ticking towards enterprise gis - geospatial world...ticking towards enterprise gis rni...

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

G27497_GIS-Dev_Oct07.indd 1 9/28/07 9:31:37 AM

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

IndiaGIS Development Pvt. Ltd.A-145, Sector - 63, Noida (U.P.), INDIATel: +91-120-4260800 to 808Fax: +91-120-4260823-24Email: [email protected]

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MalaysiaSuite - 22.6, Level - 22Menara Genesis, 33 Jalan Sultan IsmailKuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 50250Tel: +601-72929756 Fax: +603-21447636Email: [email protected]

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 I

tirelessly 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 [email protected]

From Editor’s Desk

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

Reader’s Column

Send in your feedback to [email protected]

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)

[email protected]

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 [email protected]

If you are interested in contributingto the Publications Monthly ezine, you can contact us [email protected]

Any Answers?

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

Sathya, [email protected]

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

Harish K, [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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.


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9D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

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,


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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: [email protected]

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.


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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

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

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


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.


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

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

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.

23G I S D E V E L O P M E N TD E C E M B E R 2 0 07

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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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G I S D E V E L O P M E N T24

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

Q.

Q.

Q.

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 [email protected]

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

Q.

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


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 used

to 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


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 the data.This is the consume/author/servemodel wherein the user accesses datafrom a variety of resources, authors thedocument, then disseminates it into ashared environment. The SOA-basedGIS enterprise environment is initiallymore expensive than traditionalapproaches of desktop and centralizedsystems, but it is, on average, 30 per-cent more cost-effective over time.

Businesses considering a move to theSOA approach are weighing the differ-ences between its challenges and bene-fits. The challenges are high startupcosts, evolving standards, and substan-tial information technology infrastruc-ture demands. The benefits are greaterbusiness involvement in the design ofIT systems and related businessprocesses, improved resource utiliza-tion, consistency, support for progres-sive and flexible policy implementa-tion, and eventual cost savings.

Organizations that have alreadyadopted SOA-based GIS enterprisetechnology reported the following keydrivers for their decisions:

• Increased agility to rapidly forge col-laborative groups and accelerate thedecision cycle

• Integrated disconnected GIS applica-tions and/or integration of GIS withother enterprise applications

• Reduced data redundancy and over-lapping development efforts

• Extended geospatial capabilities tonon-GIS specialists

• Improved ROI on GIS investments

No matter which enterprise technolo-gy approach is adopted, organizationsreap substantial RoI.


Barbara ShieldsESRI, USA

[email protected]

The SOA-based enterprise GIS technology allows users to con-sume data from a variety of sources, author projects and serveoutputs, from reports to maps to applications, on the Internet.

Although many of the organi-

zations are still in the sec-

ond or third stage of imple-

mentation of GIS

i.e., either at the departmental or at theinter departmental stage, there are asignificant number who are enteringinto the fourth stage and some whohave already implemented the EGISand are reaping the benefits of such asystem.There exists an opportunity foralmost every organization to adopt GISat every stage, as it leverages the bene-fits of location (geo) component to allthe facets of an organization. Althoughit looks simple to implement GIS atenterprise level, the real challenge liesin its practical implementation, fromthe level of conceptualization to thelevel of making it work and for thepeople to not only appreciate and max-imise the benefits of the system butalso to see that it is inte-grat-

ed in almost all the day to day processof the organization. It should reach to alevel where the spatial componentgoes into the background and peopleuse the system, without realizing thefact that they are using GIS!

However, the challenges are manyand they start from the time, one startsthinking about implementing EGIS.Following is a list of some of the chal-lenges faced by the organization whileimplementing the EGIS. Although thelist is not exhaustive, it could serve as aguideline for the implementers.

• GIS itself may be the source of many of the problems. Of late, GIS has become so visible and useful, people often underestimate it.Even at the departmental level, people consider the implementation of GIS as a simple task of purchasingthe software and installing it! Samephilosophy goes into the implementa-tion of EGIS. In reality, developing anEGIS is a complex task and shouldinvolve prior and extensive planning,discussing organizational issues, avail-able and required resources not onlyfor implementation but for its sustainedgrowth, development of data model forthe current and future data require-

ments, and technical and man-agement challenges (Achiev-

ing Enterprise GIS byRebecca Somers). Under-estimating the volume oftask associated with the

implementation often leadsto cost over-run, unaccept-ability in the organization,delay in implementation andfinally abandonment of theproject.

• The spatial as well as non-spatial data to be used in the

system, the core of any GIS, isanother challenge being faced byalmost all the organization. Data is

information and information is power.Till now, the data has been in the cus-tody of some individual in some depart-ment. One is very reluctant to share thedata with others, which would other-wise lead to decentralization of dataand would require relinquishing, thesaid person, of his powers! However,this needs to be resolved at the earlystage so that the data could be madeavailable to all the users.

• Challenge about the data is its inter-operability. Even if the data is madeavailable, the data may not be in theone common format. This necessitatesthe need of a system where the datacould be made interoperable and thereis no need for a data format conver-sion. The system should be such that itaccepts data in all the available formatand should have the capability to han-dle the future data requirements. Thiswould also result in the seamlessupdation of the existing data and dataexchange among organizations.

• Time allowed to mature the technolo-gy is another challenge in the imple-mentation of GIS at the enterprise lev-el. Every system take its time to getembedded in the existing system andsame is true with EGIS. When the sys-tem is implemented, everybody startslooking at the results and RoI from dayone. People need time to get used tothe system and as soon as the systemmatures, it becomes redundant. Once ithas become redundant, the technologyis said to have matured and hasreached to the stage4 of the system,when everybody starts using it andaccepts the system to be a part of theirdaily work culture.

Although there are barriers to theimplementation of EGIS in an orgain-sation, careful planning before itsimplementation can actually removemany of the hurdles and there could bebetter EGIS in place.

Dr. Satyaprakash, Associate Editor

Enterprise GIS: Challenges

31G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

Primer

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Geospatial information is

increasingly becoming a part

of the information needs for

the daily operations of an enterprise. The

enterprise could be a business like a

department store, a utility like a power

company or a local government entity

like a municipality or even a government

department like roads and buildings.

In each case the importance of 'where'becomes enhanced as enterprises try tomaximize their profits or effectivenessin an increasingly competitive anddemanding environment. In this milieuGIS plays an important role by ingest-ing, storing, processing and analyzinggeospatial information relevant to theoperation of the enterprise. GIS utiliza-tion began as a standalone operation inthe IT or MIS department of an enter-prise but, as the technology matured itmigrated to the desktop, and now tohand-held devices. GIS operations havethus become more decentralized,democratized and ubiquitous.

This process has major benefits as itputs the information right in the handsof an end user but it also results inproblems like fractured databases, lackof synchronization, data duplication,

loss of data and ultimately loss of effi-ciency and accuracy. Unorganizedgrowth also leads to a proliferation ofsystems with attendant interoperabili-ty and compatibility problems. AnEnterprise GIS is the solution to suchproblems. Such a system is designed toprovide an integrated and interopera-ble environment in which the individ-ual departments and functionaries ofan enterprise can create, access, view,and analyze data and information rele-vant to their tasks. This informationcould encompass spatial as well as non-spatial data sets. Applications couldrange from complex spatial models todelivery of services encompassing gov-ernment, business and citizens.

The first gain from an enterprise GIS isthe reduction in data redundancy andthe standardization of data acquisitionand content. Data needs to be acquiredby the focal agencies as per a prede-fined format agreed upon in advanceby the data using agencies. Such datahas an associated accuracy, integrityand reliability assured by the focalagency. By reducing redundancy indata collection, costs are saved in termsof collection, timely data availabilityand repeated reuse of the collecteddata. Standardization results in betterdata management and enhanced mod-elling capabilities. Standardization alsoensures a higher degree of semanticinteroperability since all users will usestandard terms to describe geospatialfeatures.

Limiting standardized data acquisi-tion to focal agencies also ensures datasecurity particularly where the data isconfidential to an agency or an individ-

ual like financial records and healthrecords. Standardization also freesusers from the bother of data collec-tion. They can concentrate on the ana-lytical tasks and resort to data collec-tion only when such data is not readilyavailable. Such application specificdata can also be shared for use by otheragencies. This scenario has two under-lying implications. Firstly, the availabil-ity of standardized data sets must becatalogued and the catalogue must bemade available across the enterprise.Secondly, data access has to be regulat-ed depending on its level of confiden-tiality. Thus street can be open accessbut property tax records need to havecontrolled access. These features andcontrols are easy to implement in anEnterprise GIS.

Enterprise GIS will also enable inter-operability across applications. Thusapplications like citizen services, roadmaintenance, health care, marketresearch, etc can use geospatial dataseamlessly with other businessprocesses like Enterprise ResourcesPlanning systems, SCADA, e-Gover-nance, etc. To enable this Enterprise GISneeds to be in the core of the organiza-tion with links to all services and appli-cations. Enterprise GIS thus becomessubsumed in the IT infrastructure of anenterprise.

Architecturally, an Enterprise GIS is ahybrid of tightly and loosely coupledsystems. Individual departments canhave tightly coupled systems, softwareand hardware but across departments,field units and public interfaces thecoupling has to be loose to allow inde-pendence to the users to choose their

AN INTRODUCTION TO ENTERPRISE GIS

Architecturally,an EnterpriseGIS is a hybridof tightly andloosely coupledsystems

Primer

”

“

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0732 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

own systems. Such anapproach will also insulateend users from changeswhich may be required to bemade from time to time inindividual departments.Such changes may involvesystem upgrades or work-flow changes and theseshould not necessitate corre-sponding changes in enduser systems. Similarlyusers may upgrade their sys-tems without fear of losingaccess to their data andinformation sources. Thistype of coupling also enableseasy scalability. New depart-ments can be brought on linewithout disturbing the sys-tem for others. Increase inthe number of users can bemanaged through additionalsystems being brought in tothe network. Distributed GISrequired every user tobecome a Jack of All Trades;data collector, GIS operatoras well as applicationsexpert.

The end users of an Enter-prise GIS need to be trainedin the usage of the system,its rules and regulations andfeatures, in order to enablethem to use the system fortheir needs. A plan for estab-lishing an Enterprise GISmust be financially viableand technically sound. Theplan should address fiveaspects:

• definition and design spec-ifications for enterprise GIS;

• description of internal andexternal databases beingmanaged;

• plan for conceptual appli-

cations and database archi-tecture;

• system architecture, includ-ing hardware, software, andapplications; and

• implementation planencompassing tasks, meth-ods, and activities, schedule,funding sources and organi-zational responsibilities.

Most GIS vendors providethe tools necessary to createan Enterprise GIS. However,open source solutions arealso attractive and they pro-vide the opportunity toshare and learn from others'experiences.

The cost of an EnterpriseGIS is not just the cost of thehardware and software. Theinitial planning, data stan-dardization, identification ofcore applications, data acqui-sition, applications develop-ment and final systemsdeployment will involvecosts up front.

The payoff will come fromhigher data usage, ease ofdata access and sharing ofdata and applications overtime.

Hence any commitment tothe deployment of an Enter-prise GIS should be madewith a clear understandingof these issues. Finally, themeasure of success of anEnterprise GIS is how well itperforms its intended serv-ice. This could be in terms ofease of data access, variety ofapplications, number ofusers and uses, reliabilityand stability.


A. R. DasguptaDistinguished Professor BISAG andHonorary Advisor, GIS Development [email protected]

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Enterprise GIS is

evolving day-by-

day to become an

integral part of management systems.

