3D News
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Central Networks 3-year GeoPerspectives agreement
Friday, November 16th, 2007Central Networks 3-year GeoPerspectives agreement
14 November 2007, 5:51pm
14th November 2007 - Central Networks, the electricity distribution company for central England, has signed a new licence agreement for GeoPerspectives aerial photography, extending the current agreement by a further 3 years. The licence provides access to aerial photography covering the Central Networks operating region of over 30,000 square kilometres. This will provide an up-to-date imagery dataset that will help identify the proximity of vegetation to overhead lines and the associated risk to customer supply.
Infoterra Ltd, a leader in the provision of geospatial products and services, will provide the photography to Central Networks, which is part of E.ON, one of the worlds largest power and gas companies, to help in the management of thousands of kilometres of power lines across the Midlands.
“We bring power to almost five million customers across central England, and to do so we operate enough overhead and underground cable to go round the Earth four times,” commented Mark Porter, Process & Performance Team Manager at Central Networks. “Using the GeoPerspectives imagery we can identify potential problems before they become an issue for our customers and provide our maintenance team with a list of specific locations where we know that factors such as vegetation are an issue.
“This process greatly increases our efficiency at managing the network, which ultimately benefits both our customers and the companys bottom line. The aerial imagery also provides a clearly auditable way of illustrating our overhead line maintenance programme during discussions with BERR and Ofgem,” he continued.
Central Networks is one of the first Distribution Network Operators to actively use aerial imagery as part of its strategy to comply with new Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reforms (BERR) Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity (ESQC) Regulations. The prime purpose of the ESQC Regulations is to provide for the safety of the public, and to ensure an electricity supply of adequate quality and reliability.
“Regular imagery updates will ensure that Central Networks continues to set the pace in the innovative use of geospatial information. In addition to trees, they will also be able to look at the potential impact on power lines from different land-use such as water bodies, tracks and roads, or even proximity to playing fields,” added Dr Andy Wells, Director of Sales at Infoterra Ltd.
GeoPerspectives is a joint venture between Infoterra and BlueSky providing national coverage of orthorectified aerial photography, digital terrain & surface models (DTM/DSM) for 3D modelling, and colour infra-red imagery (CIR) for vegetation analysis.
About GeoPerspectives
GeoPerspectives delivers the most comprehensive range of airborne acquired geospatial data for England and Wales. GeoPerspectives uses the latest technology to capture the most accurate aerial photography, colour infra-red imagery and digital terrain & surface models. Only GeoPerspectives offers existing national orthorectified aerial imagery and a guaranteed rolling five-year update programme. The data is used by government, commercial and academic professionals, including the Department for the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra), Highways Agency and over 240 UK Local Authorities.
GeoPerspectives is a joint venture between Infoterra Ltd and BlueSky International Ltd.
www.geoperspectives.co.uk
About Infoterra Ltd.
Infoterra Ltd is a leading provider of geographic information products and services. Its portfolio of geographic information solutions includes airborne and satellite data acquisition, geo-information creation, database management and outsourced hosting. Infoterra provides geospatial knowledge to companies worldwide to help them make informed decisions. The company has major customers in communications, utilities, engineering, agriculture, defence and oil, gas & mineral exploration.
Infoterra Ltd. is part of the Infoterra group, which comprises companies in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Astrium Ltd, an EADS company.
More at: www.infoterra.co.uk
Geo: International
Join Bentley at the PowerCivil Launch Days 2008
Friday, November 16th, 2007Join Bentley at the PowerCivil Launch Days 2008
14 November 2007, 5:00pm
PowerCivil is a comprehensive design solution offering engineers and designers a flexible 2D and 3D tool for all types of land development, site modeling, local road design and improvement projects, including junction design and remodeling. Just some of the projects PowerCivil can be used for are:
* Local road improvements - junctions and roundabouts
* Car parks, pedestrianisation, traffic calming or cycle lanes
* Residential, retail or brown field site development
* Commercial building, plant, and manufacturing sites
* Urban complexes, parks and golf courses
* Airports and rail terminals
* Dams, mines, and landfills
PowerCivil includes; full survey capability, digital terrain model creation, surface analysis, dynamic site modeling, road design and rehabilitation, drainage design and analysis, volume and quantity creation, plus plan preparation.
