Business
Airbus Defence and Space
(www.airbusdefenceandspace.com), Toulouse, France, announced it will be the European Space Agency’s prime contractor for the Sentinel-5 Earth observation instrument, which will monitor the composition of Earth’s atmosphere by measuring trace gases and aerosols that have an impact on the climate and air quality. The company also announced it will develop, construct and launch the first Earth observation optical satellite system for Peru, with the support of the French government.
Clark Labs (www.clarklabs.org), Worcester, Mass., received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to create a baseline map of coastal habitats and the distribution of shrimp mariculture in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The analysis is based on a digital classification of Landsat 8 imagery.
CompassData (www.compassdatainc.com), Centennial, Colo., announced the Federal Aviation Administration certified the company to collect and process survey and ground control data used to create Airport Mapping Database (AMDB) products. In addition, CompassData has been approved to use its ground control points and Accuracy Analyst map tool to verify the accuracy of satellite or aerial imagery used to create AMDB DO-272C aviation products.
DAT/EM Systems International (www.datem.com), Anchorage, Alaska, announced Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, selected the company as its primary photogrammetric mapping software provider. The company also announced The Sanborn Map Company purchased its software to support in-house mapping, orthorectification, mosaicking and triangulation activities.
East View Information Services (www.eastview.com), Minneapolis, Minn., celebrated its 25-year anniversary. Founded in 1989, the company maintains thousands of supplier/publisher relationships throughout the world for maps and geospatial data.
Esri (www.esri.com), Redlands, Calif., and the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS created a new cloud-based, virtual center that will supply public safety and homeland security agencies with tools, resources and training. In addition, to support the White House Climate Data Initiative, Esri is launching a comprehensive effort to help communities work smarter and more efficiently. The company plans to focus its initial efforts on 12 communities.
James W. Sewall Company (www.sewall.com), Old Town, Maine, and Cartographic Associates announced a cooperative agreement whereby clients will benefit from the expertise of two geographic information system companies instead of one. The two companies will market their combined services, knowledge and capacity to clients.
Leica Geosystems (www.leica-geosystems.us), Norcross, Ga., announced I.F. Rooks & Associates expanded its services with the purchase of a Leica RCD30 medium-format digital camera. Leica Geosystems also announced Surdex purchased its third Leica ADS100 digital imaging sensor.
Leidos (www.leidos.com), Reston, Va., announced it was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting support. The order has a potential value of approximately $17 million.
Lockheed Martin (www.lockheedmartin.com), Palo Alto, Calif., delivered a new solar analysis payload that will help scientists measure and forecast space weather, which can damage satellites, electrical grids and communications systems on Earth. The Solar Ultraviolet Imager instrument will be installed on the first flight vehicle of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.
MDA (www.mdacorporation.com), Richmond, Canada, announced its Information Systems group signed a contract with the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (MRSA) to provide RADARSAT-2 satellite information. MRSA has used RADARSAT information to support various applications since 2003.
Microsoft’s UltraCam Business Unit (www.microsoft.com/ultracam), Graz, Austria, expanded its UltraCam technical support team based in Boulder, Colo. Since May 2013, the team has grown from three staff members to nine.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (www.nga.mil), Springfield, Va., joined GitHub, a social network that allows programmers to collaborate and share computer code among users. The network allows developers to modify, distribute and perform work on the code.
Open Geospatial Consortium (www.opengeospatial.org), adopted OGC OpenSearch Geo and Time Extensions as an OGC standard. The document defines an extension to the OpenSearch specification so users can take advantage of geospatial and temporal search capabilities enabled by OGC standards.
Orbit Logic (www.orbitlogic.com), Greenbelt, Md., delivered its Collection Planning & Analysis Workstation (CPAW) software to an undisclosed customer for an upcoming satellite imaging system. The customer initially will use CPAW to help refine the imaging system’s design.
PCI Geomatics (www.pcigeomatics.com), Richmond Hill, Canada, delivered its Historical Airphoto Processing system to Nationwide Environmental Title Research (NETR). Founded in 1993, NETR provides real estate research and information services and owns the HistoricAerials.com website.
Proteus (www.proteusgeo.com), Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Bristol, United Kingdom, delivered ahead of schedule the first phase of a fine-scale terrestrial and marine land use/land cover and habitat mapping project for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Deliverables for each phase of the project include bathymetric analysis, an orthorectified mosaic, land use/land cover/habitat ecological classifications, geospatial models, printed maps at multiple scales and knowledge transfer.
Riegl USA (www.rieglusa.com), Orlando, Fla., announced NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently deployed its RIEGL LMS-Q1560 airborne laser scanner system to more completely and accurately measure snowpack depth of major mountain watersheds. The system will allow the agency to better gauge the volume of water that travels down rivers and streams as runoff.
