EOM Industry News

Leica ADS40 Airborne Digital Sensor Makes American Debut

Leica Geosystems has introduced its ADS40 Airborne Digital Sensor to the American market. Offering the coverage performance of an aerial film camera, the ADS40 also provides multispectral data that is normally acquired from a space-borne platform. The digital sensor, which captures three panchromatic channels (forward, nadir and backward) and four multispectral bands (RGB and NIR) simultaneously, will remain in the United States through June 2002 for a series of demonstration flights.

ADS40 imagery can be used for crop and land-use analysis, environmental planning, and all photogrammetric applications. During these ADS40 demonstrations, Leica Geosystems will guide prospective customers through its all-digital workflow: from flight planning through image acquisition and transferring digital data from the flight mission, to the final stages of ground processing and archiving. Demonstrations are also expected to include a comprehensive overview of the system and various end-product applications.

Leica Geosystems offers 3D data acquisition, processing and visualization. With the recent integration of ERDAS and LH Systems, Leica Geosystems has expanded its product areas to offer four ranges of GIS and mapping solutions: airborne data acquisition, geographic imaging, GPS/GIS, and land information systems.

For further information, please contact the Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping Division, 2801 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30329. Tel: (404) 248-9000. E-mail: [email protected].

Maryland Governor Unveils Chesapeake Bay Solid Terrain Model by STM

Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening was chosen to introduce a full-color, solid terrain model of the Chesapeake Bay at the National Geographic Society Museum in Washington, D.C. Solid Terrain Modeling (STM) produced the eight-foot-square, full-color, 3-D scale model that shows the topography plus urban and rural highlights of Maryland and its adjacent bay in vivid detail. The model also illustrates the bathymetry (underwater topography) of Chesapeake Bay itself.

The Chesapeake Bay model was produced by combining digital satellite data with patent-pending, 3D solid-terrain-model technology. STM used topographic and bathymetric data to cut the model out of high-density plastic foam. A satellite image of the area was then printed directly onto the model's surface. The topographic data came from the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va. The bathymetric data came from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the satellite image came from Earth Satellite Corporation, both located in Rockville, Md. WorldSat International of Ontario, Canada, also supplied technical assistance.

STM produces solid scale, three-dimensional full-color models of geographic terrain. For further information please contact Solid Terrain Modeling, 340 Fillmore Street, Fillmore, CA 93015. Tel: (805) 524-7307. Web address: www.stm-usa.com.

Geospatial Management Solution by GeoArctic

GeoArctic International Services Ltd. has released version 2.1 of its spatial data management software product: SDM-geo. SDM-geo provides a simple and effective solution for the organization, sharing, and distribution of geospatial data and metadata. SDM-geo provides ArcView 3.x, MapInfo and ArcExplorer users with FGDC-compliant spatial metadata and data cataloguing and management capability. It has an intuitive end-user interface for non-GIS staff members and a quick metadata search function, even for extremely large data collections or projects.

Employing a basic tree structure, SDM-geo allows geospatial data to be catalogued, browsed and previewed. Additional features include the ability to distribute projects with the free catalogue browser and metadata viewer, and the ability to publish projects directly to the Web at the push of a button.

SDM-geo encourages the creation of metadata by combining project cataloguing and management tools with a highly effective FGDC-compliant metadata editor. ArcView 8.x users can benefit from the fast metadata search capabilities of SDM-geo by using the XML metadata parser to import metadata created in ArcCatalog. In addition, ArcView 8.x users can use SDM-geo to distribute their projects to ArcView 3.x or ArcExplorer users. The software supports most common data formats.

GeoArctic is a software development and consulting company specializing in the application of GIS technology and data modeling for natural resources. For further information, please contact Marta Wojnarowska at Geoarctic International Services Ltd., 815 Eighth Avenue SW, Suite 1250, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 3P2. Tel: (403) 290-1320. E-mail: [email protected].

Eurimage Prepares For Envisat Satellite Data Distribution

Eurimage, the Italian company that leads the EMMA team, is preparing for the distribution of the data from the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite, successfully launched on March 1, 2002. Testing and calibration of the satellite and its sensors has continued and the first images are now available for view. Eurimage is expected to begin broad distribution this September, once the six-month satellite-commissioning phase has been completed.

Envisat will ensure data continuity with ERS, adding enhanced capabilities such as the ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) sensor with multiple polarization and variable viewing angles, imaging swaths and resolutions, an on-board storage system, and a package of new instruments.

