DECEMBER 2007 VOL 11 ISSUE 12

AFRICA I AMERICAS I ASIA I AUSTRALIA I EUROPE www.GISdevelopment.net

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Ticking towardsEnterprise GIS

RNI 68561/18/6/98/ISSN 0971-9377 UP/BR-343/2008Annual Subscription: 540/- Subscriber’s copy. Not for Sale

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COLUMNS

Editorial 05

Reader's column 07

News 08

Publication 64

Events 66

ARTICLES

28Geocentric Enter-prise TechnologyGeography in theHands of Many The article discusses two case studies from Asia whereEGIS has successfully beenimplemented...

Barbara Shields

32An Introduction ToEnterprise GISA must read to get an overviewand the elements associatedwith EGIS...A R Dasgupta

40EGIS for better work management This is an update on the workDEWA is carrying out towards

implementing EGIS...Eng. Amina Ali Hashem,B. Pradeep Kumar

42Looking at SAPthrough the Geo-window The integration of SAP in theirGIS for better water distribution

in Belgium...Bart Reynaert

46EGIS for Develop-ment Authority This is a case study of imple-menting EGIS for Arriyadh

Development Authority...Eng. Salah M. Al Asheikh

46Building an Enterprise GIS The steps one should take while

planning to implement EGIS...M. R. Bualhamam

60Changing times...The view points of chiefs of

some of the NMOs...Saurabh Mishra

INTERVIEW

50Prof. D. R. Fraser Taylor

Carleton University, Canada

"Challenge for the industry isbrainware!"..

54Robert Moses

CEO & President, PCI Geomatics, Canada

Algorithms for near real timeimage analysis are today’s need

62Map Africa Report

3G I S D E V E L O P M E N T | D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 1 2

GIS Development is intended for those interestedand involved in GIS related activities. It is hoped thatit will serve to foster a growing network by keepingthe community up-to-date on many activities in thiswide and varied field. Your involvement in providingrelevant information is essential to the success ofthis endeavour.

GIS Development does not necessarily subscribe tothe views expressed in the publication. All viewsexpressed in this issue are those of the contributors.It is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to theinformation provided.

GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published bySanjay Kumar. Press M. P. Printers B-220,Phase-II, Noida, Gautambudh Nagar (UP)INDIA Publication Address P-82, Sector-11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India EditorRavi Gupta

President M P Narayanan Editor in Chief Ravi Gupta Managing Editor Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar

Editorial Team: Honorary Advisor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Associate Editor Dr. Satyaprakash Assistant Editor Saurabh Mishra, Anamika Das Sr. Sub Editor Harsha Vardhan Sub Editor Neha Arora,Gaurav Sharma

Sales and Marketing: Regional Managers Middle East Swati Grover North America Annu Negi South East Asia Pacific Sunil Ahuja Regional Sales Managers Europe Niraj South Asia Prashant Joshi Dy. Managers Sales Middle East Sharmishtha Seth SouthAsia Anupam Sah, Vivek Rawat South East Asia Pacific Kavitha Seras Marketing Co-ordinator Megha Datta Sales Co-ordinator Uma Shankar Pandey

Design Team: Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar, Prashant K Sarkar Assistant Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh

Circulation Team: Arpita Majumder, Vijay Kumar Singh

Software Development Group: Team Leader Kumar Vikram Team Member Viral Pandey

Portal Team: Product Manager Shivani Lal Dy. Manager Anshu Garg Team Member Anjali Srivastava

In this issue...

OFFICES

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ON THE COVER...The image with geared wheels is analo-gous to an organisation with its variouscomponents moving in unison, repre-senting the efficacy of Enterprise GIS.Every organisation goes through thefour stages of Nolan's growth modeland at any given time an organisation isat some or the other stage of the cycle,is what the rest of cover shows.

Iwonder at times about the pleasure I derive at whip-ping somebody through criticism. Often it leadss to put-ting blame on some individual or an organisation, as Itirelessly try to give a near-perfect solution for somethingwhich is happening. Forgetting, that hind-sight is always6/6 and free advice are available in plenty.

Working on the Enterprise GIS, and particularly the reason for not so widespread use of GIS at enterprise level,this time again we zeroed on the spatial data. Like riversfinding its way to the sea. Data, the poor whipping boy! Ifroad development ministry is not an aggressive user of GISat enterprise level, it has to do with the availability of 'spatial data'. If Malaysian government wants their electricity distribution to be geospatially managed, it waitsfor data. Makes me feel like requesting the corporate salesteam, to have an armour sponsored for the poor kid, 'Spa-tial Data', so that we can continue our job without guilt.

Continuing on this line, I think what the media represen-tatives from RDBMS and Operating System segmentwould be doing. I feel pity for they would be required to dosome good hard work to talk about the innovative-usageand return on investment, as their whipping boy wouldcertainly not be as quite, dumb and beaten-up as 'Data'.Neither, they would have the option to write on RDBMS for Enterprise Applications and Operating System for Computers.

But for us in Geospatial industry life goes on…and so willthe free advice…

In 1970s Richard L. Nolan developed a growth modelwhich describes the adoption of information technology inan organisation. He identified six stages that an organisa-tion could pass through to reach the maturity in terms ofuse of technology. This 'Growth Model' was taken up andrefined by Hans Bestebreurtje in 1997 to study the status ofgeospatial industry in Europe. Hans refined the Nolan'sGrowth Model into four phases for Geospatial industry.

In Phase 1, GIS is introduced to the organisation and its usage is isolated from the organization's businessprocesses. In Phase 2, it leads to the expansion of its usagewithin the organisation through the effect of contagion,which also at times leads to a "Me Too" syndrome. Phase 3,is marked with the first step towards organisational con-trol over the technology. Phase 4, the last stage towards thematurity of geospatial technology usage in an enterprise,is based upon the integration of geospatial technologieswith other business applications, wherein it becomes apart of concept, planning, development and maintenance.In short it is aligned with the organization's informationsystem. A situation where access to geospatial data isexpected to be an intrinsic and invisible part of any enter-prise system, enabling business processes across depart-ments and supporting the operational needs of the entirecompany.

What does this mean?

First, each organisation should go through these phases.This is being advocated by many multi-lateral agenciestoo. They feel that we need to have systemic approach toan organisation for introduction of any new tools or meth-ods. Secondly, any organisation which is in the initialstage should not be discriminated; rather we need to lookat the catalyst which can make them quickly graduatefrom one phase to another.

Apart from being critical about the situation, we need tolook forward to finding the catalyst or removing theimpediments, by joining hands in helping organisationsgraduate from one phase to another.

5G I S D E V E L O P M E N T | D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Vo l . 1 1 I s s u e 1 2

“”

The Geospatial Wonder

Maneesh PrasadManaging Editor & Chief Operating Officermaneesh.prasad@GISdevelopment.net

From Editor’s Desk

7D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Reader’s Column

Send in your feedback to editorial@GISdevelopment.net

Advisory Board

Dato’ Dr. Abdul Kadir bin TaibDeputy Director General of Survey and Mapping,Malaysia

Aki A. Yamaura Sr. Vice President, Asuka DBJ Partners, Japan

Amitabha Pande Secretary, Inter-State Council, Government of India

Bhupinder Singh Sr. Vice President, Bentley Systems Inc., USA

Bob Morris President, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging,USA

BVR Mohan ReddyChairman and Managing Director, Infotech Enterprises Ltd., India

David Maguire Director, Products, Solutions and International, ESRI, USA

Frank Warmerdam President, OSGeo, USA

Prof. Ian Dowman President, ISPRS, UK

Prof. Josef Strobl Director, Centre for Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Austria

Kamal K Singh Chairman and CEO, Rolta Group of Companies, India

Prof. Karl Harmsen Director, UNU-INRA

Marc Tremblay Vice President, Commercial Business Unit, DigitialGlobe, USA

Mark Reichardt President and Chief Operating Officer, OGC, USA

Prof. Martien Molenaar Rector, ITC, The Netherlands

Matthew O’Connell CEO, GeoEye, USA

Prof. Michael Blakemore Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Durham, UK

Dr. Milan Konecny President, International Cartographic Association,Czech Republic

Er. Mohammed Abdulla Al-Zaffin Director, GIS Centre, Dubai Municipality, UAE

Dr. Prithvish Nag Director, NATMO, India

Rajesh C. Mathur President, ESRI India

Robert M Samborski Excutive Director, Gita, USA

Prof. Stig EnemarkPresident, FIG, Denmark

Prof. V. S RamamurthyChairman, IIT, Delhi, India

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Comments

GIS Development inPakistanWe, at Landmark Resources (LMKR),are currently working on land infor-mation System (LIS) for Islamabadcapital territory Pakistan. Our com-pany is very keen regarding GISusage in Pakistan.

I have been receiving GIS Develop-ment magazine and I must say thatit is an excellent magazine for GISprofessionals. I congratulate the GISDevelopment team on this magnifi-cent effort.

Saad ShamsGIS Consultant, LMK Resources (LMKR)

sbutt@lmkr.com

Publications Monthlyezine

Our project is connecting the sever-al communities of geoinformationproducers and users, with contentregionalization and emphasizinglocal and regional projects. Publica-tions Monthly ezine from GIS Devel-opment that includes several maga-zines and webportals in geoinforma-tion area is one such platform.

Carolina Gomespress@mundogeo.com

If you are interested in contributingto the Publications Monthly ezine, you can contact us atinfoo@GISdevelopment.net

Any Answers?

GIS to minimisedisaster impactCould you please tell the application ofGIS and Remote Sensing in dam burstvulnerability analysis?

Sathya, Indiacj.sathyan@gmail.com

Survey of India andDelhi Governmentlaunch DSSDI ProjectWhy can't we do the 3D city modelingby considering only POI (points of interest)?

Harish K, Indiaharish@ttieng.in

GIS@Market(November issue, GIS Development)

Your articleon GIS@Mar-ket was veryenlighten-ing.