No CAD required!
Running stand-alone, including native support of DGN and DWG file formats, with high quality CAD tools built-in, intelligent, associative modeling allows you to handle virtually any type of civil engineering feature in an object-oriented context. PowerCivil also allows the creation 2D and 3D Adobe PDF’s, and includes Google Earth integration for fast, simple communication and sharing of design information with your clients and customers.
Follow the URL below to register:
http://mailings.bentley.com/c.html
?rtr=on&s=7hw,vq1i,12fs,jomm,ixvb,3z0o,oal
Check the list of venues to find the closest to your office, where we will be demonstrating PowerCivil during January and February 2008.
More at: www.bentley.com
Geo: International
AED-SICAD Staff Awarded Safe FME Accreditation
Friday, November 16th, 2007AED-SICAD Staff Awarded Safe FME Accreditation
14 November 2007, 3:39pm
As part of the launch of the new Safe Softwares FME Certification Program, AED-SICAD software experts have been granted FME Certified Professional designations based on their proven FME expertise.
The Safe Software FME Certification Program is a technical skill credentials program that helps identify high quality, knowledgeable FME consultants and trainers. Requirements to become a FME Certified Professional or FME Certified Trainer have been revised to ensure higher quality applicants. To this end, they need to pass an exam as well as a practical exercise on-site. Accredited individuals must demonstrate deep FME expertise and proven excellence in delivering FME training, support or consulting. Certification is a great way for FME service providers to gain a competitive edge in their industries. It also helps organizations with spatial ETL challenges to easily identify the highest quality consultants and trainers available in their local market.
AED-SICAD has long been among Germanys largest FME resellers and users. All significant migration methods in the utility industry, as well as in the land management and public sector are based on FME applications. AED-SICAD has built a strong reputation in the market as FME experts who can tackle projects with massive data requirements, says Don Murray, President of Safe Software. In fact, the AED-SICAD experts have built some of the largest FME workspaces weve ever seen! This is a true testament to their technical sophistication and deep understanding of spatial ETL. AED-SICAD has thus acquired an in-depth know-how of the software over the years. With the certification program, this expertise has now also been recognized by the software vendor, Safe Software.
About Safe Software and FME
Established in 1993, Safe Software is the maker of FME, the only true spatial ETL (extract, transform and load) platform that enables organizations to use and leverage spatial data in any format or application. Today, FME is used by thousands of customers in over 116 countries in a wide variety of industries.
FME provides the most extensive format support and powerful transformations to help organizations efficiently address the complete spectrum of spatial ETL tasks - from data translation and transformation to federation and distribution. Used by most GIS, CAD, ETL, and DB vendors, FME has emerged as the de facto integrated spatial ETL solution. FME is available in desktop and server solutions, and is also easily integrated into third-party CAD and GIS solutions, as well as most IT environments.
More at: www.aed-sicad.de
Geo: International
Leica Geosystems Geospatial at Wuhan University
Friday, November 16th, 2007Leica Geosystems Geospatial at Wuhan University
13 November 2007, 8:13pm
Norcross, Georgia, USA Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging is proud to announce a Center of Excellence in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing at Wuhan University, in Wuhan China. As a Leica Geosystems Center of Excellence, Wuhan University will incorporate Leica Geosystems products into their curriculum and research activities.
Selected because of their thought leadership, Wuhan Universitys Center of Excellence will focus on enterprise geospatial applications, traditional problems in remote sensing and photogrammetry, geospatial applications in mainstream business and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) compliance. In addition to providing funding and software, Leica Geosystems will also initiate special research projects, including participation in beta programs. The Center of Excellence will be operated out of the Universitys State Key Laboratory for Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), supporting a staff of professors and researchers.
