Welcome to GISWeekly! The response to hurricane Katrina has been evolving over the past 48 days since the gale force winds virtually toppled the city of New Orleans and severely damaged other Gulf Coast towns in late August 2005. What we have seen has been quite a phenomenal response from technology companies, who are not only providing software and hardware assistance, but also task force assistance, feeding people, providing housing and meeting other needs that do not generally fall under the category of technology. Read what GIS firms are doing to help in this week's Industry News.
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Industry News
Prepare by Learning-48 Days After Hurricane Katrina
By Susan Smith
The response to hurricane Katrina has been evolving over the past 48 days since the gale force winds virtually toppled the city of New Orleans and severely damaged other Gulf Coast towns in late August 2005. What we have seen has been quite a phenomenal response from technology companies, who are not only providing software and hardware assistance, but also task force assistance, feeding people, providing housing and meeting other needs that do not generally fall under the category of technology.
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Courtesy of DigitalGlobe
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New Orleans boasted a rich cultural heritage, and now, with families scattered across the land, some historians are concerned that the culture of New Orleans may become a thing of the past, diluted as former residents take up new lives elsewhere. For those who have never moved, as is the case for many New Orleans' former residents, geography is taken for granted. In fact, for those who don't travel, geography can be defined by what they know in their daily routines, to and from work or school, etc. Many of these people have now been displaced, and for them, geography becomes not a subject in school, but a harsh reality.
To soften that harshness, to relieve some of the pain of having lost everything that looks and feels familiar, technology companies are pitching in in surprising ways.
Response Beyond Technology
Intergraph, headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, has always exhibited great southern hospitality and it's always a pleasure to meet with the folks from Intergraph at technology events. In this case, however, Intergraph went to great lengths to help after Hurricane Katrina. When I spoke with Halsey Wise, CEO and president of the company just as the nation waited for Hurricane Rita to make landfall, he said Intergraph's value system was reaffirmed during Hurricane Katrina and in the aftermath as customers looked to them for help.
“I think in time of crisis our people have risen to the challenge and our customer and prospect base looks to see how our organization performs during such crisis,” said Wise. “Intergraph has continued to distinguish itself by reaffirming its reputation of being there when our customers need us. In addition to the thoughts and prayers that our organization put out to all of our own employees in the regions impacted, we generally divide our disaster plan into a number of areas - 1) our own employees and facilities 2) we really address the Intergraph ecosystem - our partners and our customers - even those in our industries that aren't our customers but whom we feel we have the ability to help.”
Intergraph has committed to donating more than $100,000 to the Katrina relief effort and another $50,000 to rebuilding. They have an employee matching fund with the American Red Cross. They are in the process of establishing the Intergraph Charitable Foundation in which they will provide assistance to the first responder and process industries.
“We found that in times of crisis a lot of organizations such as first responders, process such as gas companies - had difficulty finding conduits to help make help happen, because of the major issues they are dealing with,” explained Wise. “Through charitable foundation we are able to hear from and pursue organizational entities that have the highest triage of need. We spend a lot of time giving aid to first responders which we sell to and help support in every day life. We feel the first responder area itself is one that doesn't get the proper attention, or the proper tools and certainly not the proper accolades for the type of work they do. And we've done everything from have Intergraph employees feed 250 New Orleans state troopers to offer our software to our customers and to those responder agencies that are not our customers.”
According to Wise, Intergraph is one of the leaders in homeland security solutions, and has the “leading market share in emergency 911 software” which means they have spent a lot of time in the area of helping to manage incidents and collect information to assist at state, local and federal levels.
Wise cited the Baton Rouge area as a big Intergraph user, and they have helped Mobile County 911, Shelby County 91, and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which is a GIS customer. They do a lot of commercial photogrammetry with the help of the company 3001. The State of Louisiana has always had a good relationship with Intergraph, “we've worked closely with them from the software and services standpoint so they can be the primary source of spatial information for FEMA and other relief agencies, and we're helping them construct geospatial websites in other areas to manage track and respond to damage,” noted Wise. “We've offered our software TrackForce and IntelliWhere to the Center of Disease Control to track outbreaks of disease, after the fact. We're in close coordination with many of our partners and customers from the shipyard community; our employees have done blood drives; we've gathered significant amounts of food at various fire departments, and other food in conjunction with the Salvation Army. We have a comprehensive effort to a) give software technology to our customers to keep them operational (worry about business terms later) and b) help our partners stay live and operational to the extent that they can help the community of people that work in the industry we serve.”