I am con-sidering todo an MBA inGIS. I wouldlike to knowits prospects.

I also request you to send a list of insti-tutes offering MBA in GIS across theworld.

Ravi Chopraravichopra@gmail.com

Ghana based companyurges for GIS inbusiness strategyGhana: Sambus CompanyLimited is convincing busi-nesses in the country toadopt the use of smart tech-nologies such as GIS andGPS in their activities toincrease their market shareand productivity.

The use of GIS softwarelike BusinessMap, BusinessAnalysts and ArcPadMobile GIS will enable busi-nesses to create custombusiness maps and perform

analysis that would helpthem identify patterns,trends and understand rela-tionships not apparentfrom tables and charts.

Sambus Company-organ-ized seminar on "Leverag-ing the power of GIS busi-ness strategy" to createawareness, said Mrs. Amer-ley Ampofo, Senior Manag-er of Sambus in charge ofGIS.

She added, GIS is a valu-able tool for businesses dueto its capability to assist inmarket surveys andresearch, and can help toreduce turnaround timeand increase productivityof firms.

AAMHatchacquires AfricanAerial MappingCompanySouth Africa: AAMHatchannounced the acquisitionof AOC Geomatics at theMap Africa 2007 confer-ence. AOC was formed in1931 as the Aircraft Operat-ing Company. With officesin Cape Town and Johan-nesburg AOC provides spa-tial information servicesthroughout Africa.

In Africa, AAMHatch willcontinue to use the AOCbrand. As the principalshareholder, AAMHatchbrings global capabilitiesand resources to AOC. This

ensures AOC has first accessto all leading-edge spatialtechnologies.

Flight LandataInc. to surveyAfghanistanAfghanistan: Flight Landa-ta Inc. has received a contract from the U.S. ArmyTopographic EngineeringCenter (Army TEC) for work in Afghanistan.

The USD 6.6 million con-tract engages the company

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

1 2 3 4 5 6News: Regional

India: The Indian ForestFire Response and Assess-ment System (INFFRAS)has been established underthe Decision Support Cen-ter (DSC), under DisasterManage Support Pro-gramme, to facilitate forestfire management.

INFFRAS integrates multisensor satellite data withGeo Informatics Systemdatabases to address forestfire management relevantto pre, during and post firescenarios.

Short-wave infra red(SWIR) and thermal IR databased temperature anom-alies are used for the detec-

tion of active fire locations.The MODIS Global FireDetection Algorithm wasimplemented and modifiedto reduce false alarms overIndia Region and FireDetection restricted to for-est area.

Operational Line ScanSystem (OLS) has the capa-bility of light intensifica-tion through a photo-mul-tiplier tube enabling theobservations of faintsources of visible-nearemissions present duringnight. By analyzing a timeseries of BMSP-OLS images,it is possible to define a ref-erence set of stable lights.

Fires are identified as lightsdetected on the land sur-face outside the referenceset of stable lights.

Forest mask is used torestrict fire outputs withinforested areas. INFFRASwebsite is developed inopen source environmentwith the following capabil-ities:

Daily fire alert (day andnight time) with locationinformation, burnt areaassessment, users feedbacketc., inputs on fire prone-ness mapping, ecologicaldamage assessment andmitigation planning.

GIS functionalities like

zoom to desired skill, zooming panning, querying, identify andsearch; on fly map outputgeneration, map coordi-nate display, 7 days anima-tion of fire locations andsending the outputthrough e-mail etc.

Forest fire monitoring system established in India

Satellite Image highlighting Forest fire prone regions

8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

to do intelligence, surveil-lance, reconnaissance andmapping via aerial remotesensing. The informationgenerated from theseflights will assist the U.S.military and politicalefforts in Afghanistan.

The duration of the contract is for one year,with the possibility of anextension.

The actual data collectionis expected to begin beforethe end of the calendaryear. The data will be col-lected using the latest gen-eration of Flight Landata'sBuckEye system.

City8 introducesStreet levelmappingChina: In a developmentthat looks competitive toGoogle and Microsoft'smapping tools, a Chinesewebsite called City8 hasoffered its street level map-ping with an impressivelevel of detail. The site hasbeen developed by Easy-pano Holdings, based inShanghai. It began produc-ing street level maps in Julylast year, and now has cov-erage of eight Chinesecities. City8 uses camerasmounted on cars whichcruise around the streetscapturing images. Easy-pano's software thenblends the views togetherso that users can seamless-ly pan around the city hori-zontally and vertically.Google's street level pho-tography has been raising-concerns over invasion ofprivacy but City8 hasn't yetencountered this problem.

China to establishEarth Observationcentre China: A key scientific cen-tre for earth observationthat would develop geo-metrics technologies,which are increasinglyimportant in the country'sdevelopment, will be estab-lished soon announced sci-entists at Chinese Academyof Sciences.

"Geomatics technologieshave been widely appliedin several areas of China'sdevelopment, such as ener-gy and resources, environ-ment, oceanic and weatherobservation and city plan-ning," said Jiang Mianheng,Vice-President of ChineseAcademy of Sciences (CAS).

The centre will include areceiving station for earth-observation data, which,upon completion, will beable to receive 70 percent ofthe satellite data of theAsian continent.

China launchesnew remotesensing satelliteChina: China launched anew remote sensing satel-lite "Yaogan III" on a LongMarch-4C carrier rocketfrom the Taiyuan SatelliteLaunch Center in north Chi-na's Shanxi Province onNovember 12, 2007. It hasbeen successfully placed inthe orbit.

The 2,700-kilogram satel-lite will be used for scientif-ic research, land resources

surveying, crop yield esti-mate and disaster preven-tion and relief. Both thesatellite and the carrierrocket are developed by theShanghai Academy ofSpace flight Technologyaffiliated to the China Aero-space Science and Technol-ogy Corporation.

GIS forwatercoursesmanagement inPakistanPakistan: The Project Direc-tor of National Programmefor Improvement of WaterCourses (NPIWC) SindhMuhammad Yunus Dagahas said that out of 33,000targeted watercourses,11,000 watercourses havebeen brick-lined to dateunder a five-year project ofNPIWC, 2004. He said thatprogramme-monitoringunit was using GIS andsatellite technology inimplementation on NPIWC.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

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Launching of Chinese RS Satellite ‘Yaogan III’

Sample Image: Active Fire Alert system

He added that due towater saving, cultivationand production wouldincrease by 25 per cent inaddition to creating jobopportunities and boostingagro business. He alsoclaims that this projectwould bring agriculturalrevolution with rapid eco-nomic development in thecountry.

Yahoo launches firstGlobal Map searchservice in Korean South Korea: Yahoo Koreahas launched its satelliteand road map search serv-ice in Korea. The new Kore-an-language map servicehas 2.2 million names ofcities, mountains, streets,

buildings and tourist spotsaround the world.Searchers have an option tolook at the road map, satel-lite image or a combinationof the two. The map servicewas created with the partic-ipation of SK Energy, roadnavigation data provider inKorea, and i-cubed, a U.S.satellite image serviceprovider.

Study suggests spatialindustry worth billionsin Australia Australia: A new economicreport, Spatially EnablingAustralia, for the spatial

information sector, deliversproof that the spatial infor-mation industry is worthbillions to the Australianeconomy, according to lead-ing economic consultancy,ACIL Tasman.

"Spatial information andtechnology has a clear andverifiable impact on justabout every industry andgovernment activity in thecountry," says Alan Smart,ACIL Tasman's MarketingDirector. The AustralianSpatial Information Busi-ness Association (ASIBA),who commissioned ACILTasman to conduct thestudy into spatial informa-tion and technologies(SI&T), released the reportrecently.

"One of the study's mostimportant findings is thatSI&T have increased theGross Domestic Product bysome USD 6 to 12 billion,"said ASIBA's chairman,Michael Easton.

The global opportunitiescreated for innovative Aus-tralian companies to devel-op new SI&T products andapplications from Aus-tralian research and devel-opment are also likely to bevery significant.

Infoterra andGEOMET winaerial surveycontractFrance: Infoterra France, awholly-owned subsidiaryof EADS Astrium and a lead-ing provider of geo-infor-mation products and serv-ices, announces that withtheir Greek partnerGEOMET Ltd they have wona contract, worth over 2.86million euros, to deliver asignificant quantity of fullyorthorectified imagery andDigital Surface Models(DSM) covering Greek cities.

The VLSO or 'Very LargeScale Orthophoto project',will cover 3500 square kilo-metres of all major to mid-size Greek urban areas infully orthorectified imageryand DSMs. KtimatologioS.A. (Hellenic Cadastre) whocommissioned the project,

10 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

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Japan: The Earth Observation ResearchCenter (EORC) of the Japan AerospaceExploration Agency (JAXA) has startedto release image data of a high-resolu-tion global precipitation dis-tribution map in quasi realtime (about four hours afterobservations) on the Inter-net. The map is composed

by the EORC using acquired data byearth observation satellites includingthe Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission(TRMM.)

The image data isupdated every hour, andcan also be representedas an animated image ofprecipitation distributionover the last 24 hours. Theestablishment of thisquasi real-time provisionsystem of image dataenables users to timely

offer information to regions, such asdeveloping countries in Asia, which donot have enough data on precipitationalthough they are often hit by typhoonsand heavy rainfall.

