| New PRO600 Release Highlights Productivity
LH Systems has begun shipping a new release of its PRO600 software for photogrammetric data capture with Bentley Systems' MicroStation(r) GeoGraphics(r). This new release, version 4.3, is available for SOCET SET(r) digital photogrammetric workstations as well as for the SD2000/3000 analytical stereo-plotter and Aviolyt upgrades.
This new version of PRO600 contains many enhancements for feature collection and editing. For example, the software now allows the generation of up to 20 parallel lines offset in both planimetry and elevation. Also included are enhancements to building squaring, new centerline generation, and line-thinning tools, plus better management of multiple-feature coding.
PRO600 v4.3 is available for use on the Windows NT(r)/2000(r) platform. LH Systems has also released PRO600 v4.3 for SOCET SET for Sun Solaris(r) and SGI IRIX(r) platforms. Additionally, PRO600 is compatible with MicroStation 95 and SE for all platforms, and with MicroStation/J for Windows NT. Both English and Spanish language versions of PRO600 are available.
LH Systems designs, develops and manufactures products and software-based systems for the acquisition, processing, and maintenance of imagery and precise geospatial information, primarily from airborne and satellite imagery.
For further information, please contact Stewart Walker at LH Systems LLC, 10965 Via Frontera, San Diego, CA 92127. Tel: (858) 675-3335. E-mail: [email protected].
ESRI Announces 2001 Education User Conference
ESRI will hold its 2001 Education User Conference July 6-8, 2001, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Diego, Calif. This educational event offers three days of presentations, hands-on workshops, and other activities tailored to persons interested in all aspects of geographic information system (GIS) technology in education, including school educators, university instructors and administrators, and library and museum staff. The event immediately precedes the 2001 ESRI International User Conference, which will also take place in San Diego.
School topics will include GIS in elementary and secondary school teaching, curricular material development, school mapping and bus routing, and techniques for integrating technologies. The higher-education track will cover issues such as GIS course content and implementation, lab resources and needs, GIS articulation agreements, and the development of new course materials. For libraries, museums, and other places of public access and education, the conference will look at how libraries are becoming digital data repositories, as well as such subjects as spatial information access, market research for public institutions, and Web and desktop mapping for patrons.
ESRI is a developer of geographic information system (GIS) software, providing consulting, implementation, and technical support services for system-wide use of geographic information.
For further information, please contact Karen Hurlbut at ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373. Tel: 909-793-2853. E-mail: [email protected].
Asia Geospatial Conference Announces February Dates
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce, invites everyone in the industry to attend the Asia Geospatial Technology Conference: Applications in Government and Infrastructure, scheduled for February 12-14, 2001, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The TDA is holding this conference to highlight specific government and infrastructure project opportunities for U.S. companies in the areas of utility management, transportation planning, emergency response, land management, telecommunications, environmental monitoring, and natural resources development. Among the countries to be represented are South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, and Vietnam.
Asia presents an area of growing opportunity for U.S. companies wishing to expand their GIS markets. With the Asian economic recovery well under way, there is increased evidence of the need and desire for U.S.-developed geosolutions to help advance the various infrastructure projects arising in each of the countries targeted by this conference.
For further information, including conference fees, registration data and sponsorship opportunities, please contact MFM Group Inc., 4872 SW 72nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33155. Tel: (305) 667-4705 or (800) 814-6548. E-mail: [email protected], or visit the conference's web site at www.trademeetings.com/2r.htm.
GeoIT and ESRI Partner for ArcInfo 8 Implementation
Geographic Information Technology Inc. (GeoIT), with full support from ESRI, has formed an ArcInfo 8 implementation team for the benefit of organizations involved in the electric, gas, water, and telecommunications markets. Joining GeoIT's Denver-based ArcInfo 8 implementation team is the staff of BaySys Technologies Inc., a recent GeoIT acquisition and long-time business partner of ESRI, specializing in the development of ArcInfo-based GIS applications for water and wastewater network management.
For additional information, please contact Cate McCaslin at GeoIT, Denver, Colo. Tel: (303) 708-9355. E-mail: [email protected].
RADARSAT International Named USGS/LANDSAT 7 Business Partner
RADARSAT International (RSI) recently announced that it has been officially approved as a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) business partner. This partnership will allow RSI to commercially distribute North American and international data from the LANDSAT 7 satellite, archived at the Eros Data Center.
RSI processes LANDSAT 7 data at its headquarters in Richmond, B.C., allowing for the fast delivery of data products. The company's processing system has the capacity to process more than 100 LANDSAT 7 scenes per day. Other LANDSAT 7 information services are also available from RSI, including thematic land classification, geological interpretation, forest inventory and agricultural analysis.
