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GISWeekly examines select top news each week, picks out worthwhile reading from around the web, and special interest items you might not find elsewhere. This issue will feature Industry News, Top News of the Week, Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances, Announcements, Contracts, Financials, People, New Products, Around the Web and Events Calendar.
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Susan Smith, Managing Editor
Industry News
How to Manage a Successful Public Utility
by Susan Smith
Utilities, to me, represent maintaining and being in touch with our natural resources – water, energy, air, light. Utilities require paying attention to what has been built and isn’t working any more, what is new that can help restore our well being, what is draining our energy and needs to be replaced.
A large part of Autodesk’s geospatial business resides in the utility industry. Alan Saunders, Utilities Industry manager for Autodesk, impressed upon the audience at a workshop at Autodesk World Press Days in February, that a utility network is an “interconnected system of design networks.”
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Adding to the challenge is the fact that 50% of utility workers are eligible for retirement in the next 10 years.
With these challenges in mind, Autodesk provides purpose built utility systems for new engineers or planners to model the network. The Utility Design tool informs the new supervisor as to whether he has sized a tool correctly, in the absence of a more experienced supervisor on the job.
Driven by our quest to be sustainable and live in a healthy way on this planet, there is a turnover of people, technology, jobs, and power.
The use of wind turbines has grown from 2000 to 2006. Utilities can now control a high density grid – “a living, self-healing grid that requires much more modeling capabilities than previous ones,” Saunders pointed out. Autodesk Topobase is used in one small community to track and manage solar grids.
There are 50% more people living in urban areas today, which means cities will require more power to maintain them. We need to reduce their dependence upon natural resources. “Good design in utilities is a bit less tangible than in cars, or movies, and we only recognize them in their obvious absence,” said Saunders.
Good design also relies on geospatial information, as designs must be placed in their proper spatial context. LiDAR and geospatial solutions are just two elements to add to the design content.
In a demonstration, a 3D model created by Parsons Brinckerhoff in 3ds Max was shown. “We will begin to see intelligent 3D models of entire cities. Google Earth will give you a visual but not a rich intelligent version. 3D cities will have 3D intelligence for future city management and infrastructure management,” Saunders explained. A tool that might be able to deliver on that could be Google Earth extension for AutoCAD that is on Autodesk Labs. Using the wizard-driven interface, you can publish your 3D models from AutoCAD or select AutoCAD-based products directly into Google Earth. The technology preview is available for 2007 and 2008 versions.
Another demonstration showed an urban utility view of the University of Colorado in Boulder in a simulation of a utility environment. Displayed was a look beneath the surface at the infrastructure of gas lines, water, lines, electric lines. Vertical bars indicated utility use. In order to find out what service is available to serve this building, you can shut off some layers and see water lines only, which reveals what lines service the building. Users can open up valve and water pressure in the building.
Las Vegas Valley Water District
Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) has become a sort of poster child for Autodesk in recent years. I covered LVVWD in 2004 when Autodesk sent some journalists over to the site during AU. Since then, the utility has evolved and migrated to a fully automated system which was well under way when I visited.
The LVVWD is responsible for approximately 4,700 miles of pipe line to manage, inspect and maintain. Although it is expensive using a 3D model to know exactly where your pipes are, Jonathan Pickus, AM/FM/GIS Division manager said, it’s more expensive to dig up the street. That’s why the utility spends money in order to leverage new technologies to support functions.
Just a few facts: LVVWD is the largest water utility in Southern Nevada and the operating agency for Southern Nevada Water Authority, serving almost one million people in a very dry desert community that gets its water from Lake Mead. Water distribution has doubled in the last 15 years, which has forced the utility to change. “We have a huge economic engine,” Pickus pointed out. “40 million people visit Vegas a year, “We have to serve water efficiently and make sure it’s uninterrupted. Our new service accounts are huge – in 2007 we had 5,687 new accounts.”
When Pickus arrived in 1987, the project was overwhelming: there were 80-100 projects every month. 50-60 projects sat on managers’ desks.
Today, with engineering design technology integrated with geospatial technology, the utility has powerful capabilities not usually found in traditional GIS systems. “We deployed software we built in house that managed technological challenges. Barriers that occur with other systems don’t occur in our company. We were the first to deploy Topobase.”
With the automation of data generation from field to office, now every piece of field data is collected with GPS. LVVWD built software on top of Autodesk Map which “completely removed redundancy from our system,” said Pickus. The new system helped reduce the number of backlogged projects, meanwhile 850 new projects still come in a month. The database grew by 63%.