People
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (www.asprs.org), Bethesda, Md., held its 2014 annual conference for the first time with the co-located Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation Workshop in Louisville, Ky., March 23-28, 2014. The ASPRS 80th Annual Conference attracted more than 800 attendees.
Aurora Flight Sciences (www.aurora.aero), Manassas, Va., announced Martin E. Dandridge joined the company’s board of directors. Dandridge, who retired as executive vice president for Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Systems in 2007, has nearly four decades of management experience in the defense industry.
Blue Marble Geographics (www.bluemarblegeo.com), Hallowell, Maine, announced its upcoming User Conference events. The first event will be held Sept. 8, 2014, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the second event will be held on Oct. 30, 2014, in Houston.
Dewberry (www.dewberry.com), Fairfax, Va., announced Lauren Hand, a Dewberry project geographer, received the Outstanding Achievement Award in Emergency Management during the recent National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Fla. Hand developed a geospatial tool that integrates data from hurricane evacuation studies using TerraGo’s GeoPDF technology.
Esri Press (www.esri.com/esripress), Redlands, Calif., received the AAG Publication Award at the recent Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. Esri Press has published more than
100 books on geography-related topics.
SPAR Point Group (www.SPARPointGroup.com), Portland, Maine, announced a call for papers for the European LiDAR Mapping Forum and the SPAR Europe 3-D Measurement and Imaging Conference. Both events will be held Dec. 8-10, 2014, in Amsterdam.
U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (www.usgif.org), Herndon, Va., announced its founder and chairman, Stu Shea, is stepping down after 10 years of service. Jeffrey K. Harris, former president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, was elected Shea’s successor. USGIF also announced Roberta “Bobbi” Lenczowski received the Arthur C. Lundahl–Thomas C. Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award. Lenczowski is an independent geospatial information-intelligence consultant who spent 28 years in the public sector, where she retired in 2005 from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). In addition, the 2013 Lt. Michael P. Murphy Award in Geospatial Intelligence was presented to Bryan Goltry, an analyst at NGA. Goltry recently completed Penn State’s master’s degree program in homeland security.
Products
2d3 Sensing (www.2d3sensing.com), Irvine, Calif., launched a new version of Reticle Georegistration, which improves geospatial metadata for aerial full-motion video platforms. The release introduces tools within the product’s TacitView user interface that allow analysts to provide tie points between tactical imagery and a reference map.
Airbus Defence and Space (www.airbusdefenceandspace.com), Toulouse, France, launched WorldDEM, a digital elevation model that provides pole-to-pole coverage. The new model is based on high-resolution data acquired by the radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X.
BAE Systems (www.geospatialexploitationproducts.com), San Diego, unveiled a new mobile app that can be used with Google Glass for geospatial intelligence data collection and photo reporting from anywhere in the field. The GXP Xplorer Snap app can transform Google Glass devices, smartphones and tablets into crowd-sourced information gathering tools.
Blue Marble Geographics (www.bluemarblegeo.com), Hallowell, Maine, released the GeoCalc 7.0 software development kit. In addition, the company released the “Coordinate System Song,” an educational, geographically oriented children’s song.
Boeing (www.boeing.com/bds), Springfield, Va., upgraded its DataMaster geospatial data management software with real-time text-tagging of live streaming video, improving situational awareness for defense and intelligence community customers. The new capability allows users to more quickly catalog and retrieve data and offers more precise analytics for imagery, video, maps and terrain.
Cardinal Systems (www.cardinalsystems.net), Flagler Beach, Fla., added VrAutoTiePoint and VrBundle to its Vr Aerial Triangulation package. VrAutoTiePoint automatically ties images together without Global Positioning System or camera data; VrBundle detects and rejects a large percentage of outlying measurements.
Clark Labs (www.clarklabs.org), Worcester, Mass., announced the Geocarto International Centre, Hong Kong, recently published a new version of Remote Sensing with IDRISI: A Beginner’s Guide. The text provides a hands-on, guided exploration of the fundamental issues in remote sensing and image processing, using the techniques and approaches within IDRISI software.
DAT/EM Systems International (www.datem.com), Anchorage, Alaska, released the 7.0 edition of its software products, including Summit Evolution, Landscape, Capture, MapEditor, Ortho+Mosaic, Airfield3D and Contour Creator. All the applications now install as 64-bit programs.
DMC International Imaging (www.dmcii.com), Guildford, United Kingdom, provided eLEAF, a Netherlands-based company, satellite imagery to help improve the livelihoods and income of millions of farmers. Ground data and models gathered by eLEAF and supported by DMCii satellite images provide farmers with field and crop information.
