PRODUCTS

TerraPoint Unveils LiDAR Mapping System
Terra Point, LLC unveiled its upgraded Airborne Laser Topographic Mapping System (ALTMS) incorporating five technical advancements. TerraPoint increased ALTMS shot rates from 20 kilohertz to 40 kilohertz. This means the system can fly at the same altitude and get a higher density of measurement points on the ground, creating better quality data with superior feature recognition, identification, and classification. The second upgrade involves a fine tuning of the ALTMS auto gain component that compensates for reduction intensity as a function of range. This results in fewer point drop-outs and sharper feature definition in extreme terrain. Thirdly, to enhance the accuracy of elevation measurement values, the TerraPoint engineering staff replaced the commercial timing circuitry with a customized component developed in-house. It more precisely measures the time lapse between laser pulse emission and return, the value of which determines ground elevation. TerraPoint has also enhanced its all-return measurement capability. ALTMS is now capable of measuring the intensity of every return. This enhancement further improves the visual quality of terrain features and the end user’s ability to identify and classify them. The fifth system enhancement is a conversion of the ALTMS onboard user interface to a Microsoft/Intel environment. The new interface makes it easier for the onboard operator to run and calibrate the LiDAR during airborne operations. In addition, the new Intel architecture provides more CPU capacity and will extend the system life cycle.

PCI Geomatics Releases Geomatica 9 for UNIX
PCI Geomatics is pleased to announce the release of Geomatica 9 for UNIX platforms. GIS capabilities, hyperspectral tools, and an exclusive new hyperspectral data compression technology top the list of improvements and additions for the new Geomatica 9, PCI Geomatics’ latest release of its Geomatica software line. A completely integrated solution, Geomatica 9 provides superior geomatics capabilities and productivity enhancing features within a seamless “all-in-one” environment for remote sensing, GIS, photogrammetry, and cartographic processing. The new release of Geomatica 9 for UNIX is available for Solaris 8, SGI IRIX 6.5, and LINUX Red Hat 8 systems. PCI Geomatics began shipping the Microsoft Windows release of Geomatica 9 to customers in June 2003. With easy movement of spatial information between highly integrated applications, Geomatica 9 is designed to meet the widest range of requirements for today’s dynamic geospatial user. Advanced remote sensing capabilities share data seamlessly with spatial analysis, photogrammetry, and cartographic processing tools in order to perform these functions without needing to move to other programs, starting with raw image data and ending with information output. Other added features include new GIS resources, hyperspectral tools and data compression technology, new atmospheric correction algorithms, advanced new cartography features, and improved pan-sharpening capabilities. Greater user flexibility and control is provided through programmable scripting environments, batch processing features, automation tools, and interoperability improvements. Geomatica 9 also includes support for JPEG 2000 and SPOT5.

Geographic Calculator 6.0 Anniversary Edition
Blue Marble Geographics (www.bluemarblegeo.com) announces the release of a new version of coordinate conversion software, the Geographic Calculator. Blue Marble has been writing GIS software tools and solutions for more than 10 years. Their technology is embedded in hundreds of GIS applications currently used by military, oil exploration, civil engineering, surveying, technology, and corporate GIS systems. This new version introduces new support for custom local coordinate systems using a polynomial Best-Fit method that links a local system to a geodetic coordinate system. Accuracy can be checked by using the new Display Registration Errors dialog, displayed via an SVG error graph viewer. A convenient new view window dialog for vector file display has also been added. Vertical datum transformations can now be calculated using the GEOID99 model, and support for the Australian Height Datum has been added using the AusGEOID98. Other important updates include enhanced copy and paste functionality for Point Database conversions, support for the Michigan Georef Coordinate System, EckertIV, and EckertVI world projections, batch processing for Map File conversions and the generation of a .prj file in the Map File Conversion tab with any Shapefile output.

ERDAS IMAGINE V8.7
Leica Geosystems is pleased to announce that ERDAS IMAGINE V8.7 will be released worldwide Fall 2003. The latest version of ERDAS IMAGINE will feature JPEG2000 support (including GeoJP2), further improvements to its mosaic tool, and a faster, smoother multi-threaded IMAGINE Geospatial Light Table (GLT) viewer. Set to be simultaneously released with the Leica Photogrammetry Suite, ERDAS IMAGINE 8.7 will be fully compatible with Leica Geosystems’new process-driven photogrammetric software suite. ERDAS IMAGINE 8.7 will support the JPEG2000 and GeoJP2 data formats developed by Mapping Science, Inc. It will add both the capacity to display and create JPEG2000 images. Leica Geosystems has also further improved ERDAS IMAGINE’s mosaic tool. These improvements will include providing users the ability to import/export cut lines, image smoothing along cut lines, color balance imagery using ImageEqualizer’s Dodging algorithm and support for rotated output sheets. Additionally, the new features found in the IMAGINE GLT interface will enhance and expand the efficiency of image exploitation. The expanded use of DirectX 8.1 or higher will allow users to roam smoothly through extremely large sets of imagery. IMAGINE GLT will make use of two threads, one for rendering and one for reading data from a disk. This improvement also enables users to visually improve zooming and rotation of data.