Online 'Global Rainfall Map in Near Real Time' released

Map composed using TRMM data

JAXA Global Rainfall map interface

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

INDIA 2008

February 7-8, 2008India Expo Centre EXPO XXI, Greater Noida, India

Vehicle Navigation

http://location.net.in/india

Location India 2008 SecretariatGIS Development Pvt. Ltd. , A-145, Sector-63, Noida - 20130 (U.P.) India Tel: +91 120 4260800 to 808 Fax: +91 120 4260823 to 24Email: info@location.net.in

SPEAKERS / PANELISTS

Arnout Desmet Tele Atlas Asia-Pacific

Singapore

Amit PrasadSatNav Technologies

India

Pramod JajooXoraIndia

Magnus NilssonChief Executive Officer

Wayfinder SystemsFinland

Bhaskar SenDirector

Visesh InfotecnicsIndia

Rakesh VermaManaging Director

CE Info SystemsIndia

Dr. Srikanth Manthripragada

Chief Technology OfficerORG Telematic Ltd

India

Shoummo K. AcharyaFounder & Chief Technology

OfficerVI eTrans

India

Yashwant M JaganiVice President

Reliance LogisticsIndia

OrganiserMedia Partner

Fleet Management

Location Based Services

3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Postioning and Navigation

Ashutosh PandeSiRF Technology

India

Kalidindi Govinda RajuManaging Director

SreeGo Solutions Pvt. Ltd.India

Darren FisherSE Asia Regional Sales

ManagerSpirent Communications

UK

Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsor Silver Sponsors

SreeGo

TM

TM

Seminars

The structure of the conference

Venugopal SanjeeviFounder, Chairman & Managing Director

eLogisticsIndia

Keynote Sessions

Panel Discussions

Come and listen to the experts...

Exhibition

Deepak SrinavasanChief Executive Officier

MobianceIndia

UK: BlueSky has acquired a unique col-lection of over 100,000 oblique aerialphotographs tracking Britain's develop-ment throughout the late twentiethcentury. The historically important pho-tographs dating back to the 1960sinclude major construction projectssuch as the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge,Gatwick Airport and the developmentof the London Docklands including the

Millennium Dome site. Covering most major UK citiesand towns, transport and utility infrastructure and com-mercial property developments, the images form aninvaluable and fascinating record of the UK's develop-ment and will appeal to both a professional and amateuraudience. The Chorley Handford collection of aerial photographswas started in the 1960s by Tom Samson, a WWII recon-

naissance photographer andfounder member of the BritishInstitute of Professional Photog-raphers (BIPP). Working after thewar for Handford Photography,based in Croydon, Samson mainlycaptured client commissionedimages of London and the HomeCounties. In the early 1980sHandford Photography mergedwith Chorley, Hyman and RoseLtd and became Chorley Hand-ford. Chorley Handford subse-quently became Realistic PhotoGraphics Ltd

plans on using the True-Orthos produced by Infoter-ra. This project is part of anongoing process in Greeceto set up a complete, updat-ed, accurate digital cadastredatabase of the country.

Tele Atlas joint venture formed withMappointAsiaThe Netherlands: Tele Atlasannounced a joint venturewith MappointAsia Thai-land to form Tele Atlas(Thailand) Co., Ltd, whichwill operate as an inde-pendent entity focused ondelivering a complete navi-

gable digital map databaseof the country for in-car,portable, Internet, andwireless navigation sys-tems and applications.

Tele Atlas Thailand willfocus on the production,maintenance, upgrade andcommercialization of a nav-igable database, which isdesigned to be fully alignedwith Tele Atlas' global mapoffering and seamlesslyintegrated in the SoutheastAsia regional solution.Based in Bangkok, the jointventure will be immediate-ly operational, with prod-ucts already available from

the existing Mappoint data-bases now benefiting fromTele Atlas' extensive datacollection and product tech-nologies.

Ordnance Surveyupdates aerialphotography layer UK: Ordnance Surveyannounced a significantupdate to its flagship aerialphotography product, OSMasterMap Imagery Layer,ensuring that it remains amarket leading propositionfor aerial imagery in GreatBritain. More than 120,000km.sq of new and updated

aerial photography, theequivalent to half ofBritain, has been madeavailable to customers overthe last 12 months. This isthe result of an intenseperiod of imagery produc-tion and follows successfulflying seasons over the lasttwo years.

Spatial andtemporalanalysis of crimemade easy UK: CDR Group announceda new business arrange-ment with Portolan Tech-nology of Australia to sell

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D E C E M B E R 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T12

BlueSky acquires Historic Aerial Photo collection

News: Regional

Modern Aerial Photograph of Manchester City

Historic Aerial Photograph of London Metropolis

their HS_Gridder for Map-Info product. Initially devel-oped for Victoria Police,HS_Gridder is a MapBasictool to assist with the spa-tial and temporal analysisof crime locations withinMapInfo Professional. Thetool was designed withspeed and ease of use inmind for identifying crimehotspots but can be usedequally as well for otherpoint datasets.

The program uses kerneldensity methods to identifyand map crime hotspots(clustering). There are anumber of options to gener-ate hotspots, including theability to view the hotspotsonly or a full surface depic-tion. The output is providedin a MapInfo grid file (.mig),which is typically a verysmall file size, and can bemade to appear translucentin the map window.HS_Gridder also performstemporal analysis on crimedata, counting records byday of week, hour of day, ora combination of these. Ituses the aoristic methodwhen analysing times, sothat 'From' and 'To' timesare considered and outputis given in graphs andcharts.

GeoStore enablessite surveys fromthe desktop UK: Infoterra Ltd, geospatialproducts and servicesprovider, has launched itsGeoStore service to enable

property developers to car-ry out initial and rapid sitesurveys from their desks.GeoStore is Infoterrasgeospatial data online por-tal which allows consumersand business customers tobrowse the companys hugeresource of national datafor immediate delivery.

GeoStore provides instantdelivery of high quality,accurate aerial imagery,height data and OrdnanceSurvey mapping, makinggeospatial informationeven more accessible forsupporting property devel-opment, environmentalmanagement, and infra-structure planning andlocation illustration.

Trimble acquiresUtilityCenterassets from UAI USA: Trimble announcedthat it has acquired the Util-ityCenter assets from pri-vately-held UAI, Inc. ofHuntsville, Alabama in anall-cash transaction. UAI isa leading provider of GIS-based workflow automa-tion and outage manage-ment solutions for electricand gas utilities. Financialterms were not disclosed.

The purchase of UAI's Util-ityCenter platform extendsTrimble's portfolio of fieldand mobile worker solu-tions by providing applica-

tion-specific software capa-bilities within the utilitiesmarket.

ImageTreeawarded forestinventory patent USA: ImageTree, the Preci-sion Forestry Company, hasbeen awarded a patent forextracting forest inventorydata gathered throughremote sensing technology.ImageTree provides com-prehensive assessments offorest assets, which areused by forest investors andmanagers to make better,more informed decisionsabout forest investmentmanagement and timber-land management prac-tices.

The key to ImageTree'spatented process is theForestSense software,which creates polygons forvisible tree crowns, then

measures and analyzes thedetails of each polygon tobuild the forest inventory.The resulting metrics areunparalleled in terms ofaccuracy and precisioncompared to conventionalinventory methods.

SSS Researchannouncescollaborationwith NGA USA: SSS Research anno-unced that it is workingwith the National Geospa-tial-Intelligence Agency(NGA) to provide key software as part of its NGAEarth eGeoInt project.Under this relationship, SSSResearch provides its GeoBoost Visual Intelli-gence software solution toenable situational aware-ness and location intelli-gence for multiple con-stituencies.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

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13D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

USA: The first hyperspec-tral imager in space, builtby Northrop GrummanCorporation is marking itsseventh anniversary on-orbit. LaunchedaboardNASA's Earth Observing-1(EO-1) satellite on Nov. 21,

2000, Hyperion has outlived its design life by 700 percentand continues to send scientists clear, detailed images ofthe Earth's surface. Hyperion has proven the value ofspace-based hyperspectral data for use in global land-cov-er studies, ecosystem monitoring, mineral and petroleumprospecting and agricultural crop discrimination andassess-ment,among other important applications.

First Image by Hyperion Imaging Spectrometer

Hyperion celebrates 7th anniversary

OGC adds Microsoftas Principal Member USA: Open Geospatial Con-sortium, Inc. announcedthat Microsoft Corporationhas joined the consortiumas a Principal Member.Through its involvementwith OGC, Microsoft is ableto ensure the geospatialinteroperability of its tech-nology, including its flag-ship geospatial offerings,the Microsoft Virtual Earthand Microsoft SQL Server2008, which is scheduled toship in the second quarterof calendar year 2008.Microsoft will submit theSQL Server 2008 geometrydatatype for compliance to

the Open GIS Simple Fea-tures for SQL standard, asignificant move towardsensuring that geospatialdata can be seamlessly lay-ered upon and integratedwithin SQL Server 2008. Bymaking its productsOpenGIS compatible Micro-soft will support bothdevelopers and users whowish to work with theextensive assortment of thegeospatial data resourcescurrently available.

GIS helps multipleagencies respond toSouthern Californiafires USA: GIS software and serv-

ices from ESRI are helpinglocal, state, and federalagencies with multipletasks surrounding therecent firestorms in South-ern California.

The California Fires application displays the

current perimeters andlocations of Southern Cali-fornia fires. ArcGIS Explorerautomatically refreshes theservice every 15 minutes tocheck for perimeterupdates. The map includesa collection of results thatcan be clicked to navigateto each fire area.

GIS is being used at eachincident command post aswell as multiple commandcenters including SouthernCalifornia operations centers and the FederalEmergency ManagementAgency (FEMA) joint opera-tions center. GIS providesan integrated commonoperational picture forcomprehensive, map-basedsituational awareness.Agency personnel takeadvantage of the analysis

and visualization capabili-ties for collaborationamong federal, state, andlocal agencies; prioritiza-tion and utilization of man-power and resources; andmonitoring events on theground in near real time.

Brazil: The Brazilian National Institute forSpace Research (INPE) has placed a con-tract for a thirdyear with DMC

International Imaging Ltd., (DMCii) toacquire high-resolution satellite images of

the entire 5 million squarekilometres of the Amazonrainforest. Since 2004INPE's programme to moni-tor deforestation has dra-matically reduced the rateof logging from 27,000sq.km. per year to about10,000 sq.km. in 2007.