Eurimage serves the worldwide market as the master distributor within the EMMA team, and also supervises the creation of distribution agreements with ground station operators and organizations wishing to downlink Envisat data locally at their own ground stations.

The members of the EMMA team combine an extensive range of competencies, including data reception at ground receiving stations, data distribution, and value-added products and applications. EMMA consortium members include ASI, Telespazio and Eurimage (Italy), Astrium and DLR (Germany), and Infoterra and QinetiQ (United Kingdom).

Eurimage provides global satellite digital and photographic data. For further information, please contact Luciana Di Domenico at Eurimage S.P.A., Via E. D'onofrio 212, Rome (00155), Italy. Tel: (39) 6-4069-4222. E-mail: [email protected].

Merrick & Company Awarded Georgia County Mapping Project

Greene County (Ga.), a fast-growing area 75 miles east of Atlanta, has awarded a multi-year contract to Merrick & Company for a full range of mapping services. The two-year contract calls for mapping the terrain of the 388 square miles of the county. Final products will include a series of color digital orthophotos plus a four-foot-contour database in vector format. Additional phases will include basic planimetric data capture and compilation, plus tax-parcel mapping to be provided by Smart Data Strategies (Franklin, Tenn.).

Primarily a rural area, Greene County has experienced rapid growth over the past five years. Much of this growth has flowed from metropolitan Atlanta to the west and from the city of Augusta to the east, especially along Lake Oconee, the second largest lake in the state. Recognizing the long-term implications and growing demand placed on the county's infrastructure, the county commissioners elected to fund this GIS expansion.

Merrick & Company has scheduled Air Photographics Inc. (Martinsburg, W.Va.) to collect aerial photos at two different scales during peak flying season. The first phase of the project, including the aerial photo collection, surveying and prototyping of the vector database, should be completed by September 2002. During the second phase, Merrick & Company will rectify, mosaic and clip the tiled sheets, and compile the lines, polygons and other vector terrain data in the contour database. Phase Two is scheduled for completion by August 2003.

Merrick & Company is a multidisciplinary architectural engineering, GIS/mapping, and construction management firm, providing their services to municipal, state, federal and private-sector clients. For further information please contact Gary Outlaw at Merrick & Company, 2450 South Peoria Street, Aurora, CO 80014. Tel: (303) 751-0741. E-mail: [email protected].

ESRI and DHI Align to Integrate GIS with Water Modeling Software

ESRI and software developer DHI Water & Environment (Hørsholm, Denmark) have entered into an alliance that enables DHI to integrate ESRI's ArcGIS platform into the Danish firm's new generation of software products for dynamic water modeling. DHI's water modeling packages for sewers, water distribution systems, rivers, and water resources will be integrated with the latest generation of ESRI's GIS technology. The resulting products will be able to run as stand-alone modeling tools, or they can be incorporated directly into ESRI GIS solutions.

DHI develops advanced modeling software and offers specialized consultancy to the water industry. ESRI is a developer of GIS software through its ArcGIS suite of products. A business partner of ESRI since 1987, Miner & Miner develops and implements ArcGIS applications specifically for the utility industry. For further information, please contact ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373. Tel: (909) 793-2853. E-mail: [email protected].

Earth Search Sciences Takes High-Tech Mapping to the Farm

Earth Search Sciences Inc. (ESSI) has been awarded a contract to collect hyperspectral data from its airborne platform for the Remote Sensing Technologies Center (RSTC) at Mississippi State University. The university established the RSTC to focus on developing applications of remote sensing technologies in agriculture, forestry, transportation and environmental assessment, underpinned by cross-cutting activities in computational modeling, data management and analysis, and workforce development.

A primary sponsor for the RSTC is the NASA Stennis Space Center's Earth Sciences Applications Directorate. The overall goal of the research program at the RSTC is to produce a robust research process that defines the role of the land-grant university in applying remote sensing technologies to solve problems that affect stakeholders. The RSTC project will require ESSI to collect Probe 1 hyperspectral data over a number of research sites in Mississippi, beginning in early May 2002. STC will use this data to develop and validate agriculture-related remote sensing technologies. The drive to refine precision farming provides an opportunity to demonstrate how hyperspectral remote sensing technology can be used to identify crop conditions, improve decision-making, and reduce agricultural chemical usage while improving farm profitability.

Earth Search Sciences Inc. offers remote sensing technology through advanced hyperspectral instrumentation. For further information, please contact Tim Monroe at ESSI, 1729 Highway 35, Kalispell, MT 59901. Tel: (406) 751-5200. E-mail: [email protected].