Esri (www.esri.com), Redlands, Calif., announced the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) launched GEO Appathon 2014. Esri supports the event by offering developers free ArcGIS for Developers accounts to help them build applications that use data hosted on the Group on Earth Observations System of Systems platform. Esri also announced Explorer for ArcGIS, an iOS app that allows non-GIS professionals to access any Esri maps authored in ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS.
Euroconsult (www.euroconsult-ec.com), Paris, released Earth Observation: Data Distribution, a research report that assesses distribution mechanisms within the Earth observation value chain. The report considers strategies developed by satellite operators and distribution companies.
European Space Imaging (www.euspaceimaging.com), Munich, Germany, and Skybox Imaging announced the European Space Imaging & Skybox Imaging High-Res Challenge, which calls for applications using the new Skybox Imaging satellite constellation. Ideas can be submitted until July 13, 2014, at www.eusi-skybox.copernicus-masters.com.
Exelis (www.exelisinc.com), Rochester, N.Y., combined its Web-based Jagwire geospatial data management system with MotionDSP’s Ikena real-time image processing software to enhance the quality of video feeds collected from satellites or other airborne vehicles. Jagwire will support an Ikena software plug-in to enhance the quality of video feeds collected and delivered from Jagwire to users in the military and intelligence communities.
Headwall Photonics (www.headwallphotonics.com), Fitchburg, Mass., released the Hyperspec VNIR-SWIR airborne sensor, which covers the 400-2,500nm spectral range. The company also released its new Hyperspec III software, featuring a set of hyperspectral data acquisition management tools.
Hexagon Geospatial (www.hexagongeospatial.com), Huntsville, Ala., announced that several of the products within the Geospatial 2014 product portfolio received Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) certifications. The 2014 versions of ERDAS APOLLO, GeoMedia WebMap and Geospatial SDI meet international standards for interoperability and work seamlessly with other OGC-compliant products.
Leica Geosystems (www.leica-geosystems.us), Heerbrugg, Switzerland, released tridicon APM Trio, which is integrated into the Leica RCD30 oblique camera system. The software simplifies the generation of oblique point matching and aerial triangulation of multi-view oblique and nadir imagery.
Microsoft’s UltraCam Business Unit (www.microsoft.com/ultracam), Graz, Austria, introduced an updated version of the UltraCam Osprey, a digital aerial system that combines a photogrammetric nadir camera with oblique image-capture capabilities. The new version has been redesigned with an 80mm focal length lens to enhance its nadir collection performance at higher altitudes without reducing resolution.
Pix4D (www.pix4d.com), Lausanne, Switzerland, released Pix4Dmapper Version 1.1, which features integrated tools for precision agriculture. The new version comes with an integrated Index Calculator that allows users to create maps from any multispectral sensor and customize any vegetation index map directly in the software.
Scene Sharp USA (www.fuzego.com), Cleveland, Ohio, introduced Version 2.0 of its Fuze Go universal image fusion technology. Fuze Go allows users to quickly and easily fuse data sets to add color to noncolorized satellite and aerial imagery.
SimActive (www.simactive.com), Montreal, announced Correlator3D version 5.2, which automatically processes unmanned aircraft system imagery. The new releaase allows users with no photogrammetry background to produce accurate results.
Surrey Satellite Technology US (www.surreysatellite.com), Englewood, Calif., introduced the Surrey V1C color video-imaging satellite. The V1C design provides a 10-kilometer color video imaging swath at less than 1-meter resolution.
TerraGo (www.terragotech.com), Sterling, Va., launched a new product suite, TerraGo Workgroups. The suite bundles TerraGo Publisher for ArcGIS, TerraGo Composer and TerraGo Toolbar products together.
Trimble (www.trimble.com), Louisville, Ky., announced the latest version of its eCognition software for geospatial data analysis. The new release simplifies and reduces the time taken to classify objects in imagery datasets using a new template-matching function.
Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (www.urisa.org), Des Plaines, Ill, published the first of a series of occasional GIS Management Institute discussion papers. The paper, titled “A Distributed Model for Effective National Geospatial Data Management: Building a National Data Sharing Infrastructure,” is available at the URISA website.
U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (www.usgif.org), Herndon, Va., published a 232-page monograph titled “Human Geography: Socio-Cultural Dynamics and Challenges to Global Security.” This is the first publication of the USGIF Monograph Series.
Visual Intelligence (www.visualintelligenceinc.com), Houston, announced its iOne M+ medium-format digital aerial sensor. The sensor offers 108 megapixel image size and expandability to large and extra-large format. The company also announced iOne Oblique Analytix software. The Web-based tool allows users to inspect oblique aerial imagery from a variety of viewpoints and then conduct sophisticated 3-D measurements, analysis and manipulation of structures and objects.