In order to rapidly identi-fy areas of cover change,

DMCii is contracted to provide threerepeat coverages in 2007 (June-July, July-August, and September-October). In 2005,and again in 2006, DMC imaged thewhole Amazon Basin in 6 weeks to pro-vide Brazil with vital information to helpmonitor deforestation and combat illegallogging.

Satellites help Brazil reduce Amazon deforestation

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News: Regional 1 2 3 4 5 6

Satellite Image: Deforestation in the Amazon

Google Earth Image of Amazon Forest

Satellite Image:California Forest Wildfires

MaporamalaunchedIntelligent DealerLocator 2008France: Maporama Intlannounced the release ofthe 2008 Edition of its loca-tion centric tool of salesoutlet: Maporama Intelli-gent Dealer locator, basedon the new platform Mapo-rama Web Services 2008and Maporama GeocentricServices Framework (MGSF).

Maporama IDL 2008 inte-grates to its tool the "direc-tions.mp3" function whichenables the user to exportmobility instructions ofitinerary towards any kindof mp3 player, includingthe iPod. "export SMS" func-tion is available in France,Great Britain, Germany,Denmark, Italy and Spain."Itineraries" functionalityhas been improved provid-ing interactive roadmapincluding customisation ofinformation to display,such as step-by-step mobili-

ty instructions, mini mapsof intersections and fixedradars location.

TatukGIS InternetServer now with FlashControl Poland: The latest update ofthe TatukGIS Internet Serv-er (v. 8.9.7) supports anAdobe Flash control to pro-vide a smooth on-line mapscrolling and zooming

experience. The Flash con-trol augments previouslyimplemented AJAX fea-tures compatibility basedon Microsoft ASP.NET AJAXFramework. A futureupdate will expand theFlash control to also provide

smooth remote map edit-ing features.

For non developers withmore limited requirements,TatukGIS offers the LITEedition of the GIS InternetServer with a simple API,but also supporting thenew Flash client features.

Racurs releasesPhotomod 4.3Russia: Racurs launched anew version of Photomod4.3 software. The softwareversion 4.3 includes the fol-lowing features:

• complete ADS40 support -tested on first "alive" pro-duction projects

• featuring filters and"curves" tools for radiomet-ric pre-processing

• importing exterior orienta-tion parameters from thetext file of user-defined for-mat

• block layout by projectioncenters only (in case of noexterior orientation angles)

• New algorithm of buildinga TIN (Triangular IrregularNetwork) with the convexhull

The company also hasannounced the availabilityof the new version 4.3 ofPhotomod GeoMosaic. Thenoticeable features intro-duced in the new versionare support of images for-mats and modern sensorsmetadata of QuickBird,Ikonos, Spot, Aster, Car-toSat, etc.

ET SpatialTechniquesreleases ETGeoWizards 9.7South Africa: ET GeoWiz-ards enables the ArcGISusers with ArcView licenses

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

News: PRODUCT

Wisconsin Thematic Map with Flash control

Filters tool for radiometric preprocessing

Germany: The new version of the HTML ImageMapperNG - AJAX, alta4 has revised the authoring system of the

software: Its operation isintuitive, comfortableand it offers appropriatedefault settings. It only takes a few clicks to create yourfirst map.

A map segment from your own ArcMap project can beexported without a problem with the HTML ImageMap-per to Google Earth, to make regional data available to abroad public. Apart from that, the HTML ImageMapperNG - AJAX creates image tiles conform to ArcGIS Server9.2, which can be reused directly.

New HTML ImageMapper by alta4 Geoinformatics released

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HTML ImageMapper NG - AJAX

HTML ImageMapper NG - AJAX with Google Earth

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to perform standard dataprocessing tasks possibleonly in ArcEditor and ArcIn-fo. The highlight of the newrelease is the Google Earthimport-export functionalitywith attributes handlingand on the fly projectionwith geographic transfor-mations.

The functionality of ETGeoWizards is available intwo different ways:

• Via user scripts written inthe ArcGIS VBA environ-ment or any language thatsupports COM.

• Via a set of geoprocessingtools for ArcToolbox whichcan be used in the ModelBuilder, at Command Line orin Python, Java or VBscripts.

Mapyx launchesQUO2UK: Mapyx launches a new-er version of its digital map-ping software, QUO2. Theupgrade is free to existingusers and Mapyx also offersOrdnance Survey mapupgrades at cost price. Doc-umentation of QUO hasalso been improved andvideo tutorials are availableon the website. QUO2includes features like com-paring route profiles andspecial route planning toolsfor cyclists.

Mapyx offers customers afree version, Quo GO, whichcontains all the product fea-tures but with simplerfunctionality. And Quo PRO,for a competitive price,with no limitations at all.The only optional extras arethe mobile version and spe-cialist bird watching andanglers' diaries.

Quo 2 offers the very lat-est cleaner and sharperOrdnance Survey maps. OSmaps can be bought inpacks, such as NationalParks, GB, England, Scot-land or Wales. Or can bebought as individual 1:50kand 1:25k tiles, plus aerialphotography.

New online GISsystem for oiland gasUK: Interactive Net Map-ping has launched a newsystem for oil and gas com-panies to view their wells,seismic surveys and relatedinformation online. Theservice, called Oilelefant, isaimed at companies whichdo not want to spend mon-ey on a fully comprehen-sive GIS.

The software can takeinput data in various differ-ent formats, and transfersthem to a geographical pro-jection in WGS-84 standard.It uses a map of the worldwith water depths andmountain heights, and lim-ited civil infrastructure,such as roads, railways andcities. Oil companies can

find out about nearby rele-vant civil infrastructure,such as storage terminals,refineries and ports.

Companies can connecttheir documents to themap, for example seismicrecords and well logs, sothey can easily be found. Ituses PPDM Lite data modelfor the spatial model com-ponent. The server runs inWindows Server.

Cities RevealedprovidesReal-world 3Dheight dataUK: The GeoInformationGroup, publishers of CitiesRevealed aerial photogra-phy announced the captureof new LiDAR data for Lon-don.

This latest survey is themost current height datasolution available to themarket and can be used tocreate detailed 3D groundand surface models. TheCities Revealed LondonLiDAR is the ideal solutionfor Civil Engineers, throughheight and volume analy-sis, to accurately plan andvisualise engineering proj-ects for the Capital.

FortifiedHoldings releasesVantagePointUSA: Fortified HoldingsCorp. announced thelaunch VantagePoint, asuite of geospatial mappingsoftware tools that havebeen specifically developed

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

thincSoftproducts nowsupports SQLServer 2008USA: thincSoft announced thatits thincVIew and thincTrax prod-ucts now support Microsoft SQLServer 2008. thincSoft’s suite ofVisual Intelligence (VI) softwareis available as a fully-config-urable Web 2.0 enterprise solu-tion for corporations and as an

OEM solution for software ven-dors and systems integrators.

thincSoft core products include:

• thincVIew - a BusinessIntelligence/Location Intelli-gence application, combinesspatial or geospatial datawith business intelligence(BI) data to enable locationand time-specific analysis ina unique visualization solu-tion through any portal.

• thincTrax - an asset visuali-zation solution, interacts withRFID (Radio FrequencyIdentification), GPS, or otherdata and provides a visuali-zation and business rulessolution for managing criticalassets or personnel, locationintelligence and situationalawareness.

Both the products togetherbring the power of geospatialvisualization technology andbusiness intelligence into a thin-client SOA-compliant platform.The Web 2.0 platform allows thissolution to integrate with anydata source and be deployedand interacted with in real timeon any thin-client via browser,including hand-held and mobiledevices.

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thincView and thincTrax SOA

OS map overlay using Mapyx QUO2

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for laptop and desktop com-puters, as well as for net-work servers. VantagePointprovides easy and afford-able access for developersto add mapping functional-ity to virtually any desktop,server or web-based appli-cation.

Market opportunities forVantagePoint developerstarget a myriad of productsand services that can be tai-lored for use within adiverse and growing list ofuser communities. Thesegroups and organizationscurrently include Earth sci-ences, meteorology, agri-culture, emergency man-agement, first responders,law enforcement and mili-tary, oil/gas exploration,forestry, mining, logisticsmanagement, and manyothers.

ImageMattersreleases opensourceWeb 2.0 Mashup withspatial capabilities USA: Image Matters LLCreleased the source code of"gnizr" Community underthe Mozilla Public License.This provides enterprisesand individuals with an

out-of-the-box Web 2.0mashup framework forbookmarking, tagging, andsharing Web resources. Asan open source project,gnizr will allow developers

worldwide to participate increating the industry'smost advanced Webmashup and social book-marking framework withspatial capabilities. Theopen source gnizr and documentation are avail-able under the Mozilla Pub-lic License (MPL) athttp://code.google.com/p/gnizr/

gnizr Community is a corepart of gnizr Enterprise, arobust, smart, and collabo-rative knowledge manage-ment and discovery solu-tion. The Enterprise editionunlocks data behind enter-prise silos, exposes this dataas resources that can beexploited in Web 2.0 world,and helps users mashupdata from different sources,and uncover hidden rela-tions, to gain new insights

and enhance their produc-tivity.

Avineonics forAutomated Emergencyand IncidentManagementUSA: Avineon, Inc.announced the release ofAvineonics, an informationsystem that enables organi-zations to automate thepreparation, organization,

management, executionand documentation ofemergency preparednessand incident managementfunctions.

Avineonics optimizesindustry knowledge andprovides advanced technol-ogy for both daily and

USA: Maptech Terrain Navigator Prois a mapping source for profession-als working in land surveying, realestate, fire-fighting, search and res-cue, forestry management, and off-road exploration. The new TNP 8.0adds 1-meter color aerial photos(DOQQ - Digital Ortho QuarterQuads) from the National Agricul-ture Imagery Program (NAIP)-2003-2007 data. TNP users can easily cus-tomize a topographic map and seethe exact location displayed on aGoogle Earth image. Add routes,tracks, marks in TNP and see them

on the Google image. TNP 8.0, Additional

Highlights & New Fea-tures:• Township and Range:TNP 8.0 displays TSRgrids on topographicmaps and aerial photos.