“We are providing imagery and imagery analysis for the Alabama Emergency Management Association by flying the coastal region, we're providing our software services and support where needed. We've communicated to several governors and politicians that we stand ready to help,” Wise said. Intergraph works with the university presidents, and oil and gas customers in dealing with how to manage the supply of oil due to the constraints of the storm.
Autodesk is also working with individuals in helping to “rebuild hope” as they phrase it, offering food, shelter and other staples. As an example, families in the Mobile, Alabama area suffered the loss of their homes and the endangerment of their livelihoods when Autodesk partner and reseller Vector Graphics, was hard hit by the storm. Post-storm account activity will drop significantly for the Gulf Coast area, and the company is focusing their efforts on reaching storm-affected customers and with the help of Autodesk, getting software replaced and sent to temporary locations.
Other Autodesk efforts post-Katrina are detailed in this AECWeekly article.
Technology Assistance
A special edition publication published by The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS) highlights how geospatial technology is being used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for rescue, recovery, and rebuilding efforts. The publication features articles, information and images focusing on how Mississippi's geospatial cluster addressed the challenge of recovery and rebuilding and provided immediate GIS assistance to emergency responders.
GISCorps
It makes one wonder how such a disaster might have been handled before there was GIS and GPS because GIS played a such significant role in the disaster response to Hurricane Katrina. Many GIS vendors joined in to help the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association's (URISA) GISCorps in their effort to recruit GIS volunteers who could provide mapping and other services for the State of Mississippi. Volunteers established a GIS infrastructure at the Mississippi State Emergency Operations Center and provided support for rescue and recovery efforts for Mississippi.
GISCorps has done a good job of noting just what GIS was used for during the response and recovery effort:
U.S. Coast Guard helicopters used GPS coordinates provided by volunteer staff to evacuate people from flooded homes. Because streets were flooded and addresses unavailable from boat or helicopter, volunteers took phone calls from people requesting evacuations and addresses and other landmarks were converted into coordinates that rescue staff could use to locate people. GIS volunteers translated hundreds of addresses/locations into GPS coordinates for the U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter evacuation missions.
GIS maps were used for overall situational awareness for incident commanders and other decision makers at state and county emergency command centers and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) as well as the Governor and the President of the United States. GIS was also used to make the customized street search and rescue maps used by first responders and emergency staff on the ground.
Because of the magnitude of the disaster, situational awareness maps spanned areas such as power outage/restoration; cell phone coverage as towers came back online; areas of potential flooding; road closures and access; locations of aid and comfort facilities such as shelters, kitchens, and water and ice distribution points; command and control areas for the National Guard; the Federal Emergency Management Agency declarations for aid eligibility; environmentally hazardous sites; the location of public infrastructure such as electric substations; and the location of medical care facilities.
“Our first project was in response to the tsunami disaster,” says Shoreh Elhami, GISCorps cofounder and chairperson, in a recent press release. “With each new project, more and more volunteers are coming on board and doing tremendous work. I think the response to Hurricane Katrina is another example of this type of overwhelming response by the GIS community. It makes me feel proud of the profession that we are in.”
The combined effort of several organizations and agencies provided maps and analysis including GISCorps, Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA), ESRI, Leica Geosystems, and volunteers from Mississippi agencies and the state education system.
Elhami said that the GISCorps volunteers continue to help onsite.
Portals
Because so much depended upon proximity in this and other disasters, geospatial information was of utmost importance. The development of spatial portals or Web launch sites, has given rise to a whole new way to manage, store, share, find, and use information. The portals link information providers with information users. December 2004 saw the rapid launch of a portal providing news, maps, data and links relating to the Asian tsunami, by the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC). Additionally the PDC launched the Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean Tsunami Response Map Viewer, a mapping application and map service that provides users with high resolution satellite imagery, damage maps and other geospatial information related to impact.
In response to Hurricane Katrina, ESRI has created a new web application using ArcWeb Services technology, the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer, to provide detailed information about areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The web application includes continually updated information on weather, population density, damaged area imagery, DOQQ imagery and much more.
Users can request and view maps online, access and download printable maps or digital displays that can be inserted into other documents such as PowerPoint presentations. It's also possible to customize the maps with additional information or adding points of interest.
The data presented in the viewer is provided directly by public and commercial organizations such as FEMA and the U.S. Postal Service, Geodata.gov Hurricane Community Pages and also GlobeXplorer, Tele Atlas and Meteorlogix.