RSI, a wholly owned subsidiary of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, is a provider of products and information solutions derived from Earth-observation satellite data.
For further information, please visit the company's web site at www.rsi.ca.
PSE&G Goes Live with M3i System Despite Ice Storm
Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G), one of the country's largest energy providers, went live with Phase One of its multi-million-dollar, end-to-end M3i Real-time Operations Management System (ROMS) and PragmaSmart delivery process. The company serves the Newark, N.J. metropolitan area. Although the official "ribbon cutting" took place at 4:00 a.m. on December 14, 2000, in the midst of a small ice storm, the system actually had been tested a few days earlier. In anticipation of the "Go Live" command, the OMS project team and the division's support staff had actually entered outage orders from a one-day windstorm to test the system's ability to handle a large volume of calls. The M3i system performed flawlessly.
This first of four rollouts brings the entire Newark metropolitan area online, providing improved service to approximately 25 percent of PSE&G's two million customers. The conversion was extremely complex and required the digitizing of some 845 circuits from paper maps for the utility's ESRI-based GIS system, geo-locating over 500,000 customers and assigning them to transformers, and verifying customer and circuit connectivity through an exhaustive QA/QC process. The company also placed a high degree of focus and attention on change management, training, reports, and business metrics to ensure a successful system rollout.
For further information, please contact M3i Systems Inc., 1111 St. Charles St. West, Longueuil, QC, Canada J4K 5G4. Tel: (450) 928-4600. Web address: www.M3iSystems.com.
Tucson Electric Power Selects GE Smallworld PowerOn for Distribution Management Technology
Tucson (Ariz.) Electric Power (TEP) has become the twenty-first utility to choose GE Smallworld's PowerOn software for its distribution management system. The PowerOn system enables utilities to automate customer outage response and dispatch systems, resulting in faster response to customer queries, and reducing outage restoration time. TEP, serving 325,000 customers throughout the greater Tucson area, expects the implementation of this software to be completed over the next 12 months.
GE Smallworld will link the PowerOn outage management system to TEP's Foundation GIS, which is built on GE Smallworld Core Spatial Technology. This technology links and stores spatial data and associated graphics in digital form, enabling faster, streamlined planning and analysis, plus manipulation, updating and display of all appropriate data. User-friendly screens give call-center personnel immediate access to critical information to ensure faster customer response time.
Using a three-phased approach, GE Smallworld will link the PowerOn system to TEP's customer information system, work management system, and SCADA system, and will provide appropriate training services.
GE Smallworld, part of GE Energy Management Services, creates, markets and delivers network software products to the global communications, utility, and public systems markets.
For further information, please contact Pamela Vincent at GE Smallworld, 5600 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Englewood, CO 80111. Tel: (303) 779-6980. E-mail: [email protected].
Linnet Contracted to Deliver Woodlands--The System(tm)
Weldwood of Canada, Hinton Forest Resources has contracted Linnet--The Land Systems Company to deliver its forestry business management solution, Woodlands--The System(tm). This project will focus on delivering Woodlands--The System(tm) land applications and contract management modules in three phases over the next 10 months. Weldwood of Canada is the Canadian subsidiary of U.S.-based International Paper, and their Hinton Forest Resource Division manages a one-million-hectare forest in the Eastern Slopes Region of Alberta under a forest management agreement with the Alberta government.
Woodlands--The System(tm) gives Weldwood the tools to manage information that is vital in forest planning and day-to-day operations management, creating an environment where Weldwood staff, ranging from clerks to forestry specialists and operational foresters, can access local, regional, and provincial data from any desktop in the operation. Having easy access to timely and accurate information will allow Weldwood staff to make faster and better decisions regarding forestry planning and operations management.
Linnet develops land-based management solutions for forestry, agriculture, environment, and natural resourses.
For further information, please contact Dave Meilleur at Linnet--The Land Systems Company, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Tel: (204) 957-7566. E-mail: [email protected].
Tripod Data Systems Releases SOLO Office 2.0
Tripod Data Systems (TDS) announces the immediate availability of SOLO Office 2.0, the desktop companion for its SOLO CE GPS/GIS mapping software. Major upgrades to the company's Windows-based project management software include new raster-image compression and basemap-preparation functions.
This new raster image format provides a TIF-file compression ratio of up to 9-to-1, giving users the ability to take more images into the field for use on Pocket PCs and other Windows CE devices. SOLO Office 2.0 also allows customers to select specific portions of an image for downloading, and can supply geo-referenced information directly to scanned images. TDS has also added a basemap preparation routine that will give users greater control over basemap files that are used in the field. Additional enhancements include an improved project display and editing tools, project-printing capabilities, a new feature file editor, and batch file-transfer routines.
Tripod Data Systems Inc. (TDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Trimble Navigation, is a developer of field data collection and office software for spatial data collection and processing applications.