Government agencies with varying

profiles like, Local Municipality,

Airport Authority, Defence and others

have successfully developed and imple-

mented Enterprise GIS solutions, for

improving the efficiency of the work flow,

and ROI (Return on Investment). Below is

a compilation of some of "Enterprise GIS"

related developments in the past one

year.

APPLICATION AND/ORIMPLEMENTATION OFENTERPRISE GIS

Sui Southern Gas Company imple-ments ArcFM solutionSui Southern Gas Company Limited(SSGC), a Pakistan based company,implemented Telvent Miner & Miner'sArcFM Solution for their Karachi, Sindh,and Balochistan region operations inAugust this year. The company choseArcFM, ArcFM Server, ArcFM Viewer,Inspector, and Designer products to addnew functionalities in their existingGIS system and to help manage theirdistribution system.

The focus of the ArcFM Solutionimplementation is to bring significantbusiness value to the organization formanaging workflows and distributedinformation being shared across theorganization, including reduction ofoverall operating costs and improvedcustomer service. With this, SSGC isable to reduce data maintenance over-head and improve data accuracy byintegrating facility design, analysis,

and mapping func-tions into a singleprocess. The compa-ny also runs SCADAsolution, Oracle's ERPE-Business Suite, andCustomer Care and isplanning to inte-grate them with theGIS.

EDB Belgrade intro-

duces AED-SICAD's

ArcFM UT

ElektrodistribucijaBeograd (EDB), the power distribu-tion company of Bel-grade introduced theGIS standard applica-tion for utilitiesArcFM UT by AED-SICAD as their enter-prise GIS in February2007.

The new EDB GIS integrates the three existing independent informa-tion systems all along with technicaldocumentation consisting of maps, surveying data, field sketches, notes,etc. An important part is the AED-SICAD GIS Portal, which allows easy Intranet/ Internet access through-out the company, providing data andservices within a standard Internetbrowser.

SCWD goes Enterprise GISIn August 2007, South Coast Water Dis-trict (SCWD) selected Spatial Wavesuite of GIS products to implement keyEnterprise GIS products in support of itsGIS implementation programme. Thisincluded implementing enterprise GISsolutions including Mapplet.NET, FieldMapplet, and MapLibrary. The imple-mentation of the Enterprise GIS facili-tates the timely and accurate capture,


In the news

Happeningsin EGIS...

37

documentation, and distribution ofnetwork asset information to the entireworkforce, providing spatially enabledfile management, web portal, markupmanagement, office to field workflowand map production.

RAK e-Government Authority imple-ments Enterprise GISThe Ras Al-Khaimah e-GovernmentAuthority (EGA) and Navayuga Groupconcluded an agreement for the devel-opment and implementation of anEnterprise GIS turnkey solution for theemirate in March 2007. Navayuga isexpected to enable the entire emirateof Ras Al Khaimah.

Note: For details refer to article titled"Building an Enterprise GIS" in thisissue.

Enterprise GIS for Defence bagsUSGIF award The Space and Naval Warfare(SPAWAR) Systems Command C4I Engi-neering Support Team received the2007 United States Geospatial Intelli-gence Foundation's (USGIF) IntelligenceAchievement Award in the MilitaryCategory in October 2007. The awardhas been presented for its support ofNorth American Aerospace DefenceCommand (NORAD) and United StatesNorthern Command's (USNORTHCOM)Situational Awareness GeospatialEnterprise (SAGE).

SAGE programme was developed tocreate a User-Defined Operational Pic-ture (UDOP). Its goal is to geospatiallyenable the knowledge workers withinthe command by instituting an enter-prise GIS capability that everyone canuse. SAGE delivers a two-dimensionalclient that is available via a Web inter-face and a three-dimensional clientbased on ArcGIS Explorer. This projectwill lay the foundation for the U.S.

Department of Defense's (DoD) unclas-sified common operational picture.

Stormwater Management usingEnterprise GISGeoAnalytics Inc. has been awardedthe contract by the Metropolitan WaterReclamation District of Greater Chicago(MWRD) to design and implement anenterprise GIS Infrastructure &Stormwater Management System(GISMS) in July 2007.

The system is expected to integratedata and the information flows fromcurrent District systems, District's part-ners, and vendors.

The GIS infrastructure will includeWeb-based tools for data access, report-ing, and user applications. GeoAnalyt-ics will assist the District in developingand implementing enterprise-widegovernance for these new GIS and datamanagement capabilities to supportthe district divisions.

Enterprise GIS for advanced intelli-gence-led policingThe City of Hartford Police Departmentusing ArcGIS software developed anenterprise GIS platform, supportingintelligence-led policing efforts in July2007. Since implementing GIS, thedepartment has achieved lower crimerates in a number of areas.

The City of Hartford applied for theextremely competitive Universal PoliceHiring Grant issued by the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice and clinched the awardby using a "hot spot" map of gun vio-lence to clearly show the need for addi-tional police resources.

Enterprise GIS developed for city ofCape TownThe local government of the city ofCape Town launched EnterpriseResource Planning (ERP) system for the

citizens of Cape Town after the amalga-mation of seven local authorities intothe city of Cape Town in June 2007.

The application is an enterprise GISbased on ESRI's ArcGIS platform whichis offering functionality within a multi-user environment and an effective spa-tial data management platform for itsusers. One of such applications devel-oped by City council is a custom-designed billing system to help stream-line the accounting process.

Then, the city integrated a GIS infra-structure. After this development anumber of other departments such asPlanning and Valuations have alsostarted implementing GIS technology.

Bayantel network operations bene-fits using MapGuide EnterpriseBayan Telecommunications of Philip-pines deployed an Enterprise-wide GIS,using Autodesk's MapGuide Enterprise2008 edition, that has finally paid off asnetwork operations have improveddramatically.

With the completion of Bayantel'sGIS, dubbed Bangis (short for BayanNetwork GIS) in March 2007, it nowtakes network engineers only a fewseconds to retrieve records, said Abelar-do Gaitana, Network Engineer of theengineering and applications-OSP engi-

In terms of return on investment, thisproject is not directlyfelt by the companybut it improved ournetwork operationsin terms of employeeproductivity...

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

”

“

neering of Bayantel's network division,and Head of the Bangis project.

The company worked with a third-party provider to digitize "idle" paper-based records from 2000 to 2006.

ENTERPRISE GIS: PRODUCTREVIEW

Oilelefant: Online GIS system for oiland gasInteractive Net Mapping launched anew system for oil and gas companiesto view their wells, seismic surveys andrelated information online in Novem-ber this year. The service, called Oilele-fant, is aimed at companies which donot want to spend money on a fullycomprehensive GIS.

Companies can connect their docu-ments to the map, for example seismicrecords and well logs, so they can easilybe found. It uses PPDM Lite data modelfor the spatial model component. Theserver runs in Windows Server. It isdelivered on 2 CDs and takes about 2hours to install.

KLG Systel and SAP introduceVidushiIn October 2007, KLG Systel Ltd., knowl-edge-based IT-centric Business LifeCycle Solutions company, in collabora-tion with SAP has developed an enter-prise solution, Vidushi, to suit the spe-cific functional requirements of thePower Sector.

The software is targeted at State Elec-tricity Boards, Private Utilities and oth-er organizations managing power dis-tribution.

Vidushi is developed on SAPNetweaver and is designed to comple-ment the functionalities of SAP IS-Utilities (Industry Solutions for Utili-ties) to meet the specific needs of the electricity distribution utilities. It is


ERP-GIS integration: SOrganisations have been storing and makingtheir various data sets available to theiremployees and outsiders (although restrict-ed) through ERP for long. Although the datahas spatial components also associated butthey were seldom utilized with the availableERP data. With the possibility of integrationof the ERP data with GIS, and differentsolutions being made available, organiza-tions have started implementing GIS in theirexisting applications. This allows decisionmakers to see and explore patterns andtrends that were previously invisible-and thatis adding to their bottom line. Below aresome of the case studies where companieshave integrated ERP with GIS using SAPand ArcGIS or other similar solutions.

British Waterways, UK

http://www.esri.com/partners/alliances/sap/files/british_waterways.pdf

British Waterways (BW), a public corpora-tion, manages more than 2,000 miles ofcanals and rivers in England, Scotland, andWales, together with all the assets compris-ing those waterways. The integrated systemprovides a uniquely powerful tool for manag-ing and visualizing their asset information.

Integrated system includes: SAP ERP, ESRI's ArcSDE,ArcIMS, ArcGIS, and ArcPad.

Denmark Electricity Company

http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/spring03articles/denmarks-largest.html

NESA serves a population of nearly one mil-lion and has nearly 550,000 customersaround greater Copenhagen, in Denmark'sderegulated electricity market. Implementingthe extensive GIS infrastructure has allowedNESA to expand its customer service, intro-duce streamlined working procedures,improve its earning potential, and securegreater value for its owners.

Integrated system includes: SAP's R/3 Plant Mainte-

nance, Miner and Miner's ArcFM, and ESRI's ArcGIS.

Forestry Innovation Clears Logjam

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&Objec-tID=10121153

Carter Holt Harvey Forests in New Zealandhas 330,000 hectares [out of total 815,430acres] under cultivation, making it the largestowner and manager of plantation forests inNew Zealand. It harvests 5 million tons a

year. The company expects to pay off a $7million supply chain project within two yearsthrough cost savings.

Integrated system includes: SAP financial managementsystem, SAP and Numetrics planning systems, andESRI's GIS.

AlintaGas, Australia

http://www.esri.com/library/fliers/pdfs/aukeystosap2.pdf

The Australian company distributes gas toapproximately 400,000 residential, businessand industrial customers throughout West-ern Australia . The integrated system pro-vides a seamless transition to end users andimproves the overall efficiency of the Alinta-Gas business processes.

Integrated system includes: SAP ERP Plant Mainte-nance module, customized ESRI GIS software calledGas Network Information System consisting of ArcFM

and ArcFM Viewer and ArcSDE.

City of Richmond, California

http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/winter0203articles/city-of-richmond.html

The City of Richmond, California, USA has100,000 residents, 1,200 employees and ashifting economic landscape. City officialswanted to advance business processesacross all city departments and especiallysupport city finance and community devel-opment as well as improve communicationsand services to its citizens.

Integrated system includes: SAP ERP Financial, HumanResources, Payroll and Plant Maintenance along withArcGIS Desktop and ArcIMS.

City of San Diego, California

http://www.esri.com/partners/alliances/sap/files/sdstreets.pdf

The Street Division of the City of San Diego,California, USA, employs more than 350people and maintains 2,863 miles of streetsand 5,000 miles of sidewalk. The integratedsystem improves productivity, increases effi-ciency and improves record managementalong with allowing the city to provide excel-lent customer service to its citizens.

Integrated system includes: SAP ERP and ESRI'sArcGIS Desktop and ArcIMS.

German Waterways and ShippingAdministration (WSV), Germany

http://www.esri.com/partners/alliances/sap/files/gwsa.pdf

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

a combination of hardware, softwareand business processes which enablecustomers to reduce losses, achievebilling accuracy, improve networkoperations, customer services and ener-gy accounting.

ArcFM 9.2 releasedTelvent Miner & Miner announced the availability of the ArcFM solution version 9.2 in May 2007. The ArcFMSolution is an enterprise GIS solutionfor editing, modeling, maintaining, and managing facility information for electric, gas, & water/wastewaterutilities.

