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MAPINFO Q4 RESULTS: ON THE PLUS SIDE
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Fourth quarter 2002 revenues for MapInfo were $23.6 million compared to $26.4 million for the same quarter in 2001. Operating income was $66,000, a small number but a significant step forward, compared to an operating loss of $2.1 million in the fourth quarter last year. Net income for the fourth quarter was $86,000, or $0.01 per share, compared to a net loss of $2.1 million, or $0.14 per share last year. The company ended the fiscal year with $36.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. For the whole year 2002, MapInfo reported revenues of $92.6 million and a net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.16 per share.
Geographically, revenues played out this way: In the U.S., revenue was $12.8 million, up about $1 million over last quarter, but well below the year-ago quarter. The weakness was blamed on the continued telecommunications slowdown. Europe was at $7.9 million, up from last quarter. In Europe, location-based services (LBS) played a key role bringing in $500,000 for the quarter and $1.7 million in revenue for the year. Asia Pacific was at $2.9 million, down over the year ago quarter, but perhaps expected as the company finishes shutting down its office in the region and working through a partner.
From the product side, the breakdown looked like this: data accounted for 43% of revenues (equal to last year), software accounted for 48% (vs 46% last year) and services 9% (vs 11% last year). Communications accounted for 20% of revenue (down from 25% last quarter and 30% last year), government 30% (up from 20% last year) and retail 10%.
The company had 61 transactions over $50,000 for $6.7 million or 28% of the quarterly revenue. That figure is up from 51 in the last quarter, but down from the 81 of a year ago. There was a single one million dollar transaction-from AT&T.; Other big customers included Verizon, Nextel, Orange, Siemens, Northrop Grumman, NIMA, Office Depot and Sears. The company is 12% smaller than last year, down to 680 employees from 770 a year ago.
The company moved out of the 40,000-square-foot building and into the new 150,000-square-foot building early in October. The Albany Business Journal reports that the company moved its 1 Global View address to the new building, with the old building now listed as 4 Global View. Through September MapInfo spent $19.2 million on the project and expects the total at about $21.4 million, $700,000 less than budgeted.
Next year may see a small loss in the first half of the year, but revenues should strengthen in the second half of the year. The company expects a return of 12-16 cents per share, and growth of about 10%.
Mark Cattini, president and CEO, reviewed the company's three business units. In Location-based intelligence (LBI, what I think of as GIS) there was significant revenue from existing telecommunication customers, an insurance call center application, and a large credit card customer. NIMA has committed to a 3-year order totaling $1.5 million. The FAA purchased software and there is increasing demand for services. Cattini also noted wins in homeland security but mentioned only NYC Police Counter Terrorism. Fifty grants have awarded in the company's homeland security grant program and the program has been extended through November. The competitive upgrade program is also underway - it focuses on providing a solution without a hardware upgrade.
Analytical Customer Relationship Management (ACRM) had a few wins including a supermarket chain. It's a test project with the potential of 8 more markets. TargetPro 4.0 shipped - it's the first entirely in-house solution in that arena for MapInfo. There have been some early "teething" challenges, which the company is addressing. Quarterly income from TargetPro was small, but the company is optimistic that in the long run, the product is a winner. Cattini mentioned the lawsuit with SRC and made clear that MapInfo disagrees with SRC's claims. There is a new VP of ACRM, Kevin Antram.
Location-based services (LBS) sales continue to depend on partners. This quarter customer/partners include Mobilarus, Vodafone, and Neumobility. Telus Mobility launched a solution. The company feels that "heightened pressure on investments" is the single biggest factor limiting spending on LBS. MapInfo continues to work LBS Request For Proposals (RFPs)-two in North America and three in Europe are still pending. One may be awarded in this calendar year.
For 2003 the company hopes to tackle several key issues: continued diversification of revenue, stronger public sector performance, support for homeland security, and expanding ACRM (perhaps by acquisition). The goal of 10% organic growth over four years will be split up this way: 50% from LBI, 33% from ACRM and the remainder from LBS.