• Overlay "U.S. StreetsModule" on topographicmaps and aerial photos:The ability to overlaystreets and routes ontopos and aerial photoslets the user createupdated maps and photos with currentstreet data.

• Touch Screen Friendly: The mouse

swap button lets you interact with theTNP and map data either using themouse or by moving your finger on atouch screen computer display.

Routes, tracks, marked in TNP and seen on Google image

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News: PRODUCT

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Maptech Terrain Navigator Pro 8.0 enhanced

gnizr, knowledge management in action!

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emergency response opera-tions. The new system isbased on Incident Com-mand System (ICS) andNational Incident Manage-ment System (NIMS) guide-lines.

Avineonics uses intelli-gent business logic toorchestrate collaborativefunctions for training, rolesmanagement, resourcemanagement, planning,mobilization, operationalperiods, check-in, check-out, task assignments, performance ratings andmore.

Columbus developsnew Geographic DataCollection systemUSA: Columbus GeographicSystems Ltd. announced

completion of developmentof an advanced and innova-tive Geographic Data Col-lection System (DCS). TheData Collection System is aGIS product providing anefficient tool to collect loca-tion-based data in the field.The system works on a PDAusing MobileCE and con-nects to a GPS.

James W. SewallCompany releaseswebFRIS 3.6USA: James W. Sewall Com-pany has released a newversion of its flagship prod-uct, webFRIS 3.6. Theupgrade offers increasedfunctionality to the forestindustry's comprehensiveand dynamic web-basedgeospatial solution.

The 3.6 release of webFRISprimarily focuses on per-formance and reportingimprovements.

Replacement of the data-base technology and signif-icant structuring of thedatabase model have led tofaster data retrieval, fasterbatch loading of data,enhanced data export serv-ices, and overall fastertransaction speed.

Azteca Systemsreleases CityworksMetrics APIUSA: Azteca Systems, Inc.announced the release ofthe Cityworks Metrics Web

Service API. This new exten-sion toolkit provides devel-opers a supported web serv-ice to interface externaldata collection systems forthe purpose of generatingwork orders on equipmentand facilities.

The Cityworks MetricsWeb Service API supportswork order creation basedon “metrics” or equipmentmeasurements and read-ings such as mileage, hoursof operation, temperature,and gallons.

The XML-based service,which supports requestsgenerated in both .Net andJava environments, utilizesa business logic that ana-lyzes data values for rou-tine, threshold, or emer-gency work activities.

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USA: Eye-Sys, application created torevolutionize data-driven, real-timevisualization, has been launched byInteractive Data Visualization, Inc.(IDV). The software developed andpartially funded through engage-

ments with the US Dept of Defense,various research organizations andleading defence contractors, offersunprecedented versatility and anintuitive user interface to meet thedemands of visualizing complex and

dynamic data of all types. Everythingfrom text files and 3D models to data-bases and streaming data can bebrought into Eye-Sys, manipulated,and then viewed together interactive-ly in real-time.

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Eye-Sys visualization software released

Eye-Sys GIS objects to visualize a fictitious nuclear war Fully-navigable, data-rich representation of 2004 presidential election data.

AMI and GIS generatesavings for UnitilUSA: Advanced meteringinfrastructure (AMI) tech-nology, combined with ESRIGIS software, has signifi-cantly cut operating costsfor meter reading at Unitil'sdistribution operating sub-sidiaries in Massachusettsand New Hampshire. ESRI'sArcGIS has given the utilitygreater insight about thebehaviour of its customers,the integrity of its system,and the direction it shouldtake for improved perform-ance.

Unitil's AMI incorporatesArcGIS to process data cap-tured from a bidirectionaladvanced metering systemas well as data accessedfrom the customer informa-tion system (CIS). Based onthe first year's success, Uni-til anticipates a paybackwithin five years in laboursavings and process effi-ciencies.

ESRI (UK) to acquireTadpole TechnologyPlc's GeospatialSolutions DivisionUK: ESRI (UK) has enteredinto an asset purchaseagreement to buy theGeospatial Solutions Divi-sion (GSD) of Tadpole Tech-nology Plc for half a millionpounds.

The agreed purchase fur-ther strengthens ESRI (UK)'sposition as GIS marketleader in the UK, whileadding considerable indus-

try expertise to its portfolio.ESRI (UK) will gain experienced group of GISsoftware consultants in theUK with particular expert-ise in field-based GIS delivery for government,utilities and national map-ping agencies.

ESRI and Maltaforges strategicallianceUSA: ESRI has signed a ver-tical strategic alliance (VSA)agreement with the gov-ernment of Malta. Signedby the Minister for Invest-ment, Industry, and Infor-

mation Technology (MIIIT),the agreement states thatESRI and its Maltese distrib-utor, GeoSYS Ltd., will facili-tate the use of GIS technolo-gy throughout various sec-tors of the government andprivate industry. MIIIT is acabinet-level ministry in

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News: ESRI

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ESRI Middle East and North Africa User Conference 2007

ESRI Middle East and North Africa UserConference 2007, held on October 29 - 31, atBarr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, Muscat Sul-tanate of Oman, was hosted by Khatib &Alami and Partners and ESRI Muscat,under the patronage of H.E. AhmedAbdulnabi Macki, Minister of NationalEconomy, Deputy Chairman of FinancialAffairs and Energy Council, Sultanate ofOman. Officially opened by H.E. AhmedAbdulnabi Macki on October 29, JackDangermond President of ESRI Inc,presented a overview of the variousGIS activities being conducted byusers in the region as well as what isbeing planned for in upcomingreleases of the ESRI software. Practi-cal demonstrations of the latestimprovements to the ESRI softwarefollowed Prominent persons fromaround the region were also invitedto present keynote talks, includingH.E. Sheikh Nawaf Bin Ebrahim AlKhalifa, Assistant Under Secretary forAdministrative and Financial Affairs, Min-istry of Electricity and Water in Bahrain;H.E. Sheikh Ahmad Alabdallah AhmadJaber Al Sobah, President of Kuwait GISUser Group in Kuwait; Dr Abdulrahman AlShaikh, Deputy Minister for Town Plan-ning, Ministry of Municipal and RuralAffairs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; DrMounir Yehia, Chairman of Needs, and

advisor to Abu Dhabi Water and ElectricityAuthority; and Dr Sulaiman A. Al Araini,ERP GIS & System Integration ConsultantalEbdaa Technology Corp. Kingdom of Sau-di Arabia.The second and third days of the event sawa series of technical workshops as well asuser case study presentations. Of the 450attendees, Oman was very well represent-ed with 191 participants, UAE with 50, KSA

48, Qatar 35, Lebanon 24, Jordan 21, Bahrain20, USA 18, Kuwait 12, Egypt 11, as well asrepresentatives from Australia, Denmark,Germany, Libya, Singapore, UK and theWest Bank.Fifteen exhibitors including hardware,software, imagery, solution vendors, andseveral government agencies displayedtheir wares and exchanged informationand ideas with the conference delegates.

Participants at ESRI MENA User Conference 2007

the Maltese governmentand plays a key role in thecountry's information andcommunication technology(ICT) strategy.

The GIS implementationis expected to generatewide interest throughoutthe government because ofthe technology's potentialto enhance the country'swell-established e-govern-ment program. ESRI andMIIIT have agreed that soft-ware would be donated tothe GIS labs of the Universi-ty of Malta and the MaltaCollege for Arts, Science,and Technology (MCAST).

AccuratelyPosition ArcGISMaps in AutoCADUSA: With ArcGIS for Auto-CAD, CAD users can definethe coordinate system theyare using within AutoCAD.When they connect to anArcGIS Server map servicein a different coordinatesystem, the map is auto-matically projected on thefly to display in the properAutoCAD location. Thisgreatly increases the use-fulness of the map service,as users can work in theirchosen coordinate systemwithout transforming their

CAD drawings or convert-ing the GIS data.

ESRI (UK) launchesProductivity Suite 1.1and LocatorHub UK: ESRI (UK) hasannounced the launch ofProductivity Suite 1.1 andLocatorHub for UK-basedGIS professionals usingESRI's ArcGIS 9.2.

Productivity Suite 1.1 nowsupports Ordnance Survey's(OS) Integrated TransportNetwork dataset, enablinginterpretation of the datafor route planning withESRI (UK)'s Network Analyst product, withoutthe need for complex coding. It also integrateswith OS' Data ValidationService (FVDS) whichmeans that any Geodata-base is cross-checked andreports produced detailmissing information sothat the database can bevalidated against OS data.

LocatorHub is a gazetteer-ing framework that offers a central resource for acompany to organise and manage all its addressdata.

Using inbuilt businesslogic, LocatorHub cansearch any gazetteer datas-et including OS Address-Point or National Land andProperty Gazetteer (NLPG)information, for example,ensuring results of thesearch are the most up-to-date available withoutduplication.

ESRI Canada andKeigan SystemspartnersCanada: ESRI Canadaannounced their partner-ship with Keigan SystemsInc., developers of CLEER(Catastrophic Level EventEmergency Response). Thepartnership will provide acomplete web-delivereddecision-support systemfor public safety and emer-gency management andpreparedness. CLEER - ESRIVersion uses ablend of digitalmaps, ongoingfield outputand sophisti-cated Intellec-tual Property(IP) to arm firstresponderswith a highlyvisible, real-time, mappingportal fromwhich to manage an entirecatastrophic event.

CLEER - ESRI Version pro-vides a common operatingpicture for emergencyresponse assessmentincluding a clearlymapped forecast of eventprogression and potential-ly impacted critical assetsand addresses to aid inpopulation risk assess-ment.

