Warning: Undefined array key "upload_with_nude_flag" in /www/www_com/htdocs/get_weekly_feature_ad.inc.php on line 69

Welcome to GISWeekly!

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, 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
Starting with the Map in Accela Automation
By Susan Smith

GIS professionals may welcome this new release from Accela, Inc. which extends geodatabase editing capability into the hands of field-based professionals and frees up time in the office for data management.

This may also open the door to do better collection and management of what citizens have to offer, according to Brian Wienke, lead GIS product manager, Accela Inc. and Paul Davis, public relations director, who demonstrated their update release of Accela Automation - 7.0.5 and Accela Citizen Access at Esri this year.

The update back office web-based release extends geodatabase editing capability out to non-GIS, field-based professionals (e.g. maintenance, inspection, code enforcement teams, etc.) who are familiar with their assets. The release is also section 508-compliant which makes it accessible for disabled users. By extending geodatabase editing capability beyond traditional GIS editors, GIS professionals can focus their time on the management and maintenance – rather than collection – of the data.  According to Davis, data collection and updates will occur in tandem with the ongoing daily work of field teams and therefore can be processed by the GIS teams in a way that is staggered and manageable.

Accela 7.0, the company's flagship enterprise application, was released in February of this year, sporting many changes within the product for geospatial mapping, data management, mobile technology and a new look and feel. No matter what module of the product, such as permitting, emergency response, asset management, there is a map shelf available with the ability for citizens to use maps via the internet.



The product update in July included Section 508-compliant features and Accela also added numerous features designed to improve navigation, empower mobile public access, as well as extend real-time editing of GIS map data to field-based workers.

Run on Silverlight, Accela 7.0 and 7.0.5 can do geocoding and save, print and search from various sources such as ArcGIS Server and Bing Maps.

In 7.0 there is the capability to start from the map where the user can create a new inspection, a new record, or if it's an asset they can create a work order against it, make a buffer selection of a bunch of parcels, and can export this to a common separated value file. From an Excel file one can create a mailing list, and then use it to let people know they are trying to rezone this parcel. From this data, letters can be mailed out to surrounding neighbors and landowners.

According to Wienke, most people who come to the planning office or land office don't know their parcel ID, but they know their address, and so with Accela 7.0.5 the transaction is started from the address, and other layers such as floodplain then be turned on. Research and analysis can be started from the map.



At that point, the user can move into the tabular view and get a list where some of these, in this case, building permits are located. The list view is now replaced by the map and map markers identify what they are with the permit number, building demolition, the address, date opened, etc. Its location can be seen on the map.

From here an action can be performed again on this map marker, and the user can create an inspection, then the program will refresh the page and take the user to inspections. There is a submission form so the user can pick up the inspections he wants to perform on the permit.

“The same kind of functionality is in our Mobile Office product,” said Wienke. “The map control will feel the exactly the same whether you're in the office, or on the internet. If out in the field, the application will look different because it's specific to a field worker -- basically it's a little bit more streamlined and has large buttons for touchscreen interface and high contrast, but it's going to be the same map control.”

Wienke added that routing happens in the back office as well as out in the field that uses the network extension from ArcGIS Server which has a good quality street centerline file.

In 7.0.5 the ability to do editing makes it possible to create shapes in GIS on the map, and create new permits, work order, service requests from that new created object either from back office or from the web. As an example, “From the browser based application, I have a customer out in Miami who is basically creating geometry and attaching that geometry to the new permit that the applicant is applying for,” said Wienke. “In Miami they're doing operational permits, sometimes a deck or dock goes into a waterway, and they want to be very specific about where the permit is being applied for.”

From the address, the user can create a new GIS object or new geometry, and can use the permit edit layer and configure it to automatically turn on and choose the specific tools, or go in and turn them on once the user is in there. The user can draw it, give it an ID and description, create geometry then hit Submit.

When the user comes to the permit intake form, it will automatically attach that shape that he created to that permit. “Some of the fields can be auto-populated from the GIS as well, so you can bring those in and populate the form. That would give you the true location of the permit,” said Wienke.

With the Mobile Office product field workers can also create new geometry out in the field, not just for permits, work orders or code enforcement, but also create new assets. This extends the GIS editing capabilities across the enterprise beyond the different GIS editors that serviced an entire agency to field workers who can take ownership of their own data.

