
EDITOR'S NOTE . I have a few changes to
highlight this week. First off, this may be your first look at our
HTML version. We suspect that inertia has prevented many of you from
switching to HTML. Consider this issue "encouragement."
Secondly, we've introduced a daily Business Notes page at the GIS
Monitor website. Instead of asking you to click through to one or
more press releases, I've summarized each one in a few sentences,
including a hyperlink for more information. Press releases with
details that I feel are worth a look will be published in their
entirety. We hope this approach will make GIS Monitor.com your
destination for daily geospatial news.
Thanks for you continued support. Adena


LASER-SCAN'S NEW PLAN . After spending some time last
week deciphering ESRI's plans for managing topology in the database
in ArcGIS 8.3, this week I spoke to Mike Sanderson, Managing
Director of Laser-Scan, a company which has been managing topology
in the database for some 12 years.
Laser-Scan's Gothic solution, the basis for the new Radius family
of technologies, comes out of a homegrown object-oriented database
designed to "guarantee consistency in the database" according to
Sanderson. Large clients who need to manage, and especially edit
data sets, such as the Ordnance Survey and Royal Air Force (RAF) are
long- time users.
The database server side technology is really the focus of
Laser-Scan's work. Sanderson, previously an Oracle consultant for
some time, makes it clear where he stands: "I don't believe in GIS,
but rather in the business critical systems." But, since he is in
fact a geographer, he does agree that GIS data should be part of
business systems.
So, it's not really a surprise that in the past year the company
has started work to move its solution from its proprietary Gothic
roots to the de facto Oracle standard. The first step was
integrating Gothic's topology manager with Oracle9i, a project
completed this Spring, now marketed as Radius Topology. Radius
Topology essentially puts topology in the database.
I wanted to know if Laser-Scan's storage was different from
ESRI's. Like the ESRI solution, Radius Topology stores rules about
how features relate: "lines within this distance snap together,"
"there are no gaps between polygons." Unlike ESRI's offering, Radius
Topology stores the features in a single database: points, lines,
polygons, water lines, sewer lines, trees, hydrants, ponds, town
boundaries, etc. Also different: the topological relationships are
actually stored in the database. Recall that in ArcGIS 8.3, topology
is created on-the-fly from data cleaned up using the defined rules.
What's the return on this type of storage? According to Sanderson,
an Oracle implementation with stored topology Radius can deliver 500
times more queries than without, or, in other words, the system
needs 500 times fewer resources for the same amount of querying
activity. That said, the proprietary Gothic solution is even faster
than the Oracle implementation.
Radius Topology is implemented natively in Oracle and basically
amounts to adding more tables to the database. These hold, you
guessed it, the topology. The process for creating a topological
database is straightforward. First, the system manager, most likely
a GIS person, but perhaps a systems person, defines the rules of
topology for the database. If the data is already in Oracle, the DBA
or GIS manager uses a graphic interface to identify the column in
one or more tables that stores the geometry. That's referred to as
"enabling a column in the table." Then, Radius Topology, looking at
the rules, will update the geometry (snap things together, for
example) and while doing so, store topology information in related
tables.
If the data is to be loaded from another system, the tables to
receive the data will be set up and the geometry-storing field
identified. That way, when data is loaded, a trigger causes the
geometry update and the topology addition.
The rules may number as few as one, "all lines within this
tolerance will snap together" or they may be many and complex. In a
utility, one of many rules might be "only 2-inch diameter pipes
within 1 ft of another 2-inch pipe can snap together." Other rules
may detail how different diameter pipes do or do not connect.
Exceptions can be made by "turning off" one or more rules.
Laser-Scan's strategy is to stick with its strength on the server
side and stay away from the client side. What that means is the
company is actively seeking to work with GIS vendors such as
Autodesk and MapInfo to plug their clients into Radius. Autodesk is
already evaluating Radius Topology. How are clients and Radius
connected? Laser-Scan is taking advantage of the fact that nearly
every GIS client can "plug in" to Oracle via SQL. That connection
means that "thick" clients like AutoCAD, as well as "thin" clients
like browsers and mobile devices can work with Radius.
From the user standpoint, workflow might look like this: A user
working with an Autodesk Map client connected[?] to Radius would use
the standard Map interface to create and edit data. After saving
information to the database, using the Oracle interface, the user
can query the database to see how the rules were applied. The
database information is immediately available to any other user
within the enterprise, whether they're using Autodesk Map, or to any
other client that has direct read/write access to Oracle geometries.