Inspector is a new extension to ArcFMViewer for ArcGIS Engine that allowsusers to edit existing feature attributesand manage related objects to supportworkflows for inspections, joint-useattachments, pole surveys, leak detec-tion, damage assessments & overallupdating of attribute data.

Universal Mind team up with ESRIand Adobe to create new enterprisesolutionsUniversal Mind teamed up with ESRIand Adobe to create a new generationof rich Internet applications (RIAs) thatleverage ESRI's enterprise GIS platformand Adobe Flex software to make geo-graphic analysis easy and enterprisewide. The announcement was made inJune 2007.One of such applicationsdeveloped by Universal Mind isLaunchPad which is web applicationframework built using Adobe Flex software and delivered to a standardbrowser. LaunchPad delivers the bene-fits of geographic analysis throughinstantly deployable front-end capabili-ties to business professionals and gov-ernment decision makers both on theWeb and through corporate networks.

Neha Arora, [email protected]


: Some case-studies...The WSV owns the Germany's waterwaysand is responsible for inland and maritimeshipping. An integrated real estate applica-tion was developed to manage its manyproperties previously managed through localand regional offices that deployed a varietyof software systems.

Integrated system includes: SAP ERP Real Estate module, SAP Business Workflow and ESRI's ArcGISDesktop.

Norwegian Consortium Integrates Databases

http://www.esri.com/library/reprints/pdfs/enercur-geo-nis.pdf

GeoNIS is a consortium of three Norwegianelectrical distribution companies that togeth-er serve more than 550,000 customers. Theintegration has greatly improved the capabil-ities and efficiency of their logistics andwork order management.

Integrated system includes: SAP ERP Project Systemmodule, ESRI's ArcGIS Desktop and ArcSDE, CIS and

SCADA.

Brazilian Electric Distribution Company

http://www.img.com.br

AES Sul, is the Electric distribution company in South Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul state) with more than 1,000,000 con-sumers covering an area of almost 100sqkmwith 1,053,952 consumers, 800 employeesand 1600 work force. In order to automatetheir field data collection, physical and financial conciliation and report generationas per the Brazilian regulatory agency, the company introduced ArcFM/ ArcGIS for asset management integrated with SAP R/3 through SAP Netwaever technology. It was implemented usingArcEditor/ ArcFM, ArcPAD and ArcEditor/Designer. After the implementation AES Sulcould achieve,

• Avoidance of paper maps

• Reduction in 75% of the time to cadastremaintainnece

• Could avoid costs on hardware upgrade,need for new crew maintainence etc

• Monitor the field crews and the electricassets

• Transparency in SAP and GIS

• Uniform procedures, besides many others.

Cape Town's Water Services company

(GIS Best Practices: Using GIS and SAP, ESRI Inc)

Cape Town's Water Services proved to bethe ideal utility from which to continue itsGIS integration initiatives. The city of CapeTown also experiences a 3 percent annualgrowth in its population, placing an evengreater strain on the city's limited waterresources. The implementation of SAPenabled the city to establish an effective linkbetween the system's business informationcapabilities and its location-based assetinformation, such as pipes, meters, reser-voirs, treatment plants, and associatedattribute data stored in GIS. By takingadvantage of this link, Cape Town is nowable to extract monthly maintenance costsfor incidents, such as burst pipes and sewerblockages, as well as evaluate water con-sumption patterns based on tariff structures.

City of Phoenix Street TransportationDepartment

(GIS Best Practices: Using GIS and SAP, ESRI Inc)

The City of Phoenix, Arizona has a popula-tion of nearly 1.4 million and a surroundingpopulation base of 3.5 million. The StreetTransportation Department's SAP integra-tion with ArcIMS software makes spatialinformation accessible and useful to usersacross all business areas of the department.This department-wide GIS is a collaborationof project, divisional, enterprise, and publicaccess GIS implementations and is organ-ized into five application areas includingbridge management, street management,traffic signal management, storm drain man-agement, and streetlighting management.These application areas provide a generalbusiness context for accessing spatial datausing the ESRI GIS functions.

The SAP Plant Maintenance implementationfor maintaining the nearly 1,000 traffic signals in Phoenix is operational. Users canimmediately view the location of a signalwork order on a map through SAP. Con-struction and maintenance SAP work orderdata can be accessed through the ESRIGIS. Additionally, functionality has also beenadded to the department's ArcIMS intranetapplication, allowing users to retrieve workorders directly from SAP.

Dr. Satyaprakash, [email protected]

Credits: Websites of respective companies andwww.esri.com

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Dubai Electricity andWater Authority(DEWA) is responsible

for the management and imple-mentation of several serviceinfrastructure projects in Dubai.

In order to enable efficient planning,operations and maintenance of itsservice network, the generated dataneeds to be timely captured in a GISsystem. To achieve this and to meetthe growing demand for accurate &reliable facility information on its Ser-vice infrastructure components i.e.,Electric & Water Network service, HisExcellency Saeed Mohammad Al TayerManaging Director & CEO of DEWAestablished a GIS committee in May2006. The GIS committee initiated apilot project on "Automation of fieldfacilities digital data collection". Theobjective of this project was to estab-lish procedures for the GIS data collec-tion by mapping infrastructure con-struction progress in near orreal time which would facili-tate project supervision of the

Construc-tion

Field

Works. This GIS data collection, compi-lation and capture processes will inte-grate within the scope of Projects &Engineering activity in establishingDEWA Service Network Facilities.

Updation of the data, in near realtime, is achieved using data collectiondevices like DGPS and the collecteddata is transmitted by mobile phonethough GPRS. The site personnel havethe area map displayed on their handheld devices, loaded with GPS Analystand Arc Pad (mobile GPS/GIS softwarefor field mapping applications) ontablet PC. The display of projects shopdrawings for resident site engineers ontablet PC enables them to simultane-ously check the quality of the collecteddata at the site. This replaces the paperdrawings used for mark up of sitemeasurement and recording facilitydeviations in project scope at site.

The deployment of mobile data col-lection devices & procedure at DEWAproject construction sites for collectionand management of field data to an

accuracy of +/- 50cm is a step in GISdata automation. This process isknown as Field Facilities DigitalData Collection (FFDDC). Further,

a separate study is being car-ried out in the develop-

ment of methods andprocedure for adaptingRFID based asset tag-ging for buried cable/pipes during installa-tion in construction

project. Further, a geo-video referencing cam-

era will also be deployedto record cable configura-

tion before the back filling of the cabletrench. This image will be associatedwith the route facility feature of theDEWA-GIS. The GIS data automationthrough FFDDC benefits DEWA by,

• Making availability of near real-timeDEWA Service Network facilities "AsLaid" information in GIS

• Reducing paper work at project siteswhich is an initiative towards paper lesswork environment

• Timely quality GIS data collection atsource point, which is critical to buildaccurate and reliable information onDEWA assets

• Expedites construction activity byscheduling, monitoring, tracking andfollow-up operations and

• Lowers dependency on the "As Built"waiting period and quickens GISupdates supporting planning activity fornew DEWA projects.

Building this improved/ enhancedmodel of its infrastructure facility inGIS will facilitate accurate and reliablefacility information through GIS whichin turn will enable the engineers tobetter understand, analyze and man-age resources and facilities in a fast-paced development environment. Inaddition, DEWA-GIS has embarked onidentifying the gaps in all the compo-nents and updating the GIS system(facility information systems) in orderto become reliable and accurate by hir-ing a GIS Consultancy Service. This is aclear indication that GIS is a criticalcomponent for strategic planning forDEWA projects and also for the con-struction, maintenance and operationsof DEWA facility infrastructure.

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Eng. Amina Ali Hashem

B. Pradeep Kumar, [email protected] Electricity & Water Authority - Drawing and Permits Department, Dubai, UAE

EGIS for better work managementAutomation

Over the lastyears Pidpa hasevolved from

being a company with a lot of in-house developers and propri-etary mainframe-based informa-tion systems, to a companywhere the IT strategy now com-prises a standard softwareapproach. The central IT-guide-line can be summarized in onesentence as 'buy what you canfind, and build yourself what youcan't find'.

This approach is mainly based on thetypical ERP business model, stressingthe availability of rich generic software

that fits the needs of many companies.It limits the amount of programmingrequired and shifts the effort to cus-tomizing the application to the compa-ny needs. In the long term this alsoensures us of continuous developmentand improvements in the base-productdue to a large user-base. The choice toimplement SAP company-wide is indis-putably a corner stone of the corporateIT strategy.

Also the GIS implementation is a goodexample of this approach. Using theArcGIS family of products from ESRI asa solid basis, complimented with theArcFM solution from Miner & Miner,we have a powerful GIS software base.This choice allowed us to build a firmstable database-centric gis-environ-ment for water distribution andsewage network management.

GIS VISIONThe GIS implementation started out inthe technical/engineering depart-ments, but by linking GIS to severalother enterprise information systems, alot of other users discovered the advan-tages of a geographic view. A strategythat results in a continuous growth andfurther integration of GIS in all kinds ofbusiness processes, making theretrieval of data easier and presenta-tion clearer for a lot of users.

We work with one master GIS-data-base that contains all geographic infor-mation. By storing identifiers as attrib-utes in GIS-objects, that match withobjects in other information systems,there's a connection possible between

GIS and other information systems.Through a number of interfaces GISdata and business data can easily becombined. The ICT department main-tains the master GIS database, data-model and the GIS-applications, but thegeographic data itself is maintained bya group of over 20 editors.

All departments within the organiza-tion have access to GIS-view applica-tions connecting to this database, andseveral departments also use tools likeArcView to create their own ad-hocmaps or display their data in a geographical view for analysis andreporting.

GIS ARCHITECTUREPidpa has implemented quite an exten-sive GIS architecture over the last yearsin 5 phases.

PHASE 1: GIS EDIT ENVIRONMENT

The initial GIS project had as a goal tocreate a solid central geographical mas-ter database, based on a rich water distribution network data model, and implement a powerful set of toolsto maintain all this geographic data.Old paper maps were scanned andgradually converted to one vectorisedseamless map, and a lot of attributeswere added.

Moving from a paper-based environ-ment to a software based environmentwas a big change and a lot of workprocesses had to be re-defined. But hav-ing everyone use one master geograph-ic dataset, had huge advantages andminimized errors.


SAP - GIS Integration

Looking at SAP through t

Pidpa is a progressive Europeancompany that produces and distrib-utes high quality drinking watertthroughout the Antwerp provincein Belgium (Flanders). The missionof Pidpa is to distribute drinkinggwater to its customers at a continu-ous and affordable rate. To accom-plish this, the company maiintains anetwork of more than 12,000 km ofwater distribution mains in cities aswell as rural areass. In 2006 Pidpaexpanded its activities to maintain-ing sewage networks. In less than 2years, 16 mmunicipalities decided tocontract out their maintenance andsewage network developmentworks to Pidppa.

PIDPA - An overview

43

PHASE 2: GIS VIEW ENVIRONMENT -GEOLINK

Shortly after the database and the edit-environment were operational, abrowser based GIS view solution, calledGeoLink, was created. An ESRI ArcIMSbased solution, allowing everyonewithin the company to easily view GISdata of the water distribution network.GeoLink also contains a number ofinterfaces to SAP, SCADA, Humming-bird document management, scannedarchives, making all kinds of businessdata that can be linked to a location,accessible from GIS in just a mouse-click. Geolink allows everyone withinthe company to quickly access datafrom different information systems byusing a location in a geographical viewas a starting point.