Leica Photogrammetry Suite
Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping is pleased to announce that the Leica Photogrammetry Suite will be released via the Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping Web site Fall 2003. The Leica Photogrammetry Suite is a seamlessly integrated suite of digital photogrammetry products. It takes Leica Geosystems’ existing photogrammetry products and empowers users to transform raw imagery into reliable data layers required for all digital mapping, GIS analysis and 3D visualization. Set to be simultaneously released with ERDAS IMAGINE V8.7, it will be fully compatible with Leica Geosystems’ flagship geographic imaging software suite. The Leica Photogrammetry Suite was created by the same engineers who helped create and develop the industry-leading ERDAS IMAGINE and SOCET SET software products. It is available for purchase as an entire unit or in components. The product suite will consist of Leica Photogrammetry Suite Core (Core), Leica Photogrammetry Suite Stereo (Stereo), Leica Photogrammetry Suite Automatic Terrain, Extraction (ATE), Leica Photogrammetry Suite Terrain Editor (TE), Leica Photogrammetry Suite PRO600 (PRO600), and Leica Photogrammetry Suite ORIMA (ORIMA). The Leica Photogrammetry Suite features an easy-to-use interface, saving time and money on training. The process-driven workflow and exceptional processing speeds increase users’ productivity, while the set-up of the modules allows users to scale the software to fit their needs. Additionally, all users with Software Maintenance can count on Leica Geosystems’ Technical Support team.

Maptech Announces Outdoor Navigator
Maptech announces the release of Outdoor Navigator, software that delivers detailed topographic maps and nautical charts for the millions of hi-tech mobile adventurers who use handheld PDAs. Outdoor Navigator lets you pick and download the maps and charts you want, when you want them from Maptech’s vast library more than 60,000 maps. Connect the handheld to a GPS clip-on or wireless receiver for a moving map that shows your location on highly detailed maps for recreation and even work. Outdoor Navigator works with Palm and Pocket PCs and even some of the new Smart-phones just hitting the market. Maps are delivered via the Internet. Any maps you download are yours to keep. Try it free at www.outdoornavigator.com. Outdoor Navigator works on several palm devices, Pocket-PCs, Smart-phones, and Garmin’s iQue.

Telemorphic, Inc. Announces MapImager
Telemorphic, Inc. announces MapImager, an extension to ESRI’s ArcGIS software. MapImager adds powerful and easy-to-use geographic imaging and visualization capabilities to the ArcGIS desktop. MapImager includes simple intuitive tools which provide ArcGIS novice and professional users alike the ability to quickly compare scanned maps, aerial photos, satellite imagery, and vector GIS data layers in order to interactively identify changes or differences in real-time. Specific functions include one-button toggle and slider bar controls for fast and efficient interactive swipe overlay, blend and merge data fusion, morphing, and band substitution operations. The resulting custom image products can then be saved and/or added into the current ArcMap document. MapImager works with any geospatial data that can be ingested and displayed within the ArcGIS environment, regardless of whether the data resides on the user’s local disk as a personal geodatabase, is being served to the user’s desktop as an ArcSDE data layer, or is being accessed from Internet GIS resources such as Web Services, Internet Map Services, or the Geography Network. MapImager’s enhanced vector and image data visualization capabilities are an ideal addition to many ArcGIS-based solutions within a wide range of applications, including Defense & Intelligence, Homeland Security, Emergency Management, Natural Resource Management, Forestry, and Agriculture to name a few. MapImager does not require that the user install other ArcGIS extensions in order to operate. However, it is compatible with other extensions, offering a very affordable way to add MapImager’s powerful data visualization tools for enhancing productivity and expanding capabilities when used with other ArcGIS extensions such as those for spatial analysis, image analysis, and feature extraction.

