2007 October 11

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Editor's Introduction

This week, I report on Nokia's decision to acquire NAVTEQ and on Bentley's release of the results of a survey it commissioned regarding water resources modeling software. Plus, 20 press releases.

— Matteo Luccio

Nokia Buys NAVTEQ to Expand LBS

One indication of the continuing growth of the geospatial industry is the increasing frequency with which industry news becomes national news. Earlier this year, TomTom, a European manufacturer of navigation devices, made the business pages when it announced its intention to acquire TeleAtlas. This week it was the October 1 announcement by Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia and U.S. map data company NAVTEQ, giants in their respective industries, that Nokia will acquire NAVTEQ for about $8.1 billion.

The boards of directors of both companies have approved the sale, which is now subject to approval by regulators and by NAVTEQ's shareholders. In a conference call with reporters and industry analysts, leaders of the two companies stressed their expectation that it will enable an explosion in location-based services (LBS). This acquisition of a mapping company by a handset manufacturer is also a further indication of a new trend I mentioned last week in my story about First American's purchase of Proxix Solutions — that of large companies setting up geospatial divisions.

Read more…

Bentley Releases Results of Water Software Survey

Last week, Bentley Systems, Incorporated released the results of a national survey of water resources modeling software users, conducted on its behalf by CENews.com's civilconnection newsletter, published by ZweigWhite. According to the survey, Bentley's Haestad Methods Water Solutions water modeling software has the largest market share in five of seven categories: water distribution, transient analysis, wastewater conveyance, stormwater networks, and general hydraulics. Intelisolve's product came in first in the detention pond category, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Hydrologic Engineering Center's product took the top position in the floodplain modeling category.

In the survey, Bentley's WaterCAD, WaterGEMS, HAMMER, SewerCAD, and SewerGEMS products in its Haestad line received more than three times the top responses of their closest competitors among responses from water utilities and municipalities in the water distribution, transient analysis, and wastewater conveyance categories. Bentley's StormCAD and CivilStorm topped the stormwater networks category, as did its CulvertMaster and FlowMaster in the general hydraulics category. Bentley's PondPack came in second in the detention pond analysis category and its HEC-Pack came in third in the floodplain modeling category.

The survey respondents also said that ease of use is their foremost requirement for water resources modeling software and that they found Bentley's Haestad products to be the easiest to use. The second most cited must-have characteristic was multiplatform interoperability across stand-alone, CAD, and GIS platforms. When asked about their use of these platforms for water resources modeling, 77 percent of respondents said that they normally use at least two of these platforms simultaneously.

Read more…

News Briefs

Please note: I have neither edited nor verified the content of these press releases.

  1. CONTRACTS & COLLABORATIONS

    1. Bosch Security Projects Selects Tensing Field Vision to Automate Service Processes

    2. Kansas Department of Transportation Selects GeoDecisions for Strategic Plan

    3. Hamilton County, Indiana, Selects eMap International for Independent Quality Review Contract

    4. GE To Provide Brazil's Largest Distribution Company With Software For Managing Pipeline Data

    5. FEMA Selects Dewberry For Map Modernization Contracts

  2. PRODUCTS & SERVICES

    1. Pitney Bowes MapInfo Debuts Next-Generation Demographics for More Timely and Reliable Decision Making

    2. ESRI (UK) Launches TrafficFlow to Ease Pressures of Parking Enforcement

    3. Leica Introduces New Total Station

    4. New Software Releases RegioGraph 10 and DISTRICT 10 Help Companies Gain Market Overview

  3. CONFERENCES & TRAINING

    1. ESRI Homeland Security Conference Will Explore How GIS Turns Knowledge into Actionable Information

    2. GITA's 2007 Oil and Gas Show Sees Record-breaking 14 Percent Increase in Attendance

    3. PA-MAPPS Sponsors Pennsylvania Geospatial Symposium

    4. First 1Spatial Scotland Seminar a Resounding Success

    5. 1Spatial and OSNI Briefing on Spatial Data Quality Management

    6. Synergis Software's Todd Cummings to Teach Data Management at Autodesk University for Seventh Year

  4. PEOPLE

    1. CARIS Appoints Senior Business Developer in Latin America

    2. Dewberry Names Office Manager

    3. East View Cartographic Expands to Europe

    4. Christopher Tucker Joins Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging

    5. GIS Analyst Earns GISP Certification

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Matteo Luccio, Editor
GIS Monitor

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