2007 February 22

This issue sponsored by

Professional Surveyor Magazine

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Editor's Introduction

This week I report on the 2007 Autodesk World Press Day, which I attended last week in San Francisco, including an interview with Mark Christian, Technical Product Manager for Autodesk's geospatial business unit. I also bring you a correction to my interview with URISA president Ed Wells and board member Al Butler, plus my usual selection of news items from press releases.

—Matteo

Autodesk Further Integrates CAD and GIS

Autodesk, best known for AutoCAD, is increasingly focused on integrating CAD and GIS, so that the two sets of formats and functionalities can work together seamlessly, without degrading data quality through translation processes. As part of this strategy, the company is complementing its suite of geospatial tools—which includes Map 3D, MapGuide, and Topobase (a topology database developed around Oracle Spatial)—with Feature Data Objects (FDOs), developed by the open source community.

More than merely expanding into new markets, Autodesk seems to be focused on enhancing the capabilities of its traditional users in its core markets—cable and telecommunications, energy, water and wastewater, government, and architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC)—and core applications—network engineering, asset management, public works, land management, and transportation—by integrating GIS functionalities into their tools. The company terms this new hybrid "engineering GIS."

These themes were clear throughout the company's "World Press Day 2007" two-day event, held last week in San Francisco, at the Zeum, a technology museum for kids, and the Palace Hotel. It was attended by more than one hundred reporters and editors from around the world and staffed by two dozen PR reps (mostly young women), from both Autodesk's staff and an external PR firm. (Disclosure: Autodesk paid for my travel, lodging, meals, and entertainment.)

Read more…

Autodesk: Interview with Mark Christian

I discussed Autodesk's strategy and product releases with Mark Christian, Technical Marketing Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Division.

  1. As geospatial technology evolves, where do you see Autodesk in the mix?

    We have a focus on several primary industries: utilities and telco, engineering and construction, state and local government, and public works. We are really focused on the customers that have predominantly been strong in design. They've been using AutoCAD or some CAD-based product to design infrastructure. That is our customer base and we are trying to give them tools that enable them to streamline their workflow processes and really get a better return on investment on their people, on their data, and on their existing applications. Some of our GIS competitors are serving probably broader markets. How can we better service [past Autodesk customers]? By giving them location intelligence, by enabling them to bridge this divide between the design group or the engineering group and what has traditionally been the GIS group, which has often been using competing software. We provide a specific solution set and we are not going to be the end-all, be-all for everybody.

    What is your strategy for finding new customers?

    Having our own geospatial business unit [within Autodesk's Platform Geospatial and Plant (PG&P) division], means that we now have a solid focus on the geospatial industry. We've had really good success with our MapGuide application with customers who have been traditionally using competing software, because of the open data integration and the ease of installation. Many people are choosing standard CAD-based design tools with no location intelligence. If we could get everybody to increase that, we could increase our revenue.

Read more…

Department of Corrections

My interview with URISA president Ed Wells and board member Al Butler contained a transcription error. In answer to my question "What do you think is really behind the lawsuit?" his answer should have read, in part, "…discussing architectural-engineering surveying and mapping …", not "…discussing architecture, engineering, surveying, and mapping …" In the context of the legal language and policy questions at issue, the difference is significant.

News Briefs

Please note: I have culled the following news items from press releases and have not independently verified them.

  1. CONTRACTS & COLLABORATIONS

    1. MapInfo Corporation, a provider of location intelligence solutions, has acquired privately-held Graphical Data Capture, Ltd., (GDC), a London-based location intelligence provider and partner of MapInfo for the past 17 years. GDC develops applications and offers consulting services primarily to local and regional U.K. government authorities, in addition to utilities, financial services and insurance companies. Read more…

    2. ESRI Canada has signed a distribution agreement with Tele Atlas North America, enabling the former to offer to Canadian GIS users comprehensive digital basemap data that is seamlessly integrated with ESRI technology. Read more…

    3. Intermap Technologies Corp. has signed an agreement to provide Microsoft Corp. with NEXTMap Britain digital elevation data for use within Microsoft's Virtual Earth platform. Read more…

    4. Digital Data Technologies, Inc. (DDTI), has completed another Location Based Response System (LBRS) project by delivering Shelby County's dataset. Read more…

    5. ITT Corporation's Space Systems Division has shipped to General Dynamics the next-generation commercial imaging payload for the GeoEye-1 satellite. Read more…

    6. Intermap Federal Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Intermap Technologies Corp., has received a $2.4 million contract to provide digital elevation data and orthorectified radar imagery for an international project. Read more…