I pulled these tidbits from the question and answer period, which was surprisingly short compared to other MapInfo calls I've heard:
Operating expenses will be up in Q1 due to "a number of little things": marketing ($300K), new Microsoft licensing ($100K), facilities ($150K), and insurance ($150/quarter).
The company expects LBS to bring in $4-5 million in 2003.
The sales organization dropped in size to 163 from 184 at the beginning of the fiscal year. The company is hiring in this area.
From my perspective, MapInfo is doing quite nicely, considering the economy. Keeping revenues on par, or in its case at a penny per share above, is a tough feat. While I agree with MapInfo diversification strategy, I think that pegging 50% of future growth on LBI is quite a lot. LBI, recall, is what most of us call GIS software. LBI growth is slated toward public sector and homeland security users. Public sector GIS software has a long history with MapInfo's main competitors: ESRI and Intergraph. And, homeland security money is still feeling rather far away.
Recall also the comments made by an investment analyst that I shared last week about how much of the homeland security money is going toward people, not toward equipment. While MapInfo's current marketing approach to LBI focuses on the "no new hardware required" benefit, I'm not sure how long that will be meaningful. Hardware is not the largest cost of the GIS budget equation these days, and I think if anything, the hardware investments are the least of GIS users worries.
INTERGRAPH Q3 RESULTS: SOME CHANGES IN IMGS
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Intergraph reported a 9% increase in revenue and 21% increase in operating income for Q3, compared to Q2 2002. Net income was $2.7 million, or $.05 per share (diluted). Revenue and income from operations were about the same as the year ago quarter, mostly due to big one-time contracts outside of Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (IMGS). For those who are especially observant, this is a new name for the division (more on that below).
CEO Jim Taylor, who had already announced he'll be stepping down once a new CEO is onboard, noted three important aspects to this positive quarter: this was the seventh consecutive quarter of profits for each of the core businesses, there was a favorable verdict in the Texas litigation against Intel and the company acquired the 40% of Z/I Imaging that it did not own.
The company expects next year to look a lot like this year and noted in the press release improvements in divisions that focus on public safety and on the process, power, and offshore industries. On the other hand, divisions that focus on state and local governments, utilities and communications, mapping/GIS, and earth imaging are still slow.
The combined IMGS and Z/I results for the quarter were up 5% over last quarter and 7% over the year ago quarter. Operating income is down substantially in the first 9 months of the fiscal year due to the slow economy. The plan for the short-term includes a focus on end-to-end geospatial workflows in carefully selected target markets, though there were no details on which markets.
There are some interesting changes to the IMGS division. As of October Z/I Imaging became a wholly-owned subsidiary of IMGS, shrinking the number of divisions to just four. Earnings for the two divisions were combined for this earnings period, as they will be in the future. Also, Utilities and Communications (UC) previously held within the Intergraph Public Safety and Utilities & Communications Division (IPS), has been shifted into IMGS.
UC has seen low profits and the company expects that trend to continue. I agree with Intergraph's statements that moving UC to IMGS will encourage business synergies and cost reduction opportunities. I also think that Intergraph has been and is continuing to encourage FRAMME users to explore GeoMedia, another reason to keep the groups closer, rather than further apart. I would have expected this change to happen earlier in the reorganization of the company, but the positive outlook in telecommunications several years ago may have been a factor is keeping UC in IPS this long. The move will be completed in Q4 and will be in effect for the next fiscal year. Expect to hear more in the coming weeks about what this change will mean for products and customers.
With the addition of UC, IMGS has taken "GIS" out of its name and replaced it with "Geospatial." The change aims to differentiate the division from existing "pure" GIS companies.