While in the field, a field worker can create the geometry for signs, hydrants, etc. and start building the geodatabase for the assets he wants. In the map there is a GPS capture button, so while the worker is out in the field creating the new asset, he can capture the location of it and include date and submit it. It will be placed right into the new sign inventory record, and right into the Accela Mobile Office form, and it goes into the geodatabase and doesn't have to be entered again.

“This paves the way for the next generation release which will bring that same map control out to the Citizen Access product,” said Wienke. “That may scare some of our GIS editors at cities and counties, who may say 'I don't want citizens creating geometry in my geodatabase,' but if they ease into it, by collecting data they need for their individual departments, it will prepare them for the tidal wave of data coming in from the public. By doing it first with your different departments, you're really preparing the city or county GIS departments for this influx and they can manage it a bit better.”

Wienke suggests that what most customers want to receive from the public is data about abandoned vehicles, graffiti, potholes and possible dangers, and where those are located.

Davis said that some GIS departments in city and county agencies say they're not ready for the influx of volunteer data coming as their network or geodatabase isn't ready. But in many ways, GIS departments are already dealing with this data.

“In the San Francisco area there's a phone line to call the San Francisco Chronicle and Twitter feeds where people can call or write in to report infrastructure that needs to be repaired and how long it's been like that,” said Davis. “So there's a massive wave of public input already there, but not coming in ways that are connected to the back office.”

“The [departments] have to figure out how to get into their assignment roster and assign to the right department, and so the flow of data is going to be coming at these people in many cases regardless,” Davis pointed out. With this new functionality, they can start to extend the GIS editing to different departments and ease themselves into the “greater crowdsourcing capabilities of the future.”

Accela's Citizen Access product will address a shift in the way information is delivered, from people calling on the phone or showing up in the office, to using the web. In the next release of this product, users will be allowed to select assets on the map and say this streetlight is out, while it allows the agency to take that spatially selected object that has an ID and the ID can be attached to a service request, which can be attached to the work order that gets generated.

“What I suggest is they take it another step further, allow the citizens to create geometry --where are the potholes? Where's the graffiti? Let citizens have a voice and show you where these things are at,” said Davis.

At the Accela User Conference earlier this year, Accela President and CEO Maury Blackman talked about communities in which:

• business owners can arrange licenses or permits from their jobsite, rather spending hours in lines;
• parents can report downed stop signs with smart applications that know where they are and inform governments of which actions to take;
• contractors can quickly respond to their customers and communicate instantly with cities to arrange inspections;
• and government departments can instantly share and act upon information in order to maintain quality neighborhood services.

Top News of the Week

DigitalGlobe announced the appointment of Jeffrey Goebel as vice president of Geospatial Value Added Products and Services and Jack Hild as vice president of U.S. Defense Strategy. Both Goebel and Hild have held prestigious careers with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and bring a strong degree of knowledge and skill to DigitalGlobe.

NAVTEQ announced availability of the NAVTEQ Mobile Marketing Platform to U.S. TV and radio broadcasters. The easy-to-use, self-serve Mobile Marketing Platform enables broadcasters to cross-market program and advertising content to mobile phone users and to create new ways to monetize by extending advertising opportunities to the mobile channel.

Autodesk, Inc. reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2011.
Revenue was $473 million, an increase of 14 percent compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2010 and approximately flat sequentially. See press release

Acquisitions, Agreements, Alliances

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and Esri have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The agreement supports the design and development of ways to share and access essential geographic environmental data provided by the agency's 38 European member countries.

EEA, which already uses Esri's geographic information system (GIS) products, will now work closely with Esri to improve the agency's cloud environment map services. European countries will share their environmental data more easily, while nations, agencies, scientists, and policy makers will be able to quickly access and consume the data for viewing and analysis.

Telvent and Open Access Technology International, Inc. (OATI) jointly announce the strategic integration of Telvent's advanced data acquisition and distribution management smart grid solution suite with OATI's webSmartEnergy solutions for smart grid and energy markets. The combination of the companies' leading-edge solutions will enable utilities around the world to efficiently and effectively balance network optimization and energy costs while maximizing regulatory, environmental, security, and customer service performance.

ITT Visual Information Solutions (ITT VIS), a subsidiary of ITT Corporation, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Creative Software Systems GmbH, (CreaSo). CreaSo provides software solutions for data analysis and visualization and distributes ITT's IDL, ENVI and IAS software products in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands.

TerraGo Technologies achieved a 24 percent increase in total year-over-year revenue and adding $3 million in funding from investors in 2010. TerraGo also added new customers in and beyond its core U.S. government business, bolstered its government sales team, and made significant solution enhancements with new and upgraded geospatial collaboration products.

