total number of ENC downloads has exceeded half a million. The charts are free to the public and easily accessible for download on the Office of Coast Survey Web site, http://oceanservice. noaa.gov/programs/cs/welcome.html. Two different versions of the charts are available. The first version is intended for navigating deep-draft commercial vessels, and the second is a more comprehensive database containing the same information found on paper charts. The ENCs cover the nation’s 40 major, commercial port areas. NOAA ENCs support all types of marine navigation by providing the official database for Electronic Charting Systems (ECS) and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS), the international standard developed to ensure global usability. When combined with input from other sources such as GPS and real-time oceanographic data, systems using ENCs are able to assist mariners in avoiding groundings and collisions with fixed objects. NOAA ENCs can also be used in geographic information systems (GIS) for any number of applications, such as fish habitat mapping, coastal zone management, emergency planning, homeland security and ocean jurisdictional mapping. In order to compile and maintain its ENCs and nautical charts, NOAA analyzes extensive data sets including NOAA hydrographic surveys; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveys, drawings, and permits; U.S. Coast Guard Local Notices to Mariners; and National Imagery and Mapping Agency Notices to Mariners. NOAA ENCs are updated monthly.

BUSINESS

DigitalGlobe Names Director of D.C. Office
DigitalGlobe announced the opening of an office in Washington D.C., to better serve the company’s U.S. Government customers. The office will be led by Dawn Sienicki, who has joined DigitalGlobe as director of Washington D.C. operations. Dawn Sienicki is the former executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Space Enterprise Council and brings to DigitalGlobe a more consistent voice in Congress and with the Executive Branch. Serving as a DigitalGlobe liaison with Capitol Hill and the Executive Branch, Sienicki will enable DigitalGlobe to more easily establish and cultivate relationships with government agencies and customers, develop and manage legislative and political strategies, track and shape policies affecting the industry and DigitalGlobe, and bolster the company’s participation in advisory groups and industry organizations. The move is on par with the forward momentum the current administration has generated in support of the commercial remote sensing industry. President Bush’s “U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy” was signed on April 25,2003 and released on May 13, 2003. The directive orders federal government agencies to rely more heavily on private satellite companies to provide images from space.

IDELIX Announces Membership in Consortium IDELIX Software Inc., creators of the visualization technology known as Pliable Display Technology (PDT), have announced their participation in a consortium headed by Eastman Kodak Company that has advanced to phase two of a contract with the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) to deliver a solution that addresses the requirements laid out by NIMA in their Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) NMA 201-02-BAA-7000 for Softcopy Search. With the integration of Pliable Display Technology, the consortium will deliver a prototype that will provide a more efficient and effective way for NIMA and other U.S. Government agencies to conduct imagery analysis and visualization searches of large geographic areas. Other members of the consortium include Paragon Imaging, Intergraph, HP Federal and Toshiba. PDT functionality will be integrated into an innovative product called GeoMedia Image Pro which is an ongoing joint venture using Intergraph’s premier GIS platform, GeoMedia Professional, and Paragon Imaging’s full functioned electronic light table product, ELT/5500. GeoMedia Image Pro is one of the COTS (commercial, off the shelf) products that will be incorporated into the demonstration prototype.

Intermap Technologies Appoints Senior Vice
President and CFO
Intermap Technologies Corporation announced the appointment of Richard Mohr as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective June 2, 2003. Mohr brings more than 20 years of financial management experience to Intermap. His career has been focused primarily in the tech industry in both public and private companies. He has held the positions of Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance and Executive Vice President. Mohr is a CPA and holds a MBA in Finance and Accounting from Regis University and a BS in Accounting from Colorado State University.

Peter Batty to Address GIS Conference
Geographic information systems industry leader and technical visionary Peter Batty will present a luncheon address on October 1 at the 16th Annual GIS in the Rockies. The conference theme is “Geospatial Integration Today for Tomorrow.” Mr. Batty’s talk will cover a range of topics related to this theme, including web
services, OpenGIS standards, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), location tracking systems, wireless communications, and integration of GIS with real time systems such as SCADA and outage management. Prior to co-founding Ten Sails in 2002, Mr. Batty was Vice President of technology at GE Network Solutions. He spent a decade with Smallworld Systems and GE Network Solutions, where he played a significant role in GIS for Utilities and Telecommunications. With Ten Sails he is working on business development of early and growth stage technology companies, with a particular focus on emerging technologies in the spatial arena. Mr. Batty has been involved in several industry standards initiatives, including the Open GIS Consortium (OGC), and IEC TC57 Working Group 14, a utility industry standards group. For more information on the conference, visit www.GISintheRockies.org.