The focus of the call, and the questions, was the Intel litigation and how money brought in from other patent users would impact the company's bottom line in the coming years. The judge pronounced a "Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction" on October 30th against Intel. Intel will pay Intergraph $150 million but may (1) pay $100 million for use of the PIC patent, (2) appeal (which if they lose, will cost another $100 million) or (3) design around the infringement, that is, redesign the chip so that it does not infringe. Virtually all of the hour's worth of questions focused on how the company would go after this new source of revenue.
STORY UPDATES
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• Greenwich Time updated the status on the local man's fight to gain access to GIS and other data records via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Greenwich is considering moving forward on two fronts: appealing a decision in Whitaker's favor up to the state Supreme Court, and encouraging state legislators to amend the State version of the FOIA. A trial balloon on the latter was not received warmly. Also, see a letter on this topic below.
• The town of Boxford, MA, in a special election voted down only one article on a warrant: spending $10,000 on Pictometry imagery and software. The local paper reported the purchase was rejected because of the uncertainty of the cost of removing asbestos from the town hall. The Police Department of Wellesley, MA, has requested $7,810 as part of its 2004 capital budget for Pictometry images.
• Biggs, California will not change its name to "Got Milk?" On Monday night, the City Council rejected a proposal from the California Milk Processor Board that would have changed the name of the town of 1,793. The whole incident, which started with a letter from executive director of the milk board to the mayor, caused hard feelings, a mayoral recall effort, and visits from many media outlets, including ABC's "Good Morning America."
REFER A FRIEND, WIN A PRIZE!
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Assistant Director, Information Systems, Summit County Government, Colorado.
This week, think of others who could put this information to good use: your sales force, your manager, students exploring geospatial careers, GIS instructors, members of your GIS user group... For every person's e-mail address you suggest as a new subscriber, you'll get a chance to win one of FIVE copies of GeoMedia generously provided by Intergraph. GeoMedia is the universal information integrator, serving as a visualization and analysis tool and as an open platform for custom GIS solutions.
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LETTERS
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• Bruce Westcott shared a letter he wrote to the Greenwich paper which was the source of the "Point of Interest" last week regarding Stephen Whitaker's actions in using the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to GIS data for republication:
"Vigdor's story of October 25 said: 'The Greenwich resident won a similar battle in Vermont when he lived there in the early 1990s.' As one of the defendants in 'Whitaker v. State of Vermont' I can say that Whitaker won nothing. His case consistently failed to get judicial attention, or action, let alone victory.
"My understanding is that Vermont's Open Records law is, and was then much different than law impacting Greenwich. Vermont GIS records are and always have been completely accessible to the public. Whitaker was a public nuisance, and did nothing to enhance access in Vermont. Any review of the facts of his case or the actions of the public sector demonstrate that. Then again, Whitaker was a master at self-promotion. Apparently nothing changes."
• I received several letters regarding the state of GIS conferences including why people do, or do not, attend and what is broken:
A municipal GIS user no longer attends URISA and shared these reasons:
"Content shifted from scholarly to vendor promotional.
"ESRI dominated every aspect of the show. Microsoft dominated every platform.
"I didn't see the evolution back to GIS being a complementary technology to IT.
They tend to ignore important aspects of data management and integration to focus on 'wizards.'
"Yes we need vendors there but they used to be guests and now they (a select few)
own the conference.
"If Open Source, alternate platform companies, RDBMS vendors and real scholars return, I'd likely go back."
Kim H. McDonough who works in GIS in the Nashville, TN, Metropolitan Planning Department shared praise for URISA:
"You were right on the money about the benefits of attending URISA. I make a point of attending the presentations, and always visit the vendors to see what they are up to. But I have come to really enjoy the networking with others. I find I learn the most just sitting (or standing) and talking with others that are in the same line of work as I am. We all have something to learn and give to each other.
"The perfect example of the strength of URISA was at the social on Tuesday night. I passed a table where four people were engaged in close conversation. One was from New York City, another from Rutherford County Tennessee and two from Boise Idaho! What a great experience! That is the foremost reason I attend URISA."