For further information, please contact Tripod Data Systems, Corvallis, Ore., at (541) 753-9322, or via e-mail at [email protected].
RG&E to Implement ESRI Software as Part of Overall IT Solution
Rochester (N.Y.) Gas and Electric Corporation (RG&E) has selected ESRI software as its enterprise GIS platform to implement Convergent Group's Digital Utility Business Solution, which is expected to streamline the way RG&E performs business processes and serves its customers. This three-year project was started in September 2000, and completion of the first implementation phase is scheduled for the first quarter of 2001.
RG&E provides electric and gas energy and related services to more than one million residents and businesses in a nine-county region surrounding the city of Rochester, N.Y. RG&E will use GIS to manage its utility network, which covers a 2700-square-mile service territory.
Convergent Group completed an assessment and strategic analysis for RG&E, which served as the foundation for an agreement to implement the Digital Utility concept to optimize energy delivery and integrate front- and back-office operations. RG&E will take advantage of this solution to automate and streamline work processes, integrate data management, provide improved customer service, and lower overall costs.
ESRI is a developer of geographic information system (GIS) software, providing consulting, implementation, and technical support services for system-wide use of geographic information.
For further information, please contact Karen Hurlbut at ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373. Tel: 909-793-2853. E-mail: [email protected].
Research Funding Approved for Remote Sensing
The NASA Affiliated Research Center (ARC) program has answered a request by STS Consultants Ltd. to approve funding for the Environmental Remote Sensing Center (ERSC) at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). This funding will assist in the development of post-processing georeference methodology for first-generation airborne hyperspectral remote sensing techniques.
In 1997 and again in 1999, STS collected remote sensing data to assist a client in the evaluation of crop stress and collateral damage caused by wastewater sludge. This first-generation sensor technology was not georeferenced in the 1997 study. Then in 1999, several technical advancements provided global positioning system (GPS) instantaneous geo-reference capabilities and were corrected by an integrated navigation system for pitch, roll, and yaw of the aircraft and sensor.
ERSC staff supported a research effort to evaluate various techniques to post-process the 1997 data so that a change comparison with subsequent crop years, including 1999, could be evaluated by co-registering the different image maps. The resultant co-registered remote sensing data, along with the field research plotting, can be used to verify whether any of the originally observed crop stress was carried forward into subsequent crop rotations.
NASA ARC program research is conducted at nine universities throughout the United States and is funded by the Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) based at the John Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The ARC program is a successful collaboration between private sector firms, faculty researchers, and graduate students.
STS Consultants Ltd. is a consulting firm offering engineering design and environmental management in the commercial, industrial and government markets, applying remote sensing technology provide evaluation of water quality, forestry, wetlands, agriculture, and civil works projects.
For further information, please contact Doug Hermann at STS Consultants. Tel: (847) 279-2480.
Merrick Lands GIS Contracts
Two separate contracts were recently awarded to Merrick & Company. The city of Glenwood Springs (Colo.) has asked Merrick to create a complete planimetric and topographic base map for the city's jurisdictional boundary at a scale of 1"=100', along with digital orthophotography to support the engineering and planning functions within the city. For Clackamas County (Ore.), Merrick will create a digital terrain model to support the production of two-foot contours along major river arteries as part of a master mitigation plan for FEMA.
For further information, please contact Merrick & Company at (303) 745-0964, or visit the company's web site at www.merrick.com.
Intergraph Announces GeoSpatial World 2001 International Conference
With new geospatial technologies unfolding at a rapid pace, Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions, a division of Intergraph Corporation, will host GeoSpatial World 2001, an international conference for mapping and GIS professionals who wish to capitalize on GIS and its potential. The conference takes place June 18-20, 2001, in Atlanta, Ga.
Sponsored by the Intergraph GeoSpatial Users Community (IGUC), GeoSpatial World provides professional development and productivity training opportunities, a forum for interactive discussion of business and product direction, and a chance for attendees to network with other industry professionals. In addition to pre-conference training courses, hands-on workshops, keynote and plenary sessions, plus exhibits, attendees can choose from more than 125 technical sessions. As an added bonus, Intergraph is hosting a one-day symposium on location-based services, the hottest emerging "new industry" that combines the technological innovations of GIS with wireless communications.
Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions (IMGS) develops, markets and supports core geospatial products that address a wide range of market segments and focus on delivering end-to-end geospatial solutions and services at all levels of government and industry.
For further information, including conference details, please contact Shelley Miller at IMGS. Tel: (256) 730-7631. E-mail: [email protected]. Related conference material may also be found at www.intergraph.com/geospatialworld.