“As Leica Geosystems continues to increase its global presence, we are excited to establish our first Center of Excellence in China,” said Brad Skelton, CTO, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging. “Wuhan University has demonstrated expertise in remote sensing and photogrammetry, specifically in the areas of automated image matching, gridded computing, and LIDAR and inSAR/DinSAR processing capabilities.”
“Wuhan University is honored to have been selected as a Leica Geosystems Center of Excellence,” said Professor Gong, Director of LIESMARS, Wuhan University. “This international industrial partnership provides vital resources for integrating new geospatial technologies, enhancing the Universitys existing strengths in the photogrammetry and remote sensing curriculums and research activities.”
Leica Geosystems Center of Excellence program was created to foster collaboration with outstanding academic institutions, committed to advancing concepts, technology and expertise leveraging geospatial information. The workflows and case studies developed using Leica Geosystems solutions in class settings, demonstrations and projects provide Leica Geosystems with keen insight to help refine its technology development. The Centers of Excellence also increase the companys visibility throughout the academic research community and with the students becoming the geospatial professionals of tomorrow.
In addition to Wuhan University, Leica Geosystems also has Centers of Excellence within the USA at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Arkansas.
More at: www.gi.leica-geosystems.com/
Geo: International
UN-SPIDER opens Office in Bonn 29 Oct 2007
Friday, November 16th, 2007UN-SPIDER opens Office in Bonn 29 Oct 2007
13 November 2007, 7:39pm
The newly established United Nations Platform for Spacebased Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), which is implemented by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), has opened its first office in Bonn, Germany, on Monday, 29 October 2007.
Check out:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24485&Cr=outer&Cr1=space.
The new office expected to be the first of several aims to carry out the UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). Unlike other recent initiatives where space-based information is used for humanitarian and emergency response, UNSPIDER is the first to focus also on the technologies to cover all stages of disaster, including the risk reduction phase which could significantly cut the loss of lives and property.
UN-SPIDER will provide universal access to all countries and interested organizations to space-based information and services on disaster management and will have a considerable impact on the way spacebased information is used in dealing with disasters around the world, said Franz Baumann, Deputy Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna. The programme, established by the UN General Assembly last December, hopes to assist countries and organizations by acting as a gateway to space-based information for disaster management support and facilitate developing countries in their capacity-building and institutional strengthening efforts.
UN-SPIDER offices are also scheduled to open in Beijing and Geneva.
Check also:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=23930.
More at: www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/unspider/index.ht…
Geo: International
Cadcorp supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Spatial
Friday, November 16th, 2007Cadcorp supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Spatial
13 November 2007, 6:04pm
Stevenage, UK. 13 November, 2007. Digital mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) software developer Cadcorp announced that support for the spatial enhancements of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 will be available in Cadcorp SIS Spatial Information System Version 7.0, due for release early in 2008.
“Spatially-enabled databases are becoming increasingly widespread and are no longer the preserve of large, enterprise, geo-spatial data stores. This change has been particularly marked in the UK with the now widespread adoption of Ordnance Survey MasterMap and the increased storage and management requirements that this has brought, stated Martin Daly, technical director, Cadcorp. Cadcorp SIS will help provide users of SQL Server 2008 spatial technologies with enhanced functionality and significant value, he added.
We rely on our partner community to provide solutions based on the spatial enhancements in SQL Server 2008, said Kim Saunders, senior director of SQL Server marketing at Microsoft Corp. Combining SQL Server 2008 spatial technology with the capabilities of the Cadcorp SIS client allows Cadcorp to offer an alternative to spatial databases that are already on the market.