“We automated a big back end of our project lifecycle, and now we can use manpower and innovate products and services for the rest of the utility,” Pickus explained. In addition, the utility deploys automated mapping systems, “Now we are assured that when anyone in the entire district picks up a map it will be up to date.”
Although not mentioned by name during the presentation, LVVWD uses ESRI's ArcMap on an SDE geodatabase for geospatial. Since Autodesk’s geospatial portal integrates well with other ones, Pickus said they were able to design their portal to support specific business processes such as a water quality map, status of water quality, a system shut down map that shows relationships between valves and the businesses they support.
Services such as “call before you dig” are critical to a utility the size of LVVWD. The portal can be extended to geospatial services to monitor performance as well as the location of vehicles.
To its credit, the district has been innovative in dealing with the biggest drought in the last 500 years, according to Pickus. For three to five years, they have been moving turf at a cost of $3-5 million as part of a “turf rebatement program,” where turf is identified and people are paid not to use water.
LVVWD has grown since we last checked in. They are now leveraging 3D technology and adding LiDAR and GPS to their toolbox. “How do we leverage 3D technology to support the transmission of water, distribution systems, how do we build these models of our complex systems?” Pickus queried.
Two other main goals of LVVWD: How do we get this data into the hands of lay people? How do we integrate this data into the GIS so we can make further asset information processes in the future?
Pickus and his department achieved CAD/GIS integration, which has been the envy of other utility organizations. When asked how he obtained the buy in of his organization Pickus said, “Luckily I had the support of my management. As I demonstrated our success, we became leaders in the organization and the conflict went away.”
The biggest problem has been that CAD and GIS are organized themselves as two separate bureaucratic organizations.
Secondly, Pickus said when management seeks a solution, there are layers of complexity that make it difficult to know where to start. Thirdly, the people who are responsible for implementing this technology are not technologists. “We work with a competitor’s product, as well as Autodesk, and because of my background in technology I’m able to guide the process,” Pickus explained.
The district’s biggest challenge is electrical and gas. “We have all the construction activities that are undergone by county, and the county drainage and sanitation on our portal so our engineers can look there to plan for their construction,” said Pickus. The tough part is that these other utilities don’t have the mapping systems of LVVWD and consequently no accurate data. Another concurrent challenge for LVVWD is that in working with 3D, they lack accurate representation of distribution transmission systems.
“We have to be more efficient, and this efficiency is really helping,” said Pickus. “I don’t have to hire new staff.” By demonstrating more efficiency, the district still leverages the technology to support planning for future rehabilitation of pipes, deployed leak detectors, and subsonic devices that sit on valves, among other things. They are also branching out to look at a project involving the northern counties. Other areas they see as possibilities are supporting emergency/crisis management planning.
Top News of the Week
Review of HP’s Intel Xeon Dual Quad-Core Workstation – by David Heller
HP’s latest Dual Quad-Core entry into the high performance workstation arena is delivering cost saving results that have created more than just buzz in the CAD/CAM industry. It’s more like a loud roar! For this article, vendors were contacted who make the design tools used in architecture, mechanical design, manufacturing, digital content creation, and electronic design automation. Each of them either has products specifically designed to take advantage of this powerful threaded 64-Bit computing technology or has products in the wings awaiting imminent release. Read the complete article.
1Spatial are pleased to announce the release of their Radius Check product, following the successful launch of Radius Check Lite in December 2007.
The Radius Check family of products are user-friendly, windows-based applications that allow easy identification and administration of spatial data held in Oracle Spatial databases. They are designed to enable any user of spatial data to manage their database effectively, without the need for a significant level of technical expertise.
The release of Radius Check follows the successful launch of Radius Check Lite, a free downloadable version that allows users to review the relevant metadata, indexes and SDO_GEOMETRY data in one, easy-to-use form. Problems are then highlighted in a user-friendly, color coded display. For a small fee, the new product will, in addition to the Lite functions, allow the user to identify and then create, delete and amend relevant schema problems using simple drop down menus within the interface.
Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances
Spatial Insights offers accurate and current US postal geography from its newest strategic partner, GBBIS. GBBIS has applied its proven technology and expertise to creating ZIP Code boundaries, ZIP+4 centroids, and carrier route boundaries that are compatible with all desktop mapping and GIS systems. All the postal data offered are updated monthly to the highest US Postal Services standards and have been aligned to the NAVTEQ street data for both accurate and easy-to-use map presentation. In addition to monthly updates, quarterly, semi-annual and annual updates are also available.
Announcements
Ordnance Survey (OS), Britain’s national mapping agency, has renewed and extended its Enterprise Licence Agreement (ELA) with ESRI (UK), the market leader in geographic information systems (GIS).