NEWS

ASPRS Approves LiDAR Data Exchange Format Standard
ASPRS announced the approval and official release of the ASPRS LiDAR Data Exchange Format Standard. This new binary data exchange format is intended to serve as an industry standard for the exchange of LiDAR data between various hardware manufacturers, software developers, data providers and end users. It was originally developed by a consortium of industry partners (Z/I Imaging, EnerQuest, Sanborn, US Army Corps of Engineers, Optech and Leica GeoSystems) and is intended to make the exchange, manipulation, analysis and storage of LiDAR data faster and easier. The new binary data exchange format is a public binary file format that is a replacement for the proprietary systems or a generic ASCII file interchange system used by many companies in the past. A problem with proprietary systems is that data cannot be taken easily from one system or process flow to another and the file sizes can be extremely large, even for small amounts of data. In addition, a standardized LiDAR data format will facilitate the processing, editing and visualization of LiDAR data in a wide variety of commercial and proprietary software packages, as well as the efficient exchange of data between data providers and end-users. The standard is an expandable format, which can be modified to accommodate future developments of LiDAR technology. The standard is available at www.asprs.org/resources.html (click on Standards).

Corle, Dangermond, Pulusani Testify at Hearing
Spatial Technologies Industry Association (STIA) President Fred Corle submitted written testimony on behalf of STIA to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Census for a hearing that the subcommittee held on the Bush Administration’s Geospatial One-Stop initiative and other major federal government geospatial programs and policies. The subcommittee is chaired by Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12). Corle urged Congress and federal agencies to take seven priority actions to advance the use of commercial geospatial products and services to spatially-enable all levels of government for homeland security, e-government, and other high priority national policy goals. STIA’s recommendations for the federal government are:
Action 1. Adopt market-driven standards for spatial data and geographic information system software interoperability in a timely manner.
Action 2. Strengthen the management structure for geospatial programs by establishing a dedicated position in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Electronic Government responsible for administering and coordinating national geospatial policies and programs consistent with Section 216 of the E-Government Act of 2002.
Action 3. Establish a business plan that includes a new grant funding program, possibly modeled on many aspects of the Federal-aid Highway Program, to form consistent, standards-based, and equitable partnerships with state, regional, local, and tribal government as well as the private sector to build and maintain a market-driven and sustainable National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) with integrated applications and systems that accomplish high priority functions of government such as homeland security and e-government.
Action 4. Develop a national strategy to achieve the level of geospatial preparedness required to address high priority homeland security threat scenarios identified by Congress and the White House as well as all major hazards determined by state, regional, local, and tribal government as well as the private sector that endanger lives, property, and critical infrastructure. Strongly support the work being done by the Interagency Geospatial Preparedness Team in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to formulate the National Strategy on Geospatial Preparedness.
Action 5. Ensure that geospatial technologies and spatial data are well-defined and fully integrated in the OMB’s Federal Enterprise Architecture.
Action 6. Partner with industry and public sector organizations to raise awareness about “best practices,” performance-based business cases, and positive return-on-investment case studies for the use of commercial geospatial technologies and spatial data.
Action 7. More forcefully encourage federal agencies and federal grantees to make use of commercial geospatial products and services to the maximum extent feasible and appropriate.
Corle’s full testimony can be viewed on STIA’s web site at http://www.spatialtech.org.
Jack Dangermond, Founder and President of ESRI, testified in person at the hearing along with six other witnesses from the public and private sectors. ESRI is a STIA member company and has a senior executive on the STIA board of directors. Preetha Pulusani, President of Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions, submitted written testimony to the subcommittee for the hearing. Intergraph is a STIA member and Pulusani is a member of the STIA board of directors.

ASPRS Landsat 7 Announcement
On June 11, 2003, ASPRS sent the following email announcement to to its members: “Landsat 7 is an important remote sensing resource for many ASPRS members. Therefore, it is with concern that we inform you that as of Thursday, June 10, 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey had posted on its Landsat Project Website (http://landsat7. usgs.gov/updates.php) the following statements: “On May 31, 2003 at approximately 21:45 GMT, unusual artifacts began to appear within image data collected by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) instrument on board the Landsat 7 spacecraft. These artifacts are consistent with a failure of the instrument’s scan line corrector (SLC). The SLC is an electro-mechanical device that compensates for the forward motion of the spacecraft. Further analysis has confirmed that there is a problem with the SLC.
“The spacecraft itself appears to be in no danger. However, it is believed that all data collected by the ETM+ since the initial failure contain the defect. The affected data (acquired since May 31) have been archived and removed from the publicly accessible data ordering systems. Operations, other than those required to support the current investigation, have been limited to routine housekeeping procedures since the data anomaly was discovered. At this time, the root cause of the anomaly—why the SLC ceased functioning—is unknown.
“A study team, led by the USGS Flight Operations manager, is investigating the possible causes and remedial actions necessary to restore operations. “ —and—
“An instrument anomaly was recently discovered with Landsat 7, which appears to have started on May 31, 2003. Investigators are working to resolve this problem and its effects.
“All Landsat 7 scenes that were acquired from May 31,2003 to present are designated “unorderable” at this time, and therefore will not appear on the search and order interfaces. Standard data acquisitions and scheduling are suspended until this problem has been resolved. Details and updates on the anomaly investigation will be provided, as they become available, on this page.” The page is at http://landsat7.usgs.gov/updates.php.
ASPRS will continue to monitor this situation, which may represent a significant loss of this Nation’s remote sensing capability for the foreseeable future.

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