Lockheed Martin to Use Laser-Scan for NIMA's "Big Idea"
The U.S. National Image and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has chosen Laser-Scan to join a consortium of industry leaders to help create the first phase of its "Big Idea" (BI) initiative. At the forefront of this initiative is Lockheed Martin, and a key requirement for BI is to allow NIMA to maintain geospatial and image data across its entire enterprise, keeping this data product-independent (unbiased) until the user requests the data against a specific set of mission parameters.
The initial focus of this project will be to create a one-touch maintenance system. Laser-Scan is expected to provide the heart of this proposed solution through the use of Gothic and LAMPS 2, Laser-Scan's object-oriented geospatial database and data management software. Taking commercial, off-the-shelf software and integrating it with other commercially available technologies, Laser-Scan will provide the maintenance and data intensification necessary to ensure accurate and consistent data within the BI infrastructure.
Laser-Scan, part of the Yeoman Group plc, uses GIS solutions in areas of mobile navigation, mapping and communications.
For further information, please contact Mark Coleman at Laser-Scan, 101 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, England CB4 0FY. Tel: (44) 1223-420414. E-mail: [email protected].
Vexcel's Direct Capture System "Captures" Two Contracts
Two new owners of VxDCS(tm), Vexcel Corp.'s direct-to-disk data capture system, include satellite processor Space Imaging Corp. and aerospace contractor TRW. Space Imaging purchased two VxDCS systems in addition to processing software, while TRW added six to its ten existing systems.
Space Imaging, which owns the exclusive right to provide processing for the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite, will use VxDCS to capture and perform preliminary processing on IRS data. IRS is a high-resolution, optical-imaging satellite that uses two sensors to create black-and-white and multi-spectral color images respectively.
TRW will use their VxDCS systems to receive high-rate downlinks from NASA's Terra and Aqua Earth observing satellites. This data is acquired at TRW's two polar stations at Fairbanks, Alaska, and Svalbard, Norway, and then retransmitted to the TDRSS communications satellite for reception at the NASA White Sands facility in Las Cruces, N.M.
Vexcel Corp. provides engineering services, plus hardware and software, in areas of remote sensing ground systems, radar (SAR) technology, and aerial- and close-range photogrammetry.
For further information, please contact Megan Murdock at Vexcel Corp., 4909 Nautilus Court, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: (303) 444-0094. E-mail: [email protected].
Sanborn Map Acquires Williams-Stackhouse
The Sanborn Map Company has acquired Williams-Stackhouse Inc., an aerial photography and mapping services firm. Based in San Antonio, Texas, Williams-Stackhouse provides mapping and geographic information services (GIS) to local and federal government agencies, and also to the private engineering community. Randall Holt will continue to serve as president of Williams-Stackhouse.
Sanborn Map Company Inc. offers photogrammetric mapping, data conversion and comprehensive GIS services to engineering companies, government entities, utilities, and the telecommunications industry.
For further information, please contact Amy Drescher at Sanborm Map, 629 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, NY 10803. Tel: (800) 930-3298. E-mail: [email protected].
GDT Purchases Geography Assets of Compusearch
Geographic Data Technology Inc. (GDT) has acquired the geography assets of Compusearch Inc. The purchase solidifies GDT's Canadian street data acquisition capabilities, and also provides the data assets necessary to fulfill the company's strategic objective of full data coverage throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Compusearch had provided geographic databases as well as market segmentation and analysis solutions across Canada, and they were also GDT's primary source for Canadian street, address and postal code information. The terms of the purchase provides GDT with all products, resources, trademarks, and ancillary assets associated with Canadian street geography, postal and census boundaries, and points of interest.
Geographic Data Technology Inc. develops map databases that provide the foundation for numerous location-based applications. GDT data is used for routing, web mapping, emergency response, risk analysis, and a host of other applications.
For further information, please contact Tonya McMurray at GDT, 11 Lafayette Street, Lebanon, NH 03766. Tel: (800) 331-7881. E-mail: [email protected].
SmartGov(tm) Brings GIS Data to the Public
The GIS hosting service known as SmartGov(tm), widely distributed by Woolpert LLP, is an easy way for local governments to provide the public with convenient Internet access to various GIS data, including property records and parcel maps. With digital orthophotos as its foundation, any local government can overlay an unlimited number of GIS layers that depict specific geographic elements, population characteristics, land usage, and more.
Through extended SmatrGov capabilities, Woolpert has continued to develop and maintain government GIS data, creating PC applications to meet the needs of government employees, developers, real estate agents, and the general public.
Woolpert LLP is a professional services consulting firm with expertise in facilities planning, GIS, photogrammetry, GPS, and transportation and water management.
For further information, please contact Marci Gauder at Woolpert LLP, 409 East Monument Avenue, Dayton, OH, 45402. Tel: (937) 461-5660. E-mail: [email protected].
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