Brent A. Jones, PE, PLS, Vice President of Energy & Telecommunications Services at James W. Sewall Company, shared his thoughts on conferences and what's not working:
"I really appreciate your recent commentary regarding the commercialism/sales pitches at technical sessions at conferences. It was thoughtful and accurate. My experience with conferences reveals that getting every speaker to conform to 'no commercial content' is nearly impossible. It is frustrating and it gives GIS professionals less professional status."
• Dr. David Jameson, CTO and founder, of DigiPortal Software responded to my review of the company's ChoiceMail a few weeks ago. I'd commented on one of my client's suggestions that I accept an entire domain, but I was hesitant to do so:
"Thank you so much for the nice write-up in your newsletter. It's definitely true that ChoiceMail is still a little harder to configure than we would like but it is getting easier with each release.
"By the way, I strongly encourage you NOT to accept domains - you're correct to be concerned. We added that feature because some users wanted it but there's no question that accepting a domain opens the door to spammers."
POINTS OF INTEREST
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• The result of a three-year study by the Metropolitan Council of Governments of 363 miles of roadways around Washington D.C. may help planners decide where to spend dollars on traffic congestion. Two test vehicles, which carried GPS, traveled routes repeatedly on weekdays. Road segments were given grades from A, moving at the speed limit, to F, grid-lock. In downtown Washington, a New York Times (free registration required) article notes, between 5 and 6 p.m. 42 percent of segments received E or F grades. The researchers have more confidence in the study over past efforts because GPS tracks everything and does not rely on drivers to click stopwatches. Incidentally, one driver, a temporary employee, was dismissed after deviating from his route to visit McDonalds. The next task for the researchers: revisit routes documented in 1999 to look for changes.
• I was pleased to hear geographer Maxx Dilley quoted on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" this week while I was answering the door for trick-or-treaters. In a very interesting segment from Chris Joyce about planning for and making money from El Nino, Dilley, a Research Scientist in Disaster and Risk Management at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction based at Columbia University, described what countries might do to prepare for expected impacts of El Nino. Dilley is a fellow graduate of Penn State's geography department and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.
• Ready for reality TV that's good for you? Try "Rough Science" on PBS. A joint production of the BBC and Open University, in association with WETA Washington, D.C., the shows drops five scientists on two different islands and asks them to perform several challenges. The rules: they get three days and minimal tools to do the job. The first episode will appeal to readers of GIS Monitor: the teams had to (1) map the island (they made a surveyor's wheel and used trigonometry to measure the highest point to with 3% of its actual height) (2) create paper and ink from materials on the island (lots of chemistry here) and (3) record the sounds of the animals (think of Edison's first wax tubes and you are on track). The website details how the scientist built and used the tools. Some of these would make great science fair projects!
• The Princeton Shape Retrieval and Analysis Group offers a new search engine on its website. It searches for 2D and 3D shapes. You draw a side, top and front view (very nice drawing tools, I might add) and the database is searched for models that match. My simple rectangle for side, top, and front returned a fireplace, a cabinet, and a refrigerator. When I used a circle I was presented with some heads, a toaster, and a shiny red apple. I'm not sure how this applies to GIS and visualization, but it seems to me there are times when researchers will want to find other occurrences of 3D patterns, just as we use 2D patterns in feature extraction from imagery. In any case, this is very fun to play with!
• This winter, a full test of a new system to track players and the ball during soccer (football for European readers) will begin at a stadium in Nuremberg, Germany. Players put card-sized receivers in their shin pads and ball carriers a tiny receiver. Antennae around the field collect the data, crunch it and provide information to referees on wrist devices. The system can track if players are offsides, if the ball is out of bounds, or did in fact enter the net. Here in the U.S. we are discussing using "instant replay" in college football, but this sounds even better. In particular, I don't want to see my favorite coach, Joe Paterno, mixing it up with refs anymore!
