For a list of current press releases, visit Earth Imaging Journal’s website (www.eijournal.com). To submit a press release to Earth Imaging Journal, please send e-mail to news@eijournal.com.
Business
Atlantic (www.theatlgrp.com), Huntsville, Ala., announced it was awarded a General Services Administration Schedule 899 for Environmental Services. The resource is for experts who support government agencies.
Dewberry (www.dewberry.com), Fairfax, Va., announced it was selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide emergency response remote sensing services throughout the United States and its territories. Services include capturing digital and oblique aerial imagery, light detection and ranging data, and other remotely sensed information.
DigitalGlobe (www.digitalglobe.com), Longmont, Colo., announced it will relocate its global headquarters from Longmont to the North Park development in Broomfield, Colo., in mid-2015. The move will help consolidate the company’s four office locations in Colorado into a single site.
Esri (www.esri.com), Redlands, Calif., announced it will partner with Vital Signs, a monitoring system that helps policy makers visualize outcomes of different agricultural decisions as part of the system’s online indicators of sustainability. The company also announced ArcGIS Online Specialty, an initiative that makes it easy for ArcGIS users to identify Esri partners with skills and experience in delivering ArcGIS Online apps and services.
GRW (www.grwinc.com), Lexington, Ky., purchased an Optech Gemini Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper. The sensor will be used for a variety of projects and industries, including aviation, coal, forestry, transportation, 3-D engineering design projects and related government mapping projects.
LiDAR USA (www.lidarusa.com), Somerville, Ala., sold a ScanLook system to Project Delivery Managers, Australia. ScanLook offers static and mobile mapping capabilities for a range of applications.
M/A-COM Technology Solutions (www.macomtech.com), Lowell, Mass., announced it will supply Northrop Grumman with semiconductor technology to develop next-generation airborne defense sensor systems.
Merrick & Company (www.merrick.com), Greenwood Village, Colo., announced it was awarded an additional task order with Henrico County, Va., to provide planimetric feature updates. The services are in addition to the digital orthophotography and oblique imagery products previously contracted with Merrick. In addition, Merrick purchased an unmanned aircraft system to support surveying and mapping data collection projects in Mexico and Latin America.
Microsoft’s UltraCam Business Unit (www.microsoft.com/ultracam), Graz, Austria, announced Shin-Engineering, a Japanese engineering and surveying firm, will purchase an UltraCam Eagle photogrammetric digital aerial camera system with an 80mm lens. The new camera will be used to complete construction, infrastructure, and planning and design projects throughout Japan.
Orbit Logic (www.orbitlogic.com), Greenbelt, Md., announced a contract award from DigitalGlobe to integrate the GeoEye-1 satellite into Orbit Logic’s Direct Access Facility Collection Planning System. As part of the contract, Orbit Logic also will upgrade legacy GeoEye headquarters planning software for integration with DigitalGlobe planning processes and systems.
PCI Geomatics (www.pcigeomatics.com), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, entered into a partnership with IAVO to distribute its 3D Feature Extract (3DFE) software. 3DFE provides users the ability to model 3-D features in a 2-D environment by calculating feature heights and outlines through the use of overlapping satellite or aerial imagery. In addition, PCI is working with UrtheCast to supply a high volume and scalable cloud-based system that will be used to process imagery captured by UrtheCast’s sensors on the International Space Station (ISS). UrtheCast plans to deploy two camera systems on the ISS that will stream images and video of Earth from space in near real time.
Proteus (www.proteusgeo.com), Abu Dhabi, UAE, announced it was contracted by Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi to deliver terrestrial and marine land use/land cover and habitat maps for the entire Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The multimillion dollar project will include 60,000 square kilometers of land area and the coastal marine environment.
RapidEye (www.rapideye.com), Berlin, extended and enhanced its ongoing partnership with Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT) by increasing data downlink capacity through greater access to KSAT’s larger antenna network near Svalbard, Norway. The network will offer RapidEye the ability to provide more reliable data collection around the globe, particularly in Australia and the Far East.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (www.sstl.co.uk), Guildford, United Kingdom, signed an agreement with Ghalam LLP to design and develop the Kazak Science and Technology satellite system. Under the contract, the two companies will jointly develop the SSTL-50KZ platform
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (www.tamucc.edu), Corpus Christi, Texas, announced the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies received a $790,000 grant from the Houston Endowment to map and evaluate the effects of sea level rise on the Upper Texas Coast. The program is the first of its kind in Texas to forecast changes to the environment caused by sea level rise and examine the socio-economic impacts and public policy options for living with a rising sea.
AeroMetric (www.aerometric.com), Sheboygan, Wis., announced Patrick Olson, president and CEO, and Scott Perkins, vice president of federal programs, received Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS) President’s Awards at the 2013 MAPPS Summer Conference. During the conference, Tim Stagg, AeroMetric’s vice president of transportation, was re-elected to the MAPPS board of directors.