The Red Cross is using ESRI GIS technology to be able to do mapping and analysis that is based on need or request. This technology includes computer mapping, spatial analysis and web services that have helped the Red Cross provide people with housing, shelter, clothing, medical care and food. The technology is being used at all levels of the Red Cross: from the senior level staff in Washington, D.C. to those manning local command centers.
ESRI's Washington, D.C., office worked to quickly expand and extend the existing Red Cross GIS platform while ESRI specialists at the Redlands, California, headquarters worked with Red Cross personnel to develop a Shelter Locator ArcWeb Services application that provides information such as address, capacity, population, and other descriptors available to both internal Red Cross staff as well as the public.
The Red Cross was able to use ArcGIS Desktop to calculate what was happening at various locations while the hurricanes were moving across the land, and prior to the hurricanes' landfall for placing personnel, equipment and supplies. After the hurricanes, the solution was used to assess damage, create GIS-generated hurricane wind field maps, and maps and reports showing how many people had been affected by the storm.
The Red Cross is also using imagery from DigitalGlobe to support response and reconstruction efforts by front-line responders and command-center groups.
High-Resolution Satellite Imagery
DigitalGlobe's Katrina Gallery displays the work of their QuickBird satellite imagery which is being used to support several relief efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina. Satellite collection with QuickBird included 60-centimeter resolution imagery of New Orleans on August 31, just two days after Katrina struck and again on September 3, just one week later. Imagery was also collected over Bilox, Mississippi and surrounding areas. We are all quite familiar with these images by now as they have been widely distributed, but imagery collected over the same regions in March 2004 were useful in comparing the landscape and infrastructure of the region before and after the hurricane.
DigitalGlobe provided imagery to San Diego State University (SDSU) who is partnering with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) to aid relief efforts in impacted regions, and ImageCat teamed with Risk Management Solutions (RMS) to map wind, storm surge and flooding damage resulting from the hurricane.
According to the press release, SDSU's Viz Center and Calit2 used the imagery initially to assess the damage and support clean-up efforts by putting together a regional situational awareness campaign for the detailed damage to infrastructure and personal property. Other uses for the imagery include estimating impacts on public health due to water volume, damaged infrastructure and storm debris. Displayed as Web-based interactive maps, the imagery supports initiatives by the National Institute of Urban Search and Rescue (NIUSR) to assist with the recovery effort by integrating location information about housing and people.
Like many organizations, SDSU was behind the creation of an online clearinghouse which houses imagery and geospatial data related to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. This is another one of those clearinghouses that can be accessed by most people - all they have to do is type in a street address and view satellite imagery of the chosen area.
ImageCat and the RMS catastrophe response team used QuickBird imagery and ImageCat's hand-held VIEWS reconnaissance system to map and assess damage caused by wind, storm surge and flooding in New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast region. ImageCat flew an airplane over the region one day after the hurricane made landfall and recorded the damage using ImageCat's VIEWS field data collection and visualization system. Geo-referenced video and still photographs recorded the initial storm flooding and subsequent breaking of the levees. With this information, ImageCat then mapped the flooding in New Orleans using DigitalGlobe's satellite imagery, used the VIEWS visualization mode for damage assessment and loss estimates, and provided RMS with storm surge damage maps for the Mississippi coast.
Several Leica Geosystems employees have responded to Hurricane Katrina by working with state, local, federal and nonprofit organizations to provide spatial expertise and humanitarian support. These individuals have provided training to state disaster management agencies, support to federal departments, and assistance to international organizations. Beyond the technology based help, Atlanta-based employees of Leica Geosystems have participated in a local charity drive to collect school supplies for the evacuees that are now enrolled in metropolitan Atlanta schools.
Leica Geosystems' equipment, personnel, temporary software licenses, training and technical support, and other assistance are available for any organization with geospatial information needs while participating in the relief effort. Products provided to collect and process geospatial data for mapping applications include: Leica GS20 Professional Data Mapper, Leica DSW700 Digital Scanning Workstation, Leica ADS40 Airborne Digital Sensor, ERDAS IMAGINE, Leica Photogrammetry Suite, Image Analysis for ArcGIS and Stereo Analyst for ArcGIS.
Other areas in which Leica software can be of assistance:
Classification of satellite imagery to show the advance / retreat of water
Assessment and orthorectification of before / after images to assist in relief efforts (such as identifying unobstructed roads or routes)
3D visualization to help with understanding spatial relationships
Creation of maps for printing or linking to a GPS for field work and navigation
Analysis of thermal-band imagery to identify trapped survivors
Summary
There will undoubtedly be more reports on the geospatial technology used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as it will take years, in some cases, to repair damage and rebuild. Many other companies not listed here are helping in various ways to help the recovery effort, that we may highlight in future issues.
