There's nothing new in Intergraph's positioning: the company continues to tout the products' ability to integrate into non-GIS workflows, support of industry standard architecture, performance, flexibility and customizability. There is also no change in the markets the company addresses: local government, land management, transportation, and defense. Two industries that did come up and piqued my interest because they seemed new to me: airports and small/medium water/waste water utilities. IntelliWhere's location-based offerings, Holmes suggests, are ripe for all of these industries to use.

So what's new in 5.0? In addition to Oracle, Access, and SQL Sever, the new release supports DB2 as a data warehouse. It'll be available soon, but is not certified at this time. The company has no intention of charging more to support this or any other database. Version 5.0 also supports access to the latest data formats of MapInfo, AutoCAD and Oracle. Until now there was no easy way to add GPS data to GeoMedia, but the new version supports reading text files, and solves that problem.

The Business Development Director from Space Imaging Middle East gave an overview of the company offerings. The questions were interesting. First, a delegate asked how to decide whether you need satellite imagery or aerial imagery. Dewey Marino said you have to work backwards - to start with what type of features you are looking to explore, then see which options are more economical. At least one attendee was surprised to learn that there were satellites taking pictures all over the world - without any restriction. The other big question was whether satellites would ever replace the need for detailed aerial imagery and photogrammetry. Marino argued no, that the two would continue to be complementary.

The other big news in data access has more to do with a change in Oracle packaging than changes in GeoMedia itself. The Standard Edition of Oracle now includes enhanced interMedia Locator functions, the core spatial tools. GeoMedia works with this lower priced version of Oracle as well as the higher priced Oracle Spatial.

On the cartography side, labels and grids are enhanced, and mixed fonts within labels are possible. Those who use imagery will find ECW support, image transparency and support for 11 and 33-bit imagery such as IKONOS. On the attribute side of things, there are now tools to calculate new items on-the-fly from other attributes. Basically, the user can define Excel-type formulas as the definitions of new items.

Analytical tools have been enhanced with variable buffers and tools to aggregate items based on spatial properties. The latter means copying attributes from one feature class to summarize them on a spatially related feature class. For example, it's possible to take land use data and associate it with a lower level of geography, such as a parcel.

There are still two desktop GeoMedias: GeoMedia and GeoMedia Pro. GeoMedia Professional updates include: aggregation, export to AutoCAD (MicroStation export has been available in previous releases), and access to the full topology API. As for plain GeoMedia, Intergraph has taken the wise step to add the ability to export to shape files. With shape files quickly becoming the de facto standard for data exchange, no true desktop package can do without this key function.

On the Internet side, Intergraph has updated the name of GeoMedia WebMap Enterprise to GeoMedia WebMap Professional. I'm all for consistency and applaud this decision to match the Web product names to the desktop product names. Besides, the Enterprise moniker did not really distinguish the two Web offerings since both were appropriate for the enterprise. Each one receives the benefits of the desktop product, but GeoMedia WebMap Professional also includes a quick start setup, advanced analysis and support for dynamic segmentation.

The big news for both Web mapping offerings is a new Java client, Jmap that frees the solution from a plug-in. Intergraph suggests this solution provides enhanced security. There is also WebGIS, a thick Java client, aimed at those needing advanced GIS tied to the Web. Also included is a working sample application that illustrates using Web Map as an OGC Web Map Server (WMS). Export options for Web visitors are expanded to include MapInfo Interchange Format, Oracle Object, Microsoft SQL Server, and/or AutoCAD (DXF or DWG) as well as the DGN and shape file formats already available.

Intergraph's literature notes that with Web Map Professional it is possible to build a site that allows end-users to perform dynamic segmentation, intersection, difference, and union overlay of linear event data. The material goes on to claim "no other Web product in the industry provides this powerful analytical capability that is critical to many transportation workflows."

The company's industry product line is expanding. GeoMedia Public Works, Parcel Manager and Transportation products have all been enhanced for 5.0. There are three newly announced industry products that will receive full rollouts at GeoSpatial World. GeoMedia Terrain aimed at 3D analysis and visualization was built by Intergraph with experience drawn from a similar product built on MGE. SMMS is aimed at those needed to create and manage metadata including the FGDC standards. GeoMedia Image, built on technology from Paragon, provides image analysis.

GeoMedia and GeoMedia Professional will be available beginning in June. GeoMedia WebMap, GeoMedia WebMap Professional, and the GeoMedia industry products will be available in the second half of 2002. The three new industry products do not yet have release dates.

Intergraph continues to grow its user base by offering focused extension products. This is not a new idea; Intergraph used the same strategy to boost MGE sales during its heyday. Now, however, Intergraph has a more robust, more modern and more user-friendly core on which to build. It seems as though the flurry of GIS applications built on CAD-based GIS platforms has been replaced by those built on other platforms.

Intergraph Announces New GeoMedia 5.0 Product Suite

LETTERS
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• Ken Lovett, Manager of the GIS Section of the Illinois Department of Revenue commented on my thoughts on the "top down" vs. "bottom up" approaches to GIS data sharing:

"In your 'GIS FORUM IN DUBAI' piece you wrote: 'I disagree with his response to a question about the role of a government leader dictating GIS data sharing. He felt it's the only way to go. I think it can work, as it did in Qatar, however at least in the US with governments changing regularly, a GIS may be more likely to succeed with support from the bottom up.'

"I think this only covers part of the problem. As a user (the "bottom" - although I've been called worse), there is only so much pushing I can do to create an open environment for, indeed an attitude of, data sharing. What I have found is that unless there is a realization by the top folks (either by their own idea or forced from a higher power) that GIS technology and data are actually useful - then the only sharing that occurs is the 'black market' kind between us bottom-dwellers.