    7. Dallas County, Iowa has chosen Varion Systems, the software development and value-added reseller division of GeoAnalytics, to implement PV.Web 2.3 to deploy GIS data and tools to county staff and its constituents. Read more…

    8. Global Knowledge, the largest privately held provider of training, enterprise learning services, and software solutions for information technology (IT) and management professionals, has selected ESRI's BusinessMAP software to help its representatives manage sales calls to clients and prospective clients. Read more…

    9. The line of 3D navigation devices by 3Dconnexion, a Logitech company, now supports Adobe Acrobat 3D software. Read more…

    10. ITT Corporation's Space Systems Division has passed the critical design review for the advanced baseline imager (ABI) it is preparing for NASA's next generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) program. Read more…

    11. Fifteen new firms have joined MAPPS, a national association of geospatial, mapping, and photogrammetry companies. Read more…

    12. Bentley Systems, Incorporated has joined International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) as a platinum corporate member. Read more…

    13. The town of Wethersfield, Connecticut's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is utilizing MapInfo Corporation's location intelligence solutions to provide employees with instantaneous visual access to critical information about the town's buildings, systems, infrastructure, and layout. Read more…

  2. PRODUCTS

    1. The GIS Application Division of International Computer Works, Inc. (ICW), a provider of geospatial and government applications, has released version 3.0 of ICWAVL. Read more…

    2. ESRI will showcase ArcGIS, the complete enterprise GIS, at the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) Annual Conference 30 in San Antonio, Texas, March 4 to 7. Read more…

    3. WhiteStar Corp. will demonstrate its Unlimited Grid Access (UGA) product and its new Well Spotting Web Service at the ESRI Petroleum Users Group (PUG) Conference in Houston, February 26-28. Read more…

    4. ESRI has released ArcReader 9.2, a free desktop mapping application that allows users to view, navigate, and print maps and globes created with the ArcGIS Publisher extension. Read more…

    5. Leica Geosystems [www.leica-geosystems.com] has released SiteSmart-Translator, a new software that converts various types of GPS and total station files for machine automation applications. Read more…

  3. CONFERENCES & TRAINING

    1. Registration is now open for the 2007 O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference, which will take place May 29-30, in San Jose, California. Read more…

    2. The Geospatial Information and Technology Association of Arizona (GITAZ) will host the GITAZ — GIS Fairs 2007, March 29 in Phoenix, Arizona, at Maricopa County Flood Control, and March 30 in Tucson, Arizona, at the City/County Building. Read more…

    3. Today, at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 1:00 p.m. PST, ESRI will webcast a free Web seminar, Introduction to the ArcGIS Mobile SDK, on its training and education website. Read more…

    4. The Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) has announced the topics for four panel discussions scheduled to be presented at its Annual Conference 30, slated for March 4-7 in San Antonio, Texas. Read more…

    5. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) will co-host a conference titled ETS-IV: Convergence: CAD/GIS/3D/BIM, March 21-23, in Washington, DC. Read more…

    6. Organizers of the GeoWeb 2007 conference—which will take place July 23 to 27 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada—have extended the Call for Papers deadline to March 15. Read more…

    7. R.A. Smith & Associates, Inc.—civil engineering, planning, surveying, landscape architecture, GIS, and visualization consultants—based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is accepting registrations for several upcoming ESRI-authorized GIS courses. Read more…

  4. PEOPLE

    1. Valtus Imagery Services, a division of North West Geomatics Ltd., has hired Lori Ward as Director of Distribution Alliances. Read more…

    2. MultiVision USA has hired Theron Hatch as Regional Sales Manager for the Central and Southwest United States and Brian Bobich as Regional Director for the Northeast United States. Read more…

  5. OTHER

    1. Airborne 1 Corporation, to accommodate its rapid growth over the last year, is expanding the office space of its California headquarters. Read more…

    2. ESRI invites developers to share their creativity and expertise with the GIS developer community by submitting original code samples to the ArcGIS Server Code Challenge. Read more…

    3. LOC-AID, a provider of mobile location-based applications and platforms, will sponsors the wireless industry's first "live" location-aware game during the CTIA Wireless Show March 27-29, in Orlando, Florida. Read more…

    4. The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) has posted the application materials for its Exemplary Systems in Government (ESIG) Awards. Read more…

    5. The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) is sponsoring its first student paper competition, to challenge undergraduate and postgraduate students to demonstrate development and effective use of information systems in both their field of study and in the community. Read more…

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