As Jon Hansen, former Oklahoma City Fire Chief, stated, we prepare by learning. With each disaster, whether natural or unnatural, systems of response and recovery are improved so that next time, more lives may be saved, more property remains intact, more people can remain in their homeland.
Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances
ESRI (UK) has won a three-year contract with Royal & SunAlliance (R&SA) to integrate geographic and spatial information into its core business processes. The contract forms part of a wider transformation program at R&SA.
R&SA's investment in an ESRI Geographic Information System (GIS) is expected to deliver significant ROI by enabling many enhancements across the business including risk management, re-insurance assessment, customer support and claims management. Benefits are expected across R&SA's commercial and personal lines businesses, including the company's direct financial services arm.
Tele Atlas, a global geographic content provider, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Warsaw-based PPWK GeoInvent, a pioneer in mobile mapping systems. The company was acquired for 6.5 million Euros in cash and assumed liabilities.
NAVTEQ, a global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, announced that it is collaborating with GeoTel Communications, a leading provider of telecommunications infrastructure datasets, to associate its NAVSTREETS(R) center line data to GeoTel's MetroFiber(TM) database. This linked dataset will support multiple industry functions, from operations and network management, to capacity planning and disaster preparation.
Announcements
Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced BE Conference Europe 2006, being held June 11-15 at the Hilton Prague, Czech Republic. This new learning opportunity for users and their managers in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) community is modeled after the highly successful BE Conference held annually in the United States. The decision to hold two BE Conferences next year was based on high interest from users in Europe and the Middle East for an annual major training event in their geography.
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of IMAPS, LLC, based in Columbia, Ill. IMAPS is a leading provider of Geographic Information Systems and marine navigation, aviation flight planning, and navigation software products to government and commercial customers.
The acquisition enhances SAIC's capability to support key customers in the national security and intelligence community. SAIC also gains the ability to provide navigational aid to both the aeronautical and marine communities by acquiring IMAPS' Web sites, www.AeroPlanner.com, and www.MarinePlanner.com.
MapInfo Corporation, a global provider of Location Intelligence solutions, will hold its fourth quarter and fiscal 2005 conference call on Thursday, November 3, 2005 at 10:00am EST / 7:00am PST. The conference call will be Webcast live. The fourth quarter earnings announcement will be issued at 7:00am EST on November 3, 2005.
All six New England states and New York will put geographic information system (GIS) technology on center stage for GIS Day, November 16, 2005. Games, open houses, lectures, and a host of other activities will spread the word about the power of the innovative technology and its critical presence in daily life.
Appointments
Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced that Dr. Alfredo Castrejon, Bentley vice president, Latin America, will join U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and executives from 17 other U.S. businesses on a trade mission to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador October 16-22, 2005. The mission, which is the first to the region since the passage of the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), will highlight new U.S. business opportunities and stronger trade ties with Central America.
G. Thomas Clay has become CEO of Z Corporation, maker of 3D printers, following the company's merger with Contex Scanning Technology of Denmark. Previously president of Z Corporation, Clay will take charge of the company's strategic direction, operations, and financial management.
IDELIX Software Inc. announced that Dr. Dwight Porter, President of Applied Decision Resources, and Mark Sochan, CEO of Nuvonix and former Vice President of Business Development for SAP, have accepted appointments to the IDELIX Board of Advisors. With Dr. Porter's strategic planning and product management experience for a wide variety of companies including 3M, Harris, and DoubleClick, and Mr. Sochan's understanding of market acceleration through OEM licensing, IDELIX is set to launch its patented visualization technology, Pliable Display Technology (PDT), into consumer applications.
New Products
Thales has introduced ProMark3. With ProMark3, surveyors can reduce their field data collection time by up to 33% over competitive offerings, saving critical time and resources that all add up to profitability for surveyors. ProMark3 offers both centimeter accuracy in post-processing and GIS capabilities in one rugged package.
Telmap, provider of mobile Mapping and Navigation solutions, announced the launch of a native Symbian version of its PolarisTM solution. As the Polaris Mapping and Navigation System already supports all the other major mobile platforms and works on all networks, the addition of a Symbian native version establishes Polaris as the first worldwide, cross-platform solution for mobile navigation.