More at: www.cadcorp.com
Geo: International
Ubisense strengthens North American team
Friday, November 16th, 2007Ubisense strengthens North American team
13 November 2007, 6:01pm
Denver, Colorado and Cambridge UK - November 7, 2007 - Ubisense announces that Russ Chandler has joined Ubisense Inc. as President. Russ is a serial entrepreneur having founded and exited several high growth, high tech businesses in his career. Most recently, Russ has been President and CEO of a Denver-based time and labor tracking company called TimeCentre, which he recently sold to new investors. The company was active in selling solutions to the Manufacturing sector. Before that he was President and CEO of a start-up that rapidly grew to dominate its market space before becoming a division of General Electric. In addition, Ubisense also announces the appointment of manufacturing industry veteran Ron Holmes as Sales Director. Ron joins the company following nearly two decades of selling enterprise solutions into Fortune 500 Manufacturers such as GE, Pratt & Whitney and Boeing.
“We are very excited about both appointments,” stated Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense. “Russ’s track record in driving exponential growth will be of tremendous benefit to our North American team. Since the launch of our new product in June, the team has been installing distributed Real-time Location Systems (RTLS) covering hundreds of thousands of square feet in mission critical production facilities. The demand for our new system is great and these appointments will allow the Company to grow to meet this demand in delivering mission critical RTLS solutions that our customers rely on.”
Raghu Das CEO IDTechEx, Inc. - a knowledge based consulting company specialising in printed electronics, RFID and smart packaging based in Cambridge, MA - commented “We have long seen the need for precise real time location tracking in people, plant and equipment rich environments such as manufacturing and logistics. As organisations strive to improve their enterprise resource planning and process automation, real time location solutions such as that provided by Ubisense will become a major enabler for them.”
Contact Information
enquiries@ubisense.net
More at: www.ubisense.net
Geo: International
Safe Software Certifies Top FME Experts
Friday, November 16th, 2007Safe Software Certifies Top FME Experts
13 November 2007, 5:56pm
Vancouver, BC - November 13, 2007 Today Safe Software granted official FME Certified accreditation to FME experts from around the world. These individuals are the first to be formally assessed and recognized as part of a new FME Certification Program that is designed to identify training and consulting professionals with deep FME expertise and a proven record of high quality service.
More than 50 individuals in 17 countries have received designation as FME Certified Professional and/or FME Certified Trainer. These highly qualified experts can now reap the benefits that professional accreditation offers.
Peaklane Solutions is proud to be recognized as part of the FME Certification Program. This program is yet another initiative from a vendor who has continually provided top-level support to its customers, partners and user community. Certification is a great opportunity for a consultancy such as ours to further strengthen our reputation and demonstrate to customers our ongoing commitment to delivering high quality, innovative solutions using FME technology.
Emil Vulin, Director, Peaklane Solutions
We are delighted that David Eagles deep product knowledge and expertise has been formally recognized by Safe. Our FME training courses are already very popular, and this accreditation can only help by reassuring customers that they are being trained by the very best.”
Duncan Hill, Commercial Director, Dotted Eyes Ltd.
“SWECOs vision is to be recognized as one of Europe’s most respected providers of consulting services in the fields of engineering, environmental technology and architecture. This important accreditation provides us with a new way to establish and validate our credibility in the market as high quality service providers with a deep level of FME expertise.”
Ulf Månsson, Project Manager, SWECO
Certified individuals represent a variety of training and consulting organizations, including: AED SICAD, Alaska Map Science, Beijing Antu, California CAD, Consortech, con terra, Dotted Eyes, ESRI, Front Point Consulting, GIS Innovations, GISTEC, INSER SA, Intergraph, Irish Mapping + GIS Solutions (IMGS), Lagen Spatial, Lantmäteriverket/Metria, LogicaCMG, Navigate, NENCA, Pixel Softek PVT., Red Geographics, SWECO, TYDAC and Veremes. A list of FME Certified Professionals and Trainers is available at www.safe.com/cert.