PHASE 3: GEOLINK ONLINE

A lot of external parties like contrac-tors, fire departments, municipalities,…regularly requested maps from Pidpawith information on the exact locationof the water mains. Handling theserequests was a manual, costly andtime-consuming process that led to thecreation of a GeoLink Online website.This website now allows external par-ties to access a subset of the geographi-cal data of our water distribution net-work, in a very intuitive and userfriendly browser application over theinternet. A development that saved us 1FTE, and provides immediate and up-to-date information to other parties24/7 without any manual action fromPidpa.

PHASE 4: INFONET AND GEOLINK

HIDRONET

With the new sewage business, a dif-ferent kind of geographical networkdata needed to be maintained and newfunctionalities were necessary. Our GISplatform offered a lot of possibilities todo so, but the total solution wasenriched by also implementingWallingford Infonet as a specificsewage toolset. The sewage data is notcreated by editors in the master GISdatabase, but mainly delivered to Pidpaby external parties. Infonet is used tocheck, analyse and update this data in aseparate sewage database. The data isthen exported regularly to the MasterGIS database, so that it can be madeavailable internally as well as external-ly via a GeoLink Hidronet site. Thisphase is still going on and will continueto evolve rapidly along with theexpanding sewage actvities.

PHASE 5:GEOLINK

MOBILE

Over 70 field-crews are work-ing throughoutour distributionarea, and alsohave a need foraccurate anddetailed dataabout the waterdistribution orsewage net-work, as well asinformation on

SAP work orders. Up to today, the fieldcrews still mainly use paper maps andwork orders on paper. A work processthat can be optimized by installing alaptop in every field-crew vehicle, withaccess to up-to-date GIS data and SAPwork order data. A roll-out of laptopswith a raster version of local maps hasbeen started and will continue till early2008. In spring 2008 a fully functionalmobile GIS application that can worklocally as well as via online GPRS con-nection, will be implemented. In a nextphase also SAP work orders will be nolonger distributed on paper, butretrieved via laptop and mobile connec-tion, limiting the administrative over-head drastically.

A CLOSER LOOK ONGEOLINK : LINKING GIS WITH OTHER KEY ITSYSTEMS

GeoLink is a flexible GIS viewerframework, based on ESRI ArcIMS tech-nology. The Geolink sites provide easyaccess to geographic information toanyone within the company, or toexternal parties over the internet. Thestandard and powerful gis-functionali-ties have been used out-of-the-box

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

Fig. 1 Pidpa GIS vision

h the Geo-window

where possible, limiting the amount ofadditional development in javascript orASP code. Pidpa is very much aware ofthe fact that a lot of data used through-out the company can be referenced to ageographic location like a street, con-nection point, infrastructure, watermain. etc. Imagine how much GIS canhelp to immediately pinpoint an exactlocation while creating a new SAPmaintenance order or quickly deter-mine the location of a problem in thenetwork (e.g. a ruptured main), andsubsequently create a list of the cus-tomers that will be affected. Merelytwo examples of a wide range of logicalassociations in information that users

make in their everyday work. WithGeoLink, we can disclose GIS function-ality to technical as well as non-techni-cal departments and link geographicinformation to corresponding informa-tion within many other company infor-mation systems like SAP, SCADA orscanned archives.

The GeoLink framework has a numberof benefits :

• The application runs in a standard webbrowser and is very intuitive, limiting theneed for extensive training. Internalusers just had a 2-hour demo of thepossibilities and there were very fewusage problems.

• Several GeoLink sites have been cre-ated on the same base, each displayingother Geographic datasets. The firstone that was created was GeoLink Dis-tribution, showing all water distributionnetwork data. But the same basic struc-ture is also used for a GeoLink site dis-playing sewage data and a GeoLinkOnline site showing a subset of theinternal geographic data for externalparties.

• It is based on ArcIMS server technolo-gy and server licensing. This does notonly limits licensing costs, but also addsflexibility for a large user base of over100 internal viewers and more than400 registered external users

• There was an optimization of work

processes. All geographic information isimmediately accessible on every work-station, and interfaces to other informa-tion systems like SAP could be easilyadded, maximizing the use of the appli-cation as entry point to all kinds of loca-tion linked data.

THE ROAD AHEADWe have accomplished a lot of our goalsin setting up a powerful gis-edit envi-ronment, and a flexible and performantview environment linked to other com-pany information systems. But there isstill some work to be done to really inte-grate the field crews work processeswith the workflow currently present inthe office.

Another focus-point will be imple-menting more geo reporting and analy-sis functionalities, supporting manage-ment in their decision making process.Important factor in this is even furtherintegration, respecting every informa-tion systems qualities and specificfunctionalities, but making this mas-sive amount of information quickly andunambiguously available.


”

“Imagine how muchGIS can help to imme-diately pinpoint anexact location whilecreating a new SAPmaintenance order

Fig. 2 Pidpa GIS architecture Fig. 3 Linking GIS to other information systems

Bart Reynaert ICT Consultant, Pidpa , Belgium

[email protected]

Arriyadh Development

Authority (ADA) is a

Saudi government

Agency responsible for planning and

development in urban, transportation,

environment, utilities, cultural, econom-

ic, and architectural aspects and to con-

struct major city projects.

ADA has built an enterprise GIS systemthat includes advanced spatiallyenabled database management, highlycontrolled process automation andinnovative geo-statistical analysis. Inorder to achieve a significant advance-ment in GIS utilization and to serve theneeds of Arriyadh City planners withinADA, and other agencies in the city,ADA continues to seek innovative andeffective means of applying geo-spatialtechnology to improve operational andplanning capabilities.

GIS AWARENESS IN ADAADA started using GIS technology inearly mid 80's in planning, land man-agement, utility and thematic map pro-duction. With the major advances inthe GIS technology and increasedawareness of its different uses ADA

launched its enterprise GIS projectseeking a wider and deeper usage ofGIS between its planners, in their dif-ferent planning units. It was also aimedat solving existing problems caused byde-centralizations of data, enormousamount of data stored in separateislands (which cause redundancy), dif-ferent formats, missed relationsbetween different data, ownership, andprivileges, beside information retrievalcomplexity, effort duplication andsophisticated integration.

PLANNING FOR ADAENTERPRISE GIS SYSTEMADA realized that proper planning ofthe new enterprise GIS will be a majorpart of the project success. Based on itspast experience in using GIS and visitsto successful cities in implementingGIS for similar city planning issues,ADA formed a team consisting of man-agers of urban planning, transporta-tion, housing, utilities, environment,research and strategic planning unitslead by the information managementmanager. The team studied and report-ed multiple aspects as:

• Definition of high level requirementsfor each unit

• Relation between different dataowned by different units, roles of datausage and updates

• Assure understanding, involvement,loyalty to the new enterprise GIS sys-tem by all its users

• Project definition (mission, objectives,and strategies)

• Project scope (participants, inclusions,exclusions, constraints, and interfaces)

• Project plan (duration, method ofapproach, and project phases)

• Project deliverables, organizationalstructure and quality assurance plan

• Project controls (management con-trols, meetings, workshops, reports, andchange management)

• Write the project RFP (request forproposal) and choose a well recognizedIT companies with specialty in GIS tobid in the project, then analyze andstudy the received proposal to choosethe best in quality, time, and cost

ADA ENTERPRISE GIS PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PHASES

Phase1: InceptionIn this one month phase, the mainactivities included - understanding anddefinition of all systems’ business cas-es, a preliminary user requirementssurvey, a system requirements at ahigh level abstract and producing thebusiness process model document.

Phase 2: ElaborationA three month phase in which the highlevel user cases were broken down intodetailed use cases and defining systemrequirements specifications.

The goal of the elaboration phase is tocreate enough design detail to startconstructing the classes needed to sup-port a use case via Unified ModelingLanguage (UML) class diagrams thatshows the classes, their attributes, andthe relationships between them. Thisphase defines a crucial output of thesystem which is Service Level Agree-ments, in which layers’ ownershipspecifications are defined. During this

Enterprise GIS


EGIS forDevelopmentAuthority

EGIS forDevelopmentAuthority

phase, the main activities include thefollowing: Detailed User RequirementsSurvey, expanding high level use casesinto detailed use cases, providing userinterface prototyping, producing a Sys-tem Requirements Specifications (SRS),defining conceptual models, generat-ing physical design for both units Geo-database schemas and central Geo-database schema in a UML class dia-grams, defining system architecturedesign, indicating software, hardware,and network requirements for the pro-duction environment, defining layersownership specifications, producing aSystem Design Document (SDD), pro-ducing Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Phase 3: ConstructionIt was a five month phase where aseries of water falls with a number of

use cases weredeveloped ineach iteration forADA units. At theend of each itera-tion the progressis reviewed. Eachstage of thewaterfall willproduce a set ofdeliverables,which areexpanded to fulluse cases, classdiagrams andinteraction models, plus running andunit tested code. This way it ensuresuser participation in building, testingand evaluating the system.

During this phase, the main activitiesinclude the following: Defining

data conversion rules specifications,producing data conversion businessplan, providing units with on job train-ing on GIS tools usage maximizing,implementing application develop-ment iterations for the defined incre-

GIS project implementation


ments and providing final applicationsfor the participant units.

Phase 4: TransitionIn this final stage of two months, thesystem was packed for release to theuser community. This includes systemintegration, final testing, installation,and extensive application training.

MAJOR PROJECT OUTPUTThe creation of a central geo-databasefor ADA: This involved and includedthe following: Geo-database Design fordepartmental schemas, Data Modelingfor Central Geo-database schema,Defining rules for data acquisition,organizing workflow for data conver-sion procedures from different formatsinto Geo-database format according tothe designed schemas, Developing cus-tomized routines for automating dataconversion processes, Unified mecha-nism for smooth data sharing, Metada-ta Management, and Developing a DataManagement system.

Service Level Agreements: CreatingService Level Agreements between thedifferent ADA units to define the own-ership of the data sources and layersincluding the responsibilities andauthorities for editing the data. Thiswill eliminate data redundancy, uniquedefinition of data elements and put the

responsibility of updating and givingauthorities to users on the owner of thedata.

General Applicationss: A powerful,easy to use query application to makecomplex attribute and spatial querieson different types of data using simpleinterface and output the results on amap or a tabular report. Other Modulesdesigned to simplify use and enforcerules, for map production and printing,charts, tabular reports, measurements,and layers comparison.

Special Application: About forty appli-cations and modules designed to satis-fy specific planers needs in urban,transportation, housing, utilities, envi-ronment, research, and strategic plan-ning fields.

SAS: GIS Integration Application:Based on SAS Bridge for ESRI, this appli-cation was created to ease the integra-tion process between SAS and theEnterprise GIS system. This enablesADA planners to combine the powerfultools provided in the two systems togenerate different types of reports. GIScreated data can be transferred to SASenvironment to perform advanced sta-tistical analysis on it, on the other handSAS data sources can be transferred toGIS to generate different types of spa-tial analysis, and thematic maps.

EMME2 Integration Application: TheIntegration with EMME2 (transportmodeling application) enables ADAtransportation planners to use the dataoutputs of EMME2 applications and dis-play it using GIS, and to link the datawith the different data sources insidethe central geo-database in order to cre-ate different types of reports.

ArRiyadh Information Web Portaal: Theweb portal has been created to publishgeographic and statistical informationon the web to be accessible to the pub-lic, individuals, business, and organiza-

tions. The information includes landus-es data, and the socio-demographicdata and many studies and researchespublished by ADA.

