| HJW Announces Orthophotography Project Award
HJW GeoSpatial Inc. (HJW) has been selected to produce a color digital orthophoto base map for the city of Palmdale, Calif. This citywide project is slated to cover approximately 80 miles and will involve color aerial photography acquired at a scale of 1:1400, using GPS technology. HJW will also perform aero-triangulation, terrain extraction, digital terrain modeling, and image processing to create color digital orthophotos with one-foot pixels.
A high-desert community in Southern California, Palmdale has been identified as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. The digital orthophotography that HJW provides is expected to support the city's Geographic Information System (GIS).
HJW is a company that offers complete mapping and remote sensing solutions, including aerial photography, photogrammetry, digital orthophotography, topographic and planimetric mapping, remote sensing, and GIS.
For further information, please contact Shel de Zabala at HJW GeoSpatial Inc., Oakland, Calif. Tel: (510) 638-6122. E-mail: [email protected].
Cquay Announces Commercial Release of Common Ground™
Cquay Inc. has announced the commercial availability of Common Ground(tm), its patent-pending services platform that facilitates location intelligence within any corporate database, legacy system, Web solution, or wireless application.
All companies have databases or application systems that contain location reference data in the form of addresses, postal and ZIP codes, or area codes. While the need for location intelligence is fundamental to many business processes, few corporate systems appear able to understand location context.
Common Ground is a full-service platform with a suite of online location intelligence services that are functionally comparable to more costly GIS products. However, the Common Ground platform is deployed through an Application Service Provider (ASP) model, which eliminates up-front capital costs often necessary when building an in-house GIS system.
By using the Common Ground services platform, companies can resolve address problems and index corporate data by using a common location reference system, plus seamlessly integrate location-specific search, analysis and visualization functions into enterprise applications.
Cquay Inc. provides location intelligence services to all areas of business and industry, focusing on working with corporate databases, legacy systems, Web solutions, and general wireless applications.
For further information, please contact Judy Mahaffy at Cquay Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tel: (403) 261-6567. E-mail: [email protected].
GPS Monitoring System Established at New York Storage Facility
Condor Earth Technologies Inc. has established a real-time GPS landslide monitoring system at the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage facility in the state of New York. The New York Power Authority's Blenheim-Gilboa facility is adjacent to an active landslide area that continues to threaten the 345Kv transmission lines.
Condor has installed 3D Tracker(tm), a sophisticated GPS monitoring system that includes a solar power system capable of withstanding the tough winters common to upstate New York. The system consists of four continuously operating GPS sensors situated on the slide site itself, plus a GPS reference station located near the powerhouse. The PC that runs this software is connected to the New York Power Authority's Local Area Network (LAN), thus providing immediate access to the data to any authorized user.
Condor Earth Technologies Inc. provides real-time survey, mapping, data collection and monitoring services and products.
For further information, please contact David Rutledge at Condor, Sonora, Calif. Tel: (209) 532-0361. E-mail: [email protected].
American Electric Power Awards Data Solutions Contract
Analytical Surveys Inc. (ASI) has received a contract from American Electric Power (AEP) to provide geospatial data solutions that include the integration of distribution assets of Central Power and Light Company (CPL) -- an AEP operating subsidiary located in southeast Texas -- into their corporate GIS operating system.
AEP's U.S. assets include more than 200,000 miles of distribution facilities in eleven states. To support the AEP corporate strategy of consistency throughout the enterprise, ASI will be tasked with the creation of integrating CPL's existing distribution asset records, both manual and electronic, into the primary database.
American Electric Power is a multinational energy company based in Columbus, Ohio. AEP owns and operates more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity, making it one of America's largest generators of electricity. The company is also ranked second in the United States in electricity volume, providing retail electricity to more than seven million customers worldwide.
Analytical Surveys Inc. (ASI) is a provider of technology-enabled solutions and services for geospatial data management, including data capture and conversion, planning, implementation, distribution strategies, and maintenance services.
For further information, please contact Molly Laut at ASI, Indianapolis, Ind. Tel: (317) 634-1000. E-mail: [email protected].
Partnership Delivers Reputed World's Largest Online Repository of Digital Earth Imagery
Informix Software® and GlobeXplorer Inc. have teamed up to employ Informix Dynamic Server(tm) as the core database for GlobeXplorer's enormous library of online images, used by business customers worldwide.