This subscription-basedsolution enables real-time,web-delivered informa-tion to be accessible to anunlimited authorized userbase.ArcGIS for AutoCAD

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Segmentation toolidentifies customerand prospect types USA: The SegmentationModule integrates withwell-proven ArcGIS Busi-ness Analyst desktop soft-ware, enabling organiza-tions to generate special-ized market segmentationreports by geographic area,such as ZIP Codes and blockgroups.

ArcGIS Business Analystdesktop software provides

the GIS tools necessary forperforming customer pro-filing, trade area analysis,and business applicationssuch as site evaluation andselection. Business Ana-lyst, users can estimateproduct usages and marketpotential, perform competi-tive analyses and discoversecondary markets for theirproducts and services. Seg-mentation Module makesit possible for analysts togenerate reports that is relevant, precise and accu-rate and help plan clear-cut, well-defined market-ing strategies.

Quadrant map showing location of core, developmental, andniche customers as part of a segmentation study.

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 21

REA Group signsEnterpriseAgreement withGoogleAustralia: The REA GroupLtd announced the signingof a new Enterprise Agree-ment with Google. Underthe new agreement the REAGroup will begin usingGoogle Maps in all its web-sites around the world. REAGroup expects that this willprovide a significant boostto REA Group's websites inBelgium, France, Germany,Italy, Hong Kong, Luxem-bourg and the United King-dom. The agreement alsorenews REA Group's licenseto use Google Maps in Aus-tralia and New Zealand.

The REA Group operatesnetwork of real estate web-sites in the world, 16 sites in10 countries that attract 7.8

million unique visitors permonth. The company usesGoogle Maps on its proper-ty details pages to showhome hunters where prop-erties are located.

Access Google Mapsat gas stations USA: Google has teamed upwith gas pump makerGilbarco Veeder-Root tomake high-tech pumpswhich will integrate aGoogle-powered touch dis-

play. The device will use aninternet connection to

uplink with Google Mapsand will display local land-marks, hotels, restaurantsand hospitals which can beselected by the gas station'sowner. Gilbarco Veeder-Root announced it will ini-tially offer the service inabout 3,500 gas pumps andexpand based on retailerdemand. The innovativeservice will not includeadvertising. Station ownerswill gain money throughpartnerships with localbusinesses, which can alsodeliver coupons through

the gas pumps' printingsystem. Eventually, userswill be able to type in a spe-cific address to get point-to-point directions, not justfrom the gas station to afixed list of locations.

AccuWeather.comlaunches Googlemaps mash-up USA: AccuWeather.comannounced the launch ofthe new AccuWeather.comForecast Snapshot. The toolintegrates with GoogleMaps and provides current

1 2 3 4 5 6News: Google

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T22 D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

USA: EarthNC Inc announced the general availability ofthe latest version of EarthNC Plus, Marine Charts forGoogle Earth. EarthNC Plus now includes the full compli-ment of current US NOAA Electronic Navigation Charts(ENC) and most Army Corps of Engineerings Inland Elec-tronic Navigation Charts (IENC) in a native Google Earthformat. EarthNC Plus is available in CD-ROM and directdownload formats for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X.Each EarthNC Plus purchase includes a full chart set (cur-rently over 680 charts) and a 12-month chart update sub-scription.

By combining vector chart data with Google Earth'sdetailed satellite imagery and 3D terrain, EarthNC Plususers are provided 3D view of both the water and the land.EarthNC Plus charts contain up to 185 unique layers perchart, have a built-in declutter mode based on the zoom

settings, and allow users to override default layer visibilitysettings. Each layer is built using a custom marine icon setspecially designed for EarthNC and individual layer ele-ments (such as lights or buoys) have 1-click access to addi-tional information. Besides the inclusion of official naviga-tion chart data, EarthNC also provides growing set of val-ue-added nautical information including marine forecasts,tides, weather, marinas, ramps, towing, and user-generat-ed point-of-interest layers.

EarthNC releases latest Nautical Charts for Google Earth

Marinas, Ramps, Towing Services etc. with the EarthNC Online Marine Services map.

Google Services at Gas Stations

conditions, 3-day forecasts,weather news headlines,and radar or satelliteimages for every locationon Earth. The AccuWeath-er.com Forecast Snapshot isunique because it combinesthe most popular weatherinformation in one easyinterface.

EarthwareLaunches "VirtualNeighbourhoods"in Google Earth UK: Earthware's new prod-uct, 'Virtual Neighbour-hoods' offers, by allowingpotential buyers to interactwith a property and its sur-rounding neighbourhoodusing Google Earth on theirhome PC. It would enableusers to explore a newproperty situated exactlywhere it's to be built fromhome. 'Virtual Neighbour-hoods' uses the most recent

advances in technology,and aerial imagery, toallow property to be visu-alised by potential cus-tomers in the most com-pelling format - 3D. It candemonstrate the key bene-fits and features of a prop-erty, and its surroundinglocality, via the internet, orface to face. It is also muchmore cost effective thantraditional models, CADand 3D imagery.

Earthware creates 3Dinteractive models of prop-erties and the wider area ofa property development(e.g. trees, roads etc.) andthen place these in theirgeographical context usingGoogle Earth. This allowspotential customers to

access "off plan" informa-tion in a visually com-pelling way. Earthware canthen add information spe-cific to each propertyincluding virtual tours,property details, floorplans, images, price andavailability.

NCI and Googlepartners todevelop newertechnologiesUSA: NCI, Inc., announcedthat it has been awardedtwo technology demonstra-tion task orders from theUnited States StrategicCommand (USSTRATCOM)to develop cutting-edgesearch and geospatial visu-alization capability for key

federal customers. Thecompetitive task orderswere awarded to NCI,together with Google Inc.and Next Tier Concepts, Inc.under the NETCENTS con-tract.Geospatial visualiza-tion is the process of view-ing geospatially taggedinformation on maps orsatellite imagery.

The NCI team will linkweb applications and web-based portals with infor-mation from external data-bases and other enterprisedata sources. These applica-tions will use Google Earthand Google EnterpriseSearch to create an inte-grated, geospatial view ofcritical customer informa-tion.

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USA: The U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency'sreal time scientific airquality information isnow available on GoogleEarth. The informationtool accesses the AIRNowdatabase hourly so thatthe Air Quality Index dis-plays the most current airquality conditions. Publichealth officials, media out-lets and the general publiccan now view timely airquality information, bycity, on Google Earth.

Asthmatics, children,and other sensitive popu-

lations who depend onaccurate pollutant infor-mation to make decisionsabout their activities, canbenefit from using the toolto get information on adaily and hourly basis.

Health care providers canurge sensitive patientsand public to consider theAQI in planning outdooractivities. Media outletscan also show pollutantreadings on Google Earth.

Air Quality information available on Google Earth

Google Mashup of Accuweather.com

3D Virtual World in Google Earth

Pollution Analysis using Google Earth

LGGI announcesTHEOS capability USA: EADS Defence andSecurity, who developedTHEOS Image Ground Sta-tion, established a strategicpartnership with LeicaGeosystems to incorporatecapabilities into the fore-most remote sensing andphotogrammetry suites.Within ERDAS IMAGINEand LPS, THEOS imagesmay be accurately ortho-rectified, implementingexisting tools within both

solutions. The satellite willproduceimagery with two-meter Panchromatic and 15-meter multi-spectral reso-lution.

The THEOS satellite isbased upon the new gen-era-tion of EADS AstriumOptical Earth Observationhigh performance satel-lites, implementingtheAstroSat-500 platform.Fueled for seven years, thissatellite is expected to col-lect images for at least the next five years.

Leica FCMS 2.2releasedSwitzerland: LeicaGeosystems has releasedFCMS 2.2. The Leica Flight& Sensor Control Man-agement System (FCMS)enables an efficient LeicaGeosystems sensor(ADS40, ALS50 or RCD105)survey flights. FCMS alsosupports any other sen-sor, as well as multi-sen-sor payloads of up to foursensors. The new LeicaFCMS release brings sig-

nificant enhancements tousers including vectordata and ground controlpoints as a backdrop, sim-plified views for the pilotand a more flexible, mul-ti-language configura-tion.Leica FCMS Flightand Sensor Control Man-

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Flight Sensor Control Management display

Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging India Pvt. Ltd. Leica Geosystems GeospatialImaging announces the open-ing of Leica GeosystemsGeospatial Imaging India Pri-vate Limited, with its head-quarters in Gurgaon (New Del-hi), India.The following is anexclusive interviewconducted by GISDevelopment withMr. KaushikChakraborty, VicePresident India,Middle East, andAfrica, Leica Geosys-tems GeospatialImaging:

Leica has beendoing business in India

for long through its distribu-tors/partners, what differenncewill it make with the parentcompany’s presence to itsusers in India?

By opening Leica GeosystemsGeospatial Imaging India Pri-

vate Limited, we have not onlyincreased our product offering(Leica Geosystems full portfo-lio of products from authoringto managing, connecting anddelivering geospatial informa-tion), but also brought Leica

Geosystems’professionalservices, appli-cation devel-opment andreal time tech-nical supportin country.

While distributors specialize ina broad array of solutions, ourstaff are Leica Geosystemsexperts, focused entirely onthe full range of our productportfolio. Furthermore, ourstaff in India will also leverage

this expertise to develop cus-tomized solutions catering tothe unique Indian market.

What makes you feeel thisregion has unique needs

in terms of "Geospatial Solu-tion"? Are you referring to theprocesss or the solution?

Today India is amongst thefastest growing regions in theworld. Because of this, Indiahas many challenges in man-aging its infrastructure growthand the rate of change whilstmaintaining social responsibili-ties. There is an increasingawareness of the use ofgeospatial information to drivedecisions within the govern-ment; however we feel thatthere is much more educationand awareness required at thegrass roots level. More localinvolvement will help explainthe real value of integratinggeospatial and location-based

information and intelligenceinto the nation’s existing pub-lic governance and infrastruc-ture management applica-tions.