Infotech Enterprises Limited (Infotech) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Infotech Enterprises America Inc., has acquired Wellsco Inc. (Wellsco), located in Paragould, Arkansas.

Infotech is an acknowledged global leader in the Geospatial and Engineering Services market space and over the last 18 years has built strong network engineering, product engineering, and content engineering businesses in over 20 countries worldwide. Leveraging these skills, Infotech has established a very strong presence in various verticals, including Power Utilities and Telecoms.

PCI Geomatics is pleased to announce that PT Barrata is now an official distributor of PCI products for customers in Indonesia.

Located in Bandung, Indonesia, PT Barrata's staff is focused on remote sensing and GIS related business. PT Barrata will promote PCI Geomatics technologies including Geomatica and GeoImaging Tools software to customers throughout the country.

Announcements

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) members are seeking comments on the "Earth Observation Satellite Tasking Extension for OGC Sensor Planning Service (SPS)." The SPS configuration proposed in this profile supports the programming of Earth Observation (EO) sensor systems. The candidate standard describes a single SPS configuration that can be supported by many satellite data providers who have existing facilities for managing sensor system programming requests.

The candidate OGC Sensor Planning Service Application Profile for Earth Observation Sensors and information on submitting comments on this document are available at the website. The public comment period closes on September 16, 2010.

The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announces that Dr. Robert Austin has assumed the position of President of the association. In accordance with association bylaws, Austin will complete the unfilled term of his predecessor then serve his regular term through the end of 2011.

Dr. Austin, Manager of Enterprise Application Integration, City of Tampa, has a long history with GITA, including serving as chair of the 1991 Annual Conference in San Diego when the association was known as AM/FM International. He has previous experience as a member of the board of directors and has participated in nearly every committee within the association. Long active on the international front, Austin also was instrumental in facilitating the creation of the Australia/New Zealand affiliate in the early 1990s. More recently, Austin assisted in GITA's Geospatially Enabling Community Collaboration (GECCo) initiative and also helped organize the Central Florida Chapter of GITA.

Azteca Systems, Inc. reports visible growth indicators including expanded corporate office space, increased staff, and a growing number of customer sites as well as continuing expansion at existing sites. Azteca credits strong and continued success to the powerful yet flexible nature of Cityworks, its industry-leading product line, the company's customer-driven approach, and the market need for automating work flow processes.

SuperGeo Technologies develops 'Economic and Social Indicator GIS' for Academia Sinica, the most preeminent academic institution in Taiwan. It is an integrated platform with thematic maps and statistical charts on WebGIS, providing important references for researchers and policy-makers.

The Research Center for Humanity and Social Science, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, plans to integrate economic and social indicators with a WebGIS platform, called Taiwan Economic and Social Indicator GIS.

GeoEye, Inc. announced that it completed its offer to exchange Senior Secured Notes registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, for all of the Senior Secured Notes that were previously issued in a private placement.

New Products

AccuWeather.com introduces SkyGuard Online, an interactive mapping system that uses the ESRI, Inc. ArcGIS 10 Enabled technology to help businesses track how weather will impact their operations.

Bluesky has added more than 100,000 aerial photographs to its online collection of historically important images following an agreement with Land & Property Services (Northern Ireland) to supply the entire Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland photographic archive. The newly available archive includes complete countrywide coverage from 2002 onwards together with a vast array of mainly urban areas dating back to the 1950's. With scales ranging from 1:20,000 up to 1:3,000 visitors to www.oldaerialphotos.com will be able to view and download images to help with boundary or property disputes, site investigation, historical research or genealogical studies.

Masternaut has launched a feature rich web-based vehicle tracking service for the Apple iPhone and iPad. This is the first in a series of free apps for Apple products from the global telematics and mobile resource management innovator.

Around the Web

GISCafe Today Blog

Benton redesigns website to ease access to property data August 18, 2010, St. Cloud Times.com

Google Sued in Spain Over Data Collecting by Raphael Minder, August, 17, 2010, The New York Times (registration required)

City continues 'Access Madison' program with online GIS August 17, 2010, Madison County Record

Putting a Value on Geospatial Information in the UK August 16, 2010, Spatial Source

Google Leads, You Pedal by Lionel Beehner, August 10, 2010, The New York Times (registration required)


Events



You can find the full GISCafe.com event calendar here.

To read more news, click here.


-- Susan Smith, GISCafe.com Managing Editor.