GlobeXplorer not only warehouses what is reported to be the world's largest commercial library of aerial photos, it has also created a proprietary technology to dynamically search, retrieve and deliver a requested photo from its library of millions of images to end-users, literally within seconds. This partnership with Informix Software allows GlobeXplorer to develop a state-of-the-art database and technology foundation to support its ever-growing collection of images. Additionally, the company has developed flexible software tools that allow business customers to insert a customized image viewer into their own Web site, all without the use of a plug-in. Aerial photos can be accessed via a subscription service that is also available from GlobeXplorer.
With Informix Software databases, complex spatial data can be accessed via standard SQL statements, or else through client-side GIS software. Informix Software's exclusive R-tree indexing gives quick access to data, and robust analytical capability.
Informix Software is a provider of database-management systems for data warehousing, transaction processing, and e-business applications. GlobeXplorer is a technology enabler of high-speed access to interactive aerial photos via the Internet.
For further information, please contact Michael Baehr at GlobeXplorer Inc., Walnut Creek, Calif. Tel: 925-280-5238. E-mail: [email protected].
Clark Labs Now Shipping Idrisi32 Release 2
Clark Labs is now shipping Release 2 of its Idrisi32 GIS and Image Processing software system. Idrisi32 provides a wide set of geographic modeling and analysis tools in a single integrated package. With Release 2, this functionality has been enhanced through the addition of a graphical modeling environment. With more than 100 analytical functions, models can be developed by constructing a graphical flow diagram using a simple drag-and-drop interface. Dynamic models are supported by linking outputs to inputs for the construction of iteration structures. Additionally, users can extend the functionality of the modeling environment by saving models as submodels, which then function as new modular analytical components.
Other major enhancements in Release 2 include extensive additions to the image processing suite, and new tools for change and time series analysis. For image processing, tools have been added for automatic mosaicking, atmospheric correction, and the import of a variety of new image data formats. Other important additions include a special wizard for multi-criteria/multi-objective decision making, flood polygon digitizing (AOI digitizing) for signature development, and improved logistic regression modeling.
For further information on Clark Labs and its Idrisi32 products, please visit the company's Web site at www.clarklabs.org.
ESRI Now Shipping ArcIMS 3.1
ESRI announces that ArcIMS 3.1, the newest version of its GIS and mapping software for the Internet, is now available. This marks the first major update of the software since its initial release last year.
One of the highlights of ArcIMS 3.1 is its integration within the ArcGIS software family. The ArcGIS Desktop products (ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo) can now connect directly to the map and feature services provided by ArcIMS 3.1, thus using ArcIMS as a data source in conjunction with other data types.
ArcIMS also offers significant security enhancements, including support for Secure Socket Layers (SSL) and Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS). Other enhancements include new Java connectors, support for the latest OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) Web Map Server (WMS) implementation specifications, and direct connect to Oracle Spatial and SQL Server databases. ArcIMS is fully supported on Windows 2000 and AIX.
For further information, please contact Jim Baumann at ESRI. Tel.: (909) 793-2853. E-mail: [email protected].
LizardTech Announces Autodesk® Will Support Native Viewing in GIS Products
LizardTech Inc. today announced that its MrSID® file format will be supported for viewing in Autodesk® Map 5 and Autodesk(r) Land Desktop 3. With Autodesk Map and Autodesk Land Desktop providing native support for reading geo-referenced MrSID format files, users can reduce the costs and time associated with working with high-quality, high-resolution imagery for GIS analysis. Autodesk® CAD Overlay® 2002 also supports the MrSID file format.
MrSID, an image format for geospatial professionals, reduces high-resolution images to less than five percent of their original file size while maintaining original image quality. Autodesk Map 5 delivers precision mapping and GIS analysis with the built-in power of AutoCAD®. Autodesk Land Desktop 3 extends Autodesk Map 5 with discipline-specific land development features and functionality.
Autodesk is a design software and digital content company for architectural design and land development, manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications, and media and entertainment. LizardTech Inc. provides technologies for delivering high-quality imaging content over the Internet.
For further information, please contact Autodesk Inc. at (800) 964-6432, or by visiting the company's Web site at www.autodesk.com.
Tobin International and Cimage NovaSoft Form Strategic Partnership
Tobin International Ltd. has recently entered into a business partnership with Cimage NovaSoft. This partnership will allow Tobin to integrate and resell Cimage NovaSoft's eBusiness solutions, which will provide document and integrated workflow management solutions for their land management clientele.