People and Events
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (www.asprs.org), Bethesda, Md., announced Executive Director James Plasker will retire in January 2014. Plasker was selected as the executive director in 1998 to succeed William French, who served in the position for 20 years.
Atlantic (www.theatlgrp.com), Huntsville, Ala., promoted two senior-level employees and hired one. Kimberly Denney and Paul Weyant Jr. have been promoted to associate vice president. William “Mike” Harper, new to Atlantic, joined the company as senior account manager.
Esri (www.esri.com), Redlands, Calif., honored Direct Relief, a leading humanitarian medical aid organization, with the Esri President’s Award for outstanding geographic information system (GIS) work in improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty, disaster and civil unrest. In addition, Esri recognized more than 170 organizations during the Special Achievement in GIS Awards ceremony at the recent Esri International User Conference in San Diego.
Leica Geosystems (www.leica-geosystems.com), Norcross, Ga., hired Bradley E. Adams as mobile mapping manager, NAFTA. Adams most recently served as the civil works and transportation practice leader at Woolpert.
PCI Geomatics (www.pcigeomatics.com), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, appointed Arnold Hougham as vice president, sales and marketing. Hougham returns to PCI after an eight-year hiatus, during which he worked at National Instruments to develop the company’s reseller channel for academic products.
TerraGo (www.terragotech.com), Washington, D.C., appointed Chris Broderick as president and chief executive officer. Broderick was most recently the CEO of GroupLogic, which was acquired by Acronis in 2012.
University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School (www.rsmas.miami.edu), Miami, announced Chelle L. Gentemann, senior principal scientist at Remote Sensing Systems, is the recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s Falkenberg Award. The award is given to a scientist under age 45 who has contributed to the quality of life, economic opportunities and stewardship of the planet through the use of Earth science information.
Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (www.urisa.org), Des Plaines, Ill., announced the recipients of 2013 URISA Exemplary Systems in Government awards. For more information and to read each winning submission, visit www.urisa.org/awards/exemplary-systems-in-government.
Products
AeroMetric (www.aerometric.com), Sheboygan, Wis., announced GeoApps. The geospatial cloud solutions operationalize geospatial data and services from their acquisition in any sensor through their deployment within
an enterprise.
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (www.asprs.org), Bethesda, Md., launched its first electronic book, Manual of Airborne Topographic LiDAR, on the Kindle platform. The print copy of the manual was published in late 2012 and is the first comprehensive manual published on light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology. In addition, the ASPRS LiDAR Division released the first LAS file format domain profile. Now different segments of the LiDAR mapping community have the ability to customize the format to meet their application-specific needs.
Aurora Flight Sciences (www.aurora.aero), Manassas, Va., announced it is offering Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft globally for leasing or fee-for-service. This makes Centaur’s capabilities available to customers seeking intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data without the burden of purchasing and operating a sensor platform.
Avenza Systems (www.avenza.com), Toronto, released MAPublisher 9.3 for Adobe Illustrator. The new ability to export a document to Web tiles makes it easier to create online maps without extensive Web programming knowledge.
BA3 (www.ba3.us), Raleigh, N.C., released a new version of Altus Mobile Mapping Engine for the Android smart phone and tablet marketplace. The Altus Mapping Engine accommodates the large size and multiple types of spatial data, network delivery to a smart phone or tablet and disconnected or cached operation.
Blue Marble Geographics (www.bluemarblegeo.com), Hallowell, Maine, released a new 64-bit version of the Geographic Calculator with the release of Service Pack 1 (SP1). With the Geographic Calculator v2013, SP1 users have the option to work with Geographic Calculator on a 64-bit machine, allowing for faster data processing. In addition, the company released Global Mapper Software Development Kit version 14.2. The release offers many new features and functions for working with volume calculations, LiDAR data, multiband imagery and more.
Canon Solutions America (www.csa.canon.com), Melville, N.Y., launched its new Océ PlotWave 340 and Océ PlotWave 360 monochrome printing systems. The Océ PlotWave 340/360 systems offer a multitouch panel and cloud integration for users to print, copy and scan low volumes of technical documents. In addition, the company released a document that explains how geographic information system users can leverage advanced large-format print systems, mobile printing capabilities and the cloud to adapt to today’s changing work environment.
DMC International Imaging (www.dmcii.com), Guildford, United Kingdom, announced Esri’s ArcGIS 10.2 software provides built-in support to help users get the most out of DMC’s 22-meter multispectral imagery. The new built-in support enables users to import the satellite imagery into their projects while preserving information such as location, time and spectral bands.
Esri (www.esri.com), Redlands, Calif., announced ArcGIS 10.2, which allows users to more easily deploy Web-based geographic information system (GIS) technology via ArcGIS Online; ArcPad 10.2, which improves synchronization with the ArcGIS platform and speeds data collection in the field with new automation options; and a free developer subscription for its Web, mobile and online tools and services.