More For Your DIME
Positive Systems, Inc. recently launched release 3.1 of the DIME (Digital Images Made Easy) software. Currently used in aerial photography and mapping shops worldwide, The latest version of DIME includes new single seat and network license options. The 3.1 release has also been bundled with a new seamline editor, enhanced user interface and improved reporting. Formerly known as the “Pay As You Use” plan, the “Progressive” package features an unlimited site license and continues to be attractive to smaller volume organizations or those who need to quickly ramp up for a new project. In addition, users now have the option of the single seat “Traditional” plan or the server based “Enterprise” plan. A key feature when producing products such as second generation orthophotos, users can edit and adjust seamlines between overlapping images in a “Drag & Drop” fashion. The result is a seamless, consistent, and tonally balanced mosaic.

Safe Software Adds Reading and Writing
Support to FME
Safe Software Inc. announced that it has added PostGIS and PostgreSQL import and export capability to its core data translation technology, making it immediately available for its flagship product FME (Feature Manipulation Engine). This solution enables the reading and writing of PostGIS spatial data and PostgreSQL attribute data to and from over 100 FME-supported formats and systems. FME support for PostGIS includes spatial data reading and writing according to the OpenGIS Simple Features Specification 1.1. It also includes coordinate system support using both OGC WKT and PROJ4 mechanisms. This new addition emphasizes the continued commitment by Safe Software to OpenGIS standards, including those implemented as Open Source solutions.

Electric Utilities Improved Service with Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. announced today the availability of solutions for electric utilities of all sizes to better manage network information, realize greater management efficiency, resolve problems faster and improve service. Utilities such as Connecticut Light & Power, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), and Nevada Power have realized such marked benefits by automating labor-intensive processes while integrating with existing systems through Autodesk solutions. Despite increased stress on the U.S. power supplies, Autodesk solutions for electric utilities help utilities provide safe, reliable service. Autodesk solutions for electric utilities integrate GIS and CAD software with tailored services for each individual utility. From planning and engineering to design, construction, operations, and maintenance, Autodesk helps electric utilities automate labor-intensive processes while integrating with existing systems.
BUSINESS

Groupe Hauts-Monts Creates Groupe Alta banner
Groupe Hauts-Monts, a Québec City-based company, will now operate its three companies that specialize in geomatics solutions, specifically Hauts-Monts Inc., Géomatique G.P.L. Consultants Inc., and Geomat International Inc., under the name Groupe Alta. This announcement was made by company president Paul Grenier, and follows the buyout by Groupe Hauts-Monts Inc. in December 2002 of the two subsidiary companies operated by Kodak Global Imaging, namely Géomatique G.P.L. Consultants Co. and Geomat International Co. Alta means “high,” and evokes the height necessary for aerial views and the height of the company's vision of geomatics. The name is both easy to pronounce and to understand in several languages. The adoption of the name Groupe Alta is accompanied by changes to the company’s visual identity. Accordingly, the photo of the Nouveau-Québec crater, taken in 1957 by Wilfrid Grenier, a forestry engineer, and which served as our logo, has been transformed into a stylized meteorite forming the letter “A” for “Alta.” The red section offers a reminder of the use of color in aerial photography. It also symbolizes the added value of data acquisition, and more specifically, of business solutions based on geomatics analyses.

SDT Partners with Trimble
Spatial Data Technologies (SDT) announced a business partner agreement with Trimble to develop and integrate SDT products with Trimble’s GeoExplorer CEseries and Recon handhelds. In this new relationship, SDT will provide Trimble’s rugged handhelds as part of a complete enterprise data management solution for oil and gas, forestry, agriculture, natural resource, and utility clients in the public and private sector. Spatial Data Technologies specializes in the integration of mobile mapping solutions, and tailoring them for client requirements. SDT’s CartoPac mobile mapping software integrates with Trimble’s GPS handheld receivers.

Celartem’s Acquisition of LizardTech Complete
Announced on June 20, 2003, Celartem Technology USA has completed its acquisition of Lizardtech, Inc., a developer of digital imaging software. Carlos Domingo, former COO of Celartem Technology Inc. will replace the out-going CEO, Scot Land, as the new president and CEO of Lizardtech, Inc.

GE Acquires M.J. Harden Associates, Inc.
GE Power Systems has announced the acquisition of M.J. Harden Associates, Inc. (MJH) of Kansas City, Mo., a provider of geospatial data management and integration services. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. MJH specializes in geographic information system (GIS) solutions for a wide range of industries including pipelines and utilities. M.J. Harden will become part of the pipeline integrity services division of PII Pipeline Solutions. Based in the U.K., PII was acquired by GE in 2002 and is a member of GE Power Systems’ Oil & Gas business. Key services provided by MJH include consulting, database design, data conversion and integration, software application development, photogrammetry and digital mapping. Primary industries served include oil and gas transmission, oil, gas and municipal utilities, pipeline construction, and government. Founded in 1956, M.J. Harden has 155 employees based in Kansas City, Mo.