The Cimage NovaSoft software suites will be integrated into a number of the Tobin software applications including Aqua Trac, a tool for water resource management and contract administration applications. The Cimage NovaSoft products are expected to add document management, records management, and workflow capabilities to the Tobin products.
Targeted markets for these products include petroleum exploration and production, corridor and right-of-way management, power generation and distribution, and land and facilities management.
Tobin provides land management tools in map data, software and services, designed for use over both internal networks and the Internet. Cimage NovaSoft is a supplier of e-business solutions for document management, records management and workflow solutions in such industries as manufacturing, utilities, pharmaceuticals, and petrochemicals.
For more information, please contact Courtney Ivey Harris at Tobin International Ltd., Houston, Texas. Tel: (480) 820-6543. E-mail: [email protected].
Intermap Announces Contract with Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Office
Intermap Technologies has signed a contract with MassGIS, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for the provision of digital orthophotography products. This project will provide MassGIS with 1:5000-scale digital orthophoto sheets based upon 1:30,000 scale color aerial photography, to be collected by subcontractor Keystone Aerial Surveys, North Philadelphia, Penn. Intermap will use the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) it created during its previous MassGIS orthophoto project to rectify the color photography.
Intermap Technologies captures and produces highly-accurate digital mapping data for a wide range of applications that include planning and engineering projects, navigation systems, and for enriching satellite images.
For further information, please contact Brian Bullock at Intermap, Denver, Colo. Tel: (303) 708-0955. E-mail: [email protected].
Intermap Awarded Contract for NASA Aviation Safety Project
Intermap Technologies Corp. and EarthWatch Inc. have been awarded a contract to supply highly accurate mapping data for an aviation safety project sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Intermap will gather high-precision digital elevation mapping data for 11 mountain passes on heavily traveled air routes within Alaska. These data will be used to create 3D electronic images of the terrain and display them in aircraft cockpits to aid pilots in navigating these passes during inclement weather.
Technologies involved in this five-year project include synthetic enhanced vision displays in cockpits, worldwide navigation databases, and accurate terrain databases for airports and air routes, combined with Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation information. The Synthetic Vision Project is being conducted by NASA's Aviation Safety Program (AvSP). Intermap's high-resolution digital elevation data will be collected as part of an EarthWatch contract under NASA's Science Data Purchase project.
The 11 mountain passes were identified by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) as being on some of the most heavily traveled routes. As a result of this project, this precise 3D mapping data will be available to the public once the FAA certifies the synthetic/enhanced vision display concepts for general use. Intermap Technologies captures and produces highly-accurate digital mapping data for a wide range of applications that include planning and engineering projects, navigation systems, and for enriching satellite images.
For further information, please contact Brian Bullock at Intermap, Denver, Colo. Tel: (303) 708-0955. E-mail: [email protected].
Marconi Acquires Wireless Telecom Software Developer
Marconi plc, through its Wireless Division, has purchased Northwood Technologies Inc., a wireless telecom software company located in Canada. Northwood develops, markets and supports deciBel Planner(r), a line of advanced Wintel-based software products that are used to design wireless telecom networks.
The Northwood deciBel Planner software supports next-generation wireless technologies such as UMTS and CDMA2000, as well as other existing mobile and broadband wireless technologies. Northwood's deciBel Planner combines RF prediction and spatial analysis capabilities, which enable service providers and equipment manufacturers to more efficiently plan, build and optimize complex and high-speed wireless networks. Marconi is expected to establish a new Strategic Business Unit (SBU) for wireless network planning, one that will be headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Marconi plc is a global communications and IT company, supplying advanced communications solutions globally for networks, wireless and enterprise customers.
For further information, please contact Mel Foster at Marconi, London, England. Tel: (44) 207-306-1729. E-mail: [email protected].
Satellite Information Key to Locust Management & Control
RADARSAT International (RSI) has started work with the Space Research Institute (SRI) of Kazakhstan to implement a locust management and monitoring system. This system will allow the Kazakhstan Ministry of Agriculture to manage the currently devastating locust problem, as well as to minimize the economic and environmental impact of insecticide dispersion.
The monitoring system will use satellite data to determine vegetation and soil moisture information. By using RADARSAT-1 satellite data, moisture values over sizeable areas can be determined.
The amount of moisture is considered by experts to be a key variable in locust breeding. The amount of agricultural land infested by locusts in Kazakhstan has increased from one million hectares in 1995, to 8.7 million hectares in 2000. In 1999 alone, locusts are estimated to have destroyed some 200,000 tons of grain. Countries that border Kazakhstan are also being affected by the migration of these locusts.
Earth-observation satellite data, plus meteorological and ground survey data, will be incorporated into a GIS-based predictive model adapted from the Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre, Department of Space, India. This model will be calibrated and adapted to the Kazakhstan environment by using pre-selected test sites. RSI expects the system to be operationally tested in 2002.
RADARSAT International, 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 contact Cory Rossignol at RSI, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Tel: (604) 231-5000. E-mail: [email protected].
Intergraph Selected by LGCSB in Ireland for National Internet GIS Initiative
The Local Government Computer Services Board (LGCSB) in Dublin, Ireland, has chosen GeoMedia WebMap by Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions for its national Internet GIS (IGIS) initiative. This solution is expected to serve some 30 local authorities within the Republic of Ireland, including the city corporations of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Galway, and the rural local authorities of Meath, Kildare, Waterford, and Donegal County councils.
The LGCSB will deploy Intergraph's GeoMedia technology in support of their national IT strategy. The board delivers solutions to a broad range of local government clients -- from administrators to engineering staff to planning staff -- by using a wide spectrum of technologies. GeoMedia WebMap will be linked with Microsoft SQL Server to integrate and publish numerous disparate data sources such as MapInfo, AutoCAD, ArcView, MicroStation, and FRAMME, bringing the data into a single application.
One way GeoMedia WebMap will be applied is to enable local entities to inform residents along a road where maintenance work is scheduled on the local water network. Authorities can then produce and send a letter to those residents affected by the maintenance work, letting them know the start date of the work, and apologizing for the inconvenience. The GeoMedia WebMap solution also supports the Irish Government's "E-Government" initiative and will enable the LGCSB to provide the general public with unprecedented access to such geographic information as planning, road, and environmental spatial data, all via the Internet.
Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions delivers geospatial solutions to government, commercial, and international markets, providing core and industry-specific software products, solutions for map production, and enterprise-wide mapping and GIS.
For further information, please contact the company from within the United States at (800) 791-3357, or worldwide at +1 (256) 730-7631, or by visiting the company's Web site at www.intergraph.com.
EarthWatch and Northrop Grumman PRB Systems in Strategic Partnership
EarthWatch Inc. and Northrop Grumman PRB Systems have executed a strategic software partnership agreement to support the new "Open Systems" approach within the satellite imagery industry. EarthWatch will license its QuickBird sensor model for incorporation into Northrop Grumman's RainDrop software application product suite.
This partnership will allow both existing and new users of RainDrop software to fully leverage the highest commercially available satellite imagery as soon as it is available later this year. EarthWatch recently confirmed its plan to launch the QuickBird 2 satellite in October 2001. The satellite will offer 61-centimeter panchromatic and 2.5-meter multispectral imagery. By licensing the sensor model, end-users of imagery are assured that QuickBird imagery will be compatible with their existing systems and software applications.
Northrop Grumman PRB Systems, part of the Integrated Systems Sector's Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems business area, is an engineering organization focused on mission planning systems for U.S. tactical military aircraft. EarthWatch is an imagery and information company that provides high-resolution satellite imagery, as well as geographic information products through its Internet-based global archive.
For further information, please contact Earthwatch Inc., Longmont, Colo.
GPSVision™ Assists Virginia's Department of Transportation
Lambda Tech International Inc. has signed a subcontract with PB Facilities Inc. (Herndon, Va.) to cover some 28,000 highway miles with their GPSVision(tm), system under a master contract with Virginia's Department of Transportation (VDOT). GPSVision will collect right-of-way and centerline data using GPS satellite technology, an inertial measurement device, and stereo digital cameras, allowing for exact positioning of the required elements of data.
The VDOT is responsible for management, planning, engineering, construction and maintenance for Virginia's more than 56,000-mile state highway system, the third largest state-maintained road system in the nation. The data provided by this mobile mapping system will be used in an Inventory and Condition Assessment System (ICAS) as part of the department's ongoing improvement plan.
PB Facilities Inc., a Parsons Brinckerhoff company, holds the master contract with VDOT. Parsons Brinckerhoff provides multidisciplinary services for transportation, power, buildings and telecommunications projects. Lambda Tech International is located in Waukesha, Wisc. HOME |