We are thrilled to be able to formally recognize the high quality FME expertise of service providers around the globe, said Don Murray, Safe Software President. The new FME Certification Program offers these FME experts another way to foster credibility and a competitive edge in their industries. It also helps Safe Software customers identify who they can rely in their local market for the highest standard for FME expertise and service.
About the FME Certification Program
The Safe Software FME Certification Program is a technical skill credentials program that identifies high quality, knowledgeable FME consultants and trainers. There are two designations available: FME Certified Professional and FME Certified Trainer. Individuals who receive these prestigious designations have demonstrated deep expertise in FME and the ability to meet the quality standards set by Safe Software. Visit www.safe.com/cert for more information.
More at: www.safe.com/cert
Geo: International
Smart Grid Technology Directs Future for Utilities
Friday, November 16th, 2007Smart Grid Technology Directs Future for Utilities
13 November 2007, 5:55pm
Redlands, CaliforniaSmart grid technology seized the spotlight at this years ESRI Electric and Gas User Group (EGUG) Conference. Keynote speakers suggested that the smart grid concept is the foundation for a new era of power system management. Moreover, they described how geographic information system (GIS) technology is an essential component of this transformation technology.
Speaking to more than 400 participants in a video address at the EGUG Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 8, CenterPoint Energys GIS manager Cindi Salas explained how her company is nearing completion of a limited deployment designed to test the effectiveness of smart grid technology.
Salas stated, The smart grid concept is a transformation opportunity for the industry. Individual utilities cannot opt out and still achieve the level of transformation required. Consumer demand for more reliable and faster response and improved performance has driven CenterPoint Energy to evaluate technologies that will help satisfy a full spectrum of communication needs. GIS technology will play a key role in the automation strategy in that it will provide the initial infrastructure data that will fuel the automated analytics. In addition, the results of analytics on the intelligent grid are best presented in a geographic dimension.
In a video address to attendees, ESRI president Jack Dangermond spoke about GIS trends utilities are implementing that support the smart grid concept. ArcGIS Server with intelligent technology standards for interoperability leads to faster and improved performance speeds needed for dynamic data representations, Dangermond explained. This enables transitions from a static to a real-time environment that incorporate many different types of data. For example, weather information, truck tracking, and sensor device information can be quickly brought into an application with the smart grid to model the service network. This is changing the way utilities monitor their grids and manage their businesses.
The utility of the future requires more than progress; it requires change, suggested Bill Meehan, ESRIs Utility Solutions director. GIS is breakthrough technology. It is integral to the call center for directing customer service, foundational for advanced metering systems, and essential for decision support.
The EGUG Conference was hosted by Nashville Electric Service (NES). The companys vice president of operations (engineering), Paul H. Allen, delivered the keynote address in which he explained many of the GIS applications being used in the companys enterprise system. He described cost-efficient benefits such as how GIS has improved the companys outage management system, reducing outage durations by approximately half. Another example was the integration of automated vehicle location routing GIS applications that deliver real-time fleet management data, which also has resulted in significant savings in man-hours and field costs for NES.
Conference attendees benefited from paper sessions and panel discussions presented by other electric and gas GIS users. They also attended ESRI product demonstrations and participated in community discussions about concerns, solutions, and technology needs. ESRI business partners were available to showcase their latest GIS applications and possibilities for the electric and gas industry. Learn more about the EGUG Conference and see papers at www.esri.com/EGUG.
More at: www.esri.com/EGUG
Geo: International
IBM to Acquire Cognos in new BI Initiative
Friday, November 16th, 2007IBM to Acquire Cognos in new BI Initiative
12 November 2007, 7:26pm
ARMONK, NY and OTTAWA, November 12, 2007 - IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN) (TSX: CSN) today announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire Cognos, a publicly-held company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in an all-cash transaction at a price of approximately $5 billion USD or $58 USD per share, with a net transaction value of $4.9 billion USD. The acquisition is subject to Cognos shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.