Out of the box applications: From theInception phase a need for specificapplications by planners is recognized.The project brought those sophisticatedtools in hand of planners and conduct-ed several training course along withthe continuous on job training. Amongthose applications are Modular builder,3D Analyst, Spatial Analyst, Geo-Statis-tical Analyst and Image Analyst.

HURDLES FACED Two major hurdles were faced duringthe project. The first is to eliminate thefear of sharing data between differentunits. Each planning unit had its con-cern about its data not to be misusedand misunderstood. The second is toget all planners to use GIS and otherplanning and analysis tools and elimi-nate their dependency on IT specialistfor outputs. By training courses, on-jobtraining, encouragement, and theknowledge that a planner can under-stand, use, and get much more out ofthose tools than any IT specialist.

WHAT'S NEXT?The project was completed on March,2007 and ADA planners are now in the process of using all the outputs of the project to its maxi-mum. ADA will evaluate the level ofsuccess after one year from date of com-pletion. If it is to its expectation, ADAwill encourage the initiation of a simi-lar projects that involves all the serviceand planning agencies in city, like themunicipality, electricity, water, environ-ment, civil defense, and others.

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Eng. Salah M. Al AsheikhDirector of Information Management, Arriyadh Development Authority, Saudi Arabia

[email protected]

ADA realized that proper planning of thenew EnterpriseGIS will be amajor part of theproject success

”

“

GIS Dev: How did theconcept of cyber cartog-

raphy come up?

The idea of Cyber Cartographywas introduced in 1997. I tendto think in terms of not just thelittle bits of pieces of our fieldlike Web 2.0 or GIS or like anyone of the other segments, butI am more interested in theover-arching theory and prac-tice. And hence I use the termCyber Cartography, in order tocapture the essence of manychanges that are going on inour field in a holistic fashion.One of the challenges in ourfield is that the technology haschanged very rapidly and as aresult the theory is well behindthe technology and as a resultthe people are driven only by the technology and aresearching for where it fits the-oretically.

I am interested in a conceptthat doesn't just include thetechnology but also the theoryand also the practice as onecombined effort.

Map is changing as an artefactas a result of the technology.Cyber Cartography extendsthe concept of mapping intosubject areas that have neverbeen mapped before, includingsocio-economic issues andthematic issues, like poverty,wealth and any concept youcan think of. So when we com-

bine all of these things you getCyber Cartography and ourmain products are the CyberCartography atlases.

Could you highlight onthe prodduct delivered

under Cyber Cartography?

We are developing Cyber Car-tographic atlases. We havedeveloped Nunaliit, which is anew piece of open source soft-ware that provides an overarching framework for thedevelopment of these atlases.They, in turn, will provide anoverarching framework intowhich different types ofemerging social computingnetworks, such as Web 2.0,can fit in it.

So it becomes a framework inwhich some of these newusers generated materials canbe seamlessly integrated. Wehave evolved from the cartog-rapher who supplied the infor-mation and the user got whatwas supplied, to the pointwhere the user could drawthings on demand, while inter-acting with the database or aninformation base. And now weare in the phase where thereare no longer map creatorsand map users, because theuser has become the map creator.

Cyber Cartography in anessence is an online subject,but Nunaliit, allows you to ren-


Q.

Q.

Challenge for the industry is brainware!

In Coversation...

Prof. D. R. Fraser TaylorDistinguished Research Professor, Faculty of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Canada

Professor Taylor's main research interest is in the application of Geomatics for theunderstanding of socio-economic issues. He has a strong interest in the theory ofcartography and has introduced and developedthe new paradigm of Cybercartography. AtCarleton University he heads the Geomaticsand Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC). He is also the Chairperson of the InternationalSteering Committee for Global Mapping(ISCGM).

der information in any formatyou want. You can print it out tothe book, as a CD, you canchoose which way you wantthe output of the information.Nunaliit is an Inuit word forcommunity or settlement.Using this, people who have noknowledge of geographicinformation processing butwho have access to a comput-er, can create their own mapswith images of their own com-munity.

I have always believed in thedevelopment from the bottomup as opposed to developmenttop down. That's how the build-ings are constructed. Thetypes of technologies we arecreating will allow people totake control of situations. Weare empowering people to dothings on their own.

Does Cyber Cartographyhave an Enterprise

nature associated with it? Howdoes it stand vis-a-viss emerg-ing open source and interoper-able GIS software?

If you think about it, enter-prise-wide management isusing location as the organiz-ing principal and if you takethat to its logical conclusion,then it permeates right throughany organisation both in termsof how it organizes or analyzesand how it presents its infor-mation, which can be done in avariety of different way. It canbe done internally for organi-sational purpose or it can beused for advertising purposes.But what you need is imagina-tion and vision in order to cre-ate this. Many companies, foreg., the GIS bunch are three

little people sitting back in aroom, tugging away with digi-tizers and trying to tell peoplewhat to do, its not central, wehave got to turn that aroundand make what we do central.And again I would argue thatCyber Cartography puts all ofthis locational information atthe central.

Cyber cartography by defini-tion is open source and we usethe entire open source andopen specifications. In orderfor Cyber Cartography to workour data has to be interopera-ble. But this challenge of interoperability which I think is one of the key challenges in our whole field is what wehave and we are working on it.I also think that the challengefor industry is new partner-ships; we have got to widen

our vision of where the marketlies.

With the inference thatGIS can't be stand alone,

should there be a fear of it los-ing its identity?

I think the problem of worryingabout GIS' identity is a form ofunnecessary insecurity. If whatyou do is of value, then it neverlooses its identity. But if youthink about the way scienceand knowledge, we have comefull circle. We have to startlooking at science in a muchmore holistic way.

We, over time, kept breakingscience down into sub-disci-plines; people became moreand more specialised. But nowwe are beginning to moveback to an understanding that

Q.

Q.

unless you look at inter-rela-tionships, we are going to misssomething. I think GIS hasimportant things to offer, but Idiffer from some of my col-leagues, who want to see GISas a pure science. Now I do notthink that GIS looses its identi-ty at all. But I do think that GIShas got to be part of the team,not isolated self in one particu-lar little segment. Just thinkabout what happened whenGoogle Earth was out. Mostpeople heard about it in threeweeks than they have heard

about GIS in three decades.The reason is that, the societydemand was met in a way thatindividual people could use itwithout having to use a specialintermediate. I don't see any-thing as a threat to locationbased work, because locationis now one of the key ele-ments for the 21st centuryexcept the thing that is miss-ing is the imagination of thepeople who are in the location-al sciences. And that is whatwe hope through our Cybercartography to provide someguidelines or avenues for peo-ple to think about.

What is the status ofGlobal Map project?

What kind of content would itcontain?

The concept of global map wasintroduced in response toAgenda 21 by United Nationswhere the idea was to create a1:1 million map of world digi-tally on-line to respond to theneeds to improve environmentrelated decision making on theglobal scale. There are 8 datalayers - 4 vector and 4 raster.They are Boundaries, Trans-

portation, Drainage, PopulationCentres, Elevation, Vegetation,Land use and Land cover. Theimportant thing about this oneis the process by which theglobal map is created becauseeach nation produces its owncoverage and contributes. Wehelp with capacity buildingwhen required through train-ings and scholarships. Somenations do not have the cover-age required but they can thenuse the existing global data-base, verify it, correct or modifyit according to their use. Thereare many 1:1 million basemaps available that we canalso use. Many nations use it toextend into other layers whichthey are interested in and theglobal map in fact can form theframework for the NSDI(National Spatial Data Infra-structure) at a larger scale. Wehave recently released on-line46.6% of world's coverage indigital format.

By what timme will theGlobal Map be complet-

ed and made available for pub-lic use?

The initial target was the endof the year 2007, but we willprobably have the release inFebruary 2008 but how com-plete it would be remains to beseen. One of the problems withthe Global Map is that when itwas conceived in the 1990's,insufficient attention was paidto the demand side. Thedemand has changed in termsof quality of data. But we arenow changing our approachaccordingly. The other chal-lenge is of course outdatedtechnology. The specificationson standards were used in the1990's have long been sur-

passed by GML and web serv-ices and we are facing thechallenge of revising andupgrading the standards forusing GML 3 as specific basefor our work. But, I think thewhole process by which it iscreated is more important thanthe product itself.

Where do you see thegeospatial industry in

next ten years time?

Seeing the industry in a nation-al and a global sense, I thinkthat it is very much an era oflocation. The information is alllinked and interoperable withthe location. But there aremany problems still to be tackled. One of them is theproblem of semantics andinteroperability within the area,I think here industry have beenleading the academia and thegovernment and not the otherway around. The reason for theincrease in importance of loca-tion based information is that itis now being industry-drivenand it is quite interesting as theindustry does not think in aca-demic terms. But new partner-ships are emerging in this fieldwithin academia and the indus-try. The challenges here areprimarily not technical; it's notthe hardware or the softwarebut it's the brainware! We needa greater sense of interaction,less competition and morecooperation. Now industry, bydefinition, is competitive butyou can compete and cooper-ate at the same time. I see thatis the way forward for thefuture is to convey to the gen-eral public in the languagethey understand easily andcommunicate with them moreeffectively of what we do.


Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica - Territorial Claims module

I think GIShas importantthings tooffer, but Idiffer fromsome of mycolleagues,who want tosee GIS as apure science

”

“

Q.

Q.

Q.

IMAGE CENTRIC

COM PANY

Around 1985-86 we enteredthe image processing andremote sensing market spaceas a result of Canadian gov-ernment’s project related tothe working of satellite remotesensing applications on a par-allel processor. In those dayswe were in the middle of the

cold war and the governmentwas trying to access cropyields of Russia, China andother Asian countries, to tryand predict whether there wasfood shortage, etc. Today weuse the same technology forthe commodities markets.

This eventually resulted indevelopment of the PCI Geo-matica software suite, which

we were selling with packagedeals at USD 50,000. Later,with rapidly developing ITindustry and lowering softwareprices, the similar packageswere sold at USD 5000,which in turn led to strategicdecision making with a busi-ness point of view.

We realised we had to expandbut could not compete ESRIand other well establishedvector based GIS companies.At the time, satellites sectorwas growing at a very fastrate, both in commercial andsecret government nationalassets all over the world. Itthen occurred to us, about 7-8 years ago, that there willbe a bottleneck in the industryboth in terms of processing of the massive collection ofdata and its analysis for userspecific applications. In orderto succeed in our endeavourwe had to convince the government departmentsabout our presumptions andthe need for image centricsoftware and solutions. We successfully convincedthree departments - Defence,Homeland and Security andNatural Resources. They then sponsored us for a large project within Canadaand a technology partnershipfund was allocated to createthe building blocks for animage centric scriptable typeof systems.

RASTER V/S VECTOR

Once we realised that theimage centric market was anopen space and if we couldpossess it correctly and createa system around it much likethe systems around the vectormethodologies, we could helpbattle the bottlenecks like pro-cessing and analysis of theimage data.

In the past, basically we usedvector methodologies with animage backdrop, but I recom-mended the use of imagetechnology with a vector back-drop; to use vector data andattributes that we gather tohelp process the image, notvice versa.

We developed certain applica-tions that were much easier todo because of raster nature ofthe data and also easier toautomate the process in cer-tain respects. We couldprocess all that data whichwas natural in the rasterimage world and very difficultin some cases in the vectordomain.