AIG Offers Upgrade to Atmospheric Correction Software

Analytical Imaging and Geophysics LLC has released the latest version of its atmospheric correction and software package. ACORN 4 includes a number of upgrades over previous versions, including the following features:

* Atmospheric correction of hyperspectral and multispectral data

* Calculates the effects of atmospheric gases plus molecular and aerosol scattering, which are used to convert calibrated sensor radiance measurements to apparent surface reflectance

* Choice of three atmospheric models that span both season and latitude

* Full ACORN artifact suppression

* Produces both water vapor and vegetation-leaf water parameter images

* Provides seamless compatibility with the latest version of the "Environment for Visualizing Images" (ENVI), or can be operated as a stand-alone Microsoft Windows-based program

* Uses full cross-track spectral calibration for push broom hyperspectral sensors such as Hyperion

* Offers atmospheric correction with large, off-nadir-view geometry.

For further information, please contact Anne Gravante at Analytical Imaging and Geophysics LLC, 4450 Arapahoe Ave., Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80303. Tel: (303) 926-8284. E-mail: [email protected].

Sanborn Wins Multiple Mapping Projects in U.S. Midwest

Sanborn Map Company has been awarded several mapping projects in the Midwestern United States. The firm will assist the GIS efforts in Lorain County (Ohio), Jefferson City and Cole County (Mo.), and the city of Davenport (Iowa). Awarded earlier this year, each of the projects will be completed by 2003.

In Lorain County, Sanborn will update color digital orthophotos and two-foot contours countywide. The information will be made part of the county assessor's GIS.

In Jefferson City, Sanborn will fly new color aerial photography and generate updated 100-scale planimetric data and two-foot contour maps, providing new color digital orthophotos for the city. In Cole County, Sanborn will provide new color aerial photography and updated color digital orthophotos countywide. Jefferson City will use the information to aid in its city planning efforts, while Cole County will use the information for tax assessment purposes.

In 2001, Sanborn completed a citywide update project for Davenport, Iowa. As part of that project, new 1:100-scale black-and-white digital orthophotos were produced. At the successful completion of the project, Davenport authorized Sanborn to continue updating the 100-scale planimetric data and two-foot contour maps. The updated maps will become part of the city's GIS.

Sanborn offers a full suite of GIS and photogrammetric mapping services to federal, state and local governments, plus commercial entities. The company's services include GIS consulting, data acquisition, digital mapping, and data conversion. For further information, please contact Amy Drescher at Sanborn Map Co., 629 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, NY 10803. Tel: (914) 738-1649. E-mail: [email protected].

DigitalGlobe Signs EarthSat as Newest North American Reseller

DigitalGlobe announced that the new U.S. subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. -- EarthSat -- has been appointed as a reseller of U.S. data from the high-resolution QuickBird satellite. EarthSat expects to derive land information from the images for resource management, urban planning, and telecommunications.

Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) is an international professional services firm that specializes in the development and application of remote sensing and geographic information technologies (GIS). DigitalGlobe is an imagery and information company that provides highest-resolution satellite imagery products via its QuickBird satellite, launched on October 18, 2001.

For further information, please contact Chuck Herring at DigitalGlobe, 1900 Pike Road, Longmont, CO 80501. Tel: (800) 496-1225. E-mail: [email protected].

IMAGINE GLT Provides Next Evolution of the Electronic Light Table

The GIS & Mapping Division of Leica Geosystems announces the availability of IMAGINE Geospatial Light Table(tm) (GLT) enhancement, a self-contained data viewing environment designed to meet the needs of image interpreters and analysts working in intelligence and other areas. IMAGINE GLT can display multiple, linkable, geospatial views within a GUI, plus numerous enhancements such as immediate access to commonly used exploitation tools, and thumbwheels for controlling brightness, contrast, zoom and rotation.

Building on more than 20 years of ERDAS-created geographic imaging solutions, Leica Geosystems has evolved and enhanced the traditional Electronic Light Table (ELT) to create their IMAGINE GLT enhancement. IMAGINE GLT's core viewing interface combines all the features of the ERDAS IMAGINE viewer with the exploitation tools normally found in an ELT, and adds such ERDAS IMAGINE geospatial capabilities as sensor modeling and vector integration. With this enhancement, users can access functionality for vector GIS integration, image segmentation and categorization, map composition, change detection, geographic overlays, and annotation.