Laser-Scan aims to maintain the investment that companies have made
in applications and training and only change, nearly invisibly, the
back end.
Sanderson made it clear that many view-only servers won't need to
store topology, so they are good candidates for other solutions.
Those who need to "guarantee consistency in the database" with
frequent changes and additions should look to topological solutions
such as Radius Topology.
What's the coolest thing about the Radius Topology? Other
disciplines outside of GIS can use it. One example Sanderson shared
involved biotech companies that need to manage the shapes of
molecules. He pointed out that even though GIS people like to think
they own the idea of topology, it's really a mathematical construct
applicable elsewhere. Laser-Scan
Topology
in the Database (Geo:connexion)


LETTER .
� After including letters last week discussing URISA's RFP mail
out service for members, I received a follow up letter from
GISbid.com's Joe Francica.
"GISbid offered URISA, as it has for GITA, free membership for
its members for one year to see the value of our service�both
organizations turned [GISbid.com] down, at least for now."
Francica went on to say that the organizations were asked to pay
a reasonable corporate sponsorship fee. This offer was the same as
that offered to, and taken up by Intergraph for its Team GeoMedia
members. GITA and URISA members, would something like this enhance
the value of your professional membership? Let URISA and GITA
know.

POINTS OF INTEREST .
� MapInfo is having a sale on data, geocoding and routing
software for State and Local Governments and Agencies effective on
August 1, 2002.
CPU Pricing: StreetPro Display - County -
$1000/CPU StreetPro Display - State (State or County Tiled)-
$4000/CPU MapMarker County - $1200/CPU MapMarker - State -
$2800/CPU MapMarker Plus - County -$2400/CPU MapMarker Plus
- State - $6000/CPU Routing J Server - County -
$2400/CPU Routing J Server - State - $6000/CPU
Price per CPU is regardless of number of CPUs purchased. CPU
pricing includes quarterly updates for State units of sale of
StreetPro Display, MapMarker Plus and Routing J Server. CPU pricing
includes semi-annual updates for State units of sale of MapMarker.
No updates are available for county units of sale. For details and
other offers contact MapInfo.
� Baystate Health Systems, Springfield MA, received the Special
Achievement Award in GIS from ESRI. The organization hosts a
"Health Geographics and Spatial Analysis Program" which works with
local, regional and national partners in applying GIS to injury
prevention, disease mapping, and facilities management. The
organization believes it is the only hospital/medical center in the
US with GIS professionals as employees.
� As long-time readers know I'm a big fan of Google, the search
engine. I couldn't live without my Google toolbar. A recent report
from the Associated
Press highlights another reason to love Google: it was the only
site that fully complied with Federal Trade Commission
recommendations that require search sites to clearly distinguish
between which results are due to paid placement and which are do to
objective formulae.
� The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)
published a rule amendment to the Fresh Water Protection Act (FWPA)
that will increase the buffer zones around thousands of acres of
protected wetlands in New Jersey. "Environmental
Defense used a Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze
the most critical wetland habitat areas in the state. The data
concluded that many valuable areas were not being adequately
protected under the FWPA." With all due respect, the data didn't
"conclude" anything, the analysts did. Maybe these folks need to
quickly review the Five Parts of GIS - one is PEOPLE.
� A stolen phone and PDA were recovered from thieves in Seoul,
South Korea by using the phone's GPS according to a report in the Korea
Times. First however, the victim appealed for their return via
text message.
� According to News.com,
Liquid Audio has sued geo-targeting company InfoSplit, alleging the
company is using without a license its patented technology for
restricting digital delivery to certain areas. InfoSplit argues that
it uses an index of IP addresses rather than the "411" type service
of Liquid Audio. A discussion of the suit on SlashDot commented on
the patent: "� it's hilarious! Liquid Audio basically received a
patent for saying that a domain ending by 'co.uk' is in the UK."

WEEK IN REVIEW .
 Please Visit Our News
Sponsor. � Announcements .
LAND INFO International,
LLC, producer of international mapping and geospatial products,
has offered its services to Porcher Taylor, a U.S. intelligence
expert leading an effort to identify an anomaly on Turkey�s Mt.
Ararat. Near the top of the mountain, sits a 600-foot
rectangular-shaped object, which many believe is the remnants of
Noah�s Ark.
McLean, Virginia based ITspatial, L.L.C. has joined
the ESRI Business Partner Program.