Nowadays, not only the satel-lites but UAV's (UnmannedAerial Vehicles), LEO (LowEarth Orbiting) constellations,HALE (High Altitude LongEndurance) vehicles and evendigital cameras are all creatingterabytes and petabytes even


Leader’s talk

Robert MosesCEO & President, PCI Geomatics, Canada

Founded in 1982, PCI Geomatics is a developer of image-centric software for the geospatial industry. Specializingin remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, spatialanalysis, map production and automated productionsystems, PCI Geomatics' technology turns images intoinformation. The geospatial solutions of PCI enable thecustomers to find answers to real-world questions usingsatellite, aerial and other geospatial data.

Dr. Robert Moses is the President and CEO of PCIGeomatics since 1990. Under his leadership, PCIGeomatics has grown from a single office, single productcompany into multi faceted Geomatics solution provider.The below are excerpts from his discussion with GISDevelopment during his recent visit to its Noida office.

Algorithms for near real timeimage analysis are today’s need

zetabyes of image information.And very soon we will not beable to keep up with the highquality and quantity of imagedata in flow. Our businesscase is thus cheaper andfaster because it is much scal-able and better because Ibelieve that this technologyfrom satellite is much richerthan vector maps. There aremany modelled and layeredinformation available but thesatellite image has it all in oneplace - spatial features likeroad and buildings, water bod-ies and forests, etc., evenspectral data frommulti/hyper-spectral satelliteswhich are fairly temporal innature as well.

OGC AND

INTEROPERABILITY

We were one of the six found-ing member of OGC. We couldhave never achieved this limit-ed success unless we pushedfor OGC national standards. Itis difficult for small companiesto have and maintain differentformats. Small companieswould never be able to sell inCanada or US or India orEurope, unless they stick toOGC standards in order tomake big international suc-cesses. The companydecreases the cost of creating

the software and decreasesthe barriers to penetrationinternationally. Now from gov-ernment's perspective, if youhave only 2-3 monolithic com-panies with closed proprietor'sstandards, the cost of the sys-tems goes way up. And that iswhy US government has man-dated on all procurements tobe OGC compliant open stan-dards. The idea basically is tohave a flexible, scriptable/cus-tomisable and interoperableplatform based on a cen-tralised server and a datamanagement system withgeospatial capabilities.

We as an international organi-sation need to work togetherto solve issues of globalwarming, climate change, ter-rorism and wars that we arecausing to our own planet. Allthese issues are in a waygeospatial and to deal with itefficiently we need a systemthat is interoperable. I believein coming 3-5 years we wouldreach, if not ideal, at least anear ideal situation in interop-erability, even in India.

CAPACITY BUILDING

No one country has enoughskilled people to keep pacewith the processing of imageinformation. By eliminating the

requirement for pre-process-ing of the image informationusing PCI software, we believethat we are creating opportu-nities for people to better allocate time and resources to research and fill vacanciesassociated with analysis of the giant amount of imageinformation that will be available to us over the nextfive years. We need to haveresearchers who will helpdevelop algorithms for improv-ing the automation processand making user-defined dataavailable in near real- timebasis. The researchers shouldfocus their learning towardsspatial analysis techniques.

We have to shift our focus tomuch higher quality job whichis closer to decision makingprocess because in the endthis information will be madeavailable to the decision mak-ing agencies and individualsfor emergency response oranything of that nature.

PCI INDIA

We are going to start opera-tions in India that will providePCI software packages alongwith solutions for Indian pri-vate and government sectors.We are working towards tie-ups with top 5 to 10 Indian

companies that truly own themarket to provide them withunderlying image-centric tech-nology and allow them toscript it according to theirrequirements. We are alsoplanning to work with somegovernments like Punjab tohelp them develop agriculturalinformation systems. It will behard to sell them the systems,hence we are also thinking ofproviding them with the infor-mation and solutions.

VISION

We are witnessing image dataexplosion and extracting infor-mation would be lesser ofactivity and people would beworking directly on theseimageries as we do with thevector-centric Geomatics solu-tions.

There is too much imageinformation available and it isgoing to be wasted unless weswitch our paradigm to animage-centric paradigm. It isour vision that PCI becomes a‘platform image-centric tech-nology provider’ to all the cor-porations, governments andindividuals and help themprocess their image data toextract images for furtheranalysis that will support theend use.

RRas al Khaimah

(RAK) Emirate is

one of the growing

and developing regions in the United

Arab Emirates (UAE). Apart from various

activities, establishment of an enterprise

activity is an important element of the

Emirate.

The objective of Ras Al Khaimah GISProject (RAKGIS) is to utilize GIS tech-nology to support several local govern-ment departments (Town Planning andSurvey Administration, Building and

Engineering Administration, PublicWorks and Services Department,Sewage Authority, and Land Depart-ment).

The enterprise model is a multi-pur-pose system that is part of the opera-tional framework of an organization(Roger, 2003). It is defined as a GIS thatis used by multiple agencies within dif-ferent organizations.

It is based on large-scale GIS data,including parcels and other land-relat-ed data. It supports a wide range ofapplications across different organiza-tions. Other features of enterprise GISare: cost effectiveness; it makes gooduse of limited technical resources; andit provides a step-by-step approach to

GIS development across multiple gov-ernment agencies (Longley, 2001).

STUDY PURPOSEThe study defines how the process toimplement the RAKGIS will bedesigned, structured, and monitored. Itpresents a framework for managingchange between the technology, thedata, and the organizations using GIS.Specific objectives of this study include:

• Identifying and defining the vision,mission, and goals related to the devel-opment of RAKGIS enterprise

• Analyzing of the current status of thespatial data available in RAK

• Outlining a development model forRAKGIS enterprise

• Identifying and defining the strategicor long-term initiatives and activities thatprovide the necessary framework forenhancing a GIS enterprise for RAK

METHODOLOGYThe methodology of this study hasthree distinct components or phases: i)strategy formulation, ii) current situa-tion assessment and iii) tactical plan-ning. The strategy formulation processinvolved defining the vision, missionand goals and values of building anenterprise GIS of RAK. Based on thesegoals and given the available technicalenvironment and possible resources, afuture vision was crafted. In the currentsituation assessment phase, the pres-ent environment was confirmed interms of past performance and currentcapabilities (strengths and weakness-es). This analysis yields the strategic

GI S D E VE L O PME N T56 D E C E M B E R 2 0 07

Planning

Building an Enterprise GIS

57

issues that must be addressed in theplan (William, 1995). The strategy andinitiatives needed to realize this visionwere subsequently developed andserved as the basis for organizing tacti-cal plans for the enhancement of theRAK GIS environment (Reeve, 1999).The tactical plans present the project,resources, standardization and mile-stones for this geospatial coordinationeffort (Mark, 1996).

Strategic FormulationThe purpose of RAKGIS strategic plan-ning is to create a framework withinwhich the complexity and interde-pendency of GIS design and implemen-tation can be managed. It also providesthe framework for ensuring that GISdesign aligns with business plans,organizational structure, existing sys-tems, and staff competency (Harris,1998).

The initial step in developing a strate-gic plan for building an enterprise GISfor RAK was to define the long-term orstrategic business direction by namethe vision, mission and goals for futureGIS development and utilization in RAK(Aronoff, 1991).

The vision of RAKGIS is "to promotepartnerships and teamwork using GISbetween all government administra-tions and private sectors throughout

the Emirate to improve RAK environ-ment and communities". Also, RAKgovernment endorsed a mission state-ment for the GIS project stating that"Helping all government administra-tions and private sectors to providehigh level of services".

The strategic goals for the implemen-tation process are as under:

GOAL 1A core subset of RAK geospatial data-bases (roads, streams, governmentalboundaries, aerial photography,etc.) are needed by governmentagencies and private entities.These core databases also provide theframework for the development ofnumerous of geospatial databases.

GOAL 2Improving, facilitating and speed-ing up the governance and citi-zen services in RAK.Improved information flowis as good for governmentadministrators as it is for privatesectors; improving efficiency, services,communications, collaboration, man-agement, and decision making(Elwood, 1998).

GOAL 3It is in the interest of the broader gov-ernment that this land record informa-tion be developed in a standardizedgeospatial format that is accessible tomultiple users at the local and federallevel (Nancy, 2004). In addition to landrecord modernization, there are numer-ous other potential local governmentapplications of GIS technology (emer-gency response, public health and safe-ty, zoning, street and utility mainte-nance, etc.). The land record informa-tion maintained by RAK Land Depart-ment is also one of the framework

geospatial databases that areneeded by a wide variety of localand federal agencies and private

entities (Roger, 2003).

GOAL 4The documentation of the data

to facilitate its proper use is anotheressential element, as is the establish-

ment and wide implement of datastandards to facilitate data integration(Sawicki, 1996). Geospatial data usersand types of data are diverse and datasharing strategies must address thisdiversity of users and needed data.

GOAL 5Promote and leverage the most effi-cient utilization of resources in order toeffectively integrate GIS/Geospatialtechnologies within local Governmentadministrations. Also, promote and fos-ter partnerships within and amongRAK local Government, Federal Govern-ment, Academic Institutions, non-prof-it organizations and equivalent inter-national organizations. The RAKGISstrategic plan will be review annually.

Current Situation Assessment There is a lack of spatial data in theEmirate of RAK. Most of the mapping

Geospatial datausers and types ofdata are diverseand data sharingstrategies mustaddress this diver-sity of users andneeded data

GI S D E VE L O PME N TD E C E M B E R 2 0 07

”

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58 GI S D E VE L O PME N T

exercise related to lands and cadastralhad been done fully manually and wasin paper formats only. This was timeconsuming. Efforts are therefore under-way to create digital databases throughconversion of existing maps into digitalformat and new production of digitalinformation products.

Data sets produced by differentdepartments are not always compati-ble, even though they relate to thesame territory (Sawicki, 1996). This lackof coordination causes duplication ofdata as well as in the distribution, andlimits strongly their exchange, conse-quently producing huge costs to thepublic (Roger, 2003). Also, metadatasystems are still in rudimentary stages,making it difficult for potential users toknow what data sets really exist and ifthey could satisfy their needs.

The following materials are alreadyavailable as a spatial data for RAK gov-ernment:

• Aerial survey has been done in 2003for the northern part of RAK and ortho-images are available. AutoCAD mapsfor this northern area is also availableand the Land Department maintains anAutoCAD database of this northern partof RAK. Most of the departments arecurrently using this AutoCAD databaseas their mapping and drafting reference.

• Aerial images for southern part of RAKhave been undertaken in 2006 andortho-images of the area are available.

• Database of attributes are availablefor plots/land records and other plan-ning and developmental projects.

• Contours lines for whole Emirate withfive meter interval.

Tactical planningThe RAKGIS requires a basic frameworkof "whole to part" - where one defines alarger coordinate system frameworkand then partitions it into smaller andsmaller units (rather than start fromsmaller and aggregate to larger units)(Buckner, 2001). For example, in RAK,the GIS framework would be best if itfirst establishes a UAE framework -within which RAK Spatial framework islinked and then the RAKGIS frameworkis divided into smaller city frameworksor planning unit frameworks (Kadir,1997). The tactical planning of RAKGISwill focus in the following points:

• Created parcel data that identifiesland and running a Digital CadastralDatabase (DCDB) which providing thespatial integrity and unique land parcelidentification.

• Created a GPS reference control net-work in WGS 84 UTM coordinate sys-tem for the complete RAK.

• RAK is having a set of aerial photo-graph, flown on 2003 for part of theemirate. For this part, the vectorisationis complete and AutoCAD files areavailable for the same. But these vectorfiles are not properly geo-referenced.These maps are available in raster/vec-tor format. These vector maps need tobe properly geo-referenced and con-nected to the national GPS control net-work frame.