The acquisition of Cognos supports IBM’s Information on Demand strategy, a cross-company initiative announced on February 16, 2006 that combines IBM’s strength in information integration, content and data management and business consulting services to unlock the business value of information. Integrating Cognos, the 23rd IBM acquisition in support of its Information on Demand strategy, will enable new business insights to be delivered to a broader set of people across an organization, beyond the traditional users of business intelligence.
IBM said the acquisition fits squarely within both its acquisition strategy and capital allocation model, and that it will contribute to the achievement of the company’s objective for earnings-per-share growth through 2010.
“Customers are demanding complete solutions, not piece parts, to enable real-time decision making,” said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Software Group. “IBM has been providing Business Intelligence solutions for decades. Our broad set of capabilities from data warehousing to information integration and analytics together with Cognos, position us well for the changing Business Intelligence and Performance Management industry. We chose Cognos because of its industry-leading technology that is based on open standards, which complements IBM’s Service Oriented Architecture strategy.”
Together, IBM and Cognos will become the leading provider of technology and services for Business Intelligence (BI) and Performance Management, delivering the industry’s most complete, open standards-based platform with the broadest range of expertise to help companies expand the value of their information, optimize their business processes and maximize performance across their enterprises.
The acquisition of Cognos accelerates IBM’s global Information on Demand initiative to unlock the business value of information for our customers. IBM will provide broader reach for Cognos solutions across multiple industries and geographies with a more complete set of offerings, including consulting services, hardware, and other middleware software.
Cognos provides the only complete BI and performance management platform, fully integrated on an open-standards-based service oriented architecture (SOA), and has a strong history of supporting heterogeneous application environments, consistent with IBM’s approach. With Cognos, customers can turn data into actionable insight for coordinated, information-driven decision-making to improve overall performance. Cognos will also extend IBM’s reach further into the CFO office with powerful financial planning and consolidation capabilities.
“This is an exciting combination for our customers, partners, and employees. It provides us with the ability to expand our vision as the leading BI and Performance Management provider,” said Rob Ashe, president and chief executive officer, Cognos. “IBM is a perfect complement to our strategy, with minimal overlap in products, a broad range of technology synergies, and the resources, reach, and world-class services to accelerate this vision. Furthermore, this combination allows Cognos customers to leverage a broader set of solutions from IBM to advance their information management driven initiatives.”
Together, IBM and Cognos will expand IBM’s ability to provide customers with the right information they need when they need it, to optimize operational performance, and to quickly respond to changing market demands. The combination of IBM’s information management technology and Cognos will also help organizations discover new ways to use trusted information spread across their enterprises to identify new business opportunities and significantly reduce the expense and time required to address industry-specific business challenges.
Following completion of the acquisition, IBM intends to integrate Cognos as a group within IBM’s Information Management Software division, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management. IBM also will appoint current Cognos President and CEO, Rob Ashe, to lead the group, reporting directly to General Manager, Ambuj Goyal.
Cognos has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 25,000 customers. IBM and Cognos have partnered for more than 15 years, with extensive technical integrations and eight pre-integrated joint solutions already supporting many joint customers, such as New York City Police Department, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee, Canadian Tire, MetLife, and Bayer UK.
Other strategic acquisitions in support of IBM’s Information on Demand initiative include Princeton Softech (data archiving and compliance), FileNet (enterprise content management), Ascential Software (information integration), DataMirror (changed data capture), SRD (entity analytics), Trigo (product information management), DWL (customer information management) and Alphablox (analytics).
More information on IBM’s acquisition of Cognos is available on IBM’s investor Web site at: http://www.ibm.com/investor/viewpoint/ircorner/2007/07-11-12-1.phtml.
About IBM
For more information about IBM’s Information on Demand strategy, go to: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/information-on-demand/. Additional details about the combination of IBM and Cognos are available at: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/info/cognos
More at: www.cognos.com
Geo: International
« Previous Entries Next Entries »