• Transplant Computing has released a GPS package designed to communicate with Palm OD PDA's via Bluetooth connection. The idea is that instead of cramming a GPS chip into a PDA, or filling a "slot" with one, the GPS is free floating, but can communicate with the PDA. Says a review at BargainPDA, this is a real bonus since the GPS can be a good spot for a GPS - on the car's dash or attached to a hat - rather than stuck in a pocket. At more than $300, the price may have to drop a bit for casual users to buy in, but the concept is a good one.
• Wired reports that much of New York City is well covered when it comes to wireless Internet access. Still, one area is a notorious dead zone: Harlem. Geography still matters.
WEEK IN REVIEW
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• Announcements
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GeoFields, Inc. announced that it has joined the ESRI Runtime Reseller Program. Under this agreement, ESRI technologies are now embedded within the GeoFields Facility Explorer architecture instead of running separately.
Analytical Surveys, Inc. (ASI) announced that effective Oct 31, its Nasdaq ticker symbol has reverted back to "ANLT" from the temporary symbol "ANLTD." The Company's common stock had been trading under the temporary symbol since October 2.
A recently found long forgotten map may be part of the explanation of what happened at the Quecreek Minewhere 8 miners were trapped for days, earlier this year.
GeoDecisions signed a formal partnership agreement to become part of NovaLIS Technologies' Business Partner Consultants and Resellers Programs.
Terralogic, Inc. announced the public release of UFOMAPPER 551. Terralogic, Inc. developed and maintains the free system for public entertainment and research value. The web site uses Internet map server technology to track UFO sightings, related abductions and associated injuries.
NovaLIS Technologies has created a technical support division and enhanced its training program.
Earth Resource Mapping formed a partnership with Infoterra, UK, a geographic data consultancy and software solutions/services provider.
People in the U.S. seeking information on whether their water system is fluoridated can now find out by visiting a new website at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A new feature is "Oral Health Maps," a geographic information system (GIS) application. These maps provide state or county profiles with selected demographic and water fluoridation information for participating states. The system uses ESRI's MapCafe interface and is quite slow to load.
Autodesk, blaming the "exceptionally difficult business environment," updated it guidance for the quarter, expecting a 6% shortfall in quarterly revenue. Pre-forma earnings will fall one or two cents under consensus estimate of six cents a share. Autodesk shares fell 6% in premarket trading. Further cost reductions are expected in the fourth quarter. In other Autodesk news, the Discreet division announced it plans to lay off 30% of its systems staff in Europe, and move all the remaining employees from its systems business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to its London headquarters in the Soho district.
QC Data's Board has approved the necessary funding for the company to actively and aggressively identify opportunities, perform the necessary due diligence and complete acquisitions to enhance QC Data's service offerings and growth opportunities.
Maporama and NP6, the editor of ASP-based MailPerformance email solutions, today announced a strategic partnership to develop a new direct multi-channel geo-marketing solution.
Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions today announced the second annual GeoMedia Poster Competition for students and GeoMedia Best Practices Awards for educators.
Airbiquity Inc. announced a multi-year deal by a top telematics supplier to license the company's digital aqLink software for use in a new in-vehicle telematics unit. This OEM telematics device is expected to be available in automobiles beginning in the 2004 model year and will be compatible with existing call center technology.
ImageSat International has a new partnership with Apogee Imaging International, which will serve as the company's exclusive distributor in Australia.
SPOT IMAGE, S.A. and Raytheon Australia signed a three-year Channel Partnership contract for exclusive SPOT distribution rights to all Australian clients.
Arizona is the first place winner of the fifth annual Digital State Survey conducted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Center for Digital Government. The states rounding out the top five in the 2002 survey are Michigan, Washington, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
ESRI will demonstrate its ArcGIS for Tablet PC at the official launch of the tablet PCs at the New York launch on Nov. 7. Autodesk will show a version of its Architectural Studio.