• Also, the rest of the Emirate, whereaerial photography is not done in 2002,and fresh aerial survey need to be done.DEM, Ortho photos and vector mapsneed to be produced. As part of this, theEmirate plan to carry out fresh surveyfor full emirates.

• Having created the complete basemap for the entire emirate, GIS dataavailable in various formats from thegovernment in different departmentsand by means of fresh survey need tobe integrated to create a comprehen-sive GIS database.

• With the comprehensive GIS data-base, different applications base of dif-ferent departments need will apply.

• Also, hardware and software require-ments for handling such a GIS data-base in a network on secure environ-ment was installed.

• The last item to be evaluated wasdetermining what training was to beconducted.

RAKGIS developed and applied stan-dards for all these activities, especiallyin the area of Spatial, Data and Commu-nications (Network). The goal of thesestandards is to facilitate the collection,maintenance and analysis of geograph-ic information across private, federal,and local government entities (Christo-pher, 2007).

CONCLUSION RAK is using GIS technology to performa variety of departments specific tasksthroughout the Emirate. Positive, yetpragmatic, vision, mission, and goalswill prove to be critical as the Emirateproceeds with its GIS implementation.The benefits of GIS, especially an opti-mal return on investment andimproved efficiency and effectiveness,can only be realized if GIS is adoptedand integrated on Emirate wide basis(Barndt, 1998). RAKGIS is intended notonly to serve all departments of thelocal government, but will embrace theneeds of a variety of external agencies,other levels of government, and the pri-vate sector.

It is extremely important that GISstandards be established and appliedgovernment-wide (Christopher, 2007).Otherwise, the ability of individual GISapplications to evolve into a govern-ment-wide enterprise GIS will be sever-ly limited.

O C TO B E R 2 0 07

”

“The enterprisemodel is a multi-purpose systemthat is part of theoperationalframework of anorganization

M. R. BualhamamGeography Program, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

[email protected]

EDITORIAL CALENDAR - YEAR 2008

Send in your contributions to [email protected] follow the Editorial Guidelines ((http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/editorialprofile.htm) while preparing your articles.

MONTH Theme

JanuaryAnnual Issue

The annual issue of GIS Development will focus on the Global and Regional trends in the Geospatial Industry pre-vailing in various regions of the world. The write-ups in the issue will be from the industry and academia who willhave their perspectives on the geospatial trends in their regions over the last couple of years.

FebruaryGeospatialComponents(SDKs/ toolsetc)

This issue will cover the tools and components which has been developed in the field of geographic information,remote sensing, aerial photogrammetry and other areas, either from the commercial sectors or open source. It willcover off-the-shelf tools available which are being used to develop customised solutions. Along with this overviewwrite-ups would be given on need and benefit of such tools.

MarchHumanResources inGeospatialIndustry

There has been a paradigm shift in the kind of human resources requirements in the geospatial industry. This issuewill discuss those factors which has led to this shift and whether those kind of people are available, whether at thesenior management level or at middle level executive or researchers level. This will also highlight the gap whichexists between the industry need and the academic/ training institutions syllabus.

AprilGeographicInformationPolicies

Policy has always been one of the topics, talked about, in the geospatial field. This issue will have compilation/stud-ies of the policies on geospatial technology that exist globally. The article would further explore how they have beeninstrumental or detrimental in the growth of geospatial industry their respective regions.

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Isn't a remark from Google Earth's CTO (made at2007 Cambridge Conference in the context of'crowdsourcing') "..if you want to have maps of

your country, you may not have a national mappingagency of any merit, but if you have some inspired ama-teurs, you can map out your country" enough to take a cue?Is he meaning that national mapping organisations(NMOs) need to shift from their traditional roles of survey-ing to creation and provision of value-added services? Or -the bigger one - are NMOs losing relevance? We attemptedto have inputs from representatives of few NMOs. Out of thesix agencies who finally expressed interest to put theirviews, only three could at last came up with the same ontime. Following was the question?

In the present scenario with map data available throughmultiple sources (Web like Google Earth, etc. being theimportant source), how does the given NMO plan to copewith the situation? Is there any new data delivery model(including pricing) that the organization plans to adopt?Will this also lead to a shift from the agency's traditionalrole of surveying and mapping? The comments from the fol-lowing agencies/ their representatives are categorizedunder three broad heads as in the boxes.

Viewpoints

We don't intend to competewith open services like GoogleEarth. If they want we can con-sider selling them license of ourdata. We may consider in thefuture using their data as anadditional source for generalapplications. Their data is notaccurate and reliable enough formost of the applications that wehave to support.

Facility such as Google Earthwhich makes people easier tobrowse the world map, andimprove people's geospatialmindset. To BAKOSURTANALthe mentioned facility does notact as a competitor, instead itbecomes a complement plat-form/facility for disseminatingthe surveys and mapping (geo-spatial data) products either inraster or vector data model.

To cope with the present sce-nario of map data availabilitythrough multiple sources, NAM-RIA is incrementally developinga national spatial data infrastruc-ture (NSDI). The distributeddatabases include geodetic,topographic, hydrographic,administrative, environmental,and disaster risk managementdata.

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Ms Diah Kirana KresnawatiHead of the Center for Information and Services

BAKOSURTANAL (National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping), Indonesia

Dr. Haim SrebroDirector General, Survey of Israel

Web-accessibility of data

Ms Linda SD PapaInformation Management Department

National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), Philippines

1 2 3

Changingtimes...Changingtimes...

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

The Survey of Israel is shifting the traditional channelsof dissemination of data, products and servicestowards full on-line services. Certain services arealready supplied on line like geodetic RTK using Per-manent Stations, web site and geographic portal. Thegeographic portal supports also the general public aswell as government and public agencies. One of itsimportant goals is to support teaching geography at alllevels from grammar school to university. With regardto the model of availability: Part of the data and servic-es will be free of charge to the public (The tax payers),other parts will be releasable only after payment andsecret data will be released only to authorized users.

In disseminating geospatial products, several wayshave been conducted by BAKOSURTANAL such as:quick and easy service supported by GovernmentRegulation, through website of BAKOSURTANALespecially for public domain products, and throughvarious exhibition event. BAKOSURTANAL plans todisseminate its products more wide through the inter-net by providing geospatial information in vector mod-el. Basically the idea of geospatial dissemination isadopted from Google Earth system, yet in this caseBAKOSURTANAL will present interoperability geospa-tial information system in vector data model with carto-graphic touch. On the next step, BAKOSURTANALwill also develop geo-showcase facility (geo-Indone-sia) based on interoperability technology on the inter-net in order to accommodate local governments andsectoral institutions for disseminating their geospatialinformation products and policies.

The NSDI and Federated Geospatial Information Sys-tem (FedGIS) are initiatives that will significantlychange the landscape of surveying and mapping roleof NAMRIA. The FedGIS is developed as a backboneof the physical network and dissemination infrastruc-ture for the Philippine NSDI. Pilot inputs for theFedGIS are the existing base data of NAMRIA and theoutputs of the Hazard Mapping and Assessment forEffective Community-Based Disaster Risk Manage-ment Project. Web-based interfaces to FedGIS,including browsers, make its database accessible tocollaborating agencies as well as to other stakehold-ers and provide the base information and the basicGIS tools for the integration of this base informationwith the users' or stakeholders' data.

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Data dissemination/Delivery model

Shift from the traditional role

I wouldn't consider that process as ashift from traditional role but as anadaptation to modern technologiesand methodologies. Of course itincludes shifting from self productionto out sourcing and enabling the usersto tailor their own products to bettermeet their requirements.

The traditional means of locating anddelivering geospatial data are beingrevolutionized. The agency is in theprocess of developing data acquisitionand access mechanisms for the coredatasets it is mandated to produce,manage, and distribute. through inter-national partners, projects are beingundertaken to support the digitizationand updating of the topographic data-base of NAMRIA. One such project isa web-based GIS that aims to improveaccess by stakeholders to seamlesstopographic database. Interagencymeetings and workshops are regularlyheld for the formulation of guidelines,policies, and standard for sharing,access, exchange, and integration ofspatial data.

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G I S D E V E L O P M E N T 61

With WWW coming up as an easy source of data that toocompetitively with respect to cost and qualityy, the sheerimplication that NMOs core data will no longer be the onlyauthority follows. Shouldn't this worry NMOs? Changingmodels of government (deregulation, privatization, out-sourcing, e-governnance, etc.), Technological advancements(primarily Internet), Globalisation (and liberalization) andChanging customers needs (location based services, accu-rate data) come as natural challenges to tthe agencies. Isenough going on to face these? Does public-private-part-nership model looks viable to be followed? Is corporatisa-tion of NMOs is the way ahead? Doesn't the above all (andmany otherrs) realizations be perceived soon? Moreanswers please..

Kenneth Smillie,Sales Director-Airborne Sensors, Leica Geosystems speaking at seminar on Surveying Mapping & Infrastructure Development

Prof. Josef Strobl (standing first from left), Director UNIGIS coordinating the workshop onProfessional Education for the Geoinformation Society


CONFERENCEThe Keynote sessions and seminars at Map Africa 2007 had plenary sessions and Semi-nars on Capacity Building Geospatial capacities and usage of GIS and related technolo-gies for Infrastructure development. The key points brought out by the speakers duringthe conference:

• Prof. Josef Strobl, UNIGIS: We need to look for ways of realising "A spatially Literate Society" and the critical element for this is Geospatial {Awareness, Skills,Education}

• Kate Lance, ITC Netherlands: African Geospatial Industries capacity has to be measured interms of Market/ User Potential - this would be a key in creating awareness/educating the decision makers about the role of GIS in development.

• Gavin Lloyd, SAGI: Africa's energy problems need quick and viable answers -Geospatial technologies must come in to picture

• Alex Fortescue, CSIR/SAC South Africa: Indigenous technologies need to be promoted in Africa, for generating more employment opportunities.

• Richard Wonnacott, Chief Directorate Surveys and Mapping, South Africa: Public-Private partnerships can play a major role to uplift the African Geospatial Capacities.

MAP AFRICA 2007: CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE Cape Town, South Africa's Mother City was the host to Map Africa2007- a two day Conference & Exhibition which was successfully hosted by GIS Development and Department of Land Affairs, SouthAfrica successfully was attended by 200 delegates from variousAfrican nations. The exhibition that was a part of the conference provided the participants to have a real look at various Geospatialofferings from National and International exhibitors.

Conference Report

Oscar Custers,BusinessDevelopmentDirector, BentleyGeospatial at the exhibition

D E C E M B E R 2 0 07 63G I S D E V E L O P M E N T

EXHIBITION The exhibitors at this years Map Africa were (in alphabetical order):

AOC Geomatics I Bentley I CSIR Satellite Application Centre, SouthAfrica I Department of Land Affairs, South Africa I e-liso SAT I Geo-Eye I Leica Geosystems I Smart Tech I Southern Mapping Company ISpeck Spatial Tech

Dr. Derek ClarkeChief Director, Surveys & Mapping South Africa speaking on Digital Ortho- Imagery in South Africa

AAMHatch announced the acquisition ofAOC Geomatics at the conference.AAMHatch’s partner in the purchase of AOCis TsaRona Investments.Thandi Chaane,TsaRona Director said, “We have joined withAAMHatch to invest in AOC to enhance andcreate new careers and employment oppor-tunities for a whole new generation of SouthAfrican spatial information professionals. Weare firmly committed to the provision ofaccurate maps in order to help fast-trackdevelopment in South Africa.” Jorge Carvalho, geoAngola with Dr.R.S.Rao, GeoEye

Print Publications

GIM International (December, 2007)(http://www.gim-international.com)

Usability Testing Dynamic MapsIncreasing use of geo-information in "smart phones" andPDAs has led to users being disorientated by map displayson small screens, while outdated maps, storage capacity andprocessing power further inhibit use. The authors describeresearch into dynamic presentation of maps at the desiredlevel of detail to resolve some such limitations.