SPAWAR Purchases 450C Sonar Transceivers
SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego in San Diego, California has purchased four Innerspace 45CC, 2KW sonar transceivers. The 45CC can be controlled from the front panel or is completely operational via external computer control. The 45CC will be used on a United Kingdom, Royal Navy survey ship used for deep ocean bathymetry.

DigitalGlobe Wins Additional CLEARVIEW Contract
DigitalGlobe has won an additional $9.8 million contract award by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) under the CLEARVIEW contract for high-resolution satellite imagery and services. The award recognized DigitalGlobe’s high standard of performance during the first two evaluation periods (six months) of the three-year CLEARVIEW contract awarded to DigitalGlobe in February of this year. The CLEARVIEW contract stipulates criteria for achieving an award on a competitive basis with another CLEARVIEW contractor.

Orbimage Reaches Settlement in Bankruptcy Case
Orbital Imaging Corporation (ORBIMAGE) has announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates, Ltd. (MDA) of Vancouver, Canada concerning its remaining marketing rights in the long-delayed Canadian Radarsat-2 satellite program. In exchange for payments totaling $12 million over the next 2 years, ORBIMAGE agreed to end its dispute and return its limited licenses in Radarsat-2 back to MDA, the prime contractor for the program. Furthermore, resolution of its dispute concerning Radarsat-2 now enables ORBIMAGE to finalize its plan of reorganization and emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.”Our decision to sell our limited marketing rights in the Radarsat-2 program and return them back to MDA serves both organizations well. With the cash proceeds from the settlement, ORBIMAGE will now focus its efforts solely on our core business of expanding the worldwide markets for high-resolution data from our new OrbView-3 satellite, while MDA works to resolve the continued delays in the Radarsat-2 program,” said Matthew O’Connell, ORBIMAGE’s Chief Executive Officer. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, ORBIMAGE will immediately receive $10 million from MDA, and another $2 million over the next two years.

NEWS

Emergency Exercise Tests Critical Response Skills
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ MERGIS program tested the skills of participants from eleven state, local, and private organizations in an intense training endeavor July 13-16, 2003. The Missouri Emergency Response Geographic Inform­a­tion System (MERGIS) is a powerful mapping application for de­cision support and risk analysis, capable of portraying an emergency event in near real time and powered by ESRI’s mapping software. Representatives of Missouri state and local agencies are currently being trained in MERGIS use, allowing them to harness the capabilities of geographic information system software. By combining the power of a database with the visualization of a map, GIS provides a potent computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing objects and events. The drill was designed to test participants’ ability to combine resources, use GIS technology, and react to a large-scale catastrophe. Responding to a simulated earthquake, MERGIS teams were confronted with a variety of fictional situations including a derailed train full of dead and injured cattle, widespread flooding of the Mississippi River, and a dangerous chemical release. In this final instance, teams worked together to establish a link between an increase in respiratory illnesses and the chemical release as well as to discover where the release point was located, the approximate time of release, and the direction of the chemical plume using ESRI’s ArcGIS technology. All MERGIS field teams used GPS to capture coordinates of critical assets that might have been damaged by the quake. Data sets were relayed to a MERGIS mobile unit or directly to the incident command post. By accessing the secure MERGIS website, managers were able to view facilities and local geo­graphy data. This ability, provided by ESRI’s ArcIMS software, allowed the com­mand center, as well as other emer­gen­cy responders, to work con­tinu­ally with near real-time data. Further in­formation about the MERGIS program can be found at http://gis.dhss.state.mo.us/mergis/.

DigitalGlobe Plans Third Ground Station
DigitalGlobe has announced that it plans to install a ground station in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to receive data from the QuickBird high-resolution imaging satellite. Scheduled to be operational by the end of the third quarter, 2003, this ground station provides additional operational capability to DigitalGlobe’s other ground stations located in Norway and Alaska. DigitalGlobe and the City of Wilkes-Barre celebrated this announcement with a hand-shaking ceremony on August 25. The event took place at the Wilkes-Barre Center Building, 10th Floor, 39 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The QuickBird satellite is the world’s highest resolution commercial earth imaging satellite, collecting images at 60-centimeter, or two-foot, resolution. Once DigitalGlobe’s remote ground stations receive QuickBird satellite data, the data is transferred to the company’s headquarters building in Longmont, Colorado for processing and image quality inspection before being delivered to customers.