IMAGINE GLT can be bundled with several ERDAS IMAGINE modules aimed at providing the minimum set of functionality needed by an imagery intelligence analyst for geospatial processing. This bundle includes:

* IMAGINE Advantage

* Ability to download the IMAGINE GLT

* IMAGINE NITF 2.1(tm) module

* IMAGINE VirtualGIS module

* One-year software subscription service.

For further information, please contact the Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping Division, 2801 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30329. Tel: (404) 248-9000. E-mail: [email protected].

New Mapping Horizons from Brazil

Orbisat da Amazônica S.A. has successfully established a new division, Orbisat Remote Sensing, which will be responsible for the Brazilian company's future remote sensing activities. Orbisat RS is currently finalizing the construction of an airborne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar system (InSAR) and will use this high-end system for worldwide mapping of the Earth's surface in order to generate spatial information data sets and various kinds of maps.

The unique horizontal and vertical precision of the data allows creation of an automated Ortho-SAR image generation, including digital ground as well as digital surface contour lines. This advanced system is capable of producing mapping data during the day and at night, even in areas that are permanently covered by clouds. It can also retrieve data through dense forest cover. Orbisat RS has recently entered a strategic partnership with Infoterra GmbH (Germany), one of Europe's leading providers of geo-information products and services.

For further information, please contact Dr. Markus Rombach at Orbisat, Av. José de Souza Campos, 1.815, Cj. 310, Ed. Executive Center (CEP-13025-320) Cambuí

Campinas (SP), Brazil. Tel: (55) 19-329-58844. E-mail: [email protected].

Alliant Energy Adopts ArcGIS and ArcFM 8.1

ESRI and Miner & Miner recently announced that Alliant Energy has gone into production using ArcGIS 8.1 geographic information system (GIS) technology. This includes the ESRI ArcGIS family of software: ArcInfo, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS. In addition, the organization is using Miner & Miner's ArcFM and ArcFM Viewer software. Created in 1998 through the merger of Wisconsin Power & Light Co., IES Industries and Interstate Power Co., Alliant serves more than a thousand communities across Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.

Alliant's enterprise GIS serves the entire scope of energy business applications, including work process and outage management, customer service, property accounting, business solutions, and field inquiry. Departments using GIS information and applications include engineering, planning, environmental affairs, dispatching, marketing, and economic development. Utility personnel schedule and track gas inspections, gas leaks, and corrosion control. The GIS database is also used to support the federally mandated gas inspection management program.

ESRI is a developer of GIS software through its ArcGIS suite of products. A business partner of ESRI since 1987, Miner & Miner develops and implements ArcGIS applications specifically for the utility industry. For further information, please contact ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373. Tel: (909) 793-2853. E-mail: [email protected].

GlobeXplorer Introduces ImageConnect

GlobeXplorer Inc. has launched a new product -- ImageConnect -- that is an extension for desktop mapping applications to instantly import Earth imagery directly into a user's map window. As a result, GIS users are able to preview and purchase detailed imagery of their project area in their desired map projection as quickly and easily as they view their own map data.

In the past, in order to obtain Earth imagery of a project area, GIS analysts and other land management professionals often spent days searching for the provider with the proper data, and waited up to several weeks before receiving the imagery of their projects via CD-ROM. By using ImageConnect, mapping professionals can instantly import an aerial image into their desktop mapping application for overlay with their vector maps.

GlobeXplorer developed ImageConnect for ESRI's ArcView and MapInfo's desktop mapping applications. ImageConnect extensions for other CAD and GIS desktop applications are under development. A key feature of ImageConnect is the ability to deliver geo-referenced data in a user's requested map projection.

GlobeXplorer offers a suite of online aerial imagery products to a variety of industries including GIS, real estate, insurance, mapping portals, public safety, and travel. For further information, please contact Ericka Smith at GlobeXplorer, 3021 Citrus Circle, Suite 150, Walnut Creek, CA 94598. Tel: (800) 417-7808. E-mail: [email protected].

Questerra Launches Web-Based Spatial Information Management Service

Questerra recently unveiled its new Web-based spatial information management technology and service. The company offers the ability to combine enterprise data from customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other business support systems with Questerra-provided, value-added spatial data through an interactive, easy-to-use Web-based application suite.

Analysis, visualization and reporting tools embedded in Questerra's Web applications enable decision-makers to provide rapid sharing of geographic or location-based information assets throughout an organization.

Questerra, a wholly owned subsidiary of MeadWestvaco Corp., provides spatial information management technology and services to business and GIS professionals. For further information, please contact P.J. Hoke at Questerra, 210 Ridge-McIntire Road, Suite 500, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Tel: (888) 867-9572. E-mail: [email protected].

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