Welcome to GISWeekly! Monday, October 27-Thursday, October 30, I will be attending the GEOINT Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee. Hope to see many of you there.

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, People, New Products, Around the Web, and Events Calendar.

GISWeekly welcomes letters and feedback from readers, so let us know what you think. Send your comments to me at Email Contact

Best wishes,
Susan Smith, Managing Editor

Industry News
Interactive Mapping Platform Takes Advantage of Silverlight and WPF
By Susan Smith

[ Click to Enlarge ]

The company ISC has just announced their new release of MapDotNet, MapDotNet UX (stands for User eXperience), described as a modernized GIS platform built on .NET technologies. The interactive mapping platform is designed for building interactive mapping solutions, utilizing newly created APIs for developers to build Silverlight web applications, as well as WPF desktop and smart client applications.

Brian Hearn, lead architect for MapDotNet., calls UX “the most significant upgrade to our product line in the last five years.” Features include a new map rendering engine in WPF which can take advantage of accelerated graphics hardware and rich symbol definitions in XAML from design tools like Expression Design from Microsoft. In addition, the product includes support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Virtual Earth in the architecture of our product.

One of the great selling points of MapDotNet UX is that the Studio component of the product will be freely licensed to anyone who wants to download it, according to Hearn. “The main purpose is simple - we want as many people as possible exposed to our products and this is an excellent way to achieve this.”

[ Click to Enlarge ]

The previous 6.5 version of MapDotNet was built on MapServer as the rendering engine and was more targeted toward ASP.net. In contrast, MapDotNet UX is an evolutionary product in that it takes advantage of the new Silverlight and WPF. 7.0 relies on Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation.

MapDotNet has both interactive mapping and back office functionality, according to Hearn. Like ArcGIS Server, it has a visualization side, ADF side but also the rendering engine back end and spatial connectors for pulling in data from rendering, querying and editing data and transforming data, and interrogating the spatial data stores. The product supports shapefiles, ArcSDE, PostGIS, and SQL Server 2008.

Hearn pointed out that MapDotNet can do 90% of what ArcGIS Server does, at a fraction of the cost of ownership. It does not do what Spatial Analyst can do, for example.

The target audience for MapDotNet are state and local governments, private industry, disaster tracking - anyone who wants to implement GIS into their organization. Customers buy MapDotNet in order to build web based solutions or intranet desktop solutions.

An example is customer South Florida Water Management District which already has ArcGIS Server in place. “They a have large ESRI investment but we have still built solutions for them that consume their data that’s in ArcSDE because it is one of the supported backends that we can connect to,” said Hearn. “So the one thing MapDotNet server is not is it’s not a spatial database – we don’t have an equivalent to ArcSDE, but our product connects to ArcSDE, PostGIS, SQL Server 08, Oracle Spatial, etc.”

[ Click to Enlarge ]

The free download MapDotNet UX Studio is an interactive map design tool. With Studio, developers can migrate data from all MapDotNet supported spatial back-ends (shapefiles, PostGIS, ArcSDE) to Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Users can extract their data, transform it, for example into the popular spherical Mercator projection, and then load SQL08. Users can then build maps to visualize their data. They can classify and style them using XAML. “This is what will drive interest for the rest of the MapDotNet UX product-suite,” explained Hearn. “Users can build their own map tile caches in SQL Server 2008 right from Studio or export the configuration and run a standalone pre-loader. Finally we plan to upgrade Studio over time to provide additional functionality so users will remain interested in what we are doing. Some of the items slated are data-editing features, map printing and collaboration, more analysis features such as density mapping and richer thematic mapping, etc.”

Future plans for MapDotNet include enhancing support products and services, after they get the release-to-market (RTM) version of MapDotNet UX out the door. According to Hearn, “Our online documentation and support website are currently being upgraded. We are developing new training material for UX, etc. Because MapDotNet UX is built on the latest technologies (such as Silverlight which just went RTM a few days ago) we are in no hurry to look at what’s next outside our shop. Instead we will be looking at what’s next inside, such as improving performance, robustness, ease of use, samples, mash-ups, SharePoint web parts etc.”
Currently the MapDotNet product has approximately 100 customers.

Top News of the Week

ESRI, along with other organizations in the facilities management industry, has published a data model for creating, storing, and sharing information about structures and their assets. The building interior space data model (BISDM) is geographic information system (GIS) based and will allow companies to more effectively share facilities data and collaborate with other technologies commonly used for real property portfolio, asset, and facilities management. The model can be easily extended for a variety of other purposes, for example, landscape-level planning and site selection, building-level energy and environmental management, and security and emergency preparedness.

HP unveiled the latest additions to its portfolio of large-format digital printing solutions, bolstering the company’s efforts to target the estimated $53 billion page-value opportunity for the global sign and display market projected for 2010.
These additions -- demonstrated at SGIA ’08 include the following: the HP Scitex FB7500 Printer, the HP Scitex FB950 Printer, the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer, and the U.S. debut of the HP Designjet L65500 Printer, the first of a new category of large-format signage printers to feature HP Latex Inks.

SPADAC has recently launched EarthWhere 4.3, the latest version of its patented and commercially available spatial data management product that now gives geospatial analysts faster, streamlined and enterprise-wide access to geospatial data, such as satellite and aerial imagery, terrain, digital maps and vectors.

Acquisitions, Agreements, Alliances

MetaCarta, Inc. announced a partnership with Exceptional Software Strategies, Inc., an information technology solutions and services company that works with the U.S. Government, educational institutions, and private industry. Under the agreement, MetaCarta geosearch solutions will be integrated into EarthSpector, a web-based GIS visualization and analysis tool.

Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Coral8, Inc. announced a strategic alliance to integrate and package Coral8’s complex event processing (CEP) software with SGI Altix servers. The new agreement makes the Coral8 Engine a core part of a new real-time, visual CEP capability from Silicon Graphics.

Announcements

Research and Markets announced the addition of eMarketer's new report "Mobile Location-Based Services" to their offering.

With the introduction of more-powerful and inexpensive smartphones, mobile carriers are taking steps toward making location-based services a common mobile application for consumers. What are the implications for marketers?

The Mobile Location-Based Services report analyzes how location-based services are evolving into a standard part of the mobile marketing mix. Marketers have been interested in potential applications of location-based services since they first made their way into the public eye in 1999, but privacy concerns have hovered in the background.

While the mobile industry is working hard to resolve the privacy issues, crafting effective location-based services marketing strategies will be neither simple nor inexpensive. But the payoff for helping consumers accomplish tasks is potentially huge.
eMarketer estimates there will be over 63 million location-based services users worldwide this year, and 486 million in 2012.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Geoweb & Local Internet Markets: Outlook For Consumer Mapping Services" report to their offering.

The geospatial web (geoweb) enables the creation of new map viewing environments that put location-based data front and centre. This report takes a look at geoweb market players and their strategies, along with the various consumer and business applications involved. It analyses possible business models and provides an assessment of growth outlook for geoweb services around the globe.

Spatial Insights undertook a market potential analysis of check cashing and pawn shop expansion potential in the Houston, TX metropolitan area. Using precision geocoded business locations from CAP Locations ReCAP Retail database coupled with current year block group-level demographic estimates sourced from AGS, the study employed a suite of GIS tools in analyzing and mapping the geographic distribution of demographic demand and market potential.

The complete case study is available here.

Pictometry International Corp., announces the launch of its new website, www.pictometry.com.

The new site replaces the company’s debut website which launched several years ago to give Pictometry a “bookmark” presence on the Internet.

Users of ESRI's RouteMAP IMS software can now access local weather from WeatherBug, the largest weather sensor and camera network in the world, headquartered in Germantown, Maryland. With a network of 8,000 tracking stations, WeatherBug provides up-to-date local weather throughout the United States. The ability to view weather will allow companies to respond to and plan for inclement conditions that may be dangerous or slow down business. This will allow organizations to manage staff and vehicles more effectively, creating a safer and more productive work environment.

People

Tele Atlas, global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions, has named Anil Srivastava to the newly-created position of Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. A member of Tele Atlas’ senior management team, Srivastava is responsible for all sales, marketing, business development, customer support and communications functions worldwide. He reports directly to Tele Atlas CEO Bill Henry.

The many people who use geographic information system (GIS) technology to better understand and manage the environment have a new resource in ESRI's environmental industry manager Dr. Robin D. Smith. GIS users will benefit from his 25 years of experience conducting and managing more than 60 environmental investigations and modeling projects and subsequent ecological and human health risk assessments for corrective actions both nationally and internationally.

Pitney Bowes MapInfo, part of Pitney Bowes Inc., announces the appointment of Stephen Deaville to Sales Director for the Retail, Insurance and Banking industry, based at Pitney Bowes MapInfo in Windsor.

A strong technical sales leader with in-depth experience of solutions-based selling of technology within large enterprise organizations, Deaville is charged with building Pitney Bowes MapInfo’s retail, insurance and banking sectors and developing location intelligence solutions within those key markets.

Intermap Technologies, a leading worldwide 3D digital mapping company has strengthened their management team with the hiring of Richard Eagle as vice president of product strategy.
Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience creating and managing international product development and go-to-market strategies, Eagle will oversee the development and implementation of fact-based, market- and competition-driven product plans across the Company’s business units through the implementation of an extensive integrated product management methodology.

New Products

ERDAS announces the release of IMAGINE Objective, a new tool providing object-based multi-scale image classification and feature extraction capabilities for building and maintaining accurate geospatial content.

Since the open Beta earlier this year, the IMAGINE Objective workflow has been streamlined, based on customer feedback and interaction. IMAGINE Objective includes a set of tools for feature extraction, update and change detection, enabling geospatial data layers to be created and maintained using remotely sensed imagery. With IMAGINE Objective, imagery and geospatial data of all kinds can be analyzed to produce GIS-ready maps.

Trimble announced that they will provide utilities with a bundled offering specifically for utility field workers. The combination of the reliable Toughbook notebooks and Trimble GPS Pathfinder ProXT and ProXH Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers is an ideal asset management solution for mapping, Geographic Information System (GIS) and CAD applications.


NAVTEQ, a global provider of digital map data for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, has announced release of navigable map coverage in Argentina. The initial NAVTEQ Map for Argentina includes over 200,000 km of road network across the entire country and up to 260 attributes per road segment. These road attributes enable navigable solutions to support accurate route guidance. Examples include information on direction of travel, number of lanes, speed limits, and turn restrictions.

ARCHIBUS, Inc. announces the release of its new application, ARCHIBUS Geospatial Extensions, integrating ARCHIBUS data with geospatial information from ESRI, Inc., the #1 developer of geographic information systems (GIS) software.
ERDAS announces ERDAS Image Web Server 2009, the new release of the high-speed, specialized server application. ERDAS Image Web Server is the fastest image server on the planet, implementing true interoperability and simplifying the process of delivering and consuming data.

Around the Web

County's new GIS site could turn users on to floodplain locations, by Robert Lee Long, October 21, 2008, DesotoTimes-Tribune.com

Events