Former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer Joins ESRI
Former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer has joined ESRI. Geringer, a strong advocate for technology in government, completed his second term as governor in January 2003. Prior to the governorship, he served in the Wyoming legislature for 12 years. As a spokesperson for ESRI and the GIS industry, Geringer hopes to spread the message that GIS technology leads to better decision making. The state of Wyoming has used GIS technology since 1986 for engineering and, under Geringer's leadership, has expanded its use in other areas such as land and wildlife management, social services, transportation, and environmental monitoring. Geringer says the goal of these efforts was to increase communication and data sharing between and among various agencies at different government levels-federal, state, and local-resulting in better management and greater efficiency in government. Geringer is a past chair of the Western Governors' Association. He has done extensive policy development work for all levels of education and, as governor, has promoted the connection of all Wyoming schools to the Internet and to each other. In addition, he helped the Western Governors' University achieve online status.

CompassCom AVL Helps Battle West Nile Virus
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) has contracted AT&T Wireless business partner CompassCom Inc. to provide Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology and GIS mapping support for a major mosquito control program. FKMCD purchased CompassTrac, the mobile positioning and fleet tracking component, and CompassFDE, the universal AVL server, from the CompassCom suite of products. Central to this program’s success, the CompassCom AVL solution is being used to monitor the locations of insecticide spraying vehicles. Amid concerns over West Nile Virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, FKMCD has equipped two helicopters, two airplanes and 71 field trucks with insecticide spray devices. To run an effective mosquito control program, FKMCD must track where each vehicle is located, what insecticide is being dispersed and where the disbursement has occurred.
The CompassCom suite of GPS-based AVL products will accomplish this by monitoring the locations, heading, speed and insecticide applications of all mobile assets in real time. This information is displayed on a computer map screen at FKMCD headquarters in Key West, Florida, where dispatchers follow the progress remotely and radio instructions to personnel as necessary to ensure that all target areas receive the prescribed amount of insecticide.

Landsat 7 Update and Upcoming LGSOWG-32 Meeting
On Wednesday, September 3, 2003, the USGS Director authorized the Landsat Project Chief to attempt recovery of the scan line corrector (SLC) which malfunctioned on May 31, 2003. Supported by several NASA TDRSS satellites as well as the USGS's own Landsat ground station at EROS Data Center (EDC) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a series of commands directed the instrument to operate using its redundant electronics. Additionally, several spacecraft subsystems associated with ETM+ operations and data transmission were moved to their 'Side-B' configurations. These are systems that had never been powered during the 4+ years since launch of Landsat 7 on April 15, 1999.
On Sunday, September 5, the Landsat 7 scan line corrector (SLC) was energized using the 'Side-B' redundant electronics in an attempt to restore the functionality lost when that system failed on May 31. While both the USGS flight operations team located at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and the ground operations team located at the EROS Data Center performed their roles in the test without error, the SLC failed to operate correctly.
Analysis will be carried out on both the spacecraft telemetry and the image data collected during the test in an attempt to gain additional insight into the exact nature of the mechanism's failure. However, the negative results of this test leave little hope that it will ever be possible to recover the SLC. The data collected without the SLC are still of very high radiometric and geometric fidelity, but leave a gap between some scans, resulting in about 25% less coverage.
In the coming days, the flight operations team and the ground operations team will report on the results of their analysis to the USGS and NASA. In addition, the flight operations team will begin preparations for returning the ETM+ and spacecraft components back to their primary 'Side-A' operational configuration. Once back on Side-A, the mission will resume collection of global imagery with the SLC powered off, as it has been doing since July 14.
Extensive work has already been done to develop processing systems for general distribution of the affected data (data without the benefit of the scan line correction.) The Landsat Project team is now turning its efforts towards re-establishing normal baseline operations with the “new” SLC-off data, with an objective of providing L1G SLC-off products to the user community by November 1st. Also, the team will work with the International Cooperator network to begin SLC-off data downlinks to their stations in the near future. Finally, an evaluation of “new” products will be initiated to determine if the Landsat can make the SLC-off data even more useful to customers.

October Meeting of LGSOWG-32
The Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group (LGSOWG)-32 meeting is scheduled to take place the week of October 13, 2003 in Hiroshima, Japan. Meeting participants will spend considerable time discussing the activities surrounding the Landsat 7 scan line corrector (SLC) anomaly and the efforts to recover the mechanism of the SLC. The USGS will lead discussions concerning the effects of the scan line problem to the Landsat 7 Project, International Cooperators and expectations for the coming year. Also, given the resurgence of interest and importance of the Landsat 5 operation, presentations will be made on that mission's status, future plans and the opportunities for International Cooperators to participate. The Landsat Program is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey under authority established by Presidential Decision Directive NSTC -3. Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.

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