Free Licensed Geo-dataIn response to challenge pose against Ordnance Survey (OS) policy of charging for data to sustain invest-ment, the author points out that OS strives to ensure data isfreely available by having appropriate licences in place.Prices are charged to support investment in the collectionand maintenance of quality data. An example of the benefitsof such data was the response to England's severe summerfloods.

Stereo-matching TechniquesAutomation in photogrammetry is largely made possible bystereo-matching techniques that enable (semi-)automaticaero-triangulation and creation of digital elevation models. Inthe write-up the authoe attempts to explain the processes of"matching" and classification on the basis of process itself.

GeoWorld (November, 2007)(www.geoplace.com)

Speeding Toward 2010 -- Decennial Census Relies onTechnology ManagementTechnology has changed considerably in the seven yearssince the U.S. Census Bureau conducted the 2000 Decen-nial Census, bringing to the agency new tools and process-es that could make its head-counting task easier and moreaccurate. The bureau, however, has faced some challengesin embracing the new technology….

Enabling Geospatial Inteelligence -- NGA Adopts a Service-Oriented ApproachAs the need for real-time, on-demand geospatial intelli-gence becomes more critical to national security and theability to wage a global war on terror, NGA's support role hastaken on greater importance. Recognizing the magnitude ofits role, NGA has committed itself to becoming the premieronline provider of GEOINT and related services to the NSGcommunity….

Gator ADE -- Enhancing Florida Turnpike's Mobiile Asset-Management SolutionToday, private companies and government organizationsimplementing mobile technology are experiencing immedi-ate cost savings and operational benefits. However, in thisfast-changing industry, only being "mobile-ready" is alreadypassé….

Geo: Geoconnexion International Magazine(November 2007)http://www.geoconnexion.com

Simulia Abaqus for Disaster ModelingThe write-up reports on use of the SIMULIA Abaqus UnifiedFEA software for dynamic 3D modelling of natural disasters,including earthquakes and tsunamis.

Maps Help in Flight on African PovertyThe author looks at how maps are used to examine the mul-tidimensional factors that impact on programmes to imple-ment poverty reduction in Africa.

Bridging the Econnomic Divide in AfricaJim Baumann describes how GIS and remote sensing helpmanage agricultural and health challenges in Cameroon andEthiopia.

Designing an Open Coastal SDILaura Diaz presents a Coastal Information System for aregional Spanish government, built using the open sourcegvSIG SDI client.

GIS Development - Global Geospatial magazine(November 2007)http://gisdevelopment.net

The Gartner hype-cycle for geotechnologiesThe article introduces the Gartner hype-cycle and showshow it can help us understand the evolution and positioningof geotechnologies….

GIS@MarketThe write-up explains the present scenario of Geomarket-ing, which in simpler terms means marketing analysis usinggeolocation….

Towards an Integrated GISThis paper describes SAJ Holdings' IT strategy goals tobring together spatial data and other non-spatial data fromvarious computerised systems to improve its businessprocesses….

API’s, Mashupps & ‘Ur own World’The web technology is in a face of transformation, in thegeneration of Web 2.0 where we are experiencing new waysof communication and collaboration through of new apps,social-networking sites, wikis and more to mention, the Geodomain has also entered in to a new era....

GEO TIMES (November 2007)http://www.geotimes.org

Yellowstone and Heise: Supervolcanoes That Lighten UpNew studies of the volcanic rocks from previous eruptions ofthe Yellowstone supervolcano and its predecessors giveresearchers insight into possible future eruptions at Ameri-ca’s first national park.

Danger Lurks Deep: The Human Impact of VolccanoesMassive volcanic eruptions may be rare, but they can bedeadly, as millions of people live in the shadow of a volcano.A new analysis examines which parts of eruptions are themost hazardous to humans.

The American Surveyor (November 2007)http://www.amerisurv.com

The Surveying Inspired Art of Perri LynchLand surveying is rightfully described as an art, and not justin reference to execution of skills and knowledge required.Surveying describes and projects both linear and abstractthoughts and ideas over the broadest of media - land andlandscapes - to apply that which seeks precise definition to...

Point to Point: Valuable Papers InsuranceConscientious surveyors maintain several types of insurancecoverage for their practice, spreading the risk of calamityamong the rest of the insurance pool. One kind deserves

some scrutiny, because many of us, I suspect, are unawareof the coverage particulars...

Reconnaisssance: Relative Positional Accuracy—AgainThere are many things in surveying that few people, other than surveyors, understand. That does not mean theyare not important....No, as the professionals, surveyors havean obligation to do what is right regardless of what publicthinks....

Laser Scanning: Surveying Revolutionized with TrueColoor 3D Scanning3D technology will continue to revolutionize both the surveyand computer industries.... 3D scanning is just anothermeasurement device in the surveyor's toolbox. It is not mag-ic and it still requires a high level of understanding of basicsurvey measurements. The data produced is only as good asthe control we attach to it.

Professional Surveyor Magazine (December, 2007)http://www.profsurv.com

Scanning DownwardSurveying roads and bridges with ground-penetrating radarproves useful for finding defects before disasters occur....

3D Scanning: Railroad MappingAfter decades of decline, U.S. railroads are experiencing arenaissance... As a result, many railways are investing signif-icantly to expand and modify their track networks to facili-tate faster and more efficient movement of trains....

Surveying the Capitol: Small Community VisioninngImprovement ActA piece of legislation was recently introduced in Congressthat would help small communities around the countryafford the opportunity to become more visually appealing.Sounds like a great plan, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it comesat a loss of opportunity for the A/E community, includingsurveying and mapping professionals....

Online PublicationsDirections Magazine (November 2007)http://www.directionsmag.com

Consumer Awareness Driving GPS-enabledDevice AdoptionToday's online mapping tools have achieved striking pene-tration into the everyday lives of Americans, and new GPS-enabled personal navigation devices (PNDs) are leapfrog-ging past early-adopter growth and surging almost directlyinto widespread, mainstream usage ....

Commercial Imagery Strategy Focused on End-userThe write-up explains the three components of NGA's com-mercial imagery strategy.

CityGML Comes of AgeCityGML is an interesting animal since it sits between theworld of large scale building information models (BIM) andsmall scale GIS and LIS coverage....

Geoplace (October, 2007)(www.geoplace.com)

Geo-Info CONOPS --Developing the Disaster Response of the FutureThe information interchanges necessary to achieve andsustain commom operating pictur (COP) and situationawareness (SA) in a disaster requires information flows tobe designed in advance in the form of Geo-Enabled Infor-mation CONOPS (Geo-Info CONOPS).

Web-Based Tools Create Reall-Time SituationalAwarenessResponding to the need for an application capable of creating maps—common operating pictures—with real- ornear-real-time data, the Center for GIS (CGIS) at TowsonUniversity in Maryland developed the Emergency Manage-ment Mapping Application (EMMA)....

Geospatial Publications

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T64 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 7


Planner

January 200814 - 15 January HealthGIS 2008 Bangkok, Thailand

http://e-geoinfo.net/hgis.html

17 - 18 JanuaryESRI Asia Pacific User Conference Tokyo, Japan

gis.esri.com/intldist/intlevents_ex.cfm

21 - 24 JanuaryDGI Europe 2008London, UK

www.wbr.co.uk/dgieurope/index.html

21 - 24 JanuarySecond International Conference on Cartography & GIS Sofia, Bulgaria

www.datamap-bg.com/conference2008

27 - 30 JanuaryGIS Ostrava 2008Ostrava, Czech Republic

www.gis2008.com

February 20086 - 8 FebruaryMap India 2008Greater Noida, India

www.mapindia.org

7 - 8 February

Location India 2008 Greater Noida, India

www.location.net.in/india

16 - 17 FebruaryDigital India 2008Hyderabad, India

www.gisindia.in

18 - 20 FebruaryINTERGEO EAST 2008 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

www.intergeo-east.com

19 - 21 February Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2008Munich, Germany

www.munich-satellite-navigation-summit.org

19 - 20 February2008 Indiana GIS ConferenceIndianapolis, USA

http://www.in.gov/igic/conference/index.html

21 - 22 FebruaryInternational LiDAR Mapping Forum 2008Denver, USA

www.lidarmap.org

25 - 28 February12th Annual GIS / CAMA Technologies ConferenceNew Orleans, USA

http://www.urisa.org/gis_cama

25 - 29 FebruaryGSDI 10Trinidad and Tobago

http://gsdi.org/gsdi10/index.htm

March 20089 - 12 March GITA’s Geospatial Infrastructure SolutionsConference Washington, USA

http://gita.org/events/annual/31/index.asp

11 - 14 March MicroRad 2008 Florence, Italy

www.microrad2008.org/index.asp

17 - 20 March TUgis 2008 Maryland, USA

http://tugis.towson.edu

April 20085 - 8 AprilSpatial Analysis for Business 2008 Redlands, CA USA

www.spatialconference.org

8 - 10 AprilMap Middle East 2008Dubai, UAE

http://mapmiddleeast.org

15 - 19 AprilAssociation of American Geographers Annual MeetMassachusetts, USA

www.aag.org/annualmeetings

16 - 18 April 2008Remote Sensing - The Synergy of High TechnologiesMoscow, Russia

www.sovzondconference.ru/eng

July 20081 - 4 July Geoinformatics Forum Salzburg(GI_Forum2008) Salzburg,Austria, Europe, Salzburg

www.gi-forum.org

21 - 25 July GeoWeb 2008Vancouver , B.C., Canada

www.geoweb.org

August 20084 - 8 August6th International Conference on Case Histo-ries in Geotechncial Engineering Washington , D.C., USA

www.6icchge2008.org

5 - 7 AugustGEOBIA, 2008 - Pixels, Objects, Intelligence:Geo-Object Based Image Analysis for the21St Century Calgary , Alberta, Canada

www.ucalgary.ca/geobia

19 - 21 AugustMap Asia 2008Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

www.mapasia.org

25 - 26 AugustMap Africa 2008Cape Town, South Africa

http://mapafrica.gisdevelopment.net

September 20088 - 11 SeptemberTenth International Symposium on HighMountain Remote Sensing Cartography Kathmandu, Nepal

www.icimod-gis.net/news/showDetail.php?id=193

October 200829 - 3 October FOSS4G 2008Cape Town , South Africa

www.foss4g2008.org

30 - 2 October INTERGEOBremen, Germany

http://www.intergeo.de

19 - 21 August, 2008Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

www.MapAsia.org

10 - 13 February, 2009Hyderabad, India

www.MapWorldForum.org

25 - 26 August, 2008Cape Town, South Africa

http://mapafrica.gisdevelopment.net

6 - 8 February, 2008New Delhi, India

www.MapIndia.org

8 - 10 April, 2008Dubai, UAE

www.MapMiddleEast.org

Keynote Sessions

Business Meets

Exhibitions

Workshops & Seminars

Social Evenings

[email protected]

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