Because of this, Leica Geosys-tems seeks to increase its localparticipation, recognizing thatIndia’s requirements areunique when compared tothose in North America, Europeand Australia.

What specific strategydoes LGGI India bring to

cater to this market? Do yoouforsee expanding the offeringof LGGI in India?

Yes, Leica Geosystems Indiahas extensive plans to contin-ue to grow as an entity, offer-ing Leica Geosystems full port-folio, and adding to this asnew technologies are intro-duced. Leica Geosystems Indiawill be the only company in

Kaushik ChakrabortyVice President India, Middle East, and Africa, LGGI

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

News: Leica

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agement System makessurvey flights an easiertask for the operator andthe pilot, guiding themthrough all phases of themission.

During flight execution,FCMS displays independ-ent views to the operatorand to the pilot. While thepilot gets displayed viewsoptimized for flight navi-gation, the operator maysimultaneously use an in-flight evaluation view tocontrol flight execution

progress and quality con-trol. For post-flight mis-sion analysis, Leica FCMSstores all data required.This is essential for opti-mal management of aeri-al survey projects, espe-cially for large projectsflown with more thanone aircraft.

LGGI signs agreementwith Infoterra USA: Leica GeosystemsGeospatial Imagingannounced that InfoterraLtd will be the authorizeddistributor of ERDAS IMAG-INE and Leica Photogram-metry Suite (LPS) to cus-tomers in the UK and Ire-land. Infoterra will expandits geospatial portfolio tohandle these solutionseffective November 1, 2007.Infoterra will provide sales,technical support, trainingand services to LeicaGeosystems' ERDAS IMAG-INE and LPS customers inthe UK and Ireland.

LGGI enhancesLeica TITANUSA: Leica TITAN is LeicaGeosystems' data sharingsolution for discovering,viewing and retrievinggeospatial and location-based content in a single,secure environment.

Following enhancementshas been made to the LeicaTITAN :

• Identify Tool: Available inthe Leica TITAN Client, thistool retrieves attribute infor-mation about a particular

vector feature or image layer.

• WMS/WCS Consumption:The Geospatial Instant Mes-senger supports consump-tion of Open GeospatialConsortium (OGC) compli-ant WMS (Web Map Ser-vice) and WCS (Web Cover-age Service).

• ECWP Consumption: TheGeospatial Instant Messen-ger supports consumption

of ECWP image streamingprotocol.

User can load these servic-es into various desktop,Internet and 3D virtualglobe clients, includingGoogle Earth and MicrosoftVirtual Earth.

Complied by: Gaurav Sharmagaurav.sharma@GISdevelopment.net

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 25

Switzerland: Hexagon, theparent company of LeicaGeosystems, acquires alloutstanding shares in fourcompanies; R&A Rost Ver-triebs GmbH, R&A RostProduktions GmbH, both inAustria, Geopro Kft. inHungary, and JunglasGmbH in Germany.

The two Rost companies,headquartered in Vienna,are distributors and serviceproviders for surveyingand construction equip-ment in Austria. Geopro isa distributor for surveyingand construction equip-ment in Hungary based inBudapest. Junglas is a Ger-man distributor for con-struction and machinecontrol equipment locatedin Münster.

Rost and Junglas will befully consolidated as of 1October 2007, and Geoprowill be consolidated as of 1December 2007. All fourcompanies will immedi-ately contribute to Hexa-gon's earnings.

India: Hexagon, in a sepa-rate agreement willacquire all outstandingshares of the Indian com-pany Elcome TechnologiesPvt. Ltd.

Elcome Technologies is adistributor and systemsintegrator of products andsolutions for customers inthe field of positioning,navigation, alignment,measurements and sur-veying using various tech-nologies such as opticaland GPS based equipment,aerial photogrammetry,GIS and mapping, con-struction and miningmachine control, portablecoordinate measuringmachines (CMM), laserscanning, and weathermeteorology.

The company will be fullyconsolidated as of 1 Janu-ary 2008 and will immedi-ately contribute to Hexa-gon's earnings. Completionof the transaction is sub-ject to customary regulato-ry approval.

4 5 6321

India to sell and support LeicaGeosystems’ product portfolioin its entirety, which includesnot only ERDAS IMAGINE,Leica Photogrammetry Suiteand Leica Virtual Explorer, butalso the technologies andproducts recently acquiredfrom Acquis, ER Mapper andIONIC and those combiningtechnologies implementingService Oriented Architectures(SOA) to manage, connect andserve geospatial informationand intelligence.

Do you foresee thatLGGI India may look at

establishing its R&D set up inIndia in addition to salle of itssoftwar?

Yes, Leica Geosystems India isin the process of setting up asoftware engineering groupto develop core technologiesfor global consumption, aswell as to build customizedgeospatial solutions in theirIndia offices to meet theneeds of the rapidly expand-ing market in India.

Hexagon expands its operationsin Europe and India

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Google, OpenHandset Allianceunveil AndroidGoogle announced thelaunch of its mobile phoneplatform "Android" backedby an "Open HandsetAlliance" gathering mobilephone operators (Telefóni-ca, TIM, NTT DoCoMo,KDDI, China Mobile,Sprint), semiconductorcompanies (Intel, TexasInstruments, Qualcomm,SiRF), and handset manu-facturers (Samsung,Motorola, LG, HTC) amongothers.

A total of thirty-four com-panies have formed thisOpen Handset Alliance,which "aims to developtechnologies that will sig-nificantly lower the cost ofdeveloping and distribut-ing mobile devices andservices" said Google. TheAndroid platform is a fullyintegrated mobile "soft-ware stack" that consists of

an operating system, mid-dleware, user-friendlyinterface and applications.Consumers should expectthe first phones based onAndroid to be available inthe second half of 2008.

New GPS satelliteoperational The fourth in a series ofeight modernized GPSsatellites that will delivernew capabilities to militaryand civilian users has beendeclared fully operational.Launched from CapeCanaveral, the satellite wasgiven the all clear after anon-orbit checkout by a com-bined U.S. Air Force/Lock-heed Martin team. Thesatellite joins three IIR-Msatellites and 12 other oper-ational Block IIR satellites

within the current 28-spacecraft constellation.Part of GPS Block IIR, thenew GPS IIR-17M satellitefeatures a modernizedantenna panel that pro-vides increased signal pow-er to receivers on theground, two new militarysignals for improved accu-racy, enhanced encryptionand anti-jamming capabili-ties for the military, and asecond civil signal that willprovide users with an openaccess signal on a differentfrequency.

Garmin ExtendsAgreement withNAVTEQGarmin Ltd. announcedthat its subsidiaries,Garmin International Incand Garmin Corporation,have signed a six-yearextension to their agree-ment with NAVTEQ. Theagreement allows Garminto continue using NAVTEQdata through 2015, with anoption to renew for anadditional four-year period.In addition, the partieshave agreed to pursue

Navigation

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07G I S D E V E L O P M E N T26

An unmanned rocket carryingthree Glonass navigation satellites took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.The Proton booster rocketblasted off at 11:35 a.m.Moscow time and enteredlow-Earth orbit eight minuteslater, a Space Forcesspokesman said, Interfaxreported. Kazakhstan sus-pended Proton launch in Sep-tember after a similar boosterfilled with highly toxic heptylfuel plunged into open coun-tryside near the industrial cityof Zhezkazgan a few minutesafter takeoff.

A total of 9.88 billion rubles($380 million) was allocatedfor Glonass from the federalbudget in 2007, and 4.7 billionrubles ($181 million) in 2006,RIA-Novosti reported. A totalof 24 satellites are to be inorbit to provide global cover-age by the end of 2009, theFederal Space Agency says.

3 Glonass NavigationSatellites Launched From

Baikonur Pad

expanded points of cooper-ation that will result inimproved mapping qualityand coverage worldwide,and will drive furtherdevice innovation into thefuture. The parties did notdisclose specific details ofthe agreement. In light ofthese developments it doesnot intend to pursue itsoffer for Tele Atlas N.V.

GPS ChipsetMarket to Top$1.3B by 2011Market research firmResearch and Markets, USforecasts GPS chipset ship-ments to grow from 110 mil-lion last year to 725 millionin 2011. In terms of revenue,that will mean growthfrom $520 million in 2006to more than $1.3 billion in2011. The extremely highvolumes will offset veryrapid price erosion.

It forecasts that the GPSchipset market will be driv-en in this time frame byintegration into mobiledevices, including PNDs,cellular handsets, mobilePCs, and a variety ofportable consumer elec-tronics devices. The mostpromising portable CE cate-

gories include ultra-mobiledevices, handheld games,portable media players, anddigital cameras.

Volume uptake of cellularhandsets will drive the sig-nificant majority of thisgrowth. On the cellularhandset side, better chipsetarchitecture, combinedwith greater operator sup-port of location-based serv-ices, will help to drive GPSgrowth in this market.

Xora announcesXroutesXora has announced theavailability of Xroutes, aroute optimization solutionfor transportation compa-nies and businesses withmobile service organiza-tions. Xroutes is a web-based application thattakes many stops, acrossmultiple depots, and quick-ly calculates optimal routesbased on variables such asthe number of vehicles acompany operates and spe-cific arrival time windows.

Each optimized route isthen dispatched to a driveror service technician'smobile phone running XoraGPS TimeTrack. The systemuses GPS information andjob data collected wireless-ly from the mobile phonesto provide dispatchers andmanagers with locationand job status information,giving them a real-timeview of field-based activityand route performancethroughout the day.