Unwiredfactory, a global provider of location-based entertainment
for the mobile Internet and CellPoint have entered into a
partnership agreement to deliver a complete end-to-end solution to
mobile operators throughout the world. Unwiredfactory based in
Copenhagen, Denmark, aims to be a leading provider of location-based
entertainment.
TerraSeer
will offer a set of two 1-day short courses in spatial and temporal
data analysis methods and software. This training will occur in Ann
Arbor, MI on September 12 & 13, 2002.
Municipal Software Corp.'s CityView won
the Packaged Application of the Year award. The award was part of
the Microsoft Certified Partner Awards.
The French space agency CNES handed over responsibility for
commercial operation of SPOT 5 to SPOT IMAGE, which will
now be distributing imagery acquired by the new satellite worldwide.
URISA's Draft Code of
Ethics is available for review and comment. Comments are
encouraged before July 31, 2002.
Software Architect Jonathan Bradley has teamed with several GIS
industry veterans to form Mapping Science, Inc. The
company is developing new tools and techniques built specifically
for the geospatial community using the JPEG2000 standard.
TenLinks, Inc., announced the launch of CADdigest.com, the reading room
for computer aided design. With more than a thousand reviews and
several hundred tutorials, tips, success stories, editorials and
more, CADdigest.com claims to be the largest and best-organized
collection of articles for the CAD professional.
Paradigm Advanced
Technology, Inc.'s Destinator Division announced a distribution
agreement with Computer Marketplace Inc. (CMI) of Tewksbury, MA, a
leading systems integrator for advanced software and hardware
solutions. Under the agreement, the companies are combining the
Destinator system with the Hewlett Packard Jornada or the Compaq
iPAQ PDA to offer an easy to use navigation bundle that rivals
existing automobile navigation systems for a fraction of their cost.
Rolta India Limited, a company providing CAD Cam and GIS
Solutions was the first company I'm aware of in the geospatial
industry to be hit with accounting irregularities. According to reports,
the company overstated sales for 2001 causing a 20% drop in its
stock price.
 �
 |
The Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors
(MAPPS) celebrates its 20th
anniversary with a special annual conference, a new logo and a
redesign of its web site. According to its website, MAPPS' primary
objective is to develop strength and unity on matters affecting the
interests of its member firms. It is intended to promote a quality,
profitable profession, interaction among firms, advance education,
both professional and public.
The Regional Municipality of York, the Region of Waterloo, the
Town of Oakville, and the County of Oxford have won the Urban
Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), Ontario Chapter's
Map Gallery challenge and Web GIS challenge. The announcement came
from ESRI Canada which
congratulated the winners, all ESRI users.
Dr. Fawwaz T. Ulaby, Vice President for Research and the Williams
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the
University of Michigan, received the 2000 William T. Pecora Award
last month in recognition of his achievements as a pioneer and
leading authority in the field of radar remote sensing. Sponsored
jointly by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), this award is presented
annually to recognize outstanding contributions toward the
understanding of the Earth by means of remote sensing.
The European Organization for Experimental Photogrammetric
Research (OEEPE) is organizing e-learning courses about
advanced techniques in photogrammetry, remote sensing and GIS. The
first three courses will take place in October and November of this
year.
The Ordnance Survey, UK's national mapping agency 2001-02 Annual
Report and Accounts, published online shows a turnover
on trading of �102.6 million, up by more than 3% on last year's
�99.6 million. Ordnance Survey succeeded in beating all the agency
performance targets set by the Government for the year. �
Contracts . City of Keene, NH
expanded their CityView;
8.NET Enterprise system in order to create an E-city portal.
FleetBoss Global Positioning Solutions, Inc. announced an OEM
agreement with the Elgin Sweeper Company of Elgin, Ill. Fleetboss
will provide vehicle management software for Elgin street cleaning
machines.
@Road has been selected by
Verizon to provide mobile resource management services to help
manage Verizon field operations.
GeoAnalytics, Inc., a
provider of geographic and land information systems (GIS/LIS)
technology and management consulting, has been hired by the City of
Chicago to design and develop a Web-GIS front-end to the City's
Multi-Agency Government Integrated Communication (MAGIC) automated
vehicle location (AVL) system.