GeoDecisions recently joined Spatial Technologies Industry Association (STIA).
Clark Labs announced that the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) has selected IDRISI for use in its programs that target the effective integration of GIS across the liberal arts curriculum.
Laser-Scan and Autodesk are holding a joint one-day seminar on Wednesday 27th November to demonstrate how Radius Topology and Autodesk products work together. The session will be held in Farnborough, Hampshire
Insurance & Technology magazine and Questerra are hosting a free online WebEvent on November 21st, detailing how location-based decision support can help reduce exposure for insurance companies.
PlanGraphics, Inc. has joined the Oracle Homeland Security Partner Initiative.
• Contracts and Sales
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The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), has chosen Eastman Kodak Company as a prime contractor on its Softcopy Search project, designed to provide a more efficient and effective way to detect changes of significance in large imagery datasets.
The Oregon Educational Technology Consortium (OETC) has signed an agreement with ESRI that will allow the OETC to promote, sell, duplicate, and disseminate ESRI software to K-12 school members. Members of the OETC will also have access to ESRI's ArcView versions 3 and 8 for Windows and ArcView 3.0a for Macintosh.
Sanborn announced that Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a provider of products and services for catastrophe risk management, has contracted with the Pelham, New York-based GIS and photogrammetry firm to develop building-level geodata for use in its portfolio management and underwriting applications.
UAI (Utility Automation Integrators, Inc.) added 12 clients and signed contracts totaling $4.2 million
Trimble announced that Samsung Electronics has selected the Company as its primary supplier for Global Positioning System (GPS) time and frequency receivers for its next generation CDMA base stations that will be used in KDDI Corporation's mobile network in Korea.
Conclusive Strategies announced it has entered into new agreements with American Suzuki Motor Corporation to provide retail network management-related consulting services. Conclusive Strategies performed open point analysis on behalf of Suzuki to identify potential locations for new motorcycle and ATV dealer points around the United States. Suzuki's objective is to find points of opportunity that are not served by the existing dealer network.
The Northeast Applications of Usable Technology In Land Planning for Urban Sprawl (NAUTILUS) project, a NASA-funded RESAC (Regional Earth Science Applications Center) project at the University of Connecticut, launched an Image Web Server website built on Earth Resources Mapping technology.
geoVue, a provider of location intelligence solutions, and Curves, the first club to offer 30-minute fitness and weight-loss facilities designed for women, announced that Curves has completed the rollout of geoVue's iSITE for site selection, and is coming back for more global data and professional services.
3001 Inc. is the first company to take advantage of Leica Geosystems' new LIDAR Upgrade Program, which includes several high-value performance upgrades that bring older ALS40 models to the state-of-the-art configuration of newer systems.
ASPRS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) formally entered into a contract agreement to support the ASPRS/NASA Ten-Year Remote Sensing Industry Forecast. Under the contract, NOAA will fund a complete written summary of the Forecast that will be available to those interested.
UK Perspectives has won three national government orders to supply the MAPS ortho dataset (the first fully orthorectified image dataset of England) amounting to over 300,000 1km tiles in Enhanced Compressed Wavelet (ECW) format. The contracts are with the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Countryside Agency, and English Nature.
Autodesk, Inc. announced that FirstEnergy Corp. is expanding its deployment of Autodesk's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solution to include areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey following a merger with GPU, Inc. FirstEnergy will be adding additional licenses of the Autodesk GIS Design Server to its existing deployment. (GIS Design Server is the name for technology once known as Vision.) EMERGE, a provider of high quality digital imagery and digital sensor technology, announced several new imagery contracts and the delivery of its first Digital Sensor System. Imagery uses include forestry, pipeline management, public land management and visualization.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. announced that the company's Geographic Information Products Group has been awarded a one-year contract by the United States Air Force Eagle Vision Program. The agreement, valued at $1.2 million (CDN), enables the USAF to routinely receive RADARSAT-1 imagery at its three Eagle Vision portable ground stations.