S5 WirelessSuccessfully TestsLBS NetworkWireless location andtelemetry provider S5 Wire-less, US announced the suc-cessful testing of its LBSnetwork in Salt Lake City,Utah. All elements of its S5system infrastructure wereinvolved in the test, includ-ing low-power transmit-ting tags, a scalable net-work of real-time base sta-tions, location and teleme-try servers, and networkoperations centers. Net-work test results confirmedlocation accuracy similar toGPS-enabled handsets foremergency 911 (E911) emer-gency location, while also

providing the ability toaccurately locate people orobjects indoors. Locationaccuracy was observed tobe better than 9 metersindoors and 14 meters out-doors for the majority oftest locations.

"The early success of ourtest network is a significantmilestone toward bringingthis ground-breaking loca-tion and telemetry technol-ogy to the mass market.Our wide-area S5 solutionaddresses a significantmarket opportunity cur-rently unfulfilled by exist-ing location and telemetryofferings," said DavidCarter, S5 Wireless presi-dent and CEO.

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07 27G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

According to ABI Researchthe consumer navigation mar-ket has seen unprecedentedlevels of activity and growth in2007, mainly driven by person-al navigation devices whichoffer a compelling mix of easeof use, features, portability, andaffordability. As an establishedmass market CE category,PND markets will continue togrow strongly to reach a globalsales volume of more than100 million units by 2011.

Dedicated PNDs will remainthe preferred form factor foruse in the car but will be com-plemented by handset-basedsystems for pedestrian naviga-tion and new use cases suchas outdoors. New form factorssuch as portable media play-ers, ultra mobile PCs, Internettablets and mobile Internetdevices will also appear.Europe is currently the leading

navigation market, but stronggrowth is expected in develop-ing countries such as Chinaand India. By 2012 more navigation systems will ship inAsia-Pacific than in any otherregion. The high levels of competition and price pressurewill result in continued consoli-dation and vertical integration,as evidenced by the acquisi-tion of the two main digitalmap providers, NAVTEQ andTele Atlas.

Personal Navigation Devices WillSurpass 100 Million Units by 2011

Similar to a nervoussystem, enterprisetechnology is usedto gather information frommany sources and process it fordecision making.

For example, a user can work with anorganization's enterprise technology togather information from an enterpriseresource planning (ERP) system, anaccounting system, Web services, cus-tomer service systems, a geographicinformation system (GIS), and othersystems and then process it for author-ing reports, creating predictive models,generating intelligent maps, and soforth. Management can use these out-puts for evaluation, strategizing, andpolicy making efforts. Furthermore,enterprise technology can be accessed

by many people within the organiza-tion for a wide variety of purposes. Thesystem allows users to share this infor-mation, often by distributing it on theWeb, so that other people can benefitfrom the data, outputs, or even the sys-tem's work process applications.

Because of the advancement of Inter-net technologies and the global dataexplosion phenomena, a variety ofenterprise technology configurationshave come to the forefront for organi-zational planning and work processes.Enterprise technology has become afast-growing industry, and with itsburgeoning adoption, the term enter-prise technology is a bit fuzzy. Differ-entiations may include key core tech-nologies, infrastructure, configura-tions, depth of system integrations,level of workflow integration, andeven shareholder types.

Many organizations, such as utilities,local governments, and cadastral agen-

cies, find that ageocentricenterprise tech-nologyapproach is agood fit. Thismeans that theyrely on GIS toachieve theirbusiness objec-tives and haveplaced GIS as acore componentwithin theirenterprise tech-nology system.

They may use these GIS technologiesto perform tasks such as facilities andasset management, land records man-agement, market analysis, businesssite location assessment, and fleetrouting. Geocentric enterprise systemsare generally found in multidepart-ment organizations and integratedwith other enterprise systems.

INDIAN COMMUNICATIONGROUP'S GEOCENTRICENTERPRISEIndia's Reliance Communications Lim-ited (RCOM) employs GIS-based geo-centric enterprise technology forachieving its business goals. RCOM isjust one of the businesses within theReliance Group, a diversified companythat applies GIS throughout its opera-tions including telecommunications,energy services, oil and gas explo-ration, entertainment, health care, andinsurance businesses. The enterprise-wide GIS provides the Reliance Groupwith open data access, which hasincreased staff productivity and drivesthe company's competitive advantagein its various markets.

RCOM is India's foremost telecommu-nications service provider, rankingamong the top 10 Asian telecom com-panies by number of customers. In2001, ESRI and Telcordia Technologiesworked with RCOM to define andimplement an enterprise GIS to man-age its telecommunications networkinfrastructure and associated land basefor its countrywide service area. GISenables RCOM employees to produce

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T28 D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Regional Perspective

Geocentric Enterprise TechnologyGeography in the Hands of Many

Enterprise GIS is interoperable with many types of devices. GISserver technologies are central for creating shared environmentsthat offer easy access to data/GIS capabilities to many users.

and maintain a comprehensive geo-database containing informationabout network facilities, buildings,boundaries, and roads as well as cus-tomer locations and sales and market-ing data. All data is stored in a seam-less geodatabase using ArcGIS Servertechnology and Oracle. The resultingdata is then made available to variousdepartments via the corporateintranet. Enterprise technology isoften essential to achieving the organi-zation's goals and frequently delivers ahigh return on investment (ROI).RCOM's GIS enterprise technology doesjust that. The company's managersclaim GIS has improved productivityand overall efficiency through stream-lined work processes and a wide arrayof GIS-based applications. The systemeliminates the need for multiple appli-cations and data formats and providesan open, easy-to-use platform foremployees to use in their work rou-tines.

Today, RCOM's network planning andengineering, construction, operationsand maintenance, business, and cus-tomer care groups all use the compa-

ny's enterprise GIS technology exten-sively. Fiber engineering uses the Tel-cordia Network Engineer product forfiber network design, engineering, andconstruction activities. The operationsdepartment uses ArcGIS products tolocate fiber cable cuts and to dispatchrepair crews. Customer care usesArcGIS Server to access data and deliv-er maps and reports during the serviceactivation/provision process. As itsnetwork grows, the company will offerlocation-based services and otherenhanced services to its customers.Using ArcGIS Server, the company hasalso implemented Automated NetworkPlanner, which is an application thatsupports a large number of networksupport activities via the Web.

Geospatially enabled enterprise tech-nology enhances enterprise systemswith geospatial capabilities for tasksinvolved with, for example, work man-agement, business intelligence, andsupply chain management. Here GIS isan information technology infrastruc-ture infusing geographic intelligence(maps, analysis, and data) into otherapplications. This requires a standards-based GIS with a high level of interop-erability.

KOREANUTILITY'SINTEROPER-ABLE ENTER-PRISE GISAn example of anorganization thatemploys a geospa-tially enabledenterpriseapproach is KoreaElectric PowerCorporation (KEP-CO). The SouthKorea power

provider implemented a professionallydesigned transmission geographicinformation system (TGIS) to manageits transmission-related facilities. Thissystem includes a spatial database andrelated applications that are integratedinto all the company's electrical trans-mission data including maintenancehistory and available resources. Thesystem has led to greater efficiencyand cost savings for the company.

TGIS, built on ArcGIS, is composed offive primary applications for manage-ment of basemaps and overhead/underground transmission facilities,system management, and online facili-ty data search. The spatial databasecontains all electrical transmissioninfrastructure and facilities informa-tion including implementation andmodification history and connectioninformation. The system also main-tains details regarding the availabilityof nearby resources for maintenanceand repair projects. TGIS has facilitatedthe integration of all of KEPCO's trans-mission-related data.

The company's managers are usingTGIS to make much better day-to-dayand long-term decisions. For example,they use the system to determine

29G I S D E V E L O P M E N TD E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Online transmission GIS helps KEPCO electrical engineers reviewand analyze operations with information about assets, mainte-nance history, and inventory.

"Reliance Communicationimplementation is anexcellent example ofEnterprise GIS in India.They have integrated GISwith several other IT sys-tems in a very innovativemanner. Several other util-ities in India includingGas, Water/Wastewaterand Power have also suc-cessfully deployed ESRItechnology in an enter-prise system."

Rajesh C MathurESRI India

when an existing facility should bereplaced, what is needed to supply sta-ble electricity to a region, or how manytransmission lines will be required inan electrical supply plan. GIS suppliessystemic data, supports an integrativeframework, provides analytic schemes,and outputs understandable geograph-ic visualizations about operations.

This enterprise technology extendsthe company's capabilities so that oth-ers can leverage the system. Forinstance, the Korea Electric Power DataNetwork, one of KEPCO's subsidiaries,has developed links from TGIS to othersystems for facility planning andmaintenance as well as constructionand operation management. Moreover,the spatial database is available to oth-er government agencies for a nation-wide geographic information-sharingproject.

To branch out through a variety ofbusiness operations, enterprise tech-nology must be scalable for growth,standards based so that it can commu-nicate with a multitude of programs,

and interopera-ble to work withmany types ofdata.

With more than34,000 employ-ees, KEPCO con-tinues to moveGIS into addi-tional hands inits workforce.The companycontinues toexpand its enter-prise technologycapabilities tofurther meetdiverse businessand engineeringneeds now and

in the future. This plan includes moreintegration with management sys-tems, Web-based GIS services, and TGISdata and applications available on theWeb, via ESRI's ArcGIS Server technolo-gy. The result will be an open, scalable,and standards-based GIS architecturethat integrates and leverages existinginformation technology resources. Allstaff members needing transmissiondata will easily be able to find, review,and edit that data from their local com-puters without the need to install addi-tional software. Senior managers at thecompany anticipate that the Web-based GIS will lead to significant costsavings and make KEPCO's workprocesses more efficient and seamless.

ENTERPRISE TRENDSThe next generation of geocentricenterprise technology has arrived withenterprise service-oriented architec-ture (SOA)-based GIS. This is a methodof building business applications byusing common online services to sup-port business functions. SOA provides

data access from the consumer, a datacatalog, or a provider. It allows the userto find, consume, and publish