Space Imaging was
awarded a three-year, $800,000 contract with the state of Kentucky's
Governor's Office for Technology. Space Imaging will provide
satellite imagery and processing technologies to the Kentucky
Landscape Snapshot (KLS) Project. A grant from National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) funds the effort to monitor, map and
assess the state's forests and urban environment.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates
Ltd. announced that the U.S. government, through the National
Imagery and Mapping Agency, (NIMA) has contracted with the company's
Information Products group to provide RADARSAT-1 products and
services, such as near-real time delivery of RADARSAT-1 data. The
contract, awarded by NIMA to MDA subsidiary RADARSAT International,
has a maximum value of $8 million over the next three years.
� Products . The Applications in
Coastal Zone Research and Management workbook from Clark Labs is now available for
use with Idrisi32.
SoftMap Technologies (2002)
Inc., the Canadian developer of GIS software, will offer low
cost topographic maps of Canada at a scale of 1/50 000 and 1/250 000
in GeoTIFF format on its website. SoftMap claims to be the only one
to offer full coverage of Canada with raster maps.
Earth Resource Mapping is
pleased to announce their core products, ER Mapper 6.3 and Image Web
Server 1.7, will support Microsoft's latest operating system -
Windows XP.
KOREM released a new
version of its service, mapWORKSPACE.com. This ASP service gives
access to a complete Web-mapping studio for GEObroadcasting on the
Internet. Intended for MapInfo users, mapWORKSPACE.com offers four
packages available on a monthly or annual subscription. The new
version has a new look and a more user-friendly and ergonomic
interface.
Safe Software Inc. announces
that it has expanded support for ESRI’s ArcSDE by adding versioning
support to FME Suite software. Versioning allows users to check out
copies of data, manipulate the data using FME (Feature Manipulation
Engine), and then check data back into the default SDE layer for
sharing.
IcoMap for ArcGIS v1.5 a parcel mapping conversion and
maintenance package which creates line and polygon features in
geodatabases, shapefiles and coverages is now available from UCLID.
Primus Geographics, Inc.
is the exclusive dealer for a new curved text tool for MapInfo
Professional developed by Bill Thoen, president of GISnet and all
around MapInfo guy. The MapBasic program is available for
$39.95.
Vicinity Corporation
launched the latest version of its Vicinity Location Server(VLS),
Version 3.1. New street level data for Australia and enhanced tools
are part of the new release.
Keigan
Systems Inc (formerly ThinkSpace Inc) has launched its release
of MFworks 2.7. MFworks is a GRID analysis tool kit that combines
spatial analysis, mapping and image processing in a simple
user-friendly manner. The upgrade is complimentary to all clients
that currently have MFworks 2.5 or higher.
Developed by leaders from industry, government, and academia, Arc
Hydro is a data structure that provides the capacity to link
hydrologic data to water resources modeling and decision-making
methods. The book detailing the model is available from the ESRI
Press.
RPM Consulting
announced the release of the Atlas 2000 Geocoder, based upon 2000
TIGER files enhanced by RPM and the Atlas GIS geocoding engine. The
updated Atlas Geocoder features Soundex-type technology, and the
ability to apply independent or combined relaxation options for
street type, street name, directionals, house number, and ZIP code.
Users can also create and maintain custom address structure
translation files, as well as centroid files. The product is
intended primarily for users who want to take advantage of fast,
flexible CD-based geocoding.
� Hires .
 �
�����Peter
Woodsford |
The Buxton company which
specializes in market research for the retail industry, announced
the opening of its Northeast operations based in Andover, MA, to be
headed by Sid Newman, effective July 1, 2002. Snowflake Software is
pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Woodsford as a
non-executive director. Woodsford (60) has now moved to a
non-executive director role at Laser-Scan, the company he
helped to launch in the early 1970s.
� Releases .
July 17 - Challenging
New Targets Revealed for Ordnance Survey Among the six
targets: required updates of more than 600 titles in the Explorer
and OS Landranger map series.
July 11 - Intergraph
Announces GeoMedia Transaction Manager GeoMedia Transaction
Manager 5.0 is a long term transaction versioning, and temporal data
management software solution that provides a true enterprise
approach to managing spatial information
July 11 - Niagara
Falls Hydro Selects Intergraph Niagara Falls Hydro has signed
a contract to replace its legacy GIS with an advanced geofacilities
management system from the Utilities & Communications division
of Intergraph Corporation.
July 11 - Bexar
Metropolitan Water Subscribes to MapCiti With MapCiti, Bexar
will be able to load all of its geo-referenced infrastructure data,
including aerial photography, into MapCiti's fully hosted, web-based
mapping application and create regional maps of the city's water
infrastructure online.

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