Esri Press (www.esripress.com), Redlands, Calif., published Enabling Comprehensive Situational Awareness, which describes the benefits of integrating a geographic information system (GIS) with an emergency management common operating platform; The GIS 20: Essential Skills, a workbook that helps readers master the top 20 skills necessary to become proficient in using ArcGIS software; Understanding GIS: An ArcGIS Project Workbook, which explains the methods, tools and processes needed to apply full-scale GIS analysis to a spatially based problem; and Modeling Electric Distribution with GIS, which illustrates how an electric utility can significantly improve operations by implementing a GIS.
exactEarth (www.exactearth.com), Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, released a set of Web galleries to provide an online environment for exploring satellite-based automatic identification system (AIS) data. Through the new interactive experience, users are given access to selected subsets from the company’s exactAIS three-year global archive through interactive maps, sample Web services for use in geographic information system platforms and downloadable sample files.
i-cubed (www.i3.com), Fort Collins, Colo., released DataDoors 3.15, featuring cloud-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data management and processing. Adding to its LiDAR archive management functionality, DataDoors now provides the ability to extract, combine, re-project, tile and derive interpreted content surfaces from LiDAR LAS files.
LizardTech (www.lizardtech.com), Seattle, launched GeoExpress 9, which allows geospatial professionals to compress and manipulate satellite and aerial imagery. The new version features a significant performance improvement from previous versions.
Optech (www.optech.com), Toronto, released the Lynx SG1 Mobile Mapper (Survey Grade), which replaces the Lynx M1 as the flagship model of Optech’s mobile mapping product line. Lynx SG1, a 600-kHz dual sensor head system, collects up to 1.2 million measurements per second at survey-grade precision.
PCI Geomatics (www.pcigeomatics.com), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, released Geomatica Discover, a browser-based software tool that crawls local, system drives or removable drives to automatically create a searchable geospatial data catalog. PCI also released Geomatica 2013 Service Pack 2 for Windows and Linux operating systems.
Planet Labs (www.planet-labs.com), San Francisco, announced its 28-satellite constellation will offer frequent, low-cost images of any point on the globe. Named Flock-1, the nanosatellites have been designed to provide imagery with a resolution of 3 to 5 meters and are scheduled to fly on the first of eight Orbital Sciences cargo transportation flights to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program.
RIEGL (www.riegl.com), Horn, Austria, introduced the LMS-Q1560 airborne laser mapping system. The LMS-Q1560 can be operated at a maximum pulse repetition rate of 800 kHz, providing a measurement rate of 530,000 measurements per second on the ground.
Safe Software (www.safe.com), Vancouver, British Columbia, released the FME 2013 Service Pack 3. The release features compatibility with Esri’s ArcGIS 10.2 and support for several ArcGIS Online services.
Scene Sharp Technologies (www.scenesharp.com), Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, announced Fuze Go image fusion software has been integrated into Exelis’ ENVI image processing software and is in beta test. Fuze Go produces high-resolution color images by fusing low-resolution color images with high-resolution black-and-white image data from satellite and airborne sensors.
TerraGo (www.terragotech.com), Washington, D.C., launched TerraGo Vision, an on-demand location-intelligence platform. The platform helps customers discover the most relevant information from any source and deliver actionable location intelligence wherever it is needed most.
TouchTable (www.touchtable.com), Pasadena, Calif., announced a new version of TouchShare, the company’s software for enterprisewide geospatial collaboration and shared visualization. TouchShare Suite 7 introduced shared virtual workspaces, called Sessions, which allow multiple users to easily visualize, analyze and share data.
Trimble (www.trimble.com), Sunnyvale, Calif., introduced the Trimble UX5 aerial imaging rover with the Trimble Access aerial imaging application. Combined with the Trimble Business Center photogrammetry office software module, the Trimble UX5 is the first complete unmanned aircraft system photogrammetric mapping solution specifically designed for surveyors and geospatial professionals. Trimble also introduced TerraFlex, a software and services platform to manage data collection activities for everyday geospatial projects. TerraFlex helps managers maintain control of the flow of geoenabled field data.
VisionMap (www.visionmap.com), Ramat Gan, Israel, released Flight Viewer software, which allows users to view and analyze imagery acquired by VisionMap’s cameras. Flight Viewer instantly creates a mosaic of all acquired data, and selected frames can be viewed in full resolution just minutes after capture.
Visual Intelligence (www.visualintell.com), Houston, introduced its new geoimaging solution, iOne Infrastructure Metric Mapping System (iOne IMS). When installed on aircraft, the iOne IMS collects ortho, stereo, forward and backward oblique, multispectral 4-band and point-cloud imagery in a single pass. In addition, Visual Intelligence was granted a U.S. patent for its remote imaging arrays, which enable the innovative use of mobile, miniaturized 3-D camera sensors. The company’s ARCA technology provides precise accuracy at every pixel, enabling real-time co-mounted and co-registered sensor fusion.