EarthData purchased a Leica ALS40 Airborne Laser Scanner for use in creating high-resolution LIDAR-derived elevation data.
The San Diego State University (SDSU) Geography Department purchased a departmental license of the Feature Analyst extension for ArcGIS in Spring 2002.
NovAtel Inc. has been awarded a C$142,000 contract by Public Works & Government Services Canada for an Interoperability study on the receiver requirements for Galileo.
Trimble and Spraying Systems Co. announced today they have formed a strategic alliance to develop and market Global Positioning System (GPS)-based assisted steering for ag application control systems. The technology will be used to automatically guide sprayers, spreaders and combines while regulating the application of fertilizers or crop protection products, or harvesting crops.
• Products
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Safe Software added support for the Ordnance Survey (OS) MasterMap V2 Address Layer to its FME software.
Wallingford Software announced the launch of InfoNet, the water industry's first Management Information System for water and wastewater network infrastructure.
Navigation Technologies, announced that voice transcriptions of its United States NAVTECH map database are now available. NAVTECH Voice Data increases the functionality of navigation systems by reducing recognition complexities, improving output accuracy and expanding the system use beyond basic commands. NAVTECH Voice Data is currently available for the company's map databases for Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
RockWare, Inc. developer and reseller of earth science software tools released RockWorks2002, PC-based software for creating boring logs, cross sections, fence diagrams, solid models and contour maps. The new version allows the user to export fully geo-referenced 3D shapefiles with for use in ArcGIS. An evaluation version is available.
GeoMicro announced the release of AltaMap AVL, an Internet based mapping solution for Asset Tracking and Fleet Management Systems. AltaMap AVL provides Internet Mapping, national geocoding and reverse geocoding, geofencing, search by distance, cartographic quality map display, and NAVTECH US street maps. AltaMap AVL can be extended to include routing, and provide Canadian and Mexican maps for a fully integrated solution for North America. A demonstration is available. The company offers special pricing until December 31st and suggests that its solution is less espensive than Microsoft MapPoint solution for this type of application.
Stone Analytics, a provider of embeddable analytic software announced the availability of Valuation Science as a fully integrated extension of ESRI's popular GIS and mapping software ArcView. Valuation Science, which is also compatible with the ArcView business product Business Analyst, is an analytic engine that can be embedded in enterprise applications that process and store information about sales, marketing, and customer activity.
Intergraph Mapping and GIS Solutions announced the immediate availability of GeoMedia Parcel Manager 5.0, a new industry product for surveyors, land planners, tax mappers, and assessment officers. Based on Intergraph's GeoMedia Professional 5.0, the new product facilitates productive maintenance and management of parcel and boundary information and supports the essential, day-to-day operations of any organization required to maintain cadastral and land information data, including property, parcel, easement, and boundary data.
R. L. Polk & Co. and MapInfo are joining forces to create a customer profiling tool for the car accessories market expected to launch this month. MapInfo will provide Polk with MapInfo TargetPro and Polk will be able to sell and distribute it.
• Hires, Appointments and New Offices
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Cyon Research Corporation announced that Randall S. Newton has joined Cyon Research as the new Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of A-E-C Automation Newsletter, a Cyon Research publication.
Autodesk, Inc. announced the appointment of Ken Bado as vice president of worldwide sales for the Autodesk Design Solutions Division. Autodesk Design Solutions Division comprises the Building Industry Division, Manufacturing Division, GIS Division, Building Collaboration Services and Manufacturing Collaboration Services.
ESRI announced that ESRI Hong Kong Limited has been renamed ESRI China (Hong Kong) and Super Full Technology Co., Ltd., a longtime distributor of ESRI's software in China is opening a new company which is named ESRI China (Beijing). Both distributors will continue their services and marketing efforts in Hong Kong and China, respectively.
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