In the Spotlight

CARIS’ Bathy DataBASE (BDB) software has provided the last link of a 25 year project enabling the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) to implement their Hydrographic Information Network.

Swiss company gs-soft AG has used the TatukGIS Developer Kernel to develop the MssStick product for user-friendly visualization and generation of military map layers and reference grids with military symbology and unit structures. MssStick resides on an USB flash drive (pendrive) which plugs into a computer’s USB port. No installation is required. Start up requires just one click. Multi-touch screen gestures are supported on tablet computers.

On June 7, Hexagon 2011, the joint conference of Metrology, Intergraph, Erdas and Leica Geosystems business units, was officially kicked off bij Hexagon’s CEO Ola Rollén.

Leica Geosystems has announced at the Hexagon 2011 Conference the new Leica ScanStation C5 Laser Scanner for fast, complete as-built and engineering surveys. The compact, scalable Leica ScanStation C5 provides professionals with a combination of legendary Leica Geosystems quality scan data with a significantly lower cost of scanner ownership. These advances not only address today’s scanning professionals, but also address organizations wanting to enter into laser scanning to diversify and/or improve their current business.

Blom, a provider of geospatial services across Europe, has launched Blom3D. This is the largest catalogue of 3D city models in the world with more than 340 cities worldwide and covers more than 12,000 km2.

Spectra Precision introduced the Ashtech MobileMapper 10, the latest addition to its new line of GIS/GNSS smart data collectors. The MobileMapper 10 is a lightweight, low power and cost-effective mapping solution with real-time meter level accuracy.

The German software-development company alta4 Geoinformatik AG developed a bike routing tool for the german tourism agency of Schleswig-Holstein. With more than 15.000km of bike routes, tourists are now able to plan individual track in a Google-like userinterface. Trips can be planned between 2.500 different Points of Interst, including hotels, activities, events, beaches, theme routes or any point visible on the map.

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) 2011 Annual Conference was held May 1-5 at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with many and varied conference activities and an attendance of over 1,100.

Working with carbon reduction company Sustain, Bluesky is helping a number of Housing Associations across the UK make the most of their housing stock’s solar energy potential. Using high resolution aerial photography combined with detailed 3D models Bluesky are able to measure the potential for solar energy generation for individual properties based on a number of contributing factors such as roof size and aspect. These measurements are helping the Housing Associations produce income from Feed-in Tariffs, reduce energy bills for householders and decrease carbon emissions.