GlobeXplorer announced the release of Property Analyst, their next-generation online property information tool. Property Analyst combines an easy-to-use online map and aerial viewing tool with a vast amount of property information, delivering highly detailed property reports and maps with the click of the mouse.
Applied Geographics, Inc. (AppGeo) has developed a disease mapping and reporting solution, EpiGis, that saves epidemiologists and public health professionals time and improves access to disease rate information. Because it runs on ESRI ArcGIS software, EpiGis allows public health professionals to easily combine disease rate maps with environmental and socioeconomic spatial data for analysis and investigations.
AccuWeather.com, the free website of AccuWeather, Inc., announced the launch of the Interactive Media Center. This application, featured on the newly redesigned AccuWeather.com, builds on the website's extensive features, providing convenient access to an array of weather content via multiple media formats.
Visual Learning Systems, Inc. (VLS), the provider of automated feature extraction (AFE) technology, revealed its next generation AFE software architecture at the recent 2005 Feature Analyst Users' Conference. Feature Analyst 4.x unifies the VLS software solution on the industry's leading commercial GIS and remote sensing systems.
Sears Holding Corporation (SHC) now deploys a wireless field geographic information system (GIS) solution that provides 10,000 SHC home services technicians with an in-vehicle navigation and mapping system. Developed by SHC and ESRI Professional Services, the solution leverages onboard GPS, satellite and terrestrial data communication, verbalized directions, and ruggedized laptop technology that makes available a touch-screen interface.
Siemens VDO Trading GmbH has launched Shopping Guide Light - a points of interest (POI) directory - across its range of automotive satellite navigation systems. The POIs will be supplied by MI International, the provider of the largest and most comprehensive single source of POIs and business data in Europe.
NAVTEQ now offers full postcodes with its UK database. This unique feature assists accurate geocoding by linking the UK unit level postcode with the name, address and geometric accuracy of the NAVTEQ map.
Around the Web
Robots Take the Race by Stefanie Olsen, October 7, 2005, CNET News.com - This is no ordinary race. The competitors are artificially intelligent robots designed to drive autonomously, and they're facing tough terrain: A 150-mile desert course with mountain switchbacks, gullies, dry lake beds, tunnels and manmade obstacles. And the computer scientists who developed the robot racers have to balance care with speed; the robots must finish the course in under 10 hours.
Driving under the influence of Web Maps By Elinor Mills, October 7, 2005, CNET News.com -- It was a nearly cloudless, sunny day in San Francisco as I set out on my Wednesday drive. My goal: Test the accuracy and timing of the maps and driving directions provided by Yahoo, Google, MSN and America Online's MapQuest.
Open Source May Help China Curb Piracy by Maria Trombly, September 29, 2005, Ziff Davis Internet -- Since Linux doesn't require user licenses, it's also a way to combat software piracy, which is an epidemic in China.
Upcoming Events
Trimble Dimensions 2005
Date: October 23 - 26, 2005
Place: The Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, NV USA
The theme of Trimble Dimensions 2005 is Move Your Business Forward with an emphasis on improving productivity and lowering costs through the application of positioning, wireless and software technologies. The conference will feature a wide range of programs including presentations on the underlying technologies, sessions on applying technology to real world problems, introductory and advanced product training, and practical tips and techniques to help organizations grow their business and maximize return on investment (ROI). Many of the application sessions will utilize Trimble users to explain the practical use of technology in surveying, civil engineering, highway and heavy construction, site preparation, and construction vehicle fleet management, as well as other emerging applications.
Pecora 16
Date: October 23 - 27, 2005
Place: Sioux Falls, SD USA
"Global Priorities in Land Remote Sensing" Co-Organized by American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing The Pecora Conference series was established by the U.S. Geological Survey an NASA in the 1970s as a means of sharing ideas and experiences resulting from the use of remote sensed data. This year's conference will offer a program that honors this tradition of focusing on applications of satellite and other remotely sensed data to study, monitor, and manage the Earth's land surface while recognizing other priorities related to applying the science and technology of land remote sensing and ensuring its stable future.
Trimble Dimensions 2005
Date: October 23 - 26, 2005
Place: The Mirage Las Vegas, NV USA
For the Surveying, Engineering and Construction Professional Trimble has been at the forefront of some of the most exciting and practical positioning technology applications of our time, leading the way with technical advancements and innovations that provide tangible results and measurable value. Reflecting this spirit, the Trimble Dimensions 2005 User Conference is designed to deliver lasting benefits to surveyors, civil engineering and construction professionals. A slate of prominent speakers will delve into the hottest issues surrounding positioning technology to enhance your business.