The extended ELA will provide Ordnance Survey with organization-wide access to ESRI server, desktop and developer products for a further three years, underpinning its ability to create, edit and publish the most accurate and up-to-date geographic data relied on by government, business and individuals.
The ELA gives Ordnance Survey the flexibility to tailor its GIS software to match evolving business demands and will help achieve efficiencies in software administration.
ESRI recently announced an enterprise license agreement (ELA) program that provides local governments in the United States with populations of less than 100,000 with wide access to GIS software at an affordable price. Several government agencies have already taken advantage of this program since it was announced last month.
The Small Municipal and County Government ELA Program makes available deployments of ESRI's full complement of ArcGIS software and extensions. The three-tier pricing schedule is based on population.
The Agenda for GeoXchange is now complete. With an impressive selection of Industry Experts now confirmed, this event is primed to provide the audience with a true and unbiased view to data sharing over the next few years.
If your organization is under pressure to answer the demands of a joined up government or you are already looking towards compliance to the INSPIRE legislation, then April 23 & 24 should be firmly in your calendar.
GeoXchange is taking place at the Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 23 & 24. To register, please visit the website
Urban Mapping, Inc. (UMI) the provider of location-rich content for interactive applications, announced the launch of a developer portal and free API for access to Urban Mapping's pioneering neighborhood-based information. The Urban Mapping API uses REST, or representational state transfer, an XML-based protocol for summoning Web services over HTTP. The Urban Mapping developer portal, and REST-based API enable developers to quickly and easily build applications that are designed with enhanced local search in mind.
Contracts
Digital mapping and GIS software developer, Cadcorp, has announced that Aragon Housing Association has recently awarded it a contract for the supply and implementation of multiple licences of Cadcorp SIS – Spatial Information System software. The new software replaces Aragon Housing Association’s existing GIS facilities from another vendor.
Financials
Intermap Technologies Corp. ("Intermap" or the "Company"), reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2007. A conference call will be held tomorrow at 10:00 am Eastern time to discuss the results.
All amounts in this news release are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.
For 2007, Intermap(TM) reported a 55% increase in total revenue to $33.8 million, as compared $21.8 million in 2006. Intermap's contract services revenue component grew 86% to $28.2 million and multi-client data licenses (MCDL) contributed $5.6 million, compared to $6.7 million in 2006. Approximately 80% of the MCDL revenue was associated with the Company's NEXTMap(R) USA program. NEXTMap(R) Britain accounted for 14% of MCDL revenues.
Read the press release
For the full year 2007, Stantec generated gross revenue of C$954.6 million, a 17.0% increase from C$816.1 million last year. Net revenue was C$830.9 million up 17.4% compared to C$707.9 million in 2006 and net income increased 15.1% to C$69.3 million from C$60.2 million. Diluted earnings per share were 14.5% higher at C$1.50 compared to C$1.31 in 2006.
Read the press release
People
Photo Science President, G. Michael Ritchie, PE, PLS, PSM, CP has been appointed for a two-year term to the newly formed National Geospatial Advisory Committee (Committee). The Committee was established by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Federal Geographic Data Committee as an advisory board under the Federal Advisory Committee Act and is comprised of geospatial experts from the government, private sector, and academic arenas.
Bradley L. Mallory has been appointed president, chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Michael Baker Corporation, effective February 21, 2008.
Mallory, 55, will succeed Richard L. Shaw, who is retiring as chief executive officer after having served in that position since September 2006. Shaw will remain chairman of the Board as well as chairman of the Board's Executive Committee.
Mallory has been chief operating officer of Baker since October 2007. He has realigned the company's Engineering business segment in order to make it more efficient and focused on the clients and markets that Baker serves. In addition, he has put in place a business strategy for Engineering aimed at achieving organic and acquisition growth, as well as improved profitability.
New Products
Spatial Insights offers accurate and current US postal geography from its newest strategic partner, GBBIS. GBBIS has applied its proven technology and expertise to creating ZIP Code boundaries, ZIP+4 centroids, and carrier route boundaries that are compatible with all desktop mapping and GIS systems. All the postal data offered are updated monthly to the highest US Postal Services standards and have been aligned to the NAVTEQ street data for both accurate and easy-to-use map presentation. In addition to monthly updates, quarterly, semi-annual and annual updates are also available.
ESi(R), the global crisis information management solutions provider, announced the release of WebEOC(R) 7, the latest version in its product suite of emergency communications software. Equipped with new powerful technology tools, WebEOC 7 offers users an upgraded level of interoperability and functionality to better prepare and respond to any event or emergency situation.
Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging announced the release of RedSpider Enterprise 3.5.2. With numerous enhancements, RedSpider Enterprise has increased its compliance with the Open Geospatial Consortium and International Organization for Standardization (OGC/ISO) standards.
RedSpider Enterprise 3.5.2 empowers users to build customized geospatial web applications. With an enhanced user interface, organizations may easily create more intuitive and versatile applications. In addition, new security features provide seamless protection for business applications.
Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) regularly announces field control software updates and enhancements. The unveiling of TopSURV 7 is different.
Topcon’s all-new, problem-solving software package utilizes a unique, large graphical and intuitive user interface. TopSURV 7 features map view data collection, graphical stakeout, conveniently stores configurations and is available for Windows PC or CE Mobile systems.
Around the Web
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System Provides Mission Critical Mapping Capabilities for 911 Call Centers PR Web Newswire, February 21, 2008 - Police and law enforcement dispatch centers benefit from improved Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allowing for quicker response time during 911 emergencies
USGIF accredits first geospatial programs GCN Tech Briefs, February 21, 2008 - Geospatial intelligence is getting more respect. The U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), a nonprofit corporation, has granted accreditation to three geospatial intelligence programs — those at the University of Missouri at Columbia, Penn State University and George Mason University.
More on Maps, Collaboration & some pretty pictures LibraryTechNZ blog
Humboldt County Planning Department Gives Public Fast Access To Land-Use And Zoning Information Logistics Online, February 22, 2008
Upcoming Events
| FME Worldwide User Conference | |
| Date: | March 6 - 7, 2008 |
| Place: | Vancouver
Canada |
| We invite you to join us in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada for the FME Worldwide User Conference on March 6-7, 2008. As we explore the theme New Dimensions in Spatial ETL (extract, transform and load), you’ll learn more about new developments in the industry and in FME, including 3D geometries and spatial data federation.
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| GITA’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference | |
| Date: | March 9 - 12, 2008 |
| Place: | Washington State Convention Center
Seattle, WA USA |
| The Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference's technical program will include interactive half-day seminars, educational sessions, user forums, panel deliberations, and networking socials. The corresponding exhibition will feature the leading geospatial hardware, software, and services vendors.
Anyone who is interested in using geospatial information technologies is invited to attend. The conference program will address topics of interest to executives and managers in government agencies; electric, gas, and water/wastewater utilities; telecommunications companies; pipeline companies; the public sector; and other organizations interested in using geospatial information to enhance their bottom line.
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| Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium | |
| Date: | March 9 - 12, 2008 |
| Place: | Seattle, WA USA |
| GITA is pleased to announce the Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium, a unique forum taking place in conjunction with the association’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference (formerly Annual Conference). This event will be the first ever to address the application of mapping technologies such as GIS, GPS, and remote sensing to emergency and disaster response.
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| NSGIC 2008 Midyear Conference | |
| Date: | March 9 - 12, 2008 |
| Place: | Annapolis
MD USA |
| The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) is an organization committed to efficient and effective government through the prudent adoption of geospatial information technologies (GIT). Members of NSGIC include senior state geographic information system (GIS) managers and coordinators. Other members include representatives from federal agencies, local government, the private sector, academia and other professional organizations.
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| WALIS International Forum 2008 | |
| Date: | March 12 - 14, 2008 |
| Place: | Perth Convention Exhibition Centre
Western Australia, Australia |
| WALIS Forum is one of the premier GIS events in Australia, attracting over 650 participants from a diverse range of professions.
Held every 18 months, the Forum provides an opportunity to address issues related to the collection, management and application of geographic or spatial information. The Forum is open to everyone, however, is targeted to people working with geographic information (GI) or those who would like to find out how they can harness GI to improve their business.
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| 2008 ESRI Worldwide Business Partner Conference | |
| Date: | March 15 - 18, 2008 |
| Place: | Wyndham Hotel and Palm Springs
Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA USA |
| The 2008 ESRI Worldwide Business Partner Conference (BPC) will be held March 15–18, 2008, in Palm Springs, California. Jack Dangermond, ESRI president and CEO, will share with you the future of GIS business and technology that will help you drive your business. You'll gain insight into ESRI's products, services, data, and technology innovations.
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| GIS-T 2008 | |
| Date: | March 17 - 19, 2008 |
| Place: | Houston, TX USA |
| The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials sponsors the annual GIS for Transportation Symposium. It is a chance for persons in government and private industry who are interested in the use of GIS for transportation purposes to get together and share experiences, see state-of-art software, and learn more about this field. The Symposium annually attracts over 400 Symposium registrants in addition to the 50